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 Vol. XX., page 177.)

Saul has given up the vain search for the asses of his father, and now proposes to his servant to return home. But this one, like a true servant, seems to have a knowledge far beyond that of the favored son of Kish. He informs Saul that the prophet Samuel is in that place, and advises that, instead of human energy or hopelessness, they should go and inquire of him. Saul evidently has had no thoughts of turning to God in this matter, and apparently no knowledge of His prophet, and now can only suggest, as human righteousness is ever prone to suggest, that some price is needed if they are to get aught from God's hand. How like the natural man this is! He must bring his present to God if he is to receive anything from Him, and He knows nothing of that liberal Giver whose delight it is to give freely to those who have nothing with which to buy.

The confession of poverty on the part of Saul makes possible the servant's offer of the fourth part of a shekel of silver, which reminds us of that half-shekel of the atonement money which every child of Israel had to pay. Thus, whatever may have been the thought in the mind of the servant, or whether the price was ever actually handed to the prophet, there is a partial suggestion here, at least, that all approach to God, all learning of His mind, must be on the basis of atonement.

An explanation is next introduced showing the use of the terms '' seer " and '' prophet." In former times it was the custom to speak of the man of God as a "seer,"-one who sees the future, or that which is not visible to the eyes of sense. In other words, the people were more occupied with the result of the prophet's ministry than with its Source. The later word "prophet" suggests the Source from which he received all his inspiration, which then flowed forth from him. This explanation in itself is in keeping with all the circumstances at which we have arrived, both in Saul himself (who surely was not troubled about his relation with God, or how the man of God would gain his information, but rather with the benefit which he might receive from this divine insight) and in the nation at large, of which he was the fitting representative.

So Saul and his servant approach the city where the man of God was. What momentous changes are to occur within those walls ! Inquiring their way, they find the object of their search. Everything here, no doubt, is suggestive. They are obliged to ascend to the city. A moral elevation must be reached if they are to enter in any measure into the revelations that are about to be given. Everything of God is on a plane far above the thoughts of the natural man. They are guided by the young maidens who were coming forth to draw water from the well.

This is a familiar scene in every oriental city, and frequently referred to in Scripture. The well with its water is a figure of that Word, which is drawn out of the wells of salvation. The maidens would remind us of that weakness, lowliness and dependence which alone can draw from these wells of salvation. The future king is directed to the man of God by these feeble instruments, which reminds us that God delights to use the weak things. It was a little captive Hebrew maid who told her mistress of the prophet in Israel, by whom Naaman, the great Syrian general, could be cleansed of his leprosy. Wisdom, in the book of Proverbs, sends forth her maidens with the message of invitation to the feast which she has spread. Feebleness which is getting its refreshment and strength from the word of God can point the mightiest to that which alone can give guidance or peace.

It is very suggestive, too, that it is upon the occasion of a public feast and sacrifice that Israel's future king meets the prophet. This falls in with what we have already said as to the atonement money. The basis upon which God's mind can be known, and in connection with which the anointing oil is to be poured upon the king, must be that of sacrifice.

In passing, it is well to notice that the disordered state of the nation is manifest here. There is a "high place" where the sacrificial feast is spread. This was in direct contradiction to the will of God as expressed in the book of Deuteronomy, which provides that it was to be only in the place where Jehovah put His name that sacrifices were to be offered and feasts celebrated. But the glory of the God of Israel had departed from Shiloh, where He had placed His name at the beginning, and the ark was abiding in "the field of the woods." There was no recognized center. Israel might be mourning after the Lord, but the time was not yet ripe for the pointing out of the true center of gathering for His people ; nor was Shiloh to be thought of, because that, once forsaken, was never again to be recognized as the central abode of the glory of Jehovah.

Thus the high place was, we might say, a sort of necessity brought in by the failure and disordered condition of the people at large. We will find, also, that it was frequently used in this way. There was one at Gibeon, where King Solomon, later on, had a revelation from God. Thus they were not necessarily connected with idolatry. As a matter of fact, they were at the beginning devoted to the true worship of God, and to a certain extent were places where He Himself in grace recognized the need and met with His people, though not according to the due order which He Himself had provided:Later on, however, when He had established His center, placed His name at Jerusalem, and the temple of His glory was there, the worship of the high places was in direct disobedience of His will, and necessarily, therefore, became more and more connected with the idolatry to which the people were ever prone.

Thus, in the history of the faithful kings, we find that these high places were destroyed and their idolatrous worship abolished in some cases; in others, that in spite of all the manifold efforts to do away with them, they still remained, apparently not for idolatry, but for independent worship of God.

There is food for suggestive thought here. There can be no question that God meets individual faith wherever it truly turns to Him; but He has provided in His Word and by His Spirit for a true Center of gathering for His people, a corporate recognition of Christ Himself and His name as all-sufficient, of the word of God as the absolute guide, and the ever-present Spirit as the competent One to control, order and direct in worship, testimony,'ministry, discipline, and whatever other functions there may be, of His people. To ignore this divinely provided Center, and to turn to human thoughts, to select places and modes of worship which are not provided for in the word of God, is really to worship in the high places. There is no question that very much of this is done in all sincerity, and God, as we were saying, meets His people in grace according to the measure of their faith. But can we wonder that when the truth of the unity of the Church of Christ, the sufficiency of His name and Word, are known, to go on in independency and self-will is but to prepare the way for wide declension from God and eventually to lead to that dishonor to God which in Christianity corresponds with the material idolatry of which we have been speaking in the history of Israel ?

Returning to the feast and sacrifice of which we were speaking, everything has almost a patriarchal simplicity about it. The prophet is, as we might say, another Abraham, living in a later age. The people will not eat of their feast until he comes and bestows his blessing, which at least would indicate their sense of dependence upon God and their desire to receive the blessing which His servant would bestow. The incited guests who share with the prophet in his feast were those, evidently, whose position in the city qualified them for the enjoyment of this honor. Having received the directions, then, as to meeting the prophet, Saul and his servant go on and find Samuel just going up to the high place. Everything has evidently been ordered of God, even to the appointed moment at which the meeting should take place. There is no waiting on the part either of the prophet or of him who was seeking him.

Moreover, Samuel is not surprised at this meeting, for the day before, the Lord had forewarned him as to all that is to take place-the visit of the man of the tribe of Benjamin, whom it was His will to anoint over His people Israel, and who should be the one to lead them in victory against their oppressors, the Philistines. At this first mention of the object for which the king was to be anointed it is very suggestive and pathetic to remember that Saul never really won great victories over these very enemies against whom he was appointed to lead the people. The nation was more or less in bondage to the Philistines during his entire reign, and he met his end in the final battle at Mount Gilboa with these very people. Into this we shall look further as we go on; but we can see thus at a glance how ineffectual is all human adaptation to the end designed by God. He had harkened to the cry of His people and looked upon them in their need, for which He provided according to their thoughts and desires, rather than according to His own knowledge of what would really deliver them.

Not only has the prophet thus been forewarned of the visit of Saul, but, as he now meets him, he is assured by the Lord that this is the man of whom He spoke. Thus there is no possibility of mistake, and unerringly is the prophet's hand guided to pour the oil upon the appointed head. We can well conceive the surprise of Saul, as he approaches the prophet with his question, to find that both he and his errand, and all else, are well known to the man of God. He is invited to join with Samuel in the feast, and promised on the morrow that he shall be sent on home after all that is in his heart has been made known to him. His mind is set at rest as to the asses for which he had vainly searched, and he is furthermore told of his father's anxiety at his prolonged absence.

We can well understand how this evidence of divine knowledge on the part of the prophet would solemnize the heart of Saul, and make him realize that he was having to do, not with man, but with the living God. This would prepare the way for the next word that Samuel has to say-the desire of Israel is toward him and his father's house; that is, as Saul well understood it, the people wished just such a man as himself for king. This does not necessarily mean that they had their eye upon him individually, but that he was the kind of man who would answer to the desire which they had already expressed.
We have in what is next, an apparent humility oil the part of Saul, which if it had gone more deeply would doubtless have been more permanent. He declares that he is a Benjamite, belonging to the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and his family one of the least in that small tribe. He was doubtless familiar with the history of the tribe, and how it came to be reduced to such small proportions, because of the judgment inflicted upon it for the awful sin of Gibeah, and the shielding of those evil-doers. Had the tribe been properly exercised by this fearful chastisement, it would, as a whole, have been brought into a place of true humility before God, and have been prepared for exaltation. There is no indication, however, that there was any genuine self-judgment on the part of the tribe as a whole or any individuals in it, and their humility was rather compulsory than spontaneous.

This, it is evident, was also the case with Saul, from his subsequent history. He might speak in depreciation of his family and of his tribe, but as a matter of fact there is no evidence that there was the genuine judgment of self in the presence of God. It is one thing to have low thoughts of one's self as compared with one's fellows, but quite a different thing to take one's true place in the presence of divine holiness. The flesh knows how to be humble under stress of circumstances, but it knows nothing of that which judges its very existence, and compels it to be absolutely prostrate before God.

(To be continued.)

We conclude this month our readings of the precious book of Psalms, which we hope has indeed been increasingly endeared to all our hearts, That which will occupy us during the present month is the fifth book, or Deuteronomy-psalms 107:-150:It is of somewhat a recapitulatory character, though by no means, as we have always found in Scripture, is it a mere repetition. Divine principles are gathered up, and the lessons unfolded in the four previous books are here grouped together and emphasized in a fresh way.

The first division here is psalms 107:-113:, where we have the general character of God's ways in dealing with His people, and the results. Psalm 107:gives the general character of the entire book, man's evil in departure from God, His faithful chastening and equally faithful grace when they cry to Him for mercy. This is beautifully. enlarged upon.

Psa. 108:shows God's victory for His people, who are thus brought into blessing. It is very significant that this psalm is composed of the last part of two previous ones-psalms 57:and 60:The next two psalms, 109:and ex., give us respectively the sufferings of Christ and the glory that follows.

In psalm 109:we have suffering at the hands of man rather than of God, and the result is judgment upon the wicked. What a contrast to psalm 22:, where the wicked have but small place and God's forsaking is prominent; the result is unmingled blessing.

In psalm 110:we see Him as King and Priest upon His throne, after the order of Melchizedek The remaining psalms of this division (111:-113:) are the outburst of praise which flows from the suffering and glorification of Christ. Each of them is introduced with the word " hallelujah." It will be noticed that the psalms of this latter portion of the book which are devoted to His people's exercises are quite different from the similar ones in the earlier books. There, the work of Christ and His glory were seen as objects of faith by His people who still were in the midst of an ungodly nation, and therefore subject to all manner of persecution. Here our Lord's sufferings and glory are celebrated as accomplished facts by a people who have been introduced into permanent blessing, and therefore exultant praise is the result.

Psalm 111:is an alphabetic acrostic which describes the works of Jehovah and His faithfulness.

Psalm 112:, also acrostic, dwells upon the blessedness of trust in the Lord, while psalm 113:is solely occupied with the glory of the name of the Lord.

The next division of the book (psalms 114:-119:) enlarges upon the character of God's salvation, and communion flowing from that.

Psalm 114:celebrates God's power in delivering His people out of Egypt, in face of which the sea fled and Jordan stopped its course.

Psalm 115:contrasts the excellence of God with the folly of idols. How significant, in view not only of the past idolatry of the people, but of their future recognition of the image of the beast in the latter days!

Psalm 116:celebrates the deliverance of the remnant as from the jaws of death, brought up by the Lord. It is a suited companion to psalm 40:, which refers to our blessed Lord in similar circumstances.

Psalm 117:, brief as it is, has a mighty theme, in which all the nations of the earth are invited to join.

Psalm 118:refers to our blessed Lord rejected and disallowed of men, chosen of God and precious, and the Head of the corner.

Psalm 119:is in many respects the most wonderful of the entire book. It is a perfect acrostic, in which each letter of the Hebrew alphabet stands at the head of a section of eight verses, each of which also is introduced by the same letter. Eight is the number of new creation. The theme of this psalm is the celebration of the perfections of God's written Word. How beautifully, then, does the acrostic suggest this! The whole alphabet is exhausted in setting forth the perfections of that Word, which is no longer seen as the law of requirement, written upon tables of stone, which could only bring condemnation; but now written in the heart of His people, even as it was ever enshrined in the heart of their blessed Lord, it becomes the ground of constant thanksgiving and their strength in the face of all temptation.

The third division (psalms 120:-136:) of the book is composed of a large number of brief psalms, each of which brings out some salient feature of divine blessing. Nearly the entire division is taken up by the fifteen " songs of degrees," which are a wonderful witness to the perfection, not merely of literal, verbal inspiration, but of the order of the psalms. They are divided into five groups of three psalms each, and thus form a miniature pentateuch in the larger pentateuch of psalms. They are called "songs of degrees," or "ascents," which suggests their use in the service of the temple, being sung, as is supposed, by the people upon the steps of the temple as they drew nearer and nearer to the sanctuary. Morally, they celebrate the praises of God, as His saints in the latter days draw ever nearer to His presence. While the form, of course, is Jewish, the principles abide for all time, and, with appropriate modifications, contain many a precious lesson for the present dispensation.

The first group here (psalms 120:-122:) dwells upon the faithfulness of God, who delivers His people who are at a distance from Him (psalm 120:). God is seen as their Helper and Preserver (120:and 121:), and thus they enter with gladness into the house of the Lord (psalm 122:).

The second group of three psalms (123:-125:) brings out the enemy, whose pride is seen (psalm 123:), their opposition like the floods of proud waters (psalm 124:), but from which His people emerge, steadfast upon mount Zion (psalm 125:).

The third group (psalm 126:-128:) dwells upon details of the people's restoration.

Psalm 126:shows us their captivity turned, those who sowed in tears now reaping in joy; the need of absolute dependence upon God if His house and city are to be builded (psalm 127:), while the fruitfulness and blessedness of the man who trusts in the Lord are seen in psalm 128:).

The fourth group (psalms 129:-131:) form a little wilderness experience. The affliction of Israel from his youth is seen in psalm 129:Deliverance from the results of sin, yea, from the depths, is the theme of psalm 130:, and childlike praise in psalm 131:

The last group brings in Christ. Psalm 132:shows Him in David as type, not resting until He had found a habitation for the ark of the Lord, the throne in His house. In psalm 133:we see Him as the Priest anointed and exalted, the fragrance of whose name reaches down to the very skirts of His garments, binding His people in unity. Psalm 134:closes all by letting us hear the praises of the Lord's servants who still are in His house praising Him day and night.

Psalms 135:and 136:are a wonderful unfolding of the character of the praise to which we are privileged to listen in psalm 134:The psalms are similar; that is, they go over the same ground, but with this remarkable difference, that psalm 136:has a refrain repeated between each act recounted, "His mercy endureth forever." Thus God's mercy is celebrated both in the deliverance of His people and in His judgment upon their enemies.

The fourth division of this book (psalms 137:-114:) brings out, with increasing clearness, by reiteration, the utter incapacity of man and the faithfulness and all-sufficiency of God.

Psalm 137:takes us back to Babylon, where the captive people are unable to sing the Lord's songs, but still look with longing eyes and loving hearts to the beloved city which lies in ruins. Deliverance follows this (psalm 138:), for God will lift up the lowly out of their need.

Psalm 139:speaks of the omniscience of God searching the secrets of the heart, which does not now shrink from His holy eye.

Psalms 140:-143:emphasize the helplessness of man, his cry in need to the Lord, and the deliverance which flows from this.

Psalm 144:celebrates God's deliverance, and 114:is another acrostic, in which we see our Lord leading the praises of His people.

The closing division of the book (psalms 146:-150:) puts the crown of praise upon the entire collection. The psalms begin and end with hallelujahs. God's might is declared in psalm 146:; His helping hand, which has tenderly ministered to His people's needs (147:) ; heaven and earth unite together in His worship (psalm 148:); the nations are called to join in this in psalm 149:; while psalm 150:gathers all the instruments of human music and uses them, with the worship of all creation, to praise the name of the Lord. " Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord."

2nd Thessalonians is similar to the first epistle, with the exception that the coming of our Lord is dwelt upon more in relation to the wickedness of the world than to the hope of His people. Its three chapters form three divisions.

In chapter 1:we have God's righteousness, which will vindicate His suffering people in the execution of judgment upon their enemies. This is in fitting accord with what we have been learning in the book of Psalms.

Chapter 2:shows the progress of that evil which, though now hidden, is going steadily on until it culminates, after the rapture of the Church, in Antichrist, the man of sin, who exalteth himself as God.

Chapter 3:still emphasizes the lessons of holiness for the Lord's people, though pressed by such evil. Any carelessness of walk or indifference to the natural responsibilities of life is guarded against. The disorderly are to be admonished, and, if need be, no company kept with them.

THE MAN AFTER THE FLESH. PART II.

THE KING OF MAN'S CHOICE.

Chapter 8:TESTED AND FOUND WANTING.

(1 Sam. 12:, 13:14).

(Continued from page 201.)

Saul, at least, does not follow the people in their hiding. In fact, he abides at Gilgal, the place which Samuel had appointed for the meeting with himself, which was soon to take place. During all the time that had intervened between his anointing and the present, there had not been the real opportunity to manifest his true obedience to the prophet's directions (chap. 10:8).

Saul is at Gilgal, where, had he truly entered into the spirit of the place, he would have found an impregnable position, and from which he could have gone forth victoriously to triumph over all the host of the enemy. A few follow him also so tremblingly that evidently their eye is upon their human leader, and they have forgotten the living God. This wretched remnant of an army is really a mockery of any true resistance, and would have been found so, had it been tested. Even this little handful, Saul is not able to hold together. He must, according to the prophet's directions, remain seven days, or until Samuel appears to offer the appointed sacrifices. Surely without these, it would be madness to attempt to meet the enemy. It must be ever on the basis of a sacrifice that we dwell with God, and from the strength of His presence go out to meet the enemy. Saul recognizes this in his way, and evidently waits with impatience the coming of the prophet. Meanwhile, the people are melting away and he will be left alone, and this the flesh cannot endure. It has not God before it, and therefore must look upon apparent resources. With his army gone, what could the king do? Surely, God would not have this:therefore he must take some steps to inspire confidence in the people, and be prepared to go forth to fight.

Alas, we know something, doubtless, in our own experience, of this restlessness of the flesh, which recognizes that something must be done, but never does the only thing that is suitable,-wait upon God for His time.

So, Saul offers the sacrifices, intruding himself in this way into the priest's office and practically ignoring all need of that which was at the basis of sacrifice, a mediator. The flesh, with all its religiousness and punctiliousness, never grasps the fact that it has no standing before God. It would intrude into the holiest things, and, as we have already said, this is the very essence of Philistinism, which would thrust nature into the presence of God, and, according to its own thoughts, build up a system of approach to Him which would at the same time quiet natural conscience and foster the pride of the unregenerate heart.

This was an awful fall for the king. It was the very thing against which the prophet had guarded him in the beginning; the very thing, too, which was the peril of the people,-acting without God. Their choice of a king had really been this, and therefore all is in fitting keeping with that act of independence. Saul had ample warning, abundant opportunity to manifest his faith and obedience if he had any. The very place where he was had but lately witnessed the solemn testimony of Samuel, and heard the voice of Jehovah in thunder at the time of harvest. Had the fear of God really filled his soul, it would have eclipsed all other fear, and the king would have waited patiently, though he waited alone, for the word from the Lord. But he is tested and fails. So soon as the failure occurs, in divine mercy on the one hand, and justice on the other, Samuel appeal's on the scene.

What unavailing regrets doubtless filled Saul's bosom as he saw the prophet! Oh, had he only waited but a few moments longer! But this is not the point. God would test him to see whether he would wait. He had not almost held out, but he had simply manifested the state of his soul. There is no such thing as almost obeying the Lord. The heart that is truly His, will obey; and testing, no matter how far carried, will never bring out disobedience from a heart that is truly subject to God. How perfectly this was brought out in the life of our blessed Lord, who was constantly subjected to pressure in one form or another to depart from the path of simple obedience to God. There was no danger of waiting too long in His case. All the testing would only bring out the reality of that obedience which controlled His whole spirit, and He is the only true King of men, the only Man after God's heart to lead His people; and it is only as His Spirit fills our souls, that we will walk in His steps, having the mind in us which was in Christ.

Saul runs out officiously to greet the prophet, as he does in a more marked way after a still deeper failure a little later on; but there is no responsive greeting from the dear faithful servant of God whose soul burned with indignation at the king's palpable unbelief and disobedience. Sternly he asks, "What hast thou done ? " He need not go further with his question, nor can Saul pretend to be ignorant of what is meant. What he had done was in known violation of the prophet's word. Therefore he had practically forfeited all claim upon the prophet's service or the approval of God. He, however, puts up a feeble defense; and notice the character of that defense. "I saw that the people were scattered from me." In other words, his eye was on the people, who were as full of unbelief as himself, instead of upon God. Then, Samuel had not come during the appointed days. This, as we have already seen, was simply to test the genuineness of his faith.

And lastly, the Philistines were gathering together in great numbers. Not a word, we notice, of the Lord. Now, however, he says the enemy will come down to attack him (a most unlikely thing for an enemy to do in such a place as Gilgal) and he must make supplication unto the Lord. At last the Lord is brought in, but we notice that it is only in this feeble way. Really what filled the foreground of the king's vision was the melting of the people, the menace of the enemy's attack, and the absence of the human prop in Samuel. So he says:"I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt-offering." How many have fallen in the same way! His words are a confession that he knew he had disobeyed God in offering the sacrifices. It was contrary, he would have Samuel believe, to his own inclinations. He had to do it in spite of his convictions and desires. All the more, then, did it fully manifest the unbelief which will not cling to God, at all costs, in obedience. How much is excused in the same way! Human expedients are condoned, fleshly activity is encouraged, fellowship with the world is allowed, all under the plea of expediency. The reluctant conscience has to be forced, for it knows that these things are contrary to God; but force itself it will, if not subject to God in living faith.

In a minor way, how saints of God may dishonor Him in the assembly of His people by allowing the flesh to dictate what shall be done. It knows that what is being done is not according to God, and yet, for fear of man, forces itself to fall in with what others are doing. Thus, the Spirit is quenched and grieved. This will ever be the case where the flesh is allowed to dictate.

Samuel's reply is startlingly frank. Saul has done foolishly. He does not attempt to take up his reasons in detail. The people may have been scattered. He does not refer to that. The enemy may be threatening. He does not even explain his own tarrying, though its purpose was manifest. One thing he has to say to the king:"Thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God which He commanded thee." How all his paltry excuses are scattered to the winds by that solemn arraignment! What excuse can there be for disobedience? Then, too, as to the consequences of this they were not temporary, nor would they be immediately manifested, but this act had shown him to be utterly incapable of rule, to be certainly not the man after God's heart. If indeed he had stood this test, his kingdom would have been established, for it would have been seen that he was a man of genuine faith. One thing he lacked, and that one thing was absolutely needful. It was really everything. It was faith in God. Everything else may be present, but where this is wanting, one cannot be used of Him.

His kingdom, therefore, shall not continue. God must have a man after His own heart; one who knows Him and His goodness and love, and who, spite of many shortcomings, still has a true spirit of obedience to God, which springs from confidence in Him. A little later on will see poor Saul with wonderful zeal and rigidness of external obedience; but we will notice always that wherever the will of God came in conflict with the wishes of man or the desires of his own heart, Saul was wanting. How unspeakably sad and solemn is this, yea, how searching to our hearts! God grant that it may search out every vestige of self-confidence in us, every particle of unbelief which would turn us from obeying God rather than man!

(To be continued.)

Where hast thou been toiling all day, my child,
That thy brow is so burdened and sad?
The Master's work may make weary feet,
But it leaves the spirit glad.

Was thy garden nipped with the midnight frost,
Or scorched with the midday glare ?
Were thy vines laid low, or thy lilies crushed,
That thy face is so full of care ?

" No pleasant garden toils were mine-
I have sat on the judgment-seat,
Where the Master sits at eve, and calls
His servants around His feet."

How camest thou on the judgment-seat,
My child-who set thee there ?
'Tis a lonely and lofty seat for thee,
And well might fill thee with care.

"I climbed on the judgment-seat myself;
I have sat there alone all day;
For it grieved me to see the children around,
All idling their life away:

They wasted the Master's precious seed,
They wasted the precious hours,
They trained not the vines, nor gathered the fruits,
And they trampled the sweet-scented flowers."

And what hast thou done on the judgment-seat,
My child-what didst thou there ?
Would the idlers heed thy childish voice ?
Did the garden mend by thy care ?

" Nay, that grieved me more. I called and I cried,
But they left me there forlorn ;
My voice was weak, and they heeded not,
Or they laughed my words to scorn."

Ah! the judgment-seat was not for thee-
These servants, they were not thine:
And the Eye which adjudges the praise and the blame,
Sees further far than thine.
The Voice that shall sound there at eve, my child,
Will not raise its tones to be heard;
It will hush the earth, and hush the hearts,
And none will resist its word.

" Should I see my Master's treasures lost,
The stores that should feed His poor,
And not lift my voice-be it weak as it may-
And not be grieved sore?"

Wait till the evening falls, my child,
Wait till the evening falls;
The Master is near, and knoweth it all-
Wait till the Master calls.

But how fared thy garden-plot, my child,
While thou sattest on the judgment-seat?
Who watered thy roses, and trained thy vines,
And kept them from careless feet ?

" Nay, that is the saddest of all to me-
Oh, that is the saddest of all!
My vines are trailing, my roses are parched,
My lilies droop and fall."

Go back to thy garden-plot, my child-
Go back till the evening falls;
And bind thy lilies, and train thy vines,
Till for thee the Master calls.

Go make thy garden as fair as thou canst-
Thou workest never alone;
Perchance he whose plot is next to thine
Will see it, and mend his own.

And the next may copy his, my child,
Till all grows fair and sweet:
And when the Master conies at eve,
Happy faces His coming will greet.

And then shall thy joy be full, my child,
In the garden so fair to see,
In the Master's words of praise for all,
In a look of His own for thee.

Selected.
'NOTHING BUT CHRIST."

"In all things let us seek to walk in the light with God:kindly and humbly toward our fellow-men, godly in our inward life individually, and thus in blessed freedom according to Christ."

(1 Cor. 6:19, 20.)

Bought with a price "-so very great-
Jesus alone could pay,
My ransom from the dreadful guilt,
And take my sins away.
(Heb. 9:26.)

His precious blood, the awful price,
For me He freely gave :
And dare I doubt His tender love,
Or willing power to save?
(Rom. 8:35.)

He sought me, wandering far from God,
And took me by the hand
To lead me forth from endless woe,
Into the glory land.
(Eph. 2:13; Psalm 73:23, 24.)

So deep a debtor to His blood,
No wonder He should be
Most precious to my ransomed soul,
Now, and eternally.
(1 Pet. 2:7.)

But I!-ah, canst thou care for such-
So worthless, wayward, cold,
So slow of heart to apprehend
Thy love, and grace untold ?
(Mark 14:66-72; John 13:1.)

Can I be loved, and prized, by Thee?
Speak, Lord, oh, can it be? .
"Yes,-in proportion to the price
Which I have paid for thee."
(Zephaniah 3:17; Kev. 1:5.)

Then, Jesus, Lord, with joy I yield
Myself, my all, to Thee,
For Thou hast loved me unto death,
And given Thyself for me.
(Gal. 2:20.)
C. E. B.

Ques. 28.-Does Scripture intimate that there will cease to be a corporate testimony to the truth of Christ and His Church before the Lord comes ?

Ans.-We know of no scripture that does, nor does it seem like our gracious God to provide for the utter failure of His people. On the other hand, there is much in Scripture to warn, and to keep us from a spirit of self-complacency. The manifest tendency of everything is away from the first love. The professing Church is drifting toward open apostasy, and the world is ripening fast for judgment. It is surely significant that Laodicea follows Philadelphia. This does not mean that Philadelphia is absolutely succeeded by Laodicea, but it does show the moral condition of things at the last, and the special need for lowliness, self-distrust, and faith. It is only the power of God that keeps us, but that, blessed be His name, is for us. It is as true now as ever that Christ is sufficient for His people. God is unchanged, His Word abides. What need then is there for further failure? Surely we are not straitened in Him, but in ourselves.

Let us then not be downcast, nor elated, but in all lowliness count upon the unfailing One. We do not believe it to be a healthy spiritual condition to expect failure, as surely it is not to be puffed up.

Oh wonderful, glorious promise!
It sets our lone hearts all aglow,
Come quickly. Come quickly, Lord Jesus,
Thy people grow weary below.

Oh, surely the night shades are passing;
The dawn is more near now than far,
We're waiting and watching, blest Saviour,
The rise of the "Bright Morning Star."

And then in that long-waited moment,
Thy voice we shall hear bid us come
Right upward and into Thy presence,-
Oh, the joy of that gathering home!

G. A. T.

'Those who have given themselves over entirely to the written word of God for a revelation of Himself may fail to realize what a powerful instrument of communication from God to man nature (whose God the Bible declares) is.

No doubt, while Adam and Eve were still in innocency, nature was God's voice in an unmistakable way. They could look to the heavens in the day, and lift their eyes up by night, and see the glory of God. They could study the mighty sun as he majestically ran his course, the moon in her reflected beauty, and the host of twinkling stars set like diamonds in the velvet of heaven, and stand in silent admiration at His handiwork. They could view the beautiful flowers sending back to the eye the sunlight in many and varied colors, the mighty trees of the earth, the feathered songsters, the waving grain of the fields, the crystal waters, and see God in it all, to His glory.

But sin has entered; and while all nature still is a true witness of God, man will not receive her message, be it ever so plain; and when taken by surprise, he will hear, yet deny, what she says. But
she is faithful, and her mute appeal never ceases :

"The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament showeth His handiwork.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and
Night unto night showeth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard."

So important is this that men will be held accountable for the way they treat this voice of God. This is plainly set forth in Rom. 1:18-23. Here we are told that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." God is jealous of truth, and will hold all men accountable how they hold it:if in righteousness, well; if in unrighteousness, God's anger is aroused. The reason is, that truth reveals Him who is truth:this the next verse explains:"Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." Think of this! Could nature speak more clearly ? The fault is not in nature's voice, but in those who seeing God in nature, yet through pride and love of sin refuse the light, and are without excuse, "because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imagination," etc. What a responsibility men of science assume when they come into such close touch with nature, hear her voice, and deliberately turn upon their heel from the face of Him thus revealed, and who would welcome with delight a true confession of Himself by them! No! men will not "retain God in their knowledge" (Rom. 1:28).

I will give here an instance of how an eminent physicist came face to face with God through nature, and absolutely refused the light she had for him. Prof. Tyndall, in one of his lectures on light, summing up the wonders of light in relation to the eye, said:" Meanwhile we may profitably glance back on the web of relation which these experiments reveal to us. We have, in the first place, in solar light, an agent of exceeding complexity, composed of innumerable constituents, refrangible in different degrees. We find, secondly, the atoms and molecules of bodies gifted with the power of sifting solar light in the most various ways, and producing by the sifting the colors observable in nature and art. To do this they must possess a molecular structure commensurate in complexity with light itself. Thirdly, we have the human eye and brain so organized as to be able to take in and distinguish the multitude of impressions thus generated. The light, therefore, at starting, is complex:to sift and select it as they do, natural bodies must be complex; while, to take in the impression thus generated, the human eye and brain, however we may simplify our conception of their action, must be highly complex. Whence this triple complexity ? If what are called material purposes were the only end to be served, a much simpler mechanism would be sufficient. But, instead of simplicity, we have prodigality of relation and adaptation-and this, apparently, for the sole purpose of enabling us to see things robed in the splendor of color. Would it not seem that nature harbored the intention of educating us for other enjoyments than those derivable from meat and drink? At all events, whatever nature meant,-And it would be mere presumption to dogmatize as to what she meant,-we find ourselves here, as the upshot of her operation, endowed with capacities to enjoy not only the materially useful, but endowed with others of indefinite scope and application, which deal alone with the beautiful and the true."

What a testimony! What a blunder, writing Nature instead of God! We can but wish that the great scientist had not done so. Dear brethren, do we realize that God is speaking to us at every turn ? Do we see nothing more than an impersonal nature in it all ? If there are such stupendous responsibilities devolving upon us from the voice and witness of nature, what must it be to have the truth from God by direct revelation-the Scriptures ! May the Lord lay the importance of these things upon our hearts, that we might be found more and more walking softly in the very presence of God! F. H. J.

The word which is looked at as significant of present day advance is " Science;" and the great principle of science, so far as it is really that, is induction, or, to state it more fully, induction before deduction; which merely means that you must have your facts before you can argue upon them. Nobody, surely, would be likely to dispute that, and yet all error in reasoning comes from the disregard of it. Induction, or the gathering of facts, must be as full as possible in order that the result may be in any way a success. This, in what is commonly called " Science," creates indeed the Uncertainty of much that is counted so. The field is so vast, the facts are so many, who can be sure that he has gathered all that are necessary to be taken into account ? Theory will not do here. All theories are tentative merely. You must start with what cannot be questioned, or questions will grow upon you as you proceed.

What an immense advantage the study of Scripture has here when, in the mercy of God, we have His complete revelation, with all its immensity, nevertheless put for us in so small a compass ! But here also the trouble has been,-is constantly everywhere- in the incomplete gathering of the facts of Scripture. It is almost incredible, until you begin to search for yourself, how loosely Scripture has been read, how little it can be fairly said to have been studied. If it be the word of God, then it is a mere insult to Him to credit Him with any idle word. "All Scripture, given by inspiration of God, is profitable for doctrine." If that be true, then whatever be before us in it, it may be a date, it may be a list of names, it has to be accepted as in this way "profitable ; " not to enable men merely to write history, but "for doctrine"-for truth which is to be blessing to the soul. But who proceeds upon this principle altogether ? How much really has Scripture been studied after this fashion, every part of it given its place and its proportionate place ? Yet apart from this, any commentary upon it must of necessity be vitiated in result just as much as the conclusions of science from an imperfect induction.

It has long been my desire to take up once more the book of Genesis throughout, seeking to apply everywhere this principle, to leave no fact of Scripture unexamined, to treat nothing in it as of no importance (or even of little), but to seek, as God may enable, to get everywhere to the bottom of things, where assuredly we shall find the perfection of Scripture fully established in its blessing everywhere for the soul. Such an attempt as this will of necessity make one very conscious of utter feebleness, and that God alone, after all, can give us in any wise that which we seek. But the attempt, nevertheless, is that which alone can give Him fully the honor that is His due, and is therefore that in which one can count upon the fullest blessing.

It is proposed in this way to take up a book which is the introduction to all Scripture, the divine account of everything from its beginning, and which faith can surely receive as an account complete and even exhaustive for the purpose for which it is given. It is, however little as people may accredit it as that, the primary book of science itself, giving all the fundamental principles which are outside the reach of human investigation. What science can teach us of creation ? The beginning of everything is just that which is least of all accessible to man. The germs 'of all living things are perhaps as such undistinguishable from one another, yet in development the diversity of their nature soon becomes apparent. But think of an account of all this by the Author of it ! How can we talk of any science whatever that can be compared to this ? And people say Scripture is not intended to teach science ! Who told them so ? It was intended to teach just what it does teach. God's work is none of it without significance. Nature itself will be universally allowed to have much to teach us. Why should not God then teach us about nature ? How poor and unworthy must be that knowledge of things which it is unworthy of Himself to give us ! It is not so. The whole beautiful perfection of nature itself rebukes the supposition. Is there no message from God to us in all this ? Christians, alas, in their decision to think only of what they call spiritual, and let all material things drop almost out of account spiritually, have thus given the infidel the surest possible ground for his attack upon Scripture. If there are laws in nature, whose laws are they ? And will they reveal nothing of the Lawgiver ? If Christ is He in whom all things subsist, will not the whole frame of nature, His handiwork, declare Himself ? How false and dishonoring to Christ is any other thought ! It will be the endeavor, then, in this contemplated study of the book of Genesis, to follow every statement that we find in it, as far as possible, to its legitimate results; to seek to explore every track that leads into the known or into the unknown; not theorizing beforehand as to what we shall find there, nor seeking to do anything, but to allow Scripture to speak for itself, and to reveal its own perfection without any supplement of mere human thought or theory, yet not fearing to examine, by what will thus be divine light, whatever in human thought may seem to be in opposition to it. Are there not many to whom a voyage of discovery such as this may prove, will have not merely attraction for the mind, but be of deepest spiritual interest and importance ? Yet it is hoped in all this to preserve all practicable simplicity, that none of the Lord's people may be shut out from whatever is of Himself. If they are His, they have already within them that Spirit that "searcheth the deep things of God," and who is given to guide us into all truth. We must be subject to Him, to learn of Him, and there is no hope as to Scripture that any but the man of God will be "furnished" by it "thoroughly to every good work." For such, however, all truth will be found practical, and in all Scripture, from cover to cover, not a part of it that is not stored with divine riches, and accessible to us just so far as there is faith to lay hold of that which God has given. F. W. Grant. Nov. 1901

The above is inserted as being of touching interest as one of the last articles written by our beloved brother, who hoped to be permitted to take up more exhaustively than he had hitherto done, the study of the book of Genesis. But our God willed otherwise, and our brother has gone to his rest. But besides this, which we may call personal interest attaching to the article, it contains that which we believe will be for edification, and we trust a fresh stimulus to study the word of God. ed.

(Col. 1:15-18.)

Continued from page 95.

We have seen something of the significance of our Lord's title as First-born from among the dead, as applied to Himself personally. But His resurrection is also the God-given witness of the acceptability of the work accomplished in His being delivered up for our offences; and His resurrection is our justification. If we are therefore seen as having died with Christ as our Substitute and Sin-bearer, if He who has thus taken our place be raised up, then we are looked at as being raised up with Him. We see at once that we occupy an entirely new place as linked with our raised Substitute. We have newness of life, and this, in the very nature of the case, takes us out from under the Adam headship to which death and judgment attached, but which have now been borne; and we are under the headship of Christ in resurrection life. Christ in this way is not only the First-born from among the dead, the First-born One of the new order of life, but He truly is also the First-born among many brethren, who are even now conformed in spirit to His image, and in glory will be so displayed.

He is thus also the last Adam, "a quickening Spirit." He is the Last, because in Him God's thought, as first expressed in Adam, who "was the figure of Him who was to come," has found its full and perfect expression, so that there can be no other to come after Him. He is the Last, the divine fulfilment of all God's purposes and counsels. He is therefore the Beginning of the creation of God (Rev. 3:14)-a very beautiful expression.' The race, that creation of which we see Him as the beginning, the First-born, is one with which God can with evident delight link His own name as He never could nor did with the old. It had fallen away from its first beauty and perfection in innocency so that He could not own it as His any more. But here is a new creation, which can never fail, but is perfect in the perfection of its blessed Head, of which God says, That is Mine-His own special portion.

Further contrasts, however, come in here. Adam became a living soul, Christ the Last Adam a quickening (making alive) Spirit. But in immediate connection with this, and speaking of resurrection as to the body, we are told "it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body; " and " if there is a natural body there is also a spiritual one." The connection here is this:a natural body, and Adam a living soul; a spiritual body, and the last Adam a quickening Spirit. The natural body is therefore that which is characterized by the soul living in it. This is the old order. Now that which connects itself with resurrection is different; the spiritual body and the quickening Spirit-the last Adam. Thus as in the old the life of the body was characterized by the soul in it, making it natural, so that Adam is called a living soul, in the new order the body is spiritual. The apostle says, flesh and blood-the soul-life communicated by Adam-cannot inherit God's kingdom ; only the life derived from Christ making the body a spiritual one-a vehicle suited for the spirit-can enter into this inheritance. The order connected with all this is first the natural, and then the spiritual, and of necessity so, as must be plain:before there can be the spiritual for us, there must be the natural, upon
which death is to pass, so that resurrection may come in and in connection with it the communication of the spiritual.

This brings us to another title in direct connection with that of last Adam, that is the second Man. "The first man out of the earth, made of dust, the second Man out of heaven;" and linked with this the race associated with each. "Such as he made of dust, such also those made of dust; and such as the heavenly One, such also the heavenly ones; and as we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly One " (i Cor. 15:47-49, J. N. D.). This is carrying out as to the condition the contrast between the first and second Man and those associated with them, and the natural and spiritual bodies connected with the first and last Adam. The condition of the first, as being a natural body, was of the earth and made of dust, but now the second Man is out of heaven; that is, He whom we know as the second Man is He who came out of heaven and became flesh. As a Man living on earth, He was unique. He must needs remain alone if in this life He continue, for none can ever hope for association with Him in the blessing of His perfect obedience; but in passing through death, not in any sense His due but endured by Him as the due of fallen man, He takes their place, linking them in this marvelous way with Himself and carries them on and up into resurrection life. So that we are associated in life with the Man out of heaven, and the result is, as is this heavenly One so also the heavenly ones; that is, those who are associated with Him in the way we have spoken about through death. And here is the beautiful thought, that we have by this
link with Him obtained a heavenly character in this new order, a character which attaches to the life-giving Spirit, and the body thus animated becomes in this way spiritual. Thus we shall have the image of the heavenly as united through death with the heavenly Man.

In all this we see then the new creation, the new race united in one, under its glorious Head and Firstborn. We understand then how being in Christ means new creation (2 Cor. 5:17 and Gal. 6:15); the portion of which is heavenly things; its sphere heaven itself. This is what the apostle brings us to in Ephesians. the sphere of new-creation-life, as he has developed it in Romans and Galatians, which doctrinally connect with Ephesians.

But if we are thus created in Christ Jesus, as we truly are as those in new creation, he shows us many wonderful relationships in this connection, and the glory of Christ associated therewith. Chief of all, the Body, the Church, of which He is the Head. The revelation of this is given in Ephesians, and in Colossians it is put in direct connection with this First-born title of His that we have been considering. "And He is the Head of the Body, the Church, who is the beginning, the First-born from among the dead." As the Head we think of Him being the Governor, and the power directing all activity and life of the Body. "From Him all the Body ministered to and united together by the bands and joints increaseth with the increase of God" (Col. 2:19 and Eph. 4:16, J. N. D.). He orders in this way the function of each member. As Head of the Church He is over all things, for they are all to be gathered together in one, in Him; that He, having subjected all, may be able, as having all under His power, to subject Himself to God, that He may be all in all. The thought implied in this is that God has given to Christ to reign as Son of Man until all enemies be under His feet (i Cor. 15:24-26). Thus having gained absolute rule over all, He subjects Himself to God, while keeping His place with the Father of reigning and rule, as I apprehend it, over all those things which He had subjected. As One who reigns till all is in subjection, and thus brings in the eternal state, He is the "Father of eternity," the One who is the Pro! genitor of that state; and then having brought it in. He subjects Himself to God that He may be all in all. Thus He remains unchangingly, although in a different position relatively, Head over all things.

This Headship, as to the open manifestation of it, He obtains in exercise of the absolute reigning power given by God to Him, and He keeps the Headship for all eternity in subjection to God. Thus, as the heir of all things, in this connection we see Him first of all bringing by His power the inheritance of which He was heir under His blessed control and into subjection to Him, and then keeping it and entering into it in eternity as the Son subject to God the Father; and we have, wonderful to say, obtained an inheritance in Him. J. B. jr.

(Concluded in next number.)

So truly is eternal life the portion of all believers that the apostle John writes, "These things have I written to you that ye may know that ye have eternal life; [you] who believe on the name of the Son of God " (i John 5:13).

We conclude our readings for this year with the writings of the beloved apostle John-his Gospel and the book of Revelation. While so different in their contents, there is a beautiful harmony, we need not say, which makes them fitting companion pieces.

In the Gospel we see our blessed Lord, the Son of God, made manifest in flesh, who reveals the Father's love in the face of all opposition, and ministers to the feeblest faith of the unworthy that lay hold upon it.

Revelation is the book of judgment, where this same Son of God is seen with eyes as a flame of fire, whose sword must smite those who refuse His grace. Thus mercy and judgment, as we have been so constantly seeing throughout the Psalms, the Prophets, and Epistles, are blended together. Thank God, for the believer, the judgment has been borne by Another, and the mercy flows forth unhindered, though judgment of our ways continues, lest we should exalt ourselves and forget that we are debtors to mercy alone.

The divisions and contents of John's Gospel have been so recently gone into at some length, that it will scarcely be needed to go over them again. Briefly, they are three:

1. (Chaps. 1:-2:22.) The eternal life seen in the person of Christ Himself.

2. (Chaps. 2:23-17:) Eternal life communicated from Christ to His people, who believe in Him.

3. (Chaps. 18:-21:) Eternal life secured through the death and resurrection of our blessed Lord.

Revelation has two main divisions:

1:The judgment of the Son of God upon His Church, the vessel of testimony left upon this earth (Chaps. 1:-3:).

Div. 2. (Chaps. 4:-22:) The judgments of the Son of God poured out upon a guilty world which has refused His grace, either in open opposition or empty profession.

After the judgments come the blessings, of the earth during the Millennium, and of that eternal state where sin will not only be repressed but eternally banished from God's fair creation to its prison, and where the new heavens and new earth will be the abode of a holy as well as a redeemed people.

(Numbers 4:16.)

Eleazar, the third son of Aaron, and the one who takes up the office of priesthood after the death of Nadab and Abihu, brings in for us the thought of resurrection. The service connected with his office typifies that service of Christ as Priest in resurrection. Eleazar has the oversight of the tabernacle, both holy and most holy places; and so Christ is the minister of the holy places and of the true tabernacle of which Israel's was the type (Heb. 8:2). So, also, Christ is Head over all things to the Church:they are all put under His feet.

" And to the office of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, pertain to the oil for the light." The golden lamp stand presents to us Christ in the glory of resurrection; for the bud, flower and fruit of the almond, the emblem of resurrection in Aaron's rod that budded, cover it. Upon its seven branches are placed the lamps from which the light shines which is thrown upon the lamp stand itself. These lamps give us a picture of the saints united to Christ, and borne up by Him in resurrection glory before God, just as these lamps are made part of and are supported by the lamp stand. The oil in these lamps which give the light is the Holy Spirit who indwells every saint of God, and through whom alone that light comes which, shining, reveals somewhat of Christ's glory. It is olive oil, beaten,-that is, made pure,-which gives the light. The word here used for pure, in the original, is from a root "to bruise or break in pieces." The oil is therefore that which is of the Spirit in the saint, and coming from him as light to the glory of Christ, as a result of the bruising and breaking of love's discipline, by which we are conformed to the image of Christ and made partakers of His holiness. In this way God "has shone in our hearts" by the giving of the Spirit; and this is "for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Part, then, of the work of Christ as our great High Priest who has passed through the heavens pertain to the oil for the light.

Is it not His tender ministry and gracious care which secure for us the work of sanctification and discipline, through which the bruising and breaking of all that which is contrary to His holy mind and will is accomplished, so that as a result there will be the pure oil olive to give forth the light which is thrown on Christ Himself to show forth His glory ? This surely is always the object of the Spirit in us, and through us to magnify and glorify Him.

May we, through God's grace, more fully submit to His tending to the oil for the light in us, that we may be bright testimonies to Him.

The second thing is "the sweet incense." In this we have the fragrance of Christ for God. It was Eleazar's duty to see that there was always sweet incense for the offerings. This incense is the fragrance of Christ as offered by His priestly people to God. It is Christ in the activities of His priestly office who draws from the saint that sweet incense of praise that goes up as a sweet odor of Christ, a perpetual delight to God. That which draws forth praise and worship of this sort is surely the making known of Himself to the heart and soul; and this will be according to the measure we permit Him to reveal Himself to us; and, accordingly, great or small will be the measure of our incense offering. " If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him " (John 14:23). The praise and incense of our hearts is drawn forth by the knowing of Himself. His priestly service is ever to maintain us in the enjoyment of communion and fellowship, from the realization of which flow praise and worship. Here His advocacy comes in, and the blessed provision in it for us.

We next have "the daily meat offering" pertaining to Eleazar's office. The prescription for this offering is "a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil" (Ex. 29:40); The fine flour speaks to us of the perfect humanity of Christ. The oil is the symbol of the Spirit in Him, and with whom God sealed Him as perfect. Under the hand of Christ, in resurrection-priesthood, is the ministry of what this implies for us. We see Christ in this offering, the perfect second Man, replacing for God all of the first and old creation. But if we are to participate in the blessing of this, much must be accomplished. So it is only through His death that the way is found. Resurrection, of necessity, must come in, or His death would not avail; there would be no witness from God of its acceptance. Those, then, who find their place in participation in His death, are carried through, in Him, into resurrection, and are administered an entrance, as partakers with Him, into new creation and its attendant blessings, of which He is the Head and Source, as this offering under the ministry of Eleazar's office typifies. It is in resurrection, as the First-born from among the dead, that the ministry to us of the blessing of new creation, Himself the second Man, its Head, comes under His hand. How much the entrance of these things into our hearts means for us! Separation from all that which is of the old, and induction into the glorious new-participation in the meal-offering given us by our heavenly Priest! In this also is to be found the food for our souls; for all we have and shall be is bound up in participation with Christ in new creation; His every glory is linked with it. May we feed more on this precious food!

Finally, "the anointing oil." This brings in the thought of sanctification, separation to Himself, and holiness. This is, of course, the work of the Spirit; therefore the oil is used. This likewise is connected with Christ in resurrection. It is the glorifying of Christ which brings down the Spirit to dwell in the believer. He it is who is the " Spirit of Truth," who does not speak of Himself, but will guide us into all truth. The work of sanctification is by the truth (John 17:17), and it is the Spirit who alone can minister it in such a way that this end shall be accomplished. "He shall receive of Mine, and show it unto you" (John 16:14), and Christ declares that all things are His. We have a great High Priest over the house of God, under whose hand all things have been put, and who orders all in connection with that house. Of these things He gives to the Spirit, and they constitute the truth, the revelation, His Word; the Spirit is to impart it to us, and by it we are to be sanctified. We are chosen therefore by God "from the beginning to salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth " (2 Thess. 2:13-J- n. d.). Thus the anointing oil is under the hand of our Eleazar also.

May we, through His all-sufficient grace, seek to walk in such a way that the Spirit shall not be grieved, but shall be able to minister to our souls the precious truth which sanctifies and separates us to our blessed Lord!

How blessed the fulness of that provision made for the saints of God in the priesthood of Christ! The more we lay hold of what has been done for us in God's infinite love, the more we realize what Christ is in glory for us at God's right hand, the deeper will be the work in our hearts, so that the light shall shine forth, the sweet incense of praise go up before the throne; and then that glory shall be entered into by us which is ours in participation with Christ in the meal-offering character; finally, the blessed work of sanctification will be wrought out in us to the praise of the glory of His grace-all the fruit of His loving ministry as our Priest. J. B. Jr.

Man is a social being, and grace by no means ignores this characteristic. In fact, the joys of fellowship with fellow believers are infinitely greater than any earthly companionship ; and yet this fellowship must have a solid substratum of individuality, or it will be neither helpful nor lasting. There are a few scriptures which illustrate the dealings of our Lord with individuals, that will bring out the importance of this.

I. IN CONVICTION.

If there is to be genuine measurement of sin, it must be in the presence of God alone, with no distraction from one's fellows, which would either lessen the true sense of guilt, or so oppress the soul with shame that it will become self-occupation instead of self-judgment. A familiar example of how the Lord deals in a solitary way with a soul, to produce conviction, is found in the fourth of John, in the case of the woman of Samaria. It is scarcely necessary to more than mention this. No one is present to hear what she has to say to Him who discloses to her the fact that He knows all about her. Thus, quietly, she is brought to measure the solemn fact that God knows all her past and all the secrets of her heart. Everything is brought out into the light, and the effect of it is not to drive her away, nor to overwhelm her, but in all sobriety, knowing her true condition, to cast herself upon Him who had told her all things that ever she did.

Souls may be awakened in companies. As a matter of fact, conviction of sin may take place, and
often does, in the presence of others; but there is an isolation of spirit which answers to the case of the woman of Samaria. None is seen but the Lord and one's guilty soul. Everything else is forgotten or ignored; and until He has done His holy work, one's fellow men are entirely in the background. Where this is not the case, even when there is a genuine work of the Spirit of God, He is much hampered by the fear of man, or, what is perhaps worse, the comfort of man. It is far more dangerous to tell one that his case is not so bad or hopeless as it might be, than it would be to tell him there was no hope. Neither of these is done when the soul is alone with the Lord.

II. NEED MET.

We see twin mercies in the healing of the woman with the issue and the raising of Jairus' daughter. It is as our Lord was on the way to heal the latter, that the woman comes behind Him and touches the border of His garment. Strikingly, she had been afflicted twelve years, even as Jairus' daughter was twelve years of age. The life of a fallen creature, after all, is but a lingering disease, sure to end, unless grace interpose, in death. So, Jairus' daughter would represent the feebleness and decay of nature from the beginning, as the woman would suggest the defilement that comes in connection with that.

The crowd surges about our Lord, the multitudes throng Him and press Him, some with interest, some with hostility, many with indifference, probably merely attracted by the crowd. His disciples are close about Him; but in the midst of all that throng there is one spark of faith, one hand that is reached out to lay hold of the everlasting mercy that is there for her- equally there for all the crowd, who, alas, pass on with indifference, unconscious of their need. But oh, how good it is to think that He notes the faith which feels its need; He recognizes the reality of that which timidly and in secret, as it were, would lay hold upon His mercy! He recognizes and marks it all. Faith gets what it needs. This is ever true. Most blessed fact! Let the multitude press and throng. It cannot press away or check one single soul who would creep, with its need, to the border of Jesus' garment. And so, in this poor world, with its multitudes passing here and there, if our needy souls desire it, we can ever lay hold upon One who meets that need.

III. FINDING PEACE.

The scene in the seventh of Luke is in striking contrast with that in the fourth of John, so far as externals are concerned. Instead of a lonely seat by the well-side, speaking with the woman, we see Him at a feast in the Pharisee's house, with all its accompaniments. Is it possible that in such a presence as this there can be solitary dealing with a soul ? Most beautifully does the narrative of the woman that was a sinner answer this. She had an apprehension of the grace of Christ; how deep and full, we know not, but sufficiently so to have stirred the inmost depths of her soul, and to bring her, with her double gift of tears and precious ointment, to the feet of Him who would never spurn even such as she.

The crowd that is about her, the sneering Pharisees, with their self-complacency and contempt even
of Christ, are all ignored or forgotten by her. One only occupies her mind and heart, and that One is He who knows all about her, and, knowing it, does not turn her from Him. What boldness simple faith gives!-boldness in the presence of those who despise! She is not overwhelmed by their greatness or neglect. What overwhelms her is the sense of that wondrous grace that has stooped to meet her need and guilt. So she pours out together tears of bitter shame and sorrow-tears, too, of love; and, mingling with it, may we not say, not more fragrant or acceptable to our Lord, the sweet perfume that tells of the preciousness of His own name, which is like ointment poured forth.

How blessed it is to be alone with Him thus, alone even in the midst of everything that is contrary to Him and us, alone as worshipers where the cold smile of self-righteous contempt in vain would distract our hearts!

IV. TESTIMONY AND WORSHIP.

The blind man in John 9:illustrates a further phase of this solitary intercourse with Christ. His very blessings had isolated him. Until Christ opened his eyes, he at least had a home and a place in the synagogue, with the pity and the pittances of his coreligionists. All that is changed when he has a Hand laid upon his eyes and obeys the word which tells him to wash and receive his sight. He has eyes now, but he has lost apparently everything else. The men of the synagogue turn him out. His own parents refuse to stand by him. He is left all alone, no one apparently even to wish him joy with his new-found treasure; alone so far as man is concerned, but that loneliness is but the occasion for One to make His presence known which amply repays for every loss.

He had received blessing from the Lord as the Opener of his eyes, but he was now to use those eyes in beholding the Son of God. Our blessings, after all, are but means to enter more fully into the glories of the Person of Christ. There is no holier place, no more wonderful in all the Gospels, than the nameless place where Jesus found the man and manifested Himself to him as the Son of God. There the worship of heaven is anticipated, as the once sightless beggar bows prostrate at the feet of Him who is, for faith, "my Lord and my God!" Unquestionably, he will find his place later on in association with others who, like himself, have learned in solitude to know this blessed One:but who can intrude between the soul and this meeting with Him who has made Himself all in all to it?

V. SERVICE.

There was a subtle pride in Peter which led him to think more of his own devotion to Christ than of that of his brethren:"Though all men shall be offended because of Thee, yet will I never be offended." This savors little of that self-knowledge which would rather ask, "Lord, is it I?" Left to ourselves, what are we not capable of ? But the same grace that called Peter, and bore with him through all his waywardness and instructed him, is sufficient here too, and, though he must bitterly learn his lesson, when he has learned it, restores him fully to the joy of communion and of service again.

Simultaneously with his restoration to the Lord is his reinstatement in service. "Lovest them Me?" '' Feed My Lambs." '' Shepherd My sheep." It all goes together. If there is love to Christ, love that is deeper because based now upon self-distrust, it is to find expression in showing Christ's love to those who are its objects. Yet even here Peter forgets for a moment that to be alone in the path of service to the Lord must ever be first, and fellowship next. He had heard the words "Follow thou Me." Were not these sufficient ? He turns, however, to see another disciple whom Jesus loved, who also is following as surely he would, and the sudden question, "Lord, and what shall this man do?" shows occupation rather with his brother's service than his own. Our Lord's loving rebuke is a word for us all. " If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? Follow thou Me." Even should John be left here, spared from the cross which Peter was to endure, it was in the Hands of love and power, which could make no mistake. Peter's care was not to know what would befall John, but rather keeping so close to his Lord, to see that he was in the place where he could do and suffer for his Master.

Let us hear that word for ourselves! We look at others who seem busily and happily engaged in the Lord's service, it may be, whose lot in life seems far happier than our own perhaps-who know nothing apparently of the ruggedness of the way; and are we not at times tempted to say, "Lord, and what shall this man do?" It maybe that we are called to some arduous service, or to that which is harder yet, the rasping of a position which ever lets us feel the thorns of the way. We are tempted to repine, to fret, and to look with longing at some one else who seems to have a smoother path. Let us never forget that the path which love has chosen for us is the best that love could choose, best even that divine love could possibly choose. If only Christ is seen in it, if it is only following Him individually, irrespective of all others, it will be a. path whose brightness increases more and more unto the perfect day.

Thus, having been dealt with in the solitude of our own bosoms, in the presence of the Lord, as to sin, as to need, as to peace with Himself, as to worship, and as to service, we are prepared for that fellowship of kindred minds which is our joy on earth. Others, too, have been led as we have. They, too, have been isolated, and felt it keenly. They, too, have found the sufficiency of Christ, all alone, with no one else, and, finding Him sufficient, are now ready both to help and to be helped by all the holy intercourse of those to whom Christ is all, and therefore His people are dear to them.

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

Chapter 7:THE NEW KING. (1 Sam. 10:17-11:)

(Continued from page 451.)

They had come to Gilgal at the invitation of I Samuel to renew the kingdom; and this he proceeds to do in the divine, rather than in the human way. Man's thought of reorganization, or renewal, is to strengthen everything on the basis upon which it rests. The people evidently had this in mind in connection with the celebration of their victory over the Ammonites, and the joy which accompanied it. Samuel, however, appropriately with the place, seeks to lead the people into deeper self-judgment, goes back indeed to the roots which had made possible their present condition, and shows how their desire for a king was connected with their sin and departure from God.

First of all, he speaks of himself. He is about to lay aside that government which, as judge, he had exercised for God. There was no longer need for a judge if they had a king. How significant it was that there was still the same need for him as ever, showing the utter incompetence of the king, who occupied a place officially which he could not actually fill! Samuel spreads his whole life before them, going back to his childhood days, when he had taken his place publicly before the nation as one who was to be a servant for God. From that day to the present he had walked before them. His sons also were with them. Of these indeed, as we have already seen, not much could be said, and yet the very contrast of their unfaithfulness with his uprightness would only serve to bring into bolder relief the integrity which had marked his entire course. He asks them to witness against him, even as Paul did at a later day. Had covetousness, self-interest in any of its forms, characterized him? Whom had he defrauded ? Whom had he oppressed ? From whom had he received a bribe, that he might pervert justice ? It is the last opportunity the people will have of having their wrongs righted, if indeed there were such. What a sense of integrity must have filled his heart thus to challenge their accusations !

Not even calumny can raise its voice against this faithful old man. His pure, unselfish life spoke for itself, and they can only reply, "Thou hast not defrauded us nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken aught out of any man's hand." He calls God to witness that they have made this statement; and in thus silently passing over rule to the hands of Saul, he calls him also to witness that there has been nothing unjust in all his past life. Again the people reply, "God is witness." Will they be able to say the same of the young king, flushed with his recent victory, and the man of their choice ? Will he prove as unselfish, as devoted, as single-eyed, as this aged servant of God, whose care is not so much for his own good name as for the honor of that gracious God whose servant and representative he has been ? Samuel would have shrunk from the thought that he in any way had been a king. All his authority was derived from God; all his appeal was to God, and he had never sought to interpose between the people and their direct obedience to their rightful King and Ruler, Jehovah.

This is ever the character of all true rule. Self is obliterated. If it speak of its own faithfulness, it is simply to silence false accusation, and to awaken conscience. Thus Paul, in the eleventh and thirteenth chapters of 2 Corinthians, is compelled to speak of his own course, but is well-nigh ashamed to do so. It is only to leave the Corinthians without excuse as to the character of ministry there had been amongst them.

True service, as we have said, ever has clean hands. Love, which is the spring of all service, "seeketh not her own." Fruit-bearing is for others, and not for our own enjoyment. Samuel never sought a place nor claimed dignities for himself. It was his one desire to witness for God and to be a help to His beloved people. This his whole well-spent life testified to.

It is a searching question for us:What is our motive in ministering to the saints of God ? Is it simply for the honor of our Lord and for the blessing of His people, or does self enter, as an important element, into it all ? The Lord keep us in that true lowliness of spirit which desires simply the blessing of others!

Having cleared his own skirts and secured from the people themselves a witness of his integrity, Samuel next speaks of the faithfulness of God, and with it of the unfaithfulness of His people. He goes back, as he had once before done, to Egypt, and rapidly reviews the salient features of their history. In their distress in Egypt they had cried to Him. Had He failed them ? He sent Moses and Aaron to deliver them out of their bondage and bring them into the place which they were now occupying. Moses and Aaron were not kings. They were God's instruments accomplishing His will; but so far from displacing Him, they were the means of preserving the people in closer relationship with Himself. So, too, in the trials which had beset them since their entering into the land:all these trials were produced by their own departure from God, and He had never delivered them into the hands of enemies save when they had forsaken Him. But even when, in faithfulness, He was compelled to turn them over to such enemies as Sisera in the north, or the Philistines in the west, or the Moabites on the east, it had only-been that they might learn the difference between serving God and serving evil. It would only intensify in their souls the absolute necessity of cleaving to the Lord in true-hearted obedience. As soon as they had begun to learn their lesson, how quickly did He respond to their cry! He had sent them one deliverer after another. Gideon, Jephthah, Barak, and Samuel himself, amongst others, had been used of God to rescue them from the most cruel bondage. But, as we have already seen, did these deliverers become kings ? Gideon distinctly refuses the crown, and even Jephthah, though he apparently dallied with it, never usurped full kingly authority; and as to Samuel, we have already seen.

Their past lessons should have taught the people, surely, both the cause of their trouble and the way of escape. What deliverance could be more brilliant and complete than that of Gideon, or of Barak? Was anything lacking in it? Had not Samuel led them victoriously against the Philistines ? Could a king do more than these had done? And yet, when a fresh evil menaces them, caused unquestionably by the same spirit of departure from God, they turn now to other relief than to the living God. The Ammonites assail, and instead of crying to God with confession of the sin which had made such an assault possible, they ask for a king, thus displacing Him who was King in Jeshurun. How faithfully the aged prophet shuts the people up to a sense of their folly! They cannot escape it. They have turned away from the One who has been their Saviour and Deliverer from Egypt to that present time. They have dishonored and rejected Him, and now they may look at their king. Surely his stature and goodly appearance would shrivel into nothingness in the presence of the mighty God whom the prophet had been holding up before them. Surely, if there was a heart to hearken, such a review as this could not fail to bring them to that true self-abasement which answers to Gilgal.

He has now unburdened himself, and therefore next speaks of the future. Even though they have thus slighted the Lord, let the time past for all this suffice, and let them with their king now go on in obedience to His will; for, after all, the king, as the people, must be subject to God. If so, they will find that His path is still open for them, and blessing will follow them; but if they turn away from Him, and refuse the voice of the Lord, and depart from Him, His hand will be against them, and they will go on to the bitter end, to learn that God is as true as His word, and that departure from Him can only bring one result But he will not leave them even with this last word alone. There must be visible manifestation that he is speaking for God, and that God will speak with him. It is the time of their wheat harvest, a season when all nature seems at rest; but in answer to his cry, God will send storm and thunder as tokens of His displeasure at His people's course-a witness of His resistless majesty and power. As at Sinai, the people tremble. Alas, the flesh can only tremble in the presence of God. It cannot profit by the solemn lessons of His majesty. Its one desire is to get out of that Presence, that it may do its own will. So they seem contrite enough for the time being. They acknowledge their sin in having desired a king, and ask God's mercy. Alas, all this too is superficial, as is abundantly seen in a short time.

The prophet has not meant to overwhelm them, but only to test them. And so comes the reassuring word "Fear not:ye have done all this wickedness :yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart."

How patient and long-suffering is our gracious God! He will test the flesh down to the last, give opportunity after opportunity to see if there is still any true desire to cleave to Him. The prophet's one anxiety is that the people should not depart from God. There is no danger that the Lord would forsake them. For His own great name, for that grace which has set its love upon them, He will not depart from them. They are His people. The very chastenings which fall upon them are but a proof of this, and so far as He is concerned they can rest assured that His love will be with them to the end. So, too, the aged prophet will ever remain loyal to the people dearer to him than his own life. It would be a sin against God to cease to pray for them. He will continue, therefore, to be their intercessor, though they have rejected him as their leader. How beautiful and gracious is all this ! Into his retirement the servant bears no grudge against an ungrateful nation. He enters simply into his closet, there to pour into the willing ear of a loving God the needs of this foolish, self-confident, fickle people.

How beautifully all this speaks of the unchanging purpose of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we need hardly say. All on that side is secure:divine love and power pledged to bring us safely through, even in spite of the folly which would forget that grace alone can preserve. Our Intercessor abides before God, and bears His people's names and needs before His Father. So, too, will it be with all true ministry for God. One will not be soured by the indifference of those whom he is seeking to help. If he has truly been ministering for God, he will continue to pray for those who, for the time being, have no desire for his service, and are glorying in the flesh.

How the prophet rings the changes on his message ! '' Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider how great things He hath done for you "-words surely that need not exposition, but the impress of the Holy Spirit upon our own souls ! How great things has He done for us ! Shall we then for a moment boast in that flesh which He condemned by the cross ?

Lastly, there is a final word of warning:'' But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king." How solemnly this was fulfilled in their later history, the captivity of many a king, with the people too, makes only too manifest.

(To be continued.)

1 Pet. 1:18, 19; Gal. in. 13; Rom. 5:1.

On Calvary's blood-stained tree,
Where I deserved to be,
Was sacrificed for me
The spotless Lamb of God.

And when I stood in awe
Of God's oft-broken law,
One, cursed for me, I saw-
The spotless Lamb of God.

So Christ was judged for me;
And I, forever free,
By faith rejoiced to see
The spotless Lamb of God.

What wondrous grace was shown
To me, a wretch undone,
That, for me, should atone
The spotless Lamb of God!

In peace I now abide;
For God is satisfied
With Him, who for me died-
The spotless Lamb of God.

REFRAIN

O, blessed, spotless Sacrifice,
How costly was Thy love for me!
For Thou didst pay the ransom price-
"Thy precious blood "-to make me free.

G. K.

[The beloved author of these sweet lines has lately gone home to the Lord. ED.]

DIFFERENT LINES OF TRUTH CONSIDERED.

The truth of salvation is presented in different ways or lines in the doctrine of the New Testament, and in the types of the Old.

The Epistles to the Romans, Colossians and Ephesians answer to the types in Israel's journey from Egypt to Canaan. The Epistle to the Hebrews unfolds typical teachings of the Tabernacle; and the brazen serpent, and the record that all who looked upon it lived, is explained in the Gospel of John.

In the first line of truth we see how we are delivered out of the world, and given a place or standing in Christ in heavenly places, taken out of one country into another. This is clearly what is presented in the epistles to the Romans, Colossians and Ephesians; while in the types of the Tabernacle, unfolded in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the way is made known how a people laden with sins can be – that is have been – sanctified, and perfected by the Cross, so as to be able to enter into the very presence of God.

But in the brazen serpent type, as whosoever looked lived, so in John's record it is declared that "whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life " (John 3:16). Therefore to say that the brazen serpent type teaches something we have to attain to (as for example Rom. 8:2, 3) is surely a serious misapprehension. Is it not plainly what all who are born of God possess – eternal life, that is set before us?

Are not all believers in Canaan, typically heavenly places in Christ?" (Eph. 1:2) And have we not all access to God, in the holiest? (Heb. 10:19) And do not all possess eternal life (John 3:16 and 5:24)-"life through a look at the crucified One" as well said in the hymn ? To teach that what is a common and infinitely precious possession of all God's children is a stage in the soul's growth, or something not actually possessed, is to cast a shadow upon free grace. One is reminded of the word to the Galatians "he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be."

The Lord in mercy deliver souls from bondage to this teaching. "This persuasion cometh not of Him that calleth you."

God's children have been, and still need to be, warned against this system of error.

In the same way:"Be ye reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:) is said to be an exhortation to Christians -in face of the truth that "when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son " (Rom. 5:10). And, "fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ" of i John 1:, is by this teaching confined to the apostles! whereas the same scripture tells us that what the apostles had seen and heard of the Word of life-Christ, the eternal life- was declared unto us by them, that we might have fellowship with them and so "our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son." And, it is added, "these things write we unto you that your joy may be full,"-and Satan would rob us of this fulness of joy. Shall we be led captive by him? When the possession of eternal life is denied we need not be surprised that "our fellowship" with the Father and the Son should be denied also.
These two denials of blessings that Christ has secured to God's dear children by the Cross, are as consistent with each other as they are boldly unscriptural, and evil. May God work repentance! It may be said now as of old (Ps. 80:13), as to God's vine "The boar out of the wood doth waste it."

So we are told we have only "title to die," in place of the precious and most important doctrine that we are dead (Col. 3:3) according to which God's word tells us to "reckon" ourselves to be so; that is to reckon ourselves to be "dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." Consistently with this; a writer (in "A Voice to the Faithful," Mar. '97) objects that some "assert that you get deliverance by the reckoning of faith, and do not see that you start on new ground and therefore that your deliverance can only be in the life of Christ."

It is true the last few words are vague, but the paragraph as a whole shows that the writer is opposing the reckoning which Rom. 6:tells us to do.

In short we are told point after point, "this is what is true,"when Scripture tells us with perfect plainness the opposite. What a spell must be thrown over the mind when the word of man displaces from it the word of God!

But the truth is emphasized and made the more precious to those who are faithful.

We have noticed how the types of the Pentateuch answer to the epistles of Paul, to the epistle to the Hebrews, and to the writings of John in three lines of truth, and we may add that in Peter's presentation of things we are "strangers and pilgrims," and having a "living hope laid up for us in heaven."

It is thus interesting to note that Paul to the Hebrews, and John and Peter answer to different lines of types, giving different, however related, views of the work of grace. To misapprehend this is to get into great confusion, and to be robbed of a sanctifying view of the richness and perfection and harmony of the doctrines and types of Scripture.

We do not learn something from Paul to get on to something in John, but we are taught by Scripture that all believers have perfection of blessing and relationship and standing and life from the start, from the beginning, whether according to Paul, or Hebrews, or John, or Peter. To cast a shadow upon this is what calls forth severe denunciation in the Epistle to the Galatians. Should it not produce righteous indignation now, however tempered by grace, self-judgment, and godly fear ?

Brethren, we have all one common standing in Christ; we have all eternal life in the Son; we have all the indwelling Spirit, and our sins are all forgiven; just as we have also one common hope, that the Lord may come at any time to take us to be forever with Himself. We are not two classes, but one; for "there is one body and one Spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling" (Eph. iv).

May we confidingly look upwards, rejoicing in Christ our hope, and hold fast His most precious word,-the word of His grace. E. S. L.

To arrive at the absolute involves abstractions beyond the finite mind of man. However, effort of this kind amply repays the searcher after truth if he will only delve in the mountain of truth with the pick and shovel of Scripture, actuated by a spirit of love and reverence for Him who is the Truth. These are prerequisites, and without them the fields of divine truth will be barren indeed.

There is a remarkable passage (i Tim. 2:4) where God, having become the Saviour of men, the Saviour-God, "desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth."

If we could be in the presence of God apart from any connection with the universe, we would be conscious of truth only. Error cannot possibly exist in His presence. It does not exist there because it has been discovered and eliminated, or, being there was purged out, but because it never could exist there.

If now we could bring in the universe as it was at the time of Adam's innocency, we would still be conscious of nothing but truth. This must be so because God pronounced everything "very good," and therefore without error. This is the very nature of truth, it is always consistent with itself, which is the nature of Him who is the Truth. There cannot be any truth at all apart from God. If He were to cease to exist would truth remain? Certainly not. But allow His existence and the thought of His character immediately follows, which is, He is Truth. Do you want the truth as to love? God is love. Do you want the truth as to light? God is light. And so on.

Now no doubt Adam in his unfallen estate apprehended God in this way and rejoiced in His presence. But something has occurred that prevents man from knowing God direct. More than that, something has occurred that makes man by nature an enemy of God. He has lost all possession* of truth, and must therefore approach God through Another. * έπγvωσις, "full knowledge," which acknowledges the truth of a thing; but I have said "knowledge," not "full" or " certain knowledge," as more just in English . ' If I said, in English, "acquainted with the truth," it would! imply not possessed; but knowledge is έπγvωσις If we say " full," it is contrasted with "partial;" "certain" with "doubtful" To know the truth suggests possession of it." (J. N. D.)* We have, then, the unspeakably precious truth that God may be perfectly seen through the Lord Jesus Christ, we see God in Christ.

However, as the passage quoted indicates, men 'must be saved. God's righteousness demands that the matter of sin must be settled to His glory, then it is the untold privilege to again know God, and that in Jesus Christ who is the 'Truth. Therefore if we desire to know God as to righteousness, it is to behold Jesus; as to holiness it is to behold Jesus; as to light it is to behold Jesus; as to love it is to behold Jesus-and so on. Surely we can now say "in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."

I do not think the passage quoted from first Timothy looks at man with reference to this terrible moral condition, but rather at the fact that he has lost completely all possession of the truth, which of course is the direct result of sin. What an unspeakable privilege to know God, and that too in Christ the Truth. F. H. J.

THE MAN AFTER THE FLESH.

PART II. THE KING OF MAN'S CHOICE.

Chapter 9:SAUL AND JONATHAN CONTRASTED.

(1 Sam. 13:15-14:46.)

(Continued from page 258.)

Wherever there is a living faith that lays hold upon God, no apparent helplessness will prevent His manifesting His power, and we have now a refreshing contrast to the timidity and helplessness of Saul and the people with him in the energy of faith on the part of two. Jonathan, Saul's son, and his armorbearer, act in independence of the king. Apparently seeing the uselessness of waiting for his father to take any initiative, the soul of Jonathan is stirred, and he proposes to his armor-bearer to go out alone. Saul still tarries at Gibeah, with his 600 men and with the priests, who would seem to speak of the presence of God, but whose names and connections remind us of the period of priestly ruin at the time of Eli. It is Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, who is there. The glory had departed from Israel, and so far as these priests were concerned it had not returned. Neither Saul nor the people with him know anything of Jonathan's determination, and the priests are apparently as ignorant as the rest. How truly must faith not confer with flesh and blood, nor count upon the slightest assistance from those who have but the name without the reality of priestly communion! Things are as discouraging as possible for Jonathan. The garrison of the Philistines is strongly intrenched upon an almost inaccessible height, separated by a deep ravine from where Jonathan was. A sharp rock on either side of this ravine would prevent his approach to the enemy, except as he had strength and courage to surmount almost impassable obstacles. The names of these two rocks are given -Bozez, which means "shining," and would dazzle the eyes and prevent any rapid climbing, while its white, bare surface would most effectually prevent any concealment needed in an ambuscade; Seneh, the sharp declivity down which he must climb before he can ascend Bozez, means "a thorn,"which might easily pierce, and evidently suggests the extreme difficulty of his undertaking.

The spiritual meaning of all this seems quite clear. The enemy is strongly intrenched on its rock, surrounded by brilliant, shining heights, both intellectual and material. It would seem like madness to attempt to scale these shining heights in the hope of dislodging the proud enemy. All that can be associated with the side which is to make the attack is the barrenness, and even the apparent curse, suggested by the thorn. Is not God's hand that which has permitted all this oppression, and does it not seem like resisting Him to resist the authority of those who have gained ascendency over us under His chastening hand ? But faith does not reason in this way, nor does it look at either thorns or brightness. The way of the slothful is as a hedge of thorns, but the way of faith is with God, and neither thorns nor heights are aught to Him.

Jonathan confers with his armor-bearer, who is but a young man, even nameless. He proposes to
him to go over unto the camp of the Philistines. Notice how they are designated-uncircumcised, people who are without the mark of covenant relationship with God, that covenant which had been made with Abraham, and the sign given to him which was ever the mark upon the Israelite. Spiritually, we know that circumcision answers to that sentence of death upon ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in the living God. It is that which was renewed at Gilgal, at which we have already looked, and speaks thus of "no confidence in the flesh." Circumcision does not trust the flesh, knows its helplessness, its hopeless enmity against God. Uncircumcision would in like manner answer to confidence in the flesh; and after all, what are the Philistines, with all their greatness, with all their intrenchment on the shining heights of power and position ? What are they, after all, in the eyes of faith, but those who have confidence in the flesh ? They trust in human power, human wisdom, human forms, everything of man, and God is left out.

What is this, after all, for faith ? Does not faith know that these things cannot be trusted in, that there is no spiritual power in them whatever ? So Jonathan, as he looks at them, sees only those whose confidence is false, in the arm of flesh. On the other hand, looking at God, while not absolutely sure that He will do so, he knows His ability. "There is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few." He sees that the battle is not his, but the Lord's. What difference does it make whether the Lord uses a host, or uses his own feeble arm ? Nay, if He please, can He not act without any means? What victory already is in the air as we listen to such brave words as these, coming from a heart that is fed upon the strength of God! Is not every word true ? Is there any restraint with the Lord ? Can He not save by the few, as well as by the many ? Has He become reconciled to His bitter enemies? Has He come under the oppression of the Philistines ? To ask such questions is to answer them, and one would fain feel the quickening pulsations of a courage that partakes of Jonathan's faith.

How noble is the response of the nameless armor-bearer! "Do all that is in thy heart:turn thee; behold, I am with thee, according to thy heart." "Can two walk together except they be agreed?" And here is the faith which responds to faith, and is developed by it.

But courage does not mean rashness, though it may often seem like that. Jonathan is really working with God, as the people say later on, and therefore he must be sure that he is in God's path. He proposes, therefore, that the sign shall come from God Himself, even as Gideon in his day had his faith fortified by various signs in confirmation. Jonathan and his armor-bearer will show themselves to the Philistines. They will attract their attention. If this excites them sufficiently to come down to their position, they will stand and wait the attack. If, on the other hand, they invite them to come up to them, they will go forward in the confidence that God is leading them on to victory.

We notice, however, that no provision is made for retreating, and apparently there is nothing in his mind but a conflict and victory. It is simply a question whether he or the Philistines shall be the aggressors. Faith has its armor on the right hand and the left, has its breastplate, shield and helmet, but never any armor for the back. No provision is made for the cowardice which runs away. Jonathan will either go forward or stand his ground. He will not retreat. Neither, by God's grace, will we.

How graciously God responds to the faith that lays hold upon Him in this bold way! The two show themselves to their enemies, and are invited to come up. We can well imagine the supercilious smile of contempt with which the Philistines say, "The Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves." What a reproach, beloved, it is when we are afraid to say that we are the Lord's, and hide in secret places-when we are afraid to let our neighbors know that we are Christ's, and that the word of God is our sufficient guide, which we are seeking to obey! Is not such a reproach merited by the mass of the Lord's people at this time, hidden so that even those in closest contact with them would not suspect that they are genuinely for Christ ? Of course there may be, as there is, a morality and outward walk of rectitude-even to a certain extent religious observances in which Philistines themselves can join; but where is that bold confession of loyalty to Christ our Lord ? doing what we do because we belong to Christ, and not merely because it is right, or expected, or the habit of others ? And when one, in the boldness and simplicity of faith, does thus show himself, speaking out frankly for his Lord's honor, how the reproach may well fall upon all the rest of the people of God that at least a few are coming out of their holes and showing themselves!

But this very showing is the presage of victory. The Philistines will amuse themselves with this little
morsel of opposition, and have no hesitation in inviting the bold climbers to come up to them. This they do, and a sorry day it was for the Philistines that they ever invited them up! Jonathan speaks out. The Lord has already delivered the enemy, not into his hands, mark, but into the hand of Israel; for Jonathan realizes that the victor is not for himself individually, but for all the people of God. How important it is, for all our spiritual conflicts, to realize that we are first of all fighting with God; secondly, for God; and thirdly, for all His people!

They climb up, as has been said, upon their hands and feet, suggesting both work and prayer. It is neither idleness nor vain confidence, but the toil of those who realize that in themselves is no strength. We read very little of the details of this conflict. The victory has already been won in Jonathan's heart, and further details might attract us from the real lesson involved. Faith that has conquered our own coward heart can conquer any Philistines that oppose. The slaughter does not seem to be very great, judged from human standpoint, and yet what mighty results flow from it! There is a trembling everywhere. It is as though God were laying His mighty hand upon all, and causing proud oppressors and the camp of Israel, yea, the land itself, to feel the weight of that arm which will shake not only earth, but heaven too. There is a trembling of God.

(To be continued.)

Ques. 13.-"Please explain John 2:4. 'Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come"

Ans.-Mary, in common with the disciples of our Lord, did not realize that the path to the throne lay by the way of the cross. There was the constant tendency to think of the Kingdom as about to be set up immediately in power aud glory. Therefore this had to be checked. Besides a possible dictation of what was to be done by our Lord, His reply shows her that all must be left to His own judgment. The time had not yet come for the outward manifestation of the Kingdom, and she must leave Him free to act according to the Father's will and purposes into which she could not intrude.

But this rebuke is not, as we know, inconsistent with most perfect love for her, as witness her tender commitment to John by our Lord when He hung upon the cross. There we see perfect human love. Here we see that her love cannot intrude for a moment into God's things.

Ques. 14.-"What is the Christian's work? sowing and reaping, or reaping only?"

Ans.-We are still living in times spoken of in the parable of the sower. "In the morning sow thy seed" we might apply to the Pentecostal and early apostolic times; but, though darkness has come in and the day is far spent, it adds :"And in the evening withhold not thy hand." So, we continue to sow beside all waters the precious seed of the word of God, knowing that it will be our joy also to reap. Of course, in the full sense of the harvest, the time has not yet come when sheaves will be gathered in, but every precious soul brought to Christ is part of the first-fruits of that happy time. May we be diligent, both in sowing the seed and seeking to gather in precious souls also !

Ques. 15.-"What is the difference between the Jews' inquiry in Acts 2:37. 'What shall we do?' and that of the jailer in Acts 16:30?"

Ans.-There seems to be very little difference. Both are the question of awakened souls. That at Pentecost was under the direct preaching of the Word by Peter; and the Gentile's anxious inquiry was produced by the manifest power of God. The answer was suited to each case. To the Jews, Peter said:"Repent and be baptized, every one of yon in the came of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." This repentance and confession of Christ were called for. In the case of the jailer there was evident knowledge of his lost condition, so faith in Christ is what is presented. Q. 16.-In Col. 3:3 what life is "hid with Christ in God?" Ans.-The general connection shows that believers are dead with Christ to everything of human religiousness-"the rudiments of the world." He is also risen with Christ, associated with Him in the new place He occupies. The life then means both its sphere and its character. It is hid, so far as the world is concerned. "Therefore the world knoweth us not." The time of manifestation will be when Christ shall appear. The hidden life is a risen life, beyond the power of death, linked with Christ.

Ques. 17.-If the wretchedness described in Romans vii is not the normal condition of the believer, can we say that it must be the experience of every one?

Ans.-We must remember that true experiences are measured not by time nor by apparent intensity, but by their reality. Thus a conviction of sin may be instantaneous, yet most real. So also the conviction of helplessness of Rom. 7:With others there may be a prolonged struggle. Yet every child of God must and will learn the lesson of "no good thing in me."

Ques. 18.-Were the elders of James 5:14 officials, or elder brethren?

Ans.-It would seem they were officials of the Jewish assembly to which the Epistle of James refers.

Ques. 19.-If elder brethren should be called to the bedside of a sick brother, would there be any objection to anointing with oil?

Ans.-As the previous answer says, Elders are doubtless official, or at least suggest the assembly in an unfailed condition. In days of confusion where could we find the Elders of the assembly, which is so scattered? Then too the tone of James' Epistle is Jewish; the Lord's beloved people are not viewed as distinct yet from the nation. Anointing was a Jewish practice, and typical. For ns, we have the reality of the "prayer of faith,"and this surely should be sufficient.

Ques. 8.-"Was the bread used at the Lord's Supper, leavened or not ? In 1 Cor. 10:16, ' the bread which we break' is the communion of the body of Christ. As there was no evil in Him, could that which speaks of evil be used in the symbol?"

Ans.-It is very likely that, the Lord's Supper being instituted at the close of the passover feast, where no leavened bread was allowed, our Lord used that which was at hand, the unleavened bread of the passover. We must remember, however, that for us, being no longer under Judaism, the significance of literal leaven in our daily use is entirely of the past. The point to note is that bread was used-the ordinary food of man. Our blessed Lord gave up His body unto death in order that He might be the food of His people. In taking, at the Lord's Table, that which ordinarily is our food, we do not raise the question at all whether it is leavened or unleavened. It is Christ Himself whom we remember and who is typified in the bread which we break.

Ques. 9,-"What is the meaning of Jude 6? ' Angels being kept in chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day?' Peter speaks of angels being cast down to hell and also of spirits in prison. Did the Lord Jesus preach to these when His holy body lay in the grave? Will both men and angels be judged at the Great White Throne ? "

Ans.-Jude teaches that a certain part of the fallen angels are reserved in chains. We know from the Gospels that another part were allowed to range the earth; and Eph. speaks of "wicked spirits in heavenly places." Without doubt, at least two classes of fallen spirits are suggested here, those who are in bondage and those who are free. Cannot divine wisdom be seen in this, as though God would show that neither repression nor liberty have changed their moral character?

The passage in 2 Peter 2:4 seems to refer to the class of angels who are kept in chains under darkness; but "the spirits in prison" evidently refer to the disembodied spirits of the sinners before the flood who, rejecting the preaching of Noah, perished then, and their spirits are now in prison. It was by the Holy Spirit in Noah that the Lord Jesus went and preached to these, and not during the time when His body lay in the grave. He, blessed be His name, was enjoying the Father's presence during that time, as He committed His Spirit into His Father's hands.

As to angels being judged at the Great White Throne, Scripture is silent, and so we must be content with the general statement of Jude; they will be judged at the great day. The apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 6:, tells us that we shall judge angels in association with Christ.

Ques. 10.-"Please explain 1 Cor. 11:33, 'Tarry one for another.'"

Ans.-It was evidently to correct the dreadful abuses which had fastened upon the observance of the Lord's Supper in connection perhaps with the "Love-feast" (agape] preceding it; feasting and exhibitions of pride were common. One was hungry and another drunken. Instead of all this fearful disorder, they were to satisfy their proper appetites at home, so that their coming together would be unitedly to show the Lord's death, and to remember Him. "Tarry one for another" would suggest the unity which is so essential for true remembrance of the Lord. No doubt there are many applications of this to present needs. The Lord's Supper is not to be taken merely in an individual way, that is, as though others were not present. Personally, we may be in communion with Him and yet others may need that waiting upon God which so searches the heart and brings us into His presence. Thus, due deliberation will mark the holy season.

On the other hand, we must guard against a slavish fear to take the bread, and beware of suspecting that others may not be in a proper spiritual condition for this. We ought to esteem others more highly than ourselves, and unless there is manifest proof that saints are eating unworthily, we should keep the feast with all confidence in the Lord and in one another through the Lord.

Q. 11.-"In the April number of Help & Food, p. 94, I find the expression, ' It must be one who nevertheless is a creature' etc. Is it ever proper to speak of the Lord in His humanity as in any sense a creature, even though by coming into the world by the gates of birth He took His body from creation ?''

Ans.-Perhaps the expression might have been more guarded. While the truth of incarnation is the thought presented, our questioner of course does not mean to say that our Lord's body merely was taken from creation. We know He had a human soul and spirit as well. The difficulty in the expression seems to be that the term "creature" suggests personality, and we know as to His personality, our blessed Lord was ever Son of God. He had a creature-nature, however, and this is all that is intended in the passage.

"As we have therefore opportunity, let us do goad unto all, especially unto them who are of the household of faith."

A fellow-worker was dead-one with whom we hadj for some time past come in close daily contact.

He was not a popular man. At times a little crotchety, sometimes really disagreeable and noted among his fellows as "close." We were somewhat prejudiced against him by another, and would often laugh at his queer ways and the pleasure he took in trifling attentions. He was undoubtedly eccentric. Since he has passed away, and the true story of his life has been brought out from one and another, shame and sorrow fill our heart as we realize that "we have left undone the things we ought to have done," to cheer a fellow-christian's life. His life had been one of sorrow and trouble. An only child died at the age of two years. His closeness (often characterized as meanness) was owing to the fact that he supported his wife in an insane asylum. His life was narrow and lonely:-no pleasure or change in life except as one or another would once in awhile invite him home to tea, and then we would the next day laugh at the things he did. Even these attentions were from people of the world, and not from those who were the Lord's people. The latter were more inclined to shun him than do for him.

Now he is gone, and the thoughts come, how many little things we could have done for him, trifling in themselves, that would have cheered his oft-times lonely path; how we could have shown him a kindness now and then; how we could have given him a cheering word or some of the Lord's precious things that would have been as a glint of sunshine in his life.

But he is gone. Nothing is left now but vain regrets. May the Lord forgive us for refusing the cup of cold water in His name that would have refreshed the soul of one of His thirsty ones!

But are there not others for whom we can do ? Are there not those around us to whom we can speak a word in season?-which, fitly spoken, is "like apples of gold in pictures of silver! " are not some of Christ's dear ones languishing for a cup of cold water? Sit a moment in the quiet of your own thoughts, and see if you do not remember someone who is sad and lonely and burdened whom you can help. Do not leave the doing of it until nought shall be left but opportunity for regret. Do it now.

"As ye have therefore opportunity." That means right now. When does the opportunity fail in a world full of care and trouble and sorrow? When does the opportunity fail when our blessed Lord is absent from us and heavy hearts are longing for His return? A word of grace and love to them would cheer and comfort their hearts wonderfully. When does the opportunity fail when there are hearts of the unsaved burdened with sin, and longing, aching, dying almost to be rid of its burden?

The opportunities are thick around us; let us "do with our might what our hands find to do." Let us
give the cup of cold water, perform the act of kindness, or speak the word of cheer and comfort. Let us point sinners to the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. " Blessed is that servant, whom His Lord when He cometh shall find so doing."

"Especially unto them who are of the household of faith." We do not, we cannot always harmonize with all the Lord's people. Some we like more than others. Some seem to us strange in their ways. All are not " congenial"(!)

But they are the Lord's.

They are washed in the same precious blood as we. They are members of the same body of Christ. They are redeemed by the Lord as are we. They are saved by faith in Him as are we. We shall spend all eternity in the same blessed work of praising our adorable Redeemer and Lord. Let us be kind to all in the household of faith. Let us love and cherish one another. Let us seek each other's welfare and happiness and blessing. " Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." "Even Christ pleased not Himself." Let Him be our example. By love let us serve one another. Paul's word of exhortation was, "comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all." Is any "of the household" not as strong as we? Let him be the one on whom " we bestow the more abundant honor." Those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble are necessary. May the Lord lead us to think of others and comfort their hearts with His own blessed truth. F.

Place a few scriptures side by side, and then let us seek to learn the lesson they teach. "Rejoice in the Lord always:and again I say, rejoice" (Phil. 4:4).Before that it is said, "Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord" (Phil. 3:i). These Philippian saints had not evil in their midst like the Corinthians to mourn over. Those are never told to rejoice, but rather to mourn. The Galatians had fallen from grace, had taken up law, and they could not be told to rejoice in the Lord. When saints fall into evil ways, or into evil doctrines, the Spirit is grieved, and there cannot be joy in the Lord. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit; a saint who has grieved the Spirit cannot really rejoice. Such an one is called rather to mourning and confession, to turning away from that which has grieved the Spirit, putting it away and turning wholly to the Lord.

Then there is another side to this. Jesus said, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." We can take this in two ways. The mourner may be one who has not found the joy of the Lord, one learning the truth but not yet having found salvation, or we may take it as the mourning over the sin and misery around us. Paul tells us of himself, as "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing," which characterized his later life. We can understand how this was, how the outward sorrows pressed upon him, but could not quench, or even dim the fire of joy that burned within his breast. So a saint of God may mourn and be sorrowful, and be always rejoicing. The mourning and the sorrow will come from the faith that sees what this world is as gone away from God, and the awful character of sin. This will keep down levity and cause a deep seriousness, but will not in the least hinder the joy which is the fruit of the Spirit.

Then as the child of God grows up into maturity, the vision of all that is seen by faith becomes clearer, and the joy grows and increases, and the sorrow and mourning, too. To such there come times of great sorrow, it may be times of almost overwhelming trial, or temptation to doubt, or there will be the chastening and discipline which is the portion of every real child of God, and of such we are expressly told, "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous:nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby" (Heb. 12:n). Our God may be disciplining, teaching, chastening us, and in the midst of such dealings we may not realize the joy that comes after the time of trial -is over, and the soul enjoying the fruits of endured chastening.

When saints go through deep trials with God, are led and kept by Him in them, and learn the lessons He has for them, they will afterwards enjoy the peaceable fruits of righteousness. And certainly one of those fruits is joy.

It is a blessed place to live in, the place of rejoicing in the Lord always. Think what it means to be always rejoicing! It means so much in a world like this. "Always," no cessation, not perhaps ever just the same, but it is always there in the heart, deep, full, overflowing joy.

It is in the Lord, in what He is, in what He has done. No more conscience of sins is one element of it. All my sins put away, gone forever, fully and completely borne by Christ on the cross. It is joy to live in the continual and vivid consciousness of this great work. It may become dim, it does become dim to many, but it need not. It should grow clearer, so that the heart is often lifted in praise to God, praise for sins all gone forever.
What joy that brings! No condemnation, no judgment. The Judge has paid the penalty, and God has accepted the payment. The One against whom the sin has been committed has fully and freely forgiven all. Is not this cause for continual joy?

Then the consciousness of what God is to us gives constant joy. The knowing that He is our God, the learning what this implies, the wonders which are wrapped up in that relation, what it means to have God for us,-as we come to know more and more what this means, it brings continual rejoicing. How much we have to learn about God. We see men searching nature, studying every kind of science, eager after knowledge, but all they learn of nature and all else dissociated from God is of so little worth compared with the knowledge of God which comes from faith, from knowing Him, becoming acquainted with Him. To live in the consciousness of His love for us, His kindness to us, to have these as realities, far more real than what we see about us or what is going on in the world, and to know that He never changes, and that the joy we have here is only a foretaste of the eternal joy we shall have there, why should we not be always rejoicing?

Men of the world dread old age, dread death, dread judgment; but for faith they are no cause for the least dread. Really, for faith which sees what God is to His people, there is nothing that can cause dread. The consciousness of His love removes all fear, the fear which hath torment. This faith and this joy are built up upon the word of God and the finished work of Christ. They cannot exist apart from these. The joy of the Lord is our strength.

This joy may be dimmed by worldliness, neglect of prayer and communion with God in secret, a careless walk, lack of watchfulness, and unconfessed sin. The believer knows when he has this joy; if he has it not, he is losing very much, and he should not rest till the joy is restored to him.
J. W. N.

NOTES OF AN ADDRESS BY S. R. ,NEW YORK, NOV. 26,1903.

(Col. 3:, first verses.)

What a blessed privilege and dignity it is to be incense-bearers, as we have been hearing-to make manifest the savor of Christ's name! This is surely priestly work, as in Peter a holy priesthood, etc. The material of our sweet incense is to be the savor of Christ, who is ever fragrant to God; we offer the sacrifice of praise, confessing His name. It is not to be counting over our mercies merely, but the primary thought is that we are to be offering the praise of Christ to God.

Paul does not ever lose the sense of priesthood and nearness to God; he is a worshiper when led about or in prison, his feet in the stocks, or when cast out and in bitter trial. We all alike are privileged to have in our censers the same blessed perfume that the apostle had.

He realized also how to be a royal priest, to show forth the praises of Him that hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, in kingly dignity. In the presence of God we are a holy priesthood, and in the presence of the world a royal priesthood to show forth the praises of Him who hath called us.

In Colossians it is not primarily priesthood, but in a sense a deeper truth. They have been taught to look on their own position according to Christ's position ; and He has measured it for us by His cross, His death and resurrection. We are "dead with Christ," God having set the seal of His condemnation on what sinful man is; man, as such, having no standing before God. The Christian has learned that God looks for nothing in him as a child of Adam. Oh what blessedness when souls see how God set us aside and condemned us in the person of His blessed Son on the cross, showing us the blessed relief of being done with self entirely, crucified and dead with Christ! This must be in connection with seeing that in the death of Christ God has set us aside. If we would know the sweetness of the things of God, it must be in connection with the cross of Christ. " If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God." We are not to be occupied with a dead self any more than with a sinful self, or with a good self. It is not self at all that we are to be occupied with, but Christ risen and glorified, with Christ where He is; and he shows us that we are in the same atmosphere with our Lord though our feet are still in the sands of the wilderness. It is occupation with that blessed One, His person, His love, His sympathy, His riches :these are now to occupy us in connection with a glorified Christ, for all these things are above. They do not accord with the things that are about us here.

The savor of Christ is not earthly, but heavenly- a savor of that which is above; and we are pilgrims here. So far as occupation of mind and real life are concerned, it is hid, not merely from the gaze of the world, but with Christ in God. The world looks on us with pity, scorn, or indifference, and may say, " How is it that a man of such abilities is content to go on with religious things and humble people! " and if the world does understand our life, it's the saddest reproach to us.

I would not take out of this text the safety of being hidden-blessedly so. But below the other thought is the principal one, that all our springs are in Him. Does that describe our life practically? It is what God sees. We live in an age of superficiality even in divine things-such a public kind of life; the necessities of toil and business make it difficult to live much in private. The enemy would constantly use the necessary duties of life to shut out from the communion with God. Many do seek it morning and evening. We miss the thought of it if we think God wants a half hour of time; He wants us to lead the hidden life when our hands are in toil. Declension-how often has it been just this lack of constant abiding in the hidden life, thus bringing the soul into the presence of God in the sanctuary! What more beautiful than to see the child of God growing in spiritual intelligence! The root of all is to be leading practically the hidden life that has Christ in glory so before the heart that the soul feeds on Him. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom "-not of God now, nor Scripture, but in such a way that it presents Christ to us ; so that, though not speaking explicitly of Christ, it presents Christ to us. '' Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God shall man live." Is that our bread ? Then we are living on the bread Christ fed on, entering into the place into which He has introduced us by death and resurrection. The Lord give us in this, not to have service before us, but fellowship with Him!

I asked a follower of the Christ,
Tell me, I pray,
What is thy life, thy hope, thy faith-
Why didst thou choose this narrow path,
This rugged way ?
Why with earth's joys dissatisfied ?
I fain would know. Then he replied:

My life is but a vapor,
To constantly ascend To Him, the one Life giver,
On whom life must depend.
For He who giveth keepeth still,
And will keep to the end.

My fleeting breath the incense
Of prayer to Him who gave
The best He had in heaven
My precious soul to save-
The Christ, who left my weight of sin
Deep buried in His grave.

My faith is but the clinging
Of heart that leans upon
The might of God; nor wrestles,
Because its strength is gone-
The halting of the soul that's found
The place whence strength is drawn.

My work is just love's labor
For Him who first loved me;
The service of obedience
As full as it is free;
His gracious smile my sweet reward
Until His face I see.

My path is of His choosing;
I would not if I might
Direct my faltering footsteps,
I would not walk by sight;
But let Him lead me where He will,
For then I walk aright.

I walk this narrow pathway
Because He walked therein-
Because there is no other
But leadeth me to sin;
Because I count all things but loss
My Lord's "Well done" to win.

My past, His cross has told out
The story of my life,
My only hope of glory,
The end of all my strife,
The shadow o'er a sin-sick world,
With death and sorrow rife.

My present, but to follow
The guiding of His Word,
The only weapon left me,
The Spirit's mighty sword,
The daily food by which I grow,
Which all things doth afford.

My future is the glory
Where I shall weary not
Of drinking in His fulness;
And oh, the strange, sweet thought
That I shall soon be like Him,
And love Him as I ought!

H. McD.

Quick temper is no trifle. The one sin recorded of Moses, and for which he was shut out of the land, was ' his hastiness which blinded his eyes to the true glory of God. The important question is how to get rid of it. This can never be done until we judge its root. We must see that it is but the fruit of that flesh which has been judged in the cross of Christ. If self is truly judged in the presence of God, we will walk in His fear, and there will be no place for quick temper.

We continue our reading of the books of Chronicles during the present month. First Chronicles, as we saw, was largely devoted to David and his provision for the coming of the glorious reign of his son Solomon. The second book begins with that reign. In many ways it seems to be a wonderful new beginning. We are again introduced to the Tabernacle for the first time since the captivity of the Ark. True, it is not now at Shiloh, but is found at Gibeah (chap. 1:3). The Ark, however, had been brought by David up to Mount Zion and the place which he had prepared for it. The Brazen Altar, however, was still in connection with the Tabernacle, and it was to this that Solomon resorted. He offered multitudes of burnt-sacrifices there, and there God appeared to him. He asks him his wish, a most testing question, for it would bring out the state of the king. But there is evidently genuine faith in this young man, however much there was also of that which would subsequently prove a peril if it were not judged, and Solomon shows, in his desire for wisdom to reign in the fear of God over His people, that he appreciated the responsibilities and the needs of his position. God gives him not merely what he had asked, but that which he had not asked,- riches and glory.

The first part of the book is devoted to the account of his glorious reign. The house of God, provided for by David, is built largely through the help of the king of Tyre. Most of this is, as we have said, typical. In the assistance of the king of Tyre we have the coming in of the Gentiles in connection with our Lord's Millennial reign. "Gentiles shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising" (Isa. 60:3).

The house of God is built in all its splendor, and many most interesting details are given here. Everything is in beautiful accord with the typical place which it occupies, looking forward, as we have said, to the splendor of the Millennial kingdom of our Lord. Solomon's priestly prayer would seem to be a typical fulfilment of the reign of our blessed Lord, who shall sit as a Priest upon His throne and between whom and Jehovah will be the counsel of abiding peace. He is the true Solomon, the peaceable One, the effect of whose righteousness shall be " quietness and assurance forever."

The closing chapter of his life (Chap. 9:) records the visit of the queen of Sheba, where we have in fuller measure even yet, the typical fulfilment of the gathering of the Gentiles to the Lord and to His house. No mention is made of Solomon's fearful failures. As we have said, the history is typical and dispensational, rather than personal, and we see the man laid quietly to rest without any account being given of the fearful fall and dishonor to God, of his later years.

From chap. 10:to the end of the book we have a sad contrast to the brilliancy of the reign of Solomon. That had given us typically our Lord's reign. Although, being but a type, it had in it the seeds of decay. These manifest themselves all too quickly after the king's death, and under his son Rehoboam, division comes in. From there to the close of the book, it is a narrative of departure from God on the part of the kings ; God's chastening of the people by allowing their enemy to prevail over them; the hostility of the ten tribes, who, under Jeroboam have apostatized from the true worship of God, worshiping Him, as distinctly forbidden, in the golden calves set up at Bethel and Dan.

As has already been said, the history is largely that of Judah. Many of the kings were men of faith and obedience to God, with considerable lowliness. Indeed, some of those who had grievously dishonored Him, still in the time of their strait turned to Him, and found Him the unchanging God who shows mercy.

Abijah, the successor of Rehoboam, is a man of considerable obedience and faith in God. He is succeeded by his son, Asa, who is particularly marked as a faithful man, especially at the beginning of his reign. He is correspondingly successful, purging out idolatry and even deposing the wicked queen-mother. His testing, alas, however, brings out elements of self-will unjudged, shown in the refusal of the message of God, and therefore chastening at His hands. He dies somewhat under a cloud, although in the main his life had been a faithful one.

Jehoshaphat, his son, succeeds him, also a man of fine and striking character, but much marred in his testimony by weakly joining affinity with the idolatrous king of the ten tribes. This unequal yoke brings its sure consequences, but in the main, personally, Jehoshaphat was a man of faith, although too weak to be a genuine deliverer for the people. However, in Chap. 20:, when there was an immense irruption of Moab and Ammon, Jehoshaphat laid fast hold upon God, and there was a wonderful victory.

Jehoram, his son, (Chap. 21:) was in sad contrast with Jehoshaphat, and a proof of the defiling nature of all unholy alliances. He united himself with the house of the wicked Ahab and showed fully the character that belongs to the northern kingdom.

His son, Ahaziah, shows this in even a more marked way, and his mother Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, does her utmost to blot out the whole family of king David. But God has other purposes in view surely, as His beloved Son is to come of the seed of David. Therefore, the little Joash is preserved, through the faithfulness of Jehoiada, the priest, in the midst of all this anarchy, and in due time is in his place as king (chaps, 23:, 24:).

Joash is a negative character, faithful so long as the strong hand of Jehoiada, the priest, is with him; but after his death, the king weakly yields to the seductions of the princes of Judah and departs from the Lord. His end is tragic. He is assassinated:an end which he had escaped in early childhood, through the faithfulness of one who was truly devoted to God (chap. 24:).

His son, Amaziah, makes a good beginning and is correspondingly successful; then falling into idolatry, he too comes under the judgment of God and is also slain (chap. 25:).

His son, Uzziah, called in Kings, Azariah, succeeds him. The same story is repeated here. Beginning in faithfulness, there is much blessing. Lifted up with pride, he intrudes into the priest's office and is smitten with leprosy and dies, a separated man, though having lived a long life. It is noteworthy that the prophetic ministry of Isaiah begins at this time.

Nothing special is laid to the charge of Jotham, his successor (Chap. 27:). Significantly it is said he "became mighty because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God." But he is succeeded (Chap. 28:) by that fearful apostate Ahaz, who deliberately turns away from God and follows idolatry.

After his death, we have the admirable reign of Hezekiah. How striking it is that an unfaithful king is succeeded by one who seeks to recover the people to God, as showing that the Spirit of God was still at work in this beloved nation of Judah! But things grow darker, though individually faith comes out brightly in the history of Hezekiah (chaps, xxix-32:).

Manasseh, his son, is in fearful contrast with the faithful Hezekiah, and yet here, God's mercy is brought out in the most striking way, for the wicked king is brought to repentance, after he was carried in captivity to Babylon. In answer to his repentant prayers, he is restored to Jerusalem. What a lesson this should have been to the people at large; but alas, their own unrepentant rebellion against God necessitated that they, too, should be carried to the very same place from which Manasseh had been restored.

Of Anion, his wicked son, we need say little, but faith shines out more brightly than ever in all this gloom, in king Josiah, whose life of devoted obedience to God is most edifying. In his reign the temple was restored, and the word of God given its proper place. But he passes away, and little is left but for the wretched unbelief and heartless disobedience of the people to manifest themselves in their kings until there is no remedy, and Jerusalem is captured, the temple destroyed, the people carried away captive to Babylon. But it is most beautiful to mark that the very close of the book (Chap. 36:22) gives the proclamation of Cyrus for the rebuilding of the Lord's house in Jerusalem. Thus there is an intimation of recovery at the very close.

We must also say a word as to the brief epistle to the Philippians, in the New Testament. This is so familiar to our readers that we need only mention that its theme throughout is Christ as the object of the heart. Each of the four chapters brings this out beautifully.

Chap. 1:, Christ is the Source and Object of our life; Chap. 2:, the Example; Chap. 3:, the Object before us in glory; Chap. 4:, the all-sufficient supply of our need in every circumstance.

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

Chapter 7:THE NEW KING. (1 Sam. 10:17-11:)

(Continued from page 90.)

The occasion is not long wanting to show what manner of man the new king is. With the nation prone to wander from God, as the whole book of Judges shows, attacks were constantly invited by the enemy from various quarters. Morally, their condition was unchanged from the times of the Judges; and, as is abundantly shown in that book, so far from there being true progress, the periods of captivity increase as the years roll on. Nature never improves with time. It can only deteriorate. However, there was some gracious recovery on God's part, of the people, which preserved them from complete disintegration. But the constant danger when they were left to themselves was from the hands of enemies, who were all too ready to take advantage of every weakness. The outbreak narrated now was significantly on the east side of Jordan, in Gilead, and by the Ammonites, kinsmen according to the flesh, of Israel.

Remembering that the whole settlement of the two tribes and a half on the east side of Jordan was practically dictated by self-interest, that they seemed never fully to be identified with the mass of the nation on the west side of the river, it can easily be gathered that there was less devotedness to God there than even in the proper inheritance of the people. Looking at it spiritually, it is, of course, very significant. Settling down in the world, allowing selfish interests to dictate our path and testimony, is to open the gates for the enemy's assail. Alas, how frequently this is done, and what subtle tendencies there are in our hearts to repeat it!

These two tribes and a half are finally carried captive before even the remnant of the kingdom of Israel. They would answer, in that way, to the hindmost of the people in the march through the wilderness, who were specially exposed to the assaults of Amalek.

It is also worthy of note that the men of Jabesh Gilead, who were the special object of the assault in this case, had refused to unite with the rest of the nation in revenging the awful iniquity of Gibeah in which the tribe of Benjamin was involved. There is a significant connection in this, at which we will look later on.

As to Ammon, the assailing power, as has been said, he was a descendant of Lot and related, according to nature, with the people whom now he would overthrow; and so far from this forming any tie of affection, it was really the occasion of special hatred, as the history will show. Moab and Ammon are the inveterate enemies of Israel, constantly threatening and frequently bringing them into subjection. Spiritually speaking, we have learned to dread that which can claim a sort of kinship to the things of God without being truly His. Thus, Judaism was the bitterest enemy of Christianity, and at the present time everything that apes the true faith of God is all the more dangerous, because of a certain external similarity. Satan's weapon, liar that he is, is dissimulation. He makes a counterfeit, with which he assails the truth, as Jannes and Jambres, by imitating it.

As has been seen in the book of Judges, Moab and Ammon represent the two sides of the flesh:Moab, an empty profession, accompanied by carnal indulgence, as seen in Eglon their king (see Judges 3:17 -25); and Ammon, living further north, with apparently more vigor, answering rather to intellectual perversion and the intrusion of doctrinal evil into the things of God.

What would complete this array of fleshly religionists is the Philistines, who represent the religion of the flesh, as Moab does its profession, and Ammon, its doctrines.

The king of Ammon is Nahash, which primarily means "serpent," and, in that connection, suggests the thought of sorcery and divination and other Satanic practices. Thus, the association of evil doctrine with its author is clearly seen. The serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the field. It is the cunning of Satan which has mingled together some outward forms of truth with the deadly poison of error. We need only to look about us at the present time to see the Ammonites, under the leadership of their cunning king. False doctrines of every kind flourish under the very shadow of Christianity, and bearing its name. In fact, these, so far from decreasing as the knowledge of Scripture increases, seem to multiply. Satan has many forms of untruth, all alike proceeding from the common source. These, then, would represent the enemy now attacking a portion of the nation of Israel; that portion, as we have seen, which was most exposed to such an assault, but least able to cope with it.

We must notice also another thing in striking similarity with the revival of a power which also, to some extent, resembles that of Ammon. It will be remembered that in the time of Joshua, Jabin, king of Hazor, was completely overthrown and his capital laid in ruins. Notwithstanding this, again we find the same enemy, with the same name, revived in the times of the Judges, threatening the people with destruction, as though he had never been overthrown. This is characteristic of evil, of that which assails doctrinal truth. Jabin stands for the spirit of infidelity, and Ammon, as we have just been seeing, is the same spirit of untruth, only applied more intimately to the doctrines of God's word.

As Jabin had once been overthrown, so Ammon had been completely conquered by Jephthah during the Judges, and yet we find him here re-asserting his power with all the vigor of the early day. All this scarcely needs any comment in the way of spiritual application. We know too well how ancient heresies revive, and how it is not sufficient to have overcome them once. They must be ever kept beneath the feet of God's people, or they will quickly reassert themselves and bring havoc and destruction. At the present day, very many of the blasphemous doctrines which are being held and taught, under the name of Christian truth, are the revival of old heresies which were apparently exploded centuries ago. This shows a perennial activity in things of evil, which must be met by a perennial vigor of faith far greater than the evil which it opposes.

Nahash is sufficiently insolent in his demands upon the men of Jabesh Gilead to awaken in them any slumbering manhood; but this seems impossible. He is not satisfied with their subjugation. He will rob them of their eyesight, taking away their right eye, and lay this as a reproach upon the whole nation of Israel. Thus we see the pride which is not satisfied with the local triumph, but would array itself against the entire mass of God's people. And it is just in these ways that Satan overreaches himself. He seems never to have learned, in all the centuries of his experience and with all the power of his cunning, to control that malice which, after all, is the strongest feature of his character.
It has been suggestively remarked that the right eye would speak of faith, as the left would of reason. So far from being fanciful, this seems perfectly simple. The right is the place of priority and importance, and surely faith is above reason; and yet reason has its place even in the things of God. We are not deprived of that, but where it is under the control of faith, reason can put forth all its powers without danger of leading us astray.

The challenge of Nahash, then, would be that faith is to be sacrificed. That which they know to be the truth of God is to be given up, and this is to be laid as a reproach upon all the people of God. And surely is not this the case? Wherever faith is compelled to close its eyes, it is a shame upon the saints of God throughout the world. Alas, how much there is to bring the blush to our cheek as we see how many reproaches have been laid upon us!

The men of Jabesh apparently have little hope, but are not ready to submit to this loss and indignity
without at least an appeal to one who had been pointed out by God as a leader and deliverer for them. Thus they ask for a seven days' respite, and send for succor to Saul.

(To be continued.)

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

Chapter 7:THE NEW KING. (1 Sam. 10:17-11:)

(Continued from page 36.)

God having dealt faithfully and fully with Saul in private and through the prophet, now manifests to the nation at large the man whom He has chosen for them. Samuel is again the honored instrument here and calls the people to meet the Lord, as he had already, so far as possible, brought the future king face to face with Jehovah. The people are to come together at Mizpah, the place where God had signally manifested His delivering hand, in rescuing them from the Philistines and also one of the stations where Samuel was accustomed to judge Israel. Its name, as we have seen, means "Watch-tower," appropriate surely for those who would rightly survey the past and the future, and heed the admonitions with which God would address them. "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower and will watch to see what He will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved" (Hab. 2:i). Good would it have been, for them and their king, had this attitude of soul truly marked them. It was that indeed to which God called them, as He ever does His people, to hearken to the admonitions and reproofs of love, and thus to be guarded from the snares into which we will otherwise surely fall. Well would it have been for Peter had he been spiritual at Mizpah to receive the warning of our Lord.

God again reminds them of His work for them as a nation, from the tit^ of their deliverance out of Egypt, and from all the power of the enemy up to the present. He reiterates the fact that in their desire for a king they, and not He, have been the rejecters. He, blessed be His name, never turns from His people whom He has redeemed. His love to them is measured by that redemption, and all their future experience would be but repetitions, according to need, of that deliverance; but, alas, how prone are His people to forget the past, and measure the present by their unbelief, rather than by His power as manifested for them again and again.

It is not, however, with any view of securing a change of mind on the part of the people. They were determined in their course. That wretched watchword "like all the nations" had gnawed into their spiritual vitals and produced its necessary results. A king they must and will have, and it must be the one who answers to such a state of heart as that. What other kind of one could it be?

God deigns still to serve His people, as we have been seeing, and to interpret their own wretched minds for them, giving expression to their desires, far better than they could themselves. For this purpose He uses the lot, leaving nothing to mere chance or to the caprice of any part of the people, still less to that modern fallacy, the will of the majority. "The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing is of the Lord." It also causes contentions to cease. We cannot for a moment think that though thus guiding in the choice, God was pleased with it, or that the man selected thus would represent His desires for the people. We have already dwelt upon this.

And now the tribes are brought up one by one, and "little Benjamin" is taken, ominously significant as one which up to this time had been distinguished chiefly by its fearful rebellion. The one who rules others must rule himself first of all, and he who claims obedience from a nation must be preeminently the obedient one. How perfectly has our blessed Lord manifested His capacity for rule in this way, resigning, as we might say, the place of authority, "taking the form of a servant," learning obedience in all His life of lowliness. Truly He has qualified Himself to be the true King of Israel as well as the Ruler and Lord of all His people.

There is no account of Benjamin's repentance, and therefore we may well suppose that the tribe was still marked by that spirit of rebellion which had wrought such havoc in the days of the judges. And yet that hardihood of spirit, that rash courage which marked them at that time-one of the least of the tribes facing the entire nation, and "giving a good account of itself " in the conflicts that ensued- was doubtless rehearsed and handed down, and became matter for boasting, rather than for humiliation and true self-abhorrence before God. Thus it will ever be with the flesh. It will boast in that which is its shame and plume itself upon a strength which must be broken to pieces before God can come in. It thus represents, as a tribe, the nation, and while we cannot say that all this was intensified in that branch of the tribe from which Saul came, neither is there any indication of its absence.

The various families are sifted out and finally the choice falls upon Saul himself. We have already looked at his genealogy. Another name is here mentioned, the "family of Matri," which is said to mean "Jehovah is watching," which ought, at least, to have been a reminder that the holy eye of God had seen all their past, and knew well too their present. How the mention of this should have caused both the people and Saul to have halted! God's holy eye was upon them. He had searched out their secret thoughts. He knew their motives, their state of soul, their self-confidence, their pride. Could they, with that holy eye of love resting upon them, proceed in this wretched course of disobedience, that which was practically apostasy from Himself? Alas, while Jehovah's eye is open upon them, theirs is closed as to Him. They have eyes only for the king whom they desire, and he is soon presented to their gaze.

(To be continued.)