"Mercy and truth go before Thy face" (Ps. 89 :14). Blessed truth for the repentant sinner! Before His face can be seen here in loving favor and tender mercy, His heralds must first be met and known-"Mercy and Truth"-they that met together at the cross (Ps. 85 :10). Not Mercy alone:that would be license; not Truth alone :that would mean despair. But Mercy and Truth :they spell together joy-joy eternal.

When His crowning-day revealeth
What to faith had been foretold,
And the Lamb's unveiled glories
To my raptured gaze unfold,
Face to face, with heart adoring,
" In the midst" I then shall see
Him who took my place in judgment-
Gave Himself in love for me!

Not to see the wondrous beauty
Of that scene supremely fair,
Not to hear its songs melodious
Am I longing to be there;
Not to claim the meed of victory
As a winner in the race,
But to prostrate fall before Him,
And to thank Him-face to face!

Not the robe His love hath found me,
Not the crown I long to see;
Not the mansion, not the glory,
But the One who died for me.
Robe and crown may shine resplendent,
Bright His name my forehead grace,
But my soul shall see my Saviour,
See Him only-face to face!

See that face more marred than any,
And, adoring, see that brow
Once with mocking thorns encircled,
Crowned with radiant glory now;
See those pierced hands, recording
What He bore for me in grace,
Now outspread in benediction,
As I fall before His face!

Oh, the bliss, the joy surpassing
When upon my raptured ear,
Sweeter than the songs of heaven,
Falls the voice I long to hear!
Satisfied! the heart overflowing!
Glorious trophy of His grace,
In the mighty anthem joining,
I shall worship-face to face! W. L. G.

In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew we have a remarkable prophecy by our Lord of "the signs of His coming and the end of the age." There is in verse 12 a sad, prophetic word to which each of us will do well to take heed:'' And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold."

Before the iniquity, came the wars and rumors of wars; the famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes; the Lord's people being killed and hated of all nations for His name's sake. These things but served to strengthen them and make their testimony shine the brighter. God's people cannot surrender Christ; persecution therefore but makes their faith shine the more, while it weeds out the false. But in verse 11 false prophets have arisen, and now quickly follows the abounding iniquity which causes the love of many to grow cold.

We know that this prophecy of our Lord applies to the Jewish people who are in Judea just before He returns in glory on the clouds of heaven. But have we not a similar thing in the history of the Church ?The persecutions she passed through but brightened her testimony. Now a host of false prophets have come:Unitarianism, Annihilation-ism, Second Probation, Millennial Dawn-ism, "Christian Science," Spiritism, Seventh Day Adventism, etc., etc.,deceiving multitudes, befogging them, turning the hearts from Christ, in whose communion alone love is kept fresh and warm.

What a torrent of sin, iniquity, and crime, may not be traceable to the various doctrines of non-eternal punishment of these false prophets! What loose living, what lawlessness, may not have grown out of the work of the " Higher Critics "! How much easier it is to sin when the "divinity" men tell their fellows that the Bible cannot be trusted as the voice of God to man! Never, we believe, has there been a time of such Satanic energy to gather up all the forces of evil, that everything that is of God may be blotted out from the face of the earth. Thank God, His people have the Rock of Ages on which to stand, and "On this Rock," says the Son of God, "I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Happy and secure is he who hides in Christ Jesus; the raging tides of evil may run high, but cannot overcome him.

The love of many has waxed cold because they have not made Christ their refuge. Weary of the strife, they have drifted with the tide; they have ceased to enjoy eternal things, and so they have turned to the earthly and worldly ones. What an awful kind of shipwreck is the shipwreck of faith! Child of God, arise, arise from among the dead, that Christ may give thee light! If love has grown cold, come to the fire; draw near to Him whose love never grows cold, and can make yours warm again.

Thank God, not one whom Christ has saved can ever be lost. Not one washed in His precious blood shall ever be plucked from His hand. Let us draw near therefore, and drink afresh into His love, and we shall find that, whatever be the abundance of iniquity we are called to pass through, we shall be not only untouched by it, but able to joy in God throughout the journey, and bear fruit to His praise. They who are with God are on the winning side. All they need is to exercise faith in all He has said, and patiently wait for the end.

(Continued from page 95.)

Chapter 4 :1-12.

In chapter 1:2, speaking of the gospel in the form in which it was authoritatively proclaimed, the apostle says that the prophets who uttered the Old Testament revelations distinctly promised it. Either in type, illustration, or formal prophetic statement, the Old Testament Scriptures anticipate the grand proclamation of the gospel of God. They are rich in foreshadows of it. It is true, clouds and mists surrounded these foreshadows; still, where there was faith, the clouds and mists were more or less penetrated. Faith learned more or less distinctly to anticipate what God was anticipating. As in the blaze of the full light that now shines, we can look back upon the Old Testament saints in the dimmer and partial light that was shining upon them, we can easily see how precious their foreshadows of our light must have been to them. There is, then, a unity between the gospel as partially told out then, and as fully declared now. The Old Testament promises and foreshadows are a divine seal on the New Testament unfolding of the grace that is in the heart of God.

In chapter 3:21, in mentioning the righteousness of God that is now fully revealed in the gospel message of New Testament days, the apostle speaks of it as " witnessed to by the Law and the Prophets." Both the Law and the Prophets strongly emphasize the need of man. They insist on the hopelessness of his case except as God, in the sovereignty of His grace, takes him up. In doing this, they foreshadow the ground on which this sovereign grace is, in righteousness. The Law, by its typical system of sacrifices, clearly pointed out the way in which the need of sinful men is met. It declared that God's way of delivering men from the due of their sins is by a substitutionary sacrifice; that only by such a sacrifice could God righteously release men from their guilt. In this testimony the Prophets abundantly joined. They urge again and again the complete ruin of man, and point out God's way of meeting that ruin. The doctrine of the Prophets is that by the provision of an acceptable sacrifice for sins sinners can righteously be set free from the due of their sins. The Law and the Prophets thus, in their partial unfolding of the righteousness of God, and in their anticipations of its complete unfolding as it is now since the Cross, are Old Testament witnesses that God is just in His grace, and of how He is just.

Now, in chapter 4:1-12, having proclaimed the doctrine of justification by faith, a justification by God, entirely gratuitous on His part, yet strictly in righteousness, the apostle proceeds to give illustrations of how the Old Testament Scriptures confirm this doctrine as being of God. We shall see that for the apostle the Old Testament Scriptures unmistakably and unequivocally teach the doctrine of justification by faith.

In showing how they did so, he chooses, first, a practical example illustrative of the doctrine. Then he cites a case of the prophetic proclamation of the doctrine. Finally, he appeals to the original institution of the rite of circumcision-the rite signifying that the principle of relationship with God is faith, not works of flesh.

All this needs careful examination. Turning now to the practical example of justification by faith, it is interesting to notice that it is what we may call the typical case, 1:e., it is the case to which every other case must conform. It is the case of the one who is explicitly called "the father of all them that believe." Abraham's justification, then, is the pattern of the justification of the children of Abraham. The principle on which he was justified is the principle on which all believers are justified.

How, then, was Abraham justified ? Did God justify his flesh ? Did God account him righteous by works of flesh ? Can Abraham boast before God of being better in the flesh than others ? In nowise. This is made perfectly clear by the scripture which reads, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." Abraham, as in the flesh, was a sinful man, was a guilty man. He had a record of sins. But God pretermitted his sins in anticipation of the cross of Christ; canceled the record, all the charges in it; released him from the necessity of standing at the great white throne to be judged for his sins-delivered him definitely and finally from the eternal due of his sins. He formally, definitely and finally declared him to be a righteous man. He judicially pronounced him to be no longer in his sins. By a judicial decision he made him a righteous man. But it was explicitly on the principle of faith that he did this. The scripture quoted by the apostle from Gen. 15:6 makes this perfectly plain. '"The father of all them that believe " was justified by faith-not by works.

Having now shown how Scripture affirms the justification by faith of the pattern man of faith, the apostle proceeds to draw a conclusion. He applies the lesson which the practical example teaches. He says, "Now to him " (not Abraham alone, but him) " that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him" (not Abraham alone again, but him) "that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Abraham's children-believers -those who believe on Him who justifies the ungodly, are thus declared by the apostle to be justified by faith, in conformity to the typical case. Abraham's case, then, is an illustrative case. As such, it is confirmatory of the doctrine the apostle is insisting on, that justification is by faith (vers. 1-5).

Now we have a citation illustrative of the way in which the doctrine of justification by faith is prophetically announced in the Old Testament Scriptures. David, under the inspiration of the Spirit, proclaimed the doctrine. The citation is from psalm 32, where David writes of the blessedness of the man whom God justifies by faith. It is evident that David is describing his own case. He had sinned, and was in great distress of mind until he took his place before God in frank, unreserved confession of it. Then God gratuitously, yet righteously, as anticipating the cross of Christ, forgave him his iniquity. As forgiven, as released from the deserved due of his sins, he could write experimentally of '' the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works." While speaking experimentally, he yet speaks in a way to embrace others besides himself. The blessedness of which he writes is not his alone, but that of the man, whoever he may be, " to whom God imputeth righteousness without works." We have here a plain case of Old Testament Scripture affirming justification by faith. It is clearly an Old Testament doctrine, as well as the doctrine of the New (vers. 6-8).

We have in verses 9-12 yet another appeal to Old Testament teaching. It is the bearing of the lesson of the original institution of circumcision, which the apostle presents here. He is evidently thinking of an objection that would naturally occur to the mind of a Jew. Forced, perhaps, by the unanswerable argument of the apostle to admit that the doctrine of justification by faith is certainly taught in the Scriptures he owned to be of God, he would say, "Yes, but they limit its application to those outwardly circumcised. "
The apostle's answer is absolutely conclusive. He says, "Upon whom does the blessedness of the man that God reckons righteous without works come ? Only upon the circumcised ? or does it come upon the circumcised also ?" The case of Abraham is the decisive answer. He was reckoned to be righteous before he was circumcised-a clear proof that circumcision has absolutely nothing to do with being reckoned righteous.

But the apostle goes further, and appeals to the lesson of Abraham's circumcision as an incontestable testimony to the doctrine of justification by faith without regard to circumcision at all. First, he speaks of Abraham receiving circumcision as a sign. Gen. 17 instructs us fully as to this. God, there, establishes a covenant with Abraham. It is a covenant of grace. It is a perpetual covenant, an eternal covenant. It is a covenant under which Abraham is in eternal relationship with God on the principle of faith alone. It is a covenant with which both temporal and eternal blessings are connected, in which both earthly and heavenly blessings are involved. Now, in establishing this covenant, God gives circumcision to Abraham to be the sign of it.

But what does the sign signify ? Plainly, it is a symbolic witness that faith, not flesh, is the principle of relationship with God. God says, in giving Abraham circumcision, "You must bear about in your body the sign that your flesh is profitless. You must have in yourself the sign that the sentence of judgment is upon the flesh. You must submit to receiving a mark which means that faith is the principle on which you are in relationship with Me."

But if circumcision is the sign of a covenant of grace-of relationship with God on the principle of faith, it is a seal on the righteousness of faith-a righteousness already Abraham's before he was circumcised.

But further:This sign and seal was given to Abraham as already possessing the righteousness of faith, to make him the father of all them that believe- the pattern-man of faith. Abraham is the pattern and example of believers-all believers, whoever they are, and wherever they are found. But if he is the pattern and example of "all that believe," then, just as righteousness was reckoned to him by faith, so it is to them also.

We see thus how the apostle shows that the giving of circumcision to Abraham teaches the lesson of justification by faith without works.

But we are not yet done with the apostle's argument on this point. When Abraham received the sign and seal of circumcision, he was not only made the father of all them that believe-the pattern and example of all those who are in relationship with God on the principle of faith, and of righteousness being reckoned to them by faith-but he was also made the father of the real circumcision-the pattern and example of circumcision that is not simply outward in the flesh, but is inward, of the heart. All those who have real circumcision-the circumcision of the heart-have the faith which Abraham had before he was outwardly circumcised; 1:e., they have the faith that God reckons as righteousness.

So, then, once more we see how the apostle makes the circumcision of Abraham confirm the doctrine of justification by faith apart from works.

How irresistible his argument is! how impossible to escape the conclusion that the Old Testament, more or less distinctly and plainly, teaches the New Testament doctrine of the imputation of righteousness to all them that believe. How clearly it is shown that the Old Testament, as well as the New, insists that this imputation of righteousness is on the principle of faith alone-that works of flesh have nothing whatever to do with it.

God ever is the justifier. He ever justifies on the principle of faith. The justified are in an eternal relationship with God-a relationship, the principle of which is faith. They are free, forever free, from the claim of judgment. They are, before the face of God, eternally cleared from the necessity of receiving the due of their sins. C. Crain

(To be continued.)

The question was pressed upon me by one distracted by conflicting views and definitions, involving such weighty words as expiation, propitiation, substitution, and many others.

"My theory of the atonement!" I was startled, almost shocked, by the question. I groped for a few moments for a suitable reply. Then I had to confess, "I have no theory of the atonement."

Through the atonement, so transcendently above and beyond my highest thoughts, my soul has been eternally saved. The blessed One who accomplished that atonement has become my personal Saviour and my rightful Lord. The Scriptures witness the glorious fact that on the basis of that atonement God has been fully glorified, and, as a result of this, there shall yet be brought in new heavens and a new earth, "wherein dwelleth righteousness"; where "the tabernacle of God shall be with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people and God Himself shall be their God "-and that to the ages of the ages.

All this I know, because the Holy Spirit has revealed it. But theory of the atonement I have none.

Every attempt to describe in theological terms just what took place when Christ Jesus died, and ere He died-yea, and after too-upon that cross of bitter anguish, seemed to me to hinder rather than to help me to a fuller apprehension of that sublime mystery.

Over that scene God drew a veil of darkness, blotting out the sun at noonday. I dare not try to turn that veil aside. I fear the just charge of impiety if I attempt it.

To argue and reason about terms, in view of this holy and inscrutable mystery, seems to me akin to the act of dissecting the body of my father, my mother, or my child. There may be much to be learned from such an act, but I can not bring myself to do it.

I rather bow with adoring gratitude and cry, "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation."

In this I rejoice. Here my sheet-anchor is cast. But I have not-nor do I desire to have-any theory of the atonement. H. A. I.

For me, my blessed Lord, to pity moved,
Looked down from heaven upon a soul He loved;
Yea, laid His glory by for love of me:
Believing, I accept the mystery.

His blessed head was crowned with crown of thorn
That mine might be refreshed when ofttimes worn;
And though the centuries have rolled between,
Eternity could ne'er efface that scene.

His pierced hands outstretched in love for me
Insure sweet rest for mine eternally;
And though so many years have passed away,
"Tis just as real as though it were yesterday.

His heart was pierced through with cruel spear
That mine might find its rest and lose its fear.
No past, no future, e'er that scene could set
So far from me that I could e'er forget.

His weary feet, once nailed to Calvary's tree,
Made possible the way to heaven for me;
And though the world hath drowned in revelry
His dying words, they still abide with me.

And He who died now lives in heaven for me.
His pleading day by day is constantly
My source of strength-He could not leave alone
The child for whom He suffered to atone.

The storm may break overhead, and sorrow crush
My heart; yea, and the silence of death's hush
May rend each tender tie all ruthlessly;
Yet, Lord, though all be gone, Thou art for me.

And soon I'll enter where Thy blessed face
Doth light all heaven with its glorious grace;
Yet even there Thou wilt eternally
(The ruler of all worlds) be still for me.

H. McD.

The pathway of the Christian, as of Israel, may be viewed from three standpoints. An illustration of this is found in Ps. 105, 106, 107. The first views them as the objects of sovereign grace, purpose and counsel; the gracious ways of God are its theme. Sixty-one times "He" and "His" occur as the Psalmist celebrates "His deeds," "His wondrous works," and calls upon "His chosen to make known His acts," and "sing His praises."

This psalm reminds us of Ephesians. Here, as there, we see the blessed God moving and acting in the grace of His heart and the might of His hand.

"His every act pure blessing is."

It is His covenant He remembers. Canaan was His gift. He suffered none to touch His people; kings were reproved for their sake. It was no afterthought as to Joseph; he was the sent one; before the famine raged he had provided for the need and distress.

He was the type of another and greater Joseph. Ere sin, or man existed, God had His resource in the "man of opportunity." Man's sin culminated, when by wicked hands they crucified and slew the sent One; but by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, the occasion was turned into the means whereby man's need was fully met. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Christ exalted became the dispenser of God's store-house of mercy, love and grace.

It was God who increased the people, and made them stronger than their enemies. Aaron was His choice, and Moses was sent to give effect to His promise. Fear fell upon Egypt, the people marched out in triumph. Silver and gold-figures of righteousness and redemption-were theirs. Strength and rejoicing were theirs, there was not a feeble person among them. Bread from heaven satisfied them; water gushed from the smitten rock. A river of refreshment followed them. He brought forth His chosen with gladness. He gave them the lands of the heathen; they inherited what they had not toiled for. All that the love of His heart had purposed, the power of His arm carried out.

That same power and love is for His saints to-day. Christ's death has expressed His love, Christ's resurrection His power. In that act power culminated. Satan, man, and even saints, would have kept Him in the stronghold of death; witness the Roman guard of soldiers; the seal, with the death-penalty if broken, the mighty stone on the grave's mouth; the hosts of hell marshaled in dread array! Christ held in death meant the defeat of all God's purposes; Christ raised, the defeat of all Satan's wiles. God had to cross the thoughts of His people who embalmed Christ, defeat the devil, and set death's power aside; but

"When He makes bare His arm
Who shall His work withstand."

Let us now read Ps. 106. As we do so we must remember Scripture views saints as set in responsibility here, as well as in security in Christ.

In order to understand the ways of God we must hold the balances of the sanctuary with sovereign grace in one scale, and responsible beings in the other.

Some Christians dwell exclusively on the sovereignty of God; others are occupied wholly with the responsibility of man:both are found in Scripture; they are not conflicting, but parallel truths; one tells us what man is; the other what God is.

Ps. 106 contains the words "they" and "them" forty-six times. It is one long story of unbelief, sin and failure. The first charge against them is, "They understood not Thy wonders"; "They remembered not the multitude of Thy mercies."

The disciples in Mk. 8 resembled them; both memory and understanding were at fault. In the Lord's questions we discover how a reasoning mind and a perverted understanding, forgetfulness of God's mercies and a hardened heart, are all bound up together. Alas! Is not this often true of us? When we are in a difficulty, we are apt to forget the way God brought us through the last!

Verse 12 says, "Then believed they His words; they sang His praise." This was a good start, but it was on the Red Sea banks, and is the only bit of praise until the very end. What a picture of many a saint! Faith awakens praise, but this faith must be maintained; we are not only to start in faith, but we are to live by faith; it must be kept up if the soul is to be in vigor, either for worship or service.

Alas, Israel soon forgot God's works; they waited not for His counsel; lust followed, then leanness of soul, envy, and false worship. Why? "They forgot God their Saviour." Unbelief as to the inheritance caused them to despise God's rest, murmurs filled their lips, lower and lower still they traveled in their downward course; at length they went right into the world, with its lusts, false worship, and sacrifices to the dead; instead of overpowering the nations, they mingled among the heathen and learned their works; at length they murdered their offspring to sacrifice to devils! Could declension go further? Instead of possessing the lands of the heathen, they got under the power of the heathen. Are saints one whit less capable of this now? In the earliest and palmiest days of Christianity we find an Ananias and Sapphira; at Corinth they were guilty of things not even named among the heathen; are there not backsliders to-day who witness how far a man may depart from God who does not keep near God? Let us take warning; these things are written for our admonition.

Did God give them up because they gave Him up? Let verse 44 answer:"He regarded their affliction when He heard their cry." Should this fall into the hands of a poor backslider, let him take courage; let him turn to God as they did. They said "Save us"! This was the heartbroken utterance of a wandering saint. Look at the gracious response in verse 45, "He remembered for them His covenant." "For them," His poor, erring, wandering saints. He will do the same for you; His compassions fail not.

Restored now, they "give thanks," and triumph in praise; so will you, if truly self-judged, and restored in spirit. It is when the world creeps into a saint's heart, praise leaves it.

The psalm ends with, " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting! " a blessed finish to a sad journey! Why was Ps. 106 written? "For our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come" (i Cor. 10:11). Why was Ps. 105 written? "That we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope" (Rom. 15:4). It tells us God has a storehouse of mercy and grace. No saint can go on without drawing from this divine provision. Even a Paul had to say,'' Having obtained mercy, I continued to this day."

Let us follow his example, ever appropriating, if we would not merely start well and end well, but to go on well. How many a saint starts with praise, drifts into the world, and only wakes up on his death bed! The only worship recorded of Jacob is at the end. What of you, my reader ? May we hold fast grace, so that we may through all the journey serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. As we read Ps. 105, we say, "That is God;" as we read Ps. 106, we say,"That is man." God will surely carry out His purpose ; how do we answer to our responsibility ?

In Ps. 105, the people are seen in the vision of the Almighty; neither iniquity nor perversity is laid to their charge. Ps. 106 recounts the same journey, but their every step is marked by sin. Reading the one psalm we should infer there was "no bad in them;" and reading the other, there was "no good in them." One is the charming account of sovereign grace; the other the sad story of man's failure.

Let us now turn to Ps. 107. Here Israel's responsible history is closed, their dangers over, their sorrows passed, their wilderness journey ended. This psalm commences the fifth and last book, and shows us a happy redeemed people, who have been guided, and are now gathered in a land from which Jehovah never withdraws His eyes. From a haven where no storms ever come they recall their journey and celebrate the goodness of God. They recall the darkness and shadow of death, the bands that had bound them, the gates of brass and bars of iron which had imprisoned them, the times they had been driven to their "wits' end." But all is over now, their troubles ended; no tears dim the eye, no racking pain wears the body; the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne leads them to living fountains; they lie down in green pastures; they sing the song of enjoyed, conscious redemption; they are the redeemed of the Lord.

At home in their land, faith changed to sight, they remember that redeeming love is the key to all their present blessings; they recall the pitying love of a Saviour God who had visited them in their low estate, ransomed them from the enemy, and planted them in their inheritance. The day of glory having now dawned, "guided and gathered," thanksgiving and praise occupy them.

Out of full hearts they invite the congregation of the people and the "assembly of the elders" to unite in exalting the Lord for His "goodness" and wonderful works to the children of men.

As we contemplate this redeemed company, with one heart and voice praising the Lord as they review the past, the last verse of this psalm reminds us that these things are written for our learning:"Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness (or goodness) of the Lord."

We also are on a stormy journey. Sickness and suffering, death and darkness on every hand. The soul melted because of trouble, down in the depths; often at wits' end through family sorrows, adverse circumstances, or church troubles. But this precious psalm is written for our comfort. We are to be among the "wise" to observe how God is ever for His people; how His goodness triumphs over all!

"When trouble, like a gloomy cloud,
Has gathered thick and thundered loud,
He with His Church has always stood;
His loving kindness, oh how good!"

How variously we look at our journey now! We anticipate its difficulties, experience its sorrows, and are in heaviness through manifold temptations. All this often tends to cloud the vision of our souls. At such times let us remember that God is the God of all comfort; He is good and doeth good. We may therefore be encouraged to cry unto the Lord in "our trouble," for Israel's God is ours; and we may as surely count on His intervention for us as for them. He allowed them to draw near the "gates of death," they were almost overwhelmed "in the depths." "Gates of brass" shut them in, bars of iron "kept them captive," but when human efforts and hopes failed, then God's goodness shone out and He made a way of escape for them, just as He will for us.

Hear what Paul says when at "death's door:" "We were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life; but God delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust He will yet deliver." He was "in the depths" troubled on every side ; without were fightings, within fears, nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted him. The "gates of brass " and "bars of iron " encompassed him; persecutions, afflictions at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what sorrows he endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered him. Nay, more, that Master whom he served, that Saviour who had redeemed him, remained faithful, stood by him, and strengthened him. Thus encouraged, Paul says, "The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom:to whom be glory for ever and ever ! "

Here we see a man, just like ourselves, sensitive to the trials of the way, but so sustained by the goodness of God that in spirit he antedates the day when wilderness journeying will be over, and from a Roman dungeon cries, " Rejoice in the Lord al-way:and again I say, Rejoice." Paul's God is ours. How far the way will be remembered when we get to our city of habitation we may not know, but each recollection will only be a fresh incentive to celebrate the kindness and love of God our Saviour, who brought us safely to our desired haven. We shall then see that goodness did follow us all the days of our life, and that the most untoward events and the darkest dispensations of divine providence had goodness behind them.

How often on looking back we see that a poignant sorrow, a bitter trial, has been a real blessing in disguise, a fresh occasion for the display of God's "loving kindness." If that is so now, how much more in the light of that day! We shall then rejoice in the goodness which triumphed over everything. This will be one result of the judgment-seat of Christ. It precedes the day of the kingdom, and will show us how fully God has been for us, and how needful every trial and sorrow was, and behind all the storm-clouds were His loving kindnesses.

Nor will our earthly history close the story of goodness. The assembly will be gathered together, the entire company of the redeemed will unitedly in that day of glory celebrate the goodness of the Lord and His wonderful works to the children of men. Praise shall fill every heart and break forth from every lip. Among the varied families who will then swell the loud song, one is singled out as especially the object of "loving kindness." Eph. 2:7 tells us that the exceeding riches of God's grace will be displayed in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. The Church, above all others, is the vessel of glory in which the goodness of God will be displayed, the excellencies of our God, who is good and doeth good.

" How good is the God we adore,
Our faithful unchangeable Friend;
Whose love is as great as His power,
And knows neither measure nor end ! "

H. N.

"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sore and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil" (Heb. 6 :19).

Herein is rest:my anchor's cast
"Within the veil," both sure and fast;
For what although a haven lay
To lure me o'er the transient way,
If, while upon its billows tossed,
The hope of landing might be lost ?
But hope is resting by that shore
Where Christ for me has gone before:
And now no waves that round me roll
Can move the anchor of my soul.
How sweet to know they all must cease,
And I shall reach th' abode of peace!

J. M. G.

"His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob" (Ps. 87:1,2).

"Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem" (Ps. 122:2).

Read Neh. 3.

The wall of a city was for protection-to keep in, and to keep out; as the wall of a sheepfold was to keep in the sheep, and to keep out the enemies of the sheep.

The wall of Jerusalem went farther. Jerusalem was " a city set on a hill, which could not be hid "; it was an object-lesson for the nations, that they might learn how Jehovah governed His house.

He had in sovereign grace put His Name there, His sanctuary was there, and it was this which gave character to the city.

The sanctuary was the inside, the wall was the outside. The sanctuary spoke of what Jehovah was to the people; the wall spoke of what the people were for Jehovah before the world.

This is an important and far-reaching principle, Tunning throughout Scripture.

Abraham was a man of the altar and of the tent:the altar speaking of what God was to him, the tent
showing what he was to the world-a stranger in it:a stranger in the world because at home with God; hence a pilgrim, a tent-dweller, because he was going to his home.

The wall of Jerusalem was the practical expression of the prophecy, "Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations " (Num. 23:9).

But what I wish to speak about more particularly is concerning the gates of Jerusalem named in Neh. 3. The gate is what might be called the executive part of the wall. The root from which the word comes means, "to separate," "to discriminate"; the gate of a city being the place where causes were heard and settled. It was at the gate of Bethlehem that Boaz had the cause of Naomi and Ruth the Moabitess legally settled.

There are ten gates named in this chapter, and ten is the number of man's responsibility, the full measure of it, both toward God and toward his fellow, as we may see by the ten commandments. The very idea of the wall is responsibility, the responsibility of those within to those without:so that the number of gates mentioned is in harmony with the fundamental idea of the wall.

There is a peculiarity about Nehemiah which must not be passed over:the people were not exactly building the wall, but repairing it. They were not setting up anything new, not contracting the walls to limits suited to the feeble strength of the little remnant just returned from Babylon:they were repairing the old wall. What they were building might not be of sufficient strength to resist battering-rams, or withstand a long siege, but it would mark where the old foundation stood; and, in general each man repaired before his own door. It is of immense moment to see that this city set on a hill is just a working model of the Church of God today:the Church, not as the Body of Christ as set forth in the epistle to the Ephesians, but as the house of God set up here on earth, as the first epistle to the Corinthians unfolds it to us:set up in the world, but fenced off from it, to be a testimony against it.

The same view-point is seen in i Tim. 3 :15- "The house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar -and ground of the truth."

(I) THE SHEEP-GATE

is the first to be repaired, and this seems very fitting:as a fold, it is first of all for sheep, God's sheep:that is fundamental. Isa. 53:6 would apply here with great force:"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way ":as also i Peter 2:25:"For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls."

Very appropriately does Eliashib the high priest, the spiritual leader of God's people, arise, with his brethren the priests, and build this gate. Eliashib means, "God will restore," and suits the connection very well, and we might conclude that in all this we had a good beginning, were it not for the after-history. There are two omissions, however, which should be noted. In general, each man built before his own door. Eliashib did not; others did it for him, as we see from verses 20 and 21. Again, the locks and the bars of the sheep-gate are not mentioned-a serious omission, for of what use is a door, to shut out enemies, without a proper fastening ?

The word "gate" here seems to designate, not that which closed the opening in the wall, but the opening itself, while "the doors thereof" marked the means used for closing the opening. In each of the other gates which are said to have been repaired " the locks thereof and the bars thereof " are in their places, but here they are significantly omitted.

In chapter 13, where "the book of Moses" is being consulted, and the "mixed multitude" is being weeded out from Israel, we find the reason for this omission of bolts and bars. Eliashib had been tampering with the enemy. Tobiah was an Ammonite, one who was by law excluded from the congregation of the Lord to the tenth generation, even forever (Deut. 23:3-6); and Tobiah was most prominent and persistent in his enmity toward the whole matter of repairing the wall. When Nehemiah came to Jerusalem, and "Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved [him] exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel" (chap, 2:10).

When the returned remnant heard of the good hand of God upon Nehemiah, and concluded to build, " Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do ? will ye rebel against the king ? Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build:but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem " (vers. 19, 20).

As the work went on, Sanballat was wroth, and mocked the Jews, and said, "What do these feeble Jews ? will they fortify themselves ? will they sacrifice ? will they make an end in a day ? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned ? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall" (chap. 4:2, 3).

As the wall was approaching completion, Sanballat and Tobiah, with their associates, "were very wroth, and conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it" (chap. 4:7, 8).

'' When Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates), that Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief" (chap. 6:1, 2).

Later on, these enemies wrote an open letter, charging Nehemiah with treason, and inviting him to take counsel with them (verses 4 to 9).

Still later, Tobiah and Sanballat hired a false prophet to deceive and entrap this faithful servant of God (vers. 12, 13). What a fearful responsibility attached to these men who set themselves so persistently to oppose this work of God!

Again and again we read, "When they heard" of what Nehemiah was doing. What if Eliashib had furnished the channel through which these enemies received their information ? It is far from improbable, for in chap. 13:4 we read, "And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chambers of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah:and he had prepared for him a great chamber. . . . And I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. And it grieved me sore:therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah" (chap. 13:4-8).

In chap. 13:28 we learn that one of Eliashib's grandsons had married a daughter of Sanballat the Horonite, and was chased away as having defiled the priesthood.

How awfully solemn is all this!-the spiritual leader of this little remnant, linked by marriage to Sanballat on the one hand, and allied to Tobiah, for whom he had provided a chamber set apart for holy uses in the house of God!

Is it any wonder that Eliashib omitted the locks and bars from the sheep-gate, or that some one else must needs repair before his house ? He was not the man to insist upon locks and bars when he had an Ammonite in a select place inside!

Who can tell how much of the hindrance to this work of repair was due to this man's double-mindedness, and lack of decision in the things of God!

The wall would be of no use without gates; the gates would do little good without doors; and these would be quite ineffectual without locks and bars. Inside that wall was what was of God-divine principles governed; outside was what was of the world:to leave one door unbarred was, in principle, to obliterate the wall, and to invite the ruin which had carried them to Babylon.

Can it be that Eliashib built the sheep-gate merely for the sake of maintaining a correct exterior before the people ?

Outwardly he was in full sympathy with this work of God, but at heart he was in league with the enemies of the truth. How different the spirit and temper of Nehemiah! "The God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build:but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem " (chap. 2:20).

Applying this to the assembly of God to-day, we see the immense importance of having things right at the gate. Laxity there is sure to lead to confusion. The Lord has committed the keeping of the door to His assembly (Matt. 18:18), and that only should be received which is consistent with the character of the house. "Receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God " (Rom. 15:7). We come now to

(2) THE FISH-GATE.

This the sons of Hassenaah built (chap. 3:3), "who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof." Discrimination appears to be the leading thought in this gate. In Deut. 14:9 and 10 we see that certain fish are called clean, and others unclean. In Matt. 13, in the parable of the net, every kind is gathered into the net, but the good are gathered into vessels, while the bad are rejected. This takes place at the end of the age; but we are to be in the spirit of that even now. " Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world ? Know ye not that we shall judge angels ? how much more things that pertain to this life ?" (i Cor. 6:2, 3 ) The present time is the opportunity for practice in these things, for learning to use "strong meat," becoming "those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Heb. 5:14).

But fish as a symbol has another application which must not be passed over, and that is, ministry. Fish is often used in symbolic language to suggest ministry. (See Matt. 7:10.) Our Lord fed the multitude partly with fishes (Matt. 14:19; 15:36; cf. also 17:27). Even He Himself was so ministered to (Luke 24:42).

The fish-gate then most beautifully fills its numerical place as the second gate, the number two speaking of difference, hence of discrimination, as also of ministry, aid, help; the two thoughts being brought together in the verse just quoted from Heb. 5, vers. 12 to 14, placing those requiring milk, needing to be taught first principles, the unskillful in the word of righteousness, on the one hand; whilst the full grown, feeding upon strong meat, those who by reason of habit are able to distinguish both good and evil, are placed on the other.

What qualities are suggested as called into play by those who would " sit in the gate" here! Skill, patience, vigilance, tenderness in handling-all the qualities of a bishop, in fact. And '' the sons of Hassenaah built" this gate. Hassenaah means, " the thorn bush." Having the article, it is definite, and must refer to "the bush" of Ex. 3:2-6; cf. Acts 7:30-34. The thorn is the badge of God's curse because of man's sin. But here is a thorn-bush burning but not consumed because occupied by One
who has heard the cry of His people, and has come down to deliver them; and because of what He is, they are not consumed. "I am Jehovah, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed " (Mal. 3:6).

"The thorn-bush," then, reminds us of what we were, of what He is (He must consume what will consume), and of what we are by His grace-deeply fundamental lessons; and it is eminently fitting that the sons of "the thorn-bush" should repair this gate. J. B. J.

(To be completed in our next number.)

(Matthew 20.)

In considering this parable, we do well to remember the remark, or question, of Peter that led up to it. The Lord had been speaking of the impossibility of a rich man entering the kingdom of God with his riches, and Peter says, "Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed Thee; what shall we have therefore ?" In answering him, the Lord shows, on the one hand, the portion of those who leave aught to follow Him; and, on the other, by the parable before us, that God's ways are not as man's, nor His thoughts as our thoughts.

The wrong thoughts entertained by the disciples, no doubt, gave rise to the parable. It also, of course, teaches us, who are prone to make the same mistake. We must bear in mind that the disciples, though in company with the Lord, were nevertheless laboring under many mistaken ideas, such as had no doubt been taught them from infancy-ideas which were peculiar to that nation, but which illustrate the universal mistakes of men in their thoughts of God and His ways; hence their surprise when the Lord assured them of the difficulty of the rich in finding entrance to the kingdom. " Who then can be saved ?" shows that they regarded the rich as much more likely to enter the kingdom than the poor. We need not be surprised at this, for in the kingdoms of this world it is the men of wealth who get the favors and the good places; and when the traditions of the elders have set aside and made of none effect the word of God, even God's people have wrong thoughts. May not the same thing be said of the Church's traditions to-day ? What truth of Christianity has not the "woman " of the parable of Matt. 13 leavened ?

The Lord therefore, in the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, sets forth God's own way of service and reward-how it would obtain in His kingdom. The general features of the parable show, first of all, that God has a right to do with His own things as it pleases Him-a fact which seems simple enough in itself, or as applied to ourselves, but denied to God by man more than any other right; though, as far as man is concerned, if he finds a place in that kingdom at all, he owes it to that grace which he would hinder from having its sway. The objection raised by those who wrought twelve hours against their fellow-laborers amounts to the same thing as that raised by the "elder son"; but if they got what they had agreed upon for their labor, what business was it of theirs what their master did with his own ? Had they been dealt with unrighteously, they had just cause for complaint; otherwise they were interfering with the rights of their master, and deserved the rebuke given them.

Applying the lesson of the parable, it serves to illustrate the difference between law and grace; indeed, this is the lesson which stands out upon the face of it. Being a parable of the kingdom, there is the thought of service as well as of responsibility involved in it; but even these are shown to be controlled by that principle which God loves, and under which alone there can be blessing for man anywhere or in any age-that of grace. The Lord was not setting forth the gospel exactly-though the truth presented here has its bearing in that direction ; for if we think of the gospel, it is impossible to concede that the blessing of it could be had in the way spoken of here; for evidently those who worked but the hour, did work, and the gospel says, "To him that worketh not, but believeth, . . . his faith " is blessed.

Nevertheless, even in our service for the Lord, were it not that the Master whom we serve is the God of all grace, how could we bear the thought of our work passing underneath His eyes, which are as "a flame of fire" ? On the other hand, knowing His grace will not lessen the tone of our service, but, on the contrary, if properly understood and appreciated, will exalt it. The apostle who could say, comparing his work with those whom he honors as being greater than himself, " I labored more abundantly than they all," is careful to add, "yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me":while the "wicked and slothful servant" who hid his talent in the earth, and wrought nothing at all for his lord, was the one who said to his master, " I knew thee, that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed; and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth:lo, there thou hast that is thine."

All this goes to show us that there can be no real, no genuine service rendered to the Lord Jesus Christ on the part of any who are ignorant of His grace. That, and that alone, can inspire us; and what comes from the sense of this is alone of any value to Him; to attempt to serve One who is full of love and mercy in the spirit of legality cannot have His approval, but rather, must meet His frown.

If, then, we suppose that those who entered the vineyard early represent those who sought a place of honor in the kingdom on account of their supposed faithfulness, and those who came in later in the day to be those who looked for no reward except what the Lord's grace was to bestow upon them (and it seems that this is really the thought of the parable), we then have a plain view of its teaching. May the Lord grant to us, each one, to serve Him in that spirit of grace, counting on its all-sufficiency to sustain us in it, to the praise of that One whose grace it is. "Therefore we receiving a kingdom (of grace) that cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:for our God is a consuming fire." W. H.

The untrustworthiness of the human heart, even in the most devoted of saints, and the need of constant, prayerful watchfulness are alike strongly emphasized in the three words used as a title to this paper, in connection with the Scripture history of the godly Josiah, king of Judah.

In a day of cold-heartedness and apostasy, he shines out brightly as the man who honored and trembled at the word of the Lord. (See 2 Chron. 34 and 35.) An Old Testament Timothy, he sought the ways of God from his childhood.

Crowned at eight, his tender heart opened to the only One who could direct his steps aright, and keep him from stumbling. For thirty years he turned neither to the right hand nor the left, but steadfastly held on his way; putting God's glory first, and seeking to bring the people back to that which he found written in the Book.

Hence the record of those thirty years makes most precious reading-full of cheer and encouragement to every one, who in an evil day, departs from iniquity. The transparent piety and genuine devotedness of his life are a much needed example to us, emphasizing the blessing resulting from obedience to the written Word.

But in verse 20 of chapter 35 there comes a solemn break in the happy account, fraught with serious warning to all. "After all this "-after thirty years of growth in grace and knowledge of the Divine ways-after thirty years' experience of the precious-ness of waiting upon God and getting His Word ere beginning to act-"after all this" we find this godly, devoted man running unsent, interfering in a matter that in no wise concerned him, acting apart from divine guidance, and insisting on taking his own way, in the face of Pharaoh-Necho's earnest remonstrance. As a result Josiah receives his death-wound in a battle in which he should never have been engaged, and is borne from Megiddo to Jerusalem where he died, leaving the sheep committed to his care to bitterly lament the loss of so helpful a shepherd.

Thirty years of walking with God had not improved the natural heart of Josiah one iota. Like that of every other – save the Man Christ Jesus – it was not to be trusted – and could only deceive if relied upon. Let us remember the lesson.

There will never be a moment till we see our Lord's face, that we do not need to be on our guard against the encroachments of the flesh – never an instant when we may trust our own judgment – never a time when we can safely dispense with the guidance of the Word and Spirit of God.

Let us then watch and be sober that at the last there may not be a breakdown dishonoring to God and ruinous to our testimony, when, though there may have been much that was for Himself in our lives, a sorrowful "after all this " would close our path of discipleship. H. A. I.

(Continued from page 151.)

Chapter 5 :1-11.

Now, in chap. 5; 1-11 we have the practical results for the justified. Here we must remind ourselves that it is in no wise a question of how fully we are in the enjoyment of these results. This depends on the energy of faith. These most blessed consequences of God justifying us on the principle of faith may be enjoyed in greater measure by one than by another. There may be times when the same individual will be more fully in the enjoyment of them than at other times. But the apostle is not occupying us with this here. He is rather stating what are the normal consequences of justification for the believer.

Let us then seek to learn what these normal consequences are. The first practical result of justification by faith mentioned by the apostle is ' "peace with God." If God is the justifier, if He sets a believing sinner before His face in an abiding, unchangeable righteousness, then all controversy about sins between God and that soul is ended forever. By justifying him, God Himself has ended it. He has put the believing sinner before His face in righteousness, and no more charges up his sins against him. He no more presses upon him the need of answering to God for his sins, so far as bearing their penalty is concerned. This is peace -peace with God. The force of the expression is peace as respects God. Through the instrumentality of our Lord Jesus Christ there is for the believer-the spiritual child of Abraham-peace as regards God. On the ground of the sacrifice of Christ God is for him, not against him. On account of the work of the Cross, he being now a believer, God has ended His controversy with him. What a blessed result of justification this is ! God for us! God no longer maintaining His controversy with us! And this blessed result, let us remember, is true for "all them that believe."

Another result is the God-given privilege of entering by faith into the grace in which we stand. Under law, the children of Abraham (his spiritual children) could not do this. The grace in which they stood was clouded. Law was a hindrance to them. The privilege of taking practically the place of sons was not given them. But now, through the instrumentality of the Lord Jesus Christ, on the ground of His atoning sacrifice, the privilege of entering by faith into the grace in which we stand is given. It is in grace we stand. God gratuitously sets the believer before His face in unchanging favor, and grants him now the privilege of enjoying that favor without a cloud. This too is the right, a God-given right, of "all them that believe"-a blessed consequence indeed of justification by faith!

A third result is the liberty of soul in which the believer can now anticipate and await the day in which God will display Himself. The justified may calmly contemplate the glory of God, and rejoice in it. God has made them meet for it. And since the glorious revelations of which the cross of Christ has been the occasion, no clouds or mists remain to disturb the mind in thinking of the day when there shall be a full display of God. The Cross has settled every question concerning the believer's right to be with God in that day. It has disposed of everything that would make that day a thing to be dreaded. The glory of that day is the hope of those whom God has justified. It is their privilege to anticipate it with unspeakable joy.

A fourth result of justification by faith is the joy to be found in trials. The trials of the justified are innumerable. Justification does not exempt from them, but it gives power to rise above them. It enables the soul to value the priceless blessings they minister.

But what are these blessings ? First, with the eye on the coming glory, the trials are judged as incomparable with it. They thus become "light afflictions, which are but for a moment," soon to pass away, and are thus easy to be endured. Trials, then, develop patient endurance-one of the marked characteristics of our blessed Saviour. How precious is fellowship with Christ in patient suffering! We may well endure trial to experience the precious-ness of it.

Experience is next mentioned as the product of patient endurance. In patiently enduring trial, we prove how good the will of God for us is. We gain a practical experience of His thoughtful care, of the sufficiency of His love and the resources of His grace for us. We get to know Him better, to know better what His heart is. We realize better how Christ sympathizes with us, and we understand better what His own path was; that path of which He could say, "The lines are fallen unto Me in pleasant places" (Ps. 16:6). We thus learn by a practical experience of it to say, with Him, "Yea, I have a goodly heritage." How immeasurably blessed is such an experience! But let us remember that it is in patiently enduring our trials that we find this precious experience.

We are next told that "experience works hope." As, in the path that leads to the glory, we experience what the God of glory is, how that glory brightens! As by patient endurance we learn experimentally the love and care and tender mercies of Christ in His never-failing ministry to us as He guides us on our way, how we are constrained to say, "What will it be to be with Him! " It is thus experience works hope. It is thus experience strengthens in us the desire to realize the hope that is set before us.

The apostle now assures us that hope makes not ashamed. The path we are in bestows upon us no worldly honors. The world disdains it, looks contemptuously upon it; but, with the light of our glorious hope shining upon it, we are not ashamed. Our hope, too, is an unfailing, unfading hope. Worldly hopes fail, and disappoint those who wait for them; but he who patiently endures the trials of the path of the justified will never be disappointed. He will never be made ashamed. As he draws nearer and nearer to the consummation of the glory he is waiting for, his confidence in its realization strengthens. He grows steadily stronger in hope because along the way he enjoys the love of the God of his hope. It is shed abroad in his heart. The God of eternity, with whom he is to eternally dwell, is the God of love-love already manifested and filling the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit that indwells the believer.

Here we must notice that the gift of the Spirit to indwell the body of the believer is a blessing from God that accompanies justification by faith. All who are justified by God have the Spirit. The Spirit is now given, since the death and resurrection of Christ, to all the children of Abraham-to all them that believe. All who are justified by God have the Spirit as the power of realizing and enjoying His love. It is the Spirit who sheds it abroad in the heart.

But while the love of God is shed abroad in the heart of the justified, it is not there that its full measure is to be found. For this we must ever turn to the Cross. It was there that the love was fully manifested. The love displayed in the cross of Christ is a love for sinners, for those who are without God, helplessly under the eternal doom of sin. It was for such Christ died. In this death of Christ for sinners God displayed what His love toward us is. In thus displaying His love toward us He commends it as surpassing all other love. Love in God finds all its motives in Himself, not in the objects toward which it goes out.

Love of that character is free to provide itself with the means by which to justify the objects toward which it goes out. It supplies itself with the basis on which it justifies itself for being the kind of love it is. This basis is the blood of Christ -His sacrificial death.

If then the blood of Christ is love's vindication of itself, and the basis on which it goes out to sinners, it is the basis of the sinner's justification, the basis on which God acts in justifying.

Here I must call attention to the difference between justification by blood and justification by faith. Justification by blood is justification on the basis of the sacrifice of Christ. The sacrifice of Christ is God's title, or right, to justify. It does not mean that because Christ died for all, that therefore everybody is justified, but that He died for all as providing a righteous basis for God to justify. But the principle on which He justifies is faith. It is only the sinner who believes that is justified. The actual justification of the sinner, therefore, is individual. We are all individually justified when we believe. Hence we may speak of being justified by faith.

But God's act in justifying us individually when we believe, 1:e., on the principle of faith, is based on the blood-the sacrifice of Christ. Looking thus at our justification as based on the work of the cross, we may speak of being justified by blood. It is not that there are two ways of justification. There is only one way. This we may state as justification by or on the principle of faith, on the basis or ground of the blood of Christ.

In verse 9 it is the ground of justification that is in the mind of the apostle; so he says, " Justified by His blood." But if a righteous basis for our justification has been provided through the death of Christ, He who died to provide this has risen from the dead; He is a risen, living Christ, and believers live by and in Him. He is their life. He is thus our salvation from wrath. He as the living One, the source of life to us, the One by whom and in whom we live, stands forever between us and wrath.

We were enemies, but by the death of His Son God has reconciled us to Himself. By the power of the love displayed in the sacrifice of the cross, God has won our hearts. We are now no longer enemies. But, being reconciled, our full and final salvation is bound up with Him who is our life. We live by and in One who, having triumphed over death, can never again be brought under its power. Death, then, can never have power over those who live by Him. Their full and final salvation is thus assured by His life.

And here let us remind ourselves that this is true for all the justified. All whom God has gratuitously justified; all whom He has set before His face in unchanging righteousness on the ground of the sacrificial death of Christ, are eternally secure in that place, because they live by Him who has brought them there. The power of life in Him must be applied to their bodies as well as His if they live by Him. They shall be saved by His life-finally and completely saved-finally and completely conformed to Him, their bodies made like His. All the justified are assured of such a salvation. It is a necessary consequence of justification.

There is yet one other result of justification mentioned by the apostle. The justified, knowing God as the author and revealer of such a full salvation, glory in His being what He is. He reveals Himself in the salvation He provides. Those who are the happy subjects of it glory in Him as thus revealed.

There is another thing to call attention to. It is the place our Lord Jesus Christ has in connection with all these blessed consequences of justification. It is by, or through, Him we have them. We must notice how the apostle emphasizes this. If he speaks of having peace with God, he adds, " through our Lord Jesus Christ"; if of access into the grace in which we stand, he reminds us it is "by" Him we have this access. If he alludes to our being saved from wrath, he tells us it is "through Him." If he refers to joying in God, he insists that it is "through our Lord Jesus Christ." If he speaks of having received reconciliation with such a God as the salvation He has provided reveals Him to be, he reminds us it is by or through Him. Thus again and again our attention is fixed on the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ is the One to whom we are indebted for all these immeasurable blessings which are the portion of the justified. His sacrificial death is the ground on which they are ours. How well may we sing,

" Oh what a debt we owe !"

C. Crain

(To be continued.)

These two servants of God to whom we owe so much in giving expression to the experiences of the Christian heart in their imperishable hymns, found in the experiences of their life frequent occasions, like David, for the outpouring of their hearts toward God. Isaac Watts' outburst of praise in

"Come, we that love the Lord,
And let our joys be known;
Join in a song of sweet accord,
And thus surround the throne "

found its birth it is said in some lovely scenery where he saw in nature "glory begun below."

The beautiful stanza which closes one of his hymns,

"There shall I bathe my weary soul
In seas of heavenly rest,
And not a wave of trouble roll
Across my peaceful breast."

was inspired, it is said, by the calm beauty of the harbor within view of his home, with the vessels anchored and at rest after their voyage.

Isaac Watts was born at Southampton, England, in 1674, the son of a deacon of the Independent church. At the end of his 22nd. year he had written no hymns, and in the two following years 144 more, besides preparing himself for the ministry. Among his first no hymns is that jewel of his lyric work-

"When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Lord of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride."

Charles Wesley, took up the harp of Watts when the older poet laid it down. He was born at Epworth, Eng., in 1708, the third son of Rev. Samuel Wesley, and died in London, March, 1788.

His hymn,

"O, for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer's praise,
The glories of my God and King,
And triumphs of His grace "

is believed to have been written May 17, 1739, for the anniversary of his own conversion.

The remark of a fervent Christian friend, Peter Bohler, " Had I a thousand tongues I would praise Christ Jesus with them all," struck an answering chord in Wesley's heart, and he embalmed the wish in his fluent verse. The third stanza has made language for pardoned souls for more than four generations already:

"Jesus ! the name that calms our fears
And bids our sorrows cease ;
'Tis music in the sinner's ears,
'Tis life and health and peace."

Charles Wesley was the poet of the soul, and knew its every mood. Most of the hymns of this good man, of which he wrote no less than six thousand, were hymns of experience-and this is why they are so dear to the Christian heart. The music of eternal life is in them. The happy glow of a single line in one of them-

"Love Divine, all love excelling,"

thrills through the mall. He led a spotless life from youth to old age, and grew unceasingly in spiritual knowledge and sweetness. His piety and purity were the weapons that alike humbled his scoffing fellow scholars at Oxford, and conquered the wild colliers of Kingwood. With his brother John, through persecution and ridicule, he preached and sang that Divine Love to his country-men and in the wilds of America, and on their return to England his quenchless melodies multiplied till they made an Evangelical literature around his name.

The voices of Wesley and Watts will ever be heard wherever Christian life is experienced here below.

Adapted from "Story of Hymns and Tunes."

(Continued from page 277.)

THE DIVINE INDICTMENT OF EVIL WORKERS.

"These are spots in your love-feasts, feasting together [with you] without fear, pasturing themselves; clouds without water, carried along by [the] winds ; autumnal trees, without fruit, twice dead, rooted up; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame ; wandering stars, to whom has been reserved the gloom of darkness for eternity" (vers. 12, 13).

There is something unspeakably solemn in this severe indictment of those who, professedly followers of Christ and servants of God, really walk in a self-chosen path, and are elsewhere described as "enemies of the cross of Christ:whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things " (Phil. 3:18, 19). Be it carefully remembered that, throughout Jude's warning letter, the evil-workers referred to are not those who, outside the circle of profession, are confessedly the opponents of Christ and of the truth of God; but they are a self-seeking, worldly-minded, mammon-actuated class, inside the nominal church; who make their profession of faith in the Lord Jesus a cover for their own selfish ends. They are often looked upon as leaders of Christian thought and champions of truth and righteousness. But underlying all they say and do, there is the open, or covert, denial of everything that really makes for godliness. To the heavenly calling they are strangers; hence their aim and object to advance their own interests in this world. They dwell upon the earth. Pilgrimage in the scriptural sense they know not of. Their place and portion are in this scene, not up there, where Christ as man glorified sits, rejected by earth, but accepted of heaven, at the right hand of God.

Metaphor after metaphor is used by the Holy Spirit to describe these false apostles and ministers of unrighteousness. Every phrase is important, and demands careful consideration.

"These are spots in your love-feasts." Perhaps, in place of "spots," it will be clearer if we read, "Sunken, or hidden, rocks." Such are these apostate teachers. Clearly-marked charted rocks are not of great danger, as a rule, to the mariner. It is those that are hidden, over whose jagged edges roll the deceitfully-peaceful waters, that are most to be dreaded. Were these false guides to publicly proclaim themselves as opposed to what the godly hold sacred, their influence would be speedily nullified, save with a few whose senses have never been exercised to discern between good and evil. But, posing as advocates of the truth, soft-spoken and affable, with their good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple.

The expression, "feasting themselves together [with you] without fear," shows how fully they have gained the confidence of the mass. Participating fearlessly in the most hallowed seasons of Christian communion, they never enter into the spirit of those happy expressions of love and fellowship, but observe the form, pretending to piety and devotion, while all the time looking but to their own interests, as the next expression strikingly emphasizes.

"Pasturing, or shepherding, themselves" in place of shepherding the flock of God-what could more vividly express the conception of the clerical position in the minds of many who trade upon its privileges ? They, who should feed the sheep and lambs of Christ's flock, fleece them instead, and look upon them as those whose place it is to contribute to their honor, wealth, and dignity. Scripture knows of no distinction between clergy and laity. All believers are God's kleros*-His allotted portion. *The root of the word "clergy."* If of their own number there are those raised up to act as pastors, by guiding and caring for those weaker or less instructed, it is as doing a service to the Lord, the Chief Shepherd; "not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over possessions, but being ensamples to the flock" (i Peter 5:1-4).

To this single-eyed and true-hearted devotedness these deceitful workers are utter strangers. Their true characters are even more graphically depicted in the metaphors taken from nature that immediately follow.

"Clouds [they are] without water, carried along by the winds." Big with promise, pretentious and impressive, all knowledge and all mysteries seem to be in their keeping; but their utterances are a disappointment to any who know the mind of God as revealed in His word. In place of refreshing showers of spiritual blessing accompanying their ministry, there are but empty vaporings and idle threatenings. In place, too, of divine certainty because based on the Holy Scriptures, their fanciful theories and ever-changing notions manifest the fact that they themselves are carried about by every wind of human teaching, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

They are further described as "autumnal trees without fruit, twice dead, rooted up." Having a fair outward appearance, they are like trees which in the season of fruit bear only leaves; like the fig-tree cursed by the Lord, which dried up from the roots. These indeed are "twice dead"; for they are "dead in trespasses and sins," and dead too in a false profession, having a name that they live, but actually lifeless. "Every tree," said the Lord Jesus, "that My heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." So these are seen already, in God's estimation, as plucked up by the roots. In man's eye they may make a fair show in the flesh, and tower skyward in loftiness and apparent beauty; but in the sight of Him who seeth not as man seeth their judgment is already come.

Impatient of restraint or rebuke of any kind, they are next likened to "raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame." It is not that they feel shame or remorse because of what they say or do; but by their very speech they manifest the true condition of their lawless wills when confronted with the word that exposes the hollowness of their contentions. "The unjust knoweth no shame"; but they proudly glory in what might well abase them before God and man. Blessed it is for those who seek to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart that He has set bounds to this sea, as to that in nature, beyond which its angry waters cannot go. He makes the wrath of man to praise Him, and the remainder of wrath He restrains. See Ps. 76:10.

The last awful figure portrays the doom yet awaiting these impious triflers in holy things. They are "wandering stars, to whom has been reserved the gloom of darkness for eternity." Like lost planets hurled out of their natural orbit, they flare brilliantly for the moment, then plunge off at a tangent into ever-deepening darkness as they rush through the fathomless depths of space farther and farther from the Source of light. Such shall be the end of all who now refuse the Light of life, and prefer instead to kindle their own fire and compass themselves about with sparks (Isa. 50:11).

Solemnly the Holy Spirit says to every child of grace, "From such turn away" (2 Tim. 3:5).
H. A. I.

(To be continued.)

My practice had been, at least for ten years, to give myself to prayer, after dressing in the morning. I often spent a quarter of an hour, or half an hour, on my knees, before being conscious of having derived comfort, encouragement, humbling of soul, etc.; and often, after having suffered much from wandering of mind, I only then began really to pray.

Now I see that the most important thing was to give myself to the reading of the word of God, and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that, whilst meditating on the word of God, my heart might be brought into communion with the Lord. I began, therefore, to read and meditate on the word of God, searching as it were into every verse, to get blessing out of it; not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word, not for the sake of preaching on what I had meditated upon, but for the sake of obtaining food for my own soul. The result I have found to be almost invariably this, that my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication ; so that, though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer, but to meditation, yet it turned almost immediately more or less into prayer.

QUES. 1.-Is the sin of Ananias and Sapphira, spoken of in Acts 5 :1-11, that which is mentioned in 1 John 5 :16 ? Also, in Acts 4:32, "Neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own "; yet, in chapter 5 :4, Peter says to Ananias, " While it remained, was it not thine own ? " Why this difference ?

ANS.-It is evident that in the sight of God Ananias and Sapphira had committed "a sin unto death." Peter perceives this, and pronounces the sentence, which God executes on the spot. We take it for granted that you understand that this judgment is governmental, not eternal; that it refers to the body, not the soul. It was no common sin they committed-no mere yielding to some passion of the flesh. A mighty work of the Spirit of God was going on, exalting Christ in the souls of men in such a fashion that believers counted their possessions their own no more, and therefore, instead of accumulating, they distributed; instead of buying more, they sold:the Lord, who was rich, had become poor to make them rich; and His manner was being reproduced in them. It was admirable, and it brought great praise, no doubt, upon such as did this. Ananias and Sapphira coveted this honor. It is already great sin for a child of God to envy the honor which proceeds from the workings of the grace of God; but when, to obtain it, deceit is resorted to-planned deceit-the judgment of God must fall upon the offender. It was not a mere lie to man to avoid difficulty; it was devising a lie, and agreeing together in it, in the face of God the Holy Spirit, who had but recently come from heaven and taken up His abode in the Church. It was great wickedness.

As to the difference you speak of, it was "grace working in them which enabled them to look at their goods as not their own; but actually, as Peter says, each man's property is his own until it is dedicated; that is, it is under his own control; no other person has any right over it. Once dedicated, to hold it back is robbery.

QUES. 2.-What is meant by the ground, or principle, of the one body, and being gathered upon it?

ANS.-Suppose you were among heathen, where many gods are worshiped, and they asked you which one yon worshiped, would you not reply, " There is one God only, and I can therefore worship no other"? So, if any Christian among the many bodies or denominations of Christians asks me, " To what body do you belong?" I reply, " The Scriptures know but one body (Eph. 4 :4), the Church, the Body of Christ, which Christ loves, for which He gave Himself, and which the Holy Spirit is forming by the daily addition of newly-converted souls. I, a true Christian, belong to that body; I know no other, and can therefore confess no other; no more than I can confess other than one God, or one Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, or one Holy Spirit. I believe in baptism by immersion; I believe in free grace; I believe in election:but for Christians to assemble together as Baptists, or Methodists, or Calvinists, is one thing; and to assemble together as members of Christ's Body, to which all true Christians belong, is quite another. The former is sectarian, the latter is Christian. The former is man-made, the latter is God-made. The former embraces but a few of God's people, the latter embraces them all. The former makes some doctrine or practice, true or false, the center of gathering; the latter makes Christ, who is the Head and Saviour of the Church, the Center. This produces a vast difference both in the character of the worship and the growth of God's people, because the Holy Spirit does not gather God's people on sectarian ground, nor around any other center than Christ himself. He must remain true to God's great purpose, however much God's professed people have departed from it.

Any company of Christians thus gathered in confession of their common membership in the Body of Christ will, of course, recognize any other company or companies likewise assembled, and they will practice together all that Scripture enjoins upon the whole Church of God. Individuals presenting themselves to be received, and accrediting themselves as members of the Body of Christ, will be received as such by any one of the companies on behalf of Christ and of the whole Church; or, any one sinning against Christ, and requiring to be put under discipline, will be so dealt with by any one of the companies on behalf of Christ and of the whole Church. The truth that " there is one Body " will govern all their ways and actions; everything will be done in the light of that fact. They cannot be together in one place, but they are together in one Spirit.

This is what is meant by the ground, or principle, of the one Body, and the practice resulting from it.

But God's people are never out of danger in this scene. Satan, their great enemy, is ever watchful, ready to spoil whatever is of God. If the world comes in, and the flesh is not held under judgment, he can corrupt every truth and lead God's people to the abuse of whatever is true. In this truth of the one Body, and its resulting practice, for instance, self-willed men may in some given place do what is wrong-Diotrephes-like, cast out godly men who stand in their way, and then trade upon the obedience which that truth produces, using it now to enforce, not God's will, but their own, and to enslave their brethren, thus corrupting its divine purpose. Some remarks of yours, together with your question, show you have this in mind. In such a case it is Satan usurping the truth; and we are never to yield to him, but to resist him. It is popery-a persecuting power, which to obey is but to surrender a good conscience and make shipwreck of faith. As Rome proclaims herself loudest that she is the true Church, so such an abuse as this of the truth of the one Body will proclaim the loudest that it alone is on the ground of that one Body, and that, be their actions righteous or unrighteous, you must go to them to occupy that very ground! Such an abuse of truth turns, alas, many from the truth, and comes fearfully near to "changing the truth of God into a lie." But, whatever the confusion, the word of God as our guide is plain:"Follow righteousness" is the first thing; then "faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Tim. 2:22).

QUES. 3.-Please give through help and food an exposition of Rom. 8 :13.

ANS.-It is the test applied. This is always God's manner. He first establishes thoroughly the perfect freedom of His people. He can allow no bondage to exist in His family. He mast have them as free to call Him Father as He is free, by the death and resurrection of His Son, to call them sons. No genuine fruitful-ness or holiness can exist apart from this. The first seven chapters of the epistle have therefore been given for this. By the sacrifice of the cross they nave declared all believers righteously justified from all their sins; dead to, that is, separated forever from, the sin that still dwells in them ; dead to law, that is, forever free now from that principle in obedience or action. All this to make us at home in the light, in the fellowship of the Father and of His Son Jesus Christ.

But if, " when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan came also among them," so now he ever seeks to introduce counterfeits-persons who profess all the grace, but avoid its path and responsibilities. The verse you bring before us meets this. It shows the two different roads followed by the two different peoples:The people who "live after the flesh," whatever be their profession, are on the road to death-to eternal doom ; the people who, not by asceticism, but "through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body," are on the road to life everlasting.

And mark, it is not a question of failings which may be found here and there in the child of God, or of some good deeds which may be found in a mere professor; it is a course of life which characterizes the one and the other on the two different roads mentioned.

"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go :i will guide thee with Mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding :whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle lest they come near unto thee " (vers. 8, 9).

Now we are often like the horse, or the mule, every one of us; and this, because our souls have not been plowed up. When there is anything in which the will of man is at work, the Lord deals with us as with the horse or the mule, holding us in. When every part of the heart is in contact with Himself, He guides us with His "eye." "The light of the body is the eye:therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy whole body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light" (Luke 9:34-36). When there is anything wherein the eye is not single, so long as this is the case there is not free intercourse in heart and affections with God; and the consequence is, our will not being subdued, we are not led simply of God. When the heart is in a right state, the whole body is "full of light," and there is the quick perception of the will of God. He just teaches us by His "eye" all He wishes, and produces in us '' quickness of understanding in the fear of Jehovah," hearts without any objects save the will and glory of God. And that is just what Christ was:'' Lo, I come:in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God:yea, Thy law is in My heart" (Ps. 40:7, 8; Heb. 10; 7). Where there is this, it may be bitter and painful as to the circumstances of the path, but there is in it the joy of obedience as obedience. There is always joy, and the consequence-God guiding us by His eye.

The service of Christ is the fastness of my life.
The will of Christ is the law of my life.
The presence of Christ is the joy of my life.
The glory of Christ is the crown of my life.

To be in Christ is the secret of our life.
To be for Christ is the meaning of our activity.
To be with Christ is the hope of our glory.

(James 5:7.)

A System of teaching has lately grown up around this passage concerning which it would seem time to give a word of warning. It has for its object the proving that there will be a time of special refreshment and in-filling of the Spirit before the Lord comes, thus affording a season of conspicuous revival and blessing, which constitutes the making ready of the Bride for the marriage-supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9). Of this season, it is claimed, "the latter rain" is a definite promise; while the early, or first, rain was fulfilled at Pentecost. This passage in James, with Deut. 11:13-21, is taken up and greatly enlarged upon in the teaching referred to. It is argued that there is a time of special preparation of the Church, to be fulfilled just before the Lord comes, and that this is the season of "the latter rain." The natural inference is that we are to look for and expect this before He comes. The teaching advanced is dangerous, because it leads to the looking for this latter blessing as a result of fulfilling certain conditions expressed in Deuteronomy and made applicable to the Christian; thus tending to displace the preeminence of Christ, to look for something to be accomplished, instead of looking only for His coming again. It affords an opportunity for boasting and self-exaltation, inasmuch as it sets forth the coming of this "latter-rain" blessing to be the result of carrying out certain conditions which will have its issue in a second filling of Christians with the Spirit.

Let us consider the passage in James. The apostle exhorts to a patient waiting for the Lord's return. The example he gives is the husbandman who with patience waits through the long winter months from the early or autumnal rains until the great latter rains, after which he can gather in the harvest. This is a simple but powerful example for us. And so the apostle concludes, "Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh " (verse 8). If it be anything for us here, "the latter rain " is clearly the Lord's coming, and not any preceding blessing. It is forcing Scripture to imply that it means we are to have some exceptional outpouring of blessing, which in that case, as waiting in patience, we are to look for, and would result in occupation with the blessing instead of the Lord's coming, which the Spirit of God presses here.

But further, we cannot make promises to Israel promises also to the Church. This is confusion. Things which happened to Israel are indeed precious types. But this is different from trying to make the example of the husbandman prove that as Israel was promised "the latter rain" on condition of obedience, so the Church is to have literally its latter rain based upon the same principle.

Now what is the typical thought connected with the early, or first, and the latter rain ? As they were of yearly occurrence, and definitely connected with Israel's history, we may look at them in connection with the feasts, or set times of Jehovah, also of yearly occurrence. The early, or first, rain fell in autumn, beginning in the seventh month of Israel's sacred year. The latter was in the spring, particularly in the first month of the sacred year. Typical as these rains must be of the ministry of the Spirit, we can discern from the connection between them, and the set times, the spiritual thought conveyed in them. The latter rain, or that of the first month, is connected with the Passover and sheaf of first-fruits, after which comes Pentecost. How precious a thought! Upon this latter rain the plenty or scantiness of crops and pasture depends. So, upon the outpouring of the Spirit, who came to minister to us Christ crucified (our Passover) and Christ risen (the sheaf of first-fruits), depends the full blessing and fruitful-ness of Christianity, the great harvest of grace in this present dispensation. The early rain is connected with the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Here we see at once that the connection is with the recall, re-gathering, and final blessing, of Israel-not with Pentecost, as the teaching referred to implies. It is the time of plowing and sowing for Israel; and not for her only, but also for the whole world-the time when, in unequaled judgment, God will plow up, but also put in that new seed, to ripen thereafter. The result will be, as He has said, " I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts . . . for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest" (Heb. 8:10, 11). Of the ministry and outpouring of the Spirit at that time, the prophets bear ample witness; but it is clearly different from its present character. We gather from this the true meaning, typically, of the early and latter rain; and can easily see it has no such connection as has been given to it. It is evident the Spirit of God has given no promise of an epoch of special latter-day blessing, the fulfilment of which we should look for before the Lord's coming, as a making-ready, or preparation, of the Bride for the Bridegroom's coming.

How soon we would become, instead of men who wait for their Lord, men who are waiting for the blessing. And then, since it is to be obtained through special faithfulness and service, how soon, when the blessing had been given, would we plume ourselves with the thought that we had merited it! No; we are persuaded that such things are not what the Spirit of God sets before us. If there is revival among the Lord's people, it can only come through Christ having first place among a whole-hearted people. And how purifying and uplifting is that hope which we have! May God, in His mercy to us in our failure and weakness, revive His work in our midst, which is ever by the exaltation of Christ and the entwining of every affection and desire around Him. Oh, to know Him as our chief delight! J. B. Jr.

(Continued from page 194.)

IRREVERENT AND IRRATIONAL DESPISERS OF THE TRUTH.

"Yet in like manner these dreamers also defile [the] flesh, and despise lordship, and speak railingly against dignities. But Michael the archangel, when disputing with the devil he reasoned about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a railing judgment against [him], but said, [The] Lord rebuke thee. But these, whatever things they know not, they speak railingly against; but what even, as the irrational animals, they understand by mere nature, in these things they corrupt themselves" (vers. 8-10).

Unholy ways always accompany, and indeed spring from, unholy teachings. Hence we can easily understand the readiness with which apostates from the truth give themselves up to what is defiling and abominable. It is noticeable that present-day advocates of that insult to decency denominated "free love," are in large measure persons who have apostatized from a nominal Christianity, and now can tolerate, and even stand for, what they once would have abhorred. The loosening of the marriage tie, the prevalent evil of unscriptural divorce and all its train of iniquitous practices, find in modern latitudinarian thought and liberal theology earnest defenders. What would once have been rebuked, even by the world, is now pandered to by a Christless pulpit, and so men and women sustaining unholy relations are rocked to sleep in their sins and made comfortable with the vaporings of "filthy dreamers," while death, judgment and eternal punishment are fast hastening on!* *If any think these words too strong, let them observe the many well-known apostates from orthodoxy who now glory in being linked up in a "fellowship " that not merely tolerates, but exults in, the recognition of leading advocates of all that is specified in this paragraph.*

Coupled with this new standard of morals, so opposed to the purity of Scripture, will be found a pride that brooks no bounds, and vaunts itself against every unseen power. Satan is no longer feared, but his very existence denied on the one hand, or his superhuman ability ridiculed on the other.* *It is a matter of sincere regret that the Salvation Army, numbering many earnest workers in its ranks, should have permitted so many loose and objectionable expressions in regard to the unseen prince of the bottomless pit as will be found in its literature and heard in its testimonies. Satan is a mighty foe, not to be made a subject of ridicule or jest.* How different was the behavior of Michael the archangel, who, when he disputed with the great adversary about the body of Moses, durst not rail, but said, " The Lord rebuke thee! "

All kinds of ingenious theories have been advanced concerning the nature of this dispute; but as God Himself has not given us the particulars, it would seem useless to speculate. Moses appeared in body on the mount of transfiguration, with Elijah. That the dispute may have had something to do with preserving his body from corruption in view of that wondrous occasion, seems likely; but beyond that, it is best not to give rein to the notions of the mind. When we know as we are known, this and all other mysteries will be solved in a scene where knowledge can no longer puff us up as here.

It is important to observe that we never read of archangels in Scripture. Men may so talk, but God's word never. The word occurs only in the singular. Michael (meaning, "who is [as] God") is the archangel. Gabriel, for instance, is never so called. Some have sought to identify Michael with the Son of God Himself. But as there is no word from the Holy Spirit that declares such an identity, it seems unwise to theorize, and in the writer's judgment the evidence is all the other way.

Michael appears in the book of Daniel as "the great prince that standeth for the children of [the prophet's] people "; that is, of Israel. In the Revelation he appears as the leader of the angelic hosts, driving Satan from the heavens when his days of accusing the brethren are ended. Here he is seen contending for the lawgiver's body; and in i Thess. 4 he seems to be a distinct being, whose voice (as Israel's prince) will be heard in connection with the shout of the Lord and the trump of God, at the Saviour's coming to gather His redeemed to Himself in the air. It is noticeable that in Dan. 10:13 he is called, by another angel, "Michael, one of the chief princes"; a title, it would seem, utterly inconsistent with Him who was known of old as "The Angel of the Covenant"-now as our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God.

It is solemn indeed to be told that so great a being "durst not" bring a railing accusation against the devil, while proud, haughty men, ignorant of God, of Satan, and of themselves, speak boldly against all that is high, and rail concerning things utterly beyond their comprehension.

Even in what they do understand they do not behave with propriety, but, like natural brute beasts, they corrupt themselves, manifesting complete inability to curb their fleshly lusts; while, knowing no shame, they dare to rail against the admittedly unknowable, if a divine revelation be rejected. But, alas, this is the result of the deification of the human mind, the root-error of the so-called "New Thought," "Christian Science," and other "oppositions of science, falsely so called."

Thus the harvest is fast ripening for judgment, and it becomes increasingly important that those who know God search His word and value His truth; remembering that perilous times have indeed come, when, if it were possible, Satan would deceive the very elect.

If some are kept from error and the evil practices resultant, it is only through the same grace that saves; even as the apostle tells the Thessalonians, after warning them of the energetic working of the mystery of lawlessness and the coming strong delusion:

"But we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, that God has chosen you from the beginning to salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth " (2 Thess. 2:13). If any abide in the truth, it is owing to the fact that God Himself has chosen them, and sustains them in their path. "Where is boasting then ? It is excluded! " H. A. I.

(To be continued.)

Dear Mr. Editor :-

Referring to your question "Is it so?" in Editor's Notes of July number of "HELP and food," concerning the statement of a correspondent that "The Lord was never called merely 'Jesus' by any but His enemies, " I submit the following:

Matthew uses the name unqualified about 168 times, Mark about 88 times, Luke about 95 times, John, in his Gospel, 244 times, and 9 times in his first Epistle and Revelation. In the Acts the name "Jesus" alone occurs 26 times, in Paul's epistles 22 times; Peter uses it once.

If your correspondent meant that He was never personally addressed as merely "Jesus," he would not be quite exact, since Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, addressed Him as "Jesus, thou Son of David" (Mark 10:47).

" Thou shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matt. i:21); and the more fully one apprehends the meaning of this name, the more ready will he be to fall at His feet and say, " My Lord and my God."

At the same time no right-minded Christian would think of personally addressing Him as simply "Jesus," without, in thought at least, directly connecting that name with some of the glorious titles which He won by His cross. J. B. J.

Dear Mr. Editor :-

I was glad to see the matter regarding addressing our Lord; for while one would not for a moment check the outpouring of the heart in any sincere love of our Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot too often nor too forcibly be reminded of the eternal glories of His person. One is often pained to hear among certain people, who make special claims to holiness, such expressions as "Lovely Jesus," "Sweet Jesus," and the like, all of which betoken a familiarity which is not born of humility nor of love, but from forgetfulness, or ignorance, of the glory of His Person.

From what comes to mind of the Holy Scriptures the Lord when personally addressed by His name "Jesus" has usually one of His titles with it.

I was struck in connecting John 6:68 and 2 Tim. 2 :22, with the thought that true fellowship in following Christ aright can only be where there is the proper acknowledgment of His Lordship. Thank God, there is a time coming when, according to Philippians 2:11, every tongue will own Him Lord.

Yours affectionately in Christ, S. W. M.

As to him, then:"All Thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces whereby they have made Thee glad " (Psa. 45 :8).

As to us, even here:'i My Beloved put in His hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for Him. I rose to open to my Beloved and my hands dropped with myrrh and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handle of the lock " (Song of Songs, which is Solomon's, 5:5, 6).

Blessed and beloved Saviour ! " Because of the savor of Thy good ointments, Thy name is as ointment poured forth ; therefore do the virgins love Thee" (Songs of Songs, i :3). "Thou art fairer than the children of men ; grace is poured into Thy lips ; therefore God has blessed Thee forever " (Psa. 45 :2). "His mouth is most sweet and He is altogether lovely." And-oh, unfathomable grace!-we, the ransomed of His blood, can say, "This is my Beloved and this is my Friend, O daughters of Jerusalem " (Song 5 :16). A. V.

"I have called you friends." (John 15:15.)

Once the grace of God revealed in Christ Jesus is known and enjoyed, who would not be a man in preference to any other of the creatures of God ? Who, even while weeping in the deepest contrition for sin, would return to the Eden state of innocence ? Who that knows the nearness and ultimate ends into which the grace of redemption has brought us would return to mere creation-blessedness?

But even as a mere creature, God showed His delight in man; for in the cool of the day, walking in the garden, He is heard calling to Adam (Gen. 3:8); He has made him such that He has pleasure in intercourse with him. Though now fallen, and therefore upon a new basis, we see all along the line, in Abraham especially, the same pleasure of God in intercourse with man. Abraham's ready response to this causes God to call him His friend-visits him, and unveils His purposes to him:He listens to his petitions, and treats him as a trusted companion. In Prov. 8:31 He testifies, " My delights were with the sons of men."

When Jesus is born into the world, the hosts of heaven are heard praising God, saying, "Glory to God in the highest; on earth, peace; good pleasure in men." God's full delight in humanity has come. All along the pathway of Jesus, God shows His delight, and finally He takes that Man up into heaven, in the highest and nearest place to Himself.

During His stay here Jesus surrounded Himself with men. To such as had an ear and a heart for Him He opened His and the Father's heart. He made them His companions, and loved them even spite of their many failings. He saw them according to the final issues, and bore their present state. He would not call them servants, because servants, as such, are not companions. Angels were servants, but men He would have for companions, and so He poured His Father's mind into them, and thus put them in the place and condition of friends.

Later on the Spirit testifies that we, men whose hearts have been won to Jesus, have been predestinated to be conformed to Him (Rom. 8:29). "We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is " (i John 3:2). Marvel of marvels! poor sinners worthy of wrath and condemnation are, through Christ, elevated to a place and condition which angels themselves may well wonder at. It is what God, in His sovereign and righteous grace, has set His mind upon, and, spite all Satanic opposition, is now laboring to bring to its issue.

What a blissful eternity stretches out to the eyes of faith! What depths of enjoyment in being thus made the companions of such a Person! Is it a wonder that He is jealous of the grace which has set out for such things, and that He resents the legalism which mars it all; which hinders its glory from shining out, and would exalt afresh that humanity which has received its just sentence in the cross of Christ.

In the light.' (1 John 1:7.)

From a brief address recently given on this passage, one expression especially struck us, and stayed with us. The speaker said, "If 'walking in the light as He is in the light' were interpreted as walking 'according to' that light, who among us would dare to say or think that his walk was such ? But the truth is that grace has put us in that light- the light of the presence of God. We stand and walk in that light from the moment we are saved, and it is that light which detects everything in us which is inconsistent with it. It makes us judge ourselves. It makes precious to our souls the fact here stated too that the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.

May the power of this abide in the soul of both reader and writer!

The Christian who has put aside his Christianity because he is in worldly company, is like a man who has put off his shoes because he is walking among thorns.

My Dear Brother:-

Your letter has come to hand, in which you ask counsel as to your path in service for the Lord.

I was indeed glad to get it and read its contents. The spirit which it breathes has refreshed me much, and you have been upon my heart not a little. The counsel you ask has exercised me a good deal during the last few years. I will therefore write you the more freely, especially as I believe it concerns not only yourself, but others also in our country.

First, let me say how pleased I am to learn of the time which you are devoting to the systematic study of the precious word of God during your leisure hours. My prayer is that your love for the Holy Scriptures may continue and deepen, and never wane. It opens a vast field to our view, inviting us to enter in.

Next to this is prayer. Do not neglect this; "continue in prayer," were the words of an apostle. Do not trust head knowledge in any service for the Lord Jesus. This is where many have failed and some have made complete shipwreck. Prayer is an essential ; it keeps the soul in happy touch with the Lord, and helps us to use the knowledge we have of truth to the glory of God and to the blessing of men. There is no danger in knowledge if we associate with it always a prayerful spirit, both in the study of God's word and in communicating it to others (Ps. 119).

But I come to your questions. Your exercise has been whether you ought to continue in your present
calling, or go forth in His service wholly-perhaps in a foreign mission field.

The field is large, and the laborers are comparatively few; and of late years I have prayed more than ever that the Lord would raise up more laborers, both for our own country, so immense-from the Atlantic to the Pacific-and for the foreign fields. With all this desire upon my heart, and also with a fair knowledge of the great need everywhere, I am yet going to counsel you to continue still in your business calling. I will give you my reasons for so advising you. You are scarcely out of your teens, and not yet half through the business apprenticeship into which you have entered. I have observed a growingly restless spirit among the young of late years. I fear it has a root in the lack of wisdom which urges them to go into mission work. It has dissatisfied them with the duties of life, and gospel work may thus be turned to with very little sense of the responsibilities incurred. One may be quite exemplary and devoted, yet not be, in the judgment of brethren, fitted for such a service.

How we need sober care! for the Lord's work is sacred work. It is also most serious to give up a secular calling unless there is a distinct gift, and a distinct call. When the gift is there, and the proper time has come to go forth at His call, then the Lord will sustain and care for His servant in that very blessed service; but until then, to abide in the business calling where we are, is the only place of true service. At first, the Levites were called to service at thirty; later on, when many were needed, at twenty-five. Our Lord Himself was thirty years of age when He began His ministry. Much harm may be done to the holy things of God by want of maturity.
Many serious, God-fearing men, now long in the work, regret the feebleness and imperfection of their first service.

My advice therefore is that you finish your apprenticeship. You will then be more mature. Do not neglect your employer's interests, as if the Lord's work made them of little consequence. Asking for many privileges, in view of gospel work, is also detrimental to it. He that does not serve an earthly master faithfully cannot serve well our Lord Jesus Christ. Do all young Christians in the various employs of life regard their service as done to the Lord Jesus ? This is most important; it prevents much restlessness. Let none think that preaching the gospel is the only sphere of service for the Lord. Who can tell the fruit that may be borne for Christ by continuing faithful in any employment? A faithful man is free, and has no fear to bear testimony anywhere. What golden opportunities are his! Though daily at business, he may be as fruitful as any, using his spare time in the interests of Christ.

With joy I remember the way of the young men who began years ago, many of whom the Lord has been pleased to use much. They took hold well in the local gathering where they were associated. No service for Christ was thought beneath them. Of whatever kind, it was a joy and a privilege. To open the doors, to look after the people, to distribute tracts, invitations, etc., all was counted happy service for the Lord. Faithful in little then, they have been faithful in much since; yet all this has not interfered with their secular employment. Indeed, some of these have been more blessed in their service than others who left their employment to give all their time to the gospel.

How very important are the prayer-meeting and the Bible reading for the development of such gifts as the Lord may be forming for future service! the one for the cultivation of piety, the other for furnishing with knowledge. To surrender them is to yield to the enemy of Christ.

Any distinct gift existing in a faithful assembly, will by these means gradually become apparent to all, and in going forth into a more public path there will be the hearty fellowship of those who have the Lord's work at heart, and who are of riper experience. Timothy is an example of this. He had the fullest fellowship of the apostle and of the elders. The laying on of hands means that (i Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. i:6). In the fields, near or far, where the Lord might now guide, there was comfort of heart amid the trials in knowing that he had the full fellowship of the apostle and of the elder brethren at home. Each gathering then should be a kind of little seminary for the nurture and development of gifts for the Lord's service.

Thus you see, dear brother, that you may be following "honest trades " (Tit. 3:14, marg.), yet truly serve the Lord; also, that the local gathering is a good place in which to begin service, to grow, to develop, and to commend yourself for any larger service. Indeed, no service later on can ever be really dissociated from such; for it is the place to direct souls to, on earth. There is only one place of gathering higher than this, and that is to Christ at His coming, in the bright, eternal glory where He has gone. The first is His place for His own now, the next is His place for them forever. May the eyes of all of us, both old and young, be opened more to appreciate such a place of privilege. Value it, dear brother. Labor to maintain it. Seek not to be independent, but to be acceptable to the Lord and to your brethren. In so doing you will be following the word and the example of the apostle (Deut. 33:24; Rom. 15:31).
The course in theology, ordination for the ministry, etc., is the degradation and corruption of God's way of forming the ministry; but let us not fall into the opposite sin of ignoring God's way. If many of God's people have fallen into an empty officialism, let us not neglect the communion of saints, the approval of elders, the commending of ourselves to all that are spiritual. One has been repeatedly pained at seeing such a course ignored. See Acts 13:1-4.

A moral break-down will often follow if God's way and time have not been observed. The public path is full of blessing if God really calls to it; but if not, how full of dangers!

Faith, too-special faith in God-is a requisite for this public path. One deplores to see men launch forth who have not faith in God to supply their need-who are choosing, perhaps, another form of labor for a living. It lowers the true moral and spiritual dignity that God associates with those who serve His beloved Son.

You will easily see that to discourage service is far from my thoughts. What I press is what will keep its integrity, and what is becoming in those who aspire to it-what will make them worthy servants of Christ. He can well do without us. We need therefore to be in no hurry. We can afford to wait till they who know and love Him best can lay their hands upon us in hearty fellowship, having been witnesses of our fruitfulness at home.

Now, a word about the foreign mission field, and I close. I think we have seen lack of wisdom in urging to it. Urging is, I am persuaded, not our business. The Lord Jesus Himself is at the head of His work-not we. He knows His men, and fits them-not we. We cannot have faith for them. We cannot carry them through the trials of the path; He alone can. The mission field has needs. I believe however that it needs, not inexperienced youth, but tried and proved men who have been blest in the home fields. Questions will arise in those fields of beginning which require true knowledge of the word of God, wisdom and tact, to lay good foundations.

In the early Church, those who entered those new fields were strong and experienced men, such as Barnabas and Paul; later on, with them, Silas, Luke, Timothy, and Titus-all men who could turn a strong front to the enemy in every new place which they entered. Fruit followed them everywhere. Gatherings left behind were the definite proof and seal of God's approval.* *If one has a trade, properly learnt, how useful at times it may be ! as Paul and his companions for a time turned to making tents (Acts 18:1-3); for this was their trade.*

We rejoice in the increased interest of late years in foreign mission work. We thank God for it. Only we need wisdom, that those who are encouraged to enter into it be men spiritually and physically
fitted for it. How good to see some already there who are thus fitted, we believe! May the Lord add to their number. May the Lord also guide you, dear brother, in keeping with these precious and sober things, that you may have joy at His appearing.

Yours sincerely in Him,

A. E. B.

(Continued from page 155.)

DESTRUCTION OF APOSTATES.

"But I would put you in remembrance, you who once knew all things, that the Lord, having saved a people out of [the] land of Egypt, in the second place destroyed those who had not believed. And angels who had not kept their original estate, but had abandoned their own dwelling, He keeps in eternal chains, under gloomy darkness, to [the] judgment of [the] great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, committing greedily fornication, in like manner with them, and going after other flesh, lie there as an example, undergoing the judgment of eternal fire" (vers. 5-7).

When the saint of God dwells on the end awaiting all apostates from the truth who persist in their impious doctrines and unholy practices, all bitterness toward them must of necessity be banished from the heart. They may seem to ride now on a crest of popular appreciation and support, but "their feet shall slide in due time," for they are set in slippery places, and shall soon be cast down to destruction (Ps. 73 et al.).

This is the solemn lesson taught by the unbelieving host who fell in the wilderness. They started out well. All were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All drank the same spiritual drink and ate the same spiritual food. But unbelief manifested itself when the time of testing came. Murmuring, idolatry, and the gainsaying of Korah (of which particular note is taken in this epistle farther down), told out the true state of many who sang with exultation on the banks of the Red Sea. Kadesh-Barnea, the place of opportunity, became but the memorial of lack of faith; and though once saved out of Egypt, they were destroyed in the wilderness because of having apostatized from the living God.

In the same way had the Nephilim (the fallen ones) been dealt with long before. Though created as sinless angels of God, they, like Lucifer, the son of the morning, bartered the realms of bliss for selfish ends. Keeping not the glorious estate in which they were created, they abandoned their holy abode, and are now kept "in eternal chains, under gloomy darkness," awaiting the judgment of the great day.

Whether the apostle is here referring to the "sons of God" of Gen. 6 has been a mooted question ' throughout the Christian centuries. That the beings there referred to could possibly be angels has been scouted by many spiritually-minded teachers, who see in "the sons of God " simply the seed of Seth, and in "the daughters of men" the maidens of the line of Cain. Others, equally deserving to be heard, identify the sons of God of the book of Job with those of Genesis; and, accepting the passage before us as the divine commentary on the solemn scene of apostasy described as the precursor of the flood, believe they here learn the judgment of the fallen ones whose sin is there delineated.

It must be admitted that the following verse in Jude seems to corroborate this latter view. "As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, committing greedily fornication, in like manner with them" would appear to indicate a close relationship between the sin of these cities and that of the angels referred to.* *The comments of W. Kelly, C. E. Stuart, W. Scott, and others, may be consulted as favoring this view. Both J. N. Darby and F. W. Grant are, perhaps wisely, non-committal. The same is true of C. H. Mackintosh. W. Lincoln in " Typical Foreshadowings," opposes it with vigor.

Since writing the above, I have come across the following from the pen of J. N. D., in "Notes and Comments," Vol. I., page 73:"Jude and Peter seem to make the B'ney ha-Elohim (Sons of God) the angels ; but God effaced all this in the Deluge, aud so may we; but the Titans and mighty men, heroes, find the origin of their traditions here.

" I have little doubt this is purposely obscure, but the language here, in itself, tends to the thought that B'ney Elohim were not of the race of Ha-Adam (man)."* At any rate, they were one in this, that both angels and the men of the plain fell into grievous sin through unbelief, and were punished accordingly.

It was light rejected that paved the way for the unprintable enormities of the inhabitants of the cities of the plain, who are now set forth as an example, suffering, or undergoing, the vengeance of eternal fire.

Nothing can be more solemn than this. Long ages have elapsed since fire from heaven destroyed those cities, reeking with moral pestilence. But the guilty apostates of that far distant day are at this moment still suffering the judgment of God because of their wicked deeds. They are with the once rich man of Luke 16, tormented in the flames of hades, while waiting for the awful hour when death and hades shall be cast into the lake of fire!

This passage, carefully considered, will throw a lurid light on a scripture which, perverted from its proper meaning, has become a favorite one of late years with those who deny the eternal conscious punishment of the wicked, holding out instead the delusive dream of annihilation:I refer to Mal. 4:1-3. " For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble:and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts." This passage is looked upon by the annihilationist as one of his strongest proof-texts. Assuming that the passage is treating of the final judgment, he exclaims, " What could be clearer ? If the wicked are burned up like stubble, if neither root nor branch is left remaining, must they not necessarily have utterly ceased to exist ? Furthermore, if they become as ashes under the soles of the saints, where is room for the awful thought of an immortal soul suffering endless judgment ?" The superficial observer is very apt to think such questions unanswerably conclusive in favor of annihilation. But a more careful survey of the chapter makes manifest the fact that it has no reference to judgment after death; but the Holy Ghost is there describing the destruction of apostates at the coming of the Lord to establish His kingdom; prior, therefore, to the Millennium of Rev. 20. It is the bodies of the wicked, not their souls, which are thus to become as ashes under the feet of triumphant Israel. Like stubble, they will be destroyed as with devouring fire, so that neither root nor branch shall remain. So it was in the day when Sodom and Gomorrah, and the surrounding cities, met their doom. Lot or Abraham might then have trodden down the wicked, who would have been ashes under the soles of their feet after the terrible conflagration. All had been burned up, root and branch. But were they then annihilated ? Not so. Our Lord Jesus says, " It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment" than for those who rejected His ministry when here on earth. The very men and women who were burned to ashes so long ago are to rise from the dead for judgment. Where are they now, and what is their condition ? Are they wrapped in a dreamless slumber, waiting in unconsciousness, till the sounding of the trump of doom ? Nay, the soul-sleeper and the annihilationist are both wrong. They "are set forth as an example, undergoing the judgment of eternal fire"!

Truly, "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Judgment unsparing must be the portion of all who trifle with the grace shown to guilty sinners in the cross. Better far never to have heard of Christ and His blood, than, having heard, to turn from the truth so earnestly pressed in the word of God, to the soul-destroying fables of the latter and the last days, which are yearly reaping their harvests of lost souls.

Oh, to be awake to the solemnity of these things! "Knowing the terror of the Lord," cried the great apostle to the nations, "we persuade men." And it was the very same who wrote, "The love of Christ constraineth us." Man, energized by Satan, would divorce the two, making much of love, and deriding the thought of eternal retribution. The soul subject to Scripture remembers that "God is light" is as true as "God is love."

In turning from so solemn a theme, I add a word as to apostasy. It is only the Christless professor who thus sells his birthright for the devil's mess of pottage. God has said, "If any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him." But the Holy Ghost is careful to say of true believers, " We are not of them who draw back unto perdition ; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul " (Heb. 10 :38, 39). It is only those who endure to the end who shall be finally saved; but all will endure, through grace divine, who are born of God. "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God ? " (i John 5:5.) H. A. I.

(To be continued.)

About the same time that the paper on Jude 4 appeared in print I received a letter from M–, Reading, Pa., reading as follows:

" In your articles on Jude, now running in help and food, I would like you to answer these questions:

" (a) Does the apostle teach that these apostates (in verse 4) at one time in their lives possessed divine faith in their souls ?

" (b) They must have had the grace of God ere they could have turned it into lasciviousness; and if they had grace at one time, how could they get it apart from faith ?

"(c) If these things are so, a soul can once have faith, lose the faith, and eventually be lost."

I think (a) is fully answered in the paper referred to (see June Help and Food). But I merely add that these men were ungodly, who had crept in with a view to leading astray the people of God. Who could conceive of such as these ever possessing divine faith in their souls ? Observe, they were false from the start; otherwise they would not have "crept in." Like the "creeping things" of Lev. ii:29-31, they were ever unclean.

As to the statement made in (b), the questioner misses the force of the word " grace " as here used. " The grace of God" is here synonymous with "the gospel of God." They perverted the message of God's favor toward guilty men by professing to believe the glad tidings of grace while living in sin, and teaching others to put license in the place of true Christian liberty. The questioner's premise here being unsound, the question based upon it becomes irrelevant.

As to (c), what has been supposed throughout is not according to the truth of God, which assures us of the abiding character of divinely-imparted faith. The word received is the " incorruptible seed." The life communicated is " eternal life." Consequently the believer shall never perish.

I would earnestly urge M– to send to the Publishers for three very helpful pamphlets entitled, " Fallen from Grace; or, Castaway," by W. Barker; "Final Perseverance:What Is It?" by C. H. M.; and "The Perseverance of the Saints," by F. W. Grant. The three will be sent postpaid for 15 cents, and, if all are studied prayerfully over an open Bible, may prove to be one of the best investments ever made. H. A. I.

QUES. 35.-Did those saints who arose after Christ's resurrection (Matt. 27:51-53) go back to their graves again until His coming, or go into glory with Him ?

ANS.-As we know of no scripture which decides the matter we cannot answer in a dogmatic way. We can only speak by inference. In this way we judge that since their resurrection was not a mere act of power as, for instance, in the case of Lazarus (John 11), but the fruit of Christ's own resurrection, they did not return to their graves but went into glory with Him. God is not bound by rules. He has placed the great harvest of the resurrection of His saints at the coming again of our Lord, but He is not bound to that time for the resurrection and glory of every one of them.

The Cross is the foundation of all the glories to be revealed, but God could build upon it before it bad taken place. He knew His Son would prove obedient even unto the death of the cross, and by the righteousness of the Cross God can act in sovereign grace when and how He pleases. We are limited but He is not.

QUES. 36.-Did our Lord have a glorified body when He arose, the same as He will have when He comes for His saints?

ANS.-We feel incompetent if not afraid to speak of any change taking place in relation to the Lord. He was like the sun veiling His glory behind a cloud, needing only the pushing away of the cloud to manifest that glory. We need a great change in our bodies to fit them for the glory, a change which only His almighty power can accomplish. He needs but a change of circumstances to manifest the glory of His being.

QUES. 37.-Why did Christ say He was not a spirit (Lk.24:39)?

ANS.-Because He wag not merely that as (in their astonishment and inability to realize that He was risen from the dead) they thought He was. He was as truly now the Man Christ Jesus as He was before His death-with body, soul and spirit. The humanity of our Lord is as essentially needful as His deity for the fulfilment of God's purposes. He has left us no possibility of doubt therefore concerning the perpetuity of the one as of the other. He is God from eternity to eternity; He is Man from incarnation to all eternity.

QUES. 38.-Kindly say why Paul wrote:"If we (seemingly including himself) Bin wilfully," etc., (Heb. 10:26); and again in Heb. 2:3, "How shall we escape," etc. How could he write thus while at the same time saying, "There is now therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus;" "All that believe are justified from all things;" aud very many other passages which affirm the everlasting security of such as believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ? I am sure there is no contradiction in Scripture, and that all the darkness is in myself, and that is why I ask.

ANS.-It is the delicateness of grace for the speaker to put himself for the moment in the position of those whom he portrays. 2 Pet. 3:9 is a striking example of the same thing. Peter was certainly not of them who were perishing, yet for the moment putting himself among them who were perishing he says, "The Lord … is long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish."
Once we know the grace of God and understand well the difference between the saved and the unsaved, we need the spirit of love and sympathy toward all men which enables us to put ourselves in their place and to approach them without hardness.

QUES. 39.-In Matt. 12:31 is it a believer, or an unbeliever, who may commit this unpardonable sin?

ANS.-Only an unbeliever, surely. The context shows this plainly:The Pharisees (ever the enemies of Christ) had seen Him do a great miracle, such as convicted them of its being the power of God at work. They will not bow, however ; they resist the conviction; so they attribute to the devil the manifest power of God. No man who has ever bowed at the feet of Jesus could do such a thing, however low he might fall in moral ways.

Learn to entwine with your prayers the small cares, the trifling sorrows, the little wants, of daily life. Whatever affects you-be it a changed look, an altered tone, an unkind word, a wrong, a wound, a demand you cannot meet, a sorrow you cannot disclose-turn it into prayer, and send it up to God. Disclosures which you may not make to man you can make to the Lord. Men may be too little for your great matter; God is not too great for your small ones. Only give yourself to prayer, whatever be the occasion that calls for it.

Law cost God but two tables of stone, and the engraving of ten commands upon them. An angel was a being of sufficient elevation to be the messenger of it to man.

Grace cost God the gift of His Son. It cost His Son a path of immeasurable sorrow and humiliation, and a death of unspeakable suffering. No being less than the Son of God could have accomplished what was required to bring grace to man. Only He was of sufficient elevation and worth to offer up a sacrifice by which He could lay one hand upon God and the other upon sinful man, and bring them together in a righteous, holy way, as grace does.

How few realize, when they repeat the Ten Commandments, that they are repeating their own sentence of death!

Christianity is a new creation flowing out of the death, resurrection and ascension into heaven of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and in the descent of the Holy Spirit to the earth. It is apostasy itself therefore to present it as a mere code of moral ethics, however superior to any other it may be claimed to be.