(Continued from page 138.)

LETTER III

Rev. A. M. S.

My Dear Sir:According to promise, I shall now endeavor to put before you what seems to me to be the unscriptural teaching of the Church of Rome as to the so-called sacrifice of the Mass. This you hold, as I understand, to be a continual unbloody sacrifice for the sins of the living- and the dead, and you are very insistent that it was ever offered throughout the Church's history by anointed priests on literal altars, "as early, at least," you say, " as the second century." And you ask:"Had the Church of Jesus Christ erred so early as this, on her chief doctrine, the doctrine on which her whole system centered ? Or did the infallible God produce, in His masterpiece, only the crazy institution that could not be kept within the bounds of truth, even for half a century after the death of the last of the apostles? What became of His promise:'The gates of hell shall not prevail against her,' and ' I am with you all the days, even unto the consummation of the age,'and again, 'The Spirit of Truth will remain with you,' etc. ? "

As to this, I am not at all perplexed to find the answer. It is undoubtedly the fact that while Christ's promises abide, and the Spirit of Truth dwells in His own and guides each subject soul into the truth; and that Christ does and will remain with His chosen to the end whatever the vicissitudes they are called to pass through; and while eventually it will be manifested that the gates of hell have not prevailed against what was really of God; nevertheless, even in the apostles' own days- let alone fifty years afterwards-error had come in like a flood. Witness the stirring letter of St. Paul to the Galatians. The Galatian heresy was the adding of legal works to the covenant of grace, and abides with us to this present day in spite of the apostle's strong protest against it. In fact, as one has well said:" The heterodoxy of the first century has become the orthodoxy of the present." Where to-day is the religious communion found in which this Galatian error has not gained headway ? What church is free from it ? Certainly not the Church of Rome. For there, as nowhere else, Galatianism has swept all before it; so that the doctrine of justification by faith, which is the keynote of the epistle of which we are speaking, came as a new discovery in the stormy days of the Reformation, and has been opposed strenuously ever since.

Then, again, note the errors creeping in at Colosse. In the second chapter three grave departures from the truth of God are noticed, and it is evident that each one of these had already gained sway over the minds of many professed Christians, and this during the life-time of the apostles. I refer to rationalistic philosophizing beginning to supplant divine revelation; of legality, supplanting the truth of grace; and, even more striking, of a vast ritualistic system involving the worship of angels and the humiliation of the body by self-imposed penance in place of holding fast the Head:and I ask you, as an honest man, can you deny the presence of every one of those systems of error in the Roman Church today ?

But the first and second letters to Timothy likewise witness the rapid growth of error; and it is noteworthy that before the death of St. Paul, he has to sorrowfully exclaim :"All that be in Asia have turned away from me." So even supposing the Christian churches elsewhere were still holding fast the faith, those in Asia, where the oldest assemblies had been established, had in a measure at least apostatized from the truth. The seven apocalyptic letters make this very evident.

We need not be surprised, therefore, to find an altar and sacrifice at a very early day in many churches, taking the place of the Lord's table and its simple memorial feast. But this by no means proves it to be either scriptural or apostolic, nor in any true sense Catholic.

But on the other hand, we find no evidence of a reliable character to show that as early as the second century the altar had succeeded the table, and the sacrifice of the Mass usurped the place of the Lord's Supper. Certainly the pre – Nicene Fathers, who have written on the subject, would leave no such impression on the mind. Justin Martyr describes the weekly meeting of Christians on the Lord's day more fully perhaps than any other; and, as you know, he makes it very clear that the early Christians partook together of a simple meal of bread and wine in commemoration of the Saviour's death. While the well-known letter of Pliny, addressed to the Emperor Trajan, affords proof positive that such was still the case in his day. He assures his. patron that he could find no evil against the Christians ; no evidence whatever of sacrilegious or criminal proceedings. His spies only found that the Christians met together to read the holy Scriptures, to pray, to sing a hymn to Christ as God, and to partake of a very simple meal consisting only of bread and wine.

It was in a later day that the departure from early simplicity came in, when the truth as to Christ's one offering and His finished work had been largely lost sight of:when in accordance with the solemn prophecy of St. Paul, grievous wolves had entered in among the sheep of Christ, not sparing the flock, and even of their own selves had men arisen, "speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them." The only resource upon which he casts the faithful is "God and the word of His grace; " not the church's authority, nor the voice of councils, nor the infallibility of the Pope. To that holy Word of God therefore let us turn, and inquire whether, according to Scripture, it is still possible to offer to God an acceptable sacrifice for the sins of either the living or the dead ?

As to this we need do nothing more than carefully consult the 9th and l0th chapters of the epistle to the Hebrews. There the one offering of the Lord Jesus Christ, never to be repeated, is placed in vivid contrast with all the many sacrifices under the law (which were but a figure) when gifts and sacrifices were offered "that could not perfect him that worshiped, as pertaining to the conscience." In these there was a continual calling of sins to mind, as indeed is the case in every Roman church where the sacrament is offered up daily, and sins are never really put away. " But Christ having come as High Priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands (that is to say, not of, this creation), neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood life entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption." And so great is the efficacy of that one offering, that through it the believer's conscience is "purged from dead works to worship the living God."

Now you insist that there is nothing incompatible with all this and the continual sacrifice of the Mass. For in your letter you say that " the Victim of the Sacrifice is the body and blood of Jesus Christ; the same body that was nailed to the cross; the same blood that was shed on Calvary. In other words, the same Jesus Christ who was crucified for us is the same that we offer on our altars." And you add, "The sacrifice of the Mass is offered to God alone, to acknowledge His sovereign greatness and our dependence. It is true, that we offer the Mass in memory of the saints, but we never offer the sacrifice to them. The sacrifice of the Mass is offered on our altars by the ministry of priests who receive in their ordination the power to offer it. But Jesus Christ is the principal Offerer. It is He who presents Himself to the Father, by the hands of priests; it is He who changes the bread and wine into the body and the blood." But, observe, this is the very thing that is denied in the epistle to the Hebrews. Note carefully chapter 10 :11-14:"And every priest [that is, Jewish priest] standeth daily ministering and offering often the same sacrifices [as Roman Catholic priests do today], which can never take away sins; but He, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down at the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool." And again, in the previous chapter, verses 24-26 are absolutely conclusive:"For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us :nor yet that He should offer Himself often [the very thing which you insist He does], as the high priest entereth into the holy places every year with other blood than His own; but now, once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."

Language could not be stronger to declare the abiding efficacy of the one irrepeatable sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ-so perfect, so complete, so fully satisfying to God, is that one blessed, finished work of His that He will never offer again. He has sat down as token that His work is finished; and because He has made purgation for sins, the seat He has taken is at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. Depend upon it, He never descends from that exalted place to offer on Rome's altars, or any other; for of such sacrifice there is no need. The sins and iniquities of all who believe in Him are eternally remitted, on the basis of that one all-sufficient work, and "where remission of these is, there is no longer an offering for sin " (Heb. 10 :18). And were this otherwise, an unbloody offering could be of no avail, for "without shedding of blood is no remission."

All the reasoning in the world could not change the force of this. Christ's one offering is all that is
needed for the purgation of sin, or it never will be. Scripture distinctly declares it is. Rome, tacitly at least, declares it is not. Which am I to believe ? Which do you accept ? You cannot acknowledge both, for one destroys the other.

I observe, in looking over your letter again, that you deny the term "the Lord's Supper," as having reference to the sacrament at all. You say it referred alone to the love-feasts of the early Christians-a common meal, where they met together in Christian fellowship. But you evidently have forgotten that the apostle Paul in the very passage in question, after rebuking the Corinthians for their abuse of the Lord's Supper, immediately gives them clear instructions as to how that Supper should be observed; while in the previous chapter, 1st Corinthians 10, he makes it plain that it is at the Lord's table we partake of the cup of blessing, even the communion of the blood of Christ, and the broken bread, the communion of the body of Christ. Surely it is the Lord's Supper which is partaken of from the Lord's table. But if you insist that both of these are very different to your sacrifice of the Mass, then I grant you are indeed correct. The Lord's Supper is not to be confounded with the Romish Mass, nor the Lord's table with the Roman altar. One speaks of Christianity, and the other of a mysterious mixture of Judaism and Paganism, and a perversion of apostolic teaching. For of the Mass, as such, there is not one line in Holy Scripture.

I do not wish to prolong the discussion of this solemn theme. If what I have already written has no real weight, I can only suppose that a further attempt to elucidate what seems to me so clear, would only leave us where we began-you looking at everything from the standpoint of Roman Catholic theologians, and I, from that of one desiring alone to be taught by the word of God. And so I bring this letter to a close, beseeching you to search the Scriptures daily whether these things are so, and praying that God in His rich grace may give you such a sight of the perfection of the one offering of His blessed Son, that your soul set free through faith in Christ alone, will never more feel the need of any additions to the work of His cross. Very sincerely yours, H. A. Ironside

(Continued from page 177.)

(Chap. 2:12-27.)

We enter now on another division of the epistle. Before unfolding the characteristic features of eternal life in the children of God, the apostle pauses to show that he is addressing them expressly on the ground that they are children of God. If he is exposing false profession, it is not to raise doubts in the minds of those in whom it is a reality. If he contrasts the false and the real, it is not to make real children of God question whether they are such. He would have them know that they have eternal life (chap. 5:13), that their sins have been forgiven for Christ's sake.

The forgiveness of sins is the common blessing of all who have faith-all who believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. It is not a question of how far they are in the realization or enjoyment of it, but of a fact which is true of those who are the subjects of the regenerating power of God. This blessed fact could not be known if it were not revealed; but God has revealed it; and those who are born of God accept the revelation. There may be varying degrees of faith in laying hold of the revelation, but it is the common faith of all saints that God has blessed them thus for Christ's sake.

All the children, then, every one born from above, every one who believes in Christ, has the right to consider himself as included in the number to whom the apostle writes. The merest babe in the knowledge of God is entitled to regard himself as not excluded. But if the apostle writes thus to the family of God as a whole, he does not forget or ignore the different degrees of development in which the children of God may be found. Hence inverse 13 he defines the different stages of growth existing among the people of God.

First, there are the " fathers," those who have matured in the experimental knowledge of God- the fruit of experience. Walking with God in practical subjection to His word as used by the Spirit, acquaintance with God has developed in them the realization of the unchanging character of " Him that is from the beginning," the apprehension that He is the one and only-abiding reality. As that, He is the object that stands out distinctly before them, attracting their thoughts and satisfying their hearts. Outside of Him there is nothing to desire; apart from Him there is nothing worth trying or seeking after. He alone can and does satisfy both mind and heart. Such are the fathers. Alas, how few there, are! How few have so matured in the knowledge of Christ, that it is a practical reality that He is everything! But what wise counselors are the real fathers! What safe leaders and guides! May God grant us more of them.

Second, the "young men" are those whose experimental knowledge of God is less advanced than that of the fathers, though not inexperienced. They are overcomers. They have had conflicts and have overcome. Through conflict they have gained in strength. They have acquired skill in the use of the word of God; they have learned their dependence on the Spirit of God in resisting error and defending the faith. Their experience has given them knowledge; and knowledge thus obtained is of great value. It is a knowledge of Christ, yet not maturity via that knowledge. Though faithful workers and earnest defenders of the faith, they are not yet necessarily safe leaders and wise counselors. Their knowledge of God needs rounding out through continued companionship with Christ and deeper practical intimacy which gives maturity in wisdom and knowledge. In contrasting the "fathers "and " young men," the apostle is not writing depreciatively of the young men. He is not calling the fathers spiritual and the young men unspiritual; but the experience of the "fathers" has given them greater maturity. It must not be understood to mean that they have reached a stage where they have no more to learn, but that Christ has been experimentally proved to be the one abiding reality and satisfaction for the heart, in which, however, there is ever growth and development.

Now as to the "babes"-I say "babes" because, as is well known, the word for " little children " in verse 13 in the Greek is not the same as in verse 12. The word in verse 12 is comprehensive, embracing the entire family, the whole household of faith. In verse 13 it is a restrictive word, applicable only to a specified part of the family. The babes are the experimentally undeveloped-the inexperienced in the practical knowledge of God, the knowledge of Christ. The apostle is not speaking disparagingly of those he calls "babes"-not as unspiritual, not as in a wrong state of soul. He does not look upon them as not having all Christian privileges and full Christian blessings. Nay, they are entitled to, and have, everything that goes along with the forgiveness of sins-that goes with faith in Christ. But he is thinking of their practical knowledge, 1:e., the knowledge they have acquired through experience.

In " babes " experience is beginning. They have had little or no experience in service or in conflict, consequently have not gained the knowledge that is acquired in those ways. Not that they are absolutely without any experience, but it is what I may call the initial experience of Christians-knowledge of God as their Father. Every one born from above has to do with God, according to the revelation He has given of Himself in different dispensations. From new birth the child is having to do with the Father, is having some knowledge of Him, and is learning of Him. Hence of all children of God, however little service they have seen, however little conflict they have had, it can be said, "Ye have known the Father." They need to acquire fuller knowledge of Him, but they are not altogether destitute of experimental knowledge of the Father.

It is clear that it is in reference to experimental knowledge that John divides the family of God into these three groups – not in respect to revealed Christian blessings. Life, forgiveness, the indwelling Spirit, adoption, union with Christ, membership in His body, the Church, heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ, and more, are blessings common to all who belong to the family of God in this dispensation; but it is not in reference to these blessings the apostle speaks of " fathers," "young men," and "babes." These terms have to do, as we have pointed out, with development in experimental or acquired knowledge.

If in respect to experience and practical knowledge the children of God are divided into three groups, we may well expect that the apostle has something special to say to each group. Let us proceed to consider what it is. C. Crain

(To be continued.)

The past twenty years or so have witnessed some of the most remarkable discoveries and inventions; the wonderful telephone, has everywhere become almost indispensable in commerce and domestic life; the automobile, at first a toy for the wealthy, is fast coming into general use; wireless telegraphy spans space in what would once have been thought a supernatural way, and has been of great value in saving life; the airplane is fast becoming an adjunct to commerce and, alas, to war. All these great discoveries and inventions have been and are attended by great loss of life, especially in rapid locomotion, as the automobile. How many gay and thoughtless parties have ended with the silence of death, casting its awful shadow upon the misnamed "joy-ride." The recklessness of those who handle the airplane is proverbial, as casualty upon casualty bears witness. Men seem to trifle with life itself. It is remarkable that with all these modern and remarkable inventions, disasters such as those of the Titanic and The Empress of Ireland, have taken place notwithstanding. We do not of course put the blame upon the discoverers; but God would remind us that we are as dependent as ever upon Himself; that we are living in a world which would fall to pieces unless upheld by its Maker's omnipotent hand.

Other and sinister developments are also manifest; pride, selfishness, self-will, insubordination, unsubdued passions, ungodliness, with attendant crime.

A traveler passing through a great city recently, which had experienced a terrific earthquake shock, followed by awful devastation of fire, heard some one boast:"We are earthquake-proof, fire-proof, and God-proof!" How awful is the puny wickedness which thus dares to sport on the verge of a yawning precipice which, but for the mercy of God, is ready to engulf him! Truly, "In the last days mockers shall come."

" But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."

S. R.

(Continued from page 298.) (Chap. 2:28-3:24.)

The practice of righteousness is not the only mark of one who is born of God. A child of God is characterized by loving his brethren (ver. 10). We must now consider what the apostle says in reference to this.

It is to be noted that he mentions the two characteristics in a way that shows they go together. A child of God cannot be marked by one without the other. They are inseparable. If one is lacking, so is the other. We have seen that there is in the child of God a nature that is perfectly holy. This holy nature asserts itself in two ways-in the practice of righteousness and in loving the brethren.

Let us remember the apostle is speaking, not of the measure of realization or degree of enjoyment, but of what is characteristically true of all children of God. He is not discussing the hindrances to the full expression of the divine nature in us, but what is true in fact. It is the fact that is insisted on, not the extent in which it is displayed. If doing righteousness and loving the brethren are in any measure present, if they are at all in operation, the divine nature is there. There may be still much evidence of the old nature's presence, which characterizes us as natural men:it shows what we are as natural men-not what we are as born of God. It is the operations of our new nature that display what we are as having been born of God, although overshadowed often by those of the old. They are in error who reason that the old nature is away by the new, and who teach that the evidence of the presence of the old is evidence of the absence of the new.

All this that I have been saying is of the greatest moment if the apostle is to be understood, if we read him intelligently, it must be seen that He is speaking in the abstract, that he is writing of what is characteristically true, and thus of what is true of every believer, of every child of God.

For proof of the statement that loving the brethren is a mark of a child of God, the apostle appeals to the message or instruction of the incarnate Son of God (ver. 11). He refers to the fact that love to one another should characterize them. In John 13:34, 35, He said:"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Our Lord is not simply pressing upon His own the obligation or responsibility to love one another, but that it would "pe a mark by which the reality of their professed discipleship would be manifested. John appeals to this as a mark of the children of God.

A child of God is one who has been born of Him, and so is of God-not like Cain, who was of the evil one (ver. 12). His works therefore were evil. There was, even then, light shining sufficiently to manifest whether his works were wrought in God or were evil. The light exposed his works, showed them to be evil. God's acceptance of what Abel had wrought in God manifested Cain's deeds to be evil, proved he had not done well. Cain therefore hates the light-hates its witness. His murder of Abel manifested his hatred of the light. The children of God come to the light, and the light manifests them to be of the truth ; it shows that their deeds are wrought in God (John 3:21). However misunderstood by the world, the children of God are seen to be doers of righteousness and lovers of their brethren.
If Cain represents the natural man in his rejection of the testimony of God, and is an example of the world's hatred of the light which exposes its evil deeds, the children of God need not wonder at the world's hatred of them (ver. 13). Our Lord said to His disciples, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you " (John 15:18). If it hates Him, if it refuses Him who is the Light, it will desire to rid itself of every witness to Him. The light, even feebly reflected, will be intolerable to it.

But we have passed out of death into life. We have the testimony of the Son of God for this (John 5 :24). John, however, does not appeal to this here. We are conscious of love to the brethren (ver. 14):therefore we are not of the world, nor are we of him in whom the world lies-the wicked one. We are abiding, not in death, but in life- eternal life. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. If he does not love, he hates; and "whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer" (ver. 15) ; that is, he is identified in nature and character with him who "abode not in the truth," but became a murderer and liar (John 8:44).

"Ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him " has often been misunderstood. It has been taken to mean that no murderer can be saved. Let us seek to understand what the apostle says. In the first place, he declares that "whosoever hates his brother is a murderer." Is it not plain that the apostle points to the nature which characterizes one who, like Cain, is of the wicked one? Thus a man does not need to take the life of a fellow-man to be a murderer; he is that by the very fact that he possesses that nature. In this sense all men are murderers by their very nature since the fall. But when the grace of God lays hold of one who is such in the eyes of God, he is born anew, "born from above." He possesses a new nature, which now characterizes him in God's eyes. God looks upon him as having passed out of death into life. He no more looks at him according to the old nature which is still in him, but according to what he is as born of God. A new life dwells in him. It is in the character of this new life that God now views him.

We have spoken of love to the brethren as evidence of a new nature received from God; but it may be said:Is not God above us, beyond us? Do we not read, " No man hath seen God at any time? " How then is it possible for us to comprehend the activities of love in God ? It has been manifested in the person of His Son whom He sent into the world to lay down His life sacrificially in behalf of men (ver. 16). In this we have learned what the love of God is. The knowledge of this divine love is abiding in the soul that has bowed to the meaning of the Cross of Christ.

The activities of love in God must necessarily characterize His children. It is not merely a question of duty or obligation, but a characteristic of their nature, which in communion with God displays itself. This is the force of verse 17. Of course, the verse may be used as an appeal to rouse the conscience where there seems to be carelessness or indifference, but the apostle is convicting of unreality the mere profession of loving the brethren. His argument is, How can love be there if there is no activity of it ? How can love that is of God be dwelling where it is not in exercise ? There is danger, even in the children of God, of falling into pretension. So in verse 18 the apostle warns against it. Clearly he is speaking here to those whom he recognizes as of God. He is exhorting them to see to it that there be no pretense, no mere loving in word or tongue, but only in deed and in truth. Unreality is a grievous sin in a child of God ; it is really hypocrisy. Let us then give due heed to the apostle's warning against it. Our Lord also speaks of this in Luke 12:1.
What is the test of reality? Verses 19 and 20 are the apostle's answer. It is for us to know-to realize-that we are of the truth. It is the privilege of the child of God to assure his heart before God. " God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things." Those who "walk in the light as God is in the light" realize this; they are conscious that all unreality is exposed before Him. What enables us to stand in the light in which no unreality can be tolerated, is the atoning blood of Christ. It is that which gives us assured hearts before God, before whom all is thoroughly searched out. He who is greater than our hearts has provided us with what gives us full confidence in His presence; the blood of Christ is His answer to every question of our acceptance or attack of the enemy. In the power of the blood of Christ, with uncondemning hearts, we abide in that Presence before whom all is manifest. God Himself is our refuge and our confidence; by His grace we are those who keep His commandments and practice the things pleasing to Him. We are those who believe '' on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another," and whose petitions are in accordance with Him in whom we are accepted. We abide in God and He abides in us (vers. 21-24).

A marvelous blessing this, a wonderful privilege:abiding in God and God abiding in us! We are in the community of life and nature, after the pattern of that declared by our Lord when He said, " I am in the Father, and the Father in me " (John 14:10, n). Just as He abode in the Father and the Father in Him, so also we abide in Him and He in us. By the Spirit which now dwells in us we are able to realize and enjoy the portion that is ours. Characteristically speaking (as John constantly does), in this dispensation of the Spirit the children of God are qualified to enjoy the intimacies of their relationship with God. They find their power for this in the Spirit dwelling in them. C. Crain

(To be continued.)

In these days of increasing worldliness, young Christians who have taken the outside place in their church-position are particularly subject to the attacks of the enemy, who would have them forget that the world is crucified to them and they to it. In gatherings where there are only a very few young people, the temptation to be with worldly companions is very great, and calls for the exercise of much care on the part of parents especially, to prevent this desire from reaching fruition. In such cases parents -and others in fellowship should be most judicious in expressing their sympathy for young people thus situated. Indiscreetly bestowed, this sympathy is likely to cause them to abandon their position "outside the camp" entirely, and give up their testimony to their rejected Lord.

The Word is full of examples of those who early in life were devoted to God and served Him faithfully, and were honored in so doing. What of Joseph, Samuel, David, Daniel, Timothy, and others ? Surely the Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient to supply every need of the youthful life, be it lack of young company or any other necessity, real or fancied.

Paul's admonition to his "son Timothy" was to "Flee youthful lusts." Young Christian reader, will you allow the world, which "lieth in the wicked one," to gain an entrance into your heart to the exclusion of the One who gave up "all that He had " for you ?

Is the world more attractive to you than Christ ? Remember how short and uncertain your days are here even though our Lord Jesus should tarry, and that if you will save your life in attachment to this world/you will lose it; but if you will lose your life for His sake you will save it. "If ye love said our Lord, '' keep My commandments. His commandments are not grievous. H. A. J.

When our beloved sister, Mrs. S.–, was about to pass into the presence of the Lord, she was asked by her nearest and dearest, '' Do you know me ? " She answered, '' Yes.'' When asked further, "Do you know anyone in heaven?" she replied in a very pronounced voice. "Yes, there's One, the Lord-Jesus-Christ!"

There is One that I know, up in heaven,
He's the brightness of heaven to me,
The Lord Jesus Christ in the glory,
Heaven's worthy, thrice worthy One, He!

He's the light of that " excellent glory,"
Whose luster no cloud can alloy,
The pulse of its exquisite rapture,
The song of its shadowless joy!

I will not then go as a stranger,
For I know that the first I shall see
Is the very same Jesus "Who loved me,
And gave Himself "-even for me.

Enough! till the light of the morning
Shall the song and the rapture complete
In the bliss of that wonderful moment
When the Bride and the Bridegroom shall meet!

Ah, many a painter is ardent,
And many a poet excels,
Portraying the scene of that glory
Where the One that I know ever dwells;

But hush! there's a family secret
That only to children is told,
A precious love-secret, far brighter
Than visions of crystal and gold,

'Tis the knowledge that into that glory
No angel our escort shall be,
For the One that know, up in heaven,
Is the One that is coming for me!

Oh, height of unspeakable gladness!
Oh, depth of unuttered delight!
The Lord Jesus Christ in His beauty
That moment shall burst on our sight!
He'll raise the frail casket all-glorious,
And change the "vile body" that day,
And we " shall be caught up together "
For the partings have all passed away!

All joys of unsearchable sweetness
Will that long-looked for moment afford,
But oh, for the crowning completeness
Of seeing, of meeting, the Lord !

J. M. G.

QUES. 17.-Why did God allow polygamy in Old Testament times ?

ANS.-If you mean in Ike world at large, He allowed it in the same way as any other result of the Fall-to let man learn by his evil ways that he was indeed a fallen being.

If you mean in Israel, the special sphere of His rule at that time, which we judge is in your mind, it was because Judaism, while established of God for a timely purpose, was not yet the shining of the true light, and could not therefore penetrate into all the corners of the darkness to shame out of countenance a practice so contrary to the order of God in creation. When Christ, who is the Light of the world, came, He traced things back to their original order at the beginning, as He made them, before men had spoiled them, and thus reproved the evils. Christianity (true Christianity) since Christ went back to heaven, is the light of the world, being the expression of His mind in everything, whether creation, or new creation. It alone therefore makes manifest the unnaturalness of the practice of polygamy, and gives marriage its true place.

Mark, however, that there is not a single command in the New Testament (the Book of Christianity) against polygamy. It chases evil away not by commands or prohibitions, hut as the sun chases away the darkness by the power and energy of the light which is in it. None could serve as bishops or deacons among Christians who had more than one wife (1 Tim. 3 :1-12 ; Titus 1 :5-7). This at once branded polygamy with God's displeasure, and this is enough to govern the true Christian-the man in whom dwells the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9); for the Christian is not ruled by law (not being under law, Rom. 6 :14), but by the new life which he has received, and the Spirit of Christ who dwells in him 1 Cor. 6:19).

Judaism was only for a time (Heb. 9:10), to prepare the way (Gal. 3 :25) for that which was in God's bosom for man from before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1 :4-7), and now shines out as the sun at noon-day. Every shade of sin therefore (much of which Judaism could not manifest and reprove), is now manifested and reproved by Christianity.

QUES. 18.-Were Ananias and Sapphira, of Acts 5, only professors, or were they real Christians under God's government for their evil ways ?

ANS.-We sincerely hope it was the latter, for it is far better to be under God's government in time, no matter how severe that may be, than to be forever '' in the outer darkness, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth''-the state of mere professors in eternity, as well as of outbreaking sinners.

QUES. 19.-Kindly give us as full instruction as you can concerning the blessed Trinity. Are there three distinct divine Beings to be recognized? And if so, to whom should we address our prayers and our worship ?

ANS.-Scripture, from beginning to end, tells us there are three distinct Persons in the Deity-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit -yet so absolutely one in nature, mind, purpose, way and end, that together they form the one, true, eternal God, who is, has been, and eternally shall be ; the One to whom prayer, praise and worship are addressed by all that are born of Him since the beginning. Of this, as of nearly every other doctrine, it is in the New Testament that the full, complete revelation is made; yet, the Old incidentally said enough to establish the matter for those who had not yet the New. We cannot, in our limited space, take it up in detail, but only point to a few passages.

In the first verse of Genesis the Hebrew name translated God is Elohim, the plural form of Eloah. It suggests at once a trinity in the Being who created all things. In the second verse the Spirit is named. Psalm 2 plainly declares the Son, and if there be One who is the Son, another must be the Father. Proverbs 30:4 is very plain, and so is Proverbs 8:22-36. No Old Testament believer, if instructed in it, could ignore the three Persons existing in the true God.

As to the New Testament, the doctrine of the Trinity is woven with every part of it. Christ was here, declaring Himself the Son, addressing His Father, the Spirit alighting upon Him in the form of a dove. The initial ordinance of Christianity (baptism) is "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. 28:19).

As to prayer and worship, if we address God as God, it includes, of course, the three Persons. We do not distinguish them. If, however, we do distinguish them in our address, as Scripture gives us the fullest liberty, there seems to be no passage which leads vis to address the Holy Spirit. In all the teaching of the Word, He (the Spirit), dwelling in the Christian, directs all the desires and longings of his heart to the other two Persons-the Father and the Sou ; his prayers usually, though not exclusively, are to the Father in the name of the Son. If we think of our weakness and dependence we call upon God-the Almighty One. If we think of our blessed relationship as sons, we call upon Him as our Father. If we think of our service, we call upon our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. Thus the character of our address is formed by the thoughts which possess our souls at the time. In general, we may say:The child's address is to his Father, the servant's, to his Master.

But it may not be well to make sharp lines for this sacred intercom se between the believer and his God, his Father, his Saviour and Lord. It is better to have our hearts gradually, and, shall we say, unconsciously, trained by a growing familiarity with the word of God. We might learn the various seasons of the year by the scientific method of the almanac, and yet know little of their differing joys and blessings ; but living and growing among them we become formed by them. They are as natural to us as our very being. So here, definitions, though helpful in a measure, are never like what we learn in intercourse with God through His Word, and the practical walk with Him. We have seen
Christians who had only recently been set free by Christ, address Him altogether in their requests and worship. It revealed their infancy and need of growth. Then we have seen Christians, with plenty of knowledge, address God, or the. Father only-never the Son ; it revealed a puffed up mind without corresponding love in the heart. It is refreshing to hear babes, no matter how little they know, if only they are humble enough as newborn babes to "desire the sincere milk of the Word," that they may grow thereby (1 Pet. 2:2). It is edifying to hear fathers, if they have gathered knowledge in communion with God, and Christ is therefore the sum and substance of their speech and practice.

QUES. 20.-Is it right for God's people to attend theaters, shows, and the like? Is it not a violation of the word in 1 John 2 :15:" Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world ? "

ANS.-Surely so. A true Christian, (a man in whom is the Spirit of Christ), attending such places for his pleasure, knows in his conscience that he is not in the company of his Lord there- knows he is defiled in his spirit by it. The world itself knows he is not in his right place, and therefore loses confidence in his Christianity.

If we realize, as the apostle, that " He loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2 :20), it will not be hard to take His yoke upon us. Our hearts will not need the theater or the show for their enjoyment. It is really reproaching Christ for a Christian to be found in such places, for it is saying that Christ has not satisfied his heart.

QUES. 21.-In my neighborhood a minister preaches that it is when we reach heaven that we are born again. Others say it is here on earth this has to be if we are going to be saved at all. Others again preach that we have here on earth to suffer the penalty of our sins. Having already received help through your publications, I would greatly appreciate a word from you in your magazine.

ANS.-The first and last of these teachings are false. The first is Seventh-Day Adventism, which is materialistic, and knows nothing of the present work of the Spirit in those who are of faith. If spirit is only a form of material organization, as they claim, a surgeon who can dissect the body knows all that can be known of man. The new birth with them is but a change of outward form and circumstances. As there is no such change till the Lord comes and takes His people to heaven, there is no new birth till then.

The last is Universalism or Unitarianism. both of which have largely corrupted the orthodox denominations. Ignoring the division which God makes between believers and unbeliever?, they apply to all alike the discipline which the Father lays upon His children for their sins, if they judge not themselves. 1 Cor. 11 :31, 32 makes this very plain, telling us that God chastens His children here and now, that they "should not be condemned with the world " The world then is going to be condemned. Why? Because of their sins. Believers are not to be condemned with the world. Why? Because Christ was condemned on the cross for them, and they, as guilty sinners, have received Him as their Saviour. Now, being the children of God, they are expected to be "followers of God, as dear children." If they are not, they are disciplined by Him, even as we discipline our children when they do wrong-our children, mind you, not strangers.

But here seems to be the place to show that those who preach that it is here on earth we must be born again, are right. If it is His children God disciplines, how have they become His children ? By new birth; and it is as to this the Lord gives instruction to Nicodemus in John 3. False teachers, contradicting the word of our Lord (see Jno. 8 :42-44), say that all men are by creation children of God. They talk of the " fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man," and thereby overthrow not only the faith of some, hut also the governments of nations. Closing their eyes to man's condition in sin, in rebellion against God and every authority which He has set up, they cry Peace, peace, while evil is active, [and thus give it vantage ground till rulers can no more control it. God declares man's condition to be so essentially evil, that a man must be born anew before he can have any true intercourse or living relationship with Him. The new birth is an internal work, in which the person receives from God a new life (eternal life), whose nature is holy, and finds comfort and pleasure only in God's holy things. It thus destroys in its possessor the practice of sin. All over the world the children of God are one in this ; they can be recognized by the world as men who practice sin no more, but live in holiness. Indeed it is by this manifest oneness of new life and nature that the world is to be led to faith in Christ (Jno. 17:20, 21). When this life is over it is too late to be born again (Luke 16:24-26 ; Heb. 9 :27). The whole word of 'God teaches that this is ( the day of grace, that now is the day of salvation, and that if men do not, during this time of grace, appropriate the provision He has made for their salvation, they are lost forever. The Roman Catholic Purgatory, out of which there is hope after this life, and Russell's "Millennial Dawn" or '.'International Bible-Student'' Second chance after death, are contrary to all Scripture teaching-both equally efficient means of fleecing people who love to .hear pleasing lies.

QUES. 23.-Why is it that all manner of sin and blasphemy is forgiven, but the one against the Holy Spirit cannot be?

ANS.-In carefully considering the circumstances under which the Lord pronounced this sentence, in Matt. 12 :22-32, or Mark 3 :1-30, one cannot but be impressed with their solemnity. All manner of miraculous healing was done before their eyes by the Lord with the result that they plot against Him to get rid of Him. Not only were the physical results of man's fall removed by Him, but unclean spirits were cast out, proving that He is superior to the evil " principalities and powers,'' whose prince had deceived man, and his subordinates enslaved many in various ways. To cast out these demons required a power greater than that of Satan, their master. The Lord's opposers knew that perfectly well, and in their consciences they knew it was by the Spirit of God that Christ cast out the evil spirits. But their wills were made up. Light, conscience, all was silenced to satisfy their will, so they ascribe to Satan the power which in their conscience they know was of God. This is fatal. Such blasphemy cannot be forgiven; not because of any pre-eminence of the Holy Spirit in the Trinity, but because it is His work to produce conviction and light in mail's soul, which is the root of all intercourse with God ; being trampled under foot, He does not renew it. Other sins and blasphemies we might compare to the dead branches of a tree, with the tree not necessarily dead; it may grow again. Not so with the root. If that dies, it cannot grow again. These are most serious things, against which they who know and value the grace of God will watch, as the master of a ship watches against the sunken rocks, however strong and well equipped the ship may be. Hebrews 6:1-6 and 10 :19-31 are no idle words. They are there for every one to take heed. They are not given to disturb our peace with God, but to prevent trifling with evil.

Some answers remain for next No. of Help & Food

"Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach " (Heb. 13:13).

I cannot give it up,
The little world I know!
The innocent delights of youth,
The things I cherish so!
'Tis true, I love my Lord
And want to do His will,
And oh, I may enjoy the world
And be a Christian still !

I love the hour of prayer,
I love the hymns of praise,
I love the blessed Word that tells
Of God's redeeming grace,
But I am human still;
And while I dwell on earth
God surely will not grudge the hours
I spend in harmless mirth.

These things belong to youth,
And are its natural right-
My dress, my pastimes, and my friends,
The merry and the bright.
My Father's heart is kind;
He will not count it ill
That my small corner of the world
Should please and hold me still.

And yet, "outside the camp,"
'Twas there my Saviour died!
It was the world that cast Him forth,
And saw Him crucified.
Can I take part with those
Who nailed Him to the tree ?
And where His name is never praised
Is there the place for me ?

Nay, world! I turn away,
Though thou seem'st fair and good;
That friendly outstretched hand of thine
Is stained with Jesus' blood.
If in thy least device
I stoop to take a part,
All unaware, thine influence steals
God's presence from my heart.

I miss my Saviour's smile
Whenever I walk thy ways;
Thy laughter drowns the Spirit's voice
And chokes the springs of praise.
If e'er I turn aside
To join thee for an hour,
The face of Christ grows blurred and dim
And prayer has lost its power!

Farewell! Henceforth my place
Is with the Lamb who died.
My Sovereign! While I have Thy love,
What can I want beside ?
Thyself, dear Lord, art now
My free and loving choice,
" In whom, though now I see Thee not,
Believing, I rejoice! "

Shame on me that I sought
Another joy than this,
Or dreamt a heart at rest with Thee
Could crave for earthly bliss!
These vain and worthless things,
I put them all aside;
His goodness fills my longing soul,
And I am satisfied.

Lord Jesus! let me dwell
"Outside the camp," with Thee.
Since Thou art there, then there alone
Is peace and home for me.
Thy dear reproach to bear
I'll count my highest gain,
Till Thou return, my banished King,
To take Thy power, and reign!

Margaret Mauro

Prophecy and War

All know anything of the Scriptures know that government is a divinely instituted thing for the maintenance of order among men, the security of life and property, and the punishment of evil-doers. The first expression of it was given to Noah in these words :"Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed " (Gen. 9:6). The failure of man in government, under whatever form it has appeared, is manifest to all. Indeed it is often in government circles that the worst iniquities are found. So God has ordained that His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, after the present, long period of grace, during which He continues in heaven as Saviour, seeking to turn men to repentance and to save the "lost," shall return to this earth clothed in royal glory, to take the government of the whole earth in His own hands. But this is not to the world's liking – opposed to God as the natural man ever is. As a consequence of refusing God's authority and His Prince of Peace, man with clashing self-interests, will so fight each other – commercially, industrially, and nationally – as "to take away peace from the earth " (Rev. 6:4), and the world will feel the need of the Deliverer, as a sinner now under conviction of sin feels the need of the Saviour.

That the turmoils of the times of this great crisis are forcibly showing themselves in the present European war, is being more or less felt not only by Christians but even by the man of the world. If it be so, peace may be looked for only by the appearing of the Prince of Peace on the clouds of heaven. While the crushing of this or that oppressive power may give momentary relief, peace permanent and righteous can be had only in the fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy:"Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given:and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end" (Isa. 9:6, 7). And this beneficent rule is to be exercised " upon the throne of David;" that is, at Jerusalem, which, on that account, will have become the metropolis of the earth.

Should any of our readers be desirous of instruction, clear and scriptural, on these subjects, we would recommend two books to them-one, "Eight Lectures on Prophecy," as preliminary. It is a small book of 342 pages, cloth bound, post-paid, 65 cents. The other book, "Plain Papers on Prophetic Subjects," covers the subject much more fully, has 582 pages, cloth bound, post-paid, $1.25. Students of Prophecy have written to the publishers to say, that after reading all things published on Prophecy, they knew nothing to equal this book on the subject.

We believe that if believers were scripturally established by the instruction of such books, they would be preserved from the vagaries and follies of alarmists and sensationalists who see in prophecy much more of fire and blood than of the great central Object, which the Spirit of God ever keeps to the front. Prophecy without Christ as its Center, becomes mere politics, which may excite the curiosity even of unbelievers.

The following is published in the Youth's Companion, and we reproduce it here because of its plain and wholesome lesson.

WHEN A HAPSBURG DIES.
A very strange burial custom has been observed for centuries by the house of Hapsburg, the most ancient of the reigning houses of Europe. On the death of the Austrian Emperor the bod vis curried by the shortest way from the imperial palace to the crypt of the ancient monastery of the Capuchins near Vienna. No one appears to receive the royal cortege. Thereupon the master of ceremonies knocks on the closed door with his staff and demands admission. "Who is there?" asks the voice of the guardian monk from within.

"His Majesty, the most high Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, Duke of Styria," etc., etc., replies the master of ceremonies, as he recites the long list of the dead man's titles.

" I know no such man," curtly replies the guardian from behind the closed door.

The master of ceremonies knocks a second time. Again the monk asks, "Who is there?" Again the master of ceremonies repeats the list of royal titles, and again the voice of the guardian replies, " I know no such man."

A third time the master of ceremonies knocks with his staff.

" Who is there? " repeats the voice.

" Our brother, Francis Joseph " (or whatever the dead monarch's name may be), replies the master of ceremonies.

At this bumble confession of the simple humanity of the dead Emperor the bolts fly back. " Enter, brother! " cries the voice of the guardian monk, and the body is admitted. There follows later an imposing public burial.

Thus is mankind leveled by death. It is the sentence of God upon sin, and as every man is a sinner, he is under the sentence of death, be he an emperor or a boot-black, a millionaire or a beggar. Ambitious young man, remember this. Let thy highest aims be always yoked with this sentence. It will make thee wise, for it will show thee the necessity of escaping the judgment which follows death. What good would it be to have ruled an empire or to have exceeded all other men in the realms of wealth, of learning, of art, of honor in any line, if, after all, the question of eternal salvation is not settled ?So important is this matter, that the Son of God left His glory above and came to this world of sorrow and woe to provide by His atoning death on the cross an eternal redemption for every soul that feels and owns its need of it. The costly way by which Christ obtained this redemption for us is itself sufficient proof of its importance. A God of love seeing the day of retributive justice surely coming, could not leave man without a way of escape. Justice can find no fault with it, since "Christ hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" (i Pet. 3:18).

Death is thus God's summons to man to appear at His bar, and none can escape condemnation there but those who confess Christ as their Saviour, and His death on the cross as their own condemnation borne by their Substitute. Condemnation cannot pass the cross of Christ, for there He suffered the full penalty of sin, so that all who have taken refuge under it are beyond the claims of justice. They are as cleared from their guilt as Christ Himself is. They are accepted in Him the Beloved One, and God's love rests on them as it does on Christ, not because of any merit in them, but because of the worthiness God finds in Christ, with whom they are united by the Spirit. There is no fluctuation therefore in God's love toward us, since it rests wholly on the unchanging and unchangeable value of the sacrifice of Christ. Nor can there be any fluctuation either in the acceptance of the believer, for he is "accepted in the Beloved." The believer thus freed from concern about his acceptance with God, can devote himself undistractedly and worshipfully to whatever service his Master may see fit to put upon him. Blessed service! May we abound in it till our Lord returns.

Martha and Mary

What great loss many Christians are any suffering by not heeding the important lesson of these two women recorded in Luke 10 :38-42. Martha-like they seem to think that their service is of immense importance. So engrossed with it are they, so enamored with their doings, that they have no time, and, what is worse, no inclination to listen to the word of God. They remain ignorant therefore of what every Christian ought to know, and needs to know, to serve the Lord acceptably. Many do not even enjoy peace with God, being too busy to let their Saviour pour into their souls that sweet peace which is the beginning of relations with Him, and which are sweeter than all beside. He delights to communicate to His own the full extent of the grace of God, and thus fill their souls to overflowing with praise and worship, but they have no time to lend Him their ear. " We have a great work to do," they say. "and we must be about it." Is it any wonder if they are restless and full of disquietude ? It is living intercourse with Christ which satisfies the heart and sets it aglow for praise, worship and service. A satisfied heart is not restless, whatever its circumstances may be.

As to Mary, the Lord's words leave no doubt as to His mind about the object of her attitude and heart. He characterizes it as "that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

Why then will any of God's beloved ones rob themselves of that good part which abides forever! Martha was as truly a child of God as Mary, and as truly loved of Christ as Mary, yet she was missing what the Lord most approved and loved. Would you, dear reader, do like her ?

In the roth chapter of John we see blessed fruits of the Lord's ministry in the same household:"Martha served"-her valued ministry has no more the impatient, fretful spirit manifested in Luke 12..The Holy Spirit therefore records the service as most acceptable. Lazarus-not heard of in Luke 10-is here, fruit of resurrection, at table with the Lord. And, crowning the precious scene, Mary pours out upon the Lord the costly perfume expressing the value in which He was held in her heart.

A Great Mistake

We were reading recently a labored article by a great writer, to reconcile the part which "Christian nations" are taking in the European war with the teaching of our Lord on non-resistance to evil in His Sermon on the Mount. All such efforts are futile and vain, for the two things are irreconcilable. If the Lord has said, "Love your enemies," it is no easy matter to reconcile such words with taking up a gun and killing our enemies.

The great mistake of all such writers is in not discerning the difference which Scripture ever makes and maintains between the people of God and the people of the world. There is, according to the word of God, no such thing as a "Christian nation." The idea comes from the false Romish teaching that Christian baptism makes children of God out of those on whom it is administered. Romish conquerors therefore would compel conquered nations to submit to baptism, and thus become "Christian nations," without the regenerating work of the Spirit being wrought in them. The people of God are, every one of them, born of God, possessors of eternal life, and capable therefore of carrying out the mind of the Lord Jesus. None others can, and for that reason when the Lord teaches non-resistance He does so to His disciples alone. (See Matt. 5 :i, 2.)

Satan's work has been to obliterate the great dividing line between the world and the Church, by throwing them thus together, confusing the minds of the multitude as to their relative places.

A "Christian nation" may be as cruel as any other, for, though bearing the name of "Christian," it is at heart the same as all unregenerate men. Were they born of God their character would be changed ; they could obey their Lord's word, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you."

(2 Pet. 3 :18)

Grow in grace" is the injunction of an apostle, and to it the heart and conscience of the Christian man respond. The law of growth is the law of life pre-eminently in Christianity, where the life is eternal life, and maturity in it is not the easy attainment of a day. " He that hath this hope in Him," says the apostle John, " purifieth himself, even as He is pure" (i Jno. 3:3). Put that as the limit, and who can say that he has reached it-is purified as Christ is pure ? When then shall the exhortation be needless, " Grow in Grace ? "

There is such a thing as growth then-as the progressive sanctification of the believing soul to God. Progress in holiness there ought to be :we ought to be this year more fully and practically Christ's than last, which is what is meant by holiness ; more simply and in detail yielded up to Him, and the results of it apparent in our lives.

I speak of course to believers. There must be life before there can be growth. First of all we must be "born again," as the apostle speaks, "not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God;" a "word," he takes care to add, "which by the gospel is preached unto you " (i Pet. i:23, 25).

It is as if expressly designed to make it more emphatic in warning to all who depend on ordinances for the reception of new life, that Peter (proclaimed by men as the very head of the most ritualistic system existing at this day) is inspired to speak so. It is he who tells his would-be followers that men are born again, not in baptism, but by the " word of the gospel."

That word which, coming to sinners as it does, speaks of a work done for sinners, salvation for the lost by the death of another-it is this that, being received, transforms. Having had much forgiven, the soul forgiven loves; and that love to One who has saved is the spring and power of a new life, a life of blessed and endeared obedience.

But I do not dwell upon this at this time. I would only be understood to speak to those just now who have learnt, if only babes, to cry, "Abba, Father." To such I would say, Do not imagine that because you are saved and have conscious peace with God, that therefore you have attained the summit of Christianity. The unhappy result of making the knowledge of salvation (as many make it) the result of (it may be even a lengthy) Christian experience, has been unhappily with a good many the making that the end and the resting point which is in reality only the beginning of attainment, and of experiences properly Christian. And thus the gospel itself is shorn of much more than half its power and blessing. Rest and peace and blessing for oneself are made the end of all, and rest in salvation substituted very often for rest in God. Thus how many sink into loose and easy living, and call it freedom! Alas for such, and for the gospel that they boast of, if such is indeed the freedom it has given.

We need to speak out plainly. The worst evil of the day is the Laodiceanism which can speak loudly of grace with the conscience unexercised as to the responsibility which grace introduces into. Men
who delight in the gospel, "the glorious gospel"- and so it truly is-if you speak to them of other things which the God of the gospel has made known and enjoined obedience to, will answer, "Such things are not necessary to salvation." God has spoken, and men have learnt by listening to His voice (as they would have it), how and when with safety to themselves they may disregard His voice. But is that then the fruit of the gospel ? Of what worth is the piety that sits down"*content with salvation, and not wishing to be disturbed or unsettled by the claims of God and of His truth ?

And it must be remembered that, according to Scripture, truth alone sanctifies. We do not judge with the poet of latitudinarianism,

" He can't be wrong whose life is in the right,"

but rather, with the Lord Himself, " He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me" (Jno. 14 :21). There must be an ear listening for the voice of Christ, or there cannot be the spirit of true obedience. He who does not care to hear, does not really care to obey. " My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow Me." He who discards, as it were, from the word of God all but the gospel, has never known yet the proper power of the gospel.

But the apostle adds to his exhortation, " Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." "Our Lord" mark, first, as well as "Saviour." Nay, we may say, "our Lord," and even so our "Saviour." Rendered up into His hands who has alone title to us, we find salvation from One "exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour," and one main part of our salvation is deliverance from other masters into His service, whom when we "call Master and Lord," we " say well, for so He is"-He who "died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him that died and rose again for them."

Beloved reader, before we go a step further, let me ask you this question:If you profess and call yourself a Christian, are you Christ's?-surrendered up to Him in the full joyful consciousness of His service being indeed perfect freedom ? Do you live with every pulse of that new life He has given you, "to him?" There is no growth in grace for you till such is the purpose of your heart. Is your eye then on Him, your ear waiting upon His voice, your hand engaged for Him, your foot treading in His pleasant paths? Are you one not only "redeemed,"but "redeemed to God?" no hired servant indeed, but one to whom "to live is Christ ? " Oh, then, beloved, we hail in you the true and proper effects of the gospel of grace :for "the grace of God which bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself & peculiar people zealous of good works " (Tit. 2:11-14).

And now then, beloved, " grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." The book of His thoughts, His counsels, His mind, lies open in your hand, and truth is truth just as far as it brings home to your soul Him who is Himself the truth. He is your Master. Sit in the peace of His presence at His feet and learn of Him. Do not say one syllable He utters is "no matter," "of little import," or "of little profit," or "that cannot be understood." Do not be content with mere opinions or human authorities. Consult Himself. Let your faith not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. "Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness :that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works "(2 Tim. 3:16, 17).
Be you one of " God's men " in this evil day.

And now for the more strict inquiry:"What is ' growing in grace ?' " It is explained as to its moral characteristics in those words which we have seen the apostle joins with it:"And in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

A false idea is prevalent, to the great damage of souls. Men have forgotten to distinguish between growth in grace and growth in self-consciousness of the grace we have. They imagine that, along with their growth in grace, they are to be able more and more to find satisfaction in their practical state. They think they ought to be able to measure their growth, and to find out to their own satisfaction how much holier they are this year than last. That they ought to be practically holier, I have already said. But this is a very different thing from being conscious to myself"that I am so, and in no wise needful to it. It is quite true that God says to us, "Be ye holy, for I am holy; " and quite true, therefore, that we ought to " follow after holiness." All this has been but just now insisted on. But suppose I take another text:when the Lord says, "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly vs. heart," what am I to infer from this? That I am to be "lowly?" True. But what would you think of me if I said, " Well, I am getting to be quite lowly; I improve in lowliness continually." Would you say that was "lowliness" which spoke in me ?-or vanity ?

Is it not right, then, to seek to be lowly ? Clearly. But lowliness is sei-forgetfulness and not self-consciousness, much less §ei-complacency.

And so with holiness. "To me to live is Christ " is its principle, and "we ought to walk as He walked " is our measure. As we grow then in the knowledge of Him, do we come to think more highly of our devotedness to Him, and be better satisfied with it, or the reverse ? Comparing our walk with His, as we come to know better what that walk was, shall we increase in satisfaction with our own imitation of it, or the reverse ?

A plant is in my garden. By its side stands a dead stick, which was put in for its support. The other day the plant was but just as high as the stick, and now it is two inches or more above. It is easy to measure the living and growing plant by the dead stick. And why ? Just because it is dead. But if the stick itself were alive and growing too, I should have lost my measurement. If my knowledge of Christ were but a dead and not a living thing, a fixed measure never to increase, I might more easily perhaps measure my own growth by it. But as He grows upon my soul, I dwarf. That is the result in my experience. " He must increase, I must decrease:" that is the daily law and the daily song.

Yet the aim after holiness is a right and not a fruitless thing; but occupation with Christ is the essential requisite for holiness and for growth. "We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18, marg.). It is our privilege to have done with ourselves and to be occupied with Christ. It is impossible to be occupied with Christ and not be holy. It is very possible to be occupied with holiness, and be neither holy nor happy. And happiness is a thing closely connected with holiness, for " the joy of the Lord is your strength."

A man may be seeking holiness in order to be better in his own eyes. Will God honor that or help him in it ? He will not. " Living to Christ" is another matter. Nor have I got to better myself in any wise. All that came to an end upon the cross of Calvary, where I died in the person of my Substitute. I am dead-"crucified with Christ." I have come thus (for faith) to the end of that self which terrifies and distresses me. God has put me as a sinner for ever out of His sight in the death of His Son, and He has accepted me in that Son, risen from the dead-in His "Beloved." How that name tells of One upon whom His eye rests with infinite delight! There am I, "in Him," never separate. My mirror, as a Christian, reflects the glory of the Well-Beloved. I am there in Him- "complete in Him"-"made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light."

Better myself, then, shall I ? Can I better Him ? There is my true self now. The other-I bear it about with me still, but it is no more I; the other died with Christ; and now, if "I live,"it is "yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." /died; Christ lives ; I in Him. I may look at myself there without vanity and with full satisfaction and rest of heart. " If any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new." If I look into myself I can say no such thing. With my eye on Christ it is all simple. I have not, then, to better myself; I have to walk as He walked. And that because I am already before God identified with Him.

But I grow in grace as a man down here as I grow in the knowledge of my Lord and Saviour. Saved-fitted for glory-a new man in Christ; the wants of my heart are all filled up in Him, and I am free to live for Him who loved me and gave Himself for me. All that I see in Him, in whom daily I see more, is power over me and in me, working out in me likeness to the One I love. I yield myself up to the enjoyment of love, which has answered every question, settled every doubt, supplied every need. Joy in Him brings me with full surrender of heart to the God I see in Him. He lives in me. I know Him who is Eternal Life; full blessedness, rest, power, devotedness, are implied in that.

As He shines more and more into my soul, even I myself, dark as midnight in myself, reflect back His glory, and am " light in the Lord." F. W. G.

QUES. 1.-I was recently asked whether Christians are under obligations to give a tenth of their income to the work of the Lord. An answer in help and food might be of use to others "besides my questioner.

ANS.-If we were Jews, and as such under the law, we would be under such obligations; but if believers in Christ, we are Christians, and as such, not under the law but under grace (Rom. 6 :14). The Christian is not governed by the law as was the Jew. The Spirit of Christ dwells in him, and he is ruled by the Spirit (Gal., chaps. 3 and 4). Law treats those who ate under it purely as subjects; grace treats them as sons, because it has made them sons (Gal. 4:6).

These great and fundamental distinctions lie on the very surface of Scripture, yet they are being lost by Christians through the neglect of the Scriptures. Law produces no change in man, but leaves him in his natural state. Grace, in converting a man, gives him eternal life, whose nature is love. It therefore trusts him, as law could not, for the fulfilment of his duties. The legal system and spirit soon have control, however, when unconverted men can establish themselves in a Christian congregation. Being strangers to grace, they can understand only law ;and this, no doubt, is largely at the root of the present prevailing Jewish condition of Christendom, and of the success of such anti-Christian sects as rise up on all sides.

(Chap. 1:6-10.)

(Continued from page 67.)

We have seen that God has put Himself in the light. The invisible God has made Himself visible in His Son become Man. Faith owns Him thus.

If then, for faith, God is in the light, believers are in the light also. On the authority of the divine testimony they can say that they know God. They can truthfully affirm that they have community of life with the Father and the Son. It is not a question of development in the knowledge of God:it is true of the babe in Christ. Though their acquaintance with God may not be based on long continued companionship with Him, they have an apprehension of what He is in His nature and character.

This apprehension is, in greater or less measure, in every soul that sets to its seal that the testimony of God is true, 1:e.-in every soul that is born of God. Feeble as his intelligence and apprehension may be, he is not speaking falsely when he says he knows God and has fellowship with the Father and the Son. He is in the light where he sees God- what He is. He is not in the darkness; he does not belong to it; he has passed out of it as surely as he has passed out of death into life. He is now one of those who live to Him who died and rose again (2 Cor. 5:15); he lives and walks in the light.

It is necessary to notice here the expression "Walking in the light." It is important to apprehend the mind of the Spirit. The expression refers to a fact-not to the degree in which that fact is realized. The expression denotes the moral condition in which the children of God are by virtue of their new birth and the manifestation of the life they have been born into. The apostle is not speaking of their practical consistency with the light, but of their essential and necessary relation to it. They are in the light. It is the moral sphere to which they belong, with which they are connected. How far they are faithful or unfaithful is not in question here.

Now, for an unbeliever to say he is in the light, or to profess that he has community of life with God, is to make a false claim. He is in relation to the darkness, belongs to it, does not know God, has not the life eternal. He is not practicing, not even feebly, the truth. He claims to be in relationship with God, to be His child, to be a sharer in His nature and life, but the claim is not true. Now that the light has come and is shining, those who are in it can judge and denounce as untrue the boastful professions of those who are not in it.

Verse 7 is a precious text for every child of God. There are two things affirmed in it of those who are in connection with the light. First, those who walk in the light with God now manifested, are now in the light with Him, participating in life with Him. They are one family. What a bond! What a blessed tie! How intimate and close the relation of one child of God to every other child of God. It is a relation of nature and life, always subsisting, abiding forever. Here again the apostle is speaking of the unchanging fact, an abiding fact, whether we are faithful or unfaithful.

Of course, if we are faithful or unfaithful has much to do with our practical enjoyment of the ever subsisting bond. The normal outflow of the common tie is often interfered with through what violates its distinctive character, but the tie once formed abides. It is an eternal tie; He who lives from everlasting to everlasting being the source of it, and in which, through grace, we have been brought.

The rest of the verse is the declaration of a most important truth. Every child of God, every one born of Him (who is thus a participator in the life eternal) stands before the face of God in all the value of the priceless blood of Christ. The light in which God has put Himself shows that. What a blessed revelation! God Himself is in the light ; the sin in us is in the light; and though we see it to be utterly abhorrent to God, yet the same light that shows this manifests how God removes all the defilement there is in us. The blood of Jesus Christ His Son is shown to be God's provision for it, and it is a perfect provision. The light itself can discover no sin in us for which that blood is not an absolute remedy.

Here I would make a practical observation. Those who come to the light, drawn there by the power of the grace of Him who is light, find the light manifests their deeds. Now this manifestation is not simply for the moment in which we first come to the light. It is a continuous work:the light constantly detecting in him the contrarieties to the light; but in this searching of the heart, the light shines as well on God's remedy for the contrarieties detected, and manifests its absolute perfection as a remedy. This sustains the soul before the light. No sin can possibly be discovered by the light for which God has not provided, or for which He is not perfectly sufficient. Hence the child of God can say, No matter what evil in me may be searched out by the light in which I walk, my abiding standing there is secured. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, in its infinite value and eternal efficacy, is what cleanses me before God. In the consciousness of this I may say, Let the defiling evil in me be searched out :nothing can possibly be brought out to light that can alter the abiding place of favor and blessing in which God has put me on the ground of the merits and value of the blood of Christ.

What peace! what rest! A sinful creature in myself, put before the face of One who makes me realize as I abide with Him how unlike Him I am, but to realize also that He who is thus constantly searching out the defiling evil that is in me is ever looking upon me as perfectly and eternally cleansed from it! May God grant to His beloved people to have an ever-deepening sense of this.

But to return. In verses Sand g the apostle deals with another pretension which the light manifests to be untrue. What characterizes those who through grace have come to the light is the confession of what that light manifests. It shows that men are sinful, that sinners practice sin. For any man to say he is not a sinner is to deny the truth; it is resisting the testimony of the light. The very claim makes manifest that those who make it are not in the realization of the truth. The truth is not in them. They are deceiving themselves.

It must be kept in mind the apostle is not here contemplating failure in the children of God to fully realize the truth. While it is true that the child of God may have such a feeble sense of the truth that he may be betrayed into similar language to that of the mere pretender, it is not characteristic of him as one who is in the light. John is reasoning in the abstract, not concrete. He is speaking of what is characteristic, of principles, not persons.

It is not characteristic of one born of God to deny that in himself he is a sinful man (see Luke 5:8), or pretend that he does not sin. The measure of his realization of what he is in himself is quite another matter. Speaking characteristically, as John does, he sets to his seal that the testimony of God is true, he accepts the truth, he owns as true of himself what the light has shown to be the truth.

To acknowledge oneself a sinful man is to acknowledge the commissions of sins. And if the confession of having a sinful nature is characteristic of a child of God, it is also true, speaking still characteristically, that he confesses his sins. It is not simply that he confesses his sins when he first comes as a sinner seeking a Saviour, but as he walks in the light he owns the continuous exposures of his sins. The light in which he walks is constantly detecting them and manifesting them.

But then as a child of faith he is the heir of God's promise:"I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jer. 31:34). The believer is a son of Abraham and has the privilege of appropriating the promise to himself. The God who gave the promise is faithful; therefore, characteristically speaking, the believer has the divine assurance that his sins are forgiven.

But it may be asked, Are not his sins a violation of righteousness ? and do they not defile ? The answer is, God is just in fulfilling His promise of forgiveness and remembering the sins no more. He has provided a remedy-a way of cleansing. He has given His own Son to bear the due of sins. Purification of sins has been made (Heb. i:3), and the Maker of it has the right of cleansing all who believe on Him. It would be unjust to Christ if God did not apply the purification to the one who believes on Christ Jesus. The believer, then, whatever the record of his sins, and however conscious of being sinful in himself, has the divine assurance that in the sight of God he is perfectly cleansed, and stands before His face eternally forgiven. As identified with the interests of Christ here on earth he is subject to divine discipline, correction or reproof. He is not exempt from the government of God. But as in Christ, he is cleansed from every unrighteousness.

Again, as stated in verse 10, if men claim they are not sinners by practice they contradict the testimony of God who declares that all have sinned. The light in which believers walk shows the claim is absolutely false. Any one making the audacious pretension that man is not fallen, has not the truth of God dwelling in him. All believers, characteristically speaking, set to their seal that God's testimony is true. The word of God dwells in them; it may be often in feebleness, very defectively realized, but as a class what marks them, all of them, is submission to what the light has made manifest, 1:e., that man without exception is a sinner both by nature and practice. These haughty pretenders, then, are in and of the darkness which comprehends not the light (John i:5).

But the children of faith-being born of God and in the light, while confessing that grace has cleansed them from all defilement, do not deny that in themselves they are sinners both by nature and practice. The degree in which all this is realized is not the apostle's subject in these verses. This we must keep in mind to avoid confusion and misunderstanding. C. Crain

(To be continued.)

Greetings

Yes, beloved friends, greetings, with a new meaning to the word. For a while it seemed as if the sweet relations of teacher and taught were to be severed, but God has answered the prayers of His beloved people who seem in many places to have pleaded for our continuance with them, and how can God fail to answer the prayer of faith ? Acute suffering has not been wanting, but the Lord has sustained and proved His tender compassions. Such sweet relations has grace formed with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, that every circumstance of life becomes a means of precious intercourse. In the sufferings, God's stamp of death upon the flesh has been realized afresh, while the soul has answered Amen with sincerity. What a rich blessing to have been brought early in life to agree with God against our flesh ; to take sides with Him against every form in which it can manifest itself; to have escaped the delusion that it was eradicated from our being; but that though present in us, it was no longer a part of us. The cross of Christ had parted us from it forever, henceforth to serve the Lord in freedom, while in the daily judgment of it.

The work of our little monthly has linked us in heart with thousands of Christ's sheep in various parts of the earth, and the thought of continuing still with them makes one truly grateful, as with a measure of returning strength we turn to our task -substantially helped, however, by others, in preparing this number.

Oh brethren, what a path of praise belongs to us! Our sins forever blotted out by the blood of Jesus;
no guilt upon us any more; justified as fully from all our sins as Christ-is justified from them, and He Himself our righteousness there before God, giving us our place there; possessors of eternal life too, and thus able to have fellowship with God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord in all their thoughts and glorious purposes! Besides all this, having for the closing of our day here on earth "that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Tit. 2:13). What a glorious sunset this is for us ! And nothing between it and the present moment. It is the immediate hope of our hearts. The sweetness of the tie between us, also, is that it is not some Shibboleth, or some pet doctrine, but Christ Himself, the Shepherd of the sheep and the Bishop of our souls. Our soul truly sings with joy as we think of this tie, formed upon earth, but never to cease! The better we know Him the closer we are drawn together; for the flock thus formed is not sectarian, but divine and holy. Let us ever remember one another at the throne of grace.

In the world, but not of it (John 17 :11-14).

It is safe to say that there is nothing more ensnaring and ruinous to the Christian's testimony than world-bordering. In view of the importance of the subject, let us search the Scriptures of truth as to it, for there alone can we hope to find certainty as to what the world is, and what is the Christian's relation to it.

It is unquestionably little understood, even by many Christians, that the world is at enmity with God; so much so, that "whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God " (Jas. 4:4). The origin of this breach is not hard to find. Man, in the very beginning of his history, thought by harkening to Satan he would himself become as God (Gen. 3:5, 6). Instead, he found himself Satan's dupe and slave. Then began a condition of things which is called the world, of which Satan, the usurper, the liar and murderer, became the god and the prince, demanding both its worship and its submission. Man is therefore expelled from paradise as a rebel under sentence of death, and as such becomes father of the whole human race who, born of him and like him, are " by nature children of wrath " (Eph. 2:3). Man, therefore, is by nature an enemy of God, needing to be reconciled to God before any happy intercourse can exist between them. Deferring the execution of the sentence, God has in sovereign grace been bearing with the heirs of wrath; but that mercy is their only hope surely ought to be plain; and the fact that men have been so many centuries in learning their need of mercy is additional proof of their utter alienation from God, on the one hand, and of the riches of God's mercy the other. But if man needs mercy-feels his need of it-mercy he will surely find, and abundantly.

As we take up scriptures which refer to the world, somewhat consecutively, we shall see exactly what the world is, and what is the Christian's attitude towards it.

In the beginning of Matthew's Gospel we see the devil in full possession of his usurped domain, and the use he makes of it. "Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them ; and saith unto Him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me " (Matt. 4 :8, 9). He holds out the world as a bait to draw worship to himself. He covets what belongs to God alone.

"Ye are the light of the world "(Matt. 5 :14). Here we see clearly that the world is darkness; Christians (real ones) are its light. The contrast between the world and Christianity could not be more strongly stated, but if Christians are hiding' their light by assimilating with the world, what becomes of the light? "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Matt. 16 :26). An unanswerable question. But what a paltry thing the world must be in God's sight if one could have it all and still be the loser -infinitely the loser!

"Woe unto the world because of offences!" (Matt. 18:7). Offences must need come, and they will come from the world, but woe unto the world because of them. How solemn to think of some of God's people sharing, in any measure, in this woe!

"All these things do the nations of the world seek after ; and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things" (Luke 12 :30). It is perfectly natural for the world to seek after present things, things which bring ease and pleasure now; this is its one object. The Father knows what His children need; how blessed then to lie in His arms, trusting Him for all, making His interests their one pursuit!

" The True Light was that which, coming into the world, lighteth every man ; He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not" (John i :9, 10). There is no greater contrast than that between the world and Christ. So thoroughly alienated is the natural man from God, that he does not know his own Creator, even when presented to Him " by many infallible proofs." Even His own people (the Jews), to whom He came in strict accord with, and in fulfilment of, the prophetic Scriptures they had in their hands, did not receive Him. This does not refer to the ignorant rabble merely, but to the leaders of the people, the chief priests and scribes, the leaders of religious thought; these were foremost in their rejection of the Messiah. But the alienation was on man's side, not on God's; " For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life " (John 3:16). So pronounced is this alienation, that when light came, they refused it, loving darkness rather than light, since in the darkness they could go on in their sins (ver. 19). The true nature of the breach between God and man is apparent in chap. 6:51:"The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." Life is what is needed by the world, and this agrees with the sentence pronounced upon man in the very beginning (Gen. 2:17).

"The world cannot hate you; but Me it hateth, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil" (chap. 7:7). One must indeed be blind not to see the awful danger of being linked in any way with that which hates Christ. The world will not hate Christians so long as they affiliate with it, but if they walk in separation from it, in the spirit of 2 Cor. 6:16, 17, and in loyalty to their Master, they will find the hatred of the world. (See John 15:18-21.) The reason for this is abundantly plain in chap. 8 :23:"Ye are from beneath ; I am from above :ye are of this world :I am not of this world."

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal" (chap. 12:24, 25). Such is the dreadful break between God and the world, that death alone can meet the need. Life really can be had only as identified with Jesus on the other side of death-His death. To seek it on the human side is to lose it, since that would be to seek life in the domain of him who is judged, and soon to be cast out (ver. 31). Incorrigible indeed is the world, since it cannot receive the Spirit of truth (chap. 14:17), and how awfully serious must be the condition of a Christian who is seeking his pleasure in this world! See 2 Tim. 3:4, 5 :"Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:from such turn away."

In chap. 14:30 the prince of this world conies to the Lord only to find nothing for him to act upon
-no door open to him. With us, alas, how often Satan finds easy access! The way to keep the door effectually barred against him is to be like the bride in the Song of Solomon, chap. 2:3:"I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste;" or, as the margin gives it more literally, " I delighted and sat down." Herein lies the grand secret of keeping out the wily foe-to have the heart satisfied with Christ.
Chap. 16:8 states that the Spirit of God now in the world shows that the world stands convicted of the murder of the Son of God. Jesus was here as God's representative, and the world cast Him out. God has received Him back into heaven, in proof of which He has sent the Holy Spirit to be with and indwell those who have received Christ. In chap. 16:20 believers weep and lament while the world rejoices over the absence of Christ; but what a shame for a Christian to be sharing in the joy of those who have rejected his Saviour! Verse 33 tells us the world is the scene of our tribulation, not of our rest; a scene in which we are to be overcomers -not affiliated with it; and for our encouragement we are assured it has been already overcome by our Forerunner.

In chap. 17 we find the most pronounced contrasts between the world and Christians; it may be called the holy of holies of John's Gospel. In verse 6 we learn the blessed truth that Christians are given by the Father to Christ out of the world; but what a pang to the heart of Christ to find His own affiliating with the world out of which He has taken them! He was not of the world, consequently His own are not (ver. 16). He was sent into it from a higher sphere, and in the same way Christians are sent into it, to be the light of it (ver. 18)-sent into it in grace to carry on the ministry of reconciliation which the world sought to stop when it crucified the Saviour. (See 2 Cor. 5:19, 20.) What an honor thus to stand between the living and the dead; but what a shame to be truckling to the enemy!

Christ's kingdom is composed of those who have been "born from above," brought out from darkness to light, and from Satan's kingdom to God (18:36), while the whole world lies under the power of the wicked one (i John 5:19). It may have its wisdom, but it is foolishness with God, for "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Prov. 9:10), and the world with all its wisdom does not know God.

How incorrigibly astray must the world be, for God to be the One to do the beseeching, while man refuses to hear His voice (2 Cor. 5 :19, 20). It is man who is alienated from God by his evil heart and deeds; so much so, that he could crucify the One who came to reconcile him to God; Christ, being in Himself the expression of God's love seeking man, and which is still carried on through Christ's servants who proclaim this ministry of reconciliation by the gospel.

In what a dreadful condition is the world in God's sight! Beginning with the head of the race surrendering to Satan under the notion that in so doing he was himself becoming as God; then filling the earth with violence and corruption in Noah's time, so that God must purge the scene with a flood; then Sodom and Gomorrah give us a glimpse of what was going on after the flood ; later, God's judgment had to fall upon Egypt; then the inhabitants of Canaan in Joshua's time had to be swept away; later still, there was Nineveh, Babylon, and all the nations which have figured in history; and the culmination of it all was-the rejection of the Son of God when He came among men, not imputing their trespasses unto them, but, as God, reconciling the world unto Himself! Such is the course of this world, and we all were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. This sweeping arraignment of Eph. 2:2, 3, includes every child of Adam, however civilized, however refined, cultured and religious, who is not born anew by the power of the Holy Spirit. God's worthies have found little beside persecution in this world; the world had no place for them, though it was not worthy of them (Heb. u :38), but God had a place for them, though they had to wait in patience for it.
Much is said now-a-days about religion, but how many desire the genuine thing? "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,
and to keep himself unspotted from the world " (Jas. i:27). This is quite in contrast with chap. 4:4; "Ye adulteresses,* know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God ? *So read the best manuscripts. It points to that unfaithfulness to Christ represented by the term "adulteresses."* Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." This dalliance with the world, which so many professed Christians are ensnared with, is in God's word called spiritual adultery, i John 2:15 is very similar:" Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Let this search the heart of every one who professes the name of Christ. "The world passeth away . . . but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever" (vers. 16,17). But blessed if "unknown" by the world it is because of our identification with Christ.

If we walk in the enjoyment of our privileges in Christ, and in the current of His thoughts, we shall look upon the world with true compassion, and seek to pull precious souls as it were out of the fire.

Faith gives present victory over the world, and to such the Lord says:" Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out:and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God-new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God:and my new name " (Rev. 3:12). Reader, are you an overcomer ? J. B. J.

It is said that the present great strife of nations in Europe is primarily due to the disregard of racial characteristics and conditions in establishing boundaries of the various nations:that this has stifled the ambitions and national aspirations of various races, and made them the unwilling and often oppressed servants of some conquering power. Out of the din and turmoil of the present awful conflict, it is announced that one great result which will be accomplished by this struggle will be the re-adjustment of boundaries, based upon racial conditions, so that each of the various peoples may pursue their ambition and aspiration for self-government and race-development. This will bring, it is thought, contentment and peace; for, it is considered, that a solid basis for peace will then have been laid, by removing those conditions which provoke its disruption-conditions which the greatest of statesmen and world-rulers have hitherto been unable to completely master or control. Then peace and safety will be everywhere, and the program of world-peace can be pushed to successful conclusion.

This may be discerned not only as the project of foremost statesmen of the day, but as uppermost in the mind of many Christians. If the world is thus to reach its desired goal, we ought to be made sure of it by God's word. In any case, it is well for us to be assured of the end in which present conditions will culminate.

It seems quite possible, and even probable, that the readjustment of boundaries, with regard to racial conditions, may be accomplished as a result of the present upheavals; and, no doubt, with the progress of democratic institutions and so-called government of the people by the people, liberty of achievement and development will come to the larger families of mankind within their own natural boundaries, thus bringing about a more equable condition, and promote a condition of larger peace and progress. If such a readjustment takes place, it is easily realized how the cry of Peace and Safety would resound through the world. It is confidently announced already that disarmament will result from such a readjustment; that progress and material wealth, delivered from the burdens of militarism, and directed into better channels, will be greatly increased.

It is not amiss to anticipate that just such results may come, and that man in his pride and boasting will proclaim Peace and Safety as the attainment of the world. Will this then commence the age of peace and good will of which men have dreamed and for which they have longed ? Listen ! " When they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them." This is said of the coming of "the day of the Lord." It shall come as a thief-unexpectedly-breaking up the peace and safety of the good man of the house. This simile of the thief is used particularly of "the day of the Lord" and "the day of the Son of Man," when He is revealed in power and glory.

But why break up the peace and safety which man may achieve ? Because out of it will spring up the final forms of evil, the product of satanic power and wisdom, and its decisive overthrow is by the Lord Himself acting in judgment upon the world -a judgment of unparalleled severity, from which there shall be no escape. The reason why this day of the Lord shall overtake the world as a thief in the night, is because with its boast of Peace and Safety it will be shutting out the True Light which came into it.

There is no assurance given us of the universal acceptance of the gospel to establish universal peace and blessing. This has been a false dream preached by many; and, in view of the present awful conflict, many are now saying that Christianity has utterly failed in its mission, because so-called Christian nations have plunged into murderous strife. But the mission of Christianity was never to Christianize nations, but rather to save individuals through faith in the Lord Jesus, and unite them in a divine and spiritual unity by the Holy Spirit. Such a cry is a prelude to the acceptance of that one who will come in his own name, and will be hailed as the man for whom the world has waited, but whom Scripture calls "the man of sin," the lawless one, whose coming is after the working of Satan, and who denies the Christian revelation of the Father and the Son. Then it is that the thief will break in; as in the hour of Belshazzar's impious feast the mysterious hand wrote the sentence of judgment upon the palace wall ; or, as in the days of Noah, the flood broke into the world's festivities and swept them all away. Suddenly will that day come upon the world, as the present catastrophe of world-conflict has come. One short week of strenuous diplomatic effort had scarcely passed, when men the world over were staggered, appalled, at the suddenness of development and the prospect of its awful consequences. What will it be when it is not simply the conflict of earth's armies, but the wrath of the Lamb the world will have to meet! And the events that are now marshaled before us prove to the eye of faith the truth of the Christian revelation, not its failure; and seeing them, we look up, knowing that our redemption draws nigh.

God gives us this outlook upon the future of the world that we may be delivered from its current of action; that we be not deceived or carried along with its false hope. May we be awake to the world's true condition and awful prospect, keeping ourselves clear from association with its movements and enterprises, that we may shine as lights amid its great and increasing darkness. God's people are as the salt, which preserves, while left here, from the final forms of corruption which are to be manifested; but what if the salt have lost its savor?

"Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof;" " For all that is in the world-the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." John Bloore

" They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation " (Ps. 107:4, 7).

They wandered in the wilderness, a land of pits and
drought,

Where shelter from the burning sun might all in vain be
sought;

On every side around them lay a desert wide-and drear,
And Israel's hosts, through unbelief, were ready to despair.

And yet no cause for dread had they, for God did lead them
forth ;
He gave them water for their thirst, and fed their souls in
dearth;

His cloudy pillar guided them, and shaded them by day,
And in the night His light of fire still pointed out the way.

It was a "solitary" way-for no man dwelt therein ;
In vain the eye was cast around, no friendly face was seen.
They wandered on, alone with God, through all that desert wide,
All human intercourse debarred, all human help denied.

And yet it was "the right way" still, although so sad and
lone;

Each toilsome march, by day. or night, to God was fully known;
Nay, He Himself did go before as their unerring Guide,
To " search them out a resting-place," and from each danger hide.

As pilgrims and as sojourners, they pitched their nightly tent, And onward still at God's command their weary footsteps
bent;

For ne'er within the limits vast of all that wilderness,
They found a city where to dwell in peace and quietness.

For God had purposes of love, beyond their highest thought,
When thus through those untrodden paths His chosen ones He
brought;

He led them to a glorious land where they might rest in
peace,

"A city"He"prepared"for them, where all their toils
might cease.

May not their history, child of God, some cheering thoughts
suggest?

For we, like them, are journeying; this world is not our rest;
And oft through "solitary" paths our heaven ward journey lies;
No certain dwelling-place we find, no home beneath the
skies.

But sweet it is to know that He, who Israel's journeyings led,
Doth order all our steps aright, and gives us daily bread ;
Nor will He ever cease to guide our feet with watchful love,
Until we reach the promised land, Jerusalem above.

Then from that holy, blessed abode we'll cast a backward
gaze
On all the way by which we trod, and own with thankful
praise
That all that now looks dark and sad was ordered for the
best,
To fit us for our Father's Home, our everlasting rest.

The Church, what is It?

Everybody speaks more or less about the Church, and yet there is perhaps no subject about which there is more general ignorance. To many the Church is the building in which Christians assemble, and they look upon it as a Jew looked at the Temple which Solomon had built at Jerusalem. To others it is the clergy. To others (probably the most), it is an organized body of professing Christian people, after the fashion of an army, or a club, or a business company, to which others may join themselves. Officers are chosen, a minister is called, a building is erected, and membership to this is sought for.

All this is far from the thought of God as to what the Church is, or how it is formed. Yet, after the salvation of one's own soul and its relationship with God is established, there is perhaps nothing so important as to have God's thoughts in this matter. It greatly affects our growth in grace and Christian development; it affects all our relations with our fellow-Christians. False views as to it may plunge us into sectarianism, superstition, bondage to men and other evils. But the truth on this subject sanctifies, as all divine truth does; it enlarges the heart, produces love and nearness to all our fellow-Christians, and places us in direct intercourse with Christ, the Head of the Church of God.

To our question then, "What is the Church? " let us turn to the Word of God, for there alone can we find its true answer.

In Ephesians 5 :22, etc., the relationship of husband and wife is used to illustrate that of Christ and the Church. He says:"We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones." In chapter i:22, 23, He calls the Church "the fulness or complement of Him that filleth all in all." This carries us back to Genesis 2, when God formed put of Adam himself a companion suited to him. Adam said of her, as Christ says of the Church, "This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh." Ephesians 5 :32 calls Christ and the Church "a great mystery." Romans 12:4, 5, says, "For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." i Corinthians 12 :12, 13 says, " For as the [human] body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." All this shows that the Church is not a piece of religious machinery run by human hands, but a living organism formed by the living Spirit uniting in one Body those alive in Christ. None has ever of his own will joined that Body, even as a man's hand or foot has never joined his body, but have been joined by a higher Power. So, " By one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body." It is not only the work of God to save our souls, but also to make us members of the Church which is the Body of Christ.

How elevating, how satisfying, and sanctifying to know and to realize that we. in common with every other child of God, have by grace, been made members of that Body.

There are vivid illustrations of the Church in the book of figures and types-the Old Testament. As
already referred to, Eve is the first and principal one In her we have the origin of the Church- how she was formed. So Christ must first die and rise again before the Church could be formed. The Acts gives us the history of this and of the coming down of the Holy Spirit to form the Church. In Matthew 16:18, after Peter has confessed Him as "the Christ, the Son of the living God," the Lord calls that confession, or the One whom Peter confessed, "this Rock."He says, "Upon this Rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."This tells:(i) that He is the builder;(2) that it was then yet a future thing; (3)that the powers of darkness cannot prevail against it. In Acts 2, the Lord having died, risen, gone back to heaven, and sent down the Holy Spirit, the Church was formed out of the believers then at Jerusalem, and so in chapter 2:47 we are told:" The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved." He has been adding ever since, and is adding still day by day. Wherever a poor sinner turns to God confessing his sins, and to the Lord Jesus as his own personal Saviour, the Lord adds that person to His Church. He is a member of it, without any act whatever of his own. None but Christ could put him into it, and none can take him out of it. Should he sin so grievously as to call for discipline (which the Church is bound to exercise), he is not deprived of his membership, but of the fellowship which flows from that membership.

In Sarah, the wife of Abraham, we have the principle upon which the Church is united to Christ. She illustrates grace, and what but God’s sovereign grace could give to such as we a relationship to Christ, so great and so blessed.

In Rebecca, the wife of Isaac, the calling of the Church is illustrated. She is already a relation. So must we be children . of God before we can be made members of the Body of Christ. Abraham's steward, type of the Holy Spirit, is sent after a companion for Isaac. By God's leading he finds her, and calls her away from her people, even as we are separated from the world for Christ; and she is led across the desert to Isaac, as the Holy Spirit, who is still here is now leading the Church to Christ in heaven.

There are many other minor illustrations which the attentive reader will find in the Scriptures, confirming and adding to what has already been shown as the New Testament doctrine found in Paul's epistles – chiefly in Ephesians.

The hope of the Church is not to convert this world, as many have supposed; nor is her calling even to improve this world, though the light which shines by her if she is faithful, puts to shame the evil that is in the world. Her business here is to keep Christ before the world, to let her light so shine as to be a bright witness for Christ and draw men to Him. She is to keep in mind that He is coming after her to take her to heaven to be forever with Him. This is her bright to-morrow, as i Thess. 4:14-18 shows, while for the present she is a stranger and a pilgrim on earth, waiting for the return of her Redeemer to take her home to Himself.

The people of God may, through sin, have formed numberless divisions among themselves, yet the
Church which is the Body of Christ remains one, even as men may worship many gods, yet "there is one God "-only one. So there is one Body-only one:and to it every believer in Christ, to the ends of the earth, belongs. This man may join the Romish church, that man the Methodist, the other the Baptist, yet all of them be unconverted men; but every converted man is by the Holy Ghost made a member of the Body of Christ, and of nothing else.

Dear reader, are you a member of that Body ? This is, of course, asking if you have been born of God and your sins forgiven you; for, as we have already said, the Holy Spirit puts only saved persons in the Body of Christ.

In conclusion religious organizations calling themselves the Church, or a church, may be headed by man, such as the pope of Rome, who is head of the Roman Catholic organization, or the king of England who is head of the Church of England organization, etc.; but these are only imitations of the Church which is Christ's Body. Christ alone can make us members of that, because He alone baptizes with the Holy Ghost. Imitations are not the real thing. In them are found, no doubt, many of the children of God. As soon, however, as they learn their membership in the Body of Christ, they cannot remain with a good conscience in the imitations, for they see it is disloyalty to the truth of membership in Christ's Body, already theirs through grace, by the act of God.

Nothing perhaps at the present time tests our obedience to the truth more than this. In days gone by the test was salvation by Christ instead of by the Church-by faith instead of by works. Now it is something- else. There is always something to suffer-some loss, in connection with Christ, and it requires "the joy of the Lord " in the soul -to take the path of obedience, whatever that be, with all that belongs to it. But "if we suffer with Him. we shall also reign with Him." It will be no small matter at the end to have been followers, doers of the will of God, in the face of human arrangements popular in this world, and to refuse which means to lose caste among men.

What is a Priest? and Who are now Priests?

When God had redeemed Israel out of the land of Egypt, He commanded Moses to build Him a tabernacle for His dwelling among His people. He loved the praises and worship of their grateful hearts. In John 4 the Samaritan woman enquires of the Lord where the right place to worship was. The Lord replies, " The hour cometh and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him." He saves men to make worshipers of them. Those worshipers are priests. They can draw nigh to God and offer their thanksgivings and praise. In Jewish, typical times, God chose Aaron and his family to illustrate Christ and His people, who are the Christian priesthood (i Pet. 2:5, 9). The tabernacle built by Moses typified God's dwelling-place in heaven. The furniture in it illustrated Christ and His work on the cross as the means of approach to God. The priests came in there to burn incense, which prefigures the prayers, praise au£l worship of God's people. The epistle to the Hebrews defines all this for us:Christ is the Great High Priest, and all His own, "the children which God has given Him," form the priestly family of the New Testament, as has already been shown in i Peter.

The priesthood must not be confounded with the ministry (We shall look at the ministry later on, D. V.). The priesthood, as already mentioned, has to do with worship, with drawing nigh to God where He is, and pouring out to Him the grateful praises of our hearts because of His grace to us. Ministry has to do with service, with going about on God's errands to men, with caring for His people, or anything else which has to do with His affairs on earth. The Levites, in Judaism, illustrated this. While related to the priests, being of the same tribe, they were servants to the priests, even as the Christian ministry now is servant to the Christian priesthood.

(Concluded from page 73)

The Scriptural Position. Having looked at each part of the "trilemma," we ask now, Is there a path for the people of God, or must we admit that we are left helpless and deserted ? To ask such a question is to answer it, for has our Lord not said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee ? " We take it for granted therefore that God has a path for His people, no matter how great our failure and the consequent confusion about us; let us then seek to find that path.

A glance at the constitution of the Church as laid down in Scripture will be well; as this, after all, is the abiding principle which is to govern the saints of God.

The Mystery which was committed to the apostle Paul was, we may say, a twofold one, although one was the basis upon which the other rested. " Having made known unto us the mystery of His will . . . that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ" (Eph. i:9, 10). " By revelation He made known unto me the mystery . . . which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men . . . that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel" (Eph. 3:3-6). Here we see Christ as Head over all things to the Church which is His body-a unity as complete and absolute as it is possible to conceive. In the light of this, not only are all sects and parties forbidden, as in i Cor. i, but the unity of the body is a circle of life and of fellowship in which every member has a divinely-given place and part, and where the thought of schism in the spiritual body is as foreign to the truth as in the natural body. Thus in whatever way we look at the Church, whether locally or universal, this truth of the one body is the ruling principle in all activity, teaching and government.

Applying this truth to that phase of the assembly which is before us, we see that the action of the Spirit of God in one place is for all saints everywhere. Mark, we say the action of the Spirit, not of man; for men may act, even as an assembly, contrary to the word of God, and this cannot be bound upon the people of God. But there is, we may say, a presumption that the act of an assembly is according to the mind of God, unless it is proved not to be so. The unity of the Spirit is co-extensive with the unity of the body, and were the Church in a normal condition, the fellowship resulting from this would be as complete.

But alas, the Church has failed to maintain this truth or meet its responsibilities. The result is that
false doctrine, worldliness, and fleshly lusts have sapped its strength. Without being critical, we cannot close our eyes to the sad fact that the professing Church is a mixture :it is no longer the "house of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth," but has become a "great house," with all kinds of vessels, some to honor and some to dishonor. The scripture just partly quoted marks the path of those who would be faithful:" If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel to honor, sanctified and meet for the Master's use."

There is, then, laid down in God's word a path of separation from that which is contrary to Him:" Let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord, depart from iniquity." This iniquity maybe moral, doctrinal or ecclesiastical, or any of these combined. It may refer to individuals, or to association with that which is not of God. If it does not refer to associations, then it does not warrant separation from a disorderly system.

Acting upon this scripture, many of the Lord's people have seen it right to withdraw from the various religious denominations in Protestantism as well as Christendom generally, and have sought to act upon the simple directions of God's word, both those which provide for a day of failure, and the more general provisions for the Church as a whole. More and more clearly have divine principles shone out, and more and more thoroughly has God tested what has been done.

These testings have brought out the weak points in the testimony, at some of which we have already been looking. There have been testings as to whether the Spirit of God was truly the leader and the power for saints as gathered for worship; as to whether clerisy was to have a place, or whether there should be absolute freedom for the Spirit of God, according to His word. There have also been further testings as to whether the honor of the Son of God was to be maintained or not-whether His person could be degraded by unsound teaching.

There have been further testings, in which the danger has been in the direction of undue severity. At some of these we have been already looking. In general, we may sum them up under several heads:1:There must be forbearance in the matter of doctrine when fundamental doctrine is not involved. 2. There must be liberty of ministry both written and oral, with like limitations. 3. Righteousness alone is binding upon the consciences of the people of God. There is no such thing as an ecclesiastical authority when it is contrary to the word of God. We may have occasion to enlarge upon these a little later, but this must suffice for the present.

These testings have resulted in various divisions among saints professedly gathered in the simplicity of divine truth to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherever fundamental truth has been involved, deeply as we deplore the necessity for it, we can thank God for those who have departed from iniquity rather than bring dishonor upon our Lord's name. But wherever there has been no such issue, a division has contradicted the truth and marred the testimony of God. With whomsoever the responsibility rests of making such a division, a sectarian spirit or position will be found directly contrary to the word of God. Such a division may have been produced through ignorance. Indeed we are slow learners at best, and need to be led on in God's truth. Where there is willingness to be thus led, there should be no difficulty in applying Scripture to the past, and judging what has not been according to its truth.

It must be further evident that it is a matter of first importance to gather the true principles of a scriptural testimony; for if we are not clear as to our principles, we cannot expect our practice to be scriptural.

We must remember one most important point:truth must be recognized wherever we find it. If we forget this, we shall probably find ourselves antagonizing truth because it is connected with something that has also elements of error in it. We have already sought to point out the various scriptural elements in the positions we have described. These elements are binding upon us. We are to recognize and adopt them for our guidance in seeking to maintain a scriptural position.

Our task then ought to be a very simple one. We have simply to take everything that is scriptural in each of these positions, and combining all that we thus find, together with any other scripture bearing upon the subject, we will have that which God's word approves, and in which faith can walk.

1. We select therefore the same scriptures which have passed before us. From Matthew 18, we learn that the Lord has promised His presence to those gathered to His name. We therefore seek to own that Name, to be subject to that authority alone. As thus gathered, and acting according to that word and authority, we know that all done is under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; what is "bound" on earth-by the word of God-is bound in heaven. Sins remitted or retained by a little company acting in obedience to the authority of our Lord, as expressed in His word, are recognized as so remitted or retained by all who own that authority.

2. We recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit in the house of God (i Cor. 3:16), and seek to give Him His place to lead and to apply the word of God. We know that He ever acts according to that Word, and that He encourages the examination of everything in the light of that Word. We thus recognize the assembly of God as the pillar and ground of the truth. All this therefore we take:not refusing it because it is also held by those who claim divine authority for their acts, whether in accordance with the word of God or not. We refute what is wrong in their position by the very scriptures they hold.

3. Similarly, we welcome the scriptures presented by those who urge a metropolitan or presbyterial control. We recognize with them the importance of a multitude of counselors; that we are members one of another; that the unity of the body and of the Spirit are to be our guiding principles as well as theirs.

4. Nor must we hesitate to own the binding forces of Scripture presented by those who hold to local independency. When they tell us that the Church is composed of " all who in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours," we gladly acknowledge its truth. When we are exhorted to " receive one another as Christ also hath received us," we accept the scripture in the full sense of its meaning. They too with ourselves claim the truth of the one Body and of the one Spirit. Indeed, if we are to be in the current of the Spirit of God, we must welcome and hold fast all His word. Thus only will we be guarded on the right hand and on the left; then only kept from the extremes to which we are so prone.

It is not with Scripture that we are to contend, but with faulty interpretation or wrong application of Scripture. It has been said that "All error is part truth:" there are elements of truth in every Christian system; and we readily admit it. It has also been said that erroneous views are "right in what they affirm, wrong in what they deny." If affirmation means the affirmation of Scripture, it is certainly true. It is true that denials are usually what is wrong. The Unitarian-to use an extreme case-is right in saying Jesus was a man; he is fatally wrong when he says He is not God.

So in the various positions we have examined, they are right in their affirmations of scripture truth, but wrong in their denial of other scripture truth. They who claim "local infallibility" are right in affirming that what is bound (truly) on earth is bound in heaven; but they are radically wrong when they deny that righteousness is the necessary test of every action. The advocate of metropolitan oversight is right in affirming brotherly care and counsel; wrong in denying that this care extends to the whole assembly throughout the world. He who pleads for independency is right in affirming the local responsibility, but wrong in denying the link that binds together the whole Church, and makes each assembly & participant in the discipline and order of each other-responsible therefore to consider all questions in a godly way that may arise as to any action. And so we might go on, selecting everything that is scriptural and true, refusing everything that is not.

The result of this prayerful, godly consideration will leave us with a mass of precious truth, sifted out from what mars or counteracts it. This truth- all of it-will be added to as our knowledge of God's word is enlarged and co-ordinated by the Holy Spirit; later aspects of truth may modify earlier ones-the mind must be kept open. But we shall have, through grace, eliminated what has marked each of the positions we have considered-and others possibly-as unscriptural. We still find, as we go on, that while we shall ever need grace and love to walk aright, the aspects of things become clearer, and that a true scriptural position is possible.

What then will this position be ? Having already pointed out the unscriptural features in the three positions examined, we will now briefly state what will mark a true position. We confine ourselves to the questions directly connected with assembly order and fellowship.

First, the local assembly, as gathered to the name of our Lord, may count upon His presence and guidance through His word and Spirit.

Next, as linked with the people of God everywhere, and as united in a common recognition of God's order with other assemblies gathered similarly with itself, the local gathering is acting for all other assemblies. It must therefore be open for the fullest examination and counsel from the Lord's people elsewhere. Often, when there are local difficulties, the presence, prayers and counsel of saints from a distance is necessary. Such presence should be asked for by the local assembly, or if offered, should be promptly accepted. There must be no barrier between the assemblies, no feeling that brethren from elsewhere are "intruding." This is most important.

Third, where there is a question as to the act of a local gathering, such question can only be raised and decided at the place where the original act took place. There is no such thing as appealing from one assembly to another, as taking the matter out of the hands of the first. All appeals must be made to an assembly, and every effort made to enlighten or deliver them if wrong.

Fourth, the one infallible standard is, not Church authority, nor the plea of "the Lord's presence," or of being "gathered to the Lord's name," but righteousness as laid down in the word of God. If they speak not according to this, the action is to be refused, though supported by a majority, even by all.

Fifth, the greatest patience, longsuffering and forbearance must be observed. Haste may often stumble the weak, and turn their minds from the true point at issue to some minor detail.

Sixth, when every effort to reach a right judgment has failed, when every protest has been exhausted, it is the manifest duty of saints to separate from unrighteousness which they cannot control. There should be no hesitation or uncertainty. It is as much the path of faith as when the face was first turned to the Lord from any "system" which was contrary to the word of God. But let it be remembered that God has provided a divinely-suited means for reaching- and helping in local disorders. It is the unity of the Spirit which leads saints from elsewhere to come to the help of their brethren. If this provision is ignored, we need not be surprised that divisions easily occur.
Seventh, above all and in all, let the spirit of faith and prayer be encouraged. "Without Me ye can do nothing." In times of trial and difficulty, Satan often seeks to turn saints from faith and prayer. If these are lacking, we need not be surprised to find ourselves drifting into unscriptural harshness and ecclesiastical pride, or an equally unscriptural indifference to the truth of God and His order.

May He, indeed, who loved the Church and gave Himself for it, guide our hearts and feet into His ways.

It is believed that in what has been before us, we have a principle to guide us not merely in the present, but to enable us go over the past and detect the causes of much that has been a grief and shame to our Lord. F we see the truth, it enables us to judge all that is not according to it, and to act in the simplicity of faith.

If it be asked, What is that action ? We reply, to "Cease to do evil," to cease to maintain unscriptural principles, or to uphold unscriptural practices. It means to " learn to do well;" to begin-slowly and carefully, but firmly and happily-to act upon all that we now see to be the truth.

It is most important to see that God has not established a succession, except the succession of truth; that we have no "ground" to maintain, but to stand upon the ground of truth; no "table " to uphold, but rather to seek to walk worthy of the table of the Lord.

Doubtless, it will be a relief to acknowledge where there has been failure in the past, and this should be made fully and simply-not "grudgingly or of necessity," nor as a hard exaction, but rather as a relief to the conscience, and as due to the Lord. After all, it is not so much apportioning of blame to one company or another, but rather all uniting in a common lowly judgment of self and of the pride and worldliness that has hindered our seeing more clearly the mind of God, and walking' more simply to our Lord's praise. May the time past suffice for those things which have grieved Him, and may the little time remaining be devoted to a united prayerful endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. S. R.

This book is like the harp that David played,
'Tis strung by human hand,
Yet overstrung by God.
'Tis rich in deepest tones of melody,
Low chords of grief inwrought
With precious notes of joy.

'Tis like the human heart, in nature strung,
Then overstrung by God,
And tuned to suit His will.
While ever and anon the human cry
Breaks forth, still God controls
The hand that sweeps the strings.

What depths of sorrow! Mournful, broken chords,
As from the human heart
When over pressed by grief!
What agony unspeakable for sin
Confessed to Him who loves
To hear His children call,
And graciously restores the soul again,
And wakes once more the song of victory! (Ps. 51.)

What agony of soul poured out by Him
Who bore the weight of sin-
Your sin and mine-in love.
The Sinless for the sinful-oh what grace!
Made sin for us, God's Lamb,
Who knew no sin indeed.(Ps. 22.)

What tones of sweet dependence wake the strings!
What notes of trustfulness
And sweet security!
What vindication of the Almighty One
Who loveth mercy, and
Will ever honor faith! (Ps. 62.)

And hear the wondrous closing of the book-
The final joyous burst
Of Israel's pent-up praise!
No heart could sing, no harp could play like this,
Except the hand of God
Had touched it first in love.
Then let our hearts be tuned, as harps overstrung
With golden strings of faith,
And love, and joy, and praise;
Then we shall sing:"To Him that loveth us
And washed us from our sins
In His most precious blood; "
And give Him glory who hath won for us
Eternal life with Him
By virtue of His Cross.

H. McD

In the two epistles of Peter we seem to get parallel lines of truth. For instance, there is the incorruptible inheritance, the incorruptible word of God, and the incorruptible, unblemished Lamb of God. There is the precious blood, the precious stone, the precious promise, etc., and in the first epistle "the sufferings of Christ" are similarly presented. We have

THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST:

Testified beforehand …. chap. 1:11

For us ….. 2:21

For sins ….. 3:18

We are partakers of 4:13

We are witnesses of 5:1

THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST TESTIFIED BEFOREHAND.

In chap, i:11 we learn that the prophets inquired and searched diligently of the grace which the Holy Spirit showed them was coming to us:"When He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow." The cross of Christ was not an afterthought with God when man had failed. All through the writings of the Old Testament we have these sufferings pictured in type, prophecy and history.

In psalm 22 we find the very words uttered by our Lord on the cross, when in the darkness of distance from God, bearing the awful load of our sin, He cries, " My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" Take again the familiar passage in Isaiah 53:Stricken, smitten and afflicted; wounded, bruised, chastened, oppressed; despised, rejected, sorrowing and lightly esteemed; cut off out of the land of the living, and His very grave appointed with the wicked. Could the sufferings of Christ be more plainly foretold ? In fact, so far was this from the glories that should follow, that the Jews, looking only at the glories, conceived the thought of two Messiahs.

And so all through the Old Testament, from the bruising of the heel (Gen. 3:15); the sacrifice of Abel (Gen. 4); the offering of Isaac (Gen. 22); the tabernacle ritual; on to Zechariah 12 :10, where "They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced," the sufferings of Christ are told out.

THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST FOR US.

While the Prophets could only look forward to the sufferings of Christ, we can look back to Calvary and exultingly say, in the language of chap. 2:21, " Christ also suffered for us." We look at Him who hung on the cross in suffering and agony, and delight to own Him " the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). There we see the love of God who "spared not His Son, but delivered Him up for us all" (Rom. 8:32). There we see Him who knew no sin made sin for us-the Christ of God wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. There we see the chastisement of our peace laid upon Him, and realize that with His stripes we are healed-that God hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. There we see Him delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification. There was no need for Him to die for Himself. It was only our need, our vileness, our wretchedness, that brought Him there. Oh, my soul! let me revel in such love-the holy Son of God suffered for me! And let me ever bow in adoring praise and thanksgiving to Him who loved me and gave Himself for me. Let me praise God who so loved me as to give His only begotten Son, the treasure of His bosom, who in the outer darkness was made a curse for me, that having put away my sins I might be made fit for His presence.

THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST FOR SINS.

" Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit" (chap. 3:18).

The sufferings of Christ were of two kinds:one at the hands of men, for righteousness' sake; the other, at the hands of God, as an atonement for sin. The first were largely physical; the second took hold of His very being in such a way that in Gethsemane's garden, in anticipation of this suffering, He sweat as it were great drops of blood, and prayed in agony. On the cross, alone, the unique Sufferer bears the awful load of our guilt. It is the Christ of God who is suffering, and who by Himself purged our sins-He who is " God over all, blessed forever." It is He who is "Jehovah's Fellow," who in eternity was in the bosom of the Father, His delight, the center of heaven's glory; and yet to show the love of God to guilty sinners, was given to bear the sin of the world, to take the guilty sinner's place in the outer darkness!

" Oh, what a load was Thine to bear,
Alone in that dark hour;
Our sins in all their terror there;
God's wrath and Satan's power! "

There on the cross was One who hated sin with a perfect hatred; to whom the very presence of, and outward contact with, sin brought suffering; One whose holy mind and heart had nothing in them but a perfect answer to all the light and holiness of the throne of God. One who knew no sin-was apart from it in every sense of the word ; and yet on whom fell the judgment of all the iniquity, the guilt and wretchedness of this world's sins! In a word, One who was made sin for us, and was thus judged; having descended into the horrible pit and miry clay in order to give us a perfect standing before God.

And so the gospel is:"Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (i Cor. 15 :3) ; and John the Baptist could point to Him and say, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world" (John i :29) ; and Paul could preach that "through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by Him all that believe are justified from all things" (Acts 13:38, 39).

And He suffered "once"-not a daily or oft-repeated sacrifice which could not make the comers thereunto perfect; bat "once in the end of the ages He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself " (Heb. 9:26). After He had offered one sacrifice for sins, He forever sat down on the right hand of God, the seated Priest, signifying a completed work of atonement for sins. We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once, and by His one offering we are sanctified in perpetuity. Therefore as worshipers our conscience is purged from all sins (Heb. 10:2, 10, 12, 14).

And what was the glorious result of this suffering for sin by the holy One ? It was, " That He might bring us to God." By nature and practice we were far off from God; without God, without hope (Eph. 2). And what is more, we could do nothing of ourselves to better our condition. By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in God's sight (Rom. 3).

It was in this condition the Spirit of God found us-without Christ, without hope, without God- and, directing our hearts to a crucified Saviour, as we by faith look upon Him, we are brought to God; out of our distance and darkness and ruin, we are made nigh by the blood of Christ, and have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, and so draw nigh in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.

His sufferings are over. He was "put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." As soon as atonement was accomplished God began to honor His Son. Having been forsaken by God for us, and all being now "finished," He cried with a loud voice, and as sovereign Lord, dismissed His spirit (Matt. 27:50, Greek). Men had appointed His grave with the wicked; but God placed Him with the rich in His death (Isa. 53:9). He was put to death in the flesh (the only way in which He could die), but quickened by the Spirit, and thus in resurrection all who are in Him find their justification. " He was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification " (Rom. 4:25). We rest secure from any thought of death and judgment therefore, because they are behind us; nothing but grace and glory are before. We have, in the person of our Substitute, passed out of the first Adam state of guilt and condemnation; now we are beyond the tomb, risen with Christ. The old life as a judged and condemned thing has met its true desert, in Christ; and He being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him, therefore none over us who are in Him. Our business now is to walk according to this resurrection life, in the Spirit; and in this new life we are permitted to be partakers of Christ's sufferings.

WE ARE PARTAKERS OF CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS.

We cannot of course be partakers of His atoning sufferings for our sins, as some blasphemously teach. In no way can we, poor sinners as we are, bear the sins of the world. To think so is blasphemous. But as soon as the cross is passed and we are on resurrection ground, we are permitted to have fellowship with Christ, and be partakers of His sufferings for righteousness' sake (chap. 4 :13). The one who is identified with Christ must stand against an ungodly world and receive its persecutions, suffering thus for well doing (chap. 4:14-16). Whether we are called to be faithful unto death, or only to receive the sneers and jeers of men, or loss of earthly gain, all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution; and in this world, our Lord has told us, we shall have tribulation. As Satan cannot touch the Lord Himself he would seek in every way to injure those who love Him. Therefore everything that the malice and hatred of Satan can suggest he directs against us through various means. The restraining hand of our God permits Satan only to go so far as is for
God's glory and our good (Job i); but God does permit us, and privileges us, to have fellowship with Christ in suffering for righteousness' sake, therefore we should count it all joy when we fall into diverse trials; we should rejoice and be exceeding glad, knowing that the prophets before us were so persecuted, and the same afflictions are being likewise accomplished in our brethren that are in the world. The first thing shown to Paul after his conversion was "how great things he must suffer" for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Unto him and unto us also is the privilege given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake; and so the apostle gladly suffered the loss of all things for Christ, and counted them but dung, that he might know Christ and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings. But we are not to suffer as evil-doers, nor are we to seek persecution and oppression, but to follow Christ through an ungodly world, and the sufferings will find us quickly enough.

When our blessed Lord was here, as He came into contact with sin and its evil effects, His whole righteous being suffered. He wept, He groaned in spirit, He sighed as He felt the miseries of those He came to bless, and felt the dishonor done to God by sin. Would that each one of God's dear people felt this latter more! When we hear blasphemous, vile talk, we naturally shrink from the awfulness of it; but would to God that the refinements of sin -the polished, cultured sin-were more felt by us in the dishonor done to Him who is thus set at nought!

In the first days of the Church's history, as the apostles were beaten and bore suffering and indignity for Jesus' sake, they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name (Acts 5:41). It was a privilege and joy to suffer for Him who had given Himself for their sins. Not many of us in these days of freedom of conscience will be called upon to undergo inflictions of pain. But if our walk and fellowship is with Christ, we shall face a world which hates Him, and therefore will persecute us.

But we are joint-heirs with Christ:if we suffer with Him, we shall be glorified together (Rom. 8:17, 18). So that the sufferings of this present time are unworthy of comparison with the glories which shall be revealed in us. We are to rejoice now for all in which we are permitted to bear any part in suffering with and for Him, and when He is revealed we shall be glad also with exceeding joy.

Last of all, Peter tells us he was a

WITNESS OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST.

A witness testifies to what he knows or has seen. Peter having walked with Christ was an eye-witness of His sufferings. That is more than we can say; but we can witness of Him to a world of lost sinners going on to judgment. We can "speak what we do know" of Him in our hearts, and from the word of God of His sufferings for us. As Paul says, "Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the Prophets and Moses did say should come:that Christ should suffer, and that He should be the
first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles" (Acts 26:22, 23). In having thus the word of God to present unto a lost world, we have that which is even of more power than our own eye-witnessing testimony would be; "for the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb. 4:12).

Oh, for a truer witness of the word of God to lost men! F.

To unite the divided and scattered people of God is the Lord's work, not ours. Walking " in the paths of righteousness, for His name's sake," is what He looks for and expects in each one of us; and it is what will make His coming again precious to the soul.

Note.-All persons sending communications for this department of our magazine, are especially requested to sign their names in ", and to give their P. O. address. One reason is that we can often find, and would send them, some publication in our Pubs' Catalogue which answers the question asked better and more fully than we can do in our limited and often over-crowded space. Another reason is the necessity of guarding scrupulously the integrity of the purpose of this department. Editor.

QUES. 32.-(a) In the light of 1 Cor. 11, is her own hair a sufficient covering for a woman engaged in prayer, as some have asserted verse 15 indicates?

(6) If a woman's head must have a covering besides her hair when she prays or prophesies, does this include occasions when she is present where others are praying ?

ANS.-(a) Not at all. A woman's head is no more really covered by her long hair than a man's is uncovered by his short hair. Verse 15 only affirms the principle laid down before by referring to woman's long hair as nature's teaching in what is becoming. Why is long hair a glory to the woman, while it is a shame to the man? Because they occupy different positions in creation ; the one expressed by covering the head, the other by uncovering it. In each case nature itself teaches what is becoming to each. The long hair, as a veil, indicates the retirement that becomes the woman ; while the shorn, or unveiled head of the man, indicates the public place in which God placed him.

(6) Wherever it is proper that a man should be uncovered (and where is the man who kneels in prayer without uncovering his head, no matter how secret the place may be?) it is proper that the woman should be covered, be it with but a veil, a handkerchief, or any thing as a sign that she is keeping her place of subjection (ver. 10).

QUES. 33.-Does 1 Cor. 14 :39 have any application to these times, referring to speaking with tongues?

ANS.-Most assuredly, if the tongues are really there, and the order of verse 27 be followed in their exercise.

(Continued from page 13.)

In Portland, Ore., another brother went with me to the Burnside Street Mission. What we saw and heard beggars description. The excitement was nerve-racking. As many as a dozen prayed- rather screamed-at one time. "Tongues" were much in evidence, and here there were interpreters too. A man rose and muttered some incoherent syllables, speaking about half a minute. A woman rose, and in a high-keyed voice fairly shrieked, "Glory to God! I have the interpretation. The brother says, Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye, I am Jesus the crucified. I speak to you, my children. You must give up the world; you must be free from the carnal mind; you must get your baptism; there's only a little time; I am coming soon! " and so on for nearly five minutes; till we were led to wonder at the amazing condensation of a " tongue " that could express in half a minute what took ten times as long to interpret. At the close there was an ''altar-service," or ''upper-room service," as some designated it, which was a perfect bedlam. We could scarcely believe such scenes were possible outside of a lunatic asylum ; and even there the keepers would not permit such goings-on.

Almost at our feet a man fell over on his back, writhing and foaming as in an epileptic fit. I suggested getting him out of the close, hot room, or at least getting water, or calling for a doctor or a policeman. " Keep your hands off God's ark," some one shouted:"This is the Holy Ghost." For forty minutes, by the clock, he writhed there on the floor, and at last fell back limp and lay as though dead. Then a "worker" jumped on his breast, put his mouth to the unconscious man's nose, and cried, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost!" and blew powerfully into the nostrils. This was repeated over and over-a most disgusting spectacle. Finally the man opened his eyes, rose, and sat quietly on a chair, weary and with no apparent result.

Several spoke with us. We asked especially how such a scene compared with the word, " God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints." They grew heated and angry. A colored man shouted, "You are making the confusion; you hinder the Spirit; you are possessed by a devil." And so the wretched farce went on till we left it, sick at heart to think that such things could be in a land of Bibles.

I was told afterwards of seven persons sent to insane asylums from that mission; and I saw and conversed with a bald-headed girl of about seventeen, who had contracted brain-fever through the unnatural excitement, and had lost her hair in her illness.

To tell of other meetings visited would be needless. The details are wearisome, and the general tenor always the same. After having seen and heard, I can only say if there be a spirit working, as seems to me evident, it is not " the spirit of a sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7), which is one of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit of God.

As for the "tongues," I have heard perhaps threescore persons speak under the " power," and I never heard anything more connected than I have given above. The tongues of the Bible were definite languages in which men heard the gospel in the speech to which they had been accustomed from birth. I have failed to find anything like this among any branch of the " Pentecostal" people. It is true they claim isolated instances of the kind, but even though they could openly produce them, that would not prove the movement to be of God. The same claim was made by the " Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit" in the Black Forest of Germany in mediaeval times, as they roamed about in Adamic nudity and indulged every unholy passion. " Tongues " have from the first been found among the Mormons, and spiritualists of all ages have peeped and muttered (Isa. 8:19) when under some strange control. Therefore such phenomena in no wise prove the working of the Holy Spirit. It is rather the confession made as to our Lord Jesus Christ that will let us know the source of all these strange happenings.

As to this, I wrote to various editors connected with the movement to ascertain their views. In each case I put this question :"What does the spirit now working among you reveal as to the true nature of our Lord Jesus Christ ? " And, in answer, I discovered a startling thing. This movement is apparently everywhere based upon a false declaration as to Christ.

A Mr. Dunham, then of Chicago, now of Los Angeles, sent me a marked copy of his publication. It gave an account of -a message professedly given by revelation, which I regret to have lost, but the gist of which I distinctly recall. This was the teaching :Jesus before His anointing was a man who had no more power than others. At His baptism, the Christ, which is the divine Spirit, took possession of Him, and He could then accomplish His mission! The application went on, that if a holy man like Jesus needed the anointing with this Christ-Spirit, how much more do we, etc.

A paper from a Mr. Argue, of Winnipeg, contained a similar statement made under "the power."

From the "Apostolic Faith," now before me, from which I already have taken two cullings, I also take the following:" If Jesus Christ needed the anointing of God to do the work that he was called to do, surely we must be anointed from on high to do the work God has called us to do,"-and with them the anointing is to be able to speak with tongues.

Now here is a threefold cord. Does my reader realize the seriousness of it ? Here is plain, open blasphemy, yet so expressed that the ignorant read it without apprehending its meaning. An old gnostic heresy is here revived, and it is clearly a lying spirit who is propagating it, and attesting it with "all deceivableness of unrighteousness," "with signs and lying wonders."

Baldly stated, this is the doctrine :Jesus was a man _a holy man, but only a man. He was called to do a great work, but He could not do it till He received the divine Spirit to control His human spirit. When baptized in water the Christ was identified with the divine Spirit descending upon Him. Now for the first time He had the Holy Spirit. Now He could do the work He was called to do.

The same error is set forth in " Christian Science "-falsely so-called-and is prominent in the whole " New Thought " movement.

But the word of God teaches us that the Lord Jesus was the eternal Son who in grace became man. He was God the Son from all eternity. The Son of God, the Eternal Word, became flesh, was born of a pure virgin by the direct power of the Holy Spirit-was a Man of an entirely different order to every other. His anointing was not as adding anything to Him, but marking Him out as the Messiah (the Anointed), as inducting Him into His threefold office of Prophet, Priest and King. It was the Father's attestation of delight in His beloved Son. In His humiliation, as the One come in the form of a servant, the Lord Jesus did all things in the power of the Holy Spirit; but this is in no wise to say He could not do thus and so until passing through certain experiences.

The system now before us lowers the dignity of the Son of God to exalt self-righteous men who glory in their fancied supernatural powers.

And now I revert again to what I have before touched on. The spirit working in this movement habitually and continuously neglects to own Jesus as Lord and God as Father. I have just read carefully through, three times, the twenty-third number of "The Apostolic Faith." It is a four-page sheet of about average newspaper size. It contains twenty columns of closely-printed matter – testimonies, sermons, attempted exegesis and warnings. In all its twenty columns Jesus is never used with the title Lord, though it is used scores of times alone. Throughout it is "Jesus," "Jesus Christ," "Christ" and "Christ Jesus." Not once are the scriptural terms "Lord Jesus," " Lord Jesus Christ," " Christ Jesus our Lord," or any other similar ones used. And this in the organ of what credits itself with being the greatest work of the Spirit of God on earth today. Again:in these twenty columns I find the word "God " used several hundred times, and " God Almighty," "Almighty God," occurring again and again; but "Father"-the Name our Lord Jesus came to reveal, and which we cry by the Spirit-not once.* *I refer to their usage. Once Matt. 28:19 is quoted, and once 1 John 2:15,16. Also John 13:14 is used containing the word Lord ; and so several times they speak of doing the Lord's will, etc. But my point is they never call Jesus "Lord," nor call God Father."*

And this from people who profess to be born of God and to have the Spirit of adoption!

Unhesitatingly I say, the spirit that is working in this movement does not say "Lord Jesus," and does not cry "Abba Father." What spirit, think you, can this be ? I do not doubt but that individuals among them confess both, but I have never heard them; and what I have been concerned about is what is characteristic of the whole system. It is especially when speaking under the mysterious power that one notes the utter absence of the confession that Jesus is Lord, and the cry of the Spirit "Abba," Father.

I need not dwell on other marked incongruities, such as the in subject and Scripture-defying attitude usurped by women in these meetings. Alas, that is so prevalent to-day as to be scarcely noticeable any more, though it is a serious enough sign of the times, and shows where the Church is rapidly drifting. But I beseech any who are becoming entangled with this unpentecostal imposture to try the spirits by the only safe test-a true confession of Jesus Christ come in flesh. The spirit energizing the so-called "apostolic faith" people has declared that Jesus came in flesh, but that Christ was the Spirit that anointed Him at His baptism. Is more needed to show the source of these manifestations?
H. A. I.

QUES. 7. – Is there nothing to be learned from the fact that Christ did not commence His public ministry until He was thirty years of age? and is there no significance in this other fact that He fasted forty days, and that the number forty occurs repeatedly in Scripture ?

ANS. – Surely there are lessons to be learned from these facts. Thirty years was the God-appointed age for the Levites to enter upon their service (Num. 4:8); it was at that age our Lord was presented to Israel and entered upon His ministry (Luke 3:23).

A man is not fully formed until about thirty, and our Saviour, though God as well as Man, never used His deity to shield Himself from youth's lessons of patience on its way to manhood. "Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered." Such an example, prayerfully considered, would check impatience in Christian young men who may be in danger of too much haste to enter public ministry. Nothing is more dangerous to a Christian young man of manifest gift than to push himself forward in ministry before reaching his years of manhood. He is apt to be admired and petted because of his youth and precociousness, and this may mar his life even in after-years. We do not say this to discourage young men, but only to gather profit from our Lord's example.

As to the number forty, it is unquestionably one that has special instruction, being, as it is, linked with our Lord's history and that of others. The "Numerical Bible " gives substantial help in this line. A 10 cent, pamphlet, "The Witness of Arithmetic to Christ," is an extract from it; to be had of our publishers

QUES. 8.-Would you kindly explain 1 John 5 :16?

ANS.-" Life" and "death " here are only as to the body, in relation to the government of God-having to do with time-with this life, not eternity. 1 Cor. 11 :30-32 is of the same character. The expression in that passage, "and many sleep" (that is, have died), shows there had been none in the assembly at Corinth able to perform the service mentioned in the passage about which you inquire. They came behind in no gift (1 Cor. 1:7), but gift is not all that is required for service of this kind. It takes the love of a true shepherd-one who values Christ's sheep by what Christ had to suffer to get them-to seek an erring brother and lead him out of the wrong he is in.

The chief difficulty of the passage may be how to discern what is sin unto death from what is not that. The true shepherd-heart knows, however, that all sin finally leads there. He will not wait therefore till the end if he perceives it in its beginnings. Love will urge him at once to wash the offender's feet.

The same difficulty appears in verse 14 of the same chapter, "If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us." etc. How can we be sure of His will ? There is no rule for this ; it depends on our slate of soul. It is only in communion with God, in abiding in Christ, in the heavenly sphere where He is gone and where grace has put us in Him (Eph. 2 :4-6), that we acquire the necessary discernment to judge with God. His Word fills us with His mind if we too can say, '' Thy words were found and I did eat them," and, filled with His mind, all is simple and natural.
This brings the thought, How important that we watch jealously against whatever may interfere with a holy state of soul.

QUES. 9.-The passage in Luke 18 :19 puzzles me. Will you kindly help? The Lord objects to being called good by saying God alone is that. But was He not Himself God? And does not Scripture itself call various men good?

ANS.-The Lord's objection to being called "good," is because the "ruler" who approaches Him looks at Him as a mere man like himself. He is testing this young man. Only God is essentially good, as was manifested in Jesus. When good is found elsewhere, it is only derived. The source of it is in God.

QUES. 10.-Kindly explain Matt. 24:22. In what sense are " days to be shortened ? "

ANS.-In the sense that "the great tribulation " which the Lord had just predicted, and which is yet to come upon the Jewish people, will not be allowed of God to go on till all the faithful ones who refuse the Antichrist are put to death. The enemy would lengthen it till he has accomplished his desire to destroy them utterly, but God will say, Enough, and the persecution must cease. Then will be fulfilled the promise of verses 29-31.

QUES. 11.-What does 2 Cor. 5 :3 mean? Is one thus spoken of a saved man or not ?

ANS.- To be found "naked" in Scripture means, we believe, being lost. To be ''unclothed" is to be out of the body. To be "clothed" is the resurrection state.

There was a low state at Corinth ; so, while the apostle ever maintained the truth of the grace of God intact, he puts before the conscience the solemn fact that not profession but possession of Christ can avail in that day-he expresses doubt as to the state of some among them. While establishing the true and sincere in the grace of God, he seeks to arouse the untrue or self-deceived.

QUES. 12.-Are the tree of life in the midst of the garden of Eden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, mentioned in Genesis 2:9, two different trees?

ANS.-Most assuredly they are. They are both mentioned in the verse to which you refer as distinct and separate. The tree of life illustrates Christ; the other, man's responsibility, under which he broke down and incurred death. At that tree, as he put forth his hand after the forbidden fruit, he said to God, as it were, I will no more be subject to you. He became a rebel, and this is the very essence of sin. His only hope now is in the other tree- the tree of life.

QUES. 13.-Is there more than one word in the original for our word baptize, or baptism ? And is the original word equivalent to our word dip or immerse?

ANS.-The one original word for "baptize," "were baptized," "shall baptize," "to be baptized," "am baptized," and other similar English forms of the verb is baptize.

For our word baptism, the one original word is baptisma.
As to its meaning being the equivalent of dip or immerse, he who says so must be wiser than the translators, for they found such difficulty in the translation of the word that they did not translate it at all; they only Anglicized it, that is, gave it an English form; and translators in other tongues have done the same. Had they been satisfied that the Greek word was equivalent to our word dip, or immerse, they would no doubt have so rendered it. Nor have revisers of the various translations made any change. In Mark 7:4 they give it as "the washing of cups, and pots ; " in Hebrew 9:10 as "meats and drinks and divers washings." They call the forerunner of our Lord, John the Baptist. To call him John the Dipper, or Immerser, would be unwarranted liberty, which only Baptist extremists would dare to take. No one who reads the word of God without prejudice can fail to see that John and others baptized by immersion, and the doctrine attached to Baptism shows its form to be immersion, but to make Immersion and Baptism equivalent terms is a very different thing, and is not true.

(Continued from page 154. )

(Chap. 2:3-11.)

In considering the import of verses 7 and 8, it will be necessary to refer to chapter 12 of John's Gospel. In verse 49. our Lord says, "For! have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting :whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto Me, so I speak." He is here speaking of the testimony He has been giving from chapter i:35 to chapter 12. This testimony He calls "a commandment," because it is what the Father had enjoined on Him as sending Him into the world. The Father had commanded Him what He should say what He should speak. His testimony then-the word He had spoken-was the commandment of the Father.

Now what the Father had enjoined on Him to speak was the revelation of life eternal both in its principle and its constant activity. The eternal life that was with the Father had been declared, testified of, precisely as the Father had enjoined it to be done.

John was a representative of those who had heard the testimony the Son had given. He knew the word the Son had spoken-the word, the testimony, which was the revelation of life eternal.

As we have seen in verses 3-6, the apostle has been writing of the activities of eternal life in the souls of those who through grace have become the recipients of it. In verse 7 he assures the children of God that he is not writing a new commandment -something different from what the Father gave to His Son as sending Him into the world. He is writing what they had heard from the lips of the Son of God Himself. He is writing of the life that is in the Son-the nature, character, and activities of which were fully manifested in His life upon earth.

Writing then of the old commandment – the Father's commandment to the Son-he is not introducing any new commandment; he is not speaking of some new revelation in advance of the Christian revelation; not of. some progress beyond the revelation given by the Father through the Son.

But if it is of the old commandment he is writing, of what is " true in Him; " there is a sense in which it may be called a new commandment :for the thing that is"true in Him" is also true in those who are born from above. The same life that is in Him is in them. They are in community of life with Him, participators of the life in Him-the life eternal. Once they were in the darkness-belonged to it, were a part of it – but they have been laid hold of by the light that shines in the darkness. They are following Him who is the light of life (John 8:12). They are in the light, and the light is in them. The darkness is thus passing away. They are delivered from the darkness by the light of life; and those who have the light of life dwelling in them are not walking in the darkness, but in the light. The same thing that is true in the incarnate Son is true in them. The light that is in Him is in them; the life that is in Him is also in them. In principle, it is the same thing in them as it is in Him.

It must be borne in mind that I am speaking of the nature and character of that which is '' true in Him and in them," not of the degree of its manifestation. The manifestation of it in Him was perfect. There was nothing in Him to cloud and obscure its manifestation. How much, alas, there is in us to hide or check this life that is in us! The life that has been communicated to us is covered over to a large extent by the activities of the life that is natural to us, so that the characteristic activities of the imparted life are not seen in us in the perfection that they were seen in Him.

But even so, having what is "true in Him" within us as a divine deposit, we are in the light, though the display of it in us is not full and perfect as in Him, what display there is in us is the display of the same thing that is in Him. It is in us through the light that is in Him laying hold upon our souls. The light in which He is the light in which we live and walk.

To profess to be a child of God, to claim to be born from above, to say, We know God and dwell in the Son, is to profess to be in the light-the light of life. But the profession may be made when the reality of the thing professed is wanting. The professions made therefore have to be tested, and the test of this claim is very simple. If there is no activity of love to those who are fellow-partakers of a common nature and life, the claim to be in the light is a false claim (ver. 9).

As we have seen, the love of God dwells in those who are born of Him-with the elements of His nature, therefore. Love in God is active. It is His nature to love; and this activity of love is in those who have become partakers of the moral nature of God. This activity of God is displayed in His children in loving the brethren. Loving the brethren is the mark of the presence of divine love in the soul. Where it is not present, the soul is still in the darkness.

The one in whom divine love is abides in the light. It is not an intermittent thing; sometimes there and sometimes not, but is dwelling there. However much its manifestation may vary on different occasions, the love that is of God is permanently and abidingly in the soul, and the soul is permanently and abidingly in the light-does not become a scandal (ver. 10).

Alas, how many scandals there are! How many are turning away from the truth! How many are giving up the faith! They are thereby manifesting themselves as not having the light of life in their souls. The profession to be in the light is mere profession-not a reality, but a scandal. The love that is of God is not in them; they are yet in the darkness; they know not God, and walk in the darkness. The light of life is not in them.

These apostates from the truth not only lack what marks one who is of God-the love that is of God-but there is enmity in the soul towards those professedly their brethren. The apostle calls it "hating his brother" (ver. n). Loving the children of God is the fruit of knowing God; hating them is the fruit of not knowing Him-the fruit of man's fallen nature. Those marked by enmity to the children of God are therefore in the darkness. They live and walk in the darkness; blinded by the darkness in which they walk, they know not whither they are going. The light of the Christian hope and prospect does not shine upon their path; they have not in their souls the cheer of trusting Christ as "the way, the truth, and the life " (John 14:6). The light that is in them is darkness, and how great that darkness is!

Before passing from this portion of the epistle, I wish to guard against two mistakes which are often made. When the apostle says, "He that loveth his brother," he is not thinking of the measure in which that love is manifested, not speaking of the perfection of its display, but of the fact of its existence in the soul as an active principle-a principle abidingly present and continuously operative, though it may be in varying measure as regards our observance of it. We must not therefore make the mistake, as is sometimes made, that failure in the display of that love proves its absence in the soul. If there is any measure of its display, the love is there. Indeed, only One has displayed it perfectly. All others must confess to coming short of the perfection seen in Him.

When the apostle says, "He that hateth his brother," we must not understand him to be speaking of the outbursts of the flesh in true Christians. Sad, unnecessary and unjustifiable as these are, the apostle is not fixing our attention on them here, and we must not make the mistake of some who take them to be proofs of the absence of love.

The love that is of God, however feebly exhibited, marks those who dwell in the light. Antagonism to those who walk in the light, displayed in varying measures, marks those who are of the darkness. This is what the Spirit expresses here by the apostle. C. Crain

(To be continued.)

QUES. 28.-It is taught by some that Luke 6 :29, 30, and like scriptures, are Kingdom truths, and not for the saints of the present time. Is this right ?

ANS.-No, not at all. "Kingdom truths " are for, all who are born of God, inasmuch as none can be real subjects of that kingdom except they be born again (John 3 :3, 5). Because the kingdom has a future aspect, which cannot be till the King returns from heaven, some fail to see that it has a present aspect, just as real as the future, and that a true Christian is as truly a subject of this Kingdom as a son in the family of God, or a member of the body of Christ. The establishment of the Church did not annul the kingdom in its present form. One relationship does not destroy another, nor annul its responsibilities. Paul preached, not only the gospel for the salvation of men, hut "the kingdom of God" (Acts 28:31), that is, whatever is due to God among men. – If God "hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son " (Col. 1 :13), it becomes us to conduct ourselves according to the character and principles of that kingdom.

Some answers remain for next No. of Help and Food

(Continued from page 269.)

(Chap. 2:28-3 :24.)

The apostle now turns to a consideration of the ways in which the life eternal manifests itself in those in whom it dwells. He begins by setting before us a most solemn fact. The one who professes to have, but has not, life in the Son, will be ashamed in His presence when He appears. The false claim and its presumption will be shamed away from Christ's presence (ver. 28).

What then are the marks of its possession ? It is made manifest by its own characteristic activities. Those who are born of God derive from Him who is the source of it, a nature which has its own characteristic features. Our Lord could say:" He that seeketh His glory that sent Him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him " (John 7 :18). He was manifested as the righteous One in a life which constantly sought the glory of Him who sent Him. His life constantly bore witness that He is the righteous One. And those who have been born of God have derived from Him a life characterized by the aims and objects which characterized our Lord. The children of God are marked by that fact -by the practice of righteousness; it manifests them as being .partakers of the life eternal; it proves them to be children of God (ver. 29).

If they are thus characterized, it is of the grace of God. The life which thus manifests its presence in us, witnesses that we are the subjects of a work of grace. No wonder the apostle exclaims:"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God! " It is by grace we are His children, and through His grace we know it and have the liberty to take the place of children before Him. The Greek has "children," not sons. John speaks of relationship by life-not of position, as Paul does. This is the kind or fashion of the love He bestows upon us. No angel is loved with such a love. God has seen fit to reserve this for us, whom He has redeemed from among sinful men.

But what a transformation has taken place in us! From living to ourselves and seeking the praise of men, we are led to walk in His steps who sought the glory of Him who sent Him. We have been turned from the practice of sin to the practice of righteousness ; from being governed by our own lawless wills to being governed by the will of God; from aims, ends, purposes and objects natural to us, to the aims, ends, purposes and objects of Him who came not to do His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him.

On this account, therefore, the children of God are not understood by the world. It can understand the pursuit of earthly and seen things, but it cannot understand the Christian's disregard of them. To be guided and controlled by heavenly and unseen things is a mystery to them. There is a day coming when the world will see us in glory with Christ; for, when He shall be manifested, we shall also be manifested with Him (Col. 3:4). It will then know that we are sharers in the Father's love of His Son (John 17 :22, 23). But we have not to wait until that day to know we are children of God. We have the knowledge of it now. In the day of manifested glory, we shall be conformed to the image of Christ; we shall be like Him. It has been distinctly revealed to us (chap. 3:2).

Attention is called to the fact that we are to be conformed to Him as He is, not as He was. When the Son of God became incarnate, He assumed humanity in the form in which we are in this life. In men it is a fallen, sinful humanity ; in Him it was unfallen and sinless; but even so, it was in the same form. He took part in flesh and blood, which we have. That form of humanity ended with His death. When He rose He took it up in a new form.

In 2 Cor. 5:16, the apostle Paul says:"Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more." This was the lesson our risen Lord taught Mary Magdalene in John 20, when He said to her:"Touch Me not." She thought she had got Him back as He was before He died. Never again will He be in that form, but ever in the form of humanity He took up when He rose. We are to see Him as He is. We are to be like Him as He is-in manhood indeed, but in the form of humanity in which He now is. To be changed into His image means to have bodies fashioned after the body He now has. Not to have unfallen, sinless humanity simply, but in the condition in which our Lord now is.

What a hope! What a blessed prospect! " Like Him," both morally and physically ! There is sanctifying power in such a hope. Every one who has this hope in relation to Him, purifies himself.
The Man Christ Jesus is not only the standard of perfect moral perfection, but of physical perfection also. The very desire to be as Christ is, to be in His image, will produce moral conformity to Him now (ver. 3). It will promote and develop the practice of righteousness, which manifests one to be a child of God.

The children of this world are marked by the practice of sin, by the activity of their own wills- not in subjection to God. (It scarcely needs to be remarked that verse 4 should be translated, " Whosoever practices sin practices lawlessness; for sin is lawlessness.") The Son of God came into the world to take away our sins (ver. 5). He had to stoop to the depths of the judgment of God upon our lawless practice to deliver us from what by such practice we justly deserved. It strongly shows, therefore, that the practice of sin cannot characterize one who is born of God.

But there is another statement in this verse equally strong:"In Him is no sin." This is true, whether we think of Him as He was here upon earth, or as He is now, risen and ascended to heaven:"In Him is no sin." Those born of God have received from Him a sinless nature. The life He has imparted to them is characterized by the same features as in Himself, in keeping therefore with righteousness. The children of God then, as being that, as abiding in the Son of God, do not practice sin. Such practice is altogether foreign to their nature; having community of life with Him, they cannot practice sin (ver. 6). He that practices sin is not abiding in Him, has never seen Him, does not know Him. The practice of righteousness is not natural to us, but the practice of sin is. To know and to practice righteousness, then, we must know Him who is righteous.

The apostle is especially in earnest that the children of God should realize this. He says, in verse 7, " Let no man deceive you:he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous; " it is the mark by which those are distinguished as children of Him who is righteous; while, on the other hand, the practice of sin distinguishes those who are in identification with the devil (ver. 8). A creature who abode not in the truth (John 8:44) became the originator of sin in man. From the time that iniquity was found in him (Ezek. 28:15) the practice of sin has marked him, and he is the great leader in the practice. It is this practice that manifests the world as being in association with, as of him. Through him, the original author of sin works of evil have been found among God's creatures, whether angels or men. The practice of sin everywhere is of his instituting; it is his work.

The apostle reminds us now that the Son of God was manifested for the purpose of undoing the works of the devil. Every trace of him who introduced sin among God's creatures is to be removed. By the power of the blood of the cross all things, whether earthly or heavenly, will be brought back into a state of perfect harmony with God, absolutely and permanently purged from the defilement of sin (Col. i:20). Acting according to His own nature, the Son of God will remove sin from God's creation. Having already laid the basis for it in the work of the cross, He will entirely undo this scandal-the work of the devil.

"Which thing is true in Him and in you." As already said, righteousness attaches to the life we receive from Him. Its activities, not only in Him, but in us also, are all righteous. God's seed-His nature-abides in them. As in that nature the practice of sin is impossible to them (ver. 9).

It is needful to realize that the apostle is reasoning in the abstract. When he says, " Whosoever is born of God doth not practice sin," he is speaking of the child of God characteristically. He is not overlooking the fact that the old nature is still in him, but he does not consider that in giving his character as a child of God. He is not excusing the Christian's failures-he is not making light of the sins into which a child of God may fall, but it must necessarily be omitted in any abstract description of his character.

Another thing must also be remembered. The apostle is speaking, not of the perfection in which the character of the child of God is manifested, but of the fact that the practice of righteousness, whatever the degree of the perfection of its display, is a distinctive mark of God's children.

If the reader will keep in mind these things, he will not find it difficult to understand the account the apostle here gives of a child of God.

It may perhaps be well to restate this before we proceed to consider the next feature by which the children of God are characterized. Every child of God is born of One who is righteous, of One in whom there is no sin. His nature is a righteous nature; its activities are all righteous activities. The children of God have in them the seed of this sinless nature. It is this seed that distinguishes them as born of God. It is an abiding seed; ever operative according to its own righteous nature. All its activities are righteous; not one of them is sinful. The children of God, viewed abstractly, not only do not practice sin, but are incapable of practicing it. It is incompatible with the righteous nature by which they are characterized as born of God. C. Crain

(To be continued.)

(Matt. 26:56.)

This verse has been of great help to us. We think of our Lord approaching the most sorrowful hour of His life :" My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." On entering into it, when He was arrested like a thief, and in all that followed after, how could He enjoy so immense a peace ?-a peace then as when He was at the sweet home of Bethany-all because some parts of the Scriptures were then getting their fulfilment!

All that we have of the wonderful life of our Lord has been handed down to us in four little and similar narratives, which imply that it is a resume, a very precious condensation, every word of which was intended to afford us some great instruction bearing on the many necessities and occasions of the pathway of faith. Thus, the other day, when a letter of good wishes for the New Year was returned to us by the husband of a most esteemed sister in the Lord, with an appended note:"My wife is not to communicate with destroyers of the faith," my wife said, "This is hardly bearable! " It might indeed be if it were not in fulfilment of Scripture. So, as we remembered the little verse indicated at the head of these lines, the event was made to work out a joy in our hearts such as we had seldom felt before. These fulfillments of " the reproach of Christ " should be very dear to us (Matt. 5:11, 12).

I can never forget these words of the late Mr. Kelly:" The reproach of Christ is a strange thing nowadays, and few are those who know it." J. P. Ribeiro

Brazil.

(Chap. 1:1-4.)

(Continued from page 19.)

The witnesses' testimony concerning the manifestation of the life eternal has come down to us. If in their day they tested orally by divine inspiration, their testimony was put into permanent form to be handed down. We of this 20th century have their personal testimony of the life of our Lord upon earth. Through the divine testimony and power of the Spirit they saw His glory; they believed Him to be the Son of God; and what they saw and heard, they testified to.

Now, in John 17 :20, 21, our Lord prayed for those who should receive the testimony of these witnesses, that they might be participators in this divine community of life with the Father and the Son:'' That they also may be one in us " (the Father and the Son), 1:e., should share in their community of life and nature. It is in this light we must understand what the apostle says when we read:"That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us:and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." Through faith in Him they had come into the community of life of the Father and the Son.

I speak of course of the fact, not of the measure of their apprehension and enjoyment. But, as is said, their fellowship was truly with the Father and the Son. It was a fellowship of life and nature- in divine community-and those who believe through their word share with them in it:" That ye may have fellowship with us:and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ," affirms this. The apostle is speaking of the fact. The measure of its enjoyment is another matter. Whatever be the measure in which we are enjoying it, the fact is and abides, and we know it by divine revelation. The Son has come and manifested its nature and character, and believers now are made acquainted with the fact of their participation in what has been manifested.

Here I must pause to consider some questions that have been raised and variously answered. Some think the possession of this blessed privilege, this participation in the divine community of life, is the result or consequence of attainment, of reaching a certain stage of intelligence, of believing some testimony beyond what is received when new birth is effected in the soul. But it is the one who believes on the Son that possesses the life eternal (John 3:36). As an unbeliever, instead of being a sharer in the life, he is under the wrath of God. This is a state of death out of which he passes through faith. By faith he is born into the divine community of life. He must first be in the life before he can make attainments in it. In Leviticus (chap, i) we learn that the one who brought turtle doves or young pigeons for a burnt-offering was accepted as fully as the one who brought a bullock. The one of the feeblest apprehension as well as the one of the greatest is made accepted in the Beloved. So with the life received in new birth; it puts one into this community of divine life with the Father and the Son.

Another question has also been raised. It has been asked, "Did the Old Testament saints have fellowship with the Father and the Son ? " I reply, As regards the fact, they did; but as regards the knowledge of it-since it had not been revealed to them-they could not know that they were partakers in the divine community of life. Unquestionably, however, as born from above by the power of the Spirit, they were in reality partakers of the divine nature-had eternal life.

In Old Testament times God did not give His children the place and privileges of children; consequently He did not reveal to them the true nature and character of their relationship to Him. They were truly His children, but He did not tell them they were. They in fact were possessors of His life, of His moral nature and character, but He did not reveal it to them. They could not have understood it if He had told them; to understand what divine, eternal life is, it had to be manifested. The Son has come and manifested the life, and along with its manifestation comes also the revelation that God's children are sharers in it. As born of the Spirit they have eternal life, and are in community of life with the Father and the Son.

This explains the difference between the Old Testament saints and us as regards eternal life. God not having revealed it to them, they knew not that they had it. We have it and know it, because God has declared it to us. In saying we know it, I remind the reader again that I am not speaking of the measure of our enjoyment of it. This is, as already said, a different matter, and is not the Spirit's subject in verse 3. If any should say that I am overlooking it, or that I am forgetting the practical side, I answer that I am simply reserving its consideration till we come to those parts of our epistle where it is treated of; but here the Spirit's thought is that of our participation in the divine community of life.

There is another question I must not overlook. We are sometimes told that fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ is the only fellowship Scripture ever speaks of, and thus it is taken to mean Church fellowship. This is a serious mistake. It is true there is no real participation in Church fellowship unless there is participation in the fellowship of the Father and the Son. To be a sharer in the ecclesiastical community or unity really (not merely professedly), one must be a sharer in the community of the divine life; but they are different things. This should be evident from the fact that there are those who share in the latter that do not share in the former. The children of God of both the Old Testament and millennial times participate in the divine community of life, but do not in the Church community.

For Church fellowship, whether ideal or practical, we must turn to those scriptures where it is spoken of; but we do not find it here. Here, the apostle speaks of the life that is common with the Father and the Son. The incarnate Son has life in community with the Father (John 5 :26). Those who receive the divine testimony are brought into that community of life. The apostles and others in their day participated in it, and all those who receive their testimony share in it now. It is a community of life, of nature, of affection, of love, of which God is the source, which the Son of God become incarnate has manifested here, and which through infinite grace, fallen men who believe are granted the inestimable privilege to participate in.

What unspeakable blessing! How little are we in the practical enjoyment of it ! How amazing the grace that has made such a rich portion ours! We, who have forfeited even merely human life, being laid hold of by this life from above, are raised up, not merely out of the death and the judgment due to our sins, but to oneness in life and nature with God! "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God! "

A word of caution here may perhaps be needed by some. We are not brought into oneness of essence with the Father and the Son. To say that would be serious error; in fact, blasphemous. We do not become what-God is in the essence of His Being. To be children of God does not mean or imply that. The unity into which by grace we are brought is not a unity of essence, but of life and nature. We are not made participators in His Being and attributes, but in His moral nature and character. Fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ is not community of being, but of life.

We must now notice verse 4. If faith comes by hearing and hearing by a report, and the believer is thus brought into community of divine life, the unfolding of the nature and character of the life thus participated in makes the joy complete.

By inspiration of the Spirit the apostle thus wrote, authoritatively unfolding the blessing which divine testimony brings to believers to make their joy complete. The saints of old had joy surely, but
their joy was not full, complete. It could not have been under the then conditions and circumstances. But now, the true nature and character of the relationship in which the children of God stand to Him, having been made known, how much the joy has been enlarged. Our joy, as compared with theirs, as measured by theirs, is fulness of joy. It is not that we are better than they; it is not that we are more worthy than they, but in the wisdom of God the time has come for the children of God to take practically the place of children. To this end our revelation is immensely larger than theirs. The revelation given to us, beside revealing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, also reveals the fact that the children are in community of life with them, and that this blessedness is ours.

What richer, fuller joy can there be ? What is there beyond and above God ? We now know Him, His moral nature, His character, His life, and we are made partakers of them! This is fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. C. Crain

(To be continued.)

A 20th Century Auto-da-Fe

Report comes from the Philippine Islands of the burning of a quantity of Bibles and Testaments by a Roman Catholic priest in the public square of Vigan, a town on the north-west coast of Luzon. The American Bible Society, publisher of the burnt books, is said to have received confirmation of the report from its agent there.

What will Rome's apologists think now, who, when warned against her present encroachment with a recounting of her frightful history, appeal to the change which has taken place in the times. She would never do now, they say, in these enlightened times, what she did in the dark ages. Yet here, under the government of the United States, is proof plain enough that, whatsoever change there may be in the times, or in her tactics, Rome's character has not changed. Her past hatred of the Bible is still the same; the light of the 20th century has not restrained her from burning it; nor would she have less delight at burning as well such as love and obey it, as was her wont when she sat upon the "scarlet colored beast," that is, when she controlled and used the Roman Imperial Power. The Reformation and subsequent events threw her off the saddle, but her political intrigues never cease in their endeavor to regain that place, for it is only by the mastery over governments that she can fulfil her Satan-inspired desire.

Think for a moment on this spectacle:A man going from the United States to the Philippines, representing himself as a servant of Christ, going there to instruct heathen, then burning before their eyes in a public place the Book which ministers Christ, from which alone Christians know Christ! That Book, once burned, what is there to be given to those benighted people ? What guilt, what deceit, to pose before the world as "the Church," "the spouse of Christ," and destroy the precious word of God, either in public where their priests dare so to do, or in a more subtle way decry it or withdraw it from the people!

But a rekindling of its fires might prove a blessing in disguise. It might arouse the dead souls of a multitude of so-called Protestants who are on the brink of apostasy; who possess little or nothing more to protest for, and therefore little or nothing more to protest against. So "broad-minded" and " charitable " have they become that they can get on very well with both light and with darkness, with truth and with error, with Christ and Belial. What difference is it to them if Christ is given up for Mary; the full, ever-efficient atonement of the Cross which provides an eternal salvation, for an idolatrous, blasphemous Mass which exalts the priest and degrades Christ, giving the willingly-duped people a lie for the truth, and doubt in place of the blessed Christian assurance! For who ever saw a devotee of the Mass able to join with Paul in "giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered tis from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son:in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (Col. i:12-14). So absolutely worthless is their " Mass " that on the tombs of its devotees the passer-by is even begged to pray for the repose of their soul! Alas, unconverted " Protestants" do not mind whether we have a divine Saviour upon whom to pour out the adoration of our grateful hearts, or images, crucifixes, relics and dead men's bones; to have a Father's bosom into which to honestly confess our sins, and be cleansed from them, or a Confessional, with a sinner like ourselves in it, as incapable to cleanse and forgive the sinner as to create a world. The Book, God's Book, what is it to such dead souls who know or hear something of it only when there is a funeral in the house ?

Modern Evangelism has shed some rays of light in the midst of the darkness, and one thanks God for that, but it has aimed at monster gatherings, and to that end has used means entertaining rather than instructive, and has therefore not improved things much. What lack in Sunday-schools also to furnish the young minds with the precious word of God! Geography, history and morals, well and good in their place, are not the word of God which lays hold of heart and conscience and prostrates man before God. Where that is lacking, the soul is not held fast, but is liable to drift with every wind of doctrine that may come along.

One of old said, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them" (Jer. 15:16). Only thus are we furnished by it for every emergency. Only thus are we able to overcome all the foes of our souls. It was by this Luther dethroned Popedom. Brandishing the Book in his hand, and eating its words in his soul, he became invincible, and his stand impregnable. O friends, let us return to the word of God, as little children receiving in faith its holy teachings, and spiritual energy and power will not be wanting for the needs of our times. With that Book in their hearts our aged men will insist that things at home be in keeping with it, and will pour out their substance to send a hundred where one has been burned. Our aged women will "teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands" (Titus 2:4, 5). What a change this would make in the conditions of Christendom !

Our young men also, with the Book in their hearts, will readily offer themselves to carry it on their backs and in their lives in the dark parts of the earth, whether at home or abroad. The favor and the power of God go with it, and wherever it goes and takes root, it transforms, changes, beautifies everything.

'' Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee" (Ps. 119:11).

On Giving

Request has come to us to write on the subject of giving. It is alleged that assemblies of the Lord's people here and there, now slack in the matter, would surely reap blessing if they but realized their responsibilities in it. We confess that, to us, it has always been a delicate and difficult subject to treat of. Yet it has an important place in the word of God, and cannot be neglected without loss. We hope to take it up in our next issue.