Q. 20.-"What is the meaning of Rom. 8:12, 13?" Ans.-It is the same enforcement of the practical fruit of faith which we find so often in these chapters. " Faith, if it have not works, is dead, being alone." So, whatever the orthodoxy professed, "if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die." On the other hand, "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." This is not putting a legal condition into the gospel, but showing the necessary consequences of its reception:" for as many as are led of the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."

The beautiful way in which this is stated is worthy of admiration. There is in the Greek a double form of the future, and both forms are used here. The first statement is not "ye shall die," but "ye are about to die":for grace might at any time take one off this road, and save a soul from death. On the other hand, "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live :" here the certainty of the result is assured. There is no doubt whatever that those who are upon this road will reach the goal they seek.

As with all these conditional statements we must remember that they apply to professing Christians as such. We are not to say, " Oh, but we are true believers, and this does not apply to us." Only if you take in all that profess, both true and false, could it be said. For, suppose you say to true believers, singled out as that, " If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die," you make a doubt as to their security. And again, if you say to mere professors, "If ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live," this is law, and impossible. Take in all professors alike, and then say it, and you are but showing how the true are distinguished from the false. And so, we have seen, the apostle uses it.

Q. 21.-"Will you explain i Cor. 14:27?" Ans.-Only two or three were to speak, for more would be unprofitable, and so the prophesying is restricted also (5:29). And they were to speak in turn, without confusion.

Q. 22.-"Does the Greek word, ekklesia, used for 'church' in the New Testament, signify, ' called-out ones' ? I had supposed it signified an 'assembly,' and might be used for a gathering of unsaved, as well as of saints."

Ans.-The last is surely so :it is used for the riotous meeting at Ephesus dismissed by the town clerk. But the other is also true. Archbishop Trench says, " The word by which the Church is named is itself an example-a more illustrious one could scarcely be found-of the gradual ennobling of a word. For we have 'ekklesia' in three distinct stages of meaning,-the heathen, the Jewish, and the Christian. In respect of the first, ekklesia, as all know, was the lawful assembly in a free Greek city of all those possessed of the right of citizenship, for the transaction of the public affairs. That they were summoned is expressed in the latter part of the word ; that they were summoned out of the whole population, a select portion of it, including neither the populace, nor yet strangers, nor those who had forfeited their civic rights, this is expressed in the first. Both the calling and the calling out are moments to be remembered, when the word is assumed into a higher Christian sense, for in them the chief part of its peculiar adaptation to its auguster uses lies." (Synonyms of the New Testament, vol. i, pp. 17, 18.)

Q. 23.-"What difference is there between these expressions in Ps. 119:, 'commandments,' 'precepts,' 'testimonies,' 'statutes,' 'judgments'?"

Ans.-"Commandments" speak of the authority of the Law-giver; "precepts," of a charge or deposit committed to man ; "testimonies," of God's witness in them concerning Himself; "statutes," of their definiteness and stability; "judgments,"of their moral nature. "Ordinances," in ver. 91, should be "judgments," and is elsewhere in general a translation of one of the other words, generally that for "statutes" or for "judgments."

Q. 24.-"What is the meaning of 'their inventions' in Ps. 99:8?"

Ans.-Simply "their doings," as the Revised Version now renders it.

THE ADDRESSES TO THE CHURCHES.
Philadelphia:the Revival of the Word of Christ, and the Brotherhood of Christians. (Rev. 3:7-13.)

We come now to a phase of the Church's history of the deepest interest and of the greatest possible importance to us. How great it must be to realize a condition which the Lord can commend and only commend ! For in this address to Philadelphia there is no word of reproof throughout. Warning there is, and of this we shall have to take special note; but reproof there is none! How blessed a condition to be in, when the " Holy " and the " True " can smile upon us thus with not a cloud to obscure His love! It should be, of course, the condition of Christians always; and sweet it is to remember that thus, all through the ages of its course, when as a phase of its history Philadelphia yet was not, the Church had its Philadelphians nevertheless. Manifestly it had when John was instructed to write this epistle; and if the general character of things around, even in an apostle's days, did not answer to this, only the greater would be the Lord's approbation of the few who were thus faithful. Overcomers they are whom He is commending; and the adverse condition of things around can never, let us mark it well, be really adverse to the overcoming. They furnish, rather, some of the conditions of it. If we have but the spirit of the overcomer, all the evil, whether in the world or in the Church itself, will only make us this the more.

Before we take up the details of the address before us, let us seek to get hold of the character of the church in Philadelphia. And for this we must remember in the first place what we have seen to be represented by that in Sardis. Sardis undoubtedly stands for the national churches of the Reformation, in which masses of peoples, Christianized externally, not truly, possessed a "name to live," and yet were " dead." Among these, indeed, though few comparatively, were those not only living, but faithful,-men who walked in spirit apart, and did not defile their garments;-men of whom their Lord says, " They shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy." Yet their presence did not alter the general character of that in which they were-in it, but not of it.

Sardis, then, is the world, Christianized as far as possible to be still the world, with Christians scattered through it. Philadelphia stands with its principle of " brotherly love," in essential contrast with it as that in which the brotherhood of saints is found and recognized. It represents the movement of the Spirit, therefore, to recover the true Church, lost amid the confusion of Sardis, uniting the members of Christ together in one, outside the mere profession. This, if once fairly considered, will be evident. It is not meant, however, by this that this movement has any proportionate success as might seem thus assured. It is one of our strange and sorrowful yet familiar experiences, that Christians can grieve, limit, quench, the Spirit in its action, and all the history of the Church that we have been examining is the reiterated assurance of this. Moreover, in the address to Philadelphia itself we have a very impressive warning to the same effect.

It has been already said, and is plain enough in it, that the Lord's message in this case contains no rebuke, but the sweetest possible sanction and encouragement. Not that there is Pentecostal energy or blessing indeed."Thou hast a little strength" negatives such a thought, if we were disposed to entertain it. Still this is commendation, and not blame, and blame there is none. On this very account there seems a difficulty, which presses for solution. For the final blessing is assured, in this as every other of these epistles, to the overcomer :" Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out." And here the reference is plainly to such pillars as Jachin ('' He shall establish ") and Boaz (" In which is strength ") in the temple of old, and on the other hand to the "little strength" before ascribed to Philadelphia. He who has little strength becomes in the end a pillar of strength, and the true Philadelphian (it is inferred here,) is in fact the over-comer. Philadelphia is but the company of such.

But then it returns upon us with double force, what can be this overcoming? For in every case beside, but one, throughout these churches, it is plain that the overcoming is of things inside the church:in Ephesus, the failure of first love; in Pergamos, the settling in the world; in Thyatira, the doctrines and deeds of Jezebel; in Sardis, defilement with the dead; in Laodicea, the lukewarm condition. In Smyrna, indeed, though there is a Judaizing party there, yet the direct promise seems to refer more to the threatening of death from without, although it cannot be denied that the Judaized Christianity found easier escape from this, and Satan's open violence might therefore well drive many (it can hardly be doubted, did,) into his secret snare.

But in Philadelphia, rich with the Lord's approval, yet with no such front of persecution to endure, it does require answer,-Where, then, the overcoming? By which, moreover, every true Philadelphian seems as much to be characterized as every Smyrnean was. Not every Ephesian was this, still less every one at Pergamos, or Thyatira, or Sardis, or Laodicea. The Philadelphian was such, as he overcame. But what peril then, or difficulty, or opposition? The answer is only one; the question admits no other.

There is nothing but commendation in the address,-that is, no blame. But there is warning, and in this warning is pointed out the danger that threatens. It is the only danger pointed out, and therefore clearly makes known to us what is to be overcome. The warning word is, " Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." Here, then, must be the overcoming. The danger is, of letting slip the Philadelphian character. And it is a real and pressing danger,-so pressing, that upon the mastery of it all blessing is suspended. It is the point of peril.

Philadelphia represents the Spirit of God working in living energy to deliver from that which is engulfing the people of God in a flood of worldliness. Alliance with the world is the forfeiture of
Christian position practically, and of enjoyed privilege. So the Word of God definitely declares. The unequal yoke,-the yoke with unbelievers,- must be refused, or the unclean thing forbids the Lord Almighty to be to His people the Father that He is (2 Cor. 6:17, 18). Separation from the world is not any the more schism because this has been falsely called the Church; nor will "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," its moral characteristics, be purged out by the adoption of the Christian name. Thus the state religions are directly accountable for the divisions which have always marked them from the beginning of their history. Every revival tends to break them up. Where there is none, there we find continual gravitation to a lower level, which no orthodoxy of the creed can really avert.

The work of the Spirit, then, will necessarily bring about dissent from the national church. And it will be found that, at their beginnings at least, such movements have been very largely marked by a new fervency of spirit, a zeal and earnestness which have made their first generations men of power. The movement, purified by the opposition it has necessarily to endure, discovers and brings together the most spiritual. Consciences are exercised, the Word is felt and opened, Christ's presence becomes more necessary and more real, the fellowship of saints is valued. In a word, the character of the movement manifests itself as Philadelphian.

It is the voice and person of Christ which are here controlling, and he who is thus controlled is upon a path of unlimited progress and unspeakable blessing. The clue-line is in his hand which will lead him out of all entanglements, from truth to truth, from strength to strength. There is but one condition here, and that is, manifestly, that he " holds fast" the chic-line. If he drops this, progress is at an end, his path becomes devious. Alas! is it a rare thing for those who have begun in the Spirit to be made perfect by the flesh?

Asshur went out from Babylon,-so far, well; but only to found Nineveh, Babylon's rival and counterpart. And this is the history of much that was spiritual in its beginning, and since has grown great. At first there was simplicity and faith, and Christ the Leader of true pilgrims. Now they are but conservators of a tradition of the past, and their glory is a golden age gone from them. They are often in this case earnest in holding fast, but not to a living Leader:they have dropped the clue of progress, and lost their crown to others. No wonder, then, at the emphasis laid upon this warning in the epistle.

This, then, is, in brief, what Philadelphia is. The application in particular may and will be differently made according to what we are and where we are ourselves ; and we have special need of care to test ourselves truly by it. For to test ourselves is surely the use that we are called to make of so solemn and yet so blessed a word as this is. We are bound to ask, Are we such as keep Christ's word and do not deny His name, and who keep also the word of His patience? Blessed, thrice blessed for us if we are!

Let us look, then, with something like suited care, into the details of the Saviour's message,

(To be continued.)

"Not a cloud above, not a spot within."

"Let me die the death of the righteous," said Balaam of old, "and let my last end be like his." (Num. 23:10.)And who knows but that there was a measure of sincerity in the words of the hireling prophet, as from the "top of the rocks" he beheld the thousands of God's people encamping in divinely prescribed order around that cloud-capped tabernacle?

No wonder, either, that even this poor money-loving prophet should at that moment give vent to such an expression; for Israel was indeed a blessed people. Jehovah Himself was in the midst of her, at once her Saviour, her Defender, and her Guide.

Yet, what a moral contradiction it was to hear this lover of the "wages of unrighteousness" saying, " Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his."

Well, reader, I know neither your course of life nor your state of soul. God knows both. But I dare venture to say that the substance of Balaam's prayer has been the burden of your thoughts, aye, many a time. Now I want to ask you to think a little more of those three monosyllables, " my last end"! Repeat them over to yourself again and again,-" MY last end." Take a pencil and write them down, if you will; but weigh well their meaning, I pray you, so that at least one of God's desires may be realized in your case. " O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! " (Deut. 32:29.)

Life's journey will come to a close some day. That is certain. You may even now be very near the end. A long eternity is before you, and, whether you like it or not, you are inseparably linked with it. I solemnly ask you, therefore, as you look beyond all earthly plans and pleasures- beyond earthly friendships and earthly ties- beyond life's latest hour, What are your prospects ? What shall the end be ?

But I have a bright tale to tell you, and I want your attention. The happy subject of it, Richard H–, was for years a valued personal friend and fellow-laborer. From boyhood's days he known and loved the Lord, and from that time to the "home-call" his deepest delight was to serve and follow Him.

But it is of his end I desire to speak particularly. Shortly before he passed away, and after a visit from the doctor who attended him, he expressed a particular wish to know what he thought of his physical state. On being told that "departure" was soon to be looked for, he burst forth into quite an ecstasy of joy, saying, " Good news! good news from the far country! Set the bells a-ringing. Hoist a flag outside, to announce that I, a sinner of the earth, washed in Christ's blood, am going into the heavens; and going by a work that has glorified God. Good news! good news!" he again exclaimed, "it's like breaking up school, and going home."

It was a few days after this when, for nearly the last time on earth, I was privileged to see him. Physical weakness, through the rapid inroads of consumption, seemed to be increasing. But, oh, while things seen and temporal were gradually fading away, how strong ft grip had faith got of that which is "unseen and eternal!"

After a warm, familiar greeting, he said, and said in such a way as it is impossible to describe on paper, "You haven't come here to see death, Georgie. Death isn't here-not a bit of it. It's regions behind me, and He is before me." Then, looking up to heaven, he said, as if in some deep, happy reverie, "Holiness! the more holiness the better; the more righteousness the better; the brighter the glory the better. They can but bring out to my soul the value of my title."

What a bright sunset! What a peaceful close to life's short day! Death, with all its accompaniments, was nothing to him. Nay, he would n't have it that he was dying, but only going home. And I shall not be a bit surprised, unsaved reader, if you tell us that you would fain have your last end like his.

But, mark, let your wishes be what they may, depend upon this, that to live without Christ is the surest method you could possibly adopt of dying without mercy. Oh that the Spirit of God might awaken you this moment!

But let us inquire what was the real secret of such a victory as the one just referred to. He had n't a word to say, or a thought to bestow, upon his good works or pious life; though I may safely say that all who knew him can testify of his self-denying, heavenly-minded devotedness, both to Christ and His people, and that for many years ere he was called home. But it was Christ Himself, his own gracious Saviour, who covered his vision and filled his heart, so that every thing else -grim death itself not excepted-was, as he so graphically expressed it, "regions behind him."

Once, no doubt, like thousands more, he had turned his eye inward upon himself to find something which he thought God might accept as a ground for blessing him, and something, therefore, which he too might rest his hopes upon. But, when weary and disappointed in such a search, the Spirit of God had turned his longing gaze to One in whom God could and did delight, whose finished work at Calvary He had accepted. Yes, reader, it is the look without that brings the peace within. " Look unto Me, and be ye saved," is the message from a Saviour-God to guilty men. (Isa. 45:22.)

Notice, now, it is not " Look at yourself till you feel you are saved."

That may be man's gospel, but it certainly is not God's.

God is not looking at you, dear reader, to see whether you are worthy of His confidence. He knows you are not, and has told you so. Your heart, He declares, is without its match for treachery-" deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." (Jer. 17:9.)

God's eye rests with delight and satisfaction upon His beloved Son. He thinks every thing of Jesus. He has highly exalted Him ; enthroned and crowned Him ; put every thing into His hands and under His feet,-yea, given Him power over all flesh. God has intrusted Him with the giving of eternal life, with the dispensing of His righteous judgment. He is to be the Head of heavenly government-"King of kings,"-in that bright millennial day; "for He must reign" says the Holy Ghost, and we who love Him say, " Alleluia! Alleluia!" The once-despised and hated Nazarene, God's King in Zion! How it makes the heart well over with joy to think of it!

"He shall reign from pole to pole,
With illimitable sway;
He shall reign till, like a scroll,
Yonder heaven shall pass away."

Well, then, I repeat, the gospel does not ask you, clear troubled soul, whether or not you are sufficiently worthy for God to trust you ; but it brings the blessed welcome news that His Son is sufficiently worthy for you to trust Him; that in turning away from all thoughts of your bad self, as well as from all your vain efforts to establish a good self, and, reposing the confidence of your heart in the worthy Son of God as your Saviour, everlasting life is yours. Listen to the highest of all authorities:"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life." (Jno. 6:47.)

Oh, let me ask you, then, " What think ye of Christ?" It was this blessed Saviour, this crowned, honored, exalted, beloved Son of God, and Son of Man in heavenly glory, that was before the happy soul of this dear departing disciple.

" But," says one, " how was it that the holiness and righteousness of God,-yea, the very brightness of the light of the glory of God seemed friendly to him?"

Friendly to him! Yes, as friendly as the cross, as we shall see. But let us first listen to the words of Him who hung upon that cross,-" God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son" -gave Him to be "lifted up" as a victim for sin. On this ground the believing sinner stands before God, free from all condemnation.

Faith can say, " If the righteous Son of God was delivered for my offenses; and if God has accepted that sacrifice, I must be delivered from my offenses."

But then God has not only given His Son to be delivered up to death and judgment for us, He has given Him in resurrection-life and glory to us.

" For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. 6:23.) "He made Him to be sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21); but He has also made Him "wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" to us. (i Cor. 1:30.)

Bear in mind, too, that this is not Christian attainment. It is the common portion of all that believe in Christ. The Holy Ghost speaks of them as created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph. 4:24), and of course creation is not attainment. It is what God has made them in Christ.

The old creation is said to be by Christ (see Col. 1:16), while the new creation is in Christ (see Eph. 2:10.) Now this happy young Christian had learned, not only to look from self to Calvary's Victim for the righteous discharge, and therefore the full forgiveness, of his many sins, but also to look off from self to Christ, the heavenly Victor for perfect acceptance before the throne of God. With childlike simplicity he believed what God told him in His Word, not only that the work of Christ on the cross was accepted for him, but that he too was "accepted in the Beloved." (Eph. 1:6.)

Thus, you see, he knew from God's Word that Christ was his righteousness, and Christ his sanctification; and as to the glory of God being friendly, why, the effulgent brightness of that glory shines in the very face of the very Man who once "bore our sins in His own body on the tree." (2 Cor. 4:6.)

What a trumpet-tongued witness is this, that those sins are forever put away from before the eye of God!

Well, dear Christian reader, this same Lord Jesus is soon coming again, and then once more shall we meet our dear brother shining in the fair beauty of Christ Himself. Oh, what a prospect! No wonder the believer's heart leaps within him at the thought of it.

But "what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel?" "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" Oh, reader, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there may be but a step between thee and death. And don't forget that if death finds thee in thy sins, judgment also will find thee in thy sins, and an eternity in the lake of fire will be the never-ending end of thy guilty history. As God is true, hell is the certain doom of the unrepentant. Oh, why will ye die? God waits to be gracious still. Geo. C.