CHAPTER VII. (Continued from page 173.)

But the Preacher's experiences of anomalies are by no means ended. These alternations of adversity and prosperity, he says, whilst there is no forecasting when they will come, so there seems to be no safeguard, even in righteousness and wisdom, against them. They are not meted out here at all on the lines of righteousness. The just man dies in his righteousness, whilst the wicked lives on in his wickedness:therefore be not righteous overmuch ; do not abstain, or withdraw thyself, from the natural blessings of life, making it joyless and desolate; but then err not on the other side, going into folly and licentiousness,- a course which naturally tends to cut off life itself. It is the narrow way of philosophy:as said the old Latins, " Medio tutissimus ibis," "midway is "safety"; but Solomon is here again, as we have seen before, on a far higher moral elevation than any of the heathen philosophers, for he has one sheet-anchor for his soul from the evils of either extreme, in the fear of God.

As for the despairing, hopeless groans of " vanity," we, with our God-given grace, learn to feel pity for our Author, so for his moral elevation do we admire him, whilst for his sincerity and love of truth we learn to respect and love him. See in the next few verses that clear, cold, true, reason of his, confessing the narrow limits of its powers, and yet the whole soul longs, as if it would burst all bars to attain to that which shall solve its perplexity. '' Thus far have I attained by wisdom," he says, "and yet still I cry for wisdom. I see far off the place where earth can reach and touch the heavens; but when, by weary toil and labor, I reach that spot, those heavens are as inimitably high above me as ever, and an equally long journey lies between me and the horizon where they meet. Oh, that I might be wise; but it was far from me."

Now, in our version, the next verse reads very tamely and flat, in view of the strong emotion under which it is so clear that the whole of the book was written. '' That which is far off and exceeding deep, who can find it out?" The Revised, both in text and margin, gives us a hint of another thought, "That which is, or hath been, is afar off," etc. But other scholars, in company with the Targum and many an old Jewish writer, lift the verse into harmony with the impassioned utterances of this noble man, as he expresses in broken ejaculatory phrase his longings and his powerlessness :

"Far off, the past,-what is it ?
Deep,- that deep! Ah, who can sound?
Then turned I, and my heart, to learn, explore.
To seek out wisdom, reason-sin to know-
Presumption-folly-vain impiety.

He must unravel the mystery, and turns thus, once more, with his sole companion, his own heart, to measure everything,-even sin, folly, impiety,- and more bitter even than that bitter death that has again and again darkened all his counsel and dashed his hopes, is one awful evil that he has found.

One was nearest Adam in the old creation. Taken from his side, a living one, she was placed at his side to share with him his wide dominion over that fair, unsullied scene. Strong where he was weak, and weak where he was strong, now evidently was she meant of an all-gracious and all-wise Creator as a true helpmeet for him:his complement-filling up his being. But that old creation is as a vessel reversed, so that the highest is now the lowest,- the best has become the worst,-the closest may be the most dangerous; and foes spring even from within households. Intensified disorder and confusion! When she who was so clearly intended by her strength of affection to call into rightful play the affections of man's heart, whose very weakness and dependence should call forth his strength, alas, our writer has found that heart is too often a snare and a net, and those hands drag down to ruin the one to whom they cling. It is the clearest sign of God's judgment to be taken by those nets and bands, as of his mercy, to escape them. Thus evil ever works, dual-as is good-in character. Opposed to the Light and Love of God we find a liar and murderer in Satan himself; corruption and violence in man, under Satan's power. The weaker vessel makes up for lack of strength by deception ; and whilst the man of the earth expresses the violence, so the woman of the earth has become, ever and always, the expression of corruption and deceit, as here spoken of by our preacher, "her heart snares and nets; her hands as bands."

But further in his search for wisdom, the Preacher has found but few indeed who would or could accompany him in his path. A man here and there, one in a thousand, would be his companion, but no single woman. This statement strongly evidences that the gospel is outside his sphere ; the new creation is beyond his ken. He takes into no account the sovereign grace of God, that in itself can again restore, and more than restore, all to their normal conditions, and make the weaker vessel fully as much a vessel unto honor as the stronger, giving her a wide and blessed sphere of activity; in which love-the divine nature within – may find its happy exercise and rest. Naturally, and apart from this grace, the woman does not give herself to the same exercise of mind as does the man.

But then, is it thus that man came from his Maker's hands? Has He, who stamped His own perfection on all His works, permitted an awful hideous exception in the moral nature of man ? Does human reason admit such a possible incongruity ?No, indeed. Folly may claim license for its lusts in the plea of a nature received from a Creator. Haughty pride, on the other hand, may deny that nature altogether. The clearer, nobler, truer philosophy of our writer justifies God, even in view of all the evil that makes him groan, and he says, " Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions."

Interesting as well as beautiful it is to hear this conclusion of man's reason, not at all in view of the exceeding riches of God's grace, but simply looking at facts, in the light that Nature gives. Man neither is, nor can be, an exception to the rule. God has made him upright. If not so now, it is because he has departed from this state, and his many inventions, or arts (as Luther translates the word significantly), his devices, his search after new things (but the word "inventions" expresses the thought of the original correctly), are so many proofs of dissatisfaction and unrest.

He may, in that pride, which turns everything to its own glory, point to these very inventions as evidences of his progress; and in a certain way they do unquestionably speak his intelligence and immense superiority over the lower creation. Yet the very invention bespeaks need; for most truthful is the proverb, "Necessity is the mother of invention"; and surely in the way of Nature necessity is not a glory, but a shame. Let him glory in his inventions, then; and his glory is in his shame. Adam in his Eden of delights:upright, content, thought never of invention. He took from God's hand what God gave, with no need to make calls upon his own ingenuity to supply his longings. The fall introduces the inventive faculty, and human ingenuity begins to work to overcome the need, of which now, for the first time, man becomes aware; but we hear no singing in connection with that first invention of the apron of fig-leaves. That faculty has marked his path throughout the centuries. Not always at one level, or ever "moving in one direction,- it has risen and fallen, with flow and ebb, as the tides; now surging upward with skillful "artifice in brass and iron," and to the music of "harp and organ," until it aims at heaven itself, and the Lord again and again interposes and abases by flood and scattering,- now ebbing, till apparently extinct in the low-sunken tribes of earth. Its activity is the accompaniment usually of the light that God gives, and which man takes, and turns to his own boasting, with no recognition of the Giver, calling it "civilization." The Lord's saints are not, for the most part, to be found amongst the line of inventors. The seed of Cain, and not the seed of Seth, produces them. The former make the earth their home, and naturally seek to beautify it, and make it comfortable. The latter, with deepest soul-thirst, quenched by rills of living water springing not here; with heart-longings satisfied by an infinite, tender, divine Love, pass through the earth strangers and pilgrims, to the Rest of God.

Let us glance forward a little. The Church is not found on earth; but the earth still is the scene of man's invention; and with that surpassing boast "opposing and exalting himself above all that is called God, or is worshiped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God," he heads up his wickedness and ingenuity together, in calling down fire from heaven and in making "the image of the beast to breathe." (Rev. 13:14, 15.) 'Tis his last crowning effort,- his day is over,- and the flood and the scattering of old shall have their awful antitype in an eternal judgment and everlasting abasing.

But the heavenly saints have been caught up to their home. Is there invention there ? Does human ingenuity still work ? How can it, if every heart is fully satisfied, and nothing can be improved ? But then is all at one dead level? No, surely; for "discovery" shall abide when "invention" has vanished away,- constant, never-ceasing "discovery." The unfoldings, hour by hour, and age by age, of a Beauty that is infinite and inexhaustible,- the tasting a new and entrancing perfection in a Love in which every moment shows some fresh attraction, some new sweet compulsion to praise!

Discovery is already "ours," my reader-not invention; and each day, each hour, each moment, may be fruitful in discovery. Every difficulty met in the day's walk may prove but its handmaid; every trial in the day's path serve but to bring out new and happy discoveries. Nay, even grief and sorrow shall have their sweet discoveries, and open up to sight fountains of water hitherto altogether unknown, as with the outcast Egyptian mother in the wilderness of Paran, till we learn to glory in what hitherto was our sorrow, and to welcome infirmities and ignorance, for they show us a spring of infinite Strength and a fountain of unfathomable Wisdom, that eternal Love puts at our service! Oh, to grow in Faith's Discoveries !

Philip had a grand opportunity for "discovery," in the sixth of John; but, poor man, he lost it; for he fell back on creature resources, or, in other words, "Invention." Brought face to face with difficulty, how good it would have been for him to have said, "Lord Jesus, I am empty of wisdom, nor have I any resources to meet this need; but my heart rests in Thee:I joy in this fresh opportunity for Thee to display Thy glory, for them knowest what Thou wilt do." . Oh, foolish Philip, to talk of every one having a little, in that Presence of infinite Love, infinite Power. Do I thus blame him ? Then let this day see me looking upward at every difficulty, and saying "Lord, Thou knowest what Thou wilt do."
The morning breaks, my heart awakes,
And many thoughts come crowding o'er me,-
What hopes or fears, what smiles or tears
Are waiting- in that path before me ?

Am I to roam afar from home,
By Babel's streams, in gloom despondent ?
On sorrow's tree must my harp be
To grief's sad gusts alone respondent ?

The mists hang dank, on front and flank,
My straining eye can naught discover;
But well I know that many a foe
Around that narrow path doth hover.

Nor this alone would make me groan,-
Alas, a traitor dwells within me;
With hollow smile and heart of guile
The world without, too, plots to win me.

Thus I'm beset with foes, and yet
I would not miss a single danger:
Each foe's a friend that makes me wend
My homeward way,- on earth a stranger.

For never haze dims upward gaze,-
Oh, glorious sight! for there above me
Upon God's throne there sitteth One
Who died to save-who lives to love me!

And like the dew each dayspring new
That tender love shall onward lead me:
My thirst shall slake, yet thirst awake
Till every breath shall pant:-" I need Thee."

No wisdom give; I'd rather live
In conscious lack dependent on Thee:
Each parting way I meet this day
Then proves my claim to call upon Thee.

I'd not ask strength, but learn at length
The calm that's found with perfect weakness:
Thy shoulder's mine where I'd recline,
And there my pride is shamed to meekness.

Then Lord, thy breast is, too, my rest;
And there, as in my home, I'm hidden,-
Where quiet peace makes groanings cease,
And Zion's songs gush forth unbidden.

Yes, e'en on earth may song have birth,
And music rise o'er Nature's groanings,-
Whilst Hope new born each springing morn
Dispel with joy my faithless meanings.

F. C. J.

(To be continued.)

Question 7.- In Help and Food for April, page 101, It is said that Mary, the sister of Lazarus, was not at the cross, neither at the tomb. If Mary Magdalene was not the sister of Lazarus, then there is a difficulty to my mind. I have examined Scripture, and the Word seems to say she is. Are there two Mary’s who anointed the Lord ?

Answer.- Mary was a favorite and common name among the Jews,- doubtless from Moses' sister Miriam,- so much so that in the same family the name was given twice (John 19:25). Possibly, however, Mary of Cleophas was a half-sister, or even a cousin, called from intimacy a sister,- a usage not uncommon among the Jews.

Be this as it may, there is no scripture to Identify Mary, sister of Lazarus, with Mary Magdalene. Indeed it is impossible, for the one came from Magdala, a town in Galilee, and the other from Bethany, a town near Jerusalem (John 11:1,18).

There are three passages which speak of Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus – Luke 10:38-42; John 11:; John 12:1-9. Matt. 26:6-14 gives the parallel passage to this last, without her name, but only that of the town, Bethany.

Mary Magdalene had been delivered from seven devils, and had devoted herself to ministering to the Lord (Luke 8:1-3). She followed Him from Galilee, and was present at the cross (Matt, 27:55, 50). She was early at the tomb, and was the first to see the arisen Lord (Mark 16:9); John 20:1-18). Her history is therefore entirely distinct from that of the sister of Lazarus.

Neither must " the woman that was a sinner " (Luke 7:36-50) be confounded with either of the women mentioned. Her name is not given, and the summary at the head of the chapter in our authorized version which calls her Mary Magdalene has not the slightest foundation for so doing. On the other hand, the anointing by this woman must not be confounded with that by Mary the sister of Lazarus. The first was during the earlier part of our Lord's ministry in Galilee; the last was just at the close, and at Bethany. Their objects, too, were different:the first was the worship of a penitent sinner; the last the anointing for His burial, by one who had long known and loved Him and entered into His thoughts.

To recapitulate:Mary Magdalene and Mary the sister of Lazarus were two distinct persons; so were Mary Magdalene and the woman in Luke 7:; there were two anointings of our Lord.

"But the end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer."
(1 Peter 4:7.)

(Lev. 16:12-14; Phil. 3:13, 14; 2 Pet. 1:3-9.)

The ground of Christianity is "Christ, and Him crucified," as Paul puts it, or "the Lamb, as it had been slain," as John writes it; or the incense and the blood, as Moses unfolds it in that great Atonement chapter of the Pentateuch, Lev. 16:If our salvation, from first to last, reposes on that firm and imperishable ground, the precious blood of Christ; if there can be no Christianity without the cross, whose blood was shed ? Who sustained that cross ? Who upheld that mighty work which, for grandeur and moral sublimity towers over all ? It was the glory of the One who died. The person upheld the work on which our souls rest for time and eternity. Oh, blessed foundation ! Oh, rock of everlasting strength !

First, we have the person, then the work. Aaron was to '' take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil." The incense sets forth the merits of Christ,- the moral beauties and excellencies of His person. Now, from Exod. 3:34-36 we learn that the "sweet incense" was composed of four precious ingredients, of like weight and beaten small. Surely the Christ of the four Gospels-crushed, bruised, and suffering-is here foreshadowed. But you cannot separate Christ from His work; hence the High Priest was directed to take a censer, or pan, of burning coals from off the altar and take it within the veil. He also filled his hands with the fragrant incense; and thus, in Jehovah's presence, we have in type the person, incense, and the work, the blood. Then the, to us, blessed and inseparable connection between the two is further shown. The incense put on the fire rose up in a delightful cloud and covered the mercy-seat. The memorials of Calvary are in the presence of God. The victor and victory are in. the Divine presence. The moral beauties and glories of the One who died have been expressed in and by the work of the cross as nowhere else. It was a golden censer (Heb. 9:4) which was used on these never-to-be-forgotten occasions – the annual day of atonement for Israel. Divine righteousness in exercise, could alone meet the requirements of the divine nature. Then the blood of the appointed sacrificial victim was sprinkled once on the mercy-seat and seven times before it. The mercy-seat was made of pure gold; and on either end of it a cherub was fashioned out of the same piece of gold of which the mercy-seat, or cover, of the ark was made. The ark contained the tables of the law,- the measure of what a fallen creature ought to be for God. The golden cherubim were the moral supports of Jehovah's throne in the midst of a sinful and guilty people. On what ground could a defiled people holily appear before a holy God ? Is it possible for a guilty one to stand before a righteous God ? It is. Death had taken place. The brazen altar had told its tale of judgment; and now the witness of death, blood, is taken into the presence of God and sprinkled on the throne. The cherubim are satisfied. Blood-the blood of God's appointed victim-has been shed at the altar, and sprinkled on the throne. It is enough. God is infinitely glorified. But then the blood was sprinkled seven times before the throne. Be it remembered that the sand of the desert constituted the floor of the tabernacle. Thus our standing before the throne is the Lamb, and that alone. You cannot add to its value; you have it in all its priceless worth, in its infinite value to God as ground of our standing in the divine presence; and here we know it and rejoice in it, as we tread the desert which His feet trod. Whose feet ? The feet of the One who shed His blood.

Thus we have the ground-alone and magnificent -of Christianity. If the person and work of Christ glorifies the throne, supports the sinners before it, there is no other – can be no other – basis of the whole system of Christianity, as God's only given system for men on earth. Christianity is worthless – yea, it is positively immoral – if you rob it of its distinguishing glory – the cross of Christ. Its moral power is gone if there be no Christ. Christianity without Christ would be like the heavens without the sun. Christ it is which gives motive and power. Without Him all – all – would be a huge, moral waste.

The definiteness of Christianity consists in its intense presentation of Christ. Several objects before the heart are distracting. The Christian has but one. The duties and responsibilities of life are many, but amidst them all the believer has to pursue but one object. The great, all-absorbing business of life, is to please Christ; to walk and live and serve Him wholly and only. Thousands of God's dear people live aimless, objectless lives. The lack of purpose, of point, of definiteness, is simply owing to the soul not grasping God's end in conversion – exclusive devotion to Christ. What a rare opportunity for all, but especially for Christian young men and women to shine for Christ. Organizations, societies, and the like, cripple individual energy. We want our young people to be fired with a holy enthusiasm,- a burning, passionate desire to be all for Christ in life and work; and while willing to be counseled by age and experience, yet indifferent to the frown or smile of others. Every true work of God has been wrought by individual effort.

The moral power of Christianity does not consist in strong assertion, nor is it doctrine and dogma authoritatively revealed. Christianity is a living power. It enters into all the relationships of life. It transforms a thief into a generous man (Eph. 4:28). It is an active force in this world. Christianity is not mere sentiment. It is an active, living, practical power, dealing with the needs, miseries, and woes of men. Its representatives are saved men and women,- persons morally brave. We have known many, in course of a lengthened ministry, naturally timid, and even weak in character, grow strong under the moral influence of Christianity. Christ produces splendid characters,- firm, yet gracious; strong, yet gentle.

The character described in 2 Pet. 1:, is not one a saved person all at once jumps into. It is a gradual addition and strengthening of Christian character. It is a process of development. The study of Scripture, the knowledge of God and of Christ, and the earnest pressing on in a path of godliness are essential to the cultivation of such a character as Peter here describes. W. S. (Scotland.)

John 4:22.-" Salvation is of the Jews." Samaritans claimed to be worshipers of God, descendants of Jacob, and to have the proper site for the temple on Mount Gerizim. In reality they were heathen, brought into the land by the king of Assyria (2 Kings 17:24-41) to occupy the territory made vacant by the deportation of the ten tribes. '' They feared the Lord, and served their own gods." They took His name, but continued to be in heart and practice heathen. Our Lord could not recognize anything of God in them, especially as they set themselves up against His revelation and His city. He therefore presses upon this woman the fact that the Jews were the channels of God's revelation, and that they did have the knowledge of the true God, though He was about to reveal a higher truth than that of legal observances and earthly places of worship. At the same time, he would recognize all that was of God in Judaism. In like manner, after Pentecost, when Philip went down to Samaria and preached Christ to them (Acts 8:5, &100:), and many were saved, they did not receive the Holy Ghost until the apostles came from Jerusalem. God would thus link His truth together, and show that His ways were to be recognized by those who had previously disregarded them.

TEACH ME TO DO THY WILL, FOR THOU ART MY GOD."

Another lesson learned, my God, with Thee !
I thank Thee for the victory won.
I did not know I'd need to learn this one,
And marveled why such exercise should be,
As o'er my task I bent most bitterly,
Examining my heart with scrutiny.

But e'er the discipline was over past,
I knew that I had deepest need to learn
This too. My Master, may I ever turn
To Thee when heaviness upon my heart is pressed
By some new sight of self I had not guessed!
I would this burden, too, upon Thee cast.

Then let me learn, though deep may be the pain.
I would not leave Thy school, my God ;-'tis well,
For through Thy discipline I'll have the more to tell
Of the surpassing grace and loveliness
Of Him who used my utter worthlessness
For His own glory and my endless gain.

Yea, let me learn; I would not pass my days
Indifferently, in carelessness and ease,
But from the world and all its folly cease-
At every step take counsel with Thy word,
And walk in sweet communion with Thee, Lord,
While to Thy blessed name be all the praise.

God's school is thorough, and the course life-long;
The object-lesson is His blessed Son;
The theme is endless when thou'st once begun;
But if thou'st ever tasted its sweet lore,
Thy thirsty soul will surely long for more,
And Christ become thy one, eternal song.

THE CHURCH.– ITS WORSHIP. (Continued from page 187.)

The noblest occupation for any creature is to be engaged in the worship of God. It is thus the seraphim are occupied, crying "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." The varied orders of heavenly beings esteem it their highest privilege to be thus engaged; and it was for this that man was created. We cannot, then, have our attention called to a more important subject.

Particularly is it necessary at this present time to be clear as to what worship really is. In the common . acceptance of the word, "public worship" includes prayer, praise, and preaching, for the edification of saints or the conversion of sinners. A moment's thought will suffice to show, however, how incorrect this is. Even prayer is not worship,- most blessed privilege, and necessary as it is for every believer; but the asking for things which we need must not be confounded with the offering up to God that praise which glorifieth Him. One is receiving, or rather asking, from God; the other is giving to Him. Alas, that we have grown so selfish! We make everything to center about ourselves,- our salvation, our joy, our life here, even our service, – everything, in fact, is valued in proportion as we imagine it ministers to our true welfare. God and His glory are left out. Little wonder, then, that thoughts are confused as to what worship really is, and that it has been relegated to a place of very minor importance.

And yet we shall spend eternity in worship:the song of praise here, feeble as it may be, is but the
prelude to that universal harmony of worship which will fill heave and earth, when all things shall have been made new, and all things are at last beneath the sway of Him who possesses all. Until the praise will be feeble. But shall we who are a kind of first fruits of His creature,-shall we wait for eternity?

Let us, then, take up this most important, and, we may add, edifying and refreshing subject, and endeavor to give it the attention it deserves.

A glance at the Old Testament will show that the whole religious service revealed to Israel was principally worship. There was a sanctuary,-a three-fold sanctuary, we might say,-court, holy, and most holy place; there was a priesthood, most carefully set apart to God; there were sacrifices, daily and special; there were special set times, or feasts, for the offering up of prescribed sacrifices. All this was to emphasize to the Israelite that he was a worshiper. The sacrifices which more particularly met his need, such as the sin- and trespass-offerings, were still presented to God in worship,- while a far more prominent place was given to the burnt-offerings, which were more directly acts of worship, of a sweet savor to God. A notable feature of the ritual was the repetition of this offering on certain occasions (Num. xxviii), while such was the multitude of beasts offered at the dedication of the temple that the altar of burnt-offering was not sufficiently large, and the court had to be used for a similar purpose (i Kings 8:64).

The establishment of Jerusalem as the center only brought this the more into prominence,-the courses of singing Levites and the various ordinances of David showing that "praise was comely."

Having seen that praise was the characteristic of Old Testament service, before passing to the New we will designate the points of contrast between worship in the two dispensations.

Between the worshiper and the immediate presence of God there always hung a veil, impassable to all save yearly to the high priest, on the day of atonement, when he entered in with the blood of the atonement sin-offering. All the blood of victims shed could not take away that veil because it could not take away sin. This veil, then, 'characterizes the worship of the Old Testament. God was merciful, but He would by no means clear the guilty. None dare, not even the most faithful, enter into His awful presence. The law, too, was in exercise,-"Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them." (Deut. 27:26.) To every exercised conscience this surely must have put a check upon any full confidence he might have had in approaching God. The law, while it imposed a curse on the one hand, brought into bondage on the other, for making its appeal to the flesh, man's nature, it could but stir up the enmity of the carnal mind. The sacrifices, while they might lull, could not banish, these fears; for if otherwise '' the worshiper once purged would have no more conscience of sins." True, faith could and did pierce through these "clouds and darkness" which were "round about Him," and catch glimpses of His glory, and say "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good"; but even these were but glimpses, accompanied by oft-repeated confession of sins and entreaties for mercy. Such was God to His people under law, and such was legal worship,-giving glory to God for His majesty, wisdom, and power, but holding man off as unfit to stand before Him.

Passing on to the present dispensation, how great, how wondrous, the contrast! The veil has been rent in twain from the top to the bottom. The veil between man and God characterized Old Testament worship; the veil done away is the distinguishing feature of the New. "Having therefore, brethren,' boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, . . . through the veil." What was a way of death to the Hebrew priest is a way of life to the Christian. There is no faltering, but boldness,-"boldness and access, with confidence." The right of entrance is the blood of Jesus instead of the blood of bulls and goats, which could never take away sin. The believer stands before God "clean, every whit," "once purged," with "no more conscience of sins." Well may he enter boldly into the very holiest ; well may he now pour forth his full soul in freest praise:-

"Within the holiest of all,
Cleansed by His precious blood,
Before the throne we prostrate fall,
And worship Thee, O God."

Instead of the law, condemning and bringing into bondage, the Christian is under grace, – "grace, reigns,"-the full unmerited love of God poured out upon us,-"no condemnation,"-"not under law, but under grace." Well may we dwell upon these precious themes. Would that all the Lord's people knew fully what they meant! Worship would be the result.

Growing out of this place of nearness, this freedom from the law, there is an apprehension of the nature of God never had before. Not a whit is the glory of His justice dimmed:nay, it shines with more dazzling brightness as its flames fell upon the Son of God, the true sacrifice who hung upon the cross,- "He that spared not. His own Son." But now we see not only justice, but love,- love in its fullness and in an intensity which none but God could have, and none but He can fully know,-
"God only knows the love of God."

We see not glimpses now, but the full, steadfast shining out of " the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." We know God as Father, we have the Spirit of adoption, we have the knowledge of eternal redemption. Precious truths, which were as buds hidden beneath their protecting sheath of types and shadows during the winter of law, have now burst forth into leaf, blossom, and fruit, to charm us with their beauty and delight us with their sweetness. We are in a new land,- resurrection land, risen with Christ, linked with Him who has said "I am alive forevermore." Now can there be no question as to acceptance,-that has been fully settled; no fear as to eternal security,-that is in His hands who has said " Because I live, ye shall live also." The grave-clothes of a carnal worship can but hamper now, and so must be laid aside.

In brief, we. might say that Christian worship has its grounds in an accomplished redemption; its object is God the Father and the Son; its place the holiest,- the immediate presence of God; its power the Holy Spirit; its material the truths fully revealed in the word of God; and its duration eternity.

There are several points just touched which must be enlarged upon. There can be no question that God the Father is the object of Christian worship:"I have declared unto them thy name." (John 17:
26.) "The Father seeketh such to worship Him." (John 4:23.) None would question this. Equally clear is it that the Son is the object of worship:"That all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him." (John 5:23.) Surely in the face of such a scripture we could scarcely conceive of any one teaching that the Lord Jesus Christ is not the object of worship, to be praised as equal with the Father. And yet such doctrine has been taught, – a direct insult to Him who in grace took a servant's form.

Many who heartily accept what has been said as to the worship of the Father and the Son, will hesitate to say that the Holy Spirit is not presented in the New Testament as the object, but as the power of worship. Let us be clear. We would not hint at the blasphemy of denying that the blessed third person of the trinity is divine. He is God just as absolutely as and equal with the Father and the Son; and as God surely is entitled to worship and adoration. But as the Holy Spirit, He is presented as the One who empowers for worship :"We worship by the Spirit of God." (Phil. 3:3, R. V. ) He does not present Himself, but takes, as it were, a subordinate place. Reverently speaking, as our Lord took the place of humiliation during His life upon earth, tabernacling in flesh (ever a Man in a body in glory), so, too, now the Holy Spirit has come to earth, and is content to dwell in our poor bodies, – temples of the Holy Ghost, – and in the Church of Christ. He is upon earth, as contrasted with Christ, who is in heaven with the Father, the object of worship. From this we trust it will be clear why we say the Holy Spirit is not presented in the New Testament as the object of worship. He is the power for it, however. Our praises must be in His energy, or they are not truly praise It is so with our prayers (Rom. viii). Equally so with praise. "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." (i Cor. 12:3.)

One word as to who are worshipers, under the Christian dispensation. Under the law, the worshiper was. in one sense, any man who brought an offering; and in another, only the Priest:in the fullest sense only the high priest, and he only once a year. Under the first definition any were worshipers; under the second, scarcely one. The first was too wide; the second too narrow. In Christianity all believers are priests (i Pet. ii 5, 9), and only believers are. None can worship God but those who are washed by the blood of Christ, and all such have equal access to Him. The idea of classes here, some having greater privileges, closer access to God, is most abhorrent to one taught of God, and cannot be too strongly characterized as most deeply dishonoring to the person and work of Christ. Yet this is the very root of Romanism, and by no means so rare in Protestantism as might be imagined. Nay, we must, in faithfulness, say that the very '' notion of a clergyman " is potentially the germ of class Priesthood. We are all priests; we all have the same nearness to God through Christ, and can all sing "Unto Him that loveth us, and hath washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us a kingdom of priests (a royal priesthood, i Pet. 2:9), unto God and His Father:to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." (Rev. 1:5, 6.)

There is one high priest who ever liveth (Heb. 7:), through whom all our worship is presented in perfect acceptance, because linked with the sweet savor of His name, He stands forever alone as High Priest; but distinction among the priests of God – His worshipers – there is none. Of gifts of ministry we will speak later at length. We would at present only warn the reader never to confound priesthood and ministry:they are radically and entirely different.

We have thus far sought to present some of the leading characteristics of Christian worship. But what has been said can apply to individuals entirely; and it must now be made plain that there is church worship as well as individual,- corporate praise. Not that the ground, object, or materials of the praise are different, but God has provided that the Church shall praise as a whole. The truths we have been considering in previous papers thus far will serve to make this clear. The unity of the Church, the link of the Spirit to a glorified Christ and to one another, – these and kindred truths necessitate the conclusion that "we are "members one of another." When, therefore, we come together, if according to God's mind, we are not merely individuals, but form an assembly representing the whole Church. Our worship is now corporate. The praise and adoration are not merely of an individual, but of an assembly. Let us pause and admire the wisdom as well as the love of God in this provision. He knows we are social beings, that our joy as well as our sorrow needs to be shared, and that thus the one is increased and the other diminished. So in our highest service He has provided that we shall unitedly pour forth our tribute of prayer and thanksgiving.

(To be continued.)

" But without faith it is impossible to please him :for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."-Heb. 11:6.

The ten tribes rebelled against authority – oppressively used-instead of turning to God for help. But, on the other hand, usurped authority is to be refused, in obedience to God. Absalom enthroned himself king, but David refused his authority, and Jonathan ignored the decree of Saul-his own father, and king by divine right. To obey God rather than men is always right. But in the church, often, both sides are ready for division, and permanent confusion results. May we humble ourselves before God, that He may lift us up!

My meat" is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work.""I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished."Thus did Jesus speak of His own labor of love ; and who that professes to be a follower of Him can set a lower measure for his own life than his Master's, "who left us an example that we should follow His steps" ?Not, indeed, that he has no natural fellowship with all that charms the senses or the mind of man, but the melody of the songs of heaven is heard above the voice of earthly music; and the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, seen by the eye of faith, outshines the transient sparkle of earthly splendor. "the time is short."Most blessed word, whether for the stirring up of our diligence in our Lord's work, that when He cometh we maybe found doing His will; or for the gladdening of our souls in the prospect of the near approach whose coming shall be "as the light of the morning, when the sun ariseth, even a morning without clouds." (2 Sam. 23:)Let us try everything that the world holds dear by the glory of that day, by the power and coming of Jesus, by the joy of His saints in whom He will come to be glorified, and then let our hearts decide whether we are ready to count all as dung that we may win Christ.

(Continued from page 41.)

CHAPTER IV.

The fourth subdivision follows the third, as Numbers follows Leviticus, with the story of the temptation in the wilderness. The Israelites took forty years, and then how little had they learned the lessons which they were put there to school to learn! The Lord is there forty days, and approves Himself as all the way through perfect,- Master, and not disciple.

He had fulfilled, as we have seen, in the thirty years of His private life at Nazareth, His own human responsibility before God. He had then come forth from that retirement to take His public place as Mediator for others. He is now accepted as perfectly pleasing to the Father, the unblemished Lamb of sacrifice, the Priest able to offer for the sins of men. To this office He is consecrated by the descent of the Spirit upon Him, and is now the Christ, the "Anointed," proclaimed openly to be this.

In obedience to the law of responsibility He must be now tested as to His ability for the path upon which He has entered. The book of Job shows us Satan allowed of God for this purpose to be " the accuser of the brethren." He who is to be the "firstborn among" these pleads for Himself no exemption from this trial. He is expressly "led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil" who is designated thus, according to the meaning of the term, as the "false accuser."

But God had pronounced, Is not that enough ? Alas, sin had come in, distrust of God Himself:He
also is upon trial; and Satan's reasoning in Job's case clearly takes that ground. God pronounces as to Job, and he takes exception as to it. "Hast Thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house?" is as much as to say '' This sentence is not after fair trial."And God, in His mercy to man, who had, to his undoing, accepted Satan's malignity for truth, does not retreat behind His privilege. If He is and must be sovereign in His doing, so that '' none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, what doest Thou?" yet He will suffer question, and let all be brought into the fullest light. Job's "hedge" is taken away, and Satan is allowed large limits within which to deal with him,- the end being, of course, blessing to the sufferer, and vindication of God's perfect ways.

Here is His own Beloved, and there is no remnant of a hedge about the person of the Christ of God. Nor will He use the power that is His against the adversary. As conflict between good and evil, power cannot decide it. The good must manifest itself as that, and stand by its own virtue against all odds, The glorious Wrestler is stripped, therefore, for the wrestling. Son of God, though He be, He ordains for Himself the poverty of the creature, the conditions of humanity, and these in their utmost straitness. Man in Adam in his first perfection had been tempted in a garden, specially prepared and furnished for him. But one thing was denied him ; and in the denial there was contained a blessing, among the chief of all the blessings there. Real want there was none, and need was in such sort ministered to as to be itself in every character the occasion of a new delight. The weakness of the creature is owned, but tenderly provided for, so as to witness of the tender arms of love that were about him:he had but to shrink into them to be in perfect safety, outside of all possible reach of harm.

But not so sheltered, not so provided for, was the new Adam, the Son of man. The garden had gone:in its stead was the wilderness; nor was there nurture for Him even, from Nature's barren breast. For forty days He fasts, and then the hunger of those forty days is on Him:then the tempter comes. It marks the contrast between Him and other men, that whereas a Moses or an Elias fasted to meet God, He must fast to meet the devil.

There are three forms of the temptation; though with the first broken we see, indeed, that victory is gained over them all. Yet for our instruction, however, it is that we are permitted to have all before us, that we may realize the points in which the subtlety perfected by ages of experience finds man to be above all accessible, and how Satan is to be resisted still. We shall do well to consider them closely, therefore, and with the closest application also to ourselves. The battlefield here may seem to be a narrow one; the points of attack few; the weapons employed against the enemy a scanty armory; but here lies one of the excellencies of Scripture, that its principles, while they may seem simple, have in them the depths of divine wisdom, and far-reaching application to the most diverse needs.

"And when the tempter came unto Him, he said, If thou be Son of God, command that these stones be made bread."

Satan thus would act upon Him by the conviction of what He was, and make Him assert Himself, in circumstances which seemed quite unsuited to Him as such. The Son of God, the beloved of the Father, at the extreme point of starvation in a desert! But then this was surely in His own power to set right:was it not true that He needed not circumstances to be adjusted to Him, who was able so easily to adjust them to Himself ? The power surely was His, the need was real, the hunger was sinless:why, then, should He not put forth His power, and make the stones of the ground into bread to supply His necessities ? So simple and plausible is the suggestion, so well it seems to recognize the truth of what He was, so natural is it with us to minister with what power we have to our own requirements, that to any of us, naturally, it would seem to be of no evil suggestion. at all,- no temptation. But it was such; and the Lord's answer will show us, better than any reasoning of our own, why it was such.

It has been noticed always – it could scarcely escape notice-that the Lord answers from the word of God. This is the sword of the Spirit, the only weapon we have wherewith to encounter the adversary. But it is striking to find the Lord, who could have certainly answered from His own mind, using always, and with distinct reference to it as such, the written word. We see that He takes the same ground as ourselves, answers as man, and subject, as we are, to the authority of God. And this the passage that He quotes fully proves,-going, indeed, beyond it:" It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

This is from Deuteronomy (8:3), the book that sums up the lessons of the wilderness for the people who had passed through the wilderness. And the passage shows that the dealings of God with His people had been directly designed to teach them this:"And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knew-est not, neither did thy fathers know, that He might make thee know that man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." How important – how supremely important, therefore, is this principle!

Man lives by the word of God,- in obedience to it. The true life of mail is nourished and sustained alone by this. Bread will not sustain it:the life of obedience is that which alone is "life." In this way we see, that though, because of inherent sin everywhere, the legal covenant had no life in it, yet there is another sense in which "which, if a man do, he shall even live in them," is to be understood. There is really a path of life thus, though grace alone can put us in it, or retain us there. Eternal life and disobedience cannot go together. This is, in the nature of things, impossible. The gospel docs not alter it; grace but affirms it:yea, "sin shall not have dominion over you, because ye are not under the law, but under grace."

All this is in the passage quoted by the Lord; but in His application of it we are made to go further than naturally we should carry it. What principle of disobedience, we might question, could be contained in the simple suggestion to use power that He really had, to minister to need that was as really His also, and in which, therefore, there could be no evil ?

Notice, then, that it is as "man" He speaks,- it is of man these things are written. Son of God He was,-adoringly we own it:it is that makes the path we are thinking of so wonderful an one; but it is not in the open glory of the Godhead that He is come to traverse the earth, but to learn obedience in a path of humiliation,- nay, by the things that He suffered. He is come as man to work out redemption for men; and for this to learn all that is proper to man, apart from sin. Thus He cannot save Himself out of this condition by the power of the Godhead. What He can use freely for others, for Himself He cannot use. It is He of whom it is written in the volume of the book, " Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God! … I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is within my heart." (Ps. 40:7, 8.) Thus He is here subject, and subject in satisfaction and delight, to the will of Another. He has, in His whole course on earth, no other motive. Need may press, appetite may crave:He feels all this as other men; did He not feel it, the glory of His humiliation would be dimmed. But while He feels it, it is no motive to Him:there is but one motive – the will of God. To make Himself the motive would destroy this perfection,- come to do that will, nothing else.

This is the spirit in which He goes forth to service:the close of it on earth – closing with the deepest humiliation and dreadest shadow of all – affords so beautiful an example of this principle, even while at first sight it might seem in conflict with it, that one cannot forbear to speak of it here. One of the physical distresses of the great agony of the cross is the intense thirst that is produced by it. Almost the last words of the Lord there had reference to this, and gave it expression. His words, "I thirst," are answered by the sponge filled with vinegar, of which He tasted; and they were such as naturally to call forth such an answer. Was this, then, really any seeking of relief, in His extremity, even from the hands that had nailed Him there? No, this could not be; and we are carefully guarded from such a perversion. There was one scripture, we are told, that remained to be fulfilled; and of this it was, in all the agony of the hour, that He was thinking:"Jesus, that the Scripture might be fit I filled, saith, I thirst." This leads to what had been predicted, "In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." Thus the glorious obedience shines here without a cloud upon it; nay, with surpassing luster. " Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God," is throughout the principle of His life. F. W. G. (To be continued.)

The inheritance is reserved in heaven for us, and we are kept for the inheritance by the power of God (i Pet. 1:3, 4). God, as it were, holds the inheritance in one hand and us in the other. Both are kept by His almighty power, and will soon be brought together.