In the study of the Psalms, it is necessary to distinguish between what
is relative to the Spirit of Christ personally and to the same Spirit
animating the remnant of His people. Moreover, the expression of their own exercises
are freely interspersed with those prompted by the Spirit of Christ. Unlike the
summaries which form prefaces to the chapters in other books of the Bible,
the Psalm headings are inspired and thus demand equal attention with the subsequent
subject matters. ……….

Psalm 4, although primarily connected with the experience of David, applies with greater
force ultimately to his Lord who was enlarged when in distress. His Glory
was turned to shame by the sons of men and gladness was put
in His heart. ("For the joy that was set before Him He endured
the cross, despising the shame…..Heb. 12,2"). Psalm 6 speaks of the many sorrows
of Christ in the midst of His enemies. Psalm 12 shows the same
experience developed in the persecution of "the poor and needy" remnant by the
treacherous and evil rulers of the day in which they live. In His
devoted love He associated Himself with the poor of the flock while here.
While since He has gone on high He is still watching their interests
in deep perfect sympathy!

‘ ‘Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine
heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to
die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." (Acts 21:13.)

Conducted by the hand of God, and strengthened by His grace, he is
led, bound in the spirit, to pass through circumstances that put to the
test his state of soul, and brought his public career to a close.

He goes up then to Jerusalem forewarned (though neglecting or resisting these various
warnings of the Spirit), accompanied by the brethren who were with him, and
an old disciple, Mnason, with whom he was to lodge. Arrived at Jerusalem,
the disciples receive him gladly; and here begins the history of submission to
human forms and Jewish customs which terminated in his captivity at Rome. But
he does not follow these Jewish forms and ceremonies that he may thereby
attract his countrymen to the gospel, but because persuaded into them by the
elders and James, in order to shew that he was himself a good
Jew, faithful to the law, and to Jewish customs.

It was precisely this which threw him into the hands of the hostile
Jews, and then into those of the Gentiles.

Jesus, on the contrary, in the dignity of His perfection, sits in the
temple to instruct the multitude. All classes of Jews come to prove Him,
but all are judged, and reduced to silence by the divine patience of
the Saviour, and none dare ask Him any more questions. Then as we
have said, the Lord is condemned for the witness He bore to the
truth.

When Paul arrives, the elders assemble with James, and, attached as they were
to Judaism, and surrounded by Christian Jews, in order to Uphold the reputation
of their religion and unite Christianity to Judaism, counsel Paul to satisfy the
prejudices of the believing Jews by purifying himself after their custom, and offering
sacrifices in the temple, so that he might appear a good Jew in
their eyes.

Paul accedes to their proposal; and we encounter the strange spectacle of the
apostle offering sacrifices, as though all such had not been abolished by the
Lord’s death. He neither upholds nor wins the Jews who were not set
free from their customs. Still God permitted him willingly to conform to these
Jewish ceremonies. Being at Jerusalem, though warned by the Spirit not to go
there, what could he do?

Let us remember, if we have been cast out for the Lord’s name
from a place where we have been under the authority of the governing
power, not to re-enter it so that we may not again be placed
in the position from which we have been freed. The relationship has been
broken by the authority itself, and if we have left it by the
will of God, by returning we place ourselves anew under the abandoned authority;
and if this be contrary to that of the Lord Jesus, under which
we came when liberated from human authority, we reestablish over us the authority
which had been destroyed, and thus strife begins between the authority of Christ
over us, and that which we have abandoned.

It is impossible to go on well thus. We were free under the
authority of Christ, free to do His will; and we have returned to
the authority which prohibits obedience to Christ. For example, suppose that a son
or a daughter has been driven from home for the Lord’s name; by
this act the parents have renounced their authority. If this son returns to
his father’s house, he places himself under paternal authority, and what can he
do when his parents oppose the faith of Christ? He is powerless; and
moreover, has so lost his liberty, as to renew over himself the authority
which opposes that of Christ, has given up the latter to return to
that which is contrary to it.

… Let us remember that his submission to these customs put an end
to the public testimony of the
apostle. ….

FRAGMENT "For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make
myself a transgressor."
(Galatians 2:18)

"And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin;
but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the javelin
into the wall:and David fled, and escaped that night." (1 Sam. 19
:10.)

"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper." (Isaiah 54:17.)

"There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is….. light and understanding
and wisdom…..an excellent spirit and knowledge." (Daniel 5; 11, 12.)

"Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us." (Psalm 90:
17)

A venerable saint, recently departed, gave as his sober retrospection of 80 years,
mostly spent in public life, this:"I have often been wrongfully attacked, but
have never attempted to defend myself. I have borne in silence and committed
my cause to God, and there has never been a wrong done me
that has not been rectified, no blow aimed at me which has not
recoiled on him who dealt it." (selected)

Onward then to glory move; more than conquerors ye shall prove; though opposed
by many a foe, Christian solider, onward go. (selected)

FRAGMENT "The chastisement of our peace was upon Him." (Isa. 53 :5.)

Not the crowd whose cries assailed Him,
Not the hands that rudely nailed Him,
Slew Him on the cursed tree;
Mine the sin, from heaven that called Him,
Mine the sin, whose burden galled Him,
On the sad, sad Calvary.

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good
tidings, that publisheth peace:that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation:
that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth" (Isa. 52:7).

"Behold upon the mountains the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that
publisheth peace!" (Nah. 1:15).

"How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince’s daughter! The joints of
thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning
workman" (Song 7:1).

We generally look for beautiful features in the face, and speak of
beautiful eyes, complexion, hair, or features; it is not customary to look at
the feet for beauty. But the Spirit of God in the above-quoted scriptures
speaks of beautiful feet, another instance that, "My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord" (Isa. 55:8).

As we realize that the prophets as led by the Spirit of God
are speaking of God’s beloved Son, what food for thought is afforded us
in the fact that it is His "beautiful feet" that are dwelt upon!
We read, and can never forget, "As many were astonished at Thee:His
visage was so marred more than any man and His form more than
the sons of men," and once we could see "no beauty that we
should desire him" (Isa. 52:14; 53:2). Now all is changed:

"His beauty shineth far above
Our feeble power of praise,
And we shall live and learn His love
Through everlasting days;"

Those beautiful feet show His walk and pathway here below, a path of
lowliness, holiness, meekness, cheerfulness, and service, at which even His enemies wondered, which
delighted God, for it was a path of perfect submission to His will,
and thrills our hearts. No wonder the Spirit of God could speak of
His beautiful feet! But His path led Him to the cross. Unwavering, unfaltering,
knowing what lay before Him, those beautiful feet went on to greater humiliation
and suffering. It was the only way He could bring good tidings and
publish peace. Let us never forget this, brethren.

"Lo, the tokens of His passion,
Though in glory, still He bears;
Cause of endless exultation
To His ransomed worshippers."

But the beautiful feet of Him that bringeth good tidings are upon the
mountains. Spoken first to Israel, surely, the day is coming when those feet
shall stand upon the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4). They have trodden that
same mountain before. It was the last place, after His toilsome journey here,
where those beautiful feet rested ere He ascended to heaven. On that Mount
His disciples looked steadfastly up and beheld Him blessing them as He was
parted from them. They heard those words that have so long cheered His
own in their pathway here, "This same Jesus, which is taken up from
you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen
Him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11). He went, leaving His blessing; He comes
back to bless. Good tidings and peace for Israel as He comes, swiftly
and surely, upon the mountains, the cynosure of every eye, as their Deliverer.
Then the waste places of Jerusalem shall break forth and sing together when
the Lord comforts His people and redeems Jerusalem.

THE IMPORT OF MARRIAGE (Gen. 2:18-24; Eph. 5:22, 33.)

Marriage is like a finger pointing to the union of Christ and the
Church; and what a poor-hearted thing he must be who, with the arm
of a wife pressing on his own has never thought of it as
pointing to the love of the Lord Jesus for that Church, for whom
He gave Himself, and which He is to present to Himself without spot,
or wrinkle, or any such thing.

There is "a time to keep silence", we read in Ecc’l.3, "and a
time to speak." When the glory of our Blessed Lord is being assailed,
and error pressed upon us as the truth, in a plausable manner, it
is surely "a time to speak".

A number of our readers have received some papers through the mails, within
the last few months, which present the old and most destructive error of
denying to our God the Glory of being Father in eternity, and to
our Lord of being Son in eternity. We believe it well to refute
this with all vigor and godly fear.

We will quote a few lines from papers that we have personally received.
In one which is undated and unsigned (although it seems that the last
page or pages may be missing which would account for the lack of
a signature), it is stated:

F. W. Grant, in his excellent pamphlet, "The Crowned Christ", also in Help
& Food 1896-7, devotes a chapter to "The Eternal Son." On page 18,
he adds that:

"One direct text of scripture outweighs all possible arguments; here surely if anywhere,
where we know nothing but by revelation. And it is given as proof
of the greatness of divine love, in one of the most familiar texts
to all of us, that "God so loved the world, that He gave
His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have
eternal life" (John 3:16). This by the Lord Himself; while the apostle who
records it, preaches upon it in his epistle:"Herein was manifested the love
of God toward us, because God sent His only-begotten Son into the world,
that we might live through Him. Herein is love; not that we loved
God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:9,10).

"The depth of this love is shown then in this, that the Father
sent His Son into the world for us:it is perfectly plain then
that Christ was the Son before He came into the world. The appeal
to our hearts is simple, who know in ourselves, though fallen, something of
what a father’s love is. And if we look back to the time
when God was pleased to show in Abraham’s case something of the reality
of sacrifice, we feel it as a trial beyond nature when we hear
the measured words, every word in agony, "Take now thy son, – thine
only son, – Isaac, – whom thou lovest; and go into the land
of Moriah, and offer him up there a burnt-offering upon one of the
mountains I will tell thee of" (Gen. 22:2).

"….How could we do without those precious words "Son" and "Father", back of
all dispensations, all economic display, to show what is the nature of God
in itself eternally, – the absolute verity of that which has now been
revealed?

"Nothing can satisfy all which the Scriptures tell us of this great mystery,
but the faith of this – that the Father and the Son are
in the glory of the God-head; and in that relation too, though equal
in that glory… Can the Son be honoured even as the Father (John
5:23), if He be not owned in the Godhead?…The understanding which has been
given us, has been given us to know "Him that is True", as
being "in Him that is True, even in His Son Jesus Christ;" and
to this it is added, "this is the true God, and eternal life."

"But still further. I ask, can the love of God be understood according
to Scripture if this Sonship be not owned? Does not that love get
its character from that very doctrine?"

And here, Mr. Bellett quotes John 3:16 and the other verses from 1
John that Mr. Grant uses in his remarks. Then he (Mr. Bellett) continues:

J. N. Darby, in his synopsis of the Epistle to the Colossians, chapter
one, verse 16, points out, in his usual pithy style of expression, that:

"It was in the Person of the Son that God acted, when by
His power He created all things, whether in heaven or in earth, visible
and invisible. All that is great and exalted is but the work of
His hand; all has been created by Him (the Son) and for Him.
Thus, when He takes possession of it, He takes it as His inheritance
by right. Wonderful truth, that He who has redeemed us, who made Himself
man, one of us as to nature, in order to do so, is
the Creator. But such is the truth." A few pages further on, he
remarks that:"The Son is also the name of the proper relationship of
His glorious Person to the Father before the world was. It is in
this character that He Created all things. The Son is to be glorified
even as the Father.., In the Epistle to the Colossians that which is
set before us is the proper glory of His Person as the Son
before the world was. He is the Creator as Son. It is important
to observe this." (page 13,15).

Those of our readers who have access to these writings are invited to
read in full that from which these excerpts have been taken, and by
all let the Scriptures be searched to see whether these things be so
(Acts 17:11).

One who loves the Lord, and knows his place as a member of
His Body, which is the Church, cannot be indifferent or neutral on this
subject.

FRAGMENT
He knows; He loves; He cares!
Nothing — this truth can dim.
He gives the very best – to those
Who leave the choice with Him.

"As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may
grow thereby." (1 Pet. 2:2.)

Is not this a passage often misconceived of? Does it mean that we
are to be always as babes in Christ returning to the first elements
for nourishment? I apprehend this is how many take it. But it is
not its force, as a little consideration may suffice to show.

There is of course a stage in our life as Christians in which
we are necessarily and rightly "babes". The apostle John addresses himself to these
(1 John 2). But the Corinthians were rebuked for the continuance of such
a state, and to them carnality was the true synonym for its protraction:
"I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto
carnal, even as unto babes in Christ" (1 Cor. 3:1). And both here
and in the epistle to the Hebrews the apostle blames them for the
necessity they had for "milk".