The epistle to the Romans is, in character, a treatise on the gospel. It is a divinely-authorized unfolding of the nature and character of the gospel.

Chapter i:1-17 is a fitting introduction. In it we are assured that the epistle is written by divine authority. Paul, the human author of it, writes as one who has been specially called by God to the apostolic office. He was divinely set apart to the proclamation of the gospel to men-all men. As so called and set apart, it was his divinely-imposed responsibility not only to publicly proclaim the gospel to all nations, but also to unfold to the saints-all believers-the fulness of the blessing it bestows on those who receive it.

Insisting on the divine authority by which he writes, the apostle also declares that the message which God has put in his trust relates to God's Son. The Son of God is its great theme. This leads him to make a statement which is a remarkable unfolding of the unique Person who is the subject of the message committed to him. In this statement reference is first made to His earthly origin. He comes of the family of David. By a true human birth He is a son of David. He is thus in reality a true man. But the apostle goes on to say that He is a man to be distinguished from all other men. The power of the Spirit of holiness was displayed in Him throughout the life He lived in human flesh. In His human life He came in contact with dead people; but whenever and wherever this contact occurred there was manifested a power equal to the destruction of death and corruption. Displayed thus as being in His own person the annulment of death and corruption, He was shown to be the Son of God, proved to be God as well as man.

What a unique Person! What a glorious Person! How transcendently glorious even in the lowest depths of humiliation!

It was by such a Person Paul was called to the apostolic office. He filled the office by the highest possible authority. God's object in putting him in trust with the gospel, in setting him apart to the public proclamation of it among all nations, was to secure faith-obedience. Among those who had thus obeyed the gospel were the believers at Rome. They were very dear to God.

Paul evidently had never been at Rome, had never seen the believers there. They were bright lights, since they were being spoken of everywhere; and this fact filled the apostle's heart with gratitude to God. He solemnly assured them that he was continually praying for them, specially pleading to be granted the privilege of making them a visit. It was his desire to bestow upon them some spiritual blessing, and to have the comfort of enjoying in their midst the mutual exercise of their faith.

It was not from lack of interest in them that he had never visited them. He had often formed the purpose to go to Rome, but had been hindered thus far in carrying it out. He acknowledged, however, that he owed the gospel to all men-to the Barbarian as much as to the Greek, to the unwise as well as to the wise. He was therefore ready, as far as it depended on himself, to proclaim the gospel at Rome. He was not ashamed of it, for it was God's power to save men. It meant salvation to every one who believed it.

The believer of the gospel is assured of a full salvation-a salvation to be known and enjoyed as a present salvation. What assures this to the believer is the blessed fact that the gospel contains a full revelation of the righteous character of God. The gospel proclaims God's right, or title, to show grace- that there is no contradiction between righteousness and grace in Him. It is this revelation of the harmony of divine grace and divine righteousness that assures the believer of the gospel that he is saved. The revelation is for faith. Faith therefore, 1:e., the believer, possesses the revelation. It belongs to him. It is his right to enjoy it. It is his privilege to be in the full comfort of the revelation.

It is the failure of preachers of the gospel to emphasize this blessed revelation of the apostolic gospel that accounts for the doubts and lack of assurance of salvation of large numbers of believers in the present day. May God raise up among His people everywhere faithful proclaimers of the gospel revelation that God, through the cross of Christ, has maintained His right to show grace-full, free grace -to sinners. Under such preaching we shall see healthier converts and brighter saints.

C. Crain.

(To be continued.)

" How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord:my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. . . . Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house:they will be still praising Thee" (Ps. 84:1, 2, 4). Thus sang the sweet singer, who. though king of Israel, never entered into the holiest of all-into the very presence of God Himself (Heb. 9 :7, 11), the blessed and holy privilege of the least of God's saints now. And yet, how the joy of His courts filled to the uttermost the innermost being of David, the beloved I That his soul cried out, yea, even fainted, for the courts of the Lord was because his heart and his flesh cried out for the living God. And so shall it be with us here now, when our hearts and our flesh cry out for him. No more then the forsaking of the assembly of the saints, as the manner of some is; no more then the deserted and neglected prayer-meeting. The Lord fill our hearts with the joy of His own presence. Amen. A. V.

Elihu. (Job 32-37.)

None perhaps, in Old Testament times, is a brighter witness of the light than Elihu. Nor could night be much darker than the scene in which he shined. Job had ended his words. They were the words of a man who in his doings was truly a righteous man, but so enamored with and proud of his righteousness that he could understand nothing of God's present dealings with him. So rooted was he in self-satisfaction, so blind as to any other righteousness than man's, that when trouble came he could accuse God of dealing arbitrarily and unjustly with him, and complain that it profited a man nothing to delight himself with God. If one of the two was wrong, he or God, it must be God. What deep darkness indeed! and yet in a man whose life had been most excellent.

His three friends knew no better. If one is afflicted, they said, it must be because he has done wicked things. So Job must have lived a wicked life, and all his pretended fear of God be but hypocrisy. Therefore when he justifies himself and accuses God, they have nothing to answer. They are as much in the dark as he.

Elihu stands in the midst of all this deep darkness a loyal witness of Him who is the Light of the world -the Light that "shineth in darkness." Being a young man, he had respected his elders in years, and had let them have all their say. There is a wisdom which years teach, and which youth does well to listen to and respect; but there is also that which years do not teach ; it is revealed wisdom ; it is Christ, and Him crucified. In Him, and by His sin-atoning death alone, does God delight in and exalt man. Apart from this, man in his best estate is but a sinful, guilty creature, going on to endless shame and judgment. In Christ alone is there for man blessing and peace and glory. In Him alone is God's good pleasure in man displayed.

Elihu, the man of faith, lets all this light shine on these benighted men, who know but their own righteousness and merit. He explains why such distress as Job's can come upon such a good man as Job:To break up his will and his pride; make him say in truth, " I abhor myself," and then find his rest and cause of glorying in the ransom which God has provided in Christ for him. Thus while God now justifies Job, Job ceases to justify himself, and justifies God in all His doings; and his friends are humbled too.

How unspeakably blessed to be thus, in any measure, as Elihu, God's witnesses for the Light in a scene of darkness! Nor is it in heathenism alone that light is needed. What is Christendom now, in its most respected form in the world, but a Job and his three friends! What multitudes in it, from end to end, know nothing, have nothing, but their own righteousness! They think themselves well clothed, and yet God sees them but in filthy rags. How unspeakably blessed, then, to be able to shed light on all this, to lead the troubled ones out of their troubles into the haven of rest, and to the place of blessing and fruitfulness! Let each man who has learned that it is " Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption," so rejoice in that Light that he too may be an Elihu, wherever he may be.

The Man of God Bethel. (1 Kings 13.)

He is not named. It leaves us more tree to put ourselves in his place, and thus the better learn the lesson intended in the recital.

In the face of the enemy he is faithful in everything. He denounces the false altar, at his own peril; pronounces judgment against it; maintains a lovely spirit of grace in praying for the recovery of the hand which a moment before was ready to smite him; he refuses the wicked king's proffered reward, and, whatever his need, obeys his orders well and refuses all refreshment in that place.

But alas, this devoted man is off his guard before a brother; and it is a brother who deceives him. He should have known it was the voice of a false prophet since it agreed not with the voice of Him who had sent him. For some hidden cause he is led to disobey the word of God, and thus become a prey to the lion. What a lesson this is for us all in a day so full of similar circumstances! How liable we are, after suffering much, perhaps, for truth's sake, to go for refreshment where the word of God has forbidden-even among His own! Obedience to God is the highest calling and work of man.

"Follow holiness . ..without which no man hath shall see the Lord."

We all know that holiness does not produce salvation; but do we lay solemnly to heart that without it no man shall see the Lord ? If our lives then are not holy, let us not deceive ourselves. Let us awake out of our deadly sleep, and turn to Him who both saves and sanctifies. Nor let us think we are holy while yet, perhaps, we find some plausible excuse for the evil of our nature. No, no! Holiness excuses not sin in myself. It condemns and hates it, to its finest roots and fibers. It says not, "I was born with it, and therefore I cannot help it." It says, "Yes, I was born with it, but I abhor it, I mourn over it, I refuse it, I obey it not, I am on God's side against it." This is holiness, and the true character of those who are delivered from the wrath to come by the Lord Jesus Christ.

(Continued from page 185.)

We have seen that not only is salvation from wrath the assured portion of those who are justified by God on the ground of the atoning sacrifice of Christ, but that they live by and in the living and risen One. We have also seen that the power of resurrection which has already been applied to the body of our blessed Lord, in its due season will be applied to the bodies of the justified. Our salvation will not be a fully completed salvation until this is done. But such a salvation is assured to the justified.

If, then, there is power in Christ, the living, risen Christ, to conform the bodies of the justified (whether it be the mortal body or the dead body) to His own resurrection-body, there must be power in Him to use the mortal body as a vessel for the display of this life:there must be power in Him to produce practical holiness in those who have life in Him. Nothing in the life, walk and service of the justified that is not produced by Him can be fruitfulness for God.

The living, risen Christ, then, is the power of practical deliverance from the power of sin still dwelling in the bodies of the justified. This practical salvation from the power of indwelling sin is involved and included in the apostle's expression, in verse 10 of chap. 5, "We shall be saved by His life."

Now, before we proceed with the epistle, it is important that this should be clearly understood. From this point on it is not a question of how a guilty sinner can be saved from the necessity of having to stand before God, to be judged for his sins -the deeds done in his body, but it is a question of how a person-who has already been saved from that dreadful necessity-can be saved from the present dominion of the sin that dwells in him. It is not a salvation from a future judgment of sins that is being considered, but a day by day salvation from a power that is realized to be ever inwardly present. Sin dwells in the mortal body, how can it be nullified ? That is the great question. How can the tyranny of sin dwelling in the body be overcome? Can practical deliverance from the dominion of indwelling sin be realized?

Here many serious and fatal mistakes have been made. Many, not realizing that the living, risen Christ is the power of deliverance, have sought to curb the activities of indwelling sin. They have endeavored to resist it and fight it down. With many the conclusion has been accepted that it is not only a hopeless struggle, but that they have no resource. They say, " We must go on in sin." They abandon the struggle and give up the very idea of ever in this life realizing deliverance from the power of sin. They reason that under grace it is permissible to continue in sin. Some carry the argument so far that they justify continuing in sin on the ground that the grace of God abounds by it. It is an unholy argument-a shocking abuse of grace.

Another mistake, often made, is that the struggle with indwelling sin, to repress and overcome it, is the normal Christian experience. They consider that the struggle and the exercises connected with it are the sure proofs of being a Christian. They would look upon one who has found deliverance, and lives in the sense and joy of it, as being presumptuous and treading on very dangerous ground. With them the cry, voiced by the apostle, where he says, "O wretched man that I am," is the very acme of Christian attainment. They, too, thus give up the idea of deliverance from the power of indwelling sin.

Others again consider that the struggle with the inward evil indicates that the Holy Spirit has not been received. Some of those who hold this view contend that we must die to sin. They constantly urge upon us that we must crucify self, that we must persist in the process of self-crucifixion until we have succeeded in eliminating the inward evil altogether. They argue that the Holy Spirit and sin cannot dwell together, that the body must be made a holy body-a sinless body, before the Holy Spirit can come into it to make it His habitation. Some, a few, have persuaded themselves that they have been successful in their efforts to destroy self, and that, in their cases, the mortal body has actually become a sinless body. Many more are struggling hard to attain that result.

But there are others who would strenuously refuse such teaching as I have been referring to, who yet hold that the Holy Spirit does not indwell the body of one who has not learned or apprehended what is the real power of deliverance from the reign of the indwelling sin. According to their view the believer, who is passing through the exercises and experiences which are described and explained in the portion of the epistle we are about to consider, is not yet in Christ. While they have a more or less clear understanding of the character of the exercises and experiences themselves, they yet regard the one who is passing through them as still "in the flesh." For them he is neither in Christ nor in the Spirit.

Now all these views, and others, more or less akin to them, are erroneous. The section of the epistle that is now to be before us fully answers them. To enter intelligently on the study of it, it is needful to mark the character of it as distinguished from that of the section we have already reviewed. In this no question of the sinful nature inherent in all men was raised. There is no guilt attaching to the children of Adam for having a fallen, sinful nature. They are not responsible for it, will not be judged for it at the great white throne. They are, however, responsible for allowing it to act. Guilt attaches to the allowing the acts. It is for the deeds done in the body men are responsible. This is what constitutes them guilty. It is their guilt-the deeds done-that they will have to face and be judged for at the great white throne.

We have already seen that what characterizes that part of the epistle we have gone over is the ground and principle on which God gratuitously and righteously delivers a guilty man from the necessity of being judged for what he is guilty of, from having to endure the eternal penalty of his sins.

Nothing of this is found in the next part of the epistle. The wrath of God, as the deserved due of sins, is not contemplated here. It is not this that causes the exercises and experiences that are described. We are not in any way occupied with a soul that is fearing the judgment of the great white throne and is seeking deliverance from it. This has been fully considered in the previous chapters, and peace with God established on a secure basis.

But what we find here is a soul that, having deliverance from eternal judgment , and being so in the sense of the love of God in providing such a deliverance for him, earnestly wants now to live for God. He wants to serve God in a life of holiness. He wants his life now henceforth to be one of fruitfulness for God. Hitherto his body has been a vessel for the use of sin, for Satan's use, now he wants it be a vessel for the use of God.
But with these desires, purposes, aims, longings and aspirations, he finds in himself a power that hinders him from realizing what he so ardently desires. By this power-the power of evil within him, an indwelling, fallen, sinful nature-he is turned from normal Christian occupation (the enjoyment of Christ) to self-occupation and introspection. He longs to be delivered from this power. He feels what terrible bondage it is to be so helpless under a power which, the more he struggles against it, the more miserable he gets. It is a wretched condition to be in. The exceedingly sinful thing that is in him, his fallen, sinful nature, seems to be triumphant. It is reigning in his body.

Is there a power that is greater than this power of indwelling sin ?-a power equal to the deliverance out of this wretched self-occupation and miserable introspection ?-a power of sufficient energy to produce holiness notwithstanding an ever-present sinful nature ?-to produce fruit for God, to use the body as a vessel for the display of the life of the risen Christ, though sin still dwells in it ?

Yes, thank God, there is such a power Only it needs that we be turned to the place where it is to find it, and be conscious of its workings. It is this need that the second part of Romans meets and provides for. It turns us to the place where the power for living the life of Christ practically is to be found. To be occupied with it there is to be practically under the delivering power, and practically delivered from the power of indwelling sin.

This part of the epistle, then, answers the question, Where do the justified find power to live practically by Christ? Where do they find power to display the life of the risen Christ in their mortal bodies ?

We shall now turn to it to follow the apostle's discussion of the question. May the blessed Spirit guide us in doing so. And may we be helped to a fuller and deeper apprehension of the deliverance that the God, who righteously justifies the sinner that believes, has provided for the justified to enjoy. C. Crain

(To be continued.)

A pamphlet has been sent me entitled "Abolished Rites, "with a request that a word be given in help and food as to the proper application of Heb. 9:10. In the tractate referred to, the passage is made to mean that baptism and the Lord's Supper were instituted in the early church, by the Lord arid His apostles, to last "until He come, "which is taken to refer to His providential coming at Jerusalem's destruction. These precious emblematic observances are said to be included in the "divers washings (or baptisms) and carnal ordinances, imposed [on them] until the time of reformation." This latter expression is made to be co-incident with the destruction of the city and temple by the Romans. Much stress is laid on the spiritual character of this dispensation, and ordinances of any kind are declared to be out of all harmony with it.

How any thoughtful reader of Heb. 9 can fail to see that the "abolished rites " of that chapter are the ritualistic services of the legal dispensation, is beyond my comprehension. The writer's difficulty evidently arose from a faulty understanding of the last part of verse 8-"While as the first tabernacle was yet standing." He jumps to the conclusion that all forms or ceremonies celebrated prior to the actual leveling of the temple, are to be considered as abolished afterwards. A little study would have made known to him that the true meaning of the clause is "While the first tabernacle had a standing." J.N.D. renders it "While as yet the first tabernacle has [its] standing." No matter how long the temple as a building existed, it had no standing before God after the rending of the veil. At that moment all typical ceremonies and ordinances were abolished.

But Christian baptism and the Lord's Supper were both communicated to us after the rending of the veil. It was in resurrection the Lord Jesus gave commandment to His disciples concerning baptism (Matt. 28:19); and it was as glorified He expressed His desire to Paul the apostle in regard to the breaking of bread (i Cor. 11:23-25). Nor have these directions ever been countermanded or these hallowed ordinances been abolished.

It is true that we live in a spiritual dispensation. But we are not merely spirits. We have our bodies still. And baptism and the Lord's Supper are, in a very real and precious sense, the links between the outward and the inward. He who talks of spiritual communion, while ignoring the "bread which we break," and "the cup of blessing which we bless,"-the " communion of the body," and of " the blood of Christ"-makes it manifest that he considers his own thoughts to be above the written (and material) Scriptures. Even as he who glories in the Spirit's baptism, while decrying baptism in water as taught by the Spirit, shows himself un-subject to Him whose Lordship he is supposed to own.

A godly member of the Society of Friends was once convinced of this by a visit to various mission stations in India. In Calcutta educated natives said to him," Your Christianity is just what we like; it has no baptism to separate us from our people, and no Lord's Supper where we eat with all Christians and break our caste; it is all spiritual, and we can hold it spiritually while remaining where we are!" He owned frankly that he saw in this the wisdom of God in giving these ordinances to the Church. Both speak of the Cross, and are precious reminders of the death of Christ, never to be abolished "till He come." H. A. I.

"Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest."

" But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put HIS NAME there." – Deut. 12:13, 5.

There is a plainly furnished room,
"Tis in a village street,
And to a company of saints
It is a sweet retreat ;
For in that place the Lord has set
His Name, to which we meet.

Each Lord's Day morn we gather there,
Responding to His plea;
"As oft as ye do this, beloved,
Ye do remember Me –
My body broken, and My blood
Poured out in death for thee. "

Our Lord Himself is there to bless
His own memorial feast:
His presence "in the midst" ensures
A welcome to the least;
And all we need in Him we find-
Our Sacrifice and Priest.

Around the table of His grace,
Spread with this feast of love,
We meditate in perfect peace
On our High Priest above:
With praise and gratitude we trace
The wonders of His love.

The love that bore our sin and shame,
And brought us nigh to God,
Has cleansed our souls from every stain,
Through faith in Jesus' blood.
Each blood-washed soul, thus saved by grace,
Is now a priest to God.

The prayer, or song, or scripture read,
Repeats the same sweet strain,
"All praise and glory to the Lamb-
The Lamb for sinners slain:
For us He died, for us He lives,
For us He'll come again! "

His presence is a holy place-
A Bethany most dear,
Where we can sit at Jesus' feet,
Forgetting every care.
"Great peace have they which love Thy law,"
And heaven-born pleasures share.

Oh, let not earthly things intrude,
Or keep us from our place
Before the table of our Lord,
Drawn by His wondrous grace.
Each Lord's Day morn may be the last
Ere we shall see His face!

A. H. B.

All true discipline, whether directly from the hand of the Lord upon the believer, or, under the Lord's authority, through His people, has one special object in view, namely, the correction of the wrong that necessitates the discipline. In every case where the wrong is judged and confessed, grace flows from the Lord immediately; there is forgiveness, and, as a result, restoration of heart to Him. There may be yet in the individual, while enjoying His forgiveness, a bitter sting left upon the heart and mind for long. This will, as the person grows in nearness to God, produce self-abasement and a careful, lowly spirit, while there is the enjoyment of forgiveness and restoration. The Lord, in all His dealings, thus is seen to be perfect in His holiness as well as in His grace.

This principle of God's dealings with us, whether in holiness or grace, we need to remember and carefully consider. If not, we may fail in maintaining the holiness of His house as a people left here for His honor, or fail in the grace that He extends in restoration. In our limited knowledge of God or understanding of His ways, we are very liable to run from one extreme to the other; at times, under the plea of holiness, fail in the grace urged upon us; and at others, in extending grace, forget the sanctity of God's house and what is due to the Lord because of what He is.

In all cases, even when the extreme act of discipline is incumbent upon an assembly, there is the deepest need of a chastened and broken spirit in each one concerned. Would that such a spirit were
always seen at such times in those who act; then might the same be the sooner expected in the offender.

A great help toward possessing such a spirit is to keep before our heart and mind the object of discipline-the restoration of the person. Have we not failed again and again in this-lacking the chastened spirit in the sight of God at such times ?-not keeping in view what the discipline is intended to produce ? " And ye have not mourned" was the apostle's reproach to the Corinthian saints on a similar occasion, while he wrote to them "with many tears." Have we not too often sought to get rid of the trouble by getting rid of the troublesome person, and thus get through with the matter ? But this is not God's end, for the person is a brother. When this has been the case, what exercises will be needed to return to the place where the true path with God has been missed, that His object may finally be attained! How good to deliver ourselves, at any cost, when we have done wrong to His name by the misuse of what He has ordained for blessing! How refreshing to watch every indication of recovery and restoration of heart! We need to challenge ourselves before the Lord about these things. It is a lamentable fact that in the many cases of putting away, so little effort is put forth for the recovery of the erring; and, accordingly, few are recovered. What voice has the Lord for us in this ? Could it be again Ezekiel's complaint against the shepherds of Israel:"The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd:and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill:yea, My flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them" (Ezek. 34:4-6.).

If we have lost the sense of the sanctity of God's house, we will do well to take up i Cor. 5 again, and go over every part of it with care, that we may recover it. Or, if we have lost the true object of discipline, we will do well to consider afresh, with the same earnest care, 2 Cor. 2:6-11.In it we shall see the grace of the Lord in the apostle, two years after the man was put away, urging not only forgiveness, but also to comfort such a one. If we fail in this grace, those yet dear to Christ notwithstanding past failure, are made to suffer by our indifference or hardness. (See Prov. 24:11, 12.) Our Lord sits upon a throne of grace; our dispensation is one of grace, and the gospel we announce tells of grace flowing out to the ends of the earth. We ourselves are daily the subjects of grace-oh, how much! Let us, then, beware lest we fail in that grace to others. A. E. B.

BY H. A. IRONSIDE.

Prefatory note. – The version used throughout in this exposition is that of J. N. Darby, and is used in preference to the commonly received translations, both the Authorized and the Revised, because of its close adherence in several places to the actual wording of the original, though, in a few instances, this makes somewhat awkward English.

The exposition itself is by no means exhaustive; but it is hoped it may be suggestive and helpful, especially to such as are bewildered and endangered by the evils of our day, so plainly depicted by Jude in the apostolic period.

It should be cause for thankfulness that, so far as error or heterodoxy is concerned, " there is nothing new under the sun." Every form of evil teaching now current was exposed by inspired writers in apostolic days. Therefore the need to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered – refusing all innovations as of man or of Satan.

CHAPTER I. THE SALUTATION.

"Jude, bondman of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to the called ones, beloved in God [the] Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:mercy to you, and peace and love be multiplied" (vers. 1, 2),

There seems no good reason to doubt, and every reason to believe, that the writer of this solemn yet comforting letter is the "Judas the brother of James" mentioned in the list of the apostles as given twice by Luke (Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13), but who is called by Matthew "Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddeus" (Matt. 10:3), and by Mark simply Thaddeus (Mark 3:18). John distinguishes him in a special way by speaking of him as "Judas, not Iscariot" (John 14:22). It is evident, from the way Paul writes of this James, the son of Alpheus, that he was a very near relation, according to the flesh, to our Saviour, the Lord Jesus. After mentioning his first interview with Peter, he says:" But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother" (Gal. 1:19). James the Great, the son of Zebedee, had met a martyr's death earlier than the visit here referred to; consequently it becomes plain that James the Less is meant. The term "the Lord's brother" does not necessarily mean all that it might had the epistle been written in our language; but it at least implies very close relationship. Lot is called Abram's brother, when actually he was his nephew. Yet even so, had Jude been desirous of making a fair show in the flesh, he who was so closely related to the Lord as man would not have written of himself as he does here, "Jude, bondman of Jesus Christ." He had known Christ after the flesh, had been linked up with Him by ties of kindred common to few; but he knows Him so no more. Gladly he owns Him as God's anointed, his Lord and Master. Another, writing of him, might, out of courtesy, have used the same term as that applied by Paul to his brother; but writing of himself, he is simply the slave of Jesus Christ. James speaks of himself in the same way-"a bondman of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" (James 1:1). What a withering rebuke are these two lovely examples of devotion to Christ to those who thoughtlessly speak or write of "our brother Jesus," or use similar terms, all calculated to detract from the glory of Him who, once a lowly man in this scene of His humiliation, is now, as man, by God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, made, in resurrection, both Lord and Christ. His own words to His disciples, after performing the lowly work of washing their feet, were, "Ye call Me Master and Lord:and ye say well; for so I am"! (John 13:13.) How abhorrent is the pride that leads some to-day to call themselves " Christadelphians " (Christ's brothers), as though He were-what indeed they believe-but a creature like themselves!

True it is that in infinite grace having been, as the Captain of our salvation, made perfect through suffering (now crowned with glory and honor), " He is not ashamed to call [us] brethren, saying, I will declare Thy name unto My brethren" (Heb. 2:11, 12). But this is a very different thing from calling Him Brother, or speaking of ourselves as His brothers. If any object to this, let them search the Scriptures, both those portions which portray His walk on earth and those parts which present Him in resurrection, and see if any ever so spoke of or to Him. James and Jude, who might be thought to have a good right so to do, scrupulously avoid such familiarity, and own themselves His bondmen, or slaves. And this is made all the more prominent in Jude's letter, as he immediately adds, for purposes of identification, "brother of James."

He addresses himself to "the called ones " of God. It is a common title of those whom grace has saved. The Lord's words to His disciples while on earth were:"Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you "(John 15:16); and some accounted it a hard saying when He declared, "Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of My Father" (John 6:65). All such are called by His grace, as was Paul (Gal. 1:15), and thus attracted to Christ from a world that lieth in the wicked one. Unspeakably great is the favor thus conferred. For who is it He calls ? Those who have some goodness to plead ? some merit to commend ? No; but those who know themselves utterly vile and corrupt, and own their lost estate. All such are "called unto the fellowship of His Son." "And whom He called, them He also justified:and whom He justified, them He also glorified" (1 Cor. 1:9; Rom. 8:30). There can be no failure here. He who called has justified, and will have every called one in the glory for eternity.

Such are "beloved of God the Father." The A. V. reads, "sanctified," but editors generally favor the other word. Both are true; but it is to our place in the affections of the Father that we are here directed. Would we know the measure of that love ? Our Lord has Himself declared it, for He said, when addressing His Father on that last night ere He was crucified, "The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one:I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me" (John 17:22, 23). Nothing less than this is the measure of the Father's love to every child of grace. There are no degrees in His affections for them. The feeblest and the strongest are alike "beloved of God the Father" as truly as His Son is the Beloved of His heart.

From this flows our preservation-"Preserved in Jesus Christ."Whatever may be the difficulties of the way, however great the trial of our faith, in this love of God we are preserved by the One who has saved us. He it is who, "having loved His own which are in the world, loves them to the end." Were it not for His preserving grace, not one saint would persevere; but "He is able to save evermore all who come unto God by Him, seeing that He ever liveth to make intercession for them."Here is no ground for self-confidence, or fleshly elation; but such grace calls for reverent and adoring gratitude, and a walk that corresponds to the loving-kindness thus lavished on creatures so unworthy.

Jude uses a different greeting from that of the other apostles. It is not "grace and peace," nor yet "grace, mercy, and peace," which he invokes upon the saints; but "mercy to you, and peace and love be multiplied." They were already in the enjoyment of these precious things; he would have them abundantly increased, and thus their souls filled with holy joy.

Mercy each saint will need all along the way, while passing through a world like this. It necessarily implies failure on the part of its object.

Peace is his portion while abiding in Christ, who has said, " Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you:not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27).In the enjoyment of that peace the soul can pass quietly on its way amid all the strife of tongues and the confusion of the evil day, resting in Him who is over all, and who " sit-teth o'er the water-floods."

Love is the outflow of the new life. God is love, and the divine nature in the believer, which is from God, cannot but produce love; though this is very different from mere sentimentality, as the epistle goes on to show. " Love in the truth " is that which is according to God.

Abundant is the provision for each tried saint who has to meet our soul's enemy in a world of iniquity and corruption. If mercy, peace and love are ever lacking, it bespeaks, not a stinted supply of grace, but a failure to enter into what is freely bestowed upon all who receive with thanksgiving what our God so delights to give. He never casts a trusting, honest soul upon its own resources, but has pledged Himself to meet every need according to His riches in glory, through Christ Jesus. "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16). Never will that time of need be over until we reach that scene where strife and warfare are past forever.

( To be continued.)

( Continued from page 182.)

Chapter 4 :13-25.

The character of the faith that God reckons for righteousness is the apostle's theme in these verses. The way he treats his subject is very instructive. His argument is unanswerable. There is no escape from the conclusion he arrives at. We will follow his argument closely.

There can be no denying that God promised the possession of the world both to Abraham and to his seed. When God said to him in Gen. 12, "And thou shalt be a blessing:. . . and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed," Abraham's possession of the earth was implied-not merely Canaan, but all the earth. It was also implied in the promise of an heir in Gen. 15 :for it is evident that it is through this heir, which is Christ (as the apostle tells us in Gal. 3:16), that Abraham is to inherit all that was involved in the promise, whether earthly things or heavenly things. Again, possession of the earth was involved in the promise that Abraham should be the father of many nations (Gen. 17). Possession of the earth is also implied in Gen. 22, where the Lord says, "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." There are other passages in which possession of the earth by Abraham and his seed is involved; but we need not quote more. Sufficient has been cited to put the matter beyond dispute.

But this promise of possessing the earth by either Abraham or his seed was in nowise on the principle of works of flesh. It was on the principle of faith. It was through the righteousness of faith. It was not through the law.

Now to this a Jew would object, "God did give the law afterward; and having given the law, the promise would be limited to the people to whom the law was given." The apostle's answer to this is, " If they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect." But the promise is gratuitous, and absolutely unconditional. The law afterward given could not set aside an unconditional promise, could not disinherit those to whom the promise had been gratuitously given. Abraham's spiritual seed-those who were of faith- under the law were heirs to his inheritance. It was not law that made them heirs. They were heirs by faith, not by works of law. Being put under law, they were in bondage. They were being treated as servants; still they were heirs, because they were of faith. See Gal. 4:1-3. This the law could not set aside.

Further, those who were not of faith, but of law merely, were not heirs. They were cut off as being children of flesh merely. Such could not be heirs with Abraham. Circumcision as given to Abraham plainly shows that. All males born in Abraham's house, or purchased with money, had to receive the marks of the profitlessness of the flesh, as showing that they were not heirs with Abraham by works of flesh, but by faith merely. The children of flesh were rejected as heirs; they were cut off. The law afterward given could not nullify this. Hence, even under the law, the real seed of Abraham were the children of faith, not the children of the flesh.

Now one more point. The law, instead of producing children of Abraham, genuine heirs of his promise, operated to produce wrath. It turned sins into transgressions, and by these transgressions showed the mind of the flesh to be essentially enmity to God. Showing how intrinsically the mind of the flesh is insubjection to the will and authority of God, it manifested the absolute impossibility of its becoming subject. In this way the law shows how necessarily the man of flesh is a subject of wrath-the wrath of God. This was the law's great lesson:a lesson even the children of faith needed to learn. But they did not become children of faith by the law. It was not by the law they became heirs to the promises to Abraham.

Having now shown how law works, the apostle proceeds to insist that in making promise to Abraham, or his heirs, God did not do so in connection with law, but with faith; so that it might be by grace. In making promise, God was acting gratuitously. It was an unconditional promise to faith.

Now God's purpose in giving the promise on the principle of faith was that it might be sure to all the seed. The seed here, of course, is Abraham's spiritual seed, those who are of faith; the seed according to the flesh, as we have seen, being cut off.

Carefully considering the Scripture account of Abraham, it will be seen that his spiritual seed is divided into three groups:one group of seed for heaven; another group, for the land of Canaan; and a third group, for the rest of the world-the nations of the earth to be blessed in him.

Now the promise in regard to inheriting the world is sure to these three groups of Abraham's seed, for even the seed for heaven will inherit the earth through the two earthly groups. The seed for the land of Canaan will not only possess Canaan, but, through the Gentiles blessed under them, they will possess and enjoy all the earth. So, likewise, the heavenly seed, through the earthly seed, will inherit the earth, for "the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor unto " the heavenly city.

All Abraham's seed-his spiritual seed-are, then, sure of inheriting the earth. But, that they might be sure of it, in promising it God did it in connection with faith, not works of flesh.

Abraham, then, "is the father of us all." He is the father of the heirs given to him during the dispensation of law. He is the father of the heirs God is giving him now. Gal. 3:29 tells us that if we are Christ's, we are Abraham's seed. As being Abraham's seed, we are "heirs according to promise." So Abraham is our father. He is "the father of us all before" the God "whom he believed."

This brings us to the character of his faith. He believed in God as the quickener of the dead, and as the One who calls "things that are not, as though they were."

The Holy Spirit's account of Abraham shows this very clearly. We have seen how God reckoned faith to him as righteousness in Gen. 15. We will now see that the faith that laid hold upon God as able to fulfil His promise to give an heir, laid hold upon Him as being the quickener of the dead. The land of Canaan, which God had told Abraham he should possess, was in the possession of the Canaanites. God shows him that He is going to redeem the land through a sacrifice. Then He tells him that though he will live to a good old age, yet he will die and be buried. Abraham now knows that he will not inherit that land as a man in the flesh-that it is in resurrection that the promise of possessing it will be fulfilled to him. He is taught that he and his seed will pass through the furnace of trial; but however severe the trial, the word of promise is to be the support of faith. He sees that the promise cannot fail, since He who has promised is the quickener of the dead. Believing God to be the God of resurrection, he dwelt as a stranger in the land of promise. He sojourned in the promised land in the hope of possessing it. He believed the God of resurrection would carry out His promise.

That his faith had this character is seen also in another way. In Gen. 17 God told Abraham that he should have a son of Sarah. Now nature told him it was an impossibility; yet he did not stagger at it through unbelief. He believed in hope-the hope of a son through Sarah, when nature said there was no hope of it. He was strong in faith. The deadness of his own body and of Sarah's womb was no difficulty to him, since, to him, the God who had promised was the God of resurrection. As such, He was able to quicken the dead.

The same thing is shown in Gen. 22, where he receives Isaac "in figure from the dead." God gives him another testimony that He is the God of resurrection. The apostle, however, does not refer to this in our chapter. What he does refer to is illustrative, to show what was characteristic of Abraham's faith.

What characterizes faith in Abraham, then, is his laying hold upon God as the quickener of the dead. Believing in Him as the God of resurrection, he believed He was able to perform what He promised. The character of God was the guarantee of His word.

Now this being the character of Abraham's faith, God reckons it to him as righteousness. Having the faith that lays hold on God as the God of resurrection, God imputes righteousness to him; judicially declares him not only to be no longer in sins, but in righteousness-sets him before His face in righteousness. Righteousness being thus imputed, he is never to be charged with his sins. God never will charge them to him; nor will He listen to any one who would presume to do it. Abraham is henceforth before the face of God in unchangeable righteousness. God has judicially established him in eternal righteousness.

A difficulty may here suggest itself to some. The incidents in Abraham's life which have been referred to as showing how he believed in God as the quickener of the dead, all occurred after God reckoned his faith as righteousness. How, then, is it shown that Abraham had this character of faith at the time when he was reckoned righteous by God ? The answer is simple. At the time when God promised him an heir Abraham was childless. The fact had exercised his mind, as his expression in Gen. 15:2, "seeing I go childless," shows. Chap, 11:30 calls our attention to the fact that long before this even, Sarah was barren. Now in spite of every evidence of nature to the impossibility of his ever having an heir, he believed the promise of God that he should have one. We thus see that already the faith that lays hold upon God as the quickener of the dead was germinally in him. In the incidents afterward this germinal faith was developed and displayed. But however more manifest it was in these later circumstances, it was really present in his soul at the very time when the promise of an heir was made, and when his faith was reckoned as righteousness.

Oar apostle now tells us that the record of God's imputing faith to Abraham for righteousness was not written for him merely:it was written for him surely, but it was written for his seed as well-for "all them that believe"-for those that have his faith. Hence the apostle goes on to say, "but for us also."

The record of God's reckoning faith for righteousness to Abraham, then, is testimony, divine testimony, that faith in us is also reckoned for righteousness. This is because faith in us has the same character that it had in Abraham. It is the faith that lays hold of God as being the God of resurrection.

But while faith in us has the same character as the faith of Abraham, which was also the faith of all the real children of Abraham before the cross, we must remind ourselves that God had not then displayed Himself so fully as the God of resurrection as He is displayed in that character since the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Death is the penalty of sin. Jesus has been delivered as a Substitute to that penalty. He died under the penalty of our offenses; but God has raised Him from the dead. In doing so He has fully revealed Himself as the quickener of the dead, as the God of resurrection. It is as in the light of this fuller revelation that we believe in God. But whatever the difference in this way between the past dispensations and the present, notwithstanding the fuller revelation of the present as compared with the revelations of the past, faith has the same character. It is faith in God as the God of resurrection.

Now by raising Jesus from the dead-Jesus the Substitute delivered to death which is the penalty of our offences-God has proclaimed a sentence of justification. The resurrection of Jesus is in this sense a judicial act of God, declarative of His acceptance of the sacrifice of the cross, and that the justification of the believer goes with that acceptance.

The doctrine of justification by faith is thus fully established. The believer in the God of the gospel is gratuitously justified. His sins are canceled, and he is set before the face of God in righteousness; declared to be righteous, to have a righteous character, a character that cannot be assailed. Blessed indeed is that man, the man "to whom the Lord will impute no sin." C. Crain

(To be continued.)

Guilty and helpless, in sins we lay dead,
By Satan in slavish captivity led ;
Freed by the ransom our Saviour did pay,
Now do we live by Him day after day.

Purchased and pardoned, redeemed by His blood,
Washed and made clean in that sin-cleansing flood,
Trusting His guidance – our steps in His way,
Thus shall we live for Him day after day.

Ofttimes we wander:the pathway we lose;
Stumbling, we fall, and the erring way choose;
Yet Jesus loves us, and prove Him we may,
As we turn back to Him day after day.

Worries and troubles may pile mountain-high,
Cares and afflictions surrounding us nigh;
Still let us trust Him, and cheerfully say,
" I shall be led by Him day after day."

Only one day at a time let us live:
Grace for the morrow He surely will give ;
Then, when we come to it, prayerfully say,
" Help me to live with Thee just through this day."

Thus shall we gladden the One we adore,
Leaning upon His right arm evermore;
Thankfully, joyfully, trustfully say,
" I can live unto Him just for to-day."

Soon the redeemed unto glory shall come,
Pilgrims from every land gathering home;
Thronging around Him, and singing His praise,
We shall be like Him throughout endless days.

F.

Blest Saviour, manifest Thyself
To keep me free from sin:
Empty me thoroughly of self,
And dwell alone within.

Thou art the Guardian of my life:
O make me pure and strong,
To win the victory in the strife
'Gainst wickedness and wrong.

Whenever temptations fierce assail,
Help me to trust in Thee,
For Satan's power can ne'er prevail
When Thou dost cover me.

Order my footsteps in the way
That leads to bliss on high,
Shape my endeavors day by day,
And guide me with Thine eye;

So that the deeds of every hour
May, in a Christ-like life,
Show forth my Saviour's sovereign power
To keep me in the strife.

F.

Dear Mr. Editor:-

Referring to the article on Jude by H. A. I. in which the question of the "Nephilim" comes up, allow me space for some remarks:

It is assumed that the Nephilim and the fallen angels are one and the same, but this cannot be, for we have exactly the same word in Num. 13:33, "The Nephilim, the sons of Anak, of the Nephilim." So that we must separate the giants from angels, unless Anak were an angel, which will hardly be contended for, especially as he appears on the scene long after the flood. Nor are these Nephilim "sons of God" either, they are expressly distinguished from them in Gen. 6:4:"There were giants (Nephilim) in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men"; 1:e., the seed of the sons of God and the daughters of men became mighty men, men of renown ; but they were not Nephilim-they came after.

It is safe to say that angels would never have been thought of in connection with "sons of God" had it not been for the passages in Job i:6; 2:1 and 38:7; and these are poetic, and not written until hundreds of years after the events recorded in Gen. 6:4.

I make bold to say that there is not a trace of angelic beings in Gen. 6; the whole theme is earth, mankind. "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence … I will destroy man whom I I have created from the face of the earth:both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air … The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold I will destroy them with the earth " (vers. 5 to 13).

Angels are spirits, not flesh (Ps. 104:4; Lk. 24:39), and it is utterly impossible for the incongruous intercourse which men have imported into Gen. 6 :4 to take place :and were it possible, what would the offspring be, angels or men? flesh or spirit? And whose would the responsibility be:that of the angels or that of the daughters of men? "And God saw the wickedness of man that it was great in the earth." We gather from our Lord's words to the Sadducees in Lk. 20 :35, 36 that the angels neither marry nor are given in marriage, but the "sons of God " in Gen. 6, are said to have taken " them wives of all which they chose." According to the passages cited from Job, angels are "sons of God," but as representing Him in their own sphere; it is to be seriously questioned if fallen angels would be so designated. It is a fact that men are called "sons of "God," and this was so from the beginning:"Which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God" (Lk. 3:38, and see Acts 17 :28).

Cain's seed are not recognized as God's representatives here on earth ; Cain had gone out from the presence of the Lord with the brand of a murderer upon him, and had built his city :and God had appointed another seed instead of the one he had murdered, and here seems to be the culminating point of the corruption which filled the earth at this time, and which was so obnoxious to God:Seth's line, the "sons of God," those responsibly standing for God, as opposed to Cain's line, deliberately choose from the murderer's seed whom they would, as though all was right. Then all testimony for God is gone, and judgment must follow.
"In like manner with them "(Jude 7) cannot be pressed as applying to the similarity between Sodom's sin and that of the angels', but rather to "the cities around them." The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah had become well known from other Scriptures; that of "the cities around them " needed this explanatory word to make it definite-" the cities around them, in like manner with them" (1:e., the surrounding cities were greedily committing fornication like Sodom and Gomorrah). Nor would it do to say that angels went " after other flesh," which would be to make them flesh, whereas we are distinctly told that angels are not flesh.

2 Peter 2, which gives these judgments in their historical order, places the incarceration of angels that sinned before the judgment upon the old world (vers. 4, 5, 6).

"Sons of God " are those who are of and for God in a scene wholly against Him, this is precisely what Seth's seed were; but to mix with the enemy as though there were no difference was to obliterate all testimony, and judgment must follow.

Yours for the Truth,

J. B. J.

Nearer Home.

How rich the grace which has not only forgiven our sins, crucified our old man, removed all enmity toward God from our hearts, and put us in happy communion with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, but has also provided a most blessed home for the end of the journey! The home is not in some far-off corner, but with Him who loves us and gave Himself for us, where every affection born within us by the Spirit of love will have its fullest satisfaction. Blessed home indeed! We may be weary and worn and forgotten and neglected here, but the light and love of that nearing home brightens the way. As each year ends, it is so much of the way nearer that home-so much of it never to be traveled over again. As a new year begins, it says we may have reached it before its end; that our Lord, with a shout of command, may have wakened His sleeping saints and assembled us all together around Himself, away from this scene of our pilgrimage. Wonderful assemblage! Wonderful meeting again in joy those faces we had parted with in sorrow! No more tears, the good fight is ended, our victorious Lord delights in His mighty victory, and we, falling at His feet in blissful worship, shall share it all with Him! With such prospects before us, well may we begin our new year with rejoicing and praise.

David and Elijah.

The flesh in the child God has very different ways of manifesting itself. In 2 Sam. 24 we see David numbering Israel, though he had so often proved God's delivering power against all odds of his enemies. But pride finds pleasure in numbers ; for, says man, there is power in numbers. How easily we fall into this! Yet we well know that in "the household of faith " power is not in numbers, but in our God. If it is His face, His will, His word, we really seek, we shall lack no power. If we seek numbers, we shall find but weakness.

In i Kings 19 we have quite an opposite picture. Elijah has been a most faithful prophet; he is suffering for it now. So he said, " I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts:for the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown down Thine altars, and slain Thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away" (ver. 10). He repeats it in verse 14. But the Lord answers him by saying, "Yet I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him " (ver. 18).

Faithfulness in an evil day brings us into prominence. There is a snare in this. We naturally love prominence. If we do not watch, we find pleasure in being alone, or only a few; we fancy we are the only faithful ones, and that we must be very faithful because we are alone, or so few. This becomes great pride, and our lowly Saviour and Lord cannot walk with pride.

Let us then watch against that insidious pride which can find food everywhere and in all circumstances.

Geo. O. Atkinson.
At the very moment of going to press there reaches us the news of the departure, at Key West, Fla., of our beloved and aged brother Mr. Geo. O. Atkinson. Being as well known as he was among us throughout a large section of the country we need say little of his life. His devotedness and piety were an example to many. We first met him in Minnesota over forty years ago, when he had first been learning truths from the Scriptures which had greatly changed his path in life, and at considerable cost. What a hold those truths had in his conscience and heart has been manifested in his course ever since. His race is ended, and the toils are over. Now, in the bliss of the Lord's presence he awaits the final examination by the Lord Himself of all those years of labor, and will regret no trial or suffering which arose from faithfulness to Christ.

In a letter from Key West which brings us the news of his death are these words:" He was brighter than usual on the Lord's day morning; was up early, and went to meeting at 10. 30, and gave a stirring address on Philip. 3:1-14. Also when the hymn " We'll sing of the Shepherd that died " was given out he led the tune. Then after the breaking of bread, as a brother in prayer was ending, at the close of the meeting, he fell from his chair on his knees and in an instant breathed his last without a struggle. The last words of his address were,' To know Him better', and a few moments after he was present with Him. We would gladly have sent his body north to his dear daughter but the authorities would not permit it, so his remains lie buried in our midst."

I entreat you to keep very near to Him, that you may know what there is to be done in His name, that you may be encouraged, and that the light of His countenance may sustain your faith. His support is worth all else. J. N. D.

There are mysteries of grace and love in every page of the Bible, and it is a thriving soul that finds the book of God growing more and more precious.

A careless reader of the Bible never made a close walker with God. The Bible is always a new book to those best acquainted with it. The great cause of our neglecting the Scriptures is not want of time, but want of heart.

(Continued from page 137.)

CLANDESTINE WORKERS.

"For certain men have got in unnoticed, they who of old were marked out beforehand to this sentence ; ungodly [persons], turning the grace of our God into dissoluteness, and denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ " (ver. 4).

From the days of Simon Magus to the present it has ever been the object of Satan to secretly introduce evil workers into the assemblies of the saints of God, that thus the simple and the unwary may be deceived and led astray. Nor have men been wanting in all ages who would stoop to so nefarious a business.

The truth of God, if not submitted to, has a hardening effect upon the one who is familiar with it. To trifle with what God has revealed is an affront to Himself, which must have dire consequences. Such would seem to be the state of the men against whom Jude here warns the people of God. They are men who have a mental acquaintance with the truth but whose ways are not in accordance with that which they profess to hold. Clandestinely they have slipped into the assemblies of the saints; but they are not unknown to God, though they have managed to deceive His people. Before, of old, they were marked out to this judgment. Ordained is too strong a word here, and fails to give the true thought. Far be it from the Holy One to ordain any man to acts of impiety and ways of deceit! But He had of old marked them out, declaring by His servants that such men should arise, giving their characteristics clearly, so that they might readily be recognized. Their end was judgment. This too He had pointed out.

They are described as ungodly men. This term "ungodly" is used five times in the epistle; the other four instances occurring in the quotation from Enoch. It means refusing subjection to God, acting independently of, and in opposition to, God. For the ungodly Christ died-all men in their sins are so called. But here we have those who are professedly delivered from their sins, but who actually are still in them, and secretly turning others into their own iniquitous ways.

The grace of God has never reached their souls or controlled their consciences. They make that very grace an occasion for lasciviousness of speech and life. Such evil-workers have abounded in all periods since the gospel was made known. But, be it noted, the remedy is never, in Scripture, legality; but a bowing to the truth of man's need of that very grace he has been misusing. The sinner who judges himself before God and finds his need met in that wondrous provision of grace will not, if walking with Him, be found turning such unmerited favor into dissoluteness. It is the unrepentant professor, who has never seen himself in the light of God's holiness, who is here referred to.

Some may ask, In what way do men turn the grace of God into lasciviousness ? The answer undoubtedly is by going on in their own ways, gratifying the lusts of the flesh, while professing to believe in the grace that does not impute sin to the justified soul. This is what has been well-named Antinomianism. Often those have been charged with holding it who with all their hearts abhor it; and who, subdued by grace, gladly seek to render willing service to Him whose loving kindness has saved them without merit of their own. Such are the very opposite to those here presented, who know not in reality the grace of which they prate.

These deny our only Master (A. V. reads Lord God) and our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not to be supposed that they definitely deny Him at all times with their lips. Often they are found professing to know Him, but denying Him by their works.

One needs not to look far to find men of this stamp. Christendom to-day abounds with them. In the seats of honor, and also among the so-called laity, they "feed themselves without fear," professing allegiance to Christ while ignoring His word and even treating with contempt and assumed superiority the Sacred Writings. Nothing is too holy for their profane reasonings to set aside. "From such turn away."

To no time in the past history of the Church have Jude's words applied with greater force than in the present latitudinarian age. With Romish emissaries making strenuous efforts to allure the unwary by presenting a softened, subdued Catholicism to non-Catholics, that emphasizes largely whatever is really Scriptural or ethically and esthetically lovely in the teachings of the Papacy, while carefully covering the grosser and more disgusting dogmas and practices of that apostate church;* with the boldest infidelity and skepticism being proclaimed from thousands of Protestant pulpits; while minor sects of all shades of heterodoxy are everywhere busy spreading their pernicious and soul-destroying errors, the man of God needs to be alert and vigilant, devotedly standing for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. *It will be noticed that the Paulists, au order of missionary priests devoted to the perversion of Protestants, always put to the fore such fundamental doctrines as the Trinity, the deity of Christ, etc., but rarely touch upon the more offensive teachings of the corrupt church that for so long drugged the nations with the wine of her fornication. Thus the simple are enticed and walk into Babylon's gates like sheep going to the slaughter.*

A mock charity would say that it makes little difference what a man believes if he live well and be sincere. The soul, subject to Scripture, knows that the gospel alone is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth," and he remembers that the Holy Spirit has pronounced solemn curses against any, even an angel from heaven, who brings a different gospel, which is not another.

The fact is that well-living, according to the Divine standard of holiness and uprightness, is a delusion and an impossibility, apart from the sanctifying power of the truth of God. Hence it will be found that where false teaching prevails, ungodliness abounds, as witness the wretchedly low standard of Christian living maintained by Romanists; the worldliness of professors of the latitudinarian type, the overweening pride, coupled with an exceedingly poor imitation of godliness, that characterizes those professing a "second blessing" of absolute holiness-all alike evidence the baneful effects of teaching contrary to the faith of God's elect.

Indifference to evil teaching, and genuine love for Christ and His truth cannot co-exist in the same breast. Neutrality in such a case is a crime against the Lord who has redeemed us to Himself.

H. A. I.

(To be continued.)

J. P. R., a Brazilian correspondent, desires help on "the vessels to honor and to dishonor " in 2 Tim. 2; and suggests that an answer to certain questions be given in help and food, for the consideration of all.

With the Editor's permission, I would like to quote a portion of his letter, as also two statements recently put forth in an English periodical, and then what seems clear to my own mind, asking that all be carefully weighed in the presence of God.

J. P. R. writes:"I am sending you an article dealing with the much-discussed passage in 2 Tim. 2:19-22. . . . Until this very moment, I used to regard this passage just as Mr. F. W. Grant comments on it in his Numerical Bible (which please see); but now I see there are others that see things just in the other way. Still I humbly confess the impossibility of my understanding how we can keep company with some who, while not doubting their being children of God, deliberately remain practicing things which are pure iniquity, without thereby being defiled too. It seems to me there are some points in which moral separation cannot be reached without being personally separated too:not that my desire is to live without the circle of my brethren; only it is because I want to follow my Lord outside the camp, even if it be that I found myself alone with Him."

The extracts follow:

(1) " ' If a man therefore purge himself from these' does not mean one or more servants of Christ separating from other servants, for that would tend to fill with pride and conceit the separatists, besides contravening Rom. 14:4-' Who art thou that judgest another man's servant ? to his own master he standeth or falleth.' Neither does it mean one or more or many children of God separating themselves from other children of God-the subject of fellowship or association of persons not being under review in the context. What is reviewed, however, is the servant of Christ's own moral and spiritual condition, as in i Tim. 5:22-'Keep thyself pure'; and as in the context, ' Shun profane and vain babblings' (2 Tim. 2:16)."

(2) "Take the whole chapter, and note that the letter is addressed to an individual, 'Thou, Timothy, my son'; it is not addressed to a church.

"Among other instructions, very special stress is laid on the necessity of avoiding vain babblings, words to no profit, false teaching, as not only harmful, but increasingly so, and sure to gender strife.

"The false teaching is indicated, and the false teachers named.

" This is, without doubt, the subject of the chapter from verse 14 onward.

'' Now I would ask your readers to cover up verse 20 and read the passage through without it, and in my judgment it is very plain, and needs no comment.

"What Timothy, and you and I, are to do is to purge out from ourselves the false teaching, etc. The ' from these' refers to the vain babblings, etc., and not to a brother, or vessels.
"Verse 20 is simply a parenthesis to explain the metaphor used.

"If 'a man' purge 'himself from these, the ' man' and ' himself' are both in the singular, as also is 'a good soldier,' verse 3, 'a man,' verse 5, 'the husbandman,' verse 6, 'a workman," verse 15.

"The word 'purge' should be 'purge out,'and is only once used in Scripture besides this instance- ' Purge out . . . the old leaven ' (i Cor. 5:7).

" Now the injunction to ' purge out' must refer to something within, and I suggest it would be impossible to have a literal or metaphorical vessel in one, and it could not therefore be purged out.

"Further, the vessels to honor and the vessels to dishonor are coupled together, and if the 'from these' refers to one, it refers to both; but surely it refers to neither.

"Those who take this passage as an injunction to put away a brother, have need of the caution to rightly divide the word of truth.

"The sword is a lethal weapon, and it is a dangerous matter to handle it by the point instead of the hilt."

Having then the "new light" on this passage clearly before us, let us seek grace to candidly examine once more both the scripture itself and the comments made upon it.

And first, I venture to say that a number of years ago, if any intelligent brethren among those separated from human ecclesiastical systems, had been asked for their authority for thus walking apart from others, they would have turned unhesitatingly to 2 Tim. 2:19-22. The wonder now is that, having since learned that this passage " does not mean one or more servants of Christ separating from other servants," and "neither does it mean one or more or many children of God separating themselves from other children of God-the subject of fellowship or association of persons not being under review in the context"-they have not the candor to return to the systems they have left, nor frankly own their error in having done so. This has already, I know, been done by some; but why not by all who hold the new teaching ? In all the Christian systems there are vessels to honor and to dishonor mixed up together. According to this view there is no word from God warranting separation from them. Yet many have so separated, and on account of this very scripture. Now they learn that their position is unwarrantable and untenable. What remains but to return to the mixed company and frankly confess, "We were hasty and pharisaic in our action; pride and conceit were at the bottom of our separation from you; forgive us, and receive us once more into your number " ?

This would at least be consistent, and would-if carried out by all-blot out, at least, one or more of the unhappy divisions of Christendom. The "separatists " would be absorbed in the more liberal sects, and the added light enjoyed by those once gathered out on the ground of 2 Tim. 2:19-22 would be carried inside, and brethren would get a hearing who are now denied it.

As long as this is not acted upon, I fail to see the consistency of the views held with the position taken; for those who write as above are, many of them, utterly unable to go on with the conditions described.

On many occasions I have heard the interpretation given in the above extracts by well-known evangelists and teachers who, by maintaining a place inside the established denominations, avoid much of the reproach attached to the living of the truth they hold. "Just consent to be called a –, by taking out a membership in — church (though you never attend but once in a year, or even less), and you will have recognition among all denominations, and be able to do so much more good," said a well-meaning clergyman to me on one occasion. But I pointed to 2 Tim. 2:21, and he was silent.

But now let us examine the passage in detail. And in so doing we will not place a finger over verse 20, but let it stand out in all its helpfulness and solemnity.

The apostle has been directing Timothy's attention to the evidences of increasing apostasy. He warns against striving about words* (verse 14), profane and vain babblings (verse 16), and points out two men, Hymeneus and Philetus, in verse 17, who have given themselves over to these unholy speculations, and have thereby, though accepted by many as Christian teachers, overthrown the faith of some. *Brethren need to remember this. It is the truth for which we are to stand, not particular forms of expression. The very word "atonement" may mean one thing to one, and another to some one else, while the great fact of atonement may be precious to both alike.* And this is but the beginning, as the next chapter shows, for "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived" (3:13).

Now I apprehend that the first verse of chapter three follows verse 18 of chapter 2 in an orderly, connected manner. The apostle sees in Hymeneus and Philetus the beginning of the awful harvest of iniquity soon to nearly smother everything that is of God. Go on with these men, listen to them, fellowship them, endorse them in any way, and you will soon lose all ability to discern between good and evil, to "take forth the precious from the vile."

But ere depicting the full character of the rapidly encroaching conditions, Timothy is given a word for his encouragement and instruction as to his own path when things reach a state where it is impossible longer to purge out the evil from the visible church.

" Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord* depart from iniquity" (or, lawlessness) (verse 19). *See the Revised. It is the acknowledgment of the Lordship of Christ.* Here is faith's encouragement, and here too is the responsibility of faithfulness. Faith says, " Let the evil rise as high as it may-let lawlessness abound, and the love of many wax cold-let all that seemed to be of God in the earth be swallowed up in the apostasy-nevertheless God's firm foundation stands, for Christ has declared, ' Upon this rock I will build Mine Assembly, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it' "!

But this brings in responsibility. Am I to go on with the evil-protesting, perhaps, but fellow-shipping it still-though it be in a reserved, half-hearted way ? Surely not. But how dare I separate from it? In so doing, will I not be separating from dear children of God and beloved servants of Christ? How can I so act ? Am I more holy than they ? Will it not be conceit and pharisaism for me to withdraw myself from that which, while I admit it is being rapidly corrupted, nevertheless embraces many who are as truly Christ's as I ?

Ah, brethren, these are solemn questions-heartrending questions too. Many of us remember the days of anxious, prayerful concern, the sleepless nights, filled with painful thoughts, they gave us. But we turned to our Bibles, and we read, "The Lord knoweth them that are His"! and about that we had peace. It was too hard, too bewildering, for us to distinguish those who were really His from those who were not. We were glad to leave it with Himself.

Then we read, "Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity."

Our aroused, sensitive consciences responded at once to that. We must not only keep ourselves pure (that comes in farther on), but we must depart from-step outside of-the sphere where lawlessness was holding sway.

And then, once more, the wrench became hardest when we thought of leaving loved saints behind, who could not, or would not, see as we did. And this led us to carefully consider verse 20:

"But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor." The picture is surely plain. In a house of wealth-a mansion-there are vessels to honor, of gold and silver, for use upon the banquet-table, and carefully cleansed after each season of use, then set away by themselves on the proper sideboard, or in the pantry, ready when wanted again. But there are other vessels in the same house composed of very different materials, and for very different uses. There are vessels of wood and earth, used in the kitchen and in other parts of the house, often allowed to become exceedingly filthy, and at best to be kept at a distance from the valuable and easily scratched or polluted plate upstairs.

"If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work" (verse 21). The parable is here applied. The vessels are seen to "be persons. And just as valuable plate might stand uncleansed and dirty with a lot of kitchen utensils waiting to be washed, and then carefully separated from the vessels for baser uses, so Timothy (and every other truly exercised soul) is called upon to take a place apart, to "purge out himself" from the mixed conditions, that he may be in very deed "a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, prepared unto every good work."

The master of the great house brings home a friend. He wishes to serve him with a refreshing drink. He goes to the sideboard looking for a silver goblet, but there is none to be seen. A servant is called and inquiry made. Ah, the goblets are down in the kitchen waiting to be washed and separated from the rest of the household vessels. He is indignantly despatched to procure one, and soon returns with a vessel purged out from the unclean collection below; and thus separated and cleansed, it is meet for the use of the master.

Now apply it to the Church and people of God. Is there any difficulty ? Surely all is plain, and one
would think that only self-will could mistake the implied instruction. But the objector says, "The vessels to honor and the vessels to dishonor are coupled together, and if the 'from these' refers to one, it refers to both; but surely it refers to neither." On the contrary, it surely does refer to both-if both be mixed together.

As another has observed long since, there are here three classes:First, vessels to honor unpurged; second, vessels to dishonor; third, vessels to honor separated and ready for use.

"Flee also youthful lusts:but follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (verse 22).

It is not enough for the silver goblet to be kept apart from the kitchen vessels; it must be kept polished and bright among the others of its kind. So at once Timothy is warned against anything that would stain the separated vessel, and make it unfit for use. He is to flee those fleshly lusts that war against the soul:keeping a sharp watch upon the beginnings of self-indulgence, he is to preserve his vessel in holiness unto the Lord. Position alone will not do. There must be concern as to condition also. Otherwise he may indeed become like the Pharisees, and be a mere formal, conceited separatist, supposing that a place upon the sideboard makes him a vessel fit for use, while tarnished and defiled by lusts and impurities. Let him look well to his state of soul.

Nor need he go on alone because separated from the mixture he has left behind. He is called to "follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."

Here great care is needed, for undoubtedly many grievous divisions have resulted from a failure to place due emphasis upon "righteousness." This the servant of the Lord is called to follow first of all. Then due weight will be given to faith, love, and But I must not pursue this at greater length, for the question related only to the vessels. H. A. I.
"BE MUCH IN PRAYER."

(Continued from page 236.) (Chap. 6 :1-13.)

Having unfolded the character of the transcending triumph of grace over sin, the apostle is anxious that those who are participators in this triumph should be preserved from what is, alas, a common abuse of his doctrine.

Enemies of the doctrine of grace have sought to discredit it by charging it with making sin a necessity. There are those who understand the doctrine to mean that it permits going on still in sin. Flagrant violations of holiness have been defended by the plea that it is allowable under grace to continue in sin-to indulge the lusts of the flesh. In many quarters it is taught that victory over sin is not to be counted on as long as we remain in our earthly life. It is said, " We have not yet received our sinless body, and as long as we have the old sinful body we must inevitably be subject to sin. It must have at least a certain measure of rule over us."

But the apostle will not allow those who are in Christ, those who live by and in Him, to entertain such unholy deductions from his doctrine of grace. When he says, "What shall we say then?" he is speaking as one of the numerous subjects of the reign of grace. He speaks as representing those, once among the victims of sin, whose hearts have been laid hold of by the grace which is by the one Man, Jesus Christ, and who have thus come to be of Him-sharers with Him in the life and blessing
of which He is the Fountain-Head. On their behalf, in their name, we may say, he asks, "Does the doctrine of grace allow one to go on still in sin ? Do we take the view that grace abounding over sin implies that sin, or a measure of it, is justifiable as furnishing occasion for the triumph of grace ?"

How indignantly the apostle refuses the thought! With what vigor and earnestness he denounces such a conception of his doctrine! The thought is intolerable. It is an unholy implication. It would destroy the true character of grace; it would rob it of the reality of its triumph; it would mean serious damage to souls, as it would vitally affect the state of their minds and the condition of their hearts. No! Such a view is to be wholly condemned. Those who are participators in the triumph over sin through Jesus Christ are to put the unholy thought far, far away. The authoritative apostolic declaration of the doctrine of grace demands it. Be it so that we still have our old sinful body, we can not allow that we must therefore sin more or less. We are not on that account to justify going on still in more or less sin. That is not deliverance from the dominion of sin.

If it be said, "Our future deliverance is secure, but present deliverance is impossible," the answer is, That is not the apostle's teaching. He teaches and insists on a. present deliverance from the dominion of sin. As our Lord in John 8:34 said, "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." The doctrine of the apostle is the same. With him, being under grace and under sin is an impossibility. Those who are the subjects of grace should regard bondage to sin as incompatible with subjection to grace.

We come now to the apostle's discussion of the subject of present deliverance from the dominion of sin. We shall see that he divides his discussion into two parts. In the first he dwells on our title, or right, to be in present practical deliverance from sin's dominion; in the second he shows how deliverance is practically attained, and what it is found to be when practically reached.
Before we begin to follow the apostle's argument, let us remind ourselves that all men, as sprung from fallen Adam, are victims of sin and of death. Those laid hold of by grace, which is by Jesus Christ, have become His seed (Isa. 53:10). As thus sprung from Him, they are sharers in the eternal life which is in Him. This participation in eternal life in Christ Jesus is a blessing to be realized now, as well as in eternity. The subjects of grace have now the eternal life that is in Him. It is in that sense that they now live by and in Him. But living thus in connection with Him, 1:e., as sprung from Him, they are of the position in which He is. They belong to it.

What then is His position ? Here we must remember that Christ, in grace, once took our position under sin. He was not personally under it, but in grace entered into the position of being under sin in the behalf of those who were personally in that position. Having thus in grace taken the position, He died-death being the penalty of sin, and so the due of those in that position. It was a vicarious death; He could die in no other way. Having died thus atoningly in behalf of the victims of sin, in rising again He has taken up a new position, and is dead to the former position under sin, which in grace He had taken for those under sin.

Now, as we have already said, as sprung from Him we are of Him in His new position. We are of the position in which He is, and therefore dead to sin.

It is to this blessed fact that the apostle appeals in beginning his discussion as to our right to be practically delivered from the dominion of sin. His argument is this:Sin having had its reign over us to its legitimate end in death, and Christ having taken our place in subjection to it, we who have been laid hold of by His grace have passed out of that position from under sin. We are subjects of grace, and as such dead to sin. We have the right to be free practically from sin's power and rule. We have a positional deliverance which entitles us to live in happy subjection to grace, in the realization that sin's rights over us have all been annulled. We are freed completely from every claim of sin upon us, even from its claim to the use of the old sinful body. What a perfect deliverance grace has thus provided for us!

Alas, how little it is understood! How difficult it is to lay hold of the true conception of what our deliverance is! How few are in reality entering into what the apostle means when he teaches, as he does here, that the subjects of grace-those who are in Christ-are dead to sin!

Some, in their inability to lay hold of the real import of the doctrine of being dead to sin, deny it altogether. They insist that the fact of our having still the old sinful body is the clearest proof that we are not yet dead to sin Others, while they do not deny that the doctrine is taught, and that there is a Certain ideal sense in which it is true, yet deny that it can be practically true. Others still modify the form of the words in which the doctrine is taught, and say, "We ought to be dead to sin."In their teaching there is much exhortation to the effect that Christians should strive to die to sin. How forcefully sometimes we are exhorted to put the old man to death. But in all this teaching the true conception of what deliverance from sin is, and being dead to sin, is lacking. The widespread misunderstanding of what being dead to sin is, shows how difficult it is for us to lay hold of it. Those who so zealously promulgate such teachings as we have referred to, in contradiction to the teaching of the apostle, will do well to weight he incontestable argument of verses 3-7, in which the fact of our being position-ally in the place of death to sin is clearly demonstrated. Let us now turn to it.
The apostle's first appeal to prove that we are in the position of being dead to sin is the significance of baptism. Baptism is the badge of discipleship to the risen Lord Jesus Christ. What makes it a suitable badge of discipleship to Him is that, as Peter tells us (i Peter 3:21), it is a figure of salvation by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism being such a figure, shows that in our being baptized we were in figure put into the position of being dead with Christ. Furthermore, our being figuratively put into this position was in view to our living henceforth in a new life. But the new life our baptism calls for is one in the likeness of Christ's life in resurrection. Plainly then our baptism, though it is a figure, witnesses to a position of death to sin. It declares' that Christ has died to sin (having in grace put Himself under sin to do so), and that we are in figure identified with Him in His position of being dead to sin, to be identified with Him in the life He is living as risen.

Now what baptism witnesses to, the gospel declares to be true of us. As having heard and received "the word of the truth of the gospel," we know that when Christ died, the old, fallen, sinful man was being judicially dealt with. We know that if One died in behalf of all men, judicially all men have died (2 Cor. 5:14, Greek). Having heard and received the word of truth, by which we have become new creatures in Christ, we know that our old man (the man connected with the old position in Adam) has been crucified-judicially put to death. His claims to the body have been annulled in his judicial death. The body, therefore, which once was in the power of the old man, now belongs to the new man; and though yet unredeemed, is no more for the use of sin.

Even though still in our old body, we are of Him who died and rose again, and our body, though still a sinful body, belongs to Him; and as belonging to Him, it is not under sin's dominion. How manifestly we have title to be practically delivered from sin's power and rule! We are, positionally, delivered. Though we have still the old sinful body, as being in Christ we cannot be charged with being sinful men. We do not have to wait until we receive the redemption of the body to be in Christ. We are in Him now. We are His seed now by His grace having laid hold of us. We are thus constituted righteous we are no more chargeable with our old state under sin than a dead body, a corpse, is.

Clearly then is our position demonstrated to be Christ's position of being dead to sin. But this implies and involves living with Him; and living with Him now, not merely by and by. We shall surely live with Him when we get our redeemed bodies, but we have title to live with Him now, while we are still in the old body. He lives no more under sin's dominion. He went under it once in grace, but by dying and rising again He lives in eternal deliverance from sin's power. As subjects of grace-as being in Him-we are in the same sphere of life in which He is, where sin cannot enter. It is not simply that we have life in Him, but that we live with Him; and living with Him implies living in practical deliverance from sin's dominion. The apostle is not yet ready, however, to take up the question of the practical deliverance. Other questions of serious moment must first be given attention to.

The reason why many never get far along in the road to deliverance from sin's power is because they fail to take the very first step. Having established beyond question that the subjects of grace have title to be practically delivered from the dominion of sin, the apostle now points out what is the first step in the road to deliverance. What is it ?

It is taking the right standpoint from which to look at ourselves. Many who are in Christ do not think of themselves as in Him. They think of themselves as in Adam. They think of themselves as under sin, as necessarily so because of sin still dwelling in them. It is not true, however, that because we have still the sinful body, we are under sin. We are under sin as yielding to it, as serving it, as yielding the members of the body to its use; but we are not under sin as being still in the old body. We are thinking wrongly when we think of ourselves as under sin because we have still the old body of sin.

Now, to think rightly of ourselves is the very first step toward deliverance from the service of sin. The apostle tells us in verse 11 how we should think of ourselves. He says, "Likewise reckon"-consider, think of-"yourselves as dead to sin and alive to God." We are still in our earthly life, but as in Christ we are entitled to think of ourselves as if we had died and were risen from the dead. It is this right thought of our position that the apostle presses upon us here.

Now another thing necessarily accompanies this right thinking of ourselves as if we were dead and risen. Viewing ourselves as connected with Christ in His position of having died to sin and living to God, we will consider that sin has no longer any title to the use of the mortal body. We will not consent to its reigning there; we will refuse that its lusts should govern us. We will look upon the members of our body as belonging to God, as if they were members of the new body which we are yet to receive. We will hold them to be instruments of righteousness-not of sin.

If now we take the apostle's standpoint of looking at ourselves as being in Christ, as if we were thus dead and risen and living to God, we shall then regard sin's title to our body as annulled, and that our Saviour-God has claims upon it, its members to be instruments of righteousness; and, as under these claims, there will be in us a purpose to have God's rights to our body realized. We will be actuated by the thought that God's title must be made good practically that His title over us should be realized in practical life.

The formation in our minds of this purpose, the establishment in our souls of this aim to be practically attained, carries us on a good step in the road to a life of practical deliverance from the dominion of sin; but until this purpose is formed, and the aim becomes the absorbing desire of our soul, progress toward a practical life of liberty from sin's power is impossible. Alas, how many are lacking here! They are content to drag on in weary bondage to sin with little or no purpose to be free from its rule.

May the Lord use the apostle's exhortations in verses 11-13 to establish in the souls of all the subjects of His grace an insatiable desire to be practically delivered from sin's power in its use of the body for any sinful purpose. C. Crain

(To be continued.)

Having, through the courtesy of the Editor, had the reading of J. B. J.'s expression of opinion as to the sons of God, and Jude 6, I am thankful for it. It will cause searching. A reference to my own paper will show that I do not attempt to speak authoritatively as to this admittedly mysterious passage, while, after having carefully weighed what has been put forth by many on both sides, I find my judgment inclined toward the view that the sons of God were Nephilim and super-human. But as to this I am not greatly concerned. What I am concerned about, is that neither I nor others miss the solemn lesson the apostle is pressing in verses 5 to 7 ; that we ever remember there is no safety in outward privilege-but God desires truth in the inward parts. Interested persons might consult the writings of the grave and scholarly brethren to which I referred in my note. J. B. J. gives the other side, which also deserves to be as carefully weighed.

(2 Sam. 18 :3.)

These words bespeak loyalty and devotion of heart to the king of God's appointment-God's beloved, as the name implies-and each word appears as a perfect gem set over upon the time and day in which they were uttered. The beloved one was despised and rejected by men, and this not only by the nations around, but his own-of his own nation-received him not. This must have been a great grief of heart to the king. It was indeed a testing-time, a dark and evil day.

Absalom (the king's own son) had stolen the people's hearts away by his subtle wiles, under pretext of great love for them, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful, and for a time he usurped the place that belonged to David; so the king had to cross over the brook Kedron and abide for a time in the outside place (chap. 15:23).

Ahithophel also had joined Absalom and turned against the king. For him, who had been a chief counselor and professed friend, and who had walked in company into the house of God, the testing-time had come, and he had departed also. All this reminds us of the Lord's disciples, who departed from Him, and walked no more with Him (John 6:66).

Shimei too, the son of Gera, threw stones at the king, and cursed him. Great were these trials of heart, and the king felt them keenly, yet grace marked his course; he showed grace and forbearance. In all this we see how fully at this time the king was with God; and in him we see displayed the patience, grace and longsuffering of a greater David yet to come (chap. 16:5-14).

Leaving the side of rebellion, we can turn and see a lovelier one-how God touched the hearts of men, and by His Spirit drew them to the king during this time of rejection and suffering. These became the companions of David in his suffering, God opening up to them the glory and the preeminence of the person of David. We see, therefore, how well they care for and guard his person in the time of conflict and battle. '' Thou art worth ten thousand of us," they exclaim. In this we see, then, the guardians of his person, as in a former day Abram was that of the sacrifice, when the unclean birds sought to attack it. '' Abram drove them away " (Gen. 15:9-11). In both these we have very strikingly set forth two foundation truths, dear to every believer's heart:the person and the work of Christ.

With David's servants and companions there are many lovely lessons-their devotion, their loyalty, their obedience. '' Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint" (chap. 15:15). This must have given comfort and strength to the heart of David at such a time. Immediately after this, special persons come to the front.

Ittai the Gittith, attracted to the king from an outside nation, shows almost unparalleled devotion. '' Surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be."

Zadok, Abiathar and Hushai also appear and fill important posts, and give hearty and true service in the cause of the king, with devotion and loyalty of heart. Mephibosheth is not a whit behind any, unable though he be, on account of his lameness, to serve. But his heart is with David. "And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace " (chap. 19:24).

Others also, whose names are given later, minister to David when in this outside place-such as Shobi, Machir, Barzillai. Each helped according to his devotion and his ability, and their names appear upon the inspired page for our encouragement (chap. 17:27-29). In all this, we repeat, God was at work in hearts, and drawing men to see the worthiness of David.

History repeats itself. We are in the "perilous times" of the Church dispensation which most resembles that of David's time. Men today spurn the inspiration of the Scriptures, and legion is the host of evils that follow such unbelief and infidelity. The truth as to Christ's person is also denied-His true and perfect humanity, as also His deity and Godhead glory. The sinfulness and depravity of man, and the atonement by the cross; the truths of resurrection and eternal punishment, and many other important and cardinal truths revealed in the sacred Scriptures. Nor do those evils mark simply men of the outside place, avowed infidels, as were Paine, Voltaire, and Ingersoll. Such were the enemies of former times, but in our day it is men within the Christian profession who are "enemies of the cross of Christ"-destroyers of the truths of Scripture.

The Absaloms and Ahithophels, who ever seemed to run well and give fair promise as good men in the kingdom, have, since the tide of evil has turned, gone, one by one, and today they are in the enemy's ranks, planning and plotting against the " Lord that bought them"; men also, as Shimei, are not lacking in their opposition and blasphemy to the Saviour, though cringing and deceitful enough when their interests are at stake.

But God abideth faithful as of old, and His truth, amid all the difficulties and evils around us, abides as stable as the heavens. The Holy Spirit is yet here on earth, and the Church, the Body of Christ, is being called out and formed for God's habitation. Thus the work of God continues amid all the surrounding gloom, and the word of God, given to the infant Church in apostolic days, abides, with all the sacred principles that guided her at first. These will abide for the Church until the dispensation closes and the Lord returns to gather the true Church, the saints that He loves, to Himself in the heavenly glory (i Thess. 4:13-18). Thus great comfort and encouragement are given to all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity and in truth.

The days will continue to grow more difficult. " Evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse." The Scriptures clearly show us this is the trend of things, which is to continue until He comes. But let the word of God be to us more than precious gold or great spoil (Ps. 119:126-128, 162). Let us "cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart," as Barnabas exhorted the young believers of his day, for He is "worth ten thousand of us."

We are, one and all who are called saints, to seek to guard the honor and glory of His person with a devotion beyond David's men-to drive away the enemy with the weapon of Holy Scripture, with a vigor and loyalty beyond that of Abram. We must not yield for one moment to men who do harm to the great truths of Christ's person and atonement by His sacrifice upon the cross. Oh for Abrams everywhere now!-men of faith and valor, devoted to Christ as David's men to their lord. Theirs was but a man, ours is both Man and '' God over all, blessed forever." Let the greatness of all that is revealed in Him put fire and energy and devotion into our hearts, making us to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3).

Side by side with the trend of evil that surrounds us, God still works. This we observe both in the home and foreign fields. Noble and self-denying men and women have had their eyes opened to the glory of His person. He is "worth ten thousand of us " has burned in their hearts as fire, and by a love divine they have launched forth into the distant and needy fields to publish the sweetness of His precious name. We rejoice that God is using them, and that multitudes are being drawn to Him to join the ranks of those in the home fields who day by day exclaim as they look up, " Thou art worth ten thousand of us"!

In the home fields God is continually opening up His truth, and souls are being attracted to Christ- His person, His work, His word, His coming again. Floods of light are being poured forth in many places upon these themes; many are responding; they feel a drawing together; there is given a kindred spirit, and Christ is in many places becoming the commanding and absorbing object of heart and life. May the truth thus work in all of us, giving freshness, simplicity and devotion, that day by day, as we look up, the language of our hearts may be, " Thou art worth ten thousand of us." Then, as we look forth upon the needy world that surrounds us, the language of life and pen and press will be, "He is the chiefest among ten thousand, yea, altogether lovely." A. E. B.

(Continued from p.25.)

(3) THE OLD GATE.

What an atmosphere of rest seems to envelop one as we think of the " old gate "-the One who said, " I am the door:by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture "; and He changes not; He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever."

"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls" (Jer. 6:16).

Jehoiada repairs this gate, his name meaning, "Jehovah knows"; the son of Paseah, whose name means "halting," or " vacillating."

When we first entered, we entered as sinners. He opened His arms and took us in, "knowing" us through and through; He picked us up for blessing, and He is able to accomplish His purpose. He has not wearied, has not been disappointed in us, although we may have been disappointed in ourselves and in one another at our "haltings" and "vacillatings"; but "Jehovah knows," knows the end from the beginning, and He has not changed; so we can repair the "old gate "; but for this we need the assistance of Meshullam, whose name means, "reconciled"; the son of Besodeiah, "in Jah's secret." "Reconciled" and "in Jah's secret"! Surely to attempt to repair the "old gate" without these would be building with bricks-instead of living stones-and untempered mortar. Again, we say,
what an atmosphere of rest surrounds the old gate! Is the reader of these lines reconciled to God ?-

" A sinner reconciled through blood:
This, this indeed is peace."

"The secret of Jehovah is with them that fear Him."

(4) This brings us to the

VALLEY GATE.

We have been on the mountain top with Him whom "we have known from the beginning." Now we must come down into the valley of practical experience in the world. The low place becomes us as we think of what we are naturally, and as we consider what our ways have been since we knew the
Lord.

Nehemiah, as he went out by night to view the dilapidated wall, went out '' by the gate of the valley," and returned by the same gate (chap. 2:13, 15). This is as it should be. As he surveyed the ruin, and remembered that the people had brought it upon themselves by their ungodly ways, the valley gate would naturally be the gate at which he would begin and end his survey.

But Hanun repairs this gate, and his name means, "favored" (1:e., "shown grace"); assisted by "the inhabitants of Zanoah"-"to cast off." What serious lessons are for us here! On the one hand, "by the grace of God I am what I am "; and on the other, we see the cross, as that which alone gives capacity to walk through this valley of death's shadow; the cross, as the mark of what the world thinks of us, and what the world is to us (Gal. 6:14).

(5) THE DUNG GATE

This appears to be lower still than the valley gate. "He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; that He may set him with princes" (Ps. 113:7, 8). How often we fancy that we have learned our lesson of humility, and are walking softly, when suddenly some trial confronts us and knocks us down. One cannot be knocked down when he is down.

How hardly is this low level reached! perhaps because the "thousand cubits on the wall unto the dung gate " (ver. 13) is so seldom repaired.

The number of the gate is instructive, imparting a Deuteronomic character to it, 1:e., a backward look, in His presence, at our origin and course, and a forward look at the time when He will '' set us among His princes."

Only in His presence do we get a proper estimate of ourselves. Job got a true estimate of himself when he said, "But now mine eye seeth Thee:wherefore I abhor myself" (Job 42:5, 6).

Isaiah got a true estimate of himself when he exclaimed, "Mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts" (Isa. 6:5).

John the same, in Rev. i:17:"And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead."

To see ourselves as under the searchlight of God, We should class ourselves with the malefactors crucified with our Lord in Matt. 27:44. " The thieves also, which were crucified with Him, cast the same. in His teeth"; and again, with one of them, in Luke 23:40-43:" Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? and we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds:but this Man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise." The beggar is raised from the dunghill, and set among princes.

The dung gate is the gate by which we entered, any way, however feebly it may be realized by us. May we plod on diligently, with sword and trowel, upon the thousand cubits, until it is reached, remembering that it is here God finds His princes, working under the name Malchiah, "my King is Jah," son of Rechab, "a charioteer." The latter suggests the warrior-spirit, as well as the racer, while "the ruler of part of Beth-haccerem " suggests the rest and joy soon coming; Beth-haccerem meaning, "the house of the vineyard."

(6) THE GATE OF THE FOUNTAIN.

"Fountain," or "spring," suggests refreshment, as the number of the gate suggests victory, mastery.

This gate is distinguished from the rest by being the only gate said to have been "covered."

In Num. 19:15 every uncovered vessel which was, in a tent where death was unclean. In i Cor. 11:10 the covering upon the woman's head is the sign of power, because the sign of subjection.

Samson with the sign of his Nazariteship removed was as weak as any other man. Why? "Jehovah had departed from him" (Judges 16:20). Man, when he reaches the extreme limit of his development as man, has for his number 666, one short in every dimension-worthless therefore-and all because he did not own subjection to Him who alone has strength.

The fountain gate then is covered. This secures it from contamination by outside influences, and, since it is the source of supply for God's sheep, insures their healthy condition, insures victory.

What an immensely important lesson is here for Christians to-day as to what we hear and what we read! Our Lord said-and He said it because He needed to say it-" Take heed what ye hear." And He also said, "Take heed how ye hear." Oh that in all our reading and in all our hearing the covering may be upon the spring, in token of subjection to our Lord, testing everything by His holy Word; for how much teaching is abroad to-day beguiling the unwary and leading astray the simple, which would have no power whatever were the '' fountain gate " but "covered."

Shallun-"they spoiled them"-is the repairer of this gate; and the meaning of his name is sufficient suggestion for the covering of the gate; and he is the son of Colhozeh-"all-seer." We shall find our wisdom in owning subjection to the One who sees the end from the beginning, and who will be eyes for us if we will. He is also "the ruler of part of Mizpah "-"watch-tower." When He is allowed to be eyes for us, we are at once upon an eminence whence every danger can be rightly seen and guarded against.

We must not forget that if this covered gate keeps out certain things, it also brings us into very desirable company, such as '' the pool of Siloah by the king's garden, and unto the stairs that go down from the city of David "-things which it is out of our province to enlarge upon here; but if, as some authorities think, Shallun should be Shallum, "recompense," or "requital," then we see how amply recompensed we are for whatever the "covering" may exclude. Compare, as to this, Mark 10:29, 30.

(7) THE WATER GATE.

This, with the three following gates, is not said here to have been repaired; they are mentioned in other connections.

Water is commonly a symbol of the word of God, as, e.g., "that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word " (Eph. 5:26); "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God " (John 3:5), comparing this with i Peter i:23, we see that this also refers to the word of God.

This water gate, then, would not need repairing, since it '' liveth and abideth forever." Many prominent theological tinkers appear to think it needs repairing, adapting to twentieth-century advancement, etc.; but what it needs is dwelling beside- '' over against."

" Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi," after he was bereft of his father, and God blessed him (Gen. 25). Lahai-roi means, "to the living One, seeing me."

Here the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel, "over against the water gate." The Nethinim are "the given ones," reminding us of the "given ones" named in Eph. 4:7-16. The ascended One has sent down "given ones,' "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry."

Not for the perfecting of a certain class of His people, but "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come," etc.; hence the need of these " given ones " dwelling in Ophel, 1:e., '' the elevated place " over '' against the water gate," since it is the truth they are to hold in love (and " Thy word is truth, "John 17:17), in order to grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, the Christ. Only in this way can the people of God be kept from being "infants, tossed and carried about by every wind of doctrine in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to the systematizing of error " (lit). These "given ones" also "confronted the sunrising, and the tower that lieth out," or, literally, "and the watch-tower of the going forth." How beautiful and consistent is this!

The "sunrising" suggests the coming of the Lord, while Ophel is "the heavenlies" where Christians are raised up and seated together in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6); and "the watch-tower of the going forth" is just the hope of being caught up to meet Him in the air (i Thess. 4:17).

Truly this '' water gate " fills its numerical place of perfection and rest; and this is further exemplified as we note the other references to it after the completion of the wall (chap. 8:1, 3, 16, and 12:37).

(8) THE HORSE GATE.

References to the horse in Scripture are not often to his credit, but more frequently are in connection with pride and departure from God. The wicked Athaliah was slain at the horse gate (2 Kings 11:16; 2 Chron, 23:15). Here it is not said to have been repaired, but is mentioned merely as a limit from above which the priests repaired, "everyone over against his house." In Jer. 31:40 it is also spoken of as a boundary, "unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the Lord."

But that is to be in the day when on the bells of the horses will be inscribed, "Holiness unto the Lord" (Zech. 14:20); the day when He will reign whose right it is; and that is doubtless what is suggested by the number of the gate-a new order of things.

(9) THE EAST GATE.

We are not told exactly that this gate was repaired, and we must not go beyond what is written. Perhaps it did not need repairing. It is literally '' the gate of the sunrising "; so that the thought of hope is stamped upon it. " But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings" (Mal. 4:2).
The number 9 appears to have the same thought in it. When Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to him, changed his name, and "gave him the covenant of circumcision," having promised the "Seed" (Gen. 17; Acts 7:8).

So here we have a covenant which is distinctly a promise ("for this word is of promise," Rom. 9:9, lit.); and on the strength of it circumcision, which is condemnation of the flesh.

The east gate, then, would seem to stand for "the patience of hope," in the certainty of what is coming. Shemaiah is the keeper, and his name means, "heard of Jehovah "; and he is son of Shechaniah- "the dwelling of Jah." One need not enlarge upon the beautiful fitness of these names with the number of the gate, and its name. Abraham "looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." " If we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it" (Rom. 8:25).

(10) THE GATE MIPHKAD.

Miphkad means "mustering," or "appointment," and looks on to the day of accounts.

This gate is not said to have been repaired:it could not well be so said, but Malchiah-" my King is Jah"-repairs "over against" it; and this is as it should be. Those who are recognizing Jesus as Lord will be " gold-beaters," beating out the "things concerning Himself" and this will necessarily put them, in spirit, in the " place of the Nethinim," which, as we have seen, is the heavenlies, and in the company of " the merchants," 1:e., those who trade in the precious things named in Eph. 4 and Phil. 4:8.

The gate Miphkad is number ten, and the number ten is the number of man's responsibility-the full measure of it.

The very idea of the wall is responsibility, as we have seen; and now we have reached the last gate, the gate which emphasizes it, and in view of "that day," with its "well done " to those who have earned it, and with all its incentives to diligence, having in place each of these ten gates, a day which cannot be far off.

That Malchiah repaired "to the going up of the corner " may very likely refer to that sudden and secret rapture which, like the sudden upward dart and rapid flight of the migratory bird, takes him to his home. J. B. J.

What we find written in the Psalms is primarily connected with the Jews, or the Lord Jesus Himself, and particularly as Messiah. They have a special reference to the godly remnant in the latter day. Many of their expressions wholly belong to the Jews, and cannot be used by the Church:hence the true solution of those passages which have been such a terrible stumbling to Christians not seeing it. The saints of the present dispensation cannot rightly be looking for the destruction of their enemies as a way of escape from their sorrows. But in the time of trouble such as never has been, that is to come, it will be quite proper for the suffering Jews to look for judgments as a way of deliverance. They are God's promises, and what their hope rests upon. But the Church looks to be caught up and escape from sorrow by being with the Lord in the heavens, while it is quite true that she has His sympathy in her sorrow down here. But what the Psalms are chiefly occupied with is the suffering of the soul, the sorrows of the godly Jews and remnant, and God coming in judgment, as their deliverer, by the execution of vengeance on all their foes. Christ is viewed there as associated with Israel, and enters into all the sufferings of the holy remnant.

Then there are certain psalms which belong personally to Himself. They show out the character of the Spirit of Christ, as the Gospels show His walk and work. The Gospels display the One in whom was no selfishness. They tell out the heart that was ready for everybody. No matter how deep His own sorrow, He always cared for others. He could warn Peter in Gethsemane, and comfort the dying thief on the cross. His heart was above circumstances, never acting under them, but ever according to God in them. We see that He was always sensible to them, and we often get in the Psalms expressions of what His heart felt in them:" I am poured out like water"; "My bones are out of joint"; "My heart is like wax." He was the tried Man; and as such we are called to follow Him. We should forget self, and the things belonging to self, in showing love to others. The true effect of being near Christ is that we are put into fellowship with Himself about others, instead of being under our own circumstances. How can we be turning our heart to the joys of one and the sorrows of another unless we are living close to Christ, and getting the heart filled with Him instead of self ? What we find all through the life of Christ, as shown out in the Gospels, is the total absence of selfishness-never acting for self in any way whatever. He could rejoice with those who had joy, and grieve with those in sorrow. He could cheer, warn, or rebuke, as need arose. Whatever love dictated, that He did.

In psalm 22 we see Christ alone, suffering under God, enduring the wrath due to sin, but continuing the righteous Man, crying unto God, and justifying Him, even when forsaken by Him; or, if we look at Him as in psalm 69, suffering rather from men, God is still His refuge. His heart goes through all the sorrow sin could bring on One who takes the sinner's place. He passed through the deepest exercises heart could endure, but He brings all to God. We find the greatest difficulty often in bringing our sorrow to God. "How can I do so," the soul of some may be saying, " as my sorrow is the fruit of my sin ?How can I take it to God ?If it was suffering for righteousness" sake, then I would; but I am suffering for my sin ; and can I, in the integrity of my heart toward God, take my sorrows to Him, knowing I deserve them ?" Yes, christ has been to God about them. This, then, is the ground on which I can go. There has been perfect atonement for all my sins; Christ has been judged for them. There can therefore be no condemnation for me. So I go to Him on the ground of atonement, and God can afford to meet me in all my sorrow, because Christ's work has been so perfectly done. In the main, all sorrow is from sin, and all help is grounded upon the atonement. There would be no possibility of my trusting in God, had not all His just dealings with sin been put upon Christ.

God could not be indifferent about sin. Peter knew that when he said, " Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."The holy character of God has been fully exercised in putting away sin. He has dealt with Christ about it, according to all that He is. I may have to taste the bitterness of its fruits; God may make me to feel the effects of my sin because He is not going to judge me for it." As sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ." I get my conscience perfectly purged through the blood of Christ, shed in perfect love. My heart is free:I can go to God about my sin because He has dealt with Christ on the cross about it. I can go to Him in all my sorrow on account of it. I can confess my sin; yea, more, I can say, '' Search me, O, God, and try me, .. . and see if there be any wicked way in me," etc. Through grace I am before God, as Christ is, and the ground of it all is the atonement.

We find divine utterance in the Psalms for all our sorrows; and it is blessed to look at them in this way. Christ entered into the full effects of sin as none other can-in a way we never shall; and when He had been at the "horns of the unicorn"-the very transit of death, as it were-and had settled every question with God about sin, He could then say, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee.' We shall never lose Him as our companion. What a comfort! We shall follow Him to the glory. We are going to be with Him. His presence will be our delight. What a place the saints are brought to in Christ-all sorrow past!

We get in psalm 16 expressions of the Lord's own proper joy-the joy of Him whom God called His Fellow. Peter, on the mount of transfiguration, would have put Him on a level with Moses and Elias:but God said, "No:He is My Fellow, not man's." When the young man in the Gospel went to Him, saying, "Good Master"-coming to Him as man-He said, "Why call Me good? there is none good but God." Goodness was not to be looked for in man, not even in Him if He had been only man. The saints are Christ's constant delight; and the poor sinner who puts his trust in God has the Lord Jesus for his comforter; and He, having been tempted, knows how to help as none other can.

In the days of John the Baptist all who repented came to the waters of baptism; Jesus did the same. He could not repent, since He had no sins; but He would not be separated from them, and said, "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness":I will take My place with you-with the saints in the earth; I will bear the sins you confess.

What abundant consolation faith gives the man who hangs on God! Christ, when down here, could say, " I set Jehovah always before Me "; and should not we ? In the details of life do we not constantly need Him ? How continually we get moved by circumstances! He alone can stay us. He once took the dependent place. He was raised by the power of the Spirit, through God the Father. He could have raised Himself; death had no power over Him. But one delights in dependence when conscious of being loved. He was the Father's delight. The Father's heart was bound up in the Son. He would choose dependence on His Father therefore rather than do for Himself.

That we are loved by Christ is needless to mention here. How then are we acting toward Him now? Do we take all our concerns to Him? Do we make Him the uppermost thought in all our need, in every exercise of soul, and also in our seasons of joy ? This is the way to learn Him, and to know the love that is in His heart.

There is no condition but what we may in it have Him for our companion. He has gone into the fullest depths of our sorrow. " Deep crieth unto deep," He could say. There is not a place faith cannot find Christ in. " Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth ? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things." Are we going on in the world with Him ? Are our joys such as we can share along with Him ? Are we walking with Him in our everyday life? The heart that is cast upon Christ finds constant comfort. The heart that keeps close to Christ gets nothing apart from Him. The time will come when all our sorrow will be over, but our Friend will remain. He is our tried and true Friend. He has entered into the deepest woes of our heart, and will make us the sharers of His joy forever. Our blessing, our safety, our hope, is all grounded on the atonement. Is there a soul reading this who cannot rejoice in Christ, who knows Him not as his portion ? Is there one who is saying, "My sin is too great to be pardoned ? " To feel about your sin is right; but to be in despair about it is quite wrong. You are virtually saying, "My sin is greater than the grace of God." You will not dare to say so if you are looking at Christ. Is Christ come short ? Is grace beneath your need, or above it ? Christ is the portion of every poor soul who believes on Him. The atoning work is done. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from all sin.

Blessed be the Lord, who daily beareth our burden" (Ps. 68:19, R. V.). The Authorized Version renders this verse, "Who daily loadeth us with benefits." Both are true; and as we apprehend the former, we are made to acknowledge the latter. But there is a special sweetness and tenderness in the words, "who daily beareth our burden." We have trusted the Lord as our Sin-Bearer, "who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree" (i Peter 2:24). We have proved His risen power in lifting the burden of guilt from our heavy-laden souls; but do we realize that He wants us to trust Him as simply and prove Him as fully to be our Burden-Rearer ?

"Who daily beareth our burdens." This is a ministry of love which is constantly going on, and is therefore open to our continual enjoyment. The Lord does not tarry until our burden becomes so heavy that we fall beneath its weight; He feels all the little weights of worry as they accumulate upon our minds. The difficulties and anxieties which are interlaced with each day's routine make up the burden of the day; and it is this that Jesus bears. Would it not sweeten life if we were more mindful of this ? He not only knows, but feels, how unfit we are to carry the cares of this life, for He is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities" (Heb. 4:15). Therefore, in the power of divine compassion which not only sympathizes but succors, He stoops to take the weight of all our interests upon His shoulders.

He daily beareth our burden, and yet He bids us cast our burden upon Him. Why ? Because we are no better of having a Burden-bearer walking by our side if we hug a bundle of worry to our breasts. The Lord Jesus bids us keep rolling life's burden upon Him, so that we may walk as those who are "free indeed." "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee" (Ps. 55:22). Here is a divine precept linked to an exceeding great and precious promise. We must be careful, however, not to set aside such precepts and promises as applying only to circumstances of dire distress. How much we shall lose if we shelve in our memories such a promise as this, only to make use of it in cases of emergency! Our great Burden-Bearer would have us roll upon Him all the little things that perplex or ruffle us, and mar our enjoyment of His peace. What a privilege it is to welcome our Lord Jesus into all the lights and shadows of our everyday life! If we avail ourselves of this privilege, we shall become blessedly conscious of the fact that He "daily beareth our burden." Our eyes will be opened to see many tokens of His loving-kindness which we would not otherwise have noticed, and the thorny paths of life will blossom with answers to prayer. Shall we not allow Him to lead us into this joy ? A life of prayer is a life of praise; for prayer and praise are twin sisters, and both are ours through the precious name of Jesus. "Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:13). "By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name" (Heb. 13:15).
J. M. G.

My Dear Brother :

I have been thinking of late as to the way in which God seems to be leading His people at this time. We may be sure, indeed, that He will lead us, and that any failure to be led aright rests entirely with us. We may also be sure that as long as He leaves His Church upon earth, the Lord will not cease to appeal to His beloved people to walk in His ways.

There are certain spiritual instincts implanted in the heart of every child of God :a judging of evil, and a love of that which is holy and true, coupled with a sense of the presence of sin in us, and the absolute need of the Lord's grace if we are in any measure to please Him. We are also taught of God to love one another, and therefore, in spite of the manifold failures which have marred our testimony and the divided state of the people of God, there is a unity of heart and a unity of nature which cannot be broken.

In the endeavor to give expression to the instincts of the heart, no doubt we often make mistakes in judgment as to the manner in which it should be done. I am sure the Lord always recognizes and approves the love which is the motive of the conduct, no matter how much that conduct may be a mistake. God approved the desire in David's heart to build Him a house, although His righteousness would not allow that desire its accomplishment in the way that David had purposed.

We may also be sure that if there is a desire in the heart which is produced by the Spirit of God, there will also be a way in which that desire can properly find expression. This will always be according to the word of God and the manifest presence of the Spirit in the Church of God.

We must distinguish, I am quite sure, between the instinct and the manner in which it seeks expression. It would be the greatest mistake to brand as " wicked" those who have evidently spiritual instincts of God, though their expression falls short of, or is even contrary to, principles of His word which may not be known. Indeed, to ascertain these principles is not a light or easy matter. It comes but partially to all, and as a result, no doubt, of much exercise, and even many failures. We are not so single-eyed that we at once learn and follow the full will of God as to our path. This should make us very pitiful one of another, and stir us up to fresh love and earnest longing that God will lead us all in His ways more fully. But that He is leading, we cannot doubt. We know this apart from any outward manifestation of it, from the fact that He loves His Church, and will never forsake it. Can we not see at the present time a distinct, fresh leading of the Lord ?

To illustrate, I will refer frankly to the sad divisions which have so marred the testimony of the various companies of God's people, professedly gathered to the name of our Lord Jesus. Entrusted with much priceless truth which we hold in common, truth which reaches from the fundamentals of the gospel to the final display of the glories of Christ in His Church in eternity, there have yet been sad and disfiguring divisions which are our common shame and sorrow. Every true spiritual instinct would long to see the cause of these divisions removed. This is the common desire to which I have referred above, which I am sure meets with our Lord's approval wherever and in whatever measure He may see it; but it is as to the manner in which He would lead us to the healing of these breaches that I think we have needed, and still need, the exercise which will cast us the more upon our Lord's grace, in order that we may know His way.

Broadly speaking, there have been two thoughts as to this in the minds of the saints. Some, weary of the strife which has but too plainly indicated the pride that produced it, have felt that the best thing to do was to ignore and to forget all the sorrows of the past and to make a fresh start. In addition to this, they have found it necessary to modify certain principles which very many of us feel are absolutely necessary for any full scripture testimony as to God's thought of His Church. The principles have been blamed for the practices which have produced the divisions; and while perhaps not fully refusing them as unscriptural, these to whom I refer so link these principles with past failures that they would ignore and forget both the principles and the practices together. I think I might say that they would wish that we were back at the beginning again, with all the past entirely forgotten.

Now it is just here where I believe we need to be much on our guard. The principles of God's truth remain, no matter how much we have abused them through mistaken zeal or self-will. They can never alter; and any course which would sacrifice principles for the sake of giving expression even to a God-given love in the heart will only pave the way for fresh sorrow, and indeed be tantamount to giving up that for which we should contend most earnestly. If there is to be a distinct testimony as to what we call Church truth, it must be according to the word of God, and not at the sacrifice of any portion of it.

On the other hand, others, to whom we would not deny a God-given desire for His honor, have maintained that the only way to heal the sorrows of the past is to return to a certain company of the Lord's people, with the fullest acknowledgment that they constituted the divinely recognized vehicle of testimony on earth, and that to depart from them, therefore, was schism which needs to be judged. In other words, the question is not, Where is the right? but, Where is the Church ? It makes no difference who makes such a claim; it is a manifest tendency to ecclesiastical pride which cannot be overlooked. It assumes the prerogatives of the Church, and then on that ground, demands a bowing to its decrees, which is in principle, Rome-no matter by whom it may be practiced.

Here, then, we have two extremes; the one of independency, the other of metropolitan tyranny. We can accept neither of these; but again the heart cries, Has God no relief for His beloved people who, in sorrow and simplicity, would still seek His way in the midst of the confusion to which we all confess we have contributed ? I believe God has awakened this longing, and that He has heard the cry of many of His people; and I believe that He is leading in the way which is neither the undue pressing of a truth, nor the refusal to receive it. It is for us to ask, How is He leading, and how may we know it is His way ? I believe that if we will but listen we cannot mistake His voice.

In the first place, a lowly, chastened spirit of sorrow, which realizes my own individual failure, will mark any true exercise regarding this whole matter. Surely, a high and haughty spirit in a day of rebuke like this is mere madness. There never was a time when we could boast, and surely, least of all, the present. Our own slowness of heart, the constant tendency to follow the Lord afar off, the pressure of the world on all sides, the loss of the freshness of the hope of the Lord's coming, and many other things, should bring us to our faces individually and collectively.

Let us not assume that this is an easy matter, and dismiss it with a wave of the hand. Lowliness is a plant of slow and, alas, rare growth; and we all need to be deeply exercised in this direction. Therefore, wherever true contrition, self-judgment, and a lowly spirit are present, there, we may be sure, the Lord is. " I dwell in the high and holy place,'with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones."

Where we are thus before Him, will not our gracious God lead us to a full recognition of those principles of His truth which can never change ?-principles of assembly order and fellowship; the objective truth of the unity of the body, coupled with its expression in the endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; there will be no sacrifice of these principles-they will be held all the more clearly because of our realization of how we have failed in the past.

If these two things are present with us, a lowly spirit and a clear apprehension of the principles of divine truth, we will next be ready for the step to which our gracious God would lead us:-not to a forgetting of the past and turning away from it (only to learn through fresh sorrow and failures lessons which we refuse to gather now), but in calmly and humbly examining the acts of the past
which have been the occasion of the divisions, and judging them in the light of divine truth,' in all lowliness and meekness. We may be sure that the need of this judgment will not be on one side alone. Even where truth has been held, its application has often been mistaken, and pride has subtly lurked behind many an act; but we will be in a position to judge the past, to see wherein we have failed, and without exacting one from another something as due to us, we will all be ready to take our share of the failure of the past. Our common state we will commonly acknowledge; our individual failures we will own, and to our corporate acts we will apportion whatever has been lacking, or contrary to the word of God which should have governed at that time. What will the effect of this be ? Not a triumph for this or that party on the one hand; nor, on the other, a branding as evil those men of God who have been our leaders in the past (a cause of such deep exercise), but a happy learning of the lessons which God would teach us, that He may lead us on in His ways, and heal that which otherwise cannot be healed according to His mind.

There are doubtless many details which require patient care, but if the spirit which I have indicated above marks us, we may be sure that we are in a path where we can be led, and only blessing can result.

There is much cause for thankfulness that the Lord has been of late leading us in this way:slowly, we must confess, very slowly we yield to that which humbles us; but let us thank Him for what He has made known and for what He has done, and let us see to it that we are ready to follow Him as He says to us:"This is the way; walk ye in it."

In brief, then, the mark of a divine leading will be not the maintenance of pretentious claims, nor an ignoring of Scripture principles, but holding them fast in lowliness, and in their light judging that which has in any of us been contrary to any of those principles.

May the Lord deepen in all our souls a longing for a true healing in any measure in these closing days, and exercise us more in prayer, and faith, unto all wisdom and patience and long suffering, and hope! S. R.

While your salvation depends on Jesus and His finished work, and on that alone, your enjoyment of that salvation depends very much on yourself-on your holy walk with God, on your living a life within the veil-living daily by faith on Him who loved you and gave Himself for you. Without this you may be a Christian, but you will never be a peaceful, praising, happy Christian.

HOW GOD REACHED A NUN IN A CONVENT.

The incident that follows was related to me lately by the brother whose initials appear in the story. For obvious reasons full names of persons and places are omitted, but the reader may rely upon the trustworthiness of the narrative.

In the last decade of the century recently closed, there dwelt in the Convent, of –, in Eastern Washington, a sweet-faced nun, of quiet and gentle demeanor, known as Sister Mildred. Who she really was, and whence she came, were secrets to all but her most intimate associates that will never be unraveled now until the judgment-seat of Christ is set up.

She manifested unmistakable signs of culture and innate refinement, and gave good evidence of having come from a home where the kindlier feelings were uppermost, and tenderness and affection had surrounded her. Warm-hearted, and solicitous for others' good, she seemed to delight in ministering to the welfare of any who required her simple services.

In the convent school, or girl's academy, she was employed in teaching stenography and typewriting. Her duties were discharged with conscientious faithfulness, and any who knew her might have supposed that hers was a peaceful, happy and contented life.

But Sister Mildred had a secret sorrow gnawing at her heart, that often filled her with fear and anxiety. She felt the burden of her sins, and longed to know how she might find true peace with God. In vain had she sought to obtain this through confession, penance, mortification and the daily (and even nightly) round of religious exercises. Tears, prayers and austerities were all in vain. There were memories that would not down; an anxiety that would not be appeased; and soul trouble that neither sacraments nor indulgences, granted by the church, could allay.

So far as I am aware, Sister Mildred had never dared to open her heart to anyone as to her true condition of soul, until an event occurred which I will now relate.

In the same city there dwelt an earnest Christian, Mr. F– S–, who had, for several years, been rejoicing in the knowledge of sins forgiven and a conscience purged from every guilty stain, through the precious atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Taught of the Holy Spirit, through the sacred Scriptures, he had learned that all human efforts to attain to righteousness could but end in failure; yea, that "all our righteousnesses are as filthy (polluted) rags" in God's sight, because of the incurable evil of the heart of man, which is described as "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked."

Such a heart had F– S– (and such is the natural heart of every reader of these lines!), but he had been "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." Through that Word he had been led to personal faith in the gospel message, revealing Christ to his soul as the all-sufficient Saviour for the confessedly lost and guilty. Thus he was the happy possessor of a new life, even life eternal, having been born of the Word and Spirit.

This man was an expert mechanic whose special work had to do with the setting up and repairing of safes and vaults, and the regulation of time-locks and intricate combinations. While engaged in this business, he was frequently called for to repair the typewriters used by Sister Mildred at the convent-school; and thus had opportunity of becoming somewhat acquainted with the quiet nun who presided over this part of the academy. She spoke freely to him on various subjects, and on one occasion voluntarily offered to do some copying for him, if there should be any thing of that nature he wished done.

Now it so happened that he was carrying a letter in his pocket at that very time, of which he had been very desirous to have a number of duplicates, for distribution among several of his brethren.

But in order to show the remarkable actings of God's Providence, and the wonderful way in which He was about to bring good out of a grave evil, by overruling a serious wrong for this soul-weary nun's blessing, I must go back and explain both the reason for, and the nature of this letter.

Some years before, there had been a sad and much-to-be-regretted breach of fellowship among the Christians, with a part of whom Mr. S— had become associated later on. Through an unhappy combination of pride, self-will and misunderstanding, (of which many now feel heartily ashamed) a division had been perpetrated and saints once rejoicing in each other's love and confidence had been parted into almost hostile sections, and learned to look upon each other with coldness and suspicion. No doubt there were many who honestly differed in judgment who were superior to these petty feelings; but, alas, in many places they were only too much in evidence.

The unhappy consequences of that separation exist to this day, and are often a source of grave concern and perplexity to simple-minded believers desiring to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Mr. S— was numbered among these. In distress of mind, over what he feared was the countenancing of a serious wrong done to many saints of God, he felt led of the Lord to apply to a brother, well-reputed of as a help and a teacher (albeit on the opposite side in the controversy), who was known to be a man of sober judgment, and well acquainted with the facts. In reply he received a somewhat lengthy letter, in which the questions really at issue were set forth in a clear and succinct, but godly and kindly manner. In order to do this satisfactorily, the writer referred repeatedly to the Scriptures, thus directing his correspondent's attention to many important passages that brought out, in a lucid way, the true condition of all men by nature, as having "no life" until they have been born again by the Word and Spirit of God; and the privileges and responsibilities of those who have become " sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus,"-who are saved through His precious blood, and who, from the moment they trust in Him, are "sealed with the Holy Spirit," and that "to the day of redemption." Following this out a little, he developed the teaching of God's word as to the present standing and future portion of these sealed ones, possessors, in common with all saints, of life eternal, communicated through the Son of God. Other things were touched on which I need not dwell on here.

This letter proved so helpful to Mr. S— that he wished to share it with others, and without a thought of the apparent impropriety of his action, he was pleased indeed to accept the nun's kind offer. He handed her the letter, of which she promised to make a certain number of copies.* *I purposely avoid going into details in regard to the unhappy strife briefly referred to. But for the information of those intimately concerned, I merely mention the fact that it was the sorrow of 1884-85 among believers who assembled in the Name of the Lord Jesus, with which the correspondence in question had to do. The writer of the letter, copied by the nun, will be known to many under the familiar initials of T. O. L. I doubt not, this paper will be the first intimation he has ever had of the manner in which his letter was used by the God of all grace.*

Upon his calling for them, a few days later, she handed these to him, and then, visibly moved, asked if she might keep an extra copy which she had ventured to make for herself, saying:" Mr. S—, that letter is the most wonderful thing I have ever read. I do not understand all about the controversy; but I think I understand what he is teaching, and I would like so much to be allowed to keep one for myself that I might often read it over. It explains so many things, and contains what I have longed to know for years, about how to get peace with God, and how one may know he has eternal life and is accepted in Christ."* *It is quite possible this conversation is somewhat " Protestantized."The events occurred, as mentioned before, a number of years ago, but the words are given as nearly as I can recollect them, Mr. S–having related the particulars to me very recently.*

Needless to say, Mr. S— was amazed and rejoiced at this frank confession, and readily gave the requested permission.

The nun went on to speak of the gracious tone of the letter, and to say that she had noticed many of the quotations were from the Bible, a book with which she was very imperfectly acquainted. She spoke wistfully of longing to know more of it, upon which Mr. S— at once offered her a copy of the New Testament, which he carried in his pocket. She was grateful for the kindness, but timid about receiving it; saying, "I am afraid we ought not to read the Bible for ourselves, because we cannot understand it." He overcame her scruples by a few earnest words, and she accepted it thankfully and promised to read it.

Some time elapsed, ere business again called him to the convent; but on the next occasion he noticed that Sister Mildred was nowhere to be seen. The Mother Superior was present while he worked, and he finally ventured to inquire if the sister were well. He was told that she was ill, and in the infirmary. Upon his earnest request, permission was accorded him to see her for a few minutes. She was pale and wasted, but greeted him cordially, and, in the presence of another nun, spoke only of her illness and related topics.

But the other leaving the room for a brief interval, she at once became more free and thanked him with all her heart for the Testament, the letter, and the gospel message he had given her, "It has been the Word of life to me," she declared, " I know the blood of Christ has washed me, and I have peace." More would have been added, but the other sister returned, and Mr. S— left her to see her no more until " the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him;"

But my story is not yet ended; for he was not to be left without additional testimony to her salvation and steadfastness, and that from a most unlikely source.

When he next inquired for her, he was told that she had been sent for treatment to a hospital in the western part of the state, also connected with a convent. So he despaired of ever hearing from, or of her again; and could only pray that God would keep her in the joy of what she had learned from His word, " steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord," even though that work for her meant but patient suffering.

However, a change in his own business affairs resulted sometime afterwards in his removing with his family to Portland, Oregon. There he was connected with a large safe and vault firm, by which he was frequently sent to near-by towns' and cities on both sides of the Columbia to do special work. One day he was despatched to the residence of the Romish priests, in the very city to which the sick nun had been taken.

While he was engaged upon the safe, two priests were conversing together in the room, one of whom was clearly the worse for liquor. They happened to mention the convent and the hospital, and Mr. S– took the liberty to ask if they had ever known a Sister Mildred there. The partially inebriated priest replied at once that he believed such a person had been there but she was dead now. The other was evidently much perturbed, and at once called his companion into an adjoining room. There, supposing himself out of earshot, he spoke warningly, saying, "Don't you know that was that heretic sister from—?" The name was that of the city in which Mr. S— had met her. The words were spoken bitterly; but they were sweet indeed to him, for he was now assured that, although "after the way which they called heresy," she worshiped God, she had in reality found the sweet consolations of the gospel, and had doubtless been faithful unto death in maintaining the precious truth revealed to her soul through the letter and the Testament.

Thus had grace triumphed, and God been glorified through what might have seemed a most unlikely channel; namely a letter referring to sorrows among Christians which prudence would have suggested was not proper for a nun's eyes.

I have thought it well to preserve the story for the encouragement of the Lord's servants that they may sow in faith beside ail waters. And I trust it may also speak to any unsaved ones who may read it, bidding them profit by the knowledge given them by our gracious God in His precious life-giving Word. H. A. I.

True service of love will seek to give according to the need; and because of their need he will never think of slighting the objects of the Master's love because of their necessity. Men taught of God, for His service, go forth from a place of strength, where they have learned their own weakness and their own nothingness. They find that Jesus is everything in the presence of God, and Jesus is everything for them in all things, and everywhere. Such men, in the hands of the Holy Spirit, are real helps for the children of God, and they will not contend for a place, or a distinction, or for authority, among the scattered flock. The communion of a man with God about the Church will show itself in a willingness to be nothing in himself; and such a one will rejoice in his heart to spend and to be spent.

There is great instruction in the conduct of Zerubbabel, recounted in the book of Ezra. Heir of the place which Solomon had occupied in days of prosperity and glory, he spoke not of his birth, nor of his rights. However, he is faithful in all the path of separation, of sorrow and of conflicts he is obliged to pass through.

The words " life," "living"in this epistle everywhere contrast with the ceremonies and dead forms of Judaism.

First:We are ushered into the presence of the living God, from whom we are exhorted not to depart (chap. 3:12), and whom, with consciences purged from dead works, we serve (9:14). Into His hands the wicked fall (10:31). " It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Let sinners beware. But the men of faith "come to God, believing that He is" the living One (11:6), valuing the reward at the end. Comp. ver. 26.

Second:To maintain us before His Majesty, we have a "great High Priest " at His right hand, even "Jesus the Son of God," "who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life." "He ever liveth to make intercession for us" (7:16, 25). With His glories and heavenly ministry the epistle is filled (8:1, 2).

Third:We enter into the sanctuary "by a new and living way" (10:20).

Fourth:"The word of God is living and powerful," marking out our pilgrim course, and searching our inmost heart, laying bare all its secrets. It is like "the eyes of Him with whom we have to do," from whom nothing can be hid (4:12, 13). Comp. Ps. 139.

Fifth:The discipline of our Father's hand invigorates the whole man, exercising the conscience and profiting the soul, " that we may be partakers of His holiness"-strengthening hands and feeble knees. " Shall we not," then, " be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?" (12:9.) Comp. 2 Cor. 4:16. "Now the just shall live by faith:but if any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him " (10:38). Of this life of faith, lived in the power arid joy of communion with the living God, we have "a great cloud of witnesses" in chapter 11. Let us therefore "make straight paths for our feet," that the lame be not turned aside. "Let us (deliberately) lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us," with our eyes upon Jesus at the right hand of God (12:1, 2). Yea, let us "live no longer unto ourselves, but unto Him who died for us, and rose again " (2 Cor. 5:15). C. E. B.

"Great peace have they which love Thy law:and nothing shall offend them," said king David, in the 119th psalm; or, as it is also translated, "nothing stumbleth them."

And this is truly the effect of knowing and loving the word of God; for it ever leads us to confide in Him of whom it testifies. They who trust Him, and hear Him, speak as He does in His word. They know that whatever may come into their life can but prove that "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."

With what peace and confidence Abraham obeys God when put to the greatest test under which a man may probably be tried. How calmly he speaks and answers! He knew that every word from the mouth of God must end in blessing.

Moses' parents quietly commit him to God's care, and watch for the issue. Hannah confidingly brings her son to the service of the Lord; and David walks without fear to meet the Philistine giant. Mary of Nazareth also replies in perfect calmness, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word."

But all this requires a will surrendered to God. Until then we but quarrel with the word of God whenever it says aught that meets the unbrokenness of our will. A marvelous change had taken place in an acquaintance of mine. He was one accustomed to command; to force his own way through all obstacles; to get for himself what he set out for; and to ask favor of none. But he was brought to the Saviour; and although it had made a great change in his life, he still was an independent man, living but little out of the word of God. Later on a serious illness developed, which ended in total blindness. Here indeed was discipline! No longer able to help himself; totally dependent upon others for everything; nothing to look forward to now to the end but to be a burden and a care to those who loved him. But it was the way of God's grace to manifest itself afresh in the life of that dear man. A great change again took place, producing great peace and quiet confidence in God.

One day he said, " What a blessed psalm is that 23rd! I always loved it; but since God has placed me where I am, it has become my food. ' The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.'" And so he went through these precious verses, making them his own personal property, displaying thus his peace and confidence in God. He lived out of every word of God, and the proud, independent heart had found its rest and peace in God Himself:he was satisfied with the way of the will of God. Blessed rest!

Isaiah says, in the same strain, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever:for in the Lord Jehovah is the Rock of ages." F.

(Matt. 16:13-28.)

It has often been ministered to us by those who have passed out of the present sphere; and of the activities in the body of Christ, that the four Gospels present to us a fourfold aspect of our Lord Jesus Christ-of His personal and official glories in connection with the redemptive ways of God; which ways embrace the Assembly, Israel, and the redeemed nations. These three circles of blessing will be found in Ps. 22, as the result of the sufferings and death of Christ. From verse i to 22 we read His sufferings; then, 22 to end, the glories that follow:First, "My brethren . . . the congregation," or assembly (comp. Heb. 2); second, "The seed of Jacob and Israel"; third, "All the kindred of the nations." It is very establishing to thus see the full extent of the redemptive ways of God in Christ. It begins really with the assembly, and then takes in all the seed of Israel, past and future, and, finally, "all the ends of the world," 1:e., the redeemed nations. It might be profitable and edifying to us to notice that Ps. 72 is a glorious description of the final result. Nearly every verse tells of His supreme glory; its crowning feature being, "His name shall endure forever. His name shall be continued as long as the sun," etc. Well may now the Psalmist say, "The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended"; for when the whole earth is filled with His glory, and His name is exalted above all, there will be nothing else to ask for. This not yet having come to pass, we still pray, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Our desire in this paper is to touch a little upon His glory in relation to the Assembly; and, as leading up to this, we would just refer to each Gospel. Looking for a moment, then, at John's Gospel, we find He is presented manifestly as the Son, the vessel of glory, the true ark of glory. This is clearly declared thus:" And we beheld His glory, the glory of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." All the glory of the grace of the Father is expressed in Him, the Son. He alone could express it. It was in contrast to the glory of the law, which was given by Moses-a glory which is now done away, by reason of the surpassing glory.

Mark presents Christ to us as the Prophet-Servant -the vessel of gracious, unwearying and loving service from God to man. Sick ones alone value a physician's faithful service. So we who know the true character of Christ's service may well accord with this eulogy recorded by Mark alone, "He hath done all things well" (chap. 7:37). In every detail of service we may trace in Him the true meal-offering, the unleavened fine flour with sweet frankincense, mingled and anointed with oil.

Luke presents Christ as the vessel of grace-the Seed of the woman, the Son of Man, bringing all the grace of God to man. While the law may still remain, nevertheless in the person of Christ we pass from law to grace. The law, represented by the priest and the Levite, passes by on the other side; it cannot reach down to our need as ruined and lost; but Christ, the good Samaritan, can and does come right down to where we are in our deepest need and ruin, and pours upon us all the grace of God, until He comes again to end the story of grace with glory. See Luke 10.

In Matthew He is presented to us as the Son of David, the son of Abraham, the vessel of the sure mercies of David, as also the depository of all the promises of God. As son of David, He is minister of the circumcision to confirm the promises made to the fathers:as son of Abraham, all the nations of the earth are to be blessed in Him. Therefore this is the key to all that is recorded in Matthew's Gospel -the setting aside for the time being of Israel (chap. 12); the coming in of the kingdom in mystery (chap. 13); the building of the Assembly (chap. 16); the kingdom in glory (chap. 17). These truths thus linked together are found only in Matthew's Gospel, because it is the dispensational Gospel. As in Luke we have a change from law to grace, so in Matthew we have foretold a change from Israel to the Assembly, and from the expected kingdom in glory to the kingdom in mystery; and this change in the ways of God took place historically on the day of Pentecost. With a view of this fourfold glory of Christ, we might well sing:

" How wondrous the glories that meet
In Jesus, and from His face shine !
His love is eternal and sweet,
"Tis human, 'tis also divine."

This brings us, then, to the truth of the formation and building of the Assembly, declared by Christ in Matt. 16:13-28. It was then future, for it was not yet begun. The Son of Man must die and rise again first. Israel, as the fig tree, must also wither first, and, as the mountain, must be cast into the sea of nations (chap. 21:17-21).

In Matt. 16:13 to end, Christ gives us a brief but complete outline of God's ways from His rejection by Israel to the day of His manifested glory. The very events surrounding the Lord and His disciples at this moment of His life and ministry on earth become the occasion to shadow forth what was about to take place as the result of His rejection and death. An undeniable proof had been given of His Messiah-ship in His birth; the place of His birth; His flight into Egypt, and His call out of it, according to Micah, Isaiah, and Hosea. Then, too, He had labored and ministered among them as the true Shepherd of Israel (chap. 9:36). After all this, they seek a sign. Could unbelief and rejection be greater ? The sign given them, therefore, is the sign which testified against the unfaithfulness of Jonah. The Lord here breaks all His links with them. He left them, and departed, after pronouncing them a wicked and adulterous generation. According to Zech. n:10, 11, He breaks with them, and the poor of the flock-the disciples-wait upon Him, whom He instructs in the word of the Lord.

Up to this time Israel had been the witness for God on the earth, and also the depository of the truth that had thus far been committed to man. They were to be that no longer. The veil would remain upon them (2 Cor. 3:16) until the counsel of God regarding Christ and the assembly would be consummated. During the long night of their excision Christ would build His Assembly-a new thing; and she would be the vessel of light and grace, and the depository of the truth, of all the truth-truth about to be revealed by the Holy Ghost after the death and resurrection of Christ-things new and old (Matt. 13). Prom Paul we learn, also, the Assembly would be the pillar and support of the truth.

We must ever realize that whatever the failure and ruin of the outward professing Church be, as detailed in Rev. 2 and 3, it in nowise affects the truth of the Assembly as formed by Christ and as taught us in the passage under consideration.

We have already remarked that the Lord gives us here a brief outline of God's ways. It is clear, plain, and simple, 1:The Father reveals to Peter the dignity and glory of Christ as the Son of the living God (16:17). 2. The Son builds the assembly upon His own person-the Rock-foundation:"Upon this rock I will build My Church." 3. -He is also the administrator of the kingdom in the form that it takes during His absence; and this administration of heavenly-kingdom government among His own He commits to the Assembly, of which Peter, in this passage, is made the representative.

The principles of the administration are fully given by Christ, the administrator, in chap. 18 to end. First, the brother who offends, or trespasses against his brother, should listen to his brethren, and in the spirit of grace make the offence right. Lev. 6:1-7 helps us here, showing that restoration should be made, even adding a fifth part more. Then, on the other hand, as to forgiving a brother who owns his wrong, the forgiveness should be unlimited.

What heavenly principles these are! How much we all need to drink them in, and also be subject to them!

We return to Matt. 16:

The Lord fully accepts His rejection by Israel as the Christ. He charges His disciples to say no more that He was the Christ. He at once intimates the change of dispensation, and foretells His death and
resurrection on the ground of His redemption work, both as regards the Assembly, Israel, the redeemed nations, and everything which will participate in the coming glory. After this He shows the path of suffering and rejection which must be the path for His own. It must be like His, one of self-denial, self-surrender, and the acceptance of death to everything here. Then He completes the view of God's ways with the revelation of His second coming in glory (ver. 27). This glory, the glory of the coming of the Son of Man in His kingdom, is then foreshadowed in its heavenly and earthly features in the vision upon the mount in chap. 17.

In that glory Christ and the Assembly are linked together. "The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them " (John 17). Before that day of glory the Assembly will be caught up to meet Him in the air.

But let us consider the peculiar formation and building of the Assembly.

Peter, in answer to the question, "Whom say ye that I am ?" confesses His glory as Son of the living God. Now flesh and blood-what is of man-had not revealed this to Peter:the Father had revealed it to him. Such divine communications are hid from the wise and prudent, and revealed to babes. But the moment has now arrived for another revelation. It is this:"I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Assembly." Himself, as the Son of the living God, was to be the rock-foundation of the new gathering together-the Assembly ; and Peter was a stone, of the same nature as the rock. Peter, as a true minister and under-shepherd, ministers the same to us in his epistle:"To whom coming as unto a living stone (Christ) . . . ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood" (i Peter 2:4, 5).

From this we see the Assembly has in a spiritual way what Israel had in a natural way. Christ is the builder-none else. Just as Solomon built the temple, without the sound of axe or hammer, so Christ builds His Assembly, the temple of God:"In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord " (Eph. 2:21). The Lord adds, that against this the powers of hell and darkness shall never prevail. And this temple which Christ builds must contain the true Urim and Thummim-the mind and revelation of God.

Here then we have the light of the dignity and glory of His person as the Son of the living God- as Builder of the Assembly, and as Rock upon which He builds it; also, the building or temple, the spiritual structure, in which the light, or oracle, or Urim and Thummim-the light of the full revelation of God in Christ-is to be maintained, and this in the face of all the opposition of the gates of hell.

The first man is a ruin; Israel is a ruin; the professing Church is a ruin; but here is something which ruin cannot touch. And in the face of all the ruin and failure of the professing Church, from leaving first love as seen in Ephesus, to complete indifference and lukewarmness as seen in Laodicea (Rev. 2; 3), what Christ builds (His people as living stones upon Himself the living stone) has always been, and always will be, shielded and preserved by Him from the gates of hell. What Christ builds must be exceedingly precious to Him, and likewise should be precious to us. Is it not found practically, in measure at least, where He Himself is owned as center and supreme ?-where He is the object and theme of praise and subject of ministry and the subject of gospel testimony ? If in any feeble way the Lord has been pleased to enlighten us as to the truth of His present calling out and building of His Assembly- of His relationships and ministry to her-should we not yearn and desire to be found, even if only two or three-the number given by Himself-where He Himself is owned and preeminent in all things ? We should. We believe the Spirit of God has recorded and given us a model, or pattern, of this for the whole period of the Assembly's gathering to Him in the place of His rejection. This is in John 20:19, 20.

A company are gathered on the first day-the resurrection day of our Lord. The risen Saviour came and stood in their midst. He showed them His hands and His side, the tokens and marks of His atoning death on their behalf, and announced, " Peace unto you."

Gathered on resurrection ground; on the resurrection day; the Lord Jesus in the midst of them; peace and joy filling their hearts; the Holy Spirit breathed upon them:what a divine equipment! And this is a model for the present period-a full period of seven days. By and by, on the eighth day, the Assembly having been caught up, Israel will be restored as witnessed in Thomas, who on the eighth day owns Christ as his Lord and God. It is among the saints who are gathered to Him according to this heavenly pattern, that we shall be led on to apprehend more and more the glory of His person as Son of the living God and builder of His own Assembly. And, further, we shall enjoy His presence as leader of their praises to the Father. " In the midst of the Assembly will I sing praises unto Thee " (See Heb. 2.) Moreover, we shall learn of Him in the divine affections and love of His heart toward the Assembly as her cherisher and nourisher (Eph. 5:22-32). And He will graciously continue to minister thus to her until He presents her to Himself, with exceeding joy, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. For He shall see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied. We too shall then be satisfied, when we see His face, and awake in His likeness (Is. 53 and Ps. 17:15).

"Oh day of wondrous promise !
The Bridegroom and the Bride
Are seen in glory ever-
Forever satisfied."

D. C. T.