A row of books had been set up again and again upon the table, but each time failed to keep their position, because to some extent leaning one upon another. One who was sitting near set them up firmly by placing each distinct from the other, saying, as he did so, "This is the only way to accomplish it-let them stand upon their own responsibility."

I thought, what a lesson for ourselves is here given us!-they only stand well together in divine things who first stand upon their own responsibility individually. And to this end, is it not oftentimes that our gracious God removes from us those whom He sees we are leaning upon, instead of wholly upon Himself, that we may realize our own individuality with Him. So we find it in Ps. xviii, " I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower," and thus throughout the entire psalm.

How much of life's discipline may this explain! and how many of the precepts of Scripture, little realized to any profit, would it give force and value to were it more so with us! As we go forward in the Christian life, this surely will result, and our hearts be more able through grace to say, " I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." " God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."

May we know it thus, through His grace! B.C.G.

The story of a sinner's need is the fitting prelude to the precious tale of the Savior's grace, and in the instances of it with which Scripture furnishes us, this is usually the order. But here in John, not so, for the stream of blessing flowing from the heart of God out to us is seen on His side first,-"down from above." "The good and perfect gift," of which we are by grace receivers, is viewed first in its source " from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning," and not, as often presented, come to us in our need, and then, by the heart that learns its blessing, traced back to its source in Him.

Turning to our chapter, we find this divine order. "And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth." Connected with the close of the previous chapter, what a tale is told us in these words! There, man's heart of enmity, as being the bond-slave and child of Satan, is seen finding expression in hatred to the Light, which had searched him out; and as fuller and clearer its rays of searching-and yet blessing-illumined the moral darkness, they finally "took up stones to cast at Him." But Jesus (albeit He " had authority to execute judgment also,") trod His lowly path of grace to men and of submission to His Father's will, hiding Himself and "going through the midst of them, and so passed by." No flight of haste or fear was His, but the path of humility and yet confidence in God,-removing Himself from the hands of those who desired Him not, and so putting Himself into the Father's for the next service love assigned Him to do; and here He finds it. "As Jesus passed by, He saw a man," etc. Whose heart but His, receiving for all His love, hatred, and for His grace, rejection of it all, would ever have expressed itself in such a way? Yes, who but Jesus would have been at leisure from himself at such a moment?-His own sorrows forgotten, to think of others-His own will lost in that of Him "whose compassions fail not," whose name, words, and works He came to witness of; and how blessedly His works declare Him-they all yield Him praise. "He saw," as once in the chaos of the first creation (Gen. 1:), a ruin for which He only could bring the remedy-"a man, blind from his birth." Once more His Spirit, as He who had then "commanded the light to shine out of darkness" was about to shine upon the darkened vision, and, better still, into the darkened heart, before Him. No mere chance was it that had befallen him, to which human skill might apply itself, but a ruin complete-the very nature and being wrong, hopeless and irremediable in human account-"blind from birth; " on this Jesus looks, and with a com-, passion equaling His power, and a ,wisdom that directed all His love. But here, as, alas! so often since, disciples are in His way, indulging the reasonings of their poor minds, instead of thankfully and humbly waiting to see what the Lord would do, and whither, as it were, the pillar of His glory led, and following it, not going on before it to merit His rebuke. They make their inquiries, and receive His gracious answer, revealing Himself more fully to their hearts; and this at least could be said of them, and well if it can of us,-with all their mistakes, they loved and confided in Him, and were counted blessed, for it is written, " Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him." But Jesus passes on His way to do His Father's work, telling them as He does so where the only light for this dark world is ever found. Thus doing, He takes up the case of need before Him, which first His eyes saw, His heart compassionated, and now His hands would heal. All the activities were on His side; He saw, spake, spat upon the ground, made clay, anointed his eyes, and said unto him, " Go, wash,"-He did all. "By Himself" met all his need, as also we read as to ourselves, "purged our sins," and then "sat down" in token of His completed work. And be it marked, we read of no appeal to Jesus here, as with the blind man at Jericho, who cried, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"-no cries or tears or groans had moved His heart to pity, but the mute and hopeless misery His eye had seen spake loudest to His heart, for how truly He could say, "Mine eye affecteth mine heart"! God's fair creation marred-the creature He had exalted fallen-the being whose eyes once met His unabashed, of whom God could say surely, if of all the works of His hands " very good," now a libel upon His character and the glory of His name, and Jesus, as vindicator of His Father's character, as well as the doer of His will and the declarer of His name, cannot suffer it. All the stirrings of His heart are seen, and with the majesty of God He acts, if with the lowliness of Jesus, and "none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?"

But the way of His working still further declares Him. "He spat" (expression of abhorrence) "on the ground" thus significantly expressing the divine judgment of " sin in the flesh," for " the end of all flesh has come before" Him, and God's estimate of it is given-"All flesh is as grass." Thus must all man's glory be declared as shame, and his need and helplessness be made fully manifest ere the remedy of grace be further realized. All the actions doubtless are significant; and if the first speaks of judgment, which is the necessity of God's holy nature where sin is in question, how plainly does the next of grace, turning the former to account to further His blessed work! Oh to know better the meaning of all He does by knowing Him better! we may surely say. The blind man made blinder, if possible, by the clay put upon his eyes, (at least so if receiving sight is in question,) His works then are " made manifest." Throughout, He is declared to be " a workman that needeth not to be ashamed." The blind man but submitting to His dealings (as ourselves to the righteousness of God now-Rom. 10:3),-giving nothing, but receiving all; thus according Christ His rightful place as God the giver.

May His words become the true language of our hearts also-" I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day:the night cometh, when no man can work." The Lord grant it to us, and to hear Him say, "As I do, so shall ye do" Amen. B.C.G.

"My beloved brother,

"It gave me joy to hear what you say in your letter, and I trust blessing is attending the Word. The great thing, I believe, for the present testimony is a holy, consistent life, which is before all men-a carrying into practice the precious truth we have and proclaim. Of course, it has always been so, but it is especially so now, as knowledge has increased, and many can tell a good deal about truth, and preach, etc., while leading worldly lives, or worse, so that this has ceased to be a test of one's Christianity. At one time, for a man to talk about Christ and know a little of the Bible was a pretty sure sign of real godliness; but no more now. The testimony must be in the uprightness of life, meekness, humility, heavenliness of walk, and every mark of Christ dwelling in us. God will be with them who do this to the end, and use their testimony.

"The passage, 'O wretched man that I am!' does ,not, I believe, refer at all to the question of the redemption of the body at the Lord's coming, but to a present deliverance from the power of sin. As the first chapters of the epistle were occupied with the deliverance from the guilt of sin, so now the sixth and seventh with the deliverance from the power. It is the passage of the Red Sea, where the people pass out from under the bondage to Pharaoh. They are now free to go and serve God -they are no longer under their old taskmaster. So we, having now learned that not only ' we are justified freely by His grace,' but that also we are 'dead to sin,' and 'dead to the law,' which is the strength of sin, we can go forth to serve God in newness of spirit, ' reckoning ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord.' , " This sets us in all the blessed state of the eighth chapter, where, in the liberty of sons, we can not only enjoy God and His grace, but also feel everything- which is unsuited to Him-our own weak, sinful body, a sinful world, a groaning creation,- in a word, every thing which jars with the peace and holiness of His presence. This makes us groan and long for the only event that will set everything right,-1:e., the coming of the Lord Jesus.

"Ver. 29 and 30 of the eighth chapter show God's purpose toward them that believe. He has predestinated them 'to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren.' He did not predestinate us to be angels, and make Christ the Archangel, but He did to make us like His Son, so as to make His Son 'the first-born,-1:e., the chief one of an immense family, where love is the prevailing element. Grand, blessed purpose! This being so, all whom He has called are like Christ in His eyes:He is no more under our sins on the cross, and therefore we are justified from them:He is glorified, and therefore we are glorified. All that is true of Him as the Man who suffered for sin, and rose again, and is now in the glory, is true of us who believe on Him. Who, then, will accuse? God Himself is for us.

" May the Spirit of God fill our souls with the reality of all this grace, and make goodly fruit to abound in us. …..

"Yours affectionately, in Him,"

"As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." (2 Cor. 6:9, 10.)

I often weep, yet I am not sad ;
Often in sorrow, I yet am glad ;
Chastened sore, yet I shall not die ;
Poor I am, yet how rich am I!
Naked, but clothed in fairest dress :
Nothing I have, yet I all possess.

Losses and troubles upon me rain ;
I count the losses my richest gain :
I am a fool in the world's esteem ;
Folly and madness my choice they deem:
Christ's reproach is my richest prize ;-
God's folly makes me divinely wise.

I pass through rivers, yet am not drowned ;
I walk the waves as on solid ground ;
The hottest fires cannot singe or burn ;
The hosts of darkness cannot overturn:
While He that dwelt in the bush is near,
And God is with me, what should I fear ?

Say, is the devil more strong than God?
Or Pharaoh's scepter than Moses' rod ?
Lo ! in the river and in the sea,
In the hot furnace, He's still with me :
In the dark valley, and in the grave,
Jehovah-Jesus is strong to save.

Soon shall the weary night be o'er,
The sun will rise to set no more ;
Soon shall the winter's cold rain be past,
The turtles be heard in the land at last;
And soon shall the glorious Bridegroom say,
"Arise, My fair one, and come away."

Oh, what a moment the past will seem !-
Vanished away like a troubled dream ;
Not worth a sigh will its grief be thought,
When to His presence we're safely brought;
Praise, our employment ceaseless be ;
Chiefest among ten thousand He !

J.G.D.

MY dear —:I was very glad indeed to hear from you again, and my heart went to
God in thanksgivings as I read your letter. This scene we are passing through is to us what the desert was to Israel-a place where they were made to prove that their only resource was in God. But if He was their only resource, He was a never-failing one:The manna never failed, the water was ever ready to flow, their garments wore not out, and their foot swelled not. All this telling a story of infinitely deeper things about us who are ' blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.' But there too they learned themselves, and that is the dark side of the picture. However, it is not so dark after all to learn self when we know it is no more a question of acceptance with God, but of acquaintance with Him. Our acceptance was forever settled by the cross-the blood on the door-post, and the crossing of the sea. The first covering our sins, the second our old man, from the eye of God. Thus the only question which remains is, Am I anxious now to get acquainted with the God I have found ? -a God who is light and love !If so, I must taste the lessons of the wilderness. I must learn to 'glory in tribulation, knowing,' etc. (Rom. 5:3-11.)

" In reading Gen. 1. yesterday, I was struck with ver. 15, and the answer it called forth from Joseph at the end of ver. 17. So perfectly was their sin passed from his heart that to recall it made him weep. How comforting when we reflect that this is but the shadow of the heart of Christ toward us! May we learn to think His thoughts. They are Manna indeed. But we sometimes have to pass through great sorrows, to humble us, and put us in a moral condition where we can turn from ourselves and our sins to feed upon the love of God, and lay hold of Himself and His glory through the forgiving and restoring grace He makes known to our souls. Thus our lives, in connection with God, are not, cannot be, lives of ease; but rest-the rest of God is near. ' The coming of the Lord draweth nigh.' What incentive to persevering energy and patience of faith!"

I was very religious when I was a young child. I was the only daughter, and my father brought us up most strictly in all the outward forms of church-attendance and strict regard to religious duties.

When I was eighteen or nineteen I was a Sunday-school teacher, and visited the poor as a matter of course. I was very anxious to do my duty, and exceedingly conscientious as to my responsibilities at home with my brothers and my father. On the whole, I was tolerably satisfied with myself, especially when I was toiling in religious duties. But there came an awakening, to me that entirely changed all my thoughts and feelings, and broke up all my fancied security.

A stranger-lady came to lodge in the street in which we lived. She was quite alone, very handsomely dressed, and very sad-looking. In a quiet country town, you know, the appearance of such a stranger excites some curiosity and remark. Occasionally I saw this lady come into the place of worship we attended, and as I walked down the street to go to my Sunday-school, I frequently saw her sitting alone by her window. We found that her husband was a Frenchman, and that they were separated; but no one knew more, and a sort of romance gathered round her in my girlish mind. We had never met or exchanged a word, and imagine my amazement when one day a messenger came to my father's door asking to see me, and on my appearance, telling me that the lady lodging at Mrs. –'s was very dangerously ill, and particularly wished to see me.

" To see me! " I said. " I think it must be a mistake. I do not know her."

"Oh, no," replied the girl; "its no mistake, miss, for the lady has said many times, ' Fetch that young lady who passes by on Sundays to the school;' and I know she means you, miss, for she told me where you lived. The little baby was born last night, and the doctor says the poor lady cannot live."

When I got into her room, I found her in a state of distressing excitement.

" Have they told you that I am dying?" the lady asked. " Yes, I am dying, and I don't know how to get ready to die. I sent for you. I am sure you will excuse me, because I know you are so very religious. I am sure you can tell me what I want to know. Tell me, I beg you, as quickly as you can, what I must do to get ready."

Never can I forget the scene. The poor woman flushed and agitated, her beautiful hair all dangling and wet, her pillows and bed-clothes tossed about in disorder, no one belonging to her to speak a word of help or comfort. I could hardly control my voice to say, " You must pray to God. You have read the Bible? You know what He says?" but she caught up my words with a sharp cry of pain:"I cannot pray, I am too ill, and I do not know how. I cannot read the Bible, and I do not know it. Oh, tell me yourself what I must do. Pray for me, oh, pray for me."
Can you wonder that I burst into tears? I had never prayed with any one in my life. I could remember nothing that I thought could possibly be of any comfort or good to this poor dying woman. More than that, a sudden flash of light seemed to reveal to my inmost soul that I myself was building my house upon the sand, and that all my religiousness was nothing at all to stand in such a storm as this.

" Oh," I said to her eagerly, " let me fetch the minister to you."

"No!" she answered; " I do not know him. I do not want him. I want a woman to speak to me, like a sister, or a mother."

I thought of the minister's wife. Ah, no, she was not one I could imagine in such a scene as this. Then I remembered, with a sudden feeling of inexpressible relief, another lady, wise, loving, gentle, earnest-one of those who bore her Master's name written on her forehead, whose own name I had heard many a time uttered in accents of love and gratitude from the poor and the sorrowful.

" I know a dear lady," I said, " who could help you. I am sure she would. I will go to her directly."

"Oh!" said the dying lady, with a look of reproach that sank deep into my inmost heart, " I wanted you to tell me. I have seen you so often going to church and to the school. I often, often wished I was like you; I thought you were so very religious." She sighed bitterly, and leaned back exhausted.

I escaped, crept down stairs, hearing the feeble wail of a little infant as I passed, and hastened to the house of Mrs. –, rushing into her presence with my agitated and half-incoherent story, much to her surprise. " Do come directly, dear Mrs. —," I said; " there is not a moment to lose! Oh, come back with me now! "

" My dear Margaret," she answered, " I will come as soon as I can; but it cannot be immediately. Go back and sit by the poor lady until I come. Try to be very calm and quiet with her, and to soothe her as well as you can. I daresay I shall be with her a quarter of an hour after you."

I was not quite pleased at this, and felt impatient and astonished. Ah, I knew in after days why she could not come on such an errand without seeking wisdom and help in one quarter of an hour with the Master.

I went back, and sat quietly by the bedside, where my poor invalid lay in feverish sleep. As I sat there, a realization, such as I never felt before, of the uncertainty of life and the nearness of eternity came to me. My own past life, with all its " religiousness," looked utterly worthless, and I knew that I had yet to begin with the humble cry, "God be merciful to me a sinner!"-yet to be " born again," and to enter as a little child into the kingdom.

My heart was heavy for the poor young mother, and my busy fancy tried to guess her story, while I shuddered to think how nearly it was closing, and longed for help and comfort for her.

A low knock at the door, quiet footsteps on the stairs, and my friend came in. Softly as she entered, the dying lady awoke, and her painful agitation returned.
Tenderly as a mother my friend went to her, smoothed her pillows, arranged her bed-clothes, and with willing gentleness asked and used permission to brush her hair and make her comfortable.

I looked on in surprise, for I had expected her to be in haste to read and to pray. I was learning lessons useful to me ever since. I was sent for warm water, and we sponged her face and hands. In a few minutes she was resting with a very different expression on her face, refreshed and peaceful, as if reflecting the quiet restful ness of the face of her new friend; but the bright, eager eyes were turned on her with a wistful, imploring gaze that went to her heart.

"And now," she said, "dear friend, you want to know how to rest in the Lord Jesus, so that you may be safe in His arms if He should see it best to call you home? Our time is very precious; we will ask Him to show it all to you Himself." And we knelt by the bedside.

I cannot tell you any thing about that simple, urgent prayer, except that it came home to my heart with a power that must have been that of the Holy Spirit who inspired it. When it was ended, I could not trust myself to stay in the room. I thought, too, that it would be better to leave them alone together; and I went down to the kitchen, where at least I felt myself at home in making some gruel, nursing the baby, and helping to restore some degree of order to the distracted little household.

Before the next morning dawned the lady passed away, looking in faith and hope to a crucified Saviour, as we humbly believed,-her hand clasped in hers who had brought her the message of peace. As for me, 1 did not find peace at once; for weeks, and even months, my burden only grew more and more heavy, and my heart more sad. When I could no longer keep my anxiety to myself, my father and brothers were amazed, and began to fear that my mind was affected. Again and again they said to me,-

" But you have always been so religious, Margaret; why should you be troubled about such things?"

They made parties of pleasure for me; but wherever I went I carried my burden, and every thing failed, until God sent me a true friend, and through his blessing, and the guidance I then received, I was led to give up my own doings, and found true peace in believing in Jesus, coming to Him as a guilty, unprofitable servant, just as I was. If I had not been summoned to that dying bed, I might have remained all my life with only " a name to live;" I might have missed all the blessed reality of life in Christ Jesus.

Who like Thyself could be so patient, Lord,
With me? I know not how to ask aright;
But 'neath Thy love, Thy willingness, Thy might,
And trusting in Thy never-failing word,
What can I do but wait, while I believe
That what I ask, if best, I shall receive.

And I may come to Thee by night, by day,
With all my wants, and all my weaknesses;
My folly, and my sins-yea, all confess,
Nor could I be content to stay away;
For all this weight a weariness would be-
Unbearable, could I not come to Thee.

Oft I've no words, when most I feel my need;
But just to know Thee near, and feel Thy care,
Is ofttimes answer to my unframed prayer.
The while the very silence seems to plead,
"Empty my heart of all but Christ, and prove
It, Lord. I know that I can trust Thy love."

Which of my earthly friends could I invite
Into the secret chambers of my heart
Unflinchingly, nor bid the guest depart?
My Father, Savior, Friend, be my delight
That when alone with Thee, to let Thee speak
Thy will, Thy smallest wish my joy to seek.

Thus may it ever be-my soul above
The chilling frosts of unbelief and sin,
And let Thy presence lighten all within
My breast, and may the ardor of Thy love
Burn there, self to subdue, and keep at bay
All that would seek to steal my peace away.

H. McD

THE ADDRESSES TO THE CHURCHES, (Continued.)

Smyrna:the Double Assault of the Enemy. (Rev. 2:8-11.)

The decline of the Church opens the way for the power of the enemy to display itself; and the assault is a double one-from without and within at the same moment. The result is, however, very different in the two cases. The outside assault is failure, for it is impossible that the Lord should leave His saints to be subdued by power beyond their own; while the defeat of Satan's wiles is another matter. Here they must put on the whole armor of God, that they may be able to stand in the evil day. We shall be able from this point to trace an instructive correspondence between the history of the kingdom as developed in the first four parables of the thirteenth of Matthew and that of the Church in the first four addresses here. There also the failure (or partial success) of the good seed is the first fact insisted on, and then follows the inroad of the enemy. The two are put in connection by the words, " While men slept, the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat."

Here, as not in the parable, the open assault is connected with the secret and inward one, and we shall see, if the Lord permit, that the two are really parts of one whole, the one favoring the other. The roar of the lion is well calculated to frighten souls into the secret snare; and in this regard we could not say that it had no success. God, on the other hand, suffers it to alarm His people into their place of refuge; and with true souls this would be its effect. The test is permitted to manifest the condition of things, and it is His way to allow such tests ever, as in all dispensations we shall find to be the case. Alas, for the invariable result as to man! but He will be glorified through all.

Let us look briefly first at the open attack which, as it makes a figure in ecclesiastical history, gives us a date to attach to the period before us. Even those who do not see the historical application of these addresses generally admit a reference in the "tribulation ten days" to ten persecutions under the Roman emperors. That there were just so many can hardly be made out, and the expression need not be pressed so literally. It is quite plain, nevertheless, how the address to Smyrna suits this period, which lasted from Domitian's persecution now begun, right on to Constantine,-that is, for over two centuries. This was undoubtedly the martyr-age of the Church as a whole, although the persecution may have been more bitter locally in other periods. The power of Rome, absolute as it was throughout her wide-spread empire, when wielded against Christianity, left little room for escape any where, while as a heathen power it was antagonistic to all that professed the name. The address to Smyrna, therefore, comes exactly in place here; and the very name-" myrrh,"-used, as this was, in the embalming of the dead, reminds us of how " precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."

Indeed this is manifest all through the address. It is as "the First and the Last, who" yet "was dead, and is alive," that He speaks to them. In the voice of One who though divine stooped down to death and is come out of it, and who gives them thus only to drink of the cup of which He has drunk, and to be baptized with the baptism wherewith He has been baptized. How fully can He say, " I know thy tribulation"! and how sweet the commendation, " I know thy poverty, but thou art rich "! Yea, "blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake:rejoice, and be exceeding glad."
The times are so changed, we look back with a shudder to the sufferings endured at these times, unable, as it would seem, to comprehend the blessedness of this link of sorrow with the Man of sorrows. And yet we can see, even through the lapse of intervening centuries, how the "Spirit of glory and of God" rested upon these sufferers. The Captain of their salvation was at all charges for them, and as the sufferings of Christ abounded in them, so their consolation also abounded by Christ. They had heard His voice saying, "Fear not those things which thou shalt suffer; be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."

Multitudes were thus faithful; but we are apt to form a wrong estimate of the times gilded by the glory of this faithfulness. Just so, in the address to Smyrna, the Lord's undisguised and tender sympathy with His own under persecution hides from the eyes of many the evil which is pointed out by Him as there in terms of indignant reprobation. By most, " The blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not" is supposed to refer to the well-known and constant enmity of the unbelieving nation against the followers of their rejected Messiah. It is evident that they are treated as outside of those whom the Lord is here addressing, and that the " angel" is not, as elsewhere, charged with responsibility for their presence. But so neither are the Nicolaitanes, or the followers of Balaam at Pergamos, or the woman Jezebel at Thyatira, addressed directly by the Lord, while no one doubts, nor can it be doubted, that they formed part of the respective assemblies. The question of responsibility is a more difficult one, and we shall be obliged to consider it a little later.

"Those who say they are Jews and are not" might be taken, no doubt, as parallel to the apostle's words that "they are not all Israel which are of Israel," and "he is not a Jew which is one outwardly." Still it would not seem that they would so much need to profess themselves such, if they were of the nation really; nor does it seem that so much would be made of the falseness of a profession for which there was after all a certain justification. If this, too, were really the character of those in question, there is no significance, that one can see, in the appearance here as regards any divine judgment of the churches.

The moment we realize the adversaries here spoken of as Judaizers within the professing church, we find that we have in them as much the formal root of decline as in first love left we had the internal principle. The mention of them at this point becomes a necessity really for the perfecting of the picture of what has in fact taken place. With the heart-failure first reproved, it is the key to the condition of things which is all around us, it characterizes the state of ruin which has come in. It is this which has robbed Christians of the enjoyment of their place with God; it is this which has put them back into the world out of which grace had called them; it is this which has built up once more a priestly hierarchy as necessary mediators between a mixed and carnal people and a far-off God. It is this which is indeed the triumph of the great adversary, although God be as ever sovereign above it; and no name could more fitly designate the instruments by which he has degraded the Church of God into the synagogue than the name by which, the Lord brands them here-"the synagogue of Satan."

The title precisely indicates the change accomplishing. The Church of God is indeed every way the precise opposite of Satan's synagogue. The word which we translate "church" is, as well known, properly "assembly,"-a title which, if it had been retained in our common version, would have prevented the possibility of some significant perversions. The assembly could not be confounded, for instance, with a material building, though spiritually indeed God's house. Nor could it be the clergy merely, as from Romanism, though by more than Romanists, it has been made to signify. These applications of the term are but indications of the very change of which we are now speaking. The assembly of God in Scripture is Christ's body, the fellowship of those who are His members, and of none but these. It is true that the responsibility of this place may be assumed by those who are not such, and so we find the assembly in Sardis pronounced by the Lord to be dead, and not alive. Yet in the divine thought this is what the assembly is, and at the Lord's table everyone declares this:"we being many are one bread, one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread."

Thus it is the assembly, or gathering, of those who are Christ's members, called out by grace out of the world, and this is what the word used means. "Ecclesia " is the assembly of those called out; while "synagogue" means merely a "gathering together" no matter of whom. The latter, of course, was the Jewish word, as the former the Christian; and they exactly express the difference between the respective gatherings. Christ died, " not for the nation [of Israel] only, but also that He might gather together in one the children of God which were scattered abroad." Outside of the Jewish fold He had sheep to bring in, and inside of it not all were His sheep. Judaism did not unite the children of God as such, as is plain, and its separation was not of believers from the world, but of Israel from the Gentiles. So, consequently, the children of God were not given their place with God, and had no Spirit of adoption-did not cry, "Abba, Father." God was saying, " I am a father to Israel"-and this which comes nearest to Christian knowledge shows in fact the contrast. Relationship was by birth, not new birth, and did not mean justification and eternal life, as it means now. Those who belonged to the family of God might perish forever, and those outside His family might be saved eternally.

Judaism decided the eternal state of none. As a dispensation of law, it could give no assurance, it could preach no justification. For if the law says on the one hand "the man that doeth these things
shall live in them," it says also "there is none righteous-no, not one." And that was not merely the effect, but the designed effect:" We know that whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God." It was thus ordained for the probation of man, a probation necessary before grace could be proclaimed; but on this account it could but as a means of salvation bear witness to its own incompetency. The announcement of that new covenant under which Israel's sins and iniquities would be no more remembered was such a witness.

Thus, as the law could not justify, it could not bring to God. The unrent vail is the characteristic of Judaism as the rent vail is of Christianity. " Thou canst not see My face, for there shall no man see Me and live " is the contrasted utterance to His who says, " He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father;" as is " who can by no means clear the guilty" the opposite declaration to that of the gospel, that we "believe on Him who justifieth the ungodly." The darkness is passed from the face of God, and the true light-for God is light-shineth. We walk therefore, in the light, as God is in the light, and have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth from all sin.

The Judaizing of the Church means therefore, first of all, the putting God back (if that were possible; possible for our hearts it is) into the darkness from which He has come forth; replacing the peace which was made for us upon the cross with the old legal conditions and the old uncertainty. Darker than the old darkness this, inasmuch as the Christ for whom they only looked is come, and come but to put His seal upon it all:come, and gone back, and declared little more, at any rate, than was said before, and only definitively shut out hope of any further revelation.

Thus in the Judaizing gospel confidence is presumption. " No man knoweth whether he is worthy of favor or hatred" is quoted as if from Paul instead of Solomon. In fact, is not Ecclesiastes scripture as well as Romans? and will you make scripture to contradict scripture? Did not Christ say, also, "I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill"? and ought we not to follow Him?

Peace is of course lost, and in the dread uncertainty that every-where prevails, who can distinguish any longer between God's children and the world? Yet Judaism had its family of God, its ordinances which separated them from those around, its absolutions by the way which encouraged hope, while yet, as continually needed, they sanctioned no presumptuous assurance. The Christian family could still exist, baptism and the supper of the Lord take the place of the old Jewish ordinances, the Christian ministry conform to the Levitical priesthood, and the Church become more venerable by her identification with that of the saints from the beginning, and richer for the inheritance of all the promises from Abraham down.

This is assuredly the transformation that has taken place, and that began so early that we have but few traces of the manner of its accomplishment, or its agents either. We open the page of uninspired history, and the terrible transformation has been already achieved. In fact, so fully, that it presents the only difficulty in the application of the address before us to the period of heathen persecution. One would hardly suppose from the Lord's words here that (as it would appear) the witnesses for Him, faithful to death as they were, were nevertheless thoroughly implicated in this descent from Christianity to Judaism. It would hardly seem as if the "blasphemy " or slander of this Jewish party had been directed against them, or that the Lord could ignore their reception of these satanic doctrines.* *For I cannot accept, as some do, that "but thou art rich" is a reproof. And the blasphemy against them surely should acquit them of complicity with those who slander them.*

The real question is, how far could we expect the history, meager in proportion to its earliness, and which has come down to us through centuries of darkness and hostility to the truth, to reveal to us the struggle with these Jewish teachers, so generally successful as they were? I do not think we could expect it. An age which would forge the names of those in repute to spurious documents, often with the express design of giving authority to some favorite doctrine, would hardly hesitate to remove the too suspicious traces of opposition to prevalent views and practices from the history of the early church. That there should have been no such struggle is scarcely to be credited. And the words of our Lord here may well be taken as an encouragement rather to believe that there were even many who were doubly faithful in this time of trial; faithful amid the outside persecution, and faithful also against what could and did soon develop into no less bitter persecution within the professing church.

Of one thing we may be sure, that the true history of the Church remains to be written, or is written only before God. That which fills men's histories is hardly, save in responsibility, the Church at all. Solemn it is to realize the completeness of the ruin, almost from the first; and yet this has been the case in every dispensation. How long did our first parents live in paradise? Of the generation before the flood, what was the record? and what of Noah's sons? Of Israel in the wilderness, but two of all that as men left Egypt got into the land. In the land, how soon does Bochim succeed Gilgal! The priesthood fail on the day of their consecration. The first king falls on the battle-field, an apostate. The hands that have built the temple to the true God build the shrines of idols. The remnant brought back from Babylon murder one of their latest prophets (Matt. 23:35), and the awful history of the chosen people closes with the crucifixion of the Son of God.

What hope, then, for the Church? And here the blessing bestowed only makes the ruin the more awful:the corruption of the best becomes the worst corruption. " The annals of the Church," says the Romish historian," are the annals of hell." How solemn a witness to the application of the words here, " who say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan "!

Not that we must brand with this name the masses who fell into the snare prepared for them, still less the generations afterward succeeding to the fatal heritage. It is applied, as we may easily see, to the earnest and active propagators of the heresy rather than to those whom they seduced to follow them. The Word of God, while teaching us to be open-eyed as to the character of things around us, teaches us carefully the need of making a difference as to those who may profess the very same principles. Indeed, as to persons, love will ever hope the best that it is possible to hope. It will not be blinded into putting good for evil, or sweet for bitter; and for evil principles it never can have even the smallest toleration:can it tolerate poison in that which is men's food ? But it is another thing when the question of what is in the heart is raised. We are never really called to judge what is in the heart, while we are called to judge what is manifest in the life and ways. " I wot that through ignorance ye did it" was said to those who had had part in crucifying Christ; and it was but the echo of the Lord's own plea for them.

But whatever our judgment may be as to persons, the evil abides, and its effects are in the present day all around us. The Judaizing of the Church means, the vail replaced before God, souls at a distance, in uncertainty and darkness; the Church and the world confounded, the children of God deprived of their place and privileges, the world made Christian in form, the Church more and more degraded to its level. The development we shall see at length in the after-addresses. F.W.G.

THE SON OF MAN AMONG THE CHURCHES. (Rev. 1:9-20.)

We come now to the vision which introduces the messages to the seven assemblies which with it constitute the first part of the book. The second part is similarly introduced by the vision of the fourth and fifth chapters. There is a very evident and characteristic difference between the stand-points of the two. In the one case it is John, companion with the saints in tribulation and endurance, and the scene is on earth; in the other case he is called up to heaven, and the scene is there.

The apostle writes, not as such, but as one in the common fellowship of the martyrs of Jesus, with whom testimony and suffering were linked necessarily together, the kingdom to be reached through tribulation. He being in Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ, the word of God is afresh communicated to him, and the testimony of Christ anew committed into his hands. Is it not the abiding principle, only in a more than usually eminent example, that "to him that hath shall more be given"? Did ever any one find himself so in Patmos without learning something of the revelations of Patmos? Surely it could not be. Joseph becomes in his prison the " revealer of secrets;" Moses in his wilderness banishment sees the burning bush; David in his affliction develops the sweet singer of Israel; Paul gives out the mystery of the Church from the place of his captivity; John follows only in the footsteps of these; and those who have followed him, though at a humbler distance, and with no fresh revelations because the Word of God is complete, have they no unfoldings of the Word, no nearer views of its Subject and Revealer, to more than compensate for the sorrow of the way-rhapsodies though they may seem to those of days of less demand and less enthusiasm?

Yet when the apostle puts himself down thus simply as "partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience in Jesus," does he not expect us also, and invite us, as it were, into this fellowship? and must we not in some true sense be there in order to profit aright by this communication? If we will be friends with the world, can we expect to understand or be in sympathy with the prophet of Patmos? And if it be a Christian world we think of, the words have nothing but an evil significance, if we take the significance from Scripture. But among the many tongues with which for our sins we are afflicted, how few are content to speak simply the language of Scripture!

" I became in the Spirit on the Lord's day," it should be. It was not simply in the right and normal Christian state in which John found himself, as so many think, but carried out of himself by the power of the Spirit; his senses closed to. other things, his spirit awake to behold the things presented to him, and hear the voice that speaks to us also in him. The expression is found again in the beginning of the fourth chapter, at the opening of the vision there.

"On the Lord's day" does not mean, as some suppose, the prophetic " day of the Lord," for which there is a different expression, and which would not really apply at all to this first vision and what follows it. It is the Lord's day, the day of Christian privilege, in which in the joy of His resurrection we look back upon His death. Yet this does not surely shut out the looking forward to His coming:"ye do show forth the Lord's death till He come."This is the only right attitude for the Christian to be in, as one that expects his Lord. And this is indeed why, as it would seem, the voice that John hears speaks behind him, and he has to turn to see the One who speaks to him. His attention is to be directed to the present state of the Church; turned back, therefore, from the contemplation of the coming glory, to what to one so engrossed is a thing behind.

He turns, and sees seven golden candlesticks, or "lampstands," as the word is. They answer in number to the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, the significance of which we have already seen. They represent, as we are told, the seven assemblies (5:20), and, plainly, as responsible to exhibit the light of the Spirit, during the night of the Lord's absence. The reference to the golden candlestick of the sanctuary is evident, and the contrast with it is as much intended for our notice, and should be as evident. The candlestick of the sanctuary was one only, its six branches set into the central stem, and it speaks of Christ, not the Church. The seven candlesticks are for lights, not in the sanctuary, where Christ alone is that, but in the world. And while there is a certain unity, as representing doubtless the whole Church, yet it is the Church seen, not in its dependent connection with Christ, but historically and externally, as "churches." Each lamp stand is set upon its own base, stands in its own responsibility, as is manifest. To speak of the Son of Man in the midst as the invisible bond of union is surely a mistake. He is judging, not uniting.

Moreover, it is the Church in the larger, not the narrower sense here. Sardis as a whole is dead, and not alive. Christ is outside of Laodicea. Individually, they are local assemblies, which, as we shall see, stand each for the professing church of a certain epoch, or what in it characterizes the epoch. To see in them but Ephesus and its contemporary churches, as a large mass of interpreters still do, is indeed to be blind, and not see afar off; but the proof as to this comes naturally later. They are golden candlesticks, as set for the display of the glory of God (of which the gold speaks); but this is not what of necessity is displayed by them ; they have the privilege and responsibility of it, but the candlestick may be, and in fact is, removed.

But the vision here is not simply, nor mainly, of the candlesticks-the churches; it is of One rather from whom alone they receive all their importance, -" One like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about at the breasts with a golden girdle." The attire is that of a priest, but not in service, for the girdle is not about the loins, and the dress hangs loosely to the feet. As Priest, He is therefore a son of man, but He is more; and this the words, "One like unto the Son of man," indicate. Why "like unto" this, if He were indeed only this? The precise expression, moreover, is from Daniel, as what follows unites with it the features of the Ancient of days as pictured there. Thus it is the divine-human Priest, the true Mediator between God and men, as God and Man.

Yet He is not interceding. The characters which follow show Him as when He comes to judge the world, and these are applied, in the third and fourth addresses, to the judgment of the churches. "His head and His hair were white as white wool, as snow;" this marks Him as the Ancient of days, the perfection of holy wisdom; "and His eyes were like a flame of fire "-with the same absolute holiness searching all things; "and His feet like unto white [-hot] brass, as glowing in a furnace*,"-judgment following, as inexorable against evil; "and His voice as the voice of many waters,"-the sound of that ocean which reduces man so easily to his native littleness and impotence. *On the whole, this seems the sense; but a word unknown to the lexicons perplexes the commentators. *

Such is He who in grace has become the Son of man, but whose holiness is as unchangeable as His love is perfect. All judgment is committed unto Him, because He is the Son of man. The Church and the world alike are in His hand whose glorious uprising will bring, in a short time, summer to the earth. "And He had in His right hand seven stars; and out of His mouth goeth a sharp two-edged sword; and His countenance was as the sun shineth in its strength."

All this exhibits the Lord as just ready to come forth and take the kingdom; it is as if He had left the sanctuary, and were clothing Himself in the cloud with which He returns. And so Scripture, when urging our responsibility upon us, carries us constantly on to the day of His appearing, when the result of conduct will be brought out and manifested to all. There is a wide distinction always recognized between this and His coming to receive us to Himself, with which nothing but grace is associated. This is the time when we receive the fruit of His work; and beautiful it is to see, and unspeakably comforting it is to realize, that first of all-before any thing else, His heart must have its way, and the sufficiency of His cross be shown to set the believer in full, unchallengeable possession of eternal blessedness, before ever a note of judgment has sounded, or a question as to his work been made. And this is plain from the fact of what the resurrection of the saint is stated to be. " It is sown in corruption "-the body of the dead saint;- " it is raised in incorruption:it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory:it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power." And we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, we shall be changed like them into the image of the heavenly, and caught up together with them, to meet the Lord in the air. Thus incorruption, glory, power, are ours before ever we see the face of the Lord or are manifested before His judgment-seat.

But with His appearing is associated the recompense of works; and thus all exhortations, warnings, encouragements, contemplate this. And so the Lord is seen in the vision here, though among the churches. In this way all is simple, and we cannot confound His being "in the midst of the assembly " with His being in the midst of the assemblies, or seek for principles of gathering in what is of a totally different nature. " Who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks " is the Lord's own word to the church in Ephesus. How different is the thought of His walking in the midst from His being in the midst as the center of gathering!

Principles of church-order and discipline are not to be sought in the book of Revelation. It is most important to realize that God's Word, if it be beyond our systems, has a system of its own; and that He has so arranged His truth that His people may know where to look for it, and find it with more simplicity than in fact we do. Each book has its line of truth, distinct from, however much connected with, every other one. The first of Corinthians is the book of church-order and discipline. Revelation is the book of the throne, and divine judgment. And the simplest view of the vision before us agrees with this, which will only be more manifest the deeper we look.

The vision of glory overpowers the apostle:"And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, 'Fear not.' " How the Christ of the gospel comes out here! What words more characteristic of Him than this, "Fear not"? "Perfect love casteth out fear," and such love is His who speaks, not alone to John in this, but to all who, realizing more His majesty than His grace, would put Him back into the distance and darkness from which He has come out to us. What we are is no more in question; the cross has manifested that fully:all for us lies now in what He is; and the cross has revealed that too. Word and deed witness for Him and unto us, and His right hand of power acts with His word:"Fear not; I am the First and the Last, and the Living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of death and of hades."
Here again divine and human characters are mingled. The First is Cause of all; the Last, the end of all. " All things were created by Him and for Him:" no expression of divinity could be clearer or fuller than this. Then the Living One is necessarily also the Source of life,-living and life-giving. But this Living One has died, gone into death to become its Conqueror. Alive for evermore, He has the keys of death and of hades, -that is, of that which holds the body and that which holds the soul of the dead.* *A similar connection of death and hades is found in the twentieth chapter:" Death and hades delivered up the dead which were in them "- the one, the soul; the other, the body. "Hades" is never "the grave," as our common version sometimes renders it, and never " hell," which is its alternate rendering. " Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell," as spoken of the Lord (Acts 2:27, 31), agrees with neither. The distinction in these terms shows very simply that it is the body only which really dies, or over which death has its proper empire.* Thus man's condition is plumbed to the bottom, for death is the seal of that condition. Only that which meets the condition can break the seal of it.

He, then, who has been in death for us has turned its awful shadow into morning, not to bring back indeed out of its grasp the first creation, but to open for us the door into infinitely higher blessing. The gates of strength* have yielded to our Samson, and more:out of the eater comes forth meat, and out of the strong sweetness. *" Gaza " means "the strong."* How beyond measure is this love of One who, though the Living One, has been in death far us! How rich have we become through this voluntary poverty! And " He who descended is the same also who ascended up, far above all heavens, that He might fill all things."

He goes on:-

"Write, then"-with this assurance,-"the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be after these; the mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks are the seven churches."

These words give us the division of the book. " The things which are" must needs apply to the seven assemblies and their state. "The things which shall be after these"-not "hereafter," which is too vague,-to the things which follow from the fourth chapter on. This is evident, whatever view we take of the interpretation of these sections. With the first of them only have we to do here,- "the things which are," or present things.

Present, then, in what sense? present at that time merely, and now long past? or, as many now consider, present still? Do the addresses to the churches give only such lessons for us here to-day as must necessarily be found in what is said to Christian gatherings of by-gone days by One who with perfect wisdom, knowledge, holiness, and love speaks to just such as we are? Or is there, beside all this, as many believe, a more precise, designed correspondence between these seven Asiatic assemblies and as many successive periods in the history of the Church at large-a prophetic teaching for all time, until the Lord come, and our path here is ended? Let us look briefly at what has been urged as to this latter view.

Against, it has been urged that the addresses are not given as a prophecy of the future, but simply as to churches then existing, now long passed away. This is undoubtedly the most forcible objection that has been made; for imagination is unholy license in the things of God, and the addresses have not the general style of prophecy, as must be admitted. We do right, then, to be watchful here. But answer has been made to this:in the first place, that at the very beginning of the book, we have the whole of it called a prophecy:"Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of the book of this prophecy, and keep the things that are written therein." It seems, therefore that we have distinct warrant for holding the addresses to be prophetic, and that we should rather require it for refusing them this place.

Beside this, the disguise which confessedly they assume may be accounted for. The Christian's privilege and duty are, to be always expecting his Lord. He who says in his heart, My Lord delayeth His coming, is a " wicked servant." There was to be left room for this expectancy, as the best help against discouragement, the most effectual remedy against settling down in the world, the best means of fixing the eyes upon Christ and things above. This was not to beget false hope or encourage mistake, for the time of the Lord's return they were assured they did not know:" Watch, for ye know not when the time is." But thus to put before men a prophecy of a long earthly history for the Church would be to destroy what was to be a main characteristic of Christians, to take out of their hands the lamp of testimony to the world itself, the virgin's lamp lighted to go forth to meet her Lord.

And it is blessed to see that now, if, in the end of the days, the full meaning is being revealed, and we are shown how much of the road we have actually traveled, the effect is, after all the long delay, to encourage expectation, not to damp it. That we are nearing the end is sure; that any part of the road remains before us to be trodden, we have no assurance. The very thing which to past generations would have been an evil too fully to disclose is now for us as great and manifest a gain.

For the prophetic view is further urged the constant emphatic appeal to our attention with which every one of these addresses ends. Was it only for men of that day and place that it is written, " He that hath an ear, let him, hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches"? No part of Scripture is so emphasized beside. Again, are there no candlesticks amid which Christ walks except those of these Asiatic churches? The very number 7 is characteristic of this book, as it is significant of completeness also. As the seven Spirits speak of the complete energy of the one blessed Spirit, do not the seven churches stand for the varied aspects of the one Church of God on earth?

And to them as representatives of this one Church is the whole book committed,-not for their own use merely, but for ours. As John is the representative servant, so the churches are representatives of the Church.

But the great proof of the correctness of the prophetic view is (what as yet it would be premature at any length to enter on,) the real correspondence between the picture given of the seven churches and the well-known history of the professing church. We have the successive steps of its decline-first hidden, then external; the judaizing process-by which it was transformed from a company of saved and heavenly people into a mixed multitude uncertain of heaven, clinging to the certainties of earth; away from God, and committing the sacred things, for which they are too unclean, to an official class of go-betweens. Then open union with the world, once persecuting, now friendly, Balaam-teachers for hire promoting and celebrating it. Then the reign of Jezebel, inspired and infallible, her cup full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. Then Protestantism, soon forgetting the things which it had heard, sunk into its grave of nationalism, though with a separate remnant as ever, dear to God. Then an era of revival and blessing, the Spirit of God working freely, outside of sectarian boundary-lines, uniting to Christ and to one another. Then, alas! collapse and threat of removal, Christ rejected and outside, the lukewarmness of water ready to be spued out of His mouth.

Such is the picture:does it appeal to us? In the midst of all this, in the central church, the center of the darkness, at midnight surely, there begins a cry, faint though at first, but gathering strength as the time goes on, "Go ye out to meet. Him!" In Thyatira first, " Hold fast till I come!" To Sardis, "I will come on thee as a thief." To Philadelphia, -more as in haste now,-" I come quickly." Then Laodicea, and the end!

Does this appeal to us? What follows then? Briefly:a scene in heaven, and a redemption-song before the throne; a Lamb slain, who as Judah's Lion unseals the seven-sealed book; churches no more on earth, but once more Jews and Gentiles; and out of these, a multitude who come out of the great tribulation; until, after the marriage of the Lamb has taken place in heaven, its gates unclose, and the white-horsed Rider and His armies come out to the judgment of the earth.

This to many even yet may read as strange as any fiction. I cannot of course enter on it now. But there are those who object that by this view the relative importance of events is quite inverted. Two chapters give us the whole course of Christendom ; the largest part of the book by far is taken up with the details of some seven years after the Church is removed to heaven:why so rapid a survey of what so immediately concerns us?-so lengthy a relation of what will not take place till after the saints of the present time have passed from the scene?

But how often are we mistaken in the relative importance of things! God seeth not as man seeth; and the common view which appropriates seal after seal to the succession of Roman emperors, trumpet after trumpet to the inroads of Goths and Vandals, vial after vial to the French revolution and Napoleonic wars, has surely missed His estimate of importance. But more:the events which fill so many chapters have indeed for us the very greatest significance. The time is that "end of the age" which is the harvest of the world; it is the judgment for which all around is ripening, and in which every thing comes out as He who judges sees it. Is it not for us of the greatest possible moment to see that final, conclusive end of what is now often so pretentious and delusive? Here we may surely gather, if we will, lessons of sanctification of the most practical nature. Indeed we are sanctified by the truth; and whatever is of the truth will sanctify. F.W.G. (To be continued.)

Can we look at the ignorance that abounds and say we are clear ? Indeed, indeed we cannot We too often forget that the actions of time have a solemn bearing on eternity; hence we are exhorted not to be "weary in well doing," and are assured that "in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." And again, " Redeeming the time, [or buying up the opportunity,] because the days are evil." The present is the seed-time of eternity. Now we are "to go forth bearing our precious seed,"and though often we may be compelled to weep while we sow, we shall "doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing our sheaves with us." Our opportunities at best are but few, they are therefore invaluable. Buy them up, let the price be what it may. Supposing we can do good to souls at the expense of personal ease-worldly respectability, or the good opinion of our worldly friends, still we should go forth. The opinions of men are of small consequence, and almost sure to change. Devotedness to God is of the greatest moment, and will be honored by our gracious Lord.

When the second temple was building, by Ezra, a most lovely sight was presented, for every one was at his work; not only did every one work, but every one did his own work. So there is a place in the body of Christ for every believer, and we read of "the effectual working in the measure of every part" and each one should aim to be in his own proper place, for there he may be useful and happy, but in no other. There is work for every one, and every one should be at his own work, and do it; for in so doing, he will be honorable and valued-by the Lord at least.

And now, let us inquire of conscience, Am I at work for God daily? Do I work as immediately under His eye? Do I work from love to Jesus, and pity for the souls of men? Are my motives pure -am I doing "all in the name of the Lord Jesus"? Am I working as one that must " give an account to God"? Do I know what is meant by "travailing in birth for souls"? A.E.B.

Q. 38.-"Can you give me some light on i Pet. 4:6?"

Ans.-It must be taken in connection with what immediately precedes it. The apostle has been speaking of the changed lives of the Christian converts, which exposed them to the reproaches of the Gentiles round; but they must give account to Him who was ready to judge both the living and the dead.

This leads him to speak, in the verse before us, of the uniform effect of the gospel wherever received, and in which they were one with all the saints departed. " For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead :" not, as some have strangely imagined, who were dead when they were preached to, but who are now dead,-"that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."

The gospel had for its necessary result the bringing out of all the ways and thoughts of natural men (men in the flesh). And this exposed its converts to the false judgment' of such men. But according to God in the spirit they then really and for the first time lived:they had true, divine life, recognized and approved by Him. In this, the living saints only followed in the steps of those passed away ; and, in the nature of things, the opposition on the part of men must be,-it was only the expression of the opposition between their former and their present lives. F.W.G.

The first mention of a covenant in the holy Scriptures is found in the -portion above referred to, and a few things with reference to it are very striking, as showing forth somewhat of the blessedness of Christianity. Let us consider them:-

1. The origin of it:THE HEART OF GOD.

" The Lord smelled a sweet savor; and the Lord said in His heart, ' I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I smite any more every living thing as I have done. While the earth remaineth,- seed-time and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter, shall not cease.'"
day and night,

2. The nature of it:A divine COVENANT.

"My covenant." (5:9.) "My covenant." (5:2:) "The covenant which I make." (5:12.) "A covenant between Me and the earth." (5:13.) "My covenant between Me and you." (5:15.) "The everlasting covenant between God" etc. (5:16.) "The covenant which have established between Me" etc. (5:17.)

3. The extent of it:the WHOLE WORLD.

(you, the fowl, " With your seed after you, of the cattle,

( every living creature with you, ( every beast; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth." (10:9, 10.)

Between Me and you,… (5:12.)

every living creature with you.

"Between Me and the earth." (5:13.)

"Between Me and you, every living (5:15.)every living creature of all flesh.

" Between God and every living creature of all flesh." "Between Me and all flesh." (5:17.) (5:16.)

4. The immutability of it:ESTABLISHED BY GOD.

" I, behold, I establish My covenant." (5:9.)

"I will establish My covenant." (5:2:)

"The covenant which I have established." (5:17.)
5. The assurance of it:THE BOW IN THE CLOUD.

"This is the token of the covenant." (5:12.)

" I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant." (5:13.)

"And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud." (5:14).

" The bow shall be in the cloud." (5:16.)

6. The remembrance of it:god's EYE AND mind.

" The bow shall be seen in the cloud ; and I will remember My covenant." (10:14, 15.)

" The bow shall be in the cloud ; and I will look upon it, that I may remember" etc. (5:16.)

7. The duration of it:EVERLASTING.

"Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more" "Neither shall there any more be a flood." (5:2:) " For perpetual generations." (5:12.) "The waters shall no more become a flood." (5:15.) "The everlasting covenant." (5:16.)

Passing from this "the shadow of good things to come," to the "good things" themselves, how readily we may trace the various points of similarity, while yet remembering that it is but the shadow, and not the very image, of the things"!

I. As to its source.

"Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself" etc. (Eph. 1:9.)

" Who hath known the mind of the Lord ? or who hath been His counselor ? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed to him again ? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things:to whom be glory forever. Amen." (Rom. 11:34-36.)

"According to Thine own heart hast Thou done" it. (I Chron. 17:19.)

2. As to the nature of it.

" God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," etc. (Jno. 3:16.)

" God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8.)

" In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him." (i Jno. 4:9.)

3. As to its extent.

" God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." (2 Cor. 5:19.)

"God our Saviour, who will have all men. to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (i Tim. 2:3, 4.)

4. As to its immutability.

"Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." (Heb. 6:17, 18.)

5. As to the assurance of it.

" The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." (Rom. 8:16.)

" Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God ; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." (2 Cor. 1:21, 22.)

" Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father.'" (Gal. 4:6.)

6. As to the remembrance of it.

" God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent:hath He said, and shall He not do it ? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?" (Numb. 23:19.)

" The gifts and calling of God are without repentance." (Rom. 11:29.)

7. As to the duration of it.

" According to the eternal purpose which He purposed

in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Eph. 3:2:)

"God hath given to us eternal life." (i Jno. 5:2:) " The author of eternal salvation." (Heb. 5:9.) "Having obtained eternal redemption." (Heb. ix 12.) "Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself." (Heb. 9:14.)

'They which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." (Heb. 9:15.)

" Who hath called us unto His eternal glory," (i Pet. 5:10.)

May we learn, beloved brethren, the depth of blessing in these " precious things of God " which have thus cast their shadows backward, and to Him shall be the praise. B. C.G.

'Three days" seems to be commonly mentioned, and it may be interesting and profitable to trace it, as an ordeal for the soul that we may call the experience of death and the delivering power of God manifest at the close. The "third day " is of course resurrection, and " three days," death and resurrection; but what we find in Scripture in the frequent occurrence of the three days is something more definite than this-that is, as above first suggested, we shall find that it very plainly brings before us death realized in the soul -the experience of death as regards all human power-death to the flesh, but gone through, or realized in the power of what is only manifest at the end of the three days-the power of God- resurrection-power, of course.

Abraham rises morning after morning for three days, with the death of Isaac in prospect; he expected to offer him, but accounting that God was able to raise him even from the dead. It was the end of self-of all human possibility.

Joseph's brethren are put in ward three days (Gen. 42:17), and learn to confess their sin before being set free. Three days into the wilderness before the children of Israel learn the deliverance of God at Marah. In the third month (Ex. 19:) they came to Sinai, and until the third day they are kept waiting for the giving of the law. The law was not deliverance, but the delay was waiting for deliverance none the less, and opportunity given to realize their helplessness during the time of waiting.

In Numbers 19:, the water of separation applied the third day shows realization of sin in the power of resurrection-that is, real restoration of soul.

In Joshua 1:ii, they are told that within three days they would pass over Jordan. They were in face of Jordan, the river of death, for three days before realizing the power of God to take them through. It is true Joshua says on the third day, "To-morrow, the Lord will do wonders among you," still they were to cross that same day:" This day will I begin to magnify thee."

Rahab bids the spies (2:16) hide themselves three days;-three days they were under the shadow of death, but preserved in the power of God through faith.

In i Sam. 9:20, Samuel tells Saul that the asses lost three days before were found.

In i Sam. 20:19, David, who had escaped Saul's javelin, was to hide three days, when Jonathan was to come (as he did) with the awaited tidings.

After three days, David and his men (i Sam. 21:) came to the house of God, and take the show-bread and the sword of Goliath-priesthood and victory over death in the power of life.

In i Sam. 30:, David and his men rejected by the Philistines; when he had fled from Saul, comes to Ziklag the third day; and finding all in ruins, his soul is restored in the midst of distress, and he pursues and recovers all. And the Egyptian, the servant of an Umbilicate, who directed them to the enemy, was revived when he had been three days without food or drink (a. precious type of a saved sinner); he follows with David to victory, delivered forever from Egypt and Amalek.
In 2 Sam. 21:, we have not three days, but three years-three years of famine, and God's deliverance to David and his people when atonement has been made for Saul's sin against the Gibeonites by the death of seven of Saul's sons.

In i Chron. 21:12, we have brought together "three years," "three months," "three days;" where David, having sinned in numbering the people, is given his choice between three years of famine, three months of war, or three days of pestilence, and chooses the latter. And God's deliverance comes at Oman's threshing-floor (testing and sifting), where Abraham offered Isaac, and where the temple was to be built (Gen. 22:2; 2 Chron, 3:i), where David confesses his sin and offers sacrifice. An awful three days!-a going through death truly in spirit for the spared as actually for those cut off! but the end is the complete establishment of the ground of everlasting worship and peace. "The tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and its altar" (5:29), is left behind forever now. " David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord;" with it was the terror of the law. But now David stands upon new ground, where atonement was made, the redemption-price paid, the sword of vengeance sheathed. To have gone back to the tabernacle of Moses at Gibeon would have been to have met the sword of the destroying angel; but now, having passed through the waters of death and judgment, and standing on new ground, David declares, with the boldness of one who has come to the knowledge of God in grace," This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel," though the building was not even begun, but God had accepted his offering and answered by fire.

In Ezra 8:15, 32, we have three days' solemn pause before a great or solemn undertaking. The people and priests gather with Ezra at the river Ahava for three days before starting for Jerusalem:Nehemiah abides three days at Jerusalem before going out by night to survey the ruins of the city wall.

Esther calls upon the Jews in Shushan to gather together and fast for her for three days. " I also, and my maidens, will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law ; and if I perish, I perish." " Now it came to pass on the third day that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, . . and the king sat upon his royal throne," and "she obtained favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand." What a clear and impressive setting forth, in type, of intercession based upon death and resurrection as the salvation of God for His people! The Jews were condemned to death through the subtlety of their enemy; and Esther, at the end of three days of facing death, enters the king's presence, is accepted, and intercedes for her people, who are delivered without the repealing of the law by the word of the king-annulling him that had the power of death. The new decree permits the Jews to stand for their lives; and again we have the three days, for the Jews in Shushan (9:18) maintain the conflict against their enemies until the third day, when they rest, and make it a day of feasting and gladness. And they were to celebrate a memorial of this occasion, as a time when they rested from their enemies, and when their sorrow was turned into joy, and their mourning to a good day. There was to be feasting and joy, and sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.

May we remember this, and may the song of praise be ascending from our hearts. And may we be so full as to be always ready to send portions to one another, and so in communion with the Savior as to be able to preach the gospel to the poor. It was a celebration to be maintained throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city-it was not to fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial perish from their seed. The fastings and the cry were to be remembered, " and it was written in the book," and the glorious end of the despised but faithful Mordicai's influence and Esther's intercession was the wealth of his people and the peace of all his seed.

Let me go a little beyond my subject here to speak of the tempered tone of the joy of God's people in view of His judgments. The joy of God's people is a joy tempered and deepened by solemnity -the solemn sense of the awful judgments of God due to us, but from which we are forever sheltered by the blood of the Lamb, but which are about to fall upon the world through the wrath of the Lamb.

" And ye shall observe this thing (Ex. 12:24) for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever. . . . . And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. …. And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt; …. this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations."

In this day of pride and folly, when man is. scouting the thought of judgment to come, and. saying, " Peace and safety," let us turn to the fountain of holy writ, and refresh ourselves with the company of the apostles and prophets, whose testimony is one, "Alleluia! Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God:for true and righteous are His judgments. …. And again they said, 'Alleluia!' And her smoke rose up forever and ever. . . . And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, 'Alleluia! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.' "

There is " the acceptable year of the Lord," and there is also "the day of vengeance of our God."

The song of praise will go up forever and ever, but the mouth of them that speak lies will be stopped. " The shout of a king is among them " is forever true of the redeemed of the Lord; but there are blind leaders of the blind, so perverse that they must be let alone, and they shall both fall into the ditch. The joy, therefore, of the people of God is deep-toned and solemn. Upon dry ground themselves, they behold the dreadful walls of water that are to overwhelm the enemies of God forever.

Mighty the deliverance of God that will come at the end of this scene of affliction and Satan's wiles! and grand the chorus of praise that will be heard, in a mighty volume, from the Red Sea, from many a victory in the land, from the persecuted prophets and martyrs, from the Church in all ages, from the feeble and despised, who out of weakness waxed strong-victory by the blood of the Lamb! The pent-up song will go forth then unhindered any more forever. There will be a sort of glad vengeance taken upon our own folly that song due to the Lord of glory should have been so often choked and silenced here by the subtlety of Satan, and that we should have so little lived out the word, " The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us."

"As true as God's own Word is true,
Nor earth nor hell, with all their crew,
Against us shall prevail.
A jest and by-word they are grown ;
God is with us-we are His own,
Our victory cannot fail.

" Amen, Lord Jesus, grant our prayer ;
Great Captain, now Thine arm make bare,-
Fight for us once again ;
So shall Thy saints and martyrs raise
A mighty chorus to Thy praise,
World without end. Amen."

Of Jonah, and of the resurrection of the Lord the third day, we need say but little. Upon the latter, all is based, and all that has come before us from the Old Testament pointed onward to it.

Paul being three days blind, and neither eating nor drinking, before he was baptized and filled with the Spirit, is in the same line of teaching. And so as to a thorough experience of its kind, the Lord's experience of Satan's power over man in this scene of death, where He says, (Luke 13:32) " Go ye, and tell that fox,' Behold, I cast out demons, and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.'" And this in response to the word, "Herod will kill Thee," and followed by the word, " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets."

We may appropriately close this review with the utterance of Jonah, giving his experience of death -of utter helplessness in the fish's belly-in the deep-the very embrace of death for three days and three nights, before he is cast out upon the dry ground of resurrection.

" Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and said, ' I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and Thou heardest my voice. For Thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas ; and the floods compassed me about:all Thy billows and Thy waves passed over me.' Then I said, ' I am cast out of Thy sight; yet I will look again toward Thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul; the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottom of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about [or, closed upon] me forever:yet hast Thou brought up my life from corruption ["In me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing,"], O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer came in unto Thee, into Thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto Thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.' And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." E.S.L.

We talked that day about erecting a family altar, and I want to tell you that was the first thing that I did in the Lord's strength, and it has become the most blessed place to me of any on earth. Oh, the comfort there is in taking the family and going to the Lord with all our trials and troubles! I tell you, Bro. G., although that family altar is erected in a poor man's house, it is gilded all over with the glory of God."- C. D. B.

[The above lines, received lately from one but a month old "in the faith," I add to the above paper, trusting it may provoke unto love and to good works " some other, that they may "go and do likewise." In this day of much profession and vaunted words as to " high truth " and "true ground," it is well for us to remember "He showeth grace unto the lowly, but the proud He regardeth afar off." Oh, that we maybe more humble followers of Him who even was " heard for His piety"!- B.C.G]

" The world will allow the mere statement of any doctrine provided no attempt be made to put it in practice. It is only when faith begins to produce works that the Christian is confronted with bitter antagonism."

" Jesus was not popular. The multitude might follow Him for a moment, because His ministry stood connected, in their judgment, with ' the loaves and fishes,' which met their need; but they were just as ready to cry, 'Away with Him!' as ' Hosanna to the Son of David!' "

The Book and Its Subject. (Chap. 1:1-3.)
The book of Revelation is the one only book of New-Testament prophecy. As the completion of the whole prophetic Scriptures, it gathers up the threads of all the former books, and weaves them into one chain of many links which binds all history to the throne of God. As New-Testament prophecy, it adds the heavenly to the earthly sphere, passes the bounds of time, and explores with familiar feet eternity itself. Who would not, through these doors set open to us, press in to learn the things yet unseen, so soon to be for us the only realities? Who would not imagine that such a book, written with the pen of the living God Himself, would attract irresistibly the hearts of Christians, and that no exhortation would be needed for a moment to win them to its patient and earnest study?

It should be so, assuredly. How little it is so, the book in its first words is witness to us ; for no book is so full of just such exhortation. And especially the first part, with which we are to be for the present occupied, abounds with solemn warnings to attention, regularly appended to its several sections:"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." Why is it that just here, where at first sight we have only addresses to the churches of far-distant times, these calls should be multiplied? Why but because there was just this danger to be guarded against? why but because the Spirit of God foresaw that a generation of men, most blind to their own interests when most wedded to them, would slight the very words of Christ Himself unless thus directly made over to them? What shall we say of those who with all this warning slight them still?

Scripture is thus ever prophetic, not in its plain predictions merely, but in its manner also. Why should Peter be the one to tell us that all Christians are "a holy priesthood," but in view of those who should misuse his name in after-times? or why should he be the one to announce to us that we are born again by the word of God, which is preached in the gospel, thus with two blows destroying ritualism to its foundations? or why should Mary never prefer a request to her Son and Lord but to be checked for it, save for an after-rebuke to those who should think to avail themselves of the Virgin's intercession?

So too is not the very title of this book, with its subject announced, and encouragement both to reader and hearer? How could words be better suited to rebuke the neglect, into which so many have fallen, in which so many still are found, of what is Christ's own " revelation," given to Him by God, "to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass"? Does a "revelation" hide, or reveal ? Is that which is revealed to servants, to be kept (5:3) by them in their service to their Lord, given in so doubtful a manner as to be more perplexity than guidance? Is not this an accusation of Him who has forbidden to His people doubtful paths, because " whatsoever is not of faith is sin "?

Strange is the mistake that " the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him means His "appearing," because His appearing is the central theme of the book! No doubt it is so, and that His appearing is spoken of elsewhere as His revelation; but here, that "which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass," is plainly the book itself, and defines its character. It is not simply an inspiration, as all Scripture is, but something revealed for the instruction of the saints. Many are too little clear yet as to the difference between the two. But revelation is that in which is a direct communication from God to man-a fresh discovery of truth otherwise unknown; while inspiration is that which preserves from error, and assures that all that is written is for true profit and blessing to man.

" Jesus Christ's revelation " emphasizes the book before us, as what is from the Lord Himself in a peculiar way, of special importance and value where all is of value; and it is received by Him from God, as One who all through takes the place of Man, and as such is exalted of God, never exalts Himself. True pattern for His servants! He asks them to walk in no other path than He has trodden, and where they may have fellowship with Him.

This book is the servant's book. So it is plainly stated:"To show unto His servants." We may not expect, therefore, to be shown, except we come under this title; and indeed every child of God has the responsibility and privilege of service,-has something, no doubt, of the reality of it, as the Lord says, " He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is who loveth Me"(Jno. 14:21). And so the apostle:" This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments" (i Jno. 5:3). Both passages maintain that the only right measure of love is that of practical obedience. Emotional glow, warm feelings, are indeed to be desired- nay, to be expected, from those conscious of redemption by the blood of Christ; but these vary with different natures, vary in the same person at different times, may even deceive very much the subject of them, while obedience is the test of the judgment-seat itself. Words and deeds we read of then as alone in question.

Yet there is need of a counter-check here too; for how much frequently goes under the name of service which is in truth even disobedience and self-will! How much also is there of legal drudgery and pretentious claim, which the light of God's holy presence will shrivel into nothing! " Lo, these many years do I serve thee" is the language of one to whom the music of the father's house was a strange and unaccustomed sound; and " I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess," was said by one less acceptable to God by far than the despised publican, who could only groan out in His presence, " God be merciful to me the sinner!"

The service of love and the service of claim are opposites. " He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again." This is the moral power of Christianity-the fruit of grace, and only that. For if still there is a possibility of condemnation in the day of judgment, fear stirs me to self-interest, I work for myself to escape the condemnation. "Faith worketh by love"-an entirely opposite principle. Such service is necessarily freedom, the more so the more it rules me, and entire happiness. In exact proportion to love will be the desire to serve the object of our love:as we read of the "work of faith," so we do of the " labor of love." But earnest and self-sacrificing as this labor may be, it can never be drudgery, never aught but joy. If such is our service, the thankful offering of those knowing themselves washed from their sins in the blood of Christ, then Revelation, with its survey of the whole field of labor, and its communication of the mind of Christ as to all,- Revelation, with its windows open toward Jerusalem, and its eternal sunshine for our souls,- Revelation, with its throne of God and the Lamb, and the stimulation of its encouraging words to the overcomer,-is the very book for us, surely. We shall enter with rapt hearts into the truth of this:" Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the book of this prophecy, and keep the things that are written therein."

It is the book for all servants. We have many and different fields of service, it is true; and happy as well as important it is to recognize this fact. There are high positions and lowly ones; positions before the eyes of multitudes, and positions hidden from almost all eyes, save His who are in every place. But every where it is a joy to know that we are accepted, not according to the place we are put in, but the way we fill it-the way we do the Master's work there. Lowliness and obscurity will be no discouragement to those in the communion of the Father and the Son:they cease to have meaning there. And publicity and prominence are how unspeakably dangerous, if the soul is not correspondingly before God; like the tree which spreads its branches and lifts its top toward heaven, if its roots are not proportionately deep in the unseen depths below.

Whatever the field of service, the book of Revelation is for all. All need alike the warnings, all need alike the encouragement. From the most hidden retirement, He whom we serve in love would have our hearts with Himself, busy with all that is of interest to Him. In the place of intercession Himself above, He would have us in fellowship with Him below; our prayers rising up for all parts of the earth His Word is visiting, and where the true " irrepressible conflict" is going on between the evil and the good; our praises, too, returning to Him for all He is daily accomplishing. In Revelation is given us the one "mind of Christ" about all, that our prayers may be the intelligent guiding of the Holy Spirit, and our hearts giving their sympathies aright, our energies going forth in channels of His own making. Little indeed, in many of the systems of interpretation of this book, may be found, it is true, such help as this; and quite unable we may be to extract the spiritual blessing to be found in seals or trumpets which speak only of Alaric the Goth, or Attila the Hun:but for the simple ones who believe God, the mere direct label of this book for Christ's servants may certify that there is something deeper while simpler than all this for souls that seek it. There the words stand for faith to receive and rejoice in,-"Jesus Christ's revelation, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass." Join us in prayer, beloved reader, ere we pass on, that we may give His people from these pages real help and blessing drawn from this precious book!

" Things which must shortly come to pass." This would now no doubt impress us, as we look back from the end of eighteen centuries fulfilled since it was written, with the belief that already some, if not much, of what is here spoken of must already have come to pass. And this we shall find confirmed fully in the sequel. But two things we should guard here carefully,-the possibility on the one hand, and the profit on the other, of tracing with certainty, in the light of the prophetic Word, things which have not come to pass, and even will not while we are upon the earth. These two things, it is plain, hang very much together; for if there be not profit in it, it would seem clear that God would not enable us to do it; while of course there can, on the other hand, be no profit to us in a thing we cannot do.

But this impossibility of knowing can only be meant seriously as applying to details, and to a certain extent every Christian would allow this. Events are not so mapped out and put together for us as to make us able to see otherwise than "through a glass darkly "-the apostle's own emphatic word. We can see only as one behind a window, and in twilight, and are apt to fall into mistakes. Many have been thus made, which have thrown the study of future prophecy, for some, into utter disrepute. Yet who would say, or think the apostle meant to say, that" through a glass darkly " nothing, or nothing to the purpose, could be seen? The uncertainty applies mainly to the smaller features; there is much certain, much that grows always clearer as we look upon it. Who that would use the mistakes that have been made for discouragement from prophetic study has ever been a student of it ? I dare to say, none. Granted, the mistakes:let us use them for humility, use them as arguments to more prayer, more careful searching, then, after all, they will be helpful in the end. We can see already why and how many of them came about; we can see how better to avoid them also in the future, and that the Word was not to blame, is not the less trustworthy, because we made them. We see that we trusted it too little, trusted ourselves too much.

Then as to the profit. All our blessings lie in the field of unfulfilled prophecy. What are all our promises but this? And then as to the earth, and what is to take place upon it, it is true that such interpretations as are common in many popular books leave one with the profound sense that they minister rather to spiritual dissipation than to profit. What can be supposed more unprofitable than the question if the antichrist is to come of the Napoleon family ?-a great and grave point with many for years past; or whether the stars falling from heaven might be fulfilled in a shower of meteors ? Such things seem to be utterly barren, and unworthy of a book so solemnly announced, so commended to us as is this.

Surely "he that prophesieth speaketh to the church to edification and exhortation and comfort" might not be an inapt word to condemn such profitless speculation; and there is abundance of it in popular commentaries. But here the question is really not of fulfilled or unfulfilled prophecy. Such supposed fulfillment may be brought forward to vindicate Scripture-which has no need of it-or a certain system of interpretation, which it more justly would set aside. But unfulfilled prophecy, as we find it in the Word of God, even when it speaks of earthly events, and such as cannot be while we are upon the earth, always gives them morally; as what can be more practical for us than to trace out in the future, as men are constantly seeking to do, the results of the present ? In this way we may find the scriptural fall of stars to have the deepest significance.

That all here is in the fullest way practical is very clear, from the blessing pronounced on those who " keep the things which are written" in the book. This "keeping" is observing them in such a way that our practical conduct shall be governed by them. Indeed we shall find that the wisdom of them we must be content to " buy," with what men would call many a sacrifice. There are costs to be counted if we would possess it really. And this is the demand that all truth makes upon us. It requires subjection to it as the first thing. We must not trifle with the words of our Lord and Saviour, nor set Him limits as to how far we shall obey Him. It is this, however little avowed, that darkens the minds of saints, diminishing all spiritual perception. It is this that is at the bottom of all doctrinal heresy. We will not have the truth, and seek out inventions to cover our nakedness; or at least we have not the soldier's " virtue," which is courage, and so cannot "add to" our "virtue knowledge."

I would warn my readers that the book of Revelation makes great demands upon those who keep its words. But I may assure them, on the other hand, that the more the demand the greater the blessing. Can it be otherwise when Christ it is who is speaking to us of that easy yoke and that light burden, in which, as we take them, we find rest to our souls? Will any that know their Lord charge Him with being a "hard man," or a taskmaster? Our givings up are here in reality only gains. We have that in Him which we are never called to give up, and which the more we prove the more its sufficiency is found for all conditions; the more we give up for it the deeper the endless joy. But submission there must be. Absolute submission is what He rightly calls for; and it is well to search our hearts, to see if our desire and purpose are, to give Him that without reserve. How blessed to be among those who in uprightness of heart can say, " I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way" (Ps, 119:128). F.W.G.

(To be continued.)

There is nothing in which we so signally fail as in the cultivation of a confiding and thankful spirit."

"Our path through the desert is strewed with countless mercies; and yet let but a cloud the size of a man's hand appear on the horizon, and we at once forget the rich mercies of the past in view of this single cloud, which after all may only 'break in blessing on our head.'"

"ADOPTION is, putting into a place. BIRTH makes us children:adoption makes us sons. John always speaks of children:Paul uses both words-'sons' and 'children.' Eph. 1:5 is, son-putting, or adoption. Adoption is, taking you into His house. The spirit of sonship gives you the place, and the spirit to fill the place."-F. W. G.

THE ADDRESSES TO THE CHURCHES. (Continued.)

Nicolaitanism, or the Rise and Growth of Clerisy. (Rev. 2:6,15.)-Continued.

Again I say, not only that ministry of the Word is entirety right, but that there are those who have special gift and responsibility (though still not exclusive) to minister it. But priesthood is another thing, and a thing sufficiently distinct to be easily recognized where it is claimed or in fact exists. I am, of course, aware that Protestants in general disclaim any priestly powers for their ministers. I have no wish nor thought of disputing their perfect honesty in this disavowal. They mean that they have no thought of the minister having any authoritative power of absolution; and that they do not make the Lord's table an altar, whereon afresh day after day the perfection of Christ's one offering is denied by countless repetitions. They are right in both respects, but it is scarcely the whole matter. If we look more deeply, we shall find that much of a priestly character may attach where neither of these have the least place. Priesthood and ministry may be distinguished in this way:Ministry (in the sense we are now considering) is to men; priesthood is to God. The minister brings God's message to the people,-he speaks for Him to them:the priest goes to God for the people,-he speaks in the reverse way, for them to Him. It is surely easy to distinguish these two attitudes.

" Praise and thanksgiving" are spiritual " sacrifices :" they are part of our offering as priests. Put a special class into a place where regularly and officially they act thus for the rest, they are at once in the rank of an intermediate priesthood,-mediators with God for those who are not so near.

The Lord's supper is the most prominent and fullest expression of Christian thankfulness and adoration publicly and statedly; but what Protestant minister does not look upon it as his official right to administer this? what "layman" would not shrink from the profanation of administering it? And this is one of the terrible evils of the system, that the mass of Christian people are thus distinctly secularized. Occupied with worldly things, they cannot be expected to be spiritually what the clergy are. And to this they are given over, as it were. They are released from spiritual occupations, to which they are not equal, and to which others give themselves entirely.

But this must evidently go much further, " The priest's lips should keep knowledge." The laity, who have become that by abdicating their priesthood, how should they retain the knowledge belonging to a priestly class? The unspirituality to which they have given themselves up pursues them here. The class whose business it is, become the authorized interpreters of the Word also, for how should the secular man know so well what Scripture means? Thus the clergy become spiritual eyes and ears and mouth for the laity, and are in the fair way of becoming the whole body too.

But it suits people well. Do not mistake me as if I meant that this is all come in as the assumption of a class merely. It is that, no doubt; but never could this miserable and unscriptural distinction of clergy and laity have obtained so rapidly as it did, and so universally, if every where it had not been found well adapted to the tastes of those even whom it really displaced and degraded. Not alone in Israel, but in Christendom also, has it been fulfilled :" The prophets prophecy falsely, and the priests bear rule through their means, and My people love to have it so! " Alas! they did, and they do. As spiritual decline sets in, the heart that is turning to the world barters readily, Esau-like, its spiritual birthright for a mess of pottage. It exchanges thankfully its need of caring too much for spiritual things, with those who will accept the responsibility of this. Worldliness is well covered with a layman's cloak; and as the Church at large dropped out of first love, (as it did rapidly, and then the world began to come in through the loosely guarded gates,) it became more and more impossible for the rank and file of Christendom to take the blessed and wonderful place which belonged to Christians, The step taken downward, instead of being retrieved, only made succeeding steps each one easier; until, in less than three hundred years from the beginning, a Jewish priesthood and a ritualistic religion were every-where installed. Only so much the worse, as the precious things of Christianity left their names at least as spoils to the invader, and the shadow became for most the substance itself.

But I must return to look more particularly at one feature in this clerisy. I have noted the confounding of ministry and priesthood; the assumption of an official title in spiritual things, of title to administer the Lord's supper, and I might have added also, to baptize. For none of these things can scripture be found at all. But I must dwell a little more on the emphasis that is laid on ordination.

I want you to see a little more what ordination means. In the first place, if you look through the New Testament, you will find nothing about ordination to teach or to preach. You find people going about every where freely exercising whatever gift they had; the whole Church was scattered abroad from Jerusalem except the apostles, and they went every where preaching (literally, evangelizing) the Word. The persecution did not ordain them, I suppose. So with Apollos:so with Philip the deacon. There is, in fact, no trace of any thing else. Timothy received a gift by prophecy, by the laying on of Paul's hands with those of the elders; but that was gift, not authorization to use it. So he is bidden to communicate his own knowledge to faithful men, who should be able to teach others also; but there is not a word about ordaining them. The case of elders I have already noticed. That of Paul and Barnabas at Antioch is the most unhappy that can be for the purpose people use it for; for prophets and teachers are made to ordain an apostle, and one who totally disclaims being that, " of men or by man." And there the Holy Ghost (not confers power of ordaining any, but) says, " Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereto I have called them,"-a special missionary journey, which it is shown afterward they had fulfilled. (See Acts viii, xi, xiii, xviii; i Tim., etc.)

Now, what means this "ordination"? It means much, you may be sure, or it would not be so zealously contended for as it is. There are, no doubt, two phases of it. In the most extreme, as among Romanists and ritualists, there is claimed for it in the fullest way that it is the conveyance, not merely of authority, but of spiritual power. They assume with all the power of apostles to give the Holy Ghost by the laying on of their hands, and here for priesthood in the fullest way. The people of God as such are rejected from the priesthood He has given them, and a special class are put into their place to mediate for them in a way which sets aside the fruit of Christ's work, and ties them to the Church as the channel of all grace. Among Protestants, you think perhaps I need not dwell on this; but it is done among some of these also, in words which to a certain class of them seem strangely to mean nothing, while another class find in them the abundant sanction of their highest pretensions.

Those, on the other hand, who rightly and consistently reject these unchristian assumptions do not pretend indeed to confer any gift in ordination, but only to " recognize " the gift which God has given. But then, after all, this recognition is considered necessary before the person can baptize or administer the Lord's supper,-things which really require no peculiar gift at all. And as to the ministry of the Word, God's gift is made to require human sanction, and is " recognized " on behalf of His people by those who are considered to have a discernment which the people as such have not. Blind themselves or not, these men are to become "leaders of the blind;" else why need others to be eyes for them, while their own souls are taken out of the place of immediate responsibility to God, and made responsible unduly to man? An artificial conscience is manufactured for them, and conditions are constantly imposed, to which they have to conform in order to obtain the needful recognition. It is well if they are not under the control of their ordainers as to their path of service also, as they generally are.

In principle, this is unfaithfulness to God; for if He has given me gift to use for Him, I am surely unfaithful if I go to any man or body of men to ask their leave to use it. The gift itself carries with it the responsibility of using it, as we have seen. If they say, " But people may make mistakes," I own it thoroughly; but who is to assume my responsibility if I am mistaken? And again, the mistakes of an ordaining body are infinitely more serious than those of one who merely runs unsent. Their mistakes are consecrated and perpetuated by the ordination they bestow; and the man who, if he stood simply upon his own merits, would soon find his true level, has a character conferred upon him by it which the whole weight of the system must sustain. Mistake or not, he is none the less one of the clerical body,-a minister, if he has nothing really to minister. He must be provided for, if only with some less conspicuous place, where souls, dear to God as any, are put under his care, and must be unfed if he cannot feed them.

Do not accuse me of sarcasm; it is the system I am speaking of which is a sarcasm,-a swathing of the body of Christ in bands which hinder the free circulation of the vitalizing blood which should be permeating unrestrictedly the whole of it. Nature itself should rebuke the folly-the enormous inference from such scriptural premises as that apostles and apostolic men "ordained elders"! They must prove that they are either, and (granting them that,) that the Scripture " elder " might be no elder at all, but a young unmarried man just out of his teens, and on the other hand was evangelist, pastor, teacher-all God's various gifts rolled into one. This is the minister (according to the system, indeed, the minister,)-the all in all to the fifty or five hundred souls who are committed to him as "his flock," with which no other has title to interfere! Surely, surely, the brand of " Nicolaitanism" is upon the forefront of such a system as this!

Take it at its best, the man, if gifted at all, is scarcely likely to have every gift. Suppose he is an evangelist, and souls are happily converted; he is no teacher, and cannot build them up. Or he is a teacher, sent to a place where there are but a few Christians, and the mass of his congregation unconverted men. There are no conversions, and his presence there (according to the system) keeps away the evangelist who is needed there. Thank God! He is ever breaking up these systems, and in some irregular way the need may be supplied. But the supply is schismatical and a confusion:the new wine breaks the poor human bottles.

For all this the system is responsible. The exclusive ministry of one man or of a number of men in a congregation has no shred of Scripture to support it; while the ordination, as we have seen, is the attempt to confine all ministry to a certain class, and make it rest on human authorization rather than on divine gift, the people, Christ's sheep, being denied their competency to hear His voice. The inevitable tendency is, to fix upon the man the attention which should be devoted to the word he brings. The question is, Is he accredited? If he speak truly is subordinated to the question, Is he ordained ? or, perhaps I should say, his orthodoxy is settled already for them by the fact of his ordination.

Paul, an apostle, not of men, nor by man, could not have been, upon this plan, received. There were apostles before him, and he neither went up to them nor got any thing from them. If there were a succession, he was a break in the succession. And what he did he did designedly, to show that his gospel was not after man (Gal. 1:11), and that it might not rest upon the authority of man. Nay, if he himself preached a different gospel from that he had preached, (for there was not another,)-yea, or an angel from heaven (where the authority, if that were in question, might seem conclusive), his solemn decision is, " Let him be accursed."

Authority, then, is nothing if it be not the authority of the Word of God. That is the test-Is it according to the Scriptures? " If the blind lead the blind, shall they not both fall into the ditch?" To say, " I could not, of course, know:I trusted another," will not save you from the ditch.

But the unspiritual and unlearned layman, how can he pretend to equal knowledge with the educated and accredited minister devoted to spiritual things? In point of fact, in general he does not. He yields to the one who should know better; and practically the minister's teaching largely supplants the authority of the Word of God. Not that certainty, indeed, is thus attained. He cannot conceal it from himself that people differ-wise and good and learned and accredited as they may be. But here the devil steps in, and, if God has allowed men's " authorities" to get into a Babel of confusion, as they have, suggests to the unwary soul that the confusion must be the result of the obscurity of Scripture, whereas they have got into it by disregarding Scripture.

But this is every where! Opinion, not faith;- opinion to which you are welcome and have a right, of course; and you must allow others a right to theirs. You may say, " I believe," as long as you do not mean by that, " I know." To claim "knowledge" is to claim that you are wiser, more learned, better,.than whole generations before you, who thought opposite to you.

Need I show you how infidelity thrives upon this? how Satan rejoices when for the simple and emphatic "Yea" of the divine voice he succeeds in substituting the Yea and Nay of a host of jarring commentators? Think you can fight the Lord's battles with the rush of human opinion instead of "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God"? Think you "Thus saith John Calvin, or John Wesley," will meet Satan as satisfactorily as "Thus saith the Lord"?

Who can deny that such thoughts are abroad, and in no wise confined to papists or ritualists? The tendency, alas! is, in the heart of unbelief ever departing from the living God,-as near to His own to-day as at any time through the centuries His Church has traveled on, as competent to instruct as ever, as ready to fulfill the word, "He that will do His will shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." The "eyes" are "of the heart" and not the head. He has hidden from wise and prudent what He reveals to babes. The school of God is more effectual than all colleges combined, and here layman and cleric are equal:" he that is spiritual discerneth all things," and he alone. Substitute for spirituality there is none:unspirituality the Spirit of God alone can remedy. Ordination, such as practiced, is rather a sanction put upon it, -an attempt to manifest what is the manifestation of the Spirit, or not His work at all, and to provide leaders for the blind, whom with all their care they cannot insure not being blind also.

Before I close, I must say a few words about "succession." An ordination which pretends to be derived from the apostles must needs be (to be consistent,) a successional one. Who can confer authority (and in the least and lowest theories of ordination authority is conferred, as to baptize, and to administer the Lord's supper,) but one himself authorized for this very purpose? You must, therefore, have a chain of ordained men, lineally succeeding one another. Apostolic succession is as necessary on the presbyterian as on the episcopalian plan. John Wesley, as his warrant for ordaining, fell back upon the essential oneness of bishop and presbyter. Nay, presbyterians will urge against Episcopalians the ease of maintaining succession in this way. I have nothing to do with this:I only insist that succession is needed.

But then, mark the result. It is a thing apart alike from spirituality and from truth even. A Romish priest may have it as well as any; and indeed through the gutter of Rome most of that we have around us must necessarily have come down. Impiety and impurity do not in the least invalidate Christ's commission. The teacher of false doctrine may be as well His messenger as the teacher of truth. Nay, the possession of the truth, with gift to minister it and godliness combined, are actually no part of the credentials of the true ambassador. He may have all these and be none; he may want them all and be truly one nevertheless.

Who can believe such doctrine? Can He who is truth accredit error?-the righteous One unrighteousness? It is impossible. This ecclesiasticism violates every principle of morality, and hardens the conscience that has to do with it. For why need we be careful for truth if He is not? and how can He send messengers that He would not have to be believed? His own test of a true witness fails; for " he that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory; but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him." His own test of credibility fails, for " If I speak the truth, why do ye not believe Me?" was His own appeal.

No:to state this principle is to condemn it. He who foresaw and predicted the failure of what should have been the bright and evident witness of His truth and grace, could not ordain a succession of teachers for it who should carry His commission unforfeitable by whatever failure! Before apostles had left the earth, the house of God had become as a "great house," and it was necessary to separate from vessels to dishonor in it. He who bade His apostle to instruct another to " follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart," could not possibly tell us to listen to men who are alien from all this, as His ministers, and having His commission in spite of all. And thus notably, in the second epistle to Timothy, in which this is said, there is no longer, as in the first, any talk of elders or of ordained men. It is "faithful men" who are wanted, not for ordination, but for the deposit of the truth committed to Timothy:"The things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also."

Thus God's holy Word vindicates itself to the heart and conscience ever. The effort to attach His sanction to a Romish priesthood or a Protestant hierarchy fails alike upon the same ground, for as to this they are upon the same ground. Alas! Nicolaitanism is no past thing-no obscure doctrine of past ages, but a wide-spread and gigantic system of error, fruitful in evil results. Error is long-lived, though mortal. Reverence it not for its gray hairs, and follow not with a multitude to do evil. With cause does the Lord say in this case, "Which thing I hate." If He does, shall we be afraid to have fellowship with Him ? That there are good men entangled in it, all must admit. There are godly men, and true ministers, ignorantly wearing the livery of men. May God deliver them! may they cast aside their fetters and be free! May they rise up to the true dignity of their calling, responsible to God, and walking before Him alone!

On the other hand, beloved brethren, it is of immense importance that all His people, however diverse their places in the body of Christ may be, should realize that they are all as really ministers as they are all priests. We need to recognize that every Christian has spiritual duties flowing from spiritual relationship to every other Christian. It is the privilege of each one to contribute his share to the common treasury of gift, with which Christ has endowed His Church. Nay, he who does not contribute is actually holding back what is his debt to the whole family of God. No possessor of one talent is entitled to wrap it in a napkin upon that account:it would be mere unfaithfulness and unbelief.

" It is more blessed to give than to receive." Brethren in Christ, when shall we awake to the reality of our Lord's words there? Ours is a never-failing spring of perpetual joy and blessing, which if we but come to when we thirst, out of our bellies shall flow rivers of living water. The spring is not limited by the vessel which receives it:it is divine, and yet ours fully,-fully as can be! Oh to know more this abundance, and the responsibility of the possession of it, in a dry and weary scene like this! Oh to know better the infinite grace which has taken us up as channels of its outflow among men! When shall we rise up to the sense ' of our common dignity,-to the sweet reality of fellowship with Him who "came not to be ministered unto, but to minister"? Oh for unofficial ministry-the overflowing of full hearts into empty ones, so many as there are around us! How we should rejoice, in a scene of want and misery and sin, to find perpetual opportunity to show the competency of Christ's fullness to meet and minister to every form of it.

Official ministry is practical independence of the Spirit of God. It is to decide that such a vessel shall overflow though at the time, it may be, practically empty; and, on the other hand, that such another shall not overflow, however full He may have filled it up. It proposes, in the face of Him who has come down in Christ's absence to be the Guardian of His people, to provide for order and for edification, not by spiritual power, but by legislation. It would provide for failure on the part of Christ's sheep to hear His voice, by making it as far as possible unnecessary for them to do so. It thus sanctions and perpetuates unspirituality, instead of condemning or avoiding it.

It is quite true that in God's mode of treating it the failure in man's part may become more evident externally; for He cares little for a correct outside when the heart is nevertheless not right with Him, and He knows well that ability to maintain a correct outside may in fact prevent a truthful judgment of what is our real condition before Him. Men would have upbraided Peter with his attempt to walk upon those waves which made his little faith so manifest. The Lord would only rebuke the littleness of the faith which made him fail. And man still and ever would propose the boat as the remedy for failure, instead of the strength of the Lord's support, which He made Peter prove. Yet, after all, the boat confessedly may fail,-winds and waves may overthrow it; but "the Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters-yea, than the mighty waves of the sea." Through these many centuries of failure, have we proved Him untrustworthy? Beloved, is it your honest conviction that it is absolutely safe to trust the living God? Then let us make no provision for His failure, however much we may have to own that we have failed! Let us act as if we really trusted Him. F.W.G.
(To. be continued.')

"Pour out Thy fury upon the heathen that have not known Thee, and upon the families that call not upon Thy name." (Jer. 10:25.)

Family prayer is a most important matter, and has often proved one of the greatest blessings which a family could enjoy. It is not enough that we pray as private individuals in our closets; we must honor God in our families. Twice in the day if we can, at least once, every family where Jesus is professed should be called to bow before the Lord together,-parents and children, master and servants. The head of the family should lead the devotions if present, and his wife should he be absent. Family prayer should never be omitted if there be one of the family at home who can call upon God, even if the language be broken, and the time occupied be very brief. The "spirit of prayer" always grows by use, and small-ness of gift is no lawful excuse for omitting family prayer. If we cannot pray eloquently, we may pray earnestly, which is much better; if our language does not flow freely, we need not be long and tedious. Prevailing prayers are often short prayers. Family devotions should generally be short, especially where there are young children. Read a portion of God's holy Word. One may find it profitable sometimes to read also a few striking remarks on the subject by an approved author. If those present can sing, a few verses of praise greatly refresh. Along with this, prayer:a direct address to God, offered with fervor, under a sense of His presence, and edifying and blessing surely follow. God approves, an enlightened conscience commends, and all are benefitted.

Family prayer will prevent much sin. It keeps up a remembrance of God's presence, it brings important truths before the mind, it teaches the prayerless what prayer is, it leads children and servants to think, and brings down the blessing of God upon the house. We are to pray " with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit;" but this we cannot do if family prayer is neglected. We are to " pray every where, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting." This cannot be observed if we do not pray in our families. He who would excuse himself from family prayer, should expect to be excused from family blessings.

Reader, have you family prayer in your house? If not, allow me to ask, do you profess to be a Christian? Have you considered the solemn passage at the head of these remarks? If God was to pour out His fury upon the families which call not upon His name, and you have not family prayer, how could your family escape?

You ought to own God in your house, and daily should you acknowledge your dependence upon Him and obligation to Him. All your domestic comforts, all your temporal mercies, and all your spiritual privileges, flow from His love and grace; and will you daily as a family receive, and never as a family praise? The heathens have their household gods, and will not you have your family altar? Shall they honor idols of wood and stone, and must it be said of you, " The God in whose hands thy breath is hast thou not glorified"? An old writer says, "A family without prayer is like a house without a roof, open and exposed to all the storms of heaven." Again, " Family prayer bolts the door against dangers at night, and opens it for the admission of mercies in the morning." Private prayer was never intended to set aside family prayer, nor should family prayer be made an excuse for the neglect of private. The one is for the person; the other, for the household. Both are necessary, and, properly conducted, both are means of blessing.
" To God, most worthy to be praised,
Be our domestic altars raised;
Who, Lord of heaven, scorns not to dwell
With saints in their obscurest cell."

"In those days came John the Baptist." Israel have not cared for their Messiah, and, in the person of Herod, have sought His life ; and John's voice is to call them to a judgment of their ways, and turn their hearts to God,-" the disobedient to the wisdom of the just." His was a separating testimony-from and to-from the national rejection, and to the rejected One. All for their blessing was there in the Lord's person, but there was moral fitness needed to receive it, and this John comes to produce by his testimony of repentance. Personally, and in his circumstances and testimony, all speaks of being outside the nation's condition,- "In the wilderness of Judea," saying, "Repent ye;" thus fulfilling the word of the prophet Esaias," The voice of one crying in the wilderness [an outside place],' Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.'" There the message reads, "All flesh is grass" which "repent ye" really means,- turn from all that you are, as judged of God, to own "the Hope of Israel." And what grace and truth mingle in His appeal-" O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in Me is thy help"! (5:4.) The one who calls upon others for preparedness of heart to receive the Lord must be personally the exponent of what his testimony is to them.

FRAGMENTS.

"The same John . . . Raiment of camel's hair. Leathern girdle about his loins.
Meat, locusts and wild honey."

In apparel, no diversity of texture; girded to his loins-distinctly upon him, and concentration of purpose, as " the man of God;" meat, independent of human supply, and from two opposite sources; the very plague of eastern countries, and nature's sweet, both made to serve his need. All in perfect accord with his testimony and abode, and exactly reproducing the inspired record of Elijah, in "whose spirit and power' he had come. All is found where his lot is cast-in the desert, as with Israel, long before, when Jehovah fed them, and "their raiment waxed not old, neither did their foot swell for forty years."

How blessed that in such circumstances can be found thus, clothing and sustenance-the lives of others yielding it, and even nature's sweet God can bestow, for John is one self-governed, and devoted to Him ! Are we thus true enough in heart to be intrusted with such? (See Deut. 33:13; Ps. 81:16.) B.C.G.

The well is deep.
Look back into the purposes of God,
And scan eternity. Trace to their source
His wisdom and His power. Fathom, if thou canst,
His everlasting mercy. Should thy brain
Grow dizzy, and refuse to sound such depths,
Confess thy feebleness, and meekly say, –
The well is deep.

The well is deep. Take for thy longest line
The cords of vanity – the rope of sins
Unnumbered. Choose then the heaviest weight ;
Take thee thine own poor hardened heart of stone :
Now plumb the depths of God's unbounded love.
Thy lead seems light – thy lengthened line run out ; –

E'en with such instruments thou hast but plunged
Beneath the surface of the tide. Below,
Far, far below, in depths unfathomable,
Springs undisturbed the ceaseless flow of love,
Embosomed in eternity. Here rest,
And humbly bend the knee, and own again,
The well is deep.

The well is deep.
Mark now the wounded side
Of Him who hung upon the tree. Haste thee
To hide within that cleft; and, as the springs
Of living waters from the riven rock
Gush freely forth, ponder the depths of woe
From whence they rise. Behold that broken heart!
Say, canst thou find the measure of His grief?
Hear that loud bitter cry from off the cross,
"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
Think of those awful words, " I thirst," when He,
The mighty God, tasted the serpent's food,
And ate the dust of death. Search thus His depths
Of woes profound, and worship and exclaim,-
The well is deep !

Thus bursts the Well of Life from these three springs :
God's infinite decree, His boundless love,
And all those deep unuttered woes of Christ.
Drink ! stranger, drink ! and quench thy thirsty soul,
From out of depths which ceaselessly abound.
The more thy need, the fuller still the fount;
No sealed fountain this ; no spring shut up ;
But, flowing forth to every child of want,
It cries, "Come unto Me, and drink,"-invites
The heavy-laden to repose ;-cleanses
Whilst giving life, and gladdens whilst it heals.

The thoughtless sinner, who, at Jacob's well,
Tasted the living waters fresh from God,
Has yet to learn, through all eternity,
The truth of words she ignorantly spake
Touching Samaria's failing earthly spring,-
The well is deep.

I cannot doubt but that much of that lack of deep, settled, habitual peace of Which so many complain is very justly traceable to the light and trifling habits of conversation in which they indulge,-to their reading of newspapers and other light works. Such things must grieve the Holy Spirit; and if the Holy Spirit is grieved, Christ cannot be enjoyed ; for it is the Spirit alone who, by the written Word, ministers Christ to the soul.

I do not mean to deny that very many feel this lack of peace who do not engage in such things. By no means; but I say that these things must necessarily be productive of much serious injury to our spiritual health, and must superinduce a sickly condition of soul, which is most dishonoring to Christ.

It may be that some who have long been accustomed to a so-called high teaching will turn away from such plain, practical principles as these. It will be pronounced legalism ; and the writer may be accused of seeking to bring people into a sort of bondage, and of casting them upon themselves. I can only say, God forbid. The opening statements of this paper should furnish a decisive answer to such an accusation. If it be legalism to direct attention to the matter of conversation, then it is the legalism of the epistle to the Ephesians ; for there we find that "foolish talking and jesting" are amongst the things which are not to be "once named among us, as becometh saints."* * The word which is rendered "jesting," takes in what is commonly called "wit," "humor," "punning," "repartee," and such like. It is well to remember this. The word " jesting" would let a great deal pass which should come under the edge of the original word, which is a compound of two Greek words, signifying, " to turn well."* Again, we read, " Let your conversation be always with grace, seasoned with salt." These are plain statements of Scripture-statements, moreover, found in immediate connection with some of the most elevated doctrines of inspiration; and it will be found, that where those plain statements are not allowed their full weight on the conscience, the higher truths are not enjoyed. I can neither enjoy nor walk worthy of my " high calling " if I am indulging in "foolish talking and jesting."

I quite admit the need of carefully avoiding all affected sanctimoniousness, or fleshly restraint. The sanctimoniousness of nature is fully as bad as its levity, if not worse. But why exhibit either the one or the other? The gospel gives us something far better. Instead of affected sanctimoniousness, the gospel gives us real sanctity; and instead of levity, it gives us holy cheerfulness. There is no need to affect any thing, for if I am feeding upon Christ, all is reality, without any effort. The moment there is effort, it is all perfect weakness. If I say I must talk about Christ, it becomes terrible bondage ; but if my soul is in communion, all is natural and easy, for "out of the" abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." It is said of a certain little insect, that it always exhibits the color of the leaf on which it feeds. So is it exactly with the Christian. It is very easy to tell what he is feeding upon.

But it may be said by some that " we cannot be always talking about Christ." I reply that just in proportion as we are led by an ungrieved Spirit will all our thoughts and words be occupied about Christ. We, if we are children of God, will be occupied with Him throughout eternity ; and why not now ? We are as really separated from the world now as we shall be then; but we do not realize it, because we do not walk in the Spirit.

It is quite true that in entering into the matter of a Christian's habit of conversation, one is taking low ground ; but then it is needful ground. It would be much happier to keep on the high ground ; but, alas ! we fail in this; and it is a mercy that Scripture and the Spirit of God meet us in our failure. Scripture tells us we are "seated in heavenly places, in Christ;" and it tells us also not "to steal." It may be said that it is low ground to talk to heavenly men about stealing ; yet it is Scripture-ground, and that is enough for us. The Spirit of God knew that it was not sufficient to tell us that we are seated in heaven; He also tells us how to conduct ourselves on earth; and our experience of the former will be evidenced by our exhibition of the latter. The walk here proves how I enter into my place there.

Hence, I may find in the Christian's walk a very legitimate ground on which to deal with him about the actual condition of his soul before God. If his walk is low, carnal, and worldly, it must be evident that he is not realizing his high and holy position as a member of Christ's body, and a temple of God.

Wherefore, to all who are prone to indulge in habits of light and trifling conversation or reading, I would affectionately but solemnly say, Look well to the general state of your spiritual health. Bad symptoms show themselves -certain evidences of a disease working within-a disease, it may be, mote or less affecting the very springs of vitality. Beware how you allow this disease to make progress. Betake yourself at once to the Physician, and partake of His precious balm. Your whole spiritual constitution may be deranged, and nothing can restore its tone save the healing virtues of what He has to give you.

A fresh view of the excellency, preciousness, and beauty of Christ is the only thing to lift the soul up out of a low condition. All our barrenness and poverty arises from our having let slip Christ. It is not that He has let us slip. No; blessed be His name, this cannot be. But, practically, we have let Him slip, and as a consequence, our tone has become so low, that it is at times difficult to recognize any thing of the Christian in us but the mere name. We have stopped short in our practical career. We have not entered as we should into the meaning of Christ's "cup and baptism;" we have failed in seeking fellowship with Him in His sufferings, death, and resurrection. We have sought the result of all these, as wrought out in Him; but we have not entered experimentally into them, and hence our melancholy decline, from which nothing can recover us but getting more into the fullness of Christ. C.H.M.

THE ADDRESSES TO THE CHURCHES, (Continued.)

Pergamos :the Promise to the Overcomer, (Rev. 2:17.)

The promise to the overcomer in Pergamos claims our deepest attention. As always in these epistles, it emphasizes the condition of those to whom it is addressed ; and we have seen that this is not merely a past condition, but a stage in the development of what is all around us to-day ; so that the exhortations and warnings suited to it have for us no less force than ever. In fact they should have more, as we stand face to face with that development, – as the fruit, ripe and multiplied, is before our eyes.

But the promise to the overcomer, while reminding us of the departure and decay already so far gone, is not shrouded with the gloom of this. On the contrary, it is bright with hope, and full of the joy which for the Christian can spring out of whatever sorrow. It breathes the spirit of what the apostle speaks of as our portion ever, "not the spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind." It is Christ's word of encouragement for those who in the strife of the battle-field look to the Captain of their salvation; and it carries us beyond the scene of strife to the inheritance already sure to us, although through trial and suffering is the path by which it is ordained to reach it.

The promise has two parts, which are in beautiful relation to one another. The manna, as is evident, speaks of Christ Himself, and of our apprehension of Him; the white stone is a sign, on the other hand, of His appreciation of us. How blessed is the interchange of affection thus expressed! How touching the appeal to it where the heart of His beloved is so manifestly wandering away from Him! The manna is wilderness food:it fell only there, in Egypt it was not yet known; arrived within the borders of the land, it ceased. It was divine provision for those to whom God was an absolute necessity, whom He had brought into a place where was no natural provision, where they were wholly cast upon Him. It was this necessity which was their claim upon the tender compassion of their great Deliverer. He had, indeed, made Himself responsible to answer to it, and all their varied need was thus to draw out new witness of divine resources,-riches of glory-power and love alike.

The wilderness does not speak of any natural condition. Egypt is the natural condition, and Egypt is a very fruitful land. There were many drawbacks there, no doubt, which would in general be freely acknowledged. Plagues smote there as elsewhere, and an oppressive tyranny brooded over it:but the one, they might hope individually to escape; the other, they bore in company with a multitude. But the productiveness of the soil no one could question:"We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic:and now our soul is dried away, there is nothing at all but this manna before our eyes."

The promise of the manna is, then, for the wilderness, but it is the overcomer in Pergamos who alone knows the need of the wilderness. Those who have settled down in the world proclaim by the fact how little they find the world such; and this character of the overcomer confirms our view of the state spiritually of Pergamos itself. Here it was no longer the state of individuals merely, but of the mass; and not even a secret state, but avowed openly in deed if not in word. Thus, then, the Lord speaks to him who, true to his calling, finds in Himself his one necessity and satisfaction. " Bread shall be given him, his water shall be sure." Yea, " meat which endureth unto everlasting life," and water which shall " be in him a spring of water, springing up to everlasting life."

And this may remind us that the manna, of which the Lord speaks in the promise here, although it be the manna of the wilderness, is not, nevertheless, what was partaken of in the wilderness. The "hidden manna" was that put by command of God into the ark, and carried into the land, that after-generations might see the bread wherewith He had fed them in the wilderness." In this case it was, of course, not eaten; but the Lord promises to the overcomer here that he shall eat it; clearly in the blessed place which for us has in the highest degree the character attributed to the land of Canaan, -a place " where the eyes of the Lord are continually:" the wilderness food is still to be enjoyed when the wilderness is passed forever. The hidden manna was the memorial sample of what had fallen long before:it is typically the abiding remembrance of what we once tasted,-the fresh taste in eternity of Christ as enjoyed by faith down here.

We may thus see (and it is good to see,) how closely connected the life to come is with the present. Do we not miss much by separating them as widely as we sometimes do? and by supposing that, apart from all experiences and attainments here, all elements of blessing will be found in equal degree in the cup of eternal joy, when our lips are once at its brim? by imagining that if "when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away," then all present effects of lack of communion, or of that knowledge which results in and implies communion, will be necessarily passed also; not allowed to abate in any wise the eternal portion? Is this what the words of the apostle indeed assure us of ?

For each one of us, no doubt, the state will be perfect, the partial condition will be done away. That is surely so. When the bud is ripened into the flower, the perfect condition is reached ; it is a bud "no longer. Does it follow from this at all that the flower is in no wise dependent upon that bud which is passed away ? We know it is dependent. So when it is no longer a condition of faith, but of sight,-no longer seeing through a glass, darkly, but face to face, the present knowing*-not the knowledge itself, but the manner of it-will have passed. *" Knowledge," in 1 Cor. 13:8, may be here better rendered "knowing" (γvπσις). When it is added, "Then shall I know even as also I am [or rather have been] known" (5:12), a compound form is used (πιγιvώσκω), This last perfectly suits the apostle's comparison of seeing face to face instead of through a glass. It is intensive,-a knowing founded upon knowledge, and thus often used for "recognition" and " acknowledgment."* We "shall know," not as afar off any longer, but in the presence of the things known. That is, " as we are known," as He to whom all things are present knows us. It does not speak of the measure of knowledge, but of the manner of it; for who could suppose the measure of it to be God's omniscience ? And it is of the manner of it -face-to-face knowledge-the apostle speaks.

Rather will the limits of our knowledge there be defined, and we shall be conscious of them,-spared thus the strain of searching into the unsearchable, and delivered from the temptation of aspiring to what is beyond our sphere. There will be, of course, complete satisfaction with the limits whatever they may be.

But this, then, removes the thought of any necessary equality of knowledge among the redeemed themselves. The "new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it'' is a proof of this in the words before us. And the hidden manna is another proof. For the partaking of that which fell in the wilderness is only possible as a recalling of experience once known. It is not a fresh experience, but a past experience enjoyed afresh. Christ is no more there the humbled One of which the manna speaks; and the hidden manna was carried into Canaan, not belonged there. It was strictly a memorial of the past, and as this, has its significance. The experience which we gain here is gained forever; the joy is not for a moment, the meat endures unto eternal life:the fruit of the sorrow we pass through is not reaped all amid the sorrow, but reaped above all, there where the harvest is an abiding one. Blessed be God, it is so.

Some imagine a common height of blessing to which grace lifts in result all partakers of it, which leaves no practical issue for eternity of whatever difference in the life and ways on earth. Others would cut off, as contrary to the grace which remembers our sins and iniquities no more, the very memory of them within us, as if it would spoil the eternal blessedness. Others, again,-and this is a most common mistake,-would confound the fruits of grace,, which we enjoy in common, with the rewards of grace, which have respect to responsibilities fulfilled. All these are alike errors, and lead to practical consequences which are of grave importance.

Sonship, heirship, membership in the body of Christ, are alike pure gifts of divine grace, and in no wise of work. They are ours once for all, and never withdrawn from us. How blessed to realize that these are, after all, our very chiefest blessings, which we have in common! How much less, comparatively, must the reward of our work be, and the reward of Christ's work, which they all are! How precious to know that every child of the Father's love shall be clasped to the Father's heart alike,-that there shall be no more distance for one than for another! Yet it is not every one who is clear as to salvation who is clear as to this. But were it otherwise, who could, without presumption, anticipate any nearness at all ? But the many mansions of the Father's house have room for all, and the Father's heart has surely no less room. "What manner of love hath He " indeed " bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God !" But it is His love, and let us enjoy it to the full without a remnant of fear. Let not one shadow of legality darken the joy of it. And this love shall be justified in its fullest expression also, for "we shall be"- one as much as another,-" like Christ, for we shall see Him as He is."

It is not, perhaps, wonderful that as we contemplate such blessings as these we should be tempted to think that there surely cannot be left room for any difference whatever. To be like Christ!-all altogether like Him! Think of it, ye His beloved, the fruit of His work, the purchase of His precious blood! Who could imagine, indeed, that the fruit of our work could make any difference here! For whom could it be but in the most absolute wonderful love, with power to accomplish its desires in us ? Shall any thing hinder that accomplishment, then? No, nothing! What is stronger than what manifested itself in the cross ? What can rob it of its glorious reward ?

Yet unspeakably great as all this is, still he that has an ear to receive the Scripture testimony will surely find that, beside the common blessing which every one of Christ's own shall get, there are distinctive and individual blessings, which are not, therefore, the same for all. " To reward every one according as his work shall be."-" Rule thou over ten . . . rule thou over five cities."-" Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." These passages, and such as these, are unmistakably clear also. Nor can it be urged that it is only in temporary not in eternal awards that such distinctions can have place. The hidden manna and the white stone are not of this character, and they both speak of what is the result of the earthly walk.
And again, it is in no wise true that the very sins of which God says, " I will remember them no more" shall not come up before the judgment-seat of Christ. They surely shall. "God," says the Preacher, " shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil." "We must all be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, whether it be good or whether it be evil."

Are these things contradictory? They are equally parts of God's perfect and eternal Word. Nor is there the slightest difficulty even as to their reconciliation, if we may speak of reconciliation as needful. God will indeed remember our sins no more; but does any one imagine that His memory will fail in the least as to one of them ? Against us He will not remember them. No displeasure on their account shall ever darken His glorious face. Never will He upbraid us with them. It is we who shall "give account of ourselves to Him." Shall it be only of whatever good, little or much as it may be? Shall we present ourselves as sinless ones, who have had no need of redeeming blood ? Standing in the glory and perfection of Christ's likeness as we then shall be, our memories shall be fully alive with all the past, so as to give a faithful record of it before the throne of truth. All mists, all uncertainties, all errors, will be gone forever. How blessed to be clear of them! Then how bright will God's grace appear! how perfect His wisdom! Not, surely, with reference to an angel's course, but to that of a fallen, erring, yet redeemed man. And the memories of our sins, would we be then without them, when without them the whole world would be an impenetrable darkness still, and the very song of redemption could not itself be sung!

And it is declared of some who build upon God's foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, the day shall declare it, for it shall be revealed with fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he has built thereon, he shall receive a reward ; if any man's work be burned up, he shall suffer loss; yet he himself shall be saved, yet so as through the fire. No matter of what class of believers this speaks, the principle announced is plain:reward to some, to others loss, while yet both alike are saved ones.

Thus the promise of the hidden manna appeals solemnly, while most encouragingly, to us. Our present life is not cut off by so broad a division from the eternal one as some would have it; while yet there is a division as plain as it is serious. The days of human responsibility end with the life here. It is for the things done in the body that they are judged or rewarded, and for these only. Thus these days exercise an irreversible influence over the life to come:the hidden manna and the white stone are eternal recompenses of the present time. In another sense, as to the hidden manna, it is but that " the meat" that faith lives on now is but the "meat that endureth to everlasting life."So that the spiritual experiences of the present pass on as memories into the eternal joy beyond. But as memories with none of the dullness which attaches to such things now; for then is the day of manifestation and of recompense, and the memory then will far outdo the experience now.

We pass through trial and adversity, through a world "in truth a wilderness, a place of utter dependence, in which faith feels, amid the darkness, for the strength of the everlasting arms. And here we learn, as no where else could we learn, the grace that is come down to us. We are like those that go down to the sea in ships, and that have their
business in the deep waters,-men that see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. "A brother is born for adversity," and in adversity we learn the touch of a brother's hand; yea," there is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother," and how blessed to realize in Him who sticks so close the very Lord of glory Himself! Not a kindly and gracious Protector merely, from His own sphere of unchanging blessedness, but One hand in hand, traveling the same road, ministering of His own cup of consolation, displaying sympathies which have been developed in the self-same path, but of sorrows voluntarily endured that He might so minister to us.

Precious humiliation, upon which the heavens once looked down in wonder! but of which none can know in truth the deepest meaning, save those who have drunk of the cup of the pilgrim, and in actual poverty been enriched by a greater poverty of Him for our sakes come into it. It is this which makes the hidden manna so impossible to be tasted except by one who has tasted the manna in that wilderness where alone it fell. After-generations in Israel might indeed see the food wherewith, the Lord fed them in the wilderness, but that was all. He who had been in the wilderness alone could say of it, " I know its taste." When the people were despising it as light food, in touching appeal to us the Lord through the historian describes its taste. We can little indeed describe a taste; only at all by comparing it to some other familiar one, and so here:" its taste was as the taste of fresh oil,,"-the ministry of the Holy Ghost; but in another place, " it was like wafers made with honey:'' that speaks of Him whom the Holy Ghost declares to us.

The land promised to Israel was described in its riches as a "land flowing with milk and honey." It is the figure of natural sweetness; very sweet, but not to be partaken of too freely, nor allowed to be put into that which was offered to God. But the manna was not honey, and though having the sweetness of it, could be fed upon continually. All the sweetness of human affection and intimacy is found in the " Son of Man," but with no element of corruptibility in it. Honey easily ferments and sours, but in this sweet intimacy there is absolute stability:it is a love which can be relied on at all times, where the human has become one with the divine,-the divine makes itself realized in what we can apprehend and enter into as most truly human.

This is the taste; but to know it, you must taste it. No description will convey it rightly to you; and to know the grace of Christ's humiliation, you must have been in the wilderness, and there learned to say, " All my fresh springs are in Thee." If " a brother is born for adversity," it is only adversity that can rightly make you know that " brother." In the land, amid all its glories, the manna was " the hidden manna." In the wilderness it was not hidden ; and to those who had gone the journey through the wilderness, the manna, even in the land, was not really hidden. In the glory of heaven we shall know in the Man, Christ Jesus, some steps (and surely wonderful ones) of His surpassing condescension; nay, a " Lamb, as it had been slain," will call forth the unceasing homage of all there; but the manna gives the personal application of this grace to a need which in heaven will no longer exist:it must be enjoyed there as knowledge gained in quite other circumstances. And here the wilderness will at last yield its harvests to us, the desert left behind will blossom as the rose.

For how will those spiritual experiences so full of joy to us here bloom in the sunlight of eternity into glorious recollections, when all that hinders shall be forever removed; when the divine ways shall be seen in ail their holiness, all their wisdom, all their grace! Our senses are here at the best so dull, the power of the Spirit so little known, Christ is after all so little in His transcendent beauty enjoyed ! Then, face to face with His glory, seeing Him as He is, and able to measure somewhat truly the depths of His descent from the heights before us, how will the King in His beauty, our blest Lord and Saviour, be revealed!

But it is time to turn round upon ourselves, is it not? and to ask of ourselves, How much material for this joy hereafter are we gathering here? And this suggests another question:How much need have we of Christ day by day? how much hunger and thirst have we after Him? These are very strong terms, as they are evidently also the terms of Scripture. All the labor of man is for the mouth. Hunger and thirst are controlling things. Yet says the Lord, " Labor not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life." Do we indeed by comparison not labor for the one as we labor for the other? and which one is it-in calm, sober, reality-that we labor for?

We have life, perhaps,-eternal life,-salvation. Blessed to have these. With the rest thus gained, have we started for the goal outside the world? or are we practically living much as others in it,-the days filled up with a routine of things imposed by the various masters (customs, men's thoughts of us, the claims of society, and what not) which rule there? It is one thing or other; outside the world, and in opposition to it, or in it, and floating with its stream.

In this last case, there will either be no felt need, or none that Christ can be counted on to meet. Much may be pleaded as to duties, which are merely artificial, and untruly covered with so fair a name. But whatever may be the plea, the daily need and ministry of Christ is a thing unknown. Great needs may demand Him, but life is not made up of these.

Briefly to consider now, however, the second part of the promise-the "white stone":-

The two parts of the promise are inseparably connected with one another. The appreciation of Christ by the soul is the necessary basis of His answering approbation. The white stone speaks, as has been said, of this approbation. It was the token of approval, dropped by voters into the urn of old, with the name of the candidate approved upon it. But the name here is a new name, known only by Him who gives and by him who receives it.

The name, in Scripture, is always significant and descriptive of the one who bears it. To know God's name is just to know what He is, to know His character; and the new name here speaks of the character for Christ of him upon whom it is conferred, some character which He approves. It is a peculiar link between the Lord and the one approved, a peculiar something that we are for Him.

It implies some trial, as the former part of the promise, and speaks of His estimate of how it has been endured,-of something especially noted as pleasing to Himself. It is not publicly noted or rewarded, however. Such rewards, of course, there are; but this is another and a deeper thing. Still more than the hidden manna is it an individual joy, not shared by the general company of the redeemed,-the one secret link, as it would seem, between the Lord and the individual saint.

Is it worth seeking, this approbation of His? Is any thing else in comparison? Is it not marvelous that we can barter the priceless eternal joys for things which perish in the using, even if they did not also entail upon the soul a feebleness from which oftentimes there is here no recovery. We pity the inebriate, possessed by his passion for what rivets upon the ever-increasing load which will at last destroy him; but oh what sorrow should we have for the Nazarites of God, endowed with the limitless possession of the Spirit of God, to know the things that are freely given to us of God, yet drunk with the spirit of the world, His enemy, and squandering the precious gifts of God for the husks of the swineherd! We have no words that are worthy or of power to rebuke it; but let us hear the apostle:-

" Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Wherefore, whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."

" Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. . . . For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever."

" Wherefore awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."

" For ye are all the children of the light, and the children of the day:we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep in the night, and they that are drunken are drunken in the night; but let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him."

Yes, and that life is now begun with us; the eternal life has for us begun. May the words ring in our ears at least until they lay hold completely of our hearts and lives:" To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he who receiveth it."

"Overcometh"-not in the world merely, but now in the church; not in circumstances in which he is not, but in the precise circumstances in which he is;-"overcometh:" do you, do I, know well, and from quite familiar experience, what it is to overcome ? F.W.G. (To be continued.).

Some time after Mr. Jno. Newton had published his Omicron, and described the three stages of growth in religion, from the blade, the ear, and the full corn in the ear, distinguishing them by the letters A, B, and C, a conceited young minister wrote to Mr. N., telling him he read his own character accurately drawn in that of C. Mr. N. wrote in reply, that, in drawing the character of C, or full maturity, he had forgotten to add, till now, one prominent feature of C's character, namely, that C never knew his own face."

"And Saul answered, '. . . . thou shalt surely die, Jonathan.'" (i Sam. 14:)

Jonathan vanquished the enemy in the service of God, and had tasted of honey with the blessing of God; but Saul's decree was disregarded, and he is condemned. It is a solemn example for all time of the disastrous effect of human will thrusting itself in as religious authority between the true servant and God.

The Spirit of God has made it a very plain one for our warning and instruction.

Jonathan is led by the Spirit of God, but Saul's decree condemns him. But there is more than this-the people rescue Jonathan, manifestly by the good hand of God. "And the people said unto Saul, ' Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? God forbid! As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he hath wrought with God this day.' So the people rescued Jonathan, that he died not."

The people had been distressed in seeking to obey the foolish decree-toiling in battle, but unfed. But God allows matters to come to a head, and the unrighteousness and folly of the decree is openly manifest when Jonathan must die. True instinct rouses them to indignation, and the misused authority is spurned by the people, as before it had no control over Jonathan. We must obey God rather than men. It was open resistance to authority, but a resistance approved of God. Submission would have been folly worse than Saul's.

Such a true instinct in an emergency is noble- it is love, and is of God. To talk of submission and docility at such a time is craven and nerveless, and would simply have left full sway and swing to evil and shame; it is not love, nor the true spirit of subjection, but paralysis and confusion, or a perverted mind.

The lack of a ready instinct to reject evil is a thing to be heartily ashamed of.

It is the coldness of a formalist, or a judgment perverted, and God has not His place of authority, and what He is-light and love-is not apprehended in governing power over the soul for the time being. "

The senses are not exercised to discern good and evil.

Then evil triumphs, and God is dishonored, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey.

This is Satan's triumph-the success of his wiles.

Note how God allows the lot called for by Saul between himself and the people to fall upon himself and Jonathan, and then between himself and Jonathan it falls upon Jonathan. We might have thought God would give no answer, but it is the answer of condemnation, not of fellowship. Saul had made the decree, and now was in the place of authority, and step by step he is allowed to push on to the shameful but consistent result of his first departure.
While it was merely irksome to the people, it was borne; but when the end of it was, to "condemn and kill the just one," God was with His people to abhor and reject it. "Abhor that which is evil:cleave to that which is good." And again, in John's third epistle, (short, but full of solemn import,) when casting out was in progress, and John himself rejected-" Receiveth us not, . . . neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the assembly"-the word for guidance is, "Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good "-the same principle as the oft-quoted one in 2 Timothy-" Depart from unrighteousness." Whether it be Diotrephes, or Saul as king, or a whole assembly, that would bind unrighteousness upon the saints, it is no virtue to hesitate then. "Abhor that which is evil." "And this is love, that we walk after His commandments."

Let us be humble, and willing to have our conclusions tested by the Word at every step, and seek to make all allowance in love. But there is such a thing as a lack of discernment of evil when manifest, and the seeking of peace before righteousness-which is neither love nor spirituality, and unfits for doing battle when the enemy is encroaching in power, and has gained a foothold amongst us.

" But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath:wherefore he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in a honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened. Then answered one of the people, and said,' Thy father straitly charged the people with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food this day.' And the people were faint [the effect of legality]. Then said Jonathan, ' My father hath troubled the land:see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened ["Christ hath made us free "-Gal. 5:i], because I tasted a little of this honey. How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely to-day of the spoil of their enemies which they found? for had there not been now a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?'"

Behold the effect of human decrees and creeds- they fetter the conscience and the heart, and they famish the soul-and not a servant of Christ has been raised up to stand in the gap for the truth in a day of shame and trembling but this imposing power of Satan" would intimidate and drive him from the path of faith, and turn victory into confusion and defeat; stirring up even the devout and honorable to array themselves unwittingly against their own souls' interest and the purposes of God for blessing.

"Let brotherly love continue," but let us have our eyes open and the heart undeceived. Saul got no answer from God, and none from the people, before appealing to the lot. It was his own will he was pressing to the bitter end.

Saul sets forth the Pharisee in power at Jerusalem when the Lord was crucified, and " the burdens which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear" corresponds to the fainting of the people under Saul's decree.

Step by step, in the Lord's life of service and manifestation of Himself-of the truth, was manifest also increasingly the irreconcilable and bitter enmity of the traditions of the Jews against Him and what He did. He could not deny himself, and tradition and the carnal mind could not change, and the cross was the issue. So Jonathan goes through death in a figure, and is delivered by the power of God. How much it costs to bear witness for the truth ! How plainly it indicates who is behind the scenes in opposition!

So deceived may the heart be that the ruler of the synagogue can rebuke, and put in the place of an offender, the Lord of glory as a breaker of the Sabbath.

There is something truly precious in the word, "Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with an oath." The diligent soul, in happy liberty, occupied with God. and the word of His grace, is not imposed upon by human creeds, nor hindered by tradition from receiving and declaring the whole counsel of God.

He was " without the camp," and heard not the legal decree.

Let us beware of tradition. In every age it has thrust itself in between the saints and the free enjoyment of the Word of God; for we easily become drowsy, and prefer the old wine, and rest in what is in vogue among us, and cling to it tenaciously, until error is so enthroned that it cannot be called in question-but at the peril of the one who would do it.

But there are dangers in more than one direction; therefore let us apply these principles and lessons from Scripture with moderation and judgment and self-distrust, as ready to go to extremes; and if we have escaped one extreme, as specially liable to the other. The Lord give us wisdom and humility here. But let us not fear to obey God and to follow Christ, though Satan raise a storm that makes the waves mount up high above the ship. E.S.L.

"But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort ? for all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee." (i Chron. 29:14.)

It is beautiful to see the grace with which we are brought to give God His own. Three sacrifices are to be offered by God's priests(a class that embraces every believer, young or old):

1. Themselves.-The apostle beseeches, and that "by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your intelligent service." (Rom. 12:I.) For "ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price:therefore glorify God in your body." (i Cor. 6:20.) See for example 2 Cor. 8:5-they "first gave their own selves to the Lord."

2. Their Worship.-As holy priests, " to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." " Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me," says Jehovah. '.' By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually," etc. (Heb. 13:15.)

3. Their Goods.-"But to do good and to communicate [1:e., of your substance-Gal. 6:6; i Tim. 6:18] forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." (Heb. 13:16; Phil. 4:18.)

No more wonderful chapter can be found in God's Word than this – whether in the revelation of God, the range of divine truth, or the view of God's ways (dispensationally and morally) that it gives us!

1. First, " In the beginning " – as far back as mortal thought can carry us, we read of One who was – who never had beginning; and thus we learn of eternity, and of Him as the " Eternal." How precious that to mortals like us – yea, more, rebels (for such we were,) such is made known! First, He "was" when all things and persons knew a beginning; hence, was eternal – self-existent – Deity. Next, was "with God" – a distinct Person in the Godhead; and further, lest we think less of Him than is due, we read, He " was God." And of whom, we may ask, is all this spoken? the word – the full and perfect expression of the heart of God. Thus, in one simple word, He tells us what He is.

2. Next, what has He done? " Made all things ;" for as none but He could declare the character of God, so none other could impart life or create – "speak, and it was done; command, and it stood fast." "In Him was life" – ever there, and only He who had it in Himself could impart it or create anew, whether in a ruined world or as to fallen man.

3. Then, " He was in the world" He who was its Maker, and "it knew Him not." "He came unto His own," with the kingdom for His desolate Zion, and it would not have Him-" they received Him not." Will He leave them to their unhappy lot and choice ? No ; He lingered still, – " waited to be gracious," would not " break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax," till judgment has to be His work – His strange work – at last.

4. " Made flesh, and dwelt among us," – tabernacled – pitched His tent among men. Blessed and wonderful step further in this onward course of grace, that "though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich"!

5. But even this is not all! "The next day, . . . ' Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world ! ' " how beautiful and perfect the order given us. How many have learned that God is, has created, sent His Son (thus giving witness of Himself), and yet have not reached this " next day" of rest in Him in learning that "He bare our sins" ! And if we indeed have so learned, how often we stop short with it, and " receive the grace of God in vain"!

6. "Again the next day . . . two disciples follow Jesus" – they call Him "Master" whom they have already learned as Saviour, and ask " Where dwellest Thou?" Do we who know and trust this Saviour inquire this too? How shall we receive His answer? Just as they. " He saith unto them, 'Come and see.' " His word leads to Himself and to the secret of His presence. May we thus follow and inquire, and then abide with Him !

7. Another thing:"The day following, Jesus would go forth" etc. He leaves the " secret place," where only faith can know Him, and comes to display His glory in the kingdom long foretold, soon to be realized in power. He "comes again," and " when He shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory." We have, then, –
1.His eternal personality and Godhead …. Eternity.

2.His creative power and glory ……… Creation.

3.His incarnation (life and light for men). . Incarnation.

4.His tabernacling here (display of grace

and glory) …………………… Life.

5.His sacrificial death – "taking away sin." Cross.

6.His secret place (rejection here, glory above) ……………………… Glory.

7.His coming again, "appearing in glory.". Coming.

Thus have we here the divine record of facts of eternal value, sayings "faithful and true" (historical); next, the display therein of the ways of God with the world at large(dispensational); and last, His dealings with ourselves from the first knowledge of Himself as Creator until presented to Christ in glory, His bride, and the sharer of His throne (moral). May we learn it so, and delight our hearts in glories that thus cluster around His holy person – The Eternal Word – our own beloved Lord!

B.C.G.

It's dreadful to live this way ! I do wonder why God doesn't answer your prayer and send you some work," said Mrs. Wilson,

"Are you hungry, wife? I'm sure I thought we had a good breakfast," responded John Wilson.

" But we've nothing for dinner ! "

"But it isn't dinner-time yet, my wife."

"Well, I must confess I'd like to know what we are to have just a little while before dinner-time."

" God has said our bread and water shall be sure, but He has not promised that we shall know before-hand where it's coming from."

" Father," said little Maggie, " do you suppose God knows what time we have dinner?"

"Yes, my dear child, I suppose He knows exactly that. I've done my best to get work, and I'll go out now and look about."

John Wilson went away to seek work, and spent that forenoon seeking vainly. God saw that here was a diamond worth polishing. He subjected His servant's faith to a strain, but it bore the test. I will not say that no questionings or painful thoughts disturbed the man as he walked homeward at noon. Four eager, hungry little children, just home from school, to find the table un-spread, and no dinner ready for them ; an aged and infirm parent, from whom he had concealed as far as possible all his difficulties and perplexities, lest he should feel himself a burden in his old age,-awakened to a realization that there was not enough for him and them,-these were not pleasant pictures to contemplate; and all through the weary forenoon Satan had been holding them up to his view, and it was only by clinging to the Lord, as drowning men cling to the rope that is thrown to them, that he was kept from utter despondency.

"Thou knowest, O Lord, that I've done my best to support my family. My abilities are small, but I've done my best. Now, Lord, I'm waiting to see Thy salvation. Appear for me ! Let me not be put to shame.

"' Increase my faith, increase my hope,
Or soon my strength will fail.' "

So he prayed in his own simple fashion as he walked along.

He drew near to his own door with something of shrinking and dread. But the children rushed out to meet him with joyous shouts.

" Come right in, father ; quick !We've got a splendid dinner all ready. We've been waiting for you, and we're fearfully hungry."
The tired steps quickened, and the strongly drawn lines in the weary face softened to a look of cheerful questioning, such as was oftenest seen there. He came in and stood beside his wife, who was leaning over the fire, dipping soup out of the big dinner-pot with a ladle.

"How is this, mother?" said he.

"Why, father! Mr. Giddings has been over from Bristol. He came just after you went out. And he says a mistake was made in your account last August, which he has just found out by accident; he owed you fifteen shillings more, and he paid it to me. So I–"

" I don't think it was by accident, though," said John Wilson," interrupting her.

" Do you think it was accident that sent us that money to-day, mother?" persisted the thankful man.

"No, I don't think so," said the wife, humbly; and I am thankful. You haven’t heard the whole, though. Mr. Giddings wants you next Monday for all the week, and he thinks for all summer."

The grace at the table was a long one, full of thanks and praise, but not even the youngest child was impatient at its length.

Oh, the songs of night, the songs of night,
Breaking forth from the children of fadeless light
As they journey along through this poor sad world

Beneath God's banner of love unfurled !
Singing with joy as they pass along
Their Master's praise in cheerful song.

Surrounded by foes on every side,
Safe in His presence do they abide,
Knowing their weakness as on they go,
And the mighty power of their wily foe;
Yet the everlasting arm, so strong,
Safe, and secure, doth bear them on.

I hear them singing, with beaming face,
Of the Father's love and the Savior's grace ;
I see them toiling with heart and hand
As they journey on to the glory-land;
Their hearts are cheered, through the toil and strife,
By His love that brightens the darkest night.

Sing on, ye children of heavenly light,
Let your songs resound through the world's dark night;

Tell of redemption through the blood-
Of Him who hath our surety stood-
The priceless gift of eternal love,
The precious, peerless Christ of God.

Oh, the songs of night, these songs of night,
That we never can learn in our home of light,
Where all shall be changed from faith to sight,
When forever with Jesus in glory bright;
Then past forever-each weary sigh
All hushed-in His presence eternally.

No toil to mar-'no grief or care,
Naught to sever can enter there ;
There, all at home, one family
In the Father's glorious home on high,
With adoring hearts we shall love to trace
The wonders of God's perfect grace.

Songs of the night, bright witnesses ye
Of the Spirit that leadeth your melody ;
Not the trumpet-sound, or the noisy drum,
But the heart's deep joy as we're pressing on,
And deeper the joy the more we learn
His love, who maketh our heart to burn.

Songs of redeemed which the Spirit awakes,
Sung in the prison, sung at the stake,
Sung by the mother amidst her home-cares,
Sung by the people of God every where ;
The rich and the poor, the high and the low,
All sing these songs wherever they go.

And the night is made glad with these songs
of the day,
For the love of our Father doth ever display;
If we sleep or wake-it's unceasing care :
There's none can harm, and nothing to fear.

Oh, well may we sing as we journey on
To the home of everlasting song,-
The home of eternal bloom-where we
Shall see the One who for us did die,
Who hath redeemed us with His blood,
And brought us to His Father, God.

C.G.C.