Table of Contents

The Authority of the Word of God

Notes on Genesis

Colossians

A Short Summary of the Epistle to the Colossians

Colossians 1.

Colossians 2.

Colossians 3.

Colossians 4.

Christ and the Assembly

Ministry for the Church of God

Messiah the Prince

Letters and Papers

"Thou remainest"

Moses - The Man of God

The Eternal Son

Peace and Joy in Time of Trials

Needed Needs

Sanctifying Solitude

The Eternal Son of the Father

The Incarnation of the Son

The Altar of Ed

"A Christian Conscience."

Do All Believers Receive The Holy Spirit?

The Sonship of Christ

Christ Everything

Inclusive and Exclusive

Disciples Indeed

A KING GOING TO MAKE WAR.

The Old Paths

Psalm 23. A Paean of Praise

The Holy Scriptures and Creation

Assembly Order

The Authority of the Word of God

Notes on Genesis

Christ and the Assembly

Ministry for the Church of God

Messiah the Prince

"Thou remainest"

Moses - The Man of God

Various - Other Books

Various

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The Authority of the Word of God

The Authority of the Word of God

Biographical Note

James Boyd

Contents

Explanation

A Personal Testimony

The Holy Scriptures

The Necessity for a Revelation

The Fall

Is Jesus God?

The Unchanging One

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ

The Cross

Propitiation

The Resurrection

God's Great Gift

The Love of God

The Love of the Father

The Love of Christ

The Love of the Brethren

The Son of God and the Scriptures

The Man of God's Counsels

The Son of Man

In Christ

The Heathen

Abiding in the Doctrine.

(Scripture Truth 1932, vol. 24, p. 24.)

Correspondence.

"The evil, of which we are warned in 2 John, seemed to be in going forward; that is, adding to the revealed thoughts of God things that are not plainly in the text. This would set forth a Christ, not the Christ of God, but a Christ after the mind and heart of man. The Christ of God is One who has come in flesh, a real man in flesh and blood, otherwise He could not have made propitiation for our sins. But apart altogether from what we might deduce from the denial of this holy and all important truth the Word of God is plain and definite (John 1: 14; Heb. 2: 14). The man who does not confess this great truth of the incarnation has not God. But he who abides in the doctrine hath both the Father and the Son.

"Anyone if even a little acquainted with the Word is not likely to deny body, soul and spirit to our blessed Lord. But supposing this were denied it would be easy to turn to Luke 23: 46: "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit: and having said this He gave up the spirit." In Matt. 26: 38 He says: "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." In Hebrews 10: 5 He says: "A body hast Thou prepared Me."

"But out of this another question is raised, and that is, Was His body the same as any other human being? To this question the Scriptural answer is, No; His was holy. Another important truth to keep in mind is that He was begotten of God. He was God's Son. Even if He could be viewed as Man only, which I should deny, He still was Son of God. Nothing of this was true of any other man." James Boyd.

Explanation

The Author of these papers is now with the Lord and will write no more, but it is thought that he might yet speak to some through their publication. They are a selection from many that appeared from his pen in the monthly magazine Scripture Truth.

The Scriptures were the very Word of God to James Boyd; he had a remarkable grasp of the truths they teach and could express in robust language what he had learnt from the Word, as this volume proves. His uncompromising attitude towards error; his love for the Lord Jesus, his Saviour; his delight in the grace of God that had changed him from an atheist to a child in the family of God are all expressed in these papers and give them a permanent value.

A Personal Testimony

From my earliest days I was of a sceptical turn of mind. I wanted everything brought to the bar of human reason, not realizing how utterly deceptive the reasoning of a mind away from God must be. Had I been able to face the fact of my natural aversion to all that was of God I would not have trusted my mind in the things that concerned my relations with Him. I might have seen that any natural antipathy to a report must always exercise a hindrance to faith in it. Though brought up in a godly atmosphere I absolutely turned away from all so-called places of worship when I left home, and I left home very early in life. To argue the question I was more than willing, but to sit quietly and hear the unfolding of the grace of God was more than my pride of heart would endure.

I wanted, still want, everything proven. It is plain enough that a mind like that can only be caught through a sense of need. It betrays a hardened condition of soul, as well as a haughty spirit. It is not that I was at any time indifferent to the great question of a future state. The very opposite was the case. The question was ever uppermost in my thoughts. Indeed, I never could well understand how any one was able to shelve such a momentous consideration. I ate my food without raising questions about how it could be converted into blood, bone, and muscle; but to the Bread of Life I was able to raise more objections than any one who took an interest in my soul was able to meet. For this reason I have said that such a person can only be caught by his need. To my daily bread I had no objection, but the Bread of Life was not palatable: I had no appetite for it. I should have been thankful could I have been assured either of the favour of God, or of annihilation as the alternative; but no one could assure me of either.

The kind of gospel to which I was accustomed was of a very legal type, and though Christ was spoken of as the alone Saviour of sinners, peculiarly enough and to my mind unreasonably, I was given to understand that I had my part to do. This part was never clearly defined; and bewildered by this mixture of Judaism and Christianity, I drifted into the region of practical infidelity. I had no light, and judged every one else to be in the same darkness as myself. But an aching void was in my heart which all the pleasures of the world were unable to satisfy.

At length, through the solicitation of a servant of God, I was led to take up the Scriptures and read them, though as far as the text goes I was by no means ignorant of them. But there came right home to my soul the feeling that if the Book was of God it could be like no other book that ever was written, and that I could not read it without knowing that it was His Word, that is, if it was. As I read, I said to myself, No one on earth knows me as I know myself, but the Author of this Book knows me a great deal better than I know myself. I felt that God was speaking. I found myself under His omniscient eye, and I fell at His feet. The hammer of His Word had broken the hard rock to pieces.

Then came the moment when a measure of pure gospel broke upon mine ear. It met every need of my soul. It was just the thing which suited my sinful state. It was not "The Divine within me answering to the truth of God," as some have put it; but it was the need of a poor sinner's conscience met by the blood of Jesus, and the need of the heart met by the love of God. What rest it gave! To me it was like sight to the blind, like bread to the hungry, like water to the thirsty, like clothes to the naked. It needed no proving. I would not have crossed the narrowest street in the city to have had the Scriptures proven to be the Word of God. What soul in the warmth and light of the noonday sun would waste his time listening to a debate as to whether or no there is such a thing as the sight of the eyes. As far as I was concerned I felt I was in contact with the living Christ, and that God is love.

Before this I knew that my conduct was not what it ought to be, but this was as measured by a human standard, now I saw that what would do for men would not pass with a holy and righteous God. It was no longer a question of human frailty, or of mere mistakes, but of absolute rebellion against God and His Christ. But He who had loved me and had given Himself for me was now my righteousness in the presence of God, so that it was no longer the query as to what I was for God, but rather what Christ was for Him. This gave solid and lasting peace. By His work on the cross He made an end of my sins, and, as after the flesh, the man that had committed the sins, and into a new and eternal relationship was I brought, and made conscious of that relationship by the power of the Holy Spirit who shed the love of God abroad in my heart.

Has this all been a dream, an illusion, an ignis-fatuus and baseless phantasm of a sick brain? If it is, I am to be pitied, for I have been under it for over half a century, and the sweetness, joy and delight of it have steadily increased from the first day until now. Are sight, hearing, feeling, life, love, existence, delusions? Are people conscious that they are alive in flesh and blood? Have they any fears that after all they may not be alive but dead? Would anyone thank you for stopping him on the street and assuring him that he was alive? You say, That would be absurd. So it would, but believers in the Lord Jesus are by the quickening power of God in the life of Christ, and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Is this life, then, which they have in the power of the indwelling Spirit, not as real as is the life of flesh and blood? James Boyd.

The Holy Scriptures

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." 2 Timothy 3: 16.

The Holy Scriptures are like no other writings. All other writings have had their origin in the mind of man, and with the conviction and expectation that the mind of the reader shall be able to grasp the meaning of that which is written. But this is not at all true of the Scriptures. It is not only not assumed by the writers of Holy Scripture that the mind of man will be able to seize the thoughts therein recorded, but its inability to do so is very distinctly affirmed (1 Cor. 2: 14; Eph. 1: 17; Col. 1: 9; Luke 24. 45). The Holy Spirit, who inspired the writers, is the only One who can enable us to understand that which He has caused to be placed on record for our instruction in the mind of God.

Therefore a mere study of the Word, however necessary it be to study it, is not of itself sufficient to place us in possession of the thoughts of God. It is necessary that we should read it, pay attention to all that it brings before us, believe it even when we do not grasp its meaning, and meditate upon its precious utterances; but this should be done in prayerful dependence upon its gracious Author, and in distrust of our own natural reason, which is always infidel, and always infidel just because it is our reason, the reason of fallen flesh, which ever revolves in its own blind orbit, excluding every ray of light divine.

This should not discourage the student of the Bible, but rather the opposite, for I would point out the true and only way of gaining knowledge; also where, and how it is to be found. It must be found in the Word, for it is there, and nowhere else; and there should be the utmost confidence in it as a revelation from God. Attention must be given to its most minute details, for there is nothing unnecessary placed on record, nor shall we therein find any vain repetitions crowding its pages. Neither must we imagine that any question has arisen amongst His people, unforeseen by Him, since upon Him, who knows the end from the beginning, it is impossible for the enemy to deliver a surprise attack. Every assault of the wily foe; every twist given to its evident meaning by the stubborn sectarian, who would compel it to lend its support to his miserable counterfeit of the truth; every dogmatic display of isolated texts, wrenched away from their proper connection in order to turn the heart from the living Christ in heaven, all was foreseen by the Author of this wonderful Book, and ample provision made for its detection and exposure.

It is a sharp sword for the human conscience, of which the devil himself has often felt the edge. It is a light that lays bare the secret chambers of the heart of man, and manifests its deceitful intentions, with all its bitter enmity against God; but at the same time it reveals the heart of God in all His fathomless love to the guilty. It guides the footsteps of the pilgrim through this wilderness where there is no way, and discloses before his heavenward gaze that celestial home, in which there is fullness of joy, and where pleasures for evermore reside. In its spontaneous praises, melody made by the heavenly hierarchs and the myriads of redeemed are heard; and amid the rumbling of the thunders of its wrath can be detected the wailing of those who have passed beyond the borderland of hope and have entered into regions of despair. It gives us a glimpse into the eternity that is past, and also directs our forward glance to the rest of God, and to the day when all things are made new, bathed in the glory of redemption.

The characteristics of the children of the devil it faithfully delineates, and describes minutely those of the children of God. The plottings and the drivellings of the human mind are therein recorded, as are also the counsels of eternal love. The folly of the creature; the wisdom of the Creator; the way of falsehood, the way of truth; the way of righteousness, the way of sin; the way of life, the way of death; the way of man, the way of God; all is therein recorded for our enlightenment and eternal blessing; and happy is the man whose confidence is in its heavenly origin, and whose heart and mind are well stored with its precious truths.

Its blessings are health-imparting, exalting, and enriching, and its anathemas are blasting, bewildering, abasing, and impoverishing. Obedience to its precepts purifies the soul, and rebellion against its commandments hardens the heart, benumbs the conscience, and deadens the sensibilities. It criticises its critics, judges its judges, makes liars of its calumniators, and for ever justifies its friends. It will have the last word at the last day, and from its sentence there shall be no appeal. It is a well-spring of living water in this arid waste, and living bread in this famine-stricken land. It makes the deaf to hear, the blind to see, and the dead to live. In the might of the Spirit it is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword; piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. God has magnified His Word above all His name; and as to the one who despises its testimony, good were it for that man had he never been born.

Therefore am I far from discouraging anyone who would seek to study the contents of this wonderful Volume. God has given it to us in His marvellous grace, and He would have us approach it with fear and trembling ? not because we are not free from its anathemas, for, through the grace of God and the blood of Jesus, every believer is justified from all things and set in new and eternal relationships with Him in Christ ? but because of its holy and sacred character. There is no condemnation in its pages for the believer in Christ. His redemption by the blood of Jesus, his relationship to God, and his eternal security, occupy a large place in that sacred Volume; but just because it is a revelation of God, it is to be approached with holy reverence, and not with the lightness with which one may take up any other book.

The Necessity for a Revelation

"Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10: 17.

It is late in the history of the world to be going into the question of the origin of a Book, which began to be written about four thousand years ago, and the writing of which extended over half that time; but late or early, the question seems with some people to be still undecided, and open to debate; and certainly the antiquity of the dispute does not in the least lessen its importance, neither does it tend to diminish the ardour of the combatants, nor the interest of the onlookers.

It is a question which no thoughtful person will ever relegate to a secondary place in man's pursuit of knowledge, for the tremendous claim made by the Book itself, causes the question of its title to that claim, to take the precedence of all others. Nor are men really able to treat the question with indifference. The sang-froid which characterizes some who profess to have settled the matter in favour of thick darkness, as opposed to a revelation from God, bears the stamp of being only skin-deep, and not the outcome of honest conviction.

It scarcely needs to be asserted that the leaders of the world bear the Book no goodwill, but rather the opposite, and therefore has it been subjected to ceaseless hostility, and to a criticism more fierce than that which has fallen to the lot of any other writings. It has been, and is, more fervently loved, and more intensely hated, than all the rest of the world's books put together; and the strange thing about its history is, that the house of its supposed friends is the place where it has been most sorely wounded. Those who have been foremost in their protestations of zeal in the service of its Author have shown themselves to be its worst enemies, and in their custody it had to remain for ages "a prisoner in bonds." How it survived the persecutions to which it was exposed, is almost as great a miracle as is the way in which it was given to man.

Thank God, the days of its incarceration are over, and it is free to tread its pathway of blessing throughout the wide world. In the days of Luther a moral resurrection took place through the grace of God. The German monk who eventually shook the throne of the proud bishop of Rome, saw in the dim cloister, through its sacred page, a light above the brightness of the sun; and when his voice arose heralding in the ears of men, the life-giving words of the dusty roll, the wheel of the papal chariot became scotched for ever, the powers of darkness were alarmed, and hell stood aghast before the boldness of this daring man. The power of God made itself felt, and the tiara trembled on the brow of him who trafficked in the souls of men, as he saw the hope of his gains vanishing from before his eyes. Men began to speak their minds more openly, the priestly bondage under which they had groaned was no longer discussed in whispers, and even kings began to breathe more freely, for the epistle of the apostle to the Romans now clung at the throat of the Italian prelate. Such is the power of this most wonderful Book.

It declares itself to be of heavenly origin: the very words of the living God, breathed into the hearts and minds of His servants, and penned by them as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. No other communications on earth make such claim to universal homage. The writers dive away back into the past eternity, before sun, planet, or attendant satellite gleamed forth upon the brow of heaven, and bring to light the secret counsels of the eternal Father. It shows us those counsels worked out in time by the eternal Son, in the power of the eternal Spirit, until the final result of all the activities of the triune God bursts upon our vision in a new heaven and a new earth, crowned with the glory of the tabernacle of God, in the midst of redeemed creation, in which righteousness shall dwell for ever.

It tells us of the beginning of all things, of the fall of the devil, of the fall of man, of God's gracious dealings with the latter when fallen, of the love of God, of the death of Christ, of His resurrection, of His session at the right hand of God, of His coming again, and of the subjugation of everything to Himself.

It leads the heart and mind into things unseen, and regales the soul with unutterable delights in the sanctuary of eternal love. It opens up before our vision the blackness of darkness, the God-forsaken region of despair, where ceaselessly rage the tempests of almighty wrath. It brings to light the corrupt God-hating heart of fallen man, and the infinite and holy love of a Saviour-God. It guides us to the fountain of all good; and shows us, but brings us not nigh, the source of evil. It describes the ceaseless conflict between these two opposing forces adown the black history of a fallen world, until the day in which the battle is brought to a conclusion by the triumph of good; and the heavens and the earth are purified from the presence of evil, which finds its place, with the Devil who brought it into existence, in the lake of fire, the eternal abode of that "liar" and "murderer."

It declares that God is love. Creation presents Him as infinite in wisdom and power, but we see evil rampant around us, and man beneath its merciless hoof. There are traces of His goodness everywhere; and in the midst of its unutterable woes, gladness of heart visits the most unfortunate. But the fact that the griefs of the human race are so freely interspersed with innumerable joys, only makes the puzzle of man's existence all the more intricate and difficult of solution. If it were all evil one would be in measure justified in attributing the creation to the caprice of a demon, and were it all good the aspersion of the true character of God would be unpardonable; but to find these two principles everywhere, and mixed together in a struggling and hopeless m?l?e, with evil ever apparently triumphant, is bewildering to the finite mind.

The woes of the human race are beyond the possibility of exaggeration, and seem to rise up at every turn as a witness against the notion of infinite goodness; for if God be all powerful, how is it that for so many millenniums His creature has been left in this corner of His creation to welter unpitied in his wretchedness? Can the Creator be indifferent to the woes of His creature? Who can tell us? Is there no voice from Him?

I am certain if there is no revelation from God, there is no God. But the whole universe around me bears witness to the reality of a Creator, and although the visible things do not contain the secret of the nature of Him who brought them into existence, there is enough of evidence borne by them, to convince every intelligent being that He, without whom a sparrow cannot fall to the ground, could not leave His poor creature without some ray of light as to how he stands with respect to His holy and righteous will.

The idea of a universe such as surrounds us, without a Creator, is to me unthinkable; and that man should be brought forth to fall a prey to his wretched lusts, and to grope his weary and painful way to the grave in suffocating gloom, squabbling with his fellows about questions upon which none can boast of having one ray of light, and which never can be solved, is just as unthinkable. I find myself so formed that I am unable to get away from the idea of a Creator, and One with whom I have to do; I am also impressed with the fact that my Maker is beneficent, for of this I see abundant traces on every hand; and I am sure of this also that He has not left man in any clime without witness as to His beneficence. I have tried to get away from the thought of a Being with whom I had to do, and I have not been able; I have done my best to get out of my mind the conviction that He has spoken, and in this I have been likewise unsuccessful. Where, and how, He has spoken, is another matter, but spoken He has, of this I am convinced.

Man must have some light, and God will give it to him, even though he is certain to be unfaithful to it. Without testimony I am sure God will never leave him. I am not at present saying from whence such thoughts came to me; I am only speaking of the way I seem to be impressed as I look around me, and meditate upon that which I see taking place on the earth. We would be worse off than the beasts had we no light from God, for they are not burdened with the terror of having to do with Him, and we are. The question is not, Has God spoken? but, How?

I shall be told at once that it is not by the Bible. But I must ask, Why not by the Bible? Shall I be met with the stereotyped objection that it is full of contradictions, and is altogether wrong as to the plan of the universe; that it makes it geocentric, and has spoken of the earth as a plain. It has done nothing of the kind. It is so carefully written, that its statements never jar upon the mind of the most advanced scientist, not do they cause the most illiterate to move in the direction of astronomical discovery. But may I ask, what impression does the universe convey to the mind of the ordinary mortal, as he looks abroad into the starry night from his cottage door? Will he not conceive of the earth as a flat plain, and the dome of heaven as a hemisphere, resting upon the rim of the earth? Could He who is infinite in wisdom have made the visible things no other way? The truth is that the heavens and the earth are so ordered that moral impressions are conveyed to the mind. Everything away from earth is upward and above man, and man is made to look upward to God who has His dwelling-place in the heavens. The Bible has a way of its own, by which it leaves these impressions undisturbed. If it gave other impressions, and taught the Newtonian theory, we might with some show of reason conclude that the God of creation is not the God of the Bible. I am not attempting to prove by this, that the Bible owes its origin to the Creator, I am only showing, that if the Bible leaves undisturbed the impression that creation itself gives to the naked eye of the ordinary observer, that is no proof against the divine origin of the Scriptures.

There are many other objections advanced by the infidel mind of man, but they are all equally worthless, and have been disposed of again and again. Man naturally hates the light, and this is why the Bible is ever the great object of attack. But though man may, and does, hate the light, it has come into this dark world for the salvation of his immortal soul. What other light has he which shows him God fully declared? He is of few days and full of sorrow, and in the end has to submit to death, and where it will land him he knows not. It is a foe fronted with terror, blind to the sight of misery, deaf to all entreaties, and dumb with regard to where it conducts its victim. It has been in the world for nigh six thousand years, and men know as little about it to-day, as they did at the beginning. Men hope it will lead to something better than the present life, but what proof have we that the region into which it leads, is not more replete with horrors than is the one out of which it conducts us? Were it an angel of light sent to escort us into a scene of joy and endless tranquillity, would its aspect be so full of terrors, or its weapon so dreaded? Surely not. We need some light from God, for death gives us no reason to suppose that, however bad it may be here, it is any better beyond. A beneficent Creator will not leave His creature without testimony. A revelation is a necessity both for His glory and our blessing; and this revelation we gratefully recognize in the Scriptures.

The Fall

"By one man sin entered the world, and death by sin." Romans 5: 12.

No other book has ever received a similar amount of attention at the hand of friend and foe. The contentions concerning its sayings have been continuous, cruel, and sanguinary. Hell has stormed at it, earth has hallooed after it, and fires have been kindled with the parchments upon which it was written; but its lovers have succoured it, sheltered it, cherished it, studied its pages, imbibed its life-giving utterances, and with the precious volume clasped within their trembling hands, and its heavenly truths engraven upon their hearts, they have passed away from earth into the presence of Him of whom it speaks. It has been loved with all the love of the human heart under the influence of heaven, and it has been hated with all the hatred of the soul under the influence of the abyss of evil. On its account men have ever been ready to kill, or to be killed. The world will not have it, and yet it remains in it. The more it has been persecuted, the more it has multiplied and grown.

In defence of its sayings the hearts' blood of thousands has been freely poured forth. Its followers have been counted the offscourings of the earth, and have been murdered without mercy. They have been reckoned by the world as sheep for the slaughter, cast out among the unclean, the lawless and the transgressors; hunted among mountains, dens, and caves of the earth, and slaughtered wherever they were found. But when the world was finished with them, God came out and wrote their epitaph, and it reads thus: "Of whom the world was not worthy."

Like Him of whom it testifies it finds itself in a world hostile to its teachings, and therefore is it despised and rejected of men; but like Him it passes onward in its unostentatious pathway of mercy, "Doing good, and healing all oppressed of the devil, for God is with it." Into an evil world it has come, but were the world not evil it would have no mission here. Had man remained as God made him such a revelation would have been unnecessary, for when he was made he had all the light needful to maintain him in the relationship in which he was placed with his Maker. But fallen man must have light beyond what was required for an innocent creation, if ever he is to be recovered for God.

But the wiselings of to-day will not believe that man is fallen. If he is not fallen he must be as God made him, and if he is as God made him I fail to see how he can be improved. Yet those who contend against the truth of the fall are the people who are loudest in their demands for such legislation as will enable them to set about improving the race. Could I be led to believe that God made man as he is, I would have to discard the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, and substitute in His place an evil being. It is impossible to entertain the idea of a Creator, and have any other thought than that everything created by Him has been created for His pleasure. And indeed this is just what Scripture teaches: "For Thy pleasure they are, and were created" (Rev. 4: 11). Therefore if there has been no fall, and men are as He made them, and consequently just in the condition in which He takes delight, and if He takes delight in them as I see them, what kind of a Being is He? Men make things in which they can take delight, and by which they may be served, and no man will intentionally and premeditatedly make anything that will be a grief to his heart. And I am sure the Creator will not. Therefore He must be understood by the state, the moral state, in which His creature is created.

Now the heavens are said in Scripture to declare the glory of God (Ps. 19), but the earth never. Looking upward at the heavens with our natural eyes everything appears to us in the most perfect order. There is no confusion there, no conflict between the heavenly bodies, everything moves in the most perfect harmony together; there is no trespass committed by one inhabitant of the blue expanse against its neighbour; there is no noise of contending forces; one spirit seems to permeate the vast heavenly host, and all is peace. But when we turn to earth it is hell let loose. A pandemonium of discord jars upon the ear. Violence and corruption are seen everywhere. Scenes of horror fill the vision, and groans of despair grate upon the ear. Hatred, falsehood, outrage, murder, and suicide, stalk naked through the land. Pestilence, famine, hunger, nakedness, and death, cause the shriek of anguish to drown the revelry of gladsome day, and rend the bosom of the black-browed night. And I am told man is not fallen!

We are told that man is just as he should be at the present moment of his history, but that he will not ever be thus. He is struggling upward, and the goal is within measurable distance. Is it? From my observation of the progress things are making I should say he is struggling downward, and making very rapid progress in his descent. That men are better educated than they were a century ago is not in question. Possibly the poor eat better, and are better clothed also; but that men are more moral, that they love one another better, that they are more law-abiding, that they are less selfish, that they are more faithful in their relations of life, and that they are more to be trusted than they were a century ago, I do not believe. Take away the steam engine and the dynamo-electric machine; dispense with railway, telegraph, and telephone, and with all the trappings of the present century civilization, and have a good look at society, and you will find little to boast in above the savage.

We are told that nobody believes the Genesis account of the fall. One often wonders what kind of company these Bible critics keep. I think I might safely undertake to find some thousands of people who have never questioned it; and these are not men who readily take things for granted. It is asserted that the offence committed by Adam in the garden of Eden was of too trivial a nature to entail such consequences. But this seems to me to be a very superficial and foolish kind of reasoning. I fail to see that it could have made any real difference what test it might have pleased God to apply to man. The gravity of man's offence is not to be estimated by the intrinsic value of the article purloined; there was nothing in that at all. He might have eaten of that tree as well as of any other had it not been forbidden. The interdiction against eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ought not to have been difficult for Adam to observe; it was not a heavy rent to pay for such a large estate. He was the vice-regent of God upon earth, made so by his indulgent Creator, and the tree which was forbidden to him was the witness that the earth and the fulness thereof were the Lord's, and that Adam was not sole proprietor. The tree became a test of his loyalty to his Creator. The tribute demanded from him was a mere bagatelle, but this very fact made his transgression all the more inexcusable.

Had the toll demanded from the creature been a heavy tax upon his resources, compassion for the rebel would have been more pardonable, but the trivial tax upon such enormous wealth brought to light the hidden secret of the rebel's heart, and the creature is manifested in his attempt to grasp Divinity itself. This was the bait which the arch deceiver of mankind dangled before the eyes of his victim, and which tempted him to transgress the commandment. Why should he have desired to be on equality with God? He should have had confidence enough in the goodness of his Creator to have enabled him to refuse such a bait.

But I need not waste words in bringing the gravity of the offence of Adam into light; the reader knows his own natural heart well enough to be conscious of the fact that, if he were able to bring its desires about, no one would occupy the throne of the universe but himself. In this world every man seeks to get all the power into his own hands, and had he the throne of the world it would not satisfy him, he would want the throne of the universe also. This suggestion instilled into the heart of Adam by the devil will reach its culmination in the "man of sin," who will allow no one to worship any god but himself. He will take the place of God upon earth, and will put to death all who resist his blasphemous pretensions (2 Thess. 2 and Rev. 13).

But in spite of man's denial that he is in a fallen condition, and in spite of his claim to be something, he is really ashamed to come out in the truth of his condition. We shelter ourselves from the inquisitiveness of our neighbours, and resent every attempt made by them to scrutinize our affairs. It may be nothing but idle curiosity prompts them to get near to us, but it is not because we know this that we so strongly resent their advances, and determine to hold them at arm's length. Were we certain they could not find anything discreditable about us, we should not be so upset by their unmannered curiosity. Were everything that could be known about us creditable to us, we would be glad to be manifested before the assembled universe. But we shrink from exposure because we are unfit to be seen as we really are. This is very strange, especially as we know that others are no better than ourselves. They shrink from our penetrating gaze as timidly as we do from theirs.

But the knowledge of this does not help us, or make us bolder, for each of us has got his own secrets, of which he is rightly ashamed. Like Ham we are ready to sneer at the nakedness of our neighbour, but we are all very careful, when in our senses, not to babble into the ear of the world the secrets of our own guilty lives. My neighbour does not know me as I know myself, and I am determined that he shall remain in his ignorance. We keep our respective distances. I do not pry into the thoughts of his heart, and I expect the same consideration from him. This is all "fig leaves." We are very pleased to find that people do not walk about in their naked hideousness; and should one of us expose himself in his moral degradation, we feel it to be an offence against all that is becoming, and insulting to society. Each person is at liberty to think whatever he pleases, and he may do what he pleases, as long as it does not injure his neighbour, but he must be careful that it does not get abroad. He must wear the "fig leaves," or become ostracized from society.

Some of these haters of the Bible cannot understand any intelligent person continuing to believe in the fall of man as it is taught in Genesis. We are told that the legend was in existence as oral tradition long before Genesis was written. How it could be otherwise I am at a loss to know, and were it otherwise the fact would go far to prove it mere fiction. That the human race could be ignorant of the fall until Moses wrote the account of it is inconceivable. It was bound to travel with the posterity of Adam down the centuries. No doubt it would lose nothing by the telling in its travels, and therefore is it found in distorted forms in various countries, but in Genesis we have it in its simple naked truth.

We are told by some that it is scarcely alluded to in the Old Testament writings. Why should it be? Where was the need for constant repetition? It is referred to, however, but had I found it very frequently referred to by the prophets, it would greatly have depended upon the setting in which I found it, whether my suspicion as to the writers' faith in it would not have been aroused. Indeed it is seldom referred to in the New Testament, and when it is referred to, it is not hard to see the writer takes it for granted that those to whom he writes do not question the fact. It has no need to be proven in a world like this.

The difficulty with the philosophers of the world seems to lie in the fact that, whether man be fallen or not, his moral state is far from being satisfactory. As a general thing God is either altogether left out, as regards the theories of these men, or everything is God, whether it be man, bird, beast, reptile, or spunge. A God who is objective to His creation, neither of them confess. The evolutionists have got the whole creation upon a ladder whose top and bottom are both alike enveloped in impenetrable gloom. What he came from and what he is to arrive at are wrapt in obscurity. They think man is advancing toward a perfect state, but what that state is to be they know not. Some of us are quite certain that man is retrograding. That those who call themselves Christians are on the down-grade, no one will question who reads the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and believes it to be a true account of the state of things in the Church at the beginning.

That men in these Islands are better governed than they were in the middle ages goes without saying, but if the crowd were let loose to-day, who would not tremble for the consequences? The deeds of the French revolution, if not worse, would be repeated. I fail therefore to see how men are better morally. I may be told that the fact that good laws exist is in itself a proof of a better moral state. I cannot accept it, for men do not make laws for themselves but for their fellows. Those who make them are often found guilty of breaking them. The lustre of the world is artificial; what is natural is corrupt. Under an apparently well ordered community smoulders a veritable hell of horrible rebellion, and this the powers that be will learn one of these days.

Those who think they see God in everything are, in their own imagination, themselves God; and the fall is the incarnation of God in nature, so they tell us. This mysterious Power, which is themselves and the spunge, and all that lies between in the way of life, is finding expression in the universe, and they tell us that it is only as we read Him in the universe that we can know anything about Him. God, we are told, can only know His own capabilities as He is confronted by opposing forces, therefore He creates the forces that He may become known to Himself. If I could so degrade myself as to accept such a horrible idea, I would be very much interested to know what He thinks of Himself, when He sees Himself in the universe! Is this great mysterious Power contemplating Himself in the battlefield, where men, who know not why they are pitted against one another, maim and murder until their feet slip in the hot red heart-blood of friend and foe? I wonder what the "god" of these men's imagination thinks of himself as he looks at the violence and corruption which fill the earth, and at nature foaming at the mouth and "red in tooth and claw with ravin"!

How strange it is that man will have anything as a god, rather than the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The reason, surely, is that if I confess Him, I must myself go down in the dust in His presence, and confess myself to be a poor, fallen, unworthy sinner, dependent upon His mercy and grace for my salvation. Pride has no place in the presence of the true God, and therefore must the proud heart of man be ever in deadly hostility to Him. Blessed be His name, He can so work in His grace in our hearts that we are made to acknowledge the truth of the Book which discovers us to ourselves, and, turning to Him in the judgment of ourselves, to leave the decision of our eternal welfare in His own hands.

Is Jesus God?

"If David then call Him Lord, how is He his Son?" Matthew 22: 45.

If we think of the Scriptures as a revelation given to us from God who cannot lie, and if we have them as He gave them to us, we cannot give harbourage to the notion that the smallest untruth can be found therein ? or any statement which, taken in its connection, would be calculated to leave a false impression upon the mind of the reader. Were it possible that an honest seeker after light could be deceived by them ? were it possible that they could lead the soul who trusted them as the truth of God into darkness and error, they would prove themselves to be but the corrupt production of the fallen mind of man, and valueless as a guide to the knowledge of God. They would bear witness against themselves as not the offspring of One who cannot lie, but of one who was both a liar and a murderer.

And if we think of them as written to the poor and the illiterate and not to the wealthy, the wise, and prudent, we shall not expect them to be full of dark sayings and mysterious theories, couched in great swelling words, to be understood by none but clever and educated minds. The gospel is preached to the poor, and as far as that which relates to the universal testimony of the grace of God is concerned, nothing could be more simple. True, the deep things of God can only be known by those who have the Spirit, but that is not because they are very learned, nor because they require colossal intellects to grasp their meaning, but because they relate to things which lie outside the circle in which the natural mind of man exercises itself.

The Scriptures are the only light we have with regard to the knowledge of God, and we must either take them as they are, or reject them altogether. They speak of all the relationships in which man is placed, whether in Adam or in Christ, and dilate upon the responsibilities connected with these relationships in such a way that nothing is overlooked, disregarded, or epitomized; and whether we understand the things of which they speak, or whether we do not, the language in which they are set before us cannot be held to be bewildering nor capable of double meaning. In them the trumpet gives no uncertain sound, and there, without a jar, from pipe and harp breaks forth the glorious music of eternal truth (1 Cor. 14: 7, 8).

As far as it is necessary, and indeed as far as it is possible for us to know the One in whom we live and move and have our being, we have Him placed before us in the written Word. If He is not learned there, where can He be learned? Not in the material universe, not in providence, not in the state of this world, for everywhere we turn we are confronted with contradictions; and had we nothing else than these we should be compelled to dwell in darkness and uncertainty. The world is now almost six thousand years old, and though it has made immense progress in the knowledge of the resources of nature, it has made none in the knowledge of God; indeed, it knows less about Him to-day than it did in its infancy (Rom. 1: 21-25).

The history of every testimony committed to man has always been down-grade. The Antediluvian, Noahic, Judaic, and Christian dispensations tell the same tale. Departure from the living God, corruption of His truth, darkness and chaos, followed by the intervention of God in judgment, mark each successive dealing of God with men. Nor will any future dispensation be otherwise. Everything will prosper in the hands of Christ, and during His reign there will be no failure in the government of the world, for everything undertaken by Him will be fulfilled to the glory and praise of God, but that reign, however beneficent it may be, will not change the hearts of men, for at the close it will be seen that nothing but a leader is necessary to rouse the whole earth into revolt against the authority of the Lord.

There is an innate aversion in the human mind to everything that is of God; though, of course, this solemn fact is known only to those in whom the grace of God has wrought. The truth has been persecuted since the world began, and against Christ, who was the embodiment of that truth, the powers of darkness stirred up, and brought into evidence, that aversion in a way hitherto unknown. From the beginning He was God's testimony, and therefore has He ever been the object of attack. His atoning work, His miraculous birth, His spotless nature, His real manhood, His Deity, His resurrection are openly denied in that which professes His name, and Christendom is at present fast drifting back into heathen darkness. And it is on this account I seek to draw attention to the answer furnished by Scripture to the question at the head of this paper ? "Is Jesus God?"

Apart altogether from the answer given by Scripture to this momentous question, one can very easily understand that were one person both God and Man, such an One would be, by the very nature of His being, beyond the understanding of men. Indeed, God Himself, apart from incarnation, is beyond our understanding, for the creature never can perfectly comprehend the Creator. It is our privilege and joy to know Him in His nature, so that we can say God is Love (1 John 4: 16), and this is the highest knowledge the creature can possess. But as to essential Deity, it is beyond the ken of man. He dwells in light unapproachable, whom no man hath seen, nor is able to see (1 Tim. 6: 16). We know Him in the way in which it has pleased Him to declare Himself, and that is in His infinite love; but in His essential being, and in the mystery of His wondrous existence, we know nothing, can know nothing, and need to know nothing. What He has in His grace caused us to know fills our cup of happiness to overflowing.

But what must be the mystery of incarnate God? One truly Man, born of a woman, advancing in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men (Luke 2: 52); omniscient (John 2: 24, 25; Luke 11: 17; John 16: 30), yet limited in knowledge (Mark 13: 32); the Upholder of the universe (Col. 1: 17; Heb. 1: 3), yet in weakness here (John 4: 6); Creator (John 1: 3; Heb. 1: 10), yet taking a place in creation (Col. 1: 15). How could such contradictory attributes be reconciled by the finite mind of man, or by the mind of any creature, whoever he may be?

But this is just what the Scriptures assert as regards Jesus: "No one knoweth the Son, but the Father" (Matt. 11: 27). And though the reference to this text may be ridiculed as but a refuge for an unreasonable dogma, it is nevertheless the teaching of Scripture, and the only conclusion that a reasonable mind can come to regarding such a Person. The Father is said to be declared, and that in the very passage which tells us that no one knoweth the Son: "Neither knoweth any one the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." We are never said not to know the Father, for this knowledge is the portion of even the babes in Christ (1 John 2: 13); but though we may come to the full knowledge of the Son of God, so far as He has been revealed (Eph. 4: 13), there are mysteries about His person which are impossible for us to know; hence we have, "No one knoweth the Son, but the Father." Indeed, were this statement absent from the page of inspiration, our reason would compel us to admit what it asserts, and of ourselves we would come to the conclusion that such a Person was unknowable by the creature. Seeming contradictions, which are matters of revelation, we can well believe, but not one of them can we understand. Indeed, it is little that we do know perfectly, possibly nothing at all, for our knowledge of the very simplest things is very limited.

But if we know that every question that was between us and a holy and righteous God has been gone into and settled to His satisfaction and that we have been brought into new and eternal relationships with God in Him who bore the judgment which rested upon us on account of our sins, and if that love of God which was declared in His death has been shed abroad in our hearts, and if we know the Father, and are able to take account of ourselves as the children of God, and confidently look for the coming of Christ to take us to the home He has prepared for us in the Father's house, we shall be very happy; we shall also be very thankful for the revelation He has so graciously given to us, and we shall be careful to approach that revelation with the reverence that springs from the knowledge of the holy character of that love that has made known to us everything that is for our good, and who has also given to us the Holy Spirit, in order that we may be able to enter into the deep things of God, so far as they are revealed.

That Jesus was a Man every true Christian will confess ? a real Man ? as truly a Man as was Adam or any of his race. A Man with spirit, soul, and body. A Man so like every other man in Judea that, as He sat by the well of Sychar, the woman who came to draw water took Him to be an ordinary Jew, resting from His journey, and waiting upon some one to come and draw a little water to quench His thirst. But "Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee," marks Him of as very different from all other men, as does also "that holy Thing" (Luke 1: 35), and Him "who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5: 21). Still, that "there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all" (1 Tim. 2: 5), settles the question of His manhood both in humiliation and also glory.

Nothing could be more plainly stated than the fact of the existence of Jesus previous to incarnation. He says, "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world" (John 16: 28); again, "The glory which I had with Thee before the world was"; and, "Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world" (John 17: 5, 24); also, "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8: 58); again in John 6: 38, "I came down from heaven"; also verse 62, "What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before?" I might quote many other scriptures on the same subject, but any one of these is quite sufficient to prove the existence of Jesus before He was born into this world.

Now what was He before He became Man? What say the Scriptures as to this? In Philippians 2 the Holy Spirit of God carries us back to the point of departure, when He began that journey of humiliation which ended in the death of the cross. And what was He before He took the initial step upon that downward path? He was "in the form of God." Now, no one who was not God could be in the form of God, for the only other form we know of is that of a servant. A servant should have no will of his own; all his actions proceed from the will of another. But God acts from Himself, from His own will, without reference to another. Authority, dominion, and might belong to Him. The form of God is incompatible with that of a servant; indeed, the word here is bond-slave. Hence, when in the form of God, the act of emptying Himself and taking the form of a servant is viewed as proceeding from Himself: He "emptied Himself, taking a bondsman's form." It could not be otherwise, for He was under no other authority or obligation.

This is not true of any creature, for the most exalted creature is by the very fact of his creation a servant, and nothing but a servant. But the moment this glorious Person takes upon Himself the form of a servant obedience characterizes His every act: "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." While in the form of God His every action must proceed from His own will; He could be neither influenced nor controlled by anything external to Himself; but when He became a servant everything is changed. His acts are as consistent with the form of a servant as they were with the form of God. For a creature to leave his first estate is to apostatize, but this the Son did, for to no one was He responsible.

But this emptying of Himself was not in any way the renunciation of Godhead, which could not be, but the giving up of the whole position that appertained to Godhead, and the becoming a servant to the Godhead for the Godhead's glory. This was not done by the Father, who remains in His eternal status and position unchanged. It is true of the Son only, who came to do the Father's will, and who did it at all cost to Himself. Tested to the very uttermost, His obedience was perfect. He took a servant's form, in order that He might do the will of God; and He did that will so perfectly that, in the judgment of God, no other place than the highest in the universe would he an adequate answer to the work which He accomplished. And this place He has as Man and the Servant of the Godhead.

John also, in the first chapter of his Gospel, carries us back before incarnation, right into eternity itself, that we may behold One who had no beginning, the Word, who in the beginning was, and was with God, and was God. And God, of course, He must be if He had no beginning. Next, "All things were made by Him." Then we have, "The Word was made flesh." Then John the Baptist's testimony is, "He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for He was before me." He declares the Father, and baptizes with the Holy Ghost. In chapter 2 He turns the water into wine, and thus manifests forth His glory; speaks of raising up the temple of His body when men have destroyed it; and knows what is in man. Chapter 3: He "came down from heaven." Chapter 4: He is omniscient ? tells the woman of Samaria all that ever she did. Chapter 5: He "makes Himself equal with God," and must be honoured even as the Father is honoured. But I need not go over more passages from this Gospel.

In Colossians we have the same statement made as in John 1. He is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, and in 1 John 5. 20 He "is the true God, and eternal life."

But I will come to His Name. His name is Jesus, which means Jehovah the Saviour. And the reason He has been given this name is because "He shall save His people [Jehovah's people] from their sins." He is the object of angelic worship (Heb. 1). He is addressed as God by God upon the throne. He is the Creator: "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands: they shall perish; but Thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail."

Need I quote more scripture? Surely not. The Word of God presents Him as a Man, a true, real Man, begotten of God, born of the Virgin, Son of God as begotten in time, and Servant to the Godhead. But the same Word of God presents Him as God over all, Eternal, in the form of God, acting from Himself without respect to any other authority, the Creator, Preserver, eternal Son with the eternal Father. Neither His Godhead nor His Manhood shall ever be given up. From the standpoint of the creature's finite mind innumerable mysteries and apparent contradictions connect themselves with His Person: for "no man knoweth the Son, but the Father." But the believing, subject soul knows very well that in connection with such a Person apparent contradictions must exist, and he is prepared for them: for indeed His person is just like His love, it surpasses knowledge.

The Unchanging One

"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Hebrews 13: 8.

How cheering, refreshing, and establishing it is to be brought into contact with One who is infinite in goodness, grace, righteousness, holiness, and love; and who never can be different to that which, at our earliest introduction to Him, we found Him to be: One upon whom the lapse of ages leaves no mark of change! Such is Jesus, the subject of this Epistle, in which the old order, like a dissolving view, melts from before our vision, leaving to fill the scene that which is new and eternal, radiant with the glory of God.

And how often has the passage at the head of this paper spoken peace to the soul disquieted by the capricious and changeful nature of the selfish principles of fallen man who no longer ago than yesterday may have been brimming over with evidences of most tender affection, and to-day may, in spirit and deportment, have become as cold, cutting, and severe as the January east wind. It has ministered comfort, consolation, and encouragement to thousands perplexed and weary with the ever varying condition of things with which we are compassed in this world of restlessness, confusion, envy and falsehood. It presents to the shipwrecked and hopeless mariner an island of peace in the midst of a turbulent and treacherous ocean. It is a shelter for the battered and toil-worn wayfarer, alone and lost in the pathless and storm swept wilderness. It is an invulnerable citadel, into which the besieged and war-broken may retreat, and thus escape the anguish which is invariably the lot of those who foolishly trust their happiness to the vicissitudes of a world in rebellion against God and agitated by the fell destroyer of the human race.

How good it is to be brought to the knowledge of this changeless Jesus! He came into this world, which was without moral foundations, that man should have a firm rock upon which he might plant the foot of faith, and be assured that amid the crash of everything that seems stable in the universe, it could not be shaken. He came to illuminate the benighted vision with the gracious light of God, and to warm into life the cold dead human heart with the holy love of God. See Him at the well of Sychar, and hear Him speak of the gift of God to a poor sinful creature, for whom no one else had a word of comfort. There He is the Giver of the living water, which alone can give satisfaction to the thirsty soul. See Him in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7), the Creditor in the midst of His debtors, speaking only of forgiveness.

See Him at the grave of Lazarus, the Resurrection and the Life, mingling tears of sympathy with those of the two bereaved women, before His almighty voice awoke the echoes of the dull domain of death and Hades, and called back the dead man to life. See Him amid a multitude of publicans and sinners, and hearken to the words of grace which proceed out of His lips, until you hear the throbbing of the heart of God, as He enfolds in the arms of His immortal love a prodigal come back from the far country, naked except for those rags which bore witness of his rebellious and disgraceful career. See Him in the temple and synagogue, and in the streets and lanes of the city, and hear Him tell in the ear of devil-deceived men and women the grace and love of God.

See how He feels for the diseased, the demon-possessed, the blind, and the broken-hearted, until you learn what those mean who say: "Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." See Him amid the gloom of Golgotha, dying for the ungodly, and praying for His murderers; and as you contemplate Him, "stricken, smitten of God and afflicted," may you be able to say: "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed" (Isa. 53). And then think of Him as the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Oh, the deep, deep blessedness of knowing Him ? learning Him in His pathway down here, and knowing that He is just the same blessed, living, lowly, gracious Saviour now that He is on the Father's throne. May both reader and writer get to know Him better every day of our pilgrim journey through this world, until we see Him face to face in courts of light.

But consider the setting of this short, simple, peace imparting sentence. In verse 7 we are exhorted to remember them who had (not have) the rule over us, who spoke to us the word of God. They have gone from our midst. Their voices are no longer heard amongst us ministering the living Word, but we are to call them to mind; and considering the issue of their conversation we are to imitate their faith. Then in verse 9 we are warned against those who would introduce divers and strange doctrines. Between that needful exhortation and this very wholesome warning we have the brilliant and comforting truth shining like a silver star: "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever."

Whether it be the Gospel to the world or ministry to the saints, Christ must ever be the subject (Rom. 16: 25; Acts 28: 31). He is the living Word, the spirit of all Scripture. It was Christ the apostles preached and taught, and there is nothing else for saint or sinner to-day; and He never changes. John, writing to the babes, says, "Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning" (John 2: 24). The devil brings in novelties, and the human mind loves them and revels in them. And just because men love them, they flatter themselves that they are parts of the truth, but alas, they are but "sporting themselves with their own deceivings." That which turns away the heart from Christ is a snare of the devil. We are told we must not hold too obstinately to old forms, but must advance with the times; but the whole truth has come to light in Jesus, and there is no change in Him.

It is affirmed by men of science that signs of decay are visible in some of the heavenly bodies. The sun seems to be giving evidence that he has passed the meridian of his years; the moon is a defunct world, and the earth is in the sear and yellow leaf. This is just what Scripture tells us in those remarkable words which were addressed to Jesus, when in the sorrow of His soul He drew near to the gates of death, stricken for the transgression of believing sinners: "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands: they shall perish, but Thou remainest: and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed" (Ps. 102: 25-27; Heb. 1: 10-12). Peter tells us that the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, the elements melting with fervent heat, and that the earth also and all the works that are therein shall be burned up, but that we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness (2 Peter 3).

The nature of the change which will pass over the universe has not been revealed to us, we do not need to know it. We are confident, however, of this, that He who built it at the beginning to serve His purpose, and Who in infinite wisdom allowed the enemy to defile it with the stain of sin, is able to cleanse it from the presence of that which is so hateful to Him and so ruinous to the creature, and to fill it with light and blessing, and make it the abode of righteousness. To accomplish this, and to set man in new and eternal relationships with God, He laid down His life. The Creator is the Redeemer. He who stooped down to know what human weakness was, and who had His days shortened, is the same One who then, as now, was upholding all things by the word of His power. What creature mind could compass such a thought? No man knoweth the Son.

But not only must the material universe undergo a change, a much greater change must pass over man himself. The old order no longer occupies us; angels, Moses, Aaron, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the covenant ? in a word, the whole earthly order disappears before the face of Jesus, and we are exhorted to abandon the shadow for the substance, types which pass away for realities which abide for ever. And for this state of things a change must take place upon us. We are heirs of a kingdom which cannot be moved; but except a man be born again he shall never see it (John 3). Man must have a new nature, as born of God, or perish for ever.

The wonderful thing about man is that he can be changed. I do not for a moment doubt that God, who knew the end from the beginning, and had His counsels formed with regard to all His works before He put in operation His creative power, so made man that he could be changed in the whole principle of his being. We are not told anything about angels to lead us to suppose such beings capable of being changed. Some of them have fallen away from God, and an opportunity of salvation does not seem to be granted to them. Man is the creature chosen of God in whom His workmanship of grace is to be displayed. What He has wrought as a Saviour will be brought to light in ransomed human beings.

And what a change He is capable of making in His rebellious and ruined creature! Hear what He says to the headstrong, intractable Simon Peter: "When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not" (John 21: 18). And what made that change? Age? Never. As to nature it is ever true: "The child is father of the man." That change was wrought in Peter in the school of God, and by Him who Himself changes not.

And consider the insolent overbearing Saul of Tarsus; that proud, self-righteous, Christ-hating Pharisee. Wolfish in his nature, and getting the first taste of blood at the martyrdom of Stephen, he ever after seeks to satiate his ravenous appetite with the slaughter of the sheep of Jesus, until met on the highway of his merciless career by Him before whose subduing power nothing is able to stand. What meekness, gentleness, patience, tenderness, and lowliness were wrought in this striking subject of the grace of God! What ceaseless solicitude for the salvation of the lost! What care for the flock of Christ! What devotedness to that holy Name once so hated and persecuted by him! And this wonderful change effected by Him who is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever!

And has not the reader, as well as the writer, come under the changing influence of this changeless Person? From that throat, which was once an open sepulchre is exhaled the perfume of immortal love. That mouth, once "full of cursing and bitterness" is now replete with blessing. That tongue, long accustomed to "deceit," now spreads abroad the word of truth and life. Those lips, which once concealed the deadly "poison of asps," are now pregnant with life-imparting grace. Those feet, once "swift to shed blood," now "shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace," run joyfully in the pathways of mercy. A new power, that of the Holy Spirit, has taken possession of the earthen vessel, the members have become instruments of righteousness, the will of God is done, and the soul finds eternal rest. The glory of the Lord, with all its life-giving and attractive power, shines full upon our hitherto benighted hearts, and we become changed into the same image (2 Cor. 3).

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ

"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." 2 Cor. 8: 9.

The Spirit of God directs us in the Holy Scriptures. It is there we learn of Him who is our life. It is there that heavenly life is portrayed before our renewed minds and hearts; and it is there we are assured that that life is our own. It is seen in perfection in Him, unadulterated by the intrusion of sinful flesh, for in Him there was no taint of evil; but whatever it may be mingled with in our practical ways, by our forgetfulness to keep the judgment of the cross upon our rebellious wills, it is ours by the quickening operation of God, and we have, in God's account, no other life. And all the exhortations, injunctions, and commandments are to give direction to that life, in order that in its own spotless purity it may be reproduced by us in this evil world.

And it is just the transcendent qualities of this life that the Apostle labours to bring to light in these Corinthians, to whom he writes this epistle. He would have them think of the poor Jewish saints away in Jerusalem, and not only to think of them, but to send them a thank-offering, seeing the Gospel had come out from them to the nations of the earth. And to stimulate that which was of God in them Christ is brought forward as their great example. "For ye know," he says, "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich."

This was not some new doctrine he was bringing under their notice, which they had never before heard of. It was not a thing they did not know, for he tells them they did know it. But though they had heard of it when the Gospel had been first proclaimed in their ears, they required to be reminded of it. We are, alas, too much like Pharaoh's chief butler, who forgot the service rendered to him by Joseph, and left him languishing in the prison, while he enjoyed the favour of his royal master.

We need to be constantly on the watch lest we forget the One who has so greatly befriended us. We know His grace. We heard of it first in the Glad Tidings, of which He is the subject; and it was that grace that attracted us to Him at the first. And how often since then we have told Him:

"We know the grace that brought Thee down,

Down from that bliss on high,

To meet our ruined souls in need,

On Calvary's cross to die."

Yes, we know it, but let us not forget it. And may it have all its own wondrous power over our poor forgetful minds and hearts

"Though He was rich." Think of those riches. Men imagine themselves wealthy when they have grasped a little more than others of the perishable treasures of earth, the possession of which is often their ruin bodily and spiritually. But who could rightly estimate the wealth of the Creator Himself? And all things owe their existence to Jesus. What wealth of glory, dominion, power, and blessing was His! What dignity, majesty, greatness, grandeur, magnificence! What unspeakable happiness, immaculate affections, goodly fellowship, in light unto which no man can approach! There, in the serene, secure, unassailable unparagoned, and ineffable sweetness of the Father's love, He had His eternal abiding-place! That home of infinite and unparalleled delight, where love eternal is met by love eternal, in the infoldment, reciprocity, and intransmutability of its own infinite and deathless nature! A scene into which no creature curiosity could penetrate, nor imagination call into existence, but best described in the words addressed by the Son to the Father: "The glory which I had with Thee before the world was"; and, "Thou lovest me before the foundation of the world" (John 17: 5, 24). And yet for our sakes He became poor!

And into what depths of poverty did His grace cause Him to descend! At His birth He was laid in a manger, while the great people of the earth, who were but the work of His hands, and in addition to that rebels against God, poured noisily and haughtily into the comforts of the inn, where there was no room for Him; an early indication that the heart of this great world would be found securely locked against the entrance of this heavenly stranger.

Later on He could say that the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had roosting-places, but that He had nowhere to lay His head. There was to be no brightening of His circumstances. From a human standpoint the way before Him seemed to darken into impenetrable gloom. The barrenness of desert places, the loneliness of Olivet, the silence of Gethsemane: these all were privileged witnesses of the Man of Sorrows. Bethany alone sought to make up for the carelessness and base ingratitude of a thankless and hypocritical nation; but the very solitariness and extreme isolation of that sweet and hallowed spot became, on this account, the greatest witness of all to the utter poverty of Jesus, for it was all He had down here. And it was all for our sakes

But the terrible and unparalleled nature of that poverty must draw its grim, terrific folds still more closely around this lonely Man. The arid waste of man's indifference to the precious dews of heavenly grace, shed with such lavish hand in word and work upon a crushed and degraded people, must to its utmost boundary be trodden by those weary feet, whose every movement preached to deaf and disdainful ears the Gospel of peace.

For love, sown with prodigal extravagance, He must reap hatred. The desertion of many of His professed followers He must with sorrow of heart witness. The treachery of one of His most intimate followers, who with hypocritical kiss betrays Him to His enemies, He must bear in silence. Another, who professed the greatest devotion to Him, He must hear denying Him with oaths and curses. The plight of the rest of His poor disciples, like sheep in the presence of the wolf, beats in upon His breaking heart with merciless severity. He gives His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, and He hides not His face from shame and spitting. And it was all for our sakes!

But the depths of poverty that were yet to be explored by this Divine and blameless victim open up before His soul with a terror that infinitely excels all that the imagination of man has ever pictured. A horror beyond all human thought appalling confronts this lonely Sufferer. Nailed to a gibbet, numbered with transgressors, surrounded by the rude Roman soldiery, His cross girt about by a mocking, insulting, blaspheming, howling rabble, He looks for some to take compassion, and finding none, He turns to God, and by Him He is abandoned. Horror heaps itself upon horror; but this, the greatest horror of all, overtakes Him in the midst of His deep distress and anguish of soul. This is the climax of that poverty which began in the manger at Bethlehem. Here the lowest rung in this fearful ladder of humiliation is reached. Here the bottomless is bottomed. Poverty reaches its limit, a limit without a limit. Betrayal, desertion, denial, ingratitude, reproach, spend their utmost and most merciless fury against the Son of God. In the barren, weary, wintry waste of a God-hating world, impaled upon a gibbet, without a disciple, without a sympathizer, without a friend; in the unutterable loneliness of abandonment by earth and heaven and with a heart broken by reproach, the storm of divine wrath against sin beats with infinite power upon His defenceless and thorn-crowned head. And it was all for our sakes!

"That ye through His poverty might be rich." This was the cause of His wondrous journey from Bethlehem to Golgotha; from the manger to the gibbet. The grace of His heart was the fount from which flowed forth all this down-stooping; this self-forgetfulness; this self-abnegation; this renunciation of uncountable riches; this self-abasement; this unmurmuring acceptation of the servant's pathway, with all that was involved in it; this submission to the cross, the wrath, the judgment due to sin. It was all undertaken, and patiently borne, that we through His poverty might be rich.

And O, what infinite wealth has come to us through His great poverty! We have been enriched in righteousness, in eternal life, in holiness, in the gift of the Holy Spirit, in sonship, in the possession of all things, in union with Christ, in fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ, and in the hour of His coming again to find our eternal home with Him in the Father's house, where we shall see Him as He is, and be like Him, to the eternal satisfaction and delight, not only of our hearts, but of the heart of the Father and the Son.

But in Philippians this grace of the Lord Jesus is presented in another way. It is not what He has done for our sakes, but for the Godhead glory, but with a similar object in view is it brought to our notice, that is, as our great example. "Let this mind be in you." What mind? The mind that was in Christ Jesus. The grace that came to light in Him down here is to be a mighty power in our souls, reproducing Him in this world out of which He has been rejected. He was full of grace and truth, and of His fullness all believers have received. Hence that grace is to give character to our lives down here. It is to be operative in our souls.

How has it come to light in Him as presented here? This is most beautifully brought under our notice. "Who being in the form of God." Here, first of all, we are privileged to contemplate Him in the outward position and semblance of God; the embodiment of might, authority, majesty, supremacy, and everything else that belongs to God. Yet not counting this a position to maintain at all costs, but necessity having arisen for the intervention of One mighty enough to undertake a work for the glory of the Godhead, He divests Himself of this outward form, and takes the form of a servant.

Here He stands in opposition to the first and fallen head of the human race, who, though created by God and placed as His servant in a very exalted position, grasped at Divinity, and fell headlong under the power of death. Jesus when in the form of God empties Himself, taking a bondsman's form, taking His place in the likeness of men. And this is the mind that is to take possession of us.

Then, having been found in fashion as a man, He humbles Himself, becoming obedient unto death, and that, too, the death of the cross. When He took the form of a servant there was no unreality about it. When He was in the form of man He was just as truly a servant, as when in the form of God He was truly Master. And as obedience ? unquestioning, uncomplaining obedience ? is what is due from every servant, so was He obedient to God in all relations of life. He says, "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me" (John 6: 38). And this He did perfectly without any respect for the consequences to Himself. He uttered no word but that which was given Him from the Father. He did no work but that which the Father gave Him to do. He went nowhere but at the express command of the Father (John 3: 34; John 12: 49; John 10: 32; John 6: 57).

In Him I learn man's true place as set in intelligent relationship with God. Humility of mind, and unqualified obedience to God, regardless of where the path, marked out by God for my feet to tread, may lead to. The will of God is to be done irrespective of the consequences. There must be no murmuring, no complaining. We are not to reason why we are led in certain directions, nor why we have been plunged into circumstances that are both difficult and painful. All we require to be assured of is, that these things are God's will for us. The issues are entirely His concern. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."

In Corinthians what He did is said to have been all for our sakes. Here in Philippians it is all for the sake of the Godhead. But, as I have already intimated, we learn in both cases the effect God would have this grace produce in us, which came so perfectly to light in Him. I learn in Philippians that I am to place myself at the disposal of God, and to tread the path He has marked out for my feet, regardless of where it may lead; and in Corinthians the saints are, under God, to be everything to me, and for them I am to lay down my life. But for all this we must draw from the inexhaustible supply of grace that is found in Himself.

In the answer of God to this self-sacrificing life of Jesus we learn His infinite appreciation of it. "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Here we have His estimate of the devoted, faithful, self-sacrificing spirit in which that work was undertaken, and carried through to the finish, without the slightest semblance of regret that it had been undertaken, or of failure in the accomplishment of it. "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" (1 Sam. 15: 22).

What an example for us the Son of God is! May we keep our eye steadily fixed upon Him, and may we be ready at all times to pass unsparing judgment upon the slightest departure from the path marked out for us, whether that path be with reference to obedience to God, or love to His people. These are difficult days, and to be here for His pleasure we require to be "strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus."

The Cross

"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Galatians 6: 14.

It has been truly said, there is nothing like the cross. It stands and shall stand for ever, in all its solitary greatness and grandeur, in the centre of the circle of eternity, the wonder of every intelligent creature, and the pillar upon which is indelibly inscribed the evil and the hatred of the fallen being, and the goodness and love of God. Out from amid the dim shadows of the past it looms upon the vision, in all its brightness and blackness, truth and treachery, sunshine and shadow, faithfulness and falseness, righteousness and sin, judgment and mercy, compassion and cruelty, love and hatred. By its light the heart of heaven is revealed, and the deepest depths of the abyss of evil are discovered. The blessing and the curse there lift their voices together.

There welters foul the inky sea of human guilt, and there the unsullied ocean of divine grace swallows up everything with its swelling tides. Nothing in the past can compare with it, neither can anything in the future arise to rival it.

There appears the greatest sin that man ever committed, and there is the mightiest display of infinite mercy on the part of God that ever came to light. It is the place where man was tested in every spring of his moral being, and it is where the compassions of God were sounded to their depths. It is where the hostile fallen creature lifted impious hand, and struck at his Creator with deadly intent, and it is where the answer of the Creator was given in unspeakable and infinite love. It is the witness of wickedness impossible to be exceeded by man, and it is the evidence of favour which God Himself could never repeat. The volume of wrath, curse, judgment, and woe which encircled Golgotha, not the regions of the lost could enclose; and heaven itself shall not be vast enough to circumscribe the love, the grace, and the mercy which have been there expressed.

There the whole question of good and evil has been gone into, solved, and settled for ever. There all the forces of good and evil were gathered together. There sin rose up in all its power against God, and there God came out in judgment against sin. Never before had the rebel creature dared so much. Never before had sin so behaved itself in the universe of God. Its opportunity had come: the Son of God was in the hands of sinners. All hell was moved. The fit moment had arrived to cast off the restraint of heaven. The raging of the nations, the plotting of the Jews, the malice of the world, all were directed against Christ. They will not have this Man to rule over them. The infernal forces were rallied. The principalities and powers mustered all their might for the final combat. The infernal regions sent forth their last warrior, and the whole phalanx of wickedness prepared for this desperate encounter, in which quarter was neither to be given nor taken, and by which the victory for good or evil was to be finally decided.

"Man's hour."

Jesus speaks of it as man's "hour" (Luke 22: 53). From the fall until that hour man had been held in check by the restraining hand of God. Previous to this he had been mercifully prevented from carrying out the full thought of his heart. He had corrupted the earth, filled it with violence, shed innocent blood, broken the law, worshipped demons, slain the servants of God, and hated Christ come into the world in grace and love. But his enmity had been under the control of God, and he was prevented from doing all that he felt inclined to do. Moved by the causeless hatred of his hard and godless heart, he had been often ready to stone Jesus, but somehow he found himself unable to carry out his murderous intention. But now his "hour" was come; the limit which had been assigned to his wrath was removed; the avenues through which his evil nature was to show itself were thrown open; the bit and bridle, which had in measure been a check upon his impious goings, were cast aside. He felt for the first time in his fallen history what real liberty was, as far as freedom from the intervention of God went. From divine control he is free and unfettered, and the universe must be spectators of the use to which his liberty is to be put. Alas, for poor man! His liberty was his ruin, as it ever is. Like the Gadarene herd of swine, his race was down a declivity, reckless, rapid, ruinous; and it was the same power which drove both to destruction.

What characterized man's "hour" was the "power of darkness," he must be guarded by the power of God, or driven to destruction by the devil. What did his liberty profit him? In his freedom he was the tool of the devil. Proud, ambitious, rebellious, and devoid of confidence in Him who had sent His only begotten Son to save him, he would look after his own happiness. He objected to God's concerning Himself about him. He would go his own way, and take care of himself. Horrible insanity! It was, in one sense, true that he had never before been as free, but yet, in another sense, it was equally true he never had been such a slave: his very freedom threw him completely into the hands of Satan.

The malice of the Jew astonished the pagan governor, and the vacillation and cowardice of Pilate have astonished the world. In the betrayer the treachery of the human heart comes so terribly into evidence, that even natural self-respect abominates the deed; and so loathsome is the action, even to the man who committed it, that when it is consummated, his very existence becomes intolerable to himself, and in despair he goes out and hangs himself.

Ere man's hour had dawned, lanterns and torches and weapons, borne by men of strength and determination, were to Peter little more than rotten wood, but when that hour had really set in, the innocent question of a maid belonging to the high priest's palace, which would have placed him in his right relation to Jesus, fills him with indescribable terror; and this son of Jonas, pre-eminently courageous at other times and a real lover of the Lord, denies that ever he knew Him, and that with oaths and curses. The other disciples, though also boastful on the Mount of Olives, are now nowhere to be seen. The disciple whom Jesus loved is with his Master at the trial, but is there under the patronage of the high priest (John 18: 15). It was man's hour, and the power of darkness, and no one could stand then except in the might of God. What an hour it was!

Every type of humanity was there, and every human soul insane in his enmity against the lowly Sufferer. We see Pilate subjecting Him to the indignity of stripes, though compelled to confess he had found in Him no fault at all; Herod with his men of war setting Him at naught, crowning Him with thorns, and bending the knee in mockery before Him; priests, whose place was intercession, judging and accusing Him; the law, which He had honoured and magnified, turned against Him with the object of destroying Him. A robber is preferred to the One who with lavish kindness had showered benefits upon the people, and a murderer is chosen rather than the Prince of Life. For the bread He fed them with, they repay Him with buffets; and for the healing of their sick, they requite Him with a languishing death upon the cross; and for the words of grace which fell from His blessed lips, they heap anathemas upon His thorn-crowned head. What was the meaning of it? Not one of them could have given an intelligent answer to the question. In that "hour" the high priest's palace was truly pandemonium, for there the council of demons was convened.

Man was controlled by a power of which he knew nothing. He had cast off God who had hitherto restrained him for his good, and now he is under the control of one who drives him headlong to destruction, but in a way which, after all, is the way he rejoices to travel. Terrorized by his fears, inflamed by his lusts, maddened by his hatred, carried away by his pride, hardened in conscience by familiarity with sin, pitiless in his dealings with everything divine, and all his fallen, cruel, and corrupt lusts and passions wrought upon and lashed into fury by the influences of hell, nothing will satisfy him but the humiliation, agony, and death of Him who had gone about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil. It was man's hour indeed and it was an hour of unrestrained wickedness.

"The power of darkness."

The spiritual world comes to light in the material. We hear no trumpet blast from the prince of darkness; no rattle of artillery wakes the echoes of Zion; no thunder of demon-driven chariot of war shakes the midnight cloud; no martial tread of troops in armour clad salutes the ear: yet never since the creation of the worlds was there a moment in which spiritual forces were so agitated. The abyss of evil poured forth its myriads. Golgotha swarmed with forces innumerable; but no more noise was made than is made by the planets in their courses around their fiery centre. The roar of their thunder, if heard at all, is heard in the false and baseless accusations made by Israel's rulers, and in the howling of the ignorant and brutal rabble, who surged around the palace of the high priest, crying, "Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" and in their ribald jests and rowdy blatter as they hurry to the place of execution.

It has been said that hell laughed, but it is not quite correct. In the estimation of the powers of evil it was no doubt a triumph to have man so thoroughly blinded to the fact that he was committing soul-suicide, but laughter was, at that moment, far from the heart of him who was directing the battle against God and His Christ. Hell has never yet been able to laugh, nor will it ever be able. Hell has been too busy hitherto to have time to laugh, and it has never been so confident of victory as to hold the enemy in such supreme contempt. God laughs at the impotence of man and hell combined, for He is omnipotent and can never know defeat. But Satan has too often seen his plans frustrated and his wisdom checkmated, and his power annulled, to be able to have the laugh of God. At the cross no one laughed but man, the guilty, giddy tool of the devil, and his merriment was all indulged at the expense of the infinite sorrow of the Son of God, his Saviour and his Friend.

The Sorrow of Jesus.

And how great was His sorrow! It is said the higher you go in creation, the sensations of pain are ever more acutely felt, and the lower you go down they become gradually less distinctly felt. But what must it have been to the Firstborn of all creation, to Him who felt everything perfectly! There was nothing hard or callous in the blessed sensitive nature of Jesus. He felt to the utmost every indignity that was heaped upon Him. He was the song of the drunkard, despised and rejected of men, laughed to scorn, insulted and derided by those for whose woes His compassions knew no bounds. His betrayal by Judas, denial by Peter, desertion by His followers, wounded Him to the quick of the soul. In such calamities men are often supported by their pride. Ingratitude, insult, and blow, are often endured with an apparent equanimity that is surprising. It may be that within, the heart is like a furnace of fire, but a haughty spirit and indomitable will batten down the hatches upon the inner workings of the soul, so that there is no escape for the fury that rages inwardly. But in the meek and lowly Jesus pride had no place. No vengeful feelings needed to be suppressed; no angry spirit required to be controlled. "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth" (Isa. 53). He says, "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting" (Isa. 50). In Psalm 22 we hear Him recounting all His enemies, and pouring the burden of His griefs into His Father's ear. "Bulls of Bashan" were there; "Dogs" had compassed Him about; the "Assembly of the wicked" had enclosed Him; there was the "Lion's mouth" and there were also the "Horns of the unicorns."

As I have intimated, all the evil of the universe was drawn together against Him. Satan was there in all his might, man was there as his willing instrument of wickedness, God was there in judgment against sin, and the holy Sufferer was there, made sin, and dealt with by God as sin deserved. The fountains of the great deep of divine judgment were broken up, the windows of heaven were opened, and the mighty tempest of wrath, and curse, and vengeance against sin beat upon His devoted head. He sank in deep mire where there was no standing. Like Jonah, only in spiritual woes, He went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about Him for ever. Deep called unto deep at the noise of God's waterspouts, all the waves and billows went over Him, the waters reached to His soul. But all His infinite and unutterable woes are embodied in that cry, which was wrung from His heart amid the three hours of thick darkness: "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?"

But there, and then, every evil principle was judged. Satan was discovered as the prince and god of the world, and his power was for ever broken. The wisdom of the world was seen to be foolishness with God; it had never arrived at the knowledge of Him, and when He was revealed before its eyes it knew Him not. Man was seen to be incorrigibly wicked, and at heart a hater of God. God was declared in perfect goodness and love on behalf of man, in spite of the hostility with which it was met by those whom it had singled out as its objects. Jesus was there, the obedient One, glorifying God even when abandoned by Him. He had come to do the will of God, and let the cost be what it might to Himself, He would not be turned aside. It is not for the creature to find fault with the Creator; it is not for the servant to dispute the wisdom of his master's will; it is not for man to call in question the ways of God: and the place of a servant, and man, Jesus had taken, and He was perfect in all. To Him be everlasting praise

The Glory of the Lord Jesus.

At that cross the Son of Man was glorified (John 13: 31). There the offering was parted in pieces, the springs of His moral nature were all laid bare, and nothing but infinite perfection was brought to light. Not a pulse in His whole moral being but beat true to Him who sent Him. In Him there was found no selfish consideration, no estimating of things by the way in which they affected Himself. With Him everything was viewed in relation to God. The work given Him to do was done without a murmur. There were no reasonings and disputings found with Him: "That the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do" (John 14: 31). Blessed, perfect Master and Lord.

Before He took the place of a servant, before a body was prepared for Him, He knew what was involved in it. He knew all beforehand. He fully understood the dread weight of that judgment, which He gave Himself to bear, before ever He was made in the likeness of men. He was well aware that to take the form of a servant meant that He must obey without question every commandment which He received; but at all costs the will of God must be done, and therefore, He, "being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2: 6-8). How brightly the moral glory and excellency of the Lord Jesus shine amid the darkness of Golgotha. Let me remind the reader that there betrayed, denied, deserted, beset by a lawless world which was influenced by the power of darkness, mocked, insulted, and above all, forsaken of God, He stands absolutely ALONE; and in that hour, and when alone, He bore up in might divine the pillars of the moral universe, and laid a basis upon which they could be established, beyond the possibility of ever again being shaken by any enemy of God.

And God was Glorified in Him.

His righteousness was established, His holiness maintained, His authority respected, His truth vindicated, and His love declared. That dread battle between the forces of good and evil was fought out in the cross of that lowly humbled Saviour, who gave Himself that all might be there and then gone into and settled to the glory and praise of God, settled never to be opened again. The conflict is over, the powers of evil crushed. God has triumphed.

Every enemy has been smitten. God has wrought righteousness, and the field is His. The devil has been annulled, death destroyed, sin has been dealt with, our sins put away, our old man crucified with Him; the ground has been as completely cleared of every enemy as though no enemy had ever existed. The cleansing of the heavens and the earth from the presence of evil is now only a matter of detail, angelic power will be able to accomplish that (Rev. 12: 7-9; Matt. 13: 49, 50). The moral question has all been settled in the cross of Jesus; and the believer is now identified in life and nature, relationship and favour, with the One who stood, in that terrible hour, faithful to God.

The nature and character of God have, with respect to evil, been vindicated and cleared. The fact that the creature is the author of it, and that it remains with him, is placed beyond all question. That good is alone with God, that He is good; and that He has ever dwelt in goodness, grace, and love toward man has been abundantly proved; as it has also been demonstrated that the man after the flesh, of the order of Adam, the fallen head, would not have God in any character in which He might present Himself. But the cross is the end of that man judicially before God. His trial came to an end there. He was proven to be, in his very nature, enmity against God, and now no longer is the man of that order, and in that standing, in any relationship with God; he has been already condemned and set aside judicially.

But the cross has also been the crucible in which the moral worth and excellencies of the second Man and last Adam have been tested to the very uttermost, and where the blessed fact has been established beyond all dispute that in Him there was no dross, no substance offensive to God, but everything in the highest degree acceptable. From that cross such a sweet savour went up before God as has effectually taken the place of the obnoxious odours arising from a corrupt world. God has been glorified in the spot where He was dishonoured, and the gain to Him, through the cross of His Son, has been infinitely greater than all the loss He had sustained through the first and erring head, as well as through the wickedness of all his descendants.

And our place, portion, and relationship are all in and with this exalted Christ, risen from the dead. He is our life. We are to be in His image. His Father is our Father; and His God is our God. The love, and grace, and favour in which He is, we are in also; for we are graced in Him. "As He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4: 17). May we follow in the footsteps of that blessed apostle and disciple who could so truthfully say, "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know Him" (Phil. 3). And also, "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" (Gal. 6). The person and the cross of Christ were everything to him: may they be everything to us.

Propitiation

"Jesus Christ the righteous: He is the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 2: 2.

To us, who are by nature Gentiles, the whole fabric of Scripture authority hangs upon the truth of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. If He is not risen we are in our sins, and all that have placed any hope in Him in past dispensations have perished (1 Cor. 15). But if the resurrection of the Lord Jesus witnesses to the truth and greatness of His person, it also bears witness to the perfection of the sacrifice which He offered to God.

The Death of the Believer.

We know but little of all that the death of the body involves, and it becomes those who feel that they are justly liable to it, to speak of it with that reverence with which it should be treated as the judgment of a holy and righteous God. Short of the coming of Christ it is the most blessed thing that could happen to a believer, for it is "to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5: 8); but this does not alter the fact that it was brought into the world by sin, and that it is sin's wages, and the just conclusion of a life which is in its nature enmity against God. Thank God we have a life in Christ which is beyond its power. Were it not for this it would be an unparalleled calamity. Through the mercy of God it is gain to the one who has Christ as his Saviour (Phil. 1: 21).

As to the second death, the mighty witness to that is Golgotha. Had there been nothing there but the cruel death of crucifixion, most thoroughly would it have been proven how little that holy Sufferer was in the power of His own exhortation to His disciples, when He told them, "Be not afraid of them that kill the body" (Luke 12), or when He said that he who did not hate his own life could not be His disciple (chap. 14). In a book published not so long ago it is said, "Many a British soldier has died as brave a death as Jesus." If it were only a question of being undaunted in the presence of death, why not say, "Many a murderer"? There was not anything, nor could there be anything of the nature of bravery or heroism in the death of Jesus. He, though the Creator and upholder of everything, had taken the place of the servant to the Godhead, that the counsels of the Father should be fulfilled, and this involved the meeting of God about the question of sin.

Hence the "strong crying and tears" in the garden of Gethsemane. No heroism comes to light in that lonely hour, when beyond the torrent of Cedron He encountered the powers of darkness, and entered into conflict with him who had the might of death. All that He was to meet in the three hours of darkness on the summit of Golgotha was anticipated in spirit, when the sorrow of His soul told itself out in a sweat of blood, which in great drops sprinkled the ground upon which He knelt in supplication to the Father.

The State of Men and the World.

I have already pointed out a fact which is patent to everybody, and that is, that man is an evil being. This requires no proving; the state of the world proves it to the hilt. And the strange thing about it is, that the life of each man is largely taken up with laying the blame of the state of things at his neighbour's door. The rich blame the slothfulness and improvidence of the poor, and the poor blame the avariciousness and niggardliness of the rich; and the verdict of every human being is, that the world is hard, selfish, and cruel, and to be cast upon its mercy is a fate too terrible to be expressed in words. Men may go on with their inventions, which are supposed to decorate the system of things down here, and ameliorate the condition of the human race; but death goes on with his work, and hearts go on breaking, and people go on murmuring against one another, and violence, oppression, falsehood, and corruption characterize everything ? and after this the judgment.

Has God done anything to meet this state of things? Some tell us men are working out their own salvation; others, that mankind is a kind of mirror in which God (which is the Universal Life) is contemplating Himself; others, that He is doing the best He can, experimenting as a potter with the clay, making vessels, scrapping them, and always improving; but the theories advanced to quiet the consciences of men, and lead them to destruction, are almost innumerable.

What do the Scriptures say?

"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3: 16). This is the life spoken of in the gospel; a life in relationship with God known in the love of His heart; a life untainted by sin, selfishness, lust or pride; a righteous, holy, spotless, divine life. What a burst of sunshine, comforting, health-giving, life-giving! How powerful to rejoice, and gladden the heart! How priceless and how peace-imparting, compared with those pretentious sparks struck from the atheistical brain of men grovelling in their native gloom; those wretched ignis-fatui which allure the unwary multitude to destruction

But before this life could be communicated to man there was the question of sin to be gone into; for it lay between God and the blessing of the fallen creature. This is the way things are presented in Scripture. The judgment of sin, which lay upon the sinner, the righteous Judge could not ignore. He could not treat it as of no account: it must be atoned for; the judgment which was its due must be borne. If the creature be made to bear it he is lost for ever; he could never come out of it; God would lose His creature, and the devil would gain a victory.

This cannot be. But from whence is the relief to come? Man is under sin, the slave of the devil and of his own lusts, without strength, wandering in darkness and error, and in his nature enmity against God. Can God do anything on his behalf? Can He intervene as deliverer, and at the same time maintain His righteousness, holiness, truth, and majesty? That He will not act arbitrarily in moral questions, so as to upset and overthrow all the trust that His elect, holy, and intelligent creation have in Himself, can well be believed of a Creator who is supremely good. If these questions, which affect the very foundations, as well as the structure of the moral universe, have been raised, they must be settled in a way that will bring a sense of security into the heart of every created intelligence who desires to be faithful to his Creator.

God's Intention.

And these questions have been raised ? sin has raised them. And though it would have been easy enough for God to have cast man from His face, and left him to the consequences of his rebellion, there was that which never would have been brought to light, which the blessed God intended should be the supreme joy of every heart, and the subject of worship and of song through eternal ages; and that was His unspeakable love. The fall of man furnished the occasion of bringing this to light, and in the way in which God has taken to redeem His creature ? the only possible way ? every moral question has been gone into and settled to the glory of God, and to the peace and assured confidence of every faithful heart. And that way has been by the cross of His Son, who gave Himself a ransom for all, that a way of salvation should be opened up for all; and thus have the kindness and love of God to man been expressed. But let us see if this is a new idea, belonging only to that which has been called the gospel age, or whether it has been testified beforehand in prophetic writings.

God's Way Announced.

No sooner did the fall of man take place than a Deliverer is announced; but He was to be a suffering Deliverer; Satan was to bruise His heel. He was to break the power of the fell destroyer, but in doing this He was to feel the might of the adversary. The next thing we find is, that it is God who provides clothing for the nakedness of the sinner. He clothed Adam and his wife with coats of skins. The one who dies for man becomes his covering under the eye of God. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning" (Rom. 15: 4).

When we come to Abel we have the approach of man to God; and here we see that there must be on the part of man the acknowledgment of the righteousness of the judgment which lies upon him, and he must approach in the strength and excellency of the victim which dies in his stead. Abel comes in this way, and is accepted; while Cain's altar was the denial of all this; neither to him nor to his offering had God respect. The offerer is identified with his offering.

The acceptance or rejection of the offering means the acceptance or rejection of the offerer. How important therefore it is to have a perfect sacrifice (Genesis 4).

The Meaning of Atonement.

The word atonement, which is the word found in the Old Testament, as propitiation is found in the New, means simply to cover. It is first used in Genesis 6: 14: Noah was told to pitch (cover) the ark within and without with pitch. It is used again in Genesis 32: 20: Jacob said he would appease Esau with a present; his fault would be covered by the present. We have it in Ezekiel 16: 63: God there speaks of a time when He would be pacified toward the children of Israel for all that they had done. When Israel had sinned in making the golden calf, Moses said he would go up to the Lord to try and make atonement for their sin (Ex. 32: 30). It is not difficult to gather from these scriptures the meaning the word has in the Old Testament. The offence is put out of sight by the offering. An equivalent is rendered to the aggrieved party which covers the cause of aggravation.

The Blood in Egypt. (Exodus 12).

The deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt preaches to us the same gospel. God was about to execute His righteous judgment upon the Egyptians, and took the firstborn as representatives of all the people. But the Israelites whom He had set Himself to deliver were equally subject to the judgment which He was about to inflict upon their enemies. How was He to pass over the one, and destroy the other? Anyone would tell us, He could easily do that, as He is omniscient, and could make no mistake that would imperil His people. But He was about to leave upon record something for our instruction, and we must, in reading the account, keep this in mind. He instructs His people to take a lamb, and to kill it, and to strike its blood upon the lintel and door-post of their houses; and He says, When I see the blood I will pass over you." The blood of the lamb met the eye of the destroying angel, and was the witness to him that the judgment which he was executing had preceded him; the firstborn had died in the death of his substitute. Paul says, "Christ our passover has been sacrificed for us."

Why did God take this way of delivering His people? Wherefore this crimson stain upon lintel and door-post? When He sent the plague upon the cattle He required no mark, by which to distinguish those belonging to His people from which belonged to the servants of Pharaoh. It was the same during the plague of thick darkness: no sign directed the cloud where to settle. Why all this to-do in connection with the last act of this terrible drama? Let my reader hear what those have to say who know what it is to be sheltered by blood: "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood" (Rev. 1); "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood" (Rev. 5: 9); "Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1: 19). This is the foundation of all blessing, the keynote of every song that shall thrill with its glorious melody the glad heart of redeemed creation, and that throughout all eternity.

The Great Day of Atonement. (Leviticus 16.)

The great day of atonement, which was held in the seventh month, is full of instruction. We see that almost all things were by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood was no remission (Heb. 9: 22). At the same time we are given to understand that the sacrifices had in themselves no intrinsic value, therefore they were of yearly occurrence. Thus, while typifying the sacrifice of Christ, they were in great contrast with it; for by one offering He has perfected for ever them that are sanctified (chap. 10: 14). It was impossible that the blood of beasts could take away sins; a better sacrifice was needed for that. Therefore there was a remembrance of sins every year; and the conscience of the worshipper, instead of being taken up with the grace of God, was altogether occupied with the sins he had committed. Such a state of things was not pleasing to God, whose desire was to have man in His holy presence without a shadow of fear in his heart, and therefore He found fault with that order of things (Heb. 8: 8).

The Death of Christ.

In the tabernacle God was shut up within the veil: on His part there was no coming out, and on the part of man there was no going in. Now the veil represented the flesh of Jesus (Heb. 10: 20), therefore when on earth He spoke of His body as the temple (John 2: 21): God was within the veil in the body of Jesus. On the cross this veil was rent. The death of Christ was the rending of the veil. And this came to light in the type; for the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom (Matt 27: 51). In the execution of the judgment of sin upon the cross, all that God was came to light. His righteousness was there declared, but His love also was brought to light. God has come out to man in perfect love; and now man can go in to God by that way which has been dedicated through the veil. And by that precious blood we have boldness for entering; for it is not only the witness to us that our sins are gone, but it is also the great witness of the perfect love of God to us; so that, not only are our consciences purged, but our hearts are won; and God's presence, which we so much dreaded, has become our eternal home; and nowhere in the universe are we so welcome.

Moreover, the work of the cross has glorified God, and that in a way in which He never could have been glorified had that work not been done. His righteousness, holiness, truth, majesty, authority, and above all, the love of His heart to us has come to light; and every attribute has been vindicated, and maintained by the obedience of His beloved Son to the death of the cross. No one could have done such a work but a divine person; neither could anyone have taken such a work in hand but the One who gave Himself for us. Who could suffer the abandonment of God, and glorify God when abandoned by Him? To be forsaken of God for a single moment would be the eternal ruin of any created being. But Jesus could stand when absolutely alone, and when from no quarter was sympathy or support forthcoming. And therefore God has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly, earthly, and infernal things; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2).

I may be asked what justice I see in making a righteous person suffer for the unrighteous. I would only reply that this is not a question of righteousness, but of grace and love. What righteousness is there in one person paying another's debts? None; it is all a matter of pure grace on the part of the one who does it. But there is no making about it; it was a matter of divine counsel. The Triune God is One in all that is done. Counsels belong to the Father, the Son is the One who accomplishes the Father's will, and the Spirit is the One by whose power everything is accomplished. The Son was as delighted to come as the Father was to send Him; and the Holy Spirit has His delight in working the pleasure of God in the hearts of believers.

This is the way things are presented in Scripture, and one mind pervades the Book. Christ is the subject from beginning to end; but we have His sufferings foretold, from the very first intimation of deliverance by Him. And the Holy Spirit who moved holy men to write the prophetic word never loses sight of the sacrifice of Jesus. On the one hand, His resurrection is the witness to us of the greatness of His person; on the other hand it is the witness to us of the perfection of the sacrifice which He offered for our sins. God has accepted the sacrifice, and the soul who comes by that sacrifice is accepted in all the value of it.

The Resurrection

"Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father." Romans 6: 4.

As the authority of Scripture hangs upon the truth of the Person of Jesus, so does the truth of His Person hang upon the fact of the resurrection. It was by the resurrection from the dead He was declared Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness (Rom. 1: 4). The power by which He passed through this evil world, untainted by its defiling influences, was the power by which He offered Himself without spot to God, and by which He proved Himself victorious over death and the grave. One who has to do with death must attest his power over it, or it will attest its power over him. He must annul its might, and come back scathless from its gloom, or it will hold him prisoner in its strongholds of corruption, and thus declare its superior prowess.

From the entrance of sin into the world all who descended into those impenetrable and mysterious regions of fear had to remain there. In a few isolated cases the might of God was exhibited in bringing back again to life upon earth those who had fallen into the clutches of the fell destroyer, but such were never placed beyond the reach of the terrific foe. They were bearers of what might be likened to a "ticket of leave," the time limit of which having expired they were once more compelled to enter the land of shades. We read of two men who escaped altogether the fate common to the sons of Adam. By the intervention of God on their behalf they were translated to heaven that they might not see death, and thus became witnesses of the hidden resources of God, which He could put forth for the complete deliverance of the people of His choice. With these two exceptions all in Adam died, and in death they remain.

Death is to man the most appalling evil that can come upon him; it is the most heartless and horrible mischief which one man can inflict upon another; and it is the most severe sentence which the law of the land can inflict upon a criminal. Satan has said that a man will give all he possesses for his life; and he is very well acquainted with the way in which men regard things which refer personally to themselves. Those who enjoy a fair share of the mercies of the present life, and to whom death seems far distant, may be found discussing the dissolution of the earthly tabernacle with a certain amount of calmness; but let the dread shadow of the grim monarch fall across their threshold, and you will find their tranquillity brought to an abrupt and speedy termination.

We seem never to become accustomed to its ravages. Familiarity with its silent footfall has not enabled us to hold its presence in contempt. It is to-day the same hideous, hateful, horrible invader of hearts and homes as it was at the outset of its reign on earth. He who guides it upon the track of his neighbour is branded as most wicked, and he who invites it to his own embrace is held to be insane. To the appeal for mercy it is deaf; to the question as to whence it comes it returns no answer; as to why it strikes it is dumb; as to whether it conducts the vital principle of its victim it has no information to convey to the unhappy and brokenhearted mourner. It strikes out from impenetrable darkness; and is only known by the certainty of its aim, and by the violence of the blow which needs not to be repeated. It has no more respect for the autocrat upon his throne than it has for the peasant in his humble cot, and it is equally dreaded by both. Its heart is harder than the flinty rock, and the only music it has ever heard is the lamentations which arise from the souls of those who feel the burden of its iron sceptre. It is swifter than those who flee from it, and stronger than those who stand up to contend against it. It is the monarch of all evils, and is either the executioner of a righteous governor, or the pitiless slave of a being who revels in murder.

But after all, is it indeed a foe which has never known defeat? Has it proved itself victorious in every engagement? Has no one risen up on behalf of man with might enough to grapple with this terrific monster and lay in ruins his apparently impregnable fortress? Has no one been able to track him to his lair, and heap destruction upon the head of the destroyer? Is there no one to deliver us from this ruthless enemy of mankind? If not, our lot is indeed deplorable.

That it is a terrible evil none but a dreamer will deny, and when it is denied no one will believe in the sincerity of the person who attempts to minimize its horrors. It has been designated by every name that the ingenuity of man can invent, from "a bend in the road" to "annihilation," all to relieve it of its hideous and repulsive appearance; but bitter death, call it what you will, is still the "King of terrors." It is the just conclusion of a life of rebellion against God. And this is the very thing that makes it so terrible. Why should human life be so beset with sorrow? and why should the way out of it be so fenced with terror? Without the Gospel of the grace of God the present life is an enigma incapable of solution.

Here the Scriptures come to our relief, and set before us the Son of God as our almighty Deliverer. In grace He goes down into death to break its power. That He might be able to die He took flesh and blood: "Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb. 2: 14, 15). Again we are told: "For since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead" Cor. 15: 21). It is impossible that such a person as the Son of God could be held by the cords of death. We should not require to be told that death must give way before such a glorious Personage. That Jesus came into death is a matter of profane history; that He came out of it is not. If He was compelled to remain there He was no stronger than any other of the human race.

There is nothing so persistently kept before our minds as resurrection ? I may say death and resurrection. We have it every twenty-four hours set figuratively before our souls. The day declines, and noiseless night advances and wraps an unconscious world in her inky mantle. The morning breaks, night vanishes, the song of birds is heard, and man arises from his sleep refreshed, the toils of yesterday forever gone. The seasons run their course, the winter comes, the flowers are dead, the leaves fallen, the trees are bare, snows mantle the earth, and desolation broods over a lifeless world. The spring appears, the winter frosts and snows are gone, nature awakes, the daisies deck the field, the budding woods are full of life, and everything beneath the azure dome of heaven with bounding pulse, and bright brow, and gladsome heart, instinct with life, gives witness to the God of resurrection.

But when we come to the Scriptures, we find that from the entrance of sin into the world, resurrection is the hope of fallen man. Adam and Eve are no sooner brought under the power of death than they are made to hear of a Deliverer, One who was destined to bruise the head of their fell destroyer. Still they have to take their sorrowful journey down to the dust out of which they were taken. Where then would their deliverance come in? Of what value was a Deliverer to those who were compelled to submit to the penalty of their offence? How could they be made to profit by this Deliverer? As far as we know they knew nothing of a state of bliss for their spirits apart from the body. And even if they did, how could they be in the favour of their Creator, and in the enjoyment of that favour, while their bodies lay under the judgment pronounced by God on account of their transgression? There was only one way by which their deliverance could be effected, and that one way was by resurrection.

I may be told that I am taking the early chapters of Genesis for granted, and that this is begging the question. I am taking nothing for granted. I am simply putting before the reader the things of which Scripture testifies, and the setting in which the things borne witness to are placed. A Deliverer is announced to those who are told they must return to dust, and I see no way in which they could hope to benefit by that Deliverer except on the principle of resurrection. If the whole matter recorded in the early chapters of Genesis be but the imagination of the writer, then the idea of resurrection must have had such hold upon his soul that it never occurred to him there might be a doubt as to it in the mind of the reader.

Enoch the seventh from Adam is translated, not passing through the article of death; another proof that resurrection is the way of deliverance for man: man is to have his body in his perfectly delivered state. Enoch has his body, and shall have it for ever; for I suppose no one imagines that death still lies before him, and if he is to have his body it is unreasonable to suppose other men can be blest without theirs. If we are not to have our bodies in our eternal condition, what confusion must arise from translation. I may be told Enoch never was translated. I have not affirmed that he was; I am speaking from Scripture. But I do affirm this, resurrection was in the mind of the writer of the book of Genesis.

Abraham and Sarah are childless until nature becomes withered and dead, and then God tells him that his seed shall be as the stars of heaven or the sand upon the sea shore for number, and Abraham read in this promise the character of the God who had appeared to him, the God of resurrection. This faith of the patriarch had a severe test applied to it when he was told to offer up this child of promise as a burnt-offering upon Mount Moriah; but his faith rose up strong in answer to the demand which was made upon it, and he bound his son upon the altar confident that God, would raise him from the dead. It is the same God of resurrection who is preached in the Gospel to-day, but brought to light in raising up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

It is brought before us typically in the dividing of the Red Sea, through which Israel passed out of Egypt into the wilderness; and in the parting of the waters of the Jordan, through which the same people came into the promised land. The Red Sea was not the usual way out of Egypt, neither was it necessary for them to cross the Jordan to come into Canaan. But just as death and resurrection were in the mind of him who wrote Genesis, so also was the mind of the writer of Exodus filled with the same idea. Then we have the budding of the rod of priesthood; the dry, dead staff which was laid up before the Lord, buds, blossoms, bears fruit, and thus witnesses that priesthood must be established upon the basis of resurrection.

At the cleansing of the leper the live bird let loose into the open heaven, bearing upon its wing the red stain of its identification with the one killed over running water in the earthern vessel, also Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones, set forth the same principle of divine operation. The fact is, if in reading the Old Testament the idea of resurrection is expunged from the mind the Bible is a book of unrivalled contradictions. That great principle pervades every sentence uttered by prophetic lip from the entrance of sin into the world.

Could anything be plainer than that resurrection was that which was the hope of the One who speaks in Psalm 16? "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (sheol), neither wilt Thou suffer Thy holy One to see corruption." Here is One who goes down into death in the utmost confidence that the power of God will not allow His soul to abide in sheol, nor His flesh to see corruption. The apostles of the Lord tell us that this Psalm refers to the Christ of God. He could not be held by that dread power. By going into it He broke its might. Does not the whole heart and soul of the reader rise up in praise and thanksgiving to God for the victory which He has gained, gained at such infinite cost, but nevertheless gained on behalf of poor things like ourselves that we might no longer be in bondage to Satan on account of the fear of it.

As I have already indicated, resurrection is, according to Scripture, a great witness to the glory and greatness of the person of Jesus. During His earthly career, instead of being as every other man under the power of death, He is seen to have power over it, for at His word it was compelled to deliver up its prey. But above all, His own resurrection furnishes the most complete evidence of His dignity as Son of God. When Moses smote the waters of the Red Sea they became parted hither and thither, their power was broken, and when Jesus smote the waters of death in His own death upon the cross their power was broken; His resurrection is the witness to this stupendous fact.

"He hell in hell laid low,

Made sin He sin o'erthrew,

Bowed to the grave, destroyed it so,

And death by dying slew."

The witnesses to this mighty victory are overwhelming, and I do not therefore marvel at men, who wish to get rid of the fact, and yet do not feel that they can safely impute deceitful practices to the disciples, suggesting all sorts of theories which they consider sufficient to account for their belief in the event without it being really true. But I would like to ask these men a very old question: "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead"? Had fallen man been the one declared to have gained such a victory, it would have been very reasonable to doubt it, but as it is declared to have been brought about by the power of God I see no reason to question it. No doubt the enemy would desire to treat the report as a fable. He is not likely to foster the notion in men's minds that his stronghold has fallen before the assault of the Son of God, but the witnesses are so many and of such unquestionable integrity that not to believe the fact is a terrible evidence of sheer self-will.

Paul tells us that Jesus was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once. After that He was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all He was seen of Paul himself. Luke tells us in his Gospel that He appeared to two of them on their way home from Jerusalem to Emmaus; and was made known to them in the breaking of bread, the symbol of His death; that He ate and drank with His disciples, and that when they thought it was a spirit they were looking upon, He invited them to handle Him and see, telling them that a spirit had not flesh and bones, as they saw He had. Next, he tells us that He led a company out as far as Bethany, and that while, with uplifted hands, He blessed them, He was parted from them and carried up into heaven (Luke 24). And in what a pure and guileless atmosphere of holy affections this short history of the victory of God is enshrined. Never in the universe has appeared the liar who could set the baseless inventions of his corrupt imagination in such a framework of tender grace and evident piety. Had I no other testimony than that which is furnished by the writer of the third Gospel I dare not question the glad tidings of the overthrow of the king of terrors.

And Paul tells us he saw Him on his way to Damascus, when he thought to wipe out the blessed name of Jesus from under heaven. That this remarkable convert was neither a deceiver nor a liar is evident from the whole spirit of his writings. Whatever else was true of him he was conscientious, and was certain that he had seen the Just One and heard His voice. Was he mistaken? Was it the effect of sunstroke? Was it hallucination, or some insane wandering of his excited mind? That he was a man with determined will is not to be questioned, but that he was nervous, hysterical, mentally deranged, and subject to hallucinatory attacks, no one who studies his profound, pure, and wholesome disquisitions will be willing to admit. What insight into the mysteries of God he possessed, things which eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor which ever entered into the heart of man ? things which God has prepared for those who love Him. What an immense grasp of his infinite subject, what profound reasoning, what ability for anticipating the cavillings of the corrupt human mind, what terrible earnestness, what self-abnegation, what deep piety, and what boundless affection for the souls of those to whom he writes. And all this resulted from that visitation which he encountered on his way to Damascus.

And yet some of the leaders in Christendom tell us Paul never saw the risen Jesus at all, and neither did His disciples, for such a thing as the resurrection never took place. And how do they know? They do not know. They are servants of his who desires to keep poor man in the dark as to his own defeat. And yet they call themselves Christians, at least some of them do, while they deny the foundation upon which the whole truth as to Christianity rests.

It was not in this way the apostles of our Lord instructed their converts. They gave them to understand that a lie was a lie, and that a lie against God was the greatest of all lies (1 Cor. 15). They tell us: "If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ: whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is Christ not raised: and if Christ be not raised your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished."

This is wholesome doctrine compared with the corrupt ethics which the leaders of the people, to-day, seek to foist upon us. How can the truth be respected in secular things when the religion in which they attempt to instruct the people is founded on a falsehood, which is by them justified, and declared to have been concocted or connived at by the Saviour of the world? If I could not believe in the resurrection I should abandon the profession of Christianity as a system of unparalleled deceit, hypocrisy, and soul-destroying error.

God's Great Gift

"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Romans 5: 5.

The greatest gift God has conferred, or can confer, upon His beloved people is that of the Holy Spirit. A vast inheritance is ours, which is beyond the ability of the most powerful mind to grasp, and which baffles the most prodigious imagination, for what mind is able to grasp the vast inheritance of God? And we are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. But the earnest of that inheritance is the Spirit of God, and the earnest is greater than the inheritance itself.

This great gift was in promise for His people in the past dispensation. And in the day in which God will recover His earthly people from among the heathen, He says that He will sprinkle clean water upon them, so that they shall be cleansed from their idols; a new heart also He will give them, and will put a new spirit within them. But He also says, "I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them" (Ezek. 36: 25-27). That will be a wonderful day of blessing for Israel, and bright with the glory of God.

But the Lord also speaks of this great gift on the eve of His departure out of this world, and gives His disciples to understand that they would be better off in the possession of the Spirit than they were in having Him corporeally in their midst. While He was here upon earth, He could only be said to be with them, but when He should be glorified and the Spirit here He would be in them. He says, "At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you" (John 14: 20).

He could not be given until Christ was glorified, because the new order of relationships and blessings for man were not brought fully to light until redemption was accomplished and Christ set at the right hand of God. The Spirit was not promised in connection with Adam, either innocent or guilty, but with the new sphere and order of things which lay in the purpose of God before the world was. He is given in connection with the determination of God to head up everything in Christ, and to set up the poor fallen creature on the ground of redemption, and in His own power before His face, in the light of His love revealed in the person of His beloved Son.

Think only of the intimacy with God into which this wonderful gift brings the recipient of it! I need not ask a saint of God if he thinks anything could exceed the holy familiarity with the Father and the Son into which we are brought by this unspeakable power, which has taken possession of our bodies on behalf of the Christ of God, but I would ask if anyone thinks such a favour could be equalled. The question is asked by the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 2: "What man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man that is in him?" There can be only one answer to such a question, and the answer is, No man. Had I the spirit of another I should know all about him. I should know him as well as he knows himself. There would be none of his thoughts, feelings, or affections hidden from me. Nothing of that man would remain a secret from me. But we have got the Spirit of God. What for? That we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Could we not know them without the Spirit? No: for they are things the eye has never seen, nor the ear ever heard, nor the imagination ever pictured. But the Spirit knows them. He searches all things, yea the deep things of God. There is nothing hidden from the Spirit, nor is there anything hidden from the one who has received the Spirit. The very babes in Christ are said to have an unction from the Holy One, and to know all things (1 John 2: 20). The depths of God are known to the Spirit, and we have received Him that we might know these depths.

By Him we become acquainted with the counsels of the Father. By Him we are enabled to enter into the greatness of the revelation God has made of Himself in Christ. By Him we are in the enjoyment of the love of God that was declared in the cross of His Son, for by Him it has been shed abroad in our hearts. By Him we know that we are children of God. By Him we are enabled to address God as our Father. By Him we are able to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ. By His power we are made free from the law of sin which works in our members, and by His power we are enabled to produce righteousness. He is also the power for all worship and service. In fact He is the power of all our relationships with God, for He is the power of the life we have from, and in, the risen Christ. How very thankful we should be for such an unspeakable gift! Were we able to communicate our spirit to another person there is not a soul on earth to whom we would give such a gift, for we do not wish people to know us too intimately. We are too evil to wish to be well known. But God desires us to know Him, that all our delight might be in Him; and the better we know Him the more closely do we draw to Him, and the happier we are; but the better we know men in their natural condition the more we recoil from more than a very limited degree of familiarity with them. With Him who knows us best we are most at home, and that we might find our home in His presence He has bestowed upon us this gift of His Holy Spirit.

But if we contemplate for a moment the greatness of the gift He has given for us, we shall not be so much surprised at the gift He has given to us. To take our place under the judgment due to us on account of sin, He has given His only begotten Son. This is beyond everything else that He has done on our behalf. Nothing greater could He have done. It is in this that the whole extent of His love toward us has come to light. It is there we learn it. Surely all His dealings with us spring from the great love of His heart toward us. But it is not in His care for us in our pilgrim pathway, not in the mercies that we daily experience, not in His tender grace to us, meeting our every need, and giving us abundant proof that we are ever in His mind, and that He ever does the best thing possible for us; but it is in that cross, and in that cross alone, that we are to learn the greatness of that love that is just as deep and wide and boundless as is the heart from which it springs. It is to that cross, and to it alone, that we shall look back from an eternity of unspeakable happiness, as the one, solitary, unique place where, from the hitherto pent-up fountain of the heart of God, flowed forth in infinite volume that love that chose such worthless things as we for its objects.

What a day it will be for us when we stand in the Father's house in the likeness of the Son of God; when as we look around on that glorious company nothing but Christ shall meet our eye, for, as regards us, the counsels of the Father will all have been fulfilled, and we shall be just that which He purposed we should be before the world was. But not that which shall meet us in that house, not our circumstances there, not the glory in which we shall find ourselves, not the wealth, magnificence, and splendour of that palace of delights will we gaze upon as the mighty witness of the love of God to us, though every bit of it will be designed by the wisdom, and fashioned by the hand of love; but from that circle and sphere of everlasting pleasures we shall cast our minds backward to that lone and cloud-swathed Golgotha, swept with the tempest of devouring wrath, but radiant with love that, as we sometimes sing, no tongue could teach, nor thought be able to reach, for there alone has it had its perfect expression. From the crown of that lonely mount the living light shall fling its deathless rays throughout the whole vast universe of blessing, waking up everlasting praises to the Father and the Son.

Can we, as we contemplate that love, wonder that He who gave His Son to die our death and save us from our woe, should give His Holy Spirit to us? Surely not. Seeing He has given up to the judgment of the cross His well-beloved, we need not be surprised at anything He may give us after that, for "He who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. 8: 32). In the light of that cross must all His dealings with us be estimated.

But as the gift of His Son was the only thing that could meet our deep need, as sinners, so was the gift of the Spirit the only thing that could meet our need in view of the position given to us in divine counsel, for it is only by that power we can occupy that place. "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6: 19). Therefore, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4: 30).

The Love of God

"God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son." John 3: 16.

The Scriptures speak to us of the love of God, of the love of the Father, of the love of the Son our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the love of the brethren; and though all this love is divine, and not the affection which is natural to the creature, nevertheless it is the same love that we find in the man who is born of God as that which is in the Persons of the Godhead; for he is, by virtue of this heavenly birth, a partaker of the divine nature. But the direction this love is described as taking in each of these divine Persons and in the brethren is very different. Neither the Father nor the Son are said to love the world, but God is; neither is the Father said to love the church, but Christ is. And all this is full of interest and instruction. I would therefore, by the help of the Holy Spirit, attempt to point out to the reader the way in which the Scriptures present this love in connection with all in whom it is said to be active. Let us first examine what is said as to the Love of God.

In John 3: 16 we get this love presented in all its greatness and universality. It is a love that no man had hitherto been called to contemplate in such fulness, power and blessing. It is a love that rises above every barrier thrown up to stem its invincible current. It is a love that no angel knew, and a love that no creature could declare. By an angel the intervention of God for the deliverance of the oppressed sons of Jacob could take place, and by angelic tongue could the duty of man to love God be declared; from out of the midst of devouring fire, and from blackness and darkness, could angelic voice utter the claims of God; but to bring the love of God to man, so that we might be able to say, "We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love" (1 John 4: 16), was beyond the power of the highest created intelligence.

The fall and ruin of the head of the human race furnished the blessed God with an opportunity of retiring upon the counsels of His eternal love, which involved new relationships for man, and a new life by which these new relationships could be enjoyed; a life that was no more in Adam innocent than in Adam guilty: eternal life, the life that is in the Son of God, a life that could never be defiled by sin, and that could never come under the power of death.

But if men were to possess this life, and if they were to stand in these new and eternal relationships with God, it was necessary that satisfaction should be rendered to God for the dishonour done to Him by sin in this evil world. It was necessary that our sins, and the evil and corrupt nature that produced these sins, should be met by the unsparing judgment of a holy and righteous God. It was necessary that One should give Himself for us, should stand in our room and stead, should bear our blame, suffer the consequences of sin by being made sin, in order that the majesty, authority, and nature of God might be vindicated and glorified, for apart from the accomplishment of this no way of salvation could be opened up for guilty man.

Who was there in all the universe of God whose love for our guilty race was strong enough to induce him to intervene on our behalf? and who, even supposing the love existed, had the ability to take up the work of our deliverance? Not certainly any of the creatures of God, for, for them to have manifested compassion towards us, would have been treason against their Creator and Governor; but even had they desired, and had it been right and agreeable to God that they should so desire, they had not the ability to accomplish anything.

No one could help us but the One against whom we had sinned, and it took Him to put forth all His power to bring about our deliverance. Nothing less than the death of His only begotten Son could enable Him righteously to take the place of a Saviour toward guilty man.

What mere creature could undertake such a work as that of redemption? Who could stand in the presence of incensed Deity, and bear the brunt of wrath's terrific storm broken loose against sin? Who could answer to God for the rebellion of His apostate creature, and stand in the breach when He was giving expression to His righteous judgment and holy abhorrence of that of which the devil was the author and man the willing slave? No mere creature could do this. None but the incarnate Son could enter into this awful question with God.

But why not let man perish for ever? He preferred the service of sin, the darkness of alienation from God, the rule of the devil, to any renewal of relationships or acquaintance with God. Why not take hold of the earth, and shake the apostate race out of its corrupt lap into the lake of fire, and leave him thus to the eternal consequences of his mad rebellion against his Maker? Why trouble any more about such a good-for-nothing creature? Why, for no other reason than that it had pleased God to set His heart upon man. He was not constrained to intervene on behalf of His creature by any good that He saw in that creature, nor by any object external to Himself, but just because it was His pleasure to take up such a sinner and make him a vessel of His praise.

The sinful and utterly lost condition of man put God to the test in a way in which He had never before been tested, and in a way in which He never can be tested again. If God loved man, the state in which man was as a rebel sinner put His love to a test that no one, had anything been known about it, would have believed love capable of bearing. But that love proved itself to be well able to answer to the demand made upon it "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

That love has opened up a way of salvation for the lost, and the report of that salvation, and where all are to find it, is proclaimed world-wide. God would have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth; and the Mediator, whose death was the witness of that love, gave Himself a ransom for all, and all are called by the gospel to make haste and avail themselves of that salvation while the day of salvation lasts.

In the heart of the believer that love is shed abroad by the Holy Ghost who is given to us (Rom. 5: 5). We are made conscious that it is our present portion. To the way in which it has come to light the Holy Spirit ever directs our attention: "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly "; and in contrast to the greatest exhibition of human love, which has occasionally caused men to lay down their lives on behalf of those who had shown them kindness, the love of God was expressed to us in the death of Christ when we were yet sinners.

In the 1st Epistle of John this love of God is viewed in connection with a circle narrower than the whole world. In the Gospel its aspect is universal, but in the Epistle it is confined to the family of God. We read in 1 John 4: "In this was manifested the love of God toward us," and "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us"; and in chapter 3 "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us." But in the Epistle, as in the Gospel, whether it be to us, or to the world, the death of Christ is that in which it has been declared.

We get another beautiful reference to this love in Ephesians 2. There we are contemplated as dead in sins. Not a movement of our hearts Godward. We are said, as Gentiles, to have been "without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." Such was our state as sinners of the Gentiles. Also, ruled by the prince of the power of the air, fulfilling the desires of flesh and mind, and by nature children of wrath, everything that was loathsome and abominable to God.

This is what we were under His eye: "But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ." What a marvellous intervention of the power of the living God, moved by the wonderful love of His heart! And not only has He quickened us, but quickened us in the life of Christ; and also raised us up and made us sit in Him in the heavenlies; and that, too, in order that He might, in the ages to come, show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

From this love there is no separation. Once it is believed ? once it gets into the heart in the power of the Spirit ? it is there for ever. The Apostle says: "I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8: 38, 39). In the first verse of this chapter we are in Christ, and in the last verse the love of God is there, so that where the love of God has got its eternal resting-place, we have got ours through grace; therefore, until Christ can be separated from that love we never can be; and as nothing can separate Him from it, nothing can separate us.

It is this love which casts out all fear from our hearts, and gives us boldness for the day of judgment. We are loved with the love of which Christ is the Object ? "as He is, so are we in this world"; and we know that that love will never be thoroughly satisfied until it has us, like Himself, in glory. It is that love which has predestinated us to be conformed to His image; therefore, in the day of judgment we shall be like the Judge, our very bodies fashioned like His; ourselves not the subjects of judgment, though our works shall be. Then we shall receive loss or gain for all that we have done upon earth. Where we have been faithful we shall be rewarded, and where we have been unfaithful we shall suffer loss; but before ever we appear there we shall have been already glorified.

I turn to another passage of Scripture: "Ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God" (Jude 20, 21). In these days in which evil abounds, such as is depicted in this short Epistle, the tendency is to be unduly occupied with it, and the soul is in danger of coming under the power of it. Here is the antidote to all that. The natural and healthful element of the child of God is this love declared in the gift of Jesus; and in this love, in the worst days of the history of the church, it is our privilege to keep ourselves, and we are exhorted so to do.

May the Lord Himself direct our hearts into the love of God.

The Love of the Father

"The Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me." John 16: 27.

If we examine the way in which the Father's love is presented in Scripture we shall not find the thought of sovereignty connected with it as we find connected with the love of God; nor, indeed, shall we always find it to be set upon the same objects. God is said to have loved the world, the Father never. The Father has a world of His own outside of which His affections are not said to travel. It is a world, or sphere, or order of things, not yet brought to light; but it exists in His counsels, and is of Himself. This present world is not of Him. All that is in the world is lust and pride, and it is not of the Father, but is of the world (1 John 2: 15, 16). With the love of the Father we find the thought of complacency, delight, satisfaction. His love is confined to things which are grateful to His nature. The Son is said to have been the Object of the Father's love before the foundation of the world (John 17: 24). And when upon earth, as He was about to take the place of public testimony for God, the Father's voice is heard declaring His delight in Him. This voice from heaven was a witness of the pleasure the Father took in the first thirty years of the Son's sojourn here below. Again, on the mount of transfiguration, we are privileged to hear the same powerful testimony rendered by the Father to the place the Son had in His blessed affections.

Jesus Himself says: "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand" (John 3: 35). The Son had the love and confidence of the heart of the Father. The Father could confidently put everything into the hand of the Son, knowing that everything would be faithfully held for His glory. Again, He says: "The Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth" (John 5: 20). And "what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise" (v. 19). In this way the Father came to light in the Son, and in Him He was glorified. How dear the Son was to the heart of the Father no creature mind shall ever be able to understand.

In John 10: 17 we read: "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again." His obedience and His love to the Father carried Him down to death, even the death of the cross; and there was laid a firm foundation upon which could be established the eternal counsels of the Father; and having laid in the blood of His cross this firm foundation, He in resurrection gives effect to those counsels to the glory of the Father. He says: "Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee" (John 17: 1). And because of this wholehearted devotedness to His glory the Father's heart goes out to that blessed Son of His in infinite love.

There is nothing of the nature of sovereignty or grace in all this, for here there is a reason for the love of the Father lying outside of Himself; a reason existing in the Object of that love; the excellence of His person, and the obedience which comes to light in His lowly life on earth, calling forth that love as One perfectly worthy of it, however infinite it be. And how readily the Father responds to the claims of the One who presented Him with such a motive for love. He says: "Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors" (Isa. 53: 12). And "wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth: and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2: 9-11). The blessedness and excellence of the Son is beyond all creature thought, and indeed it is a joy to us that it is so; nevertheless, it is also a joy to us that there is One who fully estimates His infinite worth: it is not, blessed be God, unknown.

But we also are objects of the love of the Father. Jesus says: "The Father Himself loveth you." It is not merely that we are called to contemplate the love which the Father has to the Son, though this would be an unspeakable privilege; but we are to know ourselves as objects of that love. But even as regards us this love is not presented in its sovereign character. The Lord gives a reason for this love being lavished upon us, though surely we have no claim to the least of His favours. And yet if the Father loves us there is a reason why: "The Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God" (John 16: 27). There is something in us which draws out the Father's love to us. It is something which is of the Father Himself, and which He implanted there. It is not what is natural to man at all, and it was not natural to us. The natural man sees no beauty in Jesus. By the natural man He is always despised and rejected; but "they shall be all taught of God," and "every one therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto Me" (John 6: 45). This affection that is in our hearts for Jesus has been begotten by the teaching of the Father, and to His heart it is exceedingly precious. In this world, that is hostile to the Son, the Father finds us lovers of Jesus, and by this, if I may so speak, the heart of the Father is profoundly affected.

Feeble fellow-believer, you love Jesus. Perhaps you say your love is so weak, and your ways are often so wilful and crooked that you hesitate to speak of your love for Jesus. You feel He is worthy of so much, and you render to Him so little. Yet you do love Him. Possibly you wonder why every one does not love Him, for, as regards yourself, you feel you must love, reverence, and confess Him, even if by doing so you stirred up the wrath of the whole world against you. Well, is this nothing to the Father? Can He be regardless as to the attitude assumed by you toward the Son of His love? Impossible.

God loved you when there was nothing lovable about you. He loved you because of what was in Himself. But the Father loves you because of what is in you. He has found something in you in which His heart has unbounded delight. What is it? Nothing but the little spark of love to His Son, which He has kindled there for Himself. Here, where His Son has suffered every ignominy that the profligate heart of man could invent, you are found on His side, lifting up a feeble testimony in His favour, and the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Him, and have believed that He came out from God.

There is nothing so precious to the heart of the Father upon earth as that little spark of love to Christ which has been kindled by Himself in the souls of His saints. Where this is not, darkness and death reign. And the Father loves to cherish this little vital spark, and by the power of the Holy Spirit fan it into a mighty flame. Satan would seek to quench it, and upon it the world has a baneful influence; but "we love Him because He first loved us," and the better we know His love, the more shall we love Him; and if we love Him we will show this love by keeping His commandments, and treasuring His word in our hearts; and if we do this Jesus says we shall be loved of the Father, and both Father and Son will make their abode with us (John 14: 23).

We read these things in the Holy Scriptures, and we treasure them as the sayings of Jesus, but what do we know about them experimentally? Can the reader say: "Ah, I know what that means. I know what it is to have the Father and the Son dwelling with me. I know something of the joy that springs from having these divine Persons as my honoured guests." But if we find that we have not embraced this unspeakable privilege, and if we have to confess that we know, in an experimental way, little or nothing about it, are we to continue in this condition of spiritual destitution? Are these pearl gates which are even now swung open that we may enter into the joys of the Father's house, before we leave this scene of lawlessness, darkness, and death, to remain unused by us as though we had no right of entrance or as though they were guarded by cherubim and a flaming sword? Surely not.

Worldliness increases on every hand. Almost every day brings to light some apparently spiritual Samson falling under its deadly influence. The atoning death of Christ is scoffed at, and to His words those who profess His name are becoming stone deaf. His saints who have received much light boast of it as an intellectual attainment, and attempt to turn the edge of the Spirit's sword against Christ's members. And all this has come to pass because we have not kept the commandments of Jesus, treasured His word, and been more in company with the Father and the Son. The Lord says, speaking of the religious enemies of the gospel: "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor Me" (John 16: 2, 3). This is what is lacking to-day, the knowledge of the Father and the Son. I do not mean to infer that any true believer is without this knowledge, but what I do mean is this, I fear we have not these divine Persons as our continual guests. We know forgiveness, and, like Martha, we may be cumbered about much service; but what do we know about the unutterable sweetness of entertaining in the secret of our own souls the Father and the Son?

Oh, how infinitely sweet it is to sit down alone, or to walk in solitude apart from every other human being, and let the Father and the Son draw near to us, as Jesus did to the two sorrowing disciples on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus, that we may breathe for a little moment the very atmosphere of heaven. What a health resort we shall find this to be.

And all this remains for us to-day as truly as ever. Everything may have become corrupted ecclesiastically. That house which was intended for a house of prayer may have become a den of thieves, but all these things remain for the individual as certainly as though there was no failure at all. The writings of John are intensely individual, and the privileges opened out to us in them are not dependent upon the faithfulness of the Christian company. If no other in the whole world enjoyed these things I may. To-day they are the portion of the overcomer. And there is much to overcome, but there is infinitely more to be entered into and enjoyed.

How unspeakably sweet it is to go through this world with the sense of the Father's love keeping the heart. If the reader does not enjoy it, then I would entreat him to go in for it, for it is his privilege as a child of God. May both writer and reader know it better.

The Love of Christ

"To know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." Eph. 3: 19.

The love of Christ is said to surpass knowledge, and the more we meditate upon it the more we become conscious of our utter inability, even with the aid of the Holy Spirit, to seize the immensity of that infinite, self-sacrificing, knowledge-surpassing love, which led the eternal Son from the eternal Father, and the form of God to take a bondsman's form, being made in the likeness of men, and to subject Himself to the contempt, rejection, scorn and derision of His rebellious creatures, and in the end to take the place of the Sin-bearer, suffer the forsaking of God, and give up His life upon a malefactor's gibbet. It was a journey of love, from the highest heights to the lowest depths, unpunctuated by one backward look, one moment of hesitation that might suggest uncertainty, or reluctance to go forward; no complaining word escaped those lips, through which only the voice of the living Father made itself heard; no curse was hurled against the heads of those that accepted His favours and in the end clamoured for His crucifixion. One word from His lips would have brought more than twelve legions of angels against His miserable, thankless, and wicked antagonists, but that word was not spoken: "He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth" (Isa. 53: 7).

No terror that rose up in the pathway of that love could turn it aside from the goal to which it was steadily advancing. Beset by every sorrow, anathematized by the leaders of the nation, regarded as mad by His relatives, misunderstood by everybody, friendless and afflicted He pursued His pathway of unspeakable love, though the woes that encircled His lonely Person steadily increased, until they reached their culmination in the cursed death of the cross, and the abandonment of God; and there that love, that for the space of thirty-three years had made this valley of death redolent with its odours, poured forth in infinite volume and in omnipotent power its everlasting and unutterable sweetness: love to His Father in the first instance, but love also to all given to Him of the Father.

The unapproachable light in which the Godhead dwells contains its own unfathomable secrets; but the things that are revealed belong to us, who have received the Holy Spirit in order that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God; which things have been spoken to us in words taught by the same Spirit. We can therefore be in the full light of the revealed will of God, and more than that we know nothing; nor into unrevealed mysteries have we any desire to penetrate. The light that the sun gives us is all that we require for light and health. A little more might be destructive to us, so the revelation that God has made to us is all that we need for our eternal happiness, and the subject mind desires no greater revelation, but only to know that revelation better.

The revelation that we have of God conveys to us the great truth that He is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; three persons, yet one God, and God is love. This is what He is in His nature, what He is in His very being. There is nothing but love between those Divine and Eternal Persons. "Thou lovedst Me," says Jesus to the Father, "before the foundation of the world" (John 17: 24). "God is Love" is the only absolute appellative that is used of the supreme Being; and what a wave of infinite happiness and indescribable joy overwhelms the soul as we meditate upon the marvellous fact that love is the nature of the One with whom we have to do. That "God is light" the Word also declares, but we are also said to be light, and therefore I take it that light is a more relative term, and not so absolute as love.

But as my object is at present to meditate a little upon the love of Christ, I must seek to engage the reader's attention with One of these Divine Persons in His manifestation here upon earth, the Son divested of the form of God, and clothed in the form of a Servant; no more to exercise authority as a despot, accountable to no higher power for His actions, but to be under the authority of another, and to do the will of the Father that sent Him. What a change of circumstances! How wondrous to behold the Creator of the worlds in the form of a Servant, a Man amongst men; in outward form not distinguishable from other men, thus in order that He might accomplish the will of the Father!

By the way in which we have the truth presented to us in the Scriptures we learn that counsels belong to the Father (Eph. 1: 3-14); the Son becomes Man, in order that through Him those counsels may be fulfilled (John 17); and the Holy Spirit is the power by which all are brought to pass (Acts 10: 38). In proof of each of these statements many other texts of Scripture might be adduced, but they can be easily found by the reader, and this exercise will be full of both interest and spiritual profit.

The presence of the Son here upon this earth in humiliation is the witness of His love to the Father. Those eternal counsels of love were as dear to His heart as to the heart of the Father; and in the laying of a foundation upon which all those counsels could be righteously fulfilled He knew all the horrors that such a work entailed. But such was His great love to the Father, such His infinite desire that those counsels should have their fulfilment, such His delight to do the will of the Father, He would go through all those horrors, let the cost to Himself be what it might.

And having become a Servant He will be a Servant for ever. The descent from the form of God to that of a servant may be immeasurable, His lowly birth humiliating, His death upon the cross ignominious, His descent into hades dishonourable in the extreme; but it was the hand of the Father that had marked out that path for His feet to tread; and He also knew that beyond the reproach, and the shame, and the gibbet, and the darkness, and the forsaking, and the death, there was for Him "Thy presence, where there is fulness of joy, and Thy right hand, where there are pleasures for evermore" (Ps. 16: 11). Therefore for the joy that was set before Him He could endure the cross and despise the shame (Heb. 12: 2). His words when going to that cross were: "That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do" (John 14: 31). In His great love to the Father, and that the Father might be glorified, even to the giving up of His life He did everything that could be done upon earth, and then asked to be glorified, in order that He might still glorify Him upon the platform of resurrection. And when all those counsels of love have been fulfilled, and when every enemy has been subdued, His subjection to the Father shall be as eternally perfect, and His love as undiminished as it was when tested by the death of the cross.

But how can we speak of the Father's appreciation of that self-sacrificing love of His beloved Son? We can only estimate the delight that the Father has in Him, as we are able to estimate the place of exaltation given Him of the Father. He could say when here below: "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again" (John 10: 17). Because of that mighty work that He accomplished to the Father's glory, and at His commandment, He has been highly exalted, and a Name given to Him which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly, earthly, and infernal beings; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2: 9-11). The Son has loved the Father above all else, and His love has been proven, by His taking the place of a servant, and becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; and the love of the Father to the Son is proven, by the place which as Man He occupies on the Father's throne, and by the fact that the Father is determined that His Son shall have the same honour as Himself from every intelligent being; for all must honour the Son, even as they honour the Father (John 5: 23).

But in His becoming man, and in all the work that He has done, as well as His present activities on our behalf before the face of God, we see His love for those given Him of the Father. It is our privilege, as individual believers, to take up the words of the apostle into our lips, and confess: "He loved me, and gave Himself for me"; and as part of that wondrous organism of which He is the Head, rejoice in the fact that He loved the church, and gave Himself for it. Whatever He did, He did for the glory of the Father, but He did it no less for our eternal blessing. "Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage" (Heb. 2: 14, 15).

It is with holy adoration that we draw near in contemplation of His taking the form of a servant, and being found in fashion as a man, for the glory of the Godhead, and that the counsels of the Father might be carried out; but that He should set His affections upon such rebellious worms of the dust as we all are by nature, this is just where we lose ourselves in utter bewilderment, for it surely surpasses knowledge. Perhaps it is not always that we are in the blissful contemplation of its glory and its infinity, but when the reality and greatness of it breaks with overwhelming power over heart and mind, we begin to realize that though we know it, and rejoice in its quickening beams, and that with a joy unspeakable, its sweetness, its vastness, its marvellous mystery, can never be fully known.

The blessed God has graciously given to us the power of speech, by means of which we can express the thoughts that rise up in our creature minds. We speak of eternity, infinity, and such-like words, but these terms are much more the expression of our own creature limitations, our utter ignorance of the things we know to be realities rather than an exposition of the things themselves. It is thus with the great verities of revelation, things that are much more to be felt and enjoyed than to be set forth in human parlance. When we think of eternity we have the thought of endless duration of time; and when we think of infinity, that which has not bounds or limits is before our minds. But what know we of either? May I not also ask, What need we know? We know that the love of Christ is our sure and lasting portion: ours while we have our being, and that its magnitude is beyond all our ability to grasp. And we know that it is not only the little of it that we can grasp that is ours; it is all ours. It has all been lavished upon us, and it is all ours to be enjoyed.

We know "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich" (2 Cor. 8: 9). What amazing down-stooping on His part we see in His advent into this world! What marvellous self-abnegation! From form of God into form of servant, from despot to slave, from omnipotence to infant weakness, from the adoration of angels to the contempt of men: love incarnate in a world of incarnate lust!

"Come now and view that manger,

The Lord of glory see,

A houseless, homeless stranger

In this poor world for thee."

Love brought Him there ? sovereign love. He had come forth from the Father, and was come into the world. He had come forth from riches, and was come into poverty. He had come from the throne of the universe, and was come to a manger where the cattle fed. He had called the creation into existence by the word of His power, He was now in that creation in the form of a creature. He had been accustomed to give commandment, now He must hearken to, and execute, the behests of Another. In His presence seraphim veiled their faces, now must He meet the proud and persecuting stare of His rebellious creatures. How altered are the circumstances of the Lord of glory!

See the poverty into which His love has brought Him! An outcast in a manger! A stranger in His own world! His delights had ever been with the sons of men (Prov. 8: 31). And now He is with them, and in their likeness, beginning where man begins, come of a woman, born into the world, love come down to heal sin-ruined souls. To the human eye the expression of weakness, but really the Upholder of the universe, which is the work of His own hands. Here under the protection of the Father, never to use His own power for His protection from insult or injury, but ever to commit Himself to Him that judges righteously; well knowing that His career upon earth must begin in a manger and close on a gibbet, while all His history between must be marked by the scorn, derision, and persecution of His rebellious creatures.

But is it not just this that has endeared Him to our hearts? It is in the evils that beset His path that we see His infinite moral perfections brought to light. We know Him where He is on the throne of the Father, but it is in His sojourn down here that we have learned Him. His present circumstances are very different to what they were in the days of His flesh, but there is no change in Him. He is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever" (Heb. 13: 8). At is He who was here that we look forward to see face to face, and to be with at His coming again.

But it is His lowly grace, His poverty, His meekness, that has attracted our hearts; because all this shows us the extent to which He was willing to go to make us His own. And what else, O Lord, could have won our heart's affections? Not the worship of angels; not Thy works of mighty power; not even the Father's voice from the opened heavens. These wonders might have awed and terrified our creature souls, but they would not have led us to confide in Thee. No!

"We cling to Thee in weakness,

The manger and the cross;

We gaze upon Thy meekness

Thro' suffering, pain, and loss."

Thou didst speak words the like of which never before had saluted the ears of men. They expressed that which lay in Thine own heart of unfathomable love for such as we know ourselves to be. They came through Thy lips warm from the bosom of the living Father, where Thou hadst Thine everlasting dwelling-place. As had been traced on the two tables of stone that which man should be for God, so Thou didst trace on the dust of this world that which God was in grace for man. And also Thou didst manifest in Thy lowly life the order of man, and the only order of man, that can live for ever in relation with God.

Surely Thou art all-powerful. Thou knowest all things, and Thou canst do all things. There is nothing too hard for Thee. But it is to Thee in weakness we cling ? the deep weakness of the manger, and the deeper weakness of the cross; yet the Upholder of all things in both manger and cross as Thou now art on the throne of the Highest. What unfathomable mysteries surround Thy holy Person!

Only the Father knows the Son (Matt. 11: 28). It is utterly impossible for our creature minds to fathom the mysteries of the incarnation, nor should we have the least desire to do this. We should be perfectly satisfied with the revelation given to us, for all that the creature could receive, even with the aid of the Holy Spirit; is given to us in the Holy Scriptures. Not to frankly enter into that which is revealed is to greatly hinder the growth of our souls, and to attempt to go beyond the Word is to wander into dangerous error. But God would have our souls enlightened and nourished by the Word of truth. He would have us grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Therefore, while we must be careful not to go beyond the limits of Scripture, we must just be as careful not to allow our natural timidity to rob us of that which is vital to the welfare of our souls. Let us search the Scriptures diligently, but let us search them prayerfully also, and in distrust of our natural minds in whatever form they may assert themselves.

I make bold to say however, that the soul who has not learned the excellencies of Christ as manifested in His lowly life, has never yet learned them. It is the humbled Christ that has won our hearts. The way in which He entered this world and the way in which He went out of it, shall never be forgotten by His redeemed people. Whatever else we may have learned, these are the great verities that have won our affections. And the brightest hope we have is to be with Him who ever had His delight with the sons of men, and who in infinite grace, though He was rich, for our sakes became poor; in order that we through His poverty might become rich. May He be daily the study of our souls and the great light and joy of all our hearts.

The Love of the Brethren

"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." 1 John 3: 14.

The love of the saints to one another is no less divine than is that of the Father and the Son. This love is one of the great distinguishing marks of the children of God. Of this family there are two characteristics which unfailingly declare their lineage, and these are righteousness and love. As lawlessness and hatred of the brethren mark the children of the devil, as do righteousness and love of the brethren mark the children of God. In 1 John 2: 29 we read, "Every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him"; and in chapter 3: 12 we read, "Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous." Then we have in chapter 4: 7, "Love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God."

The ability to take the place of children of God is only the portion of the saints of this dispensation. We have this place by the Father's call (1 John 3: 1), we have it as a right given to us by Christ (John 1: 12), and we have it in the witness of the Spirit (Rom. 8: 16). But "born of God" itself is not dispensational. It was true from the commencement of the activities of the grace of God in this fallen world, and for an example of one born of God the Apostle goes back to Abel; his works were righteous, and "Every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him." If we find a man practising righteousness or loving the brethren we know that that man is born of God. He is not a mere child of Adam, nor is he of the devil, but of God. Every one brings forth after his kind, whether it be the devil, fallen man or the blessed God Himself.

It is of the utmost importance to see that these characteristics are the outcome of the divine nature, the nature of the children of God. They are not qualities which can be put on or imitated by the mere child of Adam. Righteousness here is not what the world calls honesty, which is only measured by men's dealings with one another. This may be rightly enough called righteousness, but it is not that which is spoken of here. Abel's righteousness is seen in his taking his rightful place in the presence of God. In himself he is nothing but a guilty sinner, but this he most fully admits, and he approaches God in the way opened up to him in boundless grace. It is in a man's dealings with God more than in his dealings with men that his righteousness or lawlessness becomes apparent.

Nor is love mere natural affection, a thing found sometimes stronger than death amongst men; and not only amongst men, but even amongst the lower orders of creation. As originally formed, man was set in intelligent relationship with God, and in an unfallen state his affections would have happily flowed in the channels dug for them in the wisdom and goodness of his Creator; but as fallen they have burst all bounds, and at the direction of corrupt and lawless flesh, they wander where they will regardless of the consequences. This shows man to be at the level of the irresponsible beast of the field, if indeed not at a lower level.

The notion of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man is not new, but lately it has been brought into more prominence than heretofore; and indeed it might truthfully be said that the great mass of professing Christians are fighting their battles under this banner. But such a notion has no place in the Word of God. No one is a child of God apart from the new birth. This is hinted at, perhaps I had better say figuratively declared, in the Old Testament; and the Lord seems to infer that Nicodemus should have known it. He says, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3: 3). And when the unbelieving mind of the Pharisee raises questions regarding this mysterious operation of the Spirit of God, Jesus says, "Art thou a teacher of Israel, and knowest not these things?" Ezekiel had said, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh (Ezek. 36: 25, 26). It is to such words as these the Lord evidently refers when He says, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

In the past dispensation man was under probation, and while this was so it would not have been consistent to have plainly declared his hopelessly lost condition, which the reference to new birth does; because if man is so hopelessly lost that he must be born again, when this verdict is given his trial must be concluded. Therefore, while it was always necessary from the fall, if man was to be in right relationship with God, while his trial was running its course it was only hinted at; but now that the resources of God put forth to influence the flesh in right ways have been exhausted, the plain truth as to the incorrigible wickedness of the flesh is declared, and the necessity of new birth is frankly insisted upon.

This new birth is produced by the Word of God, which is incorruptible, living and abiding. On earth everything perishes but the Word of God. The Jew is grass, the Gentile is grass--all flesh is grass, and the glory of man the flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower of it passes away. What, then, remains? "The Word of our God shall stand for ever" (Isa. 40). This Word has been brought to us in the gospel (1 Peter 1: 25), and by it the believer is born again. His life and nature are divine.

Therefore the one born of God does not practise sin but righteousness. Had he nothing but the divine nature he would be utterly incapable of sinning, for that nature cannot sin. But as long as he is in this world he has also the old nature of the flesh, and it can do nothing but sin, and in this nature he is liable to act, and will do so if he be not watchful. When we are glorified there will be no more need for the vigilance that is now necessary. We will then be like Christ, and free from the presence of the flesh, and failure will be a thing of the past.

But the One who is begotten of God loves Him that begat. We love the Father and the Son, and we love the brethren. It is natural for us to do so. That which the law, by all its threatenings, could not get from the mere child of Adam, God has gotten by His work of grace in our hearts. The law demanded love from man, but never got it. But God has got it by the revelation of His great love to us in the death of His only begotten Son: "We love Him because He first loved us." It is not because we are compelled to do it by threatenings of wrath. This never produced love in any human heart. Terror it did produce, but not love. Love begets love where that love is appreciated; and when the love of God, as it has been brought to light in the death of Jesus, is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us, we love Him.

It may be that we feel our love so feeble that we are almost ashamed to say anything about it at all. This may be all right, for when compared with the infinite love of God, feeble indeed it must ever appear. Still, we love Him, if we are born of Him; and well He knows it, for He searches the heart and knows all that is there. And we also know it, however we may bewail its feebleness. Peter could appeal to the omniscience of the Lord at a time when his actions were sufficient to raise doubts as to the reality of his affection for Christ in the minds of his brethren. He says, "Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee" (John 21: 17). It is well to have to do with One who knows the most secret thoughts of the heart. He knows us even better than we know ourselves, and this is a great comfort. He has not to wait until we make known to Him our inmost thoughts. He knows what is there, for every bit of good that is there is there by the working of His fathomless grace. And it is there even before we are aware of it ourselves. It is a great surprise to all of us when we first come to the consciousness of our readiness to stand in the face of the whole hostile world in confession of Christ. Those born of God may seem to the eyes of the world either too contemptible to be taken seriously, or, like a few noxious weeds, to be taken up and given to the flame; and they, if they think of themselves at all, will only regard themselves as cumberers of the ground; but the enjoyment of the favour of God gives them a sense of superiority above all the power and glory of the world.

The love of the children of God is self-sacrificing. We are told we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren; that is to say, all the children of God should lay down their lives for one another. The One in whom that love has been expressed laid down his life for us; therefore we should lay down our lives for one another. It is the love of God that is in the hearts of His children, and that love came to light in the death of Christ; and if God so loved us, we are told, we also should love one another. We would be most likely to say, we should love Him; but we never find love to God demanded in Christianity. Under law God says, "Thou shalt love Me"; and, "Ye are cursed if ye do not." But under grace God says, "I love you, believe it and live."

The test of that love being in us is our love to the children of God. We might say that we love God, but it is that which is of God in the world that tests us; and if we love not our brother whom we have seen, how can we love God whom we have not seen? (1 John 4: 20). We may go about looking for love from our brethren, and murmuring because we do not seem to get as much of it as we would desire, but this is a sad state to be in, and manifests a heart not in the enjoyment of the love of God. Love is the very life of the children of God, and is the spring and fountain of all their activities. It is the new commandment. It was the thing that was true in Jesus when He was upon earth, and is now true in His own in the power of the Spirit (1 John 2: 8).

In this we are to be imitators of God, and walk in love as Christ also has loved us, and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. As His children we are to come out in His moral characteristics, and become known to be the disciples of Jesus, as He says, "By this shall all men know that ye are disciples of Mine, if ye have love one to another" (John 13: 35). No teacher but Himself ever taught this, hence those who love one another are known in this world as His disciples.

How far above the plotting and working of the enemy God has shown Himself to be. Satan, no doubt, considered he had accomplished something that would act as an eternal vexation to the Creator, when he overthrew the creature in transgression, who was made in His image and likeness. But he little knew the wisdom and might of Him whose implacable foe he had become. That evil has been made the occasion of Satan's everlasting downfall, and of infinite and eternal glory to God. Through infinite grace fallen sinners have been brought to know the Creator in His nature, and to stand before Him in the relationship of sons. Earth has been lost, but heaven has been gained, and all the glory belongs to God; and blessed for ever be His name, we can say God is love. May we be kept in that love, and may we grow in the divine nature, and be better able to imitate Him whose name is Love. Nothing but love is of any value under the sun, but it must be divine love, the love of God, the love of the Father, the love of the Son, and the love of the brethren. Without this nature, which in us is the result of new birth, all else is worthless.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love,

I am become as sounding brass,

Or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy,

And understand all mysteries,

And all knowledge;

And though I have all faith,

So that I could remove mountains, and have not love,

I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,

And though I give my body to be burned and have not love,

It profiteth me nothing.

Love

suffereth long,

is kind,

envieth not,

vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

doth not behave itself unseemly,

seeketh not her own,

is not easily provoked,

thinketh no evil,

rejoiceth not in iniquity,

rejoiceth in the truth,

beareth all things,

believeth all things,

hopeth all things,

endureth all things,

never faileth.

Now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Cor. 13).

The Son of God and the Scriptures

"The second Man is the Lord from heaven." 2 Cor. 15: 4.

"The Scripture cannot be broken." John 10: 35.

As regards ourselves, who are by nature Gentiles, the whole fabric of Scripture authority rests upon the basis of the greatness of the person of Jesus. The Answer of my faith to the question: "What think ye of Christ? whose Son is He? must regulate my thoughts regarding this all-important subject. And as a matter of fact, I find that the way in which people do answer this question makes all the difference as to their ideas of inspiration. I never knew a man sound upon the doctrine of the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, who harboured the least doubt in his mind regarding the divinity of Jesus; neither have I ever known any one who looked upon Jesus as the Creator incarnate, and who relegated the Bible to a lower place than the Word of God. I am sure it will be found that these two convictions are inseparably connected, and that where any one of them is not welcome, the other will refuse to enter.

One who has recently apostatized from the faith of Christianity questions if we ever would have heard of the Old Testament had it not been for Jesus; and though it may be very difficult to say what might, or might not have been, had the light of the gospel of Christ never reached us, we certainly would not have had any real faith in it apart from the Son of God. We have received the Holy Scriptures solely through faith in Him. He has authenticated to us the writings of Moses and the Prophets; and the writers of the New Testament declare their epistles to be the commandments of the Lord (1 Cor. 14: 37); and that not only the thoughts, but the words in which those thoughts were conveyed to us, were words chosen by the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2: 13).

If these statements of theirs, which lay claim to such authority, are falsehoods, then they are the most wicked falsehoods ever told to men, for they are lies against the living God; and as they concern the most important matters with which the human race has to do, they are the inventions of soul-murderers. These statements of the avowed followers and servants of Jesus are accompanied, on the one hand, with the promise of eternal and unspeakable blessedness for the believer; and, on the other hand, the most terrible consequences of unbelief are announced as hanging over the head of the impenitent rebel; and all these things are placed before the reader in language which is absolutely simple, natural, unstrained, and bearing no resemblance to that which rises from the frenzied imagination of crack-brained zealots. If what they affirm of their words and writings be not true, they were a crowd of wicked and bad men, and they can be believed in nothing. And yet we owe to those men all that we have ever heard of Jesus; and my knowledge of men gives me the most perfect assurance that such a person as He of whom they testified could not be created in the mind of a child of Adam.

His story touches the most tender chords of the human heart, and His moral excellency so mightily appeals to the soul of the faithful disciple, that his most blissful moment is when he is at the feet of this adorable Person as a worshipper. So great is Jesus, so morally different from every other human being, so completely free from all the unworthy motives which govern others, so gracious, guileless, gentle, meek, lowly, compassionate, merciful, self-sacrificing, righteous, holy, harmless, good, so completely unique in all His characteristics, and so unlike man, as we know man, in every solitary way, that some have questioned if such a person ever really existed.

But if His disciples invented Him, they must have travelled for their conception outside the sphere in which the thoughts of men revolve; and if they ever took such a journey, we have to ask ourselves what power it was which carried them into those hitherto unexplored and unknown regions of purest thought, and imprinted upon their imaginations the moral glories with which they decked Him of whom they spoke as the Son of God.

If Jesus were an invention of those who called themselves His disciples, then His disciples were not ordinary men, for they have certainly gone beyond all that can be understood by men of the world. Leaving this world, after having revealed the Father, Jesus has to say, "O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee" (John 17: 25); and again, "They have not known the Father, nor Me" (16: 3). The Father cannot be known by a mere child of Adam, nor can the second Man be known by the first. There is no analogy between the Father and the world, nor between the man made of dust and the Man out of heaven; both Father and Son are beyond the ken of the men of this world.

The gods of the heathen are by the makers of them indued with passions such as men have; they are morally like men, but with greater strength. And if I take the heroes of the novelist, pride and self-reliance are the prominent features, for these are the characteristics in which men delight, but not one of them is like Jesus. There is nothing in common between men, as I know man, and the Son of God. It is only in the Bible I can find Him. How is this? If those fishermen of Galilee invented Him, how is it that no one has been able to invent another who can be compared with Him? and how is it that now that He has been invented, He is so little understood that the greatest minds on earth, even when well-intentioned, cannot reproduce Him? Their frequent attempts have been at best but miserable caricatures. Apart from the holy anointing, the indwelling Spirit of God, no one can know the Father and the Son.

Read the best written life of Jesus ever produced by the uninspired pen of an unregenerate man, and then turn to the four Gospels, and see if it is not an emergence out of thick darkness and the domain of death, into marvellous light, and the radiant sphere of everlasting life. As you read the nine beatitudes which introduce the sermon on the mount, you are made to feel as though a door were opened in heaven, and the whole atmosphere about you at once becomes redolent with the perfume wafted from the paradise of God; then pass on until you hear the bells of heaven pealing forth the welcome of a returning scape-gallows, who in broken utterances sobs out his repentance into the gracious ear of a Saviour-God, and you must feel that all this is outside the sphere in which the thoughts of men revolve, and that you are made to listen to the pulsations of immortal love.

When you have finished with this, if you ever can finish with it, turn to John 13 and behold the grace of that lowly Son of God, doing the most menial service for His disciples which it is possible for one man to perform for another; and listen to those counsels of grace, wisdom, and holy love which fall from His blessed lips upon the ears of His humble followers; and follow Him until He is done speaking to them, and turns His eyes up to heaven, and pours into the ears of His Father His desires for them, and for all who will believe on Him through their word; and hear Him demand on their behalf, as One who has a righteous claim upon the wealth of power, and grace, and love, which in the Father dwell. Then follow Him to the judgment hall of the Roman governor, and hearken to the leaders of His earthly people howling for His heart's blood; and follow the crowd to dark Golgotha, and behold Him who made the worlds led as a lamb to the slaughter, nailed to a gibbet as a malefactor, and that between two robbers; and watch to the close, until He is taken down dead, while darkness enfolds the land, and under your feet you feel the earth reel beneath the weight of the corpse of Him who was its Creator, while the rocks are rent and the graves are opened; and if, after witnessing these things, you can flatter yourself that Jesus was a man like other men, or that such a Person either was, or could be, the invention of His disciples, you have a way of judging and arriving at conclusions unknown to me. From the benighted heart of the pagan centurion who had charge of the crucifixion was wrung the confession: "Truly this Man was the Son of God" (Mark 15: 39). May the reader's heart be at least as impressionable.

This is the glorious Person who has authenticated to us the Old Testament, of which He is the Subject, as He is also of the New. As to Israel, the law was given to them by Moses, and accompanied by such visible manifestations of majesty and terror on the part of God, that its divine origin could not by them be called in question; and as to the prophets, their word was proven to be of God by the sanctity of their lives, by its harmony with that which was given through Moses, and by the signs and wonders with which God was sometimes pleased to send it forth; though generally speaking, the prophets who after Moses were used of God to build up the canon of Scripture, do not seem to have been miracle workers. Men like Elijah and Elisha, who were characterized by miraculous manifestations, have not been used to put anything on record, though their words and works and manner of life have been recorded by others. The Jewish Scriptures were well authenticated to the people.

But we Gentiles were outside all those special dealings of God. We were "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2: 12). We have come into this rich inheritance through having to do with God revealed in Jesus. He came to His earthly people in fulfilment of the promises made to the fathers, but they rejected Him, and slew Him with the sword of the Romans. God raised Him from the dead, and in answer to the prayer of Jesus from the cross on their behalf (Luke 23: 34), offered to send Him back to them if they would repent (Acts 3: 20). The stoning of Stephen was their answer to this, and closed the door of hope to the nation; therefore devout men made great lamentation over his death, for in his grave every hope of Israel after the flesh was buried.

Then the Gentiles come up for blessing before God, and the persecutor of the Church is converted and sent to them. The perfect revelation of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God in whom the Jews boasted, came in the Word made flesh, so that believers from among the Gentiles find themselves linked up in the worship of the true God with Abel and all the faithful from his day until the coming of Christ. In this way we have a title to the Old Testament as well as to the New, and to us the two volumes become one Book, both equally inspired of God; the authority of the old established for us in the submission of Christ to every jot and tittle, though a better thing has been brought in by Him, for the Old was but the demand, whereas the New is the supply.

The subtle way in which men who call themselves Christians put before the public theories which are in direct antagonism to the plain statements of Scripture, is a plain proof of their determination to undermine in the thoughts of men whatever bit of confidence they may still possess in the Bible as the Word of God. If they would tell us plainly that they had abandoned Christianity as a useless encumbrance in the pursuit of knowledge, one might be grieved and sorry for them; but they would not be sailing under a false flag, neither would their ways fill one with the same measure of disgust and loathing.

I may be told that these men think there is much in the Scriptures that is really valuable, and therefore they do not feel justified in casting them aside as altogether useless. But if the Bible be not the word of God, and if Jesus be not a divine Person, and if we have no revelation from God, and if the apostles were a set of deceivers and knaves?. But here I am interrupted at once, and reminded that the writers are considered to have been good and true men. Are they? Did Jehovah say to the prophets the things which they spoke to men as His word? Was the burning bush a fact in the life of Moses? Jesus said it was, but was it? Is the Exodic account of the deliverance of Israel from the power of Pharaoh true? What about the passage through the sea? the desert? the manna? the water out of the rock? Whose Son was He who said: "Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness"? (John 6: 49).

Did Jesus work the wonders which are recorded of Him? They are recorded by the Evangelist, that we should believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing we might have life through His name (John 20: 31). Is the greatness of this Person built upon a foundation of falsehood, and is it upon a raft of lies against the living God we are to float into the harbour of eternal life? Did these good and true men who wrote the Gospels and Epistles concoct the baseless wonders with which they accredit Jesus, and leave them on record encased in a framework of piety as hypocritical as false? This is not what I should expect from men who are good and true.

And yet they do commend themselves to the conscience of all men as both good and true. No one can question that they believed the things which they have put on record. And how could they have been deceived? They were not men easily convinced, and the deeds were not done in a corner. They were neither credulous nor easily imposed upon, and though their persistent unbelief was failure, and had to come under the rebuke of their Lord, it gives additional weight to their testimony, which they gladly bore for His honour and for our eternal blessing, when the last cloud of unbelief at length yielded to the gracious influence of that eternal day, which broke upon their souls as they stood beside the empty grave of Him who could not be holden of death.

The Man of God's Counsels

"We see Jesus . . . crowned with glory and honour." Hebrews 2: 9.

It is impossible to connect the idea of chance with any of the ways of God. Not even a sane man will commence a work without having in his mind the image of that upon which the labour of his hands is to be employed. A man may not be able to perfect his idea; he may find, as his work proceeds, that it will not answer the purpose for which he intended it, and therefore he may have with reluctance to abandon it; he may even learn something in the midst of his toil which may cause him to make considerable alterations, so that the thing when finished is very different from his original conception. This comes from being unable to grasp at the outset every detail connected with the subject in hand, and everything that will be necessary to do, in order to arrive at perfection.

But this can never be the case as regards the activities of God. It is impossible to think of Him as limited in wisdom, skill, or understanding. He must be infinite in every one of His attributes. The man who thinks otherwise, if any such man exist, can have no true thought of the Creator in his soul. Man is only a finite being, and, as I have suggested, while he proceeds with his work, new ideas strike his mind, for though perfection be his ideal, he can never arrive at it. He does not know the power and value of the elements with which he has to work, neither does he perfectly know their relation to one another, nor always the result of certain combinations; hence he is ever astonishing himself with his new discoveries, and bringing out new inventions.

Not so God. The Creator can learn nothing from His creation. The universe is the conception of His infinite mind, and it is impossible that He could receive any instruction from it. "The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath He established the heavens. By His knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew" (Prov. 3. 19-20). Who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? for of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever" (Rom. 11: 34-36). He has not, as some suppose, been from the outset doing the best He can, contending with the inroads of evil, meeting the adverse power to the best of His ability, and ever, through the growth of intelligence, improving upon the past. "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself" (Ps. 50: 21), is the charge He makes against the wicked, and it is a charge of which all are guilty who have not learned Him in Jesus.

It is impossible for me to imagine the Creator forming a universe like the one of which I form a part, without having distinctly before Him its whole history, and the ultimate result of all His activities in connection with it. His plans must all have been formed before He began His work; and when we come to Scripture this is just what we find. The Book of those counsels is alluded to more than once (Ex. 32: 32; Ps. 40: 7; Ps. 139: 16). We have counsel, promise, choice, and purpose referred to again and again; and the central object in all those counsels is the Man who was predestined to give effect to them. As Adam was the man set upon the footing of responsibility, and who, failing to fulfil that responsibility, fell under the power of evil; so Christ is the Man of divine counsel, who upholds everything by the power of God. It was ever the thought of God to set up all things in His own power. Nothing can stand but that which is upheld by the might of God.

If this be kept in mind, it is easy to see that the Man of God's counsels must be a divine person. No creature is capable of maintaining himself in blessing on the principle of obedience, and none but a divine person could carry out the thoughts of the Godhead. Christ is not a development of the race of Adam. He is not the best man of that race that ever lived, or the most perfect that ever walked the earth. He is not of the old order at all. He is the "last Adam," and the last Adam is not a mere improvement upon the first. The first man was of the earth, made of dust: "the second Man is out of heaven." The first Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam is a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15). The first had his origin from earth; the second had His origin from heaven. The first man was made to bask in the goodness of God; the second had His place in the bosom of the Father. There are mysteries in connection with the Son which no creature can fathom: "No man knoweth the Son but the Father"; but that, on the divine side, He was equal with the Father is fully revealed in Scripture and that, on our side, He was Man is just as strongly insisted. He is spoken of as "The Man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts" (Zech. 13: 7).

A recent writer, who for a little while made a great stir in the religious world, tells us that the truth about the person of Jesus is to be the great question for religion in the near future. The truth is, it has been the great question since the hour in which He took His place in public testimony for God. The Baptist bore testimony to Him as the Son of God, the thong of whose sandals he was unworthy to loose (John 1). The Father also bore witness to Him, opening heaven upon Him, and saluting Him as His beloved Son, in whom He had found His delight (Luke 3: 22). The Old Testament bears witness to the greatness of this wondrous Personage. Isaiah speaks of Him as the One whose rebuke dries up the sea, and makes the rivers a wilderness; who clothes the heavens with blackness, and makes sack-cloth their covering; and yet One to whom Jehovah had given the tongue of a disciple, whose ear He had opened to hear as the instructed, who gave His back to the smiters and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, and who hid not His face from shame and spitting (Isa. 50). He is the object of the worship of angels (Ps. 97, cf. Heb. 1: 6), saluted as God upon the throne (Ps. 45), addressed as the everlasting Creator of the heavens and the earth (Ps. 102), and yet called up from the depths of death to sit upon the right hand of God, until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet (Ps. 110).

Now it is true that "No man knoweth the Son but the Father" (Matt. 11), yet there is a way in which He is to be known by His people. It is life eternal to know the Father, and Jesus Christ His sent One (John 17: 3), and believers are all to come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God (Eph. 4: 13). There are mysteries about this Person that no creature mind can grasp, and it is exceedingly dangerous to allow the human reason a loose rein in the contemplation of such a sacred and profound subject. When we think of the "fulness of the Godhead" inhabiting a human body, a divine Person for thirty-three years confining Himself to the limits of a man, yet never less than the omnipotent Creator, we become convinced that in such a contemplation the imagination of man can have no place, and that to move a single step one way or another without divine support would be to court disaster, land us in the depths of error, and expose us to the attack of the enemy of our souls. We are only safe when we keep close to the revelation we have of Him in the Scriptures of truth. That He was, and remains, a Man, these Scriptures affirm; that He is the Creator is also affirmed, and that He was always fully conscious of who He was is also maintained.

The truth about His person may be the question in the near future, but as I have already said, it is as old as His advent into the world. Jesus put the question to the Scribes: "What think ye of Christ? whose Son is He?" and discovered them to be without any true light on the point. They had no higher idea concerning Him than that He was the Son of David; but the fact that David had in Spirit called Him Lord was more than they could understand. This was the question of the day for the Jews, and it was because He bore witness to this truth that they condemned Him to the death of the cross (John 19: 7). It is also the question of to-day, and it will be the question until the day of His manifestation in glory. Believers can say: "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This (Person) is the true God, and eternal life (1 John 5: 20).

During the time in which the first man was under probation, and while, by every trial to which he was subjected, it was being clearly demonstrated that he was utterly untrustworthy and unprofitable, the positions of trust in which he was placed ? which tested his ability to hold the position for God ? shadowed forth the offices which would be taken up by the second Man, and fulfilled to the glory and praise of God. Hence for two reasons the trial was never repeated. When God committed to man a position of trust and he failed to hold it faithfully, he had no second opportunity. In the first place, the trial was perfect, and the circumstances under which the trial took place were always most favourable to the probationer. To have given a second occasion would have been to admit that something had been overlooked in the first, which should have been kept in mind, and that because of this, the evidence was not quite conclusive. In the second place, in all those prominent men in the past dispensation, to whom positions of trust were committed, Christ was being shadowed forth; and this being so, no more was required than that the picture should be drawn, and the position indicated; when this was done its purpose was served, and it disappeared.

This explains things which often seem inexplicable to the superficial reader of Scripture. Men are sometimes installed in a position of dignity and trust with as much ceremony as though they were to abide in it for ever, and in connection with this position an order of things is established with as much care, exactitude, grandeur, and glory as though it were never to be shaken, and the next thing we are called to witness is the complete collapse and ruin of everything, and the announcement of something fresh seals its complete and final rejection. It was but a picture drawn by the Spirit of God to illustrate a position which the Man of God's counsels would one day take up and maintain to the honour of God. Hence Christ is the One set forth in such men as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar, and many others, for in every one of these men was set forth some position, office, or headship, which would be filled by the One whom God had in reserve, and who was to come to light when the worthlessness of the first man would be perfectly demonstrated. In the dispensation of the fulness of times (Eph. 1) all these men will be seen to have been figures, as Adam was, of Him that was to come (Rom. 5: 14). He will hold for God everything in which these men failed.

Fallen Adam was head of the old fallen race; Christ is head of the new righteous race. Adam brought in sin and death; Christ brought in righteousness and life ? Adam through his disobedience; Christ through His obedience. Adam's act of disobedience had its bearing toward all men in the way of condemnation; so the obedience of Christ, proved in His death, has its bearing toward all in the sense of justification. Sin and death came in by Adam, and have their bearing toward all men; and righteousness and life came in by Christ and have reference to all. If all are lost in Adam, God has raised up a righteous Head for men, so that all may be saved in Him. He gave Himself a ransom for all, for God would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2). Therefore the Gospel is preached world-wide that men may turn to God through Christ and find salvation. Christ is to be everything to every man ? wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption Cor. 1: 30).

But then it should be understood by all, that if Christ was to take up the position of life-giving Head toward all men, the question of righteousness cannot be ignored. There was the question of sin between man and God, and who could touch it? Christ will not ignore all the rights which God has over His creature. Even between men satisfaction must be offered to the offended party before right relations can be established. It may be the offended party is magnanimous enough to forgive everything, but relations thus established are never of the happiest or most lasting nature. There must be a basis of righteousness if confidence and quietude of soul are to exist undisturbed for ever. If this be so with regard to the relations of men with one another, how much more is it true with respect to our relations with God, seeing that the slightest friction between us and Him would make every thought of God a terror to us, and our very existence one of utter misery.

In the Book of divine counsel, to which I have already referred, we get brought to light, not only the One who was to accomplish those counsels, but also the fact that a body was to be prepared for Him. The sacrifices and offerings belonging to the law were valueless to take away sins, therefore if the will of God is to be done a sacrifice of infinite value was necessary. This was furnished by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ (Heb. 10: 10). In the Psalm (40) which speaks of this Book, and of the Accomplisher of the will of God, we have this wondrous Person crying out of the horrible pit and the miry clay, and heard in resurrection, when His feet are placed upon a rock, and a new song put into His mouth. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives us to understand that one reason for His taking a body was, that through death He might destroy the Devil, who had the might of death, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Heb. 2: 14, 15). Another reason given was, that we might be set apart to God in the value of that offering (chap. 10: 10), our consciences perfected and our hearts won, so that we might be at home in the presence of God. His death is the basis of all blessing, and is the foundation upon which will be built up the whole fabric of the new heavens and the new earth, a universe secure from the invasion of evil.

The Son of Man

"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him, or the Son of Man, that Thou visitest Him" Hebrews 2: 6.

To prove that a God of infinite goodness is not the author of this world in its present state requires no elaborate argumentation, nor does it make any demand upon the least ratiocinative ability. It is everywhere, and in everything, abundantly manifest that a beneficent Creator would not voluntarily give His creatures, whom He has endowed with intelligence, affections, sensitivity, accountability to Himself and to his fellows, into the darkness, the distress, the sufferings, the sorrows, the woes that are the portion of the whole human family.

There must be some terrible reason for the state of things we find in this world ? the pestilences, the horrors of war, the hatred, the murders, the corruption, the fear of death, the silence of heaven, the shrinking from the grave to which all are hastening, and the dread of something after ? these evils cry out against our attributing to a benevolent Creator the invention or origination of such a woeful state of things.

Yet even on this earth we have indications, many and varied, that it is a beneficent Creator who watches over the history of the earth's generations and teeming multitudes. The sunshine warms and comforts our bodies, and between its kindly influence and the rain from heaven the hearts of men are filled with food and gladness. The seasons come round in their appointed courses, and fulfil their several functions of mercy. Under the night-cloud man lies down to rest, and his weary frame becomes thus refreshed and ready to answer to the demands of another day. And all this bears testimony to the goodness of God, and is given that men might feel after Him, and find Him; for He is not far from any one of us; for in Him we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17).

Thank God for His Word, the revelation He has given us concerning Himself. Where would we be without it? Would we be able without it to pick out of all His ways with us the witnesses of His faithful and generous care for our welfare, and, in spite of the innumerable evils that afflict our souls, to encourage our hearts in such a sense of His desire for our welfare that we would put out the hand of faith in the midst of the surrounding gloom, that it might lay hold upon His?

No: we require this precious revelation of Himself which He in His infinite love has given us, that by it we may be made wise to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3: 15-17). And how beautifully this revelation sets before us the great thoughts of God, and how all His purposes, even before the beginning of His works, centred upon man. Man whom we supposed He had neglected, and to whose sorrows He was indifferent, is supreme in the eternal thoughts of God.

But for almost six thousand years men have groaned under the oppression of the enemy, and as far as any public display of power is concerned it is all in the hands of the enemy, and deliverance seems as far off as it was at the beginning. Man is still under death, still dominated by sin and the devil. Through what mighty man is the deliverance of the oppressed to be effected?

We are, blessed be God, left in no doubt as to this. Almost the first words that fell upon the ears of our fallen parents from which they could derive any hope were those that were spoken to the serpent that deceived them: the Seed of the woman was to bruise his head. Adam could effect nothing. His own deliverance, as well as the deliverance of any of his posterity, depended upon the Seed of the woman. Not Adam, but the Son of Man is the One whom God has made strong for Himself (Ps. 80: 17).

He is to be supreme in the universe of God. Everything is to be put under His feet. The only exception to this is God Himself. He is to be pre-eminent in every department of the universe, for this is the decree of God from all eternity. Around Him all the thoughts of God centre. He is the object of all prophetic scripture. The prominent men in past dispensations were only figures of Him, shadows of the Man that filled the vision of God.

When the Psalmist looked up into the heavens and contemplated the work of God's fingers, the moon and the stars which He had ordained, the littleness of man came before him, and he wondered that God took such account of him. But if the littleness of man filled the vision of the Psalmist so that he was forced to exclaim: "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" it was Christ that filled the vision of the Spirit: not Adam, but the Seed of the woman, the Son of Man, the object of divine counsel, and He saw everything put under His feet; and though this is not manifestly so yet, the same Spirit fixes our attention upon the Man in heaven, who is crowned with glory and honour, having tasted death for everything. If we see not yet all things put under man, we see the Man under whom everything is to be put, and we see Him in the highest place in glory.

We find a most interesting reference to Him in the eighth of Proverbs. There, speaking as Wisdom, He says, "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old . . .: then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him; rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and my delights were with the sons of men."

Now when we come to the truth regarding the greatness of the Son of Man we find that He is the Creator Himself: all things were made by Him (John 1; Col. 1; Heb. 1). And yet He is viewed here as "by" the Creator, when He made the heavens and the earth. The reason of this, I have no doubt, is that He is there viewed solely as the Man of God's counsels, and that He was the object or purpose with regard to creation; and everything was made with regard to its being taken over by this Son of Man who gave direction to the whole character of the work. "As one brought up with Him" is translated in the Revised Version: "A master workman" (v. 30), and it has also been translated: "His artificer." The meaning, I am persuaded, is that everything was created in view of Christ taking it under control as Man on the ground of redemption.

For we must keep in mind, as I have said, that He is Creator, and that He made the universe and all that is in it for Himself (Col. 1: 16); and when it became necessary for the glory of God, and for the fulfilment of divine counsel, that He should take the place of Leader of the salvation of the many sons that God was bringing to glory, and when it was necessary for the exigencies of that glory that redemption should be wrought, He tasted death for everything: "For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." Therefore the One who created everything has tasted death for everything, that everything might be placed on the ground of redemption to the glory of God.

His sufferings were first of all for the glory of God; that in the creation where God was so dishonoured through sin, sin might receive its judgment, and that when and where sin would receive its judgment God would be glorified, not only in every one of His attributes but in His very nature. In the second place, He suffered the suffering of death in order that the devil, who had the power of death, might be annulled, and that deliverance might be effected for those who, on account of the fear of death, had been all their lives subject to bondage. In the third place, He suffered to make propitiation for the sins of those who were to be His companions in the day of His glory. And in the fourth place, He suffered, being tempted, in order to be able to sympathize with our weaknesses, and to be able to succour us when we are tempted (see Hebrews 2.)

In the Old Testament, and in the New, by all the writers except Paul, the use of the title "The Christ" connects, as far as my memory serves me, the Saviour with the people of Israel. I know that the woman of Samaria connected the Christ with the world but though this be true, the Lord had already told her that "salvation was of the Jews," and the salvation of the world really depends upon Jehovah's resumption of relationship with His earthly people. To this great truth the prophets bear abundant testimony, and so also does the Apostle of the Gentiles in Romans 9: 12-15.

But under the title of "Son of Man" He is not viewed in connection with any special family upon earth. It is a title that speaks of universal headship and blessing. At the same time we must keep in mind that the application of this title to the Saviour and the order of things that are connected with it do not set aside, disarrange, or alter the conditions of blessing that are brought before us under the title of the Christ. It is simply that the title Son of Man extends the field of vision to the utmost limits of the universe, including all that is brought before us in the titles "Son of Abraham," "Son of David," "King of Israel," "The Christ," or any other.

In the Gospels, rejected by the Jews, He will not allow Himself to be called the Christ, but tells His disciples that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the priests and elders of the people; and be delivered to the Gentiles, who would expose Him to every indignity, and in the end put Him to death. To Nicodemus He testifies that — "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up," not for the sake of Israel only, but that "Whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The title Son of Man carries with it universal power and blessing.

But not only must the Son of Man come under the suffering of death, but He it is who breaks the power of death, for since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of those that are dead (1 Cor. 15: 21). If man in the person of Adam brought in death, the Son of Man has broken its power and brought about resurrection in the power of God.

But the first to be raised is Himself: He is Firstborn from the dead (Col. 1: 18), and God has set Him far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and given Him to be head over all things to the church which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. (Eph. 1: 20-23).

And all that are His who have passed away from earth shall be raised in His likeness, for He is the pattern of the redeemed family. He will raise His sleeping saints in glory, and change the living along with them into His own image: for we shall bear the image of the heavenly Man.

And because He is Son of Man all judgment is committed to Him; and the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth: they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation (John 5). He has authority everywhere. And He has a right to this authoritative position in the universe: first, because He created it; second, because He redeemed it; third, because for the glory of God He was humiliated in the sight of it.

What a multitude of varied glories cluster around this title of Son of Man ? the Man of divine counsel, the Architect of all creation, the Creator Himself, the Seed of the woman, the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, the Man whom Jehovah has made strong for Himself, the Destroyer of the power of death, the Resurrection and the Life, the Bread that came down from heaven and which gives life to the world, the One who shall bruise the head of the devil, the Judge of living and dead, Lord of angels, Lord of living, Lord of dead, Lord of all, the One under whose headship everything in the universe shall be gathered together ? yet obedient to death, and that the death of the cross; made sin, a curse, the song of the drunkard, a worm and no man; mocked, derided, buffeted, abused; His face marred more than any other man's, His form more than the sons of men; groaning, sighing, weeping in a world of sin and rebellion against God; despised for His grace, hated for His love, martyred for the truth; He drank the vinegar and gall of human ingratitude, and the bitter chalice of divine judgment against sin; rejected by the Jews, crucified by the Romans, betrayed by a friend, denied by a disciple, abandoned by His followers, forsaken by God. Whose sorrow ever equalled the sorrow of this Son of Man?

But shall not the glory be equal to the sorrow? Yea, God hath highly exalted Him, and hath given Him a name that is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of heavenly, earthly, and infernal things, and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father (Phil. 2: 9-11). Every one must honour the Son as the Father is honoured (John 5: 23). Well may we prostrate ourselves in His presence and rejoice as we confess Him.

In Christ

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8: 1.

This is the grand and glorious conclusion arrived at by the Holy Spirit, after having traced, for the benefit of the Roman saints, the manner and result of the intervention of God on behalf of His poor creature, who in his natural and responsible condition lay helpless and undone under sin's cruel slavery, and subject to the infliction of eternal wrath.

In Adam there was nothing but death and condemnation for the sinner. The head was fallen, and all the race was of necessity also fallen. Far off from God, ungodly, transgressors, rebels, enemies, children of wrath, are some of the terms employed in the Word of Truth to set before us the terrible nature of our natural condition as in the first and fallen Adam. In the abominable corruption of the flesh we wallowed, with no confidence in God, suspicious of all His gracious advances on our behalf, preferring darkness to light, hatred to love, curse to blessing, war to peace, earth to heaven, the creature to the Creator, even the oppression of the devil to the sway of infinite and eternal love. We were at a distance from God, and at that distance we were determined at all costs to keep ourselves. We would not seek Him, and should He come out as the seeker after us, every corner of the universe would be ransacked for a hiding-place. If we looked backward dark was the history of the world, dark and deceitful our own personal history, darkness lay upon everything around us, and before us loomed the blackness of darkness for ever. Without God we were miserable, and the thought of God made us ten times more miserable. Our money was given for that which was not bread, and our labour for that which did not satisfy. We snatched occasionally a momentary pleasure from the indulgence of our carnal appetites, but our seasons of depression were terrific, and the thought of having to meet God and to render account to Him was intolerable. As hell and destruction are never satisfied, and the grave and the barren womb never say, Enough; so was the bottomless pit of our corrupt nature ever demanding fresh novelties supplied from the hell-invented markets of a godless world, and so were we finding that the whole universe would be of itself insufficient to fill one human heart.

What could it be for a soul away from God but unhappiness? No creature is sufficient for himself, nor indeed is the creation itself sufficient for the creature set by God in intelligent relationship with Himself. God alone can suffice for the heart of man; and woe, unutterable woe, must be the portion of those who, having said to God, "Depart from us," shall be compelled to hear Him in the day of judgment say to them, "Depart from Me, ye cursed." The souls that will not have Him in time need not expect Him to have them in eternity.

But for the soul in Christ there is no condemnation. The condemnation has been borne by Him in whom I am placed before God. The sins, the sin, the judgment, the death, and the slavery to sin ? all are gone, and "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." New relationships, new hopes, new life, new objects, and new power have come to pass in and through Him who is my righteousness, my life, and my salvation before the face of God.

In Him I am of God (1 Cor. 1: 30). I derive my new moral, spiritual existence from God: I am born of Him. Nothing of Adam enters into that which is in Christ. They are two different orders of men. One made of dust, the other out of heaven. The cross is the end of my connection with the former ? "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2: 20). There I have been brought to an end judicially. I could not have been mended, therefore have I been ended. Apart from law I was lawless, under law a transgressor, visited by God in grace in the person of His Son I was a God-hater, ungodly, a rebel sinner, an enemy of God. Such was the flesh. Such it is, for it is incorrigible. Such was I. Such is the flesh still in me. But I am not in it, thank God. "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you" (Rom. 8: 9). I am of Christ's order.

"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," and not "the law of sin in my members," is now the principle and power which regulates my conduct on my way to glory. "What the law could not do" God has done; not by mending the old ? that could not be done ? but by ending for me the whole condition of flesh, and giving me the Holy Spirit to rule, regulate, guide, and empower the inward man, so that I might walk after the Spirit and fulfil the righteous requirement of the law, and thus "adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour."

In Christ is new creation (2 Cor. 5: 17). There "old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new"; new nature, new life, new relationships, new affections. And all these things are of God. The man in Christ is of God, and everything connected with him. In Adam is old creation: old, fallen, sinful, defiled, dead, and lost. In Christ is new, and "as He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4: 17).

"Of such an one will I glory" (2 Cor. 12: 5). It is well to know that to them that are in Him there is no condemnation; but that does not exhaust all that there is in Christ. We learn this to begin with; but we have in Him an inexhaustible wealth of blessing that will never be all learned while we are upon earth. Who could fathom the bliss of being "holy and without blame before Him in love?" or fully estimate the dignity and delight of being before the Father's face, as sons along with, and in the likeness of, His Son? We read these words in our Bibles, and we believe them too, but we may well ask ourselves what power they possess over our souls.

Paul boasted of the man "in Christ." He tells the Philippians that if any one thought he had whereof to boast in the flesh, he himself had more. And when he had for a moment decorated himself with these virtues, that the Philippians might get a look at what he was in the flesh, he tears them off, and in utter disgust throws them upon the midden of corrupt fallen humanity, counting them dung that he might have Christ for his gain and be found "in Him." When arraigned as a prisoner before King Agrippa, in the presence of Festus, the chiliarchs and great men of the city, the sense of the dignity of his place in Christ does not for a single instance fade from his heart and mind. Confronted with all the pride and pomp of royalty, the awe of authority, the glitter, glamour, and fascination of a gaudy, voluptuous court, and with a charge of inciting the populace to riot hanging over his head, he answered the haughty monarch, who, scoffing at his attempt to get at his seared and benumbed conscience, breaks forth into that expression which many have taken to be the language of a soul on the point of surrender to Christ, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian," in those words which so forcibly set before us the way in which his soul entered into the infinite wealth of blessing that was his in Christ: "I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds" (Acts 26: 29).

It has often been remarked that he does not say, "Such as I shall be when glorified," but "Such as I am." Dragged out of the temple by the multitude, who sought to murder him, rescued by the military, bound with two chains, almost torn to pieces by Pharisees and Sadducees, once more forcibly taken out of their violent hands by the soldiers, brought before Felix as a "mover of sedition" and "a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes," and thrown again into prison, where he lay for two years. To be brought in such a state as all this must have reduced him to, into the presence of such magnificence and dazzling splendour as shone that day in the court of King Agrippa, one might have thought his apparently wretched and miserable condition would have so pressed itself upon his spirit that all the enthusiasm produced in him by his new-found faith would have died in his soul. But no. The happiness that was his in Christ, the dignity of his heavenly calling, the favour of God, the knowledge of the Father and the Son, all that God was to him, all that Christ was, the love of God declared in death, the joy of bearing in a small measure the reproach of Christ, of suffering shame, blows, and imprisonments for His name, the privilege of confessing Him before these haughty rulers, as well as before the meanest of the creatures of God ? these sweet and glorious considerations made good to his soul in the power of the divine Spirit exalted him and maintained him upon an elevation as far above the garish circle that surrounded Agrippa as heaven is above earth.

He pitied them. And indeed they were to be pitied. Their rank, their glory, their greatness, the honour paid to them by their inferiors what availed it all with death at their elbow, and a hopeless eternity looming in front of them? They were now having their "good things" (Luke 16), and Paul his "evil things," but Paul's evil things were infinitely better than their good things. His evil things were the reproach of Christ, and that was greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Miserable, from a human standpoint, was his lot. His property, his reputation, his distinction in the flesh, his scholastic training, his easy circumstances, his liberty ? all were gone, and his life was in peril. What more is needful to be added to make the picture of utter desolation complete? And yet his soul's desire for king and courtier was, that they might come to be as he at that moment was. Marvellous man! How deeply he had entered into the blessedness of the man in Christ.

Another thing I would notice in connection with this subject before bringing this paper to a close. We have the believer in Christ in Romans 8: 1, and the love of God in Christ in the last verse of the same chapter. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ, neither is there any separation from the love of God, for that love is there also. In unfathomable grace God has brought us to Himself in Christ, and set us before His face in all the value of that work wrought by Christ, and in all the acceptability of His person. But it is in Christ that the love of God has had its full and blessed expression, and it is in Him also it has found its eternal resting-place.

The Heathen

"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right." Genesis 18: 25.

The question of the heathen, who have never been favoured with the message of the grace of God, will naturally arise in the mind of the reader. That they will never have to give account to God for the way in which they have treated a gospel which they have never heard goes without saying. It is a principle of Scripture that where little has been given, little shall be required; but to whom much has been given, from him much shall be demanded (Luke 12: 48). The heathen can only have to give account for the way in which they have treated whatever light they may have had given them of God. The difficulty which arises in the minds of men in connection with their accountability to God has its origin in the fact, that in the heart of each lurks the latent desire to at all costs justify himself. It is natural to him as a sinner, and is a great proof of his fallen condition.

Surely the Creator has a right to do as He pleases in and with His own creation. If man has not answered the purpose for which he was created, God must please Himself as to how He shall deal with him. He may condemn him without giving him any opportunity of salvation, as He has done with fallen angels; or He may act toward him in the way of grace, as He does to men generally; or He may save him by His sovereign mercy, as He does the elect; and who can call His ways in question? He made man, to begin with, and His rights over him are supreme. He can kill and make alive, and He does so without consulting His creature. The whole universe is completely in His power, and it must be so, for it is the work of His hands. The fallen sinner may rebel against His decrees, and attempt to grasp the authority which can be His only, but whether as an object of mercy or of wrath he must learn that the fear of the Lord is the thing for him to cultivate, for this is true wisdom.

It is important to get right ideas of God. I do not mean only in His grace, which must be learned in the gospel, but as a Creator. "Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest Thou? or Thy work, He hath no hands?" (Isa. 45: 9). I have not yet come to consider what God makes, or what He does with what He makes; I am only seeking to show, that if you allow the idea of a Creator at all (and a man must be mad who does not), you must allow that He has a right to do just as He pleases; to make what He pleases, and to do that which He pleases with the thing that He has made. No one ever yet gave God this His rightful place but Christ, who, having taken the place of man, maintained that place consistently, to the glory of God, from the manger to the cross. He held Himself here at the disposal of God, and though He did not sin, neither was guile found in His mouth, yet He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. That it was the will of God was a sufficient explanation of every circumstance in which He found Himself.

I have dwelt long upon this principle, because of its importance in our consideration of God's ways with men in His dealings with the world. That no man has been, or could be, clothed with unlimited authority, and be so free from outside influences that he could carry out the desires of his heart I suppose no one will question. Many considerations conspire together to prevent the greatest despot from working out the conceptions of his evil mind. There is the fear of degrading himself in the eyes of others, or of how the thing may recoil upon his own head. There are always outside influences at work which prevent men having their own way completely. Were it not so, a man with unlimited power would destroy the whole human race, and end all by the destruction of himself.

But God cannot be brought under any influence whatever. And yet man's thought of God does not rise higher than himself: "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself" (Ps. 50: 21). Naturally we think of God as an evil being, and fear to have to do with Him. Being evil ourselves we cannot take in the thought of a Being supremely good: we think of Him as niggardly in the dispensing of His benefits, and vindictive in the execution of His judgment. The god of man's conception is a demon, an evil and cruel being, endowed with the same kind of passions as himself, and influenced, in all his ways with men, by selfish considerations. To come to know God in Jesus is to be brought out of darkness into marvellous light.

Another thing I would say before referring to the light Scripture gives us as to the heathen. Nothing can be perfectly known by the creature. This is so self-evident that I need do no more than mention the fact. The creation itself is beyond us. I know that it exists. I see it, feel it, am part of it. I see the relation which certain things bear to others. The sun, moon, and stars appeal to my senses as the handiwork of an all-wise, almighty, and supreme Being, and from them I drop down to the consideration of a globule of water or a grain of sand. But what do I know of these things? What are they made of? I may be told water is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen. But what are these gases? I may know a great deal about created things, how they will behave under certain conditions, the uses I may be able to put them to; but what they are in themselves I know not. The Creator does, but the creature cannot know what the creature is. We know all that is necessary for us to know, or perhaps I should rather say, we are capable of knowing all that God deems good for us to know. May we be content with this.

Had man remained in innocence he would not have needed a revelation from God. It was when he sinned this became necessary, and he gets it at once. God has never yet left any of His creatures without witness regarding Himself. Man being like a planet out of his orbit, nothing remains for him but destruction, unless he can be recovered and brought into right relationship with his Centre. When man wheeled wilfully out of his appointed course, His Creator at once intervened, and pointed the way back to righteousness, peace, and salvation. Abel took that way, and found it paved with the favour of Jehovah; Cain refused it, and became a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. Cain had all the light that Abel had, but he was unfaithful to it; and the whole antediluvian world was not less favoured, though with few exceptions the testimony of God was scorned.

There does not seem to have been any practice of idolatry until after the deluge. It may have been the tradition of the fallen angels which Satan took up, by which to ensnare men, and entice them into demon-worship. Anyhow, almost immediately after the flood mankind fell into idolatry, and idolatry is demon-worship (1 Cor. 10: 20). The idol itself is nothing, but what is behind the idol, and which fills the heart and mind of the worshipper, is a demon. The gods of the heathen are evil beings, and the worship of demons became universal after the flood.

It was not any lack of testimony on the part of God, which brought about this state of things, but the hatred of God natural to the human heart. We have the downward career of the sons of Noah into the moral quagmire of corruption brought graphically before the vision of our souls in the first chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans. They sinned against the light which they had from God, and they were, the Apostle says, "without excuse." They had all the light possessed by Abel, Enoch, and others, and these had found it sufficient to guide their footsteps back to the Source of life and happiness; and indeed they were still more favoured, for they had seen by the intervention of God in the deluge how well He was able to deliver the godly, and judge the rebellious. Added to this they had the testimony of creation, the visible things bearing testimony to the invisible. The eternal power and divinity of the Creator comes to light in the works of His hands, leaving those who bow down to the idol without excuse.

This is just as true to-day as it was then. The heathen have the heavens declaring the glory of God, and the firmament showing His handiwork: day uttering speech unto day, and night unto night teaching knowledge. There is neither speech nor words, yet is their voice heard through all the earth, right to the extremity of the world (Ps. 19).

There are also evidences of His goodness in the fact that He gives sunshine, rain, and fruitful seasons, "filling our hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14). The object of it all is that men might feel after Him and find Him, for He is not far from any one of us (Acts 17). Man has gone far from God, and his great desire is always to increase the distance, but God has not gone far from man. The distance lies in alienation of heart and mind, and therefore man being a God-hating sinner, the distance to which he has gone is immeasurable; but God pursues him in the grace and love of His heart, ready to fall on his neck and cover him with kisses (Luke 15) the moment he, in the sorrow of his soul, turns round and begins to feel after his Creator, whom he has so heartlessly abandoned.

We are told by Paul (Acts 17) that the times of this ignorance God winked at (overlooked, or dealt with in no special way), but left man to the testimony of the visible things, against which he sinned grossly and provocatively, while wallowing in every abominable pollution that suggested itself to his corrupt and devil-deceived heart. He had sufficient testimony given him by God to light his way back to Him from whom he was gradually drifting farther and farther away; but to this he paid no regard, for the service of Satan was connected with a licence for the flesh, which the idea of a holy and righteous God forbade. Because of this, the service of their fell destroyer was considered easy, his bondage was delightful, God was forgotten, and darkness reigned supreme.

It has been thus from the beginning. The testimony of God by Noah was despised, the law was trampled under foot, the prophets were stoned, and those who foretold the coming of the Messiah were murdered. And has it been any better under the gospel dispensation? The Jews despised it, it went out to the heathen and there few believed it, and in Christendom, which is supposed to be the result of the preaching, comparatively few believe it with their hearts. Men seem more concerned about what is to be the fate of the heathen than they are about their own souls, or about the multitude around them, who, with the gospel ringing in their ears, go heedlessly down to a lost eternity.

The state of the heathen is brought forward by many to discredit the Scriptures. They foolishly imagine that because they have had no testimony of the grace of God presented to them, they cannot be held amenable to the judgment of God. But this conjecture arises from the erroneous idea that men shall be judged for the rejection of the gospel only. That men shall be judged for the rejection of the gospel is true regarding those to whom it has been preached, but all men are amenable to the judgment of God, whether they have heard the gospel or not.

We are told in 1 Thessalonians that the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with the angels of His might, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This will take place at His appearing, and is spoken of as the judgment of the living. It is "When He shall come." Here we have two classes of people upon whom the judgment falls, namely, them that know not God, and them that obey not the gospel.

But in Romans 2: 12-16 we have a very plain statement made by the Apostle referring to this very question. He says, "As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law . . . in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." The Gentiles sinned "without law," the law was never given to them. They shall be judged by the light given by creation, natural conscience, and the goodness of God manifested in His providence. They shall perish: they have been altogether unfaithful to the light vouchsafed to them. The Jews to whom the law was given shall be judged by it. Christians are not supposed to come into judgment. If they were truly that which they are by profession they would not come into judgment, for in Christ the believer is already justified from all things. Still because of the unfaithfulness of those favoured with such abundant light, the time has already come when judgment must begin at the house of God (1 Peter 4: 17).

Judgment will be according to privileges enjoyed. Therefore the soul who has heard the gospel and rejected it shall have the heaviest sentence; the Jew comes next in responsibility, as having the law, priding himself in the possession of it, and dishonouring the Lawgiver by the breaking of it. Last and least in responsibility come the heathen, who have had neither law nor gospel. He who knew his Master's will, and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes; but he who knew not, and yet did commit things worthy of punishment, shall be beaten with few stripes (Luke 12: 47, 48). The judgment of God will be according to truth against such as do evil: "To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality (or incorruptibility), eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; but glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile" (Rom. 2: 7-10).

That the Judge of all the earth will do right there ought to be no question in any mind; but whatever He does the wisdom of the creature is to submit himself to it. The creature cannot be the judge of his Creator. In the way in which the Creator has been pleased to declare Himself, in that way both reader and writer must come to know Him. I take the perfect account which He has given of Himself in the Word of truth; I contemplate Him in His love, grace, righteousness, holiness, power, wisdom, majesty and might, and my heart is filled with thanksgiving that I have found Him to be such as the gospel reveals Him, and such as my natural heart never for a moment thought Him to be.

I think of Him in His mercy on the one hand, and in His judgment and wrath on the other, and I am not terrified before Him, for I see nothing even in the lake of fire inconsistent with His holy love. He has come to light in Jesus: there His heart is revealed, but from those lips from which rivers of grace flowed forth, there came the testimony of a judgment which in its severity turns the most terrible utterances that ever burned upon prophetic lip into tides of mercy. His enemies had to say "Never man spake like this Man," and surely no one ever did, for no one knew what He knew. When He spoke, the breathings of the heart of God were heard, but mingled with it all the tempests of eternal wrath broke upon the ear. He brought everything to light. The heart of God, the heart of man, the heart of heaven, and the heart of hell. All is in the light now, and men everywhere are seen to be without excuse, and all will find Him justified when He speaks, and clear when He judges (Ps. 51: 4).

Notes on Genesis

Notes on Genesis.

E. L. Bevir.

Biographical Note

London: G. Morrish, 20, Paternoster Square, E.C. 1900.

"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding? Job 38: 4.

Contents

Genesis 1

Genesis 2

Genesis 3

Genesis 4

Genesis 5 - 9

Genesis 10, 11

Genesis 12, 13

Genesis 14 - Abraham, Lot, and Melchizedek.

Genesis 15 - 21

Genesis 22 - 24 - The Sacrifice of Isaac, and the Call of the Bride.

Genesis 25, 26 - Ishmael and Isaac.

Genesis 27 - 32 - Jacob and Esau; Israel.

Genesis 37 - 48 - Joseph

Genesis 49 - Jacob's Last Prophecy

Preface

The following "Notes on Genesis" have been reprinted from Helps for the Poor of the Flock. Several of my friends have expressed a wish to have them in a succinct form.

In reading them over, I see nothing that I wish to change. I have no pretension to add to many valuable notes on this wonderful book nor is there any startling novelty. I cannot, however, but hope that the main subjects of Genesis, which are strictly followed in these Notes, may be of help to many who study the scriptures with a view of discovering in them the glory of Christ, and of growing in the knowledge of Him.

In the marvellous history of the first ages, God's grand principles in His ways with men, His counsels, and His full triumph over evil, become visible to us, as in a divine speculum [mirror].

E. L. B. Valence-sur-Rhone, November, 1899.

Genesis 1.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

It is a happy thing, in such a day as ours, to receive by faith the divine account of the formation of the heavens and the earth.

A believer receives God's word in his heart; and his mind is certainly satisfied at the same time, for the mind would be sadly tortured if it had to conceive a universe without a Being who had formed it.*

{* I suppose that the very grossest materialist would admit that there is force acting in the universe; and if he be pushed to it, must he not admit that it is either outside of the molecules of matter or inside them? Which is more likely? That one supreme will and power formed the worlds, and set them rolling; or that all the atoms suddenly agreed by interior force to collect, and then to keep to the laws of gravity?}

The first verse stands by itself, and the gulf or interval between it and the second is greater than we can imagine. The beginning, if we had to count the time back to it, is very remote; but the great thing to observe is that it is the beginning. Ages and ages ago, there was a beginning. It may be said: "We cannot understand what creation is;" to which I would reply: "I believe you; and if you try to account for it in any other way than God created, you will surely go wrong." Faith receives it, and the heart and mind rest in Him who never had any beginning, in the eternal Son, by whom all things were made, and for whom all things were made, in whose power all things are subsisting. In the beginning was the Word; and our hearts delight to think of the eternal deity and Godhead of Him, whose almighty power was exerted at the creation. "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they exist, and were created!"

And here let me warn the reader against a fault that is very common; that of misunderstanding the purpose of the scriptures. The Bible is not a book of astronomy or cosmography, but one that deals with the hearts and consciences of the inhabitants of the earth. It gives us a faithful history of the earth, from this point of view; and the "heavens" here are the first heaven; that is, the atmosphere. It is no question of the relative time of creation of other globes; but the beginning of this earth's history.

The history of what should take place on it (the earth) forms indeed a wonderful part of the divine book, and of this we shall have cause to speak. I am only calling attention to the fact that we have here the earth and its atmosphere before us; God created them in the beginning.

?

And now I again call attention to the interval between the first and second verses.

We are often told that millions and billions of years must have elapsed during the formation of the earth's crust, to say nothing of what happened before. There is ample room for all this between the first and second verses; ages and ages ran out. The second verse brings us to an important point in time, when the work of forming the present state of things upon the earth's surface began.

It is not revealed how the "without form and void" state ensued, but let us be careful not to confound it with the first verse. A state of convulsion and chaos came on, and from the midst of it the present creation began; the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.

The creation of light should fill us with wonder; and it is well to notice that it was called into existence before the great luminaries are mentioned.

Light is invisible in itself, but makes everything visible; it is so defined in Ephesians 5: 13. It is more than the "offspring of heaven firstborn," for it is the very image-name of God Himself. God is light.

The passage is without doubt alluded to in 2 Corinthians 4: 6, which should be rendered "the God who commanded the light to shine out from the midst of the darkness has shined in our hearts, in order to make resplendent the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

No scientists can explain how the vibrations, to which they call our attention, began; nor indeed can they get beyond the hypothesis of undulations, supposing "ether." The simplest believer sees in the creation of light the exercise of the power of Him who can call everything into existence, and who has caused His light to shine in our dark hearts (which were as cheerless as the murky surface of the earth in Genesis 1: 2), for the shining out of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

And God saw the light that it was good ? there is a division between light and darkness, as great as that moral separation which we find in the New Testament between the two. It is well to call things by their right names; and I think that if we wish to study the scriptures, we must get a new dictionary, for God's categories are not the same as the scholastic ones. What God calls "darkness" (that is, man's state), the world calls "light," boasting of its illumination. Men who are morally blind seem to delight to exclaim: "We see!"; and again in 1 Corinthians 1, God calls "power" and "wisdom" what the world calls "weakness" and "folly."

God called the light Day; and the darkness He called Night.

Simple and clear as this is, we shall find, all through scripture, the constant recurrence of "light" and "darkness"; and in our day we cannot be too careful to walk as children of the light. Believers are light in the Lord; and it has often been remarked that though it cannot be said of them that they are "love," which is absolute and implies sovereignty, yet they are described as "light" in the Lord. The fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth; and it is good when things are called by their right names, If there be a diligent walk according to the light, the unfruitful works of darkness will be manifested and carefully avoided by the children of God.

The second immense fact in creation was the formation of the firmament, which divided the upper from the lower waters. This firmament* is the visible heaven, the atmospheric expanse; and this prepares the earth for the following glorious events that were to take place upon the globe.

{* Perhaps it would be better to put "expanse;" literally the "stretched out (space)."}

On the third day the separation of the waters from the dry land preceded the latter's being adorned with every kind of tree, herb and grass, each of which should bring forth fruit and seed according to its kind.

On the fourth day, the great luminaries which were symbols of established power and order were made for signs, for seasons, and for days and years. Notice that the word "made" (ver. 16) is not the same as "created." (Ver. 1.) It is not said that sun, moon and stars were created at the epoch of verse 16, but that they were constituted lights to the earth at that time. Although the Bible is not a treatise on astronomy (for it treats of moral subjects far higher than the stars), yet its language will be found to be singularly correct, and we shall never find any confusion between the acts of creating things and placing them in their order. The word of God never denies the exact sciences, as they are called (that is, that 2+2=4, etc.), but it gives us what is infinitely higher. What would be the value to us of having a full knowledge of mathematics (the abstract relations of time and space) if our hearts were void of the love of God as known in Christ?

Birds, beasts, and fishes now follow, full of vitality; the sphere over which the first man was to rule is peopled with living creatures.

But on the sixth day we find an act of creation very different to all that had preceded. Notice that in verse 26, it is not "Let the earth bring forth," as in verse 24; this is a fatal blow to what is known as "evolution."

There is nothing more distinct than the formation of man, and the difference between man and mere animals. To the infidel, who says, "Man (the first man) is an animal," we could say: "Certainly; but he is much more besides. If you mean to say that he is a mere animal, you are suppressing the greater part of the truth." There was a solemn consultation before the formation of this singular and moral being, man. It is Adam, the first man, but he is a figure of the last Adam, of Christ, who was to come; he was made in the image of God, and after His likeness.

He was to represent God's glory in the place which he occupied as head of the creation; and he was morally like God in so far that he was good and free from evil. Alas! how soon was this likeness lost!

Man has a heart and a conscience such as never can be found in the most developed ape or elephant. Let us leave his mind (though no mere brute has the same faculties as a man), and speak of what constitutes him a moral being. It will be said that Adam had not a conscience till he fell, and this is true ? we are anticipating ? what we have, up to the end of the third verse of the second chapter, is man made in the image and after the likeness of God and set over all His works. I should like to leave to my reader the pleasant task of pondering over "image and likeness," and the peculiar place at the head of the creation; we shall have more to say later on of man's relation to God.

So far, we have a solemn act of creation, after deliberate counsel, of a being very different from the brute, who is in the image and likeness of God and should represent Him, having dominion over His works.

Everything was very good in the six days of creation. Notice that there is a special act of creation for man (ver. 27); and that this word (created) is not always used in the other cases, though it is found in verse 21.

And now comes the Sabbath, God's rest. We must not let this pass without carefully remarking it. God rested on the seventh day from the work which He had made.

God's rest is a very great subject in the scriptures; and in general, it is but little understood. It is well to look at it, as it is first presented to us here in Genesis. God could rest when all the works of this creation (of Gen. 1) were complete. I suppose that there is always the thought of satisfaction in the work, and of the absence of anything that could disturb the repose.

The rest described here did not last long (Heb. 4: 3, 4); God's rest upon this earth has been interrupted for nearly six thousand years. I trust that it is not a digression if we say a few words as to the Sabbath; it is the beautiful figure of God's rest which is still to come, where He shall find His own joy and repose amongst His own redeemed ones. No sin, nothing contrary to the nature of Him who is love and light shall ever enter that peaceful scene, illuminated by God's own glory, where His own shall enjoy His rest. How different from some sensual paradise, where eternal idleness is to be the reward, Allah being really as far off as ever!

It is very important to understand that in Hebrews 4 it is God's rest that is spoken of, and not merely ours. It has been well said that God could not rest in a world of sin, and we have in John 5 the blessed fact of the Father and the Son both working; the mere form of the Jewish Sabbath was worth nothing. That the blessed Spirit is working too we have abundant evidence, and there can be no Sabbath upon this earth until God shall put things upon the footing of Zephaniah 3: 17, "He will rest in his love." Zion shall be delivered, and the whole earth blessed.

But we Christians look higher than the earthly part of the kingdom; and, in the midst of toil and sorrow, of difficulty and effort, we wait with longing for that day, when we shall enter into the rest of God. How stimulating to us is the thought of God's resting in the midst of His own, as we go on through this scene of trouble and unrest. May we strain every nerve in the race, with hearts full of His peace, till we also shall have ceased from every painful effort and trial, to enter into His rest!

We may pause a little here to contemplate the rest of God.

Genesis 2.

At verse 4 of chapter 2 another view of the creation and of man's place in it is given to us; and here we have God, under the name of Jehovah Elohim, entering into relation with responsible moral beings.

The seventh verse is very important, for it is never said of the mere brute that God breathed into his nostrils; and this is what is meant by a "moral being," that is, one who is in direct relation to his Creator, one whose true dignity is obedience to Him, and dependence upon Him.

Let us suppose the very wisest sheep-dog that could be found (and we must admit that some of these animals are very astute), it will be at once felt that the creature could not be subjected to any such trial as that which was applied to the first man ? Adam. I mean, in a few words, that Adam was in a very different position, and in himself very different from the most sagacious brute.*

{* I recollect a very good answer being given at Geneva to some would-be opposers, who were reasoning about dogs' minds. "All very well," said an old Christian, "but did you ever see a dog express contrition for stealing what was not his own?"}

Then we have some of the most wonderful pictures in God's first book.

The garden and its two trees; the river; the naming of the creatures; and the woman.

The beautiful garden of Eden possessed two pre-eminent trees, of which we shall have to speak again. Whatever may have been the beauty of all the rest, these two trees are the ones upon which we should fix our eyes, for everything depended upon them. The tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil; this second tree was a very dangerous one to man. I merely would notice the two; as for the rest of the garden, one may form a faint picture of it perhaps, but I think that poets have utterly failed to describe it.

A garden planted by God, with the river running through it, and flowing off in four directions, gold and precious stones ? all this speaks of order, fertility, and wealth. We shall allude to these things again, my great desire now being to call attention to the head (Adam) of the well-ordered creation, for we shall see that all depended upon him; and it will be well to notice the height of his earthly glory and the extent of his sway, before we come to the history of his fall. He is here the figure of Him who was to come; the figure of the last Adam, head of the new creation.

We may learn much by thus contemplating for a moment the first man as he came out of the Creator's hands, and was put into his place at the head of Eden.

We are apt to make light of the fall in our day, when people make light of everything, and I wish to look at the height of this great column (Adam) before endeavouring to say anything of the crash of its ruin.

The naming of the animals is an important thing; for the man's supremacy as viceroy is evident. He was allowed to give names to every beast and bird; his universal jurisdiction was established; and then comes the one more act of the Creator, the one more creature, last but not least, who completes this exquisite picture.

She must not yet go by the name of Eve (that comes later on); but is called woman, Isha made out of Ish. Here is a name that cannot fail to rivet every one's attention.

How blessed (far away from crabbed scribes and Pharisees who had perverted things, Matt. 19: 8) to rise to the original intention of this extraordinary creature, and to see that the very first thought of her is to be a help* to man.

{* I must leave to some of my learned friends to develop this remarkable expression ezer k'neg'do: I should try to translate it, "A help that answered to him;" literally, "as over against him."}

How blessed to get to the very fountain head of everything, and to have God's own thoughts. "In the beginning it was not so" would stop all the reasoning of Pharisees, of Mahomet, and of all others who have given us their thoughts about woman, and we come to the simple truth of God's mind, that a creature was to appear who should complete and correspond to the lord of the creation.

And now comes one of the most beautiful figures in this book of divinely-drawn pictures.

Others have spoken of it in far better language than mine. The trance of Adam, the formation (literally building) of Eve from his own rib, and his delight when God brought her to him, "bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh."

I would ask you not to go to Milton for this, but to take it as it is here in all its perfect typical beauty. Then you will behold with adoration, death coming upon Christ, the last Adam, of whom the first was the figure, the church formed,* and the delight of His heart when she shall be presented to Him, and He shall see in her that which corresponds perfectly to His own glory as the Man of God's counsels.

{* I merely notice the fact; there is really nothing in the church, as the new creation, but what is derived from Christ Himself.}

He gave Himself for her, and the pains of death being passed, she rises, and soon shall be manifested with Him, herself the pleroma (fulness) of Him that filleth all in all.

Genesis 3.

The fall and utter ruin of Adam is but little understood.

I had wished, if possible, that his place at the head of the creation were clearly presented, so that the catastrophe might be rightly estimated. All depended upon him who was made in the image of God; if he, the head, fell, all must go with him.

I once heard, in Tuscany, of an edifice, so contrived by the architect, that the whole was practically resting upon one pillar; if this fell, the whole building fell with it. We shall be occupied, not merely with the terrible crash and ruin, but with several important moral features that accompanied it; the change from the preceding state of things is very sorrowful. From innocence to distrust of God, to lusts, disobedience and dishonour ? the distance is not easily conceived, and spoken of but too lightly on all sides!

The subtle enemy deceived the woman, and the man had not strength to refuse her ? they fell. How many things are found in this short history ? the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life . . . . dishonour, misery and nakedness! and whence come all these? Whence indeed, but from the first step of all, when the enemy succeeded in causing distrust of God in Eve. No fig-leaves nor any other leaves (however cleverly stitched)* can hide fallen man's nakedness from God, and this our first parents knew instinctively (they had acquired a conscience) when they tried still further to hide themselves from Him in the cool of the day.

{* The unsuccessful attempts to hide one's misery have no doubt often struck the judicious reader; the human heart is desperately wicked, the nakedness before God is the same, whether under a Pharisee's robes or a common tunic ? a pontiff's purple or a friar's sackcloth.}

There are three immense subjects that now come before us Sin, death and the conscience.

Sin had entered into the world by one man. Sin existed before, as we learn from Ezekiel 28, which gives us the account of the fall of "the anointed cherub;" of him who became enamoured of his own beauty, who fell, and who has acted ever since in dire opposition to God.

The important thing in Genesis 3 is the entrance of sin into the world; that is, upon this earth. Then death is God's judgment upon man, and when this is understood, it is seen how serious a thing it is; if we are to measure man's distance from God, we must admit that death alone is the measure. This is of the very highest moment in a day like ours, when every effort is made to reduce death to the fact of ceasing to exist upon the earth. It is an immense thing when the fact is apprehended that God's judgment is pronounced on the first man Adam, and upon all his race.

Notice, carefully, that the conscience is the knowledge of good and evil. Jehovah Elohim said: "Behold the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil." It is not the measure of good and evil, as some people teach, and the natural conscience could never serve as a guide to the real path of life. Besides the falling away from God, there was a vast change morally in man, that should capacitate him, through redemption, for great things.

The latter part of this passage (Gen. 3) will bring us to God's gracious intervention both in present government and in ultimate blessing to the creatures whose fall is narrated in the former portion; how blessed to perceive God overcoming evil with good!

The question: "Where art thou?" must be answered, and no excuses can avail. In announcing the bruising of the serpent's head by the seed of the woman, God did not make a promise to Adam (as many pretend), but announced a future deliverance, as well as the judgment of the enemy himself.

Let us look for a moment at the two great facts connected with God's intervention to bless man.

1. His present government and care of the fallen creature.

2. His resources in the last Adam through whom a new order of things should be brought in.

There is one great remedy, in God's present government, that enables man to go through his part in this present life, and that is work. There is to be the sweat of the brow, whilst the thorns and thistles* are growing; there is to be labour. As I write these lines from a country where the soil is being sadly neglected and towns crowded with (so-called) intellectual workers, I would call attention to the fact that God's great remedy for actual misery is eating bread with the sweat of the brow, and I doubt if there be any other panacea for the ills that flesh is heir to.

{* It is pretended, in what is called consecrated ground, to have taken off the curse. I have sometimes asked those who speak thus: "Why do thistles, thorns, nettles, etc., still grow in your consecrated cemeteries?"}

But we have another subject here, and several facts, at the end of chapter 3, join to make it clear to us.

The man was driven out of Eden, but at the same time we have a distinct view of the accomplishment of God's counsels through redemption, and of another order of things in the future, where all should be based upon a firm foundation. The second Man comes into view.

Notice that the Lord God Himself made coats of skins for the guilty couple; covering founded upon sacrifice. Also it is to be remarked that Adam called his wife Eve (Khavah, "the living") in the face of death, and here we must recognise faith in him.

The way of the tree of life was closed by the cherubim with the revolving sword, blazing in every direction; and here we must say one or two words. There could be no way to the tree of life for man in his sinful state; and in order that Christ should become the Tree of life for us, He must fully meet all the responsibility of the first man ? this He did, blessed be His name, upon the cross. The grain of wheat, unless it died, remained alone; there was life in Him, but to bring us into it, He must die. The blessed Lord met all the terrors of the flaming sword that kept the way of true happiness; and He is become for us the Tree of life. In Revelation 22, there is no mention of the tree of responsibility, whilst the Tree of life, with perennial fruits, is in the midst of the street of that great city, the holy Jerusalem. Blessed is the prospect to all those who have part in the new creation. I call the reader's attention to this, that it is not:

". . . . loss of Eden, till one greater Man

Restore us, and regain the blissful seat."

It is not restoration to Eden, but entrance according to God's counsels into His heaven, in and with His Christ, the last Adam, blessed for ever!

He tasted death for everything; He, risen and glorified, is the source of everlasting joy, peace and worship in that sphere where no serpent, no dog, no magician, nor any other cause of trouble shall ever enter! To Him be everlasting glory!

Genesis 4.

Life outside of Eden began with a fratricidal murder.

Eve, like most mothers, thought much of her firstborn, Cain; but he proved to be not that acquisition that she supposed. It will be well for us to read attentively this well-known story, so that man's religion may appear to all in its true light; there is a great "revival" in the present day of Cain's religious service, and we shall do well to keep quite away from it.

It is natural to man to approach God with the fruit of his own labour in his hands. Such a feeling is deep in human nature; and whatever traditional idolatry may have come in, or even fetishism, there will be found, I believe, in all men, naturally, the desire to present some fruit of their own labour to God.

East or west, north or south, you will find this at the very bottom of men's hearts. I was once shown a mosque of alabaster, built by an ambitious tyrant, who had hoped thus to propitiate Allah at the end of his days; and an opulent London merchant once told me, as the highest merit, that he had built a church for his country men in a foreign country. All these kind of votive offerings spring from the desire to approach God with the work of one's own hands, and, like Cain's first offering, they can never be received by God.

It may seem to some superfluous, but I cannot let such a subject pass without calling attention to the fact that at the present moment there is a great effort in some quarters to revive, in a peculiar way, the service of Cain. It is natural to man's heart everywhere and in every time ? but I mean in a special manner, that in the very places where evangelical truth had been known, the religion of Cain is being taught. Look at England!

Abel was born outside Eden and was of a fallen race, as Cain his brother; it was his offering that made him acceptable. How wonderful it is to find a man at the very beginning of history, who draws nigh to God through death! May we not well suppose that God Himself had made known to this first family of mankind that there was no other way of approach? (Compare chap. 3: 21 with chap. 4: 7.)

Abel confessed by his gift the fact of being under the judgment of God; the death of the victim evidently preceded the presentation of the fat, and this latter part of the sacrifice foreshadows the excellency of Him who said: "Lo, I come to do thy will." The fat may be looked upon as the consecrated will of Christ ? His own worth as devoted to God. (He could say: "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again.") Happy are they who know a little of His value, who spoke thus; and who know what it is to be accepted in Him! Surely we shall never be weary of this glorious subject. God speaks to our souls by this clear antediluvian voice of Abel, of His appreciation of Jesus. Might we know more in our service of the offering and "the fat thereof"!

But the true nature of religious man becomes but too evident in the sequel. Cain will not listen to the voice of God. I suppose that there can be no real doubt as to the force of "sin lieth at the door." It means that a sin offering* was lying (literally crouching) at the door.

{* Sin and sin offering are the same word in the text (chattath); the meaning here is that Cain had not far to go if he wished to find a sin offering. It was as though the animal were crouching at the very door; there was a remedy in the case of his failing to approach God in the proper way.}

Cain obstinately followed his own way, and the mind of the flesh is enmity against God. The murder of Abel is the downward direction of man's will, if insubjection to God be the upward. He slew his brother, because his works were wicked and his brother's righteous. There is grand talk in our day of "religious toleration;" but the bent of man's natural mind would tolerate neither God's goodness nor those who have known it.

I believe we enter but little into the murderous character of the world we are in; people are killing each other as I write this.

" What hast thou done?" These are the words addressed to Cain, and his heartless answers to God shew us a man without consciousness of the evil he had committed. He wished to escape the consequences of his sin, but that is a very different thing. I recollect visiting a prison where I met many hardened ruffians, who would have liked to be released, but who had no true penitence.

Cain, a marked man (for God set the mark upon him so that he should not be slain), went out of God's presence in this state. A man with a hardened conscience built the city which was called after his son; that city which so clearly represents the whole kosmos. (that is the ornate system known as the world), and where all the arts and sciences are cultivated, but God excluded.

Music, metallurgy and agriculture. Stringed and wind instruments, iron and brass work, and much cattle. I shall never forget being for about five minutes in one of the chief bazaars of the East, and seeing the wealth of nations by the soft light of oil lamps: Damascus steel, Persian and Indian silks, jewels, and the finest polished gold, brazen work, and spices. My feeling was that I should like to get out of it, and why? Is there anything wrong in the arts and sciences? No; but because I felt that there was no place there for God or for Christ.

Cain and company have put up on their huge workshop: "No admittance" to God. Jesus Christ is excluded from the world (John 7: 7), and your place and mine, christian reader, is outside of it.

We may for the moment have to work materially at any art that may serve as our gagne-pain; it is a good thing to have work to do. But the heart, the soul, of the Christian is surely outside of the huge town, where political economy without God is practised; and instead of claiming the land as his own, he would rather accept the grave of Abel, and wait, though still on a blood-stained soil (stained, alas! by blood of far higher value than Abel's), till He, who is the resurrection and the life, shall come to take him to the Father's house.

Cain, as a type, as a vagabond and wanderer on the face of the earth, represents the Jewish nation, guilty of their Messiah's death.

Genesis 5 ? 9.

In looking at the part of the divine oracles that follow Cain's history, there are two great things that will occupy us: ?

1. The state of the antediluvian world, leading up to the Deluge.

2. The cataclysm itself, and its effects.

I should like, in this brief paper, to consider the former of these two subjects; that is, the state of the earth before the flood.

The universal reign of death must be noticed. There is something very striking in the line of long-lived patriarchs, from Adam to Noah, and the final, "and he died," attached to each short history. Death was reigning, a sure proof of sin having come into the world.

The sixth chapter brings us up to the flood. The population of the old (antediluvian) world multiplied with a portentous mixture of good and evil, and monsters* were the result.

{* I must again refer to learned friends for the translation of Nephilim. Is not Nephil similar to pelor, a monster? The title is applied to Canaanite giants in Numbers 13 later on, and these too were evidently of monstrous build.}

But it was not merely a time of gigantic births; evil had developed itself to such an extent that the earth was full of violence and corruption. The heart of man comes into view here, and we see its true character still further explained by our Lord in Matthew 15); an impure but fertile source of evil.

What a study is the antediluvian world; physical monstrosities, and the inner heart of man! Notice that as yet there was no established government, and the human race had run into violent and corrupt practice ? that is, into advanced socialism.

I have little doubt that many of the traditions of mythology were founded upon what took place before the flood; but whatever "the mighty men of old" and the "giants" may have been, I believe that the most important thing of all is the exposure of that moral monstrosity; "every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was evil daily."

Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah in the midst of all the lawlessness of that time; and we are brought to that point in early history, where an end must be made of all flesh. It is one of the most serious facts in Genesis. The ,end of the whole race had come before God; there must be a complete destruction of man and beast; God's judgment must fall, and the curtain be drawn down on this part of the earth's, history.

But we must notice one other man before we speak of Noah. Amidst the increasing lawlessness and prolific evil of the antediluvian age, Enoch walked with God. There was a man who followed a path of true piety amidst the violence and corruption of his time, who was separate from the spirit of the age, and who so vividly felt the necessity of approaching judgment, that he exclaimed: "Behold, the Lord has come* amidst his holy myriads, to execute judgment against all; and to convict all the ungodly of them of all their works of ungodliness, which they have godlessly wrought, and of the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

{* elthe. The need of Jehovah's intervention was so felt by the faithful man that he seemed to see the event, in his mind's eye, by anticipation. Compare Luke 10: 18.}

This man was Enoch; he walked with God during three hundred years, with active faith, and with the divine approbation. (Heb. 11.) We may safely suppose that the ungodly sinners who surrounded him did not much approve his walk; and the most wonderful part of the life of this extraordinary man was its end. He was translated that he should not see death; he was not found, he disappeared from the midst of an advanced age (advanced in ungodly presumption) and went up to be with God.

There can be little doubt that we have in Enoch a figure of the christian's (or, if you please, of the church's) path on earth and translation to heaven.

Noah represents rather those who will pass through the great crisis of the earth's history (the impending judgment), and inherit the earth when the great tribulation shall have passed.

In both these men we have an example of active faith. The first one walked as seeing God's glory, its moral requirements, and imminent judgment; the second prepared for and went through the judgment itself.

Noah passed through the deluge in safety, in the ark which God had commanded him to make. He, and seven others, were saved through water, and there is really no other way of being saved. The water washed away all trace of the old world and of the man that made it what it was; it all disappeared with its giants and men of renown, and the ark that rode on the waters of death represented that deliverance which we know through the death and resurrection of Christ. (See 1 Peter 3: 18-22.)

If Enoch represents (as he undoubtedly does) the church of God, walking as a stranger here, and going to be with the Lord, Noah is the figure of the earthly people, who shall pass through the great hour of trial at the end, and come into possession of the millennial earth.

The great thing to notice in Noah, oracularly warned of the coming catastrophe, is his simple obedience to the voice of God. The dimensions of the ark were given ? the window, the door, and different decks; and Noah made everything according to what was commanded.

We know from 2 Peter that he was a preacher of righteousness, and we may well notice the long-suffering of God, ever slow to execute judgment, up to the very moment of closing the door of the ark.

A certain analogy may certainly be drawn between Noah's time and our own; and it is, to say the least, a serious thing to be living in a world of which it is said by One who never prophesied in vain: "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man; they ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all."

What is the character of your life, my reader, in a world where the most careless are often heard to say: "After us, the Deluge!" ? it is a serious question?

The Flood

Many wish to ignore the flood. The end of the world is never a very pleasing subject to a vast majority of its citizens; and we are living in a day when people speak of the science of "teleology," that is, the science of explaining the end of the world as we should like it to take place. It is really no science at all.

These people would seek to ignore the great fact of the deluge, that is, of God's intervention to put an end to a world whose iniquity had come to a climax; just as they refuse to believe that the present world will be burnt up. (See 2 Peter 3.) They deny that the whole world was drowned under God's judgment; they refuse the prophecy of a general conflagration.

This, however, will take place, notwithstanding all the insurance companies against fire.

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And now let us look at the divinely-inspired account of this great act of God.

The breaking up of the fountains of the great deep and sudden opening of the windows of heaven were the miraculous execution of God's purpose to destroy the life of all creatures upon earth; it is a serious lesson ? the end of all flesh had come, and after long patience, the sentence was carried out.

There may be interest, no doubt, in the fragments of history that have come to us through the mythology; the flood of Deucalion and other tales, founded upon one great fact; but the important thing for us is to have this immense catastrophe clearly before us, so that we may bow to the just acts of a righteous God, and accept this judgment on the whole human race.

Had it been possible to see the globe after the forty days and forty nights, one huge ball of water would have been descried with one ark floating on a sea without shore. The whole earth was drowned.

We must read the remarkable verses in 1 Peter 3: 20, 21, to learn the true lesson of the floating ark. God had shut up Noah, with all that should form the nucleus of the new earth; and as the flood clearly represents the death of the world, so must the preserved few pass through the waters of death to inherit the postdiluvian blessing. So we (believers) pass through death, of which baptism is the figure, in order to enter into the light and joy of the Lord's presence in resurrection; there is no other way into it.

It is a deep, a terrible experience to go through that element in which all human* life must perish; to know what association with a risen Christ is, in a state of things for ever secure from judgment, is none the less happy.

{* I mean, of course, of the first man, that is, of all those who are descended from Adam and Eve.}

Judgment shall fall upon the present age, as it fell upon the antediluvians; our Lord Himself announces it, and it is well to keep in view that which is coming upon the earth. (Matt. 24; Luke 17.)

The cessation of the flood, and the events that accompany it, are full of interest. The account of the dove and the raven, of the sacrifice and blessing, and of the rainbow are here before us, and merit attention.

The dove could not remain upon the earth until all the effects of judgment were past; and then comes the burnt offering presented to Jehovah. We must notice that whilst He graciously received the sacrifice and blessed Noah and the new earth through it, He again announced that which had already been said as to man's heart (compare chap. 6: 5 with chap. 8: 21) ? its imagination is evil continually.

No act of judgment in God's ways in government can ever change the heart of man. All depends upon the value of the offering, and surely in this, as in every other holocaust, the graces of Christ offering Himself in perfect devotedness to God are before us.

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

The faithful Creator keeps the covenant made with Noah till the end of the earth's history in its present state. There was a lengthening of a day in Joshua's time, and in the time of Hezekiah, when the shadow receded upon the dial; but the course of nature was not interrupted.

It is a great thing in the present day to be taught of scripture to know God as Creator and Sustainer of all things. The interest is all the greater for us who believe, because we know that it was by the Son that the energy of creation was displayed, and that He upholds all things by the power of His might. (John 1; Col. 1; Heb. 1; Rev. 4.)

All glory be to the blessed Lord Jesus!

The giving of the sign to Noah after Jehovah had blessed the renovated earth, and put the sword of government into the patriarch's hands, is very much to be noticed.

It is like a new beginning, the family are blessed and put at the head of the new state of things; and the principle of government, that is, of the magistrate who beareth not the sword in vain, is introduced into the earth that had run riot in violence and corruption before the deluge. Whoso sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for man was made in God's image.

The beautiful rainbow shines out upon the dark clouds. How barren a thing is science, and what a wretched explanation of the phenomenon! I do not mean that the exact sciences are not useful in the present state of things, nor to deny that 2 + 2 = 4, nor the mathematical laws of optics.

No person in his right mind will deny the reflection and refraction of the sun's rays through the rain drops; but, I say, what a barren thing it would be for our souls if we saw nothing in the rainbow but the laws of the angles of incidence, etc., and the doctrine of light waves!

Some one said that phenomena speak to the heart and conscience, whilst science speaks to the intellect. It is so; and God would speak to our hearts and consciences in the rainbow. His faithfulness shines out in perfect colours in the token which He displayed, where man's

heart portended trouble, and where the sombre clouds of His righteous anger were still hovering.

In the Revelation (chap. 4), where all heaven is preparing to judge the earth, which has grown old in iniquity, and which has not profited by the lesson of the deluge, we see again the rainbow around the throne, where He, the Creator and Judge, is seated. We need not be surprised at the homage rendered to Him, who in the very midst of His strange work (judgment) remembers mercy and the covenant He has made with creation.

Let us look with admiration, awe and grateful thanksgiving at the seven bright colours of unfolded light in God's rainbow! The clouds may darken as we pass through a condemned world, but our hearts can go up to Him who is light and can sustain the faith of His own in His own way.

Genesis 10, 11.

There are two things that come before our notice in Genesis 10 and 11.

1. The generations of the sons of Noah, and

2. The tower of Babel.

As to the first subject, I would recommend any who are assailed by ethnological infidels, to keep to Genesis 10, comparing the names of the sons of Shem, Ham and Japheth with the further development of their tribes in the prophetic and other parts of the divine oracles. A humble student of scripture will have a more simple and correct view of the nations of the earth than all the great ethnologists put together.

Noah's unhappy fall became the indirect means of a very general prophecy as to the three grand races.

"Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." It is not necessary to go very far amongst the sons of Ham to understand the fulfilment of this.

"Blessed be Jehovah, God of Shem and Canaan shall be his servant." There was to be a special revelation made in that family, and relation established.

God shall enlarge* Japheth. The huge and audacious family of Japheth went East first of all, and then came West in numerous migrations: it forms the great mass of the Gentiles. "God shall tabernacle in the tents of Shem," I think will include all His ways in Israel and the very advent of the Messiah.

{* I need not call the studious reader's attention to the force of enlarge. The word Japheth and "enlarge" are from the same root.}

Some one has very rightly said that Genesis 10 is a survey of the races; and that we must not bring time (chronological arrangement) into it.

The grand divisions are: ?

Of Ham ? Ethiopians, Egyptians, Libyans, Canaanites.

Of Shem ? Mesopotamians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Lud and Syrians.

Of Japheth ? the Celtic family (Gomer), the tribes to the north of the Caucasus (Magog), Medes, Greeks, Tibareni, Moschi and Thracians ? generally the Indo-Europeans.

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The building of the tower of Babel forms a memorable epoch in the history of mankind. It was a huge association to construct a temple of fame.* It was the centralising of human forces, bricks cemented with slime.

{* It is a wrong and almost puerile idea that this great building was made to rise above and defy the waters of another deluge; the attempt was "to make a name" (Gen. 11: 4) , that is, to establish man's glory independently of God.}

The character of Babel (Babylon) may be seen all through the Bible, whether in the great Chaldean city, in a material way, or in the vast spiritual system of the Apocalypse. I believe that the Book of Genesis gives us its essential character: independency of God and utter confusion.

In Zechariah 5, the vision of the woman compressed into the measure with a mass of lead and carried into the land of Shinar, represents the principles of Babylon, that is, wickedness to be established on its own base, in the latter days. The tower of Babel was never finished, Babylon (the city) is a mere cluster of sand mounds, the great religious Rome shall fall; but the spirit of Babel, that is, of man's will, independent of God, acting in a system, will go on until it is finally judged.

The brick-making and building enterprise prospered until God Himself interfered to check the presumptuous folly of the human race. His judgment smote them just in the very point of their pretensions; they were aiming at independent unity, and God condemned them to be scattered, with a hopeless confusion of tongues.

They left off building their city. When God comes in, man's operations always come to a sudden standstill; and so it will ever be.

We must carefully remember the name of Babel, for it will be useful to us further on. "Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because Jehovah did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did Jehovah scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth."

Their rallying point and centre became a point for centrifugal scattering, in all directions, of the earthly tribes; so completely did Jehovah confound their designs in one single moment.

The account of the dispersion of the builders gives us then a great insight into God's ways; He will permit human association and labour to construct an apparently permanent centre, independent of Him, a tower of Babel ? and then with one breath so upset the whole attempt, that all Babel building becomes vain. To see clearly the declaration of independence in the building of Babel is a great help to the understanding of God's ways with men, for it must and shall end in utter ruin.

May we, who know God's true Centre, be kept near enough to the Lord to be walking every step in the true spirit of dependence; so will our own individual joy be great, and so shall we be preserved from scattering and centrifugal forces!

Genesis 12, 13.

A new phase in God's ways toward men appears in the call of Abram. It was the first time that God had called a man out of his country and kindred, and we must observe attentively this going forth of the patriarch.

Two things are patent in this call: one, that the state of the earth was so bad that God's witness must come out of it, and be a stranger and pilgrim here; the other, that God is sovereign in His election, and that He alone knows why He chose to call Abram rather than any one else.

It is a new beginning, and the sovereign will of God alone can explain it. When Abram finally took the step and left Haran (where he had halted), Jehovah appeared unto him and said: "Unto thy seed will I give this land."* It has been justly remarked that then Abram is seen with a tent and an altar.

{* It is well to distinguish chapter 12: 7 from the preceding promise of making a great nation of the patriarch. I transcribe a note that may be a help to many. "The promise (chap. 12: 7) is repeated only in chapter xxii, during Abraham's history, and then to the seed alone the promise of his posterity and of the land to him and to his seed is often repeated. It is to this promise given to Abraham in chapter 12 and confirmed to the seed in chapter 26, that the apostle refers in Galatians. The earthly seed, on the contrary, was to be numerous. The translation of Galatians 3: 16 should be: Now to Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed.' And in the following verse, not in Christ, but to Christ. He was the seed of promise." (Synopsis, J. N. D.)

It may be useful to notice the first call of God, and the going forth from idolatrous Chaldea; and then this second part of the life of the called man ? this is his worship, and his shifting habitation in Canaan (having no firmer hold to the soil than that of tent-pegs).

The first call had preceded the stay at Haran, and we know that Abram had gone forth, not knowing whither he went, but as called by the God of glory, and as having at the end of his course, visible to faith, the celestial city, which hath foundations made and constructed by God Himself. It is not that there was anything, intrinsically, in the idols and images (graven and molten) of Ur of the Chaldees; but there was, behind the representative figures and shapes, the power and craft of demons that had taken possession of the earth, since Babel. It is not the hideous form of Artemis of the Ephesians, or of Juggernaut, that is to be feared, but the fierce, enslaving evil spirits that are behind the eidolon, and which have such power over men. Abram was called out from demon worship, to know the God of glory who has prepared a city for His elect. There is nothing, except the call of God, that can deliver a soul from idols. What a striking fact, what a sight for all, is that of a man coming forth, in simple faith, to live in a tent (for it has often been shewn that he received nothing actually, but all in promise), a true stranger upon an earth of idolaters!

But in chapter 12: 6 there is something more. The Canaanite was still in the land; that is, a figure of Satan's present power with his auxiliaries ? he has not yet been driven out.

Abram was not called to drive out the Canaanite, but we find his altar to Jehovah on the very ground of the wicked nations, his tent likewise. A worshipper and a stranger in the very place where the Canaanite was flourishing ? an altar with the ascending smoke of accepted sacrifice in the very face of the enemy ? it is a wonderful sight. We may well travel back in spirit to the tent pitched between Bethel and Hai, and bless Jehovah, who could thus sustain the pilgrim father and his household in the true spirit of adoration, there, where the adversary's stronghold was; for what could be more dark or terrible than the reign of the demons in Canaan?

O christian reader, is your tent like that of the elect man, pitched near Bethel? Is your family free of the world and of idols, and have you a distinct sense of worship? Abraham called on the name of Jehovah; do you call on the name of the Father?

Let us look well at this extraordinary picture on the hill to the east of Bethel, and take a lesson from the faithful pilgrim worshipping and calling upon the name of Jehovah!

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The southern journey of Abraham was not at all so felicitous. It ended by the famine driving him down into Egypt; and we must admit that as Abram got into lower latitudes, he got into a lower state.

Egypt represents the world with its resources, and it is not said that God commanded Abram to go down there; indeed He could have sustained His servant in a famine as well as in plenty.

Abram and Sarai got at once into a false position in Egypt. The woman, fair to look upon, was taken into Pharaoh's house; and if we think of the two together, they represent both the place and the acting of God's elect, gone down into the world. The woman represents the position, the man the conduct (it has been said) in such a case; and I have no doubt that this is quite a right view of the figure.

If, later on, the church goes down into the world and into Pharaoh's house, what are you to expect but sad inconsistencies and a conduct that is not upright?

I suppose that each believer who has gone to the world for relief in time of famine, has had a similar experience. Abram was in very prosperous circumstances in Egypt, and had sheep, oxen, he-asses, menservants and maidservants, and she-asses and camels; but with all these secular riches, he had one thing beside which spoilt all ? a bad conscience.

It is no real consolation to a man who is unhappy in his heart and mind, to have he and she-asses, camels, and servants. Where was Sarai? What had become of those happy hours when he and his family were worshipping Jehovah, and living according to the light of their calling? Not all the treasures of Mizraim, not all the flocks and herds could ever fill the aching void that there was in Abram's heart.

We have felt the same, no doubt; but however much we may have failed, it is a happy thing to know that God will not allow His chosen one to remain in the world. Abram was brought up out of it, and Egypt was plagued; and this is a very simple fact, and quite enough to keep us from settling down in a false position, in a world which, after all, is to be destroyed.

Morally judged already, the time is no longer far off when the execution of God's just wrath shall put an end to the pretentious age in which we are living, and to that whole system, of which the flourishing kingdom of the Pharaohs was but a part and type.

Genesis 14.

Abraham, Lot, and Melchizedek

The choice of Lot has been so much spoken of and so often followed, that it may seem superfluous to allude to it; however, we must notice carefully this part of the history.

Abraham's whole life is divided, in Genesis, into three grand portions: chapters 12 ? 14; 15 ? 21; 22 ? 25: 10; notice carefully these divisions, attentive reader, for I shall have to allude to them again.

In the present part (chaps. 12 ? 14), we have the call of Abraham, his steadfastness in contrast with Lot's choice, and his meeting with Melchizedek after the defeat of the confederate kings.

Chapter 13 brings us back to Abraham's altar, to the happy position in which he was at first; and almost immediately we have Lot's choice of the fertile plain, which was like the garden of Jehovah, and like the land of Egypt. I can quite understand the impression that such a smiling valley would make on a man's mind (through his eyes); for if any of my readers have ever looked upon a vista of budding vegetation, orange and citron trees and bananas, crowned with feathery date-palms, as one may see in the Delta, he will comprehend the meaning of "like the garden of the Lord" and "like the land of Egypt."

Lot saw this verdant plain, and the lust of the eyes was too much for him; soon afterwards he was in it, and his tent pitched in the vicinity of one of the most wicked places under the sun. Ah! how often have we seen a similar picture; the fairest landscape inhabited by exceeding great sinners. Look at the bay of Naples!

It is then that Jehovah confirms His promise and call to the true pilgrim father; after the separation from Lot, the Lord speaks to Abraham, revealing to him the extent of the blessing accorded to a true stranger on earth. Our hearts rest in peace in the shades of Mamre with an altar built to the Lord, far away from the ambition and busy hum of the cities of the plain.

Ambition and the true spirit of the world soon spew themselves in the form of war. This is one of the great delights of the nations; I mean, fighting. We hear universal disarming of the Gentile powers spoken of, but we may be assured that such a thing will never really take place whilst the world is in its present state.

A battle fought in the vale of Siddim, which was full of slime-pits, five kings against four ? there is a glorious occurrence! Lot had to pay for his civic rights, and found himself dragged off into captivity and all his goods confiscated.

Abram's intervention in this case is that of one who could help a worldly man in trouble, without getting into the world himself; he would accept nothing at all from the king of Sodom, not even a bootlace! It should not be said that the cities of the plain had enriched the man whose altar smoked to Jehovah in Mamre; he, the separate man, could come in with divine resources (for he fought with real household troops, in the Lord's service) and deliver the oppressed, without taking anything from the world. There is such a thing as saving people with fear, snatching them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh; and in this spirit did Abraham deliver his unhappy nephew from the confederate kings.

But we have another personage brought before us here, another king more truly majestic than the king of Sodom. Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, appears unto Abraham. Lot, I believe, never saw him.

I suppose we all understand what Melchizedek's action represents; that is, his bringing forth the bread and wine after the defeat of the confederate kings. There can be no doubt but that he is the figure of Him that was to come, the true Priest after the order of Melchizedek, the glorious Christ of God, King of righteousness, and King of peace, who shall come with blessing and refreshment to the whole earth after the final rout of the confederate kings.

He, Jesus Christ our Lord, shall come forth in that day, and His kingdom shall be established in power, in righteousness, and in peace. He shall be King and Priest upon the throne!

But we have more to consider in this splendid apparition to Abraham. We cannot pass by so glorious a person as Melchizedek without looking at that which the scripture says of our Lord, in the present time.

It is for us to know the true Melchizedek; for us, as being now a heavenly people, separated from this world, and on our way to God's rest. It is of Christ as Priest according to the order of Melchizedek that the Holy Spirit speaks in the Epistle to the Hebrews. If we have a true pilgrim spirit, and, like Abraham, are really separate from Sodom and those who live in it, we may study this interesting subject (that of Melchizedek); if we are worldly, I am afraid we shall not be able to understand much about it.

It was when Abraham was truly separate from the world, and when he had suffered in rescuing Lot, that the king of righteousness and of peace appeared to him.

There are but three allusions to Melchizedek in the whole of the scriptures. The first is here, in Genesis 14; the second in Psalm 110; and the third in the Epistle to the Hebrews. In the second of these (Ps. 110) our Lord's present position is clearly maintained, that is, His session at the right hand of Jehovah until His enemies be made His footstool.

He is then constituted, by an oath, High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek; and this is referred to in Hebrews 5, 6, and 7, where our Lord's present attitude and ministry are largely developed.

The whole order of priesthood has been changed, and before the time comes of the manifestation of the true Melchizedek, we (believers) know Him glorified in heaven, able to save completely those who approach by Him to God, always living to intercede for them. It is a happy thing when Christians really begin to understand what our Lord's present place as Priest is; when, instead of contenting themselves with knowing that His power and interest are always exerted in their favour, they know Him as having sat down on the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens.

To know Him thus, as minister of the holy places and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord has pitched and not man; to know Him as the One who now maintains our hearts in the knowledge and enjoyment of heavenly things, before we actually arrive in heaven, this is to know Him as Priest after the order of Melchizedek.

A true separation from the world will always be found to accompany the knowledge of a glorious Christ; if ye are reproached in the name of Christ, blessed are ye, for the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you.

There is a calm expression of dignity and glory on the part of the royal priest who met Abram; and the patriarch himself bears the traces of dignity and glory in his reply to the king of Sodom.

"I have lift up my hand unto Jehovah, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion"!

These are the words of a truly independent man his walk had been one of separation and of obedience to God's will. He was a man whom the world never could have approved, as it approved Lot and gave him a place in the gate of Sodom a man who walked according to the light that God had given him, and who, knowing the resources of the Most High, could come forth from his interview with the priest of the Most High, with all the fitting manners of one who had met a royal priest. He refuses the world's help without any pretension, and declares in simple and powerful language the glory and riches of the God upon whom he depends.

This is a very striking part of the history of the patriarch Abram. The three figures stand out before us in bold relief.

Lot, who deliberately chooses a path which is of a far lower order than the one to which God had called him. A man who belonged to God, but whose heart could not get above the well-watered plain of Sodom. "An enlightened believer," the world would have said. "An unfaithful saint," saith scripture.

Abram, who chose to be with God and who was infinitely happier with Him in Mamre than he could have been without Him, no matter how beautiful might be the garden. Abram, the man of faith and true to his calling, who suffered in the path of separation, but was able to deliver Lot, and with his heart full of the glories of the Most High God, could decline to receive anything from the king of Sodom.

Melchizedek, the type of the glorious Christ. The sudden apparition of this great man upon the scene, his majestic service, his receiving tithes from Abram, his blessing the patriarch in the name of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth ? all these glories point to the still higher glories of our Lord, who shall come forth in His time to bring blessing to the earth, and who is known to us now as the minister of the sanctuary, a High Priest for ever according to the order of the royal priest and king.

Genesis 15 ? 21.

There is a prophetic revelation made to Abraham in the beginning of chapter 15. It is the word of Jehovah coming to him in a vision.

In a vision, I think very often the true state of the heart is expressed, and there was evidently in Abram's thoughts a difficulty that had never been solved. "I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward," Jehovah said, and Abram replies: "Adonai Elohim, what wilt thou give me?" There was no hope, no natural possibility of an heir, and Abram asks for an explanation.*

{* It is often remarked that the human mind, if it is at all active, is sure to say, "Why?" "What?" "How?" Its natural state is that of asking the reason why. I trust that it is not detracting from the patriarch, the great man of faith, to point out that questions arose in his mind, as in those of others. God is His own interpreter, and happy are they who wait quietly upon Him.}

God reassures him, and he believes God's word, The whole passage gives us a prophetic account of the way in which Jehovah would carry out His promises, and that notwithstanding all the shadows which appear as the sun is setting and the deep sleep and darkness coming upon Abram. What a tale of God's power, of man's weakness and of darkness and light in the covenant made with the father of believers! In this case, it is the prophetic view of the earthly people, the going down to Egypt, the coming out when the iniquity of the Amorites should be full, the bright lamp after the smoking furnace, and ultimate glory and dominion of the twelve tribes.

It is just the kind of vision that one in a reasoning state of mind might expect to see; though it ends well.

But in chapter 16 it is not merely looking at one's own heart; Abram listens to Sarai, and condescends to follow her advice, and we hear nothing of his faith upon this occasion. It was not faith to listen to Sarai; and the result of their expedient was not satisfactory. Ishmael was born, and the very first description of him, "He shall be a wild-ass* man," his hand against every one, and every one's hand against him; a trouble rather than a help. It is not that God has not had mercy on the Arabs ? indeed, Ishmael's descendants receive a blessing in chapter 17; but it must be confessed that they have been very troublesome since Ishmael disturbed Abram's household, up to the present day. You might as well try to tame the wildest animal, as to induce the Bedawee to live peaceably.

{* This is the literal meaning of verse 12. May I remind the reader that an Eastern wild ass is a very fine animal, unlike the unfortunate Western asses. It is an indomitable, high spirited animal, as any who have had to do with the onager tribe will say.}

Notice, too, that Hagar was an Egyptian, and the result of mixing the seed of the promise with the world is Ishmael, the untameable wild ass.

This is what comes of listening to Sarai's advice.

The following chapter gives us quite a different aspect of the man of faith. It is a more complete bowing to God, or rather setting aside of man in the presence of Him who comes to bless His own according to His own thoughts. There is no asking why or what, there is no consultation with Sarai, but Abram falls upon his face before the Lord, who blesses him. Abram and Sarai are transformed (larger vessels) into Abraham and Sarah, and circumcision is commanded.

The destruction of Sodom, and the coming of the heir according to promise, and the expulsion of the bondmaid's son ? these grand truths now are brought before us, and complete this phase of Abraham's history, up to the end of chapter 21, where a little millennial scene again appears.

Much has been said as to the great fire of Sodom, but the narrative does not lose much by being again considered. The great lesson for believers is that of being near enough to the Lord, and in the true sense of the heavenly calling, in a word, high enough upon the mountain, to be out of the mists of Sodom, and to be able to intercede for those who are down in the plain.

The out-of-the-world air of the hills is the only one that a true Christian can breathe; and it is a happy thing when not only heavenly truths are known, but the soul itself braced up in the intimacy of a communion where not only Jehovah does not hide from Abraham His thoughts, but where the Paraclete makes known the glories of the Son, of Jesus in the Father's presence, and things that concern His place in the divine counsels are known in an atmosphere that is not of this world.

The plain of Sodom lay below. Well watered and fertile, none of its inhabitants dreamed of fire and combustion, security seemed to cover the whole valley of the Jordan.

But the man of faith saw the impending ruin, and, himself in quite a different world, could pray for those over whom the judgment was suspended.

How little did the inhabitants of the cities of the Plain think that the end was near! The night was passed, and Lot dragged out of the doomed place by God's own mercy and power ? the sun had risen as usual, when God rained fire and brimstone upon Sodom ? when sudden destruction fell upon all that valley. It is a picture of a still more terrible conflagration (2 Peter 3), when all shall be burned up. Happy, thrice happy they who are outside the spirit of the age, and able to enjoy, in the Spirit's power, the joys of a heavenly company in a heavenly sphere; able at the same time to intercede for those who are in the low-lying city, and who ought to be out of it.

It is not enough to be outwardly separate from the ways of Sodom, Pompeii and Herculaneum, but the Lord would have us near enough to Him to have His mind in the last days of the great town of vanity; I mean, to occupy the place of Abraham, rather than that of Lot. The full grace of God, by which we have been called into the intimate relationship of children, being thus far nearer to Him than Abraham, the friend of God, cannot be too highly prized.

And now we come to the birth of Isaac, the heir; and the expulsion of Ishmael and Hagar.

Abraham's failure in chapter 20 is over-ruled by God's mercy; and the inheritance is preserved by the bondwoman's son being cast out. The two things cannot subsist together, that is, law and grace; and happy they who have really understood the force of: "Cast out the bondwoman and her son"!

The spirit of untamed flesh was but too patent in the naughty young Arab, and his mocking Isaac was the signal for his being suddenly expelled from the family where God's grace was known in the true heir. The teaching connected with this is as important for us as it was for the Galatians, and I trust that "Ishmael" has been driven out by every one who reads these notes.

After this Abraham appears in his true position to Abimelech, a contrast with chapter 20, and plants a grove in Beersheba, calling on the name of Jehovah, the everlasting God. It is a millennial picture, the Gentiles coming into blessing, through God's chosen family on earth.

Notice, that in the meantime Ishmael had married an Egyptian, and had learned to shoot arrows.

Genesis 22 ? 24.

The Sacrifice of Isaac, and the Call of the Bride.

We are now come to the third and last part of the life of Abraham, and the whole passage (chaps. 22 ? 25) is pregnant with the grandest truths.

Let us begin with the sacrifice of Isaac. It has been noticed that the great lesson of death coming upon every human hope and prospect is largely taught in figure in the Old Testament. Those who have to do with God and His counsels must pass through death. It is not merely in this case the shadow of death, as the horror of great darkness in chapter 15, but here Abraham is called upon by God to take his only son upon whom his heart is set, and to plunge the sacrificial knife into him with his own hand.

We are never tired of this wonderful narrative, and as we read it, we seem to see the little company start (for the patriarch's alacrity answered at once to the trial) and pursue the long dusty journey towards Moriah. Abraham alone could understand and draw nigh to the God of glory in this supreme act, and as soon as the mountain appeared upon the horizon, he told his servants to wait.

They could understand nothing of the worship that was to take place; they must stop behind with the ass.

"Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Elohim Himself should provide the lamb.

Abraham was a man after God's own heart. One touch of the Giver's infinite thoughts, "thine only (one) Isaac," found a ready echo in the man who had been often in the presence of the God of glory. The prompt obedience in accepting death upon Isaac his only hope, his beloved son, proved that God's thoughts were his thoughts on this occasion, as well as his faith in a God of resurrection.

We feel ourselves the need of a worshipping spirit as we approach Mount Moriah; once there, we are far away from men and their ways, on the ground of faith and of God's holy will and thoughts, we look with wonder on Isaac, received* from the dead in a figure. We may worship indeed as the ram smokes upon the altar, a holocaust to Jehovah the Provider. Our hearts go on to the infinite sacrifice of the Son: "In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen "

{* "Got back, when he might have been lost for ever." See the note in loco in the "New Translation" (third edition).}

We may worship indeed with the father of the faithful and with the lad, dead and risen (in figure) beside him.

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The blessing pronounced upon Abraham on Mount Moriah is quoted both in the Epistle to the Galatians and in the Hebrews. It is very important to understand the true force of Galatians 3: 16: "But to Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed." The Holy Spirit refers here to Genesis 12 and 22 that is, the promises were first of all made to Abraham (in Gen. and then to Isaac (in Gen. 22), who is the type of Christ risen..

The promise was confirmed to Christ, as represented in Isaac, received from the dead in a figure and thus full blessing flows out to the Gentiles.

The allusion to the oath in Hebrews 6 shall leave to the reader's careful study, for the Holy Spirit is there bringing believers to understand what their present full connection with heaven is, in Him who has entered within the veil as forerunner ? the stability of God's word confirmed by an oath.

And now we approach quite a new subject, but which depends none the less upon the death and resurrection of Isaac.

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In chapter 23 the death of Sarah is recorded. Abraham buys the field of Ephron, to be the cemetery of the faithful, and this is all that he ever acquired as a true possession on the earth. Sarah disappears, and an entirely new figure comes upon the scene ? Rebekah, the bride of the dead and risen Isaac.

One of the most complete and beautiful figures of the Old Testament unfolds to us here that which should take place later, when the church should be called out and brought across the desert to the true Isaac, the risen Christ.

"Beware lest thou bring my son thither again." (Chap. 24: 6.) The bride must be called out from the world, whilst Christ is personally standing aloof from it.

Each time we read this passage, so fertile in marvellous events expressed in wonderful language, we discern fresh glories in the divine oracles. The pictures of Christ and His church, and the clear aspects of His love to her ? and of her love to Him ? are drawn by the Holy Spirit Himself.

Without attempting to follow out the details of this narrative, let us notice a few grand features of the present calling out of the church.

If Eliezer's journey be taken to represent the activity of the Holy Ghost, there was at the same time a providential work. God should send His angel before the man to prepare the way, and when God prepares the way all goes well; everything happens at the right moment. We may notice, in all times, an outward and providential work that accompanies the inward action of the Holy Spirit.

The great fact before us is the calling out of the bride for the heavenly Man. It is Jehovah Elohim of heaven who had called out Abraham, who now directs everything in the finding and bringing home of the destined companion to the dead and risen Isaac.

The scene unfolds itself before us. Eliezer, entirely pre-occupied with the thoughts and will of his master, the weary camels at evening time, the true spirit of prayer and dependence, the coming forth of the damsel at the right instant ? all these things bring out conspicuously the harmony of God's outward providence with the activity of His own counsels, unknown but by the blessed Spirit.

"I being in the way, Jehovah led me to the house of my master's brethren."

The nose-ring and bangles of gold spoke of the wealth of Isaac; but the great question was whether the bride would follow the call, and there could be no delay of any kind until the answer was given, "I will go."

All Eliezer's thoughts were concentrated in the carrying out of the divine errand; and he could not rest until he had told Isaac all the things that he had done.

Happy are they who know the present activity of the blessed Spirit of God; thrice happy they whose hearts are formed by His action! The moment is very near when the bride shall be presented to the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaac went out in the field to meditate in the evening, and saw the camels coming, and Rebekah at the sight of her lord, Eliezer's master, covered herself. "He loved her."

It is well, no doubt, in all figures, not to go beyond what the Holy Spirit would teach us; but may we not see in this a special application to our day?

The time is close at hand when the true Isaac shall come forth, when the full and final accomplishment of the words, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come," shall take place.

The glorious heavenly Man will take the church to Himself, and His divine love shall be satisfied. She, on her part (covered, for all that she has is of Him) shall answer to all His glory!

May we understand more fully what the bride's heart really is as answering to the love of Christ!

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Now we come to the end of Abraham's life. He might well have sung, "Nunc dimittis," as every other true servant of God at the end of a happy course. I shall ask the reader not to put chapter 25 in chronological sequence to chapter 24, for that is not the real force of the conjunction; the "then again" of the A.V. is unfortunate.

This sums up the patriarch's life, giving an account of his descendants, carefully marking Isaac as the true heir.

His body lies buried in the cave of Machpelah, having obtained witness through faith, awaiting the moment of the resurrection, when he shall be made perfect with us, for whom God has foreseen a still higher blessing.

Genesis 25, 26.

Ishmael and Isaac.

Ishmael represents the flesh with great religious privileges, which make no real change in the flesh's true nature.

It is not for nothing that I have already called attention to the fact that Ishmael learned to be an archer, and married an Egyptian woman.

The two symbolic facts are very easy to understand. The use of the bow always represents war and fighting; and a formal alliance with the world is taught in the marriage with the Egyptian. The world and the flesh go together, and the whole is covered with a great show of religious privilege. An unbridled life, for Ishmael roamed the desert, the profession of arms and an Egyptian wife ? this is the one who from his boyhood mocked at the holy seed.

His rapid development and establishment in power is given to us in a few verses. (Chap. 25: 12-18.) The twelve princes, his sons, all of them heads of the leading Arab tribes, with their towns and castles, speak to us of what the "religious world" was in those remote ages; whilst Isaac and the true posterity of Abraham were dwelling in tents, these grand lords had their towns and castles. If I say that they were religious, it is because they had great privileges of which they were well aware; but the world and its vain glory, the restless flesh and its mischievous activity (bows and arrows) were to be found in this numerous family. Long before Mahomet collected and made these wandering tribes more religious* than ever, the pride of man's heart was to be seen there ? outside the true knowledge of God, whatever the privileges might be.

{* I am not using the word in a good sense, but in that of self-imposed human rules of theology in which the natural heart of man delights. "There is no god but Allah, and ? is his apostle."}

I trust that every judicious reader will understand that I am looking at Ishmael in a symbolical light, and not speaking merely of the man himself. Do you think that we have really got rid of "Ishmael, the son of the Egyptian Hagar"? It is a happy thing to be outside the towns and castles and in a tent with the God of glory.

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It has often been said of Isaac that his life does not stand out upon the inspired page, like that of his father.

There was no violent break with his kindred, as in Abraham's case; he was born in the very line of blessing, and filled the place of the true heir. The chief events that are mentioned in his life, I think, are his being offered on Mount Moriah, his building the altar in chapter 26 and the blessing of his two sons. This last-mentioned fact is recorded by the Holy Spirit in Hebrews 11.

What we have before us now is the contrast between the flesh and its religion and power (on earth as seen in Ishmael), and the true pilgrim and patient heir quietly waiting upon Jehovah.

There can be no doubt, I think, that Isaac's life is far less brilliant than Abraham's, and we have seen more recent instances of children of eminent believers who have received truths for which they never had to fight, and have never stood out so well as their fathers; yet Isaac's life was a life of faith, and in looking carefully at it, the true blue colour appears and it forms a proper link in the patriarchal chain.

We must look at this man as the dead and risen witness to God's power. He was received from the dead in a figure. We have considered him already as a type of Christ; now let us admire in him a true believer. It is impossible that he could have come down from the mountain where he had been both victim and worshipper, without having the feeling of having passed through death. Of course, I am only speaking figuratively; and I suppose that he had always a distinct recollection of the uplifted knife. He began his career as one alive from the dead, and though there be not the same energy in him as in his father, yet he fulfilled a life of faith.

In Gerar, no doubt (chap. 26), there was want of confidence in the Lord, just after Jehovah had assured him of His protection ? and want of energy in keeping the wells of water (those fresh springs which should be jealously kept). But there is the building of an altar to the Lord, the confession of His name, and the pitching of the tent under the shadow of the Almighty; it is then that the Lord's power is felt, and the Gentiles own it. They confess that Jehovah is with him. (Ver. 28.) There was a man living in a tent outside the ordinary course of the world, and it was felt that the Lord was with him; the power of Jehovah's name was there.

Chapter 27 is never read without our feeling thoroughly ashamed of Rebekah and Jacob (and, I trust, of ourselves too, for we have sometimes resorted to wrong expedients); we feel ashamed of human nature and its crafty and selfish ways. But though Isaac does not shine here as he should, and though his call for venison is undignified ? yet we must not lose sight of him as a man of faith.

It is said that by faith he blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.

Putting aside the ignoble conduct of the mother and son, and the feebleness of the father, we are ushered into the presence of the Lord, upon the ground of faith. "The things to come," if properly studied, will be found to include God's ways with the people of His promise (Israel), and the remarkable position of Edom (see ver. 40) in his antagonism to the elect people of God. The prophets give to us an ample development of these future things, and Obadiah especially unfolds Esau's character.

I would recommend a careful study of all the prophets where Israel and Edom are mentioned.

To sum up, we have a man of faith, dead and risen, known as having the Lord with him, and seeing out into futurity.

May we never think of Isaac without endeavouring to enter into God's mind for us as pilgrims. Death and resurrection, God's presence with us, and a true outlook into glory!

Genesis 27 ? 32.

Jacob and Esau; Israel.

Inlooking over the well-known history of Jacob and Esau, I wish to point out some of the more important events; a few remarks as to Israel, after Jacob's happy transformation, may be edifying to our souls.

The first appearance of the twins upon earth was portentous; the promise that the elder should serve the younger must have excited wonder even before the former was laid hold of by the heel. Had Jacob waited patiently, the promise would not have been encumbered by conditions. (Chap. 27: 40.)

Esau is the natural man of the earth, full of the scent of the field, a rough hunter ? and profane.

Jacob's deceitful character and moral obliquity are but too evident, and his ways needed many years' discipline in God's school; but he was not profane. In his worst moments there was always the fear of God at the bottom.

Esau gave up his birthright for a momentary advantage, and took two Hittite wives; and these two facts are a sufficient proof of his reckless and godless mind.

If we trace through the Bible the history of Edom, we shall always find the same features, whether in the refusal of passage to Israel in the desert, whether in Doeg, or in the Herods ? we shall always find the profane and gross worldly element together with opposition to God. Mount Seir is the stronghold of the flesh, the citadel of godless man; but Edom should be pulled down from his eyrie (see Obadiah) and at his end should be dislodged from his high perch and brought low. And so shall all proud thoughts and pretentious strongholds of the flesh be laid in the dust!

The history of Edom answers (so far as a godly mind requires) the question of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. We must not confound the promise that "the elder should serve the younger" with the words of Malachi, where God's hatred of Esau was consequent on his profane ways. It is never said that Esau was hated before his birth; though it is true that Jacob was chosen, in sovereign counsel, before the two brothers appeared upon the scene.

The profane world, which has not been left without certain religious privileges, will be judged according to its conduct; Edom's ways were hateful to God, and at the very end of the prophetic word (in Malachi) we have this expression of the divine mind.

There are several stages in the discipline of Jacob. He had to learn that other people could tell lies as grossly as he, and that the only true standard was in Jehovah. Then he had to be delivered from the world and from every earthly object; he must be thoroughly broken, so that when at last, a lame man leaning on a staff, he could look forward to the future glory, he was fit to go there himself. The end of his life always seems to me like a bright and calm sunset after a day of thunder and lightning, showers and storm. His final prophecy gives us a tranquil and happy outlook into the future where all blessing is secured to the twelve tribes in the person of the dead and risen Christ. That he should be the vessel of such a revelation at the end of his course is a sure proof of the effect of God's discipline.

Let us very briefly review the life of Jacob and mark the stages of progress in the soul at each succeeding phase of discipline.

He started, when he fled from Esau's wrath in chapter 28, with a different purpose to that of his grandfather Abraham, who began and ended his course as a true pilgrim.

Jacob, though he feared God, was not prepared to take the true place of his calling, as a pilgrim and a stranger, and it is evident that he was not at his ease when he awoke after the vision of the ladder near Haran. (See ver. 17.) The place was rightly named Bethel, but how much must transpire before he should come to that point (Bethel) in a fit condition to walk with the God of Abraham!

How many in the present day resemble Jacob in this ? that they are in the place of a call of God to which their state of heart does not answer! Their call is very different to that of Israel; it is far higher, it is heavenly ? but I believe the analogy to be real, and you will find many "Jacobs" of this kind. You will constantly meet people whose whole life has been one of discipline before they really learned what their true calling was ? that is, if they ever did learn it.

Indeed, Jacob's first prayer at Bethel was far from being creditable to one who was to inherit the blessing of Abraham. (See chap. 28: 20-22.) We do not find in it any adequate expression as to God's mind; but Jehovah had other thoughts than of merely accepting Jacob's tithes! (Ver. 22.) He was to have far more glory out of him!

I pass over the whole story of Jacob and Laban. He had to learn during this long period of labour and trial that the God of Bethel (see chap. 31: 13) was his only true friend, and alone able to help him against the crafty Syrian. It was something to hear Jacob confessing the name of the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac (chap. 31: 42), and then again at the end of the chapter "the fear* of his father Isaac" seems to have been uppermost in his mind. The sense of God's faithfulness and of His holy majesty were deepened in Jacob up to this point. He had increased exceedingly in cattle, servants, camels and asses (all of which disappear at the end), but I doubt if he had made much more progress than that of increased confidence in God and fear of Him.

{* It is a strong word, implying dread and reverence, see, for instance, Exodus 15: 15.}

It will be said that this was something; and indeed it was ? but he had much more to learn.

Chapter 32 contains a deeper lesson. The man had to be thoroughly broken, and the events here recorded tend to this. The dread of the meeting with Esau and his struggle with the Wrestler left him in a better state to learn more. He was lamed for life in receiving the name of Israel, and though he still needed to be corrected and judged, yet this was a turning-point in his history.

At Shalem, Jacob could dedicate his altar to El-Elohe-Israel, but he fell again into his old ways of acquiring wealth, and we may well be assured that Abraham never would have bought a field (unless for a patriarchal cemetery)! The trouble which came upon Jacob here was another blow; and now we come to several steps in the right direction.

God calls him to Bethel, and this arouses him; he begins to act consistently, he buries all the idols and profane jewellery of the household. I believe that if a similar thing were done in many a house where "high truth" is professed, there would be great blessing. Many a Christian's house needs to be cleared of false gods and bangles. God is with Jacob after this, and the terror which oppressed him in chapter 34: 30 has vanished; it is God's terror that keeps in awe his enemies.

But the most terrible blow of all was yet to come. He comes up to Bethel and the name of Israel is confirmed to him ? but he must lose Rachel! The one true love of his heart must go! It is to this that he touchingly alludes when he says: "There Rachel died by me." (Chap. 48: 7.) It was the climax of God's ways with the man, the last great stroke that was to bereave him of the one he loved. Generally speaking, a man who has never loved in this way is not worth much; and when the fatal blow comes, it will either drive him to despair or else (through God's sanctifying grace) bring him down to calm dependence upon Him who alone can satisfy the soul.

Many a one who reads these lines will say that they have had a deeper knowledge of our blessed Lord ever since that day when their first and last love was taken from them.

And so it was with Jacob! The rest of his life was the life of Israel. In the history of Joseph and Benjamin, in the appearing before Pharaoh, in the last prophecy,* we have to do with a man of God.

{* I purposely reserve chapter 49 for another occasion. It requires a careful examination. If the Lord allows, it shall either follow directly upon the present paper, or after "Joseph."}

In the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh, we see an intelligent saint guided by the Spirit of God.

Nothing could be more wonderful than the calm dignity with which the patriarch speaks to the great king of Egypt, and blesses him in conscious superiority. It is a superiority that is divinely given, there is no pretension or pride.

The love of wealth had gone he "adored leaning upon the top of his staff." The emblem of a true pilgrim was found in his hand at last, when, freed from all worldly hopes and having lost all earthly desires, he could declare plainly that he sought the heavenly country.

And not only so, but his last testimony rings out clearly with the knowledge of Him who was not ashamed to be called the God of the patriarchs. The glories of Christ shine in Israel's last recorded speech, and the power of the Mighty One of Jacob makes itself felt ? "from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel."

No Egyptian tomb for Israel! He sleeps with the pilgrim fathers in the tomb of Machpelah, awaiting the full accomplishment of the counsels of the God of glory!

Genesis 37 ? 48.

Joseph

Let us leave the last prophecy of Jacob till the end and look at the fourth great patriarch, Joseph.

I would wish especially to look at Joseph as the one who was delivered from prison and death and exalted; the type of Christ in His sufferings and universal sway. It may be useful to notice the ways of God in disconcerting opposition and awakening interest, in order to bring forward the man of His counsels.

What varied characters rise up before us; the unscrupulous sons of Israel who sold their brother, Potiphar's naughty wife, the forgetful butler, the pensive king ? these people all appear and have their part in the story and unwittingly accomplish Jehovah's will!

A careful study of what is said of Joseph in Psalm 105 and in Acts 7 will repay the reader.

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In the beginning of the history (in chap. 37), it is easy to discern the figure of our Lord's position in the midst of Israel, and the wickedness of the Jews in putting Him to death.

Joseph was his father's favourite, and at the same time the depositary of divine counsels, for his dreams (so little approved by his brethren) had revealed to him God's intentions.

The whole account of his descent into the pit and of his imprisonment may be taken as an illustration of the sufferings of Jesus; but we must notice that our blessed Lord did truly go down into death ? He tasted death for everything.

The whole picture of the fortieth chapter is full of interest, and takes us to the banks of the Nile. The great king stood by the river, and we seem to behold the seven well-favoured and the seven wretched kine rise out of the ancient river (that parent of prodigies), and the devouring of the former by the latter. The seven full ears of corn, and the other seven, blasted and sere, that came and ate them up.

The discreet man who should govern Egypt throughout the famine was found in the person of him who could explain the dream; and we have at once a type of our Lord Jesus, as the One who was raised from the dead, that He might take His place at the head of the universe, to be even now over the house of God. The time is fast approaching when we shall see all the glories of our Saviour, when He shall take His great power and reign.

It is a very happy thing when the type is followed out, so that the peculiar blessings which flow from our Lord's exaltation are known. Every knee must bow before Him, as before Joseph the cry was heard: "Bow the knee!" It is for us to know the present value of the name that is above every name, and (as Asenath the bride*) to enter into our present relation with the glorified Jesus, before the day shall come for His manifestation to Israel.

{* It was not without some interest that I once looked on the ancient obelisk at Mataria (the site of Heliopolis, or On of Genesis 41). This ancient relic must have been standing when Joseph went to the city to claim his bride.}

Let it not suffice us to know of our Lord's exaltation as a positive and historical fact, but let us really bow to Him in everything! How simple, yet how blessed for us in the sense of His power and glory, though we see not yet all things put under Him. Faith acts in quiet certitude, and delights to know that everything is in the hands of the true Joseph. Great as will be our delight in that day when He shall be publicly manifested, let us not put off till then the enjoyment of the power of His glory. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed! Blessed are they who can look up to the highest heaven and see Jesus crowned with glory and honour, and in the midst of an unjust world, where each day brings forth fresh trouble, rest in the security of His exaltation, learning, too, daily to do the things that please Him.

Let us think of Asenath and of her position. May we know, by the Holy Ghost, the Father's love in all its present reality! If this be going away from what is strictly our subject, it is none the less important. Let us keep near to Joseph whilst the famine lasts; that is, to our blessed and exalted Lord ? though great may be the dearth around us!

But we must go on to the latter part of the history to learn God's ways with His earthly people at the end.

The twelve tribes must be brought, through great exercise, to repentance; and the final blessing must come upon them from the riches of the glory of the heavenly Christ. He will not only bring all nations under divine authority, but He will lead Israel into the full enjoyment of their portion under Jehovah ? and before this can be accomplished, they must go through the deep trial and exercise of heart that leads to repentance.

It is very interesting to trace God's ways in the conduct of Joseph towards his brethren. Judah and Benjamin are the two who find themselves in the deepest trouble; and Benjamin, before the trial of the cup in the sack, had the greatest portion allotted to him.*

{* I suppose that there can be no doubt that Benjamin represents strength upon earth in Israel; this will be more apparent, perhaps, in reading Jacob's last prophecy.}

Judah and Benjamin go through an hour of searching trouble, and this evidently prefigures the fierce trial of the Jewish remnant (for those whom we call Jews now are of Judah and Benjamin) that will precede the final restoration of the twelve tribes.

When Judah repents, that is, when he begins seriously to feel the crime committed against Joseph, Benjamin being too in danger, it is a picture of what will happen in the last days. The prophet Zechariah throws much light upon Judah's ultimate repentance; and I suppose that no one could read Genesis 44: 28 without feeling that the narrator of Jacob's words felt his own guilt. Compare the preceding exercise in chapter 42: 21.

It is when Judah and Benjamin are thus put to the proof that Joseph makes himself known to his brethren, and declares to them the riches of his position as head of the Gentiles. So shall the glorious Messiah, in the last days, make Himself known to the whole earthly people of God, when the Jewish remnant shall have passed through the peculiar and terrible trial that is in store for them. All Israel shall be saved.

Thus Joseph is a full and perfect figure of the exalted Man through whom all God's counsels shall be accomplished; and it is important for us to notice the grace that is displayed in this beautiful and extraordinary type. Grace is manifested to the sons of Jacob, who so little deserved it; and if we (Christians) have a higher place as forming that favoured and heavenly company that shares the honours of the true Joseph, we have all the more opportunity of knowing the heart of Christ. If Asenath represents our place and relation with Jesus glorified, let us not be slow to learn the peculiar treasure of His love!

All future blessing to the twelve tribes is on the ground of pure grace, for all had been lost through the rejection of Christ; it has been aptly remarked that when God appeared to Israel on His way to Egypt (chap. 46), He spoke as the God of his father without speaking of the (forfeited) promises made to Abraham.

The one whose feet had been made fast in the stocks, and who had felt the iron of the dungeon, is the revealer of God's ways, the governor of the world, the gracious restorer of his brethren. One is never tired of reading the story of Joseph.

May we know more and more of the present grace and power of the glory of Him who is exalted at the right hand of the Majesty on high! May His interests be ours, and His love fully known!

However great might be the glory of the great administrator of Egypt, his heart did not forget the people of God, nor was he unmindful of the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His very bones should not rest in any Memphitic mausoleum, but should be carried to Shechem.

So the glorious Christ. Whatever may be the extent and splendour of His universal sway, He will not forget Israel and the holy land, and the portion of the earthly people will be abundantly made good out of the endless riches of His heavenly glory.

Genesis 49.

Jacob's Last Prophecy

I have left Jacob's last words to his sons till the end, so as to conclude with a comprehensive view of God's counsels and ways in Christ, with Israel and the nations, in the past, present and future.

It is a complete historical prophecy in which we see, as in a mirror, God's account of men illustrated in the twelve tribes; the great lesson in it being the setting aside of the responsible man (the first man), and bringing in Christ. All true blessing, whether heavenly or earthly, must come through the second Man; and if the final blessing of the earth be here in view, it is none the less important to see that all must come through Christ, after the utter failure of the responsible first-born sons of Israel.

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Jacob gathers together the twelve sons, with the purpose of announcing what shall happen to them in the last days; he speaks as "Israel their father" that is, as a man of God in the true form of a prophet.

Reuben's fall is conspicuous, and then Simeon and Levi follow. In the first case, it is corruption; in the second, violence. These are always the two chief forms of evil. In these three men, we have a picture of the ruin of those who were in a responsible place, as being God's chosen people on earth. It represents the moral downfall of the twelve tribes, in spite of their privileges.

Lust, cruelty and self-will! What a terrible portrait of man in his natural state! Yet this is his true character; and their digging down walls with violence, their wrath and anger, led to their scattering. (Vers. 6, 7.)

Have we well understood that, in whatever way the first man (that is, man in his natural state) is tried, in whatever circumstances he is placed, he will surely come to ruin, and bring everything to ruin? This is the great lesson to be learnt from the case of Reuben, Simeon and Levi; the house of Jacob was thoroughly compromised by their scandalous behaviour.

But in verse 8 we have God's purpose. Judah was brought forward, when all Israel was in a state of ruin; and God's king was anointed when all was lost. (Read carefully Ps. 78: 67-70.) Judah is the Royal tribe according to God's thoughts, and our Lord Himself is represented as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

Shiloh should come, and unto Him should the gathering of the peoples* be.

{* Note that it is peoples (ammim), not merely people. It is not goi'm (that is, the nations considered merely as heathens), but as being blessed under and with Israel.}

Historically we may see, so far, the accomplishment of God's purpose in the appearing of the true king of the house of David, at our Lord's first coming. But vengeance should be taken upon His enemies before the kingdom could be set up, His clothes must be washed in the blood of grapes. (Compare Matt. 21: 1-9 with Isa. 63 and the vers. 10, 11, 12 of our chapter; in the first case the King of the house of David was recognised for one moment in Jerusalem.)

But our Lord must go away and leave the house desolate until the time should come for Him to appear again in power to destroy His enemies.

And in the meantime, have we not a true picture of Israel whilst they are driven out of their country and scattered in verses 13, 14?

Zebulun and Issachar represent the Israelites in their commercial attitude towards the Gentiles, as we know them at the present time. The shoulder is bowed to bear, there is the service to tribute. (We must admit that the Jews have paid more taxes than any other nation.) It is the long history of the settling down of this extraordinary nation in the Gentile countries, during which time they contrive to collect most of the capital that the world can give.

A strong ass, couching down between two well-filled sacks!

And what does this commercial success lead to? Nothing good! Apostasy! Dan, the idolatrous tribe, represents the apostate Israel in the latter day. Dan is like a viper that bites the horse's pastern behind, diabolical treason against the Most High.

This brings us at once into the last days, and to make this fact more striking, we have at this point of the prophecy the well-known cry of faith ? in the remnant of Israel. "I have waited for thy salvation, O Jehovah! "

Any diligent reader of the psalms and prophets will recognise at once the expression of the faith of those who cry constantly: "How long, O Lord?" They know that there will be an end to the trial, and that God has not forgotten them, long as the trial may appear. They wait for His salvation; they persevere to the end, so as to be saved.

And now comes quite a different series of names, with a glorious ending to the history that had begun so badly.

Verse 19. "Gad, a troop shall overcome him; but he shall overcome at the last."

Is not this, in sum, the history of Israel, and indeed of man?

The troop overcame the people; they were ridden down by the enemy, they have been trampled upon for a long time ? but now the deliverance is to come.

Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph and Benjamin! These names are associated with the breaking of chains and the bringing in of liberating power.

The Shepherd, the Stone of Israel, makes good His triumph for the glory and welfare of His own.

Asher and Naphtali represent plenty and power brought in by. Christ; for Joseph represents Christ in resurrection, as Benjamin in the victory over all enemies.

Joseph is the heir, the fruitful bough. The archers had wounded him, he bears the marks of their arrows; but his own bow and arms have been made strong by the Mighty One* of Jacob.

{* Please to remark this title of verse 24. It is Avir. It is a good thing to study the energy of God's might as exemplified in Joseph, the great type of the risen Christ.}

The blessings of Joseph are included in the wide sweep of the circle of God's inheritance ? "the utmost bound of the everlasting hills." Joseph, once separated from his brethren, comes out crowned with all favours and honours. A bright day for Israel when the true Joseph shall reign; a happy day for Asenath, Joseph's bride. O day beyond all thought when all the diadems on the head of Christ shall shine over the nations!

Benjamin concludes this wonderful passage. The power and authority of Him who shall reign in righteousness are to be seen in Benjamin ? and here the magnificent prophecy closes. It is complete.

?

Now, my reader, we have come to the end of these brief notes on Genesis. We have been together, as in a garden, where God's ways with men are wonderfully arranged before our view. The fall, the deluge, the happy simplicity of communion in the patriarchs, the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah; Babel, and dispersion, and wilful man showing himself ever more independent of God ? these things have been before us.

Have you lingered for a moment at the terebinth grove near Mamre, where Abraham spoke with the august strangers, of whom One was more than august? Did you see the vision on the banks of the Nile, and listen to the words of the interpreter just brought from prison? Did his subsequent glory fill you with admiration? Did you trace the hand of Him who is discerned by faith as being most surely present "when he is most invisible," and who carries on His plan of overcoming evil with good through all the varied phases of the earth's history ? the antediluvian world, Babel, Sodom, Egypt?

If so, I am more than satisfied. It is not without regret that I now close these most imperfect notes, and the (imaginary) communing with every one who shall read them. May the God of grace and of glory give us to understand His thoughts in His Christ through all that we have studied in this wonderful book!

Colossians

A Short Summary of the Epistle to the Colossians

By A. P. Cecil.

The Epistle to the Colossians is a kind of link in the chain between the truth brought out in the Epistle to the Romans and that to the Ephesians. There are two positions in which man in the flesh may be looked at, namely, alive to sin and dead to God. The Epistle to the Romans takes him up in the former view, and brings in the death of Christ; firstly, to justify him before a holy God, and secondly, to give him deliverance from his old master, sin, and out of his state as a child of Adam, Christ risen being his new standing before God. The Epistle to the Ephesians takes him up in the latter view, not alive to sin and under responsibility in that condition, but dead in trespasses and sin. God who is rich in mercy by the power of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, quickens him together with Christ, outside the dead condition of the world and unites him with Christ in glory and all the other members of Christ on earth. Thus the body of Christ was formed and exists now in union with the Head, seated in heavenly places in Him.*

{*This is the Assembly, and with the other aspect of it, which is the House, is the only Church mentioned in Scripture. There is no such thing in Scripture as the Church of England, Presbyterian, Baptist, etc. The word for Church is "ecklesia", which signifies "Assembly" - see Eph. 1: 22; 1 Tim. 3: 15). A.P.C.}

The Epistle to the Colossians unites these two aspects of truth in chapter 2: 11. Verses 11, 12 take the former aspect, that of Romans; verse 13, the latter, that of Ephesians, though it stops short of the position in heavenly places. The former view we have put off the body of the flesh, or old man, in Christ's death. We have been buried with Him in baptism, in who* also we are risen together through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised Him from the dead. Thus far though the Christian is brought into perfect liberty, standing in life in a risen Christ, and having the Holy Ghost as the power of life, he is now seen as baptised by the Holy Ghost into one body. In other words, he is now united to Christ in this corporate position. Baptism by water is thus the sign of identification with Christ in His death and burial; Christ coming up out of death, giving him, the believer, a perfect standing in life. Verse 13 carries on into Ephesian truth - that is, we are not only raised together out of death in Christ, but quickened together with Him in union, God having forgiven us all trespasses. The difference between the Epistle to the Ephesians and that of Colossians is, that in the former Epistle the body is seen seated in heavenly places in the Head, the body being the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. In the latter the body is seen on earth, full of the life of the Head (see Col. 1: 29) but in danger of letting go the Head. The whole truth consequently is to show that in Christ up in heaven dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and to press upon the believers at Colosse the necessity of holding the Head. The Person of Christ consequently is largely dwelt on, that in Him were hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in order that they might be guarded on the one hand from Gentile philosophy, and on the other hand from Judaizing ritualism, the Rationalism and Ritualism of the day. Thus whilst the unity of the body must remain under all circumstances, yet the responsibility of the members to hold the Head is clearly brought out. Every true assembly is thus exhibited as hanging on the Head, as dependently as an individual Christian is hanging every day upon Christ. When this is the case, no man is seen but Christ only, and the body receives nourishment from the Head.

{*I might read, "Wherein also ye are risen with Him." - "Wherein" in that case would refer to baptism. The former, however, seems most natural. Verse 11: "In whom ye are circumcised"; verse 12: In whom ye are risen together". A.P.C.}

The Epistle

Colossians 1.

But now as to the Epistle itself. After thanking God for the hope laid up in heaven for them, and mentioning their faith and love, he prays up to verse 11 in reference to their walk, after that, exhorting them to give thanks to the Father for their perfect standing (verses 12-15). The Person of the Son is then dwelt on, His work, and the ministry both of the Gospel and the Church, which brings the saints into a place where it is said of them, "Christ in you the hope of glory." After praying that they might acknowledge this mystery, he points them to the Person of Christ, in whom was hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and exhorts them as they had received Christ Jesus the Lord, so to walk in Him. In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. He then brings out their full position as complete in Him, to guard them from Jewish ordinances on the one hand, and Gentile philosophy on the other. They are seen in this perfect position on earth, and waiting for their life in heaven to appear (see chapter 2, 3: 1-4).

From chapter 3, verse 5 to the end, the truth is applied to their walk and practice, ending up with various salutations from various servants of the Lord. The epistle was to be read in the assembly of the Laodiceans, thus bringing out their danger likewise of not holding the Head, being satisfied with knowledge without Christ.

But now as to closer details. Paul was an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus joins with him in addressing the saints and faithful brethren in Christ Jesus which were at Colosse, giving the usual salutation to the assemblies of grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

(v.3) They give thanks to God and the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, always praying for them, (v.4) since they heard of their faith in Christ Jesus, and their love to all the saints, (v.5) for the hope that was laid up for them in heaven. The word of the truth of the gospel was the means of their hearing it, (v.6) and this gospel had come unto them, causing fruit to abound since the first day they heard it, and knew the grace of God in truth. This hope mentioned by Paul in these opening verses gives the character to the epistle which that to the Ephesians does not get.

The Ephesians epistle looks at the saints as already seated in Christ in heavenly places in Christ. If they are in such a position they are above hope, they are already there in Christ. He is only waiting until the time when all things are put under His feet; and we are waiting in this aspect for the same thing (see Eph. 1: 10, 18).

Here the saints have a perfect earthly standing but looking up to heaven where Christ their life is looking forward to the time when He should personally appear (see Col. 3: 1-3). Thus it was a hope laid up in heaven, for Christ was there and He is our hope (1 Tim. 1: 1). Whilst in Ephesians it is the body of Christ who is in heaven; here it is Christ in you the hope of glory. Thus all earthly hopes (whether as to a glorious kingdom on earth being set up, as a Jew might dream of, or of the conversion of the world to Christ, with all its learning and philosophy) are entirely cut away. Christ is rejected of earth and accepted of heaven. The only hope for them was a heavenly hope. (vv. 4, 5) Faith, hope, and love are all brought forward in beautiful proximity, and love to all saints regulated (in verse 8) by the character of the Spirit of God. It is love in the Spirit. (v. 9) Love begets love, and causes the apostle to pray for them that they might be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Philosophy and human wisdom were doing their utmost to hurt them. They needed the wisdom of God as opposed to this. (v. 10) Knowing God's will they would walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; (v. 11) for this they needed strength, according to the power of His glory (for they were in a world of enmity) and patience, and longsuffering and joyfulness would be the result. I cannot walk worthy of the Lord unless I first know His will. The result of this walk is both fruitfulness in good works, and increasing in the knowledge of God; for this I need daily strength by the way, and in doing so I learn patience and longsuffering; rejoicing in tribulation, too (v. 12) and thanking the Father all the way (for what precedes is the walk), that He hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light (v. 13) that he hath delivered me from the power of darkness and hath translated me into the kingdom of the Son of His love, (v. 14) in whom I have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Before ever the Christian begins to walk he is put into this perfect place which is unalterable. (v. 12) He is a new creation in Christ; Christ is his meetness; (v. 13) Satan no longer reigns over him, for he is taken out of his old Adam condition and standing, as relating to the world, and translated into the kingdom of the Son of Gods love; (v.14) besides this he has redemption, the forgiveness of sins; Christ outside him, Christ inside him, and sin condemned.* What a portion!

{*Compare Col. 1: 12-14 with Eph. 1: 4-7. There is a great similarity between these two passages, though the former comes short of the fullness and distinctness of the latter. We are there set in a holy nature in the presence of God in light. We are adopted as children and graced in the Beloved. We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. A.P.C.}

For their walk, prayer is needed; for their standing and position he urges them to praise (see verses 9, 12). But all is worthless for both without the Person in whom they have everything. (v. 15) He is the image of the invisible God. No one hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. Still God's Being is true, though no one hath seen Him, or can see Him, for Christ is the express image of His Person (Heb. 1: 3). But this as shown forth in Man, He is the Firstborn of every creature, not in time, indeed, but in dignity, (v. 16) for by Him were all things created. In time He was born in the virgin's womb as a creature, holy and without spot; but He existed as Son before, for He created all things whether in heaven or earth; whether, thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers all things were created by Him as well as for Him; for as Man He will be the Centre of the new creation.

(v. 17) He is before all things on earth, He is before all created angels in heaven, and He upholds all things by the word of His power. (v. 18) But besides this, He is the Head of the body, the Church, and this is connected with resurrection. God's elect, who were born again and justified, lived in all ages, and Christ will bring them into blessing by His power. But as to a body, a bride, the last Adam stood alone, in the midst of a ruined creation, till the cross. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12: 24). The Lord was this Corn of Wheat. Instead of gazing on a beautiful creation lately formed by the hands of the Creator, like the first Adam, He gazed upon a wilderness, the fruit of man's sin. He was surrounded by wild beasts, led on by Satan to crucify Him. But after having been fully tested and tried, and found perfect He slept, and from His body, through His death, was formed in resurrection a second Eve who was to be for His praise and glory throughout the ages of eternity (compare Gen. 2: 7-25 with Eph. 5: 25-32).

He is the beginning, the First-born from among the dead; the church is united to Him as come out from the dead and sat down in heaven, so that in all things He has the pre-eminence. Thus He is the Divine Son, the First-born of every creature, born in time indeed, but in dignity, having the priority as Creator; He is before all things and He is the Head of the body. (v. 19) All fullness dwells in Him. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

So much as to His Person, now as to His work. (v. 20) He has made peace for enemies by the blood of His cross; He was the divine Peace-Offering, perfect, so that God could accept Him as a sweet savour (see Lev. 3), and the fruit is that all things, whether in heaven or earth, not only the new creation in the Church, but all Old Testament saints that have died, as well as those who shall be saved after the Church is gone, with all the millennial saints, as well as all other things.* (v. 21) But not only will all creation be reconciled to God by Him who is the Firstborn of every creature on the ground of His work, but also you Colossians the representatives of the Church, once alienated and enemies in mind by wicked works, already path He reconciled. But what is the only way for an enemy to be reconciled? (v. 22) He can only be presented through death, the divine peace offering having died. Thus enmity by wicked works is at an end and we enter into peace and acceptance, in Him who is a sweet savour, and finally shall be presented holy, unblamable, and unreprovable in His sight, (v. 23) if we continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. (It is believers that enter into God's rest - Heb. 4: 3, we are made partakers of Christ if we hold on the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end (Heb. 3: 14). Our position in the heavenlies as united to Christ by the Holy Ghost is not entered into here. We know from other passages that the believer as united to Christ, is safe for ever.) (v. 23) The gospel on the ground of the Son's Person, the Firstborn of every creature, and on the ground of all His reconciliation of all things, goes out to every creature, and Paul was the minister of it. (v. 23) The effect of receiving this gospel was to make them a new creation, and to introduce them as baptized by the Holy Ghost into the body of Christ. (v. 25) Paul is also a minister of the Church, and as such suffers for the saints, and fills up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ in His flesh for His body's sake, which is the assembly. This ministry was a dispensation of God for the completion of the Word of God. (v. 26) The Church was a mystery hid from the ages and generations, and only now made manifest to the saints (compare Eph. 3: 4-9). God would make known to them what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which was Christ in them the hope of glory. This was the mystery of Christ, a body, a new creation formed out of Jew and Gentile on earth, outside the flesh entirely, for the cross had put an end to it. Being on earth there was the hope of glory in front. (v. 27) This Christ Paul preached, warning and teaching every man in all wisdom, so that each might be presented perfect in Christ Jesus.

{*Things under the earth, namely the fallen angels, and the damned are here left out. When the subject is subjection to Jesus as Lord, they are added. (compare Phil. 2: 10, 11.)}

Thus in this chapter we have two aspects of the Person of Christ dwelt on. (v. 15) 1st, He is the First-born of every creature; 2ndly, (v.18) He is the Head of the body, the Church. We have two reconciliations, two aspects of His work (v. 20) 1st, the reconciliation of all things to Himself, that is, things in heaven and earth, and 2ndly, (vv. 21, 22) you Colossians representatives of the Assembly of God. We have lastly two aspects of ministry, 1st (v. 23) the ministry of the Gospel which goes out to very creature, and 2ndly, (v. 25) the ministry of the Assembly or Body, which only includes the saints. The aspect of the Assembly in Colossians is - Christ in you; the aspect of the Assembly in Ephesians is - in Christ. The apostle is satisfied with nothing less than the presenting every man perfect in Christ.

Colossians 2.

He labours for this, and with regard to those especially at Colosse and Laodicea, who had not seen his face, he has great conflict (v. 2) that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of God the Father of Christ. He was not at all satisfied with a sinner being simply saved and reconciled. Such might have full assurance of faith, like the Thessalonians (see ch. 1: 5), having received the gospel, not in word only, but in power; or like the Hebrews having a purged conscience, and so having boldness to enter into the holiest (see chap. 10: 22). Others like the Hebrews, too, might have the full assurance of hope. Knowing that Christ their Forerunner, was entered within the veil, and that one day He should come out again (see Heb. 6: 19, 20); but with regard to the Colossians, he would have them filled with the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God. Nothing less than this would keep them going forward regardless of the hindrances of human wisdom, and philosophy, and tradition. The cross was the leveller of all such ideas. A new man formed in resurrection of whom they were a part, was no formed. This was the body of Christ, the mystery, which had been hid from ages and generations, but now made manifest.

(v. 3) But what was the Body apart from the Head? It was true the life filled the Body of which they were members, and so it was Christ in them the hope of glory, but this life was the life of the Head. In Him were hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Without the Head where was the Body? Human philosophy and wisdom had no place in Christ. He was all to them. (v. 4) There was great jealousy manifested by the apostle as to this, for men with enticing words were trying to put human wisdom between them and Christ. (v. 5) His spirit was present with them, and thus he could joy in all He saw of their order and faith. His practised eye could, however, discern something wanting. A Christian might say, Why do you want more? See what perfect order there is, and what faith. Ah, but they were in danger of letting go the Head; and so he exhorts them that (v. 6) as they had received Christ Jesus the Lord so to walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him established in the faith, as they had been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. That Christ in whom were hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge they had received. Thus they had all these treasures. Christ was in them. Walk flows from this. A baby is born, receives life, and then learns to walk, but he walks as it were in the life which he has received. (v.7) This Christ they had received was a Christ that died; they were to be rooted, as it were, deeply in Him, bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, and so they would be built up in Him. A root is planted underneath the ground and that was where Christ was laid, and He still has the marks in His body in heaven. He is the propitiation. A building is built up above ground. This is Christ in resurrection. (Compare Rom. 6: 4, 1 Cor. 3: 9). His life was to be manifested in their mortal bodies. So would they be established in that faith which they had been taught, and abound in thanksgiving. (v.8) The philosophy and vain deceit of the Gentiles, and the tradition of Judaism, which had now become the rudiments of the world, were all antagonistic to the development of this life. It was not a heavenly Christ, but life in the flesh. (v. 9) In Christ dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, (v.10) and they were complete in Him. The wisdom and power of the princes of this world only crucified the Lord of glory, so their wisdom ran parallel with a dead Christ. But the Colossians' Christ was a living heavenly Christ. (v. 9) God's fullness was in Him, dwelt in Him bodily. What did they want with human philosophy. He was the Head of all principalities and power, having a right and title to it as the First-born of every creature, and they are complete in Him who was the Head of the body. (v. 11) There was a better circumcision than Israel's circumcision in the circumcision of Christ. It was a circumcision made without hands, putting off the body of the flesh by it. What was this but the cross. (v. 12) Then they had been buried with Christ in baptism, the outward sign of identification with Christ under the dark waters of death, in whom also they had risen together through the faith of the operation of God who had raised Him from the dead. This was as to life in the flesh. Death and burial was applied to it. (v. 13) But as before God they had been dead in their sins, but now they not only had a position before God in Christ raised out of the dead, but God had quickened them out of death together with Him; God having forgiven all trespasses. (v. 14) All ordinances now that were against them, and contrary to them, Christ had taken out of the way, nailing them to His cross. (v. 15) And as to all principalities and powers, infernal or human, He had triumphed over them at that very same cross. For He had taken away all claims these powers had over man, and rose triumphant over them all.

(v. 16) Thus about questions of meats and drinks, holy days, the Sabbath and new moons, no one had a right to judge them. (v. 17) they were the shadows which ended when the substance came. When I am standing at the corner of a street waiting for a friend to come, and the sun is shining behind him as he comes to the corner, the first thing I see is his shadow. I have the body, the Person and I am occupied with Him. Oh, what a Person! Where is room for meats and drinks, and the Sabbath, etc.? Christ lay in the sepulchre on the Sabbath day. All life and power is in Him, not in the shadow, and our Lord's day shows forth this. (v. 18) Besides their danger from Jewish rites and ceremonies, there was a gnostic philosophy mixed up with it, which pretended to be humble and worshipped angels, intruding into those things which they had not seen, vainly puffed up in their fleshly mind, and not holding the Head. (v. 19) They were in danger from all these things, for if anything came between them and the Head, it was like a bough falling over a telegraph wire, it hindered communication between them and the Head. The Head was the Source of all nourishment to the body; the joints and bands were the channels and knitted together the whole body, so if communion was uninterrupted, it increased with the increase of God. Ala& if the Colossians felt the loss of communion in their day, what must it be now the devil has come and divided the people of God from one another; when the truth of the one body is denied , and so many children of God are standing up for division instead of unity? What hindrance there must be to communion when the people of God are joined to the world, and when they prefer a combination of world and Church to the acknowledgment of the membership of the body of Christ, however few may own this ground? The most holy and separate feel it most, and bear the sin on their own hearts before God. No one in however right a position he may stand, has any right to boast; the sin is his own, however individually he may be clear from it, for he is a member of the body. Will not my foot feel it if my hand is paralysed? Will not the true-hearted children in a house feel it if the house of their father is put in disorder by intruders? So it is with the Church of God. Still those who are pure in heart will take heed that nothing comes between them individually and the Head; they will walk also and hold communion with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart; why? (v. 20) because as to all those things other professors are delighting in, they see they are dead to them. They have died with Christ from the rudiments of the world. How then, as though living in the world, can they be subject to its customs and ordinances? (v. 21) Touch not, taste not, handle not (v. 22) after the commandments and doctrines of men. All that man commanded ended in the crucifixion of God's Son, according to the will of God. Now the Christian has taken sides in favour of His Christ who has died. He has died therefore to faith out of the world. (v. 23) There is indeed a show of will worship in these things. There was apparent humility and neglecting the body, not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh. The cross of Christ thus ends all philosophy and wisdom of men as well as all ordinances and Judaising ritualism. All will worship is here forbidden as of the flesh. Christians have no right to worship God as they like. The Word of God is the sufficient rule as to this.

Colossians 3.

A risen Christ is all that remains, risen out of death and sat down on high, and they risen with Him. If that was their position, Paul besought them to seek those things which were above where Christ sat at the right hand of God: (v. 2) they were to set their affections on things above, where Christ sat at the right hand of God, not on the things on the earth, (v. 3) for they had died and their life was hid with Christ' in God, He was their life. (v. 4) He would soon appear, and when He should appear they would appear with Him in glory. How secure is the Christian! as to death and judgment, it is behind him; he has died with Christ. As to his life it is hid with Christ in God. No one therefore can pluck them out of God's hands. As to the future, it is certain glory. When He shall appear they shall appear with Him in glory. In the first chapter their hope was laid up in heaven. Here it is their life. Thus, as to their standing, all was perfect, they were now waiting for the glory - they were not in the flesh at all. As to that they were dead with Christ. Christ was their life, outside flesh. (v. 5) Nevertheless the flesh was in them, so they were to put to death its members. Notice not the members of the body, they were to be yielded to God (see Rom. 6: 13). Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, and ye are not your own (1 Cor. 6: 15, 19, 20). It is here the members of the flesh. What are they? Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil lusts and covetousness, which is idolatry. Everything which man covets is an idol. I have died with Christ and risen with Him in order that I may put it to death. To put to death" is a very different thing than from to die". The one is done once and for ever, the former is a daily thing. The children of Israel did not cross the Red Sea or the Jordan twice. Nevertheless they had to learn themselves afterwards and had great struggles and conflicts. These members of the flesh in activity cause the wrath of God to come on the children of unbelief. These Colossians had also formerly lived in them. But now are not only the outward gross sins to be put off, but also anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy speaking, and lying. All these things belong to the old man which they had put off. Now they had put on the new man which was daily renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that had created him. In this new creation there is neither Greek nor Jew, uncircumcision or circumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ all, and in all. They had put off the old man, and they were daily called to put off his deeds; they had put on the new man, once and for all, and now they are called to put on his fruits, there are bowels of mercy, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearance towards one another, if any had a quarrel against any, as - Christ forgave them. But love was the chief thing. It was the bond of perfection. Gifts might abound (see 1 Cor. 12), but without love they were worth nothing (ch. 13). The peace of Christ, too, should rule in their hearts; whereunto they were called in one body; outside in the world was enmity and hatred - inside was peace and love. The word of Christ too, shall dwell in them and whatever they did in word and deed, they were to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. What precious thoughts of God! The forgiveness of Christ is our model. The peace of Christ is to rule our hearts. The word of Christ is to dwell in us rightly. Singing and joy is the result. The three first fruits of the Spirit come out here - love, joy, and peace; but it is the love of Christ, the joy of Christ, and the peace of Christ.

All the relationships of life remain, and the Lord's name introduced to sanction them all.* If it were wives, they were to submit themselves to their own husbands, if it were husbands, they were to love their wives; if it were children, they were to obey their parents - it was well pleasing to the Lord. If it were fathers, they were not to provoke their children; if it were servants, they were to obey, not looking to men for their approbation, but as fearing God. All these duties towards one another were seen and noticed by the Lord, and He would give the reward. There is no respect of persons with the Lord.

{*Jesus is connected with salvation; Christ with union in the body. Lord is responsibility.}

Colossians 4.

Lords were to give their servants what was just and equal for they had a Lord in heaven. They were to walk in wisdom redeeming the time towards those without in the world. Their speech always with grace, seasoned with salt, so as to know how to answer every man. Different servants of the Lord are mentioned at the end. There are commendations to each, except Demas, who afterwards forsook Paul. Tychicus was a beloved brother and faithful fellow servant; Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother; Aristarchus, his fellow-prisoner; Marcus was to be received (Act 12: 35; 13: 13; 15: 37-39). Justus also was mentioned. All had been a comfort to Paul. Epaphras was a valued servant who had laboured much for them in prayer that they might stand perfect and complete in the will of God. Archippus was to take heed to the ministry he had received from the Lord and fulfil it. etc.

Christ and the Assembly

Christ and the Assembly being papers issued as a supplement to Scripture Truth.

The Central Bible Truth Depot, 5 Rose Street, London E.C.4.

The Mystery.

Christ and His Church — J. T. Mawson

The Present Practical Result of the Truth of the Body of Christ — J. Green

The Riches of the Glory of this Mystery — H. J. Vine

The Mystery in Practice — J. W. Smith

Power to Apprehend the Truth — H. J. Vine

Prayer in Relation to the Mystery — J. Green

The Sufficiency of Christ Triumphant for the Entire Need of His Body on Earth — J. T. Mawson

The Secret of the Dispensation — F. B. Hole

"That the Gentiles should be of the same Body" — D. Brown

Correspondence — J. T. Mawson

My Brethren.

In the Midst of the Assembly — H. J. Vine

John 20. — J. Green

The Assembly as seen in Hebrews — A. J. Pollock

"My Brethren" — J. T. Mawson

The Mystery — (Poetry) J. Boyd

The Life of the Assembly.

Life — J. T. Mawson

Love is of God — J. Boyd

Joint Partakers of God's Promise — H. J. Vine

Living Stones and Priests — J. Boyd

"Behold! I, and the Children" — J. W. Smith

Paul, and the Mystery — J. B.S.

The Holy Spirit and the Assembly.

The Glory of God and Jesus — J. T. Mawson

The Holy Spirit in Relation to the Church — J. Green

Membership and Fellowship — F. B. Hole

"The Holy Spirit of Promise" — H. J. Vine

Gatherings of Assembly Character — H. J. Vine

Apostolic Fellowship — F. B. Hole

The New Interest and the New Power — J. B. Stoney.

The Spirit's Work in the building up of the Assembly — A. J. Pollock

The Assembly in Function.

The Supremacy of Christ — J. T. Mawson

One Loaf; One Body — F. B. Hole

Ministering to the Lord in Assembly — H. J. Vine

When Ye Come Together — J. Green

The Cross of Christ — J. T. Mawson

The Open Meeting and its Abuse — H. P. Barker

More about the Open Meeting — J. T. Mawson

"Tarry One for Another" — F. B. Hole

How to Conduct Oneself in God's House — H. J. Vine

Correspondence — (Part 2) J. T. Mawson

The Lord's Supper — J. T. Mawson

The Leaven — J. Green

"One Flock, One Shepherd" — H. J. Vine

Eph. 2: 21. — A. J. Pollock

The Mystery

“Wherein He hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth: even in Him: in Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." (Eph. 1: 8-11.)

Surely no one could read the opening verses of the Ephesians and be indifferent to what follows. Could anyone say I am eternally enfolded in those wonderful statements; I am one of those who have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; chosen in Him before the foundation of the world; made holy and without blame before the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in love; predestinated to the adoption of children; made accepted in the beloved One; redeemed and forgiven according to the riches of God's grace, and yet I am not interested in God's purpose and thoughts?

The exceeding riches of God's grace thus made known to us must command our earnest attention and awaken reverent enquiry. Especially as He treats us now, not as servants, but friends, and proposes to let us into His eternal secret, that which lies nearer than all to His heart, what He is going to do for His own Son.

It is as though He said to us, "I have forgiven you and set you free from all anxiety about your sins, and redeemed you from the power of the great enemy, and now I want you to enter into My thoughts; I want to unfold to you My purpose for the glory and joy of My own Son, and according to this purpose I have also given to you a part; you are necessary to the carrying out of it. So I have taken you up according to the riches of My grace, setting you free to contemplate the mystery of My will; having abounded towards you in all "wisdom and prudence," giving you the capacity for understanding and enjoying it all by the power of the Holy Ghost."

This is so exceeding abundantly above all that we could have asked or thought, that if we do but see with the eyes of our hearts the glory of it, all indifference as to it will perish for ever; and in self-forgetting and adoring service, we shall seek to comprehend with all saints the blessedness of it, and to labour in prayer and word and doctrine that the truth of it may not remain a dead letter to us, or to any of the saints.

Christ and His Church.

Introductory.

Before the lips of our Lord first uttered those two words, "My church," words which impress us with the preciousness of the church to Him as being His own peculiar possession, He asked His disciples, "Whom do ye say that I am?" Peter answered at once "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." The truth as to His Person must come out, for there could be no church apart from that, for it is formed upon and will be filled with what He is. But in this connection it is important that we should rightly grasp the significance of this episode in the revelation of the truth. Peter had not arrived at the truth by the exercise of his natural wits, or through any education he had received in the schools of men; nor can any other man; the scribes and Pharisees were far more intellectual and educated than he, and they neither discerned nor confessed the truth as to the Son of God. Nor had he gathered it from his study of the Old Testament prophets, though they all spoke of Christ; nor from the preaching of John the Baptist, though he was a faithful messenger, going before the face of the Lord's Anointed. He had received it from the FATHER - name of perfect grace, unknown to saints and sages of dispensations past, however exalted their privileges; hidden even now from the wise and prudent of the earth, but revealed unto babes. And it was from HEAVEN that the Father had revealed it. It was a heavenly revelation, the fruit of unmeasured grace which the name Father implies. This great revelation upon which so much hangs, was not made because of any merit in those who were chosen to receive it; and it connects itself, not with prophecies regarding the kingdom which are earthly in character, but with heaven and the counsel of God's will, by which all who were to receive it were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.

We cannot pass over this passage of Scripture lightly; it arrests us by its blessedness, and certainly we must learn what lies under the simple statements here given if we are to have any true understanding of the truth of the church. WE BEGIN WITH THE PERSON OF CHRIST, this is fundamental, there could be no church apart from Him; but what we would at this point emphasize is, that it is His Father in heaven who reveals what He is that the church might be. It is not what He will be as Son of David, that is set forth in the Old Testament; or even as Son of man, His glory in this position is also spoken of in those indispensable prophecies; but, Who is this Son of Man? He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. It is upon this revelation of Him that the church is brought into being, built up and completed; and every other glory which is His will manifest itself fully in relation to what He, the Christ, is personally with the Father. It is the Father's work to make this known, indeed we might, speaking with reverence, call it His own special and chief activity; but does not this shew what a world of ineffable love is here opened up to us, that had never been opened before, where the counsels of the Father for the glory of the Son are unfolded, and into which none can intrude. Only those chosen for it by surpassing grace may enter here.

Our deep conviction is, that we shall make no progress in the knowledge of the truth of the church if we fail to understand this, so that we make no apology for seeming repetition. It was not as Elohim - the strong One (Gen. i. 1.) that God made this revelation to Peter, or as Jehovah - the self-existent One, (Gen. ii. 7.) or as El-Shaddai (Gen. xvii. 1) the Almighty, all-sufficient One, but as the FATHER of our Lord Jesus Christ, - "My Father," as He said. All that had come out in former days He is and will ever be; but it is not here a question of His attributes, His power, faithfulness or sufficiency, but what He is in His very nature. This could not be known to us by any work of His hand in creation, but only by the revelation of Himself by the only begotten Son that dwelt eternally in His bosom. So that we have first - the Father revealed in and by the only begotten Son, Jesus our Lord; and then the truth as to this glorious Person revealed to our faith by the Father; one can easily see that this must eventuate in fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ for all who respond to this revelation. Thus all truth hangs together.

Again we insist that it is the FATHER IN HEAVEN who reveals it. It is made to us upon earth, but it is from heaven, it is heavenly in character, and lifts us above the earth, and carries us into a range of things about which the prophecies that have to do with earth have nothing to say. The great majority of even pious Christians have not grasped the force of this, but the importance of it will be seen as the truth is developed. Then further, the way in which Christ is revealed is as victorious over death - He is "the Son of the living God." This revelation from the Father in heaven looked onward and carried the thought of resurrection with it. Immediately the Lord speaks of His suffering and death and resurrection; the truth is placed upon that platform, outside man in the flesh, with his ambitions, hopes and activities, which all lie shattered and dissolved at the touch of death.

So that we have at the first mention of the church in Scripture, the Father's activity - fulness of grace; the revelation He makes is a heavenly one, and it is of Christ, who would establish His church outside all the schemes and failures of man in the flesh against which all Satan's power and subtlety is directed in vain. It is invincible. This by way of introduction.

Christ the Glorious Head.

The mystery which is unfolded in the epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians is Christ and the church, not the church without Christ, nor yet Christ without the church. Christ is the Head and the church His body. Consequently, though the church is in this blessed unity which is formed according to the purpose of God and by the might of His Spirit, its place is the subordinate one, as every body is subordinate to its head, and its blessedness and importance lie in the fact that it is the body of Christ, united to Him, the living Head in heaven.

We begin with Christ, whatever place of favour or testimony the church has now, or of glory it will have hereafter, it has by virtue of the fact that it is united to Christ, hence the necessity of beginning with Him. In doing so, the affections of the heart are brought into activity. One might say, "I am not particularly interested in the truth of the church," but none who have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ will say, "I am not interested in Him," and in occupation with Him we are led naturally to be interested in that which He loves and nourishes and cherishes.

He is the Son of the living God. We are carried at once to John's Gospel by this declaration. Of this Gospel Augustine said, "John . . . deservedly compared to an eagle has opened his treatise as with a peal of thunder; he has raised himself not merely above earth and the whole compass of the air and heaven, but even above every angel host and every order of the invisible powers, and has reached even to Him by Whom all things were made, in that sentence, "In the beginning was the Word." It is with this Person we have to do and with Him we begin:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made" ( John i. 1-3). Here is the glory of His Person - As to His Being, He is eternal in the Godhead, as to His power and handiwork, He is the Creator of everything that exists.

And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, ver. 14.

Here is the greatness of His condescension made manifest in His incarnation, for His humanity was not in form merely, something put on, as one would put on a garment for a certain purpose and then cast it off again when that purpose was accomplished, but it was a reality. He became an actual man, and this He will never cease to be.

"We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten with the Father" (verse 14). "The only-begotten which was in the bosom of the Father" (verse 18). Here we reach that which baffles description or explanation, nevertheless, it is revealed to us and we may at least say this of it, that in this epithet we learn the infinite worthiness of the Lord to be the eternal object of the Father's love, and His capability of responding to the full to that love, and as such He has come to declare it to men.

"Full of grace and truth." And of this "have all we received, and grace upon grace." Here is declared His absolute suitability to the entire need of man. Coming from the highest height of God's glory as the revelation of it, He stooped to the deepest depths of man's need to remove it.

Space fails us even to recount the matchless range of glories that shine upon this first page of John's Gospel, and we pass on to "I have glorified Thee on the earth, I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do" (John xvii. 4). Here is the perfection of His life and the completeness of His work.

“He said, It is finished: and bowed His head and gave up the ghost . . . and one of the soldiers pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water" (John xiv. 30-34). Here is the one great sacrifice, by which He did the will of God and redeemed and perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

"The same day at evening when the disciples were assembled . . . . came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." (John xx. 19). Here is His triumph over the power of death and the introduction of His disciples into a sphere of peace - afterwards to be known as His assembly - of which He would be the all-sufficient Centre and Head.

The Gospel of John closes with the statement, that if all the things Jesus did and said were written the world would not contain the books that would be written. This in the judgment of the critic is hyperbolical language; we claim that it is the sober statement of the truth inspired by the Holy Spirit. Remember the greatness and glory of the Person; endeavour to conceive the character of the revelation that He made in His works and words, and then say whether this could be told in books.

Who, for instance, discerns fully, and could write truly, except the Father, the glory of the Son of God as displayed in the first miracle in Cana of Galilee; when He found man in his brightest social circumstances, his marriage day, a failure, for the wine ran out; but produced for him out of the water of purification, typical of death, the wine that could not fail; the best brought out last. Is not this the glory of the last Adam, who, out of His own death, shall bring forth the wine that makes glad the heart of God and man; shall roll back the tide of darkness and death brought in by the first Adam; remove from this creation the groans, disappointments, failure and loss; the vain reaching out on the part of man for what appears to be substance but is only shadow, vanity, vexation of spirit; and fill it with the wisdom and knowledge of God? Every cry hushed, every desire satisfied, everyone at rest, and God glorified through it all.

And who discerns fully the glory of that last miracle, which can scarcely be read without tears, when our adorable Lord, rising from His agony and sweat of blood in Gethsemane, was confronted by His eager, ruthless foes. One of them, Malchus, a slave of the high Priest, must have offered some gross insult to the Lord, and Peter, indignant and impetuous, drew the sword he carried and smote off his ear. Thus nature acted, thus man displayed himself, thinking he served his Lord. But Jesus, e'er His wonder-working hands were bound by His hardened captors, quietly touched the severed ear and healed it. What absolute goodness; what invincible mercy; what tender compassion; could this be written in books? Such divine goodness overcoming such appalling evil will have its place in the days of His glory when He shall fill all things; and every other ray of His glory seen by the Father's eye when He trod that lonely pathway, which "led only to the cross," will shine forth there.

It used to be said of a spiritually-minded minister of the Word, There is a book in which all would be written, for nothing that Jesus did or said could be lost, and that book is the church; it will be the lesson book of the universe. And this is true. The Father is writing in this book now by the Holy Ghost. For of the saints, who are the body of Christ, it is said, "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart," and the divine intention is "that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly-places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Eph. iii. 10, 11). The church, as we shall see, is the transcript of Christ. This is where "the mystery which from the beginning of the world had been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ" comes in. (Eph. iii. 9). And we would remark that it might be thought that we have gone outside the range of our subject in bringing into it the glories of Christ as unfolded in the opening of John's Gospel, but this verse, and the fact that the creatorial glory of Christ is connected with the same subject in Colossians justifies us in so doing.

The purpose of the mystery is to fill the universe with Christ, and this will be done by the church.

1. Christ - the full revelation of God in manhood, the display.

2. The Church - the vessel for the display.

3. The Created Universe - the sphere of the display.

Yes, God intends that Christ, who fills His own heart, shall fill the universe, and this will be glory, and one part of the mystery now is that 'Christ is in His members the hope of glory' (Col. i. 27.) - God intends that the One who in the narrow compass of 33 years, in lowliness of life and obscurity, beset with every conceivable hostility of evil, fully declared His name, and revealed His nature in such a way that the world cannot contain the books, shall Himself be revealed in the fulness of His incomparable worth to every intelligence in the vast universe; and His body is the chosen vessel through which He will do it; and this not only in the dispensation of the fulness of times, but, unto the ages of the ages God will have glory in the church by Christ Jesus. (Eph. iii. 21.)

How the Body Was Formed.

Now the question arises how, and by what means has the church, which is the body of Christ, the vessel for the fulfilment of the counsels of God, been brought into being for the accomplishment of this great purpose.

First. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone: but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit." John xii. 24, shews the necessity of the death of Christ that there might be brought into existence the "many grains" like Himself, for the members of His body must be of the same order and nature as the Head.

Second. "The Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified" ch. vii. 39, shews the necessity of His exaltation and glory if the Spirit was to be given; and the body could not be formed apart from the gift of the Holy Spirit. "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth," said the Lord to His disciples, "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you."

The first chapter of Acts records the ascension of Christ to the glory, the second chapter records the descent of the Holy Ghost from that spot upon His disciples on earth; and the unity of the saints in one body starts here and cannot be divorced from these two great facts — a Man at the right hand of God, and the Holy Ghost come from thence to earth.

Let us consider these great facts. The first is described in Ephesians 1 in most wonderful language. "The working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."

He has not only gone to heaven, but the exceeding greatness of God's power has carried Him there from the very depths of death, and set Him in indisputable supremacy above every created power, and this, mark it well, in relation to His body, the church. Now a work commensurate in greatness with the raising up of Christ must be done in order to raise His body up, unite it to Him, fashion each member of it after His likeness, and fill it with Himself; and that work is being effected in the second great fact, the coming of the Holy Ghost to earth to indwell every member of the body of Christ.

We would press home upon our readers, the character that these facts give to the body of Christ, of which they each form a part. It is heavenly and not earthly; it is of the "last Adam," who is the Lord raised from the dead, and not of the first man who is of the earth, earthy. We have heard the fact of the heavenly character of the church derided and it is little thought of by the bulk of christians; hence we press it; it ought not to need pressing, for there are many passages of Scripture which state the fact in so many words. But it ought also to be clear, that if we are members of the body of Christ, who is not on earth but in heaven, and if we have been formed into His body, not by any earthly organisation devised by men, but by the indwelling of the Spirit from heaven, we must be now heavenly; however poorly we make it manifest, this is what we are in the thought of God.

Christendom acts as though Christ were accepted on earth; hence we have aims for world-power in Rome, the church and the state united in Episcopacy, politics rampant in Nonconformity. The solemn fact is refused that Christ was and is rejected by the world. We have briefly considered His glory and perfection in John's Gospel; consider now His rejection by the world, His humiliation and shame.

"One of the officers struck Jesus with the palm of his hand" (John 18. 22).

"Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him" (John xix. 1).

"The soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it upon His head, and they put on Him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote Him with their hands" (vers. 2, 3).

When the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him."

But they cried, "Away with Him" (verse 15). "They crucified Him, and two other with Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst." Need we continue? Does not that centre cross upon which hung the Author of life, the Father's sent One, declare to the universe that the world dominated by Satan would not have the Son of the living God? Consequently God has raised up His Son, and with like energy and exceeding grace He is gathering out of the world the members and uniting them to the glorious earth-rejected, heavenly Head. The members cannot be part of Christ and be of the world that rejected Him at one and the same time; they cannot be diverse from the Head; they must be as He is. So they are God's ecclesia, an assembly of out-called ones, no longer of the world out of which they are called. But if you call out a number of people without a purpose or centre you have a rabble, that was not the purpose of God when He commenced to call out His church. He unites them each by one Spirit to one Head and forms an indivisible organism, instinct in every member of it with the life of the Head, to be under the dictation of the Head and to manifest what He is.

Christendom has departed from this and become a rabble; setting up heads of its own choosing; going its own way; section warring with section; a veritable babel. How could it be otherwise when it denies its heavenly origin and turns from the Head in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells and seeks instead the help of men and the world that rejected and crucified Him. And there is no deliverance from this but by the truth as to what God has established. For this reason we are endeavouring to present the truth to our readers.

But let us, not fearing repetition, consider what this means. The Holy Ghost from heaven takes possession of a company of men upon earth; one Spirit in each individual in that company, forms them by this indwelling into one body; but having come from the exalted Christ, He unites them all to Him, so that now they form the body of the Man who is out of death and exalted in heaven. He is their Head there, and they being His body are to be expressive of Him here. The Head must direct the members of His body: His thoughts, His graces, His manners, His very life have now to find expression in them. This is outside entirely what man is naturally, for Christ has passed through death and is out of it; it is outside also all the springs of earth, for He is exalted in heaven; hence it can only be done in the Holy Spirit's power, but the members of the body of Christ have not to seek Him, for He dwells in them for this very purpose. This is an entirely divine conception, but it is a blessed reality to be entered into consciously by every one of us. It is such a reality, such a fact established in the invincible might of the Holy Spirit that no power of the enemy can destroy it; such a reality that when Jesus arrested Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road He challenged him with the question, "Why persecutest thou ME?" The Head and the body are one. And the Head directs the body; the members need no self-appointed leaders, they are to look to their Head for direction, and to be descriptive of Him where He is in the very scene of His crucifixion. What a victory for God is this! What an overthrow for the devil is here disclosed! He thought to rid the world that he dominated of Christ, living a life of lowliness and obscurity; he has been foiled by the wisdom God, for now the exalted, heavenly Man is here in His body; it is His epistle, known and read of all men; it is here maintained by the mighty power that has come from Him at God's right hand. Its destiny is the place where He is, meanwhile it is descriptive of Him where He was rejected, for Christ is in you the hope of glory.

On this line lies unity, to seek it on any other can only fail, but this is outside all failure, it is the unity of the Spirit. And if we see the truth and appreciate it we shall welcome the precious exhortation, coming as it does from the prisoner of the Lord.

"I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. iv. 1, 2, 3).

J. T. Mawson.

The Present Practical Result of the Truth of the Body of Christ.

The idea is current in the minds of many Christians, that the truth concerning the church viewed as the body of Christ, has little practical bearing on life and conduct. Yet it must be evident to a serious thinker that so stupendous a fact as that Christ has a body on earth, of which He is Head in heaven, could not but have an important and searching effect on the walk and ways of those who receive it in the full assurance of understanding.

It was the revelation of this great secret which had been hidden in God that absolutely changed the life of Saul of Tarsus. The words, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou ME," revolutionized him. The greatness of this fact governed all his after ministry, and caused him deep anxiety of soul, and continual prayer to God, that those who had received the gospel, might be interested in this further truth. He knew its importance, and knew also that if this central pivot on which the present activity of God turns was lacking, nothing else could be in right adjustment.

1. Let us consider it first of all in relation to the understanding of God's will and purpose for the present period of Christ's rejection from the earth.

The body of Christ consists of all believers whether Jew or Gentile by birth, brought on to a new platform before God in Christ risen, and livingly united to Him by the Holy Spirit. They thus become joint heirs, a joint body and joint partakers of the promise, the purpose and the glory; the final result being the display of the exceeding riches of the grace of God and glory brought to Him in the church by Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages.

The present result where this is received in the obedience of faith, is worship and praise to the Father of glory, and at the same time the heart is turned away from the many purposes which occupy the minds of men in respect of the world and its nations, and is engaged with the only thing that can hush the groan of creation, namely, the manifestation of the sons of God, in the likeness of, and with their exalted Head. The coming out of the church from heaven having the glory of God, is His centre of administration for the dispensation of the world's peace. Through His body Christ will rule all things and receive the homage of all the nations of the earth. The knowledge of this will produce a great result in delivering the Christian from the projects of the rulers of this world, and leagues of nations, which after all are doomed to failure from their inception, because they are not framed for the glory of Him whom God delights to honour. One who is instructed in the mystery of God will have very good reason indeed for abstaining from participation in the politics of men, for his politics are in heaven, from whence he awaits the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, with eager anticipation.

2. In close connection with these things is the right understanding of the Scriptures of truth. The knowledge of the special calling of the church is the key to the treasure house. The purposes of God for His earthly people Israel are then seen to have been suspended, until the time when the new heavenly family shall have been completed and translated to heaven. God is now calling out of the world a people for His name and afterwards will return and build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen down and will set it up. If this is not grasped, the prophets have little or no meaning to the mind, and there is the desire to apply their writings to the church, with the result that their true connexion is lost, and the dispensations of law and grace are confused. From this cause has arisen the mixture of Judaism and Christianity, supplemented by human devices, which is everywhere in evidence. The church is the vessel of grace, formed in the world but no more of it than is its Head in heaven; heavenly in its origin, its character, its portion and its destiny; and the Christian that is so instructed will be one who can bring out of the treasures of God's Word, the old things and the new. Such intelligent perusal of Scripture is surely a very practical and blessed thing.

3. None can contemplate the present condition of the church without seeing that great confusion exists, and the reason is not far to seek. From very early days in the history of the church, believers have failed to hold the Head, and consequently have supplied the lack with other heads of their own devising. Popes and cardinals, kings and archbishops, with the whole clerical system have been perpetuated. Churches, chapels and Christian gatherings of all kinds are anxious to have some one appointed to whom they may look for guidance and who shall undertake the responsibility of their affairs. So far has the truth that all direction and supply flows from the Head to each of the members as He will, been departed from, that many cannot understand how Christians can meet together for worship or edification without someone to preside over the meeting or be its leader. The reason is that Christ has not His place in their minds as Head, or if they hold this in theory it is thought not to be applicable in practice. The consequence is that instead of bearing witness to the unity of the body, the Church is scattered and divided, sectarianism is rampart and the sheep follow each other instead of the Shepherd. Let it not be imagined that this state of things can be remedied by any outward arrangement, for no recovery is possible unless the place of the Head is recognized. We have not to make a unity but to acknowledge that which is already established by the Holy Spirit, and to depart from all that is inconsistent with it. To be a member of the body of Christ is so great an honour, that one who realizes it will decline all other memberships, societies, guilds, unions, syndicates and companies. Such things are the resort of men who conscious of their individual weakness, seek strength to safeguard their interests and maintain their place in the world. The saint and the church have their resources in Christ and need none other. In Christ and the church are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; the source of all is in the Head, the supply is to the members, and neither religious associations, philosophical societies or nationalistic combines, can add anything to him to whom Christ is all. But if any practical result is to follow, this truth must be acted upon, and Christians must be found gathered together to the name of the Lord alone and owning His sole authority. Where this is done even though but by two or three, how great is the blessing, and how rich and full the stream of grace which flows in abundant supply from the Head on high. In this lies the Divine answer to the confusion, for any who will take such a path, in all lowliness and meekness forbearing one another in love.

4. Then in relation to the coming of the Lord; how many and various are the ideas that are afloat upon this precious theme, yet how simple and heart-affecting does the subject become when the place of the church as the body and bride of Christ is seen. At once it becomes an imminent hope, making heaven a reality to the soul, and earth but a shadow. Yes, He is coming for His church, that where He is she may be also; He is coming to present her to Himself a glorious church without spot of defilement or wrinkle of age; He is coming that He may be glorified in His church and admired in all them that believe; He is coming for the pearl upon which He set such value that He sold all to possess it. What bridal affections are produced by considering these things! No hour of Jacob's trouble is her lot; no time of tribulation that shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell on the earth. She has no place on earth during the day of the world's judgment, for the day of grace which called her into life will have ended, and for her the joy of the presence of the Bridegroom on high will have come. Below the storms of judgment will be sweeping over the guilty world; above in heaven, the marriage of the Lamb, the bridal robe, the hallelujah song.

5. Then again the truth of the church as the body of Christ is the great preservative against the evil doctrines that abound in Christendom. Where many are tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine and cunning craft of the enemy of souls, the heart that rests in the knowledge of union with Christ, abides in the steady calm of truth as it is in Him. Such an one needs no novelty in spiritual things, nor desires to intrude into the spirit of the world. Neither is he entrapped in the spider webs which men spin from their imagination, nor is he bewildered by the forced interpretations of Scripture with which such ideas are bolstered up. The conclusions of science falsely so-called cause him no anxiety as to the foundations which rest in God, because holding the truth in love he grows up into Him in all things, which is the Head even Christ, and these things attract him not. The heart that is possessed by heavenly affections will be satisfied only with that which can minister of the excellency of Him who is at God's right hand.

6. Lastly as to individual walk, we need but to turn the pages of the epistles to Colosse and Ephesus, to see how Christian behaviour and practice is developed in the knowledge of Christ as Head of His body. To walk worthy of the calling, to walk apart from the vanity of the human mind, to walk as children of light, in love, and circumspectly to carry out the relationships of life, after God's thoughts; these epistles as well as that to Philippi show how these things can only be lived out as the life of Christ expresses itself through the members of His body here.

The truth of the mystery was given to Paul to complete the Word of God. It is the centrepiece which gives harmony and arrangement to the whole circle of truth, without it all is unfinished and no true connection is seen. Only so can any life find its true purpose and mission as it sees its place as set in the church in relation to Christ and all saints. Worthwhile indeed to have the lowliest place in such a glorious purpose, where each member needs every other and each partakes of the measure of grace from Christ. Every member is necessary to the Head, in order that He may express in the whole the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him which created him.

It awaits the day of glory for the full display of this, but even now it is wrought out in measure in those to whom God after the deep desire of His heart, makes known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

The above remarks have been based upon the following Scriptures: -

Acts ix. 1-9; xv. 14-17. Rom. viii. 19-21; xvi. 25-27. Eph. i. 17-23; iii. 1-21; iv. 1-16, Col. 1. 23-29; 2: 1-19. 2 Thess. i. 10-12. Rev. xxi. 9-27 which will well repay prayerful and careful study.

James Green.

"The riches of the glory of this mystery." (Col. i. 27)

We are told that God would make known to us the riches of the glory of the mystery, and we are therefore definitely encouraged to seek by the Spirit to apprehend somewhat of the costly treasures of wisdom and knowledge which are graciously stored up for us in this, and which await those who will take possession of them in faith. Were we not assured of this in God's Word, the very greatness of these exalted and holy things might well deter us; and a false idea of humility might have easily prevented our entering upon the path to this wealthy abundance; or, it may be, a sense of our own unworthiness. Seeing, however, that those who are addressed were once sinful, disobedient children of wrath and deserving God's judgment, but have now redemption in Christ, the forgiveness of sins, having been delivered from the authority of Satan and brought into the favour of God; - seeing that those who are utterly unworthy and sinners in themselves are thus addressed and blessed, having heard and believed the gospel concerning God's Son, and consequently become members of the body, the assembly, of which Christ is the Head; - we, who have learned our own sinfulness and God's redeeming love in Christ, may, having no confidence in the flesh, enter without presumption or irreverence into these things which God would indeed have us know. May we have grace and energy to do so!

1. The mystery itself has been revealed. It never could have been known otherwise. 2. It has its own distinctive glory. 3. God desires that we should know the riches of this. The apostle to the Gentiles laboured with great combat of spirit in relation to it, toiling according to the inworking power of Christ, that the saints might be brought to the full knowledge of it, and not be deluded by other things which are not after Christ. We may well therefore be deeply in earnest about the matter for ourselves. Its importance to-day cannot be over estimated. Deceptions and delusions in religious circles abound, but the truth which is according to Christ Jesus our Lord, known and practised, is sufficient to preserve us in the way of life and blessing for the pleasure of God.

1. The Mystery.

The riches which we have before us are immediately connected with the mystery. It will therefore be necessary to say a little as to this. In contrast to the ages previous to the redeeming work, resurrection and exaltation of Christ, the mystery is now revealed.

Silence was kept as to it in the times past, but it is now made manifest for the obedience of faith (Rom. xvi. 26). It was hidden from ages and generations, but is now declared to the saints of God (Col. i. 26). This mystery we are told was "hid in God" Himself previously (Eph. iii. 9), therefore the revelation of it cannot be found in Old Testament times, or before the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. That it is now made known in our day should profoundly affect us.

The above three Scriptures which speak of the mystery show the care with which this divine secret was guarded from time immemorial until the day the gospel of God's saving grace came to us. The gospel however, is not itself the mystery as Romans xvi. 26 shows. It is now made manifest with a view to obedience, - called "obedience of faith." Colossians i. 26 tells us that it is now made manifest to the saints of God, and that the truth was specially given to the Apostle Paul to minister it to the Gentile believers, and thus to complete the Word of God. Ephesians 3: 9 speaks of it being made known now to "the sons of men," having been revealed not only to Paul the special minister of it, but to "His holy apostles and prophets in the power of the Spirit." What then is this wonderful mystery which God has so graciously made known in our day after keeping it a secret so long? Our Scripture (Eph. iii.) tells us. Going beyond and far above all the great and glorious promises of God made in the past to the nation of Israel; a higher and vaster range of glory, which is not of Old Testament promise, but which is according to eternal purpose, believers from among the Gentiles are made one in Christ with those from among the Jews, becoming thus in Him, who is exalted by God above every dignity and intelligence in the universe, heirs together of the reserved inheritance in glory, - a united body in Christ, the assembly, - and joint partakers of the life which was promised in Him before the ages of time, now made known in the glad tidings. (Verse 6).

Such thoughts did not enter the Jewish mind. The Jew expected according to the promises, that Israel as a nation should have the supreme glory in the world, in a system of nations subservient to her, with her King, her Messiah of David's line, in her midst, but it never entered their minds that from among themselves and from among the nations there should be an out-calling, the ek-klesia, united to the Christ rejected by them and exalted to God's right hand over all things, nor could it be known until it was revealed by God Himself.

Supremacy on earth belongs to Israel and will yet be theirs, when the nation is clothed with Christ; but this cannot be until the body, the assembly, is glorified with Christ her Head in heaven, and Israel has repented of the guilt of having rejected and crucified Him. Revelation xii. opens with a symbolic vision of her glory which follows. She is clothed with the sun; supreme power is vested in her, for the Lord is her everlasting light. The moon is seen beneath her feet: all derived authority is received from Israel in the earth. On her head is a crown of twelve stars, which speaks of the administration being hers in bestowed perfection. The Man Child who is to shepherd all the nations is of Israel (verse 5), for truly "salvation is of the Jews" as the Lord Himself said, for He came of them after the flesh, and He is the Saviour of the world to bring in blessing and order and glory. Nevertheless, the mystery has in view not only this, but the centering up of all things in the heavens as well as upon the earth in Christ, and the filling of all things by means of the assembly, the body, which is "the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." This is according to eternal purpose as we said, and rises far above the glorious promises to Israel. God has now made known the very mystery of His own will, according to His own good pleasure which He proposed in Himself (Eph. i. 9).

The Head of this system of divine greatness is already glorified, and those who are members of His body are united to Him by the Spirit given. At present they are heirs of the inheritance of glory; soon they shall actually inherit. They are already in the body; soon they will be exalted along with the Head. His life is theirs now, and when Christ who is their life shall be manifested then shall they also shine out with Him in glory.

Much of the wisdom of God is shown through Israel, but now through the assembly there is made known the all-various wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord; and that, not to men, but to "the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies." This was in view even in the creation which He called into being at the beginning, though He did not reveal the secret till Christ had secured redemption, and was set as Head over all things to the assembly. It is therefore said "now" as contrasted with the past when the mystery was kept secret, and not in contrast with the future, for it has an abiding sense according to "eternal purpose." The perfect display of God's wisdom is secured, - "all-various," or "all variegated," - a word only found here in Scripture, and used of the magnificent blendings of colour in a masterpiece of art. To bring the failure of the assemblies into these verses is to mar the teaching in this connection. To dwell upon the divine grace and love and power and wisdom seen in Christ and the assembly according to the purpose of God will rightly affect us.

In chapter 5, after speaking of Christ and the assembly in the past and present, and looking on to the future, to the time when Christ will present her to Himself all glorious for the joy of His own heart, it is said, "This mystery is great but I speak as to Christ, and as to the assembly" (32), - having added for our present help, "We are members of His body; we are of His flesh and of His bones." What rich comfort and cheer this gives us now, even before the end is reached! Not only is union ours in the precious sense of Bridegroom and bride, but unity, - members of the body of which Christ is the glorified Head, - one with Christ! How can we praise Thy grace, Lord Jesus, as our hearts desire to do?

"Ascended now in glory bright

Life-giving Head Thou art;

Nor life, nor death, nor depth, nor height,

Thy saints and Thee can part."

In closing these remarks as to the mystery itself, we feel constrained to mention the intense and rapid progress of another mystery, which, in the sphere of Christendom is sweeping onward like a destructive flood; it is called "The mystery of iniquity" or "lawlessness" (1 Thess. ii. 7). It was at work even when the apostles were on the earth. It has been working in opposition to Christ, and the assembly acts as a restraint, but when that restraint is removed at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ for the assembly, it will rush forward, carrying off those who "received not the love of the truth that they might be saved" (ver. 10). May the truth we have spoken of, - in the love of it, - so fill our hearts that we may be kept above all religious workings in opposition to it, "preserved in Christ Jesus," where all that is good and perfect is ours.

2. The Glory of the Mystery.

Before we speak of the riches of the glory of this mystery, we must seek to grasp, as the Holy Spirit enables us, the special distinction, or glory of the mystery; for these riches, though they are to be displayed in the universe as the outcome of the mystery, are not exactly called the riches of the mystery, but the riches of the glory of it. The difference has not been observed sufficiently, but it is important.

The glory of the mystery is that which is distinctive of it when compared with other circles of blessedness in the universe of God. Creation has its distinctive glory. ISRAEL HAS HER OWN GLORY ALSO. It is the same with the mystery. The thoughts of an Israelite, from every part of the kingdom, turned instinctively to Jerusalem. Even Daniel during the captivity looked thitherward, and prayed with his window open towards the city. Nevertheless, it was because of the city, and the throne of Jehovah, the ark, of the Lord of all the earth, and Jehovah's own presence there, that a peculiar distinction was given to the city and kingdom of Israel above all others. The glory of the Lord had been seen to fill the temple. Sacrifices had been offered; the magnificent building had been reared up; and when the priests and Levites "praised the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord: so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God" (2 Chron. v. 14). What other nation or kingdom was so honoured? What other people had God so nigh unto them? What other city was so privileged? What house or temple was filled with the cloud of Jehovah's presence? - And there was the ark which contained the stones of testimony given miraculously at Sinai, when the glory of the God of Israel appeared before their eyes; when there was seen "under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness." Six days the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai. "The sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire."

Moses exhorted them to keep the statues and judgments which God had given them, saying, "This is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations" (Deut. iv. 6), for it would be recognized that thus they were distinguished from others. We know, however, that they failed utterly, but when God presently takes them up again according to the new covenant, it is said, "The Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to Thy Light, and kings to the brightness of Thy rising" (Isa. lx. 2, 3); again, I will glorify the house of My glory. Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows?" (8). "The nation and kingdom that will not serve Thee shall perish" (12). "They shall call thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel" (14). "The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting Light, and thy God thy glory" (19). "Yea, I will be the glory in the midst of her saith the Lord" (Zech. ii. 5). Messiah will be known by her then. She will have returned to Him. Like Thomas, they will own Him as their Lord and their God when they see Him. He will be known and owned at Jerusalem by all, and "the Lord shall be King of all the earth" (Zech. xiv. 9).

This constitutes Israel's glory, but the glory of the mystery transcends this altogether. Great and glorious indeed the former is, but the latter surpasses it in its vastness and outshines it in its splendour; rising far above the heights of Israel's exaltation, and outreaching the widest ranges of her dominion, the glory of the mystery glows with the richest radiance, and blesses the beholders of it with its abiding beauty and universal brightness. It outranges all national glory, for that which is according to God's eternal purpose must necessarily extend beyond His greatest promises for time. Indeed, it might be said that the mystery and its glory, even as we know it now, partakes of the nature and character of "eternity." Oh! that we might value this more than we do!

As we have seen, Israel is to shine in national supremacy on earth, because of her Messiah, in the sight of all other nations of the world who will be blessed through her. The assembly is the body of Christ, - not a nation under Messiah, but a living organism, a vital system, one with its glorious Head, - united to Him who is the Head of all principality and power. It is for the universe. It will be through its immediate and intimate association with Christ at God's right hand, and its oneness with Him, through power, redemption, resurrection, and the gift of the Spirit, the divinely provided means for the blessing and ordering of all things, - as it is said, "the fulness of Him who fills all in all;" and it is also for the eternal pleasure of God, that there might be to Him "glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of the ages." The One whose body the assembly is first went down into the depths before He ascended as Man into the transcendent heights where He now is. "He that descended is the same who has also ascended up above all the heavens, that He might fill all things." From that exalted position He has given gifts for the calling out and building up of the saints who are to share with Him in His heavenly glory, holy and without blame before God in love, dwelling with Christ as His companions and brethren, and reigning with Him as His bride when He fills the universe with glory.

"What will it be to dwell above

And with the Lord of glory reign?"

How far all this transcends that which will give Israel her distinctive place on earth words are scarcely adequate to express; but, as the heavens are higher than the earth; and the vast universe far outspans the world; and the thrones, lordships, principalities and authorities in the heavens surpass in greatness and majesty those on earth; so the distinctive "glory of the mystery" excels that of Israel, magnificent and glorious though that be, as we have seen. Israel will be in immediate association with the Messiah, King over all the earth; but the assembly will be united to Him, a new creation in Himself when all things in the heavens as well as upon the earth are centred up in Him. Oh! glorious beyond telling is this! Eternal praise and glory be to Him whose love counselled it, whose grace saved us in view of it, and whose Spirit made it known to us!

Seeing, then, that the distinction of both, flows from the way in which Christ Himself is known, for a fuller understanding of "the glory of the mystery," we need to say a little concerning the pre-eminence which is His in all things, as "Firstborn of all creation" and as "Firstborn from among the dead." The former distinction became His when He came into the great creation which He had made. The reason given for this is "because by Him all things were created" (Col. i. 16). How could the Creator have any place less than the first when He was pleased to honour that creation by coming into it? The latter distinction is His in relation to the assembly which is a new creation in Himself, - a pearl being the symbol of it used by the Holy Spirit. The symbol is deeply interesting and instructive; a pearl is not a creation in the original sense, but rather the beautiful outcome of irritant trouble in the original creation; and, therefore of it, but yet separate from it, - a new creation, with powers of iridescence, which exhibits the colours of the rainbow of the first creation with a soft and exquisite perfection, which can be found nowhere except in the pearl brought up from beneath the deep waters, and taken out of the fish's shell. As having the glory of Firstborn from among the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the body, the assembly. Now mark the reason given for all this, - "That He might have the first place in all things" (Col. i. 18).

If we reverse the order therefore of these two distinctions, and meditate upon them before God in the Spirit, we shall see how it is that the distinctive glory of the mystery is related to the glory of Christ, the Son of the Father's love, according to the eternal purpose which centres in Him, for the blessing and order of the wide creation. We see Him pre-eminent, first in every part, in every position, in every place, - "in all things," and, His body glorified with Him, so that the assembly thus honoured, stands because of Him, and as subject to Him, in that distinctive place which, as a new creation in Him, is used for the blessing of the wide creation of which He is also the Firstborn. This then is the glory of the mystery which God hid in Himself till the Head of the assembly was glorified. What a distinction it is! Oh, that we could speak of the glory of Christ, the Son of the Father's love, in His resurrection, redemption, reconciliation and administration better, and so show more clearly the "glory of the mystery" with all the greatness and loveliness which He bestows upon it.

"In His blest face all glories shine,

And there we gaze on love divine."

3. The Riches.

We have seen that the mystery, which was so long hidden, but now made known, is distinct from the promises to Israel, which involve their supremacy under Christ in a world-system of nations; for it is formed in Christ of those who are called out from the nations, from Jews as well as Gentiles, all of those being thus called out becoming unitedly heirs of the universal inheritance in Christ, one body in Him, His assembly, and together partaking of the life promised by the gospel in Christ Jesus. The glory of this mystery has also come before us; and we have seen that this distinction transcends that of the nation of Israel, when she is exalted under her once rejected Messiah; for the assembly which is His body and His bride is not simply distinguished in association with Him for the earth and for time, but for heaven and earth through eternity sharing in His glory when as Head over all He fills all things.

We will now consider the riches which result from the glory of this mystery. This would seem to be altogether beyond us had not God graciously made it known; as we read, - "The riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you the hope of glory" (Col. i. 27). Here then we are distinctly told what these vast riches are, - Christ in us the hope of glory! - Christ, in whom, we are told in verse 19, "all the fulness of the Godhead" dwells: - in us, not now apart from those who form His body, but livingly in them; - the hope of glory. The glory is always in view in the truth of the mystery, which is according to God's purpose of love before time began, which was revealed in time after the Head of the assembly was glorified, and which after time ceases shall be for eternal blessing universally and glory to God in the assembly in Christ Jesus.

To aid our understanding of these riches we will again refer to Israel. We spoke of their national blessing and glory, and great were the riches connected with that glory. In David and Solomon, the high priest, and the temple filled with the glory of the Lord, we see the heading up of the nation's blessing. What great riches flow from this! - first for the nation, then for their Lord and God, and finally for the world. We purposely name them in this order, for God must necessarily first bestow the riches before there could be any responsive return to Himself, or any outflow to others. He is the gracious, generous, and glorious Source of all.

When the stores of riches described in 1 Chron. xxviii. and xxix., were gathered together for the temple, David turned to God, and said, "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine: Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as Head above all. Both riches and honour come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all . . . All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee . . . O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build Thee an house for Thine holy Name cometh of Thine hand, and is all thine own." Furthermore, Solomon anointed, is a special type of Christ; and, in this connection we have that remarkable word, - "Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord;" and it is also said of Him, "I will make him My firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth" (Ps. lxxxix. 27). This plainly points on to the glorious Firstborn of Colossians i. God said to Solomon, "Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee; and I will give thee riches and wealth, and honour, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee." In a pre-eminent way "wisdom and knowledge" are stored in the mystery. God gives all first, "and Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in wisdom and riches."

The temple and all the wealth was given back to God. The glory of the Lord filled the house, and fire came down from heaven and consumed the vast offerings which were offered to God. The people bowed themselves to the ground and worshipped the Lord. The king and all the people bowed their hearts before God and worshipped the Lord. The king and all the people offered sacrifices. Solomon offered twenty-two thousand oxen and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep! The priests waited on their offices, and the Levites praised the Lord with their instruments of music. They sounded their trumpets, and all Israel stood before the Lord when the house and its riches were dedicated, continual offerings to their Lord and God were to be offered up as a sweet savour to Him there.

Moreover, the fame of Solomon, Israel's king spread abroad, and "all the kings of the earth sought the presence of king Solomon, to hear His wisdom, that God had put in his heart." The queen of Sheba said to him, "It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom, howbeit the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard." To the ends of the earth the rich benefits of Solomon's administration should have flowed out, making his God known, His statutes, and His judgments, through Israel. This will be so when the true Solomon holds the sceptre.

It is to be noticed, that, in the epistle to the Ephesians, which speaks most of the mystery, the city, the household of God, the temple in the Lord and the habitation of God are spoken of. In a far higher sense than the earthly type, all things will be centred up in Christ for the administration of the fulness of times (Eph. i. 10): and the "greater than Solomon" whose riches are unsearchable and whose wisdom is divine shall fill all things in heaven and earth. He is the hidden Wisdom which God predetermined before the ages for the assembly's glory, - "God's wisdom in a mystery" (1 Cor. ii. 7). Of Him it is said in Proverbs viii., "Whoso findeth Me findeth life" (35); and again, "Counsel is Mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. By Me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me. Riches and honour are with Me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold, and My revenue than choice silver." Christ, in whom all fulness dwells, is in us, and He is our life. "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory." He shall come to be "glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe:" but He is in us now already, the hope of glory. It is this which constitutes the riches of the glory of the mystery. The wealthy stores of Solomon's day were mostly gathered during the times of testing and trial and conflict of David's day. We are told that the present trial of our faith is much more precious than gold, and will be found to praise and honour and glory in the day of Jesus Christ. It must be in mind that He in us the hope of glory, and God has given to us surpassing riches in Him. Like David we can say, "All this great store cometh from Thee. All the praise and the honour and the glory are Thine."

The riches of redemption are very prominent in the two epistles which unfold the mystery.

1. The riches of God's grace (Eph. i. 7).

2. The exceeding riches of His grace (ii. 7).

3. The riches of the glory of God's inheritance in the saints (i. 18).

4. The riches of His glory (iii. 16).

5. The unsearchable riches of Christ (iii. 8).

6. The riches of the glory of the mystery (Col. i. 27).

7. All riches of the full assurance of understanding to the full knowledge of the mystery of God; in which are hid "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (ii. 2, 3). It is in the mystery that this complete store of wisdom and knowledge is found. Nowhere else has God confided it, and the whole treasury is there, - "All the treasures!" Why then should saints of God turn elsewhere, to philosophies and vain deceits? Christ is enough? Yea, more than enough for the assembly. He is in us. Anything that turns the mind and heart from Him is a delusion, however good and interesting it may seem. After telling us of these treasures, the Apostle at once exhorts, "As therefore ye have received the Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and assured in the faith, even, as ye have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving;" adding that all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily, and "ye are complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and authority." The Godhead fulness is in Him, and we are filled full in Him! How wonderful! How glorious! How exceeding are the grace and love and power of God which has brought it to pass!

The grateful and thankful heart finds relief and rejoicing in the presence of such magnificence to know that our God and Father receives a rich response to such lavish wealth which He has bestowed upon us. Of His He receives. Abundant offerings were rendered Him in Solomon's day. Offerings of thanksgiving, praise, worship and adoration in a higher way are His as the result of the glory of the mystery. Blessing and honour and power are ascribed to Him for ever and ever, and there shall be glory to Him in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of the ages. Time and space forbid, even if we were able to do so, to expatiate on these responsive riches which shall be His from us for ever, and even now as in assembly our grateful praise and worship flow in Spirit and in truth.

And then, there is not only the filling of our own hearts with Christ, and the uprising response as we bring Him before our God and Father who gave us such an unspeakable gift, but the overflow for the blessing of others. Isaiah, looking on the reign of righteousness on this earth, said, "Behold a King shall reign in righteousness, and a Man shall be as rivers of water" (xxxii. I, 2). When our Lord Jesus Christ thus reigns in Israel, through His administration these waters of refreshment and blessing shall flow out for the blessing of the world. When, however, the assembly is glorified with her exalted Head the vast universe shall reap the riches of administration. Heaven as well as earth will benefit; thrones, lordships, principalities and authorities, visible and invisible now shall all receive of the riches of that glory, and every creature shall bless and praise His holy Name. Surely this, known and rejoiced in, will affect us now. As our hearts are full of Christ, the Son of God, there will be an overflow to others around us; for the divine order is, - Christ in us first; responsively offered to God in praise and worship next; and then the overflow for others. May this mark us more and more. Note the climax of the fifteen "Songs of degrees." Beginning with a cry of distress (120) we rise step by step to the heights of blessing (134). Then we "bless the Lord" in the sanctuary, and from that holy and happy place look outward and say, "The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion." Blessed ourselves, we bless our God and Father, and then seek the blessing of those who are outside.

We are nearer than ever we were to the ripened fruition of God's eternal purpose; the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ for His well-loved assembly draweth nigh; all glorious and holy she shall soon be presented to Himself, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; His love shall be satisfied in the dearest object of His heart; we shall be satisfied in Himself and His eternal love; glory supreme shall shine in unfading splendour; but He Himself will be our everlasting Light and Joy. What shall we say to these realities, beloved brethren? Shall we not answer to them in our walk and ways and words, by being more and more conformed to His moral glory now? As these riches are the joy and rejoicing of the heart, the rusty and corrupted mammon of this age will count little with us; grace will be ours to refuse anything that would tarnish for our souls the riches of the glory of the mystery. All our walk here will be affected and our path shine brighter and brighter till the perfect day; all our ways will be ordered in relation to Christ and His interests, and all our words will become more gracious and health imparting. Nothing short of perfection in Christ will be before us. If it be otherwise, then our interest in the riches of the glory of the mystery is not of the Holy Spirit of God but of mere religiousness. Our love for Christ and all His own will be strengthened and deepened, for Christ loved all and gave Himself for all; yea, He loves all even now with an unchanging love. Our hearts therefore say with the apostle, "Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption" (Eph. vi. 24).

H. J. Vine.

"The Mystery" in Practice.

"So is Christ." (1 Cor. xii. 12). We cannot to-day see, in actual form, our Lord Jesus Christ, as did the Apostles and others when He was on earth, because He has, gone to the Father, and has sent down the Holy Spirit as the other Comforter and as the blessed Agent of all the grace of God here below.

We shall, thank God, "see Him as He is" and be like Him, when He comes again; but, though He is personally invisible, we are aware of His presence on earth in that wonderful structure called His body.

This we know is composed of all the children of God, (and only such) who believe on Him during the time of His rejection, to the moment of His return. These have been quickened by the Spirit of God, by whom also they are united to Christ in glory as members of His body, and thus formed into one perfect and divine unity; so united that in describing its absolute completeness the Scripture says, "So also is Christ." The two, Christ on the one hand, and His members on the other, in this mystic unity are so identified as that one name, that is "the Christ," covers and denominates both. Just as, it may be remembered, in describing the type of the human family, in Gen. v. 2, we read, "Male and female created He them, and called their name Adam" - the woman was merged in the man, even as she was also, "of his bone and his flesh." "So also is the Christ."

Now this, though spiritual and mystic, is surely not invisible. Each of its members, great or small, has its own place to fill in the whole, each is a "member in particular" and none can fulfil the functions, or do the work of another. All are interdependent and under the control of the Head, just as the human body acts in its varied members in perfect organic harmony and order; and it is used, in our chapter, as an illustration. This takes the truth of the "Mystery of Christ" out of the region of mere theory, and presents it in a truly practical light.

The blessed Head on high is ever active on behalf of His members. How dear to Him we cannot tell. He loves them to the end. He described them to Saul of Tarsus as though they were Himself. "Why persecutest thou Me?" How perfect the identity; how close and inseparable the tie!

But this implies similar activity on the part of the members, in relation to each other. "Hence," if one member suffers, all suffer." Do we appreciate this touching fact as we should? "If one member be honoured all rejoice?" - or this? What mutual affection, regard, sympathy, and unselfish consideration, if so. What withering up of mere party or sectarian animosities there would be. But the church as the body of Christ has lost, in leaving her first love, those family, nay those corporate affections that shone in fervent reciprocity in early Pentecostal days. Iniquity abounds and love waxes cold.

Albeit the unity of the body remains intact. No power of evil can break or mar that unity. "For by one Spirit are we all baptised into one body . . . and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." Could unity be more perfect. Could the proper articulation of co-membership be better secured? Need the ear say, in jealousy, because I am not the eye I am therefore not of the body, when the ear though less beautiful, can perform in its own province, that which the eye cannot? Each is necessary in its place.

Far less may the eye say to the hand, in unbecoming pride, I have no need of thee, for the eye, spite of its glory, cannot do the essential, if lowly, work of the foot. Such an idea in the body natural, were folly; though, alas, possible and actual in the body spiritual.

These members, these gifts, have been set in the church by God Himself, and each is placed by Him in the sphere intended.

But what a marvellous organism does the body of Christ thus present to us! How divine the conception! How profound the statement: - "So also is the Christ."

But, secondly, if we turn to Eph. iii. we find that the mystery of Christ affects a wider field than the body itself. This unity is to be viewed as an exhibition of the manifold wisdom of God, by principalities and powers in heavenly places, the wonder of the ages, the vessel of the surpassing riches of His grace in His kindness to us through Christ Jesus. There we find what are called, "the unsearchable riches of Christ," and there are to be seen, if eyes are only divinely open, the administration - the practical and visible operation of this mystery.

In Chapter iv. of the same epistle we see the operation itself, first of all the kind of spirit that is absolutely necessary in those who would endeavour to keep the unity, not indeed, of the body, but of the Spirit, with whom that body is so closely allied, animated, and sustained in vigour.

And so we have gifts from an ascended Christ for the perfecting of the saints of whom the body is composed, till we all come in the further unity, that of the faith to the "measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." How practical in every sense is the mystery of Christ, as it is now revealed by apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

This is proved, thirdly, in the epistle to the Colossians, by the agony of soul through which the Apostle passed, when in prayer for that assembly and others. The riches of the glory of the mystery, hidden for ages but now revealed, is "Christ in you the hope of glory." It was the coping stone to all the revelation of God; it completed the Word of God.

In the mystery of God, he tells us, are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; and to be possessed, therefore, of that treasure the soul is put on guard, intelligently against the mental seductions of the foe, such as philosophy, the traditions of men, circumcision, all that militates against the cross, the worship of angels, an abuse of the body which panders to fleshly pride - things which could have no existence, not be allowed, if the fulness of the Godhead bodily, in a risen Christ, and His headship as the ascended Man, were truly held.

In 1 Cor. xii. the mystery has for its object the mutual care of the members; in Eph. iii. the enlightenment of heavenly principalities and powers; and in Col. ii. the preservation of the saints from the intellectual attacks of Satan and the world.

This is all intensely practical, the importance of it causing such conflict to the Apostle, who was specially appointed to be the minister of the church.

No wonder then finally, that in Romans xvi. 25. he regards it as essential to the establishment of the believer in the truth of the gospel, of which it is the complement; and although, without the knowledge of it, the believer may be justified, yet He lacks an apprehension of Christianity proper, and his work cannot but be defective.

J. Wilson Smith.

****

A person is walking in the Spirit when Christ is the paramount object to him. Then the eye is single, and the effect is, the body is light, luminous is really the idea. It is a wonderful thing, that in the place where my Lord was rejected I am to come out in the light of my Lord.

Power To Apprehend The Truth.

The might of divine power is in constant energy on behalf of those who are saved by grace, and who are sealed by the Spirit. In Ephesians 1: 19, it is called the surpassing greatness of God's power towards us who believe; - the power by which the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from among the dead. In chapter 3: 20, the power is said to work in us, and according to that power, God "is able to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think." As regards its operations then, this mighty power is both towards us and in us.

Those who are Christ's co-heirs, members of His body, and partakers of life in Him, are, notwithstanding the exalted favour and blessing which has been bestowed upon them, entirely dependent upon God's power for the needed strength to apprehend by the Spirit the vast range of glory of which Christ is the Centre; and which according to the precious truth of the mystery, they share with Him in a most intimate way, as His body and His bride. This strengthening is also needed, that Christ may be dwelling in the heart through faith, and that founded as to our character and rooted vitally in the love of God, we may increase in the knowledge of the love of Christ; which, nevertheless, however great our enjoyment of His love may be, still surpasses knowledge; for like Himself, it is infinite; but though we are dependent, thank God, we are so upon One whose resources are exhaustless, whose power is immeasurable and whose grace and love towards us are illimitable.

How this encourages our hearts therefore to seek His face in regards to these great things, - the greatest things in some respects! Fallen man, in his fleshly state, has neither the mind nor the power to enter into them; nor could "the natural man," even at his best, apprehend them, for "they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. ii. 14.); but those who have redemption in Christ through His blood have the Spirit, so that "we may know the things which have been freely given to us of God." Paul felt that the saints at Ephesus needed divine strength to apprehend these things. He therefore prayed, - "I bow my knees to the Father" on your behalf, he told them (iii. 14). We also need to pray for ourselves if we are to rightly apprehend the truth. The apostle desired strength in "the inner man" for them.

This inner man, which every saint of God has, is the result of the work of God in us. It is contrasted with the "outward man" (2 Cor. iv. 16); and it is "renewed day by day" as we walk with God. In the exercises of the seventh of Romans, the believer makes the discovery that he has this inner man which delights in what is of God (22), though the principle of sin still causes him distress. It is in the inner man therefore the Father is asked to grant strength by His Spirit in Ephesians iii. 16; and that according to the riches of His glory. Every family in the heavens and on the earth receives being from Him, - He is the Source of all. How vast then are His riches! With what confidence we may ask to be strengthened according to them! We need to do so if we are to prosper in divine things! It is no question of earthly matters or the circumstances of our pathway here. We are dependent upon the Father of mercies in regard to them also; but this has to do with things that abide in glory and blessedness for ever. Those who minister these things likewise need to pray for those to whom they minister, lest their labour be in vain. If Paul bowed his knees to the Father in regard to them, we do well to do so.

Nor should we allow the mistaken thought to deter us, that it merely effects our own advance in the great things connected with the mystery of Christ and the assembly. It is not simply this which the true heart desires, surely, but that God should be glorified, even as the apostle concludes his prayer, "But to Him that is able to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think, according to the power which works in us, to Him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of the ages. Amen."

H. J. Vine.

Prayer In Relation To "The Mystery."

"The mystery" belongs to a range of things which is purely spiritual, which therefore the Holy Spirit alone can reveal, communicate and give power to discern. Hence the exceeding importance of prayer in connection therewith, for ourselves, and for each other. There are two great reasons for this intercession; firstly, that a state of soul may be produced which shall be receptive of the divine communications; and secondly, that protection may be afforded from the Satanic agencies which seek to nullify and obscure this revelation of God. Urgent at all times, even in the church's brightest days, it is still more so in those that witness its far departure from the first love which was once its glory and testimony.

The revelation of God can never fail; His purpose that it should be known must be satisfied; and although many, alas, may turn from the truth and give ear to fables, or short of this may be indifferent to what God would make known; nevertheless, the Holy Spirit will find hearts to whom He can confide the truth. Herein lies the need of prayer which in the divine economy is a mark of the pulsations of spiritual life, and the opening up of channels of supply to the other members of the body of Christ. By such means the Holy Spirit works in order to produce the bridal affection which is the true response of the church to her coming Lord.

The importance of prayer in relation to "the mystery" is amply set forth in the epistles of the Apostle Paul. In Rom. xvi. 25-27, his heart turns to God for the power, that would establish the saints (to whom he had communicated the gospel) in this further truth, without which they would not be fully furnished for the service of God, the glory of Christ or the blessing of man. In Col. ii. 1-3 the prayer of the apostle reached to an agony of conflict for all who had not seen his face in the flesh, that such a soul condition might be produced in them by the comfort of the love of God, that there might be such knitting together in love, so that all the riches of the full assurance of understanding of the mystery might be theirs. In chapter iv. 12 of the same epistle, one of Paul's companions was like-minded. Epaphras was one who laboured fervently in prayers, that the saints might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Is there not searching power in such an example that should reach our consciences, yours and mine beloved readers? In Eph. i. 16-23 Paul prayed that the saints might know the exceeding greatness of the power of God, which had taken Christ out of the lowest place in death, and had set Him in the highest spot at His own right hand, as Head over all things to His body the church. He desired that this great and glorious fact might possess their souls, for then they would seek supply and direction from no other source. Again in Eph. iii. 14-21, he prayed for that which the Father alone could accomplish by His Spirit, viz., that Christ should so dwell in their hearts, that they might be firmly established in His love, so that they might look out upon the greatness and grandeur of that eternal secret now revealed, of Christ and the church, His body, by which glory shall be brought to God by Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages.

Thus we have:

God's ability to establish, in Romans.

God's desire and will, in Colossians.

God's power and love, in Ephesians.

Do we need ought else? here are matters which may well cause us grief and shame that we have thought so much of human agencies, and neglected to draw by prayer upon the resources of God, by which alone 'the mystery' can be known and maintained.

Brethren, do we value these matters above all earthly things? do we estimate aright their great importance for the glory of God, the heart of Christ and the joy of the saints? if so, Let us pray.

James Green.

The Sufficiency of Christ Triumphant for the Entire Need of His Body on Earth.

J. N. Darby has beautifully written, "Christ never fails, and there cannot be a want in Christ's church without there being an answer to it in Christ's heart." Yes, and how blessed, how full of comfort it is to know that His heart not only discerns and feels and responds to every want, but that His love is not an impotent love, but that He has triumphed over the whole power of the enemy in order to meet the needs of His church from His exalted seat of glory! This comes out in Ephesians 4.

"But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore He saith, when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things) (Eph. iv. 7-10).

He once stood a Man upon earth, come down from Godhead's fullest glory to deliver men from the bondage of a great foe. He met for Himself first of all all the subtlety and power of that foe, for He had to be tested Himself. How could He deliver others unless He were able to stand free Himself. In the wilderness He was tempted, and triumphed, and Satan left Him for a little season. Having failed to bring Him beneath his yoke by his wiles and allurements he returned and confronted Him with all the terrors of darkness and death in Gethsemane. How little we understand that conflict which caused the sweat of blood to fall from His sacred brow to the earth! We can only stand by and wonder, but our wonder deepens to adoration as we hear Him say to His Father. "O my Father, if this cup may not pass from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done."

Thus He proved Himself to be invincible before the whole force of the enemy, but thus far He stood alone, and He had become Man to deliver men from Satan's captivity, and to do this He had to descend into the lower parts of the earth, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone." He had to go into judgment and death; to meet the great oppressor in his own stronghold and there destroy his power, as David tracked the lion to his lair that had robbed his flock of a lamb; and this He has done, that "through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver those who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage" (Heb. ii. 14). Now He has ascended up far above all heavens that He might fill all things. He has travelled in His conquering might from the lowest spot in death to the highest point in glory, having made Himself master over the whole dominion of darkness, the captivity in which men had been held captive. So could He say to John, "I am He that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen; and have the keys of death and hell." It is as Man that He has gone up; His exaltation from the side we are viewing it is in virtue of an accomplished redemption and the overthrow of Satan's power. He glorified God His Father; and as Man He fought for men and His triumph has been gained for men, the deliverance is for them, little though they care about it; and the announcement of it is sent out to them by the evangelists that the exalted Christ has given to them, though we have sadly to ask, "Who hath believed our report?" Sad it is that men love their captivity rather than the glorious liberty into which He can bring them.

But if men at large despise the gifts He has given for their blessing, and spurn the blessing which might be theirs through belief of the truth, nevertheless the great purpose of God for this present moment is being carried out, and the gifts are enumerated, "and He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers" (Eph. iv. 11). They are given the building up, the blessing, and the completion of His body. They are given, "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph. iv. 12).

The apostles and prophets are those who laid the foundation. They abide for us in the Scriptures which contain the inspired words. The evangelists, pastors and teachers still abide. How solemn yet how blessed the position of any and all who are such! How needful that they should be in close contact and communion with the Head of the body so that their communications to the saints who form it may be from Himself to His members. The purpose is, says J. N. D., that "the assembly, and each one of the members of Christ, should be filled with the thoughts and the riches of a well-known Christ, instead of being tossed to and fro by all sorts of doctrines brought forward by the enemy to deceive souls."

Yet while there are special gifts, every member of the body has his own special gift, for, "unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ."

Christendom has spoiled everything, and few now look only to the Head for the giving of gifts for the needed ministry to the saints; few indeed recognize Christ as the One all-sufficient Head of His assembly. The majority walk by sight and must have some visible authority to which to turn, and whether this be pontifical, episcopal, presidential, congressional, or what not, it is all in principle the same, and correspondingly the loss is great.

Oh that there might be an awakening on the part of the saints of God, who are the body of Christ, as to the complete adequacy of Christ to maintain His own assembly; there would follow the abandonment of every human organization that has grown up in Christendom; the turning away from every worldly device for the furtherance of God's work; tradition would cease to enthrall, precedent would no longer guide, but Christ would be all. What power and blessing and liberty would be the result for all who did this. Their part would be the one that Peter found when he left the boat to walk on the water to go to Jesus. "If it be Thou," all he wished to be assured of. Then he stept forth out of everything to which a man might cling, to learn that none but Christ to whom he stept forth could maintain him, but that He was altogether competent. Let us go forth unto Him, He cannot fail us; evangelists, pastors and teachers may fail, every member may fail in the exercise of that gift that Christ has given to them, but Christ the Head abideth the same. Times and circumstances change, hence we cannot act upon precedents, or rely upon tradition; we have no need to, for the power and wisdom and care of the Head is equal to all changes, and every crisis; His Name, His word, His grace, His direction are all we need.

"When human cisterns all are dry,

Thy fulness is the same;

May we with this be satisfied

And glory in Thy name."

No good in creatures can be found,

All, all is found in Thee,

We must have all things and abound

Through Thy sufficiency."

How full of beauty, are verses 15 and 16. "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." Commenting upon them, J. N. Darby says, "The Christian is to grow up according to all that is revealed in Christ, and to be ever increasing in the likeness of his Head; using love and truth for his own soul — the two things of which Christ is the perfect expression. He is our pattern; and our pattern as having overcome, and as having ascended to heaven, our Head, to whom we are united as members of His body, there flows from this Head, by means of its members, the grace needed to accomplish the work of assimilation to Himself. His body, compacted together, increases by the working of His grace in each member and edifies itself in love.

This is the position of the assembly according to God, until all the members of the body attain to the stature of Christ. The manifestation, alas! of this unity is marred; but the grace of its Head to nourish and cause its members to grow, is never impaired any more than the love in the Lord's heart from which it springs. We do not glorify Him, we have not the joy of being ministers of joy to each other as we might; but the Head does not cease to work for the good of His body. His faithfulness is glorified in our unfaithfulness without excusing it."

Does not the heart stir at the thought of being a means of supply from the living Head to ones fellow-members! To have a part in the nourishing and increase of the body, to its development to the full likeness of Christ! What a favour, what a high honour is this! This is brought within the reach of the feeblest member of this wonderful body; and if these few pages, put together in fear and trembling, and many prayers, result in any being stirred up in these things to fulfil those functions which are proper to them as being members of this body, then will those who have laboured be abundantly compensated, for in this the Lord will be glorified and His saints truly edified.

J. T. Mawson.

The Secret of the Dispensation.

The word dispensation occurs twice in our common version of the epistle to the Ephesians, - viz., chap. i. 10 and iii. 2. In both cases the Greek word so translated is one which means the law or arrangement of a house. Being closely allied with the word for steward it is sometimes translated stewardship. Speaking in general terms we may say that a dispensation is that regime or ordering of affairs which God is pleased to institute at any given time.

Ephesians i. 10 looks on to the glorious regime to be established in the coming age which will have as its crowning characteristic the gathering together in one and heading up of all things in heaven and earth in Christ. In connection with this there has been a secret, "the mystery of His will," as verse 9 shows; though the secret is now an open one to "us," i.e. His saints of this dispensation. This coming age is the theme of many a glowing Old Testament Scripture which must have warmed the heart of saints living in pre-christian times, and which still fire and animate our hearts to-day; still it will be found that such Scriptures view the age as being that of Messiah's glory, with Israel gathered under Him as the head of the nations, and the Gentiles ordered and blessed subordinately to Israel. Only in very rare instances - as Hosea ii. 21 — is the heavenly sphere alluded to. God's will as to it however embraced more than earthly things. He purposed in Himself according to His good pleasure a wider and more wonderful unity of glory. Not only all things on earth - including Israel and the nations, but all things in heaven, - including the church and angelic hosts, are to find their unifying Head in Christ. No Old Testament saints would have divined that secret, though it is fully made known to us.

That dispensation is future, but in chapter iii. 2, we have a present dispensation, and one far more limited in its scope though far more intimate as to its character. The apostle speaks of it as "given me to you-ward" - that is, he was the steward of it as far as the Gentiles, such as the Ephesians, were concerned. This being so, and bearing in mind how utterly lost and hopeless the Gentiles had been, as stated in chapter ii. 12, it is easy to see that it is indeed a dispensation of the grace of God; the coming age will be rather the dispensation of His glory.

This dispensation, too, has a secret connected with it - a secret, that is, from the standpoint of all who lived previous to the death and resurrection of Christ, the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, and the subsequent passing of the period of transition and the revelation of God's first thought in connection with the church. At the time of writing the Ephesian epistle the secret had been divulged by the Spirit to apostles and prophets (verse 5), though it was revealed independently to Paul (verse 3), and he alone was the steward of it as regards the Gentile saints (verse 2).

What is this special secret of the dispensation now revealed to us? Only three passages furnish us with its details, though others allude to it. The three are Ephesians ii. 9-22; iii. 6; and Colossians i. 27. That the first of these three Scriptures is an unfolding of the mystery is proved by verses 3 and 4 of chapter iii. where the apostle appeals to that written previously as showing his knowledge of the subject. It is worthy of note, by the way, that he calls this passage previously written "a few words" though it is the longest and fullest passage of the three. This shows us that it is a condensed summary of the matter, and we may expect to find in it great fulness and depth.

The secret of the dispensation has then to do with God's work among the Gentiles by which an election from amongst them is brought, equally with an election from amongst Israel, into the fulness of blessing in Christ. Both come in on equal and identical terms, and not only so but also upon a footing and into relationships which are altogether new.

These things being of the very essence of the matter we first point out, how they are stated in this Scripture.

(1). Both Jew and Gentile are made one, "the middle wall of partition" and "enmity" being abolished "in His flesh" i.e. by the death of Christ. (verses 9 and 15). Both are reconciled "in one body" (verse 16). Both have access to the Father by one Spirit (verse 18). This warrants us in saying that both come in on equal and identical terms.

(2). They do not, however, come in upon the old footing as propounded in the law given to Israel. It is not that Gentiles are now to be admitted to the share in Israel's standing before God. The blood of Christ has made them nigh in Christ Jesus (verse 13). His death is indeed the efficacious ground of it, but by it He has made "in Himself of twain one new man" (verse 15). Both are brought to God in one body, but it is as reconciled by the cross (verse 16); both have access to the Father but it is by one Spirit (verse 18) and not by ordinances as of old. It is evident then that both are brought in on a new footing. The old fleshly Adam standing in which both shared is set aside, the national standing as the people of Jehovah which belonged exclusively to the Jew is also set aside, and the election from both comes in "reconciled by the cross," "one new man," "in Christ Jesus."

(3). The relationships into which they come are far beyond any in which Adam stood even in innocence, and equally beyond Israel's national relationship with Jehovah. They are not one nation but one body (verse 16), approaching the Father, (verse 18) rather than Jehovah. Further, such are "of the household of God"; built into that which is destined to be "an holy temple in the Lord" and "builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit as a present thing (verses 19-22) .

This then is the secret of the present dispensation stated in few words. Ephesians iii. 6, gives us the same in fewer words; and Colossians i. 27, presents the same great theme in even fewer still, but from a different standpoint, when it says that "the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles," is "Christ in [or among] you [i.e. Gentiles] the hope of glory." The prophets had predicted that the Messiah should be amongst His people on the basis of redemption, and that earthly glory should be established in connection with it; but that Christ should be in, or amongst, an election from the Gentile world was an unheard of and amazing thing, awakening the liveliest expectation of His ultimately shining forth in a glory of yet wider dimensions.

Other Scriptures there are, which though not exactly or directly referring to the mystery yet throw additional light upon it. The whole of 2 Corinthians iii., for example casts light on Colossians i. 27.

These other passages we must however pass by, our present object being to reach the practical bearing of all this truth upon the lives of the saints who compose the church.

The whole of Ephesians iii. save verse 1 is in the nature of a digression. About to write instructions as to their behaviour the apostle evidently felt it needful to enforce them by a statement of his peculiar authority in regard to such as themselves. He had not merely knowledge of the mystery by direct firsthand revelation from the Lord, but authority, since the dispensation or "house-arrangements" in respect to all mentioned in the latter part of chapter ii. was, as far as Gentiles are concerned, given to him (verse 2). Of it he was made a ministering servant (verse 7), his work as such being to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all see what the fellowship (or administration - J. N. D's translation) of the mystery is. He not merely enunciated the newly revealed truth in its terms but saw to it that in practical fellowship or administration the truth was exemplified amongst and carried out by the saints, so that whether nationally Jews or Gentiles they were together, altogether above and apart from the racial and religious animosities which characterized them by nature, in the happy recognition and consciousness of the new footing established in Christ, and the new relationship with the Father, with Christ, and with one another, in the power of the Spirit of God. There was then a practical expression upon earth, of that which is the real secret, the great characteristic thought of the present dispensation, and thereby to heavenly powers, the manifold wisdom of God was displayed. The unity thus established in the church between Jew and Gentile still abides before the eyes of the heavenly powers and still shows forth God's wisdom, for there has been no splitting of the church into a Jewish section or a Gentile section. Cleavages there have been, alas! - almost without number - setting forth all too clearly before heavenly eyes the folly of man, but none of them have been along the lines of that original great fissure removed so wonderfully by the wisdom of God. We are speaking, remember, of the fellowship of the mystery and not of the vital oneness of the body.

Then, is recorded, verses 14 to end, that wonderful prayer of the Apostle, in which he asks for a mighty work of the Spirit in the inner man of these Gentile saints that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith, and that with all saints they might enter into the fulness of these wonderful things. A mighty work within indeed needful if these erstwhile worshippers of Diana were to be lifted in their own soul's knowledge and enjoyment to the level of these serene and holy things while still they lived in Ephesus and trod its streets. No less a work is needed within ourselves.

Chapter iv. 1 picks up the thread from chapter iii. 1 and the apostle commences his practical instructions in the tenderest tone, yet with all the weight and authority of chapter iii. behind him. The great business of these Ephesian saints and of ourselves is to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. A superhuman task indeed! which is only possible as the apostle's prayer is fulfilled in us.

The central point of endeavour is to be the keeping of "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." The "unity of the Spirit" was and is an actual subsisting fact. We did not make it, nor can we break it, but in the actual wear and tear of daily life and walk, we may keep it or we may let it go. The exhortation is that we keep it in the uniting bond of peace. Verse 3 is then the main exhortation of the passage, verses 4 to 6 enforce the exhortation by reminding us how unity is the outstanding feature of Christian life and profession in all its departments. Verse 2 gives us the all important moral features in the strength of which alone can the main exhortation be carried out in practice.

A brief consideration of how all this must have appealed to the Ephesian saints may help us. The assembly in that great city was predominantly Gentile (ii. 2; iv. 17), though with a Jewish strain in it (Acts xix. 1-7; xx. 21), hence there was ample scope for friction and trouble. Yet peace between them had been established in Christ (ii. 9-15) and the uniting effect of that bond was to be felt in their endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit - so called because the one Spirit is the vital and animating principle of the one body into which they had been called.

The keeping of the unity calls into exercise four great moral characteristics: -

1. Lowliness. That mind which is the exact opposite of the mind of Adam. He would exalt himself; the lowly mind goes down as Philippians ii. shows. This is most essential, and particularly important for the Gentile in his dealings with the Jewish saint. The remembrance to which the apostle called them in chapter ii. 11, 12, was calculated to produce it.

2. Meekness. The opposite of the pushful self-assertive spirit. Again very important for the Gentile since there was the divine order even in connection with the gospel of "to the Jew first and also to the Gentile."

3. Longsuffering. The patient and long-continued acceptance of personal discomforts or even wrongs, a thing only possible to one of a lowly and meek spirit.

4. Forbearing in love. Intimately connected with the third, and its complement - the love that bears with that which might offend in others, instead of seeking redress by violent methods.

All these things would be much called for on the part of the Gentile in his dealings with the Jew. By legal training and the hereditary instinct of centuries the latter carried within himself the tendency to take the narrow, self-centred, legal view of things; the matters mentioned in Acts xv. and in Romans xiv. show this. Nothing but long-suffering coupled with the love that beareth all things would enable them to abide together in peace.

That the Jew would equally need these things in his relations with his Gentile brethren goes without saying. Indeed, experience shows that the disposition to push things to extremes and let go the unity of the Spirit is more deeply ingrained in the narrow Jewish type of mind than in the large Gentile type. These four excellent features were indispensable on both sides.

They are not less indispensable for us to-day but more so if it were possible. At the present moment difficulties and points of cleavage as between Jew and Gentile do not exist, yet with the lapse of centuries the very fact that the church is a unity established by God is largely lost sight of, whilst the essential character of that unity as set forth in chapter ii. 9-18 is recognized in even less degree. Never did we need in deeper measure the apostolic affirmation that "there is one body and one Spirit" and the exhortation "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Some of our readers who have for long been "gathered on the ground of the one body" may regard such remarks as superfluous as far as they are concerned, but we are persuaded that they are not so. The tendency to overlook the fact of one body and one Spirit reaches our minds in many subtle forms.

Take a case in point: - Certain believers, and therefore members of Christ's body, become awakened by the Spirit of God through the Scriptures to those parts of the circle of truth that concerns the church, its position, privileges, and destiny, together with its responsibilities, as the witness on earth for Christ during the period of His rejection and absence; and in order to practise what they have learned they withdraw from many religious organizations of purely human origin, and revert to the simplicity of that divinely instituted through the apostles. All this is done in simple fidelity to the Word of God without thinking of themselves at all, but as the years pass and the energy of faith somewhat declines, self-occupation re-appears, and the question of what position they themselves now hold as a result of so acting is raised in many minds. Nothing now will be easier than to assume that by their forsaking a man-made position and occupying the ground of the church according to the Scriptures they have thereby acquired a renewed corporate status, which is all their own and in which other Christians do not share.

The subtlety of this idea may be seen in the fact that it is very possible to entertain it whilst strongly insisting on the truth of "one body." This latter may be proclaimed and contended for, and yet people may so idealize it in their minds as to see nothing inconsistent with it in the idea of another "body" - especially when this other "body" lies within the true "one body" which the Spirit originally formed.

Thus very easily we may take for granted in our minds what has no existence in God's mind as revealed to us in His Word. After all there is one body and one only. It therefore should go without saying that we should have nothing corporate outside the one corpus, and even the fact that certain members of the one corpus revert to the truth of that one corpus, after centuries of diversion from it, does not reincorporate them as a small inner corpus within the one corpus. ONE body God has made, and never more than one will He entertain, whatever we may do.

We pursue this no further, but merely remark two things: First; we have not been combating a mere notion, an abstract idea of no practical consequence. This thought, if entertained, leads to consequences in conduct, and especially what we may call assembly conduct, of great gravity. Second; we emphasise the fact that we have been speaking of that which is corporate and not that which is collective. God does indeed entertain the idea of a collective life and testimony and that in days of failure and ruin, and He clearly sets it before us in such a Scripture as 2 Tim. ii. 22. The gist of the forgoing remarks is that when those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart, are most ardently following righteousness, faith, love, and peace, they acquire no special corporate status by doing so. They have a corporate status truly, but it is that of members of the "one body" originally instituted by God.

Having thus briefly considered our present day need of the apostle's affirmation "there is one body and one Spirit" it only remains to point out the exhortation which the Apostle founded upon it. In religious circles unity is all the rage, yet the "unity of the Spirit" is unthought of, and to come closer home - how shall we keep the unity of the Spirit if we have in our minds this second lesser unity of which we have spoken? To say the least there will be some occasion when the claims of the two unities will clash, with the almost certain result that we yield to the claims of the smaller, yet more tangible, "body" of our own creating, as against the claims of the larger and less realizable "body" of God's creating.

And then the spirit and manner in which the unity is to be kept! Here is the mind of Christ, and it is to be exhibited in the members of His body. These are not things to be passed on in a hurry so as to meet some disuniting crisis, but things to be wrought into the fibre of our souls by the Holy Ghost. We need them always. They are as necessary in carrying out a solemn Scripturally ordained act of excommunication, or of departure from the iniquity of a Hymenaeus or Philetus, as in confirming Christian love to a once sinning but now repentant saint.

Lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance in love. Surely a marvellous quartet of Christ-like graces! Almost, we might say, a condensed summary of Cor. xiii. Possible for us only as love, the divine nature, is produced in our hearts. We stand convicted. Here has been the failure. Here must be the recovery. May God work it in us by His Spirit.

F. B. Hole.

"That the Gentiles should be of the same body."

The mystery takes us to the height of God's counsel, and the unfolding of this constitutes the top stone of Paul's ministry.

For the creation of a superstructure in which every attribute of God is called into activity, and His nature finds a display in the supreme blessing of the subjects of His love, it was necessary that there should be a sure and immutable foundation. It was essential that in the exercise of His love, according to His counsels of grace, no question could possibly be raised as to His righteousness in so acting.

That foundation was well and truly laid at Calvary, where Christ secured the glory of God and maintained all His righteous claims in respect of those His grace would call. "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good pleasure in man." If we are to progress in the apprehension of this "great mystery," it is also essential that in our souls too, the foundations as to the righteousness of God be well and truly laid.

These two thoughts: the foundation in righteousness and the top stone in glory encompass the ministry of the Apostle Paul.

The mystery is referred to in three epistles: Romans, Colossians and Ephesians.

At the end of Romans (Rom. 15), after he has laid bare the foundations in the gospel of God, the apostle quotes four Scriptures, selected in divine and unerring wisdom, from various parts of the Holy writings, bearing on Christ's place among the Gentiles. The first is, "For this cause I will confess to Thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto Thy name" (verse 9). Confessing among them indicates that He has taken up their cause, and that He has them with Himself in the perfection of an accomplished redemption. But He also sings among them to God the Father. He has got beyond the narrow confines of Israel, and, no longer "straitened," Christ reaches the height of His joy, and, with gladness of His heart, He sings among the objects of His everlasting love.

And what is the consequence? "Rejoice ye Gentiles with His people." And again, "Praise the Lord all ye Gentiles, and laud Him all ye people." And again, "There shall be a root of Jesse, and He that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, and in Him shall the Gentiles trust."

These Scriptures clearly shew that though the mystery was not made known in the Old Testament Scriptures, yet God would prepare those who had faith for this widening out beyond this, and for the gathering together the Gentiles in righteousness, peace and joy. But, passing on to the Colossian epistle, the great present purpose of the gathering of the Gentiles, the forming of the one body, is developed.

We read of the "saints to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of the mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you the hope of glory." He not only confesses among them, but, marvellous thought, He is in them now and they are to be associated with Him in glory. Christ is in them the hope of glory.

In Ephesians we are in the noontide splendour of the purpose of God. Time does not limit the horizon. But we learn that this marvellous creation of divine wisdom and skill, the new man in Christ, is according to the purpose of the ages which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In one verse (chap. iii. 6), we have a highly concentrated description of the mystery: "that they who are of the nations should be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel" (N.T.). Three things come before us here: the inheritance; the body, - the complement of Christ; His promise in Christ Jesus, outside of all dispensations. The immensity of this must appeal to every spiritual saint, affording an adequate subject for the contemplation and study of our adoring hearts and minds always.

Two thoughts, however, stand out pre-eminently in connection with this great unfolding; and they are these: God has got a habitation, and Christ has got a bride. The latter is the crowning point of the whole divine scheme, and is the most thrilling feature in this great mystery. It is concealed in Paul's prayer at the end of chap. 3, where the apostle sets the top stone to his ministry in leading up the saints to the spiritual affections of the bride - "that Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts." Where a man dwells he is at home. In chap. 1, we see Christ trusted; we also see Him seated here - supreme thought! He is at home! And where? In the heart of His bride! United to Him in that blissful relationship, we survey with tense interest, the vast sphere of His glory, and knowing the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge we are filled to all the fulness of God.

May God grant us to know better His portion in the assembly in Christ Jesus in which there shall be glory to God unto all generations of the age of the ages. Amen.

D. Brown.

Correspondence.

The Unity of the Spirit.

W. H. D. writes as follows: -

"You may be sure I hailed with the greatest pleasure the announcement of the Quarterly Supplement, and have read it with deep interest. But I must confess to a shade of disappointment; I am at a loss to understand quite what the four contributors have set before themselves as the object of their writing; what in point of fact is the precise effect they wish to produce upon their readers.

"They enlarge much and most justly upon the extraordinary wonderful blessings and destinies that God in His grace has designed for those who believe His witness from among the Gentiles, that vast multitude, His church, which He has gathered out during this 2,000 years to a heavenly in contrast to an earthly portion, and they rightly insist that the heavenly destiny of the church separates its interests entirely from the course of this world. But there seems to be a tendency to fix the mind so entirely on the heavenly side as to lead to the feeling, if not the thought, that the earthly side is not so material. J. T. Mawson prints Eph. iv. 1-3, in large capitals at the end of his article, but he does not appear to lay any stress on the point of the exhortation, which is, to keep the Spirit-made Unity in the uniting bond of peace; this surely applies to earth only, for in heaven there can be no need."

We had hoped that the exhortation of Eph. iv. 1-3, being printed in capitals at the end of the paper referred to would show that we do lay great stress upon it; this was certainly our purpose in thus giving it prominence.

We welcome this criticism from the pen of a valued correspondent, whose letters always give us food for thought; especially so, as generally what is expressed by one is thought by many. The object we have in view in this publication is to bring afresh before our brethren in Christ the truth of the assembly which is so precious to Christ, and which holds its unique place in the purpose of God. To Ezekiel, it was said, "Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel." (Ezek. xl. 2.) Then the house which was to be God's dwelling was shown to Him in all its parts. And the impression to be produced upon the people is clearly stated in chapter xlii. 10. "Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern."

This is the effect we desire to produce upon our readers and ourselves; as we go over the truth of Christ and the assembly we want to feel with them before the Lord how inconsistent are the ways of the vast majority of those who through infinite grace have their part in the one assembly with the pattern that is shown us of it in the Word. We want to set the truth before them so that they may measure the pattern, and in exercise of soul give heed to the exhortation, which our correspondent desires to have emphasized. We know of no way by which the saints of God can be delivered from false positions and false ways and false doctrines but by the ministry of the truth. "Ye shall know the truth" said the Lord "and the truth shall make you free." It is by ministering the truth that we shall help others, and, by acting upon it ourselves, and here we have to confess with shame much failure; few can link their manner of life with their doctrine, as could the Apostle Paul. Yet however imperfectly we carry out the truth; however far our feet lag behind what our eyes see; yet this is our desire, to understand the truth better, to minister it more clearly and in the power of the Holy Ghost, and to walk in it and be under the influence of it more truly with all saints.

The first part of the exhortation which our correspondent thinks we fail to emphasize is the first exhortation in the epistle to the Ephesians, and consequently of first importance. The apostle, as the Lord's prisoner, suffering bonds for His name's sake and for this special revelation from the Lord of which He was the special steward, beseeches us to walk worthy of the vocation set before us in the earlier chapters; we cannot know it unless we read them, we must not come to the exhortation of chapter iv., except through the teaching of chapters i. ii. iii. As we learn them we measure the pattern. And the exhortation of Chap. iv. is to be consistent with what we have learnt. In those chapters we learn where God has set us: abounding towards us in all wisdom and prudence, and, according to the mighty power that raised up Jesus from the dead and set Him as Head over the whole universe, He has raised us up who were dead in trespasses and sins, to satisfy His own great love. Saved by His grace, we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which He hath before ordained that we should walk in them. We were once without Christ, aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

1). Yet from that hopeless afar off place we have been made nigh in Christ Jesus by the blood of Christ. That is the new position.

2). Jew and Gentile are brought together, and Christ has made of these twain in Himself one new man. That is the new man in the new position.

3). He has reconciled us unto God in one body by the cross. That is the new unity, not of ordinances but of life.

4). And both have access to the Father through Him by the Spirit. That is the new favour, for what favour could be greater than to have access to the Father, the source of all glory and grace.

5). We are now fellow-citizens with the saints. That is the new dignity, but not only have we our part in a city where is maintained a polity which is entirely of God, but we are of the household of God, where His secrets that lie behind His administration are known and where His very character must be maintained. A new responsibility surely attaches to that.

6). In the Lord they are builded together an habitation of God through the Spirit.

These things are all included in our present vocation of which we are exhorted to walk worthy; and this can only be done as with the absence of pride which is the chief characteristic of the flesh, we walk in lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering bearing with one another in love. This is the life of Christ in practical manifestation and only in this life can we walk worthy of our vocation which is in Christ. The Spirit also has His part in this. "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Diligence is needed for this, but of what sort? It is not enough to say, "We are all believers, let us obliterate all differences and walk together." That would be comparatively easy, for to do that we should only have to drop all prejudices that keep saints apart, or make compromises in regard to them. The unity of the Spirit means more than that; in this the man from whose carnal will all prejudices spring is obliterated by the cross, he has no place in it. We speak here of the man after the flesh, the old man, who showed himself in the Jew as a proud and intolerant bigot, and, still shows himself in that way in many who profess to take very high ground; and who showed himself in the Gentile in lawless will and unrestrained licence. That man has come under God's judgment in the cross, and has no place in the unity of the Spirit. God has displaced him as being utterly useless and profitless for His purpose, and has created in his place the one new man.

Our quotations from Ephesians ii. prove this. It is "in Christ Jesus that we are made nigh by the blood of Christ." He has abolished the enmity in His flesh. i.e. His dead body on the cross. It does not say that we are reconciled to one another, but it does say what is greater and higher, that both Jew and Gentile, between whom the greatest hostility existed are reconciled to God in one body by the cross.

The unity of the Spirit is inclusive of all who are in Christ and exclusive of all that is not of Him, and in the endeavour to keep this unity we also must be both inclusive and exclusive. We must be exclusive first of all in regard to the man that brings in dissension and division, and that man we find very ready to assert his will in ourselves. The more we walk in the truth of the cross of Christ as to ourselves the better able shall we be to walk in the grace of Christ towards those who are His. Let us measure the pattern, and learn the truth, we are "in Christ Jesus;" "in Himself;" reconciled to God "in one body," and are "a holy temple in the Lord."

In endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit we do not form a new unity or build a new church, but walk in the truth of that which already exists, though so little seen. "All saints" must have their place in our affections for they are all in the unity of the Spirit. Christ is the centre, all saints are the circumference, and the Spirit the binding power. "There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling." There is set forth the vital unity that can never be dissolved and into which no failure can come. What we earnestly desire is to know more of that and keep the truth of it in a practical way, not in conflict one with the other, but in the bond of peace, the peace which belongs to the assembly of God.

Our correspondent continues: -

"Much space is taken up with setting forth the glories and the graces of the Lord Jesus, and none too much, no one can go far enough in that direction much less too far; but it must be remembered that what He asks for is not honour and praise in word only but in deeds "If a man love Me" He says "he will keep My words," and the thing He said of old time still holds good "Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." I notice the expression "bridal affection" occurs once or twice, but the Lord never asks for that; it is a different kind of love He seeks from His redeemed. In another quarter one hears a good deal of this and one is not surprised. Not he that offers the loudest and highest laudation "is he that loveth Me" is what He says, but "he that hath My commandments and keepeth them."

As to these closing words, we remark that the saints at Ephesus were charged by the Lord with having departed from "first love," that we take it to be bridal affection. And when the bride in unison with the Spirit cries, "Come, Lord Jesus," that will be the sweet expression of bridal affection, for which He is looking from His church. But our correspondent is right in pressing that the test of true love to the Lord is the keeping of His word. This is the one and only test. May we all be exercised as to how far we are proving that we love the Lord. To keep His word and not deny His name, will cost us something, but the compensation is great. His command is that we love one another, this stands first of all, and it is deeply significant that the one assembly that receives the fullest commendation from the Lord in Rev. ii. iii. is Philadelphia - which means, the love of the brethren. May we all be Philadelphians in this respect.

J. T. Mawson.

"My Brethren."

"In the Midst of the Assembly."

Who is in the Midst of the Assembly?

The answer to this question determines for us the nature and character of the gathering; and seeing it is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself - as Hebrews ii. 12, tells us - the One who is exalted above all as Heir of all things, we may well marvel at the honour which is thus bestowed, not upon angels, but upon men; men, once fallen and sinful; now saved and sanctified by and for Himself, and for the service of God. The glory of this grace is indeed divine, and only by the enabling of the Holy Spirit can we speak at all rightly of this wonderful phase of the truth of Christ and the assembly.

We have had prominently brought before us the corporate side of the truth connected with the mystery. There are also the collective and vital aspects of it. The very first which the Holy Spirit names in Ephesians 6, is heirship; for believers in Christ Jesus from amongst both Jews and Gentiles are brought into oneness of heirship - "fellow-heirs," or "joint heirs," as it reads. This is collective rather than corporate which is named second - "A joint body." Precedence is often given to the latter probably because of the comparatively recent revival of the precious truth of the body of Christ. The truth of heirship needs reviving also, for the place which the risen Lord has with His brethren and co-heirs is little appreciated because little understood. The grace and glory of it would profoundly affect the assembly were it apprehended in the power of the Spirit. It would impart a rich sense of divine grace, and give a character of true dignity to all gatherings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The very thought of being associated with such an One as He is, through His own redeeming love, would make us esteem supremely

"That love which gives not as the world, but shares,

All it possesses with its loved co-heirs."

As our hearts rejoiced in this, true reverence and humility would mark us also, because it results from His own work and not ours; "for both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare Thy Name unto My brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praises unto Thee. "This church" (properly "assembly") is composed of those called "His companions," "His brethren," and "joint heirs with Christ."

The Heir And The Heirs.

The inheritance which those who belong to Christ's assembly are heirs to is said to be eternal; and, unlike that into which God's earthly people entered, the Israelites, it is incorruptible, undefiled and unfading. When Christ presented Himself to the leaders of Israel, at the city of the great king, as having right to the earthly possession, they said among themselves, "This is the Heir; come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance shall be ours." This gives us some insight into the importance of this question; and we will therefore use the analogies and contrasts of Israel and her inheritance to aid in the understanding of that which we are heirs to as belonging to the assembly of God. We will seek to carefully examine this.

The coming Heir to the glory of Israel's inheritance was pointed on to all through the Old Testament Scriptures. In Him all was to be headed up. They were to possess all in their Messiah, the Anointed One. They were to inherit nothing apart from Him. In Him was to be their portion of blessing, - their King, Priest and Prophet. Israel will yet come into the wealth of the promises made to their fathers, but meanwhile, Christ is "Head over all things to the assembly," and all our blessings are in Him in the heavenlies. In Deuteronomy xvii. and xviii. we are told what was to mark Israel's King, Priest and Prophet, and what was to be His relation to God's people. In view of the extremes of autocracy and democracy, seen in various nations, it would be interesting to compare them with the mind of God made known in these Scriptures, but that would divert from what is immediately before us. The king was to be of God's choosing (xvii. 15). He was to be "one from among thy brethren" and not "a stranger which is not thy brother." He was to write a copy of the law himself and read therein all the days of his life, "that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren." David was chosen and anointed of God, and David treated those who inherited with him as brethren, yet they rightly honoured him and addressed him as "lord, the king." David, however, failed in many ways, and only in our Lord Jesus Christ is to be found the perfect answer to God's mind in this respect.

The priest also was one from among "his brethren." He ministered in the name of the Lord his God (xviii. 7), the Lord was his portion, therefore he had no earthly inheritance among his brethren.

It is said of Christ, if He were on earth He would not be a priest, a heavenly priesthood is now His, and God is His portion; nevertheless, we read, "Such an High Priest became us" (Heb. vii. 26). We need none other, for God Himself recognizes Christ alone now. Then as to the prophet we read, "I will raise up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, (Moses) and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him" (Deut. xviii. 18). Especially in the gospel of John is the fulfilment of this prophecy in the Son of God related. He spake God's words to those He graciously called His brethren. "The words which Thou hast given Me I have given them" He said. "Hear ye Him," the voice from heaven commanded.

The anointing oil was poured upon king, priest and prophet. The Anointed One is Christ. It is the meaning of His Name Christ. All the three offices centre in Him, and He holds these in relation to His brethren and co-heirs. When He has His rightful place in the midst of Israel they will inherit all the rich promises and, glories which have been given to the nation; but, meanwhile, the assembly is brought into relationship with Him on new and higher ground altogether. Those who form the assembly are called from amongst both Jews and Gentiles; and, through the work of Calvary, are brought in Christ to be His co-heirs in "a new creation" as we shall see. Both Israel and the assembly inherit on account of the redemption which is secured in Christ through His blood, but the nature and extent of that which they are heirs to differ in a great degree. Psalm 20 gives us the sufferings of Christ first and then the glories to follow. He Himself was forsaken of God, and suffered when there was none to help. "Many bulls have compassed Me" He said, "Strong bulls of Bashan have beset Me round." His heart melted in the midst of His bowels. The assembly of the wicked enclosed Him; they pierced His hands and His feet. They parted His garments among them, and cast lots upon His vesture. He was brought into the dust of death. His cry to God to save Him, however, was heard, and He was raised from among the dead. If He was forsaken of God as none other, He was nevertheless raised again by Him as none other. Therefore He said, "I will declare Thy Name unto My brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee" (Ps. xx. 22). This is the verse cited in Heb. ii. 12. Later in verse 25 He speaks of praising Him in "the great congregation." This is clearly a further thought; and again He speaks of "all the kindreds of the earth" worshipping before Him (27). The blessing is wholly the result of Christ's atoning work; and the heirs inherit, be they earthly or heavenly, on the ground of that work.

In Hebrews i. 2, our Lord Jesus Christ is said to be the established "Heir of all things." Who can tell the glorious range of this inheritance? The Holy Spirit comprehensively speaks of it as "All things!" In Hebrews vi. 17 we read of "the heirs of promise." God makes known to them the unchangeableness of His purpose, that they might have strong encouragement. He confirmed His word by an oath, swearing by Himself since there was none greater to swear by. How secure therefore is that to which believers are the heirs! Faithful is He that promised. All shall be fully accomplished in the most minute and in the most complete sense. Then in the midst of the assembly of co-heirs Christ shall sing God's praises in triumph and victory.

Christ And His Brethren.

We have seen how the truth of heirship and the relationship of brethren go together. It is so both in connection with Israel and the assembly, though in a new and higher way for the latter as we have said. This will become clearer to us as we proceed. First, however, we must observe, there is a certain use of that precious expression of relationship - "My brethren" which applies to both, and also to the heavenly relationship which is ours with Christ, the Son of God, somewhat distinct from assembly relationship simply. This also we shall see presently.

When the Lord Jesus came to take up the whole question, we are told, He did not take hold of angels, but of the seed of Abraham; and "it behoved Him in all things to be made like to His brethren" (Heb. ii. 17). That shows the marvellous grace of Christ, and gives us a view of the wide extent of this grace, - "the seed of Abraham." Faith on their part is of course taken for granted, and also His work of redemption. We will now follow the way Scripture presents Christ and His brethren step by step, and observe in what manner those who are thus designated are associated with Him. By noting carefully the distinctions we shall the better understand our own place in the assembly in the midst of which He sings; and, as surrounding Him, His brethren and co-heirs, we shall respond in fuller measure to His immeasurable grace and love.

Psalm xxii. 22 comes first. He there speaks as the One Who is raised from the dead, Whose work upon the cross is finished, and of those who are the fruit of that work, - He calls them "My brethren." He declares to them God's name, - Jehovah's name; and in the midst of them, - "the congregation," He utters His praise. Christ's brethren here spoken of could not be limited to the assembly, the body of Christ, as we know it to-day. It is striking that this verse is cited with others which are true in connection with the believing remnant of Israel in Heb. ii. 12, 13. The Holy Spirit uses it in the epistle to the Hebrew brethren, as having application today rightly. To see this interesting overlapping explains many Scriptures which if confined to the assembly, the body of Christ, confuses the mind, because the word is not rightly divided in so doing. Even His Jewish disciples, before they were baptized by the coming of the Spirit into one body, He spoke of as His brethren. This will be so again after the assembly is glorified with Christ, and believers from among the Jews continue "the testimony of Jesus" as Revelation shows. Precious to them also will be the sense of this relationship, for a new nature will be theirs too, even though their hopes do not rise to the same height as that which the joint-heirs of the mystery of Ephesians iii. know through divine grace. To them will be declared God's name, and in their midst shall His praises be sounded, by Him Whose strength was weakened in the way, and Whose days were shortened; Who, nevertheless, as Hebrews i. and Psalm cii. tell us, laid "the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of His hands." He shall "declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem" (Psalm cii. 21). This will take place when the Anointed introduces the national blessings of Israel. The joint-heirs of the assembly are not called to national blessing, but, according to the mystery, out of the nation of Israel and out of the other nations of the Gentiles also, to inherit assembly blessing in Christ Jesus.

Before we speak of this, however, we will notice how the synoptic gospels confirm what we have said. When they came to the Lord Jesus and told Him that His mother and His brethren, desired to speak with Him, He lifted the relationship on to moral ground, and stretching forth His hand toward His disciples, He said, Behold My mother and My brethren. He tenderly maintained natural relationships to the very end of His days in the flesh, but the establishment of an abiding relationship which death could not destroy was ever before Him. Therefore He added not limiting it to the disciples of Israel - Whosoever shall do God's will the same is My brother (Mark iii. 35; Matt. xii. 50). The gospel of Luke connects the relationship with hearing the word of God and doing it. This again would take in those who are of the assembly to-day as having the full revelation of God as well as the remnant of Israel to whom a more limited revelation is made. Of both, the Lord could say, My brethren are those who hear the Word of God and do it (Luke viii. 21). When He returns from heaven, and comes to the earth as the King, and sits on the throne of His glory, the faithful remnant of Israel have a very near and special place with Him. Before the assembled nations, among whom they have borne testimony after the translation of the assembly to be with Christ in glory, the King declares them to be His brethren (Matt. xxv. 40). What an honoured association is theirs! The brethren of the King of all the earth! Doubtless they will designate Him as their Lord and their King, and not indulge in the unwarrantable familiarity which is often used in speaking of our Lord and Saviour to-day; nevertheless, the glorious relationship is indeed theirs through His atoning sufferings, death and resurrection. The work of God in them has written His law in their hearts as well as in their minds, and they all know the Lord. To them His grace, love and glory are known as the Anointed of God. He is King, Priest and Prophet: they are His brethren and co-heirs. In Him they are blessed and inherit their earthly portion.

The Lord sits upon the throne as King and Priest, (Zech. vi. 13), and as Prophet He declares the name of Jehovah to them. The Lord, the King is in the midst of them and they shall see evil no more (Zeph. iii. 15); yea, the Lord their God in the midst of them is mighty. He will rejoice over them with joy, resting in His love, and joying over them with singing (17). And even if the name of the Father and the heavenly relationship remains to be declared to those who are joint heirs according to the mystery, nevertheless, Psalm cxlv. - David's, the Beloved's, Psalm of praise - shows the high note which will resound in their midst. That Psalm really ends the Song book of Psalms, for the five following are resultant bursts of Hallelujahs, all beginning and ending with "Praise ye the Lord!" Hallelujah! And no wonder. The Beloved's praise begins thus, "I will extol Thee, my God, O King; and I will bless Thy name for ever and ever," and ends, "Let all flesh bless His holy name for ever and ever." There is, however, designedly no doubt, one note missing. It is contained in the Hebrew letter N. The Psalm is alphabetically ordered, and uses every letter, of the twenty-two in the Hebrew alphabet in regular sequence, save that one. This is clearly shown in the original, which is an acrostic. Does it not indicate that the heavenly note is to be heard only in the midst of the assembly, where not only Jehovah's name is declared by Christ, but also the Father's? It is there, above the national ground altogether, that those who are the co-heirs and brethren of Christ, know the exalted privileges which are theirs as joint-heirs according to the mystery which was kept secret from the foundation of the world, hidden in God Himself.

The Singing.

We have spoken of the high and honoured association into which the co-heirs of Christ are brought, through divine grace, and through the redemption work of Calvary, and especially of that which will be enjoyed by those of the nation of Israel who are the brethren of the King. Now the mystery connected with Christ and the assembly involves co-heirs, - not as belonging to the nations or Israel, but as called out of the nation of Israel and out of the Gentile nations also, to become one as thus called out, as we have already indicated; and the relationship which is theirs as brethren of Christ is not so much with Him as King therefore, but rather as the Son of God. Both are spoken of as Christ's brethren as we have pointed out, but on different planes. The latter is an entirely new and heavenly association. This we shall see. It is here in the midst of the assembly the very highest note is sung, for to them the Son declares the Father and utters His praise. To the former Jehovah's name is declared, but not the Father's.

Matthew is the gospel of "the King," and we have already observed, He shows us the King's brethren. Again in the last chapter, when Christ was risen, the angel said to the woman, Go, tell His disciples. - (Mark the forming of the assembly, the body of Christ, by the coming of the Holy Spirit, had not then taken place, for Pentecost was not yet) - When the Lord met the same woman He said, Go, bring word to My brethren. In His commission to these brethren, He tells them to make disciples of all the nations, also that He would be with them to the completion of the age (20). The kingdom character of this commission is plain, and its time limit goes beyond that of the assembly, for the assembly, Christ's body, will be taken away before the completion of the age; and after its translation from earth to heaven the testimony of Jesus will be carried on still. It is this overlapping during times of transition that has to be understood before the word of truth can be rightly divided, and before the special place which the out-called co-heirs have to-day can be rightly appreciated, according to the truth of the mystery concerning Christ and the assembly. Moreover, although it broadens our view of the brethren of Christ, it nevertheless safely secures us from the Laodicean character of the worldwide brotherhood movement which is developing so quickly and so popularly. The truth preserves the saints in Christ Jesus, whereas Laodiceanism shuts Him outside in His true character. It professes His name, but shuts the door in His face, and vainly boasts in its self-sufficiency.

How cheering and beautiful is the application of Psalm xxii. 22 by the Spirit to us to-day in Hebrews ii. 12! What a privilege and honour to be associated with those to whom Jesus declares the name of God! How rejoicing to the heart to be of that assembly of co-heirs and brethren in the midst of which He sings such a song - the praises of God! What music gladdens the souls of those who hear the joyful notes of such singing! It is never to be forgotten that the singing is His, Who, in the first part of Psalm xxii. is described as the One Who endured the suffering of Calvary. The Sufferer has become the Singer in the midst of those who reap the results of His redeeming work. There was no suffering to compare with His, and the singing of Jesus is incomparably beyond the sweetest singing that ever reached the mortal ear. Its rich melody has never been heard and never can be heard by those who are still dead in offences and sins. It is in the assembly's midst Jesus sings. There He can express the grace and melody that fill His heart in all the ineffable blessedness of the God whom He knows so well. It is there He utters His glorious praise.

We must now pass on to that which is peculiar to the out-called assembly. In doing so, however, we will just notice the striking use which the Spirit makes of Isaiah and his two sons presenting themselves before God - a beautiful type of Christ and the remnant of Israel - "Behold I and the children which God has given Me" (compare Isa. viii. 18, and Hebrews ii. 13). This is applied to the assembly now, for it indicates the relationship which is ours also, and which we are about to speak of. This intensely interesting Scripture explains many similar passages when it is discerned rightly. In the gospel of John the Spirit unveils for Christ's brethren the full revelation of God as "FATHER" in the Son - "the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him" (i. 18). In Psalm xxii. 22 and Hebrews ii. 12 it is "GOD" who is declared. Of course it is God also in John, but in the fullest revelation of Himself as Father, and as bringing us into a new and special relationship with Himself, not simply as the brethren of Messiah, the Christ, but as associated with the risen Son of God; for after He had secured eternal redemption through His death and resurrection, He sent the message of this new relationship - a relationship never before made known - saying to Mary, "Go to My brethren and say to them I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God" (John xx. 17). To what an elevation of glory and love does this bring us! Such grace and dignity in relations of deep affection could never have entered the highest thoughts of the most exalted creature in the whole of God's universe! The brethren of God's beloved Son! His Father ours! His God ours! We have said that this is somewhat distinct from assembly relationship simply, and that is correct: but we must bear in mind, those alone who are of the assembly, and who are the "joint-heirs" of the mystery, are given to know and rejoice in the endless blessedness and love of this new relationship, as they sing:

"His Father and our Father,

His God and ours Thou art,

And He is Thy beloved,

The gladness of Thy heart."

To enter into the full meaning of this, we must appropriate, in faith and in the Spirit's power, the plane of Christ's resurrection and ascension with which it is connected. Mary desired to hold the Lord on the old plane, but He said to her, "Touch Me not, for I have not yet ascended to My Father." Then He graciously declared the new relationship, and when He appeared in the midst of His own, bringing the peace of His victory over sin and death with Him, the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. What singing would fill their hearts with melody and grace then! A singing that could scarcely be sung for the very intensity and sweetness of its experimental depth! A singing that we might fear to spoil by our expression of it! Nevertheless, Jesus has said, "I will sing!" Rich is His singing of God's praises as we have seen: surpassingly so His singing of the Father's in the midst of His co-heirs and brethren as the Son of God.

He says to the Father, Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me, and the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given them! (John xvii. 22, 23). How supremely this arises above all else. Oh, may our hearts enter into the truth of it, in the power of the Spirit ungrieved; and may we be sensitive as to allowing anything in ourselves that would spoil our appreciation of all this divine love and life and glory with the Father and the Son. Words seem to fail as we try to speak of it. In the beautiful type of the Father and Son, we read that Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, and sent his other sons away eastward that they should not inherit along with him. (Gen. xxv. 5, 6). It is in contrast to this that the grace and love of Christ shine out. He brings others to share all He possesses as His loved brethren and co heirs. Soon God's purpose will be brought to full fruition, and then, actually conformed to the image of the glorious Son of God, we shall unhinderedly and eternally be able to speak His praises as, we would, for whom God foreknew, He "predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He should be the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. viii. 29); and in the midst of them, who shall tell the gladness of His heart? Who shall attempt to describe the singing which He then sings in the midst of His co-heirs and brethren? The Holy Spirit alone can give us any sense of its harmonies for it is altogether divine.

In closing, however, we would challenge our hearts. Since these things are so, beloved brethren in Christ, what should mark those who are called to such great realities, - such holy and heavenly intimacies, such glory and grace? Avoiding the Babylonish corruptions of a worldly Christendom, and the seductions of antichristian teachings, let us pursue the path of God's will by following Him Who sanctified Himself that we might be sanctified through the truth; by dwelling in faith in nearness to the Son prove the vital reality of His Word to the Father - "And the world has not known Thee, but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me. And I have made known unto them Thy name, and will make it known, that the love with which Thou hast loved Me may be in them and I in them" (John xvii. 25, 26) - for this is the present portion of the brethren and co-heirs of the Son of God, while they wait and watch for His coming again to receive them to Himself, and to take them home to dwell with Him in the Father's house for ever,

Where eternal love abounds,

And the sweetest song resounds.

H. J. Vine.

John 20.

"Oh that I knew where I might find Him!" (Job. xxiii. 3). Such words were used by Job as he sought to reason with God as to the cause of his sorrows. Have you, beloved fellow Christian, ever had a similar enquiry arise in your heart as you considered the present condition of the church? Amidst the strife of tongues, the diverse arrangements of men, the forsaking of the truth, the evil teachings that despise the Word of God and dishonour the Son of God, do you long to find Him whom your soul loveth? Maybe you have proved Him again and again in secret help and yet you have a longing that is unsatisfied. Can it be? Is there any place where He meets His own, where His voice alone is heard, and where He makes known all things that He has heard of the Father to those He calls His friends? Yes, there is. Let us trace in this chapter the steps by which Mary of Magdala found it. It was yet dark as she wended her solitary way to the burial ground, hoping to bestow some fresh token of her love upon the body of Him who had been all in all to her, but even this was denied her. She found greatly to her surprise an empty tomb, but she found not Him. The living One was not amongst the dead. True, she saw a remarkable sight, a vision of angels. She heard them speak to her, but such things did not fill the aching void in her heart. He was absent and she had not even the consolation of knowing where the loved form lay. "Tell me where Thou hast laid Him and I will take Him away" was her request of the One she mistook for the gardener. She was looking in the wrong place, seeking the living One amongst the dead, yet it was all very precious to the heart of Him she sought. He values every yearning of the soul for His presence. Alas, that many like the disciples accept the seemingly inevitable, and not finding Him in the circumstances where they expect, turn to their own circle and concerns, and what they might have known remains unknown. But love will not thus rest. Mary has no place of rest if she finds not the One her soul loves. Homeless, yes, but it brings her nearer to the joy of His company, for it is to the homeless heart He comes, reveals Himself, calls by name, draws out the response of affection, 'Mary,' 'Master.'

But not alone was she to enjoy His presence. There was something better in His mind for her. He was going to lead her to know Him in the midst of His own, "Go to my brethren and tell them." Not until the work of the cross was complete could He use such words, or bring His disciples into the blessedness of His own relationship. Yes, "tell them I ascend to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God."

We may trace in the gospel narratives how our Lord was occupied on that resurrection day, as to one and another. He personally revealed Himself and then left them, awaking in their hearts new desires, in order that they might be drawn together that same evening to talk of Him who was risen. It was the testimony of His resurrection that brought about their gathering together.

The door was closed. The careless world of Pilate was outside, the religious world of Caiaphas and the Jew outside, and within those who loved His name were met together, with fear and joy and sorrow all mingling. To them the Lord came, in fulfilment of His own word "where two or three are gathered together to My name, there am I in the midst of them." Mark the condition. "The doors being shut, then came Jesus and stood in the midst." All else but His name was excluded, none but Himself filled every eye, every ear was attentive to the words He spake. Peace calmed all unrest and fear; Love, told forth by His hands and side; Life, communicated in the Spirit's power; Service, as they were sent forth from thence to bear His name. Such is the blessed pattern of the Christian assembly, how very different from that which fills Christendom with ritual and ceremony. No ordering of man was seen on that evening, not even the apostles had planned what should take place. There were just His own who loved Him, and He was present in the midst. They needed nought else. How the Lord loves to control such a company, whether then or now. The heart that has once tasted the blessedness of such a gathering will desire no other. But there was one man who was not with them when Jesus came, and could not believe it possible that his Master had been there either. Alas, there are many like Thomas who refuse to believe that the Lord manifests Himself without human arrangements, and although their souls are grieved at the giving up of the truth on every hand, seek Him not in His own appointed way. They go on without ever knowing the blessedness of the meeting place where He reveals the Father's name to His brethren. Nor do they know how He leads the worship in spirit and in truth which the Father seeks. Beautiful services may be carried out, and the most ornate arrangements be made, oratory and music may lend their aid; but God is a Spirit and those that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. Dear reader, if these remarks produce any exercise in your soul, rest not content until you have found Him where He loves to be in the midst of those who refuse everything else but His peerless name.

J. Green.

The Assembly as Seen in Hebrews.

The very object for which this unique epistle was written would not lead us to expect very much to be said about the assembly, though it leads up to its threshold. Certainly nothing is said of the mystery — the church which is Christ's body, Himself the living Head in glory set in relation to it, and very little is said about the assembly. It is more hinted at than anything else. But the little that is hinted at is very beautiful and instructive.

A simple perusal of the epistle reveals the fact that it was addressed to believing Jews, who had begun well, who had "endured a great fight of afflictions," who had taken "joyfully the spoiling of their goods," but who were in danger of going back to Judaism and of casting away their confidence. The reason for this was that they had not advanced in the things of God, they had remained spiritual dwarfs. When the time had come that they should have been teachers, they had need to be taught which were the first principles of the oracles of God, and had need of milk and not of strong meat. They were babes, when they should have been men and were unskilful in the Word of righteousness.

And this condition flowed from a feeble apprehension of Christ. Naturally in such circumstances truth as to the mystery or the assembly would not be expected. But that the assembly is mentioned is just because it is in relation to Christ; and His fulness is ever beyond our feeble apprehension, and our place and privilege in Him beyond our entering in upon and enjoyment.

The epistle begins, without any formal introduction, with the word God. No name of the writer is given as in every other epistle in the New Testament. This forms an arresting exception.

Adolf Saphir, himself a converted Jew, has beautifully pointed out that the great point in Hebrews being the glory of the Person and work of Christ as entirely superseding the shadows and bringing in the glorious substance, every name that can be suppressed is suppressed. For instance, if the object of the Holy Spirit is to present Christ as the Apostle of our confession the name of the writer is suppressed, even if he were the Apostle Paul, as seems likely, though we should respect the anonymity of the writer as chosen by the Holy Spirit. When the name of Moses is introduced necessarily as the apostle of the types and shadows it is to contrast his position with the far more glorious place the Son of God has as the apostle of our confession. Moses was a servant, faithful in all his house; Christ is a Son over His house. Who would give up the Son for the servant?

Again, Aaron is brought in as the High Priest of the types and shadows. Christ, the High Priest of our confession is brought in in contrast. Aaron and his successors were not "suffered to continue by reason of death." They passed away. Their little day was soon run. But Christ "continueth ever because He hath an unchangeable priesthood." He is made a priest after a superior order, even that of Melchisedec, "not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life." Who would give up a permanent Priest for one of uncertain tenure?

Then again in quoting Scripture we are not given the names of the writers from whose books, etc., quotations are taken. The formula is given in one instance, "One in a certain place testified," but generally speaking the quotation is given direct without any indication of its source, save that it is Scripture, coming with all its plenary authority.

When it is necessary for the sake of establishing a point in chronology as in chapter iv. after using the words, "He spake in a certain place" (verse 4;) "And in this place again" (verse 5;) we have the sentence, "Again, He limiteth a certain day saying in David" (verse 7). Notice the writer carefully avoids saying that david said it, but that god spoke it - God spoke it in David.

This all helps us to see that we can have no right idea of the assembly, nor can we take up with power and intelligence our assembly position till Christ has His own place in our affections and spiritual intelligence. As Matt. xvi. so beautifully points out there must be the revelation made by the Father of the Person of Christ, "the Son of the living God" in order that upon the confession of Him and upon the foundation of His own Person Christ should build His indestructible assembly.

Priesthood was the common privilege of the saints of God addressed in this epistle, yet such was their carnality and backwardness, that the unfolding of the truth was so ordered as to bring them to this point: -

"Having therefore brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say His flesh; and having an High Priest over the house of God; let us draw near" (Heb. x. 19-21).

They had not entered in as yet, but it was all the time their place and portion. To enter in in the Spirit's power would have been to have entered intelligently and practically into the assembly. The High Priest presupposes under priests - the very name, High Priest, presupposes a divine system.

The assembly was indeed a necessity for the Christian, for outside of it was only a Judaism which had rejected, and still rejected Christ, and heathendom the table of demons. Thus they were exhorted not to forsake the place where alone Christian blessings could be found.

The whole book furnishes the idea of a divine system of which Christ, as High Priest, is Head and Director. If we speak of Christianity as that divine system we have in mind that which the truth forms, and not the corrupt system which Satan has succeeded in introducing by the bringing in of bad materials in relation to persons, and doctrines in relation to teaching, and which is described by the coined word - Christendom.

The idea of the Tabernacle that God should dwell among His people is carried on, as it is designed to be, into the antitype. So, after the glories of the Person and work of Christ are described in chapters i. and ii. we read that

"Both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctifieth are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." (Chap. ii. 11).

The sanctifier and sanctified are all of one. Just as Aaron and his sons were all of one, of one stock, of one sanctuary occupation, of identical interests, so, as antitype answers to type (as far as a meagre type can answer to a glorious antitype) Christ and His people are all of one. This is a new creation, a resurrection scene as far as we are concerned. What a message given by the Lord to devoted Mary on the very day of His resurrection,

"Go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father: and to My God, and your God." (John xx. 17).

What a sudden and glorious outshining of what was hidden in the heart of God for His own, and now made possible by the death of the Lord Jesus on the one hand, and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit on the other!

So we follow from Heb. ii. 11 just quoted:

"Saying, I will declare Thy name unto My brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee." (verse 12).

There we get the person, the Lord Jesus: the new circle, "my brethren," the church the occupation, praise, and the object of it, God Himself.

Thus without the truth of the assembly being elaborated, we get it, in this remarkable way. So great is Christ's thought towards His own, that immediately the glories of His person and work are set forth we get the wondrous truth of Christ in the midst of His assembly, singing praises to God, the Leader of the sanctuary service; then that being so the writer follows on with his theme, the superiority of the antitype over the type, of the substance over the shadow, of the source over the channel, of Christ over Moses and Aaron, leading up to the exhortation of the believer to draw near, even into the holiest of all.

How blessed to see all this! How affecting! How delivering from the system of men and from his earthly and worldly religious organizations.

"Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach" (Heb. xiii. 13).

A. J. Pollock.

"My brethren."

"Go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God."

In the whole range of revealed truth there is nothing higher or more blessed than that which is declared in these words of the Lord Jesus. Those men whom He called "My brethren," were the sons of men when He found them - Simon son of Jona, and James and John the sons of Zebedee, and so forth, - sinners every one of them; lying under the judgment of death, for death passed upon all men, and so upon these men, for that all have sinned. And yet here is this glorious resurrection chapter, they are sons of God, and to them is given the life, nature and power proper to that exalted relationship. They stand associated with Christ in this relationship which none could claim but He, a relationship which He enjoyed to the full in all the perfection of His own worthiness. No angel knows it, or ever will, but those men knew it; it was theirs, according to the purpose of divine love, and it is ours also, according to the same unalterable purpose, it is the place and portion of all who are of Christ's assembly or church - each one of such can say "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons [children] of God" (1 John iii. 1).

This is the relationship into which the risen triumphant Head and Leader of His church brings all His own. We do not now speak of the church as the body of Christ, that is but one aspect of it. As the body, the church has been formed for the manifestation of the graces of the Head of it now, and of His glory hereafter. It has this special relation to Christ; it is the vessel in and through which He displays the fulness of His wisdom and knowledge to every created intelligence; there is more in it than this, but this we believe is the chief thought in it. As the body of Christ, Christ presents through it all the treasures of divine wisdom and knowledge man-ward and creation-ward so that the will eventually be filled with the glory of God, and unto Him will be glory in the church in Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.

But under that wonderful designation "My brethren" the assembly appears in another aspect. It is collective and not corporate, it is not in the first place for the display of glory before the universe, though that will have its place when the sons who are joint heirs with Christ come into the inheritance with Him (Rom. viii.), but it is for the joy and satisfaction of the Father's heart. The Father comes first. He must ever be first.

It may be said that here we ought to speak of the family and not the assembly, but as we proceed with the subject we think it will be clear that the truth of the assembly has its place in this connection. In that wonderful 8th. chapter of Proverbs, wisdom speaks, and we have no difficulty in seeing that wisdom can be none other than the Son of God, for He is God's resource, the One by Whom every problem in the universe is solved - Christ, the power and the wisdom of God. "The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old" we read, bringing to mind the opening of John's Gospel. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God," and the 1st. of Hebrews, "by Whom also He made the worlds." But there was something deeper, fuller and more blessed than that which was displayed in creation. Before any of these things in which God's power and divinity are displayed existed, wisdom says, "Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight rejoicing always before Him." "Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world," are the wonderful words that were addressed to the Father by the Lord in John xvii. They explain this passage in Proverbs viii. What joy and what delight, what love, surpassing all human comprehension, do these words unfold! But wisdom continues, "Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and My delights were with the sons of men." Again one must turn to the New Testament, and there we learn that the Father and the Son are one. Their object, work and joy are one. That which delights the Father delights also Jesus Christ, whom He sent into the world; and the sons of men in whom wisdom delighted before there were any of them are the subjects of communion between the Father and the Son, and of the intercession of the Son with the Father. Hear His own words.

"I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were and Thou gavest them Me; and they have kept Thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee. For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine. And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them."

These wonderful statements made first about the first disciples of the Lord are true also of all who have followed them, they were all "chosen in Him before the foundation of the world."

But notice that not only are the sons of men spoken of as the Lord's delight, but the habitable part of his earth also. Evidently there was to be a suitable dwelling place on earth where the Father and the Son could delight in and with these who were brought to know them.

Creation was not this. Adam was made in the image and likeness of God, and most wonderfully endowed, and he was placed in a garden made habitable for him by God's own goodness, but God's delight in him was soon spoiled, nor was that garden a habitable place for man and God for long, for sin came in, and the trail of the serpent defiled that Paradise, so that it was impossible that God should dwell there, and the man also was turned out of it.

It is helpful to see that wisdom does not say my delights are with man, had the passage read thus we might have supposed that Adam unfallen was only meant, and that when he fell Satan had triumphed over God and for ever robbed Him of His delight in men, but it is the sons of men in whom wisdom delights. God would take up the sinful sons of that fallen head and by His own power and wisdom make them such as He could delight in.

Nor did Israel and the land of Canaan yield any truer satisfaction than Adam and Eden had done. That land was surely made a habitable place for the chosen people, for it was a goodly land, flowing with milk and honey, but they did not make it a habitable place for God. "Israel" we read, "was holiness unto the Lord, and the first fruits of His increase." Yet God said to them, "I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered ye defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination." (Jer. ii. 7). But when Israel failed and Canaan became an abomination God was not defeated, hence we read, "How shall I put thee amongst the children and give thee a pleasant land?" Here are these two things again - the sons of men brought into relationship with God, and the habitable part of His earth - but the question is asked how could these wayward men of Israel, how could any of the wayward sons of men be brought to answer God's thoughts in a place where He could dwell with them? God's own answer is, "Thou shalt call Me, My Father; and shall not turn away from Me." (Jer. iii. 18). It is evident that God could only secure men for Himself according to His own desire by bringing them into this wonderful relationship with Himself. In the knowledge of Him as Father their hearts would be satisfied, and so they would be secured for ever for God's own satisfaction. It is this that seems to be hinted at in this remarkable statement.

If we come back to John's Gospel we find the way in which this is brought about. First we hear the Lord Jesus saying to the woman of Sychar, "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him." (John iv. 23). We cannot worship One Whom we do not love, and we cannot love One Whom we do not know, and we cannot know God unless He is revealed to us. For "no man hath seen God at any time." So that none could tell his neighbour what He is in the full blessedness of His nature, but, "the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." (John i. 18). And now being fully revealed, all may know Him from the greatest to the least, and this knowledge is eternal life.

It is as the Father, name of infinite grace and love, that God desires to be worshipped, and as neither angels nor men knew Him in this way they could not worship Him. But the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, came to reveal Him in all the fulness of His love, and in Christ we see the Father seeking worshippers, not among angels, but among the sinful, unhappy sons of men.

Three great steps had to be taken by the Lord if God's end had to be reached, and it is interesting to see that these three steps were first revealed to women.

1. He must come into the world.

2. He must go into death.

3. He ascend again to the Father.

The First Step.

That the first of these great steps had been taken was revealed to the woman of Sychar (John iv.). What a need was hers! She was a woman with a sinful past, an empty heart, and a hopeless future; true picture of all who are outside the blessing that Christ has opened up. The Lord met her where she was and revealed Himself as the Giver of the living water, which should not only be in her a well of perennial satisfaction, but should spring up to its Source, the Father, and so yield satisfaction also to Him.

There had to be a probing work to fit her for this, as there must be with us all, and this work the Lord accomplished until He had brought her to the point where she confesses that Christ was her only hope. "I know" said she "that Messias cometh, which is called Christ; when He is come He will tell us all things." The Lord's response, "I that speak unto thee, am He," changed her life, and sent her to witness to the men of the city that Christ had come. "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did, is not this the Christ." He searched the sinner and revealed Himself as the Saviour. So the men of the city say, "We have heard Him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world."

We become familiar with the great truths that are revealed to us in the Word, and consequently they often lose their greatness in our eyes, yet how wonderful it is that the Son of God should come into the world, and should come as the Saviour. Two things made this necessary, first, that God might be revealed, second, our need of salvation. It was God who sent Him not to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. More than thirty times in the Gospel of John the Lord speaks of Himself as being sent into the world by the Father. He glories in it, and so shall we if we understand it. No angel could have fulfilled His mission, He only could make the Father known, and the Father sent Him to do this. The only begotten Son shone as the light in the darkness, He came near to men full of grace and truth, seeking for them in their misery, to take them out of it and lead them to His Father. David cried: "O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me . . . . Then will I go unto the altar of God, my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise Thee, O God, my God”. But David could never have imagined that God's light and truth would come forth in the person of God's Son, in order to lead multitudes to the Father Himself. But this has happened, and in it our souls do greatly rejoice.

The Second Step.

But the revelation that He made of the Father would have been in vain, if He had taken no other steps than this. He must die. This was the second step. This fact was plain to Mary of Bethany. She alone of those who followed the Lord had perceived this. The disciples thought that they were following Him to the throne and kingdom, and to the outward senses it looked like it when multitudes of Jews followed Him because He had raised Lazarus from the dead. They were carried away by the temporary enthusiasm of the Jews which led them so far as to meet the Lord with loud hosannas. But Mary understood, and brought forth her alabaster box and poured its costly contents upon His feet. For His burying she had kept it. How long she had kept it we know not, but there it was to be brought out at the right moment. She honoured Him, owning His kingly glory by her act, but she knew that notwithstanding all that glory, He Himself was going into death. The relationship in which His own were to stand with Him before the Father could not be after the order of natural life, that life was forfeited by every sinner, none could abide in it except Christ who was sinless, and if He had chosen to live He must have lived alone, for "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone." Even Lazarus, who was raised from the dead into the old natural life, must die again. If death were to be removed Christ must die; if those who were under its power were to be delivered from it He must pass into the depths of it, for only by coming where we were could the Lord come into definite contact with us, and this He has done. His love to us, and His Father's will carried Him into death in His search for those whom He would bring forth out of death to be His brethren and worshippers of the Father.

The Third Step.

But the third step had to be taken, He must go to the Father; and for this He was constantly preparing His disciples from John 13 onwards.

We come now to our resurrection chapter, in which to Mary Magdalene was revealed the full and glorious truth. When she realized who He was she thought that the old relationship, that of an earthly Messiah in the midst of an earthly people, was to be resumed. Hence His words, "Touch Me not." He must ascend to His Father. The new relationship was to be a heavenly one.

Psalm xxii. records for us the path of sorrow that the Lord trod in the fulfilment of the will of God and also of His triumph. And there we learn what was foremost in His mind; for when heard from the horns of the unicorns and brought out of death He exclaims, "I will declare Thy Name amongst My brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I sing praise unto Thee." These very words of the Lord are quoted in Heb. ii. where we learn that the congregation in the midst of which He sings is the Church, and in the Church His brethren also are. The Church is the habitable place for God upon the earth to-day, in it He can rejoice; those who form it "are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit." (Eph. ii. 22); and the brethren of Christ are the sons of men in whom He delights. So that at last He has His habitable place on the earth, and the sons of men in it.

But the Church is here only for a while, the brethren that form it are partakers of the heavenly calling, but in the fact that it is here, we see the triumph of Christ. Oh, that we understood it better. Consider that wonderful description that is ours - "Holy Brethren." two words are found in Ps. xxii. There, in giving the answer to His own question, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" the Lord says, "But Thou art holy." This is the very nature of God, and this is the nature that is ours as those who are sanctified and one with the risen Christ, our Sanctifier; and we are His brethren, those of whom He spoke when He said, "I will declare Thy Name unto My brethren." Nature and relationship all according to God! And this is His assembly, His Church, that which is of Himself. Where the Father's name is known, where Christ triumphs in His own, and sings the praises of God. If God of old inhabited the praises of Israel, how much more will He dwell in this higher and perfect praise! How blessedly habitable must that place be to Him in which His Well-beloved, raised up from the dead, sings in the company of His brethren.

Think of those men who for fear of the Jews had hidden themselves in the upper room in Jerusalem; they possessed neither dignity nor renown before the world. And they cannot have been proud of each other; but we read, "Jesus came and stood in the midst." What a change that made! He had called them His brethren. What a dignity that gave them! How honoured, how honourable in this new relationship and association with Christ were these sons of men, now the sons of God! And Jesus was supreme in that new circle. And where He is supreme there the assembly is. He is the great Leader of the many sons, the Firstborn amongst many brethren. He has so blessedly accomplished the will of God that even now He can present to His Father those in whom the Father can delight.

Surely there is in this side of the truth that which ought most blessedly to engage our hearts and minds, and make us with purpose of heart to seek to enter into the joy of it, and seek to be in the state of our souls just that which we are in the thoughts and purposes of God. No higher place could be given us than this, we cannot by effort enter into it. It is ours, given to us in sovereign grace, and the Spirit has been given to us also that the place may be known by us experimentally and in power.

J. T. Mawson.

The Mystery.

Great is the mystery hid during ages,

Secret of God made known unto all.

Hitherto hidden from seers and from sages,

Teachers of ethics, the great and the small.

Concept inscrutable,

Purpose immutable,

Matchless, divine.

Told now to men of God,

Writ now with pen of God,

Line upon line.

Glorious conception of wisdom eternal,

Marvellous thought for our glory designed,

Wonder unspeakable, searchless, supernal,

Counsel supreme of the infinite mind.

Ere shone a star or sun,

Ere were His works begun,

Ere this creation:

Born was the thought of God,

Project and plan of God,

Man's exaltation.

Eye has not seen those things, ear has not heard of them,

Never has fancy the fringe of them reached;

Never to creature was uttered a word of them,

Till by the Spirit the gospel was preached.

Then in its glorious might

Broke forth the living light

Darkness assailing:

Then from the heights above

Shone forth the thought of love,

Then the unveiling.

This to establish on stable foundation,

Needed the infinite work of the Son,

Righteousness satisfied - His exaltation

Tells of the worth of the work He has done.

Fortresses stormed and spoiled,

Dark machinations foiled,

Crushed their activities;

Smitten hell's sources dread,

Captive fell forces led

Into captivity.

Back from the battle saluted victorious,

See Him enthroned on the right hand of God,

Head over all things created, and glorious,

Centre and Sun of the universe broad.

Head of the Church, for which

He, in His grace so rich,

Suffered such sorrows,

Bore on the cross of shame,

When smote the sword of flame,

Infinite horrors.

Part of Himself His loved members on earth are,

Part of Himself, His own flesh and His bone.

They in this world's estimation no worth are,

But they will sit with Himself on His throne.

Then at the great decree,

When men must bend the knee

Lord Him confessing,

They shall what love has wrought

Learn, and the power that brought

Into such blessing.

One with Himself! Then our part is none other,

Than to be with Him where ever He be;

Not for the ages eternal another

Wish we to think of, to hear, or to see.

Bands all unbreakable! Love all unspeakable,

Told when He died.

His in His love unknown,

His, ay, His very own,

Body and bride.

James Boyd.

Life.

It is plain to all who have eyes to see and hearts to understand that the world is in darkness, i.e., in ignorance of God. And the blame for this condition of things lies entirely at its own door, for "the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not." (John i. 5). And this is not said to be because men cannot perceive the light that shineth, but because they won't, for they love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil (John iii. 19); they are wilfully in the darkness; consequently they lie under condemnation. This condition can only be described as death - moral and spiritual death. It is alienation from the life of God, it is bondage to sin; it is active hatred of God; it is subjection to the wicked one, for "the whole world lieth in the one (or wickedness)" (1 John v. 19); it is but the prelude to "the second death," i.e., severance from God.

No writer in the New Testament describes the world in such terse and uncompromising language as John. He sees it in its native blackness; a sphere in which the Father has no place, as witness the casting out of His sent One; the stronghold of the devil in his fight against God; he sees it by the light of the Father's world in which he dwells, and as inspired by the Holy Ghost he writes what he sees, and well it is for us to consider his words, that we may understand out of what we have been delivered, and what grace has made us in contrast to it. It exists in darkness, in death, under condemnation, in active enmity against God; wilfully sinful, lying in the very lap of the devil, it is his nursling; it is the barracks and the battle field where he trains his army of men to resist and fight against every rightful claim of God over them.

But John describes, also, what we might well call another world, composed of those who are said to be "born of God," and as described by John there is not a feature in common between the two. Those who have entered this world by Divine generation have the light of life and do not walk in darkness; they are of God and not of that wicked one; they love God and one another; they shall never come into condemnation, and over them the second death shall have no power, they have passed into life out of death; their dwelling-place is a sphere of life and light and love. Death is characteristic of the world in which sinful men please themselves, life is characteristic of the world in which those who are born of God dwell.

The first mention of life in John's Gospel is in chapter i. 4. Speaking of the eternal Word by whom all things were made, he says, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" and the last mention of life in the Epistle is, "This is the true God and eternal life." He is the first and the last, we must begin with Him, nor can any know what life is or enjoy it except in Him.

We cannot define what life is, but when we see it in manifestation we are able to tell the nature of the creature, person or being, whose life it is, and the life of God has been manifested in the world so that we may know His very nature. The Word who was God and with God poured forth from Himself all created life. He was the originator of every system and character of life in the universe, His own all powerful word was sufficient to do this, for He spake and it stood fast, but when we read, "In Him was life" something more is meant. "All creation was made by Him but it does not exist in Him. But in Him was life, in this He was in relation with a special part of creation, a part which was the object of the thoughts and intentions of God. This life was the light of men, it revealed itself as a testimony to the divine nature, in immediate connection with men - for 'this life was the light of men' - as it did not with respect to any others at all." (J. N. D).

There is no light for men apart from the incarnate Word. Men have no light in themselves, though they may become lightbearers, and shine as lights in the world when the word of life has its place in their hearts, but naturally they have no light, "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?" (Job. xi. 7). "The world by wisdom knew not God." (1 Cor. i. 21). "The god of this world hath blinded the eyes of men that believe not." (2 Cor. iv. 4). But if God, for the great love that He has towards us, is pleased to reveal His own life to us, that surely shall be light to us, and we shall want no other; that surely shall dispel the moral darkness that enshrouds our fallen nature, unless indeed, our case be entirely and eternally hopeless. This revelation of Himself has come to pass, not in creation but in incarnation, not by works of power in the physical spheres, but in the lowly life of Jesus. And this manifestation of the life of God in the world has brought into being the new world of which we have spoken. The Creator was in the world, a man in the midst of it, but it did not know Him. He came to those to whom in former days He had committed His oracles, but they received Him not, and yet the manifestation of the life was not in vain, the light of it was effectual, for Jesus could say, "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." (Matthew xi. 28). And these babes "were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." These form the new world, the new circle, having a most blessed centre, and a well-defined circumference - in the world but not of it; enlightened and vitalised by Him in whom life is; God Himself from whom the life has flowed forth, being the object of the whole circle and every soul in it. "He is the Fountain and the Focus of life; it issues from Him as its source and returns to Him as its object." (Liddon).

To contemplate the One in whom this life is is the first business of all who belong to this new world, they cannot know what their life is unless they do. "We beheld His glory," said the apostle, and again, "the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness and shew unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us" (1 John i. 2). It was not our privilege to be with Him, as were those wonderfully-honoured Galileans, and actually see Him, and hear Him, and handle Him, as He tabernacled amongst them, but what He was, and is, has come forth in words, as He Himself said, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." (John vi. 33). And the disciples recognized this when they said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And because the life that was manifested abides in the words He spoke we do not walk in darkness.

"In Him was life, and that life was the light of men" and this was the true Light which shines for all, but its blessed life-giving rays could not have reached us, quickening our souls into life, apart from the death of the Life-giver. It is well to be constantly reminded of this fact. He came from God, even the Father, to bring those who believe on Him into life, to share, in fact in the life that He manifested, but it could not be apart from His death. Hence when first the term "eternal life" is used in John's writing, which seems to be the way this life is described when it is a question of its impartation to men, it is in connection with the death of Christ. So we read, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." (Chapter iii. 14, 15). This was because death lay upon us, sinful men, as the judgment of God; and sin could only be expiated and death removed by the death of the Son of Man, made in the likeness of sinful flesh, yet entirely holy and true. This has taken place, and while demonstrating the condition of sin and death in which men were it is also the great proof of God's love, in this His nature has been fully revealed.

"Inscribed upon the cross we see

In shining letters, 'God is love.'"

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

God made Himself manifest in that great gift, and what light is this to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, who looked upon God as their foe, as some tyrannical being who only created them to crush them! Life, and light, and love are inseparable. The life is the light of men for in it is declared the love of God. "God is light," and "God is love."

We proceed no further with this side of the subject as it is ably dealt with in the following paper, but turn to that which is our purpose in this paper, namely the practical outflow of this life which has been given to us, and into which we have been called. The reception of this life is individual, as the Lord said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life." (John v. 24). And the maintenance of the life must be individual also, and this is by feeding upon Christ who gave His flesh for the life of the world. His death is efficacious; His love is infinite; the expiation He has made is total, absolute, perfect. To appropriate that by faith brings us clear of all that separated us from God, and it becomes the food upon which the new life that is ours lives. But having eaten His flesh and drunk His blood, and finding these to be meat and drink indeed we dwell in Him and He in us. In Him is this new life, and all who have it are in Him; He is the centre of this new circle of divine life and binds it altogether in one. So that we must consider others who are there. We are in relationship with Him and with the Father, but with all others also who are in this sphere of blessing.

It is wonderful to see how when the light had fully shone in the world and the darkness rejected it, and men began to plot His death, the oneness of His own is brought into prominence. The first intimation of this occurs in chapter x., where He declares that He must give His life for the sheep that there might be one flock and one shepherd. Then in chapter xi. we learn that He must die that "He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad." In chapter xiii. when Judas had gone out and He could look upon them as one in the life into which He brought them, He gives them the new commandment which should keep them in practical oneness. "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." His is the measure and manner of the love wherewith we who are in His life are to love each other, and so it will be as His life finds expression in us. We have been brought together into one flock, one family, one assembly - brethren of Christ, that this love might have occasion to develop and flow out one towards another. This could not be in isolation, and everything that divides the children of God one from another hinders the development and outflow of this love. Love binds us together, it is the flesh in its lust and pride, and the devil in his perpetual hatred of all who are of God that scatter and divide.

Coming to Paul's side of the truth we find that we are to "walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and given Himself for us," but that simply means that the life that is ours now in Him is finding its normal expression. And the necessity for this amongst the saints of God is clearly set forth in 1 Cor. xiii. while the beauty of it is also disclosed for us. Love is of God. He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and this never fails.

In Colossians iii. we find this same life - for there is no other - showing itself in the saints as one body. "Christ is our life;" Hence we read:

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; and whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him."

This is the character of the life we are to live for "the little while" that Christ is hid in the heavens, and so take His place in the darkness, blameless and harmless the sons of God, without rebuke, "in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world: holding forth the word of life." For Christ now, and like Him morally, because living in His life; with Him soon in His Father's glory, when we shall be altogether like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Then the purpose that was His as far as we are concerned, that brought Him forth into this world will be fully and for ever realized.

J. T. Mawson.

Love is of God.

Beloved let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love."

There is no subject with which we occupy ourselves when we are together so much as love. When we approach God, we have to speak to Him continually about His love. If we seek to encourage one another in the knowledge of God, we have to speak of love, because God is love. We have no such thought of God naturally. We think, like the wicked servant, that He is hard and unkind. That was the thought we had in our unconverted days. What an awakening it is to our souls when we learn that God is love, when our eves have been opened, and we have been turned from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, when the Holy Spirit has shed abroad in our hearts the love of God! What a marvellous light it is, the light of the perfect revelation of God by the Holy Spirit that He has given to us! We are partakers of the divine nature, because we love Him. The love that first loved us has got a response in our hearts. The Lord says, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love to one another." Why? Because there never was any leader amongst men who taught love but Himself. There is no system of religion but Christianity which has love for its very life. No one lives to God who does not love Him. Peter says, "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren." That is the way it works out. The practical effect is love to the children of God. See, says the Apostle "that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently." He desires that we might be more in the enjoyment of that love, and that we might be able to express that love to one another. Paul says, "Be ye kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Eph. iv. 32.) How is it that he can speak to us in that way? Because in the second chapter of the epistle we are said to be quickened with the life that is in God. There is no life there anywhere but in God. "God who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He has loved us" has stepped into the realm of death, and "has quickened us together with Christ." Hence we are to be imitators of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us. John speaks a great deal about love. What was true in the Gospel in Christ is now true in the saints, as presented in the Epistle. He says, "He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself to walk even as He walked." How did He walk? He walked in love. Then he says, "Brethren, I write no new commandment, but an old commandment, which ye have heard from the beginning." Christ never altered the character of His teaching. He taught the same thing from the beginning to the end, and He is teaching the same thing to-day, so that we are asked to let that abide in us which we have heard from the beginning. The old commandment was that we should love one another. He says he does not write a new commandment and again he says he does write a new commandment. How is that explained? It is the new commandment when you come to the epistle. It is the old commandment in the Gospel, because in the Gospel it is only found in Christ; in the epistle it is found in us.

John would encourage us. He says, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God." All natural affections are of God. Natural love is of God, and in spite of the fall it has been preserved in the hearts of human beings, otherwise the world could not exist. But when he says, "love is of God," he meant it is His nature. It is divine love which has been manifested, the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, so that we love Him. Our love to Him, and to one another, is only just the faint springing up of that love that has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit of God. Love is of God, and he that loveth has God's nature. What does that mean? He is born of God. More than that. He knows God. We know men. We have no difficulty about that, because we are men, and we know what men are. We do not know what angels are, fallen or unfallen. We could not give any account of them. If we wanted to approach an angel, or get a favour from him, we should not know how to address him. We should not know how to affect him at all. We know how to approach men, and we know how to approach God. We know God. He that loveth is born of God. God is his Father. He is a child of God. God knows us perfectly, He knows all those that are His. He knows the one that loves, but the one that loves knows God. What a wonderful thing that we in the midst of this world of darkness, can say, "We know God." Not only do we know Him, but we know Him a very great deal better than we know ourselves. We sometimes think we know ourselves very well, but after all, most of us who are converted to God would have to say, "We never conceived the depths of evil that lay in the flesh as we do now that we have been brought to the knowledge of God." You cannot tell so well how things are in the darkness as you can in the light. We are brought out of darkness into God's marvellous light, and there we see things as they really are. I say our knowledge of God is greater than our knowledge of ourselves. It is only as we know God that we do know ourselves. It is a wonderful thing, but it could not be otherwise that our knowledge of God is always in advance of our knowledge of ourselves.

"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."

It is not a mere sentiment we have in our hearts. It is not anything we have conceived ourselves, some idea that may be baseless. It has had its most perfect manifestation. Naturally, we should put verse 10 before verse 9, and supposing one was preaching the gospel of the grace of God, it might be right to do so. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." When we are awakened to a knowledge of our sinfulness, it is that we want removing. We want our sins forgiven, but John, speaking of what divine life really consists in - because love is the nature of the life - says, "In this was manifested the love of God towards us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him." It was not merely that He had compassion on our lost and ruined condition, but it is rather that God might have something out of us. We must be brought to God. He must have us. He must possess us, not only that He might have His own pleasure in meeting our deep need, but that we might live to Him. He would possess us in that way, because if He has got our affections He has got us. If you get a man's affections, you will get the man. If you get God's affections you get God, and if God gets hold of your affections, He gets hold of you. He sent His Son into the world that we might live through Him, and live to Him in a new life, in the life of Christ, who lived perfectly for Him. "In Him was life." The Jews thought it was in the law, and it would have been there for them, if they had been able to fulfil their obligations, but they were not, and instead of finding life in the law, they found death. Here is One in whom life is. They had thought it was found in the Scriptures, as the Lord says, but He tells them, "They testify of Me." The Scriptures pointed to Him as the One in whom life is. "But you will not come to Me, that you might have life," He had to say to them. In Him was life. The tree of life was here in this world when Jesus was here. God sent Him into the world that we might live through Him. There was the necessity of His death, but I am only stating what He was when He was here, irrespective of His death. He was the One in whom life was. As to whether it was available for men or not apart from His death, that is a different matter, but it was in Him. So He says in John vi., "I am the living bread that came down from heaven." He was the bread of God that came into the world, that a man might eat thereof and not die. We must begin by the appropriation of His death. He had to die in order that we might be able to appropriate Him, that He might be made available for us, but the object of God in sending Him into the world was that He might possess us wholly for Himself. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us." We do love Him now, but that is not where we are to see and know what love is. We are not to look at the saints to see love. We are to look at God. There you have the source of it. The love that saves comes down from heaven. It does not rise from our hearts to God; it comes down from God's heart to us. "He loves us," and it is in the death of Christ that the love of God is seen in all its greatness and glory. No creature can measure it, because no creature can measure the death of Christ. If you can measure what it was for the Eternal Son to lay aside His Godhead glory and come down into this world in humiliation, and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, then you would be able to measure the love of God. We could not possibly measure the death of Christ, because it is of infinite value, and God alone knows the value of it, but if we could measure it, we should be able to measure the greatness of His love. We can do neither, for the one is as great as the other.

Then he comes to the application of it. "Beloved, if God so loved us." What then? Naturally we would say that we ought to love Him, but it is not put that way here. "We ought also to love one another." Whom did God love? He loved us. He loved the brethren. What will that love do if it gets into my heart? It will do the same thing that it did in the heart of God. It will turn towards God's children. It does not say we ought to love God. The law said that. Here it says, "If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." That is our obligation, but is it a law of liberty? Every saint of God in the world is precious to our hearts. We may get under the power of the world, and the flesh may become dominant, so that this love may not be seen, but at the bottom of our hearts, and in the heart of every believer there is love to all the the children of God. But here love is practical. "Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth." What is the good of secret love? "Open rebuke is better than secret love." What is the good if it lies only in my heart, and is not manifested towards anybody else? It is of no value to anybody. God's love was in deed and in truth. The commandments of God in the New Testament are infinitely beautiful, and most encouraging. Take for instance what the Lord says to Peter. Peter says, "How often shall my brother trespass against me, and I forgive him - until seven times?" The Lord says, "I say not until seven times, but until seventy times seven." There is no limit to our forgiveness of one another. Is that a tremendous demand upon us? No, it tells me that what God is seeking is to make Himself manifest in us. Hence, if He says there is to be no limit to my forgiveness of my brother, that means there is no limit to His forgiveness of me. I have only to act towards others as He has acted towards me. If we love one another, God is seen in us. We read in John 1, "No man hath seen God at any time." What is the answer to it? "The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." The answer to it in the Gospel was Jesus; the answer to it in the Epistle is the saints. "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another." If we love one another practically what will be the effect of it? Everybody will say, "These people are disciples of Jesus." Why so? Because nobody ever taught it but Himself. They have been in the school of Christ. Every avenue in which the love of God has run in Christ will run in you and me. If we love one another the saints will get their share of that love. If we are going on with God the saints get it, and the world gets it. The world hears the Gospel, and we rejoice when the Gospel is preached. We help those who preach it, if we cannot preach it ourselves. What is the spring and fountain of all that? All these energies proceed from the nature of God, which we have, for God is love. The love is perfected in us, and there is nothing lacking. Wherever you go saint and sinner are met by the love of God, for "we have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world."

"Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Christ, God dwelleth in Him, and he in God." But what is God? God is love. He dwells in love, and love dwells in Him. "He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." Then we have, "Herein is, not our love, but love with us made perfect, that we may have boldness for the day of judgment." The love of God reached us when we were in our sins. When we believed the Gospel, that love was shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us, and nothing can separate us from it. It is with us day and night, and that love of God will keep step with us through our whole wilderness journey. It will never abandon us for one single moment. It will keep step with us right through until at last it will have its satisfaction in that day when we shall be changed into the likeness of Christ Himself. Then love will have its satisfaction. It began with us when we were sinners. It is always ours, and all its power is always at our disposal. When we are in the glory like Christ, then the love of God, which has been with us all the way through, will be perfectly satisfied. "Herein is love with us made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment." When the day of judgment comes, we shall be like Christ Himself, we shall be like the Judge. We have boldness for the day of judgment, because "As He is, so are we in this world." If we are before God in all that love and favour and grace that rests upon Him, if that is the love and favour that rests upon us, then we may be perfectly assured that when the day of judgment comes, we shall be like Him, because as He is, we are now. It is a marvellous statement. It may be very difficult for us to take it in, but there it is. Is He in the love of God? So are we. We are supposed to know it now. We do know it in a way. By and by the world will know it. When we appear in the same glory as Christ, the world will say, "After all what was preached here was true. The Father sent the Son, and He has loved those people as He loved His own Son." "That the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me." Do we believe that we are treated by God exactly as Christ would be treated in the same circumstances? It is a marvellous thought. We need to carry it really to the Lord to have it made good in our souls. We hear these things so often that our familiarity with them seems almost to breed contempt. They have not the power over our souls that they ought to have, or as perhaps they had the first time we heard them. They ought to have infinitely more power over us every time we hear them, but we are such foolish things, and so wayward. We get so occupied with seen things, that we do not live in the power of these unseen things.

There is no fear in love - no terror. Perfect love casteth out fear. The perfect love of God gets in, and fear has to take its flight. The love of God casts out fear. "We love Him, because He first loved us." When we did not love Him at all, when there was not one spark of love in our hearts towards Him, He loved us with all His heart. He loved us with all His heart when we hated Him with all our hearts. That is the thing that will get right into our souls that it may be the life of our being. Then we will go through this world as different people to that we would go through it if we had not it in our hearts. He goes on to say, "If a man say, I love God, and hate his brother, he is a liar." John does not mince matters. He that loveth not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? If I see God in a man, if I see the divine nature there, and my heart does not go out to him, you may be quite sure it does not go out to God. If a man did not love Christ, who, perfectly manifested God upon earth, it only proved he did not love God. Your brother is the one who has the divine nature. You see it in him, and if you do not love Him in your brother, you will not love Him in Christ. If you do not love Him in Christ, you will not love Him in heaven. This is the commandment, that he who loves God, love his brother also. It is not a grievous commandment. It is not a commandment of which we are afraid. It is not a commandment we do not wish to obey, or to which we would close our ears. It is a commandment we love to obey, if we only keep ourselves in the enjoyment of that love, and the power of God's Holy Spirit, then the saints will get all the benefit of that love, and we will be greatly blessed ourselves, for "If a man love Me, be will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and we will come unto Him, and make our abode with him."

James Boyd.

Joint Partakers of God's Promise.

In connection with the truth of "the mystery" the thought of the oneness of all the saints in Christ is strikingly prominent. In Ephesians iii. it is specially conspicuous, for we are told there, that the mystery which was previously hidden, but now made known, reveals that all are "(1) joint heirs and (2) a joint body and (3) joint partakers of God's promise in Christ Jesus by the glad tidings" (6). This verse shows that all the saints, according to the mind of God, are one collectively as "joint heirs," one corporately as "a joint body," and one vitally as "joint partakers of His promise in Christ Jesus." In all three aspects oneness is insisted upon by the Spirit of God in relation to the mystery concerning Christ and the assembly.

In our papers on this most important subject, we spoke of the central fact of the mystery, - the corporate aspect, and of the riches of the glory of it. We then considered the primary part of this great truth, - that of joint heirship. The third and final fact now remains to come before us. May God graciously help us in our meditation upon it. His promise in Christ Jesus, of which the beloved saints of God are joint partakers by means of the gospel of His grace, must be exceedingly blessed, for it is hall-marked by divine permanence and perfection, as everything in this relation connected with Christ and the assembly is, for it is according to His eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The dewy loveliness of it must abide in all the freshness of youth eternally. The bud, the blossom, the beauty, the bloom and the fruitful benefits may disclose their varied treasures, yet all develops and enlarges from the same vitality already participated in from the beginning. That handsome Prince of noble mien and generous mind, has still the life-blood flowing in his veins of which he partook when a babe. Right and admirable growth there has been, but potentially all was there from the first. It has but found the suitable and essential means of expressing itself by proper stages of growth. Fundamentally the original principle remains the same however, and without it the development were impossible. Of our blessed Lord, the King of glory, the Originator of life, it is said, "In the beauty of holiness from the womb of the morning, Thou hast the dew of Thy youth." In Him it abides in eternal perfection; and of His bride, the assembly, it is said, after sharing in His Kingdom glory for a thousand years, - she comes "as a bride adorned for her husband." In lasting freshness and responsive love she is still beautiful and pleasing to Him whose glory she is. Like her beloved Bridegroom she retains eternally the dewy loveliness of youth, along with all that she has gained since He first made her His.

The "Joint Partakers."

The redeemed from amongst the Jews and from amongst the nations are the joint partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus, and the gospel is the means by which they are called into it. Unlike Israel of old, who partook of special privileges through their natural birth as belonging to that nation, the rich blessings of the mystery are ours now through the call of God in the glad tidings of His grace; for the "preaching" is "according to the revelation of the mystery, as to which silence was kept in the times of the ages" (Rom. xvi. 25). It is in Christ Jesus we jointly partake of the precious promise of God. This involves a new standing for us altogether outside of Judaism and the distant ground on which the nations stood, having "become nigh" in Christ Jesus by His blood. A new state is also ours, for "if any one be in Christ there is a new creation, the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new: and all things are of God Who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ." The old standing and the old state have no place there, "for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation."

We are told in Ephesians 2 that Christ has broken down the middle wall of enclosure between Jews and Gentiles, making both one, and becoming Himself the bond and peace of the joint partakers. The old enmity which had existed between them He has annulled in His flesh, reconciling both to God in one body by the cross, where the enmity was slain when He died for all. The Jew spirit however still asserts itself where this truth has not been learned experimentally. Where new creation in Christ Jesus is not known in power, religious pride, pettiness and rancour appear. So also does the Gentile love of lawlessness with impatient and impetuous energy show itself insubject to God's order. It is therefore of the utmost importance that the truth should be known in experimental power by the joint partakers of the promise of God; for it is said in regard to the new creation in Christ, "As many as walk by this rule, peace upon them and mercy" (Gal. vi. 16). They are created into one new man in Him where He is our peace, therefore oneness is to be known by the joint partakers in gracious reality: unity will necessarily be sought in a practical way, according to the instincts of the new nature which is ours, and the one Spirit who indwells all, for none of us are independent of the other joint partakers. In Ephesians iv. 3 we are exhorted, because of contrary influences which are not of the Spirit nor of the new man, to use diligence to keep "the unity of the Spirit," - in a practical manner, - "in the uniting bond of peace." Only the real are embraced in this unity, and only the true joint partakers can respond truly to the exhortation. Others may appear to do so, but it is in the very nature of the joint partakers to ever seek practical unity according to the truth. Nor will their desires remain unanswered, for at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ all will be completely assembled to Him.

Judah and Israel were held together in practical oneness under David, the anointed of God, as joint partakers of the blessings secured in Him for the nation; but even in His days the divisive spirit showed itself in "a man of Belial." "He blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel" (2 Sam. xx. 1). The seed was sown that day: and though the evil work was stayed there and then, nevertheless it bore its bad fruit long after, for we read in Rehoboam's reign that the people answered the king, saying "What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David" (1 Kings xii. 16). So Israel departed, and the break between Judah and Israel was made. In contrast to this, the true joint-heirs surely say, All our portion is in Christ Jesus as also is our inheritance eternally, let us abide in Him! We are all joint partakers of God's promise in Christ Jesus by the gospel.

God's Promise.

There are many promises of God, and we are told that they are all confirmed and established in Christ, the Son of God; - "for whatever promises of God there are, in Him is the yea, and in Him is the amen, for glory to God by us" (2 Cor. i. 20); but it is a special promise which is in view in the truth of the mystery, not "promises," but a specific, distinct "promise." It is not plural, but singular. Just as in Eph. iii. 11 we read of "the purpose" which centres in Christ, so this is also something distinctive. It has the stamp of eternity upon it as all the essentials of the mystery have. The inheritance of the joint heirs is eternal, the body of which we are joint members is eternal, and the promise in Christ Jesus is likewise. It was given before the ages of time: it will endure beyond the ages of time: but it is ours in Christ Jesus now, the "Spirit of promise" being already given to us; and He is the power by which divine realities are experimentally enjoyed.

The law proposed life for man, but it was unable either to give life or secure righteousness from man in the flesh. We are told, "It was weak through the flesh" though in itself "holy, just and good." Do and live, it said to the sinner of Adam's race; but the sinner could not do, therefore the holy law of God could only condemn him, and "the commandment which was for life, was found," says the apostle, as to himself, "to be unto death" (Rom vii. 10). Had there been a law which was able to give life, "then indeed righteousness were on the principle of law" (Gal. iii. 21); but before the law, yea, "before the ages of time" God had promised life for man. That promise is in Christ Jesus, therefore He must come where we were to free us from sin and death, that we might have life in Him. The law, as we have seen, said, Do and live. The Lord Jesus, when we could do nothing, died that we might live, - died that the promise might be ours actually, - died that we might be joint-partakers of it in Him. How great the grace of God to give such a promise! How wonderful the love that brought His beloved Son to die to secure it for us! How marvellous the wisdom that devised the plan! All glory to God.

It is of promise, therefore it is not of law; and yet the fact of it being mentioned in connection with the law indicates what was in the thoughts of God for us; so also did the first tree which is named distinctively in Scripture - "the tree of life!" This was not forbidden like the other tree, but after man fell he was governmentally placed beyond its reach, and the giving of the law, rightly understood, brought home to man, his sinfulness and his own incapability to obtain eternal life. He was shut up to God, and He found a way for us to "partake" of that which was in His heart for us before the world was, through the death of His Son; so that He could say, of the one who appropriated His death in faith, life was his, - "He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life."

This life in all its infinite preciousness knows no decay or ending. Promised before the ages of time, it abides beyond the glorious days of the Kingdom and dominion of the Son of Man; far beyond the days of millennial magnificence, right on through the ineffable blessedness of the eternal state when God is all in all. Yet even now it is ours in Christ Jesus. It is ours by the grace of God. It is ours by the gift of God: If "the wages of sin is death" - rightly and justly - nevertheless, "the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. vi. 23). That gift cannot be measured; it is beyond every human estimate or definition, but thanks be to God, it is ours through the act of divine favour.

We are told in Ephesians iv. 17-19 of those who are alienated from it all, - "estranged from the life of God." What a contrast they are to the joint partakers of God's promise! They walk in the vanity of their mind, - and what foolish vanity it is! The seat of all true balance in man is submerged in darkness, - "being darkened in understanding." Ignorance of all that is right before God and man enslaves them, although they may profess to be wise. Grossness and hardness of heart leads them to "cast off" every refined and even proper natural feeling; and as a result they abandon themselves to lasciviousness, while unsatisfied lust leads them more eagerly to work all manner of uncleanness and greed, for such are still joint partakers of the life of "the old man which corrupts itself according to the deceitful lusts." The joint partakers of the mystery have put off the old man and put on the new, and in contrast to the other, it is created in "truthful righteousness and holiness." Life according to God is known here. His promise is realized here. His gift is enjoyed here. The life which is in Christ Jesus is partaken of by the saints of God. Therefore to abide in Christ is all important for us, and to let the word of the glad tidings which called us into it abide unspoiled in us; for "if that which ye have heard from the beginning abides in you, ye also shall abide in the Son and in the Father. "And this is the promise which He promised us, eternal life" (1 John. ii 25).

"In Christ Jesus."

In two other passages the Spirit of God speaks through Paul of this promise in Christ Jesus besides that which we have considered in Ephesians iii. 6. The eternal character and nature of it are shown in both (2 Tim. 1; Titus 1); and in each scripture the glad tidings are also mentioned as the means of its being made known to us, according to the commandment of our Saviour God. In the first, when failure was spreading widely amongst those who professed the faith of Christ, the apostle falls back upon the changeless promise of life, and holds even his service "according to the promise of life, the life which is in Christ Jesus." Other things may alter and men may fail, but this abides, for it is ours in Christ Jesus, as God Himself promised. It is termed, "The promise."

The apostle seeks to strengthen Timothy in his trying path by this truth. Seven times he speaks of what is "in Christ Jesus" in this second letter. The truth of Ephesians is specially indicated. All is secure eternally in Him he seems to say, therefore be encouraged, - "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Even the glad tidings which call us into these rich blessings were getting into disrepute, but Paul exhorts him to "suffer evil along with the gospel according to the power of God" and then with gracious and tender thoughtfulness he reminds him that He "has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages of time, but has been made manifest now by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has annulled death, and brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings." How cheering and stimulating is all this! In Christ Jesus all is ours and all is secure eternally, and the gospel of divine grace makes known the triumph of our Lord Jesus Christ over death and corruption for man, so that life and incorruptibility might be now his through faith in Him.

In Titus i. the Holy Spirit adds, in regard to the promise of eternal life, that the One who made the promise could not fail of its accomplishment in regard to the elect, for He says, God "cannot lie."

What a comforting limitation of holy perfection is this! and then the eternal life for which we have the sure and certain hope to enter upon in all its fulness at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ is already manifested in the word of the proclamation of the gospel, and that, as we are told in Titus i. and Romans xvi. 26, "according to the commandment of the everlasting God."

The life therefore is ours now in Christ Jesus. It is "the gift of God" in Him to us (Rom. vi. 23). There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, and there is no separation from the love of God which is in Him (Rom. viii. 1-28). Divine grace and power have set us, through Christ's death and resurrection, where the eternal promise is already the portion of the joint partakers. In view of all that God has done for them in and through Him they have good reason to "boast in Christ Jesus," and to join with the apostle when he says "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ" (Eph. i. 3). It is of God that we are in Christ Jesus for His everlasting glory and our present and eternal blessing.

"By the Gospel."

The means by which we have been called into this is the gospel. It is the instrument which God has used. He has called us in His grace by the glad tidings, and He has saved us. Our works had no place in the matter, for the very best works done by man out of Christ are called by the Spirit "dead works." No deeds of ours could have given us a new standing in Christ Jesus before God, in a new and living state; but having heard the Word of the glad tidings, and received it in faith, we "passed out of death into life." Aaron's family might enjoy a place of special nearness to Jehovah through their natural birth, but this has no place in connection with the mystery of Christ and the assembly. Not by natural birth or family privileges but by the gospel are we brought into these vital realities. "In Christ Jesus ye who were once afar off are become nigh by the blood of Christ."

The gospel is that which God uses in the power of the Spirit. Of old, God's earthly people entered into possession of the land by conquest, but that of which we speak is ours through no prowess of our own. It is by the divine and effectual call of the glad tidings which we have believed. Truly the experimental and practical enjoyment of our rich possession involves energy on our side, but that is another matter. Official appointments gave men under the old covenant great advantages, but this does not count here. The apostle of life, John, it is striking to notice, does not speak of these things. He does not even call himself "an apostle."

How wonderful indeed are the glad tidings of the grace of God to-day! They call us into blessings of the most exalted character - blessings that are abiding — eternal!

They call us into a fellowship which is above every other known in heaven or earth by the favoured of God, - "the fellowship of God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." They give us a hope which is greater than any other, - conformity to the image of God's Son in heavenly glory, "the hope of the gospel." Little wonder then, when failure abounds on all hands, that these glad tidings are attacked so severely. Nevertheless, God's Spirit is here, and will maintain the preaching of the word in divine power till the end, - "the Word of God is not bound;" with royal grace it hastens onward to complete its glorious mission; nor will it cease to do so until the last of the joint partakers of God's promise in Christ Jesus according to the mystery receives its glorious message. We may well therefore, like the Philippians of old, as fellow partakers of the benefits of the glad tidings, be found "labouring together in the same conflict with faith of the gospel"; "standing firm" in "one spirit" and with "one soul"; watching at the same time that we conduct ourselves "worthy of the glad tidings of the Christ;" and showing practical fellowship with those who faithfully proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Soon the message of grace will have accomplished its task, and all who share in the eternal riches of the mystery will be glorified with the Head of the assembly. His fellow heirs and brethren, the fellow members of His body, the assembly, and the fellow partakers of the promise in Him will be all together then as one with Himself where He is! The promise given before the ages of time will be known in all its actual fulness; the life manifested in Him when here on earth will be enjoyed in suitable and glorious surroundings then; the eternal life for which we hope, but which is ours now by God's gift, will be entered upon unhinderedly; the oneness of those who are joint partakers now will be seen in a glorious unity; and then "when Christ who is our life shall appear," we also shall shine forth with Him in splendour and glory. Lord Jesus, hasten that day! We long for its brightness and beauty, and, above all to see Thee, its Centre, and its Sun.

"Lord, haste that day of cloudless ray, -

That prospect bright unfailing;

When all shall shine in light divine

And glory never fading."

H. J. Vine.

Living Stones and Priests.

1 Peter ii. 4-9.

Perhaps there is no form of evil we so easily slip into as that of clericalism. I do not mean elders or deacons, who were from the beginning, appointed by the apostles, or by men like Timothy or Titus who were commissioned by the apostles to do this (Acts vi. 3; Titus i. 8). These cannot be appointed to-day, for we have neither apostles nor their delegates, but where we find men who have the qualifications for such offices, it is our privilege to recognize them. This is nothing but godly church order; but to attempt to put them into office is another matter.

There are two reasons for the insidious way in which clericalism has crept into the church of God, and for the hold it has got upon His people. One is that saints are so busily engaged with the things of this world that when they come together they feel themselves unable to take up the service of the sanctuary, and they are relieved if they can find anyone willing to approach God on their behalf. Another reason is the desire on the part of some to occupy a position of honour, and to be of some importance in the assembly of God; and this is considered by them adequate compensation for the extra burden by this means heaped upon their shoulders. This soon develops into a paid ministry, a priesthood, and popery. Such are, if you believe them, the clergy (Greek kleros). They are lords over God's kleron, and monopolize the name that rightly belongs to all believers.

All believers, whoever they may be, are the lot, heritage, kleros, of God, separated to Him out of this world, purchased by the precious blood of His own Son, born of God, possessing His life and nature, priests holy, and priests royal, and all these things are as true of the babe in Christ, as they were of the apostle himself, for this we are taught in the first and second chapters of this epistle.

And all these things were true of those believers whom Peter here addresses as "newborn babes." They had not made great progress in the knowledge of God, but they were the fruit of His testimony, as rendered in this evil world. Every one of them had a living link with the living God; for His word had got into their hearts, and had taken deep root there; and the word when it gets rooted in the heart, is the link between the soul and God. It was this, from Abel down to this present day, and it shall be while this world lasts, for there can be no other link with God. It is the revelation of His grace and love, the light of the knowledge of Himself in the heart of the believer. It is the incorruptible seed, and it lives and abides for ever. Where that seed is, there is the vital spark of divine life; and where it is not, there is moral death. The word of truth is that by which we are born again (James i. 19); and the word of truth is the gospel of our salvation (Eph. i. 13).

Now the gospel is that which has turned us to the Lord, He whom the Spirit of God here calls "a Living Stone," a stone rejected of men, but chosen of God, and precious. We have an early intimation of this in Matt. xvi. 13-18, where Peter is said to confess Jesus as the Son of the living God. This was a definite revelation of the glory of His person made to Peter by the Father; and our Lord says "Upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." This power of life that was in Him was manifested in His resurrection: He could not be bound by the cords of death. By dying He annulled death, and by the same act He broke the might of him who ruled over man, holding him in bondage by the fear of that which was the expression of the judgment to which man was liable on account of sin.

Now to this Living Stone we come. The believer is a living stone by the life-giving power of Christ. He is of the same nature as the rock upon which this glorious edifice is being built. Everything in this building is of the same nature, from the foundation to the top stone. The stones are instinct with the life of the Son of God, and by Him are they put in their places, and the whole building is growing to a holy temple in the Lord (Eph. ii. 21). Here the hand of man does not appear. Here can enter nothing that defiles. The Lord Himself is the builder, and therefore is everything secure. I have no doubt that when it is revealed in the day of the glory of Christ, it will be seen to be the Holy City, that comes down out of heaven, having the glory of God. Then the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it.

It is being builded of living stones; not like the temple that Solomon built, which, though the wonder of the world, was built of stones cut out of the natural rock; all lifeless material; this house is instinct with the life of the Son of the living God.

But the stones that compose the building are the priests who offer the sacrifices. Every stone in the building is a priest and qualified to offer sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. But as the building is a spiritual house, so are the sacrifices spiritual. The temple in the past dispensation was a material house, and the priests were a carnal priesthood, and the sacrifices were of a carnal order also. Here everything is spiritual, everything divine, everything pulsating with the life of Christ. Every stone in the building is radiant with the love of God. The house is resplendent with His grace, His righteousness, His holiness, His faithfulness, His truth. The temple built by Solomon was glorious, but the temple being built by the greater than Solomon has a glory that excelleth.

And the priests are the stones that compose the building, and they are the aggregate of the redeemed of this dispensation. They have boldness to enter into the holiest. They can draw near, not at stated times only, but at all times. And their sacrifices are spiritual. They draw near to present Christ to God. As the Israelite brought his offering to God, whatever it may have been, it was typical of Christ, so does the priest of God in this dispensation draw near to God with Christ upon his lips, to tell Him what He has learned of Him. He may be but a babe in Christ, and may have as yet learned little of the glories of his Saviour, but such a sacrifice is ever welcome to God. His offering may be small, like two young pigeons in the old order, but it is acceptable to God, because it is Christ. He may have learned much about His Redeemer, and may be able to present that which in the past might be represented by a bullock, but it is no more acceptable than the smallest presentation of Christ. A man rich in faith brings a large offering, and a poor man brings a small offering, but both speak in the ears of God what they know of the same Person, and both are acceptable, for Christ is precious to God, and also, through grace, to us. And this priestly service is to go on continually, not only when we come together, and not only when we retire into our chamber and shut the door, but at all times, and in all places. We can always draw near to God, and we shall always find a welcome.

There is another character of priestly service spoken of in verse 9, that is, a royal or kingly, priesthood. We are kings as well as priests. Melchisedec was both, and so is our Lord and Saviour, Jesus. We also are both, and in the meantime, before the day of reigning comes, we exercise this priestly service by showing forth the virtues of Him that called us out of darkness into His marvellous light. We are to come out down here in the heavenly characteristics of Christ. These are to be displayed before the men of this world. On the one hand, as holy priests we present Him to God; and on the other hand, as kingly priests we present Him to the world. With God this meets with acceptance, but with the man of this world it meets with utter rejection, and awakes persecution from the haters of Jesus. We have been called out of darkness into His marvellous light, and in His light we are to shine in this dark world. But the light is always hated, and therefore we are not disappointed if we meet with the same kind of opposition that fell to the lot of our Lord, for He has said that if they hated Him, they would hate us also. But next to being saved, to suffer a little for Christ is the greatest favour He could confer upon us.

May we be thankful for our privileges.

James Boyd.

"Behold! I and the Children."

Many years ago, when I was but young in the faith of Christ, I was crossing the Atlantic to preach, by the help of God, the gospel which was precious to my own soul, and the saving value of which I greatly desired others to know; feeling that, be the nation what it might, it consisted of but two classes, the saved and the unsaved - "the children of God" and "the children of the wicked one" - the "wheat and the tares," spoken of by the Lord in Matt. 13.

I longed earnestly that all might be saved, might taste of the grace of God, and become His happy and holy children, and as I was meditating on the blessedness of their relationships, I began to compare it with other relations in which the children of God stand toward Him.

Children they are to begin with: they are also saints; then we find sheep of Christ and members of His body, and also the house of God, composed now, as it is, of living stones. That is, we have a family, a flock, a body, and a house, where, indeed, in the fullest sense, all is, or should be, vital. The first of our two classes - the saved, may, in the days of Christianity, be regarded as consisting of these four component parts; that is, each saint is a child of God, a sheep of Christ, a part of the house and a member of the body of Christ, and each has the privilege and the responsibility of these varied relationships. Let us consider that of the family.

First, the whole human race is (we read in Acts xvii.) the offspring of God "who hath made of one blood all nations of men." That is, God is Creator, and, in a secondary sense, Father of the whole family. Man was made of the dust and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. "The first man is of the earth (the dust) earthy" (1 Cor. xv.) and to dust he returns. We do not read of any such infusion of breath into the nostrils of lower animals. Special attention was given to man as the destined head of creation. Hence when we reach the end of the long genealogical tree of Luke iii. we read the words: - "Adam which was the son of God," or more correctly: - "Adam which was of God." Mark these words; man came directly and immediately from God. Just as Seth was "of Adam," so Adam was "of God." The degrading theory of evolution from a lower animal - a gorilla, an ape or a toad, has no place here, nor should it have in the conception of him who was created in the image and likeness of God.

No, Adam, man, was "of God." That was his origin; and, though fallen and marred in every way by sin, he still retains that image. We are low enough morally in all conscience, let us not lower ourselves further. Our origin was high - inferior only to angels, let us endeavour to realize it, and act more worthily of it.

Second. Children. This signifies relationship. To be a child there must be birth. There is no such relationship in mere adoption - no consanguinity, no participation in nature or life. Affection there may be, but that is all. Hence, God's children must be "born of God." This alone forms the family. Let no one presume to think, as alas, so many do to-day, that they are the children of God who have never been "born again," nor "taught of God," nor drawn to Christ by the Father - Let no mistake be made here. You cannot claim God as Father, nor truly address Him as such, unless you are His child. We are not children of God by creation but by grace; and, in this view, the popular idea of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man is an absolute delusion and a most mischievous error. The chasm existing between the children of God and those of the wicked one cannot be bridged by the efforts of statesmen, politicians, philanthropists or dreamers. Such well-meant efforts are a mere waste of time. There must be a change of nature effected by the Spirit of God - a new birth. This dream of the brotherhood of man was little understood by the first two brothers that ever lived, nor has the spirit of it developed during the intervening centuries, as the merciless cruelties of recent wars declare.

But the family of God, nevertheless exists. The precious relation between God and man as Father and child, that are made such by the grace of that Father, the cleansing death of the Son, and the work of the Spirit within - this is a fact placed beyond all dispute, and made visible in the life and conduct of all those who are commanded to be "imitators of God as dear children." They love one another. This did not Cain, who, in a passion of jealousy slew his brother, proving that he, spite of his offering, was "of that wicked one," while Abel in virtue of his requisite offering, obtained witness thereby that he was righteous, and therefore on the divine side of the chasm. He was clearly a child of God.

The children of God have His nature, and that nature must express itself. They are "taught of God to love one another," and that not merely in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth; and this love is the strongest proof of their relationships with God. Oh! that the love of the 1st Christian century were but half as strong in the 20th; still thank God, spite of the abounding iniquity of the day, we do love one another, and desire the good and blessing of the whole family of God. We "love as brethren." The family is the circle and sphere of love. And how? "For God is love" - How much might be written on this fairest feature in the divine family! The Apostle John dwells on it continually, his great theme being the display of the nature of God in love, first in His Son and then in the family: whilst giving equal force to the exhibition of His character in righteousness. He states that "God is love," and also that "God is light."

How can you explain the mystery of a man, for the first quarter or half of his life, being a God-hater and a persecutor of His children, like Saul of Tarsus, and then, for the rest of it, being a lover of God and of His people. It is a miracle. Yes, but it is the miracle of new birth. It is the mighty moral change that transfers the man from being a child of the wicked one to that of a child of God, and, thank God, such a miracle is not uncommon - it is God's work. Is this change necessary for the enjoyment of future blessings? It is absolutely necessary. Heaven would be a positive and intolerable hell to a child of the wicked one. He would (if he could enter) find not one element congenial to his nature or taste. He hated God and His holy ways on earth; nor could he love them in heaven. Oh! it is well and happy even now to be a child of such a God and Father, but what will it be, soon and forever, in yonder house of love and light and glory - all secured for us by the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Third - "Sons of God." We need not treat of angels, who are so-called in one or two passages, seeing that they do not belong to the race of man; but, while the relation of children flows from the nature of God by whom they were begotten, the position and rank of sons is given them on account of the Spirit of His Son who now dwells within them - now - in these days of Christianity and the presence of the Holy Ghost on earth. The children are raised from a condition of non-age (minors) to that of full-age (majority) as we read in Gal. iv. They can cry by that Spirit, "Abba Father" after the pattern of the Son of God Himself when in the dark shades of Gethsemane.

"If children then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ," true, but note the inevitable consequence: - "if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be glorified together" (Rom. viii. 17). Co-heirships in glory means companionship in suffering and testimony till the glory itself shall come, and then the whole blood-bought family, in all its members, shall be "conformed to the image of the Son that He may be the firstborn among many brethren," then shall He say: - "Behold I and the children which God hath given Me" - all are in the same relation - "My Father and your Father," albeit He and they - the "I" and the children given to Him - differ so widely. What a family when all shall resemble, the Son of God - conformed to His image - He the chief foremost - most glorious! What a family when all shall be in the Father's house - at home - in the presence of Father, Son and Spirit; where evil, sorrow, death and Satan are displaced for ever by good and holiness and joy and life divine!

"Where deceiver never can enter,

Sin-soiled feet have never trod,

Free - our peaceful feet may venture

In the Paradise of God."

J. Wilson Smith.

Paul and the Mystery.

It was as a prisoner at Rome that Paul wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians. Some say that it was a circular letter: whether it was so or not is of secondary importance, its great interest to us is that in it we have the fullest opening out of the great mystery CHRIST AND THE CHURCH. If Israel, God's earthly people, were once the centre of all His ways here, now, the church, the body of Christ, is infinitely more so. The Apostle, severed from every link that would connect him with Israel, is now conducted by the Spirit to apprehend fully, and in practical detail, the secret of God, which had been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Cut off from everything he valued on earth, he can now contemplate in a cloudless atmosphere the full beauty and grandeur of the great mystery.

There are two great things peculiar to the mystery: one is that we all - Jew and Gentile - are raised together and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ; the first thing is that we are heavenly; and the second is, that in the same power which raised Christ up we are raised up. That is a power entirely outside and beyond everything of man; and resulting from it, there should be, because of this power working IN us, a growing up to Him, the Head in all things; and this with absolute and decided victory over all the power of the devil. So that there is not only the height to which we are raised out of all here, but the immense moral superiority in which all are placed now on earth, the very place in which we were alienated from God. We are brought to the greatest heights (for God hath made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ, Eph. ii. 6), by the greatest power, (His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, Eph. i. 19, 20), and because we are heavenly, we are competent to be descriptive here of Christ, from the highest circle, the assembly, down through the various relationships of life to the very humblest conceivable, the condition of a slave, and at the same time, superior to the wiles and the power of the devil. This the latter part of the Epistle brings out.

How entranced the Apostle must have been as all this by the Spirit came before him with inspired words. Surely he would justify God as to all the discipline he had been subjected to, in order to make him a vessel fit to impart the greatest communication ever made to a man. We little understand all the pains, as I might say, which the Lord takes with us to render us in any measure suited for His work.

J. B. Stoney.

"The Glory of God and Jesus."

"But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7: 55).

"The glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God", and a man upon earth full of the Holy Ghost, unafraid of that glory and in living union with the Man exalted there - this was the revelation of an entirely new order of things, a heavenly order of things, which can only be known on earth by the Holy Ghost who has come from that glory. Let us diligently seek to understand this - and it is only by the teaching of the Holy Ghost that we can understand it - then we shall understand Paul's gospel and "the mystery" of it (see Eph. 6: 19; Col. 1: 25-27).

The truth of the assembly, the body of Christ upon earth, really commences with this that Stephen saw. His eyes were turned away from the world; he probably never was held by the gross things in it, but he had had his part in the religious side of it; but now we see him separated from it, the temple, the priests, the learned leaders of the Jewish system, all have faded from his view; even an earthly kingdom with the divine Messiah at its head is surpassed and entirely eclipsed by that which now enthralls him - the glory of God, and a Man at the right hand of God. This wonderful revelation is the more arresting in that the Man who could stand at God's right hand, in the presence of that glory before which the highest angels fall prostrate with covered faces, was the One whom the world had judged to be only worthy of a malefactor's cross, but it is not that which we wish to emphasize here. It is the fact of the glory of God and Man being in absolute consonance. We know that that Man was "Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever" (Rom. 9: 5), but that is not the point of this passage. The Lord is spoken of by His personal human name. It was JESUS whom Stephen saw, the One who was born in the manger at Bethlehem, who died upon the cross of Calvary, who was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, and who had ascended bodily to that glory. He was and is for ever absolutely agreeable to that glory, nay, altogether necessary to it, and that this might be known the heavens were opened, and Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost, saw by the power of the Spirit that to which he had to bear witness ere he died, and that which was to be the beginning and body of all Paul's ministry. The glory of God has found a Man; apart from this the purpose of the glory in regard to men could never have been fulfilled, and itself must have remained hidden from the universe for ever. That Man is Jesus, who loved us and died for our sins, and consequently we cannot be indifferent to this great fact. Our hearts are glad because of what this means for our Saviour; we have often considered Him as the despised and rejected of men, "the shame of the cross and Jesus" we often think of together, but now it is "the glory of God and Jesus"; we cannot but be glad and rejoice as we consider this.

This is only one side of the new order of things which here comes to light, and yet we must dwell further upon it, for everything takes character from it. We must not confine our thoughts of the glory of God to the place of exaltation into which Jesus has gone, that is described as "the right hand of God"; there is much more in the expression than the thought of locality. It is the shining out of what God is in His very nature. The expression has its own special significance. Moses desired to see the glory of God, but the time had not then come for it, though God gave to His servant a partial revelation of it, proclaiming His name as merciful and gracious.

These two qualities are an integral part of that glory, as the prominent place that they occupy in the Epistle to the Ephesians proves; but the glory of God - the full display of His nature and ways - could not be revealed until He had a Man in whom it could shine forth and who could maintain it in all its radiance, undimmed and untarnished by any failure for ever. That God has secured this now is proved beyond doubt by the fact that He has thrown open the heavens and shown to us "the glory of God and Jesus".

The other side of this new order is more surprising and, perhaps, more difficult to grasp, but just as real and true. It is that the Holy Ghost has come down from the exalted Man, our Lord, bringing with Him the full knowledge of the glory of God, for He is the Spirit of that glory, and that He now indwells believers on the earth and unites them in a vital union with Christ who is exalted at the right hand of God. Stephen is a pattern of this, for he was not only a witness to what his divinely-anointed eyes beheld, but he became descriptive of Christ in the midst of the most adverse circumstances. It was not in the fact that his face shone like an angel's that he was descriptive of Christ, for the glory of an angel is not the glory of God, and his face shone in this manner before he looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus; but it was in that most wonderful grace that made him pray with his last breath, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge". Thus was the life of Jesus made manifest in his mortal flesh. But this could not have been had he not been a member of the body of Christ, and he could not have been that had not the Holy Spirit come from Christ to make him so. What else but Christ, morally, could the Holy Ghost bring from heaven? Nothing. What other business has He but the displacement of self and the forming of Christ in the lives of those whom He indwells? None. And Stephen is the pattern of it. In him we see a man upon earth brought into perfect accord with the glory of God, and this not only in the fact that the glory of God and Jesus filled his eyes objectively, but that the life of Jesus was formed in Him subjectively, and manifested itself practically in the very world out of which Jesus had been cast.

Stephen may have been an amiable man or the reverse, it matters not; what he may have been naturally had no place here; he was full of the Holy Ghost, and Stephen was displaced and Christ shone out. "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Beholding the glory of the Lord he was transfigured into the same image.

But the Holy Spirit who filled Stephen did not dwell exclusively in him. He dwelt in Stephen because he was a member of the body of Christ on earth, and every believer in the exalted Lord Jesus is equally a member of the body of Christ; and, consequently, the Holy Ghost dwells in each and all. And the body is to be descriptive of Christ. This is the great theme of the Epistle to the Colossians, and to this end we who "were sometime alienated and enemies in our minds by wicked works, now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present us holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight" (Col. 1. 21, 22), i.e., in the presence of that glory we are as Christ is, for we are part of Him, and He is in us as His members, and consequently we are to be as He is in the place where He is not. Nothing in which men can boast or contribute can help the body of Christ. The best that man can produce belongs to the world that is passing away, for the glory of man is as the flower of the field. But the assembly, which is His body, has its origin in and takes its character from the glory of God; the Man who is entirely agreeable to that glory is its Head and life; and the Holy Ghost who has come from that glory is its unwearied power. And we are looking for the glorious day when the work of the Holy Ghost in the Church will be finished, and when it, as the holy city, shall descend out of heaven from God, having the glory of God (Rev. 21. 10, 11). That which she will be then, when her light shines forth like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal, is being formed in her now by the Holy Ghost. She is being fashioned according to the glory of God and the Man who is at the right hand of God, and while failure proclaims itself wherever the eye turns in that which professes the name of Christ on earth, there is no failure in this work of the Spirit; and there shall yet be displayed to the universe the triumph of God in His counsels of blessing, and He shall have glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. J. T. Mawson.

The Holy Spirit in Relation to the Church.

The right understanding of the place which the Church fills in the ways and purpose of God, depends upon the knowledge of the special activity of the Holy Spirit in connection therewith.

It must be plain to even a superficial reader of the Old Testament, that the Spirit is constantly referred to as the active agent and power in whatever work God undertook. Creation was brought to pass by the energy of the Spirit, whether the starry universe above, "By His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens" (Job 26: 13); or earth beneath, "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. 1: 2). When God would save the world of Noah's day from the consequences of their sin and folly, His Spirit strove with men (Gen. 6: 3). If a man like Bezaleel was called to do some special work, such as the construction of the tabernacle, then he was filled with the Spirit of God in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship (Ex. 35: 31). Others there were like Gideon (Judges 6: 34), Amasai (1 Chron. 12: 18), Zechariah (2 Chron. 24: 20), with whom the Spirit clothed Himself for the time being, that He might witness through them. Yet again, a Samson is suddenly thrust forward by the Spirit on various occasions, to execute deeds of valour against the enemies of Israel. By the same action of the Spirit a Saul is caused to prophecy, or a David enabled to govern. But in all these cases the Spirit acted upon men from the outside, and used men for His purpose without reference to their inward moral character; no more striking instance of this can be found than that of Balaam (Num. 24: 2).

Then, after the kingdom was established and slowly sank into corruption and decay, the action of the Spirit changed, and He definitely took the line of the Spirit of prophecy, the testimony of Jesus the Messiah, revealing beyond the dark night of Israel's sin, the bright morning of God's purpose for them and the world-wide blessing that would ensue. Nevertheless, these revelations did not extend beyond the earth. The peculiar work of the Spirit in connection with heaven, which was to fill the long interval until these things should be accomplished, was a secret hidden in God. With the returned remnant of Judah, the Holy Ghost was the Spirit of encouragement amidst circumstances of opposition and depression (Hag. 2: 5). "My Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not." Then followed a period of silence for about four hundred years, to be broken by the raptured utterances of holy men and women announcing by the Spirit the advent of the Christ of God. In due time He came, conceived by the Holy Ghost, and when the hour of His service arrived, publicly sealed by the same Spirit. Now for the first time there was a Man on earth to whom the Spirit was given without measure. In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead, consequently His words were the words of God; they were Spirit and they were life; all He did was done by the Spirit, and to say otherwise was to blaspheme against the Holy Ghost. At last came the closing scene of Calvary, when in the shedding of His precious blood, He through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, the Holy Ghost thus witnessing that the redemption price was paid, His work was done. But the wondrous story does not end, for His resurrection declares Him to be the Son of God with power. By the Spirit of God He is raised from the dead, and on His ascension to heaven, a new era, the Spirit's day, begins. It commences in heaven, for Christ having ascended in victorious power leading captivity captive, receives gifts in the man, according to Ps. 68: 18. As really and truly a Man in the glory of God as when here on earth, He receives of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2: 33). At His baptism the Holy Ghost descended upon Him in relation to His personal excellence; none could share in this: but as man in heaven, redemption being accomplished, He received the Holy Ghost that He might shed forth the same upon His redeemed on earth. It was, in fact, the prelude to the fulfilment of His word to them; "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence" (Acts 1: 5). It was this act which distinguished the Church in its formation and calling from all that had gone before. There was now a Head in heaven and a body on earth, made one in the power of the Spirit: but we must examine this more closely.

During the ten days that followed the Lord's ascension, the disciples were drawn together by their common interest in the facts of His death and resurrection. They were a company of individuals, the remnant of Israel, separated from the nation by their faith in the Messiah, but they were not incorporated into one body in which each would be members one of another in union with the Head. On the day of Pentecost the prophecy of Joel, which has a millennial bearing, was antedated, and the pouring out of the Spirit which took place constituted the baptism with the Holy Ghost; the result being that by one Spirit they were all baptized into one body (1 Cor. 12: 13). It is important to observe the significance of this giving of the Spirit. It was the act of the risen Head in heaven in the exercise of the office foretold by John the Baptist, "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost". As in baptism there is an immersion in the element of water, so this initial company of believers was, so to speak, submerged in the Holy Ghost, brought absolutely under new direction and control, and received a new name, "the Christ" (1 Cor. 12: 12), for they had become one body with the Head above. The signs of the Spirit's presence were wind and fire; wind is a fitting symbol of the liberty of the Spirit unfettered by human control, while the cloven tongues of fire set forth that the Spirit could rest upon each on the ground that judgment had been accomplished, and that henceforth Jew and Gentile in one body had access through Christ by one Spirit to the Father, to offer praise and worship, in spirit and in truth. A beautiful illustration of this inaugural baptism is in Psalm 133. The precious ointment was upon the head of Aaron, but it went down to the skirts of his garments; when Christ received the anointing of the Spirit as Man in heaven it was shed forth upon all His own, so that the feeblest member was reached by it, nevertheless, it was still upon Himself the Head. In this lies the force of the Scripture "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (1 Cor. 6: 17). There could be no repetition of this initial act; the one body was formed, there could be no other, and to it believers have since been added by the sealing of the Spirit. Sealing must not be confused with the baptism of the Spirit. Sealing is individual, baptism is collective. When a believer receives the Holy Ghost, the seal of his faith in Christ, he is brought into that one body which was inaugurated at Pentecost.

Another result was consequent upon the coming of the Spirit; those who formed the one body became also the dwelling place of God. God the Holy Ghost was in personal presence, not an influence exercised from a distance on certain occasions, but actually present and abiding. Note the twofold action in Acts 2: 2, 3. Filling all the house where they were sitting, and resting upon each one of them. The first indicated that God had again a house on earth, even as when the glory filled the tabernacle, or the temple which Solomon built. But here was now no material building made with hands, but a temple of living stones having Christ for its foundation and inhabited by the Holy Ghost; maintained by Divine power in the midst of a hostile world, until at the coming of the Lord it shall be translated from earth to heaven. The second was the announcement that as members of Christ's body they had all been made to drink into one Spirit, the Holy Ghost was not only dwelling amongst them, but abiding within each as our Lord had promised: "He dwelleth with you and shall be in you (John 14: 17). What a blessed unity! who that realizes it in the smallest measure would wish to substitute for it the patchwork devices by which many seek to hide the present broken condition of the Church. The various efforts on foot to produce some outward unity, are at best the seeking for some compromise in which each sect shall be able to maintain their sectarian differences under the cloke of outward conformity, and in the process, alas! every vital truth is being given up, and men are found usurping the place which belongs alone to the Holy Ghost. What, then, is the path in which the Spirit would lead the members of Christ in this day of confusion? Not, indeed, to make a unity, but to acknowledge the union which He formed at Pentecost; not to seek a fresh baptism of the Spirit, but rather grace to walk in the power of that which has been bestowed; to cast away the things which have caused the disruption and scattering, and to allow the Holy Spirit to gather to the Name and authority of the Head all who acknowledge that Name alone. The Holy Spirit has never departed from that first inauguration at Pentecost. He asserts as clearly as ever to-day, there is one body, one Spirit, one hope of our calling (Eph. 4: 4). The Lord's Supper is the continual expression of it. "The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, one body, for we are all partakers of that one loaf" (1 Cor. 10: 17). All the members of the body have part in this, and none may be excluded, except those who in doctrine, or practice, or ungodly association, are found inconsistent with the holiness of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, which the Holy Spirit is here to maintain. Should any such be excluded from that which it is their privilege to do, it should be grief and sorrow to the other members of the body, for being one body and having one Spirit, the members should have the same care one for another, suffering with those that suffer, and rejoicing with those that are honoured. This will suggest the consideration of how much help and ministry is lost, in failing to maintain the truth of the Headship of Christ. He has set gifts in the Church, given them not to a part but to the whole. These gifts are distinct; there are various services and operations, yet none are opposed, but intended rather to work together for the edifying of the body of Christ; because the same Spirit, the same Lord, the same God, operates all things in all. Alas! how easily we let slip the brightest and the best things, and in mistaken zeal build closed houses which shut away from one another those who are members of the same body to their own loss and the loss of those who dwell not with them. God changes not His purposes; the day of manifestation will sweep away the wood, hay, and stubble of human devices, and reveal the workmanship of God. Then shall we adore the marvellous grace of Christ, who, as Head of His body, has amidst all the failure sanctified and purified His Church, by washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself glorious, holy, and blameless, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing. This is His side; if the contemplation of it causes us to be ashamed of our side, may we consider our ways, and seek grace to walk together more worthy of the calling wherewith we have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit.

James Green.

Membership and Fellowship.

The baptism of the disciples with the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost marked a new departure in God's ways; entirely new things were then and there established. In the first place the "one body" became an accomplished fact. Secondly, the Apostle's fellowship came clearly into view. Membership is in Scripture connected with the former, not with the latter.

Between the one body and the Apostle's fellowship the closest connection exists, yet are they quite distinct and distinguishable things. The one was, and is, a fact of a spiritual nature only to be apprehended by faith, the other, a fact of an historic nature, though based upon spiritual realities, capable of being apprehended by ordinary powers of observation, at least in its beginnings before human failure had marred it.

The one body is an actual existing fact on this earth. It is the body of Christ, sometimes spoken of as His mystical body, though incorrectly as we believe, since the word mystical tends to infer that it is something lying in the region of pure theory, or something hidden in the heavens, and thus to obscure the fact that it is an existing thing on this earth. This truth is clearly seen in 1 Corinthians 12, where we find members feeble or honoured, suffering or rejoicing, as the case may be. These experiences are actual, not theoretical, and are clearly upon earth and not in heaven.

The one body was formed by the baptism of the Spirit: this 1 Corinthians 12: 13 shows. Seeing that this baptism took place on the day of Pentecost it may be wondered why the fact was not revealed, and stated in Acts 2. But a very essential feature is that the body embraces both Jews and Gentiles, and hence it was appropriate enough that the revelation of the fact should wait until Gentiles too were baptized into the body. In Acts 2: 15-17, Peter treats the reception of the Spirit by the Gentile Cornelius and his friends as a baptism of the Spirit, and it was after this and through Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles, that the truth was revealed, though the body had existed from the day of Pentecost.

The fact that, though the one body existed from Pentecost, its existence was not recognized apart from the subsequent revelation as to it, which revelation, like all others, needs faith for its reception, just proves what we previously asserted, viz., that the one body is a fact of a spiritual nature only to be apprehended by faith. That three thousand souls had on the day of Pentecost received the new teaching of the Apostles and, consequently, consorted with them in their society and fellowship, was a fact of another order, capable of being apprehended apart from faith.

In 1 Corinthians 12 the salient point as to the body is its oneness, and this oneness is based upon the truth that it is formed by one Spirit, and is therefore of an organic nature with nothing of the artificial about it. The one body is therefore the fruit of an act of God. It is His workmanship. We did not make ourselves children of God. We were born "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1: 12-13). Equally so, we did not make ourselves members of the body of Christ. That, too, was not of the will of man but of God. It comes, therefore, under that declaration which applies to all God's works of a spiritual nature, "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever" (Ecc. 3: 14). No human opposition nor failure can touch it. It abides to-day.

And its unity abides to-day: this can be said with equal certainty. The multiplied divisions of Christendom have not in the least affected it, though they have grievously marred the fellowship which was so fair in apostolic days. "There is one body." Those words are as true to-day as when penned to the Ephesian believers.

Let us, then, again emphasize this oneness. There has been but one body all through the ages, and there are not two, in any sense whatever, to-day. It is very necessary to ponder this in all its bearings lest, in some subtle sense, which we hardly discern, we do after all entertain the thought of more than one. Some who firmly believe in one body, and would utterly repudiate the thought of two opposed bodies, which might be expressed diagrammatically by two circles side by side, might yet be very inclined to contend most stoutly for the same thought in a guise which might be expressed by two circles, one large and one small, the smaller within the larger especially if in the diagram the circles were not concentric, and the centre placed in the middle of the little one.

Into this one body are "we all" baptized (1 Cor. 12: 13). Here all saints are in view - all who have received the Spirit of God. The body in its universal aspect is before us. The words with which verse 12 closes - "so also is Christ" - prove this. The body is identified with and bears the name of the Head, but, then, that is the body viewed universally and not in any restricted or local sense. Elsewhere, however, the body is viewed locally in this Epistle, as, for instance, verse 27 of chapter 12. In this verse "the" should be omitted, and we read, "Now ye are body of Christ, and members in particular". That is, the whole assembly in Corinth, comprising every Spirit-sealed person in the place, bore that character. In chap. 12: 17, the local aspect of the one body is also evidently in view.

When, therefore, we view the Church as the one body - the body of Christ - we are considering it as set by an act of the Spirit of God, in pursuance of the Father's counsels, in certain relations with Christ: relations which involve a very high and wonderful place of privilege, and, further, which are intended to profoundly affect our lives, and particularly our behaviour one to the other. In other words, proper Christian fellowship is largely, though by no means exclusively, carried out in the light of the truth of the one body.

The Apostles' fellowship of which we read in Acts 2 was of course proper Christian fellowship. It came into evidence on the day of Pentecost through three thousand souls receiving the Apostles' doctrine, and that doctrine was the Apostles' as received from the Lord Jesus Christ. "I have given them Thy word" were His words as recorded in John 17. The full character of the fellowship, however, hardly appears to have come out at once. We turn to the Epistles for that.

In the Corinthian assembly true fellowship was gravely imperilled. Corinth was second only to Athens in its love of philosophies with their attendant schools of teaching, and the tendencies prevailing in the world crept into the Church. This resulted in their forming parties, or schools of opinion, around favourite teachers, parties which, if unchecked, would have developed into open divisions. Four things, indeed, seem to have marked the Corinthians, which successively and progressively mar true fellowship:

1st. Worldliness (chaps. 4: 8, 5: 1, 2, and 6: 11-18 in the second Epistle).

2nd. Men far too prominent in their thoughts to the obscuring of what is of God (chaps. 1: 20, 3: 21, 4. 6).

3rd. Schools of opinion formed round the teachings of certain of these men (chaps. 1: 12, 3: 4).

4th. A tendency with the leaders of the parties to evolve peculiar and distinctive doctrines, even false ones (chaps. 4: 6, 15: 12).

Confronted with these evils the Apostle Paul in his two Epistles sets before them as a corrective the true character of Christian fellowship. He alludes to it three times, in chapters 1: 9, 10: 16-22, and 13: 14 of the second Epistle.

In the first place it is the fellowship of God's Son. It is not here "with" but "of", that is, the fellowship is formed around Him, He is its unifying centre; and upon it His character is impressed. 1 Samuel 22 may be taken as an illustration. From the time of David's sojourn in the cave of Adullam a fellowship began to gather about him. It was his fellowship. It was not Abiathar's, though Abiathar by a combination of circumstances was brought into it. David was its unifying centre, and his character was stamped upon it. Abiathar or any other of David's followers might have been laid low by one of Saul's javelins, and the fellowship have remained unimpaired, but had David been smitten to death the fellowship would have been at once dissolved.

In the second place the character of Christian fellowship is determined by the death of Christ, of which the loaf and the cup in the Lord's supper are the symbols. His death was not only the highest expression of His love, but also the consummation of the breach between Himself and man after the flesh, and man's world. By His death, His fellowship, which is that of the Apostles, stands disconnected from Jewish sacrifices and fellowship as much as from that of heathen idolatry, as 1 Corinthians 10 shows.

In the third place it is the communion or fellowship of the Holy Ghost. Not only have we all been baptized into one body by the Spirit, but we "have been all made to drink into one Spirit". Every one called to the fellowship of God's Son has drunk of the living water of which John 4 speaks, and, consequently, has within him that well of water springing up to eternal life. Christian fellowship is not, therefore, merely an association which finds its centre in an outside Object, even when that object is so great and glorious as Christ; it is one which also palpitates with an inward spring of vitality and power in the Spirit of God. Here were the Corinthians making little circles round various teachers which should throb with admiration of the teacher in question. To such, the Apostle says, "the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all". He had previously told them "All the saints salute you, and bidden them "Greet one another with an holy kiss". Did they respond? Anyway, to get away in mind from the confined and stuffy atmosphere of sectarianism into the fresh currents of the Spirit is a blessing indeed.

The Apostle John in his first Epistle supplements the above by telling us of the vast range of spiritual treasure which is held in common by all those brought into the Apostle's fellowship. The Apostles started with the knowledge of the Word of life, and of the life itself which had been manifested to them in Him. Thus their fellowship was with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. All this they gladly communicated to all brought into their fellowship, so that they, too, might hold it in common with themselves, and share in the fullness of joy which it brings. It is clear, therefore, that Christian fellowship does not consist only in an association of an outward kind, but involves also the most blessed intercourse and mutuality of Divine knowledge and affections which all are brought to share with the Father and the Son, and with one another.

For a brief moment at the beginning of the Church's history there was perfect agreement between the membership of Christ's body and the fellowship of the Apostles. The truth that was of a spiritual nature and only to be apprehended as revealed to faith, found an accurate representation whereby it was displayed before men. We do not, however, travel far into the Acts of the Apostles before we find discrepancies between the two appearing, and soon there are to be found a number within the circle of the Apostles' fellowship, whose membership of Christ's body was open to question. We refer to the Judaizing teachers of Acts 15: 1. In Galatians 2. 4, Paul alludes to these as "false brethren unawares brought in". Notice they were "brought in", and hence he calls them "brethren" , but he stigmatizes them as "false" .

"Brought in" - to what? we may well ask. Not into the body of Christ, for the Holy Ghost makes no mistakes in His actings, and that is His work. Brought into the circle of apostolic fellowship yes; for even while Apostles were still personally on earth, errors of reception were committed, and the circle of their fellowship - the visible Church on earth - was no longer a faithful transcript of the one body of Christ.

Now that we are near the end, with the Church's home-call before us, it is important for us to remember that all the failure and break-up so sadly manifest, is only in the sphere of fellowship - the sphere of membership remains untouched. It is also important for us to remember that the responsibility rests as much as ever on every saint, to walk according to the Apostles' fellowship, though the only way in which we possess the Apostles to-day is in their writings - the New Testament. To commence to deal with how this may be done would carry us beyond the proper limits of the present article.

F. B. Hole.

The Holy Spirit of Promise".

The work of the Holy Spirit of God finds a large place in the Epistle to the Ephesians. This might be expected where the mystery concerning Christ and the assembly is so prominent, for the Spirit's special mission in the world during the present period is immediately connected therewith.

He is designated "that Holy Spirit of promise" in chapter 1: 13; and twelve times is He spoken of in this epistle. His present service in securing the assembly, the body and bride of Christ, for her living Head in heaven is shown, and that in accord with God's eternal purpose in Christ.

That purpose concerning His beloved Son filled His heart and mind before the ages of time; and, though to the natural eye it appears otherwise, He works all things in regard to it: "according to the counsel of His own will" everything is resolved in relation to that unalterable purpose, for the deep joy of His own heart, and for the glory and satisfaction of His Son.

The Holy Spirit has come. Eternal redemption having been obtained in Christ through His blood, He seals those who believe in connection with the exalted Object of divine counsel, and gives them a foretaste of the glory to which they are going, while He comforts, cheers, and strengthens them on their way, ministering the unsearchable riches of our Lord Jesus Christ and His surpassing love to their expectant hearts. Christ is the glorious Object in view in all the Spirit's work, just as He is also of the purpose and counsel of God, and He becomes the one pre-eminent Object of our hearts too, as the Spirit is unhindered and ungrieved within us.

Neither ourselves nor the Spirit are to be objects for us. It is His pleasure to show us the things of the Father and the Son. The Lord Jesus said, when speaking of His coming, "He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall announce it to you"; adding, "all things that the Father has are Mine".

When Abraham counselled concerning his son, his eldest servant undertook the journey to a distant land to obtain a wife for Isaac. His whole mission and work had the son in view, and that according to Abraham's purpose. The rich gifts of "jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment" would impress the fair damsel: the golden earrings, and the golden bracelets with the other precious things, would tell her of the wealth to which Abraham's son was heir. The words of the unnamed servant, too, would extol the object of his service, and one whom she had never seen would become endeared to her as she journeyed to join him where he was.

The Spirit has also brought to us the jewels of divine grace, the silver riches of redemption - the golden treasures of righteousness - and the precious things of the excellencies of Christ. He tells us, too, of Himself, of His glory and His love, and so wins our hearts for the Son of the Father, that it can be said of us - before we see Him face to face —"Whom having not seen ye love; in Whom though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye exult with joy unspeakable and filled with the glory ".

As we have previously seen, the mystery in the first place speaks of Christ's co-heirs; secondly, of the fellow members of His body; and thirdly, of the joint partakers of life in Christ. When Rebekah came to Isaac he dwelt at "Lahairoi", at the well of "the, living one". There she shared in all that was Isaac's. As one with himself she partook of the same inheritance and of the same life. At the end of the Bible the Spirit shows us the bride of Christ - one with Him in glory - one with The Living One. Everything is seen to be marked by life in the energy of the Spirit. The Book of Life is there. The Fountain of life is there. The Tree of life flourishes there. The pure River of water of life flows there; and meanwhile, before the Bridegroom calls her, the Spirit and the bride say to Him, Come! She longs to see Him! Then, turning earnestly to those still "dead in trespasses and sins", she says, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely"!

Life and the Spirit are found together in the Word, and both are the portion of those who belong to Christ. Indeed, it is said in Romans 8: 10, "The Spirit is life on account of righteousness". This is ours to know in divine power now, before the glorious day to which we are hastening onward. Therefore we may well allow our glad notes of praise to resound along the heavenward road

"Now by grace the Spirit's given,

Here to us these themes belong;

Let us sing the song of heaven;

'Tis our everlasting song!

Endless life in Christ possessing,

Let us praise His glorious Name,

Glory, honour, power and blessing,

Be for ever to the Lamb!"

The Spirit and Christ's Co-Heirs.

The first mention of the Holy Spirit in Ephesians speaks of His sealing the co-heirs (chapter 1: 13, 14). This sealing is individual, but it is in view of what is collective. Each one who hears the Word of truth, the glad tidings of salvation, and believes in Christ, is immediately sealed with the Spirit of promise. It should not read, "After ye believed", but "having believed ye have been sealed".

The Spirit is here designated "The Spirit of promise" because the heirs and the inheritance are before the mind. His coming was often foretold. He is yet to be poured out on "all flesh" ( Joel 2: 28). We have an example of it in Acts 2; but only one hundred and twenty were then baptized by Him. This was extended necessarily to Gentiles who believed (see Acts 11: 15); nevertheless, there is no repetition of this baptism now as some seem to seek after.

By the gift and baptism of the Spirit at the beginning both Jews and Gentiles who received Him were made one. That was according to the truth of the mystery — fellow-members of the same body. Since that time He seals individuals (thus, too, they are vitally brought into the one body), and He gives them a foretaste of what is to come, when He will pervade all, for He is "the Earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession". In God's own time the inheritance will be actually possessed by Christ and His co-heirs. They have the firstfruits of the Spirit now, as being indwelt by the Spirit of promise; and these co-heirs are the sons of God, the brethren of Christ; therefore, because they are sons, the Spirit of God's Son has been sent out into their hearts, crying, Abba, Father (Gal. 4: 6). In Ephesians 2: 18, their liberty of approach to the Father is said to be by "one Spirit", for though He graciously seals us individually as the sons and heirs of God, yet, what is collective is in view as we have said. Christ presents them with Himself before the Father. They are one with Him, and He is not ashamed to call them brethren. His own Spirit - the Spirit of God's Son - is in their hearts. All this subsists vitally.

Now, though the sealing of the co-heirs comes first in Ephesians, because the marking off of those who are to form the assembly is in view; yet, it is well that we should notice other things in connection with the work of the Spirit.

The preaching, which calls sinners out of darkness into this marvellous association, is by the Holy Ghost sent from heaven"; and those who believe are "born of water and the Spirit". Scripture tells us that the water is the Word, and this is made operative in those who hear in faith by the Holy Spirit. A new nature is the consequence, and this delights in what is of God, in contrast to the old nature which finds pleasure in fleshly lusts. The love of God, too, is shed abroad in the heart, the love which was manifested when Christ died for us, "the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord", the love which God commends to us.

Moreover, the Spirit abidingly indwells those who believe. He is the power by which they enter into, and do, those things in which the new nature delights. The truths of Scripture become living and real to them, for the same Spirit who inspired the one indwells the other. This explains the fact that such understand what the most educated students of Scripture, if unconverted, fail to grasp. Those who have the Spirit may be guided into all truth, but those who are in the flesh, still unsaved, cannot know these things. The normal way of the Spirit is to teach us through the inspired writings. He brings them home to us by ministry or by private reading of the Word of God.

We have said, the Object in view in all His service is the Son of God, for He is here to glorify Him before our hearts. Even in the ministry of the truth of Scripture, He leads our thoughts to the One who is Himself the Truth personally. He may bring many things before us; and, when grieved, give us a sense of what we have done to so grieve Him; but, normally, His gracious work is ever to lead us to the Son of God, giving us to know His personal glory and love, and the portion which is ours with Him as His co-heirs.

The mystery itself was revealed at the first by the Spirit to the apostles and prophets. He is the Unction of 1 John 2: 20, by whom we know all things. It is He also by whose power we are strengthened in the inner man so that Christ, the Centre and Sun of the coming glory, might dwell in our hearts through faith; so that the surpassing love of Christ may be our present portion. He it is who enables us to wield His sword - "the sword of the Spirit" - in the conflict with the powers of darkness, who would rob us of the enjoyment of our part with Christ. It is by Him we are maintained in the spirit of prayer and supplication; and in Him the kingdom of God is known - its righteousness, peace, and joy. How needful, therefore, is it for us to heed the exhortation, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption".

He would ever keep the Object of His mission, and the true Object of our hearts, before us; but the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. Those who are the sons of God are led by the Spirit, and the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in them as they walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. It is the Spirit who witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God; and "if children, heirs also: heirs of God and Christ's joint heirs: if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him" (Rom. 8. 17). He is already glorified at God's right hand as Head of the assembly, and

"The Spirit doth unite

Our souls to Him our Head,

And forms us to His image bright,

While in His steps we tread".

The One Spirit and the One Body.

We learn in Ephesians 3: 6, that the unifying of all believers into one body is the second part of the mystery: called out from amongst Jews and Gentiles they are made one. Chapter 4: 4 teaches us, "There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling". The "one Spirit" is named again in chapter 2: 18, in regard to our access to the Father; also in 1 Cor. 12: 13, in reference to the fact that "by one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bondmen or freemen, and have all been given to drink of one Spirit". This emphasizes the vital unity of all true believers, and the power by which this unity subsists.

Throughout all the present period the Spirit maintains this vital organism, whatever failure may come into the professing assemblies of Christ: during the time of Christ's rejection, of His bodily absence from the world, of His exaltation at the right hand of God as the Head of the assembly, the Spirit never fails in His gracious work.

When Christ ascended to the Father, the Spirit came down at Pentecost upon about one hundred and twenty believers who were gathered together in one accord at Jerusalem. That was the beginning of the body, the assembly. It was the baptism of the Spirit. From that moment it could be said, "There is one body and one Spirit". It could not have been said previously, for redemption had not been secured, and risen life in and for man was unknown. Moreover, the Head of the assembly, the body, was not exalted, nor the Spirit given. Both were necessary for the forming of the one body and the uniting of it vitally to its glorious Head. It is said of our Lord Jesus Christ in resurrection, "He is the Head of the body, the assembly, who is the Beginning, Firstborn from among the dead". The assembly could not have been in being before this.

The truth of the one body was not unfolded till long after Pentecost, though the body was itself there. The truth was given to the apostle of the Gentiles to minister. There had been national dealings with Israel, and individual dealings with Abraham and others, but nothing of a corporate nature before Pentecost. Such a thing as the members of one body being vitally united together by the Spirit to a living Man in heaven was not and could not be previously known. The very gifts which are peculiar to the present dispensation are for "the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4: 12). They had no existence till Christ was ascended to God's right hand. Those, too, which are in the assembly itself derive their diverse abilities and operations from the Spirit given at Pentecost.

The importance of the peculiar and special constitution of the assembly needs to be better understood, and the functions of the members of the body in the Spirit's power also. "All these things operates the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each in particular according as He pleases. For even as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ. For also in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body" (1 Cor. 12: 11-13). This aspect of the truth not only preserves from clericalism, but also from independency; for all the members of the one body are necessary; and where the Spirit is unquenched collectively He manifests His activities through the members for the profit of all. If all the gifts in the assembly were thus happily in function there would be oneness and yet diversity in ministry, and the distinct operations of the Spirit therewith would be for the comfort, cheer, and blessing of the whole.

The apostle Paul often refers to himself as the persecutor of the assembly. He, above all the others, became its devoted servant for Christ's glory after his conversion. Then, we are told in Acts 9 the assemblies had peace; being edified and walking in the fear of the Lord, they increased through the comfort of the Holy Ghost. Where the Spirit is unhindered in His gracious and encouraging work, prosperity in the assemblies is sure to be present. He is called the Comforter, also the Spirit of Truth. He leads, He guides, He teaches, and He glorifies Christ. He is in us and with us, nor does He leave us even when we grieve Him, for we are sealed by Him unto the day of redemption. May we therefore have grace and solicitude to see that no hindrance exists on our side. May we be self-judged, and free in heart and mind to be led and guided by Him.

In speaking of the gifts named in Ephesians 4 we said they had the edification of the assembly in view. The first two named had to do with the foundation; the second two (for they are not three) with the continuation of the work. We are distinctly told that "the apostles and prophets" laid "the foundation" (Eph. 2: 20). These were given from Christ ascended, and have no connection with Old Testament prophets. The "evangelists" and "shepherd-teachers" are the two gifts remaining to-day, and will remain till the work is complete. There is also, as we have indicated, the functions of the body for its self-building up, through the working in its measure of each member and part, and thus it makes "the increase of the body to its self-building up in love ".

There is still one body and one Spirit to-day: one living organism energized by the Holy Ghost: every member is livingly joined to the exalted Man, the Head of the assembly; and it is to Him we are to grow up in all things, as we await His coming again, for

'Tis thence - now Christ is gone on high,

Redemption's work complete -

The Spirit brings His glory nigh,

To those who for Him wait".

The Spirit and the Life.

We have spoken of the Spirit of promise and the co-heirs also of the one Spirit and the one body; and it now remains for us to consider the Spirit and the life.

We saw that, primarily, the truth connected with the co-heirs was individual, but that the collective was in view, according to the first part of the mystery of Christ and the assembly. Likewise that the corporate aspect of the truth was contained in the second. In that which is now before us we have the vital side, according to the last part of the mystery.

The assembly could have no being at all apart from life in Christ Jesus. This is a fundamental matter, as Ephesians 4: 17-25 shows. Either we are altogether "alienated from the life of God", or we are of "the new man" and "members one of another", partaking together of divine life. The Spirit is the power of this new life; therefore progress in every grace is to be expected; nevertheless, we either have life or we have not.

The Holy Spirit is so completely identified with this life, that in the first part of Romans 8., where the truth of freedom from the law of sin and death is prominent, He is Himself said to be life. Not only is the mind of the Spirit "life and peace" in contrast to the mind of the flesh which is "death"; but, we are distinctly told, "The Spirit is life on account of righteousness". A new principle of life in Christ Jesus, the risen Man, which makes free from the old principle of bondage, is ours. This new principle is called, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus". Eventually, at the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ, the very bodies of the saints will be "quickened", made alive, raised or changed (for quickening covers both) "on account of His Spirit" which dwells in us. Freedom from sin and death will be actually and altogether enjoyed then. Spirit, soul, and body will be blameless, and glorious too, for we shall be like Christ in scenes of incorruptibility, immortality, and glory, where the Holy Spirit pervades all in heavenly perfection.

Even now, those who partake together of life in Christ Jesus, are variously spoken of as having "eternal life", "passed out of death into life", "quickened with Christ", "alive from the dead", "living stones," etc. At the present time such are built together in the Lord, we are told, "for a habitation of God in the Spirit" (Eph. 2. 22). What cannot be found in a house of lifeless material God finds in this living structure. There He receives heart response to the "great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins" (chapter 2: 5); "worship in Spirit and in truth" rises to Him in that habitation of divine life and love.

In this connection the Spirit is spoken of as being in us, and as "springing up into everlasting life", like water rising to its source's level. In the death of our Lord Jesus Christ the "great love" of God has been fully told out: its manifestation is seen at Calvary's cross; and those who appropriate the death of Christ in faith have eternal life (John 6: 54). The love and the life go together; and worship flows from the knowledge of God's love, and of the One whose love it is. The Spirit sheds abroad that love in the heart, therefore worship rises responsively to God in life and love by the Spirit in His habitation, in the house of God. He dwells in the praises of His own. These are grateful and melodious to Him, for all subsists in vitality and love.

It is there also that His glory is known. All within speaks of it, for all is in Christ. The tabernacle is the type. Every board of it was covered with gold, speaking of Christ being our righteousness. The blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the fine twined linen tell of His heavenly, royal, and human glories. It was set up on sockets of silver, speaking of the redemption ground on which God's living habitation now rests in Christ, through the blood of the cross. The oil, too, as well as the blood, had its place in relation to the tabernacle. The anointing oil indicates the Spirit of God. He it is whose gracious ministry brings the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ, before us. He glorifies Him and shows His things to us. These things are seen by those who dwell in God's habitation in the power of the Spirit. The natural eye sees them not. Creation and Horeb show God's glory in a measure - His power, His divinity, and His holiness, but

"ALL His glory shines resplendent

In the person of the Son,

Jesus Christ His well-beloved,

Who redemption's glory won".

Moreover, we are told, "The Anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you" (there was no natural light in the Tabernacle, it was provided by the oil). "The same Anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him". There is no need to turn elsewhere. Eternal life is here. The Father is known, because the Son has declared Him, and the Spirit leads us into the deep reality of it all. The Anointing teaches us. God is known in His sanctuary. This could hardly be said of creation simply, in the same way and measure.

The Spirit is often associated in Scripture with "living water", "springing water", "rivers of water", "running water", "breath", "wind" and "oil" or "unction". Movement is characteristic of the Spirit. He is called "the eternal Spirit". We do not get the names "eternal Father" or "eternal Son" in the Bible. The truth of the eternal Father and the eternal Son is abundant in Scripture, though not the designations. Figures of love, grace, and strength and glory are associated with these. The flow of the Spirit carries into the current of eternal realities. Fruit, too, is produced in living grace amongst those who are the subjects of His work. Mere religionists and others may try to imitate this to-day, but there is an entire lack of the heavenly and pious character of the other, even though austere rules are observed to produce it. The fruit of the Spirit which is "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control", against which there is no law - is borne with becoming grace and for the honour of God. Love is necessarily first, and it is striking that joy should be the second named. "Full of joy" and "full of the Holy Ghost" go together.

We are exhorted to be "filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5: 18). If we are filled thus the right condition and the right Person will be characteristic of us. To be full of the Spirit is the very opposite of being full of ourselves, our joyful feelings, or anything else. Our joy will be full indeed, but the Son of God will be before us, for the Spirit glorifies Him when He is unhindered. He will direct our gladdened gaze to Him and His things. Nor are we filled like a lake, or like the dead sea which has no outlet. The living grace of the Eternal Spirit flows into our rejoicing hearts that it may flow out as "rivers of living water": to all around the refreshing and vivifying waters are to flow: "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and chanting with your heart to the Lord; giving thanks at all times"; and to "whosoever will" the water of life is to be free: to the weary and the fainting, to the heavy laden and burdened; to the lost and the sinful, to the "dead in trespasses and offences" the fresh, living, bountiful rivers are to flow out: the word of life is to be gladly proclaimed in the gracious energy of the Spirit.

H. J. Vine.

Gatherings of Assembly Character.

During special seasons of revival, and the various activities which accompany such times, there is usually present the danger of being carried to extremes, so that the safe ground of the faith is practically forsaken, and that which is designated by the Spirit of God, "the pillar and base of the truth," is either neglected or abandoned altogether. That is the danger.

Until they were well disciplined, and seasoned by experience, the British army in France lost largely through the zeal and energy of keen soldiers whose valour often carried them too far, taking them beyond the limits set by military wisdom, and so putting themselves out of touch with support from the base of operations.

It is of the utmost importance that the present truth of Christ and the assembly should therefore be understood by us; otherwise, even our zeal in service may put us practically beyond the direction of Headquarters; and we may carry others with us to disaster, even when we think success is attending our aggressive campaign as we pierce far into the enemies' lines.

It is right to "fight the good fight of faith". We are told to do so. But the base must be well established, and the communication lines maintained intact. To abandon gatherings of an assembly character, where the presence of the Lord in the midst is known, is to court defeat; showing, shall we say, either ignorance or independence of God's present order.

The Assembly.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said, as He looked forward to the present time, "I will build My assembly" (Matt. 16: 18). He also indicated that the schemes and attacks of Satan would be directed against it; but, He gave us this assurance, "The gates of hades shall not prevail against it". We should, therefore, be encouraged, and remain true to that which shall come through in triumph and victory, as being loyal to Him who is engaged in the construction of His assembly, allowing no wile of Satan to turn us aside.

This building is in progress now. Having secured eternal redemption by His sufferings and death at Calvary, Christ ascended to God's right hand and gave the Holy Spirit to be in us and with us till His return. We are, therefore, thus formed into one - "built together for an habitation of God in the Spirit"; and upon "the foundation of the apostles and prophets" (whose teaching is still the groundwork of the assembly), the building being fitted together in Jesus Christ the Corner Stone, "increaseth to a holy temple in the Lord" (Eph. 2: 21).

It cannot be gainsaid that this glorious work still goes on, for the Holy Spirit Himself in the above Scriptures tells us so; but we may ask the question, Why is the assembly being thus builded? The answer is quite plain. In the future God is going to have a universal metropolis, where His Throne will be, with Christ as the Centre. This is the assembly, "the bride, the Lamb's wife". At the present time the material is being gathered together and fitted for the day of glory; and it becomes, meanwhile, as we have seen, an habitation of God in the Spirit. In the past, before Christ ascended to God's right hand, this building did not exist at all. The dealings of God with the nation of Israel and the other nations and peoples (who are to be ranged under the King of kings and Lord of lords in the millennium) are in abeyance till the assembly is complete, and till it is glorified with our Lord Jesus Christ. It is now being prepared for that glory.

The Head of the assembly is already glorified; and the assembly is not only the house of God, it is also the body of Christ. Over all things Christ is exalted as Head, and He holds this headship in relation to the assembly. He is Head over all now, though it is only apparent to faith. In the future it will be seen publicly that this is so; and the assembly which is His body, complete then in glory, is the fullness of Him who filleth all in all (Eph. 1: 23).

At the present time the assembly as Christ's body is said to "grow up to Him in all things who is the Head, the Christ; from whom the whole body, fitted together, and compacted by every joint of supply, according to the working in its measure of each one part, works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building-up in love" (Eph. 4. 16). Mark, this is no question of gift, but of each member fulfilling its function in the body which is the assembly. To neglect this for any other sort of religious activity is a very serious matter. Nothing furthers this "increase of the body" like gatherings of an assembly character.

As to the past, before the Head of the body, the assembly, was glorified, there could of course be no body on earth united to a Man in heaven at all. That is a self-evident fact.

When our Lord Jesus Christ ascended on high, in view of filling all things, He gave gifts to men. These, we are told, were given for the "edifying of the body of Christ, until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God". A definite end is in view. The work of the ministry at present is for that purpose. This refers to the exercise of gift very specially; but it is important to see that even in this case the prosperity of the assembly is the object. Where, then, is the loyalty to our Lord Jesus Christ on the part of those servants who are indifferent to gatherings of an assembly character?

The gifts are enumerated in Ephesians 4: 11. In the past - before the Giver of them, the exalted Man, gave such gifts - they clearly did not exist. The new work, in relation to the glory which is yet to be manifested, is that for which our Lord Jesus Christ gave them to men. It is for those who are thus gifted to be true in their work to Him who gave them for the edifying of the body, the assembly.

We have spoken of the assembly as the house of God and as the body of Christ, and of the ministry, and of each in relation to the future, the present and the past. We will now consider what is the Scriptural ground of gatherings of an assembly character.

The Ground of Gathering.

In the first intimation of the assembly, in Matthew 16 we are told that the rock foundation of Christ's assembly is "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16: 16, 17) as revealed by His Father who is in the heavens. That is the ground upon which it is constructed as a whole. All gatherings which partake of the character of the assembly also find their ground in who and what He is, as we shall see.

Fellowship is involved in such gatherings, and all true believers are "called into the fellowship of God's Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1: 9). If the upbuilding or edification of the assembly be in view, we are reminded that the Foundation already laid is "Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3: 11).

"The Church's one Foundation

Is Jesus Christ her Lord."

If the gathering be for prayer then it is said, as an abiding fact, by our Lord Jesus Christ, "where two or three are gathered together to My Name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18: 20). This covers a wider field than prayer simply, though it is in connection with prayer that the words were spoken. The Name of Christ is the ground given here. The Name speaks of who and what He is. Those gathered know this. They are gathered "to His Name", and He Himself is in the midst of them thus gathered.

In the last book of the Old Testament, when failure abounded, we read that those who feared the Lord got together, and the theme of their meditation and conversation was "His Name"; what He is became everything to them. That brought them together, and made their gatherings seasons of delight both to themselves and to the Lord who hearkened to what they said of Him. It is the same to-day! In Himself perfection is found by those that fear the Lord, although unrighteousness marks "organized religion", which professes His Name.

If the gatherings be for thanksgiving, for praise, or for worship - to "offer up spiritual sacrifices" - to exercise the functions of the "holy priesthood" - we are told that such offerings are "acceptable to God by Jesus Christ". We draw near to God "by Him": He is the One by whom we approach. In Him we have boldness, and He it is also who is the Stone, elect and precious, the Foundation of those who sing the songs of praise in Zion. He is the chief Corner-Stone likewise. He first suffered in the outside place to sanctify the worshippers by His own precious blood, and then passed in to the near place in God's own presence. "BY HIM therefore", it is said, "let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually to God, that is the fruit of the lips confessing His Name" (Heb. 13: 15).

Gatherings of an assembly character are "to His Name" and "in His Name". It is as He is known that the true ground of gathering is understood. We ourselves - the saints, the assembly - could never be the ground. The assembly is builded by Him, and upon Him, and in Him. It should be noticed that the Philadelphian character of the assembly, which goes right on till the Lord's return, is faithfulness to His Word and His Name. What is involved in that Name - who and what He is - may be entered into more by some than others, and this will greatly affect the tone of the gatherings. Those who thought upon His Name in Malachi's day would increase in the knowledge of it; and now it is fully revealed, and the Spirit is given, therefore we should advance much more in the excellent knowledge of its preciousness. Moreover, those who are of His assembly stand in relationships to Him which were unknown to these godly saints of Old Testament times as we have shown.

The recognition of this will greatly enhance to us the wonderful privileges which are connected with gatherings of an assembly character of to-day, for He who is Lord of all, exalted to God's right hand in glory, is known now to the assembly as its Head and its Bridegroom. They are united to Him by the Spirit as His body, and they are brought into union with Him as His bride. Indeed, the truth of the one body should affect all our gatherings of assembly character now. Twelve loaves on the table in the Temple might remind the priests who drew near that the twelve tribes were always represented before God, but the one loaf on the table of which we partake to-day reminds the worshippers in the presence of God that all true believers "are one loaf, one body" (1 Cor. 10: 17). This should never be lost sight of.

However much the assemblies may have been corrupted, the Scriptures are enough for us. They are able to "fully furnish" us. The Spirit who inspired their writing is in us. He leads us into the truth, and He forms us into one body. He is here, moreover, to glorify the Son of God. We have no authority to form religious gatherings after our own ideas. Necessity is not enough, as some say. We are told in 2 Timothy 2 to follow righteousness, as having departed from iniquity. This must necessarily involve our coming together in a right way - "with those that call upon THE LORD out of a pure heart".

All instructed believers will admit that the final words of the Bible have in view the close of the assembly's history in this world. It is there we are told of a special ministry of Christ "in the assemblies" in view of His return (Rev. 22: 16, 17), with the result that true believers are awakened to invite Christ to come - "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come!" These "assemblies" then are found at the end! Who therefore could think of giving up gatherings of an assembly character? Nay, rather let the word of exhortation be heeded as never before, as we draw near to the return of our Lord Jesus Christ - "not forsaking the assembling (complete assembling, i.e. of all the saints) of ourselves together, as the custom is with some; but encouraging one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching" (Heb. 10: 25).

The Value of Such Gatherings.

This question has been raised. One would otherwise be exceedingly slow to propound it or answer it. Their value to those who are saved by God's grace cannot be estimated. It is so vast. Scripture shows us also that such gatherings are of priceless value to God Himself. There is glory to God in the assembly in Christ Jesus eternally, and the praise that rises to Him now brings glory to His holy name.

As to ourselves, first of all, we are kept in the sense of the love of Christ when we are together in assembly to remember Him in the great expression of divine love, when He died for us. Then there is also the building up of our souls in the things of God; the edifying of the saints in the truth. This takes place in ministry when we are together in assembly character as nowhere else. Special addresses and preachings, important though they be, cannot do what the other does for us. Even prayer and thanksgiving in such gatherings are edifying, we are told in 1 Cor. 14: 12-19. All the Scriptures are open to those who thus meet together. A great part of them are closed to those who do not. Ignorance of these is freely admitted by many who follow the religious meetings of expediency which abound in Christendom, to the neglect of the order given in the Word of God for the coming together of the saints.

The truth thus learned sanctifies us, and by it we become partakers of the divine nature. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth when unhindered, and we are liberated from the influences of the world which is made up of lust and pride. We are filled with divine joy in a deepened knowledge of God as He is made known in His beloved Son, and He becomes the rejoicing of our hearts as He manifests His presence in the midst of those gathered together. What words can express the riches of the glory of this? Our gain is beyond telling! It is not simply that we ere freed from the oppression of Egypt, but we are brought into the wealth of the land of God's promise in Christ according to His eternal purpose, as the Spirit brings the glory of Him who is the blessed Object of that purpose before our glad hearts.

Moreover, in the exercises connected with such gatherings we are being prepared for the coming glory of which we have spoken. The trial of our faith in regard to this will be found to praise and honour and glory in that day. To miss these exercises means to miss a great deal for the time of His glorious reign. In Ephesians, where the saints are viewed as set in the land in Christ, we are told of the conflict which goes on in relation to this. The hosts of darkness seek to get us to give up in our souls the heavenly ground on which we are set in Christ, but we are told to "stand", not in our own strength, but as "strong in the Lord". The gain of all this is great indeed.

We are not, however, to think only of the value of gatherings of an assembly character to ourselves. Are we not told that the Father seeks worshippers? Where does He receive worship in Spirit and in truth as He does from those who are redeemed by the blood of Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit when assembled together? The vast creation cannot render this to Him as they do! It is said, Let all the angels of God worship Him. They do this, but they have not the same Spirit of relationship, nor do they yield the same character of worship as the redeemed. Even our growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is furthered in such gatherings, is not only of great value to us but to God also. We are told that "a wise son maketh a glad father". As we grow in wisdom we minister to the pleasure of God. Is not this an incentive to us to seek to promote each other's spiritual advance - for His sake? The praise and honour, and glory too, of which we have spoken, found as the result of trial of the faith of these wise sons in the day of Christ's glory, will be of great value in His holy sight.

These gatherings not only promote that which is of surpassing value to us, but, we repeat, that which is of value to God, who is ordering all things at the present time in view of the day when everything in the heavens and upon the earth shall be headed up in Christ, the glorious Centre of all. To gather around Him now prepares us for that day, when the assembly which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all, shall be glorified together with Him. He fills our hearts together now in His presence before that time, when He will fill all things. We learn now something of the order which is pleasing to Him, and in the precious knowledge of the Father and the Son, the high privileges of eternal life are enjoyed already.

"Brought to rest within the circle

Where love's treasures are displayed,

There we drink the living waters,

Taste the joys that never fade."

When in Israel, that which typifies our gathering to Christ's Name was maintained, all prospered; when the exercise Godward of the priesthood, which drew near to Him at the place of His Name, at the temple, was in full function, there was prosperity, peace, and blessing to the uttermost bounds of the kingdom. This gives some idea of the value of assembling together to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Such help in the outgoing of the light and the truth more than is usually understood. "Bring in" and I will "pour out" is the order (see Mal. 3: 10).

In conclusion, we would emphasize the importance of having no pattern before us less than that which is given by the Holy Spirit in Scripture as to the assembly. If we yield to other ideas we shall not be following righteousness, however near the original they may seem. We have no authority to forsake the path of God's will made known in the Word. There it is said by the apostle John, "He that knows God heareth us: he who is not of God does not hear us. From this we know the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error" (1 John 4. 6). More are affected by the latter spirit than they are aware of. If we love God we love His children, and shall desire to gather with them. If we do not, where are we? It is written, "Everyone that loves Him that has begotten loves also him that is begotten of Him". He loves God's children, and how can any do this and deliberately avoid gathering with them before the Lord?

We are doubtless nearing the return of our Lord Jesus Christ! That longed-for day is swiftly approaching! Not only do we see signs in the nations and in the awakening of national hopes in Israel, but the revival of the ministry of Christ Himself and His love, as foretold, shows this. At that glorious time all the saints of God will be gathered together to Him in the air, as we are told in 2 Thessalonians 2: 1, where we are besought to be unshaken in view of it - "by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our complete assembling unto Him". This word "complete assembling" is used in one other place, Hebrews 10, as we have already pointed out. There we are exhorted not to forsake the "complete assembling" of ourselves together, as the day of His return approaches God would not have just some of them, but all true believers assembling around the Lord. Then, as He Himself and His love fills every heart, that precious Scripture shall be fulfilled - "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come".

"Spirit and bride with longing voice, say, come;

Yea, Lord, thy word from that bright home, is,

'Surely, I will quickly come!'

E'en so, Lord, come."

Meanwhile, gatherings of an assembly character are to be maintained, and will be, even as the Word of God, which never fails, shows. To deliberately neglect these, therefore, is a very serious matter, whatever the pretext may be.

Henry J. Vine.

Apostolic Fellowship.

The Apostles' fellowship, as we have seen in a previous paper, did not long continue in its original power; yet it is quite evident that for so long as any of the Apostles remained on earth a considerable measure of power was present, and a proper discipline was largely exercised.

It is worthy of remark that discipline is connected with the church viewed as a fellowship, though it should be exercised in view of the fact that the Church is the body of Christ, and the house of God. The latter truth particularly bears upon it, inasmuch as "Holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, for ever" (Psalm 93. 5), yet if discipline be exercised so that the holiness and order of God's house be maintained, it is exercised in the sphere of practical fellowship. Offending saints were dealt with in apostolic times by their fellow-saints even to the extreme penalty of "putting away" from amongst them, so that no vestige of practical fellowship remained; yet no pretence was made of such offenders being cut off as members from "the body", nor removed as stones from "the house". All action in such connections lies in the hands of God alone. The only sphere where saints are competent to act is that of fellowship.

Passages that bear upon discipline in the assembly occur in several of the Epistles, and a careful examination shows that they divide under several heads.

There is first of all apostolic discipline. This peculiar form of it is hinted at by Paul in 1 Cor. 5. 3-5, and alluded to further in 2 Cor. 10: 2-10; 13: 2 and 10. An example of its exercise is given us in 1 Tim. 1. 20. A further threatening of its use is found in 3 John 10. Acts 5. 1-13 may also be cited as an historic account of such action. This, the most powerful form of discipline, has closed with the departure of the Apostles.

Secondly, there is that form of discipline which may be exercised by a servant of the Lord acting as an apostolic delegate - such as Timothy and Titus - or by a bishop or elder duly appointed. (1 Tim. 5. 20; Titus 1: 9-11; 3. 9-11.) "Rebuke before all"; "convince"; - stopping their mouths; - "Reject". These were actions taken under authority duly bestowed, and therefore autocratic - if one may so put it. This form of discipline also hardly exists to-day.

Thirdly, there is assembly discipline, or at least discipline of a collective nature. This may be exerted in varying degrees of severity. 1 Thess. 5. 14, gives us, perhaps, its mildest form: "Warn them that are unruly". Stronger action is contemplated in 2 Thess. 3. 6. If warning did not suffice they were to 'withdraw' themselves from such a disorderly brother. He was to be shunned and avoided and made to feel how the saints condemned his disorder. Again, in verse 14 of the same chapter a still severer form of discipline seems to be indicated. Some disorderly brother might aggravate his position by disregarding the Apostle's word, and with such "no company" was to be kept. Yet, even so, as verse 15 shows, he was to be admonished as a brother, and not put in the outside place of excommunication as an enemy. Rom. 16, 17 indicates action of a similar character to above. Then there is 1 Cor. 5. 9-13, and here we have the extreme limit of assembly discipline. In each of these cases the responsibility to act rests on the 'brethren' - on the assembly as such - and not on individuals of gift or authority.

Fourthly, there is that action which becomes incumbent upon the faithful believer however humble, when and if disorder supervenes generally in the Church as a consequence of Scriptural discipline ceasing to be exercised. 2 Tim. 2. 16-21 speaks very definitely of this. The responsibility to "depart from iniquity" always rests upon all who name the name of the Lord, and that in every shape and form, for verse 19 is the statement of a universal principle.

The case in point, however, which gave rise to the statement of the principle, is that of Hymenaeus and Philetus, and their very grave perversion of the truth concerning the resurrection. It was error of a fundamental nature calculated to overturn everything. The foundation of God was, indeed, sure and beyond their reach, but they overturned the faith of those who fell under their influence (v. 18). The faithful believer can have no compromise with this, and the illustration of a large establishment with its many vessels with their various uses is brought to enforce the necessity of purity both personal and in associations - that is, both inside the vessel and outside too. This passage, be it noted, is not addressed only to Timothy, in his authoritative position in the assembly, but to all. It is "every one" (v. 19) and "a man" (v. 21).

The question has been raised: - assuming the above to be correct, how are we to account for there being no trace of any such action, either by Timothy or other faithful men during the early centuries of Church history?

An answer is furnished by 1 John 2. 19. Writing a quarter of a century after Paul's farewell letter to Timothy, John tells us of the anti-Christian teachers who plagued the Church even in apostolic days. "They went out from us", and thus they revealed their true character. The first inroad of "grievous wolves", (Acts 20. 29) was repulsed by apostolic energy and the faith of the saints; and throwing off their sheep's clothing the wolves retired discomfited.

They are still seen as outside in 2 John 7–11, and being there a faithful saint, though a woman, is not to give them a foothold even in her house. Looking on to the last days, Paul prophesied that this sort would creep into houses and lead captive silly women; but the faithful woman of 2 John is to keep her door shut and withhold her salutation, inhospitable as it might seem. She was to resolutely decline fellowship down to the smallest detail.

The Epistles do not close, however, without giving us a warning as to the abuse of discipline within the sphere of Church fellowship. 3 John 9-10 shows that very early the adversary sought to discount godly discipline, destroying its force and effect, by a gross caricature through one Diotrephes. This man committed himself and others to three things. First, he would not receive the stranger brethren who had gone forth for Christ's name's sake, taking no support from the world. Second, he cast out of the Church those that would - and apparently did - receive them. Thirdly, he would not receive the Apostle John himself, apparently because he supported the stranger brethren, and disapproved of and condemned his highhanded proceedings.

So much for this short survey of apostolic instructions as to discipline in the assembly.

With the close of the apostolic writings we leave the sure ground of divine inspiration for the uncertain sands of human history. We may do well to step, in our minds, straight from A.D. 96 to A.D. 1921. Not that we would for one moment belittle the gracious movements of the Spirit of God through many different servants of Christ through the centuries, but we believe it will conduce to a clearer apprehension of the bearing of Scripture upon the present situation, and also enable us to avoid historic details which may be open to question, if we do so.

If, then, we ourselves had been but recently converted, and were just rejoicing in the discovery, from the Scriptures, of what the Church is in the thoughts of God, and of the nature and characteristics of Christian fellowship as originally instituted and regulated through the Apostles, what would be our first impression? Would it not be that the religious organizations - with which the majority of our fellow-Christians are connected - bear little or no resemblance to the apostolic model? And what would be the first question which would arise for solution? Would it not be as to whether we were bound to continue in such unscriptural organizations or whether, on the other hand, there were any apostolic instructions which would authorize the ordinary believer without gift or office in the Church to clear himself by separating from them? The passages quoted above in connection with Scriptural discipline, under the fourth heading, would soon satisfy us as to this. If in certain contingencies the individual believer was not authorized to act, all true believers ought to be presumably still in the "parent Churches" of east and west, Greek and Roman respectively, except they had been individually excommunicated by those bodies; a protesting and persecuted minority without doubt, but still there!

Finding ourselves, however, outside, the next question would be as to what Scripture authorizes us to do? 2 Tim. 2. 22 supplies the answer. We are to earnestly pursue the things pleasing to God along with others who "call on the Lord out of a pure heart". It is evidently supposed that there will always be such.

We may be tempted to think the instructions of this verse very meagre for such a situation as is suggested, but are they as meagre as first sight might suggest?

"Follow righteousness", i.e., what is right. Well, what is right under such circumstances? First, to humbly and brokenly confess the failure, and not make believe that things are all right when all wrong. Secondly, to recognize that God always starts with what is right. He never, like man, experiments with the imperfect at the beginning, gradually advancing to the more finished production. Hence the way of faith, the right way, is always to revert to God's original thoughts and institutions as far as may be practicable. In the last years of Israel's history as a nation the Lord recalled them to "the old paths" and "the good way" ( Jer. 6. 16). It is not otherwise to-day.

We have no authority to construct anything, to organize fresh "Churches" on an improved basis as compared with what we are outside of. Nor have we authority, if we revert to the order of the assembly as established by the Apostles and revealed to us in the Scriptures, to aim at producing a more select assemblage of saints than ever the apostolic assemblies were - an eclectic company of extra choice souls - and to institute a more rigid and searching discipline, and narrower tests than Scripture intimates to attain that end. A very tempting thing this under the circumstances, and specially appealing to many earnest Christian people with a tendency to pay more attention to their own subjective consistency than to the great objective claims of CHRIST and the Church.

We are, however, authorized, we repeat, to go back to that which God instituted at the beginning; but having done so we cannot of course claim to be the original institution; at best we can only be some saints who revert to its principles, and walk according to them.

A further question now arises. Assuming that, stirred by the Spirit of God some saints are walking together according to the original instructions of the Word of God, and therefore enjoying fellowship which is apostolic in its character - what are the features which would mark it and them?

It would begin by embracing all saints as to the principle of it, and welcoming all saints, not Scripturally disqualified, as occasion might arise; though in practice it is possible that a very small percentage of them might enter into and enjoy it. The mass might remain quite unexercised as to it, and content with their various religious organizations. This is a matter of very great importance, and no fellowship which overlooks or repudiates this feature can be apostolic in its character, but must be essentially sectarian.

There would be observed the discipline which Scripture enjoins. As to morals (1 Cor. 5), as to doctrine (2 Tim. 2. 17-21), and as to association with evil (2 Tim. 2. 21 and 2 John 9-11), action would be taken in the fear of God according to the Word, ever remembering that as we must not fall short of, so we have no authority to go beyond what is written, inasmuch as what is written is sufficient to make the man of God perfect or complete, "throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3. 16, 17).

Further, such fellowship would be enjoyed in the light of the whole truth as to Christ and the Church, just as of old the Apostle's fellowship was founded on their doctrine. This would be a corrective to the tendency always present to regard fellowship as a matter of voluntary association, to be taken up or laid down according to one's personal likes or dislikes. It would also preserve from tendencies either in the direction of an independent congregationalism or that of a Romish metropolitanism. Let the truth as to the church being God's house, and the body of Christ, in its widest or universal aspect, be firmly held, and the former becomes impossible. Let truth as to the body of Christ in its local aspect be seized and the latter tendency is checked. Both of the Corinthian Epistles in their introductions throw valuable light on this. The first is addressed primarily to the Church of God at Corinth, but linking with them in a secondary way all saints everywhere. The second is again addressed primarily to the local assembly at Corinth, but secondarily to all the saints in the surrounding province of Achaia. Here, then, we have first the local assembly, the primary sphere of all practical fellowship with its responsibilities of discipline and the like; secondly, the surrounding assemblies of the province, the first to be affected when any breakdown occurs in the local assembly; thirdly, the whole Church everywhere, the ultimate boundary to which such breakdown may extend its influence.

Again, we may safely say that any fellowship truly apostolic in character would be free from the assumption of being what it is not, or of possessing powers not within its reach. Any lofty claims to a Church position, or power not shared in by other believers who may not have had light to separate from unscriptural systems, would be very destructive of apostolic simplicity and reality. We must continually remember that at this late hour in the Church's history there is no prospect of saints being more than a feeble remnant, adhering with some degree of fidelity to God's original thoughts. The official side of things has lapsed. If men with the qualifications of an elder or bishop are to be found, we may well be thankful and submit to such, but no power of official ordination available for us to-day is delineated in Scripture.

The last feature we would mention is this: If and when difficulties and mistakes occur in the midst of such as walk in apostolic fellowship, they should become an occasion for a fresh experience of the unchanged resources of the great Head of the Church and His Spirit, and there should be no attempt to grapple with them by purely human, and much less by worldly, means.

Difficulties and mistakes will most certainly occur. They occurred in apostolic times, and it is worthy of note that though the Apostles were armed with special powers of discipline to deal with such, they used those powers very sparingly, and only in the most grave and obstinate cases, as we have previously seen. The more excellent way even for them was that of pastoral care and oversight whether in person or by letter as in the case of the Corinthians and Galatians. To the Apostle Paul the intervention of the Lord, caring for His own interests in His assembly, was a thing to be counted on and expected. Compare Gal. 4. verses 11 and 20 with Gal. 5. 10. His confidence as to them was "through the Lord". How much violent action amongst saints - action if not actually opposed to Scripture, at least beyond Scriptural limits - would have never taken place if the faith which makes Christ on high, and the Spirit here below living realities to us, had been more in exercise? Then saints would have been content to act within the limits that Scripture assigns them, and count on the Lord by His Spirit present in the Church to act for His own glory as to anything beyond.

In all that has been advanced above there is nothing new so far as we are aware, and it is a fact that some ninety years ago not a few saints of a godliness and power hardly known in these days began to walk together in fellowship of this kind. It is also a fact that as time elapsed and faith and spiritual energy declined, there has been a tendency to depart from fellowship of an apostolic character, towards one of sectarian narrowness or unscriptural breadth. This has greatly complicated matters, and largely obscured the practical blessedness and simplicity of the truth.

The truth, however, stands together with the responsibility of every saint to know it and walk according to it. Just as in years gone by it was the path of faith, in the presence of the ruin of the professing Church, to revert to the truth of Scripture and walk in obedience thereto, so is it to-day in the presence of the further failure amongst those who have essayed so to walk.

Some have spoken as if the failure on the part of those who have set out to walk in fellowship of an apostolic order, has rendered any further attempt to so walk abortive, and shut us all up to a kind of helpless acquiescence in what can by no means be defended from Scripture. We venture, on the contrary, to affirm that the door of repentance (Rev. 3. 19), of faith, and of first works (Rev. 3. 20) - "hear my voice" is faith and "open the door" is first works - is open even in the extreme end of the dispensation; and that if failure occurs ten times over, and the situation becomes far more involved, yet there will never be any valid reason against a simple return to the truth of Scripture. Want of faith or courage upon our side alone will hinder.

Casting a prophetic glance forward Paul commended the saints to "God and the word of His grace" (Acts 20. 32). Such is our resource to-day. We need but faith to discern His mind and courage to obey.

F. B. Hole.

The New Interest and the New Power.

Every one gets what he values. Mary Magdalene had simple and undivided affection for Christ, and she was the first to see Him on the resurrection day; then she gained intelligence. If I have true affection for the Lord - if my heart is right - I am sure to become intelligent sooner or later. Mary goes about His interests; she no longer has fear of losing Him; she is now in association with Him, and His interest is hers. We are in association with Him, in unchangeable relationship to Him. Oh, that we might be alive to this. And what should occupy us now? Christ's own treasure. Our souls want to know better that Christ's interest - His Treasure - is on earth. What are His saints - His assembly - to us? First, what are they to Him? The answer to that question will decide for us what they are to us if we are devoted to Him.

The Holy Ghost is the new Power, and the only power for this new interest. You can carry on the testimony with the new power, but with nothing else. Any human resource is a hindrance. The enmity of the world is aroused if you refuse its help, but you can only maintain the interest of Christ by the new Power on earth. Here it is that we have failed; we have found resources in the world in one shape or another instead of leaning solely on the Spirit of God.

J. B. Stoney.

The Spirit's Work in the Building Up of the Assembly.

We purpose taking up this subject very briefly, God helping us, as it is unfolded in the Epistle to the Ephesians.

James tells us that the body without the spirit is dead, referring to the human body and the human spirit. In the same way the Spirit of God is necessary for the life, activity, and manifestation of life in the Body of Christ. But the body of Christ is likewise spoken of in Ephesians as the household of God, a holy temple in the Lord, God's dwelling place and shrine, His assembly on the earth.

It is as the Holy Spirit is active in the assembly, that the mind of God will be expressed by the assembly. The assembly is not a machine, but a living intelligent organism, made up of the intelligence and life of each member of it; it is as response is made to the Spirit that God's mind for the assembly can be carried out. How vastly important our subject is, and how feeble must our best attempts be to state it.

It is by the Spirit that the assembly is brought into existence, and by the same Spirit the assembly is maintained.

The Holy Spirit of Promise.

The Lord in those memorable chapters in John's gospel - chapters 13-17 - spoke much to His loved disciples, ere He left them, of the coming of the Holy Spirit consequent on His going to His Father. In Acts 1: 4 we are reminded that the early disciples did not receive the Holy Spirit one by one, but that they were commanded to assemble themselves at Jerusalem there to await the promise of the Father, the blessed Holy Spirit of God. It is of the utmost importance that it should be seen how the Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, as it clearly proves that our individual responsibility as Christians flows from our corporate position as part of God's assembly. The Spirit came and formed the believers into one body - Christ being the Head in heaven, the believers, the body on earth.

Once the assembly is formed individuals are added one by one, but they are added to the assembly, and not merely indwelt as individuals. That we are indwelt is blessedly true, and consequent on believing on Christ, receiving the Gospel of their salvation, believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise; sealed, claimed by God for ever for Himself; the Holy Spirit betokening what character He would impart to those sealed, the earnest of our inheritance, the living proof, the taste of the believer of what will be His portion in God's presence for ever.

Access by One Spirit to the Father.

In Ephesians we need to follow carefully the 'we' of the Jewish believers and the 'ye' of the Gentile believers. It was no new thought to the Jew that he was in relation to God. The tabernacle and temple services constantly kept this before him in typical fashion. But it was a new thing for the Gentile to be brought into blessing equally with the Jew.

That the Gentile believer should be blessed equally with the Jewish could only be brought to pass in and through Christ, and that by an absolutely new range of blessing affecting them both. Christ's death brought the law to an end as a MEANS of life. No one ever maintained life before God on the law principle. Yet the moral law is never set aside, and in Christianity love is the mighty controlling power, "love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13. 10), and it is by the Spirit's power "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." But the believer is not under law, though as led of the Spirit he fulfils its righteousness. So great is the breakdown of the flesh, that only in NEW creation can man be blessed, and in new creation "there is neither Greek nor Jew" (Col. 3. 11).

In Christianity we come into new creation and therefore with new relationships. Not the least of these is that of sons to the Father. To have access to the Father means that those who have access are sons. If I have access to the King I have access to him who is a father, but to have access to him as father I must be his child. So in Christ Jesus all - Jew and Gentile - are brought nigh by His precious blood. He is our peace, not only settling every question that lay between us and God, but doing it in such fashion, and blessing us with such blessings that go far beyond settling variance between us and God, blessings of an entirely new and positive nature and connected with the purpose of God, that the middle wall of partition is broken down, and of Jew and Gentile in Christ one new man is made.

It is said there was a wall of partition in the court of the temple, pierced with gates, which admitted a Jew, but which meant death to a Gentile, if he ventured to pass through. How sweet that all restraint is gone, and that Jew and Gentile are lifted into heights that are outside of every feeling of racial animosity and pride, so that we read, Through Him [Christ] we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Eph. 2. 18).

The Mystery of Christ Revealed by the Spirit.

Again is emphasized the wonderful place the Gentile has as well as the Jew in Christianity. This mystery was not made known in other ages, and was revealed by the Holy Spirit to the holy apostles and prophets.

Judaism was exclusive, and treated the Gentile as an alien from the commonwealth of Israel and stranger to the covenants of promise, which indeed he was. But Christianity has altered all that no longer will the Jew in this dispensation enlightened by the Gospel look to Jerusalem as the centre, and earth as the sphere of his blessing. The believer looks to Christ in glory and finds his true home in the assembly on earth. Consequent on Christ taking His place on high and sending the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, believers are fellow-heirs of these spiritual blessings: members of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel. But stress in this passage is laid on the fact that Gentiles (see Eph. 3. 6) were admitted to these privileges as much as the Jew.

How formative must these thoughts have been in the souls of the believers, and as they met in the exercises of the assembly how they must have put a deep mark on their worship. No wonder that the Apostle Paul glories in his commission to proclaim "among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph. 3. 8).

* * * *

"Strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man". (Eph. 3. 16).

Here we find the Apostle bending his knees in prayer to God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the believers might according to the riches of God's glory, "be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man" (Eph. 3. 16). Evidently the Apostle realized that the presentation of the truth in set terms would not effect God's purpose, that only as the Holy Spirit in mighty power gives perception to the believer through deep exercise of soul can such be attained.

And for what did the Apostle desire this strengthening of the inner man? It was that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith - wonderful truth - that rooted and grounded in love they might be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length, and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. Mark that expression, "with all saints". How the Spirit throughout the Word emphasizes that Christianity is not an individual thing! It puts the believer into relation with the whole, and spite of failure this is still true, though failure renders the expression of it very difficult.

We are not told what the breadth and length and height and depth are. They define that which is indefinable. They measure that which is immeasurable. When we have said what we can about them we have said very little. We are on the edge of a vast ocean of divine purpose and love.

Breadth - it takes in all saints.

Length - it stretches back to distant ages when God, before time began, purposed us for blessing in Christ; it stretches forward to coming ages, when throughout eternity the saints will be in all the blessing and fullness of these purposes in Christ.

Depth - this reminds us of all the distance and shame and suffering the blessed Lord went through in order to open up all this righteously and give effect to God's wonderful scheme of blessing.

Height - we look up and see Him, who went into the lowest depth, now in the highest height of glory, and the believer made to sit in heavenly places in Christ.

The love of Christ - that which made all this possible to us, and introduced us into it - that love which went into death itself, and which passeth knowledge, infinite, eternal, divine. What exercise for our hearts! No wonder the heart of the Apostle, surcharged with divine joy, has to find relief in doxology and worship.

The Unity of the Spirit.

The believer is bid to endeavour "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. iv. 3). This is a unity the Spirit makes, a unity we cannot make or break, though as individuals we may fail to answer to the practice of it. That is to say it is explained that "there is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling" (Eph. 4. 4). If I am a Christian I am linked up with every other Christian as a member of the body of Christ. This is a unity I cannot make, nor can I by any action of mine cease to be a member of that body, cease to be linked up in life with Christ, the Head, and the members of His body, of which I am a necessary and integral part.

But remember there is not only one body but also one Spirit, and it is well to keep these two thoughts together. The body without the Spirit is dead, and it is only as the Spirit is active and has His way with us that the body is effectual in carrying out the mind of Christ for it. It is in seeking to be under the Spirit's guidance that we shall endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Lowliness and meekness and long-suffering and forbearance in love are qualities the Spirit would produce in us to this end. How happy if the seven ones in Ephesians 4. 1-6, have a large place in our thoughts, and we adjust ourselves by the Spirit's power in relation to them.

"Grieve Not the Holy Spirit of God" (Eph. 4. 30).

We must refrain from lengthy comments or else the space at our disposal will not nearly suffice. There is so much fullness in the Word, and the theme is tempting.

Suffice it to say that once the doctrinal part proper of the epistle is passed the Apostle puts right practice before the believers on the ground of their having put off "the old man, corrupt according to the deceitful lusts", and having put "on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and holiness". These exhortations to truthfulness, industry in providing means for sustenance and the help of others, purity of speech, are based on the ground that the believers were members of each other (see Eph. 4. 25). Let it be observed the believer is "sealed unto the day of redemption", that is, till Christ comes to claim His own at His coming. We cannot grieve the Spirit away - what a comfort and stay! - but we are exhorted not to grieve Him. May we pay heed to this.

"Filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 4. 15).

To be "filled with the Spirit" does not mean that one believer has more of the Spirit than another, but that the Spirit has more of one believer than another. That is to say, one believer may be walking carelessly, going on in a cold worldly state, and the Spirit of God is grieved, and not free to fill the heart with the blessed things of God. On the other hand, a believer may through yielding to the Lord in his life have such a filling of the Spirit that it can only find expression in praise and worship, "making melody in your heart of the Lord" (Eph. 5. 18). Here we get the Spirit of joy and praise.

There is a teaching abroad that makes this filling to be a subsequent thing to the gift of the Spirit to the believer, and to be brought about by a special act of surrender and faith, and that the believer who has thus, as they say, received the baptism of the Spirit, lives on a higher plane than the ordinary Christian. We are assured that this teaching, whilst it is often the outcome of a sincere desire to be heavenly minded, is mixed up with erroneous teaching that in the end fixes the attention of the believer upon his attainments instead of on Christ and His glories.

"Praying . . in the Spirit" (Eph. 6: 18).

Note the earnestness of this exhortation. "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication FOR ALL SAINTS". And, further, that Paul might make known boldly "the mystery of the gospel".

Doubtless we are right to pray about our temporal needs and difficulties, but those who get no further than that don't touch this. This is expressed as the heart sees the vast field of truth concerning Christ and the Church, the Head and the Body, the heavenly relationships of the believer with the Father, that such prayer for oneself and "for all saints" is made. Do we know anything of it?

We have practically only pointed out every place where the Holy Spirit is mentioned in this wonderful Epistle to the Ephesians. Space forbids anything but the most meagre and inadequate comment, but if the reader is led to study this subject first hand and meditate upon it, we are assured that great blessing must be the result.

How can I be connected with a system which is allied to the State, or with a system seeking a place in this world, or with a system substituting man's ordering of the assembly instead of God's, if I lay hold of the wonderful truth of the Spirit's work in the building up of the assembly? May God give every one of us faithfulness to Him, subjection to the headship of Christ and dependence on the Holy Spirit. It is the praise of God and not that of men that really counts.

The Supremacy of Christ in the Assembly.

If the saints of God are to be gathered together, according to the thoughts and will of God, it must be by the truth and power of God. The truth is in Christ and the power is in the Holy Ghost, and apart from these there is no assembly of God at all.

No one will deny that the truth and power of God are unchanged, and are as able to gather the saints together now as in the first century of the Christian era, and it will be readily admitted by every thoughtful person that to knowingly introduce or be satisfied with any substitute for them is to despise them, and Christendom abounds with such substitutes. This must be displeasing to God, and while He is wonderfully patient with our ignorance, He cannot sanction or give His support to anything but that which is from Himself. God will only stand by that which He formed at the beginning, and if we are to have His approval and support, we must come back to that, and every truly exercised Christian will say, "I want nothing except that".

When God formed His assembly at the beginning, and gathered His saints together into "the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord", He was not experimenting, as some seem to think, but He was displaying, in what He did, His manifold wisdom. His truth, sufficient for His saints until the end, was fully revealed, and this abides; men may have departed from it, believing in their folly that they can improve upon it; His blood-bought saints may be indifferent to it, or be satisfied to go on in ignorance of it, but God does not change His truth because of this. It abides the same, and any who seek in lowliness of mind to carry out His thoughts, will most assuredly have His approval and support.

We propose then to consider the character of the gatherings together of the assembly as they are set before us in the Word. 1 Corinthians is the Epistle to which we naturally turn, and the 9th verse of chapter 1 sets very definitely before us the character of our fellowship together. "God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord".

The assembly at Corinth, when gathered together, was not a voluntary gathering of believers, each claiming his right to be there because he was a member of the same body, much less was it a free assembly in which every one had a right to take part in ministering according as his impulses led him. There were those at Corinth who took this view of the matter, and these are corrected by the apostle, especially in chapter 14. The assembly is supposed to bear this character by many to-day, but their conception of what the assembly is, is very far from the truth. Nor was it a gathering together of a select, or selected company of believers, who had attained to a certain standard of knowledge, or who saw eye to eye as to certain lines of truth, or followed certain leaders, or adopted certain systems of teaching. That sort of thing began to show itself in that assembly, but it was most sternly rebuked in this inspired Epistle. There are those who would make it this to-day, and who have gone so far as to say that it is necessary now for us to choose our company. The former is the introduction of the principles of democracy into the assembly, and is a challenge to the truth of the assembly. The latter is pharisaical and sectarian in the extreme, and if possible is more destructive of the truth than the other. The former tends to lawlessness and disorder, and the latter to pride and bondage.

No one has any rights in the assembly but Christ; that is fundamental to the truth of the assembly, and of every gathering having an assembly character. Where it is not acknowledged the assembly is not. It is our purpose in this paper to press upon our readers that the assembly is Christ's own circle, the sphere in which He is to be supreme, and where His rights are to be maintained. It has been formed on earth by the Holy Ghost for this very purpose. Every loyal heart will acquiesce in this, and rejoice that such a circle has been formed on earth, and desire to be intelligently in it, and the more so because when Christ came into this world His every right was refused. The princes of this world, we are told in this very Epistle, crucified the Lord of Glory. Let that title, given to Him here, come before us in all its greatness, and we shall begin to realize the dignity of the assembly of which through grace we form a part, and the necessity of ever yielding to the Lord His rightful place in it.

Our minds are carried back, as we consider this title, to Isaiah 6, where the prophet saw the Lord sitting upon the Throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. There the sphere that bore His Name was filled with His glory, and the seraphims stood before Him, with covered faces and feet, and cried one to another, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts". It is this same Person of whom John speaks in the 12th chapter of his Gospel, when he sadly records the fact that when the Lord of Glory came to His own, they had neither eyes to see Him, nor ears to hear Him, nor hearts to understand or appreciate His person or mission (John 12).

As we consider His personal greatness, and acknowledge that every sphere in the universe should be subject to Him, and yet see how completely He was refused by men, how His every right was denied, it must be a cause for joy to us, that now He has a circle upon the earth in which His rights are acknowledged and His name revered.

He has been raised from the dead, and on the resurrection day He gathered together the company of His disciples whom He loved and who loved Him, and stood in the midst of them, showing to their enraptured eyes His hands and His side, which had been wounded to death for them. There we have a pattern of the assembly when gathered together. Was there one in that circle that would have talked of his own rights on that memorable evening? Would they not gladly and unitedly acknowledge His rights who was their Lord indeed, and His alone? "Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord."

When the assembly is gathered it is a circle formed upon earth in which Christ's supremacy must abide unchallenged, or it loses its character and ceases to be for His pleasure. It is a circle where Christ is all and in all, and the Holy Ghost dwells in that circle to maintain in it the rights of Christ. We read that no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost, and that we believe means that all who thus call Him Lord are subject to Him. We must remark here, that the Lord is not spoken of as Lord of the assembly, which is His body, but as Head to it: the Epistles to Ephesus and Colosse unfold this side of the truth. But that He is Lord in the assembly when it is gathered together is as plain as can be in this 1st Epistle to Corinth. His Lordship is the most prominent truth in the Epistle, as will be easily seen by tracing out the number of times in it that this title is given to Him.

From what sorrow and disaster would the saints of God have been saved if they had remembered that the things that are written in this Epistle "are the commandments of the Lord" (1 Cor. 14. 37) and had been subject to these commandments. Has anyone else a right to command in the assemblies of His saints? Certainly not! If it is His circle, He only has rights there, and the place of every one whose privilege it is to be there is that of subjection to Him. What blessing, what continuous streams of blessing would flow to the saints if His supremacy were owned by all, for He exercises His authority in perfect love. He, the one perfect, all-wise Administrator, administers the fullness of God for the blessing of His own when they are gathered together in His name.

Those who are called and gathered into this fellowship are a sanctified company. They are "sanctified in Christ Jesus", as 1 Cor. 1. 2 tells us; and Hebrews 2. 11 confirms this. There we read, "He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren"; and though in Corinthians, saints are not viewed as the brethren of Christ, nor is the Lord presented as Lord in Hebrews 2; yet what is interesting is that there He stands in the midst of those that are sanctified, and here in the Corinthian Epistle it is the sanctified ones who come together in His name; in the midst of them He is. These sanctified ones are not left to choose their own company, they are each chosen and called of God. The sovereign call of God sets aside the will of men.

These are the two things we desire to specially bring to the consideration of our readers: (1) That the assembly is Christ's own circle, and that this should be owned gladly and practically when it is gathered together; (2) That it is composed of those who are sanctified in Him, that is, set apart for His pleasure, to be at His disposal, separated to Him. All true believers are called to this - they are all saints by calling, and sanctified in Christ Jesus; and they call on the name of the Lord, that is, they own His Lordship. God grant that it may be done in greater reality.

It is not difficult to discern where these great truths are operative in the soul; the marks are lowliness of mind and subduedness of spirit. Alas! we have suffered much from just the opposite. We have known men professedly acting in the name of the Lord, set aside His commandments, and act in His sphere not according to His Word, but according to their own wisdom, which is folly; we have heard them talk of principles and seen them apply them to the hurt and scattering of the saints. We have to confess how little the truth has been in power anywhere; how often it has been held in terms, and how little it has been carried out in practice.

An important question and one that exercises many is, whether it is possible now to act upon the truth as it is presented in this 1st Epistle to Corinth? In some quarters it is definitely denied that we can: that since it is impossible now to gather the whole assembly together in any place, it is presumption for any to endeavour to act upon the full truth as to assembly gathering. We believe that to take that ground is to haul down the colours and surrender the fort. Jude's Epistle was written for days of widespread apostasy, and in it we are exhorted to "contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints", and surely that includes the whole faith, in which 1 Corinthians has its part. Paul's 2nd Epistle to Timothy was written to help us in these very days in which we live, and there Timothy is told to hand that which he had learned from Paul to faithful men, who would be able to teach others also; surely the truth given in 1 Corinthians had its place in that which Timothy had learned from Paul; and if anything that Paul taught, as having received it from the Lord, has come down to us, it has been committed to us that we might hold it fast as the testimony of the Lord, practise it, and pass it on to others. They are not faithful men who faint and surrender the truth or any part of it because of difficulties, and innumerable difficulties will beset us if we are determined to be faithful men; but in this good fight we shall be only the successors of Paul, and the grace in Christ Jesus that strengthened him to this end will be at our disposal.

"When ye are gathered together." Three times in the Corinthian Epistle we read of the saints there being gathered together:

1. "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together" (1 Cor. 5: 4).

2. "When ye come together therefore into one place (1 Cor. 11: 20).

3. "If therefore the whole church be come together into one place" (1 Cor. 14: 23).

It is impossible to gather the whole assembly in any place together now, and this being so it would be nothing less than presumption for any company of Christians to claim to be the assembly of God in any place; yet it is still possible for even 'two or three' to gather together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and as they do so, being subject to the truth, their gatherings will have assembly character.

The first of these three gatherings together is special, and most solemn. At Corinth, it was the calling together of the assembly in order to clear the Name of the Lord from complicity with evil. It was for the maintenance of the holiness of His name. It ought not to be difficult to see the necessity of this at the beginning, and it is surely as necessary to-day. The fellowship to which God called His saints at the beginning was a holy fellowship, for God is holy, and it originated with Him, and we can form no new fellowship; to do so would be to ignore that which was from the beginning; subjection to the Lord carries us back to that. Our Lord's Name is holy, for He is "the holy and the true". The Spirit of God who has formed the assembly and by whose power it only can exist is the Holy Spirit; and the faith which we are to hold together is "our most holy faith", so designated for days of apostasy such as these are. Hence evil must be judged and put away, for even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Our sin and evil were judged in the Person of our Substitute at the cross, not that we might think lightly of sin and evil, and tolerate it in ourselves and each other, but that we might accept that judgment of it, and be henceforward righteously and practically free from it, keeping the feast with sincerity and truth.

In such matters as these zeal has often outrun knowledge, and care is needed that in them the Word is the guide, and the only guide. Tradition, precedents, policy, and all those things that have so large a place in the ways of men, should have no place here; "the commandments of the Lord" alone are to lead us.

It should be clear that, if a wicked person is "put away from among yourselves", for any to hold to such a person, is to be a partaker of his wickedness. Suppose one is rightly rejected for evil conduct, or for the denial of the truth as to Christ, which is more serious a thousandfold, though not so considered by the majority of Christians - it should be clear to all, that any who persisted in expressing fellowship with such an one must be one with him, and so one with his evil deeds. 2 John tells us that this is so, and surely all ought to see this; and moreover, those who hold to one who is rightly rejected must share his rejection. Fellowship would have no force otherwise. There can be no neutrality, no compromise in such matters as these. All who desire to be consistent with the fellowship into which God has called all His saints, must be zealous as to this; there must be a coming together for this purpose when necessity calls, or the character of the Lord is ignored, and the truth of assembly gathering gone; and the only way, where there is indifference to the presence of evil, is separation, after due patience and grace, for any who would still "Call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2: 19-22).

The second of these gatherings of the assembly (chap. 11) brings out the love of the heart of the Lord. So much has been written on the Lord's supper, and as we hope to take it up in detail, if the Lord will, in a future paper, we refrain from comments here.

The third of these gatherings is not the least important, for it was designed to promote the edification of the saints, and this surely is imperative if they are to fulfil the will of the Lord; in it comes out the wisdom of the mind of the Lord. The difference between the gathering together of the assembly in chap. 14 and that for the Lord's Supper in chap. 11 is that in the latter the assembly ministers to the Lord, and in the former the Lord ministers to His assembly by the Spirit through His servants, and we are not prepared to say which is the more important of the two, for assuredly both are indispensable to the joy and glory of the Lord, and for the edification and joy of His saints. The two are interdependent upon each other, they are the normal gatherings together of the assembly. It is evident that at Corinth this gathering was greatly abused. Unspiritual men thought more of the display of their own powers than of the edification of the saints and the honour of God's Name, hence there is given this long chapter of reproof and instruction. When the Lord was on earth He maintained in all His ways the honour of God's holy Name, and those same ways yielded a constant stream of blessing to those who came to Him. His assembly should be descriptive of Him. Those who are gathered in His Name should bear His character, consequently there should be these two things constantly maintained - the honour of God's Name and the blessing, not only of those who form part of the gathering, but even of the unbeliever who comes in (verses 24, 25).

Let it be noted that though the carnality of the Corinthians turned these gatherings into profitless and disorderly meetings, the remedy was not their abandonment. Instead, the Apostle instructs them as to what became them when so gathered, and we should do well to carefully and prayerfully consider these "commandments of the Lord".

Gatherings together of the saints of God according to instructions given in this 14th chapter have largely ceased. They come together to-day for the Lord's Supper, for prayer, for the reading of the Scriptures regularly, but not for meetings of this sort. It is true that there is no meeting more capable of being abused than this; ought it then to be abandoned and something else that man can control substituted in its place? Is it not as incumbent upon us to come together in this way and for this purpose, as it is to come together for other assembly purposes? Is the Lord still the one Lord? Is His Word enough for our guidance still?

But where such gatherings are held, there is often great disappointment in them. A correspondent, who is no mean judge as to things spiritual, writes: -

"If we go to a large meeting [of this kind] we find much time taken up by men who lack spiritual substance. I was at -. The chief feature was the unseemly haste of men whom God never intended to speak. . . . The general subject was 'power'. One almost heard the creaking windlass as with aching back the waterman raised the driblet of water from Jacob's well. Scripture presents the artesian well. What a contrast!"

That such a report should be possible is deeply humiliating, and should cause general exercise of heart. The reason for such a state of things is, we believe, lack of faith in the Lord and of subjection to Him. If saints when gathered together were conscious of their interdependence one upon the other, of the importance of true ministry, and of the indispensability of the Lord for this, there would be more waiting upon Him. Better by far to wait upon Him for one hour and have half an hour devoted to profitable ministry than "one continuous stream of orations all day. Prayer non est and the ministry fourth rate", as our correspondent describes another meeting of this sort.

What a different story would be told if there were more of that which marked the saints of God in Malachi's day - the fear of the Lord; if saints gathered together in the sense that they were gathered by God's call, and that the Lord was in the midst of them, that they were not there to act as they pleased, but that they were in Christ's own circle in which He directs by the Spirit as to what pleases Him. This is a matter about which much prayer is needed, and self judgment and confession of failure. We urge upon our readers the necessity of a revival in our souls of the sense of what the assembly is to Christ; what it must be to Him to have His saints gathered together in His Name so that He can manifest Himself to them. We believe that this will only be through much exercise of heart and waiting upon the Lord, and, above all, the keeping of His commandments, by which we prove our love to Him who is our Lord.

Is it not an evidence of lack of faith in the Lord that such gatherings are now only held on special occasions, if they are held at all, and when large numbers are able to come together? Is it not evident that this was one of the usual regular gatherings of the assembly locally, and consequently held as often, at least, as the gathering together for the Supper of the Lord?

We ask these questions that exercise in regard them may be produced.

J. T. Mawson.

One Loaf: One Body.

When saints endeavour to walk according to the truth of the church as set forth in Scripture, and thus come together in practical fellowship according to the apostolic pattern, we must not expect that they will be left in peace. The adversary of God and His people is too watchful and untiring for that.

More to be feared than open and gross breaches of God's trust or order are the more subtle deviations from truth and simplicity which spring up almost imperceptibly in the course of years, and entrench themselves in people's minds or ever they are aware of them; until finally the deviation becomes accepted as the original main road of truth, and is tenaciously contended for as such.

By way of illustration we mention three specific matters which have come under our own observation.

The first concerns the truth of the 'one body '. The chapters in which this truth is alluded to are Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 10, 12 to 15; Ephesians 1 and 4; Colossians 1 and 2; and if these be carefully read and considered, it will be found that the bearing of this truth is in the direction of unity, love, consideration, mutual forbearance, and the like, and that nothing in the nature of church order and discipline stands connected with it. Ephesians 4. 1-4 may be taken as summing up the apostolic application and bearing of the truth in question.

We have, however, lived to see a very different use and application of it. Years ago, when believers walking according to the truth of Scripture somewhat increased in number, and groups of them were found in many parts, it was recognized that the truth of the unity of the body, equally with other truth, should regulate their dealings with one another as much as it would have done, if instead of being a small and insignificant remnant they had been the whole church in their various localities. From this it was deduced - rightly as we judge - that in such matters as cases of discipline, or other assembly acts, the local gathering acted for all, and hence its actions were bound to be respected unless evidently contrary to Scripture. The unity of the body was thus rightly invoked to prevent independency, and consequent confusion of action.

Of later years this last-named ecclesiastical application of the truth of the one body seems in many minds to have been so magnified out of all proportion that it has quite eclipsed the primary application as Scripture presents it. With some it seems now to be regarded as the truth itself, instead of a secondary application, which is deduced from Scripture, rather than plainly stated in it.

Hence in some difficulties that have arisen an altogether disproportionate amount of effort has been expended in trying to show that this or that group of saints is 'off ' the ground of the one body by reason of their having made some false ecclesiastical step, such as the non-recognition of a judgment, or act of some other meeting, and the like.

Moreover, by the magnifying of this secondary application to the obscuring of the primary, the truth of the unity of the body has become the great ground of excommunication or rejection, rather than that of reception. Who, for instance, has heard of a meeting receiving some one and then demanding that all other meetings shall receive him under penalty of being regarded as 'off' the ground of the one body? Such dealings are always entered upon in order to produce acquiescence in acts of excision or rejection.

Thus, by over emphasizing the secondary, the primary force of the truth is overlooked, indeed is nullified. Similar cases by which the Word of God was made of none effect were common in the time of our Lord, as the Gospels show.

The above naturally leads one to inquire whether there may not be a further misconception underlying this diversion of the truth from its proper setting. We submit that one such misconception entertained by not a few is the assumption that the fact of saints gathering in the light of the truth upon the ground of the one body confers upon them a corporate status, distinct from that which belongs to the church as a whole.

Certain parts of Scripture contemplate the breakdown in the professing church, and indicate our path and resources in view of it. Such are Acts 20; 2 Tim. 2; 2 Peter; and 2 and 3 John. What have these to say, bearing upon this point?

They make it clear that though wolves would enter from without, and there would be no safety in the elderhood (i.e., rule as originally established by God) within, yet God and the Word of His grace are always available: that no matter how high the tide of evil might rise, the foundation of God would stand sure, and faithful men be found able to teach others; and not only so, but that to the end there would be some calling on the Lord out of a pure heart, if only a few: some who love the truth, and have a good report of the truth itself. There is, however, no hint that such faithful souls by so doing acquire any special corporate status. They may enjoy much collectively which they would not as single individuals; but corporately they have nothing apart from the whole body of Christ.

Indeed, whether in the Old or New Testaments, when once an institution of God fails it does not appear that at some subsequent date He grants any renewed or special incorporation to any fragment of the whole, however godly or enlightened the individuals composing it may be. It is always a case henceforward of individual faithfulness, together with a reverting in heart to the original status, in which status the faithful individual has part by reason of his forming part of the original institution, and not because he may take up with others a true remnant position.

Notice, for instance: -

When Israel made the golden calf, they could only proceed from that point as upheld by the individual faithfulness of Moses (See Exodus 33. 12 to 17).

When in the land and Joshua dead, they rapidly fall away. Revivals were granted, but always in the power of individual faith and action. "When the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge [it does not say, then the Lord was with the people], and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge" (Judges 2. 18).

When after the captivity some returned from Babylon, they were evidently led by the faith and energy of individual men of God, such as Zerubabel, Ezra and Nehemiah. Under the influence of these men they began brightly, afresh embracing God's thoughts as to all Israel, and holding themselves as connected with such. See for example Ezra 6. 17; 9. 4-15. It was just because later they began to arrogate to themselves a special position far more exclusive and lofty than Israel's original calling that they developed the frame of mind that prepared them to reject the Messiah when He came.

In the New Testament the truth of the mystery was committed to Paul. He was also the "wise master-builder" who not only laid the foundation, but afterwards in his Epistles treated of matters connected with order, discipline, and administration in the churches. It is especially striking, therefore, to find that in his farewell Epistle to Timothy he addresses simply a faithful individual, and that he designates the aggregate of faithful individuals, not by a phrase which indicates any special corporate status as belonging to them, but by one which indicates their moral character. "Them which call on the Lord out of a pure heart."

The position of a remnant, then, in all dispensations is an individual one. The present moment is no exception. Saints who in later years have rallied to the truth and met on the ground of the one body have not acquired any special corporate status by so doing; at best they have been but faithful individuals walking in the truth. The fact that they have no status beyond the original status of the church, which all the saints share with them, does not give them licence to disregard any part of the truth. Though individuals they are responsible to be governed by assembly truth, because by all truth.

The third thing to which we now refer is the fact that the cup and the loaf of the Lord's supper are linked with the oneness of the body. The cup and the loaf represent the blood and body of Christ. In 1 Cor. 10 they are spoken of as the communion of His blood and body rather than the representation of it, inasmuch as "we being many are one bread, one body"; and hence not only is there the thought of our identification with the death of Christ, as the Jew is identified with his altar, or the heathen with demons, but also the thought that we are all so identified together as one body, for as it adds, "we are all partakers of that one bread" (verse 17).

It should be carefully noted that these words simply indicate that the partaking of the one loaf in the Lord's supper is the expression of that unity, and therefore may be appealed to as the sign or proof of it. It does not mean that our eating of the one loaf is the cause of the unity. We say, for instance, "It will be fine to-morrow for the barometer is rising", and by this we mean not that the barometer produces the fine weather but that it is the sign of it. So our common participation in the one loaf is the sign and setting forth of the fact of our being one body.

This is important, because the almost certain result of believing that saints who meet upon a Scriptural basis thereby obtain a special corporate status will be to connect the Lord's Supper and its communion with that "inner circle" instead of with the whole body; making it thus the expression of 'our' fellowship instead of proper Christian fellowship. This in its turn creates a tendency to the exclusion of people from the Lord's supper apart from the authority of Scripture, because they do not please us, or are out of harmony with the aims we are pursuing, or for other similar reasons.

If an individual sits down and partakes of the Lord's supper, he is thereby recognized as a member of the one body and as fit for Christian fellowship; no such point is raised as that of whether all can agree with all his views and actions. This is pretty clearly indicated by verses 23 to 29 of 1 Corinthians 10.

It is a striking fact, and one for which we beg careful and special attention, that the very chapter which most enforces the fact of fellowship or partnership in connection with Christ's death and His table, does not close without dealing with matters in which liberty for the exercise of individual conscience and faith is claimed. A clear proof this that the extreme view of fellowship which makes all in it responsible for and identified with every individual act, has no foundation in Scripture. We are not, of course, supposing views and acts that challenge the truth.

If one contemplated breaking bread with saints assembling in a certain place, in view of the foregoing, it would be a pertinent question to ask - Do you wish me to regard myself as thereby linked up with an association which you have formed, and committed, so to speak, to your platform; or is it that you wish to receive me as a member of the body, that is, linked up with the association which God originally formed, and committed to identification with the death of Christ?

In practice a great deal hangs upon this. In the one case it is just sectarianism, though the members of the sect may be very enlightened and commendable. In the other case it is walking, so far at least, in the truth.

F. B. Hole.

Ministering To The Lord In Assembly.

The first king of Israel fought with mistaken zeal for the freedom of God's people from their enemies and to establish their national supremacy, but he became himself an oppressor. The second king, David, fought from a different point of view altogether. He would not rest till the centre was established where offerings according to God's mind could ascend to Him. Long before, it had been revealed that the Lord desired this (see Deut. 16. and elsewhere), but until David's day it was altogether neglected. He, however, succeeded in this, and prospered also in that which Saul failed with fleshly earnestness to accomplish.

The place of Jehovah's name became the centre of the nation where continual songs and sweet savour offerings arose in fragrant meaning to the Lord, for they foreshadowed the present time when worship in spirit and in truth should rise to the Father, who was seeking those who should thus worship Him (John 4. 23), the new and "holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2: 5).

As long as the offerings were abundant at the God-appointed centre, Israel triumphed to the uttermost bounds of her kingdom; and whenever a revival took place, the doors of the Lord's house were opened for ministry to Him. The principle is the same now. A Person, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Centre as well as Head of the assembly, and as we 'draw near' together and 'offer up' that which the Father seeks, there will be prosperity in the work of the Lord around. "Bring in and I will pour out", said the Lord in days of great failure (Mal. 3. 10), and such "a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it"; others would therefore get the overflow!

That which typified worship was commanded in the Old Testament. The real worship and "the true worshippers" are found in the New Testament; but though the Father's heart desires this, it is not now commanded. Its precious and rare sweetness could not thus be produced. It rises responsively. We do not here seek to answer the oft-repeated question, What is worship? but only to indicate one of the highest, if not the highest, practical functions of the assembly.

Supplication, prayer and intercession seek from God, but worship ministers to Him. So do thanksgiving, praise, blessing and adoration. At the institution of His supper the Lord "gave thanks". Thanksgiving is, therefore, characteristic of the remembrance of Himself, also praise, blessing, worship and adoration as the power of the Holy Spirit is unhindered. What rich fullness would thus mark the worship of the assembly! It will be so in glory for ever when all things are centred in Christ. To further this now is surely the aim of every true servant of the Lord.

Some have esteemed it a waste of time and labour, but the thought betrays a lack of the true knowledge of our God and Father, and a serious disregard of that which He seeks. When Mary lavished upon the Lord the costly ointment which filled the house with its pleasant perfume, some one thought it waste and that it ought to have been sold and used for the relief of the needy (John 12. 5)! To be found in the company of such an one is extremely undesirable. Surely the One who was thus ministered to was worthy of it! yea, of even more costly ointment still if it could be found! The best and most precious is His due. May we have grace and power by the Holy Spirit to give Him more as His love and glory fill our glad hearts.

Behold that glorious scene around the throne in heaven! The Lamb is seen there, and that "as it had been slain"! A new song concerning His worthiness and His redeeming blood sounds sweetly from the assembled throng. Innumerable multitudes then utter His praise, and the saints fall down and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever (Rev. 5). The Spirit of Promise gives the earnest of this in the assembly now.

In closing, let it be noticed that it was when the Lord Himself was being ministered to, that the sending forth of blessing to the needy sinners of the Gentiles took place by the hand of a most extraordinary servant of Christ. In Acts 13 we are told that this took place in the assembly at Antioch - "They were ministering to the Lord". It was then that Paul was separated for the work to which he was already called of God. Who can measure the extent of the blessing which followed? or number up those who have been reached as the result of Paul's subsequent service? Yet he in his abundant labours ever afterwards sought to establish such in Christ Jesus, that there might be glory to God in the assembly in Him (Eph. 3. 21) .

H. J. Vine.

When Ye Come Together.

It is of the first importance for the right understanding of any portion of Scripture, to observe the setting in which it is placed. Many a difficulty is solved by this alone. The question has been raised as to the possibility of having a meeting such as is alluded to in 1 Cor. 14 at the present time? It is a serious thing that in the denominations of Christendom such a meeting rarely or never takes place. Human arrangements and control are substituted for the free action of the Spirit of God. But then the fact of the presence of the Divine Spirit in the Church has been so lost sight of, and the will of man has become so paramount, that no wonder that the conclusion prevails, that a gathering with no visible president, leader or chairman, must result in confusion, and be without profit or point. Yet it is evident in reading this chapter that the meetings of early Christians were framed on the model here set forth, and that the result, when not abused, was to edification, teaching, comfort and a sense of the Divine presence, which is certainly lacking in gatherings formed after the pattern on which the world transacts its concerns.

In correcting the disorder which was present amongst the Corinthians, the apostle does not suggest to them their need of a presiding leader, but rebukes the lack of spirituality whereby the liberty of the Spirit was made an occasion for the flesh to assert itself.

That we may obtain an answer to the above question let us turn back to the 10th chapter and discover, if we can, the conditions under which such a meeting can be held with profit to those who come together, and above all, glory to the name of our Lord.

In chapter 10 ver. 15, the apostle addresses himself to wise men, for one who does not truly belong to Christ has no part in this matter. He reminds them of the precious ordinance that the Lord has ordained, in order that the import of His cross may be kept vividly before the hearts of His own. Paul has before him, first of all, the significance of the act of partaking, rather than the order in which the supper is partaken of. He, therefore, places the cup before the loaf, for he has in his mind the fellowship of the one body, the body of Christ, the church, and this could have had no existence at all, unless the blood of Christ had been shed. The cup is the communion or fellowship of His blood, the loaf the fellowship of His body. Both these fellowships, His death and the one body, belong to all Christians, the two things are fundamental, and without them no gathering is Christian in the true sense of the word. Christian fellowship depends upon the cross, where flesh, and sin, and all that belongs to man in the flesh, has been judged and condemned. When this is apprehended the confusion, to which the Corinthians were prone, is disposed of entirely.

In the latter part of chapter 10 the impossibility of connecting the Lord's table, characteristic of Christian fellowship, with the table of demons which marked the heathen, or the altar connected with the Jew, is demonstrated. For Jew and Gentile had banded themselves together to crucify the Lord of glory, and the presence of that Lord is in the midst of those gathered to His Name. The moral principles of each abide, the self-righteousness, exclusive ritualism, and superstition of the Jew, and the will of man expressing itself in the broad rationalism of the Gentile. Alas, for the confusion of these things with the name of Christ in the professing Church. It is this which writes upon it the name of 'Babylon'. Is there any path for true hearts but to heed the command of the Lord, "Come out from among them, and be ye separate saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you" (2 Cor. 6. 14-18). In chapter 2 is unfolded the place which the Church has in relation to Christ; He is its head, it is formed of Him, it is for Him, it is under His authority, it is one with Him. The relation of the man to the woman in God's order of creation is used to illustrate these truths. Then follows the partaking of the supper, the remembrance of the unsearchable love of Him who gave His body and blood, the loving response which He has made it possible for us to give to Him for the gift of Himself.

Thus far we have seen four conditions for a Christian gathering; the Cross of Christ, the Body of Christ, the Authority of Christ, and the Love of Christ. These things are on His part to us, but we need also to recognize that which has been given to be on our side to Him, that is, the Holy Spirit, and love, chapter 12 gives us the first, and chapter 13 the second.

In chapter 12 the Spirit of God is seen indwelling the one body, and imparting to each member gifts according to His own will. There is a variety of manifestations but all to profit and all in marvellous unity, the figure of which is the human body. All is divinely tempered together,

The members act not for themselves but for the good of the whole. How wonderful must be such a meeting where the Spirit thus controls, and flesh is silent. For the flesh is subtle, and only too ready to find occasion for boasting even in the gifts of the Spirit, and to produce pride, and jealousy, and envy. Therefore something else is needed if edification and profit are to result, and that is an atmosphere in which the Spirit can work, and which can only be produced when He is ungrieved, that is, Love. Chapter 13 tells us that without it all, gift, speaking, sacrifice, is nothing. Love is the great essential, for it is the character of Christ reproduced in the saints. Well may chapter 14 open with the exhortation, "Follow after love".

These are the things which make such a meeting as is described in chapter 14 possible. Seeing also that these conditions are God's gifts from above, there is no need to despair because of our failure, and to seek human resources. The fullness of God waits for a subject heart, captivated by the love of Christ, and it is His delight to lead such into His own joy when gathered thus together, even if it be but with little strength.

To know His presence in the midst is the next thing to seeing His face; hence chapter 15 tells of the precious truth of resurrection and the power whereby the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed at His coming. The truth of God's assembly abides, and Christ is faithful to all who keep His word and deny not His name. To such He will manifest Himself.

James Green.

The Cross of Christ.

As the children of Jacob had to date their beginning as a nation in relationship with God from the Passover night when the lamb was sacrificed for them, so must we in our thoughts continually go back to the Cross of Calvary where Christ, our Passover, was slain for us. We could have had no existence as the children of God, or members of the body of Christ, apart from that cross of sacrifice. There could have been no assembly at all to gather together, and we should have remained for ever the children of wrath, if Jesus had not died. But now we live, and the life that is given to us is eternal life; but we owe it all to the death of our Saviour. We are to be gathered soon, the whole multitude of God's children, into heaven's cloudless joy; but then, as now, we shall date our knowledge of God from the cross, and we shall discover our origin there, and like the sound of many waters our grateful praises shall roll upward, and for ever, to the Lamb that was slain.

Consider Him coming forth from His eternal glory, from the glory which He had with the Father before the world was made: see Him take the place as a Man amongst men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: follow His footsteps along that road upon which no human eye smiled, for it was neither approved nor understood by men - that pathway that "led only to the cross"!

What great purpose was it that set His face as a flint in that way of sorrow? It was the Father's will, and what was that will? It was that we might live; that He might gather His saints together as His assembly now, and have us as His "many sons" in glory hereafter, all conformed to the image of His dear Son, that He might be the Firstborn amongst many brethren. And nothing less than the cross could make this possible; His incarnation amid the lowly surrounding of Bethlehem's manger was not enough: His life of service and sorrow amid the need and misery of men was not enough: His prayers, His works, His tears were not enough. His agony and sweat of blood in the shades of Gethsemane were not enough all these had their part in the unfolding of the heart of God, and in the making known of His own deep perfections; but if guilty men were to be pardoned, if dead sinners were to live, if He was to build His assembly, if heaven was to be filled with "a multitude of sons", Jesus must die. For "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit".

It was death as the judgment of God that He endured, the penalty of sin. Two things met at the cross - our sins, and the judgment of God. Our sins - not as we see them and measure them, but as God knew them and saw them in their exceeding sinfulness, and those sins were laid on Jesus, nay, more, He, the Sinless One, was made sin for us, made sin that in His own sinless Person He might bear to the uttermost the judgment of God against sin, and herein lay His sufferings, unmeasured and immeasurable. It was this that made Him say in the garden, "If it be possible let this cup pass from Me", and upon the cross, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Me?"

Little wonder then that we make the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ our boast and glory, strange that we should ever forget it. How great was the love that moved Him to endure the cross! Love that each of us can take to himself as his very own, and say, "The Son of God loved me, and gave Himself for me". He loved His assembly and gave Himself for it.

J. T. Mawson.

The Open Meeting and Its Abuse.

The subject of the open meeting and its abuse is not of my choosing. Our good editor, feeling its importance, has particularly requested me to deal with it.

I must confess that I do so with hesitation and reluctance. It is always easier to indicate an abuse than to suggest a remedy. Still, it is the act of a coward to turn from a task because of a disinclination to perform it. So counting upon the indulgence of the reader, we will, Bible in hand, approach the subject.

What is meant by "the open meeting"? The question is not unnecessary, for what is familiar to some must not be regarded as intelligible without explanation to all. We use the term 'open meeting' in contrast with meetings for the preaching of the Word (whether to saints or sinners), meetings convened by any servant of Christ for the exercise of his own ministry, or where he ministers, either alone or with others, by invitation of those responsible for such meetings. In the strictest sense of the word, the 'open meeting' is not one specially convened for prayer, or for any other defined object, but is one in which all assembled wait on the Lord for guidance as to who shall take part, whether in prayer, praise, or ministry of the Word.

That such was the character of meetings held at Corinth in apostolic times no careful reader of 1 Cor. 14 will have the hardihood to deny. And the possession of miraculous gifts, far from being essential for such a meeting, seems to have contributed (where those who possessed them were not guided by the Lord) to the abuse and consequent confusion which were even then apparent. If God was the Author of the liberty that characterized these assemblings of the saints at Corinth, He certainly was not the Author of the confusion that resulted from their abuse.

The weekly meeting for the Supper of the Lord, though for a defined object, is, we believe, rightly left 'open' for the leading of the Lord. It is particularly liable to abuse by those who come with thoughts of their own blessing, rather than the remembrance of the Lord, before their minds. Such will often give out an unsuitable hymn, or give thanks in a way hardly in accord with the simple object for which the meeting is held. The remedy is, of course, a greater sense of the Lord's presence (for where even but two or three are gathered together in His Name, there is He) and a better understanding of the purpose for which we assemble to break bread, viz., the remembrance of Himself.

But probably what the editor had in his mind when asking for a paper on "the open meeting" was the largely attended meetings held in various centres on special occasions: Bank holidays and other days when freedom from ordinary occupations enables the Lord's people to come together in one place from surrounding localities, usually for two meetings, with tea between.

Such meetings are particularly liable to abuse. And the abuses generally arising are of four kinds: -

1. An unseemly haste in rising to minister, a competition for the platform in which those who know what it is to wait on the Lord for guidance and opportunity will decline to take part.

2. Unsuitable speakers taking part, with no result save to weary and depress their unfortunate hearers. Such often are the readiest to rise, thus shutting out those who are really able to edify the gathering.

3. Inordinate length on the part of some, selfishly appropriating time which common courtesy, to say the least, would lead them to leave to others who might, equally with themselves, feel that they had a message from the Lord.

4. The treating of 1 Cor. 14. 29 as if it were a dead letter. How are these abuses to be remedied?

To begin with, it is a question whether "the open meeting" is the most suitable for occasions like these. The assembled company is composed of persons from various localities. Generally a large number of young people, with Christians from the denominations are present, and not infrequently unconverted persons. It is not, strictly speaking, an 'assembly meeting'. The majority present are there by invitation from those in local responsibility, and are, for the time being, their guests. It is, therefore, the established custom in many cases, that those who address the assembled company should do so by invitation; two or three speakers both afternoon and evening. This, of course, is not guarding against abuse of the open meeting but doing away with it altogether. It is quite within the competence of those who arrange and convene meetings on these special occasions to decide whether they should be 'open', or be addressed by chosen and invited speakers.

If it be decided that the meetings should be open let them be so in a genuine way. Let not the conveners write north, south, east and west to invite their favourite speakers on the assumption that they will speak. Anything that savours of unreality is abhorrent, not only in the sight of God, but to all right-minded persons. Pretence of any kind is to be deprecated. Does it not seem to border on insincerity to profess to have 'open' meetings and yet invite special speakers from a distance?

Presuming that a genuine open meeting is to be held, it might help to guard against abuse if one of the conveners, or an elder brother, were at the very commencement to say a few words to the following effect: -

"Brethren and sisters, we are here to wait upon the Lord, for Him to do with us as pleases Him. If we count on Him, we may be sure He will not disappoint us. Let us really wait on Him. Any brother who rises to speak with unseemly haste necessarily discounts whatever he has to say in the minds of those who know what Divine guidance is. And let none imagine that because his heart is warm with some precious truth he is, therefore, called to minister it. There may be a hundred brethren present with hearts burning with desire to impart to others what they themselves enjoy. They cannot all speak. The Lord has His way of making His guidance and pleasure known. Let us wait on Him. And let there be consideration for one another. For one brother to speak for forty minutes is a trespass, since it may shut out one led to speak equally with himself. And let us remember the exhortation of 1 Cor. 14. 29. If in the days of miraculous gifts it was ordained that the prophets should 'speak two or three' how much more necessary is this wise provision in days like these?"

That such an exhortation would carry weight is highly probable. That it is called for none will doubt. We have known a brother, after an opening hymn, rise to pray and then immediately, without sitting down or waiting even for a moment to see if anyone else may be led to minister, proceed to open his Bible and speak. We have known such to speak for the best part of an hour, making it impossible for others - who may have received a word from the Lord to minister - to speak.

When an opening exhortation, such as that suggested, remains unheeded, what is to be done? The writer remembers that at a certain meeting to commend a newly-married couple to the Lord, an elder and respected brother stated that it was the express desire of the saints that the meeting should be mainly for prayer, and that it would have to conclude within the hour. Yet, in spite of this, two brethren from a distance spoke, one after the other, for forty-eight minutes, so that not a single brother in the assembly where the bride had lived, and where she was known and esteemed, had an opportunity to raise his voice in prayer to God for her and her husband in their new path. If ministering brethren do such things, can we wonder if lawlessness prevail among those whose knowledge is perhaps less?

What remedy have we?

The answer would seem to be: Either abandon the 'open' meeting, save for local occasions, monthly fellowship meetings, and the like; or let the principles of the 'open' meeting be explained from time to time, and those who transgress be expostulated with in a firm, but kindly and brotherly way.

Above all, let there be prayer by those who feel the seriousness of the abuses referred to, that there may be greater intelligence given as to the nature of 'assembly meetings' and what is involved in the presence of the Lord. His love and faithfulness, His gracious forbearance and readiness to help may always be counted on.

H. P. Barker.

More About the "Open" Meeting.

Considerable comment has been made, both favourable and otherwise, on a paper that appeared in the last issue of the SUPPLEMENT, entitled "The Abuse of the Open Meeting." We are sure that such a paper was needed, and also that it by no means exhausted what ought to be said on the subject. It dwelt chiefly on the side of the conduct of those who take part in ministry at these gatherings together of the saints of God, but there is the other side also, the conduct of those who are gathered together. Seeing that they are the many, and those that minister are the few, they must exercise by far the greater influence on such gatherings.

Those that minister, if truly led of the Lord to do so, "speak unto men to edification, and exhortation and comfort" (1 Cor. 14. 3), or as it has been well put, "they build up, stir up, bind up." And the responsibility of such is very great. If they give forth something of their own they surely do it in self-sufficiency; and they ignore the Lord as the great Administrator in the assembly, and the presence of the Holy Spirit as the only power for true ministry. Hence, not only is the time of all gathered wasted, but the character of the gathering is set aside; the voice of men and not the voice of the Lord is heard, and the saints of God miss for the time being the direction that they should have for that special moment. We need only to carefully consider all this to see how serious a matter it is to take part in such gatherings, and what dependence on the Lord should characterize those who do so.

But what of those who come together for ministry? The way in which they come and the object before their minds in being present will most surely greatly affect their gathering together. The meeting that we are discussing, which is described in 1 Cor. 14, is a gathering having assembly character, and as such the Lord is there, for those gathered are there "in the name of the Lord Jesus." Faith in this great fact is of the very greatest importance, apart from this, these meetings must degenerate into mere voluntary gatherings of believers, at which it would be far better to arrange beforehand who should speak, so that all might know what to expect. This is a matter that concerns every individual, for if the gathering is an assembly gathering it means that "the King holds Court." It means that we are together because it is the Lord's wish and according to His ordering, not because we like to meet our brethren, or like to hear ministry, but because the Lord calls us into His presence; it is Himself and His will that is prominent and not our brethren and our likes.

If His Majesty the King holds a Court, they are very privileged people who are invited to be present, and they deem it a high honour; how much more highly honoured are they who are invited to the court of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, for nothing less than this is every assembly gathering. Every one attending court at the King's invitation must be there in court dress according to the regulations. And so all who come into the presence of the Lord should be exercised in coming to be there according to His thoughts; not surely in a legal frame of mind, but self-judged, and with preparation of heart by the Spirit to meet Him who is so glorious and yet who is known to us by the love that led Him to die for us. If all who come together are thus prepared, how different will be the atmosphere created, and how free will the Lord be to reveal Himself. We are talking now of all present, from the oldest to the youngest, and not of those who minister only. If invited to take tea with a friend, we would endeavour to be neat and clean, and to conduct ourselves in his house in a fitting manner, recognizing him as the head of it, and our host. But how often do those who are "called saints" gather in the Lord's presence slovenly in mind and spirit, without due preparation of heart, having never looked into the glass of His word in their homes, or sought His presence in their chambers before coming, and so are totally unfit to speak to Him in His circle, or hear His voice when He speaks in His own place. We urge upon our readers the need of much thought on this side of the question, for herein lies the cause of unprofitable and powerless meetings. Every individual member of Christ's body present at such meetings is either a help or a hindrance, and none can escape the responsibility that rests upon them.

Having come together we must recognize, not that so many or so few gifted men are present, and that our time of profit will be great or small in consequence, but that the Lord is there, and the Holy Spirit. If the Lord's presence is realized, songs of praise will surely rise from united and glad hearts to Him, and quiet and confident waiting and expectation from Himself will mark all present, and He will not disappoint those that wait upon Him. The ministry given will not be something that has been laboriously prepared for the occasion, as though this were a matter of individual service, but it will be fresh and spontaneous, because from the Lord for the moment; and five words given of that character will be better than ten thousand drawn from memory, for they will be the fresh springing up and flowing forth of living water, and not the pumping up out of a stagnant pool.

When should these open meetings be held? This is an important question. In some places they are held once a month, or once a quarter, or once a year. But if we take our guidance from 1 Cor. 14. shalt we be satisfied with this? Is it not clear from that chapter that such meetings were the regular gatherings of the assembly, and were held certainly not less often than those for the taking of the Lord's Supper? They were not special occasions held when Paul or Apollos could be present, but the ordinary every-week meetings of the local assembly. If we take up these meetings at all, ought we not to take them up in this way? What warrant have we for taking them up at all if we are not prepared to take them up according to the Scriptures? It is said that there is neither faith nor power for such meetings now, but if there is faith and power for the gathering together of 1 Cor. 11, why not for that of 1 Cor. 14? It is the same Lord that presides at both gatherings, and faith has to do with Him, and it is the same Spirit who is present at both, and all power is in Him.

Much failure evidently marked this special meeting at Corinth, but the apostle did not tell the Corinthians to cease to hold it because of this, but he instructed them as to how to conduct themselves in it. The chapter is there in the God-breathed Scriptures for our instruction also, and is specially said to be the commandments of the Lord, it would be a sad thing if it became a dead or useless chapter to us because of lack of faith on our part.

J. T. Mawson.

"Tarry one for another."

The Evil of Individualism.

Just as it is necessary to avoid sectarianism if we would walk in fellowship after the apostle's pattern, so is it also needful to shun individualism, which is in some respects the opposite extreme.

To clear away possible misapprehensions, let us again affirm that we fully accept the oft-repeated statement that in days when the outward unity and order of the professing church has broken down, the path of faith becomes an individual one; by which we mean it is a path which must be entered upon and maintained in the energy of individual faith. 2 Timothy 2: 19 to 22, is clear evidence of this. The responsibilities and privileges there enforced lie upon "every one," "a man"; and the whole passage is addressed not to a church but to Timothy, a faithful individual; and consequently, when verse 22 is obeyed, those thus pursuing righteousness, faith, love, and peace, are only individual members of Christ's body who are walking together in the truth.

All that we fully grant, and yet it must also be maintained with equal clearness that such members of Christ's body who are thus together will only walk in the truth as they are governed by it in its entirety. To ignore the truth as to the Church of God will not do.

Let us assume that such a gathering of saints exists before us. We would then point out to them that, in the first place, they must not assume to be what they are not. They are not the Church, nor are they a church, in the sense of being a corporate body with a constitution of its own. They are simply members of Christ's body (which is the Church) who aim at gathering together and walking according to its original constitution.

But, in the second place, we should point out that the break-up and failure which has supervened has in no wise relieved them of the responsibility to walk according to all that Scripture indicates as the will of the Lord for His Church. We are not at liberty, if we would obey and please Him, to assert our individual action, or judgment, or ministry, to the over-riding of practical fellowship in these things, whether it be the individual person or the individual gathering of saints.

The believers at Corinth, as the Apostle Paul wrote to them, were carnal, and walked as men, consequently they had fallen into sectarianism by forming schools of opinion round favourite leaders. It is equally plain that they also were asserting themselves as individuals in a wrongful way, and that this individualism was working havoc in their midst. We will now point out the evidences of the working of this false principle as we have them in the First Epistle.

In chapter 10 the question of association with idols and idolatry is being discussed. The apostle begins with the history of Israel as the professed people of God, and shows how ruinous such association had proved in their case. This leads up to the exhortation of verse 14. From verse 15 onward the apostle appeals to them on the ground of that which is set forth in the Supper of the Lord. The true character of the cup and of the loaf is that they indicate Christ's blood and body; and moreover of His blood and body they are the communion or fellowship. We all share in that one loaf as one body (verse 17), not as so many individual believers. Here we have the Supper of the Lord viewed in its abstract nature and bearing, and individualism is clearly excluded in connection with it.

In chapter 11: 17, the apostle carries his corrective ministry further, and turns to mistakes and abuses which were amongst them in their actual comings together - their assemblies. We must distinguish, of course, between the church at Corinth and their actual assembling together in that character. Throughout this article we use the word "church" for the former and reserve the word "assembly" for the latter. The saints at Corinth gathered together sometimes in connection with the ministry of servants of the Lord - to listen to Apollos and receive help through him, for instance (Acts 18. 27) - these meetings were not "assemblies" in the sense in which we now use the word, i.e., actual convenings of the church as such in subjection to their risen Head acting by His Spirit in their midst. The church might thus meet in assembly for discipline (chap. 5), for eating the Lord's Supper (chap. 11.), for ministry to edification, exhortation and comfort (chap. 12, and 14. 1-5), for prayer and worship (chap. 14. 9-17).

First of all, then, in connection with their assemblies, he turns to the parties which existed among them and which were clearly visible when they came together "in assembly" (verse 18), (see N.T.). This sectarianism may result in select parties of a very rigid and exclusive sort grouped round the chosen teacher or preacher, but evidently it is, after all, closely connected with individualism, inasmuch as it springs out of an exaggerated sense of the importance of the individual who is made the centre of the party. It ends in saints "holding" the party leader instead of "holding the Head."

In verse 20 the apostle turns to the assembly for eating the Lord's Supper. Here there were grave abuses existent, but we are now only concerned to point out that in eating what they professed to be the Lord's Supper they were really eating "every one . . . . his own supper" (verse 21). They so individualized that sacred memorial that it became a scene of unseemly disorder, every one acting for himself. Hence the apostle's injunction in verse 33, "Wherefore, my brethren, . . . tarry one for another."

All this is extreme and horrifying, and would be utterly inexcusable if occurring now that we have the Word of God in our hands in a way that the Corinthians had not. Still we have to watch against subtler workings of the same thing. We do, indeed, break the bread and drink the cup individually, but we do so as those who belong to the one body, in keeping with the one loaf of which we partake.

In chapter 12 the gifts or manifestations of the Spirit are in question. These were found in different members of the body as the Lord in His wisdom was pleased to ordain, but they were given to individuals in view of the whole. "To each the manifestation of the Spirit is given for profit" (verse 7, N.T.) and that profit the profit of the whole body as the subsequent verses show.

Now if the gifted member is to sink himself, his self-importance which would naturally be fanned by the possession of a gift, and the self-pleasing which might guide him in the use of it, he must be thoroughly under the sway of Divine love. Hence the magnificent chapter 13 which comes in as a parenthesis.

Chapter 14 picks up the thread from chapter 12 and gives us a glimpse of the Corinthian assemblies for ministry, prayer and praise. The individualist got up and, speaking with an unknown tongue, he edified himself (verse 4), whereas the Divine purpose in the assembly was that the Church should be edified.

Verse 26 is very illuminating. In their assemblies every one of them had a psalm, a doctrine, a tongue, a revelation, an interpretation. The following verses give instructions regulating the use of these gifts, and from these verses, and verse 31 in particular, we gather that there was nothing wrong in each of them having something to contribute; since all might prophesy one by one - not on one occasion, doubtless, but there was liberty for all as the Lord might direct on different occasions. The trouble rather lay in that individualism that led them to degrade the Lord's Supper into each eating his own supper. They degraded that which was the assembly of the Lord where He ruled and directed by His Spirit into a free and easy meeting of a lot of individuals each with his own ideas and his own little bit which he eagerly desired to throw into the common pot.

The difference between the assembly in function as directed by the Lord and the individualist meeting of the Corinthian stamp can be likened to that existing between a fine-woven linen bed-spread and a patchwork quilt. The Bible itself consists of 66 books written in different epochs by different men. Yet a Divine unity pervades it because written under inspiration of the Spirit of God. A similar unity of ministry or prayer or worship will be discernible in the assembly as controlled in its activities by the Spirit of God, and the more so controlled the more it will be discernible.

So completely was the Spirit of God to be in control in the assembly that if a prophet were on his feet, presumably having arisen as controlled by the Spirit, and a further revelation were made to another prophet sitting by, the earlier speaker was to at once accept it as a signal that the time had come for him to stop; and resuming his seat he was to give place to the other.

Under the existing conditions of one-man ministry, and liturgical forms and customs, which hold sway in the religious organizations, all this part of Scripture has been reduced to a dead letter. But it is sadly possible to have gatherings of saints apart from such restrictions and with freedom of ministry, and yet for it to only result in meetings of this individualistic Corinthian type. Indeed it must so result unless we are prepared to keep before us the truth of the church in its practical fellowship and working. No assembling together of saints to-day, we repeat, can be more than the gathering of a few of the members of Christ's body, but so gathered they must act in the light of the whole truth of the church if they would be obedient.

In concluding our brief review of the Epistle, we might note that the use of discipline and exclusion mentioned in chapter 5 also involved assembly action. Apostolic energy and action is indeed prominent in verses 4 and 5, for as yet the consciences of the Corinthians were asleep, but the final action to be taken in verse 13 was of an assembly character.

The Second Epistle shows us that such action was taken, and that "the many" or the mass of the saints put their hands to it (chap. 2: 6). They were so stirred to zeal by the First Epistle (see chap. 7: 11) that the great mass of them came together and solemnly put the offender away from their midst. To-day, alas! saints are often so lethargic that only a few come together to act if such a sad occasion arises and the punishment is inflicted of "the few" rather than "the many."

If we now consider for a little how these apostolic corrections and instructions apply to-day, we shall be quickly aware of how much need there is of attention to the instructions of chapter 14. It is still possible for a few saints to gather together on "assembly" lines though only a fraction of those comprising the church in their town. Thus assembled they may break bread, or pray, or wait upon the Lord for ministry through two or three of His servants what we call an "open meeting." Are we free from individualism on these occasions? By no means. How often do we notice thanksgivings and particularly hymns of praise and worship, quite excellent in themselves individually considered, yet obviously quite out of keeping with what has gone before or what follows, complete misfits if judged from the standpoint of the Spirit's action in the assembly! How often times of prayer when the same petition is voiced again and again by various brothers, seemingly forgetful that the first who was led to ask it did so as the mouth-piece of those present, to be ratified by all saying "Amen" at the end of his requests; and that therefore, save in exceptional cases, such constant repetition is needless since all have already asked it! How often again is there that tendency to coming together, each having his hymn, his prayer, his Scripture portion to be got out at all costs!

Further, we have to beware of the individualism which takes a form which has been sometimes spoken of as "independency." This may take the form of an individual saint asserting himself, his judgment, his actions against the assembly where he is found, or the form of an individual assembly acting in complete indifference to, and as having no connection with, other assemblies equally walking in subjection to the same Lord.

Here some may at once object that we find but little in Scripture as to these errors. We grant it. The case of Diotrephes (3 John) bears upon it, but generally speaking these troubles are such as have afflicted the church in these later centuries. Apostolic authority acted as a check on that form of individualism at the beginning. We have become more exposed to it in these last days, when saints have essayed once more to walk according to the truth but without apostolic authority in their midst other than the apostolic writings, and even without an appointed elderhood as at the beginning. Their position is similar to that of the Jews who returned to Jerusalem under Zerubabel, Nehemiah and Ezra, who had no king and a very imperfect priesthood. These externals they had lost, and it would have been folly, if not worse, to have assumed power they did not possess in ordaining a king and more priests for themselves. The loss of these externals did not, however, exempt them from obedience to the whole law.

Hence to-day, we submit, we have special need of grace and wisdom in this matter. We have no wish to hinder the servants of the Lord, but they must remember that they are members of Christ's body, and if they profess to be walking, with as many as are available, in a path of obedience to the whole truth of the church, they must bear these things in mind. That which is right for the individual is clearly right for the individual gathering of saints also. We must carefully avoid, therefore, the position of independency that is commonly called "Congregationalism."

It is perfectly certain that failures have often occurred in the past both with individual saints and individual gatherings as to these very things, and if the Lord come not for a while they will occur again. "What then," it will be asked, "are we to do?"

Our responsibility is to act under the Lord, that is, in obedience to His word. Powers of discipline still remain to the saints collectively, as indicated in Romans 16: 17 and 18; 1 Thessalonians 5. 14; 2 Thessalonians 3. 6, 14, 15. Even in the very flagrant case of Diotrephes, the apostle contents himself with threatening action if and when he came. He did not urge Gaius or Demetrius to attempt strong counter-action themselves. Individualism or independency is not to be met with counter-independency. The spirit of division cannot be overcome, according to God, by the spirit of counter-division. If in mistaken zeal we attempt so to meet it we always run the risk of making the remedy worse than the disease, and of swallowing a whole camel in our endeavours to strain out the gnat.

In writing the above we bear fully in mind that a time may come, according to 2 Timothy 2. 16-21, when individual action is not only permitted by Scripture, but actually enjoined. That time is when evil, having come in, is of such a character as to overthrow faith, by attacking the foundations. Then, assuming that it gets beyond all assembly action, the individual must act for himself in faithfulness to his Lord.

We owe our position, if indeed we do gather to the Lord's Name, to such individual action in faithfulness to the Lord. In the position we are bound to act as governed by the whole truth as to the church and the apostle's fellowship, and not act on an individualistic basis. If by reason of unfaithfulness the position be abandoned or corrupted, then once more individual action according to 2 Timothy 2 becomes incumbent upon us in order that a place according to God may be taken up, and personal purity maintained.

We have one more application to make of the truth which is before us. A good deal has been said and written during the past fifteen years as to the unscriptural character of "circles of fellowship." In so far as such "circles" are of the kind which says "I am of Paul," etc., or formed to champion some special truth or truths, we quite agree. Yet we must not forget that there was a circle of fellowship in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. In the early morning it consisted of about 120 names, by night-fall it was expanded to over 3000. That circle of fellowship was "the apostle's fellowship."

Later on at Corinth the Divinely-formed "circle" was imperilled by sectarian "circles," not yet openly separated from each other, but parties formed within the church, the fruit of their carnal condition. In this connection 1 Corinthians 11: 18, 19 are very illuminating. "Among you," says the apostle, "there must also be sects." There was no such must in the case of the Ephesians or Philippians, where the prevailing state was one of spiritual freshness and power. If saints walk in the flesh, fleshly tendencies must be manifested. But on the other hand such fleshly manifestations only serve to throw into relief such as faithfully adhere to what is divine and thus are approved of God. There were evidently some in Corinth who would not range themselves under any of the party standards.

Now it is more than likely, when the "Paul" and "Apollos" and "Cephas" parties were forming themselves at Corinth, and some of the more spiritual and faithful souls were declining to join in their movements, that to the careless or worldly-minded onlooker they only appeared to be forming a further party. But even if they found it difficult or impossible to prove they were not, and thus vindicate themselves, they were approved of God and in the view of the inspired apostle. With that they had to be content.

While, therefore, we have no more desire to form "a circle of fellowship" than we have to form "a church," we suggest that it may be well to find out first of all exactly what is meant by people when they use the term "circle of fellowship," and secondly that we should make very certain that the proposed remedy for the "circles" of fellowship, against which protest is raised, is not that of each individual being allowed to form his own circle of fellowship. Otherwise we are only practising Corinthian-like individualism under a new guise.

We do not want "a circle" of fellowship, but fellowship we do want. It is a precious treasure. Let us be careful, therefore, lest as an old proverb puts it, we "throw away the child with the bath-water." Human ideals often incrust themselves upon the truth. In discarding the incrustation it is all too easy to let slip the truth. Rather let us "tarry one for another," as Scripture enjoins.

F. B. Hole.

How to Conduct Oneself in God's House Which is the Assembly of the Living God.

The above words are given to us by the Spirit in 1 Timothy 3. 15, where we are also told that the assembly is "the pillar and base of the truth." It is where the faith of God's elect is found, where the faith which was once delivered to the saints is maintained without deduction or addition, without the giving up of the latitudinarian or the going beyond of the newfangled. The truth finds its witness and support in the house of God which is His assembly, nor can it be found elsewhere.

It is no question of the strength or of the weakness of those who are of the truth, but of the truth itself. When the great apostasy takes place in Christendom (as the Spirit has expressly foretold) those who belong to the assembly of the living God will remain still "the pillar and base of the truth." It is this which we are to recognize, and in it we are to know how to conduct ourselves. There may be and are numerous religious organizations, but those who are of the faith have to do with the truth and with those who are of it; there may be and are many men who have messages to-day, but the One who is the Truth personally said, "I have come into the world that I might bear witness to the truth. Everyone that is of the truth hears My voice" (John 18. 37). The Lord Jesus spake these words when the question of His Kingship was raised by Pilate. The 1st Epistle to Timothy keeps this in view.

God's House.

In the house of a monarch, in a royal household, courtly conduct is rightly expected. Those who share the privileges and dignities of the King's palace are to behave themselves in reference to the regal inhabitant of the house. This is not easily appreciated in these days of extreme democraticism. Just so in regard to God's house; unless we have a true sense of God's greatness and glory we shall lose the proper appreciation of the conduct which becomes the house, the assembly, which is God's habitation. Let the true knowledge of God in Christ be reverently maintained in the soul, corresponding behaviour will then result in reference to Himself and to those who form His house - "the assembly of the living God."

One has often read of a royal household falling into disrepute by their bad behaviour, and of men rising up against them. We are to see to it that God is rightly represented before others through those who are of His house. "Great is the mystery of godliness" we are told, and its effects are very wholesome towards others. It is this aspect of the house which is prominent in the 1st Epistle to Timothy.

In 1 Peter 2. 5 the house is viewed as the place where spiritual sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise are offered to God: in Hebrews as that over which Christ is, as Son, the High Priest by whom we approach: in Ephesians it is God's habitation in the Spirit. The aspect in 1 Timothy, as we have said, is rather that which represents God in the world - "the pillar" as well as "the base of the truth"; "and confessedly the mystery of piety is great. God has been manifested in flesh." 1 John gives us the royal family in the house - all are born of God; speaking metaphorically, all have the sang bleu the Divine nature is theirs. They dwell in God and God dwells in them. They know the Father and the Father's love. They are the children of God, and the world is unable to take cognizance of them as such, for they dwell where the unregenerate cannot enter, though in the duties of this life they may know them well enough.

In the assembly, then, the presence of God is known. Thanksgiving and praise ascend to Him there. The Lord Jesus Christ is the One by whom we draw nigh; and it is the Spirit who gives our hearts to rejoice in the love and in the relationships which are ours. Glory and strength are in His presence: honour and majesty are His. Holiness becomes His house for ever, while they that dwell there shall be still praising Him. In His presence is fullness of joy - and John writes "that our joy may be full" - at His right hand are pleasures for evermore. It is the place, too, where the truth is found, as we have said, and where the witness to it is also maintained in practical piety and true reverence for the presence of the living God.

Behaviour in it.

How different is all this to what characterized the descendants of God's people in Malachi's day, and to that which so largely obtains now. In Malachi 1. 6, God asks, Where is Mine honour? and again, Where is My fear? for by their behaviour they showed they did not reverence Him; yet they said, Wherein have we despised Thy Name? They had no right sense of their departure from God. Their offerings were polluted, and "the table of the Lord was contemptible" in their eyes! How appalling was their state! Still they expected pay for the smallest services in connection with God's house (verse 10). They profaned His Name. They said, "The table of the Lord is polluted, and the fruit thereof, even His meat, is contemptible"; also, "Behold what a weariness it is!" and they "snuffed at it"! How keenly must the Lord have felt all this - "the great King, the Lord of hosts, whose Name is great among the nations"! Judah, the royal tribe, profaned the holiness of the Lord (chap. 2. 11). They wearied Him with their words. Yet they said, "Wherein have we wearied Him?" when they said, "Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delighteth in them"; again, "Where is the God of judgment?" (17) They robbed Him of the offerings which were His due. Nevertheless He said, Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and an overflowing blessing shall be poured out (chap. 3. 10). Still their words were stout against Him. They said, It is vain to serve God, and they called the proud happy.

What a picture of unrelieved sadness this would be, did we not read of those who truly honoured and feared the Lord at that very time of general declension. They spake often one to another, and without attempting to put others right they "thought upon His Name." They honoured it, and behaved according to that Name, conducting themselves according to the holiness, greatness and grace of it (verse 16). To such it is said, "Unto you that fear My Name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings" (chap. 4. 2). So to-day it is said, "I Jesus have sent Mine angel (Malachi means My messenger, or angel) to testify to you these things in the assemblies. I am the Root and Offspring of David, the bright and morning Star." The testimony in the assemblies at the end is to Himself and to His coming again, and this results in the Spirit and the assembly saying to Him, Come. The truth is found with such at the close of the assembly's history on earth, and what becomes the house of God marks them, although they may be surrounded with a similar state of unreal profession as beset those that feared the Lord in Malachi's time.

A House of Prayer.

It is of the last importance, therefore, for us to further what will help in the direction of the positive things that are found in the presence of God, whose house those who hold fast are, and these things should be treasured and upheld by us. We have named several of them here, but there are also supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings. The Spirit of God exhorts to this "first of all" in 1 Timothy 2. It is also said, "I will therefore that men pray everywhere" (verse 8). Looking back over nearly half a century two men, marked by this, leave the impress and fragrance of God's presence on the spirit. The first, not a religious official, but a pious believer, always prayed before leaving a house at which he called. Young and unsaved I was nevertheless convinced of the reality of the living God, whom he addressed in faith. The second, known soon after God called me by His grace, always proposed prayer when we met, when we parted, when we entered on the Lord's service in the open air or in halls or in visiting. He did indeed "pray everywhere," as the "men" of God's house are instructed to do. More than words this habitual dependence on God brings Him near to our souls, for as we draw nigh to Him He draws nigh to us.

Isaiah spake of God's house of prayer in which men should be joyful (Isa. 56. 7). The Lord Jesus said it should be "called the house of prayer" (Matt. 21. 13; Mark 11. 17; Luke 19. 46). Merchandise, however, had invaded its holy precincts then, and it obtains even more extensively now. They made it a den of thieves, and the Lord "cast out them that sold therein and them that bought." By-and-by He will "send forth His angels and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Matt. 13. 41).

In the Epistles, written to those who compose the house of God, unceasing prayer is earnestly urged. Some say, It is impossible to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5. 17). God does not exhort us to do the impossible. Some cease to maintain prayer. We are told not to cease, but to continue with all perseverance in spite of every opposition. In relation to the house of God, "kings and all who are in dignity" are to be remembered, "that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all piety and gravity" (1 Tim. 2. 2). This is all the more remarkable for the truth of eternal kingship had just been emphasized by the apostle, as he said, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen" (chap. 1. 17). Majesty, glory, honour and incorruptibility in this house of prayer are borne up. The elevating effect of it is surely very great, but in this day of degrading and profane principles the truth can only be upheld through Divine grace and power. Intercession, prayer, supplication and thanksgiving are therefore an imperative necessity.

In our day there is always One who intercedes. In Isaiah's day it was said, Truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and the Lord saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor (Isaiah 59. 16). Thank God, His beloved Son at His right hand "ever liveth to make intercession"; and thank God also for His house, where prayer is still maintained. This is good and acceptable in God's sight we are told; for He would "have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." All are therefore to be prayed for, and "kings and all that are in authority" particularly, by those who belong to the house of God.

God is There.

Those who are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ and have been born again by the Word, coming to Christ - the man-rejected Stone, the accepted of God - are built up a spiritual house, and they are for a habitation of God in the Spirit. All our conduct is therefore to be ordered in view of the great fact that the living God dwells in His house.

Even in regard to the behaviour of one believer towards another the apostles used this truth to exhort them accordingly. To the Thessalonians who had been called out of idolatry and uncleanness it is said, "He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man but God, who hath also given to us His Holy Spirit" (1 Thess. 4. 8). To disregard any brother, and overstep his rights, is to do wrong against God, who dwells in those who are His. It is wholesome and elevating to regard each other rightly, and not to think carelessly of the saints of God. This is no difficult matter where the love of God is known. The children of God love because they are first loved by Him, and every one that loves God loves him that has been begotten of Him, and we know that we love the children of God "when we love God and keep His commandments" (1 John 5. 2).

"In Thine own house there love divine

Fills the bright courts with cloudless joy;

But 'tis the love that made us Thine

Fills all that house without alloy."

Twice in the Scriptures we are told that "God is love," and where the knowledge of His greatness, glory and majesty is cherished this most blessed fact will be valued rightly, for the more we see of His infinite majesty the more wonderful will this love appear to our worshipping hearts, and this will govern our conduct in the house of God which is the assembly of the living God, for it is such an One who is there.

When our Lord Jesus Christ appears in Divine splendour and glory His greatness will then be seen publicly. This is kept before us in 1 Timothy so that corresponding results may be produced in us now. That appearing, it is said, shall show "the only Ruler, the King of those that reign and the Lord of those that exercise lordship, who only has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen, nor is able to see, to whom be honour and eternal might. Amen" (chap. 6. 15). Timothy is reminded of Christ's witness before Pilate concerning kingship, and is exhorted therefore to be true and to "keep the commandment spotless, irreproachable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." Christ is "our hope" (chap. 1. 1). He will bring everything right. Meanwhile prayer is to characterize the house of God, as we have said. Men are to pray everywhere, being in a suited state for God's holy presence. Women are to dress modestly and learn in quietness. Overseers are to be irreproachable in their own homes, and ministers also.

True piety is to mark all. Elders are to be honoured as fathers, and elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters with all purity. Pious aged widows who are destitute are to be cared for, and the younger are to give "no occasion to the adversary in respect of reproach." Elder brethren who lead in divine things are to be honoured doubly, specially those labouring in word and teaching. Servants are to honour and render profitable service to their masters. The rich are to be liberal. False-named science is to be avoided, while righteousness, piety, faith, love, endurance and meekness are to be pursued.

These things are to be seen and learned in Christ, who is the image of the invisible God; and as they mark us increasingly God will be in measure correspondingly made manifest in those that compose His house. His character will be represented in His assembly, which is "the pillar and base of the truth." God is true, and the truth expresses what is true; therefore the possession and witness and maintenance of the truth are necessary if God is to rightly be represented before men. This is what is in view in 1 Timothy. The assembly of the living God is for that purpose, in the aspect of which we have spoken. What an honour to be called to make Him known in all our conversation and conduct! May we appreciate it more highly.

Offerings to God.

We cannot close, however, without saying a few words as to what is for Him alone and which He alone can rightly value as to that which is offered to Himself in His house as to the "spiritual sacrifices" which ascend to Him, "the fruit of the lips" which He esteems so highly - the praise, thanksgiving and worship which the knowledge of Himself and His redeeming love produce in our hearts, and which the Holy Spirit enables us to render when we are free from self-occupation.

As we said the house of God in Hebrews is that over which Christ is as Son, the High Priest by whom we draw nigh. He saves completely from every hindrance - "to the uttermost" - those that come to God "by Him." Having Him as "a great Priest over the house of God," we are exhorted to "approach with a true heart" (Heb. 10: 21). All access is through Him (Eph. 2. 18) and by Him, and we are told also to offer the sacrifice of praise "by Him." To ignore this way of Divinely-appointed order in God's house is a serious matter, and to set religious officials in the place of Christ, as is often done in Christendom, is far from right conduct in the assembly of the living God. We are instructed in 1 Peter 2. 5, as to offering up "spiritual sacrifices" in a "spiritual house," but we are distinctly told that they are "acceptable to God by Jesus Christ," and not by anyone else. The Father finds pleasure in those who come thus before Him through His beloved Son.

" From our guilt His blood has freed us,

'Tis through Him our souls draw nigh;

And the Spirit, too, has taught us

Abba, Father, thus to cry."

We may therefore come boldly into His blessed presence, and, rejoicing before Him, give Him our united praise and worship, blessing His Holy Name together. "Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty; give unto the Lord the glory due unto His Name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness," it is said. How wonderful that we can give to Him! Nothing in ourselves and unworthy too; yet set with the mighty by God's rich grace, and enabled to offer to Him in the beauty of holiness, in the beauty that is ours in Christ through His redeeming work at Calvary. The gift of God's love to us is immeasurable and unspeakable, nevertheless we can respond to His infinite grace by giving to Him again, saying, "Of Thine own do we give Thee." May He receive that which gives Him pleasure in increasing measure from those who belong to the house of God which is the assembly of the living God.

H. J. Vine.

Correspondence:

Having invited correspondence we consider it only right that our readers should have the benefit, if any, that may arise from it. It is with some hesitation, however, that an endeavour has been made to meet the difficulties raised in the following letter; but as they are, alas, very common difficulties, they cannot be ignored, and it may amount to moral cowardice to shirk them. Others may be able to give clearer and more definite help; if so, the pages of the Supplement are open.

"Dear Bro, - I have recently received a copy of Scripture Truth with the Supplement No. 5. I am delighted with these papers, the teaching is so clear and Scriptural. They arrived at a very opportune moment, for it is not long since I found my way outside the religious systems of men, and I have since been through much exercise of soul in seeking to walk in the right path for God's people. I therefore gladly accept your invitation to send questions to your magazine. There are some questions which are troubling me greatly. I wish now I could express myself plainly enough for you to understand my difficulties. However, I will try to do so."

Divisions.

"First, with reference to fellowship. I found in this city three different companies of believers claiming to be gathered to the Name of the Lord, but each in separation from the other, inter-communion being strictly forbidden."

It is plain that in apostolic times only one assembly was recognized in one city, or to put it more correctly, the assembly in each city was viewed and addressed in its unity and oneness. When cliques and sects began to spring up in any one of these assemblies, as at Corinth, they were unsparingly condemned by the Holy Spirit in the Word (see 1 Cor.). They were an evidence of a rampant carnality and not of a higher spirituality as the sectarians thought. If the germ or bud of division met with God's rebuke at the beginning, the fully developed and vicious fruit cannot have His sanction now. Hence we have no difficulty in concluding that the state of things which you deplore in your city is wrong, radically wrong; it is contrary to the truth and Christ dishonouring; it could never have been if there had not been disobedience to the Word. There may, of course, be just cause for separation. If a company of believers in any place refused to judge known evil, either in morals or doctrine, as directed by the Word, it would be, we believe, incumbent upon those who desired to be faithful to the Lord, after due patience, to separate from them, for to do otherwise would be to say holiness and truth are of little account; consequently the name of "the Holy and the True" would be denied and His Word not kept. But such separation would be the last resource, after all efforts to exercise the consciences of the company had failed. Cases of this kind have arisen in the history of the truth, and it would not be right to characterize those who so separated as sectarian, they have simply stood for holiness and truth against complicity with evil and error. "Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity . . . but follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Tim. 2. 19-22) would be sufficient warrant for such action, and enough also for the guidance of all who in every place call on the Name of the Lord, for what is done according to the truth and in the Name of the Lord in one place, would surely satisfy all who love the truth and hold to that Name wherever they are found. The one Head will direct all His members in unison, and there is one body and one Spirit.

We need not say that such a course must always be deeply serious, to cause a separation where one heart and one mind should prevail at the bidding of some leader, or because of some difference of judgment, or of the interpretation of some passage of Scripture is to be guilty of the gravest of sins, because it is sin committed in the holy circle of the Lord's interests. This we know has been done, causing widespread confusion, and stumbling many of the saints of God. The condition of things spiritually that made this possible is our common shame; but those directly responsible for these difficulties will have to answer to the Lord for their self will and independence of Him. All who would walk in the truth must surely decline to recognize separations of this sort, for they are contrary to the truth. You may say that all this does not help you in your difficulties, but it will, we trust, at least, direct your exercises in the right channel, so that you will not waste your time weighing the claims of one company against another, but weigh all in the light the Word gives for such conditions, and that may result in many others being exercised about a state of things that must be displeasing to the Lord.

Independence.

"I walked alone for some time, then was received into the fellowship of so-called -- Brethren. I longed for an expression of the unity of the church, but here I learned that although there were three meetings of these Brethren within a radius of a few miles, they were not in fellowship with each other; the City meeting had separated from the other two meetings some years ago, and the breach was not healed. This caused much confusion. The meetings would not receive from each other locally, yet the assemblies in the Eastern States received brethren from all of the assemblies here. A case actually occurred where two brethren from the meetings at variance here were on a visit to the Eastern States, and were both received on the same Lord's Day in one assembly, but returning home they could remain in separation from each other. I was much concerned on the question of unity in discipline and other matters, and soon withdrew from his meeting."

Do not let the desire for an "expression of the unity of the church" control you. That unity exists and will be fully expressed when the New Jerusalem - the bride of the Lamb - comes out of heaven having the glory of God. Meanwhile it is not expressed, though we may act in the faith that it is no mere doctrine but a reality - "There is one body and one Spirit." If an expression of the unity of the church is your one thought, Rome will claim to express it, but she is the great harlot.

But an expression of unity, or to more correctly express our thought, unison is much to be desired, but if it is gained at the expense of the truth the gain is an incalculable loss.

But while we cannot find a full expression of this unity in these broken days, it is altogether another matter to deny it in practice, and the state of things that you describe is clearly a denial of it, and confusion. It all arises from the the idea of independent assemblies, that each must act for itself regardless of what may happen elsewhere, and this is the principle of congregationalism, and not of the church of God.

One Scripture that would prove that all who are subject to the truth would act in unison is 1 Cor. 1: 2. The directions and commands that the Lord sent through Paul to the assembly at Corinth were for "all that in every place call upon the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours." Hence unity of discipline would be secured, for no one would assert that the Lord would direct an assembly in one place to act in one way, and direct another somewhere else in the opposite. As Head of the body He will move all who are subject to Him in one direction, and the one Spirit is here to give force to that direction. The one Lord administering in each assembly will produce one mind in all. Hence there will be unity in discipline and in everything else. It does not follow from this that one assembly must have the approval of all assemblies before it takes any necessary action. But that what it does is so clearly according to the Word that all who are subject to the Word will recognize the leading of the Lord and gladly acquiesce.

Official Oversight.

I was afterwards received into the fellowship of another company which I learn was once in fellowship with what was called the 'Needed Truth' party. The principles of that party are still practically maintained in this meeting. Your article on 'Apostolic Fellowship,' in SUPPLEMENT 5 has caused me to think very much. I have fears that I might have swung to an extreme, and that 'Needed Truth' principles are but a reflex of the Romish Metropolitanism mentioned in your article. Could you therefore enlighten me as to whether there is Scriptural ground for the assertion that all meetings in a city should form the one local assembly? In all cases of discipline, etc., these meetings act as one, and they have one united oversight."

It is clear, we believe, from Scripture, that all saints in any given place are looked upon as one assembly, even though through difficulties as to distance, etc., they were not able always to meet in one place. The Epistle to the Galatians was written to assemblies in a province, and they are addressed as one. They had come under the influence of error and were being swept away as one, and the apostolic letter was to call them back as one to the truth.

There is no Scripture for an official oversight to-day. Bishops, elders and deacons were appointed when the church in the house character was in order. But these were not appointed by the assemblies, that is another principle of congregationalism, but by the apostle or his delegates. No

word is given to us as to the continuation of this, and the apostle, in his farewell to the saints, did not commit them to the oversight but to God and the Word of His grace. The Lord is faithful and will raise up and maintain faithful men who shall have the moral qualities that fit them to care for the saints and their needs, and such will be recognized by all who are subject to the Word. But the appointing of an oversight is going beyond the Word. We must look for what is moral and not official in these days.

The Use Of The Word "Church."

Again, when in Scripture we read the expression 'The Church of God,' does it only refer to the local assembly or has it a more comprehensive meaning?"

The designation "church," or "assembly" as it should be, is used in the Word for the local assembly and also for the whole body of Christ upon earth. The first time it is used (Matt. 16. 38) it has in view the whole assembly without any reference to locality, and every time that it occurs in the Epistle to the Ephesians it is used in this way.

It is of the greatest importance that the truth as to its oneness and completeness should be understood, otherwise it will not be possible to act in the truth of it in the local assembly.

Worship.

" I would like further to mention the question of 'worship.' In this city there is a large meeting. I have always felt strangely attracted to this meeting, but withheld from seeking fellowship because of several things that I cannot get clear about. The order of the worship meeting drew me very much. These brethren maintain that there is certainly a Divine order in the worship meeting. Could you tell me, therefore, if it is a mistake to address our God and Father in prayer before the breaking of the bread? It is maintained that the Lord Jesus should be addressed personally until the act of remembrance is past. It is then He conducts the assembly in Spirit to the Father's presence in the Father's House, sings praises in the midst of the assembly, and declares His Father's Name to His Brethren. It is claimed there is no worship until we come to this phase in the meeting. That other meetings that do not maintain this order, only keep the Passover and cannot rise to the height of privilege there really is in the Lord's Supper."

To have rules and regulations in the conduct of meetings for which there is not Scriptural warrant is the sure badge of a party, no matter how intelligent those who compose it may be. Moreover it means that the authority of the Lord and the guidance of the Holy Spirit are set aside, and you will be able to realize the seriousness of that. Further, since the standard set is a high one, and must be attained to regardless of the state of the assembly, nothing but insincerity can ensue, and true worship - worship in spirit and in truth ceases, for that cannot be arranged and directed by us, it must be spontaneous and free.

Nevertheless we believe that where the Lord leads there will be order, and since the object of the coming together is to break bread in the remembrance of the Lord in His death, this should be, and will be, where things are right, the first and chief thing. The heart and mind of the assembly, as guided by the Holy Ghost, will certainly dwell upon the Lord in death, with accompanying adoration to Him, but it would be a bold thing to say that the Father has no part in this, and no note of praise or word of worship should ascend to Him in connection with it. To whom did the Lord give thanks when He instituted the Supper? To the Father, surely. Then the Father may be addressed before the Supper.

The expression, "The act of remembrance is past," jars upon our mind. It is well that no time should be wasted, and that the Lord's Supper should be eaten early in the meeting, since it is for this we come together; but even here the principle contained in the words, "Tarry one of another," would prevent undue haste. Yet the whole meeting is a remembrance of that that we shall never forget even in heaven, and there is no true worship that is separated from the death of Christ. The blood was ever in the Holiest.

We believe it is utterly wrong to say that not until the Supper is eaten does the Lord lead us into the Father's presence. The expression itself is unscriptural. What is said is, "I will declare Thy Name unto my brethren in the midst of the assembly will I sing praises to Thee." We are in the presence of the Father when we assemble, if we do it rightly, for His presence is the home of the brethren of Christ. And the Lord is there to make the Father a reality as the Father to us, for this is what declaring His name means. We should have from the beginning a sense of the Father's love and favour in our hearts, and it is thus that we look back into death, the death of Christ, and there learn the greatness of His love (1 John 4. 9-19). To say there is no worship until after the bread is broken is to say what is not true, you may worship individually in your own room, and there may be assembly worship in any meeting of the assembly. No one can keep the passover now. The Christian feast is the Lord's Supper, and to make a certain standard of intelligence necessary for this, as these friends of yours are doing, is to spoil it. Love is the quality needed. Love to the One Who died for us, though the more intelligent we are the better, if love is maintained.

Light.

"I do earnestly hope you will enlighten me on this question, having observed the order mentioned I sometimes feel distressed in our worship meeting at what appears to be confusion. I know the Holy Spirit will lead the assembly in that order which is pleasing to the Lord. But it is thought by these brethren, who really seem to have remarkable intelligence in the mind of the Lord, that those meetings which do not observe this order are not according to the Truth. They say the Lord will only give light to that which is according to His Name, and this question of order is light given for these closing days."

We should advise you to beware of those who talk much about "fresh light," and "light for closing days." We must remember that Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, and we may be easily deceived. The Word is enough. To that Word of grace we are commended by the great apostle of the Gentiles, and John said, "He that is of God heareth us."

Baptism.

"One more question as to baptism. Is an assembly right in refusing fellowship to any who have not received believers' baptism?

To make believers' baptism - by which is meant the immersion of believers - a test of fellowship, is to make a narrower test than the Word and to form a Baptist sect.

"Dear brother, I do hope you will help me with these questions. At present I am away in the loneliness of the Australian bush, many miles from the address given at the head of this letter. I have been away some weeks now from the fellowship of meetings. But these questions have given me much thought, and after receiving the Scripture Truth direct from England, I felt impelled to write to you. You may not have time to answer me personally, but I am assured a little ministry on these questions would be very helpful." A.G.K.

It will be a great joy if we are able to help you and your earnest friends who are searching the Word. One closing word we would say. In avoiding all error and all sectarianism, and in taking the separate path that the Word indicates, be sure and walk in love towards all the saints.

J. T. Mawson.

The Lord's Supper.

Notes of an Address on 1 Corinthians 11. 23-26.

The Lord's Supper, which is the one feast of the assembly of God, stamps upon that assembly a wonderful character, and marks it out as being in complete contrast to the world while still in it. If we have learnt in any measure the meaning of it we are greatly favoured of God; if we have not learnt its meaning we do not understand the blessedness and character of the assembly at all. We cannot consider it too often; it is an inexhaustible theme, and that because it presents our Lord to us in the fidelity and invincibility of His love. The occasion of its institution emphasizes this; it was on

The Same Night In Which He Was Betrayed.

This is arresting, and we must pause and consider why the supper is identified with this blackest of all black nights. Had Paul been left to his own wisdom to give an account of the institution of the supper he would most probably have connected it, as we should have done, with the crucifixion. He would have said, "It was on the night before the crucifixion that the Lord took bread." But that was not the way in which he received it from the Lord, nor was he so inspired by the Holy Ghost to write it.

It was on the night of the betrayal. The betrayal is the background that throws into bright relief the love that moved the Lord to give to us the supper that we might have it until He comes as a memorial of His death for us. The betrayal was very definitely in the Lord's thoughts; how keenly He felt it we must surely feel, as reverently we consider Him in that solemn hour. "One of you shall betray Me," He said to them (Matt. 26. 21). "One of you that eateth with Me shall betray Me" (Mark 14. 18). Then in Luke 22. 21, after they had partaken of the supper, His words are recorded, "The hand of him that betrayeth Me is with Me at the table." And here in 1 Cor. 11 though now in the glory of God, the Lord does not forget this; it was on "the same night in which He was betrayed" that He took bread and gave thanks. There was base treachery in the inner circle and this caused Him the deepest pain. Jerusalem He loved, but it had never professed to love Him. It had always despised Him, proudly asking, "Who is this?" When His love took Him to it to spend laborious days in the midst of it, it offered Him no welcome, or rest, or home. It left Him friendless on its streets, with no place to lay His head unless He sought it on the Mount of Olives. He felt this, and only His touching lament and tears can tell us how keenly He felt it. But in this inner circle He surely could find consolation and rest! These disciples of His, the "you" to whom He loved to speak, they surely would be faithful to Him; for one and all of them had protested oft and again their love to Him! No, He cannot rest even here, for having gathered them together He says, "one of you shall betray Me." Treachery within was a hundred-fold worse than hatred without, and this treachery was well calculated to discourage and destroy a less than perfect love. But He rose up above it all and in connection with it all He instituted the supper which was to be to all His own, as long as ever they needed it, a memorial of His love that no failure on their part could destroy.

I am sure that none who are truly and vitally the Lord's could do what Judas did; he was a child of the devil, and the devil was in him; nevertheless he was in that circle, he was one of the "you," and he had received the same tender consideration at the Lord's hands. He had been in that best of all company, and had had the best of training and circumstances, but this only brought out the worst that was in him, and proved that the flesh is incorrigibly bad. And the flesh in Judas was no worse than the flesh in Peter and John, and you and me, and the lesson that his treachery should teach us is that we can have no confidence in the flesh. Then in what and whom may we place our confidence? In instituting the supper the Lord replies, "You may trust in Me." For the supper tells us of love that carried Him unto death for us.

"What love with His can vie?" "One of you shall betray me," said the Lord, and the disciple whom Jesus loved seemed to enter into the full meaning of it all, for he reclined upon Jesus' bosom. It was as though He said, "Lord, I cannot trust my heart, or depend upon my love to you, but I can trust Your heart and I can find perfect rest in the love that beats in Your bosom for me." And the supper invites us, and encourages us to act as he acted, so that we also may call ourselves "the disciple whom Jesus loves." The love of Christ is not measured by our response to it, it does not change as ours changes, but it will continue in all its strength "till He come." What a resting place is His bosom! What solace and joy His love yields! and that it might be ever fresh before us the supper has been given to us; and that we might clearly see that it is not a love dependent upon our faithfulness it was instituted on the night of the betrayal - the same night.

This should give us confidence in gathering together to partake of it, and should teach us that the joy of the feast springs altogether from what He is in the greatness of His love, and that our fitness and title to partake of the feast rests upon the value of His death which we recall in it.

That then is the setting; see now how He acts in it.

He Gave Thanks Unto God.

Behold Him in the midst of those disciples, lifting heart and voice in thanksgiving to God, His Father, with the bread in His hands which was to be to them the symbol of His body given in death for them. He gave thanks as their Leader and Head; they were those whom He would call "My brethren" when He had overthrown the power of death; they were to be the beginning, the nucleus, of that assembly in which He would raise a perpetual song unto His Father, and theirs. So now in the midst of them He gives thanks, and the thanks must have been for His death and the great results of it. He looked beyond the cross and beyond the tomb, and measured the favour, immeasurable to all but Himself, in which His assembly should stand with Him before the Father as a result of His one offering, and with this in full view He gave thanks. That act stamped upon the assembly its first distinctive feature, it is a thanksgiving company and the Lord's supper is an eucharistic feast - a feast of thanksgiving. In this the assembly of God - that which God has called out of the world - stands in vivid contrast to the world. The world does not and will not give thanks; "neither were thankful," is one of the charges that God brings against the heathen world in Rom. 1. 21, and it is not the least item in the heavy indictment drawn up against apostate Christendom in 2 Tim. 3. 2. But the saints of God can and do give thanks, from their hearts they can cry with exultation, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

It should cause us much exercise that we give thanks so feebly, and that often murmurings and repinings take the place of praise. We are not living up to our character and privileges when this is the case, and the reason of it is that we have lost the sense of the favour in which we stand, or have never known it. Nothing is more calculated to restore to us a sense of this favour, or teach us what it is, than the Lord's supper, the feast of thanksgiving. For in the death of our Lord the heart of God was fully declared. His love flowed out there towards us without any reserve, and that when we were both dead and guilty, as we read in 1 John 4. 9, 10: "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. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son, to be the propitiation for our sins." Hence our sins removed, and our souls quickened into life, what can we do but adore and thank Him Who is the source of it all?

Our thanksgiving is commensurate with the sense of God's favour in our souls, the more fully we enter into this the fuller our thanksgiving will be. It is feeble at the best, yet it is to me a most cheering and comforting thought that a perfect thanksgiving has entered the Father's ear; for when the Lord gave thanks He did so as fully knowing the favour in which His own would stand with Him. That perfect thanksgiving abides, and I delight to think that when the saints of God come together they do so in all the fragrance of it.

He Brake The Bread.

Having given thanks, thus giving God the first place, He brake the bread and gave it to His disciples, saying, "This is My body given for you, this do in remembrance of me." It was to keep powerfully before them His own personal love to them, and in partaking of this broken bread the assembly responds to that love and shows its devotion to Him. I speak of it, when it is done, not as a matter of form but with hearts moved by His love to grateful adoration. In this again the assembly stands out in contrast to the world; it is a company devoted to Christ whom the world despised and slew. I know of no better illustration of it than that of Joseph of Arimathea. The Lord hung dead upon the cross; all the world had followed its princes in crucifying Him; then stepped forth Joseph and identified himself with that dead and dishonoured body. It was as though he said, "The world hates Him but I love Him; the world has slain Him but I claim His body even though it metes out the same treatment to me." So we, when we partake of that broken bread, identify ourselves with the dead body of Christ, for as far as the world knows and cares He is still dead; the world's last act against Him was to rend His side. We know that He lives in resurrection life and power; but we recall Him as He was, and identify ourselves with His death.

His body was given for us. His love led Him to sacrifice Himself on our behalf; it is upon this that we dwell, and dwelling upon it our souls are bound the closer to Him. The cup also He gave to them, for the two elements complete the symbol of the Lord's death - His body given and His blood shed "for you;" "in remembrance of Me." Here is His love, here is our response to it.

We Are One Bread And One Body.

In partaking of the supper the assembly declares itself to be one body, for all partake of one bread. There is unity in the assembly, and only there. It is a unity of life formed by the Holy Ghost, and by His power it will be maintained until the assembly appears in glory without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Here also the assembly stands out in contrast to the world. There is no unity in the world, it is characterized by sin and discord and disintegration. One class in it may combine to defend itself against another class, but there is no vital unity, no true cohesion. This can only be found in the assembly, for it is still true that "There is one body and one Spirit." Outwardly we do not see this unity. The flesh and the devil have wrought sad havoc in the ranks of those who are one in Christ; and the cliques and sects and parties, which are our great shame, deny this blessed and indissoluble unity in practice, yet the unity exists in spite of all the outward denial of it, and it is well to dwell on this side and to hold fast to this truth that "we being many are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread." This is part of that faith once for all delivered to the saints, and we are called upon to earnestly contend for it.

"Till He Come."

We show the Lord's death by eating the bread and drinking the cup "till He come." We announce the fact that He has died in the world and that we hold to Him who has died. It is said that after James II. was driven from the British throne, at royal banquets when the toast "The King" was honoured, his secret adherents drew their glasses across the finger bowls, meaning by that act "we drink to the king across the water." What they did by stealth we do openly - "we drink to the King across the water" to Christ our earth-rejected Lord; we are identified with the death of Christ, and though men may be indifferent, angels behold us in this act of responsive love, and learn that Christ has not died in vain.

We link His death with His coming again and that coming again is our hope and joy. The assembly is a community awaiting the return of the absent Lord, the heavenly Bridegroom. Here again she stands out in contrast to the world, for that which is to her "that blessed hope," is that which will fill the world with alarm; that which will be the consummation of all our hopes will be the overthrow of all its schemes and the blasting of all its ambitions.

Here then are some of the distinctive features of the assembly of God that plainly prove that it is not of the world but of God.

It gives thanks to the Father.

It is devoted to Christ.

It is one united body.

Its great hope in the coming again of the Lord Jesus.

May these things be seen more definitely and practically by us all for His Name's sake.

J. T. Mawson.

The Leaven.

1 Corinthians 5.

The Apostle Paul, in this chapter, alludes to a gross case of immorality, which had taken place (verse 1) and was unjudged in the assembly at Corinth (verse 2). He himself had a very definite judgment about it (verse 3), but he desired that the matter should be the subject of assembly action, in conjunction with his own apostolic authority (verse 4), the name and power of Our Lord Jesus Christ being connected with their gathering together, in order that the offender might as a wicked person be put away from among themselves (verse 13).

It is important to notice that such a judgment must of necessity meet with the approval of godly conscience in every assembly. The sin was evident, and the saints at Corinth were exercising the Lord's power in His assembly, that the holy name of the Lord might be vindicated. These things would show that their action was in relation to the whole church in every place. The man so dealt with was unfit for communion in any Christian assembly. For such reason alone can this extreme discipline be used, and under such conditions alone can the act of an assembly be ratified in heaven. Verse 5 seems to go beyond anything that assembly action could do, apart from apostolic authority; for it involves, unless he repents, the death of the guilty person, who nevertheless being a believer in Christ would yet be found saved in the day of glory. Verse 6, "Your glorying is not good."

They were going on as if all was well, yet with this corruption in their midst; how deadening to the conscience is unjudged sin. The apostle then states a principle of great importance, "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." The sin of one affected the whole assembly in Corinth. Here the leaven was immoral conduct, in Gal. 5. 9, where he repeats the statement, the leaven was evil doctrine, its result would be the permeation of the entire mass, unless its action was stopped, otherwise it would eat as doth a gangrene (2 Tim. 2. 17). In this case the saints were to purge it out from their midst, to express their judgment of it, by refusing Christian company to the guilty brother. In the spirit of self-judgment, that his sin was the guilt of all, they were so to act that they would be a new lump, unleavened. Then is brought forward the fact which should touch the affections in the deepest way. The judgment of sin had fallen upon Christ for them.

What stronger motive could be adduced, for holiness and purity of walk, than that Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us. To allow personally or collectively that which is contrary to His cross, that for which He took our place, and suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, would indeed be the deepest treachery, and the worst of all sins, the sin against love. Therefore we are to keep the feast, apart from leaven in any form (verse 8), a reference doubtless to the seven days which followed the Passover, during which leaven was not to be found in the houses of the Israelites (Ex. 12. 18-20). This feast of unleavened bread is typical of the present period. Leaven is always a type of evil; the apostle speaks of it here in three forms: (1) The old leaven; (2) The leaven of malice; (3) The leaven of wickedness; and contrasts it with that which is unleavened, sincerity and truth. It is well to have these three forms distinctly in our minds. The old leaven is the character of the old man, the natural product of the virus of sin derived from Adam. Its actions are detailed in verses 10 and 11. With this the Christian must have nothing to do, he must be unleavened, having put off the old man with his deeds, and having put on the new man, the character of Christ. The leaven of wickedness, while including the immoral deeds referred to, goes farther, for it is seen in contrast with truth, and is characterized by false doctrine subversive of the truth. This leaven, in fact, lay at the root of the Corinthian trouble, as well as of the Galatian. Their manners were bad, the evil communications had made them so (chap. 15. 33). The corrective for this was to know the truth, God and the word of His grace. But besides these two forms of leaven there was another, more subtle but equally sinful, the leaven of malice. In seeking to avoid bad conduct, and evil doctrine, we are ever in danger of allowing injurious thoughts, of using hard speeches, and making false accusations, against those who are fellow members of the body of Christ. With the most laudable desire to maintain the truth sectarianism may be fallen into, the malicious character of which is manifested by manner of speech as much as by action. To avoid this leaven, it is most necessary, if we desire to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, to regard our brethren in relation to that unity, to put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, evil speaking with all malice, and to be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. To seek restoration and healing, and to be followers of God as dear children.

Malice may be defined as speaking of others with intent to injure or depreciate them, bearing a grudge. Its root is pride; the soil in which it grows is prejudice; its stem is self-exaltation, and its fruit is the hypocrisy of the Pharisee. Hence it is contrasted with sincerity, the quality of being generous and transparent, esteeming others better than ourselves and readiness to go along with the lowly. The Pharisee in Luke 18 was malicious, his speech betrayed him, he trusted in himself that he was righteous and despised others; the publican was sincere, his words bore witness to it. The boastfulness of those who amidst the Corinthian schisms said they were of Christ (1 Cor. 1. 12, and 2 Cor. 10. 7) to the exclusion of others, exhibited one of the worst fruits of the leaven of malice, for it accredited a party with a position, that could rightly only belong to the whole. In conclusion the comment of Robert Leighton on 1 Peter 1. 22., is worth quoting. "Seeing ye have purified your hearts unto unfeigned love of the brethren," he says, "How few are there that have truly maliceless hearts and find this entire upright affection towards their brethren." Who of us is there that does not need the rebuke?

James Green.

"One Flock, One Shepherd."

John 10: 16.

The Spirit of God used the apostle Paul to direct the attention of the saints to the vital aspect of Christ and the assembly under the eloquent figure of the Head and the body, and He also gave to us through John a vivid illustration of the same truth in the beautiful representation of the Shepherd and the flock.

There is one Head and one body; there is one Shepherd and one flock. The first being an essential unity subsisting in one vital organism, the second an essential oneness in life also, sheep being necessary for a shepherd even as a shepherd is necessary for a flock. It is striking to observe the apostle Paul himself indicated that the assembly and the flock are to be identified as one (Acts 20. 28), when he warned the elders of Ephesus regarding similar perils to those we read of in the tenth chapter of John.

The body receives protection and direction from the Head, so also does the flock from the Shepherd.

It is therefore necessary for the members to hold fast the Head as we are told in Col. 2, and for the sheep to follow the Shepherd. This being experimentally true of us we shall be preserved in Christ Jesus where Divine love is known, and be united together unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the full knowledge of the mystery of God, for this is contained in both the figures to which we have referred. Just as it is said in Ephesians that those who are called out from the Jews and out from the Gentiles become "one body" in Christ according to the truth of the mystery, so also it is said in John 10 that "other sheep" as well as those of the Jewish fold are called to form the "one flock."

The Shepherd And His Sheep.

Divine love has been shown towards us in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Divine power is manifested in His resurrection. In these two relations He is spoken of first as "the good Shepherd" and secondly as "the great Shepherd." In 1 John 3. 16 it is said, Hereby we have known love, because He has laid down His life for us; and He Himself said, "I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." (John 10. 11). Our sins necessitated that death if we were to be saved from perishing eternally, and elsewhere we are told that Divine love is commended towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Rom. 5. 8). His death was the great expression of the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There is, however, power as well as love energizing on our behalf, and both in accord with the righteousness and holiness of God, to bring to glorious fruition His eternal purpose in Christ Jesus. We read in Eph. 1: 19 of "the surpassing greatness of His power towards us who believe, according to the might of His strength in which He wrought in Christ in raising Him from among the dead." That was the manifestation of Divine power, and in Heb. 13. 20 we are told that the great Shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, was brought again from among the dead by the God of peace in virtue of the blood of the eternal covenant, therefore the present care for us of our great and exalted Shepherd is based upon His atoning death at Calvary. The good Shepherd died to save us, the great Shepherd lives to care for us. Power is exercised on our behalf in love which has fully expressed itself in Christ Jesus, therefore He could assure us that no sheep of His can ever perish.

We have said that we have both protection and direction in the Shepherd, amidst the aboundings of evils and perils in Christendom to-day. Nothing but fatal callousness could make us entirely indifferent to them and to the provision of Divine love and power for us in Christ the great Shepherd of the sheep. Unless we feel the one we shall not appreciate the other. In any case the dangers exist, and God has not left us in ignorance concerning them. Let the one who carelessly wanders from the flock of God heed this word of the Holy Spirit before it be too late. "Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour"; also, "Men shall arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them." Violence and deception are both at work.

It is true that the one who abides in Christ can say, "I will fear no evil," but that is because he follows the Shepherd with the flock, and not that he is indifferent to what he does not fear. The Lord led Israel like a flock through the wilderness, but Amalek smote the hindmost of them. Our Lord Jesus Christ protects all His own to-day, but it must be remembered that a shepherd gathers the sheep together for this. They are a flock and they themselves flock together. That is in their very nature and it is proved in their so doing. We speak now of what is normal of course. This is specially true when the sheep have a sense of some peril at hand. A fox in a field is enough to cause them to run together; and, with the lambs inside the closed circle, they turn their faces to the foe. The wolf is used by the Lord in John 10 and by the apostle Paul in Acts 20 to illustrate the cruel nature of the men who trouble the flock of God to-day.

The danger from such is very real, they seize upon individuals wherever they can, and then proceed to scatter the sheep! The Shepherd cares for and gathers the sheep; the wolf troubles them and scatters them. The distinction may be easily observed by the feeblest lamb. Thieves are also spoken of so that we may be forewarned as to those who come for unrighteous gain. Such are ready to commit any act of deceit, violence or destruction to attain their selfish ends and to secure their ill-gotten spoils. The good Shepherd gives all for the sheep; these take all they can from them. He enriches them that they might be together in life and health; they enfeeble them. The hireling too is pointed out by the Lord as a cause of weakness; pay is pre-eminent in his thoughts; no Divine love has place in his heart; he does not truly care for the sheep, therefore he flees when danger appears. The good Shepherd dies for them, and as the great Shepherd He never leaves or forsakes them: the hireling flees at the sight of a foe and forsakes the flock he has no real love for, because he is no more and no less than an hireling.

In all this we learn the importance of simply trusting to the one Shepherd of the one flock. Protection is found in Him, and direction also. He not only preserves us, but He directs us to refreshing streams and nourishing pastures, where we can be built up together in our most holy faith and abide in the happy enjoyment of His unchanging love. Paul warned even elders of the danger of drawing away souls after themselves. The Lord directs us into the fields of Divine abundance, and care is needed lest any should turn the sheep from following Himself and from flocking together around Him.

Sheep Marks.

There are certain marks by which the sheep of our Lord Jesus Christ can be distinguished. Religion is no guarantee that we are His, for those to whom He said, "Ye are not of My sheep," were bigoted religionists, associated too with the place of Jehovah's name. It was in the temple when Jesus walked in the porch of Solomon, that He told these cold professors of religion this. "It was winter" in more senses than one. They were celebrating a religious feast, and they surrounded Him, asking questions of unbelief, and He to Whom their whole Bible pointed said, "Ye are not of My sheep." They were strangers to the faith which works by love. At heart they were unbelievers whatever their mental process of reasoning may have been.

In contrast to these the Son of God tells us what are the marks of His own sheep - "My sheep" as He calls them:

(1) They "hear My voice" (John 10: 27). His Word in the Gospel has reached them in the power of the Spirit, and in this way His voice has livingly become known to them.

(2) "I know them." There is nothing haphazard in this matter of eternal import. In view of the corruptions and imitations of the faith the real are comforted in 2 Tim. 2. 19 with this same fact: "The Lord knoweth them that are His."

(3) "They follow Me" He further says. This is encouraging for those who are perplexed by the rival claims of sects and parties and their leaders. The sheep of Christ simply follow the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and He gives them what none other could give, as He says,

(4) "I give them eternal life." We may be able to explain this gift in a very limited measure, but it is ours nevertheless and it is not simply life in eternal blessedness, for it involves also the knowledge of the Father and the Son.

(5) "They shall never perish." Tried as they may be on their journey to the Father's house, not one of the flock, however, can be lost, thank God, for Jesus said:

(6) "No one shall seize them out of My hand." The thief may come, the wolf may scatter, the hireling may flee, but the Shepherd's hand of omnipotence holds every one safely. Moreover,

(7) "No one can seize out of the hand of My Father." In the Son's hand we are perfectly safe, and in the Father's hand we are equally so we are doubly safe, if it be necessary so to express it, for we belong to both the Father and the Son.

In addition to these seven marks, we are told in verse 4, The sheep follow Him because they know His voice. A contrast is given in the next verse, which those who waste their own and others time and energies in dealing with the vapourings and teachings of strangers, would do well to consider: "They will not follow a stranger, but will flee from him, because they know not the voice of strangers." The importance of this should be thoroughly grasped. It may be said, Some have been known to follow evil teachers and leaders. But the Lord said His sheep do not follow them, and do not know them! On the other hand they flee from strangers. Those, therefore, who do follow them cannot be His sheep. We speak of course of what is characteristic, and not of some sudden impulse from which a true believer will be recovered. Rome educates its students as to what is considered error by that system, but Christ's sheep "know not" the voices of strangers, and it is a serious mistake to try to make them know, and to be wise as to such. Rather should we encourage and edify each other in that which is good, till we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, the great Shepherd of the sheep.

It is true that He knows all, and that they know Him as well as His voice, nevertheless they may increase in the knowledge of Himself, and this should be furthered. Knowledge has a great place in the 10th chapter of John as being true of the sheep of His pasture. Jesus said, "I am the good Shepherd and I know those that are Mine, and am known of those that are Mine, as the Father knows Me and I know the Father, and I lay down My life for the sheep." How blessed for the sheep to be gathered around the same glorious Object as that which fills the Father's heart with ineffable pleasure! He is enough our minds and hearts to fill! When He spoke to those who were not of His sheep, and told them that none could pluck any of His own sheep out of His hand nor out of His Father's hand, adding, "I and My Father are One," they took up stones to cast at Him! It is the grace of God which gives His own a different Spirit, and draws them together around the One they rejected, for, as we said before, sheep flock together. This is one of the important marks which must not be forgotten. There is something wrong when a sheep is seen alone by itself in the field.

Fold or Flock?

How are the sheep of Christ held together? The question is one of momentous importance. It has been raised in various forms and terms for long centuries, and ecclesiastical conflicts have furiously raged in regard to it times without number. The question may have been put in a scholarly manner or in a simple upright fashion, and arguments may have been advanced with the display of erudition or in the forcefulness begotten by the sense of right against wrong; nevertheless, the matter to be settled is simply this, Are Christ's sheep held together by ecclesiastical hurdles in an organized fold, or simply as a flock under the hand of the omnipotent Shepherd? Many subtle disputations may be advanced according to the tendencies and inclinations of those who enunciate them and the quality of their abilities to reason them out, for we are Divinely informed, "God made man upright, but He has sought out many "abstruse reasonings" as the word "inventions" is better translated; and, seeing that this is so, the more trustfully we bow to God's own Word regarding this important matter the safer shall we be; for true safety lies only in accepting what the Word of God says as to it. The arguments of the human mind with its varied bias — whether against or apparently for that which we are told in the Bible — have proved themselves to be untrustworthy, and in some cases their prejudicial dogmas have become hateful even to the most tolerant of men, and despicable to the most considerate.

Influenced probably by the idea that a fold was an absolute necessity for sheep the translators rendered John 10: 16, "one fold, one Shepherd," whereas it is now well known to be "one flock, one Shepherd." The two ideas are quite different. The first makes the Shepherd insufficient for the flock; the second simply states His all-sufficiency. The wrong translation has always been an enormous stronghold of the Romish system, and it is still the plea of sectarian ecclesiastics where ignorance of the Word prevails. One said to a servant of Christ known to me, "You must have a fold." "Very well," answered my friend, "have your fold," and now read John 10: 3, where we are told, the Lord Jesus Christ "calls His own sheep by name and leadeth them out"! What have you left in your fold after He does that? Not one of His sheep! Doubtless the fold refers to the religious system of Judaism, but the principle of out-calling remains; the very word translated church, ecclesia, means that! Ever since the out-call of Abraham, God has acted in that way.

When the apostasy and corruptions of Christendom, foretold in Scripture, reach their organized fruition in Babylon the great, it is imperatively commanded by a voice out of heaven, "Come out of her, My people, that ye have not fellowship in her sins" (Rev. 18. 4)! God's people so addressed are doubtless Jews. They are properly "His people," and the flock of God, the assembly, will have been previously translated from earth to heaven like Enoch of old. We speak, however, of the principle; and before that day, even now, we are instructed to separate from iniquity and vessels to dishonour, so as to flock together after the Lord Himself (even as we read in 2 Tim. 2) and "pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." Unless we had the Word of God for all this we should be in a fearful dilemma, but He has given us in the Bible all the guidance we need, and His grace is abundant, while the great Shepherd is sufficient for the flock without man-made folds. It was an earnest preacher, in whose name a large fold was made after his death, who himself said, "Let names and sects and parties fall, and Jesus Christ be all in all." He is enough for the flock truly.

Faith is required to accept this, but what have we without faith? By faith we stand! Christ dwells in our hearts by faith! Without faith it is impossible to please Him! Folds suit those who walk by sight. They are pleasing to men who prefer lifeless forms to living energies, and to those who choose legal rules instead of the Spirit's power. Even in the addresses to the seven assemblies in Rev. 2, 3, those who have ears to hear are bidden to heed what is said to all seven, wherein are found self pleasing, Christ exclusion, dead profession, worldliness, immorality, and satanic doctrines and practises. Faith and the Spirit's enabling are necessary therefore to follow that which is according to God's will when such iniquity abounds in Christendom. God, however, has foretold it all for the preservation and guidance of the flock of His pasture, so that they may still follow the Lord together without distraction.

Each one may still say to the Lord the great Shepherd of the sheep, "Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." In spite of the evils we have named, they may still rejoice that their cup runs over, as they follow Him together. Nothing will ever force Him to give up those for whom He suffered, bled and died. None can pluck them from His hand or from the Father's hand. Each one can look forward to the end of the journey with confidence and say, "I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

Then shall we see His face

With all the saints above,

And sing for ever of His grace,

For ever of His love."

One Flock.

We pointed out that just as in the epistle to the Ephesians we have the truth of the mystery made known, that those whom God calls out from both Jews and Gentiles become one body in Christ, "joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of His promise in Christ Jesus by the Gospel" (Eph. 3. 6), so in John 10 we have the same truth made known in relation to the one flock, for we are told that our Lord Jesus Christ leads "His own sheep" out of the Jewish fold, and brings the "other sheep which are not of this fold," but who hear His voice when He calls, and consequently there is one flock formed of both over which He is the one Shepherd. Each figure gives us the truth of the oneness of the saints in life and nature, the former, however, being a corporate oneness, whereas the latter is collective. Both, however, are vital, and remain true notwithstanding the failure which was foretold and which is so evident in Christendom.

Now although each figure involves oneness, and also as another has expressed it togetherness, nevertheless the idea of religious organization is foreign to both, for the body is an organism with all its members vitally united together, and a flock is made up of sheep who because of their very nature flock together. An organization may lose many of its members and yet remain intact, but this is not so with the body of Christ. A fold would still be a fold even if the sheep were outside of it and only goats remain within; the one flock of Christ is not a fold nor goats of His flock. Some say, "True there is one flock but there are many folds." Yes, there are many folds, but there is no instruction given in the Bible for men to make them. The flock is the result of the work of God Himself. What would happen if man-made hurdles were thrown down? The sheep would flock together after the Lord alone.

Others say, "See how the sheep are scattered! Look at the divisions in Christianity! You must have a fold to hold them together!" Such reasoning is common enough amongst earnest and well-meaning men, but it is very bad reasoning all the same. Nor has the oft-tried remedy of the fold proved successful. It has turned out contrariwise: it has hurdled off sheep from sheep and helped forward the scattering. Moreover the scattering was foretold by the Lord in John 10, and in the same chapter He told us what was the only remedy - Himself, the Shepherd of the sheep. His voice is heard, He brings them together, He knows His own sheep, they know their Shepherd, His hand and the Father's hand hold all safely, and one flock without a fold is divinely secure.

The Old Testament indicates the same thing. Ezek. 34 speaks of the sheep of that day being scattered, but the Lord said, I will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. I will feed them. I will save My flock and they shall be no more a prey, and "I will set up one Shepherd over them and He shall feed them" (23). "Ye, My flock, the flock of My pasture are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God" (31.) There was no one shepherding them, for those that should have done so "fed themselves and fed not the flock." Just as in our day, however, there were not only those who fed themselves, but those that scattered the flock abroad, and the Lord Himself alone could gather the sheep. In the history of Christendom this process of scattering has been in evidence from the days of the apostles, not that the Lord ever ceases to care for His flock; nevertheless ruthless men have fulfilled His words in this work of cruelty under the guise of zeal and religion. Nevertheless the "one flock" is always in the care of the Lord. He watches over them all and the feeblest is not overlooked by Him. The flock may suffer from direct enemies, self-seekers and false friends - this was foretold by the Lord - but in Him they have all that is necessary for them.

In Jer. 31, the chapter of the "new thing" and "the new covenant," whilst not excusing the bad men who have scattered the sheep of Israel, the Lord shows that He has Himself been behind it all for good, and calls to the nations to see that they are not out of His care, saying, "He that scattered Israel will gather him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Israel and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. Therefore shall they come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd; and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all." They shall "flow together!" Take the hurdles away! that is what the one flock will do! Let the scatterers cease their scattering! The sheep will flow together to the goodness of the Lord! The good Shepherd knows His own sheep and they know Him. Let the hindrances disappear, and the liberated sheep - the one flock as we have said - will happily flow together and flock around the One who gave His life for the sheep.

There is but one flock, and they bear the sheep marks we have spoken of. Even though the sheep be scattered there is still the one flock. They may be distressed and suffer, as we have seen, but they do not seek the hurt of others. It is not God's mind, however, that the sheep should be separated from each other, but that they should be together. We see this in the truth of Christ and the assembly as well as in the Shepherd and the flock. We are to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace, for there is one body and one Spirit. The sheep are to follow the Shepherd together, and it is natural for them to do so, because of their life and nature. Moreover, in view of the approaching day of the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ we are exhorted not to forsake the "complete assembling" of ourselves together.

"I know my sheep."

We are writing that the saints of God may be encouraged to gather together according to the truth, that they may meet in assembly and know the Lord Himself in their midst. It is always possible, of course, that goats and hirelings and even a thief may be present, but the sheep have protection and direction in the great Shepherd. They look to Him. They follow Him. Moreover in Ezek. 34. He says, "I will judge between cattle and cattle, and I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them" (22). This principle of the Lord judging His people is found all through the Bible. In Hebrews 10 from which we have already quoted, it is stated again in verse 30. The exercises through which we pass are to educate us to simply trust in Him.

Those who belong to the Father and the Son find rest in the knowledge of the omniscience of the great Shepherd. He knows His own sheep: He knows their names; He knows themselves. This truth is given for our comfort and direction also in 2 Tim. 2, as we have pointed out. There may be false doctrines taught, unrighteousness practised, and vessels of dishonour at hand, nevertheless "the Lord knoweth them that are His"; the foundation of God standeth sure. Therefore, in spite of others, the real are exhorted to follow that which is good "with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." The pure or sincere heart in calling on the Lord characterizes the true sheep, and it is the Lord Himself upon whom they together call. Therefore let such be found in assembly around Him according to the Word of God. We cannot correct others mistakes, but surely the sheep can follow their Shepherd together instead of being hurdled off from one another or led astray by biased men.

Nor must we be hindered when some turn away to the mire of the world, for Scripture supposes this. They may have been washed in the waters of religion, figuratively speaking, and remain still unclean in their nature. The sheep are clean animals, but some are not sheep, they are unclean. 2 Peter 2. 22 speaks of such turning back like a dog to his own unclean vomit, or like a washed sow to her rolling in the mud. These things are foretold so that we should not be deterred from going on together after our Lord Jesus Christ, growing in grace and in the knowledge of Himself, and finding all we need and more in Him, ever remembering that He knows His own perfectly. The foreknowledge of God overlooked none of the sheep of Christ. They were "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father," and, indeed, they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1: 4). So perfect is the Divine knowledge of the flock, we read, "Whom He has foreknown, He has also predestinated to he conformed to the image of His Son, so that He should be the Firstborn among many brethren." That is the end in view, for from eternity to eternity they are known to Him. "But," this Scripture reads on, "whom He has predestinated these He has also called." The time arrived when the call of grace reached each one, and that in an effectual manner.

From this time a work of Divine grace and power in the sheep gives them a nature and capability to know the great Shepherd, the Son of God. He said, "I know My sheep and am known of Mine." blessed this is. They know His voice and they know Himself. One could say, The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me. The good Shepherd gave His life for the sheep, and they know Him. They know not the voice of strangers, and they do not follow them, for they have the Lord Jesus Christ to follow. Twice in John 10 He says, I am the good Shepherd. First in connection with laying down His life, and then as to what He is in Himself (John 11: 14). Outwardly in His work, and inwardly in Himself, He is good. The sheep have tasted indeed that the Lord is good, and they know Him.

The character of this knowledge or intimacy is also exceedingly blessed, for the Lord Jesus said, I know My sheep and am known of those that are Mine, "as the Father knows Me and I know the Father" (N.T.). How wonderful! Of course this does not state the measure of the intimacy which exists between the sheep and the Shepherd, for they could never reach to the same measure that exists between the Father and the Son, nevertheless it is true that the same character of intimacy is theirs with Him. Great indeed are the grace and power and love which brought this about and made it known to us. To know the Son of God, the great and good Shepherd of the flock as the Father knows Him and He knows the Father! Who could have imagined such exalted blessedness? - yet so it is! - the sheep of His flock know Him thus! We might have said with one of old, Such knowledge is too wonderful for me! but His grace and power and love have produced by God's Word and Spirit a nature in the sheep divinely fitted for this marvellous privilege. The knowledge of God's things and God's Word has a great place in the Bible, and the word "know" often occurs in John 10, but what can compare with that of which we have spoken?

Lord Jesus Christ, what grace is this,

Which gives our hearts to know

The Fountain of eternal love

Whence living waters flow?

The Father's well beloved Son,

Wellspring of grace divine,

Thou giv'st our hearts to know Thyself

And we are ever Thine.

In closing may we not challenge our hearts and ask, Do we respond to the grace and love which have made us one with all the saints of God? Do we meet often in assembly with our fellow-members of the body of which our Lord Jesus Christ is the glorious Head? Do we flock together with the sheep of God's pasture? Do we seek to be completely assembled together as the day of Christ's return draws nigh? In simple words, Do we walk according to the truth that there is one body? Do we gather in the truth that there is but one flock? Do we put into practise the truth of the mystery that all the saints are "fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and joint-partakers of His promise in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 3. 6)?

Eph. 2. 21.

"In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord."

In the previous part of the epistle, the Christians - Jew and Gentile are looked at as the one body of Christ, "the fulness of Him that filleth all in all" - that is to say, it looks at the Christians in their heavenly association.

But in the verse before us we have the Christians looked at as "an holy temple in the Lord." The figure is changed. This sets before us the great truth of God dwelling in the midst of His people on this earth. But not only does God dwell but the word temple carries the thought of a shrine, a dwelling place indeed, but connected with the thought of holiness, because of who it is that dwells. It becomes a sanctuary, a sphere of priestly activity, a place of worship - a place made by the persons who compose it, not by stones and mortar. "God . . . dwelleth not in temples made with hands" (Acts 17. 24).

It is this thought that is so largely not recognized nor acted upon by Christians. The building is "fitly framed together," that is, Christians are not so many individuals, who can pick and choose their associations, but God sets us in relation one to another with the view of being His dwelling place on earth.

The apostle Peter runs parallel with this when he writes: "Ye also as lively [living] stones are built up a spiritual house" (1 Peter 2. 5). One stone cannot make a building, nor do stones choose their own place. Each stone finds its place according to the mind of the Divine Architect.

This idea runs right through Scripture. Did God redeem Israel out of Egypt simply to relieve them of intolerable bondage? Nay, it was to bring them to Himself, and even the tents of the "common" people had to be pitched in a certain order round the tabernacle, and holiness became them in their ways.

Did God demand the half shekel of silver - the redemption money, when He numbered the people, and that was an end of it? Nay, the half shekels produced over one hundred talents of silver which was used in connection with the tabernacle, principally as sockets for the boards, again emphasizing the same truth.

There is great energy as to appropriating personal blessings, if we may so put it, and great activity in serving others, in Gospel effort, whether in home or missionary spheres (would there were still more of this), but if Christians generally sought to enter into the sense of God dwelling in their midst, of taking up what is, after all, the highest privilege of the Christian, that of their priesthood, how different things would be. Service in other directions would not lose, but infinitely gain. It is this taking and maintaining of assembly ground that is of such vast importance.

We have no choice in this. The responsibility is ours, whether we like it or not, but in taking it up we find that our privilege is so immense that responsibility becomes a matter of joy. A married man has responsibilities towards his wife, but if these were irksome and distressing it would speak little for his love. If love is as it should be his responsibility is his privilege, his joy, his delight. So with divine things.

Lastly the building "groweth." Grow is a word that is only rightly applicable to that which has life. A child grows, a plant grows. In all its stages a child, a plant is complete; development may add size, and qualities latent in the child or plant become patent, but we never think of either at any stage as incomplete. So God's temple is ever looked at as complete, yet growing; but surely the end is in view when the last stone shall be added, when the whole ransomed church of God, whether as we say triumphant or militant, whether the saints are passed away or living, shall be caught up by the summoning shout in the air, and God shall be still in the midst of His people.

It is not a little remarkable that whilst the word "temple" is used in Rev. 21. 22 in connection with the church in millennial display when we come to the fixed eternal state we get the word "tabernacle." "Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people" (Rev. 21. 3). The last glimpse we have is that of God dwelling among His people for eternity. May we anticipate that day by seeking to take up the Divine thoughts even now, so giving God and His Word in this connection a true practical place in our lives. What a change in association this would make with multitudes of Christians.

A. J. Pollock.

Ministry for the Church of God

Ministry for the Church of God.

Addresses and Readings on Various Scripture Subjects. If anyone can give a date for this series of meetings please inform STEM - it would seem to be between 1918 and 1935.

Edinburgh: J. K. Souter & Co., 2 & 3 Bristo Place.

Contents.

Christ and the Bride — Hamilton Smith

Christ Jesus our Hope — H. J. Vine

"Waters to swim in" — J. C. Trench

The Path of God's Pleasure — Inglis Fleming

The Claims of God — Jas. Boyd

Prosperity and Power — W. Bramwell Dick

The Mind of Christ — A. G. Taylor

The Fellowship of God's Son — J. T. Mawson

Companying with Christ — James McBroom

Setting Forward — S. Elvin Aziz

Faithful Men — Wm. H. Westcott

The Lord's Twofold Claim upon you — John T. Mawson

The Love of Christ — James Green

Christ Magnified — F. B. Hole

Reconciliation — H. J. Vine

Notes of Readings —

Ephesians 1

Ephesians 2 & 3

Ephesians 4

Ephesians 5

Ephesians 6

Editors' Notes.

Gatherings for Reading and Ministry of the Word were held in the Assembly Hall, Edinburgh, in the Autumn.

Large numbers attended and all realised the Lord's presence, and felt the power with the words spoken. A general wish was expressed that the ministry then enjoyed should be available for not only those who were present, but specially for others who were not so privileged, and the present volume is issued in answer to this desire.

Shorthand notes were taken by two Christian friends and after revisal are now sent forth with the earnest hope that glory may be brought to the Lord therefrom, and blessing to His saints.

In some cases addresses delivered will not be found here, no notes having been made of some of the earlier meetings.

The remarks of various brothers are embodied in the questions asked and the answers given, in the Notes of Readings. And it is to be observed that some statements are included in order that they may have fuller consideration, the editors not taking responsibility for every opinion expressed. All must be judged by the Word of God.

Inglis Fleming, Robert Whyte.

Christ and the Bride.

(Revelation xxii. 16-21).

Hamilton Smith.

In these verses we have the formal conclusion to the Book of Revelation and the fitting close to the whole Word of God. Three great themes are presented: ? First, and foremost, the Lord Jesus is personally brought before our souls; then we have the Church in relation to Christ as the Bride; and finally, we have a gospel message to the wide world. It is of these great subjects I would speak a few words.

I think it is clear, from Scripture, that at the end of every dispensation the ministry the Spirit of God brings before the Lord's people is one that, in a special way, directs the eye and heart to Christ Himself. In this connection I would refer to John the Baptist. It was said of John that he should be great in the eyes of the Lord, and what constituted him great would be the fact that many of the children of Israel would "he turn to the Lord their God." Other prophets had turned the people back to the law they had transgressed, to the Sabbath they had broken, to the sacrifices they had neglected, or to the Temple they had desecrated, but when John the Baptist came the nation had entirely broken down, and the dispensation was about to end. Hence he turns their hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ ? the One that was coming. And so John, the Evangelist, having presented the ruin of the Church in responsibility at the beginning of the Revelation, turns our hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ ? the One that is coming at the end of the Revelation.

In the course of this Book there pass before us many wonderful visions of coming glories ? the glory of the Millennium, the glory of the new heaven and the new earth, and the glories of the holy city ? but finally we are left alone with JESUS. What indeed would all these glories be without Jesus, beloved brethren? And how should we reach these glories or get through this wilderness world without Jesus? So at last these visions of coming glories pass away, and we are left alone with Him. He Himself speaks. As it is written, so blessedly, "I JESUS."

In the course of this Book, angels have spoken, trumpets have sounded, the voice of a great multitude has been heard, but when all are silent, Jesus speaks. He must have the last word. Hence this closing passage begins with the words, "I Jesus," and it must touch our hearts that the Lord presents Himself by His personal name "Jesus." In the Revelation, the Lord passes before us under many titles, presenting His varied dignities, as King of kings and Lord of lords, as the Word of God, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, but at the close we come to the Name that is above every name, the name "JESUS." The name that is individually so precious to all our hearts. And may we not say that of all the Names He wears there is none so precious to His heart? It was the one name He had to die to make good. Had He not died He still would have been the King of kings and Lord of lords, and the other titles would have been His, but if He is to wear the name of Jesus ? the Saviour ? He must go to the Cross to verify it. It is the name He came into the world with, Thou shalt call His name JESUS." It is the name He passed out of the world with, for over the Cross it was written, "This is JESUS." It is the name He ascended to glory with, for the angels said to the disciples, "This same JESUS, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner." And it is the name He still wears in glory to-day, for in this last passage He is speaking from the glory and says, "I JESUS."

Moreover, the Lord presents Himself in three different ways, first as "the Root" of David; then as "the Offspring" of David; and lastly, as "the Bright and Morning Star." Not only is He the Offspring of David, but He is the Root of David. Solomon was indeed the offspring of David, but never could it be said of Solomon that he was the root of David. As the Root He is the source of all vitality and life; the One that secures a life of blessing for God's people, whether earthly or heavenly. Job can say, "There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again . . . though the root thereof wax old in the earth . . . yet through the scent of water it will bud and bring forth fruit." So Israel as a tree has been cut down, but the root remains, and hence final blessing is secured for Israel and the world.

Moreover, Christ is the Offspring of David. He is God's anointed King, the Heir to the throne. The world's great aim is to get rid of all thought of God, and His King, in order that man's will may be carried out without restraint. Nevertheless, God says, "Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion." As the Root of David He is the source of all blessing, and as the Offspring of David He inherits all the kingdoms of the world, and secures the blessing.

But further, Christ is seen as the Bright and Morning Star, and as such He is presented in relation to the Church. The Old Testament closes by presenting the Lord Jesus as Sun of Righteousness, but at the close of the New Testament He is presented as the Morning Star. The day is coming when the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings. He will chase away the darkness and end the sorrows of earth, and as such the world will see Him, but they will never see the Bright and Morning Star. When the sun arises the stars go out. It is the privilege of the waiting Church to know Christ as the Bright and Morning Star before He shines forth as the Sun of Righteousness.

Three passages of Scripture present the Lord as the Morning Star. First in 2 Peter i: 19, we read, "We have also a more sure word of prophecy , whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." Peter wrote his epistle in a dark day. He warns of the approaching apostasy. He sees that men will arise who will deny the Lord that bought them. But, in the presence of these false prophets, Peter reminds us that we have the "sure word of prophecy" to guide us as "a light that shineth in a dark place." But he tells us that we have more, for we have the "Day Star," and there is a great difference between prophecy and the Day Star. Prophecy is like a lantern; it lights up the darkness; but the Day Star does a great deal more, it tells us that the day is coming. The Morning Star is the harbinger of the coming day. Prophecy exposes the condition of things around, and warns us that judgment is coming upon all the evil, but the Day Star tells us that the day of glory is coming. The end of all prophecy is this, to bring all to see that Christ is the only hope, and so link the heart with Him as the coming One. Prophecy, tells us the hopelessness of everything here, and fixes our hopes and affections upon Christ, and when this end is reached, prophecy has done its work and the Day Star has arisen in our hearts.

Then there is a second passage that speaks of the Morning Star. In Revelation ii. 28, we hear the Lord speaking of it to the overcomer in Thyatira, I will give him the Morning Star." All spiritual and moral darkness is found in Thyatira, but the overcomer has the light of the Morning Star. Before this, the Lord said to the overcomer, "To him I give power over the nations." But if this were all that He gave would it satisfy the heart? Even if you had power to rule over others would it satisfy? No, indeed! And so the Lord says, as it were, "I will give him something else, not only power over others, but I will give him an object that will have power over him, will give him the Morning Star." Nothing will satisfy us in truth but an absorbing object that holds the heart by the power of love, and there is no object in all the great universe of God that is great enough to absorb our affections and hold our hearts but JESUS, the One that is coming ? the Morning Star.

Then when we come to the last passage (in Revelation xxii. 16), we have a word added. Not only is the Lord Jesus the Morning Star, but He is presented here as "the Bright and Morning Star." And when we see Him as the coming One, our only hope ? the One who alone can set the Church right, Israel right, and the world right ? then indeed, the Bright and Morning Star has arisen in our hearts.

Passing now to the next great truth in this passage, we see the immediate result of this beautiful presentation of Christ is that the Church comes into view in an exceedingly interesting way, for here the Church is spoken of as the Bride, as we read, "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come." This is the proper response of the Church under the control of the Spirit to the presentation of Christ as the Bright and Morning Star.

It is important to remember the different ways in which the Church is viewed in Scripture. First it is presented as the Body of Christ, then as the House of God, and lastly as the Bride of Christ.

Much has been said of the Church as the Body of Christ and as the House of God ? and rightly so, of course ? but it would almost seem that the aspect of the Church viewed as the Bride of Christ has been somewhat overlooked.

It is interesting to recall how the truth of God has been reinstated to us. We all know how that great vessel Martin Luther was used in the early part of the sixteenth century to restore the great truth of justification by faith: then in the early part of the last century, there was the gracious recovery of the true Scriptural thought of the Church. In that revival of truth the first aspect of the Church that came before God's people was that of the Body of Christ. Later in the century the Church as the House of God came more prominently into view. But if we read the written ministry of those days, I think we shall find comparatively little as to the Church seen as the Bride of Christ, and I would suggest that possibly the Holy Spirit has waited for these last days, just before the Lord's return, to give greater prominence to this aspect of the Church.

When we think of the Church as the Body of Christ, we should probably all admit that the leading thought is, that in it the fulness of the Head is to be set forth. For this thought we should turn to the closing verses of Ephesians i., where we read of Christ the Head, and "the Church which is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in". In the Church as the Body of Christ there will be the full setting forth of the fulness of the Head.

Then, as the House of God, we know the Church, as such, is said to be the pillar and base of the truth and in it God dwells that through it He might make Himself known in grace to the world.

But when we think of the Church as the Bride of Christ there comes before us the amazing thought that, in the Church, God has purposed to secure an object that is entirely suited for, and worthy of the love of Christ. We do well to pause and take in this great thought. We can easily see that in the Lord Jesus there has been disclosed to us an object that is suited to, and worthy of all the love He will ever receive from His people, but the wonder is, that in the Bride God secures a people that will be perfectly suited to, and worthy of, the love of Christ: It is not simply that He is the object for the satisfaction of our hearts, but that in the Church viewed as the Bride there is found an object for the satisfaction of His heart.

As the outcome of the purpose of God, and on the ground of the death of Christ, God can take up lost creatures such as we were, and so mould and shape and form us that at last we can be presented to Christ all glorious, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, perfectly suited for Christ to love, and hence, an object in which His heart will find eternal satisfaction ? "He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied." This, as I understand it, is the great thought in the Church viewed as the Bride.

As showing the importance of this aspect of the Church, it is deeply interesting to see that it is the first view of the Church that is presented in picture in the Old Testament. We know that in the formation of the woman and the presentation of Eve to Adam, as recorded in the second chapter of Genesis, we have a picture of Christ and the Church. We are left in no uncertainty as to this for the apostle Paul quotes Genesis ii. 24, in Ephesians v. 31, and immediately adds, "This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church,"

And mark, brethren, this picture of the Church as the Bride of Christ comes into view before the fall brought sin and death into the world: That is to say, the instant creation was completed God says, as it were, "I will tell you the great secret of My heart, I will tell you why I have brought this creation into being, I am going to secure out of it an object to satisfy the heart of Christ." It gives us a sense of the importance of the Church, viewed as the Bride of Christ, in the mind of God when we see that Genesis opens with the Bride and Revelation closes with the Bride. In Genesis we have the Bride in picture and in Revelation the Bride in fact. With this thought God brought the creation into being, and throughout the long ages God has never given up His thought; and here at last, in spite of all ruin and failure on the part of man, we see the Bride at the close of the dispensation coming into view, and according to the mind of God, for she is seen controlled by the Holy Spirit on earth, with her affections set upon Christ in heaven: presented at the end of her wilderness journey alone with the Holy Spirit looking up to Christ in the glory and saying, "Come."

Thus this closing passage of the Word of God first presents Christ and His glories, and then the Church as the Bride in right relation to Christ. And when the Bride can say "Come" to Christ she is ready to turn to the world around and say, Come." And first she turns to those that hear. "Let him that heareth say, "Come." The fact that they hear is a proof that they are believers, but that they are invited to say "Come" would show that they are not in the conscious joy of bridal relations to Christ. Then the witness is borne to those who are "athirst," Needy souls who would fain partake of the blessing, but doubt the grace of Christ. To such the Bride can say, "You are welcome, Come." Finally, there is the world-wide gospel appeal, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely," The Lord Jesus "gave Himself a ransom for all," and hence He has the right to appeal to all. The invitation is to "whosoever will," Should it not touch our hearts that the last message that comes from the lips of the Lord Jesus is a message of grace from Christ in glory to a needy world.

Then we have two solemn verses ? solemn for all of us, but so intensely solemn, in view of the attacks of the Modernists upon the Word of God. We write numerous books and pamphlets seeking to expose in detail this terrible evil, but God will not stoop to argue with such: He dismisses them with two verses. They may deny every vital truth of Christianity, but in so doing they "take away from the words of the Book," and this alone seals their doom.

Then, in response to the Spirit and the Bride saying "Come," "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly," And if, beloved brethren, our hearts are turned to Christ, if we think of Him as He presents Himself to us in His personal name of JESUS, if we think of Him as the Root and Offspring of David, if we know Him as the Bright and Morning Star ? the Harbinger of the day of glory ? then surely our hearts will respond, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus "

Finally, we have the closing touching words, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints." And we need these words, for though the Lord is coming quickly, yet He may tarry for an hour, a week, a month, a year, even a few years; but be it so, we shall have the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with us until the end. And this grace is "for all the saints," for thus it should read. It is not simply with "you all," which might confine the grace to some particular company; it is for every saint on earth. And if the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with us, we shall find that whatever difficulties or trials we may have to face, His grace will be sufficient. Hence, when we read, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints," we can surely add from our hearts, "Amen,"

"Christ Jesus Our Hope."

H. J. Vine.

When you pray, dear brethren, about a meeting, and in the presence of God are led to read and consider the very two Scriptures that have already been read in your hearing, and unknown to yourself, the other servant labouring with you has also been led to the same Scriptures, would you then allow yourself to be turned away to some other Word to speak from, or would you conclude that the Spirit of God desires to have these themes specially brought before us to-night? I feel it is to be the latter, so I will read from the same chapters and present them perhaps from another aspect.

First of all, 2 Peter i. 16-21; Revelation xxii. 7, 12, 20 to end. When speaking of a theme like this, beloved brethren, conscious as we are of the near return of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is necessary for us to have the Scriptures themselves as the basis of all we say concerning our blessed Lord and His coming again, and not that which might rise in our own imagination. We find Peter is conscious of what men would say in the latter days, ? that many of these things are fables ? that many of these things are invented by pious-minded men ? but the apostle here assures us that they had not followed "cunningly devised fables." They had given to them a vision of the kingdom glory, as well as the glory of Christ's relationship with the Father. This confirmed to them the prophetic Scriptures. But he desired us to understand there is nothing fabulous about it at all. Moreover, beloved brethren, in these last days how good it is for us to be brought back to the inspired Volume, and discern what we can speak of so surely as that which the Spirit saith. Having the Spirit of God dwelling in us we can reverently approach the writings of the Spirit, and having the capability given by the Spirit to understand these writings, we shall not be shaken by the attacks of men against them. I thought as the closing words of the Book were brought before us to-night, what an encouragement it is to all true believers to see the golden threads of divine truth appearing all through, from Genesis to Revelation. We have the thoughts of God in connection with Christ and the Church set forth in that marvellous type of Adam going into the deep sleep and the rib taken from his side. Then we behold the woman who is to share with him in his supremacy over all. Thus we see in Adam and Eve a type of Christ and the Assembly! the "great mystery" (Ephesians v. 32)! bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh! And then, as we pass through the marvellous Volume and come to the close of Revelation, we see Christ and the Church in glory. There she is ? the Bride, the Lamb's wife; and she is the outcome of His own death, of His going into the deep sleep, but now sharing in His supremacy.

But if you look again at the Genesis of the Book of Inspiration, and behold Isaac with his father, a type of Christ risen, who had been received back from the altar, in figure from death, and now there he is with his father! The nameless servant goes to the distant land, between the two rivers (after having taken counsel with the father of Isaac, swearing with his hand under his thigh) faithfully carrying out his mission, bring back one who was to share in the position, wealth, and love of Isaac. Isaac did nothing save receive her as the result of the father's counsel and as the result of the work of the nameless servant, pre-figuring the Holy Spirit. And, as we travel on in the Book, we find at the close the Bride of Christ, not only as the outcome of His death, but also of eternal counsel and of the Spirit's mission on earth.

Now let us observe another fact in Genesis. Look at Jacob, the servant. For the one who was to share with him, he serves; but the seven years of toil were only as a few days to him for the great love he bore to her: and, oh! brethren, let us be careful when we speak of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, or His death, and not speak of it simply as tasting the article of death. He had to toil, He had to suffer, and oh what He endured tongue cannot tell. He even died to make us His own. He served that He might have us with Him, but He went through it with a heart full of love for us, and all His toil, we may reverently say, was undertaken willingly for the great love He had to us, and for the joy which was set before Him. And so we see the Church sharing with Him in the glory as shown in Revelation xxi., where John is taken up to a great and high mountain to behold the heavenly City, the Bride, the Lamb's Wife.

But, beloved brethren, there are other aspects. Let us go a little further back. Let us begin where we did this afternoon. God causes the light to shine out of the darkness, when the Spirit had moved upon the face of the deep, ? God said; "Let there be light," and light was. Then when you follow the light right through to the end of the Bible in Revelation, again you find the glorious day reached when the light will be that of the glory of God, and the Church, the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, will be fully capable then of radiating that light to the nations on the earth, so that all the nations will walk by that light which streams from the Church in glory. It should not read quite "the nations of them which are saved," but simply, "the nations shall walk by its light," because it will be a question of the millennial blessing, and the nations set up in proper governmental order. God will cause the light for guidance and government, to shine from the glorified Church in heaven. We, brethren, have a wonderful day before us! Would to God, while rejoicing in the marvellous grace that has taken us up to be the associates of the Lord in His glory, that meanwhile, it might take such a hold on us that we might go through this little time of schooling here as diligent scholars, learning our lessons well, knowing that the trial of our faith will be found in that day to praise and honour and glory. Oh, that we might keep so near the Lord, that we might not lose the lessons we should learn in our present pathway in view of the glory to come.

Again let us refer to Genesis. God made Paradise, where Adam and Eve were placed, but soon to that Paradise sin and death came, and the whole thing was spoiled; on the other hand, the thoughts of God are not going to fall to the ground. Travel again to the close of the Book. There is the Church in glory, and there the Tree of Life is seen in the midst of the Paradise of God. No sceptical scholar need come and tell me that the Book is not inspired. We find out by the Spirit what God has before His mind and as we read through the Bible we find that everything eventually comes out it, magnificence and glory in "Christ and the Church."

A river flowed out in four main streams from the Paradise in Eden, but sin spoiled it. Those flowing waters were soon tainted through man's corruption and fall. But come once more to the last chapter of God's Book and there is "Christ and the Church." The City, the Paradise and the Tree of Life are there, and the water of life is seen flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb, which is now set in the heavenly Jerusalem, there firmly and stably fixed for ever, and forth flows the river of the Water of Life, blessed be God, as pure and bright as crystal. Not one thought of God will ever fail. All will come out in abiding glory and splendour, and, praise God for His grace, we are going to be there! As the outcome of His death; Christ shall have His Body and His Bride with Him in glory. As the outcome of the Father's counsel, the Son's completed service, and the Holy Spirit's coming. Christ shall have us there with Him. It is a grand thing to look onward in faith!

Nothing cheers my heart so much as the precious word which comes after. In that day of glory His servants shall still serve Jesus. There will be no weariness in it and we shall not be groaning in bodies of humiliation then. We shall be like Him, and to serve Him will be the joy of our hearts. His servants will still serve Him, but it is this which is so cheering, "We shall see His face." What a sight! ? To see the face of Jesus! That Name is sweeter to us to-night, I am sure, after what we have heard than ever it was! "I, Jesus," Jesus! Did it not bring the knowledge of forgiveness of sins to us at the beginning? Why was He called Jesus, Jehovah-Saviour? Because He should save His people from their sins; and, thank God, before He saves His own people, Jehovah's people, before He saves Israel, He has saved us! "It is a faithful saying," says Paul to Timothy, and don't let us lose sight of it, ? "and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Through that Name, blessed be God, is preached the forgiveness of sins; and we love that word where He does not say, "your sins are forgiven you because you believe, or because you trusted in the Lord," ? but, "Your sins are forgiven you for His Name's sake." For the Name's sake of Jesus: Just as if God said, "I could not but forgive your sins for the Name's sake of Him who has glorified Me.

Some of us tried all sorts of things to get salvation ? religion, reformation, good works, etc., ? but one day we discovered the fact that God's Word is true when it says, "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts iv. 12). I heard of a man teaching that salvation is in the Church. There may be preservation in some measure for those already saved, but salvation is in none other than Jesus, as this Scripture tells us. Paul said, "Salvation is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy ii. 10).

How sweet is the name of Jesus! Right at the close we hear Him say to our hearts ? to the heart of the Assembly ? "I Jesus," recalling us to Himself and assuring us of His great, present, personal care of us. That name is our standard, too, for service. It is good to meet servants who go forth for the Name, taking nothing of the Gentiles (3 John 7). There are some away in South America, in Africa, and in other lands; some in Spain, in Portugal, and other countries; aye, and some in Britain, going forth "for the Name." Not lowering the standard, not begging from the unconverted! It is their honour, and joy too, to honour "the Name." They reverence and love it: They think too much of it to use it for begging from unconverted men! If one is here unconverted, my advice is, get saved to-night! Trust Jesus now! Then you can put your hand as deep in your pocket as you wish, and you will have the honour of "giving to the Lord" ? of giving to Him through whose Name forgiveness and salvation are received! The Name to be owned by all eventually.

The knees of all the intelligences in heaven and on earth shall yet bow at the Name of Jesus, and of the intelligences in the infernal regions too ? in the realms of the lost ? yea, of all the intelligences in the universe. At the mention of the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow! And then, for "the glory of God the Father," every tongue shall confess the universal lordship of JESUS! Through grace we have already confessed Jesus as Lord.

As we have seen, it is near the close of God's Book we read, "I Jesus, have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things," ? not in the world quite ? but, "in the assemblies" ? that there might be maintained in the assemblies the truth concerning Himself ? His official and personal glories, for He says I Jesus "am the Root" ? before David, ? David's Offspring ? after David, ? the one involving His deity, the other His humanity: Then we have the Morning Star, as we have so helpfully heard, in connection with the Assembly. If you studied the present matters of world government you might lose heart as well as communion with God. You would say, Things are going all wrong! But, as we see Jesus, as we know Him, we have the key to the whole situation, because as Son of David and Son of Man He will take up all government questions as well as those relating to the Assembly. The Son of God, the Bright and Morning Star, is the Assembly's hope, and He will settle all our difficulties. But, meanwhile, let us grow in the knowledge of the One who can do it! If I were looking for His assembly which He is building to-day, I would look for those who have the revelation from the Father of Himself ? those who confess Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, for He, as the Son of Man, builds His assembly on this, the Father's revelation to the soul and this confession of Himself. Where Jesus is thus known and owned, His Assembly is. It is being built by Himself upon the revealed truth concerning Himself, as Peter confessed Him in Matthew xvi. 16. It was Peter, too, who wrote, "We have not followed cunningly devised fables: we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter i. 16). He and others were "eyewitnesses," They saw in the Holy Mount the shining forth of His glory ? of His Majesty! They saw Him in His humiliation ? His lowly life; the gentle and meek One, walking here, but says Peter, too, "We beheld His majesty!" It shone above the brightness of the sun. His garments were white and glistening. On Monday evening, brethren, we were praying that He would show Himself to us in His glory so that we might be strengthened and fitted to meet rightly what obtains here in this world at the present time. In regard to kingdom and government His majesty was shown ? they beheld His glory. It was a divinely given foresight of "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," the Root and Offspring of David. Peter, however, speaks of Him here also (as nowhere else, except in the confession of Matthew xvi.) as God's Son. He says, we heard such a voice when He received honour and glory from God, the Father, and the voice came from heaven on the Holy Mount, it was uttered by the excellent glory and said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I have found My delight!" On the one hand we have His kingdom glory, and on the other His personal glory with God the Father; the second being indicated in the voice from "the excellent glory." You remember the bright cloud came upon them and the voice came from the bright cloud. If He be David's Son in connection with kingdom glory, He is also God's Son; and He who will take the government upon His shoulders is revealed to us in His own personal glory as Son of God. By the excellent glory He is there singled out, so Peter can say, "The prophetic Word" ? the Old Testament, was "made surer" ? for so the Scripture should read. It is not that it was not always sure, but having seen Christ's glory shining in the miraculous way we have spoken of, and having heard God the Father's voice distinguishing Him so wonderfully, the Old Testament which points on to Him, was made surer to them by this manifestation of His glories ? both kingdom and personal. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when He rose from the dead, made the hearts of those who heard Him burn within them when, out of all the Scriptures, He expounded unto them the things concerning Himself. And so here, "the prophetic Word" is "made surer" by the sight of His glory. It might be said, we have seen the King; we have seen His glory; His majesty; and we have heard Him distinguished personally as the Son of God by the excellent glory. Now, therefore, you do well to give good heed to the "prophetic Word," because as we heard already, it is as a lamp that shines where obscurity is. Up to a certain point, Take heed! that is, until the One who is the great theme of that Word arises before you, and oh how glorious when that One fills our hearts ? when His beauty shines before us! And though we are in the midst of the darkness ? the great apostasy which is reaching its culmination, but which we should not dwell on ? we are led to the glory side, to the positive side of the truth by the Spirit ? to the good. In passing, just a word as to this. We are told to be wise concerning what is good. We greatly need, in these days when men think they are clever if they know about something evil, to heed Paul's word, "Be simple concerning that which is evil, and Wise concerning that which is good." Those who help are those who show us the good, and all the good of our God is in Christ for us, and we are in Him.

We have spoken of the Bride, the Light, the Paradise, the Tree of Life, and the River of the Water of Life. We have seen how all is to be established in abiding glory. Genesis is fruitful in Revelation! Foreshadowed in the beginning, the substance is at the end. Now when we come to Exodus, God sets up a Tabernacle on the ground of redemption from Egypt, and He is in the midst. But it failed at Shiloh through man's sin. Nevertheless, when we come to Revelation xxi., we behold on the very verge of Eternity the Tabernacle of God with men! His thoughts will not fail! Not one design of His shall fall to the ground They will be carried out and established "in Christ and the Assembly" when the full glory of eternal redemption is displayed.

Just one more step, to encourage us as to the perfections of the inspired Volume and as to the One who designed all. Over Jordan, in the land, the city was set up, ? Jerusalem, the place of Jehovah's Name was built! But there was no river. Failure and breakdown overtook this earthly Jerusalem! But in Revelation xxi., the holy city, new Jerusalem, shines forth as a Bride adorned for her husband, and the river of the Water of Life flows out in eternal blessing! God Himself will carry out all that He has counselled, therefore, Christ and the Assembly are seen in everlasting blessedness and glory, and the river of God's pleasure flows on for evermore.

God grant, then, we may be cheered and encouraged, and that we may grow in the knowledge of the Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ, and that we may understand Him better! He is David's Son, but also David's Lord. He is Israel's hope, the world's hope and the hope of the Assembly, ? "Christ Jesus, Our Hope!"

"Waters to swim in."

J. C. Trench.

In turning to Ezekiel xlvii. 1 to 12, it is to the younger people here that I desire specially to address myself.

Just before this chapter we have elaborate descriptions, measurements, and ordinances of the Temple, to be erected in view of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to reign over His earthly people Israel and the setting up of His Kingdom. And we have in the vision seen by the prophet a description of the waters which will flow out from beneath the House of God, towards the east, in increasing volume until they reach the Dead Sea, resulting in the "healing" of that Sea. These living waters flowing produce life and blessing where they go and also fruit-bearing trees of all varieties of luxuriant growth, where previously all had been barrenness and death.

The waters, it will be noticed, find their spring in God Himself, and flow from under His dwelling place by the south side of the altar ? which indicates that the love of God could only reach this world by way of the Cross (which the altar typifies) where our blessed Lord by His atoning death made a righteous channel for the love of God to flow down.

Jerusalem, where shall stand the Temple, is separated from the Dead Sea by about twelve miles in a direct line east which there reaches the northern bounds of that sea. The man with the measuring line measured 1,000 cubits, and the waters at that point were ankle deep: then he measured another 1,000, and the waters were up to the knees: then again 1,000 more, and the waters were up to the loins, and finally, when he had measured the fourth thousand cubits, they were so deep he could not pass over them, "the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over."

Then the man that had conducted the prophet so far, caused him to return to the brink of the river. "Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country and go . . . into the sea (i.e. the Dead Sea) which being brought forth into the sea the waters shall be healed."

And he is told that it should come to pass . . . that wherever the waters should come there should be life, and a very great multitude of fish because these waters (from under God's House) should come there, "for they shall be healed, and everything shall live whither the river cometh . . . their fish shall be according to their kinds as the fish of the Great Sea exceeding many."

The Great Sea is the Mediterranean, and we know from Joel iii. 18 and Zech. xiv. 8, that there will be a great valley created between the Mediterranean and Jerusalem, and thence to the Dead Sea, which accounts for "Great Sea" fish being in that wonderful day, found in the Dead Sea.

Now read the 12th verse, and notice that along the banks of this glorious river, "all trees for food shall grow, whose leaves never fade, nor the fruit be consumed" (endless supply), "and they shall bring forth new fruit according to the months." Why? "because their waters issued out of the Sanctuary," Note well this statement.

So far for the passage we are considering. But it is the application to ourselves spiritually that is important, and I would now refer you to the Gospel of John for the antitype to-day. For whilst our chapter speaks of physical and material changes for the earth, you can see from Revelation xxii. 1-7, that very much the same figures are therein used to describe the spiritual blessings and glories in the new Jerusalem ? the Lamb's Wife ? the Church, in the millennial day.

Let us now trace the water in John's Gospel. We shall find its spring in John iii., where our Lord tells Nicodemus that there must be new birth to see or enter into the kingdom of God. He must be born again, born of water and of the Spirit.

Now it would be well that all of us should understand clearly as to new birth. This is the necessary start, and it is very blessed not to have a doubt as to one's having really been born of the water and the Holy Ghost. But let us not be satisfied with just being born, for it is only the start. Shall I say just "ankle" deep? The ankles suggest walking, and we cannot begin the Christian walk until born again. Many seem to be satisfied with just being converted, and do not make much further progress. Now again let me press that this is merely the start, though a very blessed one.

Turn now to chapter iv., the next chapter, where we read of the woman at the well of Sychar. She was in character the exact opposite to the man in chapter iii. The Lord had to administer some pretty hard blows in dealing with the proud Pharisee, to show him that however fair religious "flesh" might appear, no amount of sanctimoniousness could make "the flesh" anything but "flesh," and "they that are in the flesh cannot please God."

The Lord uses very different treatment with this poor, degraded Samaritan. He disarmed her at once by putting Himself, as it were, under an obligation to her by asking her for a drink of water, which, by the way, we do not know that He received. She was amazed that a Jew would have any "dealings" with such as she, and the Lord soon showed her that He knew something worse about her than her Samaritan origin. But He attracts her by saying, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of Him and He would have given thee living water." "From whence," saith she, "hast Thou that living water? The well is deep, and Thou hast nothing to draw with." And the Lord replied, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give Him shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternal life."

Now surely this phase of the water is more advanced than what we have been considering in chapter iii. Here it is, no doubt, eternal life in the power of the Spirit of God, because in chapter vii: 20, where "living water" is again spoken of, we read "this spake He concerning the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified."

John iv. does not speak of the Holy Ghost's indwelling, but of life received in His power, a fountain of living water springing up into its source, eternal life.

The Samaritan worship (always false) was not only now to be set aside, but even proud Jerusalem, with its divinely authenticated services was to cease, for God was seeking worshippers in spirit and in truth, and as the "ankle" deep water suggests a move towards God, this further development of it, the enjoyed spring of divine love in our hearts, suggests waters up to the "knees" and we prostrate ourselves before Gad in adoring worship. Let us not be satisfied with anything short of a heart flowing over in praise to our adorable God and Father.

Then she leaves her waterpot, forgets all about what she came to the well for, and goes off to the men in the city to say, "Come, see a man that told me all that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?" and the river of mercy flowed freely for some days in Sychar and many believed.

Now let us look briefly at John 7. Here we find that the Lord would not go up to Jerusalem to take part in the Feast of Tabernacles, which was the last feast in the year, and the only joyful one. He always went to the Passover Feast, which was to gain its fulfilment in His death, but the Feast of Tabernacles awaits what it was typical of, viz: the re-assembling of Israel when nationally converted and gathered back into their own land, owning the Lord Jesus, whom they murdered, to be their Messiah and King. The Lord could not take part in this Feast, for He, who alone could give it reality, was rejected by the Jews.

But at the last day, the great day of the Feast, He went up and cried, "If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink: He that believeth on Me . . . out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Thus He exposed the shallow hypocrisy of the whole scene, and invited the many unsatisfied formalists to come unto Him for living water and then out of their very inmost souls would flow rivers of living water. That is surely the spring of all true testimony of Christ Himself to the world.

In chapter iv. the water flows up to God in worship, and here in chapter vii. it flows out in ministry to man. How can we have anything to impart unless we continue to draw water from the wells of salvation Here, then, we have water up to the loins, and if we are to serve God in spreading the fame of our blessed Lord and seek to lead others to Him, we need to gird up our loins as it were for service.

And now, finally, let us turn to John xiii., which gives us the wonderful climax. In this scene, we are told that the Lord was aware "that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, and having loved His own which were in the world He loved them unto the end. Then, during supper, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He was come from God and went to God, He riseth from supper and laid aside His garments and took a towel and girded Himself. After that He poureth water into a bason and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded."

What He was about to do was symbolic of the service He would enter upon when He had left the world and gone to the Father. What He did they could not know at the time, but they would know hereafter.

"If I wash thee not thou hast no part with Me," He says to Peter (verse 8), and again, "He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit" (verse 10).

The bathing took place in chapter iii., so to speak, then they were washed all over, never needing repetition, but what the Lord was teaching them in chapter xiii. was, that to enter into the heavenly joys revealed in chapters xiv. to xvii., and to have communion with the Father and the Son would be impossible unless there was separation from all defilement. This the Lord provides for by His ministry at God's right hand, in the first place by His priestly services to prevent our going wrong by His sympathy and His intercession, which the Epistle to the Hebrews unfolds; but if, in despite of all He does as preventive, we sin, then the other ministry comes into action, and He has to apply the water of the Word to our consciences to bring about conviction and restoration.

So that the water in John xiii. is the cleansing process from defilement in the believer's ways and walk to fit him to enter into the heavenly blessings and joys discovered by the relationship we are brought into as children of our God and Father, whom the Lord Himself reveals to us, together with all the blessed things associated with Christ in the new place He has entered into, and that we may enjoy by faith, and by the ungrieved Spirit's power.

"Strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."

Here we may assure ourselves are waters that cannot be passed over ? waters to swim in ? and the result will be what we have in John 15, namely, the fruit-bearing displayed in connection with the river of living water flowing down from its heavenly source by way of the Cross to us, and leading us in varying measures to be found bearing fruit for the Lord, for "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be My disciples."

Then may we all be encouraged to press on, "not as though we had already attained, either were already perfect, but to follow after, if that we may lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of us," and so continue until He comes.

The Path of God's Pleasure.

(Psalm xvi.).

Inglis Fleming.

This is "Michtam of David," one of the "golden psalms" of David ? one of those "fine gold." psalms which refer to our Lord Jesus Christ.

The first verse, "In Thee do I put my trust," is embodied in Hebrews ii., "I will put my trust in Him," and the closing verses were quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost, as speaking of Christ's death and resurrection.

Thus we know that the Psalm has direct reference to our blessed and adorable Lord.

I have turned to it to engage your thoughts for a little with something of the grace of Him whose glories we have been considering ? with something of that moral glory that shone out in Him in all His blessed goings in that path in which Jehovah delighted.

What was it to God that in such an arid, desert scene as this, there should be one track across it where He was perfectly honoured. Where, in all His way, the Son glorified His Father for whose glory He had come, and thus was found the perfectly dependent man in the world. "From the womb of the Virgin to the throne of God," as some one has said, we find Him brought before us for our soul's delight, that in some way we may have the Father's thought of Him in whom He found all His good pleasure.

He is "over all, God blessed for ever," but presented before us in this precious portion of the Word of God, in His Manhood here for the worship of our hearts.

If we look at the verses now in more detail we may see His moral excellencies shine forth in surpassing beauty.

The first verse presents Him as the Trustful Man, perfect in His confidence in and dependent upon Jehovah.

In the second verse He is viewed as the Lowly Man. Read verses 2 and 3 thus: ? "As to Jehovah, thou hast said, Thou art my Lord, my goodness extendeth not to thee. As to the saints that are in the earth, they are the excellent in whom is all my delight." We see Him here as the lowly One, speaking out of that place which he had taken saying, Thou art My Lord, My goodness extendeth not to Thee."

As to the saints we find Him as the Gracious Man. He would link Himself with these saints, these godly ones, a little remnant in Israel as they took their first right step in owning their ruin and need at the waters of baptism. Our Lord, who was the sinless, peerlessly perfect One, would identify Himself with them. But then, at once we find Him singled out by Heaven. The Father's voice is heard saying, "Thou art My beloved Son in whom is all My delight." And we can say of that same all-glorious Person, He is our beloved Saviour, and in Him is all our joy."

We turn from ourselves and all that we have discovered ourselves to be and we find our rest, our delight in Him in whom the Father delights. Shall we not take comfort from this, beloved friends, that we who believe are like them, numbered among "the excellent of the earth" in His sight, and among His loved ones, "His own which are in the world" to-day.

Not any limited few, not any section of that company in any limited fellowship, but all "His own" are "the excellent of the earth" in His judgment. And do not our hearts go out to them, to all "His own," with that love of which we were hearing in Ephesians this morning ? to embracing "all saints" in our prayers?

In the fourth verse we see Him as in His temptation the Separate Man. He gave sin and evil a wide berth indeed. In that dread temptation where Satan would at length have Him bow and worship him; "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, Him only shalt thou serve, get thee behind Me, Satan," is His stern reply. He would have nothing to do with that which is false.

And you and I are called to tread a separate path, and do not let us shrink from it, beloved. We are all in danger; but Christ can keep us, and seeking His company in prayer and meditation and loving His Word we shall be maintained in true separation to Himself. And it is this He values. Someone has said that mere outward, physical separation from the world is nothing worth, and a mere legal separation because of what this one or that one will say, is nothing worth, but separation to Christ ? your heart taken up with Him, His Father and our Father delighted in, that separation is what God looks for and that which He values in His own. We see it perfectly in our Lord Jesus Christ. He found all His heart's joy in His Father.

He is the Satisfied Man in verses 5 and 6. "Jehovah is the portion of Mine inheritance and of My cup; Thou maintainest My lot." (How different from the "portion" in Psalm xvii. 14). He found His meat in doing the Father's will; He was here for the Father's pleasure and for the Father's glory. He could say, "I came down from heaven not to do Mine own will but the will of Him that sent Me." "Jehovah is the portion of Mine inheritance." That is future. "And of My cup." That is present. He knew whether in the future or in the present what it was to have Jehovah as His only, His all-sufficient portion.

And you and I are privileged, beloved friends, to follow in His steps (alas! how far off and how feebly we do so). We are called "to live unto God." The heart will have an object and "self," now being judged, God Himself, manifested in His grace, revealed in His Son, becomes the object, the all-satisfying Object for our hearts.

And then we find Him saying, "The lines are fallen unto Me in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage." As to its outward circumstances, we know that our Lord Jesus was "the Man of sorrows," the grief-acquainted One, but, inwardly, He had joy in the accomplishment of His Father's good pleasure. There were the pleasant places in that lonely pathway. Was not that a pleasant place to Him at Sychar's well, where He might pour heaven's fulness into an impoverished heart, where He might unfold to that Samaritan the story of the Father seeking worshippers, and so fill her heart that leaving her water-pot, she will hasten to bear witness of Him. It was a pleasant place indeed. And such we find again and again as our souls peruse with delight the Gospel story in the four evangelists. Joy was His, meat was His, in doing the Father's will, whatever that will might be, and so shall it be with you and me, beloved, as we, through grace, follow Him in His blessed pathway.

Then in the seventh verse we find Him the Worshipping Man, saying, "I will bless Jehovah who hath given Me counsel," You get that note of worship in the Gospels. We hear His telling forth of praise as in Matthew xi. "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." He pours out His soul's delight before the Father, and this in circumstances that were so contrary; circumstances where all seemed opposed to Him, and when His ministry seemed to be a failure. It is "at that time" the Lord Jesus turns with thanksgiving to the Father.

Then, as the Devoted Man in absolute devotedness in verse 8. "I have set Jehovah always before Me." Unswerving, unfailing, in faithfulness, we have His course depicted before us in the pages of the evangelists. How unlike to what any of us can say.

As the Rejoicing, Hopeful Man we find Him in verse 9. "Therefore My heart is glad, My glory rejoiceth, My flesh also shall rest in hope." If in some way thus we have traced the Lord, as seen in this Psalm, from the earliest moment of His earthly journeyings, if His baptism, His temptation, His blessed service, His devotedness in life , have been before us hitherto, we come now to the Cross, to dark Calvary, and to that sepulchre in Joseph's garden , and we hear Him say in His perfection, "My heart is glad, My flesh also shall rest in hope, for Thou wilt not . . . suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption." "Thou wilt show Me the path of life" ? a path that led down into death, but out into the glory; into that sphere where is fulness of joy at His Father's right hand and the pleasures for evermore. We know Him now as the Glorified Man at the right hand of God. "We see Jesus . . . crowned with glory and honour." So we have followed Him in that wonderful pathway, and admire and adore in His presence.

* * *

Some may say now, "That is a beautiful life in truth, but it is not for me to follow." So I want to add a few words concerning this before I close.

As you trace the path of the Lord Jesus in the Scriptures, and you see His moral beauties and excellencies shining out in life and in death, dear believer, you are entitled to say, "That is my life."

Christ who is our righteousness is also our life, as we read, "When Christ who is our life shall appear."

All that you have had part in in Adam as fallen, all that volume of your history, so dark, so sin-marked, so spoiled, has been closed in the death of the Lord Jesus, and you live now before God "in Christ," and Christ lives in you for manifestation here. It is that which we find in Galatians ii. 20, where the apostle Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ." "Christ liveth in me," All that I was as Saul of Tarsus has been brought to its close in judgment at the Cross; I have been crucified with Christ. "Nevertheless, I live" ? I am a living man ? "but no longer I ? Saul of Tarsus ? but Christ liveth in me." It is the apostle expressing personally for himself that which was good in his own soul, that which is our proper Christian position. "Our old man has been crucified with Christ." The only life we are to know, and the only life God recognizes is Christ as our life, and God works in every one that something of Christ may be expressed in us day by day; that there may be something of the grace that shone out in Him shining out in each one of us in the power of the Holy Spirit. And so you find as to service the apostle saying, in Romans xv. 18, "I will not speak of that which Christ hath not wrought through me." All that which he valued was that which Christ wrought through him. Some of you younger men may say, "What can I do for Christ?" No! Put it like this, What can Christ do through me?

I would like to ask you in view of this, are you the Christian you might be? (The rifle kicks as I fire it!) Am I? Am I the Christian I might be? Am I a Christian in the divine thought for one? I know I am a believer; I am justified from all things, I am saved by the grace of God, but am I the Christian I should be? Am I the Christian God would have me be? Am I the Christian I might be by the power of the Spirit of God, treading in Christ's steps? And as we own that we are not, shall we not turn to Him and say, "Lord, make me just what Thou wouldst have me to be"?

A young man electrified a prayer meeting as he prayed, "Lord, make a good job of me." Will you pray that prayer? You may not in those words, but will you pray it from your heart this afternoon, "Lord; work Thine own work in me and through me for Thy pleasure and have one here for Thy will alone?"

Do you say, "I have tried to do it and failed?"

Yes! we may say this all of us. But Christ can make you a success.

In Florence there is a wonderful statue by Michael Angelo. It is of the stripling David taking the sling and the stones. That statue is formed of a block of marble upon which another sculptor had done some work, but who had set it aside as valueless. Michael Angelo saw that stone and he took it in hand and formed a most beautiful sculpture. So Christ can take you in hand this afternoon and by His grace He may take me also. Some of us have only a few more steps in the desert to tread, if our Lord tarry, while some of you young men, if the Lord will, have life before you. What shall that life be? Shall it be a lost life, just plunged in mere commerce and pleasure? Is that worth while? Put yourself in Christ's hand that He may form you for His pleasure, so that out of your life there may be something of His grace shining, something of His activities, through you in blessing to others; redounding to the glory of God. So, in some measure, shall we follow Christ's steps in the path of God's pleasure. God make it so with all of us, for His Name's sake.

The Claims of God.

James Boyd.

I desire to say a few words on the subject of the claims of God, the claims that God has over every intelligent being on earth, claims that are wickedly denied by the men of this rebellious world. People seem to think that they are left here in this world just to please themselves, and that they are not answerable to the great Governor of the universe. Their bodies, their tongues, and all their members are their own, and thus the claims of their Creator are altogether denied. Now I turn for light regarding this to the Holy Scriptures, and I read from verse 15 to verse 22 of chapter xxii. of the Gospel of Matthew.

I do not intend to speak of all that we have here, but only to refer to the hypocritical question of the Pharisees and to the answer of our Lord. I notice in Scripture that our Lord does not usually answer questions, but rather does He answer the man who asks them. He knew what men were. He knew in what hearts and minds the questions originated, and it was to the state of the questioner that His answer appealed, and not to the question merely. So it was in this instance. These men ? He calls them hypocrites ? were now in the presence of the Searcher of hearts, from whose eyes there was no hiding. "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Hebrews iv. 13): He knows our hearts better than we know them, and He knows what prompts questions better than the questioner himself does.

He asks to be shown the tribute money. And they brought unto Him a penny. He says: "Whose is this image and superscription?" They say it is Caesar's. Why then ask if he should have it? Every man has a certain right to his own. The answer to their question was stamped upon the coin. Why should not Caesar have his own? "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's."

But that is not all. He lets them know they are to render to God the things that are God's. If the coin bore the image of Caesar, and therefore, was his, on whom was the image of God stamped? It was stamped at the beginning upon man, and in spite of the fall it has not been altogether effaced. The image and superscription of God are still discernible. Man was made in the image and likeness of God. No, I do not mean that skeleton of yours, with its load of human flesh, sheltering something that death cannot touch. Infidels tell us that Scripture represents man as in God's image, and that man is framed much after their ancestors that lived among the trees of the wood. I do not mind in the least whether a man's skeleton is, or is not, like that of a gorilla, a chimpanzee, or a dog-faced baboon; God has made him in His own image and likeness, and this is moral, not physical. Man has been set as centre and head over a system that has been subjected to him, and upon which are his fear and his dread. Not only this, but he has been endowed with an affectionate regard for all that have been placed under his dominion. In this way, and not as to his physical frame, is man the image of God.

Man is God's, for he bears His image. And the Lord says: "Render unto God the things that are God's." Had these men rendered unto God the things that were God's they would not have had the image of Cesar on their money. Everyone here belongs to God. Perhaps you say you are not a Christian ? you make no profession of religion. That matters not, you are His creature, you are in existence to serve Him, and woe betide you in the day of judgment if you have not done it. You may reply to this that it does not seem very like the Gospel, that you supposed we were all to be saved by grace. You are, if you are saved at all, but saved or unsaved you exist for the service of God. If you are still in your sins you are not rendering to God that which is God's. You are robbing Him. You are God's and you claim yourself. You have no right to yourself, for you bear His image and superscription. People murmur a great deal because they have to render to the nation that which belongs to it, but if they did not pay tribute they would soon be before the judge; and as to God, all must give account to Him. "As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God." Why? Simply because we belong to Him, and are responsible to serve Him. We must give account to Him. We should render to God the things that are God's. We are made in His likeness. He put His stamp upon us. It is upon every man. How could we then with the tongue bless God, and curse the man made in His likeness? Or how refuse to give ourselves over unto His will, seeing that He has an indisputable claim upon us?

There is another reason why we should lay ourselves at His feet, and that is because He has bought us. I turn to 1 Corinthians vi. 19. I am well aware the epistle is addressed to believers, but what is said here is true for saved or unsaved. He says, "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." The Lord has bought this world and all in it. He bought it for the sake of a treasure that lay in it, but He bought it; it belongs to Him on the ground of purchase. Even though you may be a disbeliever in the Gospel, still you are His ? His by the right of creation, by the fact that you bear His image and likeness, and also by the fact that He bought you with a great price. He tasted death for every man: Do you admit the claim He has upon you, or do you "deny the Lord that bought you"? If you do deny Him you bring upon yourself swift destruction (2 Peter ii. 1). May you admit the righteous claim He has upon you, and escape the judgment to be measured out to the rebellious!

Let us turn to Romans xii. It is to believers the Word is addressed here. He says: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." The mercies ? or compassions, of God are set before us in the first eight chapters of this epistle, and this reference is to those compassions. There is a verse in Psalm cxviii: to which I would turn your attention for a moment ? verse 27: "God is the Lord, which hath showed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar." The light is in the first eight chapters of the epistle. There we get the intervention of God on our behalf, that we may be delivered from sin's dominion, so that we may be able to yield ourselves ? our members ? our bodies to the service of God.

The light has shone upon our benighted souls ? marvellous light ? the light of the revelation of God ? and by this light we have got the salvation of our souls. Our souls have been emancipated from the bondage to the power of evil under which we lay, and now we are exhorted to take up another order of service ? service to God. When the light of God enters our souls in the power of the Spirit, our souls are set free for God's service. We are to render to Him intelligent service. The point in this passage is not that it is reasonable that we should serve God on account of the compassions which He has shown us, but that our service should be characterized by the knowledge of His will whom we desire to serve. And this sacrifice is holy, acceptable, and living. It is not a dead sacrifice, like the bodies of beasts slain at the altar in the past dispensation, but a life devoted to His service. And it is in this way we prove how good and acceptable and perfect His will is.

The apostle beseeches. It is not a command with a curse attached to it in view of possible disobedience. It is an appeal to those who have obtained infinite mercy to enter upon a new career of unspeakable joy and happiness. It is an exhortation to those who have not only been bought, but who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ to "render unto God the things that are God's." The power of sin, Satan, law and flesh, can dominate us no longer. We have come under a new control, and it is not only that we have power to yield ourselves to God, but the desire of the renewed mind is to walk in the pathway of His will. It is a service of love. We have been brought into new and eternal relationships with God, and we rejoice to know that He is willing to accept of our very imperfect service.

Now what would be the effect of our presenting our bodies a living sacrifice to God? In answer to this question I would ask again, what effect does He desire His Gospel to produce in us? Is it not that in this world, out of which His Son has been rejected, we may be exponents of the grace that perfectly shone out in Him? That the light of God that was radiant in His person might be continued during the time of His absence? He set forth God in His true character before the eyes of men. He was the perfect expression of the invisible God. This is what is meant by His being the light of the world.

And this is the way by which we have got to know God. I believe in God by Christ: I do not believe in Him by nature, astronomy, or geology, but entirely by Christ. God not only sent His Son into this world that we might live through Him, but He raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory that our faith and hope might centre in Him. God has not only become the object of our hearts, but the all-controlling object. We delight to do His will. Our bodies are brought under His gracious control, and thus Christ is reproduced in us down here. We walk as He walked. You say, that is a very high standard. But would you not prefer a high standard before a low one? What name has been placed upon us? What superscription has been written upon our foreheads? Christ. That is the holy name that has been placed upon us. Even the world has thus designated us. They called the disciples of Jesus Christians, when at Antioch the Gospel was first preached. Christ is continued in His people down here.

How is that to be brought about in us? It will be brought about in us if we render to God that which is God's; in other words, if we present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, our intelligent service. I turn to Paul's epistle to the Philippians, and there I find the great desire of the writer was to have Christ magnified in his body, whether by life or death. He was about to appear before the Roman emperor, the power before which his Lord had once appeared, and in the presence of which He had witnessed a good confession. He was in prison for Christ: The devil had been allowed to place him there, but had defeated himself by so doing, for now there were, more preachers than ever before. This was encouraging to the suffering apostle. But he also counted on the prayers of the Philippians and on the Spirit of Jesus Christ, in order "that in nothing he might be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death." This was the only thing that seemed to cause him any concern. He calls it his salvation to be delivered from everything of self ? either his natural cowardice or his courage, and that nothing but Christ would be exhibited by him. Christ had been before this tribunal, and was condemned to the cross, now these rulers and judges were to find this same Christ in the body of Paul. He was not concerned regarding their sentence upon himself. "That Christ may he magnified in my body, whether by life or death." Let what God will befall me, only let Christ be seen in my body. This was the only thing he seemed anxious about, it was all his salvation and all his desire.

Now if the Philippians were to occupy themselves with the Gospel, there was to be no strife and contention between themselves. He desires them to be all of one mind, but that the mind of Christ: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." When in the form of God He emptied Himself, and when in fashion as a man He humbled himself. Here, where every man was seeking to exalt himself, Christ was humbling Himself. here everyone seeks to rise above his fellows, does his best to get into a position of exaltation, and that by fair means or foul. What a world it is when viewed in the light of the incarnate Son of God! What must the holy angels think of it! We were born into it, and have grown accustomed to it; just like people brought up in filth; they do not trouble about it, it has become their natural element. Put a person into filthy surroundings who has been brought up in cleanliness, and he will be miserable.

Jesus was "obedient unto death." That was the mind that was in Him. With Him, no one but God was worthy of the slightest consideration. What claim had the death of the cross ? or any other mode of death upon Him? None. He gave Himself up to the will of God: "I come to do Thy will"; and He did it. With Him there was no reasoning, no repining, self-seeking, no murmuring. He says: "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt." He takes the place of deserving nothing, as being unworthy of the least consideration: "I am a worm, and no man." God alone is to be considered. He has a just claim upon us: We belong to Him. Whose image has been stamped upon us? God's. Then let us render to God the things that are God's.

What should characterize every human being? Obedience. Therefore, the apostle exhorts the Philippians: "As ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God that worketh in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure." What about Christ? He was obedient unto death. All that He said and did was the outcome of the will of God. What about us then? If we do the will of God we shall be practically Christ over again. This is walking as He walked, and this is the way to have Christ magnified in our bodies.

Turn to chapter iii. The apostle is in the first part of the Chapter speaking of the effect upon his life of the knowledge of Christ. He speaks of the excellency of that knowledge, and of the power that it had over him. It made him throw every fleshly decoration that he had possessed (and he had more to boast of than any man) on the rubbish heap. He counted what he had lost, after the flesh, as useless encumbrances in view of what he had found in Christ. Then he looks forward to the day in which Christ will put forth His almighty power to subdue everything to Himself, and He says that our Saviour shall change our bodies of humiliation and fashion them like unto His own body of glory. Then we shall no more require exhortations, for His servants shall serve Him, see His face, and have His name upon their foreheads. In the meantime, let us keep well in mind that our happy and eternal privilege is to render to God that which is God's.

Prosperity and Power.

(2 Samuel xiii. 4).

W. Bramwell Dick.

"And he said unto him, Why art thou, being the king's son, lean from day to day?"

I think we have been feeling during these meetings that the Spirit of God has been seeking to lead us on very practical lines, and very particularly so in the ministry that we have had the last two nights. We have been made to feel how He is pressing upon us the question as to what response there is on our part to all the precious truth that He has been pleased to make known to us; and I want for a few minutes, as the Lord may help me, to use the striking and arresting question in this Scripture by way of seeking to press that question still further home upon my own heart and upon yours. That there is leanness I don't suppose any one of us will question. We realize that, do we not, when we meet each other as individuals? and we notice how very little response there is when the Lord's name is mentioned, and when the precious things of God are spoken about. We feel it sometimes when we are gathered together week by week in what we usually speak of as a prayer meeting, and which perhaps, sometimes is a prayer meeting more in name than reality. We are conscious of it still more, perhaps most of all, when we are privileged to be gathered together around our blessed Lord on the first day of the week, and when sometimes such gatherings are little more than what we might call testimony meetings. We thank God that our sins are forgiven, and that some day soon we are going to be free from our woes, our pains, and our trials, and we are going to be happy in heaven with Jesus. We are made to feel how little there has been of that which was presented to us yesterday from the 4th. chapter of John ? that worship that the Father seeks; and that brings such joy and delight and satisfaction to His heart. In the case of Ammon there was no excuse for his leanness, and therefore it is, I suppose, there seems to be almost a tone of reproach in the question that is asked him, not simply, "Why art thou lean from day to day?" but, "Why art thou, being the king's son, lean from day to day?" It suggested that it was a shame to one in his exalted position that leanness should characterize him. I presume he had at his command all that he wanted, and, having that, it was quite evident there was something that was sapping at the root of his physical constitution that made him, though a king's son, weak and lean. Beloved brethren, you and I are favoured, through Gods infinite mercy, with most precious ministry, written and oral, and above all, we are favoured with the sacred Word of God ? that we hold in our hands, and we have the Holy Spirit of God. Yet, with all that, have we not got to ask ourselves the question, why are we ? in the favoured circumstances in which we find ourselves, ? so lean?

Is it not possible that there is something that is sapping at the root of our spiritual constitution, and is making us, though children of God, sons and heirs of glory, who have been invested with all the wealth of heaven, and with blessing that it will take us all eternity to explore, lean? I now ask you to turn to a brighter picture and read Judges viii. 18 and 19: Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king. And he said They were my brethren."

This is a much brighter side. Gideon was not, strictly speaking, a child of a king, and yet they were able to say to him, each one of his brethren was like himself, and they "resembled the children of a king." Gideon found himself in circumstances not unlike those in which we find ourselves to-day. He was surrounded by the enemies of God and of His people, represented by Midianites and Amalekites, and those who were opposed to God and to the people of God. Gideon maintained a path of separation in the midst of all that. That is rather an old-fashioned word, is it not ? SEPARATION? I remember, when I was younger than I am to-day, I used to go to meetings like these, and I heard the beloved servants of God ? and there were giants in those days ? ring out that word "separation" with no uncertain sound; and it was not only that they rang out the word with no uncertain sound, but there was that power behind it, that one felt the men who exhorted us to separation were men who knew a thing about it themselves. I am afraid it has dropped out of our vocabulary, and we have to ask ourselves whether the reason is not probably that it has fallen largely out of our practice.

But here was Gideon, and he, as I have said, seems to have maintained a path of separation. He was very, very much affected by the circumstances in which God's people found themselves. You go back to chapter vi. in this book, when the angel brought a message to him, and we find how he seems to have been well nigh overwhelmed as he thought of the people of God in the sad plight in which they were as the result of their own sin and rebellion against God. But there is something very fine said about Gideon, he threshed wheat in secret, notwithstanding all that was going on around him (verse 11). Notwithstanding all, that might be called, the unfortunate circumstances in which he was, he threshed wheat, he threshed it in secret; and I think we can infer something more from the 19th verse of chapter viii., he shared it with his brethren, with the result that his brethren were like himself, they "resembled the children of a king." It is a good thing for us to know the secret of threshing wheat in secret. Some one said yesterday at our Bible reading, "We do not read the Scriptures in order to give out," and that is perfectly true. If we read the Scriptures, only to give out, it will be a poor thing, but if we read the Scriptures, if we are threshing wheat, there will be one inevitable result, we shall want to share the wheat with our brethren. I find it a happy thing as I go up and down, and sometimes a brother comes to see me, or I call at a house and get into conversation with a sister, and they say, "You know I was just reading a certain portion this morning, and I saw so and so in it," and they give me some sparkling gem, and I thank God for it. I am changing the metaphor somewhat, but that doesn't matter. They share their wheat with others. That is what is meant, is it not, when Paul exhorts his son in the faith, Timothy, that he should give attendance to reading? And the result of his giving attendance to reading would be that his profiting should appear unto all (1 Timothy iv. 13-15). God give us to know a little more, in the midst of all the failure and the break-up with which we are surrounded, amidst circumstances that may be calculated sometimes to depress us, may He give us to know something more of what it is to thresh wheat in secret, and then to share it with our brethren. Some one may say, "What exactly are we to understand by threshing wheat?" Let us turn for a closing Scripture to the New Testament. (Hebrews iii: 1), "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus." A very excellent translation puts the word "confession" instead of "profession," and renders the last clause, "Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus." If we know something of what it is to consider "the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus," then we shall know something of what it is to thresh wheat in secret, there will be one inevitable result, that is, we shall want to share the wheat with our brethren. If we consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus," the first effect will be that we ourselves shall become increasingly like Him, and the second effect will be, as we seek to share the wheat with our brethren, they too, with us, will be made more and inure like that glorious Person.

In the first chapter, as we know, we have Him brought before us as the Apostle and our eyes are directed to Him in all the preciousness, all the excellence of that glory here He ever dwells. He is "the brightness of God's glory, the express image of His Person; He who upholds all things by the word of His power," and you and I are called upon to consider Him As we seek to consider the greatness, the majesty, the glory, the excellency, the power of God's eternal Son, what an occupation is that for our hearts!

Then we come to the second chapter, where He is presented as the High Priest. If we view Him in chapter i. in all the excellency and majesty of that glory that ever was, is, and ever shall be, His: now the Spirit of God in chapter ii., conducts us in His downward path, as He stepped off that throne eternal into manhood, came down into this world, went lower and still lower, and "tasted death for everything" ? we travel from the highest height to the lowest depth, and we consider Him in that wonderful path that the last speaker has just been bringing before us, the lowly, the homeless, the friendless, the penniless Stranger; the One who was here only and wholly and altogether for the will of God ? we consider Him, and we find some precious wheat to thresh there.

Then we follow Him upward as Man, as He ascends from the lowest depths, He "who tasted death for everything," we see Him, as Man, pass through the opened heavens, and, taking up the language of chapter ii. 9, with glad, rejoicing, triumphant, worshipping hearts, we exclaim, "We see Jesus, crowned with glory and honour," and we consider Him there. We have got some precious wheat to thresh in that, have we not?

Then we find in this verse that the saints of God are addressed in a wonderful way. We are not going to speak in general about the saints of God this afternoon, though we know that it is true of all saints. We are going to be selfish enough for the moment, to think of ourselves gathered here in this hall, for it is only thus that we shall get the sweetness, the freshness, the power, and the benefit of it, "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling." Oh, my beloved brethren, we want to realize a little more of what this means. Someone has said that "As Apostle, He brings us up to the height of our calling, and as High Priest, He maintains us there." What a calling it is! "Holy brethren." "But," some one may say, "I don't feel holy." I don't suppose you do. If you said you did, no one would believe you, but God says you are holy, and God takes account of us as "holy brethren," and "as partakers of the heavenly calling." Children of a king! We are something a great deal better than that. We have a calling that is much more exalted than that of the children of a king. We have been brought into intimate association and relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, that of those whom He is not ashamed to call His brethren, and we are taken account of as "holy brethren." Not only that, but "partakers of the heavenly calling." We may be surrounded by the Midianites and Amalekites, but we may realize in the midst of it all, that we are "partakers of the heavenly calling," and thus we are outside of the whole system of things down here. Do not say "That is all right in theory, but it is difficult to work out in practice, and what we find here is, as I have already said, quoting the words of another, "We have the Apostle to bring us up to, and we have the High Priest to maintain us at the height of this wonderful calling." All these glories, His Godhead glory, His glory as Man, the glory of redemption, the glory that He has at the right hand of God to-day, He who has been exalted "above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come" (Eph. i. 21) ? they are all centred in Him whose name is Jesus. Does not that stir our hearts? Our precious Saviour, Jesus. God's eternal Son, Jesus. Our living, loving Lord. Our eternity is going to be spent in considering Jesus. It is our privilege to-day to consider Jesus. May God bless us, and may God grant we may be kept by His grace in a day such as this to thresh wheat in secret ? not to be lean, but to be like the children of a king, if we use the word of the Old Testament. To be in New Testament language, like those who are "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling," yea, to be like Jesus now, as we shall be when we see Him face to face.

The Mind of Christ.

(Isaiah lv. 9; Luke ix. 18-22; 43-56).

A. G. Taylor.

I have it very much impressed on my spirit to read these Scriptures to you this afternoon. Not that I am able to say very much about them. It is good for us to get God's thoughts and to see how very different His thoughts are and Christ's thoughts are from what our thoughts are. How often do we find our thoughts are like the thoughts of the disciples of old. Frequently we are fault-finding, censorious and hard with others who are seeking to do the Lord's will just as much as we are. How the Lord had to rebuke His disciples for their thoughts in this matter. Should it not touch our hearts as we read His beautiful words to them. How He was seeking to put them on the right line, the line of grace that He, Himself, was on. "The Law was given by Moses, Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ." Beloved, as we pass along, let us see to it that we don't do anything or say anything to discourage or hurt our brethren in Christ.

We are too apt to look down on other Christians and inclined to think that when they are doing things that we don't do, that they are doing evil. We make a great mistake in thus thinking of them, and we do well to constantly and continually look to what the Lord Jesus Christ says and how He taught His disciples.

I just wanted to make these remarks because I feel if we cannot say anything to encourage and help our Christian brethren who, perhaps, are not walking as we judge they ought to walk, let us say nothing to discourage, nothing to hurt, nothing to harm, but let us seek to be here having the mind of Christ, acting as Christ has taught us to do, and doing as He would have us do.

The Fellowship of God's Son.

(1 Corinthians i. 9).

J. T. Mawson.

There is a great deal of exercise as to Christian fellowship, and surely it is much to be desired, for we have all been called into one fellowship, and that fellowship is the fellowship of God's Son. The epistle that brings it before us is the second of Paul's epistles as given to us in the Word. In Romans we are set right with God, and following on that there should come this exercise as to Christian fellowship, in which we are set right with one another. First, the basis of everything laid in righteousness, that is Romans, and then each one of us brought upon that righteous basis to be together in holy, happy fellowship, according to the truth. It is well for us to consider this very full verse at the opening of this epistle which speaks to us of Christian fellowship. We are told it is the fellowship of God's Son. We cannot understand its character unless we consider and understand Him, for it takes it character from Him, God's Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. This fellowship could not be in those Old Testament days, for God's Son had not been revealed, and men, even men of God, broke down and failed, there were none of them who could found a fellowship according to God's mind. We often turn back and think of them, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon ? all of them broke down somewhere. God could form no fellowship out of what they were. But when God's Son came there was a Person here who was altogether for God, who never broke down.

There has been one Person here, who entered His life of responsibility in dependence upon God, and in absolute obedience to Him. He never turned aside one hair's breadth from the will of God, and always, in every word He spoke, in every thought He thought, and in every act He did, He was delightful to the heart of God, His Father. Blessed for us, indeed, to contemplate Him, who was found in absolute and full concert with the Father's heart. Communion between Himself and His Father was continuous. He was fragrant in all His ways. He was always in harmony with heaven. As we consider Him, the path of light He trod, how blessed, how wonderful it is to us! We are conscious of failure and break-down, but what a comfort, what a joy, to turn back and contemplate Him and be able to say, The Father has found His fullest delight in a Man, here on earth! I know He was more than Man. That is not the side I am speaking of to-day. He was here as the full revelation of God, and He could not have been that if He had not been God. He came forth as the Son to make manifest in the darkness what God is. That was one side: It is the other side I would dwell upon. He was here as a Man before God, fulfilling the will of God in all His ways. In Him the Father's will was done on earth, and if we would know what man is according to the thought of God, if we would see what God's intention for man is, we must look at that blessed Man and study Him, and as we study Him we know what pleases God.

But our Lord was alone on this earth. He said, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone." In His life-time He trod a solitary path. Nobody walked that path with Him ? He had to tread it alone. Nobody shared His delight in His Father's will. There was no one to enter into His feelings. Nor could there be, unless He imparted His own life to them. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." He went into death that we might live in His life, and that God might call us into His fellowship, that He might put us together before Him, where His Son stands, that we might be brought into concert with Him where He is in heaven, and might tread the path that He trod where He is not now. He died and rose again that He might gather together in one the children of God that are scattered abroad, and found a fellowship, the life and power and principles of which, are heavenly and not of the world. What could be greater than this? It is usual for men to desire to rise into some sphere or circle above that in which they were born, and if a man is made a peer of the realm he thinks it a great honour; if he is invited to Court, or called into fellowship with royalty, he is elated. But what is this into which we are called? It is not the fellowship of the noble, or the fellowship with royalty. We are lifted above men as we know them, and above angels also, up into the fellowship of God's Son. And the fellowship will not be understood unless we understand Him.

We cannot enter into it in its power and blessedness unless we come under His influence. So often do we make it ecclesiastical and thereby spoil it, and hedge it round with our rules and regulations, and limit it to our poor notions of what it is. It is not our fellowship, but the fellowship of God's Son, and in that, the first thought is of relationship. We are brought into that blessed relationship He stands in, and the first thought in that relationship is love. The Father loveth the Son, and the Son responds to the love without reserve. That we should all most readily accept. But is there not another thought in it? You get it illustrated in the way Paul speaks of Timothy. He spoke of Timothy as "My son, Timothy," and then you remember he said of him, "As a son with a father he has laboured with me in the Gospel." Timothy was in full accord with Paul, there was oneness of mind and thought. It is a great day in a man's life when he can change the style of his business. Up to a certain point it has been David Cameron. Then the day arrives when he describes the firm as "David Cameron & Son." He has some one of one mind with himself, some one in concert with himself. Some one who will take counsel with himself, who will carry out his thoughts, and rightly represent him when he is absent, not as a servant, but as a son. It seems to me the thought comes in in connection with God's Son. Such He was when here upon earth, and it is God's purpose that that should be continued here, and He has called us to be in the continuation of that, so that here on earth now, there should be something in full accord with the mind of God. Grace has wrought in us with this end in view, and we have been sanctified in Christ Jesus. But we must come under subjection to Him. He must direct us, and He is Jesus Christ, our Lord; unless we are subject to Him, of course, we are going our own way ? each doing what he thinks right, and there will be no unity or fellowship, but if we know what it is to be subject to the Lord, each one of us, then everything becomes simple. It is instructive, in this epistle to the Corinthians, to see how the Lordship of Christ is pressed. We have the Lord's table in chapter x., we have the Lord's Supper in chapter xi., we have the Lord as the one Administrator in the 12th., and the 14th. closes with words something like this, "If any man among you thinketh himself to be spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things we write unto you are the commandments of the Lord." We must all own His Lordship. But how may we know where and how He will direct us? We get it in the Word, the things written therein are the commandments of the Lord. We have also spiritual sensibilities. It is a very blessed thing that, having received the Spirit and the divine nature, we have spiritual sensibilities, and these are developed by the Spirit who dwells in us, and they answer to the Word of the Lord, and when we hear the Word these spiritual sensibilities, if we are in a good spiritual state, and not carnal like the Corinthians, answer to the Word, and blessed indeed it is, when we find ourselves desiring, not only to hear the Word. but to do it. But we must be subject to the Lord Christ, as the One raised up from the dead and exalted, and now the great Administrator, the One in the place of authority, the One to whom we have bowed, the One whom we own as our Lord, and from whom we may draw all the grace and guidance we need in this fellowship which is His.

These first three chapters of 1 Corinthians are helpful. In chapter i. towards the end, we get the basis upon which we stand and are kept in this blessed fellowship to which God has called as. You get the cross of Christ brought before us. The cross of Christ in that character of it that removes all that that cannot be built in and fitted in to this fellowship. The cross is the condemnation and removal of the material that won't do for God. So we find no flesh should glory in His presence. Flesh brings in discord, for its root principle is self-exaltation, it glories in its own distinctions and powers, every man against another. It does not give glory to God, it wants it all for itself. But we are to glory in the cross of Christ. The cross of Christ is that in which we see the power and wisdom of God, and by the cross God has brought to an end the wisdom of the wise and everything in which men can boast. One way in which the flesh showed itself at Corinth was in the formation of parties and the boasting in leaders, and this is a subtle snare, more destructive to fellowship than what is flagrant and gross.

We must glory in the Lord, then, with one heart and voice, we show what fellowship is. And that we might glory in Him, we are told what He is made unto us. God has made Him to be to us who are in Him and are of God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Everything we need is in Christ. Blessed things these are, they cover everything we need as before God. The cross of Christ is the basis of it all. It brings us together on to common ground. Suppose the most learned man in the land comes into this fellowship, he comes in in the same way as the most illiterate man, and the cross is the end of all he can boast in as of the flesh. And he gets something better than he could bring. We are now in something greater and better and more glorious than the best man has got. It is the fellowship of God's Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and He is the Administrator to us of what God is as well as the pattern to us as to what the fellowship is.

Then the power comes out in chapter ii. The Spirit has been given, and in connection with the Spirit of God we have the subject matter of our fellowship ? the Spirit of God has come to show unto us the things of God, these things are not understood by the natural man. The natural man understandeth not the things of God. He cannot enter into this fellowship. That is why we have so much Modernism to-day. It is the natural man boastfully claiming that he can find out the things of God. Man thinks he can by searching find out God. He won't receive God's revelation to him. He won't take the place of a little child: He won't acknowledge that if he is to know God, God must reveal Himself.

It is not here man's mind investigating, he has his own sphere in which he may pursue his investigations, but in the sphere of God's things there must be revelation, and the Spirit of God reveals to us what eye hath not seen, nor ear heard. and what has never entered into the heart of man. But these things, the things that God hath prepared for those that love Him, He reveals them to us by His Spirit, for "the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." And the power of the fellowship, and the intelligence by which we understand the substance of it, is in the Spirit of God, the cross of Christ is the basis of it ? the death of that blessed Person, the Son of God, who laid down His life for us, that is the basis, the intelligence and the power of it is the Holy Spirit.

When we come to chapter iii. we find it is all for God. Ye are God's building: Ye are God's husbandry, Ye are God's temple. Ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's. What a blessed thing to know the Son of God was here and He was all for God! What joy, what delight, what wealth for God in that blessed life! And the devil was determined to get rid of it, and he worked upon men, until in a frenzy of passion they took that blessed Person and put Him to shame and crucified Him, and at last He lay in the silent tomb. Did the devil think he had got rid of what pleased God, and that He would never again have anything of that sort on earth? Did the devil think he had banished from this world everything for God? 1 Corinthians iii. shows us there is a continuation of that blessed life in which everything was for God, now, and you and I, beloved saints of God, are brought into this fellowship that God might have His delight in us. Ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's. In His wisdom, God having baffled all the force of the devil, and all the subtlety and the wisdom of the devil, has something on earth in which He can find His delight ? the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. A spiritual condition is necessary on our part if we are to live and act together in fellowship, as partners together in the things of God. He would put us in concert one with another, but we cannot be in concert one with another unless we are in concert with God, and we cannot be in concert with God unless we are subject to the Lord. His mind must control us. As we are put into concert with the Lord we shall be in concert one with another, and not only will God's heart be delighted, but we shall know the power and the blessedness and the joy of the fellowship into which we have been called.

We look on Christendom and see numberless fellowships and much failure, and we are apt to get discouraged, to have the heart taken out of us, and say. Well, is it any use any longer seeking to walk in fellowship according to the truth? But we have this for our confidence and encouragement that God is faithful. We may have failed; we may have broken down, and with shame of face we have to confess that break-down is everywhere, but God is faithful, and, beloved saints of God, the God of Pentecost, the God that Paul knew, the God of the Ephesian epistle, is the God who abides to-day in His mighty resources, and those resources are in Jesus Christ, our Lord Himself, and we may turn to Him and find His resources to be enough for us. He has not abandoned His present purpose for us, and we should not abandon it either.

The Lord grant that we may be content to learn of Him, God's Son, and be subject to Him, Jesus Christ our Lord, and then we shall walk together in happy fellowship.

Companying with Christ.

2 Chronicles ix. 1-12; Matthew xi. 25, 26.

James McBroom.

I have heard again and again since coming here, in our conversations, the statement that this is a day when the whole moral tone is lowered. In varying words the idea has been pressed again and again, and the question is a serious one for every one of us as to how the moral tone is to be raised. I have often said that in the first epistle to Corinthians, the writing of the apostle was to raise the whole moral tone. If Christ gets His place with us and one part of our lives is elevated, the whole soul is elevated. But then, how is it to come about? I feel as I stand here to-night, after all that the Lord's beloved servant has put before us, much cast on the Lord, and it brings before my heart the peculiarity of the Book of God, and of the things of God, because, after all that has been told us, there still remains something to be said, and after all our meetings are finished, if the Lord tarry, there will still remain something to be said. As each of the servants of Christ finishes his ministry for the moment one feels as though it were the last word was said, but after all, each of us can dip his tiny vessel into that which is unfathomable and inexhaustible. Not only these meetings, but all the meetings and all saints down the ages to the end of time, will continue to draw waters from the wells of salvation, and will find in them inexhaustible comfort and encouragement, to the praise and glory of God. Then there is a way I think God has marked out for the elevation of the moral tone, and I feel, if you will bear with me, that we lose sight of it to a very great extent, and my point tonight, is to endeavour, in the presence of my Master and His beloved people, to point out what He would put before us as the right way to raise the moral tone, and that is, that we should know more of His company and know more of the blessedness of "going in." In doing that, of course, I am necessitated to open it out, but what I would begin with is this: that with all the effort that is put forth to-day in Christendom, there is great need that we should cultivate more communion with the Lord. Every honest mind will admit that the tendency with us is to leave out the first great essential.

If we are to be true followers of Christ we must know Him, and spend time in the presence of our Lord. Therefore I repeat again, the first thing is, that, if we are to come out, we must be intimate, we must be in the intimacy of His affection inside. Before I go into that, my impression is that we, the people I look upon to-night, are part of the most favoured people in God's creation. To refer to it, in relation to the day in which we live, we all admit that the Church period is the time of the full revelation of God, the time when there is a Man sitting up yonder who, blessed be His holy Name, is much more than a Man. The time when that Man sits there is the grandest period in all time.

Until He went there the Old Testament could not be unlocked, what marvellous treasures lay enfolded there till Christ was glorified. Like the sun in the heavens, which blazes forth in the whole space of the solar system, filling it with light and heat, so the Man, Christ Jesus, has gone up on high that He might fill all things. He who is the Sun of righteousness, radiates forth in the moral desert, making many hearts glad with the blessing of God. God orders history, prophecy, promise and type in view of Christ, and the moment He takes His place on high, redemption accomplished, the Holy Ghost comes to shine on that blessed Book. Until then there could not be the unfolding of the treasures of God. Whoever could have known the typical meaning of the story of Adam and Eve until Ephesians 5 was written? Who could have known the meaning of the story of Joseph and his brethren until Christ was in glory? Who could have unfolded the first seven chapters of Leviticus until Christ was there? Whoever could have pointed out the wealth of those blessed, eternal verities that lie hidden in the pages of inspiration until Christ was in heaven? You say, why emphasize that? I will tell you. I emphasize it because of this, when Christ took His seat up there, not only was the revelation of God complete, but there was an answer to it in a Man at His right hand. On the one hand, He came out to declare God and make known His heart of love, and on the other, to take up a place before Him by redemption on behalf of those who were the subjects of His eternal thoughts. Job had thought He lived at far too great a distance from His creation to take notice of His creatures, or, as some thought, that great Being in the heavens was striding through creation to see how He could deal out sufferings to His creatures. No, brethren, Christ came here to unfold the heart of God. But there is more. The One who has declared God (John xvii.), is the One, blessed be His Name ? who has gone in in answer to it all, and if you tell me something of the greatness of the revelation, I will tell you that that shows more and more the greatness of the Man who answers to the revelation. But in connection with that I want to associate it thus: not only are we living in the time when the grandest things God ever made known to man are spoken of and when God presents Himself, so to speak, in a great mirror, that we may see all His character, nature, and being, and when we can read Him in that Man. But there is something more. Not only are we living in that day, but we are favoured at the end of the dispensation when the Lord Jesus Christ has recovered for His Assembly, the unfoldings of the counsels of God. I think I see at the end of the dispensations of Scripture something like this, hard times, dark times, but I see also, that the Lord comes out in the revelation of His will in a special way to those who seek Him at such a moment. In the twentieth century, when the forces of evil are gathering themselves together for the last, great, closing drama of the ages, the Lord Jesus Christ, our adorable Head, has brought out for us the full unfoldings of His truth, so that we, and all who form His Church, might be fitted to stand in the presence of those forces that are thus massing themselves for the final conflict. Things get so bad at the close of a dispensation that the professing people of God may be found doing the enemy's work. "His own" people lent themselves to Satan in crucifying the Lord. So it is to-day. We find the leaders in the professing church in Satan's hands denying all that is fundamental in the holy Book of God. We all know these things are true, and now in the light of it all, what I want to insist on is, that if we are face to face with the worst of the worst, we are brought into the best of the best. If He who sits in heaven, our glorious Head, has unfolded the truth of the revelation of our heavenly calling, of being sons of God, in association with Himself, it is that we may answer to it in the presence of Satan's worst. Not only do we see sonship unfolded in the Word, it is declared to us in perfection in His own Person. Sonship is an eternal relationship brought into Manhood by incarnation. The eternal Son becomes Man, brings it here, and sets it before us. On account of His death and resurrection, the Holy Ghost comes down from heaven to lift sinners like you and me out of our sins and the sin state and make us sons of God. We were under Satan's power, living at a distance from God, hateful and hating one another, but a Divine Person comes down, the Ascended One sends the Holy Ghost, to bring us into association with Himself as sons. I say this: we are at the end of the dispensation, and if we glance back upon the centuries, none of our forefathers had the light we have from God to-day, I repeat, therefore, we are the most favoured people on earth. As faithful men of God have been quoted, men whose faith we all surely desire to follow, we must see to it that the truth brought to us may be valued. There has been recovered for us by our glorious Head, through men of God of the last century, the whole truth of God. We need to wake up to this, the truth of the unity of the Body, the truth of being united to the Man at God's right hand (and if I am united to Him there every saint is also), and in view of that it is possible for us to have acquaintance with Christ in glory. An old servant years ago gave an address you may find it to-day ? and he gave the title to it "Acquaintance with Christ in glory." Can I be acquainted with the glorified Man? Yes, thank God. But if so, I am out of the fashion here. It cannot be possible for us to be in the fashion, maintain status, and position here, and at the same time have intimacy with Him whom the world refused. It cannot be possible to have part with Him, it cannot be possible to be in the enjoyment of association with the Soon of God if we are going on with the system that crucified Him. So in the Scriptures read I just want to show you the importance of the journey of the soul from this world to where He is. It has been well said, and as you all know, there are Christians who read the Bible and get their lessons as coming from God; they say their prayers, learn the Scriptures, but there are others again that seek to read the Scriptures and to go into where the Scriptures came from.

I have read an illustration in the Chronicles, but the New Testament is full of it. If you read Hebrews x. you go into the holiest of all, to where Christ is, and if we are to be workers, devoted, faithful, Christlike ? it is in touch with Him as going in and being at home there, there, acquainted with Him in the blessed intimacy of a soul at home in His presence. One has seen it in men who should be the happiest of the happy, grovelling and complaining, we may see people whom God has made His sons for eternity and enriched with every blessing in Christ, who should be walking through this world like princes, burdened with the care of this world. Is this not because they are not in the enjoyment of the company of the Lord Jesus Christ? So I read these two Scriptures to say a word on the elevation of the moral tone. I don't think there is any intelligent Christian looking for the recovery of the Church as a whole. The whole tone of Scripture, in its bearing on the present moment, is "See to thyself." If you do this you will not only put yourself right, but you will be a saviour to somebody else, and there is nothing so blessed as that. That is true service. We have to see to ourselves, and if we do so there will be a moral influence, a spiritual power that will characterize us that will be able to bring in a little of Christ to suffering saints of God.

And so, in this woman who heard of Solomon in a far country ? it cost her something to make the journey ? we have the illustration of a person who makes the journey to Christ to sit down in His presence and company, and have His mind about everything. And, hence, if we do so, there is what the apostle call "formation." You cannot shut your eyes to the fact that in much of the work of Christendom there is a lack of men after the character of Christ. What we want is character, for conduct springs from character, and the character Scripture gives us is the character of another Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, and hence, what we want is to be formed, and if we are formed it is the result of a Divine Person coming down here to form us after Christ.

And now she comes to him, and we see that all her difficulties, all her hard questions, are answered by Solomon. Go farther back a moment to the case of Joseph and his brethren. They came to Joseph; they didn't know him, but he knew them, they were speaking about what they had done to him, but they didn't know they were in the presence of Joseph. There I judge we have the record in figure of the experience of the soul before it comes to the knowledge of peace with God. But here we have in figure one who comes into company with the glorified Christ and sees Him in all His present glory, Himself the centre of it all, not content with merely reading about Him but going to where He is. "When she saw the wisdom of Solomon, the house he had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants." The New Testament tells us we can see ? that the eyes of your heart being enlightened (Ephesians i.), and before you see, before you go in, John xvi. shows us we have a guide to lead us in, even the Spirit of God. "When He is come He will guide you into all the truth." A vast and unexplored territory lies before as that we may go in and enjoy the fulness of what belongs to Christ. The Holy Ghost is given to lead us into all the grandeur of that which belongs to Him. If we are to answer to the claims of God and stand to-day in the presence of an ecclesiastical system that is lending itself to corruption, if we are to stand in a world which is shutting out God, and in a time when the apostasy of Revelation is in evidence all around, how is it to be if it is not in the enjoyment of something better? I might illustrate it in this way. A good father and mother, the parents of a child, who see the state of things going on around in the world, what do they do? They strive to make home better than what is outside, it works with the exactitude of law, that the way to be delivered from anything is to get something better, and wise parents, in connection with all the merriment and attraction the devil is presenting the present age with, know that the only way to save their child is to have something better in the home, far better. The only way to be delivered from what is going on in this world of sinfulness is to be in the enjoyment of all that Christ can give in a scene of heavenly bliss. The testimony of God is here, and the only way is to be a man of resource, in constant touch with the source; to be inside. I ask you, young man, do you accustom yourself to go into the presence of God, to go in and sit down in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ? Not because you want something, nor because you need anything. It is the instinct of the Christian to pray, the necessity of our souls to pray, but I ask you this, do you accustom yourself to go inside, into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ? If you do, it will stamp an impress, the heavenly impress on you, and you will be able to go out with that impress and you will not be afraid if you are out of fashion, not up-to-date in the ways of the twentieth century, and your language and your walk will be clean in character because we cannot help being influenced by the company we keep. And so notice it says, She saw the meat at the table. God who created the heart knows how to satisfy it, and the wonderful favour He puts upon us is that we share with Him in His food. The Bread of God is He who comes down from heaven to give life. Your soul needs food. There are depths in the human heart that nothing in the world can ever satisfy. Make Christ the object of your life and perfect satisfaction will be yours. Everyone is seeking for something ? politics and one thing and another. I have said, politics for the politician, military tactics for the soldier, money for the misers, and everything else, but Christ for the Christian. Cultivate that going in and sitting in His presence, and you will see the meat at His table, there is everything to satisfy the desire of the heart. I am thinking of Psalm xxxvi., abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house." I wish I could make it clear, the thought I have before me. To study to be imitators of Christ is a great thing, beloved brethren. We are getting nearer the end, and it is almost the only thing necessary, because we have all so much knowledge in one way and another, and our hearts are needy. We need food for our hearts and the ministry of Christ is what is needed.

But turn to the Gospels and see Him there. I see in the Old Testament something that tells me of the food of His table, yes, and the sitting of His servants, and the abundance of His house. Truly it may be said of "His own," "Happy are Thy men."

You know what the Lord says about "the men whom Thou gavest Me? The Father's love-gift to the Son ? the men that He favoured. O, the heavenly favour that shines on us. Are we to give it up cheaply? How is it to be maintained? By organisation, companies or bands, or societies, or anything? How is it to be maintained? There is a way in the nature of things ? God's way, and that is, that it must be maintained by living in touch with the source, and if we are to be maintained, if we are to come out in the place of our responsibility ? whether as to every-day life or business, or whether in connection with the testimony of Christ here in the world ? how will it be maintained? Only by the blessedness of having the company of Christ.

And so here we are in type in the true Solomon's house. It speaks of our being made companions of Christ. He speaks of saints as His brethren in John xx., the Spirit of God describes them as His fellows in Hebrews i., His companions in Hebrews ii and He calls them His friends in John xv. If that laid hold of us, that we are the friends of Christ, and that all these holy and endearing relationships are ours, surely we would not live a life of worldliness here. Whether do you desire a place, where Christ is refused or where He is received? If that dawned on us it would materially alter the character of our lives, we would not be going on with the tinsel of this poor callous world. I appeal to you to-night to seek to spend more time in the company of Christ.

Then, as I said, in the Gospels, there comes before us a Man of a different order. God has been so delighted with Him that He is determined to perpetuate His generation. In studying that holy life we see every detail gilded with the colour and character of heaven, whether in the domestic circle or among men, the village, the town, the city or country, all was for the delight of God. He came down from heaven not to do His own will but the will of Him that sent Him. Your will and mine, as natural men, is not in line with our duty, the fall estranged us from God, but in Christ the will of God was His delight and pleasure. The Holy Spirit is here to form you and me in His nature, in His love, in His relationship, and the flesh which comes in opposition to that is to be kept in the place of death. Are these things great realities or is it a little story we are telling that is pleasing to the ear? May God our God, as a result of these meetings give us to be more at home in these blessed divine things ? make us more careful about the company we keep. Christ died to have our company, and He wants it now, and that is before all our service. If you give Him your company your service will be coloured by that, which to the true heart, is a very precious reality. Oh, dear brethren, we are living in solemn times, when often the very bearing of the preacher is the denial of the testimony he speaks about. What is to be done? Keep in the company of Christ. We have access to the very source of all good and blessing, and we can be at home in the company of our adorable Lord and Master. We can trust Him in all His perfection. There is one Man who has brought glory to God and He is accessible to everyone of us to-night. The revelation of God with all its fulness is set forth in Him at the same time as approach to God on man's behalf is made good also.

If we keep the impress of Christ laid upon our hearts by the Spirit we shall hear His blessed voice, and be well pleasing to Him. There is often on the part of the saints, a morbid resignation in facing difficulties, and a feeling that all this is a necessity, but it will be all right when we get home. It is blessedly true that it will be all right then, but the Lord would have us in the sense that it is all right now, and if we seek His company our souls are kept in the enjoyment of all that which is to come out when He comes. May we be kept there for His Name's sake.

Setting Forward

Deuteronomy viii. 1, 2; Numbers xxi. 11.

S. Elvin Aziz.

The passage in the book of Deuteronomy describes God's tender care and gracious dealings with His people Israel in the wilderness; and the other, in the book of Numbers (they have no connection apparently) makes a statement from which we learn that Israel "set forward," and began to make a real advance in their journeys and they pitched their camp in a place called IJE-ABARIM. If you consult a map of the journeys of the children of Israel you will see the new position they have taken, Israel had now arrived at a new stage in their history ? a transition stage ? that is to say, their wanderings in the wilderness had come to an end. Miriam, the prophetess, has passed away, and Aaron, God's Priest, the brother of Miriam, also lays aside his official garments and passes out of this scene (Numbers xx.), so Israel are set free to go forward, and make real progress towards their objective (the land of promise) unhindered and unhampered. They are now on the border of Moab, "towards the sun-rising." What had happened that they have suddenly come to this place? They wandered aimlessly for no less than thirty-eight years in mid-wilderness, going backward and forward to Kadesh-Barnea two or three times. Now there are only a few months left for them to finish up the fortieth year to enter into their possessions.

Beloved, friends, it is very important for us to notice that there are two significant facts in the history of Israel which give the key to the situation, and reveal the secret of their being able to go forward.

The facts are these,

First, the brazen serpent.

Second, the new order which came into existence, through the death of Aaron.

I will make this plain by giving a brief summary of the truths set forth in the previous chapters.

The book of Numbers is pre-eminently the wilderness book, and gives the walk and service of the saints in the wilderness. The first ten chapters are the preparatory chapters, they tell us in the first place that they were numbered; they were taken account of individually, as we are taken account of in Christ Jesus. Secondly, that separate places were appointed to them in relation to testimony, that is, to the Ark of the Covenant. All their places were assigned so that the Ark of the Covenant must take the very central place, and all their tents should be so arranged as to surround and safeguard the interests of the Ark of the Covenant and the Tent of the Testimony. In the taking account of them, God was preparing for Himself a people of His own choosing. In Exodus xix. He says, "I brought you unto Myself," and so He could come and dwell in their midst, and appropriate them for Himself. No other place could satisfy God's heart, and no other place can he His, that is the central place, the place from which He can act, from which He can govern and direct the movements of the whole camp, for the pillar of cloud rested upon the Tent of Testimony, and not upon anything else. Therefore, the Israelites were required to keep their eyes steadfast upon the tent of Testimony so that they might, at a moment's notice, when they saw the cloud lifted up, be able to move and march. And so the first thing is God taking the central place, and the next thing is the appropriation of the people to Himself, so that they should defend the Ark of the Covenant. You may naturally say what was there to defend; who were there to contest the right of this large army of the Israelites passing through their borders; what was the object of having warriors in the wilderness? Well, there were the Amalekites, who might attack the Ark of the Covenant. We read that not only were some numbered as warriors, but there were those who were numbered as Levites, to carry the Ark of the Covenant and the Tent of Testimony. Upon these minute details I don't wish to dwell long, but what I want to present is this, that the Lord in the first ten chapters sets forth one great truth, that He will have nothing of man or his will, in connection with the Tent of Testimony or in the arrangement of the Camp. And from this you will see that God had a place in the midst of His people, surrounded by them, and they were to defend the Testimony.

The forces being marshalled and the Camp being arranged in perfect order, according to the mind of God, they left Horeb for Kadesh-Barnea. The journey being of eleven days, they did it in three stages. God was leading them through this wilderness, not only to show how good and gracious He was towards them; but, also to show them the utter worthlessness and incapability of flesh to do anything for God. That was the great truth that God was teaching them, from the 11th. to the 17th. chapter. Here you will notice the various features of Israel's unbelief and their downfall.

Until they came to Mount Horeb there was no Ark of the Covenant. And it was God's purpose that they should learn something about the Ark. The first thing was, they murmured against God, and fire came down from heaven, and then we read that Moses interceded on their behalf, and the fire was quenched. They lusted again for flesh, and Jehovah gave them quails and while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere, it was chewed, the wrath of God was kindled against them, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague. This was at Kibroth-hattaavah. Here they found the graves of lust. Then we read of the jealousy on the part of Miriam and Aaron, because of the authority placed upon Moses. And when you come to the 13th. chapter it is the climax of the great unbelief of Israel. The land of promise was before them, they could have easily crossed over, but they did not do so because of their unbelief. Oh! beloved friends, if there is one thing that is our formidable foe, it is unbelief. The Epistle to the Hebrews (chapter iii.) very clearly sets forth two great enemies ? one is sin and the other is unbelief. And therefore, Israel could not enter into the land because of unbelief. When we come to the rebellion of Korah, it culminated in the religious apostasy of the worst type. After this we find that Miriam and Aaron pass away and a new priest is installed, in the person of Eleazer, after the order of resurrection. He was the priest on the ground of resurrection. According to the ordinance of the Red Heifer, we notice, that Eleazer was to witness the sacrifice; it was to be slain before him. And because he was the one who was going to succeed Aaron, Moses took Aaron's robes, or priestly garments, and placed them upon this man, Eleazer, who was to take his place. He was a new priest altogether, of the order of resurrection. You will now see that there is a new company, a new priest, a new sacrifice, and a new leader ? the old order had passed away and a new order had come into existence. Oh beloved friends, you see that God's principles and God's ways in the Old Testament are the same as His ways in the New. His mode of deliverance might be different, but the ways of God do not differ at all. Everything is going to be set upon resurrection ground, and everything of the old man must pass away. And now a word as regards the 21st. chapter, where the brazen serpent is set up. What does the brazen serpent mean? It is a symbol of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a type of the cross of Christ. It was God's answer to the perverseness of flesh, which proved incorrigible, there was nothing for it except to be condemned and put away judicially before God, in type I mean. It also meant the bringing in of a new life, and they "shall live." God judicially removed the very cause of that from which they were suffering, for He imparted new life, new vigour, in their hearts and in their souls, so that they may go forward, and no longer to be aimlessly wandering backward and forward. They were hindered, they could not advance because they were held back by the flesh, and until the flesh was set aside and removed, they could not go forward. The apostle Paul distinctly tells is that these things happened to Israel for our admonition, that we might learn lessons from them. We shall not make progress in spiritual things and grow in grace if we have not come to the brazen serpent, where the old man is set aside judicially. And if we are going to make advance in spiritual things we shall have to feed on Christ. The wilderness provision for God's people was manna, food that came from heaven. That is what we need. Unless you eat His flesh and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Eating and drinking, symbolically, mean appropriating Him.

May God help us to set forward, to feed on Christ, and to become strong and stalwart in our most holy faith.

Faithful Men

Wm. H. Westcott.

"Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, that they may be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy ii. 1, 2):

In connection with this passage, I read in Exodus xxv. 10-11, 13, 21-22: The ark was made of shittim wood. In studying the tabernacle, the ark is that which suggests the Person of Christ. The shittim wood represents His humanity, the Son of God come down here as Man. I take the pure gold to represent that perfect suitability to God which was and is found in Christ, perfect suitability to the glory of God. In the ark was to be put the testimony which the Lord gave to Israel. The two tables of stone, or "the testimony," showed that what God required was perfect love toward Himself and perfect love toward men. These things are seen in Christ in all their completeness, and are fulfilled in Him alone. Upon the ark was placed the mercy-seat, of which I do not now speak particularly. Christ, in the presence of God, is the One in whom God's testimony is from first to last preserved intact. As to the wanderings of the children of Israel, when they left Egypt they turned eastward to Sinai, and from Sinai they turned northward to Kadesh-Barnea. From thence, they went southward to the shores of the Red Sea, and again turned northward to the plains of Moab; finally they went westward into the land. But whether they turned east or north, south or west, the testimony of God was preserved intact in the ark. There was no abatement of God's standard, and His eye rested upon that which, in the type, maintained that standard at its full height. You may wonder what that has to do with the Epistle to Timothy. But no one can read the second epistle without noticing how that again and again in the midst of all the frightful failure spoken of, there are certain things that are preserved intact in Christ Jesus. Israel, the people of God, in the course of their journeyings, at times seem to be turning their backs upon their true and proper direction, as when they turned southward to the shores of the Red. Sea. Nevertheless, the ark, with its testimony inside, preserved everything for God in perfect suitability to Him.

In this 2nd Epistle to Timothy we have seven things preserved for God, and for us, in Christ Jesus. In chapter i. we have "life which is in Christ Jesus." What a comfort for us, what security, what suitability for God, that the life which God in grace has made ours is secured and set forth in Christ Jesus. Then, lower down, in verse 9, "His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus." Further, in verse 13, "faith and love which is in Christ Jesus," and in the verse which I read in chapter ii., "the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Further on, in verse 10 of chapter ii. "the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory," and then, "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus," in verse 12 of chapter iii., and finally, "faith in Christ Jesus" in verse 15. You have the testimony preserved in the ark. Christ's perfect suitability to the glory of God secures everything for His people, whatever their changing experience may be.

Now, as to the condition in which we are found in these last days, turn back to chapter i. 15. You will notice that Paul says, "This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me," a very serious state of things when we remember the peculiar place that was given to the apostle Paul in the Christian economy. He is the one to whom was committed the administration of the mystery, and who was constituted pre-eminently minister of the Gospel. For these Christians of Asia to turn away from Paul meant decline from, and the surrender of, the teaching of Paul. In chapter ii., verse 16, you find "Shun profane and vain babbling, for they will increase unto more ungodliness." If men turn away from the full truth of Christ and take up with profane and vain babblings, these things spread like a canker.

Then in chapter iii. it says, that "in the last, days difficult times shall come," and, in verse 5, there would be found "a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof," and in verse 13, "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." There is the intensifying of evil as time goes on. Finally, in chapter iv., verse 3, "the time will come . . . when they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables." We seem to have reached this 4th. chapter. In journeying through the Church period, from the day of Pentecost until the return of the Lord, a long period has elapsed, but these are the last days. One need hardly stop to speak of it, but it is unquestionable that people are turning away their ears from the truth, and what they offer us in the place of the truth is "fables." We marvel sometimes to see the writings and hear of the speeches of some of the cleverest men of today in our Christian profession; we marvel that they descend to such profanities and frivolous ideas, but they are turned from the truth to fables, and the professed people of God love to have it so.

Now, in these two epistles to Timothy, what has struck me is this, that a great deal seems to be connected with Ephesus, and the teaching of Paul, which reaches its highest unfoldings in the epistle written to the Ephesian saints. In order to see what I mean, will you turn to the first epistle, chapter i., verse 3. "besought thee to abide still at Ephesus . . . that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine." We shall see in a moment what doctrine it was they had received; but he wrote these words to Timothy, Who was his on child in the faith, and who was true to him, of whom he wrote, "I have no man like-minded." He was willing to part company with this close follower and imitator of him, and to leave him at Ephesus, because he saw the coming in of that which would corrupt the very best bit of Christian. work we find in the New Testament. Then, a little further on, in verses 10, 11, of that chapter he speaks of the "sound doctrine according to the glorious Gospel (the Gospel of the glory), of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust." Further, in chapter iv., verse 16, he says to Timothy, "Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine; continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." That is, Timothy, by personal continuation in that teaching which he had received from the apostle, would not only be preserved himself in the midst of all the growing corruption, but would become an instrument in the hands of the Lord for delivering others from it too. Then, see the second epistle, chapter i., verse 15. Time had elapsed between the first and the second epistles, not much perhaps, but Paul draws attention to the fact that by this time, beside those who were teaching evil doctrines, the whole of the saints in Asia had turned away from him. They were giving up the truth as he presented it at Ephesus. Again, in chapter ii., verse 2, it says, "The things that thou hast heard of me, the same commit thou to faithful men, that they may be able to teach others also." Even then there had come in the necessity to call for faithful men.

Now, if you are going to have faithful men, they must be faithful to something. I have suggested that at the back of all he says in the first and second epistles, you have the doctrine or ministry of the apostle as unfolded in all its breadth and length in his epistles, and crowned by the blessed truth embodied for us in the epistle to the Ephesians. In order to test what there is around us we need to have some definite understanding, more or less large, according to our measure, as to what this teaching of the apostle was. I would just like to refer briefly to the stages in which the truth of God has been unfolded to us, as written by Paul in Romans, Corinthians and Ephesians. I hope not to weary you.

In the epistle to the Romans you have the individual brought out from this sinful world, his guilt covered, and propitiation made so that he can be brought to God in a manner suitable to the divine glory. You have him set up in this world for the will of God, and brought to know God in such a way that, not only is there peace and deliverance, but the will of God becomes a positive delight to his heart. Beloved fellow-Christian, is there not a danger of our wasting a lot of time, and squandering a great part of our lives in doing our own will because we do not understand God's will, and because our hearts are not definitely and intelligently committed to it. I commend the Epistle to the Romans to everyone that wants to get on in the things of God. Therein you have the laying of the foundation in the soul of the believer of the holy work of God. Note that first of all, the individual is blessed and set here for God's will. Then, at the end of the epistle, we are introduced to the fact that we, being many, are one body. The subject is not opened out, but the fact is stated in the way of an illustration. It shows we are not all alike, and it is not intended we should be; but every one ? in that mould in which the grace of God has cast him ? is to be here definitely and positively for the will of God. This adjusts us in our relations here as responsible men, living in this world; the one thing that governs our life and conduct is the will of God.

In the epistle to Corinthians, the very first verse links on with the preceding epistle in this way, that Paul is an apostle by the will of God. But he talks in this epistle not exactly of individual, but of collective responsibility ? collective responsibility viewed in connection with the locality in which each one of us lives. Let me turn to verses 1 and 2 of chapter i., because it may be important in connection with our subject of this afternoon. "Paul . . . unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that in every place call upon the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both their's and our's." I suppose that is all based upon the truth which we find in Romans. But notice again, "With all that in every place, etc." Locality is before his mind; but not only Corinth. The instructions given in this epistle were not given only to the Corinthians, not only to Christians in that locality, but apply equally to every locality wherever there are Christians. Moreover, they are to "all that call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord," in that locality ? that is, they are not addressed to any select number only, any tiny community, any part of the Church of God; but the whole Church of God in any locality; all Christians in the town or city are instructed according to what we have in these two epistles to the Corinthians. Thus, no one can say, "That is out of date." Jesus Christ is Lord still. He abides, thank God, and all that is committed to His keeping is in safe keeping. The testimony is hid in the ark and nothing can take it out; the standard is irreducible.

Wherever Christians are, in that locality these instructions hold good. In a double way uniformity is to be secured in the administration of the Assembly; namely, first by the written instructions of the apostle, inspired as he was by the Holy Ghost, which remain to us for our guidance down to the end; and, second, it is to be secured by the unchangeable and universal Lordship of Christ; we call on the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. I think this important in connection with our subject this afternoon for this reason; the idea of several independent assemblies in one city is very widely held; and perhaps increasingly held, and is attractive to many people because of the way in which they escape exercise the one with the other. The result is a spirit of independency which is gravely opposed to the maintainance of that fellowship into which our faithful God has called us (see verse 9). The epistle is directed to every locality where there are Christians, and to all the Christians in that locality, so that that which is instruction for one meeting in a city is instruction for every meeting in that city. They are united by one common Lordship for all matters of administration,

This applies to binding and loosing also. Now we are in days of brokenness, and we cannot get back to the re-constitution and re-construction of that which, outwardly at least, has tumbled to pieces, but if we are to be faithful men this is what we are to be faithful to. I fear many drop out of testimony in regard of that very thing, and that there is not that subjection to the Lordship of Jesus, not that attention to the instruction of the apostle which the Spirit is here to produce.

In Corinthians, then, you get instruction for the saints in connection with the locality in which they stand. Wonderful it is to study all the detail of it; but ? not to linger over it ? turn to the Ephesian epistle. It is different from Corinthians in this way, that it speaks of what Christ is, and what the Assembly is, according to the counsels and purpose of God. That is not its local order and administration, seen to be governed by the written Word and revealed will of the Lord; rather is it the viewing of the Church of God from the standpoint of God's eternal counsel and that which He has wrought in the saint in view of it. I will briefly refer to One or two things that seem to be salient features in it, so as to help in a more detailed study.

The Epistle to the Ephesians is the crowning ministry of the apostle Paul; he unfolds to us there the counsel and purpose of God. He says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," etc. Observe carefully the Name of the One with whom the blessed God connects Himself in Ephesians i. 3. The central thought in that wonderful name is, of course, Jesus. We know Him. Have we not often sung, "How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds, in a believer's ear"? Here it is not exactly in our ear; we are introduced in this verse to "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not so much what we think of Jesus, but what God thinks of Him and what God has set forth in Him. In Acts ii. we are told, "God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ." Both His Lordship and His Christhood are brought into view when we use the full name, the Lord Jesus Christ. I ask fellow-Christians not to use that name indifferently and thoughtlessly, but seek to consider what is unfolded in it; viz., that the One who bore the Name of Jesus here is now exalted by God's right hand, and at His right hand is made both Lord and Christ. It was the sphere where He is thus owned on earth into which those, on the day of Pentecost, were introduced. By their baptism they came under the Lordship of Jesus and into that circle where the fulness of blessing connected with His Christhood was available for them. This Person is the One in connection with whom God now speaks. His eye is upon the One who, in His life and death here, and in heavenly glory now, is found covered with pure gold; in every place and circumstance, and under every condition, in absolute suitability to the glory of God. He, and not Adam, is the One in whom we see the divine pleasure. He is the One upon whom the eye of God can turn with unchanging delight, and in whom the testimony of God is abidingly preserved. This speaks to our hearts; we are encouraged, and drawn to share God's delight in Him. God, then, is presented here as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This I commend to you as the first great theme. With His eye upon that holy and blessed, and now glorified One, it is as though God turns round and says, What can I withhold? What is there that I may not do in connection with Him? The apostle, in intelligent response to that which God had bestowed, says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." The heart of God is opened without reserve, and all the wealth and resources of God in grace are opened too, so that every spiritual blessing is unreservedly poured out upon us and secured for us because God loves Jesus. It accounts for everything you find in the epistle.

Now, when you come to look at what follows, because of our being in Him, it is impossible to compass all the glories of Christ that are referred to. You turn your eye on a clear night to the sky and you see some stars that are unquestionably prominent. They are visible by their own light to the naked eye, and you can distinguish them. But you turn your eye on the milky way, and there is such a collection of glories that the mind cannot conceive their number. You cannot possibly speak of everything in detail. But here and there are great constellations that stand out and our eye notes them. In connection with Ephesians you get a milky way of celestial glories opened out in connection with the counsels of God and the delight of God in Christ.

However to look at just one of them, see verse 9. After speaking of the blessing God has bestowed, he says, "Having made known unto us the mystery of His will," etc. That is, the second great theme, that comes out in this epistle, the Headship of Christ. First of all, the fact that God has found a Man in whom everything is suitable to His glory and in connection with whom His heart has found rest and perfect complacency, and on account of whom He can open His heart in immeasurable blessing; next Christ is referred to and distinguished as Head over all things in heaven and in earth. We must distinguish between "Christ" and "the Christ." Some of our black Central African friends used to marvel when we told them that the same sun which shone in their country shone in our distant land of Europe. Said one to me, when journeying from village to village. "I cannot make the sun out ? it seems to rise in a different direction every-day," he could not place himself. He had no compass, and when the sun rose it seemed always to rise opposite from where he thought it would. He said, "I have always had the impression that every fresh place we went to had a sun of its own." After all, it was the same sun everywhere. If we study the sun we see this ball of fire coming out of the horizon in the morning and taking its journey across the sky. Some inquire as to its movement and constitution, its revolutions and its spots, and puzzle their brains over the material of which that sun is composed. That is studying the sun by itself. Another may study it as it is known to be, the centre of a great solar system, this marvellous system in which we find ourselves. This earth is a planet in it; other planets revolve around it; the comets move in relation to it; the sun is the centre of this huge system. it is the same sun which we were considering before, when we were examining its own individual make-up; but then we considered the sun by itself. Now we think of it in relation to that whole system in which it moves, and as the centre around which the planets, etc., revolve. If you think of Christ, He is always the same Person, but "Christ" personally may be studied in His own personal glory; but when you read of "the Christ" it seems to be more Christ in connection with the whole system that revolves around Him and the whole universal system of blessing. All things are to be headed up in the Christ in heaven and in earth. It includes the mystery of the Church and a great deal more beside, but if we read of "the Christ," it is Christ in relation to all that is His.

The third theme is the Spirit. That is in itself such a vast subject in the epistle that I can only commend it to your notice. If a person wanted a theological study he should sit down and make Ephesians his study for life. If you take up the subject of the Spirit of God alone in this epistle, the various themes suggested in connection with Him are a profound theological education. I hope our beloved brother who follows me this evening, may be able to set Christ before us in some such way, that our hearts may be drawn out to Him in bounding affection ? but one just looks at the outline of things in Ephesians to see what it is we are to stand for, and be faithful to, in second Timothy days.

Then, not only is there the Spirit of God, the competent Person to undertake the making good in our souls of everything God has substantiated in Christ, but you have the Church, presented in so many different ways in connection with Christ that, as I was saying, you see a milky way of glories, yet cannot speak of them all.

Another thing is power. In chapter i. of the epistle you find power toward us. The apostle prays to God that He might make known to the saints the greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ. All God's power wrought in Christ, and took Him from the lowest place in death, where He had gone that He might make it possible to fulfil the counsels of God, up to the right hand of God. That same power is in operation now in order to take us out of things here just as death and resurrection would take a man out of things hate. The mighty power of God is to usward in order to give us this mighty uplift, that we might apprehend Christ in the place where He has gone. The Church already sees Him there, Head over all things. The Church, which is His Body, is to be enabled to be in full accord with Him, though still down here.

Then in chapter iii., the power is seen to be working in us. The Holy Spirit sets the Christ in the hearts or the saints, giving effect to all the counsels of God, enabling us to apprehend the breadth and length and depth and height of those counsels, and to know the love of the Christ which passeth knowledge, that we might be filled unto all the fulness of God.

Then, finally, in chapter vi., we have the mighty power from us, that can enable us to stand against the wiles of the devil.

In the midst of all the enemy's wiles and the saints' weakness, the apostle says to Timothy ? this promising young man, eminently gifted, and desiring to get on, yet weeping because he saw the state of things around ? "Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." It carries us back to the teaching of the apostle, to "the things which thou hast heard of me." We do not of course attain to teach others in five minutes. But would you not like, dear fellow Christian, brother or sister, to be numbered among the faithful, faithful to the full light God has given us as to the Christ (because, of course, Christian sisters can be faithful too). Would you not pray to be numbered among these faithful ones who, while maintaining the whole truth which God has taught us, are able to teach others also? Right down to the very end we should be able to stand in all the good of that which is revealed, in spite of the slide-away on every hand. May God grant this to be the case with us all. Every line of the truth remains true in Christ, and we may give nothing up.

The Lord's Twofold Claim Upon You.

Mark x. 17-22; John vi. 66-69; 60-63; xx. 26-28; xiv. 1-3.

John T. Mawson.

May the Lord deeply impress upon our souls that solemn line of things that has been before us, that we may, from this time forward, as never before, be rendering to God that which is God's. As long as Adam did that in the garden, he was blessed; and all was well. But he refused God's claim ? God who had made Himself known in His goodness as the Creator to him, and when he refused God's claim and listened to the devil whom he did not know, and who had never done him any good, then instead of the blessing came the curse, and instead of life came death, and as every man has followed in that foolish, self-willed way, death has passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Every man born into this world, except Christ, the Holy One of God, refused the claim of God and was a sinner.

When God created man, stamping upon him His own image, He did it with a great purpose in view. His delights were with the sons of men and He had great things in store for them, but it seemed as though His purpose was to be frustrated since man, having refused God's claim, had ruined himself and was found lying under the power of death, a poor, disobedient, self-willed dupe of God's arch enemy. What was to be done? God was not baffled. He had eternal life for men who had brought themselves, by their sin, under the power of death ? something greater than they had lost by their folly.

But how was that life to be reached? How was that life to be secured? The story is a wonderful one. From Godhead's fullest glory came our Lord. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father was found here in the manger at Bethlehem, a little babe. That blessed Person had come to show us the will of God; He had come to tread the path that our feet should tread; and He had come to be eternal life to us. There it was, the will of God manifest in Him; no other will moved Him, but God's will, and there is God's claim upheld by Him, for in Him was eternal life for us; everything that God could desire in Him; everything that we could need in Him ? the only begotten, full of grace and truth. He showed forth the path of God's will. That is one reason why He said to men, "Follow Me." The path of life is the path of God's will, and if we would tread that path of life we must see it in Him and follow Him.

But there is another point of view from which we may look at this word of the Lord, "Follow Me." It was the Divine claim. He claimed the men whom He thus addressed. He was here in lowliness and meekness, going down even to the death of the cross, yet He was, notwithstanding, God over all. His feet trod the narrow, filthy sheets of those Eastern cities, yet they were the feet of God. He was the Creator of all things; in His own blessed Person He was God over all, and so He had a right to every one of His creatures, and He put in His claim. And in Him God claims men, and all who own the claim have eternal life. He said to the rich young ruler, "Follow Me." Own My rightful claim upon you and eternal life shall be yours. This man had got many things which other people covet. He had a good reputation; he had riches; all that which made life comfortable and made something of him, but there was evidently in his soul a sense of need. "What lack I yet?" he said, as Matthew's Gospel records. "Good Master," he said, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He felt there was something out of the range of sight and sense, that his earthly goods did not supply. Up to that time he had been moving in a circle of which he himself was the centre, a material sphere, and it had not satisfied him fully, but there was a sense in his soul that outside of that sphere there was something that he had not grasped, there was eternal life, if only he could add that to what he already possessed he would have nothing more to wish for. So he says, "Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" The Lord first of all put before him the Commandments, God's will as the Creator, for His creatures upon the earth, which, if they kept them, would be life to them. Every one of us has failed in that just as this young man had failed, although he didn't know it. Having failed on that road another was opened up to him. "Go," says the Lord to him, "and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor." Oh! that tested him. I have no doubt the Lord laid bare that which was at the root of what held that young man to the sphere in which he lived ? self was his centre; riches were his idol.

The Lord did not say that to others; He said it to him. Yet, has it no application to us? There are people who imagine that their riches, or something that they possess naturally, will be of use to the Lord, and if they brought these things and threw them into His cause, how greatly that cause would be advantaged. The Lord does not ask for those things. He does not want them; it is YOU He is wanting. He could give to you a hundred-fold more of all those things if that would be good for you. It isn't that that He is seeking; it isn't what you possess that He wants, it is YOU. Beloved friends, the Lord would put in His claim in regard to, every one of us. Above father and mother, wife, husband, or children, His claim must stand; it must be first, uncompromised, absolute. And in making that claim He declares that He is God, for none but God has sovereign and absolute right over us. It is you He wants. He says, "I want you for Myself, and you need Me for yourself."

"Come," He said to the young man, "follow Me!" There is wonderful music in that word "COME"! The wooing note enters into it and the Lord is saying to us tonight, "COME." A crisis was reached in the life of this rich young ruler, a crisis I believe has been reached in the lives of some of us here. And the Lord is saying to us "COME." "You have filled your life with other things; and you have not been satisfied; you believed in Me long ago, but I haven't got you yet; you have trusted Me as Saviour, but I have not possessed you yet, and I have a right to you. Come.

Thus He would talk with us. His words are easily understood. Isn't it a blessed thing that the greatest Divine verities are presented to us in words that children can understand. Why, that babe of a few months knows what you mean when you say, Come. If you stretch your hands out to it, and put the meaning of the word into your tone and smile, it knows what you mean, and will respond if it can trust you. To us the Lord stretches out His hands, and He says, "Come, come, follow Me" ? HIMSELF. The engrossing Object of the heart, the Pattern, Guide, Leader ? displacing self and every other claim if we withhold ourselves from Him, it matters little what else we yield to Him, we are withholding from Him that which is His, and our lives are not righteous lives. Once, our whole lives were lived without reference to Him. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way." And it was just there that we came face to face with the infinite, the unspeakable love of God. "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. All that self-pleasing, that denial of the Divine claim, all that doing of our own will instead of God's, brought the blessed Son of God into the place of shame and death.

The young ruler reached this crisis in his life; and he refused the Lord's claim. He made his decision. He turned back again into darkness from the light to which he had come. He returned again to that circle of which he himself was the centre; away from the One who had rightly claimed to be his Centre. "He went away grieved for he had great possessions." We may he sure that the heart of the Lord was grieved. Oh, who can tell the grief that filled the heart of the Lord as He saw that young man choose earthly wealth to eternal life, and himself and his own will rather than Christ and the claims of God. How, beloved Christians, shall we treat this claim of the Lord? We have Gospel meetings in which we earnestly desire to bring sinners to decision for Christ ? shall not this meeting take somewhat of that character in regard to us? What shall the answer be to this claim; this Divine claim on the part of the Lord?

What sort of path was it that the Lord trod? It was a path of rejection; He had to go into death. That comes out in chapter vi. of John's Gospel in a very definite way. The will of God is declared in that chapter. "This is the will of God," says the Lord Jesus in answer to those people's questions, "that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." The will of God and eternal life are inseparable, to refuse God's will is to tread the way of death. Then He presents himself as the bread that had come down from heaven. It is not only that He has a Divine claim upon us, that He needs us because we belong to Him, but He is indispensable to us. Scotland is the land of cakes, and great is their variety, but you can do without them, but not without bread; bread is a necessity. You can do without dainties, but you must have bread, it is fundamental, and the Lord says, "I am the Bread of life," an absolute necessity to life. He presents Himself like that. Do we know Him as the One who is absolutely indispensable to us. The One, blessed be His name, on the other hand, who is all-sufficient ? but do we know Him as indispensable to life itself.

How was He as the bread of life to be appropriated by us, who, when we saw Him, desired Him not? He changes the figure, and He speaks of His flesh and His blood. He had to die. The One who came from heaven had to go into death, and He went into death that He might communicate life to us; yes, to us, who had forfeited life because we had refused the claim of God, because we had refused the will of God and done our own, He came down into death for us, to die our death; to suffer our judgment, that He might communicate to us that which was the will of God for us, eternal life, a life that sin and death can neither spoil nor touch. And He says, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you," but the one that eateth the flesh of the Son of Man, and drinketh His blood, hath eternal life."

It was a hard saying to these Jews that gathered about Him and to some who professed to be His disciples. It is a hard saying to-day ? it was never a harder saying than it is to-day. You find a great number of His professed disciples here in Edinburgh who find it a hard saying. They don't like the death of Christ as the way of life and blessing, they would like Christ without a cross; they would like a Gospel without blood. They will not own that death lies upon them because they are sinners, and can only be lifted by the death of the One who never sinned. They are saying what the Jews said to Him when He hung upon The cross ? "Come down and we will believe on you" ? leave that cross behind; leave the suffering behind; be silent as to sin and its judgment, abandon the cross, we will believe on you. We know that if He had come down from the cross, it would be no use believing on Him. What use would He have been to us if those hands He stretches out to us were not nail-pierced hands? Apart from the cross He would have been our Judge, He could not have said "Come" to any one of us. There is no Gospel without the blood. We come to the cross; we come to His death, we eat the flesh and we drink the blood of the Son of man, and we find life through His death.

But what can that mean? Well, that which we eat becomes part of us; we appropriate and assimilate it; it is something that cannot be taken from us. Somebody may break into your house and steal some precious possessions that you have locked up in a very strong safe; that which you prize most and which you are keeping in the greatest security, as you think, may be taken from you but nobody can take from you that which you have eaten; that has become part of yourself, that is in you, and nobody can take it from you. But how do we eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man? It is by faith and in love that we do it.

What does the death of Jesus convey to you, dear Christian? Of course, it means that by His precious blood those sins of deepest dye have been washed as white as snow before God; all the guilt of your life-time has been obliterated. Blessed be His name! It means He bore the judgment for you. But why did He do it? He came to do the will of God; He manifested His love of the Father by going to that cross ? and at the same tune He showed out the love of God to us. But more, "The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me." That was why He did it. Feed upon that ? let that become the food of your soul, and you will realize that His claim upon you presses from another point. He has the right to put in His claim because He is God, but He has got the right that love gives, and the greatest verity that God has brought to light in His universe is this, that self-sacrificing love has got an absolute right to the loved object. That is demonstrated in the only instance of Solomon's wisdom that is given to us ? the mother and the child. You remember the story. Two women claimed one living child, one wanted it because it was her own, she loved it, the other wanted it out of envy and spite. "Bring a sword and divide it," said the king. "No," cried the true mother, "do not destroy it. I will sacrifice myself, and all my feelings for its sake, I will suffer, but it must live." "Give it to her," said the king, "the love that would suffer for it has the right to it." And all the power of the king's throne was behind the decision to give effect to it And this is a great truth for us to-day. Self-sacrificing love has got an absolute right to the loved object. You see self-sacrificing love in the cross of Christ, and He who sacrificed Himself there has got a right to you and me.

The rich young ruler turned away from Him; all these professed disciples had turned away from Him, they couldn't bear the hard saying and then He turned to the twelve and said: Will ye also go away?" And Peter, speaking for the rest of them says, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" Who is there beside Thee? ? "Whom have we Lord, but Thee, soul thirst to satisfy?" To whom shall we go? "Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Holy One of God." They had watched the One in whom God's will was manifested; the One who was life and health to them; the One whose words were the words of eternal life, and they wanted none but Himself. Happy men!

But if we follow Him as they did, to where will He lead us? He said to these people who were turning away from Him, who were caviling at His words: "What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before?" He was rejected here below; the world wouldn't have Him; and He said, "The Son of Man is going back to the place from whence He came." He has gone up there; He is not rejected up there; He has been received and enthroned up there, and the question is, beloved Christians, are our hearts in the world that rejected Him, or in heaven that has received Him? Is He our treasure in that brighter sphere? The young ruler refused to have treasure in heaven, because he would not let self go and the world go. We are not going to be as foolish as he was. Our hearts surely have followed Christ where He has gone. He is enthroned in brightest glory; soon everything will be put under His feet; soon every will opposed to God's will be broken and crushed, but not yet. "Not yet do we see all things put under Him."

This is the "not yet" time, but in the "not yet" time, what have we? A cross here ? a treasure there! A cross here ? Christ there, and our hearts separated to Him, bound up to Him there. We have not seen Him, but we know Him and love Him, and gladly own His claims over us, surely, as Thomas did. The Lord said to Thomas ? Thomas with the materialistic, unbelieving heart; Thomas that would believe nothing he couldn't feel or taste or see ? "Come, Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing." When Thomas saw the wounds, the wounds that in His love His Lord had suffered for him, he prostrated himself before Him and cried, "My Lord and my God!" Could he ever claim himself for himself again? If we come to that point, can we claim ourselves for ourselves? When we come to that point, must there not be this complete surrender; this yielding of ourselves to Him. The One who was wounded unto death because of His love to us is our Lord and our God. Here we see His two-fold claim upon us, and we cannot deny Him. If the glory of His Person, and the greatness of His love, dawns upon our souls, we shall be with Thomas, at His blessed feet, saying, "My Lord, and my God!"

What is the end of the road upon which He leads us? "In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself: that where I am there ye may be also." When we turn our backs upon the earth, heaven is prepared for us. If we follow the Lord Jesus Christ, that is the end of the journey, "In My Father's house are many mansions." The normal Christian's life is to share His rejection here, and that is the place to which He will bring us. He says, don't think that there in heaven there is no room for you; don't think there is only room for Me there. There is room for you there. If that had not been so, I would not have asked you to follow Me. If I had not had something infinitely better to offer you than the earth can give you, I would never have said to you, Follow Me. I ask you to follow Me because in My Father's house are many mansions. There is a place there for you, and I love you so much I will not send an angel for you, I will not send a servant, I will come Myself. Nobody shall receive you into that place that I have prepared for you but I Myself. That is the destiny, that is the goal, that is the end to which He is leading; to that place He will bring all who have owned His Divine claim. He says, Follow Me; own My claim; I am all that you need; everything is in Me that is lacking in you ? Come! come! follow Me!

May those words, pressing upon us as they do the Divine claim, be in our hearts in such power to-night, that every one of us may respond and say, "Lord, by Thy grace, that is the path for me; I fully and gladly own Thy Divine claim over me, and the claim that love that passes knowledge has given Thee!"

The Lord grant that it may be so for His name's sake.

The Love of Christ.

(John xv. 9-17).

James Green.

Let us start our evening meeting with the passage that came before us in the reading this morning (Ephesians 5: 1 and 2), connecting with it John 15: 9-17. Could anything be more precious to our hearts than these words of our Lord Jesus Christ? As we read them let the circumstances under which they were spoken, hold our hearts. He had just left the upper room where He had instituted the Supper, which was to be a continual reminder of His searchless love, and now, in company with His disciples, He has passed outside the city wall, and is treading the moonlit valley road which leads across the Kedron to Gethsemane. Beyond that He knew there was the betrayal ? the mock trial ? the cross, but ere He enters the garden where His holy soul is to be bowed under the awfulness of the cup He is about to drink, we hear Him speaking: ? "As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in My love." If our blessed Lord were here amongst us to-night, might He not be saying the same in regard to that which He has brought before us in these meetings. Has He not spoken to us of His love that His joy might abide in us, and that our joy might be full? adding also ? "This is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you."

As we have listened to the things that God has brought before us by one servant and another, we have sat under the shadow of our Lord Jesus Christ with great delight, and His fruit has been sweet to our taste, and now we are going back to the trivial round and the common tasks of life ? soon to be separated one from another. But I am sure that I am expressing the thought of every heart in this hall to-night when I say, that there is a great desire in us that our lives and ways should be different from what they have ever been before. These meetings, beloved saints, are solemn in this respect, that they will not leave us the same as they found us. They will leave us either more dull than ever to the claims of God, or by His grace, with our hearts more warm and tender, more susceptible to His touch; more yielding to His gracious dealings, more purposeful to keep His commandments.

Might I just at the outset, allude to what I think is the great and subtle danger that may beset any of us, and if we know ought of the awful treachery of our own hearts, we shall admit it. There are things that hinder us from entering into and living in the path of God's will and having the joy with which He would fill our hearts. Let me allude for a moment to the incident recorded for us in the 16th. chapter of Matthew's Gospel, when, you remember, our Lord was about to speak for the first time to His disciples of that which was very dear to His heart ? His Church. He was about to tell them of how He would build it on Himself, the Son of the living God, and before He did so, He uttered these words of warning to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (Matthew xvi. 6-12). And if you look up the parallel passage in Mark's Gospel, (viii. 15), you find that He also added "Beware of the leaven of Herod." Now I think that one or other of these three leavens may take such a subtle hold of our hearts, as effectually to prevent us entering the blessedness into which the Lord would lead us, and spoil the joy and communion of our hearts with Him, I believe that the three things are included in what the apostle John calls the Pride of Life. We may escape the lusts of the flesh; we may escape, by His grace, the lust of the eyes, but the pride of life is a deadly and a subtle snare. What I see in the leaven of Herod is worldly pride ? pride of being something in this world. It may be position; it may be more of this world's goods; anything that gives us a place in relation to worldly things would come under the designation of the leaven of Herod, But it is the subtle working of this of which we have to beware, for we may think that the cause of God will be advanced by the adoption of some of the world's methods and resources. Earthly position and influence may count for something with us, and we be unaware that these things shut the door upon the activities of the Spirit of God, and sap the joy of the Lord in our souls. The working of this leaven brought about the ruin of the early Church, and later on, spoilt the work of the Reformation.

The leaven of the Sadducees is intellectual pride, exalting itself against the revelation of God. It was never more in evidence than at the present time. Men are venturing to criticise the Word of God, intruding into things which they have not seen, vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind, and seeking to find out God by the specious deceit of human learning and a false philosophy. Although, through grace, we may escape this leaven in its grosser form, we need to beware lest an evil heart of unbelief ensnare our feet, and rob us of our portion. Full and absolute surrender to the full authority of the Word of God is our only safeguard.

Or again, the leaven of the Pharisee is religious pride, that which seeks a place, not in the world, but amongst the saints of God; that which would exalt in a religious way, and surely there is nothing so terrible in the eyes of God as to take the Church of God ? that which cost the life-blood of His own beloved Son ? and use it as a platform for the exaltation of man in the flesh. It is easy to see the havoc wrought by this in the profession of Christianity, but none of us is immune from this deadly poison. The root error of the Pharisees was their love for tradition. Our Lord's comment on this may be lead in Mark vii. 1-13. It produces first of all, spiritual blindness, secondly, an exaggerated idea of ourselves; and lastly, the tradition of the elders has a greater place with us than the pure Word of God, which, where it commands, only brings forth lowliness, meekness, long-suffering, and forbearance in love.

One thing only can preserve us from this leaven, viz., the love of Christ. Pride of any kind or sort cannot exist in the soul that is filled with the love of Christ. And thus we may well ask our hearts to-night as to how far we are abiding in His love. Beloved saints, has Calvary taken possession of your souls? Think of that great servant of God as he wrote those words, "The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me." Let us individualise ourselves in the presence of that love for the moment as did the apostle, as though there were none other for whom Christ died. He died for you: He died for me. "See from His head, His hands, His feet, sorrow and love flowed mingled down" ? for you and for me! But it was not only that He might save our individual souls that He loved us so and gave Himself ? He loved the Church and gave Himself for it. How wondrous it was in His eyes, that pearl of great price! He saw its beauty, He estimated its value to Himself, and in view of that, to have it for His own, He went and sold all that He had and bought it. Yes, He loved the Church and gave Himself for it.

But let us return to the 15th. chapter of John's Gospel. On the surface of things, John does not speak of the Church, but the words of love with which that Gospel is filled express the very heart of the love of Christ for His Church. Paul speaks of the greatness of the position; the place, the structure, the eternal glory, but the beloved apostle John, who rested his head upon the bosom of our blessed Lord, sets forth the love that fills the Church, the love of Christ which passes knowledge. And the Lord speaks here wonderfully of it. He says, "As the Father hath loved Me, even so have I loved you." That is His love for His Church. Yes! Loved as the Father loves Him! Do we not stand amazed in the presence of such words? Can you measure the Father's love to the Son? Twice in this Gospel he speaks of the Father's love to Him very specifically. In chapter iii. verse 35 ? "The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands." He speaks again in chapter v. verse 20 ? "The Father loveth the Son and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth." Yes, and that is the love wherewith the Lord loves His Church; a love that will not rest content until He has given to His Church all that He possesses; a love that communicates all the deep secrets of the Father's counsels made known to Him. What intimacy!

He will have us there in the glory with Him; there in all the bright radiance of that heavenly scene; there before the Father's face; there as the very love-gift of the Father to Him; but, at what a cost! Here He says, "Greater love hath no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends." He speaks of it in that way, because He values and counts upon our friendship for Him. He tells us of how He laid down His life. Could there be a greater claim upon us, to do whatsoever He commands? A beloved brother brought before us last night, the supreme title of the Christ that He bears. And I think there is nothing so enhances the claim of Christ upon us, as to think that He who bears the highest, greatest, and most glorious title that could be bestowed upon a Man ? the Christ of God ? stooped so low as to bear our sins. View Him, the Lord of glory, where He is in that bright and excellent majesty. He left the heights supreme and came down to Calvary in death to lie, that He might have us for Himself. He laid down His life for us.

He tells us here in these verses what He values, shall I say, in return for that love. Well, one hardly likes to put it like that. But surely when we think of the condescension of the love that stooped so low for such as we, we can only say, as Saul of Tarsus said, when he was captivated by the love of Him whose face he looked upon in the glory ? "Lord, what would'st Thou, have me to do?" Do you not feel that you would like to do something that would please Him? For love ever desires to be doing. He is higher than the heavens. What can we do for Him? He tells us in this very Scripture. "This is My commandment" ? "I will tell you what you can do for Me. Further, I will put it in the very strongest way, I will command you." It is the command of infinite love, leaving us with no option but to obey. Angels fly at His bidding, they do His commandments ? Michael, the archangel, yields swift and certain obedience to the voice of His word.

And shall we he neglectful or find excuse for not obeying when He commands us, not simply by the word of command, but by His own most infinite love that gave Himself, saying, "This is My commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you." But, Lord, is not the demand too great? How can we love one another as Thou hast loved us? Yes, but that is His command He does not say as much as, but after the same character. How has He loved us? He has loved us by going beneath all that we were that He might lift us into His love. And you and I, beloved saints, are to think of the members of His Body, of those for whom He died, wherever they may be on this wide earth, as objects very dear to Him, and to love them not in word only but in deed and in truth. Let us confess our poverty in such love. He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

He gives us here in this passage some reasons for loving the brethren. Commencing at the 12th verse He says, "Ye are My friends." We are to regard each other as friends of Christ. And if He has laid down His life for each one of us, what a wonderful regard we should have for all saints, lovingly desirous of sharing with them all the riches He has given us in Himself. They, with us, one all to the purchase of His precious blood. Of this we are reminded whenever we partake of the Supper of the Lord, for it is the fellowship of His blood. But then, all saints are also one Body, precious to Him; those whom He considers necessary for the bringing out of His glory; those whom He has gathered out from the wreck and ruin of this world to adorn that glory and to be the objects of His love. Surely that is a powerful motive for loving one another. Again He says, Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you." Why, He has brought us into the same love wherewith the Father loves Him, and He has communicated to us the very thoughts of the Father's heart. Failing to abide in this love, the saints of God have been scattered every one to his own, and our communion together of the things that Christ has revealed to us of the Father's has been sadly interrupted. What a wonderful thing it would have been if the saints had been kept together in the Father's love. Alas, the enemy has wrought only too successfully in scattering, and the effect of that has been that we are impoverished, and in result, must deplore the leanness that we heard of yesterday afternoon.

Then He says in the 16th verse ? "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." Do you think He has repented of His choice? Oh, no! But there are some of the saints very far away; and it is only too true that many of us are cold and many of us are worldly, and many of us are occupied with anything but His love, and yet ? yes, you know ? that underneath it all we are His. Is He disappointed with His choice? No! We may well sorrow over such poor returns to His love, nevertheless, every believer in His precious name is a part of His choice. And for what has He chosen us? He says, "I have chosen you and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." He has chosen us that there might be reproduced in us the very likeness of Himself, to remain for eternity.

What is it that delights the Father's heart? It is that which presents to Him the image and likeness of His beloved Son. Does not this put love to the saints upon the highest level and provide the most powerful motive for loving one another? If, instead of finding fault with each other, if instead of holding our brethren aloof, we would recognize that they are the very choice of Christ, and chosen that His image should be reproduced in them, would we not carry to them the words of His love? Would we not seek them? Would it not be our great desire ? not to hold them at arm's length ? not to ignore them so that we scarcely know whether they are well or ill ? but to carry to them the blessed words of Him who loves them and has chosen them that they might he like Him? As we go forth from this place to-night, may our hearts be more deeply affected by that infinite love of Christ for His Church, and may we yield ourselves to Him in order that His love may flow through us to all the saints of God wherever they can be found. You say it is difficult to find them; difficult to get at them. It is difficult to get at them, and I rather think, that when the apostle says in the last days difficult times shall, come, he alludes to the difficulty there would be in getting at the saints. But you can reach them, in the first case as he did, by the way of prayer. The shortest way is up through Him who is upon the throne of glory, and He has wonderful ways of doing things if we will only yield ourselves to His hands and let Him use us, in His own way. But do we really pray for all saints?

We have come pretty much to the end of things in the history of the Church, and at the end of every dispensation things become very individual, that is to say, you must start at home; you must begin with number one. If others will not follow, at all events you must start in this most blessed pathway. So in the xivth. chapter of John, verse 20, the Lord says, "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them." What does that mean? Have them on our bookshelves? Shut them up in a box? Lock them up in a cabinet? Memorize them? It means much more than that ? it means to keep them so that we do them. Do you think that the Lord takes pleasure in those that are simply hearers and misers of His Word? Nay, it is doing that He looks for, and by that He measures our love for Himself. If He gives a commandment, He gives a commandment to be done, and if He gives a commandment, you may be very sure that there is grace for you to fulfil it. We need not look at our own resources ? our resources are in Him. "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me."

I think it was said this morning that the Lord does not tell us to love Him ? no, but He tells us something else, He tells us to love each other, and in so doing, we love Him because all the saints, whoever they may be, are members of His Body; we are part of Himself. The weak, the feeble, those greatly instructed in the things of God or those who have only learned the very elements of it, all are loved with "that great love, that rests on Him in those bright courts above," and that which you and I do to them, we do to Him. Yes ? "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me" ? that is the way to love Him, by loving one another. And look at the result. As you read this verse ? does it not put a thrill through your soul? "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him" ? I will pour out My affection upon him. You are acquainted with the way a mother loves all her children ? yes, but sometimes, just to show how pleased she is with some small act of obedience, she takes the little one in her arms at bedtime and just loves it. That is the special intimacy of love, the children know what this means. That is what the Lord wants to do with you and me. He wants us to do as He commands, and His commandments are not grievous, then lay our heads upon His bosom and let Him love us and tell us of the Father's love, and show Himself to us. "will love him and will manifest Myself to him."

Yet further, He goes on to say (verse 23) "If a man love Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." The word that reveals the Father's heart, opens the eternal home of love in which all the saints have part, and gives the capacity for loving all saints, yea, puts us under the obligation of so doing. "We ought to love one another" (1 John iv. 11). Beloved saints, I cannot explain it ? I can only say to you I long to know it, don't you? to know the abiding love of the Father and the Son ? to be brought into those Divine affections ? the Son's love to the Father; the Father's love to the Son, and then rooted and grounded in love, able to comprehend with all saints the height, the length, the depth, the breadth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, and so to be filled into all the fulness of God. That is His desire for us. It is magnificent. The world surges around us the darkness deepens, but here is the sanctuary of peace, light in our dwelling. Here is that which will lift us into the joy of His own heart. "These things have I spoken unto you that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

May He send us forth from this place in this joy, keeping us as we go to the various places in which we are set ? the home, the business, and the places of service for Him ? with this love filling and flooding our hearts and flowing forth, so that as He shall give the opportunity and direct, we may feed His sheep, shepherd His lambs, and follow Him until He shall come.

Christ Magnified.

F. B. Hole.

I will ask you to turn to an Old Testament Scripture ? Psalm cxxxii. 1-9; 13 to end. I shall read also the two succeeding Psalms.

There are various ways of reading the Psalms. You may read them prophetically, and that with very great profit, for they are highly prophetic. You may read them to find Christ prefigured, and there is always great profit in this. Again, you may read them in a historical way, for many of them are dated for us, and that, too, is profitable. To-night, it is in that historic way that I want to speak of Psalm cxxxii.

I must, therefore, speak to you a little about David and his experiences, for this Psalm throws the greatest possible light upon why it was said of David that he was a man after God's own heart, in spite of his glaring defects, in spite of his most atrocious sin. I wonder if you have ever noticed what David is led to say of himself in chapter xxviii. of the first book of Chronicles. I will read from 1 Chron. 28: 4, "Howbeit, the Lord God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel for ever: for He hath chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father He liked me to make me king over all Israel." Do you know anybody else in the Bible of whom it is said that God liked him? Yes, you may say, there are many. We have just been hearing about love; why, the love of God flows out to all! Ah, but there is a very great difference between God loving and God liking. Of course He loved David, but He liked David. "He liked me." It would be a very fine thing, dear friends, if one great result of our meetings here were this, that we are conformed more to His thoughts, that so we may become the kind of people that God really likes.

Now God likes a man who is of the stamp that you have recorded in this remarkable Psalm. And what it shows us is this, that from the very outset of his history, David was a man who seized the Divine thought and made the Divine objective his objective, so that all his life was centred in one great overmastering passion, one great desire. Here in this Psalm you are taken behind the scenes and shown the secret spring of the things that David did.

He had, as the first verse reminds us, many afflictions, for David was raised up of God in a very dark day. It was not the beginning of a new dispensation, but still it was the beginning of a new movement of God's Spirit in the midst of Israel. The old order of things had come down with a crash; the Priesthood had most miserably and disgracefully failed in the godless sons of Eli; the Ark had been treated as a mascot ? brought down into the camp of Israel with a superstitious idea that, if they brought down this sacred vessel into their midst, the luck would turn in their direction. The Ark of God, the precious kernel of that whole typical system, all else was the shell, it set forth Christ enshrined as the heart and centre of all God's thoughts. They took this precious kernel of the whole system, and brought it down into their midst as a kind of charm to turn the battle tide in their favour. And God would have none of it, and, in His just anger, He let His glory pass into the enemy's hands. Once among the Philistines, He vindicated His glory, and finally, afraid of it, the harassed Philistines sent the ark back, although that did not relieve the Israelites of their responsibility. Then, further, even godly Samuel had sons far inferior to himself, and the people got tired and they said, "Make us a king" ? we don't want to be peculiar any more, give us a king. And God let them have a king, in His wrath.

Saul came on the scene as the man chosen to be the deliverer of His people from the Philistines who were treading them under their feet. A giant fellow he was, but instead of defeating the Philistines, his days were spent in chasing and harrying David, and David was plunged into deep afflictions. And what was the great overmastering desire that marked David, think you? He was being chased over the land of Israel, hunted as a partridge upon the mountains. Then it was that "He sware unto the Lord; he vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob."

It was not surprising that under such circumstances David should aver to the Lord and utter a vow. The surprising thing was that he did not vow, "If the good Lord will grant me a decent house to live in, where I can be free from this everlasting maltreatment on the part of Saul and his men, if He will give me a decent little cottage and a comfortable bed to lie on, then I will serve Him most devotedly the rest of my life" ? anything for a peaceful and quiet life! Instead, he vowed, saying, "Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." So David, when he was being hunted over the mountains does not think of himself at all: it is the Ark of the Covenant and the glory of his God. The Ark had been lost; where it was nobody seemed to care. God had lost His place in the midst of His people, and it is far more important, said David ? young man though he was ? that God should have His place than that I should have my place. Far better that God should have a habitation, where He shall go into His rest, than that I should be free of my tormentors and enter into my rest. Oh, David, well done! Instead of self being the centre of your thoughts, you are a man that cares for the glory of God. You are a man that is able to seize what is the Divine thought, and to say, "Look, if that is God's objective, then by His grace, it shall be my objective, and I will not give myself any rest until the Lord, who has been set aside and dethroned from the midst of His people, shall be enthroned and shall have a resting-place for Himself and for His Ark."

You may say to me, now translate that into the language of modern experience. Well, we live in a very dark day, when God is still being set aside: a day in which man is going forward at a great pace and Christ is being ousted from His place. We live in a day, when the professing church has practically dethroned from the place which is ostensibly His. No place for the Lord. Some years ago we were hearing a great deal of how the nations wanted to have "a place in the sun." All around us men are fighting for place. One of the saddest things I think I ever heard was the saying of a man who shall be nameless. He said, "Well, I am very thankful that God has given me a place amongst the brethren." If I should name him, I should name a man who wrought much mischief in the interests of Christ. A place ? a place for himself ? a little place amongst the brethren, or a little place in another circle! Oh, that is the natural tendency of all our hearts. It was not David's mind. If you are to be the kind of man or woman that God likes, you will not be seeking your place, but a place for the Lord. You see, the Church of God is really the place for the Lord in the enemy's land. "On this rock I will build My Church: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Thank God, that is true, the Church has been left down here in the scene of Christ's rejection, under the charge of the Spirit of God, and thus put into communication with heaven, so that Christ may still be represented in the place of His absence, and that He might have a place, as the Heir of all things, in the Church which has been given Him out of this rebellious world. Oh, alas! alas how little is Christ considered! Men talk about their plans and their schemes and their doings and the advancement of their causes, and there is no place for the Lord. Are we not all of us more or less guilty in this thing? God grant that it may be our great and increasing desire, that He may have His place.

Now see how it worked out in the case of David. He says, "We heard of it at Ephratah" (verse 6); the "it" plainly being the Ark of the Covenant, and at Ephratah," indicating that it was very early in his history, in his boyhood days, at the old home. Then he says, "We found it in the fields of the wood." I understand that "the fields of the wood" is just a translation of the name Kirjath-jearim. That is exactly where he did find it. You can turn up 1 Chronicles xiii. 6, and see. He heard of it as a boy at Ephratah; he found it at Kirjath-jearim, and there he carried out his vow. We turn to the early chapters of the second book of Samuel, that is what we find. As soon as Saul was slain, David came to the throne. First Judah owned him, then the people came to him, and at last he became king over the united nation. Then David made war upon the Philistines, and immediately after he had overcome and smitten them with great slaughter, he said, "Come, we will get the Ark." As soon as there was a possibility of a place for the Lord he said, "Give the Lord His place." He began by making a mistake, but in spite of the mistake he finally brought the Ark back to Zion, which was the appointed place.

Now, it was not merely David's choice. We might think, from the 5th verse, that it was, and we might say, "Well, can we not find out a place for the Lord; are we not at liberty to choose any place which seems nice and convenient to us?" No, no! David found the place that was God's place ? you will find that very clearly in verse 13. After he brought the Ark back, David says, "Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest; Thou, and the Ark of Thy strength." "For the Lord, hath chosen Zion. He hath desired it for His habitation. This is My rest for ever: here will I dwell: for I have desired it." David found the place of the Divine appointment, the place that the Lord had chosen, and to that place for the Lord he brought the Ark of the Covenant.

We are sometimes too much occupied with David's mistake, but in spite of the mistake the vow was fulfilled. So with Peter. Peter had a desire that was right enough. "Lord," he said, "I am ready to go with Thee both into prison and to death." There was self-confidence. Yes, but there was very genuine love! Peter had to be rebuked; Peter had to learn his feebleness; and when he had learned it then, as recorded in the last chapter of John's Gospel, you have the Lord telling Peter that he should do, in the power of God, what in his own strength he miserably failed to do. The people of God often seize a Divine thought, and then they attempt to do it in their own strength. Moses did. He knew he was to be the deliverer of the people, and he slew the Egyptian, but God had to give him forty years quiet waiting at the back of a desert; held on the leash by God until he was fit to be sent. He was well broken in when he went back; so well broken in, that he came back the meekest man in all the earth, and in perfect surrender to the will and power of God. So with David, when he brought the Ark up into its place.

Now, I appeal to you all, young men and young women especially, have you got hold of the Divine centre? Have you seized the Divine objective? Is God's thought going to be your thought? Is Christ the supreme object? If you are going to be such a Christian, then it will be said of you, the Lord likes you. Is the result of our meeting together here in Edinburgh going to be for every one of us greater devotion to the Lord? Oh, for the exaltation of Christ! Oh, that Christ may be seen! That is it.

Well, there are certain great results that flow from this. The Psalm does not close without revealing to us what flows from God's objective being made man's objective, and that is, that there is most evident blessing. At the end of the Psalm you have the Lord accepting what David did, saying in fact, "David, you have done the right thing; you have brought the Ark into the right place." The Lord immediately adds," I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread." Emphasize in your thoughts for one moment those two words, "I will bless." "I will satisfy." The blessing into which Christians are brought is soul-satisfying blessing. How few satisfied people there are! Never was the world so full of objects of art and of delight; never were there so many charming and beautiful things, and yet men to-day are more absolutely dissatisfied than they ever were. Every body has a grievance; everybody is ready to grumble. Are we Christians, I should like to ask, marked by soul satisfaction? Do you, where you work, in the circles where you move, give people the impression of one who, not like the majority of folk, has reached satisfaction. Oh, when God blesses and when our souls are fully in the enjoyment of His presence, we become satisfied. We have read, perhaps, of those great cyclones that sweep over tropical lands. Somewhere in the centre of those terrific hurricanes there is a great calm. There is a devastating wind for hours, followed by a deep calm for ten or twenty minutes, and then the wind begins to rage in the opposite direction. That means that the centre of the cyclone has passed over our heads. The tumult of the world is like the cyclone. The devil himself is the source of it, but at the centre there is a calm. To have the soul centred on Christ, God's Son, means blessing and it means satisfaction.

We pass on and we come to Psalm cxxxiii. If Psalm cxxxii. is the Psalm of the Ark, that is, of Christ the central Object of all God's thoughts and ways, Psalm cxxxiii. is the Psalm of the Ointment, that is, of the Spirit, who has descended from our exalted Head. Now in this Psalm you have not blessing but unity. We have been dwelling upon the Spirit, and the unity of the Spirit is strikingly pictured in this Psalm. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" Is it not so? Do we not experience the pleasantness of it. I think we do. But some may ask how this very desirable thing, this very rare and precious unity, is to be produced. It is the experience of most of us that there is nothing easier than to get disunity ? so many minds, so many thoughts ? for people are all various; all taking different angles of vision; all seeing things from a different point of view! Well, the Psalmist begins to explain what unity is like.

First of all it is like the precious ointment upon the head, that special ointment which was appointed according to Divine directions in Exodus. It was poured upon Aaron's head in his consecration, and it ran down, say the Psalmist, "upon the beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments." This ointment that began at his head diffused itself to the very extremities of his robes, to the very fringe. Now unity is like that. It all begins from the Head. It all begins, mark you, from the priestly Head ? not the kingly head, for it was not like the ointment that was poured on David. The ointment that was poured on the priestly head ran down on the priestly garments. We, through grace, are constituted a spiritual priesthood, and put into touch with the great exalted Priest in heaven, and the Spirit and the grace of our Priestly Head, flowing down upon us diffuse themselves among us, and so produces unity. All begins with Christ at the right hand of God, though it comes down to the utmost skirts of His garments here on earth.

Then the Psalmist changes the figure, and turns to the realm of nature. It is like the dew of Hermon. The four following words are in italics and should be omitted. It should read, "The dew of Hermon that descended upon the mountains of Zion." Hermon was a very majestic mountain, the loftiest peak of Lebanon, and the Israelite would, on a clear day looking northward, see its snow-capped peak glistening in the heavens ? a lovely sight. And the dew of Hermon comes down upon the comparatively insignificant mountains of Zion. Christ is Himself the apex of all God's glory, and upon the humble hills, representing His people, the dew descends. When everybody is viewing things in relation to Christ; when the supreme question is, not what I think, but what Christ and His Word, as the authority in the midst of His people; when everybody is zealous that Christ should be in His proper place, what copious dew descends upon us from Him. Unity is to be found in proportion as the grace of His Spirit is upon us.

And then we turn to Psalm cxxxiv., the last of the Songs of Degrees. And if Psalm cxxxii. is the Psalm of the Ark, Christ the centre of all God's thoughts and ways; and cxxxiii. is the Psalm of the Ointment, the Spirit's gracious influence from the exalted and glorified Head, producing unity; Psalm cxxxiv. is the Psalm of the uplifted hands, or, as we can say, the Psalm of the uplifted heart. "Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord" ? evidently His priestly servants, because it says "which by night stand in the house of the Lord," and thus you have worship. Now, no earthly sanctuary have we, but still we are constituted a spiritual priesthood.

The world walks in the feeble light of Science. The torch of philosophy is burning, but it is very dark and the light does not penetrate far. Man has his little lights and is well pleased with the little toys that he has himself created, but the night persists, and Israel, who has rejected her Lord, remains silent. She has not a word of praise. The poor Jew talks about building his university to show us how he can diffuse his light, but he has nothing to give us, nothing in the way of light, nothing of praise to offer to God. You and I are brought into this priestly place, and whilst it is the night of Christ's rejection, I think we can see the first dawning of the day. We, who are privileged to stand in the sanctuary by night, may lift up our hands and bless the Lord.

It is a great privilege to be called to serve the Lord in these dark days. We are poor feeble folk indeed if we measure ourselves by the great men before us. If we read Hebrews xi. how small we feel, yet we are, at the end of this dispensation, called upon to stand for the interests of Christ just before He comes again, called to keep the light burning, and in the sanctuary to lift up our hands, giving praise and worship to Him. "Behold, bless ye the Lord all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord." Oh, how rich the praise that goes from our hearts when Christ is the Object of all.

At this point we may be inclined to think, well, that is the top note; you cannot get any further than that. But the story does not end with the uplifting of our hands to God. The last verse says, "The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion." The matter stands thus: we give the Lord our praise, and the Lord says I will roll it back in blessing The Lord blesses and always has the last word. The last word of the Songs of Degrees is this. It is not the climax when we praise in the sanctuary of God.

Would the Lord need the praise of such little creatures as we when He has the praise of ten thousand times ten thousand angels? Yes, there is a sweet note of praise from His saints that will excel amid the praise of creation. There is nothing to be compared with the sweetness of the song of those who by His blood have been redeemed. Nobody can preach the Gospel, except those who have been saved by grace. It was an angel who came to Cornelius and said, "Send for a man named Peter." He might have said, "Oh, angel, to save time, why not tell me yourself?" The angel could not do it. No one can do it except having been a sinner, he has felt the rapture of being redeemed. So no one can praise like the redeemed saint, and we must lift up our hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord, and as our praise rolls upwards, God rolls it back in blessing.

All began with David as a stripling, putting his affection upon God's interests, and saying that it was much more important that God should have His place than that he should be comfortable. May we be marked by the same thing. May Christ be magnified, magnified in our body, magnified in His people. If Christ be magnified there will be unity and worship; praise and worship to God, and blessing still rolling back upon God's people.

Reconciliation.

H. J. Vine.

Romans v. 10, 11; xi. 13-15; 2 Corinthians v. 17-21.

Four times, beloved, we have "reconciliation," as such, spoken of in the New Testament, and the very fact that it crowns the first great division of the Epistle to the Romans, shows its importance. For when we reach this 11th verse ? the mountain peak of the first part of this epistle ? we see it shining with that crowning truth ? "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation!" And in chapter xi., verse 15, we are told that the casting away of the Jews is the "world's reconciliation." Not that the world is yet brought into reconciliation, but, in its bearing, it is not confined to once-favoured Israel, nor to the remnant called from among Israel, but it is towards the world! There we see the width of the thought of reconciliation from God's side at the present time! But when we come into the 5th. chapter of second Corinthians, we read of the "ministry" of that "reconciliation," ? that which, at the present time, is maintained by God; and then the "word" of that "reconciliation" given to the apostles in view of our being brought into all the joy and the blessedness of this wonderful reconciliation.

It is important for us to recognize this, brethren. You may depend, the place given in Scripture to this truth shows that God would have it made good in power in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, so that the joys of reconciliation may be ours! The prodigal would rejoice when he came home from the far country and was brought inside for his father's joy and delight, clothed in his presence in the best robe, with the ring on his hand, and the shoes on his feet. I know it is joy on the divine side which that 15th. chapter of Luke shows ? the chapter of divine merry-making ? giving the joy of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but then there is also our side in the presence of the Father; therefore, the believer is suitably received where the Father's merry-making is known, where the feasting, the music, and the dancing tell of the rich fulness of the reconciliation and of the joy of God over the one who is brought nigh! We prayed recently that we might taste a little of the fatness of God's house, that we should ? as was called attention to yesterday afternoon ? be as those who are of God's royal family, and not be lean! If there be great provision made for the regal families of earth, we may be sure that God's provision for the heavenly royalty is not limited! And how good it is, at times like these, when we are together, to be led into some of the abundance of God's house. Aye, "and they that dwell" there ? because there is no reason why we should not dwell there, in spite of all the breakdown and failure in Christendom ? it is said, "will be still praising Thee!" God will be praised! and He would have us in the good of that which He Himself has provided! It is not proposed for us to go and put Christendom right. Do we think we are going to put that right? Are we so proud that we think we can do what the apostles could not do when they were on earth? No, beloved brethren, but, thank God, inside the house at the present time there is abundance for us in Christ, so that we may be kept above the breakdown and the failure.

Now, let us see first of all what cannot be reconciled. Oh, how we have learned that lesson ? haven't we? Yes, we have learned experimentally that "sin in the flesh" cannot be reconciled to God. It cannot come into the rich provision that is known inside in the power of the Spirit. Some, however, instead of settling that matter in communion with God in their souls, are trying to find joy in the things of the world. And then, after all, it is a poor, trifling affair, the little bit they do get. Oh, God desires us to be in the deep satisfaction of reconciliation. What is needed to-day is inside ministry, that, by the Spirit, we may be so in the blessedness of what is ours before God, we are glad to leave alone these poor, worldly trifles. No, sin in the flesh cannot be reconciled! Moreover, the mind of the flesh is not subject to the law of God! It is enmity against God! Let us take this home to ourselves. It is not subject, "neither indeed can be" (Romans viii. 7). We might say this without any lack of reverence, God Himself could not make sin in the flesh or the mind of the flesh "subject to the law of God," ? He could not do it! Did He not deal with man in the Old Testament during all those long centuries of probation, and prove fully for our edification that man in the flesh was incapable of being reconciled to God? Sin in the flesh is neither forgiven nor reconciled, it was "condemned" utterly in the sacrifice of Calvary. But not only can sin in the flesh not be reconciled, neither can the spirit demons ? Satan himself, their chief, and all his hosts, are incapable of reconciliation. They fell, and there is not one word that I know of in the Bible to show that ever there was a proposal to reconcile them to God. I know the Universalist says the "all things" of Colossians i. 16 and the "all things" of verse 20 both embrace the universe; but it says, "all things" "in" the heavens and "upon" the earth, whatever positions of dignity are named there ? these will be reconciled! But the fallen spirits, whether great dignities and intelligences of mighty power, as Satan himself, or menial demons, are irreconcilable; therefore, their part will be eternally with all those who go in the way that ends where the devil and his angels go ? outside the scene of joy, happiness and blessedness for ever ? in the lake of fire. Neither sin nor Satan is ever reconciled to God.

But then, you ask, "Who are reconciled?" Glory be to God, poor sinners like ourselves, who were once enemies, far from Him! Yes, those that had sinned against Him, those who were enemies, are "reconciled to God by the death of His Son." Brethren, we would not be here in the communion and holy joy of God's favour to-day if that were not true. But how could a holy God ? how could One whose throne is established in justice and judgment ? bring a guilty sinner, an enemy, into reconciliation for His own joy and for His own pleasure? ? how could He do it? He had resource for this in His beloved Son. He had Christ, and so we read, "Him who knew not sin He has made sin for us, that we might become God's righteousness in Him." That is how God could bring it to pass! That, if you notice, remarkably enough, ends the 5th. of second Corinthians. I often used to wonder why it came in there so abruptly, but it is just explanatory of how God could have us righteously in the blessedness of this reconciliation. He could only do it by making His Son sin upon the cross, who knew no sin, and through that, opened the way whereby, in perfect consistency with divine holiness, we could be there as the very "righteousness of God" in the full joy of reconciliation!

I love that word "reconciliation." ? Don't you, beloved brethren? God did not need to be reconciled to us, but we needed to be reconciled to Him, and His grace has brought us to receive the reconciliation Christ's death secured. You may depend it means all the best you know even in the natural sphere; but then, learning it in God's way, it will make us, shall I say, happier saints as we understand it intelligently. It is a great day for our souls when, by the Spirit, we see that we are in God's presence suitable to God's own holy character, and naturally, when we take our place in His presence with spiritual intelligence, He gets more thanks and praise then, brethren! He gets more worship! The meetings take on a very blessed character as we are before Him intelligently in the joy of reconciliation! For, if you notice, when He speaks of this reconciliation ? whilst saying they are sinners and enemies who are reconciled ? He indicates that there is a lot more in it than simply individuals being reconciled.

We read of being reconciled "in one body" in Ephesians 2. In the 5th. chapter of Romans He speaks of our receiving "the reconciliation." What is that? Oh, you say, I am reconciled as a sinner who has believed. Yes, thank God, so are all true believers! But what is this reconciliation? ? what is this wonderful thing here spoken of? Well, it is something like salvation, and yet there is a difference. You see someone saved, and he says, "Thank God, I am saved." Well, he has good reason to! but then, he may be making more of his salvation ? of the deliverance itself ? than of his Saviour. The salvation which is ours to-day "is in Christ Jesus" our Lord. It is a grand thing to be set up in "the salvation which is in Christ Jesus!" That salvation, mark you, brethren, is ours, in every part of it. We have that salvation as regards our souls in the first aspect; and, day by day, we are proving it livingly, it may now be in Edinburgh especially, in its second aspect; and presently we shall experience it in its third aspect ? when our Saviour from heaven will change our bodies of humiliation and fashion them like unto His own body of glory! It is ours! ? the salvation which is in Christ Jesus ? covering the past, the present and the future.

And it is the same with the reconciliation. We have received it, but there are three great aspects. Take redemption, ? you have again the same thing. Through redemption, it says in Romans 3, "We are justified freely." Mark, that is how God does it! ? "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus!" Well, this redemption in Christ Jesus also has three parts. We possess it, thank God, in regard to our souls; but then, we have not got it yet as regards our bodies. We are still in bodies that are connected with the first creation. We have the firstfruits of the Spirit now, but we are still in bodies linked with the first creation, and that is how it is we have very bright saints often groaning. I was sitting beside one awhile ago, a very happy saint, but groaning. There will be no groaning in heaven, brethren. It says, "We groan within ourselves." Now! Even Paul did. And so do all who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, why? Because we are waiting for the second aspect of redemption ? "the redemption of our bodies!" And if the Lord came this afternoon, He would wake every sleeping saint, and the living ones would all be changed, and, in a moment, we should all be in glorified bodies The third aspect is also yet to take place, as we were seeing in the reading on Ephesians, when "the redemption of the purchased possession" takes place. The full redemption which is in Christ Jesus is ours, and we, as believers, have been redeemed, but we wait, as we have seen, the redemption of our bodies and of the inheritance of the purchased possession, which He is going to take up in redemption power and fill the universe with redemption glory.

It is similar as to reconciliation. We were reconciled when we were enemies, through Christ's death which put all our sins away ? through the death of God's beloved Son ? through what He did upon the cross! We have that part of reconciliation ? "we have been reconciled!" But then, brethren, not only are we before God as reconciled, but we have received in faith as a whole "the reconciliation!" It goes a step further than our being reconciled to God as individual sinners. We have that in Romans. Now in Ephesians ii., as we said, we see that we are reconciled to God in one body by the cross. Many thank God for their individual blessing, but they are missing this side of it ? "reconciled in one body to God." We were saved when we were redeemed by the blood of Christ, and we were also reconciled to God, ? not only to go to heaven by-and-bye, but even "NOW" are we reconciled in one body to Himself. I believe, beloved brethren, one of the most precious things on earth at the present time for us, is that the reconciled of God should be together before Him in the truth of being one body. I shall not then be in a meeting saying, "Oh, I won't take part because so and so is here!" I shall not be looking at someone in the flesh, ? James so-and-so, or Thomas so-and-so ? no, brethren, leaving distinction in the flesh behind, we shall be there in the sense of our being one body, in a new creation in Christ, reconciled to God by the cross, where sin in the flesh was condemned. If I am in communion with God I shall be there in the joy of reconciliation.

And, being reconciled in one body to God, walking together simply in the truth, presently we shall prove the third aspect of reconciliation; and then, on the ground of that same work on the cross, we shall see all things reconciled to God ? all things in the heavens and upon the earth, whether they be "thrones or dominions or principalities or powers," ? whatever they are ? all will be reconciled, for the fulness was pleased to dwell in Christ, in view of the reconciliation which we have already, and in view of the reconciliation of all things eventually, on the ground of peace having been made by the blood of His cross. You may be sure, beloved brethren, this reconciliation is a glorious thing, and faith has received it. So Paul speaks to the Romans, "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus, by whom we have now" ? before the fulness of it is seen in splendour and glory ? "received the reconciliation!" What does all this result in? "JOY IN GOD!" We are to be a joyful people, going through the world in the joy of these great things ? of this vast wealth which is ours! I thought it was very helpful last night the way the truth came out. We need it in these days. We need inside ministry too, or faithful men will soon disappear. Faithful men are needed as regards the truth, and happy men enjoying the bounty of our true Solomon's table.

In Ephesians i. we have the administration that flows outward from the fulness that is in Christ, but in Colossians i. we have the reconciliation, which is inward, and so, as we have seen, we are told we are reconciled to God now. We don't shrink from it, do we? Who loves us like God? ? the holy God, against whom we sinned. We had done the sinning, but He devised the plan to put all our sins away, and so we read, God delivered our Lord Jesus Christ for our offences and raised Him again for our justification (Romans iii. 25). It was God who did that. "Therefore, being justified by faith" ? faith in whom? Faith in God! ? faith in God who delivered Jesus and raised Him again! So "we have peace" ? but with whom have we peace? "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And then, what do we rejoice in the hope of as we stand in His grace at this present moment? "We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God!" We are going to be there for His praise and for His eternal pleasure.

Do we truly rejoice in hope of the glory of God? An old saint was very ill. She was a quiet, peaceful old saint, perhaps lacking a little of the spring seen in some, but she was a godly soul, and a brother who was visiting her said, "Well, sister, you are very ill!" "Yes," she replied, "but I am quite resigned to go whenever God calls me." "Oh," said the brother, "are you resigned to go to heaven? Suppose I went down to Annie there in the kitchen, and said, Annie you are going to leave the kitchen, you are going to say good-bye to the servant's place, and you are going to be adopted into the family. You will be provided for accordingly, and you will take meals in the dining room, and you will sit in the sitting room, and use the drawing room ? What would you think of Annie if she answered ? "I am quite resigned?" But that is just the way some speak of going to glory! No, "we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God," says the apostle, and even now we have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that is given to us. God commendeth that love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. We see its commendation at the cross. We see its manifestation in God sending His Son. In Romans 5 we begin with faith in God and peace with God follows. The grace of God, the glory of God, and the love of God, as reconciled to God, are all ours, and "we joy in God," for we have "received the reconciliation."

Then, as we said, in chapter xi., we see the world-wide bearing of reconciliation to-day. It is called there, "the world's reconciliation." In contrast to Israel's past place of favour, at the present time, God has come out to the Gentiles and Israel is meanwhile set aside. It is worldwards to-day! Then, in chapter v., Corinthians 2, we read of a new creation in Christ, it is not simply that man should be a new creation, but "If any one be in Christ there is a new creation," the old is gone ? "Old things are passed away," and we are now where "all things are become new, and all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ." Surely we are wealthy indeed, and we should be full of joy in the Holy Ghost. Well, you say, Paul had plenty of sorrow! Yes, he was "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." They say the best nets are well loaded down at the bottom ? that may speak of being sorrowful. But it would be a bad job if the nets were only loaded at the bottom! They are well corked at the top too! ? "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing!" We are to rejoice with joy unspeakable, being full of the glory to come. The "ministry of reconciliation" spoken of in this chapter was given to servants like Paul, and, in a way, might be confined to the apostles; Paul magnified his ministry; but, thank God, brethren, it is in our hearts, and we can tell each other about it. We may not be Pauls or Peters, but we are brethren, and we can talk to our brethren in Christ about these glorious things that are ours through divine grace. John does not say, "I am an apostle," but he does say, I am "your brother," and he wrote that our "joy may be full." The great truth is that God Himself came down in grace! ? there is the truth as regards reconciliation ? He was in Christ, "reconciling the world to Himself." It all began from God's side!

Look at that sinner in the 7th of Luke! She came from the street to the Saviour's feet. But the Lord told Simon, "To whom little is forgiven the same loveth little. She loveth much." God gets response when His love in Christ is received. He was here reconciling the world to Himself, not reckoning their offences unto them. Did the father say anything to the prodigal about his sins? Well, the repentant prodigal came back full of his sins. But what did the father say about them? Not one word! He fell on his neck and kissed him! That is His attitude. Here He was in grace to reconcile, and not to reckon to men their offences. He also put in the apostles "the word of that reconciliation" as well as the ministry of it, and they entreated on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled to God." No one loves as He does, brethren, and yet He never sacrificed one atom of His holiness, He never lowered the standard of His righteousness, but He has brought us into His favour where His love can flow out freely. God loves with a perfect love, God is love, and we are received to Himself, for His own good pleasure, for His own delight. Then the ground of it is, as we have said, and repeat again in closing, "Him who knew not sin He has made sin for us, that we might become God's righteousness in Him."

Presently, grace will place us in the full blaze of the glory in the hope of which we have rejoiced. It says, in symbolic language, in Revelation xxi., "The city lies four-square." It is all of gold ? pure gold ? transparent gold ? a gold that we have never yet seen! This would be laughed at by a mere scholar, but those taught by the Spirit understand the symbols of divine righteousness and glory in the golden city. Its length and its breadth and its height are all equal! It is a man's measure, but it is the angel's. Yet it is the "measure of a man." That city of God shines with the glory of God, and its shining is like to a stone most precious, clear as crystal. Having "become God's righteousness" in Christ, the wonderful triumph of reconciling grace will then be fully manifested to a gladdened universe. On the inside, we are for the good pleasure of the heart of God, and on the outside for the display of His righteousness to the praise of His glory: on the one side are known the deep joys of "the reconciliation," and on the other is seen "God's righteousness" in manifestation.

Notes of Readings.

Ephesians 1.

There are three things with which we should now be well acquainted; they are the counsels, the ways, and the acts of God. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel." To the saints of this dispensation He has made known His counsels. His counsels are counsels of love, and are all that He purposed to accomplish for His own glory, and to establish for ever upon an unshakeable basis. His ways are traceable only in Christ, and embrace the whole of His activities from the foundation of the world until the bringing in of the new heaven and new earth. His acts are His public dealings with men upon earth in connection with His government.

I think Moses got to understand that everything put into the hand of man must result in failure, and that all God's ways with our rebellious race tended to the introduction of that Man ? "the Man Christ Jesus." He plainly told the people. "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren; like unto me; unto Him shall ye hearken" (Deuteronomy xviii. 15).

It is impossible to think of God as beginning to act in making worlds and various orders of beings, human and angelic, without having some wonderful purpose before His mind. And we cannot but believe that all His activities within the universe must be for the fulfilment of that purpose.

This epistle to the Ephesian saints places before us in a very special way those counsels, and the work of God with a view to their fulfilment.

In the epistle to the Romans the activities of God are presented more as meeting the need of sinful men. Man is there viewed as the active slave of sin, and requires deliverance from that thraldom, in order that he may be free to serve God. Therefore, his loathsome condition is depicted in all its hideousness; His justification in the power of the blood of Jesus; his deliverance from sin by the condemnation of sin in the flesh, and by the gift of the Spirit. But even this leads up to the "called according to His purpose," for whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified.

It is very encouraging for us surely, that, since God is good and everything He does must therefore be good, every eternal thought of His must be carried out and fulfilled. He is love, and all His thoughts are thoughts of love; and by His ways He carries out His thoughts. When He began to work all His counsels were formed. During the history of His operations nothing was added and nothing needed to be revised. From the outset He has gone on quietly and steadily, carrying out His original intention; making everything to serve His purpose ? the fall of man, the entrance of sin and death, and the murder of the Christ: For everything fallen and unfallen has to serve to the perfecting of the end He has in view. If the objects of His counsels were helpless sinners, He found for them an eternal redemption. The work that met the deep need of our souls is the basis upon which the counsels of His love shall be fulfilled.

Is there not more in redemption than meeting the fallen condition of sinful man? Has not God's own nature been manifested in the work of redemption?

Surely: but it was man's lost condition that gave occasion for the doing of that work. There would have been no need for Christ to die had men not been sinners; but this very fact gave God the occasion to manifest His love and lay a basis of righteousness on which His counsels shall be fulfilled.

What is "the volume of the book" in Psalm 40?

The book of divine counsel. God knew very well that the man He would make out of dust would fall at the first attack of the enemy, and the counsels of God were in harmony with that fact. While it is true that by means of the lawless hands of the Romans the Jews had crucified the Christ, it was also true that He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.

There was sin before man sinned?

Yes. The devil sinned from the beginning. Sin came into the world by one man.

The death of Christ would be in relation to the sin question, when or wherever?

That is so. But after all it was for the blessing of man that Jesus died, and that by redemption God would be glorified.

Would it be when man fell that the whole universe was involved?

The whole universe seems to require reconciliation, but before man fell sin had defiled the heavens where Satan has his seat. Reconciliation of all things in the heavens and the earth is on account, not only of the defiling of the creation, but on account of the perfect manifestation of God. The fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ in order that all things should be reconciled to Itself. To be placed in relation with God as revealed in Christ does not seem to me to be the same thing as to be set rightly in the presence of the Creator. The former is blessing of a much higher order. I think it is important to emphasize the blessing of men. The incarnation itself, apart from our blessing is the great witness of the interest of God in man.

The epistle begins with a note of worship in relation to our spiritual blessings. Would you name some of them?

They are all that we possess in relationship with the Father and the Son. Sonship itself is the highest blessing, for thus are we taken into favour "in the Beloved." There are a great many blessings of a spiritual nature spoken of in the Old Testament along with the earthly blessings with which Israel shall be blessed on the earth; but while Israel shall partake of these under the new covenant on earth, we have all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ.

Then would you say you have the topstone reached here in the glory of God?

Yes, in the first six verses. There is nothing greater in the epistle, nor in Christianity. Union with Christ is an unspeakable blessing, but it is union with Christ as Man. Here we are viewed as in direct relationship with the Father. We are sons before His face.

Then it has a peculiar relation to those who form the Assembly as Christ's Body?

Yes. I think this high character of blessing is introduced first of all, because nothing can be united to Christ but that which is of Christ; that is of His life and nature, His kindred. Eve was taken out of Adam, and the bride of Isaac was of his kindred; so we are of the kindred of Christ, "all of one" with Him, and therefore fit to be united to Him.

Do you say that in verse 5 it should be "sons" not "children"?

It is adoption. Verse 4 and 5 refer to counsel. Of course they have a present application, for we are in Christ now, and as in Him, "holy and without blame before Him in love"; and we have also received adoption, or sonship (Galatians iv. 5). Still, in another sense we await "adoption, the redemption of our body" (Romans viii. 23). Then we are already taken into favour in the Beloved. We are also blest with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. Still we await the fulfilment of the eternal counsel, though, as having the Holy Spirit we can anticipate things that we can only have in perfection when we are glorified. The things we have now, and which we enjoy in some measure, we have in Christ; but when we are glorified we shall not only have them in Him, but with Him.

Is it necessary for our hearts to be at rest in the sense of His love, before we are able to enter in any measure into the counsels of God and enjoy them.

Yes, indeed; and to be well instructed in the word of righteousness, otherwise we cannot take strong meat such as we have in this epistle. You will find plenty of good, pious people who are very shy of the counsels of God. They prefer milk to solid food. They seem not to be able to view everything as in the hand of God. They prefer to have some hand in their own salvation. Even their faith is supposed to be some work of merit of their own whereby they become entitled to salvation. Such require instruction in the word of righteousness; that is, the righteous foundation upon which the soul is placed in relationship with God.

All this that we have here is for our blessing, but also for the glory of the One who blesses?

Most surely. There never can be any other purpose before God than His own glory, because when His counsels were brought forth there was no one whose blessing needed to be considered. His counsels were before all His works, and therefore, there was no one to take into consideration except Himself. But He has been pleased to create myriads to be spectators of His glory, and others to share the glory that can be shared by the creature. He has bound up our blessing with His glory. And as we have it in this chapter, "That we should be to the praise of His glory," and as the hymn has it: ?

"O mind divine, so must it be that glory all belong to God,

O love divine that did decree, we should be part through Jesus' blood."

I think you said that unless we were instructed in the word of righteousness we could not enter into these things?

That is so. The word of righteousness is set forth in the Epistle to the Romans, and in spite of the amount of attention that has been paid to it, it is an epistle that is little understood. We make so little progress that the term "dull of hearing" might well be applied to us. The fault is certainly not in the Spirit of God, but in us. Romans and Ephesians are the only two epistles written by Paul to the assemblies in which he does not associate another with himself. The former is occupied with the compassions of God, and the latter with His counsels, though His purposes are touched in Romans and His compassions in Ephesians.

Would you say a word as to "the mystery of His will"?

It is simply that which was not revealed in Old Testament times.

What connection has that with verse 10?

Then there will be no mystery about it. Christ will be manifested as Head over all things, and as the One of whom all who had previously been set by God in prominent positions were figures. In a way, you get this in the Old Testament, though if you take the eighth Psalm you will, I think, be compelled to say you would not have taken the things in the heavens to be included in the "all things" that are said to be put under the feet of the Son of Man. The Psalm says, "Thou hast set Him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under His feet." But it immediately adds, "All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." I do not think that anyone would be likely to gather from that that every created thing in the universe would be gathered under the Son of Man. We now know that everything in heaven and earth is to be put under this Son of Man.

You said that God had ever His own glory before Him; but how do we come in?

It was for His glory that He took us up out of our wretched condition as sinners, and in the day of display we shall be to the praise of His glory. He did not bring about the fall of man, but He allowed it to take place. The "riches of His grace" are seen in His dealings with us viewed as lost sinners; "the glory of His grace" is witnessed in the exalted position in which He has set us in Christ. By His kindness to us in Christ Jesus the exceeding riches of His grace will be displayed in the coming. All that God can do for our eternal blessing He will do. God is love and His counsels are counsels of love. His only begotten Son is the Man of His counsels, and only by the death of that Son could those counsels be fulfilled.

The blessings that are ours are infinitely beyond all that we grasp, even with the revelation that has been made to us, and by the Spirit that has been given to us. We are unspeakably better off than we should have been had we remained in innocence. I am not sorry I was a poor, sinful, fallen creature; had I been anything else I never could have said of the Son of God, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." To see Christ glorified ? to see everything made subject to Him ? to hear the voices of the angels celebrating His praise ? to join in the song and shouting of the sons of God brought to glory ? to fall at His feet and own ourselves captives of His love: the joy of that hour no tongue can tell.

What do you take "the fulness of times" to be?

The Age to come, in which all the ways of God in the past will be seen to lead up to the placing of everything in the universe under the Headship of Christ. Shadows were cast in the past dispensations by means of men placed in high positions of responsibility. Christ will take all up that has been foreshadowed, and a great deal more also, for all things in heaven and upon earth will be taken up under His headship, and will be faithfully maintained to the glory of God. And in Him we have obtained an inheritance, "that we should be to the praise of His glory."

Would it not be well to speak a little of the blessing of sonship that is brought to us as the fruit of eternal counsel, and speak a little of what follows as to inheritance? God is greater than what we have as inheritance?

That is just where the prayer of the apostle comes in. He prays for them, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead." All these things are known as we know God. His calling, and the intimacy and glory of it are only truly known as we know Him. And as we know Him we can grasp a little what this wonderful administration will be, because it will take in, not only the kingdom over all under heaven, but all in heaven itself.

Do you mean that our relationship to God as sons is higher than the inheritance?

Man is always greater than his possessions. Your inheritance is beneath you ? you look down at it ? you look upward at your blessings. The hope of His calling, that is above all else; the inheritance is less than this.

Could we say a word about the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Himself?

It may be difficult to say much about it. Wisdom calls to the sons of men and Says, "Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you" (Proverbs i. 23). This I think, is the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge ? rather full knowledge of Him, as it ought to be here in Ephesians.

Is the knowledge of Him here the knowledge of God or of Christ?

The knowledge of God, I should think, but the better we know Christ the better we know God, for it is in Christ God is made known. The hope of His calling can only be truly known as we know Him that has called us, Who is He before whom we are to be holy and blameless; and also to stand in relationship with Him.

Is the inheritance only connected with this world?

No, it is all things ? this world and all else.

What are the conditions necessary to the reception of the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Himself?

Holy desires to enter into the deep things of God. The apostle could ask this for them because he knew them to be true to the centre and circumference of Christianity: they had faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all the saints. People who are sectarian in their thoughts could not possibly enter into these things.

Let us have a word on the rest of the chapter.

The power that is active toward us to place us at the height of God's calling has been exhibited in the resurrection of Christ, and in placing Him in the exalted position He now occupies, and giving Him to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all. And this same power is working in us and has so wrought that we can be said even now to be seated in Him in the heavenly places. From this glorious position the whole inheritance shall be easily taken for God.

Ephesians 2, 3.

Why does the apostle emphasize the fact that he was a prisoner of Jesus Christ in the first verse of chapter 3?

That the nations might know the interest that God had in them. But perhaps we should look for a little at chapter 2. We have not touched that. The first fourteen verses of chapter 1 set forth the purpose of God; then, from verse 15 to the end we have the prayer of the apostle, at which we looked for a little yesterday; and then from verses 1 to 10 of chapter 2, we see that mighty power of God, which was exhibited in the resurrection, at work to place us in the position which was given us in His counsels. Already we have our position in Christ, but soon we shall have that place with Him. Then from verse 11, he exhorts them to remember what they were as once nations in the flesh, and what they were now in Christ. At that time they had been afar off, without promise, without hope, and without God. But now, "in Christ Jesus they were become nigh by the blood of Christ," He says that Christ is our peace. When speaking of Gentiles, and of their privileges he says, "your," but when speaking of what was distinctively true of all saints, he says "our." "He is our peace," peace with God, and peace between Jew and. Gentile.

What do you mean, by peace between Jew and Gentile?

It takes two to quarrel. He has made both one. He has broken down the middle wall of partition, "the law of commandments contained in ordinances," in which the Jew gloried and which distinguished him from the Gentiles, in order that He might make in Himself of the twain one new man, who would be neither Jew nor Gentile, thus making peace: In this new man neither Jew nor Gentile has any existence.

Can you tell us what is meant by "one new man"?

One new man is the truth concerning all saints of this dispensation viewed abstractedly as in Christ. In this man there is not the Jew and the Gentile, nor is there the bond and the free. Such a man only exists in Christ. Reconciliation comes in here also. "That He might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. Both are reconciled to God, and to one another.

Is the new man referred to divine nature?

In the flesh, you have here on earth, Jew and Gentile. In Christ there is neither, but those who had been Jews or Gentiles, now in a new condition of being, in the life and nature of the risen Christ, without one element of the old order of man, either fallen or unfallen, in their being ? in Christ and wholly of God. Such a man never was heard of before. But to understand the truth concerning this man you must learn it in Christ and view the saints as in Him, apart from their complex condition down here, in which we are connected with the old order by mortal bodies. Here there are those who can be viewed in their pilgrim life as Jews and Gentiles, male and female, and in the epistles the saints are in this way addressed. But if you view saints as in Christ you cannot have such distinctions. Paul says He will glory of a man in Christ, but of himself he would not glory except in his infirmities. And yet he was the man in Christ, although he speaks as if he had another man than himself under consideration (2 Corinthians xii.). The characteristics of this new man are set before us in the life of Jesus upon earth, and these are displayed in our mortal bodies while here below: We have the cross for all that is of the old man.

Are you looking at all saints on earth at the present time?

Yes, but of course, the "one new man" takes in all saints of this dispensation. The Body of Christ takes them all in. But to get the truth of what we are as members of the one Body, we must strip them of all that in which they appear down here as children of Adam. Of that Body we are now members as truly as we shall ever be, but we must not introduce here what we are as in the flesh.

Would it help if a little was said as to life and position?

We were all dead in sins, but by the life-giviug power of God we were made to live. "God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love where with He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ . . . and hath raised us up together, and make us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." We are in the life in which Christ lives, as risen from the dead, and we have been set down in Him in the heavenlies. The earth is all right for the children of men if they could keep it; but it would not do for the children of God, or the members of Christ's body:

Would this be the settlement of all kinds of strife among us if we entered into the truth concerning the new man

Surely, if our walk were in the Spirit. We may come to that in chapter iv.

What is reconciliation?

Being brought into right relations with God.

Would it come of the two thoughts of life and position spoken of here?

Yes. There is only one way of being in reconciliation. The cross has made an end of the flesh, and the believer is in the life of Christ. The old man could not be reconciled to God. Now the apostle goes on to say, "Through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. This is the greatest privilege of all. This is all what is true of Gentile believers, and is contrasted with what they were by nature.

Why is the foundation here the apostles and prophets, and in other places Christ?

Christ is the Rock in Matthew 16, as Son of the living God, the living Stone in 1 Peter 2. I suppose the reason we have the apostles and prophets here is because they were employed by the Lord in the ministry of the word by which the structure has been brought into existence. Christ is the Builder in Matthew, living stones come to Him as Lord, and are built up into the spiritual house. This is not completed. No one is said to dwell in it. The saints are the stones that compose the building, and they are also the priests who offer the spiritual sacrifices.

Would you say that this part of the chapter presents a wonderful range of things established by God in virtue of the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ?

Surely, And is it not a great thing for the youngest of us when the power and blessing of it dawns upon the soul?

It is indeed.

Is not that which represents God's house here largely a system of lust, evil, sin and death?

Your reference is to verse 22. But there it is not so much what is vital that is before us, but profession, which may be holy or corrupt. It is largely corrupt to-day.

Referring again to Matthew 16. In Matthew He is the Foundation Rock, here He is the Chief Corner Stone?

You see the rock and the foundation are two different things. In every house it is so. We speak of a house built upon a good foundation, though we have not in our minds that any part of the house is the foundation ? it is builded upon a foundation. Again we speak of the first part of the house as a foundation which we lay, not what we lay it upon. We speak of the foundation in two ways.

What is the chief corner stone?

I do not know, unless it be for strength and beauty.

In 1 Corinthians, Jesus Christ is the foundation.

That is a different thing. There He is the foundation laid in the souls of the saints. I do not think you will ever get two Scriptures exactly the same. One may help you a little with respect to another, but you will find that each is in its own setting, from which it is not to be removed, and that it presents a different phase of the truth.

Why is the third chapter introduced at this point in the epistle?

It is introduced in a parenthetical way, setting forth the mystery and Paul's administration of it. The fourth chapter is the continuation of the second, but it was necessary that they should know the special ministry that was committed to him, by means of which the Gentiles should be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of His promise in Christ. This mystery was committed to him, though the mystery itself had also been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the power of the Spirit.

And in speaking of this he brings before us that which is vital in the habitation of God?

Yes; only I do not think the administration is going on at this present moment. It was committed to one man, who perfectly carried it out. He was the one specially chosen of God to bring in the Gentiles, and without them the mystery is not complete.

Would you say a little more as to what that administration was? The Church was set up by the Holy Ghost at Pentecost?

That is true, and I do not doubt the mind of God was to bring in the Gentiles; but according to this chapter you could not have the mystery until the Gentiles were brought in, for that is the mystery ? the Gentiles joint heirs, joint body, and joint partakers of His promise in Christ.

Now, leaving the administration, will you tell us what the mystery is?

You go back to chapter ii. for that. It is Jew and Gentile one, in the body of Christ.

Would not the administration of the mystery include the actual gathering together of the saints on the ground of it?

We see the apostle did thus gather them.

Were not the local assemblies to be the expression of Christ? Was not that included?

Surely. There were difficulties about receiving the Gentiles, but the truth ministered by Paul had the effect of settling that difficulty. All believers are gathered on that ground now, whatever practical differences may exist ? all are in the one body.

That is not what I mean. Are we not to gather together on the ground of the Assembly?

If you mean when we come together into one place we certainly are. But if you have not the thought of the house how are you to exercise discipline?

Discipline belongs to the house, not to the body.

A word on verse 10?

The reference there is to the inhabitants of the heavenlies, who observe the ways of God on earth with His fallen creature man, and with unspeakable interest contemplate the wisdom of His ways; but now, in the gathering of souls out from both Jew and Gentiles, and bringing them together under the headship of Christ, see the all-various wisdom of God. Peter speaks of the desire of the angels to look into the grace that had come to the Jewish believers, but in the Assembly, as gathered under Christ and as part of Himself, there are brought to light the eternal secret of their Creator, and a wisdom that surpasses all that they had previously witnessed.

This mystery was the secret of the Creator, hence the whole creation had some reference to the mystery. When the Assembly has its place in glory it will be a blessing to the whole creation. It is the Body of Christ, and it is His Bride. It is part of Himself. By means of our bodies we give expression to our whole mind and thought; and as He is Head over all things, His Body must render marvellous service in illuminating, comforting, cheering and rejoicing the whole redeemed universe. The rays of the sun enlighten, warm and vivify the whole solar system. His rays reach the darkest corners, and light up all places. They from their glorious centre. Christ will do everything through His body. Through it He will give expression to Himself. That is what a man has a body for The tree of life is in the holy city, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations.

How was this mystery brought into existence?

By the Gospel. The Gospel that Paul preached included the mystery. He speaks of the mystery of the Gospel.

In 2 Timothy Paul speaks of "my Gospel," my doctrine." Is the distinction there?

The Gospel includes everything. I admit there are ways of viewing it as that which is declared universally to men ? repentance and remission of sins, but it is all to lead up to the mystery. The apostle laboured "to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,"

There is no halting place in the Gospel. If you speak to a man about his soul, what you have before you is that he may be presented perfect in Christ.

This touches our hearts. Would you go on to say that the Gospel is the presentation of God Himself?

Yes, as revealed in Christ.

Would you say that all His activities have been for His own glory and that of Christ?

Surely. All glory belongs to God.

Do not these prayers show the desire of the apostle for the growth of the saints? For, having unfolded the truth, he has to bow his knees that a state to receive it might be brought about in them.

The one who ministers the Word should not imagine that he can effect anything in the hearer. He can present the truth as he knows it, but only God can bring it home in power to the soul. No man can accomplish anything.

Do you not think that the lack of prayer may affect all kinds of ministry? And is not this our danger?

Not a doubt of it.

Will not ministry bring to pass all that is necessary in the saints?

It is brought about by ministry, but if the one who ministers desires the soul-prosperity of his hearers, he must accompany the Word with prayer. Here Paul says: "I bow my knees." He does not say this regarding his prayer in chapter 1. I do not say he did not bow his knees in his first prayer, but he does not say so to the Ephesians. I think he desires to impress upon their hearts the greatness of the subject he is dealing with. The first prayer is to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is to the Father, of whom he says, "Every family in heaven and earth is named," The name "Jehovah" took in but one family in Israel, the name "Father" takes in all families in the universe.

"Strengthened" "in the inner man"?

The outward man has nothing to do with this. Samson was strong in body, but that will help no one here. The inner man must be strengthened by the Spirit of the Father. This shows us that our affections must be engaged with the things brought before our spiritual vision here.

What is the immediate object of the strengthening?

That we may be fully able to apprehend with all saints the vast sphere of divine counsel radiant with the glory of redemption, in which every saint in this dispensation shall, as a member of the Body of Christ, have part with Him who is the supreme Centre of that world of glory.

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith" ? What is that?

Christ in your affections.

What is the force of that expression ? the Christ?

The Anointed.

Does it involve the mystery?

No!

Is it a title that belongs to Him?

I do not think the article has much to do with it. In Luke xxiv. our Lord says, "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory." And similar statements are made in other places. This cannot mean Christ and the Church. In 1 Corinthians xii. 12, we have, I suppose, the mystery ? Christ and the Assembly, but I do not know that we have it anywhere else. Throughout the Acts it is nearly always "The Christ," but it seems to have become, by use, a personal name of the Lord, and the article, therefore, is left out.

And should not "dwell" be emphasized? Some seem satisfied to have a visit, but He wants an abiding-place there.

You may be sure that we dwell in His heart; and He has died that He may have a place in ours.

Why is the expression "in love" so often used?

Because God is love, and to be rooted and grounded in love is to have our roots in the revelation God has made to us. It is wonderful how much you apprehend of the things of God when your heart is deeply in the enjoyment of His love. You are then intelligent in the things of God. Unless this is so, you read the Scriptures and get nothing out of them.

You may enjoy things beyond your ability to give expression to them?

Yes. It is not the one who is best able to talk who is most in the enjoyment of God's revelation. What a wonderful finish to this prayer: "Glory to God in the Church by Christ Jesus unto all generations of the ages of eternity," We shall learn there things better on our knees.

Ephesians 4.

Would you say a word or two on the divisions of this chapter?

The first few verses relate to our walk with respect to the calling, then we have the gifts given from the ascended Christ for the ministry and building up of the body of Christ, and from verse 17 to the end, the exhortations with regard to our walk, that it may be in harmony with the privileges into which we have been brought.

Could you break the unity of the Spirit?

Practically, yes. It is already broken

Could you break it vitally?

No, because it is the Spirit.

What is the unity of the Spirit?

It is the oneness of the Spirit of God.

Would you mind helping us, so that we may see what you mean, because we have always been taught a little differently?

So have I, but I think it is simply the oneness of the Spirit ? In 1 Corinthians 12 a similar thought is set before the saints. There are various gifts but "the same Spirit." One prophesied, another spoke with an unknown tongue, another had gifts of healing; but all was by the same Spirit. It was not different spirits at work. Now in Christendom, one might reasonably suppose there were a thousand different spirits at work, because we are not in the least in practical unity. I know what has been said on the subject, and have no special objection to what is said, but I cannot see it in their way.

But does not unity convey the idea of a formation?

Not always I think. You get in this chapter: "The unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God." You would not call that a formation. This is the way in which I view the statement, I do not press it. It will be the same thing in the end whatever way it may be taken.

Does the unity of the Spirit contemplate Jew and Gentile?

Yes. Through Christ by one Spirit we both have access to the Father. Still, it is not Jew and Gentile that trouble us to-day, but Gentile and Gentile. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, has been said to be maintaining in a practical way the unity that the Spirit has formed on earth, but I do not think so, though I greatly regard the opinions of some who have said it.

What is the force of keeping the unity of the Spirit?

It is walking in such a way that it will be evident that we are both energised by the one Spirit. If two saints are quarreling, like those two sisters in Philippi, some other spirit is at work in one of them ? perhaps in both. To keep this unity we require to walk in self-judgment, in lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. The beautiful characteristics of Christ are to come out in us.

There must be the comprehension of the unity of the Body connected with it?

It goes on to that. There is one Body and one Spirit.

So the flesh would be the difficulty?

That is just the difficulty. We shall not need these exhortations when we are in heaven, but here the flesh is in all of us, and we sometimes forget to walk in self-judgment, and the practical unity, is broken on the spot.

Would you not say that to keep the unity of the Spirit is to keep in practice what exists in fact?

That is true, but you can find that all opened out in the writings referred to, but you can also find just the other thing too, that it is more the one mind of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit can only have one mind, and it is not that we are to have one mind simply, because that might not be His mind, but we are to have the Spirit's mind. There is that which the Spirit formed at Pentecost, and we are surely to walk in the light of it. It is our privilege and responsibility to walk in the light of the whole revelation of God. There is one Body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, and the knowledge of these great truths has a powerful influence upon us to produce unity; and unity will assuredly be produced by them if we walk in the judgment of that which has no part in them ? the flesh.

Will you say a word on these three unities in verse 4?

The "one Body" is, of course, the Body of Christ, formed by the baptism of the one Spirit, who unites all the members of the Body together, and is the bond that makes one that vessel, of which Christ is the living and vitalizing power. The "hope of your calling" is one also, and refers to verses 4 and 5 of chapter 1, but this in verse 18 is said to be His calling, because the apostle would have the greatness, the glory, and the blessedness of the calling to have a powerful effect upon the saints to draw their minds and hearts heavenward. Here the calling is said to be ours, because he desires it to produce in us down here a practical unity.

Is it to bring divisions to an end?

Yes, for if the fleshly will is excluded there is nothing to divide about. There cannot surely be dissension where there is only one Body, one Spirit animating that Body, and one hope of glory before every heart?

Is there any hope of such a practical state being brought to pass before the Lord comes?

That it is the mind of the Lord is evident by the fact of its having a place here in the Word; but whether it will ever be seen again on earth we cannot say. It certainly will be at His coming, but then we shall all be glorified.

What about these other unities?

These take in a wider circle to-day, I think always did.

Are these necessarily vital?

No, they are not. As far as true believers are concerned, of course they are. But this takes in the sphere of profession, and for a very long time the sphere of profession has been much larger than the vital sphere. There is one Lord. None could be a Christian even in name, who refused to acknowledge Christ as Lord. There is also one faith, which all profess to acknowledge as God's revelation.

And would you say baptism brings all into that circle?

Yes. No one is rightly in the Christian circle, the circle in which Christ is confessed as Lord, unless he has been baptized.

You would say that Cornelius was in the first circle one Body, one Spirit, one hope ? by the gift of the Spirit, but came into this second circle by baptism?

That is so. In the first three you could not bring the Lord in as such, for He is not Lord of the Body, neither could you leave Him out in the second, for He is Lord of the individual, the object of faith, and the One in whose name people are baptized.

And the one faith is the common faith?

Yes: the revelation of God.

In the third circle, what is meant by the expression "In you all"?

That is vital: the Father is above everything, through everything, and in all believers. It does not mean that all are in relationship with the Father in a vital sense, but God has been revealed as Father, and He is supreme, omnipotent, and vitally in all true believers.

Do I understand the first circle to be the Church, and the second profession?

The first is the Body, the second the House, and the third the Universe, the last sentence coming back to what is vital, "In you all."

This last expression in verse 6, "in you." Does that only apply to believers?

That is all.

Not to any other family?

I would not say that. I think it will be true of all believers.

Is the term characteristic?

It is life and nature. There are many things stated in the epistles that are true of others also. The apostle always had before him those to whom he was writing.

Say a word on the gifts ? what is this in verse 7?

That is grace given to every one of us. Every member of the Body has some function to perform, and grace has been given in the wisdom of the Lord, for all that we may have to do. The grace is given according to the measure of the gift of Christ, according to the measure of His giving. Though every one has some service to engage in, and requires grace for the carrying of it out, yet it is not necessarily gift for the ministry of the Word. This is found in verse 11: But these gifts are persons. There are no apostles in "the Body," Those gifts in verse 11 are "in the Assembly," but the Assembly viewed more as the House than the Body. In Corinthians xii., the apostle has been speaking of the members of the Body in function, but when he comes to the gifts he says that God has set them "in the Assembly."

In verse 7, is the gift there grace itself?

Certainly. The verse says so. We require grace for the exercise of every service we have got to perform.

Is it for servants?

Yes: but we are all servants.

In writing to Timothy, Paul says: "Stir up the gift that is in thee." Was that a particular gift?

Yes: it was a gift for the ministry of the Word.

Has not the Assembly been endowed by Christ from on high, and of that endowment every one of us partakes?

I do not think so. I know it has been said, but I believe it to be a mistake. The administration of the Lord Himself is continued right through the whole of this dispensation, and everything comes directly to us from Himself. Paul got nothing from the Assembly: He says, "When it pleased God . . . to reveal His Son in me" (Galatians i.).

Does the Lord give directly now?

Yes. As I have already said, Saul received everything directly from the Lord; and that was some time after the supposed endowment of the Assembly. The Lord might use an apostle to confer a gift on a disciple, as He used Paul to confer a gift on Timothy, but the Assembly had no hand in it. The Lord, not the Spirit, gives the gifts.

Are we warranted in saying the gifts in verse 11 go right on to the end?

The apostles and prophets were at the beginning, and shall continue to the end, for we have their ministry in the New Testament, though they themselves have long ago fallen asleep. The other gifts are, I do not doubt, continued from our exalted Head.

Are we right in looking to the Lord to raise up gifts?

Absolutely. Our privilege is to look to Him for everything that we see to be necessary for His interests.

Would you press that there should be exercise in each one as to what his gift is?

Everyone who has received a special gift from the Lord should have no difficulty regarding what that gift is.

Why is it to "men" the gifts are given?

I suppose angels do not require them.

Where do you get gifts to the Assembly?

Here: He gave some apostles and others for the perfecting of the saints.

What difference do you make between the Body and the Assembly?

The Assembly is the Body, but it is also the House, and we must gather from the connection what special aspect of the Assembly is before the mind of the writer.

Then, you would say, the gifts are for the building up of the Body?

Yes. The great object of the evangelist is to build up the Body. These gifts are under the direction of the Lord Himself and every one who puts himself under the direction of the Assembly has lost sight of the Lord.

What is His "leading captivity captive"?

Taking the whole power of the enemy out of his hands; leading captive him who had held man captive, and using them whom He has delivered from the grasp of the foe to deliver others.

Is it right service when the Assembly is lost sight of?

No. The servants object in ministering the Word is to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. But all who have received the Spirit are in the Assembly. If the Gospel is clearly preached, all who believe it receive the Spirit. The servant may bring into the House by baptism of water, but into the body he cannot bring anyone. Still, as I have said, if he preaches a full Gospel, the one who believes it receives the Spirit and is in the Body.

Who does the work of the ministry in verse 12?

The gifts given by Christ.

Do you mean the shepherds and teachers?

Not only they, but all the gifts. We have the apostles in the Scriptures written by them. But while the Body itself is edified by these gifts, there is also the work of the ministry by lesser gifts than apostles, and whose labour is not so distinctly with those who compose the body.

What is the unity of the faith?

The faith as a whole. We learn it in its various parts, but there comes a time when the great edifice of God's revelation is seen as a distinct whole.

Is it the same as "one faith"?

Yes. We learn the compassions of God, and the word of righteousness in Romans; the order of God's House in 1 Corinthians; and the carrying out of divine counsel in Ephesians; but we need to be able to take in all these various parts as one whole.

Would you connect the gifts with the ascended Lord, and the members of the Body with the Head?

Yes. Whatever gift a man possesses he is responsible to the Lord for the way he uses it. You could not speak of Him as Lord of the Body; He is Head of it.

Will you give us an outline of the rest of this chapter?

In verse 16, we see the whole Body, from the exalted Head, fitted together, and connected by every joint of supply to the working in measure of each one part, works for itself the increase of the Body to its self-building up in love. Love, which is the divine nature, is that which nourishes and cherishes the Body so that it increases, as is said in Colossians, "with the increase of God." Here, as it says, "in love," there is no need to bring God in, for "God is love." This is not viewed here as the result of the ministry of the Word, but as the healthy action of the Body itself, assimilating that which it receives from the Head ? it edifies itself in love.

From verse 17 we get exhortations based upon the privileges set before us in the part we have been looking at. They were not to walk as the Gentiles, who are alienated from the life of God, that life with which we have been made to live. God has quickened us together with Christ, and this reference is to that glorious fact, to which our attention is called in chapter 2. Therefore, the characteristics of this heavenly life are to be exhibited in us here on earth. These we have seen exhibited in Jesus here below. The truth of all that is of the life and nature of God shone out in Him who was God manifested in this world of sin, and, in the school of Christ, Jesus is the One set forth as our example. For this, the old man must be put off, and he has been, at least professedly, and the new man, who is created after God in righteousness and holiness of the truth has been put on.

Why the change from Christ in verse 20 to Jesus in verse 21?

Because the truth has been set forth in Jesus, without regard to His relations with others. It is His personal name. Christ is not quite His personal name, though it seems to be often used that way in the epistles. But Christ is our Head, and He teaches us to come out in the life of Jesus. We have put off the old man and put on the new; therefore, we put off falsehood, which is one strong characteristic of the old man; and having put on the new man we speak truth with our neighbour, for we are members one of another. The Holy Spirit is not to be grieved. Until the redemption of the purchased possession we are sealed by Him. We are called to be imitators of God, but as it was in Christ God was declared, we keep our eye upon Him.

Ephesians 5.

Could we have a little help on the way to be more practically in the power of these things?

By walking in the light of Christ, who has given Himself for us, and in the power of an ungrieved Spirit. We are to be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and given Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. We can only imitate Him as far as we know Him, but in Christ He has been perfectly revealed; hence our eye must be fixed on Him.

What do you mean by "perfectly"?

Perfectly declared in Christ as far as creatures could know Him. We could not know Him in His essential Being. He is the invisible God. In Christ His nature has come to light. It is clear we could not know God in the perfect way in which He knows Himself. It is our unspeakable privilege to know Him in the way in which He has drawn near to us.

Is that not in His essential Being?

No, but in His nature and attributes. I do not think any one believes we could know God as God knows Himself. It would be no comfort to us to imagine He could be comprehended in all that He is by such creatures as we are, or by any creature. But all that He is He is for us, because He has associated us with Christ, His Son.

In John i. 11, does there seem to be any limitation to that: "The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him"? Would you limit that?

No. I think the Son declared the Father as far as the creature could be made to take in the declaration.

But is not the name of God different to that of Father?

Yes. God brings in the thought of responsibility, Father, that of grace and relationship. The Son is the Image of the invisible God. In Hebrews He is said to be "the effulgence of His glory and the expression of His substance," or essential Being, but I do not think that goes farther than nature. And there is what He is as dwelling in light unapproachable, whom no man hath seen, nor is able to see. If He were known absolutely there could be no hindrance of approach to Him.

You speak of light unapproachable, but we are spoken of as children of light?

We are children of the light that came to us in Christ, for that light has brought life to our souls, it has produced a generation of God upon earth. We are children of the revelation that has come to us in Christ.

Is it true that the glory that Moses saw was the glory of the Lawgiver in that character, and that we see the glory that excelleth in the face of Jesus?

Yes; but it was not pure law in that case; there was a mixture of grace with it; otherwise Moses would not have answered as he did: "Let my Lord, I pray Thee, go among us; for it is a stiff-necked peoples and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance." He declares Himself in goodness and mercy and forgiveness.

Why does it say "light in the Lord," not in Christ?

To say we are light in Christ would be to say we are always light, whatever our practical state might be. "In the Lord" introduces the idea of responsibility and we can only shine in the light derived from Him. The moon and planets get their light from the sun, and the Lord is our Sun.

In connection with chapter 6, following on what you say, "walk in love," does it not mean that being imitators is produced in that way?

I rather think we walk in love because we are imitators of God. He is before us in Christ, who is the manifestation of God, and in this way we get hold of Him in His true character, and imitate Him in His pathway of love down here. And that is a sweet savour to God.

Is this sacrifice not atonement?

It made atonement; but that is not the way in which it is presented here, but as an example for us.

What is light in contrast with truth?

Light is that which makes manifest. Christ was the light of the world because He declared God, and therefore, everything was seen as it was by those who had eyes to see it. Truth is that which sets things forth in their true character, and in their right relations to one another. Light manifests all things as they exist, but in this evil scene, in which everything, was out of order, the truth was seen in Christ, for He was the perfect expression of all things in their right relation to God, and therefore to all else.

Is it not remarkable that in John's Gospel He speaks of Himself as the Light, but when He gathers His own in the inside place in the upper room, He drops that word and speaks of Himself as the Truth?

The light is the revelation of God, and whoever receives that light by faith in it has got the knowledge of God in grace and love. The light is for men that are in darkness. Where the light is received the darkness is dispelled; then the soul requires instruction in the mind and will of Him with whom he is set in entirely new relationships: he wants instruction in the truth; and in turn, he becomes a light in the midst of this world's darkness. Light shows me things as they really are, but when I know the truth I see how different everything on earth is to that which it should be. So that the truth may be said to be light. "Thy Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path" (Psalm cxix. 105). The light of the Gospel shows one how thoroughly under the power of Satan he has been. Christ is both the truth and the light. They are very near akin.

"Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Is that the same?

Yes. A man asleep is in darkness. "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee" (Isaiah lx. 1). This will be the word to Jerusalem one day. Spiritual sleep means that your affections are dormant; and you have sunk to the level of those dead in sin.

What is the evidence of being, filled with the Spirit?

"Speaking to yourselves," and praising and blessing God.

Is that normal Christianity or something special?

Normal. Melody in the heart to the Lord is sweet music. You cannot get that out of an instrument: Some get impatient because others have not good voices. Every voice is good if it comes from a heart full of love to God.

How do you differentiate between the normal of this chapter and the Acts?

"Filled with the Spirit," is normal, but if one is to do any special line of service for the Lord with relation to the Lord's things, then the Spirit takes complete control, so that all he does and says is of God. The Lord gives him all the power he requires, and that power is by the Spirit, the Spirit has complete control.

Can a man be filled with something else than the Spirit?

He might be filled with himself.

Is to be filled with the Spirit here connected with singing?

Yes, certainly.

Not audible singing? It is to God in the heart?

No: "with the heart." It rises from the heart. I do not see how you could sing in your heart. It must be audible.

May I ask in connection with the melody, as to whether being filled with the Spirit is limited there, because it goes on to giving thanks and submitting ourselves to one another?

True, Christianity cannot be approached except in the power of the Spirit. You take the tabernacle; it was sprinkled with blood and anointed with oil, indicating that the true tabernacle with which we have to do would be placed on the ground of redemption and in the power of the Spirit. You cannot engage in the service of God in any way except in the power of the Spirit. It brings a heavenly colour into these things, so that a saint will come out as a father, husband, or wife, in a new way. The husband loves his wife, not as Adam loved Eve, but as Christ loved the Assembly; and the wife takes her example from the Assembly in subjection to her husband; and fathers bring up their children in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. For all this we need to be in the energy of the Spirit. We walk according to the rule of new creation in the old creation relationships, "In Christ" is new creation.

Will you open that out a little?

"In Christ" is entirely a new order of man, but down here we are in old creation relationships, and the question is, How are we to walk in these? Well, we are not to take pattern from the world. We are not to walk after the flesh. We are like people in a foreign land who bring there the customs of their native land, and who refuse to follow the trend of things in the land wherein they are strangers.

Would you say that in our life in this world we are brought into a system which God has specially in view in Christ glorified, and in the Holy Ghost down here?

While we are on earth we are connected with that system, but not "in our life in the world." Flesh and blood has no part in that system. It is an out-of-the-world condition of things, and can only be entered in the life of Christ and in the power of the Spirit, but it greatly influences our human life down here. Christ was never other than heavenly, but He was in relationships that belonged to flesh and blood, and in these He walked perfectly to the pleasure of His Father. He is no longer in these relationships.

What relation has this to the unfolding of the counsels of God in the earlier part of the epistle?

These exhortations set before us the character of walk becoming those who are the objects of these counsels. Our walk is to be in the power of an ungrieved Spirit, and we are to make progress in the knowledge of Him who has called us. The knowledge of our heavenly relationships affects our ways in all our earthly relationships. If rightly taken up, earthly relationships are no hindrance to our spiritual growth, but rather a help.

Why is it that the husband is exhorted to love his wife?

One reason is that he might fail in doing so. She is not told to love him, because love is ever on the descending line. She is told to be subject to her husband, for he is her head. In Christianity we are not told to love God but to believe in the love He has to us.

As Christ is Head over all to the Church, and we are to grow up to Him, might not this line of things in chapters 5 and 6 be included in the fact that you have Christ before your mind, and even in the earthly relationships to grow up to Him? I thought, in connection with our understanding of that verse ? "grow up unto Him in all things" ? we sometimes limit it to the abstract spiritual things of the Assembly. But it includes all those earthly details, so that Christ being before us, His impress is left on the ordinary details of life?

To grow up to Him in all things is in all that is revealed in Christ. In all earthly relations we are to set Him forth. But the measure in which we can do this depends upon our growth. We are heavenly people, and here in the life of Christ, and we must be ourselves wherever found. We are not heavenly men in one place and earthly men in another. Christ was always Himself in all relationships of life.

Ephesians 6.

Then even entering upon this conflict we are to be strong, not in ourselves but, in the Lord?

Yes. We have no strength for this holy war. The power of God acts through us. To Joshua's challenge to the man with the drawn sword in his hand: "Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?" the answer, practically, is for neither: "But as Captain of the Lord's host am I now come." The battle is the Lord's, and must be fought in His strength: we are weakness itself.

Why do we get fighting at the close of this epistle?

Because the enemy is in possession of the land given to us of the Lord. We have got the position there in Christ, but we are not there yet ourselves. There are three ways in which the people of Israel can be viewed as typical of Christians. In the wilderness, where all the men fell who came out of Egypt by Moses; on the east of Jordan, where in the land of Bashan, two and a half tribes made their home; in the land which was God's thought for all. Those who fall in the wilderness are unbelieving Christians; those who make their home on the east of Jordan are worldly Christians; and those who settle on the west of Jordan are the faithful who enter into the purpose of God Those who settle on the east of Jordan are real believers, who never rise up to the height of the calling of God, those who enter the land and make it their abode do. Still, the two and a half tribes had to fight and help their brethren to possess the land, though they did not take up their abode in it.

Are those in conflict for the truth of the Gospel fighting?

Yes: and all who preach the Gospel; and some of them fight better than those do who take heavenly ground. Every saint on earth is in this conflict, and for success in it we must put on the whole armour of God.

The wiles would be something like the cunning of the Gibeonites?

Yes; though I suppose all the attacks of the devil are of the nature of wiles. Wiles and fiery darts are all that are mentioned here. There are blessings, or rather territory, that we may possess that does not lie quite over Jordan. Israel had for an inheritance from the Red Sea to the Euphrates. The land of Bashan was theirs, but the land on the west of Jordan was to be their place of abode. Our blessings are given to us in the heavenlies, and we should go over to possess it; but some of us are content with enjoying salvation, deliverance from sin's dominion, and such like, without laying hold of our heavenly calling. As far as their practical lives are concerned they seem to be men of the world, though really no more of it than those are who stand for their heavenly position. You will sometimes find such men forward and fearless in conflict with infidels.

Would you say a word about loins girt about with truth?

It is the loins of the mind that are referred to. We are not to allow our minds to be occupied with everything that meets our eye. They are not to be wandering all over the place, but to be girded up so as not to hinder us in the conflict. There is a great deal in the world to engage our attention if we allow it, things perhaps, that are not in themselves wicked, but which would hinder our view of the heavenly inheritance and weaken us in the battle.

Why is this first?

Because it is that which is the chief thing to maintain. You see this armour is not like the armour people used to wear in the field of battle, which was made for them by the armourer, and was put on when they were about to fight. This armour is put on from the inside like the feathers of a fowl. It all refers to practical state. Therefore, if the loins are not girt about with truth, you will never have on the armour of righteousness, for this is practical righteousness; and if the mind and affections are set upon the things of this world your own will, and not the will of God, will characterize you, and that is sin; your heart will be condemning you, confidence in God will be lost, and your vital parts will be vulnerable. If the armour is on we walk in a calm and unperturbed spirit. Our heart reposes in the love of God, and in the peace that results from a walk in harmony with His revealed will. The grace that has come to us in Christ is in our hearts, and our feet are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace as the result.

What are the fiery darts?

I know not. There are such things, but we have the shield of faith as a guard against them. Perfect confidence in God will preserve us from them. We can say: "If God be for us, who can be against us? "If we have the first three pieces of the armour upon us, the shield of faith will not be wanting. The darts are fiery, and thrown with a fierceness that is appalling, but confidence in God is a perfect defence. "In God have I put my trust."

Next, there is the helmet of salvation. The helmet here is not the hope of salvation as in the word to the Thessalonians. God had not appointed them to wrath, but to obtain salvation ? salvation from the wrath to come. But in Ephesians you are already saved, for you have got your place in Christ in the heavenly places. Here you have the salvation of God as a helmet upon your head.

Why is the helmet for the head?

Because the head is a very vulnerable place, and requires protection in the battle.

In what sense is the Word of God the Sword of the Spirit?

It is the only weapon in the panoply of God. It is for offensive warfare. All the other pieces of the armour are for protection. The Sword is that which no evil power can withstand. But it can only be used in the power of the Spirit. Young men are said to be strong, and the Word of God abides in them, and they have overcome the wicked one. Our Lord met the devil with it in the desert, and he fled before it.

Is it not important to distinguish between the mere quotation of a text of Scripture, and the speaking of that, word, which is God's Word for the moment to that particular person?

Still, one would be most certain to use a passage of Scripture ? the Lord did. It must be the Word, for the devil, for sinner or saint. It brings conviction to the hardened sinner, meets the need of the awakened conscience, sets at rest the troubled heart, builds up the saint in the knowledge of God, and defeats the devil; but nothing of all this apart from the Spirit's use of it.

Is there time to say a word on prayer?

Prayer brings in the power of God. We are to pray at all seasons, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching unto this very thing with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints, and for the servant who seeks to make known the mystery of the glad tidings, that all such may have utterance given to them.

Is it not a mistake to distinguish between the saints of God? We often hear the expression, "Bless Thy gathered saints."

The saints are all one, and the apostle says we are to pray "for all saints." Besides, there are no saints who can be spoken of as always gathered. They are gathered when they are gathered; that is, when they meet together. I know no other gathered saints. I have heard people say they have been gathered forty years. I have thought that was a long meeting.

Messiah the Prince

Messiah the Prince

An Outline of Matthew's Gospel

by Laurence Laurenson

Editor of "Loving Words."

Contents

Foreword

Section 1. — Matthew 1, 2.

The Genealogy and Birth of the King

Section 2. — Matthew 3, 4.

The Forerunner Introducing the King and the Kingdom Presented

Section 3. — Matthew 5, 6, 7.

The Laws of the Kingdom

Section 4. — Matthew 8, 9.

The Dignity of the King and the Characteristics of His Mission

Section 5. — Matthew 10, 11, 12.

The King's Messengers, the King's Message, and the King Himself Rejected

Section 6. — Matthew 13.

The Outward and Inward Aspects of the Kingdom in the Absence of the King

Section 7. — Matthew 14, 15.

Man's King and Man's Character Contrasted with God's King

Section 8. — Matthew 16, 17.

A Prophecy of the Church with a Glimpse of Kingdom Glory

Section 9. — Matthew 18 — 23.

The Characteristics of those who enter the Kingdom, the Responsibility of those connected with it, and God's way of bringing Men into it: The King presented, and the Leaders of Israel morally judged

Section 10. — Matthew 24, 25.

The Great Prophetic Outline. The King's Dealings with the Jew, the Church, and the Nations

Section 11. — Matthew 26 — 28.

The King goes into Death and Judgment, in order that His Followers may enter into Life and Glory

Section 12. — Matthew 28. Resurrection, Victory, and Joy

Notes and Outlines

Foreword

The four Gospels present to us an inexhaustible theme in Christ and all that was revealed in Him during the brief years of His earthly sojourn. We may go even further and affirm that each several Gospel is inexhaustible in the fulness and depth of that aspect of the Christ of God which it places before us. Hence the many and various expositions of the Gospels which have seen the light of day and proved of profit to their readers.

In this book a new unfolding of Matthew is placed in the reader's hands. The author does not address himself to the learned, but rather to the ordinary believer who may not have access readily to the larger and more exhaustive expositions already published, and who might not be able very easily to digest their contents if he had ready access to them. To such readers — and they are very numerous to-day — this book will, we trusty prove full of instruction, suggestion, and spiritual help. May it be prospered in its mission to this end. F. B. Hole.

Section 1. Matthew 1, 2.

The Genealogy and Birth of the King

In seeking to grasp the contents of any book it is necessary to be so conversant with its subject matter as to be able to go over it in outline in our own minds.

If this be true of the writings of men, how much more so of the Word of God? This is not the difficult matter it may appear at first sight, and there are several ways it may be arrived at. In studying Matthew's Gospel, for example, if we take one leading thought or incident from each chapter, or section of the book, other related facts will naturally group themselves round these to complete the picture. And it will be found that the various events are so linked together in a divine order that the heart is led on from Matthew 1 to Matthew 28 in ever-increasing enjoyment of all the varied truths presented to us in this Gospel, so full of instruction pertaining to the Kingdom of Heaven.

It is worth noting at the outset, that in the Scriptures themselves we are more often urged to search and meditate thereupon, than merely to read. And the reason is obvious. They have to do with the heart. In twenty-two different ways, in the twenty-two sections of Psalm 119, the Psalmist expresses the attitude of his heart toward the law of God. He "Believes it," "Keeps it," "Rejoices in it," "Declares it," "Loves it," "Hides it in his heart." If the reader will make a complete list, his profiting will be great.

In some such way let us endeavour to approach the study of the Gospel before us.

Beginning, then, with Section 1, Matthew 1 and 2, we get as leading thought, in Matthew 1, The Genealogy of the King; in Matthew 2, The Reception He met with.

We are arrested at the very outset by the differences between the Gospel of Matthew and the other Synoptic Gospels. There is a fulness and a wealth of detail in the introduction in this Gospel which is wholly absent in Mark: while in Luke quite another series of events is placed before us, equally minute in detail, but all given with divine wisdom and in keeping with the end in view.

If we arrange the early incidents in the first three Gospels in parallel columns we shall see these differences at a glance: —

Matthew Mark Luke

1 * * Visit of Angel to Zacharias.

2 * * Visit of Angel to Mary.

3 Visit of Angel to Joseph. * *

4 * * Birth of John.

5 Birth of Jesus. * Birth of Jesus.

6 * * Angel's Visit to Shepherds.

7 * * Shepherds' Visit to Bethlehem.

8 Appearing of the Star. * Presentation in the Temple.

9 * * Departure to Nazareth.

10 Visit of the Wise Men. * Annual Visit of Joseph and Mary to Jerusalem.

11 Presentation of Gifts. * (Abiding at Bethlehem.)

12 Joseph warned by the Angel. * *

13 Flight into Egypt. * *

14 Return to Galilee. * Dwelling in Galilee.

15 * * Visit to Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve years of age.

16 Preaching of John. Preaching of John. Preaching of John.

Two things mark the language of Inspiration, what it includes, and what it excludes. Surely it necessarily excludes every shadow of error. Nothing but what is absolutely true could find a place if the Spirit of God inspire the record, and, in spite of all that men may say to the contrary, nowhere is this more clearly seen than in the Four Gospels, where, amid all the differences, there are no contradictions. Then, as to the former, the facts given in any Scripture will be in relation to the subject of the writer. Thus Luke writes of the Lord Jesus specially as the "Son of Man," and so gives, as will be seen above, in large detail, everything needed to be known of His parentage, human birth, and childhood — perfect from every standpoint.

Mark, writing of Him as the devoted "Servant of God" and of men, omits everything of this, and introduces, at the very outset, His Messenger, John the Baptist, preparing His way before Him. Then He Himself is at once seen entering upon His public ministry.

But in our Gospel, He is presented as "The King," and thus everything narrated is in connection with His kingly character.

Turning forward again for a moment, we see Him in John's Gospel as the "Son of God." Luke tells us that He became the "Son of Man," and Mark says that He took the lowly place of the "Servant" of all. But Matthew declares that, nevertheless, He was "God's Anointed King," who will yet sit upon the throne of His father, David, and sway a mightier sceptre than either David or his princely son, Solomon, ever dreamed of.

Ezekiel presents this wonderful "fourfold" in striking and symbolic imagery in Chapters 1 and 10, and again we see it reproduced in the vision of the Seer of Patmos (Rev. 4), where the order of the manifested characteristics is that of the Four Gospels.

Matthew represents Him as the "Lion" of the tribe of Judah.

Mark sets forth the patient service symbolised by the "Calf" or "Ox."

Luke describes the perfect "Man" — yea, the Pattern Man, able to sympathise, to succour, and to save.

John tells of Him as the Heavenly Stranger upon the earth — the "flying Eagle" being an apt picture, for He was "Come from God and went to God" (John 13: 3). "He was with God, and was God" (John 1: 1).

But a king must be able to trace his descent in the royal line, and this is placed before us at the very outset. He is the Son of "David the King," and thus the Heir to David's throne. He is the "Son of Abraham," and thus Heir to, as well as Fulfiller of, all the Promises. Matthew carries down the line of kingly succession from Solomon. Luke traces that of Nathan to Mary, and, however widely they may have diverged during the thousand years that lay between, both meet again and are completed in "JESUS who is called CHRIST."

There are many genealogies in the Old Testament, but only one in the New. The genealogies of the Old Testament lead to Him in whom everything centres, and from whom everything begins, for He is the Head of the new creation, the First-born from among the dead.

But we find Him here born into this world, a Man among men; nevertheless, He was Emmanuel. The sign promised 700 years before by the prophet (Isa. 7: 14) was fulfilled, and the character of the One so born declared. He was "God with us," and God come down in grace. And we naturally ask, What reception did He meet with? and what were the condition of things in Israel's land when He thus presented Himself?

Over 500 years had passed away since Ezra, by the decree of Cyrus the Persian, had led a little remnant of the people back from Babylon to rebuild the shattered fortunes of the nation, after the terrible overthrow by Nebuchadnezzar, which began about 606 B.C. It was but a small proportion of the many thousands who had been carried away, but their hearts were towards the land of Israel, and the Lord had blessed and multiplied them greatly. The intervening years had been times of varying fortunes for the little hierarchical state. The Persian monarchy, which had been the means of their restoration, had been overthrown by Alexander the Great in 330 B.C., and Palestine then came under the power of Greece. Daniel had described, in few words, the character of the "mighty king" and the break up of his kingdom, "divided towards the four winds of heaven" (Dan. 11: 3). This was an event of much political importance to Judea, for it found itself — as it will be in a later day — the bone of contention between the king of the South, Egypt, and the king of the North, Syria. The first hundred years of this period the land was under the power of Egypt, and though ill-governed at the best, it had not reached the depth of suffering measured out to it during the Syrian oppression. The terrible cruelty and madness of Antiochus Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.) has seldom been equalled in the world's history. The ruling passion of his wicked life was hatred to the Jew and the religion of Jehovah. On one occasion he captured the city of Jerusalem, slaughtered 40,000 of the inhabitants, sacrificed a sow upon the brazen altar, and erected a statue to Jupiter in the Temple courts. This brought matters to an issue. Under Judas Maccabeus and his brethren the War of Independence began, which resulted in Judea once more becoming a free state in 161 B.C.

Rescued thus from Syrian oppression, it was wisely ruled by the Maccabean family for over one hundred years, but it then fell under the power of the Romans, about 60 B.C.

Herod, an Idumean, first appointed by the Romans as tetrarch, became king in 31 B.C., and aimed at creating an independent monarchy in his own family.

The sceptre had departed from Judah.

Such was the political condition of the Lord's land when the Messiah was born. A usurper, supported by Gentile power, was reigning in the land, and the people loved to have it so. There is a wonderful analogy between this and what prophetic Scriptures reveal as to His Second Coming. Then the Antichrist will be on the throne, and he and his supporters will think to treat the King come in power as before had been treated the King come in grace, only to find that He will "break them with a rod of iron," and "dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel" (Ps. 2: 9).

But when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and when the tidings reached the guilty tyrant who sat upon the Jewish throne, he "was troubled and all Jerusalem with him." The men of the city had already made their choice. They were on the side of Herod — not on the Lord's side.

The Scribes, intelligent in the Scriptures, as far as the letter went, knew, or should have known, many things about the Coming King. The prophets had clearly pointed out: —

1 When He would come (Gen. 49: 10).

2 How He would come (Isa. 7: 14).

3 Where He would be born (Micah 5: 2).

But they had no heart for Him, and as to the mass of the nation, there was neither love nor loyalty to God's King. Yet we learn from Luke's Gospel (Luke 2: 38) that there were still the hidden ones, even in Jerusalem, who looked for redemption in Israel; as there will be in the day of His power, to whom He will appear as "the Sun of Righteousness, with healing in His wings" (Mal. 4: 2).

But if there was no heart for Him in Jerusalem, and no room for Him in Bethlehem, a testimony was to be raised up from among the Gentiles; and "wise men" — wise, surely, in every sense of the word — divinely led, seek Him, recognise His divinity, worship Him, and present to Him their threefold gift, "gold, frankincense, and myrrh."

When the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon she brought "gold and spices." In a coming day, when the kings of the Gentiles come to worship the glory of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will bring "gold and incense" (Isa. 60).

In neither the historic nor the prophetic Scripture is there any mention of that which is here connected with these two things, namely, "myrrh." Why is this? Is there not a threefold meaning in their gifts? In the Babe of Bethlehem they saw the One who was "born King of the Jews," and to Him, as such, they presented the royal offering of gold. But there was the recognition in the frankincense that He was more than man — that He was the promised Saviour; and the myrrh spoke of that of which the wise men could have but dim vision, and that was, that before He sat upon the throne of His glory He "must suffer many things . . . and be killed and raised again the third day" (Matt. 16: 21).

And even while but a child, to escape the wrath of the false king, the true King has to flee unto Egypt, and be there till the death of Herod, that the prophecy might be fulfilled, "Out of Egypt have I called my Son" (Hosea 11: 1). Thus the Lord began where His people began, but how different their pathway from His?

When the call came to Joseph to return, he is instructed to go into the "land of Israel." Twice in Chapter 2 we have this title; and yet at the moment the land was only a despised province of the Roman Empire. But few of the men of Israel dwelt in it. The Gentiles ruled it. A mixed race from the East dwelt in one of its chiefest cities, Samaria; and Galilee, its largest province, was densely peopled with a purely heathen population, a few poor Jews residing amongst them.

Yet in spite of appearances God recognises the land by its true title. It is God's land for His people, and He will yet vindicate their rights and make them good.

But when they returned they found another usurper filling the throne, and Joseph, with the holy Child Jesus, turned aside to dwell at Nazareth. At the very beginning of His pathway He had been the rejected One; now He becomes the despised One. Even the upright Nathanael shared the popular prejudice — if it was only prejudice — that Nazareth of Galilee could produce no good thing. It was the most despised town of the most despised province of a despised land.

Thus at the very outset of His pathway of lowly grace the Lord knew what it was to be "despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isa. 53: 3),

Section 2. Matthew 3, 4.

The Forerunner Introducing the King; and the Kingdom Presented

The second section of our Gospel begins with the Message of the Baptist. A convenient synopsis, round which other thoughts can be gathered, will be: —

1 The warning of John.

2 The work of Christ.

3 The witness of the Father.

A full generation has passed away since the close of Matthew 2. King Archelaus, after a wicked reign of ten or eleven years, had been banished by the Romans. Judea had ceased to retain even the semblance of a monarchy, and is now under Roman procurators, of whom Pilate is the fifth, in a descending scale of wickedness.

Doubtless the Visit of the Wise Men, the Slaughter of the Innocents, the Glory Song, and the Virgin Birth had been long forgotten. The glint of the glory had died from the plains of Bethlehem: the angels had long since gone away again into heaven, and so far there seemed little promise of that "peace on earth" of which they had so sweetly spoken.

But Heaven again breaks the silence. "In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, 'Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.'"

Apart from the imperial glory of the world, as seen at Rome, apart from the religious system of men, as seen at Jerusalem — John was found in the wilderness; that arid tract of desert land on the west of the Dead Sea, extending northwards to the Jordan. His food and his raiment marked him out as one apart from common men.

Luke has given us his previous history.

John has given us his testimony to the Messiah. Matthew here gives us his message.

The warning words of John reach even the lifeless professors at Jerusalem. Pharisees, and even Sadducees, come to his baptism.

The message he brought was the nearness of the long-expected. Kingdom, and the importance of a moral preparation for entrance thereinto.

Every instructed Jew knew what the prophet Daniel had said as to the Kingdom to be set up by the God of Heaven, but they had little knowledge of the condition of heart which entrance into that Kingdom demanded. Even Nicodemus (John 3) failed to see more in it than a mere paradise regained for man, as man, upon the earth. The new birth, the essential qualification for even the Jew to enter into and enjoy the promises of God for His earthly people (Ezek. 36: 26) had evidently been totally lost sight of, since even one of their best-instructed rulers was ignorant of it. And so the Lord has to say to him, "Art thou a Master of Israel and knowest not these things?" (John 3: 10). Hence the importance of John's warning word, "Repent" — a total change of heart and mind was imperative if men would enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

We shall find this term — Kingdom of Heaven — about thirty-three times in this Gospel, and nowhere else in the New Testament. Five times we get "Kingdom of God" (Matt. 6: 33; Matt. 12: 28; Matt. 19: 24; Matt. 21: 31, 43), where "Kingdom of Heaven" would not convey the intended meaning. Other Scriptures speak of "the Kingdom of the Father" (Matt. 13: 43); "the Kingdom of the Son of Man" (Dan. 7); "the Kingdom of the Son of His love" (Col. 1: 13); "the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1: 11).

All, of course, refer to the rule of God; but why these varied designations? As we have already noticed, Matthew alone uses the term, "Kingdom of Heaven." Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he was writing as a Jew to Jews. Any hope of an earthly kingdom was fast passing, if it had not already passed, away. The little gleam of royalty, manifested for a moment, under the king of nonnative stock — Herod — had faded, and a deeper bondage still, all thinking men saw before them.

Under these conditions, the coming Kingdom is announced as the Kingdom of Heaven, for the kingdom on earth is in hopeless ruin. And it is striking to notice that in no other book of the Bible do we read so often about Heaven as in Matthew. We are forcibly reminded that, in spite of the failure of His people and the enmity of His foes, yet the God of Heaven has taken up the question of the earth, and that He will, even here, work out, in His own time and way, His gracious purposes of blessing for His redeemed people, and glory for His beloved Son.

The Rule of God, then, under this title, was familiar to the Jew. It was spoken of in the Law. Had that law been obeyed from the heart, the promise was that their days would be multiplied and be "as the days of Heaven upon the Earth" (Deut. 11: 21). The Psalms bore witness to it. The Seed of David would endure for ever, and "his throne as the days of Heaven" (Ps. 79: 29). The prophets, in more definite language still, describe Him, who became the Son of Man, receiving that Kingdom and glory which should never pass away (Dan. 2: 7).

This Kingdom John announced as being "at hand." The King was here; but, the King being rejected, it assumed the "mystery" form (Chap. 13: 11) which it still bears in the absence of the King.

By comparing Matthew 11: 11 with Matthew 16: 19, we learn that the Kingdom of Heaven had not then commenced, and, indeed, it did not do so until the Lord had taken His seat on high. Then Peter, having received "the keys" (Chap. 16: 19), unlocked the door to both Jew and Gentile, and although the favoured nation refused their King, and with Him, the "days of Heaven upon the earth," yet it is now given to the believer to know, in a deeper and fuller way than Israel ever will, the Rejected One; and every day may, to the Christian, be as the days of Heaven upon the earth. May our hearts enter into it more and more, and be more engaged with Himself, while we wait for His Coming.

"The Kingdom of God" occurs five times in our Gospel. It clearly expresses a different idea from the above. It has been described as "the exhibition of the ruling power of God under any circumstances." It was thus manifested when the Lord was here. So He could say (Luke 17: 21), when unbelievingly asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God was coming, "the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you." It was there represented in His Own Person.

At the day of Pentecost, and afterwards, those born from above, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit's power, exemplified in themselves the same blessed character of that heavenly rule, as seen by its fruits of "righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14: 17). This is the divine aspect.

But this term is also applied to the human side, or the Kingdom as seen in the hands of men, as Luke 13: 19-21 shows: "It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it;" and again he said, "Whereunto shall I liken the Kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." Here we get its external appearance and internal condition: an overgrown abortion, sheltering much that is evil. An adulterated mass permeating much that is good. Such is Christendom to-day. Evil men allowed, and evil doctrines accepted, have produced the condition so vividly pictured in the above Scripture.

The Kingdom of the Father and the Kingdom of the Son of Man will be a development of the Kingdom of Heaven, and will be seen when the present mystery form is at an end.

The Kingdom of the Son of Man will be the rule of God, seen in the hands of His Son, in the coming day, when the Kingdom is set up in power in the earth. Then the redeemed people will say, "Jehovah our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth" (Ps. 8: 1). He will assume the Lordship lost by Adam, and it will be exercised by Him in righteousness, both in blessing to the godly and in judgment upon the transgressors. The Father's Kingdom, on the other hand, applies to the heavenly side. It refers to things above, as the other refers to things below. The Kingdom of the Son of His love is our present place in grace: that circle of which Christ is the centre, as He is the centre of the Father's affections, and the One around whom the Father delights to gather the objects of His love — even us who were once in the Kingdom and under the power of darkness.

If the last is our present place in grace, the Everlasting Kingdom is our future place in glory. The Apostle there (2 Peter 1: 11) is giving instruction as to the future glory of the Kingdom manifested before the eyes of men. They — the Apostles — had seen His glory in the holy mount. Peter prays that believers may have an abundant entrance into the Kingdom in which that glory will be displayed.

So the Kingdom was announced as being "at hand," but there was something else. The "axe" was at the root of the tree of Jewish profession. Very soon the Master of the vineyard would have to say, "These three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?" (Luke 13: 7). Barren for many a long year, the final test was now presented. Messiah rejected would mean the nation cut off. Nevertheless, there was blessing for all who truly repented, for He baptized with the Holy Ghost — grace and salvation: as well as with fire — judgment and condemnation.

It is of the utmost importance to be clear as to the meaning of these two statements. They define, what we might call, the two extremes of the Lord's ministry, and everything connected with the present day of grace lies between. The presence of the Holy Spirit is that which marks the present age. He is with and in the believer. He has been pleased to take up His dwelling, and make our bodies His temple (1 Cor. 6: 19), and the sanctifying influence of His presence should be seen in our daily lives (Gal. 5: 25). He dwells in the Church; and His presence here is also a proof of the world's guilt, for He is here because Christ is absent (John 16: 10), and Christ is absent because men slew and hanged Him on a tree (Acts 10: 39).

But the "Age of the Spirit" will pass: the day of grace will come to a close, and when the Lord comes the second time, His dealings with the wicked and the oppressor will be with "fire" — the stern and unsparing, righteous judgment of God. So it will be then. "They shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 13: 41-42). It is the certain result of rejecting the Gospel, and it would be well if every Gospel preacher had this solemn truth deep in his heart as he proclaims the grace of God. For in proportion as grace is known, so surely will judgment be executed, if the offered grace be rejected. There can be nothing else. The threshing floor is purged, the wheat and the chaff each assigned to its proper place.

But, further, there is the Witness of the Father, and this is very beautiful. The Lord enters upon His public ministry, and His first action is to come from Galilee to Jordan, to be baptized of John. No wonder John "urgently forbade" Him. Just a short time before (John 1: 27) John had declared himself unworthy to do the meanest office for that Wonderful Person whom he was announcing, and lo! here was that same Person taking His place among those who had gone down figuratively into the waters of death, confessing their sins. The Spirit's first work in the heart of the sinner is Repentance — self-judgment and confession of what we are. This brought the remnant to John's baptism, and thereby separated them from the guilty mass of the nation. It was no question of confessing sin that brought Him there. God forbid. Something else He instructs us in. "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Righteousness brought Him, where sin brought the people. He, the only righteous One upon the earth, associates with Himself those who sought after a moral preparedness for Messiah's Kingdom. "And, lo! the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him: and, lo! a voice from heaven saying, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'"

Beautiful testimony from Heaven of the only One upon the earth who was the Object of Heaven's delight. In Genesis 6 God looked down and dealt in judgment. Here God was come down in grace. In a coming day He would lay down His life for the sheep.

But now, after the Anointing and Sealing of the Holy Spirit, the first step on His pathway to the Cross was to meet and overcome the one whose great object was to turn Him aside from that pathway.

Scripture is silent as to what took place during the "forty days" — period of perfect testing. It was clearly something that we could not enter into; therefore it is not revealed. But the three forms of temptation at the close of that period, and the way in which our Lord overcame the tempter, are written for our instruction. For we, too, are called upon to "overcome" even as He overcame (Rev. 21), and the promise to the overcomer is that he will sit with the Faithful and True Witness upon His throne. The two weapons the Lord used — the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit — we may use also. Indeed, we are instructed to lay hold of them in order that we may "quench all the fiery darts of the wicked" (Eph. 6: 16).

The first temptation is a question of circumstances. Can we trust God for daily need?

In Matthew 6 the disciples are led on to realise that they can rest in a Father's love and knowledge of their daily needs. Here the Lord exemplifies this principle of simple dependence. He would wait on His Father's guidance, and — using the "Sword of the Spirit" — He chose the right word to meet the enemy. "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Deut. 8: 3).

If the first temptation was a testing of self, the second would lead to a testing of God. Cast Thyself down and see if God will be true to His word or not. This was to instil doubt into the mind, instead of unwavering trust in God. Just what Satan succeeded in doing in Eden. The whole point of the argument in Romans 8 is that God is for us. To test or question it would be to show our own faithlessness. Israel did so in the wilderness, and said, "Is the Lord among us or not?" (Ex. 17: 7).

But the Lord again replies in the very words of Scripture, and uses a plain word to confute what Satan had misquoted and misapplied.

In the third temptation it was a question whether the things of this world are to be received from Satan or from God. Doubtless Satan had some dim knowledge that the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them would not always be his to give; that, as the first man had lost them by yielding to temptation, so the second Man might be tempted to acquire them by the same easy path. But in this case the kingdoms of the world are presented to the eye of One who has had the testimony of the Kingdom of Heaven, has seen the opened Heaven, and, as a Man upon the earth, listened to the Father's voice of approval and delight.

In proportion as the same heavenly vision fills our souls, so will the things of the world lose their attraction for us also, for our hearts will be where our treasure is, with Christ at God's right hand.

We have next to consider what the Lord met the tempter with. David of old could say, "By the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer" (Ps. 17: 4), and here the Lord shows how that same word can be used to foil every device of the enemy. David had five smooth stones in his scrip. Only one was needed to slay the giant — type of him who was here in the presence of David's greater Son. The Lord might have drawn His arguments from the five books of Moses. He uses only one — Deuteronomy — and from it selects the weapon that both exposes and defeats the foe. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" (Deut. 6: 13; 10: 20). And here let us also notice that which is of the utmost importance. The Lord quotes the very Scripture that met the case in hand. So there is guidance and instruction in Scripture for the believer, for every circumstance, or difficulty, that may arise in his pathway, but he must know where to find it. We must make it our business to be so well acquainted with the Holy Word of God as to be able to bring out at the moment the needed truth for the time of need.

"Then the devil leaveth him." Satan was defeated. Thank God, he is a defeated foe. He may roar, but he cannot rend; he may deceive, but he cannot destroy.

In closing this section let us notice seven beautiful things, manifesting the grace and power and glory of our blessed Lord: —

1 The voice of the Father points Him out as the Object of Heaven's delight.

2 The descending Spirit abides upon Him as the Son of God, whom "God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto."

3 Angels delight to minister unto Him, as once before they had heralded His birth.

4 Satan flees defeated from the presence of a Man in the wilderness. Four thousand years before he had triumphed, with the same temptations, over a man in a garden.

5 The Lord becomes the light to them that sit in darkness — Galilee of the Gentiles — that part of the outskirts of the nation which was most despised by the religious leaders. There, the Lord, rejected at Jerusalem, goes in grace and gathers to Himself a people who owned His claims and obeyed His Word.

6 He begins His wonderful mission, and its divine character is marked at the very outset by His victory over disease, death, and the devil. It is the powers of the world to come in the hands of the King. Lunacy destroyed the mind; palsy destroyed the body; demon-possession destroyed both; but Jesus healed them all.

7 Then He is seen attracting to Himself the hearts of men. Nets, boats, relations, and calling — all are left to follow the Lord Jesus. The most powerful attraction set before the soul is not "I ought," or "I must"; but the fact that One has gone through this world before us: attracted our hearts out of it to Himself, where He now is on the throne: given us His place before the Father (John 17: 14), and now He expects us to fill His place before the world.

We are not of the world. Let us show it more and more in Christ-likeness day by day.

"His Cross behind: His Home before.

Himself to-day, and evermore."

Section 3. Matthew 5, 6, 7.

The Laws of the Kingdom

*****

An Outline of the Interpretation and Application of Matthew 5: 1-12

Text.

Verse 3.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."

Poor = humble. Derivation from beggarly — in the sense of having nothing.

The Believer has nothing in this world.

Parallels.

Isa. 57: 15. "The High and holy One . . . I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a poor and contrite spirit."

Isa. 66. "To this man will I look . . . that is of a poor and contrite spirit."

Promises.

"Theirs is the Kingdom."

Inheritance WHEN the wicked — the proud have been cut off.

Mal. 3: 15. "NOW we call the proud happy."

Mal. 4: 2. "BUT unto you that fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings."

Warnings.

Mal. 4: 1. "BUT the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the PROUD . . . shall be as stubble."

Isa. 2 "The DAY of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is PROUD."

The Great Example — Christ.

2 Cor. 8: 9. "HE who was RICH, for your sakes became POOR, that ye through His poverty might be RICH."

Phil. 2. "He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a SERVANT."

*****

In Matthew 4 we saw the King triumphing over all the powers of Satan. The devil is defeated, and his works — disease and death — flee before the Divine Healer.

The fame of the Lord Jesus being thus spread abroad, He now (Chaps. 5-7) announces the Laws of His Kingdom and begins to unfold the great moral principles upon which it is founded.

We have to keep in mind that the Kingdom of Heaven is not Heaven, nor, properly speaking, in Heaven. It is the rule of Heaven on this earth (Deut. 2: 44; Deut. 7: 13-14). As we have seen, both John and the Lord Jesus announced that happy time as at hand, but, alas! the nation of Israel rejected both the King and the Kingdom. Hence the Kingdom in power was deferred, and we have now the Kingdom in mystery. We shall find the teaching as to this fully developed in Matthew 13.

But here, at the very outset, the Lord begins by describing the characteristics of those who belong to the Kingdom. It is the exact opposite of what men upon the earth manifest. Indeed, it is the opposite of what they either look for or expect. To be meek, merciful, or pure in heart necessitates a regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, and this is assumed to have already taken place in His hearers, for He is teaching disciples. The pronouns "they" and "ye" in Matthew 5: 1-12 may indicate the time to which the promises apply. Taking the list of "Blesseds" in their order, the promises in verses 1-10 will be literally fulfilled to those who find their lot in the latter day when "transgressors are come to the full" (Dan. 8).

In that day the men of pride will be exalted, and the poor in spirit — the godly remnant of the nation, who wait for Jehovah — will be counted as the offscourings of all things. But the Lord will hearken and hear, and in His Book of Remembrance their names shall be written, and they shall be His when He makes up His jewels. Then, "the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble. . . . But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings" (Mal. 4). And the meek — they shall inherit the land (of Israel) when the wicked have been destroyed out of it. The Reign of Righteousness will satisfy those that hunger and thirst after righteousness; and the pure in heart — they shall see God. The rewards and promises in this section are connected with the coming Kingdom, but, of course, while this is true historically, nevertheless, in its application, every believer, in every dispensation, should manifest every trait of the beautiful life of blessing outlined by the Lord, and by so doing, prove to all that they are indeed the children of the Kingdom.

In verses 11-12 we read, "Blessed are ye and great is your reward in Heaven." Here the Lord addresses His disciples there present. This would be true of them, and of every true disciple through all time. Later on, in His teaching, He gives them the principles that would mark them out as heavenly men upon the earth, and also make manifest the secret of the world's hatred. "If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." . . . "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me" (John 15: 19-21). So we have the double result of being true to Christ in the day of His rejection, and that is, persecution here and great reward in Heaven. It is the heavenly side of the Kingdom.

But it is well to note that He who spoke these words was the only One who ever became the perfect Examplar, in all things, and has left us His example that we should follow in His steps. This will be better seen if we arrange any one of the "Blesseds" in tabular form, as on page 25. It is a most helpful and profitable study. Every longing after the rule of God in righteousness will be found fully expressed in both Prophets and Psalms. It was that to which the godly of that dispensation looked forward, just as the coming of Christ is the hope of the Church to-day. Coupled with the promises there are also, as ever, the warnings of Jehovah against those who oppose His power and despise His grace.

But believers are also the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world." There is a twofold meaning in this. Salt is used in Scripture as a figure of God's rights, or the righteous principles of God's dealings with the earth. It is this we see expressed in the judgment on Lot's wife and the Vale of Sodom which became the valley of salt. Disciples "salt" the earth by maintaining these righteous principles and standing for the rights of God in a world that refuses to recognise either God or His rights.

The other figure used is "light." They were "the light of the world." As the first conveys the thought of righteousness, the second speaks of grace. Light shines for others and before others. It may be a guiding light or a warning light, but it is there for the good of others, and so should believers be in this world.

But coupled with the figure there is also the warning. The salt may lose its savour, and the light may get hidden. In both cases they become useless for the purpose for which they were intended. It was a warning to those whom He addressed, and to disciples of every age, and we do well to remember that we can only be "kept by the power of God unto salvation."

Then we come to something that probes the inner man. The Lord brings the light of Heaven to bear upon the motives of the heart, for "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23: 7). Violence and corruption marked the ways of man from the fall (Gen. 6); but every trace of either in the child of the Kingdom must be dealt with in unsparing self-judgment.

Under the old economy we find that the law laid down the principle, in righteousness, "An eye for an eye" (Ex. 21: 24), thereby restraining the wrath of man. Otherwise he would have demanded two eyes for one, in vengeance. But here an entirely new principle is introduced. "I say unto you that ye resist not evil." It is the very opposite of nature, which loves to avenge itself. It is different from righteousness, which measures out even-handed justice. It is the beautiful spirit of grace, manifested in all perfection in Him who "when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not." Even so the disciple should be more than righteous: he should be gracious, and while walking through this world, it is better to lose his "cloke" than give up those lovely principles of grace that mark him out as one who belongs to Christ.

But again the Lord introduces something higher still — indeed the highest standard possible. The standard for the new dispensation is nothing short of that of the character of the Father Himself. His ways are to be our ways.

To review our chapter shortly: It begins by showing what kind of people enter the Kingdom.

What the actions and character should be of those who take part with a rejected Saviour now.

Then the law is brought to bear upon the motives of men, showing that corruption and violence are the two principles of evil that govern the natural heart.

That salvation from the consequences of sin must be had at all costs. If eye, hand, or foot hinder, it must be "cut off."

That the righteousness needed must be more (i.e., of a different kind) than that of the Scribes and Pharisees; and that when this salvation is known, it so moulds the heart that the believer is passive under all kinds of reproach and injustice.

That tribulation and injustice only open the way for the activities of love seen in returning good for evil — the marks of the new dispensation, and of the children of the Kingdom.

Matthew 6 opens with the great principles of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting — right relationships with our fellow-men, with God, and with self. These are the righteousnesses of saints — the positive outcome of a life which has all the springs of its moral being in God Himself.

God is revealed to us as the giving God. He gave His Son (John 3: 16). Christ gave Himself (Eph. 5: 25). God loveth a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9: 7). We do well to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20: 35); and believers are instructed to "labour that they may have to give to him that needeth" (Eph. 4: 28). The importance of this cannot be over-estimated. We are in a world of need, both material and spiritual, and the heart that knows the grace of Christ will be a heart that has learned the secret and the joy of giving. "The liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand" (Isa. 32: 8). There is ever the danger that through unfaithfulness in "that which is another man's" (Luke 16) we may lose "that which is our own." In other words, we lose the enjoyment of those heavenly blessings which are properly ours in proportion as we are unfaithful stewards of the bounty God has entrusted us with here.

Next we come to "the prayer that teaches to pray" — when and how it was to be used. Unlike the vain repetitions of the heathen, or the ostentatious display of the hypocrite at the street corner, the disciple is to seek the secret place and deal with his Father there.

Doubtless the form of words here given was intended to guide disciples before the Holy Spirit was given, but every word of the Lord was necessarily perfect; and these various petitions express the need of disciples in a way that only the Lord Himself could teach. No doubt fuller development was given when further truth was made known, and the time was coming when, instructed by the Holy Spirit, they would ask "in the name of Jesus" and receive that their joy might be full (John 14: 13).

This knowledge of their new standing in Him they could not have before the cross, and therefore could not pray "in His name." But in the meantime they were brought into all the conscious and enjoyed knowledge of relationship with a Father who loved, cared for, and watched over them day by day.

After the acknowledgment of the relationship into which they were brought, and which is expressed in the words, "Our Father," there are six petitions setting forth in order: —

Reverence. Rule. Obedience.

Dependence. Restoration. Preservation.

It will be noticed that the first three are Godward, and the second three are manward. Also that the last three deal with the present, the past, and the future.

No greater compass of truth could possibly be brought within the bounds of so few words. Then our Lord goes back to the fifth petition to enforce the principle of Christian forgiveness. We shall meet with an even fuller development of it later, but here it is laid down as the basis on which God deals with His children in government. We may be smitten (verse 39), wronged (verse 40), sinned against (verse 41), despised (verse 44), hated or persecuted (verse 44). How are we to meet it? By asserting our rights and demanding apology and reparation? The world would do so, and it would be considered right in the eyes of the world. But, "No," says the Lord, "forgive men their trespasses." And more, it is not that the Christian walks through this world a merely passive or impassive sufferer. The very suffering he may be brought into only brings out the spirit of Christ, who was Himself, the perfect exponent in His own history of His divine teaching, and who is our perfect Example. So the Apostle could say, "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves" — the first thing nature thinks of. But here is the divine way, "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head." "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

Fasting involves the setting aside of self. And not only self looked upon as connected with the evil within; but it is the setting aside of the claims of nature itself in order to have to do with God. It is a recognition that there are spiritual things on hand of deeper importance than even rightful claims of the body. And then there is a wider sense in which the believer goes through this world abstaining from everything in it. He is "anointed" and "washed." His heart is right and his life is right. He does not appear "of a sad countenance," for the joy of Heaven fills his heart while upon the earth, and the Father who seeth in secret rewards him.

The more we value the things of earth, the more care and anxiety we create for ourselves in acquiring and retaining them. And if these things become our "treasure" — that on which the heart is set — alas! for us, for our hearts will be earthward instead of heavenward. We may procure locks and bars sufficient to defy the modern burglar, but the thief, Time, will ultimately steal ALL. He will steal them from us, and us from them.

If, on the other hand, Christ in glory has become the hope and object of the heart, then both the treasure and the heart will be above, and we shall be known as heavenly men upon the earth. By and by we shall reach our native land, enter the eternal home, and dwell in the Father's House, to go no more out. Even here we have a foretaste of it all — forgiveness, sonship, and everlasting life. Thus, in whatever circumstances we may be, our hearts can be in perfect rest. God has chosen us out of the world. He is carrying us through the world, and His object is to conform us to the image of His Son. Meantime we rest in the sense of His knowledge and of His love, that knows and provides for our every need.

If Matthew 6 gives us, principally, right relationships with God our Father, Matthew 7 begins with what should be the relationships of believers among themselves. Having been brought into the Kingdom and into relationship with the Father, we are to manifest righteousness by consistency of walk (verses 1-6). We must judge ourselves, but we may not judge each other. The judgment of others here spoken of, is that censorious criticism which "sets at nought" our brother (Rom. 14: 10), and is really closely allied to evil speaking. We have an outstanding instance in the Old Testament how God regards it, in the case of Aaron and Miriam who "spake against Moses." And Jehovah rebuked them in words pregnant with meaning" Were ye not afraid to speak against my servant" The very fact that any one slips into this only shows that they "have a beam" in their own eye.

Confidence in the Father is next seen — expressed in genuine asking, earnest seeking, and urgent knocking. This is coupled with the certain answer of grace, and illustrated by the response of even the natural man to the requests of his children.

When the subject of supplication is introduced there is an increasing urgency in the instructions, marking out the one who is in earnest, and there is a need-be for it; for there is no aspect of the spiritual life which Satan is more opposed to than the hidden life of prayer. We have all the power of Satan out to hinder and prevent our dependence upon and communion with God, and we do well to remember it. The Lord recognises it. Do we? It would seem as if promise (John 15: 7), and precept (1 Thess. 5: 17), and illustration (2 Kings 4: 33), and example (Dan. 6: 10), and exhortation (Eph. 6: 18), and warning (Matt. 26: 41), were all enlisted to enforce and press home the important truth that "men ought always to pray and not to faint." We are in an enemy's country and must keep the communications open with headquarters. We are in an element which is fatal to spiritual life, and must therefore draw all our supplies from above. "I will therefore," said the inspired apostle, "that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting" (1 Tim. 2: 8).

But Christianity is marked not only by what men are to believe. The true outward test of it will be what they do; and the practical results flowing from a true knowledge of the Father will reflect His character among men; and thus we shall carry out the golden rule, and do as we would be done by.

The entrance to the Kingdom is next spoken of under the figure of a "strait gate." There must be purpose of heart to separate from the crowd, and take an individual path at all costs. David had it (Ps. 17: 3), Daniel had it (Dan. 1), and Barnabas exhorted the young believers of Antioch to seek after it if they would make progress in the new life. There is no middle path here, and no middle place hereafter. The issues are simple, if inexpressibly solemn. A good start — the strait gate entered, the narrow way trodden the end, everlasting life. Conversion and Regeneration are the doors of entrance. Holiness marks out the pathway that leads from the strait gate to the gate of pearl. And few there be that find it. But for grace no one would.

On the other hand, wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. Everything agreeable to the flesh and pleasing to the eye may be carried through the wide gate and taken along the broad way, but the pleasures of Sin are but for a season, and the end is — Hell.

But the devil has many devices, and a very favourite one of hoary antiquity is the "false prophet." The first false prophet we read about in Scripture was Satan himself, and his first effort — in which he was very successful — was to challenge the truth of God's Word.

This is still his strong point, and there are many men in Christendom to-day doing his work. "Wolves in sheeps' clothing." Unconverted men, with a profession of Christianity and a show of learning, using their abilities to endeavour to throw doubts upon the inspiration, authenticity, and authority of God's Holy Word. Short and simple is the test given to detect them. "By their fruits ye shall know them." The world may admire and applaud. The disciple turns away. From such he gets neither joy for his heart nor food for his soul. "Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?" What the thorns and thistles are in the natural world, these are in the spiritual. And the Lord, in closing, sums up the whole field of profession, by showing that the truly wise man hears, obeys, brings forth good fruit, and continues; while the mere professor, building his house on the sand, sees his house and his hopes swept away together. Many hear the sayings and do them not — a proof of their indifference and insincerity. But here, doing the sayings of Jesus is likened to building on a rock, and proves that the inward springs that govern the moral nature have been reached by the truth.

Section 4. Matthew 8, 9.

The Dignity of the King and the Characteristics of His Mission

The Gospel takes up a lost sinner in order to make him like Christ. It gives him: —

A place in His favour.

A prospect of His glory, and

A power to bring him there.

It finds him guilty and brings him pardon.

It finds him lost and brings him salvation.

It finds him helpless and brings him power.

We shall find this illustrated in the very beautiful section of our Gospel we are now entering upon, for it shows us all the activities of the power and grace of Christ meeting and defeating all the malignant power of Satan — meeting and supplying all the deep, deep need of sinners. It is really the gospel of the Kingdom introduced with a manifestation of the powers of the age to come (Heb. 2: 5). We must not confound it with the present gospel of the grace of God. The gospel of grace might come to a poor sufferer on a sick-bed with saving power for the soul, but the body is not necessarily benefited thereby. On the other hand, we find every individual brought in contact with the Lord on earth, blessed both in soul and body. It was a proof that He was there, acting in the power of the coming Kingdom, out of which, in a coming day, when it is set up upon the earth, every trace of Satan's power, and all the effects of sin, will be cast for ever.

To-day it is the Kingdom and patience of Christ we are to manifest, till He comes again. We can imagine Peter had before him these various scenes detailed in Matthew 8 and 9, when, in Cornelius' house, he declared how "God had anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed with the devil: for God was with him" (Acts 10: 38). He was indeed the "Man approved of God by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him" (Acts 2: 22).

The Spirit of God, then, in these two chapters particularly, sets the Lord before us as the One who had come to destroy the works of the devil. In Matthew 5 He went up into a mountain, and we are instructed as to what men ought to be. In Matthew 8 He came down from the mountain, and we find out what men are.

But in the midst of it all we see the Lord moving in the calm dignity of grace and power, dispensing healing and blessing to all who were brought to Him. And it is interesting to notice here that out of all the cases of individual blessing recorded in our Lord's ministry, nearly all were brought to Him by others. Only of some six or seven is it said, "they came." Surely here is another incentive to those who know the Lord to seek to bring others to Him. "Andrew first findeth his own brother Peter." "Philip findeth Nathanael" (John 1: 41-45).

The various miracles in this section are evidently grouped together for a special reason. By referring to Mark we find that Peter's wife's mother was healed long before the leper. May the reason for this not be that these striking miracles are placed before us here in a moral order, and designed to show the power and grace of the King in the face of the strongest opposition Satan could bring against Him; designed also to show us the results of sin, which works havoc both in soul and body.

In the eighth chapter, then, we have: —

1 Grace forgingin sins.

2 Grace calling sinners.

3 Grace bringing joy.

4 Grace raising the dead.

5 Grace restoring the diseased.

6 Grace opening blind eyes.

7 Grace unloosing the tongue of the dumb.

Seven notable proofs of Jehovah's presence among His people in power and blessing.

The first miracle in Matthew 8 is that of the leper. "There came a leper." He came, confessed the power of the Lord, and was cleansed. Then he was instructed to go to the priest. The priest had before pronounced the man unclean. Now he is called upon to pronounce him clean, and in doing so to proclaim the fact that there was One in their midst who was more than man. The King of Israel (2 Kings 5) had to say, when appealed to in Naaman's case, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive?" Leprosy was known as a disease beyond the power of man. Only God could heal the leper. Here, then, was a leper healed, and the priest was bound to announce it, and offer the prescribed offering for the occasion (Lev. 14). It was a positive proof of Messiah's power.

But in the second miracle it was a Gentile who got the blessing, and there was no question at all in the mind of the centurion of either the grace or power of Christ. His faith counted upon both, and thereby the Gentile, outside the scope of promise, honoured the Lord, and was rewarded. In commenting upon this faith, the Lord points out, in marked contrast, the unbelief of Israel, and foreshadows the rejection of the nation till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Next we find the Lord in Peter's house; and, taking the fever patient by the hand, he lifted her up (Mark 1). Surely she might well remember that hand-clasp. And the hand of weakness grasped by the hand of power, might well become a ministering hand henceforth.

Referring again to Mark, we learn that this miracle was wrought upon the Sabbath day, and then "when the evening was come" — that is, when the Sabbath day was past — "they brought unto him many that were possessed with demons, and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick." Man's day was setting in darkness and sorrow. Earth's sinking sun saw only suffering humanity, but the Lord brings grace for the guilty, salvation for the lost, and deliverance for the captives of sin and Satan.

"Oh I with what various ills they met,

Oh with what joy they went away."

The Lord then sets out to cross the Sea of Galilee to the land of Gadara, originally inhabited by the tribe of Gad. And this long and, as it proved, dangerous journey is undertaken with the object of bringing deliverance to two men possessed with demons; but the occasion of the crossing became also the occasion of testing two would-be disciples. The Lord's answer to the first is very striking. "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have their nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." There was room and a home on earth for that which men think of little value. There was a place for that which men count even injurious, but the King of Glory was a homeless Stranger. Peter's fisher coat might afford Him a rough pillow while crossing the lake; but the Son of Man had not where to lay His head. And here for the first time we get this new title He applies to Himself. It spoke volumes to Israel, could Israel have understood, for He did not become the "Son of Man" until He had first become the "rejected Messiah."

If the first follower was hindered by worldly position, the second was hindered by worldly ties, and neither can be allowed before the claims of Christ. The beginning of all discipleship is unquestioning obedience produced in the heart by love in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord might have prevented the storm; He allowed it, and that for two reasons. The disciples had to learn what manner of MAN this was who was with them, and the second was that HE was the One to whom to turn in every difficulty. Doubtless their seamanship had often been tested in days gone by on that same lake, but here was evidently something out of the common. They saw nothing before them but disaster, and although the Lord was with them, and though they had witnessed His power so often before, yet they "were afraid." They had not yet learned to trust Him wholly. The Lord first reproves them for their fears, and then delivers them from their dangers. One has said, "He did not chide them for disturbing Him with their prayers, but for disturbing themselves with their fears."

What comes out in the closing half of our chapter is the power of Satan, seen in three ways: (a) Over the elements, in his attempt to raise a storm that would destroy the Christ of God Himself; (b) over two men so under his power as to be worse than the wild beasts of the earth; (c) lastly, over a people so blinded by sin that when One was present in grace and power to bless, they "besought him to depart out of their coasts." And the Lord does so.

Matthew 9 shows some of the characteristics of the wonderful mission that brought the Son of God to earth. It was not only a question of delivering from the effects of Satan's power, but removing the cause which gave him that power over men. And so when the Lord saw the faith of the friends of the palsied man, doubtless reflected in the heart of the man himself, He responds in the first place, not by healing the man's bodily disease, but by touching what was deeper, the disease of the soul — He forgave his sins. Which brings out this, that here in His own city — Capernaum — where many of His mighty works had been done, the Scribes saw in Him only a man, and dared to say that He was a blasphemer.

At Matthew 8: 34, His works were rejected: here His divine person and heavenly origin is despised, and later in our chapter the leaders of the people commit the unpardonable sin by ascribing His acts of power to Beelzebub. Such is man by nature, even at his best. Everything was leading up to His rejection by the nation, and the nation's rejection by Him.

But not only is He the Forgiver of Sins. Grace brings sinners into His own presence — yea, even to the table with Him; just what the same grace is doing to-day to all who own their guilt and accept His mercy.

The call of Matthew is an occasion where we see the activity of grace in the heart of one who has become a recipient of it. From Mark's Gospel we learn that Matthew was so enraptured with the grace that had deigned to call a poor publican like himself, that he made a great feast in his own house; and a great company of publicans and sinners were gathered together to meet with Jesus. And there was great joy in that house, for the blessed ones were in the presence of the Blesser, and in the realisation of what the Psalmist experienced when he said, "In thy presence is fulness of joy: at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Ps. 16: 11).

The Pharisees raise the question of fasting, but the One who alone was the source of all true joy was in their midst: how unseemly, then, to be occupied with that which was an expression of sorrow.

The Lord next develops the principle of this new thing in the two short parables which follow. The "new cloth" and the "new wine" are the principles of sovereign grace, as opposed to the old covenant of legal righteousness.

Israel of old was under a covenant of works, but, when Christ came, the end of that economy came with Him. Henceforth God was dealing with men in pure unmixed grace. The publican and the sinner were nearer the Kingdom of God than the ceremonially perfect Pharisee, who boasted in his own righteousness and despised others — nearer because they owned their badness, instead of boasting in their fancied goodness. Neither would it do to mingle these two things. Law and grace cannot be blended. The Galatians tried to mix them, and were soundly rebuked by the inspired Apostle. Christendom is doing it to-day, and the result is that the terror is taken from the law by the effort to pare it down to meet men's failures, and all the sweetness is taken from the grace of God by a system of works which tries to earn His favour.

Rightly understood the holy law of God must ever be a source of terror to unholy man, for under it there is no hope for him at all. It demands righteousness from man, without giving him power to produce it. It exposes and condemns his sins, without providing any way to remove them.

Grace, on the other hand, is the sweetest sound that ever reached the sinner's ears, for it deals not at all with what he is, but with what God is: God, who gave up His Son unto death, and that for the ungodly, Christ who redeemed him from the curse of law by being made a curse, and now the Holy Spirit of God come down to make good in his heart these precious truths and lead him into the enjoyment of all the boundless privileges grace has heaped upon him. There can neither be deliverance nor worship until grace is known and enjoyed.

Next in order we have the case of one who was dead, of one with an incurable disease, of two who were blind, and of one who was dumb. Could any addition be made to this sum of human misery? Could the works of the devil be more manifestly displayed? And all this in the midst of the Lord's own nation of Israel. And, figuratively, it is a picture of Israel; and the mighty works the Lord did in their midst, for individuals, form a type of what He will yet do for the nation, when He sets His hand, in a coming day, to recover and restore His ancient people.

But what we have specially to notice at the close of our chapter is this, that the Pharisees and rulers of the people, after all that they had seen of His works of power, and after all that they had heard of His words of grace, gave it as their considered opinion, "He casteth out devils through the prince of devils" (verse 34).

The King was definitely rejected. The blind men (verse 37) acknowledge Him as "Son of David," and by David's greater Son they are healed: but it was done "in the house" apart from the multitude; and when healed they were charged no longer to proclaim Him as such. His relationship was now no longer that of "Son of David" to the nation, but the wider one of "Son of Man" to the multitudes who were "scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd."

From this standpoint the Lord begins another circuit of Galilee, and in patient grace we find Him going about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. We have before noticed that the expression "Kingdom of Heaven" is found only in Matthew; and only in Matthew do we get "Gospel of the Kingdom," and that thrice repeated (Matt. 4, 9, 24). Here was the cure for all the ills that afflicted Jehovah's land; but, alas! Israel refused the Gospel of the Kingdom then, as sinners to-day refuse the Gospel of Grace. And there never was grace like the grace of Christ. He was moved to compassion by the sight of the fainting multitudes, and He would have His disciples to share the same compassion for the lost as moved His own heart. With this motive they would pray with a sense of the urgency of the need, and this need is as great to-day.

The three short commands, "Pray ye," "Look ye," "Go ye," are intimately connected. Can we truly obey one without obeying all?

Section 5. Matthew 10, 11, 12.

The King's Messengers, the King's Message, and the King Himself Rejected

It is very important to be clear as to the teaching of this section of our Gospel in order rightly to understand the whole. It records the events that lead up to, and introduce the change of dispensations following the rejection of the Messiah.

In the first place the King's messengers go out with the King's message. The nation rejects the messengers and refuse the message. John, the forerunner, is imprisoned. The people that rejected both John and the Lord are likened to children who would respond to the voice neither of mirth nor of mourning. The pride and worldliness of Tyre and Sidon would meet with a less severe judgment than the cities of Galilee which had seen His mighty works. But though rejected by the people and their leaders, yet the weary and heavy-laden would come to Him and find rest; and as the Sabbath was intended to be a sign of a kept law, He exposes the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who professed to keep the Sabbath and yet rejected the Lord of the Sabbath. Their only reply to His words of grace and acts of power was to hold a council against Him, how they might destroy Him. Henceforth it was all over with the nation. The new thing was announced according to prophecy. Judgment would go forth to the Gentiles who were outside the scope of Jewish promise, in the darkness of heathendom and the prison-house of the devil. The result would be the "new song to the Lord" and His praise to the ends of the earth (Isa. 42: 1-10). The Pharisees desire a sign, and get two, which showed them, could they only have seen it, that they would be condemned by the faith of those who had both less light and fewer privileges. Jonah did no signs, and Solomon's wisdom was not to be compared with that of Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

But looking a little closer into details we find that Matthew 10 opens with the mission of the twelve. At the close of Matthew 9 they were instructed to pray for labourers to be sent forth, and here we find them being sent forth themselves. The disciples now become apostles — sent ones. Hitherto they had been following with the Lord, as disciples; now they go forth for the Lord, as servants, and the chapter is full of the deepest practical instruction for every servant, now, as well as then.

In the first place we get a list of the names of the twelve, and here only Matthew is called "the publican"; it is as if the writer desired to express his appreciation of the grace that could take up a poor publican and number him among that select company — the Apostles of the Lamb.

The Lord then instructs them as to: —

1 The sphere of their mission.

2 The persons to whom the message was sent,

3 The character of the message, and

4 Its evidences.

It was a purely Jewish mission of Jewish apostles to the Jewish people, and, this being so, neither Samaritan nor Gentile has any part in it.

This should make it clear to all that this mission of the twelve had nothing in common with the present Gospel of the grace of God which goes out to all, world wide, without exception or distinction, consequent upon the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But here the apostles are instructed to go only to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." They were as sheep having no shepherd, or even in a worse position still, according to Zech. 11: 5, as a flock of slaughter The nation had reached the period when "their possessors (the Romans) slay them and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them (the Herodians) say, 'Blessed be the Lord for I am rich': and their own shepherds (the Pharisees) pity them not." Such was Israel's miserable plight when the Lord Jesus appeared, God come down in grace to deliver, proclaiming as "at hand" that Kingdom which had been so long promised through the prophets. But in spite of all He said, or did, or was, the King — the true Shepherd of Israel — was rejected, and what the prophet Zechariah had foretold now took place. "I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people" (Zech. 11: 10). The whole chapter is of great interest in connection with this portion of our Gospel.

The character of the message and its evidences bear further testimony that it was the fulfilment of Jewish prophecy. That the Kingdom was near was evidenced by the powers of the coming age having been conferred upon, and now to be manifested by, the King's messengers. Four things they were instructed to do: —

Heal the sick.

Cleanse the lepers.

Raise the dead.

Cast out devils (demons).

In short, disease, death, and the devil would yield to the power of Jehovah exercised by His servants, as they will again do in a coming day, when Jehovah is Judge, Lawgiver, and King, and "the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick" (Isa. 33: 24). But to apply such a scripture to the present dispensation only betrays ignorance of the ways of God. The man who bases on this for so-called faith healing is equally bound to raise the dead; and his failure should convince him of his folly.

But their mission would be in no wise accepted by the nation. Indeed, the Lord warned them that they would find themselves as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore their dependence was to be upon God Himself. Their Lord had been persecuted and rejected; so would they be. The Person of Christ, the people of Christ, and the Word of Christ, are three things that the world hates. Satan and the works of Satan it can tolerate; for, alas! the evil heart of man understands them; but, when One came from God with power to deliver, the only answer the world had was "crucify Him." The Master was called Beelzebub, so would the servant be.

It is important to note that this mission is looked upon as continuous, right on "till the Son of Man be come" (verse 24). No doubt it was interrupted at the Cross, and from then until the Church period is over, it will continue to be so. But when the Church is rapt to the glory, Messiah's messengers will again go forth with the Kingdom Gospel, and Messiah Himself will appear to establish His Kingdom in power, as we shall see more fully in Matthew 25.

But in the meantime, and until that day of power, the disciples would be in the place of testimony for a rejected Lord, and therefore hated by the world, and it is beautiful to notice how He fortifies their hearts against the world's opposition. In the first place: —

They were the objects of the Father's care. If that care extended even to the unimportant sparrow, how much more to the confessors of Christ? And so intimately are they known to Him that even the very hairs of their heads were numbered — nothing could really harm them. Again:

Their faithful testimony here would ensure honourable mention in the day of glory. It is one of the ways of God with His children here, that we are often delivered from occupation with present things, by having the light of the future turned upon them. So Paul reckoned that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed (Rom. 8: 18). For if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him (2 Tim. 2). The Cross-bearer here is going to be Crown-wearer by and by.

But there is further encouragement for them of a different character at the close of the chapter. only one Servant was ever able to go on in a path of unceasing rejection, and that was the Master Himself. He had to say: "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain; yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God" (Isa. 49: 4). His path, uncheered by earthly smiles, led only to the Cross. But for these servants, if some rejected them, there would be those who would receive their testimony, and the receivers would be blessed of the Father and inherit the Kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world (Chap 25).

We can see clearly, as we study these chapters, how Israel was now on her last trial. In her past history she had turned to idolatry, from the living and true God. Elijah's accusation was a true one when he said: "The children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword." Bitter captivity, as they had been forewarned, had followed fast upon their sin; but grace had again intervened, and a remnant of the nation was once more in Israel's land. Now, it was no more a question of broken laws, neglected altars, or persecuted prophets; but a question as to Messiah Himself. Jehovah — Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us — become, in grace, the Servant, although the very King of Glory. He was in their midst; and, if He was rejected, there only lay before them the last Roman captivity, as foreshadowed by Daniel's devouring "beast" (Dan. 7), Jerusalem's desolation, as foretold by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, the Kingdom of God taken from them, and, finally (Messiah having been rejected), the Antichrist would be accepted, and so bring upon the nation the great tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble, before the Lord returned in power and glory.

The study of this chapter is of the utmost importance, in order rightly to understand the ways of God with men.

Matthew 11 lays bare the springs of evil in the heart of man, that could reject both the grace and power of Messiah, as shown in Matthew 10 by His messengers, and His own gracious ministry (Chap. 11: 1). The wicked king, the "idol shepherd" — Herod — had imprisoned the faithful and fearless Forerunner. In the gloomy dungeon of Macherus, John, brooding alone in his bondage, would seem to have questioned whether, after all, his own mission had not been a failure. Where was the Kingdom he had announced, and what proof was there that the King was really present? Hence the questionings of his spirit found utterance in the inquiry, "Art Thou He?"

The Lord replied to His dying witness by acts of power and words of comfort. When the disciples of John had departed, the Lord praises the devoted constancy of His servant. John was no weakling — no "reed shaken with the wind." King's courts were not familiar places to him, and the smiles and frowns of kings were matters of equal indifference. lie was "more than a prophet," for he was honoured by being the immediate messenger of Jehovah. Himself. But the Lord marks the change of dispensation by announcing that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven, as sons of God, had a nearer relationship than even John — "no greater" servant of woman born. Prophetic testimony had been since Abel downwards: that was now ended, and Messiah Himself was present, of whom all the prophets had spoken: and this fact made the sin of the age — the rejection of Jesus — the greatest it was possible for man to commit. Tyre's worldliness and Sodom's immorality were eclipsed by the unbelief of the cities of Galilee.

Turning from them, the Lord in verses 25-30 reveals the divine purposes and counsels whereby "the babe" (the true disciple) is instructed into the deep things of God. Here our Gospel touches on the main subject developed in the Gospel of John — the revelation of the Father and the Son. The Lord returns, as it were, back to the eternal purposes of God. If the throne of David was denied Him by the nation, all things were given Him by the Father, and He alone could reveal the Father to His own. The ineffable Godhead glory of the Father could only be revealed by the Son. But that He could reveal it, proved His own Personal Deity, for who but God could reveal God? Further, a knowledge of the mystery of the divine Son of God incarnate — His Being and Person — very God, and yet a true Man upon the earth, could be known only by the Father alone.

This One then calls to Himself the weary of every class, and clime, and nation, in order to give them rest. Here only was rest to be found, for He alone could lay the foundation upon which every purpose of God in grace to the world was to be established.

Not only was rest of conscience to be given there was also rest of heart to be found but the last is only promised upon the ground of discipleship. To learn of Him: to be yoked with Him: to be meek and lowly like Him — is there a power in earth or hell that can disturb or distract the soul that has entered, in a practical way, into these sublime and heavenly truths?

In Matthew 12 we find Messiah's messengers an hungered, even in Messiah's land, so thoroughly had their Master been rejected. Walking by the side of the corn-fields, the disciples pluck the ears of corn and eat them, which was allowed by the law (Deut. 23: 25). The Lord then uses the opposition the Pharisees made to this, to show them, both in teaching and practice, that every link with God, for that generation, was now completely severed. What were mere forms of godliness, when the Son of God Himself was despised? In the nation's history, in days gone by, there had been a time analogous to the present. David, the true king, was rejected and fleeing for his life. The people's king, Saul, was on the throne, and God's king was an exile. On the Sabbath day (compare Lev. 24 with 1 Sam. 21) David and his followers did eat of the shewbread, which pertained only to the priests, and were blameless. But what the Pharisees did prove by their opposition was their own inconsistency and guilty rejection of divine power, made manifest before all. And this would ultimately be the cause of their own rejection by God Himself, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Following upon the next miracle of healing the man with the withered hand — apt picture of Israel who should have been strong for God, and was not — the Holy Spirit directs attention to the true Servant, and His beautiful characteristics as described in Isaiah's glowing page.

1 He was the Chosen One.

2 The Beloved.

3 Filled with the Spirit.

4 The One who would show judgment to the nations.

5 Patient and Tender.

6 Finally Victorious, and

7 The One in whom the Gentiles would trust (Isa. 42).

Henceforth it is no longer a question of blessing to Israel only; the gracious service, in the hands of the Perfect Servant, the "Son of Man," now assumes a wider aspect, and there is final blessing for the whole earth.

In Isaiah 5 the prophet describes what God had done for the nation, and what the nation had failed to be for God. The six "woes," in the same chapter, describe the sad result "because they had cast away the law of the Lord of Hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel" (verse 24). But the True Servant "shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law" (Isa. 62: 4).

One other miracle the Lord works about this time, as if to show conclusively His divine authority: There was brought unto Him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and He healed him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. We have had blind eyes opened and deaf ears unstopped, but here both together, in one subject, are brought before us as a picture of where the nation now was, led on by their blind guides, refusing either to see or confess their own Messiah in their midst. The people might say, "Is not this the Son of David?" but the foes of Christ charge Him with being the minister of satanic power, and thus commit the sin of sins by blaspheming the Holy Spirit of God.

Even after the Cross, the first martyr, Stephen, had to charge home upon their conscience the same terrible guilt, "Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost" (Acts 7: 51).

The Lord goes on to show: —

That Satan did not war against himself.

That the Kingdom of God was among them.

That the "strong man," Satan, had been bound, and

That "his goods," the souls of men, could now be set free.

However, that generation was judged. It was a corrupt tree and could not bring forth good fruit. Being evil, their words were idle and evil, and for every idle word they would come into judgment. Their fathers in the wilderness had spoken against Jehovah in their midst in power, and His anger was kindled. Here Jehovah was in their midst in grace, and as their fathers had done, so did they.

It is remarkable, how that after all the mighty works the Lord had done among them, the Pharisees should still demand a sign, and it is also well to notice that out of the forty-six recorded miracles of our Lord, no less than thirty-three were wrought in Galilee. No further sign would convince them, but the Lord gives them two that would condemn them. Jonah, up from the depth of the sea, type of Christ risen from among the dead, and preached in grace to the Gentiles, was the first. But if Messiah was cut off, what hope for that generation? And the fact that the men of Nineveh received and bowed to the voice of the prophet, while the men of Israel refused the voice of One greater than Jonah, would add tenfold to their condemnation.

The second sign was the attractive power of the wisdom of Solomon for the heart of the Queen of Sheba. The fame of this wisdom (1 Kings 8) produced something in her heart beyond the mere repentance of the Ninevites. It had the effect of bringing her into the presence of the king; and the result was that every desire of her heart was satisfied. How much greater was the One in whose presence they were? The One who had given to Solomon his wisdom, and his riches, and his glory, was in their midst, but they saw no beauty in Him that they should desire Him.

And then the Lord passes to the end, and with sad and solemn words, in parabolic language, describes the present and future history of the nation.

Of all the various forms of evil with which Satan has sought to lead men from God, no form seems to have been so successful as idolatry. We do not know that it was in the world before the flood. Then the devil wrought through the unbridled passions of men, left to the freedom of their own lusts. When the sword of justice was put into the hands of Noah and his sons, restraint was put upon physical violence, but moral evil thereupon blossomed unchecked. Because men did not like to retain the knowledge of the true God, and because they must have a god of some kind, at the instigation of Satan, they made gods for themselves, and attributed to these idols all the evil passions that filled their own hearts. Soon idolatry had filled the whole known world; and God, in electing grace, had to call Abram entirely out of his father's house, in order to become the "father of the faithful." Yet how successfully the "unclean spirit" carried on his operations, even amidst the chosen seed, may be seen when we find idolatry tacitly allowed even in Jacob's household, in the wilderness openly indulged in, and publicly provided for under the reign of Israel's wisest king, until God, through His prophet, had to warn, in the days of Manasseh, what the result would be. And very soon afterwards Jerusalem was "wiped as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down" (2 Kings 21: 13).

From that day till the present moment idolatry has been unknown among the Jews. The "unclean spirit" went out, and the house was left empty, swept, and garnished. It was not that evil under other forms was not among them, but idolatry was not there. Nevertheless, the Lord says that in a coming day, a sevenfold spirit of evil — idolatry and worse — will take possession of the guilty generation. Man himself will usurp the place of God, and demand and receive that adoration and worship which is only due to God alone. Both "the beast" and his "image" will be worshipped, and that by men and by a nation of the highest intelligence upon the face of the earth. There is no form of evil that men, in spite of all their boasted civilisation, will not indulge in, if left to the control of Satan and the desire of their own wicked hearts.

But when man has reached his lowest, God comes in, and He will take a hand in the affairs of Israel, and of the earth, in judgment, and "destroy the men who destroy the earth" (Rev. 11: 18).

This chapter should be studied in connection with that beautiful section of Isaiah 49 — 53. In Isa. 48 Israel, who should have been the servant of Jehovah, is charged with obstinacy and treacherous dealing, and formally set aside. In Isa. 49 the True Servant is announced, and after His mission to Israel, He has to say, "I have laboured in vain, and spent my strength for nought and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God. . . . And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth" (verses 4-6). There would then be blessing, not for Israel only, but for all nations. This was now beginning to be fulfilled, but the Cross had to come in before there could be blessing for any.

Isaiah 50 deals with the Blessed One upon the earth: His life of obedience to God and suffering at the hands of men. "The Lord God hath opened mine ear and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiter, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting" (verses 5, 6). In Isaiah 51 the day of redemption has come, and there is a threefold call to the remnant to "hearken," and the promise that the days of mourning are ended and those of joy and gladness begun. The cup of trembling is taken out of her hands, and Jerusalem is exhorted (Isa. 52) to awake and put on her beautiful garments. Then Jehovah turns (Isa. 53) to contemplate His perfect Servant, upon the earth, in all His wonderful pathway of dependence and devotedness to the will of God: of rejection and suffering at the hands of men.

But there was still a deeper depth. Expiation, atonement, and propitiation could only be through blood-shedding and death, and He became obedient unto death, "wherefore God also hath highly exalted him" (Phil. 2). His work is above every work: His name above every name.

As one result of that work, Israel's blessing is secured upon the ground of sovereign grace, and, in the bright millennial day (Isa . 54), she is invited to break forth into singing. She is no longer Lo-Ami (not my people), but her Maker is her husband, the Lord of Hosts is His name.

It seems hardly necessary to add that the prophet, after describing "the sufferings of Christ," goes on to describe "the glory that should follow." He necessarily passes over the Church, which was a mystery then hid in the counsels of God, but to be revealed after the Lord had taken His seat on high.

But all this was consequent upon the rejection of the Messiah, and coming back again to the close of Matthew 12, we find (verse 46) that the Lord now, in figure, breaks the last earthly link with Israel after the flesh. Everything of the old economy was over. The Jews might boast of having Abraham for their father, being Moses' disciples, having the law, and the prophets but prophets, priesthood, law, or kingdom was now of no account before God. The abuse of these privileges only rendered their guilt the deeper. In short, this chapter brings us to the close of the moral history of the nation.

But new relationships of a spiritual character were about to begin, and these would be manifested by: —

1 Following Christ.

2 Hearing the Word of God.

3 Doing the Father's will.

Section 6. Matthew 13.

The Outward and Inward Aspects of the Kingdom in the Absence of the King

The Bible is a book in two parts. The Old Testament has to do with the earth. It is the mind of Heaven revealed to man upon the earth to fit him for the earth.

But man closed his ears to the voice of God, disobeyed the divine will, and made himself unfit for the earth in which God had placed him. Eden and innocence were lost by Adam. Canaan and liberty were lost by Israel. Happiness and holiness have been lost by all because of sin and disobedience.

Hence the New Testament has to do with heaven. It reveals the mind of God as to how men, who had made themselves unfit for the earth, might be made fit for heaven itself through the Gospel.

The portion of our Gospel which we have so far been considering has had to do with Israel, still dealt with on the ground of responsibility. Messiah was presented for their acceptance or rejection, as men upon the earth; and, as we have seen, He had been rejected. Accordingly, at the close of Matthew 12, the Lord announces new terms of relationship — even that which was of a spiritual character. "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother," and the same day He went out of the house and sat by the seaside.

Then follows the most remarkable series of parables given in any of the Gospels. Their number — seven — is in itself suggestive. We meet first with this number in Scripture in Genesis 2, where the seventh day is called the "Sabbath" from a root meaning to be "full," "satisfied," or "perfected." So God rested on the seventh day. His work was perfected. Nothing could be added to it.

These seven parables then set forth in symbolic language, systematic order, and historical sequence the moral characteristics of: —

The origin,

Outward progress,

Declension, and

Consummation

of the Kingdom of Heaven as seen in the hands of men. At the same time, they also disclose the true inward and hidden aspect of that Kingdom in mystery, God's husbandry, God's building — against which neither the wickedness of men, the assaults of Satan, or the powers of hell can prevail.

Thus we see unfolded before us: —

1 What Christ does.

2 What Satan does, and

3 What men do.

Parable 1

The object of the opening parable is to show: —

1 The way in which the Word of the Kingdom is introduced.

2 The hindrances it encounters, and

3 The results it achieves.

The sower is the Lord Himself. He is no longer seeking fruit from Israel, but He is beginning in the world at large a new work of grace, which, like the good seed, will reproduce itself.

But, as there were obstacles in the way of the seed, so there are hindrances to the operations of grace.

The devil, the world, and the flesh oppose: —

1 Some of the seed fell "by the wayside." Here we have pictured that condition of heart which is, alas, but too common wherever the Gospel is proclaimed. There are hearts so careless and indifferent that they fail to see either their danger in rejecting the Gospel, or their blessing in receiving it. And in addition to this there is the enemy without who is ever ready to take advantage of the condition within. He catcheth away the word. These are the Hard-Hearted.

2 Again, some of the seed fell upon stony places where there was not much depth of earth. Two things are said of these. They had no depth of earth, hence no root, and when the sun was up they withered away.

In His interpretation (verse 20) the Lord says of these here represented that they received the word with joy, but when persecution arose they were offended (stumbled). Joy, though a very important part of Christian experience, is not usually the first result of the Spirit's work in the soul. If the conscience be ploughed up there will be deep exercise as to sin, and joy will only come when the sin question is settled. Hence we gather that there was, on the part of those spoken of here, no real knowledge of either sin, self, or grace, and so no ability to continue when persecution arose for the Word's sake. In short, they are the Faint-Hearted.

3 "And some fell among thorns." Here the ground is already occupied with something else, and something also which is indigenous to the soil. The thorns were there before the seed fell amongst them. So much so that Matthew takes no account of the apparent growth of the seed at all — only of the thorns, and Luke notices it only to show that the flourishing condition of the thorns choked the seed.

The Lord shows here the utter impossibility of producing fruit for God while the heart is occupied with the world, and in Luke the whole circle of worldly influences is represented its cares, its riches, or its pleasures. The three combined, or any one of them, may so fill the heart that the Word of God, though falling on the ear, and even being tacitly consented to by the mind, may yet produce no saving faith in the soul or fruit in the life, because there is no purpose of heart for God and no break with the world.

These may be classed as the Half-Hearted.

Yet, in spite of all the opposition of the devil, the flesh, and the world, the Word accomplishes the most remarkable results.

4 Some fell on good ground and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold. Is the difference to be accounted for on the ground of fidelity or opportunity? The Lord does not here take up the question, but other scriptures show that both will be taken into consideration in the great Day of Rewards.

But the disciples understood none of these things until the Lord opened out the meaning before them. To disciples it had been given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom; and the Lord's interpretation of the "sower" and of the "tares in the field" would, no doubt, instruct them in the meaning of all parables.

Broadly speaking, the results of the sowing are such as follow the preaching of the Gospel in all ages and among all nations. Some are "good ground" hearers, and produce good fruit. Many, alas! are careless, and whether the hindrance be the devil, the world, or the flesh, they bring no fruit to perfection.

Parable 2

But in the next parable we have a further development of the history of the Kingdom, as committed to the hands of man, and four things follow: —

1 There is carelessness on the part of those who should have been watchers.

2 The enemy no longer "catches away" that which was sown. He adopts a new plan, and sows tares among the wheat.

3 The servants get instructions for their guidance under the new conditions, and

4 The Lord shows what is in store for both "wheat" and "tares" at the end of the age.

The Book of Acts reveals to us how very early in the history of the Church Satan began his operations of introducing the "children of the wicked one" among the "children of the Kingdom." And though faithfulness on the part of Peter was able to detect and expose Simon Magus (Acts 8: 21), yet such godly care and watchfulness soon, alas! disappeared, and evil men crept in unawares, just as the Lord here foretold.

The servants, however, in the parable were prompt to appraise the evil at its true value when it showed itself, and they seek instructions from the Lord for wisdom to deal with it. And here we must note carefully the Lord's interpretation of the parable to understand rightly the force of the instructions He gives them.

The field is the world — the kosmos. Here the word "world" indicates the sphere where the Word of God goes forth. In verses 39, 40 it indicates the space of time allowed for its dissemination. It is no longer a question of the land of Israel and a testimony to Messiah inside, with no appeal to Samaritan or Gentile outside of it, but the scope of the operations of grace will be world-wide, and the Kingdom of Heaven will be open to all without exception or distinction.

The good seed are the children of the Kingdom. There is here a historical as well as a moral development. It is not a question of seed to reproduce itself as the result of a sowing, but it deals with what has been produced and is now in evidence in "the field." The "children of the Kingdom" are there, as was to be expected. But there are also the "children of the wicked one," wholly unexpected on the part of the servants who knew not the forces of evil at work, though unseen by men. It is the beginning of the "mystery of iniquity." Of those who bear the name of Christ, but have not the Spirit of Christ — unconverted and unregenerate, yet in the field of Christian profession, the Lord says, with solemn emphasis, that they are the "children of the wicked one."

The servants have a suggested cure for these unexpected conditions, but the Lord shows them that their method is not the divine way. Penal judgment in divine things is never committed into the hands of men. The "tares" are in the Kingdom, and are to be allowed there until the "harvest." Evil men are not to be put out of the Kingdom, which could only be done by putting them to death.

Rome, interpreting "the field" to be "the Church," though in plain contradiction to the scripture, and which it is not, has endeavoured to root out those whom she branded as "tares," and thereby made herself responsible for the blood of fifty millions of the saints of God. Protestantism has gone to the opposite extreme, and with a spirit of latitudinarianism utterly regardless of the claims of Christ or the holiness of the House of God, has allowed all kinds of men and many forms of evil doctrine to enter the professing Church, arguing that as there were "tares" in the "field," so there would be the unconverted in the Church — a right premise, but an utterly wrong conclusion.

How important it is to divide rightly the word of truth (2 Tim. 2: 15).

Continuing His instructions the Lord unmasks the cause of this condition of things: —

The enemy that sowed them is the devil. For reasons beyond our ken, Satan is allowed to carry out his plans to the apparent disorganising of the plans of God. It was so at Eden, and his apparent success ended in man's expulsion from the paradise of God. In the post-diluvian world, although the original curse was partly removed and violence was no longer allowed to fill the earth to the same extent as before the flood, yet Satan was ready with something else to take its place, and mankind in the mass very soon became wholly given up to idolatry. No sooner was Abraham called out from his own country to be a stranger in the land of Canaan, than we see the wiles of the enemy under another form, and the son of the bondwoman is foisted into the place of the true seed. Foiled again in this, we trace the workings of the old serpent in the hatred of the ten brethren against Joseph, the uprisings against Moses, the grievous departure from God when in the land, the revolt of the ten tribes from the house of David, and the rapid declension of both kings and people from the ways of God, until He removed both Judah and Israel out of their own land because "they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy" (2 Chron. 36: 16).

When Israel, for the time, is set aside, and the Kingdom of Heaven introduced, the enemy, alert in evil as ever, is ready with an imitation of that which is real. But the Lord brings the light of the future to illumine what is dark in the present, and He tells His disciples that the enemy's success is only for a time. Both wheat and tares grow together until the harvest, but at the harvest — the end of the age everything will come out in its true colours It cannot be too often repeated that it is not the end of the world that is in view here, but a definite moment in the dealings of God with this world, and from other scriptures we learn that that time will be just before the setting up of the Millennial Kingdom. It must be carefully distinguished both from the coming of the Lord for His people (1 Thess. 4), which takes place shortly before this, and also from the Judgment of the Great White Throne (Rev. 20), which does not take place until a thousand years afterwards.

When the Lord comes for His people it is a question of the righteous being taken out from among the wicked.

Here it is a question of the wicked being taken out from among the righteous.

At the Judgment of the Great White Throne, there is no separation at all, for all alike have died in sin, been buried in sin, and, raised again unrepentant and unforgiven, are alike cast into the lake of fire — solemn thought!

But here the Lord takes the character of Son of Man, and as such He deals with the earth. He will come to deliver the faithful, judge the ungodly, purge the earth, fulfil to the suffering ones of Israel every promise of Matthew 5, and introduce the long promised Kingdom in power, and in glory, and in universal blessing according to Isaiah 60 and Zechariah 14.

Further, this scripture tells us how this will be done: —

The Reapers are the Angels. — There will be angelic ministry in that day, such as heretofore the world has only had glimpses of. Under the old economy the angels were, if we might so say, in the place of rule (Gal. 3: 19). In the present day of grace they are seen in the place of lowly service to the children of the Kingdom (Heb. 1: 14). But in the coming day will be seen the angels of His power as the executors of the judgment of God upon evil, and evil men.

Just as the husbandman gathers together the useless tares, and binds them in bundles with the ultimate object of their destruction, so evil men will be found at the close of this age banded together against the Lord and against His people, and as such their confederacies will be dealt with by the Lord. Their solemn end is the furnace of fire, where there is "wailing and gnashing of teeth."

Then will be seen the final triumph of the ways of God, and the crushing failure of all the wiles of the devil. The wickedness of men, the malice of Satan, and the fruits of sin will all be fully exposed, righteously judged, and eternally punished.

The triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ over all authority and power will be manifested.

The righteousness of God will be vindicated.

The redeemed will be brought into all the blessings of the New Covenant of Grace (Ezek. 36), and Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.

Parable 3

Parable 3 (verses 31, 32) brings out a further development of world principles in the outward aspect of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Not only would there be a mingling of wheat and tares — of mere professors with the children of the Kingdom — but here we are given to see that that which began as a small thing in the earth, and was to be heavenly in its character, as it was in its origin, would become a great "tree in the earth" — ever a symbol of world power — under whose branches the "birds of the air" — servants of the wicked one — would find a lodgment. It is what corresponds to the Pergamos period of the history of the Church (Rev. 2: 12), and historically would doubtless begin with the Empire of Constantine the Great, A.D. 312. When Christianity ceased to be the persecuted, despised, and down-trodden confession of the few, but, embraced by the Emperor of the Roman world, received world-wide patronage and protection one, among many, of the evil results was that the way to become powerful in the world was to become great in the Church. Immediately "grievous wolves" (Acts 20: 29) entered in, not sparing the flock. The professing Church became a great world power. It was no longer thought necessary for the bishops to fulfil the conditions of 1 Timothy 3. They would much rather sit on "thrones" drawing ample revenues, dispensing the "patronage of the Church" to their own advantage, and, alas! sometimes be found eating and drinking with the drunken (Chap. 24). This is no exaggerated picture, as every student of. Church history will admit. Take either the earlier times or the later. Perhaps it was more marked in the fourth century because it was a new thing. Up till that period, to be an outstanding man in the Church was to be a mark for the shafts of persecution. After Constantine, it became a position to be coveted by the man of the world, for it brought with it money and fame and worldly influence.

In short, the Kingdom of Heaven in the history of its administration by the hands of men, became a great world power, affording lodgment for much that was evil (the "birds of the air") instead of maintaining its heavenly character of separation from the world, holiness before men, and lowliness before God.

Parable 4

The next parable lays bare the inward principles which were at work, unseen, but pregnant with power, and that, alas! a power for evil.

It begins in the Thyatiran period when the "Woman Jezebel" (Rev. 2) is allowed to teach and seduce and, historically, it will have its complete fulfilment in Babylon (Rev. 17) when that which is merely hypocrisy and false profession will have passed beyond the Laodicean stage and become wholly satanic and abominable — the leaven hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened.

There is a certain definite area supposed in the "three measures" inside of which the "leaven" works. Leaven being everywhere else in Scripture a type of that which is evil, we must so expect to find it here, and only thus can we have an orderly and progressive setting forth of the subject dealt with.

Just as former parables have shown the "children of the wicked one" in the Kingdom, so here we have shown to us that which fills their hearts. They are those "who receive not the love of the truth" (2 Thess. 2: 12). "They will not endure sound doctrine" but "shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables" (2 Tim. 4: 12). They are men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith (2 Tim. 3: 8). Let anyone but look round to-day and he will see how rapidly things in Christendom are hastening to the above consummation.

Think of some only of the great and rapidly increasing cults of evil doctrine in our midst to-day, such as Spiritism, Eddyism, Russellism, and many others. Then consider that these rapidly growing organisations are being recruited from the ranks of those who once made a profession of Christianity but are now apostate therefrom.

Then, in the various so-called "orthodox" denominations, see the indifference of many, and the opposition of some to the very cardinal doctrines of Christian truth. For example, take the Inspiration of Scripture. How loosely men talk and write of the "mistakes" of Moses, the "contradictions" of the Synoptists, or the "errors" in the later Scriptures, "understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm" (1 Tim. 1: 7). They have not hesitated to bring their irreverent and unregenerate minds to pry into the sacred mystery of the Son of God come down in grace; and teachings are received without protest, derogatory alike to His Holy Person, His finished work, and His divine glory.

These are but illustrations of the corrupting form of the leaven at work at the present moment in that which bears the name of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Here, then, in these three parables we have set forth a developing and an increasing growth of evil, both externally and internally, in that which professes to represent the rule of heaven upon the earth. At the beginning, a few tares among the wheat, at which the servants are surprised. Then a great tree instead of a lowly mustard plant. And, again, a leavening process by the evil doctrines of men, instead of the truth as "the truth is in Jesus" (Eph. 4: 21). And at this stage, these things are accepted as matters of course. There is apparently no one now so much in the mind of the Master as to inquire: "Didst thou not sow good seed in thy field?"

In view of these startling and wholly unexpected (on their part) developments, well might the disciples say, "Declare unto us the parable of the tares in the field."

Verse 36 begins the second section of the chapter. In the house the Lord expounds the parable to His disciples. As we have seen, the just judgment of God will clear the ground for the reign of righteousness to begin, and the wicked will no longer be allowed to remain in the Kingdom, or even on the earth. They will be cast — solemn thought — into a furnace of fire. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.

Parable 5

The next two parables are of special interest. The action of the narrative is no longer occupied with the development of events within the Kingdom either for good or for evil. It is no question of what men may either do or teach; but the mind and heart are centred upon the ONE who, in wonderful condescension and marvellous grace, became the Finder of the treasure and the Seeker of the pearl. As we get occupied with Him, we feel at once that we are in a different atmosphere. We no longer stand, as it were, on the plains of Moab, contemplating Israel as a "stiff-necked people" (Num. 22), but We are beside the prophet on the "high places." It is no longer what the people are for God, but what God is for His people, and in spite of all Israel had been He could say, He had not "beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel" (Num. 23: 21). In the very beginning, or ever the earth was, that Blessed One could say, "My delights were with the sons of men" (Prov. 8: 31). In grace, and with satisfaction He views His people as grace will ultimately make them. His earthly people, redeemed Israel upon the earth: His heavenly people, a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

The Kingdom in the hands of men had been shown to be mingled with that which is unreal, united to that which is earthly, and permeated with that which is evil. As such, all that was false and unreal was fast hastening on to judgment. It was necessary that the disciples should now see what was real and true, amidst all the confusion. To them it was given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Let us note here that the character of the figures is now changed. It is no longer, as at the introduction, "good seed" that could reproduce itself. Nor is it a "sowing" where darnel might be mingled with the wheat. Much less is it that which might become contaminated with evil men or evil influences externally as in the "mustard seed," or corrupted by false and satanic doctrines internally as in the "three measures of meal." But here we have a definite precious deposit of intrinsic excellence, and which, though hid in the earth, could not be defiled by the earth.

The figures are few and simple, and other Scriptures accurately guide us in the interpretation.

The field is the world. The Finder of the treasure and the Purchaser of the field is the Lord Himself. No other interpretation is possible. Who but He could purchase such a field? Who but He had anything to "sell" at all commensurate with the value of the object to be acquired, for in the field there was a treasure for which possession of the field was sought, and which was of infinitely greater value than the field itself.

In Exodus 19, in that wonderful personal interview between Jehovah and His servant Moses, He could say, "If ye will obey my voice . . . ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me, above all people that are in the earth." Now we know that Israel did not obey that voice; but where Israel failed, grace triumphed on the ground of redemption; and we have already seen what God could say of His people in the plains of Moab, even when Satan had them, as he thought, at a disadvantage. How much more will this be evident when Psalm 135

"The Lord hath chosen Jacob for Himself,

And Israel for His peculiar treasure.

Blessed be the Lord out of Zion

Which dwelleth at Jerusalem,

Praise ye the Lord."

But before all, or any, of this could be accomplished, He, the gracious Finder of the treasure, had to buy the "field" itself at the cost of all He had.

There is, however, a wider application. There can be no blessing for either the earth, Israel, or the Church, apart from the death of Christ, and just here comes in one of the special points of this parable. The Lord Jesus by His death has purchased all mankind. This truth is of world-wide application, and on this ground His messengers can go forth and proclaim an accomplished work on the ground of which men are besought to be reconciled to God.

The world to-day is still ruled over by the usurper Satan, and men love to have it so. The Lord when on earth spoke of the devil as the "prince of this world," and after the Lord had been rejected and crucified, Scripture calls Satan the "god of this world." In other words, men are willing to accept from Satan both their rule and their religion, hut it will not always be so. There is the earthly side as well as the heavenly side of the Kingdom. The earth, already purchased, will in that day be redeemed, and suitably prepared for the dwelling-place of saved Israel, under the New Covenant, and the nations who inhabit the millennial earth, for there shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

Parable 6

But a further figure is required to set forth the unity and the beauty of those who compose the heavenly side of the Kingdom. This is found in the "One pearl of great price." And remark here that, in the previous parable, the finder of the treasure bought the field that contained it. But here the merchantman seeks to secure the pearl only. There is no question of its surroundings. The pearl is taken out entirely from the place in which it was, in order that it may become wholly the delight of the heart of the finder. The parable without doubt marks the special place which the assembly occupies in the counsels of God and in the mind of Christ.

It is impossible to overlook this, and almost impossible to overestimate it. There are four remarkable ways in which the saints of this dispensation are looked at in the New Testament.

If it is a question of relationship, they are called "children of God" (1 John 3: 1).

If it is a question of responsibility for God upon the earth, they are looked at as the "House of God" (1 Tim. 3: 15),

If it is a question of nearness and unity, they are spoken of as the "body of Christ" (1 Cor. 12: 12).

If it is a question of their affection and of their participation in His glory in the day of display, when all the ways of God in grace with men will be manifested, then the company of redeemed ones are brought before us under the striking figure of the "Bride of Christ" (Rev. 19: 7-9).

These are four different aspects of the assembly of God, but all setting forth in a remarkable way the place of nearness, relationship, and affection which the Church occupies. Here it is a question of its unity and beauty, hence the figure of ONE pearl of great price — loved, sought, and purchased. "Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5: 26-27). "To her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and white" (Rev. 19: 8).

May there be the practical answer in the life and walk of every redeemed one, to that position of wondrous blessing in which grace has placed us, and in which in the day of glory we shall be displayed. We may well adore the grace that sought, the love that suffered, and the power that triumphed over all the forces of sin, death, and Satan: and the day is fast approaching when the full results of His mighty work will be manifested before the universe; and, at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow to the glory of God the Father.

Parable 7

Still another similitude was needed to show the disciples the course of events at the close of that mysterious dispensation of the Kingdom of Heaven in the absence of the King, and this the Lord furnishes under the figure of the draw-net cast into the sea, and gathering of every kind. And in order to grasp the point of this, the closing parable, we need to keep in mind what has gone before.

At the beginning we see the Son of Man coming forth as the Sower. The results of the sowing are then given, and the general effects in the hearts of men. Next, the enemy is seen at work introducing the tares among the wheat; and this knowledge becomes a guide to the servants under the new and unexpected conditions. The next two parables give the developments of the foregoing conditions — evil men and evil teachings waxing worse and worse. But following these, Parables 5 and 6 show that which is hidden and real and that which the Lord's heart is set upon; whether the saved remnant of His ancient people under the new covenant, or the Church which is His Body — both are before Him — and every event in His dealings with men and nations is leading up to a complete fulfilment of all the irrevocable counsels of God on their behalf.

But there is still the question of the nations of the earth: manifestly the Kingdom of Heaven in its widest sense must include Israel, the Church, and the saved nations of the millennial earth. What events will lead up to, and what will ultimately determine the final separation of the "good" from the "bad"? This the Lord sets before us in His closing parable. And note here that, although there is a close similarity between this parable and that of the "tares," there is by no means a repetition. There the point and object of the teaching is, as already remarked, instruction for the servants for present need, in the light of the future, in what was to them an unexpected condition of things in the absence of the King. Here it is the grand results of the operations of grace, and the final assignment of every one to his own place, either in the Kingdom of Heaven, or — solemn thought — in the furnace of fire.

The figures employed are few and simple, but divinely expressive: —

A draw-net.

Cast into the sea.

"Every kind" gathered within its sweep.

When full, drawn to shore.

A sorting process, and

A separation.

The figure employed is of a net of the largest kind known or used by fishers. Where suitable circumstances permit, it may be as much as half a mile in length. Hence in its immense sweep it "gathers of every kind" — that is, of every species.

When, then, is the net cast, and of what is it a figure? Are we not reminded by it of Mark 1: 1 "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God," and also of verse 37 of our chapter, "He that sowed the good seed is the Son of Man." But while the casting of the net would seem to synchronise with the beginning of the Gospel, yet the net itself is of wider application than the Gospel as we understand it. May it not correspond to all the dealings of God with men from the time the Kingdom began to be preached until the time when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and before Him are gathered all nations. Cast into the "sea" (of the nations) would seem to indicate the worldwide scope of its operations. No longer Israel only, or even professing Christendom, but every nation under Heaven to whom, in a future day, the Gospel of the Kingdom will be announced. Thus, from first to last it may well be said to gather of every kind. It is evident that the "servants" do not draw the net. It is drawn when "full," and it is equally evident that it is not "full" yet, else the gospel day would be over indeed. The ending of this solemn scripture is given more fully in Matthew 25. It is the sessional judgment of the Son of Man. They "sat down," conveys the thought of orderly and deliberative selection. The "good" gathered into vessels. The "bad" cast out of the net. It is the final sorting out of those who had heretofore been going on together; alike perhaps in profession, but unlike in reality; and only the Lord Himself had omniscience and authority to decide.

Just as the Jew, according to the Mosaic law, (Lev. 11: 9) separated the contents of his net, the "clean" from the "unclean," so, the Lord says, will it be at the end of this age. And this will be done by angelic ministry (verse 41). The wicked are cast into the furnace of fire. The righteous are safely preserved for the Kingdom, and they enter into all the blessings that accompany and follow the introduction of the reign of righteousness over the whole earth in the day of Messiah's glory.

What a wonderful unveiling of divine counsels these seven parables present. Fortified with this knowledge of the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven, the believer can calmly survey all the varied phases which the great "harvest field" may present. He rests assured that, however contradictory things may appear, yet in spite of all the wickedness of evil men and all the opposition of Satan, God will assuredly bring to perfection every purpose of His counsels for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

How far the disciples "understood all these things" we do not know, but we may rest assured that when the Holy Spirit came down He would bring all things to their remembrance and guide them into all truth.

They already had information, in all its full and varied details, in the Old Testament Scriptures, as to the glories of the Kingdom, and what it would be in the day of its display. That which was "new," as to the Kingdom in the absence of the King, He had now taught them. They were to regard such knowledge as a precious thing to be "treasured," and "brought out" when occasion required. Just as an householder becomes a dispenser of good things to his guests, so were disciples to be in a world that knew not the grace of Christ.

Section 7. Matthew 14, 15.

Man's King and Man's Character Contrasted with God's King

The Holy Spirit in Matthew's Gospel delights to group events in, what we might call, a moral order, instead of a strictly historical order, and the result is that we get striking contrasts between the ways of God and the ways of men which we might otherwise overlook. It is so in the two chapters now before us.

But to go back for a moment to the last section, not the least remarkable thing in that remarkable chapter is that everything is viewed as in the absence of the King. But why was He absent? Departure from God and blindness of heart led the nation and its rulers to reject their King come in grace and power, as witnessed by His mighty works. And not only so, but the close of the chapter shows Him as the prophet of God despised and rejected in His own country. They might own His wisdom and His works of power. These they could not gainsay. But unbelief prevented them from sharing the blessings grace was willing to impart. Could unbelief go further than to see in Him only the "Carpenter's Son"? Nicodemus long before, with perhaps fewer opportunities of judging, had seen in Him "a teacher come from God," and owned that God was with Him. Of His own countrymen, it is said, "they were offended (stumbled) at him."

Now, at this point (Chap. 14) the Spirit turns back to recall events which had taken place previously, that is the circumstances connected with the murder of John, and to set before us THE Two KINGS.

CHRIST, in His compassion, power, and grace.

Herod, in his cruelty, lust, and pride.

In Matthew 15 we get the two hearts. The heart of man with its seven streams of incurable evil, and the heart of Christ yearning to bless, whether it be the poor of the flock in the land or one poor Gentile at the utmost borders of Israel.

In Matthew 14, then, we get in a short historical setting a vivid description of the moral corruption of things in Israel's land. Shortly, the case was this. Herod Antipas was a son of Herod, miscalled "the Great," of Matthew 2. He was the wicked son of a wicked father. At the death of Herod I. the kingdom was divided by the Romans, and Herod Antipas became "tetrarch" of Galilee, with the courtesy title of "king." He married a daughter of Aretas, King of Arabia, but afterwards made guilty overtures to Herodias, his brother Herod Philip's wife. Nothing loth, the profligate wanton responded, and the two were living in open sin.

The righteous reproof of the fearless prophet rankled in the revengeful heart of the wicked woman, and, when the opportunity arose, she was ready to embrace it, in order to satiate her hatred. Herod, in spite of his conscience, became a pliant tool in her guilty hands.

Herodias' daughter danced, and John the Baptist died.

Let a man but start on the downward road, and the devil is never at a loss for some one to put a hand on his back to push him on. So it was with Herod, and in such a setting Israel's ruler is shown to us. An oppressor, an adulterer, a proud boaster, and a murderer; and yet the king. It reveals how the very foundations of virtue were gone, and utter moral and spiritual corruption ruled in the kingdom of men. What marked Herod's dance, and every similar dance since, was the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life; and the end of these things is death.

Herod's case is a warning to all of the danger of trifling with the voice of conscience. Led on by the wiles of the devil, the hardening process grows apace, and a man soon finds himself performing actions, which a short time before he would have shrunk from with horror. Hazael, when warned by the prophet Elisha, could say, "Is thy servant a dog that he should do this great thing?" (2 Kings 8: 13). Yet the very next day ambition led him to take the first guilty step in his downward career by murdering his master.

At the beginning of John's ministry we read that "Herod was the friend of John and kept him safe" (Mark 5: 20, R.V.). He believed John to be "a just man and a holy," and this made his own actions all the worse, for they were done in the face of light. But it is one thing to give an outward assent to truth, while continuing in the practice of sin: it is another thing to have truth in the inward parts, changing both life and actions. The latter Herod never knew. He loved his sins. John's stern reproof was his last warning. Henceforth he became "that fox," and it was the Lord Himself who so entitled him (Luke 12: 32).

In his short history we see man in sin and under the power of it. Man in his folly rejecting the last warning of the prophet of righteousness. Possibly John was the only man with sufficient moral courage to point out to Herod "all the evils which he had done" (Luke 11: 19). Then, again, the moral weakness of the man comes out in his "fear of those that sat at meat with him." In short, Herod was what every man is by nature, afraid, before his ungodly companions, to do the right, but not ashamed to do the wrong.

What a remarkable contrast comes out in the man sent from God whose name was John.

His ministry was short, his message was short, his life was short; and there is little said about his history, but that little brings out in a wonderful way the lovely character of the Forerunner.

How beautiful is his humility! "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness" (John 1: 23). "The latchet of His shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose" (Mark 1: 7).

How great is his faithfulness! "Think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham for our father" (Matt. 3: 8).

How absolute is his separation from the guilty nation and its more guilty leaders! "He came baptizing in the wilderness" (Mark 1: 4).

How unflinching is his courage! and how tender his compassion for the poor and needy (Luke 3: 11).

In every aspect of his character we see reflected some of the many beautiful traits which came out in perfection in his blessed Master. The Lord could say of him that he was "a burning and a shining light"; that "among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist" (Luke 7: 28). But immediately after describing the elevated and outstanding position filled by the great Forerunner, the Lord adds the remarkable words, "He that is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he."

John was rejected and slain. His Master was about to be treated in the same way, but the result of the Lord's atoning death would be to introduce a new order of things in Christianity, founded upon redemption and the purgation of sins, wherein would be manifested greater grace, fuller privilege, and more intimate nearness to God than ever could be known under the old economy of which John formed the last — if the greatest — prophet.

Everything in Judaism spoke of an unrent veil, and therefore of distance from God. Everything in the Kingdom of God is founded upon accomplished redemption. The VEIL is rent, and we have liberty to draw near. Yea, more, we are privileged to dwell where He dwelleth. Many believers, alas! are ignorant of this, and therefore they neither have settled peace in their hearts, nor yet can their lives present a consistent testimony.

By comparing Mark 6, Luke 9, and our present Scripture, we find that the mission of the twelve, sent forth in Matthew 10, expired about this time, and they returned to tell the Lord "all things both what they had done and what they had taught." John's disciples just about the same time come to Jesus also. These brave men for it requires courage to take sides with an apparently defeated man had boldly gone into Herod's dungeon to recover the outraged body of their martyred master, and with hearts full of grief had piously performed the last rites for the one they loved.

Now they come and tell Jesus.

Christ's disciples come to Him with their mission of success.

John's disciples come to him with their mission of sorrow.

There is a precious lesson here for disciples still. Whether it be success in service or sorrow in life, He is the One to confide in, and by so doing we shall find rest unto our souls. May we daily practice it till the changing scenes below end in the unchanging bliss of His presence on high.

The Lord's answer was to take them apart with Himself into a desert place near the city of Bethsaida on the shores of the lake. Doubtless the object was to seek opportunity in this seclusion for more intimate counsel and instruction for the disciples. But in any case the privacy was soon invaded by the multitude, who, at least, believed in His power, and were in earnest to secure blessing, for they brought their sick to His presence.

"And Jesus, moved with compassion" — nothing can exceed the beauty of this and what immediately follows. The Lord had just heard of, and doubtless sorrowed over, the death of John. At Nazareth, at the outset of His ministry, He had been met with open violence (Luke 4). On His recent visit to His own city of Capernaum He had been treated with rude contempt, yet nothing could stay the outflow of heavenly grace. He had compassion on the multitudes and healed their sick. It was the perfect contrast to Herod slaying the prophet.

And not only is His grace brought in in contrast to Herod's cruelty, but in the next few verses it is contrasted with the disciples' helplessness in the face of the needs of the multitude. It was not only that the disciples could not meet that need, but they could not even trust the Lord to do so. "Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?" He said to Philip, "and this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do" (John 6: 5-6). Philip and the other disciples had come to an end of themselves, but, alas! not to a beginning of faith in their 'Waster, so their ready advice was to send away the multitudes. But He said, "Give ye them to eat," and they discovered that their whole resources were five loaves and two small fishes. Five barley loaves and two small fishes AND Christ were, however, resources enough for any number, had the disciples but known it.

Many disciples to-day are like what the disciples were then. They are ignorant of the resources of faith at their disposal, for they have never drawn upon them. The Christian life to them is a valley of Baca all the way, without any "wells," and seldom any "rain." Like the widow of Sarepta, they have only a handful of meal and a little oil, not nearly enough for themselves, much less to share it with others. But the day the widow went out to gather two sticks to prepare her last meal, and then die — that day was the beginning of a new life and a new experience. The word of the Man of God in the gate changed her objective. "Fear not," said he, "make me a little cake first" (1 Kings 16). Grace would lead her gently at first; and doubtless the prophet's cake grew larger as the woman's faith grew stronger But from that day she discovered that she had inexhaustible resources, and henceforth the famine was over in her experience. Her own needs abundantly supplied, she became a dispenser of blessing to others; and this is exactly what the Lord expects His children to be to-day. And having the "meal" and the "oil" (Christ our life, and the Holy Spirit the power of it) though living in a world of dearth and drought and death, we can and ought to be channels of blessing to others. "As Thou hast sent me into the world, SO have I also sent them into the world" (John 17: 18).

But there is also the dispensational view of this chapter. The miracle of the "five loaves" is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. It is here a foreshadowing of what was spoken in Psalm 132. What marks the governments of to-day is that the people provide for the King. When Messiah reigns the King will provide for the people, and there will be neither grinding poverty, oppressive taxation, nor discontent. In our chapter we have an Edomite ruling in the land, and he a poor slave of the Romans, as well as a usurper and an oppressor. The true King is in the desert, but there He demonstrates His resources and His grace according to prophecy, "He shall satisfy his poor with bread."

The disciples embark. The multitudes depart. The Lord goes up into a mountain to pray.

Prayer expresses two things — dependence and submission. These two things come out everywhere in the life of the Lord as Man below. He was pre-eminently the Man of Prayer and the Pattern of Prayer.

On at least fourteen different occasions do we read of the Lord "alone praying."

1. At His baptism, "Jesus also being baptized and praying" (Luke 3: 21).

2. At Capernaum, at the beginning of His ministry, "Rising up a great while before day" (Mark 1: 35; Luke 5: 167).

3. On the occasion of choosing the twelve apostles (Luke 6: 12).

4. After the miracle of the loaves (Mark 6: 46).

5. Before Peter's confession of Him as the Christ (Luke 9: 18).

6. On the mount of transfiguration (Luke 9: 28).

7. When He taught His disciples to pray (Luke 11: 1).

8. When He raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11: 41, 42).

9. The prayer in view of His sufferings (John 12: 27).

10. The Lord's prayer (John 17).

11. His intercessory prayer for Peter (Luke 22: 32).

12. The prayer in Gethsemane before His sufferings (given in Matthew, Mark, and Luke).

13. His prayer for His murderers when nailed to the Cross (Luke 23: 34).

14. At His death, giving up His Spirit to His Father (Luke 23: 46).

But in Matthew's Gospel the only recorded occasion of prayer (with the exception of Gethsemane) is in the chapter before us, and it is in keeping with the dispensational character of this Gospel. Rejected as King, the Lord has gone on high as Intercessor, and in the "fourth watch" He will come forth to succour and to save the distressed and storm-tossed remnant of Israel.

But there is also the present application. The Lord is on high. He is there executing His present service of grace, as our great High Priest and Advocate. He is praying for us, for while we are in this world we are in a scene of danger. The business of the world seeks to engross us. The pleasures of the world seek to attract us. The associations of the world seek to annex us. The opposition of the world seeks to hinder us. So we need the grace and power which He alone can impart. And He is watching over His people with that very end in view. "He saw them toiling in rowing" (Mark 6: 48). But whatever the difficulties, and however contrary the winds may be, we can depend upon His watchful eye, powerful arm, and loving heart. "Light and truth" shall go before us (Ps. 43). "Goodness and mercy" follow after (Ps. 23). And the moment is fixed and may be very near when He will come to receive us to Himself, as later He will appear for the deliverance of His earthly people, whose hearts, turned to Him in repentance, will joyfully receive Him with songs of thanksgiving. The apostate nation was soon to cry, "Crucify him, Crucify him." In the coming day the converted remnant will say, "Lo, this is our God: we have waited for him" (Isa. 25: 9).

But meantime the question is, "Can you walk on the water?" Peter did. We want to be more occupied with his success than with his failure. Affection for his Master led him out of the boat. Faith in his Master made him superior to nature. "He walked on the water to go to Jesus." The Red Sea and the Jordan were divided for Israel, as later, the same river was divided for the prophets Elijah and Elisha. But nowhere is there such a scene as this. It is a picture of a Christian walking through a world where everything is opposed to him, supported by power from on high. But the great point of the lesson is, that it is only as so supported, and only as depending on that support, that he can so walk. "Hold Thou me up," said the Psalmist, "and I shall be safe" (Ps. 119: 117). And this Peter proved in his extremity, when he prayed the prayer that never fails to be answered on the spot" LORD SAVE ME."

If the beginning of Matthew 14 shows the works of men to be evil, Matthew 15 shows why they are so. The reason is, the heart is wrong. "Out of the heart proceed." Here we have hearts unveiled: verses 1-21 describe the heart of man, and it is seen to be incorrigibly evil. From verses 22-39 we gather something of the grace that was in the heart of the Lord Jesus. We see Him bringing blessing to one outside the circle of promise, healing all oppressed by the devil, and providing in the desert for "so great a multitude."

But the Jerusalem Scribes and Pharisees who had followed the Lord into Galilee, seeking to catch something out of His words that they might accuse Him, had no eyes and no heart for grace such as this. They made the common mistake that exterior things will do for God, and forgot that Satan can use even a religious system as a power for evil. The Lord showed them that their hollow formalism had led them into the much more serious evil of hypocrisy, proving from their greatest prophet, Isaiah (Isa. 29: 13), that the tradition of men had led them into a course of action in direct contradiction to the Word of God. The subject is more fully developed in Mark 7. The gift (Corban) given to enrich the priest, instead of being employed to provide for the needs of relations, was only one of the "many such things they did." And although by doing so, they were disregarding the ties of nature, yet the priests, by their traditions, pronounced them to be free.

The moment men's opinions are brought in as a standard, there is distinct danger. Priestcraft, whether in Judaism, Roman Catholicism, or Protestantism, is ever fain to hark back to tradition to buttress up its own unscriptural positions; and thus its votaries are insensibly led to minimise the authority of the revealed mind of God over the conscience. May God save us all from such an insidious evil. It is an immense thing when the soul is guided by the direct Word of God alone, owning no intermediary whatever between itself and God.

The Lord next shows the cause of this condition of things, and takes occasion to charge home the fact of sin by the terrible exposure of the heart of man given in verses 19, 20.

Man's moral centre is the heart. Out of it proceed seven streams of deadly evil, showing the inward moral pollution which the history of fallen man, from Cain downwards, has abundantly proved to be true.

Now, this exposure is the very thing the natural man is averse to. His desire is to cover up everything under a fair show of religion and keep the evil out of sight. Hence the Pharisees were offended, and so is the natural man still. He will not believe that man is lost. Education, culture, environment, morality, surely these things can elevate and ennoble the man. That is the creed of the moralist to-day, just as it was of the Pharisees of old. But God says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," and nothing will do for God but a new creation. "Ye must be born again."

The Lord, after exposing the human heart, manifests the Divine love in the heart of God for sinners by walking over twenty miles to meet and bless one woman for whom Satan had done his worst. And here was a remarkable case. A "woman of Canaan" accosts the Lord and claims blessing from Him as the "Son of David." Now as Son of David, His relation to the Canaanite could only be judgment, for they were the race Joshua was commanded to root out of the land because of their terrible iniquity. But the incident is doubtless inserted here to show the only ground on which any of us can get blessing, and that is on the ground of free grace alone, for we are, as she was, but "sinners of the Gentiles" (Gal. 2: 15). And so grace wrought in her heart until she was led to take the only place she could really lay claim to. Then mark the blessed result. She owned she deserved nothing, she would be thankful for anything, and she got everything her heart desired. Such are the ways of grace.

The faith of the Gentile may well be placed in contrast to the unbelief of the Jew. This woman owned His authority by calling Him Lord, and she prayed what we might call a companion prayer to that of Peter in Matthew 14; and, as in Peter's case, the answer was graciously given immediately.

And now the Lord, making a circuit round the extreme north of the land, continues His ministry throughout the region of Decapolis, on the east of the Sea of Galilee. This country was formerly inhabited by the half tribe of Manasseh, and at this time abounded with Gentile residents. The mixed population was looked upon with the greatest contempt by the southern Jews of Judea proper, who considered them a degree still lower than even Galileans. Yet even among these were found some of the poor of the flock, and to them the heart of the Lord went out in compassion. And so engrossed were they with His miracles of healing and His wonderful teaching that they abode with Him three days; and, after witnessing all His wonderful works, they might well exclaim, as Mark tells us, "He hath done all things well." Any food they may have brought was now exhausted, and the Lord proposes to His disciples the question of feeding the multitude before sending them away. At once the disciples see the difficulties, without seeing the resources. Did we not know something of our own hearts we should here be surprised. How shortly before had they seen the previous miracle of the multiplied loaves. Yet here their faith is not one whit greater. Still in patient grace the Lord continues to teach them as to the resources that were in Himself to meet every need for their service. Almost reluctantly, it would seem, they give the information that they have seven loaves for themselves, and a few small fishes. It is enough. With His blessing added, they will be able to supply the hungry multitude with enough and to spare. The feast began with seven loaves, and ended with seven basketfuls. The previous miracle (Chap. 14) was a proof that Messiah was present in the midst of His people according to the prophecy of Psalm 132, and the "twelve baskets" was indicative of perfect testimony to that event. The present miracle (Chap. 15) was a proof of the long-suffering grace of the Lord, that, though rejected by the nation, He still carried on His mission of mercy in their midst. It also looks on to millennium times, and the "seven baskets" speak of divine completeness and ample provision for every need.

There is much practical instruction in this section of our Gospel. In it we are taught, both by precept and example, man's utter ruin, morally and spiritually. Man's actions, prompted by his sinful fallen nature, are only evil continually. That which is of the flesh is flesh, though we are slow to learn it. But when the lesson is truly learned, we say with the apostle, "I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth NO good thing." Now the soul is prepared to take sides with God against the flesh, and that is the first step in Christian liberty.

But not only is the evil heart of man exposed. The grace of Christ shines forth in greater beauty, if that be possible, against the dark background of a graceless world. He walks through it in moral dignity and holy separation. He is seen as the Heavenly Stranger upon the earth, feeding the hungry, succouring the needy, compassionating the despised ones, healing the sick, and bringing blessing to those who were afar off. This section begins with man's utter ruin and ends with God's perfect grace.

Section 8. Matthew 16, 17.

A Prophecy of the Church with a Glimpse of Kingdom Glory

"When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son . . . that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father." But even this, great and blessed though it is, is only preparatory to the supreme revelation that God has made of Himself, and to the place of blessing into which believers of the present time are introduced. This is set before the Ephesian saints as the mystery of His will now made known through the apostle, that in the dispensation (or administration) of the fulness of time He might gather together all things in one, in Christ. And then Paul prays that the saints may be brought into the knowledge of the position in which grace has placed them. His desire for them is that they might know: —

The hope of His calling.

The riches of His grace, and

The greatness of His power.

God has put all things under His feet, and given Him to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all. To the Apostle Paul it was given "to complete the Word of God," and until the revelation of the mystery of the Church, the body of Christ, His counsels could not be fully known.

A glimpse of this wonderful subject comes before us in the section of our Gospel which we now reach. In it we have: —

1 The revelation of the Person of the Christ.

2 The confession of His Divinity by Peter.

3 The promise of the new thing — the Church — which He was about to build.

4 A glimpse of His glory as the One who would be the Administrator for God — Head over all things.

5 The Foundation on which everything would rest in righteousness.

We find here (Matt. 16: 1) that Pharisees and Sadducees for the first time join their forces against the Lord. Bitterly opposed to each other both in their politics and their faith, they were united in their opposition to the Lord, and come to Him here only to have their ignorance and wickedness exposed. The solemn thing here is, that there is no longer either teaching or exhortation for them. They seek a sign and get a warning. Able to discern the face of the sky, they were unable, because unwilling, to discern the presence of the Lord in their midst, and if He was rejected, disaster (foul weather) must assuredly follow. The sign of the prophet Jonah could only add to their condemnation. He was, in type, a man out of death, preaching to the Gentiles, but before what that typified could take place, the nation of Israel must be set aside till the fulness of the Gentiles should be come. "And he left them and departed," as very soon He would leave the guilty nation, and that by the way of the Cross then, risen out of death, send the glad news of salvation and blessing far hence to the Gentiles.

But even the disciples had much to learn. They could not easily free themselves from the evil doctrines of the Pharisees, nor yet from the opinions of men as to the person of the Master.

This point the Lord is about to make clear to them, and in Matthew 16 there comes before us, in the first place: —

The revelation of the Person of the Christ.

Leaving the Sea of Galilee, the Lord journeyed with His disciples to the coasts of Caesarea Philippi. There, in that place of Gentile influence and display — for there Herod the Great had built a royal city in honour of the Emperor — He proposed to them the two great questions which laid bare the hearts of the men of that generation, and the heart of every man and woman since: —

1. "Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?"

This, the first of these two questions, brought out two things. And taking the latter and more important first, He asserts that He is the Son of Man.

He was that sublime Person whom Daniel the prophet had portrayed on his mystic page, as coming to the Ancient of days and receiving "dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom which shall not be destroyed" (Dan. 7: 14).

He had been rejected as Messiah. He would now take up His title of "Son of Man" and bring in blessing for all the earth.

Every title given to the Lord is of the deepest significance, whether in connection with His official, essential, or acquired glories, and they are ever used in a discriminating way. There are at least 350 such titles, and more might be found by the diligent student. In Matthew 16 we have (1) the Lord rejected as Messiah, (2) confessed by Peter as Son of Me Living God, and (3) soon to return in glory as Son of Man. Under this last title, as we have seen, He will dispense blessing world wide. Meantime He demands of His disciples what "men say" of Him, in order to demonstrate that the wisdom of men is but folly with God.

All alike are forced to own that He is some Great One, and their opinions range from the prophet of fire to the prophet of sorrow, but -none are able to see in Him the Sent One of God. This faith alone can discern; and when He demands an answer from His disciples to His second question: —

2. "Whom say ye that I am?"

Peter, taught of God, can answer, unhesitatingly, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God."

It is faith's unchanging answer to the question of the ages made good in the experience of every true believer.

This confession of Peter's is twofold.

By "The Christ," (Heb.) Messiah, (Eng.) the Anointed One, Peter is led to declare all the official glories which centred in Him as Man upon the earth. He was "The Woman's Seed," the Root and Offspring of David, the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, the Shepherd of Israel, and the Blesser of every Nation.

But in addition to what the Lord was as the Sent One of God, there was also revealed to Peter something of the personal and essential glories of the Eternal Son. He was the Son of the Living God. Peter, taught of God, is led to declare something of that divine mystery as to what the Lord was in His Person, Nature, and Being in relationship to God the Father. This is more fully developed in John 1, Phil. 2, Col. 1, Heb. 1: —

"In His Existence — Eternal."

"In His Nature — Divine."

"In His Person — Distinct."

He was the Word in all eternity — the Eternal Son of God.

This revelation to, and confession by, Peter gives occasion for the Lord to reveal now, for the first time in Scripture, the secret of the ages — His Assembly. He was about to begin a work of which nothing had ever been revealed to saint or prophet in Old Testament times (Eph. 3: 4, 5; Col. 1: 26) Under the new economy believers, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, would be builded together for a holy temple in the Lord. They would be "The Body," "The Bride," "The City." They would be holy and royal priests to God now, and co-heirs in the regal glory of the coming day. This building would be His work alone (Acts 2: 47), and would be founded on what He was as Son of the living God, according to the confession made by the apostle.

No wonder, then, that the "gates of hell" — all the adverse powers of the unseen world — would not prevail against it. To destroy her, Satan has used his utmost endeavour; the greatest of earthly powers have exhausted all their resources; but the true Church of God continues to triumph over every foe, and continues to point dying men to her risen, living, and glorified Lord, her Head on high, with whom she is united by the Holy Spirit.

The Father calls, the Spirit unites, the Lord builds; and not man, angel, or demon can hinder that constructive work of the Son of the living God the formation of His Church, which is, while in the world, the "pillar and ground of the truth."

Following on Peter's confession, we get Peter's commission. To this warm-hearted disciple was given the "Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven." That is to say, in figurative language, that into that new economy about to begin on earth, Peter would have the honour of introducing both Jew and Gentile, as we find later in the history of the Acts he did (see Acts 2 and Acts 10). And further, we learn from Matt. 18, that this same power of "binding and loosing" was afterwards conferred upon the whole company of the disciples.

But we must keep in mind that it was the "Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven" that were given to Peter; not the keys of the Church (if there be such), in spite of all that either Anglican or Romanist may say to the contrary. In the Book of Acts, Peter preached Jesus as "Lord" and "Christ," both titles distinctly connected with the Kingdom of Heaven, and by these names of authority he commanded the Jews to own His rights, bow to His claims, and be baptized in His Name (Acts 2). Similarly, in the centurion's house, after Peter had learned the great lesson that all earthly distinctions of clean and unclean had been abolished, and when he had seen the Holy Spirit poured out upon the Gentiles, he commanded them to be baptized in the Name of the Lord (Acts 10: 48).

Peter's ministry never goes beyond this. To another servant was committed a further revelation as to the mystery of the Church, and Paul, immediately after his conversion, began to preach Jesus as "The Son of God" (Acts 9: 20). This is the first time we get this title in Acts (Chap. 8: 37, it should be noted, is, according to the best authorities, not in the original text).

But, returning to our chapter, we here find (Matt. 16: 21) a striking dispensational change. The disciples are commanded no longer to testify of Him as the Messiah. As such He had been rejected. For Him there was to be at this time no national recognition of His just rights and divine authority. Instead of a Crown, the nation was about to give Him a Cross. Instead of a palace, a grave. "From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day (verse 21). Only on the ground of death and resurrection could there be either earthly blessing for the Jew, or heavenly blessing for the Christian; and, had Peter known this, he would never have taken upon him to "rebuke" the Lord as he did. Israel will be associated with Him in the day of earthly glory. The Church, on the other hand, will be associated with Him in heavenly glory, but meantime she shares with Him in His earthly rejection. We have this lesson to learn in a practical way, and so the injunction to every disciple to take up his cross and follow Jesus. The man with a cross on his back being led to the place of execution was finished with the earth for ever. So the figure is here used of the Christian's relationships to things of the world. The believer is dead to sin (Rom. 6: 11), dead to the law (Rom. 7: 4), and dead to the flesh (Rom. 8: 9); but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 6: 11), and, in the power of resurrection life, he stands fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made him free. He shares with Christ now, in His rejection, as he will share with Him, by and by, in His glory. The world, under Gentile rule, crucified the Son of God, and is fast going on to judgment. The Kingdom of Heaven, in the hands of men, is fast hastening to that terrible climax when it will be seen to be a "cage of every unclean and hateful bird" (Rev. 18: 2, compare Matt. 13: 32). But before that moment arrives, when "the whole will be leavened," the Lord Himself shall descend (1 Thess. 4), and His waiting Church will be called up to meet Him in the air. Even so, Come, Lord Jesus. Afterwards, as the Son of Man, He will come in the glory of His Father, with His holy angels, and then shall He reward every man according to his works. A glimpse of this Kingdom glory the Lord was now about to give to the three disciples specially chosen to be witnesses of it.

It is a feature of the dealings of God with His people, that He often delivers them from present things whether it be the sufferings, the trials, or the glories of earth — by bringing in the light of the future. So with Stephen amidst his murderers: so with Paul, who counted present sufferings not worthy to be compared with the glory that should follow. On the other hand, Moses was enabled to forsake the glory of Egypt and endure as seeing Him that is invisible, and when the disciples were becoming occupied with the magnificence of their earthly temple, the Lord dispelled their illusion by setting before them the startling truth that the time was near when not one stone would be left upon another.

The disciples here, had had their first lesson in Cross-bearing. The Lord was now (Chap. 17) about to give them a glimpse of the time when the Crown-wearing would begin. The Father had revealed the glory of the Son to their minds. He was now about to reveal it to their eyes. Later on (2 Peter 1: 17) Peter would set the glory before the eyes of suffering saints as salvation ready to be revealed at the appearing of Jesus Christ," reminding them also, that he himself had already been an eyewitness of that glory when with Him in the holy mount.

And with the Lord were seen Moses and Elias, talking with Him (as Luke tells us) of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem. These two blessed men, already in their glorified bodies are talking with the Lord Jesus upon that very subject — His death — on which their present blessing was founded. And so when at home in the glory, the very delights of Heaven will only cast our minds backwards with ever-increasing awe and wonder to THE CROSS on which the Lord of Glory died. There was laid in righteousness the foundation upon which all the grace and glory of God will be displayed, whether in righteously saving sinners of the Gentiles, or righteously gathering out of His Kingdom all things that offend and them that do, iniquity, and casting them into a furnace of fire.

These two honoured servants were also doubtless representative of those, who, in the coming day will "shine forth as the sun" (Chap. 13: 43). Moses, a type of those dead and raised again at the first resurrection; Elias, of those translated without tasting death, which will be the happy experience of those "who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord" (1 Thess. 4: 15). And, in addition, there were present in this display of Kingdom glory, the three chosen disciples, typical surely of the nations who walk in the light of the city (Rev. 21: 24). The men of the earth will be blessed upon the earth, under the reign of righteousness of the Son of Man.

Well might Peter say, "It is good for us to be here," and well had he said no more. Yet Peter's mistakes only bring fuller revelations, and the Father's voice is heard in testimony to the Son.

The mental attitude of the devout Jew was summed up in the words, "we are Moses' disciples"; and nothing but the voice of divine authority could convince the disciples that a "greater than Moses was here." The glory cloud overshadows the mount. Moses and Elias depart, and the Son of Man descends from the mount — to suffer. He might have ascended to reign, but how then could the Scriptures have been fulfilled?

It is interesting to notice that at the four lowest points, if we may so say, to which the Lord went in grace, we get Heaven's appreciation visibly expressed. Thus, at His humble birth, the angel host came down with the message of peace and goodwill. When He took a place beside the repentant remnant and went down into the waters of. Jordan, Heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. At the close, when He bowed His head in death, and it seemed as if the enemy had triumphed after all, then we read of rending rocks, and quaking earth, and opening graves. And so here, though finally rejected and disowned as King of the Jews, yet Heaven owns Him, and the Voice of the Father proclaims Him as, "My Beloved Son," adding the expressive words, "Hear Him."

Peter, in haste to honour the heavenly visitors, would put all on the same level, but he had to learn what Christendom has not learned yet, that the day of both Lawgiver and Reformer had gone by. What could law do for lost sinners? Only condemn them. What men need is regeneration, not reformation — "Ye must be born again."

And in the "Beloved Son," there would be a revelation of God far and beyond any yet given through Old Testament servants, however great these may have been. In Him, God would be known as Father, and to know the Son would be to know the Father also.

Coming down from the mountain the Lord warns His disciples to "tell no man." Further testimony to His Messiahship could only add further condemnation to those who deliberately rejected Him. The shadow of the Cross was fast darkening across His pathway. A few short months, and all that was written of Him would be fulfilled. But the vision would be a stimulus to the disciples' faith in view of the fact that they would soon be compelled to he the helpless witnesses of His Crucifixion; and the conviction was being gradually forced upon their unwilling minds that there would be no throne for Him in Jerusalem at this time at least. Their great object now was that He should escape that Cross of which He had so recently spoken. Hence their unwillingness to accompany Him on the last journey to the city (see John 11).

The hope of the earthly glory was dying out of their hearts. The dread that He might be taken and slain oppressed them. Faith in the word He had spoken that He would rise again, had, as yet, no place in their hearts. But deep and true affection for their beloved Master comes out in the few simple words in verse 23 — "They were exceeding sorry."

Now, as they tried to reconcile Old Testament prophecy with this new teaching as to His death, they ask a question which gives occasion for the Lord to open up Scripture both for them and for us: —

"Why then say the Scribes that Elias must first come?" If the Son of Man is to be slain, where is the mission of Elias, who is to come as the restorer, before the great and terrible day?

And the Lord shows them that in the spirit and power of Elias, John the Baptist had come, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy of a rejected and suffering Forerunner, introducing a rejected and suffering Messiah. Malachi's prophecies will yet be fulfilled by the prophet of fire, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come; and more signal success will attend his mission in the days of Antichrist than ever attended it in the days of Ahab, great though that was.

But, best of all, immediately following it the conquering and glorified Lord Himself will appear — no longer now as the Star of Bethlehem, but as the Sun of Righteousness "with healing in his wings." What promise of fulness of blessing is contained in that one word — healing. It is just what this poor earth stands most in need of, after centuries of sin and strife, ruin, and want, and war.

But if disciples on the mountain top were learning the secrets of Heaven as to the glory of the future, disciples in the plains below were face to face with the power of the devil. If those in the mount saw the King in His beauty and had visions of God, those below saw but the results of Satan's handiwork in the case of the lunatic son, sore vexed.

Now, so far. the believer of to-day is in both these positions. On the mountain top the Kingdom glory is present to faith, but as to experience, we meet with the power of Satan in evidence in the world every day. He has been defeated, but he is not yet expelled from the scene of his usurpation. And we do well to mark that the cause of the disciples' failure to cast out the demon was their want of faith. This, on the other hand, brings out the deeply important principle that the man of faith is superior to all the power of evil. If it be the world in its ways, or its influence, or its oppression — "this is the victory that overcometh the world — our faith" (1 John 5: 4) If it be the direct assaults of Satan, he can be resisted, if we be "steadfast in the faith" (1 Peter 5: 9). Here the disciples at the foot of the mountain were out of touch with the Lord above, and there was failure on their part, as there must ever be for us all, under like conditions. Neither is it any guarantee that because a man overcomes at one time, he may not fail before the same difficulty on another occasion. These same disciples had doubtless met cases just the same before (see Chap. 10). Why, then, had they failed here? Because, there they went in the power of the Master, here they went in their own power. "Why could not we cast him out?" they ask. Later on they would learn the great lesson of John 15: 5, "Without me ye can do nothing." The two grand principles, against which all the power of Satan is harmless, are prayer and fasting; for prayer brings God in, and fasting puts flesh out, and where there is self-emptiness, and divine fulness, there will ever be overcoming power.

The closing incident in Matthew 17 really comes within the scope of the next section, but we notice it here in order to keep within the present arrangement of chapters. It is also a beautiful introduction to that which characterises the next portion of our Gospel. For while the believer is placed by grace in the highest possible position as a child of God, even while here, yet the same grace enables him to walk through this world seeking no place in it, and accepting no place from it, other than the place given to the Lord Himself — that of being both despised and rejected. And just in proportion as he is true to the Lord, so will he find that the world will treat him as it treated his Master. Here we find that this truth is developed as the outcome of Peter's hasty assumption that the Lord, as a good Jew (for Peter's appreciation of the Lord here rises no higher), would necessarily pay the temple tribute.

But the Lord takes occasion to teach Peter three lessons.

First, that when the kings of the earth levy tribute, they take it from strangers: their own children are free.

Second, that He, though He was the Son of. God and Lord of the temple, yet claimed no right and demanded no place, but maintained His position of lowly grace, and was willing to be treated, even as the kings of the earth treat "strangers," as indeed He was — the Heavenly Stranger upon the earth. And

Third, He would associate with Himself, His followers, providing for them at the same time and meeting every need of their pathway.

Here, as in other places, our Gospel testifies to the eternal power and Godhead of the Lord Jesus. The following list might be greatly extended.

1 His power over Satan (Chap. 4: 4).

2 His power over disease (Chap. 4: 23).

3 His power over demons (Chap. 4: 24).

4 His power over the elements (Chap. 8: 26).

5 His power to forgive sins (Chap. 9: 6).

6 His power over death (Chap. 9: 24).

7 His power to increase the provision (Chap. 14, 15).

8 His power over creation (Chap. 17: 27).

9 His power to foretell the future (Chap. 24: 25).

10 All Power in Heaven and in earth (Chap. 28: 18).

Now all this is very blessed, for it shows that all the power of God is for the believer now, as to the difficulties of his pathway, and it is a matter of individual experience in a scene where everything is against him.

But when the Kingdom comes in manifested glory, then will be seen the full display of all that of which we have had but glimpses.

If it be a question of Satan, the accuser of the brethren, he will be bound for a thousand years (Rev. 20: 2).

If it be a question of evil men, they will be gathered out of His Kingdom (Chap. 13: 41).

If it be a question of disease, "the inhabitant shall not say 'I am sick'." (Isa. 33: 24).

Then Creation itself will undergo a remarkable change: the very nature of the wild beast will be transformed, until the wolf and the lamb shall feed together (Isa. 65: 25).

Under present conditions, the peoples of the earth are taxed to maintain their kings but in that day the order will be reversed. The King will maintain His people, according to the prophecy of Ps. 132: 15.

Thus, then, the believer walks through this world in the conscious knowledge that he belongs to the Kingdom of Heaven: that when the Son of Man comes again in power and great glory to establish His rights over the whole earth, he will come with Him, and reign with Him. Surely in the light of these heavenly truths, we may well walk through this world as those, who, though in it, are not of it, for we have been saved out of it and are here only to witness for our absent Lord in this the day of His rejection.

Section 9. Matthew 18-23.

The Characteristics of those who enter the Kingdom, the Responsibility of those connected with it, and God's way of bringing Men into it: The King presented, and the Leaders of Israel morally judged

We have now reached, in the history of our Gospel, the last winter of our Lord's ministry here below.

By comparing the other Gospels, we find that much patient service and gracious teaching were crowded into these few closing days.

At least two visits to Jerusalem were made between this time and the day when the last journey began. From Galilee He went up privately (John 7) for the Feast of Tabernacles, which took place in the seventh month of the Jewish sacred year — Tisri, corresponding to our September October and the narrative in John's Gospel, Chapters 7-9, details the events which then took place.

The ever-increasing enmity of the Jews led Him to retire from the city at this time, but from John 10: 22, we learn that He paid another visit to Jerusalem at the Feast of the Dedication, which was held in the month of Chisleu, or about the beginning of December. When the Jews again sought to take Him, He went away beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized, and there He abode (John 11: 46).

This period would seem to correspond with that of Matthew 19: 1, and here, "in the wilderness of Judea" (Chap. 3: 1), the Lord spent the few remaining months of His earthly sojourn.

Let us follow Him with reverent footsteps and share in the precious ministry of the Kingdom vouchsafed to all who drew near.

If Matthew 17 gives us a glimpse of Kingdom Glory, Matthew 18 reveals to us something of the moral atmosphere that should exist in that Kingdom into which men are born from above.

The Lord shows that meekness, grace, and forbearance should characterise the disciple, even as these, and every other grace, shone forth in perfect display in the Master. In our chapter we have this teaching developed, and it is further enforced by the parable of the two debtors, and the discipline measured out to him who failed in grace in his dealings with his fellow-servant.

The broad outlines of Matthew 18 are: —

1 The Way into the Kingdom (verse 3).

2 Unsparing Self Judgment as to Walk and Ways (verse 8).

3 The Spirit of Grace to be manifested by every child of the Kingdom (verse 15).

4 The Centre of Gathering (verse 18).

5 The Great Lesson of Forgiveness enforced (verse 22).

6 And Illustrated (verse 23).

The Lord's teaching is ever both formative and corrective, and both are needed by the believer.

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3: 16). Of this, surely, apostles stood in need; and in these closing counsels the Lord was fitting them for the position they would have to fill when He was no longer with them in the flesh. Then, with opened understandings, and the indwelling Spirit to bring all things to their remembrance, they would be able to bring forth from their treasures things both new and old.

In the present case (Matt. 18: 1) the disciples had apparently been unable to settle among themselves the ever-recurring question as to what qualification entitled a man to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Their minds were ever hankering after earthly greatness, as men in the flesh, and so far, they seemed to have grasped divine things in but a very feeble way.

In correcting their mistaken ideas, the Lord begins at the very foundation, and shows that so far from ambition and self-seeking giving them a high place in the Kingdom, these things would prevent them altogether from even entering into it. The very first essential would be to lay aside all these and be converted. Not, of course, that the disciples were not converted, but it is the broad principle of entrance with which the Lord is dealing. To manifest the new nature, men must have the new life, and this truth needs to be enforced to-day, as much as ever it did, if not more so. There never was a time when the foundation truths of the Gospel were more insidiously attacked than at the present moment. Men point to the life of the Lord Jesus as our example, while denying the necessity of His death as an atonement for sin. Such teaching is deadly error. That perfect holy life, apart from that vicarious death, could only show the sinner the extent of his failure, and add to his condemnation. Moreover, far from being able to imitate it, he is unable even to take the very first step, for he has no desire to do so. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. Every blessing for man must begin with the death of Christ; for, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. The Lord might have stepped back into the glory from any point of His earthly pathway, but if so He would have been in that glory alone as far as the sons of earth were concerned. But "the Son of Man must be lifted up." There must be a work done for us, and we "must be born again." There must also be a work done in us, and all is brought about by the sovereign grace of God alone.

This, then, is Conversion, and everything in Christianity begins here. Let us mark it well. The character of one thus born again, the Lord illustrates by the little child. The child is simple, loving, forgiving, truthful, trustful, and humble. All this should come out in the character of the one who is turned from Satan to God; from sin to holiness. David's mighty men were great in the earthly kingdom according to their great deeds in war and in the overthrow of their foes. But in the Kingdom of Heaven the very opposite of this subsists. The truly great in this wonderful new dispensation are marked by the spirit of meekness, gentleness, and faith. And as these very characteristics would naturally lead the one who manifested them to be oppressed by the world, the Lord immediately warns as to what would be the fate of those who so "offended" them. And so it will be, though the world little realises it. If it could be said of His ancient people that He "kept him as the apple of his eye" (Deut. 32: 10), shall His care be less over us?

Next the subject of self-judgment is dealt with in the most solemn way possible. It is a question of responsibility in the Kingdom to manifest the character of the King. Nothing short of "Be ye holy for I am holy," is to be the believer's standard, and in order that nothing of flesh may come out in our ways, the very beginnings of sins in our members are to be checked.

Doubtless the Kingdom is here viewed in its broadest aspect, and men are looked at on the ground of their outward profession. If a man is walking in the ways of his heart and in the lust of his eyes, there is no proof at all that he is converted, and though in the Kingdom by profession, there is no assurance that he may not end in hell-fire.

The place occupied by children, in the economy of grace, the Lord next illustrates, using the child He had called to Him in verse 1 as an object lesson.

Even disciples might think lightly of children, and despise them; and in the kingdoms of earth they have little weight. But the Lord lifts the veil for a moment and gives us a glimpse into the unseen. "Their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in Heaven." They are not innocent, neither are they hardened in sin. But they are lost, because come of a fallen race; yet the Son of Man has come to save them, and it is not the Father's will that one of them should perish. The joy of the shepherd expresses the delight of the Great Shepherd, and His joy in saving the lost. Lost because Adam sinned. Saved because Jesus died.

In verses 15 to 20 we next get the most important guidance as to the course of action to be taken when sin is manifested in another. The early part of the chapter instructs as to personal holiness Here the question is, "If thy brother trespass [against thee]." The last two words are of doubtful authority here, while their place and importance in verse 21 will be seen later. Here it is the broad aspect of a brother "sinning." What then? Love, not law, is to be set in motion, the object being the recovery of the erring one, that the name of Christ may not be dishonoured in the world.

But, oh, what grace is needed here. To go to such a one in the spirit of self-righteousness and superiority, will only tend to harden him in his sin. The "meekness and gentleness of Christ" (2 Cor. 10: 1) are required by the under shepherds in a very special way when they have work like this to do. And they have need also of the apostle's exhortation, to consider themselves, lest they also be tempted (Gal. 6: 1).

But progress in the path of departure is not easily checked. It is possible that the individual personal dealing of the one who alone knew of the sin may be disregarded. If so, it becomes necessary to take "one or two more with thee, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established." With the failure of these, if they fail, the privacy of the matter ends. Sin cannot be ignored. The holiness of God's house demands that it should be dealt with. "If he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church." Here the importance of the witnesses come in. They are able to give a faithful report of every word, said both to him, and by him, and by their testimony every word is established. If he neglect to hear the Church, the Church, as the custodian of the rights of God on earth, will have to deal in righteous discipline with the unrepentant one, and no longer accord him the place his sin has unfitted him to fill. "Let him be unto them as an heathen man and a publican." And this action of the assembly will be ratified in Heaven, either in "binding" the sin upon the guilty one, or in "loosing" him from it, when there is evidence of true repentance and restoration of soul to God.

Now, in all this, the Lord is speaking anticipatively. In Matthew 16 He had spoken of "My Church," but there the expression comprises every believer from Pentecost to the Coming. Here, for the first time in scripture, we get a local assembly mentioned, and connected with it are the foundation principles upon which such a gathering rests.

1 Its CENTRE of gathering is the Lord Himself. Believers are gathered "unto His name."

2 LOVE is the ruling principle in the intercourse of its members, one with another; and

3 HOLINESS characterises its testimony in the world, to ensure which, the Lord promises His Presence, His Authority, and His Approval of what is done in His Name.

Mark the grace that condescends to be "in the midst" of the "two or three," so gathered. Encouragement in prayer is in the same connection, for be it remarked that all Answered prayer is Conditioned prayer. Mark 11: 24; John 14: 13, John 15: 7, John 16: 23, 24; 1 John 3: 22, further develop this deeply-important subject.

Peter's question in verse 21 gives occasion for the Lord to bring out in the most beautiful way the absolute superiority of grace over every form of evil. You cannot offend a truly gracious man, for he refuses to take offence. You cannot take down "a truly humble man, for he is already down. All that may be done against such a one, only the more brings out the grace that is in him, and the more others seek to do him evil, the more he desires their good.

And this not "seven times" only, but without end. Jewish Rabbins had said that forgiveness was to be extended three times to the repentant brother. Peter is willing to extend it seven times, but the Lord says in effect, "How great is the restoring grace of God, and how often has it been extended to you? If you are in the sense of that grace, manifest it to others without any limits. If he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him" (Luke 17: 4).

But there is the other side. If grace be not manifested, God will deal in government with the one who so fails, and in the end, it may be shown by his final and eternal condemnation, that he was never in the Kingdom at all, except on the mere outward ground of profession only. This the parable of the Unmerciful Servant teaches us.

It will be noticed that in this section (Chaps. xviii to 23) there are four different kinds of parables. Five parables in all.

1 The Unmerciful Servant (Chap. 18) teaches us Responsibility in the Kingdom.

2 The Labourers in the Vineyard (Chap. 20) teaches us that God is Sovereign, and maintains His rights as being such.

3 The Two Sons, and the Wicked Husbandmen (Chap. 21) declare the setting aside of Israel; and

4 The Marriage of the King's Son (Chap. 22) shows God's way of bringing men into the Kingdom.

Our chapter deals with the first of these subjects. But it may be well to notice at the outset, before looking at this great object lesson of Forgiveness, that there are three aspects of Forgiveness in Scripture: —

1) Forgiveness for Sinners, or Eternal forgiveness, is received, and should be enjoyed by every believer. But many do not enter into it. Some hope for it. Some think that they were once forgiven, but may lose it again. Others suppose they are partly forgiven. God says, "I write unto you children, because your sins are forgiven you for His Name's sake" (1 John 2: 12).

GRACE provides it. The BLOOD procures it. The SPIRIT proclaims it. FAITH appropriates it. Because God has spoken, I am sure.

Three things follow: —

1 It produces Happiness. "Blessed (happy) is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered" (Ps. 32: 1).

2 It produces LOVE. "Much forgiven, the same loveth much" (Luke 7: 47).

3 It produces holy fear. "There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared" (Ps. 130: 4).

2) Forgiveness for BELIEVERS, or restorative Forgiveness.

When we were converted, we were received into the family of God and became children. Confession of our many failures restores to us the joy of forgiveness, and we remain happy children. Instructions to railwaymen are that "when a train breaks down, report to headquarters." So must we. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1: 9).

3) Governmental Forgiveness is what the parable in this chapter deals with, and closely connected with it is the supreme importance and necessity of forgiveness by believers of each other. Any other attitude is contrary to the whole spirit of Christianity, and there is no evidence that the man who cherishes an unforgiving spirit is a Christian at all. Having been forgiven our "great debt," we ought to forgive each other without limit. To do otherwise is to grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

But there is also the dispensational aspect of this parable.

"The King" is God. The "Great Debtor," Israel. "The Debt," all the privileges and blessings they had received from God ever since they became a nation. For the "taking account" compare Matthew 3: 10. The axe was then at the root of the tree. The "patience" following first on His three years' ministry among them, and again on His prayer for them on the Cross — "Father, forgive them" — was extended down to Acts 7.

The "hundred pence" debtor may represent the Gentiles. The attitude of the Jew towards the

Gentiles and towards God is shown in many passages in the Acts. Compare Chapters 7: 51, 13: 45, 14: 2, 17: 5, 21: 27, 22: 21, 28: 28, and it is finally summed up in 1 Thessalonians 2: 15: —

1 They killed the Lord Jesus.

2 And their own prophets.

3 They persecuted the Apostles

4 They please not God.

5 They were contrary to all men.

6 Forbade to preach to the Gentiles, and thus they filled up their sins so that wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. In the words of the parable, they have been "sold" — cast into the prison of the nations, as they are to this day, and will be until the time spoken of in Isaiah 40, when the punishment of the guilty nation will be completed, her warfare accomplished, and her iniquity pardoned.

There is here indeed a solemn warning to every servant, in every dispensation to walk in love, humility, and lowliness; forgiving from the heart every one his brother their trespasses.

Two words give the secret of the unmerciful servant's failure. He "went out" from the presence of his Master. In a spiritual sense this will always mean failure. To abide in the light is to abide in communion with the Father and the Son. May this ever be our happy experience, and so shall our "joy be full." Matthew 19 may be divided into four parts: —

1 Marriage.

2 The Little Children.

3 Creature Goodness; and

4 Discipleship.

Here we come, in the first place, to the Lord's teaching as to the relationships of nature which had been established by God Himself, and which, being of divine origin, and being ordained "from the beginning" must necessarily continue to exist in the Kingdom.

The Pharisee's question — "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause" — was put with no desire on their part to accept from Him an authoritative ruling on the subject, but only to entrap Him into taking sides in the great "divorce controversy" then raging. A school of Jewish Rabbins were busy endeavouring to undermine the law of God, given through Moses, and provide scope for the carnal passions of men to work unchecked. The door had been opened wide enough to allow of "many causes" instead of the one, but all so trifling that the Lord refuses even to take notice of them. So may we. The great point is established that marriage, as originally instituted by God Himself in Eden, subsists in the kingdom on earth; and if the man and the woman act according to the spirit of that kingdom, there will neither be the occasion nor the need for separation between them.

It is God's order for man in nature, and it is an evidence of the greatest human love. But it is more. It is a type of the most wonderful thing in the universe, and that is — Christ and the Church.

The Pharisees endeavour to quote Moses against the Lord, but He at once shows them that Moses, instead of condemning Him, condemned them. Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered — not commanded — her to be put away. Here, as on another occasion, Moses, instead of becoming their vindicator, becomes their accuser and judge. "There is one," the Lord says, "that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust" (John 5: 45). It is ever a dangerous thing for a sinner to take his stand upon the law, which can only expose and condemn him with no power to pardon and forgive.

Now, the disciples' comment on this teaching brings out another phase of wrong-thinking. The Pharisees would have marriage with all the licence that their loose morals craved for. The disciples, if marriage was to be without these liberties, would argue that, "it is not good to marry." But this was to contradict the very words of God. At the beginning He had said, "It is not good that man should be alone," and this ruling still exists. Christianity may produce in some that which is beyond nature, and for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake a man may have a special gift so to abide.

Nothing is more illustrative of the tender grace of the Lord than His attitude towards the little ones, and nothing can be more encouraging for all who have to do with such, be it either parent or teacher. He had already taught (Chap. 18) that what should mark the one who was in the Kingdom was that which did mark the child. Here the further truth is revealed, that such are in the Kingdom. Who brought the little ones to the Lord we are not told, but it is clear that having come themselves they had faith to bring their children also. And this faith the Lord honoured. They sought that He would put His hands on them and pray. He did more. He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them (Mark 10). Not only was He willing to invoke the blessing; but, being Himself the Blesser, He was able to bless. So it ever is where there is real faith. "He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think" (Eph. 3: 20).

But if the Lord graciously responded to the claims of faith, the Spirit of God, on the other hand, gives us to know His attitude towards even His own disciples when they misrepresented Him. They rebuked those who brought the children. He rebuked them, and so much was the spirit they manifested opposed to the spirit of the Kingdom that, as Luke tells us, "He was much displeased" (Luke 18). Still seeking for honour and place, they thought to find it in being the disciples of so great a Rabbi. Alas! how little they knew as yet either His true greatness or that spirit which marks the truly great. This lesson He was now about to teach them (Chap. 20: 26). But before that they got an object-lesson as to the real value of all earthly things, be it either riches or rank, and as a result, there had to be in their case a revaluation of values in the light of Heaven, if they would arrive at that which was the current coin of the Kingdom.

The Rich Young Ruler to whom we are now introduced was no common man. As far as this world went he had everything that it values, and he was everything that it respects.

He was a religious man, a ruler or judge among the people. He had money, friends, position, and influence. He did all that the law commanded, as far as he understood it, and he was sincere in thinking that by the deeds of the law he could enter into life. In short, he is set before us as the best that nature could produce, but the Lord has now to show him, and us too, that nature's best is not good enough for God. To do so He brings the true inwardness of the law to bear upon his heart and conscience. If he really loved his neighbour as himself, why not share with him in all he possessed? Put in this way, the idol of riches in his heart is exposed, and in spite of what he professed his failure is manifest, for "he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen" (1 John 4). And this young man had professed to love both God and his brother.

Verse 21 is not the Gospel; it is the Lord exposing the young man's heart to himself. The Gospel is not "give up" this or that, but take Christ, and with Him pardon, forgiveness, and life; peace, power, and joy.

But with Him also the Cross; and, at this saying, the rich young man was very sorrowful. Treasure in heaven doubtless he would receive, for the "Good Master" had said it. But treasure in heaven was far away, and to him but visionary. His own riches on earth seemed to him both real and tangible, but alas! he forgot the thief of time who would ultimately steal both them from him and him from them.

"And Jesus beholding him loved him" (Mark 10). It is one of the most interesting stories in the Gospels: also one of the saddest. Instead of owning himself condemned by law and casting himself upon the mercy of Christ, he clung to his rank and his riches, with all that they cost him, and all that they lost him, "and went away grieved, for he was very rich." So will it be with every one who shuns the narrow path of following Christ. To suffer with Him here is to reign with Him in Kingdom Glory hereafter.

Now the thought of the disciples was that riches was a sure mark of the favour of God, and that they at least supplied the means of doing good. If no one was "good," and riches — the means of doing good, not only valueless, but in themselves a positive hindrance — "who then could be saved?" The Lord's answer is emphatic, No one. On the ground of human merit, a camel might sooner pass the needle's eye than a rich man, trusting in his riches, enter the Kingdom. But with God all things are possible. Grace makes no account of what man is, either at his "best" or his "worst." Salvation is of the Lord.

Peter, doubtless seeing the young man going away preferring his possessions to Christ, ventures the question, "We have left all. . . . What shall we have therefore?"

In His reply the Lord gives some of the most precious encouragement as to discipleship, coupled as ever with that which will guard it from the abuse of human merit.

This we have in the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard. The apostles had done what the young man had been invited to do. First, then, the Lord says, that, as to His immediate followers, the disciples, they would be princes in the Kingdom. And all, at all times, and in all places, who prefers the name of Christ above what is dear to nature shall receive an hundredfold here, and life everlasting hereafter. He had already told them of the persecution and suffering they would have to endure by becoming His followers. Now He reveals to them something of the glory that should follow. And even here more friends would be raised up to them for Christ's sake than ever they had lost for their own sakes.

The day of Kingdom Glory is the time of recompense, and nothing done for Christ will be forgotten by Him in that day.

But along with this cheering promise goes another line of truth intensely solemn, and that is that "the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." (1 Cor. 3: 13). And the gain or loss of that day will be in accordance with the character of the work done in this. May the thought have due weight with each one of us, so that everything be done in the light of the judgment-seat of Christ, and all our ways below may meet with His approval. Peter, perhaps, put a value on his boat and nets which they never possessed, and we are all in danger of doing likewise. But Peter had forsaken them to follow the Lord, and nothing is little in His eyes where the motive is true love to Himself.

Only lest we should go to the opposite extreme in self-righteousness and be tempted to put our own value upon our own work, we get the Parable of "The Labourers," in which the further truth comes out that God is Sovereign, and will do just as He pleases; and that what He pleases to do is right. Self-righteousness may lead a man to estimate himself as "first," but, if so, the true estimate may show that he is last of all. This the parable develops, and shows that rewards in the Kingdom will be in accord with the principles both of sovereignty and grace There are five groups of labourers: —

1 The First Company go into the vineyard early in the morning, having agreed for a penny a day.

2 The Second Company go into the vineyard at the third hour, depending on the promise of the householder.

3 and 4. The Third and Fourth Companies go into the vineyard at the sixth and ninth hours on the same terms as the second.

5. The Fifth Company go into the vineyard at the eleventh hour with no promise at all, if we omit, with the best authorities, the last clause of verse 7.

It is a manifold picture of sovereign grace: God continuing to come out unceasingly, in order to bring men into the place of blessing; and not only so, but to give them the honour of serving Him: give them grace to serve; and then, and beyond all, reward them for the service that His sovereign grace has enabled them to fulfil.

"So when even was come the Lord of the vineyard said unto his steward, Call the labourers and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first." And when the eleventh hour labourers came, they received every man a penny. And when the first company came they also received every man a penny. People argue that all were rewarded alike. But not so. The point of the parable is, that all were rewarded. Not that all were rewarded alike. There is a great difference between a penny a day and a penny an hour. Nevertheless, what right had the first to murmur? They had been dealt with in perfect righteousness. They had received what they bargained for, and what had they to do with the value of other men's service? That lay with the goodness of the householder. If all reward be a reward of grace, as it is, that reward can only be measured by the sovereign grace of God alone. If He make the last to be first who shall question His ruling? Many who thought themselves to be first may be seen to be last, and many who came in late may get a first place. The dying thief came in at the eleventh hour surely, but his one short hour of witness to Christ was given at a time when all had forsaken Him.

We must ever keep in mind that the Parables in general deal with Kingdom truth on the broad lines of profession. There will be no murmurers in the day of glory. Whatever the penny may have meant to the first group in the parable, it certainly means no place in the Kingdom for those to whom the parable applies, and it is equally certain that love for the Master had no place in their hearts. It is a scriptural principle that "the labourer is worthy of his hire." But, on the other hand, if he work for his hire only, it proves him to be merely a hireling who has never known what the true spring of service really is. How beautiful it is to compare with this what the apostle knew to be the compelling power in all true Christian service. "The love of Christ constraineth us: because we thus judge that, if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they which live should not live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again" (2 Cor. 5: 14, 15).

We may well pause here for a moment. This parable dealing with service, and God's rights in rewarding it according to His own sovereign grace, are the closing words, given by our Evangelist, of the Great Servant, before setting out on the last sad journey to Jerusalem.

His holy life of devoted service had been marked by obedience to the Father's will and love to the souls of men. He was the Dispenser of blessing wherever He went, and men wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth. Yet in spite of all this perfect display of heavenly power and grace, He had to say, "They hated me without a cause."

Now He is on the way to the Cross, and once again He takes the twelve apart by themselves in the way, to give them the third recorded lesson as to His rejection and death; and to prepare them for what must now be to them the shattering of all their hopes. For even yet their eyes and hearts were filled with visions of an immediate earthly reign, and to secure first places there, James and John endeavour to forestall the others.

This self-seeking appeal for the Sons of Zebedee gives opportunity for the Lord to bring to light the things of the spirit. He had come as the Messiah, bringing blessing for Israel, and had been rejected. Laying aside His rightful claims as Israel's King, He had then announced Himself as the "Son of Man" — a wider title which declared His rights world wide, and therefore spoke of blessing for all. But before there could be blessing for any, the Lord must die, in order to lay the righteous foundation on which all the purposes of God might rest secure.

All this the disciples were as yet ignorant of. But before that day of display came, He had something to give to His followers. It was suffering. They were slow to learn that this was the highest honour they could have from the world. So are we. Knowing not what it involved, they said, in answer to His question, "Are ye able to drink of the cup that I drink of?" "We are able." Circumstances would very soon test their pretensions. And yet if at one time it had to be written — "They all forsook him and fled" — the Spirit is careful to record of them on another occasion, that "they departed from the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name" (Acts 5: 41).

But if the Sons of Zebedee were full of themselves, the ten, when they heard it, were full of indignation. They wanted to put the two down, perhaps only in order to put themselves up. But again the patient grace of the Lord shines out. He called them around Him, not for rebuke but for instruction. He, the Son of Man, the Lord of all, had become a Servant, and gone to a lower place than it was possible for any one else to reach. They were not to imitate the rulers of the nations, but to follow Him. So should we. If you want to be great, go down. If you want to be greater, go lower; and the lower we go, the nearer we get to the Master "who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." His service here was leading Him on to that supreme act of self-surrender — laying down His life for the sheep. Now in the glory His service of love still continues, though in another character. He is there as our great High Priest, and His priestly service is able to maintain us in the light of the presence of God, and in the sunshine of His love every moment.

Soon the day of Kingly service will come, when He will come forth to serve; and we shall be with Him and like Him as He is. What a day of blessing will it be when such a King reigns in righteousness.

May the contemplation of such love produce in each of us the Christ spirit — which seeketh not his own, and is ever ready to lay down life itself for the brethren. "Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister (hired servant), and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant (slave)." The man in whom self is least in evidence is the man who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Passing through Jericho the two blind men are met, and healed. They hail Him as "Son of David," follow Him, and become witnesses to His power. It is fittingly the last-recorded miracle of healing in Matthew's Gospel, and it is a dispensational picture of the time when the "blindness" that has happened to the nation will be done away, and the remnant will recognise and acclaim their rightful King that cometh in the name of the Lord. This the multitude now do, according to the prophecy of Psalm 118. When they reach Bethphage He sends for the ass and the colt, both doubtless used by Him in succession, according to Zechariah 9: 9. Matthew alone mentions both animals: typical they are, no doubt, and, with many similar things, it looks on to the day when the remnant of the nation will be brought into blessing under a King come in power.

But the meek and lowly One is about to be rejected, and the next verse of the prophecy (Zech. 10: 10) remains unfulfilled until the day when He comes again riding upon the "white horse" (Rev. 19). The procession reaches the brow of Olivet, and the city bursts upon their gaze. Just in front, on the other side of the Kedron Valley, shining in all its recent adornment, stands the Temple — the Holy House, as the Jew so fondly called it, soon to be left desolate, and in a few short years become a prey to consuming fire. To the left, on the Hill of Zion, lay the "City of David," recalling all the glories of their greatest ruler. And here was David's Royal Son, surely, thought the disciples, now about to assert both His authority and His power.

But, see, the King weeps! (Luke 19). It is no scene of triumph His eye rests upon. The inconstant multitude will soon change their cry of acclamation to cries of derision. Jerusalem, knowing not the day of her visitation in grace, will soon bitterly realise that the day has come for her visitation in judgment. Yet still His heart yearned over them. How often would He have gathered them as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings? — "I would: ye would not."

Ascending up from the Kedron, they enter the Temple, probably by the East gate, "and the whole city was moved." But, alas! however moved, they knew Him not. They can only ask, "Who is this?" And the voices that acclaimed Him at Olivet as "Son of David" can now only reply, "It is Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth." He had reached the city, not to reign, but to die.

"And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple" — it is the evening of the First day of the week — and when He had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, He went out into Bethany with the twelve (Mark 11). Not till next day — Monday — as Mark tells us, did He cleanse the temple. Matthew, as we have seen, groups the incidents in keeping with his subject, and so we have together, the withering of the Fig Tree, the Parables of the Two Sons, and that of the Wicked Husbandmen, teaching so plainly the setting aside of Israel, that even the Pharisees understood it. And let us notice that neither of these two parables is said to be a "likeness of the Kingdom of Heaven." That new thing begins consequent upon the rejection of Messiah, and so we have in order, in Matthew 22, the Parable of the Marriage of the King's Son, showing God's way of bringing men into that Kingdom. The Jews would not come. The Gentiles will, as we shall see later.

"Now in the morning (Monday) as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, 'Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever.' And presently the fig tree withered away."

Here we have both a miracle and a parable. It is the only miracle other than that of blessing the Lord ever performed. And as to the parable, if we connect it with the parable in Luke 13, we shall find that three years of patient cultivation had been spent before the word went forth, "Cut it down." The Lord's ministry of patient grace had continued for a somewhat similar time, but now it was over, and Israel's day had gone by. As to the action itself, it was symbolical, and for the instruction of disciples. So must we understand the teaching consequent thereupon. They would nowhere have to do either with a literal fig tree or a literal mountain. But, as God's planting, Israel was the "fig tree"; and as a power in the earth, Israel was the "mountain." The day came, in apostolic service, when an apostle was led to utter the warning, "Behold ye despisers, and wonder, and perish" (Acts 13). And again, "The Salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles" (Acts 28). Even after the crucified and risen Lord had gone back to the glory, one last message of mercy was sent again to His earthly people, through Peter, and after their rejection of it, and the murder of His witness, Stephen, Israel was indeed cast into the sea of the nations. She had proved conclusively that, in her history, there had neither been fruit for God, nor power among men.

But there is more. In verse 22 there is the most unqualified assurance that all things would be given to the man of faith. So accustomed are we to the little faith (often no faith) of our own hearts, that, when we find such a statement as this, we are tempted to explain away the power of it. But there it stands for believers of all time. The twelve were about to be parted from the Master upon whom they had relied in every emergency. He now connects them with all the power of God on high which they were to lay hold of, by faith, for their service; assuring them that, to the man of faith, all things he asks, he shall receive.

When He reached the Temple, He cleansed it, as we have noticed, and at once begins what we might call His closing public addresses. For His last words of encouragement and instruction to His own we must look elsewhere, but Matthew gives us very full details of the public ministry of these two busy days. The nation was hearing the voice speaking in grace, which it would not again hear, until that same voice speaks in judgment in a later day. But now it was only a question of setting forth in symbolic language the state to which the blindness of the leaders had brought the nation.

The outline of the Temple addresses is as follows: —

1 The Jews refuse to obey God (Parable of the Two Sons).

3 They refuse to bring anything to Him (Parable of the Vine-dressers).

3 They refuse to accept anything from Him (Parable of the Marriage of the King's Son).

4 Grace refused goes out to the Gentiles (The Second Invitation to the Marriage Feast).

5 Their political bondage turned on what they had failed to be for God (The Tribute Money).

6 Sadducean difficulties are shown to he the result of Sadducean infidelity (The Woman and Seven Husbands).

7 The law exposes the motives of the heart: till that is right everything must be wrong (The Lawyer's Question).

Let us look into these things in a little more detail. The Lord no longer replies to the cavils of the elders, except to bring truth to bear upon their consciences. They ask Him for His authority. Had it not been displayed before their eyes in acts of power, which proved that it must be heavenly in its origin? But now, would they answer His question, "John's Baptism, was it from heaven?" He had been a burning and a shining light and they had been willing for a season to rejoice in that light (John 5: 35). Their national pride had gloried in a prophet being raised up amongst them, as so often among the fathers of old, but their self-righteousness had prevented them from accepting his testimony to Messiah. John had been murdered and his Master they had rejected. Hence their difficulty. Rather than own their sin, they refuse to answer. Then the Lord brings their moral state before them in the parable of the Two Sons.

Open opposition to the father, followed by repentance, marked the first. False profession, unrepented of, marked the second. Open sinners were converted by the preaching of the fearless Baptist and brought into the Kingdom of God. Self-righteous Pharisees saw no need for repentance.

In the next parable a deeper principle is touched upon. The nation was not only in a state of malevolent neutrality, it was in a state of active opposition to God and His ways of grace. Israel had been likened to the vineyard of the Lord, as they very well knew from their own scriptures (Ps. 80 And according to Isaiah 5 everything had been done for it that the care and forethought of the husbandman could do. Indeed the prophet had challenged the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah on this very point. And what? — "When I looked that it should bring forth grapes it brought forth wild grapes." Then the Lord shows from their dealings with His servants, the prophets, what their moral history had been, until that moment when their hearts were fully exposed by the presence of the Son Himself in their midst, and their diabolic counsel among themselves was "This is the Heir, come let us — kill Him." It is no question of ignorance. He is known, and when known, hated. So trenchant and convincing is the argument that they are forced to answer the question — "When the Lord of the vineyard cometh what will He do?" God was about to take a hand in the affairs of men. What will happen to those who up to that time had been the custodians of the Kingdom of God: of whom were the fathers, and to whom were the promises? "Did ye never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner." He was the Stone of Israel (Gen. 49), the Tried Stone, the Precious Corner Stone, and the Sure Foundation (Isa. 28). But to Israel He became a Stone of stumbling, and a Rock of offence (Rom. 10). Nevertheless, though disallowed of men, He was chosen of God and precious, and on Him the spiritual house is now being builded, and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded (1 Peter 2). If they who stumbled at the Lord come in grace would be "broken," what could happen to those with whom He had to deal in judgment, but that they should be "ground to powder" (compare Dan. 2: 35). It is the inevitable end of all who would contend with God.

Then He tells them that the "Kingdom of God" should be taken from them. It is the last time we have this term in Matthew, and it marks in a very specific way the difference between it and the Kingdom of Heaven. The Jews, entrusted with the revelation from God, owned Him as their King, and were in His Kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven was the form the Kingdom of God would take, consequent upon the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ to the right-hand of God on high.

The Kingdom of God, then, taken from the Jews would be given to a "nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." This, doubtless, has a twofold meaning. Peter, writing to believers, could say, using no doubt Old Testament forms of speech (Deut. 10: 15), "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" (1 Peter 2: 9). Then, in a coming day, it will be said to Israel, in the sublime words of the prophet, "Arise, shine, for thy light is come . . . thy people shall be all righteous, they shall inherit the land for ever" (Isa. 60: 1-21). But meantime it is proved conclusively that men under the best of conditions could produce nothing for God. Not only so, but in addition to abusing the servants, they murdered the Son. Enmity could no further go. What will God do now? Can grace meet such a condition as this? Verse 1, Matthew 22, answers the question. It is no longer a question of what man has done, but of what God is doing; and the Lord hereupon gives a similitude of the new thing, and God's way of bringing men into it, under the form of the parable of the Marriage of the King's Son. And here a further startling development of evil is seen. Men not only refuse to bring anything to God: they also refuse to accept anything from Him. This is a true picture of the natural heart, and a very humbling truth indeed. But for sovereign grace, not a single soul of Adam's race would ever be in the glory of God.

"A certain king made a marriage for his son:" The world dishonoured the Son. God will have Him to be honoured. The world gave Him a low place. God will give Him the highest place that heaven affords. Every knee must bow to Him, and those who will not bow in grace shall bow in judgment. The Lord puts the divine counsels in true perspective. The proper "point of sight" is not so much man's need, as God's glory, and while the convicted sinner naturally views the Gospel from the first standpoint, the believer should seek to see things from the last.

The Marriage Feast sets before us the way grace goes out either to Jew or Gentile; and along with that there is the response it meets with. As to those that were bidden, "they would not come."

A second invitation manifests the indifference of some and the malevolence of others. The agricultural and mercantile classes (verse 5) are singled out from the remnant (verse 6), who slew the servants. These last would fittingly represent the leaders who were ever the first in persecution.

In the first invitation we have the ministry of the Apostles before the Cross. In the second, the preaching of the Apostles after the Cross, and until the death of Stephen. "Repent ye therefore and be converted," Peter could say, "that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshment may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3: 19, R.V.). But they repented not. Instead of their sins being blotted out, their city was burned up as the parable had forewarned.

Now, the call of grace can go out to all, without exception or distinction. It is no longer, what man is, but, what God is. A praying Lydia, or a jailer steeped in sin, need, and alike receive, the same grace. From the "highways" the servants gather both "bad and good," and the wedding is furnished with guests.

But something more was needed. The glory of the King, and the honour of the King's Son, demanded that there should be not only acceptance of the King's invitation, but fitness for the King's presence. This the "Wedding Garment" supplied. It was needed by the guests, and provided by the King. Hence there was no excuse for the man without it. His "best" would not do for the King, neither will man's best do for God. Only as a sinner is clad in God's righteousness, can he stand before Him, and God's righteousness is Christ Himself. The measure of the believer's standing is nothing less than Christ risen. Wonderful truth. How little we enter into it. But there could not be Christ risen, until He had first gone into death. Apart from that atoning death to which He went down in grace, He must have been alone in the glory. But, blessed be God, risen out of death, He became the First begotten from the dead, and the First born of many brethren. The prodigal's highest aspiration was the place of a hired servant. But nothing less than the robe and the ring and the feast would satisfy the heart of the father.

The close of the parable looks on to the end, and the judgment is solemn, final, and eternal. It is the end of every mere professor — outer darkness and untold woe. Oh that men would be warned in time. Notice that the word translated "servants" in verses 3, 4, 6, 8, is not the same as that used in verse 13. The first (bondservants) refer to those who go forth with the Gospel. The second (ministers) refer to the angels who are the executors of His judgments. These two things are never confounded.

The later half of the chapter brings out the folly of the three great classes of the nation, in their endeavour to "entangle him in his talk."

The Pharisees were the religionists of the day, the descendants of the patriotic men who had so nobly supported the Maccabees in the War of Independence. The Herodians were those who, in their endeavour to perpetuate the national existence at any cost, were willing to give up the national faith, in order to support the anti-national Idumean succession of the family of the Herods. These two classes, whose principles were diametrically opposite, and who hated each other with age-long hatred, agreed together to tempt the Lord. With divine wisdom, and grace combined, the Lord meets these men. Showing them that He knew their thoughts and thereby exposing them to themselves, He sought to deliver them from the snare of Satan into which they had fallen. Had the rights of God been rendered to Him, Caesar and his legions would have had no power in their land. The reply was unanswerable, but though they marvelled, they did not believe.

The hypocrisy and infidelity of the Sadducees are next exposed. As to creed, they denied everything that the Pharisees believed. The law of Moses, as they expounded it, had to do only with the earth. There was no future life. Now they come to the Lord, apparently anxious to settle a question about the resurrection, when the very fact of the resurrection itself they denied. Could hypocrisy go further? The Lord showed their difficulties arose from two sources. The first was their ignorance of their own scriptures, and the second was their ignorance of the power of God. Slow to own the first, they are equally slow to ascribe to God that power which belongs to Him by sovereign right, and thus they perish in their own folly. Unbelief is ever ignorant. "By faith we understand."

But here comes a lawyer. He is a learned scribe, and everything that is to be known about the law he knows. The One who was among them in a love that went far beyond law keeping he knew not. His question, however, "Which is the great commandment in the law?" brings out God's standard for men upon the earth, a standard from which he has fallen, alas, how far. The mission of the prophets was restorative, and intended to bring the people back to the ways of God. But they only added to their guilt. The law they had broken, and the prophets they had slain. Law knows nothing about producing conditions in which its righteous precepts can be displayed. That awaited a later revelation. Only when a man is born of God, can he display the character of God. Then, the flesh set aside, the righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Rom. 8: 4).

These three questions asked and answered, the Lord next propounds to them the question of questions: — "What think ye of Christ: Whose Son is He?"

Earlier in our Gospel (Matt. 16), a somewhat similar question had been asked of disciples, and answered in a way that spoke of spiritual enlightenment and intelligence in the ways of God. Here there is only the darkness of unbelief. As David's Son, He had presented Himself to them and had been rejected. The day was coming when they, as His enemies, would be made the "footstool of his feet."

And so the tempters, confounded in all their tactics, withdraw from the conflict, and the disciples and the multitude listen to the summing-up of the righteous Judge (Matt. 23), before whom the hearts of all are exposed.

But first of all He sets up the Scribes and Pharisees, not as an example, but as a warning, whose works the disciples were to avoid. Whatsoever they taught from the law was to be observed, for the age of law was not yet closed. God still recognised that order which He had ordained, however much men had abused it. So the Lord speaks of them as "sitting in Moses' seat," that is — continuing his teaching. As such they were in the place of responsibility — before God, and would be held to be so. As the principles that governed their lives are exposed, we can only exclaim with the prophet, "The heart is deceitful above all things: who can know it?" And the answer is: — "I the Lord" (Jer. 17: 9). Here we get that which appeals to the natural mind.

Imposing on others what we refuse in ourselves (verse 4).

Wrong motives in service (verse 5).

Spiritual pride (verse 5).

Outward appearances (verse 6).

The applause of men (verse 7).

Deference from the world (verse 7).

Surely all of these are out of place in the character of the disciple of Christ, and yet how much there is in every heart to which these things appeal.

Such things were not to be among believers, and the Lord next puts His finger, as it were, upon the beginnings of things, which, if allowed, would produce the very same thing in Christianity as they had done in Judaism. Hence —

1 They were to avoid the principles of the Rabbi who sought to form a school around himself. Their Instructor was Christ, and His word their sole authority and unerring guide.

2 Nothing was to be allowed that would weaken their sense of relationship to God as their Father.

3 And there was to be no leadership, apart from the leadership of Christ Himself. One is your Master, Christ, and all ye are brethren.

Alas, how these three great principles have been ignored in Christendom, and the result has been that things are as we see them to-day. Sects and parties have been formed around men, which must ever be wrong, or around doctrines which may, in themselves, be right, but the True Centre — Christ — has thereby been ignored, and the Sole Authority, the Holy Word of God, has been set aside for the traditions of men.

The great moral principles of Christianity are again enforced in three short apophthegms: —

1 The greatest among you shall be your servant.

2 The self-exalted one shall be abased.

3 The humble minded shall be exalted.

He could say, "I am among you as he that serveth," and it could be said of Him, "Therefore hath God highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name" (Phil. 2). The first man in the pride of his heart sought to go up. The Second Man, in the grace of His heart, went down, even to the dust of death.

The Seven Woes that follow (for verse 14 is of doubtful authority) disclose not only the condemnation of the leaders of Israel, but why they are condemned.

Tradition played so large a part in their system that by it the Word of God was made of none effect. Indeed, it was made to mean the very opposite of what it said, and thus the light to them became darkness, and what was darkness, that, it follows, they held to be light. A single illustration will make this clear. Under the ceremonial law, creeping things were pronounced unclean. Yet no one was admitted a member of the Sanhedrim who did not possess sufficient ability, or rather ingenuity, to prove by many reasons that creeping things were clean. Well might the Lord say of such that they were hinderers in the way of life, neither entering the Kingdom themselves, nor allowing others to do so.

Those whom they succeeded in proselytising, reproduced only the positive evil of their teachers.

All righteous principles were set aside by vain casuistry, and they could so arrange the "Corban Oath" (see Mark 7) that they made their own gain out of the temple gold. To fill up the Corban treasure, men were taught to break the fifth commandment. His own teaching on vain swearing had already been given (Matt. 5: 34), and it is well to compare it with what we have here.

In the third woe, He had condemned their corrupt teaching. Here, in the fourth, He condemns their corrupt practice, and, in the next, we get, under a correct exterior, the corrupt affections of the natural heart. Again, they were more anxious to appear right before men, than to be right before God. It was outward paint to cover inward pollution. The grass grown green on the sides of the volcano snow lying white on a manure heap.

The last woe is more comprehensive still in its sweep. It looks both backwards and forwards. Their fathers had killed the prophets. They professed to abjure their fathers' deeds by building tombs for the slain, but both their hypocrisy and wickedness would be exposed by the way they would "kill, crucify, and scourge" the "prophets and wise men and scribes" of the new dispensation. This can be followed out in the short forty years that remained of their national history. Much of it is recorded in the Book of Acts. We need not further pursue it here. But it is well to notice how Christendom has copied, and indeed far surpassed in extent, the persecuting spirit of the Jew of old. It is believed to be a fair estimate that the Apostate Church of Rome is responsible for the blood of fifty millions of the saints of God. Well, truly will it be said of her that she is "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus" (Rev. 17: 6).

The Lord, having now finished His public ministry, by convicting and condemning the leaders of Israel, seems, as it were, to cast His eye forward to that time when, God's patience being exhausted, the just judgment which grace alone had restrained, would fall. As He views it, the love of His heart for the guilty city again overflows.

What love indeed is here? In the very place where prophets had been slain, and where He was about to die, He would have "gathered her children together as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings." "I would — ye would not." It is the mystery of the perverted will. And because of it their house would be left desolate, as it has remained until this day, and will so remain until the remnant, converted and brought into blessing on the ground of the New Covenant of Grace, shall say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Ps. 118). Then the Stone rejected by the builders of the past day will become the head Stone of the Corner, and the temple choir of redeemed Israel will chant the National Anthem,

"O sing unto the Lord a new song,

For He hath done marvellous things.

His right hand and his holy arm

Hath gotten him the victory.

The Lord hath made known his salvation:

His righteousness hath he openly showed

In the sight of the heathen.

He hath remembered his mercy and his truth

Towards the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth

Have seen the salvation of our God" (Ps. 98: 1-3).

Section 10. Matthew 24, 25.

The Great Prophetic Outline. The King's Dealings with the Jew, the Church, and the Nations

There are many wonderful things about the Word of God. No other book is like it in this, that it has a Divine Author. God has spoken. What He says must be true, authoritative, and final. It can be subject neither to revisal nor development, for the Author is infinite and All-wise.

Then again it does what no word of man can ever do in the same way — it speaks to the conscience. Men address their words to the intellect, the emotions, or the imagination. God speaks right home to the conscience. He deals with the foundation questions of man's sin, and God's righteousness, and so unconverted men hate the Book because they love not its Author.

Yet another most wonderful thing about the Bible is that it tells of the future. Other books tell of the past, or give details of current events, but when the line of the present moment is reached, all beyond it becomes mere idle speculation.

God's Book with graphic touch, and precise definition, gives an outline of the course of time, from the time that time began, until the time when time shall be no longer. It lifts the veil that shuts in the future from mortal ken, and shows us the glories of the ransomed around the throne of God, and the awful fate of the lost in that place where hope never comes. We can know about the end of time with just as much certainty as we know about the beginning of it, for the same word has revealed both.

With this assurance of faith, then, let us draw near and listen to the words of the Lord Jesus, as recorded for us in these wonderful chapters. He here takes the place of the Prophet of God, according to what was before spoken of Him by Moses: —

"I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren . . . and I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him" (Deut. 18: 18). It was a solemn moment in Israel's history when He went out and departed from the temple. Never more would His voice be heard in its courts. Never again would His feet stand within its gates. Jerusalem had rejected her King, and the things that belonged to her peace were hid from her eyes.

The temple was that in which the Jew of that day made his boast. Even disciples were still occupied with its glories, and the Lord, to deliver them from the influence of things seen, brings in the light of things as yet unseen. Doubtless it was with something of dismay that they heard of the day of distress so soon to overtake their "beautiful house," and they waited only for a more convenient season to learn more about such a startling event. That occasion soon presented itself. Leaving the temple and the city, they take their way towards Bethany, and when sitting on the slopes of Olivet, it may be to rest after climbing up from the Kedron Valley, the disciples come to Him, eager for information as to the solemn events of which He had but darkly hinted, as they left the temple courts.

With this object they put to Him the three great questions: —

1 When shall these things be?

2 What shall be the sign of Thy Coming?

3 What shall be the sign of the end of the world (age)?

The Lord, in replying to their questions, gives them, as is ever His wont, instruction and guidance far beyond what they had asked for. And in the present section of the Gospel we have an outline of events beginning from the moment then present, and carrying us on to that time of blessedness for the earth, still future, when "the King shall sit upon the throne of his glory," and the Kingdom will no longer exist in mystery, but will be seen in manifestation, and "everything that hath breath shall praise the Lord," according to Psalm 150: 6.

The prophecy divides itself into three distinct parts, which we must carefully distinguish, if we are to profit by our Lord's teaching: —

1. The First Part has to do with the Jew (Matt. 24: 1-41).

1 His Trials (Matt. 24: 9).

2 His Temptations (Matt. 24: 24).

3 His Deliverance (Matt. 24: 31).

2. The Second Part has to do with Christians (Matt. 24: 42 — 25: 30).

1 As Ministering (Matt. 24: 45).

2 As Waiting (Matt. 25: 1).

3 As Working for their Absent Lord (Matt. 25: 14).

3. The Third Part has to do with the Gentile Nations (Matt. 25: 31-46).

1 As Receiving (Matt. 25: 34); or

2 As Rejecting the King's Messengers (Matt. 25: 41).

It will be seen at once that the first part of the prophecy carries us right on to the "coming of the Son of Man," taking no notice of the Church period, which must necessarily lie within its bounds. Having done so, the Lord turns back to deal with the Christian position, not so much in relation to "times and seasons" which have to do with the earth, but giving instead an outline of what the motives which govern Christian profession are, whether real or unreal; with the necessary teaching connected therewith. And this is as we would expect, and is on the lines of all prophecy which, strictly speaking, has to do with the earth, and an earthly people. So Peter says the prophets "spake of the sufferings of Christ — and — the glory that should follow." To them the mystery of the Church had not been revealed, and the disciples here were in a somewhat similar position. They are looked upon representatively, as the followers of Christ, in His absence, and at His return to the earth.

Let us notice further that Matthew does not give us, except in a general way, the Lord's answer to the first question — "When shall these things be?" — that is, the overthrow of their temple and polity. The answer to this is given very fully in Luke, see Matthew 21: 12-24, and is in keeping with the line of truth he is presenting. As a Gentile, writing to Gentiles, Luke shows the results of Gentile invasion of the land, which was, in its immediate consequences, the destruction of both temple and city by Titus, 70 A.D.

But here the Lord sets first before the disciples what would be the state of the world after He left it, and what would be their own condition in it. As to the nations of the earth, they would not only hate the disciples, but they would hate each other. Wars and rumours of wars would be the result. The King of Peace rejected, peace will never again find a home on earth until He returns. Famine follows war. Pestilence follows famine. And not only are these dreadful results seen as the effects of men's sin, but inanimate nature itself seems to respond to the universal unrest.

Such would be the condition of things in the absence of the King. They would be the "beginning of sorrows." In addition to the persecution from without, there would be that which would cause them even greater suffering than the physical torments to which they might be subjected — many would be false to their profession. The persecution of the world tests the reality of the professor. Many such are offended, and instead of standing firm as confessors of Christ, they become, alas! betrayers and haters of those they once professed to love and serve.

With minds in such a condition the words of the false prophet find ready reception, and, turned aside from the truth, many are deceived thereby. The deadening effect of abounding iniquity is also seen in another way — the love of many waxes cold. Ephesus is not alone in this. Who is there among us who has not experienced it? Grace alone can keep.

Many deceived: many offended: many disheartened.

Many false Christs: many false prophets: many betrayers.

Every art of Satan is here laid bare by the eye of Omniscience, and the encouragement is added to the faithful that he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

We are introduced in verse 14 to something which marks in a special way the time of the end. "This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations: and then shall the end come."

We must not confound the Gospel of the Kingdom with the Gospel of the grace of God. These are two distinct lines of truth as we shall see.

We get the Kingdom Gospel first mentioned in Matthew 4, where the Lord Himself began to preach it, and along with it went the healing miracles which marked that dispensation. Again, in Matthew 10, we find the proclamation more widely extended by the twelve apostles, still with the same signs following, but with the definite injunction to go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As we have seen, Israel rejected both the Kingdom and the King, and with the ascension of Christ to the right hand of God on high, the "good news" is now of a different character. It is no longer a call to Israel to repent and be converted in order to be ready for an earthly reign, but it is a command to all men everywhere to repent, because He hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. Before that day comes, God, in the operations of His sovereign grace, is saving sinners out of the world, and uniting them to Christ in heavenly glory; uniting them also to one another as well as to their Head on high, and forming the Church which is His Body. When the last member has been gathered in, the Lord Himself shall descend, and we shall ascend to meet Him in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4). This is the "Blessed Hope" set before the believer now, and we shall rejoice in the Hope, just in proportion as our hearts are occupied with the Person of our risen and glorified Lord on high.

But none of these things are developed in Matthew's Gospel. They were still future, and could only be spoken of in type and figure, as we shall see.

What we now know is that God is saving souls out of this world in grace, and the day is coming when He will establish a Kingdom in this world in power, and the preacher who is taught in the word will not fail to declare both these precious truths.

Here in our Gospel, then, we have reached a period beyond the rapture of the Church, and just before the "end." In spite of all the opposition and persecution of the world, there will be an evangelistic revival, such as this world has never yet witnessed. From restored Israel will go forth foreign missionaries, with something at least of the zeal and devotion of the greatest and most successful foreign missionary that this world has ever seen — the Apostle Paul. And their message will be, "Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters" (Isa. 55: 1)." The Lord. God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, yet will I gather to the gathered ones" (Isa. 56: 8). "Also the sons of strangers that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord . . . even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer . . . for my house shall be called an house of prayer for all people" (Isa. 56: 6-7). The Lord had reminded them of this prophecy when He cleansed the temple (Matt. 21: 13). Its fulfilment awaits the day when He shall sit as a Priest upon His throne. In short, there will be a world-wide testimony to a coming Messiah. Christendom has never accomplished this with the Gospel of the grace of God. In spite of the utmost self-denial and self-sacrifice on the part of very many devoted servants of Christ, whose efforts have been beyond all praise, yet it is a fact that Christendom, in modern days at least, has never succeeded in evangelising more than half of the known world. And the opinion of those best able to judge is, that the heathen nations of to-day are increasing faster than the present missionary activity can overtake. It is a humbling thought for all of us, if so it be.

But the Lord now goes on to say that when this has been accomplished, the "end" shall come. It is no question of the world being entirely converted. That it will not be so, other scriptures clearly prove. But the testimony goes out, and in Matthew 25 we shall see what the results of accepting or rejecting that testimony will be, to the nations then upon the earth.

Of what "end" does the Lord here speak? Clearly not the end of the world, as many teach, and as we shall endeavour to show later; but the end of the "age" about which the apostles had inquired in verse 3. That "age" would expire with the expiry of the period spoken of by the angel to Daniel the prophet (Dan., Chap. 9: 24) as "seventy-sevens," beginning (as we know from the same scripture) at the 20th year of Artaxerxes in the month Nisan, B.C. 454. As every careful reader knows, that period is divided into three parts. "Seven weeks," "Three score and two weeks," and "One week ": and it began at the restoration under Nehemiah, when the commandment went forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Seven "sevens" (forty-nine years) of "troublous times" passed, during which the city and state were being laboriously reconstructed in the midst of many enemies. Another three score and two "sevens" pass, and again it is the month Nisan (April), 29 A.D. The Messiah of Israel presents Himself as her King, but instead of receiving the Kingdom He is cut off and "has nothing." Instead of sitting upon His rightful throne He is cast out to lie in a borrowed grave.

Evidently the seventieth "week" is still future, and two reasons out of many will show it:

1 In Daniel 9: 24, the angel gives the prophet to understand that at the end of the last week, six things would be accomplished, and the sorrows of Jerusalem and its people be over. These six things are set out in detail in the text referred to; none of them are yet accomplished, and Jerusalem's sorrows only began after the Lord was crucified.

2 In Daniel 9: 27, we learn that the prince that shall come shall confirm a covenant with (the) many for "one week." This "prince" is clearly not Messiah, for when He came, He was "cut off ": it is as clear that it is not Titus who is referred to; for when he came, instead of making any covenant with the Jews, he destroyed both their city and their state. The whole of Daniel 9: 26 is fulfilled between the end of the sixty-ninth and the beginning of the seventieth "week." It is the great "interval" during which the mystery of the Church is brought to light, and when that period is over, times and seasons referring to earth will again begin to run their predestined course. The "coming prince" and the "last week" is still future. This "week" will be divided into two parts. Verses 4-14 of our chapter, while giving a description in a general way of the world in the absence of the King, will really find their complete fulfilment in the first half of the "week." Verses 15-28 describe the events which take place in the latter half.

These we now have to consider.

Just as the making of the "Covenant" marked the beginning of the first half of the week, so the breaking of the "Covenant" marks the beginning of the latter half of the "week." This event, according to Daniel 9: 27, 12: 11, is followed by the taking away of the daily sacrifice, and the setting up of the "abomination that maketh desolate." Our Lord refers to this in verse 15 of our chapter, and also connects with it another thing, and that is — the great tribulation.

If we set out these events in order we shall find that the latter half of the week is marked by seven important occurrences:

1 The Covenant confirmed by the Roman prince with the mass of the Jews is broken by him.

2 The antichrist arrogates to himself the titles of Christ, and endeavours to manifest the power of Christ.

3 The ordered temple services are interrupted.

4 The abomination that maketh desolate (or astonisheth) is set up in the Holy of Holies.

5 The Great Tribulation begins, as the result.

6 The Testimony of the "two Witnesses" continues during three and a half years.

7 The faithful remnant who remain true to God, and refuse the mark of the beast, are persecuted and slain.

In the midst of this "time of trouble," the great arch-enemy, Satan, is abroad in the earth (Rev. 12: 12), and true to his character as the Deceiver, he at once raises up false Christs and false prophets to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect (verse 24). His two great masterpieces of evil we get in Revelations 13. The one a "beast" out of the "sea" — the political unrest of the nations — and heading up in himself all the forces of infidelity and militarism which, though prominent now, will then be all but universal. He will be the finished product of man's will as opposed to God: the super-man, in whom wicked men will find a chief so much superior to themselves in wickedness that they will fall down and worship him. He will both blaspheme God and persecute His saints. And, as his henchman, he will have the "beast" out of the "earth," who, although he may have "two horns like a lamb," yet betrays his Satanic origin by speaking like a dragon. Under his sway idolatry is again introduced into Jerusalem. The unclean spirit returns to his house, and in his company seven other spirits more wicked than himself. It is the fulfilment of the prophecy of Matthew 12: 45. One very subtle form of the coming idolatry will be this — the worship of a living man. Such a thing had been foreshadowed in the history of King Darius, Daniel 6: 7. Here we have it full blown. And what makes the delusion more strong is that the false prophet has power to give breath (not life, as in the common text) to the image of the beast, so that it shall be able to speak, and to cause those who refuse their homage to be killed. The "fiery furnace" will be seven times heated again, and so fierce will be the persecution that it will have to be written "Blessed are the dead" (Rev. 14: 13). But God is over all. A limit is ever set to the power of evil — "He shall continue forty and two months" (Rev. 13: 5). At the end of the latter half of the last week the judgment of God descends, and the beast and false prophet, "these both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone" (Rev. 19: 20).

In the midst of this terrible persecution disciples are warned not to be deceived by those who say that Christ has come in secret. Before the dread event of that coming, all the powers both of nature and government seem to lose their wonted control, as the symbolic language of verse 29 would (seem to) indicate, and instead of any secret coming, His appearing would he like a lightning flash, sweeping with dazzling intensity across the vault of heaven from the east unto the west. "And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

Now has come the day of deliverance for elect Israel, and of vengeance for their oppressors. God has taken in hand to "destroy them that corrupt the earth," and just as Israel had been "spread abroad as the four winds of heaven" (Zech. 2: 6), so will they be gathered from the four winds. The "great trumpet" shall be blown (Isa. 27: 13), and the outcasts shall be gathered, converted, and purified to worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. Scattered by the oppressor because of their sins: regathered by angelic power, according to the free and sovereign grace of their covenant-keeping Jehovah.

The rapidity with which the events move which lead up to all this, is doubtless taught by the "parable of the fig tree" — ever an emblem of the nation. As leaf and fruit appeared in rapid succession, so would the Lord hasten the day of deliverance for the people of His Covenant.

And there is a needs-be for His solemn assurance in verses 32-34. "Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." Now, some at least of those who listened to His words, and many of those to whom they would be repeated, would see the city and land swept clean of its inhabitants — "wiped as a man wipeth a dish; wiping it, and turning it upside down" (2 Kings 21: 13); and they might well be tempted to think that all was over for the nation — and the promise unfulfilled after all. "Not so," says the Lord; "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." We have only to look around to see the confirmation of that word. The prophet Hosea, who flourished in the days of four of Judah's greatest kings, 800 years before Christ, had said, "The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim" (Hos. 3: 4). It may be that speaking as he did in the palmy days of Judah's history, few believed his words, but so the Jews abide to-day. Having neither a king nor the hope of one, unable to sacrifice to the true God, yet so far they are preserved from image worship. With all genealogies lost, no one can lay claim to wear the priestly ephod wherewith to ask counsel of God; neither do they seek after oracular responses of lying spirits, through teraphim, as their fathers did of old. But to the same prophet was given the promise that "afterwards shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord, and his goodness in the later day" (Hos. 3: 5).

Amid all the changing scene of time the word of the Lord endureth for ever.

Three things come out in the next section of our chapter (verses 36-44): —

1 The Day of the Coming of the Son of Man is known only to the Father.

2 The Coming will introduce a time of discriminative judgment for living men upon the earth: "taking," as in Noah's flood in judgment, or "leaving" upon a redeemed earth for blessing.

3 To the men of the earth, the Coming will be as that of a thief in the night, unexpected, and unprepared for. [Hence the necessity for disciples to watch, for their Lord was coming, and as "Son of Man," coming to the earth. The world might say "Peace and Safety" when the dark cloud of "sudden destruction" was just lowering over it, but they were no longer in darkness, that that day should overtake them as a thief (1 Thess. 5: 3, 4).]

We turn next to consider the three parables which have to do with Christianity. Strictly speaking, they do not contain any outline of prophetic events, but deal rather with the moral condition of things which will obtain, as well as with what ought to obtain, on the part of those professing to be the Lord's servants in His absence.

Three things confirm the view that the Lord is here speaking of Christianity: —

1 The Coming for which believers are here enjoined to wait, is the Coming of the LORD. The title — Son of Man — which He takes in connection with the earth, does not occur in any of the three parables under consideration. (The best authorities omit the last clause of Matthew 25: 13.)

2 No "times or seasons ": no synopsis of earthly events: no signs, preparatory or introductory, are anywhere mentioned. The absent Lord is coming for His waiting people. It is the outline of truth more fully developed later in 1 Thessalonians 4 and other scriptures of the New Testament prophets.

3 No Old Testament prophecy in connection with this subject is quoted in any part of the section, and this is as we should expect, for no such prophecy exists. Many prophecies — at least three hundred — speak of the Coming of the Messiah, His rejection, and death. And again, many glowing pages picture the glory of the Kingdom established under the King in power. But the period of the Kingdom, in the absence of the King, during which the Church is formed, is nowhere spoken of in the Old Testament. Of what would transpire in this period the Lord here speaks to His disciples, using language they were able to understand, and yet in such a way that further light would enable them to comprehend more fully the deeper things of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The first parable then, Matthew 24: 45-51, deals with the servant in his Lord's Household. He is placed there for the express purpose of giving them meat in due season. Why, of the three parables, does this come first in order? Is it to show that the Lord's interest in His people down here holds the first place in His heart? The thrice repeated injunction to Peter in John 21 to feed the flock, shows at least the importance of the position of the household servant. He may be a "faithful and wise" servant, or, on the other hand, he may be an "evil" servant. The condition of things is still viewed here, as in all the parables, on the ground of profession. But the servant is in "the house," and on the ground of responsibility. As such he will be dealt with when his Lord returns.

His commission is from the Lord.

He is responsible to the Lord.

He will be rewarded by the Lord.

Taught in the Word himself, he is to teach others. He is to "give them meat in due season." If in the mind of his Master, he will provide the "sincere milk of the word" for the "babes," and "strong meat" for those of mature age. He will be blessed at the Coming of his Master, if found so doing. But there is more. The Lord adds that "he shall make him ruler over all his goods." We shall get further light here by comparing this with Revelations 2: 26. The promise to the Thyatiran overcomer was power over the nations. The apostasy of Thyatira will mark the time of the coming, and the servant found true to his master, in time of peril, will by his master be promoted to power in Kingdom glory.

But there is another side, as there is in all the parables. The hope of the coming was, alas! soon lost, and those who should have been "faithful and wise" became unfaithful and evil. Then, again, connected with the loss of the right spirit came the assumption of the wrong position and fellowship with the wrong company. He is found "eating and drinking with the drunken."

Morally, this is a complete inversion of true service, as defined by the Lord in Matthew 19, where, as we saw, the two great principles that actuated the true servant were love and humility. Here it is exaltation of self and oppression of others. And it is not difficult to trace the progress of this spirit in the history of the professing Church through the ages. Even in the days of the Apostles men were found who "loved to have the pre-eminence," and they soon had many followers. But the Lord is not unmindful of the interests of His people, and He will recompense. The "evil servant" is a hypocrite, and, in the day when the Lord judges, his place will be appointed with such.

We must not confound the coming in verse 46 with the coming in verse 50. The faithful and wise servant is living in the expectation of his Lord's return. All his service is performed in view of that-to him-longed-for moment. To the evil servant, the coming is an event both unexpected and undesired. It carries us back to verse 37, where the wicked, whether open foes or false professors, meet their doom at the hands of the Son of Man.

The next parable opens in a somewhat remarkable way, by indicating a particular time when the Kingdom of Heaven would be likened to "Ten Virgins." That time was clearly some period near the end of the age, when the various events would have transpired, of which the imagery of the parable treats. It contemplates the history of the Kingdom, not in a forward view, as in Matthew 13, but is, as it were, a backward view over its history from the time when the Ten went out on the ground of profession, until the moment when the Five went in to the marriage feast.

The great subject of the parable is readiness to meet the Bridegroom. The chief business of the household servant in the last parable was occupation with his Lord's interests. Here pre-eminently the great thought is occupation with the Lord Himself. May we all know more of it in a practical way day by day. The Coming of the Lord is the Hope of the Church, and therefore necessarily the hope of the individual believer, and it is from this latter standpoint it is looked at here.

The imagery of the parable is extremely simple, yet divinely expressive.

"Virgins" — Separated ones, from a Greek root to "set apart."

"Lamps" — Profession.

"Oil" — The Holy Spirit.

"Vessels" — Hearts.

"Bridegroom" — Christ.

"Sleeping" — Unwatchfulness. The hope of the Coming lost to the Church for many ages.

"The Midnight Cry" — Is this truth restored.

The first thing that the Lord emphasises is that the ten Virgins "went out" to meet the Bridegroom. And this is another proof, if such were needed, that He is here contemplating the heavenly calling of believers of the present dispensation. In no sense could the Jew be said to be called out of the world. Indeed, the world was, and is yet to be, the sphere of his blessing. But to His own the Lord could say, "Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world; therefore the world hateth you" (John 15: 19). When the Church lost that "called out" character and gave up the Hope of her heavenly calling, she began to fraternise with the world. When she came down to the world's level, the edge of the world's hatred was blunted, persecution ceased, and the Virgins "slumbered." Very soon even real Christians became like the world, and the world took on a profession of religion and became like the Christians, as we see in Christendom to-day. The result was that the precious truth of apostolic days, dear to the heart of every persecuted saint — the nearness of the Coming of the One he loved — was lost to view. Christians were at home in the world and did not need Him. Mere professors did not want Him. True and false, they all slumbered, and finally slept.

But an explanation of the promise was needed and easily found. It was taught by those who wanted to prophesy smooth things, that He "often came." So He came at the fall of Jerusalem, or at the Reformation. So He comes at death, and will come at the "day of judgment." How any one of these comings — if we may call any of them such — agrees with the Bridegroom character of the Coming of the Lord Jesus, it would be difficult to say.

The turning point of the parable is the Midnight Cry: "BEHOLD THE BRIDEGROOM!"

Evidently it is the Spirit preparing His way by means of watchmen raised up for the purpose.

Is the midnight cry and the recovery of the doctrine of the coming, so long lost, one and the same thing? If so there is this difficulty that in the parable, after the cry, the awakened foolish Virgins were too late to procure oil for their dying lamps. But we could not carry the simile into history or else we should have to say that it is now too late for the mere professor to be saved; which, thank God, is not the case. May it not be, that, even as, after the Lord was crucified, risen, and ascended, there was still the lingering of grace over Israel, according to Peter's testimony in Acts 2; so it is to-day. The Bridegroom has been announced, yet the long suffering of our God, which is salvation, induces Him to tarry yet a moment longer before the trumpet sounds. If this be so, how near is that moment? He is, as it were, on the way, and may arrive at any moment. May our loins be girded about, and our lights burning, and we, like unto men that wait for their Lord (Luke 12: 35).

When the awakened foolish Virgins realised that even the possession of trimmed oilless lamps was not sufficient preparation for the Bridegroom, they further manifested their foolishness, by going for oil to the wrong place. So it is, and so it will be in Christendom. Mere professors may hold even the truth of the Lord's Coming as a mere doctrine or creed, which never influences either their hopes or their ways. They will learn, alas! when too late, that nothing but saving grace in the heart communicated by the Holy Spirit Himself can fit any soul for the Coming of the Lord; and the great point of the parable is preparedness for that coming. The great essential for the Virgins was oil. The one thing needful for all is the Holy Spirit in the heart. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Rom. 8: 9). "They that were ready went in with him" — it is the heavenly hope realised. The Bride is not mentioned. Co-related truths are never all stated in one parable. In Matthew 22 we have a parable dealing with the condition of the Guests. Here it is a question of the Corning of the Bridegroom. In Revelations 19 we get a glimpse of the Bride in her bridal array, and in Revelations 21 we again see her, but now it is the day of display. "And the door was shut." Five little words, yet of the most solemn import. To-day they come to all as a warning. Some day soon they will express an accomplished fact, with tremendous realities for all. Some will be shut IN, with the Lord they have loved and longed for; in the presence of the Father, and in the Father's House.

"Oh I what a Home, but such His love

That He must bring us there."

"And the door was shut." Some will be shut OUT from all the joys and all the glories of the heavenly home, and shut out for ever. To the impassioned prayer, "Lord, Lord, open to us," the answer is, "I know you not." Scripture knows nothing of a "second chance," or "larger hope." These are vain ideas conceived only in the minds of foolish men, who love sin too much to turn to God now in the day of His grace, and so fall into the snare of Satan, to the loss of their souls.

Is the reader a mere professor only? If so, oh, be warned in time, for the Coming of the Bridegroom is nigh, even at the door.

"Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour" (verse 13).

One other parable was needed to express yet another aspect of Christian profession during the absence of the King.

He has gone into a far country, and the question is, "What are His servants doing for Him in His absence?" In the first parable of our chapter He takes the title of "Bridegroom," and every thought connected with that is of love and affection. It is pure grace on His part without any thought of merit on the part of the loved one, and that is one aspect of truth. But here He takes another title, that of "Lord." He was "the Lord of those servants" (verse 19). As such, they were under His authority, and it was to Him that they should render an account, on His return, for the "goods" He had committed to their trust. We do well to remember that this is before each one of us. "Wherefore let us labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be acceptable to Him" (2 Cor. 5: 9, R.V.).

In the parable the servants receive, in varying amounts, goods from their Lord to trade with in His absence. It is grace going out to others, and by those who have received gifts from their risen Lord so to serve Him. The parable is similar to that in Luke 19, only there, the great point is the Christian's responsibility according to his opportunities. There, all received equal amounts, but produced different results, for which they are rewarded differently. Here they receive different amounts, and secure different results, but the good are rewarded each cent per cent, because both were alike faithful to the amount of their gift. Here it is the sovereignty of God. In Luke it is the responsibility of man.

The talents, then, were given to be used for the Lord, not for the glory of the servant. We are in a world of need, and there are souls to be won for Christ. Just as a business man is in business, to do business, so should the Christian be here for Christ. The Lord Himself could say, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business" (Luke 2: 49), and He was the Pattern Servant.

We may gather from the Lord's teaching that every believer has some talent imparted to him according to his "several ability," and that it is expected of him that he will use that gift or talent for the Lord's glory. Now, ability may be either natural, or acquired, and, if acquired, may also be developed in proportion as he seeks diligently so to do. This, taken in connection with the injunction to Timothy to stir up the gift that was in him, would show that by diligent and faithful exercise of our talents and abilities, both the vessel and the talent it contains will alike increase, the sphere of service widen, and the blessing extend. This should be the desire of every servant — the object in view ever being the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

On the other hand, even a believer may allow his gift to lie dormant, and through mere slothfulness either of body or mind, neglect to equip himself for the service and opportunities that may lie just at hand. A man cannot "do the work of an evangelist" unless he goes where souls are to be found. The Word of Christ cannot "dwell richly" in a saint unless he make it his study. No Sunday school teacher will succeed unless he seeks diligently, earnestly, and prayerfully to learn the Book he has set out to teach. To speak a word in season to him that is weary, we must be ever drinking from the Living Spring. There are ever very practical lessons to be learned when the Lord is the Teacher. No one teaches like Him.

But the possibility is counted upon here, as in all parables, of a man taking the place of a servant who never knew the Lord. There is no question at all of the "wicked and slothful servant" being a Christian. He was not. His words, his actions, and his end abundantly prove it. But the Lord uses the case, and the end of the mere professor, to warn of the possible danger a real Christian is exposed to in this matter. The man hid his talent in the earth, instead of using it for his Master, and it may be possible that for some the "earth" is a greater snare than the "world." A Christian man may have no desire for the world's concert rooms or theatres, and yet allow his business concerns so to engross his heart and life that every moment is devoted to the things of earth, and he can find neither time nor interest for the things of the Lord. It was the man with one talent that proved false to his trust, and it may be safely assumed that men of this class compose the majority of the servants. Outstanding "five talent" men are but few; hence the warning in the parable extends to the greatest number. We are tempted to think that because we can do but little, that little left undone will not matter. But not so. The sons of Merari bore the pins and cords of the Tabernacle, and their service was just as important as that of the sons of Kohath, who bore the sacred vessels.

We have next to consider the Lord's relationships to the earth in His character of "King." He has already been before us as "Bridegroom," and "Lord," and if, as the Bridegroom, He touches all the springs of the heart's affections, so as Lord, He reminds us of the salutary truth that we belong to Him. He has bought us with His Blood.

But nowhere in Scripture is He spoken of as King of the Church. He is the King of Israel and the King of Nations: when He reigns, "all kings shall fall down before him, and all nations shall serve him. Men shall be blessed in him, and all nations shall call him blessed." Well might the Psalmist, as he considered that Glorious One, of whom Solomon in all his glory was but a faint type, exclaim, "Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious Name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory" (Ps. 72). The introduction of this day of blessing for a groaning creation is now set before us.

"When the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats" (Chap. 25: 31-32).

It is no question of a general judgment at the "end of the world," as so much of the current theology of the day would teach, but which scripture nowhere warrants. If it be compared with the judgment of the "Great White Throne," it will be seen that the subjects, test, time, place, and sentence are all different. Far from there being only one judgment spoken of in the Bible, there are at least seven: —

1. The Judgment of the Cross: the basis of every blessing for man.

2. The judgment Seat of Christ: the manifestation day for every believer (2 Cor. 5: 10).

3. The Judgment of the Living Nations upon the Earth (Matt. 25: 31).

4. The Judgment of the Great White Throne, when earth and heaven have fled away (Rev. 20: 11).

5. The Judgment in the House of God: the Father dealing in Government with His own (1 Peter 1: 17).

6. The judgment by the Assembly, as to that which is in keeping with the Name of Christ (1 Cor. 5: 4).

7. The Judgment of ourselves, by ourselves, so as to allow nothing in our ways inconsistent with Christ's death (1 Cor. 11: 28).

Here, in our Gospel, however, we have the details of the picture of which Matthew 13: 41-44 gives the outline. It is the deliberative, sessional judgment, by the Son of Man of the living nations upon the earth at His appearing. The passage links up with Matthew 24: 31. The Lord takes up the thread of events in connection with the earth and pictures what will take place after the upheavals of the "last week." At His appearing He has destroyed the beast and the false prophet, taken, as it were, in red-handed rebellion against Him (Rev. 19; 2 Thess. 2: 8). He is now about to put right the place they had put wrong: to measure out judgment to their self-deluded followers: recompense to the faithful of the earth who had been true to the Hope of His Coming, and introduce the righteous nations into all the blessings of the millennial Kingdom, of which Psalm 72 gives so glowing a description.

What, then, is the condition of things upon the earth just before the Son of Man appears, and who are its occupants? The Church has been called away to meet Him in the air (1 Thess. 4), and with the Church, the Holy Spirit, whose operations of grace will, after that period, assume a new form. Men of the world little realise how much the world owes to the presence of the Spirit of God now. He is that restraining power who is preventing the outbreak of the powers of evil. When the Spirit is taken out of the way, evil will come to a head, under a man so wholly possessed by the spirit of Satan, that Scripture knows him as the Man of Sin (2 Thess. 2: 3). Ten different names are applied to him, clearly defining both his origin and his character. He is called: —

1 The Man of the Earth (Ps. 10: 18).

2 The False Prophet (Rev. 19: 20).

3The Antichrist (1 John 2: 18).

4 The Beast from the Earth (Rev. 13).

5 The Son of Perdition (2 Thess. 2: 3).

6 The Man of Sin (2 Thess. 2: 3).

7 That Wicked [One] (2 Thess. 2: 8).

8 The Idol Shepherd (Zech. 11: 17).

9 The King (Dan. 11: 36).

10 One Coming in His Own Name (John 5: 43).

It is the revealing of this Person that brings matters on earth to an issue. To-day, the question is — For Christ, or against Him? Then the question will be — For Antichrist, or against him? The mass of the Jews will be "for him." Having come in his own name, he will be received by them as the Lord forewarned them (John 5: 43). Apostate Christendom, taking pleasure in unrighteousness, and having refused the love of the truth, will believe "the lie" and find themselves in the same unhappy company. It is a most solemnising thought, that, when the Lord comes for His people, the day of grace for Christendom will be over for ever. Sudden and rapid will be its development into the "Babylon" of Revelations 17, and as swift will be its overthrow at the hands of the Son of Man.

In addition to the nation of the Jews gathered back to Palestine in unbelief, and apostate Christendom in European and other lands, there will also be the vast masses of the hitherto unevangelised heathen nations. How will the solemn events of the time of the end affect them? To answer this question we must turn to Romans 11. See the whole chapter. The argument there is, that Israel, rejecting Christ, was rejected. Israel rejected, blessing thereupon flowed out to the Gentiles. God visited them to "take out of them a people for his name" (Acts 15: 14). "Now," says the apostle, "if the fall of them, (the Jews) be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness?" (Rom. 11: 12). In other words, Israel's fall brought blessing to the Gentiles, and Israel's restoration, when the Lord comes back, will bring double blessing — "life from the dead."

This blessing these nations are offered in the proclamation of the Kingdom Gospel of Matthew 24: 14, and Revelations 14: 6; and the acceptance or rejection of the King's messengers ("My brethren") fixes their place and title to life, or condemnation.

But the King's commendation of the righteous here (Matt. 25: 34-36) brings out another thing. Those who had heralded the tidings of the Coming King had done so in the face of the greatest difficulties. Antichrist's followers had accepted the "mark of the beast" (Rev. 13), and were content with the great pseudo-religious-social system introduced by him. They wanted neither God's King, nor God's righteousness. So hunger and thirst, banishment, nakedness, and prison lay before the evangelists. With these servants the King here identifies Himself, even as with another persecuted company, when He arrested their persecutor, Saul of Tarsus. And those who ministered to their necessities hear, with joyful wonder, that what they had done was reckoned by the King even as if done unto Himself.

And now we reach the time when the promises in Matthew 5 will receive their complete fulfilment. "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (verse 34). Now, the mourners are comforted; the meek inherit the earth, and the merciful obtain mercy. The day of regeneration has come, and they go into life eternal.

But there is the other side. He gathers out of His Kingdom all things that do offend. It must be so, for righteousness is about to reign. During the present day of grace righteousness suffers because evil is predominant. In the eternal day it will dwell. Every stain of sin will then have been for ever eradicated.

But here, not only is there the company on the right hand — "the sheep"; but there are also those on the left hand — "the goats." And the remarkable thing about the latter is that their judgment, as here set forth, is simply on the ground of what they had not done. It would seem as if they had tried to take a middle course between the "for" and the "against." They had not been among the followers of the "beast," taken in high-handed rebellion against the King, and slain with the sword (Rev. 19: 21). Nevertheless, neither had they identified themselves with His cause and with His servants. They had seen the servants both persecuted and slain, and had extended neither succour nor sympathy, thereby showing the state of their hearts. Is not the lesson here, that, in divine things, there can be no middle ground. Men are for the Lord, or against Him, as He has already declared.

Solemn and sad is their doom. They had done the devil's work by abstaining from the work of God, and they find their place in "everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." "These shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."

It is well to note that every mark of the moral condition of the later day is with us now. Superstition and infidelity are as rampant in Europe to-day as ever they were during the dark ages. In addition, men of the world are binding themselves together into all kinds of "associations" and "brotherhoods" to further their own selfish ends. And, sad to say, many Christians are voluntarily joining themselves up with such, thereby both slighting their heavenly calling and participating in the "unequal yoke." In a coming day the "beast" will grasp the reins of all such confederacies, and use them for his own ungodly ends. Mark the fidelity of the coming witnesses, who will rather give up life itself than compromise their testimony by receiving the mark of the beast. The Father's Name on their foreheads will bring persecution and death here, but life and glory hereafter.

Well will it be with us if our every gift, every power and every hour, be consecrated to Him alone, who, in grace, hath called us to be for Him, in a world that is still against Him.

Section 11. Matthew 26 — 28.

The King goes into Death and Judgment, in order that His Followers may enter into Life and Glory

What feelings of awe and wonder must have filled the hearts of the disciples, as they sat on the green brow of Olivet, in the dusk of that April evening, and listened spell-bound to those prophetic utterances which fell from the lips of the Master. With words of startling imagery He had unrolled before their gaze the scroll of time, right up to that moment when — the "Times of the Gentiles" ended — His feet would again stand upon that same mount. The sorrows of earth: the glories of Heaven: the unutterable woes of hell, had been revealed to them, by the One who alone could reveal them. And when He ceased, their minds might well be arrested by the contemplation of the solemn events of which He had spoken.

But His next words were more arresting still.

"Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified" — that which they had so long feared, had come at last. Their Master was about to die. And with saddened hearts they rose up and pursued their way to Bethany.

The next day (Thursday) until the evening, seems to have been spent here by the Lord in seclusion and retirement. We may not seek to enter into that which occupied His mind during this — the one day of repose in all His public ministry. But with reverent and subdued hearts let us follow the narrative of that which is revealed.

On this same day, it would appear, His enemies in Jerusalem were busy plotting His death, not like the dignified and responsible authorities of an ordered state, in open Council Hall, but plotting in darkness, in the high priest's house, like a company of lawless brigands. So are Israel's rulers here set before us.

And now our Gospel goes back to tell us of another meeting, which had been held four days previously (see John 12) in Bethany, in the house of Simon the Leper. In point of time, this feast had taken place on the evening before He rode into the city; but Matthew frequently groups the events of his narrative so as to present arresting contrasts to the reader.

Here we have two gatherings, both occupied with the Lord Jesus. The first, a gathering of His foes, thirsting for His blood. The other, a gathering of His friends, longing to lavish upon Him the tribute of their love. Only two feasts that we read of were ever made to the Lord. The first we get recorded in Matthew 9 and Luke 5. There a great company of publicans and sinners had gathered around Him for blessing, and blessed they assuredly would be. Here, it is a company of believers gathered in type on resurrection ground. Lazarus, who only a few weeks previously had been raised from the dead, was one of them who sat at the table. And Martha, busy as of old — served. But Martha's spirit is mellowed and ennobled with the passing years. She is no longer the critic of others, as we first find her in Luke 10, and doubtless the Lord's eye here rests upon her with approval. This feast is not in her own house. She might have claimed the place of a guest at the table, beside her brother; yet such is the humility of her mind, or shall we say, the activity of her temperament, that she prefers to be among them as one that serveth. If the disciples had not learned the lesson, she had.

The Church of Christ owes much to the patient, hidden, unselfish, devoted service of sisters like Martha. Their service may be unrequited and unacknowledged on earth, but "the day" will disclose it, and the reward is sure.

Lazarus is in the place of communion, but Mary alone enters in spirit into the "fellowship of His death." The King is going into death and judgment that His followers may enter into life and glory. She pours the precious ointment on His head. She anoints the King, but it is for His burial. These three were in the circle of closest intimacy with the Lord, and it would be unwise to appreciate the one at the expense of the other. Communion, service, and worship they assuredly typify, and these three things make up the sum of all true Christian life.

So far the disciples had learned none of all this. But we must not forget that, historically, they were still on the road to Jerusalem. They had not yet seen the reception He met with there; neither had they as yet heard the words recorded in verse 2 of our chapter. Visions of earthly glory may still have been before them, with themselves in places of honour as almoners for the King. John's Gospel shows us that the spokesman on this occasion was the betrayer; and one sinner destroyeth much good. Alas, that real disciples should have manifested the Judas spirit, where, by closer intimacy with their Master, they might have exhibited that of Mary, and shared in the blessed memorial of the one who "did what she could" (Mark 14).

For Judas nothing was of value that could not be turned into money. Christ Himself, to him, was only an object whereby he might add to his ill-gotten gains. For half the cost of the ointment or less, he was willing to betray his Lord — himself a deceived tool of the devil, before he became a willing tool of the priests. Such is the danger of trifling with temptation. From that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.

This opportunity Judas found on the evening of the Passover.

The Passover is a subject of the deepest interest, and it is all-important to get a right view of the truths taught thereby. It is God's starting point in all His ways of blessing.

God is essentially holy. Man is essentially sinful, and the question was — How can a holy God righteously bless a sinful man?

Adam — a sinner and forgiven — where was God's righteousness? Adam — a sinner and punished — where was His love? But in the Cross, of which the Passover was a type, every attribute of the character of God is displayed, and all the deep, deep need of sinful men fully met.

The Passover spoke, in the first place, of the just judgment about to descend upon every house in Egypt not sheltered by the token of the blood. God was seeking sinners to slay — not to save. The Blood on the lintel stayed the stroke of justice, for it showed that death, in type, had already been there. They were sheltered. Inside the house, and under that shelter, they partook of the lamb roast with fire. It was identification with the victim, and thus a confession that death was deserved. Sheltered by the blood and sustained by the feast, Israel marched out of the land of bondage. God was known to them first as a Judge, whose claims had been righteously met in the death of another, and then as a Saviour-God, whose power and grace were now free to flow out towards them without measure and without end.

The death of the Lord Jesus not only fulfilled every type of the old economy, but brought in blessing far beyond what Old Testament saints could have dreamed of. The supper is not a type of His death, as the Passover was, for in His death the type is fulfilled. It is a memorial of dying love. The shed blood in the sacrifices of old spoke only of a remembrance of sins. The Blood of Christ declares the glorious truth that now there can be remission of sins. The sins are gone, and the believer is brought to God.

The bread broken, and the wine poured out, speak of Christ in death. We remember Him in the place of death, where He has been; but we know Him now alive for evermore. And further, we do this in expectation of seeing Him again — "till He come." The Coming of the Lord is what we wait for. This feast is a testimony to the world that we take our place with the Lord of Glory whom the world crucified. In the presence of God, of angels, men, and demons, we "show the Lord's death till he come." The blood is shed for "many." If Israel reject Him yet the blessings procured by the Cross will flow out world-wide, and Gentile aliens will become, through grace, partakers of the heavenly calling. Luke records the Lord's touching request, "This do in remembrance of me." His people are ever on His heart. He would have us never to forget His dying love. Four things come out in connection with this feast of love: —

1 The Word of Christ — "This do."

2 The Work of Christ — "In remembrance."

3 The Person of Christ — "Of ME."

4 The Coming of Christ — "Till He come."

When He comes the Supper will cease.

The Passover is unlike the Supper in this: It was to be "observed as an ordinance for ever" (Ex. 12).

And in the coming millennial day, the Passover feast will be celebrated with greater solemnity than has ever yet been seen. The bullock, which speaks of fullest intelligence, will take the place of the passover lamb, and living waters will go forth in abundance from the threshold of the house, nourishing the tree whose fruit is for meat, and whose leaves are for medicine (Ezek. 45).

Then, again, the Supper cup is the blood of the new Covenant. The old Covenant was a covenant of works, and the blood in Exodus, which sealed it (Chap. 24: 8), was a sign of death for the Covenant-breaker, as Israel has proved to their sorrow. The New Covenant is also with Israel, but the shed Blood in connection with it, speaks, as we have seen, of remission, instead of remembrance of sins, and Israel through it, will be brought into blessing on the ground of sovereign grace alone.

Believers today are blessed exactly on the same ground, but with this difference, that with Gentiles there was no Covenant relationship, yet all that Israel will receive as the earthly people, we shall receive in a richer, higher, and fuller way as a heavenly people, and this, too, before Israel's day of blessing is introduced.

The day is soon coming when He will drink the cup in a new way, with His own in the Father's Kingdom. Then, indeed, will have come the time of which the prophet spake — "He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied" (Isa. 53). At His Table we respond to His desire, remember His death, return His love, rejoice in His presence, and our hearts beat high in the prospect of soon seeing Him again (John 16: 22).

But men are ever ready to abuse what grace provides, and Christendom, by making this memorial into what they call a "sacrament" (from the Latin "sacramentum," the Roman military oath), and defining it as an "outward and visible symbol of an inward and spiritual grace," have largely lost the true meaning which the Supper is intended to convey. Not only so, but the first error has led to others, Transubstantiationists believe that, at the word of the priests the bread and wine changes its substance and becomes the very body and blood of Christ. Such is Romanist ignorance, darkness, and blasphemy.

Consubstantiationists believe that with the bread and wine there is present the body and blood of Christ. Such is the error which one man, otherwise greatly used of. God, has brought into the Lutheran Church. Consecrationists believe that before there can be a "real communion" the bread and wine must be "blessed" or "consecrated" by the ordained "priest" who officiates.

Thus, what was intended by the Lord to be a loving remembrance of accomplished Redemption, has become, in the minds of many, mystified into what they call a "sacrament," or a "means of grace." Ritualism has taken the place of reality, and man has usurped the place of the spirit of God. Others, alas, who profess to love the Lord, ignore His last request by neglecting altogether this wondrous privilege of the saints.

May we take heed to the apostolic injunction,

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is" (Heb. 10: 25).

In the Gospels, then, we get the Supper Instituted; in the Acts we get the Supper Celebrated; and in the Epistles we get the Supper Expounded.

"And when they had sung an hymn they went out into the Mount of Olives."

The Jews at their Passover Supper were in the habit of reciting Psalm 113 and 114 after the "first cup"; and then, after the "third cup" — called the "cup of blessing" — they sang Psalm 115 to 118. If the Lord here used the same psalms, how well they would apply and be fulfilled in Him —

"The sorrows of death compassed me,

And the pains of hell gat hold upon me:

I found trouble and sorrow.

Then called I upon the name of the Lord;

O Lord, I beseech thee,

Deliver my soul.

God is the Lord, which hath showed us light:

Bind the sacrifice with cords,

Even unto the horns of the altar" (Ps. 116: 3-4; Ps. 118: 27).

And now He goes forth to Gethsemane's sorrow. But before entering the garden He warns the eleven that they were about to meet a time of testing which flesh and blood would not be able to bear. All would be offended in Him. The shepherd smitten, the sheep would be scattered. But what a word for their hearts, had they but had faith, even as a grain of mustard seed — "When I am RISEN AGAIN I will go before you into Galilee."

Peter's history here comes before us as a warning against self-confidence. And we have to mark that neither love nor knowledge is sufficient provision against the power of the enemy. That Peter loved his Master with all the true warm love of which his impulsive and affectionate nature was capable is certain (John 21: 15). That he knew Him to be the Christ of God is equally certain (Matt. 16: 16). But let us be less occupied with Peter's failure than with the lesson for ourselves arising therefrom. And that is, that if the first of the Apostles needed a strength beyond his own in the hour of trial, how much more do we need it?

Taking with Him the three disciples who had stood with Him at the bedside of Jairus's daughter and there witnessed His power — who had followed Him to the Holy Mount, and there witnessed His glory, He went a little farther, and, counting upon their human sympathy, said unto them, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here and watch with me." Alas, they prove as unsympathetic towards His sufferings as before, they had been irresponsive to His glory. Just here the secret of all the failure comes out. A prayerless life is a powerless life. There can be no standing for God, where there is no dependence upon God; and if there be no going forward in the Christian life there is certain to be failure and backsliding. So Peter found to his cost. At the close of the chapter he gets his own moral weakness disclosed to himself, by the One who alone could restore, strengthen, and forgive. Peter is seen (verse 33) self-confident, (verse 40) sleeping, (verse 51) rash, (verse 56) cowardly, (verse 70) bold in denying his Master. Inside the high priest's house there was the good confession of the Master; outside there is the thrice-repeated bold denial of the disciple — "I know not the man."

And yet, as if torn two ways, love makes him linger near. The cold, weary hours of the April morning creep slowly past. 'Peter is sitting with the servants and warming himself beside their fire (Mark). Suddenly, what would be to others a common and unimportant sound, reached their ears. But to Peter, no thunder-burst could have been more appalling. In letters of light, his every word, motive, and action of the last few hours rose before him, and turning away from himself with utter loathing, he rose up, went out and wept bitterly. What a fall! What repentance, and what grace that could produce such a recovery! It is here we get a true insight into the real character of this great-hearted disciple whom we have learned to know and love.

But to return. Verse 39 — "And he went a little farther, and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."

Now He is alone with the Father. The moment was near when even God would forsake Him, and He would be alone, as no one ever was before, or could be. Separate from men because of what He was — the Holy One of God — He, on that Cross of shame, would he separated from God because of what He had voluntarily become — the Sin-bearer.

No human eyes witnessed that scene in Gethsemane. No human ear listened to that cry of sorrow. Matthew, who wrote this account of it, was not even among the favoured three, who were the nearest to their Lord. The Holy Spirit of God alone inspired the record, and, in revealing the details of this solemn scene, surely He had something for us to learn therefrom. It is clearly the anticipation of the Cross. But if this is the anticipation, what must the reality have been? Shall we ever know? He knew, and spread it all out before His Father. The thrice-repeated prayer could not be heard. The Son of Man must be lifted up. As the Holy One, we see Him shrinking from becoming the Covenant-Victim, yet as the Obedient One, He receives the cup "from His Father's hand." Our sins had filled it. Satan presented it But here He looks past all these, and in perfect communion with His Father says, "Thy will be done."

The prophetic utterances of Psalm 22 had already given the exercises of His soul, in view of, and upon, the Cross; as Isaiah 53 had spoken of Him as the great substitutionary Victim — the Lamb led to the slaughter.

In Psalm 22: 2, He speaks of a prayer that is not heard, but Hebrews 5: 7, referring surely to this same solemn moment, tells of Him "offering up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, to him that was able to save him from (literally, out of) death; and was heard, in that he feared." And saved out of death He was; and in resurrection life, and power "he became the Author of eternal salvation, unto all them that obey him."

Returning to the three disciples, the Lord found them asleep and, addressing Peter, He said, "What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation." The gentle rebuke might well have been a warning to Peter. Not many hours had passed since he had vowed to die with his Master. Might he not, then, be expected to watch with Him? But if he refused to profit by the Lord's instructions, he had to learn by his own bitter experiences, what the flesh is even in an apostle. So will it be with all who enter the school of God.

The traitor comes. The Lord, having passed in anticipation through all the awful agony and sorrow of the Cross, is now calm in the presence of the ruffian mob.

Oh, what a scene is here! Judas in his treachery. Peter in his rashness. The shrinking disciples The priestly hirelings. The Lord Jesus in divine dignity in the midst. One word from His lips and twelve legions of angels would have taken the place of Peter's faltering sword. But it was their hour, and the power of darkness.

The chief priests in the high priest's house sit in judgment, not to find the truth, but to find false witnesses. And even here their search is vain, for though many are called, yet none agree. Before the priests the Lord is condemned because of His own confession that He was the Son of God. But on their part, Caiaphas's question itself was only a cover for their hypocrisy. His death they had long ago decided on, and any means to reach that end was acceptable in their eyes.

The Lord, as ever, gives them truth beyond what they desired to learn. The day was coming when they would see Him, as "Son of Man," sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. At the moment, the power seemed to be on their side, and they would use it to the full.

No sooner has He been unjustly condemned than His judges step down from the bench to spit in His face (Mark), while the servants buffet, blindfold, and mock Him. It is neither the rude soldiers of the governor, nor the Gentile executioners here. It is the leaders of Israel that are so brought before us. They are seen seeking false witnesses: condemning the guiltless and setting an example in hatred and cruelty. The Son of Man thus stood before the leaders of Israel. What a moment when the leaders of Israel shall stand before the Son of Man.

Matthew 27 opens with "all the chief priests and elders" united in the awful sin of delivering up the Son of God to the Gentile power. Thus the greatest guilt falls upon those who had the greatest light. So Peter, in Acts 3, charges home their guilt upon them. Having condemned the guiltless, they now seek to colour their unholy proceedings with a show of legality, and deliver Him bound into the custody of Pilate.

Meanwhile, if they are not seized with remorse, Judas is. He brought back the wages of unrighteousness, and confessed his sin to the priests instead of to God. Satan, having finished with his dupe, insults him before destroying him. "What is that to us?" is their sneering answer to his conscience-stricken cry. Casting down the money he had sold his soul to acquire, he hastens, bent on self-destruction, to carry out the will of the devil. And now the hypocrisy of the human heart is here laid bare, as lately was its cruelty. The priests, with the money, purchased a burying-ground for strangers; but the public voice which is often keen to detect the motives of public men, gave the field its rightful name "Aceldama" — "The Field of Blood." Such their city and land soon became. And, alas, the whole world; for the guilt of Innocent Blood rests yet upon the world where the Lord of Glory died.

"And Jesus stood before the governor" — the presence of the Lord exposes the motives of every heart, and here we have next unfolded before us the heart history of a man scheming to retain place and power in this world, and utterly infidel as to the next. The policy of the priests, in bringing Him to Pilate, was to secure the intervention of the military power, and so shift the odium of the crime from their own heads, to that of the Romans. Pilate easily saw through their hypocrisy, and very soon arrived at the conclusion, which he held all through the closing scenes, that "it was for envy they had delivered him up." Finding no fault in Him, Pilate from henceforth sought to release Him. But though strong in brute force, Pilate was wholly lacking in the true strength of moral principle. To release the Lord, Pilate must first placate the priests, in order to secure his own position with the cruel and suspicious Tiberius at Rome. Three attempts were made without avail. First, Pilate declares, "I find no fault in him." Then he offers to release Barabbas. And lastly, as if in the endeavour to assuage their thirst for blood, he declares himself willing to scourge the One whom he had thrice declared to be innocent. Such is the righteousness of man.

But no man goes to hell unwarned. For the Roman of that day, the old "gods" of the Pantheon were "dead." A less virile and still more degrading superstition held them in bondage. Signs and omens were their guiding lights, and voices from the mystic land of dreams held powerful control over their minds. And God used what was perhaps the only avenue left open to that man's conscience, through the message sent to him by his wife. Her urgent entreaty but added to his indecision and increased his guilt, without giving power to do what he knew to be right.

Pilate's next shift was to send the Lord to Herod. And now the two Kings are together God's King and Man's King. We have already seen the character of man's king in Matthew 14 Here his acts are in keeping with his character. "And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate" (Luke 23: 11).

One more effort the governor made, but it was answered by the fierce cry, "If thou let this man go thou art not Caesar's friend" (John 19: 12). It was their last argument, and it prevailed. To retain the favour of Caesar, Pilate knowingly condemned the Innocent. That Pilate, after all, lost that favour, history, which we have no reason to doubt, records. And shortly afterwards he followed Judas on the same road to self-destruction. His mockery of hand washing was a feeble attempt to conceal his weakness and shift the guilt of his crime, but it was enough to induce the priests to invoke the consequences of the awful crime upon themselves and their children. That God in righteous government took them at their word, their history conclusively declares.

What a revelation of hearts is here, and all against the Son of God.

The leaders persuading the people to choose a felon.

The governor yielding up to death the Innocent.

The king of Israel mocking Israel's Messiah.

The people willing to accept any one if only the Lord is condemned, and finally accepting the responsibility of slaying the Prince of Life.

Now Pilate scourges the One he had thrice pronounced innocent. The soldiers gather round to satiate their cruelty with a sight of His sufferings. Here it is not the Jews that surround Him. The soldiers of the governor had little in common with the servants of the priests, but they were alike in this — the natural cruelty of the human heart, led on by Satan.

He is (1) stripped; (2) scourged; (3) buffeted; (4) mocked; (5) spit upon; (6) crowned with thorns; (7) crucified. Sevenfold sufferings measured out to the Holy Son of God by the guilty sons of men.

The Jews demand His blood. The Gentiles shed it. And psalm and prophecy is fulfilled as they gather round His Cross to insult the Holy Sufferer. Even the guilty robbers can forget, for a moment, their own agonies, to add to His.

But to continue the narrative of our Evangelist — let us notice here how God overruled all the malice and mockery of men for the fulfilment of prophecy and a testimony to His Son, the very opposite of what they intended. Matthew records that they put on Him a scarlet robe, and by that kingly colour they thereby declared that He was the King of the Jews. In Herod's palace He was arrayed in a "gorgeous" (white or shining) robe, thereby testifying to His sinless character. The priests and scribes who had followed might stand and "vehemently accuse" Him. He was arrayed before them in that which spoke of perfect innocence. Mark and John, again, tell of a purple robe. All are divinely suited to the way in which the Lord is brought before us in the different gospels. John tells us that He was the Son of God. Mark says that He became the Servant. But blessed be His name, the Son who became the Servant will in a soon-coming day be known as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His Imperial character, expressed by the purple, will then be manifested to the whole universe.

And so again at the Cross, Pilate wrote a title — was it not this time to mock the Jew, instead of mocking the Lord? —

"This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." So the complete title read, but each of the evangelists gives that portion suitable to his subject. They may be compared as under: —

This is Jesus * the King of the Jews (Matt.)

* * * The King of the Jews (Mark)

This is        * *The King of the Jews (Luke)

* Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews (John)

Such was man's part.

But "from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour." God draws a veil of darkness round the scene when the great question of ATONEMENT is taken up.

The bitter cry from that darkness, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" expresses a forsaking which He, the Holy Victim, could alone measure.

As we contemplate this most solemn scene we can only bow our hearts and worship.

It has been well said, that the Cross is the centre of two eternities. The past eternity, if we may so speak, looked forward to it. All eternity to come will look back. In it God was fully displayed as Light and Love. His righteousness was so vindicated that His mercy might flow out unhinderedly. By it we are brought to God. "He is the propitiation for our sins." God's holy nature has been glorified. God's perfect love can now be lavished upon those who have been reconciled to Him by the death of His Son.

The Great Work of ATONEMENT is God's wonderful provision whereby all this may be accomplished (Lev. 16).

God has been pleased to present this to us from different standpoints: —

1 The propitiatory character of the death of Christ provides the ground where God can meet the sinner in righteousness (1 John 2, Rom. 3).

2 The expiatory character of the death of Christ meets our guilty condition. We were sinful, and sin must be put away (Heb. 9).

3 The substitutionary character of the death of Christ meets our responsibility. We were condemned, and Another must take our place and bear our judgment (1 Peter 2).

4 The redeeming character of the death of Christ meets our state. As slaves of sin and Satan, only a mighty ransom could deliver us. We are now no longer slaves, but sons, with the spirit of sons, and waiting for the redemption of the body (Rom. 8; Rev. 5).

Here at the Cross every question is raised and settled. God's glory is righteously vindicated. Man's need is fully met. Satan's power is for ever broken.

But — to complete the mighty work — it remained but for Him to die. Death followed sin; and, taking the sinner's place, He met the sinner's doom. But He went into death in order that He might destroy him that had the power of it — that is, the devil. He was already the Victor over him. Now, by the assertion of His divine power, He dismissed His Spirit and died. He had power to lay down His life and power to take it again (John 10: 18).

There are seven utterances on the Cross, somewhat in the following order: —

1 "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23: 34).

2 "Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23: 43).

3 Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani (Matt. 27: 46).

4 "Woman, behold thy Son!" (John 19: 26).

5 "I thirst" (John 19: 28).

6 "It is finished" (John 19: 30).

7 "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit" (Luke 23: 46).

The Prince of Life has gone into the domain of death. Great results will certainly follow, and they begin immediately.

The number of separate striking incidents which are grouped together within the sixteen closing verses of this wonderful chapter is remarkable.

The first and immediate result of the Lord's death was the rending asunder, from top to bottom, of the temple veil. And this event was coincident with the offering of the evening sacrifice at the ninth hour. Our Evangelist records the fact. Another inspired apostle gives us the divine commentary thereon. Never more need another innocent lamb bleed under the sacrificial knife. The true Lamb of God, the great Antitype of every sacrifice, had died, and now, for the believer, there is remission of sins, instead of their remembrance (Heb. 10: 3-14).

The temple, as is well known, was divided into two parts. Into the first went the priests daily. In the second, or Holy of Holies, there was, in Solomon's temple, a manifestation of God in the Shekinah glory. Man durst not go in, and God did not come out. But now the rent veil spoke of the fact that God, through the death of the Lord Jesus, was fully revealed, without a veil, either to hide or separate. And further, there is also what that death has done for the believer. It has fitted him for the presence of God in light. And so, to refer again to Hebrews 10, we are fitted to draw near. We are invited to draw near, and we have a Great High Priest to maintain our souls ever in the place of conscious nearness. THE BLOOD is the foundation of our every blessing.

Nature itself seemed to have its part at this sublime moment. Quaking earth and rending rocks were doubtless only the agencies employed by the mighty hand of God to open the graves of the saints, but they testify to the solemn character of the events which are taking place. And Scripture is careful to state that it was after His resurrection that the saints themselves arose.

There is also the effect upon the Gentile centurion. All the synoptists record it, but only Matthew includes "those that were with him." Our Evangelist, as we have frequently seen, often indicates the widening out of Kingdom blessing far beyond the narrow bounds of Israel, and here for the first time we have a Gentile company convinced and confessing, "truly this was the Son of God" (verse 54).

Let us pause here, and contemplate for a moment the condition of things on the evening of this day of days in the world's history.

It is between the hours of four and six o'clock (our time). A dead Christ, refused by His nation, betrayed by one of His own disciples, murdered by the Gentiles, hangs upon a gibbet. His few followers, in whose breasts hope and fear had alternated during the week gone by, now find themselves with every hope gone, fear crushing out their courage and despair filling their hearts. Only one of them — the one who had lain in His bosom, now stood by His Cross.

But if disciples fail, there are others who do not. The women that followed Him from Galilee, are, at the beginning, seen "afar off" (as we should expect) from that scene of horror: but later, it would appear ( John 20), draw as near as the javelins of the Roman guard would permit. Faith may have died out of their hearts, but fear found no place there. Love — never stronger than when its object is most in need — is what characterises them, and the Spirit of God so describes their devotion. They would watch by His body until the stone concealed it from their sight.

And now, to prepare for their "high day," the priests desire Pilate to order the removal of the bodies from the Cross, doubtless to be cast into a felon's grave. But again prophecy was to be fulfilled to the letter. "His grave was appointed with the wicked, but he was with the rich in his death" (Isa. 53). They might break the legs of the others, but "a bone of him shall not be broken" (John 19). After the witness of the blood and water, which flowed from His spear-pierced side, God took care that no indignity should he offered to Him in death, who had so perfectly glorified God in His life. And just as one professed disciple had been bold in denying Him, so now a secret disciple becomes bold in confessing Him. Love for the Lord overcame the fear for his fellows. And Nicodemus, another rich man, shares in this most privileged service. If John 3 be Nicodemus's Conversion, and John 7 his Confession, here surely we have his Consecration. In open face of His enemies, in the time of their seeming triumph, these two devoted men identify themselves with their crucified Lord.

Joseph's new tomb receives His body. Love laid Him there. Hatred sealed the stone and set a watch. The women who had followed Him from Galilee, and who had waited at the Cross, to see, as they thought, the end, wait still to see the place where He was laid.

Three of the Marys are here there are four mentioned in the Gospels — and Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward. Salome also is here with all her high hopes for James and John, which hopes now lie buried in His tomb. And so perhaps with them all. Nevertheless, oh, how they loved Him!

But two of the Marys are singled out beyond the others — apart from the others. The great stone has been rolled to the door of the sepulchre. Joseph and the others have departed to their own homes, but "there was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulchre" (verse 61).

It is the gathering dusk of the Friday evening. We shall meet them again in the glorious dawn of the third day morning, once more wending their way to the same spot, to be the first to hear from angel lips the heart-gladdening words, "He is not here: He is risen."

But if Joseph's tomb received His body the priests would make sure that it should remain there. With this end in view they request from Pilate that means be taken to "make it sure." Pilate said unto them — was it again in mockery? — "Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can." What words are adequate here? Imagination itself fails to cover the ground between the opposing forces. The puny power of the priests on the one side: on the other the almighty power of God. Man striving with his Maker.

Nervously, tensely apprehensive of that "third day," in spite of their apparent triumph, the priests are now as anxiously considering the question of how to keep a dead Man in the grave, as but yesterday they were scheming how to slay Him.

But God overrules all for the glory of Christ. The world will demand proofs of His resurrection. His enemies will supply them abundantly. So again the servants of the priests visit Golgotha. They affix the official Great Seal of the Sanhedrim to the stone covering the door of the sepulchre. They set a watch — a watch of soldiers — of the best soldiers in the world — a watch of Roman soldiers, and depart to keep their "high" Sabbath, while the Lord of the Sabbath lies low within the tomb.

Surely death, the sealed stone, and the soldier guard can be jointly trusted to keep their prey secure. The seeming triumph of Satan is complete.

Section 12. Matthew 28.

Resurrection, Victory, and Joy

The great apostle of the Gentiles, in restating the foundations of Christian truth, emphasises three great cardinal facts: —

1 That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.

2 That He was buried.

3 That He rose again the third day (1 Cor. 15: 1-4).

"If Christ be not risen," argues the apostle, "then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." "But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept."

Our Evangelist gives us the historical narrative with which these truths are connected. The first and second we have already considered. The third comes within the scope of the present chapter. Matthew 28 is the Victory Chapter, and it opens with all the pomp and circumstance connected therewith. Triumph is its keynote, joy its dominant, and all power its climax. Man might set his seal upon the grave of Christ, but here God sets His seal upon the work of Christ. Having gone down under all the wrath of God and exhausted it, He is raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.

Spite of stone, and seal, and soldier guard —

"Up from the grave He arose

With a mighty triumph o'er His foes, Hallelujah."

Of what use, then, all the scheming and planning of the priests? Much. They provide proof positive to the world of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The believer has, of course, another set of proofs which other Scriptures fully develop. But let us look at those His enemies supply.

The Lord had so frequently foretold His resurrection, that, although His disciples ha .d forgotten it, yet His enemies could not. Hence all their plans to prevent it. That He was dead before being taken down from the Cross, is proved by Pilate's refusal to allow the Body to be removed until assured by his own centurion that the Lord was already dead (Mark). The priests also testified to the fact when they demanded the watch — "He said, while he was yet alive." Now they knew He was dead. Again, they themselves, or by their servants, sealed His body in the tomb; and further, they drew a cordon of sixty soldiers round the sepulchre. Yet, notwithstanding all the precautions taken by the Jews to prevent it, early on the morning of the third day the stone was rolled away and the tomb was seen by all to be empty. The frightened soldiers announce it. The priests confess it. Fifty days afterwards the disciples proclaim it throughout the city, and the priests never once challenge their veracity.

In our chapter we have two different accounts of how this event took place, one by His friends and another by His foes.

Let us look at the latter first. Early in the morning some of the watch, fleeing from the terror of the angelic presence, entered the city to report the extraordinary event to their employers. The question now before their third council was no longer — How to keep Him in the tomb, but — How to conceal the admitted fact that the Lord was risen. Boldly they will attempt the impossible. In the face of a rent veil the priests invent the lie. In face of angel and earthquake and empty tomb the soldiers disseminate it. They told the truth to the priests. Bribed, and taught by the priests, they lied to the people — "His disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept." The words of the priests so evidently carry their falsehood in their face that the Evangelist does not trouble to refute them. Neither need we. But it is well we should mark this: There is no fact of history more credibly attested by human evidence than the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, when anyone, be he open infidel or religious "professor," denies this fact, he also denies with it the value of evidential testimony to all other facts of bygone time.

Nothing can be more conclusive than the way in which that great master of logic, the Apostle Paul, marshals the proofs of the resurrection for the Corinthian doubters; and the testimony of 500 witnesses cannot easily be overthrown. See the whole passage, 1 Cor. 15: 1-8. There is: —

1 The testimony of the Scriptures (verses 3, 4).

2 The testimony of Cephas (verse 5).

3 The testimony of the Twelve (verse 5).

4 The testimony of about 500 brethren (verse 6).

5 The testimony of James (verse 7).

6 The testimony of all the Apostles (verse 7).

7 The testimony of Paul (verse 8).

A sevenfold chain of evidence, convincing and conclusive. Modernism, when it denies the fact of the resurrection, proclaims itself to be not only infidel, but illogical. Scripture exposes both its wickedness and its weakness.

But let us return to the narrative of inspiration.

Very early on the morning of the first day of the week, the two Marys again seek the one spot on earth round which their affections centre. So far as their knowledge went, their visit could only result in "seeing the sepulchre." Did not the stone conceal the grave and the guard defend it? But early though they went, a visitor had been there before them who could brush these things away as the mists before the morning sun. The angel had come from the land of light, and brought with him some of the characteristics of that land. His countenance was like lightning and his raiment as white as snow. We are going to that land, and it is our privilege to have the light of it in our hearts even now. That which brought fear to the keepers, brought joy to the women — deeper in that it was so wholly unexpected, and to still further deepen, as they would learn later, all that the resurrection meant to His followers.

And they in turn are commissioned to carry the message to the disciples. This portion is very beautiful. The angel, in calm dignity, sitting on that which had covered an empty tomb. His very presence, without any exertion of power, is sufficient to overcome the guard. His intelligence in the mind of the Lord is as marked as his activity in the service of the Lord. He could instruct the women, and through them, the disciples, where to go to meet the Lord. Another Scripture describes angels as ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation (Heb. 1: 14). And even the Lord Himself, when on earth, was frequently the recipient of their ministry. On one occasion we read of an angel from heaven strengthening Him. The thought of the Creator and Lord of Angels being strengthened by an angel, gives a wonderful glimpse of the real manhood of our blessed Lord. Their mission of service to believers is often mentioned in the New Testament. We find them in Matthew 18 watching over the little ones. In Luke 15 we read of them rejoicing over the repentant ones. In 1 Corinthians 11 they are present with the worshipping ones; and in Luke 16 they are seen bearing the spirits of redeemed ones to paradise. Thus they are represented in the present age as the ministers of God's grace to believers: in the coming day they will be the executors of His judgment upon the guilty.

But if the presence and message of the angel filled the hearts of the women with mingled fear and joy, Another was about to meet them who would banish fear from their hearts for ever and communicate to them, in His soul-inspiring word of greeting, something of the joy that filled His own heart on that glorious morning.

"And as they went to tell his disciples, behold Jesus met them, saying, All hail."

We are so accustomed to be occupied with our needs, and to rejoice in our blessings, that we are in danger of failing to enter into His joy. And yet it is only as we enter into His joy that we perceive the basis on which our highest joys rest. He had to say, before the Cross, "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished" (Luke 12: 50). Now, on the further side of the Cross and the grave, standing on resurrection ground, He can associate with Himself, in resurrection life, those on whom His love has been set from all eternity. Redemption's work completed, nothing intervenes to hinder all the love and grace of His heart flowing out to His own, in order to bring them into the place of established relationship with the Father and conscious nearness before Him: and not only so, but giving us a nature that enjoys the light of His presence, knowing that the glory of that light only manifests the perfection of our standing, which is nothing less than Christ Himself.

Doubtless but little of this could be known by the women in our chapter, but the great point here is, that they had found the One who was the centre of their heart's affections, and "falling at his feet they worshipped him." Here is the first essential of all worship, and the greater the love, the higher the worship.

The Lord confirms the angels' instructions; but by changing one word, He adds a link of precious intimacy which never could have been known before the Cross. It is no longer "my disciples," but "my brethren." Disciples they still were, of course, but He was about to declare the Father's Name to them, according to the prophecy of Psalm 22: 22, and from henceforth become the Leader of their praises. The congregation of them that praise Him has but a small place in the world to-day, but the day is fast nearing when He will be the Centre of the Great Congregation, and "all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee" (Ps. 22: 27).

At the Cross the foundation was laid of which this will be the glorious consummation. On that first Lord's day morning the keynote was struck of that universal song of praise which will fill the redeemed earth. It will be expressed in the language of Psalm c., and men will learn, according to the theology of the psalmist, that Jehovah is God, and that Jehovah is good. Even "the creature itself will be brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God" (Rom. 8: 21).

All this is intimately connected with the presentation of Kingdom truth in Matthew's Gospel. The disciples are instructed to meet Him in Galilee, not in Jerusalem. The nation and its capital city no longer represent God's centre upon the earth. A Kingdom is about to be instituted, the scope of whose operations will not be confined to one nation, but will go on expanding and increasing until every nation under heaven be brought under its beneficent sway.

But before following the company into Galilee, it may be well to notice the ten different appearings of our Lord, to His disciples, after His resurrection. They are as follows: —

1 To Mary Magdalene alone (Mark 16; John 20).

2 To the women returning from the sepulchre (Matt. 28).

3 To Simon Peter alone (Luke 24).

4 To the two disciples on the Emmaus road (Luke 24).

5 To the Apostles at Jerusalem, Thomas being absent (John 20).

6 These first five appearings all took place on the first Lord's day.

7 Eight days afterwards to the disciples, Thomas being with them (John 20).

8 To seven of the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias (John 21).

9 To the disciples in Galilee (Matt. 28; 1 Cor. 15: 6).

10 To James alone; time and place unknown (1 Cor. 15).

To the disciples at Jerusalem, on the day of the Ascension (Luke 24; Acts 1; 1 Cor. 15: 7).

By comparing 1 Corinthians 15: 6 with verse 10 of our chapter it would seem that the appearing in Galilee was to the whole company of the brethren, and that the occasion was the institution of the Kingdom in world-wide character. Matthew began his career as a disciple by gathering in a "great company" into his own house. He is now to learn from the lips of the Lord that the blessing is to extend to every house under heaven, the scope of Kingdom blessing being nothing less than "all nations," in contrast with the mission in Matthew 10, which extended only to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel."

But how much needed was this word of encouragement — "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." The disciples could not be ignorant of the fact that, all the powers of the world, backed by the power of Satan, were against them, as they had been against their Master, and they needed to be reminded that their Master was the Victor over every foe. He had already said to them, as another Gospel tells: "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16: 33). And the same apostle who records the fact gives us later the key of the overcoming life: "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith" (1 John 5: 4). The man of faith, walking in faith, is invincible. Satan has no dart strong enough to pierce the shield of faith. The world has no allurement sweet enough to attract the heart that is filled with the love of Christ. The world is an enemy's land, but Satan, the prince of it, is a defeated foe, and ALL POWER is in the hands of our risen Victorious Lord. Oh, that every young believer would firmly grasp at the very outset of his Christian pathway this great and inspiring truth — the LOVE and POWER of Christ are both for ME, to-day, and all the days, until I see His face.

Now we get, in closing, the Great Commission. It will be noticed that each of the Gospels give this in different terms: the superficial reader may think, in contradictory terms. But not so. A little closer attention will show that all four are required to express the different aspects of the great work of grace that began in the world at Pentecost, is going on to-day, and will continue all the days, until the consummation of the age.

Beginning first with John's Gospel (John 20: 21), we have brought before us the Person who sends, and the fact that the disciple goes forth with the message of grace in the same manner, sent by the Lord, as the Lord Himself became the "Sent One" of the Father, "full of grace and truth." He came, suffered, died, rose again, showed them His hands and His side, became the Door, that by Him "if ANY man (no longer Jews only) enter in he shall be saved (John 10). Judaism knew nothing of this. It was a new and wondrous truth even to Apostles, and were we less familiar with the Gospel sound, it would be the same to us.

In Luke we read (Luke 24: 46-49): "Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things."

Here we get the foundation on which the proclamation rests, coupled with the moral condition produced by the reception of the testimony.

Mark sets before us, in few words, the responsibility of the hearer, with the results of either the acceptance or the rejection of the gospel of grace. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16: 16).

Returning now to the Commission as given by our Evangelist, we find that Matthew carries us onward to the grand climax of all the ways of God in grace, with men. The Father's Name is revealed, and "all nations" are to be baptized — no longer into John's baptism, as in Matthew 3, or even Messiah's baptism, as in John 4 — but "in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost." The whole wide world is the sphere of the testimony, and the day is coming when the Commission will have been executed, the Testimony received, and "they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord" (Jer. 22: 34). "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. 2: 14).

Till that moment the King, though absent in Person, has been, is, and will be present with every servant, in the face of every foe, every day, and all the days until the "end of the age," when "He shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Then —

"Kings shall fall down before Him,

And gold and incense bring.

All nations shall adore Him —

His praise all people sing.

Outstretched His wide dominion

O'er river, sea, and shore,

Far as the eagle's pinion,

Or dove's light wing can soar."

Notes and Outlines

1. Matthew 1.

1. CHRIST AS MESSIAH.

1. Introduced as "Son of David," and, as such, Heir to the Throne of David. Compare Psalm 89: 29: —

"His seed will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven."

2. Also as "Son of Abraham," and, as such, Heir to all the Promises. Compare Galatians 3: 16: — "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ."

"In thee shall all nations be blest" (Gal. 3: 8).

2. NOTE THAT THE GENEALOGY is divided into three parts, and traces His descent from His kingly ancestor, David, and the Receiver of the Promises, Abraham.

1 Abraham to David — Promise.

2 David to the Captivity — Declension.

3 The Captivity to Christ — Darkness.

3. FOUR WOMEN are introduced, and show God working out His purposes of grace in spite of man's wickedness and folly.

1 Thamar — The Sin of Man.

2 Rahab — The faith of the Gentile laying hold of the promise of God.

3 Ruth — The grace that can set aside the claims of Law.

4 Bathsheba — The blessing God can bring out of even the failures of His people.

2. Matthew 2.

THREE Companies found in this chapter.

THREE Effects produced by the presence of the Lord Jesus.

1. HEROD HEARD AND WAS TROUBLED.

Herod was an Idumean, and therefore a usurper. He had no legal right to the throne of David. He was the type of man's King — Satan, the usurper.

2. SCRIBES HEARD AND WERE INDIFFERENT.

The Scribes were the doctors of the Law, and knew the sacred writings so well that they could tell the king at once where the Lord was to be born, but they did not trouble to go and see.

1 They had the Scriptures, but believed them not.

2 They had a measure of light, but loved the darkness.

3 They had the "key of knowledge" (Luke 11: 52), but were ignorant of the ways of God.

3. THE WISE MEN HEARD AND REJOICED.

1. They found the "One born King of the Jews," worshipped Him, and presented their gifts.

2. Three things mentioned: 1, gold; 2, frankincense; 3, myrrh. Gold — their tribute to His essential Divinity. Frankincense — offered to Him as God manifest in flesh. Myrrh — emblematic of the suffering and death into which love led the Holy One of God. In a future day they will bring "gold and incense" but no myrrh. Compare Isaiah 60.

3. Matthew 3.

1. THE WARNING OF JOHN.

A new dispensation is beginning; therefore repent in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. No time to lose: it is near.

1 Repent because men are sinners.

Repent because sinners cannot enter without a change of heart.

Repent because the kingdom is at hand.

2 Repent "because He hath appointed a day in which He will judge" (Acts 17: 31).

Just now He wants to bless. The goodness of God produces Repentance. This goodness is expressed in the Gospel.

2. THE WORK OF CHRIST.

1 A Converting work. "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost" — Laid hold of by the Spirit for blessing NOW.

2 A Separating work. If blessed now, separated from the world and saved from its doom. If Christ is rejected now, then, when "He baptizes with fire," the sinner will be separated from God for ever.

3. THE WITNESS OF THE FATHER.

1 As to His Relationship — "My Beloved Son." The Believer, through the wonderful grace of God, is brought into the same relation- ship (1 John "Now are we the Sons of God."

2 As to His perfect life below — "In whom I am well pleased." See 1 Peter 2: 21, and compare 1 Timothy 4: 12, "Be thou an example."

4. Matthew 4.

SEVEN MARKS OF CHRIST'S GLORY AND POWER.

1 The Voice of the Father.

2 The Descent of the Spirit.

3 The Ministry of Angels.

4 His Power over Satan.

5 His Authority over Disease.

6 The Light to them that sat in Darkness.

7 The attraction for the hearts of men.

1. THE POWER OF CHRIST to Defeat the Devil.

Satan presented Three great Temptations — "all that is in the world."

Before these our first parents and every other son of Adam's race had failed. But Christ was tempted and emerged victorious. Compare 1 John 2, "The Lust of the Flesh" — what can I get? "The Lust of the Eye" — what can I see? "The Pride of Life" — what can others see in me

2. THE POWER OF CHRIST to Attract the Heart.

Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John FOLLOWED JESUS.

1 The secret of the attraction — LOVE.

2 The object of the attraction — HIMSELF.

3. THE POWER OF CHRIST to introduce Blessing and a new order on Earth.

1 By the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom which was at hand. Men to repent and get ready to enter.

2 By undoing the evil Satan had done. Annulling the power of the devil, and delivering his lawful captives.

5. Matthew 5.

1. The Lord describes the characteristics of those who enter the Kingdom coupled with the Blessings they will enjoy in the day of EARTHLY DISPLAY.

Characteristics.

1 Poor — Entrance to the Kingdom.

2 Mourners — Comfort.

3 Meek — Inheritance.

4 Hungerers after righteousness Satisfaction.

5 Merciful — Mercy.

6 Pure — See God.

7 Persecuted — Joy.

2. Contrast the last of the "Blesseds" with the first, where the pronoun is "they." Here it is "YE," and great is your reward IN HEAVEN.

When Persecuted for CHRIST'S SAKE, Three things follow: —

1 We are drawn nearer the Lord.

2 We get a deeper sense of His love and power.

3 We shine more brightly before the world.

3. Vv. 13 and 14 show what the True Believer is In the world and To the world.

1 SALT — That which Preserves. So the disciples were to stand for the rights of God.

2 LIGHT — That which Reveals, Guides, or Warns. So Grace was to go out from disciples to a lost world, heedless of its danger and doom.

The Warning. — The salt may lose its savour.

The light may be put under a bushel.

6. Matthew 6.

THE PRAYER THAT TEACHES TO PRAY.

Contains Six Petitions following the Invocation. Three of the Petitions are Godward; three are Manward. The last three deal with the Present, Past, and Future.

THE INVOCATION: OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN

Teaches us To Whom to pray. The thought of FATHER implies Relationship, and so we are reminded of the Cost of making this possible, through Death and Resurrection. With this before us we say "OUR FATHER," and we ought to say it

HUMBLY because it is God who is our Father, LOVINGLY because God is our FATHER,

WITH ASSURANCE because GOD IS our Father,

HOPEFULLY because All POWER is His,

REVERENTLY because He 1S in HEAVEN.

1. HALLOWED BE THY NAME.

The NAME declares the measure of the Revelation.

To ADAM — THE LORD GOD Creator Relationship.

To ABRAHAM — GOD ALMIGHTY Power For Him.

To MOSES — JEHOVAH — The Eternal, Self-existing, unchanging, Covenant-Keeping One.

To CHRISTIANS — FATHER — Relationship and Love.

2. THY KINGDOM COME.

Three things in every well-governed Kingdom.

1 SECURITY — Compare Believers Present Position — "They shall never Perish."

2 LIBERTY — Compare Believers Present Position — "Ye shall be free indeed."

3 PLENTY  — Compare Believers Present Position — "ALL Spiritual Blessings."

3. THY WILL BE DONE.

Seen in perfection in the Lord Jesus.

Should be seen in Believers.

Will be seen in the Coming day of display

When, all usurpers put down,

THE RIGHTFUL KING Will reign in RIGHTEOUSNESS.

7. Matthew 6.

THE PRAYER THAT TEACHES TO PRAY (continued).

4. "GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD." — Present.

The Rich who are able to buy, or the Poor who must condescend to beg, equally need to pray this petition. God has provided once for all, all the minerals men may need but for our Daily Bread we depend on the Daily Faithfulness of a Covenant-Keeping God (Gen. 9: 9) in giving annually seedtime and harvest with unfailing grace.

1 So we ask with the knowledge of His Power to supply.

2 And we ask with a Sense of our need.

The object. — Continue us in life to glorify Thee.

5. "FORGIVE US." — Past.

The sense here is Restoration: in order that we may continue in Communion with a Father who always acts in grace.

So we too must act in grace to others — "as we forgive." Forgiveness means to "Let off." The Sinner should be "detained" and "punished," but God is ready to forgive.

1 Christ died to make Forgiveness Possible.

2 All need Forgiveness.

3 We are commanded to Preach Forgiveness in His Name.

6. DELIVER US. — Future.

Expresses the need of being kept from Satan's Power. Not to be tried as Job or Peter, lest we may become more like Peter than Job.

Paul's beautiful and Confident testimony.

He Hath delivered (Col. 1: 13).

He Will deliver (2 Tim. 4: 18).

See also He Doth deliver (Psalm 97: 10).

8. Matthew 6.

"SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD" (Ver. 33).

1. "SEEK" a Divine Command.

Because by nature men are astray and lost. This lost condition shows itself in two ways: —

1 Opposition to God (Illustrate, Pharaoh).

2 Indifference to God (Illustrate, Gallio).

2. "FIRST" a Definite Time.

Remember now . . . in the days of thy youth (Eccl. 12: 1).

In the morning of life.

Because seeking "other things" first

1 Grieves the Spirit.

2 Hardens the heart.

3 Sears the Conscience.

3. THE KINGDOM OF GOD — a Particular thing.

"The Kingdom of God" is opposed to the "world of Satan."

The World is going on to Judgment.

The Believer is going on to glory.

Each one is either in God's Kingdom or in Satan's World.

"What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world

And lose his own soul?"

4. OTHER THINGS shall he added — a Sure Promise.

Be not anxious for to-morrow.

Your Father knoweth your need.

"My God shall supply all your need" (Phil. 4: 19).

9. Matthew 7.

In Matthew 6 we learn "How to give."

In Matthew 7 we learn "How to get." Men say "get to give." God says "give to get."

The Grace of God enables the Believer to do so.

He manifests the Grace by practising the "Golden Rule."

This can only be done in the

1 Power of the New Life, by those who have

2 Entered in at the STRAIT GATE.

THE LORD SAYS THERE ARE

Two GATES.

1. The Strait Gate. ENTERED by Conversion "Strive." Only those in earnest, The Few, find it.

Two WAYS.

"The Way of life."

"The Way of the Lord."

"The Way of Good Men (Prov. 2: 20).

"The Way of Wisdom" (Prov. 4: 11).

"The Way of Truth" (Ps. 119: 30).

"The Way of thy Testimonies" (Ps. 119: 14).

"I am the Way" (John 14: 6).

Two ENDS.

The END of your faith.

The SALVATION of your Souls.

LIFE ETERNAL.

9. Matthew 7. — continued.

Two GATES.

2. The Wide Gate. Entered by Rejecting the Saviour and Turning away from the Cross. Held in it by —

1 Chains of Sin.

2 Fear of Men.

3 Power of Satan.

Two WAYS.

"The Way of Death" (Prov. 14: 12).

"The Way of Sinners" (Ps. 1) .

"The Way of a Fool" (Prov. 12: 15).

"The Way of the Evil Men" (Prov. 2: 12).

"The Way of Darkness" (Prov. 13).

"The Way of the Wicked" (Prov. 15: 9).

"The Way of Destruction" (Rom. 3: 1 6) .

Two ENDS.

The Great White Throne.

The Judgment.

Condemnation.

The Second Death.

10. Matthew 8.

THE DIGNITY OF HIS PERSON.

1. THE LEPER: Picture of the DEFILEMENT and HOPELESSNESS produced by Sin.

1 He knew he was a leper. "All have sinned."

2 He heard of a Saviour. Good news to him: The Gospel is good news to sinners.

3 He believed in His Power.

4 He received the Blessing.

2. THE PALSIED MAN: Picture of the HELPLESSNESS Produced by Sin.

1 We CAN do nothing. The Work to be done completely beyond our power. Satan to be defeated — Death overcome — Judgment borne.

2 We NEED to do nothing, for the work is done. The hatred of man brought out the love of God. "I will come and heal him." "He came to seek and to save."

3. THE WOMAN SICK OF A FEVER: Picture of the UNREST produced by Sin.

"No Peace, saith my God, to the wicked" (Isa. 57: 21).

"The Way of Peace have they not known" (Rom. 3: 17).

BUT Christ Made Peace (Col. 1: 20).

Christ Brings Peace (John 20: 19).

Christ Preaches Peace (Eph. 2: 17).

Christ Is our Peace (Eph. 2: 14).

Illustrate

A Purchased Peace (2 Kings 15).

A National Peace (1 Kings 5).

A Universal Peace (Isa. 9).

11. Matthew 8.

THE DIGNITY OF HIS PERSON.

"Man's Day" sets in darkness and sorrow (verse 16). When earth's sun was sinking, suffering humanity came to Christ and experienced all the grace and power of God. That power which works through the "night" and in the "morning" will display all the divine and glorious completion of His purposes of love and mercy.

Man's day — "Morning and Evening."

God's day — "Evening and Morning" (Gen. 1).

1. THE LORD PURPOSES TO CROSS TO THE OTHER SIDE and two men are tested.

1 The first is hindered by the world.

2 The second is hindered by his relations.

The foxes had holes.

The birds had nests.

Christ had nowhere to lay His head.

A man's foes shall be they of his own household.

He that loveth father or mother more than ME is not worthy of Me.

2. DISCIPLESHIP — "His disciples followed Him" (verse 23).

The beginning of discipleship is obedience produced in the heart by the power of love.

We "obey from the heart" because we love.

So we have a chain of four links: —

A heart full of Love is a heart full of joy.

A heart full of Joy is a life full of power.

A Life full of Power is a mouth full of praise.

A mouth full of Praise is a Life full of FRUIT.

12. Matthew 9.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS MISSION.

1. THE FORGIVER OF SINS (verse 2). The sin question must be faced first, when Men are brought to God.

Sins either put away or punished.

Sinners either forgiven or judged.

2. THE RECEIVER OF SINNERS (verse 10). God hates sin but loves sinners. Satan loves sin hut hates sinners. Christ died to save sinners. Holy Spirit pleads with sinners.

3. THE BRINGER OF JOY (verse 15).

Joy the normal condition of Christianity.

A Man who is Forgiven, Justified, Delivered from Satan's Power and on his way to Heaven OUGHT to be happy.

Illustrate: Matthew; Great Feast; Great Company; Great Joy (Luke 5).

4. IN THE BRIDEGROOM'S ABSENCE (verse 15).

The disciples will "fast."

Our attitude to the world now.

We go through it, being

"Not of it" and taking nothing from it.

BUT "I will see you again, and your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you" (John 16: 22).

13. Matthew 9.

1. THE GIVER OF LIFE (Janus' Daughter raised from the dead, verses 23-25).

Sinners are "Dead in sins" (Eph. 2: 5).

Believers are "Dead to Sin" (Rom. 6: 2).

Believers are Dead to the Law (Gal. 2: 19).

Believers are Dead to the World (Col. 3: 3).

BUT Alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 6: 12).

2. THE GIVER OF LIGHT.

Sin Blinds the mind to the things of God (2 Cor. 4: 4).

Men are blind to their danger, to their need, and to the beauty of the Lord Jesus.

The Gospel of God is sent to "open their eyes" (Acts 26: 18).

Christ is the "True Light" (John 1: 9).

Believers should walk in the Light (1 John 1: 7).

And be the Light of the World (Matt. 5: 14).

3. THE GIVER OF SPEECH.

Unloosed Tongues Confess Jesus as Lord (Rom. 10: 9).

Show forth His Praise (Ps. 51: 15).

Talk of all His Wondrous Works (Ps. 105: 2).

Speak of His Majesty (Ps. 145: 5).

Worship God (Rev. 4: 10).

14. Matthew 10.

In Matthew 10. The King sends forth His Messengers to announce the Coming Kingdom.

The Lord is presented in a threefold way —

1. As Son of David; 2. Son of God; 3. Son of Man.

1. THE LORD JESUS as Son of David and David's rights.

Messiah come and the Kingdom announced.

The defeat of Death, Disease, and the Devil, will mark the Kingdom when established in power. Righteousness will Reign, and there will be world-wide Blessing.

2. THE OPPOSITION to both Messiah and His Kingdom

(1) By the Rulers; (2) By the Men of that Age.

This opposition was manifested in a threefold way.

1 Against the Person of Christ.

2 Against the People of Christ.

3 Against the Word of Christ.

3. THE REVELATION OF THE FATHER'S CARE.

1 Raises the Believer above the fear of men.

2 Makes him a Confessor.

3 Makes him a Cross-Bearer.

15. Matthew 11.

Matthew 10 is the King in long-suffering grace sending forth the twelve apostles to all the cities of Israel to work miracles, while He continues to teach, so that there is blessing for both the souls and bodies of men.

In Matthew 10 — The Kingdom is announced with signs of Power.

In Matthew 11 — The nation rejects the King.

In Matthew 12 — The King rejects the nation.

1. JOHN'S QUESTION "Art Thou He?"

1 The Lord bears testimony to John.

2 The Lord's works bear testimony to Himself.

3 John, a faithful witness suffering for Righteousness sake.

2. THE NATION'S ATTITUDE.

1 Indifferent to the Call of Grace (The Lord's Ministry).

2 Careless as to the warnings of danger (John's ministry).

3. THE NATION'S FUTURE.

Judgment greater than that visited —

1 Upon the sensuality of Sodom, or the Pride and Worldliness of Tyre and Sidon.

2 Because the Jews had rejected the ministry of the Lord Himself.

4. THE CALL OF GRACE — "Come unto Me.

To Me the Rejected One, but

1 The One to whom ALL THINGS are delivered.

2 The Revealer of the Father.

3 The Giver of True Rest.

16. Matthew 11.

Two Invitations — "Come" — "Take."

The Rest given is the result of Coming to Christ as a lost sinner and getting forgiveness.

The Rest found is the result of "taking the yoke of Christ" — that is, accepting the place on earth which He took in grace — "the lowly subject One."

1. ALL YE THAT LABOUR AND ARE HEAVY LADEN.

A universal Invitation. Sin is like a heavy burden.

1 It burdens the Conscience with Guilt.

2 It burdens the Heart with Grief.

3 It burdens the Mind with Regret.

4 It burdens the Body with Disease.

2. I WILL GIVE YOU REST.

A Definite Promise.

1 Rest from Sin, from Doubt, from Fear.

2 Rest of Conscience because

3 Peace with God.

3. TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU AND LEARN OF ME.

Yoke — picture of Fellowship.

Grace calls believers to have fellowship with Him.

"Learn of Me" — a Divine Teacher.

"Mary sat at Jesus' feet and heard His Words."

4. YE SHALL FIND REST to your souls.

"I have learned" — Paul (Phil. 4: 11).

17. Matthew 12.

The Pharisees raise the Sabbath question, and thereby only expose their own pretentious hypocrisy, because, while professing to keep the Sabbath day, they condemned the Lord of the Sabbath.

The Sabbath rest was a sign of the Law of God perfectly kept; but in rejecting Christ they had broken every link with God.

1. This gives occasion for the Lord to announce the only principle upon which men can be blessed. "I will have mercy."

Mercy for Sinners. Grace for the Unworthy. Pardon for the Guilty. Salvation for the Lost.

— Through a Crucified Saviour.

2. The man with the withered hand is an illustration of a man who got blessing on this ground. Also of Israel as a nation — withered and fruitless. Only the Power of God could restore.

3. The Pharisees first Counsel to destroy Him.

His Enemies plot His destruction.

He continues His works of blessing.

BUT, for the nation, the day of Grace was over.

He charged them "not to make Him known."

18. Matthew 13.

Seven Parables setting forth the

(1) Origin; (2) Progress; (3) Declension; and

(4) Consummation of the "Kingdom of Heaven" in the absence of the King.

1. THE INTRODUCTION OF THE WORD OF TRUTH by the Lord Himself, but giving no final results. These are developed in the six following parables. "The Word" divides the hearers into Four Classes: Hard-hearted, Faint-hearted, Halfhearted, Honest-hearted.

2. THE TARES: Evil men and evil teaching introduced by the devil. Nearly all false teaching spring from two sources: —

1 Denying that Christ was really God. — Ebionism.

2 Denying that Christ was really man. — Gnosticism. Both had their origin in the first century. They are with us still.

3. THE MUSTARD TREE.

An abnormal growth. Christendom has become a great world power with root in the earth; instead of maintaining the separate heavenly calling.

Roman Catholicism aims at becoming a great temporal power.

Protestantism aims at becoming a great political power.

4. THE LEAVEN. Every reference in Scripture to leaven shows that it is always a type of evil. Here it indicates the evil and unscriptural teaching which has been introduced, and is permeating the whole of professing Christendom.

5. THE TREASURE. Something valuable, to be sought, purchased, and guarded.

6. THE PEARL. Something beautiful and precious, to be displayed.

7. THE NET. The solemn events which take place at the end of this age. The Church wrapt to glory: the net drawn, and the mystery finished.

19. Matthew 13.

The chapter opens with a parable introducing the Lord Himself as the "Sower," and goes on to give six similitudes of the Kingdom. These show the new aspect the Kingdom would assume in the absence of the King. Christ, come in grace to establish it, is rejected. The word of the Kingdom is sown in the hearts of men, and they are left with it in Responsibility.

The First parable gives Four Results in Four Classes of Hearers.

1. THE WAYSIDE, or THE HARD-HEARTED.

Hearts are what we make them. Pharaoh hardened his heart before God hardened it.

Word not even retained in the heart.

Birds, type of Satan, catch away that which was sown.

Here the power of the devil prevails.

2. THE STONY GROUND, or THE FAINT-HEARTED.

Mere profession without conscience work. Eager to be in the forefront when Christianity is popular. When Persecution comes, eager to be somewhere else.

In this case the world prevails, and it is manifest that there has been no reality.

3. THE THORNY GROUND, or THE HALF-HEARTED.

The importance of definite decision. In this case it is absent.

The Word is entertained, but other things come in, in greater place. "The cares" or "the deceitfulness of riches," and so the flesh prevails, and the word is "choked."

4. THE GOOD GROUND, or THE HONEST-HEARTED.

Understanding hearts understand the meaning of the Gospel and its relation to themselves.

"Keep" the Word — Faith.

Bring forth Fruit — Works.

20. Matthew 13.

The Second Parable is that of The Tares among the wheat.

The Lord sows the Good Seed of the Gospel.

Satan sows Error. He introduces the Imitation among the real.

1. The Unwatchfulness of Christians allowed it. "While men slept." First mentioned is "Simon the Sorcerer" (Acts 8).

2. Both are to grow together until "the harvest." To "The Servants" is committed the precious ministry of blessing through the Gospel.

To the Angels (verse 49) is committed the dread service of being executors of judgment.

The Beginning, Course, and End of the Two Classes may be traced as follows: —

Those Represented by "The Good Seed."

1 Receive the Gospel — God's good news.

2 Believe the Truth —

About God.

About themselves.

3 Live for Christ —

A new object.

A new centre.

4 End in the Kingdom.

Their place there will be according to their faithfulness here.

Those Represented by "The Tares."

1 Ignore the Gospel — Unbelief.

2 Believe Error —

Minds must believe something.

3 Live for self, the world, or Satan.

Every life lived for something.

4 End in the "burning," solemn reality — and He who knew declared it.

21. Matthew 13.

The Son of Man sows the "Good Seed" —

That which was capable of Reproducing itself.

The Evil One sows "Tares" —

That which is fit only for the fire.

The Third Parable is that of The Mustard Seed.

The Smallest of Seeds: The beginning of the Gospel.

Became a tree: an abnormal growth.

Birds of the Air: picture of the powers of Evil.

Lodge in its Branches: Evil men no longer outside, but within the sphere of profession.

The Fourth Parable is that of The Leaven.

Evil principles at work, morally corrupting the whole mass.

Of the Pharisees — Hypocrisy (Matt. 16: 6).

Of the Sadducees — Infidelity (Matt. 16: 6).

Of Herod Worldliness (Mark 8: 15).

The Old Leaven — Sensuality (1 Cor. 5: 7).

The Fifth Parable is that of The Treasure Hid in a Field.

"The Field is the world" (verse 38).

Treasure hid in the field.

Only One knew of its Presence.

Something valuable and precious.

Picture of Believers as Christ sees them.

To possess them, He buys the "field" — the world.

The day is coming when He will take possession.

22. Matthew 13.

The Sixth Parable is that of The one Pearl of Great Price.

If the "Treasure" conveys the thought of something valuable, the one Pearl conveys the thought of something beautiful.

His love in seeking Believers looked at in their oneness as the Church (Eph. 5: 25).

The Price He Paid (Phil. 2: 5-8).

What He Purchased (Eph. 5: 25).

His object in purchasing (Eph. 5: 26).

The day of display (Rev. 19: 7).

The Seventh Parable is that of The Net cast into the Sea.

The point of the Parable is the Drawing of the net.

Attention is directed to events at the end of this age.

Then "good gathered into vessels." God calling out a people for His name now (Acts 15: 14).

Three things mark the end of the age—

The Midnight Cry.

The development of the Apostacy.

The gathering of the Jew to Palestine in unbelief.

23. Matthew 14.

In Matthew 14 we have the Two KINGS —

Herod in his sin. Christ in His grace.

The actions of Man and the actions of the Lord.

What marked Herod's dance (Mark 6) was the "lust of the eye" and the "lust of the flesh."

BUT the Lord Jesus on the mountain top illustrates the present position of the Saviour in relation to His Own.

1. HE IS PRAYING FOR US. Because we have an enemy, and we need to realise that he is sleepless, alert, cunning, relentless, cruel.

1 He tempts us (1 Thess. 3: 5).

2 He accuses us (Rev. 10: 10).

3 He assaults us (1 Peter 5: 8).

But the Lord said, "I have prayed for thee."

2. HE IS WATCHING OVER US.

"He saw them toiling and rowing."

"Light and Truth" go before (Ps. 43: 3).

Goodness and Mercy follow (Ps. 23: 6).

The Lord is thy Keeper (Ps. 121: 5).

The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil (Ps. 121: 7).

3. HE IS COMING FOR US.

In the "Fourth" Watch He Came.

Compare Matthew 24. The faithful and wise Servant was "ready to open" immediately.

Note three things about Peter's Prayer (verse 30) —

It was an urgent need — Save.

It was a personal need — Me.

Only the Lord Jesus could meet it — Lord.

24. Matthew 15.

In Matthew 12 (verse 54) we find the Lord renouncing all earthly ties. In Matthew 13 He opens to His disciples the form the Kingdom would assume in His absence. In Matthew 14 the opposition develops into open hostility, and we see man's King taking away men's lives — the Forerunner is slain — but God's King saving men's lives.

Matthew 14 shows men's works to be evil. Matthew 15 shows WHY they are evil. The reason is — the HEART IS WRONG.

Matthew 14 shows the two Kings. Matthew 15 shows THE Two HEARTS.

The heart of man with its Seven Streams of Evil (verse 19).

The heart of the Lord Jesus in bringing blessing to all.

Note FOUR Points —

1. THE FORMALISM OF THE PHARISEES.

A mistake all men make.

Thinking a correct exterior will do for God.

Satan can use even a religious system as a power of Evil.

But the Lord brings home to the conscience.

2. THE FACT OF SIN.

"Out of the heart proceed." Hearts produce Evil because hearts are Evil.

Men think lightly of Sin. They deplore its fruits.

God speaks solemnly of Sin. He exposes its roots.

Sin separates from God, now, and produces unhappiness.

Sin fills the heart with selfishness and produces oppression.

Sin separates from God eternally and produces eternal misery.

Before it could be put away Christ must die.

When men cover their sins, God uncovers them.

When men uncover their sins, God covers them.

3. THE FAITH OF THE GENTILE. She felt her need.

Her need brought her to Jesus. She owned she deserved nothing.

She would be thankful for anything. She got everything.

4. THE FAVOUR OF CHRIST.

The Lord returns to Galilee and shows His grace in

Feeding Four thousand with Seven Loaves.

Feeding Five thousand (Chap. 14) was a proof that Jehovah-Messiah was present.

This Miracle was a proof that, though He was rejected by the nation, He still continued His works of mercy in their midst.

25. Matthew 16.

Matthew 15 closes with Grace to one who had no hope but in Grace. The Central thought of Matthew 16 is the revelation of the person of Christ.

1. WHAT OTHERS THOUGHT ABOUT HIM (verse 13). The Pharisees and Sadducees, blinded by the devil, reject Him. Of such, beware.

The men of the age with their opinions and speculations — John, Elijah, or Jeremiah, but consciences unreached and hearts unattracted.

2. WHAT GOD-GIVEN FAITH SAW IN HIM.

Peter's personal confession — Thou art

THE CHRIST — the official glory of His Person — the Promised One — Seed of the Woman — Seed of Abraham — Son of David — Sun of Righteousness — Fulfiller of every Promise of God.

THE SON of the LIVING GOD — His personal glory The Divine, Eternal, and Lifegiving Word (Phil. 2), (Col. 1), (Heb. 1), (1 John 1).

3. WHAT HE WAS ABOUT TO DO.

"I will build" — My Church.

Its Foundation "upon this Rock" (1 Cor. 10: 4).

Its materials (1 Peter 2: 5).

But before this could take place the presentation of the Kingdom had to be set aside and the Cross brought in.

4. WHAT WOULD MARK THOSE WHO FOLLOWED HIM.

Self denied.

The Cross taken.

Christ confessed.

Eternal reward in the Coming Kingdom.

The Man with the Cross on his back has finished with the World.

The Man with the World on his back has evaded the Cross.

26. Matthew 17.

Matthew 16 is the Revelation of the Church; Matthew 17 is a glimpse of the glory of the Coming Kingdom.

At the four lowest points of our Lord's humiliation we get confirming proofs of His Divinity.

1. His Birth. 2. His Baptism. 3. His Temptation. 4. His Death.

Having been rejected by the nation, and confessed by Peter, God manifests Him in the Centre of the Shekinah glory cloud as the "Beloved Son."

1. MOSES — The Law Giver.

But the result was a broken law and a condemned people.

No hope for sinners under law.

2. ELIJAH — The Reformer.

But Reformation cannot help sinners.

Because the past exists.

There must be Regeneration.

"My Beloved Son" is The "Transformer."

Men say "John," or "Jeremiah," or one of "the prophets."

God says, "My beloved Son, hear Him."

He brought the best news that ever came to earth. He now takes the supreme place.

4. "BE NOT AFRAID."

Men by nature are "afar" and "afraid."

Before Peace of Conscience, the

Question of Sin has to be settled.

Before there can be peace of heart, the

Question of Circumstances has to be settled.

"Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of."

27. Matthew 18.

"IN THE MIDST" (verse 20).

1. "IN THE MIDST" for Atonement (John 19: 18).

1 The Cross brings out —

2 The Love of God.

3 The Devotedness of Christ.

4 The Malice of Satan.

5 The Hatred of Man.

6 The Righteousness of God.

7 The Awful Nature of Sin.

The Guilt of the World.

2. "IN THE MIDST" for Peace and Power (John 20: 19-23).

1 The first thing a believer wants to know is peace.

2 The first thing a believer wants to experience is power.

3 Christ made peace.

4 The Blood Cleanses. The Holy Spirit brings Power.

3. IN THE MIDST FOR GUIDANCE (Matt. 18: 20).

One Condition on which He vouchsafes His presence, "Gathered in MY NAME."

1 The work of Christ brings us all our Blessings.

2 The Person of Christ brings us all our Reproach.

But — "If reproached for the Name of Christ, Happy are ye" (1 Peter 4: 9).

4. "IN THE MIDST" for Judgment (Rev. 5).

Christ on the throne.

The Rejected One of Earth Exalted in Heaven.

"Seven Horns" — Divine Power.

"Seven Eyes" — Divine Discrimination.

"Seven Spirits" — Divine Intelligence.

Note the Various Thrones: —

1. The Throne of Holiness (Ezek. 10); 2. The Throne of Grace (Heb. 4); 3. The Throne of Glory (Matt. 25); 4. The Throne of Judgment (Rev. 20).

28. Matthew 18.

FORGIVENESS IN THREE ASPECTS.

1. FORGIVENESS for Sinners — Eternal Forgiveness.

Many not clear on this elementary doctrine.

Some hope for: some think once forgiven.

Some suppose partly forgiven.

God says: "Whosoever believeth shall receive" — "Your sins are Forgiven for His Name's sake."

Grace provides: The Blood secures.

The Spirit proclaims: Faith appropriates.

Because God has spoken, we are SURE.

Because we are sure, we are HAPPY.

THREE THINGS FOLLOW.

It produces Happiness — "Blessed" (Ps. 32).

It produces Love — "Loveth much" (Luke 7: 47).

It produces Holy Fear — "That Thou mayest be feared" (Ps. 30).

2. FORGIVENESS FOR BELIEVERS, or Restorative Forgiveness.

Confession as sinners brings Eternal Forgiveness, and we become children.

When our walk breaks down daily Confession keeps us happy children.

"He is faithful and just to forgive."

More often than Peter's "seven times."

Though Eternally forgiven, yet we may suffer

Governmentally if we do not forgive others.

Therefore "Be kind one towards another . . . forgiving one another."

The "unmerciful servant" failed in the spirit of forgiveness because he "went out" from the presence of the Master.

29. Matthew 19.

In Matthew 19 the Lord recognises and owns all that is lovely in Nature, but goes on to show that the best of Nature will not do for God. "ONE is good."

1 Marriage God's own institution from the beginning, but abused by the lusts of men.

2 The little children — an illustration of the spirit which characterises the Kingdom.

3 The Young Ruler — not far "from," but not in the Kingdom.

1. THE INVITATION OF LOVE.

"Suffer the little children to come unto me."

The Invitation, designed to rebuke the pride of the disciples, expresses the love of Christ.

2. THE RECEPTION OF GRACE.

"He took them up in His arms" —

The place of safety.

Divine shelter from every foe.

"He blessed them" (Mark 10).

The Condition of Happiness and Eternal Joy.

3. THE CONDITION OF ENTRANCE.

Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein" (Mark 10).

The little child is simple — we must believe God. The little child is trustful — we must rest on His Word.

The little child is humble — we must come down.

30. Matthew 19.

THE YOUNG RULER.

The most interesting of all the Gospel stories — also the saddest. He was really in earnest to KNOW. But not really in earnest to DO.

No common man.

Looked up to as a leader of morals.

If he was not right, who was?

Yet he felt he was not right. He was not sure about Eternal life — therefore unhappy.

And all he WAS, HAD, or DID, failed to bring happiness.

1. (1) He was a religious man — A Teacher, a Ruler, a Judge.

(2) He had youth, money, friends, Position, influence.

(3) He did all the second table of the law required. But all failed to bring happiness. The reason was, he was making two mistakes.

2. (1) He did not know himself.

Did not believe he was a lost sinner.

Did not realise that he needed a Saviour.

Looked to the Lord only as a Teacher.

(2) He did not know God.

Was trying to establish his own righteousness.

Desired to know what to do.

3. PETER'S QUESTION.

Peter, anxious to know, whether what the young man went back to, or what they were going forward to, was best, asks —

"What shall we have?"

That which the young ruler missed and one hundredfold more.

31. Matthew 20.

The Son of Man Betrayed: The close and reward of three years of devoted, self-denying, gracious ministry.

That grace had been

SEEN IN WHAT HE WAS.

The Divine Son of the Living God (Chap. 16: 16).

The Word made Flesh (John 1: 14).

The True Light (John 1: 9).

The Revealer of the Father (John 1: 18).

SEEN IN WHAT HE SAID.

"Never man spake like this man."

"The gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth."

SEEN IN WHAT HE DID.

Feeding the Hungry.

Healing the Sick.

Raising the Dead.

All His miracles were "grace" miracles.

JAMES AND JOHN desire High Places in the Kingdom. But learn that it is better to suffer here, and

Leave Results and Rewards — to God.

CHRISTIANS suffer

Because Satan is prince of this world.

Early Christians rejoiced in suffering.

WHAT enables the Christian to suffer?

They "See Him who is invisible."

They have the Holy Spirit's power within.

Illustrate — Peter, before and after the Cross.

32. Matthew 21.

This chapter begins with the presentation of the King to the nation. Their responsibility for His rejection is established, and the measure of their guilt filled up.

1. THE KING PROMISED.

1 The Men of Faith (Gen. 3; Jude 14) looked forward to Him.

2 The Men after the flesh persecuted them that were after the Spirit (Gal. 4: 29).

2. THE KING PROPHESIED OF (Gen. 49).

Three thousand five hundred years pass and God announced —

1 How He would come (Zech. 9: 9).

2 How He would be received (Zech. 13: 6-7).

3. THE KING PRESENTED (Matt. 21).

1 The nation "at a place where two ways met" (Mark 11: 4).

2 Every hearer of the word at the parting of the ways.

4. THE KING PERSECUTED.

1 The Nation reject and Crucify their King.

2 God rejects and scatters the nation.

5. THE KING PROCLAIMED (Ps. 2).

1 Crowned with many Crowns.

2 Ruler over every nation.

Four Crowns for Believers —

For those who LIVE for Christ: The Incorruptible Crown (1 Cor. 9: 25).

For those who DIE for Christ: The Crown of Life (Rev. 2: 10).

For those who WATCH for Christ: The Crown of Righteousness (2 Tim. 4: 8).

For those who CARE for the people of Christ: The Crown of Glory (1 Peter 5: 4).

33. Matthew 21.

A Short Synopsis of the Section, Matthew 21-25.

Matthew 21-22. — His Enemies morally judged and silenced.

Matthew 23. — The Eight Woes that would fall on the guilty Leaders.

Matthew 24 — 25. — Instruction for the disciples into the truths of the Kingdom.

Matthew 21. — Begins with the Fulfilment of Zech. 9: 9. But the Leaders can only ask, "Who is this?"

The Three Parables following, with that of the "Barren Fig Tree" in Luke 13, teach the definite setting aside of Israel.

1. The Fig Tree:

The Nation in Profession: No Fruit. Compare Ex. 19: 8, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do," with 1 Thess. 2: 15, 16. What they did.

2. The Two Sons:

No reality — Lip service only.

The Leaders proved worse than the publicans (Luke 7: 29).

3. The Wicked Husbandmen:

Open opposition.

Refused to bring anything to God.

In Matthew 22, Refuse to receive anything from God.

4. The Sure Foundation Stone:

1 Falling over the stone: Christ in Humiliation.

2 Falling under the stone: Christ in Glory and Power (Dan. 2).

Refer to Genesis 49, Psalms 118, Isaiah 28, Matthew 21, Ephesians 2, 1 Peter 2:

34. Matthew 22.

Note the intimate connection between Matthew 21 and Matthew 22, though teaching different truths —

Matthew 21 — "The Vineyard" is Judaism to the Cross.

Matthew 22. — "The Marriage Feast" is the Announcement of the Kingdom.

The First gives the Attitude of Men to God.

The Second gives the Attitude of God to Men.

The First is God dealing with men in Responsibility.

The Second is God dealing with men in Grace.

Not now God requiring in Righteousness, but God displaying the riches of His grace. No longer man's ways to God, but God's ways to man.

1. THE MARRIAGE.

The central thought.

Honour for the King's Son.

"Far above . . . every name that is named" (Eph. 1: 21).

2. THE INVITATION.

First Announcement — by the Apostles before the Cross.

Second Announcement — to Israel at Pentecost. Third Announcement — world wide — "Bad and good."

3. THE CONDITIONS.

The Gospel produces what suits God.

The fitness for the feast was not their best, But the Robe of the King's providing.

4. THE JUDGMENT fell because there was — Indifference to the King's Provision, and thus Dishonour to the King's Son.

35. Matthew, Matthew 24, 25.

THE GREAT PROPHETIC SECTION OF THE GOSPEL.

Scripture speaks to men in many ways. To the unconverted, it brings a warning of coming wrath and an offer of present mercy. To the Believer, it brings instruction and guidance for the way. To the Disciple, it comes as a revelation of the mind of God as to His present and future purposes.

These two chapters are divided into THREE SECTIONS

Matthew 24, verses 1-44 — THE JEW.

His Temptations: Trials: Deliverance.

Matthew 24: 45 to Matthew 25: 1-30 — THE CHRISTIAN.

As Ministering: Waiting: or Working

For his absent Lord.

Matthew 25: 21-16 — THE GENTILES.

As Receiving, or Rejecting

The Kingdom Messengers.

THE JEW.

1. HIS TEMPTATIONS.

The True Messiah having come and been rejected, False Christs arise to deceive many.

Note. — The Jew is warned against false Christs. Christendom is warned against false Spirits (1 John 4: 3).

2. HIS TRIALS.

Wars and Rumours of Wars.

Danger for their land. Personal tribulation, the Jew is to escape from: The Christian is to glory in.

3. HIS DELIVERANCE.

By the Judgment of Antichrist, the reign of Christ, and the wicked taken out of the earth for Judgment. The Christian looks to be taken out of the earth for blessing.

36. Matthew, Matthew 24, 25.

THREE PARABLES REFERRING TO CHRISTENDOM.

1 The Good and Evil Servants illustrate what should, and should not, be our attitude towards each other.

2 The Virgins illustrate what should, and should not, be our attitude towards the Lord Jesus.

3 The Talents illustrate what should, and should not, be our attitude towards the world.

1. THE FAITHFUL AND WISE SERVANT.

1 Honoured by his Master (Chap. 24: 45).

2 Loves his Master's interests (Chap. 24: 45-46).

3 Cares for his Master's Household (Chap. 24: 45-46).

4 Rewarded by his Master at His Coming (Chap. 24: 47).

2. THE EVIL SERVANT.

1 Has no love for his Master. His heart wrong.

2 Oppresses his fellow-servants. His actions wrong.

3 Associates himself with the world. And thus renounces his heavenly calling.

4 Shares the doom of the hypocrites To which class he belonged.

37. Matthew 25.

THE PARABLE OF "THE VIRGINS"

In the Parable of the "Ten Virgins" there are Seven important points.

1. CHRIST'S COMING AS THE BRIDEGROOM.

Some deny it — Opposition to the truth. Some ignore it — Indifference to the truth. Some "love His appearing" — True affection. In the 260 Chapters of the New Testament the Coming is mentioned about 300 times.

Some expect Him, and because they expect Him, they trim their lamps and go out to meet Him.

2. THE TARRYING.

Its effect upon the Church (1 Thess. 1: 9, 10), and upon the world (2 Peter 3: 3).

The reason for it (2 Peter 3: 9).

3. THE MIDNIGHT CRY.

The "cry" goes forth at darkest period. World grows dark in proportion as divine truth (light) is rejected.

4. THE COMING REALISED.

Not the "end of the world."

5. THE MARRIAGE.

Picture of complete happiness (Rev. 19: 7).

The Christian will be happy hereafter, and should be happy here.

6. THE SHUT DOOR.

Inside — Life: Light: Joy Salvation.

Outside — Death: Darkness: Sorrow: Despair.

7. THE VAIN APPEAL.

The Result of Opportunities Neglected.

Warnings Slighted.

38. Matthew 25.

THE PARABLE OF "THE TALENTS" — SERVICE.

The Holy Spirit, Who is the power of the new life, enables the believer to enjoy the presence of God, and TELL OF CHRIST to others.

Judaism only produced one man (Jonah) who became a missionary.

In Christianity every man should be a missionary.

Every Servant has some talent.

This Parable illustrates its use, or its abuse.

1. THE IMAGERY EMPLOYED, and its meaning.

1 "A Man" — The Lord Jesus.

2 "Travelling" — His departure from this world and present period while He is in Heaven.

3 "Talents" — Gifts given by the Lord.

4 "Servants" — All who make a profession of Christianity.

2. THE GOOD SERVANT is marked by

1 The Sense of Responsibility "Thou deliveredst to me."

2 His Faithfulness.

3 His Devotedness.

3. THE EVIL SERVANT is marked by

1 What he thought of his Master.

Wrong thoughts, which led to Foolish Actions.

2 What he did with his Money.

Used for Earth what should have been Devoted to the things of Heaven.

39. Matthew 25.

THE SEVEN JUDGMENTS OF SCRIPTURE.

1 The Lord Judges (1 Cor. 11: 32) — Correction.

2 The Assembly Judges (1 Cor. 5: 12) — Discipline.

3 We Judge Ourselves (1 Cor. 11: 28-31) — Self-Examination.

4 The Judgment of the Cross — Atonement.

5 The Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5: 10) — Reward for Faithfulness.

6 The Judgment of the Living Nations (Matt. 25.) — Preparation for the Kingdom.

7 The Judgment of the Great White Throne (Rev. 20: 11) — Condemnation.

Our Chapter deals with No. 6.

It is the fulfilment of Ps. 2, Acts 1: 11, etc.

When the Lord came the first time, He was cut off and had nothing (Dan. 9: 26). When He comes the second time

He will vindicate His rights and

Judge in Righteousness.

Historically these events take place immediately after the "Warrior Judgment" of Rev. 19.

THREE COMPANIES are manifested —

1 "THE SHEEP": Those who received, believed, and befriended the Kingdom Messengers.

2 "THE GOATS": Those who refused the Messengers, Ignored their sufferings, and Rejected their testimony.

3 "THE BRETHREN": Jewish Messengers of the Coming Kingdom, who complete the testimony of Matthew 10: 23.

40. Matthew 26.

THE LAST PASSOVER (Refer to Ex. 12).

In Egypt God took in hand to settle the Sin question. But before executing Judgment, He made Provision for righteously delivering His own. This was done through THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB. Notice six things: —

1. THE LAMB SLAIN: Death must enter every house.

But for the Israelite, a substitute was provided.

2. THE BLOOD SPRINKLED: It was not enough that the Lamb was slain. There must also be the obedience of faith, and personal identification with the shed blood, which was put outside for the eye of God to see.

3. THE PEOPLE SAVED: No question of what they were.

The Blood on the lintel was their Security.

The Word of the Lord was their Assurance.

4. THE FEAST INSTITUTED: A Feast speaks of Joy.

Egyptian bondage was past for ever.

They were going OUT of Egypt saved by the LORD.

Outside, death and Judgment.

Inside, a saved and happy people.

"Unleavened Bread" — Holy separation from Evil.

"Bitter herbs" — The memory of what they had been redeemed from.

5. HOW IT WAS TO BE OBSERVED:

With Girded Loins: Redeemed for Service.

Shod feet: Ready to march.

Staff in Hand: Outside support. Pilgrims here.

6. WHY IT WAS TO BE REPEATED: To keep in memory the LOVE, POWER, and GRACE of their Deliverer.

They were a Redeemed, Separated, Dependent, and Expectant People.

41. Matthew 26.

THE FIRST "SUPPER OF THE LORD."

The Central point of Christianity is the Lord's Supper, because it has its origin in the love of the Lord for His own, and His desire that their love to Him might never grow cold.

"Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end" (John 13: 1).

1 His OWN by Gift of the Father.

2 His OWN by Purchase of Blood.

These He gathers around Him on the dark night of betrayal.

They knew of the foe without.

Now they hear of a traitor within.

Suspicion of each other, uncertainty, and unrest fill every heart.

HE SPEAKS OF PEACE, for He was about to

LAY DOWN HIS LIFE to procure it.

Now He institutes the Supper in

Remembrance of His dying love.

It speaks of THREE things: —

1. THE WORK OF CHRIST: His body broken. His blood shed.

He died for our Sins. He gave Himself for us.

In the presence of God, angels, demons, and a hostile world,

WE SHEW THE LORD'S DEATH, by which

He glorified God, Defeated Satan, and Put away Sin.

2. THE PERSON OF CHRIST.

The Work of Christ meets the Conscience.

The Person of Christ meets the Heart.

His Work brings us all our blessings.

His Person brings us all our Joy.

3. THE COMING OF CHRIST (1 Cor. 11: 26).

To take us out of the place of testimony.

To take us into the place of glory.

42. Matthew 27.

1. THE SELF-CONFIDENCE OF PETER: Ignorant of what he was.

Verse 58. Wrong Position: "Followed afar off."

58. Wrong Company: "Sat with the Servants."

74. Wrong Testimony: "I know not the man."

2. THE GUILT AND FATE OF JUDAS.

The Greatest Sin ever Committed.

The Greater the privilege, if neglected, the Greater the Condemnation.

The traitor's reward purchased a Field of Blood.

The Death of Christ made a City of Blood, and a Land of Blood, and a World of Blood.

3. THE LORD BEFORE CAIAPHAS.

The False witness and the "Faithful Witness."

The Criminal on the Bench, and

The Judge at the Bar.

Christ given up to Death, and

The Nation of the Jews given up to Blindness.

4. THE LORD BEFORE PILATE.

Jew and Gentile agree to condemn the Just One.

Three times Pilate declares —

"I find no fault in Him" (John 19).

Pilate's wife's advice: "Have nothing to do with that Just Man."

No Man goes to hell unwarned.

Pilate rejected the warning, and

Condemned the Just.

43. Matthew 28.

THE RESURRECTION AND ITS RESULTS.

FOUR THINGS worthy of note: —

An Open Grave: Christ Risen (Matt. 28: 6).

An Open Heaven: Christ on the throne (Acts 7: 56).

An Open Heart: Christ Believed on (Acts 16: 14).

An Open Mouth: Christ Confessed (Rom. 10: 9).

1. TERRIFIED KEEPERS.

The Folly of Men.

The Failure of Men.

The Fear of Men.

2. REJOICING BELIEVERS.

1 The Foundation of Christian Joy is the Finished Work, and the Resurrection of the One who did it.

2 The Secret of Christian Joy is

The love of Christ,

Realised by "continuing" in His love (John 15: 9-11).

3. THE VICTORIOUS LORD.

God glorified, and the basis laid in righteousness for all the Counsels of God to be fulfilled.

The Power and love of God Vindicated.

Satan defeated.

Sin Put away.

The Power of death Broken.

The Resurrection is a matter of the fullest joy to the believer, but it should be a matter of the greatest dread to the unbeliever —

Because "God hath appointed a day in which He will Judge the world," and the Judgment is committed to the One who has been raised from the dead.

Letters and Papers

Letters and Papers

by the late

Theodosia A. Viscountess Powerscourt.

edited by the Rev. Robert Daly, A.M.

Rector of Powerscourt, in the Diocese of Dublin

London: Hatchard and Son, Piccadilly.

William Curry, Jun. and Co. Dublin.

MDCCCXXXVIII.

Dublin: Printed by John S. Folds, 5, Bachelor's Walk

Preface.

In offering the following Volume to the public, it is, perhaps, necessary that I should prefix a few words, to state what the reader is to expect, and what he is not to expect, in these Letters and Papers. He is not to expect anything in the character of religious gossip; any anecdotes of, or remarks concerning, living persons, with whom the writer had intercourse. Those who had the privilege of receiving Letters from the late Lady Powerscourt, know well that she delighted to dwell on much higher subjects than the actions, or opinions, of her fellowmen. If every thing she ever wrote was submitted to the public eye, it would be, perhaps, a subject of surprise to some, how very little was said about other persons in her extended correspondence. But, in the following selections, I have studiously omitted every thing in the least degree personal. Those, therefore, that shall take up this Volume with the hope of reading Lady Powerscourt's opinions of this person or that person of this or the other movement, in or out of the Church, will be disappointed. I trust that these pages will furnish no food that would gratify such appetites. Had the correspondence, from which it has been my part to make selections, afforded such materials, I should never have been the instrument of making them public. But that eminent disciple of our blessed Lord, whose Letters are now printed, with a hope and prayer that they may tend to the edification of the Church, lived in a higher atmosphere; inhaled herself, and breathed forth, a purer air. She, of all the Christians I have been privileged to know, came nearest to that which she has, in such strong uncommon terms, stated to be her idea of a Christian: "Not one who looks up from earth to heaven, but one who looks down from heaven on earth". She appears to have ascended a high and holy eminence, and from thence to have looked down upon those earthly scenes, with which too many are entirely engrossed, living up to that high spiritual requirement of the Apostle, "Set your affections on things above, and not on things on the earth, for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Those who take up this Volume may expect to find the language of a heart thus lifted up above the world, the free and unrestrained breathing of a soul whose "conversation was in heaven;" who was "raised up, and made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."

The only thing which induces me to publish the following Letters and Papers, is the conviction that they express the sentiments, and experience, and heaven taught spirituality, of one who had made more rapid advances in the divine life, than is ordinarily found in the Church below. I thought that this candle, which the Lord had lighted, should not be hid under a bushel, but put on a candlestick, that it might give light to all that are in the house. There will be found original and strong thoughts, clothed in original and strong language: indeed the strength of the language may sometimes startle some of those who read these Letters, and may be such, that had the writer revised them for publication, she might have, perhaps, somewhat softened her expressions; but, as Editor, I did not think myself authorised, even if I had felt disposed, to do so. In truth, (whether erroneously or not,) I like those strong expressions: I would not wish to alter one of them: they bring back to my recollection, the image of the strongest mind that I ever met in any woman: they help to remind me of that which was her peculiar characteristic, uncommon masculine strength, combined with the extremest feminine gentleness: they help me to apprehend the power with which she realized those important subjects about which she wrote; and I am not without hope that, through the blessing of God, they may be made instrumental to convey the same reality to others.

Whilst I believe that all intelligent readers may derive benefit and edification from these pages, I conceive they may be especially profitable and comfortable to mourners; to those "who are afflicted or distressed in mind, body, or estate." Lady Powerscourt was one acquainted with grief. She had had severe and heavy trials; and she was thus, in a peculiar way, fitted to sympathise with all tried Christians. She was enabled "to comfort those who were in any trouble, with the comforts wherewith she herself had been comforted of God." When she knew of any of her friends being in trial, she seems to have felt herself especially drawn to write to them a "word in season". Therefore many of the Letters in the collection are addressed to mourners, and will, I trust, be found comforting and strengthening to those who are in similar circumstances.

There is one subject which occupied much of Lady Powerscourt's attention, which does not appear in the following pages, as prominent as many of her religious friends might have expected, and that is, the subject of prophecy. She was known to have very deeply considered it, to have conversed with those persons who were most remarkable for their study of it, and to have consulted the books which have been written on it; and, above all, to have read the Scriptures with much deep attention to the subject and yet, very little on prophecy appears in her correspondence. Lest any persons should think that, in making the selection, I have thrown aside Letters on the subject, I think it right to state that I have been myself surprised to find how little, upon this interesting subject, has been left among her papers. I had expected to have found much clear statement of the result of her deep consideration of prophecy; and though she should have stated that which did not agree with my views, I should have published her's, and allowed those interested in the subject to exercise their judgment thereon. I should certainly not do what some persons, whom I esteem, have done, — publish the sentiments of another, though at the time considering them erroneous, on the fundamental principles of the Gospel but I would publish the sentiments of another on the future prospects of the Church, though in those sentiments, I thought the writer was mistaken; because I consider the first subject to be vital, and that error on it is essentially dangerous. I do not so think of the other subject. I consider the whole Church of Christ to be much in the dark with regard to prophecy, and more or less in error concerning it; and that the best way to correct the error, and attain more light, is to encourage free discussion upon it. In order to reach the end, it is essential not to mistake as to the way. It is not equally essential to form correct anticipations, as to what shall be found at the end. Those who are on the way shall reach the end, and then all their mistakes concerning it shall be corrected.

I feel myself called upon to return my thanks to the correspondents of Lady Powerscourt, for the kindness and confidence with which they have entrusted me with her valuable Letters. They will see, I trust, that I have not violated their confidence. I have selected according to my best judgment; I have altered nothing, and corrected little, except when necessary to make the sense clear, which will often be indispensable in publishing from an uncorrected manuscript. I have been obliged to omit some very beautiful letters, on account of the recurrence of the same sentiments and expressions in other Letters. It appears to have been frequently the case, that some scriptural subject, with a suitable train of thought, was very deeply impressed upon Lady Powerscourt's mind; and she recurred to that subject and train of thought, in writing to her different friends, at the same time, in different places. I have generally omitted the Letters in which the sameness of thought was observable; but I have sometimes admitted a repetition, where I must otherwise have rejected a Letter, in other respects valuable, or have made omissions which might have rendered the sense less clear. I hope her correspondents will excuse me for the omissions, and the readers for the repetitions they may observe.

As my object is simply to present to the Church the sentiments of the writer, which appear to me to be likely to promote edification, I have omitted even the names of the persons to whom the Letters were addressed; and I have abstained from prefixing to this Volume any thing in the way of a memorial of the departed writer. It would be impossible to write any biographical sketch of her that is gone, without stating particulars as to those that remain, which might give them a publicity which would be distressing to their feelings. I send, then, the Letters before the public, without any recommendation except their own intrinsic worth. I publish them, not because they were written by my dear departed friend, but because, in my judgment, (not unprejudiced, I admit,) they appear to be in themselves such as ought to see the light.

I have added, at the end, a few Papers, which seem to have been her private exercises on scriptural subjects. They will show how deeply she considered, and how powerfully she reasoned, upon the word of God. It may, indeed, be said of her, that her "delight was in the law of the Lord, and in his law did she meditate day and night."

It only remains that I should commend this Volume to the blessing of Him, "without whom nothing is strong — nothing is holy". He was pleased to make the writer of these Letters a very signal monument of His grace. She bore witness to His grace in her life, and by her life; and I pray, that He may vouchsafe to allow her, "though dead, yet to speak," to the edification of His people, and to the glory of His holy name.

Powerscourt Glebe, April, 1838.

Letters.

Letter 1.

... 1821.

I am glad to hear you have a good opinion of ... I almost envy any one a strong feeling of sin, but I am sure our wise and tender Father knows best how to measure that out to us, in proportion as He sees us able to bear it; though it seems sad not to grieve at offending such a Lord. It gives me much pleasure to hope there are ... in this house seeking him, whom, I trust, I at least desire to be dearer to me than all the world. It is cheering to see even a Christian's face. I do not expect to go to ... either Wednesday or Thursday; but perhaps the less of these enjoyments we have, the more shall we long for an eternity of them, when all foolish worldly gossip, which weighs us down now, will be over for ever.

Yours, most sincerely,

T. A. HOWARD.

Letter 2.

Dear Mr ...,  I return the sermon with many thanks; I am greatly obliged to you for it, and particularly for your kindness in saying I am heartily welcome to it. I trust the Lord may bring me, and all dear to me, to the blessed state which the sermon describes that of a Christian to be. I must also thank you for your little prayer at the end of your note, you have not one in your parish who needs it more. You say you hope I sometimes offer one for you; it would be strange if it was only sometimes, but if you knew what my prayers are, you would beg to be left out. Indeed I am not satisfied on that head; for some weeks I have not been able to pray at all, and seldom to read (I mean in private), and it is more wretched than I can say. Perhaps if you are not engaged, you will be kind enough to send me a few lines to say, if you ever knew this to be the case with any of whom you had hopes, and what you think is the cause of it, for I suppose it must be my own fault. I sometimes fear the Lord's Spirit will not strive with me any longer. I hope you will excuse my troubling you about myself; but there is no peace, while the Lord hides from us the light of his countenance. It will be a happy time, when we shall have done with this body of sin.

Yours, most sincerely,

T . A. HOWARD.

Letter 3.

...I have just been reading two such sweet verses, 12th and 13th of Col. 1, and almost fearing such great things cannot be intended for such a log; however, the thought of being a partaker of that inheritance is sometimes very sweet, and I believe I may as well enjoy the thoughts of it here, even if I never do arrive at it...

Letter 4.

London, April 9th, 1823.

My dear ...,  I hope you will not think my long silence a mark of ingratitude for your goodness in writing to me so long and kind a letter, but between ... illness and ... I have had but little time to myself, and that little I know you would rather I should give to the Bible, than to you. Besides, I wished to be able to tell you that ... was quite well, which I think I can say, thank God, now. His illness has been a very trying one, and more tedious, from its having been so much on his nerves. But the Lord has only brought us in view of great misery, that we may feel more dependant on him, and the more watchful to be ready for every thing. I wish I could say this was the effect it has had on me, or that anything ever moved this cold stony heart. Indeed I have long been in despair about that, and often wished to speak to you on the subject; so much so, that I had resolved to visit you the morning before we left Powerscourt, but thinking that perhaps you would consider me troublesome and very full of self ..., and as you proposed writing, I determined I would postpone asking your advice, till I had the pleasure of hearing from you, and I think you deserve a scolding from me, for you must have remarked how much I had fallen away from the Lord, for I did not try to hide it, and you know you should have spoken to me about it. But it is only wonderful that I am not more unhappy; for I do not think I have any feeling of any sort on the subject remaining, or hardly any care whether I have part or lot in the matter. I have not felt particular harm from moving about, for I could not be worse, than I was before leaving Ireland. I had nothing to lose. I often fear my name has been blotted out from the book of life, and that the Lord is weary of entreating me to accept all the blessings of the Gospel. I know you will set about comforting me, but it is not that I want; what I feel is an apathy, and indifference, whether one of the promises belongs to me or not. Oh, If you knew the difference of my feelings from this time last year, you would think the same as I do ... I was so happy in him then, that I thought I could never be moved — the Lord, of his goodness, had made my hill so strong. I remember telling ... that, let events turn out as they might, my happiness was ensured; even if shut up for life in a dungeon, I could be nothing but happy, with the prospect of being one with my Saviour. But He hid his face from me, and I have been troubled. I find I can do without anything but Him; but having once tasted his love, everything else has lost its sweetness. I feel now that I care for nothing: not for the things of another world, and I am sure, not for the things of this. Instead of running to my Bible, as a hungry man to his food, I read it as a task. Prayer is no more my sweetest pleasure, but a duty which I feel glad to have over; and when I go to it, I have nothing to say to my Lord. The contemplation of Heaven used to be so sweet, it made everything earthly appear as nothing. Now I do not feel it would give me the least pleasure, to hear that I was to be there tomorrow. Oh, if you knew how unmoved my heart is at all the wonderful means of grace I enjoy, one beautiful sermon after another. I feel none of the delight I once used at seeing a Christian walk into the room. Instead of loving to hear them talk of the Saviour, I am at a loss for something to say; indifferent, totally so, about the souls of others ... I am in an awful state. I could tell you a great deal more, but it would be only tormenting you. I tell you this much, not expecting you to understand my case, for I do not suppose there ever was such another, but that you may not think me interested in all those things, for which I feel 60 little. I know you can do nothing for me, but this I hope you will do — strive hard for me, strive hard for me in your prayers: I owe you more than I can say, humanly speaking, and I would not write to you this way did I not feel you are the only person who feels for my soul, as I feel for it myself, for we have both to give an account of it. This I can say, you are pure from my blood. Oh! may I still be your joy and crown of rejoicing in the last day; and may all your instructions not cast me deeper into hell. At other times I think I used to look at religion too much as a pleasure, and that having lost her with whom I used to enjoy this pleasure, it has lost much of its delight ... How very full of self you will think me, but I want your advice, and your constant earnest prayers, I was sorry to hear you had such a bad cold. I hope you have recovered your voice for this week, and that you have not given up your trip to London. We have been so much shut up by Lord P.'s illness, that I have not been able to hear many good preachers on week days, but hear Mr ... regularly on Sunday. Last Sunday I went to Mr. Howell's church, whom I liked very much, though his style is rather odd. He says very strong things, lowering the creature, and exalting the Saviour...

Forgive this long letter, and believe me,

Very affectionately and gratefully,

T. A. Powerscourt.

Letter 5.

September, 1823.

Dear Mr ...,  I should have answered your kind letter before this, had I anything to tell you that could have given you any gratification. But alas! I have been as desolate within as without. My earthly husband hid from me, my heavenly one I cannot find; and Satan hard at work tempting me to say what is this black thing I have done, which makes my Father so angry with me. But oh my dear Lord, let him not rule within: quench his fiery darts: show me that I deserve far worse, even all the wrath of an offended God. But Jesus has "borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." These trials are only blessings to fill up that which is behind of his afflictions. I am also tempted to think, that I cannot be his, for I feel none of that comfort his children always feel, and I used to find in the hour of trial ... Jonah doest thou well to be angry? I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned grievously against him. Oh dear Mr ..., you do not know, what it is to lose one so dear, so very dear; I can only compare it to the tearing asunder all the strings of the heart. Then such a gloomy prospect here the rest of one's life. After watching him day and night with so much anxiety, anticipating the joy of being allowed again to be with him; all at once so unexpectedly to have my hopes dashed from me, was what I did not think for some days, I could have borne, because I forgot that as my day so should my strength be. In any other loss I have had, I never could pray for the bodily life of my friend, but in this to which no other loss can be compared, night and day, I could not help entreating the Lord to spare me the heavy blow. I really did think he meant to answer me, and hoped against hope, till the last breath left that dear body ... But I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that in very faithfulness thou hast afflicted me — I must wait to know and see why it is, till I know as I am known. That it is unspeakable love, I have no doubt, because he who has sent it is no new friend, but a tried and precious one; and when it is good for me He will allow me to see that this God is Love. But oh I tremble when I look at my rebellion, and ingratitude, throughout it all. I have had much to show me myself this last year — to dig up the mud hid under the smooth surface. How it will astonish you — astonish angels, when the book of my sins is opened, except they are so blotted out with blood as to make them illegible.

I do not suppose there could be a stronger lesson of the vanity of every thing earthly than to look at me last year and this. The prospects of happiness I seemed to set out with! And now where are they? A living monument that man in his best estate is altogether vanity — and see how my heart, without my knowing it, was on earth. I could not have thought one who professes to believe in the joys of heaven, and had tasted the realization of them by faith, could so mourn, as one without hope, could so willingly call him back again. But I shall say no more, for these complaints only grieve my God, and annoy you. But, indeed, I am at times greatly oppressed, and feel this evening as if there were a parcel of devils within tearing me different ways, and refusing me any rest. I beseech you pray for me, and write to me,

Your unalterably affectionate

And grateful friend,

T. A. Powerscourt.

Letter 6.

February 18, 1824.

... How I shall long to join you all above. I fear I need patience, and find it hard to reconcile my mind to the possibility of my living three times as long as I have lived yet. When I look back upon a few months, and remember the happiness I used to feel when I expected my dearest love and ..., to spend the evening at ... and to have a little reading, I can hardly persuade myself that I am the same person. Two now in possession of what they then, blessed be God, enjoyed by faith, and I left alone. — But I forgot — r determined never to murmur again. It needs a great stretch of faith sometimes, when the enemy comes in like a flood, to believe that God is as much at peace with me through Christ, as with those already above; that Abraham now in glory is not safer than I am. Is that presumption, do you think? What a precious name, a strong tower, into which if we run, we shall be safe. Were I left to myself I should run from it. I would not trust myself to his word, but seek to save myself from danger. But almighty love arrests me, pulls me in; and then rewards me for coming. How much in those words, "are safe," to think we are safe from every thing! No evil shall ever touch us, evil at the end, or evil on the way. All paved with love; "all things shall work together for good." I have got the promise of all others I want — "let thy widows trust in me." I once wished there was a richer, sweeter promise to widows, but I believe it requires to be brought into different circumstances, in order to feel the force of different promises. For the Lord knew that none so suited widows, as these few words. In looking round the wide world, so filled with wickedness, and seeing one has to pass through it alone, one would fear every step one took so unprotected and forlorn, only for this promise. With this "when I am weak, then I am strong." It is not like him to invite us to trust in him, and then let any evil come nigh us. If his everlasting arms are underneath, I "shall dwell in safety alone." Let there be rebellions, revolutions, persecutions, earthquakes, anything, every thing, "let thy widows trust in me," should be enough. I know my tabernacle shall be in peace. Sweet to think that the eye of the Lord is upon us, to deliver our soul from death. It seems to me, as a nurse keeps her eye upon her child lest it should destroy itself, or as a keeper keeps his eye upon his poor lunatic, "the Lord is thy keeper." Then unbelief jumps up and says, how do you know all this is for you? Then I do not know what to say, but "my Master told me so." His Spirit witnesses with my spirit. He has given me the earnest of the spirit. To those who believe he is precious, and I think he is precious to me — "a bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me." Oh that I could keep close to him; I want to be fixed on the rock. My grief is, that the waves of sin and the-world give me so many shoves off it. Will not you pray for me, for I greatly need it; and will you not write to me, and exhort me with purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord; and tell me if you think me presumptuous, or going wrong in any way. That old serpent is so cunning. Will you forgive me for speaking so much of myself, but speaking of what He can do for me, magnifies the power of his grace, more than if I was to speak of it with regard to any one else upon earth.

Yours with Christian affection,

T. A. Powerscourt.

Letter 7.

... All creation seems to be travailing to bring forth some mighty event, and poor Ireland is coming up in remembrance before God. Oh what are we, to be able to look any thing, every thing in the face, and know assuredly without a peradventure, that all is, shall, and must, work together, for our everlasting good; that had we sense, it is just what we should order for ourselves, to have fresh comfort in every fresh putting forth of his omnipotence, for this God is our God. Though even the earth should be shook to its very centre, though we might feel outwardly the curse of sin, yet no evil henceforth for ever can befall us, we shall only behold, and see from out of the cleft of the immoveable rock. From thence we may boldly challenge distress, persecution, etc. etc. our dwelling is the Most High. We may be thrown like a shuttlecock, from self to Satan, and back from Satan to self, till weary of both; but neither sin, self, or Satan, shall or can ever reach our lives, for they are hid with Christ. Because he lives we shall live also. What a happy confidence in such a world, to be able to look up, and say, my Lord and my God, and to know also the Captain of our salvation as our bosom friend. Whilst engaged in calling in his people from North, South, East and West, he does not forget those already within the fold, but comes and whispers them in the still small voice of his word; tells me, I shall never be forgotten, let his works be ever so stupendous; tells me, he cannot live in glory, and leave me behind; that the angel can no more swear, that time shall be no more, till the last of his elect shall be sealed on their foreheads, than his truth can fail. I think there is a danger in these times of the feelings being so kept alive by excitement, as to lead us to forget, that as we have received Christ, so we ought to walk in him, built up as well as rooted; stablished in the faith ...; so eager for the battle as to forget our armour. I trust you remember us, that you are often present with us in spirit, and pray without ceasing that we may stand complete in all the works of God, that he may set us as lights on a hill, by the splendour of our walk, illuminating many from the kingdom of darkness unto the kingdom of God's dear Son; that we may walk worthy of our high calling in all lowliness; that we may see in a degree with the eye of God, that we may live but for one end, that we may occupy till he come, reaching forward towards the prize, running the race set before us, looking unto Jesus; that we may have nothing to do with any pursuit or happiness ending in time; neither entangled with the cares, nor intoxicated by the fascinations of the world; and that every action of our lives may declare plainly, that our kingdom is not of this world. Pray that for us, and I will pray, that the answer may rebound into your soul...

With sincere Christian affection,

T. A. Powerscourt.

Letter 8.

January, 1826;.

I have to thank you for your other kind long letter. There is a certain drawing out of heart towards those who care enough for us, as to point out in what way we may be grieving our Lord. Your accusations, I fear, are quite just, and I hope I may have your prayers, that I may be enabled to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. I think it is in the Lord, we are told to rejoice, a joy which can be felt while sorrowing, a good cheer in tribulation. I sometimes sit in astonishment why my cup should run over with this blessing, and I have more when the heart is brought low to receive it, than when it is (which is often the case) intoxicated. own I feel sometimes cast down and desolate, but not unhappy. I have had a deep, a very deep wound; the trial has been very severe; but how should I have known him as a brother born for adversity, without it. How should I prize him as my strength, if I am not sometimes left to feel my perfect weakness. The heart is too selfish not to drop a tear sometimes, but I hope no longer a rebellious one. The wound is closed, but very little bursts it open. The marble must be allowed to melt a little, but only enough to send to that good physician, who maketh sore, and bindeth up; he woundeth, and his hands make whole. I understand these lines,

"Cry and groan beneath afflictions,

Yet to dread the thoughts of ease."

However, if it is more to his glory, that I should take pleasure in the many blessings left in this world, dreary as it may seem through the glass of affliction, "behold I am here Lord," if to be kept low — even so. May I only be able to lay this soul as helpless on the great "I AM." And I can assure you, however appearances may contradict it, I have much joy and peace in believing, find life a flux and reflux of love; Jesus is precious to me. I find his banner of love extended over Edinburgh; his promises here also, are as honey dropping from the comb. There is not one on earth I desire but him; he is all my hope and all my salvation; and I can go on with confidence, knowing he can never deny himself or say "I never knew you," for he testifies not only that he knows me, but that he loves me, by enabling me to say, "thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee."

Sometimes we appear such insignificant grasshoppers that it is hard to conceive that he can think of us and our foolish concerns; at other times one feels of such immense importance, that one wonders that Christians can live like other people, such as when we read of the burst of joy from the heavenly host, and find this the sign that their Lord whom they adore has become a despised babe, and all, because peace is brought to earth, and good will to man. Peace seems just what we want here, purchased by his blood, left as his legacy. What simplicity there seemed to be in his words after his resurrection. He seemed to enjoy the travail of his soul, when distributing his peace. May he impart largely of it to your soul, and while recommending the inexpressible treasure of his word to others, may you be enabled yourself to feed on it, by faith with thanksgiving. May he empty of his fulness into all our bosoms, and enable us by using, to show we value the privilege of drawing near to him, to tell him of fear the world cannot allay, of wants the world cannot satisfy, of blessings the world knows nothing of.

Your affectionate,

T.A. Powerscourt.

Letter 9.

... Is your happy soul still lifted up? able in His light to walk through darkness? I know the dreary waste that lies before you. How his dear, dear company is missed — how tasteless and insipid every thing appears — how you want that affection which entered into every trifle which concerned you — how you want an adviser, a protector, such a companion — one to weep when you weep — to rejoice when you rejoice. I know well what it is to lie down at night and say, where is he? — to awake in the morning and find him gone — to hear the hour strike day after day, at which you once expected his daily return home to his too happy fire-side —  and find nothing but a remembrance that embitters all the future here. Oh my poor, poor ... if I cannot feel for you who can? — who so often partook of your happiness? — sweet precious time I have been allowed to enjoy with you both, but past. However, it is well that you have another to feel for you. If I know the meaning of the word sorrow, I also know of a joy a stranger intermeddleth not with. How tenderly our compassionate Lord speaks of the widow! as a parent who feels the punishment more than the chastened child. He seems intent to fill up every gap love has been forced to make; one of His errands from heaven was to bind up the broken-hearted. He has an answer for every complaint you may ever be tempted to make. Do you say you have none now to follow, to walk with, to lean on? He will follow you and invite you to come up from the wilderness leaning on him as your beloved. Is it that you want one to be interested in all your concerns? Cast all your cares upon him, for he careth for you — a protector? Let thy widows trust in me —  an adviser? Wonderful Counsellor! Companion? I will not leave you comfortless; I will come unto you; I will never leave you, nor forsake you; I have not called you servants but friends; behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in unto him, and sup with him, and he with me. — One to weep with you? In all their affliction he was afflicted; Jesus wept. When you lie down — safe under the shadow of his wings, under the banner of His love. When you awake — still about your path and about your bed. It is worth being afflicted to become intimately acquainted, and to learn to make use of, the Chief of ten thousand — the altogether lovely — the brother born for adversity —  the friend that sticketh closer than a brother — the friend of sinners. Pray write often to your poor sister; tell me every thing that interests you; do not let the children forget me...

Letter 10.

My dear Mr ...,  Though he was a shining light by whom God was glorified, yet, I think, in him more than in others the power of God was manifested in the inner man; the mind that was in Christ was stamped on him; every disposition led captive to Jesus. But it required to live with him, and see him in every turn of life, to know how beautifully the Spirit was moulding him into the image of his Master. It appears to me, there were four graces peculiarly striking in his character, some of which you have mentioned.

First, his entire forgetfulness of self in every thing, (this was very remarkable), accompanied with a watchful attention to the wishes of others, a tenderness to their feelings, a fitting of himself into their prejudices, and, as far as he could, entering into their pursuits, so as by any means to win some.

Second, most striking trait, which I believe you have mentioned, but which those who knew him but little did not perceive, was a loathing of himself, as if he really felt sin a burden; but, at the same time, the most happy and simple confidence of his safety in Christ. It often reminded me of Isaiah 59. 19. He seemed to feel the evil heart as a flood which would overwhelm him, was not the soul continually directed to Christ crucified as to its resting place.

Third, is what you have already expressed much better than I can; such a thirst for truth upon every subject as enabled him to lay aside prejudice, and every impediment in the way, and made it visible that to reach and receive it was his object.

Fourth, we may say, the cause of his being so unlike his natural man, was his mind being kept in a continual turning to Christ, as the element in which he delighted. He was alive to spiritual subjects, should they be brought forward at any moment. Though zealously engaged in controversy with the enemies of truth; though enjoying with gratitude his social happiness; though necessarily occupied in much and different business, he was enabled to live alone, and seemed to have learned the difficult lesson of using the world without abusing it; like the needle, which may be turned from the pole by superior force, but when let loose, returns to its proper position; so with him, when the pressure of business was taken off his mind returned to his rest in God.

I fear, were I to say all I thought of him, I should draw a perfect character, for love covered all faults; and after all, the various graces of the Spirit were so blended, it is difficult to say which was most predominant. It might truly be said of him, that he adorned the doctrine of God his Saviour in all things. It is difficult, when speaking of a character so beloved, to exalt the Saviour, not the creature, to leave an impression that sin was all he could call his own; all that was lovely, the comeliness which Christ put on him.

This is a long note, but you know it is the property of women to multiply words, and express little...

Yours truly,

T. A. Powerscourt.

Letter 11.

... 1826.

... I think dear ... death was made a great blessing, which I fear has only taught me one painful lesson, that a blessing does not necessarily follow an affliction. I need not repeat, (for the Lord has already proclaimed it so loudly by sending affliction line upon line, affliction precept upon precept,) that no one needs trial more, no one needs so much of the Bible as I do, and on none do both tell so little. It requires all the energy of God to bend my will to his; and while it may be sometimes hard to be content with outward providences, it is still more hard to feel resigned to be what one is, not to wish for another's spirit, another's disposition; to be resigned to lie as a bit of clay in his hands without dictating the best way of being formed into a vessel fit for the master's use; satisfied with good as well as evil, knowing that what he has undertaken he is able to perform; hard to feel resigned to dishonour him, whom we adore, all our lives; to love His presence above every thing else put together, and yet, continually, by our own folly and neglect, lose it for trifles which we most despise; very hard to be resigned to oneself; to be ever worshipping, and placing, this Dagon in the temple of our beloved, and to be haunted by it wherever we go. I do think one chief part of our happiness hereafter will consist, in our having done with wretched self, God being all in all...

...Altered as that spot has been these last two years, I expect to find it still more so on our return. I did value more than I can utter that dear dear saint's visits; the prospect of them cheered the time of his absence; and even all unpleasantness was removed from all secular affairs by the interest and part he always took in my concerns. However, there is always but to the Christian. But now I hope to be cheered, in expecting the coming of the "altogether lovely," to be upheld by the interest, and part, he takes in all that concerns me. And if I know myself, my ambition is to live simply to His glory; to be a burning and a shining light, only that the splendour of my walk may bring glory to His name, to glorify him in spirit as well as body, which are altogether His, paid for by him. Soon we shall see him really ours; soon shall we join the company of the just made perfect, know, and perhaps be able to tell them, how every rough blast of human woe has hastened on our little bark to shore. In the mean time, may our Lord's blessing and presence, so interwoven with our comforts, rest upon you and ...

I am always a great egotist in my letters to you, because I fancy you feel an interest, at least, in the spiritual feelings of all your flock. Pray, write soon, and do not think, while you are writing, that you are losing time. I hope your throat is better. You have not the privilege of being afflicted for yourself alone, but for our consolation and salvation. My love to all who care about me.

Believe me my dear Mr ...

Yours, with true affection,

T. A. Powerscourt.

Letter 12.

Powerscourt, 1st February, 1826.

My dearest ...,  So I must write and receive no answer; that is very hard indeed; if I thought, or could think, it could possibly give one moment's comfort to an afflicted saint, I should be more than resigned; how sweet it would be to be a cup of consolation in the temple of our God. Well! if I have not that privilege, I hope to be a vessel of mercy through eternity. Yes, the poor sinner would not, if he could, be saved any way but as he is. Our proud nature at first rebels against being objects of pity, we should prefer having salvation as those who had no need, rich and increased with goods; but when forced to throw down our arms of rebellion, and come as beggars, wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked, then we feel it is such a blessedness to be objects of pity to a God full of compassion, that we glory in our infirmities, because they bring us in contact with Him for every thing, food, clothing, etc. The greater our necessities the more we have to do with Him. How well you must know Him! How often he has strengthened you upon the bed of languishing! How he has made all your bed in your sickness! How often he has enabled you to carry your weak soul in the arms of faith, and lay it down on this resting place; His precious word, a bed of consolation stuffed with sweet and precious promises. I think the believer even while in the furnace, at the moment of experiencing that his trials are not joyous but grievous, feels so convinced He is doing all things well, that he would not have it otherwise, had he his choice; and such a desire has the new man to be made partaker of his holiness, to enjoy the peaceable fruits of righteousness, which these exercises produce, that he turns, and kisses the rod, saying Amen, deal with me as with a child. The poor world may have a reprieve here from suffering, but the child of God may not, would not if he might. Happy confidence, He will not lay on us one unneedful stroke, for as a father pitieth his children, etc. Happy confidence, he will not keep back one needful stroke, for he scourgeth them whom he loves, that he may receive them, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. Is it not strange that the moment he is acting most the part of a parent, is just the moment we are most apt to forget we are his children; he tells us, we forget the exhortation that speaks to us as unto sons. It is pleasant, as he takes these precious relationships on himself, to take his at his word, and plead them before him; sweet to look up and say, Abba, Father; to leave all temporal concerns in his hands, because "our heavenly father knows we have need of them;" reminding him it is a father's part to provide for the want of his little ones. When we come to make known our spiritual wants, to remind him it is a father's feeling, to be willing to give all within his means; and, even, when we sin against him, depart, backslide, return base ingratitude for love, out of this depth, to whom shall we naturally look, but to our parent? As the prodigal, when confessing he was not worthy to be called his child, begins his sentence with "father." No, nothing can change this relationship. "Though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not, thou, O! Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; thy name is from everlasting." He will spare as a man spares his own son that serveth him; even though forced to speak against his dear son, his pleasant child, He earnestly remembered him still — his bowels were troubled for him; he could not help having mercy; and he will lead us also; cause us to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein we shall not stumble — for he is a father to Israel; he will put on us the best robe in his wardrobe — the righteousness of Christ; he will give his greatest gift as a token of his love — his holy Spirit; he will cause us to be shod with the gospel of peace; when tempted to doubt his faithfulness, he points to David's feeling when crying out, O! Absalom my son, my son, would to God I had died in thy place; and appeals to our hearts, if David could have afflicted Absalom willingly; he points to what his servant Moses has left on record is to be expected from that parent, (Num. 11. 12.) that he should carry his sucking child in his bosom, and reminds us, by taking that relationship on him self, he has bound himself thus to act, and he will carry us in his bosom to the land of promise, and we shall not halt till He is wearied, nor fall till He stumbles; none shall pluck us out of his hands, till the arm of Omnipotence fails from weakness; no lion shall overtake, no enemy overcome, while the -everlasting arms are underneath, and the banner or love above. This is your portion and mine, dear fellow pilgrim. "Lord what is man that thou shouldst magnify him, that thou shouldst set thine heart upon him — that thou shouldst visit him every morning, and try him every moment;" and this to such as we, who require a fresh exercise of mercy every moment to keep us out of hell; yet, even here, to know while feeling a weight of sin pointing to the very heavens, that there is a heap of mercy reaching into the heavens, "built up for ever;" that neither past sin shall condemn, for his mercy is from everlasting; neither shall future, because his mercy is to everlasting, they have all been laid on him — carried off into the land of forgetfulness, never to be laid on us again, until east meets with west. Under the old dispensation, remembrance was made of sin every year, because, and to show, that the blood of bulls and of goats could never take away sin; but now, the very declaration so often repeated, that sin shall be remembered no more, proves the blood of Christ sufficient to cleanse from ALL sin. May we every day dive deeper into this unfathomable love, every day increase in the knowledge of this love that passeth knowledge, till filled with the fulness of God, moulded into the mind that was in Christ Jesus; and when he shall open his casket and display his treasures, may we, and all dear Christian friends, whom I long to see again in the flesh, be found among those who spake often one to another of his dear name, who thought upon it.

If such the views which grace unfolds,

Weak as it is below,

What rapture must the Church above

In Jesus' presence know!

when time shall be no more — the bustle past. By the by, what insignificant names our God uses when speaking of this life: — grass, flower, dust, wind, shadow, a leaf going to and fro a weaver's shuttle;... Scatter my good wishes around, particularly to ...

Believe me dear ...

Very affectionately yours,

T. A. Powerscourt.

Letter 13.

12th May 1826, Antrim Castle.

My dear friend — I put off writing till I should arrive at Powerscourt, expecting then to get a frank as my letters are not worth postage, but I can refrain no longer, thanking you and your dear sisters for your very great kindness to my children, etc. It was doubly gratifying, because any kindness shown to me, must be for my Master's sake. How manifestly His only aim is our happiness — witness, "this is my commandment, that ye love one another." We may well, then, trust it in his hands, who spared not His own Son. May we not lie like the helpless sheep on the shepherd's shoulder, content for him to carry through prosperity as well as adversity; through life, as well as death? Not only is our path already marked out by infinite wisdom and love, but has been trodden by the man of sorrow; be it ever so rugged, we still have the sweet comfort of tracing in it the footsteps of the Captain of our Salvation; every need-be pang, then, is but an echo from the inner sanctuary — "If ye suffer with Him ye shall be glorified together;" and as he entered the everlasting gates, triumphantly crying, "He is near that justifieth me, who shall contend with me?" So may his poor weak followers walk, saying, "who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?" No one I think, who reads the Bible, can hesitate whether or not, it was written by one who knowing every distress, into which every believer from the beginning to the end would ever be brought, could provide a word in season for each, or whether or not, the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in that man, who, inviting all who labour and are heavy laden to come to him, could promise rest to their souls. And do we not need every consolation laid up, word upon word, promise upon promise. In order that our comfort may abound, He has so graciously left us dependant one upon another, and provided so many relations calculated to support on our way to him, and, yet, as if to show they all concentrated in one, he takes to himself the name of each. I love to think of him as a Father, for it is written, "What son is he whom the Father chasteneth not." And the heart feels assured that his tenderness will neither spare too much, nor will our rebellion prompt him to say, "Let it alone." While the compassion manifested in the very chastisement proves, as words cannot, that he does not afflict willingly, but as a father pitieth his children so he pities us; yet, to think with all this, that I should ever murmur! I who may well say, his love to me is a wonder to myself; and this too, while having tasted of his trial, I can, in a degree, sympathise with him, for I do think, he is never more wounded in the house of his friends than when they murmur. Nothing seems so to overcome his forbearance with the Israelites. O! then, dear ... may we be able to say under every circumstance to the full extent of the words, "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want," resigned to live, or resigned to die, resigned to prosperity, or resigned to adversity, only, "Father glorify thy name."

To live is Christ! am I resigned to live

When Christ is with me, holds me by the hand,

Follows my footsteps, watches by my bed,

Bids the warm tear of grateful exultation,

Washing the stain the tear of sorrow leaves,

And makes some evil seem so like to good

I scarce can call it by another name.

I hope I am resigned the harder task to bear-

The plague of a rebellious heart,

To bear to wrong the Being I adore,

To love Him and yet forget Him, to desire

His Presence, more than all the things of earth,

And yet neglect and lose it for their sakes,

To seek for holiness and find but sin,

To war against myself and long to be-

Yet feel I am not-what my Maker is.

To die is gain! am I resigned to die?

IT IS NOT SO; that cannot be the word,

That speaks the Christian's feelings when she hears

The distant sound of her Redeemer's foot

Hasting to fetch her to her Father's throne;

When the first beam from heaven's unclosing gate

Falls on her path, to light her to her home,

And angel's voices vibrate on her ear

Preparing songs to greet her welcome there.

Could you see the heart turned inside out as God sees, you would join in exclaiming unworthy, unworthy; may it be written as of Ephraim of old, "his iniquity is bound up, his sin is hid." I trust my visit to Edinburgh has given me a spur in hasting unto the coming of our Lord. I do not feel friendship the same as I once did. I used to feel my pleasures here were increased. Now I feel my tale is told, and ties of friendship are drawing towards an hereafter, while we are only left in Satan's kingdom, for the Lord to finish his work in us and by us. For this end it seems to me, we should watch, the old serpent's aim to resist, and Christ's to further; the aim of the former seems to he to drive closer and closer to self, and even when his hopes are frustrated of getting the believer to fall down and worship this idol, he strives with it to muddle his comfort. Does not the aim of our dear Lord seem to be to give strong consolation to those who have fled for refuge to the hope set before them? Let us then further this end, not only by opening our mouths wide for ourselves, but by declaring on the house-top what is whispered in our ear in the closet, and by testifying to our poor fellow pilgrims, that in our experience we have found, "faithful is he that hath promised."

Some of my friends accuse me of writing very uncomfortable letters; but I say, if you want to hear of me, you will find my future life folded up in that verse, "all shall work together for good," and only let me speak of my beloved. But this I must say, although I have quarrelled with evidences, one is now staring me in the face, in the love I feel towards you, dear ... it is such as a stranger intermeddleth not with.

Yours, dear friend, with cordial affection,

T. A. P.

Letter 14.

Glenart, October 1827.

My very dear sister in the Lord — Is it not true that we are very often a wonder to ourselves, think of my having a friend in the world. that I believe would not think a letter from me troublesome, yet that I can be one or two months, only intending to write, even though by doing so I might hope for a letter in return! I trust you open that door for many, into which if any enter, they are saved. I hope you are able to go in and out yourself, finding rich pasture. O! that our hearts were always bubbling up, boiling with this matter, like wine which hath no vent, ready to burst its bottles, constrained to speak about our King. O! that He so dwelt in our hearts by faith, that out of their abundance, our speech might be as spikenard sending forth its pleasant smell, ointment pouring forth his name, that this good treasure, this mine of wealth might be continually emptying itself in consolations into our own bosoms, and enriching all around. But who is this King! that we should leave all other subjects to speak of him? the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in our battles, the Lord of Hosts, the King of glory. — My Lord, who sits at the Lord's right hand, till every evil in my heart shall become his footstool. — The King, who in spite of the heathen raging, the kings of the earth standing up, the rulers taking counsel against him, shall be set on the holy hill of Sion. — A King who has come to his people in a chariot paved with love. — A King with many crowns, the most radiant, the most becoming of which, is the one he received in the day of his espousals, Cant. 3.2. — A King whose greatest glory is his bride, that he has overcome and new created the sinner, betrothed and united himself to such for ever. — A king who in the day of the gladness of his heart shall stretch forth his hand to you and me, and say in presence of men, angels and devils, "come ye blessed of my Father," etc. — A king who has himself prepared the kingdom, who by the love tokens he distils on us day after day, viz. by his dispensations, and his consolations, proves he has considered our frame, knows what will satisfy, even to enter into the joy of our Lord, who having prepared a kingdom that will satisfy!!! is now preparing us for it. — A king who has enriched his church by his poverty, nourished it by his riches; in a word, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Say, dear friend, have we not volumes to unfold respecting this king; why then so often do we spend our time, while in company with our fathers' children, talking on subjects we despise and consider trifles; is it not because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks? Alas! how grievously have I to accuse myself on this point; m nothing do I feel so dependant, and when I do speak, how many double triple motives; how often seeking self instead of Jesus, proved by silence before those who dislike it; how often ashamed of him, how often irritated when opposed; how often playing with the subject; how little feeling what I speak; how humbling; how astonished you would be, did you know me; all the love of angels and saints put together, could not have patience with me. . He alone could silent stand, and wait to show his love. Surely it is no hard demand is required only to be loving subjects, and how gracious where he demands this; He does not call on us to love an unknown friend, but with his own pencil has drawn for us the object to be loved. Two questions are natural when called to give our affections. 1st. What sort of person is he? 2nd. What is his mind towards me? Let us hear what answer God has given. What sort of person? "chiefest among ten thousand," "fairer than the children of men," "altogether lovely," "as the apple tree among the trees of the wood," not only "the first born of every creature" but "the image of the invisible God, the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person," even God himself, who made and upholds all things in heaven and earth. What does Peter say, when he was the witness of his majesty? What does John, when he saw him standing in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks? Every knee bows to his name, every tongue shall confess him Lord, for He is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, this is our King. But what is his mind towards us? "full of grace and truth;" out of his fulness ever emptying grace upon grace. His words to us are powerful, to overcome by love, a sharp two edged sword, yet as the sound of many waters, "most sweet" , as lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh; "never man spake as he spake," gave his enemies testimony; for they "wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth." This is your beloved, and friend, as well as king, who has grace poured into his lips on purpose to speak a word in season to the weary; blessed weariness which brings a word from him; sweet to have our beloved, our king; comfortable to be able to say, my Jesus reigns; with what confidence we may lay ourselves back in his arms, and say "undertake for me;" blessed to be one with him whom God has blessed for ever; blessed to have our salvation and his glory bound up in the same bundle. Blessed to know he has gone through every class in our wilderness-school. Are you satisfied with this King? for he is your King for ever and ever, may our repose in him answer the question. Are you contented to have him, and leaving all others to cleave only to him? for this beloved is yours, and you are his; may the devotedness of our affections, lives, and words, answer, "Lord thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee." And O may we be kept from acting as one who is ashamed of his choice.

"Rather may this our glory be,

That Saviour not ashamed of me."

My eyes are not at all better, though at times more comfortable; the last fortnight I have suffered much with them, and a lump has appeared upon the good eye, but I trust it may go away again without making me quite blind; at all events I have a light that shines in darkness, that nothing can take from me; in his light shall I see light, even see him who is invisible.

Believe me, my very dear friend, now and ever your warmly affectionate sister in everlasting bonds,

T. A. P.

Letter 15.

Powerscourt, 26th July, 1828.

My very dear friend — I do not know where you are, but I think you must imagine, I have bade an eternal farewell to everything below, so long have I been answering your letters; but there is one you may write to, who will be sure to answer immediately. Our life should be, I conceive, a continual interchange of care for peace. I saw some of your friends in London; we hoped to see ... but it seems to have been a false report that she was coming to London. Oh! reality, reality, how immense all before us, yet how we shrink from apprehended evil, though we know Him too well to take one single want out of his hand. His will, nothing but his will... We have a wonderful advertisement of a physician, from the Spirit of truth, "who healeth all thy diseases;" we who know something of the plague of a human heart, can understand in a measure how great the undertaking. He says himself "come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He must have foreseen every weight his people ever should be burdened with, when he undertakes to give rest to all, and truly he does, for he himself carried all our sicknesses. Can he heal hearts wounded with guilt and care? wounded with rebellious murmuring at his dispensations, and coveting what he has withheld, delighting in broken cisterns, as though they were the fountain of living waters? Can he heal hearts of wandering and distracted maniacs; maniacs ever engaged in taking poison? Can He heal the bruises of our falls, the dislocations of our backslidings, wounds corrupt through foolishness? It is written, "who healeth all thy diseases;" it made little difference in the days of his flesh, what the disease was, that was brought to him, palsied, maimed, blind, deaf, possessed, dying, dead. Then let us come in the simplicity of sickness, in the helplessness of want; to trust is to be healed, to touch the hem of his garment is to be whole; but let us keep touching him, for virtue is ever coming from him; he waits to apply all the virtues of heaven's dispensary to our case whatever it be; he is master of that disease, we have all his promise, all his skill, all his power, all his love; his skill is infinite, his compassion boundless; though ascended to heaven, he has left his heart on earth; he gives US all his attention, as if there was none else to think of on earth. He requires but one thing, to take all he has prescribed, BITTER as well as SWEET. Dear ... let us put a blank into his hand for time, and for every thing, confident that with him he has freely given us all things. Is there one thing we would keep back? Let that be just the thing to commit with most anxiety; we need the substance of things hoped for, to be put in the scale of judgment and conscience, against the things of time; then as surely as substance outweighs shadow, so surely must we judge of things accurately, till all our sorrows shall be left behind; and from the Jerusalem above, we shall be able to trace his hand leading us by ways we knew not, to the manifesting and magnifying of his faithfulness and grace. Then shall we see how contemptible were all our fears, when omniscience which foresaw, omnipresence that prevented, and omnipotence that laughed them to scorn, were on our side. Let us get well acquainted with our physician; let us take lodgings in his neighbourhood; let us see him every day; let us hide nothing, but open to him our whole case, and say as David when under his care, "let me hear what God the Lord will say to me;" and let us venture on his testimony, who declares him to be our peace, for "he forgiveth all our sins, and healeth all our diseases." Mr. Howels said one day, speaking of this beloved physician, where was Jesus educated? where did he graduate? He was educated in the Lazar-house of human suffering, and he took his degree in the infirmary of the human heart — whenever he visits a patient He says, this sickness is not unto death; He is not only the physician, but he is also the medicine of the soul. History tells us of a queen who, when her husband was wounded by a poisoned arrow, extracted the venom with her own lips, at the risk of her life. Our physician has done more — He has extracted the poison of sin, which the bite of the serpent infused into our constitution, at the expense of his life. He has carried all his human sympathies into heaven, and He never ceases to exercise them; we can sometimes look back upon a scene of suffering, or of trial which was exquisitely painful at the time, but there was no diminution of sympathy in the breast of our physician. The trial was appointed or permitted in Love; and we shall soon see that it formed part of a merciful design which was superintended and tempered by the physician himself. Dear ... how well you know him, since he is just suited to our need. Have we not cause to glory in our need then? nor can I wish anything for you, but that you should be exactly in the state this letter shall find you, for "he performeth that which is appointed" for you. He who appointed life and glory to be the end, has also appointed this condition, that affliction, for the way. He has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his Son, that He may have the pre-eminence in all things; therefore "He makes all things work together for our good, for He is of one mind, and who shall turn him? What his soul desires, that He does, therefore we know we shall be like him when He shall appear. If you are in darkness, light is sown for you; you are still on the way to perfection, learning not to make idols of your feelings, treading in his steps, who was made perfect by suffering, and who never travelled with such velocity to perfection, as when He cried out "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me." I long to hear from you again; tell me what you think of dear ...

Believe me, my very dear friend,

Truly affectionately yours,

T. A. P.

Letter 16.

Glenart, 1827.

My dear Mrs ...,  I have many apologies to make for having so long neglected answering your inquiries, but thought should I defer it until my arrival here, I might be able to have a comfortable few moments' intercourse with you on paper; not but that I might at ... but those who are cumbered about much serving, or fancy they have much to serve in, are especially cumbered when leaving home for a few days. Blessed to have our thoughts and joys not only "packed up," but gone before. Well to have all our riches in moveable goods, that like the present Jews, we may be ready to be off to Jerusalem at a moment's warning. I cannot answer your question till I talk to you a little about our dear, dear, friend. Stop! are we sure He is our friend? yes, for he is the friend of sinners. His name is the refuge of the oppressed — the helper of the needy, no particular need specified, for be it what it may, He has a help, even himself. In the world, tribulation, (oh how deep a word,) in me, peace. No oppression too trifling, no need too great, He who is our refuge, knows our frame; He knows the disorder of every little nerve, can cause even a voice or a step to be an oppression — so foolish the oppression, as hardly to allow it to ourselves, yet may we run from it, and hide ourselves in him, a refuge even from ourselves. What can be our need when our help is the God of Jacob, a covenant God, who keepeth truth for ever; when our hope is in him who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them? How beautiful the 146th Psalm, where we see, His greatness consists in being just fitted for the oppressed, the hungry, the prisoner, the blind, the bowed down, the stranger, the fatherless, yes, and the widow. You ask me if I have read Romaine on Canticles? No, never! but the Spirit has, I think, expounded to me some of the verses when doing his office as Comforter, and I sometimes think none can so enter into the emphasis of feeling expressed in that book, as the widow, for none so know the preciousness of any blessing, as those who have lost it — how much more that blessing, without which even paradise was not complete; and if when all was peace, and joy, and love, man needed one to bear his part in bliss, Oh! how much more when care and sorrow fill our hearts with anguish and our eyes with tears. Who can so value that everlasting is, and am, as one who is every turn forced to remember, my beloved was mine, and I was his; yet happy helplessness, blessed difficulties, which bring to our assistance such a helper. There is hardly, I believe, a name implying poverty and want in the creature, and strength for this poverty in himself, that he does not take — father, brother, friend, prophet, priest, king, physician, help, health, refiner, light, life, counsellor, guide, anchor, sanctuary, all in all, our portion for ever — but the most wonderful endearing and sufficient, is this, the husband of his church, or rather the bridegroom, (his name in this sacred song) for the marriage supper of the Lamb is not yet come, the bride not being yet ready. Speaking lately to ... of those verses you mention, this verse seemed to me particularly sweet. "Who, is this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved?" True, the church is in the wilderness, but it is only for an appointed time; her place has been prepared of her God; she is fed, she is not forgotten, she is on her way up, and she has a strong support. (Rev. 12. 6.) Her very situation makes her feel protection, support, and consolation needful, but it is in order that she may trust for all in her beloved, and in doing so, find perfect peace; for "in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength;" her very helplessness forces her to prove his faithfulness, power, and tender watchfulness. The stronger she leans, the more she knows of Him in whom she has believed, and if her sense of infirmities had not obliged her to have recourse to foreign strength, never could she have learned to say, "most gladly will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me". "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in necessities, etc., for when I am weak, then am I strong." But while every thing around is saying, "arise, this is not thy rest," how marvellous that we need afflictive line upon line, precept upon precept, to remind us we are in the wilderness, so heavily we go to reach eternal joys. Oh, how dull we are in learning difficult dependant lessons! how many rebukes, chastisements, reproachful looks, we learn from our patient Master, before we can be persuaded to accept of happiness in leaning on him! Surely, the malignity of sin is no where so visible as in the bosom of the child of God. Satan sins not in spite of light, love, and knowledge — redeeming love. It is truly humbling, that nothing less than God can make us understand what is plain, desire what is good, avoid what is evil; how much more so is it, that at the very moment our judgment tells us, there is but one path of pleasantness and peace, at the moment conscience is convincing us how grievous and bitter a thing it is to depart from our God, when past experience with an enlightened understanding unite in exclaiming, "To whom shall we go, thou hast the words of eternal life; even at that very moment, nothing less than an Almighty spirit can make us will, not to forsake the fountain of living water which we have tasted, and to hew out with labour, to our misery, cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water. Oh! let us beware of our first neglect of our Lord. Our beloved can bear any thing better than neglect. Let us with John, lean on the bosom of Jesus; there learn love, as he learned it. Thus shall the mind be in us that was in Christ; for love is the fulfilling of the law. I did hear something lately unbecoming a Christian, of ... and in dwelling on it, I hope to benefit myself; for it is a point, alas, I particularly fail in, as, no doubt, you have observed. I mean, speaking severely of God's children, forgetting that he that toucheth them toucheth the apple of his eye; that words aimed at them, pierce him; that all is laid at the charge of that cause for which we profess to live, and to be willing to die. I think we should be very sure of an action, before we speak of it, which we do not consider commendable, and not then unless for good...

Letter 17.

October 23, 1827.

... Often, often has Satan stopped my way, not only by the idea that those I spoke to might think I practised what I said, but because I found hid in some chamber of imagery a desire that they should think so; but at last I found out the idea came out of Satan's opiate box. Some lessons we do not learn till after long experience, such as these: — First, we are not to do evil that good may come. Second, when sin lies heavy on our conscience, we are to force ourselves into the presence of God — not skulk from him, etc. Third, we are not to flee from Satan, but resist, in order that he may flee from us; blessed to be under the Lord's teaching, to be trained up by him in the way we should go, to have Jesus representing God to us, representing us to God, to have Jesus interceding for the sinner with God, to have the Spirit interceding for God with the sinner. Blest to be rising in his school, though every class presents a more difficult lesson. Blessed to have a waste heart, to feel it a wilderness, a desert fitted to receive and rejoice in such promises as this, (true with regard to us though stolen from Jews,) "The Lord shall comfort thee; he shall comfort all thy waste places; he will make thy wilderness like Eden, thy desert as the garden of the Lord," "Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody."...

Letter 18.

May 30, 1828.

... In what a ruinous heap is all God's work, once declared to be very good; from the top, to the bottom of creation, from the lion, to the spider, each carrying on the history of Cain and Abel; man most like Satan of all, for instance, slaves. And shall it be always so? Shall this be Messiah's conquest? that his saints are to take flight and leave his handy work to be destroyed? What a triumph to Satan to sweep away in his destruction that lovely work of six days, on which Jehovah looked with delight, over which "Wisdom" rejoiced and delighted — the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy! No! let creation groan and wait a little longer for the redemption of the body; for then shall the purchased possession be redeemed, then shall be the restitution of all things. Then shall the sons of God, whose sonship is now questioned, be declared to be the sons of God with power, by the resurrection of the dead even as their elder brother before them. Now, their life is hid with Christ in God; but when he shall appear, they shall appear with him and like him in glory — our life shall be manifested. "Then shall the earth bring forth her increase, and God, even our God, shall bless Israel, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God!" Mark the adoptions spoken of in Scripture: — National, which, though it does not secure salvation, brings into particular relationship and consequently, subjects to greater judgments. Personal adopt-ion, which does secure it, that spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba, Father, and if children, heirs, etc. And third, manifested adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body, (Rom. 8.) But I had better stop, as there is neither beginning nor end to the subject. I will only add, "Time is short;" other nations may have other opportunities; but Ireland, having received national adoption now, now is the time to cry aloud, "come out of her (Babylon,) come out of her, come out of her, my people," and may the testimony be borne of us which was said of a great sinner greatly pardoned, "She hath done what she could." It is said, "as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are sons of God;" then, since we are sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, we are led by the Spirit. What a gift is this Spirit! The Comforter, which shall abide with us for ever. Not only shall He teach us things freely given us of God, but He shall seal us his — an earnest of our inheritance — will not suffer sin to have dominion over us; shall dwell in us as a well of water springing up into everlasting life — upwards, in love, joy, peace; overflowing, scattering round, in long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance; what better confidence can we have that we are his, than having been delivered from the spirit of bondage, and given the spirit of adoption; his Father our Father; his God our God — doubly dear? And though He leads us in the midst of the paths of judgment, yet, while teaching us to profit, He shall prove to us, He is leading to the land of uprightness in the right way. And after all, the sum of happiness we find, even in the new Jerusalem, is this, "I will be his God and He shall be my son." Let us, dear friend, among those we live, every day, hour, moment, walk as children of light. Oh, what difficult preaching is this! Let us drink in largely every morning of the unction of the Spirit, which the busy bee (not the wasp) knows how to sip from the garden of the Lord; that through the day we may breathe out the atmosphere of heaven all around; we have a right to wear a sweeter smile than even angels wore; and since suffering displays the riches of our inheritance, may we not bless him, if our lot should be among the exercised in soul...

Letter 19.

25th May, 1828.

... There is only one enemy we cannot escape, though our whole lives should be a running from it — monster self: I am quite weary of this heart — Satan's workshop — always going on hammer, hammer, hammer, stealing every grace given, to manufacture into some adornment for the idol self. It reminds me of Newton's description of an oratorio. Oh! what will it be to have an innocent satisfaction in ourselves! Yet, let us not shrink from, but penetrate every nook and corner of our hearts with the eye of Jesus, while, at the same time, we view him, let us learn the meaning of words out of God's spelling-book; we so blunder over our lessons, taking sorrow for joy, joy for sorrow, happiness for misery, misery for happiness, expecting beauty and perfection, where He has left us only for discipline — we hardly get above ground. It is under-ground-work here, our roots taking a firm grasp of the rock of ages, in order to our springing up and flourishing in the courts of the house of our God. I think the most humbling description of human nature is being "haters of God;" and his word says, If haters of God — lovers of death — we hate excellence, because, it is excellence, and we hate him in his creatures, be they ever so accommodating or prudent." They hated him, for what cause? Because He delivered them who were his enemies; because he went about doing good; because He offered life to whoever would; and, how careful his apostle Paul was, that when hated, it should be without cause. Freely He received, freely gave. How desirable, could the world have no just point on which to fix their enmity against Christ in us; if we so unfolded the mind that was in Christ, as, at least, to do the part of the law, bring them in guilty; if we were fleshly tables, living epistles. What a proof of the divinity of Christ, that he gives testimony of himself being the Son of God, for surely, He was a righteous man; none but himself could have gone through life, pursued by every different class, trying each to catch him in something; yet, all forced to confess at the end, they could find no fault in him. And have we not miracles, also, to confirm the witness? You and I now speaking with delight about our once hated Lord! — greater miracle than, "Lazarus come forth!" I have also been thinking what a proof' of the divinity of Scripture it is, that we find an answer provided for every error, a consolation for every wound, especially in the book of Psalms, that gospel in prophecy; it seems to me as if God had provided a text for every experience his church ever should want, took them, and as it were, shook them together in a bag, and left them there to be drawn out, that each might fit himself; for instance, that verse so consoling to so many: (Ps. 27. 10,) "When father and mother forsake me, then the Lord taketh me up;" coming in unconnected with any thing before or after. I have much more to say, but as I dare not wait any longer, I must conclude; I shall tell you all by and by — a joyful wondrous story, such as angels love to hear — as beautiful a similarity, yet diversity, in the spirits, as in the bodies of each — all singing the same song, yet, each having a page of his own, to fill up the volume of faithfulness. My answer to your question about prayer will be found in the following texts: (John, 14. 13. Matt. 28. 18. 2 Cor. 12. 8, with the 9th verse,) "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son." "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." "For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me." "And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee." I give you two questions in return. How shall the Christian get the little good from another Christian, that is in him, without imbibing of the much evil? And how far should the Christian fit himself into the prejudices of the ungodly, without letting them lose sight of his being one of a separate and peculiar people?...

Letter 20.

July, 1828.

... I was truly rejoiced to hear of the Lord's goodness to you. I cannot only thank him for displaying himself faithful, but, that it has been shown in faithfulness to you. You say nothing of your little gift from the Lord. Those two texts go well together: "She remembers no more her anguish for joy," etc. and, "forget not all his benefits." It is written of all creation, that it is travailing in pain, and soon shall it be said of it, "She remembers no more the anguish for joy, that a man is born into the world." His dealings here are but displays of his riches of glory on his vessels of mercy, afore prepared for glory. Let us be on our guard against this snare of Satan's, seeking to know more than others, but may every truth, as revealed, sink deep! The grace I have been praying for of late has been patience, for I think it a grace much wanting in the church, for its want can be as much from indifference, as from too ardent a longing for the appearance of Christ —  patience expressing repressed longing. It seems to me to be a grace made up of two — hope and experience — realizing hope, repressed by experience of wilderness love. It was worth parting with, all for, and truly, it marks how unworthy present suffering is to be compared with future glory; when even it is light compared to the heaven it yields here; (yes, I can even say so now, though brought through a furnace, in the flames of which it would be impossible to feel it, even the furnace of another's affliction; and that another — the beloved of my heart.) It is comparatively easy to believe, that it is worth parting with all, to have the soul translated from darkness into light; but, faith often fails in making us feel that it is worth parting with all for the loosing of bonds, with which, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we are too often, though children yet, bound; and why is this? Because of the selfishness of our religion. It consists in high ideas of our own safety, instead of God's glory; and never can we run in the ways of his commandments until our hearts have been set at liberty. What a promise we are given with which to face the world: "All things shall work together for our good" — a promise not to be trampled under foot. Many things in themselves would be evil, but, I think, his watchfulness is seen, in so making his providences to meet, as to burst in blessings on our head, and like his other works, one means works many ends; one providence does not bring one blessing, but a string — tribulation, patience; patience, experience; experience, hope, etc. Yes, and so exactly does it fit the case of the believer, that one trial shall as much suit the particular need of all concerned, as if sent alone for each. Oh! the Christian is a wonderful creature — impossible to sink him! The deeper he is plunged, the higher he rises. Do pray for me, that I may be given the grace of patience. How often the apostle Paul makes mention of this grace! In praying for the church, it was, that they should be directed "into the love of God and the patient waiting for Christ." In giving thanks, it was for their "patience of hope," as well as "work of faith" and "labour of love;" while he speaks of it as the fruit of their being strengthened with all might by his Spirit. If the furnace of affliction so made the first believers need exhortation to patience, how much more should the church now need it, when she is thrown into the furnace of prosperity. It strikes me, it is often before sending tribulation, that a spirit of search into prophecy is poured out, that the church may not only be found on the tip-toe of expectation, when the arm of the Lord shall be stretched out, as if no strange thing had happened to her, but also, in the attitude of hope; it being, when we hope for that we see not, we can most patiently wait; and in this the mercy of the Lord, I think, is often manifested to individuals, as well as to his body the church. Before sending a trial, He makes the need of it to be so felt, that the believer even desires, what, at the time, is most grievous and dreaded — so much is desire of conformity to the Lord and his inward presence above every other desire. Let us not, then, forget to take for our helmet the hope of salvation; we need it, though children of light we need to be driven to the light; so heavily do we go to reach eternal joys, so continually are we manifesting our molish natures, preferring to grub into our own hearts, and hide ourselves in the dark, instead of running in his steps, who was also sustained in his race by patient hope; "For the joy set before him." We learn the secret of being able to run, in the kind exhortation to lay aside every weight on him who is at our right hand, that having our eyes lifted up from every thing that can distract, our feet disentangled from all that besets, our eyes may be steadily fixed, while running through the vista of time, on the light at the end — every care giving us a shove, till our whole weight is proving the immutability of our firm anchor. The poor world thinks we are imposing much on ourselves in giving up the pleasures of sin. But, oh! how easy the Christian finds this in comparison to walking on the good of life, counting it dross, that the affections may more tightly grasp Him, who alone can satisfy the longing soul, and fill the hungry soul with goodness... You may well say she writes seldom, but when she does, she sends a volume. Well, I will leave you with this precious text, Ye are not your own; we have no right to ourselves! He is the best judge how we can best serve him to his advantage; our highest excellency is subserviency to him; our highest pleasure, serving him, though, in so doing, we are wasting ourselves...

Letter 21.

Dec. 28, 1828

... I think there is much spoken of, in Scripture, of God's riches, as if too much for God to contain within himself; comprised in him it cannot be witnessed; therefore has He set us apart, has "before ordained us," from the beginning chosen us, "prepared us," "even us," as vessels of mercy, in which to show forth the riches of his grace, in the riches of his mercy now, and the riches of his glory hereafter. Sweet thought! our being now vessels of mercy, (because of the great love wherewith He loved us,) evidences that He has set us apart, to display in us the riches of his glory! by nature fitted to destruction, vessels of wrath, but having emptied all this on the head of our Jesus, He has now put Jesus at the bottom of the vessel, therefore, we run over with loving kindness and tender mercies. How the thought, that this is God's end should keep from doubts; the more He gives, the more grace now abounds over sin; the more shall be seen his riches in glory! has He not abounded towards us? predestinated — accepted — called — justified — in him glorified — sins all forgiven — quickened — strengthened — begotten again to a lively hope of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away — made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light — our portion, Christ within us — all things working for good — our enemies defied by omnipotence — our shield interposing himself between the redeemed soul and the destroyer — (Exodus 12. 23.) The Lord will pass over the door, and Jehovah the deliverer, will not suffer Jehovah the destroyer to come into your houses to destroy you. Leaping forward to deliver, "as the mother birds hovering over their young, so shall Jehovah, God of Hosts, protect Jerusalem, protecting and delivering; leaping forward and rescuing her" (Louth's translation of Isaiah, 31 . 5 . ) — spreading over his cherubic wings, or wings of covenant love, a fourfold presence of the most excellent animals, (Ezek. 10.) — the ox, first of tame beasts; man, first of creation; the lion, first of wild beasts, and the eagle, first of birds, uniting in one body and spreading their wings, on both sides. This is expressly said to be a representation of the God of Israel. They guided the wheels of providence by infinite wisdom; for their whole body, their backs, their heads, their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about; this, says the prophet, is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar. Of this vision we have a description in the 1st chapter, and He there calls it the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. The ox is considered as an emblem of the Father, the lion and man, which are always united, (Ezek. 1. 10.) of the Son, taking our nature into personal union with the divine, and the eagle of the Spirit, expanding his influence in all the work of God. This was the mystic figure placed in the holy of holies above the ark. There they all looked down with delight on the memorial of a dying rising Saviour's work, when the priest ministered there on the day of atonement. Thus we see the design of the term, "dwell under the wings of the cherubim," was but another expression for abiding under the care of a reconciled God and Father, in Christ Jesus, where is perfect safety and heavenly bliss, (Dr. Goode,) propped up with sweet and precious promises, fulfilling all the good pleasure of his will, and the work of grace with power; that we may be vessels fitted for the master's use; why? "That in ages to come, He may show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us," "when He shall come to be glorified in his saints," He glorified in us, we glorified in him. And what means this word glory? It quite puts me out of breath, the thought of all that is before us. Wonderful creatures! brittle earthen-ware, yet not broken by all the knocks of tribulation flesh is heir to, in present things, or things to come; though not hidden up, but held out in the midst, to the inspection of men, angels and devils, to the praise of the glory of his grace, for held by his almighty power; and surely it shall not a little add to the glory of his abundant mercy, and the display of the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and long suffering, that He shall thus hold his vessels of mercy without fainting or being discouraged, until He ushers them into his presence more than conquerors! Which vessel should you like to be? gold, silver, wood, or earth? I think the worse the material, the more the ability of the workman is seen in forming it for the king's use.

I had a new thought on the book of Job, which book I have been hobbling through in the morning to the family, but did not get my thought, till the last chapter. Though I have not been able to find any commentator agree, I cannot help thinking it was intended to shadow forth the Jewish people. The adventures of one individual are not intended to occupy all ages; so loving a spouse as the church could not be satisfied in continually conversing with her beloved, concerning the adventures and sentiments of a stranger, when she has such an overflowing fulness to express in her own feelings, and in her admiration of her beloved. Nor was it like David, to call on all generations to tune their instruments, only to sing of him. It seems to me the Lord often brought his Prophet into circumstances which should explain the dark sentences he caused them to utter, yet was this explanation but a dark veil, through which it was difficult to perceive the mysteries within; but we having the gospel lamp, may penetrate the darkest recesses of his providence and grace, and find our Immanuel behind each; and surely that wisdom must be divine, which as in the book of Psalms, and Job, is so fruitful in language, as at one and the same time, to express the situations and feelings of the writer, the situations and feelings of the Lord, and the situation and feelings of his church, and each individual believer, to the end of time. But I think Elihu fixes the book of Job, as referring to the Jews. By the way, to be a prophet was no light matter; yet did they consider it worth going through all for. And I hope your dear husband, in counting the cost, thinks it worth learning the consolations of scripture by experience, that others may find it good, if he should be afflicted; for in this view, it is no light matter to be a minister of the consolations of the gospel, for I believe the Lord still explains the meaning of words by his providences; and a greater than all, thought it not too much to be tempted in all points, that He might be suited to his people in the midnight of adversity, as well as the noon-day of prosperity. But to return to Job — do you not think the amount of Job's restoration to happiness, strikingly coincides with the promises respecting that church. What have Christians ever been casting against that afflicted church, but just what Job's friends brought against him? that they are cast off for ever, because of their sins. What has been and is the Jews warm contention? Job's to his friends; that they are not such sinners, not so rejected; man's taunts have been in vain to humble them; they manfully contend that they are not in punishment for their sins; servant upon servant was sent to them; at last God sent his only begotten Son, but still they would not be humbled; they rejected all admonitions, and so they shall, till God appear to take his cause into his own hands; then humiliation will be their first movement towards Him, "they shall look on him, they have pierced, and mourn." Then shall they say, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, therefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." Then, shall be manifest that God's thoughts towards them, have been "thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give them an expected end;" and "they shall call on him, and go and pray unto him, and He will hearken," then shall be seen "the end of the Lord, that He is very pitiful and of tender mercy." My reasons for thinking Elihu means Christ are these: — 1st. Because the meaning of the word Elihu, is "God is he." 2ndly. He says, he stands in God's place as a day's-man. 3rdly. When God commands Job, in chap. 42. 8, to pray for his friends, that they may be accepted, Elihu is not mentioned, as if he needed it not. Now if you think it worth while, look for these references — God is against those who contend with Job, Zeph. 2. 8-11; Isa. 51. 22, 23. — 8th v. Job a blessing to his enemies, Zech. 8. 13; Ezek. 34. 26; Isa. 66. 21; he did speak right in that he was not cast off. — 9th v. Job is accepted, Jer. 30. 17, 18,19, 20; Ezek. 20. 40-42. Isa. 65. 18, 19. — 11. v. Job is enriched by his friends, who come to him, now that he is restored to prosperity, Isa. 60. 1, and 10, 12, 13. He had double for the blessing of the Lord, that it is which makes rich, Isa. 40; Mal. 3. 10, 12. Isa. 60. — 14 v. everlasting joy shall be on their head . — 15th verse, he gave his children an inheritance, Psalm 45. 10. Is there not something remarkable in the name of Job's daughters, Jemima, the day; Kezia, pleasant cassia or fine spices; Kerenhappuch, beauty; in that day emphatically called, the day of the Lord, shall he come down into his garden of spices, his presence shall cause his spikenard to send forth the smell thereof, Cant. 1. 12. Then shall he indeed say to the daughter of Jerusalem, "thou art all fair, my love, there is no spot in thee." — 16th verse, when Job was restored, he lived to be a great age, Isa. 65. 2O. — 17 verse, we find the blessing coming upon Job, that Eliphaz said belonged to the afflicted righteous, chap. v. from 17th verse to end. Tell me if you agree. Perhaps you will say, you have filled your letter with what is not applicable to me. "Truth Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from the master's table." Oh how many crumbs of comfort thus prepared, and spread out for the children, may we dogs pick up, and nourish ourselves with. But I must think of finishing; I hope the length of this letter will satisfy, if not weary. It would be sweet to me, to be a stream of comfort, making up the Lord's desire, that your peace should be as a river, emptying itself into the ocean of his glory! surely were we permitted to be a rivulet of consolation, to any afflicted child of God, and one drop in the ocean of his glory, we should not have lived in vain. It is very sad about your schools, very trying, but it is well to have our trial, God's cause. Look at Isa. 40. 28-31, and the connection between the possessions of Jehovah, and those offered to the acceptance of his waiting children. How kind, he gives us a way to express our affection to him! "if you love me, keep my commandments;" for love is restless till it communicates what it feels to its object. May your faith have such substance, as that you could take the promises in your finger, and handle them, (as an old woman described Mr ... words to me, the other day,) may He often look forth at the window, showing himself to you through the lattice, (glimpses of Him in those providences, most calculated to exclude him,) ... . may you daily more see that there is enough in Jesus to meet all your wants, be what they may; while feeling there are hidden depths within of iniquity, may you know and remember there are depths in Jesus' love, your eye has never yet seen, your ear has never yet heard, your heart never even conceived of: but God sees it! In short, may the God of hope, fill you with all joy and peace in believing, and make you abound in hope, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Your sincerely affectionate friend, bound up in the same bundle of life...

Please tell ... that the little book he left me to read, smells of Satan's dispensary.

Letter 22.

Dec. 18, 1828.

My dear Mr ...,  I enclose you what I promised, but I have since thought it was very conceited of me to offer to send you what I remembered. I send you a sermon remembered by another lady, who does not murder them quite so much. There are some sweet consolatory ideas in it.

When God takes up the lesson and the rod, how differently he teaches from man. Truths which we have been accustomed to repeat, and feel In some degree, with what force they come home, when taught by experience. When I look back upon this time last year, how weighty are those words, "all is vanity," not merely an expression. In drinking of the bitter cup, called "LIGHT AFFLICTION, one feels with a weight no tongue can express — what must be the miseries of hell, when this is but a spark from it; what must be the evil of sin; the emptiness of this masquerade of a world; the sufferings of Christ; the happiness of heaven; God's hatred of sin; his love to the sinner! May he grind them more and more into my heart, so that I may never again be entangled or intoxicated with these baubles; but may he clasp me so close to himself, that there may be no room, for a cloud to pass between me and the light of his precious countenance! Pray let us soon hear from you; for I sometimes fear lest the Lord should remove from us our candlestick, not because we do not prize it enough, but for valuing the stick too much. May he teach us, without that the difficult lesson, that "Christ is all." I will fill up the rest of the paper with a short extract from a letter which I received from Mr. Howels, which I think you will like.

Your sincere and grateful friend,

T. A. Powerscourt.

After speaking on the Lord's prayer, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, he adds: "One idea more before I conclude — you and I are immediately interested in the prayer of Jesus, ' Father, forgive them.' In answer to that prayer, a gracious Providence once watched over us while sinning, ignorant and thoughtless of what we were doing. In answer to this prayer, we were delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. And did he feel so intensely, and pray so earnestly, in the midst of his own better sufferings, for his enemies and murderers, and will he forget his friends now, he is seated on a throne of bliss, in the zenith of his glory? Infinite eternal impossibility!! We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. His intercession comprizes all the love of his Deity, all the worth of his atonement, all the love and sympathy of his humanity, perpetually sounding ill God the father's ears, ' Father, forgive them.'"

Letter 23.

1829.

My dear Mr ..., Many thanks for your very welcome letter; we all rejoice to hear such good accounts of your throat. I fear Irish air is the cause of all the throat complaints. ... is now attacked with it, and ordered to England for his health. To him, as well as to you, it is the greatest trial could be sent; but the Lord generally sends a trial where it will be felt. I believe our usefulness does not depend upon pursuing a line marked out by ourselves, but in giving him just what he has need of from us; — in patience, as well as in faith, followers of those who inherit the promises. I rejoice to hear so good an account of ... she must be a nice Christian from your description. Of course, you heard of poor ...'s end. ... says their only comfort is, that he died in such an enlightened state; but though there was graciously a straw to lay hold on, I trust that none dear to me may ever be taken, without more undoubted evidence. Oh! that it was to be a warning to all sportsmen.

I suppose you will see and hear dear Mr. Howels and ... You will find them full of the times, and horror of emancipation. Such great things are spoken on one hand of the evil, and on the other hand of the good of these conversions of opinion, that either one side must misunderstand Scripture, or the other be wonderfully blind. May we not, by taking the beast unto our bosom, thrust out God; and blasphemy being found on our forehead, have to take our lot with Babylon? It is lamentable that there seems to be no Christian voice raised up in the midst of so much infidelity. Every principle of error seems to have its representative in a professed Christian senate, while Christianity is the only mute, and apparently indifferent, spectator. The way that Mr. Irving's, and Mr. Howels' petitions, are ridiculed, shows that the Word is still foolishness to the Greek. Nevertheless, it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." "For God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise; yea, things that are despised hath God chosen." But I am forgetting that it is one of the signs of the times, that ignorant people, such as I am, set themselves up to judge upon such matters. It is the privilege of women, to have nothing to do with politics, but to stand and admire man's ignorance, and God's facility in bringing about his purposes. The question with us seems to be, How shall we, in serving our generation before we fall asleep, testify against the crying evils of the church, as well as the world? Since He must at all times, have some to bear him faithful witness, how shall we be among this privileged set? Since He has shown his love in trusting his cause to ours, lent us volumes of his library for the perusal of the world, surely it is an interesting question, How shall we be faithful to our trust? I hope you have been considering this point, that we may have a little pillar of truth raised up in this valley with "love," inscribed upon it. This reiterated command, "love," so trampled under foot, seems to express every thing demanded of the church; to exhibit it in the greater union of the body — in more diffusing around the heavenly atmosphere, in more demonstrating it in action. With good intentions, many are ignorant. We forget the assembling of ourselves together, and need to be exhorted to love and good works, and so much the more as we see the day approaching. Faithful parochial ministers content themselves with the work of an evangelist, neglecting their most difficult duties. To preach the gospel, is necessary for all; but surely there is strong meat, and there are precepts, which suit not the world. The strong meat of experience, being exposed to ridicule, prevents its benefit, by stirring up jealousy. The precepts either must open to the world the wounds of the church, or the probe not be deep enough to benefit the believer. You must watch, warn, exhort, prove from Scripture, errors in spirit, errors in life; and, though last not least, we must make each others wants and sorrows, as well as the church's, our own: so that the answer to each should multiply the thanksgivings of all, and redound to the glory of God. Surely, we should not find so many Christians of the world, if one half of the Bible was not necessarily left out of the pulpits. I believe the fault lies more with the church than with professors, that Christianity is so much more profession than confession. We strive to live our doctrines, instead of confounding the world by the contradiction of our walk and our belief. It seems to me this is the fault of the Walkerites. As the world cannot explain the seeming contradiction of doctrine and precept in the Word, neither should it be able to do so in the believer. While trampling works under foot, should we not live as though to be saved by works — boasting in our liberty, yet under law to Christ? We wear Christ too like a loose garment, to be put on and taken off as convenience offers — denying him, by not confessing him; not as lights, which hypocrites fear to approach, lest their deeds should be reproved. I hope you are lifting up your voice against these things in ... for religion and the world are comfortably walking arm and arm there. Perilous times, when Christians have time to play with idols; have time to feast the world; to nestle themselves as the world; to go rounds of formality; have time to pick faults in their neighbours, their brethren; have time to amuse themselves in religious dissipation; have time to talk to be admired; to listen to contradictory opinions, each proved from Scripture; while the misgiving of our own opinions, through a perceptible mixture of error and prejudice, keeps us picking our steps through slippery paths, instead of running in the way of God's commandments. Certainly, times of persecution, are times of prosperity to the church; — Satan is not asleep — and is more to be dreaded when undermining by expediency than when openly destroying; deceiving, if it were possible, the very elect. Times of persecution will only admit of drawing up every faculty of the soul to one point. How splendid the grace of patient waiting in persecuted Christians! If times of trouble are about to come, how friendly to make us feel our need, that when they shall come we may not be staggered. Love almost calls for it, in the painful suspicion of disfiguring His cause whom we do love. Faith cannot live settled: she must hold her life in her hand; must point to Jesus, and lead the way; be in the attitude of patient waiting; must be a bird of passage, refusing to build her nest in so cold a clime. In these days of deception, may the Lord sift, thrash every principle, rummage our hearts, and lead in the way everlasting. May our souls be enabled, in looking to his second appearing, to bound forward; and may we be given, in deed and truth, a "Love," which shall engulf pride, and haughtiness in ourselves, and all disagreeableness in others-this God-like grace.

Dear Mr... has been all but taken from us. I did not in the least expect his recovery. May we bear the rod and be enabled to read this providence! It is, I think, one of the beauties of God's works, that while we labour to effect one end by many means, He with the utmost facility effects many ends by one means. This is striking in his providences. When he sends an affliction, it is so exactly suited to the case of all concerned, as to seem purposely sent for each; and when he shakes his rod over his children, surely it means a gracious call. We tremble when we enter into the cloud often; but there comes a voice from the cloud saying, this is my beloved Son, hear him; — and what can Jesus' word declare but, see how I love? Do pray that this visitation may be attended with good to those near him. Nothing can withstand his power. No heart is too hard for him. This is our comfort for ourselves, "He is greater than our hearts;" and his love is as great as his power, without measure and without end.

The District Society goes on flourishingly. All satisfied in hearing you are to be the treasurer, for they know you. Great lesson for us, let us be satisfied in deposing body, soul, and spirit, in the hands of Him, who has undertaken to lose nothing the Father has given him to keep, but to raise it up at the last day. Surely he will return all, with a rich premium. Let us not dishonour him, by questioning what He is doing with our deposits, for we know the man....

Yours, with true affection,

T. A. Powerscourt.

Letter 24.

... 1829.

My dear Mr ..., Though I hope to see you in a few days, I must write a line, just to assure you, it has been neither want of gratitude, affection, or value for your letters, which prevented my not placing you in my debt long since; for there are few things would give me greater pleasure than seeing a letter brought in directed by you. We are now some miles nearer home than when we parted. It cannot have been for nothing our Father has been separated from us for these months. He has been proving and trying us in some way to do us good at our latter-end, and surely, we have been proving and trying Him. I have met with much Christian love, for Christ's sake. I have seen in different Christians different beautiful features, to make me desire to see every feature united in the great Original. I have heard deep, high, sweet, experimental truths from dear Mr. Howels. I have heard some future prospects from ... and have had humiliating lessons in others, how even the most spiritual need the everlasting, quickening, and almighty energy of the Eternal Spirit, to preserve perpetually from earthly idolatry; while in myself, dependant weakness has now feelingly convinced me, that in my preservation, a miracle is momentarily witnessing, I am a child of God. And shall not Jesus himself very soon show me how this and that, and that and this, like a Mosaic, have been needed to form us into the image of our God? I now hope to return to occupy till my Lord shall come, or send for me. I feel very pleasant that I have done with life, have learned to read through the glow spread all over it "all is vanity" — to feel the buzz about, as the buzzing of flies about a dead corpse. My tale being told already, I would not be as my poor sister here ... beginning life under the delusion, that happiness is to be found in it; yet, it is vain to say, till God teaches that every dream of happiness below the sun is but a picture, painted and varnished by Satan, involving in it his original lie: "God's word is not truth." In giving us himself, I believe, He has given us all God can give, and surely it is the triumph of faith, while feeling we have not what we think we need, still to rest confident, that with him, He has given us all good things... Oh! what a thing it is, dear Mr..., even for this life, to have a hope full of immortality. — How sweet for you to have been made the communication of this bud of happiness to one destined to tribulation — the unfolding of which has been so unspeakably sweet and sustaining! Though still bound with the bondage of corruption, what a thing to be prisoners of hope! — of a hope that will never make ashamed, for happy is the man whose hope the Lord is! for his eye is upon them that hope in his mercy, and even in DEATH he shall have hope. How Scripture always pushes us forward for happiness! In defence, our helmet is to be hope; our attitude, waiting for his appearing; our happiness, rejoicing in hope; all seems expressed in one verse, "We know not what we shall be — we shall see Him —  we shall be like Him." May we be enabled to keep our eyes steadily on things invisible; may every care give us a shove, till our whole weight is cast upon our immutably fixed anchor! I desire to be as a meteor passing through time, not left a moment longer than the Lord has need of me. The world thinks the Christian is imposing much upon himself, in giving up the pleasures of sin; but how easy the Christian finds this in comparison to walking on the good of life, counting it dross, that his affections may more tightly grasp Him, who alone can satisfy the longing soul, and fill the hungry soul with gladness. — Whatever the name, the character, the relationship, He vouchsafes to take, He excels in that point all others: —  "Fairer than the children of men." Is He a father who cannot refuse his child's petition? — "How much more will your heavenly Father give good things to them that ask Him." Is His tenderness compared to a mother? "She may forget, yet will not I forget thee." A brother? — "One that sticketh closer." A friend? — One whose friendship passes the power of expression, for the utmost bound was passed while yet enemies. A husband? — One that can say, even after we have "gone after many lovers," yet return again to me. A prophet? — One that "spoke as never man spake," "was in the counsel of the Father from eternity." A priest? — One that has sat down on the right hand of Omnipotence — "continueth for ever" —  "hath an unchangeable priesthood" — "able to save to the uttermost" — "ever lives to make intercession" — one, and the only one who becomes us; for He excels all priests, in that He is "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, higher than the heavens." Is He a king? — "King of kings, and Lord of lords!" A shepherd? — "The good Shepherd." A light? — "The light of the world" —  "The Sun of Righteousness!" Food? — "The bread from heaven that gives eternal life." Water? — "The fountain- of living waters, of which if man drink, he shall never thirst again." A tree? —  "As the apple tree among the woods." If in heaven? — "Who in heaven can be compared to the Lord?" If on earth? — "Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?" Then, what is He to the church? — As the bridegroom in comparison of all others, and not only does He excel, but in her estimation, He must increase while all others decrease, for "He that cometh from heaven is above all" — "This God is our God for ever and ever." May He, dear Mr ... fill you more and more, with joy and peace in believing, and may you abound in lively hope, through life, and in death! This is, believe me, a very sincere prayer, and one often put up for you,

By yours very affectionately,

Theodosia A. Powerscourt.

And, no doubt, you will find by and by, that the means used for communicating to you some of the graces of the Spirit you possess, has been these prayers.

Letter 25.

15th February, 1829.

My beloved friend,  I have long been wishing and intending to write to you since I heard of your overturn, but as Mr. G ... told me you were almost well, still I wanted to be able to sit down and write a long letter. I wish you to tell me the particulars, that I may join in praise. I have so much felt, and do feel, the great privilege you allow me in remembering me in your dear little meetings, it is the sweetest blessing you could give me. Oh! do not pray for my body, but that I may not misrepresent His truth in my life. Well, that little fall was yours, among the inventory of His laid-up gifts. What we want is, to be taught to make use of the promises. Too apt to be satisfied with enjoying his word in reading and meditating on it, then to go our way and forget it till the next stated time returns; it is then, well to get scratches from little briars and brambles on the way, to be sent for healing to "it is written," — to be made feed on the promises all the way; thus to have our appetite whetted, that He may fill the hungry soul with goodness. It is not His will we should merely draw upon our bank of consolation for large sums which we think it worth drawing for, but to return again, and again, for every shilling, for ever sixpence of comfort; for, sweet thought, we cannot trouble him. How much is implied in that short sentence, "I shall not want." Why? because He wanted all. I shall fear no evil in walking through the dark valley on account of his presence, because He cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? We shall triumph in confidence in the midst of our enemies, because He was reproached and despised of the people, "a worm and no man;" and I know (not hope) I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever, because He has said, thou hast heard me. Sweet to know the whole flock are under the same guidance, that in experience of His watchful tenderness, we may be able to say of others under every circumstance, they shall not want — the 22nd Psalm, the ground of the confidence expressed in the 23rd. How safely we may leave ourselves in such loving hands. He is our treasure; let us deposit with him, body, soul, and spirit, for we know him. He has promised to lose nothing which the Father has given into his hands, but to raise it up at the last day. Let us not seem to suspect, by questioning what He is doing with our deposit, but rest satisfied it shall be restored abundantly enriched, on the morning of the resurrection. Then shall we not refuse to be found among the oppressed and despised, who have followed him through evil report, as well as good, since the path of sorrow, and that path alone, leads to the land where sorrow is unknown! I have been thinking lately of angels. What a subject of humiliation they should be to the believer: alike in one thing — both hearken to the voice of his word; unlike in state, unlike in service. The believer nearer, dearer, his "bride;" where sin aboundeth grace having much more abounded. Yet, how much more ready they are in their service: their beauty seems reflected on earth in their deep humility; witness their joy at the raising of sinners to a superiority to themselves. How different the Jew at the reception of the Gentile! How different the Gentile at the promised glory of the Jew! How different from the elder brother at the return of the prodigal! Hear their thunder clap of hallelujahs: "Glory to God in the highest; on earth, peace towards men." In what haste would the twelve legions have descended to the aid of the Lord, had He, in his agonies, demanded their service; but preferring the sympathy of his children, He looked for pity from them, but there was no man; for comforters, but there were none — they were heavy with sleep. Were angels now told, "inasmuch as ye do it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye do it to me," would they move so heavily to feed him when hungry, to give him drink when thirsty, to take him in when a stranger, to visit him when sick and in prison? Above all, were they sent with glad tidings of great joy? No, they would fly as Gabriel to Daniel, as the angel to take a cake to Elijah. At the beginning of thy supplication the commandment came forth, and "I am come" — the commandment given at the beginning; He came before the end! But there is one office they cannot render the church; they are unfit for comforters; having known no sorrow, they cannot sympathize. This is our privilege; the most honourable service in the temple below; we are cups of consolation in his hands, who emphatically came to bind up the broken hearted. No vessels but vessels of mercy can contain this cordial; and as every blade of grass shines with the splendour of a little diamond globe, when the sun arises after a night of dew, far surpassing the grass at noon day; so shall the tears of this night of time, throw a lustre over the believer, when the Sun of Righteousness shall appear in the morning of the resurrection — far surpassing those "who excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His words." They know the bliss of power — we the happiness of weakness; — what it is to lay the hands of weakness on I am; to glory in infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest on us, to carry the helpless soul in the arms of faith, to rest on sweet and precious promises. I have heard it told through one who was present at the shipwreck of the Kent, as a remarkable circumstance, that every mother in their imminent peril, as if by instinct, turned to her youngest child and clasped it in her arms. So does the Lord to the helpless believer. Will any say, that those children, who exulting in strength were left to themselves, were more safe than the helpless infant whose life depended on the parent's life?

Maternal love alone

Preserves them first and last;

Their parents' arms, and not their own,

Were those that held them fast.

Blessed be God, he loves not according to our desert, but according to our necessity. Blessed be God, it is not written, his blood can cleanse from all the evil we see, but what He sees... Many chambers within are unopened yet to us; we see but through the crevice; yet his blood gets entrance, and drowns all. May we be given grace, dear sister, in the Lord, to leave him the steering of our little bark; to trust Him with every wind that seems against us; to go straight as an arrow on our way, believing He will not leave us to ourselves. May He keep us from weakening the hands of others by our example. Though deserving, He should plead against us with His great power, may He put strength into us, and enable us to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts. —  Crucifixion cannot but be painful; but whether crucifixion or amputation, under any circumstances, be appointed to us, may He make most legible in our lives, "Lord thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee." Let not us alone be silent in praise, when our theme is so great — that when John was given to hear the hallelujahs of such as were living continually in his presence, witnessing unceasingly the unbounded wonders of his perfections whose name is Love, all was swallowed up in this one song — redeeming love. And shall redeemed sinners be silent? All his works praise in obeying — go, and they go — come, and they come. To the sea He says, go so far, there let thy proud waves be stayed; foaming mountains high, there it stops. The firmament showeth His handy work. We can best glorify Him in trusting Him. Let us venture, then, to be confident. Goodness and mercy shall follow us, like as the river from the rock followed the Israelites all through the wilderness. Whatever is sent it is goodness and mercy; and this goodness and mercy but the earnest of future joy, the embryo of our future inheritance — an enjoyment by faith of promises there to be fulfilled. We are children of promise —  heirs of all the promises. Children of light, waiting for the morning! My dear ... may your light shine more and more to the perfect day. Affectionate love to your dear sisters, and all who love me in the Lord. Pray write very soon, and believe in the sincerity of

Your very affectionate sister in hope,

Theodosia A. Powerscourt.

Letter 26.

Dublin, 17th April, 1829.

... Indeed my very dear friend, had I for a moment an idea you could have been so ill, I should not have waited for an answer to my letter, could I also have conceived mine of any possible comfort. I can only say, I can sink into the very dust, that my Lord should make use in any way of so vile, so wretched an hypocrite. He has indeed shown you great and sore trouble, yet in the midst of the trouble, how loving to allow you to testify that his comforts have refreshed your soul: surely we are left without excuse in our unbelief; yet whenever He leads us to the brink of the waters of tribulation, we tremble and shrink as much from entering, as though the waters had not before parted, and become a wall of support and consolation on either side. How blessed to be under a dispensation of mercy which God has as it were set apart for mercy. We find out our hankering after self-righteousness, from our fresh astonishment every day in being treated so differently from what we expect and feel to deserve. How often arc we dictating by our fears to the Lord, but He is better to us than all our fears, in the midst of judgment remembering mercy. "Hear ye the rod and him that appointed it;" often He seems to shake the rod over his children, but is unable, if we may so speak, to inflict the blow. May we go softly all our days, seeing our comforts are held by so slender a thread; may it teach us to rejoice with trembling. David was greatly distressed, but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God; so arc we often distressed with outward things, and ever have cause from inward things. Such sunk hearts, so weighed down to earth, after all they have learned of earth, all they have learned of Jesus; often it seems as if we had all to learn over again. "So foolish and ignorant are we, even as beasts before him" — yet let us encourage ourselves in the Lord our God; encourage ourselves in his character; encourage ourselves in his compassion; he will not shut up his tender mercies in anger, but will shut us up in his tender mercies, for his compassions fail not. Let us say of them: this is my hiding place, here will I nestle from sins, temptations, falls, and ingratitudes. —  Feeling his tenderness to be that of a jealous God, we are too apt to go to him, as to a tender jealous friend, keeping back what is likely to grieve love. —  But no! Our Jesus is not like an earthly friend even in this, there is no loosening his love by suspicion. He knows all our baseness, yet loves unto the end! therefore let us go tell him all; even those feelings we would hide from ourselves, let us drag out before him, and pour out our complaints of ourselves into the bosom of our master. Often we find ourselves shrinking and crying out at the very thought, that in very faithfulness he will afflict, at the very moment we are saying, soberly and steadily,

"Less than thyself will not suffice,

My comfort to restore;

More than thyself I cannot crave,

And thou canst give no more."

Strange mixtures we are! We may confess all, for he is our hiding place, who can sympathize with the shrinking of the flesh from the Father's will, without laying it to want of love; for he has said, "Father save me from this hour."

We may trust his compassions. We may throw ourselves into his lap saying, "undertake for me." "Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are great." The same God now, as had an eye to the sparing of even the cattle, in withholding judgment from Nineveh. — Sweet to have our will sunk into his, who is so slow to anger, so ready to forgive, that when his prophets lost all patience with the people, so as to make intercession against them, yet even then, could he not be got to cast off this people whom he foreknew, for his great name sake, because he had made them his people, neither will he now. — He has engaged for that. — May he grant that our joy in restored blessings, may be abundant in Christ Jesus. May our love be as greedy of love as his is; may he be our end in joy, our end in sorrow; may we be able to say, "To live is Christ"; may he not suffer us to abuse his wonderful mercies; but may sin and weakness have the effect of driving us to Him, without which, the expenditure of every twig in his rod would be of no avail. — O let us not be as his people of old, after every mercy stiffening our necks, hardening our hearts, casting his law behind our backs, and provoking him more and more: but let our conversation be as becomes the Gospel of Jesus Christ, standing fast in one spirit, striving together with his people for the faith of the Gospel. I can say of myself in utmost weakness, the spirit is willing that He should answer this prayer, and not spare the rod because of our crying; but may He pity, for the flesh is very, very weak. Behold here I am, let him do what seems to him good. — I desire to say this in spirit, as well as with the mouth; in feeling, as well as judgment: Lord make me desire to be able to say it. Let us thus, dear friend, encourage ourselves in the Lord our God, not terrified by our adversaries, but praising him. He gives us, not only to believe, but to suffer for him, and with him; and for his rich answers to prayer, for making known such a Lord to encourage ourselves in, may we so loudly shout hallelujah from the hiding place of his compassions, as shall make the vaults of Satan's kingdom ring with the name of Jesus. Farewell my beloved sister in the Lord...

... Very affectionately Yours,

Dear...

Theodosia Powerscourt.

"And there came a cloud and overshadowed them, and they feared as they entered into the cloud; but there came a voice out of the cloud, THIS IS my beloved Son — HEAR HIM".

Letter 27.

Paris, 26th April, 1830.

... Ever since I heard of your illness, and the Lord's mercy in sustaining and restoring, I have been intending to write to bless the Lord with my very dear sister, and ask for some words to strengthen my faith, in detail of your cup having run over in the hour of need. Is it not, indeed, the bleating of Messiah's sheep "I shall not want?" "shall not want," because the Lord is our shepherd; "shall not want," because our shepherd is the Lord! Our shepherd, the all-sufficient! nothing can unite itself to him, nothing mingle with him; nothing add to his satisfying nature; nothing diminish from his fulness. There is a peace and fulness of expression in this little sentence, known only to the sheep. The remainder of the Psalm is a drawing out of this, "I shall not want." In the unfolding we find repose, refreshment, restoring mercies, guidance, peace in death, triumph, an overflowing of blessings — future confidence, eternal security in life or death, spiritual or temporal, prosperity or adversity —  Time or eternity. May we not boldly say, "The Lord is my shepherd;" for we stand on the sure foundation of the 22nd Psalm. How can we want when united to him! we have a right to use all his riches. — Our wealth is his riches and glory. — With him nothing can be withheld. Eternal life is ours, with the promise all shall be added; all He knows we want. Our shepherd has learnt the wants of his sheep by experience, for He was himself "led as a sheep to the slaughter." — Does not this expression, dictated by the spirit, imply a promise, and a full promise, when connected with his own words, I know my sheep: by what painful discipline He was instructed in this knowledge, subjected himself to the wants of every sheep, every lamb of his fold, that he might be able to be touched with a feeling of their infirmities. The timid sheep has nothing to fear; fear not want, fear not affliction, fear not pain; "fear not," according to your want shall be your supply — "The Lord is my portion," saith my soul, therefore will I trust in Him; does the silly sheep cry to be kept from want? it may well be answered, ye know not what ye ask; it knows not of what it would rob itself in receiving the supply provided for that particular want. In the midst of danger, we have no cause of alarm, we have been taken hold of by Omnipotent love, "shall never perish." "It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." All to be expected of a shepherd, shall be found in one, who so loved us, as to lay down his life for us. Dear sister, have you a want, keep it not, carry it to Him, it shall be on the mercy-seat to be considered; in due time shall be written on it, "to be provided for." Have you a want for any dear to you? He has promised you shall not want; if your demand is not exactly answered, you shall receive something better; it shall be satisfied. His fulness is as much at our disposal, as if in our own hands. He keeps it in himself, that every blessing may be richly doubled. Moses said to the children of Israel in the wilderness, "the Lord thy God knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness those forty years. The Lord thy God hath been with thee, thou hast asked nothing.'' Our wants are fathomless! our help infinite! none but God can tell the uttermost a God can do. Oh let us, who are the sheep of his pasture, give him thanks, and show forth HIS praises by venturing on this confidence. There is no want to his flock; the young lion may lack and suffer hunger, but the good shepherd's helpless, foolish sheep, shall not want any good thing. He is our shield against every foe, he is our guide in every danger, no good thing can he withhold — Grace now! glory hereafter! But it is you must tell me these truths, for you bring them fresh from the furnace. How blessed when he takes his bit of clay, and forms it into a vessel fit for the master's use, especially if he choose for us to be a vessel of consolation to his little ones. We like the office, but we do not wish the forming: for we can only comfort with the comfort wherewith we have been comforted. Oh! what a blessing, we are not left to ourselves, that when we drag the skein of our life into the most desperate tangles, mercy will sit down patiently to unravel ... What a blessing to be allowed to fall in every possible way, that self-opinion may come tumbling down, and that we may learn to leave our righteousness behind, and come to Jesus in our sins, instead of leaving our sins behind, to come in our righteousness; and how blessed we are, not allowed to appear to others what we really are, full of pride, vanity, selfishness, selfseeking. Oh! what motive within motive, deceits, hypocrisies, lying in our very representations of Christ! we desire all should read, I am comely. Is it so with you?

Letter 28.

Powerscourt, October, 1828.

My dear friend — The church's husband hath not where to lay his head; the wife always takes the place of her husband. If such is the character of Christ's church, can that system be right, which expressly encourages the opposite practice? Lord instruct me, I am a fool. As to this trade, and that trade, being supported, let the dead take care of the dead; our business in life is not to keep the world a going, but to manifest the christian's glorious hope. Each book treats of its own subject, and is not to be blamed for not instructing in all. We are living epistles, but from God's library, to teach a particular subject; and oh! what a glorious subject! we have nothing to do with the world; we cannot live too differently. Your sister says, this is Satan's kingdom; surely then we are not needed to uphold his system. Poor ... is in grief about her sister, left in India a widow; but how kind of Him to afflict us to try our faith; we talk of the promises, but how different to make use of them! how difficult to take Him at his word without an evidence; how merciful to be so let into the secrets of his love, that he does not suffer us to walk smoothly down the stream of time, but sends large and rough billows to dash us on the promises; sweetens our bitterness, and embitters our sweets. This should be the christian's elevation, to walk on the promises. The more we are forced to prove them, the more highly favoured, because our ideas of things are not according to this world. It is a great thing really to trust Him through thick and thin, believe our sorrow is our joy, our misery our happiness. He deprives us of provision for earthly affection, that these affections going in search of their object, may take a grand grasp of Him, the archetype, the fountain of every excellency; all love in comparison is but the rivulet to the ocean, one limited to the nutshell of a human heart; the other immense, as the infinite mind of Jehovah. Let us then use our privilege, dear friend, and launch our souls upon the promises of Him, who means what He says. With affectionate love to your dear sister

Believe me very affectionately yours,

T. A. P.

Letter 29.

Brussels, Dec. 15, 1829.

We have been here six weeks and have had no improvement in any art but patience; worth coming all this way to learn that; thus the Lord lays His plans for us, calls us sometimes into the wilderness to speak comfortably, admits this world to be tribulation, does not make light of it, tells us not to expect any thing else in it, but gives two famous recipes for patience under it, "rejoicing in hope," "instant in prayer." I trust my faithful heavenly friend has been pointing out to me of my faults. The instrument with which He probes the wound, is so oiled with love, it heals in wounding. I have been thinking, my dear sister, time is so short, it would be better could we throw all our powers into straining every nerve for His glory, in the situation in which He has placed us, instead of losing time in doubting whether we are in the right situation. These doubts prevent the gratitude He expects; for there is a right side in every thing; there must be, because it is His will that "in every thing we should give thanks." There is a blessing, I am persuaded, in every snare, could we cherish and make use of the blessing, and roll the snare on him. May He put a new song in my mouth, even thanksgiving to our God. Tell me what you have been thinking of? and what state religion is in where you are? This town is in a sad state, wholly given to idolatry, because Roman Catholic; three English churches, but no gospel. The French Walloon minister we hear is very good, but the town is full of English who could not understand him. All I can find we are sent here for, is to pray for them, and that is not little; a day spent in prayer is a truly profitable day, its usefulness ceases not with the day. Let us then be Phebe's, seek to carry cups of consolation to the church; she carried a large cup to Rome. If we ask any thing according to His will, we may believe we have the answer. It is His declared will — He wills not the death of any, but that all should be saved. We have not because we ask not. Do we indeed believe He is soon coming? Would it be found out by a beholder? Are we so fitted into those precepts which, put together like a mosaic, make up the image of Christ, as to force lookers on to say, "I would see Jesus?" He does not mistake either what is for our good or for His glory. I have discovered He has locked up my happiness in the concave of His shield, to shelter it from being subject to the influence of any creature. Why should those mourn at anything here, who are reconciled to the Judge of all the earth? who have access to Him at all times, and friendly intercourse with Him; whose hope is founded on His love, and look forward to seeing Him, as a long tried friend; whose very tribulations are turned into blessings, and not only so, but also have God for their God, who understands to bless them according to His name — God? All belonging to Him is ours; as that dear letter said. I have had great delight in the remembrance of that letter, I have searched into Scripture on the subject and have been refreshed; if you have heard from her on communion with the Father, or the Spirit, will you not send me the letter? I shall return it quite safe, His power is ours — none shall pluck us out of his hands. His wisdom — for all things shall work together for our good. His holiness — for sin shall not have dominion over us. His justice —  for He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. His faithfulness — because it secures the fulfilment of all his promises. His eternity — "because He lives we shall live also," so shall we be for ever with the Lord, "my Lord and my God." Every sin should increase our trust — seeing it proves to us in the most convincing manner, that He is absolutely necessary. Weakness is ours — since it forces us to live by faith on one mighty to save. The drying up of earthly streams makes us cleave to Him who is all in all, prevails on us to find happiness in His fulness. Every thing around rings in the ear, go to Jesus. It is an unspeakable blessing in such a world to be able to see anything coming straight from Him without any second cause between; it would keep us very patient thus to possess the soul; we know He has a design in all He does; the more grievous the dispensation, the more certainty of its need; what He does, we know not now, but shall know hereafter. His purposes are ripening fast, unfolding every hour. Even in the consequences of sin, as in David's case, it is not said the child fell sick, but the Lord struck the child, and it was very sick. The child of the man after God's own heart! he prayed, he entreated, yet was refused; yet he says, "call on me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." "Yes, he shall deliver in his own way; and whatever be the way, in that thing we shall glorify him!" "I wound and I heal." The hand pierced for us, alone can wound tenderly, alone can heal perfectly. It is almost worth having a wound, to prove how tenderly He heals. Has he not taught us much this last year? Oh! how he spares, when we deserve punishment. How gently he deals; shakes his rod over us, to bring us to our senses. Often the very dart he uses to inflict a wound, in order to pour himself into it, is the very sin He desires us to hate; while his still small voice whispers, return unto me for I am full of compassion, slow to anger, and repent me of the evil, which seems to threaten. I have learnt that I am a learner, because a fool — must sit to receive, instead of give, comfort; learnt utter dependance for every comfort for myself; for every thought! have no stock to use; learnt more of "any thing with thy smile, any thing but thy frown;" learnt vanity of resolutions, which cries out beware; learnt insincerity of motives, much more, how many ends he gains by one means.

Let us, dear Mrs... occupy diligently till He comes, in the situation He has placed us in. Though we give our bodies to be burned, though we give all our goods to feed the poor, though we speak on these subjects as angels having all knowledge, in these all shall we utterly be condemned, without "give me thine heart." Happy consolation! He will never be weary of our complaints! He loves us when we weep, as well as when we smile. He loved Mary's tears — they spoke volumes to him. Soon shall these trifles be thrown away as children's toys. God looks upon our follies, as a wise man upon his infant, with loving pity. Soon our tale shall be finished, and the history of our lives put by in the library of God, as an old volume of his faithfulness. Soon we shall see him face to face, know as we are known. Soon prophecy shall be all fulfilled! "Every plant which my heavenly father hath not planted," shall be rooted up; but the little grain of love, scattered by his own hand, in our hearts, shall flourish in the courts of the house of our God, for ever and ever. Hallelujah! Soon, soon; why tarry thy chariot wheels, why so long transplanting from thy nursery, into the paradise above?...

Letter 30.

... 1830.

My dear Mr ..., Many thanks for your very welcome letter, though it does give so sad an account of that blessed town. The Sun of Righteousness did shine on me so splendidly, when there, I can never think of it but as a green pasture. Good shall come out of this seeming evil, to the church. Oh! that we loved her, as the Wise and All-powerful loves, and we never should suspect what He is at in his permission of evil. How beautiful the machinery of grace! How one part acts with another! How glorious will be the discovery at the end!

While man uses so many means for one end, God brings about so many ends by one means. One, that having made prayer the channel of conveying his blessings, that in blessing, He may bless many —  strengthen faith — awaken gratitude, and bring glory to his name as a hearer and answerer of prayer. Expect to find my soul being saved has been in answer to some prayer, in some part of the world. It can be said of bountifulness in prayer, as well as alms, "the administration of this service, not only supplieth the wants of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God." Then let us thus return them liberally. It would be very sweet, could we see every thing in the light of Christ, with reference to him — that as Joseph and Benjamin were dear above all the children of Jacob, because children of Rachel, so the church might be dear to us above all that is called dear, because dear to Christ. That peace should be precious to us, not so much because happiness in itself, as because it breathes "by my bruise ye arc healed." This I should think would be one good in the study of prophecy. To see every thing with reference to Christ, instead of seeing Christ with reference to ourselves. If dwelling on a crucified Saviour is valuable to the soul, in lifting us out of self; surely, dwelling on a glorified Saviour must be doubly so, in giving a far greater lift. A suffering Jesus, though full of consolation, reflects back on our wilderness troubles, and under-curse state; a glorified Jesus, darts us forward to the time when all tears shall be past for ever, in his glory and our own. The most wonderful thing to me in this town is one, I fear too stale to you for me to indulge myself in dwelling on — namely, that I am of God, while most of those around are in the arms of the wicked one. — Wonderful to receive this message, morning after morning, "thy sins, which are many, are forgiven!" — Wonderful to have so patient a Teacher! — Wonderful, a day is coming when I shall be satisfied with myself; without pride! But passing wonderful, that "He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though, after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself!" etc. Mr. Howels had this text last Sunday. He remarked from it that the desires of God's children, when good for them, will surely be answered. Job said, "Oh! that my words were written, graven in the rock;" but he had above his desire, more than he asked or thought. Had that been granted, all the elements would have waged war against and erased it. But the Rock of Ages descended; had it engraven in his bosom, which nothing shall ever efface, but it shall be read by all, time without end. He said, "Redeemer" and kinsman were the same; spoke of him as kinsman in avenging the death of his brother, on his murderers — He pursued, and overtook the enemy on Calvary; also as raising up seed to his brother, in uniting himself to humanity, which before had none. A rose never so sweet as when bruised and squeezed. When the rose of Sharon was bruised, and trampled on, the fragrance filled every breath of heaven. —  When Christ came, the bosom of Deity was opened for our perusal. Either Christ is God, or the worst in hell — reprobation the child, not the parent of sin. In marriage, the maiden name is annihilated — the church's maiden name, not blotted out, but annihilated — no longer known by it; so any believer who has but one grain of grace, has no right to be called ungodly; henceforth his name is "the Lord our Righteousness." He introduces schism into our corruptions, and thus makes them destroy themselves, and each other; and out of each fall rises a grace, as the phœnix out of its own ashes. The woman clothed in the sun — the believer clothed in his God for ever. He, a shield, interposes himself between us and every enemy. What can penetrate infinity and eternity? By and bye, we shall see all the evil from which we have been shielded. How often, that we do not know, have we been carried past them, as children over whose eyes you put your hand while carrying them across, that they may not see the danger. The poor are shielded from riches — the rich from poverty...

Yours most affectionately,

T. A. Powerscourt.

Letter 31.

...1828.

My dear ..., I am glad to hear you are in our neighbourhood, though grieved for the cause. But why?

Trials make the promise sweet;

Trials give new life to prayer;

Trials brings me to His feet,

Lay me low, and keep me there.

Then let us enjoy our wilderness blessings: —  here, ruffled peace. Future joy, and joy yet future, we shall have eternity for. Only for a few moments joy in sorrow; calm in a storm. Then I will rather wish you joy, that by the pressure of his dear hand, He thus keeps up in your mind — "Behold! how I love you." How needed it must be, when compassion wounds, when love chastens. The Lord "has need" now, not of your strength, but of your weakness. What a day is before us! when we shall be able to adore his faithfulness without the teaching of it by a crossed will, and disappointed prospects; when we shall be able to know the sweetness of confidence, without trust; humility, without pride to humble; the fulness of his presence, without a waste heart; the sympathy of our Comforter, without sorrow; the gentleness of our physician, without pain; the tenderness of our nurse, without sickness; yes, and even the abounding of grace, without sin.

"For ease should I praise! but if only for this,

I should leave half untold the donation of bliss;

I praise thee, I bless thee, my King and my God,

For the good and the evil thy hand hath bestow'd."

I write to let you know that (as your mouth is shut, and perhaps you would like to indulge your ear,) Mr... will lecture at two o'clock this day.

Yours, dear Mr... very sincerely,

For the truth's sake,

T. A. Powerscourt

Letter 32.

Powerscourt, 11th February, 1829.

My dear friend, I have been much arrested of late by Acts 5. 12 - 14. Just what believers should be among men. The question is not, shall we put out this or that person from our society; but shall we not so live, so speak, that no man who was not in reality durst join himself to us? Oh! what perilous times these for the church. We see the merciful wisdom in the necessity of persecution and tribulation, to keep the church in the world. She is in prosperity, when in persecution. Satan is not asleep; is more to be dreaded when undermining by expediency, than when openly destroying; deceiving, if it were possible, the very elect; leading them to do his works with plausible motives, and in spite of most sincere hearts; wishing to correct a false idea prevalent in the world — namely, that all religion consisted in living differently from others. The church has now ended in living in strict conformity to the world; so that, in preventing the mistake, she has become unfaithful to her trust, by misrepresenting Christianity, and presenting a false likeness of her Lord; reconciling, indeed, the world, in a great measure, to that which, if faithfully represented, it never could be reconciled to; therefore testifying against herself in the very reconciliation. Is not this the cause why Christianity is so much more profession than confession? ... Though scattered abroad, we are not scattered abroad preaching the Gospel; we have sallied forth into the world, walked among its children, stood, and at length sat down amongst them, stretched out our hands to the world, and, consequently, it has stretched out its hand to us; and now we are walking comfortably arm in arm. Did we not meet them in luxuries, they would not meet us. Did our conversation and deportment testify against them, they would soon bid farewell to us. Perilous times when Christians have time to play with idols ... A dear friend says, "The church is become so satisfied with her widowhood as to cease to look out for her Lord." Such are we. Times of persecution will only admit of drawing up every faculty of the soul to one point. How splendid the grace of patient waiting in Rutherford, and other persecuted believers. Love almost calls for troublous times, in the faithful suspicion of disfiguring HIS cause whom WE DO LOVE. The more rejoicing there is in the Lord, the more the idea grieves. How often we feel this in individual cases, in the toleration of one's family; how less burdensome often their rejection would be, though they are still so dear. That this is the evil state of things, is evident to all. It is little use mourning over it; but the question with us is, how shall we in serving our generation before we fall on sleep, testify against these evils? For since he must have some in every time to bear Him faithful witness, how shall we be among this privileged set? Since he has shown his affection in trusting our love, (by lending us volumes of his library for the perusal of the world,) surely, it is a most interesting question, how shall we be faithful to our charge? Is not the answer briefly expressed in his own reiterated command, so trampled under foot — Love; to exhibit it in the greater union of the body; in more diffusing around this spirit, this heavenly atmosphere; in more demonstrating it in action. How He entreats, as to this grace; upon what a basis He grounds the entreaty — if ye love; how unlimited He leaves it — "as I have loved you." Self-denying love — "though rich, for our sakes became poor," etc. Devoted love — "gave himself for us" — "kindly affectionate" — "courteous" — "having compassion one of another" — "weeping with those that weep, rejoicing with those that rejoice" — "if one member suffer, let all suffer" —  "not minding our own things, but every man the things of another" — "walk in love, as Christ loved you" — the same love will be well pleasing, a sweet incense — "condescending to those of low estate" —  "consider one another, to provoke to love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching;" showing meekness, gentleness, faithfulness, forbearance, long-suffering. It appears to me, if each body of Christians were to aim more at this, in action, word, and spirit, in each separate place, the world would be more convinced by this oneness, than by using methods of expediency to be of use to them; such as religious parties, etc. Hypocrites would be more ashamed of putting on Christ as a garment of fame; while believers would be fitted into him more closely, as a garment bound round with the bond of perfectness — the badge of discipleship.

It seems to me faithful parochial ministers now content themselves with the work of an evangelist, neglecting the most difficult part of their office —  heart searching work ... The minister should watch over, warn, exhort, point out from Scripture errors in spirit, and errors in life, and, though last not least, the body should make each others circumstances, as well as the church's interests, more its own; so that the faithfulness shown to each individual would multiply the thanksgivings of many, and redound to the glory of God. It would be sweet to have this pillar of truth, with love inscribed on it, erected in different parts of the country, in the parish of every faithful minister. I would especially enforce on myself, that outward demonstrations of love are far easier than the spirit — our real want is more of the spirit; without this, all endeavours to love, to show humility, spirituality, would be a mimicking Christ, a carcass without a soul. Nothing seems so likely to place in a state of expectation and looseness to the world, as keeping the eye on his second coming. It enables the soul to bound forward, as the struggle which Satan has made to maintain erroneous views on this subject is sufficient proof. I would also enforce on myself, that to give money is the least gift we have to give in token of love. Love, while producing self-denial, also produces generosity in every way in which we can possibly show kindness. Love is not always counting its pence. Then, dear friend, let us behold, as in a glass, every day more of the glory of God, till we are changed into his image. Let us get heat, by living near the furnace of love. May he mellow our hearts into his own spirit! May the fountain poured in overflow to all around! Have we not been loved? Do we not love? Are we not in the light? Are we not the subjects of his petition, "that they may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee?" Perhaps my poverty in this grace, makes me feel the need of it so much in the church. May my want lead to more earnest prayer, to be enabled to "love unfeignedly with pure hearts fervently," "in deed, and in truth," "as ourselves;" not love proceeding from duty, but love that shall produce duty; "as brethren," to those we live with, as well as those we occasionally meet! Is not this godlike grace endeared by being his command, his last, shall I say only command, given when his own feelings and agonies were forgotten in anxiety to comfort his sorrowing disciples? Is it not the embryo of his future kingdom? Alas! my leanness, my leanness! Yet I often think we do not enough wonder at the grace already bestowed. There is so much evil within, we fear to look in even at his grace, and we see it so mixed up in others often, we cannot separate it from the creature; but yet a little, and all his handywork in us shall be shown to his praise and his glory. Every receiver of a cup of cold water shall stand up to witness to it; we shall not recognise ourselves, (Matt. 25. 37.) Till that day I put by my hallelujahs, except for this, that there shall be a day in which I shall be able to praise him. I expect in that day to have much, oh, how much! of his faithfulness to tell you — a joyful, wondrous story, as wonderful to myself, as it shall be wonderful to you. I have thus poured out to you my sentiments, not only to have your opinion, if all this is a fancy of my brain, but if not, for you to try and induce the ministers with whom you have influence, to set an example to others in these perilous days. Pray write soon, and exhort me in that in which you see me most wanting.

Yours, in the sincerity of Christian affection,

T. A. P.

Letter 33.

Powerscourt, 7th April, 1829.

My dear friend — Tell ... with my love, that the people imagine a vain thing, and the rulers, in taking counsel against the Lord; for He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, and shall deride them by setting his King upon his holy hill of Zion. Nothing shall retard his approach and glory. Each event shall as surely hasten it, as days, and months, and years, bring on eternity.

I hope you sometimes think of me when you go in before the Lord. Oh! you have much to ask for me; and how blessed would be my necessities to you, could they keep you but a moment longer in communion with the Friend of Sinners! Thus might our infirmities, as well as our graces, be made blessings to our friends.

Yours, my dear friend, in Him who is our all in all,

T. A. P.

Letter 34.

Powerscourt, 24th July, 1829.

My dear friends must think me dead and buried; yet you see I am revived. I long to hear from you again; what a sad spirit seems to be exhibited in many parts of ... ! such a spirit, so much seen in the writings of those who stand up for our glorious prospects, seems to do more against the good at which they aim than all their writings can do for it, at least on this side the water.

Is not the old covenant completely abolished, instead of remaining to be executed? Will you tell me if you think this conclusion just, which I have come to on the subject? Covenant just means God's plans fixed in eternity, being unfolded in the promises, and confirmed by sacrifices. God's great purpose from eternity was, that an inheritance should be possessed by Abraham and his seed, in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed. A promise to this end was given in Eden, renewed to Abraham, then to David. The whole arrangement of the Jewish ceremony called the old covenant, or arrangement, were the same promises handed down by types, instead of word; the confirmation of these promises was Christ's sacrifice, of which the smoking furnace and burning lamp were types, like as were the sacrifices. An ordinance of confirmation, relating to the same promises, is still kept up in the Lord's supper; which, while reminding in His sacrifice of the security of God's promise, by repeating as often as we partake of it, "until my coming again," still carries us on to his appearing a second time, without sin unto salvation, when shall be the execution, and full operation of this everlasting, ever new, covenant! I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts, etc. I will sprinkle clean water upon them, (Exodus, 36. 23.) I do not see any difference between covenant and testament; for a will is simply the promise of a free gift, with the promise well secured. The will may be made and secured many years before it is executed. Will you take the trouble of pulling this to pieces? I was going to say much more, but have not time. — May He who hath mercy on you, lead you by springs of water — may He guide you wherever you go this summer — may He lead, He who leadeth Joseph like a flock, He who leads the blind by a way they know not, He who will not overdrive his flock, but gently lead the heavy laden — may He go with you and before you. You cannot go from his presence, whatever labyrinth you may get entangled in; He shall so shine forth as to make it a plain path. In the multitude of strange notions that surround, He shall lead you in his truth; in the multitude of sins, He shall lead you in paths of righteousness; in the midst of mortality, He shall lead you in the way everlasting, ever leading to the Rock that is higher than you.

I leave you in His safe keeping, and remain, though a silent, yet a very sincere and hearty friend,

T. A. P.

Letter 35.

Brussels, 2nd March, 1830.

My very dear friend — How is your sister? had no idea she was so ill. How much you must both have suffered! I put off every post writing, hoping to give you an answer about ... but I cannot wait longer, for I really wish to hear you are both delivered from your troubles. What a comfort to remember there is a great meaning in glorifying God, and that He does use his creatures for that end! There was a great meaning in all your dear sister suffered, and all you suffered in her; to be purified in the furnace of another's sufferings is difficult, it shall be found to his glory at his coming! The world thinks us insignificant creatures; but, oh! how important all we do, all we say. Nothing is trifling. We are a spectacle to the invisible world, &c; the subjects of competition between powers of light, and powers of darkness — pillars on which Christ's kingdom is sustained in Satan's world, temples of promise, therefore houses of prayer, habitations of the spirit. When we pray to be spared a trial, it may well be answered, "ye know not what ye ask," — we know not of what supplies we should thus deprive ourselves. Yes, we are a people to be wondered at. How extraordinary that we should be marked ones, and that all should be forced to see that our kingdom is not from hence, and that our hope is laid up in heaven!

That is very superficial which is only learnt by rote, we must come into the school of experience in order to learn by heart. Alas! what idolatry, what mockery, what mummery around me. May He quickly come, and set all things in order, for this confusion is the earnest of hell!

Tell your dear sister, with my sincere sympathy and affectionate love, I remember her to the All-sufficient. Pray write soon to your very affectionate friend,

T. A. P.

Letter 36.

Paris, May, 1830.

My very dear friend — Truly I feel for your fresh trial, one peculiarly trying to you: how graciously He has taught you to bend under it! One sermon from himself is worth a thousand from any man. Never so sweet is it to be raised up, as when He has cast down. Are we not given to drink largely of refreshment, and consolation from the Comforter even in the desert, to lie down in our field of promise. "When he giveth quietness, who then shall give trouble?" Enemies may surround, but our Shepherd is near; enemies may be in ambush, but the shepherd is on the watch. But could we only recount our repose and refreshment — should we not leave half untold the donation of bliss? Is it not blessed to be able to sing of judgment as well as mercy? Surely it is among our chiefest blessings that it has never yet been said of us, "let them alone." Israel was blessed, while God brought down their heart through heaviness, for they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. Israel was blessed, while they slew them: then they sought him, and remembered God was their rock, and the high God their Redeemer. The sorest word ever spoken to them, I think, was "why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more." But though silly sheep still, though still straying, counting the cost, we can say, "seek thy servant." Cannot we testify that love has rebuked, and chastened again and again, when we have turned aside? Has he not been unwearied in preserving our faith? Though Satan has been permitted to sift, his grain of wheat has not fallen to the ground; though cast into the furnace, the refiner has sat over his treasure, because to him the trial was precious. When sin has separated between Him and us, where idols have scattered our thoughts here and there, has He not been bent on restoring? has he not yearned over his Ephraim? Sometimes He almost breaks the heart with such a look as He gave Peter; sometimes he overcomes by passing by iniquities; sometimes by feeding with the rod and judgments. But of this we may rest assured, blessed thought! He will restore, till we can say in the spirit of him who was dumb before the shearers, "any thing with, thy smile," any thing but thy frown? I think at other times the soul feels so conscious of ingratitude and baseness, that its own convictions suppose displeasure in the Friend of Sinners, which needs a strong expression to prove it otherwise. At such times it is not sufficient to know He is a friend, we need a smile to infuse confidence. The conscious prodigal expects a rod, his father runs, "falls on his neck and kisses him." We cannot long read the volume of his providence, it appears to me, without experiencing this dealing; for He delights to expose the soul's proneness to expect dealing according to desert, by sparing when we deserve punishment, and in the midst of judgment remembering mercy. Alas! how slow we are in learning not to turn from, but flee to Jesus in our extremities, as our hiding place and guide. Satan's constant aim I think seems to be, to lead from the simplicity which is in Christ —  Christ's to restore us to it, and lead us in it. I believe we are only wise in giving ourselves up to his guidance, and in following whithersoever He leads. Followers of a crucified One, we must expect a thorny, though a trodden path; but He will not leave till He has satisfied, yea, satiated the hungry soul with goodness. His glory is bound up in us! his name is in us! I suppose you have seen... since his return, who has told you all about this place. Infidelity is horrible in the world, more boldly confessed I should think than formerly. Much good here, and nice preaching; simple, joyful, marrow of the Gospel, though not much deep experience. We need to have the enemy met in the avenues within, and overcome with a text. This is where Mr. Howels excels. Tell me some things he has said of late in his sermons.

Yours in truth and faithfulness,

Theodosia A. Powerscourt.

Letter 37.

Paris, June 8, 1830

My dear friend — I should be pained, indeed, if you were to consider I have not often, often, thought of, and deeply felt with you in your last most trying, most peculiarly afflictive visitation. I have remembered you, where alone I could be useful; and I doubt not, you have received some sweet drops of cordial from His faithful messenger. I trust now, as of old, you can say, "It has been good." You have had an experience of his tenderness, which you would not be without, and we know little of. He allots you the most favoured place in his church on earth, to glorify Him in the fires. Behold, how He loves! What a reality ill the promises when learnt in the furnace! What pains He takes in your education! How bright He means you to shine! My dear friend, I have also most gratefully to thank you for the trouble you took for me in the long instructive and interesting letter you last wrote. I have, also, considered your fresh trial, and seen the hand of the Lord in it. Oh! is it not well for us that the cup of consolation is not in our hands? There is One who holds it, yes, holds it for you; and though he mingles the bitter ingredient of sickness and trial, yet, there are drops from the fountain of everlasting love mingled to sweeten the draught; and it has been sweet; yes, I know it has, and wait to hear it from your own mouth in a very few days, if the Lord conduct us in safety. My God does all things well. We cannot see it, we cannot feel it, but He has said, therefore, in spite of sense, faith shall see and faith shall feel, "He does all things well." "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons." Mr. Howels says, A father's heart is not wholly seen till it descends in tears on the rod of chastisement — he knows where to chasten, where the heart feels the rod. Sometimes he sends a rod which is light to ourselves, while a whip of scorpions to others. He also knows when to strike; takes the best opportunity of correcting us the best way; often takes to the edge of a precipice to show us the abyss down which he could dash our hearts till they might shiver to pieces at the bottom; and this, perhaps, when we are complaining of something else, some providence or dispensation. He just shows what he is able to do, to humble and chasten at the moment we require. He cannot mistake as to the matter, manner, time, or place; all selected by infinite wisdom. Oh! "He doeth all things well." Infinite love is in the arrangement. There is the love, pity, vigilance, tenderness, anxiety, sympathy, caution; the whole head, the whole eye, the whole heart of a Father at work. None but a Father can tell the feelings of a father, when, indeed, He chastens, not for the indulgence of his own temper, but for the good of the child He loves. And who can tell what the refinement, exaltation, perfection of paternal feeling is in the bosom of him, who so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son? That Father who spared him not, but gave him up for us — How shall He not with him give all things? How unsearchable must be the love of God to his poor sinful worms where the paternal feelings for Jesus, as to the infliction of sufferings, were (if it be not presumptuous to say) sacrificed to save his people from suffering? Oh! when we so much need the rod, shall we faint under or despise it? May it be sweet to us in the apprehension of faith, however bitter in the feeling of sense. Till I have the pleasure and profit of seeing you and your dear sister, please Providence, believe in the sincere affection and sympathy of a true friend in Christ,

T. A. P.

"Now I beseech you for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me, in your prayers to God for me, that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. The God of peace be with you."

Letter 38.

Powerscourt, 21st August, 1830.

My dear friend — I was most truly grieved not to find you in London when I passed through. I counted that I should have had four days of your society, and could not help dropping a few tears of disappointment on receiving your note. I wonder if we shall ever meet again. Mrs... is dying. Her's is a happy lot; but, that of her devoted husband, experience tells me, will be a long, long, black and sad one; but in His light, no doubt, we shall walk through darkness. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light to me. It is well to have reality brought before us, to be forced even for others to seek out the promises. We discover ourselves so secure, ingenuity and unbelief cannot find a hole for doubt to creep in. He has provided for every case, and thus proved ours has been foreseen. I love to take the promises out of Christ, to see them lodged in his experience for our use; to remember He earned the fulness treasured up in him — his unsearchable riches. I believe his sympathy to be quite beyond any thing that has ever entered into our hearts. He had a power of receiving his people's feelings into his own bosom, so as to wipe, as it were, their very tears. This sensibility united with his purity, brought forth a remorse, a stinging of conscience more piercing than that of David when he said, "I have sinned." More bitter than that of Peter, when "he went out and wept bitterly." It is an argument with some, that as He could not feel remorse for sin, it is vain to seek to prove that He was in all points tempted like as we are. I believe He could with truth say, "Thou knowest my foolishness, my sins are not hid from thee." I believe in Peter's denial; He felt his ingratitude as a man, and the abhorrence of his sin as God, which wrought within him so grievous a wound. He could well say, "My wounds stink, and are corrupt through my foolishness." Likewise, in his tears over Jerusalem, there was a remorse as to his own, who should crucify Him, as well as compassion for those who should remain in impenitent unbelief, which enabled him also to say, "mine iniquities are gone over my head as a heavy burden; they are too heavy for me." How mysterious his sufferings. They appear more so every day, especially when we remember, that there is a depth of truth in every word He uttered, as expressed in the Psalms.

Thank your dear sister for her letter. You cannot think how much I enjoy both your letters. They are streams from the Fountain of consolation helping to make up my river of peace, consequently drops in the ocean of his glory. How blessed, that when He says it is his will, that his people should have strong consolation, He has ordained it should be communicated through his members!

I want very much to know how far I am to take the promise, "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not." I find it quite a common idea, that when I ask for bread, I may be given a stone; for fish, I may be given a serpent; that his "liberally" means to let me run into all sorts of error. His "not upbraiding," to deliver me up to the guidance of Satan. At least, I think, it is the same thing to say, I am not to consider what I learn in the study of Scripture, with prayer, the teaching of God.

Believe me, dear Friend,

Faithfully and affectionately yours,

T. A. P.

Letter 39.

Probably, 1830.

... It is said when He comes, shall He find faith in the earth? but while taking shame on this ground to ourselves, in having so badly used the talent entrusted to us, let us rejoice that the church is not invisible to her Lord. If it is true of Jews still beloved for the Father's sake, how much more may we say, still beloved for the Son's sake; still is He the head and husband of his church, the Saviour of the body; still does He love her, for whom He gave himself; still does He sanctify and cleanse her; still does He look forward to presenting her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, holy and without blemish; still does He love her as himself; still nourish and cherish her as members of his body, his flesh, his bones; still does he cleave to his wife, for they two are one spirit. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. As individuals, we are sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty — as a body, the church, — His celestial bride, (see Rev. 21. 9.) "This," says the apostle, "is a great mystery!" all said of the terrestrial bride, glorified Jerusalem, is true of her spiritually, "Jerusalem from above." Though no individual, or body of individuals, is infallible, yet does infallibility dwell in her, inasmuch as all possessed of His mind, possess an infallible teacher; though no individual or body of individuals is omnipotent, yet does omnipotence dwell in her, inasmuch as a God of power inhabits his people; therefore the gates of hell shall not prevail. What a mysterious subject is Jesus' knowledge as man, an interesting subject! I dare say I before wrote to you on the subject. There is a knowledge which He possesses from everlasting to everlasting, which has been ever perfect admitting of no increase, by which His scrutinizing eye flies through earth and hell, penetrating the bosoms of the lost; but His knowledge as man in which He grew as He grew in years, by which He "knows his sheep," implies love. Love brought Him into our school, led Him through every class in that school. Love educated Him into the knowledge of death and the grave. —  With this love, He embraced the individual temptations of all his family, so as to be able to say to all, "Come unto me, and ye shall find rest." This knowledge includes sympathy, for He remembers every lesson learned under the rod — without this knowledge, He could not hold the reins of government, nor present millions every moment to his Father. — By this knowledge, He pursues the lost with mercies, till they cast themselves into the pit of destruction. — By this knowledge, He is familiarly acquainted with all our necessities, and has experienced how we stand in need of his covenant in all its fulness, and all its perfections every moment, all his grace, all his love, all his truth, all his justice. We experience his knowledge, in the aptness by which He applies all He can confer, to our multiplied intricate cases, making us at the same time capable of receiving all He has to give. Sometimes we are reminded of his knowledge, in his noticing our sins, either by throwing into our faces the sparks of hell, as when He looked at Peter, or sometimes by tenderly kissing them away, as when three times asking, "Lovest thou me?" — But He learnt in order to communicate! We may hunger and thirst, for we shall at length be capacitated to receive all the treasures of wisdom, a knowledge hid in Him for us! Angels have no such capacity — "I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that," etc. etc. We desire the knowledge of our master, yet refuse the same discipline, but we are learners — we are not ambitious enough. He expects us to learn with the celerity of instinct. — Let His discipline teach us what now to expect — to be giants in knowledge. Jesus was once an infant; He attained his size, because He eat his food, "grew in wisdom." There is something sweet in spelling out of a book, the leaves of which were cut by Him! In his school we must learn most painful lessons of dependance — sometimes be almost flayed alive to keep us from worshipping ourselves. In his school (I mean the one in which He was educated) we shall learn in every difficulty to turn to the Father, as an infant in its mother's arms, at the approach of danger hides itself in the bosom of its best friend, and is happy. In his school, we shall get knowledge to learn to live, to learn to ward off ALL the fiery darts of the wicked with the shield of faith, to learn to walk on the waters in the trials of life, to walk on burning coals in its prosperity, to learn to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, fearing no evil, for his rod and his staff comfort. From the meekness and lowly heart of our teacher we shall learn the docility of learners, the bleating of Messiah's sheep, "I shall not want." How the Lord labours to get us to believe that as He is, so are we! Was not the glorified body of Jesus standing at the right hand of God in the light of the highest, when the apostle declared, "Our vile bodies shall be fashioned like to His?" see Rev. 1. 16; Matt. 17. 2; then Matt. 13. 43. See Him as he is, and be like Him! John 14. 3-6. "enter into joy of Lord," John 17. 22; Rev 3. end — "so shall we be ever with the Lord," never tainted with sin, never clouded with sorrow, where death shall have no name, and falsehood be unknown. We shall not long have to write or speak, our eyes will be occupied fully — our ears in ever new delight: God alone will be able to satisfy glorified ears.

Your very attached Friend,

T. A. P.

Pray write soon, and empty out the full of your heart, the evils, the good, and the affections. How I love those dear creatures you are with! I hope your time may be as agreeable as mine with them.

Letter 40.

17th July, 1831.

My very dear Sister in a happy family. — We wait with much anxiety to hear from you respecting your husband. We have heard he was very ill. May you have fresh mercies to recount of our faithful God. Oh! how dependant we are on Him! how many vulnerable points! poor triflers that we are! how soon He can bring us into reality and make us real! I trust you may not have had cause to blame me, etc. etc. Whatever is, whatever has been, whatever shall be to you, is well. May you have faith to see it, in all the wanderings you may yet have before you, in this vain, this dark howling wilderness; and when we cannot unriddle, may we learn to trust.

Yours faithfully, and with much sincere affection,

T. A. P.

Letter 41.

... 1831.

You have no doubt heard of the death of our dear ... after five days illness; typhus fever, so short a time did he enjoy what he was so happy in being spared! Vanity of vanities! His poor wife is every day expecting her confinement, but altogether satisfied with her Father's determination concerning her; love sent it, not only love for time, but for eternity. Can love injure? Yes, in time, for a benefit through eternity. How true, "life is but a vapour." Every thing which tends to aggravate a trial seems more loudly to speak the amazing love which sends it — deep love — when he smites it is to wound, to cause pain, not for His pleasure, but for our profit. It is "through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom." They on whom the Lord most bestows trouble here, will shine most brightly in the kingdom — polished stones fit for the royal diadem; — tribulation of every kind — not merely persecution for the Lord's sake, but tribulation; and who partook of all so much as the King of glory? The troubles incident to humanity, Jesus made his own, all were appropriated by Him, found in the cup He drank of, and were the essence of the baptism which he was baptised with — to which cup and baptism we are invited. This love threatened to send her last year into the upper chambers of our Father's house, and has actually called him; and if the Lord comes not, though she will not see Him with these eyes till then, she will soon also leave these vaults, and ascend to the house top. What an advantage he has over us I Another sheaf housed, another witness added to the cloud around. It was in ministering to the bodily wants of the poor he took his fever. How full of wonder all His church will be, when at the last the manifold wisdom of God shall be exhibited in the individual and collective salvation and glory of his people.

Most decidedly your, loved in the Lord and in the flesh,

Theodosia A. Powerscourt.

Letter 42.

My dear Mr ...,  How does your throat get on? I fear not better. This is just what we need — these little changes — to be taught to make use of the promises. Too apt to be satisfied with enjoying His word, while reading and meditating on it, then go away and forget it till the next stated time returns; therefore, it is well to be scratched on the way with little briers, that we may be sent for healing to "It is written," to be made to feed on promises all the way; He creates an appetite for this divine food, then fills the hungry soul with good things — sweet to have a care that we may cast it on Him. I believe it is not his will, we should merely draw upon our bank of consolation, large sums we think worth drawing for, but He wills we should return, again and again, for every shilling and six pence. We cannot trouble Him, and surely, never does he deal more tenderly, than when expecting us to trust, in things about which, He has made no agreement, for no greater proof is there of affection than to confide in love ... We know the Lord! therefore can leave ourselves to Him without asking for an explanation till the day of hallelujah. This much we are sure of, every cup our Father puts into the hands of his children must be a cup of blessing, because more or less, the communion of the blood of Christ, it infuses health before we drink, therefore given with Him, every curse is turned into a blessing, every blessing kept from being a curse. I cannot pity you in being shut up, for you have so large, so beautiful a field of meditation to walk in — Christ crucified — Christ applied — Christ glorified! He hath done great things for us! Great things are spoken of us! Oh, may we be enabled to keep his end in view simply as our end; namely, his glory. For so admirably has He interwoven his glory and our happiness, that while our happiness constitutes his glory, his glory constitutes our happiness; and never shall we know what true satisfaction is, till we cease to fight to be gods, and take our place as nothing, till self is lost in the "all in all" of God ... Excuse this long letter, but I was reading, that it is our Father's will his children should have strong consolation, and I thought it would be a nice thing to be a rivulet of comfort, helping to make up your peace as a river, and thus be also a drop in the ocean of His glory...

Yours very truly,

T. A. Powerscourt.

Letter 43.

My dear Mr ...,  I heard yesterday you were not well. I hope it is nothing more than cold, and that you have not laid in your hoarseness for the winter, not only for our sakes, but it must be a trial to the friend of the Bridegroom, to be unable to nourish and comfort his friend's bride, especially, when, in entrusting him with so precious a charge, during his absence, He has manifested such a confiding affection, "lovest thou me? Feed my sheep." Well, you have one more difficult task, than, either defending, or supporting her — that is, comforting her. She so often asks, "Watchman, what of the night? Why tarry the wheels of his chariot?" She so often complains "The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me." She so often needs to be reminded, that He has indeed left this message with you for her, that "the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee," — "I will never leave thee," and to be urged — "Though He tarry, wait for Him, for He will come, and not tarry." May you be much cheered in contemplating the day of the Bridegroom's return, when you shall restore your precious charge, when your joy shall be fulfilled, in hearing His voice, and receiving "Well done, good and faithful servant," etc. How I should like to be a minister...

Very truly,

T. A. P.

Letter 44.

March 3rd, 1831.

My dear Mr ...,  I have been dwelling a good deal lately on the sweetest of all subjects — our union with Jesus. It is a holy and mysterious subject, but since our teacher is one who searcheth the deep things of God, is it not our privilege to venture under his guidance into all revealed, even into the most High; to walk about and consider this our habitation, and call all within, our own. Whatever declares the identification of Jesus with us, also witnesses to our identification with him. He was educated and disciplined in every thing. He was taught by the Spirit; led the path of faith, not only for our sakes, but our inheritance. We have an interest in his person, as well as in his office and character. We must live in God, inhale his breath, for like the sun, we can only know him by his own influences proceeding from himself. How holy would be our walk! how much of the atmosphere of heaven we should diffuse around, if we always came forth into the world, from the secret place of the most high, as our abiding place. What a field of delight this opens to us in the anticipation of our own loveliness, full of grace and truth, like Jesus! heirs of all the wealth of him who is God — precious in itself, doubly precious from being his. But not only future delights, but present privileges; for united to him, though a beggar in rags, yet in graces is not the believer this moment, our dear Brother in embryo? I speak not of Jesus our Lord, as God over all —  the "I am," or "my fellow," neither as "the Word," who was "in the beginning with God," "by whom all things were made;" who came out from the Father, to testify what he had seen and heard. But the union which, as Jesus of Nazareth, He possessed when anointed with the Holy Ghost, and with power. He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed, because God was with him, which is expressed (it seems to me) in, "we are one," "the Father in me, and I in him." It having pleased the Father, all fulness should dwell in him, even all the "fulness of the Godhead bodily," which oneness He declares, we shall know at that day. This union, whatever it is, is ours. "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." He that keeps his commandments — whosoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God — he that dwells in love — he that loves his brother, God dwells in him, and he in God — "We will come and make our abode with him," "Christ in you," and in "that day," this oneness shall also be known, for "ye shall know in that day, that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you!!!" From this union seems to flow every other blessing. Being members of his body, of his flesh, and his bones — "joined to the Lord," therefore "one spirit," the same things which are true in God, are also true in us, who are Christ's. Oh, what a world of glory is opened to us in these words, "my beloved is mine, and I am his!" Nothing can separate us from Jesus. Nothing extracts Jesus from the cup presented. Laden with him every event must be full of love, though perhaps blessings in disguise. He gives to drink of his own cup of blessedness, and glory. The grain of wheat having fallen into the earth, taken root in the depths of hell, we have sprung up in him. If exposed to the same blasts, we also enjoy the same refreshing dews, the same enlivening sun. Possessed of his nature we shrink, as the sensitive plant, from the touch of sin, but with him shooting up into the very heavens, we drop into the Father's hand, the tender grapes of his choice vine. "All our fresh springs," are in him.

Your description of all the dear Christians at ... is lamentable; sad, very sad, the members should be so unlike the head; and this alas! is too true of us all. The transcript of the Spirit, though executed with exquisite nicety, is scarcely perceptible through the thick veil of flesh that covers it. It seems no longer true, "no man ever hated his own flesh." Whether we look at the want of his power in his church, or of the fruit of his Spirit in his members, still are we inclined to ask, has the Spirit of the Lord fainted? Is He exhausted? where is he? Query, is not this quarrelling among the children of God, the natural result of want of communion? The religion of Jesus especially enforces and cultivates union. Satan's wiles seem set at the dispersion of the members. So that now the principle is almost denied, and Christianity merely a business between God and the soul — and where it is sought, it is usually only union of sects — must not then, the graces which are the fruit of love, want cultivation? "suffereth long, is kind, envieth not, vaunteth not itself, etc." In this how entirely Satan has succeeded in the Roman Catholic religion. Each has his own prayer to say, they do not seem to know there is such a thing as united prayer. I heard a minister say the other day, he thought his business was to convert souls. From scripture it seems to me, a minister's chief business commences instead of finishes, when a soul is brought to life, and for this how much more is needful, than the public congregations. However for such dead souls, is not storm better than stagnation? I am sure the evil is not in differences of opinion, for this is the necessary result of increase of light, but our evil is more, that we cannot allow another to see things differently from us. But we are in a warfare, and though not receiving wounds from the flesh in the shape of persecution, we must be receiving them from some quarter. The flesh still wars against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, because still contrary one to the other, and if in the spirit, we must feel it so, from wounds without or wounds within. Most painful, if from the flesh of a beloved brother or sister. But does not this even turn to us for a testimony? and does it not give opportunity of showing, that the flesh is subdued, by loving, and persevering to love through all? If in every rub, our concern is for his glory having suffered, surely we shall then strive to disappoint Satan in our brother. All would be much easier to endure, if instead of taking it as from this sister, or that brother, we could take it as from our common enemy, the flesh. Wounds, one from the other, seem more now, our appointed trial of faith than open persecution, and had we not this, we might forget we were in a conflict, and put off our armour, therefore in these wounds let us not wonder, as though "some strange thing happened, but rejoice in being by any means partakers of his sufferings", for if this whole dispensation is not the day of the church's; fasting, a day of temptation, and suffering, how could the promises of being partakers in the glory of a suffering Saviour be ours? To suffer with him and to be glorified with him, seem closely connected. There is something sweet, in being pruned by a wounded hand, and oh! when we feel the drowsiness of our affections, our proneness to depart from him, and to be satisfied at a distance, have we not cause to be over head and ears in love with trials? that He should be so jealous of our friendship now, to force true happiness upon us, in spite of ourselves, to drive us to his strength, to live upon his promises, and lay our head upon his breast — He is not satisfied his tried children should be common Christians — He considers us — and if He says, "prove me my child," it is that He may introduce us into the innermost chambers of his faithfulness. No doubt in a short time, we shall know much of this, but persecution is the Christian's halo, and trial his triumph. He is called to glorify the Lord in the fires. It is a noble thing to be accounted worthy to suffer shame for Christ's sake. What soldier would flinch from the combat, when his captain is gone before him in the forefront of the battle? What soldier of Christ is he, who having the assurance of victory, and honour, accounts it a privilege to be out of the field? Are we not called to suffering? are we not chosen as witnesses to his resurrection, in being above, far beyond its sting? Let us expect a succession of trial, and suffering — to have just to post fast, from trouble to trouble. In our God, we are able. As the spirit of prayer strives to be heard, and the spirit of thanksgiving breaks forth into singing, so does the spirit of martyrdom delight in the sphere of action. We are superior to the power of death. Death, in his own domain shall acknowledge us risen. We have overcome the grave, and are set down with Christ our Lord, in the glory of the Highest. How jealous we should be, to show forth his active, as well as passive graces, while left in an enemy's ground! There is nothing else to live for. I feel that a desire to have been more spent, and to have suffered more for my beloved Master, in this theatre of his humiliation, is the only thing, could make me hesitate, in my longing desire to be with Him, who is, and has been, so abundantly with me. But we are such creatures, God cannot accomplish his will, or allow us our heart's desire, without severe discipline. Every day afresh, He has to pursue us out of self. The old man must be kept low, emptied out, to enable us to be filled, with the fulness of God. Oh! to bid an eternal adieu to self; as a tormentor! Oh, to be able to be nothing! This is my idea of the height of glory. We are everlastingly grappling at his honour. In the secret, lower chambers of the heart, we devise means to rob him of this, his due — then we know not how to wear it. The robe of glory was never made to fit us. We carry it with the most absurd awkwardness. Thinking ourselves something, we become perfectly ridiculous. In these fearful days, I should fear much for myself, were I not able to take a full, strong grasp of his promise, "If any man lack wisdom," etc. I cannot think when I ask bread, He would give me a stone. Did I not think my teacher as faithful as He is infallible, there is no book, I should so fear to handle as the book of God. Left in any degree to ourselves, it would be as the plunging into a sea of errors. Such is the poison of the human mind, it requires all the wisdom, and energy of omnipotence to prevent our salvation becoming our destruction. May we be in earnest, may we live while we live — may we know more of that love, which will take a brother's failings to a throne of grace, while throwing over them a cloak of charity — which will fix on his grace in a brother, and render thanks for it — which will be faithful in reproof, as well as jealous in defence. May the beam be more and more extracted from our own eyes, that we may see fewer motes in our brother's. I do not know what to say for writing so long a letter.

Faithfully and affectionately yours,

Theodosia A. Powerscourt.

Letter 45.

1831.

My dear Mr ...,  I have a feeling about me, that I have left something undone; and the only thing I can think of is, that I have been so long from home, and have not written to you. I suppose you have all been going on as usual, at least Mr... from whom I heard lately, does not say any thing to the contrary. We hope to be home the beginning of next week. I am sure you were much shocked at the death of dear Mr... It was a striking lesson to the whole parish, so soon after rejoicing with him. It is a loud voice to us, "up and be doing." The time is short, and very uncertain. He is safely, and very unexpectedly, housed in the Lord's barn. There was much that was lovely in his character; a laying aside of self, and his own pleasures, and pursuits, to be of use, and comfort to others, was especially striking. As doing this from duty is rather irksome to those to whom the attention is shown, therefore, I think, to seek to have formed in us the mind which was in Christ, is better than to seek to imitate him. Does it not seem that the world is breaking up? Does not Satan seem to be arranging his forces, so as to be ready for the battle of Armageddon? How we should be bespeaking strength for the day of trial. I cannot help thinking we also shall have trial, though not to partake in the despair and desolation of the last end. Does it not seem that the end brought about by the man of sin — the last Pharaoh — Dragon incarnate, will be the demonstration of our patience, and the faithfulness of Him who will keep us from falling? Are we not told under the 5th seal, that martyrdom shall continue until the hour of God's vengeance? More martyrs, therefore, are to be slain; for the blood of God's servants is not yet avenged — judgment must begin at the house of God. Matt. 24. 22, says, that unequalled tribulation shall be shortened for the elect's sake, while every declaration of Christ's being come, is a falsehood. It seems to me that the verses 15 and 28 of Luke 24. prove the destruction of Jerusalem not to be the entire fulfilment of this prophecy. Mark, in chap. 13. seems to says, that it is, after the Gospel has been preached in all nations, brother shall betray brother, etc. It is said of this time, "Here is the patience of the saints." Blessed then the dead, that die in the Lord; oh what a time! shall we see it? Surely we need to count the cost, to put on the whole armour of God, that we may enter boldly into the battle, since our enduring will be for our Captain's honour, and to the proof of his power. It seems the church must walk in the footsteps of her Lord. It will be terrible to be betrayed by one's own child, by one's familiar friend — to see the name of Jesus almost eradicated — the worship of a devil set up — we ourselves assaulted with Satan's most cunning, because last, snares; and if to pass through his experience, to drink indeed of his cup, and be baptized indeed with his baptism; our hearts may be poured out like water, we may sink in deep mire, and our Father's face be hidden; for unless these days be shortened, no flesh could be saved, but for the elect's sake these days shall be shortened, for then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. The Lord tells us to watch and pray, that we may be accounted worthy to escape, what is coming on the earth, etc. It cannot mean a prayer to die, for there is a great promise to them who endure to the end, those who overcome. Does there not seem to be two distinct destructions spoken of, Babylon, and the Beast? But how blessed to be among those whose sufferings will be full of hope! Does it not seem from the types, that His people are to be delivered not from, but out of affliction. He knows how to deliver us out of temptation. We are witnesses of His resurrection. He was only the first fruits. We are superior to all the power of the enemy. He died through weakness, but was raised in power. To this power we are united. What a triumph over death it will be, in his own domain (when as it were, death shall be let loose on earth,) the gathering up of his saints! What a thunderclap of hallelujah, when all the prayers of all saints for our poor world, long, long laid up, shall all be answered in one event!!...

... Ever most affectionately yours,

Theodosia A. Powerscourt.

Letter 46.

April, 1831.

Dear Mr ..., I write to accuse you of want of love; — our Master's badge of discipleship, who is love. — His last and dying command. — No doubt you will agree with me that all the Gospel, as well as law, is contained in that word love. How much we need to be led into the height, depth, length, and breadth of his own word. Is it not poverty of love makes us crave the spirit, and forget the practice? is it not the same poverty enforces the practice, neglectful of the spirit? Oh! that all the church would unite, in each putting, at least, one stitch in that rent mantle, with which the apostle enjoins us to cover a multitude of sins. — Oh that we could more decidedly pluck out the beam from our own eye, that the mote in our brother's might appear less! Oh that we more honoured the spirit, in giving credit to the principles of those who love the Lord in sincerity, and by our faithfulness more drew upon those principles. It seems to me the nature of love is twofold. — First, it is given to excuse, instead of accuse. Second, it is equally jealous in covering and detecting evil — covering it from others — detecting it to the individual concerned. Pardon me for saying, it seems to me you have failed towards me in both these points — Christian love, where God's glory is the simple motive, no doubt would lead us to consider others, both in feeling ourselves bound to give thanks, and to glory in what God has done for them, and also in carrying the blind, maimed, halt and infirm, in the arms of faith, to place them at the feet of Jesus. My accusation is, I have heard from two or three quarters that you have brought me forward as an example of inconsistency in having ... Is that all you saw inconsistent!!! I do not write to justify myself. I can "lift up my face unto God;" neither do I profess to act for man's judgment. But was it consistent, was it Christian love to condemn, unheard, not to point out by word or letter this evil in your sight? Was it being jealous over God's glory, to be so little jealous over my walk? Alas! how little sympathy of conscience, how little help we meet in our most difficult paths! nevertheless, though overlooked at the time, since pointed out, I confess the appearance inconsistent. Do not, dear ... think me offended; I am not in the least so, but should be glad you were to continue using my example if it can be of use; but my motive in writing is to prove to you by this your failure, how much we need mercy one from the other, as to our consistency, and how ill we can sustain judgment. If not falling on one side, we are on the other. A deep sense of "Behold, I am vile," will settle us in our right place, as respects God, others, and ourselves; truly we are given to totter in our own conceits, as a stick balanced on a man's finger falls either to this side or that, we are ever going, going, but blessed be God, never quite gone, because the finger is Omnipotence. Let us pray that in striving to represent, we do not altogether misrepresent, the lowly walk to which our high vocation calls us.

Yours, dear ...

With sincerity, etc. etc.

T. A. P.

Letter 47.

Powerscourt, February 18, 1831.

My dear friend — I was indeed surprised to hear of ... How little similitude exists between the members and the Head; and this, alas! is too true of us all. The transcript of the spirit, though executed with exquisite nicety, is scarcely perceptible through the thick veil of flesh which covers it. It seems no longer true — "No man ever hated his own flesh." Whether we look at the want of power in the church, or of the fruit of the Spirit in the members, still are we inclined to ask, has the Spirit of the Lord fainted? Is He exhausted? Where is He? "Now when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not, until I have shown thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come." But we are in a warfare; this is the battle hill; and though not receiving wounds from the flesh, in the shape of persecution, we must be receiving them from some quarter. The flesh still wars against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and if in the spirit, we must feel it so from wounds without, or wounds within. Most painful, if from the flesh of a beloved brother, or sister. But does not even this turn to us for a testimony? And does it not give opportunity of showing, that the flesh is subdued by loving, and persevering to love through all? Wounds one from the other, seem now more our appointed trial of faith than open persecution; and had we not these, we might forget we were in a conflict, and put off our armour. Therefore, let us not wonder at these fiery darts, as though some strange thing happened to us, but open our bosoms to receive of his suffering, and rejoice in being counted worthy of being partakers of them by any means; for if this whole dispensation were not the day of the church's fasting, the day of his temptation and suffering, how could the promise of being partakers in the glory of a suffering Saviour be ours? To suffer with him and to be glorified with him, how closely connected! Dear friends, take this as from the Lord, even as you do. He is pruning with a wounded hand; and, oh! when we feel the drowsiness of our affections, our proneness to depart from him, to be satisfied at a distance, have we not cause to be "over head and ears in love" with trial, that He should be jealous for our friendship now; so force true happiness upon us in spite of ourselves, so drive us to his strength, to live upon his promises, and lean our heads upon his breast? He is not satisfied that we should be common Christians. Oh! bless him and kiss the rod. He is considering you. Let us leave ourselves to him. If He says, prove me, my child, it is that He may introduce you into the inner chambers of his faithfulness. If he places you in difficulties and perplexities, it is that He himself may expound his promise in your experience: "I am your shield, your exceeding great reward."

"Venture on Him, venture wholly.

Let no other trust intrude;

None but Jesus can do helpless sinners good."

We are all too apt to feel that had we some other race to run than the one set before us, we could go lightly, and run swiftly. Now I feel impeded by the weight of being called queen of a castle; and imagine, could I lay it aside and have nothing, then I might run with more patience after the Crucified. I am inclined to say, in your race you have no misgivings of conscience; you feel assured that you are just as He has placed you! Thus He sets a race before each, and gives a sufficient remedy for all, "looking unto Jesus." But I know the sorrows of your mind, and pray that balm may be poured into the opened wound. May your spirit be kept above with Jesus, and the spirits of the just! Look forward. That new song requires our parts to complete the harmony. He could not be satisfied with the travail of his soul, until he had worked out our salvation. Oh! mysterious Jesus, teach us thy works and plans. Let our hearts pant after thee as the harts after water. Create a thirst which nothing shall satisfy but the fountain of eternal love. See the velocity with which the needle flies to the magnet when it gets within distance; so shall we hasten to our magnet, our Beloved, as we approach him. Then, to be delivered from the noisome pestilence within, to rise from among the pots, and to be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, will draw forth such hallelujahs! May He make us what He would have us to be; give singleness in the eye, and fidelity in the conscience! I hope you or ... will soon be able to write, and tell us how you have decided.

Believe me, yours very affectionately,

T. A. P

Letter 48.

Powerscourt, 14th May, 1831.

My dear friend — I have wondered at all you have told me. Oh! all the foundations are out of course! What disorder, what confusion on all sides! what sin, what misery! Nehemiah would not accept the service of the Lord's enemies in building the temple. Does not the world stand to the believer in the same place, as the Gentile to the Jew? Are we to permit them to have common cause with us in his work? Are we so to declare that the Lord's servants are not sufficient for his work? Surely they would be, if as devoted as Satan's servants. Are we to cringe to the world for its influence, its wealth, its labour? The world is not less dangerous now; not less an enemy to truth, than when Christ prayed his people should be kept from its evil. False friends arc the worst of all enemies; wolves in sheep's clothing. But where is the world? If all are Christians, there is no world. What a state of disorder and confusion we have got into! All our precepts necessarily thrown overboard. We are enjoined to closest union with Christians; distinct separation from the world. We cannot exercise the latter with those we professedly acknowledge brethren; we cannot exercise the former with those with whom we have no sympathy; all being shut up to profession. None profess, while in conduct we give every day a lie to our profession, in judging those who profess to profess. The church and the world are like tumbled drawers. May the great Head of the church, the King of the universe, quickly come and put all in order! What a glorious destiny awaits us! how the dwelling on it should humble us! "When Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into his hand, and that He was come from God and-went to God, He laid aside his garment, took a towel, girded himself, and began to wash his disciples' feet." Pray let me hear what you do. It is refreshing to hear now and then of his faithfulness in guiding you continually. It is well to trace his footsteps through the dark and hidden providences with which we are exercised. Depend upon it, He is leading by a right way to the city of habitation. Though the path may not be clear, his faithfulness is — "I know in whom I have believed." Oh! the peace of being brought in sincerity and truth, to lie back in his arms, saying, "undertake for me."

With true affection,

Yours in our real hope,

T. A. P.

Letter 49.

Powerscourt, 2nd September, 1832.

My dear friend — It is long, very long since I have heard from you. I hope you will not therefore refuse to write to me a very long letter, and tell me all your present sentiments and experience, and what the Lord has been instructing you in the last year. I know it is goodness and mercy which have followed, but it strengthens faith to hear the hows, and the whens. As for me, to all appearances, I have been going on in a quiet sameness, yet never, I believe, has the Lord been more dealing with me, exposing me to myself, and bringing me low, than during the last year. I have learnt some very bitter lessons, because I am a great dunce. I should be glad to know what you think concerning reigning with Christ. Do you think it is for all, or only for martyrs? I have been thinking a good deal on the subject of late. It seems to me that the reason why it belongs to this dispensation to reign with Him, is because this is the dispensation of martyrdom; the fast days of his church, because of the absence of her bridegroom. Rest at any time seems a mere accident. "Sheep appointed to the slaughter;" "the offscouring of all things;" "bearing about the body of the Lord Jesus;" "always delivered unto death," — this is the character of these promised days of tribulation. It is still his hour of temptation. Acts, 1. 4, 5. Luke, 22. 28. When God would heat his furnace to the height for an example of faith to the end of time, what did he prepare? Not suffering of the body, but the furnace of affliction, "thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest." It does not seem to me to signify so much what the trial is, as the coming out of it, saying, "Lord, thou knowest that I love thee." I conceive we are all given opportunity of this martyrdom. It seems distinguished from the suffering which we have in common with the world, in that it is a suffering for principle, a trial of faith, a voluntary preference of suffering in the flesh, to denying Christ in any wise. It is a denying ourselves, taking up our cross daily, a cutting off a right hand, a plucking out a right eye, rather than offend. Oh! how many secret martyrdoms are thus endured unknown to man, but precious to God! Now, I do believe, never was there a time that this doctrine (the connexion between reigning and suffering) would bear less to be overlooked, or required more to be brought forward; for truly, there is such a thin,, as refusing martyrdom, even as much as if we were to turn from the stake. I speak from experience. The Lord wants proofs, not words. After Peter, much distressed, answered, "Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee;" Jesus answered, "prove it." I believe there is such a thing as even the believer's being so allured, so led captive by things of sense, as for even the mighty argument to be overpowered, "If ye love me keep my commandments," — and that many Christians under the conviction that their souls cannot be lost, live in the indulgence of unlawful gratifications, rather than go through the torture of the whole heart being drawn and quartered. But, surely, if the millennial reign of Christ be a particular reward to Him for his sufferings, as "Son of man," "Son of David," distinct from the everlasting glory, those only who have partaken with Him, shall reign with Him. Do tell me what you think of this; for it seems to me that though there are now many saved Christians, there are but few reigning ones, — "rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy," — "if ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you," — "if we die with Him we shall live with Him," — "if we suffer, we shall reign with Him," — "we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which ye also suffer," — "to them that overcome" are the royal promises given, "to him will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father". "I will give him THE MORNING STAR." "Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown," — "I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new name," — "him will I grant to sit with me, on MY THRONE," etc. And "if children then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we maybe also glorified together," — "that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made comfortable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of or from the dead." — "Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might be partakers of a better resurrection." When asked by the mother of Zebedee's children, for the highest places for her sons, when they should come into his kingdom, He answers, "Ye know not what ye ask; are you able to drink of my cup, and be baptized with my baptism?" Therefore the disciples rejoiced, that "they were counted worthy to suffer," — "that they were given not only to believe, but to suffer." Do not think from this that I would make light of the all-prevailing principle of Love, and wish to go back to rewards; no. Get the heart, and you have got the man. Love makes drudgery divine. Love cannot help itself, it outruns and leaves law far behind. The question is not what must I do, but what may I do? In grieving its object, love grieves itself. This is the secret spring of the believer's actions, which makes him often pass in the world as an enthusiast. Love will stop at nothing; it takes up its cross and travels after its object over every mountain and hill of difficulty. It was this strengthened Mary, when the soldiers quaked with fear; it was this kept her hovering round the sepulchre, when all the disciples went to their own homes. Love desires all to be partakers of its own bliss; it overleaps human opinion; it runs on with an unceasing cry, "what shall I render for such benefits?" "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." But I mean that all arguments the Lord has used are needful, so dead often is even love, in sleep from continued lullabies of the flesh, and opiates from the devil. What poor empty creatures we are! I am quite out of conceit with myself; such tossings to and fro, such ebbs and flowings, sometimes lifted up to heaven, sometimes sunk into the depths; the soul fainting within because of trouble. Satan is so watchful and well experienced when and where to assault the soul with most effect. He delights to get a soul into heaviness through manifold temptations; and it is not always easy to find patience in the assurance that for these there is a needs be; and though we know each tossing draws us nearer the land of our inheritance, sometimes faith fails when "for many days neither sun nor stars appear, and no small tempest lies upon us," yet how often are these things for the purpose of lightening the ship, or perhaps for the trial of our faith, or for exposure of our little faith. But though the end be useful, the exercise is not less painful; and it is humbling, (therefore it is good), it is humbling, to have the question put home, where is now your faith? Nevertheless, how often in these things our gratitude is called forth, to him whose love and faithfulness have not failed, when our faith and hope have failed, that, though forced to acknowledge "my foot slipped," we can also add, "thy mercy, O Lord, held me up." The gold of the sanctuary must be tried before accepted; and it is thrown into the fire, not because it is of no value, but because it is so precious. What a sad state poor Ireland is in! But we are above every thing of Satan's working. From the secret place of the Most High we can look down and smile; our enemies are all conquered by that spirit in Christ's humanity which dwells in us: so we are more than conquerors. With love ...

Believe me, dear friend,

Affectionately yours,

T. A. P.

Letter 50.

June, 1832.

My precious friend — What excuse can I make to myself for my long silence? I should like much to hear from you all that is in your mind ... told me you wanted my thoughts on the ... tongues. What are my thoughts? Are they the Lord's thoughts? Come, and see. As to these dear creatures, I say not a word; I dare not; but if in any thing I be otherwise minded from his truth, God will reveal even this to me. Yes, let us not be more unbelieving as to that promise than any other; He has undertaken to lead. Let us but keep the eye of faith on His eye. It still appears to me, that we should not expect gifts now. One difficulty with me was Eph. 4. 13; but when I compare it with 1 Cor. 12. 28 verse, I find all miraculous gifts excluded, in the one to continue, while mentioned in the church then at Corinth. It may be objected, He would not give such minute directions concerning what was to cease, yet He does on other subjects; for example, about meat offered to idols. Another difficulty with me was 1 Cor. 13. 10; that which is perfect not being come; that which is in part must continue. But I observe, that tongues are left out, when explaining what was in part (9th verse.) Again, Mark 16. 17. If you turn to I Cor. 15. we find He was seen of five hundred brethren, then of all the apostles. It seems, when He appeared to the twelve was the time which is mentioned in Mark, after which He ascended; and when He appeared to the multitude, was the time mentioned in Matthew, where no mention is made of the miraculous signs. See Luke also, and Acts. He was with the eleven when He ascended. If this is so, may not the miraculous gifts have been given on the introduction of the new dispensation, even as Moses was given power at the introduction of the former, to show it was from God; as our blessed Lord said, in healing the man sick of the palsy, "that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, I say unto thee, arise, take up thy bed and walk," etc. It is not said that more than the apostles received the gift on the day of Pentecost; and does not Paul say, "the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience in signs and wonders and mighty deeds?" He does not mention that these are the signs of ministers, 2 Cor. 6. etc. May it not have been poured out on the apostle to communicate by the laying on his hands? I see but one instance without the laying on of hands, and that is the case of Cornelius, "as on us at the beginning," as a sign from God, and of his having called the Gentiles. Also Paul tells the church of Rome, he desired to go to them to impart to them some spiritual gift, that their faith being strengthened by this, his might be by theirs. Also, see Rom. 15. 18, 19. I do not think history would be satisfactory; we may judge even from the variety of opinions, and different views of things now. But good historians, who have studied with that view, say there is nothing satisfactory. Ireneus says in his days there were miracles, but he only says so from the authority of another, not from having seen them himself. Have you read ...? What do you think of his views? His books on Second Advent and Revelations? Tell me, especially, what you think about all not reigning with Christ? You know there is so much to say to you, there is no use in saying any thing. What do you think of the world? "These things must first come to pass, but the end is not yet." "See that ye be not troubled."

I sometimes long so much to hear from you, but cannot get leisure to sit down to write you a long letter, without neglecting something that seems at the moment quite necessary. We estimate, I believe, very badly, what is, or is not, for God's glory. I, every day, see more and more how His glory is only to be found in simply obedience. When we settle our own plans, we go too much on current opinions; and thus often deprive ourselves of much blessedness, both in our own experience, and the good done. So it was with Peter, when he said "thou shalt not wash my feet." He intended well, was full of love and zeal, and surely the answer given him well suits us. Though we may not see his end, let us simply obey, and what we know not now, we shall hereafter, when the Master Builder has brought forth the head-stone with shoutings, "grace, grace." Soldiers do not question, why this, or why that? The general has the place and end before him: the soldier has only to stand when desired, and go when commanded; let each take his own way, and all is confusion. Oh! how sadly ignorant we are of His will and mind, because so sadly ignorant of Scripture! we work, work, work, all in the dark, till night breaks in upon us, and we find we have been spending our strength for nought. In these times we need to be imbued with truth, instinctively to recoil from error and embrace truth. Either light is so bursting in, or else darkness so thickens, or perhaps both, that there is no time to take this, and take that, to examine; we arc through ignorance at our wits' end, "tossed about with every wind of doctrine." "Teach us." Then give us courage to act, not only in opposition to the opinions of the world, but with all humility, in opposition to the opinions of Christians. You ask me what I have learnt lately. That none but God could know and endure me; that the discovery of me will make even devils stand aghast! it is quite true. He has been leading me in ways I knew not, though I might have known them; and though I am altogether weary of myself, He has not fainted, nor is He discouraged yet. The hottest of all furnaces in which He tries faith, is that heated with our own sins. Oh! what sweet truths He often whispers to His saints from behind clouds! till sometimes they almost dread the thought of ease — yet the ear of faith is too often stunned by the roaring of the thunder, while under the cloud, hears not, till the small voice follows. The path of each is just the kindest and best, that Love and wisdom could devise when sitting in counsel upon it before the world was! He makes our wants occasions by which to enrich us. He seldom calls His child to descend into trial, but we find He has been in it beforehand, therein depositing unsearchable consolations, and we come up enriched, invigorated and purified. May it be so, dear friend, in your experience. He is saying in each providence, "drink, oh! drink abundantly, oh! beloved!"

Yours in much attachment,

T. A. Powerscourt.

Are not the Roman Catholics going on in a very strange way? Prepare us for whatever thou art preparing for us! When in Dublin I went to see for the last time, dear ... his end expressed the same as his life — I have proved, and "I know in whom I have believed." Remember me cordially to your dear husband.

Letter 51.

... I have laid your verse before Mr... and Mr... for what am I to answer it? This is Mr...'s answer (Matthew 5. 19.) "The most desirable thing would be first to discover a fixed determinate meaning of the phrase," the kingdom of heaven," but I fear this is not easy. The two ways of explaining it are: First, as the Christian religion itself, or the spiritual and invisible power by which it is maintained in the heart. Secondly, as a kingdom yet to be set up in the literal acceptation of the word, of glory and power; and now I quite incline myself to the latter signification, and that any other use of it is only this transferred, as we know is commonly done with terms that are of wide and extensive signification. A great part of Christ's office consisted in his introducing a new religion, which religion it was necessary for all to adopt and profess, who looked for entrance into his destined kingdom. There may be some difficulty in interpreting all the particular passages in which the phrase occurs upon this principle, and the passage before us may be an instance of this. But, nevertheless, I conceive that it would be established by any patient examination of the Scriptures on the subject. It may also be difficult to determine, when it is used in its proper, and when in its transferred signification. I will therefore give an interpretation which will meet both. First, he who falls into such misconstruction of Christ's doctrine, as to esteem lightly himself, or to teach others lightly to esteem the precepts of God in the smallest particular, shall have the lowest rank of felicity in Christ's kingdom. Secondly, if it refers to the religion, then I think it means that all they of the kingdom of heaven (whose characteristic it is to cleave fast to the pure law of God without men's glosses) shall have such a teacher in no estimation, shall not seek or follow him. In which sense you see I take the kingdom of heaven, to mean those who have had their heart's eye purified to discern the real nature of the kingdom which is to be set up. I cannot offer you any thing better than this; but one thing is plain, and herein may we be exercising ourselves day and night, to hate every crooked way, and to esteem all his precepts concerning every thing to be right."- So much for Mr... now for Mr...'s "kingdom of heaven in this passage, and every other, means the visible church, that is, all baptized persons!" Now I have filled almost all my paper, and left little to tell you how goodness and mercy have been following me. I feel a great desire to send you a full account of my dear ... : because you ask me, if we had answers to prayer, and because it would express to you, that I believe you are interested in what concerns me. I will write out extracts of some letters for you. When you read them, you will not be surprised that this unexpected, miraculous, satisfactory conversion, and answer to my many prayers, should have filled my heart with joy unspeakable, almost to the exclusion of every other feeling. How could I do any thing else but rejoice when I realized the welcome, he was receiving, when ushered into the midst of the heavenly host, at the very moment they were rejoicing with Jesus, that he, who had been dead, was alive for evermore! I seemed also to hear the music and dancing as he drew near the house. And every step in the affliction was so thoughtful! so very faithful! such distinct answers to prayer! such an evident struggle with Satan for that dear prodigal! but the accuser was disappointed; the body was delivered to him, that the spirit might be saved. His light afflictions worked for him a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. He dealt with him as with Job, diligently covered his poor body with sores, but could not touch his life, till from his Lazarus-body angels carried his spirit into the bosom of the covenant! The good Shepherd laid him on his shoulder, after seeking him out! then causing him to know his voice, he carried him off triumphantly to heaven! We never were so near. Formerly there was a great gulf between. Now we are united in one; a little thin veil of flesh between, which just prevents us hearing, and seeing, one another; but very soon and very easily will it be torn asunder. And can we not wait, dear friend, for that day, since we know in whom we have believed, and are persuaded He is able to keep all we have committed to Him, not to be lost, but to be restored, richly restored, in that day? He is sleeping in Jesus, I dwelling in Jesus; he tasting rivers of pleasure, the streams whereof make me glad. We never understood each other before. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for." He is removed from our family, but received into the family of God, into Jesus "of whom the whole family of heaven and earth is named," — and dirty and soiled as the prodigal was found, "by riotous living," yet is Jesus not ashamed to call him brother, for He has had part with the children, that He might taste death for every man. "He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, being all of one." How refreshing, in the middle of the 5th chapter of Luke, in the middle of so many proofs of his godhead, to find Him withdrawing into the wilderness to pray: he needed to receive, and what an argument against what Satan often puts before us, that because we are engaged about some useful business, some charitable work, we may put off prayer: this is our weakness. I fear you are very unhappy about ... to be separated from him when ill —  how painful! but remember how precious is his body to the Lord; it has been purchased as well as the soul — not his own, not yours, but the property of Jesus. Oh! we have not entered at all yet into the fulness and freeness of His love. Each day teaches that we knew nothing of it the day before, and when we shall come really to behold it, we shall find we knew nothing at all. We come to him with so much suspicion, so much as if He were loath to give, so much as if he were looking for some excuse to get out of His promises. We have no idea of His longings to bless. How He only wants some excuse — how he is the first mover in every mercy. "In ages to come shall appear the exceeding riches of His grace in his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." Pray on, trust on, very dear sister! Blessed to know the character of Him with whom we have to do. Pitiful, tender, full of compassion, waiting to be gracious, keeping mercy, plenteous redemption. It is enough if there be willingness in us for anything which is of the Father; his very office proclaims "I will." Now let us rise, trust Him for more and more, glorify Him; thus expect largely, He is willing!!! It is not Jesus in humiliation, but Jesus in glory, beseeches us to receive all fulness treasured up in him for us. All we see and admire in him, not a cry we send up to him, but is a prayer from him to us to receive what we ask him to give. There is no sound but comfort in the voice of Jesus. No sovereign act comes spontaneously from Him yet but is mercy, though it may involve judgment to some. He was bent on mercy to Israel when Pharaoh crossed his way; yet how he strove with Pharaoh; how often Pharaoh hardened his own heart, before God did so finally and judicially; yet even then was it but to carry on his designs and determinations of mercy! How a message was sent to him first, then three plagues before they touched him materially, and every plague calculated to bring him to repentance. Lay your dear ... on the lap of prayer, and all is well — see all His providences in the light of the rays which shine from the new Jerusalem, then we see them in their true colour. "Father of lights, in whom is no variableness;" this is his disposition. An act of love may be very kind, but there is no security for the future; but when the disposition is love, unchanging love, all must be loving, because he is love; all must be wise because he is wisdom ... Powers are at work, let us nestle into the bosom of a Father! Ireland may have to be put into a strait waistcoat; the church may go mad; but Jehovah is always in His right mind, always knows what he is about. May He, my dear friend, lock you up in the concave of his shield.

Most affectionately yours,

Theodosia A. Powerscourt.

Letter 52.

Powerscourt.

My dear Mr ...,  I sit down to write to you, not with the hopes of suggesting any comfort, for I know by experience that it is He alone who maketh sore, who can bind up; He alone who wounds, whose hands can make whole. But I cannot help telling you how deeply I feel for you, and ... Few have had more cause to weep for themselves; therefore few ought to be able to weep so sincerely with others, or to tell them of that comfort, whereby they have been comforted of the Lord. Oh, indeed at such moments, this world is a sad, sad, blank. All seems mysterious, confused — desponding. The devil suggests questions and rebellious feelings, which at other times, we should shudder at the very idea of; and we almost say "I do well to be angry." Is this your case, dear Mr...? or can you, through the cloud, so perceive the smile, not only of peace, but of affectionate tender love, in the countenance of that Father who holds the rod, as to be constrained to run into those very arms which chastise. Oh, how blessed you are if enabled to take this comfort and are spared the agonies, I was permitted to feel for a while, when with all the promises I could feel no comfort in believing them to be all mine; but found I could not grasp at them in my own strength, but needed the support of the same spirit as sustained Christ on Calvary. Never, but for the books of Job and Jonah, could I have believed that my tender Father could stand by, see it all, and yet wait to be gracious to such a wretch. But "faithful is he who hath promised:" — "He will not leave you comfortless." It is in faithfulness He has afflicted you. Because you are his son He deals with you as He has dealt with his Son. Even if shut out from sensible communion with Him, so was he, whose only support was, that He could still say, "my God." No affliction at the time seems to be joyous; but wait on the Lord, He will comfort your heart. I know He will. That Comforter, who made up for his bodily presence, is still all-sufficient to make up for your dear child's. If we could but see one glimpse of his love in these afflictive dispensations, if we knew now, as we shall know hereafter, we should indeed say, "Our Jesus has done all things well." No metal on earth is of sufficient value to show how precious to Him is the trial of your faith, as it shall be to his honour and glory, at the great day. Oh! what a great need-be there must have been for this blow, when He could so chastise his beloved ones. Not one pang could be spared; for he sits Himself as a refiner over his fire to temper the heat, and he feels every anguish with you; not like the pity of a friend who never knew what sorrow was, but the sympathy of Him who was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," who experienced all we can possibly feel, that he might be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and succour us when tempted.

Ah, what lessons our dear Lord is now teaching you, lessons which angels can never learn, teaching by heart, which was perhaps only known before by rote. When He takes up the lesson we find none can teach like a parent. How differently we read "all is vanity," — "oh, that I had wings like a dove." How it shows us what must be the odiousness of sin, and the greatness of the Saviour's love to the sinner: ... What hell must be, when this one spark from it is sufficient to make us rejoice for ever in having escaped it. How unspeakable and incomprehensible must be the weight of glory, when the Holy Spirit can call these light afflictions in comparison, not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. And does it not also teach us to sympathize with our dear Lord, in his sufferings, when we cannot even taste his bitter cup, without foreign strength; while Father, Son, and Holy Ghost seem united in comforting us: — cordials at hand for every woe, in the exceeding great and precious promises wherewith they comfort us. He could say, I looked for some to have pity upon me, but there was none; for comforters, but found none. Alas! I believe there is even in the mind of the believer, something which disposes him to turn to things of time and sense, though his judgment is convinced of their insufficiency to make him happy. One thing after another must be cut off, which binds us to earth, and it may be, the strings of our heart almost broken by the operation, but the Lord is determined to separate us from sin. I do believe He has purchased these afflictions for us, as well as every thing else. Blessed be his name, it is part of his covenant to visit us with the rod, little as we may be worthy of it! May we be enabled to wait for the issue. He says, with power, "give me thine heart." How shall I give up any part of it?

"He breaks our schemes of worldly joy,

That we may seek our all in Him."

And can we quarrel with him for so loving us? He who could say for us, "Reproach hath broken my heart, I am full of heaviness, my tears have been my meat day and night." Oh! that I could say any thing that could be of any comfort; but all I can do is, to try and tell you what He has been to me in my troubles. He seems (if I may so speak) to have watched every opportunity in which I should be most likely to feel my loss, as if it were to fill up the gap with his precious presence. Have I in the rebellion of my heart said, I have no companion, I am left quite alone? He has spoken to me so sweetly in his word, that in spite of myself, I have been forced to say, He is enough. Have I said, I have none to open my mind to? He has led me to, "then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; Thou shalt cry, and He shall say, here am I." — Have I said, I have lost the kernel of all my earthly joys, I have lost my husband? He has led me to, "Thou shalt call me Ishi, and shall call me no more Baali." — Have I said, I am left an unprotected creature in the midst of a wicked world? He has led me to, "Let thy widows trust in me." — Or, a foolish creature with no adviser? He has led me to, "His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor!" "I will guide thee with mine eye." — Or has it been, I have no prop to lean upon going through this dark howling wilderness? He has shown me where the church is represented "coming up from the wilderness leaning upon her Beloved." And He is the same now, and I doubt not, but He is saying to you, why weepest thou? why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten children? I believe it to be his love expressed in a peculiar manner. Peace unspeakable can be enjoyed in the midst of tribulation; the soul is able to realize the joy hereafter, and pant for it, as at no other time; and he is made more acquainted with himself and his Saviour, which I believe is the only real happiness after all.

Then to draw the veil and look at her as she is; your prayers fully answered: Are you regretting that she is not left to know more of the woes of this unhappy world? Was it not for the Lord that you were bringing her up? was it not your first desire for her, that she should be found in his narrow way: and what is that? "Much tribulation." How far she has left you behind: perfect in the praise you are only learning to lisp. A child's death seems to be the triumph of redemption: — left on Satan's kingdom for a short time as if to laugh at his power. He did not think it too much to give his Son to be made miserable for you: will not you give him your child to be made unspeakably happy? You would not wish her back only that she might speak to you, and you to her. Could you form an idea of the reception she met with when ushered into the presence of her Saviour and her God? could you see the wisdom and love which fixed the period of her existence here, you not only would not part with one pang, but would delight in the dispensation. By faith you are enabled to say, "ALL IS WELL"; and if a voice could reach you from the everlasting, would it not re-echo back, "ALL IS WELL"? No longer any distress; not one distracting thought, but peace reigning for ever — love the everlasting theme; — love to Jesus, who is very near also her weeping friends; who walks with you in the furnace; who puts under you his everlasting arms, and, in a few short years, will bring you to meet her, know her, and be happy with her for ever; "so shall ye be ever with the Lord."

I fear I have been tormenting you sadly; pray pardon me; and do not answer me if painful to you. Pray give my love to dear ... Tell her how sincerely I feel with you both; but she has still a husband, and you a wife. Oh! value that treasure while you have it. Do not say you are bereaved, while you have one to live for, to mourn with you, and to whose sorrows you may add by over much grief. May you be long, long spared that unparalleled blessing! May Jesus now lift up on you his countenance, that in his light you may walk through darkness! May sad remembrance not draw your spirit down to earth! May faith pierce the cloud of sorrow, and keep your happy soul above, rejoicing in that bliss which will soon be yours! A little while, and you will behold Jesus, and find him really yours for ever; a little while, and you shall join the just above; a little while, and you shall see how this rough blast of human woe has hastened your little bark to shore. May you know more and more of the value of the balm of Gilead, more than you ever did before, and be able to say,

What thou canst, without thee I am poor;

With thee rich, take what thou wilt!

Yours, dear Mr...

With Christian affection and sympathy,

T. A. Powerscourt.

This came, though veiled in darkness from above,

A dispensation of eternal Love.

He who perceived the dangerous control,

The heart-twined spell, was gaining on thy soul;

Snatch'd from thine arms the dangerous decoy,

To give the brighter hope, and purer joy.

Oh! see how soon the flowers of life decay,

How soon terrestrial pleasures fade away!

This star of comfort, for a moment given,

Just rose on earth, then set to rise in heaven.

Turn back thine eye along the path of life,

View thine own grief, and weariness, and strife;

And say, if that which tempts thee to repine

Be not a happier lot by far than thine.

If death in infancy had laid thee low,

Thou hadst escaped from pain, and sin, and woe.

The years thy soul the path of sorrow trod,

Had all been spent in converse with thy God

And thou hadst shone in yonder cloudless sphere

A seraph there, and not a pilgrim here.

Oh! it is sweet to die, to part from earth, —

And win all heaven, for things of little worth.

Then, sure, thou wouldst not, though thou couldst, awake

The little slumb'rer, for its mother's sake.

No ill can reach it now, it rests above,

Safe in the bosom of celestial love.

Its short, but yet tempestuous way is o'er,

And tears shall trickle down its cheeks no more.

If bitter thoughts and tears in heaven could be,

It is thine infant that should weep for thee!

Letter 53.

Brussels, June 1st, 1830.

... May the Lord's blessing be on this step! and though the path to glory must still be a path of tribulation, yet much may be done to aggravate, much to alleviate, in this tender tie. — But the Lord only knows what is before us all. — Happy to know He is our Shepherd, therefore, happen what may, we may boldly say, I shall not want. —  And what an immensity is contained in that short text! — The greater our necessities, the more his all-sufficiency gains utterance, so as to force us to glory in our necessities. I hope you will write very soon, and tell us every particular about your dear sister. I trust you may be able to say she is better. — Yet, is there any thing in this world you would offer her in exchange, for what you desire to keep her from. Oh no! there is but one concern, are we really on our way to Him? When the curtain shall drop on the dearest friends, forced at length to give up their hold, shall it, indeed, be, "I fear not, because Thou art with me." Though the subject does not seem very appropriate to matrimony, yet, as in the midst of life we are in death, it would be well for us all, at all times, to strive to keep in view this end of our existence, this solemn thought, we have to die. It would be well to try to realise how we shall feel, standing alone with Jesus in that untried, unknown somewhere. There is nothing ugly in death to the believer. I have been lately called in expectation to face him. There is an honesty in his countenance, which while terrifying the ungodly infuses such a holy confidence into the child of God, that he will conduct in safety to Jesus. We are left to the single thought of how we shall meet him. Had we no other motive, what a powerful one is this to cultivate an intimacy with him now, to prove Him; to make Him our secret keeper, our bosom friend; that when we meet, it may be meeting one "whom, not having seen, we have loved!" And having proved His faithfulness all along the paths of righteousness, we may not feel a suspicion of His deserting in the last step of faith. To the believer it cannot be a dark valley; for there is no need of sun or moon where the Lamb is the light thereof, and His rainbow is thrown over it. Oh, what rich feasts "the dogs" may gather from the crumbs which fall from the children's table! — I mean how richly we may partake of promises addressed to the Jews — see Isaiah 43. He has redeemed us, he has called us by name — He has not spared his only Son for us, we are His; so precious in His sight, therefore honourable; and he loves us, has CREATED us for His glory, therefore to us also He says, "fear not;" again, "fear not, for I am with, thee." What shall we be called to this year? to pass through the water, to wet our feet with the uncomfortable cares, perplexities, disappointments of this life: fear not Israel! Prince with God! I am with thee, the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel (thy property,) thy Saviour — what have we then to fear? Only remember all through the year, "I am with you"...

Letter 54.

Brussels, Feb. 23, 1830.

... Blessed portion her's! The crown without the cross! Oh, does it not make us love that Saviour who extracted all the bitter, and left her only a cup of love? Dear ... you do not, you cannot wish she had staid in such a world (that you might look at her, and talk to her,) where pure happiness is only to be found in the ocean of tribulation, through which you now all wade — "She came to show how sweet a flower in Paradise would blow." — Now she is safely locked up in the casket of her God, to he brought forth when he shall open his jewels. Ah! I have not lived in this world many more years than she has; and I can tell you God meant what he said, when He gave one promise for this world —  "Much tribulation." There is a depth of meaning when "The Truth" speaks, which we must learn by deep experience — the meaning of words is only taught in the school of affliction. We think it worth travelling the path of sorrow only for the earnest of what remains for her: the earnest alone is far, far beyond all your fondest desires could have heaped upon her. Treasure up these choice moments, when enlightened by the furnace. The vanity is made legible, which the finger of God has imprinted on all below. How near it brings another world, that one of ourselves, brought up with you, exchanging with you every desire and interest, should now be there. The object is only removed from earth to heaven round which your affections were entwined, that your hearts may be drawn up, instead of downwards. Yes! we need these realities to make us real. We are believers in profession; we are atheists in lives. We must live for eternity, we must be what we seem to be! While our Bridegroom tarries, we either slumber in stupidity, or dream in sleep the greatest nonsense possible, even of earthly happiness; while our very disappointment in not finding it, testifies to our unbelief. We need continually to be thus roused, that casting off our works of darkness we may at the Bridegroom's call, be found clothed in light.

"We've no abiding city here,

Then let us live as pilgrims do;

Let not this world our rest appear,

But let us haste from all below."

One has said, "they pass best over the world who trip over it quickly, for it is but a bog. If we stop, we sink."...

Dear, dear Mr... He has indeed suffered much. Ah! but he is now privileged in being called before he leaves Satan's kingdom to exhibit in living words, before those to whom he has long recommended his Lord, that there is in him a spring of consolation, the world knows nothing of? It was seeing this in his mother that first arrested the great Cecil in his career of infidelity. Lying one night in bed, he was contemplating the case of his mother. "I see (said he within himself ) two unquestionable facts. First, my mother is greatly afflicted, in circumstances, body, and mind; and yet I see she cheerfully bears up under all, by the support she derives from constantly retiring to her closet and her Bible. Secondly, that she has a secret spring of comfort, of which I know nothing; while I who give an unbounded loose to my appetites, and seek pleasure by every means, seldom or never find it. If, however, there is any such secret in religion, why may not I attain it, as well as my mother? I will immediately seek it of God." He instantly rose, and began to pray. May he be given faith, to glorify his faithful God in the fires. May not his excess of grief bring up a false report of Him, who has answered so tenderly his many years' prayers, and even given him to hear it from her own mouth, — yet a little, and he shall see how blessed she is! How preferable to have her safely locked up in a bosom of love, he has proved, he can trust, before him, to leaving her in a world of woe and temptation after him. It is no light thing to profess love to a "jealous God," — It shall be tried, because much more precious than gold that perisheth. He vouchsafes to tell us the trial shall be found to His praise, honour and glory, at his appearing; needful to Him; needful to us! Sometimes it is purified in the bleeding of another's heart. We can talk, we can suffer, we can do, we can die; but one thing, says Christ, thou lackest — prove me paramount to your dearest idol. — How you must miss her in every turn, in every thing you do — but the end of all things is at hand! Let faith take her stand on Mount Zion, and look on present things with a retrospective view. — A hill looks different from the top and bottom. — Do not look at the way — you know Him who has engaged to carry you through; you shall go from strength to strength. —  The furnace shall be heated, proportioned to your faith; but He is the refiner, who swept the house, sought out and rejoiced over his bit of gold; you shall not be lost, for His name is in you. He sends you word, "Behold I come quickly." Let hope spread out the wing of contemplation, fly over all between, anticipate your meeting with your betrothed husband, and your re-union with the family of God! so that joy and sorrow may be alike swallowed up in the rejoicing of hope. — No regret in that wedding — nothing but joy. Oh! when He sets about blessing, He shall satisfy, for He blesses like a God — you shall be satisfied with him: He shall be satisfied with you, for the day of the gladness of his heart was the day of his espousal to his church. (Can. 3. 2.) — You shall enter into the joy of your Lord, satisfied with the way you have been brought — satisfied with the provision of your Father's house — satisfied with his likeness in yourself. Shall not the first words this family shall express one to the other be, "Was it not worth all." — "It was a true report." — "The half was not told." He has said all possible to raise our expectation to the highest. — Surely it is not like him to put us off with a trifle. "Oh, how great is the goodness thou hast laid up, etc." Our universal song, "Worthy the Lamb" — our particular song, "Our Jesus hath done all things well." Is this indeed ours, and will you lament? — is this your dear sister's, and will you repine? Oh no! let the rest of your life be one expression of gratitude for his having snatched one so loved from the very jaw of the lion — for having translated her from the kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of God's own Son — for having chosen her in him before the foundation of the world — for having written her name in the Book of Life — for having dissipated every doubt of her peace in Jesus — for having so gently carried his lamb- in his bosom — for having followed her with goodness and mercy through the valley, till safely housed in her Father's home. Whether we sleep or wake, we live together with Him; we lie upon the same bosom, and you shall find it filled with love. When experiencing his sweetness, let it remind you what He must be to her; let every tear whisper "Faithful is He who promised." Look at your dear father's sorrow and remember, He who holds the rod has said, "As a father pitieth his children, so He pitieth you." Time is so short, see how short, do not spend the little moment in only lamentation: you are called to glorify your God in a manner you shall not be able to do, all through eternity. The morning cometh! do not sleep as do others! Be a light, by holding forth the Word of Truth; let it be legible in you, "Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth." I do not attempt to express what I feel for dear ... and all; that would be poor comfort; but I have reminded One of you all, who needs no reminding; who is peculiarly with you at this moment — a present help in time of trouble. He draws near in his own time, with consolation which He alone can give. "In your afflictions He is afflicted" — enter into this truth, till it shall spread abroad in your heart a peace passing understanding...

Letter 55.

Bushy, October 1835.

... I trust this may be a fresh link to heaven, being received from heaven; if not, it will not be his fault, for he intends blessing, full blessing in all his gifts. Any thing let down in the white sheet to us, cleansed of God, a resurrection gift, is no more common or unclean, if we have grace to receive it from heaven instead of earth. How happy is Jesus, rejoicing in the joy of his people; He learnt to weep with those that weep; that He might be able fully to rejoice with those that rejoice. So should we, his people. If we had more of church feeling, less of individual feeling, the joy of each would make us more happy than the one rejoicing. How happy must we then be! and Jesus loves to see us happy. He sorrowed, that we might rejoice; it is the best recompense we can give Him, for what could He have done more for us than he did? He came, that we might have life! He spoke, that our joy might be full! We are not united to a broken heart, but to a heart which has been broken, full of the tenderest sympathies; but every sympathy filled with life. He stood as the recipient of death — He learned the word thoroughly, and now must have all the glory. Every thing may be to us the communion of the body of Christ, on which we may feed by faith with thanksgiving. May you find it so in your dear little one! To every thing there was a meat offering, to be ate by the holy priest in the holy place, because most holy; to them belonged every dedicated thing. It is a difficult lesson to learn, but a great one to have learnt — that the fear is, not our loving earthly objects too much, but of loving them wrongly; that God's object is not to destroy the affections, but to direct them, as Mr... remarked. The poisoned pottage is a description of the natural heart of man: the moment the prophet poured in the meal, it is, "pour forth, there is no harm in the pot." The moment the relation between the heart of God and man is perfected, the moment the handful of meal is thrown into the heart of the saint, the command of God is to pour forth all these relations. There is a master principle put into these relations which governs them; there is not less power in them, but a new will in them; our affections ascend through the heart of Jesus; the heart of Jesus is a filial heart, and when our affections are lodged in this heart, they become filial also; there is but one will, all one. I think I have remarked that in entering on a Christian life we think much of how we believe, how we do, how we suffer, but we take love as an easy enjoyment. Now it seems to me, however difficult to believe, to labour, or to suffer, nothing is so difficult as to learn to love. Nothing so dangerous as to love wrongly. Nothing will through our course give us so much suffering, because it is heaven, which knows no law, but the spirit of God let loose on earth. It is life in close contact with death. Dear ... open wide your hearts to this fresh stream from heaven, keep it pure, that there may be a continual reflection of love, to the gladdening the heart of him, who was joyless, the man of sorrows, that you might receive your little one, and love him without fear ... today while it is called today labour, exhort one another, be up and doing — tomorrow we shall see him! and all his saints with him. No yesterday, but the cross of Jesus; no tomorrow but glory; no today but Christ, the day of Salvation! To me to live is Christ, may it be so with us all. I believe I desire nothing else but to be used as He will for his glory. I know that I desire to desire nothing else; but oh our will, our will so often pretends to be his, there is so much to learn in that verse, applied to ourselves "when thou wast young", when first setting out "we gird ourselves, and walk where we will", we are long before we learn to stretch forth our hands, (so expressive of leaving ourselves to another, ) and let him gird us, and carry us where we would not...

Letter 56.

July 16th, 1833.

My dear Mr ..., Oh, what a relief! when He will appear on the heavenly hill! to set all in order! with the same delight and readiness, as hitherto He has shown in his work of redemption. Love still moves quickly towards its object; runs while yet a great way off; hastens to heal the backslider; to receive graciously, to love freely! with every temptation, makes a way to escape; while yet praying, hears; is a very present help in trouble; hides but for a little moment; longs after us, (Phil. 1. 8.) With the same alacrity He is coming; not a moment will He delay beyond the appointed time! If love could say of suffering, "It is my meat, and drink," for the joy set before him, what a joy He will have in coming to receive his own "to himself, that where He is, there may they be also." No sooner shall the strong voice, and mighty cry be heard, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen," than shall follow another cry from heaven — "come out of her my people." He waits for the last signal, when, immediately after the tribulation, shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; when the last elect shall have been born into the world, and fitted for glory, He will be found ready; and as though too impatient to wait till earth is prepared for his reception, we shall be "caught up to meet him in the air." He remembers He has jewels in Babylon; He will gather them for his crown when about to visit the earth as King. He will come — He will not tarry — to welcome his bride; for his last message to her, which she treasures, and ever carries in her bosom, was, "behold, I come quickly!" "Make haste then my Beloved, and be thou like unto a roe, and to a young hart, upon the mountains of Spices." Prophecy alone can keep us in impatient patience, even in the spirit of Lot. Indifference to the evil was not ready — his children had to be dragged out, and he waiting for them. A mixture in the evil is not ready — some of his children were left behind. A heart in the evil is not ready — his wife looked behind. It must be a spirit vexed with surrounding ungodliness. May we be among the sighers and criers, not among such as love to have it so. The more God has lost his witness in the world, through his people's unfaithfulness, the more, surely, we should labour individually, to let his truth shine out in us. May He, in order to this, take care of his little precious seed, sown in the barren soil of our hearts, all nigh choked! May He descend into this, his conservatory, and in the stillness and seclusion of it, with all his own tenderness and skill, root up every weed, and dress about his lovely exotics, which He brought from heaven to earth, even all the graces of his Spirit. May He cause them quickly to burst forth in splendid bloom, and rich verdure, to bless and praise him. Dear Mr... do not cease to pray for the most needy of the Lord's saints. I have written too much about myself. It is doing to you, as I should like to be done by. Please write without delay...

Very affectionately, yours,

T. A. P.

Letter 57.

Lough Bray, November 26, 1833.

... You see, much loved brother in the Lord, what an unconquerable correspondent I am; but you know we shall very soon meet, never to part again. This is our privileged time of labour, and only what may be considered in that light is our lawful occupation; but this is among the labours of love, at least should be, for I think we should have a conscience neither to speak in vain, nor write in vain. I wish you were, indeed, coming over to us. Much as I have written to you, I do not feel to know much of your internal man, either your outward or inward exercises. Do write me a history of your life from the beginning to your present trials, and joys, and blessings from without. Then write and tell me all your inward experiences from the beginning, and whether now you are a happy believer; if you have unclouded faith and realizing hope; whether the joy of the Lord is your strength. And do not leave out little things, because, it is such things show me your confidence in my interest in and affection for you. I feel it is for this reason, that the Lord loves us to take our little things to him. I like to be told all that concerns, even down to the kitchen maid, and stable boy; for what are we here but to suffer one with another, even now in a sense to judge the world, or to be the communicator of blessings to the world from above. Will Jesus strengthen? It is mostly through a saint. — Will He comfort? It is through a saint. —  Will He sympathize? Again it will be usually through a saint. We are losers, when in our pride we refuse to be dependant one upon another. Dependance is the Christian's proper position, therefore, for his happiness; and it was, no doubt, a new pleasure Jesus learnt, as a creature, both dependance on the Father, so beautifully shown throughout, and dependance on his creatures. They ministered to him, He looked for pity from them, (the most humiliating thing we can receive). Oh! if we lived as members of Christ, and members one of another, each saint would discover a prop in his fellow saint. Such seemed his intention in a church. — His wisdom saw that our necessities so required, and, therefore, provided — his thoughts towards us being mercy and love; but we marred his intention; nevertheless, is it not beautiful to see, even in our wants, how well He understands us; it brings the conviction, that when He shall set about satisfying, how well He will understand it. "When I awake in his likeness, I shall be satisfied." No, nothing else will ever do. We have by faith seen the glory of our risen Lord. Nothing can satisfy us but resurrection. To the end, we go on in some shape believing Satan's lie, that we can find good here in its present state — but the thing is impossible. It must be but repeated lessons of disappointment, because Satan has defaced our God from his creation, therefore in it destroyed our enjoyment. Nothing but resurrection is worthy the gift of a God, or worthy for us to receive — being risen, united with Jesus in his resurrection. The best testimony we can give Satan that the whole is ours by right and title, is to receive no part from him. To refuse to have any thing to say to it, till we receive it redeemed from its lawful King, who has paid the redemption price. The things of the world and the things of the kingdom must be for ever and absolutely distinct. One from beneath, the other from above; one of Satan, the god of this world, the other of the Father, the reward he has prepared for his Son, proportioned to his sense of merit, in the work of his Son, risen Lord of a risen creation. For a little moment, even while merged in the curse, his works now appear often lovely, but quickly are we reminded that Satan rules. Our proper position is, therefore, as those that wait till the manifestation of the sons of God, when creation shall put on its beautiful garments, its resurrection robes, its robes of glory, to welcome its King of kings. Well for us, as little as possible to know any thing after the flesh; for this world's strength is defiance of omnipotence — its wealth, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life: —  its wisdom, rejection of Him who was the whole wisdom of God: — its affections, friendship with the world which is enmity with God: — its glory, having succeeded in turning out of it the Prince of life. Life rejected, life turned out, — its glory! it is nothing but a sepulchre, death, and all comprehended in that awful word; a beautiful ruin that attracts the eye, but when we look in, — the sepulchre of Jesus. — But our hope!!! had any of the princes of this world known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; destruction and death have only heard the fame thereof with their ears. Blessed thought! There is nothing which belongs more to the resurrection, than hope; therefore, Satan so fights against the second advent. "Begotten again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." It is in the power of this hope, which is the power of the resurrection, that we can alone mount up with wings as eagles, be dissociated from all around, and stand aloof from all below. I think this truth also, brings strongly to the mind now, that every good gift is from above, and comes down to us from the Father of lights, it is "wisdom from above" — new will, new affections, new taste, new understanding, not the old sanctified. May we, dear brother and friend, have power to digest these truths, so that health and strength may be by them diffused through our spiritual system — may we be as the living among the dead, maintaining his right and his cause in the hour of his rejection... I am writing, as you see, not from Powerscourt, but from Lough Bray, a little fishing cottage over a lake embraced in high mountains, of majestic, threatening appearance, seeming to defy the approach of any evil to the children of the Most High. The invisible things of God, even his eternal power and God-head, are clearly seen from the creation. To us it has a voice, i.e. "it is all yours," all this majesty and greatness; for, as the mountains stand about the lake, even so mercy embraceth us on every side. It is a lone spot, three miles from Powerscourt, up the Glenchree mountains, where I used to visit the Roman Catholics; our nearest neighbour is the priest. People who judge only by sense, say, we shall be shut up by snow and starved, not able to get help in illness, — that we shall die of cold, inflammations, etc. — be murdered by the Roman Catholics, — but I have an answer for all, "Let thy widows trust in me ... When Jesus saw the multitude following Him, he turned and said," He that forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple." Yes, the true disciples must take the shame of the many professors. We know our hearts to be separated from these trifles; therefore we think the outward expression of it of little moment; but did we declare plainly that our kingdom is not from hence, that we seek a city, so many whose hearts are not separated, would at least count the cost. "They seek to carpet the way to heaven." It is therefore I have taken a cottage in the neighbourhood, to make the principle more clear. But it is all His doing; I held back as long as I could; I said, impossible; but He pushed me to it, shut me up to it, then made darkness light before me, crooked things straight, and do you think He will fail me? "They shall receive a hundred fold more in this life, and in the world to come."

It is a foolish thing to resist conscience, better to do an hundred other foolish things, for they at least express our sincere desire to the Lord to follow Him, at any cost; and he that does his will shall know of his doctrine, while the resisting of conscience, brings us to a stand still.

Letter 58.

My dear brother in the Lord, — Which is most wonderful, for a moving mass of sin to be accounted holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, or for one who knew no sin, to be treated as a mass of sin? Is it really so? Has the offended really endured the infliction of the law for the offender? Has the infinite space between God and the sinner been filled by himself? Has He really taken bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, to enable Him to stand in the gap? and not only so, but does he now put himself into the attitude of a beggar to implore sinners to be reconciled to Him? Can earth show a more wonderful a more stupendous mystery? Yes. The sinner refusing to be reconciled!! Hear, oh heavens! and give ear, oh earth! and learn the manifold wisdom of God, in his tender compassion. Yet what an unspeakable blessing, that all doubt of willingness lies on our side. No danger of his pleading with his great power against any who come, be they ever so far off. Though Ethiopia but stretch forth her hand, still He will in no wise cast out. Though we go, have gone, and do go, to the furthest boundary of sin, sorrow, remorse, anguish of spirit, hardness of heart, unbelief, ingratitude, backsliding, still it is written, "He is able to save to the — uttermost — uttermost — ALL that come unto God by him." Yes, we are precious to him; He has valued us at the price of his own precious blood. We carry about in our body as a casket, a pearl of great price to Jesus, one of the pearls belonging to his crown of glory. Let us treasure it, let us not trifle with it, let us not cast that to swine, which is to be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, to make up a royal diadem in the hand of our God. Yet among all the wonderful truths which are almost too good to be believed, the one we first mentioned seems to me the most so. —  That inasmuch as our surety has been treated as we deserve, so are we altogether as our surety deserves; that as God loves Christ, so he loves us; that in the court of justice we are one and the same, we shall be argued about, as though we had done and suffered all He has. Do we ask, how much are we one with the second Adam? just as much as we are one with the first. Let us allow ourselves the full strength of this belief, so that every recollection we are forced to of our oneness with the first Adam, may remind how closely we are united to the second. It is no more with us, is God angry with me? But is He angry with his Son? Not, — shall he condemn me? But shall he condemn my surety? Not, —  shall any abomination, and ingratitude pluck me out of his hand? but shall it pluck Jesus? Surely that robe is sufficient to hide us altogether, which was made to his dimensions. How out of character for the believer to take delight or interest in that to which we are dead, "how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?" "reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ;" and being "risen with Christ, let us seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth." The bustle of life should be no more to us than the buzzing of flies round a corpse. Since the Father reckons us one with his Son in his death, let us reckon ourselves one with him in our life; one in what he loves, what he desires, what he abhors. In return for a love many waters cannot quench, all He asks, is "love." Oh! may we ever remember that though we give all our substance, time, talent, any thing, and yet keep our hearts for idols, it will be utterly condemned. Now it is time to thank you for your three welcome letters. It is pleasant to write to one who proves he values a letter. I suppose Mr... told you he left us at P... at least if you touched on so insignificant a subject: and gave you a lesson that while man proposes, God executes; that while the lot is thrown into the lap, the whole disposal thereof is of the Lord. Sweet to lie passive in his hands, and know no will but his. We are now settled at ... ready to receive you when you come. I wish we were able to offer you a bed, but the only house we could get, is a little nut-shell, a nice little baby-house, very clean and new. You will have to come side-ways through the hall, and up the stairs. The three drawing-rooms would all go into the one in ... the fog of London is as stupefying, as the wind of Edinburgh is bracing. If you do not make haste, I shall be in a stupefaction before you come.

My purpose is to hear Mr. Howels, Sunday morning and evening, and Mr. Wilkinson, Tuesday morning.

Letter 59.

London, May 8th, 1833.

... I am now going to allow myself the pleasure of writing to you, dear and kind friend in Jesus. We do not communicate much on the way; we shall have more to tell at the end — a joyful wondrous story, such as angels love to hear. — Then shall all our trials of faith be to His honour and glory! What intense interest, therefore, must be each trial of faith to the invisible world. Many are our expressions of love to our God, and most valuable to him are those expressions; but He is a jealous God, words are not sufficient. Again and again, the anxious enquiry comes, "lovest thou me more than these?" Till tried, we know not how little faith we have. Faith must be put in the scales with something very near our hearts — yes, with what is nearest, for it still must be "more than these." The furnace must be heated in proportion to the increase of our faith. Is it, because God willingly afflicts? No, but the trial of faith strengthens; faith consumes its dross. The trial is precious to God — more precious than gold, because it shall endure. It is his riches, his treasure, precious to him is it to have proof from his child —  "Lord thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee." Is not every painful providence a messenger direct from the throne to our hearts — a ministering spirit sent forth to the heirs of salvation? It brings this message — now I will put home the question in a way that shall be felt. Are we ready to say, I could have borne any thing but this? Then let us remember the greatest compliment God can pay us, is to heat the furnace to the utmost. He is, in fact, then saying, "great is thy faith." Little furnaces are for little faith; and is not trial valuable, even to earthly affection? Do we not seize every opportunity to give proof to expressions of love? Oh! let us count the cost when we say, we believe. It is a word of deep meaning in the dictionary of God. Paul's belief was ready to do, but what was the answer, "Thou shall see what great things thou shall suffer for my name sake." It has been so from the beginning. We would not be without that trial of which all the church have been partakers. We would not that He should be so indifferent to our love, as never to question us about it, or desire an evidence of it. Does He not ponder each? He takes all into consideration. What would be felt in one, would not in another. Nevertheless, while it must be felt, He pledges his faithfulness, that with each temptation He will make a way of escape, that we may be able to bear it. He will never try us above what we are able to bear. Though it may seem that we are shut up on every side, He knows how to deliver! What a trial to Isaiah, when sent to tell the people of Israel, that their hearts should be made fat, their ears heavy, and their eyes shut, lest they should be converted and healed! What a trial to Abraham to go out of his country and from his kindred, and come into a strange land, not knowing whither He went! What a trial to Noah, to be mocked and regarded as a fool while building the ark, according to the command of the Lord! How Isaac's faith was proved in Jacob; how Jacob's was in Joseph; how Moses' was in choosing rather to suffer affliction, esteeming the reproach of Christ great riches. What a trial to forsake Egypt under the wrath of the king! When we seek to place ourselves in the condition of each of these sufferers, and consider every accompanying feeling, how it makes our trials say to us, "Oh! ye of little faith!" Gideon! Barak! Samson! Jephtha! David! Samuel! — Yet out of weakness were they made strong! Words quickly said, but what suffering! — in "mockings, scourgings, bonds, stoned, sawn asunder, tempted, slain with the sword, wandered about in sheep's skins and goat's skins, destitute, afflicted, tormented!'' Truly, "of whom the world was not worthy." Oh! what meagre Christians! Should we draw back if such were our prospects? May He not say, where is your faith? Let us love the prospect, clasp it to our bosom, as a token of his love. When standing as we expect, among the great multitude escaped out of great tribulation, would we be found alone without this family particularity? Does it not distinctly pronounce that name which includes all blessedness — "my Son." When Abraham shall tell of his Isaac; Isaac, of his Jacob; Jacob, of his Joseph; David, of his Absalom; Jeremiah, of his dungeon; Peter, of his stripes; John, of his banishment; Paul, of his perils, wearinesses, watchings, hunger; his thorn in the flesh; his buffetings of Satan: shall we be content to have nothing to bring forward to his praise, honour, and glory? for it shall not be forgotten, God is not unrighteous to forget our love for him. Hezekiah was left of God to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart. — God let the nations loose against Israel to prove them. — He allowed false prophets among them to prove them. — He sent them manna to prove them — brought them to the waters of Marah to prove them. — He led them forty years in the wilderness to prove them — to know what was in their heart; for while "the fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, it is the Lord that trieth the hearts." And "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation." Let us then, dear brother, welcome every trial. In them we shall prove our God. How full of compassion his approaches at such seasons! He comes with all the tenderness of one who knew that he was about to wound a heart he loved. Have you ever marked his gentleness when bringing a painful message? How He usually calls by name, Abraham, Abraham — Moses, Moses. He tells us why I have called you by name, because you arc mine. His own sheep "He calls by name." As many as He loves he rebukes, but He would have us understand it to be a rebuke of love. Now we arc "a spectacle to angels and devils;" let us not bring up a false report of our God. — Let it be seen that "tribulation worketh patience, patience experience, experience hope;" yea, that we can "glory in tribulation," for "we know the end of the Lord, very pitiful, and of tender mercy" — let us trust him without an explanation. When let behind the scenes in the case of Job, how we feel a desire that Satan should be disappointed. — Then let us glorify the Lord in the fires. — Satan will be as disappointed in us, for Job was not a whit more beloved. Let Jesus' "strength be made perfect in weakness," it is the glory of this dispensation. Abraham's faith has been to God's glory; the will was accepted as the deed. Heb. 11. 17; James 2. 21. We may rest assured, that the day is coming when the bitterest dealings shall be to us the sweetest. Every trial of faith in Hebrews 11. was some affliction. Let us accept tribulation as the boon we are most unworthy of. If we were without tribulation, of which all are partakers, then were we not children. Rather let us bless him — Oh, let us bless him, that He has not pronounced that which would be indeed the desert of our rebellious hearts. — "Let them alone." But why do I write so to you. I hope you are in no trouble. — What is it? for I asked the Lord to let me write that, which would be just what you needed: and I have written this. — Ah! if you need it not now, you have needed it, and you will, if you stay long in this world of sin.

I have been looking at Abraham's trial of faith; it must be to us important to dwell on, as it is proposed as the pattern of faith to the end of time. —  If to be the pattern, God must have sought for the most trying proof; and in it, does not God seem to say, behold my love: for God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, etc. How touchingly this same trial is described in Judges 11. 30, etc. How we read, "in this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world:" have we not in this a proof, that the sacrifice of God in slaying his Son, (to speak after the manner of men,) was the utmost pang the Divine mind could devise; for it was the one chosen as a pattern of faith to the end of time. God would thus, it seems, sustain us in all our minor trials, by an apprehension of his own love embodied in that of Abraham, by setting him up before us as the Father of the faithful, and pattern of faith. He would check our doubts, of his willingness with his only Son to give all things, seeing that in Abraham not sparing his beloved Isaac, He asked no more: while he would also draw out our love and gratitude, that our requirement is not our first-born, for our transgression; that having been done for us at an expense of love set forth in Abraham, we have only, to "LOVE MERCY, and to walk humbly with our God!"

The fire was in the father's hand, and also the knife, when to Calvary they went both together. The transaction was all between these stupendous acts fulfilling, while foolish man gazed on with unmeaning gaze. Blessed to have such a wise, as well as loving God to undertake for us. Let us lay aside every weight, asking no questions, looking at no consequences; let not unbelief say, how shall I stand the trying day! but let us "run with patience the race SET before us, looking unto Jesus." It may be a difficult race; let us be bent on it; if faint, yet pursuing; let us lay aside, cast on His omnipotent shoulder, every hindrance, that might impede our progress, or make our bold resolute willingness falter. We often forget that it is the race of faith we are running. We ought to appear deranged to the by-stander, for to the mere looker-on, the cross is "foolishness." Every weight of sense must be put out of the way; I believe that holy bold resolution in this, will do much in keeping us steady. Often we see nets spread before us in our path, and though it is written, "in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird," yet so does man excel in folly even the beasts of the field, and birds of the air, so infatuated, that we run into our favourite snares with our eyes open, though perhaps determining not to be held, but to struggle out of them; present weakness not being sufficient to correct confidence in future strength; till our feet are entangled, our race impeded, and we discover too late, that the God of strength has refused to accompany us into the snare, has been left behind, and we stand alone against the enemy. Oh! that we were wise. Oh! that we had grace to be resolute to turn aside from pits, into which our weakness has fallen again and again, and our faith has well-nigh been drowned. — The wise man speaking of temptation, (which is true of all temptation,) says, "avoid it, pass it not by, turn from it and pass away," how wise not to parley with the old serpent, for his arguments are most ingenious; to resist, or else flee from him. May we examine ourselves in this. May we see to it, that nothing impedes our race, weakens our faith, or prevents our obedience. We have before us the majesty of that love which set its face stedfastly to go to Jerusalem, in perfect acquiescence to the will of the Father. Let us be honest with ourselves and in earnest with God. Let us treasure no Babylonish garment however goodly. Let us sanctify ourselves, for if there be an accursed thing hid in our hearts, we shall not be able to stand in the day of trial; we lose much time in our progress by needing such repeated lessons on each truth. When we should have been wise, we are still found fools. He has said, whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, he cannot be my disciple. We are following a crucified one!

We remain here till the end of May — further I see not. Oh! for simplicity in discovering His will, and submissiveness in following. This is a lesson some are long in learning, I have been all my life talking of it, but always following my own will except his was mine...

Letter 60.

Lough Bray, September, 1834.

My beloved friend. — It has not been indeed because of the want of a heart to write, that I have not done so long since — but my father, at whose bidding I desire to move, did not say go, till this moment, and you know you would not hear from me but as his scribe. God grant me thy words, and thy thoughts, that this may be to us both, an ordinance of thine own! I have with gratitude heard good accounts of your dear ... from different quarters, which I shall rejoice to have confirmed by your own hand. You know one of the explanations of his OWN name is, "keeping mercy." -

"Thou alone couldst silent stand,

And wait to show thy love."

I so feel for our young people now. I feel more for my ... than your ... It was wisely ordered that through persecution and tribulation we should enter the kingdom. They have the misfortune of seeing Christianity in their parents and friends, which causes them to set out with a low standard. Oh! I feel this; how different our conversation, from what we would that they should consider the Christian's calling! so that the very respect and esteem, it is desirable that they should entertain for us, is against their whole future life; and inasmuch as it is below, and different from, the way in which we set out, so in proportion will their Christianity in some years be below ours. This, with many other things, shows me that even in this relationship we must be resigned to decrease, and let the Lord be all! We often think it is for their good, and the Lord's glory, that we desire to be identified in their minds with the gospel, but our very disappointment when we fail, proves it to be secretly a desire of obtaining for ourselves that worship which is its due and effect. I desire to be willing they should be able to discover both grace, and nature, in me, that my inconsistency may not detract from its glory; and I desire also to be able, now that they have come to full reason, and the Lord has taken them up, I trust, to let go my dominion and too great anxiety over them, and so prove that not for myself, but for Him, I have watched over them. How difficult it is, dear friend, to be only for Him in this world, especially in our service towards them we call our own. We are ready to be interested even for the Lord's work, because the bit he has given us, instead of, because His. Still self, self — we need a heart large enough to embrace the universe, yet contracted enough to lend all its energies and sympathies to each case, "diligently to follow every good work," elastic hearts! ... I believe you expected I was to have more leisure up here, than at ... quite the contrary, I never had so little leisure or time for communion, in my life! not because of the change of place, but more from the loss of ... besides, new situations bring new duties and new trials.

"Joy to find in every station

Something still to do or bear."

Yet never once have I regretted the step I took, but find new, unlooked-for mercies every turn. In my former situation were large trials to meet, large temptations, needing large supplies of grace, opportunities to draw these supplies; my work, when coming down from Him, more spiritual and direct, more out of the reach of the little foxes that spoil the vines, less intercourse, except spiritual, with others. I feel that formerly there was in me but an outline of the image of Christ, now He would fill it up with the graces of the Spirit; He would, but I find when he demands their use, I have none of them. Blessed be his name for bringing me into circumstances to draw them out! He saw I desired to come down, and he will do it; his own work shall be to humble — we need no more time for communion than He allows, he can be learnt in the most servile works, and the most common providences, as much as in the word, if we have eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to understand, which is also needed for the word. Oh! it is not the word, but his blessing, which is the guide and teacher of the heart, and happiness comes not from our measure of knowledge, but from our measure of subjection — to live in his presence "in the heavenlies," is one lesson, but to find his presence in every duty, to live on Him in them, is a further lesson; we are apt to look with panting heart for the time of communion, as if our retired time was the time of communion, but to walk with God is to dwell in communion, to have the soul stayed on Him. I have also been learning that it is an abiding sense of weakness which is our safeguard, not strength even from above; and many a tumble we shall have, before we have an abiding sense of weakness, and yet we need the Spirit of power to meet the fiery darts of the wicked one, a shield from which they will rebound. The Lord will be prevailed with, but it must be through wrestling; poor Jacob, his trials began from the moment he received the blessing. I am indeed the most inexcusable of all creatures, if I am not thankful and contented, as you would say, could you see ... so much for self. Am I ever to see you here? The 25th of this month our time is up here; I have not yet ascertained whether it be the Lord's will for us to continue yet some months; if He has nothing for us to do, I pray not; though it is just beginning to be very lovely. The questions you asked me, I take for granted you have long since answered to yourself. You have, no doubt, heard of dear ... happy removal — she sleeps in Jesus, and though he suffers severely, was able to give her up with outstretched arms. I hope you enjoy more every day, even as I trust I do, the promises handed down to us, through the experience of Christ in the psalms, He seems to lay open his heart filled with our necessities, that out of his experience, we may draw of his fulness. Our promises having lighted upon his head, they descend to the skirts of his garments, we have thus not only the word, but the example of his faithfulness in our own every case, whatever it may be; and this seems the great argument used by our Lord throughout them, as his voice in the church, — "In the world ye shall have tribulation, but I HAVE OVERCOME"; for example, in the 3rd Psalm, the believer cries, "how are they increased that trouble me?" And Jesus answers; "I cried, and he heard me out of his holy hill." Again, he says, "ten thousand of the people, have set themselves against me round about;" Jesus says, "arise, save, for thou hast smitten mine enemies," etc. Again, the body lies down to rest; Jesus says, "Fear not, I awaked, for the Lord sustained me." In a word, "now is Christ risen and become the first fruits of them that sleep." How precious among all the hallelujahs of heaven, that our cry is heard out of his holy hill; yes, even our sigh! There seemed in Him on earth, such a wonderful mixture of condescending humility, and divine authority, one can hardly comprehend what it was about Him, which made all the people walk quietly out of the temple, to their own great loss, — and yet did not prevent the blind and lame coming to Him, at the very same time into the temple, as if there was an attraction towards Him to want and necessity, and a repulse to Pharisaic hypocrisy — as if the one felt a right to Him and to the temple. What was it made them submit to his thus with authority calling the temple "my house?" Could they not all have risen against this one poor man? What made all the city moved, was it so wonderful for a poor man to ride in on a borrowed ass, without even a saddle? Yet, not more striking was the display then of the wisdom of this world, contrasted with the wisdom from above. The chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that Jesus did, and heard the miraculous hosannas of the children, and were sore displeased; while the babes and sucklings acknowledged in spite of them all, the great mystery of godliness. Dear Friend, I sometimes tremble at the resemblance between the Church now and then. The mass holding evangelical doctrines are so like the Pharisees! The knowledge of Scripture so much like their wisdom, sore displeased if any thing is believed beyond the beaten track, or not received through the set teachers. Would that my knowledge was not like theirs, a searching of the understanding; I desire the wisdom of babes and sucklings which can only be a communication of the Spirit. How little by searching we can find out God! His work is on the spirit, not on the head. When he brings down, when he brings us to dependance and quiet waiting on him, then He will teach us himself. He upbraideth not. The only time we read of his upbraiding ("oh fools! and slow of heart to believe.") we immediately read, He himself began from the beginning to the end of Scripture to expound to them all concerning himself, and never fainted nor was weary till their eyes were opened. Blessed stupidity that brings us his wisdom. It must be in due time, He will impart; we are too impatient. He brought his Son, will He not bring us each truth as we can bear it? What a cluster of graces James shows us to be contained in that one word, wisdom. Yet all in him, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom for us. Not only will he not upbraid, but he invites us to receive, in commanding us to ask, and that we may not doubt his willingness, we are reminded that in him who so loved us, there is no variableness neither shadow of turning. Let us ask, without doubting, and we have; for this wisdom, in him for us, is full of mercy and without partiality. It can only be received through faith, and acts by faith. I believe it is quite different to have faith for the whole, and to have daily faith in our every day little walk; yet I believe we need even for this latter, only a single eye, and to be little in our own eyes. Much wisdom we now need in these difficult times. Christ says, "as the Father hath sent me into the world, even so have I sent you." Oh! that we could so be in this dirty world! our clean spirits not even spotted by it! did He not stand in it only for the purpose of blessing, intent on finishing the work GIVEN HIM to do? This was his meat and drink, because his Father's work, but dispatching it with all expedition in order to be off again to the Father, "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world and go to the Father." The work dear, because the Father's, therefore not dearer than the Father's presence. To do our business (works of faith, labours of love, patience of hope) as one in a shower of rain. Our risen hands must not touch any thing below, accursed in Satan . All is ours: yet touch not, taste not, handle not, till made fit to be presented by the Father to his risen ascended Son; till the purchased possession is redeemed, faith must act as to the things of this world, as Cecil expected from his child when he threw her toys into the fire. It is not our dispensation to sanctify evil, but forsake it; to set forth our portion to be in the heavenlies, in the midst of the earthly; the apostle tells us to know our calling; alas! we have fallen beneath it...

Letter 61.

Powerscourt, 18th May, 1834.

My dear friend — I think I have seen more clearly this last week than before, the Davidical reign, which is to precede the Solomon one. I think the descent from the heavens, the gathering up of the saints, and the return of the Jews, will synchronize, and that there will be a great sifting in the land, before Israel is visited in the wilderness, and afterwards brought back. Do you see whether the ten tribes shall be gathered together first, and restored together, or whether they shall come from different parts in different ways? It is evident, as seems to me, that they will be found idolaters. I agree with you, so far, that our Lord's conduct before Caiaphas, showed he did not literally mean to offer him the other cheek, but I think it did show that we are to bear injustice, and not exercise power in our defence. Oh! look at him — "then they did spit in his face and buffetted him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands, saying, prophesy," etc. How they "laid to his charge things which he knew not." Yet, what do we hear of Him who could have called for legions of angels? "Jesus held his peace." I quite agree with you, that martyrdom is not always outward suffering; or always from or through man. I believe all are given opportunity of martyrdom, because, this is the dispensation of martyrdom; but I do not think all suffering is included. It seems to me, that in martyrdom, there must be, necessarily, a choice — a good way without suffering, a better way with suffering. I believe it can be refused, and that they will be sufferers who do refuse. To what you say about the Psalms I can heartily say, "truth." It is the book, of all others, we could not do without. It testifies to the heart that it is of God. There we find, the master of the feast has kept the good wine to the last. There, before the chosen depositories of his sighs, the man of sorrows spreads his consolations, saying, drink, yea, drink abundantly, oh beloved. How often in the Psalms the Father's dealings with Him, are his ground of consolation as to his church. May we not so consider him, when ready to faint in our minds?

Affectionately yours, dear friend,

T. A. P.

Letter 62.

November 18, 1834.

My dear Mr …,  I trust your throat is improving, and that it is not a crop of care laid in for the winter. What various ways He has of educating us, to enable us to bear the weight of glory He has laid up for us. One part of the explanation He gives of his own incomprehensible name is, "keeping mercy." Blessed assurance! we shall never be tempted above that we are able to bear. I have been looking at this, in the case of Abraham. Had the Lord been a moment sooner in his command to stay the trial, Abraham would not have been entitled to all the blessed results of "Seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me." Had He been a moment later, Isaac was gone. The sitting of the Refiner over his furnace is so precious. He did not seem to be heeding Abraham, when for so many days they went both together to the mountain — when he allowed the altar to be built — the wood laid — Isaac bound; yet, his compassions only waited for the very nick of time to manifest themselves. The same with poor Hagar, though her sin brought her to her extremity. She had sown to the wind, why not let her reap the whirlwind? She sowed upon a bed of flint, she had only to expect to reap a crop of troubles. But, no; she was friendless, comfortless — it was enough — He could not forsake the poor destitute. He went out to look for her. He found her in the wilderness. He comforted her with kindness, because the Lord had heard her affliction. There is something so tender in —  "The angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, what aileth thee, Hagar? fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad." This was enough; "He hath heard." — Is it not so with us, often surrounded by providences, which seem ready to overwhelm, and crush our faith altogether, so that we know not how to overcome? Like as thrown adrift upon a stormy sea, surrounded by storms, and shoals, and rocks, through which we cannot steer, and we feel totally unable to escape; yet, our little bark is carried safely along; we cannot tell how, except that, the fact that it is so, is proof enough to the heart, that there is, and must be at the helm, an almighty, though unseen, hand; — which conviction throws us to cling afresh with every wave, to this sure hold, and thus we expect to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. David had fainted but for this; not till at their wits end, they cried unto the Lord, and He heard. So shall it be with all our trials and temptations; like Abraham's knife, they are messengers from the throne to the heirs of promise. Let us welcome them. Let us love the cross. It is a faithful friend, so far, but no further, though as near consumed as Isaac —  the knife stretched out. When the carpet shall be turned, at which He works, we would not have been without the bitterest trials; the more bitter the more certain of its blessings, because we know his heart is toward his little ones. And what a reproach to us is that word to Abraham. Seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son,"(as it were,) I can trust thee for all — I can enter into the richest friendship. — The friend of God. — I can confide in thee. — I can unbosom myself unto thee, — "Seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." And is it wonderful He should afterwards expect us to trust, that He will, "with him," give all things, when He has not spared his Son, his only Son, but gave him for us? Dear Mr... pardon my thus indulging myself in writing to you. You know I could not send the paper empty. It may not be just now applicable to you; yet, can it ever be inapplicable to hear from experience, "Faithful is He who hath promised, who also will do it." And truly, I can set to my seal, that He speaks truth when He promises it shall be through much tribulation we shall enter the kingdom; — that I have found extremity to be His opportunity; that He knows our souls in adversity; that He is a present help in times of trouble; it is then, when the soul is outcast, and there is none to feel, none to help, or deliver, then it is Jesus draws nigh, spreads out his arms of consolation, and embraces the believer on every side. Yet a little — his messengers shall have finished their work; faith have been made perfect, and at his presence and bidding, sorrow and sighing shall flee away. "Make haste my Beloved." "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." Absence is absence, and we can never be at rest till we are united to him for ever. It is not enough that we are now secure of him, and that He does love, and will love us to the end. We know it. We value his love-tokens, we have our confidence fixed not in them, but in himself — his trustful character. Nevertheless, we cannot do without Him. It is His presence we want; — not only by faith, but in his arms, to say, "My Beloved is mine and I am his."

Very affectionately yours, in His love and truth,

T. A. Powerscourt.

Letter 63.

... 1834

... I was distressed to read yours in such low spirits, and to find even in outward things you are not as comfortable as we wish: yet, dear ... you have every thing. I know you are so convinced of this, you would not alter the smallest circumstance, nor put one ingredient into your cup if you could. And have you not a right to be satisfied, when you POSSESS GOD? Oh! how well for him to deprive our earthly affections of all nourishment, that they in vain going in search of their object, may take a grand grasp of Him, who alone can fill every nook and corner of the heart.

"... Ah, how base was I

To quit the pillow of eternal peace,

And seek repose among the thorns of time."

See how he yearns over your heart as a jealous God. He says, how can I give it up? my temple where I delighted to dwell and show forth my glory — my portion. He seems sometimes to plead thus, "I set my love upon thee when thou wast in thy blood, and I followed thee to do thee good; I delivered thee out of the mouth of the lion; I have put thee among the children; I have betrothed thee to my Son; made thee joint heir with him; have given thee all my promises; have enabled thee to rejoice in them; have watched thine extremities as my opportunities; have delighted over thee to do thee good; have been a present help in time of trouble; have made all thy bed in thy sickness; when cast down I have whispered, I am thy great salvation;" when desponding, have whispered, "I am Jesus;" when inclined to say, how shall I stand the trying day? "I have answered, thou shalt see that as thy day, thy strength SHALL be"; and if that had been too little, "I would, moreover, have given thee such and such things." Judge, I pray you, what could I have done more than I have done. Hast thou not felt satisfied, when from the bottom of the heart, thou hast been able to say, "There is not one on earth I desire but thee? Yet, alas! now all this availeth me nothing — so long as one wish lies ungratified." Is this the answer of faith, to Him who spared not his only Son, but gave him up for you? Is it not unkind? does it not grieve him? He has a human heart — witness his feeling Peter's unkindness. It was sharper than any nail, any thorn, when at the very moment of receiving sentence of death, he heard the crow of the cock. Let us not force him to give the reproachful look which cost Peter so many tears. Much we need faith to be tried — for, humbling though it is, yet even the believer finds it very difficult to conceive, that God speaks truth. Though the promises are ours, our portion in which we do delight; yet how difficult to make use of a promise, to see such a substance in "things hoped for," as to esteem afflictions with the people of God greater riches than any, or all the treasures of Egypt. We often find out how little we believe his word concerning futurity, in our little faith in his word as to present vanity; how little we believe things that are not, to be what they are, by discovering how much we believe things that are, to be what they are not. But He is teaching us the meaning of words, sweetening our bitternesses, embittering our sweets, that we may understand present happiness to be present unhappiness; and present unhappiness to be present happiness; as Pollock says,

"Attempt! how monstrous! how surely vain

With things of earthly sort — with aught but God,

To satisfy and fill the immortal soul.

Attempt! — vain inconceivably! attempt

To satisfy the ocean with a drop:

To marry immortality to death;

And with the unsubstantial shade of time,

To fill the embrace of all eternity!"

Then let us thank him for cutting one string after another, which binds our balloon of faith to earth; that being let loose, it may be wafted above every mountain of vanity into the regions of reality. Now, dearest ... remember your high calling; you are not intended for such beggarly elements as the bliss of this world. He does not think that worth offering you, which he throws to the world. Let not an heiress of a throne in the new Jerusalem, waste one sigh on not being allowed to nestle in Satan's kingdom. Let us pursue intently the business for which we are left here, that we may hasten to be gone. We are living epistles, lent to the world from God's library, to teach a particular subject — to manifest the Christian's glorious hope. Satan grins with delight in getting your pages so blotted over with sorrow that works death, as to render this glorious truth illegible. We have so few years, perhaps days to stay; and surely, if we shall have one regret on the borders of that inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that passeth, not away, (where friends shall meet to part no more,) it will be, that every moment of our short existence has not been gathering glory to Him, during the only space through eternity, in which the church shall be privileged to preach to principalities and powers in heavenly places, the manifold wisdom of God; on this (to angels) wonderful text, "Cast down, but not destroyed, sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, poor, yet making many rich, having nothing, yet possessing all things." — Blessed be his name for so letting us into the secrets of his love — secrets He never whispered to angels: though I sometimes think some of these volumes of faithfulness (believers' lives) are so tragical, that when read aloud hereafter, even the angels must drop a tear. — Yet, "hallelujah!" Oh, sing it loud, greatly beloved; for behold how He loves you! not even with the common love to his children; he has not suffered you to walk smoothly down the stream of time; but by large and rough billows has dashed you on the promises. — This is the Christian's elevated station, to walk on the promises, leaning through thick and thin on this sustaining staff, — "I know the Lord;" every blessing is preserved from being a curse, by having this label "with Him." Every curse with the same label becomes a true blessing. And shall he not "with Him give us all things?" Sweet to have a care by the casting of which on him, we may prove, He cares for us. Sweet to have something dear, by the giving up of which we may give Abraham's proof, we care for Him. Let us then be Nazarites indeed, separated from the dead, not touching that which might lead to evil; a burnt offering; all the baubles and idols of time, cast into the furnace, on which we offer up body, soul, and spirit. I shall end with an extract of an exhortation of dear Mr... in a sermon preached here. "We have found a pearl of great price, for which we may well sell all. If we would know the full happiness that belongs to them that are in Christ, we must present ourselves without compromise, take up our cross, and follow Christ, deny ourselves and follow Him whithersoever He goeth, actuated by a real and scriptural conviction on our conscience, that we are in the right way; we should boldly and manfully follow God our Saviour, and then when our affections arc solely surrendered to the Author of our being, we shall receive a rich and abundant recompense, being filled with all the fulness of God. Oh! my believing friends, that our hearts were more open to the immensity of the privileges, to which the great Head of the church has called us. Oh! that we could feel more, what is the nature of that high and heavenly vocation wherewith we are called, that we knew more the full meaning of being his peculiar people, his chosen generation. The Christian church is the moral representation of God, in this dark and benighted world; it is called to manifest the divine glory in the face of Christ; it should be practically embodied in their spirit, and in their life, that the world may take knowledge of them, that they have been with Jesus; and beholding the practical influence of the Gospel on them, may see there is something real and substantial in the religion of Christ's everlasting kingdom. We are called the sons and daughters of the Most High; would to God, we all felt by our own personal experience, — how impossible it is to know the extent of this immeasurable blessing. Then we should be able gladly to cut off a right hand, or pluck out a right eye, for his sake. May God show us the vanity of every object the world holds dear, and may He tear away the veil, with which the god of this world clothes these objects to hide their nakedness, that we may see the world as it is. May the light of eternal glory throw a rich flood of knowledge over our understandings, that his glory may fill the largest capacities of our soul, that we may prove Him under every circumstance, to be the pearl of great price."...

Letter 64.

January 28th, 1835.

Poor dear ..., how much you must have gone through! yet, has it not endeared Jesus; made you feel more the value of "my beloved is mine," and "I am his," and "who shall separate me from this love?" No, I do not think any expectation of future good satisfies for the denial of a present desire. I believe it will be only subjection, and the resignation of the will, that can bring peace; and it does bring peace to the humbled under the mighty hand of Him who, we feel certain, "careth for us." No position of the mind is so blessed, or so happy to ourselves, as, "I behaved and quieted myself as a child weaned from its mother." "My soul is as a weaned child." Therefore is the arm of the Lord's discipline to subdue us; and blessed be God, "He is able to subdue ALL things to himself." The surrender of the spirit after a struggle, brings more real happiness, than would the possession of the good, struggled for; but it needs many a struggle, and many a victory. I believe the only thing is to resign ourselves immediately to God, and give ourselves to him to crucify our affections, and desires.

Dear Sister, I believe the life of faith is a thing very few of us attain to, we have much rejoicing in our security, because of the election, and promised preservation of a crucified Saviour; — we have bright anticipations of his coming again with his saints, but we have a gap between; even the whole of this dispensation; — Jesus, and the resurrection; — The risen, everlasting, more abundant life we receive because of union with him; — his death and resurrection; —  the spirit of God within us, constituting us sons of God; — one with our elder Brother in all his sufferings and privileges; — we know I think little of this; at least I know little of this, in its death and in its life; — the continual crucifixion and death of the flesh, because we are dead; — the letting the Spirit work, whose work is to subdue, in order to his life being manifested in us; — in order to his graces being able to flourish within. — Oh! it is a resurrection life we possess, and therefore must possess it through death, and if we would know the heavenly nature of this life, we must die, die, die. It is immortality; — it is spiritual; —  it is heaven; "the kingdom of heaven," the Lord calls it; there must be a complete separation from mortality, from flesh, from earth. And only in proportion to death, will be the enjoyment of life. —  What attainments we might be given! How we might be blessed! What blessings we might be made, if we had but courage to yield ourselves as victims to the Spirit of God. If we would deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow the man of sorrows, the solitary Jesus. We should never regret it; holy and salutary exercises! a bringing down to our proper position; not only not expecting any thing from beneath, but refusing it: not satisfied with the good part, but choosing the better, because we know the times, that "the night is far spent and the day at hand," therefore let us not be making provision for the flesh and its enjoyments, but putting on our armour of light, preparing for the battle. Let us so show our feeling for the church of Jesus, as to seek to present in our lives that which it most needs. Let us show plainly we seek a kingdom, that our kingdom is not from hence. Let us show plainly that we are one with the Lord from heaven; that we wait for Him, who has delivered us from the wrath to come; that we have crucified the flesh with its affections. Let us deliver ourselves to death, that the life of Jesus may be more manifested in his body, the church; if we love his appearing, our solicitude must be about his church, not about ourselves. We shall grieve most, that our sin is a blot in his church. We shall feel the sins of the body, as our own; for we are members one of another. Oh may he give us this, to see such a substance in things hoped for, as to make every thing else appear in its naked nothingness, and so be satisfied to wait to receive all good "with Jesus." If we are waiting for him, we are also waiting for his saints, for they shall come with him. It is enough of argument for the Apostle, quite conclusive, — Jesus is to come, therefore those who sleep in him, must come with him. As if a thought of separation between Christ and its members could not be. Do not think, love, that I have learned this lesson. No, but I am seeking to lay myself low, to be crucified. May we be counted worthy of this experience, for "if we through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, we shall live," and perhaps after being conformable to his death, and knowing the power of the resurrection, even the power of an endless life, we may be admitted to taste of fellowship in his suffering. Amen, amen. What more can I desire for you dear ... than discipline and sufferings in his hands? and surely you shall have with it "I will not leave you comfortless."...

Letter 65.

April 5th, 1832.

My  dearest ..., I hope you do not think, because silent, I have forgotten you and dear ... I have, indeed, been intending to write ever since I left you, but am so terrible a procrastinator, that before the pen got on the paper, I had lost your direction, you having moved to some new place. But I have not been unmindful of you in your many trials. Poor ... so many trials coming upon her at once. I trust she has been upheld, and that her health has not suffered materially; yet, the Lord has mingled much mercy in the cup. What a faithful God! What a hearer of prayer! What confidence it gives for the future! Though we may have many to plead with him for, yet, not too many for his grace, for "He is rich in mercy to all that call upon him." We never hear of his refusing to heal the body of any one taken to him in faith; and why? that "we might know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins," (Luke, 5. 24.) ... Where is Lady ... Poor thing, what an upset for her in one moment! Yet, dear ... we need all the discipline our tender Father sends. How patient He is in sending so many chastisements, that our perverseness has not long since wearied Him out; that we have not forced him yet to say, "Let them alone." I believe there is nothing we are so undeserving of as affliction; yet, still He sends afflictive line upon line, afflictive precept upon precept, and each so exactly suited to the particular character and particular feelings of each individual. It is very touching to read Israel's wilderness mercies, and wilderness perverseness, with application to ourselves. It helps to bring us to believe his simple declaration, in spite of appearances, that "all things work together for good." How little it could have appeared so, when He turned the hearts of their enemies to hate his people, and to deal subtlely with his servants. He brings us out into the open wilderness, that He may have opportunity of manifesting this love, in spreading over us his protecting power, and fitting himself into our every want. He never calls us to descend into any trial, but we find He has been in it before us; that He has therein deposited his unsearchable wealth, so we come up enriched. How often "waters gush out of rocks" to us. We meet his consolations where least we expect, even where it seems impossible; and in the many dry places which we meet in our march to the city above, He makes waters run, even to give drink to His people, His chosen. "This rock was Christ." And why all this? Because He remembers his promise to Jesus, our surety; and because He would purify to himself, a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Yes, the whole course of nature shall be changed before He can fail in the least promise to the most insignificant child. What a mercy that we have a God of truth to deal with! without exaggerations, with equivocation! that we have only to cling to his naked promise, and to glorify him simply in obeying him...

Letter 66.

December, 1834.

... How pleasant it is to live for an end, and for an end so worthy of our life! that "whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord; so that living or dying, we are the Lord's." And in the mean time, what great lessons He is teaching us, even the knowledge of himself; and He is disciplining us not only for our place in the church below, but for the place in the kingdom, for which He designs us in futurity. When the mother of Zebedee's children asked him for the place, on his right hand and left, in his kingdom, He answers, "are ye able to drink of my cup and to be baptized with my baptism?" as much as to say, "The path of sorrow, and that path alone, leads to the land where sorrow is unknown." We have taken up our cross to follow the crucified One. We are to count the cost. To expect any thing else is unbelief. We have been signed with the sign of the cross, as a token that we are to fight under his banner. Our capacity of enjoyment, because the proper condition of a creature, consists not in liberty, but in learning dependance and submission. If we knew it, it is happiness we are called to, in being required to be dependant one upon another. It will be so hereafter. We are called to nothing but what would be happiness, could we submit to it. Pride is our misery, our greatest enemy. Blessed be his name! He promises to resist it. Dependance and submission seemed a new happiness obtained by our blessed Master as a man. Not only did He submit to his Father, but see how He leaned on his brethren. "He looked for some to have pity upon him." "What, could ye not watch with me one hour?" "He came to his own, and his own received him not." "I am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop." "I looked on the right hand, and there was none; and on the left no man cared for me." "Refuge failed me; then said I unto the Lord, thou art my refuge and my portion." Having to rule and reign with Christ, we must come to the same school to learn to govern. He was educated in our necessities. Whence comes all the sympathy we experience day by day, but because He suffered, being tempted? Oh! yes, let us have patience. — "Let patience have her perfect work, wanting nothing;" for "the coming of the Lord draweth nigh."... I do not know if you will care for this, but I think you ought to care for all that concerns the glory of our beloved Lord. We need large hearts, not only large enough to hold your small house, or your parish even, but to hold not only the universe, but all the kingdom of heaven — to hold God, and with him all dear to him. What a largeness! all dear to Him, who so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, etc.! Do you ever pray for me? I pray for you. It is so pleasant, and so profitable to talk to the Lord about our friends — we send them sweet messages of love, by a faithful messenger. We do not know its sweetness till we try it. It is time well spent, to talk to him of them, to talk to them of him. We deprive ourselves of much real happiness by not living in heaven. Believers should be but as variegated lamps, hung out to lighten the feet of passengers from the kingdom of darkness. Our kingdom is not from hence. We should be looking at earth as from heaven, instead of looking at heaven from earth; as though present things were already past, and future things already present; and so they soon will be, for "the fashion of this world passeth away."...

Letter 67.

... 1835.

... I should like much to know what you now think of all things around us. The worldliness of the church has been carried to such an extent, it seems to me that there is no alternative, that we must choose either to belong altogether to the heavenly, or altogether to the earthly kingdom. The serving two masters makes our path an unhappy one; the limit becomes uncertain, and different in the minds of each, as to our permitted path on either side, and we who believe become responsible for the much profession, and more hypocrisy which exists. Could we stand on more holy ground, there would be less ambition to be found on it. There is much, seemingly, to be said for the things of this world being sanctified to heavenly uses; yet I cannot help feeling more and more assured every day, (though my foolish thoughts are little worth,) that a divorce must take place, that God and the world cannot be joined — that it behoves us to make plain that we are the risen ones, by our portion not being in any degree from hence; — that we are not struggling upwards through mire and dirt, but we are as let down from heaven; we take our stand in the kingdom of heaven, looking from above at earth, not from earth at heaven. And the less the body of' Christ is such, the more jealous should we be to attain it individually; because the wheat is mixed with the tares, therefore should we be the more desirous, that a distinction should be seen for the glory of his beloved name. I have been thinking of late, that one evil effect of our little apprehension of our present life being a risen life, united to the Lord from heaven, is a forgetfulness that the constant enjoyment and power of that life, will be in proportion to the mortifying and death of the natural life. I do not know if you will think me wrong, but it seems to me to be a mistake I have been under, with many believers, and therefore, why I have attained so little, that I have expected death would be in proportion to life, instead of life in proportion to death. The work of the Spirit after entering his temple is to subdue, in order to the flourishing of his grace within; that our part, instead of rising up against things which seem contrary to us, is to let him work, and to join with him against the evils which most easily beset us. So our very evils become nails in the hand of the Spirit by which to crucify the flesh. For though, like Adam and Eve, we are ever ready to accuse circumstances or natural dispositions, yet is the failure all our unbelief. We must be conformable to his death, before we know the power of "his resurrection, and only in proportion to our mortifying the deeds of the body through the spirit," can we live. The path of humiliation is a happy experience; and He is able to subdue all things to Himself, blessed be his name! and every conquest in us, is a witness to Satan that he is overcome, and shortly shall be trodden underfoot. Pardon me for trespassing so long on your time, but I feel you are peculiarly loved of the Father, and I could not forbear.

May the voice of the loving, longing, heavenly dove, calling for her mate, be alone heard from our consecrated hearts! May the Holy Spirit so perpetually sound there the name of Jesus, that it may be as ointment poured forth over every intention, word and action!

Believe me with affection yours,

In the hope of the kingdom,

T A Powerscourt.

Letter 68.

August, 1835.

... I hope you are learning how to love. It is difficult to do, and difficult to suffer, but there is nothing so difficult as to love as a Christian. In proportion as a thing is good used rightly, so in proportion is it evil, abused. Eve was Adam's acme of blessing; therefore, abused, she became his greatest curse. May your husband and child not be resting places for your heart, but channels to and from God! then will they be blessings indeed, far more assimilating to Christ than having the heart pent up into itself. How like Christ we should be, if we would learn diligently in all our lesson-books, instead of being such dunces!...

Letter 69.

December, 1835.

O, my poor dear, dear ..., Indeed, I do feel for you. Such short-lived happiness! Oh! what a weight of glory must there be, if these afflictions are not "worthy to be compared" to it! May He give you out of the depth to say, it is all love! To believe it to be so, is very hard: — "blasted my gourd, and laid it low." This is the way I answer prayer for faith and grace. It is good to learn the meaning of words out of Christ's lesson book. He learned it by the things which He suffered. Oh, dear sister, we are God's treasure! We often said all is vanity; often, that this is not our home. No, no; we belong to God, and are only here to be fashioned for him. He will not have us mistake it. He is a jealous God. His is not foolish tenderness. Oh, no, blessed be his name! He loves too much to spare one necessary pain. He loves too much to give one unnecessary one. He as a refiner sits over his furnace. Wait, and you shall see that this is just the thing in life you would not be without. And he is not lost, he is only gone before. Heirs together of the grace of life. Blessed word! and without you, he cannot be made perfect, the Scripture says. He therefore will wait for you on the bosom of Jesus. Surely you would not have him rather with you, only that you might speak to him, and hear him speak to you. You are together, inasmuch as you are dwelling in Jesus, the same life in both, the pulse of which beats in the heart of Jesus. You have communion, for his thoughts are all about Jesus. When Moses and Elias appeared, they were speaking about Jesus. Much loved sister, you are about to enter into realities of consolation you have never imagined to be in God. I seem to see you stepping down into a deep through which I have been wading; and it is saying, very, very little, to say I feel for you; I pity you; I almost tremble for you, but that is not all; I can tell you I would not exchange what I have experienced of Jesus there, though it was the survivor died. I would die a thousand deaths, rather than not have gone through all. I would not part with one pang, though still often smarting under it. I mean to say, dear ... that seeing things in the light of eternity, you have not only reason to bless God for him, for his certain, undoubted happiness, but to bless him for what he is about to teach you, through long days, and longer nights, of sorrow — lessons for eternity, which none but God can teach; only to be learned in this world; joy in sorrow; a calm in the midst of a storm.

May the God of peace be with you! He will —  I know he will. He will not suffer you to be tried above what you are able to bear. — To be confined after he is gone! Oh, how wonderful that grace which is able to sustain! "Let thy widows trust in me."

I took this verse; I set my seal to it. He has never failed them that trust in him. Pardon so much. You will, perhaps, not be able to read it: but I felt unable to keep back, as though Jesus entitled me to enter the house of mourning.

Your very affectionate and afflicted sister,

T. A. Powerscourt.

Letter 70.

5, Stephen's Green, February, 1835.

The religion of Jesus is a life of humiliation. It will not do to play with it for our own name and praise. If we surrender ourselves to his holy guidance, it will, it must be, a life of severe discipline. We have, blessed be God! one fixed desire which He has placed in our hearts, and he is faithful in working towards that, though it be by the upsetting and opposing of our will and affections: it is a deep work, a work in earnest. Have we counted the cost? Let us not be willing to lose any part of our reward by our fooleries here — let it be a full reward. You know, love, we are dead with him, and are risen with him, therefore our life is no longer from beneath, but from above. — The life we have, is that spirit he obtained for us in His resurrection, when He became a quickening spirit, the second Adam; being united to him in his resurrection as well as death, we partake of his new, his more abundant life ... If we set ourselves in truth against our own evils, really opposing them guilelessly with God, we shall have a world of watchful occupation within, as the Spirit's servants. What havoc even of our amiabilities, what self-renunciation, and all this is necessary to a life of love: earthly affections concentrate the heart after all upon one self: charity is a dissemination of the affections through the body, the church: ... Why do we live in this poor, dying way? Why so much in the flesh, when we are citizens of the heavenly city? We forget how completely heaven and earth are separate; therefore what suffering there must be in the dissociation! because we live too low in spirit, we neglect to live lower in flesh. "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life shall find it." — It will be present reward. Do, dearest, raise the church of Jesus where you are by so loving Christ; show there that it is not talk, or even basking in the promises, but "if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me;" so shall we be able in love to serve one another, to lay down our lives for the brethren. Do you see any marks of our dear Lord's near approach on the continent? Surely, there is a little noise about Jerusalem to be heard. I see every thing here declaring it — all minds seem driven to one point — prayer, which must precede his arrival. No refuge for Christians in the midst of conflicting opinions, but prayer; no place of safety for them to meet, but on their knees; no ground where they can extend the hand of fellowship to another brother, but prayer. Yes, we are on our way to our Isaac. — Many a jolt the camels give us, but our guide goes before, saying to all opposition, "hinder me not till I get to my master." Flesh would say, "let me a little longer enjoy this loved association to earth:" "no, hinder me not," says our faithful guide, the servant of Jesus, the Holy Spirit. Let our willing hearts answer, "I will go," leave all now known; and at the report of the messenger, leave all to be his for ever:

"Brushing with hasty steps the dew away,

To meet the sun upon the upland lawn."

May this be our hearts! May we when we go forth into the world estimate every thing according to the measure of the weights we use, when in our closets we "count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of his glory."...

Letter 71

... 1835.

... How could you say that you feared to express your kind sympathy? I feel most grateful to you. She is, indeed, no common loss; but we shall see her again! We wait not alone for Jesus; we also wait for all his saints with him. If we can wait for him we may well wait patiently for them. We shall see them first, though we expect him so very soon. And the next time we meet, we shall be both on our way to see Jesus at last. And He ... Was He not the object of our fondest desire, about whom only we met to take sweet counsel, though dear, very dear to one another? She was humble — He has, therefore, given her more grace, for it is far better "to depart and be with Christ." Truly, she possessed all here, that was calculated to draw her down, as though she possessed nothing.

The moment Jesus shall come to awake out of sleep that dear body, now lying as a seed in his garden, of which He keeps the key, she will rise up quickly a glorious body to his delight and glory. "Earth shall cast forth its dead, and they who dwell in dust shall awake and sing" — whilst even the tears of this night of sorrow shall sparkle in the light of his glory, as the dew of herbs. Oh! dear brother, what a hope is the resurrection! What a rich grape for Jesus to have left, and for us to possess in the midst of death, is HOPE! its energy is marvellous, reaching forth to that within the vail, to a risen Jesus, to a life beyond the reach of death. Death is no where so ashamed, as in the dying chamber of a believer. — There the victory is felt. Weakness, mortality, corruption, all proclaim, "as she has borne the image of the earthly, so shall she bear the image of the heavenly." Yes, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. And we who remain unto the coming of the Lord, we are not less blessed, for we may still a little longer suffer with Jesus. We may still hasten his coming, for He waits. Faith viewing things in this light, sees a thousand years as one day. Today, then, let us be diligent, that tomorrow we may be found of him in peace, waiting. For, doubtless, He shall come again, bringing his sheaves with him!...

Letter 72.

March, 1836.

My very dear Mr ..., I fear I shall not be able to go to you this time; and as I have to leave next Monday, I do not like to propose your coming here, though I should be so very glad to see you. You said you had something to tell me I ought to know; what was it? I should like much to hear something about yourselves. I am taking pleasure in the thought that the Lord does not need a courageous heart; but expects our heart to be ever failing, that He may glorify himself in such! Flesh and heart failing is just what He wants, for it is in weakness his strength is made perfect. May we but give him all! The whole. of this dispensation is contained in that little word, ALL. His all is himself, heaven, and earth! Our all, two mites. Dear Mr... is it not strange that I am still here, and she taken? It makes me feel gone too. We were sisters all our lives. Somehow I feel like something that should not be here; yet, I am nearer to her, and more in communion. than when on earth; for do not we dwell within the vail? then there were two bodies to hinder, now only one. I am living where she is — in abiding at home, I am with her; before we had to leave our home, to speak of it on earth. How kind of the Lord to have let us look at one of his exotics, that we may follow after! It is a great secret the apostle teaches us, when he tells us, He forgot the things behind. To rest in the things behind is to sit down in Satan's enchanted bowers, in the flesh. There was no resting place provided in Christ's race —  pressing forward, pressing forward, "faint, yet pursuing." Very dear friend, this presses on my spirit to be in earnest, as we never were before; our time is very short; let us not lose it in looking back, time enough for that hereafter. It is such a calling we are called to, how diligent we should be! We live in very peculiar days, in which Jesus is much dishonoured by his own children, because neither cold nor hot. We are afraid of being desperate Christians. Oh! let us be desperate. The church needs extremity; a great tug out of the world; to be in earnest as in the days of Ezra. We have talked long enough now about, how much?. He has had long patience. Now is our opportunity, or never; the time past of our life will suffice to have lived according to the course of this world, or in seeking to sanctify the world; now let us testify against it, that it is evil...

Letter 73.

Cecil Street, Limerick.

Beloved friend, — What am I, or what that I can say, that you should think of me at such a time, to ask me to write? I wish I could know how you found ... for I know not whether you will be even able to read this when you receive it. What a journey you must have had, yet from ... letter I trust the worst was over. May it be blessed to ... and may God's faithfulness be shown out to his praise and glory! Your last letter distressed me much, and I was longing to write ever since. Only I had so many that should come first, that I lost all courage. Very sure I am, God was not that hard God, Satan was suggesting to you; and sure I am that He is always more ready to receive you, than you to go to Him. But I know how we can be so unkind and ungrateful, because such had been exactly my own experience, before the time I received your letter. Oh! I believe, the church must go through the hour and power of darkness. Blessed those who are counted worthy to bear the burden and heat of the day, who can endure! We see the agonies of temptation in our beloved Master, and how earnestly He did beseech his church, (or its representatives,) to watch and pray against their hour of temptation; not only watch but pray, not only pray but watch; not by running into temptation, knowing the spirit was willing; but that ye enter not into temptation, because the flesh is weak. Have you dwelt much on the wonder of being friends to Jesus, and the condition of friendship? "If ye do whatsoever I command you," in that readiness of obedience as to be prepared for the discovery of any thing in the opening out of his mind; then He will keep nothing back in faithfulness. He has received nothing for Himself alone, all fulness is treasured up in Him for His church. Why do we not know more of his mind? Because not obedient to the light already given. Why not more manifesting Himself to us? Because we are not obedient. Why not dwelling more fully in us? Because not obedient. These all following obedience, while friendship finds it as impossible to refuse, as love to receive payment. Therefore, whatever his friends ask, they shall receive; and why not, when He first gave Himself?

Letter 74.

My dear Mr ..., (JND) I cannot let your kind note go without my thanks, and acknowledgments, though seeing you, or hearing from you, always makes me sad for the remainder of the day. Not that we are separated for ever; — oh! no — I shall yet be a very great joy to you, and I joy to believe it. In the day of his appearing, I may have many masters, but can have but one Father. It is sweet to think of the nearness and inseparable union of believers. Being each united to Jesus, they must be to one another; and all Satan can do, he cannot separate them. The life which runs in them is the same, the pulse of which beats in the breast of Jesus — crumbs of the same loaf. As long as the question is, who can separate from the love of Jesus? it is, who can separate from one another? In waiting for Him, we wait for his saints; for they shall come with Him, and the Lord's supper is his yea and amen, to these blessed, blessed promises. We are not sailing into port, alas! as one family, embarked in one vessel; yet we are all united as shipwrecked together, and though one may be on one board, and another on another, yet we are all making to, and shall surely arrive on the same shore — not seeking our own safety by sinking our neighbour's board, but helping one another with all the energies of love...

Believe me, dear Mr ... the most affectionate, and most grateful friend you have in the world after all.

T. A. P.

Letter 75.

June 21. 1836.

My dear Mr ..., Truly, it is a great reality to be a Christian! He knew little what he was saying, who proposed to follow our beloved Master whithersoever he should go. Well might Jesus urge it upon him- to count the cost of his "whithersoever;" but it was not this world and himself, but Himself in exchange for all that could be desired here below — not only its superfluities, but its necessities; not only its necessities, but its dearest affections. Blessed, if while holding these subjectively, He stands out disunited from every thing else, the supreme of our hearts. If God fills our embrace, every thing else is lost — swallowed up in Him. How little we have the mind of Jesus, about his Father's glory; we let his cause wait our convenience. All went to their own homes, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. We are called in wonderful days, therefore is ours a responsible calling. In days when the Lord's people are attempting, what the Lord could not do, to bring the world with them, by walking arm-in-arm with it, He calls upon his true-hearted ones, for courage to give a tug upon the other side. We need to be reminded that our calling is heavenly; that we are from above: that henceforth we are to know nothing after the flesh, because all things are become new; that we are to have as little to do with those who crucified the Lord, as those who are alive from the dead, for our habitation is within the vail; our life is hid with Christ in God. In times past, we lived according to the course of this world; in times past, we fulfilled the desires of our mind. But now we are quickened, raised up — citizens of heaven, and to walk worthy of this calling in all lowliness. How sad to love Him, and yet love him so little! It seems an insult to that love which gave ALL for us, to say we love, and yet stop to calculate about giving all to Him, when our all is but two mites; His all, heaven, earth, eternity, himself. Better not to love at all; better to be cold than lukewarm. We may well be sick with him, in hearing the precious promises delighted in, only as allowing in unfaithfulness. We have not even honourable feelings about his having trusted his whole cause, his Father's glory, to our faithfulness, having so unguardedly, so unconditionally, thrown himself upon our love! May it not be so with us, but may we be able to endure hardness in this hour of his necessity! May we go very softly, and be kept from entangling ourselves with the things of this world, that we may please him who called us to be soldiers...

Very affectionately and gratefully yours, always,

T. A . P

Letter 76.

Powerscourt.

My very dear brother — I thank the Lord for allowing me, this morning, the sweet employment of writing to you. You know my time is not my own, having been bought with a price to be my Master's servant; and a blessed service it is — perfect liberty. But you know a servant's time is not his own; they must go where he calls, and do as he bids. This has been the cause of my long silence; for, indeed, I have had it in my heart to write to you, night as well as day, especially when you gave me some hints of not feeling for you. I am sure, I do not feel as I ought to feel for any of the saints, because of selfishness; yet I trust I do feel with you, and wait to see the loving tenderness of the Lord. In this I find a difference between Christ's sympathy and his people. They, when they want to be dissociated from all below, seek to harden themselves against the feelings and sympathy of human nature. He left open all the feelings and sympathies of human nature, received pain, laid bare his breast, while passing on before the sheep, that the bleeding of his wounds might serve as balm for the wounded brother; yet was he dissociated from all below. What account from your dear son? Mrs... told me he was better. It was pleasant to see her; it brought me back to Scotland — her dear Scotch voice. I wonder you never come over to see me, the passage is so easy — my English friends repeatedly come over, but you know the Scotch had always all head, and no heart. But, no! this is not the time for enjoyment — I forgot — I should be sorry, very sorry, were you to come, having nothing to do, but to see me — sorry that money and time should, in one sense, be wasted on me, though in another sense, if for my benefit, it would not be wasted. I believe the whole life of a Christian, Christianity, the life of heaven on earth, is love —  the love to serve one another. It is a most interesting life when really entered into — it is incompatible with the sustaining of rank and station; it must be down, down, for it exalts the treasure, not the grace. Jesus did not hand down his blessing, but became poor, that he might, through his poverty, make us rich. It must be service, watchful, diligent, alive to the wants of others; its spirit is surrender — surrender of every good; our comforts. Like our Master, we must gird ourselves and stoop down, if privileged, to wash the saints' feet, if allowed to communicate not only temporal, but as our great Priest, (who is now seeing us) dispensing life-giving, spiritual refreshment. This was a glory he obtained, and never will part with — to be our servant. He loves it: even when coming again, he is represented as making his people sit down and coming forth to serve. What poor, wretched servants we are, forgetting continually we are not our own; squandering his goods! Surely were we the masters, such servants should long since have been packed off. Pretending that our time and all are his, and yet engaging also with the enemy.

"All that I am, all that I have,

Shall be for ever thine;

Whate'er thy wisdom bids me give,

My cheerful hands resign.

Yea, tho' I might make some reserve,

And duty did not call;

I love my Lord with such a love,

That I would give him all."

It is a strange, treacherous domination of the god of this world, to be able to have the Lord's servants sent below for his work only, and that the wages he allows them is the gilded dust and baubles of the world, (which they know to be only death.) We must have a different kind of Christianity, dear brother, in these days of profession; not satisfied with the excellent way, but following the more excellent. That there is so much profession without confession, must be laid at our door; for we have not given them to see outwardly, what we do believe inwardly. We have thought it enough that the heart should be right, therefore our representation of truth has contradicted the declaration of our blessed Lord, "these things ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone." Our blessed Lord did not come to judge: nothing but gracious words proceeded out of his mouth, but the light in Him convicted each conscience. How beautifully is this evidenced in the 8th of John! After the grace of 7th chapter, 37th verse, — the acknowledgment in the 46th verse of the same chapter; — the mercy shown in the beginning of the 8th, — all seemed to produce nothing but conviction; — then, as if explaining it all, he declares 12th chapter, 8th verse, "for the poor ye have always with you, but me ye have not always." It either acts repulsively, or draws us, as we see in the woman of Samaria; now she tried at first to turn it off to idle questions, till she surrendered her heart to be searched by the light. I only mean to say, ye are now the children of light, walk as children of light: light maketh manifest; all things reproved are made manifest by light, but it must be pure, heavenly light, which has no fellowship with darkness, but a continual reproving of it. This is our calling, my dear brother; our prospects are bright: seeing you look for such things be diligent, and so much more as you see the day approaching.

Letter 77.

10th November, 1836.

... I comfort myself, that the first stone of Babel destroyed itself by its confusion. The gates of hell cannot prevail against the church — He will work, and who shall let him. It is his glory "out of the bitter to bring forth sweetness." And by the very confusion, He will bring forth order. What was the order doing which did prevail? only building Babylon. If the faithful are ever found in the position of the wise virgins, trimming their lamps, expecting their Lord, there must be a separation from those who are only discerning that they have no oil. If saints are ever thrown out from the mass of professors, the church must be as a basket turned topsy-turvy, and that is confusion. Iniquity abounding, causing the love of many to wax cold, is surely one of the signs of the times of the end. May we be found faithful!

There is much, moreover, in the church's confusion to call out our gratitude, I think. Is it not, in a measure, the consequence of increased light, of the quantity of neglected evil which the light meets in the heart, because of the quantity of neglected truth? We setting ourselves up as judges of God; saying, this truth is profitable; that, of no moment; whereas, all truth must be necessary, if given — it may not be necessary for justification, but necessary to transforming us into that mind of Jesus into which we are predestinated, that He may be "the first-born among many brethren." We like to repose in the promises of safety so freely bestowed, and so that I am happy, I have communion with God, I have peace, I escape sin by getting to heaven at last — all is well. What is the glory to me separate from I, myself I? surely my salvation is his glory — Is it not so, dear brother? Then if another comes forward, leaving that behind, (perhaps too much,) and speaks of His glory as to be attained in the day of His coming, or His glory as witnessed by his body, the Church, now in the midst of Satan's kingdom; or if His glory be desired in more conformity to his image, in more simple and entire obedience to his commands, there is an immediate jealousy, as if the Cross was forgotten. Too long has the Cross been made the end, instead of the foundation of our cause — because we are saved, we are to go on; not, because we are saved, to sit down and rest. This seems to me the chief cause of all the want of love among the dear children of the same family. It is not that they do not love; they do love. My heart tells me they do love all — it is the more they love the less they are loved, because the Spirit dwelling in them is love — it is not that love is less than formerly, but love is more tried than formerly, and evils, which we thought we had not before, having been found by the entrance of the light of truth, we find ourselves full of envies, jealousies, suspicions, and we find that while thinking we were only seeking Jesus, we have been living and seeking self — Oh! how I have lived to prove this — and sometimes think, dear brother, we may never meet again, or perhaps even you may put me down among the dangerous ones. But is it not most precious in the midst of all to know that our Beloved is the beloved of the Father, is the friend that sticketh closer than a brother? — There our hearts meet in Jesus — the only resting place; mine Elect in whom my soul delighteth. He loves us, in connection with him He loves. He loves Him, in connection with us. "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again." — The fulness which fills God, the perfection which satisfied God, may well fill and satisfy us — He can supply every need, and every out-going of the poor heart — His children need not be pent up, and withered in self; the heart finds its out-goings in the Beloved. He is one we never shall be ashamed of loving. — There are two things necessary for happiness — perfect satisfaction in the one loved, and perfect confidence in his perfect satisfaction in us, with a love which will secure a continuance in the same, without fear of any new discovery turning aside — these we have to perfection in Jesus, and only in Jesus — The more we know him, the more we must be satisfied with him, and go to him with confidence for counsel, depending on his wisdom, in whom are hid all treasures of wisdom; and the more we know him, the more we feel able to take to him every little trifle, because sure of his interest in us; the only one who can give all his heart to each. This is our Beloved — this is our friend; and, blessed be his name, he is a tried and faithful one, not only in loving to the end, but in holding us by his mighty power in tender jealousy as His, to the end — when he causes us to set out in security, desiring to be His only, He is prepared for us to be often led to deal very treacherously, he is prepared for us to be often seduced by Satan's lie, that there is good in every thing forbidden; though most base in us to be deceived, because if we would but abide in his heart, read circumstances by his love, in place of his love by circumstances, it would be enough to assure us a thing was evil, that it was not given. Yes, He is prepared for the foolishness of our poor earthly hearts, and He stands in the majesty of his own perfection, long and often, and patiently, answering Satan's objections and seductions with — "Mary hath chosen that better part which shall not be taken from her." Had He left us to ourselves, how often would a deceived heart have turned us aside. How often should we have put evil for good, and bitter for sweet. — Our flesh makes great cries, but with long suffering patience. He, as one who hears not, puts all these prayers aside, and keeps in steady faithfulness to our original desire, the uncalculating surrender of our first love, because he stands in a sense of his own superiority over all, in the confidence of being able to satisfy the desire of every living thing. — Oh, it is a precious thing in this tempestuous world to wrap ourselves up in a sense of His unchangeable love, His inexhaustible grace, — to be able to meet every event with, "I know and believe the love He has to me," and so credit the apostle's assurance, "all things are for your sakes;" — deeply sensible of our undeservingness, as chief of sinners, receiving all as grace, returning him all glory. Is it not his nature to bless? Has he not in Jesus's human heart formed for himself, as it were, a recipient for the fulness of love — His love. — If he has placed us in the one whom he delights to bless, is it not that precious ointment may descend ever to the beloved. May we then cleave to the beloved of the Father, and get grace for grace! May we be resigned to our portion — "all spiritual blessings in Christ." What a proof in Balaam, that all must be grace from beginning to end? while the future glory of God's people, and the future destruction of the nations of the world, even both were full in view; his heart was so cleaving to the dust, that the former was nothing to him, while he was refused rewarding the latter. Surely then, if chosen, it is grace; if chastened, it is grace; if humbled, it is grace; if not revolting, it is grace...

Letter 78.

August, 1836.

...

If you want rest, die with Him.

If joy, ascend with Him.

If you want to suffer with him, descend again with him into the church — it will break your heart in pieces for you. — We wait for a glorious time! It is a testimony to the indwelling of God's Spirit, this unsatisfied longing for the very order and beauty which he has appointed. It is a continual witness to the heart, both that nothing here can satisfy, and also that He knows our wants, and is able to satisfy. May He now give an earnest in causing to descend his shechina of glory — his new Jerusalem (as it were) in all its harmony, and order into the ... He that follows me, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life How pleasant to feel to be getting into the taste of Christ, and an increasing distaste to the wisdom of this world, and to be able to covet and admire the simplicity of foolishness! — Oh, that we could lose our reputation for every thing, and be the offscouring of the church, as well as the world! then we should be safe — any thing to get hid out of this world's cruel kindness. — When I see how saints are spoiled, oh! I tremble, and wish I could hide myself from even the love of Christians ... Let us keep our eye on the Lord; while gazing on him we are changed. — Many snares we have in church and world, but there is one remedy, "Looking unto Jesus," this lets out self, and lets in God. May we more and more know that we are really nothing, and so live in Christ, as to live above every thing else! Be patient, the day draweth nigh when Jesus in his beauty shall be manifested, when he shall unfold it to us, and we in it all; when he shall delight and present all the members of his body, one and the other, and will joy to see them rejoice together. The Lord keep you in patient continuance of well-doing! Surely, if we desire to be shining lights, we must be first burning, and we shall neither be burning nor shining, unless sometimes snuffed. There was a golden snuffers provided in the temple. — Is not gold the emblem of Divinity? May my God make me willing to be nothing, expecting to be the refuse and offscouring of all things! — May he shelter our feelings, and shelter our affections! they are too keen for such a world; they need to be sheathed in himself, embosomed in him, till the time when they shall be able to expand to the creature, without idolatry, without a wound, without a sorrow.

Be not weary of afflicting — snuff the candle, if needful — only let it be with thy golden snuffers. Lord, come down into thy chambers in this heart! Is it not thy habitation through the Spirit? purify then for thyself — clean it out, fumigate it. May the incense of thy sacrifice ascend, as a sweet odour, taking away a contaminating influence, which without this is ever ascending. "The throat is an open sepulchre!"... Furnish it with all fit for the Master's use, that it may be a castle worthy of thyself. — Give me faith, give me the wings of faith, to dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and leave my body and all my entanglements with thee. On earth we can get rid of cares by leaving them, when we leave them in hands we can trust. — Though we see it not, goodness and mercy are folded up in the darkest events, which by and by we shall see in his light. May we walk as citizens of the land of uprightness, sit upon the throne of his approbation — keep human opinion as footstool! Shall we fear to step down into the depths of faithfulness? Shall we even desire to walk through waters only to the ankles? Can we doubt that according to our day He has strength laid up? Has he not promised, "from strength to strength?" — When we pray, if possible, let this cup pass from me — may not He answer, ye know not what ye ask? — we know not what we should be depriving ourselves of — Let us wait and show forth in a body of humiliation, graces which we cannot in a body of glory. Do we speak without meaning, when we say that we desire to live to His glory? He desires not empty expressions. — Do we really desire but one thing, His glory?

Letter 79.

Bushy, Enniskerry, December 5th, 1836.

Dear ..., ... I fear you think me very ungrateful for so long neglecting to answer your kind letter — a word of exhortation from you always does me good; and, indeed, we need every help to keep these heavy souls on their way. — It is a great gift to be able to speak a word in season — "How good it is!" Solomon says, "As apples of gold in pictures of silver." Jesus learnt it. I believe it is by little things, the children are fed; He gives us our meat in due season. In this way I have often found letters special and precious means of grace, and I believe they would be more so, and no loss of time, did we more write in faith, and more live each day upon what may be prepared for us by the Spirit of God. When present with a person, we may try to make a thing applicable, or be tempted to do so — when absent, if their case is met, it seems more that the Lord has considered the case, and sends his message through his scribe, while it cheers the heart of the writer in passing. There is truly in the ways of God with his own children, and when the Spirit finds a Mount of Olives in our hearts, to pour forth his intercessions in, we must be let into many also of his secret dealings with the family of heaven. It was not, I trust, because I have not thought of you, or spoken about you to the Lord, that I have not written; above all, I have asked him, if in any thing you are ignorant of yourself, to search you out with his candle of truth, and discover it to you in his own tenderness — but who am I to speak of others? TRULY, of sinners I am chief; I am persuaded there will be no specimen brought forward of his tried patience with any member in his blessed family, so bright, as his long suffering forbearance with me; thus shall I also be to the praise of the glory of his grace.

I do not know whether you have been in ... or ... I long to hear of one, and love to hear of the other. — No doubt you have found blessing, wherever you are, and humbling; for that seems his business with us in which we give him no help. — What insignificant creatures we are, and how ridiculous we look when we clothe ourselves in robes of glory! They were never made to fit us; we cannot fill them; and yet, how self works through every thing! Often a little thing discovers this to us, how we have been speaking for, and seeking self, while apparently and intentionally we have been even jealous for Jesus. I feel that the children of God have very much, indeed, to detect this in themselves. If it is really our dear Lord we are seeking, we shall be willing for him to be glorified, in ourselves being hated, as well as loved — willing to be misinterpreted, and misunderstood — willing to be the dark back ground, in the image we present, if it throws out more his light as the object on which the eye may rest. How often we think in our communion with others, we are rejoicing in their response of love to Jesus, when some hint against ourselves will turn the current, and so expose to our hearts, our self-idolatry. I am not certain that this has ever been your experience, but I am sometimes quite disgusted with myself, to find I can steal his gifts and graces, to deck up this household God; seeking also to sustain a good opinion of myself, while verily knowing neither good nor evil. We ourselves are witnesses how difficult it is for us to let Him rule and guide his church, in finding how difficult to let Him rule ourselves — against palpable evil we co-operate with him, but in seeming good we are often seeking different ends, and working different ways; so when we get a view of how each member is striving against the Spirit, it leaves little surprise that the church is found in opposition, treasuring a quantity of things He can have no communion with, so quenching his willing gracious light; her confession of weakness is only in words, for her only true confession would be delivering herself up to him, to will and to do in her of his good pleasure, even all the good pleasure of his will. I believe if He ever blesses us as a whole, it must be by first humbling us to submit to be blessed at any cost, and to let the Spirit take his own place, casting down every high imagination, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ...

I do not feel to have any particular call to any place, except an anxious desire in all places to be preserved by his grace from hindering his work. — He can use me any where for the saints in prayer. "Mary, who bestowed much labour on us," I covet. Have you been led much into Scripture of late? much into the holy of holies?... Is it not most precious, in the midst of all, to know that our Beloved is a friend, who sticketh closer than a brother — that he is the beloved of the Father — the father's meeting place with our hearts, His only resting place in all he has created, and we in him our only resting place, and He in him — that He loved us for his sake, and loves him because he laid down his life for us. The fulness which fills God, the perfection which satisfies God, may well fill and satisfy us. He is a supply to every need, and every out-going of the poor heart. — He is one we shall never be ashamed of loving, one we shall never be disappointed in loving; no fear of any new discovery turning him aside; his interest extends to every little trifle, while his counsel is, all the treasures of wisdom. He is prepared for us often to deal very treacherously, and to be often deceived by Satan's lie, that there is good in forbidden fruit; yes, he is prepared for all our foolishness. —  He turns to Peter and says, "Lovest thou me? feed them." He turns to the Father and says, "Lovest thou me? bless them." Oh, it is precious in this tempestuous world, to wrap ourselves up in a sense of his unchangeable love, his inexhaustible grace, and be able to meet every event with, "I know and believe the love he has to me," — and that "all things are for my sake." May we have grace to cleave to Jesus, and be resigned to have for our portion "all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Balaam's heart was still on the earth while looking at its destruction, and God's glory — All is grace from first to last. — What an honour to be counted worthy to stand in the crisis! —  the honour to which all Scripture from the beginning has been looking; — the winding up of time. — Let us bear in our bodies the last blows of the flesh, —  let us manifest in our mortal bodies that Jesus is alive, — let us be willing to endure all things for the elect's sake, — let us put by our play-things, because the world is in flames. — Why creep about in this deadening atmosphere of falsehood, instead of ever abiding in the region of truth and reality? Why are not our visits to earth only as messengers of mercy to dress the wounds of the Church — to glorify Him by finishing the work he has given us to do? sent of Jesus, even as he was sent of the Father. And while seeking to be worthy of the name put upon her, may she remember that it is not of herself the bride is to speak, but her object, her subject, her delight, her hope, her only resting place is her Beloved — the bridegroom of her heart.

Papers.

Genesis 22.

There are two things to be remarked in this most touching portion of Scripture. 1st. God's motive for, and manner of thus trying Abraham. 2dly. The way in which Abraham receives it. Many were Abraham's expressions of love to his God; and most valuable were those expressions. But God is a jealous God; words are not sufficient. Faith must be put to the trial. Again, and again, the question will be put: "lovest thou me more than these?" Till tried we know not how little faith we have. Faith must be put in the scales with something very near our hearts; — yes, with what is nearest; for it still must be, "more than these." The furnace must be heated in proportion to the increase of our faith. Is it because God willingly afflicts? no; but the trial of faith strengthens faith, consumes its dross. This trial is precious to God, more precious than gold; it is his riches, his treasure; and precious to him is it to have proof from his child, "Lord, thou knowest all things, thou seest that I love thee." We know not the intense interest which every trial of faith produces in the invisible world; or how these light afflictions are not merely now precious, but shall be to his honour and glory at the day of his appearing. Abraham was the father of the faithful. There must be an exhibition of faith worthy his name, for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe; if only to part with something of no value, of little worth, what thanks? could not even the heathen so? Remember this in every providence, every trying providence. It does not speak God's love changed, but it is a messenger direct from the throne to your heart, a ministering spirit sent forth to the heirs of salvation — it brings the message, I will put you to the test now, I will put home the question in a way that shall be felt. Arc you ready to say, I could have borne any thing but this? then remember the greatest approbation God can give us, is to heat the furnace to the utmost. He is in fact saying, "great is thy faith," little furnaces are for little faith; and is it not valuable even to earthly affection, do we not seize every opportunity of giving proof to expressions of love? Think how dear must Isaac have been to Abraham; God gave him this son, after an hundred years' desire. In his death all God's promises and blessing, not only to himself; but to the world, must be entombed. He had been accustomed to look upon Isaac as his peculiar treasure; not only a beloved son, but a token of good from his covenant God. When we hear that it was "very grievous" to Abraham to cast out Ishmael, how much more to slay Isaac; yet after he has long enjoyed him, just come to an age when even in natural providence a common bereavement of him would have been most grievous, God determined to put his faith to the test, and prove whether still it would not stagger, but being rich give Him glory; how often we think we value the gift only for the sake of the giver, till God exposes us to ourselves, by demanding his gift. Oh! let us count the cost when we say we believe, it is a word of deep meaning in the dictionary of God. Paul's belief was ready to do, but what was the answer, "Thou shalt see what great things thou shalt suffer for my name sake." It has been so from the beginning; you would not be without that trial of which all the church have been partakers, you would not that He should be so indifferent to your love, as never to question you about it, or desire an evidence of it. How full of compassion His approach to Abraham! He comes with all the tenderness of one who knew he was about to wound a heart he loved; and is it not so with us? Have we ever marked his steps, his gentleness when bringing a painful message? It is to be marked by every attentive observer of his providences. "Abraham," I have somewhat to say unto thee, "I have called thee by name;" why? because thou art mine; He, as it were, beckoned him into the wilderness saying, "come, let us reason together," that in the end he might speak comfortably.

Verse 1. Every thing to aggravate, to draw out Abraham's feelings in the wording of this command, nothing to be discovered after, all laid out before him; Son, only son, thy son Isaac, the son of thy love, the son of promise: when promising him he said, ch. 17-19, "Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him."

Verse 3. "Early," no hesitation — no time lost in murmuring — simple immediate obedience is faith — no questions; he obeyed because commanded. Prompt obedience is expected, "I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments." In Abraham's faith, we see nothing is too difficult for love — we also perceive there is a love that excelleth the closest, most endeared tie, love that constraineth, not that which goes to the task, as though saying I do it because I must. Flesh murmurs; self-will repines; self-indulgence rebels; but faith looks up for the promised strength, and by it conquers — stops the mouth with a hush, "be still, and know that I am God." Let us look at Abraham saddling his ass, rising early, walking three days with his knife in his hand, taking his last look at his Isaac, and learn to count it all Joy, should we also be deemed worthy to attain to such grace, even though it be through fiery trial. The cross is the only way to the crown; if for a proof, if for benefit, it must touch something most valued; withered must be every gourd, torn away every prop, every thing of which we would say "This same shall comfort me."

Verses 5, 6. When going up with Abraham and trying to realize his feeling at this moment, let us not forget that we are told it is a figure. The love of the Father is the origin of all the work of Christ; this is kept before us in this figure, the love of the Son is often erroneously considered as pacifying the wrath of the Father. The Father laid it on him, and because it was laid on him by the Father, because it was the Father's will, it was his meat and drink to suffer it, until finished. "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." It pleased the Lord to bruise him; and Abraham was to be a pattern of faith to the end of time, therefore must the most trying proof be sought for, and in it God seems to say, behold my love, for God "so loved the world," etc. — the same trial is touchingly described, (Judges 11-30. etc.) Now we read (1 John 4, 9, 10,) — "In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his Son into the world that we might live through him," etc. Here we have proof that the sacrifice of God in giving his Son, (to speak after the manner of men,) was the utmost pang the Divine mind could devise, for it was the one chosen as a pattern of faith to the end of time. God would thus, it seems, sustain us in all our minor trials, by an apprehension of his own love, embodied in that of Abraham: by setting him up before us, as the father of the faithful and pattern of faith. He would check our doubts of his willingness, with his only Son, to give all things: seeing that in Abraham's not sparing his Isaac, He asked no more; while he would also draw out our love and gratitude, that our requirement is not our first born for our transgression; that having been done for us at an expense of love set forth in Abraham, we have only to "love mercy and to walk humbly with our God." The fire was in the Father's hand, and also the knife, when to Calvary they went both together. The transaction was all between them. Stupendous acts were being fulfilled while foolish man gazed on with unmeaning gaze, but was as little admitted into the secret wonders of the transaction as the young men who remained with the ass were with Abraham and Isaac's; and in all they saw must it have been as contradictory to mercy, as opposed to common sense. Abraham laid aside every weight, asked no questions, looked not at consequences, said not, how shall I stand the trial? but "ran with patience the race set before him, looking unto Jesus," It was a difficult race — but he was bent on it. if faint, yet pursuing, and any hindrance that might impede his progress, and make his bold, resolute willingness falter, he laid aside.

He was running the race of faith. To a bystander he might have appeared very unfeeling; nay, he must have appeared deranged. What a lesson not to judge by the understanding! The cross is to the mere looker-on "foolishness." We have also in Isaac a view of the majesty of that Love which set its face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem, that rebuked Peter with "Thou art an offence unto me," because he would dissuade him from it; neither moved by contradictions, ingratitude, or feeling, we see perfect acquiescence in the will of his Father. It was the vengeance of God which sore afflicted his righteous soul, he endured the malignity of man with pitying love. In this figure, therefore, let us see Jesus bearing his cross, and going forth to Golgotha.

Verse 7. Here we have the property of a child. In one point, there is a resemblance between a servant and a child. It is the part of both to obey, not to consult, plan, argue, or direct; but in this there is a difference, — it is a child's privilege to ask the parent's reason, still remembering it is the parent's privilege to refuse to give it, without the child's obligation to obey being altered. In this simple address, "my father," all confidence is expressed. Abraham's silence thus interrupted, must have ploughed up every parental feeling within. Abraham seemed not to have courage to tell him.

Verse 8. Much seems contained in the answer, probably more than Abraham was aware of; observe "will provide himself" — here is our blessed security, that He did provide it for himself: therefore is he called the Lamb of God; though he cried to him, God spared him not, but laid him on the altar with his own hand, and sacrificed him; why? that we might live. The language of flesh would have been, but what becomes of his promises? If Isaac is taken, where is the promise that in his seed should all the earth be blessed? The language of faith is, God can provide himself a lamb. Trust him to accomplish his own promises, only obey. Sense is ever questioning, oh! but if so, and so, this and that will happen, which God cannot mean. Faith answers, what He has promised he is able to perform. This command of God could not have been more confounding, more opposite to all Abraham could have expected from the promise; this is faith. To act when all is clear to our senses, is sense, not faith; to act upon God's word, is faith; we do not enough consider this in our daily walk, and difficulties. It is not our part to seek to bring about God's prophecies or promises, we understand not the ways of the Lord. He brings about his own purposes, in the most contradictory ways. It is our prudence to leave the management to Him, who sees the end from the beginning. Let us not mar his work, but submit; we may, being sons, ask to understand our Father's will, never is it our place to think for Him. Did he fail? Did he not provide a Lamb without blemish or spot, fore-ordained before the foundation of the world? "In due time Christ died," etc. As the Lamb of God, does he appear in the midst of the throne, while the 10,000 times 10,000, ever put their seal to this word, crying out, "worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and blessing." As I before said, we have in this transaction the Father's love, and the Son's love in the work of redemption, even as both are set forth in the 53d of Isaiah, end of 4th and 6th verses. Of the Son, it is said, in the 7th, 9th, and 12th v. in conformity with what we hear Him saying, John, 10. 18. "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." He humbled himself, he suffered himself to be bound, though they had no power over him; like Samson, he could have burst their bonds, yet he was bound, led away, delivered to Pontius Pilate, the governor. He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, (Phil. 2. 8.) Because this commandment he received of the Father.

Verses 9 and 10. Abraham built the altar, Abraham laid the wood in order, Abraham bound Isaac, his son; Abraham laid him on the altar, on the wood, and Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Abraham's faith by this was justified; when he took the knife and stretched forth his hand, the deed was done! He was not one who only says he has faith. See James 2. 21.

Man's extremity is God's opportunity; — he knows our souls in adversity, is a present help in time of trouble; when there is none to hear, none to succour, Jesus then draws near, spreads out his arms of consolation, and embraces the believer on every side. Example, John 9. 34, 35. Also Hagar, Gen. 16. 5, etc.; 21. 9, etc. and though her affliction was the effect of her own sin, she sowed to the wind, and it was just she should reap the whirlwind; she sowed upon a bed of flint, and had no right to expect to reap but a crop of cares, yet the Lord meets her with a promise; and oh! how all-powerful to heal is a promise when spoken home by Him who has been instructed to speak a word in season to the weary! So it was with Abraham, he sees himself surrounded by a Providence ready to overwhelm and crush his faith; he knows not how it can be overcome; but he knew his God, and that God was not unmindful of Abraham; he was so intent upon him that he was ready at the very nick of time; his compassions waited to manifest themselves while seeming to have no regard. The three long days Abraham was walking up the mount, though he seemed left alone to his griefs and perplexities, yet the eyes of the Lord were upon the righteous, and by works Abraham's faith was made perfect. This trial was but a messenger to the heir of promise at God's command it came — at God's command it departed; and though the knife was stretched out, yet at his presence and bidding, sorrow and sighing fled away. We have a strong lesson in this, what real good and real evil mean, the very same act may be one moment evil, and the next good.

Verse 14. Meaning the Lord will see to it —  in this mount, or in the extremity, the Lord will see to it. Or, perhaps, the very name of the mount was to be a continual remembrance, that God would provide for himself a lamb for a burnt offering. See examples of extremities, 2 Cor. 1. 8, 10; Dan. 3. 17; Ps. 22. 4.5. This is comforting for others, as well as ourselves. It was customary to call names in remembrance of help received in time of need. Gen. 16. 13, 14. — Thou God seest me — Beer-lahai-roi. Ex. 17. 15. — When the Lord helped against Amalek — The Lord my banner —  Jehovah-Nissi. 1 Sam. 7. 12. — When the Lord helped against the Philistines — Eben-ezer — the stone of help. We think it strange to see the man of God setting value on worldly honour and riches, because God says they are evil; but it is less surprising to find the man of God sinking under trial, when God says it is good? If we believe, should we not hail it, should we not clasp it to our bosom, as a token of his love? When standing as we expect among the great multitude escaped out of great tribulation, would we be found the only one without this family particularity? When standing at the close of life, and taking a retrospect in his light, will not trial be that in which we shall with most distinct emphasis be able to distinguish that name in which all blessedness is included — my son? Heb. 12. 7. Let us accept tribulation as the boon we are most unworthy of. "If ye were without chastisement, of which all are partakers, then are ye not sons." Rather let us bless him. Oh! bless Him that he has not given that which would be indeed the desert of our rebellious hearts, i.e. "Let them alone." For us to be able to run the race of faith, every weight of sin, like Abraham's, must be put out of the way — laid aside. Holy, bold resolution, in this will do much in keeping us steady in our race. Often we see nets spread before us in our path, though it is written, — "In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird;" yet so does man excel in folly, even the beasts of the field, and birds of the air, that we run into our favourite snares with our eyes open, though, perhaps, determining not to be held, but to struggle out of them; present weakness not being sufficient to correct confidence in future strength, till our feet are entangled, our race impeded, and we discover too late that the God of strength has refused to accompany us into the snare, has been left behind, and we stand alone against the enemy. Oh that we were wise! oh that we had grace to be resolute! wise to turn aside from pits, into which our weakness has fallen again and again, and our faith well nigh been lost. The wise man speaking of temptation, says, "Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away" — parley not with the old serpent, for his arguments are most ingenious; resist, or else flee from him. Hearken not to the voice of this charmer, charm he never so wisely; let us examine ourselves in this, see to it that nothing impede our race, weaken our faith, or prevent our obedience. Let us be honest with ourselves, and in earnest with God. Let us treasure no Babylonish garment, however goodly; let us sanctify ourselves, for if there be an accursed thing hid in our hearts, we shall not be able to stand in the day of trial; we lose much time in our progress, by needing such repeated lessons in each truth; when we should have been wise, we are still fools. We also learn in this Scripture how little life there is in faith, till that faith is called into action; though faith may be absolute, and love ardent, yet how many tests it needs, before we really love what we believe. God requires many proofs of love before He will confide in us as friends; it was so with Abraham; but when he, indeed, found he would not withold his son, his only son, He calls him the friend of God; then upon the soul thus brought under his will, He rises with healing in his wings, enters into the richest friendship, unbosoms himself, says, "I am thy shield, thy exceeding great reward;" while all the efforts by which faith has been made perfect, what have they been? Just so many opportunities of blessedness, whatever the travail. It must have been so to Abraham. In him we have verified, that no temptation shall take the servant of the Lord, above that he is able to bear; but with every temptation shall be a way of escape, that he may be able to bear it. He knows exactly the moment to help; His time may be a protracted time, it may be three such days; circumstances may be aggravated to the utmost, for he is a surgeon that will not lightly heal over a wound, but must get to the core; therefore is the knife so often used, after knife. He does not the work by halves, his work is perfect; his child may be tempted to think himself a mark for his arrow, one may so swiftly follow the other, so nigh to overwhelm. We may be ready to cry out, "Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?" but, Deut. 32. 36, "the Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone." This is His way, has been His way, and will yet be His way, because "His compassions fail not." He visits, He brings low, only because needful, to enable us to receive the happiness he has provided; so has been his way with his people Israel, among whom his providential dealings have been chiefly exhibited, Micah 4. 10. Let us then in this portion, as well as every other of God's word, "Behold the Lamb of God." And may the Father of Glory give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of himself! Let us look unto Jesus: he has taken the curse and wrath out of our sufferings, even though called to pass through a burning fiery furnace. Is it not Almighty love which calls to it? not to hurt, but to try; to give happy proof of the soundness of that faith which is his own gift. He would have us know that faith, trusting in His tried word, is invincible. He would bring us to the experience of the Psalmist — "Thy word is tried to the uttermost, and thy servant loveth it." In Abraham, God's word was tried: the trial proved its truth, and increased his confidence in its truth, and so confirms ours also in beholding, "He that believeth shall never be confounded." May we grow daily in this faith of our father Abraham, and so prove ourselves Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise, having "put on Christ, in whom is neither Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free, male or female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus."

Psalm 22.

A well-known writer has said concerning David, the inspired writer of the Psalms, "his place in the church was to hand down an organ, to express the feelings of every individual of God's people, through time; therefore was his education and discipline suited to this end. He was prepared of God for the work he accomplished, and thus it was that one man brought forth that vast variety of experience, in which every soul rejoices to find itself reflected. John the Baptist, being to be used for rough work, was trained in the rough desert. Paul, being to be used for contention and learned work, was trained at Gamaliel's feet. Daniel, being to be used for judgment and revelation, was trained in the wisdom of the East. Joseph, being to be used as a providence to Egypt and his father's house, was trained in the hardest school of Providence; and every one in God's church has been disciplined by God's providence, as well as furnished in nature, for that particular work for which the Spirit of God designed him. Therefore had David that brilliant galaxy of natural gifts, that rich and varied education, to fit him for his high office. His harp was full strung, and every angel of joy and sorrow swept over the chords as he passed; but the melody always breathed of heaven, and such oceans of affection lay within his breast, as could not always slumber in their calmness. For the hearts of an hundred men strove and struggled together within the narrow continent of his single heart. We would especially mention those called Penitential Psalms, for they discover the soul's deepest hell of agony; and though by no means defending his backsliding, even out of his evil much good has been made to arise. Had he not passed through every valley of humiliation, and stumbled upon the dark mountains, we should not have a language for the soul of the penitent, or an expression for the dark troubles, which compass the soul which fears to be deserted of its God. Let us remember the part he had to act was a difficult one. The shepherd, the hero, the friend, the outcast, the monarch, the poet, the prophet, the regenerator of the Church, and the man — the man, who played not into these parts by turns, but was the original of them all; and let us remember that until an individual, however pure, honest and honourable he may have thought himself, and been thought by others, discovers himself to be utterly fallen, defiled and sinful in the sight of God, a worm of the earth, and his soul cleaving to the dust, and bearing about with it a body of sin and death; and until for expression of his utter worthlessness, he seeks those Psalms in which David describes the abasement of his soul, — yes, and can make them his own, that man knows nothing of spiritual life; for the heart must break up, be contrite and broken, to be the abode of the High and Holy One, who inhabiteth eternity."

But in all the Psalmist's discipline, we find not the experience here expressed. The words, as in the other Penitential Psalms, leave David behind, and carry on the mind to David's antitype. There is a loving confusion between David and Messiah in this book: and with the head all the members are closely united, — they cannot be separated. The believer cannot sing His praises or triumph, but he must take himself in as a part, and be embraced in his glory.

Let us drink deep into this book, and we shall find ourselves linked to the spiritual David by a thousand tender ties; for every line breathes of Messiah, and every sentiment leads to him. In c very thought he has a share — "Alpha and Omega, beginning and ending, first and last" of the soul's delight. Were it not for the Book of Psalms, we should know little of the mental sufferings of our blessed Lord; for except when wrung from him on the cross, and in the garden of Gethsemane, when, looking for some to have pity, he cried out, "my soul is exceeding sorrowful;" and it was with expressive silence he went through all, as a lamb taken to the slaughter, or as a sheep dumb before the shearers. We might have supposed, that being God, he could not feel as man; but it is in the Psalms we peculiarly discover this incomprehensible truth. — He was as perfect God as perfect man; as perfect man as perfect God. It was this marvellous combination of majesty and weakness which the prophets enquired and searched diligently into, not being able to comprehend beforehand the "sufferings of Christ and the glory which should follow." He made himself dependant on God and dependant on man; yet infinite power was displayed in the sufferings of Christ, in sustaining his humanity. Jesus is essentially the Son of God, not officially so, —  officially he is a servant. The worship of Messiah is a personified perfection of Deity. The Saviour was a volunteer in all his sufferings and temptations. Did man put himself into temptation, it would be a sin. The Saviour, in becoming our security, took upon himself all the consequences of our sin: sin separates the creature and Creator; sin disposes man to hate and fight against his God. Sin makes the creature the enemy of the Creator. O ye who trifle on the precipice of destruction, this truth will be experienced in all its energy and bitterness in hell! devils tormenting the lost, the lost tormenting each other. The bosom of the Saviour is now open — flee, flee, flee from the wrath to come.

There was a remarkable similitude, and yet a striking contrast between the first and second Adam. Adam was type of Christ; as Lord of all, he was monarch of the earth; in consequence of transgression he forfeited all, hence the cause of the Saviour's life being a life of suffering and shame. He was treated as we deserved, therefore denied a cup of cold water when he cried, I thirst. The contrast is also striking between the first and second Adam. The first, in Eden, with nothing to want, became a prey to all. The second, in the midst of want, triumphed over all. He gave his enemies every advantage that he might trample them under foot; he fasted forty days and forty nights, it is emphatically added, afterwards he hungered. Who can calculate the sufferings implied in these words? Read the siege of Jerusalem; read of mothers eating their own children. What must have been their sufferings, before a mother could kill her child, then eat it? This was his at the moment the Devil said, "If thou be the Son of God," etc. Our poor finite understandings can have but faint ideas of the only suffering on earth which could satisfy for sin; but hereafter, perhaps, he will himself explain it to His children. This we know, never was there such a sufferer either in kind or degree. The holiness of his nature aggravated it to the highest pitch; hell, which is separation from the Source of happiness, was raging in his holy bosom the moment he uttered these mysterious words, 1st verse. His sufferings at that moment exceeded that of the lost, they are separate from One they hate; He from One still loved. This is not complaint, but the expression of love seeking its object. There was no complaint at the insults or malice of devils or men, but love must everlastingly travel after its beloved. Here is the law honoured in its curse; all our enemies tried him to the uttermost; every thing the arch enemy of God and man could do to fill his holy soul with horror was done, v. 14, 15, 16, and all these the effect of our sin. His love was put to the severest tests, yet in proportion as the necessity of his people expressed itself in ingratitude, weakness, and enmity, so in proportion his love seemed to gain utterance; it was entirely unconnected with any thing in man. He chose not His people for anything in them; so nothing he discovered could turn him from his purposes of mercy. It was only "if be possible," let this cup pass from me — extreme love, and extreme misery met in this expression; the same love which brought him down, carried him through his path of sorrow; his whole life was an emptying of this principle from furnace into furnace — yet "having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them to the end," not because ignorant of what was in them, not because the remembrance had been blotted out, but at the very moment when his disciples forsook, denied, betrayed Him, in the midst of this he laid down his life, "loved us and gave himself for us." We have an High Priest who knows well how to enter into the feelings of the tried, even the inmost recesses of the bosom, and administers most effectual relief. Jesus learned God to perfection — Jesus learned man to perfection. Every avenue of attack is opened to him; how to meet his people's enemies in them, and how to overcome — Jesus learned sympathy to perfection. He threw his heart from the zenith of glory into the bosom of his people, and is able to be touched with a feeling of their infirmities. He estimates all their sufferings by his own, so as not to lay on them one unnecessary feather.

In the 17th verse, we find how keenly he felt the conduct of the bystanders. The simple remark made by the evangelist is, these things the soldiers did; while all the complaint we hear from him is "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do;" and if the conduct of the soldiers, how much more that of his disciples, pained him. In psalm 69, we read, "reproach hath broken my heart. I looked for some to have pity on me, and there were none; for comforters, and I found none." Instead of complaint, we hear from him the only excuse he could offer, "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Were it not for the psalms, we should know nothing of this — when tracing his conduct to his disciples at the end, we hardly need to be told by the apostle, that having been tempted in all points, He was full of compassion; — we cannot but be struck with the delicacy with which he seemed to touch every feeling which might be excited to pain — how sensitively he felt all their infirmities and weakness — how exquisitely and continually alive to all the amiable, though too often painful, feelings of the human heart; how patient with their prejudices; how he seemed to shrink from wounding them, as if in so doing he must wound himself — when broken hearted with his enemies, he turned to his friends — what condescension, how entirely human! he placed himself in a situation to be ministered to by his own creatures, and sought for comforters among poor weak sinful men! He remembers we are dust — he only asked for pity — only to watch — they could not; well might he say with surprise, "could not ye watch one hour?" Had it been the world, it would have been different, but ye, my disciples, my friends, whom I have been watching over continually — only one hour! Oh, how little can we do for our Lord; and when we attempt, how different to what he does for us! Alas! human nature is still like itself, drowsy and sleepy about its best interests; but blessed be God! he is, and only is still like himself — while they slept, he was awake, not only awake, but in agony for their souls; — yes, we have a living Head to direct us, filled with all the wisdom of God — we have a human heart to sympathise, filled with all the compassions of Jesus. In casting the soul on One mighty to save, we have the consolation of reposing on a bosom which having sighed for itself, is full of tenderness for us, for "though a son, yet learned he obedience by the things he had suffered." It is on the cross of Christ we see reality in God's hatred of sin, and his love to the sinner. We hear of this stupendous mystery, God manifest in the flesh, too much as a tale that is told — we set about seeking an interest in it too much like a child's play, but we cannot dwell long in Gethsemane, or on Calvary, without feeling, there is a reality in sin, a reality in justice, a reality in purity, a reality in love. This is the central point round which perfection rallies, and from which perfection emanates — never are we in so right a mind, as when faith is meditating on the Redeemer's humiliation; or hope contemplating the Redeemer's glory. Let me ask, do we really believe all this, that Christ trod our earth, really suffered, exhausted the cup of wrath, drained it to the dregs, bore all the misery which is the essence of the curse, was besieged by sorrow, was in an agony, his heart broken, his spirit distracted, and oppressed? and why? For the joy set before him of bringing many sons to glory. This was the prospect which brightened his dark and dreary path of humiliation. Some mourn, needing a friend into whose bosom they can pour their sorrows. Here is Jesus: mourner in Zion, he learned your sorrows on Mount Calvary — now his business is, "showing mercy." Perhaps some will say, but I have brought myself into such difficulties by sin, you can have nothing for me. Yes, I have, Messiah is alive! The man of sorrows holds the rein of government, He says, "little children, sin not; but if any man sin," etc. Truth never drives to despair, but like a skilful general surrounds the enemy. The command is sin not; but must the believer be overcome if he does fall? no, the Spirit points to Jesus.

In the 21st verse of this psalm, it is testified thou hast heard me, and verse 24, and the concluding part goes on to show the happy results of these sufferings, the restoration of Israel and conversion of the whole world to God. Verse 27, "To him every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father." But the 22nd verse seems a peculiarly interesting one. It is that voice, which at the beginning said, "Let there be light and there was light." It is that voice, which once shook the earth, and yet once more will shake both earth and heaven. It is that voice which in agony exclaimed, "My God, my God!" — which "in the days of his flesh offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears to Him who was able to save him from death." "Thou hast heard me," exclaims the Great Shepherd of the sheep, when, by the God of peace, the pacified Divinity, brought again from the dead; and now in the celestial temple, in the height of Mount Sion above, he proclaims with a voice powerful as that of many waters, yet sweeter than all the music of angels or redeemed harps, "I will declare thy name unto my brethren." How he shall declare his Father's name to his brethren of the church triumphant; — how in the midst of them he shall lead the hymn of thanksgiving, we cannot tell; but this we know, the whole of his mediatorial administration is a declaration of his Father's name to his brethren on earth, and a hymn of praise to him as the God of salvation. Is he not daily, hourly, continually in "the word of the truth of the Gospel," in the ordinances of his appointment, in the efficacious operations of his Spirit, proclaiming the name of his Father more plainly than it was before proclaimed? "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty," — has yet set forth his Son a propitiation through faith in his blood; — the Just and the Saviour, Just and justifier of him who believeth in Jesus. Does he not in these inspired Psalms which refer to the exercise of Messiah the conqueror, even in the church below, everlastingly sing the praises of him who has given him the victory? and does it not well become us his brethren, to listen with attention and faith to the declaration which he makes of the name of his Father and our Father, his God and our God, and to join with him in his eucharistic song? This is the exercise of heaven, and were we more habitually engaged in it, it would convert earth into the porch of paradise. It is a touching remark of the inspired author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in reference to the subject we have been adverting to, "He is not ashamed to call them brethren." These words are a very striking, though indirect proof of the Divine dignity of our Lord and Saviour. For a mere man, a partaker of human nature in its present corrupted state, to be ashamed to call his fellow man brother, however dignified might be the station he occupied, would be intolerable haughtiness. — But it is a condescension in Him to call us brethren. Well might he be backward to own such a relation to us — a perfectly holy man, as he was, might be ashamed to call guilty, depraved men, brethren. People are commonly shy in acknowledging their relationship to those, who have incurred the displeasure of government, lest they should be involved in difficulties and disgrace. But though He knew full well that the acknowledgment of such a relation to us, traitors, should involve him in a serious responsibility, that he would be laid hold of as the "goel," the kinsman, redeemer, yet he is not ashamed to call us brethren. Persons possessed of high honours, or looking forward to them, are often ashamed to acknowledge connexion with the poor and mean; but He, the destined Lord of the universe, hesitates not to say to us, "I ascend to my Father and your Father." But it is the Divinity of his person which chiefly magnifies his condescension in calling us brethren. That the only begotten of God, that God over all, blessed for ever, should not be ashamed to call us dust and ashes, sinful dust and ashes, "brethren," is a mystery of condescension which eternity itself will but imperfectly disclose to the enlarged minds of the spirits of the just made perfect — and yet there is a sense in which we may safely say he has no reason to be ashamed, when he calls us brethren; in Heb. 11. it is said, God is not ashamed to be called his people's God, seeing he has prepared for them a city. — These words seem to imply, that if God had not prepared for his people a portion, worthy of himself, suitable to his infinite greatness and benignity, he would have been ashamed to have called himself his people's God. But the portion he has provided is altogether worthy of him, and therefore he is not ashamed to be called their God. There are persons who behave so unkindly to those related to them, they should be ashamed every time their relationship is mentioned. It is not so with our elder brother — He has acted the part of a kind brother: He humbled himself to the condition of his brethren, and will never rest till he raises them to a place with him on his throne. Surely we, whom he calls brethren, should not be ashamed to call him brother; if he is not ashamed of his relationship to us, we should not be ashamed of our relationship to Him; and yet, how often do we think and feel, and act as if ashamed of him. — In one point of view we may well be ashamed, for our conduct has often been any thing but brotherly to him — our behaviour to him has often been what no mere human fraternal affection would have tolerated; yet we can do nothing which can so offend as to distrust his love. —  When we have acted a part unworthy our relation, let us not turn away from him, for to whom can we go but to him: let us look to Jesus, and we shall see in his countenance what Peter saw, deep disapprobation, but tender pity, unutterable love, something that says, "Is this thy kindness to thy friend, return to me, for I have redeemed thee;" and in spirit we shall rush into his arms, and weep in his bosom.

Psalm 23.

This Psalm, like most other promises and prophecies in the Old Testament, is to be applied literally to the Jewish people, still "beloved for their Father's sake," and spiritually, to the Christian church. On examination we shall find Christ was also the Shepherd of the Old Testament; and it is in this character they wait for him, though they know it not. For proof of this a few texts will suffice, Jer. 23. 3, 4; Ezek. 34. 23, 24. Micah. 5. 2. This is yet to be fulfilled by him, born in Bethlehem Ephratah, when the chief Shepherd shall appear; therefore is the cry of Israel. Psalm 80. 1. "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that feedest Jacob like a flock; thou that sittest between the cherubim, shine forth." "They shall lie down in green pastures," Isaiah, 49. 9, etc. also Jer. 31. 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 32. 36, 43. Observe how sovereignly he comes down with his mercies, not because of deservings, but necessities. This shall be for his name's sake, that it may not be polluted among the heathen, his name is in them. See Ezek. 20. 14, 22, 44, fulfilling the 3rd verse. Hosea 14. to end, Micah. 7. 8, 9. Take it literally, it is applied to the Jews, v. 18, 19. When the Shepherd shall shine forth, (Psalm 80.) then shall they feast in the midst of their enemies. Isaiah 25. 6, 8. But as applied spiritually to the believer, there is a peace and fulness of expression in this little sentence understood only by him. The whole remainder of the psalm is but a drawing out of this "I shall not want." In the unfolding we find, 1st, repose and refreshment. 2nd, restoring mercies and guidance. 3rd, peace in death. 4th, triumph and overflowing blessings. 5th, future confidence and eternal security either in life or death, spiritually or temporally, in prosperity or adversity, in time or eternity; for standing on the sure foundation of the former psalm, the suffering, resurrection, and promise of Christ, the believer can boldly say, "The Lord is my Shepherd." The believer shall not want, because his shepherd is the Lord. The believer shall not want, because the Lord is his Shepherd. His Shepherd is the All-sufficient, nothing can unite itself to Him, nothing mingle with Him — nothing add to His satisfying nature — nothing diminish from His fulness. His treasury of gifts has been dearly purchased when he has paid the uttermost farthing. When justice, who held the key of mercy, said enough; when by the blood of the covenant, the Father became debtor to his Son, the Father presented to him His church. Like the good shepherd he went forth into the regions of darkness to search his sheep, and seek them out; found her in the depth of hell, yet loved her there as he never loved before; (for his love gains utterance from his people's wants,) she, and only she, rose with him. The shepherd brought his sheep on his shoulder through the grave and gate of death triumphantly exclaiming, "O grave, where is thy victory?" The grain of wheat fallen into the ground died and brought forth-much fruit. The rolling away the stone from the door of the sepulchre was, as it were, the signal of the load of sin being rolled away which kept shut in his treasury of gifts. Neither is he ever weary of the wants of' his little flock; for each gift, each supply, is a declaration of the Father's satisfaction in the soul's travail of his beloved Son. Being united to him, quickened with him, his church cannot want, she has a right to use all his riches, her wealth is his riches in glory. With Him nothing can be withheld; eternal life is hers with the promise that all things shall be added, all He knows she wants. The Shepherd has learnt the wants of his sheep by experience, for He was himself led as a sheep to the slaughter. This expression being dictated by the Spirit, implies a promise, it is a full promise, when connected with his own words, I know my sheep. He was disciplined by most painful lessons into this knowledge; He subjugated himself to the wants of every sheep, every lamb of his fold, that he might be able to be touched with a feeling of their infirmities; therefore is the bleating of Messiah's sheep, I shall not want. Timid sheep, fear not want, fear not affliction, fear not pain, "fear not;" according to your want shall be your supply. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I trust in him. When the silly sheep cries to be kept from want, it may well be answered, ye know not what ye ask; it knows not of what it would rob itself, in the supply provided for that particular want. His flock in the midst of danger have no cause to fear. They have been taken hold of by Omnipotent love. My sheep, says Christ, "shall never perish," etc. "It is the Father's good pleasure to give them the kingdom." All to be expected of a shepherd, shall be found in this Shepherd, who so loved as to lay down his life for his sheep. Have you a want, keep it not, carry it to him — it shall lie on the mercy-seat to be considered; in due time shall be written on it, "To be provided for." Have you a want for any dear to you, He has promised, you "shall not want." If your demand is not exactly answered, you shall receive something better — your demand shall be satisfied; his fulness is as much at your disposal as if in your own hands; He keeps it in himself, that every blessing may be received richly doubled —  Moses said to the children of Israel in the wilderness, "The Lord thy God knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness these forty years, the Lord thy God hath been with thee, thou hast lacked nothing" — your wants are fathomless, but your help infinite, "None but God can tell the uttermost a God can do;" you who are the sheep of his pasture, give him thanks and show forth his praise, by venturing on this confidence; there is no want to his flock — "The young lion may lack and suffer hunger," but the good Shepherd's helpless foolish sheep shall not want any good thing. He is their shield against every foe, He is their guide in every danger, no good thing can be withheld —  grace now, glory hereafter. But let us proceed to see how the Spirit unfolds these words; how his sheep shall go from strength to strength, till they appear before God in Zion. In the 2nd verse we find they possess food, drink, repose, and refreshment. What is the pasture of the soul, is it not the bread of life? we see here the pasture is the sheep's repose — Christ is the soul's rest, He is a field of promise; therefore, as expressed in the Canticles, this bed is perfumed with myrrh, aloes, cinnamon; waters of refreshment flow in this pasture, even the "pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb;" "the streams whereof make glad the city of God." There shall be in you, says Christ, "a well of water springing up into everlasting life." This, adds the apostle, "spake He of the Spirit, which those who believe in him should receive." Sheep lying in a green pasture, on a hot summer's day, near a clear flowing stream, is ever a refreshing sight. The believer who rests in Christ shall drink largely waters, and refreshment, and consolation from the Comforter, even in the desert. There is a sweet quietness expressed in this verse, Christ's flock shall not eat in haste, as if in dread of the devourer — "He that believeth," the Scripture says, "shall not make haste." "When He giveth quietness, who then shall give trouble?" enemies may surround, but the Shepherd is near; enemies may be in ambushment, but the Shepherd is on the watch. — It is He makes lie down, it is He leads by still waters. But were his sheep only to recount the repose and refreshment, they would leave half untold their donation of bliss. No, the believer can sing of judgment as well as mercy, verse 3 — for He reckons it among his chiefest blessings, that it has to him never yet been said, let him alone. There was hope for Israel, while God "brought down their heart through heaviness," for "then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble." There was hope while He smote, for then they sought him, and remembered "that God was their rock, and the High God their Redeemer." But the sorest word ever sent to Israel was, "Why should ye be stricken any more, ye will revolt more and more?" Christ's sheep, still silly sheep, left to themselves will still stray; but from afar they cry, whatsoever the cost, seek thy servant, for I forget thee not. — Believer, has He not restored your soul again and again? When you have turned aside, has not love rebuked and chastened? Has He not been unwearied in preserving your faith? — Though Satan has been permitted to sift, has his grain of wheat fallen to the ground? —  Though cast into the furnace, has not the Refiner sat over his treasure? — When sin separates between you and him, when idols scatter your thoughts here and there, is He not bent on restoring? Does He not yearn over his Ephraim? Sometimes He almost breaks the heart with a look, as He gave Peter; sometimes He overcomes by passing by iniquities; sometimes by feeding with the rod and judgments. Rest assured He will restore, till his sheep, in the spirit of him who was dumb before his shearers, can say, "Any thing with thy smile, any thing but thy frown."...

But, alas! how slow are his sheep to learn in their extremities not to turn from, but to flee to him, to hide them, and to be led in the way of righteousness. — "Cause me," says the Psalmist, "to know the way wherein I should walk; teach me to do thy will; lead me into the land of uprightness." Christ says, "I am the way." The apostle says, "As ye have received Christ, so walk ye in him." It is Satan's constant aim to lead from the simplicity which is in Christ. — It is the Shepherd's to restore, to lead in that path, blessed thought! The Shepherd leads, though often by paths we know not, till he brings into the path of righteousness, for he has trod the path of faith before us. The good shepherd, as the gospel of John says, goes before his sheep, meets the enemy first; they follow in his footsteps, therefore must they expect a thorny, though a trodden path; but their Shepherd is with them — His presence makes darkness light; crooked things straight. — The silly sheep are only wise in giving themselves up to his guidance, and in following whithersoever he leads. He will cause to walk in a straight way wherein none shall stumble to hurt, for he rejoices over his people to do them good. If they fall He lifts them up; if they sit in darkness, it is enough, He is near; He pleads their cause; He executes judgment for them; He will bring them forth to the light, and they shall behold his righteousness. What they know not now, they shall know hereafter; all their sin shall be cast into the sea, as a great stone to be found no more. He delighteth in mercy, and will not leave till he has satisfied, yea, satiated the hungry soul with goodness. His glory is bound up in their bundle of life "His name is in it." For thy name's sake, says David, lead me and guide me. — Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name. Deliver us, purge away our sins, for thy name's sake. Therefore is the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of judgment.

But more — plenty, security and triumph are also expressed in the 5th verse. Anointed is frequently read "making fat," as the original word in this place may be translated; and is so in the margin, implying cheerfulness, strength or gladness. It is also used as well-looking, prosperity, Psalm 22. 29, a sign of health and peace of mind, so as to cause to flourish: this is expressed in feeding among enemies. This spiritual feast cheers, gladdens, makes the heart run over with joy, makes the soul flourish The anointing of God is poured over, shed abroad in the heart, is an unction which enriches. This is the oil which ran down Aaron's beard, and makes glad the countenance. What is it which thus enriches and fattens the soul? Feasting, drinking abundantly of the cup prepared of the Lord. David says in another psalm, "The Lord is the portion of my cup," therefore it is this cup which runs over with blessings, Christ being the portion. We find in it many precious ingredients. — His life — "Because I live, ye shall live also." His love — "As the Father loveth me, so have I loved you". His friendship — "I have called you friends." His wisdom — "Made to us wisdom." His righteousness — "Made to us righteousness." His fulness — "All that I have is thine." His sorrows — "If the world hate me, they will also hate you." His strength — "My strength is perfect in weakness." His peace — "My peace I leave with you." His joy — "These things I have spoken unto you, that my joy might remain with you, and your joy might be full." This is the present portion presented in the believer's cup of blessedness; one only ingredient is kept back. — Absolute rest. "That if love draw not, restlessness may toss into his breast." Having a life which none can touch, his sheep feed in the midst of enemies, "go in and out, and find pasture." The believer's security in the midst of enemies is no presumption, for it rests not with himself, but in the covenant-engagements of the Trinity; we have this forcibly demonstrated, John, 6. 37-40. It is well to study these four verses; they combine all doctrine; election; — the willingness and irresistible power of the Son, in saving all those elected of the Father — calling; — perseverance through faith; called and preserved, in order to be raised at the last day. All this, through grace, not merit, and to the end of glorifying God-man. The Father gives a people to be saved, wills it. The Son comes down from heaven for the express purpose of accomplishing this will; promises, and his word is truth, in no wise to cast out any, to lose nothing committed to him, to raise up all such at the last day, "and I will raise him up at the last day." The Spirit prepares these vessels of mercy for this end — and how? By bringing them to Christ; taking of the things of Christ, and showing them unto them, so that their eyes being opened to his loveliness, they embrace, and are persuaded of the truth as it is in Jesus, and in the midst of the world, flesh, and devil, the Spirit preserves through this belief. The Father gives his elect to the Son to save; the Son gives this his "Father's gift" to the Spirit to educate, by leading back to Christ; he glorifies not himself. Christ keeps, by casting them in supplication on the Father; "Father keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me." Each person in the Godhead thus becomes debtor to the other, in consummating the bliss of God's chosen people. We must follow the believer into all the intricacies of his experience, before we can understand the full meaning of the word no wise, how impossible to weary or tire out his love by all our backsliding and ingratitude; "no wise" and "uttermost" are two words the believer takes his life to learn; not one has ever outstretched his uttermost, or wearied out his no wise. The examples of his word, as well as truth of his oath establish this, notwithstanding appearances and feelings; the soul of the believer is never even retarded in its progress; every event, and every state, as surely forwards its course, as years, months, and days, bring on eternity. Remember it is the Father's will, not against his will, that his people should be saved; so undeniably his will, that when nothing else would do, it pleased the Lord to bruise his own Son, and put him to grief, that his soul making an offering for sin, the pleasure of the Lord might prosper in his hand. In these four verses we also find the mark of his sheep, the only mark required: "All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." No ifs, no buts, no ands, no peradventures. The covenant is "ordered in all things and sure," for the glory of the Eternal has interwoven itself into the safety of his elect people. Thus, in the midst of enemies may his people triumph, "man's extremity is God's opportunity", — the greater our want, the deeper we shall drink into this cup of consolation, for you "shall not want." He laid up help for each, therefore he can say to every sheep ye "shall not want." There is not only enough, but overflowing. Enemies that surround wonder! To them it is a secret, often they wish to worry the Lord's little flock, but every attempt is baffled — they cannot find out the believer's peace — some strive with cutting words as with a sword to wound — but he hides in his pavilion from the strife of tongues — words aimed at him, pass him by, reach the upper sky, pierce the Shepherd, who receives each into his bosom, to be answered for. "Saul, Saul," cried Jesus from heaven, "why persecutest thou me? I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest." "He that toucheth thee, toucheth the apple of mine eye." Lions roar around, wolves prowl about — but his sheep feast quietly, are strengthened and refreshed with the cup of salvation; their joy, no man taketh from them; their cup runneth over; because supplied from on high, from him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think, while he cries, drink, yea, drink abundantly, oh beloved. This blessed flock have not only present happiness, but the experience of present promises gives security for future ones — "I am come," says the good Shepherd, "that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly" — joy in sorrow is their present promised lot, therefore is the sustaining joy of hope a pledge of the satisfying fulness of sight. The Lord's supper when rightly observed is a feast in the midst of enemies, so it was to the disciples in the midst of persecution. It expressed in action every doctrine of the gospel, and believed, brings corresponding joy. I would also observe from this verse, security is the open door to every blessing. If not secure, in the midst of enemies, we can neither be refreshed, invigorated, or nourished by our feast — constant terror will cause leanness of spirit — faith void of security, (if such can be called faith) opens but a crevice of the door — life may be communicated through this open crevice, but security of faith, or faith stripped of self-righteousness, throws it open, so that his gifts rush to overflowing into the believer's soul.

Verse 4. — The shadow of death seems to express that the gloomy darkness of hell overcasts it. Job, speaking of the grave, calls it "the land of darkness and the shadow of death — a land of darkness as darkness itself, and of the shadows of death without any order, where the light is as darkness." Luke, speaking of spiritual darkness, represents it as sitting in the shadow of death. We have each to face death. There is an honesty in that monster's countenance, which makes him the king of terrors to the ungodly, but infuses a holy confidence into the believer, and leaves in him such assurance of being safely delivered up, that his thoughts arc released from contemplating death, to the joyful anticipation of meeting his Beloved. Do you ever realize what will be your feelings in passing through that vail which separates from the unknown: when the curtain shall have dropped on all below, and all around is reality? Much is contained in these words, Thou art with me. This is the rainbow of light thrown across the valley, for there is no need of sun or moon, where covenant love illumines; but we must find His presence superior to any joy here, if we wish to find it superior to any terror there. Like Enoch, we must walk with God here, if we desire Him to walk with us there. We must find him all, in the midst of all, if we would find him sufficient, when possessed of nothing. We are in a world in which we know not what a day may bring forth; we may have to pass through rivers of tears, furnaces of temptation, or it may be only waters of perplexity and cares. Be it what it may, he says to the children, "Fear not, I am with thee: when thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee: and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God, thy Saviour." True, this promise is given to the Jews, but the dogs may eat of the crumbs that fall from the table; for he has redeemed us, he has called us by name, we arc his. Not Ethiopia, not Egypt, but his own Son has he given; he has created his people for his glory. "Though I walk in the midst of trouble," says David, "thou wilt revive me, thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me." God is in the generation of the righteous. The Lord said to Jeremiah, "Be not afraid, but speak; hold not thy peace, for I am with thee." So said he, on leaving his apostles, "I am with you always, even to the end." His name is "Emmanuel, God with us." Do you know the sweetness, the security, the strength, of "Thou art with me?" When anticipating the solemn hour of death, when the soul is ready to halt and ask, how shall it then be? can you turn in soul-affection to your God and say, "There's nothing in death to harm me, while thy love is left to me?" Can you say, "O death, where is thy sting?" It is said, when a bee has left its sting in any one, it has no more power to hurt: death has left its sting in the humanity of Christ, and has no more power to harm his child. Christ's victory over the grave is his people's. "At that moment I am with you," whispers Christ, "the same arm you have proved strong and faithful all the way up through the wilderness, which has never failed, though you have been often forced to lean on it all your weakness." "On this arm," answers the believer, "I feel at home, with soul confidence, I repose on my Beloved, for he has supported through so many difficulties, from the contemplation of which I shuddered. He has carried over so many depths, that I know his arm to be an arm of love." How can that be dark, in which God's child is to have the accomplishment of the longing desire of his life; how can it be dark, to come in contact with the light of life? It is His rod, His staff, therefore they comfort. Prove him — prove him now, believer; it is your privilege to do so. It will be precious to him to support your weakness; prove that when weak, then are you strong; that you may be secure, His strength shall be perfected in your perfect weakness. Omnipotent love must fail before one of His sheep can perish; for, says Christ, "none shall pluck my sheep out of my hand," "I and my Father are one;" therefore we may boldly say, "yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me."

But in the last verse, is put forth another effort of faith, not only in death, but through life: surely, says the believer, "goodness and mercy shall follow," even as water from the smitten rock followed Israel all through the wilderness. There is no promise of being delivered from this or that terrible event; but still into every want, every sin, goodness and mercy shall follow. When he falls, it shall be but into the arms of mercy. "I shall not greatly fall," says the Psalmist, "for the Lord upholdeth with his hands, mercy embraceth on every side." However afflicted, the child of God can say, goodness and mercy have pursued, goodness and mercy sought me out — goodness and mercy afflicted —  goodness and mercy sustained — goodness and mercy shall follow into my Father's house . Here is the climax of it all, to "dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." Christ has said, "in my Father's house are many mansions, I go to prepare a place for you." The beauty and accommodation of that house shall be according to His means, His taste, our necessities. When we are about to visit a person's house, our expectations correspond with our knowledge of the proprietor; when we receive a friend to our house, it is customary to give ourselves to please them, our aim is their profit and pleasure, all the pleasure our house affords is brought forth for that end. So in our Father's house, we shall have intercourse with the owner, may I say, He will give himself to our happiness. Oh! what powers are in Him when he sets about blessing; when his aim is to bless, he blesses like a God; all that his house affords shall be brought forth, while the mind of the Great Original, as an unfathomable mine of wealth, shall be an ever-constant, ever-new delight. There is a vast difference in his visits to us here, and our being received into his habitation to go no more out. "In his presence is fulness of joy, at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore." This is what we cannot conceive; while in the flesh, joy destroys itself, immediately intoxicates; so frothy is the mind, it could not bear much even of spiritual joy. "The breath of heaven might swell the sails to inflation, and endanger the vessel, did not our Captain add the ballast of trials to steady her, and cause her to go on her way softly and with security." But when we shall behold his face in righteousness, when we shall wake up after his likeness, we shall be satisfied. Oh! what a burst of truth shall then rush upon the mind, when we shall be like our elder Brother, full of grace and truth; even in the believer, now falsehood is interwoven; never till then, shall the creature find in the creature a rose without a thorn. When the door shuts in the children with their Father, the enemy in vain shall knock; sighing even shall flee away. What a thought for his children! We shall be really there! as certainly as that now we are sitting here, we shall "sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God." What manner of persons ought we to be? Shall we all meet in our Father's house? before we again meet, we may have all experienced what it is to pass through the valley of the shadow of death. Shall we all be able to say, goodness and mercy followed? What a thing to be able to face such a world, with "surely goodness and mercy shall follow me," etc. even till mortality is swallowed up of life.

If often, often, while girded with sackcloth, mourning has been turned into dancing, what shall it be when the mourner in Zion shall put off sackcloth, and shall be girded with gladness? Do you desire a map of the way to your Father's house? Take this little psalm; He presents you with this picture of the good Shepherd with his sheep. Faith believes all to be goodness and mercy, when we cannot see — "we walk by faith, not by sight."

The End.

"Thou remainest"

"Thou remainest"

Biographical Note

A selection of papers setting forth the excellency and sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ,

by J. Wilson Smith.

London: The Central Bible Truth Depot, 5, Rose Street, Paternoster Square, E.C.4,

Contents

1 The All-sufficient One

2 God's Present Ministry

3 Christ the Creator

4 "A Saviour Jesus"

5 The Angels and the Magi

6 "Never man spake like this man"

7 "Jesus wept"

8 The Son of God

9 A Word to the Weary

10 "Jesus the Son of God"

11 Christ Our Pattern

12 The Cross of Christ

13 The Risen Lord

14 Christ's Priesthood

15 "The coming of the Lord draweth nigh"

16 The Bridegroom

17 The Coming King

18 King of Kings

19 "My Glory"

20 Praise

21 Bridal Affection and Brotherly Love

22 "For the sake of the Name"

23 The Last Psalm

24 Loves Retreat

Foreword

The following papers, with two exceptions, have appeared at intervals in "Scripture Truth"; consequently, my eye was always one of the first to scan them. They were all received with thankfulness and read with profit and refreshment, not because the writer of them is one of the best of friends, and most faithful of yoke-fellows in the Lord's service that I know; nor because he writes with a clearness and charm which few can command — both are true — but because his theme is always Christ.

For more than half a century he has proved and sung the truth of those precious words: —

"O Christ, He is the fountain,

The deep sweet well of love;

The streams on earth I've tasted,

More deep I'll drink above."

Hence he writes, not worn-out platitudes, nor of untried theories, but of a Person, well-known, out of the fullness of a heart that finds its joy in the Lord.

He discovered in early life as a young army officer with great ambitions, that our Lord Jesus Christ was enough for his soul's salvation; a brighter and better portion than the brightest and best that the world could offer; and through life's joys and sorrows he has found Him to be enough — the never-changing, ever gracious, infinitely tender Saviour, Master, Lord and Friend.

It has been his joy through the changing years to serve the Lord in the Gospel, and to see many, very many, gladly follow the One whom he preached; and now in old age, having stood beside the open graves of most of the dearly-loved fellow-labourers for Christ of his vigorous days, and of one nearer and dearer than all, unable as formerly to tramp the open roads telling out the glad Evangel, he still rejoices in the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, and would turn our thoughts to Him Who "dieth no more"; and, with this end in view, he gives us this little volume with its appropriate title,

"Thou remainest."

May God, even the Father, richly bless it.

Yes, the servants of the Lord come and go; the ruthless hand of time changes everything beneath the sun; the world itself grows old, but Christ abides; and He is sufficient for all the vast needs of His saints on earth until He comes again; and then shall He still abide, the all-satisfying and eternally glorious object of the heart of His church — the Lamb's wife.

And this I know well is the present joy and certain hope of the author.

J. T. Mawson.

Everlasting Glory be,

God and Father, unto Thee!

'Tis with joy Thy children raise

Hearts and voices in Thy praise.

Thine the light that showed our sin,

Showed how guilty we had been:

Thine the love that us to save

Thine own Son for sinners gave.

Called to share the rest of God

In the Father's blest abode,

God of love and God of light

In Thy praises we unite.

Gladly we Thy grace proclaim,

Knowing now the Father's Name:

God and Father, unto Thee

Everlasting glory be!

"Thou remainest"

The All-sufficient One.

(Ps. 102: 26, and Heb. 1: 11).

Two wonderful words indeed, and worthy of the deepest appreciation. They refer to One who is placed in connection with creation in its widest extent, the heavens and the earth, but which, while transitory and perishable, leaves Him unaffected by their removal. He "continues still," and this is the signification of the word "remainest." It is not exactly His essential and eternal existence, but it is that, while associated with that which passes away, He abides. The truth is that while His hands had made these things, that He was their Creator, and, by and by, He will "fold them up and they shall be changed," He is "the same." His years fail not.

But He is no distant Deity, no disinterested spectator of anything His hands have made. He regulates as truly as He created. If, for some good reason He sees fit to dissolve His handiwork, He has most certainly the perfect right, as well as the power, to do so. Yet He Himself remains! And, if so, shall not His continuance be the guarantee of something greater and better — of a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness? That He remains is the hope of that creation of God of which He is "the beginning" (Rev. 3: 14).

Hence His all-sufficiency. He can both build and destroy and then build again. He can occupy every moral sphere and fill every spiritual vacuum. In Him all fullness dwells. He who was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God, assumed, in wondrous grace, the form of a servant and the fashion of a man. Such was the extent of His incarnation. He was an actual man, like ourselves in all things except sin, leading a true and perfect human life — a Man amongst men, in order to present God to us as He, the Son eternal, only could, and win our confidence toward God if such a thing could be done, but going down to death, so as to annul its power, remove its sting and gain a glorious victory over it — "death, even the death of the cross!"

Mark the stages in His condescension. From Godhead to manhood, thence to servitude, thence to death, and that (oh grace inconceivable!) the death of the cross — the most ignominious, agonizing, shameful death of all! Well may we sing: —

"We love Thee for the glorious worth

Which in Thyself we see,

We love Thee for that shameful cross

Endured so patiently."

But He is risen from the dead and highly exalted. We can sing: "Thou remainest." He "remaineth" in view of a ruined creation, and He remaineth in view of a disintegrated church. He is the hope of both and "the bright and morning star" of His assembly. He is her all-sufficiency — her resource, her centre to-day, as at all times. He is "the same" in days Laodicean as He was in those of Ephesus. He is God's "Amen" to-day, maintaining, in undiminished power, all the counsel and purpose of God, spite of the fearful drop from the bright apostolic period to the present nauseous condition of the church's faithless testimony. He is on the wrong side of the door of the profession of His name; so that He urges the purchasing of gold and clothing and eye salve, to expel its dross, and cover its nakedness, and enlighten its blindness. Outside He knocks, and seeks admission to the willing heart; for spite of the church's palpable degradation, He "remaineth" as "the Same."

Conditions may possibly change outwardly, and "difficult times" characterize these closing days, but He changeth not. And hence the Second Epistle to Timothy, foretelling as it does these very days, presents to us, not so much the House of God as a well-ordered system, but Christ Himself as the foundation which stands steady, be the collapse of Christendom what it is. "Remember," it tells us, "Jesus Christ . . . raised from the dead." He remains as the HEAD; let us hold it fast; as LORD, let us obey His word; as the only CENTRE of gathering, let us gather to His all-sufficient name; as the still REJECTED CHRIST, let us humbly cleave to Him and His cross; as the soon-coming BRIDEGROOM, let our hearts, in all the glowing affections of a faithful bride cry: "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

He "remaineth" as THE HOPE OF ISRAEL — the nation of His choice and favour — but long driven out of its land, scattered, peeled, persecuted because of its sins, but never forgotten of Him, but rather "beloved for the fathers' sakes," to whom the promise of earthly blessing was made. The Deliverer will yet "come out of Zion and turn away ungodliness from Jacob," and reinstate the nation in the Land promised it of old. For "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance" (see Rom. 11).

Then, finally, if we descend to the necessities and cares of the individual Christian, can we not say that when all else is gone, the hopes dashed, the chair vacant, the poor feeble heart crushed, the eye dimmed with tears, and the soul desolated by waves of sorrow, He remaineth the Comforter, the resource, the peace-giver, the abiding Friend, who Himself proved, in deep and true experience, all the sorrows of our pilgrim path, so that He is able to succour and sympathize with us.

That He remaineth "the same yesterday, to-day, and forever," may not be the highest of His many glories, but it is not the smallest of those great dignities which make His sacred name precious to His saints in all generations — as their dwelling place, their hope, their refuge, their power and their victory.

As such, how worthy He is of all our gratitude, thanksgiving and praise. That pen is made of gold which writes of Him; the ministry which has the all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ, whether as Saviour, Lord, or Head of His body, for its primary theme is assuredly the ministry of the Spirit of God. His own closing command was: "Believe also in Me" — given just ere He went to the Father, suggesting, as it does, all that is contained in the fact that He remaineth.

If that be true no change of passing conditions need agitate the spirit of His people, or affect the steady labour of His servants. His grace will not fail.

God's Present Ministry

It seems to me that, in a gracious superiority to all the petty conflicts and jarring voices of the day, the Spirit of God continues to unfold the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ to the hearts of His blood-bought people everywhere. For this is ever His ministry. "He shall take of Mine" (said our Lord in John i6.), "and shall show it unto you." This ministry proceeds throughout the centuries, be they dark or bright; and, in thus bearing witness to our rejected Master; the Spirit of God works continuously. He will not be hindered by the power of sin or Satan. He is God. Now this is full of encouragement, and happy it is, in days admittedly dark and difficult, to trace His working, and to discover that the enemy is far from having things all his own way.

We are too prone, alas, to regard the triumph of evil and get under its power. This is depressing. It is not faith in God, but the result of looking at things seen and temporal with consequent feebleness.

"We walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5), and God would have us regard "the work of His hand," and in so doing be strengthened. Now there is no question in the minds of those who have taken the trouble to appraise events, that during late years there has been an unprecedented ministry of Christ, both as to the value of His death and resurrection, and also of His personal glories, whether as Son of God or Son of Man. He has been the theme and subject-matter, as never since apostolic times, of His more intelligent servants everywhere. Christ has been preached with a fullness unknown for long, and this, it is needless to say, is the direct and blessed work of the Spirit of God.

That He was loved and cherished, and followed by many a faithful heart through ages dark and cruel, we can easily trace. The page of history sparkles with the devoted lives and martyr-deaths of hosts to whom Christ was more precious than all things here. Of these the world was not worthy. They paved the way amid the darkness of their surroundings for the light which shines on us to-day — a light so little appreciated!

The glorious Reformation (so called) was that work of God which drew universal attention to the work of Christ, and of our justification by faith thereby. This poured a perfect flood of light over the face of Christendom, and made the Word of God a new Book to countless numbers. It was the dawn of a holy liberty, and a death-blow to the corruptions of Rome. But what need to hold fast that which we have! What need to stand fast in that liberty and to hold to the Word of God! But then, is our liberty everything? Can we feed on our own personal emancipation alone? Does the knowledge of justification (however precious) suffice for the soul? Has God no further revelation?

He has! What is redemption without the Redeemer, or salvation without the Saviour? What is the servant without his Lord; or the church without its Head?

Nay, what is Christianity without that Christ who, on ascending to the right hand of God, sent down the Holy Ghost to baptize into one body all who believed the gospel, and to be the power of life and testimony in the saints till Christ shall take all hence to be for ever with Himself in the Father's House?

Absolutely nothing! As well have the solar system without the great and all essential orb of day. This were impossible. "A pleasant thing it is to behold the sun," and a far greater pleasure it is for the saints of God to hear of the deep, boundless glories of His eternal Son!

I am bold to say that these glories have been, and are, the specific testimony of the Spirit of God during the last and undoubtedly closing years of this dispensation. The best wine comes last although contained in the original "firkin." The Word of God has His Son for the highest theme.

Nor do I doubt that this ministry is having the present effect of reuniting at least the hearts of great numbers of saints who see in it something beyond traditions and mere ecclesiasticism, something that will eventually bind their hearts and minds and tongues together in common and eternal adoration in heaven.

Pity, a thousand times over, that such adoration should be broken up into fragments to-day by the unhappy "shibboleths" and warring factions into which the church is now divided! But, thank God, to-day will quickly pass, and then and for ever one all-commanding Object will fill our gaze, and bring about that concentration on Himself, who is the One Shepherd of the one flock and the Head of the one body, which in our every heart we so ardently desire, and which, amid other things, He died to accomplish.

He "died for our sins" indeed, but, notice, He also "died to gather together in one the children of God which were scattered abroad"; and the fulfilment of this is certain. That unity is bound to be brought about; only may each of us seek, in his prayers, and ways and associations, to give personal effect to it now.

How cheering, how stimulating the truth! This is, most assuredly, part — and a very great part — of the ministry of the Spirit of God to-day.

Christ the Creator

That which gives special interest to "creation" is that, in Scripture, it is attributed to Christ — the Lord.

No doubt, speaking in the abstract, it is viewed as the work of God, and so we read in Gen. 1: 1, that "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," but in the same chapter (ver. 26) it is said, in sacred colloquy, "let us make man," indicating co-operation on the part of the Holy and omnipotent Godhead; for each Person in the Godhead is God; and, hence, in the creation of the highest creature on earth, we find a consultation between those Persons, which was not taken in the production of any lower part of it. Man was created in the image and likeness of God, and was placed in sovereignty over all His works.

"God created!" Let that formal statement be clearly apprehended. There was, and there is what Scripture calls "creation." There is "the whole creation" and its "beginning" (2 Peter 3). The fact is stated with the utmost simplicity and with a naturalness that bespeaks absolute truth. No lengthened explanation, no wordy elaboration to meet the incredulity of man is given.

The thing itself is so inconceivable, that no other solution is possible but that "God created." That profound, but entirely satisfactory record, suffices for faith, and is, at once, the simplest and the only key to "creation." It is "by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God." Speculation and cosmogonies may fade in this light.

Very well, creation is the work of the Godhead, but, in particular, it is that of the Second Person, as the Scriptures, when giving assignment, invariably declare. And therefore, if that be so, the work of creation, in its omnipotence, its design, its intricacy, its minuteness, its continuance, its perfection, becomes to the Christian a matter of deepest interest. Our Lord Jesus Christ is Creator! Wondrous fact indeed, but when cordially admitted, the further and much greater work of redemption becomes more glorious in our estimation; for, if every detail in the former were perfect, how could a flaw or defect be found in the latter? A perfect Creator is also a perfect Redeemer, and vice versa as well.

These two facts are placed in juxtaposition in Col. 1: 15-18, "For by Him [the Son of God] were all things created that are in heaven and in earth," and not only created "by Him," but "for Him" — a most significant statement surely, and one which throws creation into an extraordinary place of importance, viz., for the special purpose and enjoyment of the Son of God — the Christ; and again: "He is before all things," necessarily so, if "by Him they were created;" and, lastly, "by Him all things consist." They subsist, they are maintained in existence by His power and will. These "all things" depend, both for their origin and support, on the will and pleasure of the Son of God.

He is also, as risen from the dead, Head of the body, the church — the Redeemer — pre-eminent in all things. The same two facts present themselves to us in Heb. 1 and 2; we read in Heb. 1: 10, "And thou, Lord, in the beginning [mark that word] hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thine hands "hands of the universal Creator; while, in Heb. 2: 10, we find Him qualified through sufferings to be the Leader of His people's salvation, and also their Deliverer from the fear of death by having annulled the power of the devil. Blessed Saviour! Or, again, in Heb. 1: 3, He who upholds all things by the word of His power, has made expiation for the sins of His people, and has sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. What rich qualifications are His! Finally, if in John 1 He is seen as the Lamb of God — the sin-bearer, so too is He revealed as God — the Word — by whom were all things made, and without Him was not anything made that was made. He was indispensable in creation from beginning to end; and when He shall fold up, as a vesture, all that He had made — change it, and cause it to perish, He, withal, shall remain, and prove Himself to be "the same" — "the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth," and the worthy Co-Recipient of the glad homage of "every creature in Heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea," as they ascribe "Blessing and honour and glory and power to Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever" —

The power of earth's Creator

Gives glory to Thy Name.

The love of earth's Redeemer

Enhances still thy fame.

Creator and Redeemer

Almighty Saviour Lord,

The power and grace that saved us

For ever be adored.

"A Saviour, Jesus."

One of the most resplendent crowns

which shall rest on the head of our Lord Jesus Christ is that of Saviour. Beside His name none other is given under heaven whereby men must be saved (Acts 4: 12), and so we read: "He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3: 18). The refusal of His name is fatal. We may well thank God for that name as we remember how that He "so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3: 16). May we lay hold of the fact that the heart of God the Father is the fountain-head of the river of saving grace; thence it flows in measureless fullness over a world alienated from God, so that all and any who are conscious of their lost condition may, by faith in His Son, become the recipients, here and now, of all that grace can give — possessors of everlasting life! But this grace must reach us on grounds of absolute righteousness. The throne itself would be outraged were its just claims not perfectly met and satisfied; and seeing that this could never be accomplished by the creature already powerless and guilty, it must be rendered by One fully competent to do so. Him we find in the Son of God! He is the divinely provided ransom. God Himself has provided a lamb for a burnt-offering. Here, then, we start. This is our foundation; it is solid and sure, and clean outside all that is of man. We can freely speak of a Saviour-God! He loved and He gave, and the given One came willingly to do all that was charged ' upon Him. But if this should be on the side of God, what is there on that of man? There is, alas! only the sin that necessitated grace so boundless.

Sin? Yes. And what is sin? Its nature is questioned to-day. It is vainly explained away; but none the less it remains in its undiminished virulence and universality. Neither has philosophy, nor civilization, nor education, nor science, nor any human device that the clever brain of man has invented, removed sin from the heart, or its dire consequence of death, and the grave, and the judgment beyond, from the race of fallen, guilty men. There it is, as patent and potent to-day as ever; so that he who denies it is blind, or worse.

Let us get on to this bed-rock truth, else salvation means nothing and a Saviour is a mere sentiment.

God declares that "all the world is guilty before Him" (Rom. 3: 19), that it "lieth in wickedness" (1 John 5: 19), and that "Satan deceiveth the whole world" (Rev. 12: 9). The cross was its moral judgment (John 12: 31). So much for the mass; but, personally, "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." The power and poison of sin are rampant in every department of life, in every sphere and circle and bosom. These vast cemeteries bear mighty witness. "Death has passed on all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. 5: 12).

What, then, is sin? It may be seen in a thousand aggravated and sickening forms, from murder to a thought of foolishness (Mark 7: 21, 22); but notice, "the movement of a heart in opposition to the will of God is sin." Who can escape here?

Hence the Lord said to certain accusers, "Let him that is without sin first cast a stone at her" (John 8: 7). Needless to say no hand dare cast a stone. Every man was guilty of some sin; none was, nor is, nor can be "without sin."

The crying need of the day is a true sense of sin, and therefore of humiliation and repentance before God. Always so, but perhaps more truly now than ever; and if so, woe to those who minimize the gravity of sin and its certain and eternal judgment.

This clears the way for God's salvation. And what is that? Nay, who is that? It is Christ Himself! "Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation," said Simeon as he held the infant Redeemer in his arms.

Never can that salvation be understood until it is seen to be embodied in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, as dead, and risen, and glorified.

His death was necessary for expiation, and His blood alone, but fully, can cleanse from sin.

His resurrection from the dead was also necessary as proof of the work of atonement done, and no more sacrifice required. By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified (Heb. 10: 14).

And His ascension was necessary, that He might send down the Holy Spirit to give effect to His work, and seal for eternal blessing the souls of all who believe. Oh, lay hold of the deep meaning of the words "one offering." Let that offering stand before your eye in its absolute all-sufficiency. Think who it was that was offered! Remember the cup He drank and the curse He bore! Ponder the love that led Him into such fathomless depths! View Him as the sinless Son of Man who obeyed to the letter, and who alone glorified God where all else had failed! Smite your breast as you behold the sight of Calvary! Learn the love of Christ that passeth knowledge! See the whole awful question of your sins and sin, your guilt and state, settled in His death, so that you, delivered from every thrall and fear, at cost so infinite, might love Him in return, and serve and follow and worship Him, until, by His side, you see the crown of your salvation on His glorious brow for ever.

The Angels and the Magi

Is it not remarkable that, in comparing the two chapters (Matt. 2 and Luke 2) which give us an account of the earliest days on earth of our Lord, we find that the effect produced by the angelic announcement of His birth in Luke 2 was very small? It appears not to have affected the people of Jerusalem in the least.

The shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night, were the immediate recipients of that wonderful communication from heaven.

Having heard the message of the angel of the Lord — "Unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord" — they heard also a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men," and were so stirred in heart as to go at once to Bethlehem in order to see the thing which the Lord had made known to them. They saw, and made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. They published it generally.

Never had child been born under such auspices, nor introduced by such angelic acclamation, but their declaration was unnoticed. The wonderful saying which the shepherds made known abroad fell on ears dull and apathetic. The public effect was nil. No one appeared to care.

Shepherds! Who would listen to them! They were poor ignorant men, visionaries of some wild delusion. Had the priests and the scribes carried the report there might have been some reason in hearing it. But shepherds — announcing a Saviour born that day, even Christ the Lord, and He, too, lying in a manger — impossible, incredible, and only to be ignored.

The story was so unlikely! A Saviour, the Christ, Jehovah, born and lying, forsooth! in the manger of some cattle-shed, swaddled there in circumstances of palpable poverty! Never! A palace would be too mean for such a one! The highest dignities that earth could proffer would be unworthy of the Christ, the Saviour; but that Saviour, the Lord, Jehovah, cradled in a feeding-trough staggers conception.

Yes, the mystery of the grace of the Incarnation has always done so. Nature and reason stand bewildered. The story is either true or false. It is either the greatest act of humiliation (save, indeed, the cross) or the wildest piece of imagination that ever entered, or could enter, the brain of man. Indeed, such an invention is utterly inconceivable.

Ten thousand thanks be to God, the Manger of Bethlehem, ennobled by the presence, in infant form, of Christ the Lord, stands out in all the certainty of a fact divinely attested, and accredited by faith!

But in spite of the common indifference, we find some Simeons, and Annas, and others, even in Jerusalem, who were in expectation of redemption. Anna spake of the Redeemer to all such, and Simeon took Him into his arms, and blessed God that he had now seen His salvation.

Thus we see that the hearts of a few (alas, that there should have been so few!) were prepared to welcome the Lord. But so ever. God has wrought by minorities all along the line and made them His vessels of testimony and triumph. Study these minorities; there are many of them. Consider Noah and his seven; Gideon and his three hundred; Daniel and his three; Paul almost alone. Such minorities saved (as we say) the situation. God uses vessels that lean on Him; and such was the remnant of whom we are speaking, be they poor and unlettered shepherds, or people but little known to the world around them. "The secret of the Lord," we read, "is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant" (Ps. 25: 14). So in this case.

But when, a year or more afterwards, there came wise men from the east (Matt. 2) to inquire in Jerusalem for the King who had been born, guided as they were by a star which mysteriously, silently, but surely announced His birth, "Herod," we read, "was troubled, and all Jerusalem with Him."

The advent of a Saviour, proclaimed as it was by the hosts of heaven, created little or no interest, but that of a King — one born as such — in distinct rivalry to Herod and his superior, the Roman Emperor, caused trouble everywhere.

The messengers were but men — their guide a star; their nationality Gentile; and yet with credentials so meagre their testimony was universally accepted. They were reputed, Gentiles albeit, as wise men, astrologers — Magi — men who read the heavens and their portents. These, therefore, were witnesses far more reliable than illiterate shepherds would be; and so their message told. The city was troubled, from the King downwards. "Where is He," they asked, who is born King of the Jews?" King, and only King, was their statement. Saviour and Lord they know not. The star signalized only a King — where is He?

Herod, fearful of his rival, appealed to the scribes for help. They turned to the Scriptures — that infallible guide, when truly understood, to eternal facts which are beyond the ray of a star, or the conception of man.

"Bethlehem," said the scribes; "for thus it is written by the prophet, ' And thou Bethlehem art not the least among the princes of Juda, for out of thee shall come a Governor that shall rule My people Israel '" (Micah 5: 2). Thus did these scribes quote the prophet; they mentioned the "Governor," but they saw fit to leave out the wonderful words which follow: "whose goings forth have been from everlasting," (or, as it is in the margin "from the days of eternity"). They concealed the fact that this King was the Lord, Jehovah!

The wise men proceed to Bethlehem, being again led by the star, and coming to the house to which they are directed, they find the young child and Mary, His mother, and present to Him their treasures — gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They fall down and worship Him.

But being warned of God as to the cruel intentions of Herod, they depart to their own country by another way. Their visit had caused disquietude and trouble in the city. Such was its effect. No King but Caesar was wanted there, least of all that King who had been born at Bethlehem, whose goings had been "from the days of eternity." And so Herod, the mere creature of Caesar, wreaks vengeance on all the children of Bethlehem from two years old and under, hoping to destroy his rival "King."

That King had, however, been carried to Egypt, and not only placed there beyond the power of Herod, but that another Scripture should have its fulfilment — otherwise impossible — viz., "Out of Egypt have I called my Son" (cf. Hosea 11: 1). Ponder the words. The Son of God called out of Egypt suggests the beginning of a totally new history for Jew and Gentile, on the proven and utter breakdown of both before God. The Saviour — Christ the Lord, of Luke 2, is the blessed Son of Matthew 2. The Saviour is the King, and the Saviour-King is also Jehovah and Son of God. Wonderful harmonies, truly!

"Never Man Spake like this Man."

John 7.

Never! This encomium was absolutely true!

Officers had been sent by the chief priests in Jerusalem to take this wonderful Speaker, and bring Him to them from the Temple, where He had been boldly stating His mission, whence He came, and who He was; but the statement was so pronounced, so definite, so unequivocal, that, envious as they were of His fame, and fearful of His rivalry, they could devise no other plan of silencing Him than by force. Hence the charge given to the officers.

They went, intending, doubtless, to obey the orders of their masters, but before attempting to apprehend Him, they listened to His words and became deeply interested. They heard Him say to the unbelieving crowd: "Ye shall seek me and shall not find me, and where I go ye cannot come." These words, no doubt, struck them: they announced a Personality and opened out a wisdom and a superiority to circumstances, which at once placed Him, in their minds, above the level of ordinary speakers. Here was one who knew clearly what He was about, who spoke with calm authority and proclaimed an independence unknown to others. He thus asserted a right to speak and to command the hearing of all. Had such another speaker ever been heard in the Temple? Never.

What man was this? Needless to ask, for He had just made a sufferer of thirty and eight long years perfectly whole; and who could do that but God? That lowly Man who thus spoke in the Temple under the frown and threat of Jerusalem's rulers was in fact their promised Messiah — Son of Man and Son of God. His mighty works proved His Person.

No wonder that the officers were fascinated! Instead of finding a noisy declaimer of Roman or other government, they were brought face to face with a speaker so calm, so dignified, so uncompromising and yet so bold, that they were more than overawed. They felt themselves powerless to carry out their orders. The superiority of that presence, the majesty of that Person, forced them into admiration of Him. Further, they heard Him say: "If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink . . . out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

"If any man thirst" — and who, in this weary world, does not thirst? A universal thirst is proved by a universal discontent. That word is written big in the bosom of every individual of every class and nation on the face of the earth — a thirst that nothing can slake but this wonderful "living water" given by the Son of God. There is to be found, as many have proved, an abiding satisfaction that leads them to eschew the overtures of a world that can never satisfy.

"If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink." That is all; but the result is glorious, for he shall not only be personally satisfied, but rivers of living water shall flow from Him for the refreshment of this weary, barren, hopeless world. What a miracle, but how true, as the blessing of these two thousand years has proved!

"Come unto Me and drink" — that is all. But the secret is in that "Me."

No religious festival can slake this thirst — the thirst returns, as we can testify.

No service, no ordinance, no priesthood, no imposition of hands, no human benediction, no power of man nor angel can give the "living water" which satisfies for ever. They who drink thereof are "born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." They come, as thus born, to the Son of God. They drink, they are satisfied, they become channels of wide and generous blessing to all around. Again, what a miracle!

And whoever had, before, heard such words?

It was the voice of Him who, on another day, said to His captors: "I am He" words so uttered that they who heard them went backward and fell to the ground; but not so here. His voice which by and by "shall shake not the earth only but also heaven," but on this occasion His accents were those of grace and mercy and compassion for the thirsting souls of men.

The officers returned alone to their masters, who at once said to them: "Why have ye not brought Him?"

They could assign no reason. He made no resistance, nor did His followers, and yet bring Him they could not. All they could say was in this truest of all confessions: "Never man spake like this man."

They thus admitted that they had been overcome by His words themselves. They were "spirit and life"; and, their inherent and resistless power restrained them from carrying out their mission. His hour had not yet come.

"Are ye also deceived?" replied the Pharisees; "have any of the rulers believed in Him?" Impossible that any but the ignorant could do that.

Not a single ruler? Yes, one, and Nicodemus speaks out, who, in the shades of night, had heard the words of the lowly Speaker, had been spellbound by them, and had been drawn from his darkness into a knowledge of the love of God in the gift of His Son, of the substitutionary work of the Son when lifted up on the cross, and of eternal life through faith in Him.

To Nicodemus, as to the officers, "never man spake like this man" — no, nor acted, nor moved, nor suffered, nor sympathized, nor loved, nor died, nor was raised by the glory of the Father to be Saviour, Lord and Head like this Man, and to receive in heaven eternal adoration from myriads of worshippers, who are indebted to Him for the work He did, and the words He spoke.

"Jesus Wept."

There was sorrow in Bethany, death had entered one of its houses — the only one, in all probability, where the Lord found a welcome — and had removed a dearly-loved brother. Hearts were crushed and broken. A very tender tie had been snapped and mourning had taken the place of joy.

"Why this blow?" might have been the unspoken language of the two bereaved and desolate sisters. Had the Lord only been there, they felt sure that their brother would not have died. He, who loved all three, would have spared them the sorrow through which they had passed. His healing power had been so often shown that, had He only come in time, this disaster might have been prevented.

Now, however, it was too late. The Lord had allowed, for some inexplicable reason, known to Himself alone, the precious days to slip away; and when, in an apparently tardy response to their message, He had come at last, not only had death done its work, but the dead one was buried. Surely the Master had failed, on this occasion, in the display of the sympathy which was one of His most lovely traits.

How little did the sisters know the deep meaning of that delay. It was not occasioned by lack of love, or care, or consideration, but by a vastly superior motive, viz., "the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby" — the glory of God and of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the supreme object in the universe. Everything must subserve the glory of God — Father, Son and Spirit; and, to this undivided glory, the proud or fearful, or self-seeking heart of man must bow, and, in bowing, find rest and peace and assurance.

He who walked in the light of day knew exactly when to take His journey back into Judea, and to Bethany and its broken hearts.

He who said: "I am the resurrection and the life" was quite as able to raise one from a four days' state of death as He was to prevent him from dying. He who had just given eyesight to a man who had been born blind could certainly have caused that even Lazarus should not have died.

But there was to accrue to the Son of God a greater glory than that. He was to be seen as the giver of life, not now to the gentle child of Jairus, who had just expired; nor to the only son of Nain's widow, who was being carried to his grave, but to one whose body was already yielding to corruption and had become putrescent. The glory of God is all-various in its working, but it has the welfare of His creatures as one of its objects.

The glory of the Son of God was seen in His absolute obedience to the Father's will; but, while expressing itself in the raising of the dead, and the bestowing of life, and life eternal too, it proved itself in the exhibition of the fullest, tenderest, human sympathy.

Did He not suffer in order that He might fill the place of High Priest, and, as such, minister timely help and strength and comfort to His needy dependent, sorrowing people here? Most assuredly!

See, then, when He had found His way to the grave, and had witnessed the dire effects of death on the bleeding hearts around, we read . . . and, let the words of this, the shortest and perhaps, the most profoundly significant, verse in our Bible, sink deeply into our memories: "Jesus wept!"

He wept who was "the resurrection and the life"! He wept who possessed all the power of God and the warmest sympathy of man. Yes, "Jesus wept." He who was ever in the form of God is seen here in that of a servant. His service was one of love.

On that sympathy we can always count, for He is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."

"Jesus wept! those tears of sorrow

Are a legacy of love;

Yesterday, to-day, to-morrow,

He the same doth ever prove:

Thou art all in all to me,

Weeping One of Bethany."

And recently hearts innumerable have been torn, crushed and bleeding. Loved ones have fallen on fields of battle. Desolation has covered the face of the earth. Each country has shed its tears; on all hands there are widows, orphans, sisters, parents, brothers and friends who have mourned and wept. But behind the inscrutable wisdom that has allowed a convulsion so awful, there is, at the same time, a gracious and sympathetic support richly ministered by the ascended Lord who gives the assurance that, if the one He loved may not be restored, as was Lazarus, yet He says: "Thy brother shall rise again," for in the fullest sense "whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die." That is, there is no death, as such, for the Christian. He is "absent from the body and present with the Lord." Death is annulled for such; while on the other hand, "he that believeth on Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live," for "life and incorruptibility are brought to light by the gospel."

Here we may find our richest consolation. Can you picture a more lovely sight than the sacred Weeper of Bethany? There He stands, at the grave-side in moral touch with its mourners, not in a spirit of cold superiority as might have become death's victor, nor even in the aloofness of Him by whom all things were made, but in the full pathos of One who, while Creator and Sustainer of all, cherished a heart of tender human pity.

We repeat the words: "Jesus wept." May I ask the afflicted and sorrowing if they can find no comfort in those tears, no solace in that sympathy, no Friend that sticketh closer than a brother in this best of all friends, no compensation in His love, no pillow for the heavy head, no resting-place on His puissant arm, no one to occupy the empty chambers of the stricken heart — One better than the best and dearer than the dearest? What a triumph for faith when HE is thus known and loved!

It gives glory to the Son of God when the bereaved and broken heart finds all its satisfaction in Him. He will be everything to us in our bright eternity, and this He may be in our present but brief period of sorrow and loss.

The Son of God.

"He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." — Matt. 16: 15, 16.

—

The significance of this question put, by the blessed Lord to His disciples must be apparent to the reader. At that moment a crisis had been reached in His testimony, by the only too evident refusal thereof on the part of the leaders of the nation. He had come to "His own," and, now, in the panorama of His life, as presented in this first Gospel, we see that "His own received Him not."

He had been announced by the Baptist, the herald of the kingdom, in terms of charming interest; and the wise men had been attracted from the east by the finger of God to do Him homage. He had proclaimed in the mountain, the holy principles of the kingdom; He had wrought miracles of mercy on every hand; He hid bidden the weary to find rest in Himself — the Son of the Father; He had, as Son of man on earth, pardoned sins; He had, as the promised Messiah, opened the eyes of the blind; He had been, owned as Son of God by Satan, whom as "the strong man" He had bound, and, as the stronger, was able to spoil his goods; but, withal, He had been proudly rejected, even where His greatest works had been done. There was no national repentance. This sin and that of His rejection went together.

As to the common opinion regarding Him, He might have been John the Baptist, or Elias, or Jeremias, or one of the prophets: that was all! Unconcern, on this vital point, marked the mass. This "greater than Solomon," both in wisdom and works, was ignored. He was despised and they esteemed Him not. Nevertheless, it was their Messiah whom they thus rejected. How blind, how culpable they!

Then it was that He asked of His disciples the question: "But whom say ye that I am?" He could surely count on some hearts which would respond to it, for there must ever, in days the darkest, be those in whose hearts God is working, for He never leaves Himself without witness; and accordingly Peter made answer: "Thou art the Christ [the Messiah] the Son of the living God."

But this rich and true confession was by no means the fruit of the natural mind. Such knowledge does not originate in the heart of man. It was communicated to Peter, said the Lord, by "My Father which is in heaven." It was necessarily a direct revelation.

But there it stands, in its eternal value, to command the faith of every one who professes the name of Christ. Let the words "the Son of the living God" carry their due weight with every believing heart and conscience, and call forth the adoration that is meet.

"Whom say ye that I am?" Not only Jesus of Nazareth; nor alone the Christ known to us on high, seated, as Man, on the throne of the Father, Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, but as "Son of the living God," over whom death had no power, nor could it hold Him. May this supreme glory of His infinitely glorious Person engage the attention of His saints increasingly. Let us remember that we live in a day when that Person is, in one way or another, disparaged.

The holiness of His humanity is denied on one hand, and the truth of His deity is assailed on the other; but, in this question and answer, "whom say ye that I the Son of man am," and "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," we have both facts stated as equally true — "the Son of man" and "the Son of God." Hence it becomes us to cherish both His perfect manhood and His essential deity. And it may be very fairly questioned if He can be worshipped aright, unless this relationship be owned. My soul, dost thou truly recognize in thy once dying Redeemer, who bought and washed thee from thy ten thousand sins in His blood, the veritable Son of God? If so, then prostrate thyself at His feet, and magnify, adore, and worship Him.

When on the Mount of the Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John were privileged to hear the voice from out of the cloud saying, "this is My beloved Son, hear Him." That voice Peter, never forgot: nay, "we have not followed cunningly devised fables," he wrote (in his second epistle) "when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His majesty." He received an indelible impress of the glory of our Lord as the beloved Son on the Mount, even though, in his written ministry, he treats more of "the Christ" than "the Son."

James early earned a martyr's crown (Acts 12.), so that we have no ministry from his pen: but the writings of John are replete with the moral glories of "the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father." And how we love those writings! How they enrich and call forth the adoration of the soul!

Then, if we refer to Paul, we find that his very first text in the Damascene synagogue, as soon as the scales had fallen from his eyes, was that "Jesus is the Son of God!"

This was the first note of his lovely song — the first tribute to the glory of Christ in his testimony. It formed the backbone of all the rest. Hence the extraordinary and Spirit-owned (as Spirit-given) power of his ministry. That ministry was manifold; it covered the Gospel as it had been made known, in a special way, to him; and then he writes of Jesus being "declared to be Son of God with power . . . by resurrection from the dead," so that not only the resurrection of our Lord, but His deity as well, give colour and character to the apostle's gospel (see Rom. 1: 4).

So, too, it covers his ministry of the Church; for in his Epistle to the Ephesians, in which he treats of the Church as the present vessel of the grace and purpose of God, he speaks of the gifts of the ascended Christ, as having for their object "the perfecting of the saints, the work of the ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4: 12, 13).

Here the knowledge of the Son of God is the acme of all spiritual attainment, and the grand object of the Spirit of God in the edification of the body of Christ. "Whom say ye that I am?" is still the great question for heart and conscience. That knowledge is clearly the deepest and most profound, as well as the initial, in the whole revelation of God: for, on the glory of His person the value of His atoning work depends. The issues for eternity, whether as regards glory or judgment, depend on the person and work of the Son of God.

Along with the knowledge of the Son is that of the Father, and this is "eternal life" in its full Christian or present aspect, even as we shall, when in glory with the Lord, enjoy it in absolute fulness for ever.

May the Spirit of God give us fresh unfoldings of the Son of God day by day.

A Word to the Weary

Let me quote the verse from which these words are taken: "The Lord God hath given Me the tongue of the learned [the instructed] that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary" (Isa. 50: 4).

1st. Who speaks the word in season!

Who is that "Me" who is instructed by the Lord God for a service so precious and so deeply needed?

It is He who (as the same passage states) asks the question: "Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? . . . I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering."

In His hand is all that power. He can redeem; He can deliver; He can darken the face of the sky; in His hand is omnipotence — a truly wonderful Person is He!

And yet He it is who is qualified to do a service so infinitesimal as to drop a word of comfort into the ear of the weary. What vast extremes are in His service!

He who covers the heavens can comfort a poor weary heart here below. And He does!

2nd. How did He acquire this ability?

How, in what school, did He receive this learning? How comes He to act in sympathy and to feel the sorrows of His afflicted people? The answer is given us in Hebrews 2 and 5. There we read that He "took part in flesh and blood"; He became incarnate; He stooped from Godhead glory into the fashion of Man; as man He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. He who had hitherto commanded, who "spake and it was done," now learns obedience in suffering, as each of the four divinely-given biographies of His perfect life makes known to us; it was in this school — that of weariness and weeping, of hunger and poverty, of contact with every phase of human misery and woe, the tears of the doubly bereft widow and the desolated home of Bethany, the painfully visible effects of sin and the groan of a convulsed creation — . in this familiar school and not in the unruffled dignities of heaven He learned the art, rare and precious, of sympathy and of speaking a word to the weary. His sympathy is the result of dearly-bought experience, and is, therefore, ever efficacious.

He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. "He was tempted in all [note the word] points like as we are, yet without sin" — i.e., sin wholly absent.

3rd. The word spoken is Seasonable.

His word to the weary is spoken, we read, "in season." That is, He knows the exact moment when to whisper into the wearied ear, and just when to support the breaking heart.

It was in a moment of physical crisis in my own career, that I learned the meaning of His rod and staff comforting me. I had, till then, attached the idea of support to that staff. Now, I discovered that there was also "comfort." So says the charming pastoral psalm, where we find the sheep drifting down through the valley, but, even there, comforted by the shepherd's rod and staff! Yes, but this makes the dreaded valley a very easy journey when you find that such comfort is yours in it, and that beyond its shadow is the House of the Lord for ever!

Christ's ministry is always seasonable, never out of season. It may not assume an audible form, as it oft-times did in days of old, as, for instance, to Abraham, Moses, the prophets, or to Paul, once and again, but in some sweet and suitable way by the Word, or otherwise — a psalm, a hymn, or a spiritual song — the patient service and comfort of the living Lord, is proved by the weary.

4th. Who are the weary?

Well, such a question is superfluous to-day. . . . Who is not weary?

"And they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah" (Jer. 51: 64) — a striking statement at the close of this significant prophecy, but not very dissimilar from the "groan" of Romans 8. Wearying and groaning are, did we only allow the fact, the chief features of humanity to-day. The frivolity of nature can only be accounted for by its insensibility. The awful fact is that "the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not," and this diabolic obfuscation of mind, on the part of all such, is the reason of this sad phenomenon. Did every one feel as he should that he "must give account of himself to God," how different would be his thoughts and habits! But "God is not in all his thoughts," and hence the trifling.

But not so is the weary. To him God is real, and needed, and obeyed, and loved. He follows in the blessed steps of his Master and Lord. He realizes the contradiction to God on all hands. He is oft-times weary, rightly so, and he it is who receives and enjoys "a word in season" from Him who, has power to redeem and to deliver, as well as to cover the heavens with blackness, or do what He will in the armies of heaven.

"Jesus the Son of God."

These words stand out bold and clear as a statement of the Spirit of God which allows no kind of qualification. They bind together the humanity and the deity of our Lord. They present, in blessed union, His lowly name as Man and His divine title as God.

Their setting is exquisite. We read in Hebrews 4: 14: "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, which is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession."

The enormous difficulty of maintaining the Christian profession, in power, is only too well known by the true believer. He has a profound sense of his own spiritual weakness and tendency to yield to the foe, so that he values, all the more, the care and support, the sympathy and succour of our Great High Priest, who hast left us in an adverse world, has passed through the heavens, where, none the less, He sustains us in the path of faith, and who comforts us in all the tribulation of our heavenward journey. He is possessed of all power. We are to make a constant use of the throne of grace, in order to receive, thence, the grace and mercy needed for each and every exigency and trial. We may connect the mercy with the name of Jesus, and the power with the Son of God.

A wonderful combination of words are these: "Jesus the Son of God"! It is not "Jesus the Saviour of sinners," nor "Jesus the Christ," nor "Jesus the Head of His body the church," but "Jesus the Son of God." He comes before us in Deity.

But this dignity had already been noted of Him in the first chapter of this epistle. There we read that "God has spoken to us by the Son" (in Son); that He is the brightness of His person; that He upholds all things; that He made expiation by Himself, and then sat down on high; that He receives the worship of angels; that He is saluted as God; that He created all things, and will, by and by, cause them to pass away, while He remains the same. He is God the Son as well as Son of God, Creator and Sustainer of all things. This prepares us for our Spirit-given phrase: "Jesus the Son of God."

How glorious His priesthood! How able is He to carry His people through, and how full of encouragement to them to hold fast their profession. He met their sins by expiation; He meets their infirmities by priesthood; but, whether in the work of expiation or in the execution of priesthood, it is in each case "Jesus the Son of God." For God He always was, and God and Man He ever remains.

I need hardly say, however, that this Epistle to the Hebrews is not the only scripture which, in definite terms, declares His deity. If, in an ordinary biography, the writer happened to state, but once, that his subject was a scion of nobility, the reader would unquestionably accord him that distinction; but if the writer repeated the same statement and gave, at the same time, varied and incidental proofs of it, all uncertainty would be removed from the mind of the reader.

Further, if other and separate biographers, who, on account of the distance of time could not possibly have written their different books together, stated the same fact, then, surely, there could be no room for disbelief. "At the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established."

First, in the very earliest chapter of Genesis we have an intimation of the plurality of the Persons in the Godhead. "Let us," we read, "make man in our image, after our likeness." The statement is significant even though we are not given anything beyond the fact of plurality. But, here and there in the Old Testament, which rather teaches the unity of the Godhead than its trinity, we discover the existence of those three divine Persons who are explicitly, and purposely, and fully revealed to us in the New Testament.

If we turn to Psalm 110, spoken "by the Holy Ghost" (Mark 12: 36), we find the words: "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand"; in Micah 5: 2: "A Ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting"; in Zechariah 13: 7: "My Shepherd . . . My fellow, saith the Lord of hosts."

In the pages of the New Testament the declaration is full. To acknowledge it is highest bliss; to deny it is fearful sin; only how necessary it is to apprehend the Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ, as indeed His manhood in its essential sinlessness, in a spirit of becoming reverence and lowly grace. Controversy thereon should be eschewed, and the simple and yet majestic truth accepted. Reason is beggared here. Revelation is worthy of the highest exercise of reason, and that is faith in what God has declared. For nothing is so rational as faith in God. "Jesus the Son of God" must be allowed to stand before the bowed and adoring heart, in all the dignity, glory, majesty, and deity, of His Person as "God manifest in flesh."

In the close of the Gospel by Matthew we have the formula of Christian baptism. It is to be in the name of "the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" — the Godhead in Trinity, and each Person is to receive equal honour in this initial rite. The dignity of Each is the same, as is the honour to be accorded. It will be remembered that, in the synoptic Gospels, the accounts of the baptism of Jesus are practically similar. "My beloved Son" is the salutation of the Father in each. In the Son the Father had found His pleasure. So in the Transfiguration, He was again spoken of as the beloved Son, and was to be heard as such. It is still "Jesus the Son of God."

The fourth Gospel introduces Him in deity — "The Word was God"! But the same Word "became flesh" — a brief, decisive statement of what we call the "Incarnation" — and, as such, He dwelt among us "full," thank God, "of grace and truth"; and, as "the only-begotten Son, which is [mark the word — it signifies subsisting there ever, and that as Son] in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." How complete! Who but the Son of that bosom could adequately declare or express the Father? None but He! And so, in John 10, He affirmed that He and the Father were one. In John 8. He pronounced the eternity of His existence in saying: "Before Abraham was I am." Later on, Thomas confessed Him as both Lord and God.

Passing on to Paul, once the inveterate hater of the name of Jesus, the very first thing he did after conversion was to preach in the synagogues: "Jesus, that He is the Son of God" (R.V., Acts 9: 20), and this initial text was only developed and emphasized during the course of his Christian ministry; for the Christ he ministered as Saviour, Lord, and Head of the church was also "the Son of God who loved him and gave Himself for him" — "God manifest in flesh" — "over all, God blessed for ever." His highest theme was the deity of Jesus.

Then Peter in his second epistle tells how he had been an eye-witness of the magnificence (is the word) of the Lord Jesus as seen on the holy mount, when he actually heard the voice of God the Father saying: "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Hence, to him, after such a vision, the glory of Christ, and His coming kingdom, was no "cunningly devised fable." It was a mighty and all-controlling fact.

Finally, John, in closing his general epistle, says: "We know that the Son of God is come . . . and we are in Him that is true. This is the true God and eternal life."

Thus the deity of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is abundantly confirmed throughout the length and breadth of the Word of God. Such is the Great High Priest of our profession.

Christ our Pattern

The Christian is enjoined to follow the steps of Christ. He is not commanded to speak as He did of whom it was said: "Never man spake like this man" (John 7: 46); nor to do the works of Him who said: "If I had not done among them the works that none other man did" (John 15: 24), for, both in words and works, He held a place absolutely pre-eminent. He was the truth, and all He said was infallibly true. He "went about doing good, for God was with Him," and miracles of mercy followed where He went.

The Christian is not commanded to do miracles, like his Lord, but he is exhorted to "follow His steps" (1 Peter 2: 21). This he is bound to do. It is his duty and pleasure to trace out his Master's footsteps and to place his own feet in them. This is the truest form of discipleship.

Let it be very clearly understood, however, that no one can imitate the Lord Jesus Christ until he is consciously reconciled to God on the ground of redemption. The imitation of Christ on the part of one who has never been "born again," nor, therefore, a child of God, is impossible. The attempt must be a total failure; and the more honest that attempt the greater will be the disappointment. It were a thousand times easier to paint the rainbow on canvas than for man, as such, to exhibit in his life the moral features of Christ.

No, a man must have not only new desires, but a new nature and a new power, that of the Spirit of God, who alone can so minister Christ to the renewed heart that it seeks His image and also conformity to it.

It is by the Spirit of the Lord that such an one is "changed into the same image from glory to glory" (2 Cor. 3: 18). And may I say that no change is so complete and exquisite as this.

Think, for instance, of a Saul of Tarsus — the chief sinner, changed into the image of the Lord Jesus!

Think of the same change being effected in any of us who have learned our natural loathsomeness — that we should bear that image — fully in the glory itself, but gradually and increasingly now while on our journey to it! What a wondrous power this supposes; but, just as surely as the Spirit of God dwells in the believer, so does this process of sanctification proceed, though assuredly not to the eye of the believer himself. Others can notice the progress of the Christian as he moves on "from glory to glory." He becomes more like his Pattern. Wonderful fact! Nor will the process cease until he shall be "conformed to the image of the Son, that He may be the first-born among many brethren." They shall remember Him who shall be the Chief of all.

"Christ also suffered for us" — there He stood alone, for none but He could take our place under the judgment due, nor exhaust its awful sentence, when He was "made sin for us"; but beside making atonement in death, "He left us an example that we should follow His steps." Here He is not alone. Not one of His loved and blood-bought people but should follow His steps.

Some may follow them more faithfully and closely than others, but He tells us that His "sheep hear His voice, that He knows them, and that they follow of This is the one distinguishing mark of all His sheep. They follow Him.

It is remarkable that the word "example" here, is found nowhere else. It means a "copy or underwriting." It is not the same as that of the Apostle when he charged the saints at Philippi to be followers together of him and "to mark them which walk, so as ye have us for an ensample"; nor again when he urged his son Timothy to be "an example of believers." In these cases it is a "type," but here it is a "copy." That is, our Lord Jesus Christ is the standard, and no lower one will do.

Can we, then, reach this standard here below? Certainly not; but still, "Every man that hath this hope in Him [the hope of being like Him when He shall appear] purifieth himself even as He is pure" (1 John 3: 3). Again, we have the universality of the process. "Every man" addresses himself to reach that perfect Standard.

Needless to say that He holds a place far beyond the reach of man. He is "the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5: 20); but here we are dealing with the standard of purification and the Pattern — the copy for our imitation. Men speak of high ideals; could any ideal exceed this?

And what are the steps we are to follow? They are to be traced from the time when, in the midst of the doctors, He said: "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?" to that when, that business perfectly completed, He cried: "It is finished," bowing His blessed head and giving up His Spirit to the hands of His Father.

What a study! What an example! Our passage in 1 Peter gives us a summary of the steps in four bold negative statements: —

1. "Who did no sin."

2. "Neither was guile found in His mouth."

3. "Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again."

4. "When He suffered He threatened not."

Mark, in these He left us an example; and how we are rebuked as we view Him absolutely clear of the failures to which, alas, we are all so prone.

And then, in deepest confidence, "He committed Himself to Him who judgeth righteously." If the other statements presented His life negatively this gives us the constant repose of His soul in a positive way. His vindication was of God. Are we in the habit of making this committal? We gain a victory when we do so; for there the battle ends. His whole life was submission, hearty and unquestioning, to the will of the Father. This was His yoke. It was easy. And when we, through grace, bow unmurmuringly to that will, we, too, prove the yoke to be easy and the burden light.

But there must be reality. The headline must be copied, and the example imitated. The most beautiful (only beautiful) steps have been imprinted on this more than desert waste, by the holy and sacred feet of the Son of God, leaving behind them the plainly visible signs of the one path that is pleasing to God, and that which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, each and every child of His should pursue.

"The Lord is Himself gone before,

He has marked out the path that we tread.

It's as sure as the love we adore,

We have nothing to fear nor to dread.

"There is but that one in the waste

Which His footsteps have marked as His own,

And we follow in diligent haste

To the place where He's put on His crown."

Yes, He has gone on high. We behold with unveiled face His glory there. Every ray of it is lovely; it wins the heart; it separates from earth; it changes him who beholds into "the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord." The transformation is marvellous but divinely simple. The Potter fashions the vessel as it seems good to Him, and the skill of the Potter is seen in His work.

Beloved, may we set our hearts on acquiring a much greater likeness to the Lord Jesus Christ who is our Pattern as well as our most precious Saviour.

The Cross of Christ

The cross of Christ is, beyond all comparison, the most wonderful fact in the universe — the most beautiful in its display of perfect love, but the most hideous in its expression of human enmity and wickedness. It is the meeting-place of the grace of God and the guilt of man. There these two opposing forces came into direct collision. There we see God and there we see man, fallen man. There we see, not only the love of God to man, but we learn His justice in dealing with evil — His righteousness in the treatment of the sin that could not have otherwise been atoned for, but in the death, under divine judgment, of the holy, spotless Son of God — the willing victim of Calvary.

Let it be seen that, in order to vindicate His character, and to clear His throne of the possible charge of complicity with sin, it was necessary that God should deal with that awful question in a way so judicial that it might be settled, finally and definitely, to the silencing of every accusing voice for ever. The flood had only done so in measure, loud though its protest was. The victims slain on Jewish altars, though types of a greater sacrifice, "could never put away sin."

Nay, a Victim of infinite value alone could meet the infinite demerit of sin, "The Son of man must [note the word] be lifted up." The payment must equal the debt, and the amends must be commensurate with the penalty. Who can pay the penalty? Neither man nor angel! The Son of God alone!

Now, mark, if infinite demerit demands an infinite substitution, it follows that the substitution refused — that is, Christ rejected, then infinite — that is, eternal judgment is the necessary alternative. Terrible fact!

It is either acceptance by faith of the substitutionary death of the Son of God, and full salvation; or the heartless rejection of Him and eternal punishment — one or other. Thank God that "the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth from all sin"; but to tread that blood under foot is to incur a doom sorer than "death without mercy." Who can face such a doom? But, in the cross, God's righteousness is declared as fully in the equitable justification of the believer, as is shall be in the condemnation of the sinner.

He is "just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." Hence the glorious moral value of that wondrous cross! Unless its voice be heard and understood the soul can never really know God. Then, why is the cross so proudly shunned, or why should it be a stumbling block? Just because it is the fullest exposure of man. It condemns him root and branch. It shows that his very "righteousnesses are as filthy rags," and that the whole world is running in opposition to God, saying by its triple condemnation of Christ, "Crucify Him," "crucify Him," spite of its polished letters in "Hebrew, Greek and Latin." Therefore your attitude towards the cross determines your relation toward God. You cannot esteem the cross if you love that which it condemns. If you "love the world you are an enemy of God."

But this thorough exposure of man in his lost condition and hatred of God is only one aspect of the cross of Christ. The other is God's perfect way, in purest grace, of meeting the whole question of sin, wherever its poison may have spread, and of carrying blessing to man in his deepest guilt. Divine and glorious solution!

God incarnate becomes the willing victim in order to expiate sin by being "made a curse for us"! Could any conception be more marvellous? And so we read in Colossians 1 that it is by "the blood of His cross" that all things in heaven and on earth (but only there) are to be reconciled; and thus, He, whose precious blood was shed thereon, shall be seen as "the Lamb of God" who taketh away, in its vast and vile entirety, "the sin of the world."

No miracle like the cross of Christ! Then, if the cross be of such value to God, what is it to His children? Can anything surpass its worth? They who witnessed it "smote their breasts." The Roman centurion exclaimed: "Truly this man was the Son of God." The sweet story of Calvary has captivated the hearts of myriads, and turned them from sin and Satan to God and life eternal; while the courts of heaven re-echo the notes of praise for ever. There is no fascination like this wondrous cross. The world may bewitch, and by its allurements enslave its votaries, but: —

In thy cross I saw a beauty

Far outshining all I knew,

There Thy love's surpassing lustre

Won my heart, and bound me too.

Now, oh! Lord my heart is spell-bound,

Charms and fascinates my gaze.

The Risen Lord

"Why seek ye the living among the dead?" — Luke 24: 5.

There they stood at the edge of the empty sepulchre — a group of true-hearted but perplexed and disconsolate women!

They had brought, at early morn, ere the busy world was astir, their already prepared spices and ointments.

But the tomb where the body of their Lord had been laid was empty; hence their bewilderment.

They had seen Him in death, and had marked "how His body was laid." But what now? That body was gone — how, where?

As they were much perplexed thereabout, two men stood by them in shining garments, who said to them, "Why seek ye Him that liveth among the dead?" (Luke 24: 5, marg.).

"Him that liveth"! What could that mean to these downcast women? He whom they sought was not there, but was risen! The sepulchre was empty; the spices and ointments were useless; but if He were alive again, the power of death had been broken, together with all that could signify.

A living, risen Christ — that is the starting-post of vital Christianity! Christ risen from the dead, having annulled the power of death and the grave, having broken the power of Satan and made atonement for sin — that is its mighty foundation!

"He is risen" — that is our paean of victory! "Him that liveth" — that is our everlasting strength and consolation!

Now see the immediate effect on these very women. We read that "they came and held him by the feet and worshipped Him" (Matt. 28: 9). Their perplexity gave place to worship, and their desolate hearts were filled with gladness.

"Rabboni," cried the weeping Mary, when she heard Him call her by name.

"My Lord and my God," said the unbelieving Thomas, when generously invited to thrust his hand into the spear-riven side.

"The disciples," too "were glad when they saw the Lord" (see John 20).

Oh! it was the dawn of a new day, the beginning of a new creation, the closing up of types and shadows, the presence of the glorious Antitype in actual resurrection form, visible, tangible, accessible, gracious as of old, and exactly "the same" as "yesterday," when He wept and suffered and sympathized, and as, thank God, He will be "for ever." The blessed Leader of Salvation had been made perfect — thoroughly fitted and qualified by suffering — for His new place as such.

See the effect on Stephen, the lovely protomartyr of Christianity. He was full of the Holy Ghost who had been sent down by the living, risen Christ after His ascension to heaven, and consequently, in the power of this glorious indwelling Spirit, he cried: "I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God"! (Acts 7).

What a vision! But how thoroughly in order.

We know the sequel; he was stoned to death, but passed away in deepest peace, saying, like Him on whose face he was gazing, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." He "fell asleep" like a wearied child rocked in its cradle. Death was, as we said, annulled, shorn of its sting and terror. See the effect on John in Revelation 1. He had fallen prostrate in the visible presence of the Son of Man, as He walked, judicially, amid the seven golden candlesticks. There he lay, but on him was laid a gentle hand, while a well-known voice said: "Fear not, I am He that liveth and became dead, and behold I am alive for evermore"!

Enough; fear fled, the seer arose, the apocalypse followed full of terror to the world, full of comfort to the true and faithful church.

It is still the risen, living, and coming Christ.

Notice, "Because I live, ye shall live also," are His precious words in John 14. With Him we are "in safeguard," indeed, as David told one of his trembling followers.

As certainly as He lives on the other side of death, so shall each and all of His beloved and believing people. For He is their life. Hence we read in Hebrews 7: 25: "He ever liveth to make intercession for us." Such is the present activity of His life in glory — our High Priest and Intercessor.

"He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep."

Oh! there is succour, sympathy, care, consideration, love in that tender heart up there on the throne! He has felt our pangs; He has shed our tears; He has known our sorrows; He was made like us in all things but sin; He calls us His brethren. He is the star and sun of the Christian life!

A creed, a rule, a form, a system, a kingdom, a heaven! Oh, more, infinitely more is our living, loving, tender, holy, faithful Lord! It is everlasting life!

No marvel that Paul could write of and crave for "the surpassingness of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord." It surpasses and eclipses all beside.

This knowledge is no fable, nor myth, nor imagination.

The Christ of God and of Christianity is a living Person — truly God and truly Man — the Son of the Father, the Redeemer of men, the risen, glorified Lord and Head of the church, who appeared once to put away sin by His own sacrifice, who is coming shortly to call His own to be for ever with Him in the Father's house — those whom He loves to the end, and who will appear again in judgment and power and glory.

Beloved, it is ours to-day, during His rejection, to learn His personal worth — to set our hearts on this one thing, so that we may bear the stamp of Christ upon us in the reproduction, in our poor frail bodies, of His beautiful life of love and holiness. This is the truest fruitfulness and greatest joy. Let us bathe our souls in the pure waters of John 14, 15, and 16, until we can better appreciate John 17.

"Lord Jesus, make Thyself to me,

A living, bright reality."

Christ's Priesthood

"We have not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." — Hebrews 4: 15.

It is only in the Epistle to the Hebrews that Christ is definitely spoken of as Priest — "the High Priest of our profession;" but, if intercession belong to that office, as it surely does, we read in Romans 8: 34 "It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."

Mark, His intercession is His present exercise in heaven, as the result of His death and resurrection. These, completed to the glory of God and the settled peace before Him of all who believe (in present justification and filial relationship), furnish the ground of this precious intercession — of Priesthood.

By no means does intercession add to our security as believers. That is assured already; nor does it move the heart of God toward us, as though we needed reconciliation. "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Rom. 5: 10). The death of the Son of God, sent of the Father in infinite love, effected our complete reconciliation; the life of that Son, in present glory and power, secures our salvation from every menace.

We start our Christian course as reconciled, and made secure for ever, by that which has been done for us in the death and resurrection of the blessed Lord; but we have to pursue that course in conscious weakness and dependence. We need an arm on which to lean and a heart as faithful as it is kind in which to confide day by day.

This we have fully in our great high Priest. His intercession is active for us before God; and His succour and sympathy are continually realized by His tried and tempted people here below.

If the Spirit makes intercession in us with groanings which cannot be uttered, so does our faithful Lord intercede for us on high.

Little we know how indebted we are for those intercessions!

Little did Peter appreciate that his Master was praying for him, so that, when the temptation came, his faith should not fail; or how that intercession was answered when, having failed, he "wept bitterly." His faith, thus, was kept in life, though, in order to learn his lack of dependence, he himself was allowed shewed to fail.

"If any man sin," we read in 1 John 2, "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

It is advocacy with "the Father" because relationship is supposed, and confession is made to the Father on the part of the offending child, so that his offence is forgiven, and he is "cleansed from all unrighteousness." Advocacy is therefore subsequent to intercession. This is for sustainment, that is for restoration, so that communion may be full and unclouded. Advocacy is distinct from intercession, which properly has to say not to sin or failure, but to infirmity and need.

Hence we are told to "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy [pity] and find grace for timely help" (Heb. 4: 16). A more lovely expression could not be found for the tried and needy pilgrim than "the throne of grace." It signifies the omnipotence of compassion — pity all powerful!

The words are derived, I gather, from chapters 1 and 2. In Hebrews 1, having made expiation, Christ sits down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; while in Hebrews 2, He is presented as a merciful and faithful high Priest. Hence we may speak of a mercy that is majestic, and of grace enthroned! And all this for those who feel their own personal inability for one step of the way.

Is not such living compassion predicated in John 13-17? We have the feet washed in 13; "another Comforter" in John 14; slavery exchanged for friendship in John 15; "good cheer" in face of a hostile world in John 16; and the most wonderful intercession in John 17. Surely we may discover all this in the present priesthood of our Lord. And were not His "learning obedience" when here below, His "strong crying and tears," and His death itself His qualifications for that office? Did He not reach perfection by the things He suffered? He alone can best sympathize who has passed through the sorrow; and so we read of His being a "Man of sorrows" before we read of His soul being made "an offering for sin" (Isa. 53). His perfect life as Man preceded His expiatory death on the cross. Now He is highly exalted. "We have such an high Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens" (Heb. 8: 1). Nor did He glorify Himself to be made an high Priest. That He did not, but the title lay in the unique dignity of His person: "He that said unto Him, Thou art My Son, to-day have I begotten Thee," said also, "Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec" (Heb. 5: 5, 6). His title lay in His personal glory as Son of God; His qualifications lay in the sore ordeal of His perfect life of sorrow among those who had proved the bitterness of the results of sin in its myriad forms. He was apart from sin, but not from tears, nor hunger, nor thirst, nor weariness. He went into death itself to complete His path of perfect obedience, and, at the same time, to atone for sin, and to overcome all the adverse power of Satan.

He is free now to exercise, in the place of divine power, the functions of a merciful and faithful high Priest toward all who come unto God by Him. He ever liveth to intercede for them, and is able to save them to the uttermost — for ever!

All thanks and glory to Him!

"The Coming of the Lord draweth nigh."

Now that the church is rapidly nearing the Home-call and the longed-for moment, when the Lord will fulfill His promise of coming again and receiving us to Himself, so that where He is we may be also, does it not become us to raise our thoughts and enlarge our expectations in view of the mighty translation that must be so near at hand?

"Hope deferred," we read, "maketh the heart sick," and there is more than the possibility of that sickness so depressing the spirit that hands begin to hang down, and knees to become feeble.

Not, however, that the Lord delayeth His coming; for, what seems long to us is not so to Him, to whom a thousand years are only a day; but as time is the great test of endurance, so, as weary years drag on, we become impatient and ready to droop. So it was with Israel in Egypt when the deliverance expected at the hand of Moses failed to reach the suffering people as quickly as they had hoped. But the mills of God, in grinding slowly, did their work on Pharaoh in His own good time, if not in that of Israel.

So, again, when the people had lost sight of their leader when receiving the "lively oracles" on the fiery mount, becoming impatient, prepared to return to Egypt, saying, "As for this Moses we wot not what is become of him," the sickness of deferred hope had stricken them.

For a like impatience of spirit, King Saul forfeited his crown.

The loss of patience and of hope is the sign of coming collapse; and against such a thing we, to-day, must contend.

Never was a day so truly full of hope; never was the coming of the Lord so near; never, throughout these dreary centuries, was there a time when, with yearning hearts turned heavenward, the church of God, as a concrete whole, should be looking thence for the Saviour — the longed-for Deliverer — to accomplish, in a moment, that glorious translation, according to the power (a wonderful power indeed) whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself (Phil. 3).

Let our earnest gaze be heavenward while our hearts, more than ever, await their divinely implanted craving of seeing Him face to face.

"How will our eyes to see His face delight,

Whose love has cheered us thro' the darksome night."

Oh! but the night has been dark and drear, and the road steep and long, and the bride of His heart is weary and travel-stained! She feels His absence; she longs for Himself; she finds no home here below; she pants for the ineffable joys of the Father's House — its rest, its comfort, its love and light; its full unison of heart and hand; its sacred circle undivided for ever; its immunity from every form of evil, its unfettered enjoyment of full spiritual power in such worship as shall be to the glory of the Father and the Son for ever!

Gladsome prospect!

But is the longing all on her side? No, no, most surely not. It is stronger far on His.

Consider His closing words to her as He says, "I am the bright and Morning Star" herald of day and of Home!

A star so long hidden from view by the shades of night, breaks at length in the distant sky to cheer the weary watcher and tell him that his vigil is over. That star is the star of morning! The night and its testing is past; no need for patience and hope now

"The eye at last beholdeth

What the heart hath loved so long."

The expectation is gratified; the heart is at rest. And that star calls Himself a "bright" star!

But why "bright"?

Just in order to place Himself in contrast with the signal failure of that profession of His holy name which has, alas, sunk down from its pristine power and separation to God (as we see in the Acts of the Apostles) to a condition so nauseous that it has to be utterly ejected, as we read in the address to Laodicea.

Whilst He remains "bright," the profession has dropped into fearful moral pollutions until He can only describe it as wretched, blind, and naked.

To this profession He is nothing but the Judge, and it is doubly guilty before Him; but to the bride He appears, at the soon coming close of her long and tremulous vigil, as the Star of the Morning, as bright and glorious and unchanged as ever!

How bright her prospect; how bright her hope; how bright the Star of that hope!

To Him "the Spirit and the bride say 'come.'" And our hope, so long deferred, will, very soon, give place to sight, and our feeble faith to glad fruition.

Meanwhile, as the shore is nearing, and the perils of the voyage are almost over, may we say the one to the other, "Be of good cheer, for I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me."

"Let not your heart be troubled . . . I will come again."

The Bridegroom

"He that hath the bride is the bridegroom" (John 3: 29).

The Bridegroom's possession of the bride is absolute and exclusive, for the relationship is inviolate, none may interfere.

Other ideas may present themselves, those of fitness and affection, but this is the chief. The bride is the absolute and inalienable property and possession of the bridegroom. And such possession carries its own peculiar joy to his heart. He sees in her an helpmeet for himself, his counterpart, his intelligent and loving co-partner who can not only share his joys and sorrows, but who feels that they are her own. Union produces identification, there is perfect community of interest, there is full reciprocity of wish and action, and that on account of the existing union between the two.

Now, Christ is presented, amid other relations, as the Bridegroom, and the church — not the individual saint — is spoken of as His bride, His wife. Given to Him of the Father, purchased by His precious blood, and the object of His special affection, she is His peculiar property, and belongs to Him alone. She is, par excellence "His own." He loves her to the end. As in the case of ordinary marriage a man shall leave his father and mother, the otherwise strongest of links, and shall cleave unto his wife. For this is the original institution as ordained by the Creator, and intended by Him to be maintained in all the sacredness of the tie. It is under His authority as Creator, and is to be disregarded at the peril of the offender. He shall "cleave unto his wife." This was the divine decree in the brief day of innocence, when discord was unknown; it is the decree of God to-day, when sin, alas! has created such a host of difficulties, but when, at the same time, grace is well able to make the tie as strong and tender as at first. Oh how admirably does Christ make good His part in this mystic union. How true and tender, how patient and faithful is He!

Now, as to the reality of this relationship let us look first at Matthew 22. There we read of a certain King who made a marriage for His Son, and who sent forth His servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding. This is, no doubt, the gospel-call. The servants are sent out to invite to a wedding. They share in the joy of the King and of His Son. They are in that exquisite secret. They have before them not only the happiness of the guests, but they have the gladness of the Bridegroom. He is a poor evangelist (it may be said in passing) who has only the good of the sinner before him. To have that is well, but to have the joy of Christ in His coming nuptial day is far better. Let us realize the value of souls increasingly, but let us also have that day clearly in view, and think of the pleasure that the Son shall have when He shall survey His fair and glorious bride "unblemished in His sight." This is a wondrous stimulus to the servant in his oft-weary labour, viz., that he can beget such joy to his Lord. The grand object of the gospel should fill his heart with its infinite gratification to Christ.

Then in Matthew 25 we have the "midnight cry" which awakens all the sleepers, wise and foolish alike, and leads, consequently, to the definite and final separation of the two companies from each other. That cry is, "Behold the Bridegroom." It implies His advent no doubt, but attention is drawn, not so much to that, as to Himself — the one commanding theme of the Spirit of God.

Of the bride nothing is said here, for all interest centres in the Bridegroom, and it is the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whatsoever character or glory, that produces the greatest effect and leaves the deepest impression.

Elsewhere it is, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world;" or only, "Behold the Lamb of God;" or again, "Behold the Man." Here it is, "Behold the Bridegroom!" And at length He comes, and they that are ready go in with Him to the marriage — to the moment of His joy — and the door is shut. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"

Now let us learn from 2 Corinthians 11 the sanctifying power of this truth: "I am jealous over you," says the Apostle Paul, "with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."

This beautiful simile is in keeping with all that has preceded. Paul had the grand design of the gospel before him — the marriage of the King's Son. His consuming desire was to present the church all pure and chaste, detached in heart and life from the snares of Satan and the power of evil, to Christ, as to "one husband." He laboured for fidelity on her part to the rightful claims of this one Husband that she might respond, in all her ways, creditably to such a relationship.

Could any appeal be more affecting? He saw the seductions around, and he pleaded for the exercise of those sacred affections which should ever burn in the bosom of the faithful bride, and express themselves in her conduct.

Then Ephesians 5: 27-32 gives us the result in the presentation to Himself of that church which Christ not only gave Himself for, but which He also sanctified and cleansed, with such infinite patience all her journey through, that she is seen at last "glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish." It is the bride that is here depicted. She is seen to be the product of the work of Christ from the cross right on to the day of presentation. To Him she owes all her beauty.

We pass on to Revelation 19: 7-8-9, to "the marriage of the Lamb" — the consummation of all! "His wife," we read, "hath made herself ready; and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints." She is credited with such, and is granted thus to be arrayed — pure and bright, and made ready for the nuptial day. The joy on each side is complete.

Then a thousand years pass away, and she is seen in the figure of a city (Rev. 21: 2-24), descending out of heaven from God, but still prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Time leaves no scar; the wrinkle once effaced, never returns; the bridal beauty remains. The city is resplendent, the glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Defilement is excluded for evermore. Glorious prospect!

Arise, Thou bright Morning Star, bright Herald of the day, and touch the chord which will cause "the Spirit and the bride" to say, in deep and rich union, "Come" to Thyself, the longed-for heavenly Bridegroom — Thou "conspicuous among myriads" — Thou "altogether lovely" who hast won the affections of these myriads by a love which, for them, has passed through death's dark waters and sin's heavy judgment, and which lives on to-day and for ever; nor shall it rest until Thy blood-bought bride is with thee in eternal glory. Again, "Even so come, Lord Jesus."

"From the dateless timeless periods,

He has loved us without cause,

And for all His blood-bought myriads

His is love that knows no pause.

Matchless Lover!

Changeless as the eternal laws."

The Coming King

We find in Scripture that God deigned frequently to reach the attention of people by means of dreams. Many instances could be adduced. Now, however, we have in the Scriptures the full unfolding of His mind, so that dreams, having that for their object, are unnecessary. There is enough in the Book of God to give complete intelligence to every willing heart as to all that is connected with our spiritual well-being for time and eternity, as well, surely, as to very much more than our personal well-being.

If people only knew the value of the Bible, they would prize it much more.

A mighty king of Chaldea, Nebuchadnezzar by name, had a wonderful dream. He saw, in vision, an image — great, excellent, terrible! It stood before him. Its head was fine gold; its breast and arms were of silver; its belly and thighs of brass; its legs of iron, and its feet part of iron and part of clay!

There it stood — silent, mysterious, significant!

Such a statue, composed of material so heterogeneous, had never been unveiled to mortal vision before.

No ordinary dream this, and none of the wise men of Babylon could relieve the affrighted monarch of the terror of that dream.

God had sent it, and God alone could explain it to him.

He who sent the dream fitted and sent the man to give the explanation.

Daniel, the devoted, godly captive, was entrusted with the dream and the key. Giving all credit to God, he told the king the wonderful secret — a secret of the ages!

Would that the politicians, and the statesmen, and the rulers of to-day would attend to the disclosure of this ancient dream!

An image of gold, silver, brass, iron and clay: these are four kingdoms, coming in succession — from the gold of that day to the incoherent iron and clay of our own. It is easy to see them — Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome — the last being protracted, and its influence being felt universally to-day.

There stood that image, whose form was terrible, containing such elements of wealth and power, such stores of gold and of iron! How puissant, how resistless! No wonder the king was troubled, or that "his sleep brake from him" (Dan. 2: 1).

Such a problem must be worked out. But, notice most carefully, we read: "Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet . . . and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone which smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth" (Dan. 2: 34-35).

That was the greatest wonder of all! What could this mysterious stone, cut out without hands, be?

The image was smitten, ground to powder, and displaced by the stone. Marvellous stone! It becomes a mountain and fills the whole earth! The chaff of the threshing-floor is replaced by the stone which smote the image.

Yes, ye politicians, and statesmen, and empire-makers, who are engaged in tasks so enormous and so complex, and for which ye are sacrificing time, talent, brain, muscle, fame, and fortune, see ye not that ye are but building together that which shall become the chaff of the summer threshing-floors, while there is suspended overhead the Stone which is bound to pulverize your gigantic labours and bring them all to dust?

Mark: — "In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: . . . but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever" (Dan. 2: 44).

When?

When the kingdom in mystery, as known to-day, shall give place to the kingdom in might — then!

To-day the kingdom of God is in moral and spiritual power; soon it will be in visible actuality.

To-day the church awaits her Lord for the meeting in the air at His coming. Thereafter the Stone shall fall, and grind, and crush to powder, as, like a mountain, it fills the whole earth, and "the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ" (Rev. 11: 15).

He is wise who devotes his attention, not to "the chaff of the threshing-floor," but to the Stone, and the kingdom, and the King. For, as surely as "the gold" of Babylon has passed away and its place can hardly be discovered, so shall "the iron and the clay" of the present moment be dissolved as well. These kingdoms are evanescent, God's kingdom shall stand for ever.

The King, hidden to-day in heaven because of His rejection and death here, is made known now in richest grace as Son of God and Saviour, Advocate and Great High Priest, Head too of His body the church, but soon to appear with her in glory; and then, as the Stone cut out without hands, but introduced and established by the power of God, to reign in absolute monarchy and in perfect wisdom, power, and righteousness.

Such a King and such a kingdom have never yet been known; but, as certainly as "the chaff of the threshing-floors "shall be swept away, so shall this mighty Stone fill the whole earth and "stand for ever."

King of Kings

"King of kings" and "Lord of lords" —

O how rich these glorious words!

Titles high and boundless fame

Now enhance the Saviour's name.

Him who once was crowned with thorn,

Crowns of glory now adorn;

Jesus sits upon the throne,

Hosts His triumph gladly own!

Sweet it is to see Him there,

Centre of the glory fair,

Sweet our highest praise to bring,

Bow before the heavenly King!

Now within the Father's house,

There we know Him and rejoice;

Glad that He, e'en now, should share

All the Father's glory there.

Soon will He appear again,

Then His saints with Him shall reign.

Echo far the glorious words,

"King of kings" and "Lord of lords."

"My Glory"

John 17 stands alone. It is the language of the Son as He addresses the Father on His own behalf and on that of the apostles and those who should believe on Him through their word. None but He, the Son of God, and both Shepherd and Advocate, could have breathed such a prayer. It was in no sense a pattern or model for the use of others, as was that which He gave to His disciples on an earlier day when He said to them, "After this manner pray ye."

There is no such injunction here, nor could be. It is the language of a faithful steward who recounts His work as done and well done. "I have finished," He says, "the work which Thou gavest me to do," speaking in anticipation of the moment, so near at hand, when He should loudly and triumphantly cry, "It is finished." On this ground He claims restoration to the glory which He had with the Father before the world was — a glory which He had never forfeited, a place which He had left in order to glorify God on earth in perfect manhood. He justly claims reinstatement in that place and in that glory which He had never dishonoured during His period of suffering here below. The defilement of earth had not affected Him. The water rises pure as ever to its level in the heavens.

Who but He could speak after this fashion? The prayer is therefore peculiarly His own. How worthy of our deepest meditation! What a privilege that we should be permitted to hear its sacred accents and to listen to the intercourse which passed between the Son and the Father at such a moment. Of the twenty-six verses of our chapter He spends but five on Himself; then follows eighteen which are occupied with the good of others, expressing as they do the most intense solicitude for their preservation from the evil of that world which He was about to leave, but wherein they were purposely left to fill His place in testimony and to exhibit the very unity of life and nature that existed between Himself and the Father. These verses, too, should be our constant and prayerful study. They will greatly enhance our appreciation of the Father — the holiness of His name, the sense of His preserving care, the blessedness of our relation to Him as children, and also the character of the world through which we are passing, its essential evil, its hatred of the Son, its ignorance of the Father, its absolute and hopeless alienation, even though grace may work in it, from all that is of the Father. How a clear sense of all this would, and should, draw together in holy separation from it those who love the Father and belong to the Son as given Him of that Father! Oh! for a deep realization of this new life, its meaning, the blessedness of the links that bind all the precious children of God together in relation with each other and the Father and the Son I What a conception! What a fact, and what a testimony! All will be gloriously accomplished ere long; and in the visible and indefectible display of this divine unity the world, so incredulous to-day, shall yet know that the Father sent the Son, and that, wondrous to say, He loved us (even us) as He loved the Son!

These eighteen verses — with all their wealth of interest, and their more than prayers for the preservation and unity of all His believing people — over, the blessed Lord, the Son loved of the Father — observe, "before the foundation of the world," and able, assuredly, on the ground of such a love so strong, so eternal — may well assert, in verse 24, His will as to those very people. Given of the Father, and purchased by His own precious blood, He may surely affirm His title to them. He may demand His personal gratification as to, first, their being with Him, where He is; and, second, that they should behold His glory — the glory given Him of the Father.

Just as a bridegroom would find pleasure in conducting his bride through their common home and in pointing out to her his varied possessions, so now the desire of the Lord is that those who had seen and shared His sorrows and who had, like Himself, been refused by the world should behold His glory. How great the difference! We have seen His cross, now we are to behold His crown!

That they may behold my glory! Not now the "moral glory" of chapter 1. — that of an only-begotten Son with a Father, for this had been beheld, as we know; not now that of the Mount when He received from the Father honour and glory, for this, too, had been witnessed, but the glory given to Him as the result of His atoning death and suffering, a glory millennial indeed, but surely more extended than that, just as the effects of Calvary extend infinitely beyond the confines of time or the sceptre of the Messiah.

Nay, He seeks, and how rightly, His own gratification in the full and unreserved exhibition to "His own" of the glory which for ever shall be His God-given compensation for His anguish and agony, His obedience unto death, the death of the cross, here below. How richly deserved! "Father, I will," He says — it is no prayer, but the assertion of the same will, which in a few moments, was to be set aside for that of the Father and the necessity of the cross, when He prayed in the shades of the garden: "Not my will but Thine be done" — here He wills that those given Him of the Father may be with Him where He is, and why? "That they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me." Yes, His gratification indeed, and as truly ours — mutual, eternal! It is His longed-for prospect and ours! And so soon, please God, to be realized! The "will" of verse 24 exceeds prayer, or petition, or demand. It is a claim. Demands had preceded; this, fully in accordance with the good pleasure of the Father, is a righteous title to those who are "His own" on the basis of everlasting love. The result is sure.

Verse 24 stands by itself. The two which follow are a beautiful summing up of the whole; the world is seen in its awful moral distance; the Father and Son are viewed in fullest intimacy, and the Father's name revealed perfectly to the highly favoured company which knows and possesses the love of the Father and the indwelling of the Son. Wondrous grace indeed. Oh 1 for hearts to worship and adore!

Praise

"The race of God's anointed priests

Shall never pass away.

Before His glorious face they stand,

And serve Him night and day."

A truer stanza was never penned. It was written some three hundred years ago; if true then it is true to-day.

The business of the priest is, first and foremost, to praise. He may have other sacred occupations, but praise is the chief.

"God inhabiteth the praises of Israel" (as we read in Ps. 22: 3). Praise is His becoming environment. "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, they will be still praising thee" (Ps. 84: 4). Praise is their delightful and constant employment.

When a tribe was chosen to lead Israel across the desert, from sea to river, Judah was selected, and Judah means "praise." Alas that the harpers failed in their song!

Praise was the paean of Jehoshaphat ere he fought his battle.

Stones would cry out if praise were restrained.

Prison walls only elicited praises when Christ's priests were, for His sake, placed in the stocks.

"Worthy is the Lamb" is the praise that reverberates throughout the wide vault of heaven. All is praise.

No, this race is immortal. It survives time with its thorns and hindrances, it shall continue for ever. It shall never pass away.

As surely as God has given His Spirit to a single soul — no matter when, or in what day or dispensation — that soul is hereby bound to sing His praise.

That Spirit is the pledged proof of blessing, and how can anyone be blessed without, subsequently, giving thanks and praise to the Blesser.

No doubt the fuller the light the deeper also the praise. The early notes of Ephesians 1. are a great advance on anything we find in the Old Testament; but, whether Old Testament or New, praise is the very life of the saint. Who then are God's "anointed priests"? Are they a special and distinctive class? Are they marked off from others by any external attire — anything that places them in a caste peculiar to themselves?

What is the anointing, the consecration, whereby their priesthood is assured? It is the reception of the Spirit of God. All who can truly cry "Abba Father," who can thus consciously address God, these are anointed; they have received His Spirit, and this is true of every child of His — every Christian to-day. They are a "royal priesthood" so that they should show forth the praises of Him who hath called them out of darkness into His marvellous light. The Christian community, the whole blood-bought family of God — the entire church of Christ, should be marked and distinguished by this grand special feature that, here and now, they show forth praise for the grace bestowed on them.

The apprehensions of all may differ, gifts may be diverse, but the one thing that declares the anointing is praise. That which God has done for His saints calls for their praise. Look at the Book of Psalms and see how it ends with a long, loud, lovely Hallelujah — a grand outburst of praise on the part of His redeemed and delivered people.

Quite true praise is not worship, but it is more than prayer and more too than thanksgiving.

We utter in prayer our wants, we give thanks for the gifts of God — His mercies and goodness; we praise Him for that which He has done, is doing and will do for our blessing — all this is in language articulate and audible, possibly, to the intelligence of men; but worship being the absorption of the soul in its glorious Object — the Father and the Son, may be beyond all possible expression. "The elders fell down and worshipped Him that liveth for ever and ever" (Rev. 5: 14). What they said (if anything) we are not told.

Such worship! How little do we understand it! What a terra incognita it is to the majority of the children of God! But what a field for our increased apprehension, ere we find ourselves in the Father's House on high where our absorption in God fully revealed — Father, Son and Spirit — shall be eternal and complete.

Praise, on the other hand, as the true and simple acknowledgment of our being placed already in His "marvellous light" is the becoming language of every saint of His to-day.

But may it be cultivated diligently. May we charge our sluggish, selfish, grovelling hearts to live more in the bright, blessed region of praise to our God and Father as belonging to that "race of priests" which shall never pass away.

"Whoso offered praise glorifieth Me" (Ps. 5o. 23).

Bridal Affection and Brotherly Love

There never was a time when the affections of the church toward the Lord, as Bridegroom, should be more earnestly and diligently cultivated than the present moment.

His coming is drawing, we believe and hope, very near. With a deepening desire "the Spirit and the bride say, Come," as the day of union approaches. The bride bids Him welcome, as moved to do so by the animating Spirit to whom is known the mind of the Bridegroom. The desire is reciprocal; and if so, how fervently should the affections of the bride flow out to Him who not only loved her and gave Himself for her, but who shall presently come for her in person, and take her to be with Himself where He is for ever — "a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5: 27).

Could anything be more seemly than such affection? Was it not departure from "first love" that originated the gradual fall of the church from days of pristine devotedness and zeal to the present state of Laodicean luke-warmness, worldliness, and widespread infidelity? And shall we not seek, at least individually, a return to that early love for our Lord Himself which at first made everything of Him and His sacred interests, while the world, with its snares and blandishments was a thing of naught? What but a deep appreciation of the love of Christ made the early church so separate, so holy, so devoted and the fire of those affections that burned up the attempts of the imitators, and endured the rage of opponents? The spring of love for the Lord was then supreme. He was everything to her — His bride — and she was, and, thank God, still is, everything to Him. He is the same, be the changing years what they may. "He loved them to the end."

And has there not been, for many years now, a gracious rekindling in the hearts of His saints of love for the Lord Himself? Has there not been a ministry of the Spirit which has had that, the chiefest of all ministry — the love of Christ — for its object, and a preparing of souls, not for an event, however blessed, but for the actual, personal coming of the Lord Himself?

This, I think, is undoubted. It can be traced through every cloud, and should be cherished in face of every opposition.

Let us remember that our Bible closes with the words: "Surely, I come quickly," and that the immediate and glad response is, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." It is a beautiful close! It is the golden promise that was purposely given to cheer the heart of the bride through the, to our experience, long period of the Lord's absence; and not only to cheer her heart, but to test her allegiance and fidelity to Himself. We know, alas! the result, how the church has failed, but how that, spite of all, His love abides unaltered, while His promise is on the very eve of fulfilment. Hence, on these grounds alone our love for Him, our true, holy, and bridal affections should centre increasingly on Himself.

What more comely, more suitable, more sanctifying?

Then, along with the development of such affections, there should be also that of brotherly love.

We need only turn to the First Epistle of John in order to learn the immense place which love to our fellow-Christians holds in the life of the true believer.

In 1 John 2: 10, we read that "he that loveth his brother abideth in the light." He is no longer in darkness, for "the light" is in his home, and love to his brother proves that he is there.

Further, in 1 John 3: 14: "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." Thus we learn that love to our brethren is an absolutely essential mark of brotherhood in the divine family. It is the patent proof that we have passed out of death unto life. Not to love your fellow-Christian is, de facto, to hate him, as Cain hated and slew his brother, because, spite of his sacrifice, his works were evil and himself the same. He was not right with God, nor therefore with his brother. He stands before us as a fearful beacon. Then, again, in verse 23 of the same chapter we read: "And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment." Mark the last word. It is His "commandment" that we should love one another. It is therefore our bounden and sacred duty that we should do so. None more binding nor obligatory; it is just as essential as is believing on the Son of God. Do we realize this duty? Do our renewed affections flow out not only to the Lord, our heavenly Bridegroom, but equally to each and all of God's beloved children. We are to love one another, as He has loved us (John 15: 12). If only we did so, how soon would our strife and folly and divisions come to an end, or be happily reduced to a minimum.

But more (1 John 4: 7, 8), "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God; he that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love." Two facts: first such an one is born of God — He possesses the divine nature; and, second he knows God. Not to love is not to know God (solemn thought indeed), for God is love. If the blessed God has been made known to the soul at all, He is known as love, and He has proved His love by the gift of His only begotten Son, that we might live through Him; and, yet again, that He might be the propitiation for our sins. How blessed! What pure and undeserved grace! How forceful the conclusion: "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."

Hence, to love is the proof of being in the light; it is the consciousness of having passed from death unto life; it is the highest obligation of one Christian to another; and it is the reproduction and expression of the nature of that God who is love.

This is brotherly affection! How sacred! How necessary! How essential!

But, mark, in 1 John 5: 2 we find the salutary statement: "By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments."

Let this be noted: we only, and in truth, love His children when, first, we love God and keep His commandments. Our affections must be governed by the will of God, so that they may be of a nature divine, and not merely human; but all the deeper, purer, and more fervent on that account, as they flow forth to all His children.

May we cultivate all these precious affections in view of the near coming of the Lord, and also of the nature we possess as the children of God.

"For the Sake of the Name"

Quote the above words from the Revised Version of the Third Epistle of John.

The Name! What name? "Because that for the sake of the name they went forth," writes the beloved Apostle.

In this brief, fervent letter three names are mentioned: that of Gaius, that of Diotrephes, and that of Demetrius, whilst certain others are spoken of as "strangers," but are unnamed.

Yet, with a significance which should command all attention, allusion is made to some one of whom "the name" is deemed sufficiently descriptive. It is clearly assumed that merely the word "name" calls for no elucidation. This is quite intelligible. If "the day" had a meaning of profound signification to some who thought of a moment which would bring a world-wide victory to their arms — "the day" which was whispered, and spoken of, as a secret, but which, having come, would exhibit the result of long years of expectant toil, how much more did "the name" pass as a watchword in the ranks of those early

Christians who were the honoured subjects of the Apostles' ministry? That name stood pre-eminent with them; but shall it not do so to-day?

As to the three men mentioned by name in the letter.

First, of Gaius we read that he enjoyed more prosperity of soul than of body; but spite of physical infirmities, he walked in truth and charity, and thus caused great joy to the heart of the Apostle, who had, indeed, no greater joy than to hear that his "children [in the faith, no doubt] walked in truth." But Gaius was a lover of hospitality; his charity was witnessed publicly. He maintained, in equipoise, the balance of truth and love — not love at the expense of truth, nor vice versa. He exemplified, in practice, the "better way" of 1 Corinthians 13. He was a fine specimen of an all-round Christian. No wonder that he gladdened the heart of the Apostle!

Second, Diotrephes comes before us, but in a deplorable contrast to Gaius. His sole object was self-exaltation; he loved to have pre-eminence (mark the word) in the church refusing the Apostle himself and the brethren — the "strangers" referred to above, who "went forth for the sake of the name," forbidding those to receive them who would do so, and casting them out of the church. This is that Diotrephes! In him, cold, stern, hard officialism; rank, rigid ecclesiasticism, and a kind of papal tyranny combined with the zeal of a Jehu, outweighed the grace, patience, meekness, and lowliness that should characterize a servant of Christ. For such an one the Apostle had no regard. He would remember his deeds. He turns quickly away from thinking of Diotrephes; and, in his gentle style, he writes: "Beloved, imitate not that which is evil [let not the high-handed, merciless, inconsiderate ways of such an one be copied] but that which is good" (kind, profitable, beneficent); for, notice, "He that doeth good is of God [let these words sink into our consciences], but he that doeth evil hath not seen God." So much for Diotrephes!

Third, Demetrius. What of him? He carried "a good report of all, and of the truth itself." Happy Demetrius! Like the elders of Hebrews 11 his record was good. The truth had his name on its pages; the Apostle found pleasure in the very thought of him; he adorned the doctrines of Christ.

Each of these men had his history; but what of the mysterious name which exerted so great an influence over these "stranger" brethren who went forth expressly and solely for its exaltation, and under its exclusive authority, at all cost to themselves? What of its omnipotence, its charm, its all-sufficiency, its infinite magnetism over heart and mind and hand and foot — the name that captivated, that saved, that delivered, that constrained, that separated, that entranced, that controlled without a rival, that commanded, and that obtained obedience unqualified? What name was that?

It was not that of an apostle, nor of a church, nor of a school, nor of a mission. It favoured no party, nor clique, nor section, nor division. All such things were annihilated in the immensities of that name.

"He shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father [Father of eternity], Prince of peace" (Isa. 9: 6).

"God hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of JESUS every knee should bow, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2: 10, 11).

Now we understand why these devoted strangers "went forth." They had come under the spell of that name. It meant, first, their complete salvation — their purchase at a price incalculable —../../site/authors/Biographies/pollock.html even His precious blood. They were slaves no more; they were Christ's free men and servants. He was their Lord and Master, their leader and commander, their treasurer and source of supply. From Him they had received and held their commission. They owned His absolute pre-eminence. These were some of the brethren whom Diotrephes would not receive! Then he should receive his own judgment. He may not be imitated. Happy it is to turn to a large-hearted, loving, and truthful Gaius; or to a record like that of the upright Demetrius, and seek to follow their faith while honestly and before God loathing the spirit of the wilful, place-seeking, domineering Diotrephes; or to tread humbly in the self-denying, devoted footsteps of the strangers and brethren who went forth, independently of man, simply and wholeheartedly "for the sake of the name."

It is just possible that this epistle was the last inspired writing. Anyhow, it is striking that the expression "THE NAME" should have such prominence. For these last days are, alas, witnesses of a vast Babel of party names; sects are distinguished by the names of men, of doctrines, of places, to our common shame, all of which would, if the supremacy of "THE NAME" were but owned, sink into their own miserable nothingness, as, thank God, they certainly shall, when, as the rising sun outshines all lesser luminaries, that Name which is above every name shall obliterate for ever the petty names and designations to which we attach so much puerile importance to-day. Oh! that the Spirit of God may magnify before the hearts of all the children of God the worth and glory and power and excellency of "THE NAME." It gives its outline to the Philadelphian.

The Last Psalm

"Praise ye the Lord."

1. Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.

2. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.

3. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.

4. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.

5. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.

6. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.

The long voyage is over, and the harbour is reached; the roar of the storm gives place to the music of the haven. We have gained the end, the victory, the song.

Praise, and only praise, resounds on every hand. The voice of the enemy is silenced and his power is broken. The murmur of the wilderness is heard no more; its weary discords, its sobs, its pains, its sorrows, have given place to the glad "Hallelujah" of God's presence. Every heart is happy, and every mouth is filled with song. We are reminded of the parable of Luke 15, and the glad home where is received the once prodigal, its satisfaction and its music; only here the scope is wider. It is Israel replaced in its own land, in the joy of the kingdom, and in the presence of the King. The long night is over; the nation has received double for all its sins; its warfare is accomplished; iniquity is pardoned; it is the time of its "comfort." And what more befitting than such a song! What more comely than that instruments of music, the sweetest, the clearest, the loudest, should be employed to celebrate the praise of Jehovah?

There is now "no evil occurrent." The Lord is king, and His name is one, and His subjects are blessed. "Happy is the people that is in such a case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord." They give heartfelt expression to their joy. In the six short verses of our beautiful closing psalm we have praise thirteen times. And what music! What harmony!

The heavenly sanctuary is invoked to sing praise to God (ver. 1); not a voice in those glorious courts on high may be silent. They have their own exquisite song to sing in the glories of the Father's house, and in the knowledge of Father, Son, and Spirit fully revealed.

Then, again, "the firmament of His power" must reverberate with His praise. Not a being amid all these higher principalities but shall swell the chorus of His praise; while they who can sound trumpet, or psaltery, or harp, or timbrel, or pipe, or stringed instruments, or organs, or loud cymbals, or high sounding cymbals, shall also praise the Lord! Lovely orchestra, indeed, when each instrument of music emits in perfect and willing harmony the rightful praises of the Lord!

How glad the choristers, how sweet the song! But, in order to ensure the universality of the song, and to gather into its joy every intelligent being, the call is made: "Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord." Breath, the breath of life, the the faintest ability to articulate anything, let such, and all such, praise the Lord. Hallelujah!

What a conclusion! "Still praising" as ages roll. Happy service now and for ever on the part of the ransomed of the Lord.

Love's Retreat

Here would I ever be,

Close to His side,

Who in His love for me

Willingly died.

Here would I ever lie,

Down on His breast,

Proving so tenderly

Heaven's own rest.

Here would I ever fall,

Down at His feet,

Gladly to share with all

Love's fond retreat.

Thus shall my spirit have

Calmest repose,

When on life's stormy wave,

Or amid foes.

Till my glad lip shall wake

Heavenly song,

And the bright morn shall break

Cloudless and long.

Then, Lord, my theme shall be

Only Thy love,

And in Thy Father's house,

Heaven above,

I shall Thy beauty trace,

Vision sublime,

There see Thy wealth of grace,

Glory divine.

Moses - The Man of God

Moses — The Man of God

G. André

ISBN 0-88172-134-4

Published 1990 by

BELIEVERS BOOKSHELF INC.

P. O. Box 261, Sunbury, Pennsylvania 17801

About the Author

Is it possible to combine a fruitful Christian life with a successful business career? For many years, Mr. André has worked for an international company. However, his first love has been to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. While principally involved in Bible camp work in his native country for a number of years, he has maintained a keen interest and involvement in the work of the Lord worldwide.

Mr. André has preached the Word of God both orally and with his pen. Although the many books he has written are better known in French, German, Italian and some other languages, an increasing number of them are being translated into English. They are available from Believers Bookshelf, Inc.

Contents

Preface 5

1. Childhood, Youth, Calling 6

1. The parents' faith 6

2. The choice at the age of forty 9

3. The vision at the age of eighty 12

Thinking things through 16

2. In Egypt — The Deliverer 17

1. Failures 17

2. Who are they that shall go? 20

3. The Passover 23

Thinking things through 27

3. First Steps in the Wilderness — The Shepherd 29

1. Deliverance at the Red Sea 29

2. Bitterness at Marah 32

3. The lessons of Rephidim 34

Thinking things through 36

4. At Sinai — The Mediator 38

1. Receiving the law — The lawgiver 39

2. The crisis of the golden calf 42

3. The tent of meeting — The intercessor 45

Thinking things through 49

5. From Sinai to Kadesh 51

1. Eyes in the wilderness 51

2. The burden of all this people 53

3. Bitter disappointment at Kadesh 55

Thinking things through 59

6. Thirty-eight years in the wilderness 61

1. Meekness and humility 62

2. Tension at Meribah 68

3. Alone at Pisgah 70

Thinking things through 74

PREFACE

Numerous young people in Switzerland and other parts of Europe have been blessed by the ministry of this book. Presented first in lecture form in a camp setting, its influence and usefulness greatly expanded when it was printed in French, then in German.

Now by the help of God we are privileged to present this ministry in English. It should be especially useful for study by Bible classes, youth camps, Sunday Schools, etc., because of the discussion questions provided at the end of each chapter.

With appreciation for the diligent work of Daniel K. Dreyer in translating this book into English, we commend it to the prayerful study of young and old.

“. . . Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a testimony” (Heb. 3: 5). “Take, my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example “ (James 5: 10).

Grant W. Steidl. June 1975

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION

Many editorial changes have been made in this second edition. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the New Kings James Version, Copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Grant W. Steidl, March 1990

J. N. Darby's Synopsis of the Books of the Bible and C. H. Mackintosh's Notes on Exodus and Numbers will help the reader to a deeper understanding of this outline of the life of Moses. It is recommended that the Scripture passages listed under each chapter heading be read carefully before proceeding into the chapter itself.

About the book…

Moses was born in a period of great stress and persecution by Pharaoh upon the children of Israel. But Moses' parents had great faith in God and so could commit their beautiful child to His care and keeping. Many lessons can be learned by Christian parents today from the example of Amram and Jochebed.

What prompted Moses to forsake the riches of Egypt for the reproach of Christ?

Why did God allow a great man like Moses to spend 40 years on the back side of the desert?

Learn from Moses' handling of disappointments and discouragements how you can and should react to distressing circumstances.

The author, in his own straightforward manner, makes many applications from the life of Moses, his personality, his training and his instruction in the path of God, that will benefit all who will read this book with a desire to please the Lord.

Chapter 1

CHILDHOOD, YOUTH, CALLING

1.  THE PARENTS' FAITH:

Hebrews 11: 23; Acts 7: 20-22; Exodus 2: 1-10.

Amram and Jochebed, according to Exodus 6: 18-20, belonged to the tribe of Levi and to the family of the Kohathites. It was a family which in the future would perform such important duties in relation to the tabernacle.

Three children at this point are mentioned in the word of God: Miriam — probably ten to thirteen years old at Moses' birth; Aaron — three years older than Moses (Ex. 7: 7); and Moses.

According to Pharaoh's decree, issued shortly before the birth of Moses, the Israelites were to cast into the river every son that was born. Only the female infants were to be kept alive. What an exercise of soul it must have been for Jochebed during the long months prior to the birth of the child! Would it be a daughter whom she would have the right to keep?

The child came into the world and it was a son; but not an ordinary boy. By faith his parents discerned in him a special beauty. Acts 7: 20 reveals that he was “exceedingly lovely” (literally “beautiful to God”). Hebrews 11: 23 expressly emphasizes that it was because the child was beautiful that his parents hid him.

There was no room in the world for this one whom God singled out from birth as special for Himself. Centuries later, there will be no room at Bethlehem for the Child Jesus. King Herod will try to slaughter Him as Pharaoh tried to destroy the child Moses.

As then, so today faith adheres to the One whom the world despises, the One who in the eyes of faith is “more beautiful than the sons of men.”

Moses' parents were not afraid of the king's edict. For the first three months they did everything they could to keep the child hidden. Yet the moment arrived when this was no longer possible. With what care the mother prepared the ark of reeds, plastered it with resin and pitch, put the child in it, and placed it near the bank of the Nile River. There Miriam would keep watch on him from afar.

For a few years the children of Christian parents are under the special influence, protection, and care of their mothers. Then the moment comes when they must be exposed to the outside world through school and contact with other children in the neighborhood. Knowing very well that she cannot keep her treasures with her for ever, a Christian mother will be careful to take every possible precaution to prevent her child from becoming exposed to harmful influences during this new period. Above all, she will need faith to commit him to the care of the Lord who is able to keep him.

How marvelous the answer to the confidence expressed by Moses' parents! The hand of God appears in every detail: the selection of the place and hour at which Pharaoh's daughter comes down to bathe in the river; her compassion at the sight of the child; Miriam's presence of mind; and the kindness of the princess who delivers the child to his own mother for the first years of his life.

At home Moses will remain under the training of his parents — “The child grows.” Later on he will be in the royal place where the daughter of Pharaoh will bring him up “for herself” (Acts 7: 21). Moses, instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, will become mighty in his words and deeds just as Jesus was mighty in deed and word, in Luke 24: 19 and Acts 1: 1! Also, Moses knows the pleasures of Egypt.

Which of the two educations will prevail? Will it be the one imparted during the few years at his father's home where Amram (whose name means “God of thy father” Ex. 3: 6) and Jochebed assuredly did not neglect to speak to Moses of the Lord and of His promises to His people? Or will it be the one provided at the court? Will the many years at the court erase even the memory of what Moses had heard in his parents' home?

Is not this problem still very prevalent? Christian parents endeavor to bring up their children for the Lord instructing them in the Word of God. They also take them to Sunday school, to the meetings, and to special occasions for further teaching from the Word. On the other hand, the influence of studies, apprenticeship, and/or professional training will certainly be felt; and it will cause a young heart to forget what it had received at home from the parents unless there is personal and living faith in the Lord Jesus. The case of King Joash demonstrates that a faith based exclusively on training vanishes when the supporting influences disappear.

2.  THE CHOICE AT THE AGE OF FORTY:

(Exodus 2: 11-15; Acts 7: 23-29; Hebrews 11: 24-26).

When Moses had reached the age of forty it came into his heart to visit his brethren. He went out to them, looking on their burdens. Certainly he had not learned at the court of Pharaoh that these despised Hebrews were his brethren; still less that God had made promises about them (Gen. 15: 13). However, the teaching received from his parents was still deep-rooted in his heart.

The day of decision arrived, it seems, when he was to be officially called “the son of Pharaoh's daughter.” Moses refused! (Heb. 11: 24). We may well imagine that the reaction of the princess (about which the Word of God says nothing) was terrible. Moses' renunciation involved immense loss in terms of an honored position, material advantages, riches and “delights.”

Similarly, we live in days when we must be able to say “no.” Joseph's action in Genesis 39: 10 illustrates this. In a situation where a wholehearted decision to cling to the Lord was required in order to refuse, break off, and go away from temptation, he triumphed by God's grace.*

Even if we are never called to renounce all that was refused by Moses, we can be sure that we also will face tempting circumstances. Some material advantages of this contaminated world will have to be declined so that they might not stand in the way of our fellowship with the people of God — even if such a decision involves a measure of self denial.

This takes more than the negative side of renouncing. Moses “chose.” What did he choose? “To suffer affliction with the people of God.” Although our level of decision may not reach to that of Moses, we also will find many opportunities to choose in favor of those whom the Lord loves.

The Word says that the “pleasures of sin,” as real as they may seem, are only for a time; “but he that does the will of God abides for eternity” (1 John 2: 17). Moses' renunciation and choice would later confer on him the authority necessary to ask others, especially his own people, to do the same in their measure.

Hebrews 11 gives us some insight into the heart of Moses and reveals to us the secret that prompted his faith. He did not choose by sheer force of will or through asceticism, but because he “esteemed” the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. The museum of Cairo and the tomb of Tutankhamen prove that no little wealth was meant by these riches. However, that which pertained to Christ (although no doubt only in figure) had more value for Moses' heart than everything else; it was a greater treasure!

Moses thought that his brethren would certainly admire his self-denial and devotion to their cause. As Acts 7: 25 says, “he supposed that his brethren would understand that God would deliver them by his hand.” What terrible disappointment! “They did not understand.” The very Israelite whom he was reproving for wronging his neighbor “pushed him away.” What was the good of having “refused,” “chosen,” and “esteemed,” if this was the result?

Fearing Pharaoh, Moses fled to Midian and sat down near a well. There the most bitter reflections must have weighed on his mind, but he did not lose courage. As he witnessed the vexations to which the daughters of Reuel were exposed, he did not remain engrossed in his own pain but came to their help. Thus he remains in character a deliverer and a servant.

How was all that possible? Hebrews 11 reveals it: “He looked to the reward.” His eyes were not cast in the direction of the immediate future with its lost advantages and ongoing afflictions. Even at the well of Midian and in the depth of distress, his actions prove that faith was enduring in his heart. He was looking farther ahead and higher up. In fact, the path which he had begun to walk was to lead him to the song of triumph at the Red Sea, to the revelations of Sinai, to the glory reflected on his face, to the intimate relationship with the Lord on Pisgah, and finally to the glorious appearing on the mount of transfiguration.

There is another side to this account. Before going out to his brethren in Egypt, he did not consult the Lord. The Lord's time had not yet come for the people nor for Moses. It was in his own strength that Moses was going, and this way did not exclude the fear of men. On the contrary, “he turned this way and that way” (Ex. 2: 12).

However, in Midian under quiet conditions and alone with God, he would be trained as a shepherd, just as Jacob and Joseph had been trained before him and as David would yet be trained. Moses' faith was real and deep, but he needed to pass through God's schooling.

3.  THE VISION AT THE AGE OF EIGHTY:

(Exodus 3 and 4; Acts 7: 30-35).

“The time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham” (Acts 7: 17). Years of silent training had forged the instrument. For Moses, the wilderness of Midian was what the prison had been for Joseph, what Cherith and Sarepta would be for Elijah, and what Arabia would be for Paul.

If in our lives God sometimes allows periods such as these that we cannot understand — if sickness or other circumstances interrupts our work and we are put aside, should we not use such seasons to feed more closely on the Word and to learn in the school of God what we would never learn in the activity and turbulence of our normal lives? Such periods can be wasted on vain regrets or in scattered and futile endeavors; but if we use them wisely, they will form the foundation for blessed service on behalf of the people of God.

God is now about to reveal Himself to Moses and call him to the service for which He had been preparing him from birth. How extraordinary and unique is the moment when a soul feels the presence of God and His holiness in a special way; when he hears His voice distinctively! Such a vision will mark his entire existence from then on, and render it fruitful or sterile according to the response made.

“Come now therefore, and I will send you” (Ex. 3: 10). The moment of God has arrived. Formerly Moses wanted to go without waiting for God's time, but now he is about to hesitate. God does not say “Go” but “Come.” It is with Him, in His company and fellowship that Moses is sent. However, Moses is not disposed to respond. He brings before God four successive objections:

Who am I?...I am unable...I am not prepared...I will not know how to act. How many similar excuses have arisen from generation to generation in the hearts of those whom God was calling? “I will be with you” is the peremptory and clear answer which should suffice for every servant. A Gideon, a Jeremiah, the apostles at the feet of their risen Lord, Paul in prison, and how many others have heard this answer and have made the happy experience of the preciousness of God's presence in the way!

For Moses, however, this promise was not sufficient. He raises another objection: “The sons of Israel will say to me: `What is his name?' What shall I say unto them?” Full of gracious condescension, God then reveals himself as the One who ever is: “I am that I am.” Before, in, and after time, He ever remains the Word which “in the beginning . . . was with God” — Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today and for ever.

Every necessary instruction is given to Moses but still he is not satisfied. Pleadingly he says: “But behold, they will not believe me” (Ex. 4: 1). God then gives him three signs through which his mission is to be accredited:

(1) The staff changed into a serpent which Moses can take by the tail. This is an illustration of the power which God imparts to His instrument in the presence of the enemy.

(2) Moses' hand that becomes leprous when placed into his bosom and then afterwards is made pure. This shows that God alone can heal the leper and purify the sinner.

3) The water of the Nile (the source of life for the Egyptians) that is changed into blood. This is a proof that judgment is about to come upon this rebellious people.

Moses, however, is still not willing to go: “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant” (Ex. 4: 10). Earlier when he went out of Pharaoh's court, Moses had been mighty in words, but the years spent in the wilderness taught him the small value of this natural ease of speech. The Lord tells him: “And now go, and I will be with your mouth, and will teach you what you shall say.”

Once more Moses raises an objection, though with more moderation this time (v.13). Compelled by the Lord's anger, he finally yields; he goes and asks his father-in-law's permission to leave and go back to Egypt, and prepares his return. It seems, however, that he delays in Midian and again the Lord must remind him to “Go, return to Egypt” (Ex. 4: 19).

On the way God gives him instructions, and also brings to his attention a secret and deep obstacle — a small sin perhaps, but God sees everything and allows nothing in His servant that is contrary to His clearly revealed Word. As a concession to the Midianites, probably to Zipporah, Moses had not circumcised his son. Now amid the dust and confusion of the caravan, alive with people and animals, Moses becomes ill and is about to die. Zipporah discerns in it — and rightly so — the judgment of God, and hastens to perform the neglected rite of circumcision. Moses is restored in soul and body, and goes to meet Aaron. Together they will carry out the work for which God is sending them. In all likelihood, Zipporah goes back to her father. She will join Moses again at the mountain of God (Ex. 4: 25).

What would have become of Moses, had he not obeyed on that supreme day of his life when God called him? No doubt, he would have remained in Midian, an unknown shepherd of whom we would never have heard. Israel would have remained in the bondage of Egypt; or rather God would have used another instrument to deliver the people.

Compelled by the faithful call of God, Moses answered. Through the years, he grew in the intimacy of the one whom he had learned to know as the God of grace who had appeared to him “in the bush” (Deut. 33: 16).

THINKING THINGS THROUGH

1. Describe some of the circumstances which God arranged to preserve Moses in spite of Pharaoh's commandment.

2. Do you face decisions in your life similar to those faced by Moses when he “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter?” What do you learn from his example that will help you to make the right decision?

3. Why did God allow a great man like Moses to spend forty years of his life in obscurity, tending sheep?

4. Consider again the four objections raised by Moses when God would send him to deliver the Israelites. How do they compare to objections you may have been using to resist God's will in your life? What is God's answer to these objections?

Chapter 2

In Egypt — The Deliverer

(Read Exodus 5 to 12; Acts 7: 35-36; Hebrews 11: 27-28)

1. FAILURES

At the burning bush Moses had received an immediate mission that was perfectly clear: “Bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt” (Ex. 3: 10). God had not concealed from him the obstacles he would face: “I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a powerful hand. I will stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof; and after that he will let you go” (Ex. 3: 19-20). There in Midian God had even given Moses to understand that Pharaoh's resistance would be terrible, compelling Him to take the extreme measure of killing his (Pharaoh's) firstborn son.

Arriving in Egypt, Moses and Aaron gather all the elders of the children of Israel who accede to the message, bow their heads and worship (Ex. 4: 29-31). Feeling quite encouraged, they go to Pharaoh and ask him to let the people go and celebrate a feast to the Lord in the wilderness. Pharaoh's insolence soon reduces their courage, but they still try to say to him: “The God of the Hebrews has met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness …” (Ex. 5: 3).

The royal rebuff is explicit: “Why do ye, Moses and Aaron, wish to have the people go off from their works?Away, to your burdens!”

Instead of alleviating the people's burden, this first interview only makes it heavier still. Part of the Israelites must scatter about the country and gather the straw necessary to make brick; yet the same amount of bricks is required each day. Therefore, a reduced number of people must work all the more in order to fulfill the requirements. The officers of the children of Israel try to complain directly to Pharaoh without going through Moses and Aaron, but this only makes matters worse.

It is easy to understand Moses' distress at that hour, one of the darkest in his life. The Lord has not delivered the people at all through him.On the contrary, the people are oppressed more than ever and those whom he wanted so much to serve reproach him severely. What should he do?Should he once more give up, leave the people to their fate, and return to Midian?

Moses is at the end of his resources. Nevertheless, his faith stands fast (Heb. 11: 27). In his deep distress he returns to the Lord (v. 22) and pours out before Him his affliction. Like so many times later on, he experiences the grace of his Lord who does not rebuke him. On the contrary, He reveals Himself still more to him.

Is there not an important lesson for each of us to learn through the misfortunes, disappointments and trials of this life?One person works hard to pass an examination and yet fails. Another tends a loved one with great devotion, and yet this loved one is taken away by the Lord. Still another tries to bring a soul to Christ, but Satan seems to hold that soul still more firmly in his shackles. What is to be done? We must not yield to depression but rather pour out our supplications before God as the Psalmist did — and then rely on His grace. He will not fail to reveal Himself still more to the soul that seeks after Him, and He will carry the matter to its conclusion.

At the beginning of Genesis, God had revealed Himself as the Creator: Elohim — Deity in the absolute. With the patriarchs He had assumed essentially the name of the Almighty — the one who meets all the needs of those who are pilgrims of faith and strangers on the earth. To Moses at this decisive hour, God reveals Himself as the Eternal God (Jehovah, or Yahweh) — the God of the covenant who looks after His people; the God who does not change and who acts in time according to what He is in Himself and not according to the merits of those favored ones on whose behalf He is operating (Ex. 6: 2-8).

Having regained confidence in his mission, Moses goes back to the children of Israel, but they do not listen to him because of their heavy bondage. The Lord does not wait for another entreaty from His servant. He immediately strengthens his faith and orders him to go in and speak again to the king. Moses objects again: “The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” The Lord then gives Moses and Aaron commandments for the children of Israel, and for Pharaoh that he might let the people go out of Egypt (Ex. 6: 10-13; Ex. 7: 1-5).

Moses and Aaron, fully confident in God's promises (for they “persevered, as seeing Him who is invisible”) go to the king. They acquire increasing boldness and authority during the entire time of the plagues upon Egypt, being strengthened in faith through the display of their God's power. Moses increasingly gains the upper hand, being fully aware that he speaks in the name of the Lord who spreads out “his strong hand and his outstretched arm” in favor of His people.

2.  WHO ARE THEY THAT SHALL GO?

(Exodus 8: 25-28; Ex. 10: 8-11, 24-26)

There are signs for the people of God, and plagues for the Egyptians as the judgments of God come down upon the land. Seven times Pharaoh hardens his heart (look it up for yourself), and seven times the Lord hardens the heart of Pharaoh.

Pharaoh begins to yield a little, however, so that the Lord might withdraw the poisonous dog-flies from the land, and proposes to Moses that they go and sacrifice to their God “in the land.” Immediately Moses answers: “It is not right to do so, for we would be sacrificing the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God … We will go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God as He will command us” (Ex. 8: 26-27).

This illustrates the first snare of Satan — that those who worship God do so in the world and as mixed with the world. How successful Satan has been in bringing about such a condition in Christendom: In many Christian congregations, probably in the most important ones, believers and unbelievers mix together in the same “religious service.” As to the leaders, some of them no longer have faith in the Word of God or in the redeeming work of the cross.

In order to worship truly, a definite separation is necessary. There must be “the three days' journey into the wilderness” — a picture of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Pharaoh, harassed by the successive judgments which ravage his country, later yields still more. He calls Moses and Aaron and precisely asks the following question: “Who are they that shall go?”

Moses answers: “We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go” (Ex. 10: 8, 9).

This, however, is not the way in which Pharaoh understands it, and again he sets a new snare before the servants of God: “Go now, you who are men, and serve the LORD.”

In some countries today young people can attend a Christian meeting only from the age of eighteen; in other countries one can present the gospel only to those over twenty-one. Even among Christians in countries which enjoy liberty, the enemy strenuously endeavors to induce parents not to take their children with them to the meetings; or he persuades them to think that attending Sunday School or other special meetings for the young is too taxing for them! The enemy's tactics have not changed. He knows very well that youth is the favorable age to turn to the Lord, for then the entire life becomes oriented toward Him to be lived for Him.

Nehemiah 12: 43 describes a day of worship and rejoicing when all the people — not only the men but also the women and the children — were happy to be gathered in the presence of the Lord. When on the other hand, it was a question of listening to the reading of the law, Ezra spoke “before the congregation, of men and women and all who could hear with understanding” (Neh. 8: 2).

Does this not teach us that we should all come to the worship meeting, including our children as soon as they are old enough to remain quiet? The oft-cited excuses about household chores and schoolwork should not prevent this. As for the meeting for Bible study where the Word of God is explained and studied, do not the Scriptures instruct us to bring along “all who could hear with understanding”? (Here understanding refers to natural intelligence, not the renewed intelligence which can exist only through conversion).

In the face of Moses' categorical refusal of his offer, and in order to avoid a further judgment of three days of darkness, Pharaoh devises still another solution. He says: “Go, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your little ones also go with you” (Ex. 10: 24). Moses, however, knows very well that if the flocks and herds are left behind, the heart of the people will be drawn back again to Egypt. Hence he answers: “You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God. Our livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind.”

Let us be careful to keep our hearts from clinging unduly to the material possessions which God has entrusted to us. They could become a hindrance to the worship which the Lord expects from us. As Luke 16 teaches, the “unrighteous mammon” is entrusted to our management, but our hearts should not become attached to it as a treasure. It must always remain at the Lord's disposal to be used according to His will.

Because Moses himself had earlier refused the riches of Egypt and chosen the reproach of Christ, he now had all the more authority to urge the people to place everything that they had at the Lord's disposal.

3.  The Passover

(Exodus 12: 1-28; Hebrews 11: 28)

The Epistle to the Hebrews emphasizes that Moses celebrated the Passover “by faith.” His parent's faith had been necessary to first hide him and then expose him on the river. Then at forty years old, his own faith was manifested through the choice that he made. Again he displayed this faith in “holding fast” in Egypt, despite the king's anger.

Why was faith necessary for the Passover? Pharaoh had nothing to do with it. At this point it is not faith acting in the presence of the enemy or under difficult circumstances, but it is still the same faith. It was not the enemy but God that was to be faced in judgment. During the nine preceding plagues the people had remained spectators, and beginning with the fourth plague had actually been protected in the land of Goshen. But now the people must act — and this in accordance with the Word of the Lord to Moses. Faith was required as to what God had said.

The people were just as guilty as the Egyptians, and even more so because their responsibility was greater. As other portions of Scripture reveal, they had indulged in idolatry in spite of some knowledge of the Lord; and in a considerable measure they had abandoned their God. If the destroying angel must pass through the land and kill all the firstborn, why should he spare the Israelites? After all, God's justice acts without respect of persons.

Only the blood of a spotless victim — a type of One who would come later — was able to shelter the people from the judgment. The Lord reveals this to Moses and Aaron (Ex. 12: 1-20), who in turn instruct the elders of Israel. Moses' faith is an inspiring example: “The people bowed their heads and worshiped … and did as the Lord had commanded” (vv. 27, 28).

Abel's sacrifice demonstrates that the blood of atonement was necessary to come near to God. Genesis 22 presents the thought of substitution: Abraham offered a ram as a sacrifice instead of his son. The offerings of Leviticus, through the placing of the offerer's hand on the head of the victim, express the identification of the one approaching with the sacrifice. (In the sacrifice for sin, the offences of the guilty one pass onto the victim, whereas in the burnt-offering the merits of the victim are credited to the worshipper.)

In the Passover, the individual appropriation of the sacrifice is perfectly stressed: “Every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household” (Ex. 12: 3). Moses did not offer one lamb for the entire people; each family had to slaughter a victim, the blood of which was to shelter them.

So it is in the gospel. Jesus is “the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2: 2). The value of His work in the sight of God enables God to offer His forgiveness to the whole world.

Other passages show just as clearly, however, that whereas the value of the sacrifice of Christ is sufficient for the whole world, only those who accept it through faith are made beneficiaries of His work. In Romans 3 the righteousness of God is manifested “toward all, and upon all those who believe.” Only those who believe are justified “through faith in His blood.” Likewise John 3: 16 teaches that God loved the world, but only those who believe in the Lord Jesus have life eternal. John 1: 12 says that those who receive Him are given the right to be called children of God. Romans 10: 9 says that “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” It is a matter of personally and individually accepting and confessing the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

According to the Passover instructions, the blood of the lamb is put on the two outside doorposts and on the lintel of each house. The family gathered inside the house eats the Passover lamb with the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs. The family does not see the blood and assess its value but the Lord does. He declares categorically: “When I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you” (Ex. 12: 13). Likewise, the repenting sinner who comes to the Lord Jesus is unable to assess the value of His blood; God alone does that. It is because of this blood He forgives and receives. The one who receives the Word of God as being true finds his certainty in the declarations of God's Word. He cannot explain it, but he knows that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1: 7).

THE PASSOVER NIGHT

(Exodus 12: 42)

For Israel, the months began with each new moon; they were lunar months. Since the Passover took place on the fourteenth day of the month, the Israelites went out of Egypt on the full moon. In the evening they ate the lamb; their loins were girded; they were ready to leave. “At midnight … the LORDstruck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt … So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead” (Ex. 12: 29, 30).

One can understand the bewilderment of the Egyptians, each one rushing out of his house and telling the sad news to his neighbor; and then hearing his neighbor reporting the same calamity. With Pharaoh at their head the Egyptians drive Israel out of the land. The people, according to the instructions of the Lord to Moses (Ex. 11: 2, 3) ask from the Egyptians silver and gold, a well-deserved compensation for all their years of hard work and bondage.

Throughout the night, from various parts of the land of Goshen, the columns get under way “according to their hosts.” Their immediate goal is to reach Rameses and Succoth. Six hundred thousand men on foot with their families, plus a mixed multitude that went up with them — from two to three million souls, beside all the cattle that accompany them.

What a moment for Moses! When he was forty years old, he had wanted to give his brethren “deliverance through his hand” and now the time has arrived. After the tension caused by the successive plagues and the drama of this eventful night, a new life was to begin. The Lord had displayed His power and fulfilled His promise.

No doubt a feeling of deep gratitude was arising in the heart of His servant. Considering the problems which would soon assail him, what responsibility rested upon him! He had to lead this great multitude through the wilderness — a desert which he knew by experience — up to the promised land. The immense task that God had entrusted to him was just beginning.

THINKING THINGS THROUGH

1. Describe some of the discouragements and trials Moses faced as he went back to Egypt and talked with his brethren and with Pharaoh. Why did God allow these?

2. How does God deliver Moses and Aaron from their discouragements? What is the best way for us to get deliverance from our discouragements?

3. How would you apply to your own life the four compromises proposed by Pharaoh to Moses?

4. How did the passover differ from all the other plagues upon the land of Egypt? Does the passover have a personal application to your life?

5. Suppose yourself to be a firstborn son of an Israelite on the passover night. Describe in your own words the dramatic events of that night.

Chapter 3

First Steps in the Wilderness — The Shepherd

Psalm 77: 20

The last verse of Psalm 77 reads: “You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.” Certainly, during the crossing of the Red Sea and through the wilderness Moses assumes this character of a shepherd.

The psalm further emphasizes: “Your way was in the sea, Your path in the great waters, and Your footsteps were not known” (v. 19). Such was the experience of the people. For them, the way of God was incomprehensible. It took them through deep waters — not only those of the Red Sea, but those of the successive tribulations which were intended to test their faith. The psalmist, however, adds: “Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary…” (v. 13). What God intends for His own is indeed constantly before Him and is perfectly made known by His wisdom and love, even when it seems to them to lead them through deep waters.

1.  DELIVERANCE AT THE RED SEA

(Read Hebrews 11: 29; Exodus 13: 17-22; Exodus 14)

From the starting point of Rameses and Succoth the people had reached Etham at the edge of the wilderness. Normally the shortest route would have passed northwards through the land of the Philistines. God, however, was not willing that His people should face war during their first steps in the wilderness. He rather chose to lead them by His own path to Sinai.

But first the pillar of cloud led them to pitch their camp at a place as unsuitable as possible from the standpoint of safety. It hemmed them in between the mountain and the sea, leaving no exit except the way they had just come.

After a few hours, this sole exit was occupied by Pharaoh and his host: “…the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them” (Ex. 14: 10).

Will Moses now lose the marvelous deliverance that God had wrought through his hand? He is not worried. Rather he stands fast by faith as seeing Him who is invisible.

The people, however, are not entertaining the same feelings. A great fear fills them and they cry out to the Lord. In their hearts they reproach Moses and rebel (Ps. 106: 7). Panic-stricken they exclaim, “it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness!”

This produced the first crisis in the relationship between Moses and Israel. It would be followed by many others. Assured of the deliverance of the Lord, Moses inspires the people with his faith: “The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

The enemy, however, does not let people escape easily. Even today when one has placed his trust in the blood of Christ for forgiveness of sin, Satan tries to instill in that person doubt, unbelief, and uncertainty about salvation. His aim is to fill us with affliction and doubts instead of with joy in our Lord's accomplished deliverance.

Only the Word of God can give certainty as to salvation. Redemption is secured through the work of Christ. Since He performed the work that was required, we need not worry. The certainty of our salvation derives, through faith, from the declarations of the Word of God. We are called to behold “the salvation of the LORD” and to stand still, resting fully on the many passages of the word such as Romans 8: 1: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus”' and John 3: 36: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life.”

Still another effort of the enemy is to keep those who are saved in the “world system” and under its grip. How many Christians, although washed in the blood of Christ, remain morally wrapped up in the world — in Egypt? They actually comply with Pharaoh's injunction: ”Sacrifice to the Lord your God in the land.”

God, however, wants to have His own truly for Himself. So at night He opened a pathway for Israel through the stormy sea. The people “went through the midst of the sea on the dry ground; and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.” Hebrews 11: 29 states very precisely: “By faith they passed through the Red Sea.”

In this incident, faith characterized the people as a whole, whereas the earlier accounts in Hebrews 11 emphasize only Moses' faith. It was no trifling matter for them to start walking between those two walls of water which at any moment could cover them. It required trust in the word of the Lord through Moses.

“Toward the morning” the Lord threw the army of the Egyptians into confusion. As dawn broke, the sea resumed its strength, engulfing the enemy in its midst. “Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work which the LORD had done in Egypt … and believed the LORD and His servant Moses.” On the shore of the Red Sea a song of praise arises, sung by every one of the children of Israel. It is the first song in the Bible.

Only the redeemed, conscious of their deliverance, can sing. The psalmist and the prophets will never cease celebrating this memorable event. Indeed, the song of the redeemed which arose from thousands of hearts in Exodus, resounds on up to the the book of Revelation. The song exalts the slaughtered Lamb, the One who is the eternal center of praises for all His own.

2.  BITTERNESS AT MARAH

(Read Exodus 15: 22-26)

Moses was acquainted with the wilderness — its aridity, heat and vastness (Ex. 3: 1). What responsibility faced him there! He must lead an entire people with their flocks and herds through that wilderness.

As for the people, their new-found faith is about to be put to the test. The same thing frequently happens in the life of new Christians. After a brief period, God allows trials to arise in order to demonstrate whether our faith is real; and whether we will or will not trust in Him.

One day, two days, three days are spent in the wilderness, and no water is found. Finally arriving at Marah, they “could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.” The people murmur against Moses and he cries to the Lord. “And the LORD showed him a tree; and when he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.”

In the types used in the books of Moses, wood usually speaks of the humanity of the Lord Jesus — that perfect humanity in which He always did the will of God, even up to the supreme moment of Gethsemane where He was able to say: “Not as I will, but as You will.”

If trials arise in our lives, the first lesson to be learned is to accept them as coming from God. In the path of faith, we must submit to His will, knowing that He wants what is good for us. We must try to understand the special lesson taught by the difficulties thus encountered. For example, someone has applied for a position and is refused. A young father devotes himself entirely to supporting his family and furnishing his new home, but sickness stops him. A longed-for invitation fails to arrive. Someone is disappointed by the friend on whom he relied. Faith rises above bitterness and disappointment, finding in the perfect sympathy of the Lord Jesus, the strength to accept as from God's hand the trials of the way that are so bitter.

At Marah, the Lord reveals Himself by a new name: “the Lord who heals you.” The waters become sweet. The healing of the Lord restores. Their next stopping point, Elim, illustrates refreshment and necessary food. And after that comes the manna, provided each morning for the needs of the people. What a marvelous experience!

3.  THE LESSONS OF REPHIDIM

(Read Exodus 17)

The purpose of this book is to understand what the Word of God says to us about Moses: his personality, his training, and his instruction in the path of God. Therefore, we cannot go into all the details of the wilderness and are omitting, among other, the chapter about the manna.

So far, everything has succeeded for Moses. Insolent and haughty Pharaoh has been overthrown. The Red Sea has been opened. The manna has met the requirements of the people. For the servant of God, however, it was necessary to further learn his helplessness again and again, and he learns this at Rephidim.

THE ROCK (verses 1 to 7)

At Rephidim there was no water. The people disputed with Moses and even spoke of stoning him. they said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” Pharaoh had wanted to hold back the children and the cattle in Egypt, and now the people reproach Moses with having brought them out from there.

Entirely powerless before this unjust contention, Moses cries out to the Lord and says: “What shall I do with this people?” Now he will learn a new lesson — the very presence of God suffices for all the needs of His own. God says, “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock.” In 1 Corinthians 10: 4 we read: “The rock was Christ.” The rock must be struck by the rod of Moses, the rod of authority and judgment, so that the waters — a picture of the Holy Spirit — might flow in abundance (John 7: 39).

Since Moses was personally attacked, he must now be personally honored. It is as He continues with dignity before the people in the presence of the elders of Israel that the water comes out of the rock for all to drink (v. 6).

AMALEK (verses 8 to 16)

Another obstacle arises during the march through the wilderness — Amalek. As a type of the flesh in us, Amalek attacks and harasses the people in the wilderness, especially the stragglers and the weak. There is the necessity to fight, but how?

This situation presents another new lesson for Moses. Joshua, a type of the risen Lord and of the Holy Spirit, is placed at the head of the people as they go out to battle. This is an illustration of Galatians 5: 17, “The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.”

It is not enough, however, for Joshua to fight. Moses must go up to the top of the hill with the rod of God in his hand and intercede for the people. There he is not precisely a type of Christ, but of those who come near to God through Him to intercede either for themselves or for His redeemed ones.

Moses is aware of his own weakness: “And so it was when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.” But Moses' hands become tired. Is it not the same with us? Even if we have understood that the sole remedy for our infirmity is to persevere in prayer, we often are slack and lack constancy! Aaron and Hur come near and support the hands of Moses. Here Aaron is a type of Christ as Priest, “always living to intercede” for His own.

In his youth Moses wanted to fight: he killed the Egyptian. Now well on in years, he joins his brother and his companion in praying for the people of God.

The presence of God and the prayer of intercession — such were for Moses the great lessons of Rephidim.

THINKING THINGS THROUGH

1. Explain why God so quickly led the people to a spot where they were entrapped between the mountains, the Red Sea and the pursuing Egyptian army.

2. How does the pursuing Egyptian army illustrate the efforts of Satan against those who are newly redeemed by the blood of Christ? How should we respond to his efforts?

3. Can you think of an incident in your life similar to the Israelites' experience at Marah where the waters were bitter? How did the Lord make the bitter waters sweet and give healing in the situation?

4. Again and again, the problem facing the Israelites in the desert was lack of water. Why didn't God give them an abundant and visible supply? For example, what lesson did the Lord wish to teach Moses and the people at Rephidim?

5. What do you learn about prayer through Israel's battle with the Amalekites?Try to think of at least two practical ways in which you might improve your prayer life.

Chapter 4

AT SINAI — THE MEDIATOR

(The first year)

In the first month after their departure out of the land of Egypt, the children of Israel come into the wilderness of Sinai (Ex. 19: 1). Through Moses, the Lord gives them these remarkable words: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself” (v. 4). The unruly multitude that had gone out of Goshen was about to be formed into a nation (v. 6), complete with laws, worship, a center and a well-ordered army.

The first year of the exodus begins with the Passover and the Red Sea, and continues with God's care in the wilderness: the manna, the water from the rock, and the victory over Amalek. Then at Sinai the people receive the law and the statutes.

In its moral application to us, this first year refers essentially to our individual life: remission of sin, redemption, personal feeding of our souls, and our personal walk with the Lord.

The second year (Ex. 40: 1-17) starts with the erection of the tabernacle. It continues with the consecration of the priests, the offerings of the princes, the institution of the rituals, the arrangement of the camp, and the march in the wilderness. In contrast to the first year, it emphasizes the collective life of the people.

So it is with us. As believers we have not been redeemed to live and walk alone, but rather to be found in the company of his brethren. Christ died to “gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.”

Already during the second year the people could have undertaken the conquest of Canaan, had they not lacked faith at Kadesh-barnea after receiving the report of the spies. In this sense, the additional thirty-eight years spent in the wilderness were not necessary at all; but Israel had to learn to know itself and to know God (Deut. 8).

1. RECEIVING THE LAW — THE LAWGIVER

Confronted with the majestic display of God's holiness, the people tremble (Ex. 19: 16). Moses himself (as Hebrews 12: 21 reminds us) was so fearful of the sight that he said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.” Then God pronounces the ten basic commandments on which the moral law is founded.

The people are frightened and stand afar off. They say to Moses: “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” They remain at a distance, but “Moses drew near.”

On another occasion, seventy of the elders of Israel go up with Moses to the mountain, along with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu; but Moses alone comes near to the Lord while the others stand back. As for the people, they must not even touch the mountain, much less go up with them. The sole information given about the vision of God as seen by the elders is that “there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity” (Ex. 24: 10).

Finally, Moses goes up on the mountain and hears the divine communications. He spends six days on mount Sinai in the company of Joshua. On the seventh day Moses alone enters into the cloud and remains in the presence of God forty days and forty nights. At that time He receives the two tables, the statutes, and the instructions relative to the tabernacle.

On three occasions when Moses relates to the people the words of God, they answer: “All that the Lord has spoken will we do!” (Ex. 19: 8; Ex. 24: 3, 7). In no way, however, would they be able to keep the law. As Galatians 3: 21 says, “if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.” By committing themselves with this rash promise to keep God's commandments, the people revealed that they really knew neither God nor themselves. Someone will ask, “Why then was the law given?” This question is answered by the apostle Paul in Galatians and Romans: “I would not have known sin except through the law.”

A child might easily promise to behave well and always obey his parents. God, however, will allow definite situations in which the child will find himself at fault so that his conscience might be reached. Would there be any real conversion without at least some measure of the conviction of sin? Some realization of one's own ruin? Some impression of the holiness of God?

When young Isaiah entered the temple, he exclaimed: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isa. 6: 5). Peter, sensible of the honor done to him, received Jesus into his boat; but after launching out into the deep and witnessing the miraculous “haul of fishes which they had taken” he understood that his passenger in the ship was God Himself. Then he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5: 8).

Likewise, we must place ourselves before the ten commandments and seriously examine whether we have observed each one of them. It is not enough to have refrained from stealing. The mere wish to steal is a transgression of the tenth commandment! Which young man can say that the lust mentioned in Matthew 5: 28 never arose in his heart? Are there many people who have never said “fool” to a brother or friend? (Matt. 5: 22).

When suddenly convicted by the Word, one of our young friends stated that he deserved hell since he had treated his brother in this way more than once. What should be said in answer to his confession? Something like: “That was not so serious. Your brother got on your nerves, and you got angry with him?” Certainly not! Every sin is serious according to the Word of God. The Lord Jesus condemns even slight anger at one's brother. Therefore each one of us deserves hell!

Of course. our young friend was trembling at this thought. At such a point, how marvelous it is to present the work of the Lord Jesus. He atoned for our sins, bearing them in His body on the cross. The chastisement that we deserve fell on Him. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Gal. 3: 13).

2.  THE CRISIS OF THE GOLDEN CALF

(Exodus 32)

In making the golden calf, Aaron and the people did not really want to abandon the Lord. They rather transgressed the second commandment: “You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; You shall not bow down to them nor serve them” (Ex. 20: 4, 5).

The human spirit always tends to materialize what is spiritual. It must have a visible form, an object that can be at least revered, if not worshiped. This was Aaron's problem. As he saw the golden calf, “he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD” (Ex. 32: 5). In their thoughts, Aaron and the people lowered the Lord to the level of the gods of Egypt, saying, “Here is your God.”

Idolatry always brings man down and leads him to disorder (v. 25), orgies and licentiousness (v. 6). Romans one shows this convincingly. Nothing is more serious than to associate the name of the Lord with idolatry.

What will be Moses' attitude in this situation?

(A) On the top of the mountain, the Lord informs Moses of what has taken place (v. 7-10). Putting him to the test, He proposes to consume the people and then make a great nation out of Moses. What an opportunity for him to be carried away by anger, and to accept this divine proposal! After all, the people have murmured so many times against him.

However, he has the interests of his God too much at heart to act in this way. Instead, he immediately beseeches the Lord, setting forth two decisive arguments for sparing Israel: (1) What would the Egyptians say if the people of Israel were annihilated from the face of the earth? They would boast, saying that God is powerless. (2) The Lord had promised positively to the patriarchs that He would multiply their seed and give to them the land of Canaan. What would become of the fulfillment of this solemn promise?

Is it not the same in our intercession for our brethren? On the one hand, we must remember the faithfulness of God, his promises, his righteousness toward Christ (“He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins”). On the other hand, we must think of the testimony which Christians bear before the world: “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life” (1 John 5: 16).

(B) When Moses sees the calf and the dancing (v. 19), his anger burns and he shatters the tables of the law. This was righteous anger and not an outburst of carnal feelings. Scarcely had the law been given, and it was already transgressed. He takes the calf, grinds it to powder, scatters it on the water, and makes the children of Israel drink it. They must realize the gravity of their sin.

Likewise, if we have gravely failed, we must acknowledge it and confess it before God; but we must also feel deeply in our souls how serious sin is and how abominable it is to God.

Moses entrusts to the Levites the terrible mission of exterminating those who apparently had plunged more deeply into idolatry. Even their brethren, their neighbors, or their intimate friends must not be spared. Three thousand men thus perish. This stands in contrast to the introduction of grace on the day of Pentecost some 1500 years later. As the gospel is preached on that first day of a new dispensation, three thousand souls are brought to the Lord (Acts 2).

(C) By the next day, the tumult and anger have subsided. Will Moses now say: “Yesterday I became angry, but the evil was not so serious?” On the contrary, he speaks again with deep feeling: “You have sinned a great sin.” Having pondered the matter in his innermost heart, he goes up again to the Lord, declaring, “Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin'' (v. 30). He does not reveal what means he will use to do this, nor is he even sure that this means will succeed.

Bowed down with grief before the Lord, Moses acknowledges that the people have committed a grave sin. He adds: “Yet now, if You will forgive their sin ...” He is not able to finish his sentence for he knows well that God cannot forgive without atonement being made. Hence he expresses what he has secretly conceived in his heart: “If not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” He thus offers himself as a propitiation for the people. He has not yet learned what the psalmist will declare later: “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him” (Psa. 49: 7).

And yet, the Lord forgives. However, He cannot accept that Moses should suffer for the people: “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book.” If the Lord seems to bear with sin, it is because He has before Him the future coming of Another One who will offer Himself in sacrifice for sin. Through Christ, He will set forth a mercy-seat, so that He might be just, and the Justifier of the one that has faith in Jesus (Rom. 3: 24-26). It was possible for God to endure in absolute righteousness “the sins that were previously committed” (that is, those committed during the entire period of the Old Testament) because He had before Him the perfect Victim who would be manifested in His own time.

Thus God will be just and He will also forgive. He will be faithful to His promises (Ex. 33: 1) while also maintaining His glory as to the Egyptians. In His “government” however, He will have to chastise His own; He withdraws His presence from their midst (Ex. 33: 3).

3.  THE TENT OF MEETING — THE INTERCESSOR

(Exodus 33: 7-11)

After the sin of the people God departs, saying “I will send My Angel before you” (Ex. 33: 2, 3). Upon hearing this disturbing word, the people mourn and strip themselves of their ornaments.

What is to be done under these circumstances? The camp had been abandoned to confusion. The presence of God was withdrawn. Moses, however, had already received on the mountain the instructions to build the tabernacle; the habitation of God was to occupy the central place and the tribes were to camp all around it.

Since the people are in utter confusion, Moses realizes that it is no longer possible for God to dwell among them. Will it then be necessary to renounce every manifestation of the divine presence for those who fear the Lord? Moses takes a tent and pitches it for himself outside the Camp, far from the camp, and calls it the tabernacle of meeting. “And it came to pass that every one who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting.” So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle” (vv. 7, 8).

Thus there were two categories of persons: those who were seeking the Lord and went out of their tents; and the others who only looked afar off from the entrance of their own tents.

Do we not have a similar instruction in Hebrews 13: “Let us go forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach”? Christendom, because of its confusion and errors, resembles in many ways the camp of Israel. Like the godly Israelites who went out to Moses, it is possible for us today to go forth out of the camp; and in recognition of 2 Timothy 2: 19-22, to meet simply to the name of the Lord Jesus. We can do this with full confidence in His promise of Matthew 18: 20: “Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there I am in the midst of them.'' Since everyone does not obey the Lord's commandment, only a “remnant” gathers around Him; but this remnant can fully rely on the promise of His presence.

“And it came to pass, when Moses went out to the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the entrance of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.” The entire people could recognize that the presence of the Lord was manifested there, and no longer in the midst of the camp. In that outside place Moses, the faithful servant, could find a communion which he had never known before. The Lord speaks with him “face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.”

Moses then intercedes for the people on the principle of grace, a new principle at this point. Being aware of himself as the object of God's favor, he beseeches the Lord to extend His grace to the entire people. He receives the marvelous answer: ''My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” This, however, was not enough to satisfy Moses. Since he had found grace in the eyes of the Lord, he intercedes that God might go with the people as well as with himself. Finally the Lord yields to his prayer: “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight” (Ex. 33: 17).

The Vision Of Grace

Moses, deeply encouraged by this intimate relationship with his God, fervently prays to see the glory of His face. However, the moment has not yet arrived for the knowledge of the glory of God to shine in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4: 6). Therefore, the Lord must say to His servant: “You cannot see my face; for man shall not see Me, and live.” Although the Lord cannot yet reveal His glory, He declares: “l will make all My goodness pass before you.”

Thus placed in the cleft of the rock and alone in the sanctuary of God's presence, Moses receives a new revelation of God whom he has so faithfully followed until now. At the bush, he had learned to know Him as the one who does not change: “I am that I am.” In Egypt, God revealed Himself to him as “The Lord, the God of the covenant.” At Sinai, he received the law from “the righteous and holy God.” In the cleft of the rock, however, he learns to know the very nature of the One who is love: “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy unto thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Ex. 34: 6, 7).

Later, in the secret of the temple, young Isaiah will learn to know the grace which takes away his iniquity and makes propitiation for his sin. In the vision at Horeb, Elijah will hear the soft and gentle voice which will touch his heart. In the temple at Jerusalem, Paul will see the One who sends him to the nations far off. And alone in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea and flooded with the light of the resurrection morning, Mary of Magdala will fall at the feet of her risen Savior.

One may well understand that after coming down from the mountain, Moses is no longer the same. He now has in his hands the tables of the law. They are not shattered this time, but placed intact into the ark, a type of Christ. He no longer comes chastising the culprits and spreading terror in the camp. The skin of his face shines, reflecting the goodness and grace of which he had caught a glimpse. He had “spoken with Him.” Aaron and the people, afraid at first, come near to him and Moses puts a veil on his face. The time had not yet come for the glory of grace to be fully revealed. Even today the veil remains on the hearts of the people of Israel (2 Cor. 3: 15).

However, God has shone forth the knowledge of His glory in the face of Christ. All of us who know the Lord Jesus can contemplate with unveiled face this glory of the Lord. We can be transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit (2 Cor. 3: 18).

Have we not noticed the details of this remarkable verse? “We all . . . are transformed?” It is not now as it was with Moses the privilege of one particular man or the prerogative of some eminent servant. This marvelous vision is there for all. There is no longer any veil . . .but one must have the time and a heart to contemplate it.

THINKING THINGS THROUGH

1. Explain how Israel's first year in the wilderness illustrates the individual Christian life; and how their second year illustrates the collective Christian life.

2. Pick out one feature from the giving of the law to Moses on Mt. Sinai which especially impresses you. Tell why it impresses you.

3. What was God's purpose in giving the ten commandments?

4. How does the Golden Calf incident illustrate the meaning and results of idolatry? Is it possible for a true believer to be guilty of idolatry? Explain your answer.

5. Describe Moses' reaction to the Golden Calf incident. Note his intercession, his righteous indignation, his decisive judgment on the people, his self-sacrificing concern for them. What is your response when other Christians sin and publicly dishonor the Name of the Lord?

6. What practical lessons do you learn from Moses' pitching the tent of meeting outside the camp? What were the two opposite responses of the people to his action?

7. Review the various ways in which God revealed Himself to Moses: at the burning bush, in Egypt, at Sinai, and in the cleft of the rock. How did these revelations change Moses? What revelations have we had from God's Word that have changed our lives?

Chapter 5

FROM SINAI TO KADESH

(The Second year)

On the first day of the first month of the second year after the children of Israel had left Egypt, the tabernacle was set up (Ex. 40: 2). Different events occurred one after the other: the consecration of the priests, the offering of the princes, the celebration of the Passover. On the first day of the second month Moses proceeds to number the men “that go forth to military service” (Num. 1: 3).

Finally, on the twentieth day of the second month of this second year, the cloud over the tabernacle begins to move. The children of lsrael leave the wilderness of Sinai, for the first time following the commandment of the Lord about journeying. Six tribes preceded the ark and the sanctuary, and six tribes formed the rear-guard.

1.  EYES IN THE WILDERNESS

(Numbers 10: 29-36)

Fundamentally the cloud directed the movements of the people (Num. 9: 15-23). When the children of Israel were to strike camp, the priests blew the trumpets (Num. 10: 1-8). The Lord had provided everything, and His presence accompanied Israel.

Why does Moses wish for some human help in the person of his brother-in-law, Hobab? Being a Midianite, he would, of course, be well acquainted with the wilderness and the places where to encamp. It can further be said that Moses seemed to have his welfare in mind, insisting on letting him share in “whatever good the Lord will do to us.”

Actually, Hobab will not precede the people and find the place to encamp. The ark itself, proceeding out of its normal place in the midst of the tribes, will go before them “in the three days' journey” to search out a resting place for them! The movement of the cloud ratifies that they are to move, thus manifesting the divine presence. This is God's gracious answer to the persevering intercession of Moses, despite the lack of confidence in God which he displayed in asking for Hobab's assistance.

Is it not the same with us? In John 10 the Good Shepherd puts forth His own sheep and .”he goes before them.” The sheep follow Him, because they know His voice. This precious experience of knowing that “He goes before” can be made at any age.

If you are facing an unknown stage in your life: a new period of studies, a sojourn abroad, another course of professional training, remember that “He goes before.” Trust Him and rely on Him. The ark leaves three days in advance so there is no need to hurry. It is enough to quietly follow the way He opens. “Whoever believes will not act hastily” (Isa. 28: 16). May we avail ourselves of the promise made to the psalmist: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye” (Ps. 32: 8). We get this instruction from the word of God, applied in practical fellowship with the Lord.

2.  THE BURDEN OF ALL THIS PEOPLE

Numbers 11: 10-17; 24-29)

Numbers is the wilderness book; it is also the book of complaints. How many times the Israelites complain, weep and wail! In our chapter “the people complained...the people cried out to Moses ...the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again...Moses heard the people weeping...every one at the door of his tent.”

One can understand how these constant complaints (which brought on Israel the chastisement of the Lord) could overtax the patience of their leader. So Moses pours out his complaint before God: “Why?...Why?...they weep all over me...I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me.”

Exodus 18 tells how Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, advised him to obtain some help in administering justice by providing able men: chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. His counsel was that these men judge the people at all times and bring only the great matters to their chief. On the one hand, Moses would “stand before God for the people, so that (he might) bring the difficulties to God.” And on the other hand he would teach them the statutes and the laws. Moses followed this advice, taking it as from God (Ex. 18: 23). In Deuteronomy 1: 9-18 he recalls the incident without adding any negative comment. A counterpart to this might be found in 1 Corinthians 6: 4.

However, in Numbers 11 it was not a matter of dispensing justice or hearing problems. It was rather Moses' feeling of being overwhelmed with the burden of his responsibilities. Certainly God was able to give Moses the means necessary to carry out his charge, and He had instructed him to lead lsrael.

Today, in the light of the New Testament, one must acknowledge that it is not God's intention for His people that only one man assume responsibility for the entire service of the local assembly. The decision of Acts 15 was not reached by one apostle, however prominent, but by the apostles and the elders, with the concurrence of the whole assembly (v. 22). According to passages such as Philippians 4: 3 and Colossians 4: 11, Paul had several “fellow laborers” whom he sent here and there, or who accompanied him on his journeys.

Passages such as 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12 and Ephesians 4 show that each member, every joint, has his/her particular service in the body of Christ; and that all work together for the advantage of the entire body. The Lord alone imparts through the Spirit various gifts, not only the fundamental ones of shepherd, evangelist or prophet, but also every kind of work and function to be performed in the body. All do not have the same qualification, but all the members must equally care for one another: “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4: 10).

Hence, even if it was not proper for Moses to complain to God in this way, we can think that God answered him in grace by giving the seventy elders to assist him in carrying the burden of the people. And Moses did not take it in the wrong way. When Joshua wanted to prevent Eldad and Medad from prophesying in the camp, Moses replies: “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!” (Num. 11: 29). Moses did not at all wish to be the sole channel of the Spirit of God.

First Corinthians 12: 21 reminds us that “the eye cannot say to the hand, `I have no need of you'; nor again the head to the feet, `I have no need of you.' Each of us has received from the Lord a service to perform, and we cannot abandon it to somebody else. Neither should we despise or try to imitate the function which God might have entrusted to others. All are called in dependence on the Lord, to be “joined in the work and laboring” (1 Cor. 16: 16 JND) in a spirit of submission and mutual esteem (Phil. 2: 4; Rom. 12: 3). This is not collaboration as understood in a human organization. Rather, it is cooperation in a living organism, each member operating at the place assigned by the Master (Eph. 4: 16); and particularly today in the scope of 2 Tim. 2: 19-26.

3.  BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT AT KADESH

(Deuteronomy 1: 19-46; Numbers 13 and Numbers 14)

“It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea” (Deut. 1: 2). A few days would suffice to reach the frontier of Canaan. Yet, more than thirty eight years after the departure from Sinai we meet the people at Kadesh-barnea again (Num. 20: 1). So today, the spiritual progress of a soul can be rapid, but often many years are wasted through lack of faith, vigilance, and love for the Lord.

This is just what happened with the people of Israel. As the starting point for the conquest, Kadesh-Barnea was situated at the frontier of Canaan. Moses mentions it in Deuteronomy one. After the “great and terrible wilderness” which they had crossed, the lsraelites had only to move forward fearlessly and take possession of Palestine. As Moses said, “You have come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us. Look, the LORD your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the LORD God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged” (Deut. 1: 20, 21). In these words one can sense all the relief felt by Moses. He had brought the people through the different stages of the wilderness up to the frontier of Canaan. Just a few more efforts, and through God's kindness he would soon be able to lay down his heavy burden and enjoy rest.

Why then was the course of events different?

(A) The people conceived the blameable wish to send spies to examine the land. Was it not enough that God had declared to them that it was a country flowing with milk and honey, and that He would accompany them in their conquest of it? No, they want men to examine the land on their behalf and bring them news about it. Numbers 13 describes how the Lord accedes to their request and tells Moses to send out spies. In this way, He tries the people to see whether they will trust Him or not.

(B) The people wrongly accepted the majority report of the spies. True, these men reported that Canaan was as God had promised: “The land...truly flows with milk and honey” (Num. 13: 27). However, they quickly add that the people dwelling in the land are strong; the cities are walled and very great. They discredit the land and completely discourage the children of Israel from conquering it.

Caleb protests boldly: “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” The following day. Joshua joins him, insisting that Israel must not “fear the people of the land, for...the LORD is with us” (Num. 14: 9).

Will Israel listen to the disheartening declarations of the ten, or to the two men of faith who, trusting the Lord, assure them of the victory?

How is it with us? Are we among those who recommend “the land” or those who hold back souls from following the Lord? Are not criticisms, detractions, depreciation of the ministry of the Word, negligence in attending the meetings, and so many other insinuation elements which discourage our brethren from possessing the spiritual blessings given by God? Let us, like Joshua and Caleb, rely on God to take possession of what He has given us, and incite others to do the same.

(C) The people listen to the ten spies. During the entire night they lift up their voice, crying and weeping. In the morning they reject Moses and prepare to appoint a captain who will lead them back to Egypt. They further declare that Joshua and Caleb should be stoned.

What a terrible hour for Moses! It may have been the darkest hour in his life. How many times had he not interceded for this people? He had even offered himself for them as a propitiation for their sin, if this had been possible. With faithfulness and constancy he had led them up to the frontier of the promised land. Now they reject him and want to return to Egypt. He falls on his face before the entire assembly, painfully aware that the promised rest is about to be forfeited.

The Lord puts his servant to the test by again proposing that He destroy the people and make of Moses a nation greater and mightier than they. Moses, however, would not accept to enter the land alone, sacrificing his brethren and the glory of God (v. 16). He beseeches the Lord to forgive once more “according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now” (v. 19). “Then the LORD said: I have pardoned, according to your word.”

Moses, however, will have to submit to the discipline that will strike Israel on account of their unbelief. The entire generation that came out of Egypt will perish in the wilderness. What a faithful servant is Moses! He accepts rather to be thirty-eight years in affliction along with the people of God than to witness their destruction and himself be honored. He bows down, submitting to the suffering which he has not deserved. He will see the bodies of his companions fall one after another and die in the arid solitude. As he sees it at this time, only four will survive the thirty-eight more years in the wilderness and enter the promised land: himself, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb.

Several of the people seem to reconsider: “And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, `Here we are, and we will go up to the place which the LORD has promised, for we have sinned!'” (Num. 14: 40). However, they are persisting in their own strength. Moses rather submits to the divine discipline and remains in the camp. Then, as he expresses with deep melancholy in Deuteronomy 2: 1, “...we turned and journeyed into the wilderness of the Way of the Red Sea, as the LORD spoke to me.”

Making all due allowance, do we not at times face the same experience? Must we not also humble ourselves and bow under the hand of God who disciplines His people, even if personally we have had no direct part in the fault that brings divine chastisement upon us?

THINKING THINGS THROUGH

1. Describe the camp of Israel as they left the wilderness of Sinai. In what ways do you see God's concern for them, His desire to be among them and lead them?

2. How is the functioning of various members in the body of Christ illustrated by the distribution of Moses' responsibility among seventy of the elders of Israel? What is your place and function in the body of Christ?

3. What factors prevented the Israelites from going in to possess the promised land when they first arrived at the frontier town of Kadesh- Barnea? What was the result of their failure to possess the land at that time?

4. What are some of the ways in which we hinder one another from possessing our land of spiritual blessings in Christ?

5. How does Moses' great heart for God and for the people of God shine forth once again at Kadesh-barnea?

Chapter 6

THIRTY-EIGHT MORE YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS

In Deuteronomy 2: 14-15 we read: “And the time we took to come from Kadesh-Barnea...was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war was consumed from the midst of the camp.” A choice had been made at Kadesh by these men; they did not have the faith to go up and conquer the land of Canaan, as Caleb and Joshua had urged them to do. Frightened by the enemy, they had renounced God's desire for them to possess it.

Regarding salvation or the daily walk, there are decisive days in life when we too are confronted by a crossroads. Will we really decide for the Lord, adhering to Him and giving Him the first place? Or do we still want to enjoy the things of this world a little longer? The broad road will lead us far away from fellowship with the Lord. For the lsraelites there was no return, no recovery. Under the government of God, the face of the wilderness was strewn with their graves.

We will not take time to consider the various incidents recorded in the Word which occurred during these long years. However, three of them may retain our attention as marking more particularly the character of Moses. These are: the criticism by Miriam, the rebellion of Korah, and the tension at Meribah.

1.  MEEKNESS AND HUMILITY

(A) In The Face Of Miriam's Criticism

(Numbers 12)*

Miriam, the older sister of Moses, had come out with him from Egypt. She had led the choirs of the women in the song of triumph after the Crossing of the Red Sea, and had no doubt acquired an important position within the family and among the people because of her age (Micah 6: 4).

Now however, Zipporah** (who had left Moses for a time) reappears (Ex. 18: 2). Now that Moses has a wife again, Miriam can no longer have the same place as before. As easily happens under such circumstances, Miriam starts to criticize her brother, speaking against him and belittling him. She wins Aaron over, and together they ask insinuatingly: “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” (Num. 12: 2).

How many times, even among us, do envy and jealousy cause criticism and slander? 1 Peter 2: 1 teaches us that we must lay aside all envyings and jealousy if we want to be fed by the pure milk of the Word; if we want to come near the Lord and worship Him. The account in Numbers 12 emphasizes the seriousness of these faults.

Furthermore, Miriam and Aaron, blinded by their self-importance, refuse to acknowledge the place given by God to Moses. “And the Lord heard it” (Num. 12: 2). Someone may think that he has whispered a critical word only in the ear of a brother or sister, advising him or her not to tell it to anybody else. Let us remember that the Lord has heard it and will hold us accountable.

Moses probably knew the criticisms that Miriam was spreading against him. However, as the Word of God says, he was very meek, “more than all men who were on the face of earth.” Humbly he kept silent, just as his Master would do in a future day. When we become the objects of criticism or even slander, should we not also leave it to God? He will bring everything to light at the right moment, and will not allow any bad effect beyond what He deems advisable for his servants.

“Suddenly” the Lord intervenes, calling Moses, Aaron and Miriam to the tent of meeting. Perhaps Aaron and Miriam imagine that what had just happened with the seventy elders will now take place with them. That is, the Lord will take of the Spirit which is on their younger brother and place it on them. If this is what they think, their eyes will soon be opened. The Lord summons Miriam and Aaron to appear alone before Him. Undertaking Moses' defence, He says: “Why...were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?”

We may well underline this verse in our Bibles so that we might take care not to do the same. Criticisms against the servants of God, against their ministry, and against their behavior are so easily expressed!

“So the anger of the LORD was aroused against them, and He departed. And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow.” She must suffer the consequences of her failure. Moses intercedes for her, a fresh proof of his love and humility; but the entire people will know the chastisement that has struck the prophetess who had not been afraid to criticize her brother. During seven days she is to be excluded from the camp; and Israel cannot journey until Miriam is healed and received back into the camp. Regretting a fault is not enough. We must feel deeply within ourselves its gravity in the eyes of God, if not in those of men.

Let us emphasize the attitude of Moses who prays and intercedes for his sister, just as Job did for his friends, and as John invites us to do if we see a brother sinning. Matthew 18 teaches us to go and see such a brother and try to win him. If this move although made in the humble spirit of footwashing as described in John 13 — remains fruitless, two or three brothers must be taken along in order to try to recover the guilty one. It is only after the second visit has failed that one must tell it to the assembly, and then only if the case is sufficiently serious. Evil must in no way be spread abroad. Let us not forget how much Miriam suffered for it.

(B) In The Face of Korah's Rebellion

Numbers 16 relates the most serious difficulty faced by Moses during the forty years in the wilderness. Korah, a Levite of the family of the Kohathites, becomes puffed up. Rallying two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly to himself, he intends to seize religious power. He boldly asks, “Why is the priesthood reserved for the family of Aaron? Why do the Levites not have access to it? Since the entire assembly of Israel — all of them are holy and the Lord is in the midst of them, why do Moses and Aaron lift themselves up above the congregation of the Lord?”

It is not only in our days that an alleged zeal for the holiness of God's assembly is used as a pretext to put oneself forward and to gain influence!

Dathan, Abiram and On of the tribe of Reuben also attack, so to say, the civil authority of Moses, saying, “Is it a small thing that you...should keep acting like a prince over us?” (v. 13).

The double rebellion grows to the point of involving the whole assembly (v. 19). What will Moses do? As at so many other times, he falls on his face (whereas Korah exalts himself) and leaves the decision to God, saying, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will show ...whom He chooses” (v.5). On the one hand Moses relies on the decision of God to confirm the position which He has given to each one; on the other hand he waits until “to-morrow.” He does not want to act hastily in spite of the gravity of the situation. He would rather allow Korah and those with him enough time to repent.

The ingratitude and rebellion experienced by Moses might have caused him to go away and leave the people to their fate. He stays however, aware of the responsibility involved in his God-given position. He keeps his position of authority without losing his spirit of grace and humility.

Is this not the first lesson that we must learn from this chapter, that is, to acknowledge the position imparted by God to each one of his people? In the body of Christ the members do not all have the same function. God has placed each one in the body as it has pleased Him. None can say to the others: “We do not need you.” Members who seem less important cannot think that they therefore do not belong to the body.

The Levites, as Moses emphasized, occupied a privileged position. They could come near to God in performing the service of the tabernacle (v. 9). Why then should they also want to assume the priesthood for themselves? If God has entrusted it to the family of Aaron, should they not acknowledge this special position? And if God has invested Moses with authority, must not His decisions be obeyed with all submission?

Today it is not quite the same since all believers are priests. However, The Word of God does mark out some as elders and some as leaders to be obeyed. Those who labor in the Word must be highly esteemed in love. It is important for us to first discern the place of personal service which the Lord has entrusted to each of us. Then in dependence on Him, seek through His grace to faithfully fulfill that place without trying to encroach on the ground entrusted by the Lord to others.

Faced with the insolent attitude of Dathan and Abiram, Moses once more places himself in the hands of the Lord (v. 15). The day after, Korah gathers his two hundred fifty men. As they all offer incense together at the entrance of the tent of meeting, thus acting as priests, the Lord again threatens to destroy the entire people (v. 21). Moses, however, intercedes for them, and the Lord spares them on condition that they depart from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Because the case is so serious, God cannot show mercy. A simple exclusion from the assembly is no longer possible for these men. One must depart from them and leave them to their fate.

These men learn nothing from the situation. On the contrary, they stand in the entrance of their tents with their wives, their sons and their little ones, defying the entire assembly. Suddenly, the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up! Fire from the Lord also consumes the two hundred and fifty men who offered the incense. Thus the entire people must learn that only the intercession of Moses — a type of Christ — was able to keep them from perdition; They also must know that God's judgment does not spare the guilty ones who do not repent.

As with the incident of the golden calf, order is not yet restored by the following day. The whole assembly again murmurs against Moses and Aaron, saying that they have killed the people of the Lord. A plague breaks out and would have destroyed them all, had not Aaron taken a censer upon Moses' instruction, and stood between the dead and the living. Thus, the plague is stayed. The incense speaks of an offering, the sweet odor of which would ascend before God. It is a perfect figure of the Victim who alone can save from eternal death those who trust in Him.

This time 14,700 people die. This shows how serious it is to continue to rebel after God's judgment has been clearly declared.

God, however, wanted to confirm openly the priesthood of Aaron. Hence, He gives a sign to clearly designate the one whom He has chosen. It is not a sign of death like the fire which consumed the two hundred fifty men, but a sign of life. The rod of Aaron, placed in the sanctuary together with the rods of the princes of the twelve tribes, alone buds forth, bearing flowers and fruit. Thus, Aaron is a type of that other Priest, “...Who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life” (Heb. 7: 16).

2.  TENSION AT MERIBAH

(Numbers 20: 1-13)

It is now the fortieth year in the wilderness. Since the incident of the spies in the second year, the people have been roaming about and have finally gathered again at Kadesh.

At this time, Miriam dies and is buried.

Once more there is no water. How will the new generation, raised in the wilderness, react? They know the law and the statutes, they have celebrated the Passover, and the tabernacle is dwelling in their midst. One may understand the murmurings of those brought up in Egypt, but the younger generation had heard the teaching of Moses. They were the object of his care. They saw the glory of the Lord so many times in the wilderness. Will they not behave better than their fathers?

Not at all. The human heart remains the same and again murmurings,reproaches, and questions are raised, this time from the new generation. Moses and Aaron fall upon their faces, not before the congregation as on other occasions, but “at the entrance of the tent of meeting” (Num. 20: 6 JND). The glory of the Lord appears to them, this time not to consume the people but to use grace. Such grace would be shown on the basis of the priesthood, confirmed through the life manifested in the rod of Aaron.

The Lord gives Moses precise instructions: he must take “...the rod from before the LORD” (Num. 20: 9) — the rod that had budded forth. He must gather the assembly together and speak before them to the rock. Moses takes the rod as the Lord had commanded him. The two brothers gather the congregation before the rock.

It is a moment of tension, irritation, and indignation for Moses whose career will be broken down through his ill-considered action on this occasion. He says to them: “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock? Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod.”

Had Moses' faith decreased? Had he become somewhat tired of the prolonged ingratitude of the people? Whatever the case might be, he lacks the faith that would enable him to simply speak to the rock. He wants to use authority in striking it with his rod. He thus disobeys the Lord's precise order to only speak to the rock while holding in his hand the rod of grace connected with the priesthood.

Grace alone was able to introduce the people into the land. Neither authority nor the rod of judgment could do so. The whole incident is a picture of Christ who would be offered only once. Even if Moses was unable to understand the entire import of his gesture, it still was a serious matter to strike the rock a second time.

“Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, `Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land” (v. 12). In our eyes, the divine sentence seems to be out of proportion to their fault. However, the Lord holds more responsible those who have received much, especially his servants (Luke 12: 48).

Several times Moses beseeches God to revoke his sentence, but the divine decision remains inexorable (Deut. 3: 25-26). The old servant of God recovers communion and intimacy with the Lord, but under the divine government, the consequences remain: “You shall not go over this Jordan.” A similar thing occurred with regard to David and Bathsheba's child.

3.  ALONE AT PISGAH

(Deuteronomy 34)

A short time after the contention at Meribah, Aaron, along with Moses and Eleazar, must go up on mount Hor. There Moses strips his brother of his priestly garments and puts them upon Eleazar, his nephew. “Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain” (Num. 20: 28).

At the time of the golden calf, Aaron had been spared. When the fire of the Lord destroyed Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire, Aaron had kept silent, aware that the fault of his sons was not as grave as his own had been. Once more he is spared. Now at the end of his life he must die, stripped of the garments that marked the high position to which he had been called. His faith, like that of his brother, had been defective at the critical moment.

For a few more months Moses will remain alone at the head of the people. His last year is quite occupied. The entire book of Deuteronomy is filled with his memories. As legislator, he briefly restates the ordinances, gives new instructions for the land, and makes his last recommendations to the people. In the presence of all the people he invests Joshua with the authority needed to assume the succession. He gives expression to the song which will remind Israel of the warnings of the Lord. Before dying he blesses the tribes one after the other, thus showing that he is aware of the future ruin of the people as well as God's resources for them.

Before leaving those whom he has served and led so faithfully, he pronounces these last words: “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut. 33: 27). In his prayer preserved in Psalm 90, he can say: “LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.” Had not this communion, this intimacy with God, marked his career on earth from the burning bush to the plains of Moab? Alluding to such vital fellowship, the Lord Jesus will later say: “Abide in me, and I in you” (John 15).

The God whom the fathers had known, the God who had revealed Himself to Moses, was always the same. His eternal arms had carried him as He carried his people through all these years.

The last day arrives. Moses leaves the plains of Moab where the tents of the people were pitched, and slowly goes up to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah. His work is completed. He has led this nation through so many difficulties and obstacles up to the frontier of the land. He has also communicated to them the thoughts of God. Now his task is finished, although not in the way he would really have liked, since he cannot introduce Israel into the land. Unlike Aaron, he does not have a brother and a son near him to assist him in his last moments. Even his faithful Joshua who had accompanied him at Sinai has remained in the plain.

A greater One, however, comes near to him and lets him experience His presence and intimacy: “This is the land of which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, `I will give it to your descendants.' I have caused you to see it with your eyes.'” Abraham of old had walked “in the land through its length and its width,”. knowing that God would give it to his descendants (Gen. 13: 17). The men of faith of Hebrews 11 saw from afar the promised things, the heavenly land, and they embraced them. John at Patmos, aware of the ruin of the assembly (Rev. 2-3), saw the heavenly city, the Lamb's wife (Rev. 21).

At the thorn-bush, Moses had been alone with God on holy ground. There the I AM THAT I AM revealed Himself and constrained His servant to accept the mission being entrusted to him. At Sinai as lawgiver, he had been alone with the Lord on two occasions of forty days each. Then in the cleft of the rock, he had learned to know God's thoughts of grace.

How many times this leader, tired of the ingratitude of the people, had entered the most holy place to listen in the silence of the sanctuary to the voice speaking to him from off the mercy-seat? (Num. 7: 89). “And he spoke to Him.” Now on barren Pisgah at this supreme moment of Moses' life, His faithful and well known Friend is there near His servant.

After contemplating the good land which God will give to His people, Moses, alone, falls asleep. The Lord Himself buries him in the valley and no man knows his sepulchre to this day. God takes care of the body of His servant, just as later He will make sure that the body of His Son is given the right burial. The Epistle of Jude records a dispute between Michael and Satan about the body of Moses. God watches, lest the enemy might make of it an object of veneration and idolatry as he did with the brass serpent.

One day Moses did enter the promised land. On the mount of transfiguration, he saw in glorious humanity, the Face that had remained hidden at Sinai (Luke 9: 28-31). The purpose of this meeting was not to speak of the past and of all that had been involved in the journey through the wilderness. Neither was it to consider the remote future when the glory of the Son of God would shine in His kingdom. Rather, it was to speak of His death which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

In the Passover lamb and in the Levitical sacrifices, Moses had presented the type. Now the reality was there: Jesus was to be presented as the propitiation “that He [God] might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

The marvelous vision disappears; the cloud takes away Moses and Elijah until the day of resurrection; the disciples no longer see anyone but “Jesus alone with them.”

Moses — man of God, man of faith, deliverer, leader, shepherd, lawgiver, mediator, intercessor, prophet, and so frequently a type of Christ. This great figure of Moses remains before us unique and lonely so that considering the outcome of his conduct, we might imitate his faith (Heb. 13: 7).

THINKING THINGS THROUGH

1. Describe the unhappy situation in which Miriam and Aaron begin complaining against Moses because of his wife. How does this illustrate the strife and murmurings which can arise in an assembly?

2. What personal lessons do you learn from Moses' response (or lack of response) to the complaints against him?

3. Consider the rebellion of Korah and his allies against Moses and Aaron: their complaints, their presumption and God's judgment upon them. Why do you suppose the congregation generally sided with these rebels after all Moses had done for them? What can you learn from Moses about the right attitude towards those who show cruel and unjust ingratitude towards us?

4. Explain the difference between priesthood then and now. Considering this vast difference, what are the lessons we can yet learn from this rebellion against God's established priesthood?

5. Describe the incident at Meribah where Moses hit the rock. Considering the forty long years in which Moses had borne with this disobedient and rebellious people, we might excuse him for acting in anger and self-will, but how did God view it? Yet, what do the further references to Moses in the Bible reveal as to what God wants us to remember about His beloved servant? (Luke 9: 28-31; Acts 7; Heb. 3: 1-5; Heb. 11: 23-29; etc.).

6. Walk with Moses up to Pisgah and meditate there upon his last moments, alone with God. Such times with God had been the secret of his blessed and fruitful career, and his refuge in frequent troubles. How much do you know of time spent alone with God? Consider your daily schedule in the light of this vital necessity.

The Eternal Son

The Eternal Son

E. C. Hadley.

God is. His essential name in the Old Testament is Jehovah — the "I am that I am," the living, eternal, self-existing, unchangeable One, acting from Himself and according to Himself in all that He does.

Man's intelligence cannot understand it. It is folly to reason about Him. We would have to be God to comprehend Him. But it becomes us as His creatures to accept and hold fast in simple faith what He has been pleased to tell us in His Word about His eternal being.

In His essential being He is inscrutable and invisible to the creature, "dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see" (1 Tim. 6: 16). Yet it has pleased the Triune God to give us a revelation concerning Himself.

But here lies a difficulty. Human language is suited to express human relationships and things within the sphere of human conceptions and ideas and is therefore deficient to describe adequately the divine being of the eternal God and the uncreated relationship that must exist essentially without beginning or end between the three persons of the Triune God. Whatever expressions God uses to reveal to us these divine things must necessarily be couched in human language that we humans are liable to wrest and distort by reading into them our own human ideas if we at all attempt to reason about what God says about Himself and our pride of reasoning ever inclines us to do so.

But God has come in His sovereign goodness towards us in this our natural weakness. In giving us His divinely inspired statements about Himself He has not at all left us to our own reasoning powers to speculate about what He says; but He has made us partakers of His own divine nature which has a capacity to grasp divine things when revealed, and then He has given us His own Holy Spirit to dwell in us to interpret His Word and to enlighten our renewed understanding as to its true meaning. This is a great boon. But it is only as we lean not on our own understanding and have a submissive will and a teachable heart that He can guide us into all truth (John 7: 17; Prov. 3: 5, 6; 1 Cor. 2: 10, 12, 14; John 16: 13).

The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, because they are foolishness unto him. Neither can the child of God receive them by his natural reasoning powers. They are communicated to our intelligence by the energy of the Spirit of God when our understanding has been opened by the Lord to understand the Scriptures, and they must be received by faith. (Luke 24: 45; 1 Cor. 2: 12-14).

This is where many have failed in their comprehension of divine truth as touching the eternal God and the eternal relationship between the Father and the Son. They try to enter into the meaning of the Scriptural expressions by a process of human reasoning instead of abandoning all confidence in themselves and letting the Spirit communicate in His own power to their souls these divine and precious truths the Triune God has been pleased to give us in His Word concerning Himself.

This reasoning of the human mind about the Godhead has led to different errors by introducing certain elements that have to do with our human relations down here into their reasonings about the Godhead, but which evidently cannot be applied to that eternal, uncreated, unchanging and unchangeable relationship that subsists between the three persons of the Triune God.

The Word of God is decisive as to the eternity of Christ's being, "God was manifest in the flesh," "Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting," "Before Abraham was, I am" (the eternal I am) (1 Tim. 3: 16; Micah 5: 2; John 8: 58).

But soon after the apostles' days the theory of eternal generation was brought out — that is that the Son of God as to His being exists eternally, but as a father is the source of a son he begets, therefore the Son of God exists as a sort of eternal or continual generation from the Father. This human theory, arrived at by introducing an element that has to do with the purely human relationship into their reasonings about the uncreated eternal relationship of the Godhead, actually deprives the Son of His co-equality with the Father and reduces Him to a derivative form owing His existence to the Father.

Today in Christendom there is another widespread error that also is the result of introducing another element of human relations into the divine, uncreated, essential relationship that subsists in and between the persons of the Triune God. They say that the term son implies "graded relations and relative inferiority"; and therefore they reason the term "Son of God" can only apply to Him as Man born of the virgin and can have no application to His pre-incarnate relationship in the deity. This terrible error robs Him of His pre-incarnate relationship as Son well beloved of the Father which is the keystone of the whole New Testament.

First it is not true that sonship even in human relations necessarily implies inferiority. Who would dare to affirm that Abraham was inferior to his father Terah or Moses to his father Amram or David to Jesse?

What then is the meaning of the term Father and Son when applied to the uncreated Godhead? There must be some reason why God chose these terms in speaking of Himself. We should carefully weigh the fact that nowhere in Scripture do we find Christ spoken of as a child of God. (In Acts 4: 27, the expression, "Thy holy child Jesus" is not the usual word for child in the Greek and should be translated "servant"). Child would imply immaturity and weakness. It is always Son of God. A son is of the same nature and essence as his father and in the normal relationship, the son is attached to his father and is the object of his father's deep affection and enjoys close intimacy with him. All this then is implied in the term Father and Son when applied to the Godhead-being of the same nature and essence and having deep mutual affection and intimacy.

"The Only-Begotton Son"

Then when we get the term only begotten we get the additional thought that He is the only one having this relationship to the Father and as such is the special object of the Father's deep affection and eternal delight. Take the account of Abraham offering up Isaac in Gen. 22, which is clearly intended to be a type of God sparing not His own Son but offering Him up for us all, what do we find especially stressed there, "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest" (v. 2; Heb. 11: 17).

This we see in the five passages where the term "only begotten" is used.

In John 3: 16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life;" the Lord would definitely bring out in bright relief the immensity of God's love towards a guilty world in giving His only begotten Son, the One who was from all eternity the object of His deep affection and delight. To say that the term here "only begotten Son" is applicable to Christ as Man only and has no reference to the pre-incarnate relation of the Son to the Father in the eternal Godhead, dims at once the greatness of God's love to a guilty world that is clearly intended to be set forth in all its depth and fullness by the fact that the One He gave for a lost and guilty world is His only begotten Son, the One who dwelt from all eternity in His bosom as the object of His eternal delight. This is also very evident in 1 John 4: 9, "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."

"We joy in our God, and we sing of that love

So sovereign and free, which did His heart move,

When lost our condition, all ruined, undone,

He saw with compassion, and spared not His Son.

"His Son, His delight, His loved One, He gave

The cross to endure, by dying to save:

Sure love so amazing, unmeasured, untold,

Since Him it has given, no good will withhold."

In John 1: 14, 18, it is His competency to reveal the Father that is enhanced in virtue of being in His eternal Person the only begotten of the Father, sharing with Him the same nature and essence and dwelling from all eternity in the Father's bosom as the eternal object of His heart's affection and in the intimacy of all that heart contains. Therefore He is fully competent to manifest to all that God is in His character and nature and to reveal His eternal love and purposes towards us.

The only other place is in John 3: 18, "He that believeth not is condemned already, because He hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." Here the terrible state and guilt of the unbeliever, hating the light and loving darkness, is brought out emphatically by his refusal to put faith in the name of the only begotten Son of God come in grace as the Father's love gift to a lost world, and he therefore is justly condemned.

The Truth Concerning the Eternal God

Can Only Be Known by Faith

It is the height of folly for man with his finite mind to try to reason and speculate about that which is infinite. Every time he attempts to do so he is sure to fall into some error by introducing some human idea derived from purely human relationships into his reasonings about the uncreated, eternal, unchanging and unchangeable relationship subsisting in the essential Being of the eternal Triune God, which is far above and beyond human relationships and lies away outside the scope of human reasoning powers to speculate about.

Just as "through faith we understand (without trying to reason it out) that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Heb. 11: 3) so also through faith we understand upon the authority of God's Word that this uncreated relationship of Father and Son and Holy Spirit subsists from everlasting to everlasting in the eternal Godhead without trying to reason it out. Even more, because of our unshaken faith in His divine Word we resolutely refuse to allow our finite minds to reason or speculate about these divine eternal things, knowing intuitively that our finite minds are utterly incapable to reason about that which is infinite. Yet how grateful we should be to God, our Creator, that He has given us a mind capable of accepting, when enlightened by His Spirit, as divine truth what He has been pleased to reveal in His Word concerning Himself, and to rejoice in this divinely given knowledge with hearts overflowing with praise and adoration and joyful abandon of all our being into His blessed hands, Who has manifested the immensity of His eternal love towards us in sending His only begotten Son into this world His hands had made that we might live through Him.

"Father divine, in grateful love

We bow before Thy face,

While for Thy gift unspeakable

Our souls o'erflow with praise;

Thine only Son, Thy heart's delight

Far back, ere time began,

Thou in Thy boundless love didst give

To die for ruined man.

"Father this mystery of love

Must all our praise excel:

No human, no angelic tongue

Its wondrous depths can tell;

For what were we that Thou on us

Such love shouldst ever pour?

We bow, and, filled with joy and awe,

Father and Son adore."

Plurality in Unity

The unity of the Godhead is declared repeatedly in Scripture. "Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah" (Deut. 6: 4, J. N. D. Trans.). "One Jehovah, and His name one" (Zech. 14: 9, J. N. D. Trans.). "I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside Me," "I am God and there is none else" (Isa. 45: 5; Isa. 46: 9). Yet that there is plurality in this divine unity of the Godhead is equally revealed from the first verse of the Bible on. In the Hebrew the Name for God is in the plural and the verb in the singular. "In the beginning God (plural) created (singular)" thus showing plurality in unity. And in Gen. 1: 26 we read, "And God said, Let us make man in our image." Here clearly plurality is revealed, each distinct in personality so that they can address one another, "Let us make man," and yet having one likeness and working together in concert to carry out one purpose, neither acting without the other.

In comparing Gen. 1: 2 with Prov. 8: 27-30 and Heb. 1: 2 this comes out all the more clearly in connection with creation and the reforming of the earth for man. "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." "When He prepared the heavens, I was there: when He set a compass upon the face of the depth: when He established the clouds above: when He strengthened the fountains of the deep: when He gave to the sea His decree, that the waters should not pass His commandment: when He appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by Him as one brought up with Him (or, as His artificer, see margin of J. N. D.'s Trans.): and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him." "God...hath...spoken unto us by (in the Person of) His Son...by whom He also made the worlds."

Plurality in unity is here clearly revealed, each Person having a distinct personality and a distinct part and sphere of action in all that the Triune God does, yet not independent of, but in essential relationship one to the other.

For example, the Father sends the Son. This was a distinct act on the part of the Father. Yet the Son acts in His own proper Person in coming into the world. "I proceeded forth and came from God"; "I came down from heaven"; "I am come into the world" (John 8: 42; John 6: 38; John 16: 28). He did not however act apart from the Father but in full harmony and coordination with the Father's will and purpose in sending Him. "Neither came I of Myself, but He sent Me." "I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will but the will of Him that sent Me" (John 8: 42; John 6: 38).

So also when it comes to the Son assuming the form of a man, we find each of the three persons of the Godhead active in it. Christ speaking to God the Father says, "A body hast Thou prepared Me" (Heb. 10: 5). In Matthew 1: 20 we read that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Here we have God the Father and the Holy Spirit both acting in harmonious accord, in the forming of this holy humanity of our Lord. But the Son is also seen in His own proper action in taking up manhood into union with His Person. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same." "He emptied Himself taking a bondman's form, taking His place in the likeness of men" (Heb. 2: 14; Phil. 2: 7, J. N. D. Trans.). And so in all the activity of the Triune God.

Being One in nature, substance and essential being, they love necessarily the same things and so have the same thoughts, will and purpose about everything, though each having His distinct part in activity and relationship in all that the Triune God does, but always working together in complete unison carrying out one common purpose and will. Thus of Christ, the incarnate Son, we read: "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." "Believest Thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." "And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee." "I cast out devils by the Spirit of God." "Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God" (Col. 2: 9, John 14: 10; John 5: 17; Luke 4: 14; Matt. 12: 28; Heb. 9: 14). Each Person of the Godhead takes part in what He, the incarnate Son, does. (John 1: 14; 1 John 5: 20; 1 John 3: 8).

Dependent Man

In manhood He kept the place that He had voluntarily taken according to the divine purposes as dependent man doing all by the power of the Spirit, and yet the Father was in Him as the source of His words and deeds. But it was He, the eternal Son who was there in person in the form of a man. He was there in all of the divine power of His eternal being that created and upholds the universe. And He could say of those works of which the Father in Him was the source and the Spirit the power, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." (John 17: 4).

It is a divine mystery where human reasoning is sure to stray if it tries to speculate or figure it out, but which faith rejoices to believe and finds therein the spring of eternal delight.

So if the Son takes a place of apparent subordination to the Father and the Spirit takes a place of apparent subordination to the Son, yet it is apparent only, for in fact, each is willingly doing His own part in conjunction and concert with the other two in carrying out one common purpose and will. All three are coequal in deity, essential in being and nature, but distinct in personality and in eternal unchanging relationship to the other and each having His own part and activity which He willingly does in carrying out one divine plan and purpose. Understand it we cannot, speculate on it we dare not, believe it we must, or else we make the divinely inspired Word of God a lie.

The Truth of the Eternal Sonship of Christ

Is a Vital Truth of Scripture.

We will now turn to Matt. 28:19. Jesus in giving instructions to His disciples, says, "Baptizing them in the Name (not names) of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Here we have the Triune God revealed under one Name but this one name embracing three persons in divine relationship to one another as Father, Son and Holy Ghost. This divine uncreated relationship, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is characteristic of the three in one and is essential to the eternal subsistence of the Triune God. The Father is and ever was and ever will be the Father in His essential being in the Godhead and so the Spirit is and ever was and ever will be that person designated as the Spirit, co-equal with the Father in deity but always and eternally in His person the Spirit. He cannot exchange His place and personal relationship as the Spirit with that of the Father nor can the Father exchange His place and personal relationship as Father with that of the Spirit in that eternal unchanging subsistence of the Godhead and this is also true of the Son. This is not cold logic nor human reasoning but holding in simple faith, without doubting or disputing, the plain and uniform revelation of the holy Scriptures. "I am the LORD, I change not;" "I am that I am" (Mal. 3: 6; Ex. 3: 14). Unchangeableness is characteristic of the Godhead The Godhead is what it is and unchangeably so. The Son has taken up manhood into His being so that there is a change in outward display and form but He has never ceased to be that He ever was and ever will be in His essential being in the Godhead, the Son.

This truth of the eternal Sonship is the basic truth underlying the full revelation of the Triune God in the New Testament. It is because He is the eternal Son co-equal in deity and one in nature and essence with His Father, ever dwelling in the bosom of His Father, knowing the full depth and extent of all His feelings, thoughts and purposes, that He could and did manifest the Triune God. "God manifest in the flesh, If He had been in any point inferior, or if there had been the least thought in the Father's heart or of the Spirit's that He did not know and fully share with them, He could not have manifested the Triune God.

This truth of the eternal relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is vital. To have three beings coequal in deity without relationship would be three Gods, not one Triune God.

In Becoming Man He Did Not Give Up His Eternal Deity nor His Eternal Relationship In the Godhead

We will look at some scriptures confirming this vital truth that He was Son in Deity before incarnation. But before doing so, it is well to look a moment at Phil. 2: 6, 7, "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." J. N. Darby's translation reads, "Who, subsisting in the form of God . . . but emptied Himself, taking a bondman's form, taking His place in the likeness of men." W. Kelly translates it, "Emptied Himself, taking a bondman's form, being come in men's likeness." The emptying of Himself has to do only with the form He had. Emptying Himself of the outward majesty and glory of the Creator, having authority and never under command, He takes a servant's form and takes His place in the likeness of men to serve God and man in His obedience unto death. In doing this He in nowise gave up His essential deity or any quality or attribute of it nor did He divest Himself of His eternal and unchanging relationship in the Godhead. This He could not do. He could not empty Himself of what He was essentially in His being, but only of — the outward form. So we read, "Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever." (Rom. 9: 5).

He Who Was Son in Deity Takes up Perfect Manhood into Union with His Person

He took up perfect manhood into union with His Person. His incarnation did not in the least detract from His eternal deity nor from His eternal relationship in the Godhead, but only gave to His humanity His infinite perfection. So in manhood He was Son as He ever was in that eternal, unchanging and unchangeable relationship which He had with the Father in the Godhead.

"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." "The Son of God is come." "The Son of God was manifested" (John 1: 15; 1 John 5: 20; John 3: 8).

The plain and simple force of such scriptures is that He was Son, the only begotten of the Father before He came in flesh, before He was manifested. It was the eternal Son that was manifested by coming into this world in the form of a man. He did not become Son by becoming man, but the Son became man in order to manifest Himself and undo the works of the devil and give us a full revelation of what God is in His moral nature and character so that we might know Him. He was God (the Son) manifested in flesh, so that in manhood as in deity He was ever the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father (John 1: 18).

We will look at some more scriptures confirming this blessed truth of His eternal Sonship.

In John 17 we see Him standing in the midst of His disciples in the likeness of men. He lifts up His eyes to heaven and speaks to the Father. His words reveal His deep inner consciousness of the unchanging eternal relationship He had as Son with the Father before the world was. "Father...glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee.... And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." (Verses 1, 5).

Just a little while before He had told them, "I came forth from the Father and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father" (John 16: 28) There could be no Father if there was no Son. And here we see the relationship of Father and Son was there before He came into the world. In coming forth from the Father and coming into the world He, the Son, took His place in the likeness of men. It is this great fact of what He is in His eternal person the Son, that gave value to all He did as dependent Man. And it is just this great fact that He was God's own Son eternally, that brings out in all its brightness and depth the love of the Father in sending Him that we might live through Him. Take away the truth of His eternal Sonship and you take away the measure by which we know the fullness of the Father's love to us, and the great incentive we have for adoring Him.

"What was it, blessed God,

Led Thee to give Thy Son

To yield Thy well-beloved

For us by sin undone?

'Twas love unbounded led Thee thus

To give Thy well-beloved for us.

"What love to Thee we owe,

Our God, for all Thy grace?

Our hearts may well o'erflow

In everlasting praise

Make us, O God, to praise Thee thus

For all Thy boundless love to us."

The Father Manifests His Love In Sending His Son that We Might live Through Him

"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" (1 John 4: 9). Here clearly He was the only begotten before He was sent "into the world." It is just this great fact that makes God's love shine out in its fullness in sending Him.

"There all the saints of every clime shall meet,

And each with all shall all the ransomed greet,

But oh, the height of bliss, our Lord, shall be

To owe it all, and share it all, with Thee."

We have also Rom. 8: 3 and Gal. 4: 4, "God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh (of Christ made sin for us)" and "God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law." He was God's Son in His pre-incarnate relation with God when sent. Born of a woman in the likeness of flesh (of men) is the form He assumed in coming. To affirm that He only became Son in being born of a woman not only violates the language used, but what is worse robs these passages of their clear evident intention to emphasize the immensity of the love and grace of God the Father in sending His own Son, who was from all eternity the object of His deepest affection and delight and one with Him in nature and essence, to bear the judgment of sin in our stead. It is just this that gives force to what the Apostle goes on to point out in Romans 8, "If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. 8: 31, 32. See also Rom. 8: 38, 39).

God Creates the Worlds by His Son

Heb. 1: 2 is another passage that ought to settle fully any mind that is subject to Scripture as to Christ's eternal Sonship. "God...hath in these last days spoken unto us by (or in the person of) His Son by whom also He made the worlds." God created the worlds by His Son. He was in that relationship as Son at the time He created the worlds. Who could question this clear implication of this passage? Col. 1: 13-17 also says the same thing. "For by Him (the Son, see verse 13) were all things created."

Other passages could be cited, but these are ample to convince any person who is ready to accept in simple faith God's own divine statements without doubting or reasoning.

The Son of God in Manhood

One more passage may be examined with profit. "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1: 35). This name is not a new one given Him but His eternal one confirmed. It is not said "shall be the Son of God" as this would indicate that He was Son only as man born of the virgin and was not therefore Son in pre-incarnation. But the passage says, "shall be called the Son of God." That name which was His from all eternity "the Son," He carries over into manhood so that even as to His holy human nature conceived by the Holy Spirit He is called Son of God. Thus He is the Son of God in manhood as He is and always was and always will be in deity.

The Son, in Taking up Manhood into His Being, Voluntarily Took the Place of Submission and Dependence

He took up humanity into union with deity in His Person; yet His incarnation did not in the least detract from His deity nor His eternal relationship as Son to the Father but only gave to His humanity His infinite perfection. Each of His two natures retained its own proper character without any confusion. His human nature as well as His divine nature possessed each their excellent characteristics and both united to form His glorious Person as incarnate Son. Scripture never divides the Person nor confounds the natures. They are united in His Person by a unique and inscrutable bond. He is the God-man He is God in all that God is and He is Man in all that man is, apart from sin. Such is the Son of God come in flesh — the God-man — that He might manifest the Godhead in the flesh and by His obedience unto death, even the death of the cross, might redeem us unto God.

As the incarnate Son He ever kept and will keep eternally (1 Cor. 15: 28) that place of a perfect Man in complete dependence, entire submission and implicit obedience to His Father's will and yet in it all He ever acts in His own Person as Son from eternity, who voluntarily took His place in manhood (being one with the Father in His will and purpose in it) that He might manifest unto us the Father and accomplish His will and the desire of His heart in our redemption to the praise of the glory of His grace. As incarnate Son He continually displays absolute submission to the will of the Father, yet this sacred service was and is equally the exercise of His own will, which was and always is uniform with that of His Father both in His deity and His perfect manhood.

Not Inferior to the Father in the dignity of His Person

"My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5: 17). They work together in perfect accord, each having His respective part in carrying out one unique divine plan.

"The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth" (John 5: 19, 20), and "I can of Mine own self do nothing" (Verse 30). Some say this could not apply to the Lord as eternal Son but only to Him as Man. But this is bringing in human reasoning. We must not confuse the dignity of His person with the place He has voluntarily taken in carrying out the divine purposes. The Son is seen in this chapter as coequal with the Father, quickening whom He will and judging all, but He is not acting independently of the Father nor is the Father acting independently of Him. The Father shows Him all He does and the Son does nothing without His Father. There is complete equality and oneness in purpose and thought in carrying out one common plan. The Son has voluntarily taken the form of a servant for accomplishing the divine purposes of the Godhead with which He is fully one. But this does not render Him in anywise inferior to His Father by doing so. We must not confuse the dignity of His Person with that place He has taken in full communion and oneness of thought and purpose with the Godhead in carrying out the divine purposes.

The Holy Spirit also now takes a place in the present dispensation that appears to be subordinated, He "proceedeth from the Father" and is "sent" by the Father and the Son. And having come, He does not speak of Himself but whatsoever He hears He speaks. His mission is to "glorify Christ" in receiving the things that are His and showing them unto us. (See John 15: 26; John 16: 13, 14). All such expressions as these appear to give a place of subordination to the Spirit as others appear to do to the Son but it is in appearance only and in respect to the place they have taken and the part they play in carrying out the divine purposes and not in anywise as to the dignity of their Persons. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are coequal in deity and all are one in thought, will and purpose though each has His respective part and sphere of action in the carrying out of the divine purposes.

A human example might help to see this more clearly. Three brothers undertake a manufacturing business as coequal partners and they sit down together and plan it out. By common consent, one is to take the general management of the business, the other takes the direction of the work in the plant and the third takes charge of the sales department. The general manager might appear to some to be in a place of superiority and the other two in the place of inferiority. But it is not so in reality. They are all coequal working together in full accord to carry out one common plan and purpose. The general manager would never think of his brother who is directing the work in the plant as his inferior. No part of the business is in reality inferior where what each does is essential to the success of the whole and all are working with that one purpose in view-the success of the business. So in this divine plan that the Triune God has purposed for the display of the Godhead glory and our redemption we cannot think of any part in it as being inferior where all the details are linked in one perfect whole. Though each Person of the Godhead has His respective part to do in carrying out of the whole, yet all is of co-equal importance.

The Son in carrying out His part took "His place in the likeness of men" (Phil. 2: 7 J. N. D. Trans.) but He did not in anywise surrender His coequality in deity nor the dignity of His Person in doing so. And as we see Him here in that perfect dependence and obedience that became the place He had taken, let us beware of thinking it was subjection by reason of inferiority. Indeed it is His unique glory that while there in that place of complete dependence He was as ever "over all, God blessed for ever" (Rom. 9: 5). "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work" (John 4: 34). He had voluntarily undertaken that work with all that it entailed, including incarnation, and the cross, and was carrying it out with full delight of heart. It was His meat. He was absolutely one with the Father's will in it all. If He had been in the slightest degree inferior in His personal dignity to the Father in the Godhead, He could not have accomplished that work to the glory of the Triune God nor have manifested God here in the flesh It was His absolute coequality with His Father that gave its infinite value to all He did as the incarnate Son.

The Use of the Name God as Applied to the Three Persons of the Trinity

In Scripture the name God is often used as embracing all three persons of the Trinity especially in the Old Testament. But in the New Testament the Father alone is often addressed as God, while the Spirit and the Son are not addressed as God in this way. For example, "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Gal. 4: 6). This is not because of superiority in the Godhead, but rather because in the working out of the divine purposes the Son has taken His place as a servant and the obedient Man, and the Spirit takes the place as sent by the Father and the Son to glorify the Son. So in the place they have taken in the working out of the divine counsels they could not be called simply God in the way the Father is; though the Son is God and the Spirit is God, both coequal with the Father in deity.

In the working out of the divine counsels we see that God, the Father, is looked upon as the author and source of all things, the One who chooses, predestinates, calls and justifies and works all things after the counsel of His own will. (See 1 Cor. 8: 6; Eph. 1: 3-11; 2 Tim. 1: 9; Rom. 8: 28-33, etc.). The Son is looked upon as the workman or artificer by whom all things are made and upheld, the One in, by and through whom all the counsels of the Triune God are realized and made secure and the work of redemption is accomplished, and the One who, in coming in the flesh, manifests and declares and reveals God to man. (See 1 Cor. 8: 6; Eph. 1: 2 Tim. 1: 9; John 1: 18; 1 Tim. 1: 16; Phil. 3: 21, etc.). The Spirit of God is looked upon as the One who works directly in power upon and in the creature or created things. (Ps. 104: 3; Judges 14: 5, 6; Eph. 3: 16; 2 Cor. 4: 4, 10, 12-14; Rom. 8: 4-16, 26, etc.).

The Son Took up Manhood into Inseparable Union with His Person

It is well to note another point. Some would seek to distinguish in the Lord's actions and words that which is manhood and that which is deity. But this is indeed slippery ground. It leads inevitably into attributing a dual personality to our Lord, the one manhood the other deity kept distinct in separate compartments, so to speak, in His being. But this is purely human reasoning contrary to the way Scripture presents our Lord's Person.

Scripture never divides His Person into two parts, one human and one divine, but reveals Him as having taken up perfect humanity into union with His eternal deity so that they are united in one unique, inscrutable and indissoluble bond in His Person. While Scripture never confounds the two natures it never divides the Person. Even what He does in manhood is still the action of Himself, the eternal Son, who has of His own self, and without giving up His personality as eternal Son, "taking a bondman's form, taking His place in the likeness of men" (Phil. 2: 7, J. N. D. Trans.). It is He the eternal Son that is there as Man. It is this fact of His Person as the eternal Son of God, having taken His place as Man, that gives the infinite perfection of His unique Person to all that He does as incarnate Son. It is this indissoluble union of perfect manhood with eternal deity in His unique Person that constantly comes out in all that He does as God (the Son) manifest in flesh.

"No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." "What and it ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before?" (John 3: 13; 6: 62).

He unites in such complete union perfect manhood and eternal omnipresent deity that He can speak while calling Himself the Son of man, as having come down from heaven or ascending up (He, the Son of man) to where He was before or even say of Himself, while He was bodily present here on earth, "The Son of man is in heaven."

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6: 51). He speaks of Himself as the living bread come down from heaven and yet in the same sentence says that He, the One who came down from heaven, will give His flesh as bread for the life of the world. While the two natures, manhood and eternal deity, are clearly seen here in His Person yet it is impossible to separate them in His actions.

"Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." "The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." "Upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high" (1 Peter 2: 24; Gal 2: 20; Heb. 1: 3). It was Himself, the omnipotent One, Who upholds all things by the word of His power, that gave Himself in sacrifice for our sins. He, the eternal Son, bare our sins in His own body on the tree — not the Man as man nor yet Deity as deity, though perfect manhood and full deity were there united in His Person. It was the Person who had taken up manhood into union with Himself that purges our sins by the sacrifice of Himself. Manhood and deity are both there clearly, but we cannot separate them in His actions or words.

And so we gaze upon that Man, sitting weary from His journey, on Jacob's well, asking for a drink of water in John 4 and we exclaim with Thomas, "My Lord and My God!" Who would want to rob Him of His Godhead glory, the glory of His grace, as we see Him there come to give those living waters to a weary sin-sick soul in the thirst of His own soul to bring her to share with Him His own everlasting joy?

We cannot reason these things out. They are beyond the reach of human reason to speculate about. But we can receive them in simple faith as glorious facts on the unquestionable authority of His divinely inspired Word, and worship and adore. Such worship and the devoted service that flows from it will expand our hearts and enrich our lives, but to speculate about His inscrutable person will shrivel up our souls and sap all true communion with God in His thoughts and delights in His Son.

"No man knoweth the Son (in the sense of understanding the union of perfect manhood and eternal deity in His Person) but the Father." But how blessed it is to believe it simply on the authority of God's Word. For here we have the revelation of God's eternal love to our souls and the sure foundation of eternal bliss together with Him. Almighty God, some dreaded potentate with invincible power, who, if we dared to resist Him, could crush us as a moth, and we, ignorant of His inner thoughts concerning us, would not know what He might do next — what terror this could be for our souls. But, oh, what joy, what eternal bliss, God is no longer for us an unknown and unknowable something. He has been manifest in the flesh in the Person of His eternal, only begotten Son full of grace and truth and of His fulness have we all received, and grace for grace.

"But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess. 2: 13, 14).

E. C. Hadley.

Peace and Joy in Time of Trials

Peace and Joy in Time of Trials.

E. C. Hadley.

The Purpose of Trials

Trials teach us submission to the Lord and deliver us from our own ways. They are God's way of developing patience in us. About the purpose of trials in our lives, James wrote: "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing" (James 1: 2-4).

If everything went just the way we wanted, we would have nothing to be patient about. Patience requires setting aside our own will. Therefore trials show just how much we are willing to give up our own will to accept God's will for us.

What God Allows

We must never forget that, whatever our circumstances, God has allowed them for our good. God's choice for us sometimes seems very hard to bear. But this is because we are not fully surrendered to Him or because we lack confidence in His love and wisdom. God is either choosing the very best for us in what He allows in our lives, or else He deliberately chooses for us what He knows is not in our best interest. Would we dare charge God with the latter?  Never!

In His providential dealings with us He either orders or allows all that comes into our lives. He has the almighty power to prevent anything from happening, so if it happens, He has allowed it. Therefore, complaining is the same as saying that we know what is best for us better than God does, or else that God does not care enough to give us what is best. One is pure pride, the other is distrust of His motives.

Who's in Charge?

We sometimes think, "Doesn't the devil also have a hand in what happens to us?" That is very true, as we see in Job's case. But we also see how the devil could not go beyond what God allowed (Job 1: 12; Job 2: 6); and what He allowed He used for even richer blessing in Job's life than before.

The devil is powerless to do anything without God allowing it. He is only a creature, as are all his hosts of demons. God is above them, no matter how mighty they may be. So even if we see the devil's hand in what happens, we must not forget to see God's hand above the devil's. God only allows him to go as far as it suits His sovereign purposes, to turn it into blessing for His people.

The Long View

"All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose" (Rom. 8: 28), and that includes even what the devil is allowed to do.  Do not forget that God is working with a view to our eternal good and not simply with regard to this present time.

We so often look at things from a "here and now" perspective while God works with eternal results in view. God may choose a hard road for us, not because He delights in our suffering hardship along the way, but because of the eternal blessing it will bring us.

"Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress" (Ps. 4: 1 KJV). Distress is not sent from God for the sake of suffering but for the sake of  enlargement. In times of distress, God sympathizes with His own. Paul referred to Him as "the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation" (2 Cor. 1: 3-4). And Paul's troubles were not light, for he says, "We were burdened beyond measure — so that we despaired even of life" (2 Cor. 4: 8). However, with eternity in view, he refers to them as light afflictions "working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. 4: 17).

Five Necessary Things

Five things are necessary to have peace and joy in time of trial:

1. Keep your mind on the Lord: "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You" (Isa. 26: 3).

2. Keep in touch with God by prayer: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil 4: 6-7).

3. Meditate upon the Word: "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope" (Rom. 15: 4).

4. Yield your will to God: "Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness" (Heb. 12: 11).

5. Know that the Lord will sustain you: Last, but not least, let us not forget that even though our trials or circumstances may continue for a long time, the Lord says, "My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Cor. 12: 9).   He will sustain the soul that submits to Him and leaves all in His hands.

A Cause for Rejoicing

"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love" (1 Peter 1: 6-8)

E. C. Hadley.

Needed Needs

Needed Needs

J. B. Stoney.

The circumstances in which we learn most are those which most expose our weaknesses. As a rule we are placed in circumstances which demand that which we are most defective in. We are set in such and such situations, not because we can handle them, or behave in them better than anyone else; but on the contrary, because we need to be invigorated by grace in the defects which they are fitted to expose. They disclose to us where we need grace, so that constantly we are failing where we are expected to excel. We are put there to cast us on the Lord, and to teach us that we can do nothing of ourselves.

If we could excel there, we should glory in our success, but when we find that we are placed in the very circumstances that, perhaps, more than any others expose our weakness, we then see that we have no hope of being able to stand or succeed, unless we obtain grace to do so. I am not placed where I could excel most, but subjected to those difficulties in which I can best know my need of grace, and best learn dependence.

If I could get on without grace, I should grow elated with myself. But when I find that unless the Lord maintains me I shall surely fail, then I am humbled as to myself while at the same time deepened in dependence which the demand of my circumstances has, in a way, forced on me; and having learned the blessing of dependence, instead of regretting the difficulties which made it necessary to seek help, I am the more cheered and encouraged to go on in them.

For learning or service every one is placed where there is demand on him. The boy at school is not in the easy circumstances of home or the playground. The horse in harness is not in the ease of being in the stable or at grass.

The situations we are subjected to are the ones in which we can best learn and be most useful. It is not because we have nothing to learn or nothing to do for others. If we had naught to learn, there would be no difficulty in the lessons required of us every day. The fact that there is difficulty in them proves that we are not proficient, and that it is necessary that we should be subjected to that which discloses to us what we require to learn, or to draw from us what we can render.

Your weakness is exposed that you may acquire strength, and having received of the Lord, you will then be called on to render unto others — to comfort others, as you have been comforted of God; so that whether learner or servant, you are always set in circumstances where there is exaction, and not ease. If the learner were to keep at the same lesson always he might feel his difficulty over, but so would his learning be over.

Are you learning? Are you useful? Whenever you are either, you will find that you are in exacting circumstances, and therefore not those where you are most at home and at your ease; but the more you turn them to profit, the more you are learning of grace, and the more useful you are in sharing what you have acquired.

Sanctifying Solitude

Sanctifying Solitude

J. B. Stoney.

For a saint to have solitude is of the deepest importance, because it is then the heart renews its acquaintance with the Lord Jesus who only has entrance into our most solitary retreats. When we are thoroughly alone and apart, He loves to be our companion; it is, so to speak, the time for Him to come, like the ray of light which permeates into the dark cavern wherever it can; and to the inmate of the cavern never was light more prized.

I believe there are two things learned in solitude that cannot be gained otherwise — one, that I see myself apart from everyone and everything, a very necessary matter; and the other, that I see the Lord in quite a peculiar light, in a singular and unique way, apart from everything and everyone. His individuality, blessed be His Name, comes out to me in solitude in a way it never does in a crowd.

Canticles gives you very much the idea of this: what one is oneself when quite alone, and what He is to one thus alone. When I am alone with Him, He obtains His singularly pre-eminent place, not as a Saviour, though He is that to faith; but He is known to the heart as the sun. He "rules the day," so that when all other objects are visible, He is still entirely pre-eminent, and the sense of His supremacy, well-known and well-sustained, is the most effectual resource for the heart all the day long, and abides with it through its most anxious encounters.

In solitude with Him, the value and resource He is to the heart is learned, and when busied in responsibilities, it turns to Him as the needle to the pole, or as the flower to the sun. Where the soul has acquired the sense of His sovereignty in its solitude, when it has to return to others and to duties, everything falls in relation to Him. He is first, and things and people assume and derive importance, not as to whether they are pleasing or otherwise, but as they relate to Him.

If you make the claims on you the sun of your system, instead of the Lord Jesus, whatever seems to come short throws your day into darkness, because the claims are not answered to as you desire them to be, and there is the sense of an eclipse. If the Lord were the distinct, known magnet to YOU, every responsibility would be less anxious, and you would fulfil each better, and instead of being saddened and disappointed, you would hear Him saying, "She hath done what she could," and with this, you would have a weight that would render whatever you did more appreciated.

It is not the amount one does, nor the consciousness of one's own usefulness which makes one happy in serving, but the assurance that one would be called on and used in case of need. Love never likes to see its object needing. It serves because it loves. Do not try to arrange your world with only a lamp in your hand; why, if you had a sun, all would be easy enough! It is in solitude with the Lord Jesus that one learns to find Him as the Sun. When the heart has found its rest and satisfaction in Him, it can turn to Him naturally and continually in every circumstance."

The Eternal Son of the Father

The Eternal Son of the Father

W. R. Dronsfield.

INTRODUCTION

Of late years, a doctrine has been formulated and taught amongst many Christians that has been termed the "Temporal Sonship" doctrine, as opposed to the orthodox doctrine of "Eternal Sonship". The hitherto generally accepted view that our blessed Lord and Saviour is and was the Son of God from all eternity, was challenged in 1929 by J. Taylor of New York when he was in England at a series of readings held at High Barnet. At first it was only said that Divine Relationships in eternity were unknowable, and therefore the Lord's Sonship before incarnation could not be affirmed, but soon by 1932 it was being boldly taught that the Lord's Sonship began at incarnation, and Eternal Sonship was directly denied.

This doctrine has been confined to those known as "Taylor Exclusive Brethren", at one time a very numerous company. It is resolutely refused by others also known as Exclusive Brethren and by well-known teachers amongst the Open Brethren. Owing to the sad break-up of the Taylor company, many individuals and meetings have been forced out of their original fellowship, and would dearly like to be able to share unity with the brethren who have never been in fellowship with J. Taylor. However, because they are still unable to affirm that the Head of the Church is the Eternal Son of God, they have been refused, or, knowing that they would be refused if they applied, they have never pursued the matter. It is with the desire to help any who may be confused on this issue, that this little book is written.

Right at the commencement, let it be stated that nobody has ever failed to confess that the Lord is an Eternal Divine Person, without beginning or end. It is not His personality but His eternal relationship as Son of the Father that is questioned. That the Trinity, three Persons in One God, has always had existence, is a truth held by all. Also we do not wish to evade the arguments advanced by the exponents of J. Taylor's doctrine. We assume they only have the Lord's honour and glory in their motives when they advance these teachings, but firmly believe that they are sadly mistaken. The only authority to which we can turn when the Truth is at stake is the Word of God. We will avoid as far as possible, therefore, using the support of human authorities.

Many, when they learn that the Lord's Godhead and Manhood are not apparently affected, regard the question as not of fundamental importance. They point out that the words "Eternal Son" and "Eternal Sonship" are not in Scripture, and therefore do not see why they should be required to use them. But many words that are not in Scripture are used to define scriptural doctrine. Where are the words "Trinity", "Divine Person", "Vicarious Sacrifice" or "The Fall" for example? Many formulae are used that are succinct statements of scriptural doctrine, but are not themselves in Scripture. It would be impossible to give exposition of Scripture if we could only confine ourselves to direct quotations. This excuse, used to avoid grasping the issue, is not tenable. Our aim in this book is to show that a fundamental issue is involved.

REASONS ADVANCED IN SUPPORT OF THE TEMPORAL SONSHIP DOCTRINE

Here are some of the main arguments of these teachers:

(a) A son is in a place of subjection to his father. Even when a son reaches a high position and state, he still gives honour to his parents. This is a principle found throughout Scripture. There can, however, be no subjection or obedience between Divine Persons as viewed absolutely in the Godhead; therefore the Lord's Sonship has only to do with His mediatorial position taken up in Manhood.

(b) The word "Only Begotten" refers to birth. There was only one time when He was born, and that was at the incarnation.

(c) "He is in the bosom of the Father" (John 1: 18). The word "is" does not imply an eternal state as in the name "I AM" (John 8: 58) but a present state. The word "in" is the Greek word eis which implies that He came into that state. Elsewhere in the chapter the past tense is used to describe Him in the Eternal Godhead (verses 1 and 2).

(d) Throughout Scripture the term "Son", "Son of God" is only applied when referring to the Lord in Manhood, and the position He then took up. To the simple objection that the Father must have had a Son in order to send Him into the world, it was pointed out that present relationships are often used to identify persons in events before the relationships existed. For example a man might say, "When my wife was a little girl". She was not his wife when she was a little girl, nevertheless he still refers to her as his wife. In John 17: 3, it is "Jesus Christ Whom Thou has sent", but He was not Jesus Christ before He was sent. In John 3: 13, the Son of Man came down from Heaven, but He was not the Son of Man before He came down. "Jesus Christ, the Same yesterday and to day and for ever" (Hebrews 13: 8). Here we have the attributes of Deity ascribed to the Lord under His human name and title.

(e) Scriptures used to support the doctrine are Psalm 2: 7, "This day have I begotten Thee", and Luke 1: 31, which it is claimed shows that the Lord was not called the Son of God until His birth.

Many have found it very difficult to refute these arguments in a convincing manner. Most of the followers of J. Taylor were persuaded to accept the new teaching. Those who took the lead did so with an acute intellect and knowledge of Scripture, and one may acknowledge that they appeared to have a genuine and reverent desire to honour Divine Persons. Some of those who rushed into print to oppose the doctrine seemed confused and caught off guard. For example, they asserted that the new doctrine was Sabellianism, which was not true. It was a new teaching (to them) and first the Scriptures needed to be searched to see if these things were so. We are convinced, however, that it was really a very subtle attack on the fundamentals of the Christian Faith. We must look beyond the dear brethren who taught the error and see the enemy at work. Satan was behind it, using godly men that he had taken unawares. In doing so, he effected the ruin of a portion of that great movement of the Holy Spirit in the last century which rediscovered the precious truth of God's assembly. It is one's desire, in producing this booklet, to present a case from Scripture that will convince of their mistake those who have imbibed the temporal sonship doctrine. Many an argument has been put forward in the past that seems conclusive to those who already accept the orthodox view, but very weak in the judgment of those who are opposed.

THE PROOF OF THE LORD'S DEITY

See John 5: 17-18. The Lord had just healed a man on the Sabbath Day, to the anger of the Jews. His answer to them was, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work", which appears to be the first time He said publicly that God was His Father. This condemned Him utterly in the eyes of the Jews, for they saw that by saying that God was His Father He made Himself equal with God.

Here we see that the Lord's Sonship demonstrated His equality with Deity — not His subjection as the followers of J. Taylor teach. Could it be that the Jews had reached the truth of His claim to equality by the wrong reasoning? No, the inspired words do not say that it was just what the Jews said, but assert plainly that He made Himself equal with God by saying God was His Father. The reasoning of the Jews was as correct as their conclusion.

Why did the Jews see this? Because in the Hebrew thinking, and in the Scriptures, a father is presented as being of the same nature as the one he begets. Here are a few examples:

There is the common term, "sons of Belial". Belial means "worthless", so the term "son of Belial" simply means a worthless person.

Joses was surnamed Barnabas by the apostles (Acts 4: 36), meaning "son of consolation", because he was by nature one who consoled for he was a good man who exhorted the brethren that with purpose of heart they would cleave to the Lord (Acts 11: 23-24).

The Lord surnamed John and James the sons of thunder.

Judas is called the son of perdition because he was by nature one that would perish. Perdition means perishing.

He called the Pharisees a generation of vipers because they had the nature of vipers. See also "children of light", "children of wrath", "child of the Devil", etc.

Every being begets after his own kind (Genesis 1). Therefore the Jews saw that if God has a Son, that Son has the nature of Deity. There is only One True Son of the same eternal essence as the Father — the Only Begotten Son.

But the objection will at once be raised, "If God has begotten a Son, there must have been a time when the Son was begotten, and therefore He has a beginning". This is quite wrong reasoning, for the right implication is exactly the opposite. If an eternal Father, without beginning nor end, begets a Son, that Son also must have neither beginning nor end; else He is not a True Son according to the Father's essence. God's nature is infinite, therefore His Son's nature is infinite.

We must abandon all reasoning from the finite. Every finite creature begets a finite creature with a beginning, but the Infinite begets the Infinite with no beginning. The word "Only Begotten" does not imply carnal or low thoughts of begetting, but implies equal nature. This is what the ancient orthodox teachers called "The Eternal Generation of the Son". The begetting is not an event of the past, however distant.

Let us not lessen the force of the word "Only Begotten" by saying that it might just be translated "Only" or that it means simply unique or uniquely precious. It means far more than that. It means that He is the only Son according to the Divine Essence. To justify this lessening of the force of the word "Only Begotten", the case of Isaac is put forward who is called Abraham's only begotten son although there were other sons. However, in God's eyes, Isaac was the only son. Abraham said, "O that Ishmael might live before Thee!" but Ishmael was not recognised by God, the covenant was not to be with him (Genesis 17: 18-19). On the other hand it has been stated, that because of the Septuagint use of the word "only begotten" for the Hebrew "only one" (jachid), that "only" is all that is meant by it. But the Septuagint is often an inaccurate translation and certainly cannot be cited as a greater authority than the New Testament itself. Those who have come to the defence of Eternal Sonship by denying that the real meaning of the Greek word monogenes is "only begotten", have actually obscured the issue.

But what then are we to say about all the other sons? Are there not many sons brought to glory? (Hebrews 2: 10). Are we not sons? (Galatians 4: 6). Are we not begotten of God? (1 John 5: 1, 18). Are not the angels called sons of God? (Job 1: 6/38: 7).

It is true that we are brought into sonship by the grace of God. We have been begotten of God as regards the new nature, when we were born again by the Word and the Spirit. This is the divine nature (1 Peter 1: 4). It is the nature of God morally — God's true nature from the moral standpoint, but it is not sonship according to essence. That is, we do not partake of Deity and thus become omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, etc. Only the Son has Sonship according to essence. From the moral aspect He is the Firstborn among many brethren, but from the point of view of Divine Essence He is the Only Begotten with no brethren.

As regards the angels, the Scripture insists that the Lord's Sonship distinguishes Him from them. "For unto which of the angels said He at any time, "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee" (Hebrews 1: 5). Never has God called an angel His Son. Yet the angels are called sons of God in the book of Job. We suggest that this is because they had no progenitors and are all directly created by God to reflect His glory. In like manner the only man to be directly created by God, and not humanly generated, was Adam, and as he had no progenitor, he is called the son of God (Luke 3: 38).

We will now consider other scriptures that support this truth. Here it is necessary to find scriptures where the abstract concept of sonship is the subject matter. It is not sufficient to look at places where the name "Son of God" is mentioned because, as we have seen, it is common to identify a person by a name or title even when referring to occasions when the person did not possess that designation. All the scriptures which say that the Father sent the Son do not prove to those who hold the temporal sonship theory that the Lord was the Son before He was sent, because, they say, the Divine Persons were not known by any distinct names before the incarnation, and therefore can only be referred to by the names they took afterwards.

Hebrews 5: 8. "Though He were Son". There is no definite article before Son; it is characteristic, and the relationship of Sonship is the prominent thought. "Though He were Son, yet learned He obedience". As the Son, the experience of obedience was unknown to Him, and so He learned what that experience was by the things that He suffered. In this passage we see that the idea of obedience and subjection was foreign to His Sonship. This is the opposite to the doctrine of temporal sonship which maintains that His Sonship is to be identified with subjection. No, it is not as the Son that He learned obedience, but in spite of His being such. The reason a man is subject and inferior to his father in human relationships is that the son is always the junior, the father obviously being born first. To argue from this that the Lord's Sonship denotes subjection is plainly wrong for there can be no seniority between Divine Persons. It is another example of trying to understand the Infinite by a comparison with the finite.

Now turn to John 1: 14. The literal translation is "We beheld His glory, the glory of an only begotten with a father". The glory is that of the abstract relationship rather than that of the Person Himself, that is to say, the glory in this passage is specifically that of His Sonship. This glory shone through the veil of His flesh so that His disciples recognised it. It was His Divine glory.

This will be immediately challenged by those who deny His eternal Sonship. They will say that it is His moral glory, which He had as the Perfect Man. We will, therefore, test this by searching the Scriptures. When those who had to do with Him in His life here were constrained to confess Him as the Son of God, what made them do so? Was it His moral glory or His Divine glory? Let us look at the incidents involved.

(1) Nathanael (John 1: 49) confessed Him as the Son of God and King of Israel. It was His omniscience that opened His eyes. The Lord had shown that He knew some secret that only Nathaniel could have known.

(2) The disciples in the boat. (Matthew 14: 33). The Lord had just shown His Divine power as the Creator and Sustainer of all things, walking. on the water and stilling the wind and the waves. Here we have Him as the omnipotent One.

(3) Martha (John 11: 27). The Lord had just revealed Himself as the Source of Life. Only God is the Source of Life. All other beings receive their life through Him.

(4) The man blind from birth (John 9: 35-38). Here the man is told directly from the Lord Who He is. It is the man's reaction that is noteworthy as he immediately worships the Son of God showing that he recognised His Deity; for the Lord accepted his worship as offered intelligently. We can contrast this with the man in Matthew 19: 16-17 who said "Good Master". At once the Lord checked him, because he had ascribed something to Him that only applied to God, without realising that the One he was speaking to was indeed God.

(5) The Centurion (Matthew 27: 54; Mark 15: 39). Here the reasons for the centurion's confession are plainly stated. In Matthew it was due to the severe earthquake, the rending of the rocks and the opening of the tombs. In Mark it is specifically stated that it was due to the Lord's shouting with a loud voice just before He gave up His spirit. This was remarkable to the centurion who had no doubt seen large numbers of such executions. A man crucified gets weaker and weaker until he cannot speak above a whisper. Here was One who could shout with a loud voice just before He died, showing supernatural strength. It was, therefore, not His moral glory that convinced the centurion, but His Divine glory, as was the case in all the foregoing cases.

We will refer to Peter's great confession in Matthew 16: 16 and John 6: 69 later.

We are therefore fully justified in asserting that the Lord's Sonship denotes His Deity and does not pertain to His lowly dependence and obedience as the Perfect Man. A possible reason why some think that the glory of John 1: 14 is moral and not Divine, is the words that immediately follow: "full of grace and truth". We are sure, however, that the Authorised Version is correct in putting the clause "and we beheld His glory, the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father" in brackets. The words "full of grace and truth" refer to the statement before the parenthesis: "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us". The parenthesis is put in to show that in spite of the veil of flesh, the Divine glory shone through for His own to see. In saying all this we are not wishing to infer that moral glory is not included in Divine glory for "God is Light". The idea that we are opposing is that it was exclusively His moral glory as seen in manhood.

Many are convinced of the Lord's Eternal Sonship but do not rank it among the fundamentals. They point out that its denial may be sincerely done in the belief that it is something that guards the Lord's glory, and that it is not accompanied by any doubt as to His eternal personal Being. We, however, maintain that it is a necessary component of the Doctrine of Christ. To demonstrate this, we will refer to the early contention in the professing church when the greatest challenge to the Truth came from Arius, who denied the Lord's Deity.

Now Arius was not like the modern Unitarian who thinks that the Lord was a mere man. His system taught that the Lord was the first and greatest creature that God made, and the only creature that God made directly. To this great creature God gave the task of creating everything else, so all things, apart from Himself, were created by Him. He was God's representative, and expressed God to every other creature. As God's representative, He was entitled to worship, and as such was rightly addressed as God. One thing only Arius would not accept, and that was the truth that the Lord was of equal substance (or essence) to the Father. He said that he was of similar substance but not of equal substance to God.

These two expressions, "similar substance" and "equal substance", differing in Greek by only a single letter, became the great battleground on which the whole of Christianity depended. Athanasius was the great orthodox champion. Constantine the Emperor favoured Arius, and Athanasius had to go into exile. Only to the Scriptures did both protagonists turn. Every Scripture that showed that the Lord was God, that proved He is the Creator of all things, that showed He must be worshipped and honoured by creatures as though He were the Father, was accepted by Arius as agreeing with his system. What scripture then was left to prove that the Lord was of equal substance to the Father? Mainly the truth of Eternal Sonship — the bulwark of John 5: 18, that His Sonship proved His equality to the Father, because of His eternal generation.

At first the Emperor did not realise the vital importance of the controversy, and he issued an edict that as the words "similar substance" and 11 equal substance" were not in the Scriptures, the contention was to cease as being an insoluble question. This, however, was not obeyed. How like was Constantine's stratagem to those today, who say that as the term "Eternal Sonship" is not in Scripture, they will neither affirm nor deny the doctrine!

How right Athanasius was when he pointed out that although the difference between the contenders might appear to be small, yet really the difference was infinite! Truly the difference between the finite and the infinite is infinity, no matter how great the finite might be. How serious it is to take away this most important weapon of Eternal Sonship, which proves the truth of the Lord's Person!

Let us also notice the extreme importance that is placed in Scripture upon the confession of the Lord's Sonship. In 1 John 4: 15 it says, "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God". Such a blessed spiritual result as this does not come, of course, from the repetition of a form of words but from the affirmation of the heart in complete awareness and acceptance of the confession's full implications. Many a time, representatives of the Jehovah's Witnesses — the modern Arians — have called at the front door, and to the question "Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?", they willingly give the answer in the affirmative. Does God dwell in them and they in God — these deniers of the Lord's Deity? Obviously not, for they do not affirm His Eternal Sonship, nor accept that it is essentially connected with His Deity. In their minds the Lord's Sonship had a beginning; not in incarnation but far back before any other creature had been created.

Peter's confession of Matthew 16: 16 also brings before us the great importance of this doctrine, for we find that it is the foundation rock on which the Lord builds His church. "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God". Because He is the Son of God He is God. The Father is the Living God, who has life in Himself, the Source of Life, so likewise the Son is the Living God and has life in Himself, the Source of Life. In Mark 8:29 and Luke 9: 20, the story of Peter's confession is given, but only the first half, "Thou art the Christ" is mentioned. Consequently there is no reference there of its vital importance as the foundation rock of the church. Without Eternal Sonship the foundation is missing. How solemn that some well-meaning brethren have so little understanding that they are tampering with the church's foundation!

ETERNAL SONSHIP THE PROOF OF GOD'S LOVE

We have been considering the Eternal Sonship as the supreme proof of the Lord's Deity. Now we would bring out the second important thing that Eternal Sonship demonstrates — namely the infinite love of God.

"God so loved the world. . ." How much? So much that He gave His only begotten Son. There is nothing that shows His love more.

But, of course, those who teach temporal sonship do not deny the infinite love that has ever existed between those Divine Persons that they say are now known as the Father and the Son. The Scripture is plain, "Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world" (John 17: 24). But though this love is not denied, the demonstration of it is denied.

How weak John 3: 16 would sound if the words "only begotten Son" were omitted, and the words "Divine Person" put in their place! Over and over again the love of God is measured by the fact that He gave His Son. He that delivered up His Own Son for us all, shall He not freely give us all things? (see Romans 8: 32). No gift can be as great as that.

In the very first mention of love in the Bible, the supreme sacrifice that the Father made in giving His Son is brought before us: "Take now thy son, thine only son ... whom thou lovest ... and offer him . . . for a burnt offering." (Genesis 22: 2). The love of the Father for His Son comes first, and typically the love of Christ for His Church is the second mention of love in the Scriptures (Genesis 24: 67).

The main point of the parable of the wicked husbandmen (Mark 12: 1-9) is that after the lord of the vineyard had sent his servants (prophets), he sent his son. "Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, he sent him last unto them, saying, 'They will reverence my son'." Does this look as though the one sent only became his son when he was sent? The objection is made, "It is only a parable". We acknowledge that a parable is not usually an allegory, but one cannot get away from a parable's main point in this way. The whole meaning of the parable stresses that the lord of the vineyard had sent the one he valued most because it was his well-beloved son.

We feel that it was terrible presumption to deny the validity of this demonstration of love to say, as it were, to the Father that His Son only became such after He had entered the world. We ask reverently, may this not have given great offence to both the Father and the Son? Is this not an explanation of the strange madness that splintered that company? Were they given up to be defenceless before the onslaughts of Satan? We urge earnestly that the seriousness of this error be not underestimated.

THE FATHER'S BOSOM

John 1: 18. "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him".

This passage has always been taken by orthodox Christians to mean that the Son is eternally in the bosom of the Father, and therefore is able to reveal the inmost secrets of the Father's heart to His own. Those who deny Eternal Sonship, however, must teach that His dwelling in the Father's bosom had a beginning when He became a man.

Here we have the present tense used to deduce eternity, as it is in some other places in the Scriptures. The Lord said "Before Abraham was, I AM" and thereby showed that HE was eternal. If He had said "Before Abraham was, I was", it need only have meant that He was older than Abraham, but the present tense gives the sense of eternal existence — no beginning and no end. In John 8: 24, the Lord said, "If ye believe not that I AM, ye shall die in your sins". The insertion of the pronoun "he" in the A.V. is quite unwarranted. The context does not show that the Lord had said that He was anybody that the "He" could refer to. It is the assertion of His eternal Godhead. There are other similar passages.

Why then, argue the opposers, did John 1:1, which clearly refers to eternity, use the past tense. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God". One feels that the answer to this is that the inspired writing is taking us back to the earliest conceivable beginning of anything at all, and saying that the Word was already there. It is the past eternity here, and the future eternity is not in view. Where the thought of eternity without end as well as without beginning is brought before us, the present tense is used. Of course with God there is no past or future, but that is beyond our comprehension. For our finite minds the Holy Spirit uses words that are within our grasp.

Another objection centres round the preposition "in" which here is the Greek word eis denoting "motion towards", similar to our word "into" or "unto". If I say "I walked in the house" it indicates that I was walking in the house all the time, but if I say "I walked into the house", it indicates that my presence in the house was due to my walking into it. In English, I cannot say, "I am into the house", but in Greek that form of words could be used, and it would indicate that my present position in the house is due to my past moving into it. Consequently (say the objectors), the preposition eis shows that He is in the Father's bosom as a result of a past act of movement into it.

To this objection we answer that "eis" does not necessarily denote physical motion. When one believes in the Son of God (John 3: 16), the preposition "in" is eis. It denotes a movement of the heart or will. This eis of "in the Father's bosom" shows movement of the affections. We have here another example of the way these teachers reason from the finite when they are dealing with the infinite. If there is movement here it is the eternal movement of Divine affections. What could be a more beautiful or profound thought? Let us not dare to doubt that a Father's bosom has been the blessed portion of the Son for all eternity, His rightful and deserved place. As one has written "How fearful we should be, lest we admit of any confession of faith that would defraud the Divine bosom of its eternal ineffable delights, and which would tell our God He knew not a Father's joy, and would tell our Lord that He knew not a Son's joy in that bosom from all eternity" (The Son of God, by J. G. Bellett).

TWO TEXTS USED TO SUPPORT THE NEW THEORY

"This day I have begotten Thee"

We now come to certain texts which have been used to support temporal sonship. One of these is first mentioned in Psalm 2:7, "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee". It is quoted three times in the New Testament Acts 13: 33, Hebrews 1: 5 and 5: 5. This sentence is taken up to show that the Lord's Sonship began when He was begotten on a certain day.

The usual interpretation by those leaders whom we should remember with respect (Hebrews 13: 7) is that this does refer to the Lord's incarnation when He was born in time, and that it speaks of the Lord's Sonship in manhood. These brethren never thought of it as casting a doubt on the Lord's Eternal Sonship which they regarded as true and distinct, not to be confused with the text. Some divided the text into two — "Thou art My Son" being His Eternal Sonship, and "This day have I begotten Thee" His Sonship in time. One would not contend with anybody who is satisfied with this explanation.

For those who may feel that this interpretation is not quite convincing, it may be as well to look at the passage more closely. It was not the interpretation made by the ancient orthodox scholars who lived before the so-called Brethren movement, for they regarded it as an affirmation of the Lord's Divine Sonship throughout.

Firstly, let us look at the second Psalm. Beginning with the time when the nations are raging against the LORD's anointed, it goes on to speak of the day when the King is established on the holy hill of Zion, ruling the nations with a rod of iron. We find that in this context the decree is made, "Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee". So "this day" in the Psalm appears to be referring to the beginning of His glorious reign.

Secondly, Acts 13: 33. This is in the context of the resurrection (verse 30). In verse 33, the quotation from the psalm is given to support the statement that God has raised up Jesus. Many think that this does not refer to His being raised from among the dead as in verse 30, but to His being raised high above all, but in either case it does not refer to His lowly birth in a manger.

Thirdly, Hebrews 1: 5. Here the quotation is given to show that He is so much better than the angels having obtained by inheritance a more excellent Name than they. Is this inheritance connected with His birth in manhood? If not, why is the quotation given here? Does it not fit in better if it has to do with the inheritance that is His Own by Eternal Sonship?

Fourthly, Hebrews 5: 5. Here it is connected with the text, "Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec". Melchisedec is seen (as a type) made like the Son of God, without father or mother, descent, beginning of days or end of life (Hebrews 7: 3). But the Lord by incarnation had a legal father, true mother, descent (genealogy) and beginning of days. To bring in a quotation which refers to the days of His birth, when the whole point is the eternal continuance of His priesthood does not seem right. It is His Sonship in eternity that is more suitable to the context.

So orthodox Christians have taught that this verse refers to "eternal generation", to which we have already referred; that "This day" or "Today" has the well known meaning (to them) of the Eternal Today, the ever present now, a decree declared by the Infinite God.

One leaves it to the reader to decide. We have shown, however, that it is a very inadequate reference to support such a revolutionary new doctrine as temporal sonship.

Luke 1: 35. "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God".

This verse is much used by opponents of Eternal Sonship. Attention is drawn to the words "therefore also", and it is said that the child became the Son of God by the Holy Spirit and the overshadowing of the power of the Highest. But the passage before us is indited with the perfect accuracy of the Holy Spirit, and the exact words need to be examined.

One of the points stressed by the ancient expositors is the term "Holy Thing". The adjective "holy" is definitely neuter, and "Holy Thing" is the accurate English translation. There must be a reason why it is neuter and not masculine, and the reason is that the perfect manhood conceived by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary, was not a person in itself, but a nature. Though body, soul and spirit, it was personal only because the Eternal Person of the Son of God took it to Himself. It had no separate personality. This brings us to the heart of the mystery of the incarnation which no human mind can comprehend. Body, soul and spirit make up a person in every merely human individual, but in His case it was a nature, made personal only because He took it into His Person. He is One Person, not two. Everything that the Man Christ Jesus experienced was the experience of the Son of God. There were not two sons, but only one. Because of the overshadowing of the power of the Highest, that Holy Thing, conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, is rightly called the Son of God. He went through human experiences from birth to death, with human body, human soul and human spirit, yet the Person who did so was never anyone else but the Eternal Son of God.

This is a great mystery, and all the historic fundamental errors concerning His Person have been attempts to explain it in some measure. It is inexplicable. He is a real Man and true God in One Person. The two natures, manhood and Deity, are not joined together to form one nature, but are united in One Person. They ever remain distinct but are never separated. Their union is personal, not consubstantial.

Therefore, it is quite true that the Holy Thing born of the Virgin Mary could not be called the Son of God without the overshadowing of the power of the Highest, but neither His Eternal Person nor His Eternal Sonship changed at all at that time.

THE TRIUNE NAME

We believe we have written enough to show that the Lord's Sonship is eternally bound up with His Godhead. finally let us think briefly of the Triune Name of Matthew 28: 29, "The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit".

The Name of the Father proves Godhead, for it shows that He is the Source of all (Ephesians 4: 6).

The Name of the Son proves Godhead for it shows that He is of the same essence as the Father (John 5: 18).

The Name of the Holy Spirit proves Godhead, for God is spirit (John 4: 24). The Spirit of God is the essence of God.

These three Names are One.

W. R. Dronsfield.

(Pub.: Chapter Two 1987. ISBN 0 947588 11 6)

The Incarnation of the Son

The Incarnation of the Son

W. R. Dronsfield.

There is no more profound subject than that of the incarnation; yet though unfathomable to the wisest, nothing is more enthralling to the affections of the Lords people. The wonderful truth is that One who is God Himself, while never ceasing to be God, became a real man, living amongst men on earth. The Holy Spirit has given us four accounts of that immaculate life. No creature could have thought up such unimaginable details: a perfect human life, yet with glimpses of the glory of His Person shining through the veil.  If any human intellect tries to add anything from its own thoughts, how hollow and confused it sounds! as the spurious gospel of Thomas demonstrates.

Though the incarnation is beyond our reasoning powers, there are certain truths about it which we can confidently affirm, because they are firmly based upon the Holy Spirits own account in the Scriptures.

(1) TRUE GOD

The Eternal Son of God became Man, yet He never ceased to be the Infinite Creator. He emptied Himself of His reputation.  His Manhood veiled His glory so that He did not receive the universal obeisance that was His due; yet He never ceased in His Person to be omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, upholding all things by the Word of His power.

(2) PERFECT MAN

He became a Man, entirely untainted by the fall. His Manhood was the same, in essence, as unfallen Adams, though, of course, there were differences. The main one was that His Manhood, though truly human, was joined to Deity in His Person, and therefore vastly glorified. Also Adam was innocent; that is to say he had no knowledge of good or evil. The Lord was not innocent, but He was holy. The Lord was in the midst of evil, but wholly undefiled by it.

(3) REAL MAN

He became a real Man, body, soul and spirit. When God created Adam, He breathed into him the breath (spirit) of life and he became a living soul.  The animals were also living souls, but they did not have life by receiving spirit from God. As well as being a living soul, Adam had a spirit. In his soul he had physical life and emotions; in his spirit he had reason and awareness of himself and God. He could have rational communion with God and give God pleasure by his fellowship. For this he was created. The subject of soul and spirit is a study in itself, and cannot be more than touched upon here.

The Lord took body, soul and spirit to Himself. He had a real body, visible and tangible, made of flesh and blood, capable of pain and suffering, but not partaking of the consequences of the fall. He was not subject to death as an inevitable event. He died by His own power.  The ageing process, which is a result of the fall, was not in Him. His body was perfect. Also, as having a soul, He had real human emotions but without any sinful tendency. In His spirit He had real human thoughts by which He could have, even as Man, perfect fellowship with His Father.

(4) ONE PERSON

The Son of God is One Person. The Son of God is the same Person as the Son of Man. Now we are beginning to come up against the inscrutable mystery. Men will argue that body, soul and spirit make a person. This is correct. Therefore (they say) the Son of God and the Son of Man are two persons in unity. No, certainly not! The Scriptures are dead against such an idea. The Person who is in the form of God at the beginning of the sublime sentence in Philippians 2 verse 6, is the same Person who was obedient to the death of the cross in verse 8. The subject of the sentence is the same throughout. There is no change of Person halfway.

We may shrink from saying baldly, God died. How can God die who has immortality and is the Source of life? The bare statement, God died, needs important qualification. Firstly, the One who died was God the Son, not the Father or the Holy Spirit. Secondly, He did not die as God, but in the Manhood He had taken. However, to qualify a statement is not to deny it. To say it was the Son of Man and not God who died, is to divide His Person and make Him two Persons. The fact is that God the Son became a Man for this very purpose, that He might die.  He did not cease to be God when He died. The blood that He shed was human blood, but it was the blood that He had taken as His own.  The Son of God shed His blood, and experienced death.  He who is God laid down His life for us.  It is the infinitude of His Person that produces the infinite atonement.

This is the marvellous thing that takes our breath away. A divine Person has been through human experience from birth to death. He who is God, remembers His human experiences from birth to death, and sympathises with us in our infirmities. One who is both God and Man feels for us for He has felt the same. What a great High Priest He is!

(5) TWO DISTINCT NATURES

The opposite error to saying that He is two persons is to say that His two natures have combined into one. It was an ancient heresy that the two natures, Manhood and Deity, merged together. For this reason the writer does not like the expression the God-man. It implies to him (though not to many orthodox Christians) that He is half man and half God. Such an idea must be resisted. He is wholly Man and wholly God. He possesses all the attributes and properties of real, unfallen, holy Manhood, and at the same time possesses all the infinite attributes and properties of Deity. The unity consists, not in the amalgamation of essence, but in the Oneness of His Person.

If we suppose an archangel becoming incarnate, a creature tremendously powerful but still finite, and by becoming incarnate having two finite natures (but natures very different), we would say, rightly, that such a situation was impossible. Here would be a baby, unable to do anything except to cry and suck, with no ability to talk, unable to understand a word his parents were saying; at the same time that person would be an archangel with tremendous power, not only able to understand the parents but knowing far more than they did. We would say, quite correctly, that it would be impossible for such things to be true in one person at the same time. Our finite judgment would be competent to come to such a conclusion. We would say that the archangel was only pretending to be a baby.

Of course, it is not an archangel but an infinite Person who has become incarnate. When we are facing the infinite it is right beyond our ken. We can make no judgment. Mathematicians tell us that both opposites and parallels meet in infinity. We cannot understand, and never will understand it, for we will never have infinite minds. But God has revealed it to us, and so we believe it.

The Lord grew in wisdom, yet was always omniscient, as we have seen. He said He did not know, and yet He knew all things. Yet it is very important to see that He could not make a mistake in what He said in Manhood; it would have been God who had spoken falsely and that would be a moral impossibility. To take human limitations is grace, but to take human fallibility would be to compromise Gods holy nature.

Lastly, let us consider Matthew 11:27: No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. Here we see that it is possible for a man to know the Father if the Son reveals Him to him, but, without exception, it is not possible for a man to know the Son. Why then, is the Son unknowable, but not the Father?  It is not the inscrutability of Deity, for that would apply equally to both Father and Son. Nor is it the inscrutability of divine relationships for if the relationship of the Son to the Father is unknowable, so would be the equivalent relationship of the Father to the Son. Clearly, it is the Incarnate Son who is unknowable. The Father, Himself, cannot explain this to us, for to understand the incarnation we would need to have the infinite understanding of the Father Himself.

W.R.D.

1 John 1: 14

2 Philippians 2: 7

3 John 2: 24-25; 21: 17

4 Matthew 8: 27

5 John 3: 13; Matthew 18: 20; 28: 20

6 That is to say, He had body, soul and spirit

7 Genesis 2: 7

8 Genesis 1: 21 & 24. (The word creature in the King James translation Nephesh should be translated soul as elsewhere).

9  1 John 1: 1-2

10 Hebrews 2: 14

11 John 10: 18

12 The Lord grew to maturity but this was not ageing in the sense meant here.

13 Matthew 26: 38; John 12: 27

14 Mark 2: 8; 8: 12; Luke 23: 46; John 19: 30 (dismissed His spirit).

15 1 Timothy 6: 16

16 Hebrews 2: 9

17 Acts 20: 28. (I believe the King James translation and most other translations are correct here).

18 1 John 1: 7

19 Romans 5: 10

20 1 John 3: 16

21 Hebrews 2: 17-18; 4: 14-16

22 Luke 2: 52

23 Mark 13: 32

The Altar of Ed

The Altar of Ed.

Joshua 22: 34.

J. W. H. Nichols.

The two and one-half tribes of Israel — Rueben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh (Numbers 32) remind us somewhat of Lot, the earthly-minded companion of Abraham, who chose the well watered plain of Jordan, which appeared to him as "the garden of the Lord" and who failed to appreciate — as did Abraham — the call of God. Yet in other ways they were dissimilar, for it could not be said that, like Lot, their lives were formed by mixed principles, which led to unholy associations with such direful consequences, but they were evidently a people fully owning and wishing identification with those who obeyed the call of God, yet they were not prepared to walk in the power of it.

"The eyes of man are never satisfied" (Proverbs 27: 20), and Lot-like the tribes lifted up their eyes, "saw the land," and "behold the place was a place for cattle." (Num. 32: 1). But it was on the wilderness side of Jordan, and alas they evidently thought less of God's call to Canaan and the pilgrimage of their brethren, than present advantages. Abraham, their progenitor, knew nothing of that side of Jordan. Moses had not mentioned it, and when they left Egypt nothing short of the promised land was before them. But as they journeyed their earthly possessions increased, and they had much cattle. Evidently they reasoned, that since the plains suited their pursuit, nothing would be gained by crossing Jordan, and they, therefore, ask for an inheritance on the plain of Jordan and so came short of the call of God. There was no thought of giving up their portion as Israelites, no rebellion, but their cattle led them to seek what suited them, and so they remained on the wilderness side.

What a voice this has for us! How many true Christians there are who come short of appropriating their heavenly possessions! Like the two and half tribes, they have no thought of being untrue to their Christian position, but are content to know their salvation is secure, and settle down in congenial circumstances.

To Moses their proposal came with misgiving, it was so far short of the purpose of God made known while they were still in Egypt. "I will bring you unto the land concerning which I did swear to give it to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob and I will give it to you for an heritage: I am the Lord." (Ex. 6: 8). He chides them and speaks of the way their brethren had been discouraged by the spies sent out from Kadesh Barnea, and the resulting forty years wandering in the wilderness. They repudiate all thought of alienation from their brethren, and signify their willingness to go with them to war until the land is possessed. In this they were unlike Lot whose conduct separated him from Abraham. They did not want to forfeit fellowship with their brethren, but they were not in the moral power of the call of God, something less than the land sufficed.

In Joshua 22 we find the sequel. All that was commendable in them Joshua recounts, but it is evidently with some misgiving; he blessed them, and sent them away, saying, "But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, charged you, to love the Lord your God and walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments, and to cleave unto Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul." So they returned to the wilderness side of Jordan, and on settling down in their chosen possessions, we read they "built there an altar by Jordan, a great altar to see to" (Joshua 22: 10). But it was not the altar. They were far from the tabernacle with its ark of the covenant and accompanying mercy seat, of which God had said, "There will I meet with thee and will commune with thee." (Ex. 25: 22)

No altar, however "great to see to," could possibly make up for the loss of this. Upon their altar, they are free to own, no burnt offerings or meat offerings or peace offerings could be offered (verse 23) — it was simply to "see to," and lest their children should cease to fear the Lord, and as a witness of their place and portion in Israel.

All this shows, they had some fear that their desire to remain in the plain of Jordan might not bring unmixed blessing. We can never step out of the path of obedience without consequent spiritual loss. Israel, when they heard of the altar built on the other side of Jordan, gathered together at Shiloh to go up against their brethren, but on hearing the purpose of. it, and the avowed loyalty of the two and a half tribes, they were satisfied and returned.

What a lesson is here, for those who have eyes to see and hearts to understand. How many there are whose place and portion among the people of God cannot be questioned, who, however, are not prepared to take possession of their heavenly position, and so settle down in congenial surroundings, the wrong side of Jordan, i.e., know little of what it is to be dead and risen with Christ and are not found seeking those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God (Col. 3: 1, 2). Content to maintain their Christian profession in a religious world, where there is often "a great altar to see to," they come short of their heavenly calling, and often become world-borderers. All this inevitably brings corresponding loss — loss of present Christian joyfulness of joy of which the blessed Lord speaks in John 15: 11, and future, reward, when every bit of faithfulness and testimony will be remembered.

The Lord grant that writer and reader may not fall short, or desire less than our God-given heavenly position and calling.

"A Christian Conscience."

"A Christian Conscience."

Edification Vol. 8, 1934, page 212.

(Editor's Note:- The following extract impressed us as we read it. Feeling that it contains a very wholesome word of admonition, we ask our readers to give it their careful attention).

"This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you." — John 15: 12.

"My Commandment." So our Lord Jesus has commandments for His disciples! This reflection may cause surprise if we are uninstructed and unthinking. Grace and favour are the notions most easily connected with Him. It almost shocks to be asked to think of His having claims and making demands upon us. "Commandments" suggest Moses rather than Christ. Many have not learned that there is also "the royal law," "the law of liberty" (James 2: 8; 1: 25), "the law of Christ" (Gal. 6: 2). The need to know the Redeemer as our Lawgiver is a vital one. It is true, blessedly true, that we have been redeemed from under the law of Moses, but it is equally true, and also blessedly true, that we have been placed under law to Christ. It can never be too strongly emphasized that we have not been saved by law, but that glorious statement needs to be accompanied by another, namely, that we are saved unto law. License is, of all things, the most foreign to the spirit of the new life in Christ.

"My Commandment." Here our Lord speaks of one, elsewhere the word is plural, "My Commandments," (John 14: 15, 21). His commandments are many, scattered throughout the New Testament; sometimes spoken by His own lips; sometimes by the lips of His apostles. How many, I wonder, of our Lord's own commandments could the average Christian repeat? The commandments of Moses we know. The Decalogue is in the memory of us all. Why then this strange ignorance of Christ's commandments? Is Moses our Lord? Is it of more importance that we should keep the "law that gendereth to bondage" shall the "law of liberty"? Or, is mere morality the ideal of our Christian life? Can it be that we have not yet descried those heights of Christian sanctity which beckon us to their ascent? Such heights as, for example, are caught sight of in such commandments as, "Resist not evil", "Love your enemies"; "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth"; "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness"; "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Here are some summits in the range of Christian ideal, and it seems an utterly impossible position to be under the Grace of Christ and at the same time aspire to nothing higher than the law of Moses. He who gives us grace must also be allowed to give us His commandments.

It startles us when we realise that the conscience of Christians, frequently, is hardly a Christian conscience at all. Its light is, not Christ, but Moses. . . A Christian conscience, one fears, is surprisingly rare. The ready and crushing proof is in the open fact that transgressions of the Ten Commandments shock us, transgressions of the commandments of Christ stir us but little, if at all. A murder! Robbery! Adultery! We hold up our hands in horror. No one, of course, complains of such sensitiveness. It is right; it is good. But where is equal sensitiveness when the commandments of Christ are broken? Why are we not shocked when we meet a believer who stubbornly refuses to forgive the brother who injured him; or when two sit down to eat bread and drink of the same cup, but who have not spoken to each other since something happened years ago? and why are we not shocked when brother is angry with brother, or when believers, violating the law of their separation, hobnob with that enemy of Christ — the world? Is Sinai, then, of more importance in our eyes than Calvary? In which school was our conscience educated? Is there not urgent need that we should change its teacher, so that it may become truly a Christian conscience, sensitive to every commandment of Christ and shocked by every violation of the same?

Do All Believers Receive The Holy Spirit?

Do All Believers Receive The Holy Spirit?

A. J. Pollock

(Extracted from Scripture Truth Vol. 33, 1941, page 8.)

Yes, Scripture is abundantly plain on the point. How pointed is Romans 8: 9: "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of God he is none of His."

If a believer has not the Spirit of God he is in the flesh, and "they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8: 8). That could not be said of any believer. Moreover the Scripture just quoted says, "He is none of His," that is, he does not belong to Christ at all. To deny the Holy Spirit of God to a believer is to unchristianise him, a very solemn thing to do.

Ephesians 1: 13, too, is a very enlightening Scripture. We read: "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." This Scripture makes it abundantly plain, that when a man or woman or child truly trusts the Saviour, that one is indwelt thereupon by the Spirit of God.

I remember being at a Bible reading years ago when an eminent servant of Christ was asked, "How long after receiving the gospel do believers receive the Spirit? May it be at once, or may it be after a lengthened period of time?" The answer was most satisfying. The servant of Christ replied, "It is not a question of time, but of order; first the gospel believed, then as a consequence the Spirit received." The illustration was used of the blow of a sharp sword and the cut resulting. You cannot reverse the order, the blow must come first and the cut follows. It is not a question of time, but of order; of cause and effect.

Receiving "the gospel of your salvation," surely means hearing and receiving a gospel that assures the one, who believes, that he is saved, that his sins are forgiven, that he is justified from all things through Christ and is. the possessor of eternal life in Him. Can anything be clearer?

It is striking that redemption and the indwelling of the Spirit are linked together. We read: "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Eph. 4: 30).

Furthermore, Romans 8: 11 links up the indwelling Spirit and the power of resurrection together in a remarkable way. "If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you." God raised Christ from the dead. The Spirit of God is given to the believer as the pledge that when the day of resurrection comes he will share in its triumph. The resurrection of the believer is linked up and flows from the resurrection of Christ. This Scripture, however, has the living saints in view. The saints, who have fallen asleep, will be raised. We know that from other Scriptures. The living saints will have their mortal bodies quickened; that is, if these saints lived on to the natural terminus of life mortality in their bodies would work on till death ensued. But the moment the Lord comes and shouts the summoning shout that moment their mortal bodies will be entirely quickened, that is every trace of mortality swept away, a spiritual body will be theirs, a new creation body, a fit vessel for the heavenly scene. If we have not the Spirit of God this promise would be null and void, and that cannot be.

When the Holy Ghost descended on the day of Pentecost the assembled believers "were ALL filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 11: 4). Notice the word ALL!

When the Apostle Peter preached his famous Pentecostal sermon, and his hearers were pricked in their heart, and asked what they should do, the answer given was, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2: 3: 8). Notice the words, "every one of you."

In this Scripture the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Spirit are linked together, the one following the other in sequence. There was no discrimination now.

In the interesting incident of the Gentiles coming into blessing in the case of Cornelius, the Roman centurion, and his friends, we read, "While Peter spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word" (Acts 10: 44). Again there was no distinction between believer and believer. Notice the word, ALL!

One who is not indwelt by the Spirit of God, cannot be a member of the body of Christ. How the Spirit of God is emphasised in relation to the one body: "By one Spirit are we all baptised into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been made to drink into one Spirit" (1 Cor 12: 13). Notice again the word, ALL!

Can we imagine one believer being outside the one body — Christ the Head in heaven; His saints the many members, the body on earth?

There is a remarkable case of disciples in Acts 19: 1-7, who had not received the Holy Spirit. To base teaching on an exception as if it were the rule is foolish. There can be no case like this now-a-days. The John the Baptist ministry is past and we live in the full light of the gospel of God. This incident we are about to adduce fell in a transitional period.

When these ten disciples were asked the question, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" their reply was, "We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost." They were then asked, "Unto what were ye then baptized?" They replied, "Unto John's baptism." Paul then said, "John verily baptised with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe in Him which should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus."

These disciples up to then had not heard the gospel of their salvation (see Eph. 1: 13). When they did hear it they were sealed by the Holy Spirit of God.

John, the Baptist, preached repentance, exhorting his disciples to believe on the One of whom he was the forerunner, even on the Lord Jesus Christ. "When they heard this, they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus." Then Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied.

This interesting narrative showing the difference between John's baptism and Christian baptism, and how the one superseded the other, with all the implications involved, only supports what we have been adducing from Holy Scripture, that those, who receive the gospel of their salvation, receive as a consequence the gift of the Holy Spirit. To teach otherwise is confusion and the unchristianizing of believers.

But now for a few words of practical import. We, believers, who have received the Holy Spirit of promise, may well ask ourselves as to what use we make of this wonderful gift. Are we sufficiently impressed by the fact that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit of God? We are exhorted not to grieve the Spirit, or quench the Spirit, and walk in the Spirit, and manifest the fruit of the Spirit.

Alas! how many believers walk in a worldly carnal way and grieve and quench God's Holy Spirit. This we may well be exercised about.

This teaching that some believers have the Spirit and some have not, causes introspection of an unhealthy nature. We may be depressed, if we imagine we have not received the Spirit on the one hand; or elated, if we think we have received the Spirit in contrast to other believers. This is not of the Spirit of God.

To fasten on one Scripture and twist it to bear a meaning that contradicts the general trend of Scripture, and that occupies saints with themselves instead of with Christ is simply a device of Satan. May we be preserved from this, and seek in all simplicity of mind to walk in the Spirit.

The Sonship of Christ

The Sonship of Christ

R. F. Wall.

Pre-Incarnate, Eternal Sonship

There are a number of passages we can turn to that show the Lord Jesus was Son before the incarnation. In Hebrews 1 we read: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds” (Heb. 1: 1-2). It was by the Son, as such, that the worlds were made. Creation is also attributed to the Son in Colossians chapter 1, though there He is presented as the Son of the Father's love. Paul and Timothy give thanks to the Father, “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son (Darby gives here, “the Son of His love”)... Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by Him were all things created” (Col. 1: 12-16). We have then, before the incarnation, the One who is the Son, God's Son, the Son of the Father's love.

We might also notice how Hebrews 1 and Colossians 1 distinguish these two aspects of our Lord's pre-incarnate Sonship. As God's Son He has the nature of God. In Hebrews 1 we read that God, “maketh His angels spirits.” That is their nature; they are spirit. “But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.” The nature of the Son is deity; He is God. In Colossians 1 where He is presented as the Son of the Father's love the emphasis is more upon relationship with the Father and the love that belongs to this relationship. Both the relationship and the love of the relationship are shown to be present before creation. We see this in John 17 too. In verse 5 the Son praying to the Father speaks about the glory which He had with the Father before the world was, and lower down He speaks of the love belonging to this relationship: “Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17: 5, 24).

The pre-incarnate Sonship of Christ is also seen in this, that as the Son He is sent, and comes, from outside of the world, into it. In John 3: 17 we read that, “God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” In John 16 the Lord Jesus says to the disciples: “I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father” (John 16: 26-28). The sending of the Son does not imply that as the Son He was in any way inferior to the Sender. In Galatians 4 His being sent is put alongside the sending of the Holy Spirit. We read there that, “when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” But just a verse lower down we read: “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Gal. 4: 4, 6). The Greek word for sending forth is the same in both cases and in both cases the sending was of Divine Persons from heaven into the world.

There is another reference to the sending of the Son in 1 John 4 verse 9: “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.” The expression “only begotten” is a translation of the Greek word monogenees. This is derived from the Greek words monos, meaning only, or alone, and genos. Genos occurs 21 times in the New Testament and is variously translated1. It is rendered “offspring” (x3), “born” (x2), and “generation” (x1). But the Name “only begotten Son” cannot refer to the incarnation because this verse tells us that it was as the only begotten Son that He was sent from outside of the world into it. He was the only begotten Son before He came. What meaning then is to be attached to the expression “only begotten”?  The word genos is also translated kind, kinds or kindred (x8) and the writer believes this is its meaning here. The only begotten Son of God is of the same kind as God. He is of the same kind as God because He has the nature of God. And He is the only Son like this. We know that others are called sons of God. The angels are called sons of God and believers during this present dispensation of grace are called sons of God, but the only begotten Son is alone in having the nature of God in all its fulness. As the Son He has not only the moral nature of God but deity too.

1The references are as follows: KIND-Matt. 13: 47; Matt. 17: 21; Mark 9: 29; NATION-Mark 7: 26; Gal. 1: 14; KINDRED-Acts 4: 6; Acts 7: 13; Acts 7: 19; COUNTRY-Acts 4: 36; STOCK-Acts 13: 26; Phil. 3: 5; OFFSPRING-Acts 17: 28; Acts 17: 29; Rev. 22: 16; BORN-Acts 18: 2; Acts 18: 24; KINDS-1 Cor. 12: 10; 1 Cor. 14: 10; DIVERSITIES-1 Cor. 12: 28; countrymen-2 Cor. 11: 26; GENERATION-1 Peter 2: 9.

It is well known that the word monogenees2 occurs nine times in the New Testament. John uses the expression five times, only of the Lord Jesus. In Luke's Gospel it is used three times of only children. In Hebrews 11: 17 it is used of Isaac. While Isaac was not the only child of Abraham, he was the only child of his kind-he was the only child of promise.

The Sonship of Christ and His Incarnation

It is important to distinguish between the expression “only begotten” and the words in Psalm 2, “this day have I begotten Thee.” “This day have I begotten Thee” refers to the incarnation, as the New Testament quotations show (Psalm 2: 7; Acts 13: 33; Heb. 1: 5; Heb. 5: 5). But even in Psalm 2 the order of the words guards against the thought that the Son became such by incarnation. It is not said, “This day have I begotten Thee; Thou art My Son,” but “Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee.” This is consistent with what has been noticed already. In Luke 1, answering Mary's question how she could conceive in the womb and bear a son seeing she knew not a man, the angel says: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1: 35). In considering this verse the writer has found it helpful to keep Psalm 40 in mind: “Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me) to do Thy will, O God” (Ps. 40: 6-8; Heb. 10: 5-7). The words in Psalm 2: “this day have I begotten Thee,” refer to the humanity of Christ. They refer to His human spirit and soul and body. But Psalm 40 shows us the Son, the One that was sent from heaven by God and by the Father, coming to take the body prepared for Him. The Eternal Son, having become incarnate, would “be called the Son of God.”

2The nine references are: ONLY-Luke 7: 12; Luke 8: 42; ONLY CHILD-Luke 9: 38; ONLY BEGOTTEN-John 1: 14; John 1: 18; John 3: 16; John 3: 18; Heb. 11: 17; 1 John 4: 9.

Before proceeding further it may be well to notice a passage in Revelation 2 where there is the greatest possible contrast between Christ as the seed of the woman, the Son of Mary, and Christ as the Son of God. In writing to the assembly at Thyatira John says: “These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet are like fine brass.” Thyatira represents the Roman Catholic system in its worst excesses. To this assembly, that gave (and gives) such a large and unscriptural place to Mary and thinks of the Sonship of Christ so habitually in relation to her, Christ presents Himself as the Son of God. As Mary's Son He is the Son of man, but as Son of God He is “the Ancient of days” (Dan. 7: 9, 13-14, 21-22; Rev. 1: 12-16).

It is true to say, and important to maintain, that the incarnation did not change the Person of Christ. He did not for a moment cease to be what He had always been. What did change was the position in which He, the Son, was found. Psalm 40 has shown us that He came to do the will of God. He came not to command but to obey. In Philippians 2 we see the One who is in the form of God taking the form of a servant, and becoming obedient unto death. What is of particular interest in relation to the present subject is the way that Scripture contrasts the Sonship of Christ with these two things; with servanthood and obedience. In John 8, where the word for servant or bondman is the same as in Philippians 2, the Lord says: “the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (Phil. 2: 7; John 8: 35-36). In Hebrews 3 we have a similar contrast. Moses “was faithful in all His (God's) house, as a servant” (Heb. 3: 5). According to Mr. W. E. Vine the word for servant here (therapon) “is a term of dignity and freedom.” Yet the very next verse contrasts the Sonship of Christ with this. “But Christ as a Son over His own house; whose house are we...” (Heb. 3: 6). The beginning of Hebrews 3 shows us why this contrast is made. “For He has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, by how much He that has built it has more honour than the house. For every house is built by some one; but He who has built all things is God” (Heb. 3: 3-4-J.N.D. Trans.). In Hebrews 5 we read that “Though He were Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered” (Heb. 5: 8-J.N.D. Trans.). Obedience was outside the experience of the Son. He had been the One who was to be obeyed. But now having come into the world He learned in His own experience the cost in suffering that obedience entailed. This verse shows us His perfect obedience, even unto the death of the cross.

A similar contrast between His Sonship and the position of obedience which He took at the incarnation is seen in His temptation by the devil. In Matthew 4 the devil twice addresses Him as the Son of God. He knew very well who He was, but he says: “If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” The devil sought to induce the Lord to exercise His own power and will as God and had He done so He would have proven that he was the Son of God. The Lord answers in a way that shows He would not be moved from the position of obedience which He had taken: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:3-4). In the second temptation it was a question of showing that as the Son of God He was the object of the love and care of the Father. “If Thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down: for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee: and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone” (Psa. 91: 11-12; Matt. 4: 6-7). It is striking that in the third of the temptations the devil doesn't address the Lord as the Son of God. There is a simple explanation for this. In the third temptation the devil calls on the Lord to worship him. But the Divine Sonship of Christ is connected with His Eternal Personality and deity. As the Son of God He is the One who is to be worshipped and the devil knew that very well. The Lord answers with words from Deuteronomy 6: 13: “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.”

Later in Matt. 14, we find that there were those who did worship the Lord Jesus, and they worshipped Him as the Son of God. After the feeding of the five thousand (five thousand men, beside women and children) the Lord had sent the disciples across the sea of Galilee. A storm arose but Jesus came to them walking on the sea. When He came into the ship, the wind ceased, and “they that were in the ship came and worshipped Him, saying, Of a truth Thou art the Son of God” (Matt. 14: 22-33).

Those who desire to pursue this study may find the following listing from the New Testament helpful:

There are 47 references to the “Son of God” in the AV, and 42 in the JND Translation. The 42 references occurring in both Translations are as follows: Matt. 4: 3; Matt. 4: 6; Matt. 8: 29; Matt. 26: 63; Matt. 27: 40; Matt. 27: 43; Matt. 27: 54; Mark 1: 1; Mark 3: 11; Mark 15: 39; Luke 1: 35; Luke 4: 3; Luke 4: 9; Luke 4: 41; Luke 22: 70; John 1: 34; John 1: 49; John 3: 18; John 5: 25; John 9: 35; John 10: 36; John 11: 4; John 11: 27; John 19: 7; John 20: 31; Acts 9: 20; Rom. 1: 4; 2 Cor. 1: 19; Gal. 2: 20; Eph. 4: 13; Heb. 4: 14; Heb. 6: 6; Heb. 7: 3; Heb. 10: 29; 1 John 3: 8; 1 John 4: 15; 1 John 5: 5; 1 John 5: 10; 1 John 5: 12; 1 John 5: 13; 1 John 5: 20; Rev. 2: 18. The references occurring only in the AV are: Matt. 14:33-Darby gives “God's Son;” Luke 3:38 (referring to Adam)-Darby gives “of God;” Luke 8: 28-Darby gives “Son of the Most High God;” Acts 8: 37-Darby omits this verse; 1 John 5: 13-Darby omits the first reference.

There are 35 references to Christ as “The Son” (with no other words added which expand or describe that Name) and of these 33 occur in both the AV and JND Translations: Matt. 11: 27 (x3); Matt. 21: 38; Matt. 28: 19; Mark 13: 32; Luke 10: 22 (x3); John 3: 35; John 3: 36 (x2); John 5: 19 (x2); John 5: 20; John 5: 21; John 5: 22; John 5: 23(x2); John 5: 26; John 6: 40; John 8: 35; John 8: 36; John 14: 13; 1 Cor. 15: 28; Heb. 1: 8; 1 John 2: 22; 1 John 2: 23 (x2); 1 John 2: 24; 1 John 4: 14; 1 John 5: 12; 2 John 9. The AV has a reference to the Son in Hebrews 7: 28, but JND gives “a Son.” Darby has a reference to (the) Son in Hebrews 1: 2, where the King James Translation gives “His Son.”

In addition to the above there are 38 other references where Christ is called Son, and these include those occasions when He is called “My Son,” “His Son” etc. References which refer to His being Son of man, Son of David, Son of Mary etc. are not listed. There are 34 references common to both the AV and the JND Translations: Matt. 2: 15; Matt. 21: 37 (x2); Matt. 22: 2; Matt. 22: 42; Mark 12: 6 (x2); John 3: 17; John 17: 1 (x2); Acts 13: 33; Rom. 1: 3; Rom. 1: 9; Rom. 5: 10; Rom. 8: 3; Rom. 8: 29; Rom. 8: 32; 1 Cor. 1: 9; Gal. 1: 16; Gal. 4: 4; Gal. 4: 6; 1 Thess. 1: 10; Heb. 1: 5 (x2); Heb. 3: 6; Heb. 5: 5; Heb. 5: 8; 1 John 1: 3; 1 John 1: 7; 1 John 3: 23; 1 John 4: 10; 1 John 5: 9; 1 John 5: 11; 1 John 5: 20. References included in the AV only are Acts 3: 13; Acts 3: 26; Heb. 1: 2. There is also a reference in the JND Translation in Heb. 7: 28.

Some other designations (not included in the references above) are: “My Beloved Son”-Matt. 3: 17; Matt. 17: 5; Mark 1: 11; Mark 9: 7; Luke 3: 22; Luke 9: 35; Luke 20: 13; 2 Peter 1: 17. “Son of the Living God”-Matt. 16: 16; John 6: 69 (in John 6: 69 Darby gives “holy One of God”). “Son of the Most High God” or “Son of God Most High”-Mark 5: 7; Luke 8: 28. “The Son of the Blessed”-Mark 14:61. “Son of the Highest”-Luke 1: 32. “The Son of His love”-Col. 1: 13, JND Translation. “The Son of the Father”-2 John 3.

The Sonship of Christ as Seen in His Pathway

We have seen that the nature of the Son is deity. We have seen that He has an eternal relationship with the Father and that this relationship is a relationship of love. Each of these hallmarks of His eternal Sonship were seen in the Son in this world.

In John 5, having healed the impotent man on the Sabbath day, the Lord was confronted by the Jews. In verse 17 we have the words of the Lord Jesus Himself: “But Jesus answered them, My father worketh hitherto, and I work.” Verse 18 tells us what we are to understand from these words. It is not merely what the Jews inferred from them, but what John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote: “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.” This passage shows that the incarnation did not change the nature of His Sonship. Just as He was not one whit less God after the incarnation than before it, so His Sonship too was unchanged by it (See footnote on next page). John 10 shows this just as clearly. The Lord says: “I and My Father are one.” He is of the same nature, of the same essence, as the Father. The Jews knew very well what the Lord was claiming and they accuse Him of blasphemy, “Because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God” (John 10: 30-33). As proof of His Divine and eternal Sonship the Lord there refers to the fact that He was sanctified and sent by the Father into the world, and that as having come into it He did the works of His Father (John 10: 34-39). These works showed that as the Son He has the nature of God in all its fulness. In John 5 we read that: “The Father loveth the Son, and sheweth Him all things that Himself doeth,” and “What things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (John 5: 19-20). As the Son He could be shown everything that the Father was doing, and as the Son He could do the same things Himself. But there is one work in particular which shows that the nature of the Son is deity: He gives life to the dead. “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will” (John 5: 21). It is this attribute of Deity that Paul refers to in Romans 1 in proof of the Divine Sonship of Christ: He is “Marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead” (Rom. 1: 4 — J. N. D. Trans.).

The Lord Jesus has the nature of God in all its fulness, and as the Son He also has an eternal relationship with the Father. This relationship with the Father characterised the Son as come into the world. It didn't begin when He came into the world, and neither did it cease then. The relationship continued without interruption. On only one occasion in the Gospels does the Lord address God, and that is on the cross: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matt 27: 46; Mark 15: 34). At all other times He addressed God as His Father and this known and enjoyed relationship with the Father was the home of His heart. He referred to it in His first recorded words in this world. Mary and Joseph found Him in the temple and Mary mistakenly reproved Him: “Son, why hast Thou thus dealt with us?  behold, Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing” (Luke 2: 48). Was Mary forgetting that while legally Joseph's son, the Lord Jesus had been born “before they came together”? (Matt. 1: 18). The Lord answered with words to Mary's conscience: “How is it that ye sought Me?  wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?” (Luke 2: 49). The Father had sent the Son and the Son had come down from heaven, not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him (1 John 4: 14; John 6: 38).

His last words upon the cross were addressed to the Father. While the Son was in the world, the Father who had sent Him had been with Him. He had not left the Son alone, because the Son had done always those things which pleased the Father (John 8: 29). Now that the work was done, and in the unclouded enjoyment of that same eternal relationship, it is to the Father that He sends away His spirit. “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost” (Luke 23: 46). The Lord had been hanging on the cross for six hours, yet shortly before those words were spoken He had been able to declare, “It is finished,” with a loud voice (Mark 15: 25, 34; John 19: 30). How was this possible?  Mark tells us that: “When the centurion, which stood over against Him, saw that He so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15: 39). In John's account of the crucifixion we are told that “He delivered up His spirit” (John 19: 30). He had power to lay down His life and power to take it again. Even in the circumstances of His death His glory is manifested, and it is the glory of the Son.

This relationship between the Father and the Son was and is a relationship of love. As being one with the Father He can say: “All things that the Father hath are Mine” (John 16: 15). Yet as the incarnate Son all things are given to Him by the Father. That the Father gives Him all things is a proof of the eternal love of the Father for the Son: “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand” (John 3: 35). In John 5 it is this eternal love of the Father for the Son that leads the Father to show the incarnate Son all things that He is doing: “For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth Him all things that Himself doeth” (John 5: 20).

This love for the Son is also seen in the various ways that He is described. He is the Father's “beloved Son” (Matt. 3: 17; Matt. 17: 5; Mark 1: 11; Mark 9: 7; Luke 3: 22; Luke 9: 35; 2 Peter 1: 17), “The Beloved” (Eph. 1: 6), God's “own Son” (Rom. 8: 3, 32), and the Son of the Father's love (Col. 1: 13).

The Sonship of Christ in Relation to the Jews

The Sonship of Christ was a central issue with the Jews. We have seen from John 5 and 10 how He pressed it upon them in plain words. Later, in the counsel of the Jews, the high priest adjured Him by the Living God to say whether He was the Christ, the Son of God (Matt. 26: 63-64; Mark 14: 61-62; Luke 22: 70). His answer was “I am” (Mark 14: 62).

The Lord also pressed His Sonship upon the Jews in parables. In Matthew 21 He speaks about a certain householder who planted a vineyard. It is a picture of Israel nationally, planted by Jehovah (Jer. 2: 21; Jer. 11: 17). When the time for fruiting drew near servants were sent to receive of the fruit. Some were beaten, some were stoned and some were killed. Last of all the householder sent his son, saying, “They will reverence my son” (Matt. 21: 37). In Mark's Gospel it is added that: “Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, he sent him last unto them” (Mark 12: 6). But those to whom the son is sent reject him and as a consequence they are themselves rejected and judgment falls upon them.

In Matthew 22 there is a parable that is only recorded in that chapter. A certain King makes a marriage for his son. Those first bidden to the wedding refuse the invitation and others fill up their place. Matthew's Gospel repeatedly contrasts the dispensations of law and grace and this change of dispensation is shown to hinge on the rejection of the Son.

At the end of Matthew 22 the Lord refers to prophetic Scripture. When He had answered the contrived questions of the Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees, He confounds the Pharisees with a question of His own: “What think ye of Christ?  whose Son is He?”  He refers to Psalm 110, and they cannot answer how, if He is David's Son, David should call Him his Lord, saying, “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool” (Matt. 22: 41-46; Mark 12: 35-37; Luke 20: 41-44; Psalm 110: 1).

What was the outcome of this presentation of His Sonship to the Jews?  His claims to Divine Sonship were utterly rejected. On the basis of His confession in the counsel of the Jews He was condemned to death (Matt. 26: 65-66; Mark 14: 63-64). When He was taken to Pilate the Jews said: “We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God” (John 19: 7). He was mocked as He hung upon the cross. Those that passed by reviled Him, “wagging their heads, and saying... If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Matt. 27: 39-40). “The chief priests mocking Him, with the scribes and elders, said... He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him: for he said, I am the Son of God” (Matt. 27: 41, 43). If, as the Son of God, He has the nature of God in all its fulness, had He not power to come down from the cross?  If He has an eternal relationship with the Father and this relationship is a relationship of love, would He not be delivered?  Those that mocked Him supplied the answer, though they did so in unbelief: “He saved others, Himself He cannot save” (Matt 27: 42). As the Son He had power to lay down His life. This commandment He had received of His Father, and on this account the Father loved Him, because He laid down His life that He might take it again (John 10: 17-18).

This really brings us to another point. Since the coming of the Son of God into the world, all blessing hinges upon receiving Him as such. This was true of the Jews when the Lord was here. The man in John 9 who was born blind, had his eyes opened and worshipped the Lord Jesus as the Son of God. He typifies the remnant of the Jews (John 9: 35-38). We see the same thing with Saul of Tarsus. When “There fell from his eyes as it had been scales... straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God” (Acts 9: 18-20). This testimony to the Jews as to the Sonship of Christ was continued in the epistle to the Hebrews. And the eyes of the remnant will be opened to this Personal and eternal glory of Christ after the church is taken to heaven.

At the beginning of John's Gospel we read of three days. There is one day, and then “The next day” (John 1: 29, 35), and then “The day following” (John 1: 43). The spiritual bearing of these days is this. The ministry of John the Baptist and of the Lord on earth is connected with the first day. What marks the second day are the features of Christianity. Christ is known as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and as the Son of God who baptises with the Holy Spirit (John 1: 29, 33-34). But what characterises the third day is the opening of the eyes of the Jewish remnant to the Divine glory of the Lord Jesus, even in the face of their long prejudice against Him. Like Nathanael towards the end of John 1 they will confess Him as the Son of God and the King of Israel (John 1: 43, 47-49).

The Sonship of Christ and Christianity

The Gospels by Matthew, Mark and Luke are largely occupied with the ministry of the Lord Jesus outside of Jerusalem and Judaea. They record the animosity of the religious leaders toward Him and also trace out the stages in His rejection by the common people. As this rejection becomes more and more apparent a new work comes into view. If He is rejected as the Christ it is upon Him as the Son of God1 that this new work is founded. In answering the Lord's question, “But whom say ye that I am?” Peter confesses, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee... upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16: 15-18). John's Gospel is more concerned with events in Jerusalem and Judaea. In this centre of Judaism He is rejected from the outset and we are occupied with this new work from the beginning (John 2: 18-21; John 3: 14-16; John 4: 23-24; John 5: 23-25; John 6: 53-57; John 7: 37-39 etc.). We might well call John's Gospel the Gospel of Christianity.

1In the parallel passages in Mark 8:27-9:1 and Luke 9:18-27 He is confessed as “the Christ,” but there is no reference to His being the Son of God or to the building of the assembly.

John's Gospel was written that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believing, we might have life through His Name (John 20: 31). Eternal life is connected with the knowledge of God, who is made known to us as the Father by the Son (John 17: 3; 1 John 1: 2; 1 John 5: 11). This revelation of God is brought before us in John 1 where we read that “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him” (John 1: 18). This verse shows that there are Divine Persons within the Godhead and that these Divine Persons are in relationship with one another: they are Father and Son. Furthermore, this relationship is shown to be a relationship of love. The only begotten Son is in the bosom of the Father. This is how God is declared to us. It is not what God became, but what He has always been. The Holy Spirit is not mentioned here because it is objective revelation. He works in our hearts to give the capacity to receive the revelation (John 3: 5-8). The revelation itself is of God the Father by the Son.

This revelation is at the very heart of the gospel. God is “in the light” (1 John 1: 7). He no longer dwells in the thick darkness which concealed Him before Christ came (Ex. 19: 9, J.N.D. Trans.; 1 Kings 8: 12; Ps. 97: 2). It is in this light that our sin is exposed. There is at the same time the manifestation of all that can be known about God, and the manifestation of the truth about ourselves. Yet God is revealed as One who loves us and who provides for the need which He shows to exist. The Father sends the Son to be the Saviour of the world. (1 John 4: 14). It was in this that the love of God toward us was manifested, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him (1 John 4: 9). And when expressing the love of God to the world it is not said that God gave the Son of man, but that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3: 14-15). He gave the One who was the eternal and always worthy object of His love and delight.

Those that believe on the Son have eternal life. They receive it when they receive Him, for “He that hath the Son, hath life; and He that hath not the Son of God, hath not life” (1 John 5: 12). He is “that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us” (1 John 1: 2).

Just as the initial receiving of eternal life is bound up with the receiving of the Son, so growth in the divine nature is connected with the knowledge2 of the Son. In 1 John 2 it is this that marks the fathers, those who are spiritually mature. They know the Son, the One who is “from the beginning” (1 John 2: 13, 14). The gifts given by an ascended Christ have the same end in view: “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect (full-grown) man” (Eph. 4: 13). There can be no advance from this knowledge, as the two references in 1 John 2 show (Verses 13 & 14). It is knowledge that is gained as we keep company with Him. Like the disciples of old we can see where He abides (in the Father's bosom), and abide with Him (John 1: 38-39). We can contemplate His glory, “a glory as of an only begotten with a father” (John 1: 14 — J.N.D. Trans.).

2In Matthew 11: 27 we read, “All things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.” The Greek word for “knoweth” is the same in both places (epiginõsko). Since the Father, who is not incarnate, can be known by those to whom the Son reveals Him, it does not seem that the Lord is here referring to the impossibility of the creature comprehending God (1 Tim. 6: 16). Rather, it is the incarnate Son who cannot be comprehended-it is impossible for us to understand how Deity and Humanity can be united in His Person. This is a great mystery (1 Tim. 3: 16). Such verses as these should not be used to deny or oppose what is revealed (Matt. 16: 16-17). The same word (epignõsis) is used in Ephesians 4: 13, “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”

These and other verses show that the Sonship of Christ has a vital bearing upon everyday Christian living. It is certainly not an abstruse point of doctrine with which we need not concern ourselves. This is also seen in Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” The law did not give life and because of what we are according to the flesh, it was really a ministry of death and condemnation (2 Cor. 3: 7, 9). It set no object before the soul, apart from the obedience which it required, and it imparted no power in order that that obedience might be rendered. The verse here in Galatians 2 shows that these three things are connected with the Son of God. Paul had received Christ, the Son, and life in Him. And the Son of God was the constant and sustaining object of his faith. The love of the eternal Son of God was set on him, and Paul had a deep, present, consciousness of it. He had given Himself for Paul and having Him before his soul he was furnished with the power that enabled him to live such a victorious and exemplary Christian life.

The One who came from heaven and gave Himself for Paul and for every believer, is coming again. The life of faith will then be at an end. Are we waiting for His coming?  The believers at Thessalonica had “turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God; And to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thess. 1: 9-10). Is there not a parallel between this verse and Galatians 2: 20?  The other references to the second coming in this epistle all speak about the “Lord Jesus Christ” or “the Lord” (1 Thess. 2: 19; 1 Thess. 3: 13; 1 Thess. 4: 15; 1 Thess. 5: 23). He has absolute authority and we are accountable to Him, but the reference in the first chapter seems to lay particular stress upon the Person who is coming. The love of the Son for them was such that there was no question of their being left in the world when the day of the Lord should be present (2 Thess. 2: 2, J.N.D. Trans.). He had delivered them from that coming wrath. Having Him as their object and hope, the One in whom the love of God and of the Father had been so perfectly manifested, they were kept in peace. We know from the second epistle that it was this hope that the enemy sought to shake, but Scripture clearly teaches that the saints will be caught away from the world before the hour of trial comes upon it (1 Thess. 4: 16-17; 1 Thess. 5: 2-5; 2 Thess. 2: 1-8; Rev. 3: 10).

In his epistles John shows a similar concern for those who were in danger of being deceived. It was not deception connected with wrong teaching about the timing of the day of the Lord, but what is even more serious, deception flowing from wrong teaching about the Person of Christ. Does not the apostle John insist upon the vital nature of the doctrine of Christ?  In his first epistle he especially warns the little children. “Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?  He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: but he that acknowledgeth the Son, hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father” (1 John 2: 22-24). In these verses we have again the same elements that we have seen before. He is the Christ, the Son of God and of the Father. Like the Thessalonian believers, the little children that John addressed knew that Antichrist was coming (1 John 2: 18a) but he warns them that, “even now are there many antichrists” (1 John 2: 18b). What constituted them antichrists was the denial of the truth as to Christ's Person. They professed themselves to be Christians while at the same time denying the revelation of the eternal God that has come to us in the Son. The safeguard of the little children was to abide in the teaching of the apostle's concerning Him. They were to receive no new, no novel teaching about the Person of Christ. The Unction (the Holy Spirit) which they had from the Holy One (the Lord Jesus) would enable them to continue in the Son and in the Father (1 John 2: 20, 24).

In his second Epistle John writes to “the elect lady.” She too was vulnerable. It was not the man, but the woman who was deceived by the serpent and John writes that “many deceivers are entered into the world” (1 Tim. 2: 14; 2 John 7). It was the doctrine of Christ that was to be the touchstone, and if those who professed to bring something brought not that doctrine she was not to receive them into her house: “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed, is partaker of his evil deeds.” (2 John 9-11).

In closing let us call to mind again how the Sonship of Christ is interwoven with every strand of Christian truth. It is by the Son as such that God is revealed to us. “The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him” (John 1: 18). We receive this revelation when we believe the gospel and the gospel of God concerns “His Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 1: 1-3). Believing the gospel we are delivered “from the power of darkness,” and translated “into the Kingdom” of God's “dear Son” (Col. 1:13). Those so translated form part of the church that Christ is building on the unshakeable foundation of His own Person as “the Son of the Living God” (Matt. 16: 15-18). While that building continues we are waiting for God's Son from heaven and while we wait it is our portion, like Paul, to live by faith, “the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (1 Thess. 1: 10; Gal. 2: 20). It is clear from these and many other passages that the Sonship of Christ is not peripheral to Christianity. Indeed, how can anything that is so vitally bound up with His Person be peripheral?  To maintain that it is so is to depredate His glory and to manifest that Laodicean spirit which is such a dishonour to Him. Christianity is centred in Christ, the Christ of the Scriptures, and any false idea we have of Him is not only fatal in itself, but will also (eventually) show itself in a wrong idea of Christianity, and in wrong practice (1 Cor. 15: 33).

May the Lord grant us a deepening appreciation of His glory and the desire to be faithful to His Name.

R. F. Wall.

Extract

Were you to apply the directions given for judging immorality to fatal error touching our Lord's person, you would have a very insufficient measure of discipline. False doctrine does not touch the natural conscience as gross conduct does. Nay, you may too often find a believer drawn away by his affections to make excuses for those who are fundamentally heterodox. All sorts of difficulties fill the mind where the eye is not really single. Many might thus be involved who did not themselves hold the false doctrine. If I accept the principle of dealing with none but him who brings not the doctrine of Christ, it will not do; for there may be others entangled by it. What is any individual, what is the church even, in comparison with the Saviour, the Son of the Father?  Accordingly, the rule laid down by the Spirit for vindicating Christ's person from blasphemous assailants or their partisans, is infinitely more stringent than when it is a question of moral corruption, be it ever so bad.

W. Kelly-Lectures on the Gospel of Matthew, page 324.

Christ Everything

Christ Everything

By the Editor of Scripture Truth before J.T. Mawson

In thinking over the Scripture, "as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him; rooted and built up is Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving" (Col. 2 : 6, 7), I was carried back in thought to my own real start  with the Lord. I had from my earliest knowledge of anything known the Gospel, but the time came when I definitely received Him — "You'll trust Him?" was the question put to me and I said "Yes." I remember the following day that the name Jesus was continually before me. I printed it in large letters and set it where I could see it continually. It was just Himself — not the blessing that I had received — but Himself.

I could not have explained it all then, but now I see that the Spirit of God had led me to Him, it was not belief in a text of Scripture, but the reception of a Person about whom the Scriptures speak, and He was very real to me. I realised a personal link between myself and the Lord and longed to remember Him in His death, but I was afraid to make my desire known. After much faltering, I awoke to the fact that I was losing time and slipping back for I was not keeping His word. I had not advanced in this desire beyond what was individual, it was simply the Lord's love to me and my response to His love, but so far it was very real — and it was Himself and my desire to keep His commandments.

Then followed the desire to serve Him. I felt that to serve Him who had done so much for me would be a great honour and I have no doubt that He then gave me a definite call to preach the Gospel. The opportunity came for me to preach, and I spent some days in careful preparation of a sermon on the wisdom of building on the rock and the folly of building on the sand. As I walked to the preaching room, 3 miles away, there rang insistently in my ears "Behold the Lamb of God" and all my sermon slipped out of my memory. I passed through an agony of exercise and the more so because on arriving at the meeting I could not find the passage of Scripture that I had studied so carefully. And still the voice continued within me, "Behold the Lamb of God."

It was time to begin and I was reminded of this by a brother sitting near to me. I picked up my hymn book and the first hymn that my eyes alighted upon was "Behold the Lamb, 'tis He who bore my burden on the tree." I was greatly comforted and felt that I could trust the Lord to give me words to speak upon the text "Behold the Lamb of God." While I spoke an old man of 74 who had been long anxious, believed the Word, and passed from darkness to light. I was greatly cheered and began to see the way of the Lord. It was as though He said by the exercise I had passed through, "If you are to serve Me you must speak about Me, you must begin with Me. I must be your theme." It was Himself again.

Zeal for the Gospel laid hold of me, and day and night my thoughts were filled with the Gospel and my service in it. On reading C. H. Spurgeon's very helpful and delightful "Lectures to my Students" I longed to get the help I felt he could give, that I might be more efficient in the preaching. But just then the Lord came in and led me one step further. A servant of God visited our town and in the first address that he gave he spoke on Matthew 18: 20, pressing the reality of the Lord's presence in the midst of His assembly. It was a revelation to me. It was not the brethren, whether nice or otherwise who made the meeting what it was, it was Him — He gave character to the place. If I went it was to meet Him in His own circle, where He gathered His own about Him according to His own divine right.

I shall never forget the light that this was to my soul. I had to get away from everybody to dwell upon it with the Lord. From that time I have been unable to understand brethren saying "I will not go to the meeting, if such and such a Christian is permitted there; or threatening to withdraw, if what they think right is not done. To me everything lies in the Lord being there, and if He is there I must be.

This was a great joy, but it soon involved me in further exercise, for, I had to face the fact of failure, I discovered that confusion and division had wrought much havoc in that which appeared to me so blessed and which I had considered to be above the failure of men. Moreover I discovered that even those who I believed held or, to the truth, had sadly failed in the way they had done it, and the spirit that had been displayed. That party spirit could have entered that sacred enclosure with such disastrous results was to me a heart-breaking surprise. I was greatly shaken and I wondered whether it would not be better to devote myself exclusively to the Gospel, and let all else go as being impossible to carry out.

But I could not do this. I had tasted me joy of Christ and His assembly; to that I felt I must cling, and I went a step further and learned that everything was established and secured in Him. I learnt this from 2 Timothy, and I found from that Epistle that I could hold fast that which I had learnt and that it would be as a light and guide to me in the perilous times; I had got the clue to the maze. It meant that I must turn my eyes from the confusion and be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, remembering Him, raised from the dead according to Paul's Gospel, and test things henceforth by His word and authority. It was Himself again as meeting the exercise arising from our great failure in the truth.

I can see how falteringly I have followed these things so clearly shown to me. Known only to the Lord and myself has been the continual failure in walk according to that which I see and know to be the way of truth. But to these things in His great grace He has held me, and how patient He has been. I realize that, in every recovery of soul that I have known, He has brought me back to the joy of these things. They abide and will so long as the Spirit of Truth abides on earth.

It is plain to me that everything depends upon Christ personally having His place. We are to receive Him, walk in Him, be rooted and built up in Him, every advance is in Him. We may have doctrine and fight for "principles" and maintain a legal separation from what is wrong, but if that is all we shall become withered ourselves and a menace to the peace of our brethren. We shall abound in thanksgiving as together we continue in Him.

There have been many crises in my life, too intimate, too sacred, to commit to writing, but I have found that if He has drawn near to me in them I have gained in spiritual substance, no matter what else I have lost, and I have feebly learnt that for my own blessing as for His glory He must be all and in all, He is the Alpha and Omega, the First and Last, the Beginning and the End. He is this for God, and He must be this for every creature that is to be finally and eternally blest. This is the lesson that the Spirit of God is teaching us today. Happy will all those be who learn it.

Inclusive and Exclusive

Inclusive and Exclusive.

H. J. Vine.

It is important, in relation to the oneness of the saints of God, to understand the truth of the one body; to grasp in faith the fact of it. "There is one body." This is a fact whether we grasp it or not, but the Holy Spirit has given us the truth of it through Paul, in the Scripture, that we might be always kept in the sense of the necessity of every member of the body of Christ, for all are included in the body. Oh! that we may learn deeply and truly this blessed inclusiveness. That teaching of exclusiveness, which says that certain members are excluded on the principle of the one body, is not the truth of God. indeed, it is very serious error. That teaching which maintains that wicked persons (those characterized by lawlessness in word or way) are to be excluded from Christian intercourse is according to the truth. The difference between the two is very great. To use the truth of the one body for the exclusion of members, is to act ignorantly, to misapply scripture, and to injure the saints. To exclude wickedness and those characterized by it as unsuited to the holiness of God's house, is to obey the Word and to preserve the saints, but for the latter other scriptures are needed.

As to the inclusiveness of the one body, we are told, no member can say to another, "I have no need of thee" (1 Cor. 12: 21). Every member is necessary. Exclusion is not to be thought of. "God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to the part that lacked." And the reason for this divine wisdom and care is, "That there be no division in the body" (25)! Inclusiveness is the truth here. The teaching of the "one new man," and of access to the Father by "one Spirit" in Ephesians 2: 15-18 has the same end in view; as also has the fact that we are "joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers" of God's promise in Christ Jesus. Indeed, the very gospel-preaching of Paul was ''according to the revelation of the mystery' (Rom. 16: 25); and the right effect of that would bring all the saints "to be likeminded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus; that ye may with one accord, with one mouth, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore," continues the Apostle, "receive ye one another according as the Christ also has received you to the glory of God" (Rom. 15: 5-7). In this way the oneness becomes practical in the love and grace of the truth.

For a Day of Failure.

The outward failure and breakdown as to this very truth amongst those Who claim to be the church, or of the church, could not be greater, but it was all foreseen and foretold in the Scripture, and provision has been made in view of the failure in the ministry given through John. So that those who are really "of the truth" may be preserved and maintained in fullness of joy, and according to the oneness of which we speak, in spite of the outward breakdown.

No outward divisions or separations are seen by John, among the living company of true believers on the Son of God, for whom he writes. His Gospel is written that they may have life (John 20: 31): his first Epistle that they may know they have eternal life (1 John 5: 13). He sees one family, all loved alike by one Father, indwelt by one Spirit. In the Gospel he sees one flock, all having eternal life, and all safe in the hand of one Shepherd. The flock is identified with the assembly by Paul's words in Acts 20: 28. It is true that here, as well as in John 10, the Holy Spirit foretells trouble from those who should succeed the apostles. Grievous wolves are spoken of, and also those who would speak "perverted things"; but the one flock, the true assembly, remains.

John 10 tells of the thief coming to steal, to kill, and to destroy; but the Shepherd, the Son of God, holds all His own in the hand of omnipotence. Unlike the thief, the good Shepherd came that His sheep might have salvation, liberty, and life abundantly. The wolf worries and scatters the precious sheep of Christ, and the hireling's heart is on his wages; he cares not for the sheep, and flees when danger comes; but the good Shepherd knows each sheep by name, and He loves each one with so great a love that He laid down His life for the eternal welfare of every one of them. Notwithstanding all the trouble the thief, the hireling, and the wolf cause, the one flock is safe, because it is in His hand, and in the Father's hand; and He has said: "No one shall seize them out of My hand," and "No one can seize out of the hand of My Father. I and My Father are one." Every sheep is included in the grasp of love and omnipotence. He speaks of inclusive oneness.

Those who are excluded in John's epistle exclude themselves-they go out. They apostatize (1 John 2: 11). In the third epistle of John, Diotrephes "cast out" the brethren; this treatment was meted out to the best saints. He could only cast out of the assembly where he had usurped the pre-eminence which belongs to Christ; he could not cast them out of that of which we are speaking. But it should be a warning to us to see to it that we have more than mere talk about assembly, which is dangerous; for even in apostolic days the state in this connection could be such that an apostolic communication could be refused; and even apostles themselves: "I wrote something to the assembly; but Diotrephes, who loves to have the first place among them, receives us not " (3 John 9). Certainly it was the work of an individual whose fleshly pride had made him Satan's tool, and who took and loved the first place among them. It is a significant fact that the only mention of the assembly in John's writings is in connection with this evil Diotrephesian conduct; doubtless this is to cast us back upon the living and inclusive oneness, to which prominence is given in his ministry by the Holy Spirit. The violent exclusiveness of Diotrephes was evil. It excluded the best. It is therefore said to Gaius: "Beloved, imitate not what is evil, but what is good. He that does good is of God" (11). That is the path which is surrounded by the abiding blessings of God.

Disciples Indeed

Disciples Indeed

"Will ye also be his disciples?" — John 9: 27; Mark 4: 35-41; Luke 14: 25-33.

Being Notes of an Address by A. Mace.

Publisher: G. Morrish.

It might be helpful if we look a little at the subject of christian discipleship. Discipleship is viewed in scripture in two aspects. It is looked at merely as a profession, and also as a great reality.

Have you ever marked in reading John's gospel, that there seemed to be a crowd round the Lord continually? In John 6 the throng leaves Him because He said, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." That was the point which tested them. But the Lord turns to the twelve and says, "Will ye also go away?" Then Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go, thou hast the words of eternal life." There you find two classes of disciples — the mere camp followers, who followed for the loaves and fishes, and those who followed for what they had found in Him, and though they might be, and surely were, searched and rebuked, still, they clung to Him.

What I want to bring before you is

REAL DISCIPLESHIP,

thorough going, out-and-out decision for Christ, and whilst I am conscious of what a very poor exponent I am of it, still, beloved friends, we have to face the truth, and it is very wholesome to see things as they are in scripture. Never lower the standard because you are not up to it. Far better to confess your failure, own that you come short, but say at the same time, that is what I want to be.

The Lord Jesus Himself was a disciple. Now, I would not like to say that without a word of explanation. In Isaiah 50 we read, "the Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary; he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learner."

The blessed Lord took the place of the disciple here on earth. That was how He got, as Man the tongue of the learned. "He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learner." He thus becomes the pattern of what a disciple should be. In other words, He followed in the path of the Father's appointment. As the Father gave Him commandment, so He spoke, and He could say, "I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak."

In John 5 we read, "the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do." There you have the whole life of Christ. He never spoke from Himself, and never acted from Himself. His words were the Father's words, and His works were the Father's works. His ear was wakened to hear the Father's voice. He trod in that path, and therefore is the pattern of our discipleship.

Now turn to Mark 4: 35 again. "And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side." Observe, it is "let us pass over." That is

DIVINE ASSOCIATION.

Christ has a company here in connection with Himself. Those walking in the path of the divine will form this company, and to them He says, "Let us pass over unto the other side." Unto what other side? Why to the gloryland, that is the other side. This is the world's, man's and Satan's side. We have heard that blessed One say, "let us pass over unto the other side." There is one thing that ought to comfort every Christian, expressed in these lines:-

"One sweetly solemn thought,

Comes to me o'er and o'er;

I am nearer the glory today,

Than ever I was before."

We are in the boat so to speak, the oars are moving, we are being rowed over, we are travelling on to it, we were never so near it as we are now, and perhaps we shall get there today. The Lord Jesus has connected His people with Him in this blessed path of discipleship. I hope there is no exception in this room. I hope that every one of us has been taken hold of by the Lord to be connected with Him in this way. It is not only to be in heaven when we die, but we are so linked with Him, that we are travelling under His leadership to the other side.

Now, what follows?

"WHEN THEY HAD SENT AWAY THE MULTITUDE."

This is the first thing to be done. Every one has his or her multitude. A person may be a Christian, yet not a disciple, a child of God, an old believer, and yet never have sent away the multitude.

I am speaking now of discipleship in its real character, as it is presented in Luke 14. I repeat, beloved friends, you can be a true believer, and never have entered this path of identification with Christ. The sine qua non, the essential point for it is, that you must send away the multitude, and so break with things. and hindrances here. It is no use saying things will drop off, they won't. I used to say that at one time, but I do not now. They do not drop off.

I remember once in Rochester, U. S., having to walk a considerable distance about the city with a number of silver dollars in my pocket, as heavy as five shilling pieces. I said to a friend, Can you change these into paper money for me? And I put my hand into my pocket, and gave him the silver dollars, and took his paper ones. Those heavy dollars would not drop out of my pocket, I had to put my hand in, and take them out.

In Hebrews we read of weights. Weights are not always sins. Suppose I read the newspaper for an hour every morning. I should consider it a weight, but not necessarily a sin.

I remember once seeing a man outside Watford station. He was smoking. I noticed him look at his watch, and then he suddenly began to run. Directly he began to run, he took the pipe out of his mouth. We never find out what weights are till we begin to run. Let a thing become a weight, and it has to go.

You may say very pretty things in prayer, but are you laying aside the weights? It is no good asking for this and that, and yet when He points out the weights you do not send them away; it is practical hypocrisy.

Beloved friends, you have a multitude, a social, commercial, or domestic multitude. The first thing is, to send it away. Whatever the hindrance, and there is no one in this room who has not some kind of a block under the wheel, send it away. It is no use to ask for more power. For example, some one is trying to push a cart up a hill, and he cannot move it. He calls for more help, and a number of people come along, and all try to push it up, but still it will not move.

Why, you say, they are all blind. You see in a moment what the hindrance is, there is a block under the wheel. What do you do? You just remove the block, and the thing goes along smoothly.

I am quite certain that there are hindrances in the Christian's history, things that hinder our getting on in the things of God. There is a multitude that you have never sent away, but be sure of it, if you are to be out-and-out for Christ, you must take it into the Lord's presence, wrap it up into a bundle, and write across it "dismissed."

God said to Abraham, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house." He did not do it. You notice it is, "the Lord had said unto Abram." It is in the past. Not till some time after did he send away his multitude. What was it? His relatives. Lot was a hanger-on. We see afterwards what he was, he was looking for the well-watered plains of Sodom. Abraham subsequently sent Lot away, and then the Lord said unto him, "Lift up now thine eyes . . . . northward and southward, and eastward, and westward, for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever." Then he was to walk through the land, to possess it. He was losing blessing, because he had not carried out the three-fold commandment, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house."

Beloved friends, I beseech you to let His blessed eye pass over you. In secret let Him point out what that multitude is, and have done with it. If ever there was a day when we needed to be for Christ, it is now. Our time is brief. The great delay, the great hindrance to souls getting on, is that God puts His finger on certain things, and we do not refuse them.

Now there is a negative and a positive action here. First, they dismiss the multitude, and then

"THEY TOOK HIM EVEN AS HE WAS IN THE SHIP."

How was He in this world? Born in Bethlehem's manger, a homeless wanderer, rejected from the very outset. They identify themselves with Christ, "they took him even as he was."

Israel did not take the manna as it was in Numbers 11. They "ground it in mills or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it," It is an awful chapter, a chapter of apostasy, in which they say, "make us a captain." They did not take the manna as it was. If we look around Christendom today, is it a rejected, crucified Christ that meets our eye in those who profess His name? I know He is the eternal God, but I am speaking now of His blessed path of discipleship. He went through this world, and He is my pattern. He was wholly for God.

Well, they are crossing over to the other side, and they meet with a twofold opposition, wind and waves. Wind is an emblem of Satan's power. Oh! you say, you told us the other day it was a type of the Spirit. So it is, my friends, and of Satan too. There are two hidden powers at work in this world, the Holy Ghost, and Satan — the prince of the power of the air. The wind is a type of them both. If there were no wind there would be no waves. The waves are people. It is the wind that puts the waves in motion, the devil behind the scenes, who sets up human opposition to that company, who are travelling to the other side.

Depend upon it, if we want to go on smoothly and easily the devil will let us alone. If you want a kid-glove easy-going Christianity, it is there for you to have. But if you are to be with Christ, you will meet with wind and waves. What do we know of waves and storms and clouds?

There were other little ships. You can go in them if you like, but we never hear of them again. The storm comes and they are gone. Very likely they made for the shore. You may be in one of them if you please. If you travel with Christ you must expect opposition. "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." It will not be the inquisition or the rack, but it will be the go-by, and the opposition of even worldly believers.

I ask you, is it your desire and mine to be in that ship where Christ is? There is a beautiful touch just here,

"HE . . . . WAS ASLEEP ON A PILLOW."

This is the only gospel that mentions it. Mark is the gospel of the Servant. Did He push that pillow away? No. There was no monasticism, no asceticism in Him, He accepts the Father's provision, and goes to sleep in the storm. "Carest thou not that we perish?" they say. Oh! that miserable " we." His "us" took them in, their "we" left Him out. Perish with Christ on board! It only wants to be thought of for a minute. What ought Peter to have done? To have put his head on His bosom, and gone to sleep too. He did afterwards go to sleep in a storm. He slept between four quaternions of soldiers. He had learnt his lesson then, he could sleep in the storm at last. But now the end is reached, they get to the other side. And so shall we presently:-

"Safe to the land, safe to the land,

The end is this;

And then with Him go hand in hand

Far into bliss."

But, if there is one thing we shall regret, it will be that we did not go through the storms better. "He rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm." He is the only One who can meet the power of Satan.

First we get the path itself — Christ's — then the opposition and the resources. The opposition is the wind and waves — the resources, "what manner of man is this?" Oh! how brief our moment here! Shall we trifle with it? May God give certainty and definiteness to our very desires, and may they be — Christ.

Now we will turn to Luke 14: 26. "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." Now, if the Lord had put in, cannot be a Christian, or cannot be a believer, or cannot be saved, beloved friends, who would get the blessing? But no. In Luke 14 there are two "F's," feasting and following. "A certain man made a great supper and bade many." He brings them there to feast. They feed till they are satisfied. Now, they come out to follow. We go in to feast, and come out to follow. In the feast, He meets all the cost. He provides everything. They have only to come, and partake of what He provides. But, what now? "There went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."

There are seven things here, ending with "His own life also." That is the last thing that we bid good-bye to. Unless we hate these seven things, hate their influence, "he cannot be my disciple." That is, we do not suffer them to hinder discipleship.

You remember the man who said, "Suffer me first to go and bury my father." The Lord said to him, "Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God." As much as to say, If you are a disciple, He must be first. "Suffer me first to go and bury my father." No, that cannot be, for though we know that God has instituted all these relationships, and blessed relationships they are, yet the moment you enter into the path of following Christ, He says, I must be first. There are two things that make up discipleship,

BUILDING AND FIGHTING,

the sword and the trowel, only He puts the trowel first. "Which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost?" Building the tower, I believe, is that secret work of God that goes on in your own soul, by which you are built up. You see, he sits down to count the cost. He estimated it. In the case of salvation, it cost Christ everything and me nothing, but to be a disciple, I have to sit down and count the cost.

It is the first of all necessities to be alone with God. We began to build when we were first saved. How much time do we spend in prayer and over the word, and do we tell Him everything? "This man began to build." We were not occupied with the building, but people looked on, and they saw the earnestness and bent of our souls. "This man began to build." Is it so today? Is there the same earnestness, the same searching of the scriptures as when we first knew Him? We have to build ourselves up in our most holy faith. It is what goes on between God and our souls in secret, that enables us to resist the devil.

If you are busy outside and slothful inside you will make shipwreck. You keep a feast without for other people, but you are starving within, Do not live on public meetings and addresses and fail to get alone with God, or you will become inflated and think you have things, that you have never really made your own before God. Some have more time than others I know, but depend upon it, we have all the time we want. If we want to do a thing, we do it. Perhaps it is 25 years ago since you began, perhaps more, well, go on. Barnabas had a bright start, he gave up everything for, Christ, did he sustain it, was he able to finish? "Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off." Time tests us as Christians. It is not the first blush. We get to know things, we acquire a knowledge of Christianity, we receive certain truths, but unless they are made good in the secret of our souls, that tower will stop building, and all who look on will mock, saying, "this man began to build and was not able to finish."

Barnabas appears to have made shipwreck, not of Christianity but of discipleship. He and Mark sailed to Cyprus. That was where Barnabas came from. It is most important that we should seek God in secret. These are shallow days. It is there you get fed, there you get help, there you have to do with God.

I thank God for public ministry, but if you are living on it, sooner or later you will be an ignoble shipwreck. "This man began to build." Every Christian ought to sit down and count the cost, and beloved friends, when you thus sit down do not leave out all the blessing and the infinite resources God has for you. I believe it is far easier to be out-and-out than to be half-hearted, because you find all His resources at your disposal. Christ satisfies your heart. You may, and you will find difficulties, it is impossible to get on without them, but if you get into the "counting" house and deliberate, saying, I shall have to break with this and that, and you begin to put down the expenses, remember on the other side you have the Father's love, the presence of Christ and the power of the Holy Ghost, and that will keep you going on, and you "will grow up unto him in all things." Well, that is the inside. The next thing is,

A KING GOING TO MAKE WAR.

This is active, not passive. We are all supposed to fight. Depend upon it, we are all expected to be doing two things — building and fighting. Nehemiah and his companions held the sword in one hand, and the trowel in the other. They fought, and built the wall. They did not take their clothes off. They went on building, and they were ready for the enemy when he came. Do not suppose you are not to fight. Each one has to face the enemy.

"See the mighty host advancing,

Satan leading on!"

If you are to go against that mighty host, just lift your eyes to the glory and say, Can I? Yes. "I can do all things through Christ who gives me power." Never surrender your position. Never. "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." show me a person who feeds in secret, and I will show you a person who fights in this great battle against the powers of darkness. But here is one who having fought, after a time holds out a flag of truce. There is a compromise with the devil. He started well, but the battle was too long and too strong, and he gives in and desires conditions of peace. Oh! may this never be said of you and me. You will get to heaven? Oh! yes, you cannot get anywhere else, if you are a Christian. It is not a question of getting to heaven, it is a question of this little brief interval when we have to build and fight. I urge you to use the opportunities. It is a most wonderful moment, to seek to be here for Him, to be disciples. The Lord enable us to keep up the building with God, the secret communion, that hidden life within, and then to start to do battle with the foe. God will show us what we have to do. It is a fight. It may be long, longer perhaps than we expected, but victory is bound to crown the effort of the soul that goes on with God.

The Lord help us to be disciples. Not one of us would like to say, I am one. But is that what you are set for? Is that your object, that as He is for you in the Father's glory, you want to be for Him here? Then get to Him, get on your knees before Him, and then come out to be for Him here against all the power of the devil. The Lord grant that each one of us may do so, for His name's sake. Amen. Alfred Mace.

The Old Paths

The Old Paths

J. Müller.

"Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where [is] the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.  But they said, We will not walk [therein]." Jeremiah 6: 16

"Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set." Proverbs 22: 28

"But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned [them];" 2 Timothy 3: 14

We live in the distressing times of the last days, during which the power of godliness would be enfeebled to the profit of external forms (2 Tim 3: 1, 5).  The danger for us lies in doing everyone that which is right in our own eyes (Judges 21: 25), in neglecting the testimony that God has confided to His assembly on earth (1 Timothy 3: 15).

The lines that follow recall some of the things that we have learned, in order to exhort us to walk together in the old paths for the rest of our souls and for the joy of Christ.

1. THE AUTHORITY OF THE WORD

The complete expression of the thought of God, the inspired Scripture has an absolute authority.  The rule of our Christian life as of the life of the assembly, it is the word of the grace of God; by it God builds us up (Acts 20: 32).  Obedience to the Word is the sole road of blessing.  There does not exist a formal text to answer every one of our circumstannces;  but the thought of the Saviour is always known by the heart (Prov 2: 10) and the conscience, in submission to the Scriptures.

2. THE BELIEVER AND THE TWO NATURES

Every human being born into this world is a lost sinner (Romans 5: 12); the evil is neither in the material itself, nor in the human organism and its faculties.  But in a man, descendant of Adam, all is misery and filthiness (Isaiah 1: 6).  God declares that that state is hopeless (Isaiah 2: 22).

By faith in Christ and His work, the believer receives as a gift of God eternal life, which is Christ himself (1 John 5: 11).  Having put off the "old man", the believer puts on the "new man" (Ephesians 4: 23).  He becomes a child of God (John 1: 12), and is made part of the family

of God (1 John 3: 1).

From that point on, the human being of the believer (spirit, soul and body), with all its faculties, carries in him two natures, that which is "spirit" and that which is "flesh" (John 3: 6).  The coexistence of the two natures in the believer involves an internal conflict between the flesh and the Spirit (of which the body of the believer is the temple).

If he is negligent, he can produce the sad "works of the flesh", instead of offering to God "the fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5: 19, 22).

3. THE HOUSE OF GOD ON EARTH AND THE BODY OF CHRIST

Each believer (born anew and sealed with the Holy Spirit) is a living stone in the house of God on earth (1 Peter 2: 5), as well as a member of the body of Christ.  That vital link of the body of Christ can not be broken, or even altered.  On the other hand, the initial thought of God with regard to His house on the earth has been lost by the unfaithfulness of man.  Christendom has become a great house where only "the Lord knows them that are His" (2 Timothy 2: 19).

The first characteristic of the house of God, temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3: 16) is holiness (Psalm 93: 5; 1 Peter 1: 15, 16).  Now that which is holy does not do away with defilement, and defilement always profanes that which is holy (Haggai 2: 12, 13).  Leaven (figure of moral or doctrinal evil) corrupts the whole mass (1 Corinthians 5.6; Galatians 5: 9).

Thus all believers who desire to be faithful to their Lord are called to separate themselves for Him (2 Timothy 2: 19, 21, 22) and to go forth unto Him (Hebrews 13: 13).  Those who call upon Him out of a pure heart then find themselves together in order to realize the promise of the Lord to be in the midst of them (Matthew 18: 20).

4. THE LOCAL ASSEMBLY — ITS NATURE AND ITS RESPONSIBILITIES

In a locality, those Christians, separated from iniquity and gathered to the name of the Lord, are — if they realize the thought of God with regard to His assembly — the local expression of the assembly, the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12: 12, 27).  Such gatherings of believers are not independent one of the other: their unity is that of the body of Christ, represented locally by each one of them.

Christ is the source of all the activity of the saints, Who works through the Holy Spirit, for the edification of the body, the assembly.

All the believers, members one of the other, are exhorted to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4: 3).

The local assembly is the sphere of the collective life of the saints.

It is there where worship is rendered to the Father and to the Son, there where is presented the prayer of the assembly.  There also the spiritual nourishment of Christ for His body is received (through the gifts).  Any activity exercised in a spirit of independence vis-a-vis the assembly can be blessed in the long run, even if it appears useful for a time.

The assembly possesses furthermore the prerogative of binding or loosing on earth (Matthew 18: 18).  An assembly decision, taken in the name of the Lord, in one place, by those who are gathered around Him, is ratified in heaven;  all the gatherings who represent the body of Christ

recognise it.  This practical solidarity of the assemblies is an essential truth.  It flows from their very existence.

5. THE TWO MINISTRIES OF THE GOSPEL AND THE ASSEMBLY

During the present period of grace, God calls (out of the world) a people for His name (Acts 15: 14).  The thought of Christ is of realizing the "increase of His body to the edifying of itself in love" (Ephesians 4: 16.  To this end, He gives some evangelists for bringing souls to Him, joining them to His body which grows in number.  He gives also some pastors and teachers in the assembly, for the perfecting of the saints; the body thus grows in the knowledge of Christ.

The apostle Paul was a servant of the gospel and servant of the assembly (Colossians 1: 23, 25);  his two minitries were exercised in harmony in order to accomplish the design of God.  In turn, we are invited to cooperate together in the two aspects of this work, "according to the effectual working by which every part does its share" (Ephesians 4: 16).

6. DISCIPLINE IN THE ASSEMBLY

The responsibility of the assembly is exercised in the sphere that the Word calls the "within" (1 Corinthians 5: 12), there where effectively the rights of the Lord are recognised, that is to say at His table.   The solemn authority conferred by the Lord to His assembly on earth ought to be exercised with fear, in seeking the mind of the Lord, and the profound conviction of His approval.  The assembly is not infallible; a decision, even if taken by the many (2 Corinthians 2: 6), can be erroneous.  He who feels himself to be the object of an injustice ought to commit his cause with confidence to the Lord (Psalm 37: 5, 6).

Humility, patience and softness of spirit are necessary for all.  The Lord will not fail to intervene when our "obedience has been fulfilled" (2 Corinthians 10: 6).

An assembly that refuses to judge evil by discipline looses its character as an assembly of God.  On the other hand, grace alone wins souls and picks up the fallen;  and discipline (where the purpose is always the healing of plagues) is precisely the prerogative of love.

The Word invites us to moderation in our judgements.  With regard to believers, the term "evildoer" is only employed for one who is in a persistant state of grave evil, moral or doctrinal.  The table of demons (1 Corinthians 10: 21) characterizes idolatry and cannot be applied to any Christian gathering.  The expression is applied by the apostle (with regard to things sacrificed to idols) to illustrate a very important general principle: to participate in a table involves communion with all that is in fellowship with that table.  Thus, many pious Christians are connected ecclesiastically with errors, without presenting the character of evildoer, and even less participating in a table of demons.  Still, despite the vital link that unites us in Christ, we cannot have communion with them at the table of the Lord.

7. THE SUPPER AND TABLE OF THE LORD

The supper is the precious remembrance of the death of the Lord during His absence (1 Corinthians 11: 26).  Each Christian ought to respond from his heart to the touching invitation of His Saviour.  At the same time, to partake of the one broken bread (symbol of the death of Christ, Man, in His body given for us) expresses on the earth the unity of the body (spiritual) of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:17).

The supper (the memorial) and the table of the Lord (the communion) are distinguished in Scripture but are inseparably tied together.  To respond to the desire of the Lord (in participating of the supper) implies the recognition of His rights over our personal life (1 Corinthians 11: 27-32) and in the assembly (at the table of the Lord).

There, the believers are subject to the discipline of the assembly under its various forms;  they are in practise "submitting to one another in the fear of Christ" (Ephesians 5: 21).

8. THE TABLE OF THE LORD AND THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT

To take the supper of the Lord in being gathered at His table is a collective act done in the consciousness that the saints gathered in assembly are a local expression of the entire body of Christ.

The Lord invites us then to receive at His table every believer sound in his walk and in the doctrine of Christ.  He who desires to approach ought nevertheless to be conscious of the path to which he commits himself, as also of the character of the collective testimony.  He enters into the domain where the discipline of the assembly is exercised.

This same truth of the unity of the body involves other practical consequences:

(a) No Christian can participate in the supper on his individual responsibility alone in evaluating his own state.  He is not free to break bread at his own will in any Christian place of his choice.

One brother alone has no authority for deciding who can participate in the supper.

(b) To receive a believer occasionally at the table of the Lord cannot be done except with great prudence, under the profound conviction of engaging the conscience.  This ought never to be the deliberate sanction of a state of independence of one who desires to keep liberty to come and go.

(c)Finally, an assembly gathered to the name of the Lord may not allow that the supper be taken by a person who presents himself  on his testimony alone.  The letter of commendation (2 Corinthians 3: 1) is the scriptural means of maintaining in practise fellowship among the assemblies.

9. THE GOOD OF THE FLOCK OF THE LORD

In times of decline, separation from evil remains the divine principle of the unity realized around Christ.  Gates to the city of Jerusalem were missing in the times of Nehemiah, as were also watchmen on the walls (Isaiah 62: 6).  Applying all to us in realizing this separation with sorrow and humiliation, let us think of the good of the Lord's flock;  let us preach grace, which attaches our souls to Christ, and directs the desire of our hearts toward Him, in awaiting His coming.

10. AN APPEAL TO OUR HEARTS

Well-beloved brothers and sisters, the Lord has revealed to us His thought with regard to the heavenly destiny of His assembly, but also with regard to its walk and its testimony on earth.  To keep the good deposit of these truths (2 Timothy 1: 14) is a charge that we are together invited to maintain (Malachi 3: 14).  Contrary to the thought expressed in the time of the prophet, there is profit in walking mournfully before God, and it is not vain to serve Him in fearing Him.

Have we not abandoned our "first love" (Revelation 2: 4) for Christ?  He calls us to repent, to "strengthen that which remains" (Revelation 3: 2), in keeping His word and in not denying His name (Revelation 3: 8).

Together, then, may we hear His voice, with a tender heart (2 Chronicles 34: 27), with a broken and humble heart (Psalm 51: 17), but confident in the resources of His grace and the full sufficiency of His name that gathers.

Jean Muller

Translated from the French by Richard K Gorgas and taken from the January 1994 issue of "le messager Evangelique," a monthly publication now in its 135th year.  Used by the author's permission.

Psalm 23. A Paean of Praise

Psalm 23. A Paean of Praise.

(A Bible Reading with A J Pollock, Hamilton Smith, W Bramwell Dick, J T Mawson, & E D (Dennett?). Extracted from Simple Testimony Vol. 35, 1918-19, page 143 etc.)

Psalm 23: 1.

P. V. W. APPROPRIATELY the translators of our English Bible labelled this psalm "David's confidence in God." God's grace it was that relieved us of the burden of sin; it supports us all along our journey, and teaches us to walk in God's ways.

Q. How far is the language of the psalm that of the Lord Himself in His pathway here?

A. J. P. Surely as a dependent Man (though "God over all blessed for ever" at all times), the Lord could adopt the language of Psalm 23, save on the cross itself, when His language was, "Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" rather than "Thou art with Me." But in all His perfect life down here He could surely adopt the language of this psalm. Remember "He restoreth my soul" is in the sense that rest or food restores, and not the recovery from backsliding which, needless to say, could never apply to the Lord.

Q. How far may a Christian employ the psalm as expressing his own experience? Does it not rather belong to Israel?

P. V. W. This psalm cannot be sung by Israel until she is restored. As the redeemed of the Lord, we anticipate Israel in this song of praise to our Saviour.

A. J. P. It is one of the psalms that the Christian can quote entire as his experience, for it describes a Person, and personal relations with Him. Dispensations may change, but Jehovah is ever the same.

"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want."

Q. Who is the Shepherd?

H. S. The Lord, Jehovah. And Jehovah of the Old Testament is Jesus of the New. He is the forsaken Man of Psalm 22, the accepted Man of Psalm 24.

W. B. D. Psalms 22, 23 and 24 form a group presenting Christ as the Good Shepherd in death, the Great Shepherd in resurrection, and the Chief Shepherd in glory.

A. J. P. The connection is obvious. Psalm 22 gives us the Saviour, in His past activity; Psalm 23, the Shepherd in His present activity; Psalm 24, the Sovereign in His future activity.

H. S. In Psalm 22 His strength is "dried up like a potsherd"; in Psalm 24 He is "strong and mighty." In the former He is "a worm and no man," in the latter, "the Lord of hosts" and "King of glory." This is the One who is "my Shepherd," One who has descended first into the lower parts of the earth," "who has ascended up far above all heavens that He might fill all things." He has filled every position in which a man can be found, from the utmost distance to the highest glory. He has trodden every step between these vast extremes. With such a Shepherd we need fear no evil, nor wonder at any blessing He bestows.

Q. What thought is conveyed to the mind by the word "shepherd"?

W. B. D. It suggests solicitude, strength tenderness and, in the case of our blessed Lord, before everything else, self-sacrifice. Can we conceive anything more beautiful than the words of Isaiah 40: 11: "He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom"?

Q. There must, of course, be the appropriation of the Shepherd as one's own, must there not?

H. S. It is one thing to speak of the Lord as the Shepherd, quite another to say, He is my Shepherd. The first is a matter of knowledge; the last, a question of experience. "The Lord is my Shepherd" is the language of one who has proved the Lord in the varied circumstances of his pathway and gladly submits to His leading.

E. D. To say "my" Shepherd is the language of faith; the word "my" is therefore the doorway into the psalm.

H. S. All questions as to our standing before God must be presumed to have been settled. I could not say, "my Shepherd" if I had a lingering thought that after all He may be "my Judge." "My Saviour" must come before "my Shepherd."

J. T. M. This Psalm is full of wonderful blessings, and all depend upon the first sentence. Think of the immensity of the grace that is in it, the love that has made it possible for poor, despised people, thought nothing of in the world, to say: The Lord is my Shepherd, I belong to Him and He is mine.

Q. This implies, does it not, that we are everlastingly safe?

J. T. M. To be sure. If you can say "The Lord is my Shepherd," then, on the authority of His own Word you can say, "I am everlastingly safe." Do you not remember how He said, "My sheep hear My voice . . . and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." The hand that broke the power of death, and that annulled the mighty power of the devil, is the hand that holds your soul secure.

Q. But on our part there must be a cleaving to the Lord, must there not?

J. T. M. Yes. We are exhorted to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart. But it does not say, Cleave to the Shepherd, or to the Saviour. We are to cleave to Him as our Lord, another character entirely.

W. B. D. But our safety is not the only thing. He who can truly say "The Lord is my Shepherd" is entitled to add "I shall not want." To question the latter would be to doubt the former, and to have fears as to the efficiency of the Shepherd.

H. S. If we look at this world with its many wants and failing supplies, it is no small thing to say "I shall not want." But with a great Shepherd we can say great things.

E. D. We shall not want, not because we are sheep, but because He is our Shepherd. This conclusion flows not from what we are to Him, but from what He is to us.

P. V. W. What He is, has done, and is now doing, gives perfect rest to those that know Him. He has charged Himself with all our cares and needs-we shall not want. Both vagabondage and want have ceased for those represented in this psalm, because they have returned to the Lord.

A. F. P. The emphasis is on Lord, who by virtue of the sufferings of Psalm 22 is qualified as Shepherd, having proved faithful unto death; and also because of who He is the Psalmist can triumphantly say, "I shall not want."

W. V. B. The Psalmist seems to give a graphic review, under the eye of the Shepherd, of his whole life in the wilderness pathway, commencing from the moment of his realization that since Jehovah was his Shepherd it was impossible for him to want.

Q. But the children of God are often in want. Take Paul, for instance. According to Philippians 4: 11, 12, was he not sometimes in want?

W. B. D. Certainly; otherwise how could he say, "I shall not want"? If a child is hungry, it comes to its mother to have its want supplied. It knows that its want will be met, so that it can say, "I shall not want." When Paul had wants he turned to the Shepherd, confident in His care, and as a result He could say, "I have all things and abound."

REMARK. What we lack sometimes may not be good for us to have. It says, "They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing" (Psalm 34: 10).

A. J. P. Paul might be in want of food, raiment, shelter and liberty. But the Shepherd supplies what is necessary to keep the soul at rest in whatever circumstances the sheep may be. Whatever might be Paul's privations affecting the outer man, the inward man knew no lack.

P. V. W. If we think of our many needs, both in our testimony for God and for the present life, He is (and we must learn to make Him so) our competence for all the way. With Him filling the soul's vision it is easy to say, "I shall not want." With Him on board, our little boat cannot go down, no matter how big the waves. It is the sense of the Lord's love and presence that gives the holy boldness in our psalm's expression, "I shall not want."

LOVE'S SWEET COMPULSION.

"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters."

Psalm 23: 2, 3.

A. F. P. A sheep only lies down when satisfied. When it says "He maketh me," the idea is not force, but the result of satisfaction in consequence of the Shepherd's care.

W. B. D. The sheep is not here brought to green pastures to have need supplied, but because it has eaten well. Every want has been met, and amid peace and plenty, under the protection of the Shepherd, it lies down.

P. V. W. What a lovely picture of repose in safety! We could not thus lie down if the enemy were at our gates, and we were in fear of what might befall us. The soul is in sweet contemplation of Him who, having defeated the enemy and borne sin's judgment, becomes now the object of the soul's affection. Now, in LOVE'S SWEET COMPULSION, He makes His obedient sheep to "lie down."

H. S. Not only does He provide for our temporal needs, but He satisfies us with spiritual blessings. He would set me free from earthly cares to fill my soul with heavenly joys. He not only brings His sheep to pastures of tender grass, but there He makes them lie down. No hungry sheep will lie down in green pastures; the hungry sheep will feed in the pastures of tender grass, but the satisfied sheep will lie down and rest. So our Shepherd not only provides us with spiritual nourishment, but He fills our souls with satisfaction and rest.

J. T. M. Then He leads us beside still waters. The words are better rendered "waters of quietness," signifying peace, no matter what the circumstances.

W. B. D. It is what another has termed "a scene of satisfied desire."

A. F. P. Not only does the Shepherd satisfy hunger, but thirst also, by these still waters, as He himself said, "He that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst."

J. T. M. You may have to go through scenes of trouble; the storm may rage about you, and you may have your share of trouble. But the quietest life in regard to these things is not always the most fruitful; that is, those who have the least trouble in this world do not always yield the most glory to God.

Q. But what about the waters of quietness? How can we talk about waters of quietness if a storm is raging about us?

J. T. M. We have a lovely illustration of it in the case of the sudden storm on the Galilean Sea, when

"All but One were sore afraid

Of sinking in the deep

His head was on a pillow laid,

And He was fast asleep."

But why did not the disciples lie down beside Him? They would have been just as safe as they were when the great calm, at His bidding, stretched itself upon the waters. It does not matter what our circumstances are. If we can say, "The Lord is my Shepherd," we can have quietness and peace like that.

P. V. W. Everlasting goodness takes us by the hand and leads us beside the still waters. These waters were not always quiet, they were not so in the former psalm, but now He has stilled them for His own beloved sheep. When the waters came in unto His soul at the cross (Psalm 69: 1) they were a mighty flood. But these waterfloods are passed; Christ has stilled them; He has made them "still waters" for us.

H. S. Our Shepherd ministers refreshment to our souls. He leads us not by running streams that dry up, but the deep still waters of the well. We sometimes sing:

Is the wilderness before thee,

Desert lands where drought abides?

Heavenly springs shall there restore thee

Fresh from God's exhaustless tides.

Like Israel, who forsook "the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that could hold no water," we too often seek satisfaction in earthly things, only to find that all earthly springs run dry. If only we could trust the Lord, not only to save our souls, but to satisfy our hearts, He would lead us into the green pastures that never wither, and beside the still waters that never run dry.

"He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake."

P. V. W. This is not a once accomplished work, never to be repeated, but a present ministry of our Lord toward us. It is the expression of His care and thoughtful provision for every step of our journey through the world. "He restoreth" and "He leadeth."

W. V. B. The Shepherd takes the direction of the sheep entirely under His own supervision, conducts it the whole length of the pathway; nothing can harm it, for He is there. It is "He" and "me" all the way through. How touching are these expressions: "He maketh me," "He leadeth me."

Q. What is the thought of restoration in verse 3?

J. T. M. When it says "He restoreth my soul" it means, He invigorates my soul. He gives me spiritual tonics. They are not tonics that brighten you up for a few hours and then leave you more depressed than you were before. When the Lord invigorates us He makes us strong for that which is before us.

A. F. P. The sustainment is constant, giving strength to walk in the paths of righteousness.

Q. There is also the thought of restoration from wanderings, is there not?

W. B. D. If wearied, He lifts us up; if downcast, He encourages us; if wandering, He brings us back.

H. S. Alas! we often turn aside. And after a season of deepest spiritual blessing we are in the greatest danger. In Matthew 26 we find priests and scribes plotting to kill Jesus. But in the upper room all is quietness and peace. The Lord has been leading His poor weak and weary sheep into green pastures and beside still waters, and they close that time of sweet fellowship by singing a hymn. But the Lord warns them that that same night all would be offended because of Him, and every one would be scattered. Singing a hymn in His company one hour; offended and scattered the next. But if they wander, He restores. He restored Peter. How often we are like Him, and like Naomi who said, "I went out," but had to add, "The Lord hath brought me home again."

W. B. D. He who in verse 2 leads us beside still waters, in verse 3 leads us in paths of righteousness. Having led us in, He leads us out, that, satisfied with His provision, refreshed with His blessing, encouraged of Himself, we may walk here to His praise and glory.

Q. What is meant by paths of righteousness?

J. T. M. It was once true that all we like sheep turned every one to his own way. Then our straying feet trod the paths of unrighteousness. But now we have heard the Shepherd's voice, and as we follow Him obediently and adoringly we are walking in the paths of righteousness, for we are taking His way, not our own.

REMARK. He leads us beside the still waters for our sake, that we may be refreshed. But He leads us in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake, that He may be glorified.

H. S. He leads us so to walk as to glorify His Name. That Name stands for all that is holy. He leads in paths that accord with His Name.

J. T. M. He does it; but He does not drive or drag, He leads. I watched a lady teaching her little boy of fifteen months to walk. She did not make him take long strides nor make him go fast. She shortened her steps to his, and went the pace that he could manage, and she knew it exactly. As I watched her, this verse came to my mind. That is how the Lord leads us. We may trust Him altogether, all the time, and for everything, and He will lead us in right paths for His Name's sake.

COMPANY IN THE VALLEY.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me."

Psalm 23: 4.

W. B. D. This verse is full of cheer and inspiration. If it is a "valley," it means that there is something, or some place, above and beyond. If we "walk through," it indicates that we shal1 certainly emerge. And if there is a "shadow," it shows that the light of the scene beyond the valley is illuminating the darkness, cheering and beckoning us onward and forward.

Q. What is meant by the valley of the shadow of death?

A. F. P. It refers, I judge, to this world, where death abounds.

A. J. P. We can understand how, when David was being hunted from one place to another, that his experiences, never knowing when the bolt of death would reach him, would lead to such an expression. The valley of the shadow of death refers to the whole of our life down here. But the believer of this Christian dispensation can say in triumph, "Death is ours."

J. T. M. This world is just the sepulchre of Jesus, and the more faithful we are to the Lord, the more the world will be to us the valley of the shadow of death. The shadow of His death lies on the fairest prospects that present themselves to us here.

REMARK. In another sense, the valley of the shadow of death is the path we have to tread when death is actually in view, and perhaps even the path through death itself.

H. S. Speaking of it thus, the paths of righteousness may lead into the valley of the shadow of death. It was so with the martyrs. They suffered death rather than sin. But there is no need to fear.

Q. What is the particular "evil" referred to in this verse?

A. J. P. "I will fear no evil" simply means, "I will not fear evil." Evil, or harm, of any kind.

H. S. Four reasons are given in this verse why we need not be afraid.

(1) We are only "WALKING THROUGH" the valley. We do not fear when we enter a tunnel because we believe we are going through it, and that soon we shall reach the bright sunshine on the other side of it.

(2) It is only the valley of death's "SHADOW." When the Good Shepherd took His lonely way down into the dark valley it was to encounter the "substance" of death in all its terror, as the wages of sin. If the believer is called to go through the valley, it is but the "shadow" that he has to meet.

P. V. W. A shadow may frighten, but it cannot harm.

H. S. Sheep are poor timid things and easily frightened, even by shadows. We come now to another thing to silence our fears.

(3) If we pass the way of the valley we have COMPANY, and such company-the One who has already been through death's raging flood journeys with us. Well may we say, "I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me."

Q. Do we not find a striking illustration of this in the case of the three Hebrew youths in Babylon?

H. S. Yes: the path of righteousness led Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego into the valley of death, but the flames that encompassed them only unloosed their bonds and put them in company with the Son of God, according to the word that says: "When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned" (Isaiah 43: 2).

Q. What is the fourth reason given why we need fear no evil?

H. S. (4) Because of the Shepherd's rod and staff. The Psalmist says: "Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me."

J. T. M. When the Psalmist comes to the valley of the shadow of death, he changes the pronoun. Up to this point he has been speaking about the Lord; now he speaks to Him, showing how near the Shepherd is to the sheep. He says "Thou."

Q. What is the difference between the rod and the staff?

W. B. D. The rod may speak of power (compare Ex. 7: 10-12; Ex. 17: 5, etc.), or, as is generally supposed, of correction, while the staff is for support. But whether His power, His correction, or His support, all are for our "comfort" in difficult circumstances.

A. F. P. I have thought that the rod with its crook would be used by the Shepherd to help the sheep out of a ditch back into the path, or to restrain it from straying into danger. The Shepherd would use the staff to drive off savage beasts. In Palestine they were in the habit of carrying a club for this purpose. In other words, what comforts the one who has to pass through the valley is the Shepherd's power to direct and to protect.

P. V. W. All that the rod in the hand of Moses meant to the people of Israel (see Ex. 14: 16; Ex. 17: 5) Christ Jesus is to us now, He who opened the sea for our deliverance from a worse bondage than Israel's. The staff occupies a large place in Scripture, and is a symbol of support and strength. For us, Christ is the reality of what the staff implies, to sustain the Christian through this life. Every other staff, every other confidence fails. Christ is the true Priest-not encompassed with infirmities as Aaron-Who can carry His people through the whole journey to the end. He is God's wisdom and resource for us, in all circumstances and in all things.

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over."

Psalm 23: 5.

Q. How does the Lord prepare a table for us?

A. J. P. The allusion is to the work of the Shepherd in finding out suitable pasture, and taking care that the sheep are secure from attack by serpents and wild beasts, the natural enemies of the flock. Surely it refers to the ministry of the Lord to His people, giving them the sense of His love and care so that it should be as a feast to their souls, and that in a hostile world like this.

P. V. W. The table is the place where the children sit down in their Father's presence and company to enjoy His prepared bounties.

W. B. D. There is not only the Shepherd's abundant provision for His own, but His VINDICATION of them. Surrounded by enemies who watch in order to see what it costs to be a Christian, and by reproaching us (if we give them cause) to malign our precious Lord, He anoints our head with oil, causing us ever to rejoice; and He makes our cup of blessing always to overflow.

A. F. P. The table prepared in the presence of enemies seems to indicate that He has made communion possible in spite of all the powers of evil. His being superior to all enemies is, I think, emphasized rather than the thought of the table.

H. S. Many of the sheep may never have to take the way of the valley, but even so, they will have enemies to face, and in the presence of the enemy the Lord can uphold His people. We have a Shepherd who can provide for, and sustain, His sheep in spite of all that man can do.

Q. What thought is conveyed to the mind by the anointing of the head with oil?

A. F. P. It suggests friendship, for did not Christ complain that Simon did not show this mark of friendship to him? (Luke 7: 46). The oil may well remind us that only the Spirit of God can make such friendship a possibility. The result is that the soul is more than satisfied, and there is the overflow.

W. B. D. For a practical illustration of this in real life, read Philippians 4. Then let us each look in the mirror and ask if there we see a present-day sample of it.

J. T. M. The Lord, spreading a table for us, makes us to feast. Then comes "the oil of gladness" that makes the face shine, joy. Then you have the overflowing cup.

A. F. P. The cup, I judge, simply indicates the soul's capacity, but surely the fullness to Over-flowing is the thought brought before us rather than the cup itself. The blessing is more than the soul can contain and runs over in worship to God, and in telling of His grace out of a full heart to those around.

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever" (v. 6).

H. S. With such a Shepherd, what other conclusion can we reach? The Lord goes before, the sheep follow after, and goodness and mercy bring up the rear. How blessed that goodness and mercy should follow behind, just where they are wanted, for there are weak, and sick, and lame sheep, which lag behind and follow afar off. Goodness and mercy will pick them up. If we cannot count upon the tender mercies of one another, this at least we know, the goodness and mercy of the Lord will follow us all the days of our life.

A. F. P. This last verse is the language of a heart fully persuaded of the never-failing supply of God's goodness and mercy every step of earth's journey, and of glory in the life to come.

Q. What is meant by "the house of the Lord"?

P. V. W. No doubt the Psalmist was thinking of an earthly kingdom and city, with God's dwelling-place and throne in the midst thereof out of which should proceed law and authority, and light and blessing for all the earth. But the hope of the Christian is above even this glory and blessedness.

REMARK. For the Christian, "the house of the Lord" is the Father's house.

J. T. M. The Psalm that begins with "The Lord is my Shepherd" would not be complete if it did not close with "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." The one is the consequence of the other; they go together; they are twin statements.

W. B. D. Faith always looks forward, and we have THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH over difficulties without and failure within, as the believer exclaims, "I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." HALLELUJAH!

W. V. B. What a Companion is Jesus! Food for my heart; Refreshment for my spirit; Restorer of my soul when I have wandered in a by-path; with me through the valley of the shadow of death; filling my cup to overflowing; His goodness and mercy following me every day, and I am going to dwell throughout all eternity with Him. HALLELUJAH!

H. S. This is the glorious end of a great beginning. For what can be greater, in this poor world, than to go through it with the Lord Himself for your Shepherd? And if He is indeed my Shepherd, it must follow that not only will He lead me through this wilderness, but will bring me at last into the glory where He Himself has gone.

The Holy Scriptures and Creation

The Holy Scriptures and Creation.

L. Gaussen.

(Extracted from Scripture Truth Vol 3, 1911, page 243-4.)

There is no physical error in the Word of God.... Examine all the false theologies of the ancients and moderns; read in Homer, or in Hesiod, the religious codes of the Greeks; study those of the Buddhists, those of the Brahmans, those of the Mohammedans; you will not only find in them repulsive systems on the subject of the Godhead, but you will meet with the grossest errors in the material world. You will be revolted with their theology, no doubt; but their natural philosophy and their astronomy also, ever allied to their religion, will be found to rest on the most absurd notions. Read, further, the philosophers of Greek and Roman antiquity - Aristotle, Seneca, Pliny, Plutarch, Cicero. How many expressions of opinion will you not find there, any single one of which would be enough to compromise all our doctrines of inspiration if it could be met with in any book of Holy Scripture. Read Mohammed's Koran, making mountains to be created "to prevent the earth from moving, and to hold it fast as if with anchors and cables." Read even the cosmogony of Buffon, or some of Voltaire's sneers on the doctrine of a deluge, or on the fossils of a primitive world. What might we not have been entitled to say of the Scriptures had they expressed themselves on the phenomena of nature as these have been spoken of by all the ancient sages? Had they referred all to four elements, as people did for so long a period? Had they said the stars were of crystal, as did Philolaus of Crotona? And had they, like Empedocles, lighted up the two hemispheres of our world with two suns? Had they taught, like Leucippus, that the fixed stars, set ablaze by the swiftness of their diurnal movement round the earth, feed the sun with their fires? Had they thought, like Philolaus, that the sun has only a borrowed light, and is only a mirror, which receives and sends down to us the light of the celestial spheres? Had they, like Anaxagoras, conceived it to be a mass of iron, and the earth to be a mountain whose roots stretch infinitely downward? Had they imagined the heaven to be a solid sphere to which the fixed stars are attached, as was done by Aristotle and almost all the ancients?

Open now the Bible. Study its fifty sacred authors, from that wonderful Moses, who held the pen in the wilderness four hundred years before the war of Troy, down to the fisherman son of Zebedee, who wrote fifteen hundred years afterwards in Ephesus and in Patmos. Open the Bible and try if you can to find anything of this sort.

No! None of those blunders which the science of every successive age discovers in the books of those that preceded it. None of those absurdities, above all, which modern astronomy points out, in such numbers, in the writing of the ancients, in their sacred codes, in their systems of philosophy, and in the finest pages even of the Fathers of the church. No such errors can be found in any of our sacred books. Nothing there will ever contradict what, after so many ages, the investigations of the learned world have been able to reveal to us of what is certain in regard to the state of our globe or of that of the heavens.

Carefully peruse our Scriptures from one end to the other in search of such blemishes there; and, while engaged in this research, remember that it is a book which speaks of everything, which describes nature, which proclaims its grandeur, which tells the story of its creation, which informs us of the structure of the heavens, of the creation of light, of the waters, of the atmosphere, of the mountains, of animals and of plants. It is a book that tells us of the first revolutions of the world, and foretells us also of the last; a book that relates them in circumstantial narrative, exalts them in sublime poesy and chants them in strains of fervent psalmody. It is a book replete with the glow of oriental rapture, elevation, variety, and boldness. It is a book which speaks of the earth and things visible, at the same time that it speaks of the celestial world and of things invisible. It is a book to which nearly fifty writers of every degree of mental cultivation, of every rank, of every condition, and separated by fifteen hundred years from each other, have successively put their hands. . . . Well, then, search through these fifty authors, search through these sixty-six books, search through these 1189 chapters and these 31,173 verses. Search for one single of these thousands of errors with which ancient and modern books abound when they speak either of the heavens or of the earth, or of their revolutions, or of their elements; search, but you will search in vain.

(L. Gaussen.)

[The above extract from a volume entitled "Theopneustia. The Plenary Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures." By L. Gaussen may well lead every reader to purchase the book for himself. He will find in it rare treasure in a day when the inspiration of every scripture is so flippantly denied. (J. Wilson Smith.)]

Assembly Order

Assembly Order

A Bible Reading — 1 Cor. 12: 18-27.

Things New and Old, Volume One 1933

This paper is the substance of a reading at a Conference In Toronto, July, 1900 (now over thirty-two years ago). Messrs. S Ridout, B C Greenman, Enefer, and A E Booth were the chief speakers. The first three are with us no longer; they have been called Home. Their voices we shall hear no more in Bible readings. The reading had in view the correction of certain views and practices in the assemblies of an independent character. The reading was published in pamphlet form (now out of print) and is again printed that all our readers may benefit by it and consider afresh the truths contained therein. Guides may pass away, but Christ our Lord and the Truth ever abide. "Remember them that had the rule (guides) over you, men that spake unto you the word of God and considering the manner of their life, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yea and forever." (Heb. 13: 7-8. R.V.)

B.C.Greenman.— 1 Cor. 12: 18-27. It is very important in reading a scripture like this to recognize the twofold application of it; that is, if we rejoice, as we do, in our blessed privilege as members of the body of Christ, we must also recognize the same unity as to the visible local representations of the body of Christ as there is between the individual members of it. Hence Paul says: "Now ye are the body of Christ," addressing the Corinthians, "and members in particular." He addresses them as though there were no other Christians in the world, and says: "Ye are the body of Christ." Would that each child of God would get into his soul the blessed sense of this — a member of that body, of which Christ is the Head, in which the Holy Spirit dwells. What honor that places upon us. A little assembly might say that we are set in this world to be a perfect representation of what the body of Christ is; a body ruled by the Head, and indwelt, every member of it, by the same Holy Spirit. We could not possibly think of a body in which the parts of it were at variance with each other except the head is wrong The Head being right all the members of the body are supposed to be governed by that Head and energized by the Spirit that dwells throughout it. That which has caused all the sad denial of this, practically and other wise, is a lack of knowledge as to the way this works practically. So, neglect in getting a letter of commendation shows ignorance or indifference. When leaving home, with the same care as a man gets his railroad ticket, he should get his letter of commendation from his brethren. He should not leave the place that he goes from without a letter of credit to the meeting that he goes to, and if we expect a fellowship worth anything to us, it should be a fellowship that we seek to maintain in all its integrity; and if we value it in that way, we expect others to value it likewise; because a thing that puts down all fences — a field that has no fence around it, is soon a common; and has nothing for anybody.

A.E.Booth.— I will read a verse giving the Church as the house. 1 Tim. 3:15.

B.C.G.— The thought added to the previous one is, that there the Church was presented as the body of Christ, and that truth must be maintained by all of us. In this, the Church is the House of God and we must maintain an order suitable to Him that dwells there.

S.Ridout.— Eph. 4: 2-4. That is, the unity of the Spirit is the unity which we are to keep in the bond of peace. There is a unity of the body, and the order of the house; and the power which is to make practical the unity of the body and the order of the house, is the unity of the Spirit. One thought; one mind; one principle; one truth; one government — one control throughout the body and throughout the house. The unity of the Spirit is a different thing from the unity of the body or the order of the house, in this that it gives us the vital principle in which we are to live and act as members of the body and as being in the house. As the body gives us the activities and ministries of the Church, so the house gives us the order and the government of the Church, but the unity of the Spirit gives us the oneness in ministry and the oneness in government. Whether we look at the Church as the body or the house, there is the oneness of the Spirit which we are to keep in the bond of peace. This requires lowliness, meekness, forbearance, but at the same time it must express itself identically wherever the house is or wherever the body is. That is a most important principle. The unity of the body always exists, but if we are practically to be a testimony to it there must be the endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit.

B.C.G.— As an illustration of what our brother has been presenting, there are two species of things in contrast with it which are found in Christendom. The one is the thought of union, which is not unity, which puts contradictory things together and just glosses that over with a union, the elements of which are not put together by the Spirit of God. That is man's substitute for a divine truth. If I cut off all the fingers of my hand and tie them together, that would be a union but it would not be a unity. The fingers would be together, but they are not together as united, running to the centre of the palm of the hand. If I took a piece off the tips of the taller ones, making them all of the same size, that would be another phase of things — uniformity. The Word of God does not present either of those things; it presents unity. There are differences of attainment; differences as to growth, but there is a unity which God forms, and He forms it with relation to Christ the Head, so that now, as God has given us a hand we have not any of us to make a hand; we have to keep one. God has given us the various parts of our bodies to maintain intact, and so He has formed the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, and it is our business to keep the unity of the Spirit.

S.R.— As illustrating that in a very simple way: here we are together this morning from all parts, and soon we will have to be separated, bodily. We will suppose that we were to break bread this morning, or, what is the same thing, take some action as gathered to our Lord. Let us notice it — we are always at the Lord's table; not simply on Lord's day morning, but we keep the Passover seven days. That is, there is no time when we are not at the Lord's table. Our whole life is at the Lord's table, just as Mephibosheth was always at the king's table. Not that he was eating all the time, but his position was that he was at the king's table. Now, someone seeks, we will say, to minister, and it is not the truth of God; it is not for edification; then, of course, it fails to edify us as gathered here. I judge that we would say that ministry was more particularly connected with the body, just as government is more particularly connected with the house. You would say that if one's ministry is not edifying or is not true, he would come under the government of the house — that is, we would have to deal with him. Would we not, if some one came here and taught Unitarianism or something that denied Christ, would we not arise at once and put him from our midst? We would not go on with it at all. That is the order of the house, of course. If a person applied for fellowship who was not in a right state or held false doctrine or anything of that sort, we would not receive him. That is connected with our responsibility as members of the one body and as members of the house.

But now we separate. Have those principles changed in the least? Some of us go to western Ontario; some of us into the States; some of us to Nova Scotia, and all that. There is the same precious gospel; the same kind of ministry; the same application for fellowship. What would you do in any one place differently from what we have done as gathered together? Would not our act be identically the same if it were done in some local assembly as if it were done in this large and representative gathering? There is the application of the unity of the Spirit — the truth of the unity of the Spirit to the saints as gathered in various places; and if we are to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, it must be acting separately just as we would act were we all together and the act of the separate assembly representing the action of the Church of God — the action of the House of God, just as much as if we were all together in one large united meeting. There is no separation; in other words it is identical.

B.C.G.— The first is a thought which may be new to some — "we are always at the Lord's table" — are never seen distinct and severed from it. We are not always in the act of taking the bread and wine, but you see we, are identified with that. Read 1 Cor. 10, beginning at the seventeenth verse — "For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh: Are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? What say I then? that the idol is anything or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything? But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lords' table, and of the table of devils." So he puts it upon them seriously: How can people who are partakers of the Lord's table — that is their every-day character — how can they rally themselves with what is the most distinct denial of that

S.R.— We ought to have it stamped upon us; we are people in this world who are identified with His name and His table.

Ques.— How can that be carried out practically, that we are always at the Lord's table?

B.C.G.— Having the sense upon us that we are associated with Him in that fellowship which is expressed at the Lord's table.

W.McC. — And in our practices during the week or any of the intervals between the time that we would be sitting at the Lord's table, actually partaking of the loaf and the cup, our associations and all should be consistent with the moral significance of the feast that we partake of, we should not be playing fast and loose with things as we see some. The authority of His name must be maintained there; so, as those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, we are bound to refuse any who are careless. We are the stewards of the Lord's table; we are to keep His name clear in relation to what is associated with it. So the very name, Lord's table, puts it upon us that we cannot be indifferent to the Lord's holy claim to it.

G.M.— To illustrate what our brother R.— said: A few weeks ago, I was very deeply and forcibly impressed, when I was at a place, that whatever I was doing there, though as an individual, I was doing for all, and it was not a question of any personal estimation of persons or liberty that I could have myself, but it was a question of all — the whole body.

A.E.B.— That is important. It would be nice if all the laborers would remember that.

S.R.— Acting not as individuals, but for all. That what was sought to be done was to carry out the Lord's interests for all His people, and that nothing inconsistent with that should be done.

A.E.B.— I wish all the laborers would just keep that same thought before them. In all our service, that we are to act for the whole, and especially where little gatherings are formed and the Lord's table is spread.

S.R.— Just there is a point of importance; the formation of new gatherings. It is a very important thing that new gatherings should be formed, but the table should not be spread in any place without, if possible, the practical fellowship of some gathering near by — at any rate, with the written fellowship. Let it be known that the saints are contemplating breaking bread, and seeking the fellowship of their brethren. I think some of the brethren here could give very interesting illustrations of how the neglect of that has worked harm, and how the observance of that principle has been for blessing.

B.C.G.— It would be just as imperative — it is just the same thing — supposing there were two or three suburban meetings here, that the same fellowship should be between them as if it were two or three meetings here in the city. The point is to recognize fellowship with each other, and if these little gatherings are formed, they should be formed in relation to those which already exist.

To follow up what we have been saying; when persons would ask us for some definite scripture with reference to it, I would like to call attention to two or three passages to show that there was not a diverse order as to assemblies in the earlier days, and there should be no more now.

1 Cor. 7: 17. Without looking at what was in the beginning, it says in the last part of the verse, "And so ordain I in all churches." That is, what the apostle insisted upon there he insisted upon everywhere. The arrangement of things was universal. He had not one order for Corinth and another for Ephesus. God's order he claimed was divine authority.

S.R.— Just with your finger on that verse, I would like to quote what has been said, "What has Ephesus to do with evil at Corinth?" How absolutely contrary to the word of God such an expression as that would be, which has been used and maintained as a principle of independency.

B.C.G.— The sixteenth verse of the eleventh chapter is in the same line. And this is the epistle of order in the house of God. This is what might be deemed an unimportant 'matter, but the apostle insisted upon it here, (and he would if he were here now), "If any man seem to contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God." That is, he could not yield to any man who wanted to set aside God's order.

W.McC.— Let us remember in studying first Corinthians that it was not confined in its address to the church of God in Corinth, but to "all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours"; so that its application is as much for us in the last days and last hours, and for every saint of God, as it was for them. That was a special remark that widened out to all; while we know that all Scripture is of universal application, in another way this has a special stamp upon it.

A.E.B.— "If any one think to be contentious, we have no such custom," — that is, we the laborers, nor the assemblies of God. There is perfect unity amongst the laborers, and perfect unity amongst all the gatherings. That is a very important thing.

B.C.G.— Here he has spent half a chapter upon such an unimportant matter, seemingly, as to how brethren should be distinct from sisters in the Church of God. But some have said that Paul says, if any one objects to that, he does not hold to this. If any one objects, we have no such custom — we yield. That is not true in the least. If any one is objecting and is contentious, why he is rejecting the universal custom of the laborers, of course, and the universal custom of the assemblies of God.

F.J.E.— That should be well taken notice of, because there has been a great misconception about that verse. It has often been quoted the way you have put it with reference to what you have stated just now in connection with the sisters.

S.R.— The apostle says in another place, "If any man will be ignorant, let him he ignorant." Such an one is still ignorant, that is all.

B.C.G.— Chapter 14, verse 33 is on the same line; and we know that is the chapter that regulates the ministry of the Church when it comes together. It is a sample case. After giving all these directions, he says the reason is, "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace." In all the churches it is the same. How could the apostle say this — how could he vouch for the various gatherings if this were not so? It is not but that gatherings may differ in their spiritual condition, but there was but one order maintained. There was but one centre; but one order of the assemblies coming together. So he can speak for all the assemblies of the saints. Now this is specially to be noticed, for I was challenged more than once across the sea, and have been this side, as to this expression which has been used, as to the "Circle of Fellowship." A person said to me: I do not agree with what some of you American brethren say as to the Circle of Fellowship. Well, I said, if you can give us a better name to express a divine fact, we will be glad for any good name, because we know the name is but human but the thing is divine, and we do not want you, in objecting to the name, to do away with the thing. Here is a circle of fellowship — here is an order that the apostle can vouch for — that if you leave Corinth and go to Ephesus you will find it there too. So we have got to look into it to see what this order is. If we go to Ephesus, what ought we to do? We bear a letter from Corinth, we go to the same fellowship in Ephesus that we leave in Corinth; we are in the fellowship wherever it may be. Some people, for convenience or other reasons, do not put in their claim elsewhere, and they say they do not belong there for the time. That is not true. The day they land at the other place they belong there.

S.R.— Yes, and are under the discipline of that place — of the saints as gathered there. We, for instance, have been under the discipline of the assembly at Toronto for the last three days; subject to the discipline of the House of God as expressed in the assembly of Toronto of which for the time being we form part.

B.C.G.— In connection with that, then, if we had presented something here that the brethren were assured was a very evil thing, and they protested against it, and we still held to it, then the next thing, inasmuch as the order of the Church of God is but one, there should at once be an appeal made from us to those we came from. Why? because they are responsible — they sent us in a sense, or commended us; so that would stop any such mischievous notion as that we should deal with evil short and sharp and cut people off before those they came from have a full opportunity to identify themselves with the matter. If you are right in taking us up for something we have presented here, then the brethren, in deference to them should have an opportunity to act with you in all that is done.

F.J.E.— In connection with the circle of fellowship, would you say now that in view of the failure that has come in amongst those professing to be and actually gathered out to the name of the Lord, that that "circle of fellowship" is confined to those who are holding to the truth of God as it was accepted when the movement first took place?

B.C.G.— Certainly.

F.J.E.— That is to say, to take ourselves, for instance: Is it not confined to that "circle of fellowship" apart from other companies of those who are called brethren?

S.R.— Certainly. We cannot vouch for other people maintaining that which we do not know they are maintaining.

F.J.E.— If that is the case, we would say we are in the "circle of fellowship" on what ground? For what reason?

S.R.— To maintain the truth which we find in the Scriptures.

F.J.E.— Then that practically condemns the other circles.

S.R.— It does, unquestionably, brethren, and I do not believe we ought to have the slightest hesitation in saying that we are where we are by conviction, and that by God's grace we maintain in love and lowliness, but with all firmness, our separate position as gathered to the Lord's name in subjection to His word, and that we look on our dear brethren in the sects, and on our dear brethren who are not but who are practically forming sections in that way, we look on them all alike; we test them all by the word of God. Some have more truth; some have less truth, but none of them, for one reason and another — none of them can have that which commends them to us as being on the ground of God's word simply and only. The only way we can leave the ground we occupy is by conviction that it is wrong and unscriptural. That is the only upright and conscientious way that we can change our position — that it is not according to God, and take a position that is according to God, whether it be with some other company or if we have to stand alone.

W.McC.— There are some today who have the thought that the corporate testimony is gone, and that there is nothing remaining for Christians now, but individual Christian testimony. They do not set themselves — they do not intend to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; they do not recognize that there is any more responsibility, or at least that there is any more possibility of the children of God — the members of the body of Christ gathering together as such, and maintaining together the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace; they have given up that idea. They have expressed it in words like this: "Oh, your theory of the one body is exploded," and they point to the numerous defects among us to prove it. But that does not prove that we are cleared from the responsibility of still obeying the fourth chapter of Ephesians; that does not change the fact that God had made of twain one new man, so making peace, that He has joined Jews and Gentiles together by the baptism of the Spirit into one body. That fact remains, and will remain until Christ takes the Church out of the world, but as long as it does remain, we, as individuals are responsible to endeavor, collectively — every individual that sees the truth, is responsible with every other individual who sees the truth, to maintain that truth, to walk together in the uniting bond of peace. Ignoring this, many give up this endeavor — the endeavor which should arise from a firm belief of the truth as to this.

B.C.G.— That is a most mischievous notion; it is wider spread than we have any idea of.

S.R.— And it shows really that they have had their eyes on their fellow-brethren instead of on the Word of God and on the Lord Jesus Christ. They have been looking at one another; and if we have failed, then everything is gone.

F.J.E.— It would be wrong for me then, believing that I am where the truth is, to say to these other circles: Now let us come together; we are all wrong?

S.R.— Certainly. Why should I confess as wrong that which is the truth of God? There may be details which one would be glad to clear up, provided they were not understood as giving up the ground of God's truth.

A.E.B.— Another point as to this. Not only has the Scripture put us in this position, but certain circumstances in connection with our brethren have compelled it. We all know that our hearts' desire is not to be separated from them, but it is because they will not follow the truth, we have been forced into separation from them. And on the other side there are others from whom our hearts' desire is not to be separated but who take unscriptural, sectarian ground. So in that way I think that our consciences are perfectly clear before God as to practice.

F.J.E.— If I believe I am where the truth is, it would not be right for me to go to another company of brethren and say, Now let us get together; we are all wrong, and make a confession and see if we cannot get together again.

S.R.— That is going out to one of the cities. Leaving Jerusalem and going out to Ono. (Neh.6: 2)

B.C.G.— Except we have something to turn to in Scripture to tell us the principles that God established at the beginning have been rendered null and void by any failure of His people, we must go back and see what was that order that God established at the beginning, and we must aim definitely and continuously to carry out that order. We never can buy off from those things, and it is just the devil's trick to get us to excuse ourselves from responsibility and say: "everything is gone; we cannot maintain anything," which is to say that Christ is no longer head of His Church; His word is not sufficient guidance for us in all our pathways here, and the Spirit of God is not competency to obey the will of God. It is a surrender of everything.

S.R.— Speaking of going back reminds me of another thing that is very important. In the movements towards union that have been made, and which have brought such sorrow in some quarters, there has been a distinct refusal to go back to the start of the trouble. If I see aright in Scripture, the only way to get right with God and to get right with one another, is to go back to the root of the thing and judge that. Here is a division, for instance, which took place many years ago. They plead the statute of limitations and say, That happened fifty years ago; what do we know about it? Let us take things as we find them now. Here is a company of saints; they love the Lord Jesus, and their walk is right. Well, beloved, how about fifty years ago? If they love the Lord Jesus, and if their walk is right, is it such a hard thing to walk back fifty years with the Word of God in our hand, and say: Here was something said: here was a principle adopted that was contrary to the word of God, and it was wrong? We go back 6000 years. We take our Bibles and turn to to the first part of Genesis, and we say Adam and Eve sinned. We have no hesitation in saying this thing. Somebody might say: That happened 6000 years ago; what difference does that make? It is just as fresh to-day as it was then. And so a principle adopted fifty years ago and acted upon as the principle of fellowship amongst Christians is just as fresh to-day, and has got to be judged. If it is a right principle, dear brethren, you and l have got to go back those fifty years and confess before God our wrong in resisting that principle. If it is unscriptural, our brethren, no matter how dear they may be as children of God, no matter how nice their companies may appear, they must go back and judge that principle too, or there can be no godly basis of fellowship.

B.C.G.— We have definite Scripture as to that: the apostle speaks of some who walk in the way of Cain; so, though Cain is dead and gone, his ways are here yet. And the Lord tells the people who are rejecting Him, in the eleventh of Luke, forty-ninth verse. "Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute; that the blood of the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation." The point which is of great value there, is this; that there was a people who never shed Abel's blood, who are charged with it; there were people who never shed the blood of Zacharias, but they were held accountable for it. Why? Because they identified themselves with the people who did it; We cannot get out of it; this principle of association is one of the most serious things possible, and if we learn it well and deeply it will root us out of things which people are so utterly careless about now. I give you one good example. When we were remonstrating with a brother whom we heard was associated with the Free Masons, and he said he was not much of a Mason — he scarcely ever went; just kept his name on the books by paying up his dues once in a while — we followed him up by this: that if he was a Mason at all, he ought to be a good Mason. It is a good thing for a man to be zealously affected in a good thing, and if it is a good thing he ought to get his brethren to join too. We would like to belong to a good thing. We sought to show him that he was identified before God with what Masonry was in God's sight. We said, Now, we will give you time to consider it duly, but if the Scripture says; "Love the Brotherhood," that shuts out every brotherhood but one; there is only one to which the definite article is applied, and that is the Brotherhood of the people of God; these are the devices of the enemy, for God is an exclusive God and says, I am God and there is none else. The brotherhood of His people is an exclusive brotherhood which shuts all other brotherhoods. Thank God, the dear man, after a good deal of exercise, decided to withdraw entirely from Masonry. Another way the devil has of holding a Christian is because he has insured his life, and has paid out a good deal of money to a society and he wants to get his money's worth.

Let us carefully discriminate. Supposing we say that is an unequal yoke; but it is an unequal yoke of a very serious nature. Here is another man who thinks he sees what a terrible curse intemperance is, and he sees the misery that it brings, and so on, and believing he is here partly to set the world right, he goes in with others in a temperance movement. It would be very ill-used judgment, and not weighing things properly to put those things down side by side as of equal gravity; while both are unequal yokes. Free Masonry is not only an unequal yoke, but it has most serious things attached to it, and we have to discriminate as to it.

S.R.— As to the principle involved, we must remember that each case has its details which render it distinct. We must take into account that discipline is by the priests, as you might say, and that, by the way, includes all the assembly; not the brothers only. The brothers may be the Levites and have their meeting, and get things in order so that the priests may examine the case and decide upon it, but the brothers alone do not settle cases of discipline. It requires communion with God, and discernment, which comes from communion with God, of the state of soul. But you see in the plague of leprosy there were all kinds of things; there was a freckle; there was a bald head; there was a boil — there were such things. There were things that speak of mere natural infirmities or the ebulition of nature which do not represent the deep root of leprosy or association with leprosy; so we have to use wisdom and discernment, and as our brother has pointed out, give the brother who is entangled in these things time, and let him understand that we are not standing with a pistol pointed at him, and counting, so to speak; — we are to give him time in that way, and have our arms about him and helping him out of the thing.

I would not say that life insurance was an immoral thing; I would say it was a distinct lack of faith. It shows a state of soul, but it is not exactly an unequal yoke with unbelievers; and being a question of faith, we cannot give people faith, but we can exhort them and counsel them; that is all. But in the case of the Christian identified with Free Masonry, we could not put it on that ground. That is a question of obedience and not of faith.

F.J.E.— There are many who join Free Masonry for the benefits that their wives and children may get, and themselves too.

S.R.— There are two distinct errors there. We must sympathize with one another in a want of faith, but not sympathize with each other in direct disobedience. A man might be tempted to insure his life, and we could ask God to encourage his faith; but if he associates himself with Free Masonry, put things before him showing him the extreme gravity of one in distinction to the other. Things are going to become more and more difficult.

It is the question of association that is the far graver question. And there is another thing about association that reaches a little more widely than that even; and that is that association by one who is clear individually with those who are not clear, which is worse than the association of a person who is not clear. For instance, if I, knowing the truth of God, associate with those, we will say, who are Unitarians, I am far worse than if one ignorant were to associate with Unitarians. One might say, These are nice people, and I do not accept their heretical doctrine of annihilation or whatever it might be; I repudiate that. Then I say to such a person, you are a great deal worse than a person who is blinded. You are in the thing with your eyes open. And so, personal clearness, if it is associated with evil, is worse than blindness associated with evil. So, when they say — We received this person as an individual; he is personally clear. I say, What? personally clear and yet associated with evil? What is his moral state, then?

B.C.G.— Some would like scriptures to look up, possibly. As we cannot consider them all this morning, and as this is a very important thing, and far reaching in its consequences, I would like to call your attention to two or three which you can easily remember. The thirteenth of Deuteronomy, and just note very briefly the points in it. It points really to a false prophet. That you could mark in ver. 1.

S.R.— One interruption at the beginning. It is frequently said: We object to this use of Old Testament Scriptures for New Testament saints. The apostles trod on this ground themselves. When the apostle was establishing an order amongst the Corinthians, speaking of the maintenance of God's servants there, he goes to the Old Testament for several Scriptures to prove it; and inasmuch as God has laid down there principles for the maintenance of what is due to His Name in connection with His people, those principles are never altered or changed in any dispensation. If you cannot find the same thing in the New Testament, it would be folly to go to the Old Testament for it. And that is exactly how the apostles did themselves, and we cannot teach any better. Is not the Old Testament the book of divine government just as the New Testament is the book of divine grace? I mean broadly speaking. And so when you get the principles of government you will find they are the same from Eden down to the pearly gates of Heaven itself. Government is always the same.

A.E.B.— Only they become clearer with revelation. The fifth Book, Deuteronomy, is the book of divine government — not simply law — law is part of it — so you go through the whole Book, and it is the book that opens up the government of God in a marvelous way.

B.C.G.— Here we have now amongst a number of other laws, we might say, principles which some reject and say: Some of these laws have passed away. But no moral principle ever passes away. It is true, that prohibition as to eating certain things which were ceremonially unclean, have passed away, but the underlying principles have not. We are to eat to the glory of God. Just as in this chapter, the first verse is their relation to the prophet, and they were not to listen to him, for he leads them away from God.

The sixth verse is their relation to a brother. The prophet in the Old Testament answering to the teacher in the New; the brother in the Old Testament answering to the brother in the New.

The twelfth verse: "If thou hear say in one of thy cities." And a city in the Old Testament would answer to a company — a shut in company of God's people in the New. A city had walls, and just as a city had walls so the assembly has its bounds, and the people outside are not in. That is sufficient. You can look it up with care; I take it they are easily remembered. The thirteenth of Deuteronomy is a sample case of how God called His people to refuse false testimony; not to go on in fellowship with one disowning His name, and that the same rule existing between brother and brother existed between city and city.

S.R.— In connection with the city, we might add 2 Sam. 20 from the sixteenth verse. You have one wrong doer in a city who embroils the whole city. The whole city is responsible for the presence of one wrong doer, and unless he is judged, the people of God must be against that whole city. From the sixteenth to the twenty-second verse. The whole tribe of Benjamin in the book of Judges were all guilty on account of evil-doers allowed among them.

B.C.G.— There is the principle announced in the thirteenth of Deuteronomy; the application is given in that chapter of 2 Samuel. In the thirteenth of 1 Kings we have this lesson emphasized for us in connection with the division. This is important. A division among the people of Israel, between the ten tribes and the two, and how God chose a servant of His who was in Judah — a man of God out of Judah to go down to Bethel to bear testimony against an altar there which was associated with idolatry. How was he to go? Sent by God, he was to go and bear his testimony against it, and then his practice must be like his testimony; what he said must be like what be did. See how serious the charge was. Eat no bread and drink no water there, nor come back by the way you went. Three pointed things: he was not to get any strength there; eat no bread. He was not to be refreshed there, and he was not to come back upon the same track, which would look as if he made a mistake in going there. He must come back another way. He goes and delivers the testimony faithfully, and when the king tempts him with great reward to come into his house, he says, openly and frankly, in the eighth verse — "If thou give me half thine house I will not go with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place." He holds definitely to his original orders. I will do what I am told. And see how he was holding — "For so it was charged me by the word of the Lord, saying: Eat no bread nor drink water nor turn again by the way that thou camest." But now, the next thing we see an old prophet of Bethel finds out what has happened and goes out to him and tells him an angel has told him to go and get him back. Meantime the Lord's word seems to have weakened in this man's soul. He does not say as he said to the king, "I will not," but "I may not return with thee nor go in with thee" (ver.16). And he does not say, "It was charged me by the word of the Lord," but he says, "It was said to me." Now there is something in that. In the first case he realized under the solemn charge how he must not deviate a hair's breadth from it. In the second case that does not seem to have the same hold upon his soul and he goes back and dies under the judgment of God. And the eighteenth verse, "The old prophet said unto him I am a prophet also as thou art, and an angel has spoken to me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water; but he lied unto him." He said he was a prophet too. I am like you — I am just like you; but then it was an angel only that spoke to him, so he said. Paul says: "Though we, or an angel from heaven." Not an angel — but the Word of God. The written Word of God is better than all the prophets' and all the angels or anything else it is just the simple Word of God. We must not trust an angel, against the Divine testimony. How careful we need to be as to all the commands of God. "Barnabas was carried away by their dissimulation." He thought a good deal of Peter, and when Peter just goes wrong, the whole thing was gone, if it had not been that the apostle Paul stood for God. Barnabas was carried away, so we have got to guard against those who are near and dear to us. If they do go wrong, we have got to keep to God's word.

S.R.— To not eat bread and all that, applies in many ways. People are put away from the Lord's table. If we have the truth as to the Lord's table, we know, that includes the whole life. But if putting away from the Lord's table means merely putting away from eating bread on Lord's day morning, that is not being put away at all. "Put away from among yourselves," is what the apostle says, "the wicked person." As to companies of the Lord's dear people, of course, they are not wicked persons, let us remember that; and God will never go with us in using stronger language than He does. Let us never do that. Let us treat in all love, in tenderness and compassion, those with whom we cannot be identified; but notice, "Not to eat bread there." Of course, that would be, primarily, not to break bread. We could not go and break bread with a company that is not clear. So we can only go and bear our testimony and then come back. As our brother said, not treading the same path twice even, — not making it an accustomed thing even, — just to go around and come back — just to circle through as bearing witness against a thing, in love, tenderness and in meekness, seeking to deliver souls, but not going on with their course.

The Authority of the Word of God

The Authority of the Word of God

Biographical Note

James Boyd

Contents

Explanation

A Personal Testimony

The Holy Scriptures

The Necessity for a Revelation

The Fall

Is Jesus God?

The Unchanging One

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ

The Cross

Propitiation

The Resurrection

God's Great Gift

The Love of God

The Love of the Father

The Love of Christ

The Love of the Brethren

The Son of God and the Scriptures

The Man of God's Counsels

The Son of Man

In Christ

The Heathen

Abiding in the Doctrine.

(Scripture Truth 1932, vol. 24, p. 24.)

Correspondence.

"The evil, of which we are warned in 2 John, seemed to be in going forward; that is, adding to the revealed thoughts of God things that are not plainly in the text. This would set forth a Christ, not the Christ of God, but a Christ after the mind and heart of man. The Christ of God is One who has come in flesh, a real man in flesh and blood, otherwise He could not have made propitiation for our sins. But apart altogether from what we might deduce from the denial of this holy and all important truth the Word of God is plain and definite (John 1: 14; Heb. 2: 14). The man who does not confess this great truth of the incarnation has not God. But he who abides in the doctrine hath both the Father and the Son.

"Anyone if even a little acquainted with the Word is not likely to deny body, soul and spirit to our blessed Lord. But supposing this were denied it would be easy to turn to Luke 23: 46: "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit: and having said this He gave up the spirit." In Matt. 26: 38 He says: "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." In Hebrews 10: 5 He says: "A body hast Thou prepared Me."

"But out of this another question is raised, and that is, Was His body the same as any other human being? To this question the Scriptural answer is, No; His was holy. Another important truth to keep in mind is that He was begotten of God. He was God's Son. Even if He could be viewed as Man only, which I should deny, He still was Son of God. Nothing of this was true of any other man." James Boyd.

Explanation

The Author of these papers is now with the Lord and will write no more, but it is thought that he might yet speak to some through their publication. They are a selection from many that appeared from his pen in the monthly magazine Scripture Truth.

The Scriptures were the very Word of God to James Boyd; he had a remarkable grasp of the truths they teach and could express in robust language what he had learnt from the Word, as this volume proves. His uncompromising attitude towards error; his love for the Lord Jesus, his Saviour; his delight in the grace of God that had changed him from an atheist to a child in the family of God are all expressed in these papers and give them a permanent value.

A Personal Testimony

From my earliest days I was of a sceptical turn of mind. I wanted everything brought to the bar of human reason, not realizing how utterly deceptive the reasoning of a mind away from God must be. Had I been able to face the fact of my natural aversion to all that was of God I would not have trusted my mind in the things that concerned my relations with Him. I might have seen that any natural antipathy to a report must always exercise a hindrance to faith in it. Though brought up in a godly atmosphere I absolutely turned away from all so-called places of worship when I left home, and I left home very early in life. To argue the question I was more than willing, but to sit quietly and hear the unfolding of the grace of God was more than my pride of heart would endure.

I wanted, still want, everything proven. It is plain enough that a mind like that can only be caught through a sense of need. It betrays a hardened condition of soul, as well as a haughty spirit. It is not that I was at any time indifferent to the great question of a future state. The very opposite was the case. The question was ever uppermost in my thoughts. Indeed, I never could well understand how any one was able to shelve such a momentous consideration. I ate my food without raising questions about how it could be converted into blood, bone, and muscle; but to the Bread of Life I was able to raise more objections than any one who took an interest in my soul was able to meet. For this reason I have said that such a person can only be caught by his need. To my daily bread I had no objection, but the Bread of Life was not palatable: I had no appetite for it. I should have been thankful could I have been assured either of the favour of God, or of annihilation as the alternative; but no one could assure me of either.

The kind of gospel to which I was accustomed was of a very legal type, and though Christ was spoken of as the alone Saviour of sinners, peculiarly enough and to my mind unreasonably, I was given to understand that I had my part to do. This part was never clearly defined; and bewildered by this mixture of Judaism and Christianity, I drifted into the region of practical infidelity. I had no light, and judged every one else to be in the same darkness as myself. But an aching void was in my heart which all the pleasures of the world were unable to satisfy.

At length, through the solicitation of a servant of God, I was led to take up the Scriptures and read them, though as far as the text goes I was by no means ignorant of them. But there came right home to my soul the feeling that if the Book was of God it could be like no other book that ever was written, and that I could not read it without knowing that it was His Word, that is, if it was. As I read, I said to myself, No one on earth knows me as I know myself, but the Author of this Book knows me a great deal better than I know myself. I felt that God was speaking. I found myself under His omniscient eye, and I fell at His feet. The hammer of His Word had broken the hard rock to pieces.

Then came the moment when a measure of pure gospel broke upon mine ear. It met every need of my soul. It was just the thing which suited my sinful state. It was not "The Divine within me answering to the truth of God," as some have put it; but it was the need of a poor sinner's conscience met by the blood of Jesus, and the need of the heart met by the love of God. What rest it gave! To me it was like sight to the blind, like bread to the hungry, like water to the thirsty, like clothes to the naked. It needed no proving. I would not have crossed the narrowest street in the city to have had the Scriptures proven to be the Word of God. What soul in the warmth and light of the noonday sun would waste his time listening to a debate as to whether or no there is such a thing as the sight of the eyes. As far as I was concerned I felt I was in contact with the living Christ, and that God is love.

Before this I knew that my conduct was not what it ought to be, but this was as measured by a human standard, now I saw that what would do for men would not pass with a holy and righteous God. It was no longer a question of human frailty, or of mere mistakes, but of absolute rebellion against God and His Christ. But He who had loved me and had given Himself for me was now my righteousness in the presence of God, so that it was no longer the query as to what I was for God, but rather what Christ was for Him. This gave solid and lasting peace. By His work on the cross He made an end of my sins, and, as after the flesh, the man that had committed the sins, and into a new and eternal relationship was I brought, and made conscious of that relationship by the power of the Holy Spirit who shed the love of God abroad in my heart.

Has this all been a dream, an illusion, an ignis-fatuus and baseless phantasm of a sick brain? If it is, I am to be pitied, for I have been under it for over half a century, and the sweetness, joy and delight of it have steadily increased from the first day until now. Are sight, hearing, feeling, life, love, existence, delusions? Are people conscious that they are alive in flesh and blood? Have they any fears that after all they may not be alive but dead? Would anyone thank you for stopping him on the street and assuring him that he was alive? You say, That would be absurd. So it would, but believers in the Lord Jesus are by the quickening power of God in the life of Christ, and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Is this life, then, which they have in the power of the indwelling Spirit, not as real as is the life of flesh and blood? James Boyd.

The Holy Scriptures

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." 2 Timothy 3: 16.

The Holy Scriptures are like no other writings. All other writings have had their origin in the mind of man, and with the conviction and expectation that the mind of the reader shall be able to grasp the meaning of that which is written. But this is not at all true of the Scriptures. It is not only not assumed by the writers of Holy Scripture that the mind of man will be able to seize the thoughts therein recorded, but its inability to do so is very distinctly affirmed (1 Cor. 2: 14; Eph. 1: 17; Col. 1: 9; Luke 24. 45). The Holy Spirit, who inspired the writers, is the only One who can enable us to understand that which He has caused to be placed on record for our instruction in the mind of God.

Therefore a mere study of the Word, however necessary it be to study it, is not of itself sufficient to place us in possession of the thoughts of God. It is necessary that we should read it, pay attention to all that it brings before us, believe it even when we do not grasp its meaning, and meditate upon its precious utterances; but this should be done in prayerful dependence upon its gracious Author, and in distrust of our own natural reason, which is always infidel, and always infidel just because it is our reason, the reason of fallen flesh, which ever revolves in its own blind orbit, excluding every ray of light divine.

This should not discourage the student of the Bible, but rather the opposite, for I would point out the true and only way of gaining knowledge; also where, and how it is to be found. It must be found in the Word, for it is there, and nowhere else; and there should be the utmost confidence in it as a revelation from God. Attention must be given to its most minute details, for there is nothing unnecessary placed on record, nor shall we therein find any vain repetitions crowding its pages. Neither must we imagine that any question has arisen amongst His people, unforeseen by Him, since upon Him, who knows the end from the beginning, it is impossible for the enemy to deliver a surprise attack. Every assault of the wily foe; every twist given to its evident meaning by the stubborn sectarian, who would compel it to lend its support to his miserable counterfeit of the truth; every dogmatic display of isolated texts, wrenched away from their proper connection in order to turn the heart from the living Christ in heaven, all was foreseen by the Author of this wonderful Book, and ample provision made for its detection and exposure.

It is a sharp sword for the human conscience, of which the devil himself has often felt the edge. It is a light that lays bare the secret chambers of the heart of man, and manifests its deceitful intentions, with all its bitter enmity against God; but at the same time it reveals the heart of God in all His fathomless love to the guilty. It guides the footsteps of the pilgrim through this wilderness where there is no way, and discloses before his heavenward gaze that celestial home, in which there is fullness of joy, and where pleasures for evermore reside. In its spontaneous praises, melody made by the heavenly hierarchs and the myriads of redeemed are heard; and amid the rumbling of the thunders of its wrath can be detected the wailing of those who have passed beyond the borderland of hope and have entered into regions of despair. It gives us a glimpse into the eternity that is past, and also directs our forward glance to the rest of God, and to the day when all things are made new, bathed in the glory of redemption.

The characteristics of the children of the devil it faithfully delineates, and describes minutely those of the children of God. The plottings and the drivellings of the human mind are therein recorded, as are also the counsels of eternal love. The folly of the creature; the wisdom of the Creator; the way of falsehood, the way of truth; the way of righteousness, the way of sin; the way of life, the way of death; the way of man, the way of God; all is therein recorded for our enlightenment and eternal blessing; and happy is the man whose confidence is in its heavenly origin, and whose heart and mind are well stored with its precious truths.

Its blessings are health-imparting, exalting, and enriching, and its anathemas are blasting, bewildering, abasing, and impoverishing. Obedience to its precepts purifies the soul, and rebellion against its commandments hardens the heart, benumbs the conscience, and deadens the sensibilities. It criticises its critics, judges its judges, makes liars of its calumniators, and for ever justifies its friends. It will have the last word at the last day, and from its sentence there shall be no appeal. It is a well-spring of living water in this arid waste, and living bread in this famine-stricken land. It makes the deaf to hear, the blind to see, and the dead to live. In the might of the Spirit it is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword; piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. God has magnified His Word above all His name; and as to the one who despises its testimony, good were it for that man had he never been born.

Therefore am I far from discouraging anyone who would seek to study the contents of this wonderful Volume. God has given it to us in His marvellous grace, and He would have us approach it with fear and trembling ? not because we are not free from its anathemas, for, through the grace of God and the blood of Jesus, every believer is justified from all things and set in new and eternal relationships with Him in Christ ? but because of its holy and sacred character. There is no condemnation in its pages for the believer in Christ. His redemption by the blood of Jesus, his relationship to God, and his eternal security, occupy a large place in that sacred Volume; but just because it is a revelation of God, it is to be approached with holy reverence, and not with the lightness with which one may take up any other book.

The Necessity for a Revelation

"Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10: 17.

It is late in the history of the world to be going into the question of the origin of a Book, which began to be written about four thousand years ago, and the writing of which extended over half that time; but late or early, the question seems with some people to be still undecided, and open to debate; and certainly the antiquity of the dispute does not in the least lessen its importance, neither does it tend to diminish the ardour of the combatants, nor the interest of the onlookers.

It is a question which no thoughtful person will ever relegate to a secondary place in man's pursuit of knowledge, for the tremendous claim made by the Book itself, causes the question of its title to that claim, to take the precedence of all others. Nor are men really able to treat the question with indifference. The sang-froid which characterizes some who profess to have settled the matter in favour of thick darkness, as opposed to a revelation from God, bears the stamp of being only skin-deep, and not the outcome of honest conviction.

It scarcely needs to be asserted that the leaders of the world bear the Book no goodwill, but rather the opposite, and therefore has it been subjected to ceaseless hostility, and to a criticism more fierce than that which has fallen to the lot of any other writings. It has been, and is, more fervently loved, and more intensely hated, than all the rest of the world's books put together; and the strange thing about its history is, that the house of its supposed friends is the place where it has been most sorely wounded. Those who have been foremost in their protestations of zeal in the service of its Author have shown themselves to be its worst enemies, and in their custody it had to remain for ages "a prisoner in bonds." How it survived the persecutions to which it was exposed, is almost as great a miracle as is the way in which it was given to man.

Thank God, the days of its incarceration are over, and it is free to tread its pathway of blessing throughout the wide world. In the days of Luther a moral resurrection took place through the grace of God. The German monk who eventually shook the throne of the proud bishop of Rome, saw in the dim cloister, through its sacred page, a light above the brightness of the sun; and when his voice arose heralding in the ears of men, the life-giving words of the dusty roll, the wheel of the papal chariot became scotched for ever, the powers of darkness were alarmed, and hell stood aghast before the boldness of this daring man. The power of God made itself felt, and the tiara trembled on the brow of him who trafficked in the souls of men, as he saw the hope of his gains vanishing from before his eyes. Men began to speak their minds more openly, the priestly bondage under which they had groaned was no longer discussed in whispers, and even kings began to breathe more freely, for the epistle of the apostle to the Romans now clung at the throat of the Italian prelate. Such is the power of this most wonderful Book.

It declares itself to be of heavenly origin: the very words of the living God, breathed into the hearts and minds of His servants, and penned by them as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. No other communications on earth make such claim to universal homage. The writers dive away back into the past eternity, before sun, planet, or attendant satellite gleamed forth upon the brow of heaven, and bring to light the secret counsels of the eternal Father. It shows us those counsels worked out in time by the eternal Son, in the power of the eternal Spirit, until the final result of all the activities of the triune God bursts upon our vision in a new heaven and a new earth, crowned with the glory of the tabernacle of God, in the midst of redeemed creation, in which righteousness shall dwell for ever.

It tells us of the beginning of all things, of the fall of the devil, of the fall of man, of God's gracious dealings with the latter when fallen, of the love of God, of the death of Christ, of His resurrection, of His session at the right hand of God, of His coming again, and of the subjugation of everything to Himself.

It leads the heart and mind into things unseen, and regales the soul with unutterable delights in the sanctuary of eternal love. It opens up before our vision the blackness of darkness, the God-forsaken region of despair, where ceaselessly rage the tempests of almighty wrath. It brings to light the corrupt God-hating heart of fallen man, and the infinite and holy love of a Saviour-God. It guides us to the fountain of all good; and shows us, but brings us not nigh, the source of evil. It describes the ceaseless conflict between these two opposing forces adown the black history of a fallen world, until the day in which the battle is brought to a conclusion by the triumph of good; and the heavens and the earth are purified from the presence of evil, which finds its place, with the Devil who brought it into existence, in the lake of fire, the eternal abode of that "liar" and "murderer."

It declares that God is love. Creation presents Him as infinite in wisdom and power, but we see evil rampant around us, and man beneath its merciless hoof. There are traces of His goodness everywhere; and in the midst of its unutterable woes, gladness of heart visits the most unfortunate. But the fact that the griefs of the human race are so freely interspersed with innumerable joys, only makes the puzzle of man's existence all the more intricate and difficult of solution. If it were all evil one would be in measure justified in attributing the creation to the caprice of a demon, and were it all good the aspersion of the true character of God would be unpardonable; but to find these two principles everywhere, and mixed together in a struggling and hopeless m?l?e, with evil ever apparently triumphant, is bewildering to the finite mind.

The woes of the human race are beyond the possibility of exaggeration, and seem to rise up at every turn as a witness against the notion of infinite goodness; for if God be all powerful, how is it that for so many millenniums His creature has been left in this corner of His creation to welter unpitied in his wretchedness? Can the Creator be indifferent to the woes of His creature? Who can tell us? Is there no voice from Him?

I am certain if there is no revelation from God, there is no God. But the whole universe around me bears witness to the reality of a Creator, and although the visible things do not contain the secret of the nature of Him who brought them into existence, there is enough of evidence borne by them, to convince every intelligent being that He, without whom a sparrow cannot fall to the ground, could not leave His poor creature without some ray of light as to how he stands with respect to His holy and righteous will.

The idea of a universe such as surrounds us, without a Creator, is to me unthinkable; and that man should be brought forth to fall a prey to his wretched lusts, and to grope his weary and painful way to the grave in suffocating gloom, squabbling with his fellows about questions upon which none can boast of having one ray of light, and which never can be solved, is just as unthinkable. I find myself so formed that I am unable to get away from the idea of a Creator, and One with whom I have to do; I am also impressed with the fact that my Maker is beneficent, for of this I see abundant traces on every hand; and I am sure of this also that He has not left man in any clime without witness as to His beneficence. I have tried to get away from the thought of a Being with whom I had to do, and I have not been able; I have done my best to get out of my mind the conviction that He has spoken, and in this I have been likewise unsuccessful. Where, and how, He has spoken, is another matter, but spoken He has, of this I am convinced.

Man must have some light, and God will give it to him, even though he is certain to be unfaithful to it. Without testimony I am sure God will never leave him. I am not at present saying from whence such thoughts came to me; I am only speaking of the way I seem to be impressed as I look around me, and meditate upon that which I see taking place on the earth. We would be worse off than the beasts had we no light from God, for they are not burdened with the terror of having to do with Him, and we are. The question is not, Has God spoken? but, How?

I shall be told at once that it is not by the Bible. But I must ask, Why not by the Bible? Shall I be met with the stereotyped objection that it is full of contradictions, and is altogether wrong as to the plan of the universe; that it makes it geocentric, and has spoken of the earth as a plain. It has done nothing of the kind. It is so carefully written, that its statements never jar upon the mind of the most advanced scientist, not do they cause the most illiterate to move in the direction of astronomical discovery. But may I ask, what impression does the universe convey to the mind of the ordinary mortal, as he looks abroad into the starry night from his cottage door? Will he not conceive of the earth as a flat plain, and the dome of heaven as a hemisphere, resting upon the rim of the earth? Could He who is infinite in wisdom have made the visible things no other way? The truth is that the heavens and the earth are so ordered that moral impressions are conveyed to the mind. Everything away from earth is upward and above man, and man is made to look upward to God who has His dwelling-place in the heavens. The Bible has a way of its own, by which it leaves these impressions undisturbed. If it gave other impressions, and taught the Newtonian theory, we might with some show of reason conclude that the God of creation is not the God of the Bible. I am not attempting to prove by this, that the Bible owes its origin to the Creator, I am only showing, that if the Bible leaves undisturbed the impression that creation itself gives to the naked eye of the ordinary observer, that is no proof against the divine origin of the Scriptures.

There are many other objections advanced by the infidel mind of man, but they are all equally worthless, and have been disposed of again and again. Man naturally hates the light, and this is why the Bible is ever the great object of attack. But though man may, and does, hate the light, it has come into this dark world for the salvation of his immortal soul. What other light has he which shows him God fully declared? He is of few days and full of sorrow, and in the end has to submit to death, and where it will land him he knows not. It is a foe fronted with terror, blind to the sight of misery, deaf to all entreaties, and dumb with regard to where it conducts its victim. It has been in the world for nigh six thousand years, and men know as little about it to-day, as they did at the beginning. Men hope it will lead to something better than the present life, but what proof have we that the region into which it leads, is not more replete with horrors than is the one out of which it conducts us? Were it an angel of light sent to escort us into a scene of joy and endless tranquillity, would its aspect be so full of terrors, or its weapon so dreaded? Surely not. We need some light from God, for death gives us no reason to suppose that, however bad it may be here, it is any better beyond. A beneficent Creator will not leave His creature without testimony. A revelation is a necessity both for His glory and our blessing; and this revelation we gratefully recognize in the Scriptures.

The Fall

"By one man sin entered the world, and death by sin." Romans 5: 12.

No other book has ever received a similar amount of attention at the hand of friend and foe. The contentions concerning its sayings have been continuous, cruel, and sanguinary. Hell has stormed at it, earth has hallooed after it, and fires have been kindled with the parchments upon which it was written; but its lovers have succoured it, sheltered it, cherished it, studied its pages, imbibed its life-giving utterances, and with the precious volume clasped within their trembling hands, and its heavenly truths engraven upon their hearts, they have passed away from earth into the presence of Him of whom it speaks. It has been loved with all the love of the human heart under the influence of heaven, and it has been hated with all the hatred of the soul under the influence of the abyss of evil. On its account men have ever been ready to kill, or to be killed. The world will not have it, and yet it remains in it. The more it has been persecuted, the more it has multiplied and grown.

In defence of its sayings the hearts' blood of thousands has been freely poured forth. Its followers have been counted the offscourings of the earth, and have been murdered without mercy. They have been reckoned by the world as sheep for the slaughter, cast out among the unclean, the lawless and the transgressors; hunted among mountains, dens, and caves of the earth, and slaughtered wherever they were found. But when the world was finished with them, God came out and wrote their epitaph, and it reads thus: "Of whom the world was not worthy."

Like Him of whom it testifies it finds itself in a world hostile to its teachings, and therefore is it despised and rejected of men; but like Him it passes onward in its unostentatious pathway of mercy, "Doing good, and healing all oppressed of the devil, for God is with it." Into an evil world it has come, but were the world not evil it would have no mission here. Had man remained as God made him such a revelation would have been unnecessary, for when he was made he had all the light needful to maintain him in the relationship in which he was placed with his Maker. But fallen man must have light beyond what was required for an innocent creation, if ever he is to be recovered for God.

But the wiselings of to-day will not believe that man is fallen. If he is not fallen he must be as God made him, and if he is as God made him I fail to see how he can be improved. Yet those who contend against the truth of the fall are the people who are loudest in their demands for such legislation as will enable them to set about improving the race. Could I be led to believe that God made man as he is, I would have to discard the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, and substitute in His place an evil being. It is impossible to entertain the idea of a Creator, and have any other thought than that everything created by Him has been created for His pleasure. And indeed this is just what Scripture teaches: "For Thy pleasure they are, and were created" (Rev. 4: 11). Therefore if there has been no fall, and men are as He made them, and consequently just in the condition in which He takes delight, and if He takes delight in them as I see them, what kind of a Being is He? Men make things in which they can take delight, and by which they may be served, and no man will intentionally and premeditatedly make anything that will be a grief to his heart. And I am sure the Creator will not. Therefore He must be understood by the state, the moral state, in which His creature is created.

Now the heavens are said in Scripture to declare the glory of God (Ps. 19), but the earth never. Looking upward at the heavens with our natural eyes everything appears to us in the most perfect order. There is no confusion there, no conflict between the heavenly bodies, everything moves in the most perfect harmony together; there is no trespass committed by one inhabitant of the blue expanse against its neighbour; there is no noise of contending forces; one spirit seems to permeate the vast heavenly host, and all is peace. But when we turn to earth it is hell let loose. A pandemonium of discord jars upon the ear. Violence and corruption are seen everywhere. Scenes of horror fill the vision, and groans of despair grate upon the ear. Hatred, falsehood, outrage, murder, and suicide, stalk naked through the land. Pestilence, famine, hunger, nakedness, and death, cause the shriek of anguish to drown the revelry of gladsome day, and rend the bosom of the black-browed night. And I am told man is not fallen!

We are told that man is just as he should be at the present moment of his history, but that he will not ever be thus. He is struggling upward, and the goal is within measurable distance. Is it? From my observation of the progress things are making I should say he is struggling downward, and making very rapid progress in his descent. That men are better educated than they were a century ago is not in question. Possibly the poor eat better, and are better clothed also; but that men are more moral, that they love one another better, that they are more law-abiding, that they are less selfish, that they are more faithful in their relations of life, and that they are more to be trusted than they were a century ago, I do not believe. Take away the steam engine and the dynamo-electric machine; dispense with railway, telegraph, and telephone, and with all the trappings of the present century civilization, and have a good look at society, and you will find little to boast in above the savage.

We are told that nobody believes the Genesis account of the fall. One often wonders what kind of company these Bible critics keep. I think I might safely undertake to find some thousands of people who have never questioned it; and these are not men who readily take things for granted. It is asserted that the offence committed by Adam in the garden of Eden was of too trivial a nature to entail such consequences. But this seems to me to be a very superficial and foolish kind of reasoning. I fail to see that it could have made any real difference what test it might have pleased God to apply to man. The gravity of man's offence is not to be estimated by the intrinsic value of the article purloined; there was nothing in that at all. He might have eaten of that tree as well as of any other had it not been forbidden. The interdiction against eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ought not to have been difficult for Adam to observe; it was not a heavy rent to pay for such a large estate. He was the vice-regent of God upon earth, made so by his indulgent Creator, and the tree which was forbidden to him was the witness that the earth and the fulness thereof were the Lord's, and that Adam was not sole proprietor. The tree became a test of his loyalty to his Creator. The tribute demanded from him was a mere bagatelle, but this very fact made his transgression all the more inexcusable.

Had the toll demanded from the creature been a heavy tax upon his resources, compassion for the rebel would have been more pardonable, but the trivial tax upon such enormous wealth brought to light the hidden secret of the rebel's heart, and the creature is manifested in his attempt to grasp Divinity itself. This was the bait which the arch deceiver of mankind dangled before the eyes of his victim, and which tempted him to transgress the commandment. Why should he have desired to be on equality with God? He should have had confidence enough in the goodness of his Creator to have enabled him to refuse such a bait.

But I need not waste words in bringing the gravity of the offence of Adam into light; the reader knows his own natural heart well enough to be conscious of the fact that, if he were able to bring its desires about, no one would occupy the throne of the universe but himself. In this world every man seeks to get all the power into his own hands, and had he the throne of the world it would not satisfy him, he would want the throne of the universe also. This suggestion instilled into the heart of Adam by the devil will reach its culmination in the "man of sin," who will allow no one to worship any god but himself. He will take the place of God upon earth, and will put to death all who resist his blasphemous pretensions (2 Thess. 2 and Rev. 13).

But in spite of man's denial that he is in a fallen condition, and in spite of his claim to be something, he is really ashamed to come out in the truth of his condition. We shelter ourselves from the inquisitiveness of our neighbours, and resent every attempt made by them to scrutinize our affairs. It may be nothing but idle curiosity prompts them to get near to us, but it is not because we know this that we so strongly resent their advances, and determine to hold them at arm's length. Were we certain they could not find anything discreditable about us, we should not be so upset by their unmannered curiosity. Were everything that could be known about us creditable to us, we would be glad to be manifested before the assembled universe. But we shrink from exposure because we are unfit to be seen as we really are. This is very strange, especially as we know that others are no better than ourselves. They shrink from our penetrating gaze as timidly as we do from theirs.

But the knowledge of this does not help us, or make us bolder, for each of us has got his own secrets, of which he is rightly ashamed. Like Ham we are ready to sneer at the nakedness of our neighbour, but we are all very careful, when in our senses, not to babble into the ear of the world the secrets of our own guilty lives. My neighbour does not know me as I know myself, and I am determined that he shall remain in his ignorance. We keep our respective distances. I do not pry into the thoughts of his heart, and I expect the same consideration from him. This is all "fig leaves." We are very pleased to find that people do not walk about in their naked hideousness; and should one of us expose himself in his moral degradation, we feel it to be an offence against all that is becoming, and insulting to society. Each person is at liberty to think whatever he pleases, and he may do what he pleases, as long as it does not injure his neighbour, but he must be careful that it does not get abroad. He must wear the "fig leaves," or become ostracized from society.

Some of these haters of the Bible cannot understand any intelligent person continuing to believe in the fall of man as it is taught in Genesis. We are told that the legend was in existence as oral tradition long before Genesis was written. How it could be otherwise I am at a loss to know, and were it otherwise the fact would go far to prove it mere fiction. That the human race could be ignorant of the fall until Moses wrote the account of it is inconceivable. It was bound to travel with the posterity of Adam down the centuries. No doubt it would lose nothing by the telling in its travels, and therefore is it found in distorted forms in various countries, but in Genesis we have it in its simple naked truth.

We are told by some that it is scarcely alluded to in the Old Testament writings. Why should it be? Where was the need for constant repetition? It is referred to, however, but had I found it very frequently referred to by the prophets, it would greatly have depended upon the setting in which I found it, whether my suspicion as to the writers' faith in it would not have been aroused. Indeed it is seldom referred to in the New Testament, and when it is referred to, it is not hard to see the writer takes it for granted that those to whom he writes do not question the fact. It has no need to be proven in a world like this.

The difficulty with the philosophers of the world seems to lie in the fact that, whether man be fallen or not, his moral state is far from being satisfactory. As a general thing God is either altogether left out, as regards the theories of these men, or everything is God, whether it be man, bird, beast, reptile, or spunge. A God who is objective to His creation, neither of them confess. The evolutionists have got the whole creation upon a ladder whose top and bottom are both alike enveloped in impenetrable gloom. What he came from and what he is to arrive at are wrapt in obscurity. They think man is advancing toward a perfect state, but what that state is to be they know not. Some of us are quite certain that man is retrograding. That those who call themselves Christians are on the down-grade, no one will question who reads the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and believes it to be a true account of the state of things in the Church at the beginning.

That men in these Islands are better governed than they were in the middle ages goes without saying, but if the crowd were let loose to-day, who would not tremble for the consequences? The deeds of the French revolution, if not worse, would be repeated. I fail therefore to see how men are better morally. I may be told that the fact that good laws exist is in itself a proof of a better moral state. I cannot accept it, for men do not make laws for themselves but for their fellows. Those who make them are often found guilty of breaking them. The lustre of the world is artificial; what is natural is corrupt. Under an apparently well ordered community smoulders a veritable hell of horrible rebellion, and this the powers that be will learn one of these days.

Those who think they see God in everything are, in their own imagination, themselves God; and the fall is the incarnation of God in nature, so they tell us. This mysterious Power, which is themselves and the spunge, and all that lies between in the way of life, is finding expression in the universe, and they tell us that it is only as we read Him in the universe that we can know anything about Him. God, we are told, can only know His own capabilities as He is confronted by opposing forces, therefore He creates the forces that He may become known to Himself. If I could so degrade myself as to accept such a horrible idea, I would be very much interested to know what He thinks of Himself, when He sees Himself in the universe! Is this great mysterious Power contemplating Himself in the battlefield, where men, who know not why they are pitted against one another, maim and murder until their feet slip in the hot red heart-blood of friend and foe? I wonder what the "god" of these men's imagination thinks of himself as he looks at the violence and corruption which fill the earth, and at nature foaming at the mouth and "red in tooth and claw with ravin"!

How strange it is that man will have anything as a god, rather than the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The reason, surely, is that if I confess Him, I must myself go down in the dust in His presence, and confess myself to be a poor, fallen, unworthy sinner, dependent upon His mercy and grace for my salvation. Pride has no place in the presence of the true God, and therefore must the proud heart of man be ever in deadly hostility to Him. Blessed be His name, He can so work in His grace in our hearts that we are made to acknowledge the truth of the Book which discovers us to ourselves, and, turning to Him in the judgment of ourselves, to leave the decision of our eternal welfare in His own hands.

Is Jesus God?

"If David then call Him Lord, how is He his Son?" Matthew 22: 45.

If we think of the Scriptures as a revelation given to us from God who cannot lie, and if we have them as He gave them to us, we cannot give harbourage to the notion that the smallest untruth can be found therein ? or any statement which, taken in its connection, would be calculated to leave a false impression upon the mind of the reader. Were it possible that an honest seeker after light could be deceived by them ? were it possible that they could lead the soul who trusted them as the truth of God into darkness and error, they would prove themselves to be but the corrupt production of the fallen mind of man, and valueless as a guide to the knowledge of God. They would bear witness against themselves as not the offspring of One who cannot lie, but of one who was both a liar and a murderer.

And if we think of them as written to the poor and the illiterate and not to the wealthy, the wise, and prudent, we shall not expect them to be full of dark sayings and mysterious theories, couched in great swelling words, to be understood by none but clever and educated minds. The gospel is preached to the poor, and as far as that which relates to the universal testimony of the grace of God is concerned, nothing could be more simple. True, the deep things of God can only be known by those who have the Spirit, but that is not because they are very learned, nor because they require colossal intellects to grasp their meaning, but because they relate to things which lie outside the circle in which the natural mind of man exercises itself.

The Scriptures are the only light we have with regard to the knowledge of God, and we must either take them as they are, or reject them altogether. They speak of all the relationships in which man is placed, whether in Adam or in Christ, and dilate upon the responsibilities connected with these relationships in such a way that nothing is overlooked, disregarded, or epitomized; and whether we understand the things of which they speak, or whether we do not, the language in which they are set before us cannot be held to be bewildering nor capable of double meaning. In them the trumpet gives no uncertain sound, and there, without a jar, from pipe and harp breaks forth the glorious music of eternal truth (1 Cor. 14: 7, 8).

As far as it is necessary, and indeed as far as it is possible for us to know the One in whom we live and move and have our being, we have Him placed before us in the written Word. If He is not learned there, where can He be learned? Not in the material universe, not in providence, not in the state of this world, for everywhere we turn we are confronted with contradictions; and had we nothing else than these we should be compelled to dwell in darkness and uncertainty. The world is now almost six thousand years old, and though it has made immense progress in the knowledge of the resources of nature, it has made none in the knowledge of God; indeed, it knows less about Him to-day than it did in its infancy (Rom. 1: 21-25).

The history of every testimony committed to man has always been down-grade. The Antediluvian, Noahic, Judaic, and Christian dispensations tell the same tale. Departure from the living God, corruption of His truth, darkness and chaos, followed by the intervention of God in judgment, mark each successive dealing of God with men. Nor will any future dispensation be otherwise. Everything will prosper in the hands of Christ, and during His reign there will be no failure in the government of the world, for everything undertaken by Him will be fulfilled to the glory and praise of God, but that reign, however beneficent it may be, will not change the hearts of men, for at the close it will be seen that nothing but a leader is necessary to rouse the whole earth into revolt against the authority of the Lord.

There is an innate aversion in the human mind to everything that is of God; though, of course, this solemn fact is known only to those in whom the grace of God has wrought. The truth has been persecuted since the world began, and against Christ, who was the embodiment of that truth, the powers of darkness stirred up, and brought into evidence, that aversion in a way hitherto unknown. From the beginning He was God's testimony, and therefore has He ever been the object of attack. His atoning work, His miraculous birth, His spotless nature, His real manhood, His Deity, His resurrection are openly denied in that which professes His name, and Christendom is at present fast drifting back into heathen darkness. And it is on this account I seek to draw attention to the answer furnished by Scripture to the question at the head of this paper ? "Is Jesus God?"

Apart altogether from the answer given by Scripture to this momentous question, one can very easily understand that were one person both God and Man, such an One would be, by the very nature of His being, beyond the understanding of men. Indeed, God Himself, apart from incarnation, is beyond our understanding, for the creature never can perfectly comprehend the Creator. It is our privilege and joy to know Him in His nature, so that we can say God is Love (1 John 4: 16), and this is the highest knowledge the creature can possess. But as to essential Deity, it is beyond the ken of man. He dwells in light unapproachable, whom no man hath seen, nor is able to see (1 Tim. 6: 16). We know Him in the way in which it has pleased Him to declare Himself, and that is in His infinite love; but in His essential being, and in the mystery of His wondrous existence, we know nothing, can know nothing, and need to know nothing. What He has in His grace caused us to know fills our cup of happiness to overflowing.

But what must be the mystery of incarnate God? One truly Man, born of a woman, advancing in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men (Luke 2: 52); omniscient (John 2: 24, 25; Luke 11: 17; John 16: 30), yet limited in knowledge (Mark 13: 32); the Upholder of the universe (Col. 1: 17; Heb. 1: 3), yet in weakness here (John 4: 6); Creator (John 1: 3; Heb. 1: 10), yet taking a place in creation (Col. 1: 15). How could such contradictory attributes be reconciled by the finite mind of man, or by the mind of any creature, whoever he may be?

But this is just what the Scriptures assert as regards Jesus: "No one knoweth the Son, but the Father" (Matt. 11: 27). And though the reference to this text may be ridiculed as but a refuge for an unreasonable dogma, it is nevertheless the teaching of Scripture, and the only conclusion that a reasonable mind can come to regarding such a Person. The Father is said to be declared, and that in the very passage which tells us that no one knoweth the Son: "Neither knoweth any one the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." We are never said not to know the Father, for this knowledge is the portion of even the babes in Christ (1 John 2: 13); but though we may come to the full knowledge of the Son of God, so far as He has been revealed (Eph. 4: 13), there are mysteries about His person which are impossible for us to know; hence we have, "No one knoweth the Son, but the Father." Indeed, were this statement absent from the page of inspiration, our reason would compel us to admit what it asserts, and of ourselves we would come to the conclusion that such a Person was unknowable by the creature. Seeming contradictions, which are matters of revelation, we can well believe, but not one of them can we understand. Indeed, it is little that we do know perfectly, possibly nothing at all, for our knowledge of the very simplest things is very limited.

But if we know that every question that was between us and a holy and righteous God has been gone into and settled to His satisfaction and that we have been brought into new and eternal relationships with God in Him who bore the judgment which rested upon us on account of our sins, and if that love of God which was declared in His death has been shed abroad in our hearts, and if we know the Father, and are able to take account of ourselves as the children of God, and confidently look for the coming of Christ to take us to the home He has prepared for us in the Father's house, we shall be very happy; we shall also be very thankful for the revelation He has so graciously given to us, and we shall be careful to approach that revelation with the reverence that springs from the knowledge of the holy character of that love that has made known to us everything that is for our good, and who has also given to us the Holy Spirit, in order that we may be able to enter into the deep things of God, so far as they are revealed.

That Jesus was a Man every true Christian will confess ? a real Man ? as truly a Man as was Adam or any of his race. A Man with spirit, soul, and body. A Man so like every other man in Judea that, as He sat by the well of Sychar, the woman who came to draw water took Him to be an ordinary Jew, resting from His journey, and waiting upon some one to come and draw a little water to quench His thirst. But "Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee," marks Him of as very different from all other men, as does also "that holy Thing" (Luke 1: 35), and Him "who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5: 21). Still, that "there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all" (1 Tim. 2: 5), settles the question of His manhood both in humiliation and also glory.

Nothing could be more plainly stated than the fact of the existence of Jesus previous to incarnation. He says, "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world" (John 16: 28); again, "The glory which I had with Thee before the world was"; and, "Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world" (John 17: 5, 24); also, "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8: 58); again in John 6: 38, "I came down from heaven"; also verse 62, "What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before?" I might quote many other scriptures on the same subject, but any one of these is quite sufficient to prove the existence of Jesus before He was born into this world.

Now what was He before He became Man? What say the Scriptures as to this? In Philippians 2 the Holy Spirit of God carries us back to the point of departure, when He began that journey of humiliation which ended in the death of the cross. And what was He before He took the initial step upon that downward path? He was "in the form of God." Now, no one who was not God could be in the form of God, for the only other form we know of is that of a servant. A servant should have no will of his own; all his actions proceed from the will of another. But God acts from Himself, from His own will, without reference to another. Authority, dominion, and might belong to Him. The form of God is incompatible with that of a servant; indeed, the word here is bond-slave. Hence, when in the form of God, the act of emptying Himself and taking the form of a servant is viewed as proceeding from Himself: He "emptied Himself, taking a bondsman's form." It could not be otherwise, for He was under no other authority or obligation.

This is not true of any creature, for the most exalted creature is by the very fact of his creation a servant, and nothing but a servant. But the moment this glorious Person takes upon Himself the form of a servant obedience characterizes His every act: "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." While in the form of God His every action must proceed from His own will; He could be neither influenced nor controlled by anything external to Himself; but when He became a servant everything is changed. His acts are as consistent with the form of a servant as they were with the form of God. For a creature to leave his first estate is to apostatize, but this the Son did, for to no one was He responsible.

But this emptying of Himself was not in any way the renunciation of Godhead, which could not be, but the giving up of the whole position that appertained to Godhead, and the becoming a servant to the Godhead for the Godhead's glory. This was not done by the Father, who remains in His eternal status and position unchanged. It is true of the Son only, who came to do the Father's will, and who did it at all cost to Himself. Tested to the very uttermost, His obedience was perfect. He took a servant's form, in order that He might do the will of God; and He did that will so perfectly that, in the judgment of God, no other place than the highest in the universe would he an adequate answer to the work which He accomplished. And this place He has as Man and the Servant of the Godhead.

John also, in the first chapter of his Gospel, carries us back before incarnation, right into eternity itself, that we may behold One who had no beginning, the Word, who in the beginning was, and was with God, and was God. And God, of course, He must be if He had no beginning. Next, "All things were made by Him." Then we have, "The Word was made flesh." Then John the Baptist's testimony is, "He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for He was before me." He declares the Father, and baptizes with the Holy Ghost. In chapter 2 He turns the water into wine, and thus manifests forth His glory; speaks of raising up the temple of His body when men have destroyed it; and knows what is in man. Chapter 3: He "came down from heaven." Chapter 4: He is omniscient ? tells the woman of Samaria all that ever she did. Chapter 5: He "makes Himself equal with God," and must be honoured even as the Father is honoured. But I need not go over more passages from this Gospel.

In Colossians we have the same statement made as in John 1. He is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, and in 1 John 5. 20 He "is the true God, and eternal life."

But I will come to His Name. His name is Jesus, which means Jehovah the Saviour. And the reason He has been given this name is because "He shall save His people [Jehovah's people] from their sins." He is the object of angelic worship (Heb. 1). He is addressed as God by God upon the throne. He is the Creator: "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands: they shall perish; but Thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail."

Need I quote more scripture? Surely not. The Word of God presents Him as a Man, a true, real Man, begotten of God, born of the Virgin, Son of God as begotten in time, and Servant to the Godhead. But the same Word of God presents Him as God over all, Eternal, in the form of God, acting from Himself without respect to any other authority, the Creator, Preserver, eternal Son with the eternal Father. Neither His Godhead nor His Manhood shall ever be given up. From the standpoint of the creature's finite mind innumerable mysteries and apparent contradictions connect themselves with His Person: for "no man knoweth the Son, but the Father." But the believing, subject soul knows very well that in connection with such a Person apparent contradictions must exist, and he is prepared for them: for indeed His person is just like His love, it surpasses knowledge.

The Unchanging One

"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Hebrews 13: 8.

How cheering, refreshing, and establishing it is to be brought into contact with One who is infinite in goodness, grace, righteousness, holiness, and love; and who never can be different to that which, at our earliest introduction to Him, we found Him to be: One upon whom the lapse of ages leaves no mark of change! Such is Jesus, the subject of this Epistle, in which the old order, like a dissolving view, melts from before our vision, leaving to fill the scene that which is new and eternal, radiant with the glory of God.

And how often has the passage at the head of this paper spoken peace to the soul disquieted by the capricious and changeful nature of the selfish principles of fallen man who no longer ago than yesterday may have been brimming over with evidences of most tender affection, and to-day may, in spirit and deportment, have become as cold, cutting, and severe as the January east wind. It has ministered comfort, consolation, and encouragement to thousands perplexed and weary with the ever varying condition of things with which we are compassed in this world of restlessness, confusion, envy and falsehood. It presents to the shipwrecked and hopeless mariner an island of peace in the midst of a turbulent and treacherous ocean. It is a shelter for the battered and toil-worn wayfarer, alone and lost in the pathless and storm swept wilderness. It is an invulnerable citadel, into which the besieged and war-broken may retreat, and thus escape the anguish which is invariably the lot of those who foolishly trust their happiness to the vicissitudes of a world in rebellion against God and agitated by the fell destroyer of the human race.

How good it is to be brought to the knowledge of this changeless Jesus! He came into this world, which was without moral foundations, that man should have a firm rock upon which he might plant the foot of faith, and be assured that amid the crash of everything that seems stable in the universe, it could not be shaken. He came to illuminate the benighted vision with the gracious light of God, and to warm into life the cold dead human heart with the holy love of God. See Him at the well of Sychar, and hear Him speak of the gift of God to a poor sinful creature, for whom no one else had a word of comfort. There He is the Giver of the living water, which alone can give satisfaction to the thirsty soul. See Him in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7), the Creditor in the midst of His debtors, speaking only of forgiveness.

See Him at the grave of Lazarus, the Resurrection and the Life, mingling tears of sympathy with those of the two bereaved women, before His almighty voice awoke the echoes of the dull domain of death and Hades, and called back the dead man to life. See Him amid a multitude of publicans and sinners, and hearken to the words of grace which proceed out of His lips, until you hear the throbbing of the heart of God, as He enfolds in the arms of His immortal love a prodigal come back from the far country, naked except for those rags which bore witness of his rebellious and disgraceful career. See Him in the temple and synagogue, and in the streets and lanes of the city, and hear Him tell in the ear of devil-deceived men and women the grace and love of God.

See how He feels for the diseased, the demon-possessed, the blind, and the broken-hearted, until you learn what those mean who say: "Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." See Him amid the gloom of Golgotha, dying for the ungodly, and praying for His murderers; and as you contemplate Him, "stricken, smitten of God and afflicted," may you be able to say: "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed" (Isa. 53). And then think of Him as the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Oh, the deep, deep blessedness of knowing Him ? learning Him in His pathway down here, and knowing that He is just the same blessed, living, lowly, gracious Saviour now that He is on the Father's throne. May both reader and writer get to know Him better every day of our pilgrim journey through this world, until we see Him face to face in courts of light.

But consider the setting of this short, simple, peace imparting sentence. In verse 7 we are exhorted to remember them who had (not have) the rule over us, who spoke to us the word of God. They have gone from our midst. Their voices are no longer heard amongst us ministering the living Word, but we are to call them to mind; and considering the issue of their conversation we are to imitate their faith. Then in verse 9 we are warned against those who would introduce divers and strange doctrines. Between that needful exhortation and this very wholesome warning we have the brilliant and comforting truth shining like a silver star: "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever."

Whether it be the Gospel to the world or ministry to the saints, Christ must ever be the subject (Rom. 16: 25; Acts 28: 31). He is the living Word, the spirit of all Scripture. It was Christ the apostles preached and taught, and there is nothing else for saint or sinner to-day; and He never changes. John, writing to the babes, says, "Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning" (John 2: 24). The devil brings in novelties, and the human mind loves them and revels in them. And just because men love them, they flatter themselves that they are parts of the truth, but alas, they are but "sporting themselves with their own deceivings." That which turns away the heart from Christ is a snare of the devil. We are told we must not hold too obstinately to old forms, but must advance with the times; but the whole truth has come to light in Jesus, and there is no change in Him.

It is affirmed by men of science that signs of decay are visible in some of the heavenly bodies. The sun seems to be giving evidence that he has passed the meridian of his years; the moon is a defunct world, and the earth is in the sear and yellow leaf. This is just what Scripture tells us in those remarkable words which were addressed to Jesus, when in the sorrow of His soul He drew near to the gates of death, stricken for the transgression of believing sinners: "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands: they shall perish, but Thou remainest: and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed" (Ps. 102: 25-27; Heb. 1: 10-12). Peter tells us that the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, the elements melting with fervent heat, and that the earth also and all the works that are therein shall be burned up, but that we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness (2 Peter 3).

The nature of the change which will pass over the universe has not been revealed to us, we do not need to know it. We are confident, however, of this, that He who built it at the beginning to serve His purpose, and Who in infinite wisdom allowed the enemy to defile it with the stain of sin, is able to cleanse it from the presence of that which is so hateful to Him and so ruinous to the creature, and to fill it with light and blessing, and make it the abode of righteousness. To accomplish this, and to set man in new and eternal relationships with God, He laid down His life. The Creator is the Redeemer. He who stooped down to know what human weakness was, and who had His days shortened, is the same One who then, as now, was upholding all things by the word of His power. What creature mind could compass such a thought? No man knoweth the Son.

But not only must the material universe undergo a change, a much greater change must pass over man himself. The old order no longer occupies us; angels, Moses, Aaron, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the covenant ? in a word, the whole earthly order disappears before the face of Jesus, and we are exhorted to abandon the shadow for the substance, types which pass away for realities which abide for ever. And for this state of things a change must take place upon us. We are heirs of a kingdom which cannot be moved; but except a man be born again he shall never see it (John 3). Man must have a new nature, as born of God, or perish for ever.

The wonderful thing about man is that he can be changed. I do not for a moment doubt that God, who knew the end from the beginning, and had His counsels formed with regard to all His works before He put in operation His creative power, so made man that he could be changed in the whole principle of his being. We are not told anything about angels to lead us to suppose such beings capable of being changed. Some of them have fallen away from God, and an opportunity of salvation does not seem to be granted to them. Man is the creature chosen of God in whom His workmanship of grace is to be displayed. What He has wrought as a Saviour will be brought to light in ransomed human beings.

And what a change He is capable of making in His rebellious and ruined creature! Hear what He says to the headstrong, intractable Simon Peter: "When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not" (John 21: 18). And what made that change? Age? Never. As to nature it is ever true: "The child is father of the man." That change was wrought in Peter in the school of God, and by Him who Himself changes not.

And consider the insolent overbearing Saul of Tarsus; that proud, self-righteous, Christ-hating Pharisee. Wolfish in his nature, and getting the first taste of blood at the martyrdom of Stephen, he ever after seeks to satiate his ravenous appetite with the slaughter of the sheep of Jesus, until met on the highway of his merciless career by Him before whose subduing power nothing is able to stand. What meekness, gentleness, patience, tenderness, and lowliness were wrought in this striking subject of the grace of God! What ceaseless solicitude for the salvation of the lost! What care for the flock of Christ! What devotedness to that holy Name once so hated and persecuted by him! And this wonderful change effected by Him who is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever!

And has not the reader, as well as the writer, come under the changing influence of this changeless Person? From that throat, which was once an open sepulchre is exhaled the perfume of immortal love. That mouth, once "full of cursing and bitterness" is now replete with blessing. That tongue, long accustomed to "deceit," now spreads abroad the word of truth and life. Those lips, which once concealed the deadly "poison of asps," are now pregnant with life-imparting grace. Those feet, once "swift to shed blood," now "shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace," run joyfully in the pathways of mercy. A new power, that of the Holy Spirit, has taken possession of the earthen vessel, the members have become instruments of righteousness, the will of God is done, and the soul finds eternal rest. The glory of the Lord, with all its life-giving and attractive power, shines full upon our hitherto benighted hearts, and we become changed into the same image (2 Cor. 3).

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ

"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." 2 Cor. 8: 9.

The Spirit of God directs us in the Holy Scriptures. It is there we learn of Him who is our life. It is there that heavenly life is portrayed before our renewed minds and hearts; and it is there we are assured that that life is our own. It is seen in perfection in Him, unadulterated by the intrusion of sinful flesh, for in Him there was no taint of evil; but whatever it may be mingled with in our practical ways, by our forgetfulness to keep the judgment of the cross upon our rebellious wills, it is ours by the quickening operation of God, and we have, in God's account, no other life. And all the exhortations, injunctions, and commandments are to give direction to that life, in order that in its own spotless purity it may be reproduced by us in this evil world.

And it is just the transcendent qualities of this life that the Apostle labours to bring to light in these Corinthians, to whom he writes this epistle. He would have them think of the poor Jewish saints away in Jerusalem, and not only to think of them, but to send them a thank-offering, seeing the Gospel had come out from them to the nations of the earth. And to stimulate that which was of God in them Christ is brought forward as their great example. "For ye know," he says, "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich."

This was not some new doctrine he was bringing under their notice, which they had never before heard of. It was not a thing they did not know, for he tells them they did know it. But though they had heard of it when the Gospel had been first proclaimed in their ears, they required to be reminded of it. We are, alas, too much like Pharaoh's chief butler, who forgot the service rendered to him by Joseph, and left him languishing in the prison, while he enjoyed the favour of his royal master.

We need to be constantly on the watch lest we forget the One who has so greatly befriended us. We know His grace. We heard of it first in the Glad Tidings, of which He is the subject; and it was that grace that attracted us to Him at the first. And how often since then we have told Him:

"We know the grace that brought Thee down,

Down from that bliss on high,

To meet our ruined souls in need,

On Calvary's cross to die."

Yes, we know it, but let us not forget it. And may it have all its own wondrous power over our poor forgetful minds and hearts

"Though He was rich." Think of those riches. Men imagine themselves wealthy when they have grasped a little more than others of the perishable treasures of earth, the possession of which is often their ruin bodily and spiritually. But who could rightly estimate the wealth of the Creator Himself? And all things owe their existence to Jesus. What wealth of glory, dominion, power, and blessing was His! What dignity, majesty, greatness, grandeur, magnificence! What unspeakable happiness, immaculate affections, goodly fellowship, in light unto which no man can approach! There, in the serene, secure, unassailable unparagoned, and ineffable sweetness of the Father's love, He had His eternal abiding-place! That home of infinite and unparalleled delight, where love eternal is met by love eternal, in the infoldment, reciprocity, and intransmutability of its own infinite and deathless nature! A scene into which no creature curiosity could penetrate, nor imagination call into existence, but best described in the words addressed by the Son to the Father: "The glory which I had with Thee before the world was"; and, "Thou lovest me before the foundation of the world" (John 17: 5, 24). And yet for our sakes He became poor!

And into what depths of poverty did His grace cause Him to descend! At His birth He was laid in a manger, while the great people of the earth, who were but the work of His hands, and in addition to that rebels against God, poured noisily and haughtily into the comforts of the inn, where there was no room for Him; an early indication that the heart of this great world would be found securely locked against the entrance of this heavenly stranger.

Later on He could say that the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had roosting-places, but that He had nowhere to lay His head. There was to be no brightening of His circumstances. From a human standpoint the way before Him seemed to darken into impenetrable gloom. The barrenness of desert places, the loneliness of Olivet, the silence of Gethsemane: these all were privileged witnesses of the Man of Sorrows. Bethany alone sought to make up for the carelessness and base ingratitude of a thankless and hypocritical nation; but the very solitariness and extreme isolation of that sweet and hallowed spot became, on this account, the greatest witness of all to the utter poverty of Jesus, for it was all He had down here. And it was all for our sakes

But the terrible and unparalleled nature of that poverty must draw its grim, terrific folds still more closely around this lonely Man. The arid waste of man's indifference to the precious dews of heavenly grace, shed with such lavish hand in word and work upon a crushed and degraded people, must to its utmost boundary be trodden by those weary feet, whose every movement preached to deaf and disdainful ears the Gospel of peace.

For love, sown with prodigal extravagance, He must reap hatred. The desertion of many of His professed followers He must with sorrow of heart witness. The treachery of one of His most intimate followers, who with hypocritical kiss betrays Him to His enemies, He must bear in silence. Another, who professed the greatest devotion to Him, He must hear denying Him with oaths and curses. The plight of the rest of His poor disciples, like sheep in the presence of the wolf, beats in upon His breaking heart with merciless severity. He gives His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, and He hides not His face from shame and spitting. And it was all for our sakes!

But the depths of poverty that were yet to be explored by this Divine and blameless victim open up before His soul with a terror that infinitely excels all that the imagination of man has ever pictured. A horror beyond all human thought appalling confronts this lonely Sufferer. Nailed to a gibbet, numbered with transgressors, surrounded by the rude Roman soldiery, His cross girt about by a mocking, insulting, blaspheming, howling rabble, He looks for some to take compassion, and finding none, He turns to God, and by Him He is abandoned. Horror heaps itself upon horror; but this, the greatest horror of all, overtakes Him in the midst of His deep distress and anguish of soul. This is the climax of that poverty which began in the manger at Bethlehem. Here the lowest rung in this fearful ladder of humiliation is reached. Here the bottomless is bottomed. Poverty reaches its limit, a limit without a limit. Betrayal, desertion, denial, ingratitude, reproach, spend their utmost and most merciless fury against the Son of God. In the barren, weary, wintry waste of a God-hating world, impaled upon a gibbet, without a disciple, without a sympathizer, without a friend; in the unutterable loneliness of abandonment by earth and heaven and with a heart broken by reproach, the storm of divine wrath against sin beats with infinite power upon His defenceless and thorn-crowned head. And it was all for our sakes!

"That ye through His poverty might be rich." This was the cause of His wondrous journey from Bethlehem to Golgotha; from the manger to the gibbet. The grace of His heart was the fount from which flowed forth all this down-stooping; this self-forgetfulness; this self-abnegation; this renunciation of uncountable riches; this self-abasement; this unmurmuring acceptation of the servant's pathway, with all that was involved in it; this submission to the cross, the wrath, the judgment due to sin. It was all undertaken, and patiently borne, that we through His poverty might be rich.

And O, what infinite wealth has come to us through His great poverty! We have been enriched in righteousness, in eternal life, in holiness, in the gift of the Holy Spirit, in sonship, in the possession of all things, in union with Christ, in fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ, and in the hour of His coming again to find our eternal home with Him in the Father's house, where we shall see Him as He is, and be like Him, to the eternal satisfaction and delight, not only of our hearts, but of the heart of the Father and the Son.

But in Philippians this grace of the Lord Jesus is presented in another way. It is not what He has done for our sakes, but for the Godhead glory, but with a similar object in view is it brought to our notice, that is, as our great example. "Let this mind be in you." What mind? The mind that was in Christ Jesus. The grace that came to light in Him down here is to be a mighty power in our souls, reproducing Him in this world out of which He has been rejected. He was full of grace and truth, and of His fullness all believers have received. Hence that grace is to give character to our lives down here. It is to be operative in our souls.

How has it come to light in Him as presented here? This is most beautifully brought under our notice. "Who being in the form of God." Here, first of all, we are privileged to contemplate Him in the outward position and semblance of God; the embodiment of might, authority, majesty, supremacy, and everything else that belongs to God. Yet not counting this a position to maintain at all costs, but necessity having arisen for the intervention of One mighty enough to undertake a work for the glory of the Godhead, He divests Himself of this outward form, and takes the form of a servant.

Here He stands in opposition to the first and fallen head of the human race, who, though created by God and placed as His servant in a very exalted position, grasped at Divinity, and fell headlong under the power of death. Jesus when in the form of God empties Himself, taking a bondsman's form, taking His place in the likeness of men. And this is the mind that is to take possession of us.

Then, having been found in fashion as a man, He humbles Himself, becoming obedient unto death, and that, too, the death of the cross. When He took the form of a servant there was no unreality about it. When He was in the form of man He was just as truly a servant, as when in the form of God He was truly Master. And as obedience ? unquestioning, uncomplaining obedience ? is what is due from every servant, so was He obedient to God in all relations of life. He says, "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me" (John 6: 38). And this He did perfectly without any respect for the consequences to Himself. He uttered no word but that which was given Him from the Father. He did no work but that which the Father gave Him to do. He went nowhere but at the express command of the Father (John 3: 34; John 12: 49; John 10: 32; John 6: 57).

In Him I learn man's true place as set in intelligent relationship with God. Humility of mind, and unqualified obedience to God, regardless of where the path, marked out by God for my feet to tread, may lead to. The will of God is to be done irrespective of the consequences. There must be no murmuring, no complaining. We are not to reason why we are led in certain directions, nor why we have been plunged into circumstances that are both difficult and painful. All we require to be assured of is, that these things are God's will for us. The issues are entirely His concern. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."

In Corinthians what He did is said to have been all for our sakes. Here in Philippians it is all for the sake of the Godhead. But, as I have already intimated, we learn in both cases the effect God would have this grace produce in us, which came so perfectly to light in Him. I learn in Philippians that I am to place myself at the disposal of God, and to tread the path He has marked out for my feet, regardless of where it may lead; and in Corinthians the saints are, under God, to be everything to me, and for them I am to lay down my life. But for all this we must draw from the inexhaustible supply of grace that is found in Himself.

In the answer of God to this self-sacrificing life of Jesus we learn His infinite appreciation of it. "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Here we have His estimate of the devoted, faithful, self-sacrificing spirit in which that work was undertaken, and carried through to the finish, without the slightest semblance of regret that it had been undertaken, or of failure in the accomplishment of it. "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" (1 Sam. 15: 22).

What an example for us the Son of God is! May we keep our eye steadily fixed upon Him, and may we be ready at all times to pass unsparing judgment upon the slightest departure from the path marked out for us, whether that path be with reference to obedience to God, or love to His people. These are difficult days, and to be here for His pleasure we require to be "strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus."

The Cross

"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Galatians 6: 14.

It has been truly said, there is nothing like the cross. It stands and shall stand for ever, in all its solitary greatness and grandeur, in the centre of the circle of eternity, the wonder of every intelligent creature, and the pillar upon which is indelibly inscribed the evil and the hatred of the fallen being, and the goodness and love of God. Out from amid the dim shadows of the past it looms upon the vision, in all its brightness and blackness, truth and treachery, sunshine and shadow, faithfulness and falseness, righteousness and sin, judgment and mercy, compassion and cruelty, love and hatred. By its light the heart of heaven is revealed, and the deepest depths of the abyss of evil are discovered. The blessing and the curse there lift their voices together.

There welters foul the inky sea of human guilt, and there the unsullied ocean of divine grace swallows up everything with its swelling tides. Nothing in the past can compare with it, neither can anything in the future arise to rival it.

There appears the greatest sin that man ever committed, and there is the mightiest display of infinite mercy on the part of God that ever came to light. It is the place where man was tested in every spring of his moral being, and it is where the compassions of God were sounded to their depths. It is where the hostile fallen creature lifted impious hand, and struck at his Creator with deadly intent, and it is where the answer of the Creator was given in unspeakable and infinite love. It is the witness of wickedness impossible to be exceeded by man, and it is the evidence of favour which God Himself could never repeat. The volume of wrath, curse, judgment, and woe which encircled Golgotha, not the regions of the lost could enclose; and heaven itself shall not be vast enough to circumscribe the love, the grace, and the mercy which have been there expressed.

There the whole question of good and evil has been gone into, solved, and settled for ever. There all the forces of good and evil were gathered together. There sin rose up in all its power against God, and there God came out in judgment against sin. Never before had the rebel creature dared so much. Never before had sin so behaved itself in the universe of God. Its opportunity had come: the Son of God was in the hands of sinners. All hell was moved. The fit moment had arrived to cast off the restraint of heaven. The raging of the nations, the plotting of the Jews, the malice of the world, all were directed against Christ. They will not have this Man to rule over them. The infernal forces were rallied. The principalities and powers mustered all their might for the final combat. The infernal regions sent forth their last warrior, and the whole phalanx of wickedness prepared for this desperate encounter, in which quarter was neither to be given nor taken, and by which the victory for good or evil was to be finally decided.

"Man's hour."

Jesus speaks of it as man's "hour" (Luke 22: 53). From the fall until that hour man had been held in check by the restraining hand of God. Previous to this he had been mercifully prevented from carrying out the full thought of his heart. He had corrupted the earth, filled it with violence, shed innocent blood, broken the law, worshipped demons, slain the servants of God, and hated Christ come into the world in grace and love. But his enmity had been under the control of God, and he was prevented from doing all that he felt inclined to do. Moved by the causeless hatred of his hard and godless heart, he had been often ready to stone Jesus, but somehow he found himself unable to carry out his murderous intention. But now his "hour" was come; the limit which had been assigned to his wrath was removed; the avenues through which his evil nature was to show itself were thrown open; the bit and bridle, which had in measure been a check upon his impious goings, were cast aside. He felt for the first time in his fallen history what real liberty was, as far as freedom from the intervention of God went. From divine control he is free and unfettered, and the universe must be spectators of the use to which his liberty is to be put. Alas, for poor man! His liberty was his ruin, as it ever is. Like the Gadarene herd of swine, his race was down a declivity, reckless, rapid, ruinous; and it was the same power which drove both to destruction.

What characterized man's "hour" was the "power of darkness," he must be guarded by the power of God, or driven to destruction by the devil. What did his liberty profit him? In his freedom he was the tool of the devil. Proud, ambitious, rebellious, and devoid of confidence in Him who had sent His only begotten Son to save him, he would look after his own happiness. He objected to God's concerning Himself about him. He would go his own way, and take care of himself. Horrible insanity! It was, in one sense, true that he had never before been as free, but yet, in another sense, it was equally true he never had been such a slave: his very freedom threw him completely into the hands of Satan.

The malice of the Jew astonished the pagan governor, and the vacillation and cowardice of Pilate have astonished the world. In the betrayer the treachery of the human heart comes so terribly into evidence, that even natural self-respect abominates the deed; and so loathsome is the action, even to the man who committed it, that when it is consummated, his very existence becomes intolerable to himself, and in despair he goes out and hangs himself.

Ere man's hour had dawned, lanterns and torches and weapons, borne by men of strength and determination, were to Peter little more than rotten wood, but when that hour had really set in, the innocent question of a maid belonging to the high priest's palace, which would have placed him in his right relation to Jesus, fills him with indescribable terror; and this son of Jonas, pre-eminently courageous at other times and a real lover of the Lord, denies that ever he knew Him, and that with oaths and curses. The other disciples, though also boastful on the Mount of Olives, are now nowhere to be seen. The disciple whom Jesus loved is with his Master at the trial, but is there under the patronage of the high priest (John 18: 15). It was man's hour, and the power of darkness, and no one could stand then except in the might of God. What an hour it was!

Every type of humanity was there, and every human soul insane in his enmity against the lowly Sufferer. We see Pilate subjecting Him to the indignity of stripes, though compelled to confess he had found in Him no fault at all; Herod with his men of war setting Him at naught, crowning Him with thorns, and bending the knee in mockery before Him; priests, whose place was intercession, judging and accusing Him; the law, which He had honoured and magnified, turned against Him with the object of destroying Him. A robber is preferred to the One who with lavish kindness had showered benefits upon the people, and a murderer is chosen rather than the Prince of Life. For the bread He fed them with, they repay Him with buffets; and for the healing of their sick, they requite Him with a languishing death upon the cross; and for the words of grace which fell from His blessed lips, they heap anathemas upon His thorn-crowned head. What was the meaning of it? Not one of them could have given an intelligent answer to the question. In that "hour" the high priest's palace was truly pandemonium, for there the council of demons was convened.

Man was controlled by a power of which he knew nothing. He had cast off God who had hitherto restrained him for his good, and now he is under the control of one who drives him headlong to destruction, but in a way which, after all, is the way he rejoices to travel. Terrorized by his fears, inflamed by his lusts, maddened by his hatred, carried away by his pride, hardened in conscience by familiarity with sin, pitiless in his dealings with everything divine, and all his fallen, cruel, and corrupt lusts and passions wrought upon and lashed into fury by the influences of hell, nothing will satisfy him but the humiliation, agony, and death of Him who had gone about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil. It was man's hour indeed and it was an hour of unrestrained wickedness.

"The power of darkness."

The spiritual world comes to light in the material. We hear no trumpet blast from the prince of darkness; no rattle of artillery wakes the echoes of Zion; no thunder of demon-driven chariot of war shakes the midnight cloud; no martial tread of troops in armour clad salutes the ear: yet never since the creation of the worlds was there a moment in which spiritual forces were so agitated. The abyss of evil poured forth its myriads. Golgotha swarmed with forces innumerable; but no more noise was made than is made by the planets in their courses around their fiery centre. The roar of their thunder, if heard at all, is heard in the false and baseless accusations made by Israel's rulers, and in the howling of the ignorant and brutal rabble, who surged around the palace of the high priest, crying, "Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" and in their ribald jests and rowdy blatter as they hurry to the place of execution.

It has been said that hell laughed, but it is not quite correct. In the estimation of the powers of evil it was no doubt a triumph to have man so thoroughly blinded to the fact that he was committing soul-suicide, but laughter was, at that moment, far from the heart of him who was directing the battle against God and His Christ. Hell has never yet been able to laugh, nor will it ever be able. Hell has been too busy hitherto to have time to laugh, and it has never been so confident of victory as to hold the enemy in such supreme contempt. God laughs at the impotence of man and hell combined, for He is omnipotent and can never know defeat. But Satan has too often seen his plans frustrated and his wisdom checkmated, and his power annulled, to be able to have the laugh of God. At the cross no one laughed but man, the guilty, giddy tool of the devil, and his merriment was all indulged at the expense of the infinite sorrow of the Son of God, his Saviour and his Friend.

The Sorrow of Jesus.

And how great was His sorrow! It is said the higher you go in creation, the sensations of pain are ever more acutely felt, and the lower you go down they become gradually less distinctly felt. But what must it have been to the Firstborn of all creation, to Him who felt everything perfectly! There was nothing hard or callous in the blessed sensitive nature of Jesus. He felt to the utmost every indignity that was heaped upon Him. He was the song of the drunkard, despised and rejected of men, laughed to scorn, insulted and derided by those for whose woes His compassions knew no bounds. His betrayal by Judas, denial by Peter, desertion by His followers, wounded Him to the quick of the soul. In such calamities men are often supported by their pride. Ingratitude, insult, and blow, are often endured with an apparent equanimity that is surprising. It may be that within, the heart is like a furnace of fire, but a haughty spirit and indomitable will batten down the hatches upon the inner workings of the soul, so that there is no escape for the fury that rages inwardly. But in the meek and lowly Jesus pride had no place. No vengeful feelings needed to be suppressed; no angry spirit required to be controlled. "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth" (Isa. 53). He says, "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting" (Isa. 50). In Psalm 22 we hear Him recounting all His enemies, and pouring the burden of His griefs into His Father's ear. "Bulls of Bashan" were there; "Dogs" had compassed Him about; the "Assembly of the wicked" had enclosed Him; there was the "Lion's mouth" and there were also the "Horns of the unicorns."

As I have intimated, all the evil of the universe was drawn together against Him. Satan was there in all his might, man was there as his willing instrument of wickedness, God was there in judgment against sin, and the holy Sufferer was there, made sin, and dealt with by God as sin deserved. The fountains of the great deep of divine judgment were broken up, the windows of heaven were opened, and the mighty tempest of wrath, and curse, and vengeance against sin beat upon His devoted head. He sank in deep mire where there was no standing. Like Jonah, only in spiritual woes, He went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about Him for ever. Deep called unto deep at the noise of God's waterspouts, all the waves and billows went over Him, the waters reached to His soul. But all His infinite and unutterable woes are embodied in that cry, which was wrung from His heart amid the three hours of thick darkness: "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?"

But there, and then, every evil principle was judged. Satan was discovered as the prince and god of the world, and his power was for ever broken. The wisdom of the world was seen to be foolishness with God; it had never arrived at the knowledge of Him, and when He was revealed before its eyes it knew Him not. Man was seen to be incorrigibly wicked, and at heart a hater of God. God was declared in perfect goodness and love on behalf of man, in spite of the hostility with which it was met by those whom it had singled out as its objects. Jesus was there, the obedient One, glorifying God even when abandoned by Him. He had come to do the will of God, and let the cost be what it might to Himself, He would not be turned aside. It is not for the creature to find fault with the Creator; it is not for the servant to dispute the wisdom of his master's will; it is not for man to call in question the ways of God: and the place of a servant, and man, Jesus had taken, and He was perfect in all. To Him be everlasting praise

The Glory of the Lord Jesus.

At that cross the Son of Man was glorified (John 13: 31). There the offering was parted in pieces, the springs of His moral nature were all laid bare, and nothing but infinite perfection was brought to light. Not a pulse in His whole moral being but beat true to Him who sent Him. In Him there was found no selfish consideration, no estimating of things by the way in which they affected Himself. With Him everything was viewed in relation to God. The work given Him to do was done without a murmur. There were no reasonings and disputings found with Him: "That the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do" (John 14: 31). Blessed, perfect Master and Lord.

Before He took the place of a servant, before a body was prepared for Him, He knew what was involved in it. He knew all beforehand. He fully understood the dread weight of that judgment, which He gave Himself to bear, before ever He was made in the likeness of men. He was well aware that to take the form of a servant meant that He must obey without question every commandment which He received; but at all costs the will of God must be done, and therefore, He, "being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2: 6-8). How brightly the moral glory and excellency of the Lord Jesus shine amid the darkness of Golgotha. Let me remind the reader that there betrayed, denied, deserted, beset by a lawless world which was influenced by the power of darkness, mocked, insulted, and above all, forsaken of God, He stands absolutely ALONE; and in that hour, and when alone, He bore up in might divine the pillars of the moral universe, and laid a basis upon which they could be established, beyond the possibility of ever again being shaken by any enemy of God.

And God was Glorified in Him.

His righteousness was established, His holiness maintained, His authority respected, His truth vindicated, and His love declared. That dread battle between the forces of good and evil was fought out in the cross of that lowly humbled Saviour, who gave Himself that all might be there and then gone into and settled to the glory and praise of God, settled never to be opened again. The conflict is over, the powers of evil crushed. God has triumphed.

Every enemy has been smitten. God has wrought righteousness, and the field is His. The devil has been annulled, death destroyed, sin has been dealt with, our sins put away, our old man crucified with Him; the ground has been as completely cleared of every enemy as though no enemy had ever existed. The cleansing of the heavens and the earth from the presence of evil is now only a matter of detail, angelic power will be able to accomplish that (Rev. 12: 7-9; Matt. 13: 49, 50). The moral question has all been settled in the cross of Jesus; and the believer is now identified in life and nature, relationship and favour, with the One who stood, in that terrible hour, faithful to God.

The nature and character of God have, with respect to evil, been vindicated and cleared. The fact that the creature is the author of it, and that it remains with him, is placed beyond all question. That good is alone with God, that He is good; and that He has ever dwelt in goodness, grace, and love toward man has been abundantly proved; as it has also been demonstrated that the man after the flesh, of the order of Adam, the fallen head, would not have God in any character in which He might present Himself. But the cross is the end of that man judicially before God. His trial came to an end there. He was proven to be, in his very nature, enmity against God, and now no longer is the man of that order, and in that standing, in any relationship with God; he has been already condemned and set aside judicially.

But the cross has also been the crucible in which the moral worth and excellencies of the second Man and last Adam have been tested to the very uttermost, and where the blessed fact has been established beyond all dispute that in Him there was no dross, no substance offensive to God, but everything in the highest degree acceptable. From that cross such a sweet savour went up before God as has effectually taken the place of the obnoxious odours arising from a corrupt world. God has been glorified in the spot where He was dishonoured, and the gain to Him, through the cross of His Son, has been infinitely greater than all the loss He had sustained through the first and erring head, as well as through the wickedness of all his descendants.

And our place, portion, and relationship are all in and with this exalted Christ, risen from the dead. He is our life. We are to be in His image. His Father is our Father; and His God is our God. The love, and grace, and favour in which He is, we are in also; for we are graced in Him. "As He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4: 17). May we follow in the footsteps of that blessed apostle and disciple who could so truthfully say, "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know Him" (Phil. 3). And also, "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" (Gal. 6). The person and the cross of Christ were everything to him: may they be everything to us.

Propitiation

"Jesus Christ the righteous: He is the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 2: 2.

To us, who are by nature Gentiles, the whole fabric of Scripture authority hangs upon the truth of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. If He is not risen we are in our sins, and all that have placed any hope in Him in past dispensations have perished (1 Cor. 15). But if the resurrection of the Lord Jesus witnesses to the truth and greatness of His person, it also bears witness to the perfection of the sacrifice which He offered to God.

The Death of the Believer.

We know but little of all that the death of the body involves, and it becomes those who feel that they are justly liable to it, to speak of it with that reverence with which it should be treated as the judgment of a holy and righteous God. Short of the coming of Christ it is the most blessed thing that could happen to a believer, for it is "to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5: 8); but this does not alter the fact that it was brought into the world by sin, and that it is sin's wages, and the just conclusion of a life which is in its nature enmity against God. Thank God we have a life in Christ which is beyond its power. Were it not for this it would be an unparalleled calamity. Through the mercy of God it is gain to the one who has Christ as his Saviour (Phil. 1: 21).

As to the second death, the mighty witness to that is Golgotha. Had there been nothing there but the cruel death of crucifixion, most thoroughly would it have been proven how little that holy Sufferer was in the power of His own exhortation to His disciples, when He told them, "Be not afraid of them that kill the body" (Luke 12), or when He said that he who did not hate his own life could not be His disciple (chap. 14). In a book published not so long ago it is said, "Many a British soldier has died as brave a death as Jesus." If it were only a question of being undaunted in the presence of death, why not say, "Many a murderer"? There was not anything, nor could there be anything of the nature of bravery or heroism in the death of Jesus. He, though the Creator and upholder of everything, had taken the place of the servant to the Godhead, that the counsels of the Father should be fulfilled, and this involved the meeting of God about the question of sin.

Hence the "strong crying and tears" in the garden of Gethsemane. No heroism comes to light in that lonely hour, when beyond the torrent of Cedron He encountered the powers of darkness, and entered into conflict with him who had the might of death. All that He was to meet in the three hours of darkness on the summit of Golgotha was anticipated in spirit, when the sorrow of His soul told itself out in a sweat of blood, which in great drops sprinkled the ground upon which He knelt in supplication to the Father.

The State of Men and the World.

I have already pointed out a fact which is patent to everybody, and that is, that man is an evil being. This requires no proving; the state of the world proves it to the hilt. And the strange thing about it is, that the life of each man is largely taken up with laying the blame of the state of things at his neighbour's door. The rich blame the slothfulness and improvidence of the poor, and the poor blame the avariciousness and niggardliness of the rich; and the verdict of every human being is, that the world is hard, selfish, and cruel, and to be cast upon its mercy is a fate too terrible to be expressed in words. Men may go on with their inventions, which are supposed to decorate the system of things down here, and ameliorate the condition of the human race; but death goes on with his work, and hearts go on breaking, and people go on murmuring against one another, and violence, oppression, falsehood, and corruption characterize everything ? and after this the judgment.

Has God done anything to meet this state of things? Some tell us men are working out their own salvation; others, that mankind is a kind of mirror in which God (which is the Universal Life) is contemplating Himself; others, that He is doing the best He can, experimenting as a potter with the clay, making vessels, scrapping them, and always improving; but the theories advanced to quiet the consciences of men, and lead them to destruction, are almost innumerable.

What do the Scriptures say?

"God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3: 16). This is the life spoken of in the gospel; a life in relationship with God known in the love of His heart; a life untainted by sin, selfishness, lust or pride; a righteous, holy, spotless, divine life. What a burst of sunshine, comforting, health-giving, life-giving! How powerful to rejoice, and gladden the heart! How priceless and how peace-imparting, compared with those pretentious sparks struck from the atheistical brain of men grovelling in their native gloom; those wretched ignis-fatui which allure the unwary multitude to destruction

But before this life could be communicated to man there was the question of sin to be gone into; for it lay between God and the blessing of the fallen creature. This is the way things are presented in Scripture. The judgment of sin, which lay upon the sinner, the righteous Judge could not ignore. He could not treat it as of no account: it must be atoned for; the judgment which was its due must be borne. If the creature be made to bear it he is lost for ever; he could never come out of it; God would lose His creature, and the devil would gain a victory.

This cannot be. But from whence is the relief to come? Man is under sin, the slave of the devil and of his own lusts, without strength, wandering in darkness and error, and in his nature enmity against God. Can God do anything on his behalf? Can He intervene as deliverer, and at the same time maintain His righteousness, holiness, truth, and majesty? That He will not act arbitrarily in moral questions, so as to upset and overthrow all the trust that His elect, holy, and intelligent creation have in Himself, can well be believed of a Creator who is supremely good. If these questions, which affect the very foundations, as well as the structure of the moral universe, have been raised, they must be settled in a way that will bring a sense of security into the heart of every created intelligence who desires to be faithful to his Creator.

God's Intention.

And these questions have been raised ? sin has raised them. And though it would have been easy enough for God to have cast man from His face, and left him to the consequences of his rebellion, there was that which never would have been brought to light, which the blessed God intended should be the supreme joy of every heart, and the subject of worship and of song through eternal ages; and that was His unspeakable love. The fall of man furnished the occasion of bringing this to light, and in the way in which God has taken to redeem His creature ? the only possible way ? every moral question has been gone into and settled to the glory of God, and to the peace and assured confidence of every faithful heart. And that way has been by the cross of His Son, who gave Himself a ransom for all, that a way of salvation should be opened up for all; and thus have the kindness and love of God to man been expressed. But let us see if this is a new idea, belonging only to that which has been called the gospel age, or whether it has been testified beforehand in prophetic writings.

God's Way Announced.

No sooner did the fall of man take place than a Deliverer is announced; but He was to be a suffering Deliverer; Satan was to bruise His heel. He was to break the power of the fell destroyer, but in doing this He was to feel the might of the adversary. The next thing we find is, that it is God who provides clothing for the nakedness of the sinner. He clothed Adam and his wife with coats of skins. The one who dies for man becomes his covering under the eye of God. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning" (Rom. 15: 4).

When we come to Abel we have the approach of man to God; and here we see that there must be on the part of man the acknowledgment of the righteousness of the judgment which lies upon him, and he must approach in the strength and excellency of the victim which dies in his stead. Abel comes in this way, and is accepted; while Cain's altar was the denial of all this; neither to him nor to his offering had God respect. The offerer is identified with his offering.

The acceptance or rejection of the offering means the acceptance or rejection of the offerer. How important therefore it is to have a perfect sacrifice (Genesis 4).

The Meaning of Atonement.

The word atonement, which is the word found in the Old Testament, as propitiation is found in the New, means simply to cover. It is first used in Genesis 6: 14: Noah was told to pitch (cover) the ark within and without with pitch. It is used again in Genesis 32: 20: Jacob said he would appease Esau with a present; his fault would be covered by the present. We have it in Ezekiel 16: 63: God there speaks of a time when He would be pacified toward the children of Israel for all that they had done. When Israel had sinned in making the golden calf, Moses said he would go up to the Lord to try and make atonement for their sin (Ex. 32: 30). It is not difficult to gather from these scriptures the meaning the word has in the Old Testament. The offence is put out of sight by the offering. An equivalent is rendered to the aggrieved party which covers the cause of aggravation.

The Blood in Egypt. (Exodus 12).

The deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt preaches to us the same gospel. God was about to execute His righteous judgment upon the Egyptians, and took the firstborn as representatives of all the people. But the Israelites whom He had set Himself to deliver were equally subject to the judgment which He was about to inflict upon their enemies. How was He to pass over the one, and destroy the other? Anyone would tell us, He could easily do that, as He is omniscient, and could make no mistake that would imperil His people. But He was about to leave upon record something for our instruction, and we must, in reading the account, keep this in mind. He instructs His people to take a lamb, and to kill it, and to strike its blood upon the lintel and door-post of their houses; and He says, When I see the blood I will pass over you." The blood of the lamb met the eye of the destroying angel, and was the witness to him that the judgment which he was executing had preceded him; the firstborn had died in the death of his substitute. Paul says, "Christ our passover has been sacrificed for us."

Why did God take this way of delivering His people? Wherefore this crimson stain upon lintel and door-post? When He sent the plague upon the cattle He required no mark, by which to distinguish those belonging to His people from which belonged to the servants of Pharaoh. It was the same during the plague of thick darkness: no sign directed the cloud where to settle. Why all this to-do in connection with the last act of this terrible drama? Let my reader hear what those have to say who know what it is to be sheltered by blood: "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood" (Rev. 1); "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood" (Rev. 5: 9); "Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1: 19). This is the foundation of all blessing, the keynote of every song that shall thrill with its glorious melody the glad heart of redeemed creation, and that throughout all eternity.

The Great Day of Atonement. (Leviticus 16.)

The great day of atonement, which was held in the seventh month, is full of instruction. We see that almost all things were by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood was no remission (Heb. 9: 22). At the same time we are given to understand that the sacrifices had in themselves no intrinsic value, therefore they were of yearly occurrence. Thus, while typifying the sacrifice of Christ, they were in great contrast with it; for by one offering He has perfected for ever them that are sanctified (chap. 10: 14). It was impossible that the blood of beasts could take away sins; a better sacrifice was needed for that. Therefore there was a remembrance of sins every year; and the conscience of the worshipper, instead of being taken up with the grace of God, was altogether occupied with the sins he had committed. Such a state of things was not pleasing to God, whose desire was to have man in His holy presence without a shadow of fear in his heart, and therefore He found fault with that order of things (Heb. 8: 8).

The Death of Christ.

In the tabernacle God was shut up within the veil: on His part there was no coming out, and on the part of man there was no going in. Now the veil represented the flesh of Jesus (Heb. 10: 20), therefore when on earth He spoke of His body as the temple (John 2: 21): God was within the veil in the body of Jesus. On the cross this veil was rent. The death of Christ was the rending of the veil. And this came to light in the type; for the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom (Matt 27: 51). In the execution of the judgment of sin upon the cross, all that God was came to light. His righteousness was there declared, but His love also was brought to light. God has come out to man in perfect love; and now man can go in to God by that way which has been dedicated through the veil. And by that precious blood we have boldness for entering; for it is not only the witness to us that our sins are gone, but it is also the great witness of the perfect love of God to us; so that, not only are our consciences purged, but our hearts are won; and God's presence, which we so much dreaded, has become our eternal home; and nowhere in the universe are we so welcome.

Moreover, the work of the cross has glorified God, and that in a way in which He never could have been glorified had that work not been done. His righteousness, holiness, truth, majesty, authority, and above all, the love of His heart to us has come to light; and every attribute has been vindicated, and maintained by the obedience of His beloved Son to the death of the cross. No one could have done such a work but a divine person; neither could anyone have taken such a work in hand but the One who gave Himself for us. Who could suffer the abandonment of God, and glorify God when abandoned by Him? To be forsaken of God for a single moment would be the eternal ruin of any created being. But Jesus could stand when absolutely alone, and when from no quarter was sympathy or support forthcoming. And therefore God has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name that is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly, earthly, and infernal things; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2).

I may be asked what justice I see in making a righteous person suffer for the unrighteous. I would only reply that this is not a question of righteousness, but of grace and love. What righteousness is there in one person paying another's debts? None; it is all a matter of pure grace on the part of the one who does it. But there is no making about it; it was a matter of divine counsel. The Triune God is One in all that is done. Counsels belong to the Father, the Son is the One who accomplishes the Father's will, and the Spirit is the One by whose power everything is accomplished. The Son was as delighted to come as the Father was to send Him; and the Holy Spirit has His delight in working the pleasure of God in the hearts of believers.

This is the way things are presented in Scripture, and one mind pervades the Book. Christ is the subject from beginning to end; but we have His sufferings foretold, from the very first intimation of deliverance by Him. And the Holy Spirit who moved holy men to write the prophetic word never loses sight of the sacrifice of Jesus. On the one hand, His resurrection is the witness to us of the greatness of His person; on the other hand it is the witness to us of the perfection of the sacrifice which He offered for our sins. God has accepted the sacrifice, and the soul who comes by that sacrifice is accepted in all the value of it.

The Resurrection

"Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father." Romans 6: 4.

As the authority of Scripture hangs upon the truth of the Person of Jesus, so does the truth of His Person hang upon the fact of the resurrection. It was by the resurrection from the dead He was declared Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness (Rom. 1: 4). The power by which He passed through this evil world, untainted by its defiling influences, was the power by which He offered Himself without spot to God, and by which He proved Himself victorious over death and the grave. One who has to do with death must attest his power over it, or it will attest its power over him. He must annul its might, and come back scathless from its gloom, or it will hold him prisoner in its strongholds of corruption, and thus declare its superior prowess.

From the entrance of sin into the world all who descended into those impenetrable and mysterious regions of fear had to remain there. In a few isolated cases the might of God was exhibited in bringing back again to life upon earth those who had fallen into the clutches of the fell destroyer, but such were never placed beyond the reach of the terrific foe. They were bearers of what might be likened to a "ticket of leave," the time limit of which having expired they were once more compelled to enter the land of shades. We read of two men who escaped altogether the fate common to the sons of Adam. By the intervention of God on their behalf they were translated to heaven that they might not see death, and thus became witnesses of the hidden resources of God, which He could put forth for the complete deliverance of the people of His choice. With these two exceptions all in Adam died, and in death they remain.

Death is to man the most appalling evil that can come upon him; it is the most heartless and horrible mischief which one man can inflict upon another; and it is the most severe sentence which the law of the land can inflict upon a criminal. Satan has said that a man will give all he possesses for his life; and he is very well acquainted with the way in which men regard things which refer personally to themselves. Those who enjoy a fair share of the mercies of the present life, and to whom death seems far distant, may be found discussing the dissolution of the earthly tabernacle with a certain amount of calmness; but let the dread shadow of the grim monarch fall across their threshold, and you will find their tranquillity brought to an abrupt and speedy termination.

We seem never to become accustomed to its ravages. Familiarity with its silent footfall has not enabled us to hold its presence in contempt. It is to-day the same hideous, hateful, horrible invader of hearts and homes as it was at the outset of its reign on earth. He who guides it upon the track of his neighbour is branded as most wicked, and he who invites it to his own embrace is held to be insane. To the appeal for mercy it is deaf; to the question as to whence it comes it returns no answer; as to why it strikes it is dumb; as to whether it conducts the vital principle of its victim it has no information to convey to the unhappy and brokenhearted mourner. It strikes out from impenetrable darkness; and is only known by the certainty of its aim, and by the violence of the blow which needs not to be repeated. It has no more respect for the autocrat upon his throne than it has for the peasant in his humble cot, and it is equally dreaded by both. Its heart is harder than the flinty rock, and the only music it has ever heard is the lamentations which arise from the souls of those who feel the burden of its iron sceptre. It is swifter than those who flee from it, and stronger than those who stand up to contend against it. It is the monarch of all evils, and is either the executioner of a righteous governor, or the pitiless slave of a being who revels in murder.

But after all, is it indeed a foe which has never known defeat? Has it proved itself victorious in every engagement? Has no one risen up on behalf of man with might enough to grapple with this terrific monster and lay in ruins his apparently impregnable fortress? Has no one been able to track him to his lair, and heap destruction upon the head of the destroyer? Is there no one to deliver us from this ruthless enemy of mankind? If not, our lot is indeed deplorable.

That it is a terrible evil none but a dreamer will deny, and when it is denied no one will believe in the sincerity of the person who attempts to minimize its horrors. It has been designated by every name that the ingenuity of man can invent, from "a bend in the road" to "annihilation," all to relieve it of its hideous and repulsive appearance; but bitter death, call it what you will, is still the "King of terrors." It is the just conclusion of a life of rebellion against God. And this is the very thing that makes it so terrible. Why should human life be so beset with sorrow? and why should the way out of it be so fenced with terror? Without the Gospel of the grace of God the present life is an enigma incapable of solution.

Here the Scriptures come to our relief, and set before us the Son of God as our almighty Deliverer. In grace He goes down into death to break its power. That He might be able to die He took flesh and blood: "Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb. 2: 14, 15). Again we are told: "For since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead" Cor. 15: 21). It is impossible that such a person as the Son of God could be held by the cords of death. We should not require to be told that death must give way before such a glorious Personage. That Jesus came into death is a matter of profane history; that He came out of it is not. If He was compelled to remain there He was no stronger than any other of the human race.

There is nothing so persistently kept before our minds as resurrection ? I may say death and resurrection. We have it every twenty-four hours set figuratively before our souls. The day declines, and noiseless night advances and wraps an unconscious world in her inky mantle. The morning breaks, night vanishes, the song of birds is heard, and man arises from his sleep refreshed, the toils of yesterday forever gone. The seasons run their course, the winter comes, the flowers are dead, the leaves fallen, the trees are bare, snows mantle the earth, and desolation broods over a lifeless world. The spring appears, the winter frosts and snows are gone, nature awakes, the daisies deck the field, the budding woods are full of life, and everything beneath the azure dome of heaven with bounding pulse, and bright brow, and gladsome heart, instinct with life, gives witness to the God of resurrection.

But when we come to the Scriptures, we find that from the entrance of sin into the world, resurrection is the hope of fallen man. Adam and Eve are no sooner brought under the power of death than they are made to hear of a Deliverer, One who was destined to bruise the head of their fell destroyer. Still they have to take their sorrowful journey down to the dust out of which they were taken. Where then would their deliverance come in? Of what value was a Deliverer to those who were compelled to submit to the penalty of their offence? How could they be made to profit by this Deliverer? As far as we know they knew nothing of a state of bliss for their spirits apart from the body. And even if they did, how could they be in the favour of their Creator, and in the enjoyment of that favour, while their bodies lay under the judgment pronounced by God on account of their transgression? There was only one way by which their deliverance could be effected, and that one way was by resurrection.

I may be told that I am taking the early chapters of Genesis for granted, and that this is begging the question. I am taking nothing for granted. I am simply putting before the reader the things of which Scripture testifies, and the setting in which the things borne witness to are placed. A Deliverer is announced to those who are told they must return to dust, and I see no way in which they could hope to benefit by that Deliverer except on the principle of resurrection. If the whole matter recorded in the early chapters of Genesis be but the imagination of the writer, then the idea of resurrection must have had such hold upon his soul that it never occurred to him there might be a doubt as to it in the mind of the reader.

Enoch the seventh from Adam is translated, not passing through the article of death; another proof that resurrection is the way of deliverance for man: man is to have his body in his perfectly delivered state. Enoch has his body, and shall have it for ever; for I suppose no one imagines that death still lies before him, and if he is to have his body it is unreasonable to suppose other men can be blest without theirs. If we are not to have our bodies in our eternal condition, what confusion must arise from translation. I may be told Enoch never was translated. I have not affirmed that he was; I am speaking from Scripture. But I do affirm this, resurrection was in the mind of the writer of the book of Genesis.

Abraham and Sarah are childless until nature becomes withered and dead, and then God tells him that his seed shall be as the stars of heaven or the sand upon the sea shore for number, and Abraham read in this promise the character of the God who had appeared to him, the God of resurrection. This faith of the patriarch had a severe test applied to it when he was told to offer up this child of promise as a burnt-offering upon Mount Moriah; but his faith rose up strong in answer to the demand which was made upon it, and he bound his son upon the altar confident that God, would raise him from the dead. It is the same God of resurrection who is preached in the Gospel to-day, but brought to light in raising up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

It is brought before us typically in the dividing of the Red Sea, through which Israel passed out of Egypt into the wilderness; and in the parting of the waters of the Jordan, through which the same people came into the promised land. The Red Sea was not the usual way out of Egypt, neither was it necessary for them to cross the Jordan to come into Canaan. But just as death and resurrection were in the mind of him who wrote Genesis, so also was the mind of the writer of Exodus filled with the same idea. Then we have the budding of the rod of priesthood; the dry, dead staff which was laid up before the Lord, buds, blossoms, bears fruit, and thus witnesses that priesthood must be established upon the basis of resurrection.

At the cleansing of the leper the live bird let loose into the open heaven, bearing upon its wing the red stain of its identification with the one killed over running water in the earthern vessel, also Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones, set forth the same principle of divine operation. The fact is, if in reading the Old Testament the idea of resurrection is expunged from the mind the Bible is a book of unrivalled contradictions. That great principle pervades every sentence uttered by prophetic lip from the entrance of sin into the world.

Could anything be plainer than that resurrection was that which was the hope of the One who speaks in Psalm 16? "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (sheol), neither wilt Thou suffer Thy holy One to see corruption." Here is One who goes down into death in the utmost confidence that the power of God will not allow His soul to abide in sheol, nor His flesh to see corruption. The apostles of the Lord tell us that this Psalm refers to the Christ of God. He could not be held by that dread power. By going into it He broke its might. Does not the whole heart and soul of the reader rise up in praise and thanksgiving to God for the victory which He has gained, gained at such infinite cost, but nevertheless gained on behalf of poor things like ourselves that we might no longer be in bondage to Satan on account of the fear of it.

As I have already indicated, resurrection is, according to Scripture, a great witness to the glory and greatness of the person of Jesus. During His earthly career, instead of being as every other man under the power of death, He is seen to have power over it, for at His word it was compelled to deliver up its prey. But above all, His own resurrection furnishes the most complete evidence of His dignity as Son of God. When Moses smote the waters of the Red Sea they became parted hither and thither, their power was broken, and when Jesus smote the waters of death in His own death upon the cross their power was broken; His resurrection is the witness to this stupendous fact.

"He hell in hell laid low,

Made sin He sin o'erthrew,

Bowed to the grave, destroyed it so,

And death by dying slew."

The witnesses to this mighty victory are overwhelming, and I do not therefore marvel at men, who wish to get rid of the fact, and yet do not feel that they can safely impute deceitful practices to the disciples, suggesting all sorts of theories which they consider sufficient to account for their belief in the event without it being really true. But I would like to ask these men a very old question: "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead"? Had fallen man been the one declared to have gained such a victory, it would have been very reasonable to doubt it, but as it is declared to have been brought about by the power of God I see no reason to question it. No doubt the enemy would desire to treat the report as a fable. He is not likely to foster the notion in men's minds that his stronghold has fallen before the assault of the Son of God, but the witnesses are so many and of such unquestionable integrity that not to believe the fact is a terrible evidence of sheer self-will.

Paul tells us that Jesus was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once. After that He was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all He was seen of Paul himself. Luke tells us in his Gospel that He appeared to two of them on their way home from Jerusalem to Emmaus; and was made known to them in the breaking of bread, the symbol of His death; that He ate and drank with His disciples, and that when they thought it was a spirit they were looking upon, He invited them to handle Him and see, telling them that a spirit had not flesh and bones, as they saw He had. Next, he tells us that He led a company out as far as Bethany, and that while, with uplifted hands, He blessed them, He was parted from them and carried up into heaven (Luke 24). And in what a pure and guileless atmosphere of holy affections this short history of the victory of God is enshrined. Never in the universe has appeared the liar who could set the baseless inventions of his corrupt imagination in such a framework of tender grace and evident piety. Had I no other testimony than that which is furnished by the writer of the third Gospel I dare not question the glad tidings of the overthrow of the king of terrors.

And Paul tells us he saw Him on his way to Damascus, when he thought to wipe out the blessed name of Jesus from under heaven. That this remarkable convert was neither a deceiver nor a liar is evident from the whole spirit of his writings. Whatever else was true of him he was conscientious, and was certain that he had seen the Just One and heard His voice. Was he mistaken? Was it the effect of sunstroke? Was it hallucination, or some insane wandering of his excited mind? That he was a man with determined will is not to be questioned, but that he was nervous, hysterical, mentally deranged, and subject to hallucinatory attacks, no one who studies his profound, pure, and wholesome disquisitions will be willing to admit. What insight into the mysteries of God he possessed, things which eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor which ever entered into the heart of man ? things which God has prepared for those who love Him. What an immense grasp of his infinite subject, what profound reasoning, what ability for anticipating the cavillings of the corrupt human mind, what terrible earnestness, what self-abnegation, what deep piety, and what boundless affection for the souls of those to whom he writes. And all this resulted from that visitation which he encountered on his way to Damascus.

And yet some of the leaders in Christendom tell us Paul never saw the risen Jesus at all, and neither did His disciples, for such a thing as the resurrection never took place. And how do they know? They do not know. They are servants of his who desires to keep poor man in the dark as to his own defeat. And yet they call themselves Christians, at least some of them do, while they deny the foundation upon which the whole truth as to Christianity rests.

It was not in this way the apostles of our Lord instructed their converts. They gave them to understand that a lie was a lie, and that a lie against God was the greatest of all lies (1 Cor. 15). They tell us: "If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ: whom He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is Christ not raised: and if Christ be not raised your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished."

This is wholesome doctrine compared with the corrupt ethics which the leaders of the people, to-day, seek to foist upon us. How can the truth be respected in secular things when the religion in which they attempt to instruct the people is founded on a falsehood, which is by them justified, and declared to have been concocted or connived at by the Saviour of the world? If I could not believe in the resurrection I should abandon the profession of Christianity as a system of unparalleled deceit, hypocrisy, and soul-destroying error.

God's Great Gift

"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Romans 5: 5.

The greatest gift God has conferred, or can confer, upon His beloved people is that of the Holy Spirit. A vast inheritance is ours, which is beyond the ability of the most powerful mind to grasp, and which baffles the most prodigious imagination, for what mind is able to grasp the vast inheritance of God? And we are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. But the earnest of that inheritance is the Spirit of God, and the earnest is greater than the inheritance itself.

This great gift was in promise for His people in the past dispensation. And in the day in which God will recover His earthly people from among the heathen, He says that He will sprinkle clean water upon them, so that they shall be cleansed from their idols; a new heart also He will give them, and will put a new spirit within them. But He also says, "I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them" (Ezek. 36: 25-27). That will be a wonderful day of blessing for Israel, and bright with the glory of God.

But the Lord also speaks of this great gift on the eve of His departure out of this world, and gives His disciples to understand that they would be better off in the possession of the Spirit than they were in having Him corporeally in their midst. While He was here upon earth, He could only be said to be with them, but when He should be glorified and the Spirit here He would be in them. He says, "At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you" (John 14: 20).

He could not be given until Christ was glorified, because the new order of relationships and blessings for man were not brought fully to light until redemption was accomplished and Christ set at the right hand of God. The Spirit was not promised in connection with Adam, either innocent or guilty, but with the new sphere and order of things which lay in the purpose of God before the world was. He is given in connection with the determination of God to head up everything in Christ, and to set up the poor fallen creature on the ground of redemption, and in His own power before His face, in the light of His love revealed in the person of His beloved Son.

Think only of the intimacy with God into which this wonderful gift brings the recipient of it! I need not ask a saint of God if he thinks anything could exceed the holy familiarity with the Father and the Son into which we are brought by this unspeakable power, which has taken possession of our bodies on behalf of the Christ of God, but I would ask if anyone thinks such a favour could be equalled. The question is asked by the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 2: "What man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man that is in him?" There can be only one answer to such a question, and the answer is, No man. Had I the spirit of another I should know all about him. I should know him as well as he knows himself. There would be none of his thoughts, feelings, or affections hidden from me. Nothing of that man would remain a secret from me. But we have got the Spirit of God. What for? That we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Could we not know them without the Spirit? No: for they are things the eye has never seen, nor the ear ever heard, nor the imagination ever pictured. But the Spirit knows them. He searches all things, yea the deep things of God. There is nothing hidden from the Spirit, nor is there anything hidden from the one who has received the Spirit. The very babes in Christ are said to have an unction from the Holy One, and to know all things (1 John 2: 20). The depths of God are known to the Spirit, and we have received Him that we might know these depths.

By Him we become acquainted with the counsels of the Father. By Him we are enabled to enter into the greatness of the revelation God has made of Himself in Christ. By Him we are in the enjoyment of the love of God that was declared in the cross of His Son, for by Him it has been shed abroad in our hearts. By Him we know that we are children of God. By Him we are enabled to address God as our Father. By Him we are able to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ. By His power we are made free from the law of sin which works in our members, and by His power we are enabled to produce righteousness. He is also the power for all worship and service. In fact He is the power of all our relationships with God, for He is the power of the life we have from, and in, the risen Christ. How very thankful we should be for such an unspeakable gift! Were we able to communicate our spirit to another person there is not a soul on earth to whom we would give such a gift, for we do not wish people to know us too intimately. We are too evil to wish to be well known. But God desires us to know Him, that all our delight might be in Him; and the better we know Him the more closely do we draw to Him, and the happier we are; but the better we know men in their natural condition the more we recoil from more than a very limited degree of familiarity with them. With Him who knows us best we are most at home, and that we might find our home in His presence He has bestowed upon us this gift of His Holy Spirit.

But if we contemplate for a moment the greatness of the gift He has given for us, we shall not be so much surprised at the gift He has given to us. To take our place under the judgment due to us on account of sin, He has given His only begotten Son. This is beyond everything else that He has done on our behalf. Nothing greater could He have done. It is in this that the whole extent of His love toward us has come to light. It is there we learn it. Surely all His dealings with us spring from the great love of His heart toward us. But it is not in His care for us in our pilgrim pathway, not in the mercies that we daily experience, not in His tender grace to us, meeting our every need, and giving us abundant proof that we are ever in His mind, and that He ever does the best thing possible for us; but it is in that cross, and in that cross alone, that we are to learn the greatness of that love that is just as deep and wide and boundless as is the heart from which it springs. It is to that cross, and to it alone, that we shall look back from an eternity of unspeakable happiness, as the one, solitary, unique place where, from the hitherto pent-up fountain of the heart of God, flowed forth in infinite volume that love that chose such worthless things as we for its objects.

What a day it will be for us when we stand in the Father's house in the likeness of the Son of God; when as we look around on that glorious company nothing but Christ shall meet our eye, for, as regards us, the counsels of the Father will all have been fulfilled, and we shall be just that which He purposed we should be before the world was. But not that which shall meet us in that house, not our circumstances there, not the glory in which we shall find ourselves, not the wealth, magnificence, and splendour of that palace of delights will we gaze upon as the mighty witness of the love of God to us, though every bit of it will be designed by the wisdom, and fashioned by the hand of love; but from that circle and sphere of everlasting pleasures we shall cast our minds backward to that lone and cloud-swathed Golgotha, swept with the tempest of devouring wrath, but radiant with love that, as we sometimes sing, no tongue could teach, nor thought be able to reach, for there alone has it had its perfect expression. From the crown of that lonely mount the living light shall fling its deathless rays throughout the whole vast universe of blessing, waking up everlasting praises to the Father and the Son.

Can we, as we contemplate that love, wonder that He who gave His Son to die our death and save us from our woe, should give His Holy Spirit to us? Surely not. Seeing He has given up to the judgment of the cross His well-beloved, we need not be surprised at anything He may give us after that, for "He who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. 8: 32). In the light of that cross must all His dealings with us be estimated.

But as the gift of His Son was the only thing that could meet our deep need, as sinners, so was the gift of the Spirit the only thing that could meet our need in view of the position given to us in divine counsel, for it is only by that power we can occupy that place. "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6: 19). Therefore, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4: 30).

The Love of God

"God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son." John 3: 16.

The Scriptures speak to us of the love of God, of the love of the Father, of the love of the Son our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the love of the brethren; and though all this love is divine, and not the affection which is natural to the creature, nevertheless it is the same love that we find in the man who is born of God as that which is in the Persons of the Godhead; for he is, by virtue of this heavenly birth, a partaker of the divine nature. But the direction this love is described as taking in each of these divine Persons and in the brethren is very different. Neither the Father nor the Son are said to love the world, but God is; neither is the Father said to love the church, but Christ is. And all this is full of interest and instruction. I would therefore, by the help of the Holy Spirit, attempt to point out to the reader the way in which the Scriptures present this love in connection with all in whom it is said to be active. Let us first examine what is said as to the Love of God.

In John 3: 16 we get this love presented in all its greatness and universality. It is a love that no man had hitherto been called to contemplate in such fulness, power and blessing. It is a love that rises above every barrier thrown up to stem its invincible current. It is a love that no angel knew, and a love that no creature could declare. By an angel the intervention of God for the deliverance of the oppressed sons of Jacob could take place, and by angelic tongue could the duty of man to love God be declared; from out of the midst of devouring fire, and from blackness and darkness, could angelic voice utter the claims of God; but to bring the love of God to man, so that we might be able to say, "We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love" (1 John 4: 16), was beyond the power of the highest created intelligence.

The fall and ruin of the head of the human race furnished the blessed God with an opportunity of retiring upon the counsels of His eternal love, which involved new relationships for man, and a new life by which these new relationships could be enjoyed; a life that was no more in Adam innocent than in Adam guilty: eternal life, the life that is in the Son of God, a life that could never be defiled by sin, and that could never come under the power of death.

But if men were to possess this life, and if they were to stand in these new and eternal relationships with God, it was necessary that satisfaction should be rendered to God for the dishonour done to Him by sin in this evil world. It was necessary that our sins, and the evil and corrupt nature that produced these sins, should be met by the unsparing judgment of a holy and righteous God. It was necessary that One should give Himself for us, should stand in our room and stead, should bear our blame, suffer the consequences of sin by being made sin, in order that the majesty, authority, and nature of God might be vindicated and glorified, for apart from the accomplishment of this no way of salvation could be opened up for guilty man.

Who was there in all the universe of God whose love for our guilty race was strong enough to induce him to intervene on our behalf? and who, even supposing the love existed, had the ability to take up the work of our deliverance? Not certainly any of the creatures of God, for, for them to have manifested compassion towards us, would have been treason against their Creator and Governor; but even had they desired, and had it been right and agreeable to God that they should so desire, they had not the ability to accomplish anything.

No one could help us but the One against whom we had sinned, and it took Him to put forth all His power to bring about our deliverance. Nothing less than the death of His only begotten Son could enable Him righteously to take the place of a Saviour toward guilty man.

What mere creature could undertake such a work as that of redemption? Who could stand in the presence of incensed Deity, and bear the brunt of wrath's terrific storm broken loose against sin? Who could answer to God for the rebellion of His apostate creature, and stand in the breach when He was giving expression to His righteous judgment and holy abhorrence of that of which the devil was the author and man the willing slave? No mere creature could do this. None but the incarnate Son could enter into this awful question with God.

But why not let man perish for ever? He preferred the service of sin, the darkness of alienation from God, the rule of the devil, to any renewal of relationships or acquaintance with God. Why not take hold of the earth, and shake the apostate race out of its corrupt lap into the lake of fire, and leave him thus to the eternal consequences of his mad rebellion against his Maker? Why trouble any more about such a good-for-nothing creature? Why, for no other reason than that it had pleased God to set His heart upon man. He was not constrained to intervene on behalf of His creature by any good that He saw in that creature, nor by any object external to Himself, but just because it was His pleasure to take up such a sinner and make him a vessel of His praise.

The sinful and utterly lost condition of man put God to the test in a way in which He had never before been tested, and in a way in which He never can be tested again. If God loved man, the state in which man was as a rebel sinner put His love to a test that no one, had anything been known about it, would have believed love capable of bearing. But that love proved itself to be well able to answer to the demand made upon it "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

That love has opened up a way of salvation for the lost, and the report of that salvation, and where all are to find it, is proclaimed world-wide. God would have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth; and the Mediator, whose death was the witness of that love, gave Himself a ransom for all, and all are called by the gospel to make haste and avail themselves of that salvation while the day of salvation lasts.

In the heart of the believer that love is shed abroad by the Holy Ghost who is given to us (Rom. 5: 5). We are made conscious that it is our present portion. To the way in which it has come to light the Holy Spirit ever directs our attention: "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly "; and in contrast to the greatest exhibition of human love, which has occasionally caused men to lay down their lives on behalf of those who had shown them kindness, the love of God was expressed to us in the death of Christ when we were yet sinners.

In the 1st Epistle of John this love of God is viewed in connection with a circle narrower than the whole world. In the Gospel its aspect is universal, but in the Epistle it is confined to the family of God. We read in 1 John 4: "In this was manifested the love of God toward us," and "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us"; and in chapter 3 "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us." But in the Epistle, as in the Gospel, whether it be to us, or to the world, the death of Christ is that in which it has been declared.

We get another beautiful reference to this love in Ephesians 2. There we are contemplated as dead in sins. Not a movement of our hearts Godward. We are said, as Gentiles, to have been "without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." Such was our state as sinners of the Gentiles. Also, ruled by the prince of the power of the air, fulfilling the desires of flesh and mind, and by nature children of wrath, everything that was loathsome and abominable to God.

This is what we were under His eye: "But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ." What a marvellous intervention of the power of the living God, moved by the wonderful love of His heart! And not only has He quickened us, but quickened us in the life of Christ; and also raised us up and made us sit in Him in the heavenlies; and that, too, in order that He might, in the ages to come, show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

From this love there is no separation. Once it is believed ? once it gets into the heart in the power of the Spirit ? it is there for ever. The Apostle says: "I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8: 38, 39). In the first verse of this chapter we are in Christ, and in the last verse the love of God is there, so that where the love of God has got its eternal resting-place, we have got ours through grace; therefore, until Christ can be separated from that love we never can be; and as nothing can separate Him from it, nothing can separate us.

It is this love which casts out all fear from our hearts, and gives us boldness for the day of judgment. We are loved with the love of which Christ is the Object ? "as He is, so are we in this world"; and we know that that love will never be thoroughly satisfied until it has us, like Himself, in glory. It is that love which has predestinated us to be conformed to His image; therefore, in the day of judgment we shall be like the Judge, our very bodies fashioned like His; ourselves not the subjects of judgment, though our works shall be. Then we shall receive loss or gain for all that we have done upon earth. Where we have been faithful we shall be rewarded, and where we have been unfaithful we shall suffer loss; but before ever we appear there we shall have been already glorified.

I turn to another passage of Scripture: "Ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God" (Jude 20, 21). In these days in which evil abounds, such as is depicted in this short Epistle, the tendency is to be unduly occupied with it, and the soul is in danger of coming under the power of it. Here is the antidote to all that. The natural and healthful element of the child of God is this love declared in the gift of Jesus; and in this love, in the worst days of the history of the church, it is our privilege to keep ourselves, and we are exhorted so to do.

May the Lord Himself direct our hearts into the love of God.

The Love of the Father

"The Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me." John 16: 27.

If we examine the way in which the Father's love is presented in Scripture we shall not find the thought of sovereignty connected with it as we find connected with the love of God; nor, indeed, shall we always find it to be set upon the same objects. God is said to have loved the world, the Father never. The Father has a world of His own outside of which His affections are not said to travel. It is a world, or sphere, or order of things, not yet brought to light; but it exists in His counsels, and is of Himself. This present world is not of Him. All that is in the world is lust and pride, and it is not of the Father, but is of the world (1 John 2: 15, 16). With the love of the Father we find the thought of complacency, delight, satisfaction. His love is confined to things which are grateful to His nature. The Son is said to have been the Object of the Father's love before the foundation of the world (John 17: 24). And when upon earth, as He was about to take the place of public testimony for God, the Father's voice is heard declaring His delight in Him. This voice from heaven was a witness of the pleasure the Father took in the first thirty years of the Son's sojourn here below. Again, on the mount of transfiguration, we are privileged to hear the same powerful testimony rendered by the Father to the place the Son had in His blessed affections.

Jesus Himself says: "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand" (John 3: 35). The Son had the love and confidence of the heart of the Father. The Father could confidently put everything into the hand of the Son, knowing that everything would be faithfully held for His glory. Again, He says: "The Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth" (John 5: 20). And "what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise" (v. 19). In this way the Father came to light in the Son, and in Him He was glorified. How dear the Son was to the heart of the Father no creature mind shall ever be able to understand.

In John 10: 17 we read: "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again." His obedience and His love to the Father carried Him down to death, even the death of the cross; and there was laid a firm foundation upon which could be established the eternal counsels of the Father; and having laid in the blood of His cross this firm foundation, He in resurrection gives effect to those counsels to the glory of the Father. He says: "Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee" (John 17: 1). And because of this wholehearted devotedness to His glory the Father's heart goes out to that blessed Son of His in infinite love.

There is nothing of the nature of sovereignty or grace in all this, for here there is a reason for the love of the Father lying outside of Himself; a reason existing in the Object of that love; the excellence of His person, and the obedience which comes to light in His lowly life on earth, calling forth that love as One perfectly worthy of it, however infinite it be. And how readily the Father responds to the claims of the One who presented Him with such a motive for love. He says: "Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors" (Isa. 53: 12). And "wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth: and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2: 9-11). The blessedness and excellence of the Son is beyond all creature thought, and indeed it is a joy to us that it is so; nevertheless, it is also a joy to us that there is One who fully estimates His infinite worth: it is not, blessed be God, unknown.

But we also are objects of the love of the Father. Jesus says: "The Father Himself loveth you." It is not merely that we are called to contemplate the love which the Father has to the Son, though this would be an unspeakable privilege; but we are to know ourselves as objects of that love. But even as regards us this love is not presented in its sovereign character. The Lord gives a reason for this love being lavished upon us, though surely we have no claim to the least of His favours. And yet if the Father loves us there is a reason why: "The Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God" (John 16: 27). There is something in us which draws out the Father's love to us. It is something which is of the Father Himself, and which He implanted there. It is not what is natural to man at all, and it was not natural to us. The natural man sees no beauty in Jesus. By the natural man He is always despised and rejected; but "they shall be all taught of God," and "every one therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto Me" (John 6: 45). This affection that is in our hearts for Jesus has been begotten by the teaching of the Father, and to His heart it is exceedingly precious. In this world, that is hostile to the Son, the Father finds us lovers of Jesus, and by this, if I may so speak, the heart of the Father is profoundly affected.

Feeble fellow-believer, you love Jesus. Perhaps you say your love is so weak, and your ways are often so wilful and crooked that you hesitate to speak of your love for Jesus. You feel He is worthy of so much, and you render to Him so little. Yet you do love Him. Possibly you wonder why every one does not love Him, for, as regards yourself, you feel you must love, reverence, and confess Him, even if by doing so you stirred up the wrath of the whole world against you. Well, is this nothing to the Father? Can He be regardless as to the attitude assumed by you toward the Son of His love? Impossible.

God loved you when there was nothing lovable about you. He loved you because of what was in Himself. But the Father loves you because of what is in you. He has found something in you in which His heart has unbounded delight. What is it? Nothing but the little spark of love to His Son, which He has kindled there for Himself. Here, where His Son has suffered every ignominy that the profligate heart of man could invent, you are found on His side, lifting up a feeble testimony in His favour, and the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Him, and have believed that He came out from God.

There is nothing so precious to the heart of the Father upon earth as that little spark of love to Christ which has been kindled by Himself in the souls of His saints. Where this is not, darkness and death reign. And the Father loves to cherish this little vital spark, and by the power of the Holy Spirit fan it into a mighty flame. Satan would seek to quench it, and upon it the world has a baneful influence; but "we love Him because He first loved us," and the better we know His love, the more shall we love Him; and if we love Him we will show this love by keeping His commandments, and treasuring His word in our hearts; and if we do this Jesus says we shall be loved of the Father, and both Father and Son will make their abode with us (John 14: 23).

We read these things in the Holy Scriptures, and we treasure them as the sayings of Jesus, but what do we know about them experimentally? Can the reader say: "Ah, I know what that means. I know what it is to have the Father and the Son dwelling with me. I know something of the joy that springs from having these divine Persons as my honoured guests." But if we find that we have not embraced this unspeakable privilege, and if we have to confess that we know, in an experimental way, little or nothing about it, are we to continue in this condition of spiritual destitution? Are these pearl gates which are even now swung open that we may enter into the joys of the Father's house, before we leave this scene of lawlessness, darkness, and death, to remain unused by us as though we had no right of entrance or as though they were guarded by cherubim and a flaming sword? Surely not.

Worldliness increases on every hand. Almost every day brings to light some apparently spiritual Samson falling under its deadly influence. The atoning death of Christ is scoffed at, and to His words those who profess His name are becoming stone deaf. His saints who have received much light boast of it as an intellectual attainment, and attempt to turn the edge of the Spirit's sword against Christ's members. And all this has come to pass because we have not kept the commandments of Jesus, treasured His word, and been more in company with the Father and the Son. The Lord says, speaking of the religious enemies of the gospel: "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor Me" (John 16: 2, 3). This is what is lacking to-day, the knowledge of the Father and the Son. I do not mean to infer that any true believer is without this knowledge, but what I do mean is this, I fear we have not these divine Persons as our continual guests. We know forgiveness, and, like Martha, we may be cumbered about much service; but what do we know about the unutterable sweetness of entertaining in the secret of our own souls the Father and the Son?

Oh, how infinitely sweet it is to sit down alone, or to walk in solitude apart from every other human being, and let the Father and the Son draw near to us, as Jesus did to the two sorrowing disciples on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus, that we may breathe for a little moment the very atmosphere of heaven. What a health resort we shall find this to be.

And all this remains for us to-day as truly as ever. Everything may have become corrupted ecclesiastically. That house which was intended for a house of prayer may have become a den of thieves, but all these things remain for the individual as certainly as though there was no failure at all. The writings of John are intensely individual, and the privileges opened out to us in them are not dependent upon the faithfulness of the Christian company. If no other in the whole world enjoyed these things I may. To-day they are the portion of the overcomer. And there is much to overcome, but there is infinitely more to be entered into and enjoyed.

How unspeakably sweet it is to go through this world with the sense of the Father's love keeping the heart. If the reader does not enjoy it, then I would entreat him to go in for it, for it is his privilege as a child of God. May both writer and reader know it better.

The Love of Christ

"To know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." Eph. 3: 19.

The love of Christ is said to surpass knowledge, and the more we meditate upon it the more we become conscious of our utter inability, even with the aid of the Holy Spirit, to seize the immensity of that infinite, self-sacrificing, knowledge-surpassing love, which led the eternal Son from the eternal Father, and the form of God to take a bondsman's form, being made in the likeness of men, and to subject Himself to the contempt, rejection, scorn and derision of His rebellious creatures, and in the end to take the place of the Sin-bearer, suffer the forsaking of God, and give up His life upon a malefactor's gibbet. It was a journey of love, from the highest heights to the lowest depths, unpunctuated by one backward look, one moment of hesitation that might suggest uncertainty, or reluctance to go forward; no complaining word escaped those lips, through which only the voice of the living Father made itself heard; no curse was hurled against the heads of those that accepted His favours and in the end clamoured for His crucifixion. One word from His lips would have brought more than twelve legions of angels against His miserable, thankless, and wicked antagonists, but that word was not spoken: "He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth" (Isa. 53: 7).

No terror that rose up in the pathway of that love could turn it aside from the goal to which it was steadily advancing. Beset by every sorrow, anathematized by the leaders of the nation, regarded as mad by His relatives, misunderstood by everybody, friendless and afflicted He pursued His pathway of unspeakable love, though the woes that encircled His lonely Person steadily increased, until they reached their culmination in the cursed death of the cross, and the abandonment of God; and there that love, that for the space of thirty-three years had made this valley of death redolent with its odours, poured forth in infinite volume and in omnipotent power its everlasting and unutterable sweetness: love to His Father in the first instance, but love also to all given to Him of the Father.

The unapproachable light in which the Godhead dwells contains its own unfathomable secrets; but the things that are revealed belong to us, who have received the Holy Spirit in order that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God; which things have been spoken to us in words taught by the same Spirit. We can therefore be in the full light of the revealed will of God, and more than that we know nothing; nor into unrevealed mysteries have we any desire to penetrate. The light that the sun gives us is all that we require for light and health. A little more might be destructive to us, so the revelation that God has made to us is all that we need for our eternal happiness, and the subject mind desires no greater revelation, but only to know that revelation better.

The revelation that we have of God conveys to us the great truth that He is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; three persons, yet one God, and God is love. This is what He is in His nature, what He is in His very being. There is nothing but love between those Divine and Eternal Persons. "Thou lovedst Me," says Jesus to the Father, "before the foundation of the world" (John 17: 24). "God is Love" is the only absolute appellative that is used of the supreme Being; and what a wave of infinite happiness and indescribable joy overwhelms the soul as we meditate upon the marvellous fact that love is the nature of the One with whom we have to do. That "God is light" the Word also declares, but we are also said to be light, and therefore I take it that light is a more relative term, and not so absolute as love.

But as my object is at present to meditate a little upon the love of Christ, I must seek to engage the reader's attention with One of these Divine Persons in His manifestation here upon earth, the Son divested of the form of God, and clothed in the form of a Servant; no more to exercise authority as a despot, accountable to no higher power for His actions, but to be under the authority of another, and to do the will of the Father that sent Him. What a change of circumstances! How wondrous to behold the Creator of the worlds in the form of a Servant, a Man amongst men; in outward form not distinguishable from other men, thus in order that He might accomplish the will of the Father!

By the way in which we have the truth presented to us in the Scriptures we learn that counsels belong to the Father (Eph. 1: 3-14); the Son becomes Man, in order that through Him those counsels may be fulfilled (John 17); and the Holy Spirit is the power by which all are brought to pass (Acts 10: 38). In proof of each of these statements many other texts of Scripture might be adduced, but they can be easily found by the reader, and this exercise will be full of both interest and spiritual profit.

The presence of the Son here upon this earth in humiliation is the witness of His love to the Father. Those eternal counsels of love were as dear to His heart as to the heart of the Father; and in the laying of a foundation upon which all those counsels could be righteously fulfilled He knew all the horrors that such a work entailed. But such was His great love to the Father, such His infinite desire that those counsels should have their fulfilment, such His delight to do the will of the Father, He would go through all those horrors, let the cost to Himself be what it might.

And having become a Servant He will be a Servant for ever. The descent from the form of God to that of a servant may be immeasurable, His lowly birth humiliating, His death upon the cross ignominious, His descent into hades dishonourable in the extreme; but it was the hand of the Father that had marked out that path for His feet to tread; and He also knew that beyond the reproach, and the shame, and the gibbet, and the darkness, and the forsaking, and the death, there was for Him "Thy presence, where there is fulness of joy, and Thy right hand, where there are pleasures for evermore" (Ps. 16: 11). Therefore for the joy that was set before Him He could endure the cross and despise the shame (Heb. 12: 2). His words when going to that cross were: "That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do" (John 14: 31). In His great love to the Father, and that the Father might be glorified, even to the giving up of His life He did everything that could be done upon earth, and then asked to be glorified, in order that He might still glorify Him upon the platform of resurrection. And when all those counsels of love have been fulfilled, and when every enemy has been subdued, His subjection to the Father shall be as eternally perfect, and His love as undiminished as it was when tested by the death of the cross.

But how can we speak of the Father's appreciation of that self-sacrificing love of His beloved Son? We can only estimate the delight that the Father has in Him, as we are able to estimate the place of exaltation given Him of the Father. He could say when here below: "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again" (John 10: 17). Because of that mighty work that He accomplished to the Father's glory, and at His commandment, He has been highly exalted, and a Name given to Him which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly, earthly, and infernal beings; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2: 9-11). The Son has loved the Father above all else, and His love has been proven, by His taking the place of a servant, and becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; and the love of the Father to the Son is proven, by the place which as Man He occupies on the Father's throne, and by the fact that the Father is determined that His Son shall have the same honour as Himself from every intelligent being; for all must honour the Son, even as they honour the Father (John 5: 23).

But in His becoming man, and in all the work that He has done, as well as His present activities on our behalf before the face of God, we see His love for those given Him of the Father. It is our privilege, as individual believers, to take up the words of the apostle into our lips, and confess: "He loved me, and gave Himself for me"; and as part of that wondrous organism of which He is the Head, rejoice in the fact that He loved the church, and gave Himself for it. Whatever He did, He did for the glory of the Father, but He did it no less for our eternal blessing. "Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage" (Heb. 2: 14, 15).

It is with holy adoration that we draw near in contemplation of His taking the form of a servant, and being found in fashion as a man, for the glory of the Godhead, and that the counsels of the Father might be carried out; but that He should set His affections upon such rebellious worms of the dust as we all are by nature, this is just where we lose ourselves in utter bewilderment, for it surely surpasses knowledge. Perhaps it is not always that we are in the blissful contemplation of its glory and its infinity, but when the reality and greatness of it breaks with overwhelming power over heart and mind, we begin to realize that though we know it, and rejoice in its quickening beams, and that with a joy unspeakable, its sweetness, its vastness, its marvellous mystery, can never be fully known.

The blessed God has graciously given to us the power of speech, by means of which we can express the thoughts that rise up in our creature minds. We speak of eternity, infinity, and such-like words, but these terms are much more the expression of our own creature limitations, our utter ignorance of the things we know to be realities rather than an exposition of the things themselves. It is thus with the great verities of revelation, things that are much more to be felt and enjoyed than to be set forth in human parlance. When we think of eternity we have the thought of endless duration of time; and when we think of infinity, that which has not bounds or limits is before our minds. But what know we of either? May I not also ask, What need we know? We know that the love of Christ is our sure and lasting portion: ours while we have our being, and that its magnitude is beyond all our ability to grasp. And we know that it is not only the little of it that we can grasp that is ours; it is all ours. It has all been lavished upon us, and it is all ours to be enjoyed.

We know "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich" (2 Cor. 8: 9). What amazing down-stooping on His part we see in His advent into this world! What marvellous self-abnegation! From form of God into form of servant, from despot to slave, from omnipotence to infant weakness, from the adoration of angels to the contempt of men: love incarnate in a world of incarnate lust!

"Come now and view that manger,

The Lord of glory see,

A houseless, homeless stranger

In this poor world for thee."

Love brought Him there ? sovereign love. He had come forth from the Father, and was come into the world. He had come forth from riches, and was come into poverty. He had come from the throne of the universe, and was come to a manger where the cattle fed. He had called the creation into existence by the word of His power, He was now in that creation in the form of a creature. He had been accustomed to give commandment, now He must hearken to, and execute, the behests of Another. In His presence seraphim veiled their faces, now must He meet the proud and persecuting stare of His rebellious creatures. How altered are the circumstances of the Lord of glory!

See the poverty into which His love has brought Him! An outcast in a manger! A stranger in His own world! His delights had ever been with the sons of men (Prov. 8: 31). And now He is with them, and in their likeness, beginning where man begins, come of a woman, born into the world, love come down to heal sin-ruined souls. To the human eye the expression of weakness, but really the Upholder of the universe, which is the work of His own hands. Here under the protection of the Father, never to use His own power for His protection from insult or injury, but ever to commit Himself to Him that judges righteously; well knowing that His career upon earth must begin in a manger and close on a gibbet, while all His history between must be marked by the scorn, derision, and persecution of His rebellious creatures.

But is it not just this that has endeared Him to our hearts? It is in the evils that beset His path that we see His infinite moral perfections brought to light. We know Him where He is on the throne of the Father, but it is in His sojourn down here that we have learned Him. His present circumstances are very different to what they were in the days of His flesh, but there is no change in Him. He is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever" (Heb. 13: 8). At is He who was here that we look forward to see face to face, and to be with at His coming again.

But it is His lowly grace, His poverty, His meekness, that has attracted our hearts; because all this shows us the extent to which He was willing to go to make us His own. And what else, O Lord, could have won our heart's affections? Not the worship of angels; not Thy works of mighty power; not even the Father's voice from the opened heavens. These wonders might have awed and terrified our creature souls, but they would not have led us to confide in Thee. No!

"We cling to Thee in weakness,

The manger and the cross;

We gaze upon Thy meekness

Thro' suffering, pain, and loss."

Thou didst speak words the like of which never before had saluted the ears of men. They expressed that which lay in Thine own heart of unfathomable love for such as we know ourselves to be. They came through Thy lips warm from the bosom of the living Father, where Thou hadst Thine everlasting dwelling-place. As had been traced on the two tables of stone that which man should be for God, so Thou didst trace on the dust of this world that which God was in grace for man. And also Thou didst manifest in Thy lowly life the order of man, and the only order of man, that can live for ever in relation with God.

Surely Thou art all-powerful. Thou knowest all things, and Thou canst do all things. There is nothing too hard for Thee. But it is to Thee in weakness we cling ? the deep weakness of the manger, and the deeper weakness of the cross; yet the Upholder of all things in both manger and cross as Thou now art on the throne of the Highest. What unfathomable mysteries surround Thy holy Person!

Only the Father knows the Son (Matt. 11: 28). It is utterly impossible for our creature minds to fathom the mysteries of the incarnation, nor should we have the least desire to do this. We should be perfectly satisfied with the revelation given to us, for all that the creature could receive, even with the aid of the Holy Spirit; is given to us in the Holy Scriptures. Not to frankly enter into that which is revealed is to greatly hinder the growth of our souls, and to attempt to go beyond the Word is to wander into dangerous error. But God would have our souls enlightened and nourished by the Word of truth. He would have us grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Therefore, while we must be careful not to go beyond the limits of Scripture, we must just be as careful not to allow our natural timidity to rob us of that which is vital to the welfare of our souls. Let us search the Scriptures diligently, but let us search them prayerfully also, and in distrust of our natural minds in whatever form they may assert themselves.

I make bold to say however, that the soul who has not learned the excellencies of Christ as manifested in His lowly life, has never yet learned them. It is the humbled Christ that has won our hearts. The way in which He entered this world and the way in which He went out of it, shall never be forgotten by His redeemed people. Whatever else we may have learned, these are the great verities that have won our affections. And the brightest hope we have is to be with Him who ever had His delight with the sons of men, and who in infinite grace, though He was rich, for our sakes became poor; in order that we through His poverty might become rich. May He be daily the study of our souls and the great light and joy of all our hearts.

The Love of the Brethren

"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." 1 John 3: 14.

The love of the saints to one another is no less divine than is that of the Father and the Son. This love is one of the great distinguishing marks of the children of God. Of this family there are two characteristics which unfailingly declare their lineage, and these are righteousness and love. As lawlessness and hatred of the brethren mark the children of the devil, as do righteousness and love of the brethren mark the children of God. In 1 John 2: 29 we read, "Every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him"; and in chapter 3: 12 we read, "Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous." Then we have in chapter 4: 7, "Love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God."

The ability to take the place of children of God is only the portion of the saints of this dispensation. We have this place by the Father's call (1 John 3: 1), we have it as a right given to us by Christ (John 1: 12), and we have it in the witness of the Spirit (Rom. 8: 16). But "born of God" itself is not dispensational. It was true from the commencement of the activities of the grace of God in this fallen world, and for an example of one born of God the Apostle goes back to Abel; his works were righteous, and "Every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him." If we find a man practising righteousness or loving the brethren we know that that man is born of God. He is not a mere child of Adam, nor is he of the devil, but of God. Every one brings forth after his kind, whether it be the devil, fallen man or the blessed God Himself.

It is of the utmost importance to see that these characteristics are the outcome of the divine nature, the nature of the children of God. They are not qualities which can be put on or imitated by the mere child of Adam. Righteousness here is not what the world calls honesty, which is only measured by men's dealings with one another. This may be rightly enough called righteousness, but it is not that which is spoken of here. Abel's righteousness is seen in his taking his rightful place in the presence of God. In himself he is nothing but a guilty sinner, but this he most fully admits, and he approaches God in the way opened up to him in boundless grace. It is in a man's dealings with God more than in his dealings with men that his righteousness or lawlessness becomes apparent.

Nor is love mere natural affection, a thing found sometimes stronger than death amongst men; and not only amongst men, but even amongst the lower orders of creation. As originally formed, man was set in intelligent relationship with God, and in an unfallen state his affections would have happily flowed in the channels dug for them in the wisdom and goodness of his Creator; but as fallen they have burst all bounds, and at the direction of corrupt and lawless flesh, they wander where they will regardless of the consequences. This shows man to be at the level of the irresponsible beast of the field, if indeed not at a lower level.

The notion of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man is not new, but lately it has been brought into more prominence than heretofore; and indeed it might truthfully be said that the great mass of professing Christians are fighting their battles under this banner. But such a notion has no place in the Word of God. No one is a child of God apart from the new birth. This is hinted at, perhaps I had better say figuratively declared, in the Old Testament; and the Lord seems to infer that Nicodemus should have known it. He says, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3: 3). And when the unbelieving mind of the Pharisee raises questions regarding this mysterious operation of the Spirit of God, Jesus says, "Art thou a teacher of Israel, and knowest not these things?" Ezekiel had said, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh (Ezek. 36: 25, 26). It is to such words as these the Lord evidently refers when He says, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

In the past dispensation man was under probation, and while this was so it would not have been consistent to have plainly declared his hopelessly lost condition, which the reference to new birth does; because if man is so hopelessly lost that he must be born again, when this verdict is given his trial must be concluded. Therefore, while it was always necessary from the fall, if man was to be in right relationship with God, while his trial was running its course it was only hinted at; but now that the resources of God put forth to influence the flesh in right ways have been exhausted, the plain truth as to the incorrigible wickedness of the flesh is declared, and the necessity of new birth is frankly insisted upon.

This new birth is produced by the Word of God, which is incorruptible, living and abiding. On earth everything perishes but the Word of God. The Jew is grass, the Gentile is grass--all flesh is grass, and the glory of man the flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower of it passes away. What, then, remains? "The Word of our God shall stand for ever" (Isa. 40). This Word has been brought to us in the gospel (1 Peter 1: 25), and by it the believer is born again. His life and nature are divine.

Therefore the one born of God does not practise sin but righteousness. Had he nothing but the divine nature he would be utterly incapable of sinning, for that nature cannot sin. But as long as he is in this world he has also the old nature of the flesh, and it can do nothing but sin, and in this nature he is liable to act, and will do so if he be not watchful. When we are glorified there will be no more need for the vigilance that is now necessary. We will then be like Christ, and free from the presence of the flesh, and failure will be a thing of the past.

But the One who is begotten of God loves Him that begat. We love the Father and the Son, and we love the brethren. It is natural for us to do so. That which the law, by all its threatenings, could not get from the mere child of Adam, God has gotten by His work of grace in our hearts. The law demanded love from man, but never got it. But God has got it by the revelation of His great love to us in the death of His only begotten Son: "We love Him because He first loved us." It is not because we are compelled to do it by threatenings of wrath. This never produced love in any human heart. Terror it did produce, but not love. Love begets love where that love is appreciated; and when the love of God, as it has been brought to light in the death of Jesus, is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us, we love Him.

It may be that we feel our love so feeble that we are almost ashamed to say anything about it at all. This may be all right, for when compared with the infinite love of God, feeble indeed it must ever appear. Still, we love Him, if we are born of Him; and well He knows it, for He searches the heart and knows all that is there. And we also know it, however we may bewail its feebleness. Peter could appeal to the omniscience of the Lord at a time when his actions were sufficient to raise doubts as to the reality of his affection for Christ in the minds of his brethren. He says, "Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee" (John 21: 17). It is well to have to do with One who knows the most secret thoughts of the heart. He knows us even better than we know ourselves, and this is a great comfort. He has not to wait until we make known to Him our inmost thoughts. He knows what is there, for every bit of good that is there is there by the working of His fathomless grace. And it is there even before we are aware of it ourselves. It is a great surprise to all of us when we first come to the consciousness of our readiness to stand in the face of the whole hostile world in confession of Christ. Those born of God may seem to the eyes of the world either too contemptible to be taken seriously, or, like a few noxious weeds, to be taken up and given to the flame; and they, if they think of themselves at all, will only regard themselves as cumberers of the ground; but the enjoyment of the favour of God gives them a sense of superiority above all the power and glory of the world.

The love of the children of God is self-sacrificing. We are told we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren; that is to say, all the children of God should lay down their lives for one another. The One in whom that love has been expressed laid down his life for us; therefore we should lay down our lives for one another. It is the love of God that is in the hearts of His children, and that love came to light in the death of Christ; and if God so loved us, we are told, we also should love one another. We would be most likely to say, we should love Him; but we never find love to God demanded in Christianity. Under law God says, "Thou shalt love Me"; and, "Ye are cursed if ye do not." But under grace God says, "I love you, believe it and live."

The test of that love being in us is our love to the children of God. We might say that we love God, but it is that which is of God in the world that tests us; and if we love not our brother whom we have seen, how can we love God whom we have not seen? (1 John 4: 20). We may go about looking for love from our brethren, and murmuring because we do not seem to get as much of it as we would desire, but this is a sad state to be in, and manifests a heart not in the enjoyment of the love of God. Love is the very life of the children of God, and is the spring and fountain of all their activities. It is the new commandment. It was the thing that was true in Jesus when He was upon earth, and is now true in His own in the power of the Spirit (1 John 2: 8).

In this we are to be imitators of God, and walk in love as Christ also has loved us, and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. As His children we are to come out in His moral characteristics, and become known to be the disciples of Jesus, as He says, "By this shall all men know that ye are disciples of Mine, if ye have love one to another" (John 13: 35). No teacher but Himself ever taught this, hence those who love one another are known in this world as His disciples.

How far above the plotting and working of the enemy God has shown Himself to be. Satan, no doubt, considered he had accomplished something that would act as an eternal vexation to the Creator, when he overthrew the creature in transgression, who was made in His image and likeness. But he little knew the wisdom and might of Him whose implacable foe he had become. That evil has been made the occasion of Satan's everlasting downfall, and of infinite and eternal glory to God. Through infinite grace fallen sinners have been brought to know the Creator in His nature, and to stand before Him in the relationship of sons. Earth has been lost, but heaven has been gained, and all the glory belongs to God; and blessed for ever be His name, we can say God is love. May we be kept in that love, and may we grow in the divine nature, and be better able to imitate Him whose name is Love. Nothing but love is of any value under the sun, but it must be divine love, the love of God, the love of the Father, the love of the Son, and the love of the brethren. Without this nature, which in us is the result of new birth, all else is worthless.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love,

I am become as sounding brass,

Or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy,

And understand all mysteries,

And all knowledge;

And though I have all faith,

So that I could remove mountains, and have not love,

I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,

And though I give my body to be burned and have not love,

It profiteth me nothing.

Love

suffereth long,

is kind,

envieth not,

vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

doth not behave itself unseemly,

seeketh not her own,

is not easily provoked,

thinketh no evil,

rejoiceth not in iniquity,

rejoiceth in the truth,

beareth all things,

believeth all things,

hopeth all things,

endureth all things,

never faileth.

Now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Cor. 13).

The Son of God and the Scriptures

"The second Man is the Lord from heaven." 2 Cor. 15: 4.

"The Scripture cannot be broken." John 10: 35.

As regards ourselves, who are by nature Gentiles, the whole fabric of Scripture authority rests upon the basis of the greatness of the person of Jesus. The Answer of my faith to the question: "What think ye of Christ? whose Son is He? must regulate my thoughts regarding this all-important subject. And as a matter of fact, I find that the way in which people do answer this question makes all the difference as to their ideas of inspiration. I never knew a man sound upon the doctrine of the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, who harboured the least doubt in his mind regarding the divinity of Jesus; neither have I ever known any one who looked upon Jesus as the Creator incarnate, and who relegated the Bible to a lower place than the Word of God. I am sure it will be found that these two convictions are inseparably connected, and that where any one of them is not welcome, the other will refuse to enter.

One who has recently apostatized from the faith of Christianity questions if we ever would have heard of the Old Testament had it not been for Jesus; and though it may be very difficult to say what might, or might not have been, had the light of the gospel of Christ never reached us, we certainly would not have had any real faith in it apart from the Son of God. We have received the Holy Scriptures solely through faith in Him. He has authenticated to us the writings of Moses and the Prophets; and the writers of the New Testament declare their epistles to be the commandments of the Lord (1 Cor. 14: 37); and that not only the thoughts, but the words in which those thoughts were conveyed to us, were words chosen by the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2: 13).

If these statements of theirs, which lay claim to such authority, are falsehoods, then they are the most wicked falsehoods ever told to men, for they are lies against the living God; and as they concern the most important matters with which the human race has to do, they are the inventions of soul-murderers. These statements of the avowed followers and servants of Jesus are accompanied, on the one hand, with the promise of eternal and unspeakable blessedness for the believer; and, on the other hand, the most terrible consequences of unbelief are announced as hanging over the head of the impenitent rebel; and all these things are placed before the reader in language which is absolutely simple, natural, unstrained, and bearing no resemblance to that which rises from the frenzied imagination of crack-brained zealots. If what they affirm of their words and writings be not true, they were a crowd of wicked and bad men, and they can be believed in nothing. And yet we owe to those men all that we have ever heard of Jesus; and my knowledge of men gives me the most perfect assurance that such a person as He of whom they testified could not be created in the mind of a child of Adam.

His story touches the most tender chords of the human heart, and His moral excellency so mightily appeals to the soul of the faithful disciple, that his most blissful moment is when he is at the feet of this adorable Person as a worshipper. So great is Jesus, so morally different from every other human being, so completely free from all the unworthy motives which govern others, so gracious, guileless, gentle, meek, lowly, compassionate, merciful, self-sacrificing, righteous, holy, harmless, good, so completely unique in all His characteristics, and so unlike man, as we know man, in every solitary way, that some have questioned if such a person ever really existed.

But if His disciples invented Him, they must have travelled for their conception outside the sphere in which the thoughts of men revolve; and if they ever took such a journey, we have to ask ourselves what power it was which carried them into those hitherto unexplored and unknown regions of purest thought, and imprinted upon their imaginations the moral glories with which they decked Him of whom they spoke as the Son of God.

If Jesus were an invention of those who called themselves His disciples, then His disciples were not ordinary men, for they have certainly gone beyond all that can be understood by men of the world. Leaving this world, after having revealed the Father, Jesus has to say, "O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee" (John 17: 25); and again, "They have not known the Father, nor Me" (16: 3). The Father cannot be known by a mere child of Adam, nor can the second Man be known by the first. There is no analogy between the Father and the world, nor between the man made of dust and the Man out of heaven; both Father and Son are beyond the ken of the men of this world.

The gods of the heathen are by the makers of them indued with passions such as men have; they are morally like men, but with greater strength. And if I take the heroes of the novelist, pride and self-reliance are the prominent features, for these are the characteristics in which men delight, but not one of them is like Jesus. There is nothing in common between men, as I know man, and the Son of God. It is only in the Bible I can find Him. How is this? If those fishermen of Galilee invented Him, how is it that no one has been able to invent another who can be compared with Him? and how is it that now that He has been invented, He is so little understood that the greatest minds on earth, even when well-intentioned, cannot reproduce Him? Their frequent attempts have been at best but miserable caricatures. Apart from the holy anointing, the indwelling Spirit of God, no one can know the Father and the Son.

Read the best written life of Jesus ever produced by the uninspired pen of an unregenerate man, and then turn to the four Gospels, and see if it is not an emergence out of thick darkness and the domain of death, into marvellous light, and the radiant sphere of everlasting life. As you read the nine beatitudes which introduce the sermon on the mount, you are made to feel as though a door were opened in heaven, and the whole atmosphere about you at once becomes redolent with the perfume wafted from the paradise of God; then pass on until you hear the bells of heaven pealing forth the welcome of a returning scape-gallows, who in broken utterances sobs out his repentance into the gracious ear of a Saviour-God, and you must feel that all this is outside the sphere in which the thoughts of men revolve, and that you are made to listen to the pulsations of immortal love.

When you have finished with this, if you ever can finish with it, turn to John 13 and behold the grace of that lowly Son of God, doing the most menial service for His disciples which it is possible for one man to perform for another; and listen to those counsels of grace, wisdom, and holy love which fall from His blessed lips upon the ears of His humble followers; and follow Him until He is done speaking to them, and turns His eyes up to heaven, and pours into the ears of His Father His desires for them, and for all who will believe on Him through their word; and hear Him demand on their behalf, as One who has a righteous claim upon the wealth of power, and grace, and love, which in the Father dwell. Then follow Him to the judgment hall of the Roman governor, and hearken to the leaders of His earthly people howling for His heart's blood; and follow the crowd to dark Golgotha, and behold Him who made the worlds led as a lamb to the slaughter, nailed to a gibbet as a malefactor, and that between two robbers; and watch to the close, until He is taken down dead, while darkness enfolds the land, and under your feet you feel the earth reel beneath the weight of the corpse of Him who was its Creator, while the rocks are rent and the graves are opened; and if, after witnessing these things, you can flatter yourself that Jesus was a man like other men, or that such a Person either was, or could be, the invention of His disciples, you have a way of judging and arriving at conclusions unknown to me. From the benighted heart of the pagan centurion who had charge of the crucifixion was wrung the confession: "Truly this Man was the Son of God" (Mark 15: 39). May the reader's heart be at least as impressionable.

This is the glorious Person who has authenticated to us the Old Testament, of which He is the Subject, as He is also of the New. As to Israel, the law was given to them by Moses, and accompanied by such visible manifestations of majesty and terror on the part of God, that its divine origin could not by them be called in question; and as to the prophets, their word was proven to be of God by the sanctity of their lives, by its harmony with that which was given through Moses, and by the signs and wonders with which God was sometimes pleased to send it forth; though generally speaking, the prophets who after Moses were used of God to build up the canon of Scripture, do not seem to have been miracle workers. Men like Elijah and Elisha, who were characterized by miraculous manifestations, have not been used to put anything on record, though their words and works and manner of life have been recorded by others. The Jewish Scriptures were well authenticated to the people.

But we Gentiles were outside all those special dealings of God. We were "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2: 12). We have come into this rich inheritance through having to do with God revealed in Jesus. He came to His earthly people in fulfilment of the promises made to the fathers, but they rejected Him, and slew Him with the sword of the Romans. God raised Him from the dead, and in answer to the prayer of Jesus from the cross on their behalf (Luke 23: 34), offered to send Him back to them if they would repent (Acts 3: 20). The stoning of Stephen was their answer to this, and closed the door of hope to the nation; therefore devout men made great lamentation over his death, for in his grave every hope of Israel after the flesh was buried.

Then the Gentiles come up for blessing before God, and the persecutor of the Church is converted and sent to them. The perfect revelation of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God in whom the Jews boasted, came in the Word made flesh, so that believers from among the Gentiles find themselves linked up in the worship of the true God with Abel and all the faithful from his day until the coming of Christ. In this way we have a title to the Old Testament as well as to the New, and to us the two volumes become one Book, both equally inspired of God; the authority of the old established for us in the submission of Christ to every jot and tittle, though a better thing has been brought in by Him, for the Old was but the demand, whereas the New is the supply.

The subtle way in which men who call themselves Christians put before the public theories which are in direct antagonism to the plain statements of Scripture, is a plain proof of their determination to undermine in the thoughts of men whatever bit of confidence they may still possess in the Bible as the Word of God. If they would tell us plainly that they had abandoned Christianity as a useless encumbrance in the pursuit of knowledge, one might be grieved and sorry for them; but they would not be sailing under a false flag, neither would their ways fill one with the same measure of disgust and loathing.

I may be told that these men think there is much in the Scriptures that is really valuable, and therefore they do not feel justified in casting them aside as altogether useless. But if the Bible be not the word of God, and if Jesus be not a divine Person, and if we have no revelation from God, and if the apostles were a set of deceivers and knaves?. But here I am interrupted at once, and reminded that the writers are considered to have been good and true men. Are they? Did Jehovah say to the prophets the things which they spoke to men as His word? Was the burning bush a fact in the life of Moses? Jesus said it was, but was it? Is the Exodic account of the deliverance of Israel from the power of Pharaoh true? What about the passage through the sea? the desert? the manna? the water out of the rock? Whose Son was He who said: "Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness"? (John 6: 49).

Did Jesus work the wonders which are recorded of Him? They are recorded by the Evangelist, that we should believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing we might have life through His name (John 20: 31). Is the greatness of this Person built upon a foundation of falsehood, and is it upon a raft of lies against the living God we are to float into the harbour of eternal life? Did these good and true men who wrote the Gospels and Epistles concoct the baseless wonders with which they accredit Jesus, and leave them on record encased in a framework of piety as hypocritical as false? This is not what I should expect from men who are good and true.

And yet they do commend themselves to the conscience of all men as both good and true. No one can question that they believed the things which they have put on record. And how could they have been deceived? They were not men easily convinced, and the deeds were not done in a corner. They were neither credulous nor easily imposed upon, and though their persistent unbelief was failure, and had to come under the rebuke of their Lord, it gives additional weight to their testimony, which they gladly bore for His honour and for our eternal blessing, when the last cloud of unbelief at length yielded to the gracious influence of that eternal day, which broke upon their souls as they stood beside the empty grave of Him who could not be holden of death.

The Man of God's Counsels

"We see Jesus . . . crowned with glory and honour." Hebrews 2: 9.

It is impossible to connect the idea of chance with any of the ways of God. Not even a sane man will commence a work without having in his mind the image of that upon which the labour of his hands is to be employed. A man may not be able to perfect his idea; he may find, as his work proceeds, that it will not answer the purpose for which he intended it, and therefore he may have with reluctance to abandon it; he may even learn something in the midst of his toil which may cause him to make considerable alterations, so that the thing when finished is very different from his original conception. This comes from being unable to grasp at the outset every detail connected with the subject in hand, and everything that will be necessary to do, in order to arrive at perfection.

But this can never be the case as regards the activities of God. It is impossible to think of Him as limited in wisdom, skill, or understanding. He must be infinite in every one of His attributes. The man who thinks otherwise, if any such man exist, can have no true thought of the Creator in his soul. Man is only a finite being, and, as I have suggested, while he proceeds with his work, new ideas strike his mind, for though perfection be his ideal, he can never arrive at it. He does not know the power and value of the elements with which he has to work, neither does he perfectly know their relation to one another, nor always the result of certain combinations; hence he is ever astonishing himself with his new discoveries, and bringing out new inventions.

Not so God. The Creator can learn nothing from His creation. The universe is the conception of His infinite mind, and it is impossible that He could receive any instruction from it. "The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath He established the heavens. By His knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew" (Prov. 3. 19-20). Who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? for of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever" (Rom. 11: 34-36). He has not, as some suppose, been from the outset doing the best He can, contending with the inroads of evil, meeting the adverse power to the best of His ability, and ever, through the growth of intelligence, improving upon the past. "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself" (Ps. 50: 21), is the charge He makes against the wicked, and it is a charge of which all are guilty who have not learned Him in Jesus.

It is impossible for me to imagine the Creator forming a universe like the one of which I form a part, without having distinctly before Him its whole history, and the ultimate result of all His activities in connection with it. His plans must all have been formed before He began His work; and when we come to Scripture this is just what we find. The Book of those counsels is alluded to more than once (Ex. 32: 32; Ps. 40: 7; Ps. 139: 16). We have counsel, promise, choice, and purpose referred to again and again; and the central object in all those counsels is the Man who was predestined to give effect to them. As Adam was the man set upon the footing of responsibility, and who, failing to fulfil that responsibility, fell under the power of evil; so Christ is the Man of divine counsel, who upholds everything by the power of God. It was ever the thought of God to set up all things in His own power. Nothing can stand but that which is upheld by the might of God.

If this be kept in mind, it is easy to see that the Man of God's counsels must be a divine person. No creature is capable of maintaining himself in blessing on the principle of obedience, and none but a divine person could carry out the thoughts of the Godhead. Christ is not a development of the race of Adam. He is not the best man of that race that ever lived, or the most perfect that ever walked the earth. He is not of the old order at all. He is the "last Adam," and the last Adam is not a mere improvement upon the first. The first man was of the earth, made of dust: "the second Man is out of heaven." The first Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam is a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15). The first had his origin from earth; the second had His origin from heaven. The first man was made to bask in the goodness of God; the second had His place in the bosom of the Father. There are mysteries in connection with the Son which no creature can fathom: "No man knoweth the Son but the Father"; but that, on the divine side, He was equal with the Father is fully revealed in Scripture and that, on our side, He was Man is just as strongly insisted. He is spoken of as "The Man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts" (Zech. 13: 7).

A recent writer, who for a little while made a great stir in the religious world, tells us that the truth about the person of Jesus is to be the great question for religion in the near future. The truth is, it has been the great question since the hour in which He took His place in public testimony for God. The Baptist bore testimony to Him as the Son of God, the thong of whose sandals he was unworthy to loose (John 1). The Father also bore witness to Him, opening heaven upon Him, and saluting Him as His beloved Son, in whom He had found His delight (Luke 3: 22). The Old Testament bears witness to the greatness of this wondrous Personage. Isaiah speaks of Him as the One whose rebuke dries up the sea, and makes the rivers a wilderness; who clothes the heavens with blackness, and makes sack-cloth their covering; and yet One to whom Jehovah had given the tongue of a disciple, whose ear He had opened to hear as the instructed, who gave His back to the smiters and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, and who hid not His face from shame and spitting (Isa. 50). He is the object of the worship of angels (Ps. 97, cf. Heb. 1: 6), saluted as God upon the throne (Ps. 45), addressed as the everlasting Creator of the heavens and the earth (Ps. 102), and yet called up from the depths of death to sit upon the right hand of God, until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet (Ps. 110).

Now it is true that "No man knoweth the Son but the Father" (Matt. 11), yet there is a way in which He is to be known by His people. It is life eternal to know the Father, and Jesus Christ His sent One (John 17: 3), and believers are all to come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God (Eph. 4: 13). There are mysteries about this Person that no creature mind can grasp, and it is exceedingly dangerous to allow the human reason a loose rein in the contemplation of such a sacred and profound subject. When we think of the "fulness of the Godhead" inhabiting a human body, a divine Person for thirty-three years confining Himself to the limits of a man, yet never less than the omnipotent Creator, we become convinced that in such a contemplation the imagination of man can have no place, and that to move a single step one way or another without divine support would be to court disaster, land us in the depths of error, and expose us to the attack of the enemy of our souls. We are only safe when we keep close to the revelation we have of Him in the Scriptures of truth. That He was, and remains, a Man, these Scriptures affirm; that He is the Creator is also affirmed, and that He was always fully conscious of who He was is also maintained.

The truth about His person may be the question in the near future, but as I have already said, it is as old as His advent into the world. Jesus put the question to the Scribes: "What think ye of Christ? whose Son is He?" and discovered them to be without any true light on the point. They had no higher idea concerning Him than that He was the Son of David; but the fact that David had in Spirit called Him Lord was more than they could understand. This was the question of the day for the Jews, and it was because He bore witness to this truth that they condemned Him to the death of the cross (John 19: 7). It is also the question of to-day, and it will be the question until the day of His manifestation in glory. Believers can say: "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This (Person) is the true God, and eternal life (1 John 5: 20).

During the time in which the first man was under probation, and while, by every trial to which he was subjected, it was being clearly demonstrated that he was utterly untrustworthy and unprofitable, the positions of trust in which he was placed ? which tested his ability to hold the position for God ? shadowed forth the offices which would be taken up by the second Man, and fulfilled to the glory and praise of God. Hence for two reasons the trial was never repeated. When God committed to man a position of trust and he failed to hold it faithfully, he had no second opportunity. In the first place, the trial was perfect, and the circumstances under which the trial took place were always most favourable to the probationer. To have given a second occasion would have been to admit that something had been overlooked in the first, which should have been kept in mind, and that because of this, the evidence was not quite conclusive. In the second place, in all those prominent men in the past dispensation, to whom positions of trust were committed, Christ was being shadowed forth; and this being so, no more was required than that the picture should be drawn, and the position indicated; when this was done its purpose was served, and it disappeared.

This explains things which often seem inexplicable to the superficial reader of Scripture. Men are sometimes installed in a position of dignity and trust with as much ceremony as though they were to abide in it for ever, and in connection with this position an order of things is established with as much care, exactitude, grandeur, and glory as though it were never to be shaken, and the next thing we are called to witness is the complete collapse and ruin of everything, and the announcement of something fresh seals its complete and final rejection. It was but a picture drawn by the Spirit of God to illustrate a position which the Man of God's counsels would one day take up and maintain to the honour of God. Hence Christ is the One set forth in such men as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar, and many others, for in every one of these men was set forth some position, office, or headship, which would be filled by the One whom God had in reserve, and who was to come to light when the worthlessness of the first man would be perfectly demonstrated. In the dispensation of the fulness of times (Eph. 1) all these men will be seen to have been figures, as Adam was, of Him that was to come (Rom. 5: 14). He will hold for God everything in which these men failed.

Fallen Adam was head of the old fallen race; Christ is head of the new righteous race. Adam brought in sin and death; Christ brought in righteousness and life ? Adam through his disobedience; Christ through His obedience. Adam's act of disobedience had its bearing toward all men in the way of condemnation; so the obedience of Christ, proved in His death, has its bearing toward all in the sense of justification. Sin and death came in by Adam, and have their bearing toward all men; and righteousness and life came in by Christ and have reference to all. If all are lost in Adam, God has raised up a righteous Head for men, so that all may be saved in Him. He gave Himself a ransom for all, for God would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2). Therefore the Gospel is preached world-wide that men may turn to God through Christ and find salvation. Christ is to be everything to every man ? wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption Cor. 1: 30).

But then it should be understood by all, that if Christ was to take up the position of life-giving Head toward all men, the question of righteousness cannot be ignored. There was the question of sin between man and God, and who could touch it? Christ will not ignore all the rights which God has over His creature. Even between men satisfaction must be offered to the offended party before right relations can be established. It may be the offended party is magnanimous enough to forgive everything, but relations thus established are never of the happiest or most lasting nature. There must be a basis of righteousness if confidence and quietude of soul are to exist undisturbed for ever. If this be so with regard to the relations of men with one another, how much more is it true with respect to our relations with God, seeing that the slightest friction between us and Him would make every thought of God a terror to us, and our very existence one of utter misery.

In the Book of divine counsel, to which I have already referred, we get brought to light, not only the One who was to accomplish those counsels, but also the fact that a body was to be prepared for Him. The sacrifices and offerings belonging to the law were valueless to take away sins, therefore if the will of God is to be done a sacrifice of infinite value was necessary. This was furnished by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ (Heb. 10: 10). In the Psalm (40) which speaks of this Book, and of the Accomplisher of the will of God, we have this wondrous Person crying out of the horrible pit and the miry clay, and heard in resurrection, when His feet are placed upon a rock, and a new song put into His mouth. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives us to understand that one reason for His taking a body was, that through death He might destroy the Devil, who had the might of death, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Heb. 2: 14, 15). Another reason given was, that we might be set apart to God in the value of that offering (chap. 10: 10), our consciences perfected and our hearts won, so that we might be at home in the presence of God. His death is the basis of all blessing, and is the foundation upon which will be built up the whole fabric of the new heavens and the new earth, a universe secure from the invasion of evil.

The Son of Man

"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him, or the Son of Man, that Thou visitest Him" Hebrews 2: 6.

To prove that a God of infinite goodness is not the author of this world in its present state requires no elaborate argumentation, nor does it make any demand upon the least ratiocinative ability. It is everywhere, and in everything, abundantly manifest that a beneficent Creator would not voluntarily give His creatures, whom He has endowed with intelligence, affections, sensitivity, accountability to Himself and to his fellows, into the darkness, the distress, the sufferings, the sorrows, the woes that are the portion of the whole human family.

There must be some terrible reason for the state of things we find in this world ? the pestilences, the horrors of war, the hatred, the murders, the corruption, the fear of death, the silence of heaven, the shrinking from the grave to which all are hastening, and the dread of something after ? these evils cry out against our attributing to a benevolent Creator the invention or origination of such a woeful state of things.

Yet even on this earth we have indications, many and varied, that it is a beneficent Creator who watches over the history of the earth's generations and teeming multitudes. The sunshine warms and comforts our bodies, and between its kindly influence and the rain from heaven the hearts of men are filled with food and gladness. The seasons come round in their appointed courses, and fulfil their several functions of mercy. Under the night-cloud man lies down to rest, and his weary frame becomes thus refreshed and ready to answer to the demands of another day. And all this bears testimony to the goodness of God, and is given that men might feel after Him, and find Him; for He is not far from any one of us; for in Him we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17).

Thank God for His Word, the revelation He has given us concerning Himself. Where would we be without it? Would we be able without it to pick out of all His ways with us the witnesses of His faithful and generous care for our welfare, and, in spite of the innumerable evils that afflict our souls, to encourage our hearts in such a sense of His desire for our welfare that we would put out the hand of faith in the midst of the surrounding gloom, that it might lay hold upon His?

No: we require this precious revelation of Himself which He in His infinite love has given us, that by it we may be made wise to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3: 15-17). And how beautifully this revelation sets before us the great thoughts of God, and how all His purposes, even before the beginning of His works, centred upon man. Man whom we supposed He had neglected, and to whose sorrows He was indifferent, is supreme in the eternal thoughts of God.

But for almost six thousand years men have groaned under the oppression of the enemy, and as far as any public display of power is concerned it is all in the hands of the enemy, and deliverance seems as far off as it was at the beginning. Man is still under death, still dominated by sin and the devil. Through what mighty man is the deliverance of the oppressed to be effected?

We are, blessed be God, left in no doubt as to this. Almost the first words that fell upon the ears of our fallen parents from which they could derive any hope were those that were spoken to the serpent that deceived them: the Seed of the woman was to bruise his head. Adam could effect nothing. His own deliverance, as well as the deliverance of any of his posterity, depended upon the Seed of the woman. Not Adam, but the Son of Man is the One whom God has made strong for Himself (Ps. 80: 17).

He is to be supreme in the universe of God. Everything is to be put under His feet. The only exception to this is God Himself. He is to be pre-eminent in every department of the universe, for this is the decree of God from all eternity. Around Him all the thoughts of God centre. He is the object of all prophetic scripture. The prominent men in past dispensations were only figures of Him, shadows of the Man that filled the vision of God.

When the Psalmist looked up into the heavens and contemplated the work of God's fingers, the moon and the stars which He had ordained, the littleness of man came before him, and he wondered that God took such account of him. But if the littleness of man filled the vision of the Psalmist so that he was forced to exclaim: "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" it was Christ that filled the vision of the Spirit: not Adam, but the Seed of the woman, the Son of Man, the object of divine counsel, and He saw everything put under His feet; and though this is not manifestly so yet, the same Spirit fixes our attention upon the Man in heaven, who is crowned with glory and honour, having tasted death for everything. If we see not yet all things put under man, we see the Man under whom everything is to be put, and we see Him in the highest place in glory.

We find a most interesting reference to Him in the eighth of Proverbs. There, speaking as Wisdom, He says, "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old . . .: then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him; rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and my delights were with the sons of men."

Now when we come to the truth regarding the greatness of the Son of Man we find that He is the Creator Himself: all things were made by Him (John 1; Col. 1; Heb. 1). And yet He is viewed here as "by" the Creator, when He made the heavens and the earth. The reason of this, I have no doubt, is that He is there viewed solely as the Man of God's counsels, and that He was the object or purpose with regard to creation; and everything was made with regard to its being taken over by this Son of Man who gave direction to the whole character of the work. "As one brought up with Him" is translated in the Revised Version: "A master workman" (v. 30), and it has also been translated: "His artificer." The meaning, I am persuaded, is that everything was created in view of Christ taking it under control as Man on the ground of redemption.

For we must keep in mind, as I have said, that He is Creator, and that He made the universe and all that is in it for Himself (Col. 1: 16); and when it became necessary for the glory of God, and for the fulfilment of divine counsel, that He should take the place of Leader of the salvation of the many sons that God was bringing to glory, and when it was necessary for the exigencies of that glory that redemption should be wrought, He tasted death for everything: "For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." Therefore the One who created everything has tasted death for everything, that everything might be placed on the ground of redemption to the glory of God.

His sufferings were first of all for the glory of God; that in the creation where God was so dishonoured through sin, sin might receive its judgment, and that when and where sin would receive its judgment God would be glorified, not only in every one of His attributes but in His very nature. In the second place, He suffered the suffering of death in order that the devil, who had the power of death, might be annulled, and that deliverance might be effected for those who, on account of the fear of death, had been all their lives subject to bondage. In the third place, He suffered to make propitiation for the sins of those who were to be His companions in the day of His glory. And in the fourth place, He suffered, being tempted, in order to be able to sympathize with our weaknesses, and to be able to succour us when we are tempted (see Hebrews 2.)

In the Old Testament, and in the New, by all the writers except Paul, the use of the title "The Christ" connects, as far as my memory serves me, the Saviour with the people of Israel. I know that the woman of Samaria connected the Christ with the world but though this be true, the Lord had already told her that "salvation was of the Jews," and the salvation of the world really depends upon Jehovah's resumption of relationship with His earthly people. To this great truth the prophets bear abundant testimony, and so also does the Apostle of the Gentiles in Romans 9: 12-15.

But under the title of "Son of Man" He is not viewed in connection with any special family upon earth. It is a title that speaks of universal headship and blessing. At the same time we must keep in mind that the application of this title to the Saviour and the order of things that are connected with it do not set aside, disarrange, or alter the conditions of blessing that are brought before us under the title of the Christ. It is simply that the title Son of Man extends the field of vision to the utmost limits of the universe, including all that is brought before us in the titles "Son of Abraham," "Son of David," "King of Israel," "The Christ," or any other.

In the Gospels, rejected by the Jews, He will not allow Himself to be called the Christ, but tells His disciples that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the priests and elders of the people; and be delivered to the Gentiles, who would expose Him to every indignity, and in the end put Him to death. To Nicodemus He testifies that — "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up," not for the sake of Israel only, but that "Whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The title Son of Man carries with it universal power and blessing.

But not only must the Son of Man come under the suffering of death, but He it is who breaks the power of death, for since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of those that are dead (1 Cor. 15: 21). If man in the person of Adam brought in death, the Son of Man has broken its power and brought about resurrection in the power of God.

But the first to be raised is Himself: He is Firstborn from the dead (Col. 1: 18), and God has set Him far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and given Him to be head over all things to the church which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. (Eph. 1: 20-23).

And all that are His who have passed away from earth shall be raised in His likeness, for He is the pattern of the redeemed family. He will raise His sleeping saints in glory, and change the living along with them into His own image: for we shall bear the image of the heavenly Man.

And because He is Son of Man all judgment is committed to Him; and the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth: they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation (John 5). He has authority everywhere. And He has a right to this authoritative position in the universe: first, because He created it; second, because He redeemed it; third, because for the glory of God He was humiliated in the sight of it.

What a multitude of varied glories cluster around this title of Son of Man ? the Man of divine counsel, the Architect of all creation, the Creator Himself, the Seed of the woman, the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, the Man whom Jehovah has made strong for Himself, the Destroyer of the power of death, the Resurrection and the Life, the Bread that came down from heaven and which gives life to the world, the One who shall bruise the head of the devil, the Judge of living and dead, Lord of angels, Lord of living, Lord of dead, Lord of all, the One under whose headship everything in the universe shall be gathered together ? yet obedient to death, and that the death of the cross; made sin, a curse, the song of the drunkard, a worm and no man; mocked, derided, buffeted, abused; His face marred more than any other man's, His form more than the sons of men; groaning, sighing, weeping in a world of sin and rebellion against God; despised for His grace, hated for His love, martyred for the truth; He drank the vinegar and gall of human ingratitude, and the bitter chalice of divine judgment against sin; rejected by the Jews, crucified by the Romans, betrayed by a friend, denied by a disciple, abandoned by His followers, forsaken by God. Whose sorrow ever equalled the sorrow of this Son of Man?

But shall not the glory be equal to the sorrow? Yea, God hath highly exalted Him, and hath given Him a name that is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of heavenly, earthly, and infernal things, and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father (Phil. 2: 9-11). Every one must honour the Son as the Father is honoured (John 5: 23). Well may we prostrate ourselves in His presence and rejoice as we confess Him.

In Christ

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8: 1.

This is the grand and glorious conclusion arrived at by the Holy Spirit, after having traced, for the benefit of the Roman saints, the manner and result of the intervention of God on behalf of His poor creature, who in his natural and responsible condition lay helpless and undone under sin's cruel slavery, and subject to the infliction of eternal wrath.

In Adam there was nothing but death and condemnation for the sinner. The head was fallen, and all the race was of necessity also fallen. Far off from God, ungodly, transgressors, rebels, enemies, children of wrath, are some of the terms employed in the Word of Truth to set before us the terrible nature of our natural condition as in the first and fallen Adam. In the abominable corruption of the flesh we wallowed, with no confidence in God, suspicious of all His gracious advances on our behalf, preferring darkness to light, hatred to love, curse to blessing, war to peace, earth to heaven, the creature to the Creator, even the oppression of the devil to the sway of infinite and eternal love. We were at a distance from God, and at that distance we were determined at all costs to keep ourselves. We would not seek Him, and should He come out as the seeker after us, every corner of the universe would be ransacked for a hiding-place. If we looked backward dark was the history of the world, dark and deceitful our own personal history, darkness lay upon everything around us, and before us loomed the blackness of darkness for ever. Without God we were miserable, and the thought of God made us ten times more miserable. Our money was given for that which was not bread, and our labour for that which did not satisfy. We snatched occasionally a momentary pleasure from the indulgence of our carnal appetites, but our seasons of depression were terrific, and the thought of having to meet God and to render account to Him was intolerable. As hell and destruction are never satisfied, and the grave and the barren womb never say, Enough; so was the bottomless pit of our corrupt nature ever demanding fresh novelties supplied from the hell-invented markets of a godless world, and so were we finding that the whole universe would be of itself insufficient to fill one human heart.

What could it be for a soul away from God but unhappiness? No creature is sufficient for himself, nor indeed is the creation itself sufficient for the creature set by God in intelligent relationship with Himself. God alone can suffice for the heart of man; and woe, unutterable woe, must be the portion of those who, having said to God, "Depart from us," shall be compelled to hear Him in the day of judgment say to them, "Depart from Me, ye cursed." The souls that will not have Him in time need not expect Him to have them in eternity.

But for the soul in Christ there is no condemnation. The condemnation has been borne by Him in whom I am placed before God. The sins, the sin, the judgment, the death, and the slavery to sin ? all are gone, and "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." New relationships, new hopes, new life, new objects, and new power have come to pass in and through Him who is my righteousness, my life, and my salvation before the face of God.

In Him I am of God (1 Cor. 1: 30). I derive my new moral, spiritual existence from God: I am born of Him. Nothing of Adam enters into that which is in Christ. They are two different orders of men. One made of dust, the other out of heaven. The cross is the end of my connection with the former ? "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2: 20). There I have been brought to an end judicially. I could not have been mended, therefore have I been ended. Apart from law I was lawless, under law a transgressor, visited by God in grace in the person of His Son I was a God-hater, ungodly, a rebel sinner, an enemy of God. Such was the flesh. Such it is, for it is incorrigible. Such was I. Such is the flesh still in me. But I am not in it, thank God. "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you" (Rom. 8: 9). I am of Christ's order.

"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," and not "the law of sin in my members," is now the principle and power which regulates my conduct on my way to glory. "What the law could not do" God has done; not by mending the old ? that could not be done ? but by ending for me the whole condition of flesh, and giving me the Holy Spirit to rule, regulate, guide, and empower the inward man, so that I might walk after the Spirit and fulfil the righteous requirement of the law, and thus "adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour."

In Christ is new creation (2 Cor. 5: 17). There "old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new"; new nature, new life, new relationships, new affections. And all these things are of God. The man in Christ is of God, and everything connected with him. In Adam is old creation: old, fallen, sinful, defiled, dead, and lost. In Christ is new, and "as He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4: 17).

"Of such an one will I glory" (2 Cor. 12: 5). It is well to know that to them that are in Him there is no condemnation; but that does not exhaust all that there is in Christ. We learn this to begin with; but we have in Him an inexhaustible wealth of blessing that will never be all learned while we are upon earth. Who could fathom the bliss of being "holy and without blame before Him in love?" or fully estimate the dignity and delight of being before the Father's face, as sons along with, and in the likeness of, His Son? We read these words in our Bibles, and we believe them too, but we may well ask ourselves what power they possess over our souls.

Paul boasted of the man "in Christ." He tells the Philippians that if any one thought he had whereof to boast in the flesh, he himself had more. And when he had for a moment decorated himself with these virtues, that the Philippians might get a look at what he was in the flesh, he tears them off, and in utter disgust throws them upon the midden of corrupt fallen humanity, counting them dung that he might have Christ for his gain and be found "in Him." When arraigned as a prisoner before King Agrippa, in the presence of Festus, the chiliarchs and great men of the city, the sense of the dignity of his place in Christ does not for a single instance fade from his heart and mind. Confronted with all the pride and pomp of royalty, the awe of authority, the glitter, glamour, and fascination of a gaudy, voluptuous court, and with a charge of inciting the populace to riot hanging over his head, he answered the haughty monarch, who, scoffing at his attempt to get at his seared and benumbed conscience, breaks forth into that expression which many have taken to be the language of a soul on the point of surrender to Christ, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian," in those words which so forcibly set before us the way in which his soul entered into the infinite wealth of blessing that was his in Christ: "I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds" (Acts 26: 29).

It has often been remarked that he does not say, "Such as I shall be when glorified," but "Such as I am." Dragged out of the temple by the multitude, who sought to murder him, rescued by the military, bound with two chains, almost torn to pieces by Pharisees and Sadducees, once more forcibly taken out of their violent hands by the soldiers, brought before Felix as a "mover of sedition" and "a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes," and thrown again into prison, where he lay for two years. To be brought in such a state as all this must have reduced him to, into the presence of such magnificence and dazzling splendour as shone that day in the court of King Agrippa, one might have thought his apparently wretched and miserable condition would have so pressed itself upon his spirit that all the enthusiasm produced in him by his new-found faith would have died in his soul. But no. The happiness that was his in Christ, the dignity of his heavenly calling, the favour of God, the knowledge of the Father and the Son, all that God was to him, all that Christ was, the love of God declared in death, the joy of bearing in a small measure the reproach of Christ, of suffering shame, blows, and imprisonments for His name, the privilege of confessing Him before these haughty rulers, as well as before the meanest of the creatures of God ? these sweet and glorious considerations made good to his soul in the power of the divine Spirit exalted him and maintained him upon an elevation as far above the garish circle that surrounded Agrippa as heaven is above earth.

He pitied them. And indeed they were to be pitied. Their rank, their glory, their greatness, the honour paid to them by their inferiors what availed it all with death at their elbow, and a hopeless eternity looming in front of them? They were now having their "good things" (Luke 16), and Paul his "evil things," but Paul's evil things were infinitely better than their good things. His evil things were the reproach of Christ, and that was greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Miserable, from a human standpoint, was his lot. His property, his reputation, his distinction in the flesh, his scholastic training, his easy circumstances, his liberty ? all were gone, and his life was in peril. What more is needful to be added to make the picture of utter desolation complete? And yet his soul's desire for king and courtier was, that they might come to be as he at that moment was. Marvellous man! How deeply he had entered into the blessedness of the man in Christ.

Another thing I would notice in connection with this subject before bringing this paper to a close. We have the believer in Christ in Romans 8: 1, and the love of God in Christ in the last verse of the same chapter. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ, neither is there any separation from the love of God, for that love is there also. In unfathomable grace God has brought us to Himself in Christ, and set us before His face in all the value of that work wrought by Christ, and in all the acceptability of His person. But it is in Christ that the love of God has had its full and blessed expression, and it is in Him also it has found its eternal resting-place.

The Heathen

"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right." Genesis 18: 25.

The question of the heathen, who have never been favoured with the message of the grace of God, will naturally arise in the mind of the reader. That they will never have to give account to God for the way in which they have treated a gospel which they have never heard goes without saying. It is a principle of Scripture that where little has been given, little shall be required; but to whom much has been given, from him much shall be demanded (Luke 12: 48). The heathen can only have to give account for the way in which they have treated whatever light they may have had given them of God. The difficulty which arises in the minds of men in connection with their accountability to God has its origin in the fact, that in the heart of each lurks the latent desire to at all costs justify himself. It is natural to him as a sinner, and is a great proof of his fallen condition.

Surely the Creator has a right to do as He pleases in and with His own creation. If man has not answered the purpose for which he was created, God must please Himself as to how He shall deal with him. He may condemn him without giving him any opportunity of salvation, as He has done with fallen angels; or He may act toward him in the way of grace, as He does to men generally; or He may save him by His sovereign mercy, as He does the elect; and who can call His ways in question? He made man, to begin with, and His rights over him are supreme. He can kill and make alive, and He does so without consulting His creature. The whole universe is completely in His power, and it must be so, for it is the work of His hands. The fallen sinner may rebel against His decrees, and attempt to grasp the authority which can be His only, but whether as an object of mercy or of wrath he must learn that the fear of the Lord is the thing for him to cultivate, for this is true wisdom.

It is important to get right ideas of God. I do not mean only in His grace, which must be learned in the gospel, but as a Creator. "Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest Thou? or Thy work, He hath no hands?" (Isa. 45: 9). I have not yet come to consider what God makes, or what He does with what He makes; I am only seeking to show, that if you allow the idea of a Creator at all (and a man must be mad who does not), you must allow that He has a right to do just as He pleases; to make what He pleases, and to do that which He pleases with the thing that He has made. No one ever yet gave God this His rightful place but Christ, who, having taken the place of man, maintained that place consistently, to the glory of God, from the manger to the cross. He held Himself here at the disposal of God, and though He did not sin, neither was guile found in His mouth, yet He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. That it was the will of God was a sufficient explanation of every circumstance in which He found Himself.

I have dwelt long upon this principle, because of its importance in our consideration of God's ways with men in His dealings with the world. That no man has been, or could be, clothed with unlimited authority, and be so free from outside influences that he could carry out the desires of his heart I suppose no one will question. Many considerations conspire together to prevent the greatest despot from working out the conceptions of his evil mind. There is the fear of degrading himself in the eyes of others, or of how the thing may recoil upon his own head. There are always outside influences at work which prevent men having their own way completely. Were it not so, a man with unlimited power would destroy the whole human race, and end all by the destruction of himself.

But God cannot be brought under any influence whatever. And yet man's thought of God does not rise higher than himself: "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself" (Ps. 50: 21). Naturally we think of God as an evil being, and fear to have to do with Him. Being evil ourselves we cannot take in the thought of a Being supremely good: we think of Him as niggardly in the dispensing of His benefits, and vindictive in the execution of His judgment. The god of man's conception is a demon, an evil and cruel being, endowed with the same kind of passions as himself, and influenced, in all his ways with men, by selfish considerations. To come to know God in Jesus is to be brought out of darkness into marvellous light.

Another thing I would say before referring to the light Scripture gives us as to the heathen. Nothing can be perfectly known by the creature. This is so self-evident that I need do no more than mention the fact. The creation itself is beyond us. I know that it exists. I see it, feel it, am part of it. I see the relation which certain things bear to others. The sun, moon, and stars appeal to my senses as the handiwork of an all-wise, almighty, and supreme Being, and from them I drop down to the consideration of a globule of water or a grain of sand. But what do I know of these things? What are they made of? I may be told water is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen. But what are these gases? I may know a great deal about created things, how they will behave under certain conditions, the uses I may be able to put them to; but what they are in themselves I know not. The Creator does, but the creature cannot know what the creature is. We know all that is necessary for us to know, or perhaps I should rather say, we are capable of knowing all that God deems good for us to know. May we be content with this.

Had man remained in innocence he would not have needed a revelation from God. It was when he sinned this became necessary, and he gets it at once. God has never yet left any of His creatures without witness regarding Himself. Man being like a planet out of his orbit, nothing remains for him but destruction, unless he can be recovered and brought into right relationship with his Centre. When man wheeled wilfully out of his appointed course, His Creator at once intervened, and pointed the way back to righteousness, peace, and salvation. Abel took that way, and found it paved with the favour of Jehovah; Cain refused it, and became a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. Cain had all the light that Abel had, but he was unfaithful to it; and the whole antediluvian world was not less favoured, though with few exceptions the testimony of God was scorned.

There does not seem to have been any practice of idolatry until after the deluge. It may have been the tradition of the fallen angels which Satan took up, by which to ensnare men, and entice them into demon-worship. Anyhow, almost immediately after the flood mankind fell into idolatry, and idolatry is demon-worship (1 Cor. 10: 20). The idol itself is nothing, but what is behind the idol, and which fills the heart and mind of the worshipper, is a demon. The gods of the heathen are evil beings, and the worship of demons became universal after the flood.

It was not any lack of testimony on the part of God, which brought about this state of things, but the hatred of God natural to the human heart. We have the downward career of the sons of Noah into the moral quagmire of corruption brought graphically before the vision of our souls in the first chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans. They sinned against the light which they had from God, and they were, the Apostle says, "without excuse." They had all the light possessed by Abel, Enoch, and others, and these had found it sufficient to guide their footsteps back to the Source of life and happiness; and indeed they were still more favoured, for they had seen by the intervention of God in the deluge how well He was able to deliver the godly, and judge the rebellious. Added to this they had the testimony of creation, the visible things bearing testimony to the invisible. The eternal power and divinity of the Creator comes to light in the works of His hands, leaving those who bow down to the idol without excuse.

This is just as true to-day as it was then. The heathen have the heavens declaring the glory of God, and the firmament showing His handiwork: day uttering speech unto day, and night unto night teaching knowledge. There is neither speech nor words, yet is their voice heard through all the earth, right to the extremity of the world (Ps. 19).

There are also evidences of His goodness in the fact that He gives sunshine, rain, and fruitful seasons, "filling our hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14). The object of it all is that men might feel after Him and find Him, for He is not far from any one of us (Acts 17). Man has gone far from God, and his great desire is always to increase the distance, but God has not gone far from man. The distance lies in alienation of heart and mind, and therefore man being a God-hating sinner, the distance to which he has gone is immeasurable; but God pursues him in the grace and love of His heart, ready to fall on his neck and cover him with kisses (Luke 15) the moment he, in the sorrow of his soul, turns round and begins to feel after his Creator, whom he has so heartlessly abandoned.

We are told by Paul (Acts 17) that the times of this ignorance God winked at (overlooked, or dealt with in no special way), but left man to the testimony of the visible things, against which he sinned grossly and provocatively, while wallowing in every abominable pollution that suggested itself to his corrupt and devil-deceived heart. He had sufficient testimony given him by God to light his way back to Him from whom he was gradually drifting farther and farther away; but to this he paid no regard, for the service of Satan was connected with a licence for the flesh, which the idea of a holy and righteous God forbade. Because of this, the service of their fell destroyer was considered easy, his bondage was delightful, God was forgotten, and darkness reigned supreme.

It has been thus from the beginning. The testimony of God by Noah was despised, the law was trampled under foot, the prophets were stoned, and those who foretold the coming of the Messiah were murdered. And has it been any better under the gospel dispensation? The Jews despised it, it went out to the heathen and there few believed it, and in Christendom, which is supposed to be the result of the preaching, comparatively few believe it with their hearts. Men seem more concerned about what is to be the fate of the heathen than they are about their own souls, or about the multitude around them, who, with the gospel ringing in their ears, go heedlessly down to a lost eternity.

The state of the heathen is brought forward by many to discredit the Scriptures. They foolishly imagine that because they have had no testimony of the grace of God presented to them, they cannot be held amenable to the judgment of God. But this conjecture arises from the erroneous idea that men shall be judged for the rejection of the gospel only. That men shall be judged for the rejection of the gospel is true regarding those to whom it has been preached, but all men are amenable to the judgment of God, whether they have heard the gospel or not.

We are told in 1 Thessalonians that the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with the angels of His might, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This will take place at His appearing, and is spoken of as the judgment of the living. It is "When He shall come." Here we have two classes of people upon whom the judgment falls, namely, them that know not God, and them that obey not the gospel.

But in Romans 2: 12-16 we have a very plain statement made by the Apostle referring to this very question. He says, "As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law . . . in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." The Gentiles sinned "without law," the law was never given to them. They shall be judged by the light given by creation, natural conscience, and the goodness of God manifested in His providence. They shall perish: they have been altogether unfaithful to the light vouchsafed to them. The Jews to whom the law was given shall be judged by it. Christians are not supposed to come into judgment. If they were truly that which they are by profession they would not come into judgment, for in Christ the believer is already justified from all things. Still because of the unfaithfulness of those favoured with such abundant light, the time has already come when judgment must begin at the house of God (1 Peter 4: 17).

Judgment will be according to privileges enjoyed. Therefore the soul who has heard the gospel and rejected it shall have the heaviest sentence; the Jew comes next in responsibility, as having the law, priding himself in the possession of it, and dishonouring the Lawgiver by the breaking of it. Last and least in responsibility come the heathen, who have had neither law nor gospel. He who knew his Master's will, and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes; but he who knew not, and yet did commit things worthy of punishment, shall be beaten with few stripes (Luke 12: 47, 48). The judgment of God will be according to truth against such as do evil: "To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality (or incorruptibility), eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; but glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile" (Rom. 2: 7-10).

That the Judge of all the earth will do right there ought to be no question in any mind; but whatever He does the wisdom of the creature is to submit himself to it. The creature cannot be the judge of his Creator. In the way in which the Creator has been pleased to declare Himself, in that way both reader and writer must come to know Him. I take the perfect account which He has given of Himself in the Word of truth; I contemplate Him in His love, grace, righteousness, holiness, power, wisdom, majesty and might, and my heart is filled with thanksgiving that I have found Him to be such as the gospel reveals Him, and such as my natural heart never for a moment thought Him to be.

I think of Him in His mercy on the one hand, and in His judgment and wrath on the other, and I am not terrified before Him, for I see nothing even in the lake of fire inconsistent with His holy love. He has come to light in Jesus: there His heart is revealed, but from those lips from which rivers of grace flowed forth, there came the testimony of a judgment which in its severity turns the most terrible utterances that ever burned upon prophetic lip into tides of mercy. His enemies had to say "Never man spake like this Man," and surely no one ever did, for no one knew what He knew. When He spoke, the breathings of the heart of God were heard, but mingled with it all the tempests of eternal wrath broke upon the ear. He brought everything to light. The heart of God, the heart of man, the heart of heaven, and the heart of hell. All is in the light now, and men everywhere are seen to be without excuse, and all will find Him justified when He speaks, and clear when He judges (Ps. 51: 4).

Notes on Genesis

Notes on Genesis.

E. L. Bevir.

Biographical Note

London: G. Morrish, 20, Paternoster Square, E.C. 1900.

"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding? Job 38: 4.

Contents

Genesis 1

Genesis 2

Genesis 3

Genesis 4

Genesis 5 - 9

Genesis 10, 11

Genesis 12, 13

Genesis 14 - Abraham, Lot, and Melchizedek.

Genesis 15 - 21

Genesis 22 - 24 - The Sacrifice of Isaac, and the Call of the Bride.

Genesis 25, 26 - Ishmael and Isaac.

Genesis 27 - 32 - Jacob and Esau; Israel.

Genesis 37 - 48 - Joseph

Genesis 49 - Jacob's Last Prophecy

Preface

The following "Notes on Genesis" have been reprinted from Helps for the Poor of the Flock. Several of my friends have expressed a wish to have them in a succinct form.

In reading them over, I see nothing that I wish to change. I have no pretension to add to many valuable notes on this wonderful book nor is there any startling novelty. I cannot, however, but hope that the main subjects of Genesis, which are strictly followed in these Notes, may be of help to many who study the scriptures with a view of discovering in them the glory of Christ, and of growing in the knowledge of Him.

In the marvellous history of the first ages, God's grand principles in His ways with men, His counsels, and His full triumph over evil, become visible to us, as in a divine speculum [mirror].

E. L. B. Valence-sur-Rhone, November, 1899.

Genesis 1.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

It is a happy thing, in such a day as ours, to receive by faith the divine account of the formation of the heavens and the earth.

A believer receives God's word in his heart; and his mind is certainly satisfied at the same time, for the mind would be sadly tortured if it had to conceive a universe without a Being who had formed it.*

{* I suppose that the very grossest materialist would admit that there is force acting in the universe; and if he be pushed to it, must he not admit that it is either outside of the molecules of matter or inside them? Which is more likely? That one supreme will and power formed the worlds, and set them rolling; or that all the atoms suddenly agreed by interior force to collect, and then to keep to the laws of gravity?}

The first verse stands by itself, and the gulf or interval between it and the second is greater than we can imagine. The beginning, if we had to count the time back to it, is very remote; but the great thing to observe is that it is the beginning. Ages and ages ago, there was a beginning. It may be said: "We cannot understand what creation is;" to which I would reply: "I believe you; and if you try to account for it in any other way than God created, you will surely go wrong." Faith receives it, and the heart and mind rest in Him who never had any beginning, in the eternal Son, by whom all things were made, and for whom all things were made, in whose power all things are subsisting. In the beginning was the Word; and our hearts delight to think of the eternal deity and Godhead of Him, whose almighty power was exerted at the creation. "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they exist, and were created!"

And here let me warn the reader against a fault that is very common; that of misunderstanding the purpose of the scriptures. The Bible is not a book of astronomy or cosmography, but one that deals with the hearts and consciences of the inhabitants of the earth. It gives us a faithful history of the earth, from this point of view; and the "heavens" here are the first heaven; that is, the atmosphere. It is no question of the relative time of creation of other globes; but the beginning of this earth's history.

The history of what should take place on it (the earth) forms indeed a wonderful part of the divine book, and of this we shall have cause to speak. I am only calling attention to the fact that we have here the earth and its atmosphere before us; God created them in the beginning.

?

And now I again call attention to the interval between the first and second verses.

We are often told that millions and billions of years must have elapsed during the formation of the earth's crust, to say nothing of what happened before. There is ample room for all this between the first and second verses; ages and ages ran out. The second verse brings us to an important point in time, when the work of forming the present state of things upon the earth's surface began.

It is not revealed how the "without form and void" state ensued, but let us be careful not to confound it with the first verse. A state of convulsion and chaos came on, and from the midst of it the present creation began; the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.

The creation of light should fill us with wonder; and it is well to notice that it was called into existence before the great luminaries are mentioned.

Light is invisible in itself, but makes everything visible; it is so defined in Ephesians 5: 13. It is more than the "offspring of heaven firstborn," for it is the very image-name of God Himself. God is light.

The passage is without doubt alluded to in 2 Corinthians 4: 6, which should be rendered "the God who commanded the light to shine out from the midst of the darkness has shined in our hearts, in order to make resplendent the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

No scientists can explain how the vibrations, to which they call our attention, began; nor indeed can they get beyond the hypothesis of undulations, supposing "ether." The simplest believer sees in the creation of light the exercise of the power of Him who can call everything into existence, and who has caused His light to shine in our dark hearts (which were as cheerless as the murky surface of the earth in Genesis 1: 2), for the shining out of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

And God saw the light that it was good ? there is a division between light and darkness, as great as that moral separation which we find in the New Testament between the two. It is well to call things by their right names; and I think that if we wish to study the scriptures, we must get a new dictionary, for God's categories are not the same as the scholastic ones. What God calls "darkness" (that is, man's state), the world calls "light," boasting of its illumination. Men who are morally blind seem to delight to exclaim: "We see!"; and again in 1 Corinthians 1, God calls "power" and "wisdom" what the world calls "weakness" and "folly."

God called the light Day; and the darkness He called Night.

Simple and clear as this is, we shall find, all through scripture, the constant recurrence of "light" and "darkness"; and in our day we cannot be too careful to walk as children of the light. Believers are light in the Lord; and it has often been remarked that though it cannot be said of them that they are "love," which is absolute and implies sovereignty, yet they are described as "light" in the Lord. The fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth; and it is good when things are called by their right names, If there be a diligent walk according to the light, the unfruitful works of darkness will be manifested and carefully avoided by the children of God.

The second immense fact in creation was the formation of the firmament, which divided the upper from the lower waters. This firmament* is the visible heaven, the atmospheric expanse; and this prepares the earth for the following glorious events that were to take place upon the globe.

{* Perhaps it would be better to put "expanse;" literally the "stretched out (space)."}

On the third day the separation of the waters from the dry land preceded the latter's being adorned with every kind of tree, herb and grass, each of which should bring forth fruit and seed according to its kind.

On the fourth day, the great luminaries which were symbols of established power and order were made for signs, for seasons, and for days and years. Notice that the word "made" (ver. 16) is not the same as "created." (Ver. 1.) It is not said that sun, moon and stars were created at the epoch of verse 16, but that they were constituted lights to the earth at that time. Although the Bible is not a treatise on astronomy (for it treats of moral subjects far higher than the stars), yet its language will be found to be singularly correct, and we shall never find any confusion between the acts of creating things and placing them in their order. The word of God never denies the exact sciences, as they are called (that is, that 2+2=4, etc.), but it gives us what is infinitely higher. What would be the value to us of having a full knowledge of mathematics (the abstract relations of time and space) if our hearts were void of the love of God as known in Christ?

Birds, beasts, and fishes now follow, full of vitality; the sphere over which the first man was to rule is peopled with living creatures.

But on the sixth day we find an act of creation very different to all that had preceded. Notice that in verse 26, it is not "Let the earth bring forth," as in verse 24; this is a fatal blow to what is known as "evolution."

There is nothing more distinct than the formation of man, and the difference between man and mere animals. To the infidel, who says, "Man (the first man) is an animal," we could say: "Certainly; but he is much more besides. If you mean to say that he is a mere animal, you are suppressing the greater part of the truth." There was a solemn consultation before the formation of this singular and moral being, man. It is Adam, the first man, but he is a figure of the last Adam, of Christ, who was to come; he was made in the image of God, and after His likeness.

He was to represent God's glory in the place which he occupied as head of the creation; and he was morally like God in so far that he was good and free from evil. Alas! how soon was this likeness lost!

Man has a heart and a conscience such as never can be found in the most developed ape or elephant. Let us leave his mind (though no mere brute has the same faculties as a man), and speak of what constitutes him a moral being. It will be said that Adam had not a conscience till he fell, and this is true ? we are anticipating ? what we have, up to the end of the third verse of the second chapter, is man made in the image and after the likeness of God and set over all His works. I should like to leave to my reader the pleasant task of pondering over "image and likeness," and the peculiar place at the head of the creation; we shall have more to say later on of man's relation to God.

So far, we have a solemn act of creation, after deliberate counsel, of a being very different from the brute, who is in the image and likeness of God and should represent Him, having dominion over His works.

Everything was very good in the six days of creation. Notice that there is a special act of creation for man (ver. 27); and that this word (created) is not always used in the other cases, though it is found in verse 21.

And now comes the Sabbath, God's rest. We must not let this pass without carefully remarking it. God rested on the seventh day from the work which He had made.

God's rest is a very great subject in the scriptures; and in general, it is but little understood. It is well to look at it, as it is first presented to us here in Genesis. God could rest when all the works of this creation (of Gen. 1) were complete. I suppose that there is always the thought of satisfaction in the work, and of the absence of anything that could disturb the repose.

The rest described here did not last long (Heb. 4: 3, 4); God's rest upon this earth has been interrupted for nearly six thousand years. I trust that it is not a digression if we say a few words as to the Sabbath; it is the beautiful figure of God's rest which is still to come, where He shall find His own joy and repose amongst His own redeemed ones. No sin, nothing contrary to the nature of Him who is love and light shall ever enter that peaceful scene, illuminated by God's own glory, where His own shall enjoy His rest. How different from some sensual paradise, where eternal idleness is to be the reward, Allah being really as far off as ever!

It is very important to understand that in Hebrews 4 it is God's rest that is spoken of, and not merely ours. It has been well said that God could not rest in a world of sin, and we have in John 5 the blessed fact of the Father and the Son both working; the mere form of the Jewish Sabbath was worth nothing. That the blessed Spirit is working too we have abundant evidence, and there can be no Sabbath upon this earth until God shall put things upon the footing of Zephaniah 3: 17, "He will rest in his love." Zion shall be delivered, and the whole earth blessed.

But we Christians look higher than the earthly part of the kingdom; and, in the midst of toil and sorrow, of difficulty and effort, we wait with longing for that day, when we shall enter into the rest of God. How stimulating to us is the thought of God's resting in the midst of His own, as we go on through this scene of trouble and unrest. May we strain every nerve in the race, with hearts full of His peace, till we also shall have ceased from every painful effort and trial, to enter into His rest!

We may pause a little here to contemplate the rest of God.

Genesis 2.

At verse 4 of chapter 2 another view of the creation and of man's place in it is given to us; and here we have God, under the name of Jehovah Elohim, entering into relation with responsible moral beings.

The seventh verse is very important, for it is never said of the mere brute that God breathed into his nostrils; and this is what is meant by a "moral being," that is, one who is in direct relation to his Creator, one whose true dignity is obedience to Him, and dependence upon Him.

Let us suppose the very wisest sheep-dog that could be found (and we must admit that some of these animals are very astute), it will be at once felt that the creature could not be subjected to any such trial as that which was applied to the first man ? Adam. I mean, in a few words, that Adam was in a very different position, and in himself very different from the most sagacious brute.*

{* I recollect a very good answer being given at Geneva to some would-be opposers, who were reasoning about dogs' minds. "All very well," said an old Christian, "but did you ever see a dog express contrition for stealing what was not his own?"}

Then we have some of the most wonderful pictures in God's first book.

The garden and its two trees; the river; the naming of the creatures; and the woman.

The beautiful garden of Eden possessed two pre-eminent trees, of which we shall have to speak again. Whatever may have been the beauty of all the rest, these two trees are the ones upon which we should fix our eyes, for everything depended upon them. The tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil; this second tree was a very dangerous one to man. I merely would notice the two; as for the rest of the garden, one may form a faint picture of it perhaps, but I think that poets have utterly failed to describe it.

A garden planted by God, with the river running through it, and flowing off in four directions, gold and precious stones ? all this speaks of order, fertility, and wealth. We shall allude to these things again, my great desire now being to call attention to the head (Adam) of the well-ordered creation, for we shall see that all depended upon him; and it will be well to notice the height of his earthly glory and the extent of his sway, before we come to the history of his fall. He is here the figure of Him who was to come; the figure of the last Adam, head of the new creation.

We may learn much by thus contemplating for a moment the first man as he came out of the Creator's hands, and was put into his place at the head of Eden.

We are apt to make light of the fall in our day, when people make light of everything, and I wish to look at the height of this great column (Adam) before endeavouring to say anything of the crash of its ruin.

The naming of the animals is an important thing; for the man's supremacy as viceroy is evident. He was allowed to give names to every beast and bird; his universal jurisdiction was established; and then comes the one more act of the Creator, the one more creature, last but not least, who completes this exquisite picture.

She must not yet go by the name of Eve (that comes later on); but is called woman, Isha made out of Ish. Here is a name that cannot fail to rivet every one's attention.

How blessed (far away from crabbed scribes and Pharisees who had perverted things, Matt. 19: 8) to rise to the original intention of this extraordinary creature, and to see that the very first thought of her is to be a help* to man.

{* I must leave to some of my learned friends to develop this remarkable expression ezer k'neg'do: I should try to translate it, "A help that answered to him;" literally, "as over against him."}

How blessed to get to the very fountain head of everything, and to have God's own thoughts. "In the beginning it was not so" would stop all the reasoning of Pharisees, of Mahomet, and of all others who have given us their thoughts about woman, and we come to the simple truth of God's mind, that a creature was to appear who should complete and correspond to the lord of the creation.

And now comes one of the most beautiful figures in this book of divinely-drawn pictures.

Others have spoken of it in far better language than mine. The trance of Adam, the formation (literally building) of Eve from his own rib, and his delight when God brought her to him, "bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh."

I would ask you not to go to Milton for this, but to take it as it is here in all its perfect typical beauty. Then you will behold with adoration, death coming upon Christ, the last Adam, of whom the first was the figure, the church formed,* and the delight of His heart when she shall be presented to Him, and He shall see in her that which corresponds perfectly to His own glory as the Man of God's counsels.

{* I merely notice the fact; there is really nothing in the church, as the new creation, but what is derived from Christ Himself.}

He gave Himself for her, and the pains of death being passed, she rises, and soon shall be manifested with Him, herself the pleroma (fulness) of Him that filleth all in all.

Genesis 3.

The fall and utter ruin of Adam is but little understood.

I had wished, if possible, that his place at the head of the creation were clearly presented, so that the catastrophe might be rightly estimated. All depended upon him who was made in the image of God; if he, the head, fell, all must go with him.

I once heard, in Tuscany, of an edifice, so contrived by the architect, that the whole was practically resting upon one pillar; if this fell, the whole building fell with it. We shall be occupied, not merely with the terrible crash and ruin, but with several important moral features that accompanied it; the change from the preceding state of things is very sorrowful. From innocence to distrust of God, to lusts, disobedience and dishonour ? the distance is not easily conceived, and spoken of but too lightly on all sides!

The subtle enemy deceived the woman, and the man had not strength to refuse her ? they fell. How many things are found in this short history ? the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life . . . . dishonour, misery and nakedness! and whence come all these? Whence indeed, but from the first step of all, when the enemy succeeded in causing distrust of God in Eve. No fig-leaves nor any other leaves (however cleverly stitched)* can hide fallen man's nakedness from God, and this our first parents knew instinctively (they had acquired a conscience) when they tried still further to hide themselves from Him in the cool of the day.

{* The unsuccessful attempts to hide one's misery have no doubt often struck the judicious reader; the human heart is desperately wicked, the nakedness before God is the same, whether under a Pharisee's robes or a common tunic ? a pontiff's purple or a friar's sackcloth.}

There are three immense subjects that now come before us Sin, death and the conscience.

Sin had entered into the world by one man. Sin existed before, as we learn from Ezekiel 28, which gives us the account of the fall of "the anointed cherub;" of him who became enamoured of his own beauty, who fell, and who has acted ever since in dire opposition to God.

The important thing in Genesis 3 is the entrance of sin into the world; that is, upon this earth. Then death is God's judgment upon man, and when this is understood, it is seen how serious a thing it is; if we are to measure man's distance from God, we must admit that death alone is the measure. This is of the very highest moment in a day like ours, when every effort is made to reduce death to the fact of ceasing to exist upon the earth. It is an immense thing when the fact is apprehended that God's judgment is pronounced on the first man Adam, and upon all his race.

Notice, carefully, that the conscience is the knowledge of good and evil. Jehovah Elohim said: "Behold the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil." It is not the measure of good and evil, as some people teach, and the natural conscience could never serve as a guide to the real path of life. Besides the falling away from God, there was a vast change morally in man, that should capacitate him, through redemption, for great things.

The latter part of this passage (Gen. 3) will bring us to God's gracious intervention both in present government and in ultimate blessing to the creatures whose fall is narrated in the former portion; how blessed to perceive God overcoming evil with good!

The question: "Where art thou?" must be answered, and no excuses can avail. In announcing the bruising of the serpent's head by the seed of the woman, God did not make a promise to Adam (as many pretend), but announced a future deliverance, as well as the judgment of the enemy himself.

Let us look for a moment at the two great facts connected with God's intervention to bless man.

1. His present government and care of the fallen creature.

2. His resources in the last Adam through whom a new order of things should be brought in.

There is one great remedy, in God's present government, that enables man to go through his part in this present life, and that is work. There is to be the sweat of the brow, whilst the thorns and thistles* are growing; there is to be labour. As I write these lines from a country where the soil is being sadly neglected and towns crowded with (so-called) intellectual workers, I would call attention to the fact that God's great remedy for actual misery is eating bread with the sweat of the brow, and I doubt if there be any other panacea for the ills that flesh is heir to.

{* It is pretended, in what is called consecrated ground, to have taken off the curse. I have sometimes asked those who speak thus: "Why do thistles, thorns, nettles, etc., still grow in your consecrated cemeteries?"}

But we have another subject here, and several facts, at the end of chapter 3, join to make it clear to us.

The man was driven out of Eden, but at the same time we have a distinct view of the accomplishment of God's counsels through redemption, and of another order of things in the future, where all should be based upon a firm foundation. The second Man comes into view.

Notice that the Lord God Himself made coats of skins for the guilty couple; covering founded upon sacrifice. Also it is to be remarked that Adam called his wife Eve (Khavah, "the living") in the face of death, and here we must recognise faith in him.

The way of the tree of life was closed by the cherubim with the revolving sword, blazing in every direction; and here we must say one or two words. There could be no way to the tree of life for man in his sinful state; and in order that Christ should become the Tree of life for us, He must fully meet all the responsibility of the first man ? this He did, blessed be His name, upon the cross. The grain of wheat, unless it died, remained alone; there was life in Him, but to bring us into it, He must die. The blessed Lord met all the terrors of the flaming sword that kept the way of true happiness; and He is become for us the Tree of life. In Revelation 22, there is no mention of the tree of responsibility, whilst the Tree of life, with perennial fruits, is in the midst of the street of that great city, the holy Jerusalem. Blessed is the prospect to all those who have part in the new creation. I call the reader's attention to this, that it is not:

". . . . loss of Eden, till one greater Man

Restore us, and regain the blissful seat."

It is not restoration to Eden, but entrance according to God's counsels into His heaven, in and with His Christ, the last Adam, blessed for ever!

He tasted death for everything; He, risen and glorified, is the source of everlasting joy, peace and worship in that sphere where no serpent, no dog, no magician, nor any other cause of trouble shall ever enter! To Him be everlasting glory!

Genesis 4.

Life outside of Eden began with a fratricidal murder.

Eve, like most mothers, thought much of her firstborn, Cain; but he proved to be not that acquisition that she supposed. It will be well for us to read attentively this well-known story, so that man's religion may appear to all in its true light; there is a great "revival" in the present day of Cain's religious service, and we shall do well to keep quite away from it.

It is natural to man to approach God with the fruit of his own labour in his hands. Such a feeling is deep in human nature; and whatever traditional idolatry may have come in, or even fetishism, there will be found, I believe, in all men, naturally, the desire to present some fruit of their own labour to God.

East or west, north or south, you will find this at the very bottom of men's hearts. I was once shown a mosque of alabaster, built by an ambitious tyrant, who had hoped thus to propitiate Allah at the end of his days; and an opulent London merchant once told me, as the highest merit, that he had built a church for his country men in a foreign country. All these kind of votive offerings spring from the desire to approach God with the work of one's own hands, and, like Cain's first offering, they can never be received by God.

It may seem to some superfluous, but I cannot let such a subject pass without calling attention to the fact that at the present moment there is a great effort in some quarters to revive, in a peculiar way, the service of Cain. It is natural to man's heart everywhere and in every time ? but I mean in a special manner, that in the very places where evangelical truth had been known, the religion of Cain is being taught. Look at England!

Abel was born outside Eden and was of a fallen race, as Cain his brother; it was his offering that made him acceptable. How wonderful it is to find a man at the very beginning of history, who draws nigh to God through death! May we not well suppose that God Himself had made known to this first family of mankind that there was no other way of approach? (Compare chap. 3: 21 with chap. 4: 7.)

Abel confessed by his gift the fact of being under the judgment of God; the death of the victim evidently preceded the presentation of the fat, and this latter part of the sacrifice foreshadows the excellency of Him who said: "Lo, I come to do thy will." The fat may be looked upon as the consecrated will of Christ ? His own worth as devoted to God. (He could say: "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again.") Happy are they who know a little of His value, who spoke thus; and who know what it is to be accepted in Him! Surely we shall never be weary of this glorious subject. God speaks to our souls by this clear antediluvian voice of Abel, of His appreciation of Jesus. Might we know more in our service of the offering and "the fat thereof"!

But the true nature of religious man becomes but too evident in the sequel. Cain will not listen to the voice of God. I suppose that there can be no real doubt as to the force of "sin lieth at the door." It means that a sin offering* was lying (literally crouching) at the door.

{* Sin and sin offering are the same word in the text (chattath); the meaning here is that Cain had not far to go if he wished to find a sin offering. It was as though the animal were crouching at the very door; there was a remedy in the case of his failing to approach God in the proper way.}

Cain obstinately followed his own way, and the mind of the flesh is enmity against God. The murder of Abel is the downward direction of man's will, if insubjection to God be the upward. He slew his brother, because his works were wicked and his brother's righteous. There is grand talk in our day of "religious toleration;" but the bent of man's natural mind would tolerate neither God's goodness nor those who have known it.

I believe we enter but little into the murderous character of the world we are in; people are killing each other as I write this.

" What hast thou done?" These are the words addressed to Cain, and his heartless answers to God shew us a man without consciousness of the evil he had committed. He wished to escape the consequences of his sin, but that is a very different thing. I recollect visiting a prison where I met many hardened ruffians, who would have liked to be released, but who had no true penitence.

Cain, a marked man (for God set the mark upon him so that he should not be slain), went out of God's presence in this state. A man with a hardened conscience built the city which was called after his son; that city which so clearly represents the whole kosmos. (that is the ornate system known as the world), and where all the arts and sciences are cultivated, but God excluded.

Music, metallurgy and agriculture. Stringed and wind instruments, iron and brass work, and much cattle. I shall never forget being for about five minutes in one of the chief bazaars of the East, and seeing the wealth of nations by the soft light of oil lamps: Damascus steel, Persian and Indian silks, jewels, and the finest polished gold, brazen work, and spices. My feeling was that I should like to get out of it, and why? Is there anything wrong in the arts and sciences? No; but because I felt that there was no place there for God or for Christ.

Cain and company have put up on their huge workshop: "No admittance" to God. Jesus Christ is excluded from the world (John 7: 7), and your place and mine, christian reader, is outside of it.

We may for the moment have to work materially at any art that may serve as our gagne-pain; it is a good thing to have work to do. But the heart, the soul, of the Christian is surely outside of the huge town, where political economy without God is practised; and instead of claiming the land as his own, he would rather accept the grave of Abel, and wait, though still on a blood-stained soil (stained, alas! by blood of far higher value than Abel's), till He, who is the resurrection and the life, shall come to take him to the Father's house.

Cain, as a type, as a vagabond and wanderer on the face of the earth, represents the Jewish nation, guilty of their Messiah's death.

Genesis 5 ? 9.

In looking at the part of the divine oracles that follow Cain's history, there are two great things that will occupy us: ?

1. The state of the antediluvian world, leading up to the Deluge.

2. The cataclysm itself, and its effects.

I should like, in this brief paper, to consider the former of these two subjects; that is, the state of the earth before the flood.

The universal reign of death must be noticed. There is something very striking in the line of long-lived patriarchs, from Adam to Noah, and the final, "and he died," attached to each short history. Death was reigning, a sure proof of sin having come into the world.

The sixth chapter brings us up to the flood. The population of the old (antediluvian) world multiplied with a portentous mixture of good and evil, and monsters* were the result.

{* I must again refer to learned friends for the translation of Nephilim. Is not Nephil similar to pelor, a monster? The title is applied to Canaanite giants in Numbers 13 later on, and these too were evidently of monstrous build.}

But it was not merely a time of gigantic births; evil had developed itself to such an extent that the earth was full of violence and corruption. The heart of man comes into view here, and we see its true character still further explained by our Lord in Matthew 15); an impure but fertile source of evil.

What a study is the antediluvian world; physical monstrosities, and the inner heart of man! Notice that as yet there was no established government, and the human race had run into violent and corrupt practice ? that is, into advanced socialism.

I have little doubt that many of the traditions of mythology were founded upon what took place before the flood; but whatever "the mighty men of old" and the "giants" may have been, I believe that the most important thing of all is the exposure of that moral monstrosity; "every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was evil daily."

Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah in the midst of all the lawlessness of that time; and we are brought to that point in early history, where an end must be made of all flesh. It is one of the most serious facts in Genesis. The ,end of the whole race had come before God; there must be a complete destruction of man and beast; God's judgment must fall, and the curtain be drawn down on this part of the earth's, history.

But we must notice one other man before we speak of Noah. Amidst the increasing lawlessness and prolific evil of the antediluvian age, Enoch walked with God. There was a man who followed a path of true piety amidst the violence and corruption of his time, who was separate from the spirit of the age, and who so vividly felt the necessity of approaching judgment, that he exclaimed: "Behold, the Lord has come* amidst his holy myriads, to execute judgment against all; and to convict all the ungodly of them of all their works of ungodliness, which they have godlessly wrought, and of the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

{* elthe. The need of Jehovah's intervention was so felt by the faithful man that he seemed to see the event, in his mind's eye, by anticipation. Compare Luke 10: 18.}

This man was Enoch; he walked with God during three hundred years, with active faith, and with the divine approbation. (Heb. 11.) We may safely suppose that the ungodly sinners who surrounded him did not much approve his walk; and the most wonderful part of the life of this extraordinary man was its end. He was translated that he should not see death; he was not found, he disappeared from the midst of an advanced age (advanced in ungodly presumption) and went up to be with God.

There can be little doubt that we have in Enoch a figure of the christian's (or, if you please, of the church's) path on earth and translation to heaven.

Noah represents rather those who will pass through the great crisis of the earth's history (the impending judgment), and inherit the earth when the great tribulation shall have passed.

In both these men we have an example of active faith. The first one walked as seeing God's glory, its moral requirements, and imminent judgment; the second prepared for and went through the judgment itself.

Noah passed through the deluge in safety, in the ark which God had commanded him to make. He, and seven others, were saved through water, and there is really no other way of being saved. The water washed away all trace of the old world and of the man that made it what it was; it all disappeared with its giants and men of renown, and the ark that rode on the waters of death represented that deliverance which we know through the death and resurrection of Christ. (See 1 Peter 3: 18-22.)

If Enoch represents (as he undoubtedly does) the church of God, walking as a stranger here, and going to be with the Lord, Noah is the figure of the earthly people, who shall pass through the great hour of trial at the end, and come into possession of the millennial earth.

The great thing to notice in Noah, oracularly warned of the coming catastrophe, is his simple obedience to the voice of God. The dimensions of the ark were given ? the window, the door, and different decks; and Noah made everything according to what was commanded.

We know from 2 Peter that he was a preacher of righteousness, and we may well notice the long-suffering of God, ever slow to execute judgment, up to the very moment of closing the door of the ark.

A certain analogy may certainly be drawn between Noah's time and our own; and it is, to say the least, a serious thing to be living in a world of which it is said by One who never prophesied in vain: "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man; they ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all."

What is the character of your life, my reader, in a world where the most careless are often heard to say: "After us, the Deluge!" ? it is a serious question?

The Flood

Many wish to ignore the flood. The end of the world is never a very pleasing subject to a vast majority of its citizens; and we are living in a day when people speak of the science of "teleology," that is, the science of explaining the end of the world as we should like it to take place. It is really no science at all.

These people would seek to ignore the great fact of the deluge, that is, of God's intervention to put an end to a world whose iniquity had come to a climax; just as they refuse to believe that the present world will be burnt up. (See 2 Peter 3.) They deny that the whole world was drowned under God's judgment; they refuse the prophecy of a general conflagration.

This, however, will take place, notwithstanding all the insurance companies against fire.

?

And now let us look at the divinely-inspired account of this great act of God.

The breaking up of the fountains of the great deep and sudden opening of the windows of heaven were the miraculous execution of God's purpose to destroy the life of all creatures upon earth; it is a serious lesson ? the end of all flesh had come, and after long patience, the sentence was carried out.

There may be interest, no doubt, in the fragments of history that have come to us through the mythology; the flood of Deucalion and other tales, founded upon one great fact; but the important thing for us is to have this immense catastrophe clearly before us, so that we may bow to the just acts of a righteous God, and accept this judgment on the whole human race.

Had it been possible to see the globe after the forty days and forty nights, one huge ball of water would have been descried with one ark floating on a sea without shore. The whole earth was drowned.

We must read the remarkable verses in 1 Peter 3: 20, 21, to learn the true lesson of the floating ark. God had shut up Noah, with all that should form the nucleus of the new earth; and as the flood clearly represents the death of the world, so must the preserved few pass through the waters of death to inherit the postdiluvian blessing. So we (believers) pass through death, of which baptism is the figure, in order to enter into the light and joy of the Lord's presence in resurrection; there is no other way into it.

It is a deep, a terrible experience to go through that element in which all human* life must perish; to know what association with a risen Christ is, in a state of things for ever secure from judgment, is none the less happy.

{* I mean, of course, of the first man, that is, of all those who are descended from Adam and Eve.}

Judgment shall fall upon the present age, as it fell upon the antediluvians; our Lord Himself announces it, and it is well to keep in view that which is coming upon the earth. (Matt. 24; Luke 17.)

The cessation of the flood, and the events that accompany it, are full of interest. The account of the dove and the raven, of the sacrifice and blessing, and of the rainbow are here before us, and merit attention.

The dove could not remain upon the earth until all the effects of judgment were past; and then comes the burnt offering presented to Jehovah. We must notice that whilst He graciously received the sacrifice and blessed Noah and the new earth through it, He again announced that which had already been said as to man's heart (compare chap. 6: 5 with chap. 8: 21) ? its imagination is evil continually.

No act of judgment in God's ways in government can ever change the heart of man. All depends upon the value of the offering, and surely in this, as in every other holocaust, the graces of Christ offering Himself in perfect devotedness to God are before us.

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

The faithful Creator keeps the covenant made with Noah till the end of the earth's history in its present state. There was a lengthening of a day in Joshua's time, and in the time of Hezekiah, when the shadow receded upon the dial; but the course of nature was not interrupted.

It is a great thing in the present day to be taught of scripture to know God as Creator and Sustainer of all things. The interest is all the greater for us who believe, because we know that it was by the Son that the energy of creation was displayed, and that He upholds all things by the power of His might. (John 1; Col. 1; Heb. 1; Rev. 4.)

All glory be to the blessed Lord Jesus!

The giving of the sign to Noah after Jehovah had blessed the renovated earth, and put the sword of government into the patriarch's hands, is very much to be noticed.

It is like a new beginning, the family are blessed and put at the head of the new state of things; and the principle of government, that is, of the magistrate who beareth not the sword in vain, is introduced into the earth that had run riot in violence and corruption before the deluge. Whoso sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for man was made in God's image.

The beautiful rainbow shines out upon the dark clouds. How barren a thing is science, and what a wretched explanation of the phenomenon! I do not mean that the exact sciences are not useful in the present state of things, nor to deny that 2 + 2 = 4, nor the mathematical laws of optics.

No person in his right mind will deny the reflection and refraction of the sun's rays through the rain drops; but, I say, what a barren thing it would be for our souls if we saw nothing in the rainbow but the laws of the angles of incidence, etc., and the doctrine of light waves!

Some one said that phenomena speak to the heart and conscience, whilst science speaks to the intellect. It is so; and God would speak to our hearts and consciences in the rainbow. His faithfulness shines out in perfect colours in the token which He displayed, where man's

heart portended trouble, and where the sombre clouds of His righteous anger were still hovering.

In the Revelation (chap. 4), where all heaven is preparing to judge the earth, which has grown old in iniquity, and which has not profited by the lesson of the deluge, we see again the rainbow around the throne, where He, the Creator and Judge, is seated. We need not be surprised at the homage rendered to Him, who in the very midst of His strange work (judgment) remembers mercy and the covenant He has made with creation.

Let us look with admiration, awe and grateful thanksgiving at the seven bright colours of unfolded light in God's rainbow! The clouds may darken as we pass through a condemned world, but our hearts can go up to Him who is light and can sustain the faith of His own in His own way.

Genesis 10, 11.

There are two things that come before our notice in Genesis 10 and 11.

1. The generations of the sons of Noah, and

2. The tower of Babel.

As to the first subject, I would recommend any who are assailed by ethnological infidels, to keep to Genesis 10, comparing the names of the sons of Shem, Ham and Japheth with the further development of their tribes in the prophetic and other parts of the divine oracles. A humble student of scripture will have a more simple and correct view of the nations of the earth than all the great ethnologists put together.

Noah's unhappy fall became the indirect means of a very general prophecy as to the three grand races.

"Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." It is not necessary to go very far amongst the sons of Ham to understand the fulfilment of this.

"Blessed be Jehovah, God of Shem and Canaan shall be his servant." There was to be a special revelation made in that family, and relation established.

God shall enlarge* Japheth. The huge and audacious family of Japheth went East first of all, and then came West in numerous migrations: it forms the great mass of the Gentiles. "God shall tabernacle in the tents of Shem," I think will include all His ways in Israel and the very advent of the Messiah.

{* I need not call the studious reader's attention to the force of enlarge. The word Japheth and "enlarge" are from the same root.}

Some one has very rightly said that Genesis 10 is a survey of the races; and that we must not bring time (chronological arrangement) into it.

The grand divisions are: ?

Of Ham ? Ethiopians, Egyptians, Libyans, Canaanites.

Of Shem ? Mesopotamians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Lud and Syrians.

Of Japheth ? the Celtic family (Gomer), the tribes to the north of the Caucasus (Magog), Medes, Greeks, Tibareni, Moschi and Thracians ? generally the Indo-Europeans.

?

The building of the tower of Babel forms a memorable epoch in the history of mankind. It was a huge association to construct a temple of fame.* It was the centralising of human forces, bricks cemented with slime.

{* It is a wrong and almost puerile idea that this great building was made to rise above and defy the waters of another deluge; the attempt was "to make a name" (Gen. 11: 4) , that is, to establish man's glory independently of God.}

The character of Babel (Babylon) may be seen all through the Bible, whether in the great Chaldean city, in a material way, or in the vast spiritual system of the Apocalypse. I believe that the Book of Genesis gives us its essential character: independency of God and utter confusion.

In Zechariah 5, the vision of the woman compressed into the measure with a mass of lead and carried into the land of Shinar, represents the principles of Babylon, that is, wickedness to be established on its own base, in the latter days. The tower of Babel was never finished, Babylon (the city) is a mere cluster of sand mounds, the great religious Rome shall fall; but the spirit of Babel, that is, of man's will, independent of God, acting in a system, will go on until it is finally judged.

The brick-making and building enterprise prospered until God Himself interfered to check the presumptuous folly of the human race. His judgment smote them just in the very point of their pretensions; they were aiming at independent unity, and God condemned them to be scattered, with a hopeless confusion of tongues.

They left off building their city. When God comes in, man's operations always come to a sudden standstill; and so it will ever be.

We must carefully remember the name of Babel, for it will be useful to us further on. "Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because Jehovah did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did Jehovah scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth."

Their rallying point and centre became a point for centrifugal scattering, in all directions, of the earthly tribes; so completely did Jehovah confound their designs in one single moment.

The account of the dispersion of the builders gives us then a great insight into God's ways; He will permit human association and labour to construct an apparently permanent centre, independent of Him, a tower of Babel ? and then with one breath so upset the whole attempt, that all Babel building becomes vain. To see clearly the declaration of independence in the building of Babel is a great help to the understanding of God's ways with men, for it must and shall end in utter ruin.

May we, who know God's true Centre, be kept near enough to the Lord to be walking every step in the true spirit of dependence; so will our own individual joy be great, and so shall we be preserved from scattering and centrifugal forces!

Genesis 12, 13.

A new phase in God's ways toward men appears in the call of Abram. It was the first time that God had called a man out of his country and kindred, and we must observe attentively this going forth of the patriarch.

Two things are patent in this call: one, that the state of the earth was so bad that God's witness must come out of it, and be a stranger and pilgrim here; the other, that God is sovereign in His election, and that He alone knows why He chose to call Abram rather than any one else.

It is a new beginning, and the sovereign will of God alone can explain it. When Abram finally took the step and left Haran (where he had halted), Jehovah appeared unto him and said: "Unto thy seed will I give this land."* It has been justly remarked that then Abram is seen with a tent and an altar.

{* It is well to distinguish chapter 12: 7 from the preceding promise of making a great nation of the patriarch. I transcribe a note that may be a help to many. "The promise (chap. 12: 7) is repeated only in chapter xxii, during Abraham's history, and then to the seed alone the promise of his posterity and of the land to him and to his seed is often repeated. It is to this promise given to Abraham in chapter 12 and confirmed to the seed in chapter 26, that the apostle refers in Galatians. The earthly seed, on the contrary, was to be numerous. The translation of Galatians 3: 16 should be: Now to Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed.' And in the following verse, not in Christ, but to Christ. He was the seed of promise." (Synopsis, J. N. D.)

It may be useful to notice the first call of God, and the going forth from idolatrous Chaldea; and then this second part of the life of the called man ? this is his worship, and his shifting habitation in Canaan (having no firmer hold to the soil than that of tent-pegs).

The first call had preceded the stay at Haran, and we know that Abram had gone forth, not knowing whither he went, but as called by the God of glory, and as having at the end of his course, visible to faith, the celestial city, which hath foundations made and constructed by God Himself. It is not that there was anything, intrinsically, in the idols and images (graven and molten) of Ur of the Chaldees; but there was, behind the representative figures and shapes, the power and craft of demons that had taken possession of the earth, since Babel. It is not the hideous form of Artemis of the Ephesians, or of Juggernaut, that is to be feared, but the fierce, enslaving evil spirits that are behind the eidolon, and which have such power over men. Abram was called out from demon worship, to know the God of glory who has prepared a city for His elect. There is nothing, except the call of God, that can deliver a soul from idols. What a striking fact, what a sight for all, is that of a man coming forth, in simple faith, to live in a tent (for it has often been shewn that he received nothing actually, but all in promise), a true stranger upon an earth of idolaters!

But in chapter 12: 6 there is something more. The Canaanite was still in the land; that is, a figure of Satan's present power with his auxiliaries ? he has not yet been driven out.

Abram was not called to drive out the Canaanite, but we find his altar to Jehovah on the very ground of the wicked nations, his tent likewise. A worshipper and a stranger in the very place where the Canaanite was flourishing ? an altar with the ascending smoke of accepted sacrifice in the very face of the enemy ? it is a wonderful sight. We may well travel back in spirit to the tent pitched between Bethel and Hai, and bless Jehovah, who could thus sustain the pilgrim father and his household in the true spirit of adoration, there, where the adversary's stronghold was; for what could be more dark or terrible than the reign of the demons in Canaan?

O christian reader, is your tent like that of the elect man, pitched near Bethel? Is your family free of the world and of idols, and have you a distinct sense of worship? Abraham called on the name of Jehovah; do you call on the name of the Father?

Let us look well at this extraordinary picture on the hill to the east of Bethel, and take a lesson from the faithful pilgrim worshipping and calling upon the name of Jehovah!

?

The southern journey of Abraham was not at all so felicitous. It ended by the famine driving him down into Egypt; and we must admit that as Abram got into lower latitudes, he got into a lower state.

Egypt represents the world with its resources, and it is not said that God commanded Abram to go down there; indeed He could have sustained His servant in a famine as well as in plenty.

Abram and Sarai got at once into a false position in Egypt. The woman, fair to look upon, was taken into Pharaoh's house; and if we think of the two together, they represent both the place and the acting of God's elect, gone down into the world. The woman represents the position, the man the conduct (it has been said) in such a case; and I have no doubt that this is quite a right view of the figure.

If, later on, the church goes down into the world and into Pharaoh's house, what are you to expect but sad inconsistencies and a conduct that is not upright?

I suppose that each believer who has gone to the world for relief in time of famine, has had a similar experience. Abram was in very prosperous circumstances in Egypt, and had sheep, oxen, he-asses, menservants and maidservants, and she-asses and camels; but with all these secular riches, he had one thing beside which spoilt all ? a bad conscience.

It is no real consolation to a man who is unhappy in his heart and mind, to have he and she-asses, camels, and servants. Where was Sarai? What had become of those happy hours when he and his family were worshipping Jehovah, and living according to the light of their calling? Not all the treasures of Mizraim, not all the flocks and herds could ever fill the aching void that there was in Abram's heart.

We have felt the same, no doubt; but however much we may have failed, it is a happy thing to know that God will not allow His chosen one to remain in the world. Abram was brought up out of it, and Egypt was plagued; and this is a very simple fact, and quite enough to keep us from settling down in a false position, in a world which, after all, is to be destroyed.

Morally judged already, the time is no longer far off when the execution of God's just wrath shall put an end to the pretentious age in which we are living, and to that whole system, of which the flourishing kingdom of the Pharaohs was but a part and type.

Genesis 14.

Abraham, Lot, and Melchizedek

The choice of Lot has been so much spoken of and so often followed, that it may seem superfluous to allude to it; however, we must notice carefully this part of the history.

Abraham's whole life is divided, in Genesis, into three grand portions: chapters 12 ? 14; 15 ? 21; 22 ? 25: 10; notice carefully these divisions, attentive reader, for I shall have to allude to them again.

In the present part (chaps. 12 ? 14), we have the call of Abraham, his steadfastness in contrast with Lot's choice, and his meeting with Melchizedek after the defeat of the confederate kings.

Chapter 13 brings us back to Abraham's altar, to the happy position in which he was at first; and almost immediately we have Lot's choice of the fertile plain, which was like the garden of Jehovah, and like the land of Egypt. I can quite understand the impression that such a smiling valley would make on a man's mind (through his eyes); for if any of my readers have ever looked upon a vista of budding vegetation, orange and citron trees and bananas, crowned with feathery date-palms, as one may see in the Delta, he will comprehend the meaning of "like the garden of the Lord" and "like the land of Egypt."

Lot saw this verdant plain, and the lust of the eyes was too much for him; soon afterwards he was in it, and his tent pitched in the vicinity of one of the most wicked places under the sun. Ah! how often have we seen a similar picture; the fairest landscape inhabited by exceeding great sinners. Look at the bay of Naples!

It is then that Jehovah confirms His promise and call to the true pilgrim father; after the separation from Lot, the Lord speaks to Abraham, revealing to him the extent of the blessing accorded to a true stranger on earth. Our hearts rest in peace in the shades of Mamre with an altar built to the Lord, far away from the ambition and busy hum of the cities of the plain.

Ambition and the true spirit of the world soon spew themselves in the form of war. This is one of the great delights of the nations; I mean, fighting. We hear universal disarming of the Gentile powers spoken of, but we may be assured that such a thing will never really take place whilst the world is in its present state.

A battle fought in the vale of Siddim, which was full of slime-pits, five kings against four ? there is a glorious occurrence! Lot had to pay for his civic rights, and found himself dragged off into captivity and all his goods confiscated.

Abram's intervention in this case is that of one who could help a worldly man in trouble, without getting into the world himself; he would accept nothing at all from the king of Sodom, not even a bootlace! It should not be said that the cities of the plain had enriched the man whose altar smoked to Jehovah in Mamre; he, the separate man, could come in with divine resources (for he fought with real household troops, in the Lord's service) and deliver the oppressed, without taking anything from the world. There is such a thing as saving people with fear, snatching them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh; and in this spirit did Abraham deliver his unhappy nephew from the confederate kings.

But we have another personage brought before us here, another king more truly majestic than the king of Sodom. Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, appears unto Abraham. Lot, I believe, never saw him.

I suppose we all understand what Melchizedek's action represents; that is, his bringing forth the bread and wine after the defeat of the confederate kings. There can be no doubt but that he is the figure of Him that was to come, the true Priest after the order of Melchizedek, the glorious Christ of God, King of righteousness, and King of peace, who shall come with blessing and refreshment to the whole earth after the final rout of the confederate kings.

He, Jesus Christ our Lord, shall come forth in that day, and His kingdom shall be established in power, in righteousness, and in peace. He shall be King and Priest upon the throne!

But we have more to consider in this splendid apparition to Abraham. We cannot pass by so glorious a person as Melchizedek without looking at that which the scripture says of our Lord, in the present time.

It is for us to know the true Melchizedek; for us, as being now a heavenly people, separated from this world, and on our way to God's rest. It is of Christ as Priest according to the order of Melchizedek that the Holy Spirit speaks in the Epistle to the Hebrews. If we have a true pilgrim spirit, and, like Abraham, are really separate from Sodom and those who live in it, we may study this interesting subject (that of Melchizedek); if we are worldly, I am afraid we shall not be able to understand much about it.

It was when Abraham was truly separate from the world, and when he had suffered in rescuing Lot, that the king of righteousness and of peace appeared to him.

There are but three allusions to Melchizedek in the whole of the scriptures. The first is here, in Genesis 14; the second in Psalm 110; and the third in the Epistle to the Hebrews. In the second of these (Ps. 110) our Lord's present position is clearly maintained, that is, His session at the right hand of Jehovah until His enemies be made His footstool.

He is then constituted, by an oath, High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek; and this is referred to in Hebrews 5, 6, and 7, where our Lord's present attitude and ministry are largely developed.

The whole order of priesthood has been changed, and before the time comes of the manifestation of the true Melchizedek, we (believers) know Him glorified in heaven, able to save completely those who approach by Him to God, always living to intercede for them. It is a happy thing when Christians really begin to understand what our Lord's present place as Priest is; when, instead of contenting themselves with knowing that His power and interest are always exerted in their favour, they know Him as having sat down on the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens.

To know Him thus, as minister of the holy places and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord has pitched and not man; to know Him as the One who now maintains our hearts in the knowledge and enjoyment of heavenly things, before we actually arrive in heaven, this is to know Him as Priest after the order of Melchizedek.

A true separation from the world will always be found to accompany the knowledge of a glorious Christ; if ye are reproached in the name of Christ, blessed are ye, for the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you.

There is a calm expression of dignity and glory on the part of the royal priest who met Abram; and the patriarch himself bears the traces of dignity and glory in his reply to the king of Sodom.

"I have lift up my hand unto Jehovah, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion"!

These are the words of a truly independent man his walk had been one of separation and of obedience to God's will. He was a man whom the world never could have approved, as it approved Lot and gave him a place in the gate of Sodom a man who walked according to the light that God had given him, and who, knowing the resources of the Most High, could come forth from his interview with the priest of the Most High, with all the fitting manners of one who had met a royal priest. He refuses the world's help without any pretension, and declares in simple and powerful language the glory and riches of the God upon whom he depends.

This is a very striking part of the history of the patriarch Abram. The three figures stand out before us in bold relief.

Lot, who deliberately chooses a path which is of a far lower order than the one to which God had called him. A man who belonged to God, but whose heart could not get above the well-watered plain of Sodom. "An enlightened believer," the world would have said. "An unfaithful saint," saith scripture.

Abram, who chose to be with God and who was infinitely happier with Him in Mamre than he could have been without Him, no matter how beautiful might be the garden. Abram, the man of faith and true to his calling, who suffered in the path of separation, but was able to deliver Lot, and with his heart full of the glories of the Most High God, could decline to receive anything from the king of Sodom.

Melchizedek, the type of the glorious Christ. The sudden apparition of this great man upon the scene, his majestic service, his receiving tithes from Abram, his blessing the patriarch in the name of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth ? all these glories point to the still higher glories of our Lord, who shall come forth in His time to bring blessing to the earth, and who is known to us now as the minister of the sanctuary, a High Priest for ever according to the order of the royal priest and king.

Genesis 15 ? 21.

There is a prophetic revelation made to Abraham in the beginning of chapter 15. It is the word of Jehovah coming to him in a vision.

In a vision, I think very often the true state of the heart is expressed, and there was evidently in Abram's thoughts a difficulty that had never been solved. "I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward," Jehovah said, and Abram replies: "Adonai Elohim, what wilt thou give me?" There was no hope, no natural possibility of an heir, and Abram asks for an explanation.*

{* It is often remarked that the human mind, if it is at all active, is sure to say, "Why?" "What?" "How?" Its natural state is that of asking the reason why. I trust that it is not detracting from the patriarch, the great man of faith, to point out that questions arose in his mind, as in those of others. God is His own interpreter, and happy are they who wait quietly upon Him.}

God reassures him, and he believes God's word, The whole passage gives us a prophetic account of the way in which Jehovah would carry out His promises, and that notwithstanding all the shadows which appear as the sun is setting and the deep sleep and darkness coming upon Abram. What a tale of God's power, of man's weakness and of darkness and light in the covenant made with the father of believers! In this case, it is the prophetic view of the earthly people, the going down to Egypt, the coming out when the iniquity of the Amorites should be full, the bright lamp after the smoking furnace, and ultimate glory and dominion of the twelve tribes.

It is just the kind of vision that one in a reasoning state of mind might expect to see; though it ends well.

But in chapter 16 it is not merely looking at one's own heart; Abram listens to Sarai, and condescends to follow her advice, and we hear nothing of his faith upon this occasion. It was not faith to listen to Sarai; and the result of their expedient was not satisfactory. Ishmael was born, and the very first description of him, "He shall be a wild-ass* man," his hand against every one, and every one's hand against him; a trouble rather than a help. It is not that God has not had mercy on the Arabs ? indeed, Ishmael's descendants receive a blessing in chapter 17; but it must be confessed that they have been very troublesome since Ishmael disturbed Abram's household, up to the present day. You might as well try to tame the wildest animal, as to induce the Bedawee to live peaceably.

{* This is the literal meaning of verse 12. May I remind the reader that an Eastern wild ass is a very fine animal, unlike the unfortunate Western asses. It is an indomitable, high spirited animal, as any who have had to do with the onager tribe will say.}

Notice, too, that Hagar was an Egyptian, and the result of mixing the seed of the promise with the world is Ishmael, the untameable wild ass.

This is what comes of listening to Sarai's advice.

The following chapter gives us quite a different aspect of the man of faith. It is a more complete bowing to God, or rather setting aside of man in the presence of Him who comes to bless His own according to His own thoughts. There is no asking why or what, there is no consultation with Sarai, but Abram falls upon his face before the Lord, who blesses him. Abram and Sarai are transformed (larger vessels) into Abraham and Sarah, and circumcision is commanded.

The destruction of Sodom, and the coming of the heir according to promise, and the expulsion of the bondmaid's son ? these grand truths now are brought before us, and complete this phase of Abraham's history, up to the end of chapter 21, where a little millennial scene again appears.

Much has been said as to the great fire of Sodom, but the narrative does not lose much by being again considered. The great lesson for believers is that of being near enough to the Lord, and in the true sense of the heavenly calling, in a word, high enough upon the mountain, to be out of the mists of Sodom, and to be able to intercede for those who are down in the plain.

The out-of-the-world air of the hills is the only one that a true Christian can breathe; and it is a happy thing when not only heavenly truths are known, but the soul itself braced up in the intimacy of a communion where not only Jehovah does not hide from Abraham His thoughts, but where the Paraclete makes known the glories of the Son, of Jesus in the Father's presence, and things that concern His place in the divine counsels are known in an atmosphere that is not of this world.

The plain of Sodom lay below. Well watered and fertile, none of its inhabitants dreamed of fire and combustion, security seemed to cover the whole valley of the Jordan.

But the man of faith saw the impending ruin, and, himself in quite a different world, could pray for those over whom the judgment was suspended.

How little did the inhabitants of the cities of the Plain think that the end was near! The night was passed, and Lot dragged out of the doomed place by God's own mercy and power ? the sun had risen as usual, when God rained fire and brimstone upon Sodom ? when sudden destruction fell upon all that valley. It is a picture of a still more terrible conflagration (2 Peter 3), when all shall be burned up. Happy, thrice happy they who are outside the spirit of the age, and able to enjoy, in the Spirit's power, the joys of a heavenly company in a heavenly sphere; able at the same time to intercede for those who are in the low-lying city, and who ought to be out of it.

It is not enough to be outwardly separate from the ways of Sodom, Pompeii and Herculaneum, but the Lord would have us near enough to Him to have His mind in the last days of the great town of vanity; I mean, to occupy the place of Abraham, rather than that of Lot. The full grace of God, by which we have been called into the intimate relationship of children, being thus far nearer to Him than Abraham, the friend of God, cannot be too highly prized.

And now we come to the birth of Isaac, the heir; and the expulsion of Ishmael and Hagar.

Abraham's failure in chapter 20 is over-ruled by God's mercy; and the inheritance is preserved by the bondwoman's son being cast out. The two things cannot subsist together, that is, law and grace; and happy they who have really understood the force of: "Cast out the bondwoman and her son"!

The spirit of untamed flesh was but too patent in the naughty young Arab, and his mocking Isaac was the signal for his being suddenly expelled from the family where God's grace was known in the true heir. The teaching connected with this is as important for us as it was for the Galatians, and I trust that "Ishmael" has been driven out by every one who reads these notes.

After this Abraham appears in his true position to Abimelech, a contrast with chapter 20, and plants a grove in Beersheba, calling on the name of Jehovah, the everlasting God. It is a millennial picture, the Gentiles coming into blessing, through God's chosen family on earth.

Notice, that in the meantime Ishmael had married an Egyptian, and had learned to shoot arrows.

Genesis 22 ? 24.

The Sacrifice of Isaac, and the Call of the Bride.

We are now come to the third and last part of the life of Abraham, and the whole passage (chaps. 22 ? 25) is pregnant with the grandest truths.

Let us begin with the sacrifice of Isaac. It has been noticed that the great lesson of death coming upon every human hope and prospect is largely taught in figure in the Old Testament. Those who have to do with God and His counsels must pass through death. It is not merely in this case the shadow of death, as the horror of great darkness in chapter 15, but here Abraham is called upon by God to take his only son upon whom his heart is set, and to plunge the sacrificial knife into him with his own hand.

We are never tired of this wonderful narrative, and as we read it, we seem to see the little company start (for the patriarch's alacrity answered at once to the trial) and pursue the long dusty journey towards Moriah. Abraham alone could understand and draw nigh to the God of glory in this supreme act, and as soon as the mountain appeared upon the horizon, he told his servants to wait.

They could understand nothing of the worship that was to take place; they must stop behind with the ass.

"Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Elohim Himself should provide the lamb.

Abraham was a man after God's own heart. One touch of the Giver's infinite thoughts, "thine only (one) Isaac," found a ready echo in the man who had been often in the presence of the God of glory. The prompt obedience in accepting death upon Isaac his only hope, his beloved son, proved that God's thoughts were his thoughts on this occasion, as well as his faith in a God of resurrection.

We feel ourselves the need of a worshipping spirit as we approach Mount Moriah; once there, we are far away from men and their ways, on the ground of faith and of God's holy will and thoughts, we look with wonder on Isaac, received* from the dead in a figure. We may worship indeed as the ram smokes upon the altar, a holocaust to Jehovah the Provider. Our hearts go on to the infinite sacrifice of the Son: "In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen "

{* "Got back, when he might have been lost for ever." See the note in loco in the "New Translation" (third edition).}

We may worship indeed with the father of the faithful and with the lad, dead and risen (in figure) beside him.

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The blessing pronounced upon Abraham on Mount Moriah is quoted both in the Epistle to the Galatians and in the Hebrews. It is very important to understand the true force of Galatians 3: 16: "But to Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed." The Holy Spirit refers here to Genesis 12 and 22 that is, the promises were first of all made to Abraham (in Gen. and then to Isaac (in Gen. 22), who is the type of Christ risen..

The promise was confirmed to Christ, as represented in Isaac, received from the dead in a figure and thus full blessing flows out to the Gentiles.

The allusion to the oath in Hebrews 6 shall leave to the reader's careful study, for the Holy Spirit is there bringing believers to understand what their present full connection with heaven is, in Him who has entered within the veil as forerunner ? the stability of God's word confirmed by an oath.

And now we approach quite a new subject, but which depends none the less upon the death and resurrection of Isaac.

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In chapter 23 the death of Sarah is recorded. Abraham buys the field of Ephron, to be the cemetery of the faithful, and this is all that he ever acquired as a true possession on the earth. Sarah disappears, and an entirely new figure comes upon the scene ? Rebekah, the bride of the dead and risen Isaac.

One of the most complete and beautiful figures of the Old Testament unfolds to us here that which should take place later, when the church should be called out and brought across the desert to the true Isaac, the risen Christ.

"Beware lest thou bring my son thither again." (Chap. 24: 6.) The bride must be called out from the world, whilst Christ is personally standing aloof from it.

Each time we read this passage, so fertile in marvellous events expressed in wonderful language, we discern fresh glories in the divine oracles. The pictures of Christ and His church, and the clear aspects of His love to her ? and of her love to Him ? are drawn by the Holy Spirit Himself.

Without attempting to follow out the details of this narrative, let us notice a few grand features of the present calling out of the church.

If Eliezer's journey be taken to represent the activity of the Holy Ghost, there was at the same time a providential work. God should send His angel before the man to prepare the way, and when God prepares the way all goes well; everything happens at the right moment. We may notice, in all times, an outward and providential work that accompanies the inward action of the Holy Spirit.

The great fact before us is the calling out of the bride for the heavenly Man. It is Jehovah Elohim of heaven who had called out Abraham, who now directs everything in the finding and bringing home of the destined companion to the dead and risen Isaac.

The scene unfolds itself before us. Eliezer, entirely pre-occupied with the thoughts and will of his master, the weary camels at evening time, the true spirit of prayer and dependence, the coming forth of the damsel at the right instant ? all these things bring out conspicuously the harmony of God's outward providence with the activity of His own counsels, unknown but by the blessed Spirit.

"I being in the way, Jehovah led me to the house of my master's brethren."

The nose-ring and bangles of gold spoke of the wealth of Isaac; but the great question was whether the bride would follow the call, and there could be no delay of any kind until the answer was given, "I will go."

All Eliezer's thoughts were concentrated in the carrying out of the divine errand; and he could not rest until he had told Isaac all the things that he had done.

Happy are they who know the present activity of the blessed Spirit of God; thrice happy they whose hearts are formed by His action! The moment is very near when the bride shall be presented to the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaac went out in the field to meditate in the evening, and saw the camels coming, and Rebekah at the sight of her lord, Eliezer's master, covered herself. "He loved her."

It is well, no doubt, in all figures, not to go beyond what the Holy Spirit would teach us; but may we not see in this a special application to our day?

The time is close at hand when the true Isaac shall come forth, when the full and final accomplishment of the words, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come," shall take place.

The glorious heavenly Man will take the church to Himself, and His divine love shall be satisfied. She, on her part (covered, for all that she has is of Him) shall answer to all His glory!

May we understand more fully what the bride's heart really is as answering to the love of Christ!

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Now we come to the end of Abraham's life. He might well have sung, "Nunc dimittis," as every other true servant of God at the end of a happy course. I shall ask the reader not to put chapter 25 in chronological sequence to chapter 24, for that is not the real force of the conjunction; the "then again" of the A.V. is unfortunate.

This sums up the patriarch's life, giving an account of his descendants, carefully marking Isaac as the true heir.

His body lies buried in the cave of Machpelah, having obtained witness through faith, awaiting the moment of the resurrection, when he shall be made perfect with us, for whom God has foreseen a still higher blessing.

Genesis 25, 26.

Ishmael and Isaac.

Ishmael represents the flesh with great religious privileges, which make no real change in the flesh's true nature.

It is not for nothing that I have already called attention to the fact that Ishmael learned to be an archer, and married an Egyptian woman.

The two symbolic facts are very easy to understand. The use of the bow always represents war and fighting; and a formal alliance with the world is taught in the marriage with the Egyptian. The world and the flesh go together, and the whole is covered with a great show of religious privilege. An unbridled life, for Ishmael roamed the desert, the profession of arms and an Egyptian wife ? this is the one who from his boyhood mocked at the holy seed.

His rapid development and establishment in power is given to us in a few verses. (Chap. 25: 12-18.) The twelve princes, his sons, all of them heads of the leading Arab tribes, with their towns and castles, speak to us of what the "religious world" was in those remote ages; whilst Isaac and the true posterity of Abraham were dwelling in tents, these grand lords had their towns and castles. If I say that they were religious, it is because they had great privileges of which they were well aware; but the world and its vain glory, the restless flesh and its mischievous activity (bows and arrows) were to be found in this numerous family. Long before Mahomet collected and made these wandering tribes more religious* than ever, the pride of man's heart was to be seen there ? outside the true knowledge of God, whatever the privileges might be.

{* I am not using the word in a good sense, but in that of self-imposed human rules of theology in which the natural heart of man delights. "There is no god but Allah, and ? is his apostle."}

I trust that every judicious reader will understand that I am looking at Ishmael in a symbolical light, and not speaking merely of the man himself. Do you think that we have really got rid of "Ishmael, the son of the Egyptian Hagar"? It is a happy thing to be outside the towns and castles and in a tent with the God of glory.

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It has often been said of Isaac that his life does not stand out upon the inspired page, like that of his father.

There was no violent break with his kindred, as in Abraham's case; he was born in the very line of blessing, and filled the place of the true heir. The chief events that are mentioned in his life, I think, are his being offered on Mount Moriah, his building the altar in chapter 26 and the blessing of his two sons. This last-mentioned fact is recorded by the Holy Spirit in Hebrews 11.

What we have before us now is the contrast between the flesh and its religion and power (on earth as seen in Ishmael), and the true pilgrim and patient heir quietly waiting upon Jehovah.

There can be no doubt, I think, that Isaac's life is far less brilliant than Abraham's, and we have seen more recent instances of children of eminent believers who have received truths for which they never had to fight, and have never stood out so well as their fathers; yet Isaac's life was a life of faith, and in looking carefully at it, the true blue colour appears and it forms a proper link in the patriarchal chain.

We must look at this man as the dead and risen witness to God's power. He was received from the dead in a figure. We have considered him already as a type of Christ; now let us admire in him a true believer. It is impossible that he could have come down from the mountain where he had been both victim and worshipper, without having the feeling of having passed through death. Of course, I am only speaking figuratively; and I suppose that he had always a distinct recollection of the uplifted knife. He began his career as one alive from the dead, and though there be not the same energy in him as in his father, yet he fulfilled a life of faith.

In Gerar, no doubt (chap. 26), there was want of confidence in the Lord, just after Jehovah had assured him of His protection ? and want of energy in keeping the wells of water (those fresh springs which should be jealously kept). But there is the building of an altar to the Lord, the confession of His name, and the pitching of the tent under the shadow of the Almighty; it is then that the Lord's power is felt, and the Gentiles own it. They confess that Jehovah is with him. (Ver. 28.) There was a man living in a tent outside the ordinary course of the world, and it was felt that the Lord was with him; the power of Jehovah's name was there.

Chapter 27 is never read without our feeling thoroughly ashamed of Rebekah and Jacob (and, I trust, of ourselves too, for we have sometimes resorted to wrong expedients); we feel ashamed of human nature and its crafty and selfish ways. But though Isaac does not shine here as he should, and though his call for venison is undignified ? yet we must not lose sight of him as a man of faith.

It is said that by faith he blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.

Putting aside the ignoble conduct of the mother and son, and the feebleness of the father, we are ushered into the presence of the Lord, upon the ground of faith. "The things to come," if properly studied, will be found to include God's ways with the people of His promise (Israel), and the remarkable position of Edom (see ver. 40) in his antagonism to the elect people of God. The prophets give to us an ample development of these future things, and Obadiah especially unfolds Esau's character.

I would recommend a careful study of all the prophets where Israel and Edom are mentioned.

To sum up, we have a man of faith, dead and risen, known as having the Lord with him, and seeing out into futurity.

May we never think of Isaac without endeavouring to enter into God's mind for us as pilgrims. Death and resurrection, God's presence with us, and a true outlook into glory!

Genesis 27 ? 32.

Jacob and Esau; Israel.

Inlooking over the well-known history of Jacob and Esau, I wish to point out some of the more important events; a few remarks as to Israel, after Jacob's happy transformation, may be edifying to our souls.

The first appearance of the twins upon earth was portentous; the promise that the elder should serve the younger must have excited wonder even before the former was laid hold of by the heel. Had Jacob waited patiently, the promise would not have been encumbered by conditions. (Chap. 27: 40.)

Esau is the natural man of the earth, full of the scent of the field, a rough hunter ? and profane.

Jacob's deceitful character and moral obliquity are but too evident, and his ways needed many years' discipline in God's school; but he was not profane. In his worst moments there was always the fear of God at the bottom.

Esau gave up his birthright for a momentary advantage, and took two Hittite wives; and these two facts are a sufficient proof of his reckless and godless mind.

If we trace through the Bible the history of Edom, we shall always find the same features, whether in the refusal of passage to Israel in the desert, whether in Doeg, or in the Herods ? we shall always find the profane and gross worldly element together with opposition to God. Mount Seir is the stronghold of the flesh, the citadel of godless man; but Edom should be pulled down from his eyrie (see Obadiah) and at his end should be dislodged from his high perch and brought low. And so shall all proud thoughts and pretentious strongholds of the flesh be laid in the dust!

The history of Edom answers (so far as a godly mind requires) the question of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. We must not confound the promise that "the elder should serve the younger" with the words of Malachi, where God's hatred of Esau was consequent on his profane ways. It is never said that Esau was hated before his birth; though it is true that Jacob was chosen, in sovereign counsel, before the two brothers appeared upon the scene.

The profane world, which has not been left without certain religious privileges, will be judged according to its conduct; Edom's ways were hateful to God, and at the very end of the prophetic word (in Malachi) we have this expression of the divine mind.

There are several stages in the discipline of Jacob. He had to learn that other people could tell lies as grossly as he, and that the only true standard was in Jehovah. Then he had to be delivered from the world and from every earthly object; he must be thoroughly broken, so that when at last, a lame man leaning on a staff, he could look forward to the future glory, he was fit to go there himself. The end of his life always seems to me like a bright and calm sunset after a day of thunder and lightning, showers and storm. His final prophecy gives us a tranquil and happy outlook into the future where all blessing is secured to the twelve tribes in the person of the dead and risen Christ. That he should be the vessel of such a revelation at the end of his course is a sure proof of the effect of God's discipline.

Let us very briefly review the life of Jacob and mark the stages of progress in the soul at each succeeding phase of discipline.

He started, when he fled from Esau's wrath in chapter 28, with a different purpose to that of his grandfather Abraham, who began and ended his course as a true pilgrim.

Jacob, though he feared God, was not prepared to take the true place of his calling, as a pilgrim and a stranger, and it is evident that he was not at his ease when he awoke after the vision of the ladder near Haran. (See ver. 17.) The place was rightly named Bethel, but how much must transpire before he should come to that point (Bethel) in a fit condition to walk with the God of Abraham!

How many in the present day resemble Jacob in this ? that they are in the place of a call of God to which their state of heart does not answer! Their call is very different to that of Israel; it is far higher, it is heavenly ? but I believe the analogy to be real, and you will find many "Jacobs" of this kind. You will constantly meet people whose whole life has been one of discipline before they really learned what their true calling was ? that is, if they ever did learn it.

Indeed, Jacob's first prayer at Bethel was far from being creditable to one who was to inherit the blessing of Abraham. (See chap. 28: 20-22.) We do not find in it any adequate expression as to God's mind; but Jehovah had other thoughts than of merely accepting Jacob's tithes! (Ver. 22.) He was to have far more glory out of him!

I pass over the whole story of Jacob and Laban. He had to learn during this long period of labour and trial that the God of Bethel (see chap. 31: 13) was his only true friend, and alone able to help him against the crafty Syrian. It was something to hear Jacob confessing the name of the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac (chap. 31: 42), and then again at the end of the chapter "the fear* of his father Isaac" seems to have been uppermost in his mind. The sense of God's faithfulness and of His holy majesty were deepened in Jacob up to this point. He had increased exceedingly in cattle, servants, camels and asses (all of which disappear at the end), but I doubt if he had made much more progress than that of increased confidence in God and fear of Him.

{* It is a strong word, implying dread and reverence, see, for instance, Exodus 15: 15.}

It will be said that this was something; and indeed it was ? but he had much more to learn.

Chapter 32 contains a deeper lesson. The man had to be thoroughly broken, and the events here recorded tend to this. The dread of the meeting with Esau and his struggle with the Wrestler left him in a better state to learn more. He was lamed for life in receiving the name of Israel, and though he still needed to be corrected and judged, yet this was a turning-point in his history.

At Shalem, Jacob could dedicate his altar to El-Elohe-Israel, but he fell again into his old ways of acquiring wealth, and we may well be assured that Abraham never would have bought a field (unless for a patriarchal cemetery)! The trouble which came upon Jacob here was another blow; and now we come to several steps in the right direction.

God calls him to Bethel, and this arouses him; he begins to act consistently, he buries all the idols and profane jewellery of the household. I believe that if a similar thing were done in many a house where "high truth" is professed, there would be great blessing. Many a Christian's house needs to be cleared of false gods and bangles. God is with Jacob after this, and the terror which oppressed him in chapter 34: 30 has vanished; it is God's terror that keeps in awe his enemies.

But the most terrible blow of all was yet to come. He comes up to Bethel and the name of Israel is confirmed to him ? but he must lose Rachel! The one true love of his heart must go! It is to this that he touchingly alludes when he says: "There Rachel died by me." (Chap. 48: 7.) It was the climax of God's ways with the man, the last great stroke that was to bereave him of the one he loved. Generally speaking, a man who has never loved in this way is not worth much; and when the fatal blow comes, it will either drive him to despair or else (through God's sanctifying grace) bring him down to calm dependence upon Him who alone can satisfy the soul.

Many a one who reads these lines will say that they have had a deeper knowledge of our blessed Lord ever since that day when their first and last love was taken from them.

And so it was with Jacob! The rest of his life was the life of Israel. In the history of Joseph and Benjamin, in the appearing before Pharaoh, in the last prophecy,* we have to do with a man of God.

{* I purposely reserve chapter 49 for another occasion. It requires a careful examination. If the Lord allows, it shall either follow directly upon the present paper, or after "Joseph."}

In the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh, we see an intelligent saint guided by the Spirit of God.

Nothing could be more wonderful than the calm dignity with which the patriarch speaks to the great king of Egypt, and blesses him in conscious superiority. It is a superiority that is divinely given, there is no pretension or pride.

The love of wealth had gone he "adored leaning upon the top of his staff." The emblem of a true pilgrim was found in his hand at last, when, freed from all worldly hopes and having lost all earthly desires, he could declare plainly that he sought the heavenly country.

And not only so, but his last testimony rings out clearly with the knowledge of Him who was not ashamed to be called the God of the patriarchs. The glories of Christ shine in Israel's last recorded speech, and the power of the Mighty One of Jacob makes itself felt ? "from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel."

No Egyptian tomb for Israel! He sleeps with the pilgrim fathers in the tomb of Machpelah, awaiting the full accomplishment of the counsels of the God of glory!

Genesis 37 ? 48.

Joseph

Let us leave the last prophecy of Jacob till the end and look at the fourth great patriarch, Joseph.

I would wish especially to look at Joseph as the one who was delivered from prison and death and exalted; the type of Christ in His sufferings and universal sway. It may be useful to notice the ways of God in disconcerting opposition and awakening interest, in order to bring forward the man of His counsels.

What varied characters rise up before us; the unscrupulous sons of Israel who sold their brother, Potiphar's naughty wife, the forgetful butler, the pensive king ? these people all appear and have their part in the story and unwittingly accomplish Jehovah's will!

A careful study of what is said of Joseph in Psalm 105 and in Acts 7 will repay the reader.

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In the beginning of the history (in chap. 37), it is easy to discern the figure of our Lord's position in the midst of Israel, and the wickedness of the Jews in putting Him to death.

Joseph was his father's favourite, and at the same time the depositary of divine counsels, for his dreams (so little approved by his brethren) had revealed to him God's intentions.

The whole account of his descent into the pit and of his imprisonment may be taken as an illustration of the sufferings of Jesus; but we must notice that our blessed Lord did truly go down into death ? He tasted death for everything.

The whole picture of the fortieth chapter is full of interest, and takes us to the banks of the Nile. The great king stood by the river, and we seem to behold the seven well-favoured and the seven wretched kine rise out of the ancient river (that parent of prodigies), and the devouring of the former by the latter. The seven full ears of corn, and the other seven, blasted and sere, that came and ate them up.

The discreet man who should govern Egypt throughout the famine was found in the person of him who could explain the dream; and we have at once a type of our Lord Jesus, as the One who was raised from the dead, that He might take His place at the head of the universe, to be even now over the house of God. The time is fast approaching when we shall see all the glories of our Saviour, when He shall take His great power and reign.

It is a very happy thing when the type is followed out, so that the peculiar blessings which flow from our Lord's exaltation are known. Every knee must bow before Him, as before Joseph the cry was heard: "Bow the knee!" It is for us to know the present value of the name that is above every name, and (as Asenath the bride*) to enter into our present relation with the glorified Jesus, before the day shall come for His manifestation to Israel.

{* It was not without some interest that I once looked on the ancient obelisk at Mataria (the site of Heliopolis, or On of Genesis 41). This ancient relic must have been standing when Joseph went to the city to claim his bride.}

Let it not suffice us to know of our Lord's exaltation as a positive and historical fact, but let us really bow to Him in everything! How simple, yet how blessed for us in the sense of His power and glory, though we see not yet all things put under Him. Faith acts in quiet certitude, and delights to know that everything is in the hands of the true Joseph. Great as will be our delight in that day when He shall be publicly manifested, let us not put off till then the enjoyment of the power of His glory. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed! Blessed are they who can look up to the highest heaven and see Jesus crowned with glory and honour, and in the midst of an unjust world, where each day brings forth fresh trouble, rest in the security of His exaltation, learning, too, daily to do the things that please Him.

Let us think of Asenath and of her position. May we know, by the Holy Ghost, the Father's love in all its present reality! If this be going away from what is strictly our subject, it is none the less important. Let us keep near to Joseph whilst the famine lasts; that is, to our blessed and exalted Lord ? though great may be the dearth around us!

But we must go on to the latter part of the history to learn God's ways with His earthly people at the end.

The twelve tribes must be brought, through great exercise, to repentance; and the final blessing must come upon them from the riches of the glory of the heavenly Christ. He will not only bring all nations under divine authority, but He will lead Israel into the full enjoyment of their portion under Jehovah ? and before this can be accomplished, they must go through the deep trial and exercise of heart that leads to repentance.

It is very interesting to trace God's ways in the conduct of Joseph towards his brethren. Judah and Benjamin are the two who find themselves in the deepest trouble; and Benjamin, before the trial of the cup in the sack, had the greatest portion allotted to him.*

{* I suppose that there can be no doubt that Benjamin represents strength upon earth in Israel; this will be more apparent, perhaps, in reading Jacob's last prophecy.}

Judah and Benjamin go through an hour of searching trouble, and this evidently prefigures the fierce trial of the Jewish remnant (for those whom we call Jews now are of Judah and Benjamin) that will precede the final restoration of the twelve tribes.

When Judah repents, that is, when he begins seriously to feel the crime committed against Joseph, Benjamin being too in danger, it is a picture of what will happen in the last days. The prophet Zechariah throws much light upon Judah's ultimate repentance; and I suppose that no one could read Genesis 44: 28 without feeling that the narrator of Jacob's words felt his own guilt. Compare the preceding exercise in chapter 42: 21.

It is when Judah and Benjamin are thus put to the proof that Joseph makes himself known to his brethren, and declares to them the riches of his position as head of the Gentiles. So shall the glorious Messiah, in the last days, make Himself known to the whole earthly people of God, when the Jewish remnant shall have passed through the peculiar and terrible trial that is in store for them. All Israel shall be saved.

Thus Joseph is a full and perfect figure of the exalted Man through whom all God's counsels shall be accomplished; and it is important for us to notice the grace that is displayed in this beautiful and extraordinary type. Grace is manifested to the sons of Jacob, who so little deserved it; and if we (Christians) have a higher place as forming that favoured and heavenly company that shares the honours of the true Joseph, we have all the more opportunity of knowing the heart of Christ. If Asenath represents our place and relation with Jesus glorified, let us not be slow to learn the peculiar treasure of His love!

All future blessing to the twelve tribes is on the ground of pure grace, for all had been lost through the rejection of Christ; it has been aptly remarked that when God appeared to Israel on His way to Egypt (chap. 46), He spoke as the God of his father without speaking of the (forfeited) promises made to Abraham.

The one whose feet had been made fast in the stocks, and who had felt the iron of the dungeon, is the revealer of God's ways, the governor of the world, the gracious restorer of his brethren. One is never tired of reading the story of Joseph.

May we know more and more of the present grace and power of the glory of Him who is exalted at the right hand of the Majesty on high! May His interests be ours, and His love fully known!

However great might be the glory of the great administrator of Egypt, his heart did not forget the people of God, nor was he unmindful of the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His very bones should not rest in any Memphitic mausoleum, but should be carried to Shechem.

So the glorious Christ. Whatever may be the extent and splendour of His universal sway, He will not forget Israel and the holy land, and the portion of the earthly people will be abundantly made good out of the endless riches of His heavenly glory.

Genesis 49.

Jacob's Last Prophecy

I have left Jacob's last words to his sons till the end, so as to conclude with a comprehensive view of God's counsels and ways in Christ, with Israel and the nations, in the past, present and future.

It is a complete historical prophecy in which we see, as in a mirror, God's account of men illustrated in the twelve tribes; the great lesson in it being the setting aside of the responsible man (the first man), and bringing in Christ. All true blessing, whether heavenly or earthly, must come through the second Man; and if the final blessing of the earth be here in view, it is none the less important to see that all must come through Christ, after the utter failure of the responsible first-born sons of Israel.

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Jacob gathers together the twelve sons, with the purpose of announcing what shall happen to them in the last days; he speaks as "Israel their father" that is, as a man of God in the true form of a prophet.

Reuben's fall is conspicuous, and then Simeon and Levi follow. In the first case, it is corruption; in the second, violence. These are always the two chief forms of evil. In these three men, we have a picture of the ruin of those who were in a responsible place, as being God's chosen people on earth. It represents the moral downfall of the twelve tribes, in spite of their privileges.

Lust, cruelty and self-will! What a terrible portrait of man in his natural state! Yet this is his true character; and their digging down walls with violence, their wrath and anger, led to their scattering. (Vers. 6, 7.)

Have we well understood that, in whatever way the first man (that is, man in his natural state) is tried, in whatever circumstances he is placed, he will surely come to ruin, and bring everything to ruin? This is the great lesson to be learnt from the case of Reuben, Simeon and Levi; the house of Jacob was thoroughly compromised by their scandalous behaviour.

But in verse 8 we have God's purpose. Judah was brought forward, when all Israel was in a state of ruin; and God's king was anointed when all was lost. (Read carefully Ps. 78: 67-70.) Judah is the Royal tribe according to God's thoughts, and our Lord Himself is represented as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

Shiloh should come, and unto Him should the gathering of the peoples* be.

{* Note that it is peoples (ammim), not merely people. It is not goi'm (that is, the nations considered merely as heathens), but as being blessed under and with Israel.}

Historically we may see, so far, the accomplishment of God's purpose in the appearing of the true king of the house of David, at our Lord's first coming. But vengeance should be taken upon His enemies before the kingdom could be set up, His clothes must be washed in the blood of grapes. (Compare Matt. 21: 1-9 with Isa. 63 and the vers. 10, 11, 12 of our chapter; in the first case the King of the house of David was recognised for one moment in Jerusalem.)

But our Lord must go away and leave the house desolate until the time should come for Him to appear again in power to destroy His enemies.

And in the meantime, have we not a true picture of Israel whilst they are driven out of their country and scattered in verses 13, 14?

Zebulun and Issachar represent the Israelites in their commercial attitude towards the Gentiles, as we know them at the present time. The shoulder is bowed to bear, there is the service to tribute. (We must admit that the Jews have paid more taxes than any other nation.) It is the long history of the settling down of this extraordinary nation in the Gentile countries, during which time they contrive to collect most of the capital that the world can give.

A strong ass, couching down between two well-filled sacks!

And what does this commercial success lead to? Nothing good! Apostasy! Dan, the idolatrous tribe, represents the apostate Israel in the latter day. Dan is like a viper that bites the horse's pastern behind, diabolical treason against the Most High.

This brings us at once into the last days, and to make this fact more striking, we have at this point of the prophecy the well-known cry of faith ? in the remnant of Israel. "I have waited for thy salvation, O Jehovah! "

Any diligent reader of the psalms and prophets will recognise at once the expression of the faith of those who cry constantly: "How long, O Lord?" They know that there will be an end to the trial, and that God has not forgotten them, long as the trial may appear. They wait for His salvation; they persevere to the end, so as to be saved.

And now comes quite a different series of names, with a glorious ending to the history that had begun so badly.

Verse 19. "Gad, a troop shall overcome him; but he shall overcome at the last."

Is not this, in sum, the history of Israel, and indeed of man?

The troop overcame the people; they were ridden down by the enemy, they have been trampled upon for a long time ? but now the deliverance is to come.

Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph and Benjamin! These names are associated with the breaking of chains and the bringing in of liberating power.

The Shepherd, the Stone of Israel, makes good His triumph for the glory and welfare of His own.

Asher and Naphtali represent plenty and power brought in by. Christ; for Joseph represents Christ in resurrection, as Benjamin in the victory over all enemies.

Joseph is the heir, the fruitful bough. The archers had wounded him, he bears the marks of their arrows; but his own bow and arms have been made strong by the Mighty One* of Jacob.

{* Please to remark this title of verse 24. It is Avir. It is a good thing to study the energy of God's might as exemplified in Joseph, the great type of the risen Christ.}

The blessings of Joseph are included in the wide sweep of the circle of God's inheritance ? "the utmost bound of the everlasting hills." Joseph, once separated from his brethren, comes out crowned with all favours and honours. A bright day for Israel when the true Joseph shall reign; a happy day for Asenath, Joseph's bride. O day beyond all thought when all the diadems on the head of Christ shall shine over the nations!

Benjamin concludes this wonderful passage. The power and authority of Him who shall reign in righteousness are to be seen in Benjamin ? and here the magnificent prophecy closes. It is complete.

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Now, my reader, we have come to the end of these brief notes on Genesis. We have been together, as in a garden, where God's ways with men are wonderfully arranged before our view. The fall, the deluge, the happy simplicity of communion in the patriarchs, the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah; Babel, and dispersion, and wilful man showing himself ever more independent of God ? these things have been before us.

Have you lingered for a moment at the terebinth grove near Mamre, where Abraham spoke with the august strangers, of whom One was more than august? Did you see the vision on the banks of the Nile, and listen to the words of the interpreter just brought from prison? Did his subsequent glory fill you with admiration? Did you trace the hand of Him who is discerned by faith as being most surely present "when he is most invisible," and who carries on His plan of overcoming evil with good through all the varied phases of the earth's history ? the antediluvian world, Babel, Sodom, Egypt?

If so, I am more than satisfied. It is not without regret that I now close these most imperfect notes, and the (imaginary) communing with every one who shall read them. May the God of grace and of glory give us to understand His thoughts in His Christ through all that we have studied in this wonderful book!

Christ and the Assembly

Christ and the Assembly being papers issued as a supplement to Scripture Truth.

The Central Bible Truth Depot, 5 Rose Street, London E.C.4.

The Mystery.

Christ and His Church — J. T. Mawson

The Present Practical Result of the Truth of the Body of Christ — J. Green

The Riches of the Glory of this Mystery — H. J. Vine

The Mystery in Practice — J. W. Smith

Power to Apprehend the Truth — H. J. Vine

Prayer in Relation to the Mystery — J. Green

The Sufficiency of Christ Triumphant for the Entire Need of His Body on Earth — J. T. Mawson

The Secret of the Dispensation — F. B. Hole

"That the Gentiles should be of the same Body" — D. Brown

Correspondence — J. T. Mawson

My Brethren.

In the Midst of the Assembly — H. J. Vine

John 20. — J. Green

The Assembly as seen in Hebrews — A. J. Pollock

"My Brethren" — J. T. Mawson

The Mystery — (Poetry) J. Boyd

The Life of the Assembly.

Life — J. T. Mawson

Love is of God — J. Boyd

Joint Partakers of God's Promise — H. J. Vine

Living Stones and Priests — J. Boyd

"Behold! I, and the Children" — J. W. Smith

Paul, and the Mystery — J. B.S.

The Holy Spirit and the Assembly.

The Glory of God and Jesus — J. T. Mawson

The Holy Spirit in Relation to the Church — J. Green

Membership and Fellowship — F. B. Hole

"The Holy Spirit of Promise" — H. J. Vine

Gatherings of Assembly Character — H. J. Vine

Apostolic Fellowship — F. B. Hole

The New Interest and the New Power — J. B. Stoney.

The Spirit's Work in the building up of the Assembly — A. J. Pollock

The Assembly in Function.

The Supremacy of Christ — J. T. Mawson

One Loaf; One Body — F. B. Hole

Ministering to the Lord in Assembly — H. J. Vine

When Ye Come Together — J. Green

The Cross of Christ — J. T. Mawson

The Open Meeting and its Abuse — H. P. Barker

More about the Open Meeting — J. T. Mawson

"Tarry One for Another" — F. B. Hole

How to Conduct Oneself in God's House — H. J. Vine

Correspondence — (Part 2) J. T. Mawson

The Lord's Supper — J. T. Mawson

The Leaven — J. Green

"One Flock, One Shepherd" — H. J. Vine

Eph. 2: 21. — A. J. Pollock

The Mystery

“Wherein He hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth: even in Him: in Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." (Eph. 1: 8-11.)

Surely no one could read the opening verses of the Ephesians and be indifferent to what follows. Could anyone say I am eternally enfolded in those wonderful statements; I am one of those who have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; chosen in Him before the foundation of the world; made holy and without blame before the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in love; predestinated to the adoption of children; made accepted in the beloved One; redeemed and forgiven according to the riches of God's grace, and yet I am not interested in God's purpose and thoughts?

The exceeding riches of God's grace thus made known to us must command our earnest attention and awaken reverent enquiry. Especially as He treats us now, not as servants, but friends, and proposes to let us into His eternal secret, that which lies nearer than all to His heart, what He is going to do for His own Son.

It is as though He said to us, "I have forgiven you and set you free from all anxiety about your sins, and redeemed you from the power of the great enemy, and now I want you to enter into My thoughts; I want to unfold to you My purpose for the glory and joy of My own Son, and according to this purpose I have also given to you a part; you are necessary to the carrying out of it. So I have taken you up according to the riches of My grace, setting you free to contemplate the mystery of My will; having abounded towards you in all "wisdom and prudence," giving you the capacity for understanding and enjoying it all by the power of the Holy Ghost."

This is so exceeding abundantly above all that we could have asked or thought, that if we do but see with the eyes of our hearts the glory of it, all indifference as to it will perish for ever; and in self-forgetting and adoring service, we shall seek to comprehend with all saints the blessedness of it, and to labour in prayer and word and doctrine that the truth of it may not remain a dead letter to us, or to any of the saints.

Christ and His Church.

Introductory.

Before the lips of our Lord first uttered those two words, "My church," words which impress us with the preciousness of the church to Him as being His own peculiar possession, He asked His disciples, "Whom do ye say that I am?" Peter answered at once "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." The truth as to His Person must come out, for there could be no church apart from that, for it is formed upon and will be filled with what He is. But in this connection it is important that we should rightly grasp the significance of this episode in the revelation of the truth. Peter had not arrived at the truth by the exercise of his natural wits, or through any education he had received in the schools of men; nor can any other man; the scribes and Pharisees were far more intellectual and educated than he, and they neither discerned nor confessed the truth as to the Son of God. Nor had he gathered it from his study of the Old Testament prophets, though they all spoke of Christ; nor from the preaching of John the Baptist, though he was a faithful messenger, going before the face of the Lord's Anointed. He had received it from the FATHER - name of perfect grace, unknown to saints and sages of dispensations past, however exalted their privileges; hidden even now from the wise and prudent of the earth, but revealed unto babes. And it was from HEAVEN that the Father had revealed it. It was a heavenly revelation, the fruit of unmeasured grace which the name Father implies. This great revelation upon which so much hangs, was not made because of any merit in those who were chosen to receive it; and it connects itself, not with prophecies regarding the kingdom which are earthly in character, but with heaven and the counsel of God's will, by which all who were to receive it were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.

We cannot pass over this passage of Scripture lightly; it arrests us by its blessedness, and certainly we must learn what lies under the simple statements here given if we are to have any true understanding of the truth of the church. WE BEGIN WITH THE PERSON OF CHRIST, this is fundamental, there could be no church apart from Him; but what we would at this point emphasize is, that it is His Father in heaven who reveals what He is that the church might be. It is not what He will be as Son of David, that is set forth in the Old Testament; or even as Son of man, His glory in this position is also spoken of in those indispensable prophecies; but, Who is this Son of Man? He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. It is upon this revelation of Him that the church is brought into being, built up and completed; and every other glory which is His will manifest itself fully in relation to what He, the Christ, is personally with the Father. It is the Father's work to make this known, indeed we might, speaking with reverence, call it His own special and chief activity; but does not this shew what a world of ineffable love is here opened up to us, that had never been opened before, where the counsels of the Father for the glory of the Son are unfolded, and into which none can intrude. Only those chosen for it by surpassing grace may enter here.

Our deep conviction is, that we shall make no progress in the knowledge of the truth of the church if we fail to understand this, so that we make no apology for seeming repetition. It was not as Elohim - the strong One (Gen. i. 1.) that God made this revelation to Peter, or as Jehovah - the self-existent One, (Gen. ii. 7.) or as El-Shaddai (Gen. xvii. 1) the Almighty, all-sufficient One, but as the FATHER of our Lord Jesus Christ, - "My Father," as He said. All that had come out in former days He is and will ever be; but it is not here a question of His attributes, His power, faithfulness or sufficiency, but what He is in His very nature. This could not be known to us by any work of His hand in creation, but only by the revelation of Himself by the only begotten Son that dwelt eternally in His bosom. So that we have first - the Father revealed in and by the only begotten Son, Jesus our Lord; and then the truth as to this glorious Person revealed to our faith by the Father; one can easily see that this must eventuate in fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ for all who respond to this revelation. Thus all truth hangs together.

Again we insist that it is the FATHER IN HEAVEN who reveals it. It is made to us upon earth, but it is from heaven, it is heavenly in character, and lifts us above the earth, and carries us into a range of things about which the prophecies that have to do with earth have nothing to say. The great majority of even pious Christians have not grasped the force of this, but the importance of it will be seen as the truth is developed. Then further, the way in which Christ is revealed is as victorious over death - He is "the Son of the living God." This revelation from the Father in heaven looked onward and carried the thought of resurrection with it. Immediately the Lord speaks of His suffering and death and resurrection; the truth is placed upon that platform, outside man in the flesh, with his ambitions, hopes and activities, which all lie shattered and dissolved at the touch of death.

So that we have at the first mention of the church in Scripture, the Father's activity - fulness of grace; the revelation He makes is a heavenly one, and it is of Christ, who would establish His church outside all the schemes and failures of man in the flesh against which all Satan's power and subtlety is directed in vain. It is invincible. This by way of introduction.

Christ the Glorious Head.

The mystery which is unfolded in the epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians is Christ and the church, not the church without Christ, nor yet Christ without the church. Christ is the Head and the church His body. Consequently, though the church is in this blessed unity which is formed according to the purpose of God and by the might of His Spirit, its place is the subordinate one, as every body is subordinate to its head, and its blessedness and importance lie in the fact that it is the body of Christ, united to Him, the living Head in heaven.

We begin with Christ, whatever place of favour or testimony the church has now, or of glory it will have hereafter, it has by virtue of the fact that it is united to Christ, hence the necessity of beginning with Him. In doing so, the affections of the heart are brought into activity. One might say, "I am not particularly interested in the truth of the church," but none who have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ will say, "I am not interested in Him," and in occupation with Him we are led naturally to be interested in that which He loves and nourishes and cherishes.

He is the Son of the living God. We are carried at once to John's Gospel by this declaration. Of this Gospel Augustine said, "John . . . deservedly compared to an eagle has opened his treatise as with a peal of thunder; he has raised himself not merely above earth and the whole compass of the air and heaven, but even above every angel host and every order of the invisible powers, and has reached even to Him by Whom all things were made, in that sentence, "In the beginning was the Word." It is with this Person we have to do and with Him we begin:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made" ( John i. 1-3). Here is the glory of His Person - As to His Being, He is eternal in the Godhead, as to His power and handiwork, He is the Creator of everything that exists.

And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, ver. 14.

Here is the greatness of His condescension made manifest in His incarnation, for His humanity was not in form merely, something put on, as one would put on a garment for a certain purpose and then cast it off again when that purpose was accomplished, but it was a reality. He became an actual man, and this He will never cease to be.

"We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten with the Father" (verse 14). "The only-begotten which was in the bosom of the Father" (verse 18). Here we reach that which baffles description or explanation, nevertheless, it is revealed to us and we may at least say this of it, that in this epithet we learn the infinite worthiness of the Lord to be the eternal object of the Father's love, and His capability of responding to the full to that love, and as such He has come to declare it to men.

"Full of grace and truth." And of this "have all we received, and grace upon grace." Here is declared His absolute suitability to the entire need of man. Coming from the highest height of God's glory as the revelation of it, He stooped to the deepest depths of man's need to remove it.

Space fails us even to recount the matchless range of glories that shine upon this first page of John's Gospel, and we pass on to "I have glorified Thee on the earth, I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do" (John xvii. 4). Here is the perfection of His life and the completeness of His work.

“He said, It is finished: and bowed His head and gave up the ghost . . . and one of the soldiers pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water" (John xiv. 30-34). Here is the one great sacrifice, by which He did the will of God and redeemed and perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

"The same day at evening when the disciples were assembled . . . . came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." (John xx. 19). Here is His triumph over the power of death and the introduction of His disciples into a sphere of peace - afterwards to be known as His assembly - of which He would be the all-sufficient Centre and Head.

The Gospel of John closes with the statement, that if all the things Jesus did and said were written the world would not contain the books that would be written. This in the judgment of the critic is hyperbolical language; we claim that it is the sober statement of the truth inspired by the Holy Spirit. Remember the greatness and glory of the Person; endeavour to conceive the character of the revelation that He made in His works and words, and then say whether this could be told in books.

Who, for instance, discerns fully, and could write truly, except the Father, the glory of the Son of God as displayed in the first miracle in Cana of Galilee; when He found man in his brightest social circumstances, his marriage day, a failure, for the wine ran out; but produced for him out of the water of purification, typical of death, the wine that could not fail; the best brought out last. Is not this the glory of the last Adam, who, out of His own death, shall bring forth the wine that makes glad the heart of God and man; shall roll back the tide of darkness and death brought in by the first Adam; remove from this creation the groans, disappointments, failure and loss; the vain reaching out on the part of man for what appears to be substance but is only shadow, vanity, vexation of spirit; and fill it with the wisdom and knowledge of God? Every cry hushed, every desire satisfied, everyone at rest, and God glorified through it all.

And who discerns fully the glory of that last miracle, which can scarcely be read without tears, when our adorable Lord, rising from His agony and sweat of blood in Gethsemane, was confronted by His eager, ruthless foes. One of them, Malchus, a slave of the high Priest, must have offered some gross insult to the Lord, and Peter, indignant and impetuous, drew the sword he carried and smote off his ear. Thus nature acted, thus man displayed himself, thinking he served his Lord. But Jesus, e'er His wonder-working hands were bound by His hardened captors, quietly touched the severed ear and healed it. What absolute goodness; what invincible mercy; what tender compassion; could this be written in books? Such divine goodness overcoming such appalling evil will have its place in the days of His glory when He shall fill all things; and every other ray of His glory seen by the Father's eye when He trod that lonely pathway, which "led only to the cross," will shine forth there.

It used to be said of a spiritually-minded minister of the Word, There is a book in which all would be written, for nothing that Jesus did or said could be lost, and that book is the church; it will be the lesson book of the universe. And this is true. The Father is writing in this book now by the Holy Ghost. For of the saints, who are the body of Christ, it is said, "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart," and the divine intention is "that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly-places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Eph. iii. 10, 11). The church, as we shall see, is the transcript of Christ. This is where "the mystery which from the beginning of the world had been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ" comes in. (Eph. iii. 9). And we would remark that it might be thought that we have gone outside the range of our subject in bringing into it the glories of Christ as unfolded in the opening of John's Gospel, but this verse, and the fact that the creatorial glory of Christ is connected with the same subject in Colossians justifies us in so doing.

The purpose of the mystery is to fill the universe with Christ, and this will be done by the church.

1. Christ - the full revelation of God in manhood, the display.

2. The Church - the vessel for the display.

3. The Created Universe - the sphere of the display.

Yes, God intends that Christ, who fills His own heart, shall fill the universe, and this will be glory, and one part of the mystery now is that 'Christ is in His members the hope of glory' (Col. i. 27.) - God intends that the One who in the narrow compass of 33 years, in lowliness of life and obscurity, beset with every conceivable hostility of evil, fully declared His name, and revealed His nature in such a way that the world cannot contain the books, shall Himself be revealed in the fulness of His incomparable worth to every intelligence in the vast universe; and His body is the chosen vessel through which He will do it; and this not only in the dispensation of the fulness of times, but, unto the ages of the ages God will have glory in the church by Christ Jesus. (Eph. iii. 21.)

How the Body Was Formed.

Now the question arises how, and by what means has the church, which is the body of Christ, the vessel for the fulfilment of the counsels of God, been brought into being for the accomplishment of this great purpose.

First. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone: but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit." John xii. 24, shews the necessity of the death of Christ that there might be brought into existence the "many grains" like Himself, for the members of His body must be of the same order and nature as the Head.

Second. "The Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified" ch. vii. 39, shews the necessity of His exaltation and glory if the Spirit was to be given; and the body could not be formed apart from the gift of the Holy Spirit. "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth," said the Lord to His disciples, "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you."

The first chapter of Acts records the ascension of Christ to the glory, the second chapter records the descent of the Holy Ghost from that spot upon His disciples on earth; and the unity of the saints in one body starts here and cannot be divorced from these two great facts — a Man at the right hand of God, and the Holy Ghost come from thence to earth.

Let us consider these great facts. The first is described in Ephesians 1 in most wonderful language. "The working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all."

He has not only gone to heaven, but the exceeding greatness of God's power has carried Him there from the very depths of death, and set Him in indisputable supremacy above every created power, and this, mark it well, in relation to His body, the church. Now a work commensurate in greatness with the raising up of Christ must be done in order to raise His body up, unite it to Him, fashion each member of it after His likeness, and fill it with Himself; and that work is being effected in the second great fact, the coming of the Holy Ghost to earth to indwell every member of the body of Christ.

We would press home upon our readers, the character that these facts give to the body of Christ, of which they each form a part. It is heavenly and not earthly; it is of the "last Adam," who is the Lord raised from the dead, and not of the first man who is of the earth, earthy. We have heard the fact of the heavenly character of the church derided and it is little thought of by the bulk of christians; hence we press it; it ought not to need pressing, for there are many passages of Scripture which state the fact in so many words. But it ought also to be clear, that if we are members of the body of Christ, who is not on earth but in heaven, and if we have been formed into His body, not by any earthly organisation devised by men, but by the indwelling of the Spirit from heaven, we must be now heavenly; however poorly we make it manifest, this is what we are in the thought of God.

Christendom acts as though Christ were accepted on earth; hence we have aims for world-power in Rome, the church and the state united in Episcopacy, politics rampant in Nonconformity. The solemn fact is refused that Christ was and is rejected by the world. We have briefly considered His glory and perfection in John's Gospel; consider now His rejection by the world, His humiliation and shame.

"One of the officers struck Jesus with the palm of his hand" (John 18. 22).

"Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him" (John xix. 1).

"The soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it upon His head, and they put on Him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote Him with their hands" (vers. 2, 3).

When the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him."

But they cried, "Away with Him" (verse 15). "They crucified Him, and two other with Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst." Need we continue? Does not that centre cross upon which hung the Author of life, the Father's sent One, declare to the universe that the world dominated by Satan would not have the Son of the living God? Consequently God has raised up His Son, and with like energy and exceeding grace He is gathering out of the world the members and uniting them to the glorious earth-rejected, heavenly Head. The members cannot be part of Christ and be of the world that rejected Him at one and the same time; they cannot be diverse from the Head; they must be as He is. So they are God's ecclesia, an assembly of out-called ones, no longer of the world out of which they are called. But if you call out a number of people without a purpose or centre you have a rabble, that was not the purpose of God when He commenced to call out His church. He unites them each by one Spirit to one Head and forms an indivisible organism, instinct in every member of it with the life of the Head, to be under the dictation of the Head and to manifest what He is.

Christendom has departed from this and become a rabble; setting up heads of its own choosing; going its own way; section warring with section; a veritable babel. How could it be otherwise when it denies its heavenly origin and turns from the Head in whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells and seeks instead the help of men and the world that rejected and crucified Him. And there is no deliverance from this but by the truth as to what God has established. For this reason we are endeavouring to present the truth to our readers.

But let us, not fearing repetition, consider what this means. The Holy Ghost from heaven takes possession of a company of men upon earth; one Spirit in each individual in that company, forms them by this indwelling into one body; but having come from the exalted Christ, He unites them all to Him, so that now they form the body of the Man who is out of death and exalted in heaven. He is their Head there, and they being His body are to be expressive of Him here. The Head must direct the members of His body: His thoughts, His graces, His manners, His very life have now to find expression in them. This is outside entirely what man is naturally, for Christ has passed through death and is out of it; it is outside also all the springs of earth, for He is exalted in heaven; hence it can only be done in the Holy Spirit's power, but the members of the body of Christ have not to seek Him, for He dwells in them for this very purpose. This is an entirely divine conception, but it is a blessed reality to be entered into consciously by every one of us. It is such a reality, such a fact established in the invincible might of the Holy Spirit that no power of the enemy can destroy it; such a reality that when Jesus arrested Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road He challenged him with the question, "Why persecutest thou ME?" The Head and the body are one. And the Head directs the body; the members need no self-appointed leaders, they are to look to their Head for direction, and to be descriptive of Him where He is in the very scene of His crucifixion. What a victory for God is this! What an overthrow for the devil is here disclosed! He thought to rid the world that he dominated of Christ, living a life of lowliness and obscurity; he has been foiled by the wisdom God, for now the exalted, heavenly Man is here in His body; it is His epistle, known and read of all men; it is here maintained by the mighty power that has come from Him at God's right hand. Its destiny is the place where He is, meanwhile it is descriptive of Him where He was rejected, for Christ is in you the hope of glory.

On this line lies unity, to seek it on any other can only fail, but this is outside all failure, it is the unity of the Spirit. And if we see the truth and appreciate it we shall welcome the precious exhortation, coming as it does from the prisoner of the Lord.

"I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. iv. 1, 2, 3).

J. T. Mawson.

The Present Practical Result of the Truth of the Body of Christ.

The idea is current in the minds of many Christians, that the truth concerning the church viewed as the body of Christ, has little practical bearing on life and conduct. Yet it must be evident to a serious thinker that so stupendous a fact as that Christ has a body on earth, of which He is Head in heaven, could not but have an important and searching effect on the walk and ways of those who receive it in the full assurance of understanding.

It was the revelation of this great secret which had been hidden in God that absolutely changed the life of Saul of Tarsus. The words, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou ME," revolutionized him. The greatness of this fact governed all his after ministry, and caused him deep anxiety of soul, and continual prayer to God, that those who had received the gospel, might be interested in this further truth. He knew its importance, and knew also that if this central pivot on which the present activity of God turns was lacking, nothing else could be in right adjustment.

1. Let us consider it first of all in relation to the understanding of God's will and purpose for the present period of Christ's rejection from the earth.

The body of Christ consists of all believers whether Jew or Gentile by birth, brought on to a new platform before God in Christ risen, and livingly united to Him by the Holy Spirit. They thus become joint heirs, a joint body and joint partakers of the promise, the purpose and the glory; the final result being the display of the exceeding riches of the grace of God and glory brought to Him in the church by Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages.

The present result where this is received in the obedience of faith, is worship and praise to the Father of glory, and at the same time the heart is turned away from the many purposes which occupy the minds of men in respect of the world and its nations, and is engaged with the only thing that can hush the groan of creation, namely, the manifestation of the sons of God, in the likeness of, and with their exalted Head. The coming out of the church from heaven having the glory of God, is His centre of administration for the dispensation of the world's peace. Through His body Christ will rule all things and receive the homage of all the nations of the earth. The knowledge of this will produce a great result in delivering the Christian from the projects of the rulers of this world, and leagues of nations, which after all are doomed to failure from their inception, because they are not framed for the glory of Him whom God delights to honour. One who is instructed in the mystery of God will have very good reason indeed for abstaining from participation in the politics of men, for his politics are in heaven, from whence he awaits the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, with eager anticipation.

2. In close connection with these things is the right understanding of the Scriptures of truth. The knowledge of the special calling of the church is the key to the treasure house. The purposes of God for His earthly people Israel are then seen to have been suspended, until the time when the new heavenly family shall have been completed and translated to heaven. God is now calling out of the world a people for His name and afterwards will return and build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen down and will set it up. If this is not grasped, the prophets have little or no meaning to the mind, and there is the desire to apply their writings to the church, with the result that their true connexion is lost, and the dispensations of law and grace are confused. From this cause has arisen the mixture of Judaism and Christianity, supplemented by human devices, which is everywhere in evidence. The church is the vessel of grace, formed in the world but no more of it than is its Head in heaven; heavenly in its origin, its character, its portion and its destiny; and the Christian that is so instructed will be one who can bring out of the treasures of God's Word, the old things and the new. Such intelligent perusal of Scripture is surely a very practical and blessed thing.

3. None can contemplate the present condition of the church without seeing that great confusion exists, and the reason is not far to seek. From very early days in the history of the church, believers have failed to hold the Head, and consequently have supplied the lack with other heads of their own devising. Popes and cardinals, kings and archbishops, with the whole clerical system have been perpetuated. Churches, chapels and Christian gatherings of all kinds are anxious to have some one appointed to whom they may look for guidance and who shall undertake the responsibility of their affairs. So far has the truth that all direction and supply flows from the Head to each of the members as He will, been departed from, that many cannot understand how Christians can meet together for worship or edification without someone to preside over the meeting or be its leader. The reason is that Christ has not His place in their minds as Head, or if they hold this in theory it is thought not to be applicable in practice. The consequence is that instead of bearing witness to the unity of the body, the Church is scattered and divided, sectarianism is rampart and the sheep follow each other instead of the Shepherd. Let it not be imagined that this state of things can be remedied by any outward arrangement, for no recovery is possible unless the place of the Head is recognized. We have not to make a unity but to acknowledge that which is already established by the Holy Spirit, and to depart from all that is inconsistent with it. To be a member of the body of Christ is so great an honour, that one who realizes it will decline all other memberships, societies, guilds, unions, syndicates and companies. Such things are the resort of men who conscious of their individual weakness, seek strength to safeguard their interests and maintain their place in the world. The saint and the church have their resources in Christ and need none other. In Christ and the church are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; the source of all is in the Head, the supply is to the members, and neither religious associations, philosophical societies or nationalistic combines, can add anything to him to whom Christ is all. But if any practical result is to follow, this truth must be acted upon, and Christians must be found gathered together to the name of the Lord alone and owning His sole authority. Where this is done even though but by two or three, how great is the blessing, and how rich and full the stream of grace which flows in abundant supply from the Head on high. In this lies the Divine answer to the confusion, for any who will take such a path, in all lowliness and meekness forbearing one another in love.

4. Then in relation to the coming of the Lord; how many and various are the ideas that are afloat upon this precious theme, yet how simple and heart-affecting does the subject become when the place of the church as the body and bride of Christ is seen. At once it becomes an imminent hope, making heaven a reality to the soul, and earth but a shadow. Yes, He is coming for His church, that where He is she may be also; He is coming to present her to Himself a glorious church without spot of defilement or wrinkle of age; He is coming that He may be glorified in His church and admired in all them that believe; He is coming for the pearl upon which He set such value that He sold all to possess it. What bridal affections are produced by considering these things! No hour of Jacob's trouble is her lot; no time of tribulation that shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell on the earth. She has no place on earth during the day of the world's judgment, for the day of grace which called her into life will have ended, and for her the joy of the presence of the Bridegroom on high will have come. Below the storms of judgment will be sweeping over the guilty world; above in heaven, the marriage of the Lamb, the bridal robe, the hallelujah song.

5. Then again the truth of the church as the body of Christ is the great preservative against the evil doctrines that abound in Christendom. Where many are tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine and cunning craft of the enemy of souls, the heart that rests in the knowledge of union with Christ, abides in the steady calm of truth as it is in Him. Such an one needs no novelty in spiritual things, nor desires to intrude into the spirit of the world. Neither is he entrapped in the spider webs which men spin from their imagination, nor is he bewildered by the forced interpretations of Scripture with which such ideas are bolstered up. The conclusions of science falsely so-called cause him no anxiety as to the foundations which rest in God, because holding the truth in love he grows up into Him in all things, which is the Head even Christ, and these things attract him not. The heart that is possessed by heavenly affections will be satisfied only with that which can minister of the excellency of Him who is at God's right hand.

6. Lastly as to individual walk, we need but to turn the pages of the epistles to Colosse and Ephesus, to see how Christian behaviour and practice is developed in the knowledge of Christ as Head of His body. To walk worthy of the calling, to walk apart from the vanity of the human mind, to walk as children of light, in love, and circumspectly to carry out the relationships of life, after God's thoughts; these epistles as well as that to Philippi show how these things can only be lived out as the life of Christ expresses itself through the members of His body here.

The truth of the mystery was given to Paul to complete the Word of God. It is the centrepiece which gives harmony and arrangement to the whole circle of truth, without it all is unfinished and no true connection is seen. Only so can any life find its true purpose and mission as it sees its place as set in the church in relation to Christ and all saints. Worthwhile indeed to have the lowliest place in such a glorious purpose, where each member needs every other and each partakes of the measure of grace from Christ. Every member is necessary to the Head, in order that He may express in the whole the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him which created him.

It awaits the day of glory for the full display of this, but even now it is wrought out in measure in those to whom God after the deep desire of His heart, makes known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

The above remarks have been based upon the following Scriptures: -

Acts ix. 1-9; xv. 14-17. Rom. viii. 19-21; xvi. 25-27. Eph. i. 17-23; iii. 1-21; iv. 1-16, Col. 1. 23-29; 2: 1-19. 2 Thess. i. 10-12. Rev. xxi. 9-27 which will well repay prayerful and careful study.

James Green.

"The riches of the glory of this mystery." (Col. i. 27)

We are told that God would make known to us the riches of the glory of the mystery, and we are therefore definitely encouraged to seek by the Spirit to apprehend somewhat of the costly treasures of wisdom and knowledge which are graciously stored up for us in this, and which await those who will take possession of them in faith. Were we not assured of this in God's Word, the very greatness of these exalted and holy things might well deter us; and a false idea of humility might have easily prevented our entering upon the path to this wealthy abundance; or, it may be, a sense of our own unworthiness. Seeing, however, that those who are addressed were once sinful, disobedient children of wrath and deserving God's judgment, but have now redemption in Christ, the forgiveness of sins, having been delivered from the authority of Satan and brought into the favour of God; - seeing that those who are utterly unworthy and sinners in themselves are thus addressed and blessed, having heard and believed the gospel concerning God's Son, and consequently become members of the body, the assembly, of which Christ is the Head; - we, who have learned our own sinfulness and God's redeeming love in Christ, may, having no confidence in the flesh, enter without presumption or irreverence into these things which God would indeed have us know. May we have grace and energy to do so!

1. The mystery itself has been revealed. It never could have been known otherwise. 2. It has its own distinctive glory. 3. God desires that we should know the riches of this. The apostle to the Gentiles laboured with great combat of spirit in relation to it, toiling according to the inworking power of Christ, that the saints might be brought to the full knowledge of it, and not be deluded by other things which are not after Christ. We may well therefore be deeply in earnest about the matter for ourselves. Its importance to-day cannot be over estimated. Deceptions and delusions in religious circles abound, but the truth which is according to Christ Jesus our Lord, known and practised, is sufficient to preserve us in the way of life and blessing for the pleasure of God.

1. The Mystery.

The riches which we have before us are immediately connected with the mystery. It will therefore be necessary to say a little as to this. In contrast to the ages previous to the redeeming work, resurrection and exaltation of Christ, the mystery is now revealed.

Silence was kept as to it in the times past, but it is now made manifest for the obedience of faith (Rom. xvi. 26). It was hidden from ages and generations, but is now declared to the saints of God (Col. i. 26). This mystery we are told was "hid in God" Himself previously (Eph. iii. 9), therefore the revelation of it cannot be found in Old Testament times, or before the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. That it is now made known in our day should profoundly affect us.

The above three Scriptures which speak of the mystery show the care with which this divine secret was guarded from time immemorial until the day the gospel of God's saving grace came to us. The gospel however, is not itself the mystery as Romans xvi. 26 shows. It is now made manifest with a view to obedience, - called "obedience of faith." Colossians i. 26 tells us that it is now made manifest to the saints of God, and that the truth was specially given to the Apostle Paul to minister it to the Gentile believers, and thus to complete the Word of God. Ephesians 3: 9 speaks of it being made known now to "the sons of men," having been revealed not only to Paul the special minister of it, but to "His holy apostles and prophets in the power of the Spirit." What then is this wonderful mystery which God has so graciously made known in our day after keeping it a secret so long? Our Scripture (Eph. iii.) tells us. Going beyond and far above all the great and glorious promises of God made in the past to the nation of Israel; a higher and vaster range of glory, which is not of Old Testament promise, but which is according to eternal purpose, believers from among the Gentiles are made one in Christ with those from among the Jews, becoming thus in Him, who is exalted by God above every dignity and intelligence in the universe, heirs together of the reserved inheritance in glory, - a united body in Christ, the assembly, - and joint partakers of the life which was promised in Him before the ages of time, now made known in the glad tidings. (Verse 6).

Such thoughts did not enter the Jewish mind. The Jew expected according to the promises, that Israel as a nation should have the supreme glory in the world, in a system of nations subservient to her, with her King, her Messiah of David's line, in her midst, but it never entered their minds that from among themselves and from among the nations there should be an out-calling, the ek-klesia, united to the Christ rejected by them and exalted to God's right hand over all things, nor could it be known until it was revealed by God Himself.

Supremacy on earth belongs to Israel and will yet be theirs, when the nation is clothed with Christ; but this cannot be until the body, the assembly, is glorified with Christ her Head in heaven, and Israel has repented of the guilt of having rejected and crucified Him. Revelation xii. opens with a symbolic vision of her glory which follows. She is clothed with the sun; supreme power is vested in her, for the Lord is her everlasting light. The moon is seen beneath her feet: all derived authority is received from Israel in the earth. On her head is a crown of twelve stars, which speaks of the administration being hers in bestowed perfection. The Man Child who is to shepherd all the nations is of Israel (verse 5), for truly "salvation is of the Jews" as the Lord Himself said, for He came of them after the flesh, and He is the Saviour of the world to bring in blessing and order and glory. Nevertheless, the mystery has in view not only this, but the centering up of all things in the heavens as well as upon the earth in Christ, and the filling of all things by means of the assembly, the body, which is "the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." This is according to eternal purpose as we said, and rises far above the glorious promises to Israel. God has now made known the very mystery of His own will, according to His own good pleasure which He proposed in Himself (Eph. i. 9).

The Head of this system of divine greatness is already glorified, and those who are members of His body are united to Him by the Spirit given. At present they are heirs of the inheritance of glory; soon they shall actually inherit. They are already in the body; soon they will be exalted along with the Head. His life is theirs now, and when Christ who is their life shall be manifested then shall they also shine out with Him in glory.

Much of the wisdom of God is shown through Israel, but now through the assembly there is made known the all-various wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord; and that, not to men, but to "the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies." This was in view even in the creation which He called into being at the beginning, though He did not reveal the secret till Christ had secured redemption, and was set as Head over all things to the assembly. It is therefore said "now" as contrasted with the past when the mystery was kept secret, and not in contrast with the future, for it has an abiding sense according to "eternal purpose." The perfect display of God's wisdom is secured, - "all-various," or "all variegated," - a word only found here in Scripture, and used of the magnificent blendings of colour in a masterpiece of art. To bring the failure of the assemblies into these verses is to mar the teaching in this connection. To dwell upon the divine grace and love and power and wisdom seen in Christ and the assembly according to the purpose of God will rightly affect us.

In chapter 5, after speaking of Christ and the assembly in the past and present, and looking on to the future, to the time when Christ will present her to Himself all glorious for the joy of His own heart, it is said, "This mystery is great but I speak as to Christ, and as to the assembly" (32), - having added for our present help, "We are members of His body; we are of His flesh and of His bones." What rich comfort and cheer this gives us now, even before the end is reached! Not only is union ours in the precious sense of Bridegroom and bride, but unity, - members of the body of which Christ is the glorified Head, - one with Christ! How can we praise Thy grace, Lord Jesus, as our hearts desire to do?

"Ascended now in glory bright

Life-giving Head Thou art;

Nor life, nor death, nor depth, nor height,

Thy saints and Thee can part."

In closing these remarks as to the mystery itself, we feel constrained to mention the intense and rapid progress of another mystery, which, in the sphere of Christendom is sweeping onward like a destructive flood; it is called "The mystery of iniquity" or "lawlessness" (1 Thess. ii. 7). It was at work even when the apostles were on the earth. It has been working in opposition to Christ, and the assembly acts as a restraint, but when that restraint is removed at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ for the assembly, it will rush forward, carrying off those who "received not the love of the truth that they might be saved" (ver. 10). May the truth we have spoken of, - in the love of it, - so fill our hearts that we may be kept above all religious workings in opposition to it, "preserved in Christ Jesus," where all that is good and perfect is ours.

2. The Glory of the Mystery.

Before we speak of the riches of the glory of this mystery, we must seek to grasp, as the Holy Spirit enables us, the special distinction, or glory of the mystery; for these riches, though they are to be displayed in the universe as the outcome of the mystery, are not exactly called the riches of the mystery, but the riches of the glory of it. The difference has not been observed sufficiently, but it is important.

The glory of the mystery is that which is distinctive of it when compared with other circles of blessedness in the universe of God. Creation has its distinctive glory. ISRAEL HAS HER OWN GLORY ALSO. It is the same with the mystery. The thoughts of an Israelite, from every part of the kingdom, turned instinctively to Jerusalem. Even Daniel during the captivity looked thitherward, and prayed with his window open towards the city. Nevertheless, it was because of the city, and the throne of Jehovah, the ark, of the Lord of all the earth, and Jehovah's own presence there, that a peculiar distinction was given to the city and kingdom of Israel above all others. The glory of the Lord had been seen to fill the temple. Sacrifices had been offered; the magnificent building had been reared up; and when the priests and Levites "praised the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord: so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God" (2 Chron. v. 14). What other nation or kingdom was so honoured? What other people had God so nigh unto them? What other city was so privileged? What house or temple was filled with the cloud of Jehovah's presence? - And there was the ark which contained the stones of testimony given miraculously at Sinai, when the glory of the God of Israel appeared before their eyes; when there was seen "under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness." Six days the glory of the Lord abode upon mount Sinai. "The sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire."

Moses exhorted them to keep the statues and judgments which God had given them, saying, "This is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations" (Deut. iv. 6), for it would be recognized that thus they were distinguished from others. We know, however, that they failed utterly, but when God presently takes them up again according to the new covenant, it is said, "The Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to Thy Light, and kings to the brightness of Thy rising" (Isa. lx. 2, 3); again, I will glorify the house of My glory. Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows?" (8). "The nation and kingdom that will not serve Thee shall perish" (12). "They shall call thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel" (14). "The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting Light, and thy God thy glory" (19). "Yea, I will be the glory in the midst of her saith the Lord" (Zech. ii. 5). Messiah will be known by her then. She will have returned to Him. Like Thomas, they will own Him as their Lord and their God when they see Him. He will be known and owned at Jerusalem by all, and "the Lord shall be King of all the earth" (Zech. xiv. 9).

This constitutes Israel's glory, but the glory of the mystery transcends this altogether. Great and glorious indeed the former is, but the latter surpasses it in its vastness and outshines it in its splendour; rising far above the heights of Israel's exaltation, and outreaching the widest ranges of her dominion, the glory of the mystery glows with the richest radiance, and blesses the beholders of it with its abiding beauty and universal brightness. It outranges all national glory, for that which is according to God's eternal purpose must necessarily extend beyond His greatest promises for time. Indeed, it might be said that the mystery and its glory, even as we know it now, partakes of the nature and character of "eternity." Oh! that we might value this more than we do!

As we have seen, Israel is to shine in national supremacy on earth, because of her Messiah, in the sight of all other nations of the world who will be blessed through her. The assembly is the body of Christ, - not a nation under Messiah, but a living organism, a vital system, one with its glorious Head, - united to Him who is the Head of all principality and power. It is for the universe. It will be through its immediate and intimate association with Christ at God's right hand, and its oneness with Him, through power, redemption, resurrection, and the gift of the Spirit, the divinely provided means for the blessing and ordering of all things, - as it is said, "the fulness of Him who fills all in all;" and it is also for the eternal pleasure of God, that there might be to Him "glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of the ages." The One whose body the assembly is first went down into the depths before He ascended as Man into the transcendent heights where He now is. "He that descended is the same who has also ascended up above all the heavens, that He might fill all things." From that exalted position He has given gifts for the calling out and building up of the saints who are to share with Him in His heavenly glory, holy and without blame before God in love, dwelling with Christ as His companions and brethren, and reigning with Him as His bride when He fills the universe with glory.

"What will it be to dwell above

And with the Lord of glory reign?"

How far all this transcends that which will give Israel her distinctive place on earth words are scarcely adequate to express; but, as the heavens are higher than the earth; and the vast universe far outspans the world; and the thrones, lordships, principalities and authorities in the heavens surpass in greatness and majesty those on earth; so the distinctive "glory of the mystery" excels that of Israel, magnificent and glorious though that be, as we have seen. Israel will be in immediate association with the Messiah, King over all the earth; but the assembly will be united to Him, a new creation in Himself when all things in the heavens as well as upon the earth are centred up in Him. Oh! glorious beyond telling is this! Eternal praise and glory be to Him whose love counselled it, whose grace saved us in view of it, and whose Spirit made it known to us!

Seeing, then, that the distinction of both, flows from the way in which Christ Himself is known, for a fuller understanding of "the glory of the mystery," we need to say a little concerning the pre-eminence which is His in all things, as "Firstborn of all creation" and as "Firstborn from among the dead." The former distinction became His when He came into the great creation which He had made. The reason given for this is "because by Him all things were created" (Col. i. 16). How could the Creator have any place less than the first when He was pleased to honour that creation by coming into it? The latter distinction is His in relation to the assembly which is a new creation in Himself, - a pearl being the symbol of it used by the Holy Spirit. The symbol is deeply interesting and instructive; a pearl is not a creation in the original sense, but rather the beautiful outcome of irritant trouble in the original creation; and, therefore of it, but yet separate from it, - a new creation, with powers of iridescence, which exhibits the colours of the rainbow of the first creation with a soft and exquisite perfection, which can be found nowhere except in the pearl brought up from beneath the deep waters, and taken out of the fish's shell. As having the glory of Firstborn from among the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the body, the assembly. Now mark the reason given for all this, - "That He might have the first place in all things" (Col. i. 18).

If we reverse the order therefore of these two distinctions, and meditate upon them before God in the Spirit, we shall see how it is that the distinctive glory of the mystery is related to the glory of Christ, the Son of the Father's love, according to the eternal purpose which centres in Him, for the blessing and order of the wide creation. We see Him pre-eminent, first in every part, in every position, in every place, - "in all things," and, His body glorified with Him, so that the assembly thus honoured, stands because of Him, and as subject to Him, in that distinctive place which, as a new creation in Him, is used for the blessing of the wide creation of which He is also the Firstborn. This then is the glory of the mystery which God hid in Himself till the Head of the assembly was glorified. What a distinction it is! Oh, that we could speak of the glory of Christ, the Son of the Father's love, in His resurrection, redemption, reconciliation and administration better, and so show more clearly the "glory of the mystery" with all the greatness and loveliness which He bestows upon it.

"In His blest face all glories shine,

And there we gaze on love divine."

3. The Riches.

We have seen that the mystery, which was so long hidden, but now made known, is distinct from the promises to Israel, which involve their supremacy under Christ in a world-system of nations; for it is formed in Christ of those who are called out from the nations, from Jews as well as Gentiles, all of those being thus called out becoming unitedly heirs of the universal inheritance in Christ, one body in Him, His assembly, and together partaking of the life promised by the gospel in Christ Jesus. The glory of this mystery has also come before us; and we have seen that this distinction transcends that of the nation of Israel, when she is exalted under her once rejected Messiah; for the assembly which is His body and His bride is not simply distinguished in association with Him for the earth and for time, but for heaven and earth through eternity sharing in His glory when as Head over all He fills all things.

We will now consider the riches which result from the glory of this mystery. This would seem to be altogether beyond us had not God graciously made it known; as we read, - "The riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you the hope of glory" (Col. i. 27). Here then we are distinctly told what these vast riches are, - Christ in us the hope of glory! - Christ, in whom, we are told in verse 19, "all the fulness of the Godhead" dwells: - in us, not now apart from those who form His body, but livingly in them; - the hope of glory. The glory is always in view in the truth of the mystery, which is according to God's purpose of love before time began, which was revealed in time after the Head of the assembly was glorified, and which after time ceases shall be for eternal blessing universally and glory to God in the assembly in Christ Jesus.

To aid our understanding of these riches we will again refer to Israel. We spoke of their national blessing and glory, and great were the riches connected with that glory. In David and Solomon, the high priest, and the temple filled with the glory of the Lord, we see the heading up of the nation's blessing. What great riches flow from this! - first for the nation, then for their Lord and God, and finally for the world. We purposely name them in this order, for God must necessarily first bestow the riches before there could be any responsive return to Himself, or any outflow to others. He is the gracious, generous, and glorious Source of all.

When the stores of riches described in 1 Chron. xxviii. and xxix., were gathered together for the temple, David turned to God, and said, "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine: Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as Head above all. Both riches and honour come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all . . . All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee . . . O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build Thee an house for Thine holy Name cometh of Thine hand, and is all thine own." Furthermore, Solomon anointed, is a special type of Christ; and, in this connection we have that remarkable word, - "Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord;" and it is also said of Him, "I will make him My firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth" (Ps. lxxxix. 27). This plainly points on to the glorious Firstborn of Colossians i. God said to Solomon, "Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee; and I will give thee riches and wealth, and honour, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee." In a pre-eminent way "wisdom and knowledge" are stored in the mystery. God gives all first, "and Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in wisdom and riches."

The temple and all the wealth was given back to God. The glory of the Lord filled the house, and fire came down from heaven and consumed the vast offerings which were offered to God. The people bowed themselves to the ground and worshipped the Lord. The king and all the people bowed their hearts before God and worshipped the Lord. The king and all the people offered sacrifices. Solomon offered twenty-two thousand oxen and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep! The priests waited on their offices, and the Levites praised the Lord with their instruments of music. They sounded their trumpets, and all Israel stood before the Lord when the house and its riches were dedicated, continual offerings to their Lord and God were to be offered up as a sweet savour to Him there.

Moreover, the fame of Solomon, Israel's king spread abroad, and "all the kings of the earth sought the presence of king Solomon, to hear His wisdom, that God had put in his heart." The queen of Sheba said to him, "It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom, howbeit the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard." To the ends of the earth the rich benefits of Solomon's administration should have flowed out, making his God known, His statutes, and His judgments, through Israel. This will be so when the true Solomon holds the sceptre.

It is to be noticed, that, in the epistle to the Ephesians, which speaks most of the mystery, the city, the household of God, the temple in the Lord and the habitation of God are spoken of. In a far higher sense than the earthly type, all things will be centred up in Christ for the administration of the fulness of times (Eph. i. 10): and the "greater than Solomon" whose riches are unsearchable and whose wisdom is divine shall fill all things in heaven and earth. He is the hidden Wisdom which God predetermined before the ages for the assembly's glory, - "God's wisdom in a mystery" (1 Cor. ii. 7). Of Him it is said in Proverbs viii., "Whoso findeth Me findeth life" (35); and again, "Counsel is Mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. By Me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me. Riches and honour are with Me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold, and My revenue than choice silver." Christ, in whom all fulness dwells, is in us, and He is our life. "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory." He shall come to be "glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe:" but He is in us now already, the hope of glory. It is this which constitutes the riches of the glory of the mystery. The wealthy stores of Solomon's day were mostly gathered during the times of testing and trial and conflict of David's day. We are told that the present trial of our faith is much more precious than gold, and will be found to praise and honour and glory in the day of Jesus Christ. It must be in mind that He in us the hope of glory, and God has given to us surpassing riches in Him. Like David we can say, "All this great store cometh from Thee. All the praise and the honour and the glory are Thine."

The riches of redemption are very prominent in the two epistles which unfold the mystery.

1. The riches of God's grace (Eph. i. 7).

2. The exceeding riches of His grace (ii. 7).

3. The riches of the glory of God's inheritance in the saints (i. 18).

4. The riches of His glory (iii. 16).

5. The unsearchable riches of Christ (iii. 8).

6. The riches of the glory of the mystery (Col. i. 27).

7. All riches of the full assurance of understanding to the full knowledge of the mystery of God; in which are hid "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (ii. 2, 3). It is in the mystery that this complete store of wisdom and knowledge is found. Nowhere else has God confided it, and the whole treasury is there, - "All the treasures!" Why then should saints of God turn elsewhere, to philosophies and vain deceits? Christ is enough? Yea, more than enough for the assembly. He is in us. Anything that turns the mind and heart from Him is a delusion, however good and interesting it may seem. After telling us of these treasures, the Apostle at once exhorts, "As therefore ye have received the Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and assured in the faith, even, as ye have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving;" adding that all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily, and "ye are complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and authority." The Godhead fulness is in Him, and we are filled full in Him! How wonderful! How glorious! How exceeding are the grace and love and power of God which has brought it to pass!

The grateful and thankful heart finds relief and rejoicing in the presence of such magnificence to know that our God and Father receives a rich response to such lavish wealth which He has bestowed upon us. Of His He receives. Abundant offerings were rendered Him in Solomon's day. Offerings of thanksgiving, praise, worship and adoration in a higher way are His as the result of the glory of the mystery. Blessing and honour and power are ascribed to Him for ever and ever, and there shall be glory to Him in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of the ages. Time and space forbid, even if we were able to do so, to expatiate on these responsive riches which shall be His from us for ever, and even now as in assembly our grateful praise and worship flow in Spirit and in truth.

And then, there is not only the filling of our own hearts with Christ, and the uprising response as we bring Him before our God and Father who gave us such an unspeakable gift, but the overflow for the blessing of others. Isaiah, looking on the reign of righteousness on this earth, said, "Behold a King shall reign in righteousness, and a Man shall be as rivers of water" (xxxii. I, 2). When our Lord Jesus Christ thus reigns in Israel, through His administration these waters of refreshment and blessing shall flow out for the blessing of the world. When, however, the assembly is glorified with her exalted Head the vast universe shall reap the riches of administration. Heaven as well as earth will benefit; thrones, lordships, principalities and authorities, visible and invisible now shall all receive of the riches of that glory, and every creature shall bless and praise His holy Name. Surely this, known and rejoiced in, will affect us now. As our hearts are full of Christ, the Son of God, there will be an overflow to others around us; for the divine order is, - Christ in us first; responsively offered to God in praise and worship next; and then the overflow for others. May this mark us more and more. Note the climax of the fifteen "Songs of degrees." Beginning with a cry of distress (120) we rise step by step to the heights of blessing (134). Then we "bless the Lord" in the sanctuary, and from that holy and happy place look outward and say, "The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion." Blessed ourselves, we bless our God and Father, and then seek the blessing of those who are outside.

We are nearer than ever we were to the ripened fruition of God's eternal purpose; the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ for His well-loved assembly draweth nigh; all glorious and holy she shall soon be presented to Himself, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; His love shall be satisfied in the dearest object of His heart; we shall be satisfied in Himself and His eternal love; glory supreme shall shine in unfading splendour; but He Himself will be our everlasting Light and Joy. What shall we say to these realities, beloved brethren? Shall we not answer to them in our walk and ways and words, by being more and more conformed to His moral glory now? As these riches are the joy and rejoicing of the heart, the rusty and corrupted mammon of this age will count little with us; grace will be ours to refuse anything that would tarnish for our souls the riches of the glory of the mystery. All our walk here will be affected and our path shine brighter and brighter till the perfect day; all our ways will be ordered in relation to Christ and His interests, and all our words will become more gracious and health imparting. Nothing short of perfection in Christ will be before us. If it be otherwise, then our interest in the riches of the glory of the mystery is not of the Holy Spirit of God but of mere religiousness. Our love for Christ and all His own will be strengthened and deepened, for Christ loved all and gave Himself for all; yea, He loves all even now with an unchanging love. Our hearts therefore say with the apostle, "Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption" (Eph. vi. 24).

H. J. Vine.

"The Mystery" in Practice.

"So is Christ." (1 Cor. xii. 12). We cannot to-day see, in actual form, our Lord Jesus Christ, as did the Apostles and others when He was on earth, because He has, gone to the Father, and has sent down the Holy Spirit as the other Comforter and as the blessed Agent of all the grace of God here below.

We shall, thank God, "see Him as He is" and be like Him, when He comes again; but, though He is personally invisible, we are aware of His presence on earth in that wonderful structure called His body.

This we know is composed of all the children of God, (and only such) who believe on Him during the time of His rejection, to the moment of His return. These have been quickened by the Spirit of God, by whom also they are united to Christ in glory as members of His body, and thus formed into one perfect and divine unity; so united that in describing its absolute completeness the Scripture says, "So also is Christ." The two, Christ on the one hand, and His members on the other, in this mystic unity are so identified as that one name, that is "the Christ," covers and denominates both. Just as, it may be remembered, in describing the type of the human family, in Gen. v. 2, we read, "Male and female created He them, and called their name Adam" - the woman was merged in the man, even as she was also, "of his bone and his flesh." "So also is the Christ."

Now this, though spiritual and mystic, is surely not invisible. Each of its members, great or small, has its own place to fill in the whole, each is a "member in particular" and none can fulfil the functions, or do the work of another. All are interdependent and under the control of the Head, just as the human body acts in its varied members in perfect organic harmony and order; and it is used, in our chapter, as an illustration. This takes the truth of the "Mystery of Christ" out of the region of mere theory, and presents it in a truly practical light.

The blessed Head on high is ever active on behalf of His members. How dear to Him we cannot tell. He loves them to the end. He described them to Saul of Tarsus as though they were Himself. "Why persecutest thou Me?" How perfect the identity; how close and inseparable the tie!

But this implies similar activity on the part of the members, in relation to each other. "Hence," if one member suffers, all suffer." Do we appreciate this touching fact as we should? "If one member be honoured all rejoice?" - or this? What mutual affection, regard, sympathy, and unselfish consideration, if so. What withering up of mere party or sectarian animosities there would be. But the church as the body of Christ has lost, in leaving her first love, those family, nay those corporate affections that shone in fervent reciprocity in early Pentecostal days. Iniquity abounds and love waxes cold.

Albeit the unity of the body remains intact. No power of evil can break or mar that unity. "For by one Spirit are we all baptised into one body . . . and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." Could unity be more perfect. Could the proper articulation of co-membership be better secured? Need the ear say, in jealousy, because I am not the eye I am therefore not of the body, when the ear though less beautiful, can perform in its own province, that which the eye cannot? Each is necessary in its place.

Far less may the eye say to the hand, in unbecoming pride, I have no need of thee, for the eye, spite of its glory, cannot do the essential, if lowly, work of the foot. Such an idea in the body natural, were folly; though, alas, possible and actual in the body spiritual.

These members, these gifts, have been set in the church by God Himself, and each is placed by Him in the sphere intended.

But what a marvellous organism does the body of Christ thus present to us! How divine the conception! How profound the statement: - "So also is the Christ."

But, secondly, if we turn to Eph. iii. we find that the mystery of Christ affects a wider field than the body itself. This unity is to be viewed as an exhibition of the manifold wisdom of God, by principalities and powers in heavenly places, the wonder of the ages, the vessel of the surpassing riches of His grace in His kindness to us through Christ Jesus. There we find what are called, "the unsearchable riches of Christ," and there are to be seen, if eyes are only divinely open, the administration - the practical and visible operation of this mystery.

In Chapter iv. of the same epistle we see the operation itself, first of all the kind of spirit that is absolutely necessary in those who would endeavour to keep the unity, not indeed, of the body, but of the Spirit, with whom that body is so closely allied, animated, and sustained in vigour.

And so we have gifts from an ascended Christ for the perfecting of the saints of whom the body is composed, till we all come in the further unity, that of the faith to the "measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." How practical in every sense is the mystery of Christ, as it is now revealed by apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

This is proved, thirdly, in the epistle to the Colossians, by the agony of soul through which the Apostle passed, when in prayer for that assembly and others. The riches of the glory of the mystery, hidden for ages but now revealed, is "Christ in you the hope of glory." It was the coping stone to all the revelation of God; it completed the Word of God.

In the mystery of God, he tells us, are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; and to be possessed, therefore, of that treasure the soul is put on guard, intelligently against the mental seductions of the foe, such as philosophy, the traditions of men, circumcision, all that militates against the cross, the worship of angels, an abuse of the body which panders to fleshly pride - things which could have no existence, not be allowed, if the fulness of the Godhead bodily, in a risen Christ, and His headship as the ascended Man, were truly held.

In 1 Cor. xii. the mystery has for its object the mutual care of the members; in Eph. iii. the enlightenment of heavenly principalities and powers; and in Col. ii. the preservation of the saints from the intellectual attacks of Satan and the world.

This is all intensely practical, the importance of it causing such conflict to the Apostle, who was specially appointed to be the minister of the church.

No wonder then finally, that in Romans xvi. 25. he regards it as essential to the establishment of the believer in the truth of the gospel, of which it is the complement; and although, without the knowledge of it, the believer may be justified, yet He lacks an apprehension of Christianity proper, and his work cannot but be defective.

J. Wilson Smith.

****

A person is walking in the Spirit when Christ is the paramount object to him. Then the eye is single, and the effect is, the body is light, luminous is really the idea. It is a wonderful thing, that in the place where my Lord was rejected I am to come out in the light of my Lord.

Power To Apprehend The Truth.

The might of divine power is in constant energy on behalf of those who are saved by grace, and who are sealed by the Spirit. In Ephesians 1: 19, it is called the surpassing greatness of God's power towards us who believe; - the power by which the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from among the dead. In chapter 3: 20, the power is said to work in us, and according to that power, God "is able to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think." As regards its operations then, this mighty power is both towards us and in us.

Those who are Christ's co-heirs, members of His body, and partakers of life in Him, are, notwithstanding the exalted favour and blessing which has been bestowed upon them, entirely dependent upon God's power for the needed strength to apprehend by the Spirit the vast range of glory of which Christ is the Centre; and which according to the precious truth of the mystery, they share with Him in a most intimate way, as His body and His bride. This strengthening is also needed, that Christ may be dwelling in the heart through faith, and that founded as to our character and rooted vitally in the love of God, we may increase in the knowledge of the love of Christ; which, nevertheless, however great our enjoyment of His love may be, still surpasses knowledge; for like Himself, it is infinite; but though we are dependent, thank God, we are so upon One whose resources are exhaustless, whose power is immeasurable and whose grace and love towards us are illimitable.

How this encourages our hearts therefore to seek His face in regards to these great things, - the greatest things in some respects! Fallen man, in his fleshly state, has neither the mind nor the power to enter into them; nor could "the natural man," even at his best, apprehend them, for "they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. ii. 14.); but those who have redemption in Christ through His blood have the Spirit, so that "we may know the things which have been freely given to us of God." Paul felt that the saints at Ephesus needed divine strength to apprehend these things. He therefore prayed, - "I bow my knees to the Father" on your behalf, he told them (iii. 14). We also need to pray for ourselves if we are to rightly apprehend the truth. The apostle desired strength in "the inner man" for them.

This inner man, which every saint of God has, is the result of the work of God in us. It is contrasted with the "outward man" (2 Cor. iv. 16); and it is "renewed day by day" as we walk with God. In the exercises of the seventh of Romans, the believer makes the discovery that he has this inner man which delights in what is of God (22), though the principle of sin still causes him distress. It is in the inner man therefore the Father is asked to grant strength by His Spirit in Ephesians iii. 16; and that according to the riches of His glory. Every family in the heavens and on the earth receives being from Him, - He is the Source of all. How vast then are His riches! With what confidence we may ask to be strengthened according to them! We need to do so if we are to prosper in divine things! It is no question of earthly matters or the circumstances of our pathway here. We are dependent upon the Father of mercies in regard to them also; but this has to do with things that abide in glory and blessedness for ever. Those who minister these things likewise need to pray for those to whom they minister, lest their labour be in vain. If Paul bowed his knees to the Father in regard to them, we do well to do so.

Nor should we allow the mistaken thought to deter us, that it merely effects our own advance in the great things connected with the mystery of Christ and the assembly. It is not simply this which the true heart desires, surely, but that God should be glorified, even as the apostle concludes his prayer, "But to Him that is able to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think, according to the power which works in us, to Him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of the ages. Amen."

H. J. Vine.

Prayer In Relation To "The Mystery."

"The mystery" belongs to a range of things which is purely spiritual, which therefore the Holy Spirit alone can reveal, communicate and give power to discern. Hence the exceeding importance of prayer in connection therewith, for ourselves, and for each other. There are two great reasons for this intercession; firstly, that a state of soul may be produced which shall be receptive of the divine communications; and secondly, that protection may be afforded from the Satanic agencies which seek to nullify and obscure this revelation of God. Urgent at all times, even in the church's brightest days, it is still more so in those that witness its far departure from the first love which was once its glory and testimony.

The revelation of God can never fail; His purpose that it should be known must be satisfied; and although many, alas, may turn from the truth and give ear to fables, or short of this may be indifferent to what God would make known; nevertheless, the Holy Spirit will find hearts to whom He can confide the truth. Herein lies the need of prayer which in the divine economy is a mark of the pulsations of spiritual life, and the opening up of channels of supply to the other members of the body of Christ. By such means the Holy Spirit works in order to produce the bridal affection which is the true response of the church to her coming Lord.

The importance of prayer in relation to "the mystery" is amply set forth in the epistles of the Apostle Paul. In Rom. xvi. 25-27, his heart turns to God for the power, that would establish the saints (to whom he had communicated the gospel) in this further truth, without which they would not be fully furnished for the service of God, the glory of Christ or the blessing of man. In Col. ii. 1-3 the prayer of the apostle reached to an agony of conflict for all who had not seen his face in the flesh, that such a soul condition might be produced in them by the comfort of the love of God, that there might be such knitting together in love, so that all the riches of the full assurance of understanding of the mystery might be theirs. In chapter iv. 12 of the same epistle, one of Paul's companions was like-minded. Epaphras was one who laboured fervently in prayers, that the saints might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Is there not searching power in such an example that should reach our consciences, yours and mine beloved readers? In Eph. i. 16-23 Paul prayed that the saints might know the exceeding greatness of the power of God, which had taken Christ out of the lowest place in death, and had set Him in the highest spot at His own right hand, as Head over all things to His body the church. He desired that this great and glorious fact might possess their souls, for then they would seek supply and direction from no other source. Again in Eph. iii. 14-21, he prayed for that which the Father alone could accomplish by His Spirit, viz., that Christ should so dwell in their hearts, that they might be firmly established in His love, so that they might look out upon the greatness and grandeur of that eternal secret now revealed, of Christ and the church, His body, by which glory shall be brought to God by Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages.

Thus we have:

God's ability to establish, in Romans.

God's desire and will, in Colossians.

God's power and love, in Ephesians.

Do we need ought else? here are matters which may well cause us grief and shame that we have thought so much of human agencies, and neglected to draw by prayer upon the resources of God, by which alone 'the mystery' can be known and maintained.

Brethren, do we value these matters above all earthly things? do we estimate aright their great importance for the glory of God, the heart of Christ and the joy of the saints? if so, Let us pray.

James Green.

The Sufficiency of Christ Triumphant for the Entire Need of His Body on Earth.

J. N. Darby has beautifully written, "Christ never fails, and there cannot be a want in Christ's church without there being an answer to it in Christ's heart." Yes, and how blessed, how full of comfort it is to know that His heart not only discerns and feels and responds to every want, but that His love is not an impotent love, but that He has triumphed over the whole power of the enemy in order to meet the needs of His church from His exalted seat of glory! This comes out in Ephesians 4.

"But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore He saith, when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things) (Eph. iv. 7-10).

He once stood a Man upon earth, come down from Godhead's fullest glory to deliver men from the bondage of a great foe. He met for Himself first of all all the subtlety and power of that foe, for He had to be tested Himself. How could He deliver others unless He were able to stand free Himself. In the wilderness He was tempted, and triumphed, and Satan left Him for a little season. Having failed to bring Him beneath his yoke by his wiles and allurements he returned and confronted Him with all the terrors of darkness and death in Gethsemane. How little we understand that conflict which caused the sweat of blood to fall from His sacred brow to the earth! We can only stand by and wonder, but our wonder deepens to adoration as we hear Him say to His Father. "O my Father, if this cup may not pass from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done."

Thus He proved Himself to be invincible before the whole force of the enemy, but thus far He stood alone, and He had become Man to deliver men from Satan's captivity, and to do this He had to descend into the lower parts of the earth, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone." He had to go into judgment and death; to meet the great oppressor in his own stronghold and there destroy his power, as David tracked the lion to his lair that had robbed his flock of a lamb; and this He has done, that "through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver those who through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage" (Heb. ii. 14). Now He has ascended up far above all heavens that He might fill all things. He has travelled in His conquering might from the lowest spot in death to the highest point in glory, having made Himself master over the whole dominion of darkness, the captivity in which men had been held captive. So could He say to John, "I am He that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen; and have the keys of death and hell." It is as Man that He has gone up; His exaltation from the side we are viewing it is in virtue of an accomplished redemption and the overthrow of Satan's power. He glorified God His Father; and as Man He fought for men and His triumph has been gained for men, the deliverance is for them, little though they care about it; and the announcement of it is sent out to them by the evangelists that the exalted Christ has given to them, though we have sadly to ask, "Who hath believed our report?" Sad it is that men love their captivity rather than the glorious liberty into which He can bring them.

But if men at large despise the gifts He has given for their blessing, and spurn the blessing which might be theirs through belief of the truth, nevertheless the great purpose of God for this present moment is being carried out, and the gifts are enumerated, "and He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers" (Eph. iv. 11). They are given the building up, the blessing, and the completion of His body. They are given, "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph. iv. 12).

The apostles and prophets are those who laid the foundation. They abide for us in the Scriptures which contain the inspired words. The evangelists, pastors and teachers still abide. How solemn yet how blessed the position of any and all who are such! How needful that they should be in close contact and communion with the Head of the body so that their communications to the saints who form it may be from Himself to His members. The purpose is, says J. N. D., that "the assembly, and each one of the members of Christ, should be filled with the thoughts and the riches of a well-known Christ, instead of being tossed to and fro by all sorts of doctrines brought forward by the enemy to deceive souls."

Yet while there are special gifts, every member of the body has his own special gift, for, "unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ."

Christendom has spoiled everything, and few now look only to the Head for the giving of gifts for the needed ministry to the saints; few indeed recognize Christ as the One all-sufficient Head of His assembly. The majority walk by sight and must have some visible authority to which to turn, and whether this be pontifical, episcopal, presidential, congressional, or what not, it is all in principle the same, and correspondingly the loss is great.

Oh that there might be an awakening on the part of the saints of God, who are the body of Christ, as to the complete adequacy of Christ to maintain His own assembly; there would follow the abandonment of every human organization that has grown up in Christendom; the turning away from every worldly device for the furtherance of God's work; tradition would cease to enthrall, precedent would no longer guide, but Christ would be all. What power and blessing and liberty would be the result for all who did this. Their part would be the one that Peter found when he left the boat to walk on the water to go to Jesus. "If it be Thou," all he wished to be assured of. Then he stept forth out of everything to which a man might cling, to learn that none but Christ to whom he stept forth could maintain him, but that He was altogether competent. Let us go forth unto Him, He cannot fail us; evangelists, pastors and teachers may fail, every member may fail in the exercise of that gift that Christ has given to them, but Christ the Head abideth the same. Times and circumstances change, hence we cannot act upon precedents, or rely upon tradition; we have no need to, for the power and wisdom and care of the Head is equal to all changes, and every crisis; His Name, His word, His grace, His direction are all we need.

"When human cisterns all are dry,

Thy fulness is the same;

May we with this be satisfied

And glory in Thy name."

No good in creatures can be found,

All, all is found in Thee,

We must have all things and abound

Through Thy sufficiency."

How full of beauty, are verses 15 and 16. "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." Commenting upon them, J. N. Darby says, "The Christian is to grow up according to all that is revealed in Christ, and to be ever increasing in the likeness of his Head; using love and truth for his own soul — the two things of which Christ is the perfect expression. He is our pattern; and our pattern as having overcome, and as having ascended to heaven, our Head, to whom we are united as members of His body, there flows from this Head, by means of its members, the grace needed to accomplish the work of assimilation to Himself. His body, compacted together, increases by the working of His grace in each member and edifies itself in love.

This is the position of the assembly according to God, until all the members of the body attain to the stature of Christ. The manifestation, alas! of this unity is marred; but the grace of its Head to nourish and cause its members to grow, is never impaired any more than the love in the Lord's heart from which it springs. We do not glorify Him, we have not the joy of being ministers of joy to each other as we might; but the Head does not cease to work for the good of His body. His faithfulness is glorified in our unfaithfulness without excusing it."

Does not the heart stir at the thought of being a means of supply from the living Head to ones fellow-members! To have a part in the nourishing and increase of the body, to its development to the full likeness of Christ! What a favour, what a high honour is this! This is brought within the reach of the feeblest member of this wonderful body; and if these few pages, put together in fear and trembling, and many prayers, result in any being stirred up in these things to fulfil those functions which are proper to them as being members of this body, then will those who have laboured be abundantly compensated, for in this the Lord will be glorified and His saints truly edified.

J. T. Mawson.

The Secret of the Dispensation.

The word dispensation occurs twice in our common version of the epistle to the Ephesians, - viz., chap. i. 10 and iii. 2. In both cases the Greek word so translated is one which means the law or arrangement of a house. Being closely allied with the word for steward it is sometimes translated stewardship. Speaking in general terms we may say that a dispensation is that regime or ordering of affairs which God is pleased to institute at any given time.

Ephesians i. 10 looks on to the glorious regime to be established in the coming age which will have as its crowning characteristic the gathering together in one and heading up of all things in heaven and earth in Christ. In connection with this there has been a secret, "the mystery of His will," as verse 9 shows; though the secret is now an open one to "us," i.e. His saints of this dispensation. This coming age is the theme of many a glowing Old Testament Scripture which must have warmed the heart of saints living in pre-christian times, and which still fire and animate our hearts to-day; still it will be found that such Scriptures view the age as being that of Messiah's glory, with Israel gathered under Him as the head of the nations, and the Gentiles ordered and blessed subordinately to Israel. Only in very rare instances - as Hosea ii. 21 — is the heavenly sphere alluded to. God's will as to it however embraced more than earthly things. He purposed in Himself according to His good pleasure a wider and more wonderful unity of glory. Not only all things on earth - including Israel and the nations, but all things in heaven, - including the church and angelic hosts, are to find their unifying Head in Christ. No Old Testament saints would have divined that secret, though it is fully made known to us.

That dispensation is future, but in chapter iii. 2, we have a present dispensation, and one far more limited in its scope though far more intimate as to its character. The apostle speaks of it as "given me to you-ward" - that is, he was the steward of it as far as the Gentiles, such as the Ephesians, were concerned. This being so, and bearing in mind how utterly lost and hopeless the Gentiles had been, as stated in chapter ii. 12, it is easy to see that it is indeed a dispensation of the grace of God; the coming age will be rather the dispensation of His glory.

This dispensation, too, has a secret connected with it - a secret, that is, from the standpoint of all who lived previous to the death and resurrection of Christ, the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, and the subsequent passing of the period of transition and the revelation of God's first thought in connection with the church. At the time of writing the Ephesian epistle the secret had been divulged by the Spirit to apostles and prophets (verse 5), though it was revealed independently to Paul (verse 3), and he alone was the steward of it as regards the Gentile saints (verse 2).

What is this special secret of the dispensation now revealed to us? Only three passages furnish us with its details, though others allude to it. The three are Ephesians ii. 9-22; iii. 6; and Colossians i. 27. That the first of these three Scriptures is an unfolding of the mystery is proved by verses 3 and 4 of chapter iii. where the apostle appeals to that written previously as showing his knowledge of the subject. It is worthy of note, by the way, that he calls this passage previously written "a few words" though it is the longest and fullest passage of the three. This shows us that it is a condensed summary of the matter, and we may expect to find in it great fulness and depth.

The secret of the dispensation has then to do with God's work among the Gentiles by which an election from amongst them is brought, equally with an election from amongst Israel, into the fulness of blessing in Christ. Both come in on equal and identical terms, and not only so but also upon a footing and into relationships which are altogether new.

These things being of the very essence of the matter we first point out, how they are stated in this Scripture.

(1). Both Jew and Gentile are made one, "the middle wall of partition" and "enmity" being abolished "in His flesh" i.e. by the death of Christ. (verses 9 and 15). Both are reconciled "in one body" (verse 16). Both have access to the Father by one Spirit (verse 18). This warrants us in saying that both come in on equal and identical terms.

(2). They do not, however, come in upon the old footing as propounded in the law given to Israel. It is not that Gentiles are now to be admitted to the share in Israel's standing before God. The blood of Christ has made them nigh in Christ Jesus (verse 13). His death is indeed the efficacious ground of it, but by it He has made "in Himself of twain one new man" (verse 15). Both are brought to God in one body, but it is as reconciled by the cross (verse 16); both have access to the Father but it is by one Spirit (verse 18) and not by ordinances as of old. It is evident then that both are brought in on a new footing. The old fleshly Adam standing in which both shared is set aside, the national standing as the people of Jehovah which belonged exclusively to the Jew is also set aside, and the election from both comes in "reconciled by the cross," "one new man," "in Christ Jesus."

(3). The relationships into which they come are far beyond any in which Adam stood even in innocence, and equally beyond Israel's national relationship with Jehovah. They are not one nation but one body (verse 16), approaching the Father, (verse 18) rather than Jehovah. Further, such are "of the household of God"; built into that which is destined to be "an holy temple in the Lord" and "builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit as a present thing (verses 19-22) .

This then is the secret of the present dispensation stated in few words. Ephesians iii. 6, gives us the same in fewer words; and Colossians i. 27, presents the same great theme in even fewer still, but from a different standpoint, when it says that "the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles," is "Christ in [or among] you [i.e. Gentiles] the hope of glory." The prophets had predicted that the Messiah should be amongst His people on the basis of redemption, and that earthly glory should be established in connection with it; but that Christ should be in, or amongst, an election from the Gentile world was an unheard of and amazing thing, awakening the liveliest expectation of His ultimately shining forth in a glory of yet wider dimensions.

Other Scriptures there are, which though not exactly or directly referring to the mystery yet throw additional light upon it. The whole of 2 Corinthians iii., for example casts light on Colossians i. 27.

These other passages we must however pass by, our present object being to reach the practical bearing of all this truth upon the lives of the saints who compose the church.

The whole of Ephesians iii. save verse 1 is in the nature of a digression. About to write instructions as to their behaviour the apostle evidently felt it needful to enforce them by a statement of his peculiar authority in regard to such as themselves. He had not merely knowledge of the mystery by direct firsthand revelation from the Lord, but authority, since the dispensation or "house-arrangements" in respect to all mentioned in the latter part of chapter ii. was, as far as Gentiles are concerned, given to him (verse 2). Of it he was made a ministering servant (verse 7), his work as such being to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all see what the fellowship (or administration - J. N. D's translation) of the mystery is. He not merely enunciated the newly revealed truth in its terms but saw to it that in practical fellowship or administration the truth was exemplified amongst and carried out by the saints, so that whether nationally Jews or Gentiles they were together, altogether above and apart from the racial and religious animosities which characterized them by nature, in the happy recognition and consciousness of the new footing established in Christ, and the new relationship with the Father, with Christ, and with one another, in the power of the Spirit of God. There was then a practical expression upon earth, of that which is the real secret, the great characteristic thought of the present dispensation, and thereby to heavenly powers, the manifold wisdom of God was displayed. The unity thus established in the church between Jew and Gentile still abides before the eyes of the heavenly powers and still shows forth God's wisdom, for there has been no splitting of the church into a Jewish section or a Gentile section. Cleavages there have been, alas! - almost without number - setting forth all too clearly before heavenly eyes the folly of man, but none of them have been along the lines of that original great fissure removed so wonderfully by the wisdom of God. We are speaking, remember, of the fellowship of the mystery and not of the vital oneness of the body.

Then, is recorded, verses 14 to end, that wonderful prayer of the Apostle, in which he asks for a mighty work of the Spirit in the inner man of these Gentile saints that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith, and that with all saints they might enter into the fulness of these wonderful things. A mighty work within indeed needful if these erstwhile worshippers of Diana were to be lifted in their own soul's knowledge and enjoyment to the level of these serene and holy things while still they lived in Ephesus and trod its streets. No less a work is needed within ourselves.

Chapter iv. 1 picks up the thread from chapter iii. 1 and the apostle commences his practical instructions in the tenderest tone, yet with all the weight and authority of chapter iii. behind him. The great business of these Ephesian saints and of ourselves is to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. A superhuman task indeed! which is only possible as the apostle's prayer is fulfilled in us.

The central point of endeavour is to be the keeping of "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." The "unity of the Spirit" was and is an actual subsisting fact. We did not make it, nor can we break it, but in the actual wear and tear of daily life and walk, we may keep it or we may let it go. The exhortation is that we keep it in the uniting bond of peace. Verse 3 is then the main exhortation of the passage, verses 4 to 6 enforce the exhortation by reminding us how unity is the outstanding feature of Christian life and profession in all its departments. Verse 2 gives us the all important moral features in the strength of which alone can the main exhortation be carried out in practice.

A brief consideration of how all this must have appealed to the Ephesian saints may help us. The assembly in that great city was predominantly Gentile (ii. 2; iv. 17), though with a Jewish strain in it (Acts xix. 1-7; xx. 21), hence there was ample scope for friction and trouble. Yet peace between them had been established in Christ (ii. 9-15) and the uniting effect of that bond was to be felt in their endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit - so called because the one Spirit is the vital and animating principle of the one body into which they had been called.

The keeping of the unity calls into exercise four great moral characteristics: -

1. Lowliness. That mind which is the exact opposite of the mind of Adam. He would exalt himself; the lowly mind goes down as Philippians ii. shows. This is most essential, and particularly important for the Gentile in his dealings with the Jewish saint. The remembrance to which the apostle called them in chapter ii. 11, 12, was calculated to produce it.

2. Meekness. The opposite of the pushful self-assertive spirit. Again very important for the Gentile since there was the divine order even in connection with the gospel of "to the Jew first and also to the Gentile."

3. Longsuffering. The patient and long-continued acceptance of personal discomforts or even wrongs, a thing only possible to one of a lowly and meek spirit.

4. Forbearing in love. Intimately connected with the third, and its complement - the love that bears with that which might offend in others, instead of seeking redress by violent methods.

All these things would be much called for on the part of the Gentile in his dealings with the Jew. By legal training and the hereditary instinct of centuries the latter carried within himself the tendency to take the narrow, self-centred, legal view of things; the matters mentioned in Acts xv. and in Romans xiv. show this. Nothing but long-suffering coupled with the love that beareth all things would enable them to abide together in peace.

That the Jew would equally need these things in his relations with his Gentile brethren goes without saying. Indeed, experience shows that the disposition to push things to extremes and let go the unity of the Spirit is more deeply ingrained in the narrow Jewish type of mind than in the large Gentile type. These four excellent features were indispensable on both sides.

They are not less indispensable for us to-day but more so if it were possible. At the present moment difficulties and points of cleavage as between Jew and Gentile do not exist, yet with the lapse of centuries the very fact that the church is a unity established by God is largely lost sight of, whilst the essential character of that unity as set forth in chapter ii. 9-18 is recognized in even less degree. Never did we need in deeper measure the apostolic affirmation that "there is one body and one Spirit" and the exhortation "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Some of our readers who have for long been "gathered on the ground of the one body" may regard such remarks as superfluous as far as they are concerned, but we are persuaded that they are not so. The tendency to overlook the fact of one body and one Spirit reaches our minds in many subtle forms.

Take a case in point: - Certain believers, and therefore members of Christ's body, become awakened by the Spirit of God through the Scriptures to those parts of the circle of truth that concerns the church, its position, privileges, and destiny, together with its responsibilities, as the witness on earth for Christ during the period of His rejection and absence; and in order to practise what they have learned they withdraw from many religious organizations of purely human origin, and revert to the simplicity of that divinely instituted through the apostles. All this is done in simple fidelity to the Word of God without thinking of themselves at all, but as the years pass and the energy of faith somewhat declines, self-occupation re-appears, and the question of what position they themselves now hold as a result of so acting is raised in many minds. Nothing now will be easier than to assume that by their forsaking a man-made position and occupying the ground of the church according to the Scriptures they have thereby acquired a renewed corporate status, which is all their own and in which other Christians do not share.

The subtlety of this idea may be seen in the fact that it is very possible to entertain it whilst strongly insisting on the truth of "one body." This latter may be proclaimed and contended for, and yet people may so idealize it in their minds as to see nothing inconsistent with it in the idea of another "body" - especially when this other "body" lies within the true "one body" which the Spirit originally formed.

Thus very easily we may take for granted in our minds what has no existence in God's mind as revealed to us in His Word. After all there is one body and one only. It therefore should go without saying that we should have nothing corporate outside the one corpus, and even the fact that certain members of the one corpus revert to the truth of that one corpus, after centuries of diversion from it, does not reincorporate them as a small inner corpus within the one corpus. ONE body God has made, and never more than one will He entertain, whatever we may do.

We pursue this no further, but merely remark two things: First; we have not been combating a mere notion, an abstract idea of no practical consequence. This thought, if entertained, leads to consequences in conduct, and especially what we may call assembly conduct, of great gravity. Second; we emphasise the fact that we have been speaking of that which is corporate and not that which is collective. God does indeed entertain the idea of a collective life and testimony and that in days of failure and ruin, and He clearly sets it before us in such a Scripture as 2 Tim. ii. 22. The gist of the forgoing remarks is that when those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart, are most ardently following righteousness, faith, love, and peace, they acquire no special corporate status by doing so. They have a corporate status truly, but it is that of members of the "one body" originally instituted by God.

Having thus briefly considered our present day need of the apostle's affirmation "there is one body and one Spirit" it only remains to point out the exhortation which the Apostle founded upon it. In religious circles unity is all the rage, yet the "unity of the Spirit" is unthought of, and to come closer home - how shall we keep the unity of the Spirit if we have in our minds this second lesser unity of which we have spoken? To say the least there will be some occasion when the claims of the two unities will clash, with the almost certain result that we yield to the claims of the smaller, yet more tangible, "body" of our own creating, as against the claims of the larger and less realizable "body" of God's creating.

And then the spirit and manner in which the unity is to be kept! Here is the mind of Christ, and it is to be exhibited in the members of His body. These are not things to be passed on in a hurry so as to meet some disuniting crisis, but things to be wrought into the fibre of our souls by the Holy Ghost. We need them always. They are as necessary in carrying out a solemn Scripturally ordained act of excommunication, or of departure from the iniquity of a Hymenaeus or Philetus, as in confirming Christian love to a once sinning but now repentant saint.

Lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance in love. Surely a marvellous quartet of Christ-like graces! Almost, we might say, a condensed summary of Cor. xiii. Possible for us only as love, the divine nature, is produced in our hearts. We stand convicted. Here has been the failure. Here must be the recovery. May God work it in us by His Spirit.

F. B. Hole.

"That the Gentiles should be of the same body."

The mystery takes us to the height of God's counsel, and the unfolding of this constitutes the top stone of Paul's ministry.

For the creation of a superstructure in which every attribute of God is called into activity, and His nature finds a display in the supreme blessing of the subjects of His love, it was necessary that there should be a sure and immutable foundation. It was essential that in the exercise of His love, according to His counsels of grace, no question could possibly be raised as to His righteousness in so acting.

That foundation was well and truly laid at Calvary, where Christ secured the glory of God and maintained all His righteous claims in respect of those His grace would call. "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good pleasure in man." If we are to progress in the apprehension of this "great mystery," it is also essential that in our souls too, the foundations as to the righteousness of God be well and truly laid.

These two thoughts: the foundation in righteousness and the top stone in glory encompass the ministry of the Apostle Paul.

The mystery is referred to in three epistles: Romans, Colossians and Ephesians.

At the end of Romans (Rom. 15), after he has laid bare the foundations in the gospel of God, the apostle quotes four Scriptures, selected in divine and unerring wisdom, from various parts of the Holy writings, bearing on Christ's place among the Gentiles. The first is, "For this cause I will confess to Thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto Thy name" (verse 9). Confessing among them indicates that He has taken up their cause, and that He has them with Himself in the perfection of an accomplished redemption. But He also sings among them to God the Father. He has got beyond the narrow confines of Israel, and, no longer "straitened," Christ reaches the height of His joy, and, with gladness of His heart, He sings among the objects of His everlasting love.

And what is the consequence? "Rejoice ye Gentiles with His people." And again, "Praise the Lord all ye Gentiles, and laud Him all ye people." And again, "There shall be a root of Jesse, and He that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, and in Him shall the Gentiles trust."

These Scriptures clearly shew that though the mystery was not made known in the Old Testament Scriptures, yet God would prepare those who had faith for this widening out beyond this, and for the gathering together the Gentiles in righteousness, peace and joy. But, passing on to the Colossian epistle, the great present purpose of the gathering of the Gentiles, the forming of the one body, is developed.

We read of the "saints to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of the mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you the hope of glory." He not only confesses among them, but, marvellous thought, He is in them now and they are to be associated with Him in glory. Christ is in them the hope of glory.

In Ephesians we are in the noontide splendour of the purpose of God. Time does not limit the horizon. But we learn that this marvellous creation of divine wisdom and skill, the new man in Christ, is according to the purpose of the ages which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In one verse (chap. iii. 6), we have a highly concentrated description of the mystery: "that they who are of the nations should be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel" (N.T.). Three things come before us here: the inheritance; the body, - the complement of Christ; His promise in Christ Jesus, outside of all dispensations. The immensity of this must appeal to every spiritual saint, affording an adequate subject for the contemplation and study of our adoring hearts and minds always.

Two thoughts, however, stand out pre-eminently in connection with this great unfolding; and they are these: God has got a habitation, and Christ has got a bride. The latter is the crowning point of the whole divine scheme, and is the most thrilling feature in this great mystery. It is concealed in Paul's prayer at the end of chap. 3, where the apostle sets the top stone to his ministry in leading up the saints to the spiritual affections of the bride - "that Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts." Where a man dwells he is at home. In chap. 1, we see Christ trusted; we also see Him seated here - supreme thought! He is at home! And where? In the heart of His bride! United to Him in that blissful relationship, we survey with tense interest, the vast sphere of His glory, and knowing the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge we are filled to all the fulness of God.

May God grant us to know better His portion in the assembly in Christ Jesus in which there shall be glory to God unto all generations of the age of the ages. Amen.

D. Brown.

Correspondence.

The Unity of the Spirit.

W. H. D. writes as follows: -

"You may be sure I hailed with the greatest pleasure the announcement of the Quarterly Supplement, and have read it with deep interest. But I must confess to a shade of disappointment; I am at a loss to understand quite what the four contributors have set before themselves as the object of their writing; what in point of fact is the precise effect they wish to produce upon their readers.

"They enlarge much and most justly upon the extraordinary wonderful blessings and destinies that God in His grace has designed for those who believe His witness from among the Gentiles, that vast multitude, His church, which He has gathered out during this 2,000 years to a heavenly in contrast to an earthly portion, and they rightly insist that the heavenly destiny of the church separates its interests entirely from the course of this world. But there seems to be a tendency to fix the mind so entirely on the heavenly side as to lead to the feeling, if not the thought, that the earthly side is not so material. J. T. Mawson prints Eph. iv. 1-3, in large capitals at the end of his article, but he does not appear to lay any stress on the point of the exhortation, which is, to keep the Spirit-made Unity in the uniting bond of peace; this surely applies to earth only, for in heaven there can be no need."

We had hoped that the exhortation of Eph. iv. 1-3, being printed in capitals at the end of the paper referred to would show that we do lay great stress upon it; this was certainly our purpose in thus giving it prominence.

We welcome this criticism from the pen of a valued correspondent, whose letters always give us food for thought; especially so, as generally what is expressed by one is thought by many. The object we have in view in this publication is to bring afresh before our brethren in Christ the truth of the assembly which is so precious to Christ, and which holds its unique place in the purpose of God. To Ezekiel, it was said, "Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel." (Ezek. xl. 2.) Then the house which was to be God's dwelling was shown to Him in all its parts. And the impression to be produced upon the people is clearly stated in chapter xlii. 10. "Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern."

This is the effect we desire to produce upon our readers and ourselves; as we go over the truth of Christ and the assembly we want to feel with them before the Lord how inconsistent are the ways of the vast majority of those who through infinite grace have their part in the one assembly with the pattern that is shown us of it in the Word. We want to set the truth before them so that they may measure the pattern, and in exercise of soul give heed to the exhortation, which our correspondent desires to have emphasized. We know of no way by which the saints of God can be delivered from false positions and false ways and false doctrines but by the ministry of the truth. "Ye shall know the truth" said the Lord "and the truth shall make you free." It is by ministering the truth that we shall help others, and, by acting upon it ourselves, and here we have to confess with shame much failure; few can link their manner of life with their doctrine, as could the Apostle Paul. Yet however imperfectly we carry out the truth; however far our feet lag behind what our eyes see; yet this is our desire, to understand the truth better, to minister it more clearly and in the power of the Holy Ghost, and to walk in it and be under the influence of it more truly with all saints.

The first part of the exhortation which our correspondent thinks we fail to emphasize is the first exhortation in the epistle to the Ephesians, and consequently of first importance. The apostle, as the Lord's prisoner, suffering bonds for His name's sake and for this special revelation from the Lord of which He was the special steward, beseeches us to walk worthy of the vocation set before us in the earlier chapters; we cannot know it unless we read them, we must not come to the exhortation of chapter iv., except through the teaching of chapters i. ii. iii. As we learn them we measure the pattern. And the exhortation of Chap. iv. is to be consistent with what we have learnt. In those chapters we learn where God has set us: abounding towards us in all wisdom and prudence, and, according to the mighty power that raised up Jesus from the dead and set Him as Head over the whole universe, He has raised us up who were dead in trespasses and sins, to satisfy His own great love. Saved by His grace, we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which He hath before ordained that we should walk in them. We were once without Christ, aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

1). Yet from that hopeless afar off place we have been made nigh in Christ Jesus by the blood of Christ. That is the new position.

2). Jew and Gentile are brought together, and Christ has made of these twain in Himself one new man. That is the new man in the new position.

3). He has reconciled us unto God in one body by the cross. That is the new unity, not of ordinances but of life.

4). And both have access to the Father through Him by the Spirit. That is the new favour, for what favour could be greater than to have access to the Father, the source of all glory and grace.

5). We are now fellow-citizens with the saints. That is the new dignity, but not only have we our part in a city where is maintained a polity which is entirely of God, but we are of the household of God, where His secrets that lie behind His administration are known and where His very character must be maintained. A new responsibility surely attaches to that.

6). In the Lord they are builded together an habitation of God through the Spirit.

These things are all included in our present vocation of which we are exhorted to walk worthy; and this can only be done as with the absence of pride which is the chief characteristic of the flesh, we walk in lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering bearing with one another in love. This is the life of Christ in practical manifestation and only in this life can we walk worthy of our vocation which is in Christ. The Spirit also has His part in this. "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Diligence is needed for this, but of what sort? It is not enough to say, "We are all believers, let us obliterate all differences and walk together." That would be comparatively easy, for to do that we should only have to drop all prejudices that keep saints apart, or make compromises in regard to them. The unity of the Spirit means more than that; in this the man from whose carnal will all prejudices spring is obliterated by the cross, he has no place in it. We speak here of the man after the flesh, the old man, who showed himself in the Jew as a proud and intolerant bigot, and, still shows himself in that way in many who profess to take very high ground; and who showed himself in the Gentile in lawless will and unrestrained licence. That man has come under God's judgment in the cross, and has no place in the unity of the Spirit. God has displaced him as being utterly useless and profitless for His purpose, and has created in his place the one new man.

Our quotations from Ephesians ii. prove this. It is "in Christ Jesus that we are made nigh by the blood of Christ." He has abolished the enmity in His flesh. i.e. His dead body on the cross. It does not say that we are reconciled to one another, but it does say what is greater and higher, that both Jew and Gentile, between whom the greatest hostility existed are reconciled to God in one body by the cross.

The unity of the Spirit is inclusive of all who are in Christ and exclusive of all that is not of Him, and in the endeavour to keep this unity we also must be both inclusive and exclusive. We must be exclusive first of all in regard to the man that brings in dissension and division, and that man we find very ready to assert his will in ourselves. The more we walk in the truth of the cross of Christ as to ourselves the better able shall we be to walk in the grace of Christ towards those who are His. Let us measure the pattern, and learn the truth, we are "in Christ Jesus;" "in Himself;" reconciled to God "in one body," and are "a holy temple in the Lord."

In endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit we do not form a new unity or build a new church, but walk in the truth of that which already exists, though so little seen. "All saints" must have their place in our affections for they are all in the unity of the Spirit. Christ is the centre, all saints are the circumference, and the Spirit the binding power. "There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling." There is set forth the vital unity that can never be dissolved and into which no failure can come. What we earnestly desire is to know more of that and keep the truth of it in a practical way, not in conflict one with the other, but in the bond of peace, the peace which belongs to the assembly of God.

Our correspondent continues: -

"Much space is taken up with setting forth the glories and the graces of the Lord Jesus, and none too much, no one can go far enough in that direction much less too far; but it must be remembered that what He asks for is not honour and praise in word only but in deeds "If a man love Me" He says "he will keep My words," and the thing He said of old time still holds good "Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." I notice the expression "bridal affection" occurs once or twice, but the Lord never asks for that; it is a different kind of love He seeks from His redeemed. In another quarter one hears a good deal of this and one is not surprised. Not he that offers the loudest and highest laudation "is he that loveth Me" is what He says, but "he that hath My commandments and keepeth them."

As to these closing words, we remark that the saints at Ephesus were charged by the Lord with having departed from "first love," that we take it to be bridal affection. And when the bride in unison with the Spirit cries, "Come, Lord Jesus," that will be the sweet expression of bridal affection, for which He is looking from His church. But our correspondent is right in pressing that the test of true love to the Lord is the keeping of His word. This is the one and only test. May we all be exercised as to how far we are proving that we love the Lord. To keep His word and not deny His name, will cost us something, but the compensation is great. His command is that we love one another, this stands first of all, and it is deeply significant that the one assembly that receives the fullest commendation from the Lord in Rev. ii. iii. is Philadelphia - which means, the love of the brethren. May we all be Philadelphians in this respect.

J. T. Mawson.

"My Brethren."

"In the Midst of the Assembly."

Who is in the Midst of the Assembly?

The answer to this question determines for us the nature and character of the gathering; and seeing it is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself - as Hebrews ii. 12, tells us - the One who is exalted above all as Heir of all things, we may well marvel at the honour which is thus bestowed, not upon angels, but upon men; men, once fallen and sinful; now saved and sanctified by and for Himself, and for the service of God. The glory of this grace is indeed divine, and only by the enabling of the Holy Spirit can we speak at all rightly of this wonderful phase of the truth of Christ and the assembly.

We have had prominently brought before us the corporate side of the truth connected with the mystery. There are also the collective and vital aspects of it. The very first which the Holy Spirit names in Ephesians 6, is heirship; for believers in Christ Jesus from amongst both Jews and Gentiles are brought into oneness of heirship - "fellow-heirs," or "joint heirs," as it reads. This is collective rather than corporate which is named second - "A joint body." Precedence is often given to the latter probably because of the comparatively recent revival of the precious truth of the body of Christ. The truth of heirship needs reviving also, for the place which the risen Lord has with His brethren and co-heirs is little appreciated because little understood. The grace and glory of it would profoundly affect the assembly were it apprehended in the power of the Spirit. It would impart a rich sense of divine grace, and give a character of true dignity to all gatherings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The very thought of being associated with such an One as He is, through His own redeeming love, would make us esteem supremely

"That love which gives not as the world, but shares,

All it possesses with its loved co-heirs."

As our hearts rejoiced in this, true reverence and humility would mark us also, because it results from His own work and not ours; "for both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare Thy Name unto My brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praises unto Thee. "This church" (properly "assembly") is composed of those called "His companions," "His brethren," and "joint heirs with Christ."

The Heir And The Heirs.

The inheritance which those who belong to Christ's assembly are heirs to is said to be eternal; and, unlike that into which God's earthly people entered, the Israelites, it is incorruptible, undefiled and unfading. When Christ presented Himself to the leaders of Israel, at the city of the great king, as having right to the earthly possession, they said among themselves, "This is the Heir; come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance shall be ours." This gives us some insight into the importance of this question; and we will therefore use the analogies and contrasts of Israel and her inheritance to aid in the understanding of that which we are heirs to as belonging to the assembly of God. We will seek to carefully examine this.

The coming Heir to the glory of Israel's inheritance was pointed on to all through the Old Testament Scriptures. In Him all was to be headed up. They were to possess all in their Messiah, the Anointed One. They were to inherit nothing apart from Him. In Him was to be their portion of blessing, - their King, Priest and Prophet. Israel will yet come into the wealth of the promises made to their fathers, but meanwhile, Christ is "Head over all things to the assembly," and all our blessings are in Him in the heavenlies. In Deuteronomy xvii. and xviii. we are told what was to mark Israel's King, Priest and Prophet, and what was to be His relation to God's people. In view of the extremes of autocracy and democracy, seen in various nations, it would be interesting to compare them with the mind of God made known in these Scriptures, but that would divert from what is immediately before us. The king was to be of God's choosing (xvii. 15). He was to be "one from among thy brethren" and not "a stranger which is not thy brother." He was to write a copy of the law himself and read therein all the days of his life, "that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren." David was chosen and anointed of God, and David treated those who inherited with him as brethren, yet they rightly honoured him and addressed him as "lord, the king." David, however, failed in many ways, and only in our Lord Jesus Christ is to be found the perfect answer to God's mind in this respect.

The priest also was one from among "his brethren." He ministered in the name of the Lord his God (xviii. 7), the Lord was his portion, therefore he had no earthly inheritance among his brethren.

It is said of Christ, if He were on earth He would not be a priest, a heavenly priesthood is now His, and God is His portion; nevertheless, we read, "Such an High Priest became us" (Heb. vii. 26). We need none other, for God Himself recognizes Christ alone now. Then as to the prophet we read, "I will raise up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, (Moses) and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him" (Deut. xviii. 18). Especially in the gospel of John is the fulfilment of this prophecy in the Son of God related. He spake God's words to those He graciously called His brethren. "The words which Thou hast given Me I have given them" He said. "Hear ye Him," the voice from heaven commanded.

The anointing oil was poured upon king, priest and prophet. The Anointed One is Christ. It is the meaning of His Name Christ. All the three offices centre in Him, and He holds these in relation to His brethren and co-heirs. When He has His rightful place in the midst of Israel they will inherit all the rich promises and, glories which have been given to the nation; but, meanwhile, the assembly is brought into relationship with Him on new and higher ground altogether. Those who form the assembly are called from amongst both Jews and Gentiles; and, through the work of Calvary, are brought in Christ to be His co-heirs in "a new creation" as we shall see. Both Israel and the assembly inherit on account of the redemption which is secured in Christ through His blood, but the nature and extent of that which they are heirs to differ in a great degree. Psalm 20 gives us the sufferings of Christ first and then the glories to follow. He Himself was forsaken of God, and suffered when there was none to help. "Many bulls have compassed Me" He said, "Strong bulls of Bashan have beset Me round." His heart melted in the midst of His bowels. The assembly of the wicked enclosed Him; they pierced His hands and His feet. They parted His garments among them, and cast lots upon His vesture. He was brought into the dust of death. His cry to God to save Him, however, was heard, and He was raised from among the dead. If He was forsaken of God as none other, He was nevertheless raised again by Him as none other. Therefore He said, "I will declare Thy Name unto My brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee" (Ps. xx. 22). This is the verse cited in Heb. ii. 12. Later in verse 25 He speaks of praising Him in "the great congregation." This is clearly a further thought; and again He speaks of "all the kindreds of the earth" worshipping before Him (27). The blessing is wholly the result of Christ's atoning work; and the heirs inherit, be they earthly or heavenly, on the ground of that work.

In Hebrews i. 2, our Lord Jesus Christ is said to be the established "Heir of all things." Who can tell the glorious range of this inheritance? The Holy Spirit comprehensively speaks of it as "All things!" In Hebrews vi. 17 we read of "the heirs of promise." God makes known to them the unchangeableness of His purpose, that they might have strong encouragement. He confirmed His word by an oath, swearing by Himself since there was none greater to swear by. How secure therefore is that to which believers are the heirs! Faithful is He that promised. All shall be fully accomplished in the most minute and in the most complete sense. Then in the midst of the assembly of co-heirs Christ shall sing God's praises in triumph and victory.

Christ And His Brethren.

We have seen how the truth of heirship and the relationship of brethren go together. It is so both in connection with Israel and the assembly, though in a new and higher way for the latter as we have said. This will become clearer to us as we proceed. First, however, we must observe, there is a certain use of that precious expression of relationship - "My brethren" which applies to both, and also to the heavenly relationship which is ours with Christ, the Son of God, somewhat distinct from assembly relationship simply. This also we shall see presently.

When the Lord Jesus came to take up the whole question, we are told, He did not take hold of angels, but of the seed of Abraham; and "it behoved Him in all things to be made like to His brethren" (Heb. ii. 17). That shows the marvellous grace of Christ, and gives us a view of the wide extent of this grace, - "the seed of Abraham." Faith on their part is of course taken for granted, and also His work of redemption. We will now follow the way Scripture presents Christ and His brethren step by step, and observe in what manner those who are thus designated are associated with Him. By noting carefully the distinctions we shall the better understand our own place in the assembly in the midst of which He sings; and, as surrounding Him, His brethren and co-heirs, we shall respond in fuller measure to His immeasurable grace and love.

Psalm xxii. 22 comes first. He there speaks as the One Who is raised from the dead, Whose work upon the cross is finished, and of those who are the fruit of that work, - He calls them "My brethren." He declares to them God's name, - Jehovah's name; and in the midst of them, - "the congregation," He utters His praise. Christ's brethren here spoken of could not be limited to the assembly, the body of Christ, as we know it to-day. It is striking that this verse is cited with others which are true in connection with the believing remnant of Israel in Heb. ii. 12, 13. The Holy Spirit uses it in the epistle to the Hebrew brethren, as having application today rightly. To see this interesting overlapping explains many Scriptures which if confined to the assembly, the body of Christ, confuses the mind, because the word is not rightly divided in so doing. Even His Jewish disciples, before they were baptized by the coming of the Spirit into one body, He spoke of as His brethren. This will be so again after the assembly is glorified with Christ, and believers from among the Jews continue "the testimony of Jesus" as Revelation shows. Precious to them also will be the sense of this relationship, for a new nature will be theirs too, even though their hopes do not rise to the same height as that which the joint-heirs of the mystery of Ephesians iii. know through divine grace. To them will be declared God's name, and in their midst shall His praises be sounded, by Him Whose strength was weakened in the way, and Whose days were shortened; Who, nevertheless, as Hebrews i. and Psalm cii. tell us, laid "the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of His hands." He shall "declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem" (Psalm cii. 21). This will take place when the Anointed introduces the national blessings of Israel. The joint-heirs of the assembly are not called to national blessing, but, according to the mystery, out of the nation of Israel and out of the other nations of the Gentiles also, to inherit assembly blessing in Christ Jesus.

Before we speak of this, however, we will notice how the synoptic gospels confirm what we have said. When they came to the Lord Jesus and told Him that His mother and His brethren, desired to speak with Him, He lifted the relationship on to moral ground, and stretching forth His hand toward His disciples, He said, Behold My mother and My brethren. He tenderly maintained natural relationships to the very end of His days in the flesh, but the establishment of an abiding relationship which death could not destroy was ever before Him. Therefore He added not limiting it to the disciples of Israel - Whosoever shall do God's will the same is My brother (Mark iii. 35; Matt. xii. 50). The gospel of Luke connects the relationship with hearing the word of God and doing it. This again would take in those who are of the assembly to-day as having the full revelation of God as well as the remnant of Israel to whom a more limited revelation is made. Of both, the Lord could say, My brethren are those who hear the Word of God and do it (Luke viii. 21). When He returns from heaven, and comes to the earth as the King, and sits on the throne of His glory, the faithful remnant of Israel have a very near and special place with Him. Before the assembled nations, among whom they have borne testimony after the translation of the assembly to be with Christ in glory, the King declares them to be His brethren (Matt. xxv. 40). What an honoured association is theirs! The brethren of the King of all the earth! Doubtless they will designate Him as their Lord and their King, and not indulge in the unwarrantable familiarity which is often used in speaking of our Lord and Saviour to-day; nevertheless, the glorious relationship is indeed theirs through His atoning sufferings, death and resurrection. The work of God in them has written His law in their hearts as well as in their minds, and they all know the Lord. To them His grace, love and glory are known as the Anointed of God. He is King, Priest and Prophet: they are His brethren and co-heirs. In Him they are blessed and inherit their earthly portion.

The Lord sits upon the throne as King and Priest, (Zech. vi. 13), and as Prophet He declares the name of Jehovah to them. The Lord, the King is in the midst of them and they shall see evil no more (Zeph. iii. 15); yea, the Lord their God in the midst of them is mighty. He will rejoice over them with joy, resting in His love, and joying over them with singing (17). And even if the name of the Father and the heavenly relationship remains to be declared to those who are joint heirs according to the mystery, nevertheless, Psalm cxlv. - David's, the Beloved's, Psalm of praise - shows the high note which will resound in their midst. That Psalm really ends the Song book of Psalms, for the five following are resultant bursts of Hallelujahs, all beginning and ending with "Praise ye the Lord!" Hallelujah! And no wonder. The Beloved's praise begins thus, "I will extol Thee, my God, O King; and I will bless Thy name for ever and ever," and ends, "Let all flesh bless His holy name for ever and ever." There is, however, designedly no doubt, one note missing. It is contained in the Hebrew letter N. The Psalm is alphabetically ordered, and uses every letter, of the twenty-two in the Hebrew alphabet in regular sequence, save that one. This is clearly shown in the original, which is an acrostic. Does it not indicate that the heavenly note is to be heard only in the midst of the assembly, where not only Jehovah's name is declared by Christ, but also the Father's? It is there, above the national ground altogether, that those who are the co-heirs and brethren of Christ, know the exalted privileges which are theirs as joint-heirs according to the mystery which was kept secret from the foundation of the world, hidden in God Himself.

The Singing.

We have spoken of the high and honoured association into which the co-heirs of Christ are brought, through divine grace, and through the redemption work of Calvary, and especially of that which will be enjoyed by those of the nation of Israel who are the brethren of the King. Now the mystery connected with Christ and the assembly involves co-heirs, - not as belonging to the nations or Israel, but as called out of the nation of Israel and out of the Gentile nations also, to become one as thus called out, as we have already indicated; and the relationship which is theirs as brethren of Christ is not so much with Him as King therefore, but rather as the Son of God. Both are spoken of as Christ's brethren as we have pointed out, but on different planes. The latter is an entirely new and heavenly association. This we shall see. It is here in the midst of the assembly the very highest note is sung, for to them the Son declares the Father and utters His praise. To the former Jehovah's name is declared, but not the Father's.

Matthew is the gospel of "the King," and we have already observed, He shows us the King's brethren. Again in the last chapter, when Christ was risen, the angel said to the woman, Go, tell His disciples. - (Mark the forming of the assembly, the body of Christ, by the coming of the Holy Spirit, had not then taken place, for Pentecost was not yet) - When the Lord met the same woman He said, Go, bring word to My brethren. In His commission to these brethren, He tells them to make disciples of all the nations, also that He would be with them to the completion of the age (20). The kingdom character of this commission is plain, and its time limit goes beyond that of the assembly, for the assembly, Christ's body, will be taken away before the completion of the age; and after its translation from earth to heaven the testimony of Jesus will be carried on still. It is this overlapping during times of transition that has to be understood before the word of truth can be rightly divided, and before the special place which the out-called co-heirs have to-day can be rightly appreciated, according to the truth of the mystery concerning Christ and the assembly. Moreover, although it broadens our view of the brethren of Christ, it nevertheless safely secures us from the Laodicean character of the worldwide brotherhood movement which is developing so quickly and so popularly. The truth preserves the saints in Christ Jesus, whereas Laodiceanism shuts Him outside in His true character. It professes His name, but shuts the door in His face, and vainly boasts in its self-sufficiency.

How cheering and beautiful is the application of Psalm xxii. 22 by the Spirit to us to-day in Hebrews ii. 12! What a privilege and honour to be associated with those to whom Jesus declares the name of God! How rejoicing to the heart to be of that assembly of co-heirs and brethren in the midst of which He sings such a song - the praises of God! What music gladdens the souls of those who hear the joyful notes of such singing! It is never to be forgotten that the singing is His, Who, in the first part of Psalm xxii. is described as the One Who endured the suffering of Calvary. The Sufferer has become the Singer in the midst of those who reap the results of His redeeming work. There was no suffering to compare with His, and the singing of Jesus is incomparably beyond the sweetest singing that ever reached the mortal ear. Its rich melody has never been heard and never can be heard by those who are still dead in offences and sins. It is in the assembly's midst Jesus sings. There He can express the grace and melody that fill His heart in all the ineffable blessedness of the God whom He knows so well. It is there He utters His glorious praise.

We must now pass on to that which is peculiar to the out-called assembly. In doing so, however, we will just notice the striking use which the Spirit makes of Isaiah and his two sons presenting themselves before God - a beautiful type of Christ and the remnant of Israel - "Behold I and the children which God has given Me" (compare Isa. viii. 18, and Hebrews ii. 13). This is applied to the assembly now, for it indicates the relationship which is ours also, and which we are about to speak of. This intensely interesting Scripture explains many similar passages when it is discerned rightly. In the gospel of John the Spirit unveils for Christ's brethren the full revelation of God as "FATHER" in the Son - "the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him" (i. 18). In Psalm xxii. 22 and Hebrews ii. 12 it is "GOD" who is declared. Of course it is God also in John, but in the fullest revelation of Himself as Father, and as bringing us into a new and special relationship with Himself, not simply as the brethren of Messiah, the Christ, but as associated with the risen Son of God; for after He had secured eternal redemption through His death and resurrection, He sent the message of this new relationship - a relationship never before made known - saying to Mary, "Go to My brethren and say to them I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God" (John xx. 17). To what an elevation of glory and love does this bring us! Such grace and dignity in relations of deep affection could never have entered the highest thoughts of the most exalted creature in the whole of God's universe! The brethren of God's beloved Son! His Father ours! His God ours! We have said that this is somewhat distinct from assembly relationship simply, and that is correct: but we must bear in mind, those alone who are of the assembly, and who are the "joint-heirs" of the mystery, are given to know and rejoice in the endless blessedness and love of this new relationship, as they sing:

"His Father and our Father,

His God and ours Thou art,

And He is Thy beloved,

The gladness of Thy heart."

To enter into the full meaning of this, we must appropriate, in faith and in the Spirit's power, the plane of Christ's resurrection and ascension with which it is connected. Mary desired to hold the Lord on the old plane, but He said to her, "Touch Me not, for I have not yet ascended to My Father." Then He graciously declared the new relationship, and when He appeared in the midst of His own, bringing the peace of His victory over sin and death with Him, the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. What singing would fill their hearts with melody and grace then! A singing that could scarcely be sung for the very intensity and sweetness of its experimental depth! A singing that we might fear to spoil by our expression of it! Nevertheless, Jesus has said, "I will sing!" Rich is His singing of God's praises as we have seen: surpassingly so His singing of the Father's in the midst of His co-heirs and brethren as the Son of God.

He says to the Father, Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me, and the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given them! (John xvii. 22, 23). How supremely this arises above all else. Oh, may our hearts enter into the truth of it, in the power of the Spirit ungrieved; and may we be sensitive as to allowing anything in ourselves that would spoil our appreciation of all this divine love and life and glory with the Father and the Son. Words seem to fail as we try to speak of it. In the beautiful type of the Father and Son, we read that Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, and sent his other sons away eastward that they should not inherit along with him. (Gen. xxv. 5, 6). It is in contrast to this that the grace and love of Christ shine out. He brings others to share all He possesses as His loved brethren and co heirs. Soon God's purpose will be brought to full fruition, and then, actually conformed to the image of the glorious Son of God, we shall unhinderedly and eternally be able to speak His praises as, we would, for whom God foreknew, He "predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He should be the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. viii. 29); and in the midst of them, who shall tell the gladness of His heart? Who shall attempt to describe the singing which He then sings in the midst of His co-heirs and brethren? The Holy Spirit alone can give us any sense of its harmonies for it is altogether divine.

In closing, however, we would challenge our hearts. Since these things are so, beloved brethren in Christ, what should mark those who are called to such great realities, - such holy and heavenly intimacies, such glory and grace? Avoiding the Babylonish corruptions of a worldly Christendom, and the seductions of antichristian teachings, let us pursue the path of God's will by following Him Who sanctified Himself that we might be sanctified through the truth; by dwelling in faith in nearness to the Son prove the vital reality of His Word to the Father - "And the world has not known Thee, but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me. And I have made known unto them Thy name, and will make it known, that the love with which Thou hast loved Me may be in them and I in them" (John xvii. 25, 26) - for this is the present portion of the brethren and co-heirs of the Son of God, while they wait and watch for His coming again to receive them to Himself, and to take them home to dwell with Him in the Father's house for ever,

Where eternal love abounds,

And the sweetest song resounds.

H. J. Vine.

John 20.

"Oh that I knew where I might find Him!" (Job. xxiii. 3). Such words were used by Job as he sought to reason with God as to the cause of his sorrows. Have you, beloved fellow Christian, ever had a similar enquiry arise in your heart as you considered the present condition of the church? Amidst the strife of tongues, the diverse arrangements of men, the forsaking of the truth, the evil teachings that despise the Word of God and dishonour the Son of God, do you long to find Him whom your soul loveth? Maybe you have proved Him again and again in secret help and yet you have a longing that is unsatisfied. Can it be? Is there any place where He meets His own, where His voice alone is heard, and where He makes known all things that He has heard of the Father to those He calls His friends? Yes, there is. Let us trace in this chapter the steps by which Mary of Magdala found it. It was yet dark as she wended her solitary way to the burial ground, hoping to bestow some fresh token of her love upon the body of Him who had been all in all to her, but even this was denied her. She found greatly to her surprise an empty tomb, but she found not Him. The living One was not amongst the dead. True, she saw a remarkable sight, a vision of angels. She heard them speak to her, but such things did not fill the aching void in her heart. He was absent and she had not even the consolation of knowing where the loved form lay. "Tell me where Thou hast laid Him and I will take Him away" was her request of the One she mistook for the gardener. She was looking in the wrong place, seeking the living One amongst the dead, yet it was all very precious to the heart of Him she sought. He values every yearning of the soul for His presence. Alas, that many like the disciples accept the seemingly inevitable, and not finding Him in the circumstances where they expect, turn to their own circle and concerns, and what they might have known remains unknown. But love will not thus rest. Mary has no place of rest if she finds not the One her soul loves. Homeless, yes, but it brings her nearer to the joy of His company, for it is to the homeless heart He comes, reveals Himself, calls by name, draws out the response of affection, 'Mary,' 'Master.'

But not alone was she to enjoy His presence. There was something better in His mind for her. He was going to lead her to know Him in the midst of His own, "Go to my brethren and tell them." Not until the work of the cross was complete could He use such words, or bring His disciples into the blessedness of His own relationship. Yes, "tell them I ascend to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God."

We may trace in the gospel narratives how our Lord was occupied on that resurrection day, as to one and another. He personally revealed Himself and then left them, awaking in their hearts new desires, in order that they might be drawn together that same evening to talk of Him who was risen. It was the testimony of His resurrection that brought about their gathering together.

The door was closed. The careless world of Pilate was outside, the religious world of Caiaphas and the Jew outside, and within those who loved His name were met together, with fear and joy and sorrow all mingling. To them the Lord came, in fulfilment of His own word "where two or three are gathered together to My name, there am I in the midst of them." Mark the condition. "The doors being shut, then came Jesus and stood in the midst." All else but His name was excluded, none but Himself filled every eye, every ear was attentive to the words He spake. Peace calmed all unrest and fear; Love, told forth by His hands and side; Life, communicated in the Spirit's power; Service, as they were sent forth from thence to bear His name. Such is the blessed pattern of the Christian assembly, how very different from that which fills Christendom with ritual and ceremony. No ordering of man was seen on that evening, not even the apostles had planned what should take place. There were just His own who loved Him, and He was present in the midst. They needed nought else. How the Lord loves to control such a company, whether then or now. The heart that has once tasted the blessedness of such a gathering will desire no other. But there was one man who was not with them when Jesus came, and could not believe it possible that his Master had been there either. Alas, there are many like Thomas who refuse to believe that the Lord manifests Himself without human arrangements, and although their souls are grieved at the giving up of the truth on every hand, seek Him not in His own appointed way. They go on without ever knowing the blessedness of the meeting place where He reveals the Father's name to His brethren. Nor do they know how He leads the worship in spirit and in truth which the Father seeks. Beautiful services may be carried out, and the most ornate arrangements be made, oratory and music may lend their aid; but God is a Spirit and those that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. Dear reader, if these remarks produce any exercise in your soul, rest not content until you have found Him where He loves to be in the midst of those who refuse everything else but His peerless name.

J. Green.

The Assembly as Seen in Hebrews.

The very object for which this unique epistle was written would not lead us to expect very much to be said about the assembly, though it leads up to its threshold. Certainly nothing is said of the mystery — the church which is Christ's body, Himself the living Head in glory set in relation to it, and very little is said about the assembly. It is more hinted at than anything else. But the little that is hinted at is very beautiful and instructive.

A simple perusal of the epistle reveals the fact that it was addressed to believing Jews, who had begun well, who had "endured a great fight of afflictions," who had taken "joyfully the spoiling of their goods," but who were in danger of going back to Judaism and of casting away their confidence. The reason for this was that they had not advanced in the things of God, they had remained spiritual dwarfs. When the time had come that they should have been teachers, they had need to be taught which were the first principles of the oracles of God, and had need of milk and not of strong meat. They were babes, when they should have been men and were unskilful in the Word of righteousness.

And this condition flowed from a feeble apprehension of Christ. Naturally in such circumstances truth as to the mystery or the assembly would not be expected. But that the assembly is mentioned is just because it is in relation to Christ; and His fulness is ever beyond our feeble apprehension, and our place and privilege in Him beyond our entering in upon and enjoyment.

The epistle begins, without any formal introduction, with the word God. No name of the writer is given as in every other epistle in the New Testament. This forms an arresting exception.

Adolf Saphir, himself a converted Jew, has beautifully pointed out that the great point in Hebrews being the glory of the Person and work of Christ as entirely superseding the shadows and bringing in the glorious substance, every name that can be suppressed is suppressed. For instance, if the object of the Holy Spirit is to present Christ as the Apostle of our confession the name of the writer is suppressed, even if he were the Apostle Paul, as seems likely, though we should respect the anonymity of the writer as chosen by the Holy Spirit. When the name of Moses is introduced necessarily as the apostle of the types and shadows it is to contrast his position with the far more glorious place the Son of God has as the apostle of our confession. Moses was a servant, faithful in all his house; Christ is a Son over His house. Who would give up the Son for the servant?

Again, Aaron is brought in as the High Priest of the types and shadows. Christ, the High Priest of our confession is brought in in contrast. Aaron and his successors were not "suffered to continue by reason of death." They passed away. Their little day was soon run. But Christ "continueth ever because He hath an unchangeable priesthood." He is made a priest after a superior order, even that of Melchisedec, "not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life." Who would give up a permanent Priest for one of uncertain tenure?

Then again in quoting Scripture we are not given the names of the writers from whose books, etc., quotations are taken. The formula is given in one instance, "One in a certain place testified," but generally speaking the quotation is given direct without any indication of its source, save that it is Scripture, coming with all its plenary authority.

When it is necessary for the sake of establishing a point in chronology as in chapter iv. after using the words, "He spake in a certain place" (verse 4;) "And in this place again" (verse 5;) we have the sentence, "Again, He limiteth a certain day saying in David" (verse 7). Notice the writer carefully avoids saying that david said it, but that god spoke it - God spoke it in David.

This all helps us to see that we can have no right idea of the assembly, nor can we take up with power and intelligence our assembly position till Christ has His own place in our affections and spiritual intelligence. As Matt. xvi. so beautifully points out there must be the revelation made by the Father of the Person of Christ, "the Son of the living God" in order that upon the confession of Him and upon the foundation of His own Person Christ should build His indestructible assembly.

Priesthood was the common privilege of the saints of God addressed in this epistle, yet such was their carnality and backwardness, that the unfolding of the truth was so ordered as to bring them to this point: -

"Having therefore brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say His flesh; and having an High Priest over the house of God; let us draw near" (Heb. x. 19-21).

They had not entered in as yet, but it was all the time their place and portion. To enter in in the Spirit's power would have been to have entered intelligently and practically into the assembly. The High Priest presupposes under priests - the very name, High Priest, presupposes a divine system.

The assembly was indeed a necessity for the Christian, for outside of it was only a Judaism which had rejected, and still rejected Christ, and heathendom the table of demons. Thus they were exhorted not to forsake the place where alone Christian blessings could be found.

The whole book furnishes the idea of a divine system of which Christ, as High Priest, is Head and Director. If we speak of Christianity as that divine system we have in mind that which the truth forms, and not the corrupt system which Satan has succeeded in introducing by the bringing in of bad materials in relation to persons, and doctrines in relation to teaching, and which is described by the coined word - Christendom.

The idea of the Tabernacle that God should dwell among His people is carried on, as it is designed to be, into the antitype. So, after the glories of the Person and work of Christ are described in chapters i. and ii. we read that

"Both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctifieth are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." (Chap. ii. 11).

The sanctifier and sanctified are all of one. Just as Aaron and his sons were all of one, of one stock, of one sanctuary occupation, of identical interests, so, as antitype answers to type (as far as a meagre type can answer to a glorious antitype) Christ and His people are all of one. This is a new creation, a resurrection scene as far as we are concerned. What a message given by the Lord to devoted Mary on the very day of His resurrection,

"Go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father: and to My God, and your God." (John xx. 17).

What a sudden and glorious outshining of what was hidden in the heart of God for His own, and now made possible by the death of the Lord Jesus on the one hand, and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit on the other!

So we follow from Heb. ii. 11 just quoted:

"Saying, I will declare Thy name unto My brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee." (verse 12).

There we get the person, the Lord Jesus: the new circle, "my brethren," the church the occupation, praise, and the object of it, God Himself.

Thus without the truth of the assembly being elaborated, we get it, in this remarkable way. So great is Christ's thought towards His own, that immediately the glories of His person and work are set forth we get the wondrous truth of Christ in the midst of His assembly, singing praises to God, the Leader of the sanctuary service; then that being so the writer follows on with his theme, the superiority of the antitype over the type, of the substance over the shadow, of the source over the channel, of Christ over Moses and Aaron, leading up to the exhortation of the believer to draw near, even into the holiest of all.

How blessed to see all this! How affecting! How delivering from the system of men and from his earthly and worldly religious organizations.

"Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach" (Heb. xiii. 13).

A. J. Pollock.

"My brethren."

"Go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God."

In the whole range of revealed truth there is nothing higher or more blessed than that which is declared in these words of the Lord Jesus. Those men whom He called "My brethren," were the sons of men when He found them - Simon son of Jona, and James and John the sons of Zebedee, and so forth, - sinners every one of them; lying under the judgment of death, for death passed upon all men, and so upon these men, for that all have sinned. And yet here is this glorious resurrection chapter, they are sons of God, and to them is given the life, nature and power proper to that exalted relationship. They stand associated with Christ in this relationship which none could claim but He, a relationship which He enjoyed to the full in all the perfection of His own worthiness. No angel knows it, or ever will, but those men knew it; it was theirs, according to the purpose of divine love, and it is ours also, according to the same unalterable purpose, it is the place and portion of all who are of Christ's assembly or church - each one of such can say "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons [children] of God" (1 John iii. 1).

This is the relationship into which the risen triumphant Head and Leader of His church brings all His own. We do not now speak of the church as the body of Christ, that is but one aspect of it. As the body, the church has been formed for the manifestation of the graces of the Head of it now, and of His glory hereafter. It has this special relation to Christ; it is the vessel in and through which He displays the fulness of His wisdom and knowledge to every created intelligence; there is more in it than this, but this we believe is the chief thought in it. As the body of Christ, Christ presents through it all the treasures of divine wisdom and knowledge man-ward and creation-ward so that the will eventually be filled with the glory of God, and unto Him will be glory in the church in Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.

But under that wonderful designation "My brethren" the assembly appears in another aspect. It is collective and not corporate, it is not in the first place for the display of glory before the universe, though that will have its place when the sons who are joint heirs with Christ come into the inheritance with Him (Rom. viii.), but it is for the joy and satisfaction of the Father's heart. The Father comes first. He must ever be first.

It may be said that here we ought to speak of the family and not the assembly, but as we proceed with the subject we think it will be clear that the truth of the assembly has its place in this connection. In that wonderful 8th. chapter of Proverbs, wisdom speaks, and we have no difficulty in seeing that wisdom can be none other than the Son of God, for He is God's resource, the One by Whom every problem in the universe is solved - Christ, the power and the wisdom of God. "The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old" we read, bringing to mind the opening of John's Gospel. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God," and the 1st. of Hebrews, "by Whom also He made the worlds." But there was something deeper, fuller and more blessed than that which was displayed in creation. Before any of these things in which God's power and divinity are displayed existed, wisdom says, "Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight rejoicing always before Him." "Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world," are the wonderful words that were addressed to the Father by the Lord in John xvii. They explain this passage in Proverbs viii. What joy and what delight, what love, surpassing all human comprehension, do these words unfold! But wisdom continues, "Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and My delights were with the sons of men." Again one must turn to the New Testament, and there we learn that the Father and the Son are one. Their object, work and joy are one. That which delights the Father delights also Jesus Christ, whom He sent into the world; and the sons of men in whom wisdom delighted before there were any of them are the subjects of communion between the Father and the Son, and of the intercession of the Son with the Father. Hear His own words.

"I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were and Thou gavest them Me; and they have kept Thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee. For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine. And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them."

These wonderful statements made first about the first disciples of the Lord are true also of all who have followed them, they were all "chosen in Him before the foundation of the world."

But notice that not only are the sons of men spoken of as the Lord's delight, but the habitable part of his earth also. Evidently there was to be a suitable dwelling place on earth where the Father and the Son could delight in and with these who were brought to know them.

Creation was not this. Adam was made in the image and likeness of God, and most wonderfully endowed, and he was placed in a garden made habitable for him by God's own goodness, but God's delight in him was soon spoiled, nor was that garden a habitable place for man and God for long, for sin came in, and the trail of the serpent defiled that Paradise, so that it was impossible that God should dwell there, and the man also was turned out of it.

It is helpful to see that wisdom does not say my delights are with man, had the passage read thus we might have supposed that Adam unfallen was only meant, and that when he fell Satan had triumphed over God and for ever robbed Him of His delight in men, but it is the sons of men in whom wisdom delights. God would take up the sinful sons of that fallen head and by His own power and wisdom make them such as He could delight in.

Nor did Israel and the land of Canaan yield any truer satisfaction than Adam and Eden had done. That land was surely made a habitable place for the chosen people, for it was a goodly land, flowing with milk and honey, but they did not make it a habitable place for God. "Israel" we read, "was holiness unto the Lord, and the first fruits of His increase." Yet God said to them, "I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered ye defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination." (Jer. ii. 7). But when Israel failed and Canaan became an abomination God was not defeated, hence we read, "How shall I put thee amongst the children and give thee a pleasant land?" Here are these two things again - the sons of men brought into relationship with God, and the habitable part of His earth - but the question is asked how could these wayward men of Israel, how could any of the wayward sons of men be brought to answer God's thoughts in a place where He could dwell with them? God's own answer is, "Thou shalt call Me, My Father; and shall not turn away from Me." (Jer. iii. 18). It is evident that God could only secure men for Himself according to His own desire by bringing them into this wonderful relationship with Himself. In the knowledge of Him as Father their hearts would be satisfied, and so they would be secured for ever for God's own satisfaction. It is this that seems to be hinted at in this remarkable statement.

If we come back to John's Gospel we find the way in which this is brought about. First we hear the Lord Jesus saying to the woman of Sychar, "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him." (John iv. 23). We cannot worship One Whom we do not love, and we cannot love One Whom we do not know, and we cannot know God unless He is revealed to us. For "no man hath seen God at any time." So that none could tell his neighbour what He is in the full blessedness of His nature, but, "the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." (John i. 18). And now being fully revealed, all may know Him from the greatest to the least, and this knowledge is eternal life.

It is as the Father, name of infinite grace and love, that God desires to be worshipped, and as neither angels nor men knew Him in this way they could not worship Him. But the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, came to reveal Him in all the fulness of His love, and in Christ we see the Father seeking worshippers, not among angels, but among the sinful, unhappy sons of men.

Three great steps had to be taken by the Lord if God's end had to be reached, and it is interesting to see that these three steps were first revealed to women.

1. He must come into the world.

2. He must go into death.

3. He ascend again to the Father.

The First Step.

That the first of these great steps had been taken was revealed to the woman of Sychar (John iv.). What a need was hers! She was a woman with a sinful past, an empty heart, and a hopeless future; true picture of all who are outside the blessing that Christ has opened up. The Lord met her where she was and revealed Himself as the Giver of the living water, which should not only be in her a well of perennial satisfaction, but should spring up to its Source, the Father, and so yield satisfaction also to Him.

There had to be a probing work to fit her for this, as there must be with us all, and this work the Lord accomplished until He had brought her to the point where she confesses that Christ was her only hope. "I know" said she "that Messias cometh, which is called Christ; when He is come He will tell us all things." The Lord's response, "I that speak unto thee, am He," changed her life, and sent her to witness to the men of the city that Christ had come. "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did, is not this the Christ." He searched the sinner and revealed Himself as the Saviour. So the men of the city say, "We have heard Him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world."

We become familiar with the great truths that are revealed to us in the Word, and consequently they often lose their greatness in our eyes, yet how wonderful it is that the Son of God should come into the world, and should come as the Saviour. Two things made this necessary, first, that God might be revealed, second, our need of salvation. It was God who sent Him not to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. More than thirty times in the Gospel of John the Lord speaks of Himself as being sent into the world by the Father. He glories in it, and so shall we if we understand it. No angel could have fulfilled His mission, He only could make the Father known, and the Father sent Him to do this. The only begotten Son shone as the light in the darkness, He came near to men full of grace and truth, seeking for them in their misery, to take them out of it and lead them to His Father. David cried: "O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me . . . . Then will I go unto the altar of God, my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise Thee, O God, my God”. But David could never have imagined that God's light and truth would come forth in the person of God's Son, in order to lead multitudes to the Father Himself. But this has happened, and in it our souls do greatly rejoice.

The Second Step.

But the revelation that He made of the Father would have been in vain, if He had taken no other steps than this. He must die. This was the second step. This fact was plain to Mary of Bethany. She alone of those who followed the Lord had perceived this. The disciples thought that they were following Him to the throne and kingdom, and to the outward senses it looked like it when multitudes of Jews followed Him because He had raised Lazarus from the dead. They were carried away by the temporary enthusiasm of the Jews which led them so far as to meet the Lord with loud hosannas. But Mary understood, and brought forth her alabaster box and poured its costly contents upon His feet. For His burying she had kept it. How long she had kept it we know not, but there it was to be brought out at the right moment. She honoured Him, owning His kingly glory by her act, but she knew that notwithstanding all that glory, He Himself was going into death. The relationship in which His own were to stand with Him before the Father could not be after the order of natural life, that life was forfeited by every sinner, none could abide in it except Christ who was sinless, and if He had chosen to live He must have lived alone, for "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone." Even Lazarus, who was raised from the dead into the old natural life, must die again. If death were to be removed Christ must die; if those who were under its power were to be delivered from it He must pass into the depths of it, for only by coming where we were could the Lord come into definite contact with us, and this He has done. His love to us, and His Father's will carried Him into death in His search for those whom He would bring forth out of death to be His brethren and worshippers of the Father.

The Third Step.

But the third step had to be taken, He must go to the Father; and for this He was constantly preparing His disciples from John 13 onwards.

We come now to our resurrection chapter, in which to Mary Magdalene was revealed the full and glorious truth. When she realized who He was she thought that the old relationship, that of an earthly Messiah in the midst of an earthly people, was to be resumed. Hence His words, "Touch Me not." He must ascend to His Father. The new relationship was to be a heavenly one.

Psalm xxii. records for us the path of sorrow that the Lord trod in the fulfilment of the will of God and also of His triumph. And there we learn what was foremost in His mind; for when heard from the horns of the unicorns and brought out of death He exclaims, "I will declare Thy Name amongst My brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I sing praise unto Thee." These very words of the Lord are quoted in Heb. ii. where we learn that the congregation in the midst of which He sings is the Church, and in the Church His brethren also are. The Church is the habitable place for God upon the earth to-day, in it He can rejoice; those who form it "are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit." (Eph. ii. 22); and the brethren of Christ are the sons of men in whom He delights. So that at last He has His habitable place on the earth, and the sons of men in it.

But the Church is here only for a while, the brethren that form it are partakers of the heavenly calling, but in the fact that it is here, we see the triumph of Christ. Oh, that we understood it better. Consider that wonderful description that is ours - "Holy Brethren." two words are found in Ps. xxii. There, in giving the answer to His own question, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" the Lord says, "But Thou art holy." This is the very nature of God, and this is the nature that is ours as those who are sanctified and one with the risen Christ, our Sanctifier; and we are His brethren, those of whom He spoke when He said, "I will declare Thy Name unto My brethren." Nature and relationship all according to God! And this is His assembly, His Church, that which is of Himself. Where the Father's name is known, where Christ triumphs in His own, and sings the praises of God. If God of old inhabited the praises of Israel, how much more will He dwell in this higher and perfect praise! How blessedly habitable must that place be to Him in which His Well-beloved, raised up from the dead, sings in the company of His brethren.

Think of those men who for fear of the Jews had hidden themselves in the upper room in Jerusalem; they possessed neither dignity nor renown before the world. And they cannot have been proud of each other; but we read, "Jesus came and stood in the midst." What a change that made! He had called them His brethren. What a dignity that gave them! How honoured, how honourable in this new relationship and association with Christ were these sons of men, now the sons of God! And Jesus was supreme in that new circle. And where He is supreme there the assembly is. He is the great Leader of the many sons, the Firstborn amongst many brethren. He has so blessedly accomplished the will of God that even now He can present to His Father those in whom the Father can delight.

Surely there is in this side of the truth that which ought most blessedly to engage our hearts and minds, and make us with purpose of heart to seek to enter into the joy of it, and seek to be in the state of our souls just that which we are in the thoughts and purposes of God. No higher place could be given us than this, we cannot by effort enter into it. It is ours, given to us in sovereign grace, and the Spirit has been given to us also that the place may be known by us experimentally and in power.

J. T. Mawson.

The Mystery.

Great is the mystery hid during ages,

Secret of God made known unto all.

Hitherto hidden from seers and from sages,

Teachers of ethics, the great and the small.

Concept inscrutable,

Purpose immutable,

Matchless, divine.

Told now to men of God,

Writ now with pen of God,

Line upon line.

Glorious conception of wisdom eternal,

Marvellous thought for our glory designed,

Wonder unspeakable, searchless, supernal,

Counsel supreme of the infinite mind.

Ere shone a star or sun,

Ere were His works begun,

Ere this creation:

Born was the thought of God,

Project and plan of God,

Man's exaltation.

Eye has not seen those things, ear has not heard of them,

Never has fancy the fringe of them reached;

Never to creature was uttered a word of them,

Till by the Spirit the gospel was preached.

Then in its glorious might

Broke forth the living light

Darkness assailing:

Then from the heights above

Shone forth the thought of love,

Then the unveiling.

This to establish on stable foundation,

Needed the infinite work of the Son,

Righteousness satisfied - His exaltation

Tells of the worth of the work He has done.

Fortresses stormed and spoiled,

Dark machinations foiled,

Crushed their activities;

Smitten hell's sources dread,

Captive fell forces led

Into captivity.

Back from the battle saluted victorious,

See Him enthroned on the right hand of God,

Head over all things created, and glorious,

Centre and Sun of the universe broad.

Head of the Church, for which

He, in His grace so rich,

Suffered such sorrows,

Bore on the cross of shame,

When smote the sword of flame,

Infinite horrors.

Part of Himself His loved members on earth are,

Part of Himself, His own flesh and His bone.

They in this world's estimation no worth are,

But they will sit with Himself on His throne.

Then at the great decree,

When men must bend the knee

Lord Him confessing,

They shall what love has wrought

Learn, and the power that brought

Into such blessing.

One with Himself! Then our part is none other,

Than to be with Him where ever He be;

Not for the ages eternal another

Wish we to think of, to hear, or to see.

Bands all unbreakable! Love all unspeakable,

Told when He died.

His in His love unknown,

His, ay, His very own,

Body and bride.

James Boyd.

Life.

It is plain to all who have eyes to see and hearts to understand that the world is in darkness, i.e., in ignorance of God. And the blame for this condition of things lies entirely at its own door, for "the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not." (John i. 5). And this is not said to be because men cannot perceive the light that shineth, but because they won't, for they love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil (John iii. 19); they are wilfully in the darkness; consequently they lie under condemnation. This condition can only be described as death - moral and spiritual death. It is alienation from the life of God, it is bondage to sin; it is active hatred of God; it is subjection to the wicked one, for "the whole world lieth in the one (or wickedness)" (1 John v. 19); it is but the prelude to "the second death," i.e., severance from God.

No writer in the New Testament describes the world in such terse and uncompromising language as John. He sees it in its native blackness; a sphere in which the Father has no place, as witness the casting out of His sent One; the stronghold of the devil in his fight against God; he sees it by the light of the Father's world in which he dwells, and as inspired by the Holy Ghost he writes what he sees, and well it is for us to consider his words, that we may understand out of what we have been delivered, and what grace has made us in contrast to it. It exists in darkness, in death, under condemnation, in active enmity against God; wilfully sinful, lying in the very lap of the devil, it is his nursling; it is the barracks and the battle field where he trains his army of men to resist and fight against every rightful claim of God over them.

But John describes, also, what we might well call another world, composed of those who are said to be "born of God," and as described by John there is not a feature in common between the two. Those who have entered this world by Divine generation have the light of life and do not walk in darkness; they are of God and not of that wicked one; they love God and one another; they shall never come into condemnation, and over them the second death shall have no power, they have passed into life out of death; their dwelling-place is a sphere of life and light and love. Death is characteristic of the world in which sinful men please themselves, life is characteristic of the world in which those who are born of God dwell.

The first mention of life in John's Gospel is in chapter i. 4. Speaking of the eternal Word by whom all things were made, he says, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" and the last mention of life in the Epistle is, "This is the true God and eternal life." He is the first and the last, we must begin with Him, nor can any know what life is or enjoy it except in Him.

We cannot define what life is, but when we see it in manifestation we are able to tell the nature of the creature, person or being, whose life it is, and the life of God has been manifested in the world so that we may know His very nature. The Word who was God and with God poured forth from Himself all created life. He was the originator of every system and character of life in the universe, His own all powerful word was sufficient to do this, for He spake and it stood fast, but when we read, "In Him was life" something more is meant. "All creation was made by Him but it does not exist in Him. But in Him was life, in this He was in relation with a special part of creation, a part which was the object of the thoughts and intentions of God. This life was the light of men, it revealed itself as a testimony to the divine nature, in immediate connection with men - for 'this life was the light of men' - as it did not with respect to any others at all." (J. N. D).

There is no light for men apart from the incarnate Word. Men have no light in themselves, though they may become lightbearers, and shine as lights in the world when the word of life has its place in their hearts, but naturally they have no light, "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?" (Job. xi. 7). "The world by wisdom knew not God." (1 Cor. i. 21). "The god of this world hath blinded the eyes of men that believe not." (2 Cor. iv. 4). But if God, for the great love that He has towards us, is pleased to reveal His own life to us, that surely shall be light to us, and we shall want no other; that surely shall dispel the moral darkness that enshrouds our fallen nature, unless indeed, our case be entirely and eternally hopeless. This revelation of Himself has come to pass, not in creation but in incarnation, not by works of power in the physical spheres, but in the lowly life of Jesus. And this manifestation of the life of God in the world has brought into being the new world of which we have spoken. The Creator was in the world, a man in the midst of it, but it did not know Him. He came to those to whom in former days He had committed His oracles, but they received Him not, and yet the manifestation of the life was not in vain, the light of it was effectual, for Jesus could say, "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." (Matthew xi. 28). And these babes "were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." These form the new world, the new circle, having a most blessed centre, and a well-defined circumference - in the world but not of it; enlightened and vitalised by Him in whom life is; God Himself from whom the life has flowed forth, being the object of the whole circle and every soul in it. "He is the Fountain and the Focus of life; it issues from Him as its source and returns to Him as its object." (Liddon).

To contemplate the One in whom this life is is the first business of all who belong to this new world, they cannot know what their life is unless they do. "We beheld His glory," said the apostle, and again, "the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness and shew unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us" (1 John i. 2). It was not our privilege to be with Him, as were those wonderfully-honoured Galileans, and actually see Him, and hear Him, and handle Him, as He tabernacled amongst them, but what He was, and is, has come forth in words, as He Himself said, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." (John vi. 33). And the disciples recognized this when they said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And because the life that was manifested abides in the words He spoke we do not walk in darkness.

"In Him was life, and that life was the light of men" and this was the true Light which shines for all, but its blessed life-giving rays could not have reached us, quickening our souls into life, apart from the death of the Life-giver. It is well to be constantly reminded of this fact. He came from God, even the Father, to bring those who believe on Him into life, to share, in fact in the life that He manifested, but it could not be apart from His death. Hence when first the term "eternal life" is used in John's writing, which seems to be the way this life is described when it is a question of its impartation to men, it is in connection with the death of Christ. So we read, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." (Chapter iii. 14, 15). This was because death lay upon us, sinful men, as the judgment of God; and sin could only be expiated and death removed by the death of the Son of Man, made in the likeness of sinful flesh, yet entirely holy and true. This has taken place, and while demonstrating the condition of sin and death in which men were it is also the great proof of God's love, in this His nature has been fully revealed.

"Inscribed upon the cross we see

In shining letters, 'God is love.'"

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

God made Himself manifest in that great gift, and what light is this to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, who looked upon God as their foe, as some tyrannical being who only created them to crush them! Life, and light, and love are inseparable. The life is the light of men for in it is declared the love of God. "God is light," and "God is love."

We proceed no further with this side of the subject as it is ably dealt with in the following paper, but turn to that which is our purpose in this paper, namely the practical outflow of this life which has been given to us, and into which we have been called. The reception of this life is individual, as the Lord said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life." (John v. 24). And the maintenance of the life must be individual also, and this is by feeding upon Christ who gave His flesh for the life of the world. His death is efficacious; His love is infinite; the expiation He has made is total, absolute, perfect. To appropriate that by faith brings us clear of all that separated us from God, and it becomes the food upon which the new life that is ours lives. But having eaten His flesh and drunk His blood, and finding these to be meat and drink indeed we dwell in Him and He in us. In Him is this new life, and all who have it are in Him; He is the centre of this new circle of divine life and binds it altogether in one. So that we must consider others who are there. We are in relationship with Him and with the Father, but with all others also who are in this sphere of blessing.

It is wonderful to see how when the light had fully shone in the world and the darkness rejected it, and men began to plot His death, the oneness of His own is brought into prominence. The first intimation of this occurs in chapter x., where He declares that He must give His life for the sheep that there might be one flock and one shepherd. Then in chapter xi. we learn that He must die that "He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad." In chapter xiii. when Judas had gone out and He could look upon them as one in the life into which He brought them, He gives them the new commandment which should keep them in practical oneness. "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." His is the measure and manner of the love wherewith we who are in His life are to love each other, and so it will be as His life finds expression in us. We have been brought together into one flock, one family, one assembly - brethren of Christ, that this love might have occasion to develop and flow out one towards another. This could not be in isolation, and everything that divides the children of God one from another hinders the development and outflow of this love. Love binds us together, it is the flesh in its lust and pride, and the devil in his perpetual hatred of all who are of God that scatter and divide.

Coming to Paul's side of the truth we find that we are to "walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and given Himself for us," but that simply means that the life that is ours now in Him is finding its normal expression. And the necessity for this amongst the saints of God is clearly set forth in 1 Cor. xiii. while the beauty of it is also disclosed for us. Love is of God. He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and this never fails.

In Colossians iii. we find this same life - for there is no other - showing itself in the saints as one body. "Christ is our life;" Hence we read:

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; and whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him."

This is the character of the life we are to live for "the little while" that Christ is hid in the heavens, and so take His place in the darkness, blameless and harmless the sons of God, without rebuke, "in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world: holding forth the word of life." For Christ now, and like Him morally, because living in His life; with Him soon in His Father's glory, when we shall be altogether like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Then the purpose that was His as far as we are concerned, that brought Him forth into this world will be fully and for ever realized.

J. T. Mawson.

Love is of God.

Beloved let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love."

There is no subject with which we occupy ourselves when we are together so much as love. When we approach God, we have to speak to Him continually about His love. If we seek to encourage one another in the knowledge of God, we have to speak of love, because God is love. We have no such thought of God naturally. We think, like the wicked servant, that He is hard and unkind. That was the thought we had in our unconverted days. What an awakening it is to our souls when we learn that God is love, when our eves have been opened, and we have been turned from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, when the Holy Spirit has shed abroad in our hearts the love of God! What a marvellous light it is, the light of the perfect revelation of God by the Holy Spirit that He has given to us! We are partakers of the divine nature, because we love Him. The love that first loved us has got a response in our hearts. The Lord says, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love to one another." Why? Because there never was any leader amongst men who taught love but Himself. There is no system of religion but Christianity which has love for its very life. No one lives to God who does not love Him. Peter says, "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren." That is the way it works out. The practical effect is love to the children of God. See, says the Apostle "that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently." He desires that we might be more in the enjoyment of that love, and that we might be able to express that love to one another. Paul says, "Be ye kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Eph. iv. 32.) How is it that he can speak to us in that way? Because in the second chapter of the epistle we are said to be quickened with the life that is in God. There is no life there anywhere but in God. "God who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He has loved us" has stepped into the realm of death, and "has quickened us together with Christ." Hence we are to be imitators of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us. John speaks a great deal about love. What was true in the Gospel in Christ is now true in the saints, as presented in the Epistle. He says, "He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself to walk even as He walked." How did He walk? He walked in love. Then he says, "Brethren, I write no new commandment, but an old commandment, which ye have heard from the beginning." Christ never altered the character of His teaching. He taught the same thing from the beginning to the end, and He is teaching the same thing to-day, so that we are asked to let that abide in us which we have heard from the beginning. The old commandment was that we should love one another. He says he does not write a new commandment and again he says he does write a new commandment. How is that explained? It is the new commandment when you come to the epistle. It is the old commandment in the Gospel, because in the Gospel it is only found in Christ; in the epistle it is found in us.

John would encourage us. He says, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God." All natural affections are of God. Natural love is of God, and in spite of the fall it has been preserved in the hearts of human beings, otherwise the world could not exist. But when he says, "love is of God," he meant it is His nature. It is divine love which has been manifested, the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, so that we love Him. Our love to Him, and to one another, is only just the faint springing up of that love that has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit of God. Love is of God, and he that loveth has God's nature. What does that mean? He is born of God. More than that. He knows God. We know men. We have no difficulty about that, because we are men, and we know what men are. We do not know what angels are, fallen or unfallen. We could not give any account of them. If we wanted to approach an angel, or get a favour from him, we should not know how to address him. We should not know how to affect him at all. We know how to approach men, and we know how to approach God. We know God. He that loveth is born of God. God is his Father. He is a child of God. God knows us perfectly, He knows all those that are His. He knows the one that loves, but the one that loves knows God. What a wonderful thing that we in the midst of this world of darkness, can say, "We know God." Not only do we know Him, but we know Him a very great deal better than we know ourselves. We sometimes think we know ourselves very well, but after all, most of us who are converted to God would have to say, "We never conceived the depths of evil that lay in the flesh as we do now that we have been brought to the knowledge of God." You cannot tell so well how things are in the darkness as you can in the light. We are brought out of darkness into God's marvellous light, and there we see things as they really are. I say our knowledge of God is greater than our knowledge of ourselves. It is only as we know God that we do know ourselves. It is a wonderful thing, but it could not be otherwise that our knowledge of God is always in advance of our knowledge of ourselves.

"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."

It is not a mere sentiment we have in our hearts. It is not anything we have conceived ourselves, some idea that may be baseless. It has had its most perfect manifestation. Naturally, we should put verse 10 before verse 9, and supposing one was preaching the gospel of the grace of God, it might be right to do so. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." When we are awakened to a knowledge of our sinfulness, it is that we want removing. We want our sins forgiven, but John, speaking of what divine life really consists in - because love is the nature of the life - says, "In this was manifested the love of God towards us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him." It was not merely that He had compassion on our lost and ruined condition, but it is rather that God might have something out of us. We must be brought to God. He must have us. He must possess us, not only that He might have His own pleasure in meeting our deep need, but that we might live to Him. He would possess us in that way, because if He has got our affections He has got us. If you get a man's affections, you will get the man. If you get God's affections you get God, and if God gets hold of your affections, He gets hold of you. He sent His Son into the world that we might live through Him, and live to Him in a new life, in the life of Christ, who lived perfectly for Him. "In Him was life." The Jews thought it was in the law, and it would have been there for them, if they had been able to fulfil their obligations, but they were not, and instead of finding life in the law, they found death. Here is One in whom life is. They had thought it was found in the Scriptures, as the Lord says, but He tells them, "They testify of Me." The Scriptures pointed to Him as the One in whom life is. "But you will not come to Me, that you might have life," He had to say to them. In Him was life. The tree of life was here in this world when Jesus was here. God sent Him into the world that we might live through Him. There was the necessity of His death, but I am only stating what He was when He was here, irrespective of His death. He was the One in whom life was. As to whether it was available for men or not apart from His death, that is a different matter, but it was in Him. So He says in John vi., "I am the living bread that came down from heaven." He was the bread of God that came into the world, that a man might eat thereof and not die. We must begin by the appropriation of His death. He had to die in order that we might be able to appropriate Him, that He might be made available for us, but the object of God in sending Him into the world was that He might possess us wholly for Himself. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us." We do love Him now, but that is not where we are to see and know what love is. We are not to look at the saints to see love. We are to look at God. There you have the source of it. The love that saves comes down from heaven. It does not rise from our hearts to God; it comes down from God's heart to us. "He loves us," and it is in the death of Christ that the love of God is seen in all its greatness and glory. No creature can measure it, because no creature can measure the death of Christ. If you can measure what it was for the Eternal Son to lay aside His Godhead glory and come down into this world in humiliation, and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, then you would be able to measure the love of God. We could not possibly measure the death of Christ, because it is of infinite value, and God alone knows the value of it, but if we could measure it, we should be able to measure the greatness of His love. We can do neither, for the one is as great as the other.

Then he comes to the application of it. "Beloved, if God so loved us." What then? Naturally we would say that we ought to love Him, but it is not put that way here. "We ought also to love one another." Whom did God love? He loved us. He loved the brethren. What will that love do if it gets into my heart? It will do the same thing that it did in the heart of God. It will turn towards God's children. It does not say we ought to love God. The law said that. Here it says, "If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." That is our obligation, but is it a law of liberty? Every saint of God in the world is precious to our hearts. We may get under the power of the world, and the flesh may become dominant, so that this love may not be seen, but at the bottom of our hearts, and in the heart of every believer there is love to all the the children of God. But here love is practical. "Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth." What is the good of secret love? "Open rebuke is better than secret love." What is the good if it lies only in my heart, and is not manifested towards anybody else? It is of no value to anybody. God's love was in deed and in truth. The commandments of God in the New Testament are infinitely beautiful, and most encouraging. Take for instance what the Lord says to Peter. Peter says, "How often shall my brother trespass against me, and I forgive him - until seven times?" The Lord says, "I say not until seven times, but until seventy times seven." There is no limit to our forgiveness of one another. Is that a tremendous demand upon us? No, it tells me that what God is seeking is to make Himself manifest in us. Hence, if He says there is to be no limit to my forgiveness of my brother, that means there is no limit to His forgiveness of me. I have only to act towards others as He has acted towards me. If we love one another, God is seen in us. We read in John 1, "No man hath seen God at any time." What is the answer to it? "The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." The answer to it in the Gospel was Jesus; the answer to it in the Epistle is the saints. "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another." If we love one another practically what will be the effect of it? Everybody will say, "These people are disciples of Jesus." Why so? Because nobody ever taught it but Himself. They have been in the school of Christ. Every avenue in which the love of God has run in Christ will run in you and me. If we love one another the saints will get their share of that love. If we are going on with God the saints get it, and the world gets it. The world hears the Gospel, and we rejoice when the Gospel is preached. We help those who preach it, if we cannot preach it ourselves. What is the spring and fountain of all that? All these energies proceed from the nature of God, which we have, for God is love. The love is perfected in us, and there is nothing lacking. Wherever you go saint and sinner are met by the love of God, for "we have seen, and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world."

"Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Christ, God dwelleth in Him, and he in God." But what is God? God is love. He dwells in love, and love dwells in Him. "He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." Then we have, "Herein is, not our love, but love with us made perfect, that we may have boldness for the day of judgment." The love of God reached us when we were in our sins. When we believed the Gospel, that love was shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us, and nothing can separate us from it. It is with us day and night, and that love of God will keep step with us through our whole wilderness journey. It will never abandon us for one single moment. It will keep step with us right through until at last it will have its satisfaction in that day when we shall be changed into the likeness of Christ Himself. Then love will have its satisfaction. It began with us when we were sinners. It is always ours, and all its power is always at our disposal. When we are in the glory like Christ, then the love of God, which has been with us all the way through, will be perfectly satisfied. "Herein is love with us made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment." When the day of judgment comes, we shall be like Christ Himself, we shall be like the Judge. We have boldness for the day of judgment, because "As He is, so are we in this world." If we are before God in all that love and favour and grace that rests upon Him, if that is the love and favour that rests upon us, then we may be perfectly assured that when the day of judgment comes, we shall be like Him, because as He is, we are now. It is a marvellous statement. It may be very difficult for us to take it in, but there it is. Is He in the love of God? So are we. We are supposed to know it now. We do know it in a way. By and by the world will know it. When we appear in the same glory as Christ, the world will say, "After all what was preached here was true. The Father sent the Son, and He has loved those people as He loved His own Son." "That the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me." Do we believe that we are treated by God exactly as Christ would be treated in the same circumstances? It is a marvellous thought. We need to carry it really to the Lord to have it made good in our souls. We hear these things so often that our familiarity with them seems almost to breed contempt. They have not the power over our souls that they ought to have, or as perhaps they had the first time we heard them. They ought to have infinitely more power over us every time we hear them, but we are such foolish things, and so wayward. We get so occupied with seen things, that we do not live in the power of these unseen things.

There is no fear in love - no terror. Perfect love casteth out fear. The perfect love of God gets in, and fear has to take its flight. The love of God casts out fear. "We love Him, because He first loved us." When we did not love Him at all, when there was not one spark of love in our hearts towards Him, He loved us with all His heart. He loved us with all His heart when we hated Him with all our hearts. That is the thing that will get right into our souls that it may be the life of our being. Then we will go through this world as different people to that we would go through it if we had not it in our hearts. He goes on to say, "If a man say, I love God, and hate his brother, he is a liar." John does not mince matters. He that loveth not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? If I see God in a man, if I see the divine nature there, and my heart does not go out to him, you may be quite sure it does not go out to God. If a man did not love Christ, who, perfectly manifested God upon earth, it only proved he did not love God. Your brother is the one who has the divine nature. You see it in him, and if you do not love Him in your brother, you will not love Him in Christ. If you do not love Him in Christ, you will not love Him in heaven. This is the commandment, that he who loves God, love his brother also. It is not a grievous commandment. It is not a commandment of which we are afraid. It is not a commandment we do not wish to obey, or to which we would close our ears. It is a commandment we love to obey, if we only keep ourselves in the enjoyment of that love, and the power of God's Holy Spirit, then the saints will get all the benefit of that love, and we will be greatly blessed ourselves, for "If a man love Me, be will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and we will come unto Him, and make our abode with him."

James Boyd.

Joint Partakers of God's Promise.

In connection with the truth of "the mystery" the thought of the oneness of all the saints in Christ is strikingly prominent. In Ephesians iii. it is specially conspicuous, for we are told there, that the mystery which was previously hidden, but now made known, reveals that all are "(1) joint heirs and (2) a joint body and (3) joint partakers of God's promise in Christ Jesus by the glad tidings" (6). This verse shows that all the saints, according to the mind of God, are one collectively as "joint heirs," one corporately as "a joint body," and one vitally as "joint partakers of His promise in Christ Jesus." In all three aspects oneness is insisted upon by the Spirit of God in relation to the mystery concerning Christ and the assembly.

In our papers on this most important subject, we spoke of the central fact of the mystery, - the corporate aspect, and of the riches of the glory of it. We then considered the primary part of this great truth, - that of joint heirship. The third and final fact now remains to come before us. May God graciously help us in our meditation upon it. His promise in Christ Jesus, of which the beloved saints of God are joint partakers by means of the gospel of His grace, must be exceedingly blessed, for it is hall-marked by divine permanence and perfection, as everything in this relation connected with Christ and the assembly is, for it is according to His eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The dewy loveliness of it must abide in all the freshness of youth eternally. The bud, the blossom, the beauty, the bloom and the fruitful benefits may disclose their varied treasures, yet all develops and enlarges from the same vitality already participated in from the beginning. That handsome Prince of noble mien and generous mind, has still the life-blood flowing in his veins of which he partook when a babe. Right and admirable growth there has been, but potentially all was there from the first. It has but found the suitable and essential means of expressing itself by proper stages of growth. Fundamentally the original principle remains the same however, and without it the development were impossible. Of our blessed Lord, the King of glory, the Originator of life, it is said, "In the beauty of holiness from the womb of the morning, Thou hast the dew of Thy youth." In Him it abides in eternal perfection; and of His bride, the assembly, it is said, after sharing in His Kingdom glory for a thousand years, - she comes "as a bride adorned for her husband." In lasting freshness and responsive love she is still beautiful and pleasing to Him whose glory she is. Like her beloved Bridegroom she retains eternally the dewy loveliness of youth, along with all that she has gained since He first made her His.

The "Joint Partakers."

The redeemed from amongst the Jews and from amongst the nations are the joint partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus, and the gospel is the means by which they are called into it. Unlike Israel of old, who partook of special privileges through their natural birth as belonging to that nation, the rich blessings of the mystery are ours now through the call of God in the glad tidings of His grace; for the "preaching" is "according to the revelation of the mystery, as to which silence was kept in the times of the ages" (Rom. xvi. 25). It is in Christ Jesus we jointly partake of the precious promise of God. This involves a new standing for us altogether outside of Judaism and the distant ground on which the nations stood, having "become nigh" in Christ Jesus by His blood. A new state is also ours, for "if any one be in Christ there is a new creation, the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new: and all things are of God Who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ." The old standing and the old state have no place there, "for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation."

We are told in Ephesians 2 that Christ has broken down the middle wall of enclosure between Jews and Gentiles, making both one, and becoming Himself the bond and peace of the joint partakers. The old enmity which had existed between them He has annulled in His flesh, reconciling both to God in one body by the cross, where the enmity was slain when He died for all. The Jew spirit however still asserts itself where this truth has not been learned experimentally. Where new creation in Christ Jesus is not known in power, religious pride, pettiness and rancour appear. So also does the Gentile love of lawlessness with impatient and impetuous energy show itself insubject to God's order. It is therefore of the utmost importance that the truth should be known in experimental power by the joint partakers of the promise of God; for it is said in regard to the new creation in Christ, "As many as walk by this rule, peace upon them and mercy" (Gal. vi. 16). They are created into one new man in Him where He is our peace, therefore oneness is to be known by the joint partakers in gracious reality: unity will necessarily be sought in a practical way, according to the instincts of the new nature which is ours, and the one Spirit who indwells all, for none of us are independent of the other joint partakers. In Ephesians iv. 3 we are exhorted, because of contrary influences which are not of the Spirit nor of the new man, to use diligence to keep "the unity of the Spirit," - in a practical manner, - "in the uniting bond of peace." Only the real are embraced in this unity, and only the true joint partakers can respond truly to the exhortation. Others may appear to do so, but it is in the very nature of the joint partakers to ever seek practical unity according to the truth. Nor will their desires remain unanswered, for at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ all will be completely assembled to Him.

Judah and Israel were held together in practical oneness under David, the anointed of God, as joint partakers of the blessings secured in Him for the nation; but even in His days the divisive spirit showed itself in "a man of Belial." "He blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel" (2 Sam. xx. 1). The seed was sown that day: and though the evil work was stayed there and then, nevertheless it bore its bad fruit long after, for we read in Rehoboam's reign that the people answered the king, saying "What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David" (1 Kings xii. 16). So Israel departed, and the break between Judah and Israel was made. In contrast to this, the true joint-heirs surely say, All our portion is in Christ Jesus as also is our inheritance eternally, let us abide in Him! We are all joint partakers of God's promise in Christ Jesus by the gospel.

God's Promise.

There are many promises of God, and we are told that they are all confirmed and established in Christ, the Son of God; - "for whatever promises of God there are, in Him is the yea, and in Him is the amen, for glory to God by us" (2 Cor. i. 20); but it is a special promise which is in view in the truth of the mystery, not "promises," but a specific, distinct "promise." It is not plural, but singular. Just as in Eph. iii. 11 we read of "the purpose" which centres in Christ, so this is also something distinctive. It has the stamp of eternity upon it as all the essentials of the mystery have. The inheritance of the joint heirs is eternal, the body of which we are joint members is eternal, and the promise in Christ Jesus is likewise. It was given before the ages of time: it will endure beyond the ages of time: but it is ours in Christ Jesus now, the "Spirit of promise" being already given to us; and He is the power by which divine realities are experimentally enjoyed.

The law proposed life for man, but it was unable either to give life or secure righteousness from man in the flesh. We are told, "It was weak through the flesh" though in itself "holy, just and good." Do and live, it said to the sinner of Adam's race; but the sinner could not do, therefore the holy law of God could only condemn him, and "the commandment which was for life, was found," says the apostle, as to himself, "to be unto death" (Rom vii. 10). Had there been a law which was able to give life, "then indeed righteousness were on the principle of law" (Gal. iii. 21); but before the law, yea, "before the ages of time" God had promised life for man. That promise is in Christ Jesus, therefore He must come where we were to free us from sin and death, that we might have life in Him. The law, as we have seen, said, Do and live. The Lord Jesus, when we could do nothing, died that we might live, - died that the promise might be ours actually, - died that we might be joint-partakers of it in Him. How great the grace of God to give such a promise! How wonderful the love that brought His beloved Son to die to secure it for us! How marvellous the wisdom that devised the plan! All glory to God.

It is of promise, therefore it is not of law; and yet the fact of it being mentioned in connection with the law indicates what was in the thoughts of God for us; so also did the first tree which is named distinctively in Scripture - "the tree of life!" This was not forbidden like the other tree, but after man fell he was governmentally placed beyond its reach, and the giving of the law, rightly understood, brought home to man, his sinfulness and his own incapability to obtain eternal life. He was shut up to God, and He found a way for us to "partake" of that which was in His heart for us before the world was, through the death of His Son; so that He could say, of the one who appropriated His death in faith, life was his, - "He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life."

This life in all its infinite preciousness knows no decay or ending. Promised before the ages of time, it abides beyond the glorious days of the Kingdom and dominion of the Son of Man; far beyond the days of millennial magnificence, right on through the ineffable blessedness of the eternal state when God is all in all. Yet even now it is ours in Christ Jesus. It is ours by the grace of God. It is ours by the gift of God: If "the wages of sin is death" - rightly and justly - nevertheless, "the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. vi. 23). That gift cannot be measured; it is beyond every human estimate or definition, but thanks be to God, it is ours through the act of divine favour.

We are told in Ephesians iv. 17-19 of those who are alienated from it all, - "estranged from the life of God." What a contrast they are to the joint partakers of God's promise! They walk in the vanity of their mind, - and what foolish vanity it is! The seat of all true balance in man is submerged in darkness, - "being darkened in understanding." Ignorance of all that is right before God and man enslaves them, although they may profess to be wise. Grossness and hardness of heart leads them to "cast off" every refined and even proper natural feeling; and as a result they abandon themselves to lasciviousness, while unsatisfied lust leads them more eagerly to work all manner of uncleanness and greed, for such are still joint partakers of the life of "the old man which corrupts itself according to the deceitful lusts." The joint partakers of the mystery have put off the old man and put on the new, and in contrast to the other, it is created in "truthful righteousness and holiness." Life according to God is known here. His promise is realized here. His gift is enjoyed here. The life which is in Christ Jesus is partaken of by the saints of God. Therefore to abide in Christ is all important for us, and to let the word of the glad tidings which called us into it abide unspoiled in us; for "if that which ye have heard from the beginning abides in you, ye also shall abide in the Son and in the Father. "And this is the promise which He promised us, eternal life" (1 John. ii 25).

"In Christ Jesus."

In two other passages the Spirit of God speaks through Paul of this promise in Christ Jesus besides that which we have considered in Ephesians iii. 6. The eternal character and nature of it are shown in both (2 Tim. 1; Titus 1); and in each scripture the glad tidings are also mentioned as the means of its being made known to us, according to the commandment of our Saviour God. In the first, when failure was spreading widely amongst those who professed the faith of Christ, the apostle falls back upon the changeless promise of life, and holds even his service "according to the promise of life, the life which is in Christ Jesus." Other things may alter and men may fail, but this abides, for it is ours in Christ Jesus, as God Himself promised. It is termed, "The promise."

The apostle seeks to strengthen Timothy in his trying path by this truth. Seven times he speaks of what is "in Christ Jesus" in this second letter. The truth of Ephesians is specially indicated. All is secure eternally in Him he seems to say, therefore be encouraged, - "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Even the glad tidings which call us into these rich blessings were getting into disrepute, but Paul exhorts him to "suffer evil along with the gospel according to the power of God" and then with gracious and tender thoughtfulness he reminds him that He "has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages of time, but has been made manifest now by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has annulled death, and brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings." How cheering and stimulating is all this! In Christ Jesus all is ours and all is secure eternally, and the gospel of divine grace makes known the triumph of our Lord Jesus Christ over death and corruption for man, so that life and incorruptibility might be now his through faith in Him.

In Titus i. the Holy Spirit adds, in regard to the promise of eternal life, that the One who made the promise could not fail of its accomplishment in regard to the elect, for He says, God "cannot lie."

What a comforting limitation of holy perfection is this! and then the eternal life for which we have the sure and certain hope to enter upon in all its fulness at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ is already manifested in the word of the proclamation of the gospel, and that, as we are told in Titus i. and Romans xvi. 26, "according to the commandment of the everlasting God."

The life therefore is ours now in Christ Jesus. It is "the gift of God" in Him to us (Rom. vi. 23). There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, and there is no separation from the love of God which is in Him (Rom. viii. 1-28). Divine grace and power have set us, through Christ's death and resurrection, where the eternal promise is already the portion of the joint partakers. In view of all that God has done for them in and through Him they have good reason to "boast in Christ Jesus," and to join with the apostle when he says "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ" (Eph. i. 3). It is of God that we are in Christ Jesus for His everlasting glory and our present and eternal blessing.

"By the Gospel."

The means by which we have been called into this is the gospel. It is the instrument which God has used. He has called us in His grace by the glad tidings, and He has saved us. Our works had no place in the matter, for the very best works done by man out of Christ are called by the Spirit "dead works." No deeds of ours could have given us a new standing in Christ Jesus before God, in a new and living state; but having heard the Word of the glad tidings, and received it in faith, we "passed out of death into life." Aaron's family might enjoy a place of special nearness to Jehovah through their natural birth, but this has no place in connection with the mystery of Christ and the assembly. Not by natural birth or family privileges but by the gospel are we brought into these vital realities. "In Christ Jesus ye who were once afar off are become nigh by the blood of Christ."

The gospel is that which God uses in the power of the Spirit. Of old, God's earthly people entered into possession of the land by conquest, but that of which we speak is ours through no prowess of our own. It is by the divine and effectual call of the glad tidings which we have believed. Truly the experimental and practical enjoyment of our rich possession involves energy on our side, but that is another matter. Official appointments gave men under the old covenant great advantages, but this does not count here. The apostle of life, John, it is striking to notice, does not speak of these things. He does not even call himself "an apostle."

How wonderful indeed are the glad tidings of the grace of God to-day! They call us into blessings of the most exalted character - blessings that are abiding — eternal!

They call us into a fellowship which is above every other known in heaven or earth by the favoured of God, - "the fellowship of God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." They give us a hope which is greater than any other, - conformity to the image of God's Son in heavenly glory, "the hope of the gospel." Little wonder then, when failure abounds on all hands, that these glad tidings are attacked so severely. Nevertheless, God's Spirit is here, and will maintain the preaching of the word in divine power till the end, - "the Word of God is not bound;" with royal grace it hastens onward to complete its glorious mission; nor will it cease to do so until the last of the joint partakers of God's promise in Christ Jesus according to the mystery receives its glorious message. We may well therefore, like the Philippians of old, as fellow partakers of the benefits of the glad tidings, be found "labouring together in the same conflict with faith of the gospel"; "standing firm" in "one spirit" and with "one soul"; watching at the same time that we conduct ourselves "worthy of the glad tidings of the Christ;" and showing practical fellowship with those who faithfully proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Soon the message of grace will have accomplished its task, and all who share in the eternal riches of the mystery will be glorified with the Head of the assembly. His fellow heirs and brethren, the fellow members of His body, the assembly, and the fellow partakers of the promise in Him will be all together then as one with Himself where He is! The promise given before the ages of time will be known in all its actual fulness; the life manifested in Him when here on earth will be enjoyed in suitable and glorious surroundings then; the eternal life for which we hope, but which is ours now by God's gift, will be entered upon unhinderedly; the oneness of those who are joint partakers now will be seen in a glorious unity; and then "when Christ who is our life shall appear," we also shall shine forth with Him in splendour and glory. Lord Jesus, hasten that day! We long for its brightness and beauty, and, above all to see Thee, its Centre, and its Sun.

"Lord, haste that day of cloudless ray, -

That prospect bright unfailing;

When all shall shine in light divine

And glory never fading."

H. J. Vine.

Living Stones and Priests.

1 Peter ii. 4-9.

Perhaps there is no form of evil we so easily slip into as that of clericalism. I do not mean elders or deacons, who were from the beginning, appointed by the apostles, or by men like Timothy or Titus who were commissioned by the apostles to do this (Acts vi. 3; Titus i. 8). These cannot be appointed to-day, for we have neither apostles nor their delegates, but where we find men who have the qualifications for such offices, it is our privilege to recognize them. This is nothing but godly church order; but to attempt to put them into office is another matter.

There are two reasons for the insidious way in which clericalism has crept into the church of God, and for the hold it has got upon His people. One is that saints are so busily engaged with the things of this world that when they come together they feel themselves unable to take up the service of the sanctuary, and they are relieved if they can find anyone willing to approach God on their behalf. Another reason is the desire on the part of some to occupy a position of honour, and to be of some importance in the assembly of God; and this is considered by them adequate compensation for the extra burden by this means heaped upon their shoulders. This soon develops into a paid ministry, a priesthood, and popery. Such are, if you believe them, the clergy (Greek kleros). They are lords over God's kleron, and monopolize the name that rightly belongs to all believers.

All believers, whoever they may be, are the lot, heritage, kleros, of God, separated to Him out of this world, purchased by the precious blood of His own Son, born of God, possessing His life and nature, priests holy, and priests royal, and all these things are as true of the babe in Christ, as they were of the apostle himself, for this we are taught in the first and second chapters of this epistle.

And all these things were true of those believers whom Peter here addresses as "newborn babes." They had not made great progress in the knowledge of God, but they were the fruit of His testimony, as rendered in this evil world. Every one of them had a living link with the living God; for His word had got into their hearts, and had taken deep root there; and the word when it gets rooted in the heart, is the link between the soul and God. It was this, from Abel down to this present day, and it shall be while this world lasts, for there can be no other link with God. It is the revelation of His grace and love, the light of the knowledge of Himself in the heart of the believer. It is the incorruptible seed, and it lives and abides for ever. Where that seed is, there is the vital spark of divine life; and where it is not, there is moral death. The word of truth is that by which we are born again (James i. 19); and the word of truth is the gospel of our salvation (Eph. i. 13).

Now the gospel is that which has turned us to the Lord, He whom the Spirit of God here calls "a Living Stone," a stone rejected of men, but chosen of God, and precious. We have an early intimation of this in Matt. xvi. 13-18, where Peter is said to confess Jesus as the Son of the living God. This was a definite revelation of the glory of His person made to Peter by the Father; and our Lord says "Upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." This power of life that was in Him was manifested in His resurrection: He could not be bound by the cords of death. By dying He annulled death, and by the same act He broke the might of him who ruled over man, holding him in bondage by the fear of that which was the expression of the judgment to which man was liable on account of sin.

Now to this Living Stone we come. The believer is a living stone by the life-giving power of Christ. He is of the same nature as the rock upon which this glorious edifice is being built. Everything in this building is of the same nature, from the foundation to the top stone. The stones are instinct with the life of the Son of God, and by Him are they put in their places, and the whole building is growing to a holy temple in the Lord (Eph. ii. 21). Here the hand of man does not appear. Here can enter nothing that defiles. The Lord Himself is the builder, and therefore is everything secure. I have no doubt that when it is revealed in the day of the glory of Christ, it will be seen to be the Holy City, that comes down out of heaven, having the glory of God. Then the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it.

It is being builded of living stones; not like the temple that Solomon built, which, though the wonder of the world, was built of stones cut out of the natural rock; all lifeless material; this house is instinct with the life of the Son of the living God.

But the stones that compose the building are the priests who offer the sacrifices. Every stone in the building is a priest and qualified to offer sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. But as the building is a spiritual house, so are the sacrifices spiritual. The temple in the past dispensation was a material house, and the priests were a carnal priesthood, and the sacrifices were of a carnal order also. Here everything is spiritual, everything divine, everything pulsating with the life of Christ. Every stone in the building is radiant with the love of God. The house is resplendent with His grace, His righteousness, His holiness, His faithfulness, His truth. The temple built by Solomon was glorious, but the temple being built by the greater than Solomon has a glory that excelleth.

And the priests are the stones that compose the building, and they are the aggregate of the redeemed of this dispensation. They have boldness to enter into the holiest. They can draw near, not at stated times only, but at all times. And their sacrifices are spiritual. They draw near to present Christ to God. As the Israelite brought his offering to God, whatever it may have been, it was typical of Christ, so does the priest of God in this dispensation draw near to God with Christ upon his lips, to tell Him what He has learned of Him. He may be but a babe in Christ, and may have as yet learned little of the glories of his Saviour, but such a sacrifice is ever welcome to God. His offering may be small, like two young pigeons in the old order, but it is acceptable to God, because it is Christ. He may have learned much about His Redeemer, and may be able to present that which in the past might be represented by a bullock, but it is no more acceptable than the smallest presentation of Christ. A man rich in faith brings a large offering, and a poor man brings a small offering, but both speak in the ears of God what they know of the same Person, and both are acceptable, for Christ is precious to God, and also, through grace, to us. And this priestly service is to go on continually, not only when we come together, and not only when we retire into our chamber and shut the door, but at all times, and in all places. We can always draw near to God, and we shall always find a welcome.

There is another character of priestly service spoken of in verse 9, that is, a royal or kingly, priesthood. We are kings as well as priests. Melchisedec was both, and so is our Lord and Saviour, Jesus. We also are both, and in the meantime, before the day of reigning comes, we exercise this priestly service by showing forth the virtues of Him that called us out of darkness into His marvellous light. We are to come out down here in the heavenly characteristics of Christ. These are to be displayed before the men of this world. On the one hand, as holy priests we present Him to God; and on the other hand, as kingly priests we present Him to the world. With God this meets with acceptance, but with the man of this world it meets with utter rejection, and awakes persecution from the haters of Jesus. We have been called out of darkness into His marvellous light, and in His light we are to shine in this dark world. But the light is always hated, and therefore we are not disappointed if we meet with the same kind of opposition that fell to the lot of our Lord, for He has said that if they hated Him, they would hate us also. But next to being saved, to suffer a little for Christ is the greatest favour He could confer upon us.

May we be thankful for our privileges.

James Boyd.

"Behold! I and the Children."

Many years ago, when I was but young in the faith of Christ, I was crossing the Atlantic to preach, by the help of God, the gospel which was precious to my own soul, and the saving value of which I greatly desired others to know; feeling that, be the nation what it might, it consisted of but two classes, the saved and the unsaved - "the children of God" and "the children of the wicked one" - the "wheat and the tares," spoken of by the Lord in Matt. 13.

I longed earnestly that all might be saved, might taste of the grace of God, and become His happy and holy children, and as I was meditating on the blessedness of their relationships, I began to compare it with other relations in which the children of God stand toward Him.

Children they are to begin with: they are also saints; then we find sheep of Christ and members of His body, and also the house of God, composed now, as it is, of living stones. That is, we have a family, a flock, a body, and a house, where, indeed, in the fullest sense, all is, or should be, vital. The first of our two classes - the saved, may, in the days of Christianity, be regarded as consisting of these four component parts; that is, each saint is a child of God, a sheep of Christ, a part of the house and a member of the body of Christ, and each has the privilege and the responsibility of these varied relationships. Let us consider that of the family.

First, the whole human race is (we read in Acts xvii.) the offspring of God "who hath made of one blood all nations of men." That is, God is Creator, and, in a secondary sense, Father of the whole family. Man was made of the dust and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. "The first man is of the earth (the dust) earthy" (1 Cor. xv.) and to dust he returns. We do not read of any such infusion of breath into the nostrils of lower animals. Special attention was given to man as the destined head of creation. Hence when we reach the end of the long genealogical tree of Luke iii. we read the words: - "Adam which was the son of God," or more correctly: - "Adam which was of God." Mark these words; man came directly and immediately from God. Just as Seth was "of Adam," so Adam was "of God." The degrading theory of evolution from a lower animal - a gorilla, an ape or a toad, has no place here, nor should it have in the conception of him who was created in the image and likeness of God.

No, Adam, man, was "of God." That was his origin; and, though fallen and marred in every way by sin, he still retains that image. We are low enough morally in all conscience, let us not lower ourselves further. Our origin was high - inferior only to angels, let us endeavour to realize it, and act more worthily of it.

Second. Children. This signifies relationship. To be a child there must be birth. There is no such relationship in mere adoption - no consanguinity, no participation in nature or life. Affection there may be, but that is all. Hence, God's children must be "born of God." This alone forms the family. Let no one presume to think, as alas, so many do to-day, that they are the children of God who have never been "born again," nor "taught of God," nor drawn to Christ by the Father - Let no mistake be made here. You cannot claim God as Father, nor truly address Him as such, unless you are His child. We are not children of God by creation but by grace; and, in this view, the popular idea of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man is an absolute delusion and a most mischievous error. The chasm existing between the children of God and those of the wicked one cannot be bridged by the efforts of statesmen, politicians, philanthropists or dreamers. Such well-meant efforts are a mere waste of time. There must be a change of nature effected by the Spirit of God - a new birth. This dream of the brotherhood of man was little understood by the first two brothers that ever lived, nor has the spirit of it developed during the intervening centuries, as the merciless cruelties of recent wars declare.

But the family of God, nevertheless exists. The precious relation between God and man as Father and child, that are made such by the grace of that Father, the cleansing death of the Son, and the work of the Spirit within - this is a fact placed beyond all dispute, and made visible in the life and conduct of all those who are commanded to be "imitators of God as dear children." They love one another. This did not Cain, who, in a passion of jealousy slew his brother, proving that he, spite of his offering, was "of that wicked one," while Abel in virtue of his requisite offering, obtained witness thereby that he was righteous, and therefore on the divine side of the chasm. He was clearly a child of God.

The children of God have His nature, and that nature must express itself. They are "taught of God to love one another," and that not merely in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth; and this love is the strongest proof of their relationships with God. Oh! that the love of the 1st Christian century were but half as strong in the 20th; still thank God, spite of the abounding iniquity of the day, we do love one another, and desire the good and blessing of the whole family of God. We "love as brethren." The family is the circle and sphere of love. And how? "For God is love" - How much might be written on this fairest feature in the divine family! The Apostle John dwells on it continually, his great theme being the display of the nature of God in love, first in His Son and then in the family: whilst giving equal force to the exhibition of His character in righteousness. He states that "God is love," and also that "God is light."

How can you explain the mystery of a man, for the first quarter or half of his life, being a God-hater and a persecutor of His children, like Saul of Tarsus, and then, for the rest of it, being a lover of God and of His people. It is a miracle. Yes, but it is the miracle of new birth. It is the mighty moral change that transfers the man from being a child of the wicked one to that of a child of God, and, thank God, such a miracle is not uncommon - it is God's work. Is this change necessary for the enjoyment of future blessings? It is absolutely necessary. Heaven would be a positive and intolerable hell to a child of the wicked one. He would (if he could enter) find not one element congenial to his nature or taste. He hated God and His holy ways on earth; nor could he love them in heaven. Oh! it is well and happy even now to be a child of such a God and Father, but what will it be, soon and forever, in yonder house of love and light and glory - all secured for us by the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Third - "Sons of God." We need not treat of angels, who are so-called in one or two passages, seeing that they do not belong to the race of man; but, while the relation of children flows from the nature of God by whom they were begotten, the position and rank of sons is given them on account of the Spirit of His Son who now dwells within them - now - in these days of Christianity and the presence of the Holy Ghost on earth. The children are raised from a condition of non-age (minors) to that of full-age (majority) as we read in Gal. iv. They can cry by that Spirit, "Abba Father" after the pattern of the Son of God Himself when in the dark shades of Gethsemane.

"If children then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ," true, but note the inevitable consequence: - "if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be glorified together" (Rom. viii. 17). Co-heirships in glory means companionship in suffering and testimony till the glory itself shall come, and then the whole blood-bought family, in all its members, shall be "conformed to the image of the Son that He may be the firstborn among many brethren," then shall He say: - "Behold I and the children which God hath given Me" - all are in the same relation - "My Father and your Father," albeit He and they - the "I" and the children given to Him - differ so widely. What a family when all shall resemble, the Son of God - conformed to His image - He the chief foremost - most glorious! What a family when all shall be in the Father's house - at home - in the presence of Father, Son and Spirit; where evil, sorrow, death and Satan are displaced for ever by good and holiness and joy and life divine!

"Where deceiver never can enter,

Sin-soiled feet have never trod,

Free - our peaceful feet may venture

In the Paradise of God."

J. Wilson Smith.

Paul and the Mystery.

It was as a prisoner at Rome that Paul wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians. Some say that it was a circular letter: whether it was so or not is of secondary importance, its great interest to us is that in it we have the fullest opening out of the great mystery CHRIST AND THE CHURCH. If Israel, God's earthly people, were once the centre of all His ways here, now, the church, the body of Christ, is infinitely more so. The Apostle, severed from every link that would connect him with Israel, is now conducted by the Spirit to apprehend fully, and in practical detail, the secret of God, which had been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Cut off from everything he valued on earth, he can now contemplate in a cloudless atmosphere the full beauty and grandeur of the great mystery.

There are two great things peculiar to the mystery: one is that we all - Jew and Gentile - are raised together and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ; the first thing is that we are heavenly; and the second is, that in the same power which raised Christ up we are raised up. That is a power entirely outside and beyond everything of man; and resulting from it, there should be, because of this power working IN us, a growing up to Him, the Head in all things; and this with absolute and decided victory over all the power of the devil. So that there is not only the height to which we are raised out of all here, but the immense moral superiority in which all are placed now on earth, the very place in which we were alienated from God. We are brought to the greatest heights (for God hath made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ, Eph. ii. 6), by the greatest power, (His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, Eph. i. 19, 20), and because we are heavenly, we are competent to be descriptive here of Christ, from the highest circle, the assembly, down through the various relationships of life to the very humblest conceivable, the condition of a slave, and at the same time, superior to the wiles and the power of the devil. This the latter part of the Epistle brings out.

How entranced the Apostle must have been as all this by the Spirit came before him with inspired words. Surely he would justify God as to all the discipline he had been subjected to, in order to make him a vessel fit to impart the greatest communication ever made to a man. We little understand all the pains, as I might say, which the Lord takes with us to render us in any measure suited for His work.

J. B. Stoney.

"The Glory of God and Jesus."

"But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7: 55).

"The glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God", and a man upon earth full of the Holy Ghost, unafraid of that glory and in living union with the Man exalted there - this was the revelation of an entirely new order of things, a heavenly order of things, which can only be known on earth by the Holy Ghost who has come from that glory. Let us diligently seek to understand this - and it is only by the teaching of the Holy Ghost that we can understand it - then we shall understand Paul's gospel and "the mystery" of it (see Eph. 6: 19; Col. 1: 25-27).

The truth of the assembly, the body of Christ upon earth, really commences with this that Stephen saw. His eyes were turned away from the world; he probably never was held by the gross things in it, but he had had his part in the religious side of it; but now we see him separated from it, the temple, the priests, the learned leaders of the Jewish system, all have faded from his view; even an earthly kingdom with the divine Messiah at its head is surpassed and entirely eclipsed by that which now enthralls him - the glory of God, and a Man at the right hand of God. This wonderful revelation is the more arresting in that the Man who could stand at God's right hand, in the presence of that glory before which the highest angels fall prostrate with covered faces, was the One whom the world had judged to be only worthy of a malefactor's cross, but it is not that which we wish to emphasize here. It is the fact of the glory of God and Man being in absolute consonance. We know that that Man was "Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever" (Rom. 9: 5), but that is not the point of this passage. The Lord is spoken of by His personal human name. It was JESUS whom Stephen saw, the One who was born in the manger at Bethlehem, who died upon the cross of Calvary, who was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, and who had ascended bodily to that glory. He was and is for ever absolutely agreeable to that glory, nay, altogether necessary to it, and that this might be known the heavens were opened, and Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost, saw by the power of the Spirit that to which he had to bear witness ere he died, and that which was to be the beginning and body of all Paul's ministry. The glory of God has found a Man; apart from this the purpose of the glory in regard to men could never have been fulfilled, and itself must have remained hidden from the universe for ever. That Man is Jesus, who loved us and died for our sins, and consequently we cannot be indifferent to this great fact. Our hearts are glad because of what this means for our Saviour; we have often considered Him as the despised and rejected of men, "the shame of the cross and Jesus" we often think of together, but now it is "the glory of God and Jesus"; we cannot but be glad and rejoice as we consider this.

This is only one side of the new order of things which here comes to light, and yet we must dwell further upon it, for everything takes character from it. We must not confine our thoughts of the glory of God to the place of exaltation into which Jesus has gone, that is described as "the right hand of God"; there is much more in the expression than the thought of locality. It is the shining out of what God is in His very nature. The expression has its own special significance. Moses desired to see the glory of God, but the time had not then come for it, though God gave to His servant a partial revelation of it, proclaiming His name as merciful and gracious.

These two qualities are an integral part of that glory, as the prominent place that they occupy in the Epistle to the Ephesians proves; but the glory of God - the full display of His nature and ways - could not be revealed until He had a Man in whom it could shine forth and who could maintain it in all its radiance, undimmed and untarnished by any failure for ever. That God has secured this now is proved beyond doubt by the fact that He has thrown open the heavens and shown to us "the glory of God and Jesus".

The other side of this new order is more surprising and, perhaps, more difficult to grasp, but just as real and true. It is that the Holy Ghost has come down from the exalted Man, our Lord, bringing with Him the full knowledge of the glory of God, for He is the Spirit of that glory, and that He now indwells believers on the earth and unites them in a vital union with Christ who is exalted at the right hand of God. Stephen is a pattern of this, for he was not only a witness to what his divinely-anointed eyes beheld, but he became descriptive of Christ in the midst of the most adverse circumstances. It was not in the fact that his face shone like an angel's that he was descriptive of Christ, for the glory of an angel is not the glory of God, and his face shone in this manner before he looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus; but it was in that most wonderful grace that made him pray with his last breath, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge". Thus was the life of Jesus made manifest in his mortal flesh. But this could not have been had he not been a member of the body of Christ, and he could not have been that had not the Holy Spirit come from Christ to make him so. What else but Christ, morally, could the Holy Ghost bring from heaven? Nothing. What other business has He but the displacement of self and the forming of Christ in the lives of those whom He indwells? None. And Stephen is the pattern of it. In him we see a man upon earth brought into perfect accord with the glory of God, and this not only in the fact that the glory of God and Jesus filled his eyes objectively, but that the life of Jesus was formed in Him subjectively, and manifested itself practically in the very world out of which Jesus had been cast.

Stephen may have been an amiable man or the reverse, it matters not; what he may have been naturally had no place here; he was full of the Holy Ghost, and Stephen was displaced and Christ shone out. "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Beholding the glory of the Lord he was transfigured into the same image.

But the Holy Spirit who filled Stephen did not dwell exclusively in him. He dwelt in Stephen because he was a member of the body of Christ on earth, and every believer in the exalted Lord Jesus is equally a member of the body of Christ; and, consequently, the Holy Ghost dwells in each and all. And the body is to be descriptive of Christ. This is the great theme of the Epistle to the Colossians, and to this end we who "were sometime alienated and enemies in our minds by wicked works, now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present us holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight" (Col. 1. 21, 22), i.e., in the presence of that glory we are as Christ is, for we are part of Him, and He is in us as His members, and consequently we are to be as He is in the place where He is not. Nothing in which men can boast or contribute can help the body of Christ. The best that man can produce belongs to the world that is passing away, for the glory of man is as the flower of the field. But the assembly, which is His body, has its origin in and takes its character from the glory of God; the Man who is entirely agreeable to that glory is its Head and life; and the Holy Ghost who has come from that glory is its unwearied power. And we are looking for the glorious day when the work of the Holy Ghost in the Church will be finished, and when it, as the holy city, shall descend out of heaven from God, having the glory of God (Rev. 21. 10, 11). That which she will be then, when her light shines forth like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal, is being formed in her now by the Holy Ghost. She is being fashioned according to the glory of God and the Man who is at the right hand of God, and while failure proclaims itself wherever the eye turns in that which professes the name of Christ on earth, there is no failure in this work of the Spirit; and there shall yet be displayed to the universe the triumph of God in His counsels of blessing, and He shall have glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. J. T. Mawson.

The Holy Spirit in Relation to the Church.

The right understanding of the place which the Church fills in the ways and purpose of God, depends upon the knowledge of the special activity of the Holy Spirit in connection therewith.

It must be plain to even a superficial reader of the Old Testament, that the Spirit is constantly referred to as the active agent and power in whatever work God undertook. Creation was brought to pass by the energy of the Spirit, whether the starry universe above, "By His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens" (Job 26: 13); or earth beneath, "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. 1: 2). When God would save the world of Noah's day from the consequences of their sin and folly, His Spirit strove with men (Gen. 6: 3). If a man like Bezaleel was called to do some special work, such as the construction of the tabernacle, then he was filled with the Spirit of God in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship (Ex. 35: 31). Others there were like Gideon (Judges 6: 34), Amasai (1 Chron. 12: 18), Zechariah (2 Chron. 24: 20), with whom the Spirit clothed Himself for the time being, that He might witness through them. Yet again, a Samson is suddenly thrust forward by the Spirit on various occasions, to execute deeds of valour against the enemies of Israel. By the same action of the Spirit a Saul is caused to prophecy, or a David enabled to govern. But in all these cases the Spirit acted upon men from the outside, and used men for His purpose without reference to their inward moral character; no more striking instance of this can be found than that of Balaam (Num. 24: 2).

Then, after the kingdom was established and slowly sank into corruption and decay, the action of the Spirit changed, and He definitely took the line of the Spirit of prophecy, the testimony of Jesus the Messiah, revealing beyond the dark night of Israel's sin, the bright morning of God's purpose for them and the world-wide blessing that would ensue. Nevertheless, these revelations did not extend beyond the earth. The peculiar work of the Spirit in connection with heaven, which was to fill the long interval until these things should be accomplished, was a secret hidden in God. With the returned remnant of Judah, the Holy Ghost was the Spirit of encouragement amidst circumstances of opposition and depression (Hag. 2: 5). "My Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not." Then followed a period of silence for about four hundred years, to be broken by the raptured utterances of holy men and women announcing by the Spirit the advent of the Christ of God. In due time He came, conceived by the Holy Ghost, and when the hour of His service arrived, publicly sealed by the same Spirit. Now for the first time there was a Man on earth to whom the Spirit was given without measure. In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead, consequently His words were the words of God; they were Spirit and they were life; all He did was done by the Spirit, and to say otherwise was to blaspheme against the Holy Ghost. At last came the closing scene of Calvary, when in the shedding of His precious blood, He through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, the Holy Ghost thus witnessing that the redemption price was paid, His work was done. But the wondrous story does not end, for His resurrection declares Him to be the Son of God with power. By the Spirit of God He is raised from the dead, and on His ascension to heaven, a new era, the Spirit's day, begins. It commences in heaven, for Christ having ascended in victorious power leading captivity captive, receives gifts in the man, according to Ps. 68: 18. As really and truly a Man in the glory of God as when here on earth, He receives of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2: 33). At His baptism the Holy Ghost descended upon Him in relation to His personal excellence; none could share in this: but as man in heaven, redemption being accomplished, He received the Holy Ghost that He might shed forth the same upon His redeemed on earth. It was, in fact, the prelude to the fulfilment of His word to them; "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence" (Acts 1: 5). It was this act which distinguished the Church in its formation and calling from all that had gone before. There was now a Head in heaven and a body on earth, made one in the power of the Spirit: but we must examine this more closely.

During the ten days that followed the Lord's ascension, the disciples were drawn together by their common interest in the facts of His death and resurrection. They were a company of individuals, the remnant of Israel, separated from the nation by their faith in the Messiah, but they were not incorporated into one body in which each would be members one of another in union with the Head. On the day of Pentecost the prophecy of Joel, which has a millennial bearing, was antedated, and the pouring out of the Spirit which took place constituted the baptism with the Holy Ghost; the result being that by one Spirit they were all baptized into one body (1 Cor. 12: 13). It is important to observe the significance of this giving of the Spirit. It was the act of the risen Head in heaven in the exercise of the office foretold by John the Baptist, "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost". As in baptism there is an immersion in the element of water, so this initial company of believers was, so to speak, submerged in the Holy Ghost, brought absolutely under new direction and control, and received a new name, "the Christ" (1 Cor. 12: 12), for they had become one body with the Head above. The signs of the Spirit's presence were wind and fire; wind is a fitting symbol of the liberty of the Spirit unfettered by human control, while the cloven tongues of fire set forth that the Spirit could rest upon each on the ground that judgment had been accomplished, and that henceforth Jew and Gentile in one body had access through Christ by one Spirit to the Father, to offer praise and worship, in spirit and in truth. A beautiful illustration of this inaugural baptism is in Psalm 133. The precious ointment was upon the head of Aaron, but it went down to the skirts of his garments; when Christ received the anointing of the Spirit as Man in heaven it was shed forth upon all His own, so that the feeblest member was reached by it, nevertheless, it was still upon Himself the Head. In this lies the force of the Scripture "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (1 Cor. 6: 17). There could be no repetition of this initial act; the one body was formed, there could be no other, and to it believers have since been added by the sealing of the Spirit. Sealing must not be confused with the baptism of the Spirit. Sealing is individual, baptism is collective. When a believer receives the Holy Ghost, the seal of his faith in Christ, he is brought into that one body which was inaugurated at Pentecost.

Another result was consequent upon the coming of the Spirit; those who formed the one body became also the dwelling place of God. God the Holy Ghost was in personal presence, not an influence exercised from a distance on certain occasions, but actually present and abiding. Note the twofold action in Acts 2: 2, 3. Filling all the house where they were sitting, and resting upon each one of them. The first indicated that God had again a house on earth, even as when the glory filled the tabernacle, or the temple which Solomon built. But here was now no material building made with hands, but a temple of living stones having Christ for its foundation and inhabited by the Holy Ghost; maintained by Divine power in the midst of a hostile world, until at the coming of the Lord it shall be translated from earth to heaven. The second was the announcement that as members of Christ's body they had all been made to drink into one Spirit, the Holy Ghost was not only dwelling amongst them, but abiding within each as our Lord had promised: "He dwelleth with you and shall be in you (John 14: 17). What a blessed unity! who that realizes it in the smallest measure would wish to substitute for it the patchwork devices by which many seek to hide the present broken condition of the Church. The various efforts on foot to produce some outward unity, are at best the seeking for some compromise in which each sect shall be able to maintain their sectarian differences under the cloke of outward conformity, and in the process, alas! every vital truth is being given up, and men are found usurping the place which belongs alone to the Holy Ghost. What, then, is the path in which the Spirit would lead the members of Christ in this day of confusion? Not, indeed, to make a unity, but to acknowledge the union which He formed at Pentecost; not to seek a fresh baptism of the Spirit, but rather grace to walk in the power of that which has been bestowed; to cast away the things which have caused the disruption and scattering, and to allow the Holy Spirit to gather to the Name and authority of the Head all who acknowledge that Name alone. The Holy Spirit has never departed from that first inauguration at Pentecost. He asserts as clearly as ever to-day, there is one body, one Spirit, one hope of our calling (Eph. 4: 4). The Lord's Supper is the continual expression of it. "The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, one body, for we are all partakers of that one loaf" (1 Cor. 10: 17). All the members of the body have part in this, and none may be excluded, except those who in doctrine, or practice, or ungodly association, are found inconsistent with the holiness of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, which the Holy Spirit is here to maintain. Should any such be excluded from that which it is their privilege to do, it should be grief and sorrow to the other members of the body, for being one body and having one Spirit, the members should have the same care one for another, suffering with those that suffer, and rejoicing with those that are honoured. This will suggest the consideration of how much help and ministry is lost, in failing to maintain the truth of the Headship of Christ. He has set gifts in the Church, given them not to a part but to the whole. These gifts are distinct; there are various services and operations, yet none are opposed, but intended rather to work together for the edifying of the body of Christ; because the same Spirit, the same Lord, the same God, operates all things in all. Alas! how easily we let slip the brightest and the best things, and in mistaken zeal build closed houses which shut away from one another those who are members of the same body to their own loss and the loss of those who dwell not with them. God changes not His purposes; the day of manifestation will sweep away the wood, hay, and stubble of human devices, and reveal the workmanship of God. Then shall we adore the marvellous grace of Christ, who, as Head of His body, has amidst all the failure sanctified and purified His Church, by washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself glorious, holy, and blameless, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing. This is His side; if the contemplation of it causes us to be ashamed of our side, may we consider our ways, and seek grace to walk together more worthy of the calling wherewith we have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit.

James Green.

Membership and Fellowship.

The baptism of the disciples with the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost marked a new departure in God's ways; entirely new things were then and there established. In the first place the "one body" became an accomplished fact. Secondly, the Apostle's fellowship came clearly into view. Membership is in Scripture connected with the former, not with the latter.

Between the one body and the Apostle's fellowship the closest connection exists, yet are they quite distinct and distinguishable things. The one was, and is, a fact of a spiritual nature only to be apprehended by faith, the other, a fact of an historic nature, though based upon spiritual realities, capable of being apprehended by ordinary powers of observation, at least in its beginnings before human failure had marred it.

The one body is an actual existing fact on this earth. It is the body of Christ, sometimes spoken of as His mystical body, though incorrectly as we believe, since the word mystical tends to infer that it is something lying in the region of pure theory, or something hidden in the heavens, and thus to obscure the fact that it is an existing thing on this earth. This truth is clearly seen in 1 Corinthians 12, where we find members feeble or honoured, suffering or rejoicing, as the case may be. These experiences are actual, not theoretical, and are clearly upon earth and not in heaven.

The one body was formed by the baptism of the Spirit: this 1 Corinthians 12: 13 shows. Seeing that this baptism took place on the day of Pentecost it may be wondered why the fact was not revealed, and stated in Acts 2. But a very essential feature is that the body embraces both Jews and Gentiles, and hence it was appropriate enough that the revelation of the fact should wait until Gentiles too were baptized into the body. In Acts 2: 15-17, Peter treats the reception of the Spirit by the Gentile Cornelius and his friends as a baptism of the Spirit, and it was after this and through Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles, that the truth was revealed, though the body had existed from the day of Pentecost.

The fact that, though the one body existed from Pentecost, its existence was not recognized apart from the subsequent revelation as to it, which revelation, like all others, needs faith for its reception, just proves what we previously asserted, viz., that the one body is a fact of a spiritual nature only to be apprehended by faith. That three thousand souls had on the day of Pentecost received the new teaching of the Apostles and, consequently, consorted with them in their society and fellowship, was a fact of another order, capable of being apprehended apart from faith.

In 1 Corinthians 12 the salient point as to the body is its oneness, and this oneness is based upon the truth that it is formed by one Spirit, and is therefore of an organic nature with nothing of the artificial about it. The one body is therefore the fruit of an act of God. It is His workmanship. We did not make ourselves children of God. We were born "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1: 12-13). Equally so, we did not make ourselves members of the body of Christ. That, too, was not of the will of man but of God. It comes, therefore, under that declaration which applies to all God's works of a spiritual nature, "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever" (Ecc. 3: 14). No human opposition nor failure can touch it. It abides to-day.

And its unity abides to-day: this can be said with equal certainty. The multiplied divisions of Christendom have not in the least affected it, though they have grievously marred the fellowship which was so fair in apostolic days. "There is one body." Those words are as true to-day as when penned to the Ephesian believers.

Let us, then, again emphasize this oneness. There has been but one body all through the ages, and there are not two, in any sense whatever, to-day. It is very necessary to ponder this in all its bearings lest, in some subtle sense, which we hardly discern, we do after all entertain the thought of more than one. Some who firmly believe in one body, and would utterly repudiate the thought of two opposed bodies, which might be expressed diagrammatically by two circles side by side, might yet be very inclined to contend most stoutly for the same thought in a guise which might be expressed by two circles, one large and one small, the smaller within the larger especially if in the diagram the circles were not concentric, and the centre placed in the middle of the little one.

Into this one body are "we all" baptized (1 Cor. 12: 13). Here all saints are in view - all who have received the Spirit of God. The body in its universal aspect is before us. The words with which verse 12 closes - "so also is Christ" - prove this. The body is identified with and bears the name of the Head, but, then, that is the body viewed universally and not in any restricted or local sense. Elsewhere, however, the body is viewed locally in this Epistle, as, for instance, verse 27 of chapter 12. In this verse "the" should be omitted, and we read, "Now ye are body of Christ, and members in particular". That is, the whole assembly in Corinth, comprising every Spirit-sealed person in the place, bore that character. In chap. 12: 17, the local aspect of the one body is also evidently in view.

When, therefore, we view the Church as the one body - the body of Christ - we are considering it as set by an act of the Spirit of God, in pursuance of the Father's counsels, in certain relations with Christ: relations which involve a very high and wonderful place of privilege, and, further, which are intended to profoundly affect our lives, and particularly our behaviour one to the other. In other words, proper Christian fellowship is largely, though by no means exclusively, carried out in the light of the truth of the one body.

The Apostles' fellowship of which we read in Acts 2 was of course proper Christian fellowship. It came into evidence on the day of Pentecost through three thousand souls receiving the Apostles' doctrine, and that doctrine was the Apostles' as received from the Lord Jesus Christ. "I have given them Thy word" were His words as recorded in John 17. The full character of the fellowship, however, hardly appears to have come out at once. We turn to the Epistles for that.

In the Corinthian assembly true fellowship was gravely imperilled. Corinth was second only to Athens in its love of philosophies with their attendant schools of teaching, and the tendencies prevailing in the world crept into the Church. This resulted in their forming parties, or schools of opinion, around favourite teachers, parties which, if unchecked, would have developed into open divisions. Four things, indeed, seem to have marked the Corinthians, which successively and progressively mar true fellowship:

1st. Worldliness (chaps. 4: 8, 5: 1, 2, and 6: 11-18 in the second Epistle).

2nd. Men far too prominent in their thoughts to the obscuring of what is of God (chaps. 1: 20, 3: 21, 4. 6).

3rd. Schools of opinion formed round the teachings of certain of these men (chaps. 1: 12, 3: 4).

4th. A tendency with the leaders of the parties to evolve peculiar and distinctive doctrines, even false ones (chaps. 4: 6, 15: 12).

Confronted with these evils the Apostle Paul in his two Epistles sets before them as a corrective the true character of Christian fellowship. He alludes to it three times, in chapters 1: 9, 10: 16-22, and 13: 14 of the second Epistle.

In the first place it is the fellowship of God's Son. It is not here "with" but "of", that is, the fellowship is formed around Him, He is its unifying centre; and upon it His character is impressed. 1 Samuel 22 may be taken as an illustration. From the time of David's sojourn in the cave of Adullam a fellowship began to gather about him. It was his fellowship. It was not Abiathar's, though Abiathar by a combination of circumstances was brought into it. David was its unifying centre, and his character was stamped upon it. Abiathar or any other of David's followers might have been laid low by one of Saul's javelins, and the fellowship have remained unimpaired, but had David been smitten to death the fellowship would have been at once dissolved.

In the second place the character of Christian fellowship is determined by the death of Christ, of which the loaf and the cup in the Lord's supper are the symbols. His death was not only the highest expression of His love, but also the consummation of the breach between Himself and man after the flesh, and man's world. By His death, His fellowship, which is that of the Apostles, stands disconnected from Jewish sacrifices and fellowship as much as from that of heathen idolatry, as 1 Corinthians 10 shows.

In the third place it is the communion or fellowship of the Holy Ghost. Not only have we all been baptized into one body by the Spirit, but we "have been all made to drink into one Spirit". Every one called to the fellowship of God's Son has drunk of the living water of which John 4 speaks, and, consequently, has within him that well of water springing up to eternal life. Christian fellowship is not, therefore, merely an association which finds its centre in an outside Object, even when that object is so great and glorious as Christ; it is one which also palpitates with an inward spring of vitality and power in the Spirit of God. Here were the Corinthians making little circles round various teachers which should throb with admiration of the teacher in question. To such, the Apostle says, "the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all". He had previously told them "All the saints salute you, and bidden them "Greet one another with an holy kiss". Did they respond? Anyway, to get away in mind from the confined and stuffy atmosphere of sectarianism into the fresh currents of the Spirit is a blessing indeed.

The Apostle John in his first Epistle supplements the above by telling us of the vast range of spiritual treasure which is held in common by all those brought into the Apostle's fellowship. The Apostles started with the knowledge of the Word of life, and of the life itself which had been manifested to them in Him. Thus their fellowship was with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. All this they gladly communicated to all brought into their fellowship, so that they, too, might hold it in common with themselves, and share in the fullness of joy which it brings. It is clear, therefore, that Christian fellowship does not consist only in an association of an outward kind, but involves also the most blessed intercourse and mutuality of Divine knowledge and affections which all are brought to share with the Father and the Son, and with one another.

For a brief moment at the beginning of the Church's history there was perfect agreement between the membership of Christ's body and the fellowship of the Apostles. The truth that was of a spiritual nature and only to be apprehended as revealed to faith, found an accurate representation whereby it was displayed before men. We do not, however, travel far into the Acts of the Apostles before we find discrepancies between the two appearing, and soon there are to be found a number within the circle of the Apostles' fellowship, whose membership of Christ's body was open to question. We refer to the Judaizing teachers of Acts 15: 1. In Galatians 2. 4, Paul alludes to these as "false brethren unawares brought in". Notice they were "brought in", and hence he calls them "brethren" , but he stigmatizes them as "false" .

"Brought in" - to what? we may well ask. Not into the body of Christ, for the Holy Ghost makes no mistakes in His actings, and that is His work. Brought into the circle of apostolic fellowship yes; for even while Apostles were still personally on earth, errors of reception were committed, and the circle of their fellowship - the visible Church on earth - was no longer a faithful transcript of the one body of Christ.

Now that we are near the end, with the Church's home-call before us, it is important for us to remember that all the failure and break-up so sadly manifest, is only in the sphere of fellowship - the sphere of membership remains untouched. It is also important for us to remember that the responsibility rests as much as ever on every saint, to walk according to the Apostles' fellowship, though the only way in which we possess the Apostles to-day is in their writings - the New Testament. To commence to deal with how this may be done would carry us beyond the proper limits of the present article.

F. B. Hole.

The Holy Spirit of Promise".

The work of the Holy Spirit of God finds a large place in the Epistle to the Ephesians. This might be expected where the mystery concerning Christ and the assembly is so prominent, for the Spirit's special mission in the world during the present period is immediately connected therewith.

He is designated "that Holy Spirit of promise" in chapter 1: 13; and twelve times is He spoken of in this epistle. His present service in securing the assembly, the body and bride of Christ, for her living Head in heaven is shown, and that in accord with God's eternal purpose in Christ.

That purpose concerning His beloved Son filled His heart and mind before the ages of time; and, though to the natural eye it appears otherwise, He works all things in regard to it: "according to the counsel of His own will" everything is resolved in relation to that unalterable purpose, for the deep joy of His own heart, and for the glory and satisfaction of His Son.

The Holy Spirit has come. Eternal redemption having been obtained in Christ through His blood, He seals those who believe in connection with the exalted Object of divine counsel, and gives them a foretaste of the glory to which they are going, while He comforts, cheers, and strengthens them on their way, ministering the unsearchable riches of our Lord Jesus Christ and His surpassing love to their expectant hearts. Christ is the glorious Object in view in all the Spirit's work, just as He is also of the purpose and counsel of God, and He becomes the one pre-eminent Object of our hearts too, as the Spirit is unhindered and ungrieved within us.

Neither ourselves nor the Spirit are to be objects for us. It is His pleasure to show us the things of the Father and the Son. The Lord Jesus said, when speaking of His coming, "He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall announce it to you"; adding, "all things that the Father has are Mine".

When Abraham counselled concerning his son, his eldest servant undertook the journey to a distant land to obtain a wife for Isaac. His whole mission and work had the son in view, and that according to Abraham's purpose. The rich gifts of "jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment" would impress the fair damsel: the golden earrings, and the golden bracelets with the other precious things, would tell her of the wealth to which Abraham's son was heir. The words of the unnamed servant, too, would extol the object of his service, and one whom she had never seen would become endeared to her as she journeyed to join him where he was.

The Spirit has also brought to us the jewels of divine grace, the silver riches of redemption - the golden treasures of righteousness - and the precious things of the excellencies of Christ. He tells us, too, of Himself, of His glory and His love, and so wins our hearts for the Son of the Father, that it can be said of us - before we see Him face to face —"Whom having not seen ye love; in Whom though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye exult with joy unspeakable and filled with the glory ".

As we have previously seen, the mystery in the first place speaks of Christ's co-heirs; secondly, of the fellow members of His body; and thirdly, of the joint partakers of life in Christ. When Rebekah came to Isaac he dwelt at "Lahairoi", at the well of "the, living one". There she shared in all that was Isaac's. As one with himself she partook of the same inheritance and of the same life. At the end of the Bible the Spirit shows us the bride of Christ - one with Him in glory - one with The Living One. Everything is seen to be marked by life in the energy of the Spirit. The Book of Life is there. The Fountain of life is there. The Tree of life flourishes there. The pure River of water of life flows there; and meanwhile, before the Bridegroom calls her, the Spirit and the bride say to Him, Come! She longs to see Him! Then, turning earnestly to those still "dead in trespasses and sins", she says, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely"!

Life and the Spirit are found together in the Word, and both are the portion of those who belong to Christ. Indeed, it is said in Romans 8: 10, "The Spirit is life on account of righteousness". This is ours to know in divine power now, before the glorious day to which we are hastening onward. Therefore we may well allow our glad notes of praise to resound along the heavenward road

"Now by grace the Spirit's given,

Here to us these themes belong;

Let us sing the song of heaven;

'Tis our everlasting song!

Endless life in Christ possessing,

Let us praise His glorious Name,

Glory, honour, power and blessing,

Be for ever to the Lamb!"

The Spirit and Christ's Co-Heirs.

The first mention of the Holy Spirit in Ephesians speaks of His sealing the co-heirs (chapter 1: 13, 14). This sealing is individual, but it is in view of what is collective. Each one who hears the Word of truth, the glad tidings of salvation, and believes in Christ, is immediately sealed with the Spirit of promise. It should not read, "After ye believed", but "having believed ye have been sealed".

The Spirit is here designated "The Spirit of promise" because the heirs and the inheritance are before the mind. His coming was often foretold. He is yet to be poured out on "all flesh" ( Joel 2: 28). We have an example of it in Acts 2; but only one hundred and twenty were then baptized by Him. This was extended necessarily to Gentiles who believed (see Acts 11: 15); nevertheless, there is no repetition of this baptism now as some seem to seek after.

By the gift and baptism of the Spirit at the beginning both Jews and Gentiles who received Him were made one. That was according to the truth of the mystery — fellow-members of the same body. Since that time He seals individuals (thus, too, they are vitally brought into the one body), and He gives them a foretaste of what is to come, when He will pervade all, for He is "the Earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession". In God's own time the inheritance will be actually possessed by Christ and His co-heirs. They have the firstfruits of the Spirit now, as being indwelt by the Spirit of promise; and these co-heirs are the sons of God, the brethren of Christ; therefore, because they are sons, the Spirit of God's Son has been sent out into their hearts, crying, Abba, Father (Gal. 4: 6). In Ephesians 2: 18, their liberty of approach to the Father is said to be by "one Spirit", for though He graciously seals us individually as the sons and heirs of God, yet, what is collective is in view as we have said. Christ presents them with Himself before the Father. They are one with Him, and He is not ashamed to call them brethren. His own Spirit - the Spirit of God's Son - is in their hearts. All this subsists vitally.

Now, though the sealing of the co-heirs comes first in Ephesians, because the marking off of those who are to form the assembly is in view; yet, it is well that we should notice other things in connection with the work of the Spirit.

The preaching, which calls sinners out of darkness into this marvellous association, is by the Holy Ghost sent from heaven"; and those who believe are "born of water and the Spirit". Scripture tells us that the water is the Word, and this is made operative in those who hear in faith by the Holy Spirit. A new nature is the consequence, and this delights in what is of God, in contrast to the old nature which finds pleasure in fleshly lusts. The love of God, too, is shed abroad in the heart, the love which was manifested when Christ died for us, "the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord", the love which God commends to us.

Moreover, the Spirit abidingly indwells those who believe. He is the power by which they enter into, and do, those things in which the new nature delights. The truths of Scripture become living and real to them, for the same Spirit who inspired the one indwells the other. This explains the fact that such understand what the most educated students of Scripture, if unconverted, fail to grasp. Those who have the Spirit may be guided into all truth, but those who are in the flesh, still unsaved, cannot know these things. The normal way of the Spirit is to teach us through the inspired writings. He brings them home to us by ministry or by private reading of the Word of God.

We have said, the Object in view in all His service is the Son of God, for He is here to glorify Him before our hearts. Even in the ministry of the truth of Scripture, He leads our thoughts to the One who is Himself the Truth personally. He may bring many things before us; and, when grieved, give us a sense of what we have done to so grieve Him; but, normally, His gracious work is ever to lead us to the Son of God, giving us to know His personal glory and love, and the portion which is ours with Him as His co-heirs.

The mystery itself was revealed at the first by the Spirit to the apostles and prophets. He is the Unction of 1 John 2: 20, by whom we know all things. It is He also by whose power we are strengthened in the inner man so that Christ, the Centre and Sun of the coming glory, might dwell in our hearts through faith; so that the surpassing love of Christ may be our present portion. He it is who enables us to wield His sword - "the sword of the Spirit" - in the conflict with the powers of darkness, who would rob us of the enjoyment of our part with Christ. It is by Him we are maintained in the spirit of prayer and supplication; and in Him the kingdom of God is known - its righteousness, peace, and joy. How needful, therefore, is it for us to heed the exhortation, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption".

He would ever keep the Object of His mission, and the true Object of our hearts, before us; but the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. Those who are the sons of God are led by the Spirit, and the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in them as they walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. It is the Spirit who witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God; and "if children, heirs also: heirs of God and Christ's joint heirs: if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him" (Rom. 8. 17). He is already glorified at God's right hand as Head of the assembly, and

"The Spirit doth unite

Our souls to Him our Head,

And forms us to His image bright,

While in His steps we tread".

The One Spirit and the One Body.

We learn in Ephesians 3: 6, that the unifying of all believers into one body is the second part of the mystery: called out from amongst Jews and Gentiles they are made one. Chapter 4: 4 teaches us, "There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling". The "one Spirit" is named again in chapter 2: 18, in regard to our access to the Father; also in 1 Cor. 12: 13, in reference to the fact that "by one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bondmen or freemen, and have all been given to drink of one Spirit". This emphasizes the vital unity of all true believers, and the power by which this unity subsists.

Throughout all the present period the Spirit maintains this vital organism, whatever failure may come into the professing assemblies of Christ: during the time of Christ's rejection, of His bodily absence from the world, of His exaltation at the right hand of God as the Head of the assembly, the Spirit never fails in His gracious work.

When Christ ascended to the Father, the Spirit came down at Pentecost upon about one hundred and twenty believers who were gathered together in one accord at Jerusalem. That was the beginning of the body, the assembly. It was the baptism of the Spirit. From that moment it could be said, "There is one body and one Spirit". It could not have been said previously, for redemption had not been secured, and risen life in and for man was unknown. Moreover, the Head of the assembly, the body, was not exalted, nor the Spirit given. Both were necessary for the forming of the one body and the uniting of it vitally to its glorious Head. It is said of our Lord Jesus Christ in resurrection, "He is the Head of the body, the assembly, who is the Beginning, Firstborn from among the dead". The assembly could not have been in being before this.

The truth of the one body was not unfolded till long after Pentecost, though the body was itself there. The truth was given to the apostle of the Gentiles to minister. There had been national dealings with Israel, and individual dealings with Abraham and others, but nothing of a corporate nature before Pentecost. Such a thing as the members of one body being vitally united together by the Spirit to a living Man in heaven was not and could not be previously known. The very gifts which are peculiar to the present dispensation are for "the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4: 12). They had no existence till Christ was ascended to God's right hand. Those, too, which are in the assembly itself derive their diverse abilities and operations from the Spirit given at Pentecost.

The importance of the peculiar and special constitution of the assembly needs to be better understood, and the functions of the members of the body in the Spirit's power also. "All these things operates the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each in particular according as He pleases. For even as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ. For also in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body" (1 Cor. 12: 11-13). This aspect of the truth not only preserves from clericalism, but also from independency; for all the members of the one body are necessary; and where the Spirit is unquenched collectively He manifests His activities through the members for the profit of all. If all the gifts in the assembly were thus happily in function there would be oneness and yet diversity in ministry, and the distinct operations of the Spirit therewith would be for the comfort, cheer, and blessing of the whole.

The apostle Paul often refers to himself as the persecutor of the assembly. He, above all the others, became its devoted servant for Christ's glory after his conversion. Then, we are told in Acts 9 the assemblies had peace; being edified and walking in the fear of the Lord, they increased through the comfort of the Holy Ghost. Where the Spirit is unhindered in His gracious and encouraging work, prosperity in the assemblies is sure to be present. He is called the Comforter, also the Spirit of Truth. He leads, He guides, He teaches, and He glorifies Christ. He is in us and with us, nor does He leave us even when we grieve Him, for we are sealed by Him unto the day of redemption. May we therefore have grace and solicitude to see that no hindrance exists on our side. May we be self-judged, and free in heart and mind to be led and guided by Him.

In speaking of the gifts named in Ephesians 4 we said they had the edification of the assembly in view. The first two named had to do with the foundation; the second two (for they are not three) with the continuation of the work. We are distinctly told that "the apostles and prophets" laid "the foundation" (Eph. 2: 20). These were given from Christ ascended, and have no connection with Old Testament prophets. The "evangelists" and "shepherd-teachers" are the two gifts remaining to-day, and will remain till the work is complete. There is also, as we have indicated, the functions of the body for its self-building up, through the working in its measure of each member and part, and thus it makes "the increase of the body to its self-building up in love ".

There is still one body and one Spirit to-day: one living organism energized by the Holy Ghost: every member is livingly joined to the exalted Man, the Head of the assembly; and it is to Him we are to grow up in all things, as we await His coming again, for

'Tis thence - now Christ is gone on high,

Redemption's work complete -

The Spirit brings His glory nigh,

To those who for Him wait".

The Spirit and the Life.

We have spoken of the Spirit of promise and the co-heirs also of the one Spirit and the one body; and it now remains for us to consider the Spirit and the life.

We saw that, primarily, the truth connected with the co-heirs was individual, but that the collective was in view, according to the first part of the mystery of Christ and the assembly. Likewise that the corporate aspect of the truth was contained in the second. In that which is now before us we have the vital side, according to the last part of the mystery.

The assembly could have no being at all apart from life in Christ Jesus. This is a fundamental matter, as Ephesians 4: 17-25 shows. Either we are altogether "alienated from the life of God", or we are of "the new man" and "members one of another", partaking together of divine life. The Spirit is the power of this new life; therefore progress in every grace is to be expected; nevertheless, we either have life or we have not.

The Holy Spirit is so completely identified with this life, that in the first part of Romans 8., where the truth of freedom from the law of sin and death is prominent, He is Himself said to be life. Not only is the mind of the Spirit "life and peace" in contrast to the mind of the flesh which is "death"; but, we are distinctly told, "The Spirit is life on account of righteousness". A new principle of life in Christ Jesus, the risen Man, which makes free from the old principle of bondage, is ours. This new principle is called, "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus". Eventually, at the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ, the very bodies of the saints will be "quickened", made alive, raised or changed (for quickening covers both) "on account of His Spirit" which dwells in us. Freedom from sin and death will be actually and altogether enjoyed then. Spirit, soul, and body will be blameless, and glorious too, for we shall be like Christ in scenes of incorruptibility, immortality, and glory, where the Holy Spirit pervades all in heavenly perfection.

Even now, those who partake together of life in Christ Jesus, are variously spoken of as having "eternal life", "passed out of death into life", "quickened with Christ", "alive from the dead", "living stones," etc. At the present time such are built together in the Lord, we are told, "for a habitation of God in the Spirit" (Eph. 2. 22). What cannot be found in a house of lifeless material God finds in this living structure. There He receives heart response to the "great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins" (chapter 2: 5); "worship in Spirit and in truth" rises to Him in that habitation of divine life and love.

In this connection the Spirit is spoken of as being in us, and as "springing up into everlasting life", like water rising to its source's level. In the death of our Lord Jesus Christ the "great love" of God has been fully told out: its manifestation is seen at Calvary's cross; and those who appropriate the death of Christ in faith have eternal life (John 6: 54). The love and the life go together; and worship flows from the knowledge of God's love, and of the One whose love it is. The Spirit sheds abroad that love in the heart, therefore worship rises responsively to God in life and love by the Spirit in His habitation, in the house of God. He dwells in the praises of His own. These are grateful and melodious to Him, for all subsists in vitality and love.

It is there also that His glory is known. All within speaks of it, for all is in Christ. The tabernacle is the type. Every board of it was covered with gold, speaking of Christ being our righteousness. The blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the fine twined linen tell of His heavenly, royal, and human glories. It was set up on sockets of silver, speaking of the redemption ground on which God's living habitation now rests in Christ, through the blood of the cross. The oil, too, as well as the blood, had its place in relation to the tabernacle. The anointing oil indicates the Spirit of God. He it is whose gracious ministry brings the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ, before us. He glorifies Him and shows His things to us. These things are seen by those who dwell in God's habitation in the power of the Spirit. The natural eye sees them not. Creation and Horeb show God's glory in a measure - His power, His divinity, and His holiness, but

"ALL His glory shines resplendent

In the person of the Son,

Jesus Christ His well-beloved,

Who redemption's glory won".

Moreover, we are told, "The Anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you" (there was no natural light in the Tabernacle, it was provided by the oil). "The same Anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him". There is no need to turn elsewhere. Eternal life is here. The Father is known, because the Son has declared Him, and the Spirit leads us into the deep reality of it all. The Anointing teaches us. God is known in His sanctuary. This could hardly be said of creation simply, in the same way and measure.

The Spirit is often associated in Scripture with "living water", "springing water", "rivers of water", "running water", "breath", "wind" and "oil" or "unction". Movement is characteristic of the Spirit. He is called "the eternal Spirit". We do not get the names "eternal Father" or "eternal Son" in the Bible. The truth of the eternal Father and the eternal Son is abundant in Scripture, though not the designations. Figures of love, grace, and strength and glory are associated with these. The flow of the Spirit carries into the current of eternal realities. Fruit, too, is produced in living grace amongst those who are the subjects of His work. Mere religionists and others may try to imitate this to-day, but there is an entire lack of the heavenly and pious character of the other, even though austere rules are observed to produce it. The fruit of the Spirit which is "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control", against which there is no law - is borne with becoming grace and for the honour of God. Love is necessarily first, and it is striking that joy should be the second named. "Full of joy" and "full of the Holy Ghost" go together.

We are exhorted to be "filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5: 18). If we are filled thus the right condition and the right Person will be characteristic of us. To be full of the Spirit is the very opposite of being full of ourselves, our joyful feelings, or anything else. Our joy will be full indeed, but the Son of God will be before us, for the Spirit glorifies Him when He is unhindered. He will direct our gladdened gaze to Him and His things. Nor are we filled like a lake, or like the dead sea which has no outlet. The living grace of the Eternal Spirit flows into our rejoicing hearts that it may flow out as "rivers of living water": to all around the refreshing and vivifying waters are to flow: "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and chanting with your heart to the Lord; giving thanks at all times"; and to "whosoever will" the water of life is to be free: to the weary and the fainting, to the heavy laden and burdened; to the lost and the sinful, to the "dead in trespasses and offences" the fresh, living, bountiful rivers are to flow out: the word of life is to be gladly proclaimed in the gracious energy of the Spirit.

H. J. Vine.

Gatherings of Assembly Character.

During special seasons of revival, and the various activities which accompany such times, there is usually present the danger of being carried to extremes, so that the safe ground of the faith is practically forsaken, and that which is designated by the Spirit of God, "the pillar and base of the truth," is either neglected or abandoned altogether. That is the danger.

Until they were well disciplined, and seasoned by experience, the British army in France lost largely through the zeal and energy of keen soldiers whose valour often carried them too far, taking them beyond the limits set by military wisdom, and so putting themselves out of touch with support from the base of operations.

It is of the utmost importance that the present truth of Christ and the assembly should therefore be understood by us; otherwise, even our zeal in service may put us practically beyond the direction of Headquarters; and we may carry others with us to disaster, even when we think success is attending our aggressive campaign as we pierce far into the enemies' lines.

It is right to "fight the good fight of faith". We are told to do so. But the base must be well established, and the communication lines maintained intact. To abandon gatherings of an assembly character, where the presence of the Lord in the midst is known, is to court defeat; showing, shall we say, either ignorance or independence of God's present order.

The Assembly.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said, as He looked forward to the present time, "I will build My assembly" (Matt. 16: 18). He also indicated that the schemes and attacks of Satan would be directed against it; but, He gave us this assurance, "The gates of hades shall not prevail against it". We should, therefore, be encouraged, and remain true to that which shall come through in triumph and victory, as being loyal to Him who is engaged in the construction of His assembly, allowing no wile of Satan to turn us aside.

This building is in progress now. Having secured eternal redemption by His sufferings and death at Calvary, Christ ascended to God's right hand and gave the Holy Spirit to be in us and with us till His return. We are, therefore, thus formed into one - "built together for an habitation of God in the Spirit"; and upon "the foundation of the apostles and prophets" (whose teaching is still the groundwork of the assembly), the building being fitted together in Jesus Christ the Corner Stone, "increaseth to a holy temple in the Lord" (Eph. 2: 21).

It cannot be gainsaid that this glorious work still goes on, for the Holy Spirit Himself in the above Scriptures tells us so; but we may ask the question, Why is the assembly being thus builded? The answer is quite plain. In the future God is going to have a universal metropolis, where His Throne will be, with Christ as the Centre. This is the assembly, "the bride, the Lamb's wife". At the present time the material is being gathered together and fitted for the day of glory; and it becomes, meanwhile, as we have seen, an habitation of God in the Spirit. In the past, before Christ ascended to God's right hand, this building did not exist at all. The dealings of God with the nation of Israel and the other nations and peoples (who are to be ranged under the King of kings and Lord of lords in the millennium) are in abeyance till the assembly is complete, and till it is glorified with our Lord Jesus Christ. It is now being prepared for that glory.

The Head of the assembly is already glorified; and the assembly is not only the house of God, it is also the body of Christ. Over all things Christ is exalted as Head, and He holds this headship in relation to the assembly. He is Head over all now, though it is only apparent to faith. In the future it will be seen publicly that this is so; and the assembly which is His body, complete then in glory, is the fullness of Him who filleth all in all (Eph. 1: 23).

At the present time the assembly as Christ's body is said to "grow up to Him in all things who is the Head, the Christ; from whom the whole body, fitted together, and compacted by every joint of supply, according to the working in its measure of each one part, works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building-up in love" (Eph. 4. 16). Mark, this is no question of gift, but of each member fulfilling its function in the body which is the assembly. To neglect this for any other sort of religious activity is a very serious matter. Nothing furthers this "increase of the body" like gatherings of an assembly character.

As to the past, before the Head of the body, the assembly, was glorified, there could of course be no body on earth united to a Man in heaven at all. That is a self-evident fact.

When our Lord Jesus Christ ascended on high, in view of filling all things, He gave gifts to men. These, we are told, were given for the "edifying of the body of Christ, until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God". A definite end is in view. The work of the ministry at present is for that purpose. This refers to the exercise of gift very specially; but it is important to see that even in this case the prosperity of the assembly is the object. Where, then, is the loyalty to our Lord Jesus Christ on the part of those servants who are indifferent to gatherings of an assembly character?

The gifts are enumerated in Ephesians 4: 11. In the past - before the Giver of them, the exalted Man, gave such gifts - they clearly did not exist. The new work, in relation to the glory which is yet to be manifested, is that for which our Lord Jesus Christ gave them to men. It is for those who are thus gifted to be true in their work to Him who gave them for the edifying of the body, the assembly.

We have spoken of the assembly as the house of God and as the body of Christ, and of the ministry, and of each in relation to the future, the present and the past. We will now consider what is the Scriptural ground of gatherings of an assembly character.

The Ground of Gathering.

In the first intimation of the assembly, in Matthew 16 we are told that the rock foundation of Christ's assembly is "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16: 16, 17) as revealed by His Father who is in the heavens. That is the ground upon which it is constructed as a whole. All gatherings which partake of the character of the assembly also find their ground in who and what He is, as we shall see.

Fellowship is involved in such gatherings, and all true believers are "called into the fellowship of God's Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1: 9). If the upbuilding or edification of the assembly be in view, we are reminded that the Foundation already laid is "Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3: 11).

"The Church's one Foundation

Is Jesus Christ her Lord."

If the gathering be for prayer then it is said, as an abiding fact, by our Lord Jesus Christ, "where two or three are gathered together to My Name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18: 20). This covers a wider field than prayer simply, though it is in connection with prayer that the words were spoken. The Name of Christ is the ground given here. The Name speaks of who and what He is. Those gathered know this. They are gathered "to His Name", and He Himself is in the midst of them thus gathered.

In the last book of the Old Testament, when failure abounded, we read that those who feared the Lord got together, and the theme of their meditation and conversation was "His Name"; what He is became everything to them. That brought them together, and made their gatherings seasons of delight both to themselves and to the Lord who hearkened to what they said of Him. It is the same to-day! In Himself perfection is found by those that fear the Lord, although unrighteousness marks "organized religion", which professes His Name.

If the gatherings be for thanksgiving, for praise, or for worship - to "offer up spiritual sacrifices" - to exercise the functions of the "holy priesthood" - we are told that such offerings are "acceptable to God by Jesus Christ". We draw near to God "by Him": He is the One by whom we approach. In Him we have boldness, and He it is also who is the Stone, elect and precious, the Foundation of those who sing the songs of praise in Zion. He is the chief Corner-Stone likewise. He first suffered in the outside place to sanctify the worshippers by His own precious blood, and then passed in to the near place in God's own presence. "BY HIM therefore", it is said, "let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually to God, that is the fruit of the lips confessing His Name" (Heb. 13: 15).

Gatherings of an assembly character are "to His Name" and "in His Name". It is as He is known that the true ground of gathering is understood. We ourselves - the saints, the assembly - could never be the ground. The assembly is builded by Him, and upon Him, and in Him. It should be noticed that the Philadelphian character of the assembly, which goes right on till the Lord's return, is faithfulness to His Word and His Name. What is involved in that Name - who and what He is - may be entered into more by some than others, and this will greatly affect the tone of the gatherings. Those who thought upon His Name in Malachi's day would increase in the knowledge of it; and now it is fully revealed, and the Spirit is given, therefore we should advance much more in the excellent knowledge of its preciousness. Moreover, those who are of His assembly stand in relationships to Him which were unknown to these godly saints of Old Testament times as we have shown.

The recognition of this will greatly enhance to us the wonderful privileges which are connected with gatherings of an assembly character of to-day, for He who is Lord of all, exalted to God's right hand in glory, is known now to the assembly as its Head and its Bridegroom. They are united to Him by the Spirit as His body, and they are brought into union with Him as His bride. Indeed, the truth of the one body should affect all our gatherings of assembly character now. Twelve loaves on the table in the Temple might remind the priests who drew near that the twelve tribes were always represented before God, but the one loaf on the table of which we partake to-day reminds the worshippers in the presence of God that all true believers "are one loaf, one body" (1 Cor. 10: 17). This should never be lost sight of.

However much the assemblies may have been corrupted, the Scriptures are enough for us. They are able to "fully furnish" us. The Spirit who inspired their writing is in us. He leads us into the truth, and He forms us into one body. He is here, moreover, to glorify the Son of God. We have no authority to form religious gatherings after our own ideas. Necessity is not enough, as some say. We are told in 2 Timothy 2 to follow righteousness, as having departed from iniquity. This must necessarily involve our coming together in a right way - "with those that call upon THE LORD out of a pure heart".

All instructed believers will admit that the final words of the Bible have in view the close of the assembly's history in this world. It is there we are told of a special ministry of Christ "in the assemblies" in view of His return (Rev. 22: 16, 17), with the result that true believers are awakened to invite Christ to come - "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come!" These "assemblies" then are found at the end! Who therefore could think of giving up gatherings of an assembly character? Nay, rather let the word of exhortation be heeded as never before, as we draw near to the return of our Lord Jesus Christ - "not forsaking the assembling (complete assembling, i.e. of all the saints) of ourselves together, as the custom is with some; but encouraging one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching" (Heb. 10: 25).

The Value of Such Gatherings.

This question has been raised. One would otherwise be exceedingly slow to propound it or answer it. Their value to those who are saved by God's grace cannot be estimated. It is so vast. Scripture shows us also that such gatherings are of priceless value to God Himself. There is glory to God in the assembly in Christ Jesus eternally, and the praise that rises to Him now brings glory to His holy name.

As to ourselves, first of all, we are kept in the sense of the love of Christ when we are together in assembly to remember Him in the great expression of divine love, when He died for us. Then there is also the building up of our souls in the things of God; the edifying of the saints in the truth. This takes place in ministry when we are together in assembly character as nowhere else. Special addresses and preachings, important though they be, cannot do what the other does for us. Even prayer and thanksgiving in such gatherings are edifying, we are told in 1 Cor. 14: 12-19. All the Scriptures are open to those who thus meet together. A great part of them are closed to those who do not. Ignorance of these is freely admitted by many who follow the religious meetings of expediency which abound in Christendom, to the neglect of the order given in the Word of God for the coming together of the saints.

The truth thus learned sanctifies us, and by it we become partakers of the divine nature. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth when unhindered, and we are liberated from the influences of the world which is made up of lust and pride. We are filled with divine joy in a deepened knowledge of God as He is made known in His beloved Son, and He becomes the rejoicing of our hearts as He manifests His presence in the midst of those gathered together. What words can express the riches of the glory of this? Our gain is beyond telling! It is not simply that we ere freed from the oppression of Egypt, but we are brought into the wealth of the land of God's promise in Christ according to His eternal purpose, as the Spirit brings the glory of Him who is the blessed Object of that purpose before our glad hearts.

Moreover, in the exercises connected with such gatherings we are being prepared for the coming glory of which we have spoken. The trial of our faith in regard to this will be found to praise and honour and glory in that day. To miss these exercises means to miss a great deal for the time of His glorious reign. In Ephesians, where the saints are viewed as set in the land in Christ, we are told of the conflict which goes on in relation to this. The hosts of darkness seek to get us to give up in our souls the heavenly ground on which we are set in Christ, but we are told to "stand", not in our own strength, but as "strong in the Lord". The gain of all this is great indeed.

We are not, however, to think only of the value of gatherings of an assembly character to ourselves. Are we not told that the Father seeks worshippers? Where does He receive worship in Spirit and in truth as He does from those who are redeemed by the blood of Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit when assembled together? The vast creation cannot render this to Him as they do! It is said, Let all the angels of God worship Him. They do this, but they have not the same Spirit of relationship, nor do they yield the same character of worship as the redeemed. Even our growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is furthered in such gatherings, is not only of great value to us but to God also. We are told that "a wise son maketh a glad father". As we grow in wisdom we minister to the pleasure of God. Is not this an incentive to us to seek to promote each other's spiritual advance - for His sake? The praise and honour, and glory too, of which we have spoken, found as the result of trial of the faith of these wise sons in the day of Christ's glory, will be of great value in His holy sight.

These gatherings not only promote that which is of surpassing value to us, but, we repeat, that which is of value to God, who is ordering all things at the present time in view of the day when everything in the heavens and upon the earth shall be headed up in Christ, the glorious Centre of all. To gather around Him now prepares us for that day, when the assembly which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all, shall be glorified together with Him. He fills our hearts together now in His presence before that time, when He will fill all things. We learn now something of the order which is pleasing to Him, and in the precious knowledge of the Father and the Son, the high privileges of eternal life are enjoyed already.

"Brought to rest within the circle

Where love's treasures are displayed,

There we drink the living waters,

Taste the joys that never fade."

When in Israel, that which typifies our gathering to Christ's Name was maintained, all prospered; when the exercise Godward of the priesthood, which drew near to Him at the place of His Name, at the temple, was in full function, there was prosperity, peace, and blessing to the uttermost bounds of the kingdom. This gives some idea of the value of assembling together to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Such help in the outgoing of the light and the truth more than is usually understood. "Bring in" and I will "pour out" is the order (see Mal. 3: 10).

In conclusion, we would emphasize the importance of having no pattern before us less than that which is given by the Holy Spirit in Scripture as to the assembly. If we yield to other ideas we shall not be following righteousness, however near the original they may seem. We have no authority to forsake the path of God's will made known in the Word. There it is said by the apostle John, "He that knows God heareth us: he who is not of God does not hear us. From this we know the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error" (1 John 4. 6). More are affected by the latter spirit than they are aware of. If we love God we love His children, and shall desire to gather with them. If we do not, where are we? It is written, "Everyone that loves Him that has begotten loves also him that is begotten of Him". He loves God's children, and how can any do this and deliberately avoid gathering with them before the Lord?

We are doubtless nearing the return of our Lord Jesus Christ! That longed-for day is swiftly approaching! Not only do we see signs in the nations and in the awakening of national hopes in Israel, but the revival of the ministry of Christ Himself and His love, as foretold, shows this. At that glorious time all the saints of God will be gathered together to Him in the air, as we are told in 2 Thessalonians 2: 1, where we are besought to be unshaken in view of it - "by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our complete assembling unto Him". This word "complete assembling" is used in one other place, Hebrews 10, as we have already pointed out. There we are exhorted not to forsake the "complete assembling" of ourselves together, as the day of His return approaches God would not have just some of them, but all true believers assembling around the Lord. Then, as He Himself and His love fills every heart, that precious Scripture shall be fulfilled - "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come".

"Spirit and bride with longing voice, say, come;

Yea, Lord, thy word from that bright home, is,

'Surely, I will quickly come!'

E'en so, Lord, come."

Meanwhile, gatherings of an assembly character are to be maintained, and will be, even as the Word of God, which never fails, shows. To deliberately neglect these, therefore, is a very serious matter, whatever the pretext may be.

Henry J. Vine.

Apostolic Fellowship.

The Apostles' fellowship, as we have seen in a previous paper, did not long continue in its original power; yet it is quite evident that for so long as any of the Apostles remained on earth a considerable measure of power was present, and a proper discipline was largely exercised.

It is worthy of remark that discipline is connected with the church viewed as a fellowship, though it should be exercised in view of the fact that the Church is the body of Christ, and the house of God. The latter truth particularly bears upon it, inasmuch as "Holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, for ever" (Psalm 93. 5), yet if discipline be exercised so that the holiness and order of God's house be maintained, it is exercised in the sphere of practical fellowship. Offending saints were dealt with in apostolic times by their fellow-saints even to the extreme penalty of "putting away" from amongst them, so that no vestige of practical fellowship remained; yet no pretence was made of such offenders being cut off as members from "the body", nor removed as stones from "the house". All action in such connections lies in the hands of God alone. The only sphere where saints are competent to act is that of fellowship.

Passages that bear upon discipline in the assembly occur in several of the Epistles, and a careful examination shows that they divide under several heads.

There is first of all apostolic discipline. This peculiar form of it is hinted at by Paul in 1 Cor. 5. 3-5, and alluded to further in 2 Cor. 10: 2-10; 13: 2 and 10. An example of its exercise is given us in 1 Tim. 1. 20. A further threatening of its use is found in 3 John 10. Acts 5. 1-13 may also be cited as an historic account of such action. This, the most powerful form of discipline, has closed with the departure of the Apostles.

Secondly, there is that form of discipline which may be exercised by a servant of the Lord acting as an apostolic delegate - such as Timothy and Titus - or by a bishop or elder duly appointed. (1 Tim. 5. 20; Titus 1: 9-11; 3. 9-11.) "Rebuke before all"; "convince"; - stopping their mouths; - "Reject". These were actions taken under authority duly bestowed, and therefore autocratic - if one may so put it. This form of discipline also hardly exists to-day.

Thirdly, there is assembly discipline, or at least discipline of a collective nature. This may be exerted in varying degrees of severity. 1 Thess. 5. 14, gives us, perhaps, its mildest form: "Warn them that are unruly". Stronger action is contemplated in 2 Thess. 3. 6. If warning did not suffice they were to 'withdraw' themselves from such a disorderly brother. He was to be shunned and avoided and made to feel how the saints condemned his disorder. Again, in verse 14 of the same chapter a still severer form of discipline seems to be indicated. Some disorderly brother might aggravate his position by disregarding the Apostle's word, and with such "no company" was to be kept. Yet, even so, as verse 15 shows, he was to be admonished as a brother, and not put in the outside place of excommunication as an enemy. Rom. 16, 17 indicates action of a similar character to above. Then there is 1 Cor. 5. 9-13, and here we have the extreme limit of assembly discipline. In each of these cases the responsibility to act rests on the 'brethren' - on the assembly as such - and not on individuals of gift or authority.

Fourthly, there is that action which becomes incumbent upon the faithful believer however humble, when and if disorder supervenes generally in the Church as a consequence of Scriptural discipline ceasing to be exercised. 2 Tim. 2. 16-21 speaks very definitely of this. The responsibility to "depart from iniquity" always rests upon all who name the name of the Lord, and that in every shape and form, for verse 19 is the statement of a universal principle.

The case in point, however, which gave rise to the statement of the principle, is that of Hymenaeus and Philetus, and their very grave perversion of the truth concerning the resurrection. It was error of a fundamental nature calculated to overturn everything. The foundation of God was, indeed, sure and beyond their reach, but they overturned the faith of those who fell under their influence (v. 18). The faithful believer can have no compromise with this, and the illustration of a large establishment with its many vessels with their various uses is brought to enforce the necessity of purity both personal and in associations - that is, both inside the vessel and outside too. This passage, be it noted, is not addressed only to Timothy, in his authoritative position in the assembly, but to all. It is "every one" (v. 19) and "a man" (v. 21).

The question has been raised: - assuming the above to be correct, how are we to account for there being no trace of any such action, either by Timothy or other faithful men during the early centuries of Church history?

An answer is furnished by 1 John 2. 19. Writing a quarter of a century after Paul's farewell letter to Timothy, John tells us of the anti-Christian teachers who plagued the Church even in apostolic days. "They went out from us", and thus they revealed their true character. The first inroad of "grievous wolves", (Acts 20. 29) was repulsed by apostolic energy and the faith of the saints; and throwing off their sheep's clothing the wolves retired discomfited.

They are still seen as outside in 2 John 7–11, and being there a faithful saint, though a woman, is not to give them a foothold even in her house. Looking on to the last days, Paul prophesied that this sort would creep into houses and lead captive silly women; but the faithful woman of 2 John is to keep her door shut and withhold her salutation, inhospitable as it might seem. She was to resolutely decline fellowship down to the smallest detail.

The Epistles do not close, however, without giving us a warning as to the abuse of discipline within the sphere of Church fellowship. 3 John 9-10 shows that very early the adversary sought to discount godly discipline, destroying its force and effect, by a gross caricature through one Diotrephes. This man committed himself and others to three things. First, he would not receive the stranger brethren who had gone forth for Christ's name's sake, taking no support from the world. Second, he cast out of the Church those that would - and apparently did - receive them. Thirdly, he would not receive the Apostle John himself, apparently because he supported the stranger brethren, and disapproved of and condemned his highhanded proceedings.

So much for this short survey of apostolic instructions as to discipline in the assembly.

With the close of the apostolic writings we leave the sure ground of divine inspiration for the uncertain sands of human history. We may do well to step, in our minds, straight from A.D. 96 to A.D. 1921. Not that we would for one moment belittle the gracious movements of the Spirit of God through many different servants of Christ through the centuries, but we believe it will conduce to a clearer apprehension of the bearing of Scripture upon the present situation, and also enable us to avoid historic details which may be open to question, if we do so.

If, then, we ourselves had been but recently converted, and were just rejoicing in the discovery, from the Scriptures, of what the Church is in the thoughts of God, and of the nature and characteristics of Christian fellowship as originally instituted and regulated through the Apostles, what would be our first impression? Would it not be that the religious organizations - with which the majority of our fellow-Christians are connected - bear little or no resemblance to the apostolic model? And what would be the first question which would arise for solution? Would it not be as to whether we were bound to continue in such unscriptural organizations or whether, on the other hand, there were any apostolic instructions which would authorize the ordinary believer without gift or office in the Church to clear himself by separating from them? The passages quoted above in connection with Scriptural discipline, under the fourth heading, would soon satisfy us as to this. If in certain contingencies the individual believer was not authorized to act, all true believers ought to be presumably still in the "parent Churches" of east and west, Greek and Roman respectively, except they had been individually excommunicated by those bodies; a protesting and persecuted minority without doubt, but still there!

Finding ourselves, however, outside, the next question would be as to what Scripture authorizes us to do? 2 Tim. 2. 22 supplies the answer. We are to earnestly pursue the things pleasing to God along with others who "call on the Lord out of a pure heart". It is evidently supposed that there will always be such.

We may be tempted to think the instructions of this verse very meagre for such a situation as is suggested, but are they as meagre as first sight might suggest?

"Follow righteousness", i.e., what is right. Well, what is right under such circumstances? First, to humbly and brokenly confess the failure, and not make believe that things are all right when all wrong. Secondly, to recognize that God always starts with what is right. He never, like man, experiments with the imperfect at the beginning, gradually advancing to the more finished production. Hence the way of faith, the right way, is always to revert to God's original thoughts and institutions as far as may be practicable. In the last years of Israel's history as a nation the Lord recalled them to "the old paths" and "the good way" ( Jer. 6. 16). It is not otherwise to-day.

We have no authority to construct anything, to organize fresh "Churches" on an improved basis as compared with what we are outside of. Nor have we authority, if we revert to the order of the assembly as established by the Apostles and revealed to us in the Scriptures, to aim at producing a more select assemblage of saints than ever the apostolic assemblies were - an eclectic company of extra choice souls - and to institute a more rigid and searching discipline, and narrower tests than Scripture intimates to attain that end. A very tempting thing this under the circumstances, and specially appealing to many earnest Christian people with a tendency to pay more attention to their own subjective consistency than to the great objective claims of CHRIST and the Church.

We are, however, authorized, we repeat, to go back to that which God instituted at the beginning; but having done so we cannot of course claim to be the original institution; at best we can only be some saints who revert to its principles, and walk according to them.

A further question now arises. Assuming that, stirred by the Spirit of God some saints are walking together according to the original instructions of the Word of God, and therefore enjoying fellowship which is apostolic in its character - what are the features which would mark it and them?

It would begin by embracing all saints as to the principle of it, and welcoming all saints, not Scripturally disqualified, as occasion might arise; though in practice it is possible that a very small percentage of them might enter into and enjoy it. The mass might remain quite unexercised as to it, and content with their various religious organizations. This is a matter of very great importance, and no fellowship which overlooks or repudiates this feature can be apostolic in its character, but must be essentially sectarian.

There would be observed the discipline which Scripture enjoins. As to morals (1 Cor. 5), as to doctrine (2 Tim. 2. 17-21), and as to association with evil (2 Tim. 2. 21 and 2 John 9-11), action would be taken in the fear of God according to the Word, ever remembering that as we must not fall short of, so we have no authority to go beyond what is written, inasmuch as what is written is sufficient to make the man of God perfect or complete, "throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3. 16, 17).

Further, such fellowship would be enjoyed in the light of the whole truth as to Christ and the Church, just as of old the Apostle's fellowship was founded on their doctrine. This would be a corrective to the tendency always present to regard fellowship as a matter of voluntary association, to be taken up or laid down according to one's personal likes or dislikes. It would also preserve from tendencies either in the direction of an independent congregationalism or that of a Romish metropolitanism. Let the truth as to the church being God's house, and the body of Christ, in its widest or universal aspect, be firmly held, and the former becomes impossible. Let truth as to the body of Christ in its local aspect be seized and the latter tendency is checked. Both of the Corinthian Epistles in their introductions throw valuable light on this. The first is addressed primarily to the Church of God at Corinth, but linking with them in a secondary way all saints everywhere. The second is again addressed primarily to the local assembly at Corinth, but secondarily to all the saints in the surrounding province of Achaia. Here, then, we have first the local assembly, the primary sphere of all practical fellowship with its responsibilities of discipline and the like; secondly, the surrounding assemblies of the province, the first to be affected when any breakdown occurs in the local assembly; thirdly, the whole Church everywhere, the ultimate boundary to which such breakdown may extend its influence.

Again, we may safely say that any fellowship truly apostolic in character would be free from the assumption of being what it is not, or of possessing powers not within its reach. Any lofty claims to a Church position, or power not shared in by other believers who may not have had light to separate from unscriptural systems, would be very destructive of apostolic simplicity and reality. We must continually remember that at this late hour in the Church's history there is no prospect of saints being more than a feeble remnant, adhering with some degree of fidelity to God's original thoughts. The official side of things has lapsed. If men with the qualifications of an elder or bishop are to be found, we may well be thankful and submit to such, but no power of official ordination available for us to-day is delineated in Scripture.

The last feature we would mention is this: If and when difficulties and mistakes occur in the midst of such as walk in apostolic fellowship, they should become an occasion for a fresh experience of the unchanged resources of the great Head of the Church and His Spirit, and there should be no attempt to grapple with them by purely human, and much less by worldly, means.

Difficulties and mistakes will most certainly occur. They occurred in apostolic times, and it is worthy of note that though the Apostles were armed with special powers of discipline to deal with such, they used those powers very sparingly, and only in the most grave and obstinate cases, as we have previously seen. The more excellent way even for them was that of pastoral care and oversight whether in person or by letter as in the case of the Corinthians and Galatians. To the Apostle Paul the intervention of the Lord, caring for His own interests in His assembly, was a thing to be counted on and expected. Compare Gal. 4. verses 11 and 20 with Gal. 5. 10. His confidence as to them was "through the Lord". How much violent action amongst saints - action if not actually opposed to Scripture, at least beyond Scriptural limits - would have never taken place if the faith which makes Christ on high, and the Spirit here below living realities to us, had been more in exercise? Then saints would have been content to act within the limits that Scripture assigns them, and count on the Lord by His Spirit present in the Church to act for His own glory as to anything beyond.

In all that has been advanced above there is nothing new so far as we are aware, and it is a fact that some ninety years ago not a few saints of a godliness and power hardly known in these days began to walk together in fellowship of this kind. It is also a fact that as time elapsed and faith and spiritual energy declined, there has been a tendency to depart from fellowship of an apostolic character, towards one of sectarian narrowness or unscriptural breadth. This has greatly complicated matters, and largely obscured the practical blessedness and simplicity of the truth.

The truth, however, stands together with the responsibility of every saint to know it and walk according to it. Just as in years gone by it was the path of faith, in the presence of the ruin of the professing Church, to revert to the truth of Scripture and walk in obedience thereto, so is it to-day in the presence of the further failure amongst those who have essayed so to walk.

Some have spoken as if the failure on the part of those who have set out to walk in fellowship of an apostolic order, has rendered any further attempt to so walk abortive, and shut us all up to a kind of helpless acquiescence in what can by no means be defended from Scripture. We venture, on the contrary, to affirm that the door of repentance (Rev. 3. 19), of faith, and of first works (Rev. 3. 20) - "hear my voice" is faith and "open the door" is first works - is open even in the extreme end of the dispensation; and that if failure occurs ten times over, and the situation becomes far more involved, yet there will never be any valid reason against a simple return to the truth of Scripture. Want of faith or courage upon our side alone will hinder.

Casting a prophetic glance forward Paul commended the saints to "God and the word of His grace" (Acts 20. 32). Such is our resource to-day. We need but faith to discern His mind and courage to obey.

F. B. Hole.

The New Interest and the New Power.

Every one gets what he values. Mary Magdalene had simple and undivided affection for Christ, and she was the first to see Him on the resurrection day; then she gained intelligence. If I have true affection for the Lord - if my heart is right - I am sure to become intelligent sooner or later. Mary goes about His interests; she no longer has fear of losing Him; she is now in association with Him, and His interest is hers. We are in association with Him, in unchangeable relationship to Him. Oh, that we might be alive to this. And what should occupy us now? Christ's own treasure. Our souls want to know better that Christ's interest - His Treasure - is on earth. What are His saints - His assembly - to us? First, what are they to Him? The answer to that question will decide for us what they are to us if we are devoted to Him.

The Holy Ghost is the new Power, and the only power for this new interest. You can carry on the testimony with the new power, but with nothing else. Any human resource is a hindrance. The enmity of the world is aroused if you refuse its help, but you can only maintain the interest of Christ by the new Power on earth. Here it is that we have failed; we have found resources in the world in one shape or another instead of leaning solely on the Spirit of God.

J. B. Stoney.

The Spirit's Work in the Building Up of the Assembly.

We purpose taking up this subject very briefly, God helping us, as it is unfolded in the Epistle to the Ephesians.

James tells us that the body without the spirit is dead, referring to the human body and the human spirit. In the same way the Spirit of God is necessary for the life, activity, and manifestation of life in the Body of Christ. But the body of Christ is likewise spoken of in Ephesians as the household of God, a holy temple in the Lord, God's dwelling place and shrine, His assembly on the earth.

It is as the Holy Spirit is active in the assembly, that the mind of God will be expressed by the assembly. The assembly is not a machine, but a living intelligent organism, made up of the intelligence and life of each member of it; it is as response is made to the Spirit that God's mind for the assembly can be carried out. How vastly important our subject is, and how feeble must our best attempts be to state it.

It is by the Spirit that the assembly is brought into existence, and by the same Spirit the assembly is maintained.

The Holy Spirit of Promise.

The Lord in those memorable chapters in John's gospel - chapters 13-17 - spoke much to His loved disciples, ere He left them, of the coming of the Holy Spirit consequent on His going to His Father. In Acts 1: 4 we are reminded that the early disciples did not receive the Holy Spirit one by one, but that they were commanded to assemble themselves at Jerusalem there to await the promise of the Father, the blessed Holy Spirit of God. It is of the utmost importance that it should be seen how the Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, as it clearly proves that our individual responsibility as Christians flows from our corporate position as part of God's assembly. The Spirit came and formed the believers into one body - Christ being the Head in heaven, the believers, the body on earth.

Once the assembly is formed individuals are added one by one, but they are added to the assembly, and not merely indwelt as individuals. That we are indwelt is blessedly true, and consequent on believing on Christ, receiving the Gospel of their salvation, believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise; sealed, claimed by God for ever for Himself; the Holy Spirit betokening what character He would impart to those sealed, the earnest of our inheritance, the living proof, the taste of the believer of what will be His portion in God's presence for ever.

Access by One Spirit to the Father.

In Ephesians we need to follow carefully the 'we' of the Jewish believers and the 'ye' of the Gentile believers. It was no new thought to the Jew that he was in relation to God. The tabernacle and temple services constantly kept this before him in typical fashion. But it was a new thing for the Gentile to be brought into blessing equally with the Jew.

That the Gentile believer should be blessed equally with the Jewish could only be brought to pass in and through Christ, and that by an absolutely new range of blessing affecting them both. Christ's death brought the law to an end as a MEANS of life. No one ever maintained life before God on the law principle. Yet the moral law is never set aside, and in Christianity love is the mighty controlling power, "love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13. 10), and it is by the Spirit's power "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." But the believer is not under law, though as led of the Spirit he fulfils its righteousness. So great is the breakdown of the flesh, that only in NEW creation can man be blessed, and in new creation "there is neither Greek nor Jew" (Col. 3. 11).

In Christianity we come into new creation and therefore with new relationships. Not the least of these is that of sons to the Father. To have access to the Father means that those who have access are sons. If I have access to the King I have access to him who is a father, but to have access to him as father I must be his child. So in Christ Jesus all - Jew and Gentile - are brought nigh by His precious blood. He is our peace, not only settling every question that lay between us and God, but doing it in such fashion, and blessing us with such blessings that go far beyond settling variance between us and God, blessings of an entirely new and positive nature and connected with the purpose of God, that the middle wall of partition is broken down, and of Jew and Gentile in Christ one new man is made.

It is said there was a wall of partition in the court of the temple, pierced with gates, which admitted a Jew, but which meant death to a Gentile, if he ventured to pass through. How sweet that all restraint is gone, and that Jew and Gentile are lifted into heights that are outside of every feeling of racial animosity and pride, so that we read, Through Him [Christ] we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Eph. 2. 18).

The Mystery of Christ Revealed by the Spirit.

Again is emphasized the wonderful place the Gentile has as well as the Jew in Christianity. This mystery was not made known in other ages, and was revealed by the Holy Spirit to the holy apostles and prophets.

Judaism was exclusive, and treated the Gentile as an alien from the commonwealth of Israel and stranger to the covenants of promise, which indeed he was. But Christianity has altered all that no longer will the Jew in this dispensation enlightened by the Gospel look to Jerusalem as the centre, and earth as the sphere of his blessing. The believer looks to Christ in glory and finds his true home in the assembly on earth. Consequent on Christ taking His place on high and sending the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, believers are fellow-heirs of these spiritual blessings: members of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel. But stress in this passage is laid on the fact that Gentiles (see Eph. 3. 6) were admitted to these privileges as much as the Jew.

How formative must these thoughts have been in the souls of the believers, and as they met in the exercises of the assembly how they must have put a deep mark on their worship. No wonder that the Apostle Paul glories in his commission to proclaim "among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph. 3. 8).

* * * *

"Strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man". (Eph. 3. 16).

Here we find the Apostle bending his knees in prayer to God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the believers might according to the riches of God's glory, "be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man" (Eph. 3. 16). Evidently the Apostle realized that the presentation of the truth in set terms would not effect God's purpose, that only as the Holy Spirit in mighty power gives perception to the believer through deep exercise of soul can such be attained.

And for what did the Apostle desire this strengthening of the inner man? It was that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith - wonderful truth - that rooted and grounded in love they might be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length, and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. Mark that expression, "with all saints". How the Spirit throughout the Word emphasizes that Christianity is not an individual thing! It puts the believer into relation with the whole, and spite of failure this is still true, though failure renders the expression of it very difficult.

We are not told what the breadth and length and height and depth are. They define that which is indefinable. They measure that which is immeasurable. When we have said what we can about them we have said very little. We are on the edge of a vast ocean of divine purpose and love.

Breadth - it takes in all saints.

Length - it stretches back to distant ages when God, before time began, purposed us for blessing in Christ; it stretches forward to coming ages, when throughout eternity the saints will be in all the blessing and fullness of these purposes in Christ.

Depth - this reminds us of all the distance and shame and suffering the blessed Lord went through in order to open up all this righteously and give effect to God's wonderful scheme of blessing.

Height - we look up and see Him, who went into the lowest depth, now in the highest height of glory, and the believer made to sit in heavenly places in Christ.

The love of Christ - that which made all this possible to us, and introduced us into it - that love which went into death itself, and which passeth knowledge, infinite, eternal, divine. What exercise for our hearts! No wonder the heart of the Apostle, surcharged with divine joy, has to find relief in doxology and worship.

The Unity of the Spirit.

The believer is bid to endeavour "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. iv. 3). This is a unity the Spirit makes, a unity we cannot make or break, though as individuals we may fail to answer to the practice of it. That is to say it is explained that "there is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling" (Eph. 4. 4). If I am a Christian I am linked up with every other Christian as a member of the body of Christ. This is a unity I cannot make, nor can I by any action of mine cease to be a member of that body, cease to be linked up in life with Christ, the Head, and the members of His body, of which I am a necessary and integral part.

But remember there is not only one body but also one Spirit, and it is well to keep these two thoughts together. The body without the Spirit is dead, and it is only as the Spirit is active and has His way with us that the body is effectual in carrying out the mind of Christ for it. It is in seeking to be under the Spirit's guidance that we shall endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Lowliness and meekness and long-suffering and forbearance in love are qualities the Spirit would produce in us to this end. How happy if the seven ones in Ephesians 4. 1-6, have a large place in our thoughts, and we adjust ourselves by the Spirit's power in relation to them.

"Grieve Not the Holy Spirit of God" (Eph. 4. 30).

We must refrain from lengthy comments or else the space at our disposal will not nearly suffice. There is so much fullness in the Word, and the theme is tempting.

Suffice it to say that once the doctrinal part proper of the epistle is passed the Apostle puts right practice before the believers on the ground of their having put off "the old man, corrupt according to the deceitful lusts", and having put "on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and holiness". These exhortations to truthfulness, industry in providing means for sustenance and the help of others, purity of speech, are based on the ground that the believers were members of each other (see Eph. 4. 25). Let it be observed the believer is "sealed unto the day of redemption", that is, till Christ comes to claim His own at His coming. We cannot grieve the Spirit away - what a comfort and stay! - but we are exhorted not to grieve Him. May we pay heed to this.

"Filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 4. 15).

To be "filled with the Spirit" does not mean that one believer has more of the Spirit than another, but that the Spirit has more of one believer than another. That is to say, one believer may be walking carelessly, going on in a cold worldly state, and the Spirit of God is grieved, and not free to fill the heart with the blessed things of God. On the other hand, a believer may through yielding to the Lord in his life have such a filling of the Spirit that it can only find expression in praise and worship, "making melody in your heart of the Lord" (Eph. 5. 18). Here we get the Spirit of joy and praise.

There is a teaching abroad that makes this filling to be a subsequent thing to the gift of the Spirit to the believer, and to be brought about by a special act of surrender and faith, and that the believer who has thus, as they say, received the baptism of the Spirit, lives on a higher plane than the ordinary Christian. We are assured that this teaching, whilst it is often the outcome of a sincere desire to be heavenly minded, is mixed up with erroneous teaching that in the end fixes the attention of the believer upon his attainments instead of on Christ and His glories.

"Praying . . in the Spirit" (Eph. 6: 18).

Note the earnestness of this exhortation. "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication FOR ALL SAINTS". And, further, that Paul might make known boldly "the mystery of the gospel".

Doubtless we are right to pray about our temporal needs and difficulties, but those who get no further than that don't touch this. This is expressed as the heart sees the vast field of truth concerning Christ and the Church, the Head and the Body, the heavenly relationships of the believer with the Father, that such prayer for oneself and "for all saints" is made. Do we know anything of it?

We have practically only pointed out every place where the Holy Spirit is mentioned in this wonderful Epistle to the Ephesians. Space forbids anything but the most meagre and inadequate comment, but if the reader is led to study this subject first hand and meditate upon it, we are assured that great blessing must be the result.

How can I be connected with a system which is allied to the State, or with a system seeking a place in this world, or with a system substituting man's ordering of the assembly instead of God's, if I lay hold of the wonderful truth of the Spirit's work in the building up of the assembly? May God give every one of us faithfulness to Him, subjection to the headship of Christ and dependence on the Holy Spirit. It is the praise of God and not that of men that really counts.

The Supremacy of Christ in the Assembly.

If the saints of God are to be gathered together, according to the thoughts and will of God, it must be by the truth and power of God. The truth is in Christ and the power is in the Holy Ghost, and apart from these there is no assembly of God at all.

No one will deny that the truth and power of God are unchanged, and are as able to gather the saints together now as in the first century of the Christian era, and it will be readily admitted by every thoughtful person that to knowingly introduce or be satisfied with any substitute for them is to despise them, and Christendom abounds with such substitutes. This must be displeasing to God, and while He is wonderfully patient with our ignorance, He cannot sanction or give His support to anything but that which is from Himself. God will only stand by that which He formed at the beginning, and if we are to have His approval and support, we must come back to that, and every truly exercised Christian will say, "I want nothing except that".

When God formed His assembly at the beginning, and gathered His saints together into "the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord", He was not experimenting, as some seem to think, but He was displaying, in what He did, His manifold wisdom. His truth, sufficient for His saints until the end, was fully revealed, and this abides; men may have departed from it, believing in their folly that they can improve upon it; His blood-bought saints may be indifferent to it, or be satisfied to go on in ignorance of it, but God does not change His truth because of this. It abides the same, and any who seek in lowliness of mind to carry out His thoughts, will most assuredly have His approval and support.

We propose then to consider the character of the gatherings together of the assembly as they are set before us in the Word. 1 Corinthians is the Epistle to which we naturally turn, and the 9th verse of chapter 1 sets very definitely before us the character of our fellowship together. "God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord".

The assembly at Corinth, when gathered together, was not a voluntary gathering of believers, each claiming his right to be there because he was a member of the same body, much less was it a free assembly in which every one had a right to take part in ministering according as his impulses led him. There were those at Corinth who took this view of the matter, and these are corrected by the apostle, especially in chapter 14. The assembly is supposed to bear this character by many to-day, but their conception of what the assembly is, is very far from the truth. Nor was it a gathering together of a select, or selected company of believers, who had attained to a certain standard of knowledge, or who saw eye to eye as to certain lines of truth, or followed certain leaders, or adopted certain systems of teaching. That sort of thing began to show itself in that assembly, but it was most sternly rebuked in this inspired Epistle. There are those who would make it this to-day, and who have gone so far as to say that it is necessary now for us to choose our company. The former is the introduction of the principles of democracy into the assembly, and is a challenge to the truth of the assembly. The latter is pharisaical and sectarian in the extreme, and if possible is more destructive of the truth than the other. The former tends to lawlessness and disorder, and the latter to pride and bondage.

No one has any rights in the assembly but Christ; that is fundamental to the truth of the assembly, and of every gathering having an assembly character. Where it is not acknowledged the assembly is not. It is our purpose in this paper to press upon our readers that the assembly is Christ's own circle, the sphere in which He is to be supreme, and where His rights are to be maintained. It has been formed on earth by the Holy Ghost for this very purpose. Every loyal heart will acquiesce in this, and rejoice that such a circle has been formed on earth, and desire to be intelligently in it, and the more so because when Christ came into this world His every right was refused. The princes of this world, we are told in this very Epistle, crucified the Lord of Glory. Let that title, given to Him here, come before us in all its greatness, and we shall begin to realize the dignity of the assembly of which through grace we form a part, and the necessity of ever yielding to the Lord His rightful place in it.

Our minds are carried back, as we consider this title, to Isaiah 6, where the prophet saw the Lord sitting upon the Throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. There the sphere that bore His Name was filled with His glory, and the seraphims stood before Him, with covered faces and feet, and cried one to another, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts". It is this same Person of whom John speaks in the 12th chapter of his Gospel, when he sadly records the fact that when the Lord of Glory came to His own, they had neither eyes to see Him, nor ears to hear Him, nor hearts to understand or appreciate His person or mission (John 12).

As we consider His personal greatness, and acknowledge that every sphere in the universe should be subject to Him, and yet see how completely He was refused by men, how His every right was denied, it must be a cause for joy to us, that now He has a circle upon the earth in which His rights are acknowledged and His name revered.

He has been raised from the dead, and on the resurrection day He gathered together the company of His disciples whom He loved and who loved Him, and stood in the midst of them, showing to their enraptured eyes His hands and His side, which had been wounded to death for them. There we have a pattern of the assembly when gathered together. Was there one in that circle that would have talked of his own rights on that memorable evening? Would they not gladly and unitedly acknowledge His rights who was their Lord indeed, and His alone? "Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord."

When the assembly is gathered it is a circle formed upon earth in which Christ's supremacy must abide unchallenged, or it loses its character and ceases to be for His pleasure. It is a circle where Christ is all and in all, and the Holy Ghost dwells in that circle to maintain in it the rights of Christ. We read that no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost, and that we believe means that all who thus call Him Lord are subject to Him. We must remark here, that the Lord is not spoken of as Lord of the assembly, which is His body, but as Head to it: the Epistles to Ephesus and Colosse unfold this side of the truth. But that He is Lord in the assembly when it is gathered together is as plain as can be in this 1st Epistle to Corinth. His Lordship is the most prominent truth in the Epistle, as will be easily seen by tracing out the number of times in it that this title is given to Him.

From what sorrow and disaster would the saints of God have been saved if they had remembered that the things that are written in this Epistle "are the commandments of the Lord" (1 Cor. 14. 37) and had been subject to these commandments. Has anyone else a right to command in the assemblies of His saints? Certainly not! If it is His circle, He only has rights there, and the place of every one whose privilege it is to be there is that of subjection to Him. What blessing, what continuous streams of blessing would flow to the saints if His supremacy were owned by all, for He exercises His authority in perfect love. He, the one perfect, all-wise Administrator, administers the fullness of God for the blessing of His own when they are gathered together in His name.

Those who are called and gathered into this fellowship are a sanctified company. They are "sanctified in Christ Jesus", as 1 Cor. 1. 2 tells us; and Hebrews 2. 11 confirms this. There we read, "He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren"; and though in Corinthians, saints are not viewed as the brethren of Christ, nor is the Lord presented as Lord in Hebrews 2; yet what is interesting is that there He stands in the midst of those that are sanctified, and here in the Corinthian Epistle it is the sanctified ones who come together in His name; in the midst of them He is. These sanctified ones are not left to choose their own company, they are each chosen and called of God. The sovereign call of God sets aside the will of men.

These are the two things we desire to specially bring to the consideration of our readers: (1) That the assembly is Christ's own circle, and that this should be owned gladly and practically when it is gathered together; (2) That it is composed of those who are sanctified in Him, that is, set apart for His pleasure, to be at His disposal, separated to Him. All true believers are called to this - they are all saints by calling, and sanctified in Christ Jesus; and they call on the name of the Lord, that is, they own His Lordship. God grant that it may be done in greater reality.

It is not difficult to discern where these great truths are operative in the soul; the marks are lowliness of mind and subduedness of spirit. Alas! we have suffered much from just the opposite. We have known men professedly acting in the name of the Lord, set aside His commandments, and act in His sphere not according to His Word, but according to their own wisdom, which is folly; we have heard them talk of principles and seen them apply them to the hurt and scattering of the saints. We have to confess how little the truth has been in power anywhere; how often it has been held in terms, and how little it has been carried out in practice.

An important question and one that exercises many is, whether it is possible now to act upon the truth as it is presented in this 1st Epistle to Corinth? In some quarters it is definitely denied that we can: that since it is impossible now to gather the whole assembly together in any place, it is presumption for any to endeavour to act upon the full truth as to assembly gathering. We believe that to take that ground is to haul down the colours and surrender the fort. Jude's Epistle was written for days of widespread apostasy, and in it we are exhorted to "contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints", and surely that includes the whole faith, in which 1 Corinthians has its part. Paul's 2nd Epistle to Timothy was written to help us in these very days in which we live, and there Timothy is told to hand that which he had learned from Paul to faithful men, who would be able to teach others also; surely the truth given in 1 Corinthians had its place in that which Timothy had learned from Paul; and if anything that Paul taught, as having received it from the Lord, has come down to us, it has been committed to us that we might hold it fast as the testimony of the Lord, practise it, and pass it on to others. They are not faithful men who faint and surrender the truth or any part of it because of difficulties, and innumerable difficulties will beset us if we are determined to be faithful men; but in this good fight we shall be only the successors of Paul, and the grace in Christ Jesus that strengthened him to this end will be at our disposal.

"When ye are gathered together." Three times in the Corinthian Epistle we read of the saints there being gathered together:

1. "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together" (1 Cor. 5: 4).

2. "When ye come together therefore into one place (1 Cor. 11: 20).

3. "If therefore the whole church be come together into one place" (1 Cor. 14: 23).

It is impossible to gather the whole assembly in any place together now, and this being so it would be nothing less than presumption for any company of Christians to claim to be the assembly of God in any place; yet it is still possible for even 'two or three' to gather together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and as they do so, being subject to the truth, their gatherings will have assembly character.

The first of these three gatherings together is special, and most solemn. At Corinth, it was the calling together of the assembly in order to clear the Name of the Lord from complicity with evil. It was for the maintenance of the holiness of His name. It ought not to be difficult to see the necessity of this at the beginning, and it is surely as necessary to-day. The fellowship to which God called His saints at the beginning was a holy fellowship, for God is holy, and it originated with Him, and we can form no new fellowship; to do so would be to ignore that which was from the beginning; subjection to the Lord carries us back to that. Our Lord's Name is holy, for He is "the holy and the true". The Spirit of God who has formed the assembly and by whose power it only can exist is the Holy Spirit; and the faith which we are to hold together is "our most holy faith", so designated for days of apostasy such as these are. Hence evil must be judged and put away, for even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Our sin and evil were judged in the Person of our Substitute at the cross, not that we might think lightly of sin and evil, and tolerate it in ourselves and each other, but that we might accept that judgment of it, and be henceforward righteously and practically free from it, keeping the feast with sincerity and truth.

In such matters as these zeal has often outrun knowledge, and care is needed that in them the Word is the guide, and the only guide. Tradition, precedents, policy, and all those things that have so large a place in the ways of men, should have no place here; "the commandments of the Lord" alone are to lead us.

It should be clear that, if a wicked person is "put away from among yourselves", for any to hold to such a person, is to be a partaker of his wickedness. Suppose one is rightly rejected for evil conduct, or for the denial of the truth as to Christ, which is more serious a thousandfold, though not so considered by the majority of Christians - it should be clear to all, that any who persisted in expressing fellowship with such an one must be one with him, and so one with his evil deeds. 2 John tells us that this is so, and surely all ought to see this; and moreover, those who hold to one who is rightly rejected must share his rejection. Fellowship would have no force otherwise. There can be no neutrality, no compromise in such matters as these. All who desire to be consistent with the fellowship into which God has called all His saints, must be zealous as to this; there must be a coming together for this purpose when necessity calls, or the character of the Lord is ignored, and the truth of assembly gathering gone; and the only way, where there is indifference to the presence of evil, is separation, after due patience and grace, for any who would still "Call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2: 19-22).

The second of these gatherings of the assembly (chap. 11) brings out the love of the heart of the Lord. So much has been written on the Lord's supper, and as we hope to take it up in detail, if the Lord will, in a future paper, we refrain from comments here.

The third of these gatherings is not the least important, for it was designed to promote the edification of the saints, and this surely is imperative if they are to fulfil the will of the Lord; in it comes out the wisdom of the mind of the Lord. The difference between the gathering together of the assembly in chap. 14 and that for the Lord's Supper in chap. 11 is that in the latter the assembly ministers to the Lord, and in the former the Lord ministers to His assembly by the Spirit through His servants, and we are not prepared to say which is the more important of the two, for assuredly both are indispensable to the joy and glory of the Lord, and for the edification and joy of His saints. The two are interdependent upon each other, they are the normal gatherings together of the assembly. It is evident that at Corinth this gathering was greatly abused. Unspiritual men thought more of the display of their own powers than of the edification of the saints and the honour of God's Name, hence there is given this long chapter of reproof and instruction. When the Lord was on earth He maintained in all His ways the honour of God's holy Name, and those same ways yielded a constant stream of blessing to those who came to Him. His assembly should be descriptive of Him. Those who are gathered in His Name should bear His character, consequently there should be these two things constantly maintained - the honour of God's Name and the blessing, not only of those who form part of the gathering, but even of the unbeliever who comes in (verses 24, 25).

Let it be noted that though the carnality of the Corinthians turned these gatherings into profitless and disorderly meetings, the remedy was not their abandonment. Instead, the Apostle instructs them as to what became them when so gathered, and we should do well to carefully and prayerfully consider these "commandments of the Lord".

Gatherings together of the saints of God according to instructions given in this 14th chapter have largely ceased. They come together to-day for the Lord's Supper, for prayer, for the reading of the Scriptures regularly, but not for meetings of this sort. It is true that there is no meeting more capable of being abused than this; ought it then to be abandoned and something else that man can control substituted in its place? Is it not as incumbent upon us to come together in this way and for this purpose, as it is to come together for other assembly purposes? Is the Lord still the one Lord? Is His Word enough for our guidance still?

But where such gatherings are held, there is often great disappointment in them. A correspondent, who is no mean judge as to things spiritual, writes: -

"If we go to a large meeting [of this kind] we find much time taken up by men who lack spiritual substance. I was at -. The chief feature was the unseemly haste of men whom God never intended to speak. . . . The general subject was 'power'. One almost heard the creaking windlass as with aching back the waterman raised the driblet of water from Jacob's well. Scripture presents the artesian well. What a contrast!"

That such a report should be possible is deeply humiliating, and should cause general exercise of heart. The reason for such a state of things is, we believe, lack of faith in the Lord and of subjection to Him. If saints when gathered together were conscious of their interdependence one upon the other, of the importance of true ministry, and of the indispensability of the Lord for this, there would be more waiting upon Him. Better by far to wait upon Him for one hour and have half an hour devoted to profitable ministry than "one continuous stream of orations all day. Prayer non est and the ministry fourth rate", as our correspondent describes another meeting of this sort.

What a different story would be told if there were more of that which marked the saints of God in Malachi's day - the fear of the Lord; if saints gathered together in the sense that they were gathered by God's call, and that the Lord was in the midst of them, that they were not there to act as they pleased, but that they were in Christ's own circle in which He directs by the Spirit as to what pleases Him. This is a matter about which much prayer is needed, and self judgment and confession of failure. We urge upon our readers the necessity of a revival in our souls of the sense of what the assembly is to Christ; what it must be to Him to have His saints gathered together in His Name so that He can manifest Himself to them. We believe that this will only be through much exercise of heart and waiting upon the Lord, and, above all, the keeping of His commandments, by which we prove our love to Him who is our Lord.

Is it not an evidence of lack of faith in the Lord that such gatherings are now only held on special occasions, if they are held at all, and when large numbers are able to come together? Is it not evident that this was one of the usual regular gatherings of the assembly locally, and consequently held as often, at least, as the gathering together for the Supper of the Lord?

We ask these questions that exercise in regard them may be produced.

J. T. Mawson.

One Loaf: One Body.

When saints endeavour to walk according to the truth of the church as set forth in Scripture, and thus come together in practical fellowship according to the apostolic pattern, we must not expect that they will be left in peace. The adversary of God and His people is too watchful and untiring for that.

More to be feared than open and gross breaches of God's trust or order are the more subtle deviations from truth and simplicity which spring up almost imperceptibly in the course of years, and entrench themselves in people's minds or ever they are aware of them; until finally the deviation becomes accepted as the original main road of truth, and is tenaciously contended for as such.

By way of illustration we mention three specific matters which have come under our own observation.

The first concerns the truth of the 'one body '. The chapters in which this truth is alluded to are Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 10, 12 to 15; Ephesians 1 and 4; Colossians 1 and 2; and if these be carefully read and considered, it will be found that the bearing of this truth is in the direction of unity, love, consideration, mutual forbearance, and the like, and that nothing in the nature of church order and discipline stands connected with it. Ephesians 4. 1-4 may be taken as summing up the apostolic application and bearing of the truth in question.

We have, however, lived to see a very different use and application of it. Years ago, when believers walking according to the truth of Scripture somewhat increased in number, and groups of them were found in many parts, it was recognized that the truth of the unity of the body, equally with other truth, should regulate their dealings with one another as much as it would have done, if instead of being a small and insignificant remnant they had been the whole church in their various localities. From this it was deduced - rightly as we judge - that in such matters as cases of discipline, or other assembly acts, the local gathering acted for all, and hence its actions were bound to be respected unless evidently contrary to Scripture. The unity of the body was thus rightly invoked to prevent independency, and consequent confusion of action.

Of later years this last-named ecclesiastical application of the truth of the one body seems in many minds to have been so magnified out of all proportion that it has quite eclipsed the primary application as Scripture presents it. With some it seems now to be regarded as the truth itself, instead of a secondary application, which is deduced from Scripture, rather than plainly stated in it.

Hence in some difficulties that have arisen an altogether disproportionate amount of effort has been expended in trying to show that this or that group of saints is 'off ' the ground of the one body by reason of their having made some false ecclesiastical step, such as the non-recognition of a judgment, or act of some other meeting, and the like.

Moreover, by the magnifying of this secondary application to the obscuring of the primary, the truth of the unity of the body has become the great ground of excommunication or rejection, rather than that of reception. Who, for instance, has heard of a meeting receiving some one and then demanding that all other meetings shall receive him under penalty of being regarded as 'off' the ground of the one body? Such dealings are always entered upon in order to produce acquiescence in acts of excision or rejection.

Thus, by over emphasizing the secondary, the primary force of the truth is overlooked, indeed is nullified. Similar cases by which the Word of God was made of none effect were common in the time of our Lord, as the Gospels show.

The above naturally leads one to inquire whether there may not be a further misconception underlying this diversion of the truth from its proper setting. We submit that one such misconception entertained by not a few is the assumption that the fact of saints gathering in the light of the truth upon the ground of the one body confers upon them a corporate status, distinct from that which belongs to the church as a whole.

Certain parts of Scripture contemplate the breakdown in the professing church, and indicate our path and resources in view of it. Such are Acts 20; 2 Tim. 2; 2 Peter; and 2 and 3 John. What have these to say, bearing upon this point?

They make it clear that though wolves would enter from without, and there would be no safety in the elderhood (i.e., rule as originally established by God) within, yet God and the Word of His grace are always available: that no matter how high the tide of evil might rise, the foundation of God would stand sure, and faithful men be found able to teach others; and not only so, but that to the end there would be some calling on the Lord out of a pure heart, if only a few: some who love the truth, and have a good report of the truth itself. There is, however, no hint that such faithful souls by so doing acquire any special corporate status. They may enjoy much collectively which they would not as single individuals; but corporately they have nothing apart from the whole body of Christ.

Indeed, whether in the Old or New Testaments, when once an institution of God fails it does not appear that at some subsequent date He grants any renewed or special incorporation to any fragment of the whole, however godly or enlightened the individuals composing it may be. It is always a case henceforward of individual faithfulness, together with a reverting in heart to the original status, in which status the faithful individual has part by reason of his forming part of the original institution, and not because he may take up with others a true remnant position.

Notice, for instance: -

When Israel made the golden calf, they could only proceed from that point as upheld by the individual faithfulness of Moses (See Exodus 33. 12 to 17).

When in the land and Joshua dead, they rapidly fall away. Revivals were granted, but always in the power of individual faith and action. "When the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge [it does not say, then the Lord was with the people], and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge" (Judges 2. 18).

When after the captivity some returned from Babylon, they were evidently led by the faith and energy of individual men of God, such as Zerubabel, Ezra and Nehemiah. Under the influence of these men they began brightly, afresh embracing God's thoughts as to all Israel, and holding themselves as connected with such. See for example Ezra 6. 17; 9. 4-15. It was just because later they began to arrogate to themselves a special position far more exclusive and lofty than Israel's original calling that they developed the frame of mind that prepared them to reject the Messiah when He came.

In the New Testament the truth of the mystery was committed to Paul. He was also the "wise master-builder" who not only laid the foundation, but afterwards in his Epistles treated of matters connected with order, discipline, and administration in the churches. It is especially striking, therefore, to find that in his farewell Epistle to Timothy he addresses simply a faithful individual, and that he designates the aggregate of faithful individuals, not by a phrase which indicates any special corporate status as belonging to them, but by one which indicates their moral character. "Them which call on the Lord out of a pure heart."

The position of a remnant, then, in all dispensations is an individual one. The present moment is no exception. Saints who in later years have rallied to the truth and met on the ground of the one body have not acquired any special corporate status by so doing; at best they have been but faithful individuals walking in the truth. The fact that they have no status beyond the original status of the church, which all the saints share with them, does not give them licence to disregard any part of the truth. Though individuals they are responsible to be governed by assembly truth, because by all truth.

The third thing to which we now refer is the fact that the cup and the loaf of the Lord's supper are linked with the oneness of the body. The cup and the loaf represent the blood and body of Christ. In 1 Cor. 10 they are spoken of as the communion of His blood and body rather than the representation of it, inasmuch as "we being many are one bread, one body"; and hence not only is there the thought of our identification with the death of Christ, as the Jew is identified with his altar, or the heathen with demons, but also the thought that we are all so identified together as one body, for as it adds, "we are all partakers of that one bread" (verse 17).

It should be carefully noted that these words simply indicate that the partaking of the one loaf in the Lord's supper is the expression of that unity, and therefore may be appealed to as the sign or proof of it. It does not mean that our eating of the one loaf is the cause of the unity. We say, for instance, "It will be fine to-morrow for the barometer is rising", and by this we mean not that the barometer produces the fine weather but that it is the sign of it. So our common participation in the one loaf is the sign and setting forth of the fact of our being one body.

This is important, because the almost certain result of believing that saints who meet upon a Scriptural basis thereby obtain a special corporate status will be to connect the Lord's Supper and its communion with that "inner circle" instead of with the whole body; making it thus the expression of 'our' fellowship instead of proper Christian fellowship. This in its turn creates a tendency to the exclusion of people from the Lord's supper apart from the authority of Scripture, because they do not please us, or are out of harmony with the aims we are pursuing, or for other similar reasons.

If an individual sits down and partakes of the Lord's supper, he is thereby recognized as a member of the one body and as fit for Christian fellowship; no such point is raised as that of whether all can agree with all his views and actions. This is pretty clearly indicated by verses 23 to 29 of 1 Corinthians 10.

It is a striking fact, and one for which we beg careful and special attention, that the very chapter which most enforces the fact of fellowship or partnership in connection with Christ's death and His table, does not close without dealing with matters in which liberty for the exercise of individual conscience and faith is claimed. A clear proof this that the extreme view of fellowship which makes all in it responsible for and identified with every individual act, has no foundation in Scripture. We are not, of course, supposing views and acts that challenge the truth.

If one contemplated breaking bread with saints assembling in a certain place, in view of the foregoing, it would be a pertinent question to ask - Do you wish me to regard myself as thereby linked up with an association which you have formed, and committed, so to speak, to your platform; or is it that you wish to receive me as a member of the body, that is, linked up with the association which God originally formed, and committed to identification with the death of Christ?

In practice a great deal hangs upon this. In the one case it is just sectarianism, though the members of the sect may be very enlightened and commendable. In the other case it is walking, so far at least, in the truth.

F. B. Hole.

Ministering To The Lord In Assembly.

The first king of Israel fought with mistaken zeal for the freedom of God's people from their enemies and to establish their national supremacy, but he became himself an oppressor. The second king, David, fought from a different point of view altogether. He would not rest till the centre was established where offerings according to God's mind could ascend to Him. Long before, it had been revealed that the Lord desired this (see Deut. 16. and elsewhere), but until David's day it was altogether neglected. He, however, succeeded in this, and prospered also in that which Saul failed with fleshly earnestness to accomplish.

The place of Jehovah's name became the centre of the nation where continual songs and sweet savour offerings arose in fragrant meaning to the Lord, for they foreshadowed the present time when worship in spirit and in truth should rise to the Father, who was seeking those who should thus worship Him (John 4. 23), the new and "holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2: 5).

As long as the offerings were abundant at the God-appointed centre, Israel triumphed to the uttermost bounds of her kingdom; and whenever a revival took place, the doors of the Lord's house were opened for ministry to Him. The principle is the same now. A Person, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Centre as well as Head of the assembly, and as we 'draw near' together and 'offer up' that which the Father seeks, there will be prosperity in the work of the Lord around. "Bring in and I will pour out", said the Lord in days of great failure (Mal. 3. 10), and such "a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it"; others would therefore get the overflow!

That which typified worship was commanded in the Old Testament. The real worship and "the true worshippers" are found in the New Testament; but though the Father's heart desires this, it is not now commanded. Its precious and rare sweetness could not thus be produced. It rises responsively. We do not here seek to answer the oft-repeated question, What is worship? but only to indicate one of the highest, if not the highest, practical functions of the assembly.

Supplication, prayer and intercession seek from God, but worship ministers to Him. So do thanksgiving, praise, blessing and adoration. At the institution of His supper the Lord "gave thanks". Thanksgiving is, therefore, characteristic of the remembrance of Himself, also praise, blessing, worship and adoration as the power of the Holy Spirit is unhindered. What rich fullness would thus mark the worship of the assembly! It will be so in glory for ever when all things are centred in Christ. To further this now is surely the aim of every true servant of the Lord.

Some have esteemed it a waste of time and labour, but the thought betrays a lack of the true knowledge of our God and Father, and a serious disregard of that which He seeks. When Mary lavished upon the Lord the costly ointment which filled the house with its pleasant perfume, some one thought it waste and that it ought to have been sold and used for the relief of the needy (John 12. 5)! To be found in the company of such an one is extremely undesirable. Surely the One who was thus ministered to was worthy of it! yea, of even more costly ointment still if it could be found! The best and most precious is His due. May we have grace and power by the Holy Spirit to give Him more as His love and glory fill our glad hearts.

Behold that glorious scene around the throne in heaven! The Lamb is seen there, and that "as it had been slain"! A new song concerning His worthiness and His redeeming blood sounds sweetly from the assembled throng. Innumerable multitudes then utter His praise, and the saints fall down and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever (Rev. 5). The Spirit of Promise gives the earnest of this in the assembly now.

In closing, let it be noticed that it was when the Lord Himself was being ministered to, that the sending forth of blessing to the needy sinners of the Gentiles took place by the hand of a most extraordinary servant of Christ. In Acts 13 we are told that this took place in the assembly at Antioch - "They were ministering to the Lord". It was then that Paul was separated for the work to which he was already called of God. Who can measure the extent of the blessing which followed? or number up those who have been reached as the result of Paul's subsequent service? Yet he in his abundant labours ever afterwards sought to establish such in Christ Jesus, that there might be glory to God in the assembly in Him (Eph. 3. 21) .

H. J. Vine.

When Ye Come Together.

It is of the first importance for the right understanding of any portion of Scripture, to observe the setting in which it is placed. Many a difficulty is solved by this alone. The question has been raised as to the possibility of having a meeting such as is alluded to in 1 Cor. 14 at the present time? It is a serious thing that in the denominations of Christendom such a meeting rarely or never takes place. Human arrangements and control are substituted for the free action of the Spirit of God. But then the fact of the presence of the Divine Spirit in the Church has been so lost sight of, and the will of man has become so paramount, that no wonder that the conclusion prevails, that a gathering with no visible president, leader or chairman, must result in confusion, and be without profit or point. Yet it is evident in reading this chapter that the meetings of early Christians were framed on the model here set forth, and that the result, when not abused, was to edification, teaching, comfort and a sense of the Divine presence, which is certainly lacking in gatherings formed after the pattern on which the world transacts its concerns.

In correcting the disorder which was present amongst the Corinthians, the apostle does not suggest to them their need of a presiding leader, but rebukes the lack of spirituality whereby the liberty of the Spirit was made an occasion for the flesh to assert itself.

That we may obtain an answer to the above question let us turn back to the 10th chapter and discover, if we can, the conditions under which such a meeting can be held with profit to those who come together, and above all, glory to the name of our Lord.

In chapter 10 ver. 15, the apostle addresses himself to wise men, for one who does not truly belong to Christ has no part in this matter. He reminds them of the precious ordinance that the Lord has ordained, in order that the import of His cross may be kept vividly before the hearts of His own. Paul has before him, first of all, the significance of the act of partaking, rather than the order in which the supper is partaken of. He, therefore, places the cup before the loaf, for he has in his mind the fellowship of the one body, the body of Christ, the church, and this could have had no existence at all, unless the blood of Christ had been shed. The cup is the communion or fellowship of His blood, the loaf the fellowship of His body. Both these fellowships, His death and the one body, belong to all Christians, the two things are fundamental, and without them no gathering is Christian in the true sense of the word. Christian fellowship depends upon the cross, where flesh, and sin, and all that belongs to man in the flesh, has been judged and condemned. When this is apprehended the confusion, to which the Corinthians were prone, is disposed of entirely.

In the latter part of chapter 10 the impossibility of connecting the Lord's table, characteristic of Christian fellowship, with the table of demons which marked the heathen, or the altar connected with the Jew, is demonstrated. For Jew and Gentile had banded themselves together to crucify the Lord of glory, and the presence of that Lord is in the midst of those gathered to His Name. The moral principles of each abide, the self-righteousness, exclusive ritualism, and superstition of the Jew, and the will of man expressing itself in the broad rationalism of the Gentile. Alas, for the confusion of these things with the name of Christ in the professing Church. It is this which writes upon it the name of 'Babylon'. Is there any path for true hearts but to heed the command of the Lord, "Come out from among them, and be ye separate saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you" (2 Cor. 6. 14-18). In chapter 2 is unfolded the place which the Church has in relation to Christ; He is its head, it is formed of Him, it is for Him, it is under His authority, it is one with Him. The relation of the man to the woman in God's order of creation is used to illustrate these truths. Then follows the partaking of the supper, the remembrance of the unsearchable love of Him who gave His body and blood, the loving response which He has made it possible for us to give to Him for the gift of Himself.

Thus far we have seen four conditions for a Christian gathering; the Cross of Christ, the Body of Christ, the Authority of Christ, and the Love of Christ. These things are on His part to us, but we need also to recognize that which has been given to be on our side to Him, that is, the Holy Spirit, and love, chapter 12 gives us the first, and chapter 13 the second.

In chapter 12 the Spirit of God is seen indwelling the one body, and imparting to each member gifts according to His own will. There is a variety of manifestations but all to profit and all in marvellous unity, the figure of which is the human body. All is divinely tempered together,

The members act not for themselves but for the good of the whole. How wonderful must be such a meeting where the Spirit thus controls, and flesh is silent. For the flesh is subtle, and only too ready to find occasion for boasting even in the gifts of the Spirit, and to produce pride, and jealousy, and envy. Therefore something else is needed if edification and profit are to result, and that is an atmosphere in which the Spirit can work, and which can only be produced when He is ungrieved, that is, Love. Chapter 13 tells us that without it all, gift, speaking, sacrifice, is nothing. Love is the great essential, for it is the character of Christ reproduced in the saints. Well may chapter 14 open with the exhortation, "Follow after love".

These are the things which make such a meeting as is described in chapter 14 possible. Seeing also that these conditions are God's gifts from above, there is no need to despair because of our failure, and to seek human resources. The fullness of God waits for a subject heart, captivated by the love of Christ, and it is His delight to lead such into His own joy when gathered thus together, even if it be but with little strength.

To know His presence in the midst is the next thing to seeing His face; hence chapter 15 tells of the precious truth of resurrection and the power whereby the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed at His coming. The truth of God's assembly abides, and Christ is faithful to all who keep His word and deny not His name. To such He will manifest Himself.

James Green.

The Cross of Christ.

As the children of Jacob had to date their beginning as a nation in relationship with God from the Passover night when the lamb was sacrificed for them, so must we in our thoughts continually go back to the Cross of Calvary where Christ, our Passover, was slain for us. We could have had no existence as the children of God, or members of the body of Christ, apart from that cross of sacrifice. There could have been no assembly at all to gather together, and we should have remained for ever the children of wrath, if Jesus had not died. But now we live, and the life that is given to us is eternal life; but we owe it all to the death of our Saviour. We are to be gathered soon, the whole multitude of God's children, into heaven's cloudless joy; but then, as now, we shall date our knowledge of God from the cross, and we shall discover our origin there, and like the sound of many waters our grateful praises shall roll upward, and for ever, to the Lamb that was slain.

Consider Him coming forth from His eternal glory, from the glory which He had with the Father before the world was made: see Him take the place as a Man amongst men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: follow His footsteps along that road upon which no human eye smiled, for it was neither approved nor understood by men - that pathway that "led only to the cross"!

What great purpose was it that set His face as a flint in that way of sorrow? It was the Father's will, and what was that will? It was that we might live; that He might gather His saints together as His assembly now, and have us as His "many sons" in glory hereafter, all conformed to the image of His dear Son, that He might be the Firstborn amongst many brethren. And nothing less than the cross could make this possible; His incarnation amid the lowly surrounding of Bethlehem's manger was not enough: His life of service and sorrow amid the need and misery of men was not enough: His prayers, His works, His tears were not enough. His agony and sweat of blood in the shades of Gethsemane were not enough all these had their part in the unfolding of the heart of God, and in the making known of His own deep perfections; but if guilty men were to be pardoned, if dead sinners were to live, if He was to build His assembly, if heaven was to be filled with "a multitude of sons", Jesus must die. For "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit".

It was death as the judgment of God that He endured, the penalty of sin. Two things met at the cross - our sins, and the judgment of God. Our sins - not as we see them and measure them, but as God knew them and saw them in their exceeding sinfulness, and those sins were laid on Jesus, nay, more, He, the Sinless One, was made sin for us, made sin that in His own sinless Person He might bear to the uttermost the judgment of God against sin, and herein lay His sufferings, unmeasured and immeasurable. It was this that made Him say in the garden, "If it be possible let this cup pass from Me", and upon the cross, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Me?"

Little wonder then that we make the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ our boast and glory, strange that we should ever forget it. How great was the love that moved Him to endure the cross! Love that each of us can take to himself as his very own, and say, "The Son of God loved me, and gave Himself for me". He loved His assembly and gave Himself for it.

J. T. Mawson.

The Open Meeting and Its Abuse.

The subject of the open meeting and its abuse is not of my choosing. Our good editor, feeling its importance, has particularly requested me to deal with it.

I must confess that I do so with hesitation and reluctance. It is always easier to indicate an abuse than to suggest a remedy. Still, it is the act of a coward to turn from a task because of a disinclination to perform it. So counting upon the indulgence of the reader, we will, Bible in hand, approach the subject.

What is meant by "the open meeting"? The question is not unnecessary, for what is familiar to some must not be regarded as intelligible without explanation to all. We use the term 'open meeting' in contrast with meetings for the preaching of the Word (whether to saints or sinners), meetings convened by any servant of Christ for the exercise of his own ministry, or where he ministers, either alone or with others, by invitation of those responsible for such meetings. In the strictest sense of the word, the 'open meeting' is not one specially convened for prayer, or for any other defined object, but is one in which all assembled wait on the Lord for guidance as to who shall take part, whether in prayer, praise, or ministry of the Word.

That such was the character of meetings held at Corinth in apostolic times no careful reader of 1 Cor. 14 will have the hardihood to deny. And the possession of miraculous gifts, far from being essential for such a meeting, seems to have contributed (where those who possessed them were not guided by the Lord) to the abuse and consequent confusion which were even then apparent. If God was the Author of the liberty that characterized these assemblings of the saints at Corinth, He certainly was not the Author of the confusion that resulted from their abuse.

The weekly meeting for the Supper of the Lord, though for a defined object, is, we believe, rightly left 'open' for the leading of the Lord. It is particularly liable to abuse by those who come with thoughts of their own blessing, rather than the remembrance of the Lord, before their minds. Such will often give out an unsuitable hymn, or give thanks in a way hardly in accord with the simple object for which the meeting is held. The remedy is, of course, a greater sense of the Lord's presence (for where even but two or three are gathered together in His Name, there is He) and a better understanding of the purpose for which we assemble to break bread, viz., the remembrance of Himself.

But probably what the editor had in his mind when asking for a paper on "the open meeting" was the largely attended meetings held in various centres on special occasions: Bank holidays and other days when freedom from ordinary occupations enables the Lord's people to come together in one place from surrounding localities, usually for two meetings, with tea between.

Such meetings are particularly liable to abuse. And the abuses generally arising are of four kinds: -

1. An unseemly haste in rising to minister, a competition for the platform in which those who know what it is to wait on the Lord for guidance and opportunity will decline to take part.

2. Unsuitable speakers taking part, with no result save to weary and depress their unfortunate hearers. Such often are the readiest to rise, thus shutting out those who are really able to edify the gathering.

3. Inordinate length on the part of some, selfishly appropriating time which common courtesy, to say the least, would lead them to leave to others who might, equally with themselves, feel that they had a message from the Lord.

4. The treating of 1 Cor. 14. 29 as if it were a dead letter. How are these abuses to be remedied?

To begin with, it is a question whether "the open meeting" is the most suitable for occasions like these. The assembled company is composed of persons from various localities. Generally a large number of young people, with Christians from the denominations are present, and not infrequently unconverted persons. It is not, strictly speaking, an 'assembly meeting'. The majority present are there by invitation from those in local responsibility, and are, for the time being, their guests. It is, therefore, the established custom in many cases, that those who address the assembled company should do so by invitation; two or three speakers both afternoon and evening. This, of course, is not guarding against abuse of the open meeting but doing away with it altogether. It is quite within the competence of those who arrange and convene meetings on these special occasions to decide whether they should be 'open', or be addressed by chosen and invited speakers.

If it be decided that the meetings should be open let them be so in a genuine way. Let not the conveners write north, south, east and west to invite their favourite speakers on the assumption that they will speak. Anything that savours of unreality is abhorrent, not only in the sight of God, but to all right-minded persons. Pretence of any kind is to be deprecated. Does it not seem to border on insincerity to profess to have 'open' meetings and yet invite special speakers from a distance?

Presuming that a genuine open meeting is to be held, it might help to guard against abuse if one of the conveners, or an elder brother, were at the very commencement to say a few words to the following effect: -

"Brethren and sisters, we are here to wait upon the Lord, for Him to do with us as pleases Him. If we count on Him, we may be sure He will not disappoint us. Let us really wait on Him. Any brother who rises to speak with unseemly haste necessarily discounts whatever he has to say in the minds of those who know what Divine guidance is. And let none imagine that because his heart is warm with some precious truth he is, therefore, called to minister it. There may be a hundred brethren present with hearts burning with desire to impart to others what they themselves enjoy. They cannot all speak. The Lord has His way of making His guidance and pleasure known. Let us wait on Him. And let there be consideration for one another. For one brother to speak for forty minutes is a trespass, since it may shut out one led to speak equally with himself. And let us remember the exhortation of 1 Cor. 14. 29. If in the days of miraculous gifts it was ordained that the prophets should 'speak two or three' how much more necessary is this wise provision in days like these?"

That such an exhortation would carry weight is highly probable. That it is called for none will doubt. We have known a brother, after an opening hymn, rise to pray and then immediately, without sitting down or waiting even for a moment to see if anyone else may be led to minister, proceed to open his Bible and speak. We have known such to speak for the best part of an hour, making it impossible for others - who may have received a word from the Lord to minister - to speak.

When an opening exhortation, such as that suggested, remains unheeded, what is to be done? The writer remembers that at a certain meeting to commend a newly-married couple to the Lord, an elder and respected brother stated that it was the express desire of the saints that the meeting should be mainly for prayer, and that it would have to conclude within the hour. Yet, in spite of this, two brethren from a distance spoke, one after the other, for forty-eight minutes, so that not a single brother in the assembly where the bride had lived, and where she was known and esteemed, had an opportunity to raise his voice in prayer to God for her and her husband in their new path. If ministering brethren do such things, can we wonder if lawlessness prevail among those whose knowledge is perhaps less?

What remedy have we?

The answer would seem to be: Either abandon the 'open' meeting, save for local occasions, monthly fellowship meetings, and the like; or let the principles of the 'open' meeting be explained from time to time, and those who transgress be expostulated with in a firm, but kindly and brotherly way.

Above all, let there be prayer by those who feel the seriousness of the abuses referred to, that there may be greater intelligence given as to the nature of 'assembly meetings' and what is involved in the presence of the Lord. His love and faithfulness, His gracious forbearance and readiness to help may always be counted on.

H. P. Barker.

More About the "Open" Meeting.

Considerable comment has been made, both favourable and otherwise, on a paper that appeared in the last issue of the SUPPLEMENT, entitled "The Abuse of the Open Meeting." We are sure that such a paper was needed, and also that it by no means exhausted what ought to be said on the subject. It dwelt chiefly on the side of the conduct of those who take part in ministry at these gatherings together of the saints of God, but there is the other side also, the conduct of those who are gathered together. Seeing that they are the many, and those that minister are the few, they must exercise by far the greater influence on such gatherings.

Those that minister, if truly led of the Lord to do so, "speak unto men to edification, and exhortation and comfort" (1 Cor. 14. 3), or as it has been well put, "they build up, stir up, bind up." And the responsibility of such is very great. If they give forth something of their own they surely do it in self-sufficiency; and they ignore the Lord as the great Administrator in the assembly, and the presence of the Holy Spirit as the only power for true ministry. Hence, not only is the time of all gathered wasted, but the character of the gathering is set aside; the voice of men and not the voice of the Lord is heard, and the saints of God miss for the time being the direction that they should have for that special moment. We need only to carefully consider all this to see how serious a matter it is to take part in such gatherings, and what dependence on the Lord should characterize those who do so.

But what of those who come together for ministry? The way in which they come and the object before their minds in being present will most surely greatly affect their gathering together. The meeting that we are discussing, which is described in 1 Cor. 14, is a gathering having assembly character, and as such the Lord is there, for those gathered are there "in the name of the Lord Jesus." Faith in this great fact is of the very greatest importance, apart from this, these meetings must degenerate into mere voluntary gatherings of believers, at which it would be far better to arrange beforehand who should speak, so that all might know what to expect. This is a matter that concerns every individual, for if the gathering is an assembly gathering it means that "the King holds Court." It means that we are together because it is the Lord's wish and according to His ordering, not because we like to meet our brethren, or like to hear ministry, but because the Lord calls us into His presence; it is Himself and His will that is prominent and not our brethren and our likes.

If His Majesty the King holds a Court, they are very privileged people who are invited to be present, and they deem it a high honour; how much more highly honoured are they who are invited to the court of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, for nothing less than this is every assembly gathering. Every one attending court at the King's invitation must be there in court dress according to the regulations. And so all who come into the presence of the Lord should be exercised in coming to be there according to His thoughts; not surely in a legal frame of mind, but self-judged, and with preparation of heart by the Spirit to meet Him who is so glorious and yet who is known to us by the love that led Him to die for us. If all who come together are thus prepared, how different will be the atmosphere created, and how free will the Lord be to reveal Himself. We are talking now of all present, from the oldest to the youngest, and not of those who minister only. If invited to take tea with a friend, we would endeavour to be neat and clean, and to conduct ourselves in his house in a fitting manner, recognizing him as the head of it, and our host. But how often do those who are "called saints" gather in the Lord's presence slovenly in mind and spirit, without due preparation of heart, having never looked into the glass of His word in their homes, or sought His presence in their chambers before coming, and so are totally unfit to speak to Him in His circle, or hear His voice when He speaks in His own place. We urge upon our readers the need of much thought on this side of the question, for herein lies the cause of unprofitable and powerless meetings. Every individual member of Christ's body present at such meetings is either a help or a hindrance, and none can escape the responsibility that rests upon them.

Having come together we must recognize, not that so many or so few gifted men are present, and that our time of profit will be great or small in consequence, but that the Lord is there, and the Holy Spirit. If the Lord's presence is realized, songs of praise will surely rise from united and glad hearts to Him, and quiet and confident waiting and expectation from Himself will mark all present, and He will not disappoint those that wait upon Him. The ministry given will not be something that has been laboriously prepared for the occasion, as though this were a matter of individual service, but it will be fresh and spontaneous, because from the Lord for the moment; and five words given of that character will be better than ten thousand drawn from memory, for they will be the fresh springing up and flowing forth of living water, and not the pumping up out of a stagnant pool.

When should these open meetings be held? This is an important question. In some places they are held once a month, or once a quarter, or once a year. But if we take our guidance from 1 Cor. 14. shalt we be satisfied with this? Is it not clear from that chapter that such meetings were the regular gatherings of the assembly, and were held certainly not less often than those for the taking of the Lord's Supper? They were not special occasions held when Paul or Apollos could be present, but the ordinary every-week meetings of the local assembly. If we take up these meetings at all, ought we not to take them up in this way? What warrant have we for taking them up at all if we are not prepared to take them up according to the Scriptures? It is said that there is neither faith nor power for such meetings now, but if there is faith and power for the gathering together of 1 Cor. 11, why not for that of 1 Cor. 14? It is the same Lord that presides at both gatherings, and faith has to do with Him, and it is the same Spirit who is present at both, and all power is in Him.

Much failure evidently marked this special meeting at Corinth, but the apostle did not tell the Corinthians to cease to hold it because of this, but he instructed them as to how to conduct themselves in it. The chapter is there in the God-breathed Scriptures for our instruction also, and is specially said to be the commandments of the Lord, it would be a sad thing if it became a dead or useless chapter to us because of lack of faith on our part.

J. T. Mawson.

"Tarry one for another."

The Evil of Individualism.

Just as it is necessary to avoid sectarianism if we would walk in fellowship after the apostle's pattern, so is it also needful to shun individualism, which is in some respects the opposite extreme.

To clear away possible misapprehensions, let us again affirm that we fully accept the oft-repeated statement that in days when the outward unity and order of the professing church has broken down, the path of faith becomes an individual one; by which we mean it is a path which must be entered upon and maintained in the energy of individual faith. 2 Timothy 2: 19 to 22, is clear evidence of this. The responsibilities and privileges there enforced lie upon "every one," "a man"; and the whole passage is addressed not to a church but to Timothy, a faithful individual; and consequently, when verse 22 is obeyed, those thus pursuing righteousness, faith, love, and peace, are only individual members of Christ's body who are walking together in the truth.

All that we fully grant, and yet it must also be maintained with equal clearness that such members of Christ's body who are thus together will only walk in the truth as they are governed by it in its entirety. To ignore the truth as to the Church of God will not do.

Let us assume that such a gathering of saints exists before us. We would then point out to them that, in the first place, they must not assume to be what they are not. They are not the Church, nor are they a church, in the sense of being a corporate body with a constitution of its own. They are simply members of Christ's body (which is the Church) who aim at gathering together and walking according to its original constitution.

But, in the second place, we should point out that the break-up and failure which has supervened has in no wise relieved them of the responsibility to walk according to all that Scripture indicates as the will of the Lord for His Church. We are not at liberty, if we would obey and please Him, to assert our individual action, or judgment, or ministry, to the over-riding of practical fellowship in these things, whether it be the individual person or the individual gathering of saints.

The believers at Corinth, as the Apostle Paul wrote to them, were carnal, and walked as men, consequently they had fallen into sectarianism by forming schools of opinion round favourite leaders. It is equally plain that they also were asserting themselves as individuals in a wrongful way, and that this individualism was working havoc in their midst. We will now point out the evidences of the working of this false principle as we have them in the First Epistle.

In chapter 10 the question of association with idols and idolatry is being discussed. The apostle begins with the history of Israel as the professed people of God, and shows how ruinous such association had proved in their case. This leads up to the exhortation of verse 14. From verse 15 onward the apostle appeals to them on the ground of that which is set forth in the Supper of the Lord. The true character of the cup and of the loaf is that they indicate Christ's blood and body; and moreover of His blood and body they are the communion or fellowship. We all share in that one loaf as one body (verse 17), not as so many individual believers. Here we have the Supper of the Lord viewed in its abstract nature and bearing, and individualism is clearly excluded in connection with it.

In chapter 11: 17, the apostle carries his corrective ministry further, and turns to mistakes and abuses which were amongst them in their actual comings together - their assemblies. We must distinguish, of course, between the church at Corinth and their actual assembling together in that character. Throughout this article we use the word "church" for the former and reserve the word "assembly" for the latter. The saints at Corinth gathered together sometimes in connection with the ministry of servants of the Lord - to listen to Apollos and receive help through him, for instance (Acts 18. 27) - these meetings were not "assemblies" in the sense in which we now use the word, i.e., actual convenings of the church as such in subjection to their risen Head acting by His Spirit in their midst. The church might thus meet in assembly for discipline (chap. 5), for eating the Lord's Supper (chap. 11.), for ministry to edification, exhortation and comfort (chap. 12, and 14. 1-5), for prayer and worship (chap. 14. 9-17).

First of all, then, in connection with their assemblies, he turns to the parties which existed among them and which were clearly visible when they came together "in assembly" (verse 18), (see N.T.). This sectarianism may result in select parties of a very rigid and exclusive sort grouped round the chosen teacher or preacher, but evidently it is, after all, closely connected with individualism, inasmuch as it springs out of an exaggerated sense of the importance of the individual who is made the centre of the party. It ends in saints "holding" the party leader instead of "holding the Head."

In verse 20 the apostle turns to the assembly for eating the Lord's Supper. Here there were grave abuses existent, but we are now only concerned to point out that in eating what they professed to be the Lord's Supper they were really eating "every one . . . . his own supper" (verse 21). They so individualized that sacred memorial that it became a scene of unseemly disorder, every one acting for himself. Hence the apostle's injunction in verse 33, "Wherefore, my brethren, . . . tarry one for another."

All this is extreme and horrifying, and would be utterly inexcusable if occurring now that we have the Word of God in our hands in a way that the Corinthians had not. Still we have to watch against subtler workings of the same thing. We do, indeed, break the bread and drink the cup individually, but we do so as those who belong to the one body, in keeping with the one loaf of which we partake.

In chapter 12 the gifts or manifestations of the Spirit are in question. These were found in different members of the body as the Lord in His wisdom was pleased to ordain, but they were given to individuals in view of the whole. "To each the manifestation of the Spirit is given for profit" (verse 7, N.T.) and that profit the profit of the whole body as the subsequent verses show.

Now if the gifted member is to sink himself, his self-importance which would naturally be fanned by the possession of a gift, and the self-pleasing which might guide him in the use of it, he must be thoroughly under the sway of Divine love. Hence the magnificent chapter 13 which comes in as a parenthesis.

Chapter 14 picks up the thread from chapter 12 and gives us a glimpse of the Corinthian assemblies for ministry, prayer and praise. The individualist got up and, speaking with an unknown tongue, he edified himself (verse 4), whereas the Divine purpose in the assembly was that the Church should be edified.

Verse 26 is very illuminating. In their assemblies every one of them had a psalm, a doctrine, a tongue, a revelation, an interpretation. The following verses give instructions regulating the use of these gifts, and from these verses, and verse 31 in particular, we gather that there was nothing wrong in each of them having something to contribute; since all might prophesy one by one - not on one occasion, doubtless, but there was liberty for all as the Lord might direct on different occasions. The trouble rather lay in that individualism that led them to degrade the Lord's Supper into each eating his own supper. They degraded that which was the assembly of the Lord where He ruled and directed by His Spirit into a free and easy meeting of a lot of individuals each with his own ideas and his own little bit which he eagerly desired to throw into the common pot.

The difference between the assembly in function as directed by the Lord and the individualist meeting of the Corinthian stamp can be likened to that existing between a fine-woven linen bed-spread and a patchwork quilt. The Bible itself consists of 66 books written in different epochs by different men. Yet a Divine unity pervades it because written under inspiration of the Spirit of God. A similar unity of ministry or prayer or worship will be discernible in the assembly as controlled in its activities by the Spirit of God, and the more so controlled the more it will be discernible.

So completely was the Spirit of God to be in control in the assembly that if a prophet were on his feet, presumably having arisen as controlled by the Spirit, and a further revelation were made to another prophet sitting by, the earlier speaker was to at once accept it as a signal that the time had come for him to stop; and resuming his seat he was to give place to the other.

Under the existing conditions of one-man ministry, and liturgical forms and customs, which hold sway in the religious organizations, all this part of Scripture has been reduced to a dead letter. But it is sadly possible to have gatherings of saints apart from such restrictions and with freedom of ministry, and yet for it to only result in meetings of this individualistic Corinthian type. Indeed it must so result unless we are prepared to keep before us the truth of the church in its practical fellowship and working. No assembling together of saints to-day, we repeat, can be more than the gathering of a few of the members of Christ's body, but so gathered they must act in the light of the whole truth of the church if they would be obedient.

In concluding our brief review of the Epistle, we might note that the use of discipline and exclusion mentioned in chapter 5 also involved assembly action. Apostolic energy and action is indeed prominent in verses 4 and 5, for as yet the consciences of the Corinthians were asleep, but the final action to be taken in verse 13 was of an assembly character.

The Second Epistle shows us that such action was taken, and that "the many" or the mass of the saints put their hands to it (chap. 2: 6). They were so stirred to zeal by the First Epistle (see chap. 7: 11) that the great mass of them came together and solemnly put the offender away from their midst. To-day, alas! saints are often so lethargic that only a few come together to act if such a sad occasion arises and the punishment is inflicted of "the few" rather than "the many."

If we now consider for a little how these apostolic corrections and instructions apply to-day, we shall be quickly aware of how much need there is of attention to the instructions of chapter 14. It is still possible for a few saints to gather together on "assembly" lines though only a fraction of those comprising the church in their town. Thus assembled they may break bread, or pray, or wait upon the Lord for ministry through two or three of His servants what we call an "open meeting." Are we free from individualism on these occasions? By no means. How often do we notice thanksgivings and particularly hymns of praise and worship, quite excellent in themselves individually considered, yet obviously quite out of keeping with what has gone before or what follows, complete misfits if judged from the standpoint of the Spirit's action in the assembly! How often times of prayer when the same petition is voiced again and again by various brothers, seemingly forgetful that the first who was led to ask it did so as the mouth-piece of those present, to be ratified by all saying "Amen" at the end of his requests; and that therefore, save in exceptional cases, such constant repetition is needless since all have already asked it! How often again is there that tendency to coming together, each having his hymn, his prayer, his Scripture portion to be got out at all costs!

Further, we have to beware of the individualism which takes a form which has been sometimes spoken of as "independency." This may take the form of an individual saint asserting himself, his judgment, his actions against the assembly where he is found, or the form of an individual assembly acting in complete indifference to, and as having no connection with, other assemblies equally walking in subjection to the same Lord.

Here some may at once object that we find but little in Scripture as to these errors. We grant it. The case of Diotrephes (3 John) bears upon it, but generally speaking these troubles are such as have afflicted the church in these later centuries. Apostolic authority acted as a check on that form of individualism at the beginning. We have become more exposed to it in these last days, when saints have essayed once more to walk according to the truth but without apostolic authority in their midst other than the apostolic writings, and even without an appointed elderhood as at the beginning. Their position is similar to that of the Jews who returned to Jerusalem under Zerubabel, Nehemiah and Ezra, who had no king and a very imperfect priesthood. These externals they had lost, and it would have been folly, if not worse, to have assumed power they did not possess in ordaining a king and more priests for themselves. The loss of these externals did not, however, exempt them from obedience to the whole law.

Hence to-day, we submit, we have special need of grace and wisdom in this matter. We have no wish to hinder the servants of the Lord, but they must remember that they are members of Christ's body, and if they profess to be walking, with as many as are available, in a path of obedience to the whole truth of the church, they must bear these things in mind. That which is right for the individual is clearly right for the individual gathering of saints also. We must carefully avoid, therefore, the position of independency that is commonly called "Congregationalism."

It is perfectly certain that failures have often occurred in the past both with individual saints and individual gatherings as to these very things, and if the Lord come not for a while they will occur again. "What then," it will be asked, "are we to do?"

Our responsibility is to act under the Lord, that is, in obedience to His word. Powers of discipline still remain to the saints collectively, as indicated in Romans 16: 17 and 18; 1 Thessalonians 5. 14; 2 Thessalonians 3. 6, 14, 15. Even in the very flagrant case of Diotrephes, the apostle contents himself with threatening action if and when he came. He did not urge Gaius or Demetrius to attempt strong counter-action themselves. Individualism or independency is not to be met with counter-independency. The spirit of division cannot be overcome, according to God, by the spirit of counter-division. If in mistaken zeal we attempt so to meet it we always run the risk of making the remedy worse than the disease, and of swallowing a whole camel in our endeavours to strain out the gnat.

In writing the above we bear fully in mind that a time may come, according to 2 Timothy 2. 16-21, when individual action is not only permitted by Scripture, but actually enjoined. That time is when evil, having come in, is of such a character as to overthrow faith, by attacking the foundations. Then, assuming that it gets beyond all assembly action, the individual must act for himself in faithfulness to his Lord.

We owe our position, if indeed we do gather to the Lord's Name, to such individual action in faithfulness to the Lord. In the position we are bound to act as governed by the whole truth as to the church and the apostle's fellowship, and not act on an individualistic basis. If by reason of unfaithfulness the position be abandoned or corrupted, then once more individual action according to 2 Timothy 2 becomes incumbent upon us in order that a place according to God may be taken up, and personal purity maintained.

We have one more application to make of the truth which is before us. A good deal has been said and written during the past fifteen years as to the unscriptural character of "circles of fellowship." In so far as such "circles" are of the kind which says "I am of Paul," etc., or formed to champion some special truth or truths, we quite agree. Yet we must not forget that there was a circle of fellowship in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. In the early morning it consisted of about 120 names, by night-fall it was expanded to over 3000. That circle of fellowship was "the apostle's fellowship."

Later on at Corinth the Divinely-formed "circle" was imperilled by sectarian "circles," not yet openly separated from each other, but parties formed within the church, the fruit of their carnal condition. In this connection 1 Corinthians 11: 18, 19 are very illuminating. "Among you," says the apostle, "there must also be sects." There was no such must in the case of the Ephesians or Philippians, where the prevailing state was one of spiritual freshness and power. If saints walk in the flesh, fleshly tendencies must be manifested. But on the other hand such fleshly manifestations only serve to throw into relief such as faithfully adhere to what is divine and thus are approved of God. There were evidently some in Corinth who would not range themselves under any of the party standards.

Now it is more than likely, when the "Paul" and "Apollos" and "Cephas" parties were forming themselves at Corinth, and some of the more spiritual and faithful souls were declining to join in their movements, that to the careless or worldly-minded onlooker they only appeared to be forming a further party. But even if they found it difficult or impossible to prove they were not, and thus vindicate themselves, they were approved of God and in the view of the inspired apostle. With that they had to be content.

While, therefore, we have no more desire to form "a circle of fellowship" than we have to form "a church," we suggest that it may be well to find out first of all exactly what is meant by people when they use the term "circle of fellowship," and secondly that we should make very certain that the proposed remedy for the "circles" of fellowship, against which protest is raised, is not that of each individual being allowed to form his own circle of fellowship. Otherwise we are only practising Corinthian-like individualism under a new guise.

We do not want "a circle" of fellowship, but fellowship we do want. It is a precious treasure. Let us be careful, therefore, lest as an old proverb puts it, we "throw away the child with the bath-water." Human ideals often incrust themselves upon the truth. In discarding the incrustation it is all too easy to let slip the truth. Rather let us "tarry one for another," as Scripture enjoins.

F. B. Hole.

How to Conduct Oneself in God's House Which is the Assembly of the Living God.

The above words are given to us by the Spirit in 1 Timothy 3. 15, where we are also told that the assembly is "the pillar and base of the truth." It is where the faith of God's elect is found, where the faith which was once delivered to the saints is maintained without deduction or addition, without the giving up of the latitudinarian or the going beyond of the newfangled. The truth finds its witness and support in the house of God which is His assembly, nor can it be found elsewhere.

It is no question of the strength or of the weakness of those who are of the truth, but of the truth itself. When the great apostasy takes place in Christendom (as the Spirit has expressly foretold) those who belong to the assembly of the living God will remain still "the pillar and base of the truth." It is this which we are to recognize, and in it we are to know how to conduct ourselves. There may be and are numerous religious organizations, but those who are of the faith have to do with the truth and with those who are of it; there may be and are many men who have messages to-day, but the One who is the Truth personally said, "I have come into the world that I might bear witness to the truth. Everyone that is of the truth hears My voice" (John 18. 37). The Lord Jesus spake these words when the question of His Kingship was raised by Pilate. The 1st Epistle to Timothy keeps this in view.

God's House.

In the house of a monarch, in a royal household, courtly conduct is rightly expected. Those who share the privileges and dignities of the King's palace are to behave themselves in reference to the regal inhabitant of the house. This is not easily appreciated in these days of extreme democraticism. Just so in regard to God's house; unless we have a true sense of God's greatness and glory we shall lose the proper appreciation of the conduct which becomes the house, the assembly, which is God's habitation. Let the true knowledge of God in Christ be reverently maintained in the soul, corresponding behaviour will then result in reference to Himself and to those who form His house - "the assembly of the living God."

One has often read of a royal household falling into disrepute by their bad behaviour, and of men rising up against them. We are to see to it that God is rightly represented before others through those who are of His house. "Great is the mystery of godliness" we are told, and its effects are very wholesome towards others. It is this aspect of the house which is prominent in the 1st Epistle to Timothy.

In 1 Peter 2. 5 the house is viewed as the place where spiritual sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise are offered to God: in Hebrews as that over which Christ is, as Son, the High Priest by whom we approach: in Ephesians it is God's habitation in the Spirit. The aspect in 1 Timothy, as we have said, is rather that which represents God in the world - "the pillar" as well as "the base of the truth"; "and confessedly the mystery of piety is great. God has been manifested in flesh." 1 John gives us the royal family in the house - all are born of God; speaking metaphorically, all have the sang bleu the Divine nature is theirs. They dwell in God and God dwells in them. They know the Father and the Father's love. They are the children of God, and the world is unable to take cognizance of them as such, for they dwell where the unregenerate cannot enter, though in the duties of this life they may know them well enough.

In the assembly, then, the presence of God is known. Thanksgiving and praise ascend to Him there. The Lord Jesus Christ is the One by whom we draw nigh; and it is the Spirit who gives our hearts to rejoice in the love and in the relationships which are ours. Glory and strength are in His presence: honour and majesty are His. Holiness becomes His house for ever, while they that dwell there shall be still praising Him. In His presence is fullness of joy - and John writes "that our joy may be full" - at His right hand are pleasures for evermore. It is the place, too, where the truth is found, as we have said, and where the witness to it is also maintained in practical piety and true reverence for the presence of the living God.

Behaviour in it.

How different is all this to what characterized the descendants of God's people in Malachi's day, and to that which so largely obtains now. In Malachi 1. 6, God asks, Where is Mine honour? and again, Where is My fear? for by their behaviour they showed they did not reverence Him; yet they said, Wherein have we despised Thy Name? They had no right sense of their departure from God. Their offerings were polluted, and "the table of the Lord was contemptible" in their eyes! How appalling was their state! Still they expected pay for the smallest services in connection with God's house (verse 10). They profaned His Name. They said, "The table of the Lord is polluted, and the fruit thereof, even His meat, is contemptible"; also, "Behold what a weariness it is!" and they "snuffed at it"! How keenly must the Lord have felt all this - "the great King, the Lord of hosts, whose Name is great among the nations"! Judah, the royal tribe, profaned the holiness of the Lord (chap. 2. 11). They wearied Him with their words. Yet they said, "Wherein have we wearied Him?" when they said, "Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delighteth in them"; again, "Where is the God of judgment?" (17) They robbed Him of the offerings which were His due. Nevertheless He said, Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and an overflowing blessing shall be poured out (chap. 3. 10). Still their words were stout against Him. They said, It is vain to serve God, and they called the proud happy.

What a picture of unrelieved sadness this would be, did we not read of those who truly honoured and feared the Lord at that very time of general declension. They spake often one to another, and without attempting to put others right they "thought upon His Name." They honoured it, and behaved according to that Name, conducting themselves according to the holiness, greatness and grace of it (verse 16). To such it is said, "Unto you that fear My Name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings" (chap. 4. 2). So to-day it is said, "I Jesus have sent Mine angel (Malachi means My messenger, or angel) to testify to you these things in the assemblies. I am the Root and Offspring of David, the bright and morning Star." The testimony in the assemblies at the end is to Himself and to His coming again, and this results in the Spirit and the assembly saying to Him, Come. The truth is found with such at the close of the assembly's history on earth, and what becomes the house of God marks them, although they may be surrounded with a similar state of unreal profession as beset those that feared the Lord in Malachi's time.

A House of Prayer.

It is of the last importance, therefore, for us to further what will help in the direction of the positive things that are found in the presence of God, whose house those who hold fast are, and these things should be treasured and upheld by us. We have named several of them here, but there are also supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings. The Spirit of God exhorts to this "first of all" in 1 Timothy 2. It is also said, "I will therefore that men pray everywhere" (verse 8). Looking back over nearly half a century two men, marked by this, leave the impress and fragrance of God's presence on the spirit. The first, not a religious official, but a pious believer, always prayed before leaving a house at which he called. Young and unsaved I was nevertheless convinced of the reality of the living God, whom he addressed in faith. The second, known soon after God called me by His grace, always proposed prayer when we met, when we parted, when we entered on the Lord's service in the open air or in halls or in visiting. He did indeed "pray everywhere," as the "men" of God's house are instructed to do. More than words this habitual dependence on God brings Him near to our souls, for as we draw nigh to Him He draws nigh to us.

Isaiah spake of God's house of prayer in which men should be joyful (Isa. 56. 7). The Lord Jesus said it should be "called the house of prayer" (Matt. 21. 13; Mark 11. 17; Luke 19. 46). Merchandise, however, had invaded its holy precincts then, and it obtains even more extensively now. They made it a den of thieves, and the Lord "cast out them that sold therein and them that bought." By-and-by He will "send forth His angels and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Matt. 13. 41).

In the Epistles, written to those who compose the house of God, unceasing prayer is earnestly urged. Some say, It is impossible to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5. 17). God does not exhort us to do the impossible. Some cease to maintain prayer. We are told not to cease, but to continue with all perseverance in spite of every opposition. In relation to the house of God, "kings and all who are in dignity" are to be remembered, "that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all piety and gravity" (1 Tim. 2. 2). This is all the more remarkable for the truth of eternal kingship had just been emphasized by the apostle, as he said, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen" (chap. 1. 17). Majesty, glory, honour and incorruptibility in this house of prayer are borne up. The elevating effect of it is surely very great, but in this day of degrading and profane principles the truth can only be upheld through Divine grace and power. Intercession, prayer, supplication and thanksgiving are therefore an imperative necessity.

In our day there is always One who intercedes. In Isaiah's day it was said, Truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and the Lord saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor (Isaiah 59. 16). Thank God, His beloved Son at His right hand "ever liveth to make intercession"; and thank God also for His house, where prayer is still maintained. This is good and acceptable in God's sight we are told; for He would "have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." All are therefore to be prayed for, and "kings and all that are in authority" particularly, by those who belong to the house of God.

God is There.

Those who are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ and have been born again by the Word, coming to Christ - the man-rejected Stone, the accepted of God - are built up a spiritual house, and they are for a habitation of God in the Spirit. All our conduct is therefore to be ordered in view of the great fact that the living God dwells in His house.

Even in regard to the behaviour of one believer towards another the apostles used this truth to exhort them accordingly. To the Thessalonians who had been called out of idolatry and uncleanness it is said, "He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man but God, who hath also given to us His Holy Spirit" (1 Thess. 4. 8). To disregard any brother, and overstep his rights, is to do wrong against God, who dwells in those who are His. It is wholesome and elevating to regard each other rightly, and not to think carelessly of the saints of God. This is no difficult matter where the love of God is known. The children of God love because they are first loved by Him, and every one that loves God loves him that has been begotten of Him, and we know that we love the children of God "when we love God and keep His commandments" (1 John 5. 2).

"In Thine own house there love divine

Fills the bright courts with cloudless joy;

But 'tis the love that made us Thine

Fills all that house without alloy."

Twice in the Scriptures we are told that "God is love," and where the knowledge of His greatness, glory and majesty is cherished this most blessed fact will be valued rightly, for the more we see of His infinite majesty the more wonderful will this love appear to our worshipping hearts, and this will govern our conduct in the house of God which is the assembly of the living God, for it is such an One who is there.

When our Lord Jesus Christ appears in Divine splendour and glory His greatness will then be seen publicly. This is kept before us in 1 Timothy so that corresponding results may be produced in us now. That appearing, it is said, shall show "the only Ruler, the King of those that reign and the Lord of those that exercise lordship, who only has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen, nor is able to see, to whom be honour and eternal might. Amen" (chap. 6. 15). Timothy is reminded of Christ's witness before Pilate concerning kingship, and is exhorted therefore to be true and to "keep the commandment spotless, irreproachable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." Christ is "our hope" (chap. 1. 1). He will bring everything right. Meanwhile prayer is to characterize the house of God, as we have said. Men are to pray everywhere, being in a suited state for God's holy presence. Women are to dress modestly and learn in quietness. Overseers are to be irreproachable in their own homes, and ministers also.

True piety is to mark all. Elders are to be honoured as fathers, and elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters with all purity. Pious aged widows who are destitute are to be cared for, and the younger are to give "no occasion to the adversary in respect of reproach." Elder brethren who lead in divine things are to be honoured doubly, specially those labouring in word and teaching. Servants are to honour and render profitable service to their masters. The rich are to be liberal. False-named science is to be avoided, while righteousness, piety, faith, love, endurance and meekness are to be pursued.

These things are to be seen and learned in Christ, who is the image of the invisible God; and as they mark us increasingly God will be in measure correspondingly made manifest in those that compose His house. His character will be represented in His assembly, which is "the pillar and base of the truth." God is true, and the truth expresses what is true; therefore the possession and witness and maintenance of the truth are necessary if God is to rightly be represented before men. This is what is in view in 1 Timothy. The assembly of the living God is for that purpose, in the aspect of which we have spoken. What an honour to be called to make Him known in all our conversation and conduct! May we appreciate it more highly.

Offerings to God.

We cannot close, however, without saying a few words as to what is for Him alone and which He alone can rightly value as to that which is offered to Himself in His house as to the "spiritual sacrifices" which ascend to Him, "the fruit of the lips" which He esteems so highly - the praise, thanksgiving and worship which the knowledge of Himself and His redeeming love produce in our hearts, and which the Holy Spirit enables us to render when we are free from self-occupation.

As we said the house of God in Hebrews is that over which Christ is as Son, the High Priest by whom we draw nigh. He saves completely from every hindrance - "to the uttermost" - those that come to God "by Him." Having Him as "a great Priest over the house of God," we are exhorted to "approach with a true heart" (Heb. 10: 21). All access is through Him (Eph. 2. 18) and by Him, and we are told also to offer the sacrifice of praise "by Him." To ignore this way of Divinely-appointed order in God's house is a serious matter, and to set religious officials in the place of Christ, as is often done in Christendom, is far from right conduct in the assembly of the living God. We are instructed in 1 Peter 2. 5, as to offering up "spiritual sacrifices" in a "spiritual house," but we are distinctly told that they are "acceptable to God by Jesus Christ," and not by anyone else. The Father finds pleasure in those who come thus before Him through His beloved Son.

" From our guilt His blood has freed us,

'Tis through Him our souls draw nigh;

And the Spirit, too, has taught us

Abba, Father, thus to cry."

We may therefore come boldly into His blessed presence, and, rejoicing before Him, give Him our united praise and worship, blessing His Holy Name together. "Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty; give unto the Lord the glory due unto His Name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness," it is said. How wonderful that we can give to Him! Nothing in ourselves and unworthy too; yet set with the mighty by God's rich grace, and enabled to offer to Him in the beauty of holiness, in the beauty that is ours in Christ through His redeeming work at Calvary. The gift of God's love to us is immeasurable and unspeakable, nevertheless we can respond to His infinite grace by giving to Him again, saying, "Of Thine own do we give Thee." May He receive that which gives Him pleasure in increasing measure from those who belong to the house of God which is the assembly of the living God.

H. J. Vine.

Correspondence:

Having invited correspondence we consider it only right that our readers should have the benefit, if any, that may arise from it. It is with some hesitation, however, that an endeavour has been made to meet the difficulties raised in the following letter; but as they are, alas, very common difficulties, they cannot be ignored, and it may amount to moral cowardice to shirk them. Others may be able to give clearer and more definite help; if so, the pages of the Supplement are open.

"Dear Bro, - I have recently received a copy of Scripture Truth with the Supplement No. 5. I am delighted with these papers, the teaching is so clear and Scriptural. They arrived at a very opportune moment, for it is not long since I found my way outside the religious systems of men, and I have since been through much exercise of soul in seeking to walk in the right path for God's people. I therefore gladly accept your invitation to send questions to your magazine. There are some questions which are troubling me greatly. I wish now I could express myself plainly enough for you to understand my difficulties. However, I will try to do so."

Divisions.

"First, with reference to fellowship. I found in this city three different companies of believers claiming to be gathered to the Name of the Lord, but each in separation from the other, inter-communion being strictly forbidden."

It is plain that in apostolic times only one assembly was recognized in one city, or to put it more correctly, the assembly in each city was viewed and addressed in its unity and oneness. When cliques and sects began to spring up in any one of these assemblies, as at Corinth, they were unsparingly condemned by the Holy Spirit in the Word (see 1 Cor.). They were an evidence of a rampant carnality and not of a higher spirituality as the sectarians thought. If the germ or bud of division met with God's rebuke at the beginning, the fully developed and vicious fruit cannot have His sanction now. Hence we have no difficulty in concluding that the state of things which you deplore in your city is wrong, radically wrong; it is contrary to the truth and Christ dishonouring; it could never have been if there had not been disobedience to the Word. There may, of course, be just cause for separation. If a company of believers in any place refused to judge known evil, either in morals or doctrine, as directed by the Word, it would be, we believe, incumbent upon those who desired to be faithful to the Lord, after due patience, to separate from them, for to do otherwise would be to say holiness and truth are of little account; consequently the name of "the Holy and the True" would be denied and His Word not kept. But such separation would be the last resource, after all efforts to exercise the consciences of the company had failed. Cases of this kind have arisen in the history of the truth, and it would not be right to characterize those who so separated as sectarian, they have simply stood for holiness and truth against complicity with evil and error. "Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity . . . but follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Tim. 2. 19-22) would be sufficient warrant for such action, and enough also for the guidance of all who in every place call on the Name of the Lord, for what is done according to the truth and in the Name of the Lord in one place, would surely satisfy all who love the truth and hold to that Name wherever they are found. The one Head will direct all His members in unison, and there is one body and one Spirit.

We need not say that such a course must always be deeply serious, to cause a separation where one heart and one mind should prevail at the bidding of some leader, or because of some difference of judgment, or of the interpretation of some passage of Scripture is to be guilty of the gravest of sins, because it is sin committed in the holy circle of the Lord's interests. This we know has been done, causing widespread confusion, and stumbling many of the saints of God. The condition of things spiritually that made this possible is our common shame; but those directly responsible for these difficulties will have to answer to the Lord for their self will and independence of Him. All who would walk in the truth must surely decline to recognize separations of this sort, for they are contrary to the truth. You may say that all this does not help you in your difficulties, but it will, we trust, at least, direct your exercises in the right channel, so that you will not waste your time weighing the claims of one company against another, but weigh all in the light the Word gives for such conditions, and that may result in many others being exercised about a state of things that must be displeasing to the Lord.

Independence.

"I walked alone for some time, then was received into the fellowship of so-called -- Brethren. I longed for an expression of the unity of the church, but here I learned that although there were three meetings of these Brethren within a radius of a few miles, they were not in fellowship with each other; the City meeting had separated from the other two meetings some years ago, and the breach was not healed. This caused much confusion. The meetings would not receive from each other locally, yet the assemblies in the Eastern States received brethren from all of the assemblies here. A case actually occurred where two brethren from the meetings at variance here were on a visit to the Eastern States, and were both received on the same Lord's Day in one assembly, but returning home they could remain in separation from each other. I was much concerned on the question of unity in discipline and other matters, and soon withdrew from his meeting."

Do not let the desire for an "expression of the unity of the church" control you. That unity exists and will be fully expressed when the New Jerusalem - the bride of the Lamb - comes out of heaven having the glory of God. Meanwhile it is not expressed, though we may act in the faith that it is no mere doctrine but a reality - "There is one body and one Spirit." If an expression of the unity of the church is your one thought, Rome will claim to express it, but she is the great harlot.

But an expression of unity, or to more correctly express our thought, unison is much to be desired, but if it is gained at the expense of the truth the gain is an incalculable loss.

But while we cannot find a full expression of this unity in these broken days, it is altogether another matter to deny it in practice, and the state of things that you describe is clearly a denial of it, and confusion. It all arises from the the idea of independent assemblies, that each must act for itself regardless of what may happen elsewhere, and this is the principle of congregationalism, and not of the church of God.

One Scripture that would prove that all who are subject to the truth would act in unison is 1 Cor. 1: 2. The directions and commands that the Lord sent through Paul to the assembly at Corinth were for "all that in every place call upon the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours." Hence unity of discipline would be secured, for no one would assert that the Lord would direct an assembly in one place to act in one way, and direct another somewhere else in the opposite. As Head of the body He will move all who are subject to Him in one direction, and the one Spirit is here to give force to that direction. The one Lord administering in each assembly will produce one mind in all. Hence there will be unity in discipline and in everything else. It does not follow from this that one assembly must have the approval of all assemblies before it takes any necessary action. But that what it does is so clearly according to the Word that all who are subject to the Word will recognize the leading of the Lord and gladly acquiesce.

Official Oversight.

I was afterwards received into the fellowship of another company which I learn was once in fellowship with what was called the 'Needed Truth' party. The principles of that party are still practically maintained in this meeting. Your article on 'Apostolic Fellowship,' in SUPPLEMENT 5 has caused me to think very much. I have fears that I might have swung to an extreme, and that 'Needed Truth' principles are but a reflex of the Romish Metropolitanism mentioned in your article. Could you therefore enlighten me as to whether there is Scriptural ground for the assertion that all meetings in a city should form the one local assembly? In all cases of discipline, etc., these meetings act as one, and they have one united oversight."

It is clear, we believe, from Scripture, that all saints in any given place are looked upon as one assembly, even though through difficulties as to distance, etc., they were not able always to meet in one place. The Epistle to the Galatians was written to assemblies in a province, and they are addressed as one. They had come under the influence of error and were being swept away as one, and the apostolic letter was to call them back as one to the truth.

There is no Scripture for an official oversight to-day. Bishops, elders and deacons were appointed when the church in the house character was in order. But these were not appointed by the assemblies, that is another principle of congregationalism, but by the apostle or his delegates. No

word is given to us as to the continuation of this, and the apostle, in his farewell to the saints, did not commit them to the oversight but to God and the Word of His grace. The Lord is faithful and will raise up and maintain faithful men who shall have the moral qualities that fit them to care for the saints and their needs, and such will be recognized by all who are subject to the Word. But the appointing of an oversight is going beyond the Word. We must look for what is moral and not official in these days.

The Use Of The Word "Church."

Again, when in Scripture we read the expression 'The Church of God,' does it only refer to the local assembly or has it a more comprehensive meaning?"

The designation "church," or "assembly" as it should be, is used in the Word for the local assembly and also for the whole body of Christ upon earth. The first time it is used (Matt. 16. 38) it has in view the whole assembly without any reference to locality, and every time that it occurs in the Epistle to the Ephesians it is used in this way.

It is of the greatest importance that the truth as to its oneness and completeness should be understood, otherwise it will not be possible to act in the truth of it in the local assembly.

Worship.

" I would like further to mention the question of 'worship.' In this city there is a large meeting. I have always felt strangely attracted to this meeting, but withheld from seeking fellowship because of several things that I cannot get clear about. The order of the worship meeting drew me very much. These brethren maintain that there is certainly a Divine order in the worship meeting. Could you tell me, therefore, if it is a mistake to address our God and Father in prayer before the breaking of the bread? It is maintained that the Lord Jesus should be addressed personally until the act of remembrance is past. It is then He conducts the assembly in Spirit to the Father's presence in the Father's House, sings praises in the midst of the assembly, and declares His Father's Name to His Brethren. It is claimed there is no worship until we come to this phase in the meeting. That other meetings that do not maintain this order, only keep the Passover and cannot rise to the height of privilege there really is in the Lord's Supper."

To have rules and regulations in the conduct of meetings for which there is not Scriptural warrant is the sure badge of a party, no matter how intelligent those who compose it may be. Moreover it means that the authority of the Lord and the guidance of the Holy Spirit are set aside, and you will be able to realize the seriousness of that. Further, since the standard set is a high one, and must be attained to regardless of the state of the assembly, nothing but insincerity can ensue, and true worship - worship in spirit and in truth ceases, for that cannot be arranged and directed by us, it must be spontaneous and free.

Nevertheless we believe that where the Lord leads there will be order, and since the object of the coming together is to break bread in the remembrance of the Lord in His death, this should be, and will be, where things are right, the first and chief thing. The heart and mind of the assembly, as guided by the Holy Ghost, will certainly dwell upon the Lord in death, with accompanying adoration to Him, but it would be a bold thing to say that the Father has no part in this, and no note of praise or word of worship should ascend to Him in connection with it. To whom did the Lord give thanks when He instituted the Supper? To the Father, surely. Then the Father may be addressed before the Supper.

The expression, "The act of remembrance is past," jars upon our mind. It is well that no time should be wasted, and that the Lord's Supper should be eaten early in the meeting, since it is for this we come together; but even here the principle contained in the words, "Tarry one of another," would prevent undue haste. Yet the whole meeting is a remembrance of that that we shall never forget even in heaven, and there is no true worship that is separated from the death of Christ. The blood was ever in the Holiest.

We believe it is utterly wrong to say that not until the Supper is eaten does the Lord lead us into the Father's presence. The expression itself is unscriptural. What is said is, "I will declare Thy Name unto my brethren in the midst of the assembly will I sing praises to Thee." We are in the presence of the Father when we assemble, if we do it rightly, for His presence is the home of the brethren of Christ. And the Lord is there to make the Father a reality as the Father to us, for this is what declaring His name means. We should have from the beginning a sense of the Father's love and favour in our hearts, and it is thus that we look back into death, the death of Christ, and there learn the greatness of His love (1 John 4. 9-19). To say there is no worship until after the bread is broken is to say what is not true, you may worship individually in your own room, and there may be assembly worship in any meeting of the assembly. No one can keep the passover now. The Christian feast is the Lord's Supper, and to make a certain standard of intelligence necessary for this, as these friends of yours are doing, is to spoil it. Love is the quality needed. Love to the One Who died for us, though the more intelligent we are the better, if love is maintained.

Light.

"I do earnestly hope you will enlighten me on this question, having observed the order mentioned I sometimes feel distressed in our worship meeting at what appears to be confusion. I know the Holy Spirit will lead the assembly in that order which is pleasing to the Lord. But it is thought by these brethren, who really seem to have remarkable intelligence in the mind of the Lord, that those meetings which do not observe this order are not according to the Truth. They say the Lord will only give light to that which is according to His Name, and this question of order is light given for these closing days."

We should advise you to beware of those who talk much about "fresh light," and "light for closing days." We must remember that Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, and we may be easily deceived. The Word is enough. To that Word of grace we are commended by the great apostle of the Gentiles, and John said, "He that is of God heareth us."

Baptism.

"One more question as to baptism. Is an assembly right in refusing fellowship to any who have not received believers' baptism?

To make believers' baptism - by which is meant the immersion of believers - a test of fellowship, is to make a narrower test than the Word and to form a Baptist sect.

"Dear brother, I do hope you will help me with these questions. At present I am away in the loneliness of the Australian bush, many miles from the address given at the head of this letter. I have been away some weeks now from the fellowship of meetings. But these questions have given me much thought, and after receiving the Scripture Truth direct from England, I felt impelled to write to you. You may not have time to answer me personally, but I am assured a little ministry on these questions would be very helpful." A.G.K.

It will be a great joy if we are able to help you and your earnest friends who are searching the Word. One closing word we would say. In avoiding all error and all sectarianism, and in taking the separate path that the Word indicates, be sure and walk in love towards all the saints.

J. T. Mawson.

The Lord's Supper.

Notes of an Address on 1 Corinthians 11. 23-26.

The Lord's Supper, which is the one feast of the assembly of God, stamps upon that assembly a wonderful character, and marks it out as being in complete contrast to the world while still in it. If we have learnt in any measure the meaning of it we are greatly favoured of God; if we have not learnt its meaning we do not understand the blessedness and character of the assembly at all. We cannot consider it too often; it is an inexhaustible theme, and that because it presents our Lord to us in the fidelity and invincibility of His love. The occasion of its institution emphasizes this; it was on

The Same Night In Which He Was Betrayed.

This is arresting, and we must pause and consider why the supper is identified with this blackest of all black nights. Had Paul been left to his own wisdom to give an account of the institution of the supper he would most probably have connected it, as we should have done, with the crucifixion. He would have said, "It was on the night before the crucifixion that the Lord took bread." But that was not the way in which he received it from the Lord, nor was he so inspired by the Holy Ghost to write it.

It was on the night of the betrayal. The betrayal is the background that throws into bright relief the love that moved the Lord to give to us the supper that we might have it until He comes as a memorial of His death for us. The betrayal was very definitely in the Lord's thoughts; how keenly He felt it we must surely feel, as reverently we consider Him in that solemn hour. "One of you shall betray Me," He said to them (Matt. 26. 21). "One of you that eateth with Me shall betray Me" (Mark 14. 18). Then in Luke 22. 21, after they had partaken of the supper, His words are recorded, "The hand of him that betrayeth Me is with Me at the table." And here in 1 Cor. 11 though now in the glory of God, the Lord does not forget this; it was on "the same night in which He was betrayed" that He took bread and gave thanks. There was base treachery in the inner circle and this caused Him the deepest pain. Jerusalem He loved, but it had never professed to love Him. It had always despised Him, proudly asking, "Who is this?" When His love took Him to it to spend laborious days in the midst of it, it offered Him no welcome, or rest, or home. It left Him friendless on its streets, with no place to lay His head unless He sought it on the Mount of Olives. He felt this, and only His touching lament and tears can tell us how keenly He felt it. But in this inner circle He surely could find consolation and rest! These disciples of His, the "you" to whom He loved to speak, they surely would be faithful to Him; for one and all of them had protested oft and again their love to Him! No, He cannot rest even here, for having gathered them together He says, "one of you shall betray Me." Treachery within was a hundred-fold worse than hatred without, and this treachery was well calculated to discourage and destroy a less than perfect love. But He rose up above it all and in connection with it all He instituted the supper which was to be to all His own, as long as ever they needed it, a memorial of His love that no failure on their part could destroy.

I am sure that none who are truly and vitally the Lord's could do what Judas did; he was a child of the devil, and the devil was in him; nevertheless he was in that circle, he was one of the "you," and he had received the same tender consideration at the Lord's hands. He had been in that best of all company, and had had the best of training and circumstances, but this only brought out the worst that was in him, and proved that the flesh is incorrigibly bad. And the flesh in Judas was no worse than the flesh in Peter and John, and you and me, and the lesson that his treachery should teach us is that we can have no confidence in the flesh. Then in what and whom may we place our confidence? In instituting the supper the Lord replies, "You may trust in Me." For the supper tells us of love that carried Him unto death for us.

"What love with His can vie?" "One of you shall betray me," said the Lord, and the disciple whom Jesus loved seemed to enter into the full meaning of it all, for he reclined upon Jesus' bosom. It was as though He said, "Lord, I cannot trust my heart, or depend upon my love to you, but I can trust Your heart and I can find perfect rest in the love that beats in Your bosom for me." And the supper invites us, and encourages us to act as he acted, so that we also may call ourselves "the disciple whom Jesus loves." The love of Christ is not measured by our response to it, it does not change as ours changes, but it will continue in all its strength "till He come." What a resting place is His bosom! What solace and joy His love yields! and that it might be ever fresh before us the supper has been given to us; and that we might clearly see that it is not a love dependent upon our faithfulness it was instituted on the night of the betrayal - the same night.

This should give us confidence in gathering together to partake of it, and should teach us that the joy of the feast springs altogether from what He is in the greatness of His love, and that our fitness and title to partake of the feast rests upon the value of His death which we recall in it.

That then is the setting; see now how He acts in it.

He Gave Thanks Unto God.

Behold Him in the midst of those disciples, lifting heart and voice in thanksgiving to God, His Father, with the bread in His hands which was to be to them the symbol of His body given in death for them. He gave thanks as their Leader and Head; they were those whom He would call "My brethren" when He had overthrown the power of death; they were to be the beginning, the nucleus, of that assembly in which He would raise a perpetual song unto His Father, and theirs. So now in the midst of them He gives thanks, and the thanks must have been for His death and the great results of it. He looked beyond the cross and beyond the tomb, and measured the favour, immeasurable to all but Himself, in which His assembly should stand with Him before the Father as a result of His one offering, and with this in full view He gave thanks. That act stamped upon the assembly its first distinctive feature, it is a thanksgiving company and the Lord's supper is an eucharistic feast - a feast of thanksgiving. In this the assembly of God - that which God has called out of the world - stands in vivid contrast to the world. The world does not and will not give thanks; "neither were thankful," is one of the charges that God brings against the heathen world in Rom. 1. 21, and it is not the least item in the heavy indictment drawn up against apostate Christendom in 2 Tim. 3. 2. But the saints of God can and do give thanks, from their hearts they can cry with exultation, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

It should cause us much exercise that we give thanks so feebly, and that often murmurings and repinings take the place of praise. We are not living up to our character and privileges when this is the case, and the reason of it is that we have lost the sense of the favour in which we stand, or have never known it. Nothing is more calculated to restore to us a sense of this favour, or teach us what it is, than the Lord's supper, the feast of thanksgiving. For in the death of our Lord the heart of God was fully declared. His love flowed out there towards us without any reserve, and that when we were both dead and guilty, as we read in 1 John 4. 9, 10: "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. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son, to be the propitiation for our sins." Hence our sins removed, and our souls quickened into life, what can we do but adore and thank Him Who is the source of it all?

Our thanksgiving is commensurate with the sense of God's favour in our souls, the more fully we enter into this the fuller our thanksgiving will be. It is feeble at the best, yet it is to me a most cheering and comforting thought that a perfect thanksgiving has entered the Father's ear; for when the Lord gave thanks He did so as fully knowing the favour in which His own would stand with Him. That perfect thanksgiving abides, and I delight to think that when the saints of God come together they do so in all the fragrance of it.

He Brake The Bread.

Having given thanks, thus giving God the first place, He brake the bread and gave it to His disciples, saying, "This is My body given for you, this do in remembrance of me." It was to keep powerfully before them His own personal love to them, and in partaking of this broken bread the assembly responds to that love and shows its devotion to Him. I speak of it, when it is done, not as a matter of form but with hearts moved by His love to grateful adoration. In this again the assembly stands out in contrast to the world; it is a company devoted to Christ whom the world despised and slew. I know of no better illustration of it than that of Joseph of Arimathea. The Lord hung dead upon the cross; all the world had followed its princes in crucifying Him; then stepped forth Joseph and identified himself with that dead and dishonoured body. It was as though he said, "The world hates Him but I love Him; the world has slain Him but I claim His body even though it metes out the same treatment to me." So we, when we partake of that broken bread, identify ourselves with the dead body of Christ, for as far as the world knows and cares He is still dead; the world's last act against Him was to rend His side. We know that He lives in resurrection life and power; but we recall Him as He was, and identify ourselves with His death.

His body was given for us. His love led Him to sacrifice Himself on our behalf; it is upon this that we dwell, and dwelling upon it our souls are bound the closer to Him. The cup also He gave to them, for the two elements complete the symbol of the Lord's death - His body given and His blood shed "for you;" "in remembrance of Me." Here is His love, here is our response to it.

We Are One Bread And One Body.

In partaking of the supper the assembly declares itself to be one body, for all partake of one bread. There is unity in the assembly, and only there. It is a unity of life formed by the Holy Ghost, and by His power it will be maintained until the assembly appears in glory without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Here also the assembly stands out in contrast to the world. There is no unity in the world, it is characterized by sin and discord and disintegration. One class in it may combine to defend itself against another class, but there is no vital unity, no true cohesion. This can only be found in the assembly, for it is still true that "There is one body and one Spirit." Outwardly we do not see this unity. The flesh and the devil have wrought sad havoc in the ranks of those who are one in Christ; and the cliques and sects and parties, which are our great shame, deny this blessed and indissoluble unity in practice, yet the unity exists in spite of all the outward denial of it, and it is well to dwell on this side and to hold fast to this truth that "we being many are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread." This is part of that faith once for all delivered to the saints, and we are called upon to earnestly contend for it.

"Till He Come."

We show the Lord's death by eating the bread and drinking the cup "till He come." We announce the fact that He has died in the world and that we hold to Him who has died. It is said that after James II. was driven from the British throne, at royal banquets when the toast "The King" was honoured, his secret adherents drew their glasses across the finger bowls, meaning by that act "we drink to the king across the water." What they did by stealth we do openly - "we drink to the King across the water" to Christ our earth-rejected Lord; we are identified with the death of Christ, and though men may be indifferent, angels behold us in this act of responsive love, and learn that Christ has not died in vain.

We link His death with His coming again and that coming again is our hope and joy. The assembly is a community awaiting the return of the absent Lord, the heavenly Bridegroom. Here again she stands out in contrast to the world, for that which is to her "that blessed hope," is that which will fill the world with alarm; that which will be the consummation of all our hopes will be the overthrow of all its schemes and the blasting of all its ambitions.

Here then are some of the distinctive features of the assembly of God that plainly prove that it is not of the world but of God.

It gives thanks to the Father.

It is devoted to Christ.

It is one united body.

Its great hope in the coming again of the Lord Jesus.

May these things be seen more definitely and practically by us all for His Name's sake.

J. T. Mawson.

The Leaven.

1 Corinthians 5.

The Apostle Paul, in this chapter, alludes to a gross case of immorality, which had taken place (verse 1) and was unjudged in the assembly at Corinth (verse 2). He himself had a very definite judgment about it (verse 3), but he desired that the matter should be the subject of assembly action, in conjunction with his own apostolic authority (verse 4), the name and power of Our Lord Jesus Christ being connected with their gathering together, in order that the offender might as a wicked person be put away from among themselves (verse 13).

It is important to notice that such a judgment must of necessity meet with the approval of godly conscience in every assembly. The sin was evident, and the saints at Corinth were exercising the Lord's power in His assembly, that the holy name of the Lord might be vindicated. These things would show that their action was in relation to the whole church in every place. The man so dealt with was unfit for communion in any Christian assembly. For such reason alone can this extreme discipline be used, and under such conditions alone can the act of an assembly be ratified in heaven. Verse 5 seems to go beyond anything that assembly action could do, apart from apostolic authority; for it involves, unless he repents, the death of the guilty person, who nevertheless being a believer in Christ would yet be found saved in the day of glory. Verse 6, "Your glorying is not good."

They were going on as if all was well, yet with this corruption in their midst; how deadening to the conscience is unjudged sin. The apostle then states a principle of great importance, "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." The sin of one affected the whole assembly in Corinth. Here the leaven was immoral conduct, in Gal. 5. 9, where he repeats the statement, the leaven was evil doctrine, its result would be the permeation of the entire mass, unless its action was stopped, otherwise it would eat as doth a gangrene (2 Tim. 2. 17). In this case the saints were to purge it out from their midst, to express their judgment of it, by refusing Christian company to the guilty brother. In the spirit of self-judgment, that his sin was the guilt of all, they were so to act that they would be a new lump, unleavened. Then is brought forward the fact which should touch the affections in the deepest way. The judgment of sin had fallen upon Christ for them.

What stronger motive could be adduced, for holiness and purity of walk, than that Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us. To allow personally or collectively that which is contrary to His cross, that for which He took our place, and suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, would indeed be the deepest treachery, and the worst of all sins, the sin against love. Therefore we are to keep the feast, apart from leaven in any form (verse 8), a reference doubtless to the seven days which followed the Passover, during which leaven was not to be found in the houses of the Israelites (Ex. 12. 18-20). This feast of unleavened bread is typical of the present period. Leaven is always a type of evil; the apostle speaks of it here in three forms: (1) The old leaven; (2) The leaven of malice; (3) The leaven of wickedness; and contrasts it with that which is unleavened, sincerity and truth. It is well to have these three forms distinctly in our minds. The old leaven is the character of the old man, the natural product of the virus of sin derived from Adam. Its actions are detailed in verses 10 and 11. With this the Christian must have nothing to do, he must be unleavened, having put off the old man with his deeds, and having put on the new man, the character of Christ. The leaven of wickedness, while including the immoral deeds referred to, goes farther, for it is seen in contrast with truth, and is characterized by false doctrine subversive of the truth. This leaven, in fact, lay at the root of the Corinthian trouble, as well as of the Galatian. Their manners were bad, the evil communications had made them so (chap. 15. 33). The corrective for this was to know the truth, God and the word of His grace. But besides these two forms of leaven there was another, more subtle but equally sinful, the leaven of malice. In seeking to avoid bad conduct, and evil doctrine, we are ever in danger of allowing injurious thoughts, of using hard speeches, and making false accusations, against those who are fellow members of the body of Christ. With the most laudable desire to maintain the truth sectarianism may be fallen into, the malicious character of which is manifested by manner of speech as much as by action. To avoid this leaven, it is most necessary, if we desire to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, to regard our brethren in relation to that unity, to put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, evil speaking with all malice, and to be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. To seek restoration and healing, and to be followers of God as dear children.

Malice may be defined as speaking of others with intent to injure or depreciate them, bearing a grudge. Its root is pride; the soil in which it grows is prejudice; its stem is self-exaltation, and its fruit is the hypocrisy of the Pharisee. Hence it is contrasted with sincerity, the quality of being generous and transparent, esteeming others better than ourselves and readiness to go along with the lowly. The Pharisee in Luke 18 was malicious, his speech betrayed him, he trusted in himself that he was righteous and despised others; the publican was sincere, his words bore witness to it. The boastfulness of those who amidst the Corinthian schisms said they were of Christ (1 Cor. 1. 12, and 2 Cor. 10. 7) to the exclusion of others, exhibited one of the worst fruits of the leaven of malice, for it accredited a party with a position, that could rightly only belong to the whole. In conclusion the comment of Robert Leighton on 1 Peter 1. 22., is worth quoting. "Seeing ye have purified your hearts unto unfeigned love of the brethren," he says, "How few are there that have truly maliceless hearts and find this entire upright affection towards their brethren." Who of us is there that does not need the rebuke?

James Green.

"One Flock, One Shepherd."

John 10: 16.

The Spirit of God used the apostle Paul to direct the attention of the saints to the vital aspect of Christ and the assembly under the eloquent figure of the Head and the body, and He also gave to us through John a vivid illustration of the same truth in the beautiful representation of the Shepherd and the flock.

There is one Head and one body; there is one Shepherd and one flock. The first being an essential unity subsisting in one vital organism, the second an essential oneness in life also, sheep being necessary for a shepherd even as a shepherd is necessary for a flock. It is striking to observe the apostle Paul himself indicated that the assembly and the flock are to be identified as one (Acts 20. 28), when he warned the elders of Ephesus regarding similar perils to those we read of in the tenth chapter of John.

The body receives protection and direction from the Head, so also does the flock from the Shepherd.

It is therefore necessary for the members to hold fast the Head as we are told in Col. 2, and for the sheep to follow the Shepherd. This being experimentally true of us we shall be preserved in Christ Jesus where Divine love is known, and be united together unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the full knowledge of the mystery of God, for this is contained in both the figures to which we have referred. Just as it is said in Ephesians that those who are called out from the Jews and out from the Gentiles become "one body" in Christ according to the truth of the mystery, so also it is said in John 10 that "other sheep" as well as those of the Jewish fold are called to form the "one flock."

The Shepherd And His Sheep.

Divine love has been shown towards us in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Divine power is manifested in His resurrection. In these two relations He is spoken of first as "the good Shepherd" and secondly as "the great Shepherd." In 1 John 3. 16 it is said, Hereby we have known love, because He has laid down His life for us; and He Himself said, "I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." (John 10. 11). Our sins necessitated that death if we were to be saved from perishing eternally, and elsewhere we are told that Divine love is commended towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Rom. 5. 8). His death was the great expression of the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There is, however, power as well as love energizing on our behalf, and both in accord with the righteousness and holiness of God, to bring to glorious fruition His eternal purpose in Christ Jesus. We read in Eph. 1: 19 of "the surpassing greatness of His power towards us who believe, according to the might of His strength in which He wrought in Christ in raising Him from among the dead." That was the manifestation of Divine power, and in Heb. 13. 20 we are told that the great Shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, was brought again from among the dead by the God of peace in virtue of the blood of the eternal covenant, therefore the present care for us of our great and exalted Shepherd is based upon His atoning death at Calvary. The good Shepherd died to save us, the great Shepherd lives to care for us. Power is exercised on our behalf in love which has fully expressed itself in Christ Jesus, therefore He could assure us that no sheep of His can ever perish.

We have said that we have both protection and direction in the Shepherd, amidst the aboundings of evils and perils in Christendom to-day. Nothing but fatal callousness could make us entirely indifferent to them and to the provision of Divine love and power for us in Christ the great Shepherd of the sheep. Unless we feel the one we shall not appreciate the other. In any case the dangers exist, and God has not left us in ignorance concerning them. Let the one who carelessly wanders from the flock of God heed this word of the Holy Spirit before it be too late. "Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour"; also, "Men shall arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them." Violence and deception are both at work.

It is true that the one who abides in Christ can say, "I will fear no evil," but that is because he follows the Shepherd with the flock, and not that he is indifferent to what he does not fear. The Lord led Israel like a flock through the wilderness, but Amalek smote the hindmost of them. Our Lord Jesus Christ protects all His own to-day, but it must be remembered that a shepherd gathers the sheep together for this. They are a flock and they themselves flock together. That is in their very nature and it is proved in their so doing. We speak now of what is normal of course. This is specially true when the sheep have a sense of some peril at hand. A fox in a field is enough to cause them to run together; and, with the lambs inside the closed circle, they turn their faces to the foe. The wolf is used by the Lord in John 10 and by the apostle Paul in Acts 20 to illustrate the cruel nature of the men who trouble the flock of God to-day.

The danger from such is very real, they seize upon individuals wherever they can, and then proceed to scatter the sheep! The Shepherd cares for and gathers the sheep; the wolf troubles them and scatters them. The distinction may be easily observed by the feeblest lamb. Thieves are also spoken of so that we may be forewarned as to those who come for unrighteous gain. Such are ready to commit any act of deceit, violence or destruction to attain their selfish ends and to secure their ill-gotten spoils. The good Shepherd gives all for the sheep; these take all they can from them. He enriches them that they might be together in life and health; they enfeeble them. The hireling too is pointed out by the Lord as a cause of weakness; pay is pre-eminent in his thoughts; no Divine love has place in his heart; he does not truly care for the sheep, therefore he flees when danger appears. The good Shepherd dies for them, and as the great Shepherd He never leaves or forsakes them: the hireling flees at the sight of a foe and forsakes the flock he has no real love for, because he is no more and no less than an hireling.

In all this we learn the importance of simply trusting to the one Shepherd of the one flock. Protection is found in Him, and direction also. He not only preserves us, but He directs us to refreshing streams and nourishing pastures, where we can be built up together in our most holy faith and abide in the happy enjoyment of His unchanging love. Paul warned even elders of the danger of drawing away souls after themselves. The Lord directs us into the fields of Divine abundance, and care is needed lest any should turn the sheep from following Himself and from flocking together around Him.

Sheep Marks.

There are certain marks by which the sheep of our Lord Jesus Christ can be distinguished. Religion is no guarantee that we are His, for those to whom He said, "Ye are not of My sheep," were bigoted religionists, associated too with the place of Jehovah's name. It was in the temple when Jesus walked in the porch of Solomon, that He told these cold professors of religion this. "It was winter" in more senses than one. They were celebrating a religious feast, and they surrounded Him, asking questions of unbelief, and He to Whom their whole Bible pointed said, "Ye are not of My sheep." They were strangers to the faith which works by love. At heart they were unbelievers whatever their mental process of reasoning may have been.

In contrast to these the Son of God tells us what are the marks of His own sheep - "My sheep" as He calls them:

(1) They "hear My voice" (John 10: 27). His Word in the Gospel has reached them in the power of the Spirit, and in this way His voice has livingly become known to them.

(2) "I know them." There is nothing haphazard in this matter of eternal import. In view of the corruptions and imitations of the faith the real are comforted in 2 Tim. 2. 19 with this same fact: "The Lord knoweth them that are His."

(3) "They follow Me" He further says. This is encouraging for those who are perplexed by the rival claims of sects and parties and their leaders. The sheep of Christ simply follow the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and He gives them what none other could give, as He says,

(4) "I give them eternal life." We may be able to explain this gift in a very limited measure, but it is ours nevertheless and it is not simply life in eternal blessedness, for it involves also the knowledge of the Father and the Son.

(5) "They shall never perish." Tried as they may be on their journey to the Father's house, not one of the flock, however, can be lost, thank God, for Jesus said:

(6) "No one shall seize them out of My hand." The thief may come, the wolf may scatter, the hireling may flee, but the Shepherd's hand of omnipotence holds every one safely. Moreover,

(7) "No one can seize out of the hand of My Father." In the Son's hand we are perfectly safe, and in the Father's hand we are equally so we are doubly safe, if it be necessary so to express it, for we belong to both the Father and the Son.

In addition to these seven marks, we are told in verse 4, The sheep follow Him because they know His voice. A contrast is given in the next verse, which those who waste their own and others time and energies in dealing with the vapourings and teachings of strangers, would do well to consider: "They will not follow a stranger, but will flee from him, because they know not the voice of strangers." The importance of this should be thoroughly grasped. It may be said, Some have been known to follow evil teachers and leaders. But the Lord said His sheep do not follow them, and do not know them! On the other hand they flee from strangers. Those, therefore, who do follow them cannot be His sheep. We speak of course of what is characteristic, and not of some sudden impulse from which a true believer will be recovered. Rome educates its students as to what is considered error by that system, but Christ's sheep "know not" the voices of strangers, and it is a serious mistake to try to make them know, and to be wise as to such. Rather should we encourage and edify each other in that which is good, till we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, the great Shepherd of the sheep.

It is true that He knows all, and that they know Him as well as His voice, nevertheless they may increase in the knowledge of Himself, and this should be furthered. Knowledge has a great place in the 10th chapter of John as being true of the sheep of His pasture. Jesus said, "I am the good Shepherd and I know those that are Mine, and am known of those that are Mine, as the Father knows Me and I know the Father, and I lay down My life for the sheep." How blessed for the sheep to be gathered around the same glorious Object as that which fills the Father's heart with ineffable pleasure! He is enough our minds and hearts to fill! When He spoke to those who were not of His sheep, and told them that none could pluck any of His own sheep out of His hand nor out of His Father's hand, adding, "I and My Father are One," they took up stones to cast at Him! It is the grace of God which gives His own a different Spirit, and draws them together around the One they rejected, for, as we said before, sheep flock together. This is one of the important marks which must not be forgotten. There is something wrong when a sheep is seen alone by itself in the field.

Fold or Flock?

How are the sheep of Christ held together? The question is one of momentous importance. It has been raised in various forms and terms for long centuries, and ecclesiastical conflicts have furiously raged in regard to it times without number. The question may have been put in a scholarly manner or in a simple upright fashion, and arguments may have been advanced with the display of erudition or in the forcefulness begotten by the sense of right against wrong; nevertheless, the matter to be settled is simply this, Are Christ's sheep held together by ecclesiastical hurdles in an organized fold, or simply as a flock under the hand of the omnipotent Shepherd? Many subtle disputations may be advanced according to the tendencies and inclinations of those who enunciate them and the quality of their abilities to reason them out, for we are Divinely informed, "God made man upright, but He has sought out many "abstruse reasonings" as the word "inventions" is better translated; and, seeing that this is so, the more trustfully we bow to God's own Word regarding this important matter the safer shall we be; for true safety lies only in accepting what the Word of God says as to it. The arguments of the human mind with its varied bias — whether against or apparently for that which we are told in the Bible — have proved themselves to be untrustworthy, and in some cases their prejudicial dogmas have become hateful even to the most tolerant of men, and despicable to the most considerate.

Influenced probably by the idea that a fold was an absolute necessity for sheep the translators rendered John 10: 16, "one fold, one Shepherd," whereas it is now well known to be "one flock, one Shepherd." The two ideas are quite different. The first makes the Shepherd insufficient for the flock; the second simply states His all-sufficiency. The wrong translation has always been an enormous stronghold of the Romish system, and it is still the plea of sectarian ecclesiastics where ignorance of the Word prevails. One said to a servant of Christ known to me, "You must have a fold." "Very well," answered my friend, "have your fold," and now read John 10: 3, where we are told, the Lord Jesus Christ "calls His own sheep by name and leadeth them out"! What have you left in your fold after He does that? Not one of His sheep! Doubtless the fold refers to the religious system of Judaism, but the principle of out-calling remains; the very word translated church, ecclesia, means that! Ever since the out-call of Abraham, God has acted in that way.

When the apostasy and corruptions of Christendom, foretold in Scripture, reach their organized fruition in Babylon the great, it is imperatively commanded by a voice out of heaven, "Come out of her, My people, that ye have not fellowship in her sins" (Rev. 18. 4)! God's people so addressed are doubtless Jews. They are properly "His people," and the flock of God, the assembly, will have been previously translated from earth to heaven like Enoch of old. We speak, however, of the principle; and before that day, even now, we are instructed to separate from iniquity and vessels to dishonour, so as to flock together after the Lord Himself (even as we read in 2 Tim. 2) and "pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." Unless we had the Word of God for all this we should be in a fearful dilemma, but He has given us in the Bible all the guidance we need, and His grace is abundant, while the great Shepherd is sufficient for the flock without man-made folds. It was an earnest preacher, in whose name a large fold was made after his death, who himself said, "Let names and sects and parties fall, and Jesus Christ be all in all." He is enough for the flock truly.

Faith is required to accept this, but what have we without faith? By faith we stand! Christ dwells in our hearts by faith! Without faith it is impossible to please Him! Folds suit those who walk by sight. They are pleasing to men who prefer lifeless forms to living energies, and to those who choose legal rules instead of the Spirit's power. Even in the addresses to the seven assemblies in Rev. 2, 3, those who have ears to hear are bidden to heed what is said to all seven, wherein are found self pleasing, Christ exclusion, dead profession, worldliness, immorality, and satanic doctrines and practises. Faith and the Spirit's enabling are necessary therefore to follow that which is according to God's will when such iniquity abounds in Christendom. God, however, has foretold it all for the preservation and guidance of the flock of His pasture, so that they may still follow the Lord together without distraction.

Each one may still say to the Lord the great Shepherd of the sheep, "Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." In spite of the evils we have named, they may still rejoice that their cup runs over, as they follow Him together. Nothing will ever force Him to give up those for whom He suffered, bled and died. None can pluck them from His hand or from the Father's hand. Each one can look forward to the end of the journey with confidence and say, "I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

Then shall we see His face

With all the saints above,

And sing for ever of His grace,

For ever of His love."

One Flock.

We pointed out that just as in the epistle to the Ephesians we have the truth of the mystery made known, that those whom God calls out from both Jews and Gentiles become one body in Christ, "joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of His promise in Christ Jesus by the Gospel" (Eph. 3. 6), so in John 10 we have the same truth made known in relation to the one flock, for we are told that our Lord Jesus Christ leads "His own sheep" out of the Jewish fold, and brings the "other sheep which are not of this fold," but who hear His voice when He calls, and consequently there is one flock formed of both over which He is the one Shepherd. Each figure gives us the truth of the oneness of the saints in life and nature, the former, however, being a corporate oneness, whereas the latter is collective. Both, however, are vital, and remain true notwithstanding the failure which was foretold and which is so evident in Christendom.

Now although each figure involves oneness, and also as another has expressed it togetherness, nevertheless the idea of religious organization is foreign to both, for the body is an organism with all its members vitally united together, and a flock is made up of sheep who because of their very nature flock together. An organization may lose many of its members and yet remain intact, but this is not so with the body of Christ. A fold would still be a fold even if the sheep were outside of it and only goats remain within; the one flock of Christ is not a fold nor goats of His flock. Some say, "True there is one flock but there are many folds." Yes, there are many folds, but there is no instruction given in the Bible for men to make them. The flock is the result of the work of God Himself. What would happen if man-made hurdles were thrown down? The sheep would flock together after the Lord alone.

Others say, "See how the sheep are scattered! Look at the divisions in Christianity! You must have a fold to hold them together!" Such reasoning is common enough amongst earnest and well-meaning men, but it is very bad reasoning all the same. Nor has the oft-tried remedy of the fold proved successful. It has turned out contrariwise: it has hurdled off sheep from sheep and helped forward the scattering. Moreover the scattering was foretold by the Lord in John 10, and in the same chapter He told us what was the only remedy - Himself, the Shepherd of the sheep. His voice is heard, He brings them together, He knows His own sheep, they know their Shepherd, His hand and the Father's hand hold all safely, and one flock without a fold is divinely secure.

The Old Testament indicates the same thing. Ezek. 34 speaks of the sheep of that day being scattered, but the Lord said, I will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. I will feed them. I will save My flock and they shall be no more a prey, and "I will set up one Shepherd over them and He shall feed them" (23). "Ye, My flock, the flock of My pasture are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God" (31.) There was no one shepherding them, for those that should have done so "fed themselves and fed not the flock." Just as in our day, however, there were not only those who fed themselves, but those that scattered the flock abroad, and the Lord Himself alone could gather the sheep. In the history of Christendom this process of scattering has been in evidence from the days of the apostles, not that the Lord ever ceases to care for His flock; nevertheless ruthless men have fulfilled His words in this work of cruelty under the guise of zeal and religion. Nevertheless the "one flock" is always in the care of the Lord. He watches over them all and the feeblest is not overlooked by Him. The flock may suffer from direct enemies, self-seekers and false friends - this was foretold by the Lord - but in Him they have all that is necessary for them.

In Jer. 31, the chapter of the "new thing" and "the new covenant," whilst not excusing the bad men who have scattered the sheep of Israel, the Lord shows that He has Himself been behind it all for good, and calls to the nations to see that they are not out of His care, saying, "He that scattered Israel will gather him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Israel and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. Therefore shall they come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd; and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all." They shall "flow together!" Take the hurdles away! that is what the one flock will do! Let the scatterers cease their scattering! The sheep will flow together to the goodness of the Lord! The good Shepherd knows His own sheep and they know Him. Let the hindrances disappear, and the liberated sheep - the one flock as we have said - will happily flow together and flock around the One who gave His life for the sheep.

There is but one flock, and they bear the sheep marks we have spoken of. Even though the sheep be scattered there is still the one flock. They may be distressed and suffer, as we have seen, but they do not seek the hurt of others. It is not God's mind, however, that the sheep should be separated from each other, but that they should be together. We see this in the truth of Christ and the assembly as well as in the Shepherd and the flock. We are to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace, for there is one body and one Spirit. The sheep are to follow the Shepherd together, and it is natural for them to do so, because of their life and nature. Moreover, in view of the approaching day of the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ we are exhorted not to forsake the "complete assembling" of ourselves together.

"I know my sheep."

We are writing that the saints of God may be encouraged to gather together according to the truth, that they may meet in assembly and know the Lord Himself in their midst. It is always possible, of course, that goats and hirelings and even a thief may be present, but the sheep have protection and direction in the great Shepherd. They look to Him. They follow Him. Moreover in Ezek. 34. He says, "I will judge between cattle and cattle, and I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them" (22). This principle of the Lord judging His people is found all through the Bible. In Hebrews 10 from which we have already quoted, it is stated again in verse 30. The exercises through which we pass are to educate us to simply trust in Him.

Those who belong to the Father and the Son find rest in the knowledge of the omniscience of the great Shepherd. He knows His own sheep: He knows their names; He knows themselves. This truth is given for our comfort and direction also in 2 Tim. 2, as we have pointed out. There may be false doctrines taught, unrighteousness practised, and vessels of dishonour at hand, nevertheless "the Lord knoweth them that are His"; the foundation of God standeth sure. Therefore, in spite of others, the real are exhorted to follow that which is good "with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." The pure or sincere heart in calling on the Lord characterizes the true sheep, and it is the Lord Himself upon whom they together call. Therefore let such be found in assembly around Him according to the Word of God. We cannot correct others mistakes, but surely the sheep can follow their Shepherd together instead of being hurdled off from one another or led astray by biased men.

Nor must we be hindered when some turn away to the mire of the world, for Scripture supposes this. They may have been washed in the waters of religion, figuratively speaking, and remain still unclean in their nature. The sheep are clean animals, but some are not sheep, they are unclean. 2 Peter 2. 22 speaks of such turning back like a dog to his own unclean vomit, or like a washed sow to her rolling in the mud. These things are foretold so that we should not be deterred from going on together after our Lord Jesus Christ, growing in grace and in the knowledge of Himself, and finding all we need and more in Him, ever remembering that He knows His own perfectly. The foreknowledge of God overlooked none of the sheep of Christ. They were "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father," and, indeed, they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1: 4). So perfect is the Divine knowledge of the flock, we read, "Whom He has foreknown, He has also predestinated to he conformed to the image of His Son, so that He should be the Firstborn among many brethren." That is the end in view, for from eternity to eternity they are known to Him. "But," this Scripture reads on, "whom He has predestinated these He has also called." The time arrived when the call of grace reached each one, and that in an effectual manner.

From this time a work of Divine grace and power in the sheep gives them a nature and capability to know the great Shepherd, the Son of God. He said, "I know My sheep and am known of Mine." blessed this is. They know His voice and they know Himself. One could say, The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me. The good Shepherd gave His life for the sheep, and they know Him. They know not the voice of strangers, and they do not follow them, for they have the Lord Jesus Christ to follow. Twice in John 10 He says, I am the good Shepherd. First in connection with laying down His life, and then as to what He is in Himself (John 11: 14). Outwardly in His work, and inwardly in Himself, He is good. The sheep have tasted indeed that the Lord is good, and they know Him.

The character of this knowledge or intimacy is also exceedingly blessed, for the Lord Jesus said, I know My sheep and am known of those that are Mine, "as the Father knows Me and I know the Father" (N.T.). How wonderful! Of course this does not state the measure of the intimacy which exists between the sheep and the Shepherd, for they could never reach to the same measure that exists between the Father and the Son, nevertheless it is true that the same character of intimacy is theirs with Him. Great indeed are the grace and power and love which brought this about and made it known to us. To know the Son of God, the great and good Shepherd of the flock as the Father knows Him and He knows the Father! Who could have imagined such exalted blessedness? - yet so it is! - the sheep of His flock know Him thus! We might have said with one of old, Such knowledge is too wonderful for me! but His grace and power and love have produced by God's Word and Spirit a nature in the sheep divinely fitted for this marvellous privilege. The knowledge of God's things and God's Word has a great place in the Bible, and the word "know" often occurs in John 10, but what can compare with that of which we have spoken?

Lord Jesus Christ, what grace is this,

Which gives our hearts to know

The Fountain of eternal love

Whence living waters flow?

The Father's well beloved Son,

Wellspring of grace divine,

Thou giv'st our hearts to know Thyself

And we are ever Thine.

In closing may we not challenge our hearts and ask, Do we respond to the grace and love which have made us one with all the saints of God? Do we meet often in assembly with our fellow-members of the body of which our Lord Jesus Christ is the glorious Head? Do we flock together with the sheep of God's pasture? Do we seek to be completely assembled together as the day of Christ's return draws nigh? In simple words, Do we walk according to the truth that there is one body? Do we gather in the truth that there is but one flock? Do we put into practise the truth of the mystery that all the saints are "fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and joint-partakers of His promise in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 3. 6)?

Eph. 2. 21.

"In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord."

In the previous part of the epistle, the Christians - Jew and Gentile are looked at as the one body of Christ, "the fulness of Him that filleth all in all" - that is to say, it looks at the Christians in their heavenly association.

But in the verse before us we have the Christians looked at as "an holy temple in the Lord." The figure is changed. This sets before us the great truth of God dwelling in the midst of His people on this earth. But not only does God dwell but the word temple carries the thought of a shrine, a dwelling place indeed, but connected with the thought of holiness, because of who it is that dwells. It becomes a sanctuary, a sphere of priestly activity, a place of worship - a place made by the persons who compose it, not by stones and mortar. "God . . . dwelleth not in temples made with hands" (Acts 17. 24).

It is this thought that is so largely not recognized nor acted upon by Christians. The building is "fitly framed together," that is, Christians are not so many individuals, who can pick and choose their associations, but God sets us in relation one to another with the view of being His dwelling place on earth.

The apostle Peter runs parallel with this when he writes: "Ye also as lively [living] stones are built up a spiritual house" (1 Peter 2. 5). One stone cannot make a building, nor do stones choose their own place. Each stone finds its place according to the mind of the Divine Architect.

This idea runs right through Scripture. Did God redeem Israel out of Egypt simply to relieve them of intolerable bondage? Nay, it was to bring them to Himself, and even the tents of the "common" people had to be pitched in a certain order round the tabernacle, and holiness became them in their ways.

Did God demand the half shekel of silver - the redemption money, when He numbered the people, and that was an end of it? Nay, the half shekels produced over one hundred talents of silver which was used in connection with the tabernacle, principally as sockets for the boards, again emphasizing the same truth.

There is great energy as to appropriating personal blessings, if we may so put it, and great activity in serving others, in Gospel effort, whether in home or missionary spheres (would there were still more of this), but if Christians generally sought to enter into the sense of God dwelling in their midst, of taking up what is, after all, the highest privilege of the Christian, that of their priesthood, how different things would be. Service in other directions would not lose, but infinitely gain. It is this taking and maintaining of assembly ground that is of such vast importance.

We have no choice in this. The responsibility is ours, whether we like it or not, but in taking it up we find that our privilege is so immense that responsibility becomes a matter of joy. A married man has responsibilities towards his wife, but if these were irksome and distressing it would speak little for his love. If love is as it should be his responsibility is his privilege, his joy, his delight. So with divine things.

Lastly the building "groweth." Grow is a word that is only rightly applicable to that which has life. A child grows, a plant grows. In all its stages a child, a plant is complete; development may add size, and qualities latent in the child or plant become patent, but we never think of either at any stage as incomplete. So God's temple is ever looked at as complete, yet growing; but surely the end is in view when the last stone shall be added, when the whole ransomed church of God, whether as we say triumphant or militant, whether the saints are passed away or living, shall be caught up by the summoning shout in the air, and God shall be still in the midst of His people.

It is not a little remarkable that whilst the word "temple" is used in Rev. 21. 22 in connection with the church in millennial display when we come to the fixed eternal state we get the word "tabernacle." "Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people" (Rev. 21. 3). The last glimpse we have is that of God dwelling among His people for eternity. May we anticipate that day by seeking to take up the Divine thoughts even now, so giving God and His Word in this connection a true practical place in our lives. What a change in association this would make with multitudes of Christians.

A. J. Pollock.

Ministry for the Church of God

Ministry for the Church of God.

Addresses and Readings on Various Scripture Subjects. If anyone can give a date for this series of meetings please inform STEM - it would seem to be between 1918 and 1935.

Edinburgh: J. K. Souter & Co., 2 & 3 Bristo Place.

Contents.

Christ and the Bride — Hamilton Smith

Christ Jesus our Hope — H. J. Vine

"Waters to swim in" — J. C. Trench

The Path of God's Pleasure — Inglis Fleming

The Claims of God — Jas. Boyd

Prosperity and Power — W. Bramwell Dick

The Mind of Christ — A. G. Taylor

The Fellowship of God's Son — J. T. Mawson

Companying with Christ — James McBroom

Setting Forward — S. Elvin Aziz

Faithful Men — Wm. H. Westcott

The Lord's Twofold Claim upon you — John T. Mawson

The Love of Christ — James Green

Christ Magnified — F. B. Hole

Reconciliation — H. J. Vine

Notes of Readings —

Ephesians 1

Ephesians 2 & 3

Ephesians 4

Ephesians 5

Ephesians 6

Editors' Notes.

Gatherings for Reading and Ministry of the Word were held in the Assembly Hall, Edinburgh, in the Autumn.

Large numbers attended and all realised the Lord's presence, and felt the power with the words spoken. A general wish was expressed that the ministry then enjoyed should be available for not only those who were present, but specially for others who were not so privileged, and the present volume is issued in answer to this desire.

Shorthand notes were taken by two Christian friends and after revisal are now sent forth with the earnest hope that glory may be brought to the Lord therefrom, and blessing to His saints.

In some cases addresses delivered will not be found here, no notes having been made of some of the earlier meetings.

The remarks of various brothers are embodied in the questions asked and the answers given, in the Notes of Readings. And it is to be observed that some statements are included in order that they may have fuller consideration, the editors not taking responsibility for every opinion expressed. All must be judged by the Word of God.

Inglis Fleming, Robert Whyte.

Christ and the Bride.

(Revelation xxii. 16-21).

Hamilton Smith.

In these verses we have the formal conclusion to the Book of Revelation and the fitting close to the whole Word of God. Three great themes are presented: ? First, and foremost, the Lord Jesus is personally brought before our souls; then we have the Church in relation to Christ as the Bride; and finally, we have a gospel message to the wide world. It is of these great subjects I would speak a few words.

I think it is clear, from Scripture, that at the end of every dispensation the ministry the Spirit of God brings before the Lord's people is one that, in a special way, directs the eye and heart to Christ Himself. In this connection I would refer to John the Baptist. It was said of John that he should be great in the eyes of the Lord, and what constituted him great would be the fact that many of the children of Israel would "he turn to the Lord their God." Other prophets had turned the people back to the law they had transgressed, to the Sabbath they had broken, to the sacrifices they had neglected, or to the Temple they had desecrated, but when John the Baptist came the nation had entirely broken down, and the dispensation was about to end. Hence he turns their hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ ? the One that was coming. And so John, the Evangelist, having presented the ruin of the Church in responsibility at the beginning of the Revelation, turns our hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ ? the One that is coming at the end of the Revelation.

In the course of this Book there pass before us many wonderful visions of coming glories ? the glory of the Millennium, the glory of the new heaven and the new earth, and the glories of the holy city ? but finally we are left alone with JESUS. What indeed would all these glories be without Jesus, beloved brethren? And how should we reach these glories or get through this wilderness world without Jesus? So at last these visions of coming glories pass away, and we are left alone with Him. He Himself speaks. As it is written, so blessedly, "I JESUS."

In the course of this Book, angels have spoken, trumpets have sounded, the voice of a great multitude has been heard, but when all are silent, Jesus speaks. He must have the last word. Hence this closing passage begins with the words, "I Jesus," and it must touch our hearts that the Lord presents Himself by His personal name "Jesus." In the Revelation, the Lord passes before us under many titles, presenting His varied dignities, as King of kings and Lord of lords, as the Word of God, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, but at the close we come to the Name that is above every name, the name "JESUS." The name that is individually so precious to all our hearts. And may we not say that of all the Names He wears there is none so precious to His heart? It was the one name He had to die to make good. Had He not died He still would have been the King of kings and Lord of lords, and the other titles would have been His, but if He is to wear the name of Jesus ? the Saviour ? He must go to the Cross to verify it. It is the name He came into the world with, Thou shalt call His name JESUS." It is the name He passed out of the world with, for over the Cross it was written, "This is JESUS." It is the name He ascended to glory with, for the angels said to the disciples, "This same JESUS, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner." And it is the name He still wears in glory to-day, for in this last passage He is speaking from the glory and says, "I JESUS."

Moreover, the Lord presents Himself in three different ways, first as "the Root" of David; then as "the Offspring" of David; and lastly, as "the Bright and Morning Star." Not only is He the Offspring of David, but He is the Root of David. Solomon was indeed the offspring of David, but never could it be said of Solomon that he was the root of David. As the Root He is the source of all vitality and life; the One that secures a life of blessing for God's people, whether earthly or heavenly. Job can say, "There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again . . . though the root thereof wax old in the earth . . . yet through the scent of water it will bud and bring forth fruit." So Israel as a tree has been cut down, but the root remains, and hence final blessing is secured for Israel and the world.

Moreover, Christ is the Offspring of David. He is God's anointed King, the Heir to the throne. The world's great aim is to get rid of all thought of God, and His King, in order that man's will may be carried out without restraint. Nevertheless, God says, "Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion." As the Root of David He is the source of all blessing, and as the Offspring of David He inherits all the kingdoms of the world, and secures the blessing.

But further, Christ is seen as the Bright and Morning Star, and as such He is presented in relation to the Church. The Old Testament closes by presenting the Lord Jesus as Sun of Righteousness, but at the close of the New Testament He is presented as the Morning Star. The day is coming when the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings. He will chase away the darkness and end the sorrows of earth, and as such the world will see Him, but they will never see the Bright and Morning Star. When the sun arises the stars go out. It is the privilege of the waiting Church to know Christ as the Bright and Morning Star before He shines forth as the Sun of Righteousness.

Three passages of Scripture present the Lord as the Morning Star. First in 2 Peter i: 19, we read, "We have also a more sure word of prophecy , whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." Peter wrote his epistle in a dark day. He warns of the approaching apostasy. He sees that men will arise who will deny the Lord that bought them. But, in the presence of these false prophets, Peter reminds us that we have the "sure word of prophecy" to guide us as "a light that shineth in a dark place." But he tells us that we have more, for we have the "Day Star," and there is a great difference between prophecy and the Day Star. Prophecy is like a lantern; it lights up the darkness; but the Day Star does a great deal more, it tells us that the day is coming. The Morning Star is the harbinger of the coming day. Prophecy exposes the condition of things around, and warns us that judgment is coming upon all the evil, but the Day Star tells us that the day of glory is coming. The end of all prophecy is this, to bring all to see that Christ is the only hope, and so link the heart with Him as the coming One. Prophecy, tells us the hopelessness of everything here, and fixes our hopes and affections upon Christ, and when this end is reached, prophecy has done its work and the Day Star has arisen in our hearts.

Then there is a second passage that speaks of the Morning Star. In Revelation ii. 28, we hear the Lord speaking of it to the overcomer in Thyatira, I will give him the Morning Star." All spiritual and moral darkness is found in Thyatira, but the overcomer has the light of the Morning Star. Before this, the Lord said to the overcomer, "To him I give power over the nations." But if this were all that He gave would it satisfy the heart? Even if you had power to rule over others would it satisfy? No, indeed! And so the Lord says, as it were, "I will give him something else, not only power over others, but I will give him an object that will have power over him, will give him the Morning Star." Nothing will satisfy us in truth but an absorbing object that holds the heart by the power of love, and there is no object in all the great universe of God that is great enough to absorb our affections and hold our hearts but JESUS, the One that is coming ? the Morning Star.

Then when we come to the last passage (in Revelation xxii. 16), we have a word added. Not only is the Lord Jesus the Morning Star, but He is presented here as "the Bright and Morning Star." And when we see Him as the coming One, our only hope ? the One who alone can set the Church right, Israel right, and the world right ? then indeed, the Bright and Morning Star has arisen in our hearts.

Passing now to the next great truth in this passage, we see the immediate result of this beautiful presentation of Christ is that the Church comes into view in an exceedingly interesting way, for here the Church is spoken of as the Bride, as we read, "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come." This is the proper response of the Church under the control of the Spirit to the presentation of Christ as the Bright and Morning Star.

It is important to remember the different ways in which the Church is viewed in Scripture. First it is presented as the Body of Christ, then as the House of God, and lastly as the Bride of Christ.

Much has been said of the Church as the Body of Christ and as the House of God ? and rightly so, of course ? but it would almost seem that the aspect of the Church viewed as the Bride of Christ has been somewhat overlooked.

It is interesting to recall how the truth of God has been reinstated to us. We all know how that great vessel Martin Luther was used in the early part of the sixteenth century to restore the great truth of justification by faith: then in the early part of the last century, there was the gracious recovery of the true Scriptural thought of the Church. In that revival of truth the first aspect of the Church that came before God's people was that of the Body of Christ. Later in the century the Church as the House of God came more prominently into view. But if we read the written ministry of those days, I think we shall find comparatively little as to the Church seen as the Bride of Christ, and I would suggest that possibly the Holy Spirit has waited for these last days, just before the Lord's return, to give greater prominence to this aspect of the Church.

When we think of the Church as the Body of Christ, we should probably all admit that the leading thought is, that in it the fulness of the Head is to be set forth. For this thought we should turn to the closing verses of Ephesians i., where we read of Christ the Head, and "the Church which is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in". In the Church as the Body of Christ there will be the full setting forth of the fulness of the Head.

Then, as the House of God, we know the Church, as such, is said to be the pillar and base of the truth and in it God dwells that through it He might make Himself known in grace to the world.

But when we think of the Church as the Bride of Christ there comes before us the amazing thought that, in the Church, God has purposed to secure an object that is entirely suited for, and worthy of the love of Christ. We do well to pause and take in this great thought. We can easily see that in the Lord Jesus there has been disclosed to us an object that is suited to, and worthy of all the love He will ever receive from His people, but the wonder is, that in the Bride God secures a people that will be perfectly suited to, and worthy of, the love of Christ: It is not simply that He is the object for the satisfaction of our hearts, but that in the Church viewed as the Bride there is found an object for the satisfaction of His heart.

As the outcome of the purpose of God, and on the ground of the death of Christ, God can take up lost creatures such as we were, and so mould and shape and form us that at last we can be presented to Christ all glorious, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, perfectly suited for Christ to love, and hence, an object in which His heart will find eternal satisfaction ? "He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied." This, as I understand it, is the great thought in the Church viewed as the Bride.

As showing the importance of this aspect of the Church, it is deeply interesting to see that it is the first view of the Church that is presented in picture in the Old Testament. We know that in the formation of the woman and the presentation of Eve to Adam, as recorded in the second chapter of Genesis, we have a picture of Christ and the Church. We are left in no uncertainty as to this for the apostle Paul quotes Genesis ii. 24, in Ephesians v. 31, and immediately adds, "This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church,"

And mark, brethren, this picture of the Church as the Bride of Christ comes into view before the fall brought sin and death into the world: That is to say, the instant creation was completed God says, as it were, "I will tell you the great secret of My heart, I will tell you why I have brought this creation into being, I am going to secure out of it an object to satisfy the heart of Christ." It gives us a sense of the importance of the Church, viewed as the Bride of Christ, in the mind of God when we see that Genesis opens with the Bride and Revelation closes with the Bride. In Genesis we have the Bride in picture and in Revelation the Bride in fact. With this thought God brought the creation into being, and throughout the long ages God has never given up His thought; and here at last, in spite of all ruin and failure on the part of man, we see the Bride at the close of the dispensation coming into view, and according to the mind of God, for she is seen controlled by the Holy Spirit on earth, with her affections set upon Christ in heaven: presented at the end of her wilderness journey alone with the Holy Spirit looking up to Christ in the glory and saying, "Come."

Thus this closing passage of the Word of God first presents Christ and His glories, and then the Church as the Bride in right relation to Christ. And when the Bride can say "Come" to Christ she is ready to turn to the world around and say, Come." And first she turns to those that hear. "Let him that heareth say, "Come." The fact that they hear is a proof that they are believers, but that they are invited to say "Come" would show that they are not in the conscious joy of bridal relations to Christ. Then the witness is borne to those who are "athirst," Needy souls who would fain partake of the blessing, but doubt the grace of Christ. To such the Bride can say, "You are welcome, Come." Finally, there is the world-wide gospel appeal, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely," The Lord Jesus "gave Himself a ransom for all," and hence He has the right to appeal to all. The invitation is to "whosoever will," Should it not touch our hearts that the last message that comes from the lips of the Lord Jesus is a message of grace from Christ in glory to a needy world.

Then we have two solemn verses ? solemn for all of us, but so intensely solemn, in view of the attacks of the Modernists upon the Word of God. We write numerous books and pamphlets seeking to expose in detail this terrible evil, but God will not stoop to argue with such: He dismisses them with two verses. They may deny every vital truth of Christianity, but in so doing they "take away from the words of the Book," and this alone seals their doom.

Then, in response to the Spirit and the Bride saying "Come," "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly," And if, beloved brethren, our hearts are turned to Christ, if we think of Him as He presents Himself to us in His personal name of JESUS, if we think of Him as the Root and Offspring of David, if we know Him as the Bright and Morning Star ? the Harbinger of the day of glory ? then surely our hearts will respond, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus "

Finally, we have the closing touching words, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints." And we need these words, for though the Lord is coming quickly, yet He may tarry for an hour, a week, a month, a year, even a few years; but be it so, we shall have the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with us until the end. And this grace is "for all the saints," for thus it should read. It is not simply with "you all," which might confine the grace to some particular company; it is for every saint on earth. And if the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with us, we shall find that whatever difficulties or trials we may have to face, His grace will be sufficient. Hence, when we read, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints," we can surely add from our hearts, "Amen,"

"Christ Jesus Our Hope."

H. J. Vine.

When you pray, dear brethren, about a meeting, and in the presence of God are led to read and consider the very two Scriptures that have already been read in your hearing, and unknown to yourself, the other servant labouring with you has also been led to the same Scriptures, would you then allow yourself to be turned away to some other Word to speak from, or would you conclude that the Spirit of God desires to have these themes specially brought before us to-night? I feel it is to be the latter, so I will read from the same chapters and present them perhaps from another aspect.

First of all, 2 Peter i. 16-21; Revelation xxii. 7, 12, 20 to end. When speaking of a theme like this, beloved brethren, conscious as we are of the near return of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is necessary for us to have the Scriptures themselves as the basis of all we say concerning our blessed Lord and His coming again, and not that which might rise in our own imagination. We find Peter is conscious of what men would say in the latter days, ? that many of these things are fables ? that many of these things are invented by pious-minded men ? but the apostle here assures us that they had not followed "cunningly devised fables." They had given to them a vision of the kingdom glory, as well as the glory of Christ's relationship with the Father. This confirmed to them the prophetic Scriptures. But he desired us to understand there is nothing fabulous about it at all. Moreover, beloved brethren, in these last days how good it is for us to be brought back to the inspired Volume, and discern what we can speak of so surely as that which the Spirit saith. Having the Spirit of God dwelling in us we can reverently approach the writings of the Spirit, and having the capability given by the Spirit to understand these writings, we shall not be shaken by the attacks of men against them. I thought as the closing words of the Book were brought before us to-night, what an encouragement it is to all true believers to see the golden threads of divine truth appearing all through, from Genesis to Revelation. We have the thoughts of God in connection with Christ and the Church set forth in that marvellous type of Adam going into the deep sleep and the rib taken from his side. Then we behold the woman who is to share with him in his supremacy over all. Thus we see in Adam and Eve a type of Christ and the Assembly! the "great mystery" (Ephesians v. 32)! bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh! And then, as we pass through the marvellous Volume and come to the close of Revelation, we see Christ and the Church in glory. There she is ? the Bride, the Lamb's wife; and she is the outcome of His own death, of His going into the deep sleep, but now sharing in His supremacy.

But if you look again at the Genesis of the Book of Inspiration, and behold Isaac with his father, a type of Christ risen, who had been received back from the altar, in figure from death, and now there he is with his father! The nameless servant goes to the distant land, between the two rivers (after having taken counsel with the father of Isaac, swearing with his hand under his thigh) faithfully carrying out his mission, bring back one who was to share in the position, wealth, and love of Isaac. Isaac did nothing save receive her as the result of the father's counsel and as the result of the work of the nameless servant, pre-figuring the Holy Spirit. And, as we travel on in the Book, we find at the close the Bride of Christ, not only as the outcome of His death, but also of eternal counsel and of the Spirit's mission on earth.

Now let us observe another fact in Genesis. Look at Jacob, the servant. For the one who was to share with him, he serves; but the seven years of toil were only as a few days to him for the great love he bore to her: and, oh! brethren, let us be careful when we speak of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, or His death, and not speak of it simply as tasting the article of death. He had to toil, He had to suffer, and oh what He endured tongue cannot tell. He even died to make us His own. He served that He might have us with Him, but He went through it with a heart full of love for us, and all His toil, we may reverently say, was undertaken willingly for the great love He had to us, and for the joy which was set before Him. And so we see the Church sharing with Him in the glory as shown in Revelation xxi., where John is taken up to a great and high mountain to behold the heavenly City, the Bride, the Lamb's Wife.

But, beloved brethren, there are other aspects. Let us go a little further back. Let us begin where we did this afternoon. God causes the light to shine out of the darkness, when the Spirit had moved upon the face of the deep, ? God said; "Let there be light," and light was. Then when you follow the light right through to the end of the Bible in Revelation, again you find the glorious day reached when the light will be that of the glory of God, and the Church, the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, will be fully capable then of radiating that light to the nations on the earth, so that all the nations will walk by that light which streams from the Church in glory. It should not read quite "the nations of them which are saved," but simply, "the nations shall walk by its light," because it will be a question of the millennial blessing, and the nations set up in proper governmental order. God will cause the light for guidance and government, to shine from the glorified Church in heaven. We, brethren, have a wonderful day before us! Would to God, while rejoicing in the marvellous grace that has taken us up to be the associates of the Lord in His glory, that meanwhile, it might take such a hold on us that we might go through this little time of schooling here as diligent scholars, learning our lessons well, knowing that the trial of our faith will be found in that day to praise and honour and glory. Oh, that we might keep so near the Lord, that we might not lose the lessons we should learn in our present pathway in view of the glory to come.

Again let us refer to Genesis. God made Paradise, where Adam and Eve were placed, but soon to that Paradise sin and death came, and the whole thing was spoiled; on the other hand, the thoughts of God are not going to fall to the ground. Travel again to the close of the Book. There is the Church in glory, and there the Tree of Life is seen in the midst of the Paradise of God. No sceptical scholar need come and tell me that the Book is not inspired. We find out by the Spirit what God has before His mind and as we read through the Bible we find that everything eventually comes out it, magnificence and glory in "Christ and the Church."

A river flowed out in four main streams from the Paradise in Eden, but sin spoiled it. Those flowing waters were soon tainted through man's corruption and fall. But come once more to the last chapter of God's Book and there is "Christ and the Church." The City, the Paradise and the Tree of Life are there, and the water of life is seen flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb, which is now set in the heavenly Jerusalem, there firmly and stably fixed for ever, and forth flows the river of the Water of Life, blessed be God, as pure and bright as crystal. Not one thought of God will ever fail. All will come out in abiding glory and splendour, and, praise God for His grace, we are going to be there! As the outcome of His death; Christ shall have His Body and His Bride with Him in glory. As the outcome of the Father's counsel, the Son's completed service, and the Holy Spirit's coming. Christ shall have us there with Him. It is a grand thing to look onward in faith!

Nothing cheers my heart so much as the precious word which comes after. In that day of glory His servants shall still serve Jesus. There will be no weariness in it and we shall not be groaning in bodies of humiliation then. We shall be like Him, and to serve Him will be the joy of our hearts. His servants will still serve Him, but it is this which is so cheering, "We shall see His face." What a sight! ? To see the face of Jesus! That Name is sweeter to us to-night, I am sure, after what we have heard than ever it was! "I, Jesus," Jesus! Did it not bring the knowledge of forgiveness of sins to us at the beginning? Why was He called Jesus, Jehovah-Saviour? Because He should save His people from their sins; and, thank God, before He saves His own people, Jehovah's people, before He saves Israel, He has saved us! "It is a faithful saying," says Paul to Timothy, and don't let us lose sight of it, ? "and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Through that Name, blessed be God, is preached the forgiveness of sins; and we love that word where He does not say, "your sins are forgiven you because you believe, or because you trusted in the Lord," ? but, "Your sins are forgiven you for His Name's sake." For the Name's sake of Jesus: Just as if God said, "I could not but forgive your sins for the Name's sake of Him who has glorified Me.

Some of us tried all sorts of things to get salvation ? religion, reformation, good works, etc., ? but one day we discovered the fact that God's Word is true when it says, "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts iv. 12). I heard of a man teaching that salvation is in the Church. There may be preservation in some measure for those already saved, but salvation is in none other than Jesus, as this Scripture tells us. Paul said, "Salvation is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy ii. 10).

How sweet is the name of Jesus! Right at the close we hear Him say to our hearts ? to the heart of the Assembly ? "I Jesus," recalling us to Himself and assuring us of His great, present, personal care of us. That name is our standard, too, for service. It is good to meet servants who go forth for the Name, taking nothing of the Gentiles (3 John 7). There are some away in South America, in Africa, and in other lands; some in Spain, in Portugal, and other countries; aye, and some in Britain, going forth "for the Name." Not lowering the standard, not begging from the unconverted! It is their honour, and joy too, to honour "the Name." They reverence and love it: They think too much of it to use it for begging from unconverted men! If one is here unconverted, my advice is, get saved to-night! Trust Jesus now! Then you can put your hand as deep in your pocket as you wish, and you will have the honour of "giving to the Lord" ? of giving to Him through whose Name forgiveness and salvation are received! The Name to be owned by all eventually.

The knees of all the intelligences in heaven and on earth shall yet bow at the Name of Jesus, and of the intelligences in the infernal regions too ? in the realms of the lost ? yea, of all the intelligences in the universe. At the mention of the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow! And then, for "the glory of God the Father," every tongue shall confess the universal lordship of JESUS! Through grace we have already confessed Jesus as Lord.

As we have seen, it is near the close of God's Book we read, "I Jesus, have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things," ? not in the world quite ? but, "in the assemblies" ? that there might be maintained in the assemblies the truth concerning Himself ? His official and personal glories, for He says I Jesus "am the Root" ? before David, ? David's Offspring ? after David, ? the one involving His deity, the other His humanity: Then we have the Morning Star, as we have so helpfully heard, in connection with the Assembly. If you studied the present matters of world government you might lose heart as well as communion with God. You would say, Things are going all wrong! But, as we see Jesus, as we know Him, we have the key to the whole situation, because as Son of David and Son of Man He will take up all government questions as well as those relating to the Assembly. The Son of God, the Bright and Morning Star, is the Assembly's hope, and He will settle all our difficulties. But, meanwhile, let us grow in the knowledge of the One who can do it! If I were looking for His assembly which He is building to-day, I would look for those who have the revelation from the Father of Himself ? those who confess Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, for He, as the Son of Man, builds His assembly on this, the Father's revelation to the soul and this confession of Himself. Where Jesus is thus known and owned, His Assembly is. It is being built by Himself upon the revealed truth concerning Himself, as Peter confessed Him in Matthew xvi. 16. It was Peter, too, who wrote, "We have not followed cunningly devised fables: we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter i. 16). He and others were "eyewitnesses," They saw in the Holy Mount the shining forth of His glory ? of His Majesty! They saw Him in His humiliation ? His lowly life; the gentle and meek One, walking here, but says Peter, too, "We beheld His majesty!" It shone above the brightness of the sun. His garments were white and glistening. On Monday evening, brethren, we were praying that He would show Himself to us in His glory so that we might be strengthened and fitted to meet rightly what obtains here in this world at the present time. In regard to kingdom and government His majesty was shown ? they beheld His glory. It was a divinely given foresight of "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," the Root and Offspring of David. Peter, however, speaks of Him here also (as nowhere else, except in the confession of Matthew xvi.) as God's Son. He says, we heard such a voice when He received honour and glory from God, the Father, and the voice came from heaven on the Holy Mount, it was uttered by the excellent glory and said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I have found My delight!" On the one hand we have His kingdom glory, and on the other His personal glory with God the Father; the second being indicated in the voice from "the excellent glory." You remember the bright cloud came upon them and the voice came from the bright cloud. If He be David's Son in connection with kingdom glory, He is also God's Son; and He who will take the government upon His shoulders is revealed to us in His own personal glory as Son of God. By the excellent glory He is there singled out, so Peter can say, "The prophetic Word" ? the Old Testament, was "made surer" ? for so the Scripture should read. It is not that it was not always sure, but having seen Christ's glory shining in the miraculous way we have spoken of, and having heard God the Father's voice distinguishing Him so wonderfully, the Old Testament which points on to Him, was made surer to them by this manifestation of His glories ? both kingdom and personal. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when He rose from the dead, made the hearts of those who heard Him burn within them when, out of all the Scriptures, He expounded unto them the things concerning Himself. And so here, "the prophetic Word" is "made surer" by the sight of His glory. It might be said, we have seen the King; we have seen His glory; His majesty; and we have heard Him distinguished personally as the Son of God by the excellent glory. Now, therefore, you do well to give good heed to the "prophetic Word," because as we heard already, it is as a lamp that shines where obscurity is. Up to a certain point, Take heed! that is, until the One who is the great theme of that Word arises before you, and oh how glorious when that One fills our hearts ? when His beauty shines before us! And though we are in the midst of the darkness ? the great apostasy which is reaching its culmination, but which we should not dwell on ? we are led to the glory side, to the positive side of the truth by the Spirit ? to the good. In passing, just a word as to this. We are told to be wise concerning what is good. We greatly need, in these days when men think they are clever if they know about something evil, to heed Paul's word, "Be simple concerning that which is evil, and Wise concerning that which is good." Those who help are those who show us the good, and all the good of our God is in Christ for us, and we are in Him.

We have spoken of the Bride, the Light, the Paradise, the Tree of Life, and the River of the Water of Life. We have seen how all is to be established in abiding glory. Genesis is fruitful in Revelation! Foreshadowed in the beginning, the substance is at the end. Now when we come to Exodus, God sets up a Tabernacle on the ground of redemption from Egypt, and He is in the midst. But it failed at Shiloh through man's sin. Nevertheless, when we come to Revelation xxi., we behold on the very verge of Eternity the Tabernacle of God with men! His thoughts will not fail! Not one design of His shall fall to the ground They will be carried out and established "in Christ and the Assembly" when the full glory of eternal redemption is displayed.

Just one more step, to encourage us as to the perfections of the inspired Volume and as to the One who designed all. Over Jordan, in the land, the city was set up, ? Jerusalem, the place of Jehovah's Name was built! But there was no river. Failure and breakdown overtook this earthly Jerusalem! But in Revelation xxi., the holy city, new Jerusalem, shines forth as a Bride adorned for her husband, and the river of the Water of Life flows out in eternal blessing! God Himself will carry out all that He has counselled, therefore, Christ and the Assembly are seen in everlasting blessedness and glory, and the river of God's pleasure flows on for evermore.

God grant, then, we may be cheered and encouraged, and that we may grow in the knowledge of the Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ, and that we may understand Him better! He is David's Son, but also David's Lord. He is Israel's hope, the world's hope and the hope of the Assembly, ? "Christ Jesus, Our Hope!"

"Waters to swim in."

J. C. Trench.

In turning to Ezekiel xlvii. 1 to 12, it is to the younger people here that I desire specially to address myself.

Just before this chapter we have elaborate descriptions, measurements, and ordinances of the Temple, to be erected in view of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to reign over His earthly people Israel and the setting up of His Kingdom. And we have in the vision seen by the prophet a description of the waters which will flow out from beneath the House of God, towards the east, in increasing volume until they reach the Dead Sea, resulting in the "healing" of that Sea. These living waters flowing produce life and blessing where they go and also fruit-bearing trees of all varieties of luxuriant growth, where previously all had been barrenness and death.

The waters, it will be noticed, find their spring in God Himself, and flow from under His dwelling place by the south side of the altar ? which indicates that the love of God could only reach this world by way of the Cross (which the altar typifies) where our blessed Lord by His atoning death made a righteous channel for the love of God to flow down.

Jerusalem, where shall stand the Temple, is separated from the Dead Sea by about twelve miles in a direct line east which there reaches the northern bounds of that sea. The man with the measuring line measured 1,000 cubits, and the waters at that point were ankle deep: then he measured another 1,000, and the waters were up to the knees: then again 1,000 more, and the waters were up to the loins, and finally, when he had measured the fourth thousand cubits, they were so deep he could not pass over them, "the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over."

Then the man that had conducted the prophet so far, caused him to return to the brink of the river. "Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country and go . . . into the sea (i.e. the Dead Sea) which being brought forth into the sea the waters shall be healed."

And he is told that it should come to pass . . . that wherever the waters should come there should be life, and a very great multitude of fish because these waters (from under God's House) should come there, "for they shall be healed, and everything shall live whither the river cometh . . . their fish shall be according to their kinds as the fish of the Great Sea exceeding many."

The Great Sea is the Mediterranean, and we know from Joel iii. 18 and Zech. xiv. 8, that there will be a great valley created between the Mediterranean and Jerusalem, and thence to the Dead Sea, which accounts for "Great Sea" fish being in that wonderful day, found in the Dead Sea.

Now read the 12th verse, and notice that along the banks of this glorious river, "all trees for food shall grow, whose leaves never fade, nor the fruit be consumed" (endless supply), "and they shall bring forth new fruit according to the months." Why? "because their waters issued out of the Sanctuary," Note well this statement.

So far for the passage we are considering. But it is the application to ourselves spiritually that is important, and I would now refer you to the Gospel of John for the antitype to-day. For whilst our chapter speaks of physical and material changes for the earth, you can see from Revelation xxii. 1-7, that very much the same figures are therein used to describe the spiritual blessings and glories in the new Jerusalem ? the Lamb's Wife ? the Church, in the millennial day.

Let us now trace the water in John's Gospel. We shall find its spring in John iii., where our Lord tells Nicodemus that there must be new birth to see or enter into the kingdom of God. He must be born again, born of water and of the Spirit.

Now it would be well that all of us should understand clearly as to new birth. This is the necessary start, and it is very blessed not to have a doubt as to one's having really been born of the water and the Holy Ghost. But let us not be satisfied with just being born, for it is only the start. Shall I say just "ankle" deep? The ankles suggest walking, and we cannot begin the Christian walk until born again. Many seem to be satisfied with just being converted, and do not make much further progress. Now again let me press that this is merely the start, though a very blessed one.

Turn now to chapter iv., the next chapter, where we read of the woman at the well of Sychar. She was in character the exact opposite to the man in chapter iii. The Lord had to administer some pretty hard blows in dealing with the proud Pharisee, to show him that however fair religious "flesh" might appear, no amount of sanctimoniousness could make "the flesh" anything but "flesh," and "they that are in the flesh cannot please God."

The Lord uses very different treatment with this poor, degraded Samaritan. He disarmed her at once by putting Himself, as it were, under an obligation to her by asking her for a drink of water, which, by the way, we do not know that He received. She was amazed that a Jew would have any "dealings" with such as she, and the Lord soon showed her that He knew something worse about her than her Samaritan origin. But He attracts her by saying, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of Him and He would have given thee living water." "From whence," saith she, "hast Thou that living water? The well is deep, and Thou hast nothing to draw with." And the Lord replied, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give Him shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternal life."

Now surely this phase of the water is more advanced than what we have been considering in chapter iii. Here it is, no doubt, eternal life in the power of the Spirit of God, because in chapter vii: 20, where "living water" is again spoken of, we read "this spake He concerning the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified."

John iv. does not speak of the Holy Ghost's indwelling, but of life received in His power, a fountain of living water springing up into its source, eternal life.

The Samaritan worship (always false) was not only now to be set aside, but even proud Jerusalem, with its divinely authenticated services was to cease, for God was seeking worshippers in spirit and in truth, and as the "ankle" deep water suggests a move towards God, this further development of it, the enjoyed spring of divine love in our hearts, suggests waters up to the "knees" and we prostrate ourselves before Gad in adoring worship. Let us not be satisfied with anything short of a heart flowing over in praise to our adorable God and Father.

Then she leaves her waterpot, forgets all about what she came to the well for, and goes off to the men in the city to say, "Come, see a man that told me all that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?" and the river of mercy flowed freely for some days in Sychar and many believed.

Now let us look briefly at John 7. Here we find that the Lord would not go up to Jerusalem to take part in the Feast of Tabernacles, which was the last feast in the year, and the only joyful one. He always went to the Passover Feast, which was to gain its fulfilment in His death, but the Feast of Tabernacles awaits what it was typical of, viz: the re-assembling of Israel when nationally converted and gathered back into their own land, owning the Lord Jesus, whom they murdered, to be their Messiah and King. The Lord could not take part in this Feast, for He, who alone could give it reality, was rejected by the Jews.

But at the last day, the great day of the Feast, He went up and cried, "If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink: He that believeth on Me . . . out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Thus He exposed the shallow hypocrisy of the whole scene, and invited the many unsatisfied formalists to come unto Him for living water and then out of their very inmost souls would flow rivers of living water. That is surely the spring of all true testimony of Christ Himself to the world.

In chapter iv. the water flows up to God in worship, and here in chapter vii. it flows out in ministry to man. How can we have anything to impart unless we continue to draw water from the wells of salvation Here, then, we have water up to the loins, and if we are to serve God in spreading the fame of our blessed Lord and seek to lead others to Him, we need to gird up our loins as it were for service.

And now, finally, let us turn to John xiii., which gives us the wonderful climax. In this scene, we are told that the Lord was aware "that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, and having loved His own which were in the world He loved them unto the end. Then, during supper, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He was come from God and went to God, He riseth from supper and laid aside His garments and took a towel and girded Himself. After that He poureth water into a bason and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded."

What He was about to do was symbolic of the service He would enter upon when He had left the world and gone to the Father. What He did they could not know at the time, but they would know hereafter.

"If I wash thee not thou hast no part with Me," He says to Peter (verse 8), and again, "He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit" (verse 10).

The bathing took place in chapter iii., so to speak, then they were washed all over, never needing repetition, but what the Lord was teaching them in chapter xiii. was, that to enter into the heavenly joys revealed in chapters xiv. to xvii., and to have communion with the Father and the Son would be impossible unless there was separation from all defilement. This the Lord provides for by His ministry at God's right hand, in the first place by His priestly services to prevent our going wrong by His sympathy and His intercession, which the Epistle to the Hebrews unfolds; but if, in despite of all He does as preventive, we sin, then the other ministry comes into action, and He has to apply the water of the Word to our consciences to bring about conviction and restoration.

So that the water in John xiii. is the cleansing process from defilement in the believer's ways and walk to fit him to enter into the heavenly blessings and joys discovered by the relationship we are brought into as children of our God and Father, whom the Lord Himself reveals to us, together with all the blessed things associated with Christ in the new place He has entered into, and that we may enjoy by faith, and by the ungrieved Spirit's power.

"Strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."

Here we may assure ourselves are waters that cannot be passed over ? waters to swim in ? and the result will be what we have in John 15, namely, the fruit-bearing displayed in connection with the river of living water flowing down from its heavenly source by way of the Cross to us, and leading us in varying measures to be found bearing fruit for the Lord, for "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be My disciples."

Then may we all be encouraged to press on, "not as though we had already attained, either were already perfect, but to follow after, if that we may lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of us," and so continue until He comes.

The Path of God's Pleasure.

(Psalm xvi.).

Inglis Fleming.

This is "Michtam of David," one of the "golden psalms" of David ? one of those "fine gold." psalms which refer to our Lord Jesus Christ.

The first verse, "In Thee do I put my trust," is embodied in Hebrews ii., "I will put my trust in Him," and the closing verses were quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost, as speaking of Christ's death and resurrection.

Thus we know that the Psalm has direct reference to our blessed and adorable Lord.

I have turned to it to engage your thoughts for a little with something of the grace of Him whose glories we have been considering ? with something of that moral glory that shone out in Him in all His blessed goings in that path in which Jehovah delighted.

What was it to God that in such an arid, desert scene as this, there should be one track across it where He was perfectly honoured. Where, in all His way, the Son glorified His Father for whose glory He had come, and thus was found the perfectly dependent man in the world. "From the womb of the Virgin to the throne of God," as some one has said, we find Him brought before us for our soul's delight, that in some way we may have the Father's thought of Him in whom He found all His good pleasure.

He is "over all, God blessed for ever," but presented before us in this precious portion of the Word of God, in His Manhood here for the worship of our hearts.

If we look at the verses now in more detail we may see His moral excellencies shine forth in surpassing beauty.

The first verse presents Him as the Trustful Man, perfect in His confidence in and dependent upon Jehovah.

In the second verse He is viewed as the Lowly Man. Read verses 2 and 3 thus: ? "As to Jehovah, thou hast said, Thou art my Lord, my goodness extendeth not to thee. As to the saints that are in the earth, they are the excellent in whom is all my delight." We see Him here as the lowly One, speaking out of that place which he had taken saying, Thou art My Lord, My goodness extendeth not to Thee."

As to the saints we find Him as the Gracious Man. He would link Himself with these saints, these godly ones, a little remnant in Israel as they took their first right step in owning their ruin and need at the waters of baptism. Our Lord, who was the sinless, peerlessly perfect One, would identify Himself with them. But then, at once we find Him singled out by Heaven. The Father's voice is heard saying, "Thou art My beloved Son in whom is all My delight." And we can say of that same all-glorious Person, He is our beloved Saviour, and in Him is all our joy."

We turn from ourselves and all that we have discovered ourselves to be and we find our rest, our delight in Him in whom the Father delights. Shall we not take comfort from this, beloved friends, that we who believe are like them, numbered among "the excellent of the earth" in His sight, and among His loved ones, "His own which are in the world" to-day.

Not any limited few, not any section of that company in any limited fellowship, but all "His own" are "the excellent of the earth" in His judgment. And do not our hearts go out to them, to all "His own," with that love of which we were hearing in Ephesians this morning ? to embracing "all saints" in our prayers?

In the fourth verse we see Him as in His temptation the Separate Man. He gave sin and evil a wide berth indeed. In that dread temptation where Satan would at length have Him bow and worship him; "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, Him only shalt thou serve, get thee behind Me, Satan," is His stern reply. He would have nothing to do with that which is false.

And you and I are called to tread a separate path, and do not let us shrink from it, beloved. We are all in danger; but Christ can keep us, and seeking His company in prayer and meditation and loving His Word we shall be maintained in true separation to Himself. And it is this He values. Someone has said that mere outward, physical separation from the world is nothing worth, and a mere legal separation because of what this one or that one will say, is nothing worth, but separation to Christ ? your heart taken up with Him, His Father and our Father delighted in, that separation is what God looks for and that which He values in His own. We see it perfectly in our Lord Jesus Christ. He found all His heart's joy in His Father.

He is the Satisfied Man in verses 5 and 6. "Jehovah is the portion of Mine inheritance and of My cup; Thou maintainest My lot." (How different from the "portion" in Psalm xvii. 14). He found His meat in doing the Father's will; He was here for the Father's pleasure and for the Father's glory. He could say, "I came down from heaven not to do Mine own will but the will of Him that sent Me." "Jehovah is the portion of Mine inheritance." That is future. "And of My cup." That is present. He knew whether in the future or in the present what it was to have Jehovah as His only, His all-sufficient portion.

And you and I are privileged, beloved friends, to follow in His steps (alas! how far off and how feebly we do so). We are called "to live unto God." The heart will have an object and "self," now being judged, God Himself, manifested in His grace, revealed in His Son, becomes the object, the all-satisfying Object for our hearts.

And then we find Him saying, "The lines are fallen unto Me in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage." As to its outward circumstances, we know that our Lord Jesus was "the Man of sorrows," the grief-acquainted One, but, inwardly, He had joy in the accomplishment of His Father's good pleasure. There were the pleasant places in that lonely pathway. Was not that a pleasant place to Him at Sychar's well, where He might pour heaven's fulness into an impoverished heart, where He might unfold to that Samaritan the story of the Father seeking worshippers, and so fill her heart that leaving her water-pot, she will hasten to bear witness of Him. It was a pleasant place indeed. And such we find again and again as our souls peruse with delight the Gospel story in the four evangelists. Joy was His, meat was His, in doing the Father's will, whatever that will might be, and so shall it be with you and me, beloved, as we, through grace, follow Him in His blessed pathway.

Then in the seventh verse we find Him the Worshipping Man, saying, "I will bless Jehovah who hath given Me counsel," You get that note of worship in the Gospels. We hear His telling forth of praise as in Matthew xi. "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." He pours out His soul's delight before the Father, and this in circumstances that were so contrary; circumstances where all seemed opposed to Him, and when His ministry seemed to be a failure. It is "at that time" the Lord Jesus turns with thanksgiving to the Father.

Then, as the Devoted Man in absolute devotedness in verse 8. "I have set Jehovah always before Me." Unswerving, unfailing, in faithfulness, we have His course depicted before us in the pages of the evangelists. How unlike to what any of us can say.

As the Rejoicing, Hopeful Man we find Him in verse 9. "Therefore My heart is glad, My glory rejoiceth, My flesh also shall rest in hope." If in some way thus we have traced the Lord, as seen in this Psalm, from the earliest moment of His earthly journeyings, if His baptism, His temptation, His blessed service, His devotedness in life , have been before us hitherto, we come now to the Cross, to dark Calvary, and to that sepulchre in Joseph's garden , and we hear Him say in His perfection, "My heart is glad, My flesh also shall rest in hope, for Thou wilt not . . . suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption." "Thou wilt show Me the path of life" ? a path that led down into death, but out into the glory; into that sphere where is fulness of joy at His Father's right hand and the pleasures for evermore. We know Him now as the Glorified Man at the right hand of God. "We see Jesus . . . crowned with glory and honour." So we have followed Him in that wonderful pathway, and admire and adore in His presence.

* * *

Some may say now, "That is a beautiful life in truth, but it is not for me to follow." So I want to add a few words concerning this before I close.

As you trace the path of the Lord Jesus in the Scriptures, and you see His moral beauties and excellencies shining out in life and in death, dear believer, you are entitled to say, "That is my life."

Christ who is our righteousness is also our life, as we read, "When Christ who is our life shall appear."

All that you have had part in in Adam as fallen, all that volume of your history, so dark, so sin-marked, so spoiled, has been closed in the death of the Lord Jesus, and you live now before God "in Christ," and Christ lives in you for manifestation here. It is that which we find in Galatians ii. 20, where the apostle Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ." "Christ liveth in me," All that I was as Saul of Tarsus has been brought to its close in judgment at the Cross; I have been crucified with Christ. "Nevertheless, I live" ? I am a living man ? "but no longer I ? Saul of Tarsus ? but Christ liveth in me." It is the apostle expressing personally for himself that which was good in his own soul, that which is our proper Christian position. "Our old man has been crucified with Christ." The only life we are to know, and the only life God recognizes is Christ as our life, and God works in every one that something of Christ may be expressed in us day by day; that there may be something of the grace that shone out in Him shining out in each one of us in the power of the Holy Spirit. And so you find as to service the apostle saying, in Romans xv. 18, "I will not speak of that which Christ hath not wrought through me." All that which he valued was that which Christ wrought through him. Some of you younger men may say, "What can I do for Christ?" No! Put it like this, What can Christ do through me?

I would like to ask you in view of this, are you the Christian you might be? (The rifle kicks as I fire it!) Am I? Am I the Christian I might be? Am I a Christian in the divine thought for one? I know I am a believer; I am justified from all things, I am saved by the grace of God, but am I the Christian I should be? Am I the Christian God would have me be? Am I the Christian I might be by the power of the Spirit of God, treading in Christ's steps? And as we own that we are not, shall we not turn to Him and say, "Lord, make me just what Thou wouldst have me to be"?

A young man electrified a prayer meeting as he prayed, "Lord, make a good job of me." Will you pray that prayer? You may not in those words, but will you pray it from your heart this afternoon, "Lord; work Thine own work in me and through me for Thy pleasure and have one here for Thy will alone?"

Do you say, "I have tried to do it and failed?"

Yes! we may say this all of us. But Christ can make you a success.

In Florence there is a wonderful statue by Michael Angelo. It is of the stripling David taking the sling and the stones. That statue is formed of a block of marble upon which another sculptor had done some work, but who had set it aside as valueless. Michael Angelo saw that stone and he took it in hand and formed a most beautiful sculpture. So Christ can take you in hand this afternoon and by His grace He may take me also. Some of us have only a few more steps in the desert to tread, if our Lord tarry, while some of you young men, if the Lord will, have life before you. What shall that life be? Shall it be a lost life, just plunged in mere commerce and pleasure? Is that worth while? Put yourself in Christ's hand that He may form you for His pleasure, so that out of your life there may be something of His grace shining, something of His activities, through you in blessing to others; redounding to the glory of God. So, in some measure, shall we follow Christ's steps in the path of God's pleasure. God make it so with all of us, for His Name's sake.

The Claims of God.

James Boyd.

I desire to say a few words on the subject of the claims of God, the claims that God has over every intelligent being on earth, claims that are wickedly denied by the men of this rebellious world. People seem to think that they are left here in this world just to please themselves, and that they are not answerable to the great Governor of the universe. Their bodies, their tongues, and all their members are their own, and thus the claims of their Creator are altogether denied. Now I turn for light regarding this to the Holy Scriptures, and I read from verse 15 to verse 22 of chapter xxii. of the Gospel of Matthew.

I do not intend to speak of all that we have here, but only to refer to the hypocritical question of the Pharisees and to the answer of our Lord. I notice in Scripture that our Lord does not usually answer questions, but rather does He answer the man who asks them. He knew what men were. He knew in what hearts and minds the questions originated, and it was to the state of the questioner that His answer appealed, and not to the question merely. So it was in this instance. These men ? He calls them hypocrites ? were now in the presence of the Searcher of hearts, from whose eyes there was no hiding. "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Hebrews iv. 13): He knows our hearts better than we know them, and He knows what prompts questions better than the questioner himself does.

He asks to be shown the tribute money. And they brought unto Him a penny. He says: "Whose is this image and superscription?" They say it is Caesar's. Why then ask if he should have it? Every man has a certain right to his own. The answer to their question was stamped upon the coin. Why should not Caesar have his own? "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's."

But that is not all. He lets them know they are to render to God the things that are God's. If the coin bore the image of Caesar, and therefore, was his, on whom was the image of God stamped? It was stamped at the beginning upon man, and in spite of the fall it has not been altogether effaced. The image and superscription of God are still discernible. Man was made in the image and likeness of God. No, I do not mean that skeleton of yours, with its load of human flesh, sheltering something that death cannot touch. Infidels tell us that Scripture represents man as in God's image, and that man is framed much after their ancestors that lived among the trees of the wood. I do not mind in the least whether a man's skeleton is, or is not, like that of a gorilla, a chimpanzee, or a dog-faced baboon; God has made him in His own image and likeness, and this is moral, not physical. Man has been set as centre and head over a system that has been subjected to him, and upon which are his fear and his dread. Not only this, but he has been endowed with an affectionate regard for all that have been placed under his dominion. In this way, and not as to his physical frame, is man the image of God.

Man is God's, for he bears His image. And the Lord says: "Render unto God the things that are God's." Had these men rendered unto God the things that were God's they would not have had the image of Cesar on their money. Everyone here belongs to God. Perhaps you say you are not a Christian ? you make no profession of religion. That matters not, you are His creature, you are in existence to serve Him, and woe betide you in the day of judgment if you have not done it. You may reply to this that it does not seem very like the Gospel, that you supposed we were all to be saved by grace. You are, if you are saved at all, but saved or unsaved you exist for the service of God. If you are still in your sins you are not rendering to God that which is God's. You are robbing Him. You are God's and you claim yourself. You have no right to yourself, for you bear His image and superscription. People murmur a great deal because they have to render to the nation that which belongs to it, but if they did not pay tribute they would soon be before the judge; and as to God, all must give account to Him. "As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God." Why? Simply because we belong to Him, and are responsible to serve Him. We must give account to Him. We should render to God the things that are God's. We are made in His likeness. He put His stamp upon us. It is upon every man. How could we then with the tongue bless God, and curse the man made in His likeness? Or how refuse to give ourselves over unto His will, seeing that He has an indisputable claim upon us?

There is another reason why we should lay ourselves at His feet, and that is because He has bought us. I turn to 1 Corinthians vi. 19. I am well aware the epistle is addressed to believers, but what is said here is true for saved or unsaved. He says, "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." The Lord has bought this world and all in it. He bought it for the sake of a treasure that lay in it, but He bought it; it belongs to Him on the ground of purchase. Even though you may be a disbeliever in the Gospel, still you are His ? His by the right of creation, by the fact that you bear His image and likeness, and also by the fact that He bought you with a great price. He tasted death for every man: Do you admit the claim He has upon you, or do you "deny the Lord that bought you"? If you do deny Him you bring upon yourself swift destruction (2 Peter ii. 1). May you admit the righteous claim He has upon you, and escape the judgment to be measured out to the rebellious!

Let us turn to Romans xii. It is to believers the Word is addressed here. He says: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." The mercies ? or compassions, of God are set before us in the first eight chapters of this epistle, and this reference is to those compassions. There is a verse in Psalm cxviii: to which I would turn your attention for a moment ? verse 27: "God is the Lord, which hath showed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar." The light is in the first eight chapters of the epistle. There we get the intervention of God on our behalf, that we may be delivered from sin's dominion, so that we may be able to yield ourselves ? our members ? our bodies to the service of God.

The light has shone upon our benighted souls ? marvellous light ? the light of the revelation of God ? and by this light we have got the salvation of our souls. Our souls have been emancipated from the bondage to the power of evil under which we lay, and now we are exhorted to take up another order of service ? service to God. When the light of God enters our souls in the power of the Spirit, our souls are set free for God's service. We are to render to Him intelligent service. The point in this passage is not that it is reasonable that we should serve God on account of the compassions which He has shown us, but that our service should be characterized by the knowledge of His will whom we desire to serve. And this sacrifice is holy, acceptable, and living. It is not a dead sacrifice, like the bodies of beasts slain at the altar in the past dispensation, but a life devoted to His service. And it is in this way we prove how good and acceptable and perfect His will is.

The apostle beseeches. It is not a command with a curse attached to it in view of possible disobedience. It is an appeal to those who have obtained infinite mercy to enter upon a new career of unspeakable joy and happiness. It is an exhortation to those who have not only been bought, but who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ to "render unto God the things that are God's." The power of sin, Satan, law and flesh, can dominate us no longer. We have come under a new control, and it is not only that we have power to yield ourselves to God, but the desire of the renewed mind is to walk in the pathway of His will. It is a service of love. We have been brought into new and eternal relationships with God, and we rejoice to know that He is willing to accept of our very imperfect service.

Now what would be the effect of our presenting our bodies a living sacrifice to God? In answer to this question I would ask again, what effect does He desire His Gospel to produce in us? Is it not that in this world, out of which His Son has been rejected, we may be exponents of the grace that perfectly shone out in Him? That the light of God that was radiant in His person might be continued during the time of His absence? He set forth God in His true character before the eyes of men. He was the perfect expression of the invisible God. This is what is meant by His being the light of the world.

And this is the way by which we have got to know God. I believe in God by Christ: I do not believe in Him by nature, astronomy, or geology, but entirely by Christ. God not only sent His Son into this world that we might live through Him, but He raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory that our faith and hope might centre in Him. God has not only become the object of our hearts, but the all-controlling object. We delight to do His will. Our bodies are brought under His gracious control, and thus Christ is reproduced in us down here. We walk as He walked. You say, that is a very high standard. But would you not prefer a high standard before a low one? What name has been placed upon us? What superscription has been written upon our foreheads? Christ. That is the holy name that has been placed upon us. Even the world has thus designated us. They called the disciples of Jesus Christians, when at Antioch the Gospel was first preached. Christ is continued in His people down here.

How is that to be brought about in us? It will be brought about in us if we render to God that which is God's; in other words, if we present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, our intelligent service. I turn to Paul's epistle to the Philippians, and there I find the great desire of the writer was to have Christ magnified in his body, whether by life or death. He was about to appear before the Roman emperor, the power before which his Lord had once appeared, and in the presence of which He had witnessed a good confession. He was in prison for Christ: The devil had been allowed to place him there, but had defeated himself by so doing, for now there were, more preachers than ever before. This was encouraging to the suffering apostle. But he also counted on the prayers of the Philippians and on the Spirit of Jesus Christ, in order "that in nothing he might be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death." This was the only thing that seemed to cause him any concern. He calls it his salvation to be delivered from everything of self ? either his natural cowardice or his courage, and that nothing but Christ would be exhibited by him. Christ had been before this tribunal, and was condemned to the cross, now these rulers and judges were to find this same Christ in the body of Paul. He was not concerned regarding their sentence upon himself. "That Christ may he magnified in my body, whether by life or death." Let what God will befall me, only let Christ be seen in my body. This was the only thing he seemed anxious about, it was all his salvation and all his desire.

Now if the Philippians were to occupy themselves with the Gospel, there was to be no strife and contention between themselves. He desires them to be all of one mind, but that the mind of Christ: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." When in the form of God He emptied Himself, and when in fashion as a man He humbled himself. Here, where every man was seeking to exalt himself, Christ was humbling Himself. here everyone seeks to rise above his fellows, does his best to get into a position of exaltation, and that by fair means or foul. What a world it is when viewed in the light of the incarnate Son of God! What must the holy angels think of it! We were born into it, and have grown accustomed to it; just like people brought up in filth; they do not trouble about it, it has become their natural element. Put a person into filthy surroundings who has been brought up in cleanliness, and he will be miserable.

Jesus was "obedient unto death." That was the mind that was in Him. With Him, no one but God was worthy of the slightest consideration. What claim had the death of the cross ? or any other mode of death upon Him? None. He gave Himself up to the will of God: "I come to do Thy will"; and He did it. With Him there was no reasoning, no repining, self-seeking, no murmuring. He says: "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt." He takes the place of deserving nothing, as being unworthy of the least consideration: "I am a worm, and no man." God alone is to be considered. He has a just claim upon us: We belong to Him. Whose image has been stamped upon us? God's. Then let us render to God the things that are God's.

What should characterize every human being? Obedience. Therefore, the apostle exhorts the Philippians: "As ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God that worketh in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure." What about Christ? He was obedient unto death. All that He said and did was the outcome of the will of God. What about us then? If we do the will of God we shall be practically Christ over again. This is walking as He walked, and this is the way to have Christ magnified in our bodies.

Turn to chapter iii. The apostle is in the first part of the Chapter speaking of the effect upon his life of the knowledge of Christ. He speaks of the excellency of that knowledge, and of the power that it had over him. It made him throw every fleshly decoration that he had possessed (and he had more to boast of than any man) on the rubbish heap. He counted what he had lost, after the flesh, as useless encumbrances in view of what he had found in Christ. Then he looks forward to the day in which Christ will put forth His almighty power to subdue everything to Himself, and He says that our Saviour shall change our bodies of humiliation and fashion them like unto His own body of glory. Then we shall no more require exhortations, for His servants shall serve Him, see His face, and have His name upon their foreheads. In the meantime, let us keep well in mind that our happy and eternal privilege is to render to God that which is God's.

Prosperity and Power.

(2 Samuel xiii. 4).

W. Bramwell Dick.

"And he said unto him, Why art thou, being the king's son, lean from day to day?"

I think we have been feeling during these meetings that the Spirit of God has been seeking to lead us on very practical lines, and very particularly so in the ministry that we have had the last two nights. We have been made to feel how He is pressing upon us the question as to what response there is on our part to all the precious truth that He has been pleased to make known to us; and I want for a few minutes, as the Lord may help me, to use the striking and arresting question in this Scripture by way of seeking to press that question still further home upon my own heart and upon yours. That there is leanness I don't suppose any one of us will question. We realize that, do we not, when we meet each other as individuals? and we notice how very little response there is when the Lord's name is mentioned, and when the precious things of God are spoken about. We feel it sometimes when we are gathered together week by week in what we usually speak of as a prayer meeting, and which perhaps, sometimes is a prayer meeting more in name than reality. We are conscious of it still more, perhaps most of all, when we are privileged to be gathered together around our blessed Lord on the first day of the week, and when sometimes such gatherings are little more than what we might call testimony meetings. We thank God that our sins are forgiven, and that some day soon we are going to be free from our woes, our pains, and our trials, and we are going to be happy in heaven with Jesus. We are made to feel how little there has been of that which was presented to us yesterday from the 4th. chapter of John ? that worship that the Father seeks; and that brings such joy and delight and satisfaction to His heart. In the case of Ammon there was no excuse for his leanness, and therefore it is, I suppose, there seems to be almost a tone of reproach in the question that is asked him, not simply, "Why art thou lean from day to day?" but, "Why art thou, being the king's son, lean from day to day?" It suggested that it was a shame to one in his exalted position that leanness should characterize him. I presume he had at his command all that he wanted, and, having that, it was quite evident there was something that was sapping at the root of his physical constitution that made him, though a king's son, weak and lean. Beloved brethren, you and I are favoured, through Gods infinite mercy, with most precious ministry, written and oral, and above all, we are favoured with the sacred Word of God ? that we hold in our hands, and we have the Holy Spirit of God. Yet, with all that, have we not got to ask ourselves the question, why are we ? in the favoured circumstances in which we find ourselves, ? so lean?

Is it not possible that there is something that is sapping at the root of our spiritual constitution, and is making us, though children of God, sons and heirs of glory, who have been invested with all the wealth of heaven, and with blessing that it will take us all eternity to explore, lean? I now ask you to turn to a brighter picture and read Judges viii. 18 and 19: Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king. And he said They were my brethren."

This is a much brighter side. Gideon was not, strictly speaking, a child of a king, and yet they were able to say to him, each one of his brethren was like himself, and they "resembled the children of a king." Gideon found himself in circumstances not unlike those in which we find ourselves to-day. He was surrounded by the enemies of God and of His people, represented by Midianites and Amalekites, and those who were opposed to God and to the people of God. Gideon maintained a path of separation in the midst of all that. That is rather an old-fashioned word, is it not ? SEPARATION? I remember, when I was younger than I am to-day, I used to go to meetings like these, and I heard the beloved servants of God ? and there were giants in those days ? ring out that word "separation" with no uncertain sound; and it was not only that they rang out the word with no uncertain sound, but there was that power behind it, that one felt the men who exhorted us to separation were men who knew a thing about it themselves. I am afraid it has dropped out of our vocabulary, and we have to ask ourselves whether the reason is not probably that it has fallen largely out of our practice.

But here was Gideon, and he, as I have said, seems to have maintained a path of separation. He was very, very much affected by the circumstances in which God's people found themselves. You go back to chapter vi. in this book, when the angel brought a message to him, and we find how he seems to have been well nigh overwhelmed as he thought of the people of God in the sad plight in which they were as the result of their own sin and rebellion against God. But there is something very fine said about Gideon, he threshed wheat in secret, notwithstanding all that was going on around him (verse 11). Notwithstanding all, that might be called, the unfortunate circumstances in which he was, he threshed wheat, he threshed it in secret; and I think we can infer something more from the 19th verse of chapter viii., he shared it with his brethren, with the result that his brethren were like himself, they "resembled the children of a king." It is a good thing for us to know the secret of threshing wheat in secret. Some one said yesterday at our Bible reading, "We do not read the Scriptures in order to give out," and that is perfectly true. If we read the Scriptures, only to give out, it will be a poor thing, but if we read the Scriptures, if we are threshing wheat, there will be one inevitable result, we shall want to share the wheat with our brethren. I find it a happy thing as I go up and down, and sometimes a brother comes to see me, or I call at a house and get into conversation with a sister, and they say, "You know I was just reading a certain portion this morning, and I saw so and so in it," and they give me some sparkling gem, and I thank God for it. I am changing the metaphor somewhat, but that doesn't matter. They share their wheat with others. That is what is meant, is it not, when Paul exhorts his son in the faith, Timothy, that he should give attendance to reading? And the result of his giving attendance to reading would be that his profiting should appear unto all (1 Timothy iv. 13-15). God give us to know a little more, in the midst of all the failure and the break-up with which we are surrounded, amidst circumstances that may be calculated sometimes to depress us, may He give us to know something more of what it is to thresh wheat in secret, and then to share it with our brethren. Some one may say, "What exactly are we to understand by threshing wheat?" Let us turn for a closing Scripture to the New Testament. (Hebrews iii: 1), "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus." A very excellent translation puts the word "confession" instead of "profession," and renders the last clause, "Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus." If we know something of what it is to consider "the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus," then we shall know something of what it is to thresh wheat in secret, there will be one inevitable result, that is, we shall want to share the wheat with our brethren. If we consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus," the first effect will be that we ourselves shall become increasingly like Him, and the second effect will be, as we seek to share the wheat with our brethren, they too, with us, will be made more and inure like that glorious Person.

In the first chapter, as we know, we have Him brought before us as the Apostle and our eyes are directed to Him in all the preciousness, all the excellence of that glory here He ever dwells. He is "the brightness of God's glory, the express image of His Person; He who upholds all things by the word of His power," and you and I are called upon to consider Him As we seek to consider the greatness, the majesty, the glory, the excellency, the power of God's eternal Son, what an occupation is that for our hearts!

Then we come to the second chapter, where He is presented as the High Priest. If we view Him in chapter i. in all the excellency and majesty of that glory that ever was, is, and ever shall be, His: now the Spirit of God in chapter ii., conducts us in His downward path, as He stepped off that throne eternal into manhood, came down into this world, went lower and still lower, and "tasted death for everything" ? we travel from the highest height to the lowest depth, and we consider Him in that wonderful path that the last speaker has just been bringing before us, the lowly, the homeless, the friendless, the penniless Stranger; the One who was here only and wholly and altogether for the will of God ? we consider Him, and we find some precious wheat to thresh there.

Then we follow Him upward as Man, as He ascends from the lowest depths, He "who tasted death for everything," we see Him, as Man, pass through the opened heavens, and, taking up the language of chapter ii. 9, with glad, rejoicing, triumphant, worshipping hearts, we exclaim, "We see Jesus, crowned with glory and honour," and we consider Him there. We have got some precious wheat to thresh in that, have we not?

Then we find in this verse that the saints of God are addressed in a wonderful way. We are not going to speak in general about the saints of God this afternoon, though we know that it is true of all saints. We are going to be selfish enough for the moment, to think of ourselves gathered here in this hall, for it is only thus that we shall get the sweetness, the freshness, the power, and the benefit of it, "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling." Oh, my beloved brethren, we want to realize a little more of what this means. Someone has said that "As Apostle, He brings us up to the height of our calling, and as High Priest, He maintains us there." What a calling it is! "Holy brethren." "But," some one may say, "I don't feel holy." I don't suppose you do. If you said you did, no one would believe you, but God says you are holy, and God takes account of us as "holy brethren," and "as partakers of the heavenly calling." Children of a king! We are something a great deal better than that. We have a calling that is much more exalted than that of the children of a king. We have been brought into intimate association and relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, that of those whom He is not ashamed to call His brethren, and we are taken account of as "holy brethren." Not only that, but "partakers of the heavenly calling." We may be surrounded by the Midianites and Amalekites, but we may realize in the midst of it all, that we are "partakers of the heavenly calling," and thus we are outside of the whole system of things down here. Do not say "That is all right in theory, but it is difficult to work out in practice, and what we find here is, as I have already said, quoting the words of another, "We have the Apostle to bring us up to, and we have the High Priest to maintain us at the height of this wonderful calling." All these glories, His Godhead glory, His glory as Man, the glory of redemption, the glory that He has at the right hand of God to-day, He who has been exalted "above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come" (Eph. i. 21) ? they are all centred in Him whose name is Jesus. Does not that stir our hearts? Our precious Saviour, Jesus. God's eternal Son, Jesus. Our living, loving Lord. Our eternity is going to be spent in considering Jesus. It is our privilege to-day to consider Jesus. May God bless us, and may God grant we may be kept by His grace in a day such as this to thresh wheat in secret ? not to be lean, but to be like the children of a king, if we use the word of the Old Testament. To be in New Testament language, like those who are "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling," yea, to be like Jesus now, as we shall be when we see Him face to face.

The Mind of Christ.

(Isaiah lv. 9; Luke ix. 18-22; 43-56).

A. G. Taylor.

I have it very much impressed on my spirit to read these Scriptures to you this afternoon. Not that I am able to say very much about them. It is good for us to get God's thoughts and to see how very different His thoughts are and Christ's thoughts are from what our thoughts are. How often do we find our thoughts are like the thoughts of the disciples of old. Frequently we are fault-finding, censorious and hard with others who are seeking to do the Lord's will just as much as we are. How the Lord had to rebuke His disciples for their thoughts in this matter. Should it not touch our hearts as we read His beautiful words to them. How He was seeking to put them on the right line, the line of grace that He, Himself, was on. "The Law was given by Moses, Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ." Beloved, as we pass along, let us see to it that we don't do anything or say anything to discourage or hurt our brethren in Christ.

We are too apt to look down on other Christians and inclined to think that when they are doing things that we don't do, that they are doing evil. We make a great mistake in thus thinking of them, and we do well to constantly and continually look to what the Lord Jesus Christ says and how He taught His disciples.

I just wanted to make these remarks because I feel if we cannot say anything to encourage and help our Christian brethren who, perhaps, are not walking as we judge they ought to walk, let us say nothing to discourage, nothing to hurt, nothing to harm, but let us seek to be here having the mind of Christ, acting as Christ has taught us to do, and doing as He would have us do.

The Fellowship of God's Son.

(1 Corinthians i. 9).

J. T. Mawson.

There is a great deal of exercise as to Christian fellowship, and surely it is much to be desired, for we have all been called into one fellowship, and that fellowship is the fellowship of God's Son. The epistle that brings it before us is the second of Paul's epistles as given to us in the Word. In Romans we are set right with God, and following on that there should come this exercise as to Christian fellowship, in which we are set right with one another. First, the basis of everything laid in righteousness, that is Romans, and then each one of us brought upon that righteous basis to be together in holy, happy fellowship, according to the truth. It is well for us to consider this very full verse at the opening of this epistle which speaks to us of Christian fellowship. We are told it is the fellowship of God's Son. We cannot understand its character unless we consider and understand Him, for it takes it character from Him, God's Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. This fellowship could not be in those Old Testament days, for God's Son had not been revealed, and men, even men of God, broke down and failed, there were none of them who could found a fellowship according to God's mind. We often turn back and think of them, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon ? all of them broke down somewhere. God could form no fellowship out of what they were. But when God's Son came there was a Person here who was altogether for God, who never broke down.

There has been one Person here, who entered His life of responsibility in dependence upon God, and in absolute obedience to Him. He never turned aside one hair's breadth from the will of God, and always, in every word He spoke, in every thought He thought, and in every act He did, He was delightful to the heart of God, His Father. Blessed for us, indeed, to contemplate Him, who was found in absolute and full concert with the Father's heart. Communion between Himself and His Father was continuous. He was fragrant in all His ways. He was always in harmony with heaven. As we consider Him, the path of light He trod, how blessed, how wonderful it is to us! We are conscious of failure and break-down, but what a comfort, what a joy, to turn back and contemplate Him and be able to say, The Father has found His fullest delight in a Man, here on earth! I know He was more than Man. That is not the side I am speaking of to-day. He was here as the full revelation of God, and He could not have been that if He had not been God. He came forth as the Son to make manifest in the darkness what God is. That was one side: It is the other side I would dwell upon. He was here as a Man before God, fulfilling the will of God in all His ways. In Him the Father's will was done on earth, and if we would know what man is according to the thought of God, if we would see what God's intention for man is, we must look at that blessed Man and study Him, and as we study Him we know what pleases God.

But our Lord was alone on this earth. He said, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone." In His life-time He trod a solitary path. Nobody walked that path with Him ? He had to tread it alone. Nobody shared His delight in His Father's will. There was no one to enter into His feelings. Nor could there be, unless He imparted His own life to them. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." He went into death that we might live in His life, and that God might call us into His fellowship, that He might put us together before Him, where His Son stands, that we might be brought into concert with Him where He is in heaven, and might tread the path that He trod where He is not now. He died and rose again that He might gather together in one the children of God that are scattered abroad, and found a fellowship, the life and power and principles of which, are heavenly and not of the world. What could be greater than this? It is usual for men to desire to rise into some sphere or circle above that in which they were born, and if a man is made a peer of the realm he thinks it a great honour; if he is invited to Court, or called into fellowship with royalty, he is elated. But what is this into which we are called? It is not the fellowship of the noble, or the fellowship with royalty. We are lifted above men as we know them, and above angels also, up into the fellowship of God's Son. And the fellowship will not be understood unless we understand Him.

We cannot enter into it in its power and blessedness unless we come under His influence. So often do we make it ecclesiastical and thereby spoil it, and hedge it round with our rules and regulations, and limit it to our poor notions of what it is. It is not our fellowship, but the fellowship of God's Son, and in that, the first thought is of relationship. We are brought into that blessed relationship He stands in, and the first thought in that relationship is love. The Father loveth the Son, and the Son responds to the love without reserve. That we should all most readily accept. But is there not another thought in it? You get it illustrated in the way Paul speaks of Timothy. He spoke of Timothy as "My son, Timothy," and then you remember he said of him, "As a son with a father he has laboured with me in the Gospel." Timothy was in full accord with Paul, there was oneness of mind and thought. It is a great day in a man's life when he can change the style of his business. Up to a certain point it has been David Cameron. Then the day arrives when he describes the firm as "David Cameron & Son." He has some one of one mind with himself, some one in concert with himself. Some one who will take counsel with himself, who will carry out his thoughts, and rightly represent him when he is absent, not as a servant, but as a son. It seems to me the thought comes in in connection with God's Son. Such He was when here upon earth, and it is God's purpose that that should be continued here, and He has called us to be in the continuation of that, so that here on earth now, there should be something in full accord with the mind of God. Grace has wrought in us with this end in view, and we have been sanctified in Christ Jesus. But we must come under subjection to Him. He must direct us, and He is Jesus Christ, our Lord; unless we are subject to Him, of course, we are going our own way ? each doing what he thinks right, and there will be no unity or fellowship, but if we know what it is to be subject to the Lord, each one of us, then everything becomes simple. It is instructive, in this epistle to the Corinthians, to see how the Lordship of Christ is pressed. We have the Lord's table in chapter x., we have the Lord's Supper in chapter xi., we have the Lord as the one Administrator in the 12th., and the 14th. closes with words something like this, "If any man among you thinketh himself to be spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things we write unto you are the commandments of the Lord." We must all own His Lordship. But how may we know where and how He will direct us? We get it in the Word, the things written therein are the commandments of the Lord. We have also spiritual sensibilities. It is a very blessed thing that, having received the Spirit and the divine nature, we have spiritual sensibilities, and these are developed by the Spirit who dwells in us, and they answer to the Word of the Lord, and when we hear the Word these spiritual sensibilities, if we are in a good spiritual state, and not carnal like the Corinthians, answer to the Word, and blessed indeed it is, when we find ourselves desiring, not only to hear the Word. but to do it. But we must be subject to the Lord Christ, as the One raised up from the dead and exalted, and now the great Administrator, the One in the place of authority, the One to whom we have bowed, the One whom we own as our Lord, and from whom we may draw all the grace and guidance we need in this fellowship which is His.

These first three chapters of 1 Corinthians are helpful. In chapter i. towards the end, we get the basis upon which we stand and are kept in this blessed fellowship to which God has called as. You get the cross of Christ brought before us. The cross of Christ in that character of it that removes all that that cannot be built in and fitted in to this fellowship. The cross is the condemnation and removal of the material that won't do for God. So we find no flesh should glory in His presence. Flesh brings in discord, for its root principle is self-exaltation, it glories in its own distinctions and powers, every man against another. It does not give glory to God, it wants it all for itself. But we are to glory in the cross of Christ. The cross of Christ is that in which we see the power and wisdom of God, and by the cross God has brought to an end the wisdom of the wise and everything in which men can boast. One way in which the flesh showed itself at Corinth was in the formation of parties and the boasting in leaders, and this is a subtle snare, more destructive to fellowship than what is flagrant and gross.

We must glory in the Lord, then, with one heart and voice, we show what fellowship is. And that we might glory in Him, we are told what He is made unto us. God has made Him to be to us who are in Him and are of God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Everything we need is in Christ. Blessed things these are, they cover everything we need as before God. The cross of Christ is the basis of it all. It brings us together on to common ground. Suppose the most learned man in the land comes into this fellowship, he comes in in the same way as the most illiterate man, and the cross is the end of all he can boast in as of the flesh. And he gets something better than he could bring. We are now in something greater and better and more glorious than the best man has got. It is the fellowship of God's Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and He is the Administrator to us of what God is as well as the pattern to us as to what the fellowship is.

Then the power comes out in chapter ii. The Spirit has been given, and in connection with the Spirit of God we have the subject matter of our fellowship ? the Spirit of God has come to show unto us the things of God, these things are not understood by the natural man. The natural man understandeth not the things of God. He cannot enter into this fellowship. That is why we have so much Modernism to-day. It is the natural man boastfully claiming that he can find out the things of God. Man thinks he can by searching find out God. He won't receive God's revelation to him. He won't take the place of a little child: He won't acknowledge that if he is to know God, God must reveal Himself.

It is not here man's mind investigating, he has his own sphere in which he may pursue his investigations, but in the sphere of God's things there must be revelation, and the Spirit of God reveals to us what eye hath not seen, nor ear heard. and what has never entered into the heart of man. But these things, the things that God hath prepared for those that love Him, He reveals them to us by His Spirit, for "the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." And the power of the fellowship, and the intelligence by which we understand the substance of it, is in the Spirit of God, the cross of Christ is the basis of it ? the death of that blessed Person, the Son of God, who laid down His life for us, that is the basis, the intelligence and the power of it is the Holy Spirit.

When we come to chapter iii. we find it is all for God. Ye are God's building: Ye are God's husbandry, Ye are God's temple. Ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's. What a blessed thing to know the Son of God was here and He was all for God! What joy, what delight, what wealth for God in that blessed life! And the devil was determined to get rid of it, and he worked upon men, until in a frenzy of passion they took that blessed Person and put Him to shame and crucified Him, and at last He lay in the silent tomb. Did the devil think he had got rid of what pleased God, and that He would never again have anything of that sort on earth? Did the devil think he had banished from this world everything for God? 1 Corinthians iii. shows us there is a continuation of that blessed life in which everything was for God, now, and you and I, beloved saints of God, are brought into this fellowship that God might have His delight in us. Ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's. In His wisdom, God having baffled all the force of the devil, and all the subtlety and the wisdom of the devil, has something on earth in which He can find His delight ? the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. A spiritual condition is necessary on our part if we are to live and act together in fellowship, as partners together in the things of God. He would put us in concert one with another, but we cannot be in concert one with another unless we are in concert with God, and we cannot be in concert with God unless we are subject to the Lord. His mind must control us. As we are put into concert with the Lord we shall be in concert one with another, and not only will God's heart be delighted, but we shall know the power and the blessedness and the joy of the fellowship into which we have been called.

We look on Christendom and see numberless fellowships and much failure, and we are apt to get discouraged, to have the heart taken out of us, and say. Well, is it any use any longer seeking to walk in fellowship according to the truth? But we have this for our confidence and encouragement that God is faithful. We may have failed; we may have broken down, and with shame of face we have to confess that break-down is everywhere, but God is faithful, and, beloved saints of God, the God of Pentecost, the God that Paul knew, the God of the Ephesian epistle, is the God who abides to-day in His mighty resources, and those resources are in Jesus Christ, our Lord Himself, and we may turn to Him and find His resources to be enough for us. He has not abandoned His present purpose for us, and we should not abandon it either.

The Lord grant that we may be content to learn of Him, God's Son, and be subject to Him, Jesus Christ our Lord, and then we shall walk together in happy fellowship.

Companying with Christ.

2 Chronicles ix. 1-12; Matthew xi. 25, 26.

James McBroom.

I have heard again and again since coming here, in our conversations, the statement that this is a day when the whole moral tone is lowered. In varying words the idea has been pressed again and again, and the question is a serious one for every one of us as to how the moral tone is to be raised. I have often said that in the first epistle to Corinthians, the writing of the apostle was to raise the whole moral tone. If Christ gets His place with us and one part of our lives is elevated, the whole soul is elevated. But then, how is it to come about? I feel as I stand here to-night, after all that the Lord's beloved servant has put before us, much cast on the Lord, and it brings before my heart the peculiarity of the Book of God, and of the things of God, because, after all that has been told us, there still remains something to be said, and after all our meetings are finished, if the Lord tarry, there will still remain something to be said. As each of the servants of Christ finishes his ministry for the moment one feels as though it were the last word was said, but after all, each of us can dip his tiny vessel into that which is unfathomable and inexhaustible. Not only these meetings, but all the meetings and all saints down the ages to the end of time, will continue to draw waters from the wells of salvation, and will find in them inexhaustible comfort and encouragement, to the praise and glory of God. Then there is a way I think God has marked out for the elevation of the moral tone, and I feel, if you will bear with me, that we lose sight of it to a very great extent, and my point tonight, is to endeavour, in the presence of my Master and His beloved people, to point out what He would put before us as the right way to raise the moral tone, and that is, that we should know more of His company and know more of the blessedness of "going in." In doing that, of course, I am necessitated to open it out, but what I would begin with is this: that with all the effort that is put forth to-day in Christendom, there is great need that we should cultivate more communion with the Lord. Every honest mind will admit that the tendency with us is to leave out the first great essential.

If we are to be true followers of Christ we must know Him, and spend time in the presence of our Lord. Therefore I repeat again, the first thing is, that, if we are to come out, we must be intimate, we must be in the intimacy of His affection inside. Before I go into that, my impression is that we, the people I look upon to-night, are part of the most favoured people in God's creation. To refer to it, in relation to the day in which we live, we all admit that the Church period is the time of the full revelation of God, the time when there is a Man sitting up yonder who, blessed be His holy Name, is much more than a Man. The time when that Man sits there is the grandest period in all time.

Until He went there the Old Testament could not be unlocked, what marvellous treasures lay enfolded there till Christ was glorified. Like the sun in the heavens, which blazes forth in the whole space of the solar system, filling it with light and heat, so the Man, Christ Jesus, has gone up on high that He might fill all things. He who is the Sun of righteousness, radiates forth in the moral desert, making many hearts glad with the blessing of God. God orders history, prophecy, promise and type in view of Christ, and the moment He takes His place on high, redemption accomplished, the Holy Ghost comes to shine on that blessed Book. Until then there could not be the unfolding of the treasures of God. Whoever could have known the typical meaning of the story of Adam and Eve until Ephesians 5 was written? Who could have known the meaning of the story of Joseph and his brethren until Christ was in glory? Who could have unfolded the first seven chapters of Leviticus until Christ was there? Whoever could have pointed out the wealth of those blessed, eternal verities that lie hidden in the pages of inspiration until Christ was in heaven? You say, why emphasize that? I will tell you. I emphasize it because of this, when Christ took His seat up there, not only was the revelation of God complete, but there was an answer to it in a Man at His right hand. On the one hand, He came out to declare God and make known His heart of love, and on the other, to take up a place before Him by redemption on behalf of those who were the subjects of His eternal thoughts. Job had thought He lived at far too great a distance from His creation to take notice of His creatures, or, as some thought, that great Being in the heavens was striding through creation to see how He could deal out sufferings to His creatures. No, brethren, Christ came here to unfold the heart of God. But there is more. The One who has declared God (John xvii.), is the One, blessed be His Name ? who has gone in in answer to it all, and if you tell me something of the greatness of the revelation, I will tell you that that shows more and more the greatness of the Man who answers to the revelation. But in connection with that I want to associate it thus: not only are we living in the time when the grandest things God ever made known to man are spoken of and when God presents Himself, so to speak, in a great mirror, that we may see all His character, nature, and being, and when we can read Him in that Man. But there is something more. Not only are we living in that day, but we are favoured at the end of the dispensation when the Lord Jesus Christ has recovered for His Assembly, the unfoldings of the counsels of God. I think I see at the end of the dispensations of Scripture something like this, hard times, dark times, but I see also, that the Lord comes out in the revelation of His will in a special way to those who seek Him at such a moment. In the twentieth century, when the forces of evil are gathering themselves together for the last, great, closing drama of the ages, the Lord Jesus Christ, our adorable Head, has brought out for us the full unfoldings of His truth, so that we, and all who form His Church, might be fitted to stand in the presence of those forces that are thus massing themselves for the final conflict. Things get so bad at the close of a dispensation that the professing people of God may be found doing the enemy's work. "His own" people lent themselves to Satan in crucifying the Lord. So it is to-day. We find the leaders in the professing church in Satan's hands denying all that is fundamental in the holy Book of God. We all know these things are true, and now in the light of it all, what I want to insist on is, that if we are face to face with the worst of the worst, we are brought into the best of the best. If He who sits in heaven, our glorious Head, has unfolded the truth of the revelation of our heavenly calling, of being sons of God, in association with Himself, it is that we may answer to it in the presence of Satan's worst. Not only do we see sonship unfolded in the Word, it is declared to us in perfection in His own Person. Sonship is an eternal relationship brought into Manhood by incarnation. The eternal Son becomes Man, brings it here, and sets it before us. On account of His death and resurrection, the Holy Ghost comes down from heaven to lift sinners like you and me out of our sins and the sin state and make us sons of God. We were under Satan's power, living at a distance from God, hateful and hating one another, but a Divine Person comes down, the Ascended One sends the Holy Ghost, to bring us into association with Himself as sons. I say this: we are at the end of the dispensation, and if we glance back upon the centuries, none of our forefathers had the light we have from God to-day, I repeat, therefore, we are the most favoured people on earth. As faithful men of God have been quoted, men whose faith we all surely desire to follow, we must see to it that the truth brought to us may be valued. There has been recovered for us by our glorious Head, through men of God of the last century, the whole truth of God. We need to wake up to this, the truth of the unity of the Body, the truth of being united to the Man at God's right hand (and if I am united to Him there every saint is also), and in view of that it is possible for us to have acquaintance with Christ in glory. An old servant years ago gave an address you may find it to-day ? and he gave the title to it "Acquaintance with Christ in glory." Can I be acquainted with the glorified Man? Yes, thank God. But if so, I am out of the fashion here. It cannot be possible for us to be in the fashion, maintain status, and position here, and at the same time have intimacy with Him whom the world refused. It cannot be possible to have part with Him, it cannot be possible to be in the enjoyment of association with the Soon of God if we are going on with the system that crucified Him. So in the Scriptures read I just want to show you the importance of the journey of the soul from this world to where He is. It has been well said, and as you all know, there are Christians who read the Bible and get their lessons as coming from God; they say their prayers, learn the Scriptures, but there are others again that seek to read the Scriptures and to go into where the Scriptures came from.

I have read an illustration in the Chronicles, but the New Testament is full of it. If you read Hebrews x. you go into the holiest of all, to where Christ is, and if we are to be workers, devoted, faithful, Christlike ? it is in touch with Him as going in and being at home there, there, acquainted with Him in the blessed intimacy of a soul at home in His presence. One has seen it in men who should be the happiest of the happy, grovelling and complaining, we may see people whom God has made His sons for eternity and enriched with every blessing in Christ, who should be walking through this world like princes, burdened with the care of this world. Is this not because they are not in the enjoyment of the company of the Lord Jesus Christ? So I read these two Scriptures to say a word on the elevation of the moral tone. I don't think there is any intelligent Christian looking for the recovery of the Church as a whole. The whole tone of Scripture, in its bearing on the present moment, is "See to thyself." If you do this you will not only put yourself right, but you will be a saviour to somebody else, and there is nothing so blessed as that. That is true service. We have to see to ourselves, and if we do so there will be a moral influence, a spiritual power that will characterize us that will be able to bring in a little of Christ to suffering saints of God.

And so, in this woman who heard of Solomon in a far country ? it cost her something to make the journey ? we have the illustration of a person who makes the journey to Christ to sit down in His presence and company, and have His mind about everything. And, hence, if we do so, there is what the apostle call "formation." You cannot shut your eyes to the fact that in much of the work of Christendom there is a lack of men after the character of Christ. What we want is character, for conduct springs from character, and the character Scripture gives us is the character of another Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, and hence, what we want is to be formed, and if we are formed it is the result of a Divine Person coming down here to form us after Christ.

And now she comes to him, and we see that all her difficulties, all her hard questions, are answered by Solomon. Go farther back a moment to the case of Joseph and his brethren. They came to Joseph; they didn't know him, but he knew them, they were speaking about what they had done to him, but they didn't know they were in the presence of Joseph. There I judge we have the record in figure of the experience of the soul before it comes to the knowledge of peace with God. But here we have in figure one who comes into company with the glorified Christ and sees Him in all His present glory, Himself the centre of it all, not content with merely reading about Him but going to where He is. "When she saw the wisdom of Solomon, the house he had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants." The New Testament tells us we can see ? that the eyes of your heart being enlightened (Ephesians i.), and before you see, before you go in, John xvi. shows us we have a guide to lead us in, even the Spirit of God. "When He is come He will guide you into all the truth." A vast and unexplored territory lies before as that we may go in and enjoy the fulness of what belongs to Christ. The Holy Ghost is given to lead us into all the grandeur of that which belongs to Him. If we are to answer to the claims of God and stand to-day in the presence of an ecclesiastical system that is lending itself to corruption, if we are to stand in a world which is shutting out God, and in a time when the apostasy of Revelation is in evidence all around, how is it to be if it is not in the enjoyment of something better? I might illustrate it in this way. A good father and mother, the parents of a child, who see the state of things going on around in the world, what do they do? They strive to make home better than what is outside, it works with the exactitude of law, that the way to be delivered from anything is to get something better, and wise parents, in connection with all the merriment and attraction the devil is presenting the present age with, know that the only way to save their child is to have something better in the home, far better. The only way to be delivered from what is going on in this world of sinfulness is to be in the enjoyment of all that Christ can give in a scene of heavenly bliss. The testimony of God is here, and the only way is to be a man of resource, in constant touch with the source; to be inside. I ask you, young man, do you accustom yourself to go into the presence of God, to go in and sit down in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ? Not because you want something, nor because you need anything. It is the instinct of the Christian to pray, the necessity of our souls to pray, but I ask you this, do you accustom yourself to go inside, into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ? If you do, it will stamp an impress, the heavenly impress on you, and you will be able to go out with that impress and you will not be afraid if you are out of fashion, not up-to-date in the ways of the twentieth century, and your language and your walk will be clean in character because we cannot help being influenced by the company we keep. And so notice it says, She saw the meat at the table. God who created the heart knows how to satisfy it, and the wonderful favour He puts upon us is that we share with Him in His food. The Bread of God is He who comes down from heaven to give life. Your soul needs food. There are depths in the human heart that nothing in the world can ever satisfy. Make Christ the object of your life and perfect satisfaction will be yours. Everyone is seeking for something ? politics and one thing and another. I have said, politics for the politician, military tactics for the soldier, money for the misers, and everything else, but Christ for the Christian. Cultivate that going in and sitting in His presence, and you will see the meat at His table, there is everything to satisfy the desire of the heart. I am thinking of Psalm xxxvi., abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house." I wish I could make it clear, the thought I have before me. To study to be imitators of Christ is a great thing, beloved brethren. We are getting nearer the end, and it is almost the only thing necessary, because we have all so much knowledge in one way and another, and our hearts are needy. We need food for our hearts and the ministry of Christ is what is needed.

But turn to the Gospels and see Him there. I see in the Old Testament something that tells me of the food of His table, yes, and the sitting of His servants, and the abundance of His house. Truly it may be said of "His own," "Happy are Thy men."

You know what the Lord says about "the men whom Thou gavest Me? The Father's love-gift to the Son ? the men that He favoured. O, the heavenly favour that shines on us. Are we to give it up cheaply? How is it to be maintained? By organisation, companies or bands, or societies, or anything? How is it to be maintained? There is a way in the nature of things ? God's way, and that is, that it must be maintained by living in touch with the source, and if we are to be maintained, if we are to come out in the place of our responsibility ? whether as to every-day life or business, or whether in connection with the testimony of Christ here in the world ? how will it be maintained? Only by the blessedness of having the company of Christ.

And so here we are in type in the true Solomon's house. It speaks of our being made companions of Christ. He speaks of saints as His brethren in John xx., the Spirit of God describes them as His fellows in Hebrews i., His companions in Hebrews ii and He calls them His friends in John xv. If that laid hold of us, that we are the friends of Christ, and that all these holy and endearing relationships are ours, surely we would not live a life of worldliness here. Whether do you desire a place, where Christ is refused or where He is received? If that dawned on us it would materially alter the character of our lives, we would not be going on with the tinsel of this poor callous world. I appeal to you to-night to seek to spend more time in the company of Christ.

Then, as I said, in the Gospels, there comes before us a Man of a different order. God has been so delighted with Him that He is determined to perpetuate His generation. In studying that holy life we see every detail gilded with the colour and character of heaven, whether in the domestic circle or among men, the village, the town, the city or country, all was for the delight of God. He came down from heaven not to do His own will but the will of Him that sent Him. Your will and mine, as natural men, is not in line with our duty, the fall estranged us from God, but in Christ the will of God was His delight and pleasure. The Holy Spirit is here to form you and me in His nature, in His love, in His relationship, and the flesh which comes in opposition to that is to be kept in the place of death. Are these things great realities or is it a little story we are telling that is pleasing to the ear? May God our God, as a result of these meetings give us to be more at home in these blessed divine things ? make us more careful about the company we keep. Christ died to have our company, and He wants it now, and that is before all our service. If you give Him your company your service will be coloured by that, which to the true heart, is a very precious reality. Oh, dear brethren, we are living in solemn times, when often the very bearing of the preacher is the denial of the testimony he speaks about. What is to be done? Keep in the company of Christ. We have access to the very source of all good and blessing, and we can be at home in the company of our adorable Lord and Master. We can trust Him in all His perfection. There is one Man who has brought glory to God and He is accessible to everyone of us to-night. The revelation of God with all its fulness is set forth in Him at the same time as approach to God on man's behalf is made good also.

If we keep the impress of Christ laid upon our hearts by the Spirit we shall hear His blessed voice, and be well pleasing to Him. There is often on the part of the saints, a morbid resignation in facing difficulties, and a feeling that all this is a necessity, but it will be all right when we get home. It is blessedly true that it will be all right then, but the Lord would have us in the sense that it is all right now, and if we seek His company our souls are kept in the enjoyment of all that which is to come out when He comes. May we be kept there for His Name's sake.

Setting Forward

Deuteronomy viii. 1, 2; Numbers xxi. 11.

S. Elvin Aziz.

The passage in the book of Deuteronomy describes God's tender care and gracious dealings with His people Israel in the wilderness; and the other, in the book of Numbers (they have no connection apparently) makes a statement from which we learn that Israel "set forward," and began to make a real advance in their journeys and they pitched their camp in a place called IJE-ABARIM. If you consult a map of the journeys of the children of Israel you will see the new position they have taken, Israel had now arrived at a new stage in their history ? a transition stage ? that is to say, their wanderings in the wilderness had come to an end. Miriam, the prophetess, has passed away, and Aaron, God's Priest, the brother of Miriam, also lays aside his official garments and passes out of this scene (Numbers xx.), so Israel are set free to go forward, and make real progress towards their objective (the land of promise) unhindered and unhampered. They are now on the border of Moab, "towards the sun-rising." What had happened that they have suddenly come to this place? They wandered aimlessly for no less than thirty-eight years in mid-wilderness, going backward and forward to Kadesh-Barnea two or three times. Now there are only a few months left for them to finish up the fortieth year to enter into their possessions.

Beloved, friends, it is very important for us to notice that there are two significant facts in the history of Israel which give the key to the situation, and reveal the secret of their being able to go forward.

The facts are these,

First, the brazen serpent.

Second, the new order which came into existence, through the death of Aaron.

I will make this plain by giving a brief summary of the truths set forth in the previous chapters.

The book of Numbers is pre-eminently the wilderness book, and gives the walk and service of the saints in the wilderness. The first ten chapters are the preparatory chapters, they tell us in the first place that they were numbered; they were taken account of individually, as we are taken account of in Christ Jesus. Secondly, that separate places were appointed to them in relation to testimony, that is, to the Ark of the Covenant. All their places were assigned so that the Ark of the Covenant must take the very central place, and all their tents should be so arranged as to surround and safeguard the interests of the Ark of the Covenant and the Tent of the Testimony. In the taking account of them, God was preparing for Himself a people of His own choosing. In Exodus xix. He says, "I brought you unto Myself," and so He could come and dwell in their midst, and appropriate them for Himself. No other place could satisfy God's heart, and no other place can he His, that is the central place, the place from which He can act, from which He can govern and direct the movements of the whole camp, for the pillar of cloud rested upon the Tent of Testimony, and not upon anything else. Therefore, the Israelites were required to keep their eyes steadfast upon the tent of Testimony so that they might, at a moment's notice, when they saw the cloud lifted up, be able to move and march. And so the first thing is God taking the central place, and the next thing is the appropriation of the people to Himself, so that they should defend the Ark of the Covenant. You may naturally say what was there to defend; who were there to contest the right of this large army of the Israelites passing through their borders; what was the object of having warriors in the wilderness? Well, there were the Amalekites, who might attack the Ark of the Covenant. We read that not only were some numbered as warriors, but there were those who were numbered as Levites, to carry the Ark of the Covenant and the Tent of Testimony. Upon these minute details I don't wish to dwell long, but what I want to present is this, that the Lord in the first ten chapters sets forth one great truth, that He will have nothing of man or his will, in connection with the Tent of Testimony or in the arrangement of the Camp. And from this you will see that God had a place in the midst of His people, surrounded by them, and they were to defend the Testimony.

The forces being marshalled and the Camp being arranged in perfect order, according to the mind of God, they left Horeb for Kadesh-Barnea. The journey being of eleven days, they did it in three stages. God was leading them through this wilderness, not only to show how good and gracious He was towards them; but, also to show them the utter worthlessness and incapability of flesh to do anything for God. That was the great truth that God was teaching them, from the 11th. to the 17th. chapter. Here you will notice the various features of Israel's unbelief and their downfall.

Until they came to Mount Horeb there was no Ark of the Covenant. And it was God's purpose that they should learn something about the Ark. The first thing was, they murmured against God, and fire came down from heaven, and then we read that Moses interceded on their behalf, and the fire was quenched. They lusted again for flesh, and Jehovah gave them quails and while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere, it was chewed, the wrath of God was kindled against them, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague. This was at Kibroth-hattaavah. Here they found the graves of lust. Then we read of the jealousy on the part of Miriam and Aaron, because of the authority placed upon Moses. And when you come to the 13th. chapter it is the climax of the great unbelief of Israel. The land of promise was before them, they could have easily crossed over, but they did not do so because of their unbelief. Oh! beloved friends, if there is one thing that is our formidable foe, it is unbelief. The Epistle to the Hebrews (chapter iii.) very clearly sets forth two great enemies ? one is sin and the other is unbelief. And therefore, Israel could not enter into the land because of unbelief. When we come to the rebellion of Korah, it culminated in the religious apostasy of the worst type. After this we find that Miriam and Aaron pass away and a new priest is installed, in the person of Eleazer, after the order of resurrection. He was the priest on the ground of resurrection. According to the ordinance of the Red Heifer, we notice, that Eleazer was to witness the sacrifice; it was to be slain before him. And because he was the one who was going to succeed Aaron, Moses took Aaron's robes, or priestly garments, and placed them upon this man, Eleazer, who was to take his place. He was a new priest altogether, of the order of resurrection. You will now see that there is a new company, a new priest, a new sacrifice, and a new leader ? the old order had passed away and a new order had come into existence. Oh beloved friends, you see that God's principles and God's ways in the Old Testament are the same as His ways in the New. His mode of deliverance might be different, but the ways of God do not differ at all. Everything is going to be set upon resurrection ground, and everything of the old man must pass away. And now a word as regards the 21st. chapter, where the brazen serpent is set up. What does the brazen serpent mean? It is a symbol of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a type of the cross of Christ. It was God's answer to the perverseness of flesh, which proved incorrigible, there was nothing for it except to be condemned and put away judicially before God, in type I mean. It also meant the bringing in of a new life, and they "shall live." God judicially removed the very cause of that from which they were suffering, for He imparted new life, new vigour, in their hearts and in their souls, so that they may go forward, and no longer to be aimlessly wandering backward and forward. They were hindered, they could not advance because they were held back by the flesh, and until the flesh was set aside and removed, they could not go forward. The apostle Paul distinctly tells is that these things happened to Israel for our admonition, that we might learn lessons from them. We shall not make progress in spiritual things and grow in grace if we have not come to the brazen serpent, where the old man is set aside judicially. And if we are going to make advance in spiritual things we shall have to feed on Christ. The wilderness provision for God's people was manna, food that came from heaven. That is what we need. Unless you eat His flesh and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Eating and drinking, symbolically, mean appropriating Him.

May God help us to set forward, to feed on Christ, and to become strong and stalwart in our most holy faith.

Faithful Men

Wm. H. Westcott.

"Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, that they may be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy ii. 1, 2):

In connection with this passage, I read in Exodus xxv. 10-11, 13, 21-22: The ark was made of shittim wood. In studying the tabernacle, the ark is that which suggests the Person of Christ. The shittim wood represents His humanity, the Son of God come down here as Man. I take the pure gold to represent that perfect suitability to God which was and is found in Christ, perfect suitability to the glory of God. In the ark was to be put the testimony which the Lord gave to Israel. The two tables of stone, or "the testimony," showed that what God required was perfect love toward Himself and perfect love toward men. These things are seen in Christ in all their completeness, and are fulfilled in Him alone. Upon the ark was placed the mercy-seat, of which I do not now speak particularly. Christ, in the presence of God, is the One in whom God's testimony is from first to last preserved intact. As to the wanderings of the children of Israel, when they left Egypt they turned eastward to Sinai, and from Sinai they turned northward to Kadesh-Barnea. From thence, they went southward to the shores of the Red Sea, and again turned northward to the plains of Moab; finally they went westward into the land. But whether they turned east or north, south or west, the testimony of God was preserved intact in the ark. There was no abatement of God's standard, and His eye rested upon that which, in the type, maintained that standard at its full height. You may wonder what that has to do with the Epistle to Timothy. But no one can read the second epistle without noticing how that again and again in the midst of all the frightful failure spoken of, there are certain things that are preserved intact in Christ Jesus. Israel, the people of God, in the course of their journeyings, at times seem to be turning their backs upon their true and proper direction, as when they turned southward to the shores of the Red. Sea. Nevertheless, the ark, with its testimony inside, preserved everything for God in perfect suitability to Him.

In this 2nd Epistle to Timothy we have seven things preserved for God, and for us, in Christ Jesus. In chapter i. we have "life which is in Christ Jesus." What a comfort for us, what security, what suitability for God, that the life which God in grace has made ours is secured and set forth in Christ Jesus. Then, lower down, in verse 9, "His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus." Further, in verse 13, "faith and love which is in Christ Jesus," and in the verse which I read in chapter ii., "the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Further on, in verse 10 of chapter ii. "the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory," and then, "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus," in verse 12 of chapter iii., and finally, "faith in Christ Jesus" in verse 15. You have the testimony preserved in the ark. Christ's perfect suitability to the glory of God secures everything for His people, whatever their changing experience may be.

Now, as to the condition in which we are found in these last days, turn back to chapter i. 15. You will notice that Paul says, "This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me," a very serious state of things when we remember the peculiar place that was given to the apostle Paul in the Christian economy. He is the one to whom was committed the administration of the mystery, and who was constituted pre-eminently minister of the Gospel. For these Christians of Asia to turn away from Paul meant decline from, and the surrender of, the teaching of Paul. In chapter ii., verse 16, you find "Shun profane and vain babbling, for they will increase unto more ungodliness." If men turn away from the full truth of Christ and take up with profane and vain babblings, these things spread like a canker.

Then in chapter iii. it says, that "in the last, days difficult times shall come," and, in verse 5, there would be found "a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof," and in verse 13, "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." There is the intensifying of evil as time goes on. Finally, in chapter iv., verse 3, "the time will come . . . when they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables." We seem to have reached this 4th. chapter. In journeying through the Church period, from the day of Pentecost until the return of the Lord, a long period has elapsed, but these are the last days. One need hardly stop to speak of it, but it is unquestionable that people are turning away their ears from the truth, and what they offer us in the place of the truth is "fables." We marvel sometimes to see the writings and hear of the speeches of some of the cleverest men of today in our Christian profession; we marvel that they descend to such profanities and frivolous ideas, but they are turned from the truth to fables, and the professed people of God love to have it so.

Now, in these two epistles to Timothy, what has struck me is this, that a great deal seems to be connected with Ephesus, and the teaching of Paul, which reaches its highest unfoldings in the epistle written to the Ephesian saints. In order to see what I mean, will you turn to the first epistle, chapter i., verse 3. "besought thee to abide still at Ephesus . . . that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine." We shall see in a moment what doctrine it was they had received; but he wrote these words to Timothy, Who was his on child in the faith, and who was true to him, of whom he wrote, "I have no man like-minded." He was willing to part company with this close follower and imitator of him, and to leave him at Ephesus, because he saw the coming in of that which would corrupt the very best bit of Christian. work we find in the New Testament. Then, a little further on, in verses 10, 11, of that chapter he speaks of the "sound doctrine according to the glorious Gospel (the Gospel of the glory), of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust." Further, in chapter iv., verse 16, he says to Timothy, "Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine; continue in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." That is, Timothy, by personal continuation in that teaching which he had received from the apostle, would not only be preserved himself in the midst of all the growing corruption, but would become an instrument in the hands of the Lord for delivering others from it too. Then, see the second epistle, chapter i., verse 15. Time had elapsed between the first and the second epistles, not much perhaps, but Paul draws attention to the fact that by this time, beside those who were teaching evil doctrines, the whole of the saints in Asia had turned away from him. They were giving up the truth as he presented it at Ephesus. Again, in chapter ii., verse 2, it says, "The things that thou hast heard of me, the same commit thou to faithful men, that they may be able to teach others also." Even then there had come in the necessity to call for faithful men.

Now, if you are going to have faithful men, they must be faithful to something. I have suggested that at the back of all he says in the first and second epistles, you have the doctrine or ministry of the apostle as unfolded in all its breadth and length in his epistles, and crowned by the blessed truth embodied for us in the epistle to the Ephesians. In order to test what there is around us we need to have some definite understanding, more or less large, according to our measure, as to what this teaching of the apostle was. I would just like to refer briefly to the stages in which the truth of God has been unfolded to us, as written by Paul in Romans, Corinthians and Ephesians. I hope not to weary you.

In the epistle to the Romans you have the individual brought out from this sinful world, his guilt covered, and propitiation made so that he can be brought to God in a manner suitable to the divine glory. You have him set up in this world for the will of God, and brought to know God in such a way that, not only is there peace and deliverance, but the will of God becomes a positive delight to his heart. Beloved fellow-Christian, is there not a danger of our wasting a lot of time, and squandering a great part of our lives in doing our own will because we do not understand God's will, and because our hearts are not definitely and intelligently committed to it. I commend the Epistle to the Romans to everyone that wants to get on in the things of God. Therein you have the laying of the foundation in the soul of the believer of the holy work of God. Note that first of all, the individual is blessed and set here for God's will. Then, at the end of the epistle, we are introduced to the fact that we, being many, are one body. The subject is not opened out, but the fact is stated in the way of an illustration. It shows we are not all alike, and it is not intended we should be; but every one ? in that mould in which the grace of God has cast him ? is to be here definitely and positively for the will of God. This adjusts us in our relations here as responsible men, living in this world; the one thing that governs our life and conduct is the will of God.

In the epistle to Corinthians, the very first verse links on with the preceding epistle in this way, that Paul is an apostle by the will of God. But he talks in this epistle not exactly of individual, but of collective responsibility ? collective responsibility viewed in connection with the locality in which each one of us lives. Let me turn to verses 1 and 2 of chapter i., because it may be important in connection with our subject of this afternoon. "Paul . . . unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that in every place call upon the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both their's and our's." I suppose that is all based upon the truth which we find in Romans. But notice again, "With all that in every place, etc." Locality is before his mind; but not only Corinth. The instructions given in this epistle were not given only to the Corinthians, not only to Christians in that locality, but apply equally to every locality wherever there are Christians. Moreover, they are to "all that call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord," in that locality ? that is, they are not addressed to any select number only, any tiny community, any part of the Church of God; but the whole Church of God in any locality; all Christians in the town or city are instructed according to what we have in these two epistles to the Corinthians. Thus, no one can say, "That is out of date." Jesus Christ is Lord still. He abides, thank God, and all that is committed to His keeping is in safe keeping. The testimony is hid in the ark and nothing can take it out; the standard is irreducible.

Wherever Christians are, in that locality these instructions hold good. In a double way uniformity is to be secured in the administration of the Assembly; namely, first by the written instructions of the apostle, inspired as he was by the Holy Ghost, which remain to us for our guidance down to the end; and, second, it is to be secured by the unchangeable and universal Lordship of Christ; we call on the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. I think this important in connection with our subject this afternoon for this reason; the idea of several independent assemblies in one city is very widely held; and perhaps increasingly held, and is attractive to many people because of the way in which they escape exercise the one with the other. The result is a spirit of independency which is gravely opposed to the maintainance of that fellowship into which our faithful God has called us (see verse 9). The epistle is directed to every locality where there are Christians, and to all the Christians in that locality, so that that which is instruction for one meeting in a city is instruction for every meeting in that city. They are united by one common Lordship for all matters of administration,

This applies to binding and loosing also. Now we are in days of brokenness, and we cannot get back to the re-constitution and re-construction of that which, outwardly at least, has tumbled to pieces, but if we are to be faithful men this is what we are to be faithful to. I fear many drop out of testimony in regard of that very thing, and that there is not that subjection to the Lordship of Jesus, not that attention to the instruction of the apostle which the Spirit is here to produce.

In Corinthians, then, you get instruction for the saints in connection with the locality in which they stand. Wonderful it is to study all the detail of it; but ? not to linger over it ? turn to the Ephesian epistle. It is different from Corinthians in this way, that it speaks of what Christ is, and what the Assembly is, according to the counsels and purpose of God. That is not its local order and administration, seen to be governed by the written Word and revealed will of the Lord; rather is it the viewing of the Church of God from the standpoint of God's eternal counsel and that which He has wrought in the saint in view of it. I will briefly refer to One or two things that seem to be salient features in it, so as to help in a more detailed study.

The Epistle to the Ephesians is the crowning ministry of the apostle Paul; he unfolds to us there the counsel and purpose of God. He says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," etc. Observe carefully the Name of the One with whom the blessed God connects Himself in Ephesians i. 3. The central thought in that wonderful name is, of course, Jesus. We know Him. Have we not often sung, "How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds, in a believer's ear"? Here it is not exactly in our ear; we are introduced in this verse to "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not so much what we think of Jesus, but what God thinks of Him and what God has set forth in Him. In Acts ii. we are told, "God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ." Both His Lordship and His Christhood are brought into view when we use the full name, the Lord Jesus Christ. I ask fellow-Christians not to use that name indifferently and thoughtlessly, but seek to consider what is unfolded in it; viz., that the One who bore the Name of Jesus here is now exalted by God's right hand, and at His right hand is made both Lord and Christ. It was the sphere where He is thus owned on earth into which those, on the day of Pentecost, were introduced. By their baptism they came under the Lordship of Jesus and into that circle where the fulness of blessing connected with His Christhood was available for them. This Person is the One in connection with whom God now speaks. His eye is upon the One who, in His life and death here, and in heavenly glory now, is found covered with pure gold; in every place and circumstance, and under every condition, in absolute suitability to the glory of God. He, and not Adam, is the One in whom we see the divine pleasure. He is the One upon whom the eye of God can turn with unchanging delight, and in whom the testimony of God is abidingly preserved. This speaks to our hearts; we are encouraged, and drawn to share God's delight in Him. God, then, is presented here as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This I commend to you as the first great theme. With His eye upon that holy and blessed, and now glorified One, it is as though God turns round and says, What can I withhold? What is there that I may not do in connection with Him? The apostle, in intelligent response to that which God had bestowed, says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." The heart of God is opened without reserve, and all the wealth and resources of God in grace are opened too, so that every spiritual blessing is unreservedly poured out upon us and secured for us because God loves Jesus. It accounts for everything you find in the epistle.

Now, when you come to look at what follows, because of our being in Him, it is impossible to compass all the glories of Christ that are referred to. You turn your eye on a clear night to the sky and you see some stars that are unquestionably prominent. They are visible by their own light to the naked eye, and you can distinguish them. But you turn your eye on the milky way, and there is such a collection of glories that the mind cannot conceive their number. You cannot possibly speak of everything in detail. But here and there are great constellations that stand out and our eye notes them. In connection with Ephesians you get a milky way of celestial glories opened out in connection with the counsels of God and the delight of God in Christ.

However to look at just one of them, see verse 9. After speaking of the blessing God has bestowed, he says, "Having made known unto us the mystery of His will," etc. That is, the second great theme, that comes out in this epistle, the Headship of Christ. First of all, the fact that God has found a Man in whom everything is suitable to His glory and in connection with whom His heart has found rest and perfect complacency, and on account of whom He can open His heart in immeasurable blessing; next Christ is referred to and distinguished as Head over all things in heaven and in earth. We must distinguish between "Christ" and "the Christ." Some of our black Central African friends used to marvel when we told them that the same sun which shone in their country shone in our distant land of Europe. Said one to me, when journeying from village to village. "I cannot make the sun out ? it seems to rise in a different direction every-day," he could not place himself. He had no compass, and when the sun rose it seemed always to rise opposite from where he thought it would. He said, "I have always had the impression that every fresh place we went to had a sun of its own." After all, it was the same sun everywhere. If we study the sun we see this ball of fire coming out of the horizon in the morning and taking its journey across the sky. Some inquire as to its movement and constitution, its revolutions and its spots, and puzzle their brains over the material of which that sun is composed. That is studying the sun by itself. Another may study it as it is known to be, the centre of a great solar system, this marvellous system in which we find ourselves. This earth is a planet in it; other planets revolve around it; the comets move in relation to it; the sun is the centre of this huge system. it is the same sun which we were considering before, when we were examining its own individual make-up; but then we considered the sun by itself. Now we think of it in relation to that whole system in which it moves, and as the centre around which the planets, etc., revolve. If you think of Christ, He is always the same Person, but "Christ" personally may be studied in His own personal glory; but when you read of "the Christ" it seems to be more Christ in connection with the whole system that revolves around Him and the whole universal system of blessing. All things are to be headed up in the Christ in heaven and in earth. It includes the mystery of the Church and a great deal more beside, but if we read of "the Christ," it is Christ in relation to all that is His.

The third theme is the Spirit. That is in itself such a vast subject in the epistle that I can only commend it to your notice. If a person wanted a theological study he should sit down and make Ephesians his study for life. If you take up the subject of the Spirit of God alone in this epistle, the various themes suggested in connection with Him are a profound theological education. I hope our beloved brother who follows me this evening, may be able to set Christ before us in some such way, that our hearts may be drawn out to Him in bounding affection ? but one just looks at the outline of things in Ephesians to see what it is we are to stand for, and be faithful to, in second Timothy days.

Then, not only is there the Spirit of God, the competent Person to undertake the making good in our souls of everything God has substantiated in Christ, but you have the Church, presented in so many different ways in connection with Christ that, as I was saying, you see a milky way of glories, yet cannot speak of them all.

Another thing is power. In chapter i. of the epistle you find power toward us. The apostle prays to God that He might make known to the saints the greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ. All God's power wrought in Christ, and took Him from the lowest place in death, where He had gone that He might make it possible to fulfil the counsels of God, up to the right hand of God. That same power is in operation now in order to take us out of things here just as death and resurrection would take a man out of things hate. The mighty power of God is to usward in order to give us this mighty uplift, that we might apprehend Christ in the place where He has gone. The Church already sees Him there, Head over all things. The Church, which is His Body, is to be enabled to be in full accord with Him, though still down here.

Then in chapter iii., the power is seen to be working in us. The Holy Spirit sets the Christ in the hearts or the saints, giving effect to all the counsels of God, enabling us to apprehend the breadth and length and depth and height of those counsels, and to know the love of the Christ which passeth knowledge, that we might be filled unto all the fulness of God.

Then, finally, in chapter vi., we have the mighty power from us, that can enable us to stand against the wiles of the devil.

In the midst of all the enemy's wiles and the saints' weakness, the apostle says to Timothy ? this promising young man, eminently gifted, and desiring to get on, yet weeping because he saw the state of things around ? "Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." It carries us back to the teaching of the apostle, to "the things which thou hast heard of me." We do not of course attain to teach others in five minutes. But would you not like, dear fellow Christian, brother or sister, to be numbered among the faithful, faithful to the full light God has given us as to the Christ (because, of course, Christian sisters can be faithful too). Would you not pray to be numbered among these faithful ones who, while maintaining the whole truth which God has taught us, are able to teach others also? Right down to the very end we should be able to stand in all the good of that which is revealed, in spite of the slide-away on every hand. May God grant this to be the case with us all. Every line of the truth remains true in Christ, and we may give nothing up.

The Lord's Twofold Claim Upon You.

Mark x. 17-22; John vi. 66-69; 60-63; xx. 26-28; xiv. 1-3.

John T. Mawson.

May the Lord deeply impress upon our souls that solemn line of things that has been before us, that we may, from this time forward, as never before, be rendering to God that which is God's. As long as Adam did that in the garden, he was blessed; and all was well. But he refused God's claim ? God who had made Himself known in His goodness as the Creator to him, and when he refused God's claim and listened to the devil whom he did not know, and who had never done him any good, then instead of the blessing came the curse, and instead of life came death, and as every man has followed in that foolish, self-willed way, death has passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Every man born into this world, except Christ, the Holy One of God, refused the claim of God and was a sinner.

When God created man, stamping upon him His own image, He did it with a great purpose in view. His delights were with the sons of men and He had great things in store for them, but it seemed as though His purpose was to be frustrated since man, having refused God's claim, had ruined himself and was found lying under the power of death, a poor, disobedient, self-willed dupe of God's arch enemy. What was to be done? God was not baffled. He had eternal life for men who had brought themselves, by their sin, under the power of death ? something greater than they had lost by their folly.

But how was that life to be reached? How was that life to be secured? The story is a wonderful one. From Godhead's fullest glory came our Lord. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father was found here in the manger at Bethlehem, a little babe. That blessed Person had come to show us the will of God; He had come to tread the path that our feet should tread; and He had come to be eternal life to us. There it was, the will of God manifest in Him; no other will moved Him, but God's will, and there is God's claim upheld by Him, for in Him was eternal life for us; everything that God could desire in Him; everything that we could need in Him ? the only begotten, full of grace and truth. He showed forth the path of God's will. That is one reason why He said to men, "Follow Me." The path of life is the path of God's will, and if we would tread that path of life we must see it in Him and follow Him.

But there is another point of view from which we may look at this word of the Lord, "Follow Me." It was the Divine claim. He claimed the men whom He thus addressed. He was here in lowliness and meekness, going down even to the death of the cross, yet He was, notwithstanding, God over all. His feet trod the narrow, filthy sheets of those Eastern cities, yet they were the feet of God. He was the Creator of all things; in His own blessed Person He was God over all, and so He had a right to every one of His creatures, and He put in His claim. And in Him God claims men, and all who own the claim have eternal life. He said to the rich young ruler, "Follow Me." Own My rightful claim upon you and eternal life shall be yours. This man had got many things which other people covet. He had a good reputation; he had riches; all that which made life comfortable and made something of him, but there was evidently in his soul a sense of need. "What lack I yet?" he said, as Matthew's Gospel records. "Good Master," he said, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He felt there was something out of the range of sight and sense, that his earthly goods did not supply. Up to that time he had been moving in a circle of which he himself was the centre, a material sphere, and it had not satisfied him fully, but there was a sense in his soul that outside of that sphere there was something that he had not grasped, there was eternal life, if only he could add that to what he already possessed he would have nothing more to wish for. So he says, "Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" The Lord first of all put before him the Commandments, God's will as the Creator, for His creatures upon the earth, which, if they kept them, would be life to them. Every one of us has failed in that just as this young man had failed, although he didn't know it. Having failed on that road another was opened up to him. "Go," says the Lord to him, "and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor." Oh! that tested him. I have no doubt the Lord laid bare that which was at the root of what held that young man to the sphere in which he lived ? self was his centre; riches were his idol.

The Lord did not say that to others; He said it to him. Yet, has it no application to us? There are people who imagine that their riches, or something that they possess naturally, will be of use to the Lord, and if they brought these things and threw them into His cause, how greatly that cause would be advantaged. The Lord does not ask for those things. He does not want them; it is YOU He is wanting. He could give to you a hundred-fold more of all those things if that would be good for you. It isn't that that He is seeking; it isn't what you possess that He wants, it is YOU. Beloved friends, the Lord would put in His claim in regard to, every one of us. Above father and mother, wife, husband, or children, His claim must stand; it must be first, uncompromised, absolute. And in making that claim He declares that He is God, for none but God has sovereign and absolute right over us. It is you He wants. He says, "I want you for Myself, and you need Me for yourself."

"Come," He said to the young man, "follow Me!" There is wonderful music in that word "COME"! The wooing note enters into it and the Lord is saying to us tonight, "COME." A crisis was reached in the life of this rich young ruler, a crisis I believe has been reached in the lives of some of us here. And the Lord is saying to us "COME." "You have filled your life with other things; and you have not been satisfied; you believed in Me long ago, but I haven't got you yet; you have trusted Me as Saviour, but I have not possessed you yet, and I have a right to you. Come.

Thus He would talk with us. His words are easily understood. Isn't it a blessed thing that the greatest Divine verities are presented to us in words that children can understand. Why, that babe of a few months knows what you mean when you say, Come. If you stretch your hands out to it, and put the meaning of the word into your tone and smile, it knows what you mean, and will respond if it can trust you. To us the Lord stretches out His hands, and He says, "Come, come, follow Me" ? HIMSELF. The engrossing Object of the heart, the Pattern, Guide, Leader ? displacing self and every other claim if we withhold ourselves from Him, it matters little what else we yield to Him, we are withholding from Him that which is His, and our lives are not righteous lives. Once, our whole lives were lived without reference to Him. "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way." And it was just there that we came face to face with the infinite, the unspeakable love of God. "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. All that self-pleasing, that denial of the Divine claim, all that doing of our own will instead of God's, brought the blessed Son of God into the place of shame and death.

The young ruler reached this crisis in his life; and he refused the Lord's claim. He made his decision. He turned back again into darkness from the light to which he had come. He returned again to that circle of which he himself was the centre; away from the One who had rightly claimed to be his Centre. "He went away grieved for he had great possessions." We may he sure that the heart of the Lord was grieved. Oh, who can tell the grief that filled the heart of the Lord as He saw that young man choose earthly wealth to eternal life, and himself and his own will rather than Christ and the claims of God. How, beloved Christians, shall we treat this claim of the Lord? We have Gospel meetings in which we earnestly desire to bring sinners to decision for Christ ? shall not this meeting take somewhat of that character in regard to us? What shall the answer be to this claim; this Divine claim on the part of the Lord?

What sort of path was it that the Lord trod? It was a path of rejection; He had to go into death. That comes out in chapter vi. of John's Gospel in a very definite way. The will of God is declared in that chapter. "This is the will of God," says the Lord Jesus in answer to those people's questions, "that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." The will of God and eternal life are inseparable, to refuse God's will is to tread the way of death. Then He presents himself as the bread that had come down from heaven. It is not only that He has a Divine claim upon us, that He needs us because we belong to Him, but He is indispensable to us. Scotland is the land of cakes, and great is their variety, but you can do without them, but not without bread; bread is a necessity. You can do without dainties, but you must have bread, it is fundamental, and the Lord says, "I am the Bread of life," an absolute necessity to life. He presents Himself like that. Do we know Him as the One who is absolutely indispensable to us. The One, blessed be His name, on the other hand, who is all-sufficient ? but do we know Him as indispensable to life itself.

How was He as the bread of life to be appropriated by us, who, when we saw Him, desired Him not? He changes the figure, and He speaks of His flesh and His blood. He had to die. The One who came from heaven had to go into death, and He went into death that He might communicate life to us; yes, to us, who had forfeited life because we had refused the claim of God, because we had refused the will of God and done our own, He came down into death for us, to die our death; to suffer our judgment, that He might communicate to us that which was the will of God for us, eternal life, a life that sin and death can neither spoil nor touch. And He says, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you," but the one that eateth the flesh of the Son of Man, and drinketh His blood, hath eternal life."

It was a hard saying to these Jews that gathered about Him and to some who professed to be His disciples. It is a hard saying to-day ? it was never a harder saying than it is to-day. You find a great number of His professed disciples here in Edinburgh who find it a hard saying. They don't like the death of Christ as the way of life and blessing, they would like Christ without a cross; they would like a Gospel without blood. They will not own that death lies upon them because they are sinners, and can only be lifted by the death of the One who never sinned. They are saying what the Jews said to Him when He hung upon The cross ? "Come down and we will believe on you" ? leave that cross behind; leave the suffering behind; be silent as to sin and its judgment, abandon the cross, we will believe on you. We know that if He had come down from the cross, it would be no use believing on Him. What use would He have been to us if those hands He stretches out to us were not nail-pierced hands? Apart from the cross He would have been our Judge, He could not have said "Come" to any one of us. There is no Gospel without the blood. We come to the cross; we come to His death, we eat the flesh and we drink the blood of the Son of man, and we find life through His death.

But what can that mean? Well, that which we eat becomes part of us; we appropriate and assimilate it; it is something that cannot be taken from us. Somebody may break into your house and steal some precious possessions that you have locked up in a very strong safe; that which you prize most and which you are keeping in the greatest security, as you think, may be taken from you but nobody can take from you that which you have eaten; that has become part of yourself, that is in you, and nobody can take it from you. But how do we eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man? It is by faith and in love that we do it.

What does the death of Jesus convey to you, dear Christian? Of course, it means that by His precious blood those sins of deepest dye have been washed as white as snow before God; all the guilt of your life-time has been obliterated. Blessed be His name! It means He bore the judgment for you. But why did He do it? He came to do the will of God; He manifested His love of the Father by going to that cross ? and at the same tune He showed out the love of God to us. But more, "The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me." That was why He did it. Feed upon that ? let that become the food of your soul, and you will realize that His claim upon you presses from another point. He has the right to put in His claim because He is God, but He has got the right that love gives, and the greatest verity that God has brought to light in His universe is this, that self-sacrificing love has got an absolute right to the loved object. That is demonstrated in the only instance of Solomon's wisdom that is given to us ? the mother and the child. You remember the story. Two women claimed one living child, one wanted it because it was her own, she loved it, the other wanted it out of envy and spite. "Bring a sword and divide it," said the king. "No," cried the true mother, "do not destroy it. I will sacrifice myself, and all my feelings for its sake, I will suffer, but it must live." "Give it to her," said the king, "the love that would suffer for it has the right to it." And all the power of the king's throne was behind the decision to give effect to it And this is a great truth for us to-day. Self-sacrificing love has got an absolute right to the loved object. You see self-sacrificing love in the cross of Christ, and He who sacrificed Himself there has got a right to you and me.

The rich young ruler turned away from Him; all these professed disciples had turned away from Him, they couldn't bear the hard saying and then He turned to the twelve and said: Will ye also go away?" And Peter, speaking for the rest of them says, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" Who is there beside Thee? ? "Whom have we Lord, but Thee, soul thirst to satisfy?" To whom shall we go? "Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Holy One of God." They had watched the One in whom God's will was manifested; the One who was life and health to them; the One whose words were the words of eternal life, and they wanted none but Himself. Happy men!

But if we follow Him as they did, to where will He lead us? He said to these people who were turning away from Him, who were caviling at His words: "What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before?" He was rejected here below; the world wouldn't have Him; and He said, "The Son of Man is going back to the place from whence He came." He has gone up there; He is not rejected up there; He has been received and enthroned up there, and the question is, beloved Christians, are our hearts in the world that rejected Him, or in heaven that has received Him? Is He our treasure in that brighter sphere? The young ruler refused to have treasure in heaven, because he would not let self go and the world go. We are not going to be as foolish as he was. Our hearts surely have followed Christ where He has gone. He is enthroned in brightest glory; soon everything will be put under His feet; soon every will opposed to God's will be broken and crushed, but not yet. "Not yet do we see all things put under Him."

This is the "not yet" time, but in the "not yet" time, what have we? A cross here ? a treasure there! A cross here ? Christ there, and our hearts separated to Him, bound up to Him there. We have not seen Him, but we know Him and love Him, and gladly own His claims over us, surely, as Thomas did. The Lord said to Thomas ? Thomas with the materialistic, unbelieving heart; Thomas that would believe nothing he couldn't feel or taste or see ? "Come, Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing." When Thomas saw the wounds, the wounds that in His love His Lord had suffered for him, he prostrated himself before Him and cried, "My Lord and my God!" Could he ever claim himself for himself again? If we come to that point, can we claim ourselves for ourselves? When we come to that point, must there not be this complete surrender; this yielding of ourselves to Him. The One who was wounded unto death because of His love to us is our Lord and our God. Here we see His two-fold claim upon us, and we cannot deny Him. If the glory of His Person, and the greatness of His love, dawns upon our souls, we shall be with Thomas, at His blessed feet, saying, "My Lord, and my God!"

What is the end of the road upon which He leads us? "In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself: that where I am there ye may be also." When we turn our backs upon the earth, heaven is prepared for us. If we follow the Lord Jesus Christ, that is the end of the journey, "In My Father's house are many mansions." The normal Christian's life is to share His rejection here, and that is the place to which He will bring us. He says, don't think that there in heaven there is no room for you; don't think there is only room for Me there. There is room for you there. If that had not been so, I would not have asked you to follow Me. If I had not had something infinitely better to offer you than the earth can give you, I would never have said to you, Follow Me. I ask you to follow Me because in My Father's house are many mansions. There is a place there for you, and I love you so much I will not send an angel for you, I will not send a servant, I will come Myself. Nobody shall receive you into that place that I have prepared for you but I Myself. That is the destiny, that is the goal, that is the end to which He is leading; to that place He will bring all who have owned His Divine claim. He says, Follow Me; own My claim; I am all that you need; everything is in Me that is lacking in you ? Come! come! follow Me!

May those words, pressing upon us as they do the Divine claim, be in our hearts in such power to-night, that every one of us may respond and say, "Lord, by Thy grace, that is the path for me; I fully and gladly own Thy Divine claim over me, and the claim that love that passes knowledge has given Thee!"

The Lord grant that it may be so for His name's sake.

The Love of Christ.

(John xv. 9-17).

James Green.

Let us start our evening meeting with the passage that came before us in the reading this morning (Ephesians 5: 1 and 2), connecting with it John 15: 9-17. Could anything be more precious to our hearts than these words of our Lord Jesus Christ? As we read them let the circumstances under which they were spoken, hold our hearts. He had just left the upper room where He had instituted the Supper, which was to be a continual reminder of His searchless love, and now, in company with His disciples, He has passed outside the city wall, and is treading the moonlit valley road which leads across the Kedron to Gethsemane. Beyond that He knew there was the betrayal ? the mock trial ? the cross, but ere He enters the garden where His holy soul is to be bowed under the awfulness of the cup He is about to drink, we hear Him speaking: ? "As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in My love." If our blessed Lord were here amongst us to-night, might He not be saying the same in regard to that which He has brought before us in these meetings. Has He not spoken to us of His love that His joy might abide in us, and that our joy might be full? adding also ? "This is My commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you."

As we have listened to the things that God has brought before us by one servant and another, we have sat under the shadow of our Lord Jesus Christ with great delight, and His fruit has been sweet to our taste, and now we are going back to the trivial round and the common tasks of life ? soon to be separated one from another. But I am sure that I am expressing the thought of every heart in this hall to-night when I say, that there is a great desire in us that our lives and ways should be different from what they have ever been before. These meetings, beloved saints, are solemn in this respect, that they will not leave us the same as they found us. They will leave us either more dull than ever to the claims of God, or by His grace, with our hearts more warm and tender, more susceptible to His touch; more yielding to His gracious dealings, more purposeful to keep His commandments.

Might I just at the outset, allude to what I think is the great and subtle danger that may beset any of us, and if we know ought of the awful treachery of our own hearts, we shall admit it. There are things that hinder us from entering into and living in the path of God's will and having the joy with which He would fill our hearts. Let me allude for a moment to the incident recorded for us in the 16th. chapter of Matthew's Gospel, when, you remember, our Lord was about to speak for the first time to His disciples of that which was very dear to His heart ? His Church. He was about to tell them of how He would build it on Himself, the Son of the living God, and before He did so, He uttered these words of warning to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (Matthew xvi. 6-12). And if you look up the parallel passage in Mark's Gospel, (viii. 15), you find that He also added "Beware of the leaven of Herod." Now I think that one or other of these three leavens may take such a subtle hold of our hearts, as effectually to prevent us entering the blessedness into which the Lord would lead us, and spoil the joy and communion of our hearts with Him, I believe that the three things are included in what the apostle John calls the Pride of Life. We may escape the lusts of the flesh; we may escape, by His grace, the lust of the eyes, but the pride of life is a deadly and a subtle snare. What I see in the leaven of Herod is worldly pride ? pride of being something in this world. It may be position; it may be more of this world's goods; anything that gives us a place in relation to worldly things would come under the designation of the leaven of Herod, But it is the subtle working of this of which we have to beware, for we may think that the cause of God will be advanced by the adoption of some of the world's methods and resources. Earthly position and influence may count for something with us, and we be unaware that these things shut the door upon the activities of the Spirit of God, and sap the joy of the Lord in our souls. The working of this leaven brought about the ruin of the early Church, and later on, spoilt the work of the Reformation.

The leaven of the Sadducees is intellectual pride, exalting itself against the revelation of God. It was never more in evidence than at the present time. Men are venturing to criticise the Word of God, intruding into things which they have not seen, vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind, and seeking to find out God by the specious deceit of human learning and a false philosophy. Although, through grace, we may escape this leaven in its grosser form, we need to beware lest an evil heart of unbelief ensnare our feet, and rob us of our portion. Full and absolute surrender to the full authority of the Word of God is our only safeguard.

Or again, the leaven of the Pharisee is religious pride, that which seeks a place, not in the world, but amongst the saints of God; that which would exalt in a religious way, and surely there is nothing so terrible in the eyes of God as to take the Church of God ? that which cost the life-blood of His own beloved Son ? and use it as a platform for the exaltation of man in the flesh. It is easy to see the havoc wrought by this in the profession of Christianity, but none of us is immune from this deadly poison. The root error of the Pharisees was their love for tradition. Our Lord's comment on this may be lead in Mark vii. 1-13. It produces first of all, spiritual blindness, secondly, an exaggerated idea of ourselves; and lastly, the tradition of the elders has a greater place with us than the pure Word of God, which, where it commands, only brings forth lowliness, meekness, long-suffering, and forbearance in love.

One thing only can preserve us from this leaven, viz., the love of Christ. Pride of any kind or sort cannot exist in the soul that is filled with the love of Christ. And thus we may well ask our hearts to-night as to how far we are abiding in His love. Beloved saints, has Calvary taken possession of your souls? Think of that great servant of God as he wrote those words, "The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me." Let us individualise ourselves in the presence of that love for the moment as did the apostle, as though there were none other for whom Christ died. He died for you: He died for me. "See from His head, His hands, His feet, sorrow and love flowed mingled down" ? for you and for me! But it was not only that He might save our individual souls that He loved us so and gave Himself ? He loved the Church and gave Himself for it. How wondrous it was in His eyes, that pearl of great price! He saw its beauty, He estimated its value to Himself, and in view of that, to have it for His own, He went and sold all that He had and bought it. Yes, He loved the Church and gave Himself for it.

But let us return to the 15th. chapter of John's Gospel. On the surface of things, John does not speak of the Church, but the words of love with which that Gospel is filled express the very heart of the love of Christ for His Church. Paul speaks of the greatness of the position; the place, the structure, the eternal glory, but the beloved apostle John, who rested his head upon the bosom of our blessed Lord, sets forth the love that fills the Church, the love of Christ which passes knowledge. And the Lord speaks here wonderfully of it. He says, "As the Father hath loved Me, even so have I loved you." That is His love for His Church. Yes! Loved as the Father loves Him! Do we not stand amazed in the presence of such words? Can you measure the Father's love to the Son? Twice in this Gospel he speaks of the Father's love to Him very specifically. In chapter iii. verse 35 ? "The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands." He speaks again in chapter v. verse 20 ? "The Father loveth the Son and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth." Yes, and that is the love wherewith the Lord loves His Church; a love that will not rest content until He has given to His Church all that He possesses; a love that communicates all the deep secrets of the Father's counsels made known to Him. What intimacy!

He will have us there in the glory with Him; there in all the bright radiance of that heavenly scene; there before the Father's face; there as the very love-gift of the Father to Him; but, at what a cost! Here He says, "Greater love hath no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends." He speaks of it in that way, because He values and counts upon our friendship for Him. He tells us of how He laid down His life. Could there be a greater claim upon us, to do whatsoever He commands? A beloved brother brought before us last night, the supreme title of the Christ that He bears. And I think there is nothing so enhances the claim of Christ upon us, as to think that He who bears the highest, greatest, and most glorious title that could be bestowed upon a Man ? the Christ of God ? stooped so low as to bear our sins. View Him, the Lord of glory, where He is in that bright and excellent majesty. He left the heights supreme and came down to Calvary in death to lie, that He might have us for Himself. He laid down His life for us.

He tells us here in these verses what He values, shall I say, in return for that love. Well, one hardly likes to put it like that. But surely when we think of the condescension of the love that stooped so low for such as we, we can only say, as Saul of Tarsus said, when he was captivated by the love of Him whose face he looked upon in the glory ? "Lord, what would'st Thou, have me to do?" Do you not feel that you would like to do something that would please Him? For love ever desires to be doing. He is higher than the heavens. What can we do for Him? He tells us in this very Scripture. "This is My commandment" ? "I will tell you what you can do for Me. Further, I will put it in the very strongest way, I will command you." It is the command of infinite love, leaving us with no option but to obey. Angels fly at His bidding, they do His commandments ? Michael, the archangel, yields swift and certain obedience to the voice of His word.

And shall we he neglectful or find excuse for not obeying when He commands us, not simply by the word of command, but by His own most infinite love that gave Himself, saying, "This is My commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you." But, Lord, is not the demand too great? How can we love one another as Thou hast loved us? Yes, but that is His command He does not say as much as, but after the same character. How has He loved us? He has loved us by going beneath all that we were that He might lift us into His love. And you and I, beloved saints, are to think of the members of His Body, of those for whom He died, wherever they may be on this wide earth, as objects very dear to Him, and to love them not in word only but in deed and in truth. Let us confess our poverty in such love. He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

He gives us here in this passage some reasons for loving the brethren. Commencing at the 12th verse He says, "Ye are My friends." We are to regard each other as friends of Christ. And if He has laid down His life for each one of us, what a wonderful regard we should have for all saints, lovingly desirous of sharing with them all the riches He has given us in Himself. They, with us, one all to the purchase of His precious blood. Of this we are reminded whenever we partake of the Supper of the Lord, for it is the fellowship of His blood. But then, all saints are also one Body, precious to Him; those whom He considers necessary for the bringing out of His glory; those whom He has gathered out from the wreck and ruin of this world to adorn that glory and to be the objects of His love. Surely that is a powerful motive for loving one another. Again He says, Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you." Why, He has brought us into the same love wherewith the Father loves Him, and He has communicated to us the very thoughts of the Father's heart. Failing to abide in this love, the saints of God have been scattered every one to his own, and our communion together of the things that Christ has revealed to us of the Father's has been sadly interrupted. What a wonderful thing it would have been if the saints had been kept together in the Father's love. Alas, the enemy has wrought only too successfully in scattering, and the effect of that has been that we are impoverished, and in result, must deplore the leanness that we heard of yesterday afternoon.

Then He says in the 16th verse ? "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." Do you think He has repented of His choice? Oh, no! But there are some of the saints very far away; and it is only too true that many of us are cold and many of us are worldly, and many of us are occupied with anything but His love, and yet ? yes, you know ? that underneath it all we are His. Is He disappointed with His choice? No! We may well sorrow over such poor returns to His love, nevertheless, every believer in His precious name is a part of His choice. And for what has He chosen us? He says, "I have chosen you and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." He has chosen us that there might be reproduced in us the very likeness of Himself, to remain for eternity.

What is it that delights the Father's heart? It is that which presents to Him the image and likeness of His beloved Son. Does not this put love to the saints upon the highest level and provide the most powerful motive for loving one another? If, instead of finding fault with each other, if instead of holding our brethren aloof, we would recognize that they are the very choice of Christ, and chosen that His image should be reproduced in them, would we not carry to them the words of His love? Would we not seek them? Would it not be our great desire ? not to hold them at arm's length ? not to ignore them so that we scarcely know whether they are well or ill ? but to carry to them the blessed words of Him who loves them and has chosen them that they might he like Him? As we go forth from this place to-night, may our hearts be more deeply affected by that infinite love of Christ for His Church, and may we yield ourselves to Him in order that His love may flow through us to all the saints of God wherever they can be found. You say it is difficult to find them; difficult to get at them. It is difficult to get at them, and I rather think, that when the apostle says in the last days difficult times shall, come, he alludes to the difficulty there would be in getting at the saints. But you can reach them, in the first case as he did, by the way of prayer. The shortest way is up through Him who is upon the throne of glory, and He has wonderful ways of doing things if we will only yield ourselves to His hands and let Him use us, in His own way. But do we really pray for all saints?

We have come pretty much to the end of things in the history of the Church, and at the end of every dispensation things become very individual, that is to say, you must start at home; you must begin with number one. If others will not follow, at all events you must start in this most blessed pathway. So in the xivth. chapter of John, verse 20, the Lord says, "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them." What does that mean? Have them on our bookshelves? Shut them up in a box? Lock them up in a cabinet? Memorize them? It means much more than that ? it means to keep them so that we do them. Do you think that the Lord takes pleasure in those that are simply hearers and misers of His Word? Nay, it is doing that He looks for, and by that He measures our love for Himself. If He gives a commandment, He gives a commandment to be done, and if He gives a commandment, you may be very sure that there is grace for you to fulfil it. We need not look at our own resources ? our resources are in Him. "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me."

I think it was said this morning that the Lord does not tell us to love Him ? no, but He tells us something else, He tells us to love each other, and in so doing, we love Him because all the saints, whoever they may be, are members of His Body; we are part of Himself. The weak, the feeble, those greatly instructed in the things of God or those who have only learned the very elements of it, all are loved with "that great love, that rests on Him in those bright courts above," and that which you and I do to them, we do to Him. Yes ? "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me" ? that is the way to love Him, by loving one another. And look at the result. As you read this verse ? does it not put a thrill through your soul? "He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him" ? I will pour out My affection upon him. You are acquainted with the way a mother loves all her children ? yes, but sometimes, just to show how pleased she is with some small act of obedience, she takes the little one in her arms at bedtime and just loves it. That is the special intimacy of love, the children know what this means. That is what the Lord wants to do with you and me. He wants us to do as He commands, and His commandments are not grievous, then lay our heads upon His bosom and let Him love us and tell us of the Father's love, and show Himself to us. "will love him and will manifest Myself to him."

Yet further, He goes on to say (verse 23) "If a man love Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." The word that reveals the Father's heart, opens the eternal home of love in which all the saints have part, and gives the capacity for loving all saints, yea, puts us under the obligation of so doing. "We ought to love one another" (1 John iv. 11). Beloved saints, I cannot explain it ? I can only say to you I long to know it, don't you? to know the abiding love of the Father and the Son ? to be brought into those Divine affections ? the Son's love to the Father; the Father's love to the Son, and then rooted and grounded in love, able to comprehend with all saints the height, the length, the depth, the breadth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, and so to be filled into all the fulness of God. That is His desire for us. It is magnificent. The world surges around us the darkness deepens, but here is the sanctuary of peace, light in our dwelling. Here is that which will lift us into the joy of His own heart. "These things have I spoken unto you that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

May He send us forth from this place in this joy, keeping us as we go to the various places in which we are set ? the home, the business, and the places of service for Him ? with this love filling and flooding our hearts and flowing forth, so that as He shall give the opportunity and direct, we may feed His sheep, shepherd His lambs, and follow Him until He shall come.

Christ Magnified.

F. B. Hole.

I will ask you to turn to an Old Testament Scripture ? Psalm cxxxii. 1-9; 13 to end. I shall read also the two succeeding Psalms.

There are various ways of reading the Psalms. You may read them prophetically, and that with very great profit, for they are highly prophetic. You may read them to find Christ prefigured, and there is always great profit in this. Again, you may read them in a historical way, for many of them are dated for us, and that, too, is profitable. To-night, it is in that historic way that I want to speak of Psalm cxxxii.

I must, therefore, speak to you a little about David and his experiences, for this Psalm throws the greatest possible light upon why it was said of David that he was a man after God's own heart, in spite of his glaring defects, in spite of his most atrocious sin. I wonder if you have ever noticed what David is led to say of himself in chapter xxviii. of the first book of Chronicles. I will read from 1 Chron. 28: 4, "Howbeit, the Lord God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel for ever: for He hath chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father He liked me to make me king over all Israel." Do you know anybody else in the Bible of whom it is said that God liked him? Yes, you may say, there are many. We have just been hearing about love; why, the love of God flows out to all! Ah, but there is a very great difference between God loving and God liking. Of course He loved David, but He liked David. "He liked me." It would be a very fine thing, dear friends, if one great result of our meetings here were this, that we are conformed more to His thoughts, that so we may become the kind of people that God really likes.

Now God likes a man who is of the stamp that you have recorded in this remarkable Psalm. And what it shows us is this, that from the very outset of his history, David was a man who seized the Divine thought and made the Divine objective his objective, so that all his life was centred in one great overmastering passion, one great desire. Here in this Psalm you are taken behind the scenes and shown the secret spring of the things that David did.

He had, as the first verse reminds us, many afflictions, for David was raised up of God in a very dark day. It was not the beginning of a new dispensation, but still it was the beginning of a new movement of God's Spirit in the midst of Israel. The old order of things had come down with a crash; the Priesthood had most miserably and disgracefully failed in the godless sons of Eli; the Ark had been treated as a mascot ? brought down into the camp of Israel with a superstitious idea that, if they brought down this sacred vessel into their midst, the luck would turn in their direction. The Ark of God, the precious kernel of that whole typical system, all else was the shell, it set forth Christ enshrined as the heart and centre of all God's thoughts. They took this precious kernel of the whole system, and brought it down into their midst as a kind of charm to turn the battle tide in their favour. And God would have none of it, and, in His just anger, He let His glory pass into the enemy's hands. Once among the Philistines, He vindicated His glory, and finally, afraid of it, the harassed Philistines sent the ark back, although that did not relieve the Israelites of their responsibility. Then, further, even godly Samuel had sons far inferior to himself, and the people got tired and they said, "Make us a king" ? we don't want to be peculiar any more, give us a king. And God let them have a king, in His wrath.

Saul came on the scene as the man chosen to be the deliverer of His people from the Philistines who were treading them under their feet. A giant fellow he was, but instead of defeating the Philistines, his days were spent in chasing and harrying David, and David was plunged into deep afflictions. And what was the great overmastering desire that marked David, think you? He was being chased over the land of Israel, hunted as a partridge upon the mountains. Then it was that "He sware unto the Lord; he vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob."

It was not surprising that under such circumstances David should aver to the Lord and utter a vow. The surprising thing was that he did not vow, "If the good Lord will grant me a decent house to live in, where I can be free from this everlasting maltreatment on the part of Saul and his men, if He will give me a decent little cottage and a comfortable bed to lie on, then I will serve Him most devotedly the rest of my life" ? anything for a peaceful and quiet life! Instead, he vowed, saying, "Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." So David, when he was being hunted over the mountains does not think of himself at all: it is the Ark of the Covenant and the glory of his God. The Ark had been lost; where it was nobody seemed to care. God had lost His place in the midst of His people, and it is far more important, said David ? young man though he was ? that God should have His place than that I should have my place. Far better that God should have a habitation, where He shall go into His rest, than that I should be free of my tormentors and enter into my rest. Oh, David, well done! Instead of self being the centre of your thoughts, you are a man that cares for the glory of God. You are a man that is able to seize what is the Divine thought, and to say, "Look, if that is God's objective, then by His grace, it shall be my objective, and I will not give myself any rest until the Lord, who has been set aside and dethroned from the midst of His people, shall be enthroned and shall have a resting-place for Himself and for His Ark."

You may say to me, now translate that into the language of modern experience. Well, we live in a very dark day, when God is still being set aside: a day in which man is going forward at a great pace and Christ is being ousted from His place. We live in a day, when the professing church has practically dethroned from the place which is ostensibly His. No place for the Lord. Some years ago we were hearing a great deal of how the nations wanted to have "a place in the sun." All around us men are fighting for place. One of the saddest things I think I ever heard was the saying of a man who shall be nameless. He said, "Well, I am very thankful that God has given me a place amongst the brethren." If I should name him, I should name a man who wrought much mischief in the interests of Christ. A place ? a place for himself ? a little place amongst the brethren, or a little place in another circle! Oh, that is the natural tendency of all our hearts. It was not David's mind. If you are to be the kind of man or woman that God likes, you will not be seeking your place, but a place for the Lord. You see, the Church of God is really the place for the Lord in the enemy's land. "On this rock I will build My Church: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Thank God, that is true, the Church has been left down here in the scene of Christ's rejection, under the charge of the Spirit of God, and thus put into communication with heaven, so that Christ may still be represented in the place of His absence, and that He might have a place, as the Heir of all things, in the Church which has been given Him out of this rebellious world. Oh, alas! alas how little is Christ considered! Men talk about their plans and their schemes and their doings and the advancement of their causes, and there is no place for the Lord. Are we not all of us more or less guilty in this thing? God grant that it may be our great and increasing desire, that He may have His place.

Now see how it worked out in the case of David. He says, "We heard of it at Ephratah" (verse 6); the "it" plainly being the Ark of the Covenant, and at Ephratah," indicating that it was very early in his history, in his boyhood days, at the old home. Then he says, "We found it in the fields of the wood." I understand that "the fields of the wood" is just a translation of the name Kirjath-jearim. That is exactly where he did find it. You can turn up 1 Chronicles xiii. 6, and see. He heard of it as a boy at Ephratah; he found it at Kirjath-jearim, and there he carried out his vow. We turn to the early chapters of the second book of Samuel, that is what we find. As soon as Saul was slain, David came to the throne. First Judah owned him, then the people came to him, and at last he became king over the united nation. Then David made war upon the Philistines, and immediately after he had overcome and smitten them with great slaughter, he said, "Come, we will get the Ark." As soon as there was a possibility of a place for the Lord he said, "Give the Lord His place." He began by making a mistake, but in spite of the mistake he finally brought the Ark back to Zion, which was the appointed place.

Now, it was not merely David's choice. We might think, from the 5th verse, that it was, and we might say, "Well, can we not find out a place for the Lord; are we not at liberty to choose any place which seems nice and convenient to us?" No, no! David found the place that was God's place ? you will find that very clearly in verse 13. After he brought the Ark back, David says, "Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest; Thou, and the Ark of Thy strength." "For the Lord, hath chosen Zion. He hath desired it for His habitation. This is My rest for ever: here will I dwell: for I have desired it." David found the place of the Divine appointment, the place that the Lord had chosen, and to that place for the Lord he brought the Ark of the Covenant.

We are sometimes too much occupied with David's mistake, but in spite of the mistake the vow was fulfilled. So with Peter. Peter had a desire that was right enough. "Lord," he said, "I am ready to go with Thee both into prison and to death." There was self-confidence. Yes, but there was very genuine love! Peter had to be rebuked; Peter had to learn his feebleness; and when he had learned it then, as recorded in the last chapter of John's Gospel, you have the Lord telling Peter that he should do, in the power of God, what in his own strength he miserably failed to do. The people of God often seize a Divine thought, and then they attempt to do it in their own strength. Moses did. He knew he was to be the deliverer of the people, and he slew the Egyptian, but God had to give him forty years quiet waiting at the back of a desert; held on the leash by God until he was fit to be sent. He was well broken in when he went back; so well broken in, that he came back the meekest man in all the earth, and in perfect surrender to the will and power of God. So with David, when he brought the Ark up into its place.

Now, I appeal to you all, young men and young women especially, have you got hold of the Divine centre? Have you seized the Divine objective? Is God's thought going to be your thought? Is Christ the supreme object? If you are going to be such a Christian, then it will be said of you, the Lord likes you. Is the result of our meeting together here in Edinburgh going to be for every one of us greater devotion to the Lord? Oh, for the exaltation of Christ! Oh, that Christ may be seen! That is it.

Well, there are certain great results that flow from this. The Psalm does not close without revealing to us what flows from God's objective being made man's objective, and that is, that there is most evident blessing. At the end of the Psalm you have the Lord accepting what David did, saying in fact, "David, you have done the right thing; you have brought the Ark into the right place." The Lord immediately adds," I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread." Emphasize in your thoughts for one moment those two words, "I will bless." "I will satisfy." The blessing into which Christians are brought is soul-satisfying blessing. How few satisfied people there are! Never was the world so full of objects of art and of delight; never were there so many charming and beautiful things, and yet men to-day are more absolutely dissatisfied than they ever were. Every body has a grievance; everybody is ready to grumble. Are we Christians, I should like to ask, marked by soul satisfaction? Do you, where you work, in the circles where you move, give people the impression of one who, not like the majority of folk, has reached satisfaction. Oh, when God blesses and when our souls are fully in the enjoyment of His presence, we become satisfied. We have read, perhaps, of those great cyclones that sweep over tropical lands. Somewhere in the centre of those terrific hurricanes there is a great calm. There is a devastating wind for hours, followed by a deep calm for ten or twenty minutes, and then the wind begins to rage in the opposite direction. That means that the centre of the cyclone has passed over our heads. The tumult of the world is like the cyclone. The devil himself is the source of it, but at the centre there is a calm. To have the soul centred on Christ, God's Son, means blessing and it means satisfaction.

We pass on and we come to Psalm cxxxiii. If Psalm cxxxii. is the Psalm of the Ark, that is, of Christ the central Object of all God's thoughts and ways, Psalm cxxxiii. is the Psalm of the Ointment, that is, of the Spirit, who has descended from our exalted Head. Now in this Psalm you have not blessing but unity. We have been dwelling upon the Spirit, and the unity of the Spirit is strikingly pictured in this Psalm. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" Is it not so? Do we not experience the pleasantness of it. I think we do. But some may ask how this very desirable thing, this very rare and precious unity, is to be produced. It is the experience of most of us that there is nothing easier than to get disunity ? so many minds, so many thoughts ? for people are all various; all taking different angles of vision; all seeing things from a different point of view! Well, the Psalmist begins to explain what unity is like.

First of all it is like the precious ointment upon the head, that special ointment which was appointed according to Divine directions in Exodus. It was poured upon Aaron's head in his consecration, and it ran down, say the Psalmist, "upon the beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments." This ointment that began at his head diffused itself to the very extremities of his robes, to the very fringe. Now unity is like that. It all begins from the Head. It all begins, mark you, from the priestly Head ? not the kingly head, for it was not like the ointment that was poured on David. The ointment that was poured on the priestly head ran down on the priestly garments. We, through grace, are constituted a spiritual priesthood, and put into touch with the great exalted Priest in heaven, and the Spirit and the grace of our Priestly Head, flowing down upon us diffuse themselves among us, and so produces unity. All begins with Christ at the right hand of God, though it comes down to the utmost skirts of His garments here on earth.

Then the Psalmist changes the figure, and turns to the realm of nature. It is like the dew of Hermon. The four following words are in italics and should be omitted. It should read, "The dew of Hermon that descended upon the mountains of Zion." Hermon was a very majestic mountain, the loftiest peak of Lebanon, and the Israelite would, on a clear day looking northward, see its snow-capped peak glistening in the heavens ? a lovely sight. And the dew of Hermon comes down upon the comparatively insignificant mountains of Zion. Christ is Himself the apex of all God's glory, and upon the humble hills, representing His people, the dew descends. When everybody is viewing things in relation to Christ; when the supreme question is, not what I think, but what Christ and His Word, as the authority in the midst of His people; when everybody is zealous that Christ should be in His proper place, what copious dew descends upon us from Him. Unity is to be found in proportion as the grace of His Spirit is upon us.

And then we turn to Psalm cxxxiv., the last of the Songs of Degrees. And if Psalm cxxxii. is the Psalm of the Ark, Christ the centre of all God's thoughts and ways; and cxxxiii. is the Psalm of the Ointment, the Spirit's gracious influence from the exalted and glorified Head, producing unity; Psalm cxxxiv. is the Psalm of the uplifted hands, or, as we can say, the Psalm of the uplifted heart. "Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord" ? evidently His priestly servants, because it says "which by night stand in the house of the Lord," and thus you have worship. Now, no earthly sanctuary have we, but still we are constituted a spiritual priesthood.

The world walks in the feeble light of Science. The torch of philosophy is burning, but it is very dark and the light does not penetrate far. Man has his little lights and is well pleased with the little toys that he has himself created, but the night persists, and Israel, who has rejected her Lord, remains silent. She has not a word of praise. The poor Jew talks about building his university to show us how he can diffuse his light, but he has nothing to give us, nothing in the way of light, nothing of praise to offer to God. You and I are brought into this priestly place, and whilst it is the night of Christ's rejection, I think we can see the first dawning of the day. We, who are privileged to stand in the sanctuary by night, may lift up our hands and bless the Lord.

It is a great privilege to be called to serve the Lord in these dark days. We are poor feeble folk indeed if we measure ourselves by the great men before us. If we read Hebrews xi. how small we feel, yet we are, at the end of this dispensation, called upon to stand for the interests of Christ just before He comes again, called to keep the light burning, and in the sanctuary to lift up our hands, giving praise and worship to Him. "Behold, bless ye the Lord all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord." Oh, how rich the praise that goes from our hearts when Christ is the Object of all.

At this point we may be inclined to think, well, that is the top note; you cannot get any further than that. But the story does not end with the uplifting of our hands to God. The last verse says, "The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion." The matter stands thus: we give the Lord our praise, and the Lord says I will roll it back in blessing The Lord blesses and always has the last word. The last word of the Songs of Degrees is this. It is not the climax when we praise in the sanctuary of God.

Would the Lord need the praise of such little creatures as we when He has the praise of ten thousand times ten thousand angels? Yes, there is a sweet note of praise from His saints that will excel amid the praise of creation. There is nothing to be compared with the sweetness of the song of those who by His blood have been redeemed. Nobody can preach the Gospel, except those who have been saved by grace. It was an angel who came to Cornelius and said, "Send for a man named Peter." He might have said, "Oh, angel, to save time, why not tell me yourself?" The angel could not do it. No one can do it except having been a sinner, he has felt the rapture of being redeemed. So no one can praise like the redeemed saint, and we must lift up our hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord, and as our praise rolls upwards, God rolls it back in blessing.

All began with David as a stripling, putting his affection upon God's interests, and saying that it was much more important that God should have His place than that he should be comfortable. May we be marked by the same thing. May Christ be magnified, magnified in our body, magnified in His people. If Christ be magnified there will be unity and worship; praise and worship to God, and blessing still rolling back upon God's people.

Reconciliation.

H. J. Vine.

Romans v. 10, 11; xi. 13-15; 2 Corinthians v. 17-21.

Four times, beloved, we have "reconciliation," as such, spoken of in the New Testament, and the very fact that it crowns the first great division of the Epistle to the Romans, shows its importance. For when we reach this 11th verse ? the mountain peak of the first part of this epistle ? we see it shining with that crowning truth ? "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation!" And in chapter xi., verse 15, we are told that the casting away of the Jews is the "world's reconciliation." Not that the world is yet brought into reconciliation, but, in its bearing, it is not confined to once-favoured Israel, nor to the remnant called from among Israel, but it is towards the world! There we see the width of the thought of reconciliation from God's side at the present time! But when we come into the 5th. chapter of second Corinthians, we read of the "ministry" of that "reconciliation," ? that which, at the present time, is maintained by God; and then the "word" of that "reconciliation" given to the apostles in view of our being brought into all the joy and the blessedness of this wonderful reconciliation.

It is important for us to recognize this, brethren. You may depend, the place given in Scripture to this truth shows that God would have it made good in power in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, so that the joys of reconciliation may be ours! The prodigal would rejoice when he came home from the far country and was brought inside for his father's joy and delight, clothed in his presence in the best robe, with the ring on his hand, and the shoes on his feet. I know it is joy on the divine side which that 15th. chapter of Luke shows ? the chapter of divine merry-making ? giving the joy of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but then there is also our side in the presence of the Father; therefore, the believer is suitably received where the Father's merry-making is known, where the feasting, the music, and the dancing tell of the rich fulness of the reconciliation and of the joy of God over the one who is brought nigh! We prayed recently that we might taste a little of the fatness of God's house, that we should ? as was called attention to yesterday afternoon ? be as those who are of God's royal family, and not be lean! If there be great provision made for the regal families of earth, we may be sure that God's provision for the heavenly royalty is not limited! And how good it is, at times like these, when we are together, to be led into some of the abundance of God's house. Aye, "and they that dwell" there ? because there is no reason why we should not dwell there, in spite of all the breakdown and failure in Christendom ? it is said, "will be still praising Thee!" God will be praised! and He would have us in the good of that which He Himself has provided! It is not proposed for us to go and put Christendom right. Do we think we are going to put that right? Are we so proud that we think we can do what the apostles could not do when they were on earth? No, beloved brethren, but, thank God, inside the house at the present time there is abundance for us in Christ, so that we may be kept above the breakdown and the failure.

Now, let us see first of all what cannot be reconciled. Oh, how we have learned that lesson ? haven't we? Yes, we have learned experimentally that "sin in the flesh" cannot be reconciled to God. It cannot come into the rich provision that is known inside in the power of the Spirit. Some, however, instead of settling that matter in communion with God in their souls, are trying to find joy in the things of the world. And then, after all, it is a poor, trifling affair, the little bit they do get. Oh, God desires us to be in the deep satisfaction of reconciliation. What is needed to-day is inside ministry, that, by the Spirit, we may be so in the blessedness of what is ours before God, we are glad to leave alone these poor, worldly trifles. No, sin in the flesh cannot be reconciled! Moreover, the mind of the flesh is not subject to the law of God! It is enmity against God! Let us take this home to ourselves. It is not subject, "neither indeed can be" (Romans viii. 7). We might say this without any lack of reverence, God Himself could not make sin in the flesh or the mind of the flesh "subject to the law of God," ? He could not do it! Did He not deal with man in the Old Testament during all those long centuries of probation, and prove fully for our edification that man in the flesh was incapable of being reconciled to God? Sin in the flesh is neither forgiven nor reconciled, it was "condemned" utterly in the sacrifice of Calvary. But not only can sin in the flesh not be reconciled, neither can the spirit demons ? Satan himself, their chief, and all his hosts, are incapable of reconciliation. They fell, and there is not one word that I know of in the Bible to show that ever there was a proposal to reconcile them to God. I know the Universalist says the "all things" of Colossians i. 16 and the "all things" of verse 20 both embrace the universe; but it says, "all things" "in" the heavens and "upon" the earth, whatever positions of dignity are named there ? these will be reconciled! But the fallen spirits, whether great dignities and intelligences of mighty power, as Satan himself, or menial demons, are irreconcilable; therefore, their part will be eternally with all those who go in the way that ends where the devil and his angels go ? outside the scene of joy, happiness and blessedness for ever ? in the lake of fire. Neither sin nor Satan is ever reconciled to God.

But then, you ask, "Who are reconciled?" Glory be to God, poor sinners like ourselves, who were once enemies, far from Him! Yes, those that had sinned against Him, those who were enemies, are "reconciled to God by the death of His Son." Brethren, we would not be here in the communion and holy joy of God's favour to-day if that were not true. But how could a holy God ? how could One whose throne is established in justice and judgment ? bring a guilty sinner, an enemy, into reconciliation for His own joy and for His own pleasure? ? how could He do it? He had resource for this in His beloved Son. He had Christ, and so we read, "Him who knew not sin He has made sin for us, that we might become God's righteousness in Him." That is how God could bring it to pass! That, if you notice, remarkably enough, ends the 5th. of second Corinthians. I often used to wonder why it came in there so abruptly, but it is just explanatory of how God could have us righteously in the blessedness of this reconciliation. He could only do it by making His Son sin upon the cross, who knew no sin, and through that, opened the way whereby, in perfect consistency with divine holiness, we could be there as the very "righteousness of God" in the full joy of reconciliation!

I love that word "reconciliation." ? Don't you, beloved brethren? God did not need to be reconciled to us, but we needed to be reconciled to Him, and His grace has brought us to receive the reconciliation Christ's death secured. You may depend it means all the best you know even in the natural sphere; but then, learning it in God's way, it will make us, shall I say, happier saints as we understand it intelligently. It is a great day for our souls when, by the Spirit, we see that we are in God's presence suitable to God's own holy character, and naturally, when we take our place in His presence with spiritual intelligence, He gets more thanks and praise then, brethren! He gets more worship! The meetings take on a very blessed character as we are before Him intelligently in the joy of reconciliation! For, if you notice, when He speaks of this reconciliation ? whilst saying they are sinners and enemies who are reconciled ? He indicates that there is a lot more in it than simply individuals being reconciled.

We read of being reconciled "in one body" in Ephesians 2. In the 5th. chapter of Romans He speaks of our receiving "the reconciliation." What is that? Oh, you say, I am reconciled as a sinner who has believed. Yes, thank God, so are all true believers! But what is this reconciliation? ? what is this wonderful thing here spoken of? Well, it is something like salvation, and yet there is a difference. You see someone saved, and he says, "Thank God, I am saved." Well, he has good reason to! but then, he may be making more of his salvation ? of the deliverance itself ? than of his Saviour. The salvation which is ours to-day "is in Christ Jesus" our Lord. It is a grand thing to be set up in "the salvation which is in Christ Jesus!" That salvation, mark you, brethren, is ours, in every part of it. We have that salvation as regards our souls in the first aspect; and, day by day, we are proving it livingly, it may now be in Edinburgh especially, in its second aspect; and presently we shall experience it in its third aspect ? when our Saviour from heaven will change our bodies of humiliation and fashion them like unto His own body of glory! It is ours! ? the salvation which is in Christ Jesus ? covering the past, the present and the future.

And it is the same with the reconciliation. We have received it, but there are three great aspects. Take redemption, ? you have again the same thing. Through redemption, it says in Romans 3, "We are justified freely." Mark, that is how God does it! ? "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus!" Well, this redemption in Christ Jesus also has three parts. We possess it, thank God, in regard to our souls; but then, we have not got it yet as regards our bodies. We are still in bodies that are connected with the first creation. We have the firstfruits of the Spirit now, but we are still in bodies linked with the first creation, and that is how it is we have very bright saints often groaning. I was sitting beside one awhile ago, a very happy saint, but groaning. There will be no groaning in heaven, brethren. It says, "We groan within ourselves." Now! Even Paul did. And so do all who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, why? Because we are waiting for the second aspect of redemption ? "the redemption of our bodies!" And if the Lord came this afternoon, He would wake every sleeping saint, and the living ones would all be changed, and, in a moment, we should all be in glorified bodies The third aspect is also yet to take place, as we were seeing in the reading on Ephesians, when "the redemption of the purchased possession" takes place. The full redemption which is in Christ Jesus is ours, and we, as believers, have been redeemed, but we wait, as we have seen, the redemption of our bodies and of the inheritance of the purchased possession, which He is going to take up in redemption power and fill the universe with redemption glory.

It is similar as to reconciliation. We were reconciled when we were enemies, through Christ's death which put all our sins away ? through the death of God's beloved Son ? through what He did upon the cross! We have that part of reconciliation ? "we have been reconciled!" But then, brethren, not only are we before God as reconciled, but we have received in faith as a whole "the reconciliation!" It goes a step further than our being reconciled to God as individual sinners. We have that in Romans. Now in Ephesians ii., as we said, we see that we are reconciled to God in one body by the cross. Many thank God for their individual blessing, but they are missing this side of it ? "reconciled in one body to God." We were saved when we were redeemed by the blood of Christ, and we were also reconciled to God, ? not only to go to heaven by-and-bye, but even "NOW" are we reconciled in one body to Himself. I believe, beloved brethren, one of the most precious things on earth at the present time for us, is that the reconciled of God should be together before Him in the truth of being one body. I shall not then be in a meeting saying, "Oh, I won't take part because so and so is here!" I shall not be looking at someone in the flesh, ? James so-and-so, or Thomas so-and-so ? no, brethren, leaving distinction in the flesh behind, we shall be there in the sense of our being one body, in a new creation in Christ, reconciled to God by the cross, where sin in the flesh was condemned. If I am in communion with God I shall be there in the joy of reconciliation.

And, being reconciled in one body to God, walking together simply in the truth, presently we shall prove the third aspect of reconciliation; and then, on the ground of that same work on the cross, we shall see all things reconciled to God ? all things in the heavens and upon the earth, whether they be "thrones or dominions or principalities or powers," ? whatever they are ? all will be reconciled, for the fulness was pleased to dwell in Christ, in view of the reconciliation which we have already, and in view of the reconciliation of all things eventually, on the ground of peace having been made by the blood of His cross. You may be sure, beloved brethren, this reconciliation is a glorious thing, and faith has received it. So Paul speaks to the Romans, "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus, by whom we have now" ? before the fulness of it is seen in splendour and glory ? "received the reconciliation!" What does all this result in? "JOY IN GOD!" We are to be a joyful people, going through the world in the joy of these great things ? of this vast wealth which is ours! I thought it was very helpful last night the way the truth came out. We need it in these days. We need inside ministry too, or faithful men will soon disappear. Faithful men are needed as regards the truth, and happy men enjoying the bounty of our true Solomon's table.

In Ephesians i. we have the administration that flows outward from the fulness that is in Christ, but in Colossians i. we have the reconciliation, which is inward, and so, as we have seen, we are told we are reconciled to God now. We don't shrink from it, do we? Who loves us like God? ? the holy God, against whom we sinned. We had done the sinning, but He devised the plan to put all our sins away, and so we read, God delivered our Lord Jesus Christ for our offences and raised Him again for our justification (Romans iii. 25). It was God who did that. "Therefore, being justified by faith" ? faith in whom? Faith in God! ? faith in God who delivered Jesus and raised Him again! So "we have peace" ? but with whom have we peace? "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And then, what do we rejoice in the hope of as we stand in His grace at this present moment? "We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God!" We are going to be there for His praise and for His eternal pleasure.

Do we truly rejoice in hope of the glory of God? An old saint was very ill. She was a quiet, peaceful old saint, perhaps lacking a little of the spring seen in some, but she was a godly soul, and a brother who was visiting her said, "Well, sister, you are very ill!" "Yes," she replied, "but I am quite resigned to go whenever God calls me." "Oh," said the brother, "are you resigned to go to heaven? Suppose I went down to Annie there in the kitchen, and said, Annie you are going to leave the kitchen, you are going to say good-bye to the servant's place, and you are going to be adopted into the family. You will be provided for accordingly, and you will take meals in the dining room, and you will sit in the sitting room, and use the drawing room ? What would you think of Annie if she answered ? "I am quite resigned?" But that is just the way some speak of going to glory! No, "we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God," says the apostle, and even now we have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that is given to us. God commendeth that love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. We see its commendation at the cross. We see its manifestation in God sending His Son. In Romans 5 we begin with faith in God and peace with God follows. The grace of God, the glory of God, and the love of God, as reconciled to God, are all ours, and "we joy in God," for we have "received the reconciliation."

Then, as we said, in chapter xi., we see the world-wide bearing of reconciliation to-day. It is called there, "the world's reconciliation." In contrast to Israel's past place of favour, at the present time, God has come out to the Gentiles and Israel is meanwhile set aside. It is worldwards to-day! Then, in chapter v., Corinthians 2, we read of a new creation in Christ, it is not simply that man should be a new creation, but "If any one be in Christ there is a new creation," the old is gone ? "Old things are passed away," and we are now where "all things are become new, and all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ." Surely we are wealthy indeed, and we should be full of joy in the Holy Ghost. Well, you say, Paul had plenty of sorrow! Yes, he was "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." They say the best nets are well loaded down at the bottom ? that may speak of being sorrowful. But it would be a bad job if the nets were only loaded at the bottom! They are well corked at the top too! ? "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing!" We are to rejoice with joy unspeakable, being full of the glory to come. The "ministry of reconciliation" spoken of in this chapter was given to servants like Paul, and, in a way, might be confined to the apostles; Paul magnified his ministry; but, thank God, brethren, it is in our hearts, and we can tell each other about it. We may not be Pauls or Peters, but we are brethren, and we can talk to our brethren in Christ about these glorious things that are ours through divine grace. John does not say, "I am an apostle," but he does say, I am "your brother," and he wrote that our "joy may be full." The great truth is that God Himself came down in grace! ? there is the truth as regards reconciliation ? He was in Christ, "reconciling the world to Himself." It all began from God's side!

Look at that sinner in the 7th of Luke! She came from the street to the Saviour's feet. But the Lord told Simon, "To whom little is forgiven the same loveth little. She loveth much." God gets response when His love in Christ is received. He was here reconciling the world to Himself, not reckoning their offences unto them. Did the father say anything to the prodigal about his sins? Well, the repentant prodigal came back full of his sins. But what did the father say about them? Not one word! He fell on his neck and kissed him! That is His attitude. Here He was in grace to reconcile, and not to reckon to men their offences. He also put in the apostles "the word of that reconciliation" as well as the ministry of it, and they entreated on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled to God." No one loves as He does, brethren, and yet He never sacrificed one atom of His holiness, He never lowered the standard of His righteousness, but He has brought us into His favour where His love can flow out freely. God loves with a perfect love, God is love, and we are received to Himself, for His own good pleasure, for His own delight. Then the ground of it is, as we have said, and repeat again in closing, "Him who knew not sin He has made sin for us, that we might become God's righteousness in Him."

Presently, grace will place us in the full blaze of the glory in the hope of which we have rejoiced. It says, in symbolic language, in Revelation xxi., "The city lies four-square." It is all of gold ? pure gold ? transparent gold ? a gold that we have never yet seen! This would be laughed at by a mere scholar, but those taught by the Spirit understand the symbols of divine righteousness and glory in the golden city. Its length and its breadth and its height are all equal! It is a man's measure, but it is the angel's. Yet it is the "measure of a man." That city of God shines with the glory of God, and its shining is like to a stone most precious, clear as crystal. Having "become God's righteousness" in Christ, the wonderful triumph of reconciling grace will then be fully manifested to a gladdened universe. On the inside, we are for the good pleasure of the heart of God, and on the outside for the display of His righteousness to the praise of His glory: on the one side are known the deep joys of "the reconciliation," and on the other is seen "God's righteousness" in manifestation.

Notes of Readings.

Ephesians 1.

There are three things with which we should now be well acquainted; they are the counsels, the ways, and the acts of God. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel." To the saints of this dispensation He has made known His counsels. His counsels are counsels of love, and are all that He purposed to accomplish for His own glory, and to establish for ever upon an unshakeable basis. His ways are traceable only in Christ, and embrace the whole of His activities from the foundation of the world until the bringing in of the new heaven and new earth. His acts are His public dealings with men upon earth in connection with His government.

I think Moses got to understand that everything put into the hand of man must result in failure, and that all God's ways with our rebellious race tended to the introduction of that Man ? "the Man Christ Jesus." He plainly told the people. "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren; like unto me; unto Him shall ye hearken" (Deuteronomy xviii. 15).

It is impossible to think of God as beginning to act in making worlds and various orders of beings, human and angelic, without having some wonderful purpose before His mind. And we cannot but believe that all His activities within the universe must be for the fulfilment of that purpose.

This epistle to the Ephesian saints places before us in a very special way those counsels, and the work of God with a view to their fulfilment.

In the epistle to the Romans the activities of God are presented more as meeting the need of sinful men. Man is there viewed as the active slave of sin, and requires deliverance from that thraldom, in order that he may be free to serve God. Therefore, his loathsome condition is depicted in all its hideousness; His justification in the power of the blood of Jesus; his deliverance from sin by the condemnation of sin in the flesh, and by the gift of the Spirit. But even this leads up to the "called according to His purpose," for whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified.

It is very encouraging for us surely, that, since God is good and everything He does must therefore be good, every eternal thought of His must be carried out and fulfilled. He is love, and all His thoughts are thoughts of love; and by His ways He carries out His thoughts. When He began to work all His counsels were formed. During the history of His operations nothing was added and nothing needed to be revised. From the outset He has gone on quietly and steadily, carrying out His original intention; making everything to serve His purpose ? the fall of man, the entrance of sin and death, and the murder of the Christ: For everything fallen and unfallen has to serve to the perfecting of the end He has in view. If the objects of His counsels were helpless sinners, He found for them an eternal redemption. The work that met the deep need of our souls is the basis upon which the counsels of His love shall be fulfilled.

Is there not more in redemption than meeting the fallen condition of sinful man? Has not God's own nature been manifested in the work of redemption?

Surely: but it was man's lost condition that gave occasion for the doing of that work. There would have been no need for Christ to die had men not been sinners; but this very fact gave God the occasion to manifest His love and lay a basis of righteousness on which His counsels shall be fulfilled.

What is "the volume of the book" in Psalm 40?

The book of divine counsel. God knew very well that the man He would make out of dust would fall at the first attack of the enemy, and the counsels of God were in harmony with that fact. While it is true that by means of the lawless hands of the Romans the Jews had crucified the Christ, it was also true that He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.

There was sin before man sinned?

Yes. The devil sinned from the beginning. Sin came into the world by one man.

The death of Christ would be in relation to the sin question, when or wherever?

That is so. But after all it was for the blessing of man that Jesus died, and that by redemption God would be glorified.

Would it be when man fell that the whole universe was involved?

The whole universe seems to require reconciliation, but before man fell sin had defiled the heavens where Satan has his seat. Reconciliation of all things in the heavens and the earth is on account, not only of the defiling of the creation, but on account of the perfect manifestation of God. The fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ in order that all things should be reconciled to Itself. To be placed in relation with God as revealed in Christ does not seem to me to be the same thing as to be set rightly in the presence of the Creator. The former is blessing of a much higher order. I think it is important to emphasize the blessing of men. The incarnation itself, apart from our blessing is the great witness of the interest of God in man.

The epistle begins with a note of worship in relation to our spiritual blessings. Would you name some of them?

They are all that we possess in relationship with the Father and the Son. Sonship itself is the highest blessing, for thus are we taken into favour "in the Beloved." There are a great many blessings of a spiritual nature spoken of in the Old Testament along with the earthly blessings with which Israel shall be blessed on the earth; but while Israel shall partake of these under the new covenant on earth, we have all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ.

Then would you say you have the topstone reached here in the glory of God?

Yes, in the first six verses. There is nothing greater in the epistle, nor in Christianity. Union with Christ is an unspeakable blessing, but it is union with Christ as Man. Here we are viewed as in direct relationship with the Father. We are sons before His face.

Then it has a peculiar relation to those who form the Assembly as Christ's Body?

Yes. I think this high character of blessing is introduced first of all, because nothing can be united to Christ but that which is of Christ; that is of His life and nature, His kindred. Eve was taken out of Adam, and the bride of Isaac was of his kindred; so we are of the kindred of Christ, "all of one" with Him, and therefore fit to be united to Him.

Do you say that in verse 5 it should be "sons" not "children"?

It is adoption. Verse 4 and 5 refer to counsel. Of course they have a present application, for we are in Christ now, and as in Him, "holy and without blame before Him in love"; and we have also received adoption, or sonship (Galatians iv. 5). Still, in another sense we await "adoption, the redemption of our body" (Romans viii. 23). Then we are already taken into favour in the Beloved. We are also blest with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. Still we await the fulfilment of the eternal counsel, though, as having the Holy Spirit we can anticipate things that we can only have in perfection when we are glorified. The things we have now, and which we enjoy in some measure, we have in Christ; but when we are glorified we shall not only have them in Him, but with Him.

Is it necessary for our hearts to be at rest in the sense of His love, before we are able to enter in any measure into the counsels of God and enjoy them.

Yes, indeed; and to be well instructed in the word of righteousness, otherwise we cannot take strong meat such as we have in this epistle. You will find plenty of good, pious people who are very shy of the counsels of God. They prefer milk to solid food. They seem not to be able to view everything as in the hand of God. They prefer to have some hand in their own salvation. Even their faith is supposed to be some work of merit of their own whereby they become entitled to salvation. Such require instruction in the word of righteousness; that is, the righteous foundation upon which the soul is placed in relationship with God.

All this that we have here is for our blessing, but also for the glory of the One who blesses?

Most surely. There never can be any other purpose before God than His own glory, because when His counsels were brought forth there was no one whose blessing needed to be considered. His counsels were before all His works, and therefore, there was no one to take into consideration except Himself. But He has been pleased to create myriads to be spectators of His glory, and others to share the glory that can be shared by the creature. He has bound up our blessing with His glory. And as we have it in this chapter, "That we should be to the praise of His glory," and as the hymn has it: ?

"O mind divine, so must it be that glory all belong to God,

O love divine that did decree, we should be part through Jesus' blood."

I think you said that unless we were instructed in the word of righteousness we could not enter into these things?

That is so. The word of righteousness is set forth in the Epistle to the Romans, and in spite of the amount of attention that has been paid to it, it is an epistle that is little understood. We make so little progress that the term "dull of hearing" might well be applied to us. The fault is certainly not in the Spirit of God, but in us. Romans and Ephesians are the only two epistles written by Paul to the assemblies in which he does not associate another with himself. The former is occupied with the compassions of God, and the latter with His counsels, though His purposes are touched in Romans and His compassions in Ephesians.

Would you say a word as to "the mystery of His will"?

It is simply that which was not revealed in Old Testament times.

What connection has that with verse 10?

Then there will be no mystery about it. Christ will be manifested as Head over all things, and as the One of whom all who had previously been set by God in prominent positions were figures. In a way, you get this in the Old Testament, though if you take the eighth Psalm you will, I think, be compelled to say you would not have taken the things in the heavens to be included in the "all things" that are said to be put under the feet of the Son of Man. The Psalm says, "Thou hast set Him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under His feet." But it immediately adds, "All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." I do not think that anyone would be likely to gather from that that every created thing in the universe would be gathered under the Son of Man. We now know that everything in heaven and earth is to be put under this Son of Man.

You said that God had ever His own glory before Him; but how do we come in?

It was for His glory that He took us up out of our wretched condition as sinners, and in the day of display we shall be to the praise of His glory. He did not bring about the fall of man, but He allowed it to take place. The "riches of His grace" are seen in His dealings with us viewed as lost sinners; "the glory of His grace" is witnessed in the exalted position in which He has set us in Christ. By His kindness to us in Christ Jesus the exceeding riches of His grace will be displayed in the coming. All that God can do for our eternal blessing He will do. God is love and His counsels are counsels of love. His only begotten Son is the Man of His counsels, and only by the death of that Son could those counsels be fulfilled.

The blessings that are ours are infinitely beyond all that we grasp, even with the revelation that has been made to us, and by the Spirit that has been given to us. We are unspeakably better off than we should have been had we remained in innocence. I am not sorry I was a poor, sinful, fallen creature; had I been anything else I never could have said of the Son of God, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." To see Christ glorified ? to see everything made subject to Him ? to hear the voices of the angels celebrating His praise ? to join in the song and shouting of the sons of God brought to glory ? to fall at His feet and own ourselves captives of His love: the joy of that hour no tongue can tell.

What do you take "the fulness of times" to be?

The Age to come, in which all the ways of God in the past will be seen to lead up to the placing of everything in the universe under the Headship of Christ. Shadows were cast in the past dispensations by means of men placed in high positions of responsibility. Christ will take all up that has been foreshadowed, and a great deal more also, for all things in heaven and upon earth will be taken up under His headship, and will be faithfully maintained to the glory of God. And in Him we have obtained an inheritance, "that we should be to the praise of His glory."

Would it not be well to speak a little of the blessing of sonship that is brought to us as the fruit of eternal counsel, and speak a little of what follows as to inheritance? God is greater than what we have as inheritance?

That is just where the prayer of the apostle comes in. He prays for them, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead." All these things are known as we know God. His calling, and the intimacy and glory of it are only truly known as we know Him. And as we know Him we can grasp a little what this wonderful administration will be, because it will take in, not only the kingdom over all under heaven, but all in heaven itself.

Do you mean that our relationship to God as sons is higher than the inheritance?

Man is always greater than his possessions. Your inheritance is beneath you ? you look down at it ? you look upward at your blessings. The hope of His calling, that is above all else; the inheritance is less than this.

Could we say a word about the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Himself?

It may be difficult to say much about it. Wisdom calls to the sons of men and Says, "Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you" (Proverbs i. 23). This I think, is the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge ? rather full knowledge of Him, as it ought to be here in Ephesians.

Is the knowledge of Him here the knowledge of God or of Christ?

The knowledge of God, I should think, but the better we know Christ the better we know God, for it is in Christ God is made known. The hope of His calling can only be truly known as we know Him that has called us, Who is He before whom we are to be holy and blameless; and also to stand in relationship with Him.

Is the inheritance only connected with this world?

No, it is all things ? this world and all else.

What are the conditions necessary to the reception of the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Himself?

Holy desires to enter into the deep things of God. The apostle could ask this for them because he knew them to be true to the centre and circumference of Christianity: they had faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all the saints. People who are sectarian in their thoughts could not possibly enter into these things.

Let us have a word on the rest of the chapter.

The power that is active toward us to place us at the height of God's calling has been exhibited in the resurrection of Christ, and in placing Him in the exalted position He now occupies, and giving Him to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all. And this same power is working in us and has so wrought that we can be said even now to be seated in Him in the heavenly places. From this glorious position the whole inheritance shall be easily taken for God.

Ephesians 2, 3.

Why does the apostle emphasize the fact that he was a prisoner of Jesus Christ in the first verse of chapter 3?

That the nations might know the interest that God had in them. But perhaps we should look for a little at chapter 2. We have not touched that. The first fourteen verses of chapter 1 set forth the purpose of God; then, from verse 15 to the end we have the prayer of the apostle, at which we looked for a little yesterday; and then from verses 1 to 10 of chapter 2, we see that mighty power of God, which was exhibited in the resurrection, at work to place us in the position which was given us in His counsels. Already we have our position in Christ, but soon we shall have that place with Him. Then from verse 11, he exhorts them to remember what they were as once nations in the flesh, and what they were now in Christ. At that time they had been afar off, without promise, without hope, and without God. But now, "in Christ Jesus they were become nigh by the blood of Christ," He says that Christ is our peace. When speaking of Gentiles, and of their privileges he says, "your," but when speaking of what was distinctively true of all saints, he says "our." "He is our peace," peace with God, and peace between Jew and. Gentile.

What do you mean, by peace between Jew and Gentile?

It takes two to quarrel. He has made both one. He has broken down the middle wall of partition, "the law of commandments contained in ordinances," in which the Jew gloried and which distinguished him from the Gentiles, in order that He might make in Himself of the twain one new man, who would be neither Jew nor Gentile, thus making peace: In this new man neither Jew nor Gentile has any existence.

Can you tell us what is meant by "one new man"?

One new man is the truth concerning all saints of this dispensation viewed abstractedly as in Christ. In this man there is not the Jew and the Gentile, nor is there the bond and the free. Such a man only exists in Christ. Reconciliation comes in here also. "That He might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. Both are reconciled to God, and to one another.

Is the new man referred to divine nature?

In the flesh, you have here on earth, Jew and Gentile. In Christ there is neither, but those who had been Jews or Gentiles, now in a new condition of being, in the life and nature of the risen Christ, without one element of the old order of man, either fallen or unfallen, in their being ? in Christ and wholly of God. Such a man never was heard of before. But to understand the truth concerning this man you must learn it in Christ and view the saints as in Him, apart from their complex condition down here, in which we are connected with the old order by mortal bodies. Here there are those who can be viewed in their pilgrim life as Jews and Gentiles, male and female, and in the epistles the saints are in this way addressed. But if you view saints as in Christ you cannot have such distinctions. Paul says He will glory of a man in Christ, but of himself he would not glory except in his infirmities. And yet he was the man in Christ, although he speaks as if he had another man than himself under consideration (2 Corinthians xii.). The characteristics of this new man are set before us in the life of Jesus upon earth, and these are displayed in our mortal bodies while here below: We have the cross for all that is of the old man.

Are you looking at all saints on earth at the present time?

Yes, but of course, the "one new man" takes in all saints of this dispensation. The Body of Christ takes them all in. But to get the truth of what we are as members of the one Body, we must strip them of all that in which they appear down here as children of Adam. Of that Body we are now members as truly as we shall ever be, but we must not introduce here what we are as in the flesh.

Would it help if a little was said as to life and position?

We were all dead in sins, but by the life-giviug power of God we were made to live. "God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love where with He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ . . . and hath raised us up together, and make us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." We are in the life in which Christ lives, as risen from the dead, and we have been set down in Him in the heavenlies. The earth is all right for the children of men if they could keep it; but it would not do for the children of God, or the members of Christ's body:

Would this be the settlement of all kinds of strife among us if we entered into the truth concerning the new man

Surely, if our walk were in the Spirit. We may come to that in chapter iv.

What is reconciliation?

Being brought into right relations with God.

Would it come of the two thoughts of life and position spoken of here?

Yes. There is only one way of being in reconciliation. The cross has made an end of the flesh, and the believer is in the life of Christ. The old man could not be reconciled to God. Now the apostle goes on to say, "Through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. This is the greatest privilege of all. This is all what is true of Gentile believers, and is contrasted with what they were by nature.

Why is the foundation here the apostles and prophets, and in other places Christ?

Christ is the Rock in Matthew 16, as Son of the living God, the living Stone in 1 Peter 2. I suppose the reason we have the apostles and prophets here is because they were employed by the Lord in the ministry of the word by which the structure has been brought into existence. Christ is the Builder in Matthew, living stones come to Him as Lord, and are built up into the spiritual house. This is not completed. No one is said to dwell in it. The saints are the stones that compose the building, and they are also the priests who offer the spiritual sacrifices.

Would you say that this part of the chapter presents a wonderful range of things established by God in virtue of the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ?

Surely, And is it not a great thing for the youngest of us when the power and blessing of it dawns upon the soul?

It is indeed.

Is not that which represents God's house here largely a system of lust, evil, sin and death?

Your reference is to verse 22. But there it is not so much what is vital that is before us, but profession, which may be holy or corrupt. It is largely corrupt to-day.

Referring again to Matthew 16. In Matthew He is the Foundation Rock, here He is the Chief Corner Stone?

You see the rock and the foundation are two different things. In every house it is so. We speak of a house built upon a good foundation, though we have not in our minds that any part of the house is the foundation ? it is builded upon a foundation. Again we speak of the first part of the house as a foundation which we lay, not what we lay it upon. We speak of the foundation in two ways.

What is the chief corner stone?

I do not know, unless it be for strength and beauty.

In 1 Corinthians, Jesus Christ is the foundation.

That is a different thing. There He is the foundation laid in the souls of the saints. I do not think you will ever get two Scriptures exactly the same. One may help you a little with respect to another, but you will find that each is in its own setting, from which it is not to be removed, and that it presents a different phase of the truth.

Why is the third chapter introduced at this point in the epistle?

It is introduced in a parenthetical way, setting forth the mystery and Paul's administration of it. The fourth chapter is the continuation of the second, but it was necessary that they should know the special ministry that was committed to him, by means of which the Gentiles should be joint heirs, and a joint body, and joint partakers of His promise in Christ. This mystery was committed to him, though the mystery itself had also been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the power of the Spirit.

And in speaking of this he brings before us that which is vital in the habitation of God?

Yes; only I do not think the administration is going on at this present moment. It was committed to one man, who perfectly carried it out. He was the one specially chosen of God to bring in the Gentiles, and without them the mystery is not complete.

Would you say a little more as to what that administration was? The Church was set up by the Holy Ghost at Pentecost?

That is true, and I do not doubt the mind of God was to bring in the Gentiles; but according to this chapter you could not have the mystery until the Gentiles were brought in, for that is the mystery ? the Gentiles joint heirs, joint body, and joint partakers of His promise in Christ.

Now, leaving the administration, will you tell us what the mystery is?

You go back to chapter ii. for that. It is Jew and Gentile one, in the body of Christ.

Would not the administration of the mystery include the actual gathering together of the saints on the ground of it?

We see the apostle did thus gather them.

Were not the local assemblies to be the expression of Christ? Was not that included?

Surely. There were difficulties about receiving the Gentiles, but the truth ministered by Paul had the effect of settling that difficulty. All believers are gathered on that ground now, whatever practical differences may exist ? all are in the one body.

That is not what I mean. Are we not to gather together on the ground of the Assembly?

If you mean when we come together into one place we certainly are. But if you have not the thought of the house how are you to exercise discipline?

Discipline belongs to the house, not to the body.

A word on verse 10?

The reference there is to the inhabitants of the heavenlies, who observe the ways of God on earth with His fallen creature man, and with unspeakable interest contemplate the wisdom of His ways; but now, in the gathering of souls out from both Jew and Gentiles, and bringing them together under the headship of Christ, see the all-various wisdom of God. Peter speaks of the desire of the angels to look into the grace that had come to the Jewish believers, but in the Assembly, as gathered under Christ and as part of Himself, there are brought to light the eternal secret of their Creator, and a wisdom that surpasses all that they had previously witnessed.

This mystery was the secret of the Creator, hence the whole creation had some reference to the mystery. When the Assembly has its place in glory it will be a blessing to the whole creation. It is the Body of Christ, and it is His Bride. It is part of Himself. By means of our bodies we give expression to our whole mind and thought; and as He is Head over all things, His Body must render marvellous service in illuminating, comforting, cheering and rejoicing the whole redeemed universe. The rays of the sun enlighten, warm and vivify the whole solar system. His rays reach the darkest corners, and light up all places. They from their glorious centre. Christ will do everything through His body. Through it He will give expression to Himself. That is what a man has a body for The tree of life is in the holy city, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations.

How was this mystery brought into existence?

By the Gospel. The Gospel that Paul preached included the mystery. He speaks of the mystery of the Gospel.

In 2 Timothy Paul speaks of "my Gospel," my doctrine." Is the distinction there?

The Gospel includes everything. I admit there are ways of viewing it as that which is declared universally to men ? repentance and remission of sins, but it is all to lead up to the mystery. The apostle laboured "to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,"

There is no halting place in the Gospel. If you speak to a man about his soul, what you have before you is that he may be presented perfect in Christ.

This touches our hearts. Would you go on to say that the Gospel is the presentation of God Himself?

Yes, as revealed in Christ.

Would you say that all His activities have been for His own glory and that of Christ?

Surely. All glory belongs to God.

Do not these prayers show the desire of the apostle for the growth of the saints? For, having unfolded the truth, he has to bow his knees that a state to receive it might be brought about in them.

The one who ministers the Word should not imagine that he can effect anything in the hearer. He can present the truth as he knows it, but only God can bring it home in power to the soul. No man can accomplish anything.

Do you not think that the lack of prayer may affect all kinds of ministry? And is not this our danger?

Not a doubt of it.

Will not ministry bring to pass all that is necessary in the saints?

It is brought about by ministry, but if the one who ministers desires the soul-prosperity of his hearers, he must accompany the Word with prayer. Here Paul says: "I bow my knees." He does not say this regarding his prayer in chapter 1. I do not say he did not bow his knees in his first prayer, but he does not say so to the Ephesians. I think he desires to impress upon their hearts the greatness of the subject he is dealing with. The first prayer is to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is to the Father, of whom he says, "Every family in heaven and earth is named," The name "Jehovah" took in but one family in Israel, the name "Father" takes in all families in the universe.

"Strengthened" "in the inner man"?

The outward man has nothing to do with this. Samson was strong in body, but that will help no one here. The inner man must be strengthened by the Spirit of the Father. This shows us that our affections must be engaged with the things brought before our spiritual vision here.

What is the immediate object of the strengthening?

That we may be fully able to apprehend with all saints the vast sphere of divine counsel radiant with the glory of redemption, in which every saint in this dispensation shall, as a member of the Body of Christ, have part with Him who is the supreme Centre of that world of glory.

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith" ? What is that?

Christ in your affections.

What is the force of that expression ? the Christ?

The Anointed.

Does it involve the mystery?

No!

Is it a title that belongs to Him?

I do not think the article has much to do with it. In Luke xxiv. our Lord says, "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory." And similar statements are made in other places. This cannot mean Christ and the Church. In 1 Corinthians xii. 12, we have, I suppose, the mystery ? Christ and the Assembly, but I do not know that we have it anywhere else. Throughout the Acts it is nearly always "The Christ," but it seems to have become, by use, a personal name of the Lord, and the article, therefore, is left out.

And should not "dwell" be emphasized? Some seem satisfied to have a visit, but He wants an abiding-place there.

You may be sure that we dwell in His heart; and He has died that He may have a place in ours.

Why is the expression "in love" so often used?

Because God is love, and to be rooted and grounded in love is to have our roots in the revelation God has made to us. It is wonderful how much you apprehend of the things of God when your heart is deeply in the enjoyment of His love. You are then intelligent in the things of God. Unless this is so, you read the Scriptures and get nothing out of them.

You may enjoy things beyond your ability to give expression to them?

Yes. It is not the one who is best able to talk who is most in the enjoyment of God's revelation. What a wonderful finish to this prayer: "Glory to God in the Church by Christ Jesus unto all generations of the ages of eternity," We shall learn there things better on our knees.

Ephesians 4.

Would you say a word or two on the divisions of this chapter?

The first few verses relate to our walk with respect to the calling, then we have the gifts given from the ascended Christ for the ministry and building up of the body of Christ, and from verse 17 to the end, the exhortations with regard to our walk, that it may be in harmony with the privileges into which we have been brought.

Could you break the unity of the Spirit?

Practically, yes. It is already broken

Could you break it vitally?

No, because it is the Spirit.

What is the unity of the Spirit?

It is the oneness of the Spirit of God.

Would you mind helping us, so that we may see what you mean, because we have always been taught a little differently?

So have I, but I think it is simply the oneness of the Spirit ? In 1 Corinthians 12 a similar thought is set before the saints. There are various gifts but "the same Spirit." One prophesied, another spoke with an unknown tongue, another had gifts of healing; but all was by the same Spirit. It was not different spirits at work. Now in Christendom, one might reasonably suppose there were a thousand different spirits at work, because we are not in the least in practical unity. I know what has been said on the subject, and have no special objection to what is said, but I cannot see it in their way.

But does not unity convey the idea of a formation?

Not always I think. You get in this chapter: "The unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God." You would not call that a formation. This is the way in which I view the statement, I do not press it. It will be the same thing in the end whatever way it may be taken.

Does the unity of the Spirit contemplate Jew and Gentile?

Yes. Through Christ by one Spirit we both have access to the Father. Still, it is not Jew and Gentile that trouble us to-day, but Gentile and Gentile. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, has been said to be maintaining in a practical way the unity that the Spirit has formed on earth, but I do not think so, though I greatly regard the opinions of some who have said it.

What is the force of keeping the unity of the Spirit?

It is walking in such a way that it will be evident that we are both energised by the one Spirit. If two saints are quarreling, like those two sisters in Philippi, some other spirit is at work in one of them ? perhaps in both. To keep this unity we require to walk in self-judgment, in lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. The beautiful characteristics of Christ are to come out in us.

There must be the comprehension of the unity of the Body connected with it?

It goes on to that. There is one Body and one Spirit.

So the flesh would be the difficulty?

That is just the difficulty. We shall not need these exhortations when we are in heaven, but here the flesh is in all of us, and we sometimes forget to walk in self-judgment, and the practical unity, is broken on the spot.

Would you not say that to keep the unity of the Spirit is to keep in practice what exists in fact?

That is true, but you can find that all opened out in the writings referred to, but you can also find just the other thing too, that it is more the one mind of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit can only have one mind, and it is not that we are to have one mind simply, because that might not be His mind, but we are to have the Spirit's mind. There is that which the Spirit formed at Pentecost, and we are surely to walk in the light of it. It is our privilege and responsibility to walk in the light of the whole revelation of God. There is one Body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, and the knowledge of these great truths has a powerful influence upon us to produce unity; and unity will assuredly be produced by them if we walk in the judgment of that which has no part in them ? the flesh.

Will you say a word on these three unities in verse 4?

The "one Body" is, of course, the Body of Christ, formed by the baptism of the one Spirit, who unites all the members of the Body together, and is the bond that makes one that vessel, of which Christ is the living and vitalizing power. The "hope of your calling" is one also, and refers to verses 4 and 5 of chapter 1, but this in verse 18 is said to be His calling, because the apostle would have the greatness, the glory, and the blessedness of the calling to have a powerful effect upon the saints to draw their minds and hearts heavenward. Here the calling is said to be ours, because he desires it to produce in us down here a practical unity.

Is it to bring divisions to an end?

Yes, for if the fleshly will is excluded there is nothing to divide about. There cannot surely be dissension where there is only one Body, one Spirit animating that Body, and one hope of glory before every heart?

Is there any hope of such a practical state being brought to pass before the Lord comes?

That it is the mind of the Lord is evident by the fact of its having a place here in the Word; but whether it will ever be seen again on earth we cannot say. It certainly will be at His coming, but then we shall all be glorified.

What about these other unities?

These take in a wider circle to-day, I think always did.

Are these necessarily vital?

No, they are not. As far as true believers are concerned, of course they are. But this takes in the sphere of profession, and for a very long time the sphere of profession has been much larger than the vital sphere. There is one Lord. None could be a Christian even in name, who refused to acknowledge Christ as Lord. There is also one faith, which all profess to acknowledge as God's revelation.

And would you say baptism brings all into that circle?

Yes. No one is rightly in the Christian circle, the circle in which Christ is confessed as Lord, unless he has been baptized.

You would say that Cornelius was in the first circle one Body, one Spirit, one hope ? by the gift of the Spirit, but came into this second circle by baptism?

That is so. In the first three you could not bring the Lord in as such, for He is not Lord of the Body, neither could you leave Him out in the second, for He is Lord of the individual, the object of faith, and the One in whose name people are baptized.

And the one faith is the common faith?

Yes: the revelation of God.

In the third circle, what is meant by the expression "In you all"?

That is vital: the Father is above everything, through everything, and in all believers. It does not mean that all are in relationship with the Father in a vital sense, but God has been revealed as Father, and He is supreme, omnipotent, and vitally in all true believers.

Do I understand the first circle to be the Church, and the second profession?

The first is the Body, the second the House, and the third the Universe, the last sentence coming back to what is vital, "In you all."

This last expression in verse 6, "in you." Does that only apply to believers?

That is all.

Not to any other family?

I would not say that. I think it will be true of all believers.

Is the term characteristic?

It is life and nature. There are many things stated in the epistles that are true of others also. The apostle always had before him those to whom he was writing.

Say a word on the gifts ? what is this in verse 7?

That is grace given to every one of us. Every member of the Body has some function to perform, and grace has been given in the wisdom of the Lord, for all that we may have to do. The grace is given according to the measure of the gift of Christ, according to the measure of His giving. Though every one has some service to engage in, and requires grace for the carrying of it out, yet it is not necessarily gift for the ministry of the Word. This is found in verse 11: But these gifts are persons. There are no apostles in "the Body," Those gifts in verse 11 are "in the Assembly," but the Assembly viewed more as the House than the Body. In Corinthians xii., the apostle has been speaking of the members of the Body in function, but when he comes to the gifts he says that God has set them "in the Assembly."

In verse 7, is the gift there grace itself?

Certainly. The verse says so. We require grace for the exercise of every service we have got to perform.

Is it for servants?

Yes: but we are all servants.

In writing to Timothy, Paul says: "Stir up the gift that is in thee." Was that a particular gift?

Yes: it was a gift for the ministry of the Word.

Has not the Assembly been endowed by Christ from on high, and of that endowment every one of us partakes?

I do not think so. I know it has been said, but I believe it to be a mistake. The administration of the Lord Himself is continued right through the whole of this dispensation, and everything comes directly to us from Himself. Paul got nothing from the Assembly: He says, "When it pleased God . . . to reveal His Son in me" (Galatians i.).

Does the Lord give directly now?

Yes. As I have already said, Saul received everything directly from the Lord; and that was some time after the supposed endowment of the Assembly. The Lord might use an apostle to confer a gift on a disciple, as He used Paul to confer a gift on Timothy, but the Assembly had no hand in it. The Lord, not the Spirit, gives the gifts.

Are we warranted in saying the gifts in verse 11 go right on to the end?

The apostles and prophets were at the beginning, and shall continue to the end, for we have their ministry in the New Testament, though they themselves have long ago fallen asleep. The other gifts are, I do not doubt, continued from our exalted Head.

Are we right in looking to the Lord to raise up gifts?

Absolutely. Our privilege is to look to Him for everything that we see to be necessary for His interests.

Would you press that there should be exercise in each one as to what his gift is?

Everyone who has received a special gift from the Lord should have no difficulty regarding what that gift is.

Why is it to "men" the gifts are given?

I suppose angels do not require them.

Where do you get gifts to the Assembly?

Here: He gave some apostles and others for the perfecting of the saints.

What difference do you make between the Body and the Assembly?

The Assembly is the Body, but it is also the House, and we must gather from the connection what special aspect of the Assembly is before the mind of the writer.

Then, you would say, the gifts are for the building up of the Body?

Yes. The great object of the evangelist is to build up the Body. These gifts are under the direction of the Lord Himself and every one who puts himself under the direction of the Assembly has lost sight of the Lord.

What is His "leading captivity captive"?

Taking the whole power of the enemy out of his hands; leading captive him who had held man captive, and using them whom He has delivered from the grasp of the foe to deliver others.

Is it right service when the Assembly is lost sight of?

No. The servants object in ministering the Word is to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. But all who have received the Spirit are in the Assembly. If the Gospel is clearly preached, all who believe it receive the Spirit. The servant may bring into the House by baptism of water, but into the body he cannot bring anyone. Still, as I have said, if he preaches a full Gospel, the one who believes it receives the Spirit and is in the Body.

Who does the work of the ministry in verse 12?

The gifts given by Christ.

Do you mean the shepherds and teachers?

Not only they, but all the gifts. We have the apostles in the Scriptures written by them. But while the Body itself is edified by these gifts, there is also the work of the ministry by lesser gifts than apostles, and whose labour is not so distinctly with those who compose the body.

What is the unity of the faith?

The faith as a whole. We learn it in its various parts, but there comes a time when the great edifice of God's revelation is seen as a distinct whole.

Is it the same as "one faith"?

Yes. We learn the compassions of God, and the word of righteousness in Romans; the order of God's House in 1 Corinthians; and the carrying out of divine counsel in Ephesians; but we need to be able to take in all these various parts as one whole.

Would you connect the gifts with the ascended Lord, and the members of the Body with the Head?

Yes. Whatever gift a man possesses he is responsible to the Lord for the way he uses it. You could not speak of Him as Lord of the Body; He is Head of it.

Will you give us an outline of the rest of this chapter?

In verse 16, we see the whole Body, from the exalted Head, fitted together, and connected by every joint of supply to the working in measure of each one part, works for itself the increase of the Body to its self-building up in love. Love, which is the divine nature, is that which nourishes and cherishes the Body so that it increases, as is said in Colossians, "with the increase of God." Here, as it says, "in love," there is no need to bring God in, for "God is love." This is not viewed here as the result of the ministry of the Word, but as the healthy action of the Body itself, assimilating that which it receives from the Head ? it edifies itself in love.

From verse 17 we get exhortations based upon the privileges set before us in the part we have been looking at. They were not to walk as the Gentiles, who are alienated from the life of God, that life with which we have been made to live. God has quickened us together with Christ, and this reference is to that glorious fact, to which our attention is called in chapter 2. Therefore, the characteristics of this heavenly life are to be exhibited in us here on earth. These we have seen exhibited in Jesus here below. The truth of all that is of the life and nature of God shone out in Him who was God manifested in this world of sin, and, in the school of Christ, Jesus is the One set forth as our example. For this, the old man must be put off, and he has been, at least professedly, and the new man, who is created after God in righteousness and holiness of the truth has been put on.

Why the change from Christ in verse 20 to Jesus in verse 21?

Because the truth has been set forth in Jesus, without regard to His relations with others. It is His personal name. Christ is not quite His personal name, though it seems to be often used that way in the epistles. But Christ is our Head, and He teaches us to come out in the life of Jesus. We have put off the old man and put on the new; therefore, we put off falsehood, which is one strong characteristic of the old man; and having put on the new man we speak truth with our neighbour, for we are members one of another. The Holy Spirit is not to be grieved. Until the redemption of the purchased possession we are sealed by Him. We are called to be imitators of God, but as it was in Christ God was declared, we keep our eye upon Him.

Ephesians 5.

Could we have a little help on the way to be more practically in the power of these things?

By walking in the light of Christ, who has given Himself for us, and in the power of an ungrieved Spirit. We are to be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and given Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. We can only imitate Him as far as we know Him, but in Christ He has been perfectly revealed; hence our eye must be fixed on Him.

What do you mean by "perfectly"?

Perfectly declared in Christ as far as creatures could know Him. We could not know Him in His essential Being. He is the invisible God. In Christ His nature has come to light. It is clear we could not know God in the perfect way in which He knows Himself. It is our unspeakable privilege to know Him in the way in which He has drawn near to us.

Is that not in His essential Being?

No, but in His nature and attributes. I do not think any one believes we could know God as God knows Himself. It would be no comfort to us to imagine He could be comprehended in all that He is by such creatures as we are, or by any creature. But all that He is He is for us, because He has associated us with Christ, His Son.

In John i. 11, does there seem to be any limitation to that: "The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him"? Would you limit that?

No. I think the Son declared the Father as far as the creature could be made to take in the declaration.

But is not the name of God different to that of Father?

Yes. God brings in the thought of responsibility, Father, that of grace and relationship. The Son is the Image of the invisible God. In Hebrews He is said to be "the effulgence of His glory and the expression of His substance," or essential Being, but I do not think that goes farther than nature. And there is what He is as dwelling in light unapproachable, whom no man hath seen, nor is able to see. If He were known absolutely there could be no hindrance of approach to Him.

You speak of light unapproachable, but we are spoken of as children of light?

We are children of the light that came to us in Christ, for that light has brought life to our souls, it has produced a generation of God upon earth. We are children of the revelation that has come to us in Christ.

Is it true that the glory that Moses saw was the glory of the Lawgiver in that character, and that we see the glory that excelleth in the face of Jesus?

Yes; but it was not pure law in that case; there was a mixture of grace with it; otherwise Moses would not have answered as he did: "Let my Lord, I pray Thee, go among us; for it is a stiff-necked peoples and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance." He declares Himself in goodness and mercy and forgiveness.

Why does it say "light in the Lord," not in Christ?

To say we are light in Christ would be to say we are always light, whatever our practical state might be. "In the Lord" introduces the idea of responsibility and we can only shine in the light derived from Him. The moon and planets get their light from the sun, and the Lord is our Sun.

In connection with chapter 6, following on what you say, "walk in love," does it not mean that being imitators is produced in that way?

I rather think we walk in love because we are imitators of God. He is before us in Christ, who is the manifestation of God, and in this way we get hold of Him in His true character, and imitate Him in His pathway of love down here. And that is a sweet savour to God.

Is this sacrifice not atonement?

It made atonement; but that is not the way in which it is presented here, but as an example for us.

What is light in contrast with truth?

Light is that which makes manifest. Christ was the light of the world because He declared God, and therefore, everything was seen as it was by those who had eyes to see it. Truth is that which sets things forth in their true character, and in their right relations to one another. Light manifests all things as they exist, but in this evil scene, in which everything, was out of order, the truth was seen in Christ, for He was the perfect expression of all things in their right relation to God, and therefore to all else.

Is it not remarkable that in John's Gospel He speaks of Himself as the Light, but when He gathers His own in the inside place in the upper room, He drops that word and speaks of Himself as the Truth?

The light is the revelation of God, and whoever receives that light by faith in it has got the knowledge of God in grace and love. The light is for men that are in darkness. Where the light is received the darkness is dispelled; then the soul requires instruction in the mind and will of Him with whom he is set in entirely new relationships: he wants instruction in the truth; and in turn, he becomes a light in the midst of this world's darkness. Light shows me things as they really are, but when I know the truth I see how different everything on earth is to that which it should be. So that the truth may be said to be light. "Thy Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path" (Psalm cxix. 105). The light of the Gospel shows one how thoroughly under the power of Satan he has been. Christ is both the truth and the light. They are very near akin.

"Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Is that the same?

Yes. A man asleep is in darkness. "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee" (Isaiah lx. 1). This will be the word to Jerusalem one day. Spiritual sleep means that your affections are dormant; and you have sunk to the level of those dead in sin.

What is the evidence of being, filled with the Spirit?

"Speaking to yourselves," and praising and blessing God.

Is that normal Christianity or something special?

Normal. Melody in the heart to the Lord is sweet music. You cannot get that out of an instrument: Some get impatient because others have not good voices. Every voice is good if it comes from a heart full of love to God.

How do you differentiate between the normal of this chapter and the Acts?

"Filled with the Spirit," is normal, but if one is to do any special line of service for the Lord with relation to the Lord's things, then the Spirit takes complete control, so that all he does and says is of God. The Lord gives him all the power he requires, and that power is by the Spirit, the Spirit has complete control.

Can a man be filled with something else than the Spirit?

He might be filled with himself.

Is to be filled with the Spirit here connected with singing?

Yes, certainly.

Not audible singing? It is to God in the heart?

No: "with the heart." It rises from the heart. I do not see how you could sing in your heart. It must be audible.

May I ask in connection with the melody, as to whether being filled with the Spirit is limited there, because it goes on to giving thanks and submitting ourselves to one another?

True, Christianity cannot be approached except in the power of the Spirit. You take the tabernacle; it was sprinkled with blood and anointed with oil, indicating that the true tabernacle with which we have to do would be placed on the ground of redemption and in the power of the Spirit. You cannot engage in the service of God in any way except in the power of the Spirit. It brings a heavenly colour into these things, so that a saint will come out as a father, husband, or wife, in a new way. The husband loves his wife, not as Adam loved Eve, but as Christ loved the Assembly; and the wife takes her example from the Assembly in subjection to her husband; and fathers bring up their children in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. For all this we need to be in the energy of the Spirit. We walk according to the rule of new creation in the old creation relationships, "In Christ" is new creation.

Will you open that out a little?

"In Christ" is entirely a new order of man, but down here we are in old creation relationships, and the question is, How are we to walk in these? Well, we are not to take pattern from the world. We are not to walk after the flesh. We are like people in a foreign land who bring there the customs of their native land, and who refuse to follow the trend of things in the land wherein they are strangers.

Would you say that in our life in this world we are brought into a system which God has specially in view in Christ glorified, and in the Holy Ghost down here?

While we are on earth we are connected with that system, but not "in our life in the world." Flesh and blood has no part in that system. It is an out-of-the-world condition of things, and can only be entered in the life of Christ and in the power of the Spirit, but it greatly influences our human life down here. Christ was never other than heavenly, but He was in relationships that belonged to flesh and blood, and in these He walked perfectly to the pleasure of His Father. He is no longer in these relationships.

What relation has this to the unfolding of the counsels of God in the earlier part of the epistle?

These exhortations set before us the character of walk becoming those who are the objects of these counsels. Our walk is to be in the power of an ungrieved Spirit, and we are to make progress in the knowledge of Him who has called us. The knowledge of our heavenly relationships affects our ways in all our earthly relationships. If rightly taken up, earthly relationships are no hindrance to our spiritual growth, but rather a help.

Why is it that the husband is exhorted to love his wife?

One reason is that he might fail in doing so. She is not told to love him, because love is ever on the descending line. She is told to be subject to her husband, for he is her head. In Christianity we are not told to love God but to believe in the love He has to us.

As Christ is Head over all to the Church, and we are to grow up to Him, might not this line of things in chapters 5 and 6 be included in the fact that you have Christ before your mind, and even in the earthly relationships to grow up to Him? I thought, in connection with our understanding of that verse ? "grow up unto Him in all things" ? we sometimes limit it to the abstract spiritual things of the Assembly. But it includes all those earthly details, so that Christ being before us, His impress is left on the ordinary details of life?

To grow up to Him in all things is in all that is revealed in Christ. In all earthly relations we are to set Him forth. But the measure in which we can do this depends upon our growth. We are heavenly people, and here in the life of Christ, and we must be ourselves wherever found. We are not heavenly men in one place and earthly men in another. Christ was always Himself in all relationships of life.

Ephesians 6.

Then even entering upon this conflict we are to be strong, not in ourselves but, in the Lord?

Yes. We have no strength for this holy war. The power of God acts through us. To Joshua's challenge to the man with the drawn sword in his hand: "Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?" the answer, practically, is for neither: "But as Captain of the Lord's host am I now come." The battle is the Lord's, and must be fought in His strength: we are weakness itself.

Why do we get fighting at the close of this epistle?

Because the enemy is in possession of the land given to us of the Lord. We have got the position there in Christ, but we are not there yet ourselves. There are three ways in which the people of Israel can be viewed as typical of Christians. In the wilderness, where all the men fell who came out of Egypt by Moses; on the east of Jordan, where in the land of Bashan, two and a half tribes made their home; in the land which was God's thought for all. Those who fall in the wilderness are unbelieving Christians; those who make their home on the east of Jordan are worldly Christians; and those who settle on the west of Jordan are the faithful who enter into the purpose of God Those who settle on the east of Jordan are real believers, who never rise up to the height of the calling of God, those who enter the land and make it their abode do. Still, the two and a half tribes had to fight and help their brethren to possess the land, though they did not take up their abode in it.

Are those in conflict for the truth of the Gospel fighting?

Yes: and all who preach the Gospel; and some of them fight better than those do who take heavenly ground. Every saint on earth is in this conflict, and for success in it we must put on the whole armour of God.

The wiles would be something like the cunning of the Gibeonites?

Yes; though I suppose all the attacks of the devil are of the nature of wiles. Wiles and fiery darts are all that are mentioned here. There are blessings, or rather territory, that we may possess that does not lie quite over Jordan. Israel had for an inheritance from the Red Sea to the Euphrates. The land of Bashan was theirs, but the land on the west of Jordan was to be their place of abode. Our blessings are given to us in the heavenlies, and we should go over to possess it; but some of us are content with enjoying salvation, deliverance from sin's dominion, and such like, without laying hold of our heavenly calling. As far as their practical lives are concerned they seem to be men of the world, though really no more of it than those are who stand for their heavenly position. You will sometimes find such men forward and fearless in conflict with infidels.

Would you say a word about loins girt about with truth?

It is the loins of the mind that are referred to. We are not to allow our minds to be occupied with everything that meets our eye. They are not to be wandering all over the place, but to be girded up so as not to hinder us in the conflict. There is a great deal in the world to engage our attention if we allow it, things perhaps, that are not in themselves wicked, but which would hinder our view of the heavenly inheritance and weaken us in the battle.

Why is this first?

Because it is that which is the chief thing to maintain. You see this armour is not like the armour people used to wear in the field of battle, which was made for them by the armourer, and was put on when they were about to fight. This armour is put on from the inside like the feathers of a fowl. It all refers to practical state. Therefore, if the loins are not girt about with truth, you will never have on the armour of righteousness, for this is practical righteousness; and if the mind and affections are set upon the things of this world your own will, and not the will of God, will characterize you, and that is sin; your heart will be condemning you, confidence in God will be lost, and your vital parts will be vulnerable. If the armour is on we walk in a calm and unperturbed spirit. Our heart reposes in the love of God, and in the peace that results from a walk in harmony with His revealed will. The grace that has come to us in Christ is in our hearts, and our feet are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace as the result.

What are the fiery darts?

I know not. There are such things, but we have the shield of faith as a guard against them. Perfect confidence in God will preserve us from them. We can say: "If God be for us, who can be against us? "If we have the first three pieces of the armour upon us, the shield of faith will not be wanting. The darts are fiery, and thrown with a fierceness that is appalling, but confidence in God is a perfect defence. "In God have I put my trust."

Next, there is the helmet of salvation. The helmet here is not the hope of salvation as in the word to the Thessalonians. God had not appointed them to wrath, but to obtain salvation ? salvation from the wrath to come. But in Ephesians you are already saved, for you have got your place in Christ in the heavenly places. Here you have the salvation of God as a helmet upon your head.

Why is the helmet for the head?

Because the head is a very vulnerable place, and requires protection in the battle.

In what sense is the Word of God the Sword of the Spirit?

It is the only weapon in the panoply of God. It is for offensive warfare. All the other pieces of the armour are for protection. The Sword is that which no evil power can withstand. But it can only be used in the power of the Spirit. Young men are said to be strong, and the Word of God abides in them, and they have overcome the wicked one. Our Lord met the devil with it in the desert, and he fled before it.

Is it not important to distinguish between the mere quotation of a text of Scripture, and the speaking of that, word, which is God's Word for the moment to that particular person?

Still, one would be most certain to use a passage of Scripture ? the Lord did. It must be the Word, for the devil, for sinner or saint. It brings conviction to the hardened sinner, meets the need of the awakened conscience, sets at rest the troubled heart, builds up the saint in the knowledge of God, and defeats the devil; but nothing of all this apart from the Spirit's use of it.

Is there time to say a word on prayer?

Prayer brings in the power of God. We are to pray at all seasons, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching unto this very thing with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints, and for the servant who seeks to make known the mystery of the glad tidings, that all such may have utterance given to them.

Is it not a mistake to distinguish between the saints of God? We often hear the expression, "Bless Thy gathered saints."

The saints are all one, and the apostle says we are to pray "for all saints." Besides, there are no saints who can be spoken of as always gathered. They are gathered when they are gathered; that is, when they meet together. I know no other gathered saints. I have heard people say they have been gathered forty years. I have thought that was a long meeting.

Messiah the Prince

Messiah the Prince

An Outline of Matthew's Gospel

by Laurence Laurenson

Editor of "Loving Words."

Contents

Foreword

Section 1. — Matthew 1, 2.

The Genealogy and Birth of the King

Section 2. — Matthew 3, 4.

The Forerunner Introducing the King and the Kingdom Presented

Section 3. — Matthew 5, 6, 7.

The Laws of the Kingdom

Section 4. — Matthew 8, 9.

The Dignity of the King and the Characteristics of His Mission

Section 5. — Matthew 10, 11, 12.

The King's Messengers, the King's Message, and the King Himself Rejected

Section 6. — Matthew 13.

The Outward and Inward Aspects of the Kingdom in the Absence of the King

Section 7. — Matthew 14, 15.

Man's King and Man's Character Contrasted with God's King

Section 8. — Matthew 16, 17.

A Prophecy of the Church with a Glimpse of Kingdom Glory

Section 9. — Matthew 18 — 23.

The Characteristics of those who enter the Kingdom, the Responsibility of those connected with it, and God's way of bringing Men into it: The King presented, and the Leaders of Israel morally judged

Section 10. — Matthew 24, 25.

The Great Prophetic Outline. The King's Dealings with the Jew, the Church, and the Nations

Section 11. — Matthew 26 — 28.

The King goes into Death and Judgment, in order that His Followers may enter into Life and Glory

Section 12. — Matthew 28. Resurrection, Victory, and Joy

Notes and Outlines

Foreword

The four Gospels present to us an inexhaustible theme in Christ and all that was revealed in Him during the brief years of His earthly sojourn. We may go even further and affirm that each several Gospel is inexhaustible in the fulness and depth of that aspect of the Christ of God which it places before us. Hence the many and various expositions of the Gospels which have seen the light of day and proved of profit to their readers.

In this book a new unfolding of Matthew is placed in the reader's hands. The author does not address himself to the learned, but rather to the ordinary believer who may not have access readily to the larger and more exhaustive expositions already published, and who might not be able very easily to digest their contents if he had ready access to them. To such readers — and they are very numerous to-day — this book will, we trusty prove full of instruction, suggestion, and spiritual help. May it be prospered in its mission to this end. F. B. Hole.

Section 1. Matthew 1, 2.

The Genealogy and Birth of the King

In seeking to grasp the contents of any book it is necessary to be so conversant with its subject matter as to be able to go over it in outline in our own minds.

If this be true of the writings of men, how much more so of the Word of God? This is not the difficult matter it may appear at first sight, and there are several ways it may be arrived at. In studying Matthew's Gospel, for example, if we take one leading thought or incident from each chapter, or section of the book, other related facts will naturally group themselves round these to complete the picture. And it will be found that the various events are so linked together in a divine order that the heart is led on from Matthew 1 to Matthew 28 in ever-increasing enjoyment of all the varied truths presented to us in this Gospel, so full of instruction pertaining to the Kingdom of Heaven.

It is worth noting at the outset, that in the Scriptures themselves we are more often urged to search and meditate thereupon, than merely to read. And the reason is obvious. They have to do with the heart. In twenty-two different ways, in the twenty-two sections of Psalm 119, the Psalmist expresses the attitude of his heart toward the law of God. He "Believes it," "Keeps it," "Rejoices in it," "Declares it," "Loves it," "Hides it in his heart." If the reader will make a complete list, his profiting will be great.

In some such way let us endeavour to approach the study of the Gospel before us.

Beginning, then, with Section 1, Matthew 1 and 2, we get as leading thought, in Matthew 1, The Genealogy of the King; in Matthew 2, The Reception He met with.

We are arrested at the very outset by the differences between the Gospel of Matthew and the other Synoptic Gospels. There is a fulness and a wealth of detail in the introduction in this Gospel which is wholly absent in Mark: while in Luke quite another series of events is placed before us, equally minute in detail, but all given with divine wisdom and in keeping with the end in view.

If we arrange the early incidents in the first three Gospels in parallel columns we shall see these differences at a glance: —

Matthew Mark Luke

1 * * Visit of Angel to Zacharias.

2 * * Visit of Angel to Mary.

3 Visit of Angel to Joseph. * *

4 * * Birth of John.

5 Birth of Jesus. * Birth of Jesus.

6 * * Angel's Visit to Shepherds.

7 * * Shepherds' Visit to Bethlehem.

8 Appearing of the Star. * Presentation in the Temple.

9 * * Departure to Nazareth.

10 Visit of the Wise Men. * Annual Visit of Joseph and Mary to Jerusalem.

11 Presentation of Gifts. * (Abiding at Bethlehem.)

12 Joseph warned by the Angel. * *

13 Flight into Egypt. * *

14 Return to Galilee. * Dwelling in Galilee.

15 * * Visit to Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve years of age.

16 Preaching of John. Preaching of John. Preaching of John.

Two things mark the language of Inspiration, what it includes, and what it excludes. Surely it necessarily excludes every shadow of error. Nothing but what is absolutely true could find a place if the Spirit of God inspire the record, and, in spite of all that men may say to the contrary, nowhere is this more clearly seen than in the Four Gospels, where, amid all the differences, there are no contradictions. Then, as to the former, the facts given in any Scripture will be in relation to the subject of the writer. Thus Luke writes of the Lord Jesus specially as the "Son of Man," and so gives, as will be seen above, in large detail, everything needed to be known of His parentage, human birth, and childhood — perfect from every standpoint.

Mark, writing of Him as the devoted "Servant of God" and of men, omits everything of this, and introduces, at the very outset, His Messenger, John the Baptist, preparing His way before Him. Then He Himself is at once seen entering upon His public ministry.

But in our Gospel, He is presented as "The King," and thus everything narrated is in connection with His kingly character.

Turning forward again for a moment, we see Him in John's Gospel as the "Son of God." Luke tells us that He became the "Son of Man," and Mark says that He took the lowly place of the "Servant" of all. But Matthew declares that, nevertheless, He was "God's Anointed King," who will yet sit upon the throne of His father, David, and sway a mightier sceptre than either David or his princely son, Solomon, ever dreamed of.

Ezekiel presents this wonderful "fourfold" in striking and symbolic imagery in Chapters 1 and 10, and again we see it reproduced in the vision of the Seer of Patmos (Rev. 4), where the order of the manifested characteristics is that of the Four Gospels.

Matthew represents Him as the "Lion" of the tribe of Judah.

Mark sets forth the patient service symbolised by the "Calf" or "Ox."

Luke describes the perfect "Man" — yea, the Pattern Man, able to sympathise, to succour, and to save.

John tells of Him as the Heavenly Stranger upon the earth — the "flying Eagle" being an apt picture, for He was "Come from God and went to God" (John 13: 3). "He was with God, and was God" (John 1: 1).

But a king must be able to trace his descent in the royal line, and this is placed before us at the very outset. He is the Son of "David the King," and thus the Heir to David's throne. He is the "Son of Abraham," and thus Heir to, as well as Fulfiller of, all the Promises. Matthew carries down the line of kingly succession from Solomon. Luke traces that of Nathan to Mary, and, however widely they may have diverged during the thousand years that lay between, both meet again and are completed in "JESUS who is called CHRIST."

There are many genealogies in the Old Testament, but only one in the New. The genealogies of the Old Testament lead to Him in whom everything centres, and from whom everything begins, for He is the Head of the new creation, the First-born from among the dead.

But we find Him here born into this world, a Man among men; nevertheless, He was Emmanuel. The sign promised 700 years before by the prophet (Isa. 7: 14) was fulfilled, and the character of the One so born declared. He was "God with us," and God come down in grace. And we naturally ask, What reception did He meet with? and what were the condition of things in Israel's land when He thus presented Himself?

Over 500 years had passed away since Ezra, by the decree of Cyrus the Persian, had led a little remnant of the people back from Babylon to rebuild the shattered fortunes of the nation, after the terrible overthrow by Nebuchadnezzar, which began about 606 B.C. It was but a small proportion of the many thousands who had been carried away, but their hearts were towards the land of Israel, and the Lord had blessed and multiplied them greatly. The intervening years had been times of varying fortunes for the little hierarchical state. The Persian monarchy, which had been the means of their restoration, had been overthrown by Alexander the Great in 330 B.C., and Palestine then came under the power of Greece. Daniel had described, in few words, the character of the "mighty king" and the break up of his kingdom, "divided towards the four winds of heaven" (Dan. 11: 3). This was an event of much political importance to Judea, for it found itself — as it will be in a later day — the bone of contention between the king of the South, Egypt, and the king of the North, Syria. The first hundred years of this period the land was under the power of Egypt, and though ill-governed at the best, it had not reached the depth of suffering measured out to it during the Syrian oppression. The terrible cruelty and madness of Antiochus Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.) has seldom been equalled in the world's history. The ruling passion of his wicked life was hatred to the Jew and the religion of Jehovah. On one occasion he captured the city of Jerusalem, slaughtered 40,000 of the inhabitants, sacrificed a sow upon the brazen altar, and erected a statue to Jupiter in the Temple courts. This brought matters to an issue. Under Judas Maccabeus and his brethren the War of Independence began, which resulted in Judea once more becoming a free state in 161 B.C.

Rescued thus from Syrian oppression, it was wisely ruled by the Maccabean family for over one hundred years, but it then fell under the power of the Romans, about 60 B.C.

Herod, an Idumean, first appointed by the Romans as tetrarch, became king in 31 B.C., and aimed at creating an independent monarchy in his own family.

The sceptre had departed from Judah.

Such was the political condition of the Lord's land when the Messiah was born. A usurper, supported by Gentile power, was reigning in the land, and the people loved to have it so. There is a wonderful analogy between this and what prophetic Scriptures reveal as to His Second Coming. Then the Antichrist will be on the throne, and he and his supporters will think to treat the King come in power as before had been treated the King come in grace, only to find that He will "break them with a rod of iron," and "dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel" (Ps. 2: 9).

But when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and when the tidings reached the guilty tyrant who sat upon the Jewish throne, he "was troubled and all Jerusalem with him." The men of the city had already made their choice. They were on the side of Herod — not on the Lord's side.

The Scribes, intelligent in the Scriptures, as far as the letter went, knew, or should have known, many things about the Coming King. The prophets had clearly pointed out: —

1 When He would come (Gen. 49: 10).

2 How He would come (Isa. 7: 14).

3 Where He would be born (Micah 5: 2).

But they had no heart for Him, and as to the mass of the nation, there was neither love nor loyalty to God's King. Yet we learn from Luke's Gospel (Luke 2: 38) that there were still the hidden ones, even in Jerusalem, who looked for redemption in Israel; as there will be in the day of His power, to whom He will appear as "the Sun of Righteousness, with healing in His wings" (Mal. 4: 2).

But if there was no heart for Him in Jerusalem, and no room for Him in Bethlehem, a testimony was to be raised up from among the Gentiles; and "wise men" — wise, surely, in every sense of the word — divinely led, seek Him, recognise His divinity, worship Him, and present to Him their threefold gift, "gold, frankincense, and myrrh."

When the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon she brought "gold and spices." In a coming day, when the kings of the Gentiles come to worship the glory of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will bring "gold and incense" (Isa. 60).

In neither the historic nor the prophetic Scripture is there any mention of that which is here connected with these two things, namely, "myrrh." Why is this? Is there not a threefold meaning in their gifts? In the Babe of Bethlehem they saw the One who was "born King of the Jews," and to Him, as such, they presented the royal offering of gold. But there was the recognition in the frankincense that He was more than man — that He was the promised Saviour; and the myrrh spoke of that of which the wise men could have but dim vision, and that was, that before He sat upon the throne of His glory He "must suffer many things . . . and be killed and raised again the third day" (Matt. 16: 21).

And even while but a child, to escape the wrath of the false king, the true King has to flee unto Egypt, and be there till the death of Herod, that the prophecy might be fulfilled, "Out of Egypt have I called my Son" (Hosea 11: 1). Thus the Lord began where His people began, but how different their pathway from His?

When the call came to Joseph to return, he is instructed to go into the "land of Israel." Twice in Chapter 2 we have this title; and yet at the moment the land was only a despised province of the Roman Empire. But few of the men of Israel dwelt in it. The Gentiles ruled it. A mixed race from the East dwelt in one of its chiefest cities, Samaria; and Galilee, its largest province, was densely peopled with a purely heathen population, a few poor Jews residing amongst them.

Yet in spite of appearances God recognises the land by its true title. It is God's land for His people, and He will yet vindicate their rights and make them good.

But when they returned they found another usurper filling the throne, and Joseph, with the holy Child Jesus, turned aside to dwell at Nazareth. At the very beginning of His pathway He had been the rejected One; now He becomes the despised One. Even the upright Nathanael shared the popular prejudice — if it was only prejudice — that Nazareth of Galilee could produce no good thing. It was the most despised town of the most despised province of a despised land.

Thus at the very outset of His pathway of lowly grace the Lord knew what it was to be "despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isa. 53: 3),

Section 2. Matthew 3, 4.

The Forerunner Introducing the King; and the Kingdom Presented

The second section of our Gospel begins with the Message of the Baptist. A convenient synopsis, round which other thoughts can be gathered, will be: —

1 The warning of John.

2 The work of Christ.

3 The witness of the Father.

A full generation has passed away since the close of Matthew 2. King Archelaus, after a wicked reign of ten or eleven years, had been banished by the Romans. Judea had ceased to retain even the semblance of a monarchy, and is now under Roman procurators, of whom Pilate is the fifth, in a descending scale of wickedness.

Doubtless the Visit of the Wise Men, the Slaughter of the Innocents, the Glory Song, and the Virgin Birth had been long forgotten. The glint of the glory had died from the plains of Bethlehem: the angels had long since gone away again into heaven, and so far there seemed little promise of that "peace on earth" of which they had so sweetly spoken.

But Heaven again breaks the silence. "In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, 'Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.'"

Apart from the imperial glory of the world, as seen at Rome, apart from the religious system of men, as seen at Jerusalem — John was found in the wilderness; that arid tract of desert land on the west of the Dead Sea, extending northwards to the Jordan. His food and his raiment marked him out as one apart from common men.

Luke has given us his previous history.

John has given us his testimony to the Messiah. Matthew here gives us his message.

The warning words of John reach even the lifeless professors at Jerusalem. Pharisees, and even Sadducees, come to his baptism.

The message he brought was the nearness of the long-expected. Kingdom, and the importance of a moral preparation for entrance thereinto.

Every instructed Jew knew what the prophet Daniel had said as to the Kingdom to be set up by the God of Heaven, but they had little knowledge of the condition of heart which entrance into that Kingdom demanded. Even Nicodemus (John 3) failed to see more in it than a mere paradise regained for man, as man, upon the earth. The new birth, the essential qualification for even the Jew to enter into and enjoy the promises of God for His earthly people (Ezek. 36: 26) had evidently been totally lost sight of, since even one of their best-instructed rulers was ignorant of it. And so the Lord has to say to him, "Art thou a Master of Israel and knowest not these things?" (John 3: 10). Hence the importance of John's warning word, "Repent" — a total change of heart and mind was imperative if men would enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

We shall find this term — Kingdom of Heaven — about thirty-three times in this Gospel, and nowhere else in the New Testament. Five times we get "Kingdom of God" (Matt. 6: 33; Matt. 12: 28; Matt. 19: 24; Matt. 21: 31, 43), where "Kingdom of Heaven" would not convey the intended meaning. Other Scriptures speak of "the Kingdom of the Father" (Matt. 13: 43); "the Kingdom of the Son of Man" (Dan. 7); "the Kingdom of the Son of His love" (Col. 1: 13); "the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1: 11).

All, of course, refer to the rule of God; but why these varied designations? As we have already noticed, Matthew alone uses the term, "Kingdom of Heaven." Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he was writing as a Jew to Jews. Any hope of an earthly kingdom was fast passing, if it had not already passed, away. The little gleam of royalty, manifested for a moment, under the king of nonnative stock — Herod — had faded, and a deeper bondage still, all thinking men saw before them.

Under these conditions, the coming Kingdom is announced as the Kingdom of Heaven, for the kingdom on earth is in hopeless ruin. And it is striking to notice that in no other book of the Bible do we read so often about Heaven as in Matthew. We are forcibly reminded that, in spite of the failure of His people and the enmity of His foes, yet the God of Heaven has taken up the question of the earth, and that He will, even here, work out, in His own time and way, His gracious purposes of blessing for His redeemed people, and glory for His beloved Son.

The Rule of God, then, under this title, was familiar to the Jew. It was spoken of in the Law. Had that law been obeyed from the heart, the promise was that their days would be multiplied and be "as the days of Heaven upon the Earth" (Deut. 11: 21). The Psalms bore witness to it. The Seed of David would endure for ever, and "his throne as the days of Heaven" (Ps. 79: 29). The prophets, in more definite language still, describe Him, who became the Son of Man, receiving that Kingdom and glory which should never pass away (Dan. 2: 7).

This Kingdom John announced as being "at hand." The King was here; but, the King being rejected, it assumed the "mystery" form (Chap. 13: 11) which it still bears in the absence of the King.

By comparing Matthew 11: 11 with Matthew 16: 19, we learn that the Kingdom of Heaven had not then commenced, and, indeed, it did not do so until the Lord had taken His seat on high. Then Peter, having received "the keys" (Chap. 16: 19), unlocked the door to both Jew and Gentile, and although the favoured nation refused their King, and with Him, the "days of Heaven upon the earth," yet it is now given to the believer to know, in a deeper and fuller way than Israel ever will, the Rejected One; and every day may, to the Christian, be as the days of Heaven upon the earth. May our hearts enter into it more and more, and be more engaged with Himself, while we wait for His Coming.

"The Kingdom of God" occurs five times in our Gospel. It clearly expresses a different idea from the above. It has been described as "the exhibition of the ruling power of God under any circumstances." It was thus manifested when the Lord was here. So He could say (Luke 17: 21), when unbelievingly asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God was coming, "the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you." It was there represented in His Own Person.

At the day of Pentecost, and afterwards, those born from above, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit's power, exemplified in themselves the same blessed character of that heavenly rule, as seen by its fruits of "righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14: 17). This is the divine aspect.

But this term is also applied to the human side, or the Kingdom as seen in the hands of men, as Luke 13: 19-21 shows: "It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it;" and again he said, "Whereunto shall I liken the Kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." Here we get its external appearance and internal condition: an overgrown abortion, sheltering much that is evil. An adulterated mass permeating much that is good. Such is Christendom to-day. Evil men allowed, and evil doctrines accepted, have produced the condition so vividly pictured in the above Scripture.

The Kingdom of the Father and the Kingdom of the Son of Man will be a development of the Kingdom of Heaven, and will be seen when the present mystery form is at an end.

The Kingdom of the Son of Man will be the rule of God, seen in the hands of His Son, in the coming day, when the Kingdom is set up in power in the earth. Then the redeemed people will say, "Jehovah our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth" (Ps. 8: 1). He will assume the Lordship lost by Adam, and it will be exercised by Him in righteousness, both in blessing to the godly and in judgment upon the transgressors. The Father's Kingdom, on the other hand, applies to the heavenly side. It refers to things above, as the other refers to things below. The Kingdom of the Son of His love is our present place in grace: that circle of which Christ is the centre, as He is the centre of the Father's affections, and the One around whom the Father delights to gather the objects of His love — even us who were once in the Kingdom and under the power of darkness.

If the last is our present place in grace, the Everlasting Kingdom is our future place in glory. The Apostle there (2 Peter 1: 11) is giving instruction as to the future glory of the Kingdom manifested before the eyes of men. They — the Apostles — had seen His glory in the holy mount. Peter prays that believers may have an abundant entrance into the Kingdom in which that glory will be displayed.

So the Kingdom was announced as being "at hand," but there was something else. The "axe" was at the root of the tree of Jewish profession. Very soon the Master of the vineyard would have to say, "These three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?" (Luke 13: 7). Barren for many a long year, the final test was now presented. Messiah rejected would mean the nation cut off. Nevertheless, there was blessing for all who truly repented, for He baptized with the Holy Ghost — grace and salvation: as well as with fire — judgment and condemnation.

It is of the utmost importance to be clear as to the meaning of these two statements. They define, what we might call, the two extremes of the Lord's ministry, and everything connected with the present day of grace lies between. The presence of the Holy Spirit is that which marks the present age. He is with and in the believer. He has been pleased to take up His dwelling, and make our bodies His temple (1 Cor. 6: 19), and the sanctifying influence of His presence should be seen in our daily lives (Gal. 5: 25). He dwells in the Church; and His presence here is also a proof of the world's guilt, for He is here because Christ is absent (John 16: 10), and Christ is absent because men slew and hanged Him on a tree (Acts 10: 39).

But the "Age of the Spirit" will pass: the day of grace will come to a close, and when the Lord comes the second time, His dealings with the wicked and the oppressor will be with "fire" — the stern and unsparing, righteous judgment of God. So it will be then. "They shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 13: 41-42). It is the certain result of rejecting the Gospel, and it would be well if every Gospel preacher had this solemn truth deep in his heart as he proclaims the grace of God. For in proportion as grace is known, so surely will judgment be executed, if the offered grace be rejected. There can be nothing else. The threshing floor is purged, the wheat and the chaff each assigned to its proper place.

But, further, there is the Witness of the Father, and this is very beautiful. The Lord enters upon His public ministry, and His first action is to come from Galilee to Jordan, to be baptized of John. No wonder John "urgently forbade" Him. Just a short time before (John 1: 27) John had declared himself unworthy to do the meanest office for that Wonderful Person whom he was announcing, and lo! here was that same Person taking His place among those who had gone down figuratively into the waters of death, confessing their sins. The Spirit's first work in the heart of the sinner is Repentance — self-judgment and confession of what we are. This brought the remnant to John's baptism, and thereby separated them from the guilty mass of the nation. It was no question of confessing sin that brought Him there. God forbid. Something else He instructs us in. "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Righteousness brought Him, where sin brought the people. He, the only righteous One upon the earth, associates with Himself those who sought after a moral preparedness for Messiah's Kingdom. "And, lo! the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him: and, lo! a voice from heaven saying, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'"

Beautiful testimony from Heaven of the only One upon the earth who was the Object of Heaven's delight. In Genesis 6 God looked down and dealt in judgment. Here God was come down in grace. In a coming day He would lay down His life for the sheep.

But now, after the Anointing and Sealing of the Holy Spirit, the first step on His pathway to the Cross was to meet and overcome the one whose great object was to turn Him aside from that pathway.

Scripture is silent as to what took place during the "forty days" — period of perfect testing. It was clearly something that we could not enter into; therefore it is not revealed. But the three forms of temptation at the close of that period, and the way in which our Lord overcame the tempter, are written for our instruction. For we, too, are called upon to "overcome" even as He overcame (Rev. 21), and the promise to the overcomer is that he will sit with the Faithful and True Witness upon His throne. The two weapons the Lord used — the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit — we may use also. Indeed, we are instructed to lay hold of them in order that we may "quench all the fiery darts of the wicked" (Eph. 6: 16).

The first temptation is a question of circumstances. Can we trust God for daily need?

In Matthew 6 the disciples are led on to realise that they can rest in a Father's love and knowledge of their daily needs. Here the Lord exemplifies this principle of simple dependence. He would wait on His Father's guidance, and — using the "Sword of the Spirit" — He chose the right word to meet the enemy. "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Deut. 8: 3).

If the first temptation was a testing of self, the second would lead to a testing of God. Cast Thyself down and see if God will be true to His word or not. This was to instil doubt into the mind, instead of unwavering trust in God. Just what Satan succeeded in doing in Eden. The whole point of the argument in Romans 8 is that God is for us. To test or question it would be to show our own faithlessness. Israel did so in the wilderness, and said, "Is the Lord among us or not?" (Ex. 17: 7).

But the Lord again replies in the very words of Scripture, and uses a plain word to confute what Satan had misquoted and misapplied.

In the third temptation it was a question whether the things of this world are to be received from Satan or from God. Doubtless Satan had some dim knowledge that the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them would not always be his to give; that, as the first man had lost them by yielding to temptation, so the second Man might be tempted to acquire them by the same easy path. But in this case the kingdoms of the world are presented to the eye of One who has had the testimony of the Kingdom of Heaven, has seen the opened Heaven, and, as a Man upon the earth, listened to the Father's voice of approval and delight.

In proportion as the same heavenly vision fills our souls, so will the things of the world lose their attraction for us also, for our hearts will be where our treasure is, with Christ at God's right hand.

We have next to consider what the Lord met the tempter with. David of old could say, "By the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer" (Ps. 17: 4), and here the Lord shows how that same word can be used to foil every device of the enemy. David had five smooth stones in his scrip. Only one was needed to slay the giant — type of him who was here in the presence of David's greater Son. The Lord might have drawn His arguments from the five books of Moses. He uses only one — Deuteronomy — and from it selects the weapon that both exposes and defeats the foe. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" (Deut. 6: 13; 10: 20). And here let us also notice that which is of the utmost importance. The Lord quotes the very Scripture that met the case in hand. So there is guidance and instruction in Scripture for the believer, for every circumstance, or difficulty, that may arise in his pathway, but he must know where to find it. We must make it our business to be so well acquainted with the Holy Word of God as to be able to bring out at the moment the needed truth for the time of need.

"Then the devil leaveth him." Satan was defeated. Thank God, he is a defeated foe. He may roar, but he cannot rend; he may deceive, but he cannot destroy.

In closing this section let us notice seven beautiful things, manifesting the grace and power and glory of our blessed Lord: —

1 The voice of the Father points Him out as the Object of Heaven's delight.

2 The descending Spirit abides upon Him as the Son of God, whom "God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto."

3 Angels delight to minister unto Him, as once before they had heralded His birth.

4 Satan flees defeated from the presence of a Man in the wilderness. Four thousand years before he had triumphed, with the same temptations, over a man in a garden.

5 The Lord becomes the light to them that sit in darkness — Galilee of the Gentiles — that part of the outskirts of the nation which was most despised by the religious leaders. There, the Lord, rejected at Jerusalem, goes in grace and gathers to Himself a people who owned His claims and obeyed His Word.

6 He begins His wonderful mission, and its divine character is marked at the very outset by His victory over disease, death, and the devil. It is the powers of the world to come in the hands of the King. Lunacy destroyed the mind; palsy destroyed the body; demon-possession destroyed both; but Jesus healed them all.

7 Then He is seen attracting to Himself the hearts of men. Nets, boats, relations, and calling — all are left to follow the Lord Jesus. The most powerful attraction set before the soul is not "I ought," or "I must"; but the fact that One has gone through this world before us: attracted our hearts out of it to Himself, where He now is on the throne: given us His place before the Father (John 17: 14), and now He expects us to fill His place before the world.

We are not of the world. Let us show it more and more in Christ-likeness day by day.

"His Cross behind: His Home before.

Himself to-day, and evermore."

Section 3. Matthew 5, 6, 7.

The Laws of the Kingdom

*****

An Outline of the Interpretation and Application of Matthew 5: 1-12

Text.

Verse 3.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."

Poor = humble. Derivation from beggarly — in the sense of having nothing.

The Believer has nothing in this world.

Parallels.

Isa. 57: 15. "The High and holy One . . . I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a poor and contrite spirit."

Isa. 66. "To this man will I look . . . that is of a poor and contrite spirit."

Promises.

"Theirs is the Kingdom."

Inheritance WHEN the wicked — the proud have been cut off.

Mal. 3: 15. "NOW we call the proud happy."

Mal. 4: 2. "BUT unto you that fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings."

Warnings.

Mal. 4: 1. "BUT the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the PROUD . . . shall be as stubble."

Isa. 2 "The DAY of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is PROUD."

The Great Example — Christ.

2 Cor. 8: 9. "HE who was RICH, for your sakes became POOR, that ye through His poverty might be RICH."

Phil. 2. "He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a SERVANT."

*****

In Matthew 4 we saw the King triumphing over all the powers of Satan. The devil is defeated, and his works — disease and death — flee before the Divine Healer.

The fame of the Lord Jesus being thus spread abroad, He now (Chaps. 5-7) announces the Laws of His Kingdom and begins to unfold the great moral principles upon which it is founded.

We have to keep in mind that the Kingdom of Heaven is not Heaven, nor, properly speaking, in Heaven. It is the rule of Heaven on this earth (Deut. 2: 44; Deut. 7: 13-14). As we have seen, both John and the Lord Jesus announced that happy time as at hand, but, alas! the nation of Israel rejected both the King and the Kingdom. Hence the Kingdom in power was deferred, and we have now the Kingdom in mystery. We shall find the teaching as to this fully developed in Matthew 13.

But here, at the very outset, the Lord begins by describing the characteristics of those who belong to the Kingdom. It is the exact opposite of what men upon the earth manifest. Indeed, it is the opposite of what they either look for or expect. To be meek, merciful, or pure in heart necessitates a regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, and this is assumed to have already taken place in His hearers, for He is teaching disciples. The pronouns "they" and "ye" in Matthew 5: 1-12 may indicate the time to which the promises apply. Taking the list of "Blesseds" in their order, the promises in verses 1-10 will be literally fulfilled to those who find their lot in the latter day when "transgressors are come to the full" (Dan. 8).

In that day the men of pride will be exalted, and the poor in spirit — the godly remnant of the nation, who wait for Jehovah — will be counted as the offscourings of all things. But the Lord will hearken and hear, and in His Book of Remembrance their names shall be written, and they shall be His when He makes up His jewels. Then, "the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble. . . . But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings" (Mal. 4). And the meek — they shall inherit the land (of Israel) when the wicked have been destroyed out of it. The Reign of Righteousness will satisfy those that hunger and thirst after righteousness; and the pure in heart — they shall see God. The rewards and promises in this section are connected with the coming Kingdom, but, of course, while this is true historically, nevertheless, in its application, every believer, in every dispensation, should manifest every trait of the beautiful life of blessing outlined by the Lord, and by so doing, prove to all that they are indeed the children of the Kingdom.

In verses 11-12 we read, "Blessed are ye and great is your reward in Heaven." Here the Lord addresses His disciples there present. This would be true of them, and of every true disciple through all time. Later on, in His teaching, He gives them the principles that would mark them out as heavenly men upon the earth, and also make manifest the secret of the world's hatred. "If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." . . . "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me" (John 15: 19-21). So we have the double result of being true to Christ in the day of His rejection, and that is, persecution here and great reward in Heaven. It is the heavenly side of the Kingdom.

But it is well to note that He who spoke these words was the only One who ever became the perfect Examplar, in all things, and has left us His example that we should follow in His steps. This will be better seen if we arrange any one of the "Blesseds" in tabular form, as on page 25. It is a most helpful and profitable study. Every longing after the rule of God in righteousness will be found fully expressed in both Prophets and Psalms. It was that to which the godly of that dispensation looked forward, just as the coming of Christ is the hope of the Church to-day. Coupled with the promises there are also, as ever, the warnings of Jehovah against those who oppose His power and despise His grace.

But believers are also the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world." There is a twofold meaning in this. Salt is used in Scripture as a figure of God's rights, or the righteous principles of God's dealings with the earth. It is this we see expressed in the judgment on Lot's wife and the Vale of Sodom which became the valley of salt. Disciples "salt" the earth by maintaining these righteous principles and standing for the rights of God in a world that refuses to recognise either God or His rights.

The other figure used is "light." They were "the light of the world." As the first conveys the thought of righteousness, the second speaks of grace. Light shines for others and before others. It may be a guiding light or a warning light, but it is there for the good of others, and so should believers be in this world.

But coupled with the figure there is also the warning. The salt may lose its savour, and the light may get hidden. In both cases they become useless for the purpose for which they were intended. It was a warning to those whom He addressed, and to disciples of every age, and we do well to remember that we can only be "kept by the power of God unto salvation."

Then we come to something that probes the inner man. The Lord brings the light of Heaven to bear upon the motives of the heart, for "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23: 7). Violence and corruption marked the ways of man from the fall (Gen. 6); but every trace of either in the child of the Kingdom must be dealt with in unsparing self-judgment.

Under the old economy we find that the law laid down the principle, in righteousness, "An eye for an eye" (Ex. 21: 24), thereby restraining the wrath of man. Otherwise he would have demanded two eyes for one, in vengeance. But here an entirely new principle is introduced. "I say unto you that ye resist not evil." It is the very opposite of nature, which loves to avenge itself. It is different from righteousness, which measures out even-handed justice. It is the beautiful spirit of grace, manifested in all perfection in Him who "when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not." Even so the disciple should be more than righteous: he should be gracious, and while walking through this world, it is better to lose his "cloke" than give up those lovely principles of grace that mark him out as one who belongs to Christ.

But again the Lord introduces something higher still — indeed the highest standard possible. The standard for the new dispensation is nothing short of that of the character of the Father Himself. His ways are to be our ways.

To review our chapter shortly: It begins by showing what kind of people enter the Kingdom.

What the actions and character should be of those who take part with a rejected Saviour now.

Then the law is brought to bear upon the motives of men, showing that corruption and violence are the two principles of evil that govern the natural heart.

That salvation from the consequences of sin must be had at all costs. If eye, hand, or foot hinder, it must be "cut off."

That the righteousness needed must be more (i.e., of a different kind) than that of the Scribes and Pharisees; and that when this salvation is known, it so moulds the heart that the believer is passive under all kinds of reproach and injustice.

That tribulation and injustice only open the way for the activities of love seen in returning good for evil — the marks of the new dispensation, and of the children of the Kingdom.

Matthew 6 opens with the great principles of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting — right relationships with our fellow-men, with God, and with self. These are the righteousnesses of saints — the positive outcome of a life which has all the springs of its moral being in God Himself.

God is revealed to us as the giving God. He gave His Son (John 3: 16). Christ gave Himself (Eph. 5: 25). God loveth a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9: 7). We do well to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20: 35); and believers are instructed to "labour that they may have to give to him that needeth" (Eph. 4: 28). The importance of this cannot be over-estimated. We are in a world of need, both material and spiritual, and the heart that knows the grace of Christ will be a heart that has learned the secret and the joy of giving. "The liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand" (Isa. 32: 8). There is ever the danger that through unfaithfulness in "that which is another man's" (Luke 16) we may lose "that which is our own." In other words, we lose the enjoyment of those heavenly blessings which are properly ours in proportion as we are unfaithful stewards of the bounty God has entrusted us with here.

Next we come to "the prayer that teaches to pray" — when and how it was to be used. Unlike the vain repetitions of the heathen, or the ostentatious display of the hypocrite at the street corner, the disciple is to seek the secret place and deal with his Father there.

Doubtless the form of words here given was intended to guide disciples before the Holy Spirit was given, but every word of the Lord was necessarily perfect; and these various petitions express the need of disciples in a way that only the Lord Himself could teach. No doubt fuller development was given when further truth was made known, and the time was coming when, instructed by the Holy Spirit, they would ask "in the name of Jesus" and receive that their joy might be full (John 14: 13).

This knowledge of their new standing in Him they could not have before the cross, and therefore could not pray "in His name." But in the meantime they were brought into all the conscious and enjoyed knowledge of relationship with a Father who loved, cared for, and watched over them day by day.

After the acknowledgment of the relationship into which they were brought, and which is expressed in the words, "Our Father," there are six petitions setting forth in order: —

Reverence. Rule. Obedience.

Dependence. Restoration. Preservation.

It will be noticed that the first three are Godward, and the second three are manward. Also that the last three deal with the present, the past, and the future.

No greater compass of truth could possibly be brought within the bounds of so few words. Then our Lord goes back to the fifth petition to enforce the principle of Christian forgiveness. We shall meet with an even fuller development of it later, but here it is laid down as the basis on which God deals with His children in government. We may be smitten (verse 39), wronged (verse 40), sinned against (verse 41), despised (verse 44), hated or persecuted (verse 44). How are we to meet it? By asserting our rights and demanding apology and reparation? The world would do so, and it would be considered right in the eyes of the world. But, "No," says the Lord, "forgive men their trespasses." And more, it is not that the Christian walks through this world a merely passive or impassive sufferer. The very suffering he may be brought into only brings out the spirit of Christ, who was Himself, the perfect exponent in His own history of His divine teaching, and who is our perfect Example. So the Apostle could say, "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves" — the first thing nature thinks of. But here is the divine way, "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head." "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

Fasting involves the setting aside of self. And not only self looked upon as connected with the evil within; but it is the setting aside of the claims of nature itself in order to have to do with God. It is a recognition that there are spiritual things on hand of deeper importance than even rightful claims of the body. And then there is a wider sense in which the believer goes through this world abstaining from everything in it. He is "anointed" and "washed." His heart is right and his life is right. He does not appear "of a sad countenance," for the joy of Heaven fills his heart while upon the earth, and the Father who seeth in secret rewards him.

The more we value the things of earth, the more care and anxiety we create for ourselves in acquiring and retaining them. And if these things become our "treasure" — that on which the heart is set — alas! for us, for our hearts will be earthward instead of heavenward. We may procure locks and bars sufficient to defy the modern burglar, but the thief, Time, will ultimately steal ALL. He will steal them from us, and us from them.

If, on the other hand, Christ in glory has become the hope and object of the heart, then both the treasure and the heart will be above, and we shall be known as heavenly men upon the earth. By and by we shall reach our native land, enter the eternal home, and dwell in the Father's House, to go no more out. Even here we have a foretaste of it all — forgiveness, sonship, and everlasting life. Thus, in whatever circumstances we may be, our hearts can be in perfect rest. God has chosen us out of the world. He is carrying us through the world, and His object is to conform us to the image of His Son. Meantime we rest in the sense of His knowledge and of His love, that knows and provides for our every need.

If Matthew 6 gives us, principally, right relationships with God our Father, Matthew 7 begins with what should be the relationships of believers among themselves. Having been brought into the Kingdom and into relationship with the Father, we are to manifest righteousness by consistency of walk (verses 1-6). We must judge ourselves, but we may not judge each other. The judgment of others here spoken of, is that censorious criticism which "sets at nought" our brother (Rom. 14: 10), and is really closely allied to evil speaking. We have an outstanding instance in the Old Testament how God regards it, in the case of Aaron and Miriam who "spake against Moses." And Jehovah rebuked them in words pregnant with meaning" Were ye not afraid to speak against my servant" The very fact that any one slips into this only shows that they "have a beam" in their own eye.

Confidence in the Father is next seen — expressed in genuine asking, earnest seeking, and urgent knocking. This is coupled with the certain answer of grace, and illustrated by the response of even the natural man to the requests of his children.

When the subject of supplication is introduced there is an increasing urgency in the instructions, marking out the one who is in earnest, and there is a need-be for it; for there is no aspect of the spiritual life which Satan is more opposed to than the hidden life of prayer. We have all the power of Satan out to hinder and prevent our dependence upon and communion with God, and we do well to remember it. The Lord recognises it. Do we? It would seem as if promise (John 15: 7), and precept (1 Thess. 5: 17), and illustration (2 Kings 4: 33), and example (Dan. 6: 10), and exhortation (Eph. 6: 18), and warning (Matt. 26: 41), were all enlisted to enforce and press home the important truth that "men ought always to pray and not to faint." We are in an enemy's country and must keep the communications open with headquarters. We are in an element which is fatal to spiritual life, and must therefore draw all our supplies from above. "I will therefore," said the inspired apostle, "that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting" (1 Tim. 2: 8).

But Christianity is marked not only by what men are to believe. The true outward test of it will be what they do; and the practical results flowing from a true knowledge of the Father will reflect His character among men; and thus we shall carry out the golden rule, and do as we would be done by.

The entrance to the Kingdom is next spoken of under the figure of a "strait gate." There must be purpose of heart to separate from the crowd, and take an individual path at all costs. David had it (Ps. 17: 3), Daniel had it (Dan. 1), and Barnabas exhorted the young believers of Antioch to seek after it if they would make progress in the new life. There is no middle path here, and no middle place hereafter. The issues are simple, if inexpressibly solemn. A good start — the strait gate entered, the narrow way trodden the end, everlasting life. Conversion and Regeneration are the doors of entrance. Holiness marks out the pathway that leads from the strait gate to the gate of pearl. And few there be that find it. But for grace no one would.

On the other hand, wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. Everything agreeable to the flesh and pleasing to the eye may be carried through the wide gate and taken along the broad way, but the pleasures of Sin are but for a season, and the end is — Hell.

But the devil has many devices, and a very favourite one of hoary antiquity is the "false prophet." The first false prophet we read about in Scripture was Satan himself, and his first effort — in which he was very successful — was to challenge the truth of God's Word.

This is still his strong point, and there are many men in Christendom to-day doing his work. "Wolves in sheeps' clothing." Unconverted men, with a profession of Christianity and a show of learning, using their abilities to endeavour to throw doubts upon the inspiration, authenticity, and authority of God's Holy Word. Short and simple is the test given to detect them. "By their fruits ye shall know them." The world may admire and applaud. The disciple turns away. From such he gets neither joy for his heart nor food for his soul. "Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?" What the thorns and thistles are in the natural world, these are in the spiritual. And the Lord, in closing, sums up the whole field of profession, by showing that the truly wise man hears, obeys, brings forth good fruit, and continues; while the mere professor, building his house on the sand, sees his house and his hopes swept away together. Many hear the sayings and do them not — a proof of their indifference and insincerity. But here, doing the sayings of Jesus is likened to building on a rock, and proves that the inward springs that govern the moral nature have been reached by the truth.

Section 4. Matthew 8, 9.

The Dignity of the King and the Characteristics of His Mission

The Gospel takes up a lost sinner in order to make him like Christ. It gives him: —

A place in His favour.

A prospect of His glory, and

A power to bring him there.

It finds him guilty and brings him pardon.

It finds him lost and brings him salvation.

It finds him helpless and brings him power.

We shall find this illustrated in the very beautiful section of our Gospel we are now entering upon, for it shows us all the activities of the power and grace of Christ meeting and defeating all the malignant power of Satan — meeting and supplying all the deep, deep need of sinners. It is really the gospel of the Kingdom introduced with a manifestation of the powers of the age to come (Heb. 2: 5). We must not confound it with the present gospel of the grace of God. The gospel of grace might come to a poor sufferer on a sick-bed with saving power for the soul, but the body is not necessarily benefited thereby. On the other hand, we find every individual brought in contact with the Lord on earth, blessed both in soul and body. It was a proof that He was there, acting in the power of the coming Kingdom, out of which, in a coming day, when it is set up upon the earth, every trace of Satan's power, and all the effects of sin, will be cast for ever.

To-day it is the Kingdom and patience of Christ we are to manifest, till He comes again. We can imagine Peter had before him these various scenes detailed in Matthew 8 and 9, when, in Cornelius' house, he declared how "God had anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed with the devil: for God was with him" (Acts 10: 38). He was indeed the "Man approved of God by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him" (Acts 2: 22).

The Spirit of God, then, in these two chapters particularly, sets the Lord before us as the One who had come to destroy the works of the devil. In Matthew 5 He went up into a mountain, and we are instructed as to what men ought to be. In Matthew 8 He came down from the mountain, and we find out what men are.

But in the midst of it all we see the Lord moving in the calm dignity of grace and power, dispensing healing and blessing to all who were brought to Him. And it is interesting to notice here that out of all the cases of individual blessing recorded in our Lord's ministry, nearly all were brought to Him by others. Only of some six or seven is it said, "they came." Surely here is another incentive to those who know the Lord to seek to bring others to Him. "Andrew first findeth his own brother Peter." "Philip findeth Nathanael" (John 1: 41-45).

The various miracles in this section are evidently grouped together for a special reason. By referring to Mark we find that Peter's wife's mother was healed long before the leper. May the reason for this not be that these striking miracles are placed before us here in a moral order, and designed to show the power and grace of the King in the face of the strongest opposition Satan could bring against Him; designed also to show us the results of sin, which works havoc both in soul and body.

In the eighth chapter, then, we have: —

1 Grace forgingin sins.

2 Grace calling sinners.

3 Grace bringing joy.

4 Grace raising the dead.

5 Grace restoring the diseased.

6 Grace opening blind eyes.

7 Grace unloosing the tongue of the dumb.

Seven notable proofs of Jehovah's presence among His people in power and blessing.

The first miracle in Matthew 8 is that of the leper. "There came a leper." He came, confessed the power of the Lord, and was cleansed. Then he was instructed to go to the priest. The priest had before pronounced the man unclean. Now he is called upon to pronounce him clean, and in doing so to proclaim the fact that there was One in their midst who was more than man. The King of Israel (2 Kings 5) had to say, when appealed to in Naaman's case, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive?" Leprosy was known as a disease beyond the power of man. Only God could heal the leper. Here, then, was a leper healed, and the priest was bound to announce it, and offer the prescribed offering for the occasion (Lev. 14). It was a positive proof of Messiah's power.

But in the second miracle it was a Gentile who got the blessing, and there was no question at all in the mind of the centurion of either the grace or power of Christ. His faith counted upon both, and thereby the Gentile, outside the scope of promise, honoured the Lord, and was rewarded. In commenting upon this faith, the Lord points out, in marked contrast, the unbelief of Israel, and foreshadows the rejection of the nation till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Next we find the Lord in Peter's house; and, taking the fever patient by the hand, he lifted her up (Mark 1). Surely she might well remember that hand-clasp. And the hand of weakness grasped by the hand of power, might well become a ministering hand henceforth.

Referring again to Mark, we learn that this miracle was wrought upon the Sabbath day, and then "when the evening was come" — that is, when the Sabbath day was past — "they brought unto him many that were possessed with demons, and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick." Man's day was setting in darkness and sorrow. Earth's sinking sun saw only suffering humanity, but the Lord brings grace for the guilty, salvation for the lost, and deliverance for the captives of sin and Satan.

"Oh I with what various ills they met,

Oh with what joy they went away."

The Lord then sets out to cross the Sea of Galilee to the land of Gadara, originally inhabited by the tribe of Gad. And this long and, as it proved, dangerous journey is undertaken with the object of bringing deliverance to two men possessed with demons; but the occasion of the crossing became also the occasion of testing two would-be disciples. The Lord's answer to the first is very striking. "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have their nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." There was room and a home on earth for that which men think of little value. There was a place for that which men count even injurious, but the King of Glory was a homeless Stranger. Peter's fisher coat might afford Him a rough pillow while crossing the lake; but the Son of Man had not where to lay His head. And here for the first time we get this new title He applies to Himself. It spoke volumes to Israel, could Israel have understood, for He did not become the "Son of Man" until He had first become the "rejected Messiah."

If the first follower was hindered by worldly position, the second was hindered by worldly ties, and neither can be allowed before the claims of Christ. The beginning of all discipleship is unquestioning obedience produced in the heart by love in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord might have prevented the storm; He allowed it, and that for two reasons. The disciples had to learn what manner of MAN this was who was with them, and the second was that HE was the One to whom to turn in every difficulty. Doubtless their seamanship had often been tested in days gone by on that same lake, but here was evidently something out of the common. They saw nothing before them but disaster, and although the Lord was with them, and though they had witnessed His power so often before, yet they "were afraid." They had not yet learned to trust Him wholly. The Lord first reproves them for their fears, and then delivers them from their dangers. One has said, "He did not chide them for disturbing Him with their prayers, but for disturbing themselves with their fears."

What comes out in the closing half of our chapter is the power of Satan, seen in three ways: (a) Over the elements, in his attempt to raise a storm that would destroy the Christ of God Himself; (b) over two men so under his power as to be worse than the wild beasts of the earth; (c) lastly, over a people so blinded by sin that when One was present in grace and power to bless, they "besought him to depart out of their coasts." And the Lord does so.

Matthew 9 shows some of the characteristics of the wonderful mission that brought the Son of God to earth. It was not only a question of delivering from the effects of Satan's power, but removing the cause which gave him that power over men. And so when the Lord saw the faith of the friends of the palsied man, doubtless reflected in the heart of the man himself, He responds in the first place, not by healing the man's bodily disease, but by touching what was deeper, the disease of the soul — He forgave his sins. Which brings out this, that here in His own city — Capernaum — where many of His mighty works had been done, the Scribes saw in Him only a man, and dared to say that He was a blasphemer.

At Matthew 8: 34, His works were rejected: here His divine person and heavenly origin is despised, and later in our chapter the leaders of the people commit the unpardonable sin by ascribing His acts of power to Beelzebub. Such is man by nature, even at his best. Everything was leading up to His rejection by the nation, and the nation's rejection by Him.

But not only is He the Forgiver of Sins. Grace brings sinners into His own presence — yea, even to the table with Him; just what the same grace is doing to-day to all who own their guilt and accept His mercy.

The call of Matthew is an occasion where we see the activity of grace in the heart of one who has become a recipient of it. From Mark's Gospel we learn that Matthew was so enraptured with the grace that had deigned to call a poor publican like himself, that he made a great feast in his own house; and a great company of publicans and sinners were gathered together to meet with Jesus. And there was great joy in that house, for the blessed ones were in the presence of the Blesser, and in the realisation of what the Psalmist experienced when he said, "In thy presence is fulness of joy: at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Ps. 16: 11).

The Pharisees raise the question of fasting, but the One who alone was the source of all true joy was in their midst: how unseemly, then, to be occupied with that which was an expression of sorrow.

The Lord next develops the principle of this new thing in the two short parables which follow. The "new cloth" and the "new wine" are the principles of sovereign grace, as opposed to the old covenant of legal righteousness.

Israel of old was under a covenant of works, but, when Christ came, the end of that economy came with Him. Henceforth God was dealing with men in pure unmixed grace. The publican and the sinner were nearer the Kingdom of God than the ceremonially perfect Pharisee, who boasted in his own righteousness and despised others — nearer because they owned their badness, instead of boasting in their fancied goodness. Neither would it do to mingle these two things. Law and grace cannot be blended. The Galatians tried to mix them, and were soundly rebuked by the inspired Apostle. Christendom is doing it to-day, and the result is that the terror is taken from the law by the effort to pare it down to meet men's failures, and all the sweetness is taken from the grace of God by a system of works which tries to earn His favour.

Rightly understood the holy law of God must ever be a source of terror to unholy man, for under it there is no hope for him at all. It demands righteousness from man, without giving him power to produce it. It exposes and condemns his sins, without providing any way to remove them.

Grace, on the other hand, is the sweetest sound that ever reached the sinner's ears, for it deals not at all with what he is, but with what God is: God, who gave up His Son unto death, and that for the ungodly, Christ who redeemed him from the curse of law by being made a curse, and now the Holy Spirit of God come down to make good in his heart these precious truths and lead him into the enjoyment of all the boundless privileges grace has heaped upon him. There can neither be deliverance nor worship until grace is known and enjoyed.

Next in order we have the case of one who was dead, of one with an incurable disease, of two who were blind, and of one who was dumb. Could any addition be made to this sum of human misery? Could the works of the devil be more manifestly displayed? And all this in the midst of the Lord's own nation of Israel. And, figuratively, it is a picture of Israel; and the mighty works the Lord did in their midst, for individuals, form a type of what He will yet do for the nation, when He sets His hand, in a coming day, to recover and restore His ancient people.

But what we have specially to notice at the close of our chapter is this, that the Pharisees and rulers of the people, after all that they had seen of His works of power, and after all that they had heard of His words of grace, gave it as their considered opinion, "He casteth out devils through the prince of devils" (verse 34).

The King was definitely rejected. The blind men (verse 37) acknowledge Him as "Son of David," and by David's greater Son they are healed: but it was done "in the house" apart from the multitude; and when healed they were charged no longer to proclaim Him as such. His relationship was now no longer that of "Son of David" to the nation, but the wider one of "Son of Man" to the multitudes who were "scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd."

From this standpoint the Lord begins another circuit of Galilee, and in patient grace we find Him going about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. We have before noticed that the expression "Kingdom of Heaven" is found only in Matthew; and only in Matthew do we get "Gospel of the Kingdom," and that thrice repeated (Matt. 4, 9, 24). Here was the cure for all the ills that afflicted Jehovah's land; but, alas! Israel refused the Gospel of the Kingdom then, as sinners to-day refuse the Gospel of Grace. And there never was grace like the grace of Christ. He was moved to compassion by the sight of the fainting multitudes, and He would have His disciples to share the same compassion for the lost as moved His own heart. With this motive they would pray with a sense of the urgency of the need, and this need is as great to-day.

The three short commands, "Pray ye," "Look ye," "Go ye," are intimately connected. Can we truly obey one without obeying all?

Section 5. Matthew 10, 11, 12.

The King's Messengers, the King's Message, and the King Himself Rejected

It is very important to be clear as to the teaching of this section of our Gospel in order rightly to understand the whole. It records the events that lead up to, and introduce the change of dispensations following the rejection of the Messiah.

In the first place the King's messengers go out with the King's message. The nation rejects the messengers and refuse the message. John, the forerunner, is imprisoned. The people that rejected both John and the Lord are likened to children who would respond to the voice neither of mirth nor of mourning. The pride and worldliness of Tyre and Sidon would meet with a less severe judgment than the cities of Galilee which had seen His mighty works. But though rejected by the people and their leaders, yet the weary and heavy-laden would come to Him and find rest; and as the Sabbath was intended to be a sign of a kept law, He exposes the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who professed to keep the Sabbath and yet rejected the Lord of the Sabbath. Their only reply to His words of grace and acts of power was to hold a council against Him, how they might destroy Him. Henceforth it was all over with the nation. The new thing was announced according to prophecy. Judgment would go forth to the Gentiles who were outside the scope of Jewish promise, in the darkness of heathendom and the prison-house of the devil. The result would be the "new song to the Lord" and His praise to the ends of the earth (Isa. 42: 1-10). The Pharisees desire a sign, and get two, which showed them, could they only have seen it, that they would be condemned by the faith of those who had both less light and fewer privileges. Jonah did no signs, and Solomon's wisdom was not to be compared with that of Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

But looking a little closer into details we find that Matthew 10 opens with the mission of the twelve. At the close of Matthew 9 they were instructed to pray for labourers to be sent forth, and here we find them being sent forth themselves. The disciples now become apostles — sent ones. Hitherto they had been following with the Lord, as disciples; now they go forth for the Lord, as servants, and the chapter is full of the deepest practical instruction for every servant, now, as well as then.

In the first place we get a list of the names of the twelve, and here only Matthew is called "the publican"; it is as if the writer desired to express his appreciation of the grace that could take up a poor publican and number him among that select company — the Apostles of the Lamb.

The Lord then instructs them as to: —

1 The sphere of their mission.

2 The persons to whom the message was sent,

3 The character of the message, and

4 Its evidences.

It was a purely Jewish mission of Jewish apostles to the Jewish people, and, this being so, neither Samaritan nor Gentile has any part in it.

This should make it clear to all that this mission of the twelve had nothing in common with the present Gospel of the grace of God which goes out to all, world wide, without exception or distinction, consequent upon the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But here the apostles are instructed to go only to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." They were as sheep having no shepherd, or even in a worse position still, according to Zech. 11: 5, as a flock of slaughter The nation had reached the period when "their possessors (the Romans) slay them and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them (the Herodians) say, 'Blessed be the Lord for I am rich': and their own shepherds (the Pharisees) pity them not." Such was Israel's miserable plight when the Lord Jesus appeared, God come down in grace to deliver, proclaiming as "at hand" that Kingdom which had been so long promised through the prophets. But in spite of all He said, or did, or was, the King — the true Shepherd of Israel — was rejected, and what the prophet Zechariah had foretold now took place. "I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people" (Zech. 11: 10). The whole chapter is of great interest in connection with this portion of our Gospel.

The character of the message and its evidences bear further testimony that it was the fulfilment of Jewish prophecy. That the Kingdom was near was evidenced by the powers of the coming age having been conferred upon, and now to be manifested by, the King's messengers. Four things they were instructed to do: —

Heal the sick.

Cleanse the lepers.

Raise the dead.

Cast out devils (demons).

In short, disease, death, and the devil would yield to the power of Jehovah exercised by His servants, as they will again do in a coming day, when Jehovah is Judge, Lawgiver, and King, and "the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick" (Isa. 33: 24). But to apply such a scripture to the present dispensation only betrays ignorance of the ways of God. The man who bases on this for so-called faith healing is equally bound to raise the dead; and his failure should convince him of his folly.

But their mission would be in no wise accepted by the nation. Indeed, the Lord warned them that they would find themselves as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore their dependence was to be upon God Himself. Their Lord had been persecuted and rejected; so would they be. The Person of Christ, the people of Christ, and the Word of Christ, are three things that the world hates. Satan and the works of Satan it can tolerate; for, alas! the evil heart of man understands them; but, when One came from God with power to deliver, the only answer the world had was "crucify Him." The Master was called Beelzebub, so would the servant be.

It is important to note that this mission is looked upon as continuous, right on "till the Son of Man be come" (verse 24). No doubt it was interrupted at the Cross, and from then until the Church period is over, it will continue to be so. But when the Church is rapt to the glory, Messiah's messengers will again go forth with the Kingdom Gospel, and Messiah Himself will appear to establish His Kingdom in power, as we shall see more fully in Matthew 25.

But in the meantime, and until that day of power, the disciples would be in the place of testimony for a rejected Lord, and therefore hated by the world, and it is beautiful to notice how He fortifies their hearts against the world's opposition. In the first place: —

They were the objects of the Father's care. If that care extended even to the unimportant sparrow, how much more to the confessors of Christ? And so intimately are they known to Him that even the very hairs of their heads were numbered — nothing could really harm them. Again:

Their faithful testimony here would ensure honourable mention in the day of glory. It is one of the ways of God with His children here, that we are often delivered from occupation with present things, by having the light of the future turned upon them. So Paul reckoned that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to be revealed (Rom. 8: 18). For if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him (2 Tim. 2). The Cross-bearer here is going to be Crown-wearer by and by.

But there is further encouragement for them of a different character at the close of the chapter. only one Servant was ever able to go on in a path of unceasing rejection, and that was the Master Himself. He had to say: "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain; yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God" (Isa. 49: 4). His path, uncheered by earthly smiles, led only to the Cross. But for these servants, if some rejected them, there would be those who would receive their testimony, and the receivers would be blessed of the Father and inherit the Kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world (Chap 25).

We can see clearly, as we study these chapters, how Israel was now on her last trial. In her past history she had turned to idolatry, from the living and true God. Elijah's accusation was a true one when he said: "The children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword." Bitter captivity, as they had been forewarned, had followed fast upon their sin; but grace had again intervened, and a remnant of the nation was once more in Israel's land. Now, it was no more a question of broken laws, neglected altars, or persecuted prophets; but a question as to Messiah Himself. Jehovah — Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us — become, in grace, the Servant, although the very King of Glory. He was in their midst; and, if He was rejected, there only lay before them the last Roman captivity, as foreshadowed by Daniel's devouring "beast" (Dan. 7), Jerusalem's desolation, as foretold by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, the Kingdom of God taken from them, and, finally (Messiah having been rejected), the Antichrist would be accepted, and so bring upon the nation the great tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble, before the Lord returned in power and glory.

The study of this chapter is of the utmost importance, in order rightly to understand the ways of God with men.

Matthew 11 lays bare the springs of evil in the heart of man, that could reject both the grace and power of Messiah, as shown in Matthew 10 by His messengers, and His own gracious ministry (Chap. 11: 1). The wicked king, the "idol shepherd" — Herod — had imprisoned the faithful and fearless Forerunner. In the gloomy dungeon of Macherus, John, brooding alone in his bondage, would seem to have questioned whether, after all, his own mission had not been a failure. Where was the Kingdom he had announced, and what proof was there that the King was really present? Hence the questionings of his spirit found utterance in the inquiry, "Art Thou He?"

The Lord replied to His dying witness by acts of power and words of comfort. When the disciples of John had departed, the Lord praises the devoted constancy of His servant. John was no weakling — no "reed shaken with the wind." King's courts were not familiar places to him, and the smiles and frowns of kings were matters of equal indifference. lie was "more than a prophet," for he was honoured by being the immediate messenger of Jehovah. Himself. But the Lord marks the change of dispensation by announcing that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven, as sons of God, had a nearer relationship than even John — "no greater" servant of woman born. Prophetic testimony had been since Abel downwards: that was now ended, and Messiah Himself was present, of whom all the prophets had spoken: and this fact made the sin of the age — the rejection of Jesus — the greatest it was possible for man to commit. Tyre's worldliness and Sodom's immorality were eclipsed by the unbelief of the cities of Galilee.

Turning from them, the Lord in verses 25-30 reveals the divine purposes and counsels whereby "the babe" (the true disciple) is instructed into the deep things of God. Here our Gospel touches on the main subject developed in the Gospel of John — the revelation of the Father and the Son. The Lord returns, as it were, back to the eternal purposes of God. If the throne of David was denied Him by the nation, all things were given Him by the Father, and He alone could reveal the Father to His own. The ineffable Godhead glory of the Father could only be revealed by the Son. But that He could reveal it, proved His own Personal Deity, for who but God could reveal God? Further, a knowledge of the mystery of the divine Son of God incarnate — His Being and Person — very God, and yet a true Man upon the earth, could be known only by the Father alone.

This One then calls to Himself the weary of every class, and clime, and nation, in order to give them rest. Here only was rest to be found, for He alone could lay the foundation upon which every purpose of God in grace to the world was to be established.

Not only was rest of conscience to be given there was also rest of heart to be found but the last is only promised upon the ground of discipleship. To learn of Him: to be yoked with Him: to be meek and lowly like Him — is there a power in earth or hell that can disturb or distract the soul that has entered, in a practical way, into these sublime and heavenly truths?

In Matthew 12 we find Messiah's messengers an hungered, even in Messiah's land, so thoroughly had their Master been rejected. Walking by the side of the corn-fields, the disciples pluck the ears of corn and eat them, which was allowed by the law (Deut. 23: 25). The Lord then uses the opposition the Pharisees made to this, to show them, both in teaching and practice, that every link with God, for that generation, was now completely severed. What were mere forms of godliness, when the Son of God Himself was despised? In the nation's history, in days gone by, there had been a time analogous to the present. David, the true king, was rejected and fleeing for his life. The people's king, Saul, was on the throne, and God's king was an exile. On the Sabbath day (compare Lev. 24 with 1 Sam. 21) David and his followers did eat of the shewbread, which pertained only to the priests, and were blameless. But what the Pharisees did prove by their opposition was their own inconsistency and guilty rejection of divine power, made manifest before all. And this would ultimately be the cause of their own rejection by God Himself, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Following upon the next miracle of healing the man with the withered hand — apt picture of Israel who should have been strong for God, and was not — the Holy Spirit directs attention to the true Servant, and His beautiful characteristics as described in Isaiah's glowing page.

1 He was the Chosen One.

2 The Beloved.

3 Filled with the Spirit.

4 The One who would show judgment to the nations.

5 Patient and Tender.

6 Finally Victorious, and

7 The One in whom the Gentiles would trust (Isa. 42).

Henceforth it is no longer a question of blessing to Israel only; the gracious service, in the hands of the Perfect Servant, the "Son of Man," now assumes a wider aspect, and there is final blessing for the whole earth.

In Isaiah 5 the prophet describes what God had done for the nation, and what the nation had failed to be for God. The six "woes," in the same chapter, describe the sad result "because they had cast away the law of the Lord of Hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel" (verse 24). But the True Servant "shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law" (Isa. 62: 4).

One other miracle the Lord works about this time, as if to show conclusively His divine authority: There was brought unto Him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and He healed him insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. We have had blind eyes opened and deaf ears unstopped, but here both together, in one subject, are brought before us as a picture of where the nation now was, led on by their blind guides, refusing either to see or confess their own Messiah in their midst. The people might say, "Is not this the Son of David?" but the foes of Christ charge Him with being the minister of satanic power, and thus commit the sin of sins by blaspheming the Holy Spirit of God.

Even after the Cross, the first martyr, Stephen, had to charge home upon their conscience the same terrible guilt, "Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost" (Acts 7: 51).

The Lord goes on to show: —

That Satan did not war against himself.

That the Kingdom of God was among them.

That the "strong man," Satan, had been bound, and

That "his goods," the souls of men, could now be set free.

However, that generation was judged. It was a corrupt tree and could not bring forth good fruit. Being evil, their words were idle and evil, and for every idle word they would come into judgment. Their fathers in the wilderness had spoken against Jehovah in their midst in power, and His anger was kindled. Here Jehovah was in their midst in grace, and as their fathers had done, so did they.

It is remarkable, how that after all the mighty works the Lord had done among them, the Pharisees should still demand a sign, and it is also well to notice that out of the forty-six recorded miracles of our Lord, no less than thirty-three were wrought in Galilee. No further sign would convince them, but the Lord gives them two that would condemn them. Jonah, up from the depth of the sea, type of Christ risen from among the dead, and preached in grace to the Gentiles, was the first. But if Messiah was cut off, what hope for that generation? And the fact that the men of Nineveh received and bowed to the voice of the prophet, while the men of Israel refused the voice of One greater than Jonah, would add tenfold to their condemnation.

The second sign was the attractive power of the wisdom of Solomon for the heart of the Queen of Sheba. The fame of this wisdom (1 Kings 8) produced something in her heart beyond the mere repentance of the Ninevites. It had the effect of bringing her into the presence of the king; and the result was that every desire of her heart was satisfied. How much greater was the One in whose presence they were? The One who had given to Solomon his wisdom, and his riches, and his glory, was in their midst, but they saw no beauty in Him that they should desire Him.

And then the Lord passes to the end, and with sad and solemn words, in parabolic language, describes the present and future history of the nation.

Of all the various forms of evil with which Satan has sought to lead men from God, no form seems to have been so successful as idolatry. We do not know that it was in the world before the flood. Then the devil wrought through the unbridled passions of men, left to the freedom of their own lusts. When the sword of justice was put into the hands of Noah and his sons, restraint was put upon physical violence, but moral evil thereupon blossomed unchecked. Because men did not like to retain the knowledge of the true God, and because they must have a god of some kind, at the instigation of Satan, they made gods for themselves, and attributed to these idols all the evil passions that filled their own hearts. Soon idolatry had filled the whole known world; and God, in electing grace, had to call Abram entirely out of his father's house, in order to become the "father of the faithful." Yet how successfully the "unclean spirit" carried on his operations, even amidst the chosen seed, may be seen when we find idolatry tacitly allowed even in Jacob's household, in the wilderness openly indulged in, and publicly provided for under the reign of Israel's wisest king, until God, through His prophet, had to warn, in the days of Manasseh, what the result would be. And very soon afterwards Jerusalem was "wiped as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down" (2 Kings 21: 13).

From that day till the present moment idolatry has been unknown among the Jews. The "unclean spirit" went out, and the house was left empty, swept, and garnished. It was not that evil under other forms was not among them, but idolatry was not there. Nevertheless, the Lord says that in a coming day, a sevenfold spirit of evil — idolatry and worse — will take possession of the guilty generation. Man himself will usurp the place of God, and demand and receive that adoration and worship which is only due to God alone. Both "the beast" and his "image" will be worshipped, and that by men and by a nation of the highest intelligence upon the face of the earth. There is no form of evil that men, in spite of all their boasted civilisation, will not indulge in, if left to the control of Satan and the desire of their own wicked hearts.

But when man has reached his lowest, God comes in, and He will take a hand in the affairs of Israel, and of the earth, in judgment, and "destroy the men who destroy the earth" (Rev. 11: 18).

This chapter should be studied in connection with that beautiful section of Isaiah 49 — 53. In Isa. 48 Israel, who should have been the servant of Jehovah, is charged with obstinacy and treacherous dealing, and formally set aside. In Isa. 49 the True Servant is announced, and after His mission to Israel, He has to say, "I have laboured in vain, and spent my strength for nought and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God. . . . And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth" (verses 4-6). There would then be blessing, not for Israel only, but for all nations. This was now beginning to be fulfilled, but the Cross had to come in before there could be blessing for any.

Isaiah 50 deals with the Blessed One upon the earth: His life of obedience to God and suffering at the hands of men. "The Lord God hath opened mine ear and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiter, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting" (verses 5, 6). In Isaiah 51 the day of redemption has come, and there is a threefold call to the remnant to "hearken," and the promise that the days of mourning are ended and those of joy and gladness begun. The cup of trembling is taken out of her hands, and Jerusalem is exhorted (Isa. 52) to awake and put on her beautiful garments. Then Jehovah turns (Isa. 53) to contemplate His perfect Servant, upon the earth, in all His wonderful pathway of dependence and devotedness to the will of God: of rejection and suffering at the hands of men.

But there was still a deeper depth. Expiation, atonement, and propitiation could only be through blood-shedding and death, and He became obedient unto death, "wherefore God also hath highly exalted him" (Phil. 2). His work is above every work: His name above every name.

As one result of that work, Israel's blessing is secured upon the ground of sovereign grace, and, in the bright millennial day (Isa . 54), she is invited to break forth into singing. She is no longer Lo-Ami (not my people), but her Maker is her husband, the Lord of Hosts is His name.

It seems hardly necessary to add that the prophet, after describing "the sufferings of Christ," goes on to describe "the glory that should follow." He necessarily passes over the Church, which was a mystery then hid in the counsels of God, but to be revealed after the Lord had taken His seat on high.

But all this was consequent upon the rejection of the Messiah, and coming back again to the close of Matthew 12, we find (verse 46) that the Lord now, in figure, breaks the last earthly link with Israel after the flesh. Everything of the old economy was over. The Jews might boast of having Abraham for their father, being Moses' disciples, having the law, and the prophets but prophets, priesthood, law, or kingdom was now of no account before God. The abuse of these privileges only rendered their guilt the deeper. In short, this chapter brings us to the close of the moral history of the nation.

But new relationships of a spiritual character were about to begin, and these would be manifested by: —

1 Following Christ.

2 Hearing the Word of God.

3 Doing the Father's will.

Section 6. Matthew 13.

The Outward and Inward Aspects of the Kingdom in the Absence of the King

The Bible is a book in two parts. The Old Testament has to do with the earth. It is the mind of Heaven revealed to man upon the earth to fit him for the earth.

But man closed his ears to the voice of God, disobeyed the divine will, and made himself unfit for the earth in which God had placed him. Eden and innocence were lost by Adam. Canaan and liberty were lost by Israel. Happiness and holiness have been lost by all because of sin and disobedience.

Hence the New Testament has to do with heaven. It reveals the mind of God as to how men, who had made themselves unfit for the earth, might be made fit for heaven itself through the Gospel.

The portion of our Gospel which we have so far been considering has had to do with Israel, still dealt with on the ground of responsibility. Messiah was presented for their acceptance or rejection, as men upon the earth; and, as we have seen, He had been rejected. Accordingly, at the close of Matthew 12, the Lord announces new terms of relationship — even that which was of a spiritual character. "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother," and the same day He went out of the house and sat by the seaside.

Then follows the most remarkable series of parables given in any of the Gospels. Their number — seven — is in itself suggestive. We meet first with this number in Scripture in Genesis 2, where the seventh day is called the "Sabbath" from a root meaning to be "full," "satisfied," or "perfected." So God rested on the seventh day. His work was perfected. Nothing could be added to it.

These seven parables then set forth in symbolic language, systematic order, and historical sequence the moral characteristics of: —

The origin,

Outward progress,

Declension, and

Consummation

of the Kingdom of Heaven as seen in the hands of men. At the same time, they also disclose the true inward and hidden aspect of that Kingdom in mystery, God's husbandry, God's building — against which neither the wickedness of men, the assaults of Satan, or the powers of hell can prevail.

Thus we see unfolded before us: —

1 What Christ does.

2 What Satan does, and

3 What men do.

Parable 1

The object of the opening parable is to show: —

1 The way in which the Word of the Kingdom is introduced.

2 The hindrances it encounters, and

3 The results it achieves.

The sower is the Lord Himself. He is no longer seeking fruit from Israel, but He is beginning in the world at large a new work of grace, which, like the good seed, will reproduce itself.

But, as there were obstacles in the way of the seed, so there are hindrances to the operations of grace.

The devil, the world, and the flesh oppose: —

1 Some of the seed fell "by the wayside." Here we have pictured that condition of heart which is, alas, but too common wherever the Gospel is proclaimed. There are hearts so careless and indifferent that they fail to see either their danger in rejecting the Gospel, or their blessing in receiving it. And in addition to this there is the enemy without who is ever ready to take advantage of the condition within. He catcheth away the word. These are the Hard-Hearted.

2 Again, some of the seed fell upon stony places where there was not much depth of earth. Two things are said of these. They had no depth of earth, hence no root, and when the sun was up they withered away.

In His interpretation (verse 20) the Lord says of these here represented that they received the word with joy, but when persecution arose they were offended (stumbled). Joy, though a very important part of Christian experience, is not usually the first result of the Spirit's work in the soul. If the conscience be ploughed up there will be deep exercise as to sin, and joy will only come when the sin question is settled. Hence we gather that there was, on the part of those spoken of here, no real knowledge of either sin, self, or grace, and so no ability to continue when persecution arose for the Word's sake. In short, they are the Faint-Hearted.

3 "And some fell among thorns." Here the ground is already occupied with something else, and something also which is indigenous to the soil. The thorns were there before the seed fell amongst them. So much so that Matthew takes no account of the apparent growth of the seed at all — only of the thorns, and Luke notices it only to show that the flourishing condition of the thorns choked the seed.

The Lord shows here the utter impossibility of producing fruit for God while the heart is occupied with the world, and in Luke the whole circle of worldly influences is represented its cares, its riches, or its pleasures. The three combined, or any one of them, may so fill the heart that the Word of God, though falling on the ear, and even being tacitly consented to by the mind, may yet produce no saving faith in the soul or fruit in the life, because there is no purpose of heart for God and no break with the world.

These may be classed as the Half-Hearted.

Yet, in spite of all the opposition of the devil, the flesh, and the world, the Word accomplishes the most remarkable results.

4 Some fell on good ground and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold. Is the difference to be accounted for on the ground of fidelity or opportunity? The Lord does not here take up the question, but other scriptures show that both will be taken into consideration in the great Day of Rewards.

But the disciples understood none of these things until the Lord opened out the meaning before them. To disciples it had been given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom; and the Lord's interpretation of the "sower" and of the "tares in the field" would, no doubt, instruct them in the meaning of all parables.

Broadly speaking, the results of the sowing are such as follow the preaching of the Gospel in all ages and among all nations. Some are "good ground" hearers, and produce good fruit. Many, alas! are careless, and whether the hindrance be the devil, the world, or the flesh, they bring no fruit to perfection.

Parable 2

But in the next parable we have a further development of the history of the Kingdom, as committed to the hands of man, and four things follow: —

1 There is carelessness on the part of those who should have been watchers.

2 The enemy no longer "catches away" that which was sown. He adopts a new plan, and sows tares among the wheat.

3 The servants get instructions for their guidance under the new conditions, and

4 The Lord shows what is in store for both "wheat" and "tares" at the end of the age.

The Book of Acts reveals to us how very early in the history of the Church Satan began his operations of introducing the "children of the wicked one" among the "children of the Kingdom." And though faithfulness on the part of Peter was able to detect and expose Simon Magus (Acts 8: 21), yet such godly care and watchfulness soon, alas! disappeared, and evil men crept in unawares, just as the Lord here foretold.

The servants, however, in the parable were prompt to appraise the evil at its true value when it showed itself, and they seek instructions from the Lord for wisdom to deal with it. And here we must note carefully the Lord's interpretation of the parable to understand rightly the force of the instructions He gives them.

The field is the world — the kosmos. Here the word "world" indicates the sphere where the Word of God goes forth. In verses 39, 40 it indicates the space of time allowed for its dissemination. It is no longer a question of the land of Israel and a testimony to Messiah inside, with no appeal to Samaritan or Gentile outside of it, but the scope of the operations of grace will be world-wide, and the Kingdom of Heaven will be open to all without exception or distinction.

The good seed are the children of the Kingdom. There is here a historical as well as a moral development. It is not a question of seed to reproduce itself as the result of a sowing, but it deals with what has been produced and is now in evidence in "the field." The "children of the Kingdom" are there, as was to be expected. But there are also the "children of the wicked one," wholly unexpected on the part of the servants who knew not the forces of evil at work, though unseen by men. It is the beginning of the "mystery of iniquity." Of those who bear the name of Christ, but have not the Spirit of Christ — unconverted and unregenerate, yet in the field of Christian profession, the Lord says, with solemn emphasis, that they are the "children of the wicked one."

The servants have a suggested cure for these unexpected conditions, but the Lord shows them that their method is not the divine way. Penal judgment in divine things is never committed into the hands of men. The "tares" are in the Kingdom, and are to be allowed there until the "harvest." Evil men are not to be put out of the Kingdom, which could only be done by putting them to death.

Rome, interpreting "the field" to be "the Church," though in plain contradiction to the scripture, and which it is not, has endeavoured to root out those whom she branded as "tares," and thereby made herself responsible for the blood of fifty millions of the saints of God. Protestantism has gone to the opposite extreme, and with a spirit of latitudinarianism utterly regardless of the claims of Christ or the holiness of the House of God, has allowed all kinds of men and many forms of evil doctrine to enter the professing Church, arguing that as there were "tares" in the "field," so there would be the unconverted in the Church — a right premise, but an utterly wrong conclusion.

How important it is to divide rightly the word of truth (2 Tim. 2: 15).

Continuing His instructions the Lord unmasks the cause of this condition of things: —

The enemy that sowed them is the devil. For reasons beyond our ken, Satan is allowed to carry out his plans to the apparent disorganising of the plans of God. It was so at Eden, and his apparent success ended in man's expulsion from the paradise of God. In the post-diluvian world, although the original curse was partly removed and violence was no longer allowed to fill the earth to the same extent as before the flood, yet Satan was ready with something else to take its place, and mankind in the mass very soon became wholly given up to idolatry. No sooner was Abraham called out from his own country to be a stranger in the land of Canaan, than we see the wiles of the enemy under another form, and the son of the bondwoman is foisted into the place of the true seed. Foiled again in this, we trace the workings of the old serpent in the hatred of the ten brethren against Joseph, the uprisings against Moses, the grievous departure from God when in the land, the revolt of the ten tribes from the house of David, and the rapid declension of both kings and people from the ways of God, until He removed both Judah and Israel out of their own land because "they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy" (2 Chron. 36: 16).

When Israel, for the time, is set aside, and the Kingdom of Heaven introduced, the enemy, alert in evil as ever, is ready with an imitation of that which is real. But the Lord brings the light of the future to illumine what is dark in the present, and He tells His disciples that the enemy's success is only for a time. Both wheat and tares grow together until the harvest, but at the harvest — the end of the age everything will come out in its true colours It cannot be too often repeated that it is not the end of the world that is in view here, but a definite moment in the dealings of God with this world, and from other scriptures we learn that that time will be just before the setting up of the Millennial Kingdom. It must be carefully distinguished both from the coming of the Lord for His people (1 Thess. 4), which takes place shortly before this, and also from the Judgment of the Great White Throne (Rev. 20), which does not take place until a thousand years afterwards.

When the Lord comes for His people it is a question of the righteous being taken out from among the wicked.

Here it is a question of the wicked being taken out from among the righteous.

At the Judgment of the Great White Throne, there is no separation at all, for all alike have died in sin, been buried in sin, and, raised again unrepentant and unforgiven, are alike cast into the lake of fire — solemn thought!

But here the Lord takes the character of Son of Man, and as such He deals with the earth. He will come to deliver the faithful, judge the ungodly, purge the earth, fulfil to the suffering ones of Israel every promise of Matthew 5, and introduce the long promised Kingdom in power, and in glory, and in universal blessing according to Isaiah 60 and Zechariah 14.

Further, this scripture tells us how this will be done: —

The Reapers are the Angels. — There will be angelic ministry in that day, such as heretofore the world has only had glimpses of. Under the old economy the angels were, if we might so say, in the place of rule (Gal. 3: 19). In the present day of grace they are seen in the place of lowly service to the children of the Kingdom (Heb. 1: 14). But in the coming day will be seen the angels of His power as the executors of the judgment of God upon evil, and evil men.

Just as the husbandman gathers together the useless tares, and binds them in bundles with the ultimate object of their destruction, so evil men will be found at the close of this age banded together against the Lord and against His people, and as such their confederacies will be dealt with by the Lord. Their solemn end is the furnace of fire, where there is "wailing and gnashing of teeth."

Then will be seen the final triumph of the ways of God, and the crushing failure of all the wiles of the devil. The wickedness of men, the malice of Satan, and the fruits of sin will all be fully exposed, righteously judged, and eternally punished.

The triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ over all authority and power will be manifested.

The righteousness of God will be vindicated.

The redeemed will be brought into all the blessings of the New Covenant of Grace (Ezek. 36), and Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.

Parable 3

Parable 3 (verses 31, 32) brings out a further development of world principles in the outward aspect of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Not only would there be a mingling of wheat and tares — of mere professors with the children of the Kingdom — but here we are given to see that that which began as a small thing in the earth, and was to be heavenly in its character, as it was in its origin, would become a great "tree in the earth" — ever a symbol of world power — under whose branches the "birds of the air" — servants of the wicked one — would find a lodgment. It is what corresponds to the Pergamos period of the history of the Church (Rev. 2: 12), and historically would doubtless begin with the Empire of Constantine the Great, A.D. 312. When Christianity ceased to be the persecuted, despised, and down-trodden confession of the few, but, embraced by the Emperor of the Roman world, received world-wide patronage and protection one, among many, of the evil results was that the way to become powerful in the world was to become great in the Church. Immediately "grievous wolves" (Acts 20: 29) entered in, not sparing the flock. The professing Church became a great world power. It was no longer thought necessary for the bishops to fulfil the conditions of 1 Timothy 3. They would much rather sit on "thrones" drawing ample revenues, dispensing the "patronage of the Church" to their own advantage, and, alas! sometimes be found eating and drinking with the drunken (Chap. 24). This is no exaggerated picture, as every student of. Church history will admit. Take either the earlier times or the later. Perhaps it was more marked in the fourth century because it was a new thing. Up till that period, to be an outstanding man in the Church was to be a mark for the shafts of persecution. After Constantine, it became a position to be coveted by the man of the world, for it brought with it money and fame and worldly influence.

In short, the Kingdom of Heaven in the history of its administration by the hands of men, became a great world power, affording lodgment for much that was evil (the "birds of the air") instead of maintaining its heavenly character of separation from the world, holiness before men, and lowliness before God.

Parable 4

The next parable lays bare the inward principles which were at work, unseen, but pregnant with power, and that, alas! a power for evil.

It begins in the Thyatiran period when the "Woman Jezebel" (Rev. 2) is allowed to teach and seduce and, historically, it will have its complete fulfilment in Babylon (Rev. 17) when that which is merely hypocrisy and false profession will have passed beyond the Laodicean stage and become wholly satanic and abominable — the leaven hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened.

There is a certain definite area supposed in the "three measures" inside of which the "leaven" works. Leaven being everywhere else in Scripture a type of that which is evil, we must so expect to find it here, and only thus can we have an orderly and progressive setting forth of the subject dealt with.

Just as former parables have shown the "children of the wicked one" in the Kingdom, so here we have shown to us that which fills their hearts. They are those "who receive not the love of the truth" (2 Thess. 2: 12). "They will not endure sound doctrine" but "shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables" (2 Tim. 4: 12). They are men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith (2 Tim. 3: 8). Let anyone but look round to-day and he will see how rapidly things in Christendom are hastening to the above consummation.

Think of some only of the great and rapidly increasing cults of evil doctrine in our midst to-day, such as Spiritism, Eddyism, Russellism, and many others. Then consider that these rapidly growing organisations are being recruited from the ranks of those who once made a profession of Christianity but are now apostate therefrom.

Then, in the various so-called "orthodox" denominations, see the indifference of many, and the opposition of some to the very cardinal doctrines of Christian truth. For example, take the Inspiration of Scripture. How loosely men talk and write of the "mistakes" of Moses, the "contradictions" of the Synoptists, or the "errors" in the later Scriptures, "understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm" (1 Tim. 1: 7). They have not hesitated to bring their irreverent and unregenerate minds to pry into the sacred mystery of the Son of God come down in grace; and teachings are received without protest, derogatory alike to His Holy Person, His finished work, and His divine glory.

These are but illustrations of the corrupting form of the leaven at work at the present moment in that which bears the name of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Here, then, in these three parables we have set forth a developing and an increasing growth of evil, both externally and internally, in that which professes to represent the rule of heaven upon the earth. At the beginning, a few tares among the wheat, at which the servants are surprised. Then a great tree instead of a lowly mustard plant. And, again, a leavening process by the evil doctrines of men, instead of the truth as "the truth is in Jesus" (Eph. 4: 21). And at this stage, these things are accepted as matters of course. There is apparently no one now so much in the mind of the Master as to inquire: "Didst thou not sow good seed in thy field?"

In view of these startling and wholly unexpected (on their part) developments, well might the disciples say, "Declare unto us the parable of the tares in the field."

Verse 36 begins the second section of the chapter. In the house the Lord expounds the parable to His disciples. As we have seen, the just judgment of God will clear the ground for the reign of righteousness to begin, and the wicked will no longer be allowed to remain in the Kingdom, or even on the earth. They will be cast — solemn thought — into a furnace of fire. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.

Parable 5

The next two parables are of special interest. The action of the narrative is no longer occupied with the development of events within the Kingdom either for good or for evil. It is no question of what men may either do or teach; but the mind and heart are centred upon the ONE who, in wonderful condescension and marvellous grace, became the Finder of the treasure and the Seeker of the pearl. As we get occupied with Him, we feel at once that we are in a different atmosphere. We no longer stand, as it were, on the plains of Moab, contemplating Israel as a "stiff-necked people" (Num. 22), but We are beside the prophet on the "high places." It is no longer what the people are for God, but what God is for His people, and in spite of all Israel had been He could say, He had not "beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel" (Num. 23: 21). In the very beginning, or ever the earth was, that Blessed One could say, "My delights were with the sons of men" (Prov. 8: 31). In grace, and with satisfaction He views His people as grace will ultimately make them. His earthly people, redeemed Israel upon the earth: His heavenly people, a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

The Kingdom in the hands of men had been shown to be mingled with that which is unreal, united to that which is earthly, and permeated with that which is evil. As such, all that was false and unreal was fast hastening on to judgment. It was necessary that the disciples should now see what was real and true, amidst all the confusion. To them it was given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Let us note here that the character of the figures is now changed. It is no longer, as at the introduction, "good seed" that could reproduce itself. Nor is it a "sowing" where darnel might be mingled with the wheat. Much less is it that which might become contaminated with evil men or evil influences externally as in the "mustard seed," or corrupted by false and satanic doctrines internally as in the "three measures of meal." But here we have a definite precious deposit of intrinsic excellence, and which, though hid in the earth, could not be defiled by the earth.

The figures are few and simple, and other Scriptures accurately guide us in the interpretation.

The field is the world. The Finder of the treasure and the Purchaser of the field is the Lord Himself. No other interpretation is possible. Who but He could purchase such a field? Who but He had anything to "sell" at all commensurate with the value of the object to be acquired, for in the field there was a treasure for which possession of the field was sought, and which was of infinitely greater value than the field itself.

In Exodus 19, in that wonderful personal interview between Jehovah and His servant Moses, He could say, "If ye will obey my voice . . . ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me, above all people that are in the earth." Now we know that Israel did not obey that voice; but where Israel failed, grace triumphed on the ground of redemption; and we have already seen what God could say of His people in the plains of Moab, even when Satan had them, as he thought, at a disadvantage. How much more will this be evident when Psalm 135

"The Lord hath chosen Jacob for Himself,

And Israel for His peculiar treasure.

Blessed be the Lord out of Zion

Which dwelleth at Jerusalem,

Praise ye the Lord."

But before all, or any, of this could be accomplished, He, the gracious Finder of the treasure, had to buy the "field" itself at the cost of all He had.

There is, however, a wider application. There can be no blessing for either the earth, Israel, or the Church, apart from the death of Christ, and just here comes in one of the special points of this parable. The Lord Jesus by His death has purchased all mankind. This truth is of world-wide application, and on this ground His messengers can go forth and proclaim an accomplished work on the ground of which men are besought to be reconciled to God.

The world to-day is still ruled over by the usurper Satan, and men love to have it so. The Lord when on earth spoke of the devil as the "prince of this world," and after the Lord had been rejected and crucified, Scripture calls Satan the "god of this world." In other words, men are willing to accept from Satan both their rule and their religion, hut it will not always be so. There is the earthly side as well as the heavenly side of the Kingdom. The earth, already purchased, will in that day be redeemed, and suitably prepared for the dwelling-place of saved Israel, under the New Covenant, and the nations who inhabit the millennial earth, for there shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

Parable 6

But a further figure is required to set forth the unity and the beauty of those who compose the heavenly side of the Kingdom. This is found in the "One pearl of great price." And remark here that, in the previous parable, the finder of the treasure bought the field that contained it. But here the merchantman seeks to secure the pearl only. There is no question of its surroundings. The pearl is taken out entirely from the place in which it was, in order that it may become wholly the delight of the heart of the finder. The parable without doubt marks the special place which the assembly occupies in the counsels of God and in the mind of Christ.

It is impossible to overlook this, and almost impossible to overestimate it. There are four remarkable ways in which the saints of this dispensation are looked at in the New Testament.

If it is a question of relationship, they are called "children of God" (1 John 3: 1).

If it is a question of responsibility for God upon the earth, they are looked at as the "House of God" (1 Tim. 3: 15),

If it is a question of nearness and unity, they are spoken of as the "body of Christ" (1 Cor. 12: 12).

If it is a question of their affection and of their participation in His glory in the day of display, when all the ways of God in grace with men will be manifested, then the company of redeemed ones are brought before us under the striking figure of the "Bride of Christ" (Rev. 19: 7-9).

These are four different aspects of the assembly of God, but all setting forth in a remarkable way the place of nearness, relationship, and affection which the Church occupies. Here it is a question of its unity and beauty, hence the figure of ONE pearl of great price — loved, sought, and purchased. "Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5: 26-27). "To her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and white" (Rev. 19: 8).

May there be the practical answer in the life and walk of every redeemed one, to that position of wondrous blessing in which grace has placed us, and in which in the day of glory we shall be displayed. We may well adore the grace that sought, the love that suffered, and the power that triumphed over all the forces of sin, death, and Satan: and the day is fast approaching when the full results of His mighty work will be manifested before the universe; and, at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow to the glory of God the Father.

Parable 7

Still another similitude was needed to show the disciples the course of events at the close of that mysterious dispensation of the Kingdom of Heaven in the absence of the King, and this the Lord furnishes under the figure of the draw-net cast into the sea, and gathering of every kind. And in order to grasp the point of this, the closing parable, we need to keep in mind what has gone before.

At the beginning we see the Son of Man coming forth as the Sower. The results of the sowing are then given, and the general effects in the hearts of men. Next, the enemy is seen at work introducing the tares among the wheat; and this knowledge becomes a guide to the servants under the new and unexpected conditions. The next two parables give the developments of the foregoing conditions — evil men and evil teachings waxing worse and worse. But following these, Parables 5 and 6 show that which is hidden and real and that which the Lord's heart is set upon; whether the saved remnant of His ancient people under the new covenant, or the Church which is His Body — both are before Him — and every event in His dealings with men and nations is leading up to a complete fulfilment of all the irrevocable counsels of God on their behalf.

But there is still the question of the nations of the earth: manifestly the Kingdom of Heaven in its widest sense must include Israel, the Church, and the saved nations of the millennial earth. What events will lead up to, and what will ultimately determine the final separation of the "good" from the "bad"? This the Lord sets before us in His closing parable. And note here that, although there is a close similarity between this parable and that of the "tares," there is by no means a repetition. There the point and object of the teaching is, as already remarked, instruction for the servants for present need, in the light of the future, in what was to them an unexpected condition of things in the absence of the King. Here it is the grand results of the operations of grace, and the final assignment of every one to his own place, either in the Kingdom of Heaven, or — solemn thought — in the furnace of fire.

The figures employed are few and simple, but divinely expressive: —

A draw-net.

Cast into the sea.

"Every kind" gathered within its sweep.

When full, drawn to shore.

A sorting process, and

A separation.

The figure employed is of a net of the largest kind known or used by fishers. Where suitable circumstances permit, it may be as much as half a mile in length. Hence in its immense sweep it "gathers of every kind" — that is, of every species.

When, then, is the net cast, and of what is it a figure? Are we not reminded by it of Mark 1: 1 "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God," and also of verse 37 of our chapter, "He that sowed the good seed is the Son of Man." But while the casting of the net would seem to synchronise with the beginning of the Gospel, yet the net itself is of wider application than the Gospel as we understand it. May it not correspond to all the dealings of God with men from the time the Kingdom began to be preached until the time when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and before Him are gathered all nations. Cast into the "sea" (of the nations) would seem to indicate the worldwide scope of its operations. No longer Israel only, or even professing Christendom, but every nation under Heaven to whom, in a future day, the Gospel of the Kingdom will be announced. Thus, from first to last it may well be said to gather of every kind. It is evident that the "servants" do not draw the net. It is drawn when "full," and it is equally evident that it is not "full" yet, else the gospel day would be over indeed. The ending of this solemn scripture is given more fully in Matthew 25. It is the sessional judgment of the Son of Man. They "sat down," conveys the thought of orderly and deliberative selection. The "good" gathered into vessels. The "bad" cast out of the net. It is the final sorting out of those who had heretofore been going on together; alike perhaps in profession, but unlike in reality; and only the Lord Himself had omniscience and authority to decide.

Just as the Jew, according to the Mosaic law, (Lev. 11: 9) separated the contents of his net, the "clean" from the "unclean," so, the Lord says, will it be at the end of this age. And this will be done by angelic ministry (verse 41). The wicked are cast into the furnace of fire. The righteous are safely preserved for the Kingdom, and they enter into all the blessings that accompany and follow the introduction of the reign of righteousness over the whole earth in the day of Messiah's glory.

What a wonderful unveiling of divine counsels these seven parables present. Fortified with this knowledge of the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven, the believer can calmly survey all the varied phases which the great "harvest field" may present. He rests assured that, however contradictory things may appear, yet in spite of all the wickedness of evil men and all the opposition of Satan, God will assuredly bring to perfection every purpose of His counsels for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

How far the disciples "understood all these things" we do not know, but we may rest assured that when the Holy Spirit came down He would bring all things to their remembrance and guide them into all truth.

They already had information, in all its full and varied details, in the Old Testament Scriptures, as to the glories of the Kingdom, and what it would be in the day of its display. That which was "new," as to the Kingdom in the absence of the King, He had now taught them. They were to regard such knowledge as a precious thing to be "treasured," and "brought out" when occasion required. Just as an householder becomes a dispenser of good things to his guests, so were disciples to be in a world that knew not the grace of Christ.

Section 7. Matthew 14, 15.

Man's King and Man's Character Contrasted with God's King

The Holy Spirit in Matthew's Gospel delights to group events in, what we might call, a moral order, instead of a strictly historical order, and the result is that we get striking contrasts between the ways of God and the ways of men which we might otherwise overlook. It is so in the two chapters now before us.

But to go back for a moment to the last section, not the least remarkable thing in that remarkable chapter is that everything is viewed as in the absence of the King. But why was He absent? Departure from God and blindness of heart led the nation and its rulers to reject their King come in grace and power, as witnessed by His mighty works. And not only so, but the close of the chapter shows Him as the prophet of God despised and rejected in His own country. They might own His wisdom and His works of power. These they could not gainsay. But unbelief prevented them from sharing the blessings grace was willing to impart. Could unbelief go further than to see in Him only the "Carpenter's Son"? Nicodemus long before, with perhaps fewer opportunities of judging, had seen in Him "a teacher come from God," and owned that God was with Him. Of His own countrymen, it is said, "they were offended (stumbled) at him."

Now, at this point (Chap. 14) the Spirit turns back to recall events which had taken place previously, that is the circumstances connected with the murder of John, and to set before us THE Two KINGS.

CHRIST, in His compassion, power, and grace.

Herod, in his cruelty, lust, and pride.

In Matthew 15 we get the two hearts. The heart of man with its seven streams of incurable evil, and the heart of Christ yearning to bless, whether it be the poor of the flock in the land or one poor Gentile at the utmost borders of Israel.

In Matthew 14, then, we get in a short historical setting a vivid description of the moral corruption of things in Israel's land. Shortly, the case was this. Herod Antipas was a son of Herod, miscalled "the Great," of Matthew 2. He was the wicked son of a wicked father. At the death of Herod I. the kingdom was divided by the Romans, and Herod Antipas became "tetrarch" of Galilee, with the courtesy title of "king." He married a daughter of Aretas, King of Arabia, but afterwards made guilty overtures to Herodias, his brother Herod Philip's wife. Nothing loth, the profligate wanton responded, and the two were living in open sin.

The righteous reproof of the fearless prophet rankled in the revengeful heart of the wicked woman, and, when the opportunity arose, she was ready to embrace it, in order to satiate her hatred. Herod, in spite of his conscience, became a pliant tool in her guilty hands.

Herodias' daughter danced, and John the Baptist died.

Let a man but start on the downward road, and the devil is never at a loss for some one to put a hand on his back to push him on. So it was with Herod, and in such a setting Israel's ruler is shown to us. An oppressor, an adulterer, a proud boaster, and a murderer; and yet the king. It reveals how the very foundations of virtue were gone, and utter moral and spiritual corruption ruled in the kingdom of men. What marked Herod's dance, and every similar dance since, was the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life; and the end of these things is death.

Herod's case is a warning to all of the danger of trifling with the voice of conscience. Led on by the wiles of the devil, the hardening process grows apace, and a man soon finds himself performing actions, which a short time before he would have shrunk from with horror. Hazael, when warned by the prophet Elisha, could say, "Is thy servant a dog that he should do this great thing?" (2 Kings 8: 13). Yet the very next day ambition led him to take the first guilty step in his downward career by murdering his master.

At the beginning of John's ministry we read that "Herod was the friend of John and kept him safe" (Mark 5: 20, R.V.). He believed John to be "a just man and a holy," and this made his own actions all the worse, for they were done in the face of light. But it is one thing to give an outward assent to truth, while continuing in the practice of sin: it is another thing to have truth in the inward parts, changing both life and actions. The latter Herod never knew. He loved his sins. John's stern reproof was his last warning. Henceforth he became "that fox," and it was the Lord Himself who so entitled him (Luke 12: 32).

In his short history we see man in sin and under the power of it. Man in his folly rejecting the last warning of the prophet of righteousness. Possibly John was the only man with sufficient moral courage to point out to Herod "all the evils which he had done" (Luke 11: 19). Then, again, the moral weakness of the man comes out in his "fear of those that sat at meat with him." In short, Herod was what every man is by nature, afraid, before his ungodly companions, to do the right, but not ashamed to do the wrong.

What a remarkable contrast comes out in the man sent from God whose name was John.

His ministry was short, his message was short, his life was short; and there is little said about his history, but that little brings out in a wonderful way the lovely character of the Forerunner.

How beautiful is his humility! "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness" (John 1: 23). "The latchet of His shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose" (Mark 1: 7).

How great is his faithfulness! "Think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham for our father" (Matt. 3: 8).

How absolute is his separation from the guilty nation and its more guilty leaders! "He came baptizing in the wilderness" (Mark 1: 4).

How unflinching is his courage! and how tender his compassion for the poor and needy (Luke 3: 11).

In every aspect of his character we see reflected some of the many beautiful traits which came out in perfection in his blessed Master. The Lord could say of him that he was "a burning and a shining light"; that "among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist" (Luke 7: 28). But immediately after describing the elevated and outstanding position filled by the great Forerunner, the Lord adds the remarkable words, "He that is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he."

John was rejected and slain. His Master was about to be treated in the same way, but the result of the Lord's atoning death would be to introduce a new order of things in Christianity, founded upon redemption and the purgation of sins, wherein would be manifested greater grace, fuller privilege, and more intimate nearness to God than ever could be known under the old economy of which John formed the last — if the greatest — prophet.

Everything in Judaism spoke of an unrent veil, and therefore of distance from God. Everything in the Kingdom of God is founded upon accomplished redemption. The VEIL is rent, and we have liberty to draw near. Yea, more, we are privileged to dwell where He dwelleth. Many believers, alas! are ignorant of this, and therefore they neither have settled peace in their hearts, nor yet can their lives present a consistent testimony.

By comparing Mark 6, Luke 9, and our present Scripture, we find that the mission of the twelve, sent forth in Matthew 10, expired about this time, and they returned to tell the Lord "all things both what they had done and what they had taught." John's disciples just about the same time come to Jesus also. These brave men for it requires courage to take sides with an apparently defeated man had boldly gone into Herod's dungeon to recover the outraged body of their martyred master, and with hearts full of grief had piously performed the last rites for the one they loved.

Now they come and tell Jesus.

Christ's disciples come to Him with their mission of success.

John's disciples come to him with their mission of sorrow.

There is a precious lesson here for disciples still. Whether it be success in service or sorrow in life, He is the One to confide in, and by so doing we shall find rest unto our souls. May we daily practice it till the changing scenes below end in the unchanging bliss of His presence on high.

The Lord's answer was to take them apart with Himself into a desert place near the city of Bethsaida on the shores of the lake. Doubtless the object was to seek opportunity in this seclusion for more intimate counsel and instruction for the disciples. But in any case the privacy was soon invaded by the multitude, who, at least, believed in His power, and were in earnest to secure blessing, for they brought their sick to His presence.

"And Jesus, moved with compassion" — nothing can exceed the beauty of this and what immediately follows. The Lord had just heard of, and doubtless sorrowed over, the death of John. At Nazareth, at the outset of His ministry, He had been met with open violence (Luke 4). On His recent visit to His own city of Capernaum He had been treated with rude contempt, yet nothing could stay the outflow of heavenly grace. He had compassion on the multitudes and healed their sick. It was the perfect contrast to Herod slaying the prophet.

And not only is His grace brought in in contrast to Herod's cruelty, but in the next few verses it is contrasted with the disciples' helplessness in the face of the needs of the multitude. It was not only that the disciples could not meet that need, but they could not even trust the Lord to do so. "Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?" He said to Philip, "and this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do" (John 6: 5-6). Philip and the other disciples had come to an end of themselves, but, alas! not to a beginning of faith in their 'Waster, so their ready advice was to send away the multitudes. But He said, "Give ye them to eat," and they discovered that their whole resources were five loaves and two small fishes. Five barley loaves and two small fishes AND Christ were, however, resources enough for any number, had the disciples but known it.

Many disciples to-day are like what the disciples were then. They are ignorant of the resources of faith at their disposal, for they have never drawn upon them. The Christian life to them is a valley of Baca all the way, without any "wells," and seldom any "rain." Like the widow of Sarepta, they have only a handful of meal and a little oil, not nearly enough for themselves, much less to share it with others. But the day the widow went out to gather two sticks to prepare her last meal, and then die — that day was the beginning of a new life and a new experience. The word of the Man of God in the gate changed her objective. "Fear not," said he, "make me a little cake first" (1 Kings 16). Grace would lead her gently at first; and doubtless the prophet's cake grew larger as the woman's faith grew stronger But from that day she discovered that she had inexhaustible resources, and henceforth the famine was over in her experience. Her own needs abundantly supplied, she became a dispenser of blessing to others; and this is exactly what the Lord expects His children to be to-day. And having the "meal" and the "oil" (Christ our life, and the Holy Spirit the power of it) though living in a world of dearth and drought and death, we can and ought to be channels of blessing to others. "As Thou hast sent me into the world, SO have I also sent them into the world" (John 17: 18).

But there is also the dispensational view of this chapter. The miracle of the "five loaves" is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. It is here a foreshadowing of what was spoken in Psalm 132. What marks the governments of to-day is that the people provide for the King. When Messiah reigns the King will provide for the people, and there will be neither grinding poverty, oppressive taxation, nor discontent. In our chapter we have an Edomite ruling in the land, and he a poor slave of the Romans, as well as a usurper and an oppressor. The true King is in the desert, but there He demonstrates His resources and His grace according to prophecy, "He shall satisfy his poor with bread."

The disciples embark. The multitudes depart. The Lord goes up into a mountain to pray.

Prayer expresses two things — dependence and submission. These two things come out everywhere in the life of the Lord as Man below. He was pre-eminently the Man of Prayer and the Pattern of Prayer.

On at least fourteen different occasions do we read of the Lord "alone praying."

1. At His baptism, "Jesus also being baptized and praying" (Luke 3: 21).

2. At Capernaum, at the beginning of His ministry, "Rising up a great while before day" (Mark 1: 35; Luke 5: 167).

3. On the occasion of choosing the twelve apostles (Luke 6: 12).

4. After the miracle of the loaves (Mark 6: 46).

5. Before Peter's confession of Him as the Christ (Luke 9: 18).

6. On the mount of transfiguration (Luke 9: 28).

7. When He taught His disciples to pray (Luke 11: 1).

8. When He raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11: 41, 42).

9. The prayer in view of His sufferings (John 12: 27).

10. The Lord's prayer (John 17).

11. His intercessory prayer for Peter (Luke 22: 32).

12. The prayer in Gethsemane before His sufferings (given in Matthew, Mark, and Luke).

13. His prayer for His murderers when nailed to the Cross (Luke 23: 34).

14. At His death, giving up His Spirit to His Father (Luke 23: 46).

But in Matthew's Gospel the only recorded occasion of prayer (with the exception of Gethsemane) is in the chapter before us, and it is in keeping with the dispensational character of this Gospel. Rejected as King, the Lord has gone on high as Intercessor, and in the "fourth watch" He will come forth to succour and to save the distressed and storm-tossed remnant of Israel.

But there is also the present application. The Lord is on high. He is there executing His present service of grace, as our great High Priest and Advocate. He is praying for us, for while we are in this world we are in a scene of danger. The business of the world seeks to engross us. The pleasures of the world seek to attract us. The associations of the world seek to annex us. The opposition of the world seeks to hinder us. So we need the grace and power which He alone can impart. And He is watching over His people with that very end in view. "He saw them toiling in rowing" (Mark 6: 48). But whatever the difficulties, and however contrary the winds may be, we can depend upon His watchful eye, powerful arm, and loving heart. "Light and truth" shall go before us (Ps. 43). "Goodness and mercy" follow after (Ps. 23). And the moment is fixed and may be very near when He will come to receive us to Himself, as later He will appear for the deliverance of His earthly people, whose hearts, turned to Him in repentance, will joyfully receive Him with songs of thanksgiving. The apostate nation was soon to cry, "Crucify him, Crucify him." In the coming day the converted remnant will say, "Lo, this is our God: we have waited for him" (Isa. 25: 9).

But meantime the question is, "Can you walk on the water?" Peter did. We want to be more occupied with his success than with his failure. Affection for his Master led him out of the boat. Faith in his Master made him superior to nature. "He walked on the water to go to Jesus." The Red Sea and the Jordan were divided for Israel, as later, the same river was divided for the prophets Elijah and Elisha. But nowhere is there such a scene as this. It is a picture of a Christian walking through a world where everything is opposed to him, supported by power from on high. But the great point of the lesson is, that it is only as so supported, and only as depending on that support, that he can so walk. "Hold Thou me up," said the Psalmist, "and I shall be safe" (Ps. 119: 117). And this Peter proved in his extremity, when he prayed the prayer that never fails to be answered on the spot" LORD SAVE ME."

If the beginning of Matthew 14 shows the works of men to be evil, Matthew 15 shows why they are so. The reason is, the heart is wrong. "Out of the heart proceed." Here we have hearts unveiled: verses 1-21 describe the heart of man, and it is seen to be incorrigibly evil. From verses 22-39 we gather something of the grace that was in the heart of the Lord Jesus. We see Him bringing blessing to one outside the circle of promise, healing all oppressed by the devil, and providing in the desert for "so great a multitude."

But the Jerusalem Scribes and Pharisees who had followed the Lord into Galilee, seeking to catch something out of His words that they might accuse Him, had no eyes and no heart for grace such as this. They made the common mistake that exterior things will do for God, and forgot that Satan can use even a religious system as a power for evil. The Lord showed them that their hollow formalism had led them into the much more serious evil of hypocrisy, proving from their greatest prophet, Isaiah (Isa. 29: 13), that the tradition of men had led them into a course of action in direct contradiction to the Word of God. The subject is more fully developed in Mark 7. The gift (Corban) given to enrich the priest, instead of being employed to provide for the needs of relations, was only one of the "many such things they did." And although by doing so, they were disregarding the ties of nature, yet the priests, by their traditions, pronounced them to be free.

The moment men's opinions are brought in as a standard, there is distinct danger. Priestcraft, whether in Judaism, Roman Catholicism, or Protestantism, is ever fain to hark back to tradition to buttress up its own unscriptural positions; and thus its votaries are insensibly led to minimise the authority of the revealed mind of God over the conscience. May God save us all from such an insidious evil. It is an immense thing when the soul is guided by the direct Word of God alone, owning no intermediary whatever between itself and God.

The Lord next shows the cause of this condition of things, and takes occasion to charge home the fact of sin by the terrible exposure of the heart of man given in verses 19, 20.

Man's moral centre is the heart. Out of it proceed seven streams of deadly evil, showing the inward moral pollution which the history of fallen man, from Cain downwards, has abundantly proved to be true.

Now, this exposure is the very thing the natural man is averse to. His desire is to cover up everything under a fair show of religion and keep the evil out of sight. Hence the Pharisees were offended, and so is the natural man still. He will not believe that man is lost. Education, culture, environment, morality, surely these things can elevate and ennoble the man. That is the creed of the moralist to-day, just as it was of the Pharisees of old. But God says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," and nothing will do for God but a new creation. "Ye must be born again."

The Lord, after exposing the human heart, manifests the Divine love in the heart of God for sinners by walking over twenty miles to meet and bless one woman for whom Satan had done his worst. And here was a remarkable case. A "woman of Canaan" accosts the Lord and claims blessing from Him as the "Son of David." Now as Son of David, His relation to the Canaanite could only be judgment, for they were the race Joshua was commanded to root out of the land because of their terrible iniquity. But the incident is doubtless inserted here to show the only ground on which any of us can get blessing, and that is on the ground of free grace alone, for we are, as she was, but "sinners of the Gentiles" (Gal. 2: 15). And so grace wrought in her heart until she was led to take the only place she could really lay claim to. Then mark the blessed result. She owned she deserved nothing, she would be thankful for anything, and she got everything her heart desired. Such are the ways of grace.

The faith of the Gentile may well be placed in contrast to the unbelief of the Jew. This woman owned His authority by calling Him Lord, and she prayed what we might call a companion prayer to that of Peter in Matthew 14; and, as in Peter's case, the answer was graciously given immediately.

And now the Lord, making a circuit round the extreme north of the land, continues His ministry throughout the region of Decapolis, on the east of the Sea of Galilee. This country was formerly inhabited by the half tribe of Manasseh, and at this time abounded with Gentile residents. The mixed population was looked upon with the greatest contempt by the southern Jews of Judea proper, who considered them a degree still lower than even Galileans. Yet even among these were found some of the poor of the flock, and to them the heart of the Lord went out in compassion. And so engrossed were they with His miracles of healing and His wonderful teaching that they abode with Him three days; and, after witnessing all His wonderful works, they might well exclaim, as Mark tells us, "He hath done all things well." Any food they may have brought was now exhausted, and the Lord proposes to His disciples the question of feeding the multitude before sending them away. At once the disciples see the difficulties, without seeing the resources. Did we not know something of our own hearts we should here be surprised. How shortly before had they seen the previous miracle of the multiplied loaves. Yet here their faith is not one whit greater. Still in patient grace the Lord continues to teach them as to the resources that were in Himself to meet every need for their service. Almost reluctantly, it would seem, they give the information that they have seven loaves for themselves, and a few small fishes. It is enough. With His blessing added, they will be able to supply the hungry multitude with enough and to spare. The feast began with seven loaves, and ended with seven basketfuls. The previous miracle (Chap. 14) was a proof that Messiah was present in the midst of His people according to the prophecy of Psalm 132, and the "twelve baskets" was indicative of perfect testimony to that event. The present miracle (Chap. 15) was a proof of the long-suffering grace of the Lord, that, though rejected by the nation, He still carried on His mission of mercy in their midst. It also looks on to millennium times, and the "seven baskets" speak of divine completeness and ample provision for every need.

There is much practical instruction in this section of our Gospel. In it we are taught, both by precept and example, man's utter ruin, morally and spiritually. Man's actions, prompted by his sinful fallen nature, are only evil continually. That which is of the flesh is flesh, though we are slow to learn it. But when the lesson is truly learned, we say with the apostle, "I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth NO good thing." Now the soul is prepared to take sides with God against the flesh, and that is the first step in Christian liberty.

But not only is the evil heart of man exposed. The grace of Christ shines forth in greater beauty, if that be possible, against the dark background of a graceless world. He walks through it in moral dignity and holy separation. He is seen as the Heavenly Stranger upon the earth, feeding the hungry, succouring the needy, compassionating the despised ones, healing the sick, and bringing blessing to those who were afar off. This section begins with man's utter ruin and ends with God's perfect grace.

Section 8. Matthew 16, 17.

A Prophecy of the Church with a Glimpse of Kingdom Glory

"When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son . . . that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father." But even this, great and blessed though it is, is only preparatory to the supreme revelation that God has made of Himself, and to the place of blessing into which believers of the present time are introduced. This is set before the Ephesian saints as the mystery of His will now made known through the apostle, that in the dispensation (or administration) of the fulness of time He might gather together all things in one, in Christ. And then Paul prays that the saints may be brought into the knowledge of the position in which grace has placed them. His desire for them is that they might know: —

The hope of His calling.

The riches of His grace, and

The greatness of His power.

God has put all things under His feet, and given Him to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all. To the Apostle Paul it was given "to complete the Word of God," and until the revelation of the mystery of the Church, the body of Christ, His counsels could not be fully known.

A glimpse of this wonderful subject comes before us in the section of our Gospel which we now reach. In it we have: —

1 The revelation of the Person of the Christ.

2 The confession of His Divinity by Peter.

3 The promise of the new thing — the Church — which He was about to build.

4 A glimpse of His glory as the One who would be the Administrator for God — Head over all things.

5 The Foundation on which everything would rest in righteousness.

We find here (Matt. 16: 1) that Pharisees and Sadducees for the first time join their forces against the Lord. Bitterly opposed to each other both in their politics and their faith, they were united in their opposition to the Lord, and come to Him here only to have their ignorance and wickedness exposed. The solemn thing here is, that there is no longer either teaching or exhortation for them. They seek a sign and get a warning. Able to discern the face of the sky, they were unable, because unwilling, to discern the presence of the Lord in their midst, and if He was rejected, disaster (foul weather) must assuredly follow. The sign of the prophet Jonah could only add to their condemnation. He was, in type, a man out of death, preaching to the Gentiles, but before what that typified could take place, the nation of Israel must be set aside till the fulness of the Gentiles should be come. "And he left them and departed," as very soon He would leave the guilty nation, and that by the way of the Cross then, risen out of death, send the glad news of salvation and blessing far hence to the Gentiles.

But even the disciples had much to learn. They could not easily free themselves from the evil doctrines of the Pharisees, nor yet from the opinions of men as to the person of the Master.

This point the Lord is about to make clear to them, and in Matthew 16 there comes before us, in the first place: —

The revelation of the Person of the Christ.

Leaving the Sea of Galilee, the Lord journeyed with His disciples to the coasts of Caesarea Philippi. There, in that place of Gentile influence and display — for there Herod the Great had built a royal city in honour of the Emperor — He proposed to them the two great questions which laid bare the hearts of the men of that generation, and the heart of every man and woman since: —

1. "Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?"

This, the first of these two questions, brought out two things. And taking the latter and more important first, He asserts that He is the Son of Man.

He was that sublime Person whom Daniel the prophet had portrayed on his mystic page, as coming to the Ancient of days and receiving "dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom which shall not be destroyed" (Dan. 7: 14).

He had been rejected as Messiah. He would now take up His title of "Son of Man" and bring in blessing for all the earth.

Every title given to the Lord is of the deepest significance, whether in connection with His official, essential, or acquired glories, and they are ever used in a discriminating way. There are at least 350 such titles, and more might be found by the diligent student. In Matthew 16 we have (1) the Lord rejected as Messiah, (2) confessed by Peter as Son of Me Living God, and (3) soon to return in glory as Son of Man. Under this last title, as we have seen, He will dispense blessing world wide. Meantime He demands of His disciples what "men say" of Him, in order to demonstrate that the wisdom of men is but folly with God.

All alike are forced to own that He is some Great One, and their opinions range from the prophet of fire to the prophet of sorrow, but -none are able to see in Him the Sent One of God. This faith alone can discern; and when He demands an answer from His disciples to His second question: —

2. "Whom say ye that I am?"

Peter, taught of God, can answer, unhesitatingly, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God."

It is faith's unchanging answer to the question of the ages made good in the experience of every true believer.

This confession of Peter's is twofold.

By "The Christ," (Heb.) Messiah, (Eng.) the Anointed One, Peter is led to declare all the official glories which centred in Him as Man upon the earth. He was "The Woman's Seed," the Root and Offspring of David, the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, the Shepherd of Israel, and the Blesser of every Nation.

But in addition to what the Lord was as the Sent One of God, there was also revealed to Peter something of the personal and essential glories of the Eternal Son. He was the Son of the Living God. Peter, taught of God, is led to declare something of that divine mystery as to what the Lord was in His Person, Nature, and Being in relationship to God the Father. This is more fully developed in John 1, Phil. 2, Col. 1, Heb. 1: —

"In His Existence — Eternal."

"In His Nature — Divine."

"In His Person — Distinct."

He was the Word in all eternity — the Eternal Son of God.

This revelation to, and confession by, Peter gives occasion for the Lord to reveal now, for the first time in Scripture, the secret of the ages — His Assembly. He was about to begin a work of which nothing had ever been revealed to saint or prophet in Old Testament times (Eph. 3: 4, 5; Col. 1: 26) Under the new economy believers, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, would be builded together for a holy temple in the Lord. They would be "The Body," "The Bride," "The City." They would be holy and royal priests to God now, and co-heirs in the regal glory of the coming day. This building would be His work alone (Acts 2: 47), and would be founded on what He was as Son of the living God, according to the confession made by the apostle.

No wonder, then, that the "gates of hell" — all the adverse powers of the unseen world — would not prevail against it. To destroy her, Satan has used his utmost endeavour; the greatest of earthly powers have exhausted all their resources; but the true Church of God continues to triumph over every foe, and continues to point dying men to her risen, living, and glorified Lord, her Head on high, with whom she is united by the Holy Spirit.

The Father calls, the Spirit unites, the Lord builds; and not man, angel, or demon can hinder that constructive work of the Son of the living God the formation of His Church, which is, while in the world, the "pillar and ground of the truth."

Following on Peter's confession, we get Peter's commission. To this warm-hearted disciple was given the "Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven." That is to say, in figurative language, that into that new economy about to begin on earth, Peter would have the honour of introducing both Jew and Gentile, as we find later in the history of the Acts he did (see Acts 2 and Acts 10). And further, we learn from Matt. 18, that this same power of "binding and loosing" was afterwards conferred upon the whole company of the disciples.

But we must keep in mind that it was the "Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven" that were given to Peter; not the keys of the Church (if there be such), in spite of all that either Anglican or Romanist may say to the contrary. In the Book of Acts, Peter preached Jesus as "Lord" and "Christ," both titles distinctly connected with the Kingdom of Heaven, and by these names of authority he commanded the Jews to own His rights, bow to His claims, and be baptized in His Name (Acts 2). Similarly, in the centurion's house, after Peter had learned the great lesson that all earthly distinctions of clean and unclean had been abolished, and when he had seen the Holy Spirit poured out upon the Gentiles, he commanded them to be baptized in the Name of the Lord (Acts 10: 48).

Peter's ministry never goes beyond this. To another servant was committed a further revelation as to the mystery of the Church, and Paul, immediately after his conversion, began to preach Jesus as "The Son of God" (Acts 9: 20). This is the first time we get this title in Acts (Chap. 8: 37, it should be noted, is, according to the best authorities, not in the original text).

But, returning to our chapter, we here find (Matt. 16: 21) a striking dispensational change. The disciples are commanded no longer to testify of Him as the Messiah. As such He had been rejected. For Him there was to be at this time no national recognition of His just rights and divine authority. Instead of a Crown, the nation was about to give Him a Cross. Instead of a palace, a grave. "From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day (verse 21). Only on the ground of death and resurrection could there be either earthly blessing for the Jew, or heavenly blessing for the Christian; and, had Peter known this, he would never have taken upon him to "rebuke" the Lord as he did. Israel will be associated with Him in the day of earthly glory. The Church, on the other hand, will be associated with Him in heavenly glory, but meantime she shares with Him in His earthly rejection. We have this lesson to learn in a practical way, and so the injunction to every disciple to take up his cross and follow Jesus. The man with a cross on his back being led to the place of execution was finished with the earth for ever. So the figure is here used of the Christian's relationships to things of the world. The believer is dead to sin (Rom. 6: 11), dead to the law (Rom. 7: 4), and dead to the flesh (Rom. 8: 9); but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 6: 11), and, in the power of resurrection life, he stands fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made him free. He shares with Christ now, in His rejection, as he will share with Him, by and by, in His glory. The world, under Gentile rule, crucified the Son of God, and is fast going on to judgment. The Kingdom of Heaven, in the hands of men, is fast hastening to that terrible climax when it will be seen to be a "cage of every unclean and hateful bird" (Rev. 18: 2, compare Matt. 13: 32). But before that moment arrives, when "the whole will be leavened," the Lord Himself shall descend (1 Thess. 4), and His waiting Church will be called up to meet Him in the air. Even so, Come, Lord Jesus. Afterwards, as the Son of Man, He will come in the glory of His Father, with His holy angels, and then shall He reward every man according to his works. A glimpse of this Kingdom glory the Lord was now about to give to the three disciples specially chosen to be witnesses of it.

It is a feature of the dealings of God with His people, that He often delivers them from present things whether it be the sufferings, the trials, or the glories of earth — by bringing in the light of the future. So with Stephen amidst his murderers: so with Paul, who counted present sufferings not worthy to be compared with the glory that should follow. On the other hand, Moses was enabled to forsake the glory of Egypt and endure as seeing Him that is invisible, and when the disciples were becoming occupied with the magnificence of their earthly temple, the Lord dispelled their illusion by setting before them the startling truth that the time was near when not one stone would be left upon another.

The disciples here, had had their first lesson in Cross-bearing. The Lord was now (Chap. 17) about to give them a glimpse of the time when the Crown-wearing would begin. The Father had revealed the glory of the Son to their minds. He was now about to reveal it to their eyes. Later on (2 Peter 1: 17) Peter would set the glory before the eyes of suffering saints as salvation ready to be revealed at the appearing of Jesus Christ," reminding them also, that he himself had already been an eyewitness of that glory when with Him in the holy mount.

And with the Lord were seen Moses and Elias, talking with Him (as Luke tells us) of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem. These two blessed men, already in their glorified bodies are talking with the Lord Jesus upon that very subject — His death — on which their present blessing was founded. And so when at home in the glory, the very delights of Heaven will only cast our minds backwards with ever-increasing awe and wonder to THE CROSS on which the Lord of Glory died. There was laid in righteousness the foundation upon which all the grace and glory of God will be displayed, whether in righteously saving sinners of the Gentiles, or righteously gathering out of His Kingdom all things that offend and them that do, iniquity, and casting them into a furnace of fire.

These two honoured servants were also doubtless representative of those, who, in the coming day will "shine forth as the sun" (Chap. 13: 43). Moses, a type of those dead and raised again at the first resurrection; Elias, of those translated without tasting death, which will be the happy experience of those "who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord" (1 Thess. 4: 15). And, in addition, there were present in this display of Kingdom glory, the three chosen disciples, typical surely of the nations who walk in the light of the city (Rev. 21: 24). The men of the earth will be blessed upon the earth, under the reign of righteousness of the Son of Man.

Well might Peter say, "It is good for us to be here," and well had he said no more. Yet Peter's mistakes only bring fuller revelations, and the Father's voice is heard in testimony to the Son.

The mental attitude of the devout Jew was summed up in the words, "we are Moses' disciples"; and nothing but the voice of divine authority could convince the disciples that a "greater than Moses was here." The glory cloud overshadows the mount. Moses and Elias depart, and the Son of Man descends from the mount — to suffer. He might have ascended to reign, but how then could the Scriptures have been fulfilled?

It is interesting to notice that at the four lowest points, if we may so say, to which the Lord went in grace, we get Heaven's appreciation visibly expressed. Thus, at His humble birth, the angel host came down with the message of peace and goodwill. When He took a place beside the repentant remnant and went down into the waters of. Jordan, Heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. At the close, when He bowed His head in death, and it seemed as if the enemy had triumphed after all, then we read of rending rocks, and quaking earth, and opening graves. And so here, though finally rejected and disowned as King of the Jews, yet Heaven owns Him, and the Voice of the Father proclaims Him as, "My Beloved Son," adding the expressive words, "Hear Him."

Peter, in haste to honour the heavenly visitors, would put all on the same level, but he had to learn what Christendom has not learned yet, that the day of both Lawgiver and Reformer had gone by. What could law do for lost sinners? Only condemn them. What men need is regeneration, not reformation — "Ye must be born again."

And in the "Beloved Son," there would be a revelation of God far and beyond any yet given through Old Testament servants, however great these may have been. In Him, God would be known as Father, and to know the Son would be to know the Father also.

Coming down from the mountain the Lord warns His disciples to "tell no man." Further testimony to His Messiahship could only add further condemnation to those who deliberately rejected Him. The shadow of the Cross was fast darkening across His pathway. A few short months, and all that was written of Him would be fulfilled. But the vision would be a stimulus to the disciples' faith in view of the fact that they would soon be compelled to he the helpless witnesses of His Crucifixion; and the conviction was being gradually forced upon their unwilling minds that there would be no throne for Him in Jerusalem at this time at least. Their great object now was that He should escape that Cross of which He had so recently spoken. Hence their unwillingness to accompany Him on the last journey to the city (see John 11).

The hope of the earthly glory was dying out of their hearts. The dread that He might be taken and slain oppressed them. Faith in the word He had spoken that He would rise again, had, as yet, no place in their hearts. But deep and true affection for their beloved Master comes out in the few simple words in verse 23 — "They were exceeding sorry."

Now, as they tried to reconcile Old Testament prophecy with this new teaching as to His death, they ask a question which gives occasion for the Lord to open up Scripture both for them and for us: —

"Why then say the Scribes that Elias must first come?" If the Son of Man is to be slain, where is the mission of Elias, who is to come as the restorer, before the great and terrible day?

And the Lord shows them that in the spirit and power of Elias, John the Baptist had come, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy of a rejected and suffering Forerunner, introducing a rejected and suffering Messiah. Malachi's prophecies will yet be fulfilled by the prophet of fire, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come; and more signal success will attend his mission in the days of Antichrist than ever attended it in the days of Ahab, great though that was.

But, best of all, immediately following it the conquering and glorified Lord Himself will appear — no longer now as the Star of Bethlehem, but as the Sun of Righteousness "with healing in his wings." What promise of fulness of blessing is contained in that one word — healing. It is just what this poor earth stands most in need of, after centuries of sin and strife, ruin, and want, and war.

But if disciples on the mountain top were learning the secrets of Heaven as to the glory of the future, disciples in the plains below were face to face with the power of the devil. If those in the mount saw the King in His beauty and had visions of God, those below saw but the results of Satan's handiwork in the case of the lunatic son, sore vexed.

Now, so far. the believer of to-day is in both these positions. On the mountain top the Kingdom glory is present to faith, but as to experience, we meet with the power of Satan in evidence in the world every day. He has been defeated, but he is not yet expelled from the scene of his usurpation. And we do well to mark that the cause of the disciples' failure to cast out the demon was their want of faith. This, on the other hand, brings out the deeply important principle that the man of faith is superior to all the power of evil. If it be the world in its ways, or its influence, or its oppression — "this is the victory that overcometh the world — our faith" (1 John 5: 4) If it be the direct assaults of Satan, he can be resisted, if we be "steadfast in the faith" (1 Peter 5: 9). Here the disciples at the foot of the mountain were out of touch with the Lord above, and there was failure on their part, as there must ever be for us all, under like conditions. Neither is it any guarantee that because a man overcomes at one time, he may not fail before the same difficulty on another occasion. These same disciples had doubtless met cases just the same before (see Chap. 10). Why, then, had they failed here? Because, there they went in the power of the Master, here they went in their own power. "Why could not we cast him out?" they ask. Later on they would learn the great lesson of John 15: 5, "Without me ye can do nothing." The two grand principles, against which all the power of Satan is harmless, are prayer and fasting; for prayer brings God in, and fasting puts flesh out, and where there is self-emptiness, and divine fulness, there will ever be overcoming power.

The closing incident in Matthew 17 really comes within the scope of the next section, but we notice it here in order to keep within the present arrangement of chapters. It is also a beautiful introduction to that which characterises the next portion of our Gospel. For while the believer is placed by grace in the highest possible position as a child of God, even while here, yet the same grace enables him to walk through this world seeking no place in it, and accepting no place from it, other than the place given to the Lord Himself — that of being both despised and rejected. And just in proportion as he is true to the Lord, so will he find that the world will treat him as it treated his Master. Here we find that this truth is developed as the outcome of Peter's hasty assumption that the Lord, as a good Jew (for Peter's appreciation of the Lord here rises no higher), would necessarily pay the temple tribute.

But the Lord takes occasion to teach Peter three lessons.

First, that when the kings of the earth levy tribute, they take it from strangers: their own children are free.

Second, that He, though He was the Son of. God and Lord of the temple, yet claimed no right and demanded no place, but maintained His position of lowly grace, and was willing to be treated, even as the kings of the earth treat "strangers," as indeed He was — the Heavenly Stranger upon the earth. And

Third, He would associate with Himself, His followers, providing for them at the same time and meeting every need of their pathway.

Here, as in other places, our Gospel testifies to the eternal power and Godhead of the Lord Jesus. The following list might be greatly extended.

1 His power over Satan (Chap. 4: 4).

2 His power over disease (Chap. 4: 23).

3 His power over demons (Chap. 4: 24).

4 His power over the elements (Chap. 8: 26).

5 His power to forgive sins (Chap. 9: 6).

6 His power over death (Chap. 9: 24).

7 His power to increase the provision (Chap. 14, 15).

8 His power over creation (Chap. 17: 27).

9 His power to foretell the future (Chap. 24: 25).

10 All Power in Heaven and in earth (Chap. 28: 18).

Now all this is very blessed, for it shows that all the power of God is for the believer now, as to the difficulties of his pathway, and it is a matter of individual experience in a scene where everything is against him.

But when the Kingdom comes in manifested glory, then will be seen the full display of all that of which we have had but glimpses.

If it be a question of Satan, the accuser of the brethren, he will be bound for a thousand years (Rev. 20: 2).

If it be a question of evil men, they will be gathered out of His Kingdom (Chap. 13: 41).

If it be a question of disease, "the inhabitant shall not say 'I am sick'." (Isa. 33: 24).

Then Creation itself will undergo a remarkable change: the very nature of the wild beast will be transformed, until the wolf and the lamb shall feed together (Isa. 65: 25).

Under present conditions, the peoples of the earth are taxed to maintain their kings but in that day the order will be reversed. The King will maintain His people, according to the prophecy of Ps. 132: 15.

Thus, then, the believer walks through this world in the conscious knowledge that he belongs to the Kingdom of Heaven: that when the Son of Man comes again in power and great glory to establish His rights over the whole earth, he will come with Him, and reign with Him. Surely in the light of these heavenly truths, we may well walk through this world as those, who, though in it, are not of it, for we have been saved out of it and are here only to witness for our absent Lord in this the day of His rejection.

Section 9. Matthew 18-23.

The Characteristics of those who enter the Kingdom, the Responsibility of those connected with it, and God's way of bringing Men into it: The King presented, and the Leaders of Israel morally judged

We have now reached, in the history of our Gospel, the last winter of our Lord's ministry here below.

By comparing the other Gospels, we find that much patient service and gracious teaching were crowded into these few closing days.

At least two visits to Jerusalem were made between this time and the day when the last journey began. From Galilee He went up privately (John 7) for the Feast of Tabernacles, which took place in the seventh month of the Jewish sacred year — Tisri, corresponding to our September October and the narrative in John's Gospel, Chapters 7-9, details the events which then took place.

The ever-increasing enmity of the Jews led Him to retire from the city at this time, but from John 10: 22, we learn that He paid another visit to Jerusalem at the Feast of the Dedication, which was held in the month of Chisleu, or about the beginning of December. When the Jews again sought to take Him, He went away beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized, and there He abode (John 11: 46).

This period would seem to correspond with that of Matthew 19: 1, and here, "in the wilderness of Judea" (Chap. 3: 1), the Lord spent the few remaining months of His earthly sojourn.

Let us follow Him with reverent footsteps and share in the precious ministry of the Kingdom vouchsafed to all who drew near.

If Matthew 17 gives us a glimpse of Kingdom Glory, Matthew 18 reveals to us something of the moral atmosphere that should exist in that Kingdom into which men are born from above.

The Lord shows that meekness, grace, and forbearance should characterise the disciple, even as these, and every other grace, shone forth in perfect display in the Master. In our chapter we have this teaching developed, and it is further enforced by the parable of the two debtors, and the discipline measured out to him who failed in grace in his dealings with his fellow-servant.

The broad outlines of Matthew 18 are: —

1 The Way into the Kingdom (verse 3).

2 Unsparing Self Judgment as to Walk and Ways (verse 8).

3 The Spirit of Grace to be manifested by every child of the Kingdom (verse 15).

4 The Centre of Gathering (verse 18).

5 The Great Lesson of Forgiveness enforced (verse 22).

6 And Illustrated (verse 23).

The Lord's teaching is ever both formative and corrective, and both are needed by the believer.

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3: 16). Of this, surely, apostles stood in need; and in these closing counsels the Lord was fitting them for the position they would have to fill when He was no longer with them in the flesh. Then, with opened understandings, and the indwelling Spirit to bring all things to their remembrance, they would be able to bring forth from their treasures things both new and old.

In the present case (Matt. 18: 1) the disciples had apparently been unable to settle among themselves the ever-recurring question as to what qualification entitled a man to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Their minds were ever hankering after earthly greatness, as men in the flesh, and so far, they seemed to have grasped divine things in but a very feeble way.

In correcting their mistaken ideas, the Lord begins at the very foundation, and shows that so far from ambition and self-seeking giving them a high place in the Kingdom, these things would prevent them altogether from even entering into it. The very first essential would be to lay aside all these and be converted. Not, of course, that the disciples were not converted, but it is the broad principle of entrance with which the Lord is dealing. To manifest the new nature, men must have the new life, and this truth needs to be enforced to-day, as much as ever it did, if not more so. There never was a time when the foundation truths of the Gospel were more insidiously attacked than at the present moment. Men point to the life of the Lord Jesus as our example, while denying the necessity of His death as an atonement for sin. Such teaching is deadly error. That perfect holy life, apart from that vicarious death, could only show the sinner the extent of his failure, and add to his condemnation. Moreover, far from being able to imitate it, he is unable even to take the very first step, for he has no desire to do so. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. Every blessing for man must begin with the death of Christ; for, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. The Lord might have stepped back into the glory from any point of His earthly pathway, but if so He would have been in that glory alone as far as the sons of earth were concerned. But "the Son of Man must be lifted up." There must be a work done for us, and we "must be born again." There must also be a work done in us, and all is brought about by the sovereign grace of God alone.

This, then, is Conversion, and everything in Christianity begins here. Let us mark it well. The character of one thus born again, the Lord illustrates by the little child. The child is simple, loving, forgiving, truthful, trustful, and humble. All this should come out in the character of the one who is turned from Satan to God; from sin to holiness. David's mighty men were great in the earthly kingdom according to their great deeds in war and in the overthrow of their foes. But in the Kingdom of Heaven the very opposite of this subsists. The truly great in this wonderful new dispensation are marked by the spirit of meekness, gentleness, and faith. And as these very characteristics would naturally lead the one who manifested them to be oppressed by the world, the Lord immediately warns as to what would be the fate of those who so "offended" them. And so it will be, though the world little realises it. If it could be said of His ancient people that He "kept him as the apple of his eye" (Deut. 32: 10), shall His care be less over us?

Next the subject of self-judgment is dealt with in the most solemn way possible. It is a question of responsibility in the Kingdom to manifest the character of the King. Nothing short of "Be ye holy for I am holy," is to be the believer's standard, and in order that nothing of flesh may come out in our ways, the very beginnings of sins in our members are to be checked.

Doubtless the Kingdom is here viewed in its broadest aspect, and men are looked at on the ground of their outward profession. If a man is walking in the ways of his heart and in the lust of his eyes, there is no proof at all that he is converted, and though in the Kingdom by profession, there is no assurance that he may not end in hell-fire.

The place occupied by children, in the economy of grace, the Lord next illustrates, using the child He had called to Him in verse 1 as an object lesson.

Even disciples might think lightly of children, and despise them; and in the kingdoms of earth they have little weight. But the Lord lifts the veil for a moment and gives us a glimpse into the unseen. "Their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in Heaven." They are not innocent, neither are they hardened in sin. But they are lost, because come of a fallen race; yet the Son of Man has come to save them, and it is not the Father's will that one of them should perish. The joy of the shepherd expresses the delight of the Great Shepherd, and His joy in saving the lost. Lost because Adam sinned. Saved because Jesus died.

In verses 15 to 20 we next get the most important guidance as to the course of action to be taken when sin is manifested in another. The early part of the chapter instructs as to personal holiness Here the question is, "If thy brother trespass [against thee]." The last two words are of doubtful authority here, while their place and importance in verse 21 will be seen later. Here it is the broad aspect of a brother "sinning." What then? Love, not law, is to be set in motion, the object being the recovery of the erring one, that the name of Christ may not be dishonoured in the world.

But, oh, what grace is needed here. To go to such a one in the spirit of self-righteousness and superiority, will only tend to harden him in his sin. The "meekness and gentleness of Christ" (2 Cor. 10: 1) are required by the under shepherds in a very special way when they have work like this to do. And they have need also of the apostle's exhortation, to consider themselves, lest they also be tempted (Gal. 6: 1).

But progress in the path of departure is not easily checked. It is possible that the individual personal dealing of the one who alone knew of the sin may be disregarded. If so, it becomes necessary to take "one or two more with thee, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established." With the failure of these, if they fail, the privacy of the matter ends. Sin cannot be ignored. The holiness of God's house demands that it should be dealt with. "If he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church." Here the importance of the witnesses come in. They are able to give a faithful report of every word, said both to him, and by him, and by their testimony every word is established. If he neglect to hear the Church, the Church, as the custodian of the rights of God on earth, will have to deal in righteous discipline with the unrepentant one, and no longer accord him the place his sin has unfitted him to fill. "Let him be unto them as an heathen man and a publican." And this action of the assembly will be ratified in Heaven, either in "binding" the sin upon the guilty one, or in "loosing" him from it, when there is evidence of true repentance and restoration of soul to God.

Now, in all this, the Lord is speaking anticipatively. In Matthew 16 He had spoken of "My Church," but there the expression comprises every believer from Pentecost to the Coming. Here, for the first time in scripture, we get a local assembly mentioned, and connected with it are the foundation principles upon which such a gathering rests.

1 Its CENTRE of gathering is the Lord Himself. Believers are gathered "unto His name."

2 LOVE is the ruling principle in the intercourse of its members, one with another; and

3 HOLINESS characterises its testimony in the world, to ensure which, the Lord promises His Presence, His Authority, and His Approval of what is done in His Name.

Mark the grace that condescends to be "in the midst" of the "two or three," so gathered. Encouragement in prayer is in the same connection, for be it remarked that all Answered prayer is Conditioned prayer. Mark 11: 24; John 14: 13, John 15: 7, John 16: 23, 24; 1 John 3: 22, further develop this deeply-important subject.

Peter's question in verse 21 gives occasion for the Lord to bring out in the most beautiful way the absolute superiority of grace over every form of evil. You cannot offend a truly gracious man, for he refuses to take offence. You cannot take down "a truly humble man, for he is already down. All that may be done against such a one, only the more brings out the grace that is in him, and the more others seek to do him evil, the more he desires their good.

And this not "seven times" only, but without end. Jewish Rabbins had said that forgiveness was to be extended three times to the repentant brother. Peter is willing to extend it seven times, but the Lord says in effect, "How great is the restoring grace of God, and how often has it been extended to you? If you are in the sense of that grace, manifest it to others without any limits. If he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him" (Luke 17: 4).

But there is the other side. If grace be not manifested, God will deal in government with the one who so fails, and in the end, it may be shown by his final and eternal condemnation, that he was never in the Kingdom at all, except on the mere outward ground of profession only. This the parable of the Unmerciful Servant teaches us.

It will be noticed that in this section (Chaps. xviii to 23) there are four different kinds of parables. Five parables in all.

1 The Unmerciful Servant (Chap. 18) teaches us Responsibility in the Kingdom.

2 The Labourers in the Vineyard (Chap. 20) teaches us that God is Sovereign, and maintains His rights as being such.

3 The Two Sons, and the Wicked Husbandmen (Chap. 21) declare the setting aside of Israel; and

4 The Marriage of the King's Son (Chap. 22) shows God's way of bringing men into the Kingdom.

Our chapter deals with the first of these subjects. But it may be well to notice at the outset, before looking at this great object lesson of Forgiveness, that there are three aspects of Forgiveness in Scripture: —

1) Forgiveness for Sinners, or Eternal forgiveness, is received, and should be enjoyed by every believer. But many do not enter into it. Some hope for it. Some think that they were once forgiven, but may lose it again. Others suppose they are partly forgiven. God says, "I write unto you children, because your sins are forgiven you for His Name's sake" (1 John 2: 12).

GRACE provides it. The BLOOD procures it. The SPIRIT proclaims it. FAITH appropriates it. Because God has spoken, I am sure.

Three things follow: —

1 It produces Happiness. "Blessed (happy) is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered" (Ps. 32: 1).

2 It produces LOVE. "Much forgiven, the same loveth much" (Luke 7: 47).

3 It produces holy fear. "There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared" (Ps. 130: 4).

2) Forgiveness for BELIEVERS, or restorative Forgiveness.

When we were converted, we were received into the family of God and became children. Confession of our many failures restores to us the joy of forgiveness, and we remain happy children. Instructions to railwaymen are that "when a train breaks down, report to headquarters." So must we. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1: 9).

3) Governmental Forgiveness is what the parable in this chapter deals with, and closely connected with it is the supreme importance and necessity of forgiveness by believers of each other. Any other attitude is contrary to the whole spirit of Christianity, and there is no evidence that the man who cherishes an unforgiving spirit is a Christian at all. Having been forgiven our "great debt," we ought to forgive each other without limit. To do otherwise is to grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

But there is also the dispensational aspect of this parable.

"The King" is God. The "Great Debtor," Israel. "The Debt," all the privileges and blessings they had received from God ever since they became a nation. For the "taking account" compare Matthew 3: 10. The axe was then at the root of the tree. The "patience" following first on His three years' ministry among them, and again on His prayer for them on the Cross — "Father, forgive them" — was extended down to Acts 7.

The "hundred pence" debtor may represent the Gentiles. The attitude of the Jew towards the

Gentiles and towards God is shown in many passages in the Acts. Compare Chapters 7: 51, 13: 45, 14: 2, 17: 5, 21: 27, 22: 21, 28: 28, and it is finally summed up in 1 Thessalonians 2: 15: —

1 They killed the Lord Jesus.

2 And their own prophets.

3 They persecuted the Apostles

4 They please not God.

5 They were contrary to all men.

6 Forbade to preach to the Gentiles, and thus they filled up their sins so that wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. In the words of the parable, they have been "sold" — cast into the prison of the nations, as they are to this day, and will be until the time spoken of in Isaiah 40, when the punishment of the guilty nation will be completed, her warfare accomplished, and her iniquity pardoned.

There is here indeed a solemn warning to every servant, in every dispensation to walk in love, humility, and lowliness; forgiving from the heart every one his brother their trespasses.

Two words give the secret of the unmerciful servant's failure. He "went out" from the presence of his Master. In a spiritual sense this will always mean failure. To abide in the light is to abide in communion with the Father and the Son. May this ever be our happy experience, and so shall our "joy be full." Matthew 19 may be divided into four parts: —

1 Marriage.

2 The Little Children.

3 Creature Goodness; and

4 Discipleship.

Here we come, in the first place, to the Lord's teaching as to the relationships of nature which had been established by God Himself, and which, being of divine origin, and being ordained "from the beginning" must necessarily continue to exist in the Kingdom.

The Pharisee's question — "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause" — was put with no desire on their part to accept from Him an authoritative ruling on the subject, but only to entrap Him into taking sides in the great "divorce controversy" then raging. A school of Jewish Rabbins were busy endeavouring to undermine the law of God, given through Moses, and provide scope for the carnal passions of men to work unchecked. The door had been opened wide enough to allow of "many causes" instead of the one, but all so trifling that the Lord refuses even to take notice of them. So may we. The great point is established that marriage, as originally instituted by God Himself in Eden, subsists in the kingdom on earth; and if the man and the woman act according to the spirit of that kingdom, there will neither be the occasion nor the need for separation between them.

It is God's order for man in nature, and it is an evidence of the greatest human love. But it is more. It is a type of the most wonderful thing in the universe, and that is — Christ and the Church.

The Pharisees endeavour to quote Moses against the Lord, but He at once shows them that Moses, instead of condemning Him, condemned them. Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered — not commanded — her to be put away. Here, as on another occasion, Moses, instead of becoming their vindicator, becomes their accuser and judge. "There is one," the Lord says, "that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust" (John 5: 45). It is ever a dangerous thing for a sinner to take his stand upon the law, which can only expose and condemn him with no power to pardon and forgive.

Now, the disciples' comment on this teaching brings out another phase of wrong-thinking. The Pharisees would have marriage with all the licence that their loose morals craved for. The disciples, if marriage was to be without these liberties, would argue that, "it is not good to marry." But this was to contradict the very words of God. At the beginning He had said, "It is not good that man should be alone," and this ruling still exists. Christianity may produce in some that which is beyond nature, and for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake a man may have a special gift so to abide.

Nothing is more illustrative of the tender grace of the Lord than His attitude towards the little ones, and nothing can be more encouraging for all who have to do with such, be it either parent or teacher. He had already taught (Chap. 18) that what should mark the one who was in the Kingdom was that which did mark the child. Here the further truth is revealed, that such are in the Kingdom. Who brought the little ones to the Lord we are not told, but it is clear that having come themselves they had faith to bring their children also. And this faith the Lord honoured. They sought that He would put His hands on them and pray. He did more. He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them (Mark 10). Not only was He willing to invoke the blessing; but, being Himself the Blesser, He was able to bless. So it ever is where there is real faith. "He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think" (Eph. 3: 20).

But if the Lord graciously responded to the claims of faith, the Spirit of God, on the other hand, gives us to know His attitude towards even His own disciples when they misrepresented Him. They rebuked those who brought the children. He rebuked them, and so much was the spirit they manifested opposed to the spirit of the Kingdom that, as Luke tells us, "He was much displeased" (Luke 18). Still seeking for honour and place, they thought to find it in being the disciples of so great a Rabbi. Alas! how little they knew as yet either His true greatness or that spirit which marks the truly great. This lesson He was now about to teach them (Chap. 20: 26). But before that they got an object-lesson as to the real value of all earthly things, be it either riches or rank, and as a result, there had to be in their case a revaluation of values in the light of Heaven, if they would arrive at that which was the current coin of the Kingdom.

The Rich Young Ruler to whom we are now introduced was no common man. As far as this world went he had everything that it values, and he was everything that it respects.

He was a religious man, a ruler or judge among the people. He had money, friends, position, and influence. He did all that the law commanded, as far as he understood it, and he was sincere in thinking that by the deeds of the law he could enter into life. In short, he is set before us as the best that nature could produce, but the Lord has now to show him, and us too, that nature's best is not good enough for God. To do so He brings the true inwardness of the law to bear upon his heart and conscience. If he really loved his neighbour as himself, why not share with him in all he possessed? Put in this way, the idol of riches in his heart is exposed, and in spite of what he professed his failure is manifest, for "he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen" (1 John 4). And this young man had professed to love both God and his brother.

Verse 21 is not the Gospel; it is the Lord exposing the young man's heart to himself. The Gospel is not "give up" this or that, but take Christ, and with Him pardon, forgiveness, and life; peace, power, and joy.

But with Him also the Cross; and, at this saying, the rich young man was very sorrowful. Treasure in heaven doubtless he would receive, for the "Good Master" had said it. But treasure in heaven was far away, and to him but visionary. His own riches on earth seemed to him both real and tangible, but alas! he forgot the thief of time who would ultimately steal both them from him and him from them.

"And Jesus beholding him loved him" (Mark 10). It is one of the most interesting stories in the Gospels: also one of the saddest. Instead of owning himself condemned by law and casting himself upon the mercy of Christ, he clung to his rank and his riches, with all that they cost him, and all that they lost him, "and went away grieved, for he was very rich." So will it be with every one who shuns the narrow path of following Christ. To suffer with Him here is to reign with Him in Kingdom Glory hereafter.

Now the thought of the disciples was that riches was a sure mark of the favour of God, and that they at least supplied the means of doing good. If no one was "good," and riches — the means of doing good, not only valueless, but in themselves a positive hindrance — "who then could be saved?" The Lord's answer is emphatic, No one. On the ground of human merit, a camel might sooner pass the needle's eye than a rich man, trusting in his riches, enter the Kingdom. But with God all things are possible. Grace makes no account of what man is, either at his "best" or his "worst." Salvation is of the Lord.

Peter, doubtless seeing the young man going away preferring his possessions to Christ, ventures the question, "We have left all. . . . What shall we have therefore?"

In His reply the Lord gives some of the most precious encouragement as to discipleship, coupled as ever with that which will guard it from the abuse of human merit.

This we have in the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard. The apostles had done what the young man had been invited to do. First, then, the Lord says, that, as to His immediate followers, the disciples, they would be princes in the Kingdom. And all, at all times, and in all places, who prefers the name of Christ above what is dear to nature shall receive an hundredfold here, and life everlasting hereafter. He had already told them of the persecution and suffering they would have to endure by becoming His followers. Now He reveals to them something of the glory that should follow. And even here more friends would be raised up to them for Christ's sake than ever they had lost for their own sakes.

The day of Kingdom Glory is the time of recompense, and nothing done for Christ will be forgotten by Him in that day.

But along with this cheering promise goes another line of truth intensely solemn, and that is that "the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." (1 Cor. 3: 13). And the gain or loss of that day will be in accordance with the character of the work done in this. May the thought have due weight with each one of us, so that everything be done in the light of the judgment-seat of Christ, and all our ways below may meet with His approval. Peter, perhaps, put a value on his boat and nets which they never possessed, and we are all in danger of doing likewise. But Peter had forsaken them to follow the Lord, and nothing is little in His eyes where the motive is true love to Himself.

Only lest we should go to the opposite extreme in self-righteousness and be tempted to put our own value upon our own work, we get the Parable of "The Labourers," in which the further truth comes out that God is Sovereign, and will do just as He pleases; and that what He pleases to do is right. Self-righteousness may lead a man to estimate himself as "first," but, if so, the true estimate may show that he is last of all. This the parable develops, and shows that rewards in the Kingdom will be in accord with the principles both of sovereignty and grace There are five groups of labourers: —

1 The First Company go into the vineyard early in the morning, having agreed for a penny a day.

2 The Second Company go into the vineyard at the third hour, depending on the promise of the householder.

3 and 4. The Third and Fourth Companies go into the vineyard at the sixth and ninth hours on the same terms as the second.

5. The Fifth Company go into the vineyard at the eleventh hour with no promise at all, if we omit, with the best authorities, the last clause of verse 7.

It is a manifold picture of sovereign grace: God continuing to come out unceasingly, in order to bring men into the place of blessing; and not only so, but to give them the honour of serving Him: give them grace to serve; and then, and beyond all, reward them for the service that His sovereign grace has enabled them to fulfil.

"So when even was come the Lord of the vineyard said unto his steward, Call the labourers and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first." And when the eleventh hour labourers came, they received every man a penny. And when the first company came they also received every man a penny. People argue that all were rewarded alike. But not so. The point of the parable is, that all were rewarded. Not that all were rewarded alike. There is a great difference between a penny a day and a penny an hour. Nevertheless, what right had the first to murmur? They had been dealt with in perfect righteousness. They had received what they bargained for, and what had they to do with the value of other men's service? That lay with the goodness of the householder. If all reward be a reward of grace, as it is, that reward can only be measured by the sovereign grace of God alone. If He make the last to be first who shall question His ruling? Many who thought themselves to be first may be seen to be last, and many who came in late may get a first place. The dying thief came in at the eleventh hour surely, but his one short hour of witness to Christ was given at a time when all had forsaken Him.

We must ever keep in mind that the Parables in general deal with Kingdom truth on the broad lines of profession. There will be no murmurers in the day of glory. Whatever the penny may have meant to the first group in the parable, it certainly means no place in the Kingdom for those to whom the parable applies, and it is equally certain that love for the Master had no place in their hearts. It is a scriptural principle that "the labourer is worthy of his hire." But, on the other hand, if he work for his hire only, it proves him to be merely a hireling who has never known what the true spring of service really is. How beautiful it is to compare with this what the apostle knew to be the compelling power in all true Christian service. "The love of Christ constraineth us: because we thus judge that, if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they which live should not live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again" (2 Cor. 5: 14, 15).

We may well pause here for a moment. This parable dealing with service, and God's rights in rewarding it according to His own sovereign grace, are the closing words, given by our Evangelist, of the Great Servant, before setting out on the last sad journey to Jerusalem.

His holy life of devoted service had been marked by obedience to the Father's will and love to the souls of men. He was the Dispenser of blessing wherever He went, and men wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth. Yet in spite of all this perfect display of heavenly power and grace, He had to say, "They hated me without a cause."

Now He is on the way to the Cross, and once again He takes the twelve apart by themselves in the way, to give them the third recorded lesson as to His rejection and death; and to prepare them for what must now be to them the shattering of all their hopes. For even yet their eyes and hearts were filled with visions of an immediate earthly reign, and to secure first places there, James and John endeavour to forestall the others.

This self-seeking appeal for the Sons of Zebedee gives opportunity for the Lord to bring to light the things of the spirit. He had come as the Messiah, bringing blessing for Israel, and had been rejected. Laying aside His rightful claims as Israel's King, He had then announced Himself as the "Son of Man" — a wider title which declared His rights world wide, and therefore spoke of blessing for all. But before there could be blessing for any, the Lord must die, in order to lay the righteous foundation on which all the purposes of God might rest secure.

All this the disciples were as yet ignorant of. But before that day of display came, He had something to give to His followers. It was suffering. They were slow to learn that this was the highest honour they could have from the world. So are we. Knowing not what it involved, they said, in answer to His question, "Are ye able to drink of the cup that I drink of?" "We are able." Circumstances would very soon test their pretensions. And yet if at one time it had to be written — "They all forsook him and fled" — the Spirit is careful to record of them on another occasion, that "they departed from the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name" (Acts 5: 41).

But if the Sons of Zebedee were full of themselves, the ten, when they heard it, were full of indignation. They wanted to put the two down, perhaps only in order to put themselves up. But again the patient grace of the Lord shines out. He called them around Him, not for rebuke but for instruction. He, the Son of Man, the Lord of all, had become a Servant, and gone to a lower place than it was possible for any one else to reach. They were not to imitate the rulers of the nations, but to follow Him. So should we. If you want to be great, go down. If you want to be greater, go lower; and the lower we go, the nearer we get to the Master "who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." His service here was leading Him on to that supreme act of self-surrender — laying down His life for the sheep. Now in the glory His service of love still continues, though in another character. He is there as our great High Priest, and His priestly service is able to maintain us in the light of the presence of God, and in the sunshine of His love every moment.

Soon the day of Kingly service will come, when He will come forth to serve; and we shall be with Him and like Him as He is. What a day of blessing will it be when such a King reigns in righteousness.

May the contemplation of such love produce in each of us the Christ spirit — which seeketh not his own, and is ever ready to lay down life itself for the brethren. "Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister (hired servant), and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant (slave)." The man in whom self is least in evidence is the man who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Passing through Jericho the two blind men are met, and healed. They hail Him as "Son of David," follow Him, and become witnesses to His power. It is fittingly the last-recorded miracle of healing in Matthew's Gospel, and it is a dispensational picture of the time when the "blindness" that has happened to the nation will be done away, and the remnant will recognise and acclaim their rightful King that cometh in the name of the Lord. This the multitude now do, according to the prophecy of Psalm 118. When they reach Bethphage He sends for the ass and the colt, both doubtless used by Him in succession, according to Zechariah 9: 9. Matthew alone mentions both animals: typical they are, no doubt, and, with many similar things, it looks on to the day when the remnant of the nation will be brought into blessing under a King come in power.

But the meek and lowly One is about to be rejected, and the next verse of the prophecy (Zech. 10: 10) remains unfulfilled until the day when He comes again riding upon the "white horse" (Rev. 19). The procession reaches the brow of Olivet, and the city bursts upon their gaze. Just in front, on the other side of the Kedron Valley, shining in all its recent adornment, stands the Temple — the Holy House, as the Jew so fondly called it, soon to be left desolate, and in a few short years become a prey to consuming fire. To the left, on the Hill of Zion, lay the "City of David," recalling all the glories of their greatest ruler. And here was David's Royal Son, surely, thought the disciples, now about to assert both His authority and His power.

But, see, the King weeps! (Luke 19). It is no scene of triumph His eye rests upon. The inconstant multitude will soon change their cry of acclamation to cries of derision. Jerusalem, knowing not the day of her visitation in grace, will soon bitterly realise that the day has come for her visitation in judgment. Yet still His heart yearned over them. How often would He have gathered them as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings? — "I would: ye would not."

Ascending up from the Kedron, they enter the Temple, probably by the East gate, "and the whole city was moved." But, alas! however moved, they knew Him not. They can only ask, "Who is this?" And the voices that acclaimed Him at Olivet as "Son of David" can now only reply, "It is Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth." He had reached the city, not to reign, but to die.

"And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple" — it is the evening of the First day of the week — and when He had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, He went out into Bethany with the twelve (Mark 11). Not till next day — Monday — as Mark tells us, did He cleanse the temple. Matthew, as we have seen, groups the incidents in keeping with his subject, and so we have together, the withering of the Fig Tree, the Parables of the Two Sons, and that of the Wicked Husbandmen, teaching so plainly the setting aside of Israel, that even the Pharisees understood it. And let us notice that neither of these two parables is said to be a "likeness of the Kingdom of Heaven." That new thing begins consequent upon the rejection of Messiah, and so we have in order, in Matthew 22, the Parable of the Marriage of the King's Son, showing God's way of bringing men into that Kingdom. The Jews would not come. The Gentiles will, as we shall see later.

"Now in the morning (Monday) as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, 'Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever.' And presently the fig tree withered away."

Here we have both a miracle and a parable. It is the only miracle other than that of blessing the Lord ever performed. And as to the parable, if we connect it with the parable in Luke 13, we shall find that three years of patient cultivation had been spent before the word went forth, "Cut it down." The Lord's ministry of patient grace had continued for a somewhat similar time, but now it was over, and Israel's day had gone by. As to the action itself, it was symbolical, and for the instruction of disciples. So must we understand the teaching consequent thereupon. They would nowhere have to do either with a literal fig tree or a literal mountain. But, as God's planting, Israel was the "fig tree"; and as a power in the earth, Israel was the "mountain." The day came, in apostolic service, when an apostle was led to utter the warning, "Behold ye despisers, and wonder, and perish" (Acts 13). And again, "The Salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles" (Acts 28). Even after the crucified and risen Lord had gone back to the glory, one last message of mercy was sent again to His earthly people, through Peter, and after their rejection of it, and the murder of His witness, Stephen, Israel was indeed cast into the sea of the nations. She had proved conclusively that, in her history, there had neither been fruit for God, nor power among men.

But there is more. In verse 22 there is the most unqualified assurance that all things would be given to the man of faith. So accustomed are we to the little faith (often no faith) of our own hearts, that, when we find such a statement as this, we are tempted to explain away the power of it. But there it stands for believers of all time. The twelve were about to be parted from the Master upon whom they had relied in every emergency. He now connects them with all the power of God on high which they were to lay hold of, by faith, for their service; assuring them that, to the man of faith, all things he asks, he shall receive.

When He reached the Temple, He cleansed it, as we have noticed, and at once begins what we might call His closing public addresses. For His last words of encouragement and instruction to His own we must look elsewhere, but Matthew gives us very full details of the public ministry of these two busy days. The nation was hearing the voice speaking in grace, which it would not again hear, until that same voice speaks in judgment in a later day. But now it was only a question of setting forth in symbolic language the state to which the blindness of the leaders had brought the nation.

The outline of the Temple addresses is as follows: —

1 The Jews refuse to obey God (Parable of the Two Sons).

3 They refuse to bring anything to Him (Parable of the Vine-dressers).

3 They refuse to accept anything from Him (Parable of the Marriage of the King's Son).

4 Grace refused goes out to the Gentiles (The Second Invitation to the Marriage Feast).

5 Their political bondage turned on what they had failed to be for God (The Tribute Money).

6 Sadducean difficulties are shown to he the result of Sadducean infidelity (The Woman and Seven Husbands).

7 The law exposes the motives of the heart: till that is right everything must be wrong (The Lawyer's Question).

Let us look into these things in a little more detail. The Lord no longer replies to the cavils of the elders, except to bring truth to bear upon their consciences. They ask Him for His authority. Had it not been displayed before their eyes in acts of power, which proved that it must be heavenly in its origin? But now, would they answer His question, "John's Baptism, was it from heaven?" He had been a burning and a shining light and they had been willing for a season to rejoice in that light (John 5: 35). Their national pride had gloried in a prophet being raised up amongst them, as so often among the fathers of old, but their self-righteousness had prevented them from accepting his testimony to Messiah. John had been murdered and his Master they had rejected. Hence their difficulty. Rather than own their sin, they refuse to answer. Then the Lord brings their moral state before them in the parable of the Two Sons.

Open opposition to the father, followed by repentance, marked the first. False profession, unrepented of, marked the second. Open sinners were converted by the preaching of the fearless Baptist and brought into the Kingdom of God. Self-righteous Pharisees saw no need for repentance.

In the next parable a deeper principle is touched upon. The nation was not only in a state of malevolent neutrality, it was in a state of active opposition to God and His ways of grace. Israel had been likened to the vineyard of the Lord, as they very well knew from their own scriptures (Ps. 80 And according to Isaiah 5 everything had been done for it that the care and forethought of the husbandman could do. Indeed the prophet had challenged the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah on this very point. And what? — "When I looked that it should bring forth grapes it brought forth wild grapes." Then the Lord shows from their dealings with His servants, the prophets, what their moral history had been, until that moment when their hearts were fully exposed by the presence of the Son Himself in their midst, and their diabolic counsel among themselves was "This is the Heir, come let us — kill Him." It is no question of ignorance. He is known, and when known, hated. So trenchant and convincing is the argument that they are forced to answer the question — "When the Lord of the vineyard cometh what will He do?" God was about to take a hand in the affairs of men. What will happen to those who up to that time had been the custodians of the Kingdom of God: of whom were the fathers, and to whom were the promises? "Did ye never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner." He was the Stone of Israel (Gen. 49), the Tried Stone, the Precious Corner Stone, and the Sure Foundation (Isa. 28). But to Israel He became a Stone of stumbling, and a Rock of offence (Rom. 10). Nevertheless, though disallowed of men, He was chosen of God and precious, and on Him the spiritual house is now being builded, and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded (1 Peter 2). If they who stumbled at the Lord come in grace would be "broken," what could happen to those with whom He had to deal in judgment, but that they should be "ground to powder" (compare Dan. 2: 35). It is the inevitable end of all who would contend with God.

Then He tells them that the "Kingdom of God" should be taken from them. It is the last time we have this term in Matthew, and it marks in a very specific way the difference between it and the Kingdom of Heaven. The Jews, entrusted with the revelation from God, owned Him as their King, and were in His Kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven was the form the Kingdom of God would take, consequent upon the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ to the right-hand of God on high.

The Kingdom of God, then, taken from the Jews would be given to a "nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." This, doubtless, has a twofold meaning. Peter, writing to believers, could say, using no doubt Old Testament forms of speech (Deut. 10: 15), "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" (1 Peter 2: 9). Then, in a coming day, it will be said to Israel, in the sublime words of the prophet, "Arise, shine, for thy light is come . . . thy people shall be all righteous, they shall inherit the land for ever" (Isa. 60: 1-21). But meantime it is proved conclusively that men under the best of conditions could produce nothing for God. Not only so, but in addition to abusing the servants, they murdered the Son. Enmity could no further go. What will God do now? Can grace meet such a condition as this? Verse 1, Matthew 22, answers the question. It is no longer a question of what man has done, but of what God is doing; and the Lord hereupon gives a similitude of the new thing, and God's way of bringing men into it, under the form of the parable of the Marriage of the King's Son. And here a further startling development of evil is seen. Men not only refuse to bring anything to God: they also refuse to accept anything from Him. This is a true picture of the natural heart, and a very humbling truth indeed. But for sovereign grace, not a single soul of Adam's race would ever be in the glory of God.

"A certain king made a marriage for his son:" The world dishonoured the Son. God will have Him to be honoured. The world gave Him a low place. God will give Him the highest place that heaven affords. Every knee must bow to Him, and those who will not bow in grace shall bow in judgment. The Lord puts the divine counsels in true perspective. The proper "point of sight" is not so much man's need, as God's glory, and while the convicted sinner naturally views the Gospel from the first standpoint, the believer should seek to see things from the last.

The Marriage Feast sets before us the way grace goes out either to Jew or Gentile; and along with that there is the response it meets with. As to those that were bidden, "they would not come."

A second invitation manifests the indifference of some and the malevolence of others. The agricultural and mercantile classes (verse 5) are singled out from the remnant (verse 6), who slew the servants. These last would fittingly represent the leaders who were ever the first in persecution.

In the first invitation we have the ministry of the Apostles before the Cross. In the second, the preaching of the Apostles after the Cross, and until the death of Stephen. "Repent ye therefore and be converted," Peter could say, "that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshment may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3: 19, R.V.). But they repented not. Instead of their sins being blotted out, their city was burned up as the parable had forewarned.

Now, the call of grace can go out to all, without exception or distinction. It is no longer, what man is, but, what God is. A praying Lydia, or a jailer steeped in sin, need, and alike receive, the same grace. From the "highways" the servants gather both "bad and good," and the wedding is furnished with guests.

But something more was needed. The glory of the King, and the honour of the King's Son, demanded that there should be not only acceptance of the King's invitation, but fitness for the King's presence. This the "Wedding Garment" supplied. It was needed by the guests, and provided by the King. Hence there was no excuse for the man without it. His "best" would not do for the King, neither will man's best do for God. Only as a sinner is clad in God's righteousness, can he stand before Him, and God's righteousness is Christ Himself. The measure of the believer's standing is nothing less than Christ risen. Wonderful truth. How little we enter into it. But there could not be Christ risen, until He had first gone into death. Apart from that atoning death to which He went down in grace, He must have been alone in the glory. But, blessed be God, risen out of death, He became the First begotten from the dead, and the First born of many brethren. The prodigal's highest aspiration was the place of a hired servant. But nothing less than the robe and the ring and the feast would satisfy the heart of the father.

The close of the parable looks on to the end, and the judgment is solemn, final, and eternal. It is the end of every mere professor — outer darkness and untold woe. Oh that men would be warned in time. Notice that the word translated "servants" in verses 3, 4, 6, 8, is not the same as that used in verse 13. The first (bondservants) refer to those who go forth with the Gospel. The second (ministers) refer to the angels who are the executors of His judgments. These two things are never confounded.

The later half of the chapter brings out the folly of the three great classes of the nation, in their endeavour to "entangle him in his talk."

The Pharisees were the religionists of the day, the descendants of the patriotic men who had so nobly supported the Maccabees in the War of Independence. The Herodians were those who, in their endeavour to perpetuate the national existence at any cost, were willing to give up the national faith, in order to support the anti-national Idumean succession of the family of the Herods. These two classes, whose principles were diametrically opposite, and who hated each other with age-long hatred, agreed together to tempt the Lord. With divine wisdom, and grace combined, the Lord meets these men. Showing them that He knew their thoughts and thereby exposing them to themselves, He sought to deliver them from the snare of Satan into which they had fallen. Had the rights of God been rendered to Him, Caesar and his legions would have had no power in their land. The reply was unanswerable, but though they marvelled, they did not believe.

The hypocrisy and infidelity of the Sadducees are next exposed. As to creed, they denied everything that the Pharisees believed. The law of Moses, as they expounded it, had to do only with the earth. There was no future life. Now they come to the Lord, apparently anxious to settle a question about the resurrection, when the very fact of the resurrection itself they denied. Could hypocrisy go further? The Lord showed their difficulties arose from two sources. The first was their ignorance of their own scriptures, and the second was their ignorance of the power of God. Slow to own the first, they are equally slow to ascribe to God that power which belongs to Him by sovereign right, and thus they perish in their own folly. Unbelief is ever ignorant. "By faith we understand."

But here comes a lawyer. He is a learned scribe, and everything that is to be known about the law he knows. The One who was among them in a love that went far beyond law keeping he knew not. His question, however, "Which is the great commandment in the law?" brings out God's standard for men upon the earth, a standard from which he has fallen, alas, how far. The mission of the prophets was restorative, and intended to bring the people back to the ways of God. But they only added to their guilt. The law they had broken, and the prophets they had slain. Law knows nothing about producing conditions in which its righteous precepts can be displayed. That awaited a later revelation. Only when a man is born of God, can he display the character of God. Then, the flesh set aside, the righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Rom. 8: 4).

These three questions asked and answered, the Lord next propounds to them the question of questions: — "What think ye of Christ: Whose Son is He?"

Earlier in our Gospel (Matt. 16), a somewhat similar question had been asked of disciples, and answered in a way that spoke of spiritual enlightenment and intelligence in the ways of God. Here there is only the darkness of unbelief. As David's Son, He had presented Himself to them and had been rejected. The day was coming when they, as His enemies, would be made the "footstool of his feet."

And so the tempters, confounded in all their tactics, withdraw from the conflict, and the disciples and the multitude listen to the summing-up of the righteous Judge (Matt. 23), before whom the hearts of all are exposed.

But first of all He sets up the Scribes and Pharisees, not as an example, but as a warning, whose works the disciples were to avoid. Whatsoever they taught from the law was to be observed, for the age of law was not yet closed. God still recognised that order which He had ordained, however much men had abused it. So the Lord speaks of them as "sitting in Moses' seat," that is — continuing his teaching. As such they were in the place of responsibility — before God, and would be held to be so. As the principles that governed their lives are exposed, we can only exclaim with the prophet, "The heart is deceitful above all things: who can know it?" And the answer is: — "I the Lord" (Jer. 17: 9). Here we get that which appeals to the natural mind.

Imposing on others what we refuse in ourselves (verse 4).

Wrong motives in service (verse 5).

Spiritual pride (verse 5).

Outward appearances (verse 6).

The applause of men (verse 7).

Deference from the world (verse 7).

Surely all of these are out of place in the character of the disciple of Christ, and yet how much there is in every heart to which these things appeal.

Such things were not to be among believers, and the Lord next puts His finger, as it were, upon the beginnings of things, which, if allowed, would produce the very same thing in Christianity as they had done in Judaism. Hence —

1 They were to avoid the principles of the Rabbi who sought to form a school around himself. Their Instructor was Christ, and His word their sole authority and unerring guide.

2 Nothing was to be allowed that would weaken their sense of relationship to God as their Father.

3 And there was to be no leadership, apart from the leadership of Christ Himself. One is your Master, Christ, and all ye are brethren.

Alas, how these three great principles have been ignored in Christendom, and the result has been that things are as we see them to-day. Sects and parties have been formed around men, which must ever be wrong, or around doctrines which may, in themselves, be right, but the True Centre — Christ — has thereby been ignored, and the Sole Authority, the Holy Word of God, has been set aside for the traditions of men.

The great moral principles of Christianity are again enforced in three short apophthegms: —

1 The greatest among you shall be your servant.

2 The self-exalted one shall be abased.

3 The humble minded shall be exalted.

He could say, "I am among you as he that serveth," and it could be said of Him, "Therefore hath God highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name" (Phil. 2). The first man in the pride of his heart sought to go up. The Second Man, in the grace of His heart, went down, even to the dust of death.

The Seven Woes that follow (for verse 14 is of doubtful authority) disclose not only the condemnation of the leaders of Israel, but why they are condemned.

Tradition played so large a part in their system that by it the Word of God was made of none effect. Indeed, it was made to mean the very opposite of what it said, and thus the light to them became darkness, and what was darkness, that, it follows, they held to be light. A single illustration will make this clear. Under the ceremonial law, creeping things were pronounced unclean. Yet no one was admitted a member of the Sanhedrim who did not possess sufficient ability, or rather ingenuity, to prove by many reasons that creeping things were clean. Well might the Lord say of such that they were hinderers in the way of life, neither entering the Kingdom themselves, nor allowing others to do so.

Those whom they succeeded in proselytising, reproduced only the positive evil of their teachers.

All righteous principles were set aside by vain casuistry, and they could so arrange the "Corban Oath" (see Mark 7) that they made their own gain out of the temple gold. To fill up the Corban treasure, men were taught to break the fifth commandment. His own teaching on vain swearing had already been given (Matt. 5: 34), and it is well to compare it with what we have here.

In the third woe, He had condemned their corrupt teaching. Here, in the fourth, He condemns their corrupt practice, and, in the next, we get, under a correct exterior, the corrupt affections of the natural heart. Again, they were more anxious to appear right before men, than to be right before God. It was outward paint to cover inward pollution. The grass grown green on the sides of the volcano snow lying white on a manure heap.

The last woe is more comprehensive still in its sweep. It looks both backwards and forwards. Their fathers had killed the prophets. They professed to abjure their fathers' deeds by building tombs for the slain, but both their hypocrisy and wickedness would be exposed by the way they would "kill, crucify, and scourge" the "prophets and wise men and scribes" of the new dispensation. This can be followed out in the short forty years that remained of their national history. Much of it is recorded in the Book of Acts. We need not further pursue it here. But it is well to notice how Christendom has copied, and indeed far surpassed in extent, the persecuting spirit of the Jew of old. It is believed to be a fair estimate that the Apostate Church of Rome is responsible for the blood of fifty millions of the saints of God. Well, truly will it be said of her that she is "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus" (Rev. 17: 6).

The Lord, having now finished His public ministry, by convicting and condemning the leaders of Israel, seems, as it were, to cast His eye forward to that time when, God's patience being exhausted, the just judgment which grace alone had restrained, would fall. As He views it, the love of His heart for the guilty city again overflows.

What love indeed is here? In the very place where prophets had been slain, and where He was about to die, He would have "gathered her children together as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings." "I would — ye would not." It is the mystery of the perverted will. And because of it their house would be left desolate, as it has remained until this day, and will so remain until the remnant, converted and brought into blessing on the ground of the New Covenant of Grace, shall say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Ps. 118). Then the Stone rejected by the builders of the past day will become the head Stone of the Corner, and the temple choir of redeemed Israel will chant the National Anthem,

"O sing unto the Lord a new song,

For He hath done marvellous things.

His right hand and his holy arm

Hath gotten him the victory.

The Lord hath made known his salvation:

His righteousness hath he openly showed

In the sight of the heathen.

He hath remembered his mercy and his truth

Towards the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth

Have seen the salvation of our God" (Ps. 98: 1-3).

Section 10. Matthew 24, 25.

The Great Prophetic Outline. The King's Dealings with the Jew, the Church, and the Nations

There are many wonderful things about the Word of God. No other book is like it in this, that it has a Divine Author. God has spoken. What He says must be true, authoritative, and final. It can be subject neither to revisal nor development, for the Author is infinite and All-wise.

Then again it does what no word of man can ever do in the same way — it speaks to the conscience. Men address their words to the intellect, the emotions, or the imagination. God speaks right home to the conscience. He deals with the foundation questions of man's sin, and God's righteousness, and so unconverted men hate the Book because they love not its Author.

Yet another most wonderful thing about the Bible is that it tells of the future. Other books tell of the past, or give details of current events, but when the line of the present moment is reached, all beyond it becomes mere idle speculation.

God's Book with graphic touch, and precise definition, gives an outline of the course of time, from the time that time began, until the time when time shall be no longer. It lifts the veil that shuts in the future from mortal ken, and shows us the glories of the ransomed around the throne of God, and the awful fate of the lost in that place where hope never comes. We can know about the end of time with just as much certainty as we know about the beginning of it, for the same word has revealed both.

With this assurance of faith, then, let us draw near and listen to the words of the Lord Jesus, as recorded for us in these wonderful chapters. He here takes the place of the Prophet of God, according to what was before spoken of Him by Moses: —

"I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren . . . and I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him" (Deut. 18: 18). It was a solemn moment in Israel's history when He went out and departed from the temple. Never more would His voice be heard in its courts. Never again would His feet stand within its gates. Jerusalem had rejected her King, and the things that belonged to her peace were hid from her eyes.

The temple was that in which the Jew of that day made his boast. Even disciples were still occupied with its glories, and the Lord, to deliver them from the influence of things seen, brings in the light of things as yet unseen. Doubtless it was with something of dismay that they heard of the day of distress so soon to overtake their "beautiful house," and they waited only for a more convenient season to learn more about such a startling event. That occasion soon presented itself. Leaving the temple and the city, they take their way towards Bethany, and when sitting on the slopes of Olivet, it may be to rest after climbing up from the Kedron Valley, the disciples come to Him, eager for information as to the solemn events of which He had but darkly hinted, as they left the temple courts.

With this object they put to Him the three great questions: —

1 When shall these things be?

2 What shall be the sign of Thy Coming?

3 What shall be the sign of the end of the world (age)?

The Lord, in replying to their questions, gives them, as is ever His wont, instruction and guidance far beyond what they had asked for. And in the present section of the Gospel we have an outline of events beginning from the moment then present, and carrying us on to that time of blessedness for the earth, still future, when "the King shall sit upon the throne of his glory," and the Kingdom will no longer exist in mystery, but will be seen in manifestation, and "everything that hath breath shall praise the Lord," according to Psalm 150: 6.

The prophecy divides itself into three distinct parts, which we must carefully distinguish, if we are to profit by our Lord's teaching: —

1. The First Part has to do with the Jew (Matt. 24: 1-41).

1 His Trials (Matt. 24: 9).

2 His Temptations (Matt. 24: 24).

3 His Deliverance (Matt. 24: 31).

2. The Second Part has to do with Christians (Matt. 24: 42 — 25: 30).

1 As Ministering (Matt. 24: 45).

2 As Waiting (Matt. 25: 1).

3 As Working for their Absent Lord (Matt. 25: 14).

3. The Third Part has to do with the Gentile Nations (Matt. 25: 31-46).

1 As Receiving (Matt. 25: 34); or

2 As Rejecting the King's Messengers (Matt. 25: 41).

It will be seen at once that the first part of the prophecy carries us right on to the "coming of the Son of Man," taking no notice of the Church period, which must necessarily lie within its bounds. Having done so, the Lord turns back to deal with the Christian position, not so much in relation to "times and seasons" which have to do with the earth, but giving instead an outline of what the motives which govern Christian profession are, whether real or unreal; with the necessary teaching connected therewith. And this is as we would expect, and is on the lines of all prophecy which, strictly speaking, has to do with the earth, and an earthly people. So Peter says the prophets "spake of the sufferings of Christ — and — the glory that should follow." To them the mystery of the Church had not been revealed, and the disciples here were in a somewhat similar position. They are looked upon representatively, as the followers of Christ, in His absence, and at His return to the earth.

Let us notice further that Matthew does not give us, except in a general way, the Lord's answer to the first question — "When shall these things be?" — that is, the overthrow of their temple and polity. The answer to this is given very fully in Luke, see Matthew 21: 12-24, and is in keeping with the line of truth he is presenting. As a Gentile, writing to Gentiles, Luke shows the results of Gentile invasion of the land, which was, in its immediate consequences, the destruction of both temple and city by Titus, 70 A.D.

But here the Lord sets first before the disciples what would be the state of the world after He left it, and what would be their own condition in it. As to the nations of the earth, they would not only hate the disciples, but they would hate each other. Wars and rumours of wars would be the result. The King of Peace rejected, peace will never again find a home on earth until He returns. Famine follows war. Pestilence follows famine. And not only are these dreadful results seen as the effects of men's sin, but inanimate nature itself seems to respond to the universal unrest.

Such would be the condition of things in the absence of the King. They would be the "beginning of sorrows." In addition to the persecution from without, there would be that which would cause them even greater suffering than the physical torments to which they might be subjected — many would be false to their profession. The persecution of the world tests the reality of the professor. Many such are offended, and instead of standing firm as confessors of Christ, they become, alas! betrayers and haters of those they once professed to love and serve.

With minds in such a condition the words of the false prophet find ready reception, and, turned aside from the truth, many are deceived thereby. The deadening effect of abounding iniquity is also seen in another way — the love of many waxes cold. Ephesus is not alone in this. Who is there among us who has not experienced it? Grace alone can keep.

Many deceived: many offended: many disheartened.

Many false Christs: many false prophets: many betrayers.

Every art of Satan is here laid bare by the eye of Omniscience, and the encouragement is added to the faithful that he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

We are introduced in verse 14 to something which marks in a special way the time of the end. "This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations: and then shall the end come."

We must not confound the Gospel of the Kingdom with the Gospel of the grace of God. These are two distinct lines of truth as we shall see.

We get the Kingdom Gospel first mentioned in Matthew 4, where the Lord Himself began to preach it, and along with it went the healing miracles which marked that dispensation. Again, in Matthew 10, we find the proclamation more widely extended by the twelve apostles, still with the same signs following, but with the definite injunction to go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As we have seen, Israel rejected both the Kingdom and the King, and with the ascension of Christ to the right hand of God on high, the "good news" is now of a different character. It is no longer a call to Israel to repent and be converted in order to be ready for an earthly reign, but it is a command to all men everywhere to repent, because He hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. Before that day comes, God, in the operations of His sovereign grace, is saving sinners out of the world, and uniting them to Christ in heavenly glory; uniting them also to one another as well as to their Head on high, and forming the Church which is His Body. When the last member has been gathered in, the Lord Himself shall descend, and we shall ascend to meet Him in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4). This is the "Blessed Hope" set before the believer now, and we shall rejoice in the Hope, just in proportion as our hearts are occupied with the Person of our risen and glorified Lord on high.

But none of these things are developed in Matthew's Gospel. They were still future, and could only be spoken of in type and figure, as we shall see.

What we now know is that God is saving souls out of this world in grace, and the day is coming when He will establish a Kingdom in this world in power, and the preacher who is taught in the word will not fail to declare both these precious truths.

Here in our Gospel, then, we have reached a period beyond the rapture of the Church, and just before the "end." In spite of all the opposition and persecution of the world, there will be an evangelistic revival, such as this world has never yet witnessed. From restored Israel will go forth foreign missionaries, with something at least of the zeal and devotion of the greatest and most successful foreign missionary that this world has ever seen — the Apostle Paul. And their message will be, "Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters" (Isa. 55: 1)." The Lord. God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, yet will I gather to the gathered ones" (Isa. 56: 8). "Also the sons of strangers that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord . . . even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer . . . for my house shall be called an house of prayer for all people" (Isa. 56: 6-7). The Lord had reminded them of this prophecy when He cleansed the temple (Matt. 21: 13). Its fulfilment awaits the day when He shall sit as a Priest upon His throne. In short, there will be a world-wide testimony to a coming Messiah. Christendom has never accomplished this with the Gospel of the grace of God. In spite of the utmost self-denial and self-sacrifice on the part of very many devoted servants of Christ, whose efforts have been beyond all praise, yet it is a fact that Christendom, in modern days at least, has never succeeded in evangelising more than half of the known world. And the opinion of those best able to judge is, that the heathen nations of to-day are increasing faster than the present missionary activity can overtake. It is a humbling thought for all of us, if so it be.

But the Lord now goes on to say that when this has been accomplished, the "end" shall come. It is no question of the world being entirely converted. That it will not be so, other scriptures clearly prove. But the testimony goes out, and in Matthew 25 we shall see what the results of accepting or rejecting that testimony will be, to the nations then upon the earth.

Of what "end" does the Lord here speak? Clearly not the end of the world, as many teach, and as we shall endeavour to show later; but the end of the "age" about which the apostles had inquired in verse 3. That "age" would expire with the expiry of the period spoken of by the angel to Daniel the prophet (Dan., Chap. 9: 24) as "seventy-sevens," beginning (as we know from the same scripture) at the 20th year of Artaxerxes in the month Nisan, B.C. 454. As every careful reader knows, that period is divided into three parts. "Seven weeks," "Three score and two weeks," and "One week ": and it began at the restoration under Nehemiah, when the commandment went forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Seven "sevens" (forty-nine years) of "troublous times" passed, during which the city and state were being laboriously reconstructed in the midst of many enemies. Another three score and two "sevens" pass, and again it is the month Nisan (April), 29 A.D. The Messiah of Israel presents Himself as her King, but instead of receiving the Kingdom He is cut off and "has nothing." Instead of sitting upon His rightful throne He is cast out to lie in a borrowed grave.

Evidently the seventieth "week" is still future, and two reasons out of many will show it:

1 In Daniel 9: 24, the angel gives the prophet to understand that at the end of the last week, six things would be accomplished, and the sorrows of Jerusalem and its people be over. These six things are set out in detail in the text referred to; none of them are yet accomplished, and Jerusalem's sorrows only began after the Lord was crucified.

2 In Daniel 9: 27, we learn that the prince that shall come shall confirm a covenant with (the) many for "one week." This "prince" is clearly not Messiah, for when He came, He was "cut off ": it is as clear that it is not Titus who is referred to; for when he came, instead of making any covenant with the Jews, he destroyed both their city and their state. The whole of Daniel 9: 26 is fulfilled between the end of the sixty-ninth and the beginning of the seventieth "week." It is the great "interval" during which the mystery of the Church is brought to light, and when that period is over, times and seasons referring to earth will again begin to run their predestined course. The "coming prince" and the "last week" is still future. This "week" will be divided into two parts. Verses 4-14 of our chapter, while giving a description in a general way of the world in the absence of the King, will really find their complete fulfilment in the first half of the "week." Verses 15-28 describe the events which take place in the latter half.

These we now have to consider.

Just as the making of the "Covenant" marked the beginning of the first half of the week, so the breaking of the "Covenant" marks the beginning of the latter half of the "week." This event, according to Daniel 9: 27, 12: 11, is followed by the taking away of the daily sacrifice, and the setting up of the "abomination that maketh desolate." Our Lord refers to this in verse 15 of our chapter, and also connects with it another thing, and that is — the great tribulation.

If we set out these events in order we shall find that the latter half of the week is marked by seven important occurrences:

1 The Covenant confirmed by the Roman prince with the mass of the Jews is broken by him.

2 The antichrist arrogates to himself the titles of Christ, and endeavours to manifest the power of Christ.

3 The ordered temple services are interrupted.

4 The abomination that maketh desolate (or astonisheth) is set up in the Holy of Holies.

5 The Great Tribulation begins, as the result.

6 The Testimony of the "two Witnesses" continues during three and a half years.

7 The faithful remnant who remain true to God, and refuse the mark of the beast, are persecuted and slain.

In the midst of this "time of trouble," the great arch-enemy, Satan, is abroad in the earth (Rev. 12: 12), and true to his character as the Deceiver, he at once raises up false Christs and false prophets to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect (verse 24). His two great masterpieces of evil we get in Revelations 13. The one a "beast" out of the "sea" — the political unrest of the nations — and heading up in himself all the forces of infidelity and militarism which, though prominent now, will then be all but universal. He will be the finished product of man's will as opposed to God: the super-man, in whom wicked men will find a chief so much superior to themselves in wickedness that they will fall down and worship him. He will both blaspheme God and persecute His saints. And, as his henchman, he will have the "beast" out of the "earth," who, although he may have "two horns like a lamb," yet betrays his Satanic origin by speaking like a dragon. Under his sway idolatry is again introduced into Jerusalem. The unclean spirit returns to his house, and in his company seven other spirits more wicked than himself. It is the fulfilment of the prophecy of Matthew 12: 45. One very subtle form of the coming idolatry will be this — the worship of a living man. Such a thing had been foreshadowed in the history of King Darius, Daniel 6: 7. Here we have it full blown. And what makes the delusion more strong is that the false prophet has power to give breath (not life, as in the common text) to the image of the beast, so that it shall be able to speak, and to cause those who refuse their homage to be killed. The "fiery furnace" will be seven times heated again, and so fierce will be the persecution that it will have to be written "Blessed are the dead" (Rev. 14: 13). But God is over all. A limit is ever set to the power of evil — "He shall continue forty and two months" (Rev. 13: 5). At the end of the latter half of the last week the judgment of God descends, and the beast and false prophet, "these both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone" (Rev. 19: 20).

In the midst of this terrible persecution disciples are warned not to be deceived by those who say that Christ has come in secret. Before the dread event of that coming, all the powers both of nature and government seem to lose their wonted control, as the symbolic language of verse 29 would (seem to) indicate, and instead of any secret coming, His appearing would he like a lightning flash, sweeping with dazzling intensity across the vault of heaven from the east unto the west. "And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

Now has come the day of deliverance for elect Israel, and of vengeance for their oppressors. God has taken in hand to "destroy them that corrupt the earth," and just as Israel had been "spread abroad as the four winds of heaven" (Zech. 2: 6), so will they be gathered from the four winds. The "great trumpet" shall be blown (Isa. 27: 13), and the outcasts shall be gathered, converted, and purified to worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem. Scattered by the oppressor because of their sins: regathered by angelic power, according to the free and sovereign grace of their covenant-keeping Jehovah.

The rapidity with which the events move which lead up to all this, is doubtless taught by the "parable of the fig tree" — ever an emblem of the nation. As leaf and fruit appeared in rapid succession, so would the Lord hasten the day of deliverance for the people of His Covenant.

And there is a needs-be for His solemn assurance in verses 32-34. "Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." Now, some at least of those who listened to His words, and many of those to whom they would be repeated, would see the city and land swept clean of its inhabitants — "wiped as a man wipeth a dish; wiping it, and turning it upside down" (2 Kings 21: 13); and they might well be tempted to think that all was over for the nation — and the promise unfulfilled after all. "Not so," says the Lord; "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." We have only to look around to see the confirmation of that word. The prophet Hosea, who flourished in the days of four of Judah's greatest kings, 800 years before Christ, had said, "The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim" (Hos. 3: 4). It may be that speaking as he did in the palmy days of Judah's history, few believed his words, but so the Jews abide to-day. Having neither a king nor the hope of one, unable to sacrifice to the true God, yet so far they are preserved from image worship. With all genealogies lost, no one can lay claim to wear the priestly ephod wherewith to ask counsel of God; neither do they seek after oracular responses of lying spirits, through teraphim, as their fathers did of old. But to the same prophet was given the promise that "afterwards shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord, and his goodness in the later day" (Hos. 3: 5).

Amid all the changing scene of time the word of the Lord endureth for ever.

Three things come out in the next section of our chapter (verses 36-44): —

1 The Day of the Coming of the Son of Man is known only to the Father.

2 The Coming will introduce a time of discriminative judgment for living men upon the earth: "taking," as in Noah's flood in judgment, or "leaving" upon a redeemed earth for blessing.

3 To the men of the earth, the Coming will be as that of a thief in the night, unexpected, and unprepared for. [Hence the necessity for disciples to watch, for their Lord was coming, and as "Son of Man," coming to the earth. The world might say "Peace and Safety" when the dark cloud of "sudden destruction" was just lowering over it, but they were no longer in darkness, that that day should overtake them as a thief (1 Thess. 5: 3, 4).]

We turn next to consider the three parables which have to do with Christianity. Strictly speaking, they do not contain any outline of prophetic events, but deal rather with the moral condition of things which will obtain, as well as with what ought to obtain, on the part of those professing to be the Lord's servants in His absence.

Three things confirm the view that the Lord is here speaking of Christianity: —

1 The Coming for which believers are here enjoined to wait, is the Coming of the LORD. The title — Son of Man — which He takes in connection with the earth, does not occur in any of the three parables under consideration. (The best authorities omit the last clause of Matthew 25: 13.)

2 No "times or seasons ": no synopsis of earthly events: no signs, preparatory or introductory, are anywhere mentioned. The absent Lord is coming for His waiting people. It is the outline of truth more fully developed later in 1 Thessalonians 4 and other scriptures of the New Testament prophets.

3 No Old Testament prophecy in connection with this subject is quoted in any part of the section, and this is as we should expect, for no such prophecy exists. Many prophecies — at least three hundred — speak of the Coming of the Messiah, His rejection, and death. And again, many glowing pages picture the glory of the Kingdom established under the King in power. But the period of the Kingdom, in the absence of the King, during which the Church is formed, is nowhere spoken of in the Old Testament. Of what would transpire in this period the Lord here speaks to His disciples, using language they were able to understand, and yet in such a way that further light would enable them to comprehend more fully the deeper things of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The first parable then, Matthew 24: 45-51, deals with the servant in his Lord's Household. He is placed there for the express purpose of giving them meat in due season. Why, of the three parables, does this come first in order? Is it to show that the Lord's interest in His people down here holds the first place in His heart? The thrice repeated injunction to Peter in John 21 to feed the flock, shows at least the importance of the position of the household servant. He may be a "faithful and wise" servant, or, on the other hand, he may be an "evil" servant. The condition of things is still viewed here, as in all the parables, on the ground of profession. But the servant is in "the house," and on the ground of responsibility. As such he will be dealt with when his Lord returns.

His commission is from the Lord.

He is responsible to the Lord.

He will be rewarded by the Lord.

Taught in the Word himself, he is to teach others. He is to "give them meat in due season." If in the mind of his Master, he will provide the "sincere milk of the word" for the "babes," and "strong meat" for those of mature age. He will be blessed at the Coming of his Master, if found so doing. But there is more. The Lord adds that "he shall make him ruler over all his goods." We shall get further light here by comparing this with Revelations 2: 26. The promise to the Thyatiran overcomer was power over the nations. The apostasy of Thyatira will mark the time of the coming, and the servant found true to his master, in time of peril, will by his master be promoted to power in Kingdom glory.

But there is another side, as there is in all the parables. The hope of the coming was, alas! soon lost, and those who should have been "faithful and wise" became unfaithful and evil. Then, again, connected with the loss of the right spirit came the assumption of the wrong position and fellowship with the wrong company. He is found "eating and drinking with the drunken."

Morally, this is a complete inversion of true service, as defined by the Lord in Matthew 19, where, as we saw, the two great principles that actuated the true servant were love and humility. Here it is exaltation of self and oppression of others. And it is not difficult to trace the progress of this spirit in the history of the professing Church through the ages. Even in the days of the Apostles men were found who "loved to have the pre-eminence," and they soon had many followers. But the Lord is not unmindful of the interests of His people, and He will recompense. The "evil servant" is a hypocrite, and, in the day when the Lord judges, his place will be appointed with such.

We must not confound the coming in verse 46 with the coming in verse 50. The faithful and wise servant is living in the expectation of his Lord's return. All his service is performed in view of that-to him-longed-for moment. To the evil servant, the coming is an event both unexpected and undesired. It carries us back to verse 37, where the wicked, whether open foes or false professors, meet their doom at the hands of the Son of Man.

The next parable opens in a somewhat remarkable way, by indicating a particular time when the Kingdom of Heaven would be likened to "Ten Virgins." That time was clearly some period near the end of the age, when the various events would have transpired, of which the imagery of the parable treats. It contemplates the history of the Kingdom, not in a forward view, as in Matthew 13, but is, as it were, a backward view over its history from the time when the Ten went out on the ground of profession, until the moment when the Five went in to the marriage feast.

The great subject of the parable is readiness to meet the Bridegroom. The chief business of the household servant in the last parable was occupation with his Lord's interests. Here pre-eminently the great thought is occupation with the Lord Himself. May we all know more of it in a practical way day by day. The Coming of the Lord is the Hope of the Church, and therefore necessarily the hope of the individual believer, and it is from this latter standpoint it is looked at here.

The imagery of the parable is extremely simple, yet divinely expressive.

"Virgins" — Separated ones, from a Greek root to "set apart."

"Lamps" — Profession.

"Oil" — The Holy Spirit.

"Vessels" — Hearts.

"Bridegroom" — Christ.

"Sleeping" — Unwatchfulness. The hope of the Coming lost to the Church for many ages.

"The Midnight Cry" — Is this truth restored.

The first thing that the Lord emphasises is that the ten Virgins "went out" to meet the Bridegroom. And this is another proof, if such were needed, that He is here contemplating the heavenly calling of believers of the present dispensation. In no sense could the Jew be said to be called out of the world. Indeed, the world was, and is yet to be, the sphere of his blessing. But to His own the Lord could say, "Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world; therefore the world hateth you" (John 15: 19). When the Church lost that "called out" character and gave up the Hope of her heavenly calling, she began to fraternise with the world. When she came down to the world's level, the edge of the world's hatred was blunted, persecution ceased, and the Virgins "slumbered." Very soon even real Christians became like the world, and the world took on a profession of religion and became like the Christians, as we see in Christendom to-day. The result was that the precious truth of apostolic days, dear to the heart of every persecuted saint — the nearness of the Coming of the One he loved — was lost to view. Christians were at home in the world and did not need Him. Mere professors did not want Him. True and false, they all slumbered, and finally slept.

But an explanation of the promise was needed and easily found. It was taught by those who wanted to prophesy smooth things, that He "often came." So He came at the fall of Jerusalem, or at the Reformation. So He comes at death, and will come at the "day of judgment." How any one of these comings — if we may call any of them such — agrees with the Bridegroom character of the Coming of the Lord Jesus, it would be difficult to say.

The turning point of the parable is the Midnight Cry: "BEHOLD THE BRIDEGROOM!"

Evidently it is the Spirit preparing His way by means of watchmen raised up for the purpose.

Is the midnight cry and the recovery of the doctrine of the coming, so long lost, one and the same thing? If so there is this difficulty that in the parable, after the cry, the awakened foolish Virgins were too late to procure oil for their dying lamps. But we could not carry the simile into history or else we should have to say that it is now too late for the mere professor to be saved; which, thank God, is not the case. May it not be, that, even as, after the Lord was crucified, risen, and ascended, there was still the lingering of grace over Israel, according to Peter's testimony in Acts 2; so it is to-day. The Bridegroom has been announced, yet the long suffering of our God, which is salvation, induces Him to tarry yet a moment longer before the trumpet sounds. If this be so, how near is that moment? He is, as it were, on the way, and may arrive at any moment. May our loins be girded about, and our lights burning, and we, like unto men that wait for their Lord (Luke 12: 35).

When the awakened foolish Virgins realised that even the possession of trimmed oilless lamps was not sufficient preparation for the Bridegroom, they further manifested their foolishness, by going for oil to the wrong place. So it is, and so it will be in Christendom. Mere professors may hold even the truth of the Lord's Coming as a mere doctrine or creed, which never influences either their hopes or their ways. They will learn, alas! when too late, that nothing but saving grace in the heart communicated by the Holy Spirit Himself can fit any soul for the Coming of the Lord; and the great point of the parable is preparedness for that coming. The great essential for the Virgins was oil. The one thing needful for all is the Holy Spirit in the heart. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Rom. 8: 9). "They that were ready went in with him" — it is the heavenly hope realised. The Bride is not mentioned. Co-related truths are never all stated in one parable. In Matthew 22 we have a parable dealing with the condition of the Guests. Here it is a question of the Corning of the Bridegroom. In Revelations 19 we get a glimpse of the Bride in her bridal array, and in Revelations 21 we again see her, but now it is the day of display. "And the door was shut." Five little words, yet of the most solemn import. To-day they come to all as a warning. Some day soon they will express an accomplished fact, with tremendous realities for all. Some will be shut IN, with the Lord they have loved and longed for; in the presence of the Father, and in the Father's House.

"Oh I what a Home, but such His love

That He must bring us there."

"And the door was shut." Some will be shut OUT from all the joys and all the glories of the heavenly home, and shut out for ever. To the impassioned prayer, "Lord, Lord, open to us," the answer is, "I know you not." Scripture knows nothing of a "second chance," or "larger hope." These are vain ideas conceived only in the minds of foolish men, who love sin too much to turn to God now in the day of His grace, and so fall into the snare of Satan, to the loss of their souls.

Is the reader a mere professor only? If so, oh, be warned in time, for the Coming of the Bridegroom is nigh, even at the door.

"Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour" (verse 13).

One other parable was needed to express yet another aspect of Christian profession during the absence of the King.

He has gone into a far country, and the question is, "What are His servants doing for Him in His absence?" In the first parable of our chapter He takes the title of "Bridegroom," and every thought connected with that is of love and affection. It is pure grace on His part without any thought of merit on the part of the loved one, and that is one aspect of truth. But here He takes another title, that of "Lord." He was "the Lord of those servants" (verse 19). As such, they were under His authority, and it was to Him that they should render an account, on His return, for the "goods" He had committed to their trust. We do well to remember that this is before each one of us. "Wherefore let us labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be acceptable to Him" (2 Cor. 5: 9, R.V.).

In the parable the servants receive, in varying amounts, goods from their Lord to trade with in His absence. It is grace going out to others, and by those who have received gifts from their risen Lord so to serve Him. The parable is similar to that in Luke 19, only there, the great point is the Christian's responsibility according to his opportunities. There, all received equal amounts, but produced different results, for which they are rewarded differently. Here they receive different amounts, and secure different results, but the good are rewarded each cent per cent, because both were alike faithful to the amount of their gift. Here it is the sovereignty of God. In Luke it is the responsibility of man.

The talents, then, were given to be used for the Lord, not for the glory of the servant. We are in a world of need, and there are souls to be won for Christ. Just as a business man is in business, to do business, so should the Christian be here for Christ. The Lord Himself could say, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business" (Luke 2: 49), and He was the Pattern Servant.

We may gather from the Lord's teaching that every believer has some talent imparted to him according to his "several ability," and that it is expected of him that he will use that gift or talent for the Lord's glory. Now, ability may be either natural, or acquired, and, if acquired, may also be developed in proportion as he seeks diligently so to do. This, taken in connection with the injunction to Timothy to stir up the gift that was in him, would show that by diligent and faithful exercise of our talents and abilities, both the vessel and the talent it contains will alike increase, the sphere of service widen, and the blessing extend. This should be the desire of every servant — the object in view ever being the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

On the other hand, even a believer may allow his gift to lie dormant, and through mere slothfulness either of body or mind, neglect to equip himself for the service and opportunities that may lie just at hand. A man cannot "do the work of an evangelist" unless he goes where souls are to be found. The Word of Christ cannot "dwell richly" in a saint unless he make it his study. No Sunday school teacher will succeed unless he seeks diligently, earnestly, and prayerfully to learn the Book he has set out to teach. To speak a word in season to him that is weary, we must be ever drinking from the Living Spring. There are ever very practical lessons to be learned when the Lord is the Teacher. No one teaches like Him.

But the possibility is counted upon here, as in all parables, of a man taking the place of a servant who never knew the Lord. There is no question at all of the "wicked and slothful servant" being a Christian. He was not. His words, his actions, and his end abundantly prove it. But the Lord uses the case, and the end of the mere professor, to warn of the possible danger a real Christian is exposed to in this matter. The man hid his talent in the earth, instead of using it for his Master, and it may be possible that for some the "earth" is a greater snare than the "world." A Christian man may have no desire for the world's concert rooms or theatres, and yet allow his business concerns so to engross his heart and life that every moment is devoted to the things of earth, and he can find neither time nor interest for the things of the Lord. It was the man with one talent that proved false to his trust, and it may be safely assumed that men of this class compose the majority of the servants. Outstanding "five talent" men are but few; hence the warning in the parable extends to the greatest number. We are tempted to think that because we can do but little, that little left undone will not matter. But not so. The sons of Merari bore the pins and cords of the Tabernacle, and their service was just as important as that of the sons of Kohath, who bore the sacred vessels.

We have next to consider the Lord's relationships to the earth in His character of "King." He has already been before us as "Bridegroom," and "Lord," and if, as the Bridegroom, He touches all the springs of the heart's affections, so as Lord, He reminds us of the salutary truth that we belong to Him. He has bought us with His Blood.

But nowhere in Scripture is He spoken of as King of the Church. He is the King of Israel and the King of Nations: when He reigns, "all kings shall fall down before him, and all nations shall serve him. Men shall be blessed in him, and all nations shall call him blessed." Well might the Psalmist, as he considered that Glorious One, of whom Solomon in all his glory was but a faint type, exclaim, "Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious Name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory" (Ps. 72). The introduction of this day of blessing for a groaning creation is now set before us.

"When the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats" (Chap. 25: 31-32).

It is no question of a general judgment at the "end of the world," as so much of the current theology of the day would teach, but which scripture nowhere warrants. If it be compared with the judgment of the "Great White Throne," it will be seen that the subjects, test, time, place, and sentence are all different. Far from there being only one judgment spoken of in the Bible, there are at least seven: —

1. The Judgment of the Cross: the basis of every blessing for man.

2. The judgment Seat of Christ: the manifestation day for every believer (2 Cor. 5: 10).

3. The Judgment of the Living Nations upon the Earth (Matt. 25: 31).

4. The Judgment of the Great White Throne, when earth and heaven have fled away (Rev. 20: 11).

5. The Judgment in the House of God: the Father dealing in Government with His own (1 Peter 1: 17).

6. The judgment by the Assembly, as to that which is in keeping with the Name of Christ (1 Cor. 5: 4).

7. The Judgment of ourselves, by ourselves, so as to allow nothing in our ways inconsistent with Christ's death (1 Cor. 11: 28).

Here, in our Gospel, however, we have the details of the picture of which Matthew 13: 41-44 gives the outline. It is the deliberative, sessional judgment, by the Son of Man of the living nations upon the earth at His appearing. The passage links up with Matthew 24: 31. The Lord takes up the thread of events in connection with the earth and pictures what will take place after the upheavals of the "last week." At His appearing He has destroyed the beast and the false prophet, taken, as it were, in red-handed rebellion against Him (Rev. 19; 2 Thess. 2: 8). He is now about to put right the place they had put wrong: to measure out judgment to their self-deluded followers: recompense to the faithful of the earth who had been true to the Hope of His Coming, and introduce the righteous nations into all the blessings of the millennial Kingdom, of which Psalm 72 gives so glowing a description.

What, then, is the condition of things upon the earth just before the Son of Man appears, and who are its occupants? The Church has been called away to meet Him in the air (1 Thess. 4), and with the Church, the Holy Spirit, whose operations of grace will, after that period, assume a new form. Men of the world little realise how much the world owes to the presence of the Spirit of God now. He is that restraining power who is preventing the outbreak of the powers of evil. When the Spirit is taken out of the way, evil will come to a head, under a man so wholly possessed by the spirit of Satan, that Scripture knows him as the Man of Sin (2 Thess. 2: 3). Ten different names are applied to him, clearly defining both his origin and his character. He is called: —

1 The Man of the Earth (Ps. 10: 18).

2 The False Prophet (Rev. 19: 20).

3The Antichrist (1 John 2: 18).

4 The Beast from the Earth (Rev. 13).

5 The Son of Perdition (2 Thess. 2: 3).

6 The Man of Sin (2 Thess. 2: 3).

7 That Wicked [One] (2 Thess. 2: 8).

8 The Idol Shepherd (Zech. 11: 17).

9 The King (Dan. 11: 36).

10 One Coming in His Own Name (John 5: 43).

It is the revealing of this Person that brings matters on earth to an issue. To-day, the question is — For Christ, or against Him? Then the question will be — For Antichrist, or against him? The mass of the Jews will be "for him." Having come in his own name, he will be received by them as the Lord forewarned them (John 5: 43). Apostate Christendom, taking pleasure in unrighteousness, and having refused the love of the truth, will believe "the lie" and find themselves in the same unhappy company. It is a most solemnising thought, that, when the Lord comes for His people, the day of grace for Christendom will be over for ever. Sudden and rapid will be its development into the "Babylon" of Revelations 17, and as swift will be its overthrow at the hands of the Son of Man.

In addition to the nation of the Jews gathered back to Palestine in unbelief, and apostate Christendom in European and other lands, there will also be the vast masses of the hitherto unevangelised heathen nations. How will the solemn events of the time of the end affect them? To answer this question we must turn to Romans 11. See the whole chapter. The argument there is, that Israel, rejecting Christ, was rejected. Israel rejected, blessing thereupon flowed out to the Gentiles. God visited them to "take out of them a people for his name" (Acts 15: 14). "Now," says the apostle, "if the fall of them, (the Jews) be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness?" (Rom. 11: 12). In other words, Israel's fall brought blessing to the Gentiles, and Israel's restoration, when the Lord comes back, will bring double blessing — "life from the dead."

This blessing these nations are offered in the proclamation of the Kingdom Gospel of Matthew 24: 14, and Revelations 14: 6; and the acceptance or rejection of the King's messengers ("My brethren") fixes their place and title to life, or condemnation.

But the King's commendation of the righteous here (Matt. 25: 34-36) brings out another thing. Those who had heralded the tidings of the Coming King had done so in the face of the greatest difficulties. Antichrist's followers had accepted the "mark of the beast" (Rev. 13), and were content with the great pseudo-religious-social system introduced by him. They wanted neither God's King, nor God's righteousness. So hunger and thirst, banishment, nakedness, and prison lay before the evangelists. With these servants the King here identifies Himself, even as with another persecuted company, when He arrested their persecutor, Saul of Tarsus. And those who ministered to their necessities hear, with joyful wonder, that what they had done was reckoned by the King even as if done unto Himself.

And now we reach the time when the promises in Matthew 5 will receive their complete fulfilment. "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (verse 34). Now, the mourners are comforted; the meek inherit the earth, and the merciful obtain mercy. The day of regeneration has come, and they go into life eternal.

But there is the other side. He gathers out of His Kingdom all things that do offend. It must be so, for righteousness is about to reign. During the present day of grace righteousness suffers because evil is predominant. In the eternal day it will dwell. Every stain of sin will then have been for ever eradicated.

But here, not only is there the company on the right hand — "the sheep"; but there are also those on the left hand — "the goats." And the remarkable thing about the latter is that their judgment, as here set forth, is simply on the ground of what they had not done. It would seem as if they had tried to take a middle course between the "for" and the "against." They had not been among the followers of the "beast," taken in high-handed rebellion against the King, and slain with the sword (Rev. 19: 21). Nevertheless, neither had they identified themselves with His cause and with His servants. They had seen the servants both persecuted and slain, and had extended neither succour nor sympathy, thereby showing the state of their hearts. Is not the lesson here, that, in divine things, there can be no middle ground. Men are for the Lord, or against Him, as He has already declared.

Solemn and sad is their doom. They had done the devil's work by abstaining from the work of God, and they find their place in "everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." "These shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."

It is well to note that every mark of the moral condition of the later day is with us now. Superstition and infidelity are as rampant in Europe to-day as ever they were during the dark ages. In addition, men of the world are binding themselves together into all kinds of "associations" and "brotherhoods" to further their own selfish ends. And, sad to say, many Christians are voluntarily joining themselves up with such, thereby both slighting their heavenly calling and participating in the "unequal yoke." In a coming day the "beast" will grasp the reins of all such confederacies, and use them for his own ungodly ends. Mark the fidelity of the coming witnesses, who will rather give up life itself than compromise their testimony by receiving the mark of the beast. The Father's Name on their foreheads will bring persecution and death here, but life and glory hereafter.

Well will it be with us if our every gift, every power and every hour, be consecrated to Him alone, who, in grace, hath called us to be for Him, in a world that is still against Him.

Section 11. Matthew 26 — 28.

The King goes into Death and Judgment, in order that His Followers may enter into Life and Glory

What feelings of awe and wonder must have filled the hearts of the disciples, as they sat on the green brow of Olivet, in the dusk of that April evening, and listened spell-bound to those prophetic utterances which fell from the lips of the Master. With words of startling imagery He had unrolled before their gaze the scroll of time, right up to that moment when — the "Times of the Gentiles" ended — His feet would again stand upon that same mount. The sorrows of earth: the glories of Heaven: the unutterable woes of hell, had been revealed to them, by the One who alone could reveal them. And when He ceased, their minds might well be arrested by the contemplation of the solemn events of which He had spoken.

But His next words were more arresting still.

"Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified" — that which they had so long feared, had come at last. Their Master was about to die. And with saddened hearts they rose up and pursued their way to Bethany.

The next day (Thursday) until the evening, seems to have been spent here by the Lord in seclusion and retirement. We may not seek to enter into that which occupied His mind during this — the one day of repose in all His public ministry. But with reverent and subdued hearts let us follow the narrative of that which is revealed.

On this same day, it would appear, His enemies in Jerusalem were busy plotting His death, not like the dignified and responsible authorities of an ordered state, in open Council Hall, but plotting in darkness, in the high priest's house, like a company of lawless brigands. So are Israel's rulers here set before us.

And now our Gospel goes back to tell us of another meeting, which had been held four days previously (see John 12) in Bethany, in the house of Simon the Leper. In point of time, this feast had taken place on the evening before He rode into the city; but Matthew frequently groups the events of his narrative so as to present arresting contrasts to the reader.

Here we have two gatherings, both occupied with the Lord Jesus. The first, a gathering of His foes, thirsting for His blood. The other, a gathering of His friends, longing to lavish upon Him the tribute of their love. Only two feasts that we read of were ever made to the Lord. The first we get recorded in Matthew 9 and Luke 5. There a great company of publicans and sinners had gathered around Him for blessing, and blessed they assuredly would be. Here, it is a company of believers gathered in type on resurrection ground. Lazarus, who only a few weeks previously had been raised from the dead, was one of them who sat at the table. And Martha, busy as of old — served. But Martha's spirit is mellowed and ennobled with the passing years. She is no longer the critic of others, as we first find her in Luke 10, and doubtless the Lord's eye here rests upon her with approval. This feast is not in her own house. She might have claimed the place of a guest at the table, beside her brother; yet such is the humility of her mind, or shall we say, the activity of her temperament, that she prefers to be among them as one that serveth. If the disciples had not learned the lesson, she had.

The Church of Christ owes much to the patient, hidden, unselfish, devoted service of sisters like Martha. Their service may be unrequited and unacknowledged on earth, but "the day" will disclose it, and the reward is sure.

Lazarus is in the place of communion, but Mary alone enters in spirit into the "fellowship of His death." The King is going into death and judgment that His followers may enter into life and glory. She pours the precious ointment on His head. She anoints the King, but it is for His burial. These three were in the circle of closest intimacy with the Lord, and it would be unwise to appreciate the one at the expense of the other. Communion, service, and worship they assuredly typify, and these three things make up the sum of all true Christian life.

So far the disciples had learned none of all this. But we must not forget that, historically, they were still on the road to Jerusalem. They had not yet seen the reception He met with there; neither had they as yet heard the words recorded in verse 2 of our chapter. Visions of earthly glory may still have been before them, with themselves in places of honour as almoners for the King. John's Gospel shows us that the spokesman on this occasion was the betrayer; and one sinner destroyeth much good. Alas, that real disciples should have manifested the Judas spirit, where, by closer intimacy with their Master, they might have exhibited that of Mary, and shared in the blessed memorial of the one who "did what she could" (Mark 14).

For Judas nothing was of value that could not be turned into money. Christ Himself, to him, was only an object whereby he might add to his ill-gotten gains. For half the cost of the ointment or less, he was willing to betray his Lord — himself a deceived tool of the devil, before he became a willing tool of the priests. Such is the danger of trifling with temptation. From that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.

This opportunity Judas found on the evening of the Passover.

The Passover is a subject of the deepest interest, and it is all-important to get a right view of the truths taught thereby. It is God's starting point in all His ways of blessing.

God is essentially holy. Man is essentially sinful, and the question was — How can a holy God righteously bless a sinful man?

Adam — a sinner and forgiven — where was God's righteousness? Adam — a sinner and punished — where was His love? But in the Cross, of which the Passover was a type, every attribute of the character of God is displayed, and all the deep, deep need of sinful men fully met.

The Passover spoke, in the first place, of the just judgment about to descend upon every house in Egypt not sheltered by the token of the blood. God was seeking sinners to slay — not to save. The Blood on the lintel stayed the stroke of justice, for it showed that death, in type, had already been there. They were sheltered. Inside the house, and under that shelter, they partook of the lamb roast with fire. It was identification with the victim, and thus a confession that death was deserved. Sheltered by the blood and sustained by the feast, Israel marched out of the land of bondage. God was known to them first as a Judge, whose claims had been righteously met in the death of another, and then as a Saviour-God, whose power and grace were now free to flow out towards them without measure and without end.

The death of the Lord Jesus not only fulfilled every type of the old economy, but brought in blessing far beyond what Old Testament saints could have dreamed of. The supper is not a type of His death, as the Passover was, for in His death the type is fulfilled. It is a memorial of dying love. The shed blood in the sacrifices of old spoke only of a remembrance of sins. The Blood of Christ declares the glorious truth that now there can be remission of sins. The sins are gone, and the believer is brought to God.

The bread broken, and the wine poured out, speak of Christ in death. We remember Him in the place of death, where He has been; but we know Him now alive for evermore. And further, we do this in expectation of seeing Him again — "till He come." The Coming of the Lord is what we wait for. This feast is a testimony to the world that we take our place with the Lord of Glory whom the world crucified. In the presence of God, of angels, men, and demons, we "show the Lord's death till he come." The blood is shed for "many." If Israel reject Him yet the blessings procured by the Cross will flow out world-wide, and Gentile aliens will become, through grace, partakers of the heavenly calling. Luke records the Lord's touching request, "This do in remembrance of me." His people are ever on His heart. He would have us never to forget His dying love. Four things come out in connection with this feast of love: —

1 The Word of Christ — "This do."

2 The Work of Christ — "In remembrance."

3 The Person of Christ — "Of ME."

4 The Coming of Christ — "Till He come."

When He comes the Supper will cease.

The Passover is unlike the Supper in this: It was to be "observed as an ordinance for ever" (Ex. 12).

And in the coming millennial day, the Passover feast will be celebrated with greater solemnity than has ever yet been seen. The bullock, which speaks of fullest intelligence, will take the place of the passover lamb, and living waters will go forth in abundance from the threshold of the house, nourishing the tree whose fruit is for meat, and whose leaves are for medicine (Ezek. 45).

Then, again, the Supper cup is the blood of the new Covenant. The old Covenant was a covenant of works, and the blood in Exodus, which sealed it (Chap. 24: 8), was a sign of death for the Covenant-breaker, as Israel has proved to their sorrow. The New Covenant is also with Israel, but the shed Blood in connection with it, speaks, as we have seen, of remission, instead of remembrance of sins, and Israel through it, will be brought into blessing on the ground of sovereign grace alone.

Believers today are blessed exactly on the same ground, but with this difference, that with Gentiles there was no Covenant relationship, yet all that Israel will receive as the earthly people, we shall receive in a richer, higher, and fuller way as a heavenly people, and this, too, before Israel's day of blessing is introduced.

The day is soon coming when He will drink the cup in a new way, with His own in the Father's Kingdom. Then, indeed, will have come the time of which the prophet spake — "He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied" (Isa. 53). At His Table we respond to His desire, remember His death, return His love, rejoice in His presence, and our hearts beat high in the prospect of soon seeing Him again (John 16: 22).

But men are ever ready to abuse what grace provides, and Christendom, by making this memorial into what they call a "sacrament" (from the Latin "sacramentum," the Roman military oath), and defining it as an "outward and visible symbol of an inward and spiritual grace," have largely lost the true meaning which the Supper is intended to convey. Not only so, but the first error has led to others, Transubstantiationists believe that, at the word of the priests the bread and wine changes its substance and becomes the very body and blood of Christ. Such is Romanist ignorance, darkness, and blasphemy.

Consubstantiationists believe that with the bread and wine there is present the body and blood of Christ. Such is the error which one man, otherwise greatly used of. God, has brought into the Lutheran Church. Consecrationists believe that before there can be a "real communion" the bread and wine must be "blessed" or "consecrated" by the ordained "priest" who officiates.

Thus, what was intended by the Lord to be a loving remembrance of accomplished Redemption, has become, in the minds of many, mystified into what they call a "sacrament," or a "means of grace." Ritualism has taken the place of reality, and man has usurped the place of the spirit of God. Others, alas, who profess to love the Lord, ignore His last request by neglecting altogether this wondrous privilege of the saints.

May we take heed to the apostolic injunction,

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is" (Heb. 10: 25).

In the Gospels, then, we get the Supper Instituted; in the Acts we get the Supper Celebrated; and in the Epistles we get the Supper Expounded.

"And when they had sung an hymn they went out into the Mount of Olives."

The Jews at their Passover Supper were in the habit of reciting Psalm 113 and 114 after the "first cup"; and then, after the "third cup" — called the "cup of blessing" — they sang Psalm 115 to 118. If the Lord here used the same psalms, how well they would apply and be fulfilled in Him —

"The sorrows of death compassed me,

And the pains of hell gat hold upon me:

I found trouble and sorrow.

Then called I upon the name of the Lord;

O Lord, I beseech thee,

Deliver my soul.

God is the Lord, which hath showed us light:

Bind the sacrifice with cords,

Even unto the horns of the altar" (Ps. 116: 3-4; Ps. 118: 27).

And now He goes forth to Gethsemane's sorrow. But before entering the garden He warns the eleven that they were about to meet a time of testing which flesh and blood would not be able to bear. All would be offended in Him. The shepherd smitten, the sheep would be scattered. But what a word for their hearts, had they but had faith, even as a grain of mustard seed — "When I am RISEN AGAIN I will go before you into Galilee."

Peter's history here comes before us as a warning against self-confidence. And we have to mark that neither love nor knowledge is sufficient provision against the power of the enemy. That Peter loved his Master with all the true warm love of which his impulsive and affectionate nature was capable is certain (John 21: 15). That he knew Him to be the Christ of God is equally certain (Matt. 16: 16). But let us be less occupied with Peter's failure than with the lesson for ourselves arising therefrom. And that is, that if the first of the Apostles needed a strength beyond his own in the hour of trial, how much more do we need it?

Taking with Him the three disciples who had stood with Him at the bedside of Jairus's daughter and there witnessed His power — who had followed Him to the Holy Mount, and there witnessed His glory, He went a little farther, and, counting upon their human sympathy, said unto them, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here and watch with me." Alas, they prove as unsympathetic towards His sufferings as before, they had been irresponsive to His glory. Just here the secret of all the failure comes out. A prayerless life is a powerless life. There can be no standing for God, where there is no dependence upon God; and if there be no going forward in the Christian life there is certain to be failure and backsliding. So Peter found to his cost. At the close of the chapter he gets his own moral weakness disclosed to himself, by the One who alone could restore, strengthen, and forgive. Peter is seen (verse 33) self-confident, (verse 40) sleeping, (verse 51) rash, (verse 56) cowardly, (verse 70) bold in denying his Master. Inside the high priest's house there was the good confession of the Master; outside there is the thrice-repeated bold denial of the disciple — "I know not the man."

And yet, as if torn two ways, love makes him linger near. The cold, weary hours of the April morning creep slowly past. 'Peter is sitting with the servants and warming himself beside their fire (Mark). Suddenly, what would be to others a common and unimportant sound, reached their ears. But to Peter, no thunder-burst could have been more appalling. In letters of light, his every word, motive, and action of the last few hours rose before him, and turning away from himself with utter loathing, he rose up, went out and wept bitterly. What a fall! What repentance, and what grace that could produce such a recovery! It is here we get a true insight into the real character of this great-hearted disciple whom we have learned to know and love.

But to return. Verse 39 — "And he went a little farther, and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."

Now He is alone with the Father. The moment was near when even God would forsake Him, and He would be alone, as no one ever was before, or could be. Separate from men because of what He was — the Holy One of God — He, on that Cross of shame, would he separated from God because of what He had voluntarily become — the Sin-bearer.

No human eyes witnessed that scene in Gethsemane. No human ear listened to that cry of sorrow. Matthew, who wrote this account of it, was not even among the favoured three, who were the nearest to their Lord. The Holy Spirit of God alone inspired the record, and, in revealing the details of this solemn scene, surely He had something for us to learn therefrom. It is clearly the anticipation of the Cross. But if this is the anticipation, what must the reality have been? Shall we ever know? He knew, and spread it all out before His Father. The thrice-repeated prayer could not be heard. The Son of Man must be lifted up. As the Holy One, we see Him shrinking from becoming the Covenant-Victim, yet as the Obedient One, He receives the cup "from His Father's hand." Our sins had filled it. Satan presented it But here He looks past all these, and in perfect communion with His Father says, "Thy will be done."

The prophetic utterances of Psalm 22 had already given the exercises of His soul, in view of, and upon, the Cross; as Isaiah 53 had spoken of Him as the great substitutionary Victim — the Lamb led to the slaughter.

In Psalm 22: 2, He speaks of a prayer that is not heard, but Hebrews 5: 7, referring surely to this same solemn moment, tells of Him "offering up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, to him that was able to save him from (literally, out of) death; and was heard, in that he feared." And saved out of death He was; and in resurrection life, and power "he became the Author of eternal salvation, unto all them that obey him."

Returning to the three disciples, the Lord found them asleep and, addressing Peter, He said, "What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation." The gentle rebuke might well have been a warning to Peter. Not many hours had passed since he had vowed to die with his Master. Might he not, then, be expected to watch with Him? But if he refused to profit by the Lord's instructions, he had to learn by his own bitter experiences, what the flesh is even in an apostle. So will it be with all who enter the school of God.

The traitor comes. The Lord, having passed in anticipation through all the awful agony and sorrow of the Cross, is now calm in the presence of the ruffian mob.

Oh, what a scene is here! Judas in his treachery. Peter in his rashness. The shrinking disciples The priestly hirelings. The Lord Jesus in divine dignity in the midst. One word from His lips and twelve legions of angels would have taken the place of Peter's faltering sword. But it was their hour, and the power of darkness.

The chief priests in the high priest's house sit in judgment, not to find the truth, but to find false witnesses. And even here their search is vain, for though many are called, yet none agree. Before the priests the Lord is condemned because of His own confession that He was the Son of God. But on their part, Caiaphas's question itself was only a cover for their hypocrisy. His death they had long ago decided on, and any means to reach that end was acceptable in their eyes.

The Lord, as ever, gives them truth beyond what they desired to learn. The day was coming when they would see Him, as "Son of Man," sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. At the moment, the power seemed to be on their side, and they would use it to the full.

No sooner has He been unjustly condemned than His judges step down from the bench to spit in His face (Mark), while the servants buffet, blindfold, and mock Him. It is neither the rude soldiers of the governor, nor the Gentile executioners here. It is the leaders of Israel that are so brought before us. They are seen seeking false witnesses: condemning the guiltless and setting an example in hatred and cruelty. The Son of Man thus stood before the leaders of Israel. What a moment when the leaders of Israel shall stand before the Son of Man.

Matthew 27 opens with "all the chief priests and elders" united in the awful sin of delivering up the Son of God to the Gentile power. Thus the greatest guilt falls upon those who had the greatest light. So Peter, in Acts 3, charges home their guilt upon them. Having condemned the guiltless, they now seek to colour their unholy proceedings with a show of legality, and deliver Him bound into the custody of Pilate.

Meanwhile, if they are not seized with remorse, Judas is. He brought back the wages of unrighteousness, and confessed his sin to the priests instead of to God. Satan, having finished with his dupe, insults him before destroying him. "What is that to us?" is their sneering answer to his conscience-stricken cry. Casting down the money he had sold his soul to acquire, he hastens, bent on self-destruction, to carry out the will of the devil. And now the hypocrisy of the human heart is here laid bare, as lately was its cruelty. The priests, with the money, purchased a burying-ground for strangers; but the public voice which is often keen to detect the motives of public men, gave the field its rightful name "Aceldama" — "The Field of Blood." Such their city and land soon became. And, alas, the whole world; for the guilt of Innocent Blood rests yet upon the world where the Lord of Glory died.

"And Jesus stood before the governor" — the presence of the Lord exposes the motives of every heart, and here we have next unfolded before us the heart history of a man scheming to retain place and power in this world, and utterly infidel as to the next. The policy of the priests, in bringing Him to Pilate, was to secure the intervention of the military power, and so shift the odium of the crime from their own heads, to that of the Romans. Pilate easily saw through their hypocrisy, and very soon arrived at the conclusion, which he held all through the closing scenes, that "it was for envy they had delivered him up." Finding no fault in Him, Pilate from henceforth sought to release Him. But though strong in brute force, Pilate was wholly lacking in the true strength of moral principle. To release the Lord, Pilate must first placate the priests, in order to secure his own position with the cruel and suspicious Tiberius at Rome. Three attempts were made without avail. First, Pilate declares, "I find no fault in him." Then he offers to release Barabbas. And lastly, as if in the endeavour to assuage their thirst for blood, he declares himself willing to scourge the One whom he had thrice declared to be innocent. Such is the righteousness of man.

But no man goes to hell unwarned. For the Roman of that day, the old "gods" of the Pantheon were "dead." A less virile and still more degrading superstition held them in bondage. Signs and omens were their guiding lights, and voices from the mystic land of dreams held powerful control over their minds. And God used what was perhaps the only avenue left open to that man's conscience, through the message sent to him by his wife. Her urgent entreaty but added to his indecision and increased his guilt, without giving power to do what he knew to be right.

Pilate's next shift was to send the Lord to Herod. And now the two Kings are together God's King and Man's King. We have already seen the character of man's king in Matthew 14 Here his acts are in keeping with his character. "And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate" (Luke 23: 11).

One more effort the governor made, but it was answered by the fierce cry, "If thou let this man go thou art not Caesar's friend" (John 19: 12). It was their last argument, and it prevailed. To retain the favour of Caesar, Pilate knowingly condemned the Innocent. That Pilate, after all, lost that favour, history, which we have no reason to doubt, records. And shortly afterwards he followed Judas on the same road to self-destruction. His mockery of hand washing was a feeble attempt to conceal his weakness and shift the guilt of his crime, but it was enough to induce the priests to invoke the consequences of the awful crime upon themselves and their children. That God in righteous government took them at their word, their history conclusively declares.

What a revelation of hearts is here, and all against the Son of God.

The leaders persuading the people to choose a felon.

The governor yielding up to death the Innocent.

The king of Israel mocking Israel's Messiah.

The people willing to accept any one if only the Lord is condemned, and finally accepting the responsibility of slaying the Prince of Life.

Now Pilate scourges the One he had thrice pronounced innocent. The soldiers gather round to satiate their cruelty with a sight of His sufferings. Here it is not the Jews that surround Him. The soldiers of the governor had little in common with the servants of the priests, but they were alike in this — the natural cruelty of the human heart, led on by Satan.

He is (1) stripped; (2) scourged; (3) buffeted; (4) mocked; (5) spit upon; (6) crowned with thorns; (7) crucified. Sevenfold sufferings measured out to the Holy Son of God by the guilty sons of men.

The Jews demand His blood. The Gentiles shed it. And psalm and prophecy is fulfilled as they gather round His Cross to insult the Holy Sufferer. Even the guilty robbers can forget, for a moment, their own agonies, to add to His.

But to continue the narrative of our Evangelist — let us notice here how God overruled all the malice and mockery of men for the fulfilment of prophecy and a testimony to His Son, the very opposite of what they intended. Matthew records that they put on Him a scarlet robe, and by that kingly colour they thereby declared that He was the King of the Jews. In Herod's palace He was arrayed in a "gorgeous" (white or shining) robe, thereby testifying to His sinless character. The priests and scribes who had followed might stand and "vehemently accuse" Him. He was arrayed before them in that which spoke of perfect innocence. Mark and John, again, tell of a purple robe. All are divinely suited to the way in which the Lord is brought before us in the different gospels. John tells us that He was the Son of God. Mark says that He became the Servant. But blessed be His name, the Son who became the Servant will in a soon-coming day be known as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His Imperial character, expressed by the purple, will then be manifested to the whole universe.

And so again at the Cross, Pilate wrote a title — was it not this time to mock the Jew, instead of mocking the Lord? —

"This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." So the complete title read, but each of the evangelists gives that portion suitable to his subject. They may be compared as under: —

This is Jesus * the King of the Jews (Matt.)

* * * The King of the Jews (Mark)

This is        * *The King of the Jews (Luke)

* Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews (John)

Such was man's part.

But "from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour." God draws a veil of darkness round the scene when the great question of ATONEMENT is taken up.

The bitter cry from that darkness, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" expresses a forsaking which He, the Holy Victim, could alone measure.

As we contemplate this most solemn scene we can only bow our hearts and worship.

It has been well said, that the Cross is the centre of two eternities. The past eternity, if we may so speak, looked forward to it. All eternity to come will look back. In it God was fully displayed as Light and Love. His righteousness was so vindicated that His mercy might flow out unhinderedly. By it we are brought to God. "He is the propitiation for our sins." God's holy nature has been glorified. God's perfect love can now be lavished upon those who have been reconciled to Him by the death of His Son.

The Great Work of ATONEMENT is God's wonderful provision whereby all this may be accomplished (Lev. 16).

God has been pleased to present this to us from different standpoints: —

1 The propitiatory character of the death of Christ provides the ground where God can meet the sinner in righteousness (1 John 2, Rom. 3).

2 The expiatory character of the death of Christ meets our guilty condition. We were sinful, and sin must be put away (Heb. 9).

3 The substitutionary character of the death of Christ meets our responsibility. We were condemned, and Another must take our place and bear our judgment (1 Peter 2).

4 The redeeming character of the death of Christ meets our state. As slaves of sin and Satan, only a mighty ransom could deliver us. We are now no longer slaves, but sons, with the spirit of sons, and waiting for the redemption of the body (Rom. 8; Rev. 5).

Here at the Cross every question is raised and settled. God's glory is righteously vindicated. Man's need is fully met. Satan's power is for ever broken.

But — to complete the mighty work — it remained but for Him to die. Death followed sin; and, taking the sinner's place, He met the sinner's doom. But He went into death in order that He might destroy him that had the power of it — that is, the devil. He was already the Victor over him. Now, by the assertion of His divine power, He dismissed His Spirit and died. He had power to lay down His life and power to take it again (John 10: 18).

There are seven utterances on the Cross, somewhat in the following order: —

1 "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23: 34).

2 "Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23: 43).

3 Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani (Matt. 27: 46).

4 "Woman, behold thy Son!" (John 19: 26).

5 "I thirst" (John 19: 28).

6 "It is finished" (John 19: 30).

7 "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit" (Luke 23: 46).

The Prince of Life has gone into the domain of death. Great results will certainly follow, and they begin immediately.

The number of separate striking incidents which are grouped together within the sixteen closing verses of this wonderful chapter is remarkable.

The first and immediate result of the Lord's death was the rending asunder, from top to bottom, of the temple veil. And this event was coincident with the offering of the evening sacrifice at the ninth hour. Our Evangelist records the fact. Another inspired apostle gives us the divine commentary thereon. Never more need another innocent lamb bleed under the sacrificial knife. The true Lamb of God, the great Antitype of every sacrifice, had died, and now, for the believer, there is remission of sins, instead of their remembrance (Heb. 10: 3-14).

The temple, as is well known, was divided into two parts. Into the first went the priests daily. In the second, or Holy of Holies, there was, in Solomon's temple, a manifestation of God in the Shekinah glory. Man durst not go in, and God did not come out. But now the rent veil spoke of the fact that God, through the death of the Lord Jesus, was fully revealed, without a veil, either to hide or separate. And further, there is also what that death has done for the believer. It has fitted him for the presence of God in light. And so, to refer again to Hebrews 10, we are fitted to draw near. We are invited to draw near, and we have a Great High Priest to maintain our souls ever in the place of conscious nearness. THE BLOOD is the foundation of our every blessing.

Nature itself seemed to have its part at this sublime moment. Quaking earth and rending rocks were doubtless only the agencies employed by the mighty hand of God to open the graves of the saints, but they testify to the solemn character of the events which are taking place. And Scripture is careful to state that it was after His resurrection that the saints themselves arose.

There is also the effect upon the Gentile centurion. All the synoptists record it, but only Matthew includes "those that were with him." Our Evangelist, as we have frequently seen, often indicates the widening out of Kingdom blessing far beyond the narrow bounds of Israel, and here for the first time we have a Gentile company convinced and confessing, "truly this was the Son of God" (verse 54).

Let us pause here, and contemplate for a moment the condition of things on the evening of this day of days in the world's history.

It is between the hours of four and six o'clock (our time). A dead Christ, refused by His nation, betrayed by one of His own disciples, murdered by the Gentiles, hangs upon a gibbet. His few followers, in whose breasts hope and fear had alternated during the week gone by, now find themselves with every hope gone, fear crushing out their courage and despair filling their hearts. Only one of them — the one who had lain in His bosom, now stood by His Cross.

But if disciples fail, there are others who do not. The women that followed Him from Galilee, are, at the beginning, seen "afar off" (as we should expect) from that scene of horror: but later, it would appear ( John 20), draw as near as the javelins of the Roman guard would permit. Faith may have died out of their hearts, but fear found no place there. Love — never stronger than when its object is most in need — is what characterises them, and the Spirit of God so describes their devotion. They would watch by His body until the stone concealed it from their sight.

And now, to prepare for their "high day," the priests desire Pilate to order the removal of the bodies from the Cross, doubtless to be cast into a felon's grave. But again prophecy was to be fulfilled to the letter. "His grave was appointed with the wicked, but he was with the rich in his death" (Isa. 53). They might break the legs of the others, but "a bone of him shall not be broken" (John 19). After the witness of the blood and water, which flowed from His spear-pierced side, God took care that no indignity should he offered to Him in death, who had so perfectly glorified God in His life. And just as one professed disciple had been bold in denying Him, so now a secret disciple becomes bold in confessing Him. Love for the Lord overcame the fear for his fellows. And Nicodemus, another rich man, shares in this most privileged service. If John 3 be Nicodemus's Conversion, and John 7 his Confession, here surely we have his Consecration. In open face of His enemies, in the time of their seeming triumph, these two devoted men identify themselves with their crucified Lord.

Joseph's new tomb receives His body. Love laid Him there. Hatred sealed the stone and set a watch. The women who had followed Him from Galilee, and who had waited at the Cross, to see, as they thought, the end, wait still to see the place where He was laid.

Three of the Marys are here there are four mentioned in the Gospels — and Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward. Salome also is here with all her high hopes for James and John, which hopes now lie buried in His tomb. And so perhaps with them all. Nevertheless, oh, how they loved Him!

But two of the Marys are singled out beyond the others — apart from the others. The great stone has been rolled to the door of the sepulchre. Joseph and the others have departed to their own homes, but "there was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulchre" (verse 61).

It is the gathering dusk of the Friday evening. We shall meet them again in the glorious dawn of the third day morning, once more wending their way to the same spot, to be the first to hear from angel lips the heart-gladdening words, "He is not here: He is risen."

But if Joseph's tomb received His body the priests would make sure that it should remain there. With this end in view they request from Pilate that means be taken to "make it sure." Pilate said unto them — was it again in mockery? — "Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can." What words are adequate here? Imagination itself fails to cover the ground between the opposing forces. The puny power of the priests on the one side: on the other the almighty power of God. Man striving with his Maker.

Nervously, tensely apprehensive of that "third day," in spite of their apparent triumph, the priests are now as anxiously considering the question of how to keep a dead Man in the grave, as but yesterday they were scheming how to slay Him.

But God overrules all for the glory of Christ. The world will demand proofs of His resurrection. His enemies will supply them abundantly. So again the servants of the priests visit Golgotha. They affix the official Great Seal of the Sanhedrim to the stone covering the door of the sepulchre. They set a watch — a watch of soldiers — of the best soldiers in the world — a watch of Roman soldiers, and depart to keep their "high" Sabbath, while the Lord of the Sabbath lies low within the tomb.

Surely death, the sealed stone, and the soldier guard can be jointly trusted to keep their prey secure. The seeming triumph of Satan is complete.

Section 12. Matthew 28.

Resurrection, Victory, and Joy

The great apostle of the Gentiles, in restating the foundations of Christian truth, emphasises three great cardinal facts: —

1 That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.

2 That He was buried.

3 That He rose again the third day (1 Cor. 15: 1-4).

"If Christ be not risen," argues the apostle, "then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." "But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept."

Our Evangelist gives us the historical narrative with which these truths are connected. The first and second we have already considered. The third comes within the scope of the present chapter. Matthew 28 is the Victory Chapter, and it opens with all the pomp and circumstance connected therewith. Triumph is its keynote, joy its dominant, and all power its climax. Man might set his seal upon the grave of Christ, but here God sets His seal upon the work of Christ. Having gone down under all the wrath of God and exhausted it, He is raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.

Spite of stone, and seal, and soldier guard —

"Up from the grave He arose

With a mighty triumph o'er His foes, Hallelujah."

Of what use, then, all the scheming and planning of the priests? Much. They provide proof positive to the world of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The believer has, of course, another set of proofs which other Scriptures fully develop. But let us look at those His enemies supply.

The Lord had so frequently foretold His resurrection, that, although His disciples ha .d forgotten it, yet His enemies could not. Hence all their plans to prevent it. That He was dead before being taken down from the Cross, is proved by Pilate's refusal to allow the Body to be removed until assured by his own centurion that the Lord was already dead (Mark). The priests also testified to the fact when they demanded the watch — "He said, while he was yet alive." Now they knew He was dead. Again, they themselves, or by their servants, sealed His body in the tomb; and further, they drew a cordon of sixty soldiers round the sepulchre. Yet, notwithstanding all the precautions taken by the Jews to prevent it, early on the morning of the third day the stone was rolled away and the tomb was seen by all to be empty. The frightened soldiers announce it. The priests confess it. Fifty days afterwards the disciples proclaim it throughout the city, and the priests never once challenge their veracity.

In our chapter we have two different accounts of how this event took place, one by His friends and another by His foes.

Let us look at the latter first. Early in the morning some of the watch, fleeing from the terror of the angelic presence, entered the city to report the extraordinary event to their employers. The question now before their third council was no longer — How to keep Him in the tomb, but — How to conceal the admitted fact that the Lord was risen. Boldly they will attempt the impossible. In the face of a rent veil the priests invent the lie. In face of angel and earthquake and empty tomb the soldiers disseminate it. They told the truth to the priests. Bribed, and taught by the priests, they lied to the people — "His disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept." The words of the priests so evidently carry their falsehood in their face that the Evangelist does not trouble to refute them. Neither need we. But it is well we should mark this: There is no fact of history more credibly attested by human evidence than the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, when anyone, be he open infidel or religious "professor," denies this fact, he also denies with it the value of evidential testimony to all other facts of bygone time.

Nothing can be more conclusive than the way in which that great master of logic, the Apostle Paul, marshals the proofs of the resurrection for the Corinthian doubters; and the testimony of 500 witnesses cannot easily be overthrown. See the whole passage, 1 Cor. 15: 1-8. There is: —

1 The testimony of the Scriptures (verses 3, 4).

2 The testimony of Cephas (verse 5).

3 The testimony of the Twelve (verse 5).

4 The testimony of about 500 brethren (verse 6).

5 The testimony of James (verse 7).

6 The testimony of all the Apostles (verse 7).

7 The testimony of Paul (verse 8).

A sevenfold chain of evidence, convincing and conclusive. Modernism, when it denies the fact of the resurrection, proclaims itself to be not only infidel, but illogical. Scripture exposes both its wickedness and its weakness.

But let us return to the narrative of inspiration.

Very early on the morning of the first day of the week, the two Marys again seek the one spot on earth round which their affections centre. So far as their knowledge went, their visit could only result in "seeing the sepulchre." Did not the stone conceal the grave and the guard defend it? But early though they went, a visitor had been there before them who could brush these things away as the mists before the morning sun. The angel had come from the land of light, and brought with him some of the characteristics of that land. His countenance was like lightning and his raiment as white as snow. We are going to that land, and it is our privilege to have the light of it in our hearts even now. That which brought fear to the keepers, brought joy to the women — deeper in that it was so wholly unexpected, and to still further deepen, as they would learn later, all that the resurrection meant to His followers.

And they in turn are commissioned to carry the message to the disciples. This portion is very beautiful. The angel, in calm dignity, sitting on that which had covered an empty tomb. His very presence, without any exertion of power, is sufficient to overcome the guard. His intelligence in the mind of the Lord is as marked as his activity in the service of the Lord. He could instruct the women, and through them, the disciples, where to go to meet the Lord. Another Scripture describes angels as ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation (Heb. 1: 14). And even the Lord Himself, when on earth, was frequently the recipient of their ministry. On one occasion we read of an angel from heaven strengthening Him. The thought of the Creator and Lord of Angels being strengthened by an angel, gives a wonderful glimpse of the real manhood of our blessed Lord. Their mission of service to believers is often mentioned in the New Testament. We find them in Matthew 18 watching over the little ones. In Luke 15 we read of them rejoicing over the repentant ones. In 1 Corinthians 11 they are present with the worshipping ones; and in Luke 16 they are seen bearing the spirits of redeemed ones to paradise. Thus they are represented in the present age as the ministers of God's grace to believers: in the coming day they will be the executors of His judgment upon the guilty.

But if the presence and message of the angel filled the hearts of the women with mingled fear and joy, Another was about to meet them who would banish fear from their hearts for ever and communicate to them, in His soul-inspiring word of greeting, something of the joy that filled His own heart on that glorious morning.

"And as they went to tell his disciples, behold Jesus met them, saying, All hail."

We are so accustomed to be occupied with our needs, and to rejoice in our blessings, that we are in danger of failing to enter into His joy. And yet it is only as we enter into His joy that we perceive the basis on which our highest joys rest. He had to say, before the Cross, "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished" (Luke 12: 50). Now, on the further side of the Cross and the grave, standing on resurrection ground, He can associate with Himself, in resurrection life, those on whom His love has been set from all eternity. Redemption's work completed, nothing intervenes to hinder all the love and grace of His heart flowing out to His own, in order to bring them into the place of established relationship with the Father and conscious nearness before Him: and not only so, but giving us a nature that enjoys the light of His presence, knowing that the glory of that light only manifests the perfection of our standing, which is nothing less than Christ Himself.

Doubtless but little of this could be known by the women in our chapter, but the great point here is, that they had found the One who was the centre of their heart's affections, and "falling at his feet they worshipped him." Here is the first essential of all worship, and the greater the love, the higher the worship.

The Lord confirms the angels' instructions; but by changing one word, He adds a link of precious intimacy which never could have been known before the Cross. It is no longer "my disciples," but "my brethren." Disciples they still were, of course, but He was about to declare the Father's Name to them, according to the prophecy of Psalm 22: 22, and from henceforth become the Leader of their praises. The congregation of them that praise Him has but a small place in the world to-day, but the day is fast nearing when He will be the Centre of the Great Congregation, and "all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee" (Ps. 22: 27).

At the Cross the foundation was laid of which this will be the glorious consummation. On that first Lord's day morning the keynote was struck of that universal song of praise which will fill the redeemed earth. It will be expressed in the language of Psalm c., and men will learn, according to the theology of the psalmist, that Jehovah is God, and that Jehovah is good. Even "the creature itself will be brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God" (Rom. 8: 21).

All this is intimately connected with the presentation of Kingdom truth in Matthew's Gospel. The disciples are instructed to meet Him in Galilee, not in Jerusalem. The nation and its capital city no longer represent God's centre upon the earth. A Kingdom is about to be instituted, the scope of whose operations will not be confined to one nation, but will go on expanding and increasing until every nation under heaven be brought under its beneficent sway.

But before following the company into Galilee, it may be well to notice the ten different appearings of our Lord, to His disciples, after His resurrection. They are as follows: —

1 To Mary Magdalene alone (Mark 16; John 20).

2 To the women returning from the sepulchre (Matt. 28).

3 To Simon Peter alone (Luke 24).

4 To the two disciples on the Emmaus road (Luke 24).

5 To the Apostles at Jerusalem, Thomas being absent (John 20).

6 These first five appearings all took place on the first Lord's day.

7 Eight days afterwards to the disciples, Thomas being with them (John 20).

8 To seven of the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias (John 21).

9 To the disciples in Galilee (Matt. 28; 1 Cor. 15: 6).

10 To James alone; time and place unknown (1 Cor. 15).

To the disciples at Jerusalem, on the day of the Ascension (Luke 24; Acts 1; 1 Cor. 15: 7).

By comparing 1 Corinthians 15: 6 with verse 10 of our chapter it would seem that the appearing in Galilee was to the whole company of the brethren, and that the occasion was the institution of the Kingdom in world-wide character. Matthew began his career as a disciple by gathering in a "great company" into his own house. He is now to learn from the lips of the Lord that the blessing is to extend to every house under heaven, the scope of Kingdom blessing being nothing less than "all nations," in contrast with the mission in Matthew 10, which extended only to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel."

But how much needed was this word of encouragement — "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." The disciples could not be ignorant of the fact that, all the powers of the world, backed by the power of Satan, were against them, as they had been against their Master, and they needed to be reminded that their Master was the Victor over every foe. He had already said to them, as another Gospel tells: "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16: 33). And the same apostle who records the fact gives us later the key of the overcoming life: "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith" (1 John 5: 4). The man of faith, walking in faith, is invincible. Satan has no dart strong enough to pierce the shield of faith. The world has no allurement sweet enough to attract the heart that is filled with the love of Christ. The world is an enemy's land, but Satan, the prince of it, is a defeated foe, and ALL POWER is in the hands of our risen Victorious Lord. Oh, that every young believer would firmly grasp at the very outset of his Christian pathway this great and inspiring truth — the LOVE and POWER of Christ are both for ME, to-day, and all the days, until I see His face.

Now we get, in closing, the Great Commission. It will be noticed that each of the Gospels give this in different terms: the superficial reader may think, in contradictory terms. But not so. A little closer attention will show that all four are required to express the different aspects of the great work of grace that began in the world at Pentecost, is going on to-day, and will continue all the days, until the consummation of the age.

Beginning first with John's Gospel (John 20: 21), we have brought before us the Person who sends, and the fact that the disciple goes forth with the message of grace in the same manner, sent by the Lord, as the Lord Himself became the "Sent One" of the Father, "full of grace and truth." He came, suffered, died, rose again, showed them His hands and His side, became the Door, that by Him "if ANY man (no longer Jews only) enter in he shall be saved (John 10). Judaism knew nothing of this. It was a new and wondrous truth even to Apostles, and were we less familiar with the Gospel sound, it would be the same to us.

In Luke we read (Luke 24: 46-49): "Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things."

Here we get the foundation on which the proclamation rests, coupled with the moral condition produced by the reception of the testimony.

Mark sets before us, in few words, the responsibility of the hearer, with the results of either the acceptance or the rejection of the gospel of grace. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16: 16).

Returning now to the Commission as given by our Evangelist, we find that Matthew carries us onward to the grand climax of all the ways of God in grace, with men. The Father's Name is revealed, and "all nations" are to be baptized — no longer into John's baptism, as in Matthew 3, or even Messiah's baptism, as in John 4 — but "in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost." The whole wide world is the sphere of the testimony, and the day is coming when the Commission will have been executed, the Testimony received, and "they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord" (Jer. 22: 34). "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. 2: 14).

Till that moment the King, though absent in Person, has been, is, and will be present with every servant, in the face of every foe, every day, and all the days until the "end of the age," when "He shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Then —

"Kings shall fall down before Him,

And gold and incense bring.

All nations shall adore Him —

His praise all people sing.

Outstretched His wide dominion

O'er river, sea, and shore,

Far as the eagle's pinion,

Or dove's light wing can soar."

Notes and Outlines

1. Matthew 1.

1. CHRIST AS MESSIAH.

1. Introduced as "Son of David," and, as such, Heir to the Throne of David. Compare Psalm 89: 29: —

"His seed will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven."

2. Also as "Son of Abraham," and, as such, Heir to all the Promises. Compare Galatians 3: 16: — "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ."

"In thee shall all nations be blest" (Gal. 3: 8).

2. NOTE THAT THE GENEALOGY is divided into three parts, and traces His descent from His kingly ancestor, David, and the Receiver of the Promises, Abraham.

1 Abraham to David — Promise.

2 David to the Captivity — Declension.

3 The Captivity to Christ — Darkness.

3. FOUR WOMEN are introduced, and show God working out His purposes of grace in spite of man's wickedness and folly.

1 Thamar — The Sin of Man.

2 Rahab — The faith of the Gentile laying hold of the promise of God.

3 Ruth — The grace that can set aside the claims of Law.

4 Bathsheba — The blessing God can bring out of even the failures of His people.

2. Matthew 2.

THREE Companies found in this chapter.

THREE Effects produced by the presence of the Lord Jesus.

1. HEROD HEARD AND WAS TROUBLED.

Herod was an Idumean, and therefore a usurper. He had no legal right to the throne of David. He was the type of man's King — Satan, the usurper.

2. SCRIBES HEARD AND WERE INDIFFERENT.

The Scribes were the doctors of the Law, and knew the sacred writings so well that they could tell the king at once where the Lord was to be born, but they did not trouble to go and see.

1 They had the Scriptures, but believed them not.

2 They had a measure of light, but loved the darkness.

3 They had the "key of knowledge" (Luke 11: 52), but were ignorant of the ways of God.

3. THE WISE MEN HEARD AND REJOICED.

1. They found the "One born King of the Jews," worshipped Him, and presented their gifts.

2. Three things mentioned: 1, gold; 2, frankincense; 3, myrrh. Gold — their tribute to His essential Divinity. Frankincense — offered to Him as God manifest in flesh. Myrrh — emblematic of the suffering and death into which love led the Holy One of God. In a future day they will bring "gold and incense" but no myrrh. Compare Isaiah 60.

3. Matthew 3.

1. THE WARNING OF JOHN.

A new dispensation is beginning; therefore repent in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. No time to lose: it is near.

1 Repent because men are sinners.

Repent because sinners cannot enter without a change of heart.

Repent because the kingdom is at hand.

2 Repent "because He hath appointed a day in which He will judge" (Acts 17: 31).

Just now He wants to bless. The goodness of God produces Repentance. This goodness is expressed in the Gospel.

2. THE WORK OF CHRIST.

1 A Converting work. "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost" — Laid hold of by the Spirit for blessing NOW.

2 A Separating work. If blessed now, separated from the world and saved from its doom. If Christ is rejected now, then, when "He baptizes with fire," the sinner will be separated from God for ever.

3. THE WITNESS OF THE FATHER.

1 As to His Relationship — "My Beloved Son." The Believer, through the wonderful grace of God, is brought into the same relation- ship (1 John "Now are we the Sons of God."

2 As to His perfect life below — "In whom I am well pleased." See 1 Peter 2: 21, and compare 1 Timothy 4: 12, "Be thou an example."

4. Matthew 4.

SEVEN MARKS OF CHRIST'S GLORY AND POWER.

1 The Voice of the Father.

2 The Descent of the Spirit.

3 The Ministry of Angels.

4 His Power over Satan.

5 His Authority over Disease.

6 The Light to them that sat in Darkness.

7 The attraction for the hearts of men.

1. THE POWER OF CHRIST to Defeat the Devil.

Satan presented Three great Temptations — "all that is in the world."

Before these our first parents and every other son of Adam's race had failed. But Christ was tempted and emerged victorious. Compare 1 John 2, "The Lust of the Flesh" — what can I get? "The Lust of the Eye" — what can I see? "The Pride of Life" — what can others see in me

2. THE POWER OF CHRIST to Attract the Heart.

Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John FOLLOWED JESUS.

1 The secret of the attraction — LOVE.

2 The object of the attraction — HIMSELF.

3. THE POWER OF CHRIST to introduce Blessing and a new order on Earth.

1 By the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom which was at hand. Men to repent and get ready to enter.

2 By undoing the evil Satan had done. Annulling the power of the devil, and delivering his lawful captives.

5. Matthew 5.

1. The Lord describes the characteristics of those who enter the Kingdom coupled with the Blessings they will enjoy in the day of EARTHLY DISPLAY.

Characteristics.

1 Poor — Entrance to the Kingdom.

2 Mourners — Comfort.

3 Meek — Inheritance.

4 Hungerers after righteousness Satisfaction.

5 Merciful — Mercy.

6 Pure — See God.

7 Persecuted — Joy.

2. Contrast the last of the "Blesseds" with the first, where the pronoun is "they." Here it is "YE," and great is your reward IN HEAVEN.

When Persecuted for CHRIST'S SAKE, Three things follow: —

1 We are drawn nearer the Lord.

2 We get a deeper sense of His love and power.

3 We shine more brightly before the world.

3. Vv. 13 and 14 show what the True Believer is In the world and To the world.

1 SALT — That which Preserves. So the disciples were to stand for the rights of God.

2 LIGHT — That which Reveals, Guides, or Warns. So Grace was to go out from disciples to a lost world, heedless of its danger and doom.

The Warning. — The salt may lose its savour.

The light may be put under a bushel.

6. Matthew 6.

THE PRAYER THAT TEACHES TO PRAY.

Contains Six Petitions following the Invocation. Three of the Petitions are Godward; three are Manward. The last three deal with the Present, Past, and Future.

THE INVOCATION: OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN

Teaches us To Whom to pray. The thought of FATHER implies Relationship, and so we are reminded of the Cost of making this possible, through Death and Resurrection. With this before us we say "OUR FATHER," and we ought to say it

HUMBLY because it is God who is our Father, LOVINGLY because God is our FATHER,

WITH ASSURANCE because GOD IS our Father,

HOPEFULLY because All POWER is His,

REVERENTLY because He 1S in HEAVEN.

1. HALLOWED BE THY NAME.

The NAME declares the measure of the Revelation.

To ADAM — THE LORD GOD Creator Relationship.

To ABRAHAM — GOD ALMIGHTY Power For Him.

To MOSES — JEHOVAH — The Eternal, Self-existing, unchanging, Covenant-Keeping One.

To CHRISTIANS — FATHER — Relationship and Love.

2. THY KINGDOM COME.

Three things in every well-governed Kingdom.

1 SECURITY — Compare Believers Present Position — "They shall never Perish."

2 LIBERTY — Compare Believers Present Position — "Ye shall be free indeed."

3 PLENTY  — Compare Believers Present Position — "ALL Spiritual Blessings."

3. THY WILL BE DONE.

Seen in perfection in the Lord Jesus.

Should be seen in Believers.

Will be seen in the Coming day of display

When, all usurpers put down,

THE RIGHTFUL KING Will reign in RIGHTEOUSNESS.

7. Matthew 6.

THE PRAYER THAT TEACHES TO PRAY (continued).

4. "GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD." — Present.

The Rich who are able to buy, or the Poor who must condescend to beg, equally need to pray this petition. God has provided once for all, all the minerals men may need but for our Daily Bread we depend on the Daily Faithfulness of a Covenant-Keeping God (Gen. 9: 9) in giving annually seedtime and harvest with unfailing grace.

1 So we ask with the knowledge of His Power to supply.

2 And we ask with a Sense of our need.

The object. — Continue us in life to glorify Thee.

5. "FORGIVE US." — Past.

The sense here is Restoration: in order that we may continue in Communion with a Father who always acts in grace.

So we too must act in grace to others — "as we forgive." Forgiveness means to "Let off." The Sinner should be "detained" and "punished," but God is ready to forgive.

1 Christ died to make Forgiveness Possible.

2 All need Forgiveness.

3 We are commanded to Preach Forgiveness in His Name.

6. DELIVER US. — Future.

Expresses the need of being kept from Satan's Power. Not to be tried as Job or Peter, lest we may become more like Peter than Job.

Paul's beautiful and Confident testimony.

He Hath delivered (Col. 1: 13).

He Will deliver (2 Tim. 4: 18).

See also He Doth deliver (Psalm 97: 10).

8. Matthew 6.

"SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD" (Ver. 33).

1. "SEEK" a Divine Command.

Because by nature men are astray and lost. This lost condition shows itself in two ways: —

1 Opposition to God (Illustrate, Pharaoh).

2 Indifference to God (Illustrate, Gallio).

2. "FIRST" a Definite Time.

Remember now . . . in the days of thy youth (Eccl. 12: 1).

In the morning of life.

Because seeking "other things" first

1 Grieves the Spirit.

2 Hardens the heart.

3 Sears the Conscience.

3. THE KINGDOM OF GOD — a Particular thing.

"The Kingdom of God" is opposed to the "world of Satan."

The World is going on to Judgment.

The Believer is going on to glory.

Each one is either in God's Kingdom or in Satan's World.

"What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world

And lose his own soul?"

4. OTHER THINGS shall he added — a Sure Promise.

Be not anxious for to-morrow.

Your Father knoweth your need.

"My God shall supply all your need" (Phil. 4: 19).

9. Matthew 7.

In Matthew 6 we learn "How to give."

In Matthew 7 we learn "How to get." Men say "get to give." God says "give to get."

The Grace of God enables the Believer to do so.

He manifests the Grace by practising the "Golden Rule."

This can only be done in the

1 Power of the New Life, by those who have

2 Entered in at the STRAIT GATE.

THE LORD SAYS THERE ARE

Two GATES.

1. The Strait Gate. ENTERED by Conversion "Strive." Only those in earnest, The Few, find it.

Two WAYS.

"The Way of life."

"The Way of the Lord."

"The Way of Good Men (Prov. 2: 20).

"The Way of Wisdom" (Prov. 4: 11).

"The Way of Truth" (Ps. 119: 30).

"The Way of thy Testimonies" (Ps. 119: 14).

"I am the Way" (John 14: 6).

Two ENDS.

The END of your faith.

The SALVATION of your Souls.

LIFE ETERNAL.

9. Matthew 7. — continued.

Two GATES.

2. The Wide Gate. Entered by Rejecting the Saviour and Turning away from the Cross. Held in it by —

1 Chains of Sin.

2 Fear of Men.

3 Power of Satan.

Two WAYS.

"The Way of Death" (Prov. 14: 12).

"The Way of Sinners" (Ps. 1) .

"The Way of a Fool" (Prov. 12: 15).

"The Way of the Evil Men" (Prov. 2: 12).

"The Way of Darkness" (Prov. 13).

"The Way of the Wicked" (Prov. 15: 9).

"The Way of Destruction" (Rom. 3: 1 6) .

Two ENDS.

The Great White Throne.

The Judgment.

Condemnation.

The Second Death.

10. Matthew 8.

THE DIGNITY OF HIS PERSON.

1. THE LEPER: Picture of the DEFILEMENT and HOPELESSNESS produced by Sin.

1 He knew he was a leper. "All have sinned."

2 He heard of a Saviour. Good news to him: The Gospel is good news to sinners.

3 He believed in His Power.

4 He received the Blessing.

2. THE PALSIED MAN: Picture of the HELPLESSNESS Produced by Sin.

1 We CAN do nothing. The Work to be done completely beyond our power. Satan to be defeated — Death overcome — Judgment borne.

2 We NEED to do nothing, for the work is done. The hatred of man brought out the love of God. "I will come and heal him." "He came to seek and to save."

3. THE WOMAN SICK OF A FEVER: Picture of the UNREST produced by Sin.

"No Peace, saith my God, to the wicked" (Isa. 57: 21).

"The Way of Peace have they not known" (Rom. 3: 17).

BUT Christ Made Peace (Col. 1: 20).

Christ Brings Peace (John 20: 19).

Christ Preaches Peace (Eph. 2: 17).

Christ Is our Peace (Eph. 2: 14).

Illustrate

A Purchased Peace (2 Kings 15).

A National Peace (1 Kings 5).

A Universal Peace (Isa. 9).

11. Matthew 8.

THE DIGNITY OF HIS PERSON.

"Man's Day" sets in darkness and sorrow (verse 16). When earth's sun was sinking, suffering humanity came to Christ and experienced all the grace and power of God. That power which works through the "night" and in the "morning" will display all the divine and glorious completion of His purposes of love and mercy.

Man's day — "Morning and Evening."

God's day — "Evening and Morning" (Gen. 1).

1. THE LORD PURPOSES TO CROSS TO THE OTHER SIDE and two men are tested.

1 The first is hindered by the world.

2 The second is hindered by his relations.

The foxes had holes.

The birds had nests.

Christ had nowhere to lay His head.

A man's foes shall be they of his own household.

He that loveth father or mother more than ME is not worthy of Me.

2. DISCIPLESHIP — "His disciples followed Him" (verse 23).

The beginning of discipleship is obedience produced in the heart by the power of love.

We "obey from the heart" because we love.

So we have a chain of four links: —

A heart full of Love is a heart full of joy.

A heart full of Joy is a life full of power.

A Life full of Power is a mouth full of praise.

A mouth full of Praise is a Life full of FRUIT.

12. Matthew 9.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS MISSION.

1. THE FORGIVER OF SINS (verse 2). The sin question must be faced first, when Men are brought to God.

Sins either put away or punished.

Sinners either forgiven or judged.

2. THE RECEIVER OF SINNERS (verse 10). God hates sin but loves sinners. Satan loves sin hut hates sinners. Christ died to save sinners. Holy Spirit pleads with sinners.

3. THE BRINGER OF JOY (verse 15).

Joy the normal condition of Christianity.

A Man who is Forgiven, Justified, Delivered from Satan's Power and on his way to Heaven OUGHT to be happy.

Illustrate: Matthew; Great Feast; Great Company; Great Joy (Luke 5).

4. IN THE BRIDEGROOM'S ABSENCE (verse 15).

The disciples will "fast."

Our attitude to the world now.

We go through it, being

"Not of it" and taking nothing from it.

BUT "I will see you again, and your hearts shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you" (John 16: 22).

13. Matthew 9.

1. THE GIVER OF LIFE (Janus' Daughter raised from the dead, verses 23-25).

Sinners are "Dead in sins" (Eph. 2: 5).

Believers are "Dead to Sin" (Rom. 6: 2).

Believers are Dead to the Law (Gal. 2: 19).

Believers are Dead to the World (Col. 3: 3).

BUT Alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 6: 12).

2. THE GIVER OF LIGHT.

Sin Blinds the mind to the things of God (2 Cor. 4: 4).

Men are blind to their danger, to their need, and to the beauty of the Lord Jesus.

The Gospel of God is sent to "open their eyes" (Acts 26: 18).

Christ is the "True Light" (John 1: 9).

Believers should walk in the Light (1 John 1: 7).

And be the Light of the World (Matt. 5: 14).

3. THE GIVER OF SPEECH.

Unloosed Tongues Confess Jesus as Lord (Rom. 10: 9).

Show forth His Praise (Ps. 51: 15).

Talk of all His Wondrous Works (Ps. 105: 2).

Speak of His Majesty (Ps. 145: 5).

Worship God (Rev. 4: 10).

14. Matthew 10.

In Matthew 10. The King sends forth His Messengers to announce the Coming Kingdom.

The Lord is presented in a threefold way —

1. As Son of David; 2. Son of God; 3. Son of Man.

1. THE LORD JESUS as Son of David and David's rights.

Messiah come and the Kingdom announced.

The defeat of Death, Disease, and the Devil, will mark the Kingdom when established in power. Righteousness will Reign, and there will be world-wide Blessing.

2. THE OPPOSITION to both Messiah and His Kingdom

(1) By the Rulers; (2) By the Men of that Age.

This opposition was manifested in a threefold way.

1 Against the Person of Christ.

2 Against the People of Christ.

3 Against the Word of Christ.

3. THE REVELATION OF THE FATHER'S CARE.

1 Raises the Believer above the fear of men.

2 Makes him a Confessor.

3 Makes him a Cross-Bearer.

15. Matthew 11.

Matthew 10 is the King in long-suffering grace sending forth the twelve apostles to all the cities of Israel to work miracles, while He continues to teach, so that there is blessing for both the souls and bodies of men.

In Matthew 10 — The Kingdom is announced with signs of Power.

In Matthew 11 — The nation rejects the King.

In Matthew 12 — The King rejects the nation.

1. JOHN'S QUESTION "Art Thou He?"

1 The Lord bears testimony to John.

2 The Lord's works bear testimony to Himself.

3 John, a faithful witness suffering for Righteousness sake.

2. THE NATION'S ATTITUDE.

1 Indifferent to the Call of Grace (The Lord's Ministry).

2 Careless as to the warnings of danger (John's ministry).

3. THE NATION'S FUTURE.

Judgment greater than that visited —

1 Upon the sensuality of Sodom, or the Pride and Worldliness of Tyre and Sidon.

2 Because the Jews had rejected the ministry of the Lord Himself.

4. THE CALL OF GRACE — "Come unto Me.

To Me the Rejected One, but

1 The One to whom ALL THINGS are delivered.

2 The Revealer of the Father.

3 The Giver of True Rest.

16. Matthew 11.

Two Invitations — "Come" — "Take."

The Rest given is the result of Coming to Christ as a lost sinner and getting forgiveness.

The Rest found is the result of "taking the yoke of Christ" — that is, accepting the place on earth which He took in grace — "the lowly subject One."

1. ALL YE THAT LABOUR AND ARE HEAVY LADEN.

A universal Invitation. Sin is like a heavy burden.

1 It burdens the Conscience with Guilt.

2 It burdens the Heart with Grief.

3 It burdens the Mind with Regret.

4 It burdens the Body with Disease.

2. I WILL GIVE YOU REST.

A Definite Promise.

1 Rest from Sin, from Doubt, from Fear.

2 Rest of Conscience because

3 Peace with God.

3. TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU AND LEARN OF ME.

Yoke — picture of Fellowship.

Grace calls believers to have fellowship with Him.

"Learn of Me" — a Divine Teacher.

"Mary sat at Jesus' feet and heard His Words."

4. YE SHALL FIND REST to your souls.

"I have learned" — Paul (Phil. 4: 11).

17. Matthew 12.

The Pharisees raise the Sabbath question, and thereby only expose their own pretentious hypocrisy, because, while professing to keep the Sabbath day, they condemned the Lord of the Sabbath.

The Sabbath rest was a sign of the Law of God perfectly kept; but in rejecting Christ they had broken every link with God.

1. This gives occasion for the Lord to announce the only principle upon which men can be blessed. "I will have mercy."

Mercy for Sinners. Grace for the Unworthy. Pardon for the Guilty. Salvation for the Lost.

— Through a Crucified Saviour.

2. The man with the withered hand is an illustration of a man who got blessing on this ground. Also of Israel as a nation — withered and fruitless. Only the Power of God could restore.

3. The Pharisees first Counsel to destroy Him.

His Enemies plot His destruction.

He continues His works of blessing.

BUT, for the nation, the day of Grace was over.

He charged them "not to make Him known."

18. Matthew 13.

Seven Parables setting forth the

(1) Origin; (2) Progress; (3) Declension; and

(4) Consummation of the "Kingdom of Heaven" in the absence of the King.

1. THE INTRODUCTION OF THE WORD OF TRUTH by the Lord Himself, but giving no final results. These are developed in the six following parables. "The Word" divides the hearers into Four Classes: Hard-hearted, Faint-hearted, Halfhearted, Honest-hearted.

2. THE TARES: Evil men and evil teaching introduced by the devil. Nearly all false teaching spring from two sources: —

1 Denying that Christ was really God. — Ebionism.

2 Denying that Christ was really man. — Gnosticism. Both had their origin in the first century. They are with us still.

3. THE MUSTARD TREE.

An abnormal growth. Christendom has become a great world power with root in the earth; instead of maintaining the separate heavenly calling.

Roman Catholicism aims at becoming a great temporal power.

Protestantism aims at becoming a great political power.

4. THE LEAVEN. Every reference in Scripture to leaven shows that it is always a type of evil. Here it indicates the evil and unscriptural teaching which has been introduced, and is permeating the whole of professing Christendom.

5. THE TREASURE. Something valuable, to be sought, purchased, and guarded.

6. THE PEARL. Something beautiful and precious, to be displayed.

7. THE NET. The solemn events which take place at the end of this age. The Church wrapt to glory: the net drawn, and the mystery finished.

19. Matthew 13.

The chapter opens with a parable introducing the Lord Himself as the "Sower," and goes on to give six similitudes of the Kingdom. These show the new aspect the Kingdom would assume in the absence of the King. Christ, come in grace to establish it, is rejected. The word of the Kingdom is sown in the hearts of men, and they are left with it in Responsibility.

The First parable gives Four Results in Four Classes of Hearers.

1. THE WAYSIDE, or THE HARD-HEARTED.

Hearts are what we make them. Pharaoh hardened his heart before God hardened it.

Word not even retained in the heart.

Birds, type of Satan, catch away that which was sown.

Here the power of the devil prevails.

2. THE STONY GROUND, or THE FAINT-HEARTED.

Mere profession without conscience work. Eager to be in the forefront when Christianity is popular. When Persecution comes, eager to be somewhere else.

In this case the world prevails, and it is manifest that there has been no reality.

3. THE THORNY GROUND, or THE HALF-HEARTED.

The importance of definite decision. In this case it is absent.

The Word is entertained, but other things come in, in greater place. "The cares" or "the deceitfulness of riches," and so the flesh prevails, and the word is "choked."

4. THE GOOD GROUND, or THE HONEST-HEARTED.

Understanding hearts understand the meaning of the Gospel and its relation to themselves.

"Keep" the Word — Faith.

Bring forth Fruit — Works.

20. Matthew 13.

The Second Parable is that of The Tares among the wheat.

The Lord sows the Good Seed of the Gospel.

Satan sows Error. He introduces the Imitation among the real.

1. The Unwatchfulness of Christians allowed it. "While men slept." First mentioned is "Simon the Sorcerer" (Acts 8).

2. Both are to grow together until "the harvest." To "The Servants" is committed the precious ministry of blessing through the Gospel.

To the Angels (verse 49) is committed the dread service of being executors of judgment.

The Beginning, Course, and End of the Two Classes may be traced as follows: —

Those Represented by "The Good Seed."

1 Receive the Gospel — God's good news.

2 Believe the Truth —

About God.

About themselves.

3 Live for Christ —

A new object.

A new centre.

4 End in the Kingdom.

Their place there will be according to their faithfulness here.

Those Represented by "The Tares."

1 Ignore the Gospel — Unbelief.

2 Believe Error —

Minds must believe something.

3 Live for self, the world, or Satan.

Every life lived for something.

4 End in the "burning," solemn reality — and He who knew declared it.

21. Matthew 13.

The Son of Man sows the "Good Seed" —

That which was capable of Reproducing itself.

The Evil One sows "Tares" —

That which is fit only for the fire.

The Third Parable is that of The Mustard Seed.

The Smallest of Seeds: The beginning of the Gospel.

Became a tree: an abnormal growth.

Birds of the Air: picture of the powers of Evil.

Lodge in its Branches: Evil men no longer outside, but within the sphere of profession.

The Fourth Parable is that of The Leaven.

Evil principles at work, morally corrupting the whole mass.

Of the Pharisees — Hypocrisy (Matt. 16: 6).

Of the Sadducees — Infidelity (Matt. 16: 6).

Of Herod Worldliness (Mark 8: 15).

The Old Leaven — Sensuality (1 Cor. 5: 7).

The Fifth Parable is that of The Treasure Hid in a Field.

"The Field is the world" (verse 38).

Treasure hid in the field.

Only One knew of its Presence.

Something valuable and precious.

Picture of Believers as Christ sees them.

To possess them, He buys the "field" — the world.

The day is coming when He will take possession.

22. Matthew 13.

The Sixth Parable is that of The one Pearl of Great Price.

If the "Treasure" conveys the thought of something valuable, the one Pearl conveys the thought of something beautiful.

His love in seeking Believers looked at in their oneness as the Church (Eph. 5: 25).

The Price He Paid (Phil. 2: 5-8).

What He Purchased (Eph. 5: 25).

His object in purchasing (Eph. 5: 26).

The day of display (Rev. 19: 7).

The Seventh Parable is that of The Net cast into the Sea.

The point of the Parable is the Drawing of the net.

Attention is directed to events at the end of this age.

Then "good gathered into vessels." God calling out a people for His name now (Acts 15: 14).

Three things mark the end of the age—

The Midnight Cry.

The development of the Apostacy.

The gathering of the Jew to Palestine in unbelief.

23. Matthew 14.

In Matthew 14 we have the Two KINGS —

Herod in his sin. Christ in His grace.

The actions of Man and the actions of the Lord.

What marked Herod's dance (Mark 6) was the "lust of the eye" and the "lust of the flesh."

BUT the Lord Jesus on the mountain top illustrates the present position of the Saviour in relation to His Own.

1. HE IS PRAYING FOR US. Because we have an enemy, and we need to realise that he is sleepless, alert, cunning, relentless, cruel.

1 He tempts us (1 Thess. 3: 5).

2 He accuses us (Rev. 10: 10).

3 He assaults us (1 Peter 5: 8).

But the Lord said, "I have prayed for thee."

2. HE IS WATCHING OVER US.

"He saw them toiling and rowing."

"Light and Truth" go before (Ps. 43: 3).

Goodness and Mercy follow (Ps. 23: 6).

The Lord is thy Keeper (Ps. 121: 5).

The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil (Ps. 121: 7).

3. HE IS COMING FOR US.

In the "Fourth" Watch He Came.

Compare Matthew 24. The faithful and wise Servant was "ready to open" immediately.

Note three things about Peter's Prayer (verse 30) —

It was an urgent need — Save.

It was a personal need — Me.

Only the Lord Jesus could meet it — Lord.

24. Matthew 15.

In Matthew 12 (verse 54) we find the Lord renouncing all earthly ties. In Matthew 13 He opens to His disciples the form the Kingdom would assume in His absence. In Matthew 14 the opposition develops into open hostility, and we see man's King taking away men's lives — the Forerunner is slain — but God's King saving men's lives.

Matthew 14 shows men's works to be evil. Matthew 15 shows WHY they are evil. The reason is — the HEART IS WRONG.

Matthew 14 shows the two Kings. Matthew 15 shows THE Two HEARTS.

The heart of man with its Seven Streams of Evil (verse 19).

The heart of the Lord Jesus in bringing blessing to all.

Note FOUR Points —

1. THE FORMALISM OF THE PHARISEES.

A mistake all men make.

Thinking a correct exterior will do for God.

Satan can use even a religious system as a power of Evil.

But the Lord brings home to the conscience.

2. THE FACT OF SIN.

"Out of the heart proceed." Hearts produce Evil because hearts are Evil.

Men think lightly of Sin. They deplore its fruits.

God speaks solemnly of Sin. He exposes its roots.

Sin separates from God, now, and produces unhappiness.

Sin fills the heart with selfishness and produces oppression.

Sin separates from God eternally and produces eternal misery.

Before it could be put away Christ must die.

When men cover their sins, God uncovers them.

When men uncover their sins, God covers them.

3. THE FAITH OF THE GENTILE. She felt her need.

Her need brought her to Jesus. She owned she deserved nothing.

She would be thankful for anything. She got everything.

4. THE FAVOUR OF CHRIST.

The Lord returns to Galilee and shows His grace in

Feeding Four thousand with Seven Loaves.

Feeding Five thousand (Chap. 14) was a proof that Jehovah-Messiah was present.

This Miracle was a proof that, though He was rejected by the nation, He still continued His works of mercy in their midst.

25. Matthew 16.

Matthew 15 closes with Grace to one who had no hope but in Grace. The Central thought of Matthew 16 is the revelation of the person of Christ.

1. WHAT OTHERS THOUGHT ABOUT HIM (verse 13). The Pharisees and Sadducees, blinded by the devil, reject Him. Of such, beware.

The men of the age with their opinions and speculations — John, Elijah, or Jeremiah, but consciences unreached and hearts unattracted.

2. WHAT GOD-GIVEN FAITH SAW IN HIM.

Peter's personal confession — Thou art

THE CHRIST — the official glory of His Person — the Promised One — Seed of the Woman — Seed of Abraham — Son of David — Sun of Righteousness — Fulfiller of every Promise of God.

THE SON of the LIVING GOD — His personal glory The Divine, Eternal, and Lifegiving Word (Phil. 2), (Col. 1), (Heb. 1), (1 John 1).

3. WHAT HE WAS ABOUT TO DO.

"I will build" — My Church.

Its Foundation "upon this Rock" (1 Cor. 10: 4).

Its materials (1 Peter 2: 5).

But before this could take place the presentation of the Kingdom had to be set aside and the Cross brought in.

4. WHAT WOULD MARK THOSE WHO FOLLOWED HIM.

Self denied.

The Cross taken.

Christ confessed.

Eternal reward in the Coming Kingdom.

The Man with the Cross on his back has finished with the World.

The Man with the World on his back has evaded the Cross.

26. Matthew 17.

Matthew 16 is the Revelation of the Church; Matthew 17 is a glimpse of the glory of the Coming Kingdom.

At the four lowest points of our Lord's humiliation we get confirming proofs of His Divinity.

1. His Birth. 2. His Baptism. 3. His Temptation. 4. His Death.

Having been rejected by the nation, and confessed by Peter, God manifests Him in the Centre of the Shekinah glory cloud as the "Beloved Son."

1. MOSES — The Law Giver.

But the result was a broken law and a condemned people.

No hope for sinners under law.

2. ELIJAH — The Reformer.

But Reformation cannot help sinners.

Because the past exists.

There must be Regeneration.

"My Beloved Son" is The "Transformer."

Men say "John," or "Jeremiah," or one of "the prophets."

God says, "My beloved Son, hear Him."

He brought the best news that ever came to earth. He now takes the supreme place.

4. "BE NOT AFRAID."

Men by nature are "afar" and "afraid."

Before Peace of Conscience, the

Question of Sin has to be settled.

Before there can be peace of heart, the

Question of Circumstances has to be settled.

"Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of."

27. Matthew 18.

"IN THE MIDST" (verse 20).

1. "IN THE MIDST" for Atonement (John 19: 18).

1 The Cross brings out —

2 The Love of God.

3 The Devotedness of Christ.

4 The Malice of Satan.

5 The Hatred of Man.

6 The Righteousness of God.

7 The Awful Nature of Sin.

The Guilt of the World.

2. "IN THE MIDST" for Peace and Power (John 20: 19-23).

1 The first thing a believer wants to know is peace.

2 The first thing a believer wants to experience is power.

3 Christ made peace.

4 The Blood Cleanses. The Holy Spirit brings Power.

3. IN THE MIDST FOR GUIDANCE (Matt. 18: 20).

One Condition on which He vouchsafes His presence, "Gathered in MY NAME."

1 The work of Christ brings us all our Blessings.

2 The Person of Christ brings us all our Reproach.

But — "If reproached for the Name of Christ, Happy are ye" (1 Peter 4: 9).

4. "IN THE MIDST" for Judgment (Rev. 5).

Christ on the throne.

The Rejected One of Earth Exalted in Heaven.

"Seven Horns" — Divine Power.

"Seven Eyes" — Divine Discrimination.

"Seven Spirits" — Divine Intelligence.

Note the Various Thrones: —

1. The Throne of Holiness (Ezek. 10); 2. The Throne of Grace (Heb. 4); 3. The Throne of Glory (Matt. 25); 4. The Throne of Judgment (Rev. 20).

28. Matthew 18.

FORGIVENESS IN THREE ASPECTS.

1. FORGIVENESS for Sinners — Eternal Forgiveness.

Many not clear on this elementary doctrine.

Some hope for: some think once forgiven.

Some suppose partly forgiven.

God says: "Whosoever believeth shall receive" — "Your sins are Forgiven for His Name's sake."

Grace provides: The Blood secures.

The Spirit proclaims: Faith appropriates.

Because God has spoken, we are SURE.

Because we are sure, we are HAPPY.

THREE THINGS FOLLOW.

It produces Happiness — "Blessed" (Ps. 32).

It produces Love — "Loveth much" (Luke 7: 47).

It produces Holy Fear — "That Thou mayest be feared" (Ps. 30).

2. FORGIVENESS FOR BELIEVERS, or Restorative Forgiveness.

Confession as sinners brings Eternal Forgiveness, and we become children.

When our walk breaks down daily Confession keeps us happy children.

"He is faithful and just to forgive."

More often than Peter's "seven times."

Though Eternally forgiven, yet we may suffer

Governmentally if we do not forgive others.

Therefore "Be kind one towards another . . . forgiving one another."

The "unmerciful servant" failed in the spirit of forgiveness because he "went out" from the presence of the Master.

29. Matthew 19.

In Matthew 19 the Lord recognises and owns all that is lovely in Nature, but goes on to show that the best of Nature will not do for God. "ONE is good."

1 Marriage God's own institution from the beginning, but abused by the lusts of men.

2 The little children — an illustration of the spirit which characterises the Kingdom.

3 The Young Ruler — not far "from," but not in the Kingdom.

1. THE INVITATION OF LOVE.

"Suffer the little children to come unto me."

The Invitation, designed to rebuke the pride of the disciples, expresses the love of Christ.

2. THE RECEPTION OF GRACE.

"He took them up in His arms" —

The place of safety.

Divine shelter from every foe.

"He blessed them" (Mark 10).

The Condition of Happiness and Eternal Joy.

3. THE CONDITION OF ENTRANCE.

Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein" (Mark 10).

The little child is simple — we must believe God. The little child is trustful — we must rest on His Word.

The little child is humble — we must come down.

30. Matthew 19.

THE YOUNG RULER.

The most interesting of all the Gospel stories — also the saddest. He was really in earnest to KNOW. But not really in earnest to DO.

No common man.

Looked up to as a leader of morals.

If he was not right, who was?

Yet he felt he was not right. He was not sure about Eternal life — therefore unhappy.

And all he WAS, HAD, or DID, failed to bring happiness.

1. (1) He was a religious man — A Teacher, a Ruler, a Judge.

(2) He had youth, money, friends, Position, influence.

(3) He did all the second table of the law required. But all failed to bring happiness. The reason was, he was making two mistakes.

2. (1) He did not know himself.

Did not believe he was a lost sinner.

Did not realise that he needed a Saviour.

Looked to the Lord only as a Teacher.

(2) He did not know God.

Was trying to establish his own righteousness.

Desired to know what to do.

3. PETER'S QUESTION.

Peter, anxious to know, whether what the young man went back to, or what they were going forward to, was best, asks —

"What shall we have?"

That which the young ruler missed and one hundredfold more.

31. Matthew 20.

The Son of Man Betrayed: The close and reward of three years of devoted, self-denying, gracious ministry.

That grace had been

SEEN IN WHAT HE WAS.

The Divine Son of the Living God (Chap. 16: 16).

The Word made Flesh (John 1: 14).

The True Light (John 1: 9).

The Revealer of the Father (John 1: 18).

SEEN IN WHAT HE SAID.

"Never man spake like this man."

"The gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth."

SEEN IN WHAT HE DID.

Feeding the Hungry.

Healing the Sick.

Raising the Dead.

All His miracles were "grace" miracles.

JAMES AND JOHN desire High Places in the Kingdom. But learn that it is better to suffer here, and

Leave Results and Rewards — to God.

CHRISTIANS suffer

Because Satan is prince of this world.

Early Christians rejoiced in suffering.

WHAT enables the Christian to suffer?

They "See Him who is invisible."

They have the Holy Spirit's power within.

Illustrate — Peter, before and after the Cross.

32. Matthew 21.

This chapter begins with the presentation of the King to the nation. Their responsibility for His rejection is established, and the measure of their guilt filled up.

1. THE KING PROMISED.

1 The Men of Faith (Gen. 3; Jude 14) looked forward to Him.

2 The Men after the flesh persecuted them that were after the Spirit (Gal. 4: 29).

2. THE KING PROPHESIED OF (Gen. 49).

Three thousand five hundred years pass and God announced —

1 How He would come (Zech. 9: 9).

2 How He would be received (Zech. 13: 6-7).

3. THE KING PRESENTED (Matt. 21).

1 The nation "at a place where two ways met" (Mark 11: 4).

2 Every hearer of the word at the parting of the ways.

4. THE KING PERSECUTED.

1 The Nation reject and Crucify their King.

2 God rejects and scatters the nation.

5. THE KING PROCLAIMED (Ps. 2).

1 Crowned with many Crowns.

2 Ruler over every nation.

Four Crowns for Believers —

For those who LIVE for Christ: The Incorruptible Crown (1 Cor. 9: 25).

For those who DIE for Christ: The Crown of Life (Rev. 2: 10).

For those who WATCH for Christ: The Crown of Righteousness (2 Tim. 4: 8).

For those who CARE for the people of Christ: The Crown of Glory (1 Peter 5: 4).

33. Matthew 21.

A Short Synopsis of the Section, Matthew 21-25.

Matthew 21-22. — His Enemies morally judged and silenced.

Matthew 23. — The Eight Woes that would fall on the guilty Leaders.

Matthew 24 — 25. — Instruction for the disciples into the truths of the Kingdom.

Matthew 21. — Begins with the Fulfilment of Zech. 9: 9. But the Leaders can only ask, "Who is this?"

The Three Parables following, with that of the "Barren Fig Tree" in Luke 13, teach the definite setting aside of Israel.

1. The Fig Tree:

The Nation in Profession: No Fruit. Compare Ex. 19: 8, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do," with 1 Thess. 2: 15, 16. What they did.

2. The Two Sons:

No reality — Lip service only.

The Leaders proved worse than the publicans (Luke 7: 29).

3. The Wicked Husbandmen:

Open opposition.

Refused to bring anything to God.

In Matthew 22, Refuse to receive anything from God.

4. The Sure Foundation Stone:

1 Falling over the stone: Christ in Humiliation.

2 Falling under the stone: Christ in Glory and Power (Dan. 2).

Refer to Genesis 49, Psalms 118, Isaiah 28, Matthew 21, Ephesians 2, 1 Peter 2:

34. Matthew 22.

Note the intimate connection between Matthew 21 and Matthew 22, though teaching different truths —

Matthew 21 — "The Vineyard" is Judaism to the Cross.

Matthew 22. — "The Marriage Feast" is the Announcement of the Kingdom.

The First gives the Attitude of Men to God.

The Second gives the Attitude of God to Men.

The First is God dealing with men in Responsibility.

The Second is God dealing with men in Grace.

Not now God requiring in Righteousness, but God displaying the riches of His grace. No longer man's ways to God, but God's ways to man.

1. THE MARRIAGE.

The central thought.

Honour for the King's Son.

"Far above . . . every name that is named" (Eph. 1: 21).

2. THE INVITATION.

First Announcement — by the Apostles before the Cross.

Second Announcement — to Israel at Pentecost. Third Announcement — world wide — "Bad and good."

3. THE CONDITIONS.

The Gospel produces what suits God.

The fitness for the feast was not their best, But the Robe of the King's providing.

4. THE JUDGMENT fell because there was — Indifference to the King's Provision, and thus Dishonour to the King's Son.

35. Matthew, Matthew 24, 25.

THE GREAT PROPHETIC SECTION OF THE GOSPEL.

Scripture speaks to men in many ways. To the unconverted, it brings a warning of coming wrath and an offer of present mercy. To the Believer, it brings instruction and guidance for the way. To the Disciple, it comes as a revelation of the mind of God as to His present and future purposes.

These two chapters are divided into THREE SECTIONS

Matthew 24, verses 1-44 — THE JEW.

His Temptations: Trials: Deliverance.

Matthew 24: 45 to Matthew 25: 1-30 — THE CHRISTIAN.

As Ministering: Waiting: or Working

For his absent Lord.

Matthew 25: 21-16 — THE GENTILES.

As Receiving, or Rejecting

The Kingdom Messengers.

THE JEW.

1. HIS TEMPTATIONS.

The True Messiah having come and been rejected, False Christs arise to deceive many.

Note. — The Jew is warned against false Christs. Christendom is warned against false Spirits (1 John 4: 3).

2. HIS TRIALS.

Wars and Rumours of Wars.

Danger for their land. Personal tribulation, the Jew is to escape from: The Christian is to glory in.

3. HIS DELIVERANCE.

By the Judgment of Antichrist, the reign of Christ, and the wicked taken out of the earth for Judgment. The Christian looks to be taken out of the earth for blessing.

36. Matthew, Matthew 24, 25.

THREE PARABLES REFERRING TO CHRISTENDOM.

1 The Good and Evil Servants illustrate what should, and should not, be our attitude towards each other.

2 The Virgins illustrate what should, and should not, be our attitude towards the Lord Jesus.

3 The Talents illustrate what should, and should not, be our attitude towards the world.

1. THE FAITHFUL AND WISE SERVANT.

1 Honoured by his Master (Chap. 24: 45).

2 Loves his Master's interests (Chap. 24: 45-46).

3 Cares for his Master's Household (Chap. 24: 45-46).

4 Rewarded by his Master at His Coming (Chap. 24: 47).

2. THE EVIL SERVANT.

1 Has no love for his Master. His heart wrong.

2 Oppresses his fellow-servants. His actions wrong.

3 Associates himself with the world. And thus renounces his heavenly calling.

4 Shares the doom of the hypocrites To which class he belonged.

37. Matthew 25.

THE PARABLE OF "THE VIRGINS"

In the Parable of the "Ten Virgins" there are Seven important points.

1. CHRIST'S COMING AS THE BRIDEGROOM.

Some deny it — Opposition to the truth. Some ignore it — Indifference to the truth. Some "love His appearing" — True affection. In the 260 Chapters of the New Testament the Coming is mentioned about 300 times.

Some expect Him, and because they expect Him, they trim their lamps and go out to meet Him.

2. THE TARRYING.

Its effect upon the Church (1 Thess. 1: 9, 10), and upon the world (2 Peter 3: 3).

The reason for it (2 Peter 3: 9).

3. THE MIDNIGHT CRY.

The "cry" goes forth at darkest period. World grows dark in proportion as divine truth (light) is rejected.

4. THE COMING REALISED.

Not the "end of the world."

5. THE MARRIAGE.

Picture of complete happiness (Rev. 19: 7).

The Christian will be happy hereafter, and should be happy here.

6. THE SHUT DOOR.

Inside — Life: Light: Joy Salvation.

Outside — Death: Darkness: Sorrow: Despair.

7. THE VAIN APPEAL.

The Result of Opportunities Neglected.

Warnings Slighted.

38. Matthew 25.

THE PARABLE OF "THE TALENTS" — SERVICE.

The Holy Spirit, Who is the power of the new life, enables the believer to enjoy the presence of God, and TELL OF CHRIST to others.

Judaism only produced one man (Jonah) who became a missionary.

In Christianity every man should be a missionary.

Every Servant has some talent.

This Parable illustrates its use, or its abuse.

1. THE IMAGERY EMPLOYED, and its meaning.

1 "A Man" — The Lord Jesus.

2 "Travelling" — His departure from this world and present period while He is in Heaven.

3 "Talents" — Gifts given by the Lord.

4 "Servants" — All who make a profession of Christianity.

2. THE GOOD SERVANT is marked by

1 The Sense of Responsibility "Thou deliveredst to me."

2 His Faithfulness.

3 His Devotedness.

3. THE EVIL SERVANT is marked by

1 What he thought of his Master.

Wrong thoughts, which led to Foolish Actions.

2 What he did with his Money.

Used for Earth what should have been Devoted to the things of Heaven.

39. Matthew 25.

THE SEVEN JUDGMENTS OF SCRIPTURE.

1 The Lord Judges (1 Cor. 11: 32) — Correction.

2 The Assembly Judges (1 Cor. 5: 12) — Discipline.

3 We Judge Ourselves (1 Cor. 11: 28-31) — Self-Examination.

4 The Judgment of the Cross — Atonement.

5 The Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5: 10) — Reward for Faithfulness.

6 The Judgment of the Living Nations (Matt. 25.) — Preparation for the Kingdom.

7 The Judgment of the Great White Throne (Rev. 20: 11) — Condemnation.

Our Chapter deals with No. 6.

It is the fulfilment of Ps. 2, Acts 1: 11, etc.

When the Lord came the first time, He was cut off and had nothing (Dan. 9: 26). When He comes the second time

He will vindicate His rights and

Judge in Righteousness.

Historically these events take place immediately after the "Warrior Judgment" of Rev. 19.

THREE COMPANIES are manifested —

1 "THE SHEEP": Those who received, believed, and befriended the Kingdom Messengers.

2 "THE GOATS": Those who refused the Messengers, Ignored their sufferings, and Rejected their testimony.

3 "THE BRETHREN": Jewish Messengers of the Coming Kingdom, who complete the testimony of Matthew 10: 23.

40. Matthew 26.

THE LAST PASSOVER (Refer to Ex. 12).

In Egypt God took in hand to settle the Sin question. But before executing Judgment, He made Provision for righteously delivering His own. This was done through THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB. Notice six things: —

1. THE LAMB SLAIN: Death must enter every house.

But for the Israelite, a substitute was provided.

2. THE BLOOD SPRINKLED: It was not enough that the Lamb was slain. There must also be the obedience of faith, and personal identification with the shed blood, which was put outside for the eye of God to see.

3. THE PEOPLE SAVED: No question of what they were.

The Blood on the lintel was their Security.

The Word of the Lord was their Assurance.

4. THE FEAST INSTITUTED: A Feast speaks of Joy.

Egyptian bondage was past for ever.

They were going OUT of Egypt saved by the LORD.

Outside, death and Judgment.

Inside, a saved and happy people.

"Unleavened Bread" — Holy separation from Evil.

"Bitter herbs" — The memory of what they had been redeemed from.

5. HOW IT WAS TO BE OBSERVED:

With Girded Loins: Redeemed for Service.

Shod feet: Ready to march.

Staff in Hand: Outside support. Pilgrims here.

6. WHY IT WAS TO BE REPEATED: To keep in memory the LOVE, POWER, and GRACE of their Deliverer.

They were a Redeemed, Separated, Dependent, and Expectant People.

41. Matthew 26.

THE FIRST "SUPPER OF THE LORD."

The Central point of Christianity is the Lord's Supper, because it has its origin in the love of the Lord for His own, and His desire that their love to Him might never grow cold.

"Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end" (John 13: 1).

1 His OWN by Gift of the Father.

2 His OWN by Purchase of Blood.

These He gathers around Him on the dark night of betrayal.

They knew of the foe without.

Now they hear of a traitor within.

Suspicion of each other, uncertainty, and unrest fill every heart.

HE SPEAKS OF PEACE, for He was about to

LAY DOWN HIS LIFE to procure it.

Now He institutes the Supper in

Remembrance of His dying love.

It speaks of THREE things: —

1. THE WORK OF CHRIST: His body broken. His blood shed.

He died for our Sins. He gave Himself for us.

In the presence of God, angels, demons, and a hostile world,

WE SHEW THE LORD'S DEATH, by which

He glorified God, Defeated Satan, and Put away Sin.

2. THE PERSON OF CHRIST.

The Work of Christ meets the Conscience.

The Person of Christ meets the Heart.

His Work brings us all our blessings.

His Person brings us all our Joy.

3. THE COMING OF CHRIST (1 Cor. 11: 26).

To take us out of the place of testimony.

To take us into the place of glory.

42. Matthew 27.

1. THE SELF-CONFIDENCE OF PETER: Ignorant of what he was.

Verse 58. Wrong Position: "Followed afar off."

58. Wrong Company: "Sat with the Servants."

74. Wrong Testimony: "I know not the man."

2. THE GUILT AND FATE OF JUDAS.

The Greatest Sin ever Committed.

The Greater the privilege, if neglected, the Greater the Condemnation.

The traitor's reward purchased a Field of Blood.

The Death of Christ made a City of Blood, and a Land of Blood, and a World of Blood.

3. THE LORD BEFORE CAIAPHAS.

The False witness and the "Faithful Witness."

The Criminal on the Bench, and

The Judge at the Bar.

Christ given up to Death, and

The Nation of the Jews given up to Blindness.

4. THE LORD BEFORE PILATE.

Jew and Gentile agree to condemn the Just One.

Three times Pilate declares —

"I find no fault in Him" (John 19).

Pilate's wife's advice: "Have nothing to do with that Just Man."

No Man goes to hell unwarned.

Pilate rejected the warning, and

Condemned the Just.

43. Matthew 28.

THE RESURRECTION AND ITS RESULTS.

FOUR THINGS worthy of note: —

An Open Grave: Christ Risen (Matt. 28: 6).

An Open Heaven: Christ on the throne (Acts 7: 56).

An Open Heart: Christ Believed on (Acts 16: 14).

An Open Mouth: Christ Confessed (Rom. 10: 9).

1. TERRIFIED KEEPERS.

The Folly of Men.

The Failure of Men.

The Fear of Men.

2. REJOICING BELIEVERS.

1 The Foundation of Christian Joy is the Finished Work, and the Resurrection of the One who did it.

2 The Secret of Christian Joy is

The love of Christ,

Realised by "continuing" in His love (John 15: 9-11).

3. THE VICTORIOUS LORD.

God glorified, and the basis laid in righteousness for all the Counsels of God to be fulfilled.

The Power and love of God Vindicated.

Satan defeated.

Sin Put away.

The Power of death Broken.

The Resurrection is a matter of the fullest joy to the believer, but it should be a matter of the greatest dread to the unbeliever —

Because "God hath appointed a day in which He will Judge the world," and the Judgment is committed to the One who has been raised from the dead.

"Thou remainest"

"Thou remainest"

Biographical Note

A selection of papers setting forth the excellency and sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ,

by J. Wilson Smith.

London: The Central Bible Truth Depot, 5, Rose Street, Paternoster Square, E.C.4,

Contents

1 The All-sufficient One

2 God's Present Ministry

3 Christ the Creator

4 "A Saviour Jesus"

5 The Angels and the Magi

6 "Never man spake like this man"

7 "Jesus wept"

8 The Son of God

9 A Word to the Weary

10 "Jesus the Son of God"

11 Christ Our Pattern

12 The Cross of Christ

13 The Risen Lord

14 Christ's Priesthood

15 "The coming of the Lord draweth nigh"

16 The Bridegroom

17 The Coming King

18 King of Kings

19 "My Glory"

20 Praise

21 Bridal Affection and Brotherly Love

22 "For the sake of the Name"

23 The Last Psalm

24 Loves Retreat

Foreword

The following papers, with two exceptions, have appeared at intervals in "Scripture Truth"; consequently, my eye was always one of the first to scan them. They were all received with thankfulness and read with profit and refreshment, not because the writer of them is one of the best of friends, and most faithful of yoke-fellows in the Lord's service that I know; nor because he writes with a clearness and charm which few can command — both are true — but because his theme is always Christ.

For more than half a century he has proved and sung the truth of those precious words: —

"O Christ, He is the fountain,

The deep sweet well of love;

The streams on earth I've tasted,

More deep I'll drink above."

Hence he writes, not worn-out platitudes, nor of untried theories, but of a Person, well-known, out of the fullness of a heart that finds its joy in the Lord.

He discovered in early life as a young army officer with great ambitions, that our Lord Jesus Christ was enough for his soul's salvation; a brighter and better portion than the brightest and best that the world could offer; and through life's joys and sorrows he has found Him to be enough — the never-changing, ever gracious, infinitely tender Saviour, Master, Lord and Friend.

It has been his joy through the changing years to serve the Lord in the Gospel, and to see many, very many, gladly follow the One whom he preached; and now in old age, having stood beside the open graves of most of the dearly-loved fellow-labourers for Christ of his vigorous days, and of one nearer and dearer than all, unable as formerly to tramp the open roads telling out the glad Evangel, he still rejoices in the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, and would turn our thoughts to Him Who "dieth no more"; and, with this end in view, he gives us this little volume with its appropriate title,

"Thou remainest."

May God, even the Father, richly bless it.

Yes, the servants of the Lord come and go; the ruthless hand of time changes everything beneath the sun; the world itself grows old, but Christ abides; and He is sufficient for all the vast needs of His saints on earth until He comes again; and then shall He still abide, the all-satisfying and eternally glorious object of the heart of His church — the Lamb's wife.

And this I know well is the present joy and certain hope of the author.

J. T. Mawson.

Everlasting Glory be,

God and Father, unto Thee!

'Tis with joy Thy children raise

Hearts and voices in Thy praise.

Thine the light that showed our sin,

Showed how guilty we had been:

Thine the love that us to save

Thine own Son for sinners gave.

Called to share the rest of God

In the Father's blest abode,

God of love and God of light

In Thy praises we unite.

Gladly we Thy grace proclaim,

Knowing now the Father's Name:

God and Father, unto Thee

Everlasting glory be!

"Thou remainest"

The All-sufficient One.

(Ps. 102: 26, and Heb. 1: 11).

Two wonderful words indeed, and worthy of the deepest appreciation. They refer to One who is placed in connection with creation in its widest extent, the heavens and the earth, but which, while transitory and perishable, leaves Him unaffected by their removal. He "continues still," and this is the signification of the word "remainest." It is not exactly His essential and eternal existence, but it is that, while associated with that which passes away, He abides. The truth is that while His hands had made these things, that He was their Creator, and, by and by, He will "fold them up and they shall be changed," He is "the same." His years fail not.

But He is no distant Deity, no disinterested spectator of anything His hands have made. He regulates as truly as He created. If, for some good reason He sees fit to dissolve His handiwork, He has most certainly the perfect right, as well as the power, to do so. Yet He Himself remains! And, if so, shall not His continuance be the guarantee of something greater and better — of a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness? That He remains is the hope of that creation of God of which He is "the beginning" (Rev. 3: 14).

Hence His all-sufficiency. He can both build and destroy and then build again. He can occupy every moral sphere and fill every spiritual vacuum. In Him all fullness dwells. He who was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God, assumed, in wondrous grace, the form of a servant and the fashion of a man. Such was the extent of His incarnation. He was an actual man, like ourselves in all things except sin, leading a true and perfect human life — a Man amongst men, in order to present God to us as He, the Son eternal, only could, and win our confidence toward God if such a thing could be done, but going down to death, so as to annul its power, remove its sting and gain a glorious victory over it — "death, even the death of the cross!"

Mark the stages in His condescension. From Godhead to manhood, thence to servitude, thence to death, and that (oh grace inconceivable!) the death of the cross — the most ignominious, agonizing, shameful death of all! Well may we sing: —

"We love Thee for the glorious worth

Which in Thyself we see,

We love Thee for that shameful cross

Endured so patiently."

But He is risen from the dead and highly exalted. We can sing: "Thou remainest." He "remaineth" in view of a ruined creation, and He remaineth in view of a disintegrated church. He is the hope of both and "the bright and morning star" of His assembly. He is her all-sufficiency — her resource, her centre to-day, as at all times. He is "the same" in days Laodicean as He was in those of Ephesus. He is God's "Amen" to-day, maintaining, in undiminished power, all the counsel and purpose of God, spite of the fearful drop from the bright apostolic period to the present nauseous condition of the church's faithless testimony. He is on the wrong side of the door of the profession of His name; so that He urges the purchasing of gold and clothing and eye salve, to expel its dross, and cover its nakedness, and enlighten its blindness. Outside He knocks, and seeks admission to the willing heart; for spite of the church's palpable degradation, He "remaineth" as "the Same."

Conditions may possibly change outwardly, and "difficult times" characterize these closing days, but He changeth not. And hence the Second Epistle to Timothy, foretelling as it does these very days, presents to us, not so much the House of God as a well-ordered system, but Christ Himself as the foundation which stands steady, be the collapse of Christendom what it is. "Remember," it tells us, "Jesus Christ . . . raised from the dead." He remains as the HEAD; let us hold it fast; as LORD, let us obey His word; as the only CENTRE of gathering, let us gather to His all-sufficient name; as the still REJECTED CHRIST, let us humbly cleave to Him and His cross; as the soon-coming BRIDEGROOM, let our hearts, in all the glowing affections of a faithful bride cry: "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

He "remaineth" as THE HOPE OF ISRAEL — the nation of His choice and favour — but long driven out of its land, scattered, peeled, persecuted because of its sins, but never forgotten of Him, but rather "beloved for the fathers' sakes," to whom the promise of earthly blessing was made. The Deliverer will yet "come out of Zion and turn away ungodliness from Jacob," and reinstate the nation in the Land promised it of old. For "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance" (see Rom. 11).

Then, finally, if we descend to the necessities and cares of the individual Christian, can we not say that when all else is gone, the hopes dashed, the chair vacant, the poor feeble heart crushed, the eye dimmed with tears, and the soul desolated by waves of sorrow, He remaineth the Comforter, the resource, the peace-giver, the abiding Friend, who Himself proved, in deep and true experience, all the sorrows of our pilgrim path, so that He is able to succour and sympathize with us.

That He remaineth "the same yesterday, to-day, and forever," may not be the highest of His many glories, but it is not the smallest of those great dignities which make His sacred name precious to His saints in all generations — as their dwelling place, their hope, their refuge, their power and their victory.

As such, how worthy He is of all our gratitude, thanksgiving and praise. That pen is made of gold which writes of Him; the ministry which has the all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ, whether as Saviour, Lord, or Head of His body, for its primary theme is assuredly the ministry of the Spirit of God. His own closing command was: "Believe also in Me" — given just ere He went to the Father, suggesting, as it does, all that is contained in the fact that He remaineth.

If that be true no change of passing conditions need agitate the spirit of His people, or affect the steady labour of His servants. His grace will not fail.

God's Present Ministry

It seems to me that, in a gracious superiority to all the petty conflicts and jarring voices of the day, the Spirit of God continues to unfold the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ to the hearts of His blood-bought people everywhere. For this is ever His ministry. "He shall take of Mine" (said our Lord in John i6.), "and shall show it unto you." This ministry proceeds throughout the centuries, be they dark or bright; and, in thus bearing witness to our rejected Master; the Spirit of God works continuously. He will not be hindered by the power of sin or Satan. He is God. Now this is full of encouragement, and happy it is, in days admittedly dark and difficult, to trace His working, and to discover that the enemy is far from having things all his own way.

We are too prone, alas, to regard the triumph of evil and get under its power. This is depressing. It is not faith in God, but the result of looking at things seen and temporal with consequent feebleness.

"We walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5), and God would have us regard "the work of His hand," and in so doing be strengthened. Now there is no question in the minds of those who have taken the trouble to appraise events, that during late years there has been an unprecedented ministry of Christ, both as to the value of His death and resurrection, and also of His personal glories, whether as Son of God or Son of Man. He has been the theme and subject-matter, as never since apostolic times, of His more intelligent servants everywhere. Christ has been preached with a fullness unknown for long, and this, it is needless to say, is the direct and blessed work of the Spirit of God.

That He was loved and cherished, and followed by many a faithful heart through ages dark and cruel, we can easily trace. The page of history sparkles with the devoted lives and martyr-deaths of hosts to whom Christ was more precious than all things here. Of these the world was not worthy. They paved the way amid the darkness of their surroundings for the light which shines on us to-day — a light so little appreciated!

The glorious Reformation (so called) was that work of God which drew universal attention to the work of Christ, and of our justification by faith thereby. This poured a perfect flood of light over the face of Christendom, and made the Word of God a new Book to countless numbers. It was the dawn of a holy liberty, and a death-blow to the corruptions of Rome. But what need to hold fast that which we have! What need to stand fast in that liberty and to hold to the Word of God! But then, is our liberty everything? Can we feed on our own personal emancipation alone? Does the knowledge of justification (however precious) suffice for the soul? Has God no further revelation?

He has! What is redemption without the Redeemer, or salvation without the Saviour? What is the servant without his Lord; or the church without its Head?

Nay, what is Christianity without that Christ who, on ascending to the right hand of God, sent down the Holy Ghost to baptize into one body all who believed the gospel, and to be the power of life and testimony in the saints till Christ shall take all hence to be for ever with Himself in the Father's House?

Absolutely nothing! As well have the solar system without the great and all essential orb of day. This were impossible. "A pleasant thing it is to behold the sun," and a far greater pleasure it is for the saints of God to hear of the deep, boundless glories of His eternal Son!

I am bold to say that these glories have been, and are, the specific testimony of the Spirit of God during the last and undoubtedly closing years of this dispensation. The best wine comes last although contained in the original "firkin." The Word of God has His Son for the highest theme.

Nor do I doubt that this ministry is having the present effect of reuniting at least the hearts of great numbers of saints who see in it something beyond traditions and mere ecclesiasticism, something that will eventually bind their hearts and minds and tongues together in common and eternal adoration in heaven.

Pity, a thousand times over, that such adoration should be broken up into fragments to-day by the unhappy "shibboleths" and warring factions into which the church is now divided! But, thank God, to-day will quickly pass, and then and for ever one all-commanding Object will fill our gaze, and bring about that concentration on Himself, who is the One Shepherd of the one flock and the Head of the one body, which in our every heart we so ardently desire, and which, amid other things, He died to accomplish.

He "died for our sins" indeed, but, notice, He also "died to gather together in one the children of God which were scattered abroad"; and the fulfilment of this is certain. That unity is bound to be brought about; only may each of us seek, in his prayers, and ways and associations, to give personal effect to it now.

How cheering, how stimulating the truth! This is, most assuredly, part — and a very great part — of the ministry of the Spirit of God to-day.

Christ the Creator

That which gives special interest to "creation" is that, in Scripture, it is attributed to Christ — the Lord.

No doubt, speaking in the abstract, it is viewed as the work of God, and so we read in Gen. 1: 1, that "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," but in the same chapter (ver. 26) it is said, in sacred colloquy, "let us make man," indicating co-operation on the part of the Holy and omnipotent Godhead; for each Person in the Godhead is God; and, hence, in the creation of the highest creature on earth, we find a consultation between those Persons, which was not taken in the production of any lower part of it. Man was created in the image and likeness of God, and was placed in sovereignty over all His works.

"God created!" Let that formal statement be clearly apprehended. There was, and there is what Scripture calls "creation." There is "the whole creation" and its "beginning" (2 Peter 3). The fact is stated with the utmost simplicity and with a naturalness that bespeaks absolute truth. No lengthened explanation, no wordy elaboration to meet the incredulity of man is given.

The thing itself is so inconceivable, that no other solution is possible but that "God created." That profound, but entirely satisfactory record, suffices for faith, and is, at once, the simplest and the only key to "creation." It is "by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God." Speculation and cosmogonies may fade in this light.

Very well, creation is the work of the Godhead, but, in particular, it is that of the Second Person, as the Scriptures, when giving assignment, invariably declare. And therefore, if that be so, the work of creation, in its omnipotence, its design, its intricacy, its minuteness, its continuance, its perfection, becomes to the Christian a matter of deepest interest. Our Lord Jesus Christ is Creator! Wondrous fact indeed, but when cordially admitted, the further and much greater work of redemption becomes more glorious in our estimation; for, if every detail in the former were perfect, how could a flaw or defect be found in the latter? A perfect Creator is also a perfect Redeemer, and vice versa as well.

These two facts are placed in juxtaposition in Col. 1: 15-18, "For by Him [the Son of God] were all things created that are in heaven and in earth," and not only created "by Him," but "for Him" — a most significant statement surely, and one which throws creation into an extraordinary place of importance, viz., for the special purpose and enjoyment of the Son of God — the Christ; and again: "He is before all things," necessarily so, if "by Him they were created;" and, lastly, "by Him all things consist." They subsist, they are maintained in existence by His power and will. These "all things" depend, both for their origin and support, on the will and pleasure of the Son of God.

He is also, as risen from the dead, Head of the body, the church — the Redeemer — pre-eminent in all things. The same two facts present themselves to us in Heb. 1 and 2; we read in Heb. 1: 10, "And thou, Lord, in the beginning [mark that word] hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thine hands "hands of the universal Creator; while, in Heb. 2: 10, we find Him qualified through sufferings to be the Leader of His people's salvation, and also their Deliverer from the fear of death by having annulled the power of the devil. Blessed Saviour! Or, again, in Heb. 1: 3, He who upholds all things by the word of His power, has made expiation for the sins of His people, and has sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. What rich qualifications are His! Finally, if in John 1 He is seen as the Lamb of God — the sin-bearer, so too is He revealed as God — the Word — by whom were all things made, and without Him was not anything made that was made. He was indispensable in creation from beginning to end; and when He shall fold up, as a vesture, all that He had made — change it, and cause it to perish, He, withal, shall remain, and prove Himself to be "the same" — "the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth," and the worthy Co-Recipient of the glad homage of "every creature in Heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea," as they ascribe "Blessing and honour and glory and power to Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever" —

The power of earth's Creator

Gives glory to Thy Name.

The love of earth's Redeemer

Enhances still thy fame.

Creator and Redeemer

Almighty Saviour Lord,

The power and grace that saved us

For ever be adored.

"A Saviour, Jesus."

One of the most resplendent crowns

which shall rest on the head of our Lord Jesus Christ is that of Saviour. Beside His name none other is given under heaven whereby men must be saved (Acts 4: 12), and so we read: "He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3: 18). The refusal of His name is fatal. We may well thank God for that name as we remember how that He "so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3: 16). May we lay hold of the fact that the heart of God the Father is the fountain-head of the river of saving grace; thence it flows in measureless fullness over a world alienated from God, so that all and any who are conscious of their lost condition may, by faith in His Son, become the recipients, here and now, of all that grace can give — possessors of everlasting life! But this grace must reach us on grounds of absolute righteousness. The throne itself would be outraged were its just claims not perfectly met and satisfied; and seeing that this could never be accomplished by the creature already powerless and guilty, it must be rendered by One fully competent to do so. Him we find in the Son of God! He is the divinely provided ransom. God Himself has provided a lamb for a burnt-offering. Here, then, we start. This is our foundation; it is solid and sure, and clean outside all that is of man. We can freely speak of a Saviour-God! He loved and He gave, and the given One came willingly to do all that was charged ' upon Him. But if this should be on the side of God, what is there on that of man? There is, alas! only the sin that necessitated grace so boundless.

Sin? Yes. And what is sin? Its nature is questioned to-day. It is vainly explained away; but none the less it remains in its undiminished virulence and universality. Neither has philosophy, nor civilization, nor education, nor science, nor any human device that the clever brain of man has invented, removed sin from the heart, or its dire consequence of death, and the grave, and the judgment beyond, from the race of fallen, guilty men. There it is, as patent and potent to-day as ever; so that he who denies it is blind, or worse.

Let us get on to this bed-rock truth, else salvation means nothing and a Saviour is a mere sentiment.

God declares that "all the world is guilty before Him" (Rom. 3: 19), that it "lieth in wickedness" (1 John 5: 19), and that "Satan deceiveth the whole world" (Rev. 12: 9). The cross was its moral judgment (John 12: 31). So much for the mass; but, personally, "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." The power and poison of sin are rampant in every department of life, in every sphere and circle and bosom. These vast cemeteries bear mighty witness. "Death has passed on all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. 5: 12).

What, then, is sin? It may be seen in a thousand aggravated and sickening forms, from murder to a thought of foolishness (Mark 7: 21, 22); but notice, "the movement of a heart in opposition to the will of God is sin." Who can escape here?

Hence the Lord said to certain accusers, "Let him that is without sin first cast a stone at her" (John 8: 7). Needless to say no hand dare cast a stone. Every man was guilty of some sin; none was, nor is, nor can be "without sin."

The crying need of the day is a true sense of sin, and therefore of humiliation and repentance before God. Always so, but perhaps more truly now than ever; and if so, woe to those who minimize the gravity of sin and its certain and eternal judgment.

This clears the way for God's salvation. And what is that? Nay, who is that? It is Christ Himself! "Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation," said Simeon as he held the infant Redeemer in his arms.

Never can that salvation be understood until it is seen to be embodied in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, as dead, and risen, and glorified.

His death was necessary for expiation, and His blood alone, but fully, can cleanse from sin.

His resurrection from the dead was also necessary as proof of the work of atonement done, and no more sacrifice required. By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified (Heb. 10: 14).

And His ascension was necessary, that He might send down the Holy Spirit to give effect to His work, and seal for eternal blessing the souls of all who believe. Oh, lay hold of the deep meaning of the words "one offering." Let that offering stand before your eye in its absolute all-sufficiency. Think who it was that was offered! Remember the cup He drank and the curse He bore! Ponder the love that led Him into such fathomless depths! View Him as the sinless Son of Man who obeyed to the letter, and who alone glorified God where all else had failed! Smite your breast as you behold the sight of Calvary! Learn the love of Christ that passeth knowledge! See the whole awful question of your sins and sin, your guilt and state, settled in His death, so that you, delivered from every thrall and fear, at cost so infinite, might love Him in return, and serve and follow and worship Him, until, by His side, you see the crown of your salvation on His glorious brow for ever.

The Angels and the Magi

Is it not remarkable that, in comparing the two chapters (Matt. 2 and Luke 2) which give us an account of the earliest days on earth of our Lord, we find that the effect produced by the angelic announcement of His birth in Luke 2 was very small? It appears not to have affected the people of Jerusalem in the least.

The shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night, were the immediate recipients of that wonderful communication from heaven.

Having heard the message of the angel of the Lord — "Unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord" — they heard also a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men," and were so stirred in heart as to go at once to Bethlehem in order to see the thing which the Lord had made known to them. They saw, and made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. They published it generally.

Never had child been born under such auspices, nor introduced by such angelic acclamation, but their declaration was unnoticed. The wonderful saying which the shepherds made known abroad fell on ears dull and apathetic. The public effect was nil. No one appeared to care.

Shepherds! Who would listen to them! They were poor ignorant men, visionaries of some wild delusion. Had the priests and the scribes carried the report there might have been some reason in hearing it. But shepherds — announcing a Saviour born that day, even Christ the Lord, and He, too, lying in a manger — impossible, incredible, and only to be ignored.

The story was so unlikely! A Saviour, the Christ, Jehovah, born and lying, forsooth! in the manger of some cattle-shed, swaddled there in circumstances of palpable poverty! Never! A palace would be too mean for such a one! The highest dignities that earth could proffer would be unworthy of the Christ, the Saviour; but that Saviour, the Lord, Jehovah, cradled in a feeding-trough staggers conception.

Yes, the mystery of the grace of the Incarnation has always done so. Nature and reason stand bewildered. The story is either true or false. It is either the greatest act of humiliation (save, indeed, the cross) or the wildest piece of imagination that ever entered, or could enter, the brain of man. Indeed, such an invention is utterly inconceivable.

Ten thousand thanks be to God, the Manger of Bethlehem, ennobled by the presence, in infant form, of Christ the Lord, stands out in all the certainty of a fact divinely attested, and accredited by faith!

But in spite of the common indifference, we find some Simeons, and Annas, and others, even in Jerusalem, who were in expectation of redemption. Anna spake of the Redeemer to all such, and Simeon took Him into his arms, and blessed God that he had now seen His salvation.

Thus we see that the hearts of a few (alas, that there should have been so few!) were prepared to welcome the Lord. But so ever. God has wrought by minorities all along the line and made them His vessels of testimony and triumph. Study these minorities; there are many of them. Consider Noah and his seven; Gideon and his three hundred; Daniel and his three; Paul almost alone. Such minorities saved (as we say) the situation. God uses vessels that lean on Him; and such was the remnant of whom we are speaking, be they poor and unlettered shepherds, or people but little known to the world around them. "The secret of the Lord," we read, "is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant" (Ps. 25: 14). So in this case.

But when, a year or more afterwards, there came wise men from the east (Matt. 2) to inquire in Jerusalem for the King who had been born, guided as they were by a star which mysteriously, silently, but surely announced His birth, "Herod," we read, "was troubled, and all Jerusalem with Him."

The advent of a Saviour, proclaimed as it was by the hosts of heaven, created little or no interest, but that of a King — one born as such — in distinct rivalry to Herod and his superior, the Roman Emperor, caused trouble everywhere.

The messengers were but men — their guide a star; their nationality Gentile; and yet with credentials so meagre their testimony was universally accepted. They were reputed, Gentiles albeit, as wise men, astrologers — Magi — men who read the heavens and their portents. These, therefore, were witnesses far more reliable than illiterate shepherds would be; and so their message told. The city was troubled, from the King downwards. "Where is He," they asked, who is born King of the Jews?" King, and only King, was their statement. Saviour and Lord they know not. The star signalized only a King — where is He?

Herod, fearful of his rival, appealed to the scribes for help. They turned to the Scriptures — that infallible guide, when truly understood, to eternal facts which are beyond the ray of a star, or the conception of man.

"Bethlehem," said the scribes; "for thus it is written by the prophet, ' And thou Bethlehem art not the least among the princes of Juda, for out of thee shall come a Governor that shall rule My people Israel '" (Micah 5: 2). Thus did these scribes quote the prophet; they mentioned the "Governor," but they saw fit to leave out the wonderful words which follow: "whose goings forth have been from everlasting," (or, as it is in the margin "from the days of eternity"). They concealed the fact that this King was the Lord, Jehovah!

The wise men proceed to Bethlehem, being again led by the star, and coming to the house to which they are directed, they find the young child and Mary, His mother, and present to Him their treasures — gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They fall down and worship Him.

But being warned of God as to the cruel intentions of Herod, they depart to their own country by another way. Their visit had caused disquietude and trouble in the city. Such was its effect. No King but Caesar was wanted there, least of all that King who had been born at Bethlehem, whose goings had been "from the days of eternity." And so Herod, the mere creature of Caesar, wreaks vengeance on all the children of Bethlehem from two years old and under, hoping to destroy his rival "King."

That King had, however, been carried to Egypt, and not only placed there beyond the power of Herod, but that another Scripture should have its fulfilment — otherwise impossible — viz., "Out of Egypt have I called my Son" (cf. Hosea 11: 1). Ponder the words. The Son of God called out of Egypt suggests the beginning of a totally new history for Jew and Gentile, on the proven and utter breakdown of both before God. The Saviour — Christ the Lord, of Luke 2, is the blessed Son of Matthew 2. The Saviour is the King, and the Saviour-King is also Jehovah and Son of God. Wonderful harmonies, truly!

"Never Man Spake like this Man."

John 7.

Never! This encomium was absolutely true!

Officers had been sent by the chief priests in Jerusalem to take this wonderful Speaker, and bring Him to them from the Temple, where He had been boldly stating His mission, whence He came, and who He was; but the statement was so pronounced, so definite, so unequivocal, that, envious as they were of His fame, and fearful of His rivalry, they could devise no other plan of silencing Him than by force. Hence the charge given to the officers.

They went, intending, doubtless, to obey the orders of their masters, but before attempting to apprehend Him, they listened to His words and became deeply interested. They heard Him say to the unbelieving crowd: "Ye shall seek me and shall not find me, and where I go ye cannot come." These words, no doubt, struck them: they announced a Personality and opened out a wisdom and a superiority to circumstances, which at once placed Him, in their minds, above the level of ordinary speakers. Here was one who knew clearly what He was about, who spoke with calm authority and proclaimed an independence unknown to others. He thus asserted a right to speak and to command the hearing of all. Had such another speaker ever been heard in the Temple? Never.

What man was this? Needless to ask, for He had just made a sufferer of thirty and eight long years perfectly whole; and who could do that but God? That lowly Man who thus spoke in the Temple under the frown and threat of Jerusalem's rulers was in fact their promised Messiah — Son of Man and Son of God. His mighty works proved His Person.

No wonder that the officers were fascinated! Instead of finding a noisy declaimer of Roman or other government, they were brought face to face with a speaker so calm, so dignified, so uncompromising and yet so bold, that they were more than overawed. They felt themselves powerless to carry out their orders. The superiority of that presence, the majesty of that Person, forced them into admiration of Him. Further, they heard Him say: "If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink . . . out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

"If any man thirst" — and who, in this weary world, does not thirst? A universal thirst is proved by a universal discontent. That word is written big in the bosom of every individual of every class and nation on the face of the earth — a thirst that nothing can slake but this wonderful "living water" given by the Son of God. There is to be found, as many have proved, an abiding satisfaction that leads them to eschew the overtures of a world that can never satisfy.

"If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink." That is all; but the result is glorious, for he shall not only be personally satisfied, but rivers of living water shall flow from Him for the refreshment of this weary, barren, hopeless world. What a miracle, but how true, as the blessing of these two thousand years has proved!

"Come unto Me and drink" — that is all. But the secret is in that "Me."

No religious festival can slake this thirst — the thirst returns, as we can testify.

No service, no ordinance, no priesthood, no imposition of hands, no human benediction, no power of man nor angel can give the "living water" which satisfies for ever. They who drink thereof are "born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." They come, as thus born, to the Son of God. They drink, they are satisfied, they become channels of wide and generous blessing to all around. Again, what a miracle!

And whoever had, before, heard such words?

It was the voice of Him who, on another day, said to His captors: "I am He" words so uttered that they who heard them went backward and fell to the ground; but not so here. His voice which by and by "shall shake not the earth only but also heaven," but on this occasion His accents were those of grace and mercy and compassion for the thirsting souls of men.

The officers returned alone to their masters, who at once said to them: "Why have ye not brought Him?"

They could assign no reason. He made no resistance, nor did His followers, and yet bring Him they could not. All they could say was in this truest of all confessions: "Never man spake like this man."

They thus admitted that they had been overcome by His words themselves. They were "spirit and life"; and, their inherent and resistless power restrained them from carrying out their mission. His hour had not yet come.

"Are ye also deceived?" replied the Pharisees; "have any of the rulers believed in Him?" Impossible that any but the ignorant could do that.

Not a single ruler? Yes, one, and Nicodemus speaks out, who, in the shades of night, had heard the words of the lowly Speaker, had been spellbound by them, and had been drawn from his darkness into a knowledge of the love of God in the gift of His Son, of the substitutionary work of the Son when lifted up on the cross, and of eternal life through faith in Him.

To Nicodemus, as to the officers, "never man spake like this man" — no, nor acted, nor moved, nor suffered, nor sympathized, nor loved, nor died, nor was raised by the glory of the Father to be Saviour, Lord and Head like this Man, and to receive in heaven eternal adoration from myriads of worshippers, who are indebted to Him for the work He did, and the words He spoke.

"Jesus Wept."

There was sorrow in Bethany, death had entered one of its houses — the only one, in all probability, where the Lord found a welcome — and had removed a dearly-loved brother. Hearts were crushed and broken. A very tender tie had been snapped and mourning had taken the place of joy.

"Why this blow?" might have been the unspoken language of the two bereaved and desolate sisters. Had the Lord only been there, they felt sure that their brother would not have died. He, who loved all three, would have spared them the sorrow through which they had passed. His healing power had been so often shown that, had He only come in time, this disaster might have been prevented.

Now, however, it was too late. The Lord had allowed, for some inexplicable reason, known to Himself alone, the precious days to slip away; and when, in an apparently tardy response to their message, He had come at last, not only had death done its work, but the dead one was buried. Surely the Master had failed, on this occasion, in the display of the sympathy which was one of His most lovely traits.

How little did the sisters know the deep meaning of that delay. It was not occasioned by lack of love, or care, or consideration, but by a vastly superior motive, viz., "the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby" — the glory of God and of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the supreme object in the universe. Everything must subserve the glory of God — Father, Son and Spirit; and, to this undivided glory, the proud or fearful, or self-seeking heart of man must bow, and, in bowing, find rest and peace and assurance.

He who walked in the light of day knew exactly when to take His journey back into Judea, and to Bethany and its broken hearts.

He who said: "I am the resurrection and the life" was quite as able to raise one from a four days' state of death as He was to prevent him from dying. He who had just given eyesight to a man who had been born blind could certainly have caused that even Lazarus should not have died.

But there was to accrue to the Son of God a greater glory than that. He was to be seen as the giver of life, not now to the gentle child of Jairus, who had just expired; nor to the only son of Nain's widow, who was being carried to his grave, but to one whose body was already yielding to corruption and had become putrescent. The glory of God is all-various in its working, but it has the welfare of His creatures as one of its objects.

The glory of the Son of God was seen in His absolute obedience to the Father's will; but, while expressing itself in the raising of the dead, and the bestowing of life, and life eternal too, it proved itself in the exhibition of the fullest, tenderest, human sympathy.

Did He not suffer in order that He might fill the place of High Priest, and, as such, minister timely help and strength and comfort to His needy dependent, sorrowing people here? Most assuredly!

See, then, when He had found His way to the grave, and had witnessed the dire effects of death on the bleeding hearts around, we read . . . and, let the words of this, the shortest and perhaps, the most profoundly significant, verse in our Bible, sink deeply into our memories: "Jesus wept!"

He wept who was "the resurrection and the life"! He wept who possessed all the power of God and the warmest sympathy of man. Yes, "Jesus wept." He who was ever in the form of God is seen here in that of a servant. His service was one of love.

On that sympathy we can always count, for He is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."

"Jesus wept! those tears of sorrow

Are a legacy of love;

Yesterday, to-day, to-morrow,

He the same doth ever prove:

Thou art all in all to me,

Weeping One of Bethany."

And recently hearts innumerable have been torn, crushed and bleeding. Loved ones have fallen on fields of battle. Desolation has covered the face of the earth. Each country has shed its tears; on all hands there are widows, orphans, sisters, parents, brothers and friends who have mourned and wept. But behind the inscrutable wisdom that has allowed a convulsion so awful, there is, at the same time, a gracious and sympathetic support richly ministered by the ascended Lord who gives the assurance that, if the one He loved may not be restored, as was Lazarus, yet He says: "Thy brother shall rise again," for in the fullest sense "whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die." That is, there is no death, as such, for the Christian. He is "absent from the body and present with the Lord." Death is annulled for such; while on the other hand, "he that believeth on Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live," for "life and incorruptibility are brought to light by the gospel."

Here we may find our richest consolation. Can you picture a more lovely sight than the sacred Weeper of Bethany? There He stands, at the grave-side in moral touch with its mourners, not in a spirit of cold superiority as might have become death's victor, nor even in the aloofness of Him by whom all things were made, but in the full pathos of One who, while Creator and Sustainer of all, cherished a heart of tender human pity.

We repeat the words: "Jesus wept." May I ask the afflicted and sorrowing if they can find no comfort in those tears, no solace in that sympathy, no Friend that sticketh closer than a brother in this best of all friends, no compensation in His love, no pillow for the heavy head, no resting-place on His puissant arm, no one to occupy the empty chambers of the stricken heart — One better than the best and dearer than the dearest? What a triumph for faith when HE is thus known and loved!

It gives glory to the Son of God when the bereaved and broken heart finds all its satisfaction in Him. He will be everything to us in our bright eternity, and this He may be in our present but brief period of sorrow and loss.

The Son of God.

"He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." — Matt. 16: 15, 16.

—

The significance of this question put, by the blessed Lord to His disciples must be apparent to the reader. At that moment a crisis had been reached in His testimony, by the only too evident refusal thereof on the part of the leaders of the nation. He had come to "His own," and, now, in the panorama of His life, as presented in this first Gospel, we see that "His own received Him not."

He had been announced by the Baptist, the herald of the kingdom, in terms of charming interest; and the wise men had been attracted from the east by the finger of God to do Him homage. He had proclaimed in the mountain, the holy principles of the kingdom; He had wrought miracles of mercy on every hand; He hid bidden the weary to find rest in Himself — the Son of the Father; He had, as Son of man on earth, pardoned sins; He had, as the promised Messiah, opened the eyes of the blind; He had been, owned as Son of God by Satan, whom as "the strong man" He had bound, and, as the stronger, was able to spoil his goods; but, withal, He had been proudly rejected, even where His greatest works had been done. There was no national repentance. This sin and that of His rejection went together.

As to the common opinion regarding Him, He might have been John the Baptist, or Elias, or Jeremias, or one of the prophets: that was all! Unconcern, on this vital point, marked the mass. This "greater than Solomon," both in wisdom and works, was ignored. He was despised and they esteemed Him not. Nevertheless, it was their Messiah whom they thus rejected. How blind, how culpable they!

Then it was that He asked of His disciples the question: "But whom say ye that I am?" He could surely count on some hearts which would respond to it, for there must ever, in days the darkest, be those in whose hearts God is working, for He never leaves Himself without witness; and accordingly Peter made answer: "Thou art the Christ [the Messiah] the Son of the living God."

But this rich and true confession was by no means the fruit of the natural mind. Such knowledge does not originate in the heart of man. It was communicated to Peter, said the Lord, by "My Father which is in heaven." It was necessarily a direct revelation.

But there it stands, in its eternal value, to command the faith of every one who professes the name of Christ. Let the words "the Son of the living God" carry their due weight with every believing heart and conscience, and call forth the adoration that is meet.

"Whom say ye that I am?" Not only Jesus of Nazareth; nor alone the Christ known to us on high, seated, as Man, on the throne of the Father, Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, but as "Son of the living God," over whom death had no power, nor could it hold Him. May this supreme glory of His infinitely glorious Person engage the attention of His saints increasingly. Let us remember that we live in a day when that Person is, in one way or another, disparaged.

The holiness of His humanity is denied on one hand, and the truth of His deity is assailed on the other; but, in this question and answer, "whom say ye that I the Son of man am," and "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," we have both facts stated as equally true — "the Son of man" and "the Son of God." Hence it becomes us to cherish both His perfect manhood and His essential deity. And it may be very fairly questioned if He can be worshipped aright, unless this relationship be owned. My soul, dost thou truly recognize in thy once dying Redeemer, who bought and washed thee from thy ten thousand sins in His blood, the veritable Son of God? If so, then prostrate thyself at His feet, and magnify, adore, and worship Him.

When on the Mount of the Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John were privileged to hear the voice from out of the cloud saying, "this is My beloved Son, hear Him." That voice Peter, never forgot: nay, "we have not followed cunningly devised fables," he wrote (in his second epistle) "when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His majesty." He received an indelible impress of the glory of our Lord as the beloved Son on the Mount, even though, in his written ministry, he treats more of "the Christ" than "the Son."

James early earned a martyr's crown (Acts 12.), so that we have no ministry from his pen: but the writings of John are replete with the moral glories of "the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father." And how we love those writings! How they enrich and call forth the adoration of the soul!

Then, if we refer to Paul, we find that his very first text in the Damascene synagogue, as soon as the scales had fallen from his eyes, was that "Jesus is the Son of God!"

This was the first note of his lovely song — the first tribute to the glory of Christ in his testimony. It formed the backbone of all the rest. Hence the extraordinary and Spirit-owned (as Spirit-given) power of his ministry. That ministry was manifold; it covered the Gospel as it had been made known, in a special way, to him; and then he writes of Jesus being "declared to be Son of God with power . . . by resurrection from the dead," so that not only the resurrection of our Lord, but His deity as well, give colour and character to the apostle's gospel (see Rom. 1: 4).

So, too, it covers his ministry of the Church; for in his Epistle to the Ephesians, in which he treats of the Church as the present vessel of the grace and purpose of God, he speaks of the gifts of the ascended Christ, as having for their object "the perfecting of the saints, the work of the ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4: 12, 13).

Here the knowledge of the Son of God is the acme of all spiritual attainment, and the grand object of the Spirit of God in the edification of the body of Christ. "Whom say ye that I am?" is still the great question for heart and conscience. That knowledge is clearly the deepest and most profound, as well as the initial, in the whole revelation of God: for, on the glory of His person the value of His atoning work depends. The issues for eternity, whether as regards glory or judgment, depend on the person and work of the Son of God.

Along with the knowledge of the Son is that of the Father, and this is "eternal life" in its full Christian or present aspect, even as we shall, when in glory with the Lord, enjoy it in absolute fulness for ever.

May the Spirit of God give us fresh unfoldings of the Son of God day by day.

A Word to the Weary

Let me quote the verse from which these words are taken: "The Lord God hath given Me the tongue of the learned [the instructed] that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary" (Isa. 50: 4).

1st. Who speaks the word in season!

Who is that "Me" who is instructed by the Lord God for a service so precious and so deeply needed?

It is He who (as the same passage states) asks the question: "Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? . . . I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering."

In His hand is all that power. He can redeem; He can deliver; He can darken the face of the sky; in His hand is omnipotence — a truly wonderful Person is He!

And yet He it is who is qualified to do a service so infinitesimal as to drop a word of comfort into the ear of the weary. What vast extremes are in His service!

He who covers the heavens can comfort a poor weary heart here below. And He does!

2nd. How did He acquire this ability?

How, in what school, did He receive this learning? How comes He to act in sympathy and to feel the sorrows of His afflicted people? The answer is given us in Hebrews 2 and 5. There we read that He "took part in flesh and blood"; He became incarnate; He stooped from Godhead glory into the fashion of Man; as man He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. He who had hitherto commanded, who "spake and it was done," now learns obedience in suffering, as each of the four divinely-given biographies of His perfect life makes known to us; it was in this school — that of weariness and weeping, of hunger and poverty, of contact with every phase of human misery and woe, the tears of the doubly bereft widow and the desolated home of Bethany, the painfully visible effects of sin and the groan of a convulsed creation — . in this familiar school and not in the unruffled dignities of heaven He learned the art, rare and precious, of sympathy and of speaking a word to the weary. His sympathy is the result of dearly-bought experience, and is, therefore, ever efficacious.

He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. "He was tempted in all [note the word] points like as we are, yet without sin" — i.e., sin wholly absent.

3rd. The word spoken is Seasonable.

His word to the weary is spoken, we read, "in season." That is, He knows the exact moment when to whisper into the wearied ear, and just when to support the breaking heart.

It was in a moment of physical crisis in my own career, that I learned the meaning of His rod and staff comforting me. I had, till then, attached the idea of support to that staff. Now, I discovered that there was also "comfort." So says the charming pastoral psalm, where we find the sheep drifting down through the valley, but, even there, comforted by the shepherd's rod and staff! Yes, but this makes the dreaded valley a very easy journey when you find that such comfort is yours in it, and that beyond its shadow is the House of the Lord for ever!

Christ's ministry is always seasonable, never out of season. It may not assume an audible form, as it oft-times did in days of old, as, for instance, to Abraham, Moses, the prophets, or to Paul, once and again, but in some sweet and suitable way by the Word, or otherwise — a psalm, a hymn, or a spiritual song — the patient service and comfort of the living Lord, is proved by the weary.

4th. Who are the weary?

Well, such a question is superfluous to-day. . . . Who is not weary?

"And they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah" (Jer. 51: 64) — a striking statement at the close of this significant prophecy, but not very dissimilar from the "groan" of Romans 8. Wearying and groaning are, did we only allow the fact, the chief features of humanity to-day. The frivolity of nature can only be accounted for by its insensibility. The awful fact is that "the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not," and this diabolic obfuscation of mind, on the part of all such, is the reason of this sad phenomenon. Did every one feel as he should that he "must give account of himself to God," how different would be his thoughts and habits! But "God is not in all his thoughts," and hence the trifling.

But not so is the weary. To him God is real, and needed, and obeyed, and loved. He follows in the blessed steps of his Master and Lord. He realizes the contradiction to God on all hands. He is oft-times weary, rightly so, and he it is who receives and enjoys "a word in season" from Him who, has power to redeem and to deliver, as well as to cover the heavens with blackness, or do what He will in the armies of heaven.

"Jesus the Son of God."

These words stand out bold and clear as a statement of the Spirit of God which allows no kind of qualification. They bind together the humanity and the deity of our Lord. They present, in blessed union, His lowly name as Man and His divine title as God.

Their setting is exquisite. We read in Hebrews 4: 14: "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, which is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession."

The enormous difficulty of maintaining the Christian profession, in power, is only too well known by the true believer. He has a profound sense of his own spiritual weakness and tendency to yield to the foe, so that he values, all the more, the care and support, the sympathy and succour of our Great High Priest, who hast left us in an adverse world, has passed through the heavens, where, none the less, He sustains us in the path of faith, and who comforts us in all the tribulation of our heavenward journey. He is possessed of all power. We are to make a constant use of the throne of grace, in order to receive, thence, the grace and mercy needed for each and every exigency and trial. We may connect the mercy with the name of Jesus, and the power with the Son of God.

A wonderful combination of words are these: "Jesus the Son of God"! It is not "Jesus the Saviour of sinners," nor "Jesus the Christ," nor "Jesus the Head of His body the church," but "Jesus the Son of God." He comes before us in Deity.

But this dignity had already been noted of Him in the first chapter of this epistle. There we read that "God has spoken to us by the Son" (in Son); that He is the brightness of His person; that He upholds all things; that He made expiation by Himself, and then sat down on high; that He receives the worship of angels; that He is saluted as God; that He created all things, and will, by and by, cause them to pass away, while He remains the same. He is God the Son as well as Son of God, Creator and Sustainer of all things. This prepares us for our Spirit-given phrase: "Jesus the Son of God."

How glorious His priesthood! How able is He to carry His people through, and how full of encouragement to them to hold fast their profession. He met their sins by expiation; He meets their infirmities by priesthood; but, whether in the work of expiation or in the execution of priesthood, it is in each case "Jesus the Son of God." For God He always was, and God and Man He ever remains.

I need hardly say, however, that this Epistle to the Hebrews is not the only scripture which, in definite terms, declares His deity. If, in an ordinary biography, the writer happened to state, but once, that his subject was a scion of nobility, the reader would unquestionably accord him that distinction; but if the writer repeated the same statement and gave, at the same time, varied and incidental proofs of it, all uncertainty would be removed from the mind of the reader.

Further, if other and separate biographers, who, on account of the distance of time could not possibly have written their different books together, stated the same fact, then, surely, there could be no room for disbelief. "At the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established."

First, in the very earliest chapter of Genesis we have an intimation of the plurality of the Persons in the Godhead. "Let us," we read, "make man in our image, after our likeness." The statement is significant even though we are not given anything beyond the fact of plurality. But, here and there in the Old Testament, which rather teaches the unity of the Godhead than its trinity, we discover the existence of those three divine Persons who are explicitly, and purposely, and fully revealed to us in the New Testament.

If we turn to Psalm 110, spoken "by the Holy Ghost" (Mark 12: 36), we find the words: "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand"; in Micah 5: 2: "A Ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been of old, from everlasting"; in Zechariah 13: 7: "My Shepherd . . . My fellow, saith the Lord of hosts."

In the pages of the New Testament the declaration is full. To acknowledge it is highest bliss; to deny it is fearful sin; only how necessary it is to apprehend the Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ, as indeed His manhood in its essential sinlessness, in a spirit of becoming reverence and lowly grace. Controversy thereon should be eschewed, and the simple and yet majestic truth accepted. Reason is beggared here. Revelation is worthy of the highest exercise of reason, and that is faith in what God has declared. For nothing is so rational as faith in God. "Jesus the Son of God" must be allowed to stand before the bowed and adoring heart, in all the dignity, glory, majesty, and deity, of His Person as "God manifest in flesh."

In the close of the Gospel by Matthew we have the formula of Christian baptism. It is to be in the name of "the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" — the Godhead in Trinity, and each Person is to receive equal honour in this initial rite. The dignity of Each is the same, as is the honour to be accorded. It will be remembered that, in the synoptic Gospels, the accounts of the baptism of Jesus are practically similar. "My beloved Son" is the salutation of the Father in each. In the Son the Father had found His pleasure. So in the Transfiguration, He was again spoken of as the beloved Son, and was to be heard as such. It is still "Jesus the Son of God."

The fourth Gospel introduces Him in deity — "The Word was God"! But the same Word "became flesh" — a brief, decisive statement of what we call the "Incarnation" — and, as such, He dwelt among us "full," thank God, "of grace and truth"; and, as "the only-begotten Son, which is [mark the word — it signifies subsisting there ever, and that as Son] in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." How complete! Who but the Son of that bosom could adequately declare or express the Father? None but He! And so, in John 10, He affirmed that He and the Father were one. In John 8. He pronounced the eternity of His existence in saying: "Before Abraham was I am." Later on, Thomas confessed Him as both Lord and God.

Passing on to Paul, once the inveterate hater of the name of Jesus, the very first thing he did after conversion was to preach in the synagogues: "Jesus, that He is the Son of God" (R.V., Acts 9: 20), and this initial text was only developed and emphasized during the course of his Christian ministry; for the Christ he ministered as Saviour, Lord, and Head of the church was also "the Son of God who loved him and gave Himself for him" — "God manifest in flesh" — "over all, God blessed for ever." His highest theme was the deity of Jesus.

Then Peter in his second epistle tells how he had been an eye-witness of the magnificence (is the word) of the Lord Jesus as seen on the holy mount, when he actually heard the voice of God the Father saying: "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Hence, to him, after such a vision, the glory of Christ, and His coming kingdom, was no "cunningly devised fable." It was a mighty and all-controlling fact.

Finally, John, in closing his general epistle, says: "We know that the Son of God is come . . . and we are in Him that is true. This is the true God and eternal life."

Thus the deity of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is abundantly confirmed throughout the length and breadth of the Word of God. Such is the Great High Priest of our profession.

Christ our Pattern

The Christian is enjoined to follow the steps of Christ. He is not commanded to speak as He did of whom it was said: "Never man spake like this man" (John 7: 46); nor to do the works of Him who said: "If I had not done among them the works that none other man did" (John 15: 24), for, both in words and works, He held a place absolutely pre-eminent. He was the truth, and all He said was infallibly true. He "went about doing good, for God was with Him," and miracles of mercy followed where He went.

The Christian is not commanded to do miracles, like his Lord, but he is exhorted to "follow His steps" (1 Peter 2: 21). This he is bound to do. It is his duty and pleasure to trace out his Master's footsteps and to place his own feet in them. This is the truest form of discipleship.

Let it be very clearly understood, however, that no one can imitate the Lord Jesus Christ until he is consciously reconciled to God on the ground of redemption. The imitation of Christ on the part of one who has never been "born again," nor, therefore, a child of God, is impossible. The attempt must be a total failure; and the more honest that attempt the greater will be the disappointment. It were a thousand times easier to paint the rainbow on canvas than for man, as such, to exhibit in his life the moral features of Christ.

No, a man must have not only new desires, but a new nature and a new power, that of the Spirit of God, who alone can so minister Christ to the renewed heart that it seeks His image and also conformity to it.

It is by the Spirit of the Lord that such an one is "changed into the same image from glory to glory" (2 Cor. 3: 18). And may I say that no change is so complete and exquisite as this.

Think, for instance, of a Saul of Tarsus — the chief sinner, changed into the image of the Lord Jesus!

Think of the same change being effected in any of us who have learned our natural loathsomeness — that we should bear that image — fully in the glory itself, but gradually and increasingly now while on our journey to it! What a wondrous power this supposes; but, just as surely as the Spirit of God dwells in the believer, so does this process of sanctification proceed, though assuredly not to the eye of the believer himself. Others can notice the progress of the Christian as he moves on "from glory to glory." He becomes more like his Pattern. Wonderful fact! Nor will the process cease until he shall be "conformed to the image of the Son, that He may be the first-born among many brethren." They shall remember Him who shall be the Chief of all.

"Christ also suffered for us" — there He stood alone, for none but He could take our place under the judgment due, nor exhaust its awful sentence, when He was "made sin for us"; but beside making atonement in death, "He left us an example that we should follow His steps." Here He is not alone. Not one of His loved and blood-bought people but should follow His steps.

Some may follow them more faithfully and closely than others, but He tells us that His "sheep hear His voice, that He knows them, and that they follow of This is the one distinguishing mark of all His sheep. They follow Him.

It is remarkable that the word "example" here, is found nowhere else. It means a "copy or underwriting." It is not the same as that of the Apostle when he charged the saints at Philippi to be followers together of him and "to mark them which walk, so as ye have us for an ensample"; nor again when he urged his son Timothy to be "an example of believers." In these cases it is a "type," but here it is a "copy." That is, our Lord Jesus Christ is the standard, and no lower one will do.

Can we, then, reach this standard here below? Certainly not; but still, "Every man that hath this hope in Him [the hope of being like Him when He shall appear] purifieth himself even as He is pure" (1 John 3: 3). Again, we have the universality of the process. "Every man" addresses himself to reach that perfect Standard.

Needless to say that He holds a place far beyond the reach of man. He is "the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5: 20); but here we are dealing with the standard of purification and the Pattern — the copy for our imitation. Men speak of high ideals; could any ideal exceed this?

And what are the steps we are to follow? They are to be traced from the time when, in the midst of the doctors, He said: "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?" to that when, that business perfectly completed, He cried: "It is finished," bowing His blessed head and giving up His Spirit to the hands of His Father.

What a study! What an example! Our passage in 1 Peter gives us a summary of the steps in four bold negative statements: —

1. "Who did no sin."

2. "Neither was guile found in His mouth."

3. "Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again."

4. "When He suffered He threatened not."

Mark, in these He left us an example; and how we are rebuked as we view Him absolutely clear of the failures to which, alas, we are all so prone.

And then, in deepest confidence, "He committed Himself to Him who judgeth righteously." If the other statements presented His life negatively this gives us the constant repose of His soul in a positive way. His vindication was of God. Are we in the habit of making this committal? We gain a victory when we do so; for there the battle ends. His whole life was submission, hearty and unquestioning, to the will of the Father. This was His yoke. It was easy. And when we, through grace, bow unmurmuringly to that will, we, too, prove the yoke to be easy and the burden light.

But there must be reality. The headline must be copied, and the example imitated. The most beautiful (only beautiful) steps have been imprinted on this more than desert waste, by the holy and sacred feet of the Son of God, leaving behind them the plainly visible signs of the one path that is pleasing to God, and that which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, each and every child of His should pursue.

"The Lord is Himself gone before,

He has marked out the path that we tread.

It's as sure as the love we adore,

We have nothing to fear nor to dread.

"There is but that one in the waste

Which His footsteps have marked as His own,

And we follow in diligent haste

To the place where He's put on His crown."

Yes, He has gone on high. We behold with unveiled face His glory there. Every ray of it is lovely; it wins the heart; it separates from earth; it changes him who beholds into "the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord." The transformation is marvellous but divinely simple. The Potter fashions the vessel as it seems good to Him, and the skill of the Potter is seen in His work.

Beloved, may we set our hearts on acquiring a much greater likeness to the Lord Jesus Christ who is our Pattern as well as our most precious Saviour.

The Cross of Christ

The cross of Christ is, beyond all comparison, the most wonderful fact in the universe — the most beautiful in its display of perfect love, but the most hideous in its expression of human enmity and wickedness. It is the meeting-place of the grace of God and the guilt of man. There these two opposing forces came into direct collision. There we see God and there we see man, fallen man. There we see, not only the love of God to man, but we learn His justice in dealing with evil — His righteousness in the treatment of the sin that could not have otherwise been atoned for, but in the death, under divine judgment, of the holy, spotless Son of God — the willing victim of Calvary.

Let it be seen that, in order to vindicate His character, and to clear His throne of the possible charge of complicity with sin, it was necessary that God should deal with that awful question in a way so judicial that it might be settled, finally and definitely, to the silencing of every accusing voice for ever. The flood had only done so in measure, loud though its protest was. The victims slain on Jewish altars, though types of a greater sacrifice, "could never put away sin."

Nay, a Victim of infinite value alone could meet the infinite demerit of sin, "The Son of man must [note the word] be lifted up." The payment must equal the debt, and the amends must be commensurate with the penalty. Who can pay the penalty? Neither man nor angel! The Son of God alone!

Now, mark, if infinite demerit demands an infinite substitution, it follows that the substitution refused — that is, Christ rejected, then infinite — that is, eternal judgment is the necessary alternative. Terrible fact!

It is either acceptance by faith of the substitutionary death of the Son of God, and full salvation; or the heartless rejection of Him and eternal punishment — one or other. Thank God that "the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth from all sin"; but to tread that blood under foot is to incur a doom sorer than "death without mercy." Who can face such a doom? But, in the cross, God's righteousness is declared as fully in the equitable justification of the believer, as is shall be in the condemnation of the sinner.

He is "just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." Hence the glorious moral value of that wondrous cross! Unless its voice be heard and understood the soul can never really know God. Then, why is the cross so proudly shunned, or why should it be a stumbling block? Just because it is the fullest exposure of man. It condemns him root and branch. It shows that his very "righteousnesses are as filthy rags," and that the whole world is running in opposition to God, saying by its triple condemnation of Christ, "Crucify Him," "crucify Him," spite of its polished letters in "Hebrew, Greek and Latin." Therefore your attitude towards the cross determines your relation toward God. You cannot esteem the cross if you love that which it condemns. If you "love the world you are an enemy of God."

But this thorough exposure of man in his lost condition and hatred of God is only one aspect of the cross of Christ. The other is God's perfect way, in purest grace, of meeting the whole question of sin, wherever its poison may have spread, and of carrying blessing to man in his deepest guilt. Divine and glorious solution!

God incarnate becomes the willing victim in order to expiate sin by being "made a curse for us"! Could any conception be more marvellous? And so we read in Colossians 1 that it is by "the blood of His cross" that all things in heaven and on earth (but only there) are to be reconciled; and thus, He, whose precious blood was shed thereon, shall be seen as "the Lamb of God" who taketh away, in its vast and vile entirety, "the sin of the world."

No miracle like the cross of Christ! Then, if the cross be of such value to God, what is it to His children? Can anything surpass its worth? They who witnessed it "smote their breasts." The Roman centurion exclaimed: "Truly this man was the Son of God." The sweet story of Calvary has captivated the hearts of myriads, and turned them from sin and Satan to God and life eternal; while the courts of heaven re-echo the notes of praise for ever. There is no fascination like this wondrous cross. The world may bewitch, and by its allurements enslave its votaries, but: —

In thy cross I saw a beauty

Far outshining all I knew,

There Thy love's surpassing lustre

Won my heart, and bound me too.

Now, oh! Lord my heart is spell-bound,

Charms and fascinates my gaze.

The Risen Lord

"Why seek ye the living among the dead?" — Luke 24: 5.

There they stood at the edge of the empty sepulchre — a group of true-hearted but perplexed and disconsolate women!

They had brought, at early morn, ere the busy world was astir, their already prepared spices and ointments.

But the tomb where the body of their Lord had been laid was empty; hence their bewilderment.

They had seen Him in death, and had marked "how His body was laid." But what now? That body was gone — how, where?

As they were much perplexed thereabout, two men stood by them in shining garments, who said to them, "Why seek ye Him that liveth among the dead?" (Luke 24: 5, marg.).

"Him that liveth"! What could that mean to these downcast women? He whom they sought was not there, but was risen! The sepulchre was empty; the spices and ointments were useless; but if He were alive again, the power of death had been broken, together with all that could signify.

A living, risen Christ — that is the starting-post of vital Christianity! Christ risen from the dead, having annulled the power of death and the grave, having broken the power of Satan and made atonement for sin — that is its mighty foundation!

"He is risen" — that is our paean of victory! "Him that liveth" — that is our everlasting strength and consolation!

Now see the immediate effect on these very women. We read that "they came and held him by the feet and worshipped Him" (Matt. 28: 9). Their perplexity gave place to worship, and their desolate hearts were filled with gladness.

"Rabboni," cried the weeping Mary, when she heard Him call her by name.

"My Lord and my God," said the unbelieving Thomas, when generously invited to thrust his hand into the spear-riven side.

"The disciples," too "were glad when they saw the Lord" (see John 20).

Oh! it was the dawn of a new day, the beginning of a new creation, the closing up of types and shadows, the presence of the glorious Antitype in actual resurrection form, visible, tangible, accessible, gracious as of old, and exactly "the same" as "yesterday," when He wept and suffered and sympathized, and as, thank God, He will be "for ever." The blessed Leader of Salvation had been made perfect — thoroughly fitted and qualified by suffering — for His new place as such.

See the effect on Stephen, the lovely protomartyr of Christianity. He was full of the Holy Ghost who had been sent down by the living, risen Christ after His ascension to heaven, and consequently, in the power of this glorious indwelling Spirit, he cried: "I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God"! (Acts 7).

What a vision! But how thoroughly in order.

We know the sequel; he was stoned to death, but passed away in deepest peace, saying, like Him on whose face he was gazing, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." He "fell asleep" like a wearied child rocked in its cradle. Death was, as we said, annulled, shorn of its sting and terror. See the effect on John in Revelation 1. He had fallen prostrate in the visible presence of the Son of Man, as He walked, judicially, amid the seven golden candlesticks. There he lay, but on him was laid a gentle hand, while a well-known voice said: "Fear not, I am He that liveth and became dead, and behold I am alive for evermore"!

Enough; fear fled, the seer arose, the apocalypse followed full of terror to the world, full of comfort to the true and faithful church.

It is still the risen, living, and coming Christ.

Notice, "Because I live, ye shall live also," are His precious words in John 14. With Him we are "in safeguard," indeed, as David told one of his trembling followers.

As certainly as He lives on the other side of death, so shall each and all of His beloved and believing people. For He is their life. Hence we read in Hebrews 7: 25: "He ever liveth to make intercession for us." Such is the present activity of His life in glory — our High Priest and Intercessor.

"He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep."

Oh! there is succour, sympathy, care, consideration, love in that tender heart up there on the throne! He has felt our pangs; He has shed our tears; He has known our sorrows; He was made like us in all things but sin; He calls us His brethren. He is the star and sun of the Christian life!

A creed, a rule, a form, a system, a kingdom, a heaven! Oh, more, infinitely more is our living, loving, tender, holy, faithful Lord! It is everlasting life!

No marvel that Paul could write of and crave for "the surpassingness of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord." It surpasses and eclipses all beside.

This knowledge is no fable, nor myth, nor imagination.

The Christ of God and of Christianity is a living Person — truly God and truly Man — the Son of the Father, the Redeemer of men, the risen, glorified Lord and Head of the church, who appeared once to put away sin by His own sacrifice, who is coming shortly to call His own to be for ever with Him in the Father's house — those whom He loves to the end, and who will appear again in judgment and power and glory.

Beloved, it is ours to-day, during His rejection, to learn His personal worth — to set our hearts on this one thing, so that we may bear the stamp of Christ upon us in the reproduction, in our poor frail bodies, of His beautiful life of love and holiness. This is the truest fruitfulness and greatest joy. Let us bathe our souls in the pure waters of John 14, 15, and 16, until we can better appreciate John 17.

"Lord Jesus, make Thyself to me,

A living, bright reality."

Christ's Priesthood

"We have not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." — Hebrews 4: 15.

It is only in the Epistle to the Hebrews that Christ is definitely spoken of as Priest — "the High Priest of our profession;" but, if intercession belong to that office, as it surely does, we read in Romans 8: 34 "It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."

Mark, His intercession is His present exercise in heaven, as the result of His death and resurrection. These, completed to the glory of God and the settled peace before Him of all who believe (in present justification and filial relationship), furnish the ground of this precious intercession — of Priesthood.

By no means does intercession add to our security as believers. That is assured already; nor does it move the heart of God toward us, as though we needed reconciliation. "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Rom. 5: 10). The death of the Son of God, sent of the Father in infinite love, effected our complete reconciliation; the life of that Son, in present glory and power, secures our salvation from every menace.

We start our Christian course as reconciled, and made secure for ever, by that which has been done for us in the death and resurrection of the blessed Lord; but we have to pursue that course in conscious weakness and dependence. We need an arm on which to lean and a heart as faithful as it is kind in which to confide day by day.

This we have fully in our great high Priest. His intercession is active for us before God; and His succour and sympathy are continually realized by His tried and tempted people here below.

If the Spirit makes intercession in us with groanings which cannot be uttered, so does our faithful Lord intercede for us on high.

Little we know how indebted we are for those intercessions!

Little did Peter appreciate that his Master was praying for him, so that, when the temptation came, his faith should not fail; or how that intercession was answered when, having failed, he "wept bitterly." His faith, thus, was kept in life, though, in order to learn his lack of dependence, he himself was allowed shewed to fail.

"If any man sin," we read in 1 John 2, "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

It is advocacy with "the Father" because relationship is supposed, and confession is made to the Father on the part of the offending child, so that his offence is forgiven, and he is "cleansed from all unrighteousness." Advocacy is therefore subsequent to intercession. This is for sustainment, that is for restoration, so that communion may be full and unclouded. Advocacy is distinct from intercession, which properly has to say not to sin or failure, but to infirmity and need.

Hence we are told to "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy [pity] and find grace for timely help" (Heb. 4: 16). A more lovely expression could not be found for the tried and needy pilgrim than "the throne of grace." It signifies the omnipotence of compassion — pity all powerful!

The words are derived, I gather, from chapters 1 and 2. In Hebrews 1, having made expiation, Christ sits down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; while in Hebrews 2, He is presented as a merciful and faithful high Priest. Hence we may speak of a mercy that is majestic, and of grace enthroned! And all this for those who feel their own personal inability for one step of the way.

Is not such living compassion predicated in John 13-17? We have the feet washed in 13; "another Comforter" in John 14; slavery exchanged for friendship in John 15; "good cheer" in face of a hostile world in John 16; and the most wonderful intercession in John 17. Surely we may discover all this in the present priesthood of our Lord. And were not His "learning obedience" when here below, His "strong crying and tears," and His death itself His qualifications for that office? Did He not reach perfection by the things He suffered? He alone can best sympathize who has passed through the sorrow; and so we read of His being a "Man of sorrows" before we read of His soul being made "an offering for sin" (Isa. 53). His perfect life as Man preceded His expiatory death on the cross. Now He is highly exalted. "We have such an high Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens" (Heb. 8: 1). Nor did He glorify Himself to be made an high Priest. That He did not, but the title lay in the unique dignity of His person: "He that said unto Him, Thou art My Son, to-day have I begotten Thee," said also, "Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec" (Heb. 5: 5, 6). His title lay in His personal glory as Son of God; His qualifications lay in the sore ordeal of His perfect life of sorrow among those who had proved the bitterness of the results of sin in its myriad forms. He was apart from sin, but not from tears, nor hunger, nor thirst, nor weariness. He went into death itself to complete His path of perfect obedience, and, at the same time, to atone for sin, and to overcome all the adverse power of Satan.

He is free now to exercise, in the place of divine power, the functions of a merciful and faithful high Priest toward all who come unto God by Him. He ever liveth to intercede for them, and is able to save them to the uttermost — for ever!

All thanks and glory to Him!

"The Coming of the Lord draweth nigh."

Now that the church is rapidly nearing the Home-call and the longed-for moment, when the Lord will fulfill His promise of coming again and receiving us to Himself, so that where He is we may be also, does it not become us to raise our thoughts and enlarge our expectations in view of the mighty translation that must be so near at hand?

"Hope deferred," we read, "maketh the heart sick," and there is more than the possibility of that sickness so depressing the spirit that hands begin to hang down, and knees to become feeble.

Not, however, that the Lord delayeth His coming; for, what seems long to us is not so to Him, to whom a thousand years are only a day; but as time is the great test of endurance, so, as weary years drag on, we become impatient and ready to droop. So it was with Israel in Egypt when the deliverance expected at the hand of Moses failed to reach the suffering people as quickly as they had hoped. But the mills of God, in grinding slowly, did their work on Pharaoh in His own good time, if not in that of Israel.

So, again, when the people had lost sight of their leader when receiving the "lively oracles" on the fiery mount, becoming impatient, prepared to return to Egypt, saying, "As for this Moses we wot not what is become of him," the sickness of deferred hope had stricken them.

For a like impatience of spirit, King Saul forfeited his crown.

The loss of patience and of hope is the sign of coming collapse; and against such a thing we, to-day, must contend.

Never was a day so truly full of hope; never was the coming of the Lord so near; never, throughout these dreary centuries, was there a time when, with yearning hearts turned heavenward, the church of God, as a concrete whole, should be looking thence for the Saviour — the longed-for Deliverer — to accomplish, in a moment, that glorious translation, according to the power (a wonderful power indeed) whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself (Phil. 3).

Let our earnest gaze be heavenward while our hearts, more than ever, await their divinely implanted craving of seeing Him face to face.

"How will our eyes to see His face delight,

Whose love has cheered us thro' the darksome night."

Oh! but the night has been dark and drear, and the road steep and long, and the bride of His heart is weary and travel-stained! She feels His absence; she longs for Himself; she finds no home here below; she pants for the ineffable joys of the Father's House — its rest, its comfort, its love and light; its full unison of heart and hand; its sacred circle undivided for ever; its immunity from every form of evil, its unfettered enjoyment of full spiritual power in such worship as shall be to the glory of the Father and the Son for ever!

Gladsome prospect!

But is the longing all on her side? No, no, most surely not. It is stronger far on His.

Consider His closing words to her as He says, "I am the bright and Morning Star" herald of day and of Home!

A star so long hidden from view by the shades of night, breaks at length in the distant sky to cheer the weary watcher and tell him that his vigil is over. That star is the star of morning! The night and its testing is past; no need for patience and hope now

"The eye at last beholdeth

What the heart hath loved so long."

The expectation is gratified; the heart is at rest. And that star calls Himself a "bright" star!

But why "bright"?

Just in order to place Himself in contrast with the signal failure of that profession of His holy name which has, alas, sunk down from its pristine power and separation to God (as we see in the Acts of the Apostles) to a condition so nauseous that it has to be utterly ejected, as we read in the address to Laodicea.

Whilst He remains "bright," the profession has dropped into fearful moral pollutions until He can only describe it as wretched, blind, and naked.

To this profession He is nothing but the Judge, and it is doubly guilty before Him; but to the bride He appears, at the soon coming close of her long and tremulous vigil, as the Star of the Morning, as bright and glorious and unchanged as ever!

How bright her prospect; how bright her hope; how bright the Star of that hope!

To Him "the Spirit and the bride say 'come.'" And our hope, so long deferred, will, very soon, give place to sight, and our feeble faith to glad fruition.

Meanwhile, as the shore is nearing, and the perils of the voyage are almost over, may we say the one to the other, "Be of good cheer, for I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me."

"Let not your heart be troubled . . . I will come again."

The Bridegroom

"He that hath the bride is the bridegroom" (John 3: 29).

The Bridegroom's possession of the bride is absolute and exclusive, for the relationship is inviolate, none may interfere.

Other ideas may present themselves, those of fitness and affection, but this is the chief. The bride is the absolute and inalienable property and possession of the bridegroom. And such possession carries its own peculiar joy to his heart. He sees in her an helpmeet for himself, his counterpart, his intelligent and loving co-partner who can not only share his joys and sorrows, but who feels that they are her own. Union produces identification, there is perfect community of interest, there is full reciprocity of wish and action, and that on account of the existing union between the two.

Now, Christ is presented, amid other relations, as the Bridegroom, and the church — not the individual saint — is spoken of as His bride, His wife. Given to Him of the Father, purchased by His precious blood, and the object of His special affection, she is His peculiar property, and belongs to Him alone. She is, par excellence "His own." He loves her to the end. As in the case of ordinary marriage a man shall leave his father and mother, the otherwise strongest of links, and shall cleave unto his wife. For this is the original institution as ordained by the Creator, and intended by Him to be maintained in all the sacredness of the tie. It is under His authority as Creator, and is to be disregarded at the peril of the offender. He shall "cleave unto his wife." This was the divine decree in the brief day of innocence, when discord was unknown; it is the decree of God to-day, when sin, alas! has created such a host of difficulties, but when, at the same time, grace is well able to make the tie as strong and tender as at first. Oh how admirably does Christ make good His part in this mystic union. How true and tender, how patient and faithful is He!

Now, as to the reality of this relationship let us look first at Matthew 22. There we read of a certain King who made a marriage for His Son, and who sent forth His servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding. This is, no doubt, the gospel-call. The servants are sent out to invite to a wedding. They share in the joy of the King and of His Son. They are in that exquisite secret. They have before them not only the happiness of the guests, but they have the gladness of the Bridegroom. He is a poor evangelist (it may be said in passing) who has only the good of the sinner before him. To have that is well, but to have the joy of Christ in His coming nuptial day is far better. Let us realize the value of souls increasingly, but let us also have that day clearly in view, and think of the pleasure that the Son shall have when He shall survey His fair and glorious bride "unblemished in His sight." This is a wondrous stimulus to the servant in his oft-weary labour, viz., that he can beget such joy to his Lord. The grand object of the gospel should fill his heart with its infinite gratification to Christ.

Then in Matthew 25 we have the "midnight cry" which awakens all the sleepers, wise and foolish alike, and leads, consequently, to the definite and final separation of the two companies from each other. That cry is, "Behold the Bridegroom." It implies His advent no doubt, but attention is drawn, not so much to that, as to Himself — the one commanding theme of the Spirit of God.

Of the bride nothing is said here, for all interest centres in the Bridegroom, and it is the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whatsoever character or glory, that produces the greatest effect and leaves the deepest impression.

Elsewhere it is, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world;" or only, "Behold the Lamb of God;" or again, "Behold the Man." Here it is, "Behold the Bridegroom!" And at length He comes, and they that are ready go in with Him to the marriage — to the moment of His joy — and the door is shut. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!"

Now let us learn from 2 Corinthians 11 the sanctifying power of this truth: "I am jealous over you," says the Apostle Paul, "with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."

This beautiful simile is in keeping with all that has preceded. Paul had the grand design of the gospel before him — the marriage of the King's Son. His consuming desire was to present the church all pure and chaste, detached in heart and life from the snares of Satan and the power of evil, to Christ, as to "one husband." He laboured for fidelity on her part to the rightful claims of this one Husband that she might respond, in all her ways, creditably to such a relationship.

Could any appeal be more affecting? He saw the seductions around, and he pleaded for the exercise of those sacred affections which should ever burn in the bosom of the faithful bride, and express themselves in her conduct.

Then Ephesians 5: 27-32 gives us the result in the presentation to Himself of that church which Christ not only gave Himself for, but which He also sanctified and cleansed, with such infinite patience all her journey through, that she is seen at last "glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish." It is the bride that is here depicted. She is seen to be the product of the work of Christ from the cross right on to the day of presentation. To Him she owes all her beauty.

We pass on to Revelation 19: 7-8-9, to "the marriage of the Lamb" — the consummation of all! "His wife," we read, "hath made herself ready; and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints." She is credited with such, and is granted thus to be arrayed — pure and bright, and made ready for the nuptial day. The joy on each side is complete.

Then a thousand years pass away, and she is seen in the figure of a city (Rev. 21: 2-24), descending out of heaven from God, but still prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Time leaves no scar; the wrinkle once effaced, never returns; the bridal beauty remains. The city is resplendent, the glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Defilement is excluded for evermore. Glorious prospect!

Arise, Thou bright Morning Star, bright Herald of the day, and touch the chord which will cause "the Spirit and the bride" to say, in deep and rich union, "Come" to Thyself, the longed-for heavenly Bridegroom — Thou "conspicuous among myriads" — Thou "altogether lovely" who hast won the affections of these myriads by a love which, for them, has passed through death's dark waters and sin's heavy judgment, and which lives on to-day and for ever; nor shall it rest until Thy blood-bought bride is with thee in eternal glory. Again, "Even so come, Lord Jesus."

"From the dateless timeless periods,

He has loved us without cause,

And for all His blood-bought myriads

His is love that knows no pause.

Matchless Lover!

Changeless as the eternal laws."

The Coming King

We find in Scripture that God deigned frequently to reach the attention of people by means of dreams. Many instances could be adduced. Now, however, we have in the Scriptures the full unfolding of His mind, so that dreams, having that for their object, are unnecessary. There is enough in the Book of God to give complete intelligence to every willing heart as to all that is connected with our spiritual well-being for time and eternity, as well, surely, as to very much more than our personal well-being.

If people only knew the value of the Bible, they would prize it much more.

A mighty king of Chaldea, Nebuchadnezzar by name, had a wonderful dream. He saw, in vision, an image — great, excellent, terrible! It stood before him. Its head was fine gold; its breast and arms were of silver; its belly and thighs of brass; its legs of iron, and its feet part of iron and part of clay!

There it stood — silent, mysterious, significant!

Such a statue, composed of material so heterogeneous, had never been unveiled to mortal vision before.

No ordinary dream this, and none of the wise men of Babylon could relieve the affrighted monarch of the terror of that dream.

God had sent it, and God alone could explain it to him.

He who sent the dream fitted and sent the man to give the explanation.

Daniel, the devoted, godly captive, was entrusted with the dream and the key. Giving all credit to God, he told the king the wonderful secret — a secret of the ages!

Would that the politicians, and the statesmen, and the rulers of to-day would attend to the disclosure of this ancient dream!

An image of gold, silver, brass, iron and clay: these are four kingdoms, coming in succession — from the gold of that day to the incoherent iron and clay of our own. It is easy to see them — Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome — the last being protracted, and its influence being felt universally to-day.

There stood that image, whose form was terrible, containing such elements of wealth and power, such stores of gold and of iron! How puissant, how resistless! No wonder the king was troubled, or that "his sleep brake from him" (Dan. 2: 1).

Such a problem must be worked out. But, notice most carefully, we read: "Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet . . . and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone which smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth" (Dan. 2: 34-35).

That was the greatest wonder of all! What could this mysterious stone, cut out without hands, be?

The image was smitten, ground to powder, and displaced by the stone. Marvellous stone! It becomes a mountain and fills the whole earth! The chaff of the threshing-floor is replaced by the stone which smote the image.

Yes, ye politicians, and statesmen, and empire-makers, who are engaged in tasks so enormous and so complex, and for which ye are sacrificing time, talent, brain, muscle, fame, and fortune, see ye not that ye are but building together that which shall become the chaff of the summer threshing-floors, while there is suspended overhead the Stone which is bound to pulverize your gigantic labours and bring them all to dust?

Mark: — "In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: . . . but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever" (Dan. 2: 44).

When?

When the kingdom in mystery, as known to-day, shall give place to the kingdom in might — then!

To-day the kingdom of God is in moral and spiritual power; soon it will be in visible actuality.

To-day the church awaits her Lord for the meeting in the air at His coming. Thereafter the Stone shall fall, and grind, and crush to powder, as, like a mountain, it fills the whole earth, and "the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ" (Rev. 11: 15).

He is wise who devotes his attention, not to "the chaff of the threshing-floor," but to the Stone, and the kingdom, and the King. For, as surely as "the gold" of Babylon has passed away and its place can hardly be discovered, so shall "the iron and the clay" of the present moment be dissolved as well. These kingdoms are evanescent, God's kingdom shall stand for ever.

The King, hidden to-day in heaven because of His rejection and death here, is made known now in richest grace as Son of God and Saviour, Advocate and Great High Priest, Head too of His body the church, but soon to appear with her in glory; and then, as the Stone cut out without hands, but introduced and established by the power of God, to reign in absolute monarchy and in perfect wisdom, power, and righteousness.

Such a King and such a kingdom have never yet been known; but, as certainly as "the chaff of the threshing-floors "shall be swept away, so shall this mighty Stone fill the whole earth and "stand for ever."

King of Kings

"King of kings" and "Lord of lords" —

O how rich these glorious words!

Titles high and boundless fame

Now enhance the Saviour's name.

Him who once was crowned with thorn,

Crowns of glory now adorn;

Jesus sits upon the throne,

Hosts His triumph gladly own!

Sweet it is to see Him there,

Centre of the glory fair,

Sweet our highest praise to bring,

Bow before the heavenly King!

Now within the Father's house,

There we know Him and rejoice;

Glad that He, e'en now, should share

All the Father's glory there.

Soon will He appear again,

Then His saints with Him shall reign.

Echo far the glorious words,

"King of kings" and "Lord of lords."

"My Glory"

John 17 stands alone. It is the language of the Son as He addresses the Father on His own behalf and on that of the apostles and those who should believe on Him through their word. None but He, the Son of God, and both Shepherd and Advocate, could have breathed such a prayer. It was in no sense a pattern or model for the use of others, as was that which He gave to His disciples on an earlier day when He said to them, "After this manner pray ye."

There is no such injunction here, nor could be. It is the language of a faithful steward who recounts His work as done and well done. "I have finished," He says, "the work which Thou gavest me to do," speaking in anticipation of the moment, so near at hand, when He should loudly and triumphantly cry, "It is finished." On this ground He claims restoration to the glory which He had with the Father before the world was — a glory which He had never forfeited, a place which He had left in order to glorify God on earth in perfect manhood. He justly claims reinstatement in that place and in that glory which He had never dishonoured during His period of suffering here below. The defilement of earth had not affected Him. The water rises pure as ever to its level in the heavens.

Who but He could speak after this fashion? The prayer is therefore peculiarly His own. How worthy of our deepest meditation! What a privilege that we should be permitted to hear its sacred accents and to listen to the intercourse which passed between the Son and the Father at such a moment. Of the twenty-six verses of our chapter He spends but five on Himself; then follows eighteen which are occupied with the good of others, expressing as they do the most intense solicitude for their preservation from the evil of that world which He was about to leave, but wherein they were purposely left to fill His place in testimony and to exhibit the very unity of life and nature that existed between Himself and the Father. These verses, too, should be our constant and prayerful study. They will greatly enhance our appreciation of the Father — the holiness of His name, the sense of His preserving care, the blessedness of our relation to Him as children, and also the character of the world through which we are passing, its essential evil, its hatred of the Son, its ignorance of the Father, its absolute and hopeless alienation, even though grace may work in it, from all that is of the Father. How a clear sense of all this would, and should, draw together in holy separation from it those who love the Father and belong to the Son as given Him of that Father! Oh! for a deep realization of this new life, its meaning, the blessedness of the links that bind all the precious children of God together in relation with each other and the Father and the Son I What a conception! What a fact, and what a testimony! All will be gloriously accomplished ere long; and in the visible and indefectible display of this divine unity the world, so incredulous to-day, shall yet know that the Father sent the Son, and that, wondrous to say, He loved us (even us) as He loved the Son!

These eighteen verses — with all their wealth of interest, and their more than prayers for the preservation and unity of all His believing people — over, the blessed Lord, the Son loved of the Father — observe, "before the foundation of the world," and able, assuredly, on the ground of such a love so strong, so eternal — may well assert, in verse 24, His will as to those very people. Given of the Father, and purchased by His own precious blood, He may surely affirm His title to them. He may demand His personal gratification as to, first, their being with Him, where He is; and, second, that they should behold His glory — the glory given Him of the Father.

Just as a bridegroom would find pleasure in conducting his bride through their common home and in pointing out to her his varied possessions, so now the desire of the Lord is that those who had seen and shared His sorrows and who had, like Himself, been refused by the world should behold His glory. How great the difference! We have seen His cross, now we are to behold His crown!

That they may behold my glory! Not now the "moral glory" of chapter 1. — that of an only-begotten Son with a Father, for this had been beheld, as we know; not now that of the Mount when He received from the Father honour and glory, for this, too, had been witnessed, but the glory given to Him as the result of His atoning death and suffering, a glory millennial indeed, but surely more extended than that, just as the effects of Calvary extend infinitely beyond the confines of time or the sceptre of the Messiah.

Nay, He seeks, and how rightly, His own gratification in the full and unreserved exhibition to "His own" of the glory which for ever shall be His God-given compensation for His anguish and agony, His obedience unto death, the death of the cross, here below. How richly deserved! "Father, I will," He says — it is no prayer, but the assertion of the same will, which in a few moments, was to be set aside for that of the Father and the necessity of the cross, when He prayed in the shades of the garden: "Not my will but Thine be done" — here He wills that those given Him of the Father may be with Him where He is, and why? "That they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me." Yes, His gratification indeed, and as truly ours — mutual, eternal! It is His longed-for prospect and ours! And so soon, please God, to be realized! The "will" of verse 24 exceeds prayer, or petition, or demand. It is a claim. Demands had preceded; this, fully in accordance with the good pleasure of the Father, is a righteous title to those who are "His own" on the basis of everlasting love. The result is sure.

Verse 24 stands by itself. The two which follow are a beautiful summing up of the whole; the world is seen in its awful moral distance; the Father and Son are viewed in fullest intimacy, and the Father's name revealed perfectly to the highly favoured company which knows and possesses the love of the Father and the indwelling of the Son. Wondrous grace indeed. Oh 1 for hearts to worship and adore!

Praise

"The race of God's anointed priests

Shall never pass away.

Before His glorious face they stand,

And serve Him night and day."

A truer stanza was never penned. It was written some three hundred years ago; if true then it is true to-day.

The business of the priest is, first and foremost, to praise. He may have other sacred occupations, but praise is the chief.

"God inhabiteth the praises of Israel" (as we read in Ps. 22: 3). Praise is His becoming environment. "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, they will be still praising thee" (Ps. 84: 4). Praise is their delightful and constant employment.

When a tribe was chosen to lead Israel across the desert, from sea to river, Judah was selected, and Judah means "praise." Alas that the harpers failed in their song!

Praise was the paean of Jehoshaphat ere he fought his battle.

Stones would cry out if praise were restrained.

Prison walls only elicited praises when Christ's priests were, for His sake, placed in the stocks.

"Worthy is the Lamb" is the praise that reverberates throughout the wide vault of heaven. All is praise.

No, this race is immortal. It survives time with its thorns and hindrances, it shall continue for ever. It shall never pass away.

As surely as God has given His Spirit to a single soul — no matter when, or in what day or dispensation — that soul is hereby bound to sing His praise.

That Spirit is the pledged proof of blessing, and how can anyone be blessed without, subsequently, giving thanks and praise to the Blesser.

No doubt the fuller the light the deeper also the praise. The early notes of Ephesians 1. are a great advance on anything we find in the Old Testament; but, whether Old Testament or New, praise is the very life of the saint. Who then are God's "anointed priests"? Are they a special and distinctive class? Are they marked off from others by any external attire — anything that places them in a caste peculiar to themselves?

What is the anointing, the consecration, whereby their priesthood is assured? It is the reception of the Spirit of God. All who can truly cry "Abba Father," who can thus consciously address God, these are anointed; they have received His Spirit, and this is true of every child of His — every Christian to-day. They are a "royal priesthood" so that they should show forth the praises of Him who hath called them out of darkness into His marvellous light. The Christian community, the whole blood-bought family of God — the entire church of Christ, should be marked and distinguished by this grand special feature that, here and now, they show forth praise for the grace bestowed on them.

The apprehensions of all may differ, gifts may be diverse, but the one thing that declares the anointing is praise. That which God has done for His saints calls for their praise. Look at the Book of Psalms and see how it ends with a long, loud, lovely Hallelujah — a grand outburst of praise on the part of His redeemed and delivered people.

Quite true praise is not worship, but it is more than prayer and more too than thanksgiving.

We utter in prayer our wants, we give thanks for the gifts of God — His mercies and goodness; we praise Him for that which He has done, is doing and will do for our blessing — all this is in language articulate and audible, possibly, to the intelligence of men; but worship being the absorption of the soul in its glorious Object — the Father and the Son, may be beyond all possible expression. "The elders fell down and worshipped Him that liveth for ever and ever" (Rev. 5: 14). What they said (if anything) we are not told.

Such worship! How little do we understand it! What a terra incognita it is to the majority of the children of God! But what a field for our increased apprehension, ere we find ourselves in the Father's House on high where our absorption in God fully revealed — Father, Son and Spirit — shall be eternal and complete.

Praise, on the other hand, as the true and simple acknowledgment of our being placed already in His "marvellous light" is the becoming language of every saint of His to-day.

But may it be cultivated diligently. May we charge our sluggish, selfish, grovelling hearts to live more in the bright, blessed region of praise to our God and Father as belonging to that "race of priests" which shall never pass away.

"Whoso offered praise glorifieth Me" (Ps. 5o. 23).

Bridal Affection and Brotherly Love

There never was a time when the affections of the church toward the Lord, as Bridegroom, should be more earnestly and diligently cultivated than the present moment.

His coming is drawing, we believe and hope, very near. With a deepening desire "the Spirit and the bride say, Come," as the day of union approaches. The bride bids Him welcome, as moved to do so by the animating Spirit to whom is known the mind of the Bridegroom. The desire is reciprocal; and if so, how fervently should the affections of the bride flow out to Him who not only loved her and gave Himself for her, but who shall presently come for her in person, and take her to be with Himself where He is for ever — "a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5: 27).

Could anything be more seemly than such affection? Was it not departure from "first love" that originated the gradual fall of the church from days of pristine devotedness and zeal to the present state of Laodicean luke-warmness, worldliness, and widespread infidelity? And shall we not seek, at least individually, a return to that early love for our Lord Himself which at first made everything of Him and His sacred interests, while the world, with its snares and blandishments was a thing of naught? What but a deep appreciation of the love of Christ made the early church so separate, so holy, so devoted and the fire of those affections that burned up the attempts of the imitators, and endured the rage of opponents? The spring of love for the Lord was then supreme. He was everything to her — His bride — and she was, and, thank God, still is, everything to Him. He is the same, be the changing years what they may. "He loved them to the end."

And has there not been, for many years now, a gracious rekindling in the hearts of His saints of love for the Lord Himself? Has there not been a ministry of the Spirit which has had that, the chiefest of all ministry — the love of Christ — for its object, and a preparing of souls, not for an event, however blessed, but for the actual, personal coming of the Lord Himself?

This, I think, is undoubted. It can be traced through every cloud, and should be cherished in face of every opposition.

Let us remember that our Bible closes with the words: "Surely, I come quickly," and that the immediate and glad response is, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." It is a beautiful close! It is the golden promise that was purposely given to cheer the heart of the bride through the, to our experience, long period of the Lord's absence; and not only to cheer her heart, but to test her allegiance and fidelity to Himself. We know, alas! the result, how the church has failed, but how that, spite of all, His love abides unaltered, while His promise is on the very eve of fulfilment. Hence, on these grounds alone our love for Him, our true, holy, and bridal affections should centre increasingly on Himself.

What more comely, more suitable, more sanctifying?

Then, along with the development of such affections, there should be also that of brotherly love.

We need only turn to the First Epistle of John in order to learn the immense place which love to our fellow-Christians holds in the life of the true believer.

In 1 John 2: 10, we read that "he that loveth his brother abideth in the light." He is no longer in darkness, for "the light" is in his home, and love to his brother proves that he is there.

Further, in 1 John 3: 14: "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." Thus we learn that love to our brethren is an absolutely essential mark of brotherhood in the divine family. It is the patent proof that we have passed out of death unto life. Not to love your fellow-Christian is, de facto, to hate him, as Cain hated and slew his brother, because, spite of his sacrifice, his works were evil and himself the same. He was not right with God, nor therefore with his brother. He stands before us as a fearful beacon. Then, again, in verse 23 of the same chapter we read: "And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment." Mark the last word. It is His "commandment" that we should love one another. It is therefore our bounden and sacred duty that we should do so. None more binding nor obligatory; it is just as essential as is believing on the Son of God. Do we realize this duty? Do our renewed affections flow out not only to the Lord, our heavenly Bridegroom, but equally to each and all of God's beloved children. We are to love one another, as He has loved us (John 15: 12). If only we did so, how soon would our strife and folly and divisions come to an end, or be happily reduced to a minimum.

But more (1 John 4: 7, 8), "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God; he that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love." Two facts: first such an one is born of God — He possesses the divine nature; and, second he knows God. Not to love is not to know God (solemn thought indeed), for God is love. If the blessed God has been made known to the soul at all, He is known as love, and He has proved His love by the gift of His only begotten Son, that we might live through Him; and, yet again, that He might be the propitiation for our sins. How blessed! What pure and undeserved grace! How forceful the conclusion: "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."

Hence, to love is the proof of being in the light; it is the consciousness of having passed from death unto life; it is the highest obligation of one Christian to another; and it is the reproduction and expression of the nature of that God who is love.

This is brotherly affection! How sacred! How necessary! How essential!

But, mark, in 1 John 5: 2 we find the salutary statement: "By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments."

Let this be noted: we only, and in truth, love His children when, first, we love God and keep His commandments. Our affections must be governed by the will of God, so that they may be of a nature divine, and not merely human; but all the deeper, purer, and more fervent on that account, as they flow forth to all His children.

May we cultivate all these precious affections in view of the near coming of the Lord, and also of the nature we possess as the children of God.

"For the Sake of the Name"

Quote the above words from the Revised Version of the Third Epistle of John.

The Name! What name? "Because that for the sake of the name they went forth," writes the beloved Apostle.

In this brief, fervent letter three names are mentioned: that of Gaius, that of Diotrephes, and that of Demetrius, whilst certain others are spoken of as "strangers," but are unnamed.

Yet, with a significance which should command all attention, allusion is made to some one of whom "the name" is deemed sufficiently descriptive. It is clearly assumed that merely the word "name" calls for no elucidation. This is quite intelligible. If "the day" had a meaning of profound signification to some who thought of a moment which would bring a world-wide victory to their arms — "the day" which was whispered, and spoken of, as a secret, but which, having come, would exhibit the result of long years of expectant toil, how much more did "the name" pass as a watchword in the ranks of those early

Christians who were the honoured subjects of the Apostles' ministry? That name stood pre-eminent with them; but shall it not do so to-day?

As to the three men mentioned by name in the letter.

First, of Gaius we read that he enjoyed more prosperity of soul than of body; but spite of physical infirmities, he walked in truth and charity, and thus caused great joy to the heart of the Apostle, who had, indeed, no greater joy than to hear that his "children [in the faith, no doubt] walked in truth." But Gaius was a lover of hospitality; his charity was witnessed publicly. He maintained, in equipoise, the balance of truth and love — not love at the expense of truth, nor vice versa. He exemplified, in practice, the "better way" of 1 Corinthians 13. He was a fine specimen of an all-round Christian. No wonder that he gladdened the heart of the Apostle!

Second, Diotrephes comes before us, but in a deplorable contrast to Gaius. His sole object was self-exaltation; he loved to have pre-eminence (mark the word) in the church refusing the Apostle himself and the brethren — the "strangers" referred to above, who "went forth for the sake of the name," forbidding those to receive them who would do so, and casting them out of the church. This is that Diotrephes! In him, cold, stern, hard officialism; rank, rigid ecclesiasticism, and a kind of papal tyranny combined with the zeal of a Jehu, outweighed the grace, patience, meekness, and lowliness that should characterize a servant of Christ. For such an one the Apostle had no regard. He would remember his deeds. He turns quickly away from thinking of Diotrephes; and, in his gentle style, he writes: "Beloved, imitate not that which is evil [let not the high-handed, merciless, inconsiderate ways of such an one be copied] but that which is good" (kind, profitable, beneficent); for, notice, "He that doeth good is of God [let these words sink into our consciences], but he that doeth evil hath not seen God." So much for Diotrephes!

Third, Demetrius. What of him? He carried "a good report of all, and of the truth itself." Happy Demetrius! Like the elders of Hebrews 11 his record was good. The truth had his name on its pages; the Apostle found pleasure in the very thought of him; he adorned the doctrines of Christ.

Each of these men had his history; but what of the mysterious name which exerted so great an influence over these "stranger" brethren who went forth expressly and solely for its exaltation, and under its exclusive authority, at all cost to themselves? What of its omnipotence, its charm, its all-sufficiency, its infinite magnetism over heart and mind and hand and foot — the name that captivated, that saved, that delivered, that constrained, that separated, that entranced, that controlled without a rival, that commanded, and that obtained obedience unqualified? What name was that?

It was not that of an apostle, nor of a church, nor of a school, nor of a mission. It favoured no party, nor clique, nor section, nor division. All such things were annihilated in the immensities of that name.

"He shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father [Father of eternity], Prince of peace" (Isa. 9: 6).

"God hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of JESUS every knee should bow, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2: 10, 11).

Now we understand why these devoted strangers "went forth." They had come under the spell of that name. It meant, first, their complete salvation — their purchase at a price incalculable —../../site/authors/Biographies/pollock.html even His precious blood. They were slaves no more; they were Christ's free men and servants. He was their Lord and Master, their leader and commander, their treasurer and source of supply. From Him they had received and held their commission. They owned His absolute pre-eminence. These were some of the brethren whom Diotrephes would not receive! Then he should receive his own judgment. He may not be imitated. Happy it is to turn to a large-hearted, loving, and truthful Gaius; or to a record like that of the upright Demetrius, and seek to follow their faith while honestly and before God loathing the spirit of the wilful, place-seeking, domineering Diotrephes; or to tread humbly in the self-denying, devoted footsteps of the strangers and brethren who went forth, independently of man, simply and wholeheartedly "for the sake of the name."

It is just possible that this epistle was the last inspired writing. Anyhow, it is striking that the expression "THE NAME" should have such prominence. For these last days are, alas, witnesses of a vast Babel of party names; sects are distinguished by the names of men, of doctrines, of places, to our common shame, all of which would, if the supremacy of "THE NAME" were but owned, sink into their own miserable nothingness, as, thank God, they certainly shall, when, as the rising sun outshines all lesser luminaries, that Name which is above every name shall obliterate for ever the petty names and designations to which we attach so much puerile importance to-day. Oh! that the Spirit of God may magnify before the hearts of all the children of God the worth and glory and power and excellency of "THE NAME." It gives its outline to the Philadelphian.

The Last Psalm

"Praise ye the Lord."

1. Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.

2. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.

3. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.

4. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.

5. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.

6. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.

The long voyage is over, and the harbour is reached; the roar of the storm gives place to the music of the haven. We have gained the end, the victory, the song.

Praise, and only praise, resounds on every hand. The voice of the enemy is silenced and his power is broken. The murmur of the wilderness is heard no more; its weary discords, its sobs, its pains, its sorrows, have given place to the glad "Hallelujah" of God's presence. Every heart is happy, and every mouth is filled with song. We are reminded of the parable of Luke 15, and the glad home where is received the once prodigal, its satisfaction and its music; only here the scope is wider. It is Israel replaced in its own land, in the joy of the kingdom, and in the presence of the King. The long night is over; the nation has received double for all its sins; its warfare is accomplished; iniquity is pardoned; it is the time of its "comfort." And what more befitting than such a song! What more comely than that instruments of music, the sweetest, the clearest, the loudest, should be employed to celebrate the praise of Jehovah?

There is now "no evil occurrent." The Lord is king, and His name is one, and His subjects are blessed. "Happy is the people that is in such a case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord." They give heartfelt expression to their joy. In the six short verses of our beautiful closing psalm we have praise thirteen times. And what music! What harmony!

The heavenly sanctuary is invoked to sing praise to God (ver. 1); not a voice in those glorious courts on high may be silent. They have their own exquisite song to sing in the glories of the Father's house, and in the knowledge of Father, Son, and Spirit fully revealed.

Then, again, "the firmament of His power" must reverberate with His praise. Not a being amid all these higher principalities but shall swell the chorus of His praise; while they who can sound trumpet, or psaltery, or harp, or timbrel, or pipe, or stringed instruments, or organs, or loud cymbals, or high sounding cymbals, shall also praise the Lord! Lovely orchestra, indeed, when each instrument of music emits in perfect and willing harmony the rightful praises of the Lord!

How glad the choristers, how sweet the song! But, in order to ensure the universality of the song, and to gather into its joy every intelligent being, the call is made: "Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord." Breath, the breath of life, the the faintest ability to articulate anything, let such, and all such, praise the Lord. Hallelujah!

What a conclusion! "Still praising" as ages roll. Happy service now and for ever on the part of the ransomed of the Lord.

Love's Retreat

Here would I ever be,

Close to His side,

Who in His love for me

Willingly died.

Here would I ever lie,

Down on His breast,

Proving so tenderly

Heaven's own rest.

Here would I ever fall,

Down at His feet,

Gladly to share with all

Love's fond retreat.

Thus shall my spirit have

Calmest repose,

When on life's stormy wave,

Or amid foes.

Till my glad lip shall wake

Heavenly song,

And the bright morn shall break

Cloudless and long.

Then, Lord, my theme shall be

Only Thy love,

And in Thy Father's house,

Heaven above,

I shall Thy beauty trace,

Vision sublime,

There see Thy wealth of grace,

Glory divine.

Moses - The Man of God

Moses — The Man of God

G. André

ISBN 0-88172-134-4

Published 1990 by

BELIEVERS BOOKSHELF INC.

P. O. Box 261, Sunbury, Pennsylvania 17801

About the Author

Is it possible to combine a fruitful Christian life with a successful business career? For many years, Mr. André has worked for an international company. However, his first love has been to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. While principally involved in Bible camp work in his native country for a number of years, he has maintained a keen interest and involvement in the work of the Lord worldwide.

Mr. André has preached the Word of God both orally and with his pen. Although the many books he has written are better known in French, German, Italian and some other languages, an increasing number of them are being translated into English. They are available from Believers Bookshelf, Inc.

Contents

Preface 5

1. Childhood, Youth, Calling 6

1. The parents' faith 6

2. The choice at the age of forty 9

3. The vision at the age of eighty 12

Thinking things through 16

2. In Egypt — The Deliverer 17

1. Failures 17

2. Who are they that shall go? 20

3. The Passover 23

Thinking things through 27

3. First Steps in the Wilderness — The Shepherd 29

1. Deliverance at the Red Sea 29

2. Bitterness at Marah 32

3. The lessons of Rephidim 34

Thinking things through 36

4. At Sinai — The Mediator 38

1. Receiving the law — The lawgiver 39

2. The crisis of the golden calf 42

3. The tent of meeting — The intercessor 45

Thinking things through 49

5. From Sinai to Kadesh 51

1. Eyes in the wilderness 51

2. The burden of all this people 53

3. Bitter disappointment at Kadesh 55

Thinking things through 59

6. Thirty-eight years in the wilderness 61

1. Meekness and humility 62

2. Tension at Meribah 68

3. Alone at Pisgah 70

Thinking things through 74

PREFACE

Numerous young people in Switzerland and other parts of Europe have been blessed by the ministry of this book. Presented first in lecture form in a camp setting, its influence and usefulness greatly expanded when it was printed in French, then in German.

Now by the help of God we are privileged to present this ministry in English. It should be especially useful for study by Bible classes, youth camps, Sunday Schools, etc., because of the discussion questions provided at the end of each chapter.

With appreciation for the diligent work of Daniel K. Dreyer in translating this book into English, we commend it to the prayerful study of young and old.

“. . . Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a testimony” (Heb. 3: 5). “Take, my brethren, the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example “ (James 5: 10).

Grant W. Steidl. June 1975

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION

Many editorial changes have been made in this second edition. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the New Kings James Version, Copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Grant W. Steidl, March 1990

J. N. Darby's Synopsis of the Books of the Bible and C. H. Mackintosh's Notes on Exodus and Numbers will help the reader to a deeper understanding of this outline of the life of Moses. It is recommended that the Scripture passages listed under each chapter heading be read carefully before proceeding into the chapter itself.

About the book…

Moses was born in a period of great stress and persecution by Pharaoh upon the children of Israel. But Moses' parents had great faith in God and so could commit their beautiful child to His care and keeping. Many lessons can be learned by Christian parents today from the example of Amram and Jochebed.

What prompted Moses to forsake the riches of Egypt for the reproach of Christ?

Why did God allow a great man like Moses to spend 40 years on the back side of the desert?

Learn from Moses' handling of disappointments and discouragements how you can and should react to distressing circumstances.

The author, in his own straightforward manner, makes many applications from the life of Moses, his personality, his training and his instruction in the path of God, that will benefit all who will read this book with a desire to please the Lord.

Chapter 1

CHILDHOOD, YOUTH, CALLING

1.  THE PARENTS' FAITH:

Hebrews 11: 23; Acts 7: 20-22; Exodus 2: 1-10.

Amram and Jochebed, according to Exodus 6: 18-20, belonged to the tribe of Levi and to the family of the Kohathites. It was a family which in the future would perform such important duties in relation to the tabernacle.

Three children at this point are mentioned in the word of God: Miriam — probably ten to thirteen years old at Moses' birth; Aaron — three years older than Moses (Ex. 7: 7); and Moses.

According to Pharaoh's decree, issued shortly before the birth of Moses, the Israelites were to cast into the river every son that was born. Only the female infants were to be kept alive. What an exercise of soul it must have been for Jochebed during the long months prior to the birth of the child! Would it be a daughter whom she would have the right to keep?

The child came into the world and it was a son; but not an ordinary boy. By faith his parents discerned in him a special beauty. Acts 7: 20 reveals that he was “exceedingly lovely” (literally “beautiful to God”). Hebrews 11: 23 expressly emphasizes that it was because the child was beautiful that his parents hid him.

There was no room in the world for this one whom God singled out from birth as special for Himself. Centuries later, there will be no room at Bethlehem for the Child Jesus. King Herod will try to slaughter Him as Pharaoh tried to destroy the child Moses.

As then, so today faith adheres to the One whom the world despises, the One who in the eyes of faith is “more beautiful than the sons of men.”

Moses' parents were not afraid of the king's edict. For the first three months they did everything they could to keep the child hidden. Yet the moment arrived when this was no longer possible. With what care the mother prepared the ark of reeds, plastered it with resin and pitch, put the child in it, and placed it near the bank of the Nile River. There Miriam would keep watch on him from afar.

For a few years the children of Christian parents are under the special influence, protection, and care of their mothers. Then the moment comes when they must be exposed to the outside world through school and contact with other children in the neighborhood. Knowing very well that she cannot keep her treasures with her for ever, a Christian mother will be careful to take every possible precaution to prevent her child from becoming exposed to harmful influences during this new period. Above all, she will need faith to commit him to the care of the Lord who is able to keep him.

How marvelous the answer to the confidence expressed by Moses' parents! The hand of God appears in every detail: the selection of the place and hour at which Pharaoh's daughter comes down to bathe in the river; her compassion at the sight of the child; Miriam's presence of mind; and the kindness of the princess who delivers the child to his own mother for the first years of his life.

At home Moses will remain under the training of his parents — “The child grows.” Later on he will be in the royal place where the daughter of Pharaoh will bring him up “for herself” (Acts 7: 21). Moses, instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, will become mighty in his words and deeds just as Jesus was mighty in deed and word, in Luke 24: 19 and Acts 1: 1! Also, Moses knows the pleasures of Egypt.

Which of the two educations will prevail? Will it be the one imparted during the few years at his father's home where Amram (whose name means “God of thy father” Ex. 3: 6) and Jochebed assuredly did not neglect to speak to Moses of the Lord and of His promises to His people? Or will it be the one provided at the court? Will the many years at the court erase even the memory of what Moses had heard in his parents' home?

Is not this problem still very prevalent? Christian parents endeavor to bring up their children for the Lord instructing them in the Word of God. They also take them to Sunday school, to the meetings, and to special occasions for further teaching from the Word. On the other hand, the influence of studies, apprenticeship, and/or professional training will certainly be felt; and it will cause a young heart to forget what it had received at home from the parents unless there is personal and living faith in the Lord Jesus. The case of King Joash demonstrates that a faith based exclusively on training vanishes when the supporting influences disappear.

2.  THE CHOICE AT THE AGE OF FORTY:

(Exodus 2: 11-15; Acts 7: 23-29; Hebrews 11: 24-26).

When Moses had reached the age of forty it came into his heart to visit his brethren. He went out to them, looking on their burdens. Certainly he had not learned at the court of Pharaoh that these despised Hebrews were his brethren; still less that God had made promises about them (Gen. 15: 13). However, the teaching received from his parents was still deep-rooted in his heart.

The day of decision arrived, it seems, when he was to be officially called “the son of Pharaoh's daughter.” Moses refused! (Heb. 11: 24). We may well imagine that the reaction of the princess (about which the Word of God says nothing) was terrible. Moses' renunciation involved immense loss in terms of an honored position, material advantages, riches and “delights.”

Similarly, we live in days when we must be able to say “no.” Joseph's action in Genesis 39: 10 illustrates this. In a situation where a wholehearted decision to cling to the Lord was required in order to refuse, break off, and go away from temptation, he triumphed by God's grace.*

Even if we are never called to renounce all that was refused by Moses, we can be sure that we also will face tempting circumstances. Some material advantages of this contaminated world will have to be declined so that they might not stand in the way of our fellowship with the people of God — even if such a decision involves a measure of self denial.

This takes more than the negative side of renouncing. Moses “chose.” What did he choose? “To suffer affliction with the people of God.” Although our level of decision may not reach to that of Moses, we also will find many opportunities to choose in favor of those whom the Lord loves.

The Word says that the “pleasures of sin,” as real as they may seem, are only for a time; “but he that does the will of God abides for eternity” (1 John 2: 17). Moses' renunciation and choice would later confer on him the authority necessary to ask others, especially his own people, to do the same in their measure.

Hebrews 11 gives us some insight into the heart of Moses and reveals to us the secret that prompted his faith. He did not choose by sheer force of will or through asceticism, but because he “esteemed” the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. The museum of Cairo and the tomb of Tutankhamen prove that no little wealth was meant by these riches. However, that which pertained to Christ (although no doubt only in figure) had more value for Moses' heart than everything else; it was a greater treasure!

Moses thought that his brethren would certainly admire his self-denial and devotion to their cause. As Acts 7: 25 says, “he supposed that his brethren would understand that God would deliver them by his hand.” What terrible disappointment! “They did not understand.” The very Israelite whom he was reproving for wronging his neighbor “pushed him away.” What was the good of having “refused,” “chosen,” and “esteemed,” if this was the result?

Fearing Pharaoh, Moses fled to Midian and sat down near a well. There the most bitter reflections must have weighed on his mind, but he did not lose courage. As he witnessed the vexations to which the daughters of Reuel were exposed, he did not remain engrossed in his own pain but came to their help. Thus he remains in character a deliverer and a servant.

How was all that possible? Hebrews 11 reveals it: “He looked to the reward.” His eyes were not cast in the direction of the immediate future with its lost advantages and ongoing afflictions. Even at the well of Midian and in the depth of distress, his actions prove that faith was enduring in his heart. He was looking farther ahead and higher up. In fact, the path which he had begun to walk was to lead him to the song of triumph at the Red Sea, to the revelations of Sinai, to the glory reflected on his face, to the intimate relationship with the Lord on Pisgah, and finally to the glorious appearing on the mount of transfiguration.

There is another side to this account. Before going out to his brethren in Egypt, he did not consult the Lord. The Lord's time had not yet come for the people nor for Moses. It was in his own strength that Moses was going, and this way did not exclude the fear of men. On the contrary, “he turned this way and that way” (Ex. 2: 12).

However, in Midian under quiet conditions and alone with God, he would be trained as a shepherd, just as Jacob and Joseph had been trained before him and as David would yet be trained. Moses' faith was real and deep, but he needed to pass through God's schooling.

3.  THE VISION AT THE AGE OF EIGHTY:

(Exodus 3 and 4; Acts 7: 30-35).

“The time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham” (Acts 7: 17). Years of silent training had forged the instrument. For Moses, the wilderness of Midian was what the prison had been for Joseph, what Cherith and Sarepta would be for Elijah, and what Arabia would be for Paul.

If in our lives God sometimes allows periods such as these that we cannot understand — if sickness or other circumstances interrupts our work and we are put aside, should we not use such seasons to feed more closely on the Word and to learn in the school of God what we would never learn in the activity and turbulence of our normal lives? Such periods can be wasted on vain regrets or in scattered and futile endeavors; but if we use them wisely, they will form the foundation for blessed service on behalf of the people of God.

God is now about to reveal Himself to Moses and call him to the service for which He had been preparing him from birth. How extraordinary and unique is the moment when a soul feels the presence of God and His holiness in a special way; when he hears His voice distinctively! Such a vision will mark his entire existence from then on, and render it fruitful or sterile according to the response made.

“Come now therefore, and I will send you” (Ex. 3: 10). The moment of God has arrived. Formerly Moses wanted to go without waiting for God's time, but now he is about to hesitate. God does not say “Go” but “Come.” It is with Him, in His company and fellowship that Moses is sent. However, Moses is not disposed to respond. He brings before God four successive objections:

Who am I?...I am unable...I am not prepared...I will not know how to act. How many similar excuses have arisen from generation to generation in the hearts of those whom God was calling? “I will be with you” is the peremptory and clear answer which should suffice for every servant. A Gideon, a Jeremiah, the apostles at the feet of their risen Lord, Paul in prison, and how many others have heard this answer and have made the happy experience of the preciousness of God's presence in the way!

For Moses, however, this promise was not sufficient. He raises another objection: “The sons of Israel will say to me: `What is his name?' What shall I say unto them?” Full of gracious condescension, God then reveals himself as the One who ever is: “I am that I am.” Before, in, and after time, He ever remains the Word which “in the beginning . . . was with God” — Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today and for ever.

Every necessary instruction is given to Moses but still he is not satisfied. Pleadingly he says: “But behold, they will not believe me” (Ex. 4: 1). God then gives him three signs through which his mission is to be accredited:

(1) The staff changed into a serpent which Moses can take by the tail. This is an illustration of the power which God imparts to His instrument in the presence of the enemy.

(2) Moses' hand that becomes leprous when placed into his bosom and then afterwards is made pure. This shows that God alone can heal the leper and purify the sinner.

3) The water of the Nile (the source of life for the Egyptians) that is changed into blood. This is a proof that judgment is about to come upon this rebellious people.

Moses, however, is still not willing to go: “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant” (Ex. 4: 10). Earlier when he went out of Pharaoh's court, Moses had been mighty in words, but the years spent in the wilderness taught him the small value of this natural ease of speech. The Lord tells him: “And now go, and I will be with your mouth, and will teach you what you shall say.”

Once more Moses raises an objection, though with more moderation this time (v.13). Compelled by the Lord's anger, he finally yields; he goes and asks his father-in-law's permission to leave and go back to Egypt, and prepares his return. It seems, however, that he delays in Midian and again the Lord must remind him to “Go, return to Egypt” (Ex. 4: 19).

On the way God gives him instructions, and also brings to his attention a secret and deep obstacle — a small sin perhaps, but God sees everything and allows nothing in His servant that is contrary to His clearly revealed Word. As a concession to the Midianites, probably to Zipporah, Moses had not circumcised his son. Now amid the dust and confusion of the caravan, alive with people and animals, Moses becomes ill and is about to die. Zipporah discerns in it — and rightly so — the judgment of God, and hastens to perform the neglected rite of circumcision. Moses is restored in soul and body, and goes to meet Aaron. Together they will carry out the work for which God is sending them. In all likelihood, Zipporah goes back to her father. She will join Moses again at the mountain of God (Ex. 4: 25).

What would have become of Moses, had he not obeyed on that supreme day of his life when God called him? No doubt, he would have remained in Midian, an unknown shepherd of whom we would never have heard. Israel would have remained in the bondage of Egypt; or rather God would have used another instrument to deliver the people.

Compelled by the faithful call of God, Moses answered. Through the years, he grew in the intimacy of the one whom he had learned to know as the God of grace who had appeared to him “in the bush” (Deut. 33: 16).

THINKING THINGS THROUGH

1. Describe some of the circumstances which God arranged to preserve Moses in spite of Pharaoh's commandment.

2. Do you face decisions in your life similar to those faced by Moses when he “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter?” What do you learn from his example that will help you to make the right decision?

3. Why did God allow a great man like Moses to spend forty years of his life in obscurity, tending sheep?

4. Consider again the four objections raised by Moses when God would send him to deliver the Israelites. How do they compare to objections you may have been using to resist God's will in your life? What is God's answer to these objections?

Chapter 2

In Egypt — The Deliverer

(Read Exodus 5 to 12; Acts 7: 35-36; Hebrews 11: 27-28)

1. FAILURES

At the burning bush Moses had received an immediate mission that was perfectly clear: “Bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt” (Ex. 3: 10). God had not concealed from him the obstacles he would face: “I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a powerful hand. I will stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof; and after that he will let you go” (Ex. 3: 19-20). There in Midian God had even given Moses to understand that Pharaoh's resistance would be terrible, compelling Him to take the extreme measure of killing his (Pharaoh's) firstborn son.

Arriving in Egypt, Moses and Aaron gather all the elders of the children of Israel who accede to the message, bow their heads and worship (Ex. 4: 29-31). Feeling quite encouraged, they go to Pharaoh and ask him to let the people go and celebrate a feast to the Lord in the wilderness. Pharaoh's insolence soon reduces their courage, but they still try to say to him: “The God of the Hebrews has met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness …” (Ex. 5: 3).

The royal rebuff is explicit: “Why do ye, Moses and Aaron, wish to have the people go off from their works?Away, to your burdens!”

Instead of alleviating the people's burden, this first interview only makes it heavier still. Part of the Israelites must scatter about the country and gather the straw necessary to make brick; yet the same amount of bricks is required each day. Therefore, a reduced number of people must work all the more in order to fulfill the requirements. The officers of the children of Israel try to complain directly to Pharaoh without going through Moses and Aaron, but this only makes matters worse.

It is easy to understand Moses' distress at that hour, one of the darkest in his life. The Lord has not delivered the people at all through him.On the contrary, the people are oppressed more than ever and those whom he wanted so much to serve reproach him severely. What should he do?Should he once more give up, leave the people to their fate, and return to Midian?

Moses is at the end of his resources. Nevertheless, his faith stands fast (Heb. 11: 27). In his deep distress he returns to the Lord (v. 22) and pours out before Him his affliction. Like so many times later on, he experiences the grace of his Lord who does not rebuke him. On the contrary, He reveals Himself still more to him.

Is there not an important lesson for each of us to learn through the misfortunes, disappointments and trials of this life?One person works hard to pass an examination and yet fails. Another tends a loved one with great devotion, and yet this loved one is taken away by the Lord. Still another tries to bring a soul to Christ, but Satan seems to hold that soul still more firmly in his shackles. What is to be done? We must not yield to depression but rather pour out our supplications before God as the Psalmist did — and then rely on His grace. He will not fail to reveal Himself still more to the soul that seeks after Him, and He will carry the matter to its conclusion.

At the beginning of Genesis, God had revealed Himself as the Creator: Elohim — Deity in the absolute. With the patriarchs He had assumed essentially the name of the Almighty — the one who meets all the needs of those who are pilgrims of faith and strangers on the earth. To Moses at this decisive hour, God reveals Himself as the Eternal God (Jehovah, or Yahweh) — the God of the covenant who looks after His people; the God who does not change and who acts in time according to what He is in Himself and not according to the merits of those favored ones on whose behalf He is operating (Ex. 6: 2-8).

Having regained confidence in his mission, Moses goes back to the children of Israel, but they do not listen to him because of their heavy bondage. The Lord does not wait for another entreaty from His servant. He immediately strengthens his faith and orders him to go in and speak again to the king. Moses objects again: “The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” The Lord then gives Moses and Aaron commandments for the children of Israel, and for Pharaoh that he might let the people go out of Egypt (Ex. 6: 10-13; Ex. 7: 1-5).

Moses and Aaron, fully confident in God's promises (for they “persevered, as seeing Him who is invisible”) go to the king. They acquire increasing boldness and authority during the entire time of the plagues upon Egypt, being strengthened in faith through the display of their God's power. Moses increasingly gains the upper hand, being fully aware that he speaks in the name of the Lord who spreads out “his strong hand and his outstretched arm” in favor of His people.

2.  WHO ARE THEY THAT SHALL GO?

(Exodus 8: 25-28; Ex. 10: 8-11, 24-26)

There are signs for the people of God, and plagues for the Egyptians as the judgments of God come down upon the land. Seven times Pharaoh hardens his heart (look it up for yourself), and seven times the Lord hardens the heart of Pharaoh.

Pharaoh begins to yield a little, however, so that the Lord might withdraw the poisonous dog-flies from the land, and proposes to Moses that they go and sacrifice to their God “in the land.” Immediately Moses answers: “It is not right to do so, for we would be sacrificing the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God … We will go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God as He will command us” (Ex. 8: 26-27).

This illustrates the first snare of Satan — that those who worship God do so in the world and as mixed with the world. How successful Satan has been in bringing about such a condition in Christendom: In many Christian congregations, probably in the most important ones, believers and unbelievers mix together in the same “religious service.” As to the leaders, some of them no longer have faith in the Word of God or in the redeeming work of the cross.

In order to worship truly, a definite separation is necessary. There must be “the three days' journey into the wilderness” — a picture of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Pharaoh, harassed by the successive judgments which ravage his country, later yields still more. He calls Moses and Aaron and precisely asks the following question: “Who are they that shall go?”

Moses answers: “We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go” (Ex. 10: 8, 9).

This, however, is not the way in which Pharaoh understands it, and again he sets a new snare before the servants of God: “Go now, you who are men, and serve the LORD.”

In some countries today young people can attend a Christian meeting only from the age of eighteen; in other countries one can present the gospel only to those over twenty-one. Even among Christians in countries which enjoy liberty, the enemy strenuously endeavors to induce parents not to take their children with them to the meetings; or he persuades them to think that attending Sunday School or other special meetings for the young is too taxing for them! The enemy's tactics have not changed. He knows very well that youth is the favorable age to turn to the Lord, for then the entire life becomes oriented toward Him to be lived for Him.

Nehemiah 12: 43 describes a day of worship and rejoicing when all the people — not only the men but also the women and the children — were happy to be gathered in the presence of the Lord. When on the other hand, it was a question of listening to the reading of the law, Ezra spoke “before the congregation, of men and women and all who could hear with understanding” (Neh. 8: 2).

Does this not teach us that we should all come to the worship meeting, including our children as soon as they are old enough to remain quiet? The oft-cited excuses about household chores and schoolwork should not prevent this. As for the meeting for Bible study where the Word of God is explained and studied, do not the Scriptures instruct us to bring along “all who could hear with understanding”? (Here understanding refers to natural intelligence, not the renewed intelligence which can exist only through conversion).

In the face of Moses' categorical refusal of his offer, and in order to avoid a further judgment of three days of darkness, Pharaoh devises still another solution. He says: “Go, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your little ones also go with you” (Ex. 10: 24). Moses, however, knows very well that if the flocks and herds are left behind, the heart of the people will be drawn back again to Egypt. Hence he answers: “You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God. Our livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind.”

Let us be careful to keep our hearts from clinging unduly to the material possessions which God has entrusted to us. They could become a hindrance to the worship which the Lord expects from us. As Luke 16 teaches, the “unrighteous mammon” is entrusted to our management, but our hearts should not become attached to it as a treasure. It must always remain at the Lord's disposal to be used according to His will.

Because Moses himself had earlier refused the riches of Egypt and chosen the reproach of Christ, he now had all the more authority to urge the people to place everything that they had at the Lord's disposal.

3.  The Passover

(Exodus 12: 1-28; Hebrews 11: 28)

The Epistle to the Hebrews emphasizes that Moses celebrated the Passover “by faith.” His parent's faith had been necessary to first hide him and then expose him on the river. Then at forty years old, his own faith was manifested through the choice that he made. Again he displayed this faith in “holding fast” in Egypt, despite the king's anger.

Why was faith necessary for the Passover? Pharaoh had nothing to do with it. At this point it is not faith acting in the presence of the enemy or under difficult circumstances, but it is still the same faith. It was not the enemy but God that was to be faced in judgment. During the nine preceding plagues the people had remained spectators, and beginning with the fourth plague had actually been protected in the land of Goshen. But now the people must act — and this in accordance with the Word of the Lord to Moses. Faith was required as to what God had said.

The people were just as guilty as the Egyptians, and even more so because their responsibility was greater. As other portions of Scripture reveal, they had indulged in idolatry in spite of some knowledge of the Lord; and in a considerable measure they had abandoned their God. If the destroying angel must pass through the land and kill all the firstborn, why should he spare the Israelites? After all, God's justice acts without respect of persons.

Only the blood of a spotless victim — a type of One who would come later — was able to shelter the people from the judgment. The Lord reveals this to Moses and Aaron (Ex. 12: 1-20), who in turn instruct the elders of Israel. Moses' faith is an inspiring example: “The people bowed their heads and worshiped … and did as the Lord had commanded” (vv. 27, 28).

Abel's sacrifice demonstrates that the blood of atonement was necessary to come near to God. Genesis 22 presents the thought of substitution: Abraham offered a ram as a sacrifice instead of his son. The offerings of Leviticus, through the placing of the offerer's hand on the head of the victim, express the identification of the one approaching with the sacrifice. (In the sacrifice for sin, the offences of the guilty one pass onto the victim, whereas in the burnt-offering the merits of the victim are credited to the worshipper.)

In the Passover, the individual appropriation of the sacrifice is perfectly stressed: “Every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household” (Ex. 12: 3). Moses did not offer one lamb for the entire people; each family had to slaughter a victim, the blood of which was to shelter them.

So it is in the gospel. Jesus is “the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2: 2). The value of His work in the sight of God enables God to offer His forgiveness to the whole world.

Other passages show just as clearly, however, that whereas the value of the sacrifice of Christ is sufficient for the whole world, only those who accept it through faith are made beneficiaries of His work. In Romans 3 the righteousness of God is manifested “toward all, and upon all those who believe.” Only those who believe are justified “through faith in His blood.” Likewise John 3: 16 teaches that God loved the world, but only those who believe in the Lord Jesus have life eternal. John 1: 12 says that those who receive Him are given the right to be called children of God. Romans 10: 9 says that “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” It is a matter of personally and individually accepting and confessing the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

According to the Passover instructions, the blood of the lamb is put on the two outside doorposts and on the lintel of each house. The family gathered inside the house eats the Passover lamb with the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs. The family does not see the blood and assess its value but the Lord does. He declares categorically: “When I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you” (Ex. 12: 13). Likewise, the repenting sinner who comes to the Lord Jesus is unable to assess the value of His blood; God alone does that. It is because of this blood He forgives and receives. The one who receives the Word of God as being true finds his certainty in the declarations of God's Word. He cannot explain it, but he knows that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1: 7).

THE PASSOVER NIGHT

(Exodus 12: 42)

For Israel, the months began with each new moon; they were lunar months. Since the Passover took place on the fourteenth day of the month, the Israelites went out of Egypt on the full moon. In the evening they ate the lamb; their loins were girded; they were ready to leave. “At midnight … the LORDstruck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt … So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead” (Ex. 12: 29, 30).

One can understand the bewilderment of the Egyptians, each one rushing out of his house and telling the sad news to his neighbor; and then hearing his neighbor reporting the same calamity. With Pharaoh at their head the Egyptians drive Israel out of the land. The people, according to the instructions of the Lord to Moses (Ex. 11: 2, 3) ask from the Egyptians silver and gold, a well-deserved compensation for all their years of hard work and bondage.

Throughout the night, from various parts of the land of Goshen, the columns get under way “according to their hosts.” Their immediate goal is to reach Rameses and Succoth. Six hundred thousand men on foot with their families, plus a mixed multitude that went up with them — from two to three million souls, beside all the cattle that accompany them.

What a moment for Moses! When he was forty years old, he had wanted to give his brethren “deliverance through his hand” and now the time has arrived. After the tension caused by the successive plagues and the drama of this eventful night, a new life was to begin. The Lord had displayed His power and fulfilled His promise.

No doubt a feeling of deep gratitude was arising in the heart of His servant. Considering the problems which would soon assail him, what responsibility rested upon him! He had to lead this great multitude through the wilderness — a desert which he knew by experience — up to the promised land. The immense task that God had entrusted to him was just beginning.

THINKING THINGS THROUGH

1. Describe some of the discouragements and trials Moses faced as he went back to Egypt and talked with his brethren and with Pharaoh. Why did God allow these?

2. How does God deliver Moses and Aaron from their discouragements? What is the best way for us to get deliverance from our discouragements?

3. How would you apply to your own life the four compromises proposed by Pharaoh to Moses?

4. How did the passover differ from all the other plagues upon the land of Egypt? Does the passover have a personal application to your life?

5. Suppose yourself to be a firstborn son of an Israelite on the passover night. Describe in your own words the dramatic events of that night.

Chapter 3

First Steps in the Wilderness — The Shepherd

Psalm 77: 20

The last verse of Psalm 77 reads: “You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.” Certainly, during the crossing of the Red Sea and through the wilderness Moses assumes this character of a shepherd.

The psalm further emphasizes: “Your way was in the sea, Your path in the great waters, and Your footsteps were not known” (v. 19). Such was the experience of the people. For them, the way of God was incomprehensible. It took them through deep waters — not only those of the Red Sea, but those of the successive tribulations which were intended to test their faith. The psalmist, however, adds: “Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary…” (v. 13). What God intends for His own is indeed constantly before Him and is perfectly made known by His wisdom and love, even when it seems to them to lead them through deep waters.

1.  DELIVERANCE AT THE RED SEA

(Read Hebrews 11: 29; Exodus 13: 17-22; Exodus 14)

From the starting point of Rameses and Succoth the people had reached Etham at the edge of the wilderness. Normally the shortest route would have passed northwards through the land of the Philistines. God, however, was not willing that His people should face war during their first steps in the wilderness. He rather chose to lead them by His own path to Sinai.

But first the pillar of cloud led them to pitch their camp at a place as unsuitable as possible from the standpoint of safety. It hemmed them in between the mountain and the sea, leaving no exit except the way they had just come.

After a few hours, this sole exit was occupied by Pharaoh and his host: “…the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them” (Ex. 14: 10).

Will Moses now lose the marvelous deliverance that God had wrought through his hand? He is not worried. Rather he stands fast by faith as seeing Him who is invisible.

The people, however, are not entertaining the same feelings. A great fear fills them and they cry out to the Lord. In their hearts they reproach Moses and rebel (Ps. 106: 7). Panic-stricken they exclaim, “it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness!”

This produced the first crisis in the relationship between Moses and Israel. It would be followed by many others. Assured of the deliverance of the Lord, Moses inspires the people with his faith: “The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

The enemy, however, does not let people escape easily. Even today when one has placed his trust in the blood of Christ for forgiveness of sin, Satan tries to instill in that person doubt, unbelief, and uncertainty about salvation. His aim is to fill us with affliction and doubts instead of with joy in our Lord's accomplished deliverance.

Only the Word of God can give certainty as to salvation. Redemption is secured through the work of Christ. Since He performed the work that was required, we need not worry. The certainty of our salvation derives, through faith, from the declarations of the Word of God. We are called to behold “the salvation of the LORD” and to stand still, resting fully on the many passages of the word such as Romans 8: 1: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus”' and John 3: 36: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life.”

Still another effort of the enemy is to keep those who are saved in the “world system” and under its grip. How many Christians, although washed in the blood of Christ, remain morally wrapped up in the world — in Egypt? They actually comply with Pharaoh's injunction: ”Sacrifice to the Lord your God in the land.”

God, however, wants to have His own truly for Himself. So at night He opened a pathway for Israel through the stormy sea. The people “went through the midst of the sea on the dry ground; and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.” Hebrews 11: 29 states very precisely: “By faith they passed through the Red Sea.”

In this incident, faith characterized the people as a whole, whereas the earlier accounts in Hebrews 11 emphasize only Moses' faith. It was no trifling matter for them to start walking between those two walls of water which at any moment could cover them. It required trust in the word of the Lord through Moses.

“Toward the morning” the Lord threw the army of the Egyptians into confusion. As dawn broke, the sea resumed its strength, engulfing the enemy in its midst. “Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work which the LORD had done in Egypt … and believed the LORD and His servant Moses.” On the shore of the Red Sea a song of praise arises, sung by every one of the children of Israel. It is the first song in the Bible.

Only the redeemed, conscious of their deliverance, can sing. The psalmist and the prophets will never cease celebrating this memorable event. Indeed, the song of the redeemed which arose from thousands of hearts in Exodus, resounds on up to the the book of Revelation. The song exalts the slaughtered Lamb, the One who is the eternal center of praises for all His own.

2.  BITTERNESS AT MARAH

(Read Exodus 15: 22-26)

Moses was acquainted with the wilderness — its aridity, heat and vastness (Ex. 3: 1). What responsibility faced him there! He must lead an entire people with their flocks and herds through that wilderness.

As for the people, their new-found faith is about to be put to the test. The same thing frequently happens in the life of new Christians. After a brief period, God allows trials to arise in order to demonstrate whether our faith is real; and whether we will or will not trust in Him.

One day, two days, three days are spent in the wilderness, and no water is found. Finally arriving at Marah, they “could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.” The people murmur against Moses and he cries to the Lord. “And the LORD showed him a tree; and when he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.”

In the types used in the books of Moses, wood usually speaks of the humanity of the Lord Jesus — that perfect humanity in which He always did the will of God, even up to the supreme moment of Gethsemane where He was able to say: “Not as I will, but as You will.”

If trials arise in our lives, the first lesson to be learned is to accept them as coming from God. In the path of faith, we must submit to His will, knowing that He wants what is good for us. We must try to understand the special lesson taught by the difficulties thus encountered. For example, someone has applied for a position and is refused. A young father devotes himself entirely to supporting his family and furnishing his new home, but sickness stops him. A longed-for invitation fails to arrive. Someone is disappointed by the friend on whom he relied. Faith rises above bitterness and disappointment, finding in the perfect sympathy of the Lord Jesus, the strength to accept as from God's hand the trials of the way that are so bitter.

At Marah, the Lord reveals Himself by a new name: “the Lord who heals you.” The waters become sweet. The healing of the Lord restores. Their next stopping point, Elim, illustrates refreshment and necessary food. And after that comes the manna, provided each morning for the needs of the people. What a marvelous experience!

3.  THE LESSONS OF REPHIDIM

(Read Exodus 17)

The purpose of this book is to understand what the Word of God says to us about Moses: his personality, his training, and his instruction in the path of God. Therefore, we cannot go into all the details of the wilderness and are omitting, among other, the chapter about the manna.

So far, everything has succeeded for Moses. Insolent and haughty Pharaoh has been overthrown. The Red Sea has been opened. The manna has met the requirements of the people. For the servant of God, however, it was necessary to further learn his helplessness again and again, and he learns this at Rephidim.

THE ROCK (verses 1 to 7)

At Rephidim there was no water. The people disputed with Moses and even spoke of stoning him. they said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” Pharaoh had wanted to hold back the children and the cattle in Egypt, and now the people reproach Moses with having brought them out from there.

Entirely powerless before this unjust contention, Moses cries out to the Lord and says: “What shall I do with this people?” Now he will learn a new lesson — the very presence of God suffices for all the needs of His own. God says, “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock.” In 1 Corinthians 10: 4 we read: “The rock was Christ.” The rock must be struck by the rod of Moses, the rod of authority and judgment, so that the waters — a picture of the Holy Spirit — might flow in abundance (John 7: 39).

Since Moses was personally attacked, he must now be personally honored. It is as He continues with dignity before the people in the presence of the elders of Israel that the water comes out of the rock for all to drink (v. 6).

AMALEK (verses 8 to 16)

Another obstacle arises during the march through the wilderness — Amalek. As a type of the flesh in us, Amalek attacks and harasses the people in the wilderness, especially the stragglers and the weak. There is the necessity to fight, but how?

This situation presents another new lesson for Moses. Joshua, a type of the risen Lord and of the Holy Spirit, is placed at the head of the people as they go out to battle. This is an illustration of Galatians 5: 17, “The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.”

It is not enough, however, for Joshua to fight. Moses must go up to the top of the hill with the rod of God in his hand and intercede for the people. There he is not precisely a type of Christ, but of those who come near to God through Him to intercede either for themselves or for His redeemed ones.

Moses is aware of his own weakness: “And so it was when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.” But Moses' hands become tired. Is it not the same with us? Even if we have understood that the sole remedy for our infirmity is to persevere in prayer, we often are slack and lack constancy! Aaron and Hur come near and support the hands of Moses. Here Aaron is a type of Christ as Priest, “always living to intercede” for His own.

In his youth Moses wanted to fight: he killed the Egyptian. Now well on in years, he joins his brother and his companion in praying for the people of God.

The presence of God and the prayer of intercession — such were for Moses the great lessons of Rephidim.

THINKING THINGS THROUGH

1. Explain why God so quickly led the people to a spot where they were entrapped between the mountains, the Red Sea and the pursuing Egyptian army.

2. How does the pursuing Egyptian army illustrate the efforts of Satan against those who are newly redeemed by the blood of Christ? How should we respond to his efforts?

3. Can you think of an incident in your life similar to the Israelites' experience at Marah where the waters were bitter? How did the Lord make the bitter waters sweet and give healing in the situation?

4. Again and again, the problem facing the Israelites in the desert was lack of water. Why didn't God give them an abundant and visible supply? For example, what lesson did the Lord wish to teach Moses and the people at Rephidim?

5. What do you learn about prayer through Israel's battle with the Amalekites?Try to think of at least two practical ways in which you might improve your prayer life.

Chapter 4

AT SINAI — THE MEDIATOR

(The first year)

In the first month after their departure out of the land of Egypt, the children of Israel come into the wilderness of Sinai (Ex. 19: 1). Through Moses, the Lord gives them these remarkable words: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself” (v. 4). The unruly multitude that had gone out of Goshen was about to be formed into a nation (v. 6), complete with laws, worship, a center and a well-ordered army.

The first year of the exodus begins with the Passover and the Red Sea, and continues with God's care in the wilderness: the manna, the water from the rock, and the victory over Amalek. Then at Sinai the people receive the law and the statutes.

In its moral application to us, this first year refers essentially to our individual life: remission of sin, redemption, personal feeding of our souls, and our personal walk with the Lord.

The second year (Ex. 40: 1-17) starts with the erection of the tabernacle. It continues with the consecration of the priests, the offerings of the princes, the institution of the rituals, the arrangement of the camp, and the march in the wilderness. In contrast to the first year, it emphasizes the collective life of the people.

So it is with us. As believers we have not been redeemed to live and walk alone, but rather to be found in the company of his brethren. Christ died to “gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.”

Already during the second year the people could have undertaken the conquest of Canaan, had they not lacked faith at Kadesh-barnea after receiving the report of the spies. In this sense, the additional thirty-eight years spent in the wilderness were not necessary at all; but Israel had to learn to know itself and to know God (Deut. 8).

1. RECEIVING THE LAW — THE LAWGIVER

Confronted with the majestic display of God's holiness, the people tremble (Ex. 19: 16). Moses himself (as Hebrews 12: 21 reminds us) was so fearful of the sight that he said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.” Then God pronounces the ten basic commandments on which the moral law is founded.

The people are frightened and stand afar off. They say to Moses: “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” They remain at a distance, but “Moses drew near.”

On another occasion, seventy of the elders of Israel go up with Moses to the mountain, along with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu; but Moses alone comes near to the Lord while the others stand back. As for the people, they must not even touch the mountain, much less go up with them. The sole information given about the vision of God as seen by the elders is that “there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity” (Ex. 24: 10).

Finally, Moses goes up on the mountain and hears the divine communications. He spends six days on mount Sinai in the company of Joshua. On the seventh day Moses alone enters into the cloud and remains in the presence of God forty days and forty nights. At that time He receives the two tables, the statutes, and the instructions relative to the tabernacle.

On three occasions when Moses relates to the people the words of God, they answer: “All that the Lord has spoken will we do!” (Ex. 19: 8; Ex. 24: 3, 7). In no way, however, would they be able to keep the law. As Galatians 3: 21 says, “if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.” By committing themselves with this rash promise to keep God's commandments, the people revealed that they really knew neither God nor themselves. Someone will ask, “Why then was the law given?” This question is answered by the apostle Paul in Galatians and Romans: “I would not have known sin except through the law.”

A child might easily promise to behave well and always obey his parents. God, however, will allow definite situations in which the child will find himself at fault so that his conscience might be reached. Would there be any real conversion without at least some measure of the conviction of sin? Some realization of one's own ruin? Some impression of the holiness of God?

When young Isaiah entered the temple, he exclaimed: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isa. 6: 5). Peter, sensible of the honor done to him, received Jesus into his boat; but after launching out into the deep and witnessing the miraculous “haul of fishes which they had taken” he understood that his passenger in the ship was God Himself. Then he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5: 8).

Likewise, we must place ourselves before the ten commandments and seriously examine whether we have observed each one of them. It is not enough to have refrained from stealing. The mere wish to steal is a transgression of the tenth commandment! Which young man can say that the lust mentioned in Matthew 5: 28 never arose in his heart? Are there many people who have never said “fool” to a brother or friend? (Matt. 5: 22).

When suddenly convicted by the Word, one of our young friends stated that he deserved hell since he had treated his brother in this way more than once. What should be said in answer to his confession? Something like: “That was not so serious. Your brother got on your nerves, and you got angry with him?” Certainly not! Every sin is serious according to the Word of God. The Lord Jesus condemns even slight anger at one's brother. Therefore each one of us deserves hell!

Of course. our young friend was trembling at this thought. At such a point, how marvelous it is to present the work of the Lord Jesus. He atoned for our sins, bearing them in His body on the cross. The chastisement that we deserve fell on Him. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Gal. 3: 13).

2.  THE CRISIS OF THE GOLDEN CALF

(Exodus 32)

In making the golden calf, Aaron and the people did not really want to abandon the Lord. They rather transgressed the second commandment: “You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; You shall not bow down to them nor serve them” (Ex. 20: 4, 5).

The human spirit always tends to materialize what is spiritual. It must have a visible form, an object that can be at least revered, if not worshiped. This was Aaron's problem. As he saw the golden calf, “he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD” (Ex. 32: 5). In their thoughts, Aaron and the people lowered the Lord to the level of the gods of Egypt, saying, “Here is your God.”

Idolatry always brings man down and leads him to disorder (v. 25), orgies and licentiousness (v. 6). Romans one shows this convincingly. Nothing is more serious than to associate the name of the Lord with idolatry.

What will be Moses' attitude in this situation?

(A) On the top of the mountain, the Lord informs Moses of what has taken place (v. 7-10). Putting him to the test, He proposes to consume the people and then make a great nation out of Moses. What an opportunity for him to be carried away by anger, and to accept this divine proposal! After all, the people have murmured so many times against him.

However, he has the interests of his God too much at heart to act in this way. Instead, he immediately beseeches the Lord, setting forth two decisive arguments for sparing Israel: (1) What would the Egyptians say if the people of Israel were annihilated from the face of the earth? They would boast, saying that God is powerless. (2) The Lord had promised positively to the patriarchs that He would multiply their seed and give to them the land of Canaan. What would become of the fulfillment of this solemn promise?

Is it not the same in our intercession for our brethren? On the one hand, we must remember the faithfulness of God, his promises, his righteousness toward Christ (“He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins”). On the other hand, we must think of the testimony which Christians bear before the world: “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life” (1 John 5: 16).

(B) When Moses sees the calf and the dancing (v. 19), his anger burns and he shatters the tables of the law. This was righteous anger and not an outburst of carnal feelings. Scarcely had the law been given, and it was already transgressed. He takes the calf, grinds it to powder, scatters it on the water, and makes the children of Israel drink it. They must realize the gravity of their sin.

Likewise, if we have gravely failed, we must acknowledge it and confess it before God; but we must also feel deeply in our souls how serious sin is and how abominable it is to God.

Moses entrusts to the Levites the terrible mission of exterminating those who apparently had plunged more deeply into idolatry. Even their brethren, their neighbors, or their intimate friends must not be spared. Three thousand men thus perish. This stands in contrast to the introduction of grace on the day of Pentecost some 1500 years later. As the gospel is preached on that first day of a new dispensation, three thousand souls are brought to the Lord (Acts 2).

(C) By the next day, the tumult and anger have subsided. Will Moses now say: “Yesterday I became angry, but the evil was not so serious?” On the contrary, he speaks again with deep feeling: “You have sinned a great sin.” Having pondered the matter in his innermost heart, he goes up again to the Lord, declaring, “Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin'' (v. 30). He does not reveal what means he will use to do this, nor is he even sure that this means will succeed.

Bowed down with grief before the Lord, Moses acknowledges that the people have committed a grave sin. He adds: “Yet now, if You will forgive their sin ...” He is not able to finish his sentence for he knows well that God cannot forgive without atonement being made. Hence he expresses what he has secretly conceived in his heart: “If not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” He thus offers himself as a propitiation for the people. He has not yet learned what the psalmist will declare later: “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him” (Psa. 49: 7).

And yet, the Lord forgives. However, He cannot accept that Moses should suffer for the people: “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book.” If the Lord seems to bear with sin, it is because He has before Him the future coming of Another One who will offer Himself in sacrifice for sin. Through Christ, He will set forth a mercy-seat, so that He might be just, and the Justifier of the one that has faith in Jesus (Rom. 3: 24-26). It was possible for God to endure in absolute righteousness “the sins that were previously committed” (that is, those committed during the entire period of the Old Testament) because He had before Him the perfect Victim who would be manifested in His own time.

Thus God will be just and He will also forgive. He will be faithful to His promises (Ex. 33: 1) while also maintaining His glory as to the Egyptians. In His “government” however, He will have to chastise His own; He withdraws His presence from their midst (Ex. 33: 3).

3.  THE TENT OF MEETING — THE INTERCESSOR

(Exodus 33: 7-11)

After the sin of the people God departs, saying “I will send My Angel before you” (Ex. 33: 2, 3). Upon hearing this disturbing word, the people mourn and strip themselves of their ornaments.

What is to be done under these circumstances? The camp had been abandoned to confusion. The presence of God was withdrawn. Moses, however, had already received on the mountain the instructions to build the tabernacle; the habitation of God was to occupy the central place and the tribes were to camp all around it.

Since the people are in utter confusion, Moses realizes that it is no longer possible for God to dwell among them. Will it then be necessary to renounce every manifestation of the divine presence for those who fear the Lord? Moses takes a tent and pitches it for himself outside the Camp, far from the camp, and calls it the tabernacle of meeting. “And it came to pass that every one who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting.” So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle” (vv. 7, 8).

Thus there were two categories of persons: those who were seeking the Lord and went out of their tents; and the others who only looked afar off from the entrance of their own tents.

Do we not have a similar instruction in Hebrews 13: “Let us go forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach”? Christendom, because of its confusion and errors, resembles in many ways the camp of Israel. Like the godly Israelites who went out to Moses, it is possible for us today to go forth out of the camp; and in recognition of 2 Timothy 2: 19-22, to meet simply to the name of the Lord Jesus. We can do this with full confidence in His promise of Matthew 18: 20: “Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there I am in the midst of them.'' Since everyone does not obey the Lord's commandment, only a “remnant” gathers around Him; but this remnant can fully rely on the promise of His presence.

“And it came to pass, when Moses went out to the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the entrance of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.” The entire people could recognize that the presence of the Lord was manifested there, and no longer in the midst of the camp. In that outside place Moses, the faithful servant, could find a communion which he had never known before. The Lord speaks with him “face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.”

Moses then intercedes for the people on the principle of grace, a new principle at this point. Being aware of himself as the object of God's favor, he beseeches the Lord to extend His grace to the entire people. He receives the marvelous answer: ''My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” This, however, was not enough to satisfy Moses. Since he had found grace in the eyes of the Lord, he intercedes that God might go with the people as well as with himself. Finally the Lord yields to his prayer: “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight” (Ex. 33: 17).

The Vision Of Grace

Moses, deeply encouraged by this intimate relationship with his God, fervently prays to see the glory of His face. However, the moment has not yet arrived for the knowledge of the glory of God to shine in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4: 6). Therefore, the Lord must say to His servant: “You cannot see my face; for man shall not see Me, and live.” Although the Lord cannot yet reveal His glory, He declares: “l will make all My goodness pass before you.”

Thus placed in the cleft of the rock and alone in the sanctuary of God's presence, Moses receives a new revelation of God whom he has so faithfully followed until now. At the bush, he had learned to know Him as the one who does not change: “I am that I am.” In Egypt, God revealed Himself to him as “The Lord, the God of the covenant.” At Sinai, he received the law from “the righteous and holy God.” In the cleft of the rock, however, he learns to know the very nature of the One who is love: “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy unto thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Ex. 34: 6, 7).

Later, in the secret of the temple, young Isaiah will learn to know the grace which takes away his iniquity and makes propitiation for his sin. In the vision at Horeb, Elijah will hear the soft and gentle voice which will touch his heart. In the temple at Jerusalem, Paul will see the One who sends him to the nations far off. And alone in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea and flooded with the light of the resurrection morning, Mary of Magdala will fall at the feet of her risen Savior.

One may well understand that after coming down from the mountain, Moses is no longer the same. He now has in his hands the tables of the law. They are not shattered this time, but placed intact into the ark, a type of Christ. He no longer comes chastising the culprits and spreading terror in the camp. The skin of his face shines, reflecting the goodness and grace of which he had caught a glimpse. He had “spoken with Him.” Aaron and the people, afraid at first, come near to him and Moses puts a veil on his face. The time had not yet come for the glory of grace to be fully revealed. Even today the veil remains on the hearts of the people of Israel (2 Cor. 3: 15).

However, God has shone forth the knowledge of His glory in the face of Christ. All of us who know the Lord Jesus can contemplate with unveiled face this glory of the Lord. We can be transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit (2 Cor. 3: 18).

Have we not noticed the details of this remarkable verse? “We all . . . are transformed?” It is not now as it was with Moses the privilege of one particular man or the prerogative of some eminent servant. This marvelous vision is there for all. There is no longer any veil . . .but one must have the time and a heart to contemplate it.

THINKING THINGS THROUGH

1. Explain how Israel's first year in the wilderness illustrates the individual Christian life; and how their second year illustrates the collective Christian life.

2. Pick out one feature from the giving of the law to Moses on Mt. Sinai which especially impresses you. Tell why it impresses you.

3. What was God's purpose in giving the ten commandments?

4. How does the Golden Calf incident illustrate the meaning and results of idolatry? Is it possible for a true believer to be guilty of idolatry? Explain your answer.

5. Describe Moses' reaction to the Golden Calf incident. Note his intercession, his righteous indignation, his decisive judgment on the people, his self-sacrificing concern for them. What is your response when other Christians sin and publicly dishonor the Name of the Lord?

6. What practical lessons do you learn from Moses' pitching the tent of meeting outside the camp? What were the two opposite responses of the people to his action?

7. Review the various ways in which God revealed Himself to Moses: at the burning bush, in Egypt, at Sinai, and in the cleft of the rock. How did these revelations change Moses? What revelations have we had from God's Word that have changed our lives?

Chapter 5

FROM SINAI TO KADESH

(The Second year)

On the first day of the first month of the second year after the children of Israel had left Egypt, the tabernacle was set up (Ex. 40: 2). Different events occurred one after the other: the consecration of the priests, the offering of the princes, the celebration of the Passover. On the first day of the second month Moses proceeds to number the men “that go forth to military service” (Num. 1: 3).

Finally, on the twentieth day of the second month of this second year, the cloud over the tabernacle begins to move. The children of lsrael leave the wilderness of Sinai, for the first time following the commandment of the Lord about journeying. Six tribes preceded the ark and the sanctuary, and six tribes formed the rear-guard.

1.  EYES IN THE WILDERNESS

(Numbers 10: 29-36)

Fundamentally the cloud directed the movements of the people (Num. 9: 15-23). When the children of Israel were to strike camp, the priests blew the trumpets (Num. 10: 1-8). The Lord had provided everything, and His presence accompanied Israel.

Why does Moses wish for some human help in the person of his brother-in-law, Hobab? Being a Midianite, he would, of course, be well acquainted with the wilderness and the places where to encamp. It can further be said that Moses seemed to have his welfare in mind, insisting on letting him share in “whatever good the Lord will do to us.”

Actually, Hobab will not precede the people and find the place to encamp. The ark itself, proceeding out of its normal place in the midst of the tribes, will go before them “in the three days' journey” to search out a resting place for them! The movement of the cloud ratifies that they are to move, thus manifesting the divine presence. This is God's gracious answer to the persevering intercession of Moses, despite the lack of confidence in God which he displayed in asking for Hobab's assistance.

Is it not the same with us? In John 10 the Good Shepherd puts forth His own sheep and .”he goes before them.” The sheep follow Him, because they know His voice. This precious experience of knowing that “He goes before” can be made at any age.

If you are facing an unknown stage in your life: a new period of studies, a sojourn abroad, another course of professional training, remember that “He goes before.” Trust Him and rely on Him. The ark leaves three days in advance so there is no need to hurry. It is enough to quietly follow the way He opens. “Whoever believes will not act hastily” (Isa. 28: 16). May we avail ourselves of the promise made to the psalmist: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye” (Ps. 32: 8). We get this instruction from the word of God, applied in practical fellowship with the Lord.

2.  THE BURDEN OF ALL THIS PEOPLE

Numbers 11: 10-17; 24-29)

Numbers is the wilderness book; it is also the book of complaints. How many times the Israelites complain, weep and wail! In our chapter “the people complained...the people cried out to Moses ...the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again...Moses heard the people weeping...every one at the door of his tent.”

One can understand how these constant complaints (which brought on Israel the chastisement of the Lord) could overtax the patience of their leader. So Moses pours out his complaint before God: “Why?...Why?...they weep all over me...I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me.”

Exodus 18 tells how Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, advised him to obtain some help in administering justice by providing able men: chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. His counsel was that these men judge the people at all times and bring only the great matters to their chief. On the one hand, Moses would “stand before God for the people, so that (he might) bring the difficulties to God.” And on the other hand he would teach them the statutes and the laws. Moses followed this advice, taking it as from God (Ex. 18: 23). In Deuteronomy 1: 9-18 he recalls the incident without adding any negative comment. A counterpart to this might be found in 1 Corinthians 6: 4.

However, in Numbers 11 it was not a matter of dispensing justice or hearing problems. It was rather Moses' feeling of being overwhelmed with the burden of his responsibilities. Certainly God was able to give Moses the means necessary to carry out his charge, and He had instructed him to lead lsrael.

Today, in the light of the New Testament, one must acknowledge that it is not God's intention for His people that only one man assume responsibility for the entire service of the local assembly. The decision of Acts 15 was not reached by one apostle, however prominent, but by the apostles and the elders, with the concurrence of the whole assembly (v. 22). According to passages such as Philippians 4: 3 and Colossians 4: 11, Paul had several “fellow laborers” whom he sent here and there, or who accompanied him on his journeys.

Passages such as 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12 and Ephesians 4 show that each member, every joint, has his/her particular service in the body of Christ; and that all work together for the advantage of the entire body. The Lord alone imparts through the Spirit various gifts, not only the fundamental ones of shepherd, evangelist or prophet, but also every kind of work and function to be performed in the body. All do not have the same qualification, but all the members must equally care for one another: “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4: 10).

Hence, even if it was not proper for Moses to complain to God in this way, we can think that God answered him in grace by giving the seventy elders to assist him in carrying the burden of the people. And Moses did not take it in the wrong way. When Joshua wanted to prevent Eldad and Medad from prophesying in the camp, Moses replies: “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!” (Num. 11: 29). Moses did not at all wish to be the sole channel of the Spirit of God.

First Corinthians 12: 21 reminds us that “the eye cannot say to the hand, `I have no need of you'; nor again the head to the feet, `I have no need of you.' Each of us has received from the Lord a service to perform, and we cannot abandon it to somebody else. Neither should we despise or try to imitate the function which God might have entrusted to others. All are called in dependence on the Lord, to be “joined in the work and laboring” (1 Cor. 16: 16 JND) in a spirit of submission and mutual esteem (Phil. 2: 4; Rom. 12: 3). This is not collaboration as understood in a human organization. Rather, it is cooperation in a living organism, each member operating at the place assigned by the Master (Eph. 4: 16); and particularly today in the scope of 2 Tim. 2: 19-26.

3.  BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT AT KADESH

(Deuteronomy 1: 19-46; Numbers 13 and Numbers 14)

“It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea” (Deut. 1: 2). A few days would suffice to reach the frontier of Canaan. Yet, more than thirty eight years after the departure from Sinai we meet the people at Kadesh-barnea again (Num. 20: 1). So today, the spiritual progress of a soul can be rapid, but often many years are wasted through lack of faith, vigilance, and love for the Lord.

This is just what happened with the people of Israel. As the starting point for the conquest, Kadesh-Barnea was situated at the frontier of Canaan. Moses mentions it in Deuteronomy one. After the “great and terrible wilderness” which they had crossed, the lsraelites had only to move forward fearlessly and take possession of Palestine. As Moses said, “You have come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us. Look, the LORD your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the LORD God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged” (Deut. 1: 20, 21). In these words one can sense all the relief felt by Moses. He had brought the people through the different stages of the wilderness up to the frontier of Canaan. Just a few more efforts, and through God's kindness he would soon be able to lay down his heavy burden and enjoy rest.

Why then was the course of events different?

(A) The people conceived the blameable wish to send spies to examine the land. Was it not enough that God had declared to them that it was a country flowing with milk and honey, and that He would accompany them in their conquest of it? No, they want men to examine the land on their behalf and bring them news about it. Numbers 13 describes how the Lord accedes to their request and tells Moses to send out spies. In this way, He tries the people to see whether they will trust Him or not.

(B) The people wrongly accepted the majority report of the spies. True, these men reported that Canaan was as God had promised: “The land...truly flows with milk and honey” (Num. 13: 27). However, they quickly add that the people dwelling in the land are strong; the cities are walled and very great. They discredit the land and completely discourage the children of Israel from conquering it.

Caleb protests boldly: “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” The following day. Joshua joins him, insisting that Israel must not “fear the people of the land, for...the LORD is with us” (Num. 14: 9).

Will Israel listen to the disheartening declarations of the ten, or to the two men of faith who, trusting the Lord, assure them of the victory?

How is it with us? Are we among those who recommend “the land” or those who hold back souls from following the Lord? Are not criticisms, detractions, depreciation of the ministry of the Word, negligence in attending the meetings, and so many other insinuation elements which discourage our brethren from possessing the spiritual blessings given by God? Let us, like Joshua and Caleb, rely on God to take possession of what He has given us, and incite others to do the same.

(C) The people listen to the ten spies. During the entire night they lift up their voice, crying and weeping. In the morning they reject Moses and prepare to appoint a captain who will lead them back to Egypt. They further declare that Joshua and Caleb should be stoned.

What a terrible hour for Moses! It may have been the darkest hour in his life. How many times had he not interceded for this people? He had even offered himself for them as a propitiation for their sin, if this had been possible. With faithfulness and constancy he had led them up to the frontier of the promised land. Now they reject him and want to return to Egypt. He falls on his face before the entire assembly, painfully aware that the promised rest is about to be forfeited.

The Lord puts his servant to the test by again proposing that He destroy the people and make of Moses a nation greater and mightier than they. Moses, however, would not accept to enter the land alone, sacrificing his brethren and the glory of God (v. 16). He beseeches the Lord to forgive once more “according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now” (v. 19). “Then the LORD said: I have pardoned, according to your word.”

Moses, however, will have to submit to the discipline that will strike Israel on account of their unbelief. The entire generation that came out of Egypt will perish in the wilderness. What a faithful servant is Moses! He accepts rather to be thirty-eight years in affliction along with the people of God than to witness their destruction and himself be honored. He bows down, submitting to the suffering which he has not deserved. He will see the bodies of his companions fall one after another and die in the arid solitude. As he sees it at this time, only four will survive the thirty-eight more years in the wilderness and enter the promised land: himself, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb.

Several of the people seem to reconsider: “And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, `Here we are, and we will go up to the place which the LORD has promised, for we have sinned!'” (Num. 14: 40). However, they are persisting in their own strength. Moses rather submits to the divine discipline and remains in the camp. Then, as he expresses with deep melancholy in Deuteronomy 2: 1, “...we turned and journeyed into the wilderness of the Way of the Red Sea, as the LORD spoke to me.”

Making all due allowance, do we not at times face the same experience? Must we not also humble ourselves and bow under the hand of God who disciplines His people, even if personally we have had no direct part in the fault that brings divine chastisement upon us?

THINKING THINGS THROUGH

1. Describe the camp of Israel as they left the wilderness of Sinai. In what ways do you see God's concern for them, His desire to be among them and lead them?

2. How is the functioning of various members in the body of Christ illustrated by the distribution of Moses' responsibility among seventy of the elders of Israel? What is your place and function in the body of Christ?

3. What factors prevented the Israelites from going in to possess the promised land when they first arrived at the frontier town of Kadesh- Barnea? What was the result of their failure to possess the land at that time?

4. What are some of the ways in which we hinder one another from possessing our land of spiritual blessings in Christ?

5. How does Moses' great heart for God and for the people of God shine forth once again at Kadesh-barnea?

Chapter 6

THIRTY-EIGHT MORE YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS

In Deuteronomy 2: 14-15 we read: “And the time we took to come from Kadesh-Barnea...was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war was consumed from the midst of the camp.” A choice had been made at Kadesh by these men; they did not have the faith to go up and conquer the land of Canaan, as Caleb and Joshua had urged them to do. Frightened by the enemy, they had renounced God's desire for them to possess it.

Regarding salvation or the daily walk, there are decisive days in life when we too are confronted by a crossroads. Will we really decide for the Lord, adhering to Him and giving Him the first place? Or do we still want to enjoy the things of this world a little longer? The broad road will lead us far away from fellowship with the Lord. For the lsraelites there was no return, no recovery. Under the government of God, the face of the wilderness was strewn with their graves.

We will not take time to consider the various incidents recorded in the Word which occurred during these long years. However, three of them may retain our attention as marking more particularly the character of Moses. These are: the criticism by Miriam, the rebellion of Korah, and the tension at Meribah.

1.  MEEKNESS AND HUMILITY

(A) In The Face Of Miriam's Criticism

(Numbers 12)*

Miriam, the older sister of Moses, had come out with him from Egypt. She had led the choirs of the women in the song of triumph after the Crossing of the Red Sea, and had no doubt acquired an important position within the family and among the people because of her age (Micah 6: 4).

Now however, Zipporah** (who had left Moses for a time) reappears (Ex. 18: 2). Now that Moses has a wife again, Miriam can no longer have the same place as before. As easily happens under such circumstances, Miriam starts to criticize her brother, speaking against him and belittling him. She wins Aaron over, and together they ask insinuatingly: “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” (Num. 12: 2).

How many times, even among us, do envy and jealousy cause criticism and slander? 1 Peter 2: 1 teaches us that we must lay aside all envyings and jealousy if we want to be fed by the pure milk of the Word; if we want to come near the Lord and worship Him. The account in Numbers 12 emphasizes the seriousness of these faults.

Furthermore, Miriam and Aaron, blinded by their self-importance, refuse to acknowledge the place given by God to Moses. “And the Lord heard it” (Num. 12: 2). Someone may think that he has whispered a critical word only in the ear of a brother or sister, advising him or her not to tell it to anybody else. Let us remember that the Lord has heard it and will hold us accountable.

Moses probably knew the criticisms that Miriam was spreading against him. However, as the Word of God says, he was very meek, “more than all men who were on the face of earth.” Humbly he kept silent, just as his Master would do in a future day. When we become the objects of criticism or even slander, should we not also leave it to God? He will bring everything to light at the right moment, and will not allow any bad effect beyond what He deems advisable for his servants.

“Suddenly” the Lord intervenes, calling Moses, Aaron and Miriam to the tent of meeting. Perhaps Aaron and Miriam imagine that what had just happened with the seventy elders will now take place with them. That is, the Lord will take of the Spirit which is on their younger brother and place it on them. If this is what they think, their eyes will soon be opened. The Lord summons Miriam and Aaron to appear alone before Him. Undertaking Moses' defence, He says: “Why...were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?”

We may well underline this verse in our Bibles so that we might take care not to do the same. Criticisms against the servants of God, against their ministry, and against their behavior are so easily expressed!

“So the anger of the LORD was aroused against them, and He departed. And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow.” She must suffer the consequences of her failure. Moses intercedes for her, a fresh proof of his love and humility; but the entire people will know the chastisement that has struck the prophetess who had not been afraid to criticize her brother. During seven days she is to be excluded from the camp; and Israel cannot journey until Miriam is healed and received back into the camp. Regretting a fault is not enough. We must feel deeply within ourselves its gravity in the eyes of God, if not in those of men.

Let us emphasize the attitude of Moses who prays and intercedes for his sister, just as Job did for his friends, and as John invites us to do if we see a brother sinning. Matthew 18 teaches us to go and see such a brother and try to win him. If this move although made in the humble spirit of footwashing as described in John 13 — remains fruitless, two or three brothers must be taken along in order to try to recover the guilty one. It is only after the second visit has failed that one must tell it to the assembly, and then only if the case is sufficiently serious. Evil must in no way be spread abroad. Let us not forget how much Miriam suffered for it.

(B) In The Face of Korah's Rebellion

Numbers 16 relates the most serious difficulty faced by Moses during the forty years in the wilderness. Korah, a Levite of the family of the Kohathites, becomes puffed up. Rallying two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly to himself, he intends to seize religious power. He boldly asks, “Why is the priesthood reserved for the family of Aaron? Why do the Levites not have access to it? Since the entire assembly of Israel — all of them are holy and the Lord is in the midst of them, why do Moses and Aaron lift themselves up above the congregation of the Lord?”

It is not only in our days that an alleged zeal for the holiness of God's assembly is used as a pretext to put oneself forward and to gain influence!

Dathan, Abiram and On of the tribe of Reuben also attack, so to say, the civil authority of Moses, saying, “Is it a small thing that you...should keep acting like a prince over us?” (v. 13).

The double rebellion grows to the point of involving the whole assembly (v. 19). What will Moses do? As at so many other times, he falls on his face (whereas Korah exalts himself) and leaves the decision to God, saying, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will show ...whom He chooses” (v.5). On the one hand Moses relies on the decision of God to confirm the position which He has given to each one; on the other hand he waits until “to-morrow.” He does not want to act hastily in spite of the gravity of the situation. He would rather allow Korah and those with him enough time to repent.

The ingratitude and rebellion experienced by Moses might have caused him to go away and leave the people to their fate. He stays however, aware of the responsibility involved in his God-given position. He keeps his position of authority without losing his spirit of grace and humility.

Is this not the first lesson that we must learn from this chapter, that is, to acknowledge the position imparted by God to each one of his people? In the body of Christ the members do not all have the same function. God has placed each one in the body as it has pleased Him. None can say to the others: “We do not need you.” Members who seem less important cannot think that they therefore do not belong to the body.

The Levites, as Moses emphasized, occupied a privileged position. They could come near to God in performing the service of the tabernacle (v. 9). Why then should they also want to assume the priesthood for themselves? If God has entrusted it to the family of Aaron, should they not acknowledge this special position? And if God has invested Moses with authority, must not His decisions be obeyed with all submission?

Today it is not quite the same since all believers are priests. However, The Word of God does mark out some as elders and some as leaders to be obeyed. Those who labor in the Word must be highly esteemed in love. It is important for us to first discern the place of personal service which the Lord has entrusted to each of us. Then in dependence on Him, seek through His grace to faithfully fulfill that place without trying to encroach on the ground entrusted by the Lord to others.

Faced with the insolent attitude of Dathan and Abiram, Moses once more places himself in the hands of the Lord (v. 15). The day after, Korah gathers his two hundred fifty men. As they all offer incense together at the entrance of the tent of meeting, thus acting as priests, the Lord again threatens to destroy the entire people (v. 21). Moses, however, intercedes for them, and the Lord spares them on condition that they depart from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Because the case is so serious, God cannot show mercy. A simple exclusion from the assembly is no longer possible for these men. One must depart from them and leave them to their fate.

These men learn nothing from the situation. On the contrary, they stand in the entrance of their tents with their wives, their sons and their little ones, defying the entire assembly. Suddenly, the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up! Fire from the Lord also consumes the two hundred and fifty men who offered the incense. Thus the entire people must learn that only the intercession of Moses — a type of Christ — was able to keep them from perdition; They also must know that God's judgment does not spare the guilty ones who do not repent.

As with the incident of the golden calf, order is not yet restored by the following day. The whole assembly again murmurs against Moses and Aaron, saying that they have killed the people of the Lord. A plague breaks out and would have destroyed them all, had not Aaron taken a censer upon Moses' instruction, and stood between the dead and the living. Thus, the plague is stayed. The incense speaks of an offering, the sweet odor of which would ascend before God. It is a perfect figure of the Victim who alone can save from eternal death those who trust in Him.

This time 14,700 people die. This shows how serious it is to continue to rebel after God's judgment has been clearly declared.

God, however, wanted to confirm openly the priesthood of Aaron. Hence, He gives a sign to clearly designate the one whom He has chosen. It is not a sign of death like the fire which consumed the two hundred fifty men, but a sign of life. The rod of Aaron, placed in the sanctuary together with the rods of the princes of the twelve tribes, alone buds forth, bearing flowers and fruit. Thus, Aaron is a type of that other Priest, “...Who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life” (Heb. 7: 16).

2.  TENSION AT MERIBAH

(Numbers 20: 1-13)

It is now the fortieth year in the wilderness. Since the incident of the spies in the second year, the people have been roaming about and have finally gathered again at Kadesh.

At this time, Miriam dies and is buried.

Once more there is no water. How will the new generation, raised in the wilderness, react? They know the law and the statutes, they have celebrated the Passover, and the tabernacle is dwelling in their midst. One may understand the murmurings of those brought up in Egypt, but the younger generation had heard the teaching of Moses. They were the object of his care. They saw the glory of the Lord so many times in the wilderness. Will they not behave better than their fathers?

Not at all. The human heart remains the same and again murmurings,reproaches, and questions are raised, this time from the new generation. Moses and Aaron fall upon their faces, not before the congregation as on other occasions, but “at the entrance of the tent of meeting” (Num. 20: 6 JND). The glory of the Lord appears to them, this time not to consume the people but to use grace. Such grace would be shown on the basis of the priesthood, confirmed through the life manifested in the rod of Aaron.

The Lord gives Moses precise instructions: he must take “...the rod from before the LORD” (Num. 20: 9) — the rod that had budded forth. He must gather the assembly together and speak before them to the rock. Moses takes the rod as the Lord had commanded him. The two brothers gather the congregation before the rock.

It is a moment of tension, irritation, and indignation for Moses whose career will be broken down through his ill-considered action on this occasion. He says to them: “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock? Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod.”

Had Moses' faith decreased? Had he become somewhat tired of the prolonged ingratitude of the people? Whatever the case might be, he lacks the faith that would enable him to simply speak to the rock. He wants to use authority in striking it with his rod. He thus disobeys the Lord's precise order to only speak to the rock while holding in his hand the rod of grace connected with the priesthood.

Grace alone was able to introduce the people into the land. Neither authority nor the rod of judgment could do so. The whole incident is a picture of Christ who would be offered only once. Even if Moses was unable to understand the entire import of his gesture, it still was a serious matter to strike the rock a second time.

“Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, `Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land” (v. 12). In our eyes, the divine sentence seems to be out of proportion to their fault. However, the Lord holds more responsible those who have received much, especially his servants (Luke 12: 48).

Several times Moses beseeches God to revoke his sentence, but the divine decision remains inexorable (Deut. 3: 25-26). The old servant of God recovers communion and intimacy with the Lord, but under the divine government, the consequences remain: “You shall not go over this Jordan.” A similar thing occurred with regard to David and Bathsheba's child.

3.  ALONE AT PISGAH

(Deuteronomy 34)

A short time after the contention at Meribah, Aaron, along with Moses and Eleazar, must go up on mount Hor. There Moses strips his brother of his priestly garments and puts them upon Eleazar, his nephew. “Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain” (Num. 20: 28).

At the time of the golden calf, Aaron had been spared. When the fire of the Lord destroyed Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire, Aaron had kept silent, aware that the fault of his sons was not as grave as his own had been. Once more he is spared. Now at the end of his life he must die, stripped of the garments that marked the high position to which he had been called. His faith, like that of his brother, had been defective at the critical moment.

For a few more months Moses will remain alone at the head of the people. His last year is quite occupied. The entire book of Deuteronomy is filled with his memories. As legislator, he briefly restates the ordinances, gives new instructions for the land, and makes his last recommendations to the people. In the presence of all the people he invests Joshua with the authority needed to assume the succession. He gives expression to the song which will remind Israel of the warnings of the Lord. Before dying he blesses the tribes one after the other, thus showing that he is aware of the future ruin of the people as well as God's resources for them.

Before leaving those whom he has served and led so faithfully, he pronounces these last words: “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut. 33: 27). In his prayer preserved in Psalm 90, he can say: “LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.” Had not this communion, this intimacy with God, marked his career on earth from the burning bush to the plains of Moab? Alluding to such vital fellowship, the Lord Jesus will later say: “Abide in me, and I in you” (John 15).

The God whom the fathers had known, the God who had revealed Himself to Moses, was always the same. His eternal arms had carried him as He carried his people through all these years.

The last day arrives. Moses leaves the plains of Moab where the tents of the people were pitched, and slowly goes up to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah. His work is completed. He has led this nation through so many difficulties and obstacles up to the frontier of the land. He has also communicated to them the thoughts of God. Now his task is finished, although not in the way he would really have liked, since he cannot introduce Israel into the land. Unlike Aaron, he does not have a brother and a son near him to assist him in his last moments. Even his faithful Joshua who had accompanied him at Sinai has remained in the plain.

A greater One, however, comes near to him and lets him experience His presence and intimacy: “This is the land of which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, `I will give it to your descendants.' I have caused you to see it with your eyes.'” Abraham of old had walked “in the land through its length and its width,”. knowing that God would give it to his descendants (Gen. 13: 17). The men of faith of Hebrews 11 saw from afar the promised things, the heavenly land, and they embraced them. John at Patmos, aware of the ruin of the assembly (Rev. 2-3), saw the heavenly city, the Lamb's wife (Rev. 21).

At the thorn-bush, Moses had been alone with God on holy ground. There the I AM THAT I AM revealed Himself and constrained His servant to accept the mission being entrusted to him. At Sinai as lawgiver, he had been alone with the Lord on two occasions of forty days each. Then in the cleft of the rock, he had learned to know God's thoughts of grace.

How many times this leader, tired of the ingratitude of the people, had entered the most holy place to listen in the silence of the sanctuary to the voice speaking to him from off the mercy-seat? (Num. 7: 89). “And he spoke to Him.” Now on barren Pisgah at this supreme moment of Moses' life, His faithful and well known Friend is there near His servant.

After contemplating the good land which God will give to His people, Moses, alone, falls asleep. The Lord Himself buries him in the valley and no man knows his sepulchre to this day. God takes care of the body of His servant, just as later He will make sure that the body of His Son is given the right burial. The Epistle of Jude records a dispute between Michael and Satan about the body of Moses. God watches, lest the enemy might make of it an object of veneration and idolatry as he did with the brass serpent.

One day Moses did enter the promised land. On the mount of transfiguration, he saw in glorious humanity, the Face that had remained hidden at Sinai (Luke 9: 28-31). The purpose of this meeting was not to speak of the past and of all that had been involved in the journey through the wilderness. Neither was it to consider the remote future when the glory of the Son of God would shine in His kingdom. Rather, it was to speak of His death which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

In the Passover lamb and in the Levitical sacrifices, Moses had presented the type. Now the reality was there: Jesus was to be presented as the propitiation “that He [God] might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

The marvelous vision disappears; the cloud takes away Moses and Elijah until the day of resurrection; the disciples no longer see anyone but “Jesus alone with them.”

Moses — man of God, man of faith, deliverer, leader, shepherd, lawgiver, mediator, intercessor, prophet, and so frequently a type of Christ. This great figure of Moses remains before us unique and lonely so that considering the outcome of his conduct, we might imitate his faith (Heb. 13: 7).

THINKING THINGS THROUGH

1. Describe the unhappy situation in which Miriam and Aaron begin complaining against Moses because of his wife. How does this illustrate the strife and murmurings which can arise in an assembly?

2. What personal lessons do you learn from Moses' response (or lack of response) to the complaints against him?

3. Consider the rebellion of Korah and his allies against Moses and Aaron: their complaints, their presumption and God's judgment upon them. Why do you suppose the congregation generally sided with these rebels after all Moses had done for them? What can you learn from Moses about the right attitude towards those who show cruel and unjust ingratitude towards us?

4. Explain the difference between priesthood then and now. Considering this vast difference, what are the lessons we can yet learn from this rebellion against God's established priesthood?

5. Describe the incident at Meribah where Moses hit the rock. Considering the forty long years in which Moses had borne with this disobedient and rebellious people, we might excuse him for acting in anger and self-will, but how did God view it? Yet, what do the further references to Moses in the Bible reveal as to what God wants us to remember about His beloved servant? (Luke 9: 28-31; Acts 7; Heb. 3: 1-5; Heb. 11: 23-29; etc.).

6. Walk with Moses up to Pisgah and meditate there upon his last moments, alone with God. Such times with God had been the secret of his blessed and fruitful career, and his refuge in frequent troubles. How much do you know of time spent alone with God? Consider your daily schedule in the light of this vital necessity.