Table of Contents

John Nelson Darby

Preface

Mainly Introductory

Ancestry, School, University

In Labours Abundant

A Curate and Two Archbishops

"J.N.D."

Character and Principles

"MY DEAR BROTHER,

"J. N. Darby."

"MY DEAR BROTHER,

"J. N. DARBY."

Friends and Associates

As Author

Some Pen Portraits and Appraisals

1830 (1)

1840 (2)

1877 (3)

1900 (4)

The Last Phase

"MY BELOVED BRETHREN,

"J. N. DARBY."

The Afterglow

Biography of William Kelly (W.G.Turner)

Biography of William Kelly (W.G.Turner)

Biography of William Kelly

by W.G.Turner

Introductory

Ireland

Guernsey

Blackheath

Churchman and Gospeller

Some Letters

The Workman

Middlesborough

Closing Days

Age after Age

Prologue

Foreword

Epilogue

The Christian Life

1924.

ITS SUBJECT.

ITS OBJECT.

ITS CHARACTER.

ITS KEYWORDS.

ITS SEVEN MIRACLES.

ITS SEVENFOLD SUBJECTIVE SIGN.

ITS FOURFOLD WITNESS TO CHRIST'S PERSON.

ITS THREEFOLD DIVISION BECAUSE OF HIM.

ITS TWO GREAT PARABLES.

ITS ONE GREAT PRINCIPLE.

ITS IDYLLS.

2 Chron. 35: 20.

Biography of William Kelly (W.G.Turner)

Biography of William Kelly (W.G.Turner)

Biography of William Kelly

by W.G.Turner

Introductory

Ireland

Guernsey

Blackheath

Churchman and Gospeller

Some Letters

The Workman

Middlesborough

Closing Days

W. G. Turner - Books

W G Turner

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With the prayerful desire that the Lord Jesus Christ will use this God-given ministry in this form for His glory and the blessing of many in these last days before His coming. © Les Hodgett (contact@stempublishing.com) (2011)

John Nelson Darby

John Nelson Darby

W. G. Turner

First published June 1944

Second Impression February 1951

C. A. Hammond, 11 Little Britain, London EC1.

Contents

Preface

Mainly Introductory

Ancestry, School, University

In Labours Abundant

A Curate and Two Archbishops

Character and Principles

Friends and Associates

As Author

Some Pen Portraits and Appraisals

The Last Phase

The Afterglow

Preface

Several years ago the present writer essayed a Sketch of the Life and Labours of John Nelson Darby which was heartily commended by Mr. William Kelly the Editor of Darby's Synopsis and Collected Writings. It was quickly exhausted and a further volume — John Nelson Darby, A Biography, from the same pen immediately found a wide sale in English-speaking lands, being also translated into German and Chinese.

Owing to enemy action this is now out of print, and fuller access to reliable sources of information having also become available to the writer, this almost entirely new volume is sent forth in hope that the lamp of testimony lit by the labours of this great servant of GOD in the nineteenth century may be re-trimmed to His glory in the spiritual prosperity of His people.

Chapter 1

Mainly Introductory

There are comparatively few among the millions directly or indirectly influenced spiritually by the life and labours of John Nelson Darby who have any clear perception of this man whom Professor Francis Newman described in Phases of Faith as "a most remarkable man, who rapidly gained an immense sway over me."

One Oxford man indeed styled him "the Tertullian of these last days" from the many controversies in which he was engaged during his long lifetime.

Tertullian, who was the younger contemporary of Ireneaus Bishop of Lyons in the latter part of the second century, was a noted controversialist; and the Dictionary of National Biography ascribes his character to Darby almost as though it was what chiefly characterised him. This is a mistake, for although his many polemical writings may give a superficial appearance to this, yet controversy was not his forte. True he was often involved in it, first with a bishop, then with an archbishop, and frequently with such brethren as are aptly and wittily depicted in the Preface to the Authorised Version in its address to King James as "self-conceited brethren who run their own ways, and give liking unto nothing but what is framed by themselves, and hammered on their anvil."

Since it is only a truism that every movement in the history of mankind has had a personal leader, and that when the hour strikes the man appears, so it was when what an American writer called A Divine Movement began in the first quarter of the last century. This movement commonly designated "Brethren," frequently miscalled "Plymouth Brethren," found a living, forceful, personal leader to voice, lead and extend it as far as a man could, in the subject of this volume. For over half a century of active unwearied service he diligently taught and practised the truth that, whatever the prevailing ecclesiastical disorders, there still remains the duty and privilege for every member of CHRIST's body strenuously to maintain the unity of the SPIRIT in the bond of peace (Eph. 4: 3).

His conception of this "body," the Church, noble and sublime, differs widely from that advocated by many in high ecclesiastical positions, yet cannot fail to appeal to the spiritual mind. He says, "The Church . . . a lowly, heavenly body . . . has no position on earth at all, as it was in the beginning — suffering as its Head did, unknown and well known — an unearthly witness of heavenly things on earth."

The social and religious conditions prevailing in English-speaking Christendom during the Georgian period present a very gloomy picture unrelieved save by the gleam of the Evangelical revival. In the year 1800, however, two most remarkable men of the nineteenth century were born who, it is admitted by all conversant with the so-called religious world, left indelible marks upon the face of Christendom. One of these was EDWARD BOUVERIE PUSEY, the other JOHN NELSON DARBY. They both became clergymen of the Established Church, and lived lives of unworldly piety; each striving, although in wholly different ways, to realise a great ideal (the visible unity of the Church of GOD, an ideal still unrealised, but yet confessedly a great ideal). It is noteworthy that both ended their labours within a few months of each other, Darby dying in the April of 1882, and Pusey in the September of that same year.

A writer of this period speaks of the clergy as "careless of dispensing the bread of life to their flocks, preaching at best but a carnal and soul-benumbing morality, and trafficking in the souls of men by receiving money for discharging the pastoral office in parishes where they did not so much as look on the faces of the people more than once a year"; and of a typical clergyman, further remarks, "He really had no very lofty aims, no theological enthusiasm. If I were closely questioned, I should be obliged to confess that he felt no serious alarms about the souls of his parishioners, and would have thought it a mere loss of time to talk in a doctrinal and awakening manner to old 'Feyther Taft,' or even to Chad Cranage the blacksmith. If he had been in the habit of speaking theoretically, he would perhaps have said that the only healthy form religion could take in such minds was that of certain dim but strong emotions, suffusing themselves as a hallowing influence over the family affections and neighbourly duties. He thought the custom of baptism more important than its doctrine, and that the religious benefits the peasant drew from the church where his father worshipped and the sacred piece of turf where he lay buried, were but slightly dependent on a clear understanding of the Liturgy or the sermon. Clearly, the Rector was not what is called in these days an 'earnest' man: he was fonder of Church history than of divinity, and had much more insight into men's characters than interest in their opinions; he was neither laborious, nor obviously self-denying, nor very copious in almsgiving, and his theology, you perceive, was lax." Another Oxford clerical writer of repute observes: "The churches and worship bore in general too conclusive testimony to a frozen indifference."

Amongst the Dissenting communities, too, there existed at that time a cold exclusiveness almost amounting to Pharisaism; their hope lay in political reform. The whole professing Church, wise and foolish virgins alike, apparently slumbered and slept. The Reform Bill, however, had a manifest and powerful effect; churchmen could not fail to see that their house was in danger. Then what became known as the Anglo-Catholic school within the borders of the Establishment began to realise the necessity of resting their claims against Radical encroachment on Apostolic succession, saving ordinances, and imposing forms, to which Dissent had no pretension, and in fact repudiated.

And as at Creation when darkness was upon the face of the deep, the SPIRIT of GOD moved upon the face of the waters, so now the hearts of believers in the various denominations were stirred up to study the Scriptures, and, as ever, in so doing found light pouring into their minds, upon which some sought to act.

Others, alas! like Dr. Pusey, instead of being humbled by Scriptural light, obscured it by forms and human imaginings, imported mainly from traditions in the writings of the early fathers, thereby sowing baneful seeds of error, which have since become so abundantly fruitful in the Established Church and her daughters. Disgusted with the sloth and apathy of normal Christendom, these did not so much search the Scriptures, as insist on the need of an interpreter for them. They ignored (though unintentionally) the Divine Instructor, Whose special mission it is to reveal and explain the things of CHRIST to His people. So, practically substituting for the present energy of the HOLY SPIRIT the confusions of the so-called "Fathers," it is little wonder they rapidly strayed more and more from the truth to masses, confessionals, crucifixes, purgatory, and in some instances, to holy water stoups and extreme unction, until, as Charles Kingsley observes, "all the appliances of religion to deliver a man out of the hands of a merciful GOD" were speedily requisitioned. Yet their main object of visible unity, based on the principles of catholic corruption after the Apostles had departed, and on mediaeval development was, in their own eyes, but very partially realised, and even yet to the outsider (although more than a century has elapsed since the famous Assize sermon of Keble which marked the outward commencement of the Oxford movement) still appears chimerical.

Thousands of earnest, and some pious, souls were however enslaved within the bonds of a legal tyranny more irksome and insufferable than that of Judaism. Some leaders may have been sincere, but mistaken sincerity only proves too well the subtlety of the enemy of souls, and the folly of leaning to one's own understanding in the things of GOD. Dr. Pusey and his friends sought to establish a restoration of united Christendom, ignoring the palpable fact of its departure from GOD and His Word and SPIRIT, and its ruin doctrinally, ecclesiastically and morally. Dr. Pusey lived a self-denying life, and suffered much at the hands of his bishop too; and his firm stand for the inspiration and infallibility of the word of GOD is particularly marked in his "Daniel" and "Minor Prophets."

John Nelson Darby, even before Dr. Pusey came prominently into notice as a leading Tractarian, had been attracted strongly by the same system of religious ideas as Keble, Newman, Pusey and others of that school. He says: "I know the system. I knew it and walked in it years before Dr. Newman, as I learn from his book, thought on the subject; and when Dr. Pusey was not heard of. I fasted in Lent so as to be weak in body at the end of it; ate no meat on weekdays — nothing till evening on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, then a little bread or nothing; observed strictly the weekly fasts too. I went to my clergyman always if I wished to take the Sacrament, that he might judge of the matter. I held Apostolic Succession fully, and the channels of grace to be there only. I held thus Luther and Calvin and their followers to be outside. I was not their judge, but I left them to the uncovenanted mercies of GOD. I searched with earnest diligence into the evidences of Apostolic Succession in England, and just saved their validity for myself and my conscience. The union of Church and State I held to be Babylonish, that the Church ought to govern itself, and that she was in bondage, but was the Church."

Chapter 2

Ancestry, School, University

JOHN NELSON DARBY was born at Westminster, in his father's London house, on November 18th, 1800. He was the youngest son of John Darby, of Markley, Sussex, and of Leap Castle, King's County, Ireland. His mother was of the Vaughan family, well known in Wales, whilst on his father's side he was of Norman extraction, the family records going back before the Reformation. His uncle, Admiral Sir Henry Darby who commanded the Bellerophon in the Battle of the Nile, was a friend of Lord Nelson, and he, to the great delight of the parents, consented to be one of the sponsors at the christening of his friend's little nephew. Hence the second Christian name given in compliment to England's naval hero. His mother's death when he was only five years old, made a deep and lasting impression upon young Darby. And the tender memory which he cherished in his heart of her would sometimes find expression on unexpected occasions. When he was fifty years of age we find him writing of her thus: "I have long, I suppose, looked at the portrait of my mother, who watched over my tender years with that care which only a mother knows how to bestow. I can just form some imperfect thought of her looks, for I was early bereft of her; but her eye fixed upon me that tender love which had me for its heart's object — which could win when I could know little else — which had my confidence before I knew what confidence was — by which I learnt to love, because I felt I was loved, was the object of that love which had its joy in serving me — which I took for granted must be; for I had never known aught else. All that which I had learnt, but which was treasured in my heart and formed part of my nature, was linked with the features which hung before my gaze. That was my mother's picture. It recalled her, no longer sensibly present, to my heart."

He received his early education at Westminster School; the years however spent by him at the famous school were very uneventful and gave no promise of the future lying before the lad. All that could be learned from one of the masters, several years later, was that there certainly had been a lad named Darby in the school at the time mentioned, but that was really all he could say. So far as memory served there was nothing special about him, and as to what became of him after leaving the school, the master had no idea. Indeed he had never heard his name from that day to the time of this enquiry. This, too, when J. N. Darby's name was familiar in almost every quarter of the globe

In 1815 the family went to reside in the ancestral castle in Ireland, and to young Darby it was his first visit to that country. He then at the age of fifteen matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin, and in this entirely congenial atmosphere his whole nature seemed at once to expand. He now made rapid strides, becoming Classical Gold Medallist on the shorter time of a Fellow-Commoner for his degree in his nineteenth year. These four happy years were followed by three during which he studied for the Bar, and in 1822 he was called to the Irish Chancery Bar, but did not practise; and it is here the secret of his after career begins to reveal itself.

Ever since his eighteenth year he had been greatly exercised about spiritual matters, and being now converted to GOD, conscientious objections arose in his mind as to following a legal profession, however fair the prospects it offered.

After a year, he, to his father's great annoyance, altogether abandoned the idea of practising as a barrister, and this decision came as a very great disappointment to many who had watched with interest the opening of a very promising career. None perhaps was more disappointed than his brother-in-law, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland (then Sergeant Pennefather), who hoped not only for his rise to the highest honours in the profession, but that his penetrating and generalising genius would have done much to reduce the legal chaos to order.

To understand this renunciation of an assured position by a young man, brilliant, gifted, talented, well connected, in a circle possessing great influence in the profession which he had entered and already made his mark, by being "called" when only a youth, it will be necessary to revert to a period of seven years in his life which he rarely mentioned. On one occasion, however, in conversation upon deep spiritual experiences with his friend, Mr. William Kelly, he remarked that for seven years he had once practically lived in the 88th Psalm, his only ray of light being in the opening words, "O LORD GOD of my salvation." To only a select few of GOD'S servants is it given to pass through severe exercise of this character. But the depth and reality of this initial experience undoubtedly gave tone and stability to his life-long witness. Moses at the back of the desert for forty years; Paul in Arabia for three years; and Richard Baxter in Puritan England for seven years, all witness to the fact that He Who chooses and calls for special service, trains His servants specially for their life-work. That of Moses and Paul will be familiar to the reader, but that of Richard Baxter not equally so. Yet in the great work wrought by GOD, through the author of The Saints' Everlasting Rest in the godless town of Kidderminster, which is a simple matter of history, the preparation of the vessel was both searching and severe.

So curiously reminiscent of Darby's inner conflict from 1818 to 1825 is the account given in Ladell's Life of Richard Baxter (pp. 148/9, Edition 1925), that it is profitable to compare them.

"To one so naturally acute and critical, and with a mentality that accepted very little without question, faith was no easy matter. Baxter was, as so very few are able to be, strictly honest with himself; and neither expediency nor the persuasions of others, could make him blind to the perplexities, or indifferent to the numerous problems that Christianity presented. He bravely faced them all, and wrestled with them, until his exacting reasoning powers were satisfied, or at least no longer hostile. It is not surprising, then, to find him often in great perplexity . . . he records in more than one of his works, the time when he was almost overwhelmed by unbelief. For seven years, he says, it continued: years that must have been to him a time of great suffering. . . . 'When faith revived then none of the parts or concernments of religion seemed small, then man seemed nothing, and the world a shadow, and GOD was all . . . but yet,' said he, 'it is my daily prayer, that GOD would increase my faith.'"

In the case of Darby the ray of light that had been, as he said, his only glimmer of spiritual hope during the "dark night" of the seven years, ushered him at last into the full blaze of day as he was brought into the knowledge of peace with GOD, and so became filled with the joy of GOD's salvation. He heard the call, he saw the Hand that beckoned, and unlike the rich, well-placed young man in the Gospel story who made "the great refusal" and went away very sorrowful, John Nelson Darby, also a rich, well-placed young man, made the great renunciation as with a light heart he now set off "to follow on to know the LORD," and to follow Him at any cost.

Cheerfully abandoning the legal profession as we have already mentioned, and now desiring to find a sphere of lifework wherein to serve GOD, he applied for, and was admitted to Deacon's Orders in the Irish Church in 1825 by Archbishop Magee without further delay.

He had still some way to go on the Christian course, and many lessons yet to learn, but like Abraham's servant, he, looking back in after days, might well have said, "I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my MASTER'S brethren" (Gen. 24: 27).

Chapter 3

In Labours Abundant

Darby was given a title for Orders from the large, straggling parish of Celery in the mountains of County Wicklow of which he became curate. Here he found just that congenial sphere of labour and scope for his energies which he desired. Living contentedly in a peasant's cottage on the bog, he threw himself heartily into all the varied duties of his office. Earnest and diligent in his ministrations, strict in churchmanship and conduct, he speedily won a place in the hearts of the poor by his sympathy and considerateness. In the enjoyment of his work he spent his patrimony in schools and charity, and during the year of his diaconate he exercised a generally beneficial influence over the whole locality. He was no mere hireling or official, but an indefatigable labourer in the service of GOD. Every evening almost he was to be found teaching the peasantry in the cabins scattered amid the bogs in the remote outskirts of the wild country parish he served, seldom returning to his own humble lodging before midnight.

He would no doubt have settled here quite contentedly amongst the wild Wicklow mountain peasantry but for "the Divinity which shapes our ends, rough hew them as we may." GOD was fashioning a vessel for a wider, almost world-wide, sphere of usefulness. This, however, would only be clearly seen in His own good time and way, and another fifteen months were to elapse before that way was opened.

Meanwhile the year of his diaconate swiftly passed, filled with busy service; then Darby went up to the city to receive the priest's orders at the hands of the Archbishop which should qualify him for the performance of all the duties of the clerical office.

His restless enquiring mind had, however, from the day of his ordination been disturbed as to the position of an Established Church, but in the enthusiastic discharge of his duties, and the special activities in connection with the Home Mission of that day, these disturbing thoughts had been partially stifled.

Like John Wesley, much of John Darby's travelling in the wild remote outlying parts of his extensive parish was done on horseback, and this played a great part in what diverted the whole course of his after life. It was an accident happening to him on one of these journeys which precipitated the crisis. His horse shied violently, and in swerving aside flung its rider with great violence against a door-post causing severe bodily injuries. These necessitated his going away to Dublin for surgical treatment. Here he was detained for some time, and now, during the long period of convalescence, the disturbing thoughts as to the Established Church and his own clerical position returned with unabated force and urgency. The period of enforced leisure while unable to leave the house, afforded an opportunity to examine them more thoroughly.

This is what he says about it: "During my solitude, conflicting thoughts increased; but much exercise of soul had the effect of causing the scriptures to gain complete ascendancy over me. I had always owned them to be the Word of GOD . . . the careful reading of the Acts afforded me a practical picture of the early church; which made me feel deeply the contrast with its actual present state; though still, as ever beloved by GOD."

By and by, as convalescence proceeded, he was able to move about on crutches, and made acquaintance with several like-minded young men of whom more will be said later.

Darby spent the remaining months of convalescence at the house of his brother-in-law where his sister nursed him back to health. By this time he had inwardly broken with the Established Church but had joined no other. The Bishop of Cashel good-humouredly rallied him on leaving the Irish Church by enquiring, "Well, John, you have left us; what church have you joined?"

"None whatever," replied Darby; "I have nothing to do with the Dissenters, and am as yet my own church."

His friend, the Rev. James Kelly of Stillogan, sent to enquire, "Why did you leave the Church of England?"

To him Mr. Darby sent a friendly but firm reply. This is what he said: "I find no such thing as a National Church in Scripture. Is the Church of England — was it ever — GOD's assembly in England? I say then that her constitution is worldly, because she contemplates by her constitution — it is her boast — the population, not the saints. The man who would say that the Church of England is a gathering of saints must be a very odd man, or a very bold one. All the parishioners are bound to attend, by her principles. It was not the details of the sacramental and priestly system which drove me from the Establishment, deadly as they are in their nature. It was that I was looking for the body of CHRIST (which was not there, but perhaps in all the parish not one converted person); and collaterally, because I believed in a divinely-appointed ministry. If Paul had come, he could not have preached (he had never been ordained); if a wicked ordained man, he had his title and must be recognised as a minister; the truest minister of Christ unordained could not. It was a system contrary to what I found in Scripture."

But this is somewhat anticipating. There was soon to be a collision with his own diocesan, who was also the Archbishop. What led to this and really forced the issue we shall explain later.

As to the labours abundant, Robert Louis Stevenson in his Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes, relates a characteristic incident. When in doubt as to the road in a somewhat remote Catholic French Department, Stevenson casually came across a Protestant farmer of whom he made enquiries as to the way to his destination. In the conversation which followed, he asked the farmer how a colony of Protestants happened to be settled in the midst of a Catholic Department. The explanation given was that an English Pastor named Darby had visited the district some years before and taught them; and now their neighbours called them Derbists on account of their following his teaching. True to type the farmer, one gathers from the narrative, tried to convert Stevenson.

The mere enumeration of the countries and towns visited by Darby justify the title of this chapter, for if any man, save the Apostle Paul and John Wesley, unweariedly travelled in the cause of CHRIST from youth to age it was the subject of this sketch. "I went to Cambridge and Oxford .. . visited Switzerland more than once . . . remained a considerable time at Lausanne where GOD worked in conversions, and gathered a number of the children of GOD out of the world. . . ." These are but a bare mention of places visited by him in a letter, but a glance at his itineraries as noted in three volumes of his letters and casual references in other writings give an astonishing record of his journeyings. To mention but a few, we note some half-dozen visits to United States and Canada, when New York, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Boston, Philadelphia and Massachusetts were visited in the States; and Montreal, Ottawa, Guelph, Minto, Hamilton, London—Ontario, Toronto, Montpelier, Quebec, and also some outlying parts of Canada where Indian brethren resided were also visited. These visits were fully occupied with preaching and teaching.

We find accounts, too, of visits to the West Indies. Demerara is also mentioned, and most of the foregoing were made when he was over fifty years of age. As he grew older his zeal in CHRIST's service did not abate. In early mid life the Continent seems to have possessed a real fascination for Darby in Christian service, and Switzerland looms very largely in that period, visits being repeatedly made to Zurich, Geneva, Vevey, Canton de Vaud, Neuchatel and French Swiss villages. Germany also, where his elder brother laboured for some years in the ministry of the word, is well represented by Elberfeld, Frankfurt and other towns. Indeed, here a marvellous work resulted from his labours. France, where as an octogenarian he still visited, and where his last Continental journey was made in 1880, is represented in the list by Paris, towns and villages on the Pyrenees, Nismes, St. Hippolyte du Fort, etc.; Holland, by Rotterdam, whence on a journey to London he notes a very stormy passage delaying his arrival for some twelve hours or more. It was not such easy, luxurious, punctual travelling in Victorian days for those whose calling led them to "do business in deep waters," as in our own day. Italy also was visited by him, Florence being one of the cities where he ministered the word. In the British Isles the record of his travels would fill pages of this small volume. To name a few representative places London, Oxford, Cambridge, at both of which latter University cities he contacted men who afterwards were widely known either for their worldly advancement or for their unworldly disregard of wealth, titles and fame in the world for the sake of the Name. Bristol, where he preached in 1832 at Bethesda and Gideon Chapels with much joy, only fearing (what in the light of events sixteen years after reads strangely now) the narrowness, which he felt might hamper the work of Geo. Muller and Henry Craik in that city. He says:

"The LORD sent us a blessing, and disposed the hearts of the saints much towards us at Bristol, and many also to hear. We preached in both chapels. The LORD is doing a very marked work there, in which I hope our dear brothers Muller and Craik may be abundantly blessed, but I should wish a little more principle of largeness of communion. I dread narrowness of heart more than anything for the church of CHRIST, especially now."

Plymouth, of course, had many visits from J. N. Darby during the first dozen years of Providence Chapel there; Guernsey too, where his lifelong henchman W. Kelly afterwards resided, and Hull, Hereford, Liverpool, Glasgow and Keswick afford the barest sketch of towns visited by this indefatigable labourer "in word and doctrine"; while his own native Isle was practically covered in his zeal for CHRIST and love of the Irish people. Dublin, Limerick, Mayo, Clare, Kilkenny, Athlone, Clonmel are but names selected at random. These abundant labours occupied fifty years of strenuous days and months. He enjoyed his work, and the enjoyment increased as strength began to fail, his last happy visit to the Continent, as we have remarked, being when over 80 years of age. He also visited Spain once or twice, but here his unfamiliarity with the language, which he himself confesses in one of his letters, somewhat handicapped him.

As this is not a panegyric of Darby we "paint warts and all" as Oliver Cromwell is reported to have ordered in the portrait of himself, since no one is quite perfect not even the reader of this biographical sketch of "a truly great man." The following incidents are a sample of the "warts," which are part of the portrait of this truly great man of GOD in the labours abundant with which this chapter deals.

A London surgeon told the writer a story of a Bible Reading which Darby was giving in the States. A number of ministers were present paying great attention to him. One of them, Rev. Dr. G. F. Pentecost broke in with a question as the meeting proceeded. Darby replied briefly, but his questioner not quite grasping the relevance of the reply, asked him to kindly repeat it. This he did, but Pentecost remarking that he still could not clearly see the point, asked for a third and more detailed explanation. Arrested by this in the full flow of a most interesting argument, Darby rather spoiled things by very tartly retorting, "I am here to supply exposition not brains," or words to that effect.

It is interesting, too, to know that while in Chicago on one occasion Mr. Darby was invited by D. L. Moody to give a series of Bible readings in Farwell Hall. These were attended by many lovers of the Word of GOD, but unfortunately suddenly came to an abrupt end as the two clashed over the question of the freedom of the will. Mr. Darby held to what Mr. Moody considered extreme Calvinism on this point, affirming that so perverted was man's will he could not "will" even to be saved, and he based his contention largely on the texts "Which were born not . . . of the will of the flesh . . . but of GOD"; and "It is not of him that willeth . . but of GOD that sheweth mercy." Mr. Moody insisted that man as a responsible person was appealed to by GOD to turn to Him and would be condemned if he did not. "Ye will not come to me that ye might have life," said JESUS to those who refused His message. "Whosoever will" is the great gospel invitation. The controversy became so heated one day that Mr. Darby suddenly closed his Bible and refused to go on, thus losing one of the great opportunities of his life, as it will seem to many.

Separating from Mr. Moody, Darby did not hesitate to condemn Mr. Moody's work in his characteristic way. In his letters he warned his followers against it as likely to bring a great increase of worldliness into the Church. It is a striking instance of how prejudice can blind and mislead an otherwise great man. Were he alive to-day how surprised he would be to see the work begun by the great warmhearted evangelist a veritable bulwark against both worldliness and apostasy. Mr. Moody ever confessed his indebtedness to the writings of the Brethren for much help in the understanding of the Word, but it was C. H. Mackintosh and Charles Stanley who had the greatest influence. The writings of the former he always highly commended. Still no unprejudiced mind can deny that there has been a drift at Northfield since those days.*

{*"No amount of gratitude to Mr. Moody," wrote an Evangelical paper of the time, "can blind us to the fact that in extending his patronage to the Higher Criticism he has gone right in the teeth of Christian conviction." When George [Adam Smith] was invited to go there, he at first declined, saying he feared his views would not be in harmony with those taught at Northfield. "Never mind," said Moody; "come and say what you like." (Life of George Adam Smith, by his wife. p. 120 et seq.)}

Another American leader whom Mr. Darby met was Dr. Daniel Steele, the great Methodist divine, and advocate of Wesleyan perfectionism. He was at first greatly delighted with Mr. Darby's downright earnestness of purpose and vast knowledge of the Word and attended many of his readings in Boston. But he could not accept the doctrines of grace and considered Mr. Darby's teaching on the two natures and the believer's eternal security utterly false.

One day when Mr. Darby was expounding 1 John 1: 7 showing that the subject dwelt on there is "where you walk, not how," Dr. Steele interrupted with the question, "But, Brother Darby, suppose a real Christian turned his back on the light, what then?" "Then," replied Mr. Darby, "the light would shine upon his back!"

Mr. Darby, however, had the greatest patience with the poor, unlettered, simple believers, and at Bible Readings was frequently known to help an uneducated brother out with his questions, and to go patiently over the same ground again and again until the difficulty was cleared up. Occasionally, but rarely, his stock of patience ran out with those of another class whom he thought were inclined to temporize with the truth under consideration.

The life of every thinker and teacher in whose nature any marked strain of mysticism appears refuses to be exhaustively treated under the forms of strict chronology. This is specially applicable in the case of Darby, who was so intent on the actual business of living that what has been preserved of his long and varied career is entirely due to the care of others. He objected to being photographed and apparently had no time nor inclination to keep a diary. Words uttered on his deathbed to a physician, "CHRIST is my object in life," describe his whole course. Like the Apostle of the Gentiles, Darby could say, with half a century of public life to confirm it, "To me to live is CHRIST," and so to the end, but this did not save him from troubles. He and his work were consistently misunderstood as was to be expected in a Christendom which prizes all those worldly honours that he counted as being valueless. Yet his unrivalled gifts of exposition could not be denied, and of these he was not unconscious.

Chapter 4

A Curate and Two Archbishops

The Oxford man who dubbed Darby the Tertullian of the nineteenth century may possibly have had in mind his trenchant criticisms of two Archbishops, Magee and Whately, the one on Erastianism, and the other on Sabellianism. The former was in connection with a Pastoral Letter which Darby considered as an order to virtually turn the clergy into a religious police in Ireland, purely to curry favour with the English Government of the day. The latter was a few years later in connection with the Irish Education measures of 1832 upon which Darby felt very deeply and expressed himself very strongly, likening it to "the unholy marriage between Infidelity and Popery, whose banns have been first published in this unhappy country" apparently by Dr. Whately himself.

In these controversies Darby's legal training and theological acumen came into play as the careful reader will duly note. Archbishop Magee had issued a Pastoral Letter which brought to a standstill the Home Mission work into which Darby, then the Curate of Calary, had thrown himself heartily and with great success. This Pastoral Letter now required all converts from Roman Catholicism to take an oath of allegiance to King George. These converts were just the persons who least needed a guarantee of their loyalty, and on enquiring Romanists it had the most repellent effect, for it seemed to them a question between the Pope and the King, and not of CHRIST at all. Mr. Darby could not stand this, and vigorously protested against it. But Erastianism prevailed, and the qualms and increasingly serious doubts which had perturbed him before, now clamoured for a decision. He would not disobey his diocesan, but he believed it a dishonour to CHRIST's ministry and Church to create a religious police for currying favour with the Government. Little thought or cared the Archbishop what would be the ultimate consequence of forcing a mere country curate out of the clerical ranks by his time-serving Pastoral charge. But big doors swing on small hinges and great results from apparently small causes.

One result from the Archbishop's letter was that much which had been simmering in this country curate's mind was now brought to boiling point. Newman in the Apologia says that nine years prior to his secession, he had similar thoughts as to the Established Church to those which now terminated Darby's clerical career. "I could not get myself to see anything else than what I had so long fearfully suspected, from as far back as 1836 — a mere national institution. As if my eyes were suddenly opened, so I saw it — spontaneously, apart from any definite act of reason or any argument; and so I have seen it ever since."

Darby, who had already, as we have noticed, for conscience sake relinquished one lucrative profession, felt he must now abandon another of influence and dignity, as being, to him at least, untenable because unscriptural, and derogatory to the glory of CHRIST. His famous pamphlet on The Nature and Unity of the Church of Christ, afterwards issued later in the first volume of the Christian Witness dates from this time. The one-time curate of Plymstock in Devon was the first Editor of the Christian Witness, and so heartily was he in agreement with Darby that no less than fourteen lengthy articles from the latter's pen appear in the first number, including the one on The Nature and Unity of the Church of Christ. It is interesting to note that before Darby published this pamphlet he had copies of it printed, and sent privately to the Archbishop himself, and to all the clergy of the diocese.

His churchmanship had received a severe shock, but for a time he continued in his mountain curacy, also occasionally visiting other parts of the country to preach, or speak at meetings of the various religious Societies.

The Editor of the Christian Witness in a preface reveals how deeply he too was interested. He says: "We believe, with sorrow and humiliation, that the Church of GOD has fallen far short of the glory and joy which belonged to it, as the chaste virgin espoused to CHRIST. To use the words of Archbishop Leighton on a different subject: 'O! quam profunda est et tenebrosa miseriae abyssus in quam plorabili suo lapsu demersa est (Ecclesia Dei) cum veri sui boni non solum possessione, sed et cognitione excideret et nec quodnam illud sit, nec quae sit redeundi via, quaque gradum revocet perspectum habeat.' We therefore desire, in all humbleness of mind, to receive every light which the SPIRIT of GOD may afford us, whether as to the position we are in, or the means of extrication from it, and to be faithful to that light."

Mr. Darby's timely trenchant protestations in the Irish Education Measure controversy in 1832, which was the occasion of his clash with the other Archbishop mentioned, Dr. Whately, now seem curiously like those of Dr. Clifford in the education controversies over sixty years later. Lengthy letters formed a great part of the method employed by Dr. Clifford, and what Dr. Parker in his last public letter most felicitously expressed as to these, would equally apply to J. N. Darby's written about a similar matter. "Letters like Dr. Clifford's are not casually shaken out of a man's coat-sleeve. They are full of knowledge, argument and experience and must, by sheer cogency of reasoning, have carried conviction to all open minds."

This may equally be affirmed of the following indited by Darby in 1832:

"SIR, I address you thus formally in a public document in which it is my object, not to express any personal feelings, but to investigate principles. Your language (as reported) has given me occasion to address you on the subject on which I write: a matter which I confess has occasioned some astonishment to my mind, though other principles than astonishment bring it into action. The character of the public meeting held in this city on the subject of the anti-scriptural system of education needs no comment at present. You were present at that meeting and spoke; but it is not my object to discuss the character of your speech. The unholy marriage between Infidelity and Popery, the devil's apostate counterpart of the union between the bride, the LAMB'S wife, and the great Head of the Church — whose banns have been first published in this unhappy country, if not adequately exposed (as I think none can feel its evil sufficiently), has yet given occasion to so loud an expression of principle as, I trust, will, under GOD, give stability to those who might otherwise have been entangled, and maintain the public expression of the right, here at least, before GOD, when all principle and allegiance towards Him have been so atrociously invaded. But you were following in your opposition in the rear of those to whom you owed canonical obedience. It was at least, sir, an unfriendly way of doing it.

"But not to leave seriousness, considering the path which the Archbishop has trodden, it was well you were behind him. Authority and circumstances hide much from the world, and I must feel that it is the assumed orthodoxy of official situation, which could alone blind the clergy of this country to the principles of the Archbishop by whom they are governed. Such principles known, I should be sorry indeed to follow, and the fullness of an episcopal robe does but ill conceal — even though one be behind it — the false principles which may be set before its face. The circumstances of the case are these: a scheme is set on foot whose professed object is to exclude the Scriptures from the school instruction of the children of this country, and this not for the purpose of meeting the poor people or consulting their feelings. It had required, Mr. Stanley states, the energetic exertion of the priests to prevent the people from embracing the proffered boon of instruction in the Word of GOD, the book of GOD Himself; not then to meet the prejudices of the people, but in acquiescence, we learn from the same authority, with the principles of the Roman Catholic religion. The Scriptures are the witness, not only of the holiness of GOD, but of His love, of His prerogative love in CHRIST. The Archbishop has set himself forward as the main effectuator, as under the circumstances he certainly is, of a scheme which is professedly to meet the priests, in accordance with their principles, in excluding from the schools this witness of GOD's love in CHRIST; for their introduction Mr. Stanley himself states to be the vital defect of the previous system.

"But the clergy are more deeply concerned in this, and the laity too, than as far as I can see, they are aware. The only discerning spring of Christian activity, synergism in GOD's love (for Christianity is the activity of GOD's love), is the knowledge and love of CHRIST. The perception of His person is the great centre and spring of all vital theology. To see this is the material of faith. 'He that seeth the SON and believeth on Him hath everlasting life.' Not to see this leaves a person in the darkness of this world.

"The Archbishop of Dublin is a Sabellian. Of the painful situation in which this may place the clergy it is not for me to judge. What the laity will feel in thinking of their association with him, on the general superintendence of the establishment, they must consider for themselves. But Sabellianism may be considered some questionable opinion or difference. But you must know, sir, that it strikes at the root of all vital as well as orthodox Christianity, by neutralising the distinction between the FATHER and the SON. The FATHER'S sending the SON — the SON's obedience to the FATHER — the whole scheme of mediatorial Christianity — that is, Christianity itself becomes lost in this form of infidelity. A Trinity in character, but not a Trinity of persons, in the essential force of that word, may ease the proud mind of man of that which is beyond its natural powers, but takes away, at the same time, the whole basis on which a sinner can rest by faith. Men may be guilty of Tritheism, and Sabellians may avoid this. But they also undermine the faith in another way.

. . . .

"I care not, sir, for the term Sabellianism; but when the personality of the SON of GOD is avowedly attacked, I cannot be surprised that the person who does so should be the instrument of establishing the first open public act of infidelity — avowedly rejecting the Scriptures, to meet the principles of the Roman Catholic religion. It may not be unprofitable to see the suitableness of the agent to such a work. With what satisfaction anyone can follow in the rear, or own canonical obedience to such a one, I must leave to their own consciences and their fidelity to CHRIST to determine. Certainly the fate of the Archbishop has been unfortunate. Famous, if fame is to be trusted, for being opposed to the union of Church and State, he has with painful singularity united himself to it in its first public act of professed infidelity, to be the solitary agent of any consequence in carrying the blighting influence of their infidelity into general and diffusive operation.

"Dr. Whately may be amiable, affable in manner, and efficient in business; but truth is truth, and principle is principle, and talents (however great or over-estimated) and the most candid kindness of manner are but snares to the unwary. Satan is not foolish enough to make mischief disagreeable. These things appear to me, sir, not only heretical, and (as I should call it) infidel, on the most vital principle of Christianity, but, considering the circumstances in which the author of them is placed, sad want of principle. But when I consider that one who has sworn that the essential point of popish instruction and worship is a 'blasphemous fable and a dangerous deceit,' as Dr. Whately has, should be the principal agent for securing the instruction of the majority of the children of this country in it, and their actual attendance on it, I cannot be surprised, sir. There never was a stronger instance of the principle, that, where the truth of the gospel did not exist, the grace or principle of it could not be found. I confess, sir, more heartless unprincipledness I never heard of. Nor, slight as Dr. Whately's tie may be to standards which have elevated him to the place from which he throws them down, will the refuge this may be afford him much shelter. The results of such instruction as he is putting the children under I shall state in his own words. They are from a note to the same article. There is some ignorance on the subject shown in it, but it is immaterial to the present point.

"'The correctness of a formal and deliberate confession of faith is not always of itself a sufficient safeguard against error, in the habitual impression of the mind. The Romanists flatter themselves that they are safe from idolatry, because they distinctly acknowledge the truth, that GOD only is to be served (namely, with latria), though they allow adoration (hyperdulia and dulia) to the Virgin and their saints, to images, and to relics. To which it has been justly replied, that, supposing this distinction correct in itself, it would be in practice nugatory, since the mass of the people must soon, as experience proves, lose sight of it entirely in their habitual devotions.'

"It must be a happy office to one who has a heart and a conscience to secure to the mass of the people instruction which must plunge them into idolatries, however people may flatter themselves. But I must not pursue this part of the subject, or I should say a great deal more than is needful; and the general principles of the subject are already before people's minds.

. . . . .

"I have very briefly brought the subject forward, stating little of my own views or feelings, not because I have them not, but because I rather desired the facts should be presented for consciences of others. GOD may bring good out of evil. But these sorts of circumstances are just the trials of the faithfulness of GOD'S children. Let it be known only that, though GOD may be in a distinct position, there is, according to Dr. Whately, no distinction in the person of the FATHER and the SON. What may be the duty of the clergy in such a case I leave to themselves: of that of a Christian I can have no doubts.

"O GOD, to what a pass is Thy Church come, when those who govern and should feed it are found, even where the truth seems specially professed, deniers of that upon which Thy whole glory rests, even the person and therefore the mission of Thy SON, who loved it and gave Himself for it! O LORD, regard Thy people, and give them faithfulness and wisdom to do that which becometh Thy saints for the glory of Thy Name, and acknowledgment of Thy love through JESUS, Thy sent One, come in the flesh that, according to that which is given them, all men should honour the SON even as they honour the FATHER by one SPIRIT. Amen.

"I am, Sir, faithfully yours,

"J.N.D."

Some twenty-five years later, a heterodox teacher with whom Darby also dealt very faithfully, remarked, "J.N.D. writes with a pen in one hand and a thunderbolt in the other." But it was only fundamental error which roused his deepest grief and indignation, his patience with honest blunderers being proverbial.

Chapter 5

Character and Principles

("This is true greatness, to serve unnoticed and work unseen." — J.N.D.)

Among the friends mentioned in a previous chapter whom he had made in Dublin on the occasion of his earlier visit there in 1827, were some young men who, like himself, had been seriously exercised about their ecclesiastical associations. Much of their difficulty arose from the very rigid denominationalism which then prevailed among Churchmen and Dissenters. Since those days times have considerably changed in this respect, looser conditions today however are as unscriptural as the old sectarianism of yesterday, and scarcely a change for the better. Laodiceanism largely characterises the present age.

So when the ecclesiastically disillusioned young curate of Calary arrived in Dublin in the winter of 1827-28 he found at least four of these friends prepared to take, what then was, a very bold step indeed. Through a close and prayerful study of the New Testament they found themselves unable to find an expression in any practical form of the church of GOD either in the national Establishment or in any of the Dissenting Societies. These latter could only be entered by pronouncing their peculiar "Shibboleth," and certainly by their constitution never for a moment contemplated the large yet holy nature of CHRIST'S body on earth.

Their bold step was to meet on the LORD'S day morning to "break bread" as in the early days of Christianity, when "upon the first day of the week the disciples came together to break bread" (Acts 20: 7).

Not very startling to-day, perhaps, when the influence of Darby's teaching has been widely felt in Christendom; but then, it was revolutionary, and something "not done" in orthodox religious circles.

It is not by any means certain that these five brethren — Mr. J. G. Bellett, Dr. Cronin, Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Brooke and Mr. Darby — who met thus for mutual fellowship in the breaking of bread at Fitzwilliam Square, in Mr. Hutchinson's house, had already completely severed their connection with the various bodies to which they had belonged, but it is very clear that they were getting free from the grave-clothes of merely human systems of religion, and were well on the high road towards that liberty of worship and service which the SPIRIT of the LORD alone can make effectual in the soul. The consideration of the truth found in Matthew 18: 20; Romans 12; Ephesians 4: 3, 4, appears to have been largely instrumental in influencing their course of conduct at this time.

As any one of these five would afterwards have expressed it, and all substantially did so, they had discovered that intelligently to worship the FATHER in SPIRIT and truth, and direct responsibility to serve the LORD, while awaiting His return, compose the proper sphere of the believer's aspirations here on earth (John 4: 23, 24; Col. 3: 23, 24).

What our LORD said to the believing Jews (John 8: 31, 32) seems to have had special application in the case of Darby. "If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." He became a disciple indeed, and, to a greater degree than many, rejoiced in the freedom which truth confers.

After resigning his curacy, Mr. Darby made it abundantly evident that he had neither resigned the holy ministry of GOD'S Word nor the practical cure of souls; but like a famous John of the previous century had rather taken the whole world for his parish. In many striking respects his after-career resembles that of John Wesley, although their respective attitudes to the Church of England differed very widely. John Wesley could never conscientiously bring himself to separate from the Establishment; John Darby on the other hand, could not conscientiously bring himself to remain within her pale. In missionary zeal, earnestness, devotedness and thoroughgoing evangelism there was, however, much resemblance between these two giants. In Mr. Darby's case there was, along with the most enthusiastic and ardent evangelism, clear definite teaching as to the Church of GOD, the Body of CHRIST, the Coming of the LORD, prophecy, dispensational truth, the Word of GOD, the operations of the SPIRIT, with the calling and privileges of the Church. In the early days of his ministry; at Powerscourt Castle; and subsequently, in various centres of England, great attention and interest was aroused by this teaching. Sixty or seventy of the most devoted clergymen and some Dissenting ministers attended the meetings and enjoyed the truth together at one time, until they became alarmed as to whereunto this would grow. Then the inevitable reaction followed; clericalism was in jeopardy!

Mr. Groves writes to him in 1836, when Mr. Darby had been insisting that separation from evil was the Divine principle of unity, "I know it is said (dear Lady Powerscourt told me so) that as long as any terms were kept with the Church of England, by mixing up in any measure in their ministrations when there was nothing to offend your conscience, they bore your testimony most patiently, but after your entire rejection of them, they pursued you with undeviating resentment, and this was brought to prove that the then position was wrong, and the present right!"

Despite immense learning, his humility was very striking; his scholarship was never intruded into his ministry. A quaint old divine once remarked that "CHRIST still hung crucified under Hebrew, Greek and Latin." This was not so in Mr. Darby's case however; for few ever heard an allusion to the Hebrew or to the Greek in his addresses. So much so that expectant strangers wondered and said, "What is this the great Mr. Darby?" A common instance of his greatness of character and humbleness of mind occurred at a reading-meeting, where a brother advanced a peculiar theory professedly based upon a quotation from J.N.D's writings. After a pause of a moment Mr. Darby, with imperturbable gravity replied, "Then J.N.D's writings are entirely at fault, for it is obvious that this theory is quite unscriptural, and therefore unsound." Needless to say the good brother had misread and misquoted; had in fact read his own ideas into the book, which is not difficult.

His patience with honest ignorance, his ready tact, his manliness of character, and hearty sympathy, endeared him to many, especially amongst the poorer classes.

Another trait of Mr. Darby's character, often completely overlooked and quite unsuspected save by the recipient was his wonderful generosity. Mr. J. C. Philpot, the great strict Baptist leader who knew Darby in early days, and Mr. Kelly, his henchman for nearly half a century, were both astonished by this. It sprang from Darby's diligence in applying practical scriptures to himself, equally with insisting upon those usually considered more ecclesiastical. He was not a professional philanthropist, but a believer in justification by faith, and justification by the works which follow therefrom. His kindly thoughtfulness for his poorer brethren, both in temporal and spiritual need, was most marked. He possessed to a wonderful degree the faculty of remembering the names and faces of those who had once come under his notice, frequently surprising people thereby. A poor man, who had been unable to make a livelihood in England but anticipated better things in America, was hindered from emigrating through lack of funds. When Darby heard of it, after making due enquiry, he presented the astonished brother with a cheque for fifteen pounds to pay his expenses. Just then the poor man's circumstances improved, and he decided to stay in England. On his returning the cheque, Mr. Darby remarked, "So you are not going now; never mind, if you should want it, come to me again."

Neatby, in his History of the Plymouth Brethren, says, "If he (Darby) was ruthless in his ecclesiastical conflicts, he had at other times a singularly kindly and sympathetic nature. In the act of addressing a meeting he would roll up his greatcoat as a pillow for a sleeping child whose uncomfortable attitude had struck him. I have heard that, on one of his numerous voyages, he might have been seen pacing the deck all night with a restless child in his arms, in order to afford the worn-out mother an opportunity of rest; and I doubt whether many children were more tenderly nursed that night. The incident is the more interesting for the fact that Darby never married. Was it the breaking forth of this tenderness, deep-hidden in his lonely heart, that bound men to him in so pathetic a fidelity of devotion?" No wonder that they loved him. His tender thoughtfulness and consideration for children was markedly displayed during one of his many visits to the United States. A poor brother whose children kept tame rabbits, was extremely anxious to entertain the great man to dinner. The long-wished-for opportunity arrived. Mr. Darby, with the usual Christian courtesy and tact, declined an influential brother's invitation to dine, but proceeded to the poorer man's house. The household were all on the tiptoe of expectation and pleasurable excitement with the sole exception of one downcast little fellow, whose tame rabbit had been requisitioned as the principal dish for the honoured guest's refection. Whilst the dinner was in process of serving, Mr. Darby noticed the little lad's downcast demeanour, enquired the reason; and the little fellow (contrary to previous instructions) blurted out the whole truth, with the result that J.N.D. expressed his sympathy with him in a practical manner.

Declining to eat any of the little fellow's pet, as soon as the meal was over he took him to where there was a large tank of water, and producing some mechanical toy ducks from his pocket, the great man played with the little boy for an hour or so; thus conferring all the honour of his, company upon a little child in the hope of partially consoling him for the loss of his pet. He, Who is the LORD and MASTER of us all, has told us that humility is the truest greatness.

We will now give what lets out a little of his character, nearly in Mr. Darby's own words, extracted from a pamphlet printed and published in Glasgow, on The Sabbath: is the Law dead or am I?

"I love the poor, and have no distrust of them, living by far the most of my time amongst them, and gladly. When first I began such a life, I as to nature felt a certain satisfaction in the intercourse of educated persons: it was natural. If I find a person spiritually minded and full of CHRIST, from habit as well as principle I had rather have him than the most elevated or the most educated. The rest is all alike to me. The latter are apt to spare and screen themselves to get on in Society: they want a fence round them. I would rather in general have a poor man's judgment of right and wrong than another's; only they are, from being thrown more together and the importance of character, apt to be a little hard on each other as to conduct, and jealous of favours conferred, but often very kind and considerate one towards another. After all we (believers) are 'all one in CHRIST JESUS' and the Word of GOD is to guide and lead us withal. Surely, while every Christian will readily give honour where honour is due, GOD loves and cares for the poor. What sympathy can one have with the sentiment that, because the spirit of radicalism is to be feared, we must suit GOD's authority, if it be such to man's wishes?

"This is morally very low ground. If in Parliament the proposition was made to shut up the London parks on Sunday (that is the foot-gates, leaving the carriage-gates perhaps open for the sick), I should have moved as an amendment (did I meddle with such things) to shut the carriage-gates, and open the foot ones; the rich could go out every day, and if sick could drive elsewhere. That a poor man, the one day he has with his family, should be able to breathe, is a delight. I rejoice to see the affections of a father cultivated in kindness to his children, and both happy together; and if the LORD's Day gives him the opportunity, the LORD's Day is a true blessing. The poor, everyone labouring during the week, should insist on the Sabbath (so-called): it is essentially his own day. For the same reason, if my vote decided it (and happily for me I have none, and would not have or use one), not a train should run on LORD's Day. As to excursions, they are a thorough curse to all engaged in them. I cannot help: I leave them there.

"But as to Sunday trains, I do not believe they are for sole reasons to meet cases of necessity and mercy, as men speak; they are to make money. If it be alleged that the requirements of Society oblige it, what are requirements of Society but haste to be rich, and an imperious claiming of the right to have one's own way? One understands very well that, railroads monopolising the roads, there is a kind of supposed obligation to meet the case of those who could have travelled at any rate; but if obliged, they can hire something to go. No, it is facility and cheapness they want; it is money and will. They are as free to travel as they were before. I have nothing to do with these things, and never intend to have to do with them. The world goes its own way, and I am not of it. The allegations of Christians about it I have to answer: and I do not accept them, or the accommodating Christianity to what is termed progress. The Christian has to form his own ways, and not expect to mend the world. There is no moral gain in its progress. We have telegraph and railway, very convenient no doubt; but are children more obedient, men happier, servants more faithful and devoted, homes and families more cherished? Is there more trust and genial confidence among men, more honesty in business, more kindly feeling between master and man, employer and employed? Let everyone answer in his own heart. You have more facilities for money-making, but more anxiety and restlessness in making it; more luxury and show, but not more affection and peace."

His advice was frequently sought on various matters and freely given. Two letters to a friend on the subject of the use of musical instruments in Christian worship clearly express his personal conviction as to this. A century ago organs in churches were chiefly confined to Roman Catholic and Anglican churches; Dissenters were almost all definitely opposed to their use. Of this Spurgeon's great Tabernacle at Newington supplies an outstanding instance; and the Scots in their Highland parishes would have none of it. The Carthusian Order of Catholic Monks too, has always rigidly barred the use of organs, one of the Order once remarking to the writer that the human voice was the proper instrument for the service of praise. One has heard too, this very ancient monastic order, which boasts it has never had to be reformed on account of its strict conformity to St. Bruno's original Rule, referred to as the "Plymouth Brethren" of the Roman Catholic body, on account of its objection to the use of instrumental music in worship.

"MY DEAR BROTHER,

"The ordinary rule of scripture is that, in the calling wherein a man is called, he should therein abide with GOD. The Blessed LORD was a carpenter till called to His own further service; and Paul was a tent-maker, and at times supplied his own wants.

"In a certain sense all things are lawful for me; there are many where the motive is everything. Christianity does not change the order of the world, even where sin has given rise to it. I could not systematically sell gin; if gin was of use, I could give it to the sick unless it were a stumbling-block to others.

"The disciples were taken out from the world to represent GOD in it, walking in His ways, deriving their life and all their ways from Him, to live as CHRIST did. The world is an immense system built up by Satan around fallen man to keep him insensible to his ruin (Gen. 4: 20-22). The LORD does not pray that we should be taken out of the world, but kept from the evil.

"Your friend is solemnised by the voluntary. Is he content to be unfit for worship till he hears the organ? This is a poor plea, and putting nature instead of grace, which has even boldness to enter into the holiest. This lowers and falsifies the whole nature of our relationship with GOD and judaizes it.

"As to conversion, whenever CHRIST is presented, souls can be converted; yet this is not worship but preaching. Christians becoming more and more worldly is no reason for our going with it but the contrary. No doubt people are attracted; but so they are to gin-palaces: the Puseyite recommends it in church on that ground. So they are (attracted) largely to Popery. GOD may rise above all mistakes in grace; but it is one of the strongest marks that worldly attraction has taken the place of grace and CHRIST. Did you ever find CHRIST or Paul have music or a band to draw people? It lowers the whole character of Christianity.

"The earthly promises to the Jews do not directly apply to us, but in general GOD's faithfulness and loving care, as 'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee,' is used in the New Testament as well as the Old. And this latter is written for us, for our instruction on whom the ends of the world are come, that we through belief and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. 1 Peter is, after redemption stated, a treatise on these ways of GOD now, using the Old Testament for it. The Old Testament cannot give us an accomplished redemption nor glory into which CHRIST was not yet entered; but it is 'able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in CHRIST JESUS.' You have to discern what are earthly Jewish promises. It is important to do so; but what is in GOD, faithfulness, grace, love, condescending care of us, is always true. We get it perhaps more clearly applied in the New. Thus, 'Seek ye first . . . and all these things shall be added unto you.' I should be sorry to reduce Christianity to mere Jewish promises, but what is in GOD is always true. 2 Thess. 2 shows, that when people would not receive the love of the truth that they may be saved, they are (when CHRIST rises up) given over to darkness.

"I think the way of stating the gospel you speak of wholly wrong — only GOD bears with many a mistake where CHRIST is truly preached. But the statement is quite unscriptural and no true gospel at all. Yet it might reach a man's conscience with the feeling He was not willing to give them up.

"What I said as to the transfiguration was that those three were going to be pillars (see Gal. 2); and that it was to cheer and strengthen their faith. The tendency of having a companion with less faith is to weaken our own; still faith may overcome this.

"Yours affectionately, in CHRIST,

"J. N. Darby."

"MY DEAR BROTHER,

"I am very thankful your conscience has been exercised about the music. I can sympathise with you; for, as far as ear goes, music had the greatest power over me though never taught to play. But the ground of those who wish you to keep it up is all wrong and not true. It is not for CHRIST they wish you to keep the harmonium; and that decides the case. I am not a Jew, nor can I (do so) in the New Jerusalem where all will be for GOD'S glory, though not in the highest way (for the FATHER does not come in there). I could suppose a person earning his bread by music, though I think it a very dangerous way, as Peter did by fishing; which is no excuse for a person spending his time fishing to amuse himself. All these pleas of gifts of GOD are bringing in nature, when it is fallen, into the worship and service of the new man and the LORD, and spoiling it. (I have known hunting justified by the hounds having scent!) No instrument can equal in effect (so Haydn said) the human voice.

"Besides, as I said, it is not true; it is merely keeping the pleasure of fallen nature; not a thing evil in itself, but a connecting sensuous pleasure with spiritual life. It is not the thing to begin with a ruined soul but we have to live by GOD's word. Harps and organs down here began in Cain's city when he had gone out from the presence of the LORD.

"In point of fact artistic musicians as a general rule are not a moral class. The imagination is at work, not the conscience nor the heart. Judaism did take up nature, to see if they could have a religion of it; which proved it could not be but ended in the rejection of JEHOVAH and His anointed. We are dead and risen with CHRIST and belong to another world. Hence I cannot seek my enjoyment in what belongs to the old, though I may recognise GOD'S work in it; but I do not seek it as a world I belong to now. It is not a legal prohibition, but the heart elsewhere. If I could put a poor sick father to sleep with music, I would play the most beautiful I could find. But it only spoils any worship as bringing in the pleasure of sense into what ought to be the power of the SPIRIT of GOD. They cannot go really together, save as water may take away the taste of wine.

"It is a wholly false principle that natural gifts are a reason for using them. I may have amazing strength or speed in running; I knock a man down with one, and win a prize with another. Music may be a more refined thing; but the principle is the same.

"This point I believe to be now of all importance. Christians have lost peace and moral influence by bringing in nature and the world as harmless. All things are lawful to me. But, as I said, you cannot mix flesh and SPIRIT. We need all our energies under grace to walk in the latter, 'always bearing about in the body the dying of JESUS, that the life also of JESUS may be manifested in our mortal bodies.' Let CHRIST be all, and the eye is single and the 'whole body is full of light.' The converse is, if our eye be evil because it shuts out CHRIST, our affections are not set on things above where CHRIST sits at GOD'S right-hand. This is the point for us: happy affections there, and steadfastly, not being distracted.

"Your affectionate brother in CHRIST,

"J. N. DARBY."

To another labouring brother he writes:

"DEAR —, I rejoice that you are helped and happy in your work — I trust very constantly dependent too. That is the secret of a work wrought with GOD, and that, though it may seem quiet, lasts, and lays the ground for progress. I can only write a line now, though, thank GOD, much better.

"It is not that there are not deep things in the Word of GOD, but if we search it with His grace and spirit it is always plain for us on the top; then we have it from Him. The cream is on the surface, not that we do not search and study, but that when we get it from GOD it is plain and on the surface. Till then we must wait till He teaches us. The passage you refer to is quite general. You must expect in a great house all sorts of vessels, precious and vile. Christendom has become such, and hence we must expect such. False doctrine, when it characterises a man, is a vessel to dishonour; sound and exalted doctrine accompanied with unholiness, makes a man a vessel to dishonour; he who builds up sacramental corruptions, as Puseyites, Romanists, Greeks, are — at any rate as teachers — vessels to dishonour. I give these merely as examples; but it is left to spiritual discernment, according to the Word, to judge what is, and then to purge oneself from them. . . .

"The LORD keep you humble and near Himself."

From a letter to a young married couple the following extract may be of service to others in similar case.

"But, here or there, it is where GOD would have us, that is our place, and where we may expect a blessing and the consciousness of His presence. He may and does keep us, in His patient and perfect goodness, everywhere, but it is in the way of His will that His presence is revealed to us, so that we walk in the light of His countenance. He kept Abraham in Egypt, but he had no altar from Bethel back to Bethel.

"I trust fully that you are both in that way, I do not think it an evil that a young married couple should go through the rough of life a little together at the beginning; it binds their hearts together. Surely there is a far higher and better bond, but as to circumstances the comfort each is to the other, and the sustaining help each is to the other, bind their hearts together; for life down here is made up of small things. If it were only when a husband comes home cold and tired, finding ease and a welcome and comfort, as far as may be, and the like, there is the continuous sense of one caring for the other, and that is a great point. They are thrown on one another, and where affection is, this cultivates it, and I believe this is of all importance; and then what accompanies it, entire confidence one in another.

"But this is all maintained, dear brother, by CHRIST being all to each, for self is thus set aside, and the grace of CHRIST working in the heart overcomes all difficulties, and, while CHRIST is the motive which rises over all, makes the other the object of affectionate and considerate service. But for our own sakes too He is everything, light to the soul, but the blessed expression and communicator of the love of GOD; and for this there must be real diligence. All that is around us, and even real duties are constantly soliciting us away from Him, and tending to weaken us spiritually."

Chapter 6

Friends and Associates

Of friends, in the usual sense of the term, John Nelson Darby had few. His ardent devotion to our LORD, and firm renunciation of much that most men crave after, very effectively hedged his pathway of service from deflection through lesser loyalties. He was a lonely man in many respects, and at times felt conscious of this though never regretting what led to it. As an old man of seventy-nine he gave expression to this in writing Echo of Songs in the Night:

"O! dwell with me; let no distracting thought

Intrude to hide from me that heavenly light:

Be Thou my strength! Let not what Thou hast brought

Be chased by idle nature's poor delight."

And when Darby said: "CHRIST has been the only object of my life. It has been CHRIST to me to live," his character, conduct and conversation certified it as not a mere platitude but simple truth.

When travelling in Italy on one occasion, being then an old man, he reached a very uncomfortable inn where he was to stay for the night. Weary and worn, he leaned his head on his hands, and was heard to say softly:

"JESUS, I my cross have taken,

All to leave and follow Thee."

Yet he found friends without seeking them, people who were attracted by his decision of character and indifference to worldly advantages of birth, fortune and position. One of them was the Rev. J. C. Philpot, M.A., an Anglican clergyman, one time Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, who was himself a remarkable man and one who had a somewhat adventurous ecclesiastical career. He met Darby when the latter was staying at his brother-in-law's house in Ireland, Philpot being at the time resident tutor there. He was deeply interested in Darby's spiritual exercise when passing through what mystics term "the dark night" of the soul, to which reference has been made in an earlier chapter. This kind of distress Philpot, who had become a Hyper-Calvinist, could appreciate; but quite failed to understand Darby's subsequent joyous sense of complete deliverance, peace with GOD, and assurance of eternal salvation. In 1849 Mr. Philpot became sole editor of the magazine of the Gadsby branch of the Hyper-Calvinistic school of Strict Baptists, The Gospel Standard. It was to this paper he contributed his impression of his old friend. "Darby," he wrote, "was generous to the wasting of his substance, and possessed of more than martyr courage." Their paths had, however, long widely diverged, Darby having forsaken Anglicanism for a simpler Scriptural path of worship, fellowship and service, of which more anon; while Philpot having discarded Infant Baptism as unscriptural (or at most inferential so far as Scripture teaches), had become Pastor of a Strict Baptist Chapel, where for many years he exercised a great ministry.

During his visits to Oxford in 1830/1, Mr. Darby made contact with two men who were destined to play an important part in his future career. One of these, a Fellow of Exeter College, was Mr. B. W. Newton, a man already recognised as one of learning, piety and ability. The other was Mr. G. V. Wigram of Queen's College. The former was to become many years later Darby's chief opponent ecclesiastically, the latter to become a most intimate friend and collaborator for nearly fifty years.

Mr. Newton is described as a man of grave, sober manners, tall and dignified in bearing, polished and scholarly who unconsciously (at least at first) wielded considerable influence over a certain class, especially over people of leisure. The learned textual critic Dr. Tregelles was very greatly drawn to him and warmly supported his views on certain subjects of speculative theology upon which Newton later embarked.

Mr. Newton was one of the earlier labourers at Providence Chapel, Plymouth, and his ability, piety, learning and energy largely contributed to the gathering of a congregation in 1840 of 800 persons, which in the next five years reached a total of over 1,200, all of whom were "in fellowship," "communicants," or as the usual phrase was, were "breaking bread" there.

Almost from the first however he was observed to court isolation, and to hold aloof from other ministering brethren. He would hold Bible readings, to which he would not allow other labouring brethren to be present, saying that, "it was bad for the taught to hear the authority of the teacher called in question."

It soon became evident that he and Darby were hopelessly at variance, both on prophetic teaching and in regard to the nature, calling and order of the Church of GOD. His views on Christian ministry completely changed, and after his entire separation from those commonly known as "Brethren," Newton became the Pastor of an independent congregation in London holding his particular views of prophecy and church order. He lived to be ninety-three years of age, and it is said as years passed had a "patriarchal bearing with the calm of heaven on his brow, and the law of kindness on his lips."

Till the great rupture took place an American writer says: "He remained at Plymouth with the avowed intention of making that place (Providence Chapel) a centre and model for other assemblies, and by printing press and public meetings he sought to oppose what many believed to be the special work of the HOLY SPIRIT in recovering precious truth long lost through the Church's declension and partial apostasy."*

{*Dr. H. A. Ironside, A Historical Sketch of the Brethren Movement.}

But let Darby speak here: "I sorrowed over this unhappy trait of isolation, and love of acting alone, and having followers for himself. I had no suspicion of any purpose of any kind, and bore with it as a failing, of which we all had some. I should not so have acted without my brethren. I should have rejoiced to have my views corrected by them when I needed it, and learn theirs; but there it was and there I left it. . . . Mr. Newton, speaking of ministry and points connected with it told me that his principles were changed. I replied that mine were not; that I felt I had received them from the LORD'S teaching, and with His grace should hold them fast to the end."

At a later date he advanced a peculiar heterodoxy which seemed the fruit of his prophetic speculation in making CHRIST have the experience of an unconverted Israelite, in order to sympathise with a future Jewish remnant in that state.* It is singular that it was in resisting the error of Edward Irving, Newton himself fell into a modified and subtle Irvingism.

{*The History of the Brethren, pp. 152-3, N. Noel. A Historical Sketch of the Brethren Movement, pp. 54-55, H. A. Ironside.}

The other man to whom reference has been made at Darby's visits to Oxford in the early thirties, Mr. G. V. Wigram of Queen's College, became as we have noticed a life-long friend of his. Though never great as a writer or a speaker, in both of which his friend Darby excelled, Wigram was characterised by a singular spirituality and devotedness of life; by decision where CHRIST was concerned and love for His flock. These qualities together with his moral power gave him justly a very high place in the esteem of J. N. Darby, and indeed of many others who knew him. His chief published works were The Englishman's Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance to the Old Testament, and a cognate one to the Greek New Testament. He was a wealthy man, and expended fifty thousand pounds upon the production of these volumes which took ten years to be completed by a band of the ripest scholars in the United Kingdom. Yet so truly humble-minded was he that this great sum of money expended by him was referred to by him as only money passing through his hand, reckoning himself simply GOD's steward in the matter. Another rather unusual work of his was The Present Testimony, a learned periodical edited by him, in which critical papers on the Divine Names in the Psalms appeared and their appropriate designations. These Papers and Letters were afterwards published in three volumes. In later life he travelled to the West Indies and New Zealand where his kindly gracious pastoral work was greatly valued. The friendship formed with Darby nearly fifty years earlier was only interrupted when his home call came in 1879.

An even earlier friend of Darby's was Mr. J. G. Bellett who made the acquaintance of Darby at Trinity College, Dublin. They were both strong classical scholars and both intended to become lawyers and indeed were called to the Bar in Dublin where Bellett practised for a short time. In spiritual things, while Darby as we have seen eventually took Holy Orders, Bellett devoted his leisure to Christian work as a layman. Their close friendship remained for forty years, and in his last letter Mr. Bellett writes to Darby: "I may never see you again my dearest brother; but I must tell you, as from a dying bed, how deeply from my heart's soul, I bless the LORD that He ever revealed to me the truth. I came to know you, not as slightly before, but in an apprehension that instinctively bound me to you; and this, now for forty years, has never abated. . . . I have loved you as I suppose in a certain sense I have loved none other; and now, after so long a time, we are found together in the dear fellowship of the same confession. The LORD be with you, dearest brother, while you assert and adorn the doctrine."

One who was even earlier than John Nelson Darby in learning Christian liberty, ecclesiastical and ministerial, but only in the germ and much simplicity, was Edward Cronin (afterwards the last Canterbury M.D.). By birth a Roman Catholic, he early came under the rough and ready discipline of his Bishop. It was in Cork that this Roman shepherd finding Cronin reading a Protestant copy of the Scriptures actually knocked him down on the spot, and thus served to open the door for escape. He proceeded to Dublin as a medical student, and here learnt from his study of the Bible that Christendom was very anomalous, and very sturdily refused to join himself to any sect. He was allowed to take the Communion in the LORD'S Name by the Independents for a while, but later was excluded because he declined to become "a member" of their Church like the rest. GOD gave him soon afterwards to take the simple Christian stand. His memory is revered by many to this day. After a long life of devotion and fidelity to the LORD and His people, he passed away in 1882 to be with Him Whom he had devotedly loved and served. His end was more than peace, for constantly upon his lips was the Name of the LORD, and almost his latest utterance was the well-known verse:

"Glory, honour, praise and, power

Be unto the LAMB for ever

JESUS CHRIST is my Redeemer!

Hallelujah! Praise ye the LORD."

Another with whom John Nelson Darby came for a while into association was Mr. George Muller of Bristol. At one time we find Mr. Muller writing of "two Swiss brethren who have learned the way of truth more perfectly through our brother John Darby"; and during the winter of 1843-44 there occurs in his correspondence the following: "There is one brother among us, who through dear John Darby learned the way of GOD. more perfectly in Switzerland"; showing thereby the fellowship in and appreciation of Mr. Darby's labours felt by Mr. Muller at that period. Would that it might have so continued. But alas history repeats itself in the ecclesiastical sphere as surely as in the secular; hence, before many months passed we find, if we may be allowed so to say, Paul again withstanding Peter because he was to be blamed. In apostolic times it was pretty evident who was at fault, and if CHRIST Himself and His honour had been equally paramount in His servants' lives, this sad spectacle would not have been exhibited either at Antioch in the first, or Bristol in the nineteenth century.

Mr. Darby last saw Mr. Muller in July 1849, and they never met again on earth.

It has been well remarked that both were men of GOD in their respective spheres. For to charge Mr. Darby with selfish ambition and the spirit of Diotrephes is as sinful and absurd as to question Mr. Muller's love for CHRIST and desire to glorify GOD. What in the retrospect clearly stands out is that Darby had CHRIST before him, and Muller, Christians. Also it is well to remember that "the best of men are only men at the best," and national characteristics complicate matters often. Darby was an Irishman, and Muller a Prussian, and both typically so. Their differences were as sad as those that separated John Wesley and George Whitefield a century earlier, but were fraught with even more disastrous consequences the repercussions of which are still felt on the Continent, and all over the English-speaking world.

The greatest of Darby's friends in every way was the late Mr. William Kelly of Blackheath, London. They first made acquaintance in Plymouth in a bookseller's shop in Whimple Street, and though Kelly was twenty years the junior his reputation as a thoroughgoing Christian brother and writer had already been remarked by Darby. So, as Kelly himself when referring to their meeting says, "very frank and cordial was his (Darby's) greeting." They were singularly like-minded, truly taught of GOD in the same school. They had their differences, but not in doctrine, or fundamentals, for everything that was best in John Nelson Darby's teaching and practice found its ablest exponent and advocate in William Kelly.

Spurgeon in Lectures on Commenting and Commentaries (of the College Series) referred to him as "an eminent Divine of the Brethren School"; is "sorry to see such a mind as Mr. Kelly's so narrowed to party bounds"; feels it "a pity that a man of such excellence should allow a very superior mind to be so warped"; and finally, says, "Kelly, a man for the universe, has narrowed his mind by Darbyism."

As hinted above, Mr. Kelly did not, however, blindly follow his eminent friend, or approve all his ecclesiastical actions, yet some of Darby's last words on his death bed, taken down by those who did not approve of Kelly's refusal to acquiesce blindly in an ecclesiastical decision, were: "I should particularly object to any attack being made on William Kelly." As to Kelly himself, who survived his friend by a quarter of a century, his constant advice to enquiring Christians was, "Read Darby!" so highly did he value his writings. Which of the two was the greater it is not possible to say, for both were spiritual giants, good soldiers of JESUS CHRIST each of whom might have truly said, what neither did say, and yet some even do venture to say:

"My all is on the altar."

They lived lives of sacrificial service, surrendering all for the sake of Him Whose bondmen they were proud to be. We have already noted the renunciations made by Darby in early days, and may close this chapter by relating how his dearest friend Kelly, having taken highest classical honours at the University, when approached by one with an offer of a post in which he "would make his name in the world," turned it down with the characteristic enquiry, "which world?"

"O GOD to us may grace be given,

To follow in their train."

Chapter 7

As Author

John Nelson Darby was a singularly voluminous author, whose works are well worth reading, and yet little likely to be read. He was a man of lofty, lovely character, of simple consistent unostentatious adherence to truth, who cheerfully endured the countless troubles such a man is bound to meet in a world like this. Scandal had no charge to make against him, esteem and love of intimate friends could not say enough in praise of the unworldly devoted life much of which from his twenty-fifth year was lived in quite unsought publicity.

His life covered the momentous period when the foundation of religious life in England seemed shaken by the birth of Tractarianism, the sapping and mining of Higher Criticism, the propagation of Evolutionary theories, and the waves of Revivalism, Irish and American.

Darby was no detached observer of any or all of these movements as will appear in the course of explicating the religious questions and controversies in which he was more immediately involved.

Foremost amongst his works is his Translation of the Holy Scriptures (an entirely free and independent rendering of the whole original text, using all known helps), into German and French, and of the Greek into English. The Revisers used his New Testament, and were astonished at an amount of painstaking research exceeding that of most, if not of all, as two of the best in the company wrote to the late Mr. William Kelly, who had himself revised Darby's Synopsis of the Bible, and edited his other writings, some thirty to forty volumes in English, French, German, Dutch and Italian.

In the translation of the Scriptures the literary was made to give place to the literal, and hence it is characterised by a certain abruptness of style. This, however, is more than compensated for by the invaluable notes with which it is furnished, and which in the judgment of competent critics betoken true scientific scholarship.

From his twenty-eighth year, till his death at the advanced age of eighty-two, he produced in quick succession works of marked spirituality covering literally the widest field of Scriptural enquiry. He laid bare both Irvingism and Puseyism; the scepticism of Professor Francis Newman and the subtlety of the Cardinal his brother. He exposed Mr. B. W. Newton's Thoughts on the Apocalypse, as well as his more subtle errors as to CHRIST. He refuted the "perfectionism" of John Wesley, to the delight of the Swiss Free Churchmen, who were, however, not so pleased with his criticism of the spurious Free Churchism and its eldership of Dr. J. H. Merle D'Aubigne. He was as unsparing on Popish error in several works of much research as he was in helping the Free Church of Scotland against the rationalism of the late Mr. W. Robertson Smith. Then, again, the fearful errors as to sin and its penalty which are abroad, and have been spreading so rapidly — such as annihilationism, non-eternity of punishment, and the various vagaries of eschatological scepticism and infidelity — were fully refuted by Mr. Darby. Dr. J. Milner, Archbishop Whateley, Bishop Colenso, as also the writers of Essays and Reviews, were carefully examined, their sophistries exposed and arguments refuted by this fearless, well-instructed, independent student of Holy Scripture.

His expository works are of the highest value, the Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, in five volumes, being a case in point. This was recommended by Bishop Ellicott to theological students of his diocese. Where is there any single work of any author affording such help to the study of Scripture? Yet several others are comparatively of only inferior worth, Evangelical, Practical, Doctrinal, Ecclesiastical, Prophetic, Miscellaneous, etc. His Critical Volume is a fund of thought for the student. All are able and scholarly, though some from the nature of the case are profound while others are of quite simple character. They are alike stamped with devotion to CHRIST and faith in GOD's Word, and surely never was an author more indifferent to literary distinction. He recommended "thinking in Scripture."

But Mr. Darby's expression no doubt was difficult to the uninitiated, and many published pieces are but mere notes of readings or lectures taken by others.

His paper on the Progress of Democratic Power, and its Effect on the Moral State of England made a deep impression on some in high political circles, one of whom Sir T. D. Acland (perhaps Mr. Gladstone's most intimate friend from Oxford days until death) described it as the most wonderful forecast and just appraisal he ever read of what is come and coming. Yet Acland did not see the paper until years after Darby had written it.

At the time when the Hampden Judgment was creating intense controversy among churchmen of all schools of thought, a relative by marriage of Darby, the pious and learned Dr. O'Brien, Bishop of Ossory, joined in the fray and, though an Evangelical, wrote a strong defence of Baptismal Regeneration. This drew from Mr. Darby a vigorous reply in which he proved that the argument on the formularies as well as Scripture was simply and grossly a begging of the question.

One tiny volume of Spiritual Songs is all that stands to his credit in versification. But the twenty-six matchless pieces, a metrical life of our LORD, a sonnet, some hymns and spiritual songs are a revelation of a devotion, deep, true and tender; the breaking of an alabaster box of choice spiritual perfumes; the outpouring of heartfelt piety in chaste and beautiful expression, which while it enchains the Christian heart constrains it to join its delightsome melody. While comparisons are proverbially odious, yet the same haunting strains and celestial fragrance which cling around the compositions of some of the mediaevalists Bernard of Cluny, Bernard of Clairvaux, Abelard, Andrew of Crete (to mention but a selection at random) are here. But here there is no cloying sweetness, no mists of superstition, but a clear spiritual atmosphere where no breath of earth-born clouds intrudes.

This Collection will afford rich enjoyment and blessing to every spiritual mind; but the hymns being the free utterance of what the heart learned with GOD, are without that careful finish that would have been given to mere composition. This, however, increases their reality, and hence their attractiveness, for all who will appreciate their intrinsic excellence.

It is interesting to note that they cover fifty years of a life lived in active service in many lands, by one who was often the unwilling storm-centre of ecclesiastical strife, knowing fully what "scenes of strife and desert life" actually meant; one who voluntarily sacrificed the ordinary comforts of domestic life, and disbursed a fortune in the service of the LORD, all with scant recognition from many who benefited by his self-abnegating piety.

In 1832 he bursts into song with:

"What powerful, mighty Voice, so near

Calls me from earth apart —

Reaches with tones so still, so clear,

From th' unseen world my heart?

"LORD, let me wait for Thee alone:

My life be only this —

To serve thee here on earth unknown;

Then share Thy heavenly bliss.

"O rest ineffable divine,

The rest of GOD above:

Where Thou for ever shalt be mine

My joy, eternal LOVE!"

Three years later during the intervals of a prolonged and severe attack of gout in the eye, while confined to his bed in a dark room he dictated what is probably his most popular hymn. Its jubilant strain of worship, inspiring and exultant, in no way reveals the distressing malady from which Darby was then suffering, but it clearly indicates the habitude of his spirit. It is entitled "The Endless Song."

"Hark! Ten thousand voices, crying

'Lamb of God' with one accord:

Thousand thousand saints replying —

Wake, at once, the echoing chord!

*         *         *

"Grateful incense this ascending,

Ever to the FATHER's throne;

Every knee to JESUS bending,

All the mind in heaven is one."

Two years later, when a large number of Christians left the Swiss Free Church, after a course of lectures given by Mr. Darby on the Book of Exodus, he wrote the well-known hymn:

"Rise my soul! Thy GOD directs thee;

Stranger hands no more impede:

Pass thou on; His hand protects thee

Strength that has the captive freed.

*        *        *

"In the desert, GOD will teach thee

What the GOD that thou hast found;

Patient, gracious, powerful, holy —

All His grace shall there abound!

*        *        *

"Though thy way be long and dreary,

Eagle strength He'll still renew:

Garments fresh and foot unweary

Tell how GOD hath brought thee through!"

When in the year 1845 Mr. Darby returned from Switzerland, he found himself literally the storm-centre of a most serious ecclesiastical conflict in which he took a great and active share. But here is a significant thing; at the centre of his own life he must have been in the enjoyment of perfect tranquility, for it was then that two of his most nobly conceived pieces of verse were issued as a leaflet for the cheer and comfort of the saints. They are entitled "The Saints' Rest" and "Unchanging Love."

"Rest of the saints above,

Jerusalem of GOD!

Who in thy palaces of love,

Thy golden streets have trod

To me thy joy to tell?

Those courts secure from ill,

Where GOD Himself vouchsafes to dwell,

And every bosom fill!

Who shall to me that joy

Of saint-thronged courts declare —

Tell of that constant, sweet employ,

My spirit longs to share?

*        *        *

There, only, to adore

My soul its strength may find —

Its life, its joy for evermore,

By sight nor sense defined.

GOD and the LAMB shall there

The light and temple be;

And radiant hosts, for ever, share

The unveiled mystery!"

The companion song is of exquisite spiritual beauty, and one of the sweetest things that he ever penned. He was on a journey; and, as an outside passenger on the coach, while trying to recall a familiar hymn by his friend J. G. Deck (himself a most prolific hymn writer) commencing "O Lord Thy love's unbounded," the thought of the unchanging love of CHRIST, so filled his mind, that there and then he jotted down some eight verses of which we give the concluding three:

"Still, sweet 'tis to discover,

If clouds have dimmed my sight,

When passed, ETERNAL LOVER,

Towards me, as e'er, Thou'rt bright.

Oh guard my soul, then, JESUS,

Abiding still with Thee;

And if I wander, teach me

Soon back to Thee to flee;

That all Thy gracious favour

May to my soul be known,

And, versed in this Thy goodness,

My hopes Thyself shalt crown!"

It was in the year 1867 that Mr. Darby, then travelling in Canada, was taken with a severe illness, and became so much worse that the friends with whom he was staying besought him to let them bring medical aid as they feared he was dying. After a while feeling better he, although extremely weak, got up and poured out his soul in the poem which was published as The Man of Sorrows.

This is really a metrical life of our LORD from the manger-cradle to. His coming again for His own; but the whole of the two hundred lines are charged with such a reverent affection to the Divine Object of the author's devotion as cannot fail to thrill the heart of the Christian reader.

The briefest excerpt will illustrate this:

"Thou soughtest for compassion —

Some heart Thy grief to know,

To watch Thine hour of passion —

For comforters in woe:

No eye was found to pity —

No heart to bear Thy woe;

But shame, and scorn, and spitting —

None cared Thy Name to know.

The pride of careless greatness

Could wash its hands of Thee:

Priests that should plead for weakness,

Must Thine accusers be!

Man's boasting love disowns Thee;

Thine own Thy danger flee;

A Judas only owns Thee —

That Thou may'st captive be.

O LORD! Thy wondrous story

My inmost soul doth move;

I ponder o'er Thy glory, —

Thy lonely path of love"

Mr. Darby immediately after finishing these beautiful lines had a severe relapse, and was again compelled to take to his bed for a considerable period.

One curious fact in connection with Mr. Darby's hymn-writing is that many of the finest and most deeply spiritual of them were produced during seasons of very great strain and stress. As we have already noticed, The Saints' Rest was published during a period of tremendous ecclesiastical unrest and discord, and strangely enough his most exquisite lyrical composition, "We praise Thee glorious Lord!" was written when, as an old weary veteran in 1881, he had again become the unwilling storm-centre of ecclesiastical partisanship, and was written as a cheer for a sick friend; its last stanza expresses what then more than ever was the attitude of J. N. Darby's heart: —

"JESUS, we wait for Thee!

With Thee to have our part:

What can full joy and blessing be,

But being where Thou art!"

Not many months later, in the November of the same year, we find him writing to another friend about a new hymn, which accompanied the letter: "I send you a hymn, suggested by one you like: but that brought you down to being 'often weary.' This goes up to where there is no weariness."

"I'm waiting for Thee, LORD;

Thyself then to see, LORD

I'm waiting for Thee,

At Thy coming again:

With Thee evermore, LORD,

Our hearts will adore, LORD:

Our sorrow'll be o'er,

At Thy coming again."

To many who view John Nelson. Darby as a teacher who has raised up a school of his own, committed to a view of the Church's calling and character which, whether considered a restoration or an innovation, is certainly revolutionary in its character and results, the foregoing extracts, breathing as they do the simple ardent devotion of his inner life, may appear somewhat strange. But the career of Mr. Darby is full of strange and strongly marked contrasts. The tender devotion of a St. Bernard of Clairvaux, linked with the fiery dominant personality of a St. Dominic in his zeal for truth and hatred of heresy; the mystic engrossed in the heavenlies, and yet so truly the ecclesiastic, that as one remarked in a strain of pleasantry, "He always had his surplice in his pocket"; a leader of matchless sagacity, yet with an impetuous impulsiveness that was occasionally a source of embarrassment to other leading brethren, his life resembles a landscape with its towering rocks and solitudes; its verdant meads and meandering streams; its rushing torrents and calm lakes; each of which in turn stand out upon the canvas as the arresting feature of the picture. As a man, as a Christian, and as a scholar he was and is held in the highest respect by all who knew him, save indeed those who permit themselves to be blinded by prejudice or invincible party feeling. His unchallenged consistency, sincerity and unwearied service to the faith to which his soul was yielded in his early years commands the reverence and admiration. of those who recognised in him a spiritual guide. But there is always need for caution lest this admiration of a Christian leader's intellect and spiritual qualities should be allowed to pass (unconsciously perhaps at first) into an unwarranted and dangerous deference to his authority, or even into a passive acquiescence in all his teachings, as though it were impossible for such a man to err in any point of faith or practice.

As Writer — Theologian — Poet, Darby, with some forty volumes of prose and one of exquisite verse, left a legacy of sound doctrinal literature, in which the devout scholar and simple believer alike, may find edification, exhortation and encouragement.

His conception of the Church, noble and sublime, differs widely from that advocated by many in high ecclesiastical positions, but cannot fail to appeal to the spiritual mind. He says, "The Church . . . a lowly heavenly body . . . has no portion on earth at all, as it was at the beginning — suffering as its Head did, unknown and well known — an unearthly witness of heavenly things on earth."

Chapter 8

Some Pen Portraits and Appraisals

1830 (1)

Professor F. W. Newman (brother of Cardinal Newman) who had won an unusually high double First Class at Oxford, became resident tutor at Sergeant Pennefather's, Mr. Darby's brother-in-law. Here he saw a good deal of Darby who was then staying there invalided. This is what he says of him:

"After taking my degree, I became a Fellow of Balliol College; and next year I accepted an invitation to Ireland, and there became private tutor for fifteen months in the house of one now deceased, whose name I would gladly mention for honour and affection — but I withhold my pen. While he paid me munificently for my services, he behaved towards me as a father, or indeed as an elder brother, and instantly made me feel as a member of his family. His great talents, high professional standing, nobleness of heart and unfeigned piety, would have made him a most valuable counsellor to me; but he was too gentle, too unassuming, too modest; he looked to be taught by his juniors, and sat at the feet of one whom I proceed to describe. This was a young relative of his, a most remarkable man, who rapidly gained an immense sway over me. I shall henceforth call him 'The Irish Clergyman.' His bodily presence was indeed 'weak.' A fallen cheek, a bloodshot eye, crippled limbs resting on crutches, a seldom shaved beard, a shabby suit of clothes, and a generally neglected person, drew at first pity, with wonder to see such a figure in a drawing room. It was currently reported that a person in Limerick offered him a halfpenny, mistaking him for a beggar; and if not true, the story was yet well invented.

"This young man had taken high honours at Dublin University, and had studied for the Bar, where, under the auspices of his eminent kinsman, he had excellent prospects; but his conscience would not allow him to take a brief, lest he should be selling his talents to defeat justice. With keen logical powers, he had warm sympathy, solid judgment of character, thoughtful tenderness, and total self-abandonment. He before long took holy orders, and became an indefatigable curate in the mountains of Wicklow. Every evening he sallied forth to teach in the cabins, and, roving far and wide over mountains and amid bogs, was seldom home before midnight. By such exertions his strength was undermined; and he so suffered in his limbs that, not lameness only, but yet more serious results were feared. He did not fast on purpose [he did fast often on purpose, for neither display nor influence], but his long walks through wild country and amongst indigent people inflicted on him much severe privation; moreover, as he ate whatever food offered itself (food unpalatable and often indigestible to him), his whole frame might have vied in emaciation with a monk of La Trappe.

"Such a phenomenon intensely excited the poor Romanists who looked on him as a genuine 'saint' of the ancient breed. The stamp of Heaven seemed to them clear, in a frame so wasted by austerity, so superior to worldly pomp, and so partaking in all their indigence. That a dozen such men would have done more to convert all Ireland to Protestantism, than the whole apparatus of the Church Establishment, was ere long my conviction; though I was at first offended by his personal affectation of a careless exterior [never was a greater mistake: it was his unworldly principle and practice]; but I soon understood that in no other way could he gain equal access to the lowest orders, and that he was moved, not by asceticism nor by ostentation, but by a self-abandonment fruitful of consequences. He had practically given up all reading but the Bible, and no small part of his movement soon took the form of dissuasion from all other voluntary study. In fact, I had myself more and more concentrated my religious reading on this one Book; still I could not help feeling the value of a cultivated mind. Against this my new eccentric friend (having himself enjoyed no mean advantages of cultivation) directed his keenest attacks.

"I remember once saying to him, 'To desire to be rich is absurd; but if I were a father of children, I should wish to be rich enough to secure them a good education.' He replied, 'If I had children, I would as soon see them break stones on the road as do anything else, if I could only secure to them the Gospel and the grace of God.' I was unable to say Amen; but I admired his unflinching consistency. For now, as always, all he said was based on texts aptly quoted and logically enforced. He made me more and more ashamed of political economy and moral philosophy and all science, all of which ought to be counted dross for the excellency of the knowledge of CHRIST JESUS our LORD. For the first time in my life, I saw a man earnestly turning into reality the principles which others professed with their lips only.

"Never before had I seen a man so resolved that no word of the New Testament should be a dead letter to him. I once said, 'But do you really think that no part of the New Testament may have been temporary in its object? For instance, what should we have lost if St. Paul had never written, "The cloke that I left at Troas bring with thee and the books, but especially the parchments?"' He answered with the greatest promptitude, 'I should have lost something; for it was exactly that verse which alone saved me from selling my little library. No! every word, depend upon it, is from the SPIRIT and is for eternal service!' In spite of the strong revulsion which I felt against some of the peculiarities of this remarkable man, I for the first time in my life found myself under the dominion of a superior. When I remember how even those bowed down before him who had been in the place of parents — accomplished and experienced minds — I cease to wonder in the retrospect that he riveted me in such a bondage."

1840 (2)

Professor Herzog of Lausanne, who on Darby's visit to Switzerland in the spring of 1840 met and heard him; gave his impression of the man and his visit thus:

"He came, preceded by the double reputation of an able pastor and of a teacher profoundly acquainted with the Bible. People spoke in glowing terms of the devotion of a man who, from love to CHRIST and for souls, had renounced almost the whole of his fine fortune; and who displayed in his whole conduct a simplicity and frugality that recalled the primitive times of the Church. It was also said in his favour that, sacrificing the delights of family life, he spent his life in journeying from place to place to gain souls for the kingdom of GOD.

"Notwithstanding that Mr. Darby seeks less to convert souls than to unite under his direction souls already converted, we gladly acknowledge that he deserved to a great extent the compliments that were paid him. There certainly is to be found in him a combination of fine and great qualities. His conversion, we have no reason whatever to doubt, was real and sincere. He is capable of much devotion to the LORD'S cause, and he has given striking proofs of it. He is a man of indefatigable activity, and at the same time of great originality and independence of mind."

Then somewhat annoyed by the great movements which resulted from Mr. Darby's visit when a large number of believers left the Swiss Free Church, and were gathered on more simple and Scriptural ground, Professor Herzog qualified the, to him, too adulatory appraisal by caustically adding, "If he had taken a different turn, he might have rendered eminent services to the Church."

1877 (3)

From the Editor of the Southern Review:

"If he had been an ambitious man, anxious to build up a great and prosperous society, with a view to illustrate his own name, rather than the glory of CHRIST, he might have compromised with Mr. Newton, and thereby saved the society from the schism which followed. But if he had done so, he would have been justly contemptible in the eyes of the true Christian. If, after withdrawing from other denominations because they were untrue to CHRIST's Name and Word, he had sanctioned fellowship with him or his allies, in spite of the outrageous dishonour put upon the LORD CHRIST, he would have been among the most inconsistent of men, the most patent of hypocrites. But such was not the character of John N. Darby. On the contrary, finding it impossible to expel Mr. Newton, with his 'blasphemous heresy,' from the society at Ebrington Street, Plymouth, he withdrew himself therefrom, and went on with his missionary labours for the blessing and salvation of souls. Dr. Reid complains, 'Not content with this (his own withdrawal), he called upon Brethren everywhere to withdraw from all fellowship with Mr. Newton.' He did right. He was a hero and not a hypocrite; he was a champion of CHRIST, and not a coward. Many of those called 'Brethren,' of course, followed the example and call of Mr. Darby; for they were not all apostates. Hence, when the true CHRIST was cast out of the camp at Plymouth, the faithful remnant went forth to seek Him. They refused to worship with the assembly, or to hold communion with the unfaithful brethren, who had set up the false CHRIST of Mr. Newton. This was the head and front of Mr. Darby's offending. If his whole life has been of a piece with this (and we have no reason to doubt it has been), then may we safely pronounce him a saint of the highest and purest stamp. He faced heresy in the very society originally formed by himself, even when outwardly most prosperous and flourishing; and, in spite of the obloquy, scorn, and contempt of the brethren once most dear to him, he continued, even as he had begun, to esteem the reproach of CHRIST greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. The world may pour contempt on such a man; sectarians may dip their pens in wormwood and gall for his destruction; and the eulogists of hypocrites and liars may denounce him as a fiend incarnate; but, in our very heart of hearts, we honour and reverence him as a true soldier of the Cross."

1900 (4)

From Mr. William Kelly (Editor of The Prospect, The Bible Treasury and of Mr. Darby's Synopsis and Collected Writings). "I go back to my first intercourse with him in the summer of 1845 at Plymouth. For though I had been for years in communion before this, it had not been my lot to see him for whom above all others I had conceived, because of his love and testimony to CHRIST, profound respect and warm affection. I was then living in the Channel Islands, in one of which I began to break bread with three sisters in CHRIST, before ever looking a 'brother' in the face. It was in J. B. Rowe's shop, Whimple Street, that we met, and very cordial and frank was his greeting. Painful disclosures had already been made of an effort to undermine from within, and to set up, under His Name, Who had taught us liberty of ministry and the unity of the SPIRIT, a state of things contrary to His Word.

"Mr. Darby was then bringing out in numbers the perhaps most valuable critique he ever wrote, in exposure of Mr. B. W. Newton's Thoughts on the Apocalypse; wherein the main object was to oppose, slyly but with set purpose, every truth which was distinctive of the movement, and all-important in our convictions of GOD's truth and glory in CHRIST. Nor was the revolutionary effort confined to the retrograde party in Plymouth. Mr. Chas. Hargrove, an Irish ex-rector; Mr. J. Parnell (was he yet Lord Congleton?), with others, had committed themselves on various grounds to the reaction. Mr. Darby had replied to them all, with an earnest trenchant ability which earned the dislike and resentment of such as love compromise rather than truth. Though grieved to the heart at schism, which must if unjudged lead to what the Apostle calls 'heresy' or sect, it was clear to me which cared for CHRIST, and which did not rise above self or their friends.

"To established and non-established, it was just what many leaders of Christendom were desiring; for like the chief priests of old, they doubted whereunto this would grow. As no mean one among them wrote, they began to breathe freely when the Newtonian rent came. But a little matter of a private kind will interest you and your readers, as it gave me (some twenty years or so his junior) a practical lesson. When dining with Mr. Darby, he by the way said, 'I should like to tell you how I live. To-day I have more than usual on your account. But it is my habit to have a small hot joint on Saturday, cold on LORD's Day, cold on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, and on Thursday. On Friday I am not sorry to have a bit of chop or steak; then the round begins again.' I too, like Mr. Darby, had been ascetic as a young Christian, and had been reduced, by general indifference to outward life, so low that the physician prescribed as essential what had been discarded in self-denial. How uncommon to find a mind endowed with the rarest power of generalisation, able to come down like the Apostle, and impress on a young disciple, eating, drinking, or whatever is done, to do all unto GOD'S glory! At that time Mr. Darby had not a whit of asceticism, but liberty and his heart bent on pleasing the LORD as to necessary food. To me, however small it might seem to some, it was a hint of daily value, and through me to others; for many a saint, when 'cleansed from leprosy,' forgets or neglects, in Levitical phrase, to shave off all his hair, and to wash his clothes, though he may duly bathe. So natural is it, as one of that class said, to retain and give to the LORD his 'gentlemanship ' — a gift abhorrent in His eyes; for it is worldly to the core.

"Mr. Harris, Mr. Newton, Mr. H. Soltau, and many more I of course saw, and found full of kindness, even then when party spirit, was doing its deadly work. For in brighter days did not Edward Irving call it a 'swamp of love,' when his own mind was carried away by pretensions to miraculous power, and to a ritual beyond the Ritualists?

"But such is the power of spirituality and devotedness, that Mr. Darby was the only one there to whom I felt free to tell confidentially the sad tale of an ex-clergyman's sin, and to join with me in prayer respecting it. As the evil had come to my knowledge unsought and far away, it devolved on me in faith and love to seek him out, and lay what none, perhaps, suspected upon his soul before GOD. As he had already withdrawn from communion, one could leave all else with Him. No doubt he is long departed, and as no one is alive to guess the one meant, I venture thus to speak.

"It was at a much earlier date (1831, I think) that F. W. Newman invited Mr. Darby to Oxford: a season memorable in a public way for his refutation of Dr. E. Burton's denial of the doctrines of grace, beyond doubt held by the Reformers, and asserted not only by Bucer, P. Martyr, and Bishop Jewell, but in Articles IX-XVIII of the Church of England. With a smile he said to me, 'That is the only pamphlet by which I made any money.' The same visit of his acted more privately (not on Mr. W. E. Gladstone, who saw and heard him then) but on G. V. Wigram, Sir L. C. L. Brenton, B. W. Newton and W. Jarrett, as well as others too halting in faith to make a decided stand and endure the consequences. It was characteristic of those young men that, when once at a conversazione some one remarked, 'May the LORD give me a living in the beautiful country' (and he had more than his desire in a Scotch bishopric), Mr. Wigram immediately exclaimed, 'May He give me to follow and serve Him at all cost!' He too had his heart's desire. The Rev. Sir Chas. Brenton hardly quite appreciated J.N.D., if one may judge by his rather severe saying, 'I never knew a man in whom the two Adams were so strong.' Sir Charles was rather legal, and suffered from it; so much so that J.N.D. called a few, not long before the former died, for special prayer on his behalf, and not in vain.

"It was, if I err not, before 1830 that, filled with the sense of the Christian's union with Christ, J.N.D. visited London, and laid it before one regarded as among the most mature of the Evangelical clergy. But his own indifference to worldly appearances seemed to render that precious but little understood truth a dead letter to this divine, who confounded it with the new birth, as ill-taught saints commonly do. His tone was pompous and self complacent. He evidently regarded his visitor as a poor curate airing as a wonder what all knew. But the well appointed carriage from Westminster, with coachman and footman, came to take Mr. Darby to his father's house, and happened to catch the clergyman's eye, when his manner changed to servility. This disgusted my friend, who could make allowance for ignorance, but was pained by a worldly spirit in a Christian, especially in a Christian minister. He well enough knew that the clergyman was of humble extraction: but this was nothing in his eyes if there had been spiritual feeling. Nor did the clergyman grow in grace any more than truth, when he became a Bishop, and a metropolitan one. There was a worm at the root of his theology; for he betrayed unsoundness as to Divine inspiration, both before his elevation to the episcopal throne, and after it. Such men cannot be expected to have ears to hear.

"I was unable to attend the conference at Liverpool in the forties, but was present at that which was held in London in 1845. Only on the afternoon of the third day did J.N.D. rise to speak, and this, after a well-known friend had alluded to his silence in singular terms. Mr. D. explained that he had not spoken because so many brothers had a great deal to say. It was a most impressive discourse; for after many, and not leaders only, had spoken with considerable power and unction, he gave a terse summary, which set their main points in the best position, and then brought in a flood of fresh light from Scripture on the whole theme. During the same Conference a noble personage, who resented D.'s exposure of a foolish and injurious tract by himself, gave way to vehement spleen. But J.N.D. answered not a word. Another, who was no less unreasonably offended, came into the hall while Mr. R. M. Beverley was telling us what had helped him to what he regarded as the chief truth he had long wanted. The old brother (very deaf) entered, and went as near the speaker as he could, and heard him read a page of his own book, affirming the very doctrine of the SPIRIT'S presence and working, which he himself was abandoning, and for which Mr. Darby had censured him. This incident made no small impression on me of a living God's ways.

"Considerate and kind as J.N.D. was to F. W. Newman, before Newman's active mind rebelled against 'the doctrine of CHRIST,' he had no real sympathy with the character either of him or of his brother the Cardinal. Men, and not GOD, governed them both, though in a different way. The younger of the two had been much the most distinguished throughout his academic career. The elder became a master of style in English writing, but a mere slave of tradition. Mr. Darby cared supremely for CHRIST and the truth to the glory of GOD the FATHER. Both brothers began as Evangelicals; but they diverged, as time went on, and were quite estranged, till the one became a Papist, and the other an infidel; then they 'renewed happy intercourse.' Anything like this was sorrow and shame to Mr. Darby, who could not respect, even as a man, him who wrote and justified No. 90 of the Oxford Tracts; for from beginning to end it is a barefaced and Jesuitical plea, to construe in a Romanist sense the Protestant Thirty-nine Articles. More shocking still that Pusey and Keble, etc., should endorse its deceit. Also what could J.N.D. feel but grief and indignation at the blasphemer, who at length could compare J. Fletcher's as a life more perfect than that of JESUS, the SON of GOD? It is my judgment, that if Professor H. Rogers, in his Eclipse of Faith, crushed Phases of Faith on its own ground, much more did Mr. Darby, on a Christian basis, in his Irrationalism of Infidelity; just as he also laid bare the dishonesty of J. H. Newman's Apologia pro Vita Sua. Even their logic was anything but immaculate.

"Mr. Darby was deliberate and prayerful in weighing a scripture; but he wrote rapidly, as thoughts arose in his spirit, and often with scarcely a word changed. He delighted in a concatenated sentence, sometimes with parenthesis within parenthesis, to express the truth fully, and with guards against misconception. An early riser and indefatigable worker, he yet had not time to express his mind as briefly and clearly as he could wish. 'You write to be read and understood,' he once said playfully to me; 'I only think on paper.' This made his writings, to the uninitiated, anything but pleasant reading, and to a hasty glance almost unintelligible; so that many, even among highly educated believers, turned away, because of their inability to penetrate sentences so involved. No one could be more indifferent to literary fame; he judged it beneath CHRIST and therefore the Christian. He was but a miner, as he said; he left it to others to melt the ore, and circulate the coin, which many did in unsuspected quarters, sometimes men who had no good to say of him, if one may not think to conceal the source of what they borrowed. To himself CHRIST was the centre of all, and the continual object before him, even in controversy; nor is anything more striking, even in his hottest polemics, than his assertion of positive truth to edification. He was never content to expose an adversary, where not only his unfaltering logic, but instant and powerful grasp of the moral side, and above all of the bearing of CHRIST on the question, made him the most redoubtable of doctors. Yet the same man ever delighted in preaching the glad tidings to the poor, and only paid too much honour to those whom he considered evangelists more distinctively than himself. Indeed, I remember one, who could scarcely be said to be more so than he was, happening (to his own discomposure) to preach in his presence at one of the Conferences in the past (Portsmouth); and for months after, this dear, simple-minded servant of the LORD, kept telling brethren in private, and not there only, 'Ah, I wish that I could appeal to the people as So-and-so does!'

"That he exercised large and deep influence could not but be; but he sought it not, and was plain-spoken to his nearest friends. To one whom he valued as a devoted man, he said, Come, —, not so much of the gentleman.' Another, dear to him from an early day and an admirable pastor, a good teacher and preacher, had got married to a worldly minded lady (his second wife), though an Evangelical of the Evangelicals. This brother (an ex-clergyman) grieved him by running down the simple few gathered to the LORD'S Name in the village where he lived. The complainant was no longer the labourer he had once been among the poor, but was as a half-squire and half-parson drawing back to a long-abandoned social intercourse with county folk. 'Ah! — ,' said Mr. Darby, 'it is not the brethren but the wife.' That this was true made it the less palatable; and the wife did not fail to make it a rupture never healed. Nor was it only such cases that gave him pain. A lady I knew, when he paid a visit to Guernsey, invited a company to meet him in private, but exclusively of those who were in a good position. Had it been an Anglican Christian, or one with the Denominations, he would have made allowance and expected nothing else; but he was vexed that one in fellowship should be so far from the word and will of the LORD as to fail in giving an opportunity to lowly saints, rich in faith, who would have enjoyed it exceedingly. When asked to give thanks, he begged me to do so, meaning it as a quiet sign that he was displeased.

"It was my privilege, being actively engaged, to hear him very seldom, and this at great meetings in which he ordinarily took a large part; but I remember once hearing him preach (on Romans 5: 20, 21) to a small company of the very poor; and to a more powerful and earnest discourse I never listened, though in the plainest terms, exactly suited to his audience. The singing was execrable; and he did his best to lead them, for his voice was sweet, and his ear good; but the barbarous noise of the others prevailed, with which he bore in a patience truly edifying, going on with his message quite unmoved.

"Yet he was anything but self-confident. Being asked once to preach in the open air, he begged the younger man to take it; for said he, 'I shrink from that line of work, being afraid of sticking in the midst, from not knowing what to say.' He ungrudgingly delighted in the bold preacher with a heart full of the love of souls. He overlooked many faults, where he credited anyone with devotedness (sometimes at their own valuation). An intense admirer of his used to say that in this respect, and others too, 'he was the most gullible man in England.' This of course was extreme exaggeration; nevertheless, it occurred often enough to embarrass his fellow-labourers. I remember once in Bath remonstrating with him because of his apparently unbroken confidence in a brother who was behaving very ill to his own mother and sister, whom he drove out of the meeting as a veritable 'Diotrephes,' to gratify his mad and unbelieving father. Mr. Darby soliloquised as we walked along, 'Strange thing, that my pets should turn out scamps.' I fear that so it evidently was with this person; for not long after he furnished the most defamatory scandal ever written, printed and circulated, against his blindly generous benefactor.

"The upshot of this case is instructive. The railer, who of course vanished, not only from fellowship but to another land, had great kindness shown him by a Christian man there, an Irish gentlemen. Having occasion afterwards to visit Ireland, he enquired if any of his friends knew of one, Mr. Darby. Oh yes, to be sure! everyone knows of Mr. Darby. 'Well,' said he, 'I received — and his large family for a long time, during which he was habitually abusing Darby. But I found him out to be worthless; so I came to the conclusion that the object of his abuse must be a very good man.' It smacks rather Hibernian; but it was a sound instinct, and true in fact.

"The same readiness to believe the best, even of untoward souls, showed itself not seldom when persons drew on his purse, or, what was of more moment, sought fellowship through his mediation. Not a few even now will recollect an excessively turbulent man, who espoused the cause of one who had to be put out of fellowship; and being himself no less guilty, he fell under the like sentence. This man never appeared till Mr. Darby returned to London from his long journeyings, but repaired to him forthwith on his arrival. Then followed the renewed appeal: 'How is it that — is still outside?' Thereon a dead silence ensued, easily understood; for every one would have gratified Mr. Darby, had it been possible. At last a brother (now deceased), noted for his downrightness, said, 'Mr. Darby, we know —; but you do not.' Yet were some weak enough to call him a Pope who would have his way, and bore no contradiction.

"A similar case, only more disreputable, of one excommunicated for outrageous profanity, etc., occurred much later. Mr. Darby's heart somehow was touched, because he came to the meetings, and indeed forced himself to the front, and tried, while unrestored, to appropriate the LORD'S SUPPER. Yet our beloved friend looked leniently on what was very painful to most. He was as far as possible from the ogre which so many fancied, but inflexible against those who assailed CHRIST. So he himself used to say, 'I ought never to touch matters of discipline; for I believe the first person, brother or sister, that tells me about things. It is quite out of my line.' So much was this felt, that I used to pray the LORD that only a true account might first reach his ear. But every considerate Christian must be aware that the faithful were as slow to spread evil tidings to gain a point, as the light and party-spirited were quick to plead for those they favour, and especially with one so influential as J.N.D. Also, when one of his position and character took up a cause in this one-sided way, as might and did happen, all can conceive how difficult it was for others to convince, or for himself to revise. Do any blame me for giving these amiable drawbacks? I humbly think that even in a brief sketch it is hardly truthful to omit what has been here touched with a loving hand, and what he himself would have frankly owned. It is not for me to say one word of what is best left in the grave of CHRIST, where my own failures lie buried.

"No man more disliked cant, pretension, and every form of unreality. Thos. Carlyle loudly and bitterly talked his detestation of 'shams,' J.N.D. quietly lived it in doing the truth. He often took the liberty of an older Christian to speak frankly, among others to a brother whose love, as he thought, might bear it. But sometimes the wound however faithful only closed to break out another day. What were you about, —, hiding among your family connexions, and not once seeing the brethren around? ' On the other hand, reliable testimony is not wanting of his ready love in so lowly a way as to carry him where few would follow, especially where known. In early days, among the few at Plymouth a barber brother fell sick; and as no one else thought of his need, J.N.D. is said to have gone in his absence and served as well as he could in the little shop.

"Thoughtful for others he was indifferent as to comforts for himself, though he did not mind buying costly books, if he believed them of value for his work. Then he was habitually a hard worker, from early morn devoted to his own reading the Word and prayer; but even when most busily engaged, he as a rule reserved the afternoons for visiting the poor and the sick, his evenings for public prayer, fellowship or ministry. Indeed, whole days were frequently devoted to Scripture readings wherever he moved, at home or abroad. But his clothes were plain, and he wore them to shabbiness, though punctiliously clean in his person, which dressy people are not always. In Limerick once, kind friends took advantage of his sleep to replace the old with new, which he put on without a word, as the story went.

"In middle life he trudged frequently on foot through a large part of France and Switzerland, sometimes refreshing himself on the way with acorns, at other times thankful to have an egg for his dinner, because as he said, no unpleasant visitors could get in there! In his own house or lodging, all was simplicity and self denial; yet if invited to dine or sup, he freely and thankfully partook of what was set before him.

"His largeness of heart, for one of strong convictions and of practical consistency, showed itself in many ways. After he left the Anglican Establishment he preached occasionally at the call of godly clergymen who urged it; but he only appeared for the discourse and was not present at the previous service. So in France afterwards he preached for pious ministers of the Reformed Church; nor did he refuse the black gown as an academical dress; but when they brought the bands, 'Oh no,' said he: 'I put on no more.' Again he did not spare, but warmly rebuked the zealots among half-fledged brothers, who were so ignorantly bitter as to apply what the Apostle said of heathen tables to those of the various Denominations. It was only fundamental error which roused his deepest grief and indignation. This then is my conviction, that a saint more true to CHRIST'S Name and Word I never knew or heard of. He used to say that three classes from their antecedents are apt to make bad brothers: clergymen, lawyers and officers. He himself was a brilliant exception, though a lawyer first and a clergyman afterward.

"A great man naturally, and as diligent a student as if he were not highly original, he was a really good man, which is much better. So for good reason, I believed before I saw him; so taking all in all I found him in peace and in war; and so, in the face of passing circumstances, I am assured he was to the end. Do I go too far if I add, may we be his imitators, even as he also was of CHRIST?"

In a recently issued volume,* the following interesting note occurs. One "of the cherished recollections of Dr. Campbell Morgan's boyhood is his meeting with John Nelson Darby, who had called on a visit to his father. He vividly recalls the almost reverential awe that lay upon him in the presence of that truly great man, and how the awe gave place and the reverence remained, when the visitor spoke kindly to him about his studies."

{*G. Campbell Morgan, The Man and His Ministry, by John Harries, p. 27.}

Chapter 9

The Last Phase

Incessant travelling with lack of many ordinary comforts at his advanced age, began to tell upon the apparently iron frame of the old warrior. Early in the year 1881 he mentions a bad fall sustained in Dundee on one of his visits to Scotland. This proved to have more serious consequences than he at first imagined, heart and lungs being sensibly weakened thereby. He was well past the eightieth milestone of a life pilgrimage where there had been no loitering nor turning aside for ease. Indeed as his journey progressed the speed seems to have been accelerated since we find him actively engaged in teaching, preaching and visiting assemblies on the Continent in 1880. But the "earthen vessel" was beginning to break, and he writes to a dear friend of that period: "I have not been ill, but knocked up and overworked. . . . I work morning and afternoon as far as I can, and in the evening let the strain go and indulge in the Word and feed on His love."

For a time it was impossible for him to rest at night lying down in bed, but sitting up and propped up he could sleep a little. "I was as low as I could well be, and the bad fall I had at Dundee shook me, I do not doubt, more than I thought. My heart and my lungs were a feeble spring to my body, but this like all the rest is in the LORD's hand. Last night I did not even sit up any part of the night."

In February 1882, while still very weak from a protracted illness, he wrote to a friend, "I am (through mercy) better: at my age shall never be well, till all sickness is over: but through mercy work half the day."

In early March he was taken to Sundridge House, Bournemouth, the house of Mr. H. A. Hammond one of his friends. Here for nearly two months he lingered in what Bunyan describes as Beulah Land. It is related that he was very cheerful and rejoiced in the LORD from day to day; that he spoke of and prayed for the Church and for "the unity of the testimony" continually. When his friend Dr. Christopher Wolston asked him whether he had any special thoughts in view of death, he replied,

"There are three things which I have dwelt much upon:

1. GOD is my FATHER, and I am His gift to His Son.

2. CHRIST is my righteousness.

3. CHRIST is my object in life, and my joy for eternity."

This was on March 9th, soon after his arrival, but on another occasion he remarked:

"I can say, though in great feebleness, I have lived for CHRIST. There is not a cloud between me and the FATHER."

Sober words uttered at a solemn time by one at last at leisure to review the course. Truly he could echo with deep understanding the swan song of the great Apostle, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the LORD, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing."

His last letter to the brethren is typical, and well worth deep consideration; here it is:

"MY BELOVED BRETHREN,

"After years of communion in weakness, I have only bodily strength to write a few lines, more of affection than of ought else. I bear witness to the love, not only in the LORD ever faithful, but in my beloved brethren in all patience towards me and how much more, then, from GOD, unfeignedly do I bear witness to it. Yet I can say, CHRIST has been my only object; thank GOD, my righteousness too.

"I am not aware of anything to recall; little now to add. Hold fast to CHRIST; count on abundant grace in Him to reproduce Him in the power of the FATHER'S love; and be watching and waiting for CHRIST. I have no more to add, but my unfeigned and thankful affection in Him.

"J. N. DARBY."

Said and taken down later:

"I do add, Let not John's ministry be forgotten in insisting on Paul's. One gives the dispensations in which the display is; the other that which is displayed.

"I should particularly object to any attack being made on William Kelly.

At length on April 29th, it was clear to those who watched by him that the end was near, and shortly after, the earthly life of this good soldier of JESUS CHRIST came to its close. He had served the will of GOD in his own generation, and now like a weary traveller fell on sleep, to be with the LORD he had served, and to await with Him and the blessed dead in Paradise that morning without clouds when

"Soul and body re-united,

Thenceforth nothing shall divide,

Wakened up in CHRIST'S own likeness,

Satisfied."

It was on the 2nd May, a gloriously fine spring day, that all that was mortal of John Nelson Darby was laid to rest in Bournemouth Cemetery. A very large company followed his body to the grave, estimated at a thousand. The effect of their approach to the grave has been described as striking. "Every voice was hushed; and nothing was heard but the tread of many feet, almost as regular as the measured tread at a military funeral."

The coffin of polished oak, had a brass plate on which was engraved:

John Nelson Darby

Born 18th Nov., 1800

Died in the LORD

29th April, 1882

It was placed on a bier, and by a specially thoughtful arrangement, as the distance to the grave was considerable, as many brethren as possible were enabled to have the privilege of acting as bearers. After a moment or two of complete silence the hymn, "Oh, happy morn," was sung containing the verse:

"The resurrection-morn will break,

And every sleeping saint awake

Brought forth in light again;

Oh, morn too bright for mortal eyes,

When all the ransomed saints shall rise,

And wing their way to yonder skies,

Called up with CHRIST to reign"

Just as the last note of this hymn died away, a lark rose from the green sward close by, and poured forth its joyous notes. To one, at least, it was in beautiful harmony with the scene. Then with Scripture readings, prayers and hymns the coffin was lowered into its resting place by loving hands of brethren. The service closed with the sung Doxology, so dear to all present,

"Glory, honour, praise and power

Be unto the LAMB for ever!

JESUS CHRIST is our Redeemer:

Hallelujah Praise ye the LORD."

So "devout men," "chief men among the brethren" laid his body to rest until the MORNING STAR appears and the shadows flee away. What a moment of rapture that will be, when the glorified MAN of SORROWS shall stand surrounded by the fruit of His soul's travail, the innumerable company of the redeemed at home in the FATHER'S house with their REDEEMING LORD. Of this John Nelson Darby himself sings in The Hope of Day:

"Yet it must be!

Thy love had not its rest,

Were Thy redeemed not with Thee

Fully blest."

So great a company were present from London at the burial that a special train had to be put on in the evening to convey them back.

To-day there stands in Bournemouth Cemetery over that grave (around which now so many other graves of brethren who shared like precious faith and hope are clustered) a memorial stone bearing unmistakable testimony to the departed leader and guide, with this inscription:

John Nelson Darby

"As Unknown And Well Known"

Departed to be with Christ

29 April 1882

Aged 81

2 Cor. 5: 21.

LORD let me wait for Thee alone,

My life be only this,

To serve Thee here on earth unknown

Then share Thy heavenly bliss.

J.N.D.

Of the subject of the present volume, we can truly affirm that if ever man in this or any other age did with his might what his hands found to do in the service of his MASTER, it was JOHN NELSON DARBY. Now he rests from his labours; but his works still follow him, and "the memory of the just is blessed."

Chapter 10

The Afterglow

That Mr. Darby should have been able to inspire such enthusiasm as he undoubtedly did throughout a long life in men of widely differing temperaments and ranks of Society, and that his influence should still remain a potent factor in the lives of "Brethren" all over the world, although over half a century has elapsed since his death, is in itself a striking tribute to his powerful personality.

As to the various controversies in which he was engaged, and which ran practically right through his career, it is well to remember the saying of Dr. Ganden: "If either truth or peace must be dispensed with, it is peace and not truth. Better to have truth without public peace, than peace without saving truth." The temper in which John Nelson Darby engaged in controversy is very instructive; it was alike humble and pious, both very rare qualifications of the controversialist. As he wrote to one on this subject, "If I am useful to any, and the LORD accepts it as service done to Him, I am content."

Not to secure a triumph in the ecclesiastical arena, but to help the saints and serve the LORD, was J. N. Darby's ambition when entering the lists with ardour and boldness in defence of the truth.

The lapse of time naturally has, and should have, an influence in softening the asperities of controversy, and particularly in qualifying our estimates of those who have been active in the struggle. It is however possible to allow this tendency to become too strong, and to forget that we are called to the same conflict; that we too must fight the good fight, and keep the faith whole and undefiled, until we finish the course.

This, however, does not warrant the misusing of extracts from his voluminous writings to justify on one hand some rooted prejudice of narrow mindedness, nor, on the other hand, the attempt to bolster up loose preferences as to Christian fellowship or service.

To study Darby will not make the Christian student a Darbyite, nor a so-called Plymouth Brother. It will help immensely to make him an instructed disciple, a man of GOD with a mind well furnished in divine truth. He will also discover that "old foes with new faces" in the theological arena have been met and faced by this good soldier of JESUS CHRIST. Indeed the intellectual reader will note that much "modern thought" is really the resuscitation of "ancient errors" long since exploded. This business of dealing in theological and ecclesiastical antiques is strongly supported by the Devil as generation after generation acclaims the old theories as "new light" or "modern thought."

In his preface to The Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, which the Bishop of Gloucester, Dr. C. J. Ellicott, Editor of his well-known Commentary, recommended to the theological students of his diocese, Darby says: "The reader . . . is not to expect a commentary, nor, on the other hand, to suppose that he has a book which he can read without referring continually to the word itself in the part treated of. The object of the book is to help a Christian, desirous of reading the word of GOD with profit, in seizing the scope and connection of that which it contains. Though a commentary may doubtless aid the reader in many passages in which GOD has given to the commentator to understand in the main the intention of the SPIRIT of GOD, or to furnish philological principles and information, which facilitate to another the discovery of that intention; yet if it pretend to give the contents of scripture, or if he who uses it seeks these in its remarks, such commentary can only mislead and impoverish the soul. A commentary, even if always right, can at most give what the commentator has himself learned from the passage. The fullest and wisest must be very far indeed from the living fulness of the divine word. The Synopsis has no pretension of the kind. Deeply convinced of the divine inspiration of the scriptures, given to us of GOD, and confirmed in this conviction by daily and growing discoveries of their fulness, depth, and perfectness; ever more sensible, through grace, of the admirable perfection of the parts, and the wonderful connection of the whole, the writer only hopes to help the reader in the study of them.

The scriptures have a living source, and living power has pervaded their composition: hence their infiniteness of bearing, and the impossibility of separating any one part from its connection with the whole, because one GOD is the living centre from which all flows; one CHRIST, the living centre round which all its truth circles, and to which it refers, though in various glory; and one SPIRIT, the divine sap which carries its power from its source in GOD to the minutest branches of the all-united truth, testifying of the glory, the grace, and the truth of Him whom GOD sets forth as the object and centre and head of all that is in connection with Himself, of Him who is, withal, GOD over all, blessed for evermore.

To give all this as a whole and perfectly would require the Giver Himself. Even in learning it, we know in part, and we prophesy in part. The more — beginning from the utmost leaves and branches of this revelation of the mind of GOD, by which we have been reached when far from Him — we have traced it up towards its centre, and thence looked down again towards its extent and diversity, the more we learn its infiniteness and our own feebleness of apprehension. We learn, blessed be GOD, this, that the love which is its source is found in unmingled perfectness and fullest display in those manifestations of it which have reached us even in our ruined state. The same perfect GOD of love is in it all. But the unfoldings of divine wisdom in the counsels in which GOD has displayed Himself remain ever to us a subject of research in which every new discovery, by increasing our spiritual intelligence, makes the infiniteness of the whole, and the way in which it surpasses all our thoughts, only more and more clear to us. But there are great leading principles and truths, the pointing out of which in the various books which compose the scriptures, may assist in the intelligence of the various parts of scripture. It is attempted to do this here. What the reader is to expect consequently in this Synopsis, is nothing more than an attempt to help him in studying scripture for himself. All that would turn him aside from this would be mischievous to him; what helps him in it may be useful. He cannot even profit much by the following pages otherwise than in using them as an accompaniment to the study of the text itself.

From what has been said it will easily be understood that the writer can readily feel the imperfection of what he has written. Often he would have liked to have introduced the developments which he has enjoyed, when unfolding particular passages in detail and applying them to the hearts and consciences of others; but this would have turned him aside from the object of the work. He trusts, however, that the right direction is given to the scriptural researches of the reader: grace alone can make those researches effectual.

He cannot close this short introduction to the book without expressing the effect which the discovery of the perfectness and divinely ordered connection of the scriptures produces in his mind as respects what is called Rationalism. Nothing is proved by the system so denominated but the total absence of all divine intelligence, a poverty associated with intellectual pretension, an absence of moral judgment, a pettiness of observation on what is external, with a blindness to divine and infinite fulness in the substance, which would be contemptible through its false pretensions, if it were not a subject of pity, because of those in whom these pretensions are found. None but GOD can deliver from the pride of human pretension. But the haughtiness which excludes GOD, because it is incompetent to discover Him, and then talks of His work, and meddles with His weapons, according to the measure of its own strength, can prove nothing but its own contemptible folly. Ignorance is generally confident, because it is ignorant; and such is the mind of man in dealing with the things of GOD. The writer must be forgiven for speaking plainly in these days on this point.

The pretensions of infidel reason infect even Christians.

He would add that it has not been his object to unfold the blessed fruits the word produces in the mind and ways of him who receives it, nor the feelings produced in his own mind in reading it, but to help the reader in the discovery of that which has produced them. May the LORD only make the word as divinely precious to him as it has been to the writer; to both ever still more so!"

The influence of Darby's life and teaching has been discovered in most unexpected quarters. The verger of perhaps the highest Anglican Church in London, where the clergy are sometimes referred to by other clergy as "spikes" because of their extreme Roman and Eastern proclivities, once remarked to the writer, "The Brethren. Ah, yes, my people are Brethren." An Evangelical clergyman present at an address in a Public Hall given by the writer on "The Bible" shook hands at the close saying, "You are one of the Brethren, I know; many of my friends too belong to them"; though the speaker had given no clue to any denominational affinity in his address.

Some words of Bishop Francis Paget in "Hallowing of Work" may serve to conclude this brief review of the long life of a truly great man. "A man's gifts may lack opportunity, his efforts may be misunderstood and resisted; but the spiritual power of a consecrated will needs no opportunity, and can enter where the doors are shut . . . in this strange and tangled business of human life, there is no energy that so steadily does its work as the mysterious, unconscious, silent, unobtrusive, imperturbable influence which comes from a man who has done with all self-seeking." Such a man was JOHN NELSON DARBY.

Biography of William Kelly (W.G.Turner)

Biography of William Kelly (W.G.Turner)

Biography of William Kelly

by W.G.Turner

By kind permission of soundwords.de whose permission should be sought for any further publication.

- Introductory

- Ireland

- Guernsey

- Blackheath

- Churchman and Gospeller

- Some Letters

- The Workman

- Middlesborough

- Closing Days

"No one is able to show to those who knew him not what he was; no one could show this to those who knew him in a way they would feel satisfying."

Introductory

William Kelly first saw the light when England was beginning to recover from the Napoleonic wars. The Battle of Waterloo lay only five years behind. Napoleon himself had just died at St. Helena. The least estimable character that ever occupied the British throne had but recently succeeded to it, and demands were everywhere rising for reform and popular liberty. The Home Secretary, Addington, and his more powerful colleague, Lord Castlereagh, sensing the uneasy situation, and fearing that the ominous stirrings so apparent might flare up into open revolution, foolishly introduced into Parliament a most unpopular and hated measure known as "Six Acts" hoping thereby to effectually prevent this. It only served, however, to increase the growing discontentment.

This measure threatened with severe penalties all who advocated any kind of social reform, and was repressive to a degree. The general populace was exasperated by its severity against all and any who dared to protest against the policy of the Government. The Home Secretary and Lord Castlereagh, however, succeeded in forcing the obnoxious measure through. When Castlereagh died shortly after, his funeral became the occasion of a most disgraceful outburst of hatred against both himself and the Act he had sponsored. The French revolution, alike so recent and near, only needed a spark to explode the magazine of pent up resentment felt by thousands at the injustice of the new law. Both politically and ecclesiastically a transition period had arrived. The more sober and practical elements were filled with alarm at the violent and threatening temper displayed by the masses, and the obtuseness of the ruling class to its implications. In a remote country parish one of Oxford's most brilliant students was then quietly brooding over the conditions in church and state. It was several years, however, before the result of his thoughts stirred the country in a sermon preached in the university pulpit, and published under the title of "National Apostasy".

Two great religious movements were then both due to appear and radically affect the religious outlook. The Evangelical revival was settling down into a quiet, select, self-complacent orthodoxy. The Methodist movement also was rapidly losing its original fire and fervour. A few years previously both had been fanned by the fires of persecution, but these had now died down. Ecclesiastical gales were beginning to blow from Oxford and Plymouth, and were disturbing the religious dovecotes. Both were destined to exert an influence upon English speaking Christendom beyond anything known since the sixteenth century Reformation.

One of these, the Tractarian movement, was later to be known as the Oxford movement; while the other was the Plymouth, or as often called, the Brethren movement. Both were silently taking shape and much has been written about them. The impetus given by both is still being felt after the lapse of well over a century. These two movements had their origin in the accident of urgent necessity! one from the suppression of ten Irish bishoprics by the Government; and the other by an Archiepiscopal order to the Irish clergy stopping the work of the Irish Home Missions, as an oath of allegiance to King George now became compulsory on the reception of the converts. "If it be true anywhere that such enactments are forced on the legislature by public opinion, is Apostasy too hard a word to describe the temper of such a nation?" This was the question asked by Mr. Keble.

Naturally enough, the two most prominent figures in the respective movements were clergymen of the Established Church; the one John Henry Newman, who strenuously opposed the former of these; and the other, John Nelson Darby, Lord Nelson's godson, who as strongly objected to the latter. At once a number of pious men with active minds and great natural abilities were quickly attracted to these movement. Two who stand out from their fellows were singularly alike in many respects John Keble, the Tractarian friend referred to earlier, and William Kelly, the henchman of the Plymouth leader. Both Keble and Kelly were humble and self-effacing men personally, although each had in their day carried off the highest honours of their respective universities.

The words of a brilliant contemporary of theirs may here be quoted, "Where personal character is the main source of influence on others - where the unconscious labourer, pressing forward in faithful service, reflects a glory from his upturned countenance, scatters the fire of his aspiration in surrounding hearts, and by that subtle impress of spirit upon spirit refines the conscience, warms enthusiasm and quickens effort - there it is that a life, a record, a portrait is most needed. The chief work is done without it, many a heart moulded, many a course changed by contact with the living man."

This fully applied to both these great men. It is, however, with William Kelly we are concerned in this present volume.

Ireland

Dublin, Downpatrick and the Wicklow Hills form the setting of William Kelly's birth, boyhood and youth. The son of an Ulster squire, he was born in May 1820 at Millisle, Co. Down. His father's early death left him and an only sister to be brought up by their devoted mother. At an early age he matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin, and here a natural flair for the classics and sacred languages was fostered. This, combined with a steady application, soon caused him to be regarded as a very promising student, one likely to add to the lustre of he University.

He early gave evidence of an innate love for study and also possessed the rare gift, for one so young, of sufficient wisdom to refrain from presuming of it. As Sir Joshua Reynolds says, "If you have genius, industry will improve it; if you have none, industry will supply its place." And William Kelly followed this hard but sure road. He himself in later years once casually remarked to the writer, "Genius is ninety-nine per cent hard work and close application to one's studies;" and his early career at Trinity College was an illustration of it, his steady industry being finally crowned with first class distinction when he graduated later in highest classical honours. The Principal, when warmly congratulating him upon his scholastic brilliance, offered a post upon the College staff, hinting that if accepted he would make his fortune in the world. "Which world, sir?" was his enquiry.

He was then only twenty years old, but the reply was both self-revealing and almost prophetically anticipative of his whole after life of being in the world but not of it. The influence of the Evangelical school of religion in which he, as an Ulsterman, had been nurtured made a deep impression upon him, the other-worldliness of that movement predisposing the devoutly minded youth in the direction of Orders in the Irish Established Church. Why this ambition was never realized will appear later, but at the time of leaving the University it was uppermost in his thoughts.

In passing we may note that half a century later Kelly's nephew by marriage closely rivalled his uncle's reputation at Trinity. The then Principal remarked to a friend of the Kelly family, "You know, we look on Malcolm as one of the chief ornaments of our college." In later life Malcolm Montgomery, the lad in question, was also regarded as the best Greek authority among the "Brethren", and showed that he shared his uncle's convictions as to the relative values of worldly honours when one has had the vision of higher things.

Upon leaving Dublin University Kelly found himself momentarily at a loose end, being then a couple of years too young for ordination in the Irish Church. He decided to seek a tutorial post in the interim, and keep up his special theological reading. He always held that it was in the providence of God that just then the Seigneur of Sark happened to visit Northern Ireland seeking a tutor for his young family. Being also the Rector of Sark, and happening to contact the University authorities, he heard of that year's brilliant student and expressed a wish to meet him. This resulted in a warm invitation to Sark, and Kelly's immediate difficulties as to a livelihood disappeared. William Kelly even afterwards regarded this entirely unexpected opening as a most important stage on his life's pilgrimage. When referring to it later, the present writer ventured to quote:

"There's a divinity that shapes our ends Rough-hew them how we will."

Mr. Kelly smilingly replied, "I am not a Shakespearian," and said that he much preferred the poet Cowper's version:

"God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform."

From the Emerald Isle, with the busy life of Dublin, Downpatrick and the Wicklow Hills, the boundaries of his youthful days, to the remote Isle of Sark, situated in the stormiest part of the English Channel, was a journey not to be lightly undertaken in the early nineteenth century. But in Kelly's case it was the first of the several stages en route for London, where so much of his life and work was done.

He firmly believed in the guiding Hand of God, and always regarded the stages of his pilgrimage as the direct leading of the One Who knows the end from the beginning and guides all the journey through. So from Dublin to Sark, thence to Guernsey covering the next twenty years; and then to London, where at Blackheath and Lee the rest of his days were spent, is the story of his earthly pilgrimage.

Few islands contain so much romantic interest in so small a compass as the Isle of Sark. It is remarkable for its grandeur of cliff and cave, and deemed the loveliest of those lovely gardens of the sea - the Channel Islands." Here in the Channel Islands it was that Kelly as a young tutor experienced what he always regarded as the two most important events in one's life: the knowledge of personal soul salvation, and the finding of life's greatest earthly treasure, a good wife.

Taking the latter as first in order, for the wife was used to lead him into the knowledge of the former, it was here he met and fell in love with a Miss Montgomery of Guernsey in whom for years until her death in 1844 William Kelly found a perfect help-meet in life and work. Like himself she hailed from the Emerald Isle, being a lady of the Ulster Scottish branch of the Montgomery tree and of Norman origin. These happy formative years in Sark were now filled with congenial employment, domestic bliss and happy Christian fellowship.

William Kelly had from boyhood been religious and conscientious; his growing knowledge of Hebrew and Greek had also fostered a scholar's interest in the Holy Scriptures in their original tongues. As a child familiar with what the Evangelicals of that day termed the "Plan of Salvation", he yet so far had not taken a really personal interest in the subject. The important step by which one passes from a general knowledge about Christ to a special knowledge of Him as a personal Saviour had not been taken by him, when he accepted the appointment in Sark.

Sixty years later in a public lecture in London, when quoting the text from John's epistle, "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater," he remarked, "May I recall the divine relief and deliverance these words gave more than sixty years ago to a soul converted but harassed and deeply exercised through sense of sin which clouded his soul's rest on Jesus? These words chased away all doubt, and made him ashamed to question God's witness. It became the application of truth to him, and no longer his applying it to himself, though not at all doubting the intrinsic worth of Christ's death for the sinner. "It was not my seeing as I ought the efficacy of the blood, but resting by faith on God's seeing it, and God's valuing it as it deserves." William Kelly thus explained the great change which was the prelude to becoming the man of God he did.

The third important happening which took place in the Isle of Sark was some months subsequently. He made a careful examination of current conventional ecclesiastical customs in the light of the New Testament which he always studied in the original tongue. The conclusion arrived at by him was expressed in the following words: "It is but too plain that whatever good men may do here and there, the only real inquiry is as to the will of the Lord. It is not a question of making others walk in your light, but you must not walk in their darkness. This is the great point, not occupying ourselves with others, prescribing what they must do, but feeling my own sin, as well as the common sin, yet by grace resolved at all costs to be where I can honour and obey the Lord." So he explained his action in then leaving the Established Church. He had come to see that in all the current religious societies, Established or Dissenting, one, if loyal to the tenets of the company, had either to surrender some Scriptural principle or to acquiesce in what was obviously unscriptural and therefore contrary to the will of the Lord.

He quietly decided, therefore, to associate himself with a very tiny company of likeminded Christian believers who were gathered simply to the Name of the Lord Jesus, relying upon His own assurance (Matt. 18,20) of His Presence in the midst of them. He found them making no pretensions to superior knowledge or spirituality, yet most certainly enjoying much spiritual blessing and happy fellowship in the things of the Lord, to which he had hitherto been a stranger. It was another lady, one of the well known Acland family, who helped the young tutor now, both to appreciate the simplicity of God's way of salvation, and also the Scriptural way to gather for worship and service. One Lord's day William Kelly went to a meeting for the Lord's Supper, the Breaking of Bread, as recorded in Acts 20, where it is written, "When upon the first day of the week, the disciples came together to break bread." To his momentary confusion, on that particular morning no other brothers were present in the tiny gathering, and he, though having received much light and help spiritually from the writings of J.N. Darby and other "brethren", had never actually met a "brother".

Some two years or so after this William Kelly, now in his twenty-fifth year, went on a short visit to Plymouth, and happening to call at a bookseller's shop in Whimple Street, there, to his great joy, met a man whose life for the next forty years was to be very closely linked with his own. For the last couple of years Kelly had been a close and careful student of the works of John Nelson Darby, then creating something of a stir in ecclesiastical circles, and the clerical dove-cotes generally. This had made him greatly desire to meet the author, and the meeting in that bookseller's was a great day in Kelly's life. Given in his own words he says, "I go back to my first intercourse with J.N.D. in the summer of 1845 at Plymouth. For though I had been for years in communion before this, it had not been my lot to see him for whom above all others I had conceived, because of his love and testimony to Christ, profound respect and warm affection. I was then living in the Channel Islands, in one of which I began to break bread with three sisters, before ever looking a "brother" in the face. It was in J.B. Rowe's shop, Whimple Street, that we met, and very frank and cordial was his greeting." This apparently casual meeting was another spiritual milestone on life's pilgrimage, and one of Kelly's most cherished memories.

Shortly after this first contact with J.N. Darby, whose conversation served to deepen greatly the impression which his own solitary studies had made upon him, an opportunity of attending a big London Conference of Brethren was presented, which enabled Kelly to hear an address by his new acquaintance and erstwhile life-long friend. This address by J.N. Darby made an ineffaceable impression upon him, so that some sixty years later in a reminiscent mood he said with emphasis, "It was a most impressive discourse." The ecclesiastical atmosphere was then very heavy with dark clouds. The gathering storm of the Oxford movement had increased in intensity in the months of Newman's secession, and the first great calamitous division of the so-called Brethren movement co-incided. The air was electric in the circles of both these movements. Kelly's interest was second only to Darby's. It was not Tractarians or Newtonians as such, but the truth of God and the honour of Christ which they felt to be at stake. It has been well observed, "the hour finds the man," and Kelly's special gifts were very speedily recognized beyond the boundaries of the Channel Islands where hitherto they had been exercised.

The comparatively early death of his young wife no doubt accounts for his decision to leave Sark, which he did shortly afterwards. His conviction, too, that the Lord was guiding his steps towards the sister isle of Guernsey finally determined him to remove his home there. Subsequent events proved that his action was justified, as the next chapter shows.

Guernsey

Guernsey, where William Kelly resided for the next twenty-seven years 1844-1871, provided a far wider field than Sark in his service for the Lord. Almost at once there began that surprising output of literary work which was remarkably sustained for half e century. It was here that Dr. S.P. Tregelles invited him to collaborate as a biblical textual critic, a great honour for so young a man, and an appreciation of Kelly's ability in this specialized department of sacred study. Here also his first great work appeared, the Revelation of John with an independent translation, to be hailed by Professor Heinrich Ewald of Göttingen as "the best piece of English work of the kind that had ever come under my notice."

Such tributes and recognitions quickly placed William Kelly in the front rank of those rising young writers upon sacred subjects whose work then claimed notice in the so-called religious world of that day. Reviews, articles, pamphlets and more substantial volumes, all bearing the hallmark of scholarship, simplicity and lucidity, appeared in succession from his eloquent pen. He was now recognized as a sound biblical scholar and controversialist of a formidable calibre. He had for some three years contributed articles to the Christian Annotator which attracted much attention. Then the editorship of the Prospect, at the age of twenty-nine, marked a further stage of progress in Kelly's early career. This magazine was one devoted to the exposition of prophetic subjects, and though issued in an uninviting style both as to size and shape, with the added drawback of closely printed type, yet for the two years of his editorship had a good circulation.

His opportunity came, however, when Professor Wallace, about to relinquish responsibility for the Bible Treasury, invited William Kelly to contribute a series of papers, six months later handing the periodical over to him. From the outset it was a success; here he found and held his ecclesiastical public for the next half century. It was a venture of faith for so young a man, but "the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord" (Ps. 37,23), and the Bible Treasury soon firmly established itself in the hearts of its readers. Archdeacon Denison, expressing his opinion a few years subsequently, said, "It is the only religious magazine any longer worth taking." Yet the Editor by no means spared the school of thought represented by the Venerable Archdeacon when he considered truth necessitated his so doing.

In the first number issued under the new editorship Kelly frankly states the aim of the new venture in these words,

The name of the periodical is not one which I should have chosen, as it wears a pretentious air - least to an unfriendly eye. But the project was unknown to me till after the first number, or the second, was in the hands of its readers. To the third I contributed the first of a series. Prom the eighth number the editorial care was mine; not long after the entire responsibility devolved on me. Though never liking the title as a question of taste and feeling I saw in it no sufficiently serious objection to risk the confusion which must have ensued from a change of name. If the work be a poor Treasury, as I cannot but feel, the Bible, at any rate, is in God's grace a rich unfailing source of supply.

Accordingly, whilst the prophetic word has not been neglected throughout the past eleven years, I may say, of its course, the reader can bear witness that there has been the continual desire to draw from every province of Scripture, avoiding no truth which God has revealed for our instruction. The person and the work of Christ, the expectations of Israel from of old, the prospects of the world, the hope of the Christian and of the Church, the dispensations and the Kingdom of God, have all been treated, most of these subjects frequently and by various pens, and this with a distinct view to the practical profit of souls. Exposition of Scripture (Old Testament and New, portions and whole books), has had, and I trust ever will have a large place. So, too, questions of the day for good or ill have been discussed, with occasional reviews or notices of such books as handle them. Neither exhortations to Christians nor appeal to the unconverted will be looked for in vain in these pages.

Critical difficulties, faults or textual readings in Greek and Hebrew, emendations of translations, and corrections of prevalent interpretation, may not interest so extensive a class, but they have ever had a prominent place here; because the aim has been ever to consider such Christians especially as desire to make progress in the things of God. How, mistake in text or version or exegesis arrests the mind in proportion to the value given to God's word. Hence to such as prize that word above all things, the exceeding preciousness of every fresh insight into its true bearing, and the importance of removing every hindrance.

As for the writers, no matter of interest to the believer, or of bearing on Christ's glory, will they exclude or evade; though it is assuredly desired to avoid the discussion of every unprofitable question, and to rid all things discussed as much as possible of a controversial aim. Papers of real value from any Christian will of course be admissible, save where known evil practice, or indifference to Christ, ruins the credit of the profession of His Name. "May the gracious Lord deign to use the work increasingly to the edification of souls and to His glory. 'For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.'"

This Guernsey period in Kelly's life, although thus full of outside activities was one in which the interests of the local assemblies of believers with which Kelly was so closely connected were never neglected. Always modestly disclaiming being an elder, bishop or overseer of the flock, yet his supreme delight was found in ministering to the sheep of God's pasture; and many gratefully acknowledged it was right good spiritual food which he supplied. It was also often remarked with surprise that so erudite a man could be so simple in his public ministrations, whether purely evangelistic, expository or of a more advanced character.

Intellectual cleverness, glibness of speech as worthless as they are common, William Kelly abhorred, his public ministry and private conversation being alike marked by the word of wisdom and sanctified common sense. He was alive to the danger of the then very critical period in the so-called religious world. It was the post-Tractarian era which followed hard upon Newman's defection and Manning's desertion from the Established Church.

Dr. Pusey, John Keble and some others of the early movement remained, but Maurice and Kingsley and their disciples now in the ascendant were busily introducing their Liberal Social Gospel with the openly expressed approbation of Dean Stanley; the Evangelicals appeared to have lost their savouring salt and much of their influence; and at the same time the "Brethren" were in the throes of their first great division. Earlier on they had caused dismay in ecclesiastical circles both Established and Dissenting by their rapidly spreading influence, so many of clergy and ministers having joined their ranks. Now considerable confusion prevailed on all sides, and a clear voice was needed to re-affirm the fundamental witness to God's inspiration of the Scriptures, and the true other-worldliness of real Christianity. On the one hand Dr. Pusey quickly sensing the alarming situation bore a very bold witness to both these matters, somewhat weakened, however, by his decided Patristic and Mediaeval leanings. Of these Mr. Kelly himself may be cited as being one of these scholarly voices then raised respecting these matters in the early fifties of the 19th century. (See Introduction to W. Kelly "Lectures Introductory to the Minor Prophets).

It was during this Guernsey period that William Kelly also began those occasional excursions to London for lecturing and preaching which in the sixties brought him into personal contact with hundreds who, already familiar with his writings, were anxious to see and hear him.

The first of these visits appears to have been made in the late spring of 1866, between May 31st and June 20th when he delivered a course of eleven lectures which drew remarkable attendances, and made a deep impression on the hearers. These were taken down in shorthand, a real demand for publication having arisen during the delivery of this series. These he corrected with additions and retrenchments, shaping them in a more written style. Issued in book form at the end of the year as "Lectures Introductory to the study of the Gospels", they found a remarkable sale. Two years later when local conditions again favoured another London visit, this time in May 1868, the reception given to a companion series of twelve lectures delivered on the Epistles of Paul was a further tribute paid to the expository gift of the lecturer. One who attended several of these lectures expressed recollections of the crowded gatherings night by night, and of real help received from the word so ably ministered then.

On this occasion publication was unavoidably delayed until the next year when they appeared as Lectures Introductory to the study of Paul's Epistles. In quick succession there followed a series of Introductory Lectures on the study of the Pentateuch; Historical Books of the Old, Testament; Minor Prophets, the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit; the Second Coming and Kingdom; the Church of God; and a bulky volume of Occasional Lectures on Ritualism, Rationalism, Creation and nine other subjects of general interest.

In the providence of God it appears that in one of his lecturing tours William Kelly met the accomplished lady, Miss Elizabeth Emily Gipps, who years later was to become his second wife. Her father, the Reverend Henry Gipps, rector of St. Peter's, Hereford, had married a Miss Plumptre, sister of the first Lord Menthuen and cousin to J.C. Ryle, later Bishop of Liverpool. A learned and venerable friend whose hobby and recreation appears to have been that of genealogical research, (especially among the pedigrees of the early Brethren), kindly supplied this detailed information. He also traces J.N. Darby's pedigree on the male line to Commonwealth days of 1674, and on the distaff side through the O'Mores and old Earls of Ormond back to the times of King Edward I. - The family of the Gipps, like that of the Montgomerys, became closely connected with the spiritual movement of which Kelly was one of the (if not the) most able exponents. The brother of Elizabeth, a Mr. Pemberton Gipps became a firm adherent of the London Park Street Fellowship in 1881, a fateful year in the memory of so many Brethren, when the cryptic remark of the late Principal, Dr. W. H. Griffith Thomas of Toronto University, received a further sad illustration. Said that worthy divine on more than one occasion, "The Brethren are a remarkable people for rightly dividing the Word of Truth and wrongly dividing themselves."

One further incident of the Guernsey period, and perhaps of more than general interest, may be mentioned before closing this chapter of William Kelly's life in the Channel Islands. It was the meeting between two men who some fifty years later were to be regarded as leaders in opposite camps of the Brethren, namely Kelly and Lowe. In the eighties and nineties some sectarian minded brethren might have been heard speaking of the "Kelly" and "Lowe" parties. This incidentally was not the spirit of either of these revered leaders. It, however, gives a spice of interest to the story of their first meeting.

William Joseph Lowe, than a brilliant and accomplished youth, Junior to William Kelly "by some eighteen years, had obtained an important position in Madras when only twenty-one years of age. Before sailing to take up this post, a holiday of some three weeks was spent by him in Guernsey where he met and heard Kelly. So mutually impressed were they that the acquaintance speedily ripened to friendship owing to common interest in divine things. Ever after, Lowe referred to this meeting as having been one of the great formative influences of his life. Indeed on several occasions he remarked that in some respects it was the turning point of his career which, in truth, was a remarkable one in many ways. W.J. Lowe, a civil engineer by profession, possessed great linguistic ability, speaking nine or ten languages with ease; and his worldly prospects in India appeared very favourable indeed. The climate, however, soon took toll of health and energy, and in a few years he felt compelled to resign. Upon his return to England one of his first visits was to Guernsey to see the man to whom spiritually he considered he owed so much. Then began a life of almost apostolic labours as he visited Belgium, France, Germany and other parts of the Continent in the service of Christ, eventually extending his visits to Canada and the United States. He also rendered invaluable assistance to J.N. Darby in the French translation of the New Testament which the latter very frankly and gratefully acknowledged. W.J. Lowe himself, as already remarked, never tired of acknowledging the debt to what was an apparently casual meeting with William Kelly when on holiday on Guernsey. There are no little things, however, in the life of a child of God. Upon a very small hinge a big door may swing and turn. In the retrospect how often it is seen that apparently trifling events have moulded our lives and work. "For all the ways of a man are before Him." Darby, Kelly, Lowe and the thousands influenced by their lives and teachings realised that things which have neither sanction in the word of God nor will bear the searching light of its testimony had invaded Christendom and gained acceptance by devout souls. St. Cyprian, in the early days of the Church, gave the warning that even antiquity is not authority, but may only be "vetustas erroris" -the old age of error.

Blackheath

The moving pillar of God's guidance and providence in William Kelly's life now pointed the road to the last and longest stage of his pilgrimage - Blackheath, where he resided for the next thirty-five years. This was perhaps the most important one of all, as here circumstances arose which forced him conscientiously to take a stand ecclesiastically separating him from many of his oldest and most valued friends.

Blackheath, five miles south of London, was then and for some years included in the county of Kent. It has played an important part in the history of London from Roman days, coins of Claudius and Gallienus having been found bearing the names of these Emperors. In 1710 a great many urns were dug up here, and among them two of an unusual form, the one globular, the other cylindrical; both of fire red clay, containing a great quantity of ashes. In one of them were the words "Marcus Aurelius IIII" rudely scratched. The Danes also had an encampment on Blackheath. Its history has bristled with battles, triumphant processions and splendid pageantry? Indeed every inch of it teems with history. Here kings, queens and cardinals from the year 1400 paraded "in all the pomp and pageantry of secular and ecclesiastical state" to Christian readers, however, Whitefield's mount still standing as a reminder of that great Evangelist preaching to thousands on Blackheath from a slight elevation, is of great interest. Morden College, founded by Sir John Morden in 1695, is on one side of Kidbrook Grove where the Kelly family made their home, and on the other is Greenwich Park, so pleasantly situated on the banks of the Thames that Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, called it Placentra, or the manor of Pleasaunce, in the reign of Henry VI, to be later used in 1675 for building the Royal Observatory, the old tower having fallen into decay.

In Blackheath Village, teeming with historical associations, the Brethren had a meeting place: called Bennett Park Hall with which, to the end of his life, William Kelly was to be closely connected. The Rink Hall near by, now displaced by a modern Post Office, also served on occasions when a conference overflowed the usual place of assembly.

William Kelly's coming to reside among the local gathering, he being a teacher of widely recognised influence and ability now in his early fifties, was welcomed by his brethren. Here, too, his gifts were to find ample scope, and before long the so-called religious press discovered his presence. It happened that if anyone wished to study prophecy (then a burning question in religious circles irrespective of denomination) from what was termed "futurist" standpoint, he commonly resorted to Bennett Park Hall in search of information, William Kelly being considered one of its ablest exponents.

A London journalist thus described a visit there veiling his identity beneath the nom-de-plume of "Spectator".

The Brethren are like Zoophytes who at certain times cut themselves off from the parent stem, and start life on their own account. The Brethren do this with themselves, only they never own their relatives after. This process of development has been again recently gone through; I am not sure whether "the meeting" I attended at Blackheath is, or is not, part of the original stem. Mr. Kelly is the "leading brother" as the chief minister, or ministering brother as a "gathering" (that is a meeting) is called. Bennett Park Hall, "the Room", is lofty and very comfortable} the Table is covered with the usual white cloth, a large decanter of wine, and some four or six large tumblers for the distribution of it; this gives the Table a singular appearance. I slip in, and before me is a board with a polite request written on it, not to trespass into the sacred enclosure of those "breaking bread". I wait; more arrivals until about one hundred and fifty or more people of the well-to-do class are present. Hymn books are provided for visitors. They are entitled "Spiritual Songs" "for the little Flock". Does the little flock mean the Brethren?

Mr. Kelly now arises and states that "our brother so-and-so from such a place is breaking bread with us today." This is, I judge, a signal that the meeting has commenced, for immediately after, a hymn is given out, and is sung standing. I notice there appears an unwritten rule that when hymns are addressed to the Divine Being they stand. If only truth about God or Christ they sit. The singing, though not unmusical, was of the slowest description until it became positively painful. Do they wish outsiders to consider they are going through a painful process?

Mr. Kelly then prayed; and it was on the whole a very remarkable prayer, and had some notable striking sentences. He said, "O God, we thank Thee it is Thy will to bring us together. We should never have thought of it, should never have known the joy of communion, and the deeper joy of Christ in the midst; separate us from the evil, from the evil which looks fair. O God, may our hearts be led by the Holy Ghost. Heaven is occupied in praising. Thou hast called us to praise Him. He became Man, to take up that great question, entirely insolvable to any but Himself, the question of our sins. O God, never didst Thou have an object which entirely filled Thy heart but Christ. We thank Thee for that One Who drew out Thine affections, Who brought out Thy counsels of glory. May there be holy liberty for Thy Spirit to exalt the Head, Jesus Christ." "Hymn again followed by some gentleman praying. He used very much the same style of language as Mr. Kelly. Another hymn sung standing; and Mr. Kelly then broke the bread, and prayed again. Addressing himself now to the Saviour he said, "O blessed Saviour, this is Thy particular command that we should break bread in remembrance of Thee. Lay it in our hearts, that we may as a continual offering give Thee the fruit of our lips. No tongue of men or angels could adequately set forth what Thy death means. What a sweet savour to God, what glory everlasting that death shall bring. Every other death is the wages of sin. Thou art the life everlasting, yet didst Thou die, Thou Who art the resurrection and the life.

The bread and the wine having passed round, a hymn was given out by one whose appearance and manner indicated that he was of the lower class. The good brother pitched it to the tune of Hold the Fort. It did not fit, so he had to pull it out the right size. This the good brother did, singing a solo at the same time. It is peculiar to hear this tune sung at the rate of a mile an hour.

At last it was finished and Mr. Kelly got on his feet, a rustle of expectation going through the room. The brief address being over, the box went round for the collection. Another hymn and short prayer, and the meeting broke up without the benediction.

Mr. Kelly is an able man as a teacher and theologian; moreover, he is a scholar and evidently a thinker. He was formerly a clergyman. His manner is not pleasant as a speaker, and he has a weak voice, dropping it at the end of every sentence.

Objectionable as the practice is, in a general way, of reporting prayers, since they are presumably intended for the Divine ear, and not as the American press once flatteringly remarked of a preacher that "his prayer was the most eloquent ever offered to a Boston congregation," yet, now that Mr. Kelly's voice is silent, few will regret that the reporter at Blackheath meeting included the above two devotional utterances which instinctively recall the speaker to those who knew him.

Shortly after settling at Blackheath Mr. Kelly commenced a weekly lecture in the Bennett Park Hall which soon became a regular feature of his ministry, and continued it for the rest of his life; suspended temporarily only on occasions of short absences from home. Every one interested knew that on Wednesday evenings he would be found at his post* and visitors to London, not only brethren, but clergy and others, were to be seen in the congregation fairly frequently. Indeed in the eighties and nineties, both at his Sunday evening Gospel services and Wednesday lectures, a rather cosmopolitan company would often be assembled to hear him. One well remembers having to vacate one's seat with many other local hearers in order to accommodate visitors from the Colonies and States who made a visit to the Blackheath Room (as the Hall was called by Brethren) a part of their tours. Also, as most of the thirty odd London gatherings of the Brethren held their week evening services on Mondays and Fridays, a goodly remnant could always be relied on to come to "the lecture" as it became widely known. And Kelly was a lecturer par excellence. One London divine who condescendingly came to hear this "Plymouth Brother", has put on record that on arrival at the Room he was astonished to find a congregation armed to the teeth with Bibles, listening to a masterly exposition of the origin of languages delivered without a single note, and lasting for an hour. It might have lessened the good clergyman's surprise had he been aware that others of his order, including Archbishop MacLagan, Bishop Ellicott, Archdeacon Denison and others also frequently consulted the lecturer upon matters of Scripture translation and exposition.

Quite another side of Kelly's ministry found illustration when a young Government official remarked to the writer that often, when standing alone under the starlit sky in the lonely Soudan, he had meditated upon a sermon of Mr. Kelly's at Blackheath heard by him on the Sunday evening previous to going out to take up his appointment. Though not then living at Blackheath, he had on the Sunday previous to his departure for Egypt gone over as he said, "to hear the old gentleman once more, perhaps for the last time;" and singularly enough, in his address Mr. Kelly, quite unaware of the visitor's presence or circumstances, dwelt very much upon the restless ambition of men for wealth or fame driving them to the ends of the earth, in seeking their own advancement in this world, while often neglectful of the all-important concerns of the soul. This made so profound an impression on this young fellow that when returning some three years later, on his first Sunday after landing in England, he went to Blackheath to hear again the one whose words had as deeply impressed him on the former occasion.

Another phase of Kelly's ministry the following will serve to illustrate. He was to preach at St. German's Hall, Lewisham, one week evening. This Hall was situated in a working class district quite unlike Bennett Park Hall. Here William Kelly delivered an interesting, instructive and most earnest address based upon the Scripture reading before the sermon from Luke 23, 33. With studied simplicity of style in words both simple and arresting, he told the old, old story of the love of God in Christ for mankind. The divisions of the subject were clearly defined:

1. Who the holy Sufferer at Calvary really was.

2. Why He so suffered.

3. His ability and readiness to save any.

4. The necessity of accepting so great a Saviour.

5. The peril of delay and certain doom of unbelieving despisers of God's mercy.

6. Finally, he earnestly appealed to all present definitely to accept the Saviour, and closing the Bible added with great earnestness, "Remember, one robber was saved, so none need despair; but," after a dramatic pause, "only one, so none may presume."

By way of contrast (was it on the following Sunday evening?) at his own place at Bennett Park Hall to a different congregation, one of mainly leisured and professional people, he commenced a series of three simple gospel addresses on 1 Peter 1, 2, the consecutive subjects beings

1. Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father (on the first occasion);

2. Through sanctification of the Spirit (upon the second evening);

3. Unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ (for the final address).

One wonders whether any preacher since Archbishop Leighton's famous lectures on Peter's Epistles had ever used one such verse for three full Sunday evening discourses. They were masterly, reasoned expositions, shot through with evangelistical application and followed by the congregation apparently with intentness of interest. The scene even at this distance of time stands out clearly before the eye of one then present. Precisely as a chiming clock in a neighbouring church tower struck the hour, William Kelly stepped up to the desk, announced a hymn, followed this by a short earnest prayer; a further hymn and the reading of a short passage of Scripture from 1 Peter 1. Then we settled back as the short compact figure, as was his wont, his spectacles up on his brow announced the text with just the suspicion of a lisp in his voice, "Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father."

Asserting that the Calvinist was right in what he affirmed as to this, and wrong in what he denied by false deduction, he also declared the Arminian to be in the same plight, only reversed. He then proceeded to stress the importance of recognizing the pure grace which saved any, and the great importance of not receiving the grace of God in vain. The church clock chimed the quarter before the hour; the preacher carefully, but unhurriedly, summed up, announced a short hymn, and dismissed us on the stroke of the hour. He was ever a punctual man. Punctuality breeds punctuality, and Bennett Park Hall in William Kelly's days could afford an object lesson in this respect.

Another reminiscence of those days kindly contributed by an old friend may be appropriately inserted here. He writes: "You probably knew Dr. Joseph Kidd, famous as he was for his skill and generosity, and as being the personal physician of Lord Beaconsfield. I used to hear during my life in London of that Monday evening in April, 1881, when the prayer meeting was interrupted by a postman arriving with a summons to Dr. Kidd to wait on the dying Premier. We all have heard or many have done of Dr. Kidd's guinea fees, and how he put the guineas into a box. If a poor patient turned up out came the guineas to assist the needy brother." Personal recollections of the good doctor are chiefly of his stately entrance with Mrs. Kidd and the younger branch of the family on Sunday mornings. His snowy head, patriarchal beard, benign countenance and dignified bearing is not easily forgotten after the lapse of so many years. His reading of Psalm 65, "Praise waiteth for Thee O God in Zion," followed by a prayer in quiet reverent tones commencing with "Holy Father," made a deep impression.

Mr, Spurgeon, in these Blackheath days, referred to William Kelly in very suggestive terms in "Commentary and Commentaries" (of the College Series). First, as "a leading writer of the exclusive Plymouth School." Secondly, as "an eminent Divine of the Brethren School who sometimes expounds ably, but with a twist towards the peculiar dogmas of his party." In the third instance, he remarks, "We are sorry to see such a mind as Mr, Kelly's so narrowed by party bounds." Fourthly, "It is a pity that a man of such excellence should allow a very superior mind to be so warped." Finally, adapting Pope's well-known words, he says, "Kelly is a man who, born for the universe, has narrowed his mind by Darbyism."

It is, of course, true that William Kelly was an intimate friend and fellow-worker with Darby; indeed this oneness of mind and spirit led to him being asked both to revise and edit all the elder man's writings. The "Synopsis of the Bible", and from thirty to forty volumes of Darby's works: English, French, German, Dutch and Italian, all passed under his careful review as Editor. Yet throughout their close association Kelly was in no wise a blind follower of Darby; the bond of "truth in love" was what cemented the union in which each, while agreeing in the main, preserved independence of thought and action. This somewhat discounts Spurgeon's appraisal of Kelly and his work.

All critics were not so superficial, however; for a distinguished French scholar, who also wrote of Kelly and his works, says, "Kelly -savant, realisateur, tete logique, résumateur, philosophe;" and another critical writer spoke of him as "possessed a rare logical skill, fine precision, powers of original research, high moral power and spiritual culture." An Oxford man, and one not inclined perhaps to rate very highly the product of another University, frankly described Kelly as the distinguished alumnus of his (Dublin) University." His reputation apparently may therefore be considered as being established.

The final course of the Wednesday lectures was begun in his eighty-fifth year. At the concision of the first of these he announced, "I trust, if the Lord will, to continue these "Lectures on John's Epistles" without intermission." Happily he was enabled to complete the series which were, however, published posthumously. These were characterised by all his accustomed vigour of intellect and incisive speech, and possessed the added charm of a graciousness of spirit which greatly impressed some who were privileged to hear them delivered. It almost seemed as though a touch of completeness was being put to the long ministry of one who had figured so prominently in the many conflicts and controversies in the ecclesiastical arena in earlier days. They contrasted somewhat with the polemical style of much of his earlier work. Some who were devoted to him felt that a kind of sunset glory was resting upon this last phase of a faithful ministry. Many of them felt as the year 1905 ran out that these were the last addresses he would be giving. One very godly man who for sixty years had admired William Kelly, remarked at the close of one of these series, "Ah! If the old gentleman had always spoken like this, perhaps things would have turned out very differently with some." But William Kelly's own thoughts expressed in his words at this time clearly indicate just how his mind was working.

"Oh, my brethren" he exclaimed,

Be it ours to fill 'the little while' separate from the world, and above fleshly ease in the devoted service of Christ. Nothing so good and happy now, and nothing so appreciated on high and through all eternity; unless it be communion with Himself and the worship which accompanies it."

It was in 1869, when the scientific air was electric with speculations of Lyell, Darwin, Huxley, Asa Grey and others, that a lecture by William Kelly attracted great attention. The extraordinary grasp of ancient mythology, modern speculation and oriental languages possessed by the lecturer astonished some present who had hitherto regarded him as a mere henchman of J.N. Darby, and only a hidebound Plymouthist. His tacit rebuke of some who tremblingly sought to prevent the sacred ark of Holy Scripture from being shaken by its critics found expression in such a sentence as, "It is not part of wisdom for a Christian to deny facts. Why reject the phenomena which indicates states not only of the earth, but of living creatures there before Adam was made, i.e., before the six days? Otherwise how can we escape the supposition, that God was pleased to make vast quantities of fossilized objects, giving the appearance of having lived on earth, which never did? Are you prepared to accept the notion that God studiously gave a semblance of that which was not true? There are remains of animals, and animals too that were made with distinct objects, and with characteristics altogether different from those of animals to be found now, and supposing a correspondent state of things (as for instance, when the world was a vast marsh and enormous heat prevailed). There is no ground whatever to doubt these facts. I do not see that a Christian shows his wisdom, or his faith either by denying anything of the sort. (Creation p. 17, 18).

Sir Edmund Gosse in "Father and Son" relates how his father Philip Gosse had published an essay on Genesis 1, in defense of current orthodox teaching on Creation. His experiment in the field of geology called forth from the press, "God hid the fossils in the rocks in order to tempt geologists into infidelity," made Huxley scornful, and led Charles Kingsley, a close friend of Gosse, to write that he "could not give up the painful and slow conclusion of five and twenty years of study of geology, and believe that God has written on the rocks one enormous and superfluous lie."

The second Mrs. Kelly, to whom reference has been made in a previous chapter, one son and three daughters comprised the Kelly family at Blackheath. The son, named William after his father, was a young man of great promise who passed away in early life. Of the three daughters, one married a cousin, Mr. Edward Ramsden in 1875, another, Miss Emmie Kelly, married into the well known Colquhoun family, the other daughter later becoming Mrs. Armitage. William Kelly never failed to acknowledge the invaluable help rendered by his equally gifted wife, who was also an accomplished linguist. In the preface to an anonymously issued volume, "The Psalms - a new version with short notes", he pays this tribute to her memory:

"No apology is offered for the close rendering of the Hebrew, often no doubt uncouth to western ears. The aim of a version for public use is wholly different. But the more literal reflection is also full of interest and instruction to those who would weigh the form as well as the substance of the inspired word, whether Old or New; and this is what has been essayed here, however, inadequately. This I say for myself in particular, for time failed me with many calls on it to do more than supply what one ever dear to me began, but was compelled by sickness to give up just beyond the first fifty psalms. These first sheets lay for many years in the printer's hands, which it was a little labour of love to complete, with brief notes also on the distinctive aim of each of the hundred and fifty as I understand it. The critical eye may discern slight differences of rendering as to the words translated nations, peoples and Gentiles. For I felt bound not to alter a letter of hers on the one hand, on the other to be faithful in my part to give, what I believe, the precise sense. Also this memorial is given anonymously as all to whom it is of interest will understand that one or other name would not be quite true; and to put both savours to me too much of sentiment, which I dislike publishing, especially in divine things."

The loss of his second wife on February 4th, 1884, led him to remove across Blackheath to its extreme border at Lee, where for the remainder of his life he resided at Venner Lodge, Belmont Park. By this tine he had gradually acquired a very considerable library which grew until it reached some fifteen thousand volumes. The first view of it and the stocky figure with a short ladder against the book-lined shelves is not quickly erased from one's mind. But a further reference to this library and its disposal occurs later on these pages.

Churchman and Gospeller

"Act on your convictions, and the most honeyed courtesy turns sour; your desire to please God at all costs will be branded as Pharisaical pride and exclusiveness."

It was the Evangelical prophet who truly said, "He that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey" (Isa. 59,15).

An American minister says, "William Kelly edified thousands by his clear Scriptural expositions." Yet it was to clergy and ministers of religion generally that his church position seemed to some very perplexing and to others so irritating. To himself it was a clearly defined one. He knew exactly where he stood in matters of faith and church order. True, he frequently experienced what the above quotation from Isaiah meant practically. At some real cost to him of worldly position and honours he consistently pursued his chosen course to life's end. On the vexed subject of infant baptism, or household baptism, his decided conviction forced by a study of Scripture was that there was neither warrant nor direction to be found for it; but although necessarily therefore a believer in the baptism of believers he way not a Baptist. He viewed with alarm the growing ecclesiasticism on every hand in the ranks of professedly Christian people.

On, the subject of Church fellowship his cherished and practiced principles, strangely so often misunderstood or misrepresented by some of a more legal turn of mind, found expression in the following, "We receive every Christian as such, without reference to their connection with Nationalism or Dissent; we rejoice to have communion with them, whether privately or publicly; They may join us in worship and the Supper of the Lord. They are as free as any of us to help in thanksgiving, prayer or a word of edification, if so led of God; and this without stipulation either to leave their old associations or to meet only with us. Where is this done save only with "Brethren"? With us on the contrary, if any godly Churchman or Dissenter thought fit to come when we remember the Lord together, he would be quite in order if he did any or all of these things spiritually; and this, not from any permission on our part, but as a matter of responsibility to God and His Word."

A letter of his on the subject is appended,

Blackheath, August 31, 1875.

My dear Brother,

Individuals among Brethren may urge their private views on evangelists or others; but all such narrowness is censured by every wise man in our midst; and, what is more important, it is dead against that return to keeping Christ's Word and not denying His Name which characterizes the work. The question has often arisen as to fellowship as well as service; and as often those who are entitled to speak have resisted the tendency to a restrictive school. If some have thought to require intelligence in those received, my own answer has been that it is in vain and unscriptural; that they themselves when received were the very reverse of intelligent; that if intelligence is to be anywhere, it should be in those who receive; and that those who require it in the received fail in the intelligence they demand from others; else they would not expect it where it could not be... Hence Scripture knows nothing of keeping outside a godly-walking member of Christ.

As little does it countenance the church's interference with the Lord's work, and especially in the gospel. To set the servant in the simplest dependence of the Lord, to foster his immediate responsibility to the Lord, without the intervention of the church is what every brother holds as a sacred duty and principle...This maintains the evangelist intact in his liberty and responsibility to his Master.

Ever yours,

W.K.

To another who prided himself on holding aloof from Assembly fellowship on account of real or imagined difficulties he wrote:

My dear Sir,

As far as I understand your position, it is one of "holding yourself aloof," or nothing-arianism to Church relations. Without doubt a dry morsel and quietness therewith is better than a house full of the sacrifices of strife; as it is better to dwell in the corner of a house-top than with a contentious woman in a house of society.

But I read unmistakably in the last epistle of the great apostle who alone communicated the truth of the Church, that grace gives a wholly different resource in view of the disorder and dangers of the last days. Circumstances may indeed here or there leave one isolated; but isolation is neither the revealed provision nor the legitimate aim. "The firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal, The Lord knew those that are His, and, Let every one that nameth the Lord's name depart from unrighteousness." This is individual and of deep moment as things are. But all does not end here. "Now in a great house etc." And this you own and have acted on. We are not tied to ecclesiastical corruptions where they are sanctioned constitutionally and admit of no removal. One must purge oneself out, if one cannot purge the evils out. But is this all? While the apostle bids his beloved child flee the lusts of youth, wide as they are and some of them subtle, he adds, "And pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." (2 Tim. 2, 19-22), Thus one may and ought to look for companions and fellow-witnesses called to like fidelity. Never should one contemplate isolation. The Holy Spirit bids one by grace to desire and expect communion of saints, however great and general may be the ruin of Christendom. Rev. 2,3 may be pleaded for individualism. How the call here to him that hath an ear is imperative in not allowing assemblies absolutely to govern faith and practice. I am bound, whatever the pretension of authority in defense of wrong or error, to hear not them but what the Spirit saith to them. Their voice is prima facie entitled (like that of my parents) to high respect and obedience," but certainly not if the wrong or the error is known and acknowledged; else that holy, responsibly holy, enclosure becomes a screen for evil, and may end in a hold of any unclean and hated bird. As a prophetic book the Apocalypse does warn and call for obedience to the word; but that word was to leave no faithful soul settled down in isolation. On the contrary, it encourages him, who separates from the evils men impose under the abused name of the Lord, to cherish a fellowship as much according to God as the separation. For Christ died to gather in one the children of God that were scattered abroad; and the Holy Ghost came to baptise them Jew or Gentile into one body. Never should God's will as to this inalienable privilege and duty become secondary. It is of all obligation, and the Holy Spirit abides to give both permanence and power, as we too are called to be subject to the Lord. Hence the blessedness of His own promise to be in, the midst (not certainly of all Christians in their wanderings) but of all that are gathered unto His name, were they but two or three. Let these be diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; and may they do it with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.

Yours faithfully in Christ,

W.K.

In August 1884 he paid a visit to America end made a point of attending a Conference of some thousand Brethren at Plainfield, New Jersey. Here he occupied the position of an observer, deeply interested but personally detached, although several of the leaders were anxious to consult him and to secure his acquiescence in their differing views as to reunion among themselves. In several interesting letters to Mr. Henry Glanvill of Blackheath he expressed himself very frankly, that in his opinion although good from the point of view of numbers, nothing of any real moment transpired at this Conference. He steadily refused to compromise, or to be drawn aside from what he was convinced was the Scriptural path of Church, faith and order. One of the Brethren enquired how it was that in places like America so few appeared to agree with Kelly. Another shrewdly sensed the situation and remarked, "It is because he did not travel around the country giving speeches in his own cause like a politician." As a matter of fact he rarely travelled outside the United Kingdom.

William Kelly was strongly opposed to ecclesiastical pretension, and nowhere so much as among those who professed to be "outside the camp." He possessed to a degree the judicial gift of weighing and sifted evidence, and gave short shrift to those partisan leaders who sought to enlist his aid in schemes of reunion by making compromises. It was this which led to the American visit mentioned above.

His habit, too, of minutely examining doctrinal novelties by whomsoever sponsored, and of drastically pillorying detected errors, did not make him exactly popular with their exponents. He, however, earned the lifelong gratitude of the "unlearned and ignorant" who, while in some degree sensing the evil, were not competent to discern exactly where, why, in what it consisted, and how to deal with it. Kelly's exposures in such cases commended themselves to the poor of the flock by the clarity, simplicity and devotion to Christ which marked them. Two instances may perhaps be permitted here. For example, when in the eighteen nineties a re-hash of Apollinarianism appeared under the guise of "fresh light" among one section of Brethren, Kelly quickly tore the mask off its ancient face, revealing it to be as heterodox as to the Person of Christ as when it was presented by the young bishop of Laodicea in Syria in the fourth century and condemned by the Oecumenical Council at Constantinople in A.D. 381.

In dealing with a quasi-doctrinal deliverance by another able teacher among the Brethren which for a time attracted more notice then than since as to propitiation being made after death in the disembodied state by our Lord, Kelly labelled it as a "ghostly theory of atonement." As a contradiction of the Lord's sixth word uttered with a loud voice, "It is finished", Kelly considered it in any case a slight upon the work of the Cross, detecting positive heresy in the statement and defence alike by the inventor. When in February 1900 it was formally considered by Brethren, and a paper signed by them refusing any compromise with this teaching, Kelly added as a postscript, "None but faithless or unwise men could wish such a matter to be an open question."

It is interesting to recall that when after Kelly's decease an American leader launched a line of teaching subversive to the doctrine of the Eternal Sonship of our Lord, a magazine editor unearthed a hymn of Kelly's written years previously which showed what his attitude towards this would have been had it promulgated in his lifetime.

"Unending praise be Thine,

Eternal Son, we say;

Who came to bring the true God nigh

And put all sin away.

Ah! Thee the world knew not,

Created erst by Thee;

Its kings and rulers cast Thee out

And nailed Thee to a tree.

Had'st Thou not then a sphere

By every right Thine own?

'Twas there Thine own from heathen craved

For Thee the cross alone.

Rejected, glorious Lord,

The Saviour only Thou

To God for men far off or near,

Alike the heart to bow.

For since Thy blood is shed,

Our sins to faith are gone;

And reconciled, we shall be saved,

Thou livest for Thine own."

It is only fair to note that Kelly's deep convictions and principles firmly held did not, however, lead him to neglect the Apostolic injunction of some "making a difference." It is the man who is sure of his ground who can go further than others in meeting difficulties and disarming the prejudices of others. This led him to be very patient with those who had genuine difficulties, as he was impatient with pretentious assumption of those gentry so felicitously described by the translators of King James' Authorised version as "self-conceited Brethren, who run their own ways, and give liking unto nothing, but what is framed by themselves, and hammered on their anvil."

A loving tribute to the memory of Mr. Kelly sent to the Editor of "Words of Help" by an old gypsy brother, may fittingly find a place in this chapter. Said he, "I read in "Words of Help" your writings on (of) W. Kelly with much joy, calling back to me my first meeting with that loved and departed brother, whose writings to me brought such joy and do now. I had not been many years a child of God, born again, and redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, when I met him. I had been only a poor gypsy, and not many of the tribe I belonged to could read or write; and his treatment of me was love; he met me as though I was one like himself, in such a humble and loving way.

I had asked who he was at a meeting, and when told it was W. Kelly I wondered why he had not even opened his mouth, for I loved his writings that I had read."

Surely this incident speaks for itself of the spiritual greatness of the one, and does honour to the other, and exhibits one of the characteristics which go to reveal the character of William Kelly.

Some Letters

William Kelly was good correspondent, prompt in his replies to letters received. He had, however, a penchant for postcards which occasionally, from his forthright habit of plain speaking, tended to embarrass the recipient. His habit of abbreviation made it possible to get a fairly long letter written upon a postcard, of which the following interesting specimen may serve as an illustration. It was sent to the Rev. F. W. Foster M.A., a clerical friend with whom he occasionally corresponded and was written microscopically with many abbreviations.

V.L., Bt. Pk., Lee, S.E.

1 Sept. 1905

My dear Foster,

Though I cannot deny plenty to do, I must write a few words to explain that the new Serial in which Dr. Driver takes a leading part is "The Interpreter", of which I have seen but No. 1. It was enough for me. But that he does not exercise great restraint, and steers clear of German scoffing and irreverence; but he seems to me only occupied with the husk and knows nothing of the inner fruit. The external caution makes him, with his Hebrew learning in the letter, the more dangerous in my eyes. Yet I mean to get and weigh his recent book on Genesis, puffed up by the "Times" which endorses that skeptical school.

Only I want to bring out Leviticus as a whole; which as it will make some 700 pages, raises the question of two moderate volumes. If allowed, I hope to bring out Genesis in three fair-sized volumes, D.V., so I fear my sword must wear out the old scabbard. Did I tell you that Col. (or rather Mr.) S., as he prefers to be styled, having abjured the army, is the literary executor of the late Mr. G., and asked me to review his own defence of the strange doctrines candidly. This, as you know, is my wont; and I only pray that it may blow up what hardly deserves the powder and shot. It is a scheme worthy of a maniac at issue with Scripture on every side. I have striven to speak kindly and repress indignation, and hope eyes may be opened. You nay not know that an early volume of mine (on the Ephesians) caught the eye of Father Thomas (an Oxford early Tractarian) who went over long before J. H. Newman, and (later) joined the Brompton Oratory. Astonished to find the "Church" there, as far from Rome as from Canterbury, he was given the volume which made the round of the cells. But I told the donor that these gentry needed "Romans" rather, and sent him one by post. I know no more, but do not forget that Roman Catholics have conscience to feel and souls to be saved.

With Dr. Wace I have never corresponded, but sent him occasionally a brochure.

You asked me (not in your last, I think, as to Councils of Orange). There were two as far as record goes; one presided by Hilary of Aries in A.D. 441, with thirty decrees on discipline; the other in A.D. 539 under Cassarius of Arles with 25 decrees on dogma, chiefly extracts from Aug. and Gen. and against Pelagianism. There was nothing of moment in either.

We had an excellent season at Southampton from Great Britain and Channel Islands from Saturday evening, 5th August, till Tuesday night; early prayer, forenoon, afternoon and evening. As I took a large part (save in the early morning being miles away) you may judge I am able to play the working man still. I am sure that they would have furnished you with much thought and lasting enjoyment.

Believe me, ever yours in the faith and hope,

W.K,

P.S. You may like my notice of Whitefield in Sept. B.T. Did you know R. F. Horton, N. C. Oxford? W. K.

From the same to the same.

Belmont Park, Lee, S.E.

3 Jan. '05

My dear Foster,

Though I fancy I wrote last, I do not scruple to write again, trusting that the New Year finds you fairly well, and awaiting the blessed hope. Port Arthur is fallen, and the Baltic fleet delays, the third is clamoured for by the young bloods of Russia, but we, receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, need grace to serve acceptably. I think, as you rather complained of apostolic rudeness of speech and, if I mistake not, in that Exposition of 2 Peter though finding substance in it, that I asked, your kind help in pointing out such defects. For though I rather despise rhetoric in divine things, and have not time even to cultivate it, I am happy to profit by a friend whose métier it is more than mine, The addresses on the Epistles (half) are in the printer's hand; and I may have a fourth more by the time he has done that half, and the remaining fourth as soon as he can set it up and get it through the press.

There is a mistranslation in 1 John 3,23, where "on" is contrary to the usage of ... with the dative. Yet to say "believe the name" seems strange, as if it were a person. What say you?

Believe me with best wishes

Ever faithfully yours,

W.K.

After the home-call of Mr. Kelly this correspondent sent the following to the writer, which is inserted as it throws a sidelight on their usual way of corresponding; it is of value also as showing the high regard in which he was held by one quite outside his communion.

From the Rev. P. W. Foster M.A., to W.G.T.

Sheffield.

St. Gregory's Day, '07?

Dear Mr. Turner,

Will you care to look at the accompanying brief (i.e., brief for that learned writer) postcard of the late Mr. W. Kelly. You see, I had been urging Mr. Kelly as editor of the "Bible Treasury" (monthly) to aim at all possible lucidity of exposition and beauty of style in his very able articles in that excellent periodical so far as his time allowed him to do so; what he says in his postcard is in substance a reply to my bold entreaty.

Nothing is ever written well in a hurry; no, not even if written by a pen like the late learned, earnest and eloquent W. Kelly's. I told him all I could remember, find out, or imagine about pisteuo with (1) the accusative, of things, and with (2) dative, of persons...

You cannot lay too great stress on one striking characteristic trait of our lamented friend, viz. his marked humility, conspicuous even in his smartest arguments and controversial writings...

The enclosed postcard is by no means a choice exemplar or very favourable specimen of Mr. W. K.'s skill as a letter card artist.

Yours sincerely and faithfully,

F.W. Foster.

P.S. - W.K. very rarely (I dare say) diverged into politics or contemporary topics, as he does at the beginning of this feuilleton.- F. W. F.

The next letter (also on a postcard), written on the evening of his wife's death is one of more than general interest, the vocation of a preacher and advice as to general habits of study.

22 Kid. Gr. B'heath

Tuesday evening. Feb. 4/84.

Dear Bro.,

When I say that it pleased the Lord this morning to deprive me of a devoted sister, wife, mother of several children, you will not expect more than a few words from me.

One who believes the Lord has called him and given him a gift to preach and teach, need not be hasty or anxious. Power makes itself felt; and it is well to begin in a small (proving one's gift and so be gradually led into a larger) way. But if sober brethren, who have heard, invite one to preach in their Room, one ought to have good reasons for declining. Love would lead to help; especially if gift were lacking among those older, or not of the kind to win souls. As to studying the Word, it is well when reading papers of interest to search generally. But this should not hinder the regular reading of O. and N.T. daily. Both ways are profitable, and should be combined. And it is not amiss how to read Gr. and Hebr. words, to learn even if one knows no more of the language; for this helps to better understanding of remarks, made by those who do know them. I do not think well of a slight knowledge of Gr. and, Hebr., and most men, even if they spend many years, could only acquire a slight knowledge. If one just learns enough to appreciate good remarks it is far better than spending time for what is generally pretension. The A.V. compared with the Revision and other helps, give better results than most are capable of acquiring. And remember, "prayer and the word," Acts. 6.

Yours aff.

W.K.

Apropos of this last letter, here may be a suitable place to mention what an encourager William Kelly was to young brothers who wholeheartedly engaged in the service of the Lord. The following incident is typical of many other instances of this fatherly interest. At a gathering of Brethren engaged in the Lord's work held in London, the question under discussion was one of gospel preaching. After several, including himself, had spoken freely, Mr, Kelly, looking across the room at a young brother who had been useful and was acceptable as preacher, remarked, "Let us hear what our young brother opposite has to say on the matter." Immediately several brothers who happened to be on the other side of the room, none of whom could be styled young, save by courtesy, looked up. Upon one of them beginning to express his substantial agreement with what had been said, Mr. Kelly interrupted with, "Yes, yes. But it was our brother, the young evangelist behind you to whom I referred." The opinion of the young fellow in question was probably of little value, but the memory of the kindly recognition by the great man of the gift of Christ in him was naturally a very treasured one. The Christian courtesy then, as on many similar occasions, shown by Mr. Kelly may well serve as an object lesson to some who, in their anxiety to curb the display of "flesh" in the meetings, forget that even an inspired apostle could write to a young man, "Let no man despise thy youth" as also to the gifted Corinthian assembly, "If Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord as I also do. Let no man therefore despise him; but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come unto me: for I look for him with the brethren."

Another incident may bear putting on record of rather a lighter character, A young Sunday School secretary faced by the annual difficulty of raising funds for the summer treat wrote asking him for a donation. Promptly arrived a postcard covered with apparently microscopic hieroglyphics, which upon deciphering appeared to be an invitation to call upon him at his house. A most courteous reception was given by Mr. Kelly who, however, proceeded to put his visitor through a fairly stiff cross-examination as to the whys and wherefores of Sunday School treats. He then intimated that the whole matter was rather outside his general line of things, and said that the arguments advanced had not at all convinced him of the necessity for Sunday School excursions. With a twinkle in his eye and a smile as he noticed the disappointment of the young visitor, he said, "Ah well, if I do not feel at liberty to assist you in your undertaking, I see no reason why I should not recommend you to some persons I know who very probably will." He then gave a short list of names which later produced very gratifying results. It smacked somewhat Hibernian, and was characteristic.

When on another occasion a young unknown scribe with an urge to write, but lacking almost everything else as a writer, approached him diffidently for advice, Mr. Kelly laid the youth under a lifelong obligation by his readiness to assist him. Without the faintest trace of that awful patronage which in others often mars even kindly intended help, William Kelly courteously, from the treasures of his well stored mind, gave sound advice and wise hints as to writing for publication. Then on closing the interview, he added, "Come again if I can be of further service. It is a real joy to be of assistance to those who are His. But pains and labour; pains and labour; nothing worth doing in this way is accomplished without pains and labour."

The Workman

William Kelly always stoutly disclaimed being an ecclesiastic in the sense of bishop, elder or overseer (whichever title of the same office is preferred). But, as a gifted teacher, he, from the earliest days of his ministry, was of necessity profoundly interested in ecclesiastical affairs. His close study of Church history familiarised him with the controversies of the first four centuries, so beloved of Anglican high churchmen, while interest in the disputations of the Schoolmen was evidenced by the contents of his well stocked, carefully selected and intense library of 15.000 volumes. Some description of these occur in the next chapter dealing with their transfer at his death to a Public Library in Yorkshire on the advice of Archbishop MacLagan of York.

His Editorship of the "Prospect", but even more of the "Bible Treasury", the latter for a very lengthened period, introduced him to many doughty champions in the ecclesiastical arena who, often not sharing his convictions, always greatly respected his scholarship. In many cases his advice on critical points of translation was sought by them. Being absolutely free of any denominational control, yet realizing and fully accepting his personal responsibility to the Head of the Church as His servant, William Kelly fearlessly pursued his course. His gifts as teacher and expositor, his qualifications as scholar and exegete, like his University degrees, were not honorary or assumed but actual and self-evident. His critical reviews of the Bampton Lectures caused much discussion as these appeared annually, and never failed to evoke both critical and complimentary notices in erudite quarters. The learned and friendly correspondence with the New Testament Revision Committee in later days when he freely criticised their findings also, betoken the regard with which contemporary scholars and men of letters regarded his scholarship and judgment.

It was his custom when issuing a new volume whether of Lectures, articles in more permanent form from the Bible Treasury, or books, on some important subjects to write a preface revealing the author in the character rather of a critic of his own work. Often these proved to be further thoughts on the subject treated, and were illuminating to the reader.

In the Guernsey period, possibly the most prolific of all in a literary sense, a volume appeared in the spring of 1868 on the five books of Moses; these had been delivered as lectures on a visit to London during the previous year. A more pretentious volume on the Twelve Minor Prophets followed to which a lengthy preface appeared and in which he explains what he recognises as a defect in a literary point of view. Indeed as one of his closest ecclesiastical friends and associates remarked upon reading the volume, "If you wish to know what W.K. thought, say on the subjects of the Church or the gospel, turn up his 'Twelve Minor Prophets', where neither occurs exegetically." The fact was that, while in the main steering a straight course, he was led to make so many long digressions in answer to questions that the book became cyclopedic of his religious convictions generally.

During a short holiday in Italy in 1897 William Kelly who had been stirred both by Dean Farrar's "Larger Hope" and his contribution to the "Expositor's Bible", felt moved to re-issue some lectures on the "Book of Daniel" with pungent criticisms on the Higher Criticism. He was Fundamentalist in the true sense of that oft maligned expression. Hence there is no hedging or doubtful disputation in the following prefaces:

"The lectures on the Book of Daniel were taken in shorthand and printed first some forty years ago, with a very slight correction in a later edition. It would be easy to fill up details and to improve their literary form. But as they are, they have helped not a few souls, and not at least since Great Britain and the United States have been beguiled into their growing pursuit of that guilty and withering craze which calls itself the "Higher Criticism". What is it in the main but a revival of older British Deism, aided by devices of foreign unbelief, and decorated with modern German erudition or its home imitation? Yet all fail to conceal hostility to God's inspiration, and ceaseless effort to minimize real miracle and true prophecy, where, as in this country, men dare not yet deny them altogether. The notorious Oxford Essays, which roused strong feeling in a former generation, are quite left behind. Dissenters vie with Nationalists (Episcopalian or Presbyterian), Methodists with Congregationalists, and of late Ritualists with avowed Rationalists, in showing themselves up to date in free thinking; as if the revealed truth of God were a matter of scientific progress. What joy to all open infidels, who cannot but hail it as the triumph of their contempt for His word! It is not now profane men only, as in the eighteenth century, but religious professors, ecclesiastical dignitaries in the varied bodies or so-called "churches" of Christendom, and particularly those who hold theological and linguistic chairs in the Universities and Colleges all over the world, who became increasingly tainted with this deadly infection. Alas! it is the sure forerunner of that "apostasy" which the great apostle, from almost the beginning of his written testimony, said must "first come" before the day of the Lord can be present.

Take, as a recent instance (and it is only one out of many in the conspiracy against Scripture), the then Dean of Canterbury's (F. W. Farrar D.D.) contribution on the "Book of Daniel" to the Expositor's Bible. Self-deception may hide much from its victims; but no believer should hesitate to say, "An enemy hath done this." While claiming for the book an "undisputed and undisputable" place in the Canon, think of the infatuation of denying openly and unqualifiedly its genuineness and its authenticity! "It has never made the least difference in my reverent (!) acceptance of it that I have for many years been convinced that it cannot be regarded as literal history or ancient prediction." Yet such persons assume to be actuated simply by the love of truth; for this they confound with the counter-love of doubting. Alas! they are under "the spirit of error" (1 John 4,6); or, as Jude so warns, "These speak evil of the things which they know not: but what as the irrational animals they know, in these things they corrupt themselves." May the Christian keep Christ's word, and not deny His name!"

W.K.

In 1903 Kelly's vigilant care for the truth of God led him to write his "God's Inspiration of the Scriptures". The ecclesiastical world just then was full of theological nostrums preparing the way for Mr. Campbell's startling deliverances at the City Temple a couple of years later of his "New Theology". A kind of Pantheism, which when exaggerated easily implies the ignoring of moral distinctions, was widely hailed by some and mourned by others. Principal Forsyth described it as "under developed and over exposed"; and Robertson Nicoll in a series of trenchant articles in the "British Weekly" passionately denounced Pantheism and all its implications.

The Preface to "God's Inspiration of the Scriptures" reads:

"There is no question agitated in Christendom of greater moment than the true character and claim of the scriptures. Nor has their divine authority been more widely denied all over the world than in our own day; and this, not merely by avowed sceptics, but by professing Christians of practically every denomination, and by many of their most distinguished representatives. But when the adversary comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord does not fail to lift up a standard against him.

In this volume my heart's desire is to furnish a help for souls that seek the light of God which inspiration furnishes to those who tremble at His word. I have presented the positive proofs that God speaks in it to every conscience and heart, more particularly of Israel in the Old Testament, and of the Christian in the New though all scripture is his food. Men may refuse to hear, or hear to despise; but this they do at their peril for God is not mocked. Such unbelief has a deeper brand of evil, after men have professed the Lord's name, that when the written word was first committed to human responsibility. It is the spirit of apostasy diffused by the great enemy of God and man, before the apostasy is established as a public fact, which is at hand. In the face of a preparation so dark and ominous, which scripture announces as certain (2 Thess. 2, 3), there are children of God all over the earth, who acknowledge with grateful thanksgiving His faithfulness in turning the attacks of Satan and his dupes to their confirmation in the faith, and the more profound enjoyment both of scripture and of Christ therein revealed by the Holy Spirit.

May the reader by grace be helped to share a privilege which bespeaks itself divine, the best antidote to that unbelief which enfeebles if it does not quite destroy the divine energy of every revealed truth. To human tradition I give no real weight, less if possible to the speculations of men on grounds which they deem probable. As the traditional school is one form of rationalism, so is neo-criticism another, the one adding to God's word, the other taking from it, to His dishonour. Legitimate criticism is the servant of faith in seeking to eliminate errors of transcription; but it receives without question every word that was originally written. What, is called "scientific inquiry" rises up in its empty pride against the divine authority of Christ, who has ruled what it dares to deny."

It is interesting to note that the published works of this able workman occupy four pages in the British Museum Catalogue.

Middlesborough

A born student, an accomplished scholar and an omnivorous reader, it is not surprising that in his long life William Kelly accumulated an immense library of valuable works. The great Codices (some in facsimile), all the great Polyglots, the works of the Fathers and the great Schoolmen, many rare and valuable volumes in every department of Science, Philosophy and History were comprised in his collection. His library was specially rich in the Classics, Ecclesiastical History and Theology, which had ever been his favourite study.

As the year 1905 wore on, Mr. Kelly became increasingly aware that the sands were running out, and that in any case his course would soon be ended. He had in early life embraced the truth of the blessed hope, and firmly held it to the end, ever living and working in constant expectation of its realisation by the return of our Lord to receive His people and take them to His Father's house. He did not, as some, presume to fix dates, nor as others to preach the coming as though it were the only truth of importance revealed in Scripture. Neither did he overlook the plain inference from the story of the talents (Matt. 25, 19). On being asked his thought as to death and the coming of the Lord during his last few days and as to whether he "would desire to depart and be with Christ", or to be amongst those who are alive and remain at the coming of the Lord, he replied,

"I have no choice, neither would I choose if I might."

"But surely you would like to be alive and meet the Lord on His return?"

"I have no wish at all in the matter, my dear," he replied.

"It will be as He wills, best either way." Here he confidently and peacefully left the whole matter.

In this spiritually sane and balanced spirit he considered the question of the disposal of his great library of almost priceless value. Where could it best be placed? An old friend, Dr. MacLagan, the then Archbishop of York, whose judgment he valued was consulted. After some consideration the Archbishop suggested that Middlesborough in Yorkshire would for many reasons be a most suitable place for its permanent housing. The town, too, was prepared (after the Archbishop's recommendation) to build a special wing to the Public Library to accommodate the gift! Mr. Kelly readily agreed on the sole condition that the anonymity of the giver should be strictly preserved. This, needless to remark, was in keeping with his general character. His wish for anonymity was respected, but upon his decease the Library authorities were compelled to make a statement with reference to this, which they did in the following terms:

The Free Library,

Middlesborough April 1906

Anonymity no longer!

We have been repeatedly asked why we have avoided all notice in our pages on the recent death of our "anonymous benefactor". More particularly as the bond of silence laid upon us has been removed by the publication of his name; we therefore take this opportunity of assuring our readers that it was not because of forgetfulness, or the lack of a sense of duty, but of the express wish of the family. "Mr. Kelly was a man who preferred to do good by stealth, or rather he held himself a steward only, of possessions either physical or mental, and only last summer (1905) he reiterated to us his hope that his name might not become public property as the donor of the valuable library which has come to us. We guarded the secret well, and it was with surprise and regret that whilst paying the last tribute of respect and gratitude to one to whom we owe so much, that we learned that "The Times" in an obituary notice, had stated his connection with the donation to Middlesborough. Then it was that his daughter signified her wish that we should remain silent, but the paragraph in "The Times" was copied and expanded, and eventually our local press published the information to our townsmen. It is greatly to be regretted that the donors wish has been disregarded by others, for it was the only obligation he laid upon us. His donation was a free one, without any of the onerous conditions which so frequently accompany such gifts, and perhaps the spirit in which the presentation was made can be best appreciated by the following fragment of conversation:

Standing in his library where the books were being packed for their transit to Middlesborough, we asked: "It must be painful to you, Sir, to thus part with your old friends, is it not?" "Well, no," was the reply. "I cannot hope to require them long, and I do wish to see them settled where they may be of service to others."

It was not our good fortune to know Mr. Kelly intimately, but as we did know him he was ever the cultured gentleman, a profound scholar without a shade of pedantry, whose knowledge was freely bestowed when sought, and whose friendship must have been a privilege.

Closing Days

"There is," said an old writer, "one chapter in the biography of distinguished persons - in the biography of a great genius, an eminent saint or seer - which has for us generally special interest, into which we are often most curious to dip - the chapter entitled "Closing Days", curious to learn how he bore himself, or what fell from his lips during those days in the shadow of the approaching end, to see something of the thoughts that then expressed his mind, or to hear something of his latest words. What of his behaviour, his expression, we ask, in his latest hours? The favourite pursuit - was its influence upon him then exemplified? The ruling passion - was it strong with him in death?"

The spring of 1905 brought to William Kelly some experience of what the sacred writer alluded to as "the grasshopper becoming a burden." He was in his eighty-fifth year at the close of a very active life, and by several indications seemed to feel that journey's end for him was not far distant. His doctor ordered rest and change of scene. So at the invitation of Dr. and Mrs. Heyman Wreford of Exeter to take a prolonged rest at their home, he gladly accepted it, and so speedily recovered a good measure of health and began to long to return to work. The two months spent in Exeter seemed to fill him with renewed energy so that immediately upon his return to Blackheath he resumed the weekly lecture at Bennet Park Hall with a new series on the Epistles of John. These were delivered with such power and unction that many regular hearers regarded them as being probably the most valuable ever given by him at Blackheath.

In the autumn at a Conference held in Southampton Mr. Kelly again took his full part to the profit and spiritual enjoyment of many from all parts of the country. Incidentally in a private letter to a friend he expressed his own joy at the fellowship shown throughout the long weekend spent together there. He made a point at being present at all the meetings day after day except the early morning at 7 a.m. from which he was debarred by reason of distance and lack of transport. The freshness, too, of his ministry then was remarked upon by some who had heard him for many years.

In addition to oral ministry, William Kelly, during that last year, maintained the "Bible Treasury" at its usual high level, as also his other literary work, the "Epistles of Peter" being the only volume he was obliged to leave uncompleted. His correspondence with clerical friends and other scholarly men showed the same keen interest in translation work, critical reviews and exegesis as in earlier days. Indeed, some learned correspondence on an unusual Greek formation in John's first Epistle as to its exact meaning, may well remind the reader of the epitaph on the tomb of John Richard Green, the historian, at Mentone, "He died learning".

The Southampton Conference over, and the last series of his Blackheath Lectures on John's Epistles completed, Dr. Wreford again kindly insisted upon a further stay with them. But it was not until the New Year that Mr. Kelly arranged to go down to Exeter, although he was badly needing rest from the round of activities which he still enjoyed. It was therefore on January 11th 1906 that he left Black-heath never to return. The complete change of air and scene with three or four weeks of loving care and attention again seemed somewhat to restore his wonderful constitution that in the last week of the next month, February 25th, he felt able to address a vast company in the then great Victoria Hall, Exeter. It was a special lecture on the subject dearest to his heart, the "Doctrine of Christ", and was regarded by many as a magnificent effort, coming as a crown to a long life of ardent devotion and loyalty to the Person of the Incarnate Son of God.

It was his last public testimony, and the end of sixty years of faithful ministry and service to Christ and His people. A month later he was called to his rest, Tuesday, March 27th being his last day when toward eventide he quietly fell asleep, and being "absent from the body was present with the Lord."

One who knew him well, himself a Christian scholar, on hearing of his death, wrote, "His supreme delight was in ministering in spiritual things to those whom he described as the few despised ones of Christ's flock." Some words of the late Bp. Francis Paget in "Hallowing of Work" recur to one's mind as the self-effacing life of William Kelly is reviewed. He says, "In this strange and tangled business of human life, there is no energy that so steadily does its work as the mysterious, unconscious, silent, unobtrusive, imperturbable influence which comes from a man who has done with all self seeking."

Fifty years after his passing, William Kelly's books are still being sought alike by scholars and simple believers all over the English-speaking world. This is significant. One of his very latest remarks expressed his life-long conviction and spring of action, "The hatred of the world is a real thing; the Cross is a real thing; and the love of God is a real thing."

His body was brought back to Blackheath, and on Saturday, March 1906 reverently laid to rest by loving hands in Charlton cemetery, Few who were present on that bright spring afternoon will forget the impressive scene as devout men carried William Kelly to his burial. The hundreds of mourners, the solemn strains of the hymn, "For ever with the Lord", the hush as the plain casket was lowered into the earth, broken by the voice of Dr. Wreford reading two portions of Scripture (Acts 20, 25-38} 1 Thess. 4,13-18) in tones charged with deep emotion. Then a heartfelt tribute to the departed brother, friend and leader, whose face here we should see no more, with great emphasis based on two thoughts suggested by the Scripture read, namely, "Sorrowing because they should see his face no more, " and the hope of the Lord's coming which prevents our sorrowing as those that have no hope. Dr. Wreford then gave thanks to God for the long life and ministry; and a hymn frequently used by the departed brother followed:

"Saviour before Thy face we fall,

Our Lord, our life, our hope, our all,

For we have nowhere else to flee,

No sanctuary, Lord, but Thee."

Age after Age

Age after Age

Illustrated by a Prophetical Chart

W. G. Turner.

London: C. A. Hammond.

Christ is the Key to prophecy; His Cross the pivot upon which all turns, for heaven and earth.

Contents

Prologue

Foreword

1. Introductory

2. The Age of Unrestrained Self-will (How the world went wrong)

3. The Age of Public Governmental Dealing (How the nations began)

4. The Age of Promise and Testimony (How the Jewish nation arose)

5. The Age of Law and Kingly Government (How the Gentile Powers started)

6. The Age of God's Long-suffering Grace (How the Church commenced)

7. The Age of Coming Crisis (How the present age will end)

8. The Age of Righteousness, Blessing and Glory (How the Golden Age will come)

9. The Final Judgment

10. The Altar, the Table, the Throne

Epilogue

Prologue

"Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of His way before His works of old. I was set up from eternity, from the beginning, before the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water.

"Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth; while as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust (particles) of the world.

"When He prepared the heavens I was there; when He ordained the circle upon the face of the deep; when He established the skies above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep; when He imposed on 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 His Artificer, 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."

"Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world."

"Written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Slain Lamb."

The precious blood of Christ, as of a "Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world."

Foreword

We are living in times of exceptional interest to the Bible Student, who sees events which seem to point to the near coming of the Lord for His Saints and the approaching end of the dispensation of grace.

The Word of God traces God's purpose from eternity to eternity, and His ways and His doings through the course of time towards frail and sinful man.

The study of prophecy is of great importance (Rev. 1: 3), and it should be the earnest desire of all believers to realise the blessing attached to it.

It is useful to review the past history of mankind, in connection with God's ancient people, whose blessings were all founded on the Cross. The Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is the centre of all God's purposes of grace.

Prophecy brings before us many definite predictions and promises which are for our encouragement and enjoyment, but God has not been pleased to reveal to us everything and we are not to dogmatise because, as someone has said, "Prophecy was not given in order for us to prophesy."

In the following pages, explanatory of the chart, the author has given us the various phases of divine revelation with a great deal of vital doctrine. The reader is brought face to face with the wonders of God's grace in Christ Jesus.

This book should be the means of blessing to many. May God use it for the instruction of His people and the exaltation of Christ.

L. Forrer, Bromley, Kent.

Chapter 1

Introductory

The accompanying Chart is designed to give at a glance a clear idea as to what has happened, and what will happen in human history. The trivial round of public and private affairs, important as they may be for the moment, are all too apt to engross the mind to the exclusion of far greater matters. Our interest in larger, wider affairs than those which press for immediate attention is commonly feeble and fragmentary at the most. But being in the stream of human history, we should acquaint ourselves with what has been written for our learning in this respect, and so learn to adore GOD in His ways with mankind.

The consideration of the beginningless past, and the unending future, Eternity, as we name it, leads finite minds into an element transcendent and incomprehensible to them, until the divine light of revelation from GOD comes to their aid. The consideration of the beginning of the world and all created things, also quickly serves to throw our ignorance out into relief; we having no source of exact information as to the genesis of things, apart from the light of "Genesis" itself.

The end of all things too — as to how human history will end — fills the mind with perplexity and amazement so that it becomes a commonplace to enquire, What are things coming to? The appalling misdirection of the results of much undoubted progress in certain directions of discovery and invention, to the more easy, and almost wholesale destruction of mankind by these means also fills the thoughtful mind with horror and terror at what may soon be the end of human civilisation and history.

The Christian mind turns to Holy Scripture learning there with relief of One Who is the "appointed Heir of all things" — Who is also the end of all human history, He for Whom all things were made. That this same One, too, is He "by Whom all things were made." The Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending. Heb. 1: 1-3; is the basis upon which the Chart is constructed. Cf. John 1: 3; Col. 1: 15-20.

The Heir of all things, and the Creator of all worlds, is, necessarily, before all things: "Being the brightness (effulgence) of His glory and the express image of His being," though begotten of the Father yet equal with the Father. "The Father hath life in Himself, and hath given unto the Son to have life in Himself." (John 5.) The Son is the effulgence of the Father, Light of Light, as  Athanasius so forcibly affirms in the well-known passage where he demands of Arius, "Who is so void of understanding as to doubt concerning the eternal being of the Son? for where has one seen light without effulgence? "The brightness of GOD's glory is the express, substantial, real image of His being; so that "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." (John 14.)

The Heir of all things; the Maker of all worlds; Himself the true living expression of GOD's PERSON; One Who also is "upholding all things by the word of His power" — this One throughout all human history, by His interest, providence and power reveals Himself as being that Eternal Wisdom Whose delights were ever with the sons of men. (Prov. 8.) The Creator, and Sustainer of all things is also the Redeemer of mankind, so we read that when He had "by Himself purged our sins," He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. With CHRIST as the Key of Prophecy, and His Cross the pivot upon which all turns for heaven and earth, we may safely trace the ways of GOD through the ages of time, until time itself merges into Eternity.

The forty centuries of the forbearance of GOD, the twenty centuries of the long-suffering of the LORD, the golden age for earth, and the eternal glories of new heavens and a new earth are shown to be entirely bound up with, and dependent upon, the LORD JESUS CHRIST, the Lamb of GOD, the Revealer of the Father, the Reconciler of all things by His Cross, and the Redeemer of His people.

Starting then from Eternity marked by Alpha on the Chart, human history begins with man placed in Eden in a state of Innocence; from which, alas, he quickly falls. The first period of time is then shown as from Adam fallen (in Gen. 3) to the Judgment of the Flood (in Gen. 6 — 9); and this is described as the Age of unrestrained self-will. Man when left thus for some sixteen hundred years without special manifestations of GOD, and guided only by Conscience, as a consequence quickly degenerated into a self-willed creature led captive by the Devil. (Rom. 5: 12-19; Eph. 2: 2.) There were marked exceptions as Abel, Enoch, Noah; but the general character of this period was such that only the "Flood" could cleanse the deeply corrupted earth of a race that had become completely reprobate. Noah and his family were saved by the obedience of faith from this otherwise universal destruction. The world that then was perished.

The second period on the Chart lasting from the "Flood" to the "Call of Abram," opens the story of a new era for mankind. It was characterised by The institution of Civil Government; The Peopling of the earth; The judgment of Babel; and The introduction of Idolatry into human history. Taken together these warrant us in calling this the Age of Public Governmental dealing by God.

The third period, like the preceding one, was roughly four hundred years, and extends from the Call of Abram to Moses the Lawgiver. Man is here placed upon a new ground, namely, that of Promise (Gen. 12; Gal. 3: 16; Rom. 11); and Abram becomes the root of GOD's testimony on earth. This period therefore may properly be called the Age of Promise and Testimony.

The fourth period from Moses to CHRIST and Christianity, one of some fifteen hundred years, covers the times of Priests, Prophets and Kings. It is the Age of Law and Kingly Government.

The fifth period shown on the Chart is from the Ascension of our LORD till the translation of the Saints to Heaven. "Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. 5: 21.) It is the present age, an indefinite period, during which a world-wide testimony to the Risen Son of GOD is being proclaimed; it is the day of salvation, too, during which the heirs of GOD, and joint-heirs with CHRIST are being gathered out from all nations by the effectual testimony of GOD'S SPIRIT and Word. The Age of God's longsuffering grace to a guilty world, the times in which our lot is cast.

The sixth period is a short but severe one of some seven years only, lasting from the Translation of the Saints at the Coming of the LORD, to their appearing with Him in glory when He comes to this earth again to take the Kingdom. It is an Age of Coming Crises and Satan's rule.

The seventh and final period is the thousand years of the golden age of CHRIST'S reign on earth, the Millennium, extending from the Introduction of the Kingdom of the Son of Man, until its close. This is indeed the Age of Righteousness, Blessing and Glory, and the final dispensation. One brief, decisive clash with all organised evil led by the Evil One in person; then the final judgment of the Great White Throne; after which CHRIST having put down all authority, delivers up the Kingdom to the Father, and time merges into Eternity. Eternity marked by Omega then begins, when GOD shall be all in all — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — the ever-blessed, all-glorious Trinity in Unity; then appear the new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness; but throughout all, the Church in her predestined station eternally witnesses to the manifold wisdom, grace, kindness, power and glory of Him that is, and was and ever shall be; and to the Lamb of GOD the Effectuator of all the Divine purposes, the One Who bore away the sin of the world.

But who that glorious blaze

Of living light shall tell,

Where all His brightness GOD displays

And the LAMB'S glories dwell?

GOD and the LAMB shall there

The light and temple be;

And radiant hosts for ever share

The unveiled mystery.

Chapter 2

The Age of Unrestrained Self-will (How the world went wrong)

The story of how the world went wrong is comprised in some fifteen hundred years of history, and compressed into about one hundred verses in Genesis.

Two objections may be raised to the consideration of this subject, first, that it is now a matter of such very ancient history, a happening of so long ago, indeed an antediluvian story; secondly, as to whether time would not be better spent in discussing how to put the world right, rather than in thinking of how it went wrong?

The answer to the former is, of course, that history, especially moral history, has a way of repeating itself, and the civilisation of modern times being so uncannily like that of those very ancient days, great profit arises from considering what led to its catastrophic collapse. As to the latter objection — men have sought through all ages, and still are seeking without success how to put the world right. None has succeeded, nor will any succeed, until He, Who is the appointed Heir of the world, comes into His inheritance as King of kings and Lord of lords.

To help in our study, we must note first that the Scripture method of dealing with human history and affairs, is selective. The Bible has an Author, Who is also its Editor; and hence we discover the divine method running throughout Scripture is one by which not every event that happened is recorded, but such as are specially significant; that not every man who lived in Bible times has biographical mention, but that the men who have this distinction are themselves typical characters whose history possessed features of permanent value to the race. Historical, significant and typical, are three helpful ideas to store in one's memory as to the general design of the Sacred Scriptures.

The Dawn and Doom of the earliest recorded civilisation is given in a terse, pithy, pregnant style by the inspired writer. (Gen. 3 – 6.)

The root of all human failure; the spring of human sin, sorrow, suffering and death, is seen there. Disbelief in the goodness of God — in His real care for man's highest development and blessing — and disobedience to the known will of God by our first parents are there shown to have been the root of all the misery of the human race. These two attitudes of heart towards GOD are as modern as anything can well be. GOD is set aside; man's whole conduct being influenced by self-will. Is not this typical of the present attitude of man to GOD? Our own hearts witness to the recurrent temptation assailing them to doubt His goodness in our personal affairs. And are not disobedience to God's will and self-exaltation characteristic features of modern life? In considering the history of the human race we must never lose sight of the part played by SATAN from those earliest days. It was at the instigation of in SATAN his conflict with GOD, that the subtle temptation "Ye shall be as gods," assailed our first parents in Eden.

In Genesis 4, we find man not merely as a sinner, but man now become a criminal. A brother is killed in anger and jealousy, and all responsibility for his brother's well-being, rudely repudiated by the murderer. "Am I my brother's keeper?" he insolently demands.

Here the foundations of civilisation are uncovered, as disbelief in God's goodness, disobedience to God's will, and defiance of God and man, introduced crime which remains still, as an evil legacy constituting one of the great problems of modern civilisation. If there were no sin and crime, there would be no need for prisons, policemen, courts and judges with all the paraphernalia of punitive and repressive force; but righteousness, peace and joy would be characteristic of what is now confessedly a groaning earth through sin, and the injustice of man to man springing therefrom.

CAIN and LAMECH are the two moving spirits in the setting up of that earliest civilisation. (Gen. 4.) It comes with something of a shock that in the lifetime of ADAM, and corruption in the earth had risen to an almost intolerable height; and that all GOD's institutions and injunctions were already being contemptuously flouted. CAIN, crime having stained the earth with the blood of a righteous man, sets out to make a permanent place for himself in the earth, regardless of what he has done; settling down he establishes a family; and by calling the city after his son, thereby indicates established proprietorship and his intention to enjoy the world as it was spite of the curse upon it, and the innocent blood of the first martyr, and the witness that it bore as it still cried from the ground. GOD was not in all his thoughts; so the curse that lay on the world on account of his father's sin, and the unrequited blood of an innocent man rapidly passed out of his reckoning. He builds and owns a city, and has a family, with a name in the earth. Says an able writer on this period, "It is very remarkable that we perceive in the Cainite race those very things which afterwards formed the characteristics of heathenism, as we find it amongst the most advanced nations of antiquity, such as Greece and Rome."

The short but startling sketch given of LAMECH and the tragic history of his very talented family confirms this. LAMECH's sword song (Gen. 4: 23, 24), the earliest piece of poetry in human history reveals the man, proud, boastful, self-confident, ready for any violence and cruelty to the full extent of his ability. He has two wives; this too is significant. Our LORD said: "From the beginning it was not so." Marriage was instituted in the day of man's innocency for the comfort and continuance of the race; but in that institution there was before the mind of GOD what it symbolises and signifies, the union subsisting between CHRIST and the Church. Hence Polygamy was at once a rebellion against a beneficent provision of GOD for man, and a confusing of the truth intended to be taught by it. His mode of addressing his wives is also revealing. Significant and instructive too in connection with "how the world went wrong" are the names of LAMECH's wives and daughter.

"ADAH" is "beauty," or "adornment"; "ZILLAH" is "the shaded one" from her tresses, or alternatively "sounding," perhaps from her singing voice; while "NAAMAH," as the daughter was called, means "pleasant, lovely, graceful."

LAMECH'S household thus presents a picture of a lawless man, one who fears neither GOD nor man; whose womenfolk bear names that speak of the "lust of the eye, and the lust of the flesh" — just as JOHN, centuries later in the Greek civilisation of Ephesus, speaks of these things as being emphatically of the world and not of the Father.

The occupations of LAMECH's sons help to complete the picture of the Dawn of civilisation. The "pride of life" was also included by the Apostle JOHN as part of the fashion of the world that passeth away; and commerce, culture, craftsmanship are each represented, by JABAL, JUBAL and TUBAL-CAIN.

"JABAL, the father such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle"; he it was who introduced the commercial spirit into pastoral life; making a regular business of what appears previously to have been more a supply for individual and family needs. He is the typical commercial man, the man of business.

JUBAL, the son, was "the father of all such as handle the harp, and the organ (or flute)," that is the inventor of stringed and wind instruments; as old MATTHEW HENRY has it, "If brother JABAL will show them how to get rich, then JUBAL will show them how to be merry." JUBAL is the father of the fine arts, the man of culture. TUBAL-CAIN, or TUBAL the smith, is a metal-worker; with considerable mechanical skill, able to instruct others; the craftsman; the father of mechanical arts and invention.

As a whole, the family of LAMECH present an essentially godless civilisation, finding pleasure, occupation, advancement in a world cursed by sin and stained with the blood of a righteous man; they being all the while completely indifferent to the judgment overhanging the scene, of which warning was given by a contemporary as we shall see farther on in the chapter.

"Then began men to call upon the Name of the Lord," or "to call themselves by the Name of the Lord."

Here we have, what had been, in some measure, from the beginning; a division of the race through the deepest things of life. CAIN and ABEL at first were divided by their way of approach to GOD. Then LAMECH and ENOCH — both seventh from ADAM — yet divided spiritually to the roots of their beings; the one the typically godless man: the other a typically godly man. One had no fear of GOD before his eyes; the other worshipped GOD and walked with Him; two typical men indeed — one essentially an earthly-minded man, the other equally emphatically a heavenly-minded one.

The two significant events occurring in this period are (1) the Translation of ENOCH, and (2) the Flood that overwhelmed all LAMECH's kind of people.

Of ENOCH we read that "he walked with God"; that he "prophesied of the judgment to come"; "that he had this testimony that he pleased God"; that "he was not for God took him." (Gen. 5: 24; Heb. 11: 5; Jude 14, 15.)

"Can two walk together except they be agreed?" asks the prophet. ("Shall two walk together except they have made an appointment?" R.V.)

For ourselves, in this day of grace, the appointed meeting-place is at the Cross of CHRIST where all GOD's grace and man's guilt met in the person of the sinless SAVIOUR. It has become indeed: —

The place where GOD and sinners meet

And thousands meet with Him.

Then having received CHRIST JESUS as LORD by faith, so walk ye in Him; (Col. 2: 6) until taken to be with Him before the Day of Doom dawns for the ungodly world of CHRIST-rejectors. (1 Thess. 4: 15-17.) Let us summarize the teaching suggested by this first section of the Chart.

The Dawn and Doom of civilisation of "the world that then was" (2 Peter 3: 6) is given in Gen. 4 – 6 (cf. Rom. 5: 12-19); and is shown to have been an age of unrestrained self-will issuing in corruption, violence and lawlessness. There had been some who called themselves by the Name of the LORD, but at the end these disappear save NOAH and his family. Disbelief in God's goodness began the downward move, with disobedience to His known will; defiance of GOD and man followed; and death reigned, spite of the lie of SATAN "Ye shall not surely die."

Destruction then threatened, and judgment was pending on account of the blood of a righteous man, and the curse which lay on the ground through the sin of man. Divine long-suffering waited, only to be completely disregarded by the mass of mankind; and so doom overcame the disobedient, although deliverance was possible by the obedience of faith. There was a divinely appointed way of escape and those who were moved by fear, acting by faith, found the Ark of salvation available for them.

The first age of mankind's history thus ended in almost general apostasy, prophetic, too, of succeeding ages though under entirely changed conditions; for widely different as the clothing and other circumstances of these men (of days so dimly distant from our own) are from those of cultivated busy men of affairs to-day, the human form and the human heart remain the same; and fallen man is still alienated from the life of GOD through the evil that is in him. But the long-suffering of GOD, which waited in the days of NOAH still waits in lingering compassion over the guilty world to-day, as its doom draws ever nearer.

Chapter 3

The Age of Public Governmental Dealing (How the nations began)

The next period, marked as the Age of Public Governmental Dealing, extending from the "FLOOD" to the Call of ABRAM is a far shorter one comprising approximately some four centuries. Its special features are the Covenant made with NOAH on behalf of every living thing on the earth; the building of BABEL; the rise of nations; and the call of ABRAM.

The typical men of this age are NOAH and his great grandson NIMROD; around these and their activities the interest and instruction of the times revolve.

The significant events of this period are closely connected with the ALTAR and SACRIFICE (in Gen. 8: 20); and the CITY and TOWER (of Gen. 11).

NOAH (whose name signifies rest, repose, comfort), lived some 350 years after the judgment of the FLOOD; long enough, alas! to witness a general outbreak of rebellion against GOD, and the rise and spread of idolatry over the then inhabited earth.

When he stepped out of the ARK in which he had been borne through the waters of divine judgment (typical of those godly Jews and Gentiles who will be brought through the Great Tribulation after the Church like ENOCH has been translated to heaven before this begins), a new era began. It was a fresh dispensation marked by a new earth cleansed by judgment; a new authority given to man; and a new covenant made with man. (Gen. 8: 20 — 9: 17.) The rainbow set as a bow of peace now became a token of this.

In Revelation 4, where the LAMB OF GOD is seen as in the midst of the throne, there is also a rainbow round about the throne — Righteousness and Peace characterise the Eternal Throne and the LAMB is the One by Whom both have been established for ever.

NOAH is the man of faith who walked with GOD; who feared GOD; and whose first act upon the new earth showed him to be a worshipper of GOD.

Faith, fear, and worship characterise this typical man.

NIMROD (Gen. 10) is the man of force, craft and ambition, and is typical of ANTICHRIST. The beginning of his Kingdom was BABEL; and from the first mention of this ill-omened place until its final destruction (in Rev. 18), BABYLON whether as city or system is always antagonistic to GOD. XERXES and ALEXANDER both conquered it in their respective days; but its revival and final overthrow awaits a fast approaching future when the KING of kings and the LORD of them that rule shall end the Mystery of GOD, by personally putting down all other rule and all other authority.

This section of the Chart deals with the Institution of Civil Government (Gen. 9); the peopling of the earth (Gen. 10); the judgment of Babel (Gen. 11); and the introduction of idolatry (Joshua 24: 2).

The peopling of the earth was in view of the coming of the Heir of all things, He for Whom all things were made. "When the MOST HIGH divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of ADAM, He set the bounds of the people (peoples R.V.) according to the number of the children of ISRAEL. For the LORD'S portion is His people; JACOB is the lot of His inheritance." (Deut. 32: 8, 9.) In the New Testament, also, we read "Known unto GOD are all His works from the beginning of the world." "GOD that made the world . . . hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." (Acts 15: 18; 17: 24-26.)

The outbreak of rebellion, which culminated in the attempt to build the Tower of BABEL, took place roughly one hundred years subsequent to the FLOOD. It was a determined gesture of defiance and independency of the MOST HIGH prompted by human pride and ambition. "Let us make us a name."

In the only possible language understandable, we are told that the "JUDGE of all the earth" gave attention to this fresh portent in the history of fallen man. Unmoved by the past terrible judgment (of which there were then living witnesses to testify from first-hand knowledge), men now banded themselves in an unholy confederacy to try to defeat the known purposes of the MOST HIGH. But, as ever, His purpose prevailed, to the utter confusion of ungodly opposers.

Idolatry appears to have been closely connected with the BABEL scheme, as it has certainly so continued in BABYLON (whether as system or city) until this day.

We are told that NIMROD eventually completed the TOWER; indeed made it a TEMPLE of BEL, with eight towers, 75 feet each in height and an Observatory on the top. It is well known that the worship of the heavenly bodies was the first known form of idolatry as a system; and BABEL with its Observatory quickly became the headquarters and centre of this.

We get no account of the adoption of idolatry in Genesis; but JOSHUA'S reference to the prevailing conditions at the Call of ABRAM some three centuries later, leave no doubt that in the days of NOAH this had become established in the earth. It is striking to find that as in the case of ADAM, so with NOAH, men who were witnesses of new dispensations or ages commencing well, lived to see the tide of apostasy rapidly rising, and over-running the scene.

In connection with the BABEL confusion of tongues an interesting assertion by some scholars that the Phoenician, Egyptian, Chaldean, Greek and Chinese languages can all be traced from this time on, to the Persian Empire, and that all but one — Chinese — were eventually embraced in the Roman Empire, may be noted.

The period shown as the age of public governmental dealing ends with the Call of ABRAM in Ur of the Chaldees. Recent discoveries by archaeologists in that neighbourhood have done much to confirm the facts of the man, the place, and the date.

The days are passed when the "FLOOD" stories, the "ABRAHAM and UR" story, and the "JOSHUA and JERICHO story" could be treated cavalierly by really intelligent persons who are unprejudiced. No discovery has ever contradicted the Scriptural account, but many have confirmed it within very recent years, to the discomfiture of the enemies of our holy faith.

The peopling of the earth, and the beginning of the nations as such was divinely over-ruled to make a place for the people, ISRAEL, through which the knowledge of the ONE TRUE GOD was to be conserved. Hence the Call of ABRAM from the midst of idolatry. But chiefly it was, by this means, to provide the channel through which the HEIR of the ages, the SAVIOUR of the world, was to come in the fullness of time, when from other nations should come enquirers asking, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews . . . for we are come to worship Him?" CHRIST is the Key of prophecy and as the tiny arrows upon the Chart are intended to show, all events look onward or backward to the great events to which they stand related — His Coming, His Cross, His Crown.

Chapter 4

The Age of Promise and Testimony (How the Jewish nation arose)

There follows a period of similar duration from ABRAM to MOSES marked by the Promises that ABRAM'S posterity should inherit the land of CANAAN, and that he should be the father of a heavenly race to "plant the heavens," and of an earthly race through which all nations should be blessed.

The typical men of this period are quite obviously ABRAM and MOSES; the two most significant events the exoduses from UR and EGYPT, at the beginning and ending of this age.

From the Call of ABRAM to MOSES at Sinai was some four hundred and thirty years, an age of Promise and Testimony. (Ex. 12: 40, 41.)

"The GOD of glory appeared unto our father ABRAHAM, when he was in MESOPOTAMIA, before he dwelt in CHARRAN." (Acts 7: 2.) "Now the LORD had said unto ABRAM," and further, "The LORD appeared unto ABRAM, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him . . . and pitched his tent . . . and called upon the Name of the LORD." (Gen. 12: 1, 7, 8.)

This is the first person to whom GOD is spoken of as "appearing" in Scripture; that is as being seen in a way to convey the impression of His "BEING," — His NATURE, as GOD of glory with promises of blessing.

The result is seen, in the character formed by the recognition and reception of the promises. ABRAM is marked at once as a worshipper and a pilgrim — the altar and the tent showing how he was persuaded of the ultimate realisation of these gracious assurances of GOD's special blessings.

So marked was this that (Gen. 14: 13) he is soon referred to by Canaanites as "ABRAM the HEBREW," being recognised as a "stranger," one who had passed over the river. (Gen. 14: 13.)

The fact of his worldly circumstances plays no part in this. True, he is a rich man; a man of growing importance, and one who in time of need proves himself a most useful and good neighbour; but it is as a pilgrim; a stranger; one not settled in the land; not seeking aught from the great ones in the earth that he is known. He is ready to help the distressed; but will accept nothing except from the priest of the MOST HIGH GOD, possessor of heaven and earth.

He is the first man, too, of whom it is definitely recorded that he was a believer; this belief, being not merely an intellectual act of assent, but also a moral act of confidence in GOD, is accounted to him for righteousness. (Gen. 15: 6.)

(1) so we find ABRAM "justified by faith" (Gen. 15: 6);

(2) "justified by works" (Gen. 22);

(3) the root of a new testimony on earth (Gen. 17, 18);

(4) the Friend of God — intercessor for others (Gen. 18);

(5) vindicated as a man of faith and works (Gen, 21, 22);

(6) and as seeing the Day of Christ (Gen. 22: 18).*

*(1) Justified by faith. Gen. 15: 6; Rom. 4: 1-3.

(2) Justified by works. Gen. 22: 12; James 2: 21.

(3) Friend of God. Gen. 18: 17-19; Isa. 41: 8; 2 Chron. 20: 7; James 2: 23; cf. Ps. 25: 14. R.V. John 15: 54, 15.

(4) "Saw my day and was glad." Gen. 22: 18; John 8: 56; Gal. 3: 8, 16.

The offering of ISAAC, the going into EGYPT of JACOB and all his family, discloses the providential way whereby the channel for the Heir of the ages was kept open.

Says JOSEPH to his troubled brethren, "GOD did send me before you to preserve life. . . . GOD sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance." (Gen. 14: 5, 7.) The meaning of the formidable-looking polysyllable — Zaphnath-paaneah — (which Egyptian lips found easier than our own to pronounce) while somewhat uncertain is generally agreed by scholars to have reference to "Food of life," or "Bread of life"; some saying, following the Vulgate — Salvator Mundi — Saviour of the world; others, the Coptic — "Revealer of secrets." Such interpretations are intensely suggestive and interesting when we consider the position of JOSEPH in the scheme of human history. But "JOSEPH died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of ISRAEL were fruitful and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." (Ex. 1: 6, 7.)

EGYPT, however, was not the land of the Promise made to their fathers, but speedily became the house of bondage, where they toiled in slavery, and groaned with anguish of spirit for long years.

So the story of the Chart now moves from out of GENESIS the book of Election, into EXODUS the book of Redemption, with its history of this bitter bondage and oppression; but also with the story of redemption by blood and power because of the promise made to ABRAHAM.

MOSES now appears on the scene and the day of deliverance begins to show the first streaks of dawn. This multitude of downtrodden slaves is to be made a nation, a holy nation; a people for GOD'S possession. (Ex. 19: 5, 6.) "The time of the promise drew nigh which God had sworn to ABRAHAM," (Acts 7: 17) and the purpose and providence of GOD are seen in the preservation of the infant Moses; in the long years of preparation both in EGYPT and in the desert; by the call, commission and confirmation at the "Bush that burned" yet remained unconsumed. (Ex. 3.) "By faith when he was come to years, he refused to be called the son of PHAROAH'S daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of GOD; esteeming the reproach of CHRIST greater riches than all the treasures of EGYPT."

The decision for CHRIST and the people of GOD having been made, he quickly follows it with an outburst of ill-timed zeal, which his newly-recognised brethren promptly proceed to quench. "He thought they would have known." He is disheartened and discouraged by the very people with whom he has thrown in his lot at so great personal sacrifice. Like many a young disciple, forward and zealous, the rebuff so disheartens him, that nothing more is heard of activity for the LORD for many years. He marries a wife, and settles down in a regular occupation; the routine of daily affairs now occupies all his time and energy, and the years drag along uneventfully. Then one ordinary day the extraordinary thing happens, and he turns aside to see the "common bush aflame with GOD." "And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, GOD called unto him." To a definite call, and commission, the gracious confirmation is added, "Certainly I will be with thee." But first his attention had to be gained. How often the principle of MOSES' attitude has been repeated. God waiting to use and bless, so soon as He can gain our interest in what He is doing; about to do; or willing to do through us. With MOSES obedient, the promises to ABRAHAM quickly began to be realised in the Exodus and Wanderings.

On the night of the last terrible stroke of GOD'S judgment upon PHAROAH and the EGYPTIAN oppressors, some six hundred thousand men, beside women and children, departed in haste and the Exodus was complete.

With GOD as their Guide and Protector by day and night, they advanced towards the Red Sea; and spite of PHAROAH and his pursuing hosts were safely brought through it into the Wilderness, leaving their foes overwhelmed, by their foolhardiness in attempting what Israel had achieved through faith. To imitate faith is a disastrous mistake.

"The LORD hath triumphed gloriously," sang Israel, to whom it was indeed a glorious day of deliverance; one ever to be remembered with grateful praises. It was a most important crisis in their history; the commencement for them of entirely new circumstances and conditions of life. They are now to become a nation; to be instructed and disciplined by GOD in His governmental principles and ways through the instrumentality chiefly of MOSES their GOD-appointed Leader. He accordingly brings them to SINAI, where a new dispensation — not of promise and testimony, but of Law and Kingly Government, with priestly mediatorship, and prophetic ministry — now begins.

Chapter 5

The Age of Law and Kingly Government (How the Gentile Powers started)

The more extended period of time now indicated upon the Chart, the fifteen centuries from MOSES to CHRIST, were the times of the prophets, priests and kings, and may be termed the Age of Law and Kingly government. "The law was given by MOSES; grace and truth came by JESUS CHRIST." (John 1: 17.) And of the Law, its period of duration is shown by ST. PAUL (Gal. 3: 24) to have been "unto CHRIST," that is until His coming in grace.

ABRAHAM, the chosen man, separated by the Call of GOD and his obedience of faith, has now become the father of a chosen and separated people. Through this nation the HEIR of the ages is to come into the inheritance of all things. For this reason the JEWISH people were redeemed out of EGYPT, brought into liberty, and constituted a nation, the nation. From that time the ways of GOD with other nations depended upon His ways with the nation — ISRAEL. When ISRAEL obeyed, the other nations served her; when she rebelled against GOD, the other nations were used to chastise her. The lesson that relationship regulates responsibility is plainly taught in the words of the prophet: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." (Amos 2: 2.)

This section of the Chart begins then with the Law received, and the Law rejected. (Ex. 20; 24: 3, 8; 32: 7, 8; Acts 7: 51-53.) Apostasy, alas, was very rapid; for the Law as expressed in Commandments and Ceremonies, being calculated to regulate outward conduct, although most solemn and significant, yet being a Law of outward observances did not give life — made nothing perfect. Right under the very shadow of Sinai and even before the tables of stone upon which it was engraved had actually been received, its terms were openly violated. The Priesthood, too, in the hands of even most favoured men pursued the same sad course of early apostasy. (Ex. 28; 29; 32; Lev. 10.) In little over one month, AARON the high priest-elect is making a golden calf at the people's bidding; building an altar to it; offering sacrifices, and proclaiming it a feast of the LORD.

Still darker is the story of JONATHAN, the son of GERSHOM the son of MOSES the Lawgiver, who first fills the role of an idolatrous priest in the house of Micah, and afterwards for the tribe of Dan, in which idolatry was so firmly established that it persisted throughout their entire history. (Judges 17, 18.) So, alas! hard upon the appointment of the priesthood, follows the falling away and failure of the priests. Prophets, too, were appointed, established, and sent to ISRAEL that the voice of GOD might be heard by the chosen people of GOD in spite of failure in the priesthood.

SAMUEL the prophet (1 Sam. 3: 20), is a notable example of a prophet appointed, established and known throughout the whole land as the Seer, the Man of GOD. He was a true, faithful prophet. But we read of disobedient prophets, false prophets, schools of the prophets who certainly in one classic instance had no right conception of the mind of GOD at that time. The ominous words: "They prophesy falsely unto you in My name," serve to show how far the apostasy of the prophets eventually proceeded; but a yet more withering judgment upon both priests and prophets is pronounced: "Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law." This sentence confirms the general failure of priests and prophets alike.

The appointment of Kings for ISRAEL in answer to the popular clamour for a visible monarch is recorded in 1 Sam. 12: 13, where SAUL is chosen by the people, the choice being judicially ratified by SAMUEL as GOD'S representative.

SAUL proves himself to be a man of earth; men not GOD are before him as the motive and spring of actions as his request to SAMUEL "to honour him before the people" shows. He, therefore, quickly proves himself an utter failure as a King, and is rejected. Typical Kings of ISRAEL are SAUL the man of earth; DAVID the Shepherd King, who with SOLOMON, the man of peace, gives some expression to the divine thought of Kingship, only to be fully realised hereafter in the reign of DAVID'S Son and LORD; AHAB — who did more to provoke the LORD GOD of ISRAEL than all before him; JEHOIAKIM — typical Modernist of his day, using penknife and fire upon the written word sent him by the LORD; and the last Apostate King in whose reign direct disaster fell upon the Kingdom, the King who feared his subjects, but had no fear of GOD before him. (Jer. 38: 19, 20.)

Kingly government committed to ISRAEL and forfeited by them was now to be transferred by the GOD of Heaven to the Gentile NEBUCHADNEZZAR, whom GOD styles, "My servant." (Cf. Jer. 27: 4-7; Dan. 2: 20, 21, 37,)

Then began "The times of the Gentiles," when the GOD of Heaven gave NEBUCHADNEZZAR authority to exercise lordship over ISRAEL (Dan. 4: 17, 36, 37). These times still run on and will only end when the SON of MAN the true King of ISRAEL, comes in glory to judge the living Gentile powers, and to reinstate repentant ISRAEL in the land promised to their fathers ABRAHAM, ISAAC and JACOB.

The four great prophetic empires of BABYLON, MEDO-PERSIA, GREECE and ROME, are symbolised by the four metals: Gold, Silver, Brass and Iron; and by the four beasts: the Lion, the Bear, the Leopard and the fourth Beast (Dan. 7).

The sixty-nine weeks of DANIEL'S vision end at the CROSS where MESSIAH the PRINCE was cut off, but not for Himself. The last week awaits the end of the present dispensation of grace with which our next chapter is occupied.

The age of Law and Kingly Government ended for the JEWISH nation in the apostasy of priests, prophets, and kings alike.

MOSES at first filled these offices for awhile — as priest, in being Mediator for the people; as prophet, in making known to them the will of GOD; as King he reigned in Jeshurun. As prophet, in another aspect of the prophetical office, he predicted the coming of the ONE Who must be obeyed. "A prophet shall the LORD your GOD raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; Him shall ye hear." (Acts 7: 37.) Samuel also exercised the priestly, prophetic and Kingly offices for over a generation with dignity and ability. But the world waited for a greater than these, and the time was long. Then in the fullness of time the day dawned when CHRIST the true Prophet proclaimed the Kingdom (Matt. 4: 17); when CHRIST the true King entered the capital city of JERUSALEM (Matt. 21), as prophesied by ZECHARIAH, acclaimed by Hosannas of the temple children to the sore displeasure of the rulers of the people; when CHRIST the true Priest having been rejected as the prophet of GOD, the King of ISRAEL ascended to heaven to commence that eternal priesthood whereby He is able to succour evermore all that come unto God by Him. (Heb. 7.) "Whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things."

The history of the period covered by the fourth division of the Chart, shows, therefore, that the Gentile powers started through the failure of the JEWISH nation to continue in the goodness of GOD. The Kingly power committed to them having been sinned away was forfeited by them; and government then given into Gentile hands. The JEWISH people themselves thenceforth were under Gentile rule until A.D. 70, whatever their false boast of never being in bondage, and JERUSALEM itself was then totally destroyed by the Romans as our LORD foretold on the Mount of Olives. The people scattered throughout the world (like Cain to wander as vagabonds, with a mark set upon them on account of the Blood of the Righteous One — their rejected Messiah), await the last and most glorious chapter of their national history. Scriptures that should be carefully pondered in this connection, are 2 Chron. 36; Jer. 27: 6; Dan. 2: 20, 21, 27; Matt. 24: 1, 2; Luke 19: 41-44; 21: 20-24.

The age of Law and Kingly government ended with the Coming of the ONE Who magnified the Law and made it honourable; Who is Himself "the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth"; Who was born King of the Jews; crucified as KING of the Jews; and Who has gone away to receive the Kingdom and will return to be owned as KING of kings and LORD of them that rule, in the very place where He was once refused.

Meanwhile, in His personal absence, things of great moment take place, springing from, reaching back to, and fulfilling divine counsels made before the foundation of the world; then broadening out beyond Jewish, national and racial boundaries to the greater glory and eternal satisfaction of the rejected King of the Jews. To this we proceed in the next section of our Chart, represented by an unfinished circle, where the story of the Church which is His body and His bride, tells of the unique position for Eternity of all who in this day of His rejection as KING own Him as SAVIOUR and LORD.

Chapter 6

The Age of God's Long-suffering Grace (How the Church commenced)

The birthday of the Christian church was the Day of Pentecost. In no sense is it a continuation of the Jewish economy; being, as PAUL teaches, a "new man," CHRIST having broken down the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles, and having reconciled both unto GOD in one body by the Cross, having slain the enmity thereby. (Eph. 2.)

During this, the age in which we live, "Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, by JESUS CHRIST our LORD," (Rom. 5: 2). It is emphatically the age or period characterised by GOD'S long-suffering grace to a world that has been proved guilty not of sins only, grievous as this is, but of the crowning sin of crucifying the LORD of glory Who had come through the tender mercy of GOD in lowly grace to save mankind.

This is the charge which the HOLY SPIRIT on that ever memorable Day of Pentecost brought home with convicting power to the hearts of thousands in Jerusalem.

Goodness Incarnate had been basely betrayed, brutally treated, and rejected, and by solemn judicial forms, ecclesiastical and civil, condemned as worthy of death in its most shameful form. "This is the Heir: come let us kill Him," had been the language of the leaders of the nation. But "GOD raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory"; thereby entirely reversing the verdict of the world.

The Day of Pentecost was the public testimony to the dignity of the Person, the value of the Work, and the present position of the once hated and despised Nazarene. "JESUS of Nazareth . . . being by the right hand of GOD, exalted, and having received of the FATHER the promise of the HOLY GHOST, He hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear . . . therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that GOD hath made that same JESUS Whom ye have crucified both LORD and CHRIST." (Acts 2.)

So on that great day, the HOLY SPIRIT came to inaugurate a new era, by forming a holy society of redeemed people based upon the Death and Resurrection of the LORD JESUS. "By one SPIRIT are we all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one SPIRIT." (1 Cor. 12: 13.)

This great act took place historically at Pentecost and is the only baptism of the HOLY SPIRIT of which Scripture speaks. In PETER's sermon preached with the HOLY GHOST sent down from heaven (much of which is omitted from the record of that notable occasion) two essential things are plainly brought out, first the change of heart-attitude towards CHRIST, followed by the open confession of this by baptism; and secondly, the twofold gift to be received immediately, remission of sins and the gift of the HOLY SPIRIT.

As a result, some three thousand repentant believing persons were baptized and added to that little band which the SPIRIT had already baptized into one body earlier in the day; and from that day until the day of grace ends, the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD is engaged in this gracious occupation of gathering individuals out from all nations and adding them to that one body.

The family of mankind is no longer sharply divided into two sections as Jews and Gentiles, as was the case for the preceding fifteen hundred years, but now, while all the world is guilty before GOD, there are to be found on earth Gentile nations, the Jewish race, and the Church of GOD. So PAUL, in giving instructions to Christian believers at Corinth, bids them "Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of GOD" (1 Cor. 10: 32), carefully recognising and distinguishing each from the other.

This period is represented by an incomplete circle on the Chart, because it is an indefinite period; already through the long-suffering grace of GOD it has been nearly two thousand years in duration.

It is a period specially characterised by three important things: —

(1) A world-wide witness to the Risen SON OF GOD. (Matt. 28: 20; Col. 1: 23.)

(2) A gathering out from all nations by the SPIRIT of GOD through the gospel, of such as are to be Heirs of GOD, Joint-heirs with CHRIST, His body, church, bride. (Acts 15: 14; Rom. 8; Eph. 1, 2, 3.)

(3) A great but very mixed profession of Christianity. (Matt. 13.)

That the commencement of such an age should be marked in a special way was only to be expected; hence we find the early chapters of the Acts full of "signs and wonders and divers miracles, and gifts of the HOLY SPIRIT." Most striking from their gracious character are the reversals of the curse of BABEL, and of the judgment executed at the giving of the Law. In the former instance, when the builders at BABEL all spoke indeed the same language, they were all fatally in the wrong so their speech was confounded. At Pentecost every man heard in his own tongue the wonderful works of GOD, and they "continued praising GOD." "Let us make us a name in the earth," produced the BABEL confusion and scattering. "There is none other NAME under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved," was the Pentecostal secret whereby the language barrier was removed, and the gathering power disclosed.

Then at the actual giving of the Law in Ex. 32 (as the Lawgiver appears with the very tables of stone, the work of GOD and the writing of GOD graven upon the tables) "there fell of the people that day about three thousand men." (v. 28.) Upon the manifestation of grace through the work of GOD and the proclamation thereof (Acts 2), "there were added to them about three thousand souls." (v. 41.)

What contrasts are shown. "But if the ministration of death written and engraved in stones was glorious . . . how shall not the ministration of the SPIRIT be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory." (2 Cor. 3: 7-9.)

Three thousand perish at Sinai; three thousand saved at Pentecost.

Again, the Coming of the HOLY SPIRIT (Acts 2: 1) was not only for the purpose of baptizing believers in CHRIST into one body and thus to form the Church of GOD; but also very definitely He came to energise for effective testimony to the absent LORD "Whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things." The testifying of the gospel of the grace of GOD; the preaching of the Kingdom of GOD; and the teaching of those things which concern the LORD JESUS CHRIST; can each and all only be done effectively in the power of the SPIRIT of GOD — hence His presence, and the necessity of recognising Him as the Vicar of CHRIST now here on earth. He is the LORD the SPIRIT, Who has come to reside in the Church to administer for CHRIST in every way, during His absence on high, at the right hand of the MAJESTY.

As such He forms an habitation for GOD in the Assembly; as such He graciously enables the Body of CHRIST to function; as such He compassionately helps our infirmities, witnesses with our spirits that we are the children of GOD, and makes us to know (to apprehend and grasp) the things that are freely given us of GOD. He is the other COMFORTER Whose presence our blessed LORD said was so necessary to us, as to make it expedient for Himself to go away to the FATHER. The age in which our lot is cast is a singularly blessed one for believers, for "the FATHER loveth you"; "the love of CHRIST constraineth us"; and "the love of the SPIRIT" makes the things of GOD real to us.

So the special witness of this church period is to the Resurrection of the LORD JESUS; the outpouring and indwelling of the HOLY SPIRIT; while outward and visible signs of confession of the Lordship of CHRIST are shown when the initiatory ordinance of believer's baptism is properly administered; when the LORD'S SUPPER, the perpetual remembrance of Himself in His death until His coming again, is rightly observed; and when the LORD'S DAY is treasured as the weekly festival of the Resurrection and employed in worship, fellowship and service to His praise. All days are His, but if the believer lets slip the importance of the first day of the week, then whatever the ostensible profession of observing all alike to His glory, the practice insensibly tends to a lowering of them all.

As we realise our privilege in this day of grace, this age of long-suffering mercy to a guilty world in which we once had our part, our hearts are thrilled by the enheartening words of our LORD as He proclaims the four great "alls" of Christianity. "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach (make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always (all the days) even unto the end of the world."

"All power," all authority vested now in Him; "all nations," the sphere of service; "all things whatsoever I have commanded you," the scope of the commission; "always," all the days, the confirming presence even unto the end of the age.

So may we "occupy till I come," when in "a moment in the twinkling of an eye" His faithful people will be translated into His immediate presence as His Coming in the air closes this Age of GOD's long-suffering grace to a proved guilty world.

Chapter 7

The age of Coming Crisis (How the present age will end)

The dispensation, or age, will end catastrophically by the Coming of the LORD JESUS CHRIST into the air to take His people to the FATHER'S HOUSE, according to His gracious promise in John 14: 1-3. This is the Christian Hope; not referred to in the Old Testament but running throughout the New because bound up with the Church — the mystery hidden from the ages.

It is independent of prophetic or other events; just as the Church itself is not the subject of prophecy but of special New Testament revelation, as we have seen.

"For the LORD Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of GOD: and the dead in CHRIST shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the LORD in the air: and so shall we ever be with the LORD." (1 Thess. 4: 16, 17.)

This passage, taken with the companion one (in 1 Cor. 15: 51, 52), "Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed"; clearly establishes the fact of the present age of grace ending catastrophically.

The suddenness of Christ's coming for His Saints at the commencement of this period, is only comparable with the suddenness of CHRIST's appearing with His Saints at its conclusion. These two distinctly different events introduce and close the short solemn impressive period shown on the Chart as the Age of Coming Crisis and Satan's rule.

The Morning Star appears for the Rapture of the Church to heaven before the Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in His wings to bless the earth; and the Rapture of the Church stands as intimately connected with the former, as the Kingdom of the Son of Man is with the latter.

Many signs herald the approach of the Day of the LORD; prophets of the Old Testament are almost exclusively occupied with the coming Kingdom glory; but no sign or O.T. prophecy announces the Return of CHRIST to take His bride; the personal assurance of the LORD being the sole basis of her hope: "If I go away, I will come again; and receive you unto Myself; that where I am there ye may be also." CHRIST is our Hope. (1 Tim. 1: 1.)

So in 1 Thess. 1, the simple but sufficient description of those early believers is "Ye turned to GOD from idols to serve the Living and True GOD; and to wait for His Son from heaven; even JESUS, Who delivered us from the wrath to come."

This period so blessedly ushered in for the saints of GOD, is, however, solemn and impressive to a degree for the world of guilty mankind. Terrible events crowd these most eventful seven years, for those who know not GOD, and who have not obeyed the gospel in the present age of grace. Many signs of the approach of these may already be discerned by those who are awake to what is transpiring in the world to-day — of these we make a special note on page 59.

First, will come the utter apostasy of Christendom. Christendom is a word not found in Scripture but one which may very conveniently and aptly describe the home of nominal Christianity. In the parable of the Mustard Tree (in Matt. 13) the tiny seed becomes a great tree, and the birds of the air lodge in its branches. The profession of Christianity likewise has become a great thing in the earth though springing from so humble a beginning.

It is sadly possible for one to be of those who "have a name to live but are dead," and to find a place in the great branches of the tree of Christian profession; maybe, one even of official position and gain; and yet to have no more organic union with the true body of believing possessors of life in CHRIST than the birds with the tree in whose branches they lodge. All such will be left behind for judgment on the earth, when CHRIST comes for His own people, and will go to swell the ranks of apostate Christendom which will be dealt with by CHRIST at His appearing to judge the quick (living), of which Scripture so solemnly assures us.

Ecclesiastical institutions, buildings and offices being no part of the spiritual body of CHRIST will remain on the earth intact; and liturgical services (needing no special operation of the HOLY SPIRIT or presence of real believers for their maintenance) will go on as usual for awhile; endowments, foundations and funds can be maintained and augmented without spiritual help; the rising tide of ungovernable lawlessness will undoubtedly lead to the closer federation ecclesiastically of denominational interests; Bibles, prayer books, hymnals will still be available for use and misuse in religious services; but with the calling away of every true believer in the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and the withdrawal of the HOLY SPIRIT as restrainer of evil, Christendom will rapidly fall away from the nominal profession of Christianity even in its most corrupt forms. It will be judged at the Appearing in glory when, at the end of the seven years, CHRIST comes attended by the saints and angels to purge His Kingdom of all things that are offensive.

The greater privileges of Christendom necessarily ensure the greater doom upon its apostasy.

Secondly, there will be a SATANIC revival of the Roman Empire, accompanied by

Thirdly, the Rise of the Jewish Antichrist (2 Thess. 2); whose schemes and godless activities lead on to the solemn time of Jacob's trouble; so that there is to be during the latter half of that period,

Fourthly, the Great Tribulation (Matt. 24) mercifully shortened, however, for the elect's sakes, as our LORD prophesied in His Olivet discourses.

A godly remnant of converted Jews having been themselves turned to repentance, will be preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of heaven (the LORD calls them His brethren, Matt. 25: 40); and having gone out with it to the nations, will be persecuted to death for their faith and testimony; as also will a great multitude of their Gentile converts. (Rev. 7.)

Fifthly, then shall the sign of the SON of MAN be seen in the heavens; then shall all nations wail because of Him; then will He execute speedy judgments on the nations (Matt. 24; 25.); when He appears upon Mount Olivet to the deliverance of the faithful remnant and the discomfiture of their enemies at the fearful Armageddon (Zech. 14; Rev. 17: 19). Upon how they have treated His Jewish brethren, will the King apportion the sentences in the solemn judgment of the nations. He separates the godly from the ungodly in those living nations; they have each proved themselves to be what they are, by their treatment of Him in the messengers whom He has sent to announce the Kingdom, just before He comes to reign.

During this short but solemn period of Crisis and Satan's rule, the power of the Enemy of GOD and mankind is exerted to the full. Wilfully, and without a tempter, the DEVIL rebelled against his MAKER, and leaving his first estate persistently and malignantly sought the ruin of mankind. In the Man of Sin, in the Antichrist, during this awful time, evil appears incarnate and apparently invincible; until CHRIST the Son of MAN appears in His glory. Then by His word of command Beast, False Prophet, Antichrist the Man of Sin disappear from the region of human affairs while the DEVIL himself, prime instigator of all opposition to GOD and CHRIST, is bound, restrained, and shut up in the abyss for a thousand years. The grand purposes of GOD for the reversal of the world's ruin and misery now take immediate shape and permanence in the Kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, under the personal sway of Him Whom the heavens received until these times of the restitution of all things. Great days for the "blessed of MY FATHER" as the King describes some; but sad prelude to a yet more sad eternity for such as preferred the DEVIL to GOD, and had pleasure in unrighteousness.

A brief outline of the parables of the "Kingdom of the heavens" as given by our prophetically, in Matt. 13, may perhaps be of some service to the Bible student.

The seven connected parables afford a complete sketch of the "Kingdom of the heavens," which is to be set up by power in manifested glory at the Appearing in glory of our LORD JESUS CHRIST.

1. Sower, obviously a commencement.

2. The Tares, equally clearly a development.

3. The Mustard Seed, i.e., Christendom.

4. The Leaven, i.e., Bad doctrine with its corrupting and inflating effect.

5. The Hidden Treasure, i.e., What Christ saw in Israel and the Church.

6. The Pearl of great price, i.e., Church in unity and beauty in His eyes.

7. The Draw-net, i.e., Chiefly expressive of the Gospel of Kingdom after the Church is taken up.

The Design of the Sower is evident; the SON of MAN sows the good seed of the Kingdom in the world.

The Development through unwatchfulness of man is patent to every observer; as the enemy busily works "while men slept."

The Departure from faith and practice (cf. 2 Tim. 2, 3), is what characterises "Christendom" in an ever-increasing measure in our day.

The first four parables apply to the outward profession of Christianity, and verses 41 and 43 of the chapter describe the two regions of the same Kingdom: the "Kingdom of their FATHER" (v. 43), where the righteous shine, being the upper region; and the Kingdom of the SON of MAN — "His Kingdom" — (v. 41), where the once rejected King of the Jews is to be acclaimed and honoured, forming the lower region of what taken together forms the KINGDOM of GOD.

In view of what has been before us in this short chapter dealing with the Age of Coming Crisis and Satan's rule, the reader is urged to consider three things, namely,

(1) Christianity and its solemnity;

(2) Christendom and its apostasy; and

(3) Conscience and its exercise, in connection with both the foregoing.

Such Scriptures as 2 Timothy; 2 Peter; and Jude, must be studied if the subject is to be apprehended as in the full light of the truth of God.

{Signs of the nearness of the Coming of the LORD for His saints may be found in the general and growing expectancy of this event among all true believers of every denomination; and in the return of the Jews to Palestine and the extraordinary developments there during the last quarter of a century. A further note on this appears later in this book. The gradual but increasing apostasy of Christendom; its Modernism, spiritist movements; and the loosening of what were once regarded as sacred bonds of honour in domestic life; the rise of Dictators, too, foreshadowing the re-constituting of the old Roman Empire and the revelation of the Man of sin. The atmosphere both nationally and internationally is electric, and men's hearts fail for fear of what is coming on the earth.}

Chapter 8

The age of Coming Crisis (How the present age will end)

The Golden Age for this world will come with the Coming of CHRIST as King; and will last for that thousand years called the Millennium. A complete, concise account of all who will share in this millennial reign of our LORD is given in Rev. 20: 4, 6. Blessed indeed and holy are all who have part in the first resurrection and millennial glory.

It will be that age of righteousness, blessing and displayed glory to which prophets looked forward; of which poets and psalmists sang; for which the heart of humanity has yearned; to which GOD Himself promised ABRAHAM so great blessings should be attached, that all nations should be blessed in him and his seed. "For GOD does mean to bless this long groaning creation, and inspired the mouth of His holy prophets to speak of it since time began. They therefore do greatly err who deny the immense and universal blessing in store for ISRAEL, the nations, the earth, yea, even the lower creation. They do not know how God intends to crown men here below with loving kindness and tender mercies, when He shall open His hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing." (W. Kelly.)

That this scene shall first have been swept by the besom of judgment, when GOD shall punish the host of the high ones above and smite the Kings of the earth below, we have seen in our last chapter.

What marks the introduction of this golden age of blessing is not only the exclusion of SATAN and his hosts, but the personal reign of the LORD JESUS CHRIST in power and blessing, when He will do justice to the poor, and plead the cause of the meek as the Psalmist sings prophetically in his seventy-second Psalm. This Psalm, though entitled a Psalm for SOLOMON, leads us to look for a greater than SOLOMON to fill the inspired picture presented. Great DAVID'S SON and LORD is the One Who shall fill the whole earth with the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea, as more than one inspired prophet says.

How the vision of this falls upon the great Evangelical Prophet Isaiah, as he predicts it, is clearly shown, as, speaking of CHRIST's glory, he says: "Righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the Knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of JESSE, which shall stand for an ensign of the peoples: to it shall the Gentiles seek; and His rest shall be glorious." (Isa. 11: 5-10.)

To this glowing description of the coming golden age of MESSIAH's reign with all its great and glorious changes in honour of the once rejected King, the same prophet adds fresh interest and beauty (as in chapters 12, 25, 26, 32, 35, 55, to indicate but a few references), where he shows the joyful flourishing of CHRIST's Kingdom and the acclamations of His subjects during that so peaceful and so prosperous age. While the LORD JESUS as King righteously takes in hand the sceptre of the earth; of the land of ISRAEL in particular; all nations will come indirectly under His reign; for there will be, as the prophet affirms, "one King over all the earth," not to the setting aside of others, but as the One Supreme Governor to Whom all others will be compelled to submit. This (as shown in Isa. 49: 23; 60: 3, 10, 16) will last throughout the unbroken period of the thousand years of the golden age for this world. This Kingdom is not to be transferred to any other, as in the history of the world has always happened, so it is called "the everlasting Kingdom"; "the throne of His father DAVID"; and of CHRIST it is said "He shall reign over the house of JACOB for ever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end." (Luke 1: 32, 33.)

Not "everlasting" in the sense of "eternal," but age-enduring; lasting so long as the earth endures. It is the earthly Kingdom of the SON of MAN, when Psalm 72 shall find complete fulfilment.

The deliverance of creation (now groaning and travailing in pain); the miseries, sufferings and sorrows of a world that for six thousand years had been subjected to vanity and grief now ended; and GOD demonstrating that whatever SATAN may have introduced into the world, yet goodness and mercy are His own delight; and that He rejoices in His works, and in the prosperity of them that fear Him. A golden age indeed for a world that has known little else save strife, sin, woe and sorrow, since the day when the first Adam brought such a sad entail upon his hapless descendants. This then will all be reversed by the LAST ADAM; the SECOND MAN; the HEIR of all things; now come into His inheritance. Here is the common point of time where the bright visions of all the prophets meet.

This is the gathering up of all human history in the hand of "the only Potentate"; each of the ages having typically contributed to the "many crowns" seen upon His head. The first Adam with earthly headships pointing to the LAST ADAM as SON of MAN. (Ps. 8.) Civil government given to NOAH speaking of CHRIST as Judge of the habitable earth; the age of ABRAM to MOSES telling of the true Melchizedec, Priest and King of righteousness and peace indeed; the period of Kingly rule under DAVID and SOLOMON bringing to mind the true SON of DAVID to Whom the Kingdom is given by the LORD GOD; His title of Bridegroom being added for the Church period as forming no part of predicted earthly glory, but most personal, and truly blessed in the eyes of those who form His body and His bride; and lastly, the times covered by the four great Gentile monarchies, are seen as giving deep meaning to His title of "KING of kings and LORD of lords."

Having come with myriads of His saints to execute judgment upon the Beast and false Prophet (Rev. 19: 17-21) and their allied forces; having bound SATAN; and restored the Kingdom to ISRAEL He then blesses all nations with a thousand years of righteous rule; and so this period is marked on the Chart as The Age of righteousness, blessing and glory.

DAVID, in Psalm 145, speaks of "the glorious majesty of His Kingdom"; and a beautiful and sublime picture of the millennial scene is also presented in the Transfiguration of the LORD JESUS on the holy mount.

Three of the Evangelists record this (Matt. 16: 28; Mark 9: 1; Luke 9: 27); the impression made upon the APOSTLE PETER by this transcendent scene may be gathered from the references in his epistle. (2 Peter 1: 16-18.)

It was a striking representation of the coming day of earthly glory. MOSES and ELIAS representing the two classes of saints of the first resurrection who shall reign with CHRIST — those who have fallen asleep as MOSES, and those who at the Rapture will not sleep but will be changed; while PETER, JAMES and JOHN represent most surely those living inhabitants then on earth in that day of displayed glory, rejoicing in the presence of the LORD and of the risen glorified saints attending Him.

"They spake with Him of the decease (exodus) that He should accomplish at Jerusalem"; for while CHRIST is the Key to all prophecy; His Cross is also the pivot upon which all turns for GOD's purposes of blessing for heaven and earth.

Chapter 9

The Final Judgment

Upon our Chart between the "Age of righteousness, blessing, and glory," and Eternity marked "Omega" introducing new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, there is a brief section "The Great White Throne." This is the last judgment of all; the end not merely of an age, but of the world itself. The long stream of time is now about to merge into the ocean of Eternity. Ere this actually happens, the Great Assize takes place on the Day of wrath; and the final scene of the life stories of all the ungodly and impenitent who have ever lived now transpires.

Nothing can exceed the solemn description given in Rev. 20. "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from Whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell (hades) delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works." Only one class is found here — Scripture knowing nothing of "the general judgment" so commonly spoken of in prayers, hymns and sermons. It does speak of eternal judgment, when time has ceased and Eternity begun. Strict justice is meted out to every man according to his works followed by speedy, irrevocable execution. The day of mercy then having passed away, the day of judgment is present. And who can abide it? None of those there present. "The resurrection of judgment" to which our LORD refers in John 5, will have taken place; and all the evil deeds of lives lived on earth, the blotted pages of their history appear in the books now opened. The book of memory too, is opened as the ominous "Son remember that thou in thy lifetime" falls upon ears, alas! all too late awakened to their responsibilities as moral beings.

The book of life — with its record of the infinite goodness of GOD, Who had provided a way of escape and deliverance from the dread wrath to come — will be a silent witness at that great tribunal of the Great White Throne. "Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged." (Rev. 11: 18.) Death and the grave had claimed their bodies as prey from many successive generations; and hades had been the abode for ages of their disembodied spirits. These, and the great sea, that had swallowed its millions, now pour forth in countless myriads the dead that are in them, to appear before the judgment throne of GOD. Immortal bodies are given them, that they who have sinned through their bodies, and in their bodies, should as men, not as disembodied spirits, answer for their persistent impenitence and rebellion against their MAKER; should have opportunity, too, to explain their deliberate refusal of all His gracious offers of mercy and salvation provided at infinite cost for mankind by the LORD JESUS CHRIST.

It is a day of judgment; not one of wholesale, indiscriminate condemnation; hence the solemn, searching, judicial procedure, which so invests the Great White Throne with its awful terrors. For as truly as GOD is just and the justifier of him that believeth in JESUS, so surely is His justice manifested in the condemnation of the unbelieving, fearful, impenitent, ungodly, who neglect, despise, or reject so great salvation as that provided by the Cross of the LORD JESUS CHRIST at Calvary — "Who gave Himself a ransom for all."

Of the apostate traitor apostle, JUDAS ISCARIOT, the record solemnly runs: "JUDAS by transgression fell that he might go to his own place." Upon which a writer comments: "He made his own place; he went to his own place; and knew that it was his own place." Alike in the justification of the believer, and the condemnation of the unbeliever, the righteousness of God will be manifested to the higher unfallen intelligences surrounding His eternal throne with their unceasing adoring ascription of HOLY, HOLY, HOLY LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.

Connected with the judgment of the Great White Throne is the end of the world, and everything in it, all being now completely destroyed. "The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." (2 Peter 3: 10.) "The first heaven or firmament (Gen. 1: 8), the earth's atmosphere, will be dissolved or decomposed, passing away into space; probably by a terrible explosion," so says a writer of some fifty years since; and in this very year, the Astronomer-Royal in his new book, entitled: WORLDS WITHOUT END, discusses ways in which the world may come to an end. Says he, "Should the sun become a new star, everything on the earth would very quickly be burnt, and in the course of a few hours the earth itself would become merely a cloud of hot gases; the sun might even swell up to such an extent that it would swallow the earth. A sudden death by heat is one possible end of our earth."

"Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming day of GOD? . . . Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless." (2 Peter 3: 10-14.)

Chapter 10

The Altar, the Table, the Throne

The characters of the various groups of ages or dispensations are also indicated by the position of the diagrams representing The ALTAR, The LORD'S TABLE and The THRONE under the line which runs across the Chart.

Each is typical of the period shown above with the added point of their general and particular relation to the Cross which stands central to everything. The importance of the Cross in the affairs of mankind is second only to the supreme importance of Him Who suffered thereon and into Whose hands all human affairs are committed. He is the SON of MAN; the only SAVIOUR of men; and the appointed JUDGE of men. "The FATHER hath committed all things into His hands because He is the SON of MAN." To this the ALTAR, TABLE and THRONE each bear witness.

From ADAM as a fallen creature until CALVARY a series of tiny arrows point onward to the Cross; from the restitution of all things by the LAST ADAM in the Kingdom circle on the Chart, a similar line is traced backward to the Cross. The redeeming mercy of GOD through the Dayspring from on high (Luke, 2) is the theme of sacred story throughout the ages of time.

"Soon as the reign of sin began,

The light of mercy dawned on man,

When GOD announced the blessed news,

The woman's Seed thy head shall bruise."

For some forty centuries, altars — whether authorised by divine appointment, or unauthorised ones erected as a witness to man's fear of an unknown Deity, or as a sign of man's sense of need — had been laden with victims whose sacrifice could never take away sins. For two thousand years, the TABLE with its BREAD and WINE has witnessed to the One Offering made by CHRIST Who appeared in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and so: —

"One Offering single and complete,

With heart and voice we say;

And what He never can repeat,

We show forth day by day."

The LORD'S DEATH which is shown by the faithful, as in His own appointed way He is remembered, is what gives all point and meaning to the feast of remembrance until He comes.

The THRONE, too, is the sequence to the Cross, for did not our Lord Himself say: "Ought not the CHRIST to have suffered, and to enter into His glory?"

The HOLY SPIRIT, also, the divine WITNESSER to the SAVIOUR'S merits, leads the APOSTLE PETER to write of: "The sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow."

ALTAR of sacrifice, TABLE of remembrance, and THRONE of glory all find meaning and explanation in the CROSS of CALVARY.

Says the appointed minister of the Gospel, and of the Church, one, too, who never tired of preaching "the Kingdom of GOD and the things concerning JESUS CHRIST" "GOD forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our LORD JESUS CHRIST."

Righteous ABEL brought his sacrifice by faith, but it was the light from the hill of Calvary reflecting back upon it which gave it deep value and meaning in the sight of GOD.

The Levitical sacrifices received all their value in the sight of GOD likewise from that One Sacrifice of the LAMB of GOD foreordained from before the foundation of the world and consummated at Calvary.

Penitents were forgiven their sins for four thousand years through the forbearance of GOD in view of that tremendous transaction on the Cross as yet, then, unaccomplished. For in virtue of the precious blood of CHRIST all the Old Testament believers were pardoned, though the full consciousness and joy of being "ransomed, reconciled and forgiven" necessarily awaited the complete atonement made upon the Cross and the witness of the HOLY SPIRIT to the resurrection and glorification of our blessed and most adorable REDEEMER.

The altar was also a standing witness of the holiness of GOD, and of the dire need of sinful men: loudly proclaiming that "without shedding of blood there is no remission."

The LORD'S TABLE (the phrase in Greek is adjectival, authority rather than possessiveness, being the thought as in the only other use of same in Rev. 1: 6, "the LORD'S DAY") is so connected with, and dependent upon, the Cross, that it has no meaning apart from what it commemorates, celebrates, and is the communion of The elements of bread and wine, so simple, so significant and hence so solemn in this sacred feast of remembrance, speak to our hearts of the Body and the Blood of the LORD. Not CHRIST as He was in the days of His flesh: not CHRIST as He is now in heaven as the MAN in glory: but CHRIST as He became once — and that when the offering of the Body of JESUS CHRIST — the one offering took place; when His precious blood was shed, and the Atoning Death of the Incarnate SON of GOD accomplished the will of GOD.

"Once, only once, but once for all,

His precious life He gave;

Before His Cross we prostrate fall

And own Him strong to save."

"The Bread of GOD come down from heaven," and "His flesh given for the life of the world."

Bread the staple food of humanity is only produced from the corn which has grown up on the earth, being cut down, subjected to great pressure of the mill, and to the fierce flame of the oven; so the true Bread of life giving His flesh for the life of the world was subjected to the pressure of our sin's burden upon the Cross, where the fierce flame of divine judgment which they necessarily called forth, came upon our sinless Substitute and Surety, in that hour when He suffered for our sins.

As we reverently receive the broken bread at the Holy Supper, we remember the travail of His soul, and how His sinless body was bruised and broken for our salvation on the Cross of shame.

We have eaten by faith, and we live because He died; and so we ponder that deep saying on the night of His betrayal, "This is My body which is given for you; this do in remembrance of Me."

In the same manner the fruit of the vine has to be passed through the winepress ere it can be used to fill "the cup of blessing" — the cup in which we give thanks. With contrite spirits, and hearts bowed in His presence we worship, and drink of this "cup of the LORD" at His bidding, as we remember what He suffered for our sakes. It is indeed a solemn feast of grateful remembrance of our holy LORD and SAVIOUR in His dying but undying love for us.

"LORD, let us ne'er forget

Thy rich, Thy precious love;

Our theme of joy and wonder here,

Our endless song above."

And this holy feast is peculiar to this Age of God's longsuffering grace, during the period of the Church's sojourn on earth.

It is "till He comes," and so it links the Cross with the glory.

"See the feast of love is spread,

Drink the wine and break the bread;

Sweet memorials till the LORD

Calls us round the heavenly board;

Some from earth, from glory some,

Severed only "till He come."

The Throne of His Kingdom, the last of the trio of typical diagrams, speaks of that glorious Kingdom characterised by the Reigning of the King in righteousness and peace; the Restraint of SATAN for a thousand years; the Restoration of ISRAEL; the Reducing of all rule and authority by CHRIST's own power; and then the final Resignation of the Kingdom to GOD; when after Armageddon, the Millennium, and the Final Judgment of the Great White Throne, time itself merges into Eternity. Altar, Table, and Throne all are linked with that Cross which is the Pivot upon which all turns for heaven and earth in the purposes of GOD.

Epilogue

The Ages of the Ages

"Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the living One: and I became dead, and behold I am living to the ages of ages."

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea exists no more."

"And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

"And I heard a loud voice out of the heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, their God. And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

"He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son."

And His servants shall serve Him . . . perfect service.

And they shall see His face . . . perfect vision.

And His name shall be in their foreheads . . . perfect likeness.

And they shall reign to the ages of ages . . . perfect victory.

He that testifies these things says, yea, I come quickly.

Amen; Come, Lord Jesus.

Notes

Note A. — The inhabitants of the earth during the Millennial reign.

First, in every sense the 144,000 (Rev. 14: 1-5) who are associated specially with the Lamb on Mount Sion, having His Father's name written on their foreheads. These, having gone through the horrors of chapter 13 during the awful time of the ascendancy of the Beast, endured to the end, and are saved into the blessing of the Kingdom, according to Matthew 24: 13. Redeemed from among men, the first fruits unto God and the Lamb, their portion is nearest of all to that of the heavenly saints. But unlike these they are not in glorified bodies, yet they sing the song of heaven on earth, and are privileged to follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth throughout His earthly dominions.

Secondly, the true remnant of His people who had been slain for their faithful testimony, either during the beginning of sorrows (Rev. 6: 9-11) or under the more severe testing of the last sore troubles form another company. These having lost their lives after the Church was translated, and yet before the Kingdom was established in power, are rewarded with the yet better portion of the heavenly saints. The longest verse in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 20: 4), shows these to have been included in the first resurrection. These "lived" (having been raised from the dead to do so) "and reigned with Christ." They are possessors of glorified bodies like all who have part in the first resurrection, and will never again have their localised habitation on earth, but will be used by Christ in the administration of His world-wide Kingdom.

Thirdly, a further company seen enjoying the privileges and blessings of the Kingdom of righteousness, blessing and displayed glory, find mention in Matt. 24: 31; Rev. 7: 1-8. These will form the nation, come at long last into full enjoyment of the promises made to the fathers, with the sure mercies of David realised under the sway of Him that was born King of the Jews, Jesus Christ the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Matt. 1: 1.

With them also are found a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples and tongues who have come out of the great tribulation (cf. Jer. 30: 7, Jacob's trouble; Dan. 12: 1; Matt. 24: 15; Mark 13: 19) and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. These are the fruit of the missionary testimony by the Jewish brethren sent to all nations outside guilty Christendom after the Church is translated to heaven. (Isa. 66: 21; Matt. 25: 31-46; Rev. 7.)

Note B. — As to children born during the Millennium. (Isa. 61: 9.)

The manifested glory of the established power of the Lord on earth; the Spirit poured out upon all flesh (Joel 2); and the forcible restraint of Satan preventing his evil activities, Rev. 20: 1-3; are the marks of the Millennial Kingdom. So children born during this period upon the scene under the happiest auspices, yet needing a new birth truly to enter the Kingdom; this is evidenced by the revolt of myriads against the King directly Satan reappears at the close of the thousand years. Even a thousand years of peace, prosperity and entirely beneficent government fails to change the heart of fallen man — "Except a man be born again he cannot enter the Kingdom of God" is a fundamental truth conditioning divine and human relationship in every age of the history of mankind. Children of saints do not become saints by natural generation, neither in this day of grace, nor in the age to come. Hence at the end of the thousand years the final expression on earth of the irreconcilable enmity of the unregenerate human heart against God is seen in the speedy revolt of myriads who enroll themselves under the more congenial banner of the Devil, only alas! to share his doom. Children born during the Millennium have immense privileges, but as always, with corresponding responsibilities.

Note C.

Others mentioned as coming under the predicted allegiance of the King-Messiah, are referred to in Psalm 18: 44. "As soon as they hear of Me, they shall obey Me; the strangers shall submit themselves unto Me." The reign of righteousness begins with desolating, destroying judgments, taking away the obstinately wicked, while the Spirit of God poured out upon all flesh bows the hearts of those who survive making them submissive to the yoke of Christ's authority. "For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." And, "the Lord is known by the judgment He executeth." (Ps. 9; Ps. 59: 13; Ps. 83: 18.)

Note D. — The Judgment Seat of Christ. (2 Cor. 5: 9, 10.)

This solemn manifestation of the believer takes place between the Coming for His saints, and the Appearing with them in glory. It is intensely solemn, but in no sense humiliating; for we appear in bodies of glory like unto His own body of glory; and the object is twofold, first in reviewing the pathway trodden and fully seeing how active and patient the love and grace of our Lord has been in preserving, protecting and providing for us and at the same time bearing with us, enduring us all the days of our lives, which will eternally enhance His grace and glory in our eyes: secondly, to make the awards for faithful service by appointments in the Kingdom. Faithful in a few things here, ruler over many cities there. Such is His own gracious assurance. The twelve Apostles have their distinctive appointment, "judging the twelve tribes of Israel," as well as their exceeding blessedness in the church built upon them. The saints judging the world, and indeed judging angels, are seen in the administration of the Kingdom. As a result of manifestation at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5, 10; 1 Cor. 3: 13-15, 17; 4: 5), there will be reward for faithfulness, and a distinct sense of loss where there is unfaithfulness towards Him now. Two well-known hymn verses seem to express the believer's apprehension of what it will mean.

"Then Lord shall I fully know

Not, till then, how much I owe."

and,

"How shall I meet those eyes

Mine on Himself I cast

And own myself the Saviour's prize

Mercy from first to last."

To live this day in the light of that day, will check pride, ambition, selfwill, sloth, evil speaking and general worldliness of conduct to an unsuspected degree; at the same time giving room for love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, fidelity and self-control to be manifested here and rewarded there. When, later the Marriage of the Lamb has come, to his wife "was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and bright; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of saints." Present conduct tends to permanent character.

Note E. — World situation in the Closing Days.

In Isaiah 18 it is intimated that the Jews will be restored to Palestine through the intervention of a friendly maritime power; and Lord Balfour's mandate since which incredible prosperity has come to the Holy Land confirms the belief that Britain is the power referred to.

Ezekiel 38. "Gog, the land of Magog, prince of Rosh, Mesech and Tubal." Rosh unquestionably signifies Russia, Mesech and Tubal being equivalent to Moscow and Tobolsk; the former the recently restored ancient capital of Russia in Europe (and only recently restored) under confessedly Anti-God auspices; the latter a chief town of Russia in Asia.

Rosh, Mesech and Tubal = "All the Russias," and together with China, India and Persia represent the hosts of the King of the North who will come against Israel, and after terrific conflict will be utterly routed, Ezek. 39: 4, and destroyed at the beginning of the Millennium. Rev. 9: 16 gives the number of the great armies also from the East, as two hundred million armed men. India, Japan, China and other races will show that the long-feared Yellow Peril was not a dream, in the times of what is termed "the battle of that great day of God Almighty." (Joel 3; Zeph. 3: 8.) "Gomer and all his lands" refers to Germany and Confederated States when they become the allies and vassals of Russia, according to many able expositors of Ezek. 38: 6.

Significant, too, of the closing days of the world's history is the emergence into importance of Abyssinia, Ethiopia, Libya, all named as playing their part in the great Armageddon catastrophe yet to be fought out in the land of Palestine.

Of the revived Roman Empire, earlier mention has been made. It is a matter of ancient history that Charlemagne and Napoleon Bonaparte endeavoured to achieve this. It is a matter of current history that it is still ardently desired. Russia, Germany, Italy, with the Anti-God, Anti-Jew obsessions of the former two, and the braggart boastfulness of all three, are ominous signs of the times, dark shadows upon the walls of contemporary history. It may be the law of ebb and flow will remain in operation for a time, but it is arresting to mark that each time the tide of godlessness, lawlessness, and apostasy rises higher and higher.

Note F. — The significance of the following extract from "The Church Times" of January 10th, 1936, will appeal to readers of "Age after Age.".

"'The agony of German Jewry has reached such a degree of urgency, and has become such a complex international problem, that something great must be undertaken immediately, not only by the Jewry of the world, but by the whole of humanity.' The one thing that can be done is to assist emigration, and almost the only country to which any large migration is possible is Palestine. There is no limit to the number of capitalists, families that possess at least a thousand pounds, who may settle in Palestine, and a great effort is being made by leading British and American Jews to raise a sufficient sum — £10,000,000 is mentioned — to finance a mass movement from tyranny to freedom. A large increase in the Jewish population of Palestine will unquestionably arouse Arab protests, but Great Britain is pledged to the National Home policy, and there is no doubt of the capacity of the country to support a much larger population."

Progressive Palestine

"A Striking story of the development of Palestine is told in the report of the British Commercial Agent at Haifa. Imports, exports and revenue have alike risen by leaps and bounds. In 1934 all three were from twice to two and a half times as high as they were in 1931. The Government had a realised surplus of £5,587,837. What country would not be proud of such a recovery from the depression? Within the same period the town of Tel-Aviv, which stands near Jaffa, on a site where 25 years ago there was not a single house, increased its population from 46,000 to 120,000. This indicates one of the great causes of the expansion of trade — the recent flow of immigration, which is likely to show a further increase in the present year.

"Over the proper amount of such immigration there has been much dispute. The Arabs complain that it is excessive; the Jews argue that the quota is unwisely low. To adjust it to 'the economic absorptive capacity of Palestine,' is the principle of the Government's policy, and the general economic results have clearly been good. Immigrants have brought not only labour but capital, and so produced an extraordinary balance of trade. Imports last year were £15,150,000, exports £3,220,000. This is not to be regarded as undesirable. The adverse balance of £12,000,000 is actually accounted for by expenditure on capital goods and investment in agriculture on behalf of the Jewish immigrants compelled to transfer their resources and energies to Palestine. The establishment there 'of a national home for the Jewish people' which LORD BALFOUR proclaimed in 1917 is being aided by causes then unforeseen."

The Christian Life

The Christian Life

Occasional Addresses and Papers by

W G Turner

Selected and Revised

London: F E Race (C A Hammond)

1924.

Preface

This small volume of occasional addresses and papers on the Christian life, is sent out in response to a frequently expressed desire that they should be issued in a more permanent form than that in which some of the latter originally appeared. They are chiefly taken from the Young Believer's Monthly and the Bible Treasury, but a few are new. May the Lord graciously bless the message to such as read them.

May, 1924.

1. The Christian Life

2. Christian Baptism and the Christian Life

3. Lest Ye Faint in the Christian Life

4. The Enemy's Mistake as to the Christian Life

5. The Reality of Discipleship in the Christian Life

6. The Peril of a Busy Life even in the Christian Life

7. The Prayer of Jabez and a Fuller Christian Life

8. Study to Show Thyself Approved in the Christian Life

9. On being Stedfastly Minded in the Christian Life

10. Wilderness Desires of the Christian Life

11. Serving the Lord Christ in the Christian Life

12. True Belief and the Christian Life

13-19. The Gospel by John and the Christian Life

20. "after all this" — The Warning for the Christian Life

Chapter 1.

The Christian Life.

The Christian Life is a life commenced in faith, continued in patience, and consummated by perseverance. It is a Divine life into which only those born again through the word of truth enter. It is an eternal life, for "I give unto My sheep eternal life and they shall never perish," says the Good Shepherd. It is possessed by every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ simply because he or she is a believer in Him. It is not at all an attainment, but the gift of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is not a renovation of human nature but a new life; not a mere reformation but a regeneration by God the Holy Spirit. Strictly stated the real Christian life is the life of Christ lived in the Christian.

Any attempt at delineating it must perforce include its four clearly marked characteristics; each of these being distinct from the other, yet all alike necessary to a full-orbed presentation of the character of a true Christian life. These are, briefly stated:

(1) Devotional,

(2) Mystical,

(3) Practical,

(4) Ecclesiastical,

none of which may be omitted from the consideration of the subject without doing violence to the whole.

The devotional side of the Christian life is really the heart of the believer occupied with Christ; that is, the Christian having Christ as the one Object before the heart.

The mystical side of the Christian life is rather Christ occupying the heart of the believer — Christ dwelling in the heart by faith — Christ in you the hope of glory.

The practical side is clearly defined and emphasised by John, in the familiar words: "He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked."

The ecclesiastical side of the Christian life also finds emphasis and expression in the words of Paul, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular" — that is the organ through which the ascended Head now operates and fulfils His ministry of grace in the world. The world sees Him no more, but we are His epistles known and read by all.

This chapter proposes to deal with the first named of these — the devotional, for if this be lacking there is certainly cause to doubt the existence of any of the other mentioned characteristics of the Christian life. The devotional side of the Christian life is evidenced by: —

(1) A personal knowledge of the grace of the Lord Jesus,

(2) A growing attention to the words of the Lord Jesus,

(3) An increasing appreciation of the Person of the Lord Jesus,

(4) A wholehearted recognition of the Mastership of the Lord Jesus.

We select four illustrations from the Gospels of devotion to our Lord, which may be profitably meditated upon by all who desire to grow in grace in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour. The first of these occurs in the seventh chapter of Luke, where in verses 44 - 50 the Evangelist portrays:

(a) A forgiven sinner,

(b) Saved entirely by faith in Christ,

(c) Conscious of having been forgiven much,

(d) Clinging in gratitude to Him.

She speaks no word, but here, as elsewhere, actions speak louder than words.

Gregory the Great said he could never refrain from weeping when preaching from this incident — so human — so tender — so divine.

"Forgiven much . . . loved much." This is of the essence of a devotional Christian life.

As an old writer has said, "May we welcome Him not only with water for the feet — the cleansing of our souls from the dust and stains of daily sins, negligencies and ignorances; not only with the oil for the head — the intellectual preparations and due appreciation of the nature of His service, but also with the kiss — the fervent, unstudied outpouring of heart affection — the clinging of the whole soul to One it loves."

In the tenth of Luke a further element of this devotional side of Christian life finds illustration. In verse 42, "One thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her"; and verse 39 clearly defines what that good part was. "Sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word."

This is the attitude of spirit which ensures insight to the mind of Christ. "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart." It is well to note that it is the contemplative, listening, quiet side of the Christian life which gives tone and character to the disciple of the Lord Jesus. This takes time to develop, and needs to be as carefully planned as hours for recreation, meals and sleep are for the body. As with the noble-hearted Elijah — nature in none of her varied moods could meet the need of his heart — only the voice of gentle stillness — so with ourselves, we need to be alone with our Lord long enough to become conscious of His Presence and thus to be changed by beholding the glory of the Lord. As Whittier sweetly sings:

"Drop Thy still dews of quietness,

Till all our strivings cease;

Take from our souls the strain and stress,

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy Peace."

Sitting at His feet, listening to His word, looking up into His face in quiet devotion of heart, occupied with Himself.

A third Scripture incident recorded in Mark 14: 3-9 deals with a further development of our theme. This story is chiefly interesting from the fact that Mary of Bethany displays a spiritual intelligence beyond any of the Apostles and is so fiercely criticised by them for her devotion to their common Lord. She alone in spirit seems to enter in any measure into His entire rejection, death and burial. She is not found among the other women at the Cross a week later, having already in spirit passed through this when she anointed His body for the burial with her precious ointment. "Knowing the fellowship of His sufferings, being comformable to His death." Such devotion is always criticised by cold calculating spirits like Judas, and alas! even by real believers also; but it is always commended by Him who knows the heart and estimates perfectly the value of the motive. "She hath done what she could," and can one possibly do more? But do we do what we can? That is the question which the honest disciple will face.

The criticism of the Apostles amounted to saying that some things were too costly to spend on Him, too good for the Master. Love, however, does not reckon in this way. Again we notice the devout soul is not here shown as talking but as doing.

A fourth Scripture bearing upon the subject of our paper is found in John 20: 16, "Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni; which is to say Master." Here the Good Shepherd, calling one of His own sheep by name, evokes from her heart the glad recognition "My Master." Then with her heart comforted by His Presence she is commissioned by Him and goes out in obedience to His word in loving, blessed, helpful, uplifting service to others.

How far do we know the joy of this recognition of the Lord as Master? We call Him Master and Lord, and we say well, but do we do the things He says, for that is surely better?

Here then, briefly, we review the open secret of the devotional Christian life:—

(1) Forgiven much, to love much too.

(2) Learning of Him, by listening to Him.

(3) Counting nothing too good for Him.

(4) Joyfully accepting His Lordship over the life.

In conclusion, no harm, but great good will come to our hearts as we quietly and honestly challenge them in His Presence.

Take time for the interview with Himself, asking that the Holy Spirit may help as we seek to face the real facts of our inner spiritual condition.

Have I been forgiven much? Do I love much?

Have I chosen that good part? Do I hearken really? Do I know ought of the fellowship of His sufferings, being made comformable unto His death?

Is His commendation more than all else to me? Do I practically own Him as Lord of my life? Do I do the things which He says?

These are the questions which those who wish to know the joy of the Christian life must face for themselves. But let no dread of Him alarm the soul; no anxiety burden the spirit. Rather with simple sincerity of heart tell Him all the truth and count on Him to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.

Chapter 2.

Christian Baptism and the Christian Life.

Christian Baptism was instituted by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection and before His ascension. The occasion is recorded in the gospel by Matthew chapter 28, where in verses 18 to 20 it is written: And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach [lit: make disciples of] all nations, baptising them in [to] the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

The fuller revelation of the Godhead as Father, Son and Spirit — one Name — one God — Three Persons — the ever-blessed Trinity, and the giving of a wider commission to His Apostles, are the circumstances under which Christian Baptism was commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ. How the Apostles understood the charge is seen by their action in the Acts of the Apostles, where, to mention but one instance of many, "He [Peter] commanded them to be baptised in the Name of the Lord." Acts 10: 48.

It is therefore by the authority of the Lord, and according to the example of His Apostles, that believers are now to be baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Pious persons sometimes baptise unconscious infants, and unbelieving households; but there is no word in the New Testament to warrant such practices, believers alone being the proper subjects of Christian Baptism. This to an unprejudiced reader is demonstrated by the fact that in every New Testament instance, baptism follows upon the hearing of faith. "He that believeth and is baptised" — note the order. Baptism is in contrast with circumcision generally and not a complementary rite carried over into Christianity from Judaism; although by way of likeness, this may be noted, that as every circumcised Jew of necessity had natural life before circumcision, so in every case now real spiritual life precedes true Christian Baptism. But in the consideration of Christian Baptism it is absolutely essential that we keep the Lord Jesus Christ Himself clearly before us, so that the ordinance does not hide the Saviour, Whose death and burial, alone give point and meaning to it.

The Lord Jesus Christ, alone, apart entirely from all other persons and things, is the sole object, suited alike to the heart of God and every need of saint and sinner, in the glorious sufficiency of His Own proper Person and atoning work. Any value, therefore, that Christian Baptism, the Lord's Supper, Fellowship and Ministry possess for the believer, is derived solely from Him Who instituted and appointed them. It is helpful in this connection to bear in mind also that the Church, as such, neither teaches, preaches nor baptises, but individual servants of the Lord do all these things solely by His permission and appointment.

The sixth chapter of Romans affords simple, satisfying teaching as to the proper subjects of Christian Baptism, the manner of its administration, and its true meaning. In verses 3 and 4, we read "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptised unto Jesus Christ were baptised unto His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

Here the Apostle is recalling the fact and meaning of his own and their baptism, and pressing its significance upon the Roman believers. From these verses, and verse 6, we learn, first that there has been a crucifixion of Christ and of their old man [old Adam nature] with Christ. Secondly, Christ's death and burial has taken place, and the sentence of death passed on self and its activities thereby; necessitating, since they (verse 8) be dead with Him, that they are now buried with Him by baptism unto death (verse 4).

There is a burial — a formal putting out of sight what is dead. Christ's death and burial did this for our sins. We now by this solemn, significant act of baptism by immersion in water, put off the old man [the activities of the old Adam nature] which is corrupt. Taking our place in the silence of the typical tomb, we confess our identification in death and burial with the One Who died for our sins according to the Scripture, and was buried. "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (verses 8-11). In baptism, the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ confesses deliverance from the tyranny of Satan and the thraldom of sin through the death and resurrection of his Lord and Saviour. For the true believer is, in Christ, delivered from all condemnation, freed from the law of sin and death, and perfected for ever by the one Offering — the body of Jesus Christ (Heb. 10).

Thus being baptised unto Christ's death, the believer owns that he has died with Christ out of the old life; that Christ died for him, and he died in Him to the world with its hostility to Jesus our Lord;  to the flesh with its seductiveness; and to the devil with all the power he has usurped over man through sin. It is a present, personal and permanent deliverance, to the praise and glory of the Lord Jesus, in which that believer rejoices, who reads aright the meaning of Christian baptism. Buried with Christ in baptism unto death he thus confesses the real lordship of Jesus. Christ, who died for our sins according to the scriptures and was buried, rose again on the third day as Victor over death and the grave, and we exultantly hail Him as Lord of our life and the God of our salvation. We rise again from the typical grave of our baptism to walk with Him in newness of life; for as surely as we died with Him we also live together with Him. This we confess, as we steadily set our minds on the things that are above, where Christ our Risen Lord now is.

Here is the open secret of Christian Baptism.

(1) There has been a crucifixion and a death not only for our sins, but to sin.

(2) There has been a burial and a resurrection, and we are risen with Him, Col. 2: 12.

(3) There has been by baptism an outward identification with all this on the part of "as many of us as were baptised unto Jesus Christ."

Historically in the case of the Lord Jesus Christ, and experimentally in the case of the baptised believer in Him there is a resurrection to a new condition of life and a holy walk in the Spirit awaiting the bodily ascension up into heaven.

As to the Blessed Lord personally, "He showed Himself alive after His Passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." Acts 1: 3. "It is the Lord Himself, risen from the dead, but a real man, with hands and feet capable of being handled and seen, not a spirit, but a spiritual body. . . He leads the disciples for the last time on earth, and in the act of blessing, with uplifted hands, He parts from them and is borne upon into heaven — the risen Man, the Lord from heaven."

Forty days of holy walk in the Spirit after His glorious resurrection, precede His joyful ascension to the right hand of the Majesty on high. Thus historically was it in the case of the Lord Jesus; and experimentally for as many as are truly baptised unto His death, there is the resurrection with Him and a holy walk in the Spirit awaiting the day in which they, too, will be taken up to the Father's house. It is a walk of faith to which our identification by baptism into Christ's death with the Risen Lord calls us. Hence the exhortation of verse 11, "Like[wise] reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Faith adopts God's reckoning, accepts God's word, and adjusts life to God's standard, as a new activity, a new fellowship, a new hope, and a new outlook on men and things here on the earth, result from having taken the true Christian position by baptism unto His death.

The old man is not dead, but to be reckoned so by faith in the Living Lord; so that the life lived in the flesh [body] is lived by faith in the Son of God. "I am crucified with Christ" — henceforth not I but Christ. "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. 2: 20; 6: 14.

This is what my baptism teaches me ever to bear in mind.

Chapter 3.

Lest Ye Faint in the Christian Life.

Of all the reproaches flung into the heart of our Blessed Lord in the hour of His unspeakable humiliation, none probably had a more bitter sting than the words recorded in Matt. 27: 43. "He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him: for He said, I am the Son of God."

The bitterness of its sting lay in the truth of the sneer, and in its apparent reasonableness. For none ever trusted in God as did this Suffering One. His whole life had been one of unwavering confidence in God, so that of no other could be said so truthfully and emphatically, "He trusted in God."

Yet the scoffers around the cross meant an untruth what time they spoke the truth; for their taunt reproached Him with being veritably an impostor, since God's word and human experience alike affirmed that God had never failed to deliver any who really trusted Him.

So the blinded, ignorance of the human heart reasoning rightly, reached a wrong conclusion; and reasonable as the taunt appeared to them the deduction drawn by their prejudiced, bigoted, superficial minds was altogether false. They were entirely ignorant alike of the true God and of Jesus Christ the Sent One.

A further bitterness was added to the reproach by the opportuneness of the moment. "Let Him deliver Him now." Now — with hands and feet transfixed, with disciples fled, with the crowd gaping, the rulers sneering, the soldiers making game of Him, the robbers speaking insultingly, (see Luke 23 New Trans.) — now, is the moment when the perfect trust, if it exists, should surely be vindicated. So they reasoned, while He endured in meekness and silence the reproaches heaped upon Him.

For not only was He there so soon to make an atonement for the wrong which sin had done to God; to make expiation of the guilt of sin; to give His life a ransom for many, and bear their sins as the Substitute from God; to give Himself a ransom for all to express God's love for the whole world: to die the just One for us the unjust ones to bring us to God, and to fulfil the entire divine purpose for which He became the Lamb, foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world and manifested at the end of the times; but He was also there to crown a life of unbroken obedience and complete trust, by a death of entire devotion.

The moment of vindication was not then; He was to be faithful unto death. Deeper waters were yet to be crossed; depths of unutterable loneliness and anguish had yet to be fathomed by the patient, spotless Sufferer, but His unbroken trust in the One who sent Him should yet find expression in those words of sublime confidence uttered at the last, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit."

Yet again, consider the sneer flung into the sensitive heart of our Lord, by the chief priests and scribes and elders, who could say, "Let Him deliver Him now, IF He will have Him." "If He will have Him!" and with these words in His ears, the lonely Sufferer hangs in silence with no answering heavens to witness to Him then; while yet a further note reveals the actual forces arrayed against Him as the voice of Satan, in their concluding reminder — "For He said, I am the Son of God."

Here is the echo of the old wilderness temptation" If Thou be the Son of God;" and here also the perpetual temptation of the people of God in all ages — if — why —? If you are the child of God why is this allowed to come upon you? If you do trust Him, why are you left in this condition or circumstance?

The Lord Jesus has left us an example that we should follow His steps. God had one Son without sin, but none without suffering; and the lesson of it all to our hearts is to trust Him at all times; in spite of the enemy, in spite of misunderstanding, in spite of our own hearts. Evermore while passing through the world the suggestions of Satan will come — to act independently as though man were self-sufficient; to act recklessly, depending upon a garbled quotation of Scripture, may be; to act cautiously and so avoid the cross with its reproach. But the Lord Jesus has met them all; and, spite of appearances, spite of heart-breaking reproach, spite of loneliness and general desertion, He trusted in God, and unswervingly finished the course; leaving us an example and an inspiration, that we, considering Him, may not faint in our minds, but run with endurance the race before us, looking unto Jesus the Leader and Completer of faith.

For the cross with its shame was not the end of that life of wondrous trust and devotedness. The glorious resurrection on the third day began to answer the questions of the taunts of Calvary, for He was raised by the glory of the Father, and declared to be Son of God in power by resurrection of the dead. His joyful ascension up to where He was before, answered the taunting query "If He will have Him"; for "He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all heavens that He might fill all things." His coronation with glory and honour; His session at the right hand of power until His enemies be made His footstool; His return in power and great glory with His saints and holy angels; His kingdom and eternal glory; all combine to furnish an answer to the trusting devoted heart once broken by reproach.

"Beloved, now are we children of God"; and as we await the manifestation of the sons of God, let us more closely contemplate the divine perfection of our adorable Lord, so that we may gird up the loins of our mind, be sober, and hope with perfect stedfastness in the grace which will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. For when by the grace of God we too shall sit with Him in His throne, then shall the life of trust in God be eternally vindicated in the person of Christ and His members.

Till then may we say:—

"Glory to Thee for strength withheld,

For want and weakness known;

And the fear that drives me to Thy breast

For what is most my own.

I have an heritage of joy

Which yet I may not see,

But the Hand that bled to make it mine

Is keeping it for me."

Chapter 4.

The Enemy's Mistake as to the Christian Life.

The enemy said, "Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them on the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they" (1 Kings 20: 23).

However, the sequel of this story, recorded "for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope," proved the enemy to be quite wrong in his assertions and assumptions, for the God of the hills showed Himself to be God of the valleys too. He appeared on behalf of His people, for the glory of His own name, to the utter confusion of their foes.

If we look beneath the merely local and temporary, in this old time story of the Benhadad campaign, we can discern an eternal principle enshrined in the narrative having a present application to ourselves. For are we not often tempted to assent to the entirely artificial division of life into compartments labelled sacred and secular respectively, until we come very near to the folly of endorsing the suggestion of the enemy, namely, that God is indeed the God of the sacred with all its vision and communion, but not the God of the secular with its daily round of home duties, business obligations, and social intercourse?

We dismiss as obviously absurd the idea of God as Almighty on the hills, but impotent on the plain — in theory; but may we not very profitably enquire how does our practice tally with our profession? Upon the horizon of our lives, thank God, the lofty mountain tops do appear. In some measure we know something of real conscious communion with our Lord in the place apart and remote from the business of the world with all its bustle; we know the steep slopes of the rugged hills of perplexity, trial and temptation, where we found the present help and strength needed in the secret of the Presence; in some measure also, when actively engaged in labour for the Lord, the hill Difficulty has made us cry out: "Who is sufficient for these things?" and the God of the hills has taught us to know that "our sufficiency is of God." Yes, we have frequently experienced the truth that "God is the God of the hills"; but, alas! on the plains of home life; in the business zone; and among the valleys of social intercourse, how often has our fretful, selfish, crooked conduct given an occasion to the enemy to say: "Their God is the God of the hills, but not of the plains and valleys, therefore let us fight them on the plains."

There is a cynical Scotch proverb: "A kirk saint and a hame deil," which appears at times to contain an element of truthful description of character in it; at any rate, there is always a lurking danger of one living up (or down) to it.

Worldly men have a business maxim, "Each for himself, and the weakest go to the wall:" which also appears to be clean contrary to the law of Christ. Do we endorse this? Sometimes too, when the enemy is seeking to gain an advantage over professing Christians in the realm of social intercourse, the looker-on sarcastically repeats the phrase which so aptly and beautifully described the attitude of the early Christians towards each other — "How these Christians love one another!"

But why, we may enquire, are we so often defeated in the home circle? Is it because in the valley of self-indulgence we forget that "even Christ pleased not Himself"; and that we fail to remember the words of the Lord Jesus how He said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive"?

Can it be that we insist upon our opinions, preferences, and comfort until the mark of the cross upon our lives becomes daily less pronounced in us? Is it that we feel competent to conduct the campaign on the plains of ordinary duties and need no constant spirit of dependence upon the Lord for such every day affairs? No wonder, in that case, that the battles are so frequently lost.

Why again, we may ask, is there so often failure in testimony for the Lord on the plains of business life? Is it that, spite of what we profess when on the hilltops of life, we really do descend to the level of the world, and doubt both our Father's ability and interest in the business life of His children? A modern writer says, "The teaching of Christ has been tried and found too difficult"; but a wiser critic, reviewing the work, caustically remarks: "Not so. The teaching of Christ has been found difficult and not tried."

Down in the valleys of social intercourse, too, there often arises a sense of failure, an unhappy impression that its opportunities have been largely missed by us, and that the fear of man, with all its conventional insincerities, snobbery and uncharitableness, has practically governed us instead of the fear of the Lord. And the watchful enemy says: "Their God is a God of the hill's, not a God of the valleys."

But the enemy is wrong; there is no need for a child of God to wander along depressed, disheartened and defeated. Our God is the God of the plains and valleys as well as of the hills, and we may confidently count upon Him for victory where we have so often been defeated. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."

The Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for all the needs of all His people, and the one who seeks grace to walk well-pleasing to the Lord will assuredly find no lack of that present help and unfailing care which He delights to minister. Upon the hill-top in moments of communion the heart of such an one occupied wholly with Christ shall find the Lord veritably transfigured before him as he grows in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus; in the valley and upon the plain our God shall make all grace to abound so that ye shall have need of nothing. Our God "is the God of the hills and of the valleys."

"If our love were but more simple,

We should take Him at His word;

And our lives would be all sunshine

In the beauty of the Lord."

Chapter 5.

The Reality of Discipleship in the Christian Life.

One evening on entering a little room at the back of a hut at a Training Camp, one found a dozen or more lads of about eighteen or nineteen years of age kneeling down engaged in prayer, and was glad to kneel with them and join in their fervent supplications. After a season of prayer a few familiar hymns were sung very heartily, and then it was suggested that if one had any word of God for them they would be glad to hear it. The Lord graciously gave a word to the comfort of both hearers and speaker.

Upon making enquiry as to the origin and object of the meeting, the explanation given was that it was a "Fellowship Class" especially formed to enable these young believers to meet nightly as soon as duty permitted, to strengthen each other's hands in God; and further enquiries elicited the information that they met to help each other to keep straight, and also with the purpose of winning fresh comrades each night, if possible for the Saviour. Some who came in with a professed faith, but a rather wobbly kind of Christian walk, found strength to go on better in the company of these devoted lads. It did one's heart good to hear them exhort each other, and to hear on every occasion a clear invitation given to make quite sure now. God owns devotedness to Christ, and to one's personal knowledge some of these lads have been used almost nightly to the conversion of others.

When a lad confesses Christ as Saviour in the Camp it is a very real thing; and one great joy in the work is found in seeing a dozen or more converted every week, who in their turn at once begin to look about to bring others to the Saviour. There are many counter-attractions in the Camps organised by well-meaning, professedly Christian people; but it has been a real joy to find the holy word of God, and prayer, and fellowship with those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, proving a greater attraction to so many young lads.

"Men ought to pray," said our Blessed Lord; and the Apostles of the Gentiles could urge believers "for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, to strive together in prayers to God." Do we realise the present urgency of the need for prayers to God?

One hears of Christian people leading self-satisfied lives unmoved amidst all the sorrow, bereavement, and trouble, through which many others are passing.

Oh! that God's people would awake to the unique opportunities and responsibilities of the present hour, and place themselves and all they have at the disposal of the Sacred Hands that were nailed to the Cross for us. It is, however, of little use to talk in a vague way of giving up all to Him Who really gave up all for us, but it is of great practical utility to exercise sanctified common-sense and definitely give something to Him. If I have only sixpennyworth of interest in the work of the Lord, at least may I be honest enough to pay up, and not soothe my conscience with the opiate of a holy emotion or a happy thought. The work of the Lord Jesus on the Cross was a real work, and His work to-day, to which He calls His people, is a real work too, calling for time, talents, prayer and money.

The fresh, fervent, happy piety of these young believers was truly refreshing to one's own soul, and an experience to thank God for. But what about ourselves? The question is, are we really Christ's disciples or have we missed the meaning of our Lord's solemn declaration (in Luke 14: 26-35) of what His terms of discipleship are? As the late J.N.D. remarks on this passage, "Cost what it may, He must be followed; and one must know how to hate one's own life, and even to lose it, rather than grow lax in following the Lord"; or as the late W.K. on the same subject emphatically says, "There is such a thing as persons beginning well, and turning out good-for-nothing. 'Salt is good'; but what if it become savourless? 'He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.' "

Let us gird up the loins of our mind; let us occupy till He comes; and may God keep us from being among the number of those who know their Lord's will and yet find plausible excuses for not doing it. If we are His disciples the marks of the cross will be somewhere discerned upon our lives.

Chapter 6.

The Peril of a Busy Life even in the Christian Life.

"As thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone," 1 Kings 20: 40. These are not the words of an idler but of a busy man, and contain the startling confession of having missed all that could make his activities of value. The prophet uses them to arouse in King Ahab some sense of the stupendous blunder he had made in missing the opportunity of his reign.

Paul in his first Corinthian epistle warns believers that as the narratives in the Old Testament are written for our admonition: "let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall," 1 Cor. 10: 12. So we consider what application this story of Ahab's tragic mistake may have for ourselves.

How aptly the phrase "busy here and there" describes our lives, for it is surely unthinkable that a believer can be an idler, a shirker of duty, or a lazy person. Yet in a busy life there always lurks a subtle but very real peril of which we are often not sufficiently aware. It is the peril of losing conscious touch with Him, Who alone makes all or any of our activities of real value. It arises from the fact that our hearts so easily get hardened through the deceitfulness of sin; things are allowed in daily life and business, of which He Whose eyes are as a flame of fire sternly disapproves; and such is the peculiarity of a hardened heart, that, frequently, outwardly spiritual activities increase in proportion as living, conscious communion decreases. For the heart of man is restless, "deceitful and desperately wicked," and "Whoso trusteth his own heart is a fool."

The heart, too, may become like a dusty high-road over which all the traffic and bustle of worldly business passes until the earth-born cloud hides the Master from His servant's eyes, and He Who matters so much to us is gone from our thought.

In so-called Christian service (for all service should be surely done by us as serving the Lord Christ) the danger is equally present, for it is comparatively easy to be "busy here and there" in congenial service, until the service occupies the heart instead of the Master. Busy here and there, one may alas! lose the deep, real, solemn sense of the Master's Presence, and become careful and troubled about much service, forgetting that one thing is needful. This is a tragedy indeed, robbing the business of real value, for "apart from Me, ye can do nothing," John 15: 5. When life's little day, with all its bustling activities is reviewed at the Judgment Seat of Christ, what an unspeakably tragic discovery for a soul to make, that "While I was busy here and there He was gone"; and as a result, though saved so as by fire, yet to find the labours of a busy lifetime reckoned by the Master of no account because not wrought in communion with Himself!

Such an awful possibility needs guarding against at all cost, and "let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Thank God, He is able to make us stand, and to keep us from stumbling. "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."

The faith once delivered to the saints, the present energy of the Holy Spirit Who helpeth our infirmities, the unfailing love of God, and the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ which keeps us now and will present us without spot before God unto eternal life are sufficient — our wisdom and privilege being to cultivate communion with Him Who is able to keep us from stumbling. Thus, however busy here and there, a sense of His Presence and power will enable us so to begin, continue, and end all our activities of service in Himself, that we shall in all things glorify His holy Name.

Chapter 7.

The Prayer of Jabez, and a Fuller Christian Life.

"And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that Thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coasts, and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested." 1 Chron. 4: 10.

Among the list of names in the early chapters of this book of the Chronicles — each of which we are apt to forget, represents a person with experiences as real as our own — that of Jabez stands out in bold relief on account of his prayer, to which God returned so full and explicit an answer. One is tempted to wonder whether Jabez wrote this prayer down; or if it so impressed others that they kept a record of it; until, when this book of the Chronicles was being compiled the Holy Spirit led the compilers to insert this fragment of Jabez' history into the inspired word, for the perpetual comfort and education of the people of God. The three outstanding facts of the story are (1) The God of Israel — the unfailing resource of every true Israelite, whatever the sense of limitation, of weakness, or of the power of evil, (2) An exercised human heart with its struggles, wants, sorrows, cares, hopes and fears waiting upon the God of Israel, and (3) A prayer made and fully answered.

The record of this is made and "written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the holy writing might have hope." Our gracious God and Father cares for the education of His children, desiring that we may "abound in hope," and be "strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness;" and nothing is so productive of this in us as being guided by the Spirit of God to consider His ways at all times with His people.

One man — among the many thousands of Israel — what ground has Jabez for expecting the God of Israel to interest Himself in his case? This is ever a ready suggestion arising from our evil hearts, which suggestion carefully fostered by the enemy of souls alas! so often leads us to settle down in unbelief with a sense of limitation in our service, of weakness in our spiritual testimony, and of being overwhelmed by the power of evil on every hand. But this story was graciously recorded by the inspiration of God's Spirit to teach His people that no one of them is insignificant in His eyes; that as God has given us each distinct features, or handwriting, so each has a distinct personality which is dear to our Father-God, and is never overlooked by Him in the multitude of His people. The weaker the child the more limited the circumstances, the greater the power of evil — the more certain is the loving, powerful interest of our Father; for our Lord Jesus Himself said, "The Father Himself loveth you."

God is revealed as the God and Father of each individual believer, for they are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus; He is also the God and Father of all the one great family of faith. Likewise "Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it"; but He is also the One. "Who loved me and gave Himself for me."

So when the old temptation arises to think of yourself as only one among the great number of the redeemed, instead of drooping, lift up your heart with thankfulness to God that (if a believer in the Lord Jesus) you are one, and that the Lord knoweth them that are His.

"I love the Shepherd's voice,

His watchful eye shall keep

My pilgrim soul among

The thousands of His sheep."

A further lesson taught by the prayer of Jabez is, that although every life has its limitations — so easily makes mistakes — so fallible — so imperfectly grasps God's purposes, yet we are not to give up on that account; but, encouraged by the story of this man, may ourselves discover the possibilities of a prayerful dependent life. Our Lord is "He that openeth and no man shutteth." He says to the little, faithful, dependent one, "I know thy works: behold I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." We are also encouraged by the word of the Apostle Paul, "When I am weak, then am I strong," but chiefly by the assurance of our Lord Himself, "My grace IS sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness."

By considering what God did for this man; and by recollecting that He is unchanging in power, and love, and goodness; and by expecting a bright to-morrow either here or there; this record educates the believer's heart in hopefulness. With such a God as our God there are infinite possibilities before the believer. Our circumstances may be narrow and straitened; our consciousness of weakness may be growing daily; our sense of the power of evil may be increasing, but our God is able to make all grace abound and to keep us from falling and to deliver us from evil. He it is who exercises patience with us and produces patience in us; He it is Who comforts our hearts and enables us to comfort others; He it is Who as the God of hope, inspires us too with hope, desiring us always to abound in hope. All this is according to Christ Jesus Who was Himself perfect in endurance, perfect in the comforting of others, and perfect in hope as Man for Himself and for others too.

And God's loving interest in the development and expansion of the lives and opportunities of His children is only equalled by the readiness with which He grants all we request in believing prayer for: —

(1) Expansion of opportunity for service and fruitfulness.

(2) Assistance in the undertaking to which He calls us.

(3) Protection from all evil.

"And God granted him that which he requested."

May God increase in our hearts the desire for His blessing so that enlargement, assistance, and protection may be more confidently sought of Him not as the God of Israel — blessed as He is in that character — but as the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Whose we are and Whom we serve.

Chapter 8.

Study to Show Thyself Approved in the Christian Life.

To study to know the will of the Lord more accurately, that one may do it more perfectly is far removed from using truth merely as a means of enlarging the range of one's Biblical knowledge. The former is consonant with the mind of the Lord; the latter is risky and deceitful, akin to handling the word of God deceitfully, for knowledge is privilege, and privilege entails responsibility. We read of those servants who knew their Lord's will and did it not. "And to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

Satan's end is gained, if by any means souls are deterred from carrying out in everyday life and duty the word of the Lord, and the clearly defined trend of much of the present day orthodoxy, popular, pleasing, and palatable, is that one may be a loyal student of revealed truth, accepting the scriptures as the inspired, infallible word of God from cover to cover, evading no difficulty, welcoming all the truth which normally has a separating effect from evil, and yet remain equally loyal, amidst all the conflicting creeds and theories of church government with which Christendom's Babel city of religious confusion is cursed, to one's own denomination and theological opinions. But truth, because it is truth, is incorrigibly intolerant of, and refuses to accommodate itself to, human theory.

"If ye know these things happy are ye if ye practise them." Another point needing emphasis is that even believers unfettered by any ecclesiastical system need the reminder, that as was indicated to Joshua, and by the Psalmist in Psalm 1, and by James in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit shows the pathway of true spiritual prosperity; so to-day if the written word of God is pondered with a view to actually and practically carrying out, in conduct, character, and conversation, then will the vitality, virtue and adaptability of the truth be increasingly evident to the soul. The best Christian evidence is the Christian in evidence. "Sanctify them by thy truth. Thy word is truth."

May we then see to it that we give such attendance to reading and meditation upon these things that our real profiting may appear to all.

For the word of God reverently read, with an ever-growing sense of need of dependence upon the Holy Spirit for true insight into its meaning, will lead to such self-searching and comparison of the actual practice with the holy precept therein contained, as will effectually guard the believer against the misuse of revealed truth; and, at the same time will assuredly lead to a right use of that which is divinely declared to be to the obedient soul "a lamp unto the feet, and a light unto the path." We need increasingly to be girded to serve our Lord; girt about the loins with truth, while in the day of conflict we seek to cleave to His name and word.

It is a human instinct to make truth either a means of satisfying curiosity, or of extending the boundary of one's knowledge, as an end in itself. But neither of these is the object for which truth has been revealed. Yet one age-long evil has been this tendency to use divine truth for the satisfaction of spiritual curiosity — a mere mental exercise. Hence have arisen multitudes of ingenious theories based upon certain passages of holy scripture. Men led away by imaginary discoveries, inflated by self-importance and governed by an insubject spirit, have drawn away unstable souls, striving about words to no profit, but tending, as the apostle says, to the subverting of the hearers (2 Tim. 2: 14); and effectually playing into the hands of the enemy by wasting invaluable time and starving souls through making speculation and not Christ the object of the heart. As surely as He is the Way, so emphatically is He the Truth, and such speculations as make unfulfilled prophecy, ecclesiastical order, or even distinctive dogmas such as predestination and election, or baptism, an end in themselves to which the mind constantly reverts, lamentably miss the mark, because the objective is, as we have said, not Christ, but the satisfaction of curiosity, even though it be of a spiritual kind.

Yet even cursory observation reveals the undeniable fact of the possibility of such a state through a failure to apprehend the reason of revelation. Any use of the written word which fails to bring the soul into the immediate presence of Him who is the Word incarnate, either to worship or for encouragement, instruction or reproof, is a perversion of the divine attention, and a misuse of truth, however gratifying to a pseudo-spiritual curiosity.

Chapter 9.

On Being Stedfastly Minded in the Christian Life.

Among the many interesting and lovable characters in the Old Testament few possess the charm and interest attaching to that of Ruth the Moabitess.

Living in a singularly rude and warlike age, related by marriage to a family of backsliders in Israel, she yet displays characteristics so admirable that the Spirit of God has had them recorded for our learning. She is presented to our attention as one who is stedfastly minded as to her duty and privilege; and as one who is not turned back from the right path either by the example of her sister or the urgent persuasions of her mother; one, too, whom the most hopeful prospects in her old associations fail to deflect from her purpose of heart.

A stedfastly minded woman is Ruth; one destined to be not only richly blessed herself, but to be such a blessing to others that, though herself once a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel, she becomes the channel through which He shall come into the world, Who is Himself the Glory of God's people Israel, and the Light to lighten the Gentiles.

Little did Ruth on that eventful day, when standing with Naomi and Orpah on the hills of Judea, anticipate her glorious destiny, but the great decision then made irrevocably bound her in life and death to the God of His people.

A poor lot the people were to whom she so wholeheartedly joined herself; but their God was rich in mercy and He had visited His people in giving them bread.

In words that still thrill the reader she uttered her great decision, "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and Thy God my God; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. When she (Naomi) saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her." Ruth 1: 16-18.

Stedfastly minded people always do go on, and on account of Ruth being such, God's providence shaped her circumstances. Four thoughts suggest themselves in the consideration of this stedfastly minded person's life.

First, in spite of the restless times in which Ruth's lot was cast, she herself lived a restful life.

Secondly, Ruth's unselfishness is written all over the story of her restful life.

Thirdly, she has a very thankful spirit, and

Fourthly, her life is a happy one.

1. Having once decided that the people of God were the company she desired; that the God of the people must evermore be her God; that the promised land was the only place for her; she resolutely turns her back on all other people, places, and objects of worship, and with full purpose of heart goes forward to a future all unknown, but holding within it such possibilities and prospects both near and distant, as could never have entered into the mind of a poor Gentile girl, not even in her wildest dreams. For to be linked for life as the wedded wife of a wealthy man who loved her as his own soul; and to become the ancestress of Israel's great king David, and thus of great David's still greater Son and Lord — this, the portion that the God of Israel had destined for one insignificant daughter of Moab — was more than her heart could have conceived in the days when she faced the untrodden future, being stedfastly minded to go to the good land with the people of God. But what rest of heart must have been enjoyed by her; what quietness and confidence in the goodness of God as the years sped by.

She had heard in her own land that God had visited His people, and despite the fact that those of His people with whom she had been personally connected were but poor samples of what God's people should be, yet her heart, that is to say her mind, affections and will, had turned stedfastly to the Blesser and the land of blessing. She came to trust herself under the wings of the Lord God of Israel. Ruth 2: 12. Happy position for a poor Gentile girl to take! "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. . . He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust; His truth shall be thy shield and buckler." Psalm 91: 1, 4.

We too, my readers, as sinners of the Gentiles, have heard how that God has visited His people, giving as the Bread of Life His flesh for the life of the world, of which if a man eat he shall live for ever. We too, if believers in the Lord Jesus, have come to trust under the shadow of the merits of our Saviour — God. We too, have a glorious destiny in the land of God's delight with all His redeemed people — the holy nation. We too are linked in death and life, and for eternity with the Lover of our souls; we too are brought into blessing that we may be a blessing to others. Are we stedfastly minded about this; determined to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart? If so, and just in the measure that it is really true of us, we live restful lives even in an unrestful age.

2. Briefly let us note the second feature of Ruth's character mentioned above, namely, her unselfishness. Her chief concern appears to have been to minister to the support and comfort of Naomi. For this Ruth goes out to work in the fields; for this she returns at evening with her little store of food; for this she defers to Naomi, seeking her counsel, and the whole story is a lovely illustration of care, labour, deference and love unselfishly rendered by Ruth to her somewhat depressing and trying relative. Even in the hour of her maternal joy it is the mother-in-law who receives the congratulations of friends and neighbours, and who is greeted as a mother in Israel.

Beautiful Ruth, beautiful alike by name and disposition, shows how beautiful a life lived for others may be. There is a beauty about the life of one who has done with all self-seeking that may be admired, but can never be successfully imitated. It must be the genuine article, and is only ever produced in the life of one who is stedfastly minded to follow Christ's steps.

Mere circumstances are nothing in this matter; a stedfast mind to live to the will of God and please Him, is the one thing needful.

Of this, Ruth is an illustration, for Naomi does not strike one as being a particularly helpful, hopeful, or cheerful person to live with; seeming rather to have been of a peevish, bitter spirit, with a readiness to blame God for the results of her own backsliding. But Ruth, who had come to trust under the shadow of the wings of the Lord God of Israel, doubtless was stedfastly minded to keep His commandments, of which one was, "Honour thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee, and that thy days may be long in the land" — and in keeping His commandments she found great reward.

Lack of consideration for parents and aged people, on the part of professed disciples of Christ must be specially objectionable and displeasing to Him, Who in the hour of His own bitter need, thought of His mother's sad heart and provided for her future comfort by entrusting her to the charge of the disciple whom He loved.

No attainment spiritually, intellectually or socially, can in the slightest degree dispense any Christian from the obligation to honour, in the fullest sense, parents, and those whose age and infirmities make claims upon our respect. Moses commanded, "Thou shalt rise up before the face of the old man." Are we stedfastly minded in this as in all else to act according to God's revealed will?

3. The thankfulness of Ruth's spirit is found running through to the end of her story. She is overwhelmed by the kindness shown to her. As she sees the provision made for her means of support, and for refreshment meanwhile, and notes the delicacy of the arrangements, and listens to the kind words of the master, "she fell on her face and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?"

Happy type of the thankful believer in the Lord Jesus who can never feel sufficiently thankful to the One Who has taken knowledge of us in our lost estate, though we were strangers to Him, and in Whose eyes our souls have found grace.

Then as Boaz makes known the kindness of God to her and speaks of recompense and reward to the trusting soul, she replies, "Thou has comforted me, and spoken friendly to thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens." The narrative presents this stedfastly minded woman filled with wonder and thankfulness at the grace shown to her, and at the same time with low thoughts of herself — I am not like one of thine handmaidens — only a stranger, and yet have found grace, and have been spoken to friendly and been comforted.

May our hearts abound with thanksgiving to the One Who, greater than Boaz, has done much greater things for us.

4. Then think of the happy-hearted girl as she wends her way home at eventide to her mother with all the news of the day's happenings. The whole story of Ruth is a happy one from the day when she was stedfastly minded to cast in her lot with the people of God who were going to the good land, onward to the end with its marriage joy.

Happy in her stedfast mindedness, proving her election by her perseverance; happy in her unselfishness, losing her life in service but finding it richly again; happy in her thankful spirit; and happy in all the good things which God had given her.

Would the reader know this happy, thankful, unselfish, restful life? Cleave to the Lord with stedfast purpose. Remember that in an age of fickleness, indecision, and general unsettlement the ancient promise still finds modern fulfilment, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee."

Still may the stedfastly minded believer thankfully repeat the inspired words which form a threefold cord, not easily broken, binding the soul to the Saviour-God, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded (stedfastly minded) that He is able to keep what I have committed unto Him against that day." 2 Tim. 1: 12. "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God." Rom. 8: 28.

"We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 2 Cor. 5: 1. With these great truths to sustain our hearts we may well be STEDFASTLY MINDED.

Chapter 10.

Wilderness Desires of the Christian Life.

"O God, thou art my God; early will I seek Thee; my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is; to see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary." (Ps. 53: 1, 2.)

David the outcast, the fugitive, the man with more than an average share of life's difficulties, perplexities and dangers, is one who treasured in his heart never-to-be-forgotten memories of the God he had seen in the sanctuary. As he utters the words of this Psalm in the wilderness of Judah his mind goes back to the experiences of other days when he had been in the sanctuary; and, whatever passing circumstances may now be, the reality of those happy seasons can never be denied. So with eager-hearted longing he turns in the wilderness to the God of the sanctuary.

Was it one morning at break of day that the Psalmist arose and beheld the glory of the rising sun over the Judean hills and like his ancestor exclaimed, "Surely God is in this place and I knew it not?" or at eventide did the wonder and splendour of the sunset over the Great Sea turn his thoughts to Him Who appointeth the sun his going down? We cannot say; but we know that as we behold the wonders of God's hand in the temple of Nature, the heavens declare His power and His glory, and the reverent beholder worshipfully says, "All Thy works praise Thee, O Lord, and Thy saints bless Thee,"

"For beauty seen is never lost,

God's colours all are fast;

The glories of the sunset sky

In to my soul have past."

In Nature, in Providence, in Grace, the child of God receives impressions which can never be forgotten. In Nature, the gorgeous sunset — the first sight of a mountain — the great and wide sea, may open a window through which to behold the power and glory of God; in Providence, recovery from an almost fatal illness — the birth of the first child — bereavement, may be used to show us yet deeper wonders; in Grace — the happy day of conversion and peace with God — the day of baptism — the day when first "He was known to us in the Breaking of the Bread," all are red-letter days in the calendar of the soul's experience. "There He spake with us," and no subsequent happenings can efface the marks from our lives.

How real the sanctuary experiences of God's people always are; days of heaven upon earth; times when doors being closed on earth they find a door opened in heaven, so that the way-worn pilgrim in the wilderness may behold the glory of God and Jesus Himself in the midst; days they are too, when the vision glorious overwhelms the soul, until the realisation of the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord lifts the heart above the weary wilderness of earth, and the pilgrim goes on the way with lighter step and gladder heart.

How many of our readers will ever forget the recovery from an almost fatal illness, either on their own part or of one they dearly loved? "The Lord was very good to me then," they say, as they remember His providence. And when in an hour of dark bereavement, when sorrow surged into the soul, some may recall how the heart turned brokenly to One

". . . Whose loving heart

Can feel my smallest woe;

Who in each sorrow bears a part

That none can bear below."

We are told that "Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah." Is there a hint here that the tremendous responsibility of parenthood, the wonder and mystery of linking the past on to the future, and the immense possibilities of that tiny life now entrusted to his charge, caused Enoch to realise his deeper need of God, and to seek to walk with Him that he might fittingly fulfil his duty? In any case, to many another the responsibilities of life have been so used, and a little child has led them in to closer touch with God.

But what shall we write of that ever to be remembered hour when first we knew the Lord! "The happy day" of which the ransomed sing "when Jesus washed my sins away." Whatever has happened since, or however our joy may at times have drooped it was a happy day, for then we saw God's power and glory in the miracle of His grace to us. And, at our Baptism — the day when in simple obedience we openly identified ourselves with our Lord in death and burial — how real it was. Never will the writer forget the awful solemnity and joy as the Sacred Name of the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — was spoken over him in that place of witness to death with Christ and of issue into a walk of newness of life.

Still more vivid is the recollection of His power and glory as the Lord makes Himself known in the Breaking of the Bread to those who enjoy this delightful privilege. Here the experience is beyond expression, because there can be no adequate description given of the unearthly joy He grants in the manifestation of Himself to those who, having heard His words "This do for a remembrance of Me," seek in simple faith and devotion thus to meet the desire of their Lord and Saviour.

They stand upon the hills of God with sunshine in their souls; they see by faith what others fail to see; they hear, and touch, and taste the things eternal, until as they go on their way through the wilderness of earth the language of their hearts is akin to that of David the Psalmist in the wilderness of Judah, "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek Thee; my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is; to see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary."

This all leads David to desire a fuller knowledge of, and a closer communion with the God of his sanctuary experiences, because of the present wilderness of Judah wherein he has no certain dwelling place. This desire is no mere passing whim of the moment, but the meditated purpose of his will. So we note the steps by which he proposes to realise this desire. (1) My lips shall praise Thee, v. 3. (2) I will lift up my hands in Thy Name, v. 4. (3) My soul shall be (or is) satisfied, and my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips, v. 5. (4) I remember Thee . . . I meditate upon Thee. Thou hast been my help, v. 6, 7. (5) My soul followeth hard after Thee: Thy right hand upholdeth me, v.8.

Praise, prayer, thanksgiving, meditation and diligence in following after the Lord are the five steps which lead the heart up from the wilderness experience to the sanctuary experience. If David had ground for praise how much more those who know God as David never could in his day; if he could value prayer what of ourselves who can now pray in the Holy Spirit and in the Name of the Lord Jesus; if he had much to be thankful for how much more have we; if his meditation was sweet ours should be surely sweeter; and if he gave diligence to follow hard after God, how much greater the obligation on our part to cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart.

The wilderness will not last for ever; passing things are passing things; and the children of God are heirs to eternal things.

Meanwhile, whatever the dryness of the world and the thoroughly unsatisfying character of everything here to the believer, yet it must never be forgotten that there is abundant spiritual refreshment and joy for our hearts in the Lord Jesus. We see not yet all things put under Him, but we see Jesus crowned with glory and honour, and this is an unfailing spring of comfort and satisfaction to all who truly love His Name. He has entered into heaven itself for us; He ever liveth to make intercession for us; He is set down on the right hand of the majesty on high; He is in the midst of the Throne of God.

These bare facts laid hold upon by faith are a cause for great exultation to all believers, young and old alike, because of what they mean for Him and ourselves.

"While sorrowing, suffering, toiling here,

How does this thought our spirits cheer —

The Throne of glory's Thine."

As J. G. Bellett truly says: "Our souls should know these secrets. Did not Peter know them when he slept [in the prison], and Paul and Silas when they sang praises in the prison? There was no sanctuary around them, but the Holy Spirit had spread within a kingdom of light and liberty and joy in God. They were citizens of a city that needed not the light of the sun."

"Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer (i.e., of a brave heart); for I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me."

Chapter 11.

Serving the Lord Christ in the Christian Life.

The Apostle Paul evidently considers it quite sufficient an incentive to hearty service to remind the servants of Christ Who their Master really is. He knew full well from personal experience that a realisation of Whom they served would enhance the value of their splendid opportunities of service. He knew that nothing furnishes so great an inspiration for service as love; and to remember that "the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" had called him into His own service, caused the Apostle to say, "The love of Christ constraineth us."

Thus the recollection that we serve THE LORD CHRIST causes an inspiration of gratitude to spring up in our service, which, like the Gulf Stream, diffuses its genial warmth and causes fruitful conditions wherever it goes, until we serve heartily, for we serve the Lord Christ.

The reminder of Him in Whose service they were would enable them to realise the dignity of His service. The Queen of Sheba could say of the servants of Solomon (1 Kings 10: 8), "Happy are thy men, happy are thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom." But a greater than Solomon is our Master, for we "serve the Lord Christ." Are His men happy? Are His servants happy which stand continually before Him and hear His wisdom? Ask those who know.

A returned missionary, after spending years in the Congo, recently remarked, "Someone sent me a letter signed, 'Yours in His happy service,' and he added emphatically, 'So I am.'"

Ask the Apostle himself; mark how he boasts of being the bond-slave, the servant of Jesus Christ, as though it were the highest honour on earth to which a man could aspire. It is to him an evident matter of happy thankfulness that such a position has been granted him. He parades his chains, and boasts of the liberty wherewith Christ has made him free. He speaks very confidently of the One "Whose I am and Whom I serve."

There is no disgrace attaching to the bond-service of the slave of Jesus Christ; for the dignity of His service is such that the meanest task becomes a matter of honoured privilege to those who know that they "serve the Lord Christ."

The possibility, too, of receiving the eternally to be coveted "Well done, good and faithful servant," from His lips, is one that sends the blood coursing through the veins with ardent aspiration and desire. "Ye serve the Lord Christ," and many, many times does Paul glory in the fact that he, at any rate, is the SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST.

Then the reminder that "ye serve the Lord Christ" breathes a spirit of glad adventure — of daring faith — of high endeavour into the servant's heart. For what glorious possibilities there are in His service! What potentialities lie hidden in the opportunities afforded us! Who can tell what may happen? — for all things are possible with Him our Master, to "Whom all power in heaven and earth is given." And all things are possible to him that believeth.

It was this spirit of glad holy adventure, of daring faith, and of strenuous endeavour which characterised the Apostle himself. "Ye serve the Lord Christ" and who can tell where it will end? Multitudes may yet rise up and call Him blessed because you served Him faithfully.

"Ye serve the Lord Christ," and Christ the Lord works with His servants as they go forth everywhere at His bidding. He opens doors before them which no man can shut. Happy are His men, happy are His servants which stand continually before Him and hear His wisdom.

"Whatever ye do," says the Spirit of God through the Apostle, "do heartily, for ye serve the Lord Christ."

His happy men. His happy servants. Standing continually before Him as they wait upon Him in prayer and communion. Hearing His wisdom as by the Spirit through the Word in reading and meditation they find Him speaking to their hearts. Heartily serving Him, with an enthusiastic loyalty and contagious zeal. Happy in His service, for ye serve the Lord Christ, and the joy of the Lord is your strength. As Faber sings:

"Workman of God! O lose not heart!

But learn what God is like;

And in the darkest battlefield

Thou shalt know where to strike.

Thrice blest is he to whom is given

The instinct that can tell

That God is on the field, when He

Is most invisible."

Chapter 12.

True Belief and the Christian Life.

Do ye now believe? John 16: 31.

Among the many familiar words spoken by our Blessed Lord on the night of His betrayal, those at the head of this chapter are perhaps little considered. Yet if rightly understood they give pause to our somewhat hurried Christian lives, suggesting a latent peril of which we may be scarcely aware.

To "believe," in the New Testament sense of this term, is to have a faith that moves the whole of one's moral nature — the mind, the affections, the will — in the line of God's revealed purpose. Not intellectual attainment or systematic thinking upon Divine things merely; nor waves of mystical emotion or sentiment; nor, yet again, a mere hard unyielding persistency of purpose; but a personality tuned in harmony with the Will of God, Whose nature is love, Whose wisdom is unsearchable, and Whose power is limitless.

The eleven Apostles on that night of mystery were baffled by the apparent contradictions between what they understood of the Master's teaching during the three happy years now ending, and His present parting discourse. Peter, Thomas, Philip and Jude, each in turn voicing the general thought of the Apostolic band, asked, "Why? How? Show us the Father. How?"

So with infinite patience to them, and profit to His disciples for all time, the Lord explains as much as they could bear at that time, and in closing remarks, "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father." The disciples straightway pass from one extreme to another, and now avow entire belief in Himself.

Our Lord then asks this question, "Do ye now believe?" following it up by throwing the light of His foreknowledge across the, as yet, untrodden pathway of their near future. This, too, is where our hearts may find themselves exercised. We believe and are sure, but what difference does our belief actually make in the practical realm of conduct, character, and conversation?

How startling the declaration of the Lord must have been to them: "Behold, the hour cometh, yea is now come, that ye shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me" (John 16: 32).

"Ye shall be scattered" by the instinct of self-preservation; "and shall leave Me alone," for I shall matter less to you than your other interests then; "every man to his own," leaving the Master solitary. "Oh! recreant disciples," our hearts are ready to cry; "ye believe and are sure, and is this the issue of your belief and assurance?" Still we must consider the time of stress that came into their lives; the storm of fear and perplexity that swept over them; their alarm and amazement at the turn affairs had taken; the unnerving peril that faced them; the panic that seized their hearts when "they all forsook Him and fled." And lest we be tempted to cast stones at them, and to dub them craven cowards, let us enquire within as to whether we have ever sought our own at the expense of His company, His reproach and His interests. Paul, writing of Timothy's interest and devotion to Christ, said that in his day, "All seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's" (Phil. 2: 21). Is this less so to-day?

In the careless days of peace and safety very little demand is made upon our faith, and much passes for real belief and assurance that will sadly fail to stand the test of the hour of real trial. The trimmings of the garment of praise and piety are often mistaken for the garment itself. The fear of the Lord in its true sense of reverential trust and hatred of evil is fast fading away. Familiarity with God is becoming the hall-mark of sacred songs, prayers and public addresses, while intimacy with God is little cultivated. The love of pleasure, and success in business are marks of the times, discernible alas! on believers as well as on unbelievers; the Rationalism of the modern mind, even when propounded in so crude and unphilosophical a fashion as in the New Theology, was eagerly welcomed and acclaimed by professors of all denominations, and by men of none, as though the exaltation of man by the dethronement of the Lord Christ was the chief end of man; the Ritualism too, of those who in effect say they are Jews [traditional religionists with sacrificing priesthood] and are not — whereby the worshippers are placed at a distance, and the ceremonial form takes the place of the spiritual reality in the approach to God has attracted many real believers into its meshes; it having indeed an appearance of wisdom in voluntary worship and humility and harsh treatment of the body. Both these much vaunted religious systems, on the one hand of philosophy and vain deceit, and on the other of will-worship so fascinating to the natural mind, are in reality dishonouring to the Christ of God, either by assailing His most Holy Person or presumptuously supplementing His perfect work by human aids and forms of devotion. In all these things, while claiming to believe, men — professing disciples of Christ too — are scattered, seeking every one his own ideas and things.

But what of ourselves? Has the sifting of the past few years led us to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God? Do ye now believe? Have our prayers become more fervent, simple and real than they were? Do we know the intimacy of children with the liberty of sons before our God? Has our outlook on life broadened, or is it still an opportunity solely for gain and pleasure, though veneered by professed belief in Christ?

The judgment seat of Christ should be constantly borne in mind as we consider that not what we have, but what we are, is the supreme thing in the sight of God.

Whatever the profession of the lips, "as he thinketh in his heart so he is." "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits" (Prov. 16: 2). "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the hearts" (Prov. 21: 2. N. Trans.). "Will not He that weigheth the hearts consider it?" (Prov. 24: 12. N. Trans.).

Chapter 13.

The Gospel by John and the Christian Life.

The object of this paper is to suggest lines of thought and study, which, if pursued, may serve as a key to unlock the treasury of the Fourth Gospel. It, and the succeeding chapters, are selective and suggestive, and on that account may appear somewhat disjointed; but the Gospel itself, both from its attractive simplicity and amazing profundity, holds and exercises an increasing fascination for believers in every stage of Christian growth.

It will be found instructive to carefully note its distinctive features, namely:—

1. Its subject.

2. Its object.

3. Its character.

4. Its keywords.

5. Its omissions.

6. Its additions.

7. Its seven miracles.

8. Its sevenfold subjective sign.

9. Its fourfold witness to Christ's Person.

10. Its threefold division because of Him.

11. Its two great parables.

12. Its one great principle.

13. Its idylls.

ITS SUBJECT.

This is clearly defined in chapters 1: 12, 14: 9, to be the Eternal Son — He Who never ceased to be what He was, by becoming what He in grace became — revealing the Eternal God as the Father, to all who receive the Son.

ITS OBJECT.

From chapter 20: 30, 31, we learn that out of the many other things that Jesus did and said, these are selected, grouped and recorded, to establish, illustrate and explain the one great fact that Jesus (of Whom the Evangelist writes) is the Christ, the Son of God, in Whom believing, we may have life through His Name.

ITS CHARACTER.

The character of this Gospel is plainly significant, it being a record of signs which Jesus did thereby manifesting forth His glory, i.e., declaring His real character.

ITS KEYWORDS.

These are Light, Life, Love — being the Revelation of the essential Being of God, by the Only-begotten Son. Chapter 1: 18.

ITS OMISSIONS (as compared with the Synoptic Gospels).

These are of peculiar interest, in view of the fact that the writer was one of the favoured trio present on the holy mount; occupied a position of intimacy at the Last Supper; was in Gethsemane; the only one of the Apostolic band at the Cross; and he, moreover, to whose care the mother of the Lord was specially entrusted; yet, he omits to record any mention of the Nativity, the Temptation, the Transfiguration, the Lord's Supper, the Agony in the Garden, and the Dereliction upon the Cross. These, needless to remark, not from any lack of information, but of divine design.

ITS ADDITIONS (to the Synoptic Gospels).

In the light of Christian experience, these are illuminative to an extraordinary degree. They are: —

(1) The title of Lamb of God in connection with sin, chap. 1: 29; apart from all mention of sin, verse 36. Cf. Heb. 9: 28.

(2) The position taken by Jesus as the Gathering Centre for all who received God's testimony by the prophets in the person of John the Baptist, the last and greatest of them all. Chap. 1: 37-42.

(3) The frequent use of the exclusive name of God, "I AM" (cf. Exodus 3: 14, 6: 2, 3), with its tacit assumption that Jesus and Jehovah are one and the same Person.

(4) The washing of the Disciples' feet, with its doubly typical character. Chap. 13: 1-17.

(5) The Paschal Discourses. Chap. 14 — 16.

(6) The Intercessory Prayer of the Lord in chap. 17, with its significant threefold address to the Father as (a) Father, in personal relation, (b) Holy Father in relation to His own who are in the world, (c) Righteous Father in relation to the world in which His own are.

(7) The public restoration and re-instatement to office by the Lord, of Peter at the lake-side. Chap. 21.

ITS SEVEN MIRACLES.

These constitute a sevenfold objective sign proving His real character by the exercise of the power of the Creator, over nature, disease, death, and life. (a) At Cana in Galilee, chap. 2: 1, (b) At Capernaum, chap. 4: 54, (c) At Bethesda, chap. 5: 1-9, (d) Galilee, chap. 6: 5-14, (e) Giving sight to a blind man, chap. 9: 1-7, (f) Raising to life of Lazarus, chap. 11, (g) The extraordinary draught of fishes at the sea of Galilee, chap 21.

ITS SEVENFOLD SUBJECTIVE SIGN.

This reveals Him as a Man Who dealt effectively with the secrets of men; as One who knew the thoughts of men (cf. Ps. 139: 2), thereby proving Himself to be more than man, (a) Nathanael's surprise and confession, chap. 1, (b) The Lord's general attitude towards men and the reason given in chap. 2: 24, 25, (c) At Sychar, chap. 4: 29, (d) In the temple at Jerusalem, chap. 5: 14, (e) In the temple again in chap. 8: 7, (f) At the Last Supper to Judas, chap. 13: 27, (g) To Thomas the Apostle in the Upper Room, chap. 20: 27.

ITS FOURFOLD WITNESS TO CHRIST'S PERSON.

(a) By the Father, chap. 5: 27, (b) by the Scriptures, chap. 5: 39 and 47, (c) by the Baptist, chap. 5: 33, (d) by the Apostle Peter, chap. 6: 68, 69, the whole constituting a complete witness on earth as to Who Jesus was.

ITS THREEFOLD DIVISION BECAUSE OF HIM.

This feature of the Gospel of John is startling by its modernity, for the division is (a) because of His person, chap. 7: 43, (b) because of His work, chap. 9:16, (c) because of His word — His sayings, chap.10: 19, just as at the present day. The Person, Work and Words of Christ are still what divides men down to the very roots of their being cf. Luke 2: 34, 35.

ITS TWO GREAT PARABLES.

(a) The Good Shepherd, chap. 10. (b) The True Vine, chap. 15.

ITS ONE GREAT PRINCIPLE.

There is running through the whole Gospel like a golden thread the one supreme principle of believing God. (a) Knowledge, chap. 7: 17, (b) Sight, chap. 11: 40, (c) Certainty, chap. 6: 69 and (d) Blessedness, chap. 20: 29, are all seen to spring from accepting God's testimony.

ITS IDYLLS.

An exquisite loveliness in the human nature of our Divine Lord is revealed in this Gospel record by the story of (a) the home at Bethany, and of (b) the disciple whom Jesus loved and of (c) Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb. There is a tenderness, a winsomeness, and beauty radiating from these simple glimpses, which seem to fill the chambers of devotional contemplation with a fragrance as of the ivory palaces. (cf. Ps. 45: 8), as we think of the place where He Who had nowhere to lay His head was always the honoured and welcomed guest; of the disciple who knew the love of his Master most intimately; and of the woman whom nothing on earth could compensate for the loss of Him whom she so touchingly called "MY MASTER." It is when we think on these things, that we realise a little more clearly that no amount of knowledge, or activity in service can ever dispense with simple, genuine, devotion to, and affection for, the Person of our Blessed Lord.

In closing this necessarily brief and somewhat scanty outline of the Gospel by John, we may remark that it is deeply significant to notice that from the first mention of them, the Feasts of Jehovah have become merely Feasts of the Jews; and that from the beginning of His public ministry here He is the rejected One. There is also a strongly marked vicious undercurrent of hostility and hatred always latent in this Gospel record.

From this introductory chapter, the young believer will gather something of the character and contents of the Treasury of John's Gospel.

Chapter 14.

The Gospel by John and the Christian Life.

Having briefly indicated the object, subject, and characteristics of our Gospel, we now proceed to look more closely into its contents, considering, in the first place, its significant additions to the narratives recorded by the other Evangelists.

(1) In chapter 1: 29 we find the title of the Lamb of God given to our Lord by John the Baptist; and meditation upon this theme leads the soul back before the foundation of the world, and on to the golden age when the kingdoms of this world, having become the kingdoms of our God, and of his Christ, God shall be all in all. It is an inexhaustible subject. In the volume of the Book, in type, by symbol, through prophecy the Lamb of God — the Revealer — the Reconciler — the Ruler is shadowed, shown and witnessed to. The true inwardness of the words of Abraham to his son on the way up to the place of sacrifice is seen. "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb," says the Patriarch, the father of the faithful, the friend of God. "Behold the Lamb of God," cries the Baptist, the last and greatest of all the prophets, as he sees Jesus coming to him, "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world."

The Passover story and ritual; the continual sacrifices under the Levitical economy; the Evangelical prophecies of Isaiah and Zechariah; the Pagan sacrifices, with their dim groping after propitiation telling of mingled hope and despair; all find explanation and fulfilment in Jesus and His Sacrifice, as Lamb of God; for the title of "Lamb of God" in connection with sin speaks of the love of God providing a sacrifice. Jesus is God's Sacrifice, the outcome of God's love to man. He, who ever was God, became man, that He might die for sinful man, and bring redeemed men into vital and eternal union and communion with God upon a righteous and, therefore, entirely satisfactory basis cf. 1 John 4: 9, 10.

So in the consideration of this title of our Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God, we at least discover the love of God in the Sacrifice of God, making atonement to God for the wrong sin had done to God, and manifesting the mercy of God to the sinner, at the same time eternally securing blessing to every believer in Himself.

(2) Next we find in ch. 1: 35-51 the Lord Jesus as the Gathering Centre for such as receive God's testimony.

John the Baptist, looking upon Him as He walked exclaims "Behold the Lamb of God." It is the outcome of his heart as occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus. The immediate result, possibly unlooked for, but not resented by the Baptist, is, that two of the men who had been drawn by his faithful preaching to become disciples, leave him to follow Jesus. John had been hitherto the highest and most spiritual they had known; probably most of their knowledge of God had come through that greatest of all the prophets, but "every one who hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto Me," and henceforth, not the eminent servant, but the Blessed Son of God was to be the object of discipleship.

Jesus turns and sees them, welcomes, invites and satisfies their hearts, and they stay with Him that day. This is but a picture of the present day exercises of the heart which receives God's testimony as to the Sin Bearer, the Lamb of God; for to such He Who once appeared to deal with and effectually settle the question of sin and sins, shall appear again the second time apart from the question of sin altogether, and they shall see where He dwells, cf. John 16: 3, 17: 24, and shall abide with him throughout God's eternal day.

The prophetic indication of this position as gathering centre is clearly given in the blessing of Judah (the tribe from which our Lord came) by the Patriarch Jacob, Gen. 49: 10, "Unto him shall the gathering of the people be." The people, chosen, scattered, peeled, shall be brought into blessing again, cf. Rom. 11: 26, "all Israel shall be saved," for the day will come when they shall say of Him, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of Jehovah." So Jesus is God's gathering centre for the people, i.e., Israel; further, the Apostolic declaration in Eph. 1: 9, 10, re-affirms this principle, but with a far wider application — all things in the heavens and which are on earth, to be gathered together in Christ. He is declared by prophetic and apostolic revelation to be God's great gathering centre. He Who in lowly grace humbled Himself that God's essential glory or character, might be revealed, and that man might thereby be brought into eternal blessedness, is most rightly accorded this pre-eminence. No individual life, no company of believers can glorify God except and in the measure that the Lord Jesus has His rightful place.

(3) Next we discover in the reading and study of John's Gospel the peculiarity of the frequent use of the exclusive name of God, "I AM." The name "Jehovah" is never applied to any other than the Supreme Being — He Who IS, being the Name formally adopted in Exodus in relationship with Israel (cf. Ex. 3: 13, 14; 6: 3). Yet this specific term "I AM" is appropriated by this One Whom all could see was really man. However faintly our translation may convey this, there is no kind of question at all that the Pharisees and our Lord's contemporaries recognised it, resented it, and made it the ecclesiastical basis of their relentless opposition to Him (chap. 8).

Note then, that this frequent use of the name "I AM," with its underlying assumption that Jesus and Jehovah are One and the Same Person, demonstrated by the signs in this Gospel, is peculiar to John, and illuminates the doctrine of the Incarnation by the dignity and humility of the Lord Jesus.

(4) The washing of the Disciples' feet in chap. 13 is the next addition to be noticed in order. It is a sweetly suggestive incident. He, knowing that He was come from God and went to God, riseth from supper and (1) laid aside His garments, as He had already laid aside the form of God, and (2) girded Himself with a towel, as He had already taken upon Him the Form of a servant, (3) then proceeds in lowliest humility to wash their feet. He had already told them that "the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10: 45), and as the heart meditates upon the scene in the Upper Room, and remembers how soon His sacred head, then bowed in lowly service over their feet, was to be bowed in death on the bitter Cross for our salvation, some inkling of the typical meaning of that act dawns upon the soul.

He Who, like the Hebrew servant in Exodus 21, might, having served His term, have gone out free, elects, for the love He bears to His Master, and His Church collectively, and His people individually, to remain a Servant even in death. Cf. Matt. 26: 53, 54; Heb. 10: 5-14; John 6: 38.

Typical, too, is the incident of His present occupation. Exalted again by the glory of God, yet a Servant for ever. He lives, as He died, to serve His people cf. John 15; Luke 18: 37. "He restoreth my soul." "Because I live ye live also." "Saved by His life." Ps. 23: 3; John 14: 19, Rom. 5: 10. It is His loving unwearied service which cleanses His own who are in the world from the defilement contracted in their walking through it. Eph. 5: 25-27. How much we owe to Him in this way we can never tell. For it is Himself and His service in life and in death, which calls out the Father's supreme delight, the Church's eternal worship, and the individual believer's loving loyalty.

But of that significant action He expressly said it was an example given by Himself of what His disciples were ever to do. Peter never forgot it, and in his first epistle, written a quarter of a century later, he exhorts his fellow disciples to be clothed with humility" (1 Peter 5: 5), "bind on humility" (J.N.D. Trans.), "gird yourselves with humility" (R.V.). Never could the Apostle forget the sacred head bowed over his unworthy feet. Paul also exhorts to the same end. Phil. 2: 5, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." "By love serve one another" (Gal. 5: 13). The measure and the standard of the exercise of this, is set by the Lord Himself, "As I have done to you" (John 13: 15). This transcends the golden rule of Matt. 8: 12, presenting not merely an ethic, but an Exemplar. My debt to Him is the measure of my debt to my brethren. Let me take care that when girded with humility, the water wherewith I seek to wash my brother's feet is neither too hot nor too cold, so that the desired end may be reached, and his soul restored again.

(5) The next feature peculiar to this Gospel is found in the Paschal discourses recorded in Chap. 13: 31 — 16.

There the hope of the Lord's return, the interval meanwhile filled by the Presence in them of the other Helper — the Holy Spirit — with the effect of that abiding Presence, is the prominent theme.

Christ's peace is left to them, that they too may know His joy in the world, and the characteristics of His real disciples are clearly marked. By fruit-bearing — bearing much fruit — fruit that remains, they are proved to be His disciples.

By love one to another they reveal themselves to all men as His disciples.

By answered prayer begotten of obedience and communion it is again demonstrated that they are disciples of His indeed. Tribulation, the process of sifting, or winnowing by passing circumstances, is assured in the world, but a brave-heartedness, good courage, is likewise enjoined upon all His disciples, for says He, "I have overcome the world" (chap. 16: 33). Cf. 1 John 5: 3-5. So these precious, enheartening discourses given on the same night in which He was betrayed, furnish the disciple with chart and compass, port and Pilot on his voyage across the stormy sea of time, and assure the faithful learner who is daily endeavouring to practise the lessons learnt, of an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour.

The question asked later, on that same night, and recorded alone in this Gospel, "Art not thou also one of His disciples?" is at once personal, pertinent and important, for this Man still has disciples, and amidst the mass of rank profession in Christendom the cynical enquiry is still made by the world of the professor; and within the heart of the backslider the grieved Spirit of God ceases to comfort, but presses the same enquiry on the attention in holy reproof earnestly and lovingly, "Art not thou one of His disciples?"

Those who are disciples indeed, are privileged to know that elevated calm, that sweet reasonableness, that quietness of spirit which comes from a mind stayed upon God; the art of living this day in the light of "that day," 2 Tim. 4: 8.

(6) Next in order in this Gospel follows the Intercessory Prayer of our Lord, in which His personal ministry blends with the perpetual ministry of the Blessed Spirit although He is not mentioned here.

The threefold address to the Father was noted in our introduction, but it is of the first importance to remember that the key to the whole prayer is the name of the Father. This He had fully declared, this He would continue to declare cf. 1 John 1: 3.

Note in verse 5, His inherent, unshared glory, the glory of the Eternal Son enjoyed ere time began; cf. Prov. 8: 22-32; also in verses 22 and 24, His conferred glory, given to, and beheld by His own.

Consider the provision in verses 13 and 24 respectively for the present and the future. Now — "My joy fulfilled in themselves." Then — "with Me where 1 am that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me."

The hour had come! and He who had in patient love and lowly grace declared the true God in a world that hated both Him and His Father, now solemnly appeals to that Father in relation to the world as Righteous Father; cf. Isa. 49: 3-12; Phil. 2: 10, 11; Heb. 1: 2.

There is likewise to be noted the threefold unity of believers, namely, the unity by pressure from the hatred of the world because of the word given; then the unity from within by the blessed oneness of communion with the Father and the Son by the Spirit; and lastly the unity which the world will know as they behold the character of God delineated in the disciples of Christ here below.

(7) The next and final addition peculiar to John's Gospel is in Chapter 21, and deals with the public restoration and re-instatement to office by the Lord, of Peter the Apostle.

Chapter 15.

The Gospel by John and the Christian Life.

In the consideration of the sevenfold objective signs given in John's Gospel, it is of the last importance to remember that "these things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God" (chap. 20: 31).

They in each instance show the glory or real character of the One Who performs the immediate work of power. In the first miracle or sign which Jesus did as recorded in our Gospel, we observe the power of the Creator in exercise upon inanimate nature. A true case of transubstantiation occurs. The element water is changed so completely into wine that colour, taste and smell proclaim the fact; the governor of the feast bearing eloquent though unconscious testimony to the miracle wrought (chap. 2: 9, 10). Who but the Creator can change the nature of things? And the Evangelist tersely and illuminatively comments, "This beginning of signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory"; "the glory or character as of the Only Begotten of the Father" (chap. 1: 14).

The second sign was given at Capernaum, where the bare word of the lowly Jesus of Nazareth kindles faith in the nobleman's heart, and arrests disease in his child. That word too, be it noted, spoken at a distance from the afflicted lad (chap. 4: 46-54). Again the unbiassed reader beholds in this sign the character of Him, whose words as Man had the authority of God.

In Galilee of the Gentiles this light had shined, but now the story leads to Jerusalem the capital city; and the anointed King, the Christ, the Sent One of the Father at His entrance, finds by the sheep-market a scene speaking both of Himself the true Bethesda, the constituted and manifested House of Mercy, and also of the world He had come to bless. For before His gaze there lay outspread a world in miniature, a picture of world-wide human need; the impotent folk, the blind, the lame, the withered, all waiting in almost hopeless despair. At best but a limited blessing could be expected; and so true to human experience was the actual realisation that they who needed it most were least able to get help. Singling out a case of chronic infirmity, very old standing, and a sufferer who had experienced many bitter disappointments; one to whom angels' visits but intensified his inability and friendlessness, Jesus, with a word of power, delivers him from his malady, and brings to his despondent heart a vision of true friendship, new life, and wide and increasing opportunities for activity. It is a miraculous cure, a sign of the character of the Person by Whose word it had been wrought.

In Galilee again, the Lord finds the setting for the next sign by which His glory is to be shown. It was the need of men which gave fresh occasion for the display of His power. In chap. 6: 5-15 we are reminded that, as ever, so then, He thought of the need; He provided suitably and sufficiently for the need; and "as much as they would." If there was no waste, neither was there any stint. So now He,

"With Heavenly Bread makes them that hunger whole,

Gives living waters to the thirsty soul."

The incident is unusually full of instruction; teaching us in one way that not Philip's wisdom was needed, but Philip's faith; again pointing to the unobtrusive but invaluable service of Andrew the Apostle, who is always found introducing to the Master someone who can do what he personally is unable to accomplish; again, the godly order is instructive; He Who alone knows the extent both of the demand and the supply, and Who is alone competent for the occasion, gives thanks, linking God and the need together thereby, and then distributes to His disciples, who give the food to the multitude. Wondrous is the grace and moral glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who in His own Person and by His own act joins God and the disciples together in meeting the need of individuals. Now, as then, "things done decently and in order," bear the mark of the Perfect Servant, Who is also the Eternal Son.

One further note must be made. A little lad, putting all he had into the hand of Him Who could by His own power make it sufficient for the needs of all, must certainly encourage every teacher of the young to more strenuous endeavour to act as Andrew did, and bring them into touch with Jesus Himself.

But over and above the narrative there arises the conviction expressed by the men in verse 14, "This is indeed that Prophet that should come into the world." By this miraculous multiplication of bread and fish, a further sign is given that the Man Who did this is none other than the Creator though veiled in human flesh; and these things are selected by the Spirit through John, "that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God."

They would have made Him a king — a bread king; but the time for the kingdom was not then, for He was already rejected by those who, had they believed their own Scriptures, would have recognised Him indeed as the son of God, and the King of Israel (chap. 1: 49).

The fifth of the sevenfold series of objective signs or miracles occurs in chapter 9, and is up to this point in the Gospel perhaps the most significant of any recorded. The giving of sight to one who had not previously possessed it, is undoubtedly the work of God; but the mode in which this gift was conveyed makes it doubly significant.

By making clay and putting it upon the man's sightless eyes, He rendered him doubly blind; the exact condition of the favoured nation who were blinded by the fact of the Incarnation, spite of the possession of the Scriptures. Boasting of Moses they refused both Christ and the Father Who had sent Him. This acted parable now takes place before the eyes of those who said "We see," and the blind man is directed to the pool of Siloam, the meaning of which, given in the text, is "SENT." Obeying the word of Jesus, he goes, washes, and returns seeing. An historical happening, yet withal a significant parable both of the state of the people, and of the Sent One of God in their midst Who  worked effectually in the midst of human incapacity. Further, he who had acted upon the testimony of the Sent One is led to confess him as the Son of God.

In the next sign given by the Evangelist we are led still more clearly to see that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

For at the grave of Lazarus "was a Man Who, insisting that He was sent of the Father in grace, calls a dead man from the tomb with authority, and in fact, quickens him and raises him. The Son of God was there, overturning the power of Satan, destroying the dominion of death, and setting man free from the state to which he had been subjected by sin: He was there the Son of God, the Resurrection and the Life, presented to man, declared Son of God with power."

Martha owns Him as "the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world" (chap. 11: 27).

This of all the recorded signs given in John's Gospel is the grandest proof of the personal glory or character of the Lord Jesus. Not merely, as earlier, did He say, "I will raise them up at the last day," but joining the exclusive title of God with the authority over life and death, He affirmed "I am the Resurrection and the Life," and forthwith proceeded to demonstrate it, yet in entire dependence upon the Father Who heard Him always. Never did the Lord insist on His own glory, or work one sign apart from the living Father Who had sent Him. "I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent Me." But these things are written, that the Divine character of the Blessed One Who in lowly dependence did the works, might be clearly and unmistakably seen, for "God will have all men honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which hath sent Him" (chap. 5: 23).

Never can the lowly place taken by the Eternal Son in purest grace, be allowed by the Eternal Father, and the Eternal Spirit to eclipse under any pretext the place which is His by inherent right. On the other hand, because of the Divine humiliation, the Divine exaltation is decreed. Phil. 2: 6-11.

(7.) The final objective sign recorded by John is that in chapter 21, where the Risen Lord, but the same Jesus, again manifests the power of the Creator, and this time over animate nature. The fishes at His will fill the nets of the hitherto unsuccessful professional fishermen; and it is worthy of note that the disciple whom Jesus loved immediately says in awed recognition, "It is the Lord." One emphatic note of every day interest is sounded in this incident. First, here are a complete number of disciples, all of one mind, all in the same place, all workers, yet all together quite unequal to bringing their proposed task to a successful issue — for "they caught nothing."

Then there comes the recognition of the glorious Risen Master. "It is the Lord," Who was on the shore, in the place of stability and power, directs operations, — by enquiry, that they may realise and confess their inability — by counsel, that they may know what to do; and commands an extraordinary and significant blessing.

Writ large across the story is the old but oft forgotten lesson, "Without Me ye can do nothing."

Therefore, says the lesson, make sure of the Master, obey Him absolutely, and expect tremendous blessing because of His word. "It is the Lord," absolute and supreme, in personal life, in Christian service, Who inspires confidence, sustains the heart, and assures victory.

These things written, selected, and grouped are recorded as objective signs of the glory or real character of the Lord Jesus, believing in Whom, we have the life eternal.

Chapter 16.

The Gospel by John and the Christian Life.

Running concurrently with the objective sign in this Gospel is an equally suggestive sevenfold subjective sign, whereby as the Searcher of hearts, dealing effectively with the secrets of men's lives, Jesus again manifests forth His real character as the One who came forth from God.

In chapter 1 Nathanael the guileless Israelite, taken by surprise at the intimate knowledge of himself and his inmost thoughts displayed by the One Whom Philip introduces as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph, confesses outright, "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou are the King of Israel."

He rightly realised that none but He of Whom the Psalmist writes in his 139th Psalm could be before him; and with the transparent sincerity of a genuine seeker after truth, he responds to the light given, and makes the great confession. In chapter 2 the Evangelist records our Lord's general attitude towards men, giving as a sufficient reason in verses 24 and 25, "Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man." So amongst men He moved as a man; but with such a knowledge of men as revealed Him to be more than a man, and to all who had eyes to see manifested forth His glory. In chapter 4 at Jacob's well, again is seen this exercise of a power which causes the Samaritan woman to say, "He told me all that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?"

Let us keep steadily before our minds that "these things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." For what a display of the grace of God is discovered in the ever interesting story recorded in this chapter. By the unerring touch of this One, the sinner is revealed to herself, and finds the revelation of God in Him to meet her deepest needs. Yet to effect all this, an apparently casual reference to her home-life is used; but the ultimate issue of the conversation is seen when the confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Saviour of the world, is made not only by the woman, but by many of her fellow townsmen.

In chapter 5 the grave and unique warning uttered by the Lord Jesus to the man whom He had healed is profoundly significant of the character of Him Who, while not then sent to judge the world, was nevertheless the One by Whom the secrets of men will be judged.

The man who has been healed of a chronic infirmity meets his Healer in the temple and receives the severe and quite unusual admonition, "Behold thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." What does it mean? Surely that the Divine knowledge of the sinful past leading to thirty-eight years of chronic infirmity, is possessed by the One Who has healed him. Yet with this warning light flashed upon his conscience the man immediately proceeds to demonstrate his craven worthless character, for "the man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole. And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him." Probably, with the sole exception of Judas Iscariot, there is no more despicable character in the Gospel narrative than this man, who, having been healed by the pure grace of Jesus, seeks to save his worthless skin at the expense of his Healer.

In chapter 8, the exercise of this Divine knowledge of men results in an unmasking of hypocrisy, and furnishes clear evidence of the character of the One into Whose Presence they dragged the convicted sinner. By His action, by His simple but sufficient remark, the scorching flame of Divine light probed and searched the hearts of the woman's accusers, so that "being convicted by their own conscience, they went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last."

In the presence of that intensely white light, the differences in degree of guilt between the woman and her accusers vanished, as each man realised his own unfitness to undertake the office of executing judgment on a fellow sinner.

In chapter 13, amidst all the most tender and sacred associations of that night in which He was betrayed, we are again shown the Lord Jesus effectively dealing with the secrets of men. Judas Iscariot, at the word of Jesus, is dismissed from the Apostolate, and goes out into the night of unrelieved gloom a declared son of perdition. Yet that word is so spoken by the Lord that, "no man at the table knew for what intent He spake this unto them." For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, "Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor."

But Judas realised that his treachery was unmasked, and that all his secrets were open to the eyes of his Master, and he swiftly goes out from the presence of the Lord a convicted traitor. So is again shown the character of the Man to Whom all hearts are revealed, to Whom all secrets are known.

In chapter 20 Thomas the Apostle finds himself again in the company of the Master Whom he had loved and mourned as lost. Lovingly loyal, and tenderly devoted as he was, he had unbelievingly nursed his great grief spite of the witness of those who had seen the Lord after His resurrection, until in a mood of despondency he had gone to extreme lengths of wilful disbelief. To him then on the second Lord's Day comes the Risen Master and surprises His loving but faithless apostle by revealing His acquaintance with the unbelieving thoughts of his heart. The glad confession "My Lord and my God" is the answer to the grace of the One Who so tenderly but effectively dealt with the secret of his heart.

These things are written, says the Evangelist, "that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name."

Chapter 17.

The Gospel by John and the Christian Life.

We approach a very interesting and instructive portion of the Treasury of John's Gospel in considering the fourfold testimony to the Lord Jesus as recorded by our Evangelist. Bible students will hardly need reminding that the use of the numeral four in Scripture is clearly intended to be an indication of a complete witness on earth to any given fact. Examples of this are abundant, but two may be cited as illustrations, one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. In the former we find the four offerings in the book of Leviticus typically setting forth the Perfect Work accomplished by our Lord on earth; while in the four Gospels we have a complete witness to the Perfect Life lived here. For our present study we turn to chapters 5, 11 and 12, and therein discover witness (1) borne by the Father; (2) by the Scriptures; (3) by John the Baptist; and (4) by Peter the Apostle.

First in importance is the objective witness borne by the Father through the works, to the character of Him Whom men only knew as Jesus of Nazareth! Our Lord appealed to the works wrought as being a plain, positive, palpable confirmation of His Divine mission. "The Father that sent Me, He doeth the works." To Him we find this testimony borne in chapter 5: 36, 37 as the Sent One — the Christ. In chapter 11 by resurrection of the dead witness is borne to Him as Son of God, cf. Romans 1: 4, for issues of life are in the hands of God alone. In chapter 12 by the entry into Jerusalem, which the Evangelist claims as a fulfilment of ancient Messianic prophecy, unmistakable testimony is given to Him as the Son of David, the King of Israel; while in the same chapter by the coming of the Greeks He is witnessed to as the Son of Man, Whose mission of grace overleaps all racial barriers, reaching right down to the fundamental needs of fallen humanity. He therefore solemnly announces His death here, by which alone much fruit is to be brought to God, and by which Gentiles and Jews may alike become fellow heirs of the rich grace of God. To Jew and Gentile He becomes by His rejection upon the cross the Centre, the One by Whom alone the true believer comes to God.

Secondly, we notice the Scriptures are themselves cited as bearing their testimony to the Person of the Lord Jesus as man here on earth. In chapter 1, anticipating somewhat the general declaration of chapter 5, we find one of the earliest disciples, Andrew, assuring his own brother that "we have found the Christ"; and yet more definitely in verse 45, Philip affirms in greater detail to Nathanael, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph." Next in chapter 5: 46, our Lord Himself, when remonstrating with Jewish Scripture readers, exclaims: "Ye search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me."

For the holy Scriptures when opened and read give their emphatic testimony as to Who the Jesus of Whom they witness really is; to the Deity and Humanity in One Person of Jesus the Christ, they bear definite insistent testimony such as compels conviction to the genuine humble searcher after truth.

Thirdly, the witness given by John the Baptist to Jesus is both of an objective nature and emphatic character, e.g., "Behold the Lamb of God"; "I saw the Spirit descending and abiding on Him."

This witness of John the Baptist, at Bethabara as the Lamb of God and the sin-bearer in chapter 1: 29, and as the Son of God in chapter 1: 34, is supplemented by that borne by him at Enon as the Christ of God the Sent One Who speaks the word of God in chapter 3: 26-30.

It is specially helpful in this connection to notice the effectiveness of John's testimony to the Person and work of Jesus, for in chapter 10: 41 we find his hearers saying: "John did no miracle but all things that John spoke of this Man were true."

Also our Lord in His eulogy of His faithful forerunner, says: "He was a burning and a shining light."

These two utterances should give us pause, and lead us to consider the quality of our actual testimony as servants of God. We may indeed do no miracle, but surely we can at least speak truly of Him; and since what God has joined together, no man may put asunder, the reflection presses upon the mind that shining and burning are really two aspects of the same character. Unless our hearts burn with meditation upon the word of God, and with the constraining love of Christ, there will be little shining visible in walk or work. The final testimony completing the fourfold witness on earth given in our Gospel to the character and Person of Jesus is that rendered by Peter the Apostle. In chapter 6: 68, 69 he gives it in the familiar words: "Lord, to Whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life; and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ the Son of the Living God." This is not objective but subjective. The words to which Peter and the rest had listened so often were realised in the deeps of their being to be "words of eternal life" — words of God searching the hidden depths of man in a powerful and operative fashion until "we believe and are sure."

Here emerges a great principle underlying the spiritual structure of the Gospel by John, namely, Knowledge, Sight, Certainty, and Blessedness, all alike springing from the soil of believing God. Cf. chapters 7: 17, 11: 40. 6: 69, 20: 29. "We believe" ("believe" is not a barrier, but a bridge) "and are sure." "Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldst believe thou shouldst see?" "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed," the additional Beatitude pronounced by the Lord during the great forty days of His risen life on earth is the last word on the subject for such as hearken to His voice.

Chapter 18.

The Gospel by John and the Christian Life.

We now briefly glance at the threefold division because of the Person, the work and the word of the Lord Jesus Christ recorded by the Evangelist in the fourth Gospel. At once we note how modern is the character of the subject and how far-reaching its application. For when once men are faced with the claims of Christ they discover that thought, character and destiny are so involved in the issues raised that whatever else they do they cannot ignore Him. He is the One with Whom we as men have to do, all judgment having been committed to Him because He is the Son of Man. So in chapter 7: 43, we read "There was a division among the people because of Him." Some said "He is a prophet"; others said "No, He is the Christ'': others again truly remarked, "Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem where David was." "So there was a division among the people because of Him."

Every student of Church history is sadly aware that most ancient and modern heresies and controversies have raged around the Person of our Lord. His Person is unique and to our finite minds presents an intentionally unfathomable object of worship. "No man knoweth the Son but the Father." It has pleased the Godhead to dwell bodily in Him Whom we know as the second Person of the ever blessed Trinity; and as the believing mind thoughtfully and reverently contemplates the mystery of very God and true man in One Person, one is led to worship in the presence of the Divine wisdom that has ordained that the One Who stooped in infinite grace to the lowest depths of humiliation (cf. Phil. 2) should be the One, the mystery of Whose Person is inscrutable,

The active mind of man seeks to pry (as in the olden days) into the true Ark of God, with the result that He Who is ever an object of worship, becomes to them a subject of mere speculative controversy.

For all who are brought into contact with Him are inevitably divided into worshippers and others. Differing degrees of apprehension may exist; confusing modes of expression may be used; but one who knows, the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour and Lord is distinctly and definitely separate down to the very roots of his being from one who knows Him not. It is Christ — and a man's attitude to Christ — that clearly and finally divides. "There was (and is) a division among the people because of Him." While men may impertinently place Him as one of the prophets, or as being what every thinking man must admit, no ordinary man, the heart taught of the Father confesses Him as the Son of the Living God. If this was so in the days of His flesh, it is equally so to-day; and the Person of "Jesus Christ Who is the same yesterday, to-day and for ever" becomes the infallible revealer of the thoughts of the hearts of all who are brought into contact with Him.

His WORK — the work of atonement to God for the sin of the world, of substitution for the sins of all who believe in Him — is likewise a subject dividing the thoughts of men. In His death the believer sees the Lamb of God Who beareth away the sin of the world; and the true Passover Who is sacrificed for us. Between those who thus behold that "great sight," considering well also "the great price" paid for their freedom, and those who see nothing in Christ's death beyond a martyr's end, an example of devotedness, or an abrupt termination to His life through collision with vested religious interests, as a modern divine affirmed — there is a division, a separation, a great gulf fixed.

His WORDS, too, are decisive to all who hear. "My sheep hear My voice." His voice calls men from the mass of humanity into a select fellowship — the fellowship of the children of God. His voice calls men apart to become the instruments in His hand, for the accomplishment of His purposes. His voice gives vision of the infinite possibilities of a human life lived to the will of God. His voice creates mission as He says, "As the Father sent Me, so I send you." His voice awakens deeps of devotion and inspires to high enterprise, as He says, "Lovest thou Me?" "Tend My sheep."

His voice enheartens the drooping one, and encourages the faint-hearted warrior as He says, "BE OF GOOD CHEER. I have overcome the world." His voice inspires to a perpetual remembrance of Himself as He says, ''Do this for a remembrance of Me." Happy are they who hear.

His words, equally with His work, and His Person, divide all who hear into those for whom His word is full, final and authoritative; and those to whom life is an enigma, death a terror and the hereafter a sad perplexity because He Who is Way, and Truth and Life is unknown by them.

Chapter 19.

The Gospel by John and the Christian Life.

There is a very touching narrative, which comes closely home to our hearts, recorded in the last chapter of our Gospel. It has a background in this lakeside picture which heightens the moral beauty of the scene.

The upper room at the last supper, where the self-confidence of the apostle vaunted itself in a boastfulness and a depreciation of others by his saying, "Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise," throws into relief the deep probing questions of the morning by the lake. The crowded hall of the high priest's house at night with its fire of coals, its weakness and threefold denial, contrast vividly with the quiet lakeside and the threefold confessions of loving attachment to his Master.

But one great Figure is the same; one strong tender Heart is common to both pictures; through all the lights and shadows of the terrible tragedy of that dark night in which he was betrayed by one, denied by another, and forsaken by all, the atmosphere of the gentleness of Christ pervades the whole. To Judas the traitor, the reproof and dismissal from the apostolate are given in such gentle terms that none at the table knew for what intent He spake; to Peter, ignorant of his own weakness and boastful of his ability, "Simon, Simon, I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted (or, restored), strengthen thy brethren," is the utterance of the Lord who knew him fully.

At the high priest's house, when the recreant apostle has thrice denied with oaths and curses that he ever knew his Master, then the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. No upbraiding, no reproaches, no scathing denunciation, but a look, one well believes, of such infinite pity and sorrow for His poor, craven-hearted follower, that Peter went out and wept bitterly. Who amongst the followers of the Lord Jesus does not know something of this — the gentleness of Christ?

Now, on this calm, peaceful morning, the same holy Master awaits His follower, and, thoroughly dealing with him, restores and re-instates him to office.

But note the gentleness of the Lord as He trusts the restored man again, and entrusts to him a yet greater share of His interests. This gentleness made Peter great, and in after days we find this apostle teaching the lessons learnt that day cf. 1 Peter 2: 21; 5: 2-4.

It is interesting to observe that the enquiry of the Lord is not "Lovest thou My sheep?" but "Lovest thou ME?" Then, "Feed my lambs"; Shepherd my sheep," "Feed my sheep" — incidentally reminding us that no amount of affection for the sheep will guarantee sufficient impetus to maintain a course of unwearied service to them. The people of the Lord are sometimes difficult to get on with; they have moods and opinions and are sometimes apt to be very viewy and trying; likewise the pastors or shepherds, being human, may magnify themselves and not their office, or cease to be ensamples to the flock of God, and so the relationship fails of its divine intention.

But the Unchanging One to Whom Peter realised his eternal indebtedness, Whose love had entirely won him, Whose gentleness had made him great, with unerring wisdom touches the vital question of all true service, whether towards the people of God or to sinners needing salvation, "Lovest thou Me?" thus presenting Himself as the sole object for the heart of the servant, and the sufficient motive for the most arduous, unwearied, patient, willing service to man.

One further thing calls for notice in this incident, namely, no sooner is Peter restored and re-instated to office, than a hint of the old disposition appears. The final words of commission have been spoken by the Lord, and the emphatic injunction, "Follow Me" has been placed upon him, when he, turning about, began to be occupied with another disciple.

An eye off the Master, and on a fellow disciple leads to an outburst of curiosity. The turning about, and the occupation with some other one than the One he was called to follow was and is the cause of the mischief. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was probably morally and spiritually the best of the apostolic band, but anyone or anything that diverts the gaze of the believer from his Lord is a hindrance to the close following of His steps.

So the Lord in His tenderness rebukes the incipient wandering of this one, who once before "had followed afar off," with, "What is that to thee? Follow thou Me."

There is but one Lord, and He the sufficient object for the heart of the saint; and the Lord here briefly indicates what is the life-long occupation for Peter, and for ourselves, "Follow thou Me."

"Oh, guard my soul then, Jesus,

Abiding still with Thee;

And if I wander, teach me,

Soon back to Thee to flee;

That all Thy gracious favour

May to my soul be known,

And versed in this, Thy goodness,

My hopes Thyself shalt crown."

Chapter 20.

After all this — the Warning for the Christian Life.

2 Chron. 35: 20.

These words mark an epoch in the inspired record of the life of Josiah, king of Judah. They indicate the close of a career of brilliant usefulness, and the commencement of a course of self-will leading to defeat, disaster and death. To the saints of God the whole story is full of solemn warning, and furnishes food for reflection. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning; that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope" (Rom. 15: 4). "All these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition . . . wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10: 11, 12).

Like a sign-post on the highway of Josiah's life-story there stand these three ominous words, "After all this." They point backwards to many distinctly marked evidences of early piety with all their wealth of promise. Josiah began well, for at the age of fifteen he began to seek after the God of David his father, and when only nineteen years old was so zealous for the honour of Jehovah, that he commenced a national revival by purging Judah of the high places, images and idolatrous emblems which by their defiling presence dishonoured the true God, and disfigured the place He had chosen.

Josiah's zeal increases as the years pass, and produces four most important results. The temple is cleansed; there is a re-discovery of forgotten truth and prophecy; a voluntary, personal self-dedication takes place; and the greatest passover kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet is solemnly celebrated. Truly a marvellous record for a young man to achieve; and, more happy still, is the gracious moral effect upon his own heart; Josiah's humility and tenderheartedness receiving special mention by God. Add to this his splendid character given in 2 Kings 23: 25, and we have afforded us a pen portrait, up to a given period of his life, of a pious, zealous, humble-minded, tenderhearted servant of God. Then, like a note of tocsin, sounds these three terse words of ominous import, "After all this," with an abrupt introduction to a collapse, pathetic indeed, and full of tremendous warning for saints to-day.

There are many striking points of resemblance between the circumstances of Josiah's time and those of our own.

Christendom, like Israel when Josiah ascended the throne, had slipped away from the simple sufficient rule of the word of God as the true believer's rule of life and directory of worship; and, by additions, and accretions which had gathered around the revealed will of the Lord, had created a situation fairly corresponding to images, high places, and groves, namely, worship and service fashioned after human devices, imaginations, and long-grown religious customs.

Nearly a century ago, however, by the discovery of long forgotten truth, many were humbled by the church's failure and became tenderhearted; zeal and piety revived to a surprising degree; and once again the Lord's death was shewn week by week in the breaking of bread after the simple, primitive, and apostolic manner recorded in Acts 20, the whole church of God being contemplated in its observance. Upon the ground of the one body of Christ, saints gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus and rejoiced to keep the feast, knowing that Christ our Passover were sacrificed for us.

It was the re-discovery of the will of the Lord in His word which constituted the sole sufficient authority for so acting in independence of any mere churchly sanction or human rules. Freshness, joy and holy enthusiasm reigned, but "after all this" came the long years of quiet simple testimony; and these are the days of real testing.

It is interesting and instructive to note that between the glowing account of Josiah's great passover — the high water mark, so to say, of his reign, and the record of his decline, there occurs one of those silences of scripture which speak so loudly to the thoughtful reader. Thirteen years elapse without any mention made of their passing. They speak of the long quiet years when principles are being tested. No great work of idol-breaking done; no excitement caused by new discoveries of truth; no stirring of emotion by great spiritual crises such as the wonderful passover and the service of voluntary self-dedication; but a tranquil period, a testing time, the long and uneventful years of maintenance, of holding fast to known truth and position.

Individually the condition of many a young believer morally resembles that of king Josiah. The first flush of youthful piety is very gracious; the earnest, zealous willingness to serve the Lord is very delightful to behold; the ardent devotion to His blessed Person is very beautiful; the holy emotions of sacred seasons at His table are peculiarly sweet; but after all this — what? Shall we adopt the easy path of least resistance, and by dalliance with the world, the flesh and Satan prepare for deterioration, or, rather reading the inspired history of Josiah's life, hearken to the striking note of warning and alarm sounded in: "After all this"? For these words appear to signify that the years of quietness had in his case bred deterioration, the parent of declension and self-will.

"After all this" we hear of Josiah's meddling with God, and of his being sorely wounded in affairs which neither concerned his person nor his position. What an ending for one who had such a splendid record of piety and service behind him! Yet, as we ponder, we are afresh reminded that "the best of men are but men at the best," apart from the grace of God. His motives were probably good. He may have thought that his knowledge and position warranted interference on his part; but the inspired history records three facts which, may we not say, are of singular significance for saints and servants of the Lord to-day. First, it is quite evident that he acted independently; then that he refused advice, not hearkening to the word of God; and, lastly, he disguised himself, acting unlike himself, appearing other than he really was.

"After all this!" Warned, wilful and wounded, Josiah is now cut off from all further usefulness in his prime at the early age of thirty-nine years! The more noteworthy is this, in that length of days was a mark of divine favour to a godly Israelite. How entirely unlike the true Servant of Jehovah, Who — we say it with reverence — not only began well, but eaten up by the zeal of God's house, continued in holy dependence, confidence and communion throughout His life here, and in those last hours upon the cross gained more glory to God than ever man and Satan combined had robbed Him of. Blessed be His holy name for ever.

The believer who acts independently of the will of the Lord, meddles with God; leaves the position of true usefulness (albeit perhaps with the notion that he is well employed); and of necessity, like king Josiah, disguises himself. "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."

Nothing can ever dispense with the need of constant dependence upon God, the continual looking to Him for direction, and the reverent, habitual searching of the word. However splendid a record one may have for piety, zeal, devotion, humble-mindedness and tenderheartedness, nothing will keep the heart fresh and true to the Lord, like the threefold mark of the Lord Jesus when here as man, namely, absolute dependence upon the living God, unwavering confidence in Him, and unbroken communion with the Father.

Only by this, practically known, shall our conduct, character and conversation be such as becometh saints in days when the marked tendency is to surrender much that was once prized. "Little children, keep yourselves from idols."

Biography of William Kelly (W.G.Turner)

Biography of William Kelly (W.G.Turner)

Biography of William Kelly

by W.G.Turner

By kind permission of soundwords.de whose permission should be sought for any further publication.

- Introductory

- Ireland

- Guernsey

- Blackheath

- Churchman and Gospeller

- Some Letters

- The Workman

- Middlesborough

- Closing Days

"No one is able to show to those who knew him not what he was; no one could show this to those who knew him in a way they would feel satisfying."

Introductory

William Kelly first saw the light when England was beginning to recover from the Napoleonic wars. The Battle of Waterloo lay only five years behind. Napoleon himself had just died at St. Helena. The least estimable character that ever occupied the British throne had but recently succeeded to it, and demands were everywhere rising for reform and popular liberty. The Home Secretary, Addington, and his more powerful colleague, Lord Castlereagh, sensing the uneasy situation, and fearing that the ominous stirrings so apparent might flare up into open revolution, foolishly introduced into Parliament a most unpopular and hated measure known as "Six Acts" hoping thereby to effectually prevent this. It only served, however, to increase the growing discontentment.

This measure threatened with severe penalties all who advocated any kind of social reform, and was repressive to a degree. The general populace was exasperated by its severity against all and any who dared to protest against the policy of the Government. The Home Secretary and Lord Castlereagh, however, succeeded in forcing the obnoxious measure through. When Castlereagh died shortly after, his funeral became the occasion of a most disgraceful outburst of hatred against both himself and the Act he had sponsored. The French revolution, alike so recent and near, only needed a spark to explode the magazine of pent up resentment felt by thousands at the injustice of the new law. Both politically and ecclesiastically a transition period had arrived. The more sober and practical elements were filled with alarm at the violent and threatening temper displayed by the masses, and the obtuseness of the ruling class to its implications. In a remote country parish one of Oxford's most brilliant students was then quietly brooding over the conditions in church and state. It was several years, however, before the result of his thoughts stirred the country in a sermon preached in the university pulpit, and published under the title of "National Apostasy".

Two great religious movements were then both due to appear and radically affect the religious outlook. The Evangelical revival was settling down into a quiet, select, self-complacent orthodoxy. The Methodist movement also was rapidly losing its original fire and fervour. A few years previously both had been fanned by the fires of persecution, but these had now died down. Ecclesiastical gales were beginning to blow from Oxford and Plymouth, and were disturbing the religious dovecotes. Both were destined to exert an influence upon English speaking Christendom beyond anything known since the sixteenth century Reformation.

One of these, the Tractarian movement, was later to be known as the Oxford movement; while the other was the Plymouth, or as often called, the Brethren movement. Both were silently taking shape and much has been written about them. The impetus given by both is still being felt after the lapse of well over a century. These two movements had their origin in the accident of urgent necessity! one from the suppression of ten Irish bishoprics by the Government; and the other by an Archiepiscopal order to the Irish clergy stopping the work of the Irish Home Missions, as an oath of allegiance to King George now became compulsory on the reception of the converts. "If it be true anywhere that such enactments are forced on the legislature by public opinion, is Apostasy too hard a word to describe the temper of such a nation?" This was the question asked by Mr. Keble.

Naturally enough, the two most prominent figures in the respective movements were clergymen of the Established Church; the one John Henry Newman, who strenuously opposed the former of these; and the other, John Nelson Darby, Lord Nelson's godson, who as strongly objected to the latter. At once a number of pious men with active minds and great natural abilities were quickly attracted to these movement. Two who stand out from their fellows were singularly alike in many respects John Keble, the Tractarian friend referred to earlier, and William Kelly, the henchman of the Plymouth leader. Both Keble and Kelly were humble and self-effacing men personally, although each had in their day carried off the highest honours of their respective universities.

The words of a brilliant contemporary of theirs may here be quoted, "Where personal character is the main source of influence on others - where the unconscious labourer, pressing forward in faithful service, reflects a glory from his upturned countenance, scatters the fire of his aspiration in surrounding hearts, and by that subtle impress of spirit upon spirit refines the conscience, warms enthusiasm and quickens effort - there it is that a life, a record, a portrait is most needed. The chief work is done without it, many a heart moulded, many a course changed by contact with the living man."

This fully applied to both these great men. It is, however, with William Kelly we are concerned in this present volume.

Ireland

Dublin, Downpatrick and the Wicklow Hills form the setting of William Kelly's birth, boyhood and youth. The son of an Ulster squire, he was born in May 1820 at Millisle, Co. Down. His father's early death left him and an only sister to be brought up by their devoted mother. At an early age he matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin, and here a natural flair for the classics and sacred languages was fostered. This, combined with a steady application, soon caused him to be regarded as a very promising student, one likely to add to the lustre of he University.

He early gave evidence of an innate love for study and also possessed the rare gift, for one so young, of sufficient wisdom to refrain from presuming of it. As Sir Joshua Reynolds says, "If you have genius, industry will improve it; if you have none, industry will supply its place." And William Kelly followed this hard but sure road. He himself in later years once casually remarked to the writer, "Genius is ninety-nine per cent hard work and close application to one's studies;" and his early career at Trinity College was an illustration of it, his steady industry being finally crowned with first class distinction when he graduated later in highest classical honours. The Principal, when warmly congratulating him upon his scholastic brilliance, offered a post upon the College staff, hinting that if accepted he would make his fortune in the world. "Which world, sir?" was his enquiry.

He was then only twenty years old, but the reply was both self-revealing and almost prophetically anticipative of his whole after life of being in the world but not of it. The influence of the Evangelical school of religion in which he, as an Ulsterman, had been nurtured made a deep impression upon him, the other-worldliness of that movement predisposing the devoutly minded youth in the direction of Orders in the Irish Established Church. Why this ambition was never realized will appear later, but at the time of leaving the University it was uppermost in his thoughts.

In passing we may note that half a century later Kelly's nephew by marriage closely rivalled his uncle's reputation at Trinity. The then Principal remarked to a friend of the Kelly family, "You know, we look on Malcolm as one of the chief ornaments of our college." In later life Malcolm Montgomery, the lad in question, was also regarded as the best Greek authority among the "Brethren", and showed that he shared his uncle's convictions as to the relative values of worldly honours when one has had the vision of higher things.

Upon leaving Dublin University Kelly found himself momentarily at a loose end, being then a couple of years too young for ordination in the Irish Church. He decided to seek a tutorial post in the interim, and keep up his special theological reading. He always held that it was in the providence of God that just then the Seigneur of Sark happened to visit Northern Ireland seeking a tutor for his young family. Being also the Rector of Sark, and happening to contact the University authorities, he heard of that year's brilliant student and expressed a wish to meet him. This resulted in a warm invitation to Sark, and Kelly's immediate difficulties as to a livelihood disappeared. William Kelly even afterwards regarded this entirely unexpected opening as a most important stage on his life's pilgrimage. When referring to it later, the present writer ventured to quote:

"There's a divinity that shapes our ends Rough-hew them how we will."

Mr. Kelly smilingly replied, "I am not a Shakespearian," and said that he much preferred the poet Cowper's version:

"God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform."

From the Emerald Isle, with the busy life of Dublin, Downpatrick and the Wicklow Hills, the boundaries of his youthful days, to the remote Isle of Sark, situated in the stormiest part of the English Channel, was a journey not to be lightly undertaken in the early nineteenth century. But in Kelly's case it was the first of the several stages en route for London, where so much of his life and work was done.

He firmly believed in the guiding Hand of God, and always regarded the stages of his pilgrimage as the direct leading of the One Who knows the end from the beginning and guides all the journey through. So from Dublin to Sark, thence to Guernsey covering the next twenty years; and then to London, where at Blackheath and Lee the rest of his days were spent, is the story of his earthly pilgrimage.

Few islands contain so much romantic interest in so small a compass as the Isle of Sark. It is remarkable for its grandeur of cliff and cave, and deemed the loveliest of those lovely gardens of the sea - the Channel Islands." Here in the Channel Islands it was that Kelly as a young tutor experienced what he always regarded as the two most important events in one's life: the knowledge of personal soul salvation, and the finding of life's greatest earthly treasure, a good wife.

Taking the latter as first in order, for the wife was used to lead him into the knowledge of the former, it was here he met and fell in love with a Miss Montgomery of Guernsey in whom for years until her death in 1844 William Kelly found a perfect help-meet in life and work. Like himself she hailed from the Emerald Isle, being a lady of the Ulster Scottish branch of the Montgomery tree and of Norman origin. These happy formative years in Sark were now filled with congenial employment, domestic bliss and happy Christian fellowship.

William Kelly had from boyhood been religious and conscientious; his growing knowledge of Hebrew and Greek had also fostered a scholar's interest in the Holy Scriptures in their original tongues. As a child familiar with what the Evangelicals of that day termed the "Plan of Salvation", he yet so far had not taken a really personal interest in the subject. The important step by which one passes from a general knowledge about Christ to a special knowledge of Him as a personal Saviour had not been taken by him, when he accepted the appointment in Sark.

Sixty years later in a public lecture in London, when quoting the text from John's epistle, "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater," he remarked, "May I recall the divine relief and deliverance these words gave more than sixty years ago to a soul converted but harassed and deeply exercised through sense of sin which clouded his soul's rest on Jesus? These words chased away all doubt, and made him ashamed to question God's witness. It became the application of truth to him, and no longer his applying it to himself, though not at all doubting the intrinsic worth of Christ's death for the sinner. "It was not my seeing as I ought the efficacy of the blood, but resting by faith on God's seeing it, and God's valuing it as it deserves." William Kelly thus explained the great change which was the prelude to becoming the man of God he did.

The third important happening which took place in the Isle of Sark was some months subsequently. He made a careful examination of current conventional ecclesiastical customs in the light of the New Testament which he always studied in the original tongue. The conclusion arrived at by him was expressed in the following words: "It is but too plain that whatever good men may do here and there, the only real inquiry is as to the will of the Lord. It is not a question of making others walk in your light, but you must not walk in their darkness. This is the great point, not occupying ourselves with others, prescribing what they must do, but feeling my own sin, as well as the common sin, yet by grace resolved at all costs to be where I can honour and obey the Lord." So he explained his action in then leaving the Established Church. He had come to see that in all the current religious societies, Established or Dissenting, one, if loyal to the tenets of the company, had either to surrender some Scriptural principle or to acquiesce in what was obviously unscriptural and therefore contrary to the will of the Lord.

He quietly decided, therefore, to associate himself with a very tiny company of likeminded Christian believers who were gathered simply to the Name of the Lord Jesus, relying upon His own assurance (Matt. 18,20) of His Presence in the midst of them. He found them making no pretensions to superior knowledge or spirituality, yet most certainly enjoying much spiritual blessing and happy fellowship in the things of the Lord, to which he had hitherto been a stranger. It was another lady, one of the well known Acland family, who helped the young tutor now, both to appreciate the simplicity of God's way of salvation, and also the Scriptural way to gather for worship and service. One Lord's day William Kelly went to a meeting for the Lord's Supper, the Breaking of Bread, as recorded in Acts 20, where it is written, "When upon the first day of the week, the disciples came together to break bread." To his momentary confusion, on that particular morning no other brothers were present in the tiny gathering, and he, though having received much light and help spiritually from the writings of J.N. Darby and other "brethren", had never actually met a "brother".

Some two years or so after this William Kelly, now in his twenty-fifth year, went on a short visit to Plymouth, and happening to call at a bookseller's shop in Whimple Street, there, to his great joy, met a man whose life for the next forty years was to be very closely linked with his own. For the last couple of years Kelly had been a close and careful student of the works of John Nelson Darby, then creating something of a stir in ecclesiastical circles, and the clerical dove-cotes generally. This had made him greatly desire to meet the author, and the meeting in that bookseller's was a great day in Kelly's life. Given in his own words he says, "I go back to my first intercourse with J.N.D. in the summer of 1845 at Plymouth. For though I had been for years in communion before this, it had not been my lot to see him for whom above all others I had conceived, because of his love and testimony to Christ, profound respect and warm affection. I was then living in the Channel Islands, in one of which I began to break bread with three sisters, before ever looking a "brother" in the face. It was in J.B. Rowe's shop, Whimple Street, that we met, and very frank and cordial was his greeting." This apparently casual meeting was another spiritual milestone on life's pilgrimage, and one of Kelly's most cherished memories.

Shortly after this first contact with J.N. Darby, whose conversation served to deepen greatly the impression which his own solitary studies had made upon him, an opportunity of attending a big London Conference of Brethren was presented, which enabled Kelly to hear an address by his new acquaintance and erstwhile life-long friend. This address by J.N. Darby made an ineffaceable impression upon him, so that some sixty years later in a reminiscent mood he said with emphasis, "It was a most impressive discourse." The ecclesiastical atmosphere was then very heavy with dark clouds. The gathering storm of the Oxford movement had increased in intensity in the months of Newman's secession, and the first great calamitous division of the so-called Brethren movement co-incided. The air was electric in the circles of both these movements. Kelly's interest was second only to Darby's. It was not Tractarians or Newtonians as such, but the truth of God and the honour of Christ which they felt to be at stake. It has been well observed, "the hour finds the man," and Kelly's special gifts were very speedily recognized beyond the boundaries of the Channel Islands where hitherto they had been exercised.

The comparatively early death of his young wife no doubt accounts for his decision to leave Sark, which he did shortly afterwards. His conviction, too, that the Lord was guiding his steps towards the sister isle of Guernsey finally determined him to remove his home there. Subsequent events proved that his action was justified, as the next chapter shows.

Guernsey

Guernsey, where William Kelly resided for the next twenty-seven years 1844-1871, provided a far wider field than Sark in his service for the Lord. Almost at once there began that surprising output of literary work which was remarkably sustained for half e century. It was here that Dr. S.P. Tregelles invited him to collaborate as a biblical textual critic, a great honour for so young a man, and an appreciation of Kelly's ability in this specialized department of sacred study. Here also his first great work appeared, the Revelation of John with an independent translation, to be hailed by Professor Heinrich Ewald of Göttingen as "the best piece of English work of the kind that had ever come under my notice."

Such tributes and recognitions quickly placed William Kelly in the front rank of those rising young writers upon sacred subjects whose work then claimed notice in the so-called religious world of that day. Reviews, articles, pamphlets and more substantial volumes, all bearing the hallmark of scholarship, simplicity and lucidity, appeared in succession from his eloquent pen. He was now recognized as a sound biblical scholar and controversialist of a formidable calibre. He had for some three years contributed articles to the Christian Annotator which attracted much attention. Then the editorship of the Prospect, at the age of twenty-nine, marked a further stage of progress in Kelly's early career. This magazine was one devoted to the exposition of prophetic subjects, and though issued in an uninviting style both as to size and shape, with the added drawback of closely printed type, yet for the two years of his editorship had a good circulation.

His opportunity came, however, when Professor Wallace, about to relinquish responsibility for the Bible Treasury, invited William Kelly to contribute a series of papers, six months later handing the periodical over to him. From the outset it was a success; here he found and held his ecclesiastical public for the next half century. It was a venture of faith for so young a man, but "the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord" (Ps. 37,23), and the Bible Treasury soon firmly established itself in the hearts of its readers. Archdeacon Denison, expressing his opinion a few years subsequently, said, "It is the only religious magazine any longer worth taking." Yet the Editor by no means spared the school of thought represented by the Venerable Archdeacon when he considered truth necessitated his so doing.

In the first number issued under the new editorship Kelly frankly states the aim of the new venture in these words,

The name of the periodical is not one which I should have chosen, as it wears a pretentious air - least to an unfriendly eye. But the project was unknown to me till after the first number, or the second, was in the hands of its readers. To the third I contributed the first of a series. Prom the eighth number the editorial care was mine; not long after the entire responsibility devolved on me. Though never liking the title as a question of taste and feeling I saw in it no sufficiently serious objection to risk the confusion which must have ensued from a change of name. If the work be a poor Treasury, as I cannot but feel, the Bible, at any rate, is in God's grace a rich unfailing source of supply.

Accordingly, whilst the prophetic word has not been neglected throughout the past eleven years, I may say, of its course, the reader can bear witness that there has been the continual desire to draw from every province of Scripture, avoiding no truth which God has revealed for our instruction. The person and the work of Christ, the expectations of Israel from of old, the prospects of the world, the hope of the Christian and of the Church, the dispensations and the Kingdom of God, have all been treated, most of these subjects frequently and by various pens, and this with a distinct view to the practical profit of souls. Exposition of Scripture (Old Testament and New, portions and whole books), has had, and I trust ever will have a large place. So, too, questions of the day for good or ill have been discussed, with occasional reviews or notices of such books as handle them. Neither exhortations to Christians nor appeal to the unconverted will be looked for in vain in these pages.

Critical difficulties, faults or textual readings in Greek and Hebrew, emendations of translations, and corrections of prevalent interpretation, may not interest so extensive a class, but they have ever had a prominent place here; because the aim has been ever to consider such Christians especially as desire to make progress in the things of God. How, mistake in text or version or exegesis arrests the mind in proportion to the value given to God's word. Hence to such as prize that word above all things, the exceeding preciousness of every fresh insight into its true bearing, and the importance of removing every hindrance.

As for the writers, no matter of interest to the believer, or of bearing on Christ's glory, will they exclude or evade; though it is assuredly desired to avoid the discussion of every unprofitable question, and to rid all things discussed as much as possible of a controversial aim. Papers of real value from any Christian will of course be admissible, save where known evil practice, or indifference to Christ, ruins the credit of the profession of His Name. "May the gracious Lord deign to use the work increasingly to the edification of souls and to His glory. 'For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.'"

This Guernsey period in Kelly's life, although thus full of outside activities was one in which the interests of the local assemblies of believers with which Kelly was so closely connected were never neglected. Always modestly disclaiming being an elder, bishop or overseer of the flock, yet his supreme delight was found in ministering to the sheep of God's pasture; and many gratefully acknowledged it was right good spiritual food which he supplied. It was also often remarked with surprise that so erudite a man could be so simple in his public ministrations, whether purely evangelistic, expository or of a more advanced character.

Intellectual cleverness, glibness of speech as worthless as they are common, William Kelly abhorred, his public ministry and private conversation being alike marked by the word of wisdom and sanctified common sense. He was alive to the danger of the then very critical period in the so-called religious world. It was the post-Tractarian era which followed hard upon Newman's defection and Manning's desertion from the Established Church.

Dr. Pusey, John Keble and some others of the early movement remained, but Maurice and Kingsley and their disciples now in the ascendant were busily introducing their Liberal Social Gospel with the openly expressed approbation of Dean Stanley; the Evangelicals appeared to have lost their savouring salt and much of their influence; and at the same time the "Brethren" were in the throes of their first great division. Earlier on they had caused dismay in ecclesiastical circles both Established and Dissenting by their rapidly spreading influence, so many of clergy and ministers having joined their ranks. Now considerable confusion prevailed on all sides, and a clear voice was needed to re-affirm the fundamental witness to God's inspiration of the Scriptures, and the true other-worldliness of real Christianity. On the one hand Dr. Pusey quickly sensing the alarming situation bore a very bold witness to both these matters, somewhat weakened, however, by his decided Patristic and Mediaeval leanings. Of these Mr. Kelly himself may be cited as being one of these scholarly voices then raised respecting these matters in the early fifties of the 19th century. (See Introduction to W. Kelly "Lectures Introductory to the Minor Prophets).

It was during this Guernsey period that William Kelly also began those occasional excursions to London for lecturing and preaching which in the sixties brought him into personal contact with hundreds who, already familiar with his writings, were anxious to see and hear him.

The first of these visits appears to have been made in the late spring of 1866, between May 31st and June 20th when he delivered a course of eleven lectures which drew remarkable attendances, and made a deep impression on the hearers. These were taken down in shorthand, a real demand for publication having arisen during the delivery of this series. These he corrected with additions and retrenchments, shaping them in a more written style. Issued in book form at the end of the year as "Lectures Introductory to the study of the Gospels", they found a remarkable sale. Two years later when local conditions again favoured another London visit, this time in May 1868, the reception given to a companion series of twelve lectures delivered on the Epistles of Paul was a further tribute paid to the expository gift of the lecturer. One who attended several of these lectures expressed recollections of the crowded gatherings night by night, and of real help received from the word so ably ministered then.

On this occasion publication was unavoidably delayed until the next year when they appeared as Lectures Introductory to the study of Paul's Epistles. In quick succession there followed a series of Introductory Lectures on the study of the Pentateuch; Historical Books of the Old, Testament; Minor Prophets, the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit; the Second Coming and Kingdom; the Church of God; and a bulky volume of Occasional Lectures on Ritualism, Rationalism, Creation and nine other subjects of general interest.

In the providence of God it appears that in one of his lecturing tours William Kelly met the accomplished lady, Miss Elizabeth Emily Gipps, who years later was to become his second wife. Her father, the Reverend Henry Gipps, rector of St. Peter's, Hereford, had married a Miss Plumptre, sister of the first Lord Menthuen and cousin to J.C. Ryle, later Bishop of Liverpool. A learned and venerable friend whose hobby and recreation appears to have been that of genealogical research, (especially among the pedigrees of the early Brethren), kindly supplied this detailed information. He also traces J.N. Darby's pedigree on the male line to Commonwealth days of 1674, and on the distaff side through the O'Mores and old Earls of Ormond back to the times of King Edward I. - The family of the Gipps, like that of the Montgomerys, became closely connected with the spiritual movement of which Kelly was one of the (if not the) most able exponents. The brother of Elizabeth, a Mr. Pemberton Gipps became a firm adherent of the London Park Street Fellowship in 1881, a fateful year in the memory of so many Brethren, when the cryptic remark of the late Principal, Dr. W. H. Griffith Thomas of Toronto University, received a further sad illustration. Said that worthy divine on more than one occasion, "The Brethren are a remarkable people for rightly dividing the Word of Truth and wrongly dividing themselves."

One further incident of the Guernsey period, and perhaps of more than general interest, may be mentioned before closing this chapter of William Kelly's life in the Channel Islands. It was the meeting between two men who some fifty years later were to be regarded as leaders in opposite camps of the Brethren, namely Kelly and Lowe. In the eighties and nineties some sectarian minded brethren might have been heard speaking of the "Kelly" and "Lowe" parties. This incidentally was not the spirit of either of these revered leaders. It, however, gives a spice of interest to the story of their first meeting.

William Joseph Lowe, than a brilliant and accomplished youth, Junior to William Kelly "by some eighteen years, had obtained an important position in Madras when only twenty-one years of age. Before sailing to take up this post, a holiday of some three weeks was spent by him in Guernsey where he met and heard Kelly. So mutually impressed were they that the acquaintance speedily ripened to friendship owing to common interest in divine things. Ever after, Lowe referred to this meeting as having been one of the great formative influences of his life. Indeed on several occasions he remarked that in some respects it was the turning point of his career which, in truth, was a remarkable one in many ways. W.J. Lowe, a civil engineer by profession, possessed great linguistic ability, speaking nine or ten languages with ease; and his worldly prospects in India appeared very favourable indeed. The climate, however, soon took toll of health and energy, and in a few years he felt compelled to resign. Upon his return to England one of his first visits was to Guernsey to see the man to whom spiritually he considered he owed so much. Then began a life of almost apostolic labours as he visited Belgium, France, Germany and other parts of the Continent in the service of Christ, eventually extending his visits to Canada and the United States. He also rendered invaluable assistance to J.N. Darby in the French translation of the New Testament which the latter very frankly and gratefully acknowledged. W.J. Lowe himself, as already remarked, never tired of acknowledging the debt to what was an apparently casual meeting with William Kelly when on holiday on Guernsey. There are no little things, however, in the life of a child of God. Upon a very small hinge a big door may swing and turn. In the retrospect how often it is seen that apparently trifling events have moulded our lives and work. "For all the ways of a man are before Him." Darby, Kelly, Lowe and the thousands influenced by their lives and teachings realised that things which have neither sanction in the word of God nor will bear the searching light of its testimony had invaded Christendom and gained acceptance by devout souls. St. Cyprian, in the early days of the Church, gave the warning that even antiquity is not authority, but may only be "vetustas erroris" -the old age of error.

Blackheath

The moving pillar of God's guidance and providence in William Kelly's life now pointed the road to the last and longest stage of his pilgrimage - Blackheath, where he resided for the next thirty-five years. This was perhaps the most important one of all, as here circumstances arose which forced him conscientiously to take a stand ecclesiastically separating him from many of his oldest and most valued friends.

Blackheath, five miles south of London, was then and for some years included in the county of Kent. It has played an important part in the history of London from Roman days, coins of Claudius and Gallienus having been found bearing the names of these Emperors. In 1710 a great many urns were dug up here, and among them two of an unusual form, the one globular, the other cylindrical; both of fire red clay, containing a great quantity of ashes. In one of them were the words "Marcus Aurelius IIII" rudely scratched. The Danes also had an encampment on Blackheath. Its history has bristled with battles, triumphant processions and splendid pageantry? Indeed every inch of it teems with history. Here kings, queens and cardinals from the year 1400 paraded "in all the pomp and pageantry of secular and ecclesiastical state" to Christian readers, however, Whitefield's mount still standing as a reminder of that great Evangelist preaching to thousands on Blackheath from a slight elevation, is of great interest. Morden College, founded by Sir John Morden in 1695, is on one side of Kidbrook Grove where the Kelly family made their home, and on the other is Greenwich Park, so pleasantly situated on the banks of the Thames that Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, called it Placentra, or the manor of Pleasaunce, in the reign of Henry VI, to be later used in 1675 for building the Royal Observatory, the old tower having fallen into decay.

In Blackheath Village, teeming with historical associations, the Brethren had a meeting place: called Bennett Park Hall with which, to the end of his life, William Kelly was to be closely connected. The Rink Hall near by, now displaced by a modern Post Office, also served on occasions when a conference overflowed the usual place of assembly.

William Kelly's coming to reside among the local gathering, he being a teacher of widely recognised influence and ability now in his early fifties, was welcomed by his brethren. Here, too, his gifts were to find ample scope, and before long the so-called religious press discovered his presence. It happened that if anyone wished to study prophecy (then a burning question in religious circles irrespective of denomination) from what was termed "futurist" standpoint, he commonly resorted to Bennett Park Hall in search of information, William Kelly being considered one of its ablest exponents.

A London journalist thus described a visit there veiling his identity beneath the nom-de-plume of "Spectator".

The Brethren are like Zoophytes who at certain times cut themselves off from the parent stem, and start life on their own account. The Brethren do this with themselves, only they never own their relatives after. This process of development has been again recently gone through; I am not sure whether "the meeting" I attended at Blackheath is, or is not, part of the original stem. Mr. Kelly is the "leading brother" as the chief minister, or ministering brother as a "gathering" (that is a meeting) is called. Bennett Park Hall, "the Room", is lofty and very comfortable} the Table is covered with the usual white cloth, a large decanter of wine, and some four or six large tumblers for the distribution of it; this gives the Table a singular appearance. I slip in, and before me is a board with a polite request written on it, not to trespass into the sacred enclosure of those "breaking bread". I wait; more arrivals until about one hundred and fifty or more people of the well-to-do class are present. Hymn books are provided for visitors. They are entitled "Spiritual Songs" "for the little Flock". Does the little flock mean the Brethren?

Mr. Kelly now arises and states that "our brother so-and-so from such a place is breaking bread with us today." This is, I judge, a signal that the meeting has commenced, for immediately after, a hymn is given out, and is sung standing. I notice there appears an unwritten rule that when hymns are addressed to the Divine Being they stand. If only truth about God or Christ they sit. The singing, though not unmusical, was of the slowest description until it became positively painful. Do they wish outsiders to consider they are going through a painful process?

Mr. Kelly then prayed; and it was on the whole a very remarkable prayer, and had some notable striking sentences. He said, "O God, we thank Thee it is Thy will to bring us together. We should never have thought of it, should never have known the joy of communion, and the deeper joy of Christ in the midst; separate us from the evil, from the evil which looks fair. O God, may our hearts be led by the Holy Ghost. Heaven is occupied in praising. Thou hast called us to praise Him. He became Man, to take up that great question, entirely insolvable to any but Himself, the question of our sins. O God, never didst Thou have an object which entirely filled Thy heart but Christ. We thank Thee for that One Who drew out Thine affections, Who brought out Thy counsels of glory. May there be holy liberty for Thy Spirit to exalt the Head, Jesus Christ." "Hymn again followed by some gentleman praying. He used very much the same style of language as Mr. Kelly. Another hymn sung standing; and Mr. Kelly then broke the bread, and prayed again. Addressing himself now to the Saviour he said, "O blessed Saviour, this is Thy particular command that we should break bread in remembrance of Thee. Lay it in our hearts, that we may as a continual offering give Thee the fruit of our lips. No tongue of men or angels could adequately set forth what Thy death means. What a sweet savour to God, what glory everlasting that death shall bring. Every other death is the wages of sin. Thou art the life everlasting, yet didst Thou die, Thou Who art the resurrection and the life.

The bread and the wine having passed round, a hymn was given out by one whose appearance and manner indicated that he was of the lower class. The good brother pitched it to the tune of Hold the Fort. It did not fit, so he had to pull it out the right size. This the good brother did, singing a solo at the same time. It is peculiar to hear this tune sung at the rate of a mile an hour.

At last it was finished and Mr. Kelly got on his feet, a rustle of expectation going through the room. The brief address being over, the box went round for the collection. Another hymn and short prayer, and the meeting broke up without the benediction.

Mr. Kelly is an able man as a teacher and theologian; moreover, he is a scholar and evidently a thinker. He was formerly a clergyman. His manner is not pleasant as a speaker, and he has a weak voice, dropping it at the end of every sentence.

Objectionable as the practice is, in a general way, of reporting prayers, since they are presumably intended for the Divine ear, and not as the American press once flatteringly remarked of a preacher that "his prayer was the most eloquent ever offered to a Boston congregation," yet, now that Mr. Kelly's voice is silent, few will regret that the reporter at Blackheath meeting included the above two devotional utterances which instinctively recall the speaker to those who knew him.

Shortly after settling at Blackheath Mr. Kelly commenced a weekly lecture in the Bennett Park Hall which soon became a regular feature of his ministry, and continued it for the rest of his life; suspended temporarily only on occasions of short absences from home. Every one interested knew that on Wednesday evenings he would be found at his post* and visitors to London, not only brethren, but clergy and others, were to be seen in the congregation fairly frequently. Indeed in the eighties and nineties, both at his Sunday evening Gospel services and Wednesday lectures, a rather cosmopolitan company would often be assembled to hear him. One well remembers having to vacate one's seat with many other local hearers in order to accommodate visitors from the Colonies and States who made a visit to the Blackheath Room (as the Hall was called by Brethren) a part of their tours. Also, as most of the thirty odd London gatherings of the Brethren held their week evening services on Mondays and Fridays, a goodly remnant could always be relied on to come to "the lecture" as it became widely known. And Kelly was a lecturer par excellence. One London divine who condescendingly came to hear this "Plymouth Brother", has put on record that on arrival at the Room he was astonished to find a congregation armed to the teeth with Bibles, listening to a masterly exposition of the origin of languages delivered without a single note, and lasting for an hour. It might have lessened the good clergyman's surprise had he been aware that others of his order, including Archbishop MacLagan, Bishop Ellicott, Archdeacon Denison and others also frequently consulted the lecturer upon matters of Scripture translation and exposition.

Quite another side of Kelly's ministry found illustration when a young Government official remarked to the writer that often, when standing alone under the starlit sky in the lonely Soudan, he had meditated upon a sermon of Mr. Kelly's at Blackheath heard by him on the Sunday evening previous to going out to take up his appointment. Though not then living at Blackheath, he had on the Sunday previous to his departure for Egypt gone over as he said, "to hear the old gentleman once more, perhaps for the last time;" and singularly enough, in his address Mr. Kelly, quite unaware of the visitor's presence or circumstances, dwelt very much upon the restless ambition of men for wealth or fame driving them to the ends of the earth, in seeking their own advancement in this world, while often neglectful of the all-important concerns of the soul. This made so profound an impression on this young fellow that when returning some three years later, on his first Sunday after landing in England, he went to Blackheath to hear again the one whose words had as deeply impressed him on the former occasion.

Another phase of Kelly's ministry the following will serve to illustrate. He was to preach at St. German's Hall, Lewisham, one week evening. This Hall was situated in a working class district quite unlike Bennett Park Hall. Here William Kelly delivered an interesting, instructive and most earnest address based upon the Scripture reading before the sermon from Luke 23, 33. With studied simplicity of style in words both simple and arresting, he told the old, old story of the love of God in Christ for mankind. The divisions of the subject were clearly defined:

1. Who the holy Sufferer at Calvary really was.

2. Why He so suffered.

3. His ability and readiness to save any.

4. The necessity of accepting so great a Saviour.

5. The peril of delay and certain doom of unbelieving despisers of God's mercy.

6. Finally, he earnestly appealed to all present definitely to accept the Saviour, and closing the Bible added with great earnestness, "Remember, one robber was saved, so none need despair; but," after a dramatic pause, "only one, so none may presume."

By way of contrast (was it on the following Sunday evening?) at his own place at Bennett Park Hall to a different congregation, one of mainly leisured and professional people, he commenced a series of three simple gospel addresses on 1 Peter 1, 2, the consecutive subjects beings

1. Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father (on the first occasion);

2. Through sanctification of the Spirit (upon the second evening);

3. Unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ (for the final address).

One wonders whether any preacher since Archbishop Leighton's famous lectures on Peter's Epistles had ever used one such verse for three full Sunday evening discourses. They were masterly, reasoned expositions, shot through with evangelistical application and followed by the congregation apparently with intentness of interest. The scene even at this distance of time stands out clearly before the eye of one then present. Precisely as a chiming clock in a neighbouring church tower struck the hour, William Kelly stepped up to the desk, announced a hymn, followed this by a short earnest prayer; a further hymn and the reading of a short passage of Scripture from 1 Peter 1. Then we settled back as the short compact figure, as was his wont, his spectacles up on his brow announced the text with just the suspicion of a lisp in his voice, "Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father."

Asserting that the Calvinist was right in what he affirmed as to this, and wrong in what he denied by false deduction, he also declared the Arminian to be in the same plight, only reversed. He then proceeded to stress the importance of recognizing the pure grace which saved any, and the great importance of not receiving the grace of God in vain. The church clock chimed the quarter before the hour; the preacher carefully, but unhurriedly, summed up, announced a short hymn, and dismissed us on the stroke of the hour. He was ever a punctual man. Punctuality breeds punctuality, and Bennett Park Hall in William Kelly's days could afford an object lesson in this respect.

Another reminiscence of those days kindly contributed by an old friend may be appropriately inserted here. He writes: "You probably knew Dr. Joseph Kidd, famous as he was for his skill and generosity, and as being the personal physician of Lord Beaconsfield. I used to hear during my life in London of that Monday evening in April, 1881, when the prayer meeting was interrupted by a postman arriving with a summons to Dr. Kidd to wait on the dying Premier. We all have heard or many have done of Dr. Kidd's guinea fees, and how he put the guineas into a box. If a poor patient turned up out came the guineas to assist the needy brother." Personal recollections of the good doctor are chiefly of his stately entrance with Mrs. Kidd and the younger branch of the family on Sunday mornings. His snowy head, patriarchal beard, benign countenance and dignified bearing is not easily forgotten after the lapse of so many years. His reading of Psalm 65, "Praise waiteth for Thee O God in Zion," followed by a prayer in quiet reverent tones commencing with "Holy Father," made a deep impression.

Mr, Spurgeon, in these Blackheath days, referred to William Kelly in very suggestive terms in "Commentary and Commentaries" (of the College Series). First, as "a leading writer of the exclusive Plymouth School." Secondly, as "an eminent Divine of the Brethren School who sometimes expounds ably, but with a twist towards the peculiar dogmas of his party." In the third instance, he remarks, "We are sorry to see such a mind as Mr, Kelly's so narrowed by party bounds." Fourthly, "It is a pity that a man of such excellence should allow a very superior mind to be so warped." Finally, adapting Pope's well-known words, he says, "Kelly is a man who, born for the universe, has narrowed his mind by Darbyism."

It is, of course, true that William Kelly was an intimate friend and fellow-worker with Darby; indeed this oneness of mind and spirit led to him being asked both to revise and edit all the elder man's writings. The "Synopsis of the Bible", and from thirty to forty volumes of Darby's works: English, French, German, Dutch and Italian, all passed under his careful review as Editor. Yet throughout their close association Kelly was in no wise a blind follower of Darby; the bond of "truth in love" was what cemented the union in which each, while agreeing in the main, preserved independence of thought and action. This somewhat discounts Spurgeon's appraisal of Kelly and his work.

All critics were not so superficial, however; for a distinguished French scholar, who also wrote of Kelly and his works, says, "Kelly -savant, realisateur, tete logique, résumateur, philosophe;" and another critical writer spoke of him as "possessed a rare logical skill, fine precision, powers of original research, high moral power and spiritual culture." An Oxford man, and one not inclined perhaps to rate very highly the product of another University, frankly described Kelly as the distinguished alumnus of his (Dublin) University." His reputation apparently may therefore be considered as being established.

The final course of the Wednesday lectures was begun in his eighty-fifth year. At the concision of the first of these he announced, "I trust, if the Lord will, to continue these "Lectures on John's Epistles" without intermission." Happily he was enabled to complete the series which were, however, published posthumously. These were characterised by all his accustomed vigour of intellect and incisive speech, and possessed the added charm of a graciousness of spirit which greatly impressed some who were privileged to hear them delivered. It almost seemed as though a touch of completeness was being put to the long ministry of one who had figured so prominently in the many conflicts and controversies in the ecclesiastical arena in earlier days. They contrasted somewhat with the polemical style of much of his earlier work. Some who were devoted to him felt that a kind of sunset glory was resting upon this last phase of a faithful ministry. Many of them felt as the year 1905 ran out that these were the last addresses he would be giving. One very godly man who for sixty years had admired William Kelly, remarked at the close of one of these series, "Ah! If the old gentleman had always spoken like this, perhaps things would have turned out very differently with some." But William Kelly's own thoughts expressed in his words at this time clearly indicate just how his mind was working.

"Oh, my brethren" he exclaimed,

Be it ours to fill 'the little while' separate from the world, and above fleshly ease in the devoted service of Christ. Nothing so good and happy now, and nothing so appreciated on high and through all eternity; unless it be communion with Himself and the worship which accompanies it."

It was in 1869, when the scientific air was electric with speculations of Lyell, Darwin, Huxley, Asa Grey and others, that a lecture by William Kelly attracted great attention. The extraordinary grasp of ancient mythology, modern speculation and oriental languages possessed by the lecturer astonished some present who had hitherto regarded him as a mere henchman of J.N. Darby, and only a hidebound Plymouthist. His tacit rebuke of some who tremblingly sought to prevent the sacred ark of Holy Scripture from being shaken by its critics found expression in such a sentence as, "It is not part of wisdom for a Christian to deny facts. Why reject the phenomena which indicates states not only of the earth, but of living creatures there before Adam was made, i.e., before the six days? Otherwise how can we escape the supposition, that God was pleased to make vast quantities of fossilized objects, giving the appearance of having lived on earth, which never did? Are you prepared to accept the notion that God studiously gave a semblance of that which was not true? There are remains of animals, and animals too that were made with distinct objects, and with characteristics altogether different from those of animals to be found now, and supposing a correspondent state of things (as for instance, when the world was a vast marsh and enormous heat prevailed). There is no ground whatever to doubt these facts. I do not see that a Christian shows his wisdom, or his faith either by denying anything of the sort. (Creation p. 17, 18).

Sir Edmund Gosse in "Father and Son" relates how his father Philip Gosse had published an essay on Genesis 1, in defense of current orthodox teaching on Creation. His experiment in the field of geology called forth from the press, "God hid the fossils in the rocks in order to tempt geologists into infidelity," made Huxley scornful, and led Charles Kingsley, a close friend of Gosse, to write that he "could not give up the painful and slow conclusion of five and twenty years of study of geology, and believe that God has written on the rocks one enormous and superfluous lie."

The second Mrs. Kelly, to whom reference has been made in a previous chapter, one son and three daughters comprised the Kelly family at Blackheath. The son, named William after his father, was a young man of great promise who passed away in early life. Of the three daughters, one married a cousin, Mr. Edward Ramsden in 1875, another, Miss Emmie Kelly, married into the well known Colquhoun family, the other daughter later becoming Mrs. Armitage. William Kelly never failed to acknowledge the invaluable help rendered by his equally gifted wife, who was also an accomplished linguist. In the preface to an anonymously issued volume, "The Psalms - a new version with short notes", he pays this tribute to her memory:

"No apology is offered for the close rendering of the Hebrew, often no doubt uncouth to western ears. The aim of a version for public use is wholly different. But the more literal reflection is also full of interest and instruction to those who would weigh the form as well as the substance of the inspired word, whether Old or New; and this is what has been essayed here, however, inadequately. This I say for myself in particular, for time failed me with many calls on it to do more than supply what one ever dear to me began, but was compelled by sickness to give up just beyond the first fifty psalms. These first sheets lay for many years in the printer's hands, which it was a little labour of love to complete, with brief notes also on the distinctive aim of each of the hundred and fifty as I understand it. The critical eye may discern slight differences of rendering as to the words translated nations, peoples and Gentiles. For I felt bound not to alter a letter of hers on the one hand, on the other to be faithful in my part to give, what I believe, the precise sense. Also this memorial is given anonymously as all to whom it is of interest will understand that one or other name would not be quite true; and to put both savours to me too much of sentiment, which I dislike publishing, especially in divine things."

The loss of his second wife on February 4th, 1884, led him to remove across Blackheath to its extreme border at Lee, where for the remainder of his life he resided at Venner Lodge, Belmont Park. By this tine he had gradually acquired a very considerable library which grew until it reached some fifteen thousand volumes. The first view of it and the stocky figure with a short ladder against the book-lined shelves is not quickly erased from one's mind. But a further reference to this library and its disposal occurs later on these pages.

Churchman and Gospeller

"Act on your convictions, and the most honeyed courtesy turns sour; your desire to please God at all costs will be branded as Pharisaical pride and exclusiveness."

It was the Evangelical prophet who truly said, "He that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey" (Isa. 59,15).

An American minister says, "William Kelly edified thousands by his clear Scriptural expositions." Yet it was to clergy and ministers of religion generally that his church position seemed to some very perplexing and to others so irritating. To himself it was a clearly defined one. He knew exactly where he stood in matters of faith and church order. True, he frequently experienced what the above quotation from Isaiah meant practically. At some real cost to him of worldly position and honours he consistently pursued his chosen course to life's end. On the vexed subject of infant baptism, or household baptism, his decided conviction forced by a study of Scripture was that there was neither warrant nor direction to be found for it; but although necessarily therefore a believer in the baptism of believers he way not a Baptist. He viewed with alarm the growing ecclesiasticism on every hand in the ranks of professedly Christian people.

On, the subject of Church fellowship his cherished and practiced principles, strangely so often misunderstood or misrepresented by some of a more legal turn of mind, found expression in the following, "We receive every Christian as such, without reference to their connection with Nationalism or Dissent; we rejoice to have communion with them, whether privately or publicly; They may join us in worship and the Supper of the Lord. They are as free as any of us to help in thanksgiving, prayer or a word of edification, if so led of God; and this without stipulation either to leave their old associations or to meet only with us. Where is this done save only with "Brethren"? With us on the contrary, if any godly Churchman or Dissenter thought fit to come when we remember the Lord together, he would be quite in order if he did any or all of these things spiritually; and this, not from any permission on our part, but as a matter of responsibility to God and His Word."

A letter of his on the subject is appended,

Blackheath, August 31, 1875.

My dear Brother,

Individuals among Brethren may urge their private views on evangelists or others; but all such narrowness is censured by every wise man in our midst; and, what is more important, it is dead against that return to keeping Christ's Word and not denying His Name which characterizes the work. The question has often arisen as to fellowship as well as service; and as often those who are entitled to speak have resisted the tendency to a restrictive school. If some have thought to require intelligence in those received, my own answer has been that it is in vain and unscriptural; that they themselves when received were the very reverse of intelligent; that if intelligence is to be anywhere, it should be in those who receive; and that those who require it in the received fail in the intelligence they demand from others; else they would not expect it where it could not be... Hence Scripture knows nothing of keeping outside a godly-walking member of Christ.

As little does it countenance the church's interference with the Lord's work, and especially in the gospel. To set the servant in the simplest dependence of the Lord, to foster his immediate responsibility to the Lord, without the intervention of the church is what every brother holds as a sacred duty and principle...This maintains the evangelist intact in his liberty and responsibility to his Master.

Ever yours,

W.K.

To another who prided himself on holding aloof from Assembly fellowship on account of real or imagined difficulties he wrote:

My dear Sir,

As far as I understand your position, it is one of "holding yourself aloof," or nothing-arianism to Church relations. Without doubt a dry morsel and quietness therewith is better than a house full of the sacrifices of strife; as it is better to dwell in the corner of a house-top than with a contentious woman in a house of society.

But I read unmistakably in the last epistle of the great apostle who alone communicated the truth of the Church, that grace gives a wholly different resource in view of the disorder and dangers of the last days. Circumstances may indeed here or there leave one isolated; but isolation is neither the revealed provision nor the legitimate aim. "The firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal, The Lord knew those that are His, and, Let every one that nameth the Lord's name depart from unrighteousness." This is individual and of deep moment as things are. But all does not end here. "Now in a great house etc." And this you own and have acted on. We are not tied to ecclesiastical corruptions where they are sanctioned constitutionally and admit of no removal. One must purge oneself out, if one cannot purge the evils out. But is this all? While the apostle bids his beloved child flee the lusts of youth, wide as they are and some of them subtle, he adds, "And pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." (2 Tim. 2, 19-22), Thus one may and ought to look for companions and fellow-witnesses called to like fidelity. Never should one contemplate isolation. The Holy Spirit bids one by grace to desire and expect communion of saints, however great and general may be the ruin of Christendom. Rev. 2,3 may be pleaded for individualism. How the call here to him that hath an ear is imperative in not allowing assemblies absolutely to govern faith and practice. I am bound, whatever the pretension of authority in defense of wrong or error, to hear not them but what the Spirit saith to them. Their voice is prima facie entitled (like that of my parents) to high respect and obedience," but certainly not if the wrong or the error is known and acknowledged; else that holy, responsibly holy, enclosure becomes a screen for evil, and may end in a hold of any unclean and hated bird. As a prophetic book the Apocalypse does warn and call for obedience to the word; but that word was to leave no faithful soul settled down in isolation. On the contrary, it encourages him, who separates from the evils men impose under the abused name of the Lord, to cherish a fellowship as much according to God as the separation. For Christ died to gather in one the children of God that were scattered abroad; and the Holy Ghost came to baptise them Jew or Gentile into one body. Never should God's will as to this inalienable privilege and duty become secondary. It is of all obligation, and the Holy Spirit abides to give both permanence and power, as we too are called to be subject to the Lord. Hence the blessedness of His own promise to be in, the midst (not certainly of all Christians in their wanderings) but of all that are gathered unto His name, were they but two or three. Let these be diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; and may they do it with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.

Yours faithfully in Christ,

W.K.

In August 1884 he paid a visit to America end made a point of attending a Conference of some thousand Brethren at Plainfield, New Jersey. Here he occupied the position of an observer, deeply interested but personally detached, although several of the leaders were anxious to consult him and to secure his acquiescence in their differing views as to reunion among themselves. In several interesting letters to Mr. Henry Glanvill of Blackheath he expressed himself very frankly, that in his opinion although good from the point of view of numbers, nothing of any real moment transpired at this Conference. He steadily refused to compromise, or to be drawn aside from what he was convinced was the Scriptural path of Church, faith and order. One of the Brethren enquired how it was that in places like America so few appeared to agree with Kelly. Another shrewdly sensed the situation and remarked, "It is because he did not travel around the country giving speeches in his own cause like a politician." As a matter of fact he rarely travelled outside the United Kingdom.

William Kelly was strongly opposed to ecclesiastical pretension, and nowhere so much as among those who professed to be "outside the camp." He possessed to a degree the judicial gift of weighing and sifted evidence, and gave short shrift to those partisan leaders who sought to enlist his aid in schemes of reunion by making compromises. It was this which led to the American visit mentioned above.

His habit, too, of minutely examining doctrinal novelties by whomsoever sponsored, and of drastically pillorying detected errors, did not make him exactly popular with their exponents. He, however, earned the lifelong gratitude of the "unlearned and ignorant" who, while in some degree sensing the evil, were not competent to discern exactly where, why, in what it consisted, and how to deal with it. Kelly's exposures in such cases commended themselves to the poor of the flock by the clarity, simplicity and devotion to Christ which marked them. Two instances may perhaps be permitted here. For example, when in the eighteen nineties a re-hash of Apollinarianism appeared under the guise of "fresh light" among one section of Brethren, Kelly quickly tore the mask off its ancient face, revealing it to be as heterodox as to the Person of Christ as when it was presented by the young bishop of Laodicea in Syria in the fourth century and condemned by the Oecumenical Council at Constantinople in A.D. 381.

In dealing with a quasi-doctrinal deliverance by another able teacher among the Brethren which for a time attracted more notice then than since as to propitiation being made after death in the disembodied state by our Lord, Kelly labelled it as a "ghostly theory of atonement." As a contradiction of the Lord's sixth word uttered with a loud voice, "It is finished", Kelly considered it in any case a slight upon the work of the Cross, detecting positive heresy in the statement and defence alike by the inventor. When in February 1900 it was formally considered by Brethren, and a paper signed by them refusing any compromise with this teaching, Kelly added as a postscript, "None but faithless or unwise men could wish such a matter to be an open question."

It is interesting to recall that when after Kelly's decease an American leader launched a line of teaching subversive to the doctrine of the Eternal Sonship of our Lord, a magazine editor unearthed a hymn of Kelly's written years previously which showed what his attitude towards this would have been had it promulgated in his lifetime.

"Unending praise be Thine,

Eternal Son, we say;

Who came to bring the true God nigh

And put all sin away.

Ah! Thee the world knew not,

Created erst by Thee;

Its kings and rulers cast Thee out

And nailed Thee to a tree.

Had'st Thou not then a sphere

By every right Thine own?

'Twas there Thine own from heathen craved

For Thee the cross alone.

Rejected, glorious Lord,

The Saviour only Thou

To God for men far off or near,

Alike the heart to bow.

For since Thy blood is shed,

Our sins to faith are gone;

And reconciled, we shall be saved,

Thou livest for Thine own."

It is only fair to note that Kelly's deep convictions and principles firmly held did not, however, lead him to neglect the Apostolic injunction of some "making a difference." It is the man who is sure of his ground who can go further than others in meeting difficulties and disarming the prejudices of others. This led him to be very patient with those who had genuine difficulties, as he was impatient with pretentious assumption of those gentry so felicitously described by the translators of King James' Authorised version as "self-conceited Brethren, who run their own ways, and give liking unto nothing, but what is framed by themselves, and hammered on their anvil."

A loving tribute to the memory of Mr. Kelly sent to the Editor of "Words of Help" by an old gypsy brother, may fittingly find a place in this chapter. Said he, "I read in "Words of Help" your writings on (of) W. Kelly with much joy, calling back to me my first meeting with that loved and departed brother, whose writings to me brought such joy and do now. I had not been many years a child of God, born again, and redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, when I met him. I had been only a poor gypsy, and not many of the tribe I belonged to could read or write; and his treatment of me was love; he met me as though I was one like himself, in such a humble and loving way.

I had asked who he was at a meeting, and when told it was W. Kelly I wondered why he had not even opened his mouth, for I loved his writings that I had read."

Surely this incident speaks for itself of the spiritual greatness of the one, and does honour to the other, and exhibits one of the characteristics which go to reveal the character of William Kelly.

Some Letters

William Kelly was good correspondent, prompt in his replies to letters received. He had, however, a penchant for postcards which occasionally, from his forthright habit of plain speaking, tended to embarrass the recipient. His habit of abbreviation made it possible to get a fairly long letter written upon a postcard, of which the following interesting specimen may serve as an illustration. It was sent to the Rev. F. W. Foster M.A., a clerical friend with whom he occasionally corresponded and was written microscopically with many abbreviations.

V.L., Bt. Pk., Lee, S.E.

1 Sept. 1905

My dear Foster,

Though I cannot deny plenty to do, I must write a few words to explain that the new Serial in which Dr. Driver takes a leading part is "The Interpreter", of which I have seen but No. 1. It was enough for me. But that he does not exercise great restraint, and steers clear of German scoffing and irreverence; but he seems to me only occupied with the husk and knows nothing of the inner fruit. The external caution makes him, with his Hebrew learning in the letter, the more dangerous in my eyes. Yet I mean to get and weigh his recent book on Genesis, puffed up by the "Times" which endorses that skeptical school.

Only I want to bring out Leviticus as a whole; which as it will make some 700 pages, raises the question of two moderate volumes. If allowed, I hope to bring out Genesis in three fair-sized volumes, D.V., so I fear my sword must wear out the old scabbard. Did I tell you that Col. (or rather Mr.) S., as he prefers to be styled, having abjured the army, is the literary executor of the late Mr. G., and asked me to review his own defence of the strange doctrines candidly. This, as you know, is my wont; and I only pray that it may blow up what hardly deserves the powder and shot. It is a scheme worthy of a maniac at issue with Scripture on every side. I have striven to speak kindly and repress indignation, and hope eyes may be opened. You nay not know that an early volume of mine (on the Ephesians) caught the eye of Father Thomas (an Oxford early Tractarian) who went over long before J. H. Newman, and (later) joined the Brompton Oratory. Astonished to find the "Church" there, as far from Rome as from Canterbury, he was given the volume which made the round of the cells. But I told the donor that these gentry needed "Romans" rather, and sent him one by post. I know no more, but do not forget that Roman Catholics have conscience to feel and souls to be saved.

With Dr. Wace I have never corresponded, but sent him occasionally a brochure.

You asked me (not in your last, I think, as to Councils of Orange). There were two as far as record goes; one presided by Hilary of Aries in A.D. 441, with thirty decrees on discipline; the other in A.D. 539 under Cassarius of Arles with 25 decrees on dogma, chiefly extracts from Aug. and Gen. and against Pelagianism. There was nothing of moment in either.

We had an excellent season at Southampton from Great Britain and Channel Islands from Saturday evening, 5th August, till Tuesday night; early prayer, forenoon, afternoon and evening. As I took a large part (save in the early morning being miles away) you may judge I am able to play the working man still. I am sure that they would have furnished you with much thought and lasting enjoyment.

Believe me, ever yours in the faith and hope,

W.K,

P.S. You may like my notice of Whitefield in Sept. B.T. Did you know R. F. Horton, N. C. Oxford? W. K.

From the same to the same.

Belmont Park, Lee, S.E.

3 Jan. '05

My dear Foster,

Though I fancy I wrote last, I do not scruple to write again, trusting that the New Year finds you fairly well, and awaiting the blessed hope. Port Arthur is fallen, and the Baltic fleet delays, the third is clamoured for by the young bloods of Russia, but we, receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, need grace to serve acceptably. I think, as you rather complained of apostolic rudeness of speech and, if I mistake not, in that Exposition of 2 Peter though finding substance in it, that I asked, your kind help in pointing out such defects. For though I rather despise rhetoric in divine things, and have not time even to cultivate it, I am happy to profit by a friend whose métier it is more than mine, The addresses on the Epistles (half) are in the printer's hand; and I may have a fourth more by the time he has done that half, and the remaining fourth as soon as he can set it up and get it through the press.

There is a mistranslation in 1 John 3,23, where "on" is contrary to the usage of ... with the dative. Yet to say "believe the name" seems strange, as if it were a person. What say you?

Believe me with best wishes

Ever faithfully yours,

W.K.

After the home-call of Mr. Kelly this correspondent sent the following to the writer, which is inserted as it throws a sidelight on their usual way of corresponding; it is of value also as showing the high regard in which he was held by one quite outside his communion.

From the Rev. P. W. Foster M.A., to W.G.T.

Sheffield.

St. Gregory's Day, '07?

Dear Mr. Turner,

Will you care to look at the accompanying brief (i.e., brief for that learned writer) postcard of the late Mr. W. Kelly. You see, I had been urging Mr. Kelly as editor of the "Bible Treasury" (monthly) to aim at all possible lucidity of exposition and beauty of style in his very able articles in that excellent periodical so far as his time allowed him to do so; what he says in his postcard is in substance a reply to my bold entreaty.

Nothing is ever written well in a hurry; no, not even if written by a pen like the late learned, earnest and eloquent W. Kelly's. I told him all I could remember, find out, or imagine about pisteuo with (1) the accusative, of things, and with (2) dative, of persons...

You cannot lay too great stress on one striking characteristic trait of our lamented friend, viz. his marked humility, conspicuous even in his smartest arguments and controversial writings...

The enclosed postcard is by no means a choice exemplar or very favourable specimen of Mr. W. K.'s skill as a letter card artist.

Yours sincerely and faithfully,

F.W. Foster.

P.S. - W.K. very rarely (I dare say) diverged into politics or contemporary topics, as he does at the beginning of this feuilleton.- F. W. F.

The next letter (also on a postcard), written on the evening of his wife's death is one of more than general interest, the vocation of a preacher and advice as to general habits of study.

22 Kid. Gr. B'heath

Tuesday evening. Feb. 4/84.

Dear Bro.,

When I say that it pleased the Lord this morning to deprive me of a devoted sister, wife, mother of several children, you will not expect more than a few words from me.

One who believes the Lord has called him and given him a gift to preach and teach, need not be hasty or anxious. Power makes itself felt; and it is well to begin in a small (proving one's gift and so be gradually led into a larger) way. But if sober brethren, who have heard, invite one to preach in their Room, one ought to have good reasons for declining. Love would lead to help; especially if gift were lacking among those older, or not of the kind to win souls. As to studying the Word, it is well when reading papers of interest to search generally. But this should not hinder the regular reading of O. and N.T. daily. Both ways are profitable, and should be combined. And it is not amiss how to read Gr. and Hebr. words, to learn even if one knows no more of the language; for this helps to better understanding of remarks, made by those who do know them. I do not think well of a slight knowledge of Gr. and, Hebr., and most men, even if they spend many years, could only acquire a slight knowledge. If one just learns enough to appreciate good remarks it is far better than spending time for what is generally pretension. The A.V. compared with the Revision and other helps, give better results than most are capable of acquiring. And remember, "prayer and the word," Acts. 6.

Yours aff.

W.K.

Apropos of this last letter, here may be a suitable place to mention what an encourager William Kelly was to young brothers who wholeheartedly engaged in the service of the Lord. The following incident is typical of many other instances of this fatherly interest. At a gathering of Brethren engaged in the Lord's work held in London, the question under discussion was one of gospel preaching. After several, including himself, had spoken freely, Mr, Kelly, looking across the room at a young brother who had been useful and was acceptable as preacher, remarked, "Let us hear what our young brother opposite has to say on the matter." Immediately several brothers who happened to be on the other side of the room, none of whom could be styled young, save by courtesy, looked up. Upon one of them beginning to express his substantial agreement with what had been said, Mr. Kelly interrupted with, "Yes, yes. But it was our brother, the young evangelist behind you to whom I referred." The opinion of the young fellow in question was probably of little value, but the memory of the kindly recognition by the great man of the gift of Christ in him was naturally a very treasured one. The Christian courtesy then, as on many similar occasions, shown by Mr. Kelly may well serve as an object lesson to some who, in their anxiety to curb the display of "flesh" in the meetings, forget that even an inspired apostle could write to a young man, "Let no man despise thy youth" as also to the gifted Corinthian assembly, "If Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord as I also do. Let no man therefore despise him; but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come unto me: for I look for him with the brethren."

Another incident may bear putting on record of rather a lighter character, A young Sunday School secretary faced by the annual difficulty of raising funds for the summer treat wrote asking him for a donation. Promptly arrived a postcard covered with apparently microscopic hieroglyphics, which upon deciphering appeared to be an invitation to call upon him at his house. A most courteous reception was given by Mr. Kelly who, however, proceeded to put his visitor through a fairly stiff cross-examination as to the whys and wherefores of Sunday School treats. He then intimated that the whole matter was rather outside his general line of things, and said that the arguments advanced had not at all convinced him of the necessity for Sunday School excursions. With a twinkle in his eye and a smile as he noticed the disappointment of the young visitor, he said, "Ah well, if I do not feel at liberty to assist you in your undertaking, I see no reason why I should not recommend you to some persons I know who very probably will." He then gave a short list of names which later produced very gratifying results. It smacked somewhat Hibernian, and was characteristic.

When on another occasion a young unknown scribe with an urge to write, but lacking almost everything else as a writer, approached him diffidently for advice, Mr. Kelly laid the youth under a lifelong obligation by his readiness to assist him. Without the faintest trace of that awful patronage which in others often mars even kindly intended help, William Kelly courteously, from the treasures of his well stored mind, gave sound advice and wise hints as to writing for publication. Then on closing the interview, he added, "Come again if I can be of further service. It is a real joy to be of assistance to those who are His. But pains and labour; pains and labour; nothing worth doing in this way is accomplished without pains and labour."

The Workman

William Kelly always stoutly disclaimed being an ecclesiastic in the sense of bishop, elder or overseer (whichever title of the same office is preferred). But, as a gifted teacher, he, from the earliest days of his ministry, was of necessity profoundly interested in ecclesiastical affairs. His close study of Church history familiarised him with the controversies of the first four centuries, so beloved of Anglican high churchmen, while interest in the disputations of the Schoolmen was evidenced by the contents of his well stocked, carefully selected and intense library of 15.000 volumes. Some description of these occur in the next chapter dealing with their transfer at his death to a Public Library in Yorkshire on the advice of Archbishop MacLagan of York.

His Editorship of the "Prospect", but even more of the "Bible Treasury", the latter for a very lengthened period, introduced him to many doughty champions in the ecclesiastical arena who, often not sharing his convictions, always greatly respected his scholarship. In many cases his advice on critical points of translation was sought by them. Being absolutely free of any denominational control, yet realizing and fully accepting his personal responsibility to the Head of the Church as His servant, William Kelly fearlessly pursued his course. His gifts as teacher and expositor, his qualifications as scholar and exegete, like his University degrees, were not honorary or assumed but actual and self-evident. His critical reviews of the Bampton Lectures caused much discussion as these appeared annually, and never failed to evoke both critical and complimentary notices in erudite quarters. The learned and friendly correspondence with the New Testament Revision Committee in later days when he freely criticised their findings also, betoken the regard with which contemporary scholars and men of letters regarded his scholarship and judgment.

It was his custom when issuing a new volume whether of Lectures, articles in more permanent form from the Bible Treasury, or books, on some important subjects to write a preface revealing the author in the character rather of a critic of his own work. Often these proved to be further thoughts on the subject treated, and were illuminating to the reader.

In the Guernsey period, possibly the most prolific of all in a literary sense, a volume appeared in the spring of 1868 on the five books of Moses; these had been delivered as lectures on a visit to London during the previous year. A more pretentious volume on the Twelve Minor Prophets followed to which a lengthy preface appeared and in which he explains what he recognises as a defect in a literary point of view. Indeed as one of his closest ecclesiastical friends and associates remarked upon reading the volume, "If you wish to know what W.K. thought, say on the subjects of the Church or the gospel, turn up his 'Twelve Minor Prophets', where neither occurs exegetically." The fact was that, while in the main steering a straight course, he was led to make so many long digressions in answer to questions that the book became cyclopedic of his religious convictions generally.

During a short holiday in Italy in 1897 William Kelly who had been stirred both by Dean Farrar's "Larger Hope" and his contribution to the "Expositor's Bible", felt moved to re-issue some lectures on the "Book of Daniel" with pungent criticisms on the Higher Criticism. He was Fundamentalist in the true sense of that oft maligned expression. Hence there is no hedging or doubtful disputation in the following prefaces:

"The lectures on the Book of Daniel were taken in shorthand and printed first some forty years ago, with a very slight correction in a later edition. It would be easy to fill up details and to improve their literary form. But as they are, they have helped not a few souls, and not at least since Great Britain and the United States have been beguiled into their growing pursuit of that guilty and withering craze which calls itself the "Higher Criticism". What is it in the main but a revival of older British Deism, aided by devices of foreign unbelief, and decorated with modern German erudition or its home imitation? Yet all fail to conceal hostility to God's inspiration, and ceaseless effort to minimize real miracle and true prophecy, where, as in this country, men dare not yet deny them altogether. The notorious Oxford Essays, which roused strong feeling in a former generation, are quite left behind. Dissenters vie with Nationalists (Episcopalian or Presbyterian), Methodists with Congregationalists, and of late Ritualists with avowed Rationalists, in showing themselves up to date in free thinking; as if the revealed truth of God were a matter of scientific progress. What joy to all open infidels, who cannot but hail it as the triumph of their contempt for His word! It is not now profane men only, as in the eighteenth century, but religious professors, ecclesiastical dignitaries in the varied bodies or so-called "churches" of Christendom, and particularly those who hold theological and linguistic chairs in the Universities and Colleges all over the world, who became increasingly tainted with this deadly infection. Alas! it is the sure forerunner of that "apostasy" which the great apostle, from almost the beginning of his written testimony, said must "first come" before the day of the Lord can be present.

Take, as a recent instance (and it is only one out of many in the conspiracy against Scripture), the then Dean of Canterbury's (F. W. Farrar D.D.) contribution on the "Book of Daniel" to the Expositor's Bible. Self-deception may hide much from its victims; but no believer should hesitate to say, "An enemy hath done this." While claiming for the book an "undisputed and undisputable" place in the Canon, think of the infatuation of denying openly and unqualifiedly its genuineness and its authenticity! "It has never made the least difference in my reverent (!) acceptance of it that I have for many years been convinced that it cannot be regarded as literal history or ancient prediction." Yet such persons assume to be actuated simply by the love of truth; for this they confound with the counter-love of doubting. Alas! they are under "the spirit of error" (1 John 4,6); or, as Jude so warns, "These speak evil of the things which they know not: but what as the irrational animals they know, in these things they corrupt themselves." May the Christian keep Christ's word, and not deny His name!"

W.K.

In 1903 Kelly's vigilant care for the truth of God led him to write his "God's Inspiration of the Scriptures". The ecclesiastical world just then was full of theological nostrums preparing the way for Mr. Campbell's startling deliverances at the City Temple a couple of years later of his "New Theology". A kind of Pantheism, which when exaggerated easily implies the ignoring of moral distinctions, was widely hailed by some and mourned by others. Principal Forsyth described it as "under developed and over exposed"; and Robertson Nicoll in a series of trenchant articles in the "British Weekly" passionately denounced Pantheism and all its implications.

The Preface to "God's Inspiration of the Scriptures" reads:

"There is no question agitated in Christendom of greater moment than the true character and claim of the scriptures. Nor has their divine authority been more widely denied all over the world than in our own day; and this, not merely by avowed sceptics, but by professing Christians of practically every denomination, and by many of their most distinguished representatives. But when the adversary comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord does not fail to lift up a standard against him.

In this volume my heart's desire is to furnish a help for souls that seek the light of God which inspiration furnishes to those who tremble at His word. I have presented the positive proofs that God speaks in it to every conscience and heart, more particularly of Israel in the Old Testament, and of the Christian in the New though all scripture is his food. Men may refuse to hear, or hear to despise; but this they do at their peril for God is not mocked. Such unbelief has a deeper brand of evil, after men have professed the Lord's name, that when the written word was first committed to human responsibility. It is the spirit of apostasy diffused by the great enemy of God and man, before the apostasy is established as a public fact, which is at hand. In the face of a preparation so dark and ominous, which scripture announces as certain (2 Thess. 2, 3), there are children of God all over the earth, who acknowledge with grateful thanksgiving His faithfulness in turning the attacks of Satan and his dupes to their confirmation in the faith, and the more profound enjoyment both of scripture and of Christ therein revealed by the Holy Spirit.

May the reader by grace be helped to share a privilege which bespeaks itself divine, the best antidote to that unbelief which enfeebles if it does not quite destroy the divine energy of every revealed truth. To human tradition I give no real weight, less if possible to the speculations of men on grounds which they deem probable. As the traditional school is one form of rationalism, so is neo-criticism another, the one adding to God's word, the other taking from it, to His dishonour. Legitimate criticism is the servant of faith in seeking to eliminate errors of transcription; but it receives without question every word that was originally written. What, is called "scientific inquiry" rises up in its empty pride against the divine authority of Christ, who has ruled what it dares to deny."

It is interesting to note that the published works of this able workman occupy four pages in the British Museum Catalogue.

Middlesborough

A born student, an accomplished scholar and an omnivorous reader, it is not surprising that in his long life William Kelly accumulated an immense library of valuable works. The great Codices (some in facsimile), all the great Polyglots, the works of the Fathers and the great Schoolmen, many rare and valuable volumes in every department of Science, Philosophy and History were comprised in his collection. His library was specially rich in the Classics, Ecclesiastical History and Theology, which had ever been his favourite study.

As the year 1905 wore on, Mr. Kelly became increasingly aware that the sands were running out, and that in any case his course would soon be ended. He had in early life embraced the truth of the blessed hope, and firmly held it to the end, ever living and working in constant expectation of its realisation by the return of our Lord to receive His people and take them to His Father's house. He did not, as some, presume to fix dates, nor as others to preach the coming as though it were the only truth of importance revealed in Scripture. Neither did he overlook the plain inference from the story of the talents (Matt. 25, 19). On being asked his thought as to death and the coming of the Lord during his last few days and as to whether he "would desire to depart and be with Christ", or to be amongst those who are alive and remain at the coming of the Lord, he replied,

"I have no choice, neither would I choose if I might."

"But surely you would like to be alive and meet the Lord on His return?"

"I have no wish at all in the matter, my dear," he replied.

"It will be as He wills, best either way." Here he confidently and peacefully left the whole matter.

In this spiritually sane and balanced spirit he considered the question of the disposal of his great library of almost priceless value. Where could it best be placed? An old friend, Dr. MacLagan, the then Archbishop of York, whose judgment he valued was consulted. After some consideration the Archbishop suggested that Middlesborough in Yorkshire would for many reasons be a most suitable place for its permanent housing. The town, too, was prepared (after the Archbishop's recommendation) to build a special wing to the Public Library to accommodate the gift! Mr. Kelly readily agreed on the sole condition that the anonymity of the giver should be strictly preserved. This, needless to remark, was in keeping with his general character. His wish for anonymity was respected, but upon his decease the Library authorities were compelled to make a statement with reference to this, which they did in the following terms:

The Free Library,

Middlesborough April 1906

Anonymity no longer!

We have been repeatedly asked why we have avoided all notice in our pages on the recent death of our "anonymous benefactor". More particularly as the bond of silence laid upon us has been removed by the publication of his name; we therefore take this opportunity of assuring our readers that it was not because of forgetfulness, or the lack of a sense of duty, but of the express wish of the family. "Mr. Kelly was a man who preferred to do good by stealth, or rather he held himself a steward only, of possessions either physical or mental, and only last summer (1905) he reiterated to us his hope that his name might not become public property as the donor of the valuable library which has come to us. We guarded the secret well, and it was with surprise and regret that whilst paying the last tribute of respect and gratitude to one to whom we owe so much, that we learned that "The Times" in an obituary notice, had stated his connection with the donation to Middlesborough. Then it was that his daughter signified her wish that we should remain silent, but the paragraph in "The Times" was copied and expanded, and eventually our local press published the information to our townsmen. It is greatly to be regretted that the donors wish has been disregarded by others, for it was the only obligation he laid upon us. His donation was a free one, without any of the onerous conditions which so frequently accompany such gifts, and perhaps the spirit in which the presentation was made can be best appreciated by the following fragment of conversation:

Standing in his library where the books were being packed for their transit to Middlesborough, we asked: "It must be painful to you, Sir, to thus part with your old friends, is it not?" "Well, no," was the reply. "I cannot hope to require them long, and I do wish to see them settled where they may be of service to others."

It was not our good fortune to know Mr. Kelly intimately, but as we did know him he was ever the cultured gentleman, a profound scholar without a shade of pedantry, whose knowledge was freely bestowed when sought, and whose friendship must have been a privilege.

Closing Days

"There is," said an old writer, "one chapter in the biography of distinguished persons - in the biography of a great genius, an eminent saint or seer - which has for us generally special interest, into which we are often most curious to dip - the chapter entitled "Closing Days", curious to learn how he bore himself, or what fell from his lips during those days in the shadow of the approaching end, to see something of the thoughts that then expressed his mind, or to hear something of his latest words. What of his behaviour, his expression, we ask, in his latest hours? The favourite pursuit - was its influence upon him then exemplified? The ruling passion - was it strong with him in death?"

The spring of 1905 brought to William Kelly some experience of what the sacred writer alluded to as "the grasshopper becoming a burden." He was in his eighty-fifth year at the close of a very active life, and by several indications seemed to feel that journey's end for him was not far distant. His doctor ordered rest and change of scene. So at the invitation of Dr. and Mrs. Heyman Wreford of Exeter to take a prolonged rest at their home, he gladly accepted it, and so speedily recovered a good measure of health and began to long to return to work. The two months spent in Exeter seemed to fill him with renewed energy so that immediately upon his return to Blackheath he resumed the weekly lecture at Bennet Park Hall with a new series on the Epistles of John. These were delivered with such power and unction that many regular hearers regarded them as being probably the most valuable ever given by him at Blackheath.

In the autumn at a Conference held in Southampton Mr. Kelly again took his full part to the profit and spiritual enjoyment of many from all parts of the country. Incidentally in a private letter to a friend he expressed his own joy at the fellowship shown throughout the long weekend spent together there. He made a point at being present at all the meetings day after day except the early morning at 7 a.m. from which he was debarred by reason of distance and lack of transport. The freshness, too, of his ministry then was remarked upon by some who had heard him for many years.

In addition to oral ministry, William Kelly, during that last year, maintained the "Bible Treasury" at its usual high level, as also his other literary work, the "Epistles of Peter" being the only volume he was obliged to leave uncompleted. His correspondence with clerical friends and other scholarly men showed the same keen interest in translation work, critical reviews and exegesis as in earlier days. Indeed, some learned correspondence on an unusual Greek formation in John's first Epistle as to its exact meaning, may well remind the reader of the epitaph on the tomb of John Richard Green, the historian, at Mentone, "He died learning".

The Southampton Conference over, and the last series of his Blackheath Lectures on John's Epistles completed, Dr. Wreford again kindly insisted upon a further stay with them. But it was not until the New Year that Mr. Kelly arranged to go down to Exeter, although he was badly needing rest from the round of activities which he still enjoyed. It was therefore on January 11th 1906 that he left Black-heath never to return. The complete change of air and scene with three or four weeks of loving care and attention again seemed somewhat to restore his wonderful constitution that in the last week of the next month, February 25th, he felt able to address a vast company in the then great Victoria Hall, Exeter. It was a special lecture on the subject dearest to his heart, the "Doctrine of Christ", and was regarded by many as a magnificent effort, coming as a crown to a long life of ardent devotion and loyalty to the Person of the Incarnate Son of God.

It was his last public testimony, and the end of sixty years of faithful ministry and service to Christ and His people. A month later he was called to his rest, Tuesday, March 27th being his last day when toward eventide he quietly fell asleep, and being "absent from the body was present with the Lord."

One who knew him well, himself a Christian scholar, on hearing of his death, wrote, "His supreme delight was in ministering in spiritual things to those whom he described as the few despised ones of Christ's flock." Some words of the late Bp. Francis Paget in "Hallowing of Work" recur to one's mind as the self-effacing life of William Kelly is reviewed. He says, "In this strange and tangled business of human life, there is no energy that so steadily does its work as the mysterious, unconscious, silent, unobtrusive, imperturbable influence which comes from a man who has done with all self seeking."

Fifty years after his passing, William Kelly's books are still being sought alike by scholars and simple believers all over the English-speaking world. This is significant. One of his very latest remarks expressed his life-long conviction and spring of action, "The hatred of the world is a real thing; the Cross is a real thing; and the love of God is a real thing."

His body was brought back to Blackheath, and on Saturday, March 1906 reverently laid to rest by loving hands in Charlton cemetery, Few who were present on that bright spring afternoon will forget the impressive scene as devout men carried William Kelly to his burial. The hundreds of mourners, the solemn strains of the hymn, "For ever with the Lord", the hush as the plain casket was lowered into the earth, broken by the voice of Dr. Wreford reading two portions of Scripture (Acts 20, 25-38} 1 Thess. 4,13-18) in tones charged with deep emotion. Then a heartfelt tribute to the departed brother, friend and leader, whose face here we should see no more, with great emphasis based on two thoughts suggested by the Scripture read, namely, "Sorrowing because they should see his face no more, " and the hope of the Lord's coming which prevents our sorrowing as those that have no hope. Dr. Wreford then gave thanks to God for the long life and ministry; and a hymn frequently used by the departed brother followed:

"Saviour before Thy face we fall,

Our Lord, our life, our hope, our all,

For we have nowhere else to flee,

No sanctuary, Lord, but Thee."