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Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmds en commenpant par la premidre page qu: comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: i^ symbole — »• signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbolo V signifie "FIN". Les CFirtes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvunt dtre film6s 6 des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour §tre reproduit en un seul clich6, :l est film6 d partir de Tangle sup^rieur gauche, de gauch'j 6 droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 GOLD FROM OPHIR A NEW BOOK OF BIBLE READINGS, ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. BY J. E. WOLFE, EVANGELIST, WITH INTRODUCTION BY DR. JAMES H. BROOKES. ARCHER G. WATSON, Managei., TORONTO WILLARD TRACT DEPOSITORY, Cor. Yonge and Temperance Sts., Toronto, Canada. Entered according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and eight-nine, by Archer Green Watson, Manager, Toronto Willard I ract Depository (Ltd.). in the office of the Minister of Agriculture at Ottawa. 1 ames murray* co., Printers and bookbinders, atStxB Front St. West, TORONTO. INTRODUCTION. GOD'S patent of nobility is a disposition to search the sacred Scriptures. It is written of the Bereans: " These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so," Acts 17: ii. They did not merely read the Old Testament occasionally, but they searched it, or as the word means, they examined it closely, they sifted it, they scruti- nized it, they scanned it, remembering the promise tc every one who desires heavenly wis- dom : " If thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding ; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures ; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God," Prov. 2 : 3-5. The honor thus attained outlasts all earthly distinctions, marking the high character and immortal dignity of God's noblemen, " When gems, and monuments, and crowns. Are mouldered down to dust. It is a pleasure, therefore, to call the attention of believers to this book ^f Evangelist Wolfe, as " a work of faith, and labor of love," undertaken to exalt " the Word of God, whidi liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away ; but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever," i Pet. i : 23-25. It is a book that must be most helpful to all who would become better acquainted with " the first principles of the oracles of God," for it sets forth in Scriptural and simple language the great facts of Ruin, Redemption, Regeneration and Resurrection, together with kindred truths that canno': fail to be stimulating and suggestive to souls subject to the authority of the Holy Spirit. Hence it should be hailed with joy among similar books, appearing in these last and evil days, and prepared with the same pur- pose, to glorify our risen and coming Lord. The title, " Gold from Ophir," reminds us of the different words that are translated gold in the Bible. The first is bctscr, and it signifies " to cut off," then " inaccessible, forti- fied, strong." " Receive, I pray thee, the law fron' his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart .... Then shalt thou lay up gold, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brook. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence," Job 22 : 22-25. Here the word gold in verse 24 is precisely the same that is rendered defence in verse 25 ; and so, if a man gets the gold of God's word not only in his mind, but in his heart, he is defended against dangers. IV. INTRODUCTION. Second, zahab, " brightness, shining." ' The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simj le; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart ; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever ; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold," Ps. 19 : 7-10. Here the word means " to shine," and he who makes the Word of God the man of his counsel, will find his way to be like the path of the just, "that shineth more and more unto the perfect day," Prov. 4 : 18. Third, charuts, " to be active, quick, sharp, decided, determined, decreed." In the day of Christ's return and Israel's restoration it is said, " the Lord gave the word; great was the company of those that published U;" or, as Dr. J. Addison Alexander renders it, "The women publishing It are a great host ; " or, as Dr. DeWitt renders it, " The women herald- ing gladness arc a great host ; " or, as the Revised Version has it, " The women that publish the tidings are a great host." His promise is : " Also upon the servants and upon the hand- maids in those days will I pour out my Spirit," Joel 2 : 27-29; and then He will say to His people so long oppressed : " Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold," Ps. 68: n-13. "Wiicn the Lord gives the word, and the word is received, believers become not only active, but decided and determined, as the word for gold here means, not " carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness," Eph. 4 : 14. Fourth, kethem, " to shut up, to hide." " V/here shall wisdom be found ? and where is the place of understanding ? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir," Job 28 : 12-16. " Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir," Ps. 45 : 9. " My beloved is white and ruddy ; the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the mos/ fine gold," Song 5 : 10, 11. In these passages the word for gold means " to hide," reminding us of the confession of the Psalmist, " Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee," Ps. 119: 11. This is the best thing, hid in the best place, and he who has the Word of God in his heart has laid up for himself " treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal," Matt. 6 : 20. Fifth, :egor, " to shut up, to enclose," hence " precious gold, that is, pure, unadulter- ated." Of the wisdom of the Old Testament, which is the Christ of the New, it is said, " It cannot be gotten for gold," Job. 28 : 15. But wisdoili is revealed in the Word, and of this it is written, " Every word of God is pure ; He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him. Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar," Prov, 30 : 5, 6. This is the kind of gold with which we approach God, having " our. bodies washed with pure water," Heb. 10 : 22 ; or as it is written in another place, " Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word," Eph. 5 ; 25, 26. The Word is p.ie and unadulterated, the truth ot God without the admixture of the least error. INTRODUCTION. V. ■'.^ Sixth, paz, " refined." Concerning the knowledge of Christ, " the gold and the crystal cannot equal it ; and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold," Job 28 . 17. " Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head," Ps. 21 : 3. " Therefore I love thy com- mandments abo'-e gold, yea, above fine gold," Ps. 119 : 127. " His legs as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold," Song 5:15. So this paz gold is the appropriate symbol of the divine nature and perfect humanity of Him concerning whom the Holy Ghost testifies : " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," John I : I ; " Who knew no sin," 2 Cor. 5:21; " Without sin," Heb. 4:15; " Who did no sin," I Pet. 2 : 22 ; " and in Him is no sin," i Jno. 3 : 5. Seventh, chrusios or ckrttsion, used by the poets, according to Liddell and Scott, "to denote anything dear or precious." " Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones he shall receive a reward," i Cor. 3 : 11-14. The foundation is Christ, the super- structure must be reared in the love of Christ, and for the glory of Christ, and this alone is precious to God. All that is of self and the world shall be burned in the day of our Lord's coming, and hence we are not surprised to hear Him saying to the Laodicean Church, that fitly represents the present condition of the professing Christian body, " I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire," Rev. 3 : 8. Everywhere we see the failure of man, and the ruin of all that he touches ; but for this very reason our hearts respond the more eagerly to the Spirit's voice, " Unto you therefore which believe he is precious," i Pet. 2:7. , May He abundantly own the pages that follow for the comfort of saints and the salva- tion of sinners, leading the reader to see (i) that " all Scripture is given by mspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine," 2 Tim. 3 : 16 ; and (2) that all Scripture, both Old and New Testament, sets forth the person and work of Christ, Jno. 5 : 39 ; and (3) that " Whatso- ever things were written aforetime were written for our learning," Rom. 15 :4 ; and (4) that the Word is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path, Ps. 119 : 105 ; and (5) that we are made clean through the Word, Jno. 15:3; and (6) that the Word is able to build us up, and to give us an inheritance among all them that are sanctified, Acts 20 : 32 ; and (7) that we overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of our testimony, facing the devil with the blood, and the world with the word, Rev. 12 : 11. To the Lamb that was slain be the glory unto the ages of ages I JAMES H. BROOKES. sug! Het finei Job store no c from gold. Fori pleas ings( regar reade and {] assur( menta Resut all th< scans first w IV hands T the wr merelj 1 A f PREFACE. THE title of this new book of Bible Readings, Gold from Ophir, is, as the reader will observe, a Scriptural one. It struck me as being the most appropriate and suggestive one that came to my mind. Ophir, it is said, was a region from which the Hebrews in the time of Solomon obtained Gold. The gold was proverbial for its fineness, so that "gold of Ophir " is several times mentioned as fine goldy Fs. 45 : 10 : Job 28 : 16 ; Isa. 13:12; I Chron. 29 : 4. What a golden mine of truth is the precious Word of God 1 What inexhaustible stores of wealth lie enfolded within its bosom 1 Blessed thought, too, that it contains no dross, quartz, or earth, from which it must needs be separated. The Book from the beginning to the ending is composed of multitudinous nuggets of the purest gold. And yet it requires patient, prayerful digging in ord'^r to obtain the treasure. For near a score of years I have been digging in this mine, and have found it a most pleasurable and profitable task. While engaged in evangelistic work it occurred to me that a book of Bible Read- ings could be arranged on a more practical basis than any I had yet seen, with due regard to " the right dividing of the word of truth." How far I have succeeded, the reader must judge. Moreover, in this busy age, when there is such a " running to and fro," and so little time to spend in laborious searching of the Scriptures, I felt assured it would be a good and helpful thing to put in proper order the four funda- mental and leading facts of the Bible, viz. : Ruin, Redetnption, Regeneration and Resurrection, hoping that this etfort for God's glory might be permitted to be a help to all those who feel called to labor for the salvation of the lost. Yet, let every one who scans its pages remember that *' truth second-hand " is of no real value unless it be first wrought into the soul by the mighty power of the Holy Ghost. Many of the " nuggets of gold " found in this volume have been gathered by other hands than mine. Due credit is therefore given. The " Suggestive Thoughts and Unfoldings " have been gleaned and culled from the writings of the clearest and purest authors of Gospel literature. They are given merely to serve as a stimulus to thought. vm. PREFACE. The various papers and articles found scattered throughout the book are from the pens of skilled students and teachers of the Word. The article by I) r. West on "The Resurrection of the Body," was written exclusively for Gold from Optiir. Professor Morehead, Dr. Jas. H. Brookes, Messrs. Geo. C. Needham, E. P. Marvm, C Russel Hurditch, John Currie.and ahost of others, have contributed to make the book what it is. From the pages of The London Christian, Footsteps of Truth, Word and Work The Faithful Witness, Notes for Bible Study, and other periodicals, I have collected much valuable matter. And right here let me tender my hearty thanks to those who have so kindly contributed the excellent readings, articles, and papers that adorn the pages of the book. The Miscellaneous Department, made up of readmgs and articles of the most vital and practical character, I trust may be much used of the Lord in furnishing the winner of souls with weapons whereby he shall be enabled to " pull down the strongholds of the mighty." , , , . ,.• , r May the Spirit of the living God be upon all those who look into this volume for help in Christian work, and again let me repeat, may the worker in the Lords vine- yard never cease to remember that truth, unbaptized with the Holy Ghost, can never accomplish fermanent good. ^ WOLFE ViNiTA, IND. Tto., May 7, i88g. r ! GOLD. GOLD Takes a Prominent Place in Scripture.— It is mentioned in the second and last chapters of both Old and New Testaments. It is figurative of the child of God, Lam. 4:2; Job 23 : 10 ; of his works, i Cor. 3 : 12 ; and of "the trial of his faith," I Peter I : 7. Our study now only refers to the believer. I. Gold is Fonnd in the Earth.—" Out of it wast thou taken,'^ Gen. 3:19. It is found in darkness. We are " called out of darkness," i Peter 2:9. It is found in a state of filth : *' Filthy is man," Job 15 : 16 ; Ps. 14 : 3. It is dug out of the earth : "Look unto . . . the hole of the pit whence ye are digged," Isa. 51 : i. After being taken out of the earth it is washed : " Ye are washed," i Cor. 6:11. It is then crushed : God says to man, " My thoughts are not as your thoughts," Isa. 55:8; man's thoughts are vain, i Cor. 3 : 20 ; and are crushed in the presence of God, who begs him to " forsake his thoughts," Isa. 55 17. It is now fit for the fire ; and if gold is to be refined, it must pass thrc'igh the fire : " Beloved, think it not strange concerning the flery trial which is to try you," i Peter 4:12. "Yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto," I Thess. 3 : 3. "When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold," Job 23 : 10. "The furnace is for gold; but the Lord trieth the he\rts," Prov. 17 : 3. The fire purifies it : " He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them ^ gold," etc., '4al. 3 : 3^ n. Gold Stands the Fire. — " Blessed is the man that iureth temptation,'* James 1:12. The refiner is at the expense of the fire : God had . 'hastise his people for their sin, yet, " His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel," JuJges 10 : 16. The fire never injures it : "When thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned," Isa. 43 : 2. Its value is estimated by weight : " Thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just," Isa. 26 : 7. When ref ned, it is bright : " A man's wisdom maketh His face to shine," Eccles. 8:1. " Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works," Matt. 5 : 16. III. -Gold is Preoions. — "The precious sons of Zion comparable to fine gold,** Lam. 4:12. Pliable : Paul could say, " I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound ; everywhere, and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need," Phil. 4:12. It attracts attention : " Ye are the light of the world ; a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid," Matt. 5 : 14. Beating does not break it, but causes it to expand: "The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew," Exodus 1:12. "I would ye should understand, brethren, that IT H WIrtl t'Jigy.iwtg >s (i Cor. 15 : 20). (3) Death 1 eternal; "everlasting" separation, or "destruction from the presence of the Lord"! (2 Thess. I : 9), which is " the second death" (Rev. 20 : 12-15;, and most terrible of| all ; reserved for those whose names are " not written in the book of life." Both by nature and practice man is of no use to God. He has become utterly j " unprofitable ; " the fine gold has become dim. We have not only been guilty of specific breakings of God's holy law, by which j we are seen to be transgressors, our natures are fallen, we are depraved and corrupt, j the imagination of the thoughts of the heait only evil continually. Self-will, self- seeking, and self-pleasing have taken the place of God's will, God-seeking, and God- pleasing ; and thus while self is gratified we are lost to God. T^ that else in th alas papel ^ Ruin. THE CONDITION OF LOST MAN. lus of his •efusing to ng clothed IS to cover aves of his Lord, leads len sinner's ■s. 7 : 20; at God de- in iniquity en, without ard to their ;duca+ed or "stinking" ;e Psa. 14 : 3- niark man tO God, and must come ■iour of the J. E. W. spiritual ; sinners" by . 10-12,23); s(Eph.2 : i) "in Christ" and body, ave it" and ; of all since n Adam all i.it all have )le— " till He i (3) Death j )f the Lord" it terrible of j come utterly ,w, by which! and corrupt, elf-will, self- ig, and God- 1 I. He is dead in sin, Eph. 2:1 A Sal- vation Army officer once made the quaint remark that " Not only had the sheep fallen into the pit, but they had also lost their bleat ;" in other words they had lost the life of God out of their souls. IL Hi3 depravity is total, Gen. 6:5: Rom. 7 : 18. IIL He is devoid of the fear of God. In this he resembles the natural brute beast, Rom. 3 : 18. IV. He is wilful and stubborn.. Although the Creator has, in His word, made the way plain, man obstinately chooses " his own way," Isa. 53:6. V. He loves darkness; prefers U to light, John, 3 : 19. VI. He is corrupt in speech, Matt. 15: 18,19; Rom. 3:13,- 14. His heart is a fountain of iniquity, pouring forth only vile- ness. VII. He is a destuoyer of souls, Rom. 3 : 15, 16. His influence tends to lead souls to hell instead of heaven. J. E. W. WHAT SIN HAS ENTAIi^ED. I. Man's fall thrust him out of Paradise, Gen. 3 : 24. II. His sin doomed him to labor and sorrow, Gen. 3 : 16, 19; Job. 5 : 6, 7. III. Temporal death was another result of his transgression, Gen. 3 : 19 ; Rom. 5:12; I Cor. 15 : 22. IV. To all this was added the awful doom of eternal death, Job. 21:30; Rom. 5: 18, 21; 6: 23. V. Man cannot remedy his lost condi- tion, Prov. 20:9; Jer. 2:22; 13:23. VI. The only r/smedy has been provided by God, Gen. 3 : 15; John 3 : 14-18; 2 Cor. 5: 14-21, etc. VII. Temporal and eternal death at hand for the sinner. Therefore the necessity for immediate application of God's remedy. Josh. 24 : 15 ; 2 Cor. 6 : 2. J. E. W SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. THE unsaved sinner should write " Lost" on the palms of his hands, on the soles of his feet ; in all he does and wherever he goes he is lost. " Lost " should be engraved on his intellect, his will, his affections ; at all times, under all circumstances, and in all his faculties,' he can but say " Lost." How true that the holy, just, and good law of God came demanding of us love to God, and proved that what God justly demands from man He has not got, and cannot get, so i:hat, without exception, it may be said of all men who ought to have sought after God, "There is none that seeketh after God." Ouii part is to take the place of a sinner and nothing else. Most people believe that the>' are sinners, but comparatively few believe that they are sinners and nothing else but Binners. Christ appeared to " put away sin ;" but it does not mean that, as to its presence in this world, sin has been put away. S. i indeed has been the ruin wrought, for, alas ! no one can look to our streets, our jails, cur asylums, our infirmaries, our news- papers, and dream of such a thought. Iijhi^^^r II! , ! :| lO Gold from Ophir. GOD NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS; OR, "THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE." An Address by W. P. Mackay. TURN now to Romans, the 3rd chapter and 22nd verse, and at the last clause we read, " For there is no difference ; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." This is what God has said. And now voir who are happy and amiable, this is the one thing I wish to tell you from God, "There is no difference." This is what you never could and never can feel; it is a thing for which you must believe God. As it is God with whom you have to do, I beseech you not to listen one moment to any that would take you from His truth. He says, "There is no difference." He has proved that the lawless Gentile or heathen and the law-breaking Jew or religious person are equally guilty, and that not one among either the outwardly profane or the outwardly decent is found righteous or good before Him. Of course there are differences in heinousness or degradation of sins. I need not stop to speak of this ; we all know it. I wish to tell you what you and I do not by nature know, namely, that there is no difference as to where we stand before God. The one question is, guilty or not guilty? There are no degrees as to the fact of guilt, "He that offends in one point is guilty of all," and nothing less. He that offends in all points is guilty of all, and nothing more. Therefore, while there are differences among offences, there is no difference as to guilt. Therefore, all men in the world (and you included) have been brought in guilty before God. Look at the story of the Prodigal Son in the 15th of Luke. The moment he crossed his father's threshold with his pockets full of money and a respectable dress on, he was as really guilty, as really a sinner, as when he was among the swine in his rags. He was more degraded when keeping swine, but not more guilty. In fact, his degradation and husks were his greatest mercies, for these led him to see his guilt. A full pocket and a respectable appearance are the worst things a guilty sinner can have, as these lead him to think that he is rich and increased with goods, and has need of nothing, when in God's sight he is wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I do not ask you, Are you a sinner in the common use of that word? because you for whom I write are not. You mean by sinner, one who is very wild, profane, disobedient and lawless. This is as men speak of sinners. God, how- ever, says that there is no difference. The only thing I ask you is this, Have you offended in one point — not one point of open sin, but one point in thought or word ? You confess at least one point. God asks no more. If you have offended in one point you are guilty of all. Man would never think this nor say it. But God says it. Suppose that your life were like a book that you have written, and there was only one small blot just like a pin's point in it, whilst all the other leaves were per- fectly clean, and you came and presented it before God ; He would put it beside all the blackest lives that ever lived, the blackest histories of the vilest murderers, and thieves, and harlots, and over all this collection would be written these words, " There is no difference." You have offe.ided in one point. It is not a question of being a great sinner — it is this question. Are you as perfect as the Christ of^God, the perfect man ? If you had lived for fifty years without committing one sin, or haying one wrong wish or thought, and just then you had an evil thought, and afterwards lived another fifty years and died, aged 100, with only this one evil thought (not even a word or an action), when you came to stand before God in judgment, He would put you beside all the offscour- ings of the earth, men who for a hundred years never had a good thought, and He would say, " There is no difference." Ruin. II Of course you think this is very harr, but it is true. God will never ask your opinion whether it ought to be so or not. He has in grace told us already what He will do. You and I, not knowing absolu'.e holiness, cannot understand or appreciate such a judgment. We could never feel that eveiy one is the sauu; in God's sight as regards guilt. But God says it, and the'e the matter ends. If you wish to go on, risking your chance of escaping hell on the possibility that God has told lies, and that these words are not perhaps quite true, that " there is no difference," then the judg- ment day will declare it to you. I would rather advise you to believe God, against your own ideas and opinions, and simply because He has said it, to proceed as if in His sight, " there is no difference" between those we call great and little sinners. " I cannot believe that all are so bad," said one, alter I had been saying, " there is no difference." " But," I added, "the Bible says, ' there is no difference.' " " But there must bt jreater sinners than others." '.* Oh, yes, Most certainly, (ireater offenders are recognized in the Bible ; he that owed fifty and he that owed five hundred pence ; but as to guilt, God says, ' there is no difference.' " " Well, I cannot see it," still continued my friend. " But it is in God's word, whether you see it or not ; " and it is sufficient that God has said it, for His Word is truth. Let me give an illustration. Let us supjjose that a bill had been stuck up in this town saying that recruits were wanted for Her Majesty's Life Guards, and that none would be enlisted but those who were tall and measured not under six feet in height. Let us suppose that many of the young men in the town were anxious to serve in this regiment, and John meets James and says to him, " Well, I've more chance than you, for I am taller than you ;" and they put back to back and measured themselves with one another, and indeed John is taller than James. And there continues to be much measuring in the town before the day that the recruiting-sergeant come.. They measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves among them- selves, but they forget one thing — that not only t^-ll men, but men not under six feet are wanted. One man at last says, " Well, I've measured myself with every man in the town, and I'm the tallest man in it," and it might be quite true. But will even he be qualified ? The trial day comes. Each is measured, from the man five feet six inches, to the very tallest. Supposing he is five feet, eleven inches and three-quarters. The sergeant cannot let him pass. He is short. He must take his place among the very shortest as to getting into the Life Guards. He is the tallest man in the town, but he is short of the stanHard, and "there is no diffc-ence " from the very shortest as to his exclusion from the Life Guards. There is a difft rence in height, but not in qualification. Thus it is with every sinner. He may be good, or bad, in the sight of men, but "there is no difference, for all have smned and come short of the glory of God." If any man could say, I have come up to God's standard, and this is true, then there would be a difference ; but " come short " is written on every man's brow, therefore there is no difference. Whether was Adam or Eve the more to blame ? This might afford material for a long discussion, and at the end, the heinousness of their crime would be to us a matter of opinion. I have no doubt there might be some shade of degree as to hein- ousness ; but one thing is sure — if their offences were not equally heinous, they were equally driven out. The cherubim that turned every way with the flaming sword, separated both equally from the tree of life ; there was no difference. When the rain began to fall and the waters to rise, after Noah had entered the ark, the people who had their houses high up might have been pitying the poor {people who built low down in the valley, as they heard the screams of the drowning. |By and by the water sweeps above the little hills, and then those on the high hills, in Itum, congratulate themselves upon their high-built villas. But the water still rises ; it 12 Gold from Ophir. ! ■ : ! enters theireround floors ; they rush out of their grand mansions or hovels — for there was no difference — and flee to the tops of the very highest mountains ; but only find respite for a few moments, for "all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered, and all flesh died that moved upon the earth .... and every man ; all in whose nostrils was the breath of life of all that was in the dry land, died, ana every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground." Under that judgment-flood there was no difference. Look across the wide, level sea, and consider the thousands of caves and stupendous mountain chiins that it hides, the plains and valleys, the dens of seaweed and the fortresses of rjck ; and the level sea rolls equally over all, and there is no difference. Drunkard and respectable lady, the hoary-haired sinner and the infant at the mother's breast — all were under that fearful flood, for there was no difference. If you had been there, do you think you would have been made an exception of? You may be able just now to get anything that money can buy. Could money have saved you then ? Prince and beggar, strong men and weak, bad and good, were all equally swept away. There was no difference. It has happened already you see, and it will happen again — not with water, but with fire. When Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven, there was no difference. All were equally destroyed : very bad and very good shared the same fate. This fearful, unprecedented shower falling out of heaven — brimstone and fire — took everyone by surprise, and destroyed every dweller there. " He overthrew those cities and all the plain, and all the inhabitants rf the cities." There was no difference. When Israel was sheltered in the house of bondage from the destroying anj^el's 'land, " It came to pass that at midnight Jehovah smote all the first-born in'tue land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on the throne, unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon." Judge and prisoner alike found themselves face to face with death. In the palace and in the hovel the voice of mourning vas heard ; not one of the doomed first-born escaped. These fi'"3t-born r\ight have L *en beautiful, amiable, educated, and accomplished, or they might have been \ le, degraded, ignorant, and hardened ; .but there was no difference. It is with this God you and I have to do. When Jericho's walls fell flat before the appointment, the ordinance of God, in righteous judgment " they (the Israelites) utterly destroyed aJl that was in the city, both men and women, young and old." The strong man and the feeble woman, the active young man and decrepit old man, were equally slain by the edge of the sword. There was no difference. The flaming sword of the cherubim, the flood of waters, the deluge of fire, the angel of death, and Joshua's sword, all preach to you and me with calm decided voice, " There is no difference." These things were written for us, that we might know what we may expect so that we might not leap into the dark. Nothing will happen that has not been told us. A brother in the Lord could never get a young lady to think about eternity until he quoted this text, *' The wicked shall be turned into he'I, and all the nations that forget God." That word "forget" seemed to haunt her. May it haunt you, dear friend 1 You do not require to deny God's existence, to mock at Him, to despise Him, to reject Him, to neglect Him ; all you have to do is to forget God. Do you know the God who says, " There is no difference ?" Have you forgotten that He identifies you with all descended from Adam .'' Have you forgotten the God driving our parents out of Eden, and placing a sword crying for blood? Our brother Cain soon forgot ; our brother Abel remembered. Have you forgotten the God who swept away all in the days of Noah ? Have )'ou forgotten that He is the Judge of the quick and the dead, and as there was no difference, so there is a day coming when there will be no difference. In the judgment of the quick, all the " goats " are equally on the left hand — there is no difference. In the judgment of the dead, "the dead, small and great, stand before God " — small and great sinners, young and old, king and Ruin. 13 there t only \ were all in every ;r that )nsider ns and a rolls dy, the : fearful \ would ng that mg men nee. It vith fire, ire from d : very ;r falling ;d every \abitants ^ angel's tlie land it-born of lemselves ning was lave been ,een \ de, with this :if God, in 1 the city, )man, the [ge of the fire, the led voice, now what n that has rnity until itions that ; you. dear to despise Do you en that He od driving 5ther Cain who swept f the quick when there equally on >ad, small i, king and serf, peer and peasant — "and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire," for there was no difierence. Yourname may have been written on the communion roll of any or all of the churches, or it may have been written in the sheets of the Newgate conviction-book for murderers, but there is no difference. The lake of fire levels all distinctions. There may be, there are, many and few stripes ; there may be, th-re are, great and small cups full of wrath, but every cup, be it great or small, is ftill. The lake of fire — fearful thought — roils its hideous sea of wrath and torment in one surg'ng wave over all that have not been enrolled in the one book of life. In hell, and perhaps only there, for the first time, you will believe that there is no diCerenoe. Every one believes it there. Let me ask you to look at another picture. Three men are hung on three crosses. If you look at them, you will see that there is no difference. Ifyju listen to what they are saying, you will hear one at the one side mocking Him in the centre , and the one at the other side saying, " Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation ? And we indeed justly, but thf«s man hath done nothing amiss." The one in the centre is saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Those suffering "justly," and He that had done "nothing amiss," equally suffer, for there is no difference. Those needing forgiveness, and He praying for their forgiveness, are under the same doom, for there is no difference. Who are they ? Those on either hand are two malefactors, or thieves, who die by the condemnation of their law. He in the centre was proved innocent, and He is the Judge of quick and dead. He has taken of His own free-will the load of sin upon Him, and, under sin. He cannot be cleared. Spotless, pure, holy though He was. He cannot escape. God can by no means clear the guilty. " He hath made Him sin for us, who knew no sin." He is under our guilt, and "there is no difference" between Him and the thief— He must suffer. Dear friend, does not this explain all difficulty about an innocent, amable, virtuous, accomplished lady being on the same level before God as a drunkard or murderer? Here is God's perfect Son — yea, tTielvery God-man — on the same level with malefactors, not for Himself, but for us. God became man, and gave Himself for our sins. This satisfaction that the innocent made for the guilty is offered to you, and you may freely have it, for " there is no difference." If ihe eye of the vilest sinner in this world should perchance rest on this — an outcast from all society, one who has lost all friends and all self-respect, the tottering drunkard coming out of his delirium tremens— I tell you as from God, this Christ is offered to you as God's love-gift. You niay reckon Him yours, and proceed upon it as if He were yours as truly as I or any other person in this world do so. You have as much right to claim Him as we, for "there is no difference" in God's sight — " His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood avails for me." Thus, my friend, for whom especially I write this, you have to take the lost sinner's place, for God says, "there is no difference." As I have said before, I could know this only from God's Word. You have been as happy as a bird all your life, but you forget to find out what God thinks about you. I have tried to show you this from the Bible. I do not ask you if you feel it, for I am sure you never could, neither could any one feel all the catalogue of sins in Romans first and second chapters true against hirn individually ; but God knows us better than we know ourselves, and this is His estimate of us. H Gold from Ophir. m •\i\\\ ALL HAVE SINNED. I. All have sinned, Rom. 3 : 23. II. Ye have sinned against the Lord, Num. 32 : 23. III. Thou hast sinned against thy soul, Hab. 2: 10. IV. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, i John 1 : 10. V. And David said unto Nathan. I have sinned against the Lord, 2 Sam. 12 : 13. VI. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sin- ned, Psa. 51:4; Luke 15 : 18. VII. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, i Tim. i : 15. THREE STEPS IN THE BIBLE INTERPRETATION OF SIN. I. The transgression of the law — lawless- ness, 1 Jno. 3 : 4. II. The thought of foolishness is sin. See Prov. 24 : 9, and kindred passages. III. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin, Rom. 14 123. ■ i< ' SIN. I. Entrance of sin into the world, Gen. 3 • i-io; Rom. 5:12. , II. Its immediate consequences, Gen. 3 : 14-19:4:11, 12; Num. 32:23; Job 14:1; Ezek. 18 : 4, 20 ; Jno. 3 : 19 : Rom. 6 : 23 ; I Cor. 15:56; Gal. 5:19-21; Jas. 1:15; Rev. 19 : 12-14; 22: 15. -III. All men are born in sin and commit sin, Gen. 5:3; 7. Kings 8 : 46 ; Job. 15:14; 25:4; Psa. 51:5; 52:2, a; 130:3; John 8:7; Gal. 3 : 22; I Jno. i :8. IV. Sin described, Gen. 6:5; Deut. 9:7; Isa. 1 : 18 ; Matt. 15 : 19 ; Jno. 15 : 22 ; Rom. 3:20; 4:15; 14:23: I Jno. 3:4; 5:17- V. The only remedy for sin, Luke 22: 20 ; Jno. 1 : 29 ; Rom. 3 : 25, 26 , Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9 : 12-14, 22 ; i Pet. 2 : 24 ; i Jno. i : 7. !■' SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. SO lost to G<5d was man that there never could have been any communication between the living God and dead sinners unless Jesus Christ, who was the life, had come into the place of death, and had been raised by the glory of the Father ; whereby dead ones are raised or quickened into life. Pride is one of the most prominent pillars in the midst of the ruins of man's fallen condition. Its presence is one of the strongest evidences of his fall. There \l no difference. This truth lies at the root of all revelation from God to sinful men. There is no difference. St. Paul uses this expression twice : the first time in the third chapter of Romans, " There is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Man does not like this truth when it is preached ; it is often denounced as absurd and heretical, but it has stood since Paul's day. Culti- vated men do not like to be brought down to the level of the mu.>^erer and drunkard ; and without doubt there is a difference in degree, but not in the guilt of moral delin- quency. There is a difference as to the depth which men are down in the mud, but all are together in the horrible pit and miry clay. Ruin. 15 A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE NATURAL MAN, I have e I sin- world to F SIN. ges. sin, Rom. 3; John Deut.g: 7- ). 15:22; no. 3 ■. 4 ■> Luke 22: Eph. 1 : 7 ■ Jno. I •.7- )n between life, had e Father ; s of man's from God e : the first sinned and preached ; ay. Culti- drunkard ; noral delin- nud, but all I. " No good thing," Rom. 7 : 18. II. At "enmity against God," Rom. 8:7. III. " Cannot please God," Rom. 8 : 8. IV. Going 1' ck to the first verdict pro- nounced as t( nan's natural state, and what do we find ? Gen. 6 : 5. V. Man is evil from childhood. Gen. 8:21. VI. The heart is deceitful "above all things," Jer. 17:9; also incurably wicked (R. V). VII. The only remedy is a "new heart," Ezek. 36:26. J. E. W. WHAT SIN CAN DO FOR A MAN. I. Sin robs a man of peace. Trouble was unknown to our first parents until sin came in to destroy their peace. Men living in sin have no peace, Rom. 3 ; 17. II. Sin shuts man out from God. He was cut off from fellowship with the Creator when he first sinn'd in Eden, Gen. 3 : 6, 7. III. Sin makes a coward of a man. Hence we read that " The wicked flee when no man pursueth," Prov. 28 : i. IV. Sin makes man a tool for Satan to lead others to destruction. Many Bible instances of this. V. li makes him a transgressor of the law; for "sin i; lawlessness," i Jno. 3:4 (R.V). VI. He is helpless to deliver himself from the bondage of sin. " When we were yet without strength," Rom. 5 . 6. VII. The wriges, or fruitage of sin, is death. The only wages the devil pays the sinner is DEATH. Sea Rom. 6 : 23. J. E. W. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. THE righteousness which is of faith is contrasted with the righteousness which is of the law. It is utterly useless for any one of us to attempt to secure righteous- ness on the ground of law-keeping, for if from this moment until we are a hundred years old we never committed one sin, it would be all up with us ; we have sinned in the past, the line of continuity is broken, and we must get upon another line altogether; the righteousness which is of faith comes in when the righteousness which is of the law is broken. One has well said : "People waste their time in mud-measuring. One says : ' My foot is only covered with mud, but look at that fellow, he is ankle-deep in it ;' the one who is ankle-deep in mud says, 'Look at that man, he is up to the knees in mud ;' while he, in his turn, says, 'I am not so bad as that man, he is up to the neck in the mud.' It is of no use to talk like that ; here is a rope-ladder to help you all up from the pit. 'Oh,' says one, 'I am as good as my neighbor, and better than many.' Very true, perhaps, but that is only the difference between being up to the knees in mud or up to the neck ; if you are in the pit, you need a rope-ladder that you may get out and place your feet upon a rock, for there is no difference. One man with decent boots on, and only one foot a little muddy, says, 'I do not believe there is no difference. Do you mean to say I am no better than that fellow there up to his neck in the mud?' No, my friend ; and very likely the man up to his neck will get hold of the ladder first, for he is so shocked at the mud that he is glad to get out of it ; while the respectable man spends his time arguing about the depth of mud he is in. It is not mud- rneasuring, but salvation, we have to do with, for ' there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.' " fj Mlft >erin f.r ■ >-i k^t -■«-".«' i* : m i6 Gold from Ophir. FIVE THINGS ABOUT MAN'S PRESENT FALLEN STATE. The Scriptures cleariy state the following five things as attending man's present fallen statu : I. Great darkness of understanding. We know nothing as we ought to know. Carnal men are blind, and cannot see afar off. To them the doctrines of the Gospel, and even the terms in which they are taught, seem strange. In their sight the most glorious objects possess no lustre. Kven Jesus Christ is to them \/ithout form and comeliness. In Him they see no beauty, that they should desire Him. In heaven, and among the righteous, He is the centre of attraction. To the unrenewed. He is as a root out of a dry ground, i Cor. 2:14; Eph. 4 : 18. II. Man in his ^illen state is guilty and condemned. See Rom. 5 : 12-ig ; Rom. 3 : 19. III. Man is vile, depraved Job. 40:4; Gen. 6:5: Matt. 15:19: Mark 7: 21, 22. IV. In his fallen state man is miserable. Rom. 3 : 16, 17. His misery is so great that the whole creation groaneth. The sighs and groans and screams of earth are inferior only to those of the pit of woe. Men con- tinually gather vanity. V. Man is helpless. Ko is without strength, Rom. 5:6. He has no might, Isa. 40 : 25 He cannot come to Christ, except the Father draw him, J no. 6 : 44. He is as weak as water. To such the Gospel ought to be good news. As we come into the world we are dead in trespasses and in sins. Yes, by sin we dxe dead. But in the Scriptures Christ is repre- sented as " Our Life." This life is the light of men. The believing sinner is made lliiiiii I SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. N the Epistle to the Romans, it is not until all men in the world— good, bad, and indifferent — have been brought in guilty before God, that Cod opens up His secret. m\ The criminal has been found guilty at the bar, the judge has pronounced the sentence, the convict now awaits execution ; his prayers, his tears cannot save him ; he is condemned. It is in vain that he loudly calls for mercy, and promises amendment for the future ; the sentence has been passed ; the law is inflexible and his blood is demanded. By the tall is declared the fact that we are no princes, but slaves to those horrible despots, sin and corruption ; our beauty is faulty and evanescent ; our wisdom is foolishness ; our purposes are continually broken off t our bodies date their tenden- cies to dissolution from the day of our birth. The plan of Satan showed that God had not yet deprived him of his wisdom ; though, alas 1 it had been changed from the noble power of a prir-'i of the Most High to the cunning of a deceitful intriguer ! He would not make his assault with power and terror ; for that would drive the assailed into the arms of their p.otector mstead of drawing them away from Him, and their earnest cries for help would (juickly call down hot lightnings upon their daring foe. But he would present himself in the form of an inferior and subject animal, from which they would never suspect harm. For, like all his children of this world, Satan, though proud even to destruction, can yet degrade himself to the very dust in order to carry out his purposes. Ruin. 17 liserable. so great The sighs ra inferior Men con- 5:6. He He cannot draw him, er. good news, ire dead in sin we are ■ist is repre- life is the ler is made , bad, and His secret. Dunced the ve him ; he imendment lis blood is l)se horrible ur wisdom eir tenden- is wisdom ; f the Most jssault with tir piotector [help would sent himself »ver suspect [destruction, a partaker of Christ's merits,' and of His Spirit. By His Spirit, we are created anew in Christ Jesus unto go^d works. His righteousness justifies us ; His Spirit sancti- fies us : and by His righteousness, s'n is par- doned ; by His Spirit sin is expelled. By His merits we become righteous in law ; by His Spirit we become upright in heart. By His righteousness imputed, we are accepted ; by His Spirit imparted, we are purified. His righteousness lOToves condemnation ; His Spirit takes away depravity. Christ's righteousness is put upon us ; His pirit is put within us. His righteousness s reckoned to cur account ; His Spirit is poured upon us. His righteousness was wrought out foi" us ; His Spirit works in us. By His life of obedience and suffering, Christ brought in everlasting righteousness ; by His amazing energies, the Spirit becomes the author of our pe -sonal holiness. Christ's righteousness gives us a title to heaven; His Spirit gives us a fitness for heaven^ His righteousness gives us authority to be- come the sons of God ; His Spirit gives us meetness for beholding the face of our Father who is in Heaven. The one answers all demands of the penalty of the law ; the other secures conformity to the precepts of the law. Christ's blood washes away our guilt ; His Spirit washes away our defile- ment. The former delivers us from the curse of the law; the latter removes the stain from our soul. The one purges our consciences, the other our hearts. Without the former, we are accursed; without the latter, we are polluted. W. S. PLUMER, D.D. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. Ej* VE believed the devil ; believed this beast of the field, as she supposed him to be, J rather than the great Creator of all things. Earth, laden with her countless tombs. Is ever sighing for the credulity ; Ocean, as his chasing waves roll over the bones o lultitudes lying amid their unheeded treasures, moans in response ; and Hades, while kis vast realms are being daily peopled by fresh colonies of unclothed spirits, solemnly proclaims that God is true. As a proof of man's ruin do we not continually perciive, both in ourselves and Jthers, the workings of that feeling upon which Satan played in the case of our first irents ? Does it not appear in self-will, which is the determination to be obeyed as lod instead of obeying? Is it not evident in pride and conceit, whether arising from irth, ability, beauty, wealth, or any other source ? May it not be traced in that bound- fess self-confidence which puts forth its own wisdom and opinions as alone worthy of j^otice, and expects them to be received with gratitude and deferred to by all ? In the fall of our first parents the prince of this world prevailed. The new crea- lon had been seduced to rebellion ; there was no longer any bar to the resumption of [is dominion. Forth from the ground he rose triumphant, and expanding his shadowy ings over the recovered territory, impeding the pure rays of God's sun, and dropping jck the poisonous promises of sin, under which earth's flowers faded, her fruits ithered, her plenty was restrained, and she brought forth evil as well as good. When they fell the guilty pair became suddenly conscious of the vileness of that lesh which had been the medium of their transgression ; they were bewildered with le painful sense of a fall from the eminence on which God had placed them, of their ^semblance to the brutes around the n— 'nay, even of their unfitness to be seen. The Saviour showed Nicodemus that even if he could enter his mother's womb a Scond time, or a hundred times, or a thousand times, and be born, it could do him no Hood, for he would come forth with the same sinful nature, received from all his sinful lothers back to the days of sinning Eve ; and hence Jesus said : "Verily, verily, I ky unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into le kingdom of God." i8 Gold from Ophir. i SIN AND SINNERSHIP. An Address by Pastor F. B. Meyer, B.A. WE are going to talk about sin and our sinnership. There is nothing more needful just now than true proportional views regarding th'^se. Sin and the cross are intimately joined. To make little of sin is to make little of God's masterpiece, the plan of salvation, of Jesus as Redeemer, of the terrors of hell and the inexpressible glory of heaven. In dealing with anxious ones I would not advise your appealing to them to trust to Christ ; that may be done simply to please you, and such -ust may cor ^ to a speedy end. Direct the mind of your friend to sin, its enormity, ii heinous character. When the spirit of God applies this your friend will be very glaa to run to the Lord Jesus for salvation. Now let us try to understand for ourselves what sin is. Turn to Romans, to that grand argument of the apostle PauL See how in the first chapter he establishes the sinnership of the Gentile race ; in the second he deals still further with it, but more especially with regard to the Jews ; in the third he proves tiiat none are righteous, and he goes through a catalogue of our poor human nature, with a terrible anatomical power. The throat, an open sepulchre ; the tongue, an instrument of deceit ; and the lips of poison ; the mouth full of cursing and bitterness ; the feet, the willing servants of sin hurrying on their way to the shedding of blood ; the eyes too, the whole man, infected, contaminated with sin. See how the subject is elaborated. Our sinnership is established in three distinct ways : ist. That we are all members of a sinful race; 2nd, that all have a tendency to sin ; 3rd, that day by day, consciously or unconsciously, we are constantly yielding to sin. Let us consider these and see if we do not agree with the apostle, Rom. 3 : 19, "that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." We shall not stay long over the first of these. Turn to 1 Cor. 15:22. "In Adam all die." Death is the proof of universal sin — that we are a doomed race. This is further carried out in Rom. 5 • I4- There we see that the penalty of death came upon all, showing that all are the children of Adam, identified -Vvith the sinful head of the race. The whole of the human family is one tree, the same in nature from the root to the extreme tips of the branches. And so also are all under God's divine purpose of grace. The ownership of sin and shame lies at every door. So it becomes us al! when we approach the throne of grace to bemoan before God not only individual sin, but the sin of the race. And never forget this great fact that if the stock of the first Adam is all wrong the stock of the second Adam is all re-created. The first birth brings doom, the second salvation. I charge you, oh men, who are under the doom of old Adam and his race, not to close yourjeyes till by the second birth you pass from death to life. Now note j our second point — our original nature. In the Bible it is called the ** Flesh." Spell it any way you please, it is the same forward or backward. But if you do it backward you will have to drop the " h," and Englishmen can easily do that, and then you will j have self. Self is flesh, flesh is self. It is the I, that which says " I will," " I wont," | "me, me, me ; my, my my," always. • 1 hat's the old nature, there is no mistake about it Some people say that they have got rid of it, but I'm not so sure about it. We may lame old Adam, but he's not so easily killed as some people think. This selfish life came by birth, see Gen. 5 : 3. Adam begat a, son "in his own likeness." See how this compares with Gen. i : 26. When men speak to me about our descent from inferior j animals I turn up this text, "And God said, let us make man in our image after our J likeness." Man was made on the outlines of the character of God — love, truth, purity, j and other cognate qualities, but Gen. viii. 21 tells a different story : "The imagination! of man's heart is evil from his youth." Our Lord brings this out still more clearly in John 3 : 6, "born of the flesh." To all of us here this applies ; we all come from this) low evil origin ; in all of us this tendency reveals itself. Read Eph. 2 : 3, and you willj Ruin. 19 Mjnderstand it better — that everybody without exception lives ir ihe lusts of the flesh. jBut to some of you this may apply, Eph. 4 : 22, "Ye have put off the old man." Now, Ihave I made it plain ? That Lhere are two centres or pivots of life — and around one or [the other all lives revolve. The one is love of self, the flesh, self-seeking ; the other [is the love of God, love to man. It is the manifestation of the selfish life in so many jrms that constitutes our sinnership. When you are on your knees confess that you are member of a sinful race, as well as your personal transgression. Now this selfish life lows itself in bias and brings us to the second point. You have watched the bowl jlling on the green. It has been turned in the latlie and one side made heavier than le other. See how it gets out of the straight line and bends to the bias. That is the vay with us. Just as the young tiger shows its natute by licking up blood, so does our svil nature assert itself, and it remains in us right away when we are converted and we lav? consecrated our lives to God. Still the tendency is there ready to assert itself ' temptation come, it is to it the temptation appeals. You are insulted. " Oh, I will ive him blow for h]pw ! I won't stand it I I'll give him six for his half-dozen ! " That's le w;iy we go on, the selfish life demanding satisfaction, and we fume and fret till irther orders. Now, look at this : there is a clear distinction in the Word of God Bgarding these two positions ; being in the flesh and tl. » flesh being in us. The first idicates our state by nature ; the second the state of being saved. The first is Ipoken in Rom. 8:8, " they that are in the flesh cannot please God." The second spoken in the second verse of the same chapter, " The law of the Spirit of life in as Christ hath made me free from the law of sin and death." This is perhaps ;tter brought out in Gal. 5 : 16, 17. This was written to Christian people, mind you, id the apostle must have known what he was writing about. " The flesh lusteth kgainst the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh." You see the word spirit is printed irith a capital S. Now you may understand from this that the flesh-life is yours so long as you live here, until you enter life beyond the pearly gates. And if you are jiving according to the flesh, the " I " life, then I fear you will never know the salvation M Jesus ; but directly you are born again, new principles take up their abode in your breast, Christ's life lives in you. The Holy Spirit will take up his abode in your breast jind when temptation comes cry to Him, and He will give you the victory. It is as if le Holy Spirit took possession of my house and thrust old Adam down to the cellar. )ften he will try to come up, but a stronger power casts him down, and I hear him go lud, thud, thud, down stairs again to his own place, glorj' be to God ! Ah, young men, irou can go through the streets of the city unscathed with the Holy Spirit in your ieart. The devil might as well try to set the ocean on fire with sparks as to catch irou unawares. Well, I'll tell you what passed through my ;, .ind the other day. I wanted to find Jut how I could increase and quicken my spir.tual life. I said to myself, "Now, i)ught I to atten J a few more conferences ? read a few more books ? or apply to some Ipiritual tea> her to assist me ? " The question was how to get the life of God into my )ul. Now, I will tell you my discovery. I turned to Romans 8 : 13, and there I sad, " If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live." Ah, lere is no book like the Bible to help us on our way. Ask me about inspiration ! If find there germs of holy living that will fructify in my heart, that is inspiration Enough for me. JJow, see what I had to do : " mortify the deeds of the body." Look Ifter this mortification ; that was my part of it. The other part, the life, the livmg, lod had to see to that. There was His promise : "Ye shall live." I have to watch lat self-love is cast out ; the Holy Spirit looks after all the rest. — Christian Leader. %^-i Gold from Ophir. N lilBLl-: ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE DEFILEMENT OF SIN. Dogs — Generally wild in the East, prow- ling about the streets, savage, and feeding on garbage, Psa. 59 : 6 ; Matt. 7:6; 2 Pet. 2: 22. Swine — Delighting in filthiness and dirt, 2 Pet. 2 : 22. A cage of unclean birds, Jer. 5 : 27 ; Rev. 18 : 2. Defiled garments, Isa. 64 : 6 ; Rev. 3 : 4 ; Jude 23 ; like Joshua's, Zech. 3 : 3. Spots and blemishes — Spots " that God hates and man hides," 2 Pet. 2 : 13. Sepulchres — " Full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." Matt. 23 : 27. Under the Mosaic ritual, the defiling character of sin was brought out very prominently, as in — The leprosy — The special type of sin, Lev. 13th and 14th chapters; the melancholy picture of corruption, loathsomeness, and decay ; affecting persons, garments, houses, beginning insidiously, and spreading with a relentless progress, until complete destruction left nothing more to do ; and besides, in- curable. The rites enjoined In the casi of the leper all denoted, in the most humoling manner, j the mournful effects of sin ; iee Lev. 13 : 45, 46 ; the rent clothes, bare head, covered lip, and the leper's pitiable cry, if any one came near, " Unclean, unclean!" and the separa- tion from society, without the camp. Some of these signs are same as those appointed in mourning for the dead. Regulations about social life.— Child- bearing, Lev. 12: 2-8 ; food. Lev. nth chap ; disease, Lev. 15th chap. ; contact with un- cleanness. Lev. 5 : 2, 3 ; II : 24, 25 ; 22 ; 5, 6 Regulations about death —Touching a dead body, or carcase of a beast, or a gra\ e. Num. 19 : 11-22; Lev. 17 : 15, 16; 5 : 2-1 j, even entering the tent where the dead lay J Num. 19: 14; the priests mourning for thel dead, Lev. 21 : 1-3. Regulations about sacred duties. — E\ o: taking part in th-^se, in some cases, mad: men liable to ceremonial uncleannt- Burning the sin offeri-ig, e. g., on the day o..^^ atonement. Lev. 16 : 28 : leading the scape! goat into the wilderness. Lev. 16 : 26, etc. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. JESUS declared : "Ye will not come to me, hat ye might have life" (John 5 : 40) but the words would have no meaning, if we have life, whether we do or do noj comt to Christ. "But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith he loved us, eveij when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace are y:, saved)," Eph. 2 : 4, 5. The Holy Spirit doc j not say that sin had introduced soiii| disorder into the moral faculties of the soul. He does not say that they retained i divine spark in the breast which, with the kindly influences of a proper culture, couli be kindled into a flame. He does not say that they possessed a germ which, with thj applianc ^s of religious teaching and church nurture and good example, could developed into salvation. He does not say that they had been injured by the fall, aiiil were like a man with a broken limb who needs a surgeon, or like a sick man needinj a physician; but they were dead, and therefore needed God. If the i spired apostlj used language with even an ordinary degree of intelligence and meaning, he plainlj teaches that those to whom he wrote had once been dead, actually dead, m sins ; ani death implies three things : first, absence of life ; second, insensibility ; and thirf helplessness. Oi |llicat( iinly, 'Unti M. irnin It of itt. RUIH 21 F SIN. of the leper ing manner, Lev. 13 : 45, , covered lip, iny one came i the separa- camp. Some ise appointed life. -Child- !v. iith chap ; :act with un- h 25; 22: 5,6 . — Touching 2 1st, or a grave, ;, 16; 5:2-13; the dead lay, urning for thel duties.— Eveii| le cases, madel uncleannessB on the day oil ing the scapej 16 : 26, etc. The red heifer was a striking illustration , >f the imputation of defilement. Num. 19 : i-io. (i). The heifer itself, as bearing the uncleanness of the people, was to be carried without the camp. (2). Eleazer was to offer it, not Aaron, that the high priest might not be defiled. (3). Eleazer, the priest, the man who burnt the heifer, and even the "clean man" that gathered the ashes, were all rendered ceremonially imclean by the performances of theseduties. ^ Even the sanctuary itself might bedefiled, %^v. 20 : 3; Ezek. 5:11; 2 Chron. 36 : ';jk ; Ex. 20 : 25 ; Psa. 74 : 7 ; 79 : i. m. Mi The moral leprosy. — It would be difficult t describe to the full the awful extent of e spreading taint of sin. Trace in Con- Drdance under the head of defiledi and see low sin is inscribed on man's mind and con- sience — body — hands — feet — flesh — gar- ments — house — land, etc.; under filthy — [filthiness of the flesh and spirit " — " filthy snimunicatious " — " filthy lucre " — (five les) — " all filthiness and superfluity of lughtiness" — "even our righteousnesses are as filthy rags," and man is " abominable and filthy "— " altogether filthy." Zech. 3-d chap.— The high priest Zech- ariah represented Israel appearing before the Lord— first, clothed with filthy garments; then clothed with change of raiment, adorned and crowned with personal and ofi&cial dignity. Haggai 2 : 11-13. How much more easily is uncleanness communicated than purity ! One drop of ink will stain a glass of water, but one drop of water cannot purify a glassful of ink. Isa. 52 : II. — "Touch no unclean thing." One of the greatest lessons the Lord would tuiich His Church. It was the ch-rge given to Israel on their entering Canaan — " Defile not yourselves," sre Concordance ; on their leaving Babylon, Isa. 52 : 11; applied to the Church of Christ in her separation from the world, 2 Cor. 6:14. Isa. 35:8; 52:1; Ezsk. .\4 : g; Zech. 14 : 21 ; Rev. 21 : 27. The entire absence of all defilement in the Church's future glory. G. S. BOWES. (John 5 : 40) e do or do no| oved us, evei )y grace are y. itroduced soiiif they retained culture, couli ,'hich, with tlii nple, could by the fall, ani^ : man needmjr' spired apost|^ ing, he plainl^, J, m sins; ar^ l:ty ; and tuU' SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. *HRIST spoke of the unconverted as dead, when He said to the man who would bury his father before following the Lord, "Let the dead bury their dead'' -uke 9 : 60) ; and when he represented the prodigal's father giving warm welcome to ie wanderer in the joyful cry, "This my son was dead, and is ^live again"' -uke 1 5 : 24). The whole current of Scripture in its bearing upon His redeemed people, who ive slipped down into the world, is an earnest exhortation to arise from among ke dead, because it is a most unseemly thing for those who have life to be seen rovelling amid the associations of the charnal house. "Wherefore he saith, awake kou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" (Eph. 1: 14) ; 01 as Rotherham translates it, " Up ! thou sleeping one, and rise from among le dead, and the Christ v/ill shine upon thee." Of all the children of AdRm, male and female, old and young, rich and poor, Iu( .ited and uneducated, moral and immoral, religious and irreligious, it is thus fainly, positively, and repeatedly affirmed in the word of God, that apart from Christ, until Christ is received, they have no life. What evidence of utter ruin ! ^ Many a father, yea, many a Christian father, looking with unutterable pride and ''arning upon the young girl who is the joy of his home, if he couk. sr ^ her in the ht of God's word, would exclaim in deep distress, "My daughter is even now dead" 'att. 9-18). i 22 Gold from Ophir. TYPES AND FIGURES OF SIN. I : 6; 30 : 26; 13 ; Jas. 3 : 8. 15:5: 20. Leprosy, Lev. 13th and 14th chapters. — Loathsome — defiling — separating — spread- ing — incurable. Physical disease. — The blind — lanie — deaf — dumb — palsied — withered — bowed down; doubtless our Lord's miracles of healing such, were spiritual parables of the cure of sinners. Wounds— bruises, Isa. Luke 4:18. . Poison — venom, Rom. 3 Death, Eph. 2:1; Jas. i Burden, grievous and intolerable, Matt. 11:28. Slavery, as to the worst of masters, Jno. 8 : 34 ; Rom. 6 : 20 ; 7 : 14 ; the drudgery, worse still, of many lusts and pleasures, Tit. 3 13; I Kings 21 : 20-25. Captivity, such as in ancient times was marked by cruelty and hardship, when cap- tives were bound and often blinded, Isa. 61 : I. — See Concordance on Bondage. Leaven, corrupting — spreading. Matt. 13 : 33 ; 16:6; I Cor. 5 : 6-8 ; Gal. 5 : 9. Debt, even to the utmost and most hope- less extent — the bankrupt's debt of ten thousand talents, Matt. 18 : 23-25. Spots and stains — crimson and scarlet dyed, Isa. 1:18; double dyed (as the Hebrew word for scarlet implies), Deut. 32 : 5 ; 2 Pet. 2 : 12 ; Jude 12-23. Fountain of Impurity, Jer. 6 : 7. Floods, Psa. 18:4; Rev. 12 : 16. Crooked — Perverse, Deut. 32 : 5; Psa. "5 : 5- Cage, full of unclean birds, Jer. 5 : 27. Girdle, cleaving to a man, Jer. 13 ; 10, 11. Vine of Sodom, and grapes of Gomorrah, Deut. 32 : 32. The old man; not called "old" for weakness and decay (though Heb. 8 : 18 is true of the believer) ; but rather from anti- quity, because inherited from Adam, and also because pervading the whole of man's fallen nature. The body of sin, Rom. 6:6; ("body," as consisting of many members, and all " in- struments of unrighteousness.") — See the catalogue : hands — lips — tongue — throat — feet, &c., Isa. 59 : 3-7 ; Rom. 3 : 13-17. The law of sin, Rom. 7 : 25 — the antago- nistic principle to the ruling power of grace ; the deliberate, organized rule and system of evil, Psa. 94 : 10. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. THE late Sir James Simpson, of Edinburgh, who was not less eminent as a Chris- tian than he was as a physician, tells in one of his excellent tracts of a man who I was fatally wounded in the last duel fought near that city. A bullet struck the spine of | the challenger, and when asked some hours afterwards how he felt — " I feel," he replied, "exactly what I am — a man with a living head and a dead body mysteriously joined I together." This is precisely what every man is by nature, except that he has a living! body and a dead spirit mysteriously joined together; so that it may be said of the j whole world, " alienated from the life of God." How appalling the results of the spiritual death of our first parents ! The cursej that followed blighted the fair face of creation, culminated in the expulsion of the! sinner from Eden, in the shocking murder by his first-born son of a younger brother.f in the banishment of Cain from the presence of the Lord, in the thorough worldlinessj of his posterity, in the speedy corruption of the righteous seed, until, "God saw thati th 2 wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of thej thoughts of his heart was only evil continually " (Gen. 6 ; 5). Ruin. 23 The reign of sin, Rom. 5:21. The wages of sin^ Rom. 6 : 23. Vrords expressive of sin. — It has been smarked how rich the Hebrew language is !juch synonyms; may not the same be lid of most languages, our own not the least? The ordinary Hebrew and Greek words include the ideas of missing the mark — crookedness — deviating from the pre- a.-ibed oath — lawlessness — rebellion, etc. the derivations similarly of our English is : amiss — abomination — err — fault — llty — evil or vile — ill — iniquity — trans- Ission — ungodliness — wickedness — mis- |ef — haughtiness — corrupt — forward, etc. The infatuated passion* of sinners after is similarly painted in the darkest dolors : [where we read of them " drinking iniquity water," Job 15: 16; drawing sin "as it re with a ca^-t rope," Isa. 5 : 18; running swift haste after evil, Prov. i : 16 ; 6 : revelling in lust, from which they inot cease," 2 Pet. 2 : 74 ; unable to sleep Ihout doing mischief, Prov. 4 : 16 ; doing " day and night," Micah 2:1; " with hands earnestly," Micah 7:3; to the iiost limit of their power, Jer. 3 : 5. The dark groups of many sins included in one sad list present a painful picture, which is often drawn. See Matt. 15:19; I Cor. 6:9; Gal. 5 : 19-21 ; 2 Tim. 3:2-5; Titus 3:3; Rev. 21 : 8, Every sinner is a moral suicide. See Num. 16 ; 38 ; Prov. 8 : 36 ; 20 : 2 ; Jer. 42 : 20 (marg.) ; Hab. 2 : 10; Hosea 13 : 9. Gal. 3 : 22. — '-The Scripture hath con- cluded (shut up) all undersin." The Greek, "all things" — not only all men, but all things in all men. as John 3 : 6, is not "he," but "that which is bom of the flesh is fir h." I John 5 : 19. — " The whole world lieth in wickedness" — lulled in the fatal sleep with- out alarm. I John 3 : 4 may be translated — ' ' Whoso- ever is a doer of sin is a doer of lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness." Ezek. 8 : 7-18. — The unfolding of what sin is, when clearly seen in its real deformity. Judges 2 : 11. — "The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord " — an ex"- pression which occurs about fifty times as a terrible aggravation of the evil and danger of sin. Pastck G. S. BOWES. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. JHE moment sin entered Adam's soul he was " alienated from the life of God ;" and the death of his body centuries later was but the comparatively trifling accident iccompaniment of the spiritual death that came upon him the very day he ate the lidden fruit. When Adam was created God said : " Let us make man in our image, after likeness" (Gen. i •26), But in Gen. 5 : 3, we read that "Adam lived an hundred : thirty years, and be^at a son in his own likeness, after his image." The likeness jod did not consist m any physical resemblance, biit it was wholly spiritu?', and ■ spiritual resemblance having been lost, Adam begat a soi in his own likeness. It is to say, he transmitted his sinful nature to his posterity, according to a law Btrated in all departments of vegetable and animal life, and recognized even by lei science, that " like produces like." The nature thus transmitted from fallen to fallen son is often in the sacred Scriptures significantly called "the flesh," as in 1. 6 : 12, after the time when "God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was ipt ; for all flesh had corrupted His way upon the earth." So in Rom. 8 : 6, 7, R.V. The Holy Ghost declares that the nature inherited from the first man is death, is lity against God, and as John Newton has well said, "an enemy may be reconciled^ [enmity is enmity still." 24 Gold from Ophir. ■•I , " III I! THE USE OF THE MORAL LAW IN CONVINCING THE SINNER OF HIS SIN. jHy Dr. Wm. S. Plumnter. ttT^HE law entered that the offence might abound," Romi 5 :2o; that is, that it i. might be seen by us all how many and Ill-deserving our sins were. Conviction of sin is not confined to unregenerate men, nor to sinners in the earlier stages of religious impressions when a law-work is wrought on the heart. Important as this is, the law is not then laid aside as a means of conviction. To the close of life it continues to be of use to this end. It teaches us that we are not worthy to be called God's servants ; it shows that our strength to do that which is right is nothing. Colquhoun : "The children of fallen Adam are so bent upon working for life, that they will on no account ceaee from it till the Holy Spirit so convince them of their sin and misery, as to show them that Mount Sinai is wholly on fi e around them, and that they cannot with safety remain a moment longer within the limits of it." "What things soever the law saith, it saith it to them who are under the law ; that evei^ mouth may be stopped. and all the world become guilty before God," Rom. 3 : 19. By our early convictidii of sin, we obtain some faint impression of the necessity of salvation by grace. By our subsequent convictions, we are led more and more to renounce all confidence in our selves for righteousness ; and to see more and more our need of the perfect righteousnc^- of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no greater mistake respecting experimental'; religion than that which regards the work of cpnviction entirely done when conversion ^ takes place. It is true that sometimes there are certain horrors of conscience, certainf pangs of remorse, certain guilty fears and awful apprehensions of the wrath to coniej which in an equal degree do but seldom afflict the soul after conversion. But theseS ' horrors and fears are nonecesaary elements of conviction. He is truly convicted who! has a true sense that he is a sinner against a just and holy God ; and that he deserve | ill and only ill at the hands of the Judge of all. He may not expect to be punished! David was an experienced child of God when he said of the commandments, " B) j them is thy servant warned ; " and '' who can understand his errors ? cleanse thoiil me from secret faults," Psa. 19 : n, 12. * One may have set his h()pe in God through Jesus Christ ; indeed, the morel effectually he has despaired of helping himself, and the more completely he has casii himself on God in humble hope, the more proper and deep are his convictions. Thiil use of the law is much insisted on in the Scripture. Paul says, "By the law is thel knowledge of sin," Rom. 3 : 20. And whon in the same epistle, he had proven thel utter impossibility of salvation by the deeds of the law. he adds, "What shall we saij then ? Is the law sin ? God forbid," Rom. 7 : 7. He then goes on to say how useful had been to him. The spirit of his declaration is, that he never would have known whai a poor, lost, undone, helpless creature he was, and that he never would have felt hrl need of a Saviour, and never would have fled to Him for refuge, but for the law. HiJ words are, " I had not known sin but by the law ; for I had not known lust, excepi the law had said, Thou shalt not covet," Rom. 7 : 7 In ancient times, schools had teachers to superintend their instructions. BesideJ these, there were pedagogues employed to go around and gather the children a;il conduct them to the school. It is probably to this latter office that Paul refers, whtij he says, "The law was our schoolmaster" (literally our pedagogue) "to bring us tl Christ," Gal. 3 :24. And as the pedagogue of old brought the child to school not onll one day, but every day in the term, so the law brings us to Christ, not only when wJ accept Him, but as often as we renew our hold on Him. " The law is a star to leal one to Christ,"' said T. Watson. The law shuts us up to the faith of Christ, it make] Christ precious to the soul. No man can esteem the redemption that is in Christ ram HUIN. 25 4 Conviction ;r stages of It as this is, it continues ;alled God's. Colquhoun y will on no d miser/, as they cannot Ts soever the y be stopped [y conviction ace. By our ience in our- righteousness experimental en conversion ience, certain ^•rath to come, 1. But these onvicted who t he deserve )e punished. ments, " By cleanse thou ed, the more he has c;^ ctions. Thi:l .c law is tlitl cl pro\"en tlitj shall we sa\| low useful e known wha j have felt hi the law. Hkl •n lust, excepj >ons. Besidtj children anJ j1 refers, whtij to bring us i1 chool not oni only when v| ; a star to leal rist. It maker in Christ men highly than his sense of his own lost and ruined estate as a sinner shall rise. Tell me what a man thinks of himself, and I will tell what he thinks of the Redeemer. Tell me ■what he thinks of the Redeemer, and I will tell you what he thinks of himself. Every believer is ready to say, " I was alive without the law once ; but when the command- ment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me," Rom. 7:9-11. So that " what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned (or punished) sin in the flesh ; that the righteousness of e law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," Rom. 8 : 3, 4. Why do the great mass of men feel so little interest in conversation, books and ^sermons which explain the way of salvation ? Obviously, the reason is, they have no '* ", Just view and sense of their deplorable condition. God's Spirit is indeed the Author -►^f all true conviction of sin ; but in producing it. He leads the minds of men to under- f i$tand the nature of the law under which they live ; and to see that their lives, words, md hearts are wholly destitute of conformity to its requirements. If men saw these lings as the truth demands, and as they will one day see them, the preaching ot the iospel would be listened to in a manner far different, and with success far greater than 'e have ever witnessed in the world. Then salvation by grace through a Redeemer 'ould be glad tidings of gfeat joy to all people. Listlessness would take her flight from 'orshipping assemblies. Eagerness would mould the features of every hearer ; and le swelling solicitude of each bosom would catch every whisper of mercy from the 'ord of God as it was pronounced by the living minister. Let then all men study the Let them study it carefully, candidly, solemnly. There is a great Physician, but tinners will never go to Him unless they find out that they are sick. Let regenerate len also study the law. The more they know it, the closer will they cleave to Christ ; tnd the more profound will be their humility ; and the better will they understand their indebtedness to Christ for fulfilling its precepts and enduring its curse in their stead, md for their salvation. If a man loves God he will also love His law ; and what one loves he will desire and labor to know. "Christ's promise of ease and refreshment lounds sweet after the thunderings and lightnings of Mount Sinai," wrote Augustine. ' The law gives commands, in order that, endeavouring to perform them, being wearied trough our infirmity under the kw, we may learn to pray for the assistance of grace. . . . The utility of the law is to convince man of his own infirmity, and to compel lim to pray for the gracious remedy provided in Christ God commands what cannot perform, that we may know for what blessings we ought to supplicate im The law was given to convict you ; that being convicted you might fear, lat fearing you might pray f<"r pardon, and not presume on your own streagtb." 1HJ Jili v\ 1 1 26 Gold from Ophir. TWO SOLEMN FACTS ABOUT SIN. I. The Deceivableness and Unprofit- ableness of Sin.: Like the vine of Sodom, Deut. 32 : 32, 33 — fair in appearance, but bitter as gall ; deadly " as the poison of dragons and ctael venom of asps." Like a sweet morsel, Job 20 : 12-14, 14, which a man rolls under his tongue, and holds in his mouth to enjoy its sweet flavor, till it presently turns to the bitterness of gall, and he sucks the poison of asps. Like honeyed words of lust, that end in bitter wormwood, Prov. 5 : 3, 4. Like stolen waters, that It ad to death, Prov. 9 : 17. Like bread of deceit, that fills the mouth with gravel, Prov. 20 : 17. Like the vain toil of one who labors hard to earn wages, and puts it into a bag with holes, Haggai i : 6. Like the wild delirium of strong drink, that bites like a serpent and stings like an adder, Prov. 20 : i ; 23 : 32. Prov. 14:12, 16, 25. — "There is a way," etc. How true the following extract : " Holi- ness is sweet in the way and in the end too ; wickedness is sometimes sweet in the way, but always bitter in the end." Prov. 12:26. — "The way of the wicked seduceth them." The mirage of life. — The delusive appear- ance that cheats the fainting traveller with bright hopes of fountains and shady trees, and vanishes whilst he is still wasting his strength in the weary chase. Ill-gotten gains seldom last. Remember Achan and his wedge of gold. What profit was there in Naboth's vineyard to wretched Ahab? in the thirty pieces of silver to miserable Judas? in Gehazi's talents ? in the rich fool's barns and the rich man's purple ? The gilded bait of sin cannot long .hide the hook, Prov. 21 : 6 : 2 Pet. 2 : 3. Eph. 4:22, "lusts of deceit;" 2 Thess. 2: 10, "all deceivableness of unrighteous- ness;" Heb. 3:13, "hardened through the deceitfulness of sin," 2 Tim. 3:3; Titus 3:3, "deceiving and being deceived." SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. PAUL declares in Rom. 7 : 18, "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing." He does not say that there was some little good about him, a divine spark, a germ of holiness, but he declares that in the nature received f -om fallen Adam there dwelleth no good thing. The Holy Ghost asserts (Rom. 8 : 8) that " they that are in the flesh cannot please God." This declaration is sufficient to show man's complete alienation from God. It shows that tHey may run the round of the sciences, they may explore the | depths of philosophy, they may become familiar with the fine arts, they may be j baptized in any or all of the modes ever practised, and by any or all of the ecclesiastical I dignitaries on the face of the earth, but if they are in the flesh, if they have only the I nature inherited from man, if they are not bom again, if they are not made spiritually j alive, they cannot please God, for "without faith it is impossible to please Him"' (Heb. II :6). It is not enough to say that all men are doomed to death, but as the result! of sin, and the sin of one man, death has already passed upon all men. They are not dead to their earthly interests and obligations and relations, but to God. V Ruin. 27 ;t; "Holi- B end too *, L the way, he wicked iive appear- .veller with [y trees, and his strength rains seldom is wedge of . in Naboth's a the thirty Judas? in fool's bams ■ le gilded bait ^ jk, Prov. 21 : 2 Thess. unrighteous- through the 3; Titus 3 -.3. II. The Progressive Character of Sin: !• like the leprosy, whether in a man's body or in a house, characterized by a small beginning (Lev^ 12 : 36), a steady growth and fearful end. Is like a canker or gangrene, 2 Tim. 2 : 17, a mortification in the flesh, spreading over the adjacent parts, till death ensues, unless stopped by a timely cure. Is like a serpent's bite, a little puncture, dly visible, but large enough to admit the piatal poison. Isa. 5:18. It is a common saying among the rabbins, y Sin is, at first, like a fine silken thread, pcarcely felt; but the temptation strengthens %y habit ; the fine thread grows to the thick- ,|iess of a cable or cart-rope, which binds the unhappy victim with relentless power." Jer. 9:3. — "They proceed from evil to ivil." Hosea 13 : 2. — " Now they sin more and ore." 2 Tim. 2 : 16. — " They v^rill increase unto ore ungodliness " Isaiah i : 5. — "Ye will revolt more and more." 2 Tim. 3:13. — "They wax worse and worse." Num. 32:14. — "An increase of sinful men." Psa. I : I. The book of Psalms, at the beginning, sets forth the downward steps of sin. The un- godly (men regardless of God) soon become sinners (the conscious and deliberate trans- gressors of God's law), and end in being scorners (the defiers and scoffers of all re- ligion) ; thus, led by the siren lure of temp- tation, they first walk, then stand, then sit, without alarm, in the road to death. Isa. 57 : 8. — " Thou hast enlarged thy bed." Matt. 5 : 22. — Observe the growth of unre- strained anger. First felt, but silent ; then venting itself in abuse, "Raca;" then in contempt, "thou fool." 2 Cor. 12 : 20. — Observe the growth of strife from half-smothered debates and secret envyings to open tumults and unchecked quarrels. :sh) dwelleth about him, eceivedlom flesh cannot ienation from y explore the ! they may be ecclesiastical have only the ide spiritualm please Him ' as the result I They are not SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDIFGS. LL that proceeds from the old sinful nature must of necessity partakt; of its charac- teristics, for like produces like, and the stream cannot rise higher than its ource ; and hence the absolute necessity of the " new birth," of a new nature from iibove. Truly the flesh is a dangerous and deceitful monster, neither to be trifled with |or trusted. From the fall God has classed unre^enerate man with unclean beasts. See Ex. |3 * 13 ; "Every firs ding of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb ; and if thou wilt not adeem it, then thou shalt break his neck : and all the first-born of man among thy "lildren shalt thou redeem." A broken-necked ass, then, is the Bible symbol of the Ssh, or of human nature, of whose dignity and grandeur we hear and read so much. D.WID declared ; " Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother jnceive me" (Psa. 51 : 5). This is not the extravagant statement t)f a gloomy fanatic K misanthrope, but the deliberate testimony of a man who spake as he was moved by be Holy Ghost, showing that iniquity and sin are inwoven in the very warp and woof p our being. Before any open act of iniquity was committed, before any knowledge of good id evil dawned upou or.r infant minds, before any idea respecting God was formed, tfore any word was uttered, before any conscious thought was cherished, sin had a igment in thesouL I \m 2B Gold from Ophir. 1 Tim. 5 ; 13. — " Not only idle, but tattlers, also busybodies." 2 Pet. 2:20. — "The latter end is worse with them than the beginning." Apostacy, afterpartial illumination, brings the deepest darkness; as the eye is most dazzled in leaving a well-lighted room. See Matt. 12 : 45. Jude II. — Observe the reckless course of sin — "gone" — "ran greedily" — "peiizhed." Jude 16. — " Murraurers " (as it were, whis- perers of discontent in private) ; then"com- plainers," openly expressing dissatisfaction; ^' speaking great swelling words of vanity." Matt. 24 : 12 ; Luke 18 • 8. — As the wicked- •uess of the world grew from the creation to the flood, till the whole earth was filled with •violence and guilt, Gen. 6:5, 11, 12, 13, so shall it be at the end, before the second coming of the Lord. V Examples : Our first parents, Gen. 3rd chap.— The first sin was a true foreshadowing of the fatal progress of temptation, — Hstenin— looking — taking — tasting — eating — giving — excusing and defending. Babel-builders, Gen. 11:6—" This they begin to do; and now nothing will be re- strained from them." Lot. — A striking instance. He first chose the neighborhood of Sodom from selfish motives. Gen. 13: 10, 11, and pitched his tent towards it ; then he soon came to dwell in Sodom, 14 : 12 ; then, worse still, after having been driven out, and losing all he had, he returned to dwell in it again ; and this second time he seems to have settled there, and become still more intimately connected with the placo, even catching some of its evil spirit in acting unjustifiably toward his own daughters, Gen. 19 : 7, 8, 14. Joseph's brethren. — Envying a brother, planning to kill him, covering their guilt by deceiving their father, Israel in the Wilderness. See Murmur- ing. David, in his great fall, a Sam. iitli chapter, sloth — lust — deceit — adultery — murder — cruelty. Peter's three -li\d denial, each more vio- lent and terrible than the former. Selected. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. SO deep seated and irremediable is the corruption of our nature, that even a quick- ened or regenerated man, looking to his own strivings for deliverance, is forced to exclaim, "Th- good that I would, I do not ; but the evil which I would not, that I do I finr then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me, For I delight in ihe law of God after the inward man ; but I see another law in my members, warring^ against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am 1 who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" (Rom. 7 : 19-24). The tiger bom to-day is like the tiger that was bom outside of Eden, and the man who is bom to-day is like the man who was born outside of Eden, in his relations to God If a tiger is caught and caged it does not cease to be a tiger, and although man may be conquered and curbed by law and education, his natuire remains the same under all circumstances and in all generations. ''The old man is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." The mischief is within ; and so the faithful witness has said : "Ye must be bom again." The ruin is so great that you cannot improve the *'old Adam" nature, viz., tliCj carnal mind or heart. It is so perverse and bad that it can neither be eliminated nor improved. ihow ^ Ulli.il Ruin. 29 SIN IN GOD'S SIGHT. le Murmur- I. "Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins In the light of Thy countenance," I'sa. 90 : 8. The topic is found in the text : Sin in the light of God's judgment. II. Man judges by what ho feels; God LJudges by what he sees, Gen. 6:5. It is |in the " light " that the heinous character of tin is manifested. The word is the medium ^that God uses with 'vhich to "convince of •in." See Psa. 119: 130. Jno. 3:19, 21. III. On the great Day of Atonement the ligh-priest had to go into the "light" in the Most Holy Place. There, in the awful Ipresence of God, in the light that shone ibeteewn the cherubim and mercy-seat, he [could, in a measure, see what a dreadful Ithing sin was in God's sight, and also con- I trast with it the unspeakable preciousness of the blood. IV. In the light sin is judged, and in the light sin is put away, i Jno. i : 7 Christ the • " light of the world," " bore our sins in His own body on the tree." There the accursed hindrpnce to man's getting back to God was removed out of the way. "Beh'-" the Lamb of God that taketh away tht ?i ■>( the world," Jno. i : 29. V. Light preced'js life. By the light we discover that we "are dead in trespasses and sins," and then we get life by receiving Christ. "He that hath the son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God. hath not life," i Jno. 5 : 12. No life out of Christ. J. F. W. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. DO we teach fables when we assert man's ruin and wretchedness? Let sin give the answer to that question — sin in all its shades of blackness, sin in its universality. [Let sin frv'-m the very commencement to the present day, give the answer, with all its [tears and groans ; let sickness^ and sorrow, and death give their evidence as regards lan's ruin. Every hospital, and prison, and grave-yard, and every coffin, and every shroud, tell us that this being, created in the image of God, is feeble, and fallen, (degraded, and condemned, and therefore needs a Saviour. " For the love of Christ constraineth us : because we thus jud^e, that if one died for all, then were all dead " (2 Cor. 5:14) Here again is proof positive of man's total overthrow by sin. The very fact of Christ's death on the cross brings out the ^certainty of man's complete alienation from his Maker. If man had not been utterly [dead toward God. Christ would not have died. Don't ignore God's verdict r it is, *' All have sinned and come short of the glory jf God" (Rom. 3 : 23) ; and again, **By one man sin entered into the world, and death >y sin " (Rom. 5 : 12). Man says he cannot understand this ; but his own experience proves it to be true. Don't think that^all little babes are "little innocents." They are not. They ihow " old Adam " before they have done with the cradle. How complete was the fall and separation from God ! God had fully blessed ; 5atan suggests that God keeps back the best gift out of envy, lest man should be like iHim. Man trusts Satan for kindness rather than God, whom He judges according to Satan's lie. He believes Satan instead of God, when he tells him he should net die, ts God said he should, and casts off the God who had blessed him, to gratify his lusts, 'lot trusting God, he uses his own will to seek happiness by, as a surer way, as men 10 now. IH I '13)1111!: I M !1h! 30 Gold from Ophir. Ml'i! I THE MYSTERY OF DRESS. By A. A. Rees. "Ani^. they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." — Genesis 2 : 25. " AND were not ashamed." Wherefore this qualification? It is to imply that ■tV. nakedness and shame were not originally linked together — that is, that God did not constitute their union ; and even reason tells us that artificial clothing was an after-thought, for if God made man perfect, as He did all the other creatures, why should he, unlike them, need any supplement to his skin ? No, he was not ashamed, because he was not self-conscious ; like the herds and the flocks, he knew not that he was naked, and so was no more ashamed of being as God made him thr.n they were. In a word, he knew neither good nor evil within or without, and therefore could not make any distinction between being naked and being clothed. But sin " opened his eyes" — that is, it created self-consciousness — and he knew what he did not know before, " that he was naked" — naked in body and in soul. But why should he be ashamed of this twofold nakedness? As to his body, it was unchanged ; but his soul being now possessed by self-consciousness, and sin being the object of that conscious- ness, he had a bad and guilty self-consciousness or conscience, which passed from his soul to his body, made him ashamed of the nakedness of both, prompted him to hide his bodily shame by wearing manufactured clothing, and the shame of his soul by runn'.ng from the presence of God among t? 2 trees of the garden. But neither of these rudimentary coverings were sufficient. An apron of fig-leaves could not ccver the naked body, nor could a screen oftrees cover the naked souL God's voicespeedily tore off these flimsy pretexts, and, after conviction and sentence. He supplied " coats of skin " for their bodies, and a promise of redemption for their souls — the former being a type of the latter. Moreover, alas 1 all Adam's sons and daughters came into the world with the same conscious twofold nakedness and shame, which they endeavor to hide by artificial clothing for the body and self-righteousness for the soul — that is, humanly- invented religion under one form or another. And until God's voice pursues and arrests them they are complacent with their double invention, whether their clothing be the aprons of savages or the manufacture of Parisian milliners and tailors, and whether their religion be the fetishism of Africa or the pseudo-Christianity of Eui .pe. When, ho'.vever, the questions reach the covered and sleepy conscience, "Adam, where art thou?" "Who told thee that thou wast viaked?" the self-righteous covering is torn and scattered to the winds, and the soul stands out in conscious nakedness and shame, while fashion is contemptuously discredited as the shameful development of primeval fig-leaves. \Vhat now can cover the soul's nakedness, not only from the eye of the conscience, but also from the e>e of God? The answer is. Nothing but Christ. When the conscience sees Him as the perfect response to every Divine claim, all guilt and shame disappear, and God can be confronted not only without alarm but with full assurance. Man is not now, however, as he was in Paradise — innocent/!' norant, naked and shameless — but "knowing good and evil," self-conscious, sinful, and yet not ashamed, if a Christian, because Christ is the all-sufficient answer in the conscience to confessed and repented sin. Furthermore, in proportion as conscience is cultivated and developed, so is the sense of moral guilt and bodily shame ; hence, children and savages, with a rudimentary conscience, are but little sensible of the difference between right and wrong, and of the difference between being naked and being clothed. Behold, then, the vile origin of dress, and consider the monstrous preposterousness of being proud of it As well might a convict be vain of his glittering and clanking 'm% Ruin. 31 hamed."- t?i;/;il?if ^i.^^'^^u °/:^»s crime and punishment, as men and women be vain of their clothes, which besides bemg the badge of their infamy, is the plundered skin hair, wool, and feathers of innocent creatures, and a necessa^ evil in L unrXmed sefe^ ^ • "'^"^ sanctdied soul, and a deranged atmosphere. Oh, happy day 1 when :ewraTn\^"S^Vi^±^L*t!^^ of^£U w^: the mply that that God ng was an tures, why ashamed, lot that he they were. could not pened his not know uld he be ut his ;jou1 conscious- d from his im to hide is soul by neither of not ccver :e speedily [ " coats of ler being a 3 the world tor to hide , humanly- Lirsues and :ir clothing ailors, and of Eui .pe. ;, "Adam, IS covering sdness and lopment of )m the eye but Christ, m, all guilt (1 but with naked and t ashamed, ) confessed vated and jildren and ice between ig clothed, rousness of ,d clanking • \ 32 Gold from Ophir. CAIN. C Coveted the favor that his brother's offering got. A Angry because his brother is accepted, and he rejected. I Inherited this evil from his parents. ^ Neglected the sin ofifering that was crouching at the door. This was the sin of sins — that he would not accept or bring the offering" that God required (see Gen. 4 : 7, margin, Newberry's Bible), "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted ? and if not, a sin offering croucheth at the door." F. E. M. MAN'S RUINED CONDITION DESCRIBED BY GOD. XI. Guilty before God, Rom. 3 : 19. I. Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, Gen. 6:5. II. Abominable, Job. 15 : 16. III. All gone aside, they are altogether become filthy : there is none that doeth good, no, not one, Psa. 14 : 3. IV. Corrupt, Psa. 53 : i. V. Full of evil, and madness in their heart, Eccles. 9:3. VI. From the sole of the foot even unto the head no soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores, Isa. i : 6. VII. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, Jer. 17 : 9. VIII. Lost, Luke 19 : 10. IX. W^ithout excuse, Rom. i : 20. X. None that seeketh after God, Rom. 3:11. XII. All have sinned, and come short of t'le glory of God, Rom. 3 : 23. XIII. U^.g'vo!.- Mthout- strength, Rom. 5:6. XIV. Dead in trespasses and sin, Eph. 2 : I. XV. Children of disobedience, Eph. 2 : 2. XVI. Children of wrath, Eph. 2 : 3. XVII. Without Christ, having no hope, and without God in the world, Eph. 2 : 12. XVIII. Destitute of the truth, i Tim. 6:5. XIX. Having not the Spirit, Jude ig. XX. Wretched, and m'^'e.able, and poor, and blind, and naked, P ^ : ^7- J. M. S. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. MAN must have life before he can obey, even to the slightest extent, any one of the precepts of the Lord. God gives not His law to dead men, or rather, if He does, it is to show that they are legally, morally, and spiritually dead, and are utterly unable to keep those commandments which the fact of their death proves them to have broken. Adam, who had covered his nakedness, speaks of it when God is there as much ag if he had done nothing to cover it. And so it is with all our efforts to make out what shall hide our sin, or make out righteousness. Moreover man flies from God before ever God drives him in righteousness from His presence and blessing As representing the race, Adam had no promise ; there is none to the first Adam ; all is in the second, the woman's seed. Ruin. 33 MAN. God's own description of him and his [ members. I. The Heart — From -within, out of the ^ heart proceed : — I. Evil thoughts. II. Adulteries. III. Fornications, IV. Murders. V. Thefts. VI. Covetousness. VII. Wickedness, nil. Deceit. IX, Lasciviousness. X. An evil eye. XI. Blasphemy. XII. Pride. [XIII. Foolishness. All these evil things come from within and ile the man, Mark 7 : 20-23. Man's heart is— I. Deceitful above all things. 2. Desper- Itely wicked, Jeremiah 17 : 9. 3. Foolish. Darkened, Rom. i : 21. 5. Blind, Eph. : 18. Exercised with covetous practices, I Peter 2 : 14. II. The Mind — Reprobate, Rom. i : 28. defiled, Titus i : 15, III. The Thoughts — Of iniquity, Isaiah 7- IV. Conscience — Seared with a hot iron I Tim. 4 : 2. Defiled, Titus i : 15. V. Feeling— Being past feeling, Eph. 4 : 19. VI. Understanding— Darkened, Eph. 4 18, VII. Eyes— Full of adultery that cannot cease from sin, 2 Peter 2:14; see Job 24 : 15 VIII. Hands— Full of blood, Isa i 15. The act of violence is in them, Isa. 59 : 6. IX. Feet — Run, make haste to evil, Isa. 57 : 7. " Swift," make haste, etc., Rom. 3:15- X. Lips — Adders' poison, Psa. 140 : 3. Poison of asps, Rom. 3 : 13. Unclean, Isa. XI. Throat — An open sepulchre, Rom. 3: 13- XII. Mouth — Cursing and bitterness, Rom. 3 : 14. XIII. Tongue — Deadly poison, deceit, James 3:8; Rom. 3 : 13. XIV. Bones — Full of the sins of youth. Job 20 : 1 1 The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it, Isaiah i : 5, 6. S. TINSLEY. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. [N the third chapter of Genesis we find — what, alas 1 has always happened, and hap- pened immediately when God has set anything up in the hands of responsible Han — disobedience and failure. The subtlety of the hidden enemy of our souls is now work. The first effect is the distrust of God which he inspires ; then lust and isobedience ; utter dishonor done to God, whether as regards His thith or His love ; ^e power of natural affections over man ; the consciousness of being naked and jwerless ; effort to hide from oneself; terror of God — seeking to hide from Him ; f-justification, which seeks to cast upon another, and even upon God, that of which "^e have been guilty. There is no difficulty in understanding what is meant when it is said that a lion by nature ferocious and blood-thirsty ; and in precisely the same sense it is affirmed n the testimony of God Himself th. ^ by nature we are sinful, for by nature we e the objects of His just displeasure. 34 Gold from Ophir. ILLUSTRATIONS FROM BOSTON'S "FOURFOLD STATE. Sin is the natural man's element ; he is as loth to part with it as the fishes are to come out of the water on to dry Ir.nd. Though a stone thrown up into the air may abide there a little while, yet its natural heaviness will bring it down to the earth again ; and so do unrenewed men return to the wallowing in the mire, because they Avere not changed. There was not one wrong pin in the tabernacle of human nature when God set it up, however shattered it is now. A disposition to establish our own right- eousness is a weed that naturally grows in every man's heart, but few sweat at the plucking of it up — it lurks undiscovered. • The sin of our nature is the cause of all particular lusts aftd actual sins, in our hearts and lives ; it is the spawn which the great leviathan has left in the souls of men, from whence comes all the fry of actual sins and abominations. The corrupt heart is like an ant's nest, on which, while the stone lieth, none of them appear ; but take off the stone and stir them up but with the point of a straw, you will see what a swarm is there and how lively they be. The natural man is always as a workman left without light — either trifling or doing mischief. Try to catch thy heart at any time thou wilt, and thou sh?lt find either weaving the spider's web, or hatching cocka- trice-eggs, Isa. 59 : 5. •' By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." Behold the door by which death came in 1 Satan wrought with his lies till he got it open, and so death entered. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. IN the second chapter of Genesis we have man in the order of created blessing, the state in which he is ; in the third, man's fall from God, by which his intercourse with God on this ground is foreclosed ; in the fourth, his wickedness in connection with grace in the evil state resulting from his fall ; what the world thereupon became, man being driven out from the presence of God. After man's fall we find he grew worse and worse, and God's creation was utterly defiled and filled with violence, the two universal characters of active will out of God. As regards man, it was now brought out, when he was left to himself (for before the flood, save gracious testimony, he was so left), that every thought of hi- heart was only evil continually. Sins like deadly fruits abound on every hand ; but they are the visible outgrowth ofthe sin that like a poisonous root is implanted in every human breast. Currents! and streams of ^ns that are impure in their lightest spray are flowing everywhere overj the earth ; but they all spring from the sin that like a corrupt fountain has its sourcej beyond the control of men. Of such a heinous character is the evil nature within us that if we had been born! blind and deaf and dumb, if we had been shut up in a dungeon at our first breath and! cut off all our lifetime from any possible contact with the world, sin would still havej reigned with imperious sway over every faculty of our being, and aroused evenl impulse of the heart in determined opposition to the will of God, whether prcclaimed' amid the thunders of Sinai, or pleading in the tender accents of Calvary. Ruin. 35 al sins and t's nest, on ne of them id stir them V, you will how lively a workman ng or doing eart at any t find either tching cocka- :o the world, the door by wrought with ind so death | • The Lord put all maakind's stock (as it ®%rere) in one ship, and, as we ourselves •would have done, He made one common lather (Adam) the pilot As the circumcised parent begets an imcircumcised child, and after the purest in is sown we reap com with the ch^, the holiest parents beget unholy children, id cannot communicate their grace to them, A* they do their nature. If one lamb skip into a water, the rest -ttuit are near will suddenly follow ; it may Also be observed in the disposition of the blessing, the intercourse I nnection with Decame, man | creation wasj ictive will out! himself (for' lought of hi jle outgrowths .St. Currentsl rywhereo\erl has its soiuoe lad been boi :st breath and »uld still have .roused even' er proclaimed children of men, to whom it is very natural to embrace an evil way. We have fallen into the hands of our grand adversary, as Samson into the hands of the Philistines, and are deprived of our two eyes. "There is none that vmder- standeth." The unregenerate part of mankind are rambling through the world like so many blind men, who will neither take a g:uide nor can guide themselves, and are there- fore falling over this and the other preci- pice into Atsknxdion.— Footsteps of Truth. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. WE find the sweet Psalmist of Israel saying, not in the hyperbole of poetry, nor in the extravagant confession of a morbid conscience, but in the inspired utterance ^ a truth that applies to every child of Adam, " Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Psa. 51 : 5). The words of Genesis 6:5," every," " only," " evil," and " continually," tell the Appalling story of the world's utter ruin by sin without going further. The story of man's ruin is told out more powerfully and affectingly at the cross '! 43 Gold from Ophir. Sin is at once a state, a )?uilt and a pollution. By reason of our sin we have become alienated and separated from all personal fellowship with God. No man who does not know Jesus Christ can have any peaceable relations with God. Nor does he care for them. He lives and walks with his back turned upon his Creator. He is living in God's world without God. God is not his Father, nor does he call upon Him as such, nor ever pray to Him with any assurance of being heard. He is a self- orphaned outcast. This is the state or condition in which sin leaves every man. Besides this, sin is a guilt. Every man by reason of his sin has rendered himself justly obnoxious to the sentence of the divine law. For sin is not an iiccident or merely a misfortune in which man without his consent or agency has become involved. It is a voluntary state ; and a transgression against the righteousness and holiness of God, for which he is brought under the just judgment and sentence of the divine law. Again, sin is a pollution. It has defiled man's spiritual nature, corrupted his affections, thrown his whole moral nature out of harmony with God and filled him with all uncleanness, so that his heart becomes the fountain and source of all the evil with which the world is corru»ai^l?Of 'aCiuriSS this destroys in man all fitness for fellowship with God or those wTOare iri^oiy^<^ship vsdith Him, and also unfits him for all happy service for Him. But ii* addition to all this, sin has brought us under the malign influence of Satan, and put u^ ■^mpletely in his power that, as is written, we "being dead in trespasses and sins, walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." There is a striking change in the grand panorama of Genesis from the first two to the third chapters. Where There was rest and beauty but yesterday is chaos and confusion to-day. First, we see formation ; then, deformation ; and third, re-formation. In human history man was made in the likeness cf God ; by his own wilful act sinned against God and fell into mor tion. God appears to man with a promise of salvation throi and there begins out of Eden the work of man's re-formation seen in the history of the Church and of the Jewish race. is is formation. Man aos ; this is deforma- -; seed of the woman, 1 hese same steps are The sin of Adam was not merely an inconsiderate act without a moral reaction upon his own nature, but a corroding poison penetrating the whole person, the injurious operations of which are transmitted upon all the descendants of the ancestor. The fall of man became an established condition in consequence of which we are ushered into existence as enemies of God and His law, infected with a perverted nature. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh," John 3:6. "The carnal mind ., enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of -God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God," Rom. 8 : 7-8. O how is the glorious image of God marred, how is the original temple of the Holy Ghost ruined ! " From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores ; they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment," Is. 1:6. It is the nature of sin in the repetition of transgres- sion to extend in growth and increase in force until it asserts a predominating position, bringing the subject into captivity to the law of sin, Rom. 7 : 23. The sinner then, by reason of the carnal-mindedness of his will, is delivered up to sin, sold under sin, verse 14. "To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are," Rom. 6: 16. Behold the drunkard, the angry, the voluptuous, the proud — how they "sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron," Ps. 107 : 11. Once they could sin, now they musi, for sin has become unto them a despotic law. Cain had no bad companions to teach him sin ; he had no evil example to follow, for he was the first man that was born on the earth ; but the evil came from himself, from his own debased heart, and he was ready, as soon as an opportunity offered, to murder his brother. How long it takes us to learn the lesson that man cannot be improved, he " must be bom again." Ruin. 43 ;action urious The ihered lature. enmity then orious From is, and neither nsgres- osition, hen, by ersei4- .6:16. irkness Once mple to \e from jrtunity lat man The curse that from the first has followed sin, and above all the cross whereon sin was condemned and punished, show that words cannot tell nor mind conceive what sin is, and what is the wrath of the Holy One against it. There lies the need for propitiation. There is Divine wrath to be turned away. Whilst that wrath remains, (jod cannot receive man, and man cannot approach God. If we ask how God's wr.;vn utters itself, we may venture to reply : In separation from the sinner. Can anythi.ig be worse than that? Can outer darkness, or any other terrible figure depict what it is for a soul to be left with its sins, cut off from God ? It is among the most potent of the energies of sin that it leads astray by blinding, and blinds by leading astray : that the soul, like the strong champion of Israel, must have its eyes put out when it would be " bound with fetters of brass," and condemned to "grind in the prison-house." Appalling as sin may appear to us, when viewed in the light of God's Word, our estimate of it falls far short of what it is in the sjght of a holy God. God is love — love which passeth knowledge, love which only finds outward expression in the cross of His dear Son. And yet we read: "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men ;'" the " wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience ;' "he that believeth not the Son .... the wrath of Godabideth on him ;" "to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever;" "where their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched ;" " treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath;" " in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that obey not the Gospel ;" " the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God." These are not merely isolated passages, but such as occur throughout the Scriptures. It .is not Divine sorrow of which they speak, nor even Divine displeasure, but Divine wrath, and when we put thei together we have an indescribable revelation of the sinfulness of sin. Many of tli a no doubt are figurative, but God's figures are figures of the truth, and their truth ib sustained by history. As a result of the fall man's crown is rolled in the dust, his honor tarnished and stained. His sovereignty is strongly disputed by the lower orders of creation. If trees nourish him, it is after strenuous care, and they often disappoint. If the earth supplies him with food, it is in tardy response to exhausting toil. If the beasts serve him, it is because they have been laboriously tamed and trained, whilst vast numbers r )am the forest glades, setting him at defiance. If he catch the fish of the sea, or the bird of the air, he must wait long in cunning concealment. So degraded has man become that he has bowed before the objects that he was to command, and has prostrated his royal form in shrines dedicated to birds, and four- footed beasts, and creeping things. It is the fashion now-a-days to extol heathen philosophy, but how can we compare it for a moment with the religion of the Bible, when its pyramids are filled with mummies of deified animals, and its temples with the sacred bull ? Where is the supremacy of man ? Not in the savage cowering before the beasts i of the forest ; nor in the civilized races that are the slaves of lust, and sensuality, and ', swinish indulgence ; nor in those who, refusing to recognize the authority of God, fail ,to exercise any authority themselves. Sin reigns, as the Apostle says most truly. I And all who bow their necks beneath its yoke are slaves, and menials, and c jwering jabjects, in comparison with what God made and meant them to be. Sin defiles, debases, disfigures, and blasts all it touches. And we ma/ shudder f to think that its virus is working in our fame, as we discover the results of its ravages I upon myriads around. Man's state by nature is that of spiritual death ; he has " no life " in him (Jno. [6:53), he is "alienated from the life of God" (Eph. 4 : 18). There is no pulsation sin human nature which beats Godward, no craving within for God, no thirst after jGod— the source of life and light and love ; no seeking for rest in Him, who alone can [satisfy the soul. 1 1 • in aiij i^Ww 44 Gold from O'^hir. When Adam fell from his innocency, not only did he become a sinner, but the primary instincts of his fallen nature led him to shun God, and to hide himseif from His presence. Centuries have rolled on since that dark day, and men still are far from God — not indeed farther from God, as to their nature, than Adam, their pro- genitor, for that would be impossible; bt'.t, as regards the great mass of humanity, terribly farther off as to the knowledge of God, indeed utterly ignorant of Him, and living m the darkness of moral estrangement from Him. The fine and noble qualities existent in man arp the remains of the beauty and perfection of the divinely-made creature before the fall. They may be likened to fragments of sculpture and broken pieces of exquisite ornament which are dug out of ruined temples, and treasured in museums pertaining to civilized countries ; civiliza- tion admires the conceptions of ancient days, marvels at the skill that no longer ■exists, and seeks to im' ate the fragmentary marbles it has dug out of their hiding- places ; but at the same time lacks the mind and the hand which conceived and executed the works of its admiration. Man has lost spiritual perception of God, and, as those creatures which, by reason of their dwelling in the darkness of the waters of subterranean caverns, havo lost the organ as well as the sense of sight, he lives and moves in the darkness of his nature's distance from God, in a world, v/hich, alas ! has cast, off God ; and he is ignorant of the gloom in which he dwells. In the second chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians, two intensely solemn statements are made respecting man's state by nature. Men are there described as being dead in sins, and also as being the children of wrath : — "You .... were dead in trespasses and sins . . . we . . . were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." (Eph. 2 : 2, 3). The Apostle was writing to Gentiles, to people who had been "worshippers of the great goddess, Diana," and of the image which, poor idolaters as they once were, they fancied had fallen " down from Jupiter." These Gentiles are the '' you," and himself and other Hebrews the " we " of the solen^i statement. But whether Gentiles or Hebrews, " there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." IT' !!• fi \''i REDEMPTION, ■ I .[j 1^ '' p u * I in ^H £\im REDEMPTION. By Dr. Jas. H. Brookes. IT is interesting to notice the different words employed by the Koly Ghost in the Bible to express the thought of our deliverance from an estate of sin and misery, and our introduction into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer. All intelligent Christians know that the words of Scripture are inspired, and therefore they are worthy of devout and careful study. Never does the Spirit of God use a word with- out a special reason for its selection ; and it may comfort our hearts to trace the meaning of the various terms in which He tells us of our Saviour's glorious redemption. This is the . but with that He us, The first is lutroo^ "to loose by a price, to release by a ransom." word where it is written, " Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, . the precious blood of Christ," i Pet. i:i8, 19; "who gave himself for might redeem us from all iniquity," Tit. 2 :i4. In the form of a noun it is the same word, when we read, "having obtained eternal redemption," Heb, 9:12; and the same noun, with the prefixed preposition froin^ is found in the following passages : "Your redemption draweth nigh," Luke 21 :28 ; "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," Rom. 3 : 24 ; "the redemption of our body," Rom. 8 123 ; "who of God is made u.ito us . . . redemption," i Cor. I : 30 ; "in whom we have redemption," Eph. 1:7; "until the redemption of the purchased possession," Eph. 1:14; "unto the day of redemption," Eph. 4 :30 ; "in whom we have redemption," Col. I : 14. Here the idea is release from bondage or captivity by the payment of a ransom, the ransom being the precious blood of Christ. The second word is exagorazo, *'■ to purchase out, to buy uponi of the possession or power of any one," as Dr. Young renders it, " to acquire out of the forum.^* This word is found in the texts, " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law," Gal. 3:13; " God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law," Gal. 4:4, 5. The mention of the law shows that a forum, or court of justice, is in view ; and Christ, having paid the fine demanded by the law, having met the penalty of the law in behalf of His people, buys them out from all further claims upon them, and leads them forth into liberty. The third word is foui 1 in the Old Testament. It is pah-dah, meaning " to s^t free, let go," but nearly always translated redeem. It is so rendered about fifty times, and occi'.s in such passages as these: "Israel, whom thou hast redeemed," Deut. 21:8; "the Lord liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity," 2 Sam. 4:9; "What one nation in the earth is like Thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem?" i Chron. 17:21 ; "the Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants," Ps.34 : 22 ; " Zion shall be redeemed with judgment," Isa. i : 27 ; "I will redeem them out of the hand of the terrible," Jer. 15:21; "though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me," Hos. 7 : 13. He set His people free by the substitution of a spotless lamb, to bear the merited stroke of death m their room and stead. The fourth word \spah-rak, "to break off, to tear away, rescue, deliver." In the sense of redeeming it occurs but once, and that place shows Christ reigning in power and mercy over Israel at His second advent, while the triumphant song ascends. He "hath redeemed us from our enemies," Ps. 136 : 24. Dr. J. A. Alexander renders it, "snatched us from our enemies," and adds that the "verb always denotes violent action." This is m precise accord with everything that is elsewhere written in the prophets, concerning the way Israel shall be redeemed the second, and last, time from all her foes It will be by the coming of the now rejected Messiah, appearing for the destruction of the nations gathered against Jerusalem to battle. [47] 1 1 1 1 ') : r< 5- — — ii ^^M i r j 1 t ] 48 Gold from Ophir. The fifth word is fdooth, rendered a division in Ex. 8 : 23 ; "I will put a division between my people and thy people." Hut it will be observed from the marginal reading that God said to Pharaoh, " I will put a redemption between my people and thy people." It was indeed a division, made by the sprinkled blood of the spotless lamb, but it was first a redemption. The same word occurs in the following passages : " He sent redemption unto his people," Ps. 1 1 1 : 9 ; " with him is plenteous redemp- tion," Ps. 130 : 7 ; "Is my hand shortened at all, that it can not redeem ?" Isa. 50 : 2. God wants a division put between His redeemed people and the unbelieving world; and it must be so, if they have really felt the touch of the blood. The sixth word is also Hebrew, gah-al, meaning, not only " to redeem, ransom, recover," but "to avenge." It brings to view the office of one, who at once was kinsman, deliverer, redeemer, husband, and avenger. It is found in Jacob's dying blessing, "the Angel which redeemed me from all evil," Gen. 48 : 16 ; in God's promise to Israel, "I will redeem you with a stretched out arm," Ex. 6:6; in Job's noble confession, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," Job. 19 :25 ; in the Psalmist's song, "who redeemeth thy life from destruction," Ps. 103:4; in Isaiah's prophecy, "the Redeemer shall come to Zion," Isa. 59 : 20 ; in Jehovah's word of cheer through Hosea, " I will redeem them from death," Hos. 13 : 14. Blessed be His name, He will avenge the wrongs His people have suffered for nearly six thousand years at the hands of the foul monster that has lorded it over our earth. The seventh word takes us again into the New Testament, and into heaven itself. It is agorazo, " to buy, to purchase," or as it is in Young's Analytical Concordance, "to acquire at the forum." It occurs but three times in the Bible in the sense of redeeming, and these three are in the book of Revelation. "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood," Rev. 5:9; "redeemed from earth;" " redeemed from among men," Rev. 14 : 3, 4. Here the Lord Jesus is with His saints in the high court of heaven, and He takes possession of them as His own bought ones, in the presence and amid the glory of God. Thus all the way along, from the lowest degradation to the loftiest summit of bliss, He is our Redeemer, to whom be praise now and ever. 1 Redemption. 49 GOD'S COVENANTS FOUNDED ON THE BLOOD OF A VICTIM. By J. N. Darby. The necessity of the covenant being founded on the blood of a victim wds not forgotten in the case ox the first covenant. Everything was sprinkled with blood. The types always spoke of the necessity of death intervening before men could be in relation- ship with God. Sin had brought in death and judgment. We must either undergo the judgment ourselves, or see our sins blotted out through its having been undergone by another for us. Three applications of the blood are pre- sented in Heb. 9:12-22. The covenant is founded on the blood. Defilement is washed away by its means. Guilt is removed by the remission obtained through the blood that has been shed. These are, in fact, the three things necessary : I. The ways of God in bestowing blessing according to His promises are connected with His righteousness, the sins of those blessed being atoned for, the requisite foundation of the covenant, Christ having withal glorified God i.i respect of sin, when made sin. on the cross. II. The purification of the sins by which we were defiled (by which all things, that could not be guilty, were nevertheless defiled) 'is accomplished. Here there are cases in which water was typically used ; this is moral and practical cleansing. It flows from death: the water that purifies proceeded from the side of the holy victim already dead. It is the application of the word — which judges all evil and reveals ali good — to the conscience and the heart. • III. Now as regards remission. In no one case can this be obtained without the shedding of blood. Observe that it does not heresay "application." It is the accomplish- ment of the work of true propitiation wliich is here spoken of. Without shedding of blood there is no remission. All-important truth I For a work of remission, death and blood-shedding must take place. Two consequences flow from these views of atonement and reconciliation to God. It wiS necessary that there should be a bettc sacrifice, a more excellent victim, than thcie which were offered under the old covenant ; because it was the heavenly things themselves, and not their figures, that were j SUG<}ESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. THE cross of Christ is the divine necessity of divine light and love. Jesus crucified will ever attiact to God ; so long as the world endures will this marvel stand, that tlie story of the sufferings and death of Jesus shall draw men from the glory and the glitter of the world, from its fame and its shame, even to God Himself. By Christ's death we understand that God is love. (i) The slaying of Abel by Cain is typical of the slaying of Christ by the wicked world. (2) The blood of Abel that called out for vengeance upon Cain is set in contrast to the blood of Christ, " which speaketh better things," and which cries out for the mercy of God upon the sinner. (3) Abel is a type of the believer who accepts life through faith in the offering appointed by God ; while Cain is a type of the unbeliever who rejects that offering, and presumes to come before God with his own offering and righteousness. t 'I li so Gold from Ophir. to be purified. For it is into the presence of God in heaven itself that Christ has entered. In the second place, Christ was not to offer Himself often, as the high -priest went 'in every year with the blood of others. For He offered up Himself. Hence, if all that was available in the sacrifice was not brought to perfection by a single offering once made. He must have suffered often since the foundation of the world. (And He must have repeatedly suffered, for there must be reality in putting away sin). This remark leads to the clear and simple declaration of the ways of God on thiS point — a declaration of priceless value. God allowed ages to pass (the different distinct periods in which man has in divers ways been put to the test, and in which he has had time to show what he is) without yet accomplishing His work of grace. This trial of man has served to show that he is bad in nature and in will. The multiplication of means only made it more evident that he was essentially bad at heart, for he availed himself of none of them to ■draw near to God. On the contrary, his enmity against God was fully manifested. "VShen God had made this plan, before the law, under the law, by promises, by the coming and presence of His Son, then the work of God takes the place, for our salvation and God's glory, of man's responsi- bility, on the ground of which faith knows man is entirely lost. This explains the expression (ve;se 26) " in the consummation of the ages." Now this work is perfect, and perfectly accomplished. Sin has dishonored God, and separated man from Him. All that God had doxie to give him the means of return only ended in affording him opportunity to fill up the measure of his sin by the rejection of Jesus. J But in this the eternal counsels of God were fulfilled, at least the moral basis and that in infinite perfection, for their actual accomplishments in their results. All now in fact, as in purpose always, rested on the second Adam, and on what God had done, not on man's responsibility, while that was fully met for God's glory. (Compare 2 Tim. 1:9, 10 : Titus 1 : i, 2.) The Christ whom man rejected had appeared in order to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Thus it was morally the consummation of the ages. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. JESUS crucified — the sacrifice for sin, the friend of sinners — is the mighty magnet by which God draws us to His heart of love ; Christ crucified is the irresistible force which no power of Satan nor of the world can withstand. And by that cross God is glorified beyond all human thought and utterance, even to the utmost of the infinite extent of His own nature. Note the titles of the Lord in the Gospels : Son of Man ; Son of God. Son of Man given for man, and, on man's account, bearing the shame and the spitting, endur- ing death and being forsaken on the cross. Son of God given from God's heart for a perishing world. The light required that the Son of Man should be lifted up ; tne love gave the Son of God for man. God as light is seen in the cross of the Son of Me.n. The Lord having in grace become a man, having taken the place of Son of Man before God, must needs go through to the end with the work undertaken. That work was redemption, in order to effect which the sacrifice of Himself was required ; therefore the necessity imposed upon Him, as Son of Man, to die in order that we might live God as love is seen in the gift of the Son of Gkxi. From the depths of His own heart, because He is love, God g?.ve His eternal Son for a perishing world, g^ave Him to become a man, that, being a man. He might die in order that we might live. Redemption. 51 m BROUGHT BY GOD; OR, THE GLORIES OF CHRIST IN THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. In thia we find an interesting parallel to the history of Abraham. In Gen. 13 he is spoken of as "Abram the Hebrew." The word signifies "one that passes over, a passenger, or from the other side," and is probably derived from Eber, his ancestor, Gen. 11:16, 24, 26. It also refers to the fact of Abram's having been taken by God from the other side of the River Euphrates, and as such is a be3''*:ful picture of the "illuminated" ones to whom this letter is written, Hebrews 10 : 32, who have been brought to God — I. Out of darkness, Ps. 107:14; into His marvellous light, 1 Pet. 2 ; 9 ", 2 Cor. 4 : 6. II. From the horrible pit into His banquetting house. Cant. 2:4; Ps. 11:2. III. From the depths of the sea to the desired haven, Ps. 68 : 22 ; 107 : 30. IV. Out of the iron furnace, Deut. 4 : 20 ; to the King's chambers. Cant. 1 : 4. V. From being bound with chains, Ps. 68 : 6 ; to the glorious liberty of Gkxi's children , Rom. 8:21. VI. Brought up from the grave or hell, P.B.V., Ps. 30:3; near unto Himself, Ex. 19:4 ; Num. 16 :g. On the other hand, the word may be connected with Hebron, Gen. 13 : 18, Abram's new home, or rather place of sojourning, Gen. 35 : 27 ; for he was con- fessedly but a "stranger and a sojourner" even in the land, because he " looked for a city" of God's building. Gen. 23:4: Heb. 11:9. If so, this suggests a beautiful train of thought when we recollect that " Ur of the Chaldees," where he formerly dwelt, signifies fire, demons, or robbers ; and Haran, where he tarried half-way to Canaan, and where Terah his father died, means wrath, surely teaching that destruction is as inevitable for one who tarries on the threshold of heaven, outside the ark, as for those who are thousands of miles away. There is no intermediate place of safety. Lost or saved ; dead or alive. In Christ, not condemned ; but out of Him the wrath of God, the wrath of the Lamb, the wrath of the Holy Ghost, abideth on the unbeliever even now, and hereafter the vengeance of eternal fire, " for our God is a consuming fire," John 3 : 36 ; Rev. 6 : 16; Heb. 3:7, 11; 12:29; Jude, 7." "The fire is not quenched," for fire bums on and on until there is nothing left to feed it, Isa. 1:31; Mai. 3:2,3; 4:1; Nahum i : 2, 8. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. THE all-availing efficacy of our Lord's sacrifice is the truth, which, if truly and fully recognized, enables us to rejoice in the forgiveness of sins. !«• removes our questionings and our doubts, and opens the way for us to delight in Christ as our life. Like Israel in the wilderness, transgressing and sinning, and fallen under the power of the fiery serpents, we lay perishing beneath the judgment our sins had brought upon us. The remedy for their ruin was the death their sin had brought upon them, set forth before their eyes in divine judgment — the serpent of brass set upon a pole. Our hope, in our more hopeless death, is Him "made sin for us who knew no sin," 2 Cor. 5:21;" " Sin condemned in the flesh," Rom. 8:3; Christ crucified. All true religion has a d'stinct beginning, and that beginning dates from the time when a sinner stands at Calvary, conscious of his utterly ruined condition, and realizes the truth that Jesus so completely satisfied God for sin, that He could say, before He gave up the ghost, "// is finished j;''^ and that "we have redemption through His BLOOD, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. TT u rs! 52 Gold from Opiiir. CHRIST IN OLD TESTAMENT TYPE x\ND SIMILITUDE. I. Christ in His divine person and work is the great and constant theme of the Old Testament. John 5:39, 46; Luke 24 : 27, 44 ; i Pet. 1 : 10-12 ; Acts 26 : 22, 23 ; John 16 : 14, 15 ; John 15 : 26 ; Rev. 19 : 10. IL Important to understand types and simiHtudes of Christ which "illuminate " the Scriptures. Be cautious, but not too cautious, i Cor. 10 : 1 ; Gal. 4 : 24, 25 ; i Cor. 9:9. To the natural man, what " wild typology." Much of the O. T. is almost meaningless without a knowledge of typology. IIL Christ and His work is foreshadowed in many persons, actions, places, things, divinely ordered aid recorded. Adam, the fig leaves. Eve, Abel, Enoch and Noah, Rom. 5:14; i Cor. 15:45-49: Heb. 12 : 24 : Jude 14, 15 ; i Pet. 3 : 20, 21 ; 2 Pet. 2:5-9; Matt. 24 : 37-39. Isaac, Joseph and David in about a score of important particulars each. The whole history of Israel from Egypt to Canaan, is typical, i Cor. 10 :u. The Tabernacle in its various parts — ^furniture, offerings— presents a complete set of types of Christ and Redemption. These linea- ments of the Redeemer and traces of Redemption may seem dim at first, but in the progress of revelation and interpretation, they become more and more clear and luminous until — " Earth's sad story Em'.s in glory. On yon shore." E.P.M. H : ; il n: SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. LET the sinner look straight away to Jesus on the cross. The light of divine righteousness requiring death frpm the transgressor by the wounds and woe of the spotless Saviour, reveals how vile we are — what a state is by nature ours. All the suffering and sorrow, all that being forsaken of His God, were necessary — our sins called for every grief and every pain borne by the Lord ; our sins called for every drop of woe wherewith His bitter cup was filled. Let us understand that God is not said to be angry with the world, but to love it, in that He gave His Son for it. God is merciful to us and loveth us, and of very love gave His Son unto us, that we should not perish but have everlasting life. And, as God giveth by love and mercy, so do we take and receive by faith and not otherwise. Faith only — that is, trust in the mercy and ^'.ace of God — is the very hand by which we take this gift. This gift is given to make us safe from death and sin. And it is bestowed upon the world ; and the world signifies all mankind. *'I MUST say," wrote Dr. Chalmers in a letter to a friend, "that I never had so close and satisfactory a view of the Gospel salvation, as when I have been led to con- template it in the light of a simple olTer on the one side, and a simple acceptance on the other. It is just saying to one and all of us, There is forgiveness through the blood of my Son." It is not in any shape the reward of our own services ; .... it is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is not given because you are worthy to receive it, but because it is a gift worthy of our kind and reconciled Father to bestow. The Holy Ghost did not make peace ; but Christ did : the Holy Ghost is not said to be our peace ; but Chist is. God did not send, "preaching peace" by the Holy Ghost, but "by Jesus Clwist." Comp. Acts 10 :36 ; Eph. 2 : 14, 17 ; CoL i : 20. Redemption. 53 THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. By Dr. Edersheivi. IN briefly reviewing the Divine ordinances about this day, Lev. 1 6th Chapter ; Num. 29 : II (and according to the Jewish view, it was also the day on which Adam had sinned and repented ; that on which Abraham was circumcised ; and that on which Moses returned from the mount and made atonement for the sin of the golden calf,) we find that only on that one day in every year the high-priest was allowed to go into the Most Holy Place, and then arrayed in a peculiar white dress, which differed from that of the ordinary priests in that its girdle also was white, and not of the Temple colors, while " the bonnet" was of the same shape, though not the same :^ iterial as "the mitre,' which the high-priest ordinarily wore. The simple white of his array, in distinction to the "golden garments" which he otherwise wore, pointed to the fact that on that day the high-priest appeared, not as " the bridegroom of Jehovah," but as bearing in his official capacity the emblem of that perfect purity which was sought by the expiations of that day. Thus in the prophecies of Zechariah the removal of Joshua's " filthy garments" and the clothing him with "change of raiment," symbolically denoted — " I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee," Zech. 3 : 3, 4. Similarly those who stand nearest to God are always described as arrayed "in white," Ezek. 9:2 ; Dan. 10 : 5 ; 12:6. And because these were emphatically "the holy garments," " therefore" the high-priest had to " wash his flesh in water, and so put them on," Lev. 16 :4, that is, he was not merely to wash his hands and feet, as before ordinary ministrations, but to bathe his whole body. From Numbers 29 : 7-11, it appears that the offerings on the Day of Atonement '.vere really of a three-fold kind — "the continual burnt-offering," that is, the daily morning and evening sacrifices, with their meat and drink-offerings ; the festive sacrifices of the day, consisting for the high-priest and the priesthood, of "a ram for a burnt-offering," Lev. 16:3; and for the people of one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year with their meat-offerings for a burnt sacrifice, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering ; and, thirdly, and chiefly, the peculiar expiatory sacrifices of the day, which were a young bullock as a sin-offering for the high-priest, his house, and the sons of Aaron, and another sin-offering for the people, consisting of two goats, one of which was to be killed and its blood sprinkled, as directed, while the other was to be sent away into the wilderness, bearing " all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins" which had been confessed "over him," and laid upon him by the high-priest. Before proceeding further, we note the following as the order of these sacrifices — first, the ordinary morning sacrifice ; next the expiatory sacrifices for the high-priest, the priesthood, and the people (of one bullock, and one of the two goats, the other being the so-called scape-goat) ; then the festive burnt-offerings of the priests and the people, Num. 29:7-11, and with them another sin offering; and, lastly, the ordinary evening sacrifice, being, as Maimonides observes, in all fifteen sacrificial animals. According to Jewish tradition, the whole of the services of that da" were performed by the high- priest himself, of course, with the assistance of others, for which purpose more than fi\ e hundred priests were said to have been employed. Of course, if the Day of Atonement fell on a Sabbath, besides all these, the ordinary Sabbath sacrifices were also offered. On a principle previously explained, the high-priest purchased from his own funds the sacrifices brought for himself and his house, the priesthood, however, contributing, in order to make them sharers in the offering, while the public sacrifices for the whole people were paid for from the Temple treasury. Only while officiating in the distinctly expiatory services of the day did the high-priest wear his "linen garments in all the others he was arrayed in his '' " ' " frequent change of dress, and before each » golden vestments." This necessitated a 10 bathed his whole body. All this will be m 1 t :■ ■- k ^i .eih fff ii i i ■i' jiii ■;:!; P Ii 54 Gold from Ophir. beit unaerstood by a more detailed account of the order of service, as given in the Scriptures and by tradition. Seven days before the Day of Atonement the high-priest left his own house in Jerusalem, and took up his abode in his chambers in the Temple. A sul)stitute was appointed for him, in case he should die or become Levitically unfit for his duties. Rabbinical punctiliousness went so far as to have him twice sprinkled with the ashes of the red heifer — on the third and the seventh day of his week of separation — in case he had, unwittingly to himself, been defiled by a dead body. During the whole of that week, also, he had to practise the various priestly rites, such as sprinkling the blood, burning the incense, lighting the lamp, offering the daily sacrifice, etc. For, as already stated, every part or that day's services devolved on the high-priest, and he must not commit any mistake. Some of the elders of the Sanhedrin were appointed ta see to it that the high-priest fully understood, and knew the meaning of the service, otherwise they were to instruct him in it. On the eve of the Day of Atonement the various sacrifices were brought before him, that there iv' ht be nothing strange about the services of the morrow. Finally, they bound hin lath not to change anything in the rites of the day. This was chiefly for Icar ui ui Sadducean notion, that the incense should be lighted before the high-priest actually entered the Most Holy Place ; while the Pharisees held that this was to be done only within the Most Holy Place itself. The evening meal of the high-priest before the great day was to be scanty. All night long he was to be hearing and expounding the Holy Scriptures, or otherwise kept employed, so that he might not fall asleep. (This for special Levitical reasons.) At midnight the lot was cast for removing the ashes and preparing the altar ; and to distinguish the Day of Atonement from all others, four, mstead of the usual three, fires were arranged on ths great altar of burnt-offering. The services of the day began with the first streak of morning light. Already the people had been admitted into the sanctuary. So jealous were they of any innovation or alteration, that only a linen cloth excluded the high-priest from public view, when, each time before changing garments, he bathed — not in the ordinary jlace of the priests — but in one specially set apart for his use. Altogether he changed lis raiments and washed his whole body five times on that day, and his hands and feet ;en times. When the first dawn of morning was announced in the usual manner, the ligh-priest put off his ordinary (layman's) dress, bathed, put on his golden vestments, washed his hands and feet, and proceeded to perform all the principal parts of the ordinary morning service. Tradition has it that immediately after that, he offered certain parts of the burnt-sacrifices for the day, viz., the bullock and the seven lambs, reserving his own ram and that of the people, as well as the sin-offering of a kid of the goats, Numb. 29:8-11, till after the special expiatory sacrifices of the day had been brought. But the text of Lev. 16 : 24 is entirely against this view, and shows that the whole of the burnt-offerings and the festive sin-offering were brought after the expiatory services. Considering the relation between these services and sacrifices, this might, at any rate, have been expected, since a burnt-offering could only be acceptable after, not before, expiation The morning service finished, the high-priest washed his hands and feet, put off his golden vestments, bathed, put on his " linen garments," again washed his hands and feet, and proceeded to the peculiar part of the day's services. The bullock of the sin-offering stood between the Temple-porch and the altar. It was placed towards the south, but the high-priest, who stood facing the east (that is, the worshippers), turned the head of the sacrifice towards the west (that is, to face the sanctuary). He then laid both his hands upon the head of the bullock, and confessed as follows : — " Ah, Jehovah ! I have committed iniquity ; I have transgressed ; I have sinned — I and my house. Oh, then, Jehovah, I entreat Thee, cover over (atone for, let there be atonement for) the iniquities, the transgressions, and the sins which I have committed, transgressed, and sinned before Thee, I and my house— even as it is written in the law of Moses, Thy servant : * For on that day will He cover over pi Redemption. 55 (atone) for you to make you clean ; from all your transgressions before Jehovah ye shall be cleansed.'" It will be noticed that in this solemn confession the name Jehovah occurred three times. Other three times was it pronounced in the con- fession which the high-priest made over the same bullock for the priesthood ; a seventh tirne was it uttered when he cast lots as to which of the two goats was to be "for Jehovah ; " and once again he spoke it three times in the confession over the so- called "scape-goat" which bore the sins of the people. All these ten times the high- priest pronounced the name of Jehovah, and, as .o spoke it, those who stood near cast themselves with their faces on the ground, while the multitude responded : "Blessed be the Name ; the glory of His kingdom is for ever and ever." (In support of this benediction, reference is made to Deut. 32 : 3.) The first part of the expiatory service — that for the priesthood — had taken place close to the Holy Place, between the porch and the altar. The next was performed close to the worshipping people. In the eastern part of the Court of Priests, that is, close to the worshippers, and on the north side of it, stood an urn, called Calpi, in which were two lots of the same shape, size and material ; in the second Temple they were of gold — the one bearing the inscription " la-Jehovah," for Jehovah, the other "la-Azazel," for Azazel, leaving the expression, Lev. 16 :8, 10, 26, (rendered "scape- goat" in the Authorised Version) for the present untranslated. These two goats had been placed with their backs to the people and their faces towards the sanctuary (westwards). The high-priest now faced the people, as standing between his sub- stitute (at his right hand) and the head of the course on ministry (on his left hand), he shook the urn, thrust his two hands into it, and at the same time drew the two lots, laying one on the head of each goat. Popularly it was deemed of good augury if the right-hand lot had fallen "for Jehovah." The two goats, however, must be altogether alike in look, size, and value ; mdeed, so earnestly was it sought to carry out the idea that these two formed parts of one and the same sacrifice, that it was arranged they should, if possible, even be purchased at the same time. The importance of this view will afterwards be explained. The lot having designated each of the two goats, the high- priest tied a tongue-shaped piece of scarlet cloth to the horn of the goat for Azazel — the so-called " scape-goat " — and another round the throat of the goat for Jehovah, which was to be slain. The goat that was to be sent forth was now turned round towards the people, and stood facing them, waiting, as it were, till their sins should be laid on him, and he would carry them forth into " a land not inhabited." Assuredly a more marked type of Christ could not be conceived, as He was brought forth by Pilate and stood before the people, just as He was about to be led forth, bearing the iniquity of the people. And, as if to add to the significance of the rite, tradition has it that when the sacrifice was fully accepted the scarlet mark which the scape-goat had borne became white, to symbolize the precious promise in Isa. i : 18 ; but it adds that this miracle did not take place for forty years before the destruction of the Temple. With this presentation of the scape-goat before the people c()mmenced the third and most solemn part of the expiatory services of the day. The high-priest now once more returned towards the sanctuary, and a second time laid his two hands on the bullock, which still stood between the porch and the altar, to confess over him, not only as before, 1 ' own and his household's sins, but also those of the priesthood. The formula used w.i^ precisely the same as before, with the addition of the \\ords, "the seed of Aaron, Thy h'ly people," both in the confession and in the petition for atone- ment. Then the high-priest killed the bullock, caught up his blood in a vessel, and gave it to an attendant to keep it stirring, lest it should roagulate. Advancing to the altar of bumt-ofTering, he next filled the censer with burning coals, and then ranged a handful of frankincense in the dish destined to hold it. Ordinarily, everything brought in actual ministry unto God must be carried in the right hand— hence the incense in the right and the censer in the left. But on this occasion, as the censer for the Day of Atonement was larger and heavier than usual, the high-priest w^ allowed to reverse the common order. Every eye was strained toward the sanctuary as slowly 1 56 Gold from Ophir. li! ii lit' ill i:iil 1 I' bearing,' the censer and tiie incense, the figuie of the white-robed high-priest was seen to disappear within the Holy Place. After that nothing further could be seen of his movements. Tlie curtain of the most Holy Place was folded back, and the high-priest stood a! )ne and separate (mm the people m the awful gloom of Holiest of All, only lit u;) by the red glow of the coals in the high-priest's censer. In the first Temple the ark of God has stood there with the "mercy-seat" overshadowing' it; above it, the visible presence of Jehovah in the cloud of the Shechinah, and on either side the out- spread wings of the cherubim ; and the high-priest had placed the censer between the staves of the ark. Hut in the temple of Herod there was neither Shechinah nor ark - all was empty ; and the high-priest rested his censer on a large stone, called the "foundation-stone." He now most carefully eaiptied the incense into his hand, and threw it on the co.dsof the censer, as far from himself as possible, and so waited till the smoke had filled the Most Holy Place. Then, retreating backwards, he prayed outside the veil The high-priest was not to prolong this prayer, lest his pro- tracted absence might fill the people with fears for his safety. Whde the incense was offering in the Most Holy Place the people withdrew from proximity to it, and worshipped in silence. At last the people saw the high-priest emerging from the sanctuary, and they knew that the service had been accepted. Rapidly he took from the attendant, who had kept it stirring, the blood of the bullock. Once more he entered into the Most Holy Place, and sprinkled with his finger once upwards, towards where the mere y-seat had been, and seven times downwards, counting as he did so : ."Once" (upwards), "once and once" (downwards), "once and twice," and so on to " oncar and seven times," always repeating the word " once," which referred to tlie upwards sprinkling, so as to prevent any mistake. Coming out from the Most Holy Place, the high-priest now deposited the bowl with the blood before the veil. Then he killed the goat set apart for Jehovah, and, entering the Most Holy Place a third time, sprinkled as before, once upwards and seven times downwards, and again deposited * he bowl with the blood of the goat on a second golden stand before the veil. Taking up the bowl with the bullock's blood, he next sprinkled once upwards and seven times downwards towards the veil, outside the Most Holy Place, and then did the same with the blood of the goat. Finally, pouring the blood of the bullock, so as thoroughly to commingle the two, he sprinkled each of the hornsof altar of incense, and then, making a clear place on the altar, seven times the top of the altar of incense. Thus he had sprinkled forty-three times with the expiatory blood, taking care that his own dress should never be spotted with the sin-laden blood. What was left of the blood the high-priest poure' )ut on the west side of the base of t'le altar of burnt- offering. By these expiatory sprinklings the high-priest had cleansed the sanctuary in all its parts from the defilement of the priesthood and the worshippers. The Most Holy Place, the veil, the Holy Place, the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt-ofTerini,' were now clean alike, so far as the priesthood and the people were concerned ; and in their relationship to the sanctuary both priests and worshippers were atoned for. So far as the law could give it, there was now again free access for all ; or, to put it otherwise, the continuance of typical sacrificial communion with God was once more restored and secured. Had it not been for these services, it would have become impossible for priests and people to offer sacrifices, and so to obtain the forgiveness of sins, or to have fellowship with God. But the consciences were not yet free from a sense of personal guilt and sin. That remained to be done through the " scape-goat." All this seems clearly implied in the distinctions made in Lev. l6 :33 : "And he shill make an atcmement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make ari atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation." Most solemn as the services had hitherto been, the worshippers would chiefly think with awe of the high-priest going into the immediate presence of God, coming out thence alive, and securmg for them by the blood the continuance of the Old Rf.dkmptidn." ST Testament privile^'es of sacrilices and of access unto God throuj,'I» iheni. What now took place concerned them, if possible, more nearly. Their own personal guilt and sins were now to be removed from them, and that in a symbolical rite, at one and the same time the most mysterious and the most significant of all. Ail this while the "s( ape-goat," with the "scarlet-tongue," telling of the guilt it was to bear, had stood looking eastwards, confronting the people, and waiting f(/r the terrible load which it was to carry away "unto a land not inhabiti,d." Laying both his hands on the head of this goat, the high-priest now confessed and pleaded ; "Ah, Jehovah I they have committed iniquity; they have transgressed; they have sinned— Thy people, the house of Israel. Oh, then, Jehovah! cover over (atone for), I entreat Thee, upon tlicir iniquities, their transgressions, and their sins, which they have wickedly com- mitted, transgressed, and sinned before Thee— Thy people, the house of Israel. As it is written in the law of Moses, Thy servant, saying : ' For on that day shall it b,e covered over (atoneil) for you, to make you clean from all your sins before Jehovah ye shall be cleansed.'" And while the prostrate multitude worshipped at the name of Jeho\ ah, the high-priest turned his face towards them as he uttered the last words, "Ye shall be cleansed !" as if to declare to them the absolution and remission of their sins. Then a strange scene could be witnessed. The priests led the sin-burdened goat out through "Solomon's Porch," and, as tradition has it, through the eastern gate, which opened upon the Mount of Olives. Here an arched bridge spanned the intervening valley, and over it they brought the gnat to the Mount of Olives, where one, specially appointed for the purpose, took him in charge. Tradition enjoins that he should be a stranger, a non-Israelite, as if to make still more striking the type of Him who was delivered over by Israel unto the Cicntiles. Scripture tells us no more of the destiny of the goat that bore upon him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, than that they shall "send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness," and that "he shall let go the goat in the wilderness," Lev. 16:22. But tradition supple- ments this information. The distance between Jerusalem and the beginning of "the wilderness" is computed at ninety stadia, making precisely ten intervals, each half a S:il)bath-day's journey from the other. At the end of each of these intervals there was a station, occupied by one or more persons, detailed for the purpose, who offered refreshment to the man leading the goat, and then accompanied him to the next station. By this arrangement two results were secured ; some trusted persons accompanied the goat all along his journey, and yet none of them walked more than a Sabbath-day's journey — that is, half a journey going and the other half returning. At last they reached the edge of the wilderness. Here they halted, viewing afar off, while the man led forward the goat, tore off half the "scarlet tongue," and struck it on a projecting cliff; then, leading the animal backwards, he pushed it over the projecting ledge of rock. There was a moment's pause, and the man, now defiled by contact with the sin-bearer, retraced his steps to the last of the ten stations, where he spent the rest of the day and the night. But the arri\ al of the goat in the wilderness was immediately telegraphed, by the waving of flags, from station to station, till, a few minutes after its occurrence, it was known in the Temple, and whispered from car to ear, that "the goat l:r.d borne upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited." What then was the meaning of a rite on which such momentous issue depended ? Everything about it seems strange and mysterious — the lot that designated it. and that "to Azazel ;" the fact that though the highest of all sin-offerings, it was neither sacrificed nor its blood sprinkled in the Temple ; and the circumstance that it really was only part of a sacrifice— the two goats together forming one sacrifice, one of them being killed, and the other " let go," there being no other analogous case of the kind except at the purification of a leper, when one bird was killed and the other dipped in its blood, and let go free. Thus these two sacrifices — one in the remo\al of what symbolically represented indwelling sin, the other contracted guilt — agreed in requiring two animals, of whom one was killed, the other " let go." This is not the ;;: •m -r4 i: ■ '1 ^ 58 Gold from Ophir. place to discuss the various views entertained of the import of the scape-goat. But it IS destructive of one and all of the received interpretations, that the sins of the people were confessed not on the goat which was killed, but on that which was "let go in the wilderness." and that it was this goat — not the other — which " bore upon him all the iniquities" of the people, i-o far as the conscience was concerned this goat was the real and the only sin-ofifering "for all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins," for upon it the high-priest laid the sins of the people, after he had by the blood of the bullock and of the other goat "made an end of reconciling the Holy Place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, ' Lev. i6 : 20. The blood sprinkled had effected this ; but it had do\ie no more, and it could do no more, for it " could not make nim that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience," Heb. 9 : 9. The symbolical representation of this perfecting was by the hv3 goat, which, laden with the confessed sins of the people, carried them av.ay into "the wilderness" to" aland not inhabited." The only meaning of which this seems really capable, is that though confessed guilt was removed from the people to the head of the goat, as the symbolical substitute, yet as the goat was not killed, only seni far away, into " a land not inhabited," so, under the Old Covenant, sin was not really blotted out, only put away from the people, and put aside till Christ came, not only to take upon Himself the burden of transgression, but to blot it out and to purge it away. (May theie be here also a reference to the doctrine of Christ's descent i' o Hades? ) Thuc viewed, not only the text of Leviticus, l6th chapter, but the languages of the 9th and loth chapters of Hebrews, which chiefly refer to the l3ay of Atonement, becomes plain. The "blood," both of the bullock and of the goat which the high- priest carried *' o-^ce a year" within "the sacred veil," was "offered for himself (including the priesthood) and for the errors (or rather ignorances) of the people." In the language of Lev. 16 : 20, it reconciled "the Holy Place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar," tiiat is, as already explained, it rendered on the pa"*: of priests and people the continuance of sacrificial worship possible. But this live scape- goat "let go" in the wilderness, over which, in the exhaustive language of Lev. 16:21, the high-priest had confessed and on which he had laid "all the iniquities of the children of Israel, andall their transgressions in all their sins," meant something quite difierent. It meant the inherent "weakness and unprofitableness of the command- ment;" it meant, that "the law made nothing perfect, but v, as the bringing in of a better hope ;" that in the covenant mercy of God guilt and sin were indeed removed from th people, that they were " covered up," and in that sense atoned for, or rather that they were both "co\cred up" and removed, but that they were not really taken away and destroyed till Christ came ; that they were only taken info a land not inhabited, till He should blot it out by His own blood ; that the provision which the Old Testament rr.ade was only preparatory and temporary, until "the time of the reform. t- tion;" and that hence real and true forgiveness of sins, and with it the spirit of adoption, could only be finally obtained after the death and resurrection of "the Lamb of Gpd which taketh away the sin of the world." Thus in the fullest sense it was true •."*■ the "fathers/" these all received not the promise ; GoJ having provided some belter thing for us, th it they without us should not be made perfect." For " the law having a shadow of the good things to come ," could not " make the comers thereunto perfect;" nor yet was it possible "that the blood of bulls and of g(^ats should take away sins." The live goat "let go" was every year a remover of sins which yet were never really removed in the sense of being blotted out — only deposited, as it were, and reserved t'll He came " whoin God hath set forth as a propitiation because of the passing over of the former sins, in the forbearance of God," Rom. 3:23 (Alford's Version). "And for this cause He is the mediator of a new- covenant, in order that, death having taken place for the propitiation of the transgres- sions under the first covenant, they which have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance," Heb. 9:15. Redemption. 59 ATONEMENT AS DEFINED BY IHE BIBLE. In taking up "Atonement" as a topic, the inclination of the Christian worker is frequently to see first what his favorite and learned commentator has to say with reference to the subject. But the best way is to go to the Bible first. It is remarkable how clear and simple the v/hole subject of atonement is opened up in the Hoiy Scriptures. I. Atonement is explained in Rom. 5:8-11; 2 Cor, 5 : 14-21 ; Gal. 1:4; i Jno. 2:2; 4 • 10. II. It was foreordainer' (see margin), Rom. 3:25; I Pet. I : II, 20; Rev. x^.S. HI. It was prophesied, Isa. 53:^-6, 8-12; Dan. 9:24-27; Zee. 13 ; i, 7 ; Jno. 11 : 50, 51, IV. It was accomplished alone by the .L,ord Jesus Christ, Jno. i : 29, 36 ; Acts 4:10, 12; I Thess, 1:10; I Tim. 2:5,6; Hftb, 2:9; I Pet. 2 : 21. V. It was voluntary, Psa. 40:6-8, with Heb. 10:5-9; J°0- -o: it, as, 17, 18. VI. The atonement exhibits the grace, mercy, and love of Goc the ' afld of His Son JesusChrist. Rom. 8 -,z , i h. 2 : 4, 5, 7; I Tim. 2:4; Heb. 2: • Ko' i. 5:8; r Jno 4:9, 10; Jno. 15:13; uai. 2:ao; Eph /;, 25 : Rev. 1 : 5. \/.I. The justice and mercy of God were reconc'ied in the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross, Isa, 45 : 21 ; Rom. 3 : 25, 26. J. E. W, SEVEN PRECIOUS FACTS CONCERNING ATONEMENT. I . The Scriptures declare the necessity of an r.onement, Isa. 59 : 16 ; Luke 19: xo ; Heb 9:22. II. Christ's atonement the end of Old T"/tament sacrifices, Heb. 7:27; 9:24-28; 10 : 10, 12, 14; I Pet. 3: 18. III. It was perfectly satisfactory to God, Eph. 5:2; Heb, i : 1-3. IV. Reconciliation, perfect and complete, effected by the atonement, Rom. 5 : 10 ; 2 Cor. 5 : 18-20 ; Eph, 2 : 13- -fi; Col. t : 20-22 ; Fleb. 2:17; I Peter 3 : 18. V. The only access .'lo God was by afone- n\ent, Hob. ro ; 19, 20. VI. Remission of sins by way of the atonement, Jno. 1:29; Rom. 2:25; Eph. 1:7; J Jno. I : "^ ; Rev. i : 5. VII. Eternal justification for the believing sinner through the blood of ato.nenient, Rom, 5 ; 9; 2 Cor. 5:21. J. E. W. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. WE are said to be sa%'ed by the knowledge of God or of Christ ; thiit is, by simply knowingGi.id as He has made Himself known to us, Isa. 5 ".3, r / ; i Tim, 2:4; 2 Pet. 2 : 20 ; for " this is life eternal, that tliey might kmnv thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast pent," John 1:7 : 2. And, as if to make simplicity more simple, the Apostle, in speaking of the facts of Christ's death and burial and resurrec- tion, says, " By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you," iCor. 15:1, 2, 6o Gold from Ophir. USES AND APPLICATIONS OF THE BLOOD (i). If the believer will note the contexts of the references connected with the following quotations, it will be discovered as to the blood of Jesus Christ, that, — I. It connects the believer with a covenant , Matt. 26 : 28, etc. II. The knowledge of it is eternal life, Jno. 6 : 32-39. III. It is the proof of the death of Jesus, Jno. 19 : 33. IV. It is the purchase-moriey lif the flock, Acts 20 : 28. « V. It is the propitiation provided by God. Rom. 3:^5. VI. It tells of the finished j.istilication, Rom. 5 : (J. VII. The centre of union among the saints on earth, i ("or. 10: iG. Ar. byj. E.W. THE BLOOD (2). The blood of Jesus Christ is the means God has used to procure — I. Freedom from guilt, Eph. i : 7. II. It is the medium that procured our nighness — to God as sons ; to Christ as bride; to the Holy Ghost as temple, Eph. 2 : 13. III. Through it we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col. i : 14. IV. It is the power of deliverance from Satan's kingdom i ito Christ's, Col. i : 20. V. It has secured to the sinner an approach into the holiest, where God dwells, and Christ, who gives good things to come, Heb. 9:7-12. VI. It is to be known as such, Heb. 9 : 12-28. VII. Both the place to which this leads, and the blessings of the place (as well as the people for wkora they are), are connected with it, Heb. 9: 18-28. Ar. by J. E.W. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. IT is our belief of God's testimony, concerning His own grace and Christ's work, that brings us into possession of the blessings concerning which that testimony speaks. Our reception of God's testimony is confidence in God Himself, and in Christ Jesus His Son ; for, where the testimony comes from a person, or regards a person, belief of the testimony and confidence in the person arc things inseparable* Hence it is that Scripture sometimes speaking of confidence, or trust, as saving us ; see the Psalms everywhere, such as 13 : 5 ; 52 : 8 ; also i Tim. 4 : 10; Eph. 1:12; asif it would say to the sinner, "Such is the graciou.; character of God that you have only to put your case into His hands, however bad it be — only to trust Him for eternal life— and He will assuredly not put you to shame." "The gift of God is eternallife through Jesus Christ our Lord." "For God so foved ihe world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." " Here," says one of the English Reformers^ "God, who is infinite and unspeakable, gives after such a manner as passeth all things. For that which He gives He gives not as the wages of desert, but of mere love. This sort of giving, which has its spring in love, makes this gift more excellent and precious. And the words of Christ are plain, that God loveth us. And as God, the giver, is exceedingly great, so is the gift that He giveth, which is His only Son." Redemption. 6i THE BLOOD (3). I. By the blood we see the taking away of sin, the setting apart of the saints of God, and that by which they are already perfected, Heb. lo: 11-14. II. Through it comes the power for heavenly filial service, Heb. 10 : ig. III. It is the sanctification of those that know it, Heb. 10 : 27-31 ; 13 : 12. IV. It is the measure of our obedience to God, Heb. 12 : 1-4. V. It is the testimony of good things to us, but judgment on the world, Heb. 12 : 24. VI. It is the sanctification of an eternal covenant, Heb. 13; 12, 20, 21. VII. The knowledge of it is proof of election, i Pet. i : 2. Ar. by J. E. W. } .. ;| : i| THE BLOOD ^4). I. The blood is the saint's ransom, i Pet. i:i8. II. It is the saint's daily resource, by the word, for cleansing, i Jno. i : 7. III. It is for the cleansing of our persons — so sung of on ea' *h, Rev. i : 5. I V . Our redemption — so sung of in heaven, Rev. 5 : 9. V. The cleansing of our robes, Rev. 7 : 14. VI. God's witness here on earth, i Jno. 5:8. VII. It is the victory over Satan, Rev. 12: II. Ar. by J. E.W. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. THE Bible does not say, " Being satisfied about our faith we have peace with God ;" it simply says, " Being justified by faith, we have peace with God." Not satisfaction with your own faith, but satisfaction with Jesus and His work — that is what God presses on you. You say, " I am satisfied with Christ." Are you ? What more, then, do you wish "^^ Is not satisfaction with Christ enough for you, or for any sinner? Nay, and is not tuis the truest kind of faith? To be satisfied with Christ, that is faith in Christ. To be satisfied \\ '1 His blood, that is faith in His blood. Wliat more could you have ? Can your faith ^ ^ you something which Christ cannot ? or will Christ give you 1' thing till you can produce faith of a certain kind and quality, whose excellences will tnt 'e you to blessing? Do not bewilder yourself. Do not suppose that your faith is a pi , or a bribe, or a merit. Is not the very essence of real faith just your being satib 1 with Christ ? Ti ; offering and the sacrifice presented on the cross, God has accepted as a sweet smelling savour, and the proof of its acceptance is furnished to angels, men, and devils, in the fact that God has laised Him from the dead. Nothing can be added to the efficacy of that atoning sacrifice nothing can be added to the completeness of that finished work ; nothing can be added to the value of that precious blood. \ny attempt to add something of our own, in the way of feelings , repentance, good resolu- tions, charitable deeds, or ecclesiastical ordinances, that salvation may be rendered more certain and secure, is an insult to God, a dishonor to the Lord Jesus Christ, and a grief t«^ ihe Holy Spirit. Tf 62 Gold from Ophir. JUSTIFICATION (Rom. 5.) [The Scripture references are arranged to furnish a brief Bible reading for every day of the week.] I. What it means. The first place the word "justify " occurs in the Scripture renders it ' ' How sAail we clear ourselves;" and it stands constantly opposed to " condemn," Gen. 44 : 16; Deut. 25:1; I Kings 8: 32; Job 9: 20; 13:18; Prov. 17 : 15 ; Isa. 50 : 8, 9 ; Rom. 8 : 33, 34. il. Grace is its source. " Being justified freely by His grace, through [the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," Rom. 3 : 24 ; Tit. 3 ; 5, 7 ; Isa. 45: 22, 25; Acts 15: II ; Rom. 5:15-21; 11:6; i Cor. 15:10; Eph. 1:6; 2:4-8; 2 Tim. 1:9; I Peter 5 : 10. III. The blood of Christ is the price paid for it, and its procuring cause. "Being i.cw justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him, Rom. 5:9; Lev. 17:11; Col. i : 20 ; Eph. 1:7; 2:13; Heb. 9:12-14; I Peter 1 : 18, 19; I John 1:7; Rev. 1:5; 5:9; 12:11. IV. Faith receives it and is thus its instru- mental cause. "Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," and peace is not a feeling, but a permanent state or condition into which the believer is brought towards God, Rom. 5:1; 3 : 25, 26, 28, 30 : Gal. 2:16; 3 : 8, 24 ; Acts 13 : 39: Rom. 4 : 3, 5, 16; Phil. 3:6-9; Heb. 11:6; John 6 : 29. V. The risen Christ is the proof that His work has been accepted in behalf of the believing sinner; and hence that our justifi- cation stands while He continues to live. " Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification," Rom. 4 : 25 ; 6:6-9; 7:4; I Cor. 15:17; i Peter 1 : 20, 21 ; Jno. 14 : 19 ; i John 4 : 17. VI. Good works are the fruit of it, Paul and James standing back to back, viewing the same subject and bearing the same testi- mony from different points of observation. "Ye see then, how by works a man is justified, and not by faith only," James 2:24; Gal. 5:6; Eph. 2:9, 10; Tit. 2 : 14; 3 : 1, 8, 14 ; I Thess. i : 2, 5 ; i Cor. 15 : 58. VII. God is the Supreme Judge who pro- nounces the sentence of justification, and as this is the court of last resort there is no appeal from His decision. "It is God that justifieth," Rom. 8:33; Gen. 18 : 25 ; Deut. 32 : 4 ; Job. 9 : 20 ; 13 : 18; Luke 18: 13, 14. Dr. J. H. BROOKES. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. THE cross is a wonderful place. Here opposites meet — the deepest sorrow and the deepest joy. " Can you tell me," said an unhappy sceptic to a happy old saint, "just what is the gospel you believe, and how you beheve it .'"' She quietly replied, " God is satisfied with the work of His Son — this is the gospel I believe ; and I am satisfied with it — this is how I believe it." Said another lady to another unhappy man, "There isa great difference between your religion and mine ; your's consists of two letters — D-0, and mine consists of four, D-O-N-E." Ill Redemption. 53 ■ m REDEMPTION xVS TAUGHT AND ILLUSTRATED IN Thii BIBLE. FIGURES : The CAerudt'm in Eden and in the Tabernacle (or the mercy-seat, veil, and curtains) many take as being emblems of the red^eemed. Deliverance from Egypt, by price, Isa. 43 : 3 ; Ex. 15 ■!! 13, 16 ; and by power, Ex. 6:7 ; Neh. i : 10. Deliverance from Z'abylon, Psa. 74 : 2 ; Isa. 52 : 3, etc. Shadows under the Law : The redemption of ^& first-bom of man and of unclean beasts, Ex. 13 : 12, 13 ; Num. 18 : 15-17 ; 3 : 45-51. The mercy-seat, or propitiatory, upon the ark, of pure gold, the appointed meeting- place of God with His people, Ex. 25 : 17, 20, 22. The half-shekel atonement money, appointed equally for the souls of all, Ex. 30: 10-16. The redemption of property from servitude, etc., Lev. 35th chapter. The ^^^/ or near kinsman. This Jewish ordinance involved the three essential points, — nearness of kin, ability to redeem, and willingness to redeem ; and all these met in Christ, the Divine Redeemer. The instituLion was illustrated in Boaz, the redeemer of Ruth, Ruth 4 : I4(marg.) Typical persons : Moses, the redeemer or deliverer of Israel Acts 7 :35. Boaz, the redeemer of Ruth, (marg.) Ruth 4 : 14. Hebrew names : Pedaiah means redeemer of the Lord. Igal, God will redeem. Elkanah, God hath purchased or redeemed. The first person so called was the son of Korah, of the same generation as Aaron's children, born about the time of Israel's redemption from Egypt. This was probably given in thankful acknowledgment of that exodus. The elder brother of Elkanah was called Assir, which means captive or bondman, and was probably given while they were groaning under Egyptian bondage. The same name (Elkanah) would appear to have been given to other persons, in token of some deliverance. Two things are to be noted in connection with redemption : 1. The words redeem and redemption almost always, except in a few instances, bear the meaning of recover^', deliverance. 2. The word is seldom used in the Old Testament in connection with spiritual deliverances, whilst it is hardly ever used otherwise in the New Testament. Ex. 12 : 2. — The change redemption makes : From the time of the exodus, their great deliverance, Israel was to count a new kind of year, which was called the sacred year ; thus redemption is, as it were, a fresh starting point. Ex. 10 :26 ; II : 7: These texts show the completeness of redemption. " Not a hoof" of Israel's cattle was to be left behind ; not a dog to move his tongue, though they left Egypt at midnight, when dogs were wont to bark at the least sound. Isa. 34 :8 ; 61 : 2 ; 63 ;4. It is worthy of note how three times Isaiah contrasts the day of God's vengeance with theyear of redemption. Mercy rejoices over judgment. John 18 : 39. — Releasing one at the passover. It is uncertain when this custom was introduced ; whether by the Jews themselves before their subjugation by the Romans, or by the Romans to show favor to their Jewish subjects. The first seems more likely ; and the custom was designed to be a memorial oftheir great deliverance from Egyptian bondage. If so, it is a pleasing recognition of a grateful spirit. Col. I : 13.--" Who hath delivered us." Literallv, snatched away forcibly, as David rescued the lamb from the lion's paw. G. S. BOWES. ;:| wm i III M mm Mm I r i 1 ' ill ' Mil ' ' i It ikUHti'tfl,; agi 1 ■ ■ -3^ r^" 64 Gold from Ophir. REDIlMPTION. (Eph. I : 7.) I. Its necessity seen : I. In Man's Guilt, Gen. 6 : j^I'sa. 14 : 1-3; Isa. 1 : 5, C ; Rom, 3 : y, ly ; Eph. 4 : 17, 19. t. In Man's Helplessness, Jer. 12 : 23 ; 17:9; Micah6:5, 6; Phil. 3:3-11; Rom. 7:24. With sin came a promise of redemption, Gen. 3 : 15. Again and again reiterated, Deut. 18: 15; Psa. 132 : n ; Isa. 9:6; Jer. 33 : 14, 15 ; Ezek. 34 : 23 ; Dan. 2 : 44 ; Hosea 13:14; Mai. 3:1. Which fact was kept before God's ancient people almost constantly by the offer- ings, sacrifices and worship of the Tabernacle and the Temple, especially. And, also, by the organic law by which they were governed, as indicated in the redemption of servants, Lev. 25 : 49, 54 ; lands, Lev. 25 : 27 ; name, Deut. 25 : 5, 9 ; beasts, Ex, 12 : 13, etc., etc. II. The Redeemer. Matt. 20 : 28 ; Rom. 3 : 24 ; i Cor. i : 30 ; 2 Cor. 5:18, 19 ; Gal. 3 : 13 ; Phil. 4 : ly ; Col. I : 30 ; I l^m. 2:6; Titus 3:5,, Heb- 9 : 24-26 ; I Peter i : 18, 19. 17 III. The Method. Death is the result of sjn. Gen. 2 Ezek. 18 : 4, 20 ; Rom. 5:12; 6 : 23. The life is in the blood. Christ shed His blood, gave His life a ransom for the sinner, Lev. 17': II ; Heb. 9 : -22 ; Matt. 26 : 28; Rom. 3:25 ; 5:9; I Cor. 10:16 ; Eph. 2:13. Col. 1:19,20; Heb. 9:12-14; 10:19; 13:12'. I Peter i : 2, 18, 19 ; i Jno. 1:7; Rev. 1:5; 5:9; 12: II. Of redemption it may be said : 1. It is finished, Heb. 11 : 24-28. 2. It is perfect, Heb. 11 : 7-14. 3. It is universal, Heb. 3 : 9. 4. It is personal, Jno. 3 : 16. 5. It is satisfactory, Rom. 10 : 4. 6. It was timely. Gal. 4 : 4. 7. In its ultimate reach it is eternal, Eph. 4 : 30 ; 1:14; Rom. 8 : 23 ; Heb. 11:12. It is, with all its fullness and preciousness, for all who will receive it, 2 Cor, 5 : 14, 15; Jno. 3 : 16. I Jno. 2:2; I Tim. 2 : 3, 4 ; 2 Peter 3 : y. Hebrews 13 : 20, 21. Dr. L..W. MUNHALL. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. THE work in virtue of which all sin is finally put away out of God's sight — abolished — is accomplished, the question of good and evil is come to a final issue on the cross, and Cjod perfectly glorified when sin was before Him ; the result will not be finally accomplished till the new heavens and the new earth. But our sins having 'been borne by Christ on the cross, He rises, atonement being made, an eternal testimony that they are gone forever, so that by faith we are now justified and have peace. We must not confound these two things, our sins being put away, and the perfectly glorifying God in respect of sin, when Christ was made sin, the results of which are not yet accomplished. As regards the sinful nature, it is still in us ; but Christ having died, its condemnation took place then, but, that being in death, we reckon ourselves dead to it, and no condemnation for us. What a marvellous deliverance ! What a work for the glory of God ! The moral import of the cross for the glory of God is a subject which, as we study it, becomes ever more and more magnificent — a never-ending study. It is, b>' its moral perfec- tion, a motive for the love of the Father Himself with regard to Jesus. " Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again." Redemption. 65 THE PRFXIOUS Bl.OOD OF JESUS. I. The heavenly vision of the blood, Rev. 7. II. The blood of deliverance from sin, Eph. I : 7. III. The place of nearness by blood, Eph. 2: 13. How near ? On His arm. Cant. 6 : — Love. On His shoulder, Deut 33 : 12 — Strength. On His hand, Isa. 49 : 16 — Security. IV. The peace-speaking pov^r of the blood, Col. I : 20. . V. The great value of the blood, i Pet. I : 18, 19. VI. The protection of the blood (the Lamb, type of Christ), Ex. 12 ; 13. . VII. The victory cf the blood. Rev. 5:1). SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. JESUS is the only and the all-sufficient, as He 's ihc ■ ri II 66 Gold from Ophir. HOW TO PRESENT THE ATONEMENT TO INQUIRERS. Pas/or A. J. Gordon. First, we must believe in it ourselves. I do not say we must understand all about it, but we must believe in it. I shall not attempt to give an exposition of the doctrine of the atonement ; but I want to give you a single passage that will, I think, present the best idea of the kind of atonement we must offer to the inquirer. Now, if you wish to find a truth stated strongly and emphatically, go to one who has once diibelieved it, and has afterwards accepted it. I do not wish to speak irreverently, but, if you will study his life, I think you will find that Peter in his earlier days was not a believer in the atone- ment. You remember that, when our Lord said that He was to go to Jerusalem and suffer there, and be crucified and arise the third day, Peter rebuked Him, and said : " Be it far from Thee, Lord ; this shall not be unto Thee." He was perfectly scandalized, you see, at the idea that Christ should die. But we find that, later, a great change has come over him; for in his first epistle he gives a wonderful statement of the doctrine of the atonement : " Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on' the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteous- ness: by whose stripes ye were healed." I think that that passage analyzed will be likely to answer almost any case that you may meet with. One says, "I do not believe that another person can bear my sins — sin is such a personal and radical thing. I have no doubt that Christ, by His death, draws men away from their sins, but I cauiiot believe he can bear sin for another." But mark the expression, " Who His own self bare our sins." Talk about emphasizing Bagster Bibles ! I believe God has done this Himself; as though foreseeing that men would put secondary meanings on His Word, such as, e. g., that the coming of Jesus Christ is at death, and all that sort of thing. We have it written,. "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven:" and so we have in this passage : " Who His own self bare our sins." "Well," says one, "I believe that in His spirit and in His moral sympathies, he took my sins on Him, so to speak. " That was not all. Mark the words, " Who His own self bare our sins in His own body." " Oh," says one, " it is written also that He bare our sicknesses. And I have no doubt that in both body and soul he sympa- tti.-'ed with us." Go one step further " Barv'^ our sins in His own body on the tree." Thus we are brought to the very cross ot Christ and to His sufferings then endured for our salvation. Some persons say to us that Jesus Christ was not punished for our sins, and make a distinction between chastisement and punishment ; well, I don't know but SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. AS touching sacrifices, read Leviticus ist to 7th chapter? entire, also the i6th chapter ; Numbers 19th chapter In the sacrifices of the Bible there are three parties ; priqst, ofTerer, viclim. Christ is all that, Heb. 9:11-15. There are also three principal elements or parts ; substitution, imputation, death ; and Christ was all thai for His people, Matt. 20 : 28 ; Rom. 6:8; note the force of the little word 'for,'' 2 Cor. 5:21; I Tim. 2:6; Tit. 2:14; i Pet. 2 : 24 ; Jno. I : 29 ; Pet. 3 : 18. There is no atonement without blood. There is no standing before God without blood. Cain was the great father of Socinianism. He invented a way to God without blood, and stamped the way with his own name. " Woe unto them I they have gone in the way of Cain ! " Redemption, <57 there is a-uch a difference, but here we read, " By whose stripes ye were healed. " Turn again to Isa. 53 : 5, and we read there, " But He was wounded for our trans- gressions. He was bruised for our iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with his stripes we are healed." It is the atonement— that is what we want to bring to a person under conviction. And then we want him by a personal faith to consent to that atonement. Faith is the consent of a sinner to Christ. Jesus Christ says, I consent to save you because I have borne your sins ; all you have to do is to consent to be saved on these terms. A friend of mine who is very successful in lead- ing men to the Saviour, said he met a man who said he had been seeking Christ for four- teen years. He made him read this passage in this way, reducing it from the general to the personal form: " Surely He hath borne my griefs." " Do you believe that ? " He said, "Yes." "And carried my sorrows." "Do you believe that ? " He thought a moment and answered that he did. "The chastise- ment of my peace was upon Him." " Do you believe that ? " The man was in tears at the third passage, and actually leaped for joy as he read: "By His stripes I am healed." Fourteen yep.rs he had been seek- ing Christ, but when he came to the point of appropriating Christ's finished work, he was healed instantly. Let us uige men not to look at their faith, but at Jesus Christ ; and not to believe that they believe, but believe that Christ has borne their sins. If a man has a telescope, and his attention is all taken up with the barrel, and not at all with the heavens, he will not see the stars. So it is with a man who looks at his faith instead of looking to Christ. Then remember to tell men to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and not tell them to pray or read their Bibles for salvation. When I was in Providence, a man was convicted of sin, in the chapel of the jail; he went to the chaplain and said, " What shall I do ? I have been a very bad man; I shall be lost. What shall! do ? " "Go back to your cell," said the chaplain, " and shut yourself in, and say : ' God be merciful to me a sinner.'" The man told the story the next Sunday in the chapel. " I did so, he said, " but felt no better. Every prayer I uttered, it seemed as a mockery to God, and I felt as though the ground would open and drop me into hell. Then I remembered the minister said, ' The blood of Jesus saves us from all sin.' I believed it, and then I knew I was saved." That is the foundation : simply to believe it on the grounds that Christ presents it to us. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. IT is of the last importance to be clear as lu the fact that it is the work of Christ wit/wut,Q.xid not the work of the Spirit luithin, that must form the sole ground of the sinner's deliverance from guilt, and of peace with God. He must beware of resting for peace on his feelings, convictions, tears, prayers, or resolutions. He must begin with receiving Christ ; and not make that the termination of a course of fancied pre- paration. Christ must be the Alpha and Omega. He must be everything in our salvation, or He will be nothing. There is no such thing as being partly saved and paitly lost There are but two states, and we must be in either the one or the other. The Israelite in Egypt was not partly sheltered by the blood, and partly exposed to the sword of the destroyer. He knew he was safe. He did not hope so. He was not praying to be so. He was perfecily safe. And why ? Because God hath said, "When \ see the blood I will pass oyer you." He simply rested upon God's testimony about the shed blood. He set to his seal that God was true. He believed that God meant what He said, and that gave him peace. He was able to take his place at the paschal-feast inconfidence andassurance. m 68 GOIJ) FROM OlMIIR. , m THE SeAPE(;()AT AND TIII^ LIVE GOAT. Leviticus xvi. WE) find in this chapter, as well as in otlicr parts, two animals offered, .'th typifying the o/te offerin)^ of Christ, but in ^different aspects. For example, see the di/rn/ offering and si'/r offering; —two, yet one, each a type of Christ, but each in a different view. The burnt offering speaks to us of Jesus offering Himself to God in His own intrinsic merit, the sin offering as the sacrifice for our sins— He " offered Himself without spot /() God" and He "hath given Himsolf/(V us an offering," etc. Again, in the directions concerning the cleansing of the leper, two birds were to be taken. One of these was to be killed — a type of the death of Chri t , the living bird was to be dipped in tiie blood of the bird that was killed, and then let go free — a type of the liberty obtained in consequence of Christ's death, resurrection, life. In the chapter now before us, two goats we^re commanded to be brought, one for the Lord, the other for the scapegoat. It is a common thing with people only to think of sin as it concerns them; they wish to be saved in order to escape hell, and they do not think of God\\\ the matter at all. Now we know that God needs to be satisfied on account of sin before He can save a sinner; sin reached to the throne of (jod, and blood must bo sprinkled there. Christ could enit r into the holiest ;ind I ke Kis seat at God's right hand in His own merit ; but when He went in on 'mr beh df, He must take blood with Him. Thus the goat that was for the Lord ;lj offered for a sin Offering, and its blood was to be brought witliin the veil, and sprinkled upon the mercy seat ; the other goat was to be presented ali\ e before the Lord, and after Aaron had confessed over him all the iniqui*'- s of the children of Israel, he was to be sent away into the wilderness, and bare u him all their iniquities unto a 'and not inhabited, i.e.^ where no one would ever sl or know anything more about liim — he would be forgotten. This shows how ( ntircly sin is removed from us by the blood of Christ. The slain goat typified the atonement for sin before God; this goat typ lied the perfect removal of sin from us — the one offering. " As far as the east is from the west, lo far hath He removed our transgressions from us." J. M. CODE. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS THE great propitiation is suflficient for the sin of the world. The Father's co-equal Son stooped for the moment to sin's penalty, and there is now an open way to God, whose face, once averted from the sinner, is now towards him. The lo\e once pent within Him is now set free, and with outstretched arms He entreats the Son to come and welcome. Christ has taken awa)- wrath by taking it upon Himself Prayer does not secure it, good works do not, repentance does not, failh does not ; but Christ secured *it. "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." If Christ has turned away wrath, can any sinner be lost? For an answer to this we Iiave but to remember what salvation is. Salvation is not represented by penalt\ cancelled. That is but an open way to it. Salvation is fellowship with < od. "This is eternal life, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." Propitiation does not save ; it makes salvation possible, it clears the way for us to God, and enables Cod to throv/ the door wide open, to " receive us graciously, and love us freely." "Tii'>u wast angry with me, but thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortest me. " In Scripture the "blood of Christ" implies for man as a sinner all the Divii ■ value of it to God, and made over to us, and the abidii •^ and eternal excellency «> Christ's finished \\ ork. God only can and does fully estimate its preciousness. REDF-MPTION. 69 REDEMPTION. T The Redeemer. •• Holy Oneof Icrael " Isa. 43: 14. II. How He Redeems. 1. By the !)l(jocl of Christ, i Pet. i : 18, ly. 2. Clean taking unclean one's place, E.\. 13' la- in. V at He Redeems from. 1. Guilt of sin, Eph. 1 : 7. 2. From the law. Gal. 4 ;6. 3. From the hand of the mighty (Satan), Job 6 . 23. f ■;* ; 'yr\f 4. From destruction, Psa. loj : 4. 5 From all iniquity, Titus 2 : 14. 6. From d^ athand the ^: ive,Hosea 13 ; 14, IV. Employment of the Redeemed. 1. Speaking of the int-rcy of (iod, Psa. 107 : 2. 2. Walk in the higUway of holiness, Isa. 35:9 3. Sint(ing to the Lord, Isa. 51 ; 11. 4. Making most of every moment, Eph. 5 : 16. 5. Praising the Lamb throughout eternity, l<«v. 5:y II JliSUS-OIIR KINSMAN" ANT* ri:i)I'I:mi:i<. Job 19:25-27; Lev. 25:25, 47-49; Kuth 2 : 20 ; 4 : 14 ; Jer. 32 : 7, .S. i. We are in the position of the brothe.r who is wa.Ken poor, and has sold both himself and his inherit- ance. Rom. 3:9-24; 6:16; 7:14; I Kings 21 : 20, 25 ; 2 Kings 17:17; Isa. 52 : 3. Man cannot redeem himself or his brothi-r Job 36 : 18, 19 ; Psa. 49 : 7, 8 ; Mark 16 : 20 ; Mark 10 : 26, 27. 3. The Redeemer must be near of kin to have the right to redet :i, Lev. 25 ; 4«, .jy ; Ruth 2 : 20. (Margin) This, Jesus is, Heb. 2 : 9-18. 4. As otu-», near cf kin, Jesus has the ri^At to redeem ; as OoJ, He has the power, Is. 47 : 4 • Ps. 7S ; 35 ; Isa. 44 : G ; Luke i : 68 ; Job 3 j : 23. 24 ; Isa. 49 : 24, 25 ; Isa. 63 : 1 ; Ps. 68 : 18 ; Eph. i : 14 , Acts 2c : 28 ; I Cor. 6 : 19, 20 ; i Pet. i : 3-6 ; John H • 36 ; Heb. 2:14; i Pet. 2 : 9. Blessed Redeemer! Miss E, HOWARD. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. "1 IF I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me," John 12 : 32. Jesus 1 , Christ was lifted up on the earth ; and the cross will be the centre of attraction for sinners down to the end of time. From Calvary comes the voice of Mercy ; and the guilty sons of men arc drawn by the charmin^f sound. The cross draws men away from sin and wickednes.s ; and draws them to pardon, holiness, life and heaven. At the cross broken hearts find healing, mourner find consolation, and the weary find rest. Beneath the shadow of the cross the love of sin dies ; the disheartened feel the impulse of a new life ; and under the impetus it gives, they go forth to do, to dare, and to die. Heri' at Thy dear cross, O wondrous Christ, we find a halm for every wound ! Here, beneath Life's healing tree, we find our bliss, our heaven, our all. " I sat down under His shadow with great delight.'' Joy unspeakable fills my heart, and my cup runs over. Jesus was lifted up out of earth. A dead Christ woulrl be powei less to draw. The cross is a mighty power, for Jesus lives again. Ho was slain to receive the power to draw all His people to Himself. Jesus put the sin that was upon Him away by dying ; His death destroyed death ; and rising from the dead His perfect accepted atonement becomes the heart's true attraction. The redeemed will be saved; dl those for whom Jesus died will be drawn to Him for life. His death will never lose its power, for He lives for evermore. ,^ 7c Gold from Ophir. !i iin ! [} ■*, 3^1 •: A NEW TRANSLATION OF ISAIAH 53; TOGETHER WITH ITS INTRODUCTION IN ISA. 52:13-15. Jijf Eph. M. Epstein, M.D. »3 14 15 I. 2. 52 Behold my servant shall be wise, Lifted up, exalt«d very high. As many were astonished at thee, (For thus his looks were marred as no man's, And his features as no sonb of Adam). So too will he stir up many nations • Kings will open wide their mouthsat him ; For that which was not related to them, they saw, And that, which they have not heard, they now understood. 53- Who believed our report ? And the arm of Jehovah, upon whom was it revealed ? [him. For a suckling he would come up before j 5- And as a root from a land of desolation, No form is his. And no beauty, that we should see him. And no appearance, that we should desire him. Despised is he, and avoided of men ; A man of pains, anc acquainted with sickness; Aiid as one from whom the face is hid, Thus despised is he and we regarded him not. But verily, oui sicknesses he bore, And our pains — he suffered them ; Yet we, we regarded him as plagued, Smitten and afflicted of God, But he was wounded by our transgres- sions. Bruised by our sins ; SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. SOME Hindoos were on a journey in India. The road was rough and long, and the sun burned hotly in the skies. Slowly they passed on the way, and as one day avter another came to an end, many of the party grew faint and weary. There was one poor man who seemed a stranger to the rest ; he was old and feeble and ready to sink from the heat and labor of the way. At last he fell and could not rise again. The Hindoos looked upon him, and finding that he was likely to die, they left him to perish without pity or help, for these he hen are unkind to the sick arfd dying. But there was among those travelers a missionary, on his way to a distant place to preach the Gospel ; he saw the old man fall and ran to aid him, while the rest passed alonjf. Yet all his help could not now save his life. He knelt by the poor man's side and softly said in his ear, '' Brother, what is your hope ?" The dying traveler raised him- self to reply, and, with a great effort said ; '' The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin," and then laid down his head again and died. The missionary was greatly astonished at the answer ; and, from the calm and thoughtful manner in which the words were spoken, he could not but feel that the man had died safe in Christ. " How or where," thought he, " could this Hindoo have got his hope r " And, as he looked at the dead body, he saw a piece of paper grasped tightly m one of his hands. He care- fully took it out, and what was his surprise and delight when he saw it was a single leaf of the Bible, on which was the first chapter of the first Epistle of John, where these words are found. On that page a hdathen man had met with the Gospel. The death of Christ is the only ground on which God could in faithfulness and justice forgive sins ; and we know He must either do it in faithfulness and justice or not at all. Redemption. 71 ss and lice or The removal of our peace was laid upon him, And by his wound there was healing for us. 6. Wo all like sheep have wanderetl astray, Each one his own way we turned, But Jehovah met in him, the sin of all of us. 7. He is brought nigh. And he is tormented, And ha opened not his mouth ; Like a l.imb to slaughter led, Like a sheep before it.i shearers. Dumb. — and he opened not his mouth. 8. Away from prison and court he h taken, Anu among his generation, who ever thought That lie was cut off from the land of the • living, That the plague to him from my people's transgression came ? 9. And among the wicked his grave was appointed, But a ric'.i man'i among his dead ones. For no robbery did he, And no deceit with his mouth. 10. But Jehovah thus desired : " If his soul shall make a sin-sacrifice, He shall see posterity. He shall prolong his days," And Jehovah's desire shall by him suc- ceed. 11. Of the toil of his soul he shall see and be satiated ; Of his own mind shall my righteoua servant make many righteous, And their sins he shall suffer. iz. Therefore among the great will I give him a portion. And with the mighty shall he divida spoils, Because he exposed his soul to deatn, And with transgressors was he num. bered, Yet the sins of many he bore, And for transgressors he would intercede. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS THE Israelites, who were not a whit better than tlie Egyptians lying under sentence of death, were commanded to take a Ijunch of hyssop, and, having dipped it in the blood of the slain lamb, to strike that blood on the two side posts, and on the upper door post of their houses, not beneath, to be trampled under foot, but protecting them on either side, and overhead. Then God said, " the Ijlood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are : and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when 1 smite the land of Egj'pt." Hut if the blood had not been sprinkled as commanded, the destroyer would most certainly have entered the houses, and the stroke of death would have been inflicted. It was not enough that the lamb was slain ; the blood must be sprinkled. It is not enough fhat Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed, but He must be personally received. His death in itself considered will not save a single accountable soul, apart from faith in Himself. It is absolutely essential, therefore, at the outset to ask ourselves whether we are trusting in the blood alone, or partly at least in our faith, our feelings, our repentance, our resolutions, our baptism, our union with the church, our goods works. God did not say, when I see these things, but when I see i/ie blood. Nor did He say, when you see the blood, but when / see it. He was satisfied with the blood outside, and we must be satisfied with His word inside. The blood alone makes us safe ; the word alone makes us sure. There was no doubt great variety in the age, moral' character, past history, and degree of confidence on the part of the hundreds of thousands within those blood sprinkled houses ; but they were equally safe, for the Lord saw the blood and passed over the door, and stood beside it to bar it, as if with the stability of His throne, as if with the length of eternity, against the entrance of the destroyer. Until He dies, not one sheltered beneath the blood can perish. 72 Gold from Ophir. WHERE GOD PUTS SIN. 1. Thou hast covered all their sin, I's. 85:2. 2. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions, Ps. ioj:i2. 3. Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged, Isa. 6 : 7. 4.. Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back, Isa. 38 : 17. 5. Will not remember thy sins, Isa. 43 : 25. 6. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, Isa. 44 : 22. - 7. The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all, Isa. 53 ; 6. 8. He shall bear their iniquities, Isa. 53: 11. 9. The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for . . . and they shall not bo found, Jer. 1 : 20. 10. None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him, Ezek. 33 : 16. 11. Wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea, Micah 7 : 19. 12. Hath He . . . put away sin by the sac- rifice of Himself, Heb. 9 : 2G. J. M. S. ' . SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS ANl) UNFOLDINGS. ASKING how Christ's death could turn away the wrath of God, we are told plainly — it was by substitution. It is sometimes said that that word is not in the Bible ; but the thing is there. "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." " He haili redeemed us from he curse of the law, being made a curse for us." "He made Him to be sin for us vvh > knew no sin." lie was " once offered to bear the sins of many.'' He " suffered for sins, the just for the unjust," He " bore our sins in his own body on the tree." It is said, however, that this is impossible, as sins cannot be transferred. Of course, this is so, but though sin cannot be transferred, the penalty can. The holy Son of God could not become a sinner, but He could take the sinner's place, and bear the pinner's doom. That is what the Scriptures teach really took place. On Calvaiy He asserted his sinlessness in the cry, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?'' The doom of sin was there. For a moment Christ was forsaken by the Father, Then He knew the Divine wrath, and what it was to be cut off from God. And what was that awful darkness, but to descend into hell.'' There the P-vine wrath uttered itself, and its threatenings were fulfilled. Sin was gathered upoa owj sacred head, and judged and punished there. - Among other good things therein is an altar, which is the cross of Calvary, on which there was offered one offering for ever — an altar the efficacy of whose sacrifice avails ior Jew and Gentile, for the past, the present, and the future ; an altar from which there is a new and perfect highway into the holy place, for we read in tli(~ Epistle to the Hebrews, that Christ, our High Priest, has "passed through the heavens.' As the priest of old passed from the altar of sacrifice right through the veil into tlic very presence of God, so our High Priest passed from the cross of Calvary up to the throne of God. We have a new and perfect altar, a new and perfect highw a\-, a new veil — "that is to say, His flesh," which was rent on the cross. We have also in this tabernacle a new mercy-seat, which is sprinkled with the blood of atonement ; and we have a new shrine, a new Shckinah presence, which is that of God Himself. This is the more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, and which can never pass away. Besides that, we have in Christ Himself a more perfect tabernacle. He was personally the temple of God. His perfect sinlessness was the altar on which His blood was offered. He was the sacrifice Himself, the Priest who offered the sacritlcc the mercy-seat, the Shekinah presence of God — " the brightness of the Father '^ glory." wm liBii,_iii»fw> wu rm w i Redemption. 75 .?" [y, on Iritice ] from In tlic [ens. ' lo the \o tlio a Iso in nent ; tnsclf. pass ; was His hrUici:, tthci';" SEVEN THINGS INSEPARABLY CONNECTED V/ITII THE BLOOD. Collated and arranged by J. K. I V. I. Atonement or Reconciliation: See Lev. 17 : 11 ; Rom. 5 : 10. Man being a sinner against God, needs to be reconciled ; and the blood is the means which God has provided. He gave Jesus, His well-beloved Son, to pay the atonement price by dying in the stead of guilty rebels. His blood fully and forever satisfied the claims of Divine Holiness. Meaning of word Atonement : Our fathers used to pronounce it •' At-onc-ment." It refers to the grea^ Day of Atonement, spoken of in the 16th chapter of Leviticus, in which the high-priest passed into the Most Holy Place with the blood of sacrifice, in order to reconcile the guilty sinner to God ; to make "at-one" again the Holy God and the sin-stained worshipper. Reconciliation has been made by perfect righteousness. That which blood of bulls and goats could never do, save only in measure as they pointed to Christ, has been doije by Him eternally, and on the ground of the merits of His death God now beseeches sinners to be reconciled to Him. Another idea conveyed by atonement is that of covning over. The blood covers over the page of our sins, and hides them from the eye of God. This aspect of the blood was thoroughly realized and beautifully expressed by a half-witted lad, of whom a little account was once published under the title of "Happy Mute." He said that "Jesus Christ had passed His red hand over the page of sin in the book of God's remembrance, and iiad left nothing visible there but the blood which had flowed from His palm when pierced by the nails of Calvary." The crimson stain of our iniquities is hidden in the deeper dye of the atoning blood of the lamb. Just as when we gaze at a red object through glass of the same color, it appears white, so does God behold the scarlet sinner when covered with the blood )f His Son as " whiter than snow." II Redemption : In l Peter i : 19 we read, " Redeemed with the precious blood of Chris*," The simple meaning of redemption is a buying back, a re-purchase. Man by sin sold himself to the devil, and thus became his lawful prey and captive ; became subject to Satan, and came under his condemnatit i Hut grace devised a way of buying him back. It is by way of "the blood of the Lamb." Just as of old, Israel was delivered from Egypt by virtue of the sprinkled blood, so now are sinners brought out of captivity and bondage o^ Satan by blood— the blood of Jesus. Then all were safe who took shelter beneath the blood-sprinkled lintel. It was no cjuestion of goodness or moral fitness, but simply one of obedience to a plain command, — " Now get thy house within, Slay, eat, anoint thy door; The ciread avenger comes not in To smite, but passeth o'er." So now, all who come beneath the refuge God has provided, are eternally secure from ihc stroke of iht^ Angel of Judgment : our moral condition, our state in the eyes of men, has nothing to do with salvation. All depends on the application of the blood. If a soul pleads this before (]od as an atonement, he is at once redeemed out of the bondage of sin and Satan, and he becomes the property of God, bought with a price so precious, so priceless, that no mortal tongue ran tell out its value. "He redeemed me," " I belong to Him," should henceforth be the language of all those thus ransomed by the blood of CLirist. III. Deliverance from the Pit : " By the blood of Thy covenant I have sent forth Thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water," Zech. 9:11. By nature all are prisoners in a. pit, and unable to get out by any effort of ourselves. The character 74 Gold from Ophir. M of this pit is here described as " without water." In Isa. 38 : 17, Hezekiah speaks of it as a ''pit of corruption ;" in Psa. 40 :2, David says it is "a horrible pit, or a pit of noise ; " and in Job 33 : 30, it is alluded to as a pit of darkness. What a graphic picture is this, drawn by the Spirit of God, of that pit in which all mankind are caged and held captive ! — a place lacking water — the emblem of life— a place of death, corruption, horror, and darkness. Such is the condition of all sinners who are still outside the shelter of the blood. It is a picture of the pit of hell. IV. Forgiveness of Sins: " In whom we have redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of sins," Eph. 1:7. In many places in the Word of God is forgiveness coupled with the blood, since it is the only ground on which pardon may be proclaimed. The very first blessing we are called upon believing in Jesus, is to ^now that we are saved, pardoned, forgiven. Not to think, not to hope, but to know as an accompUshed fact that ail >;ur iniquities are blotted out as a thick cloud. Codforrives on the ground of sin having been righteously put away by the blood. Satisfaction having been fully made to the demands of His holiness, He can now freely pardon all ^v'ho come to Him by Jesus. Salvation is a blessing to be known and enjoyed now, a present possession to make glad the heart, and give strength and power to live a godly life. V. Justification: "Justified by His blood," Rom. 5 rg. Not only forgiven, but justified by the blood. Justification is something far beyond forgiveness. Salvation from heli is one thing ; but meetness for the presence of God — the inheritance of the saints in light — is quite another. VI. Peace with God: " Having made peace by the blood of His cross," Col. I : 20. The conscience that is set at rest about sin has peace ; the one who believes that Christ has made peace by His blood enjoys peace. Peace never comes from feelings, or anything we do or think. Ourestimateof the value of the blood does not give peace, but the blood itself Our estimate is but faulty at the best ; our appreciation of the value of Jesus very defective ; and if our peace rested upon this, it would be shallow and ever liable to change. How blessed it is to know that Christ Himself is our peace ; that His blood on the mercy-seat ever speaks to God on our behalf. " We thank Thee for the blood, The blood of Christ Thy Son ; The blood by which our peace is made, Our victory is won ; Great victory o'er hell, and sin, and woe, That needs no second fight, and leaves no second foe." :I-<1 VII. Nearness to God : " Made nigh by the blood of Christ," Eph. 2 are in Christ. We are His children, heirs, etc. All by virtue of the blood. •3- We m; i| Redemption. 75 JUSTIFICATION. The law is a looking-glass, in the which man may see himself, of what sort he is. The first office of the law — to make sin known, Rom. 8 ry. Second office — to increase sin. We were so far gone from God, that the command of God not to do increases our desire to do for- bidden things, James 4 : 17. Third office — to show God's wrath and judgment, Deut. 27 : 26. St. Paul : The law is a ministry of death, 2 Cor. 3 : 7, and worketh wrath, Rom. 4: 15. Fourth office — fear, Rom. 8:7. Fifth office — constraining man to go to Jesus as our mediator, Deut. 18 : 18. Man's inability to keep the law, Psa. 143:2. In Christ's name, Acts 4 : 12. By believing in Him, Acts 13: 39; Gal. 2 : 16, and 3: 11. Not justified by good works, Hcb. 7 : 27; John 12:31, 32. Man delivered from the law and sin, John I : 29 (for) Gal. 3: 13. N. B. FRITTS. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. HOW is atonement to be made ? Who is able to take upon himself the sin of the world, and to make perfect satisfaction to God's holy law ? First, He must be a willing victim, laying down His life of himself freely, for if the punishment of the smallest sin were inflicted on Him without or against His will the justice of heaven would be infringed. Second, He must be a spotless victim, for one taint or spot would do away with the efficacy of the sacrifice. The sinless alone can atone for the sinful. Third, He must be capable of offering satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, and no man can do this. Fourth, the victim must have the power of God, to take upon Himself all human needs, and weaknesses, and sorrows, and sufferings, and sins, but if He is to suffer for sin, if He is ''> stand in the place of man, and to write with His own hand the lesson that sin shoula not go unpunished, He must also be man, to suffer as one of us, and for us. This is the sacrifice which has been transacted. The Son of God has taken our place, and has done for us that which we could not do ourselves. " Thou hast cast all our sins into the depth of the sea" — this was understood when the cable was laid. The ocean is miles deep, the bottom covered with thick red sand, where the cable lies softly and secure. The water at the bottom is almost solid from the great pressure of the body of the ocean. This portion of the compressed water is called the cushion of the sea, and it is in repose, where is no such agitation as ve see on the surface, where the wind acts and where tempests rage. The density of the water renders it impossible for anything ever to rise again that may have sunk there by its own weight. Into such depths God has cast our sins, when " He was made sin for us," 2 Cor. 5:21. If the Holy Ghost be awakening the sinner to a true apprehensioq of his danger, as a rebel against God's authority, a guilty, polluted, hell-deserving sinner, he must be in a deeply anxious state of mind, and such questions as these must be ever present with him : " What must I do to be saved ? What is the true ground of a sinner's peace with God ? What am I to believe in order to be saved.?" Well, in so far as laying the foundation of your reconciliation is concerned, you have nothing to do; for the Surety of sinners said on Calvary, "// is finis hciV Jesus has done all that the Holy Jehovah deemed necessary to be done to insure complete pardon, and salvation to all who believe in His name. If the sinner take Jesus as his Saviour, he will build securely for eternity. " For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." mSH 76 Gai4i FROM Oiniiu. M mfMn i L THE ALTAR. By Ho7-atius Bonar. The cross is our altar. There the great burnt-offering was laid and burnt and ac- cepted for us. Ey the altar we stand, find- ing in it everything that suits the sinner's case and meets the sinner's fears. I. There I see God in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. The "altar" was the place of reconciliation for Israel ; the cross is the place of reconciliation for us. There we see everything that prevented re- conciliation removed, and everything needed for accomplishment there finished and ex- hibited. "Reco)Rciliation" is the inscription on the cross. II. There I see God meeting man in love. At the cross Heaven touches earth, and ('dd \H\l ot Heaven embraces mAW Tneve is but one meeting place (ov thu siuuer. Man thinks there are many such ; God t«lU him there is but one. Man's Vtllied systems of religion, his self-devised \ites, his w«U-pre pared forms of religion, mo his meeting places — substitutes for the God-appointed meeting place. But ?11 in vain. " Meet me at the cross" is God's mess,) ge of lov«. No- where else is there grace or peace III. There I see the forgiveness of sins for the guiltiest. The inscription on our altar maybe said to be, " Forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin." No amount of sin, and no kind of sin, is excluded from this mighty pardon. It is a pardon worthy of SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDTNGS. GOD hath written a law and a Gospel ; the law to humble us, and the Gospel to comfort us ; the law to cast us down, and the Gospel to raise us up : the law to convince us of our misery, and the Gospel to convince us of His mercy ; the law to discover sin, and the Gospel to discover grace and Christ, pointing, as it ever does, to the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross. The testimony of the late Henry Reed, of England, is very precious. He was a wealthy, but devoted Christian, who had spent a long life in making known the Gospel, and in work of practical benevolence and charity. Finding that he was about to pass away, and wishing to leave on permanent record a farewell message to his friends and the world, before his mind began to wander amid the shadows of death, he called for pen, ink, and paper, and calmly and deliberately inscribed the following statement of his experience and full conviction : — "After all I have said, preached, and written for upwards of forty-five years, I wish it to be distinctly understood that the ground of the hope that is within me (which hope is full of immortality and eternal glory) is not ' repentance toward God,' although it is written, ' Except ye repent, ye shall all like- wise peri.sh.' I*ior is it faith, although it is written, ' withouth faith it is impossibK' to please God.' Nor is it in becoming a new creature, although it is written 'Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.' Nor is it in holiness, although it is written, 'Without holiness no man shall seethe Lord.' They are, indeed, great and glorious gifts, all purchased by blood Divine, for which I adore and praise a triune God. Still none of them atoned for my sins. Repentance did not die for me ; faith did not die for me ; the new creature did not die for me ; holiness did not die for me. My confidence is not in the gifts, but in the Giver — the Eternal Son of God, who took my nature, and in that nature, as my substitute, atoned for my sins. On His finished work alone does my soul rely for pardon, hr^ne-" p.nd heaven ; and He only is made unto me wisdom, rightcnusness, and san'^.'ficutj!*?,. , „ iemption." Redemption. n the altar; worthy of Him who has set up the altar, worthy of the divine sacrifice that has been presented there " once for all." \V. There I see the only place of safety for the sinner Wrath is everywhere else ; perfect security is there. The "consuming fire" descends on the altar, and is there consumed — there expended and exhausted ; so that all who stand around that altar are absolutely and forever safe. "Salvation to the uttermost " is the world-wide proclama- tion issuing from the four horns of that altar. V. There I see the divine welcome for the sinner. It comes from God Himself, audit is given with His whole heart and whole soul. It i"? no half-way welcome, but earnest uil true. Sons of men, God bids you wel- ! f Te h;)". no pleasure in your banish- ment or coiiiliimrmtion. "Draw near" is His gracious mesao^n ) >vf i ^ stand aloof ? VI. There I see life in de.ith, It is death that the altar represents, but life also, for the cross is the death of the substitute; and therefore the meaning of the altar is life ; life out of death, life through Him who "Douredout His soul unto death," because He was bearing the sins of many, and thus making everlasting life a free, a sure, a righteous gift to the guiltiest of Adam's race. VII. There I see all things ready for the sinner's acceptance. The ransom is there, the purchase-money is there, the thinga needed by a sinner are all there ; and God says "Take." They are all to be had for the taking. No merit, no money, no work, all is free. He that believeth enters on the pos- session of all. To believe is to take. " He that believeth hath everlasting life." Simple believing puts me in immediate possession of all the fullness of the Christ of God. My acceptance of God's provision for the guilty n-akes me an accepted man. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. THE date of the feast of the r.issover is of special significance. It was observed in the month in which God brought His people out of Egypt. Again and again does God remind Israel of their delivernn' e from Pharaoh's bondage, and so does the Spirit of God, through r.'iul, bid the Ephc h ' H lints remember the bondage of sin .iikI of the world, out of which all who bcUcv... ..,. ' '■ - --"rF by iUk ip a\h and resurrec- tion of the i.oi(l Jesus. Redemption's feast begins on the grou//d of which the soul can sing, " Uulo Jlim tliat loveth us, and washed ua \imn onr sins in if is own blood." I BESRECH you to settle it in your mind ^^'•♦ " f'lrfrintftr.it it/ <>»■■•" lies .it the very threshold ^( If under the constraining influence of a spontaneous spiritual impulse to give Him your heart, and all you have, in return. It is right to give Him your heart, but unless you first receive His, you wi'l ^yf r give Him yours. If i w ii 1, : ! Ill m 11 m 80 Gold from Ophir. BLOTTIiNG OUT. I. Repentance in order that sins may be blotted out, Acts 3 : ig. II. God only can blot out sins, Isa. 43 25. III. God has blotted out, Isa. 44 : 22. IV. The blotting out of sins and iniquities Psa. 51 : I. 9. V. God will not blot the name of the rignteous out of His book, Rev. 3 : 5. J. F..W. THE DEATH OF CHRIST. I. It was voluntary, Luke 12:50; John 10: II, 18; Heb. 10: 7, 9. II. It was substitutionary, Isa. 53; Dan. 9:27; Matt. 20:28; I Cor. 5:7; i Tim. 2:6; Titus 2:14; Heb. 9 : 26-28 ; i Peter 1 : 18, ig; Rev. i : 5. III. It was painful, Matt. 27:29-50; Heb. 2 : 9, 10 ; I I'eter i : 11. IV. It was ignominious, Heb. 12:2, 3. V. It was accursed, Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3: 13- J.E. W. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. THE blood of Jesus has opened a new and living way into heaven for a poor sinner. It has raised a ladder from earth to heaven. The cross of C'luiHt was set in the earth, and thero His blood was shed ; thp iiinn y-Htat of God is set in heaven, nnd there Jlis blood is sprinkled. By Hi* own blood He entered inlo llii! holy pia. c, liavinH obtuined eternal redemption ftu >m | and boldness is given to (is to enter into tlio holiest by the same precious blood. Then, poor sinner, will you stay juviiyvvlicn (lodaays •'((iino?" Will you go to the world for happiness, when God has given His own dear Son to make you happy, and to save you from everlasting misery ? Will you say, " i am tuo gicat ^ sinner," when God says that the blood of Jesus Chi hi His Son cleanseth us from all sin r Will you say, " I w ill wall a lilllo longer," whe; God says, " Now is the accepted timRj now la the day of mdvution?" Man needs a Alend to deliver him from the curaOjfroin death, from judgment, from \\\6 wrath to Cimie. Can he h('l|> himself? Can his fellow-men hell* hi\n? If tlicy could, theywouldnot. They would not die in his jihun, lUld II Uu) did it would be of no use. Will angels help him? If they would. lhei| \m\\ m\\\\\\ not avail ; for sin, being nil infinite evil, requires iulinileatonemeiil. IliltJeHiis Christ t's infinite iufinitn in Imli ness, infinite in goodness, infinite In power and h)ve ; and Hit* lialug punished Avould atone for the infinite evil of sin. He steps forward. " Jesus,"said Paul, "was niadea little lower than the angels, f(»r the suflferuig of death, crowned with glory and linnm, that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man." He Is tim i'lieud ol sinners, a Krienti in need. By nature we are naked; we wander about in the ediil Jesus Christ sees us needy — steps as it were from heaven to earth — takes off His nuii raiment and wraps it about us, But we are not t>uly naked ; we are hungry and thirsty. My friends, do we feel our souls hungering and thirsting after righteousness.^ Do we ft^d that the things of earth are unsatisfying, vairt, em|)t)', vile ? Do we icci that they will not do for our souls ? and are you hungering and thirsting after something; that will satisfy — something that is far better ? Christ sees our need. He steps from heaven ; He pours out His own blood. His life, for us to drink. He makes us what we once were, restoring us to our first condition, raising us from the dunghill — from the depths (»f degradation — to the throne, the heights of glory. Redemption. 8i THE BLOOD OF CIIRIST-A BIBLE READING. "Tho life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your soitla ; for it is the blood that maketh an atonemtnt for the soul," Lev. 17:11. Hence, in Christ we have, through faith — I. Redemption. " In whom we have redemption through His blood, even forgiveness of sins," Col. 1:14. "Feed the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood," Acts 20 : 28. ," Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, ar.d tongue, and people, and nation," Rev. 5:9. " Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from j our vain con- versation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot," I Peter i : 18, 19. II. Forgiveness of sins. "In whom we have redemption through Hisblood, theforgivenes;jof sins," Eph. i :7. "This is My blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins," Mat. 26:28. " Whom God .hath set forth to be a pro- pitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past," Rom. 3 : 25. "Without shedding of blood is no re- missif ," Heb. g: 22. III. Justification. "Being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him," Rom. 5 : g. IV. Cleansing from sin, both as to the person and the conscience. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin," i John i : 7. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AHD UWFOLDINGS. IN llfhri'i'ltfiif we have many glories of the Lutd Jesus Christ, and we ask wnywas this Wftmlerful and glorious Being, in whom all things are summed up, and who is before ml |lilnuij, the Father's delight and the Fathers glory — why has this infinite lijjlit, iliis infinllH bower, this infinite majesty come down to our poor earth ? For what ' ^ ' ' ' - => Jo show forth the splendor of His majesty? To teach it llllfl )iy His just an! hoWmiglv ' No. Hersme A' A>^>-^^ our iiiii I I P In ,i. I iiK ui.-,iliiiii I* siih/ Wimthci ! Infinite is His n and e to us. What a gloi nms J.ord, lillie? hut height of tjini y j wlmt Septh of abasement inrmitn U \\\n Hflf huinilii'tion and tlio (jcplh of His love ami what nil awlul BiKiilica of iiii.4|ir hIuiIiIr love "/o purge our sins by Hiiitml//" Sin h;is brought Him down from heaven I Our tlofilement has drawn Him froni 1Ij« heij>lit of Hi^gloiy I Oh, what an expression I — what a climax ! Ho was the only one who toiild properly undeislaiid tiia true nature, depth, Miuj guilt of sin. God of Ciotl. Sou of Hio Father, He perfectly sympathised with the Father in His loathing ann itilioirence ofsin ; but, being willing to befriend us and having become one with u,-j, he could not bear the fac'. of our heing lost. So lliis lofithsnmeness of our iniquity, as idallisoiiie to Jesus as to the Father, He willingly takes upon liiiiiself. Jesus- oerfcc i In lli» love to the holy and righteous Father, perfect ip IJis love tolho BJnful ana guilty people whoii He came to Save, witli infinite liallfiil i/f BJn pnrl with Infinite love to the sinner — enters, alone and unassisted, into jliat awful wllderhesg where, fis our substitute and sin-bearer, He feels the Father's face as turned Hwiiyfrotn Him | and ns the expression of His agony, In wliii |i faith and love endured a|l things and triiminiM »l 1 1'- utters the cry, " My fiod, My (Joo, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" Then Jesus, t/ie Son of God, purged by Himsolf our sins. if!i 82 Gold from Oi'iiiu. "JESUS OUR sacrifick; i . \*i hd ii ; Laying aside all /theories and traditions of men, let us try to leain just what the Bible itself teaches concerning the sacrificial death of Jesus. L Jesus is a Sacrificial Lamb : John i : 29; Acts 8 : 32, 35 ; i Peter i : 19; Rev. 5 : 6, 9; 7:14. The persons using the fore- going language were all Jews. They were accustomed to the sacrificial ideas of the Old Testament, and the sacrificial scenes of the Temple, and to none other. They, there- fore, must have meant that Jesu^ was, as it were, p. lamb to be slain for the sins of men. II. Jesus is a sin offering : 2 Cor. 5 : 21. In the Greek translation of the Hebn w Scriptureb, the " Septaagint," LXX., theori- ijinal word for "sin offering is rendered by the single word "sin," it is "the sin." From the Septuagint the word passed into the New Testament, and in this sense is used in th«. foregoing text. See Ex. 29 : 14, Revision, Margin, and Lev. 6 : 25, and like places in the LXX. See also Rom. 8:3;! Cor. 15:3; I Peter 2 : 24; 3 : 18. He is also the si . offering for the great atonement: Heb. 9: 12, 25, 26, 28; 13: 11, 12 ; (compare Lev. 16 : 1, 28). He is likewise our Passover offering : i Cor. 5:7; John 19 : 3G ; (Ex. 12 : 4O; Numb. 9: 12). And He is finally our peace offering : Lph 2:13, 14; Col. 1:20, 22; Rom. 5:1, 11. All the foregoing texts contain a distinct reference to the sacrifices under the law and their fulfilment in Jesus. III. His blood makes atonement : Matt. 20 : 28, to be compared with Lev. 17 : 11, 14, especially the last verse, "the life (margin, ' soul •) of all flesh is the blood thereof" (R. V.), and this life or soul is " given upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls " (v. 1 1). The Hebrew word for " ransom " in Ex, 21 : 30 ; 30 : 1 2 , is rendered by the same Greek word in the Septuagint that our Lord applies to Himself; and the Hebrew word thus tran.s- lated is precisely the same word that in Lov. 17:11 and elsewhere is rendered "atone- ment." The plain meaning of our Lord is, that He came to give His life in the place of the lives of many as an atonement for then sins. See also i Tim. 2:6; Tit. 2 : 14 ; Heb. 9:12; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1 : 14 ; Gal. 3 : 13. To the same effect is Matt. 26 : 28. Com- pare this with Heb. 9 : 15-23 ; lEx. 24 : 8 ; Heb. 13 : 20 ; ' John 1:7; Rev. i : 5. His blood thus shed is a propitiation for SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. WE should think much of the blood; it is our way','*"^r'pproach to God ; a way is now open every moment into the Holiest of all. The guilty heart can'not approach God, it willingly sets up a fence. What removes it ? The blood. Look at all the expenditure of His grace from first to last to bring us nigh. When the blood is rightly used and applied, what is the result? Nearness to God. Are you living in this near- ness to God? If there be a question concerning guilt, there is a remedy — the blood; thus the heart gets confidence, and fear and disinclination are removed. I'cople t.iik of knowing its power, but no man knows it aright who docs not feel in the embrace of God. Whose biood is it ? The blood of the Lord Jesus. lie presents His own blood ; he takes, as it were, the death which is past, and holds it up before God. He is the living Mediator, presenting the blood which He shed to redeem us to God. He knows our hearts, our sins, our weakness, ourfearfulness, and He presents the blood to give UP confidence and assurance. ''The blood of Jesus Christ His Son clcanseth 11.; from all sin," i John 1:7. Redemption. 83 Bin : Rom. 3 : 25 ; i John 2:2; 4:10. This word " prupitiatiun " is properly the name uf Ihf; cover of the ai ^ of the covenant above the idw, the mercy S(;at (Heb.tjts; Ex. 25 : 17, LXX). Upon this cover the blood of atonement was sprinkled by the High I'riest en the day of the great atonement (Lev. 16 ; 14, LXX.) ; and finally, from being the name uf that upon which the atoning blti«id was offered, it came to designate the sacrificial blood itself. See also Heb. 12:24; ^ Peter I 2. It should be observed in this connecf'on that the Old Testament word variously trans- lated " atone," " atonement," and " ransom," literally means ' cover." The penalty paid in money for an offence against the law "covered" the liability of the offender and set him free (E.\. 21 : 20). The blood cTered in sacrifice "covered " the guilt of the sin- ner, and so saved him from the penalty of his sins, death (Lev 1-4, 5, etc.). Hence Rom. 4:7; Ps. 32 : i ; Ps. 85 : 2, the Scrip- tural meaning of the word "atonement " is not primarily reconciliation, peace, and fel- lows .ip with God; but it is the "covering" of the guilt of the sinner by the blood of the sacrifice, from the sight of offended Jehov ah ; and this in order to his subsequent restora- tion to the Divine favor. I \' Jesus is the priest. As such, He offers the sacrifice and mediates between God and men: John 10:18; Heb. 4:1.^ 7 24, 27; 10:12, and nj-22; I Tim. 2:5, Revision; i John 2:1. From all the foregoinp:, the only legiti- mate con( lusion must be that Jesus i.j a sujrifice li the sins of men in the .same s^nse as the sacrifices offered under the law; the only difference bei'\g that He has ful- filled once for all, in His own sacrifice, the meaiL.ig and purpose of all the sacrifices that were ever o.TereJ under the Old Testa- ment. The \\ ': of sacrifice He perfected forever v Vipn He was "lifted up from th( earth" UjK>n the Cross of Calvary. F05 tliis, the l.iw prepared the way ; Jesus finished the work. Frf)m the Old Testament wc learn the elementary principles of .salvation ; in Jesus we obtain the completed truth of redemption. He " is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sane tification and redemption." • H. W. CONGDON. 11: ^ SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. LO, I come to do Thy will, O God liy the which will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all," Heb. 10:9,10. As Isaac was willing at the bidding of his father to be otifered up, even so was Christ as the sacrifice for sin. We behold Him as the sacriyice, hearing the righteous wrath of God. We behold Him as the sacnyicrr, offering Himself. As Aaron, on the day of atonement, went into the holiest of all, and sprinkled the blood on and before the mercy neat, even so did Christ meet the claims of God by His death bringing glory to (iod and blessing to the belie\er. , We behold Him as the sen>nnt wholly devoted to do the will of God. We behold Him as the sulnhicr, conquering e% ery foe. It was not exciting words, it was not eloquence, that Paul had. Why, he said his speech was contemptible 1 He did not profess to be an orator, but he preached Christ, the power of Gol and the wisdom of God — Christ, and Him crucified. And this is what the whole world wants — Christ, and Him crucified. And the world will perish for want of Christ. Let every man and woman that loves the Lord Tesus begin to publish the tidings of salvation. Talk to your neighbors and friends. Run and speak to that young man ! Talk to him of heaven and of the love of Christ ; tell him diat you want to see him saved ; and bear in mind this, that God is far more willing to bless us than we are to have Him. Let us, then, keep close to Christ. \\ * v,,,^ BMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I us 128 ■ 50 "^^ I -^ liSM 25 2.2 11.25 .8 M. IIIIII.6 ^^> -# ^ // ^%^.^ /%^* ^ *w y ^ 'm. c/^^ Sciences Corporation 23 WE«T MAIN STRHT WEBSTKR, N.Y. t4580 (716) 872-4503 ^^ \\ DAI €^^ ^\> &?. # !ir m m {! 84 Gold from Ophir. "THE BLOOD." By Dr. Anrlcrson. »* TN whom we have redemption through His blood." Redeemed with "the precious 1 blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemibh and without spot." The allusion to the Passover is clear. Israel was redeemed by blood. There was a redemption by power, too. With a strong ha id and an out-stretched arm God brought His people out of Egypt. But this followed on redemption by the blood. • And this is a truth which every sinner who seeks pardon and life must learn. The heart craves some proofs of redemption, some sense of deliverance, before believing in the blood. But God will gi\e none. It was as slaves, still groaning under Egypt's bondage, that the Israelites sprinkled the paschal blood. Some, doubtless, could have shown the livid weals of the ganger's lash even as they feasted on the lamb within their blood-stained doors. They were still in the house of bondage, and the power of Egypt was unbroken. As judged by unbelief in the light of reason, and of plain, hard facts, their faith was fanaticism, and their conduct was folly. They had nothing to rest upon, nothing to appeal to, but the bare word of Jehovah. And so is it with the Gospel. It reaches th6 sinner in his sins, as he is and where he is, and tells him of life and peace. It comes as the word of God, and claims to be received as such. The message to Israel was, " I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of t^eir bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm." But before they could be redeemed from Egypt's bondage, they must needs-be delivered from Egypt's doom. The judgment was n;)t upon the Egyptians, but upon Egvpt ; and none were excepted. The destroying an,^ el had no commission to inquire as to race, or creed or character. The death-sentence had fallen upon the first born, and it was for him to e:;ecute that judgment, save where the blood-stain testified that it was already past. They "kept the sprinkling of the blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch tnem." Through the blood the Israelite had redemption. There are tv/o words for redeem in the New Testament. The one signifies to buy, as in a market ; the other, to effect deliverance by the payment of ransom and tiie exertion of power. The latter is the fuller word, and this it is which is commonly used in th*^ Septuagint, notably in connection with the deliverance from Egypt. Here the thought of purchase is utterly inadequate, save as it is included in the ransom. Satan, after all, is but a brigand. Pharaoh had no rightful claim upon the people whom he held in servitude, and Israel's deliverance was his destruction. And yet redemption by blood goes deeper than this. It was by the decree of God Himself that the death-sentence passed "pon the first-born. It was God who ordained the deliverance from that doom. And, mark, it was not by the death of the pascli;.! lamb, but by the sprinkling of its blood, that Israel was saved. Here the doctrine of the blood comes in. Siibstitution is the leading truth in our theology respecting t!;e Atonement, but in Scripture it is but part of a fuller ar^(l a wider truth. In the lin- offering Israel was identified with the victim before its death, by the laying on of hands; and the victim died as a substitute. But the sin-offering was for a people already redeemed. In the Passover, on the other hand, the death of the lamb, though the basis of the blessing, in itself brought no deli trance. That depended on the sprinkled blood, whereby the Israelite became identified with a death already accomplished. , And the Passover reveals to us the sacrifice of Christ in its aspect towards the sinner lying under judgment. That sacrifice is God's provision for his deliverance, but it can bring no blessing, it can bring nothing but a deeper doom for him who rejects- it or rieglects it, unless and until he becomes identified therewith. 'f v/ords are to be used with scriptural accuracy, redemption is not through the •death of Christ, but through His blood. (See Eph. 1:7; I Peter i : l8, 19. The blood buy, [ t'lie used e tlv> 3111 ll'C. ;ieMn- ands; llrcady ; ba^is Redemption. 85 includes the death, but it brings in the thought of the sinner's identification therewith. The blood is a figurative expression, and the figure is derived from the types.) Or, to drop the figure, the sinner must become identified with that death by faith. To use the good old term of the divines, the blood represents death "appropriated" by the sinner who believes. If this doctrine of the blood be lost sight of, we'shall inevitably lose ourselves in the trackless waste of universalism, or else be driven to take refuge in the narrow rut of ultra-Calvinism. The one ever ignores the righteousness of (ioct, the other denies His grace. In contrast with both, the Gospel of the blood reveals how grace can reign thiough righteousness unto eternal life. And here we must remember that the two distinctive truths of the Gospel, righteousness and grace, belong, not to the age of " darkness." but to that of " the true light," which shone in Christ. That faith is counted for righteousness is a truth as old as the covenant with Abraham. But how God could be righteous in thus justifying the believing sinner — this is a truth which was veiled until the new covenant revealed it. The righteousness of God was witnessed by the law — by these very types of the Mosaic ritual — but it was manifested and declared in the Gospel, apart from law altogether ; and until that revelation was made it was a hidden truth, Rom. 3 : 21-26. And so aiso with grace. The Israelite's redemption depended not on any merits of his own, but only upon the blood. jJutyet the blood was only for the Israelite. The ground of redemption was r>uch that the Egyptian might have shared it just as freely : but in fact he was excluded. No message of mercy reached him. But now the Gospel is preached to every creature under the heaven. "There is no difference, for all have sinned." " There is no difference, for the same Lord ever all is rich unto all that call upon Him." ''Sin reigned once — God was dd-aling with men on the ground of their being what they ought to be, while by their very nature they were what they ought not to be. God's attitude towards the sinner therefore wns adverse. There vvas a covenant truly, but that only served to make the doom of the world more definite. God was imputing sin, and the normal and legitimate result to men was death. But now sin is dethroned and grace is reigning. God is no longer imputing sin, but preaching peace. He to whom all judgment is committed is now seated on a throne of grace. It is not that He has grace for the elect, and judgment for all besides, but that grace is the great characteristic Oi'His reign. He is a Saviour and not a judge. He shall yet come to judge : but now the amnesty has been proclaimed, and judgment waits. It is not, as in a bygone dispensation, that there is mercy for a favored class, but that there is mercy, and nothing else, for all without distinction. The day is coming when judgment will be as unmixed as grace is now. but during all this ' acceptable year of the Lord,' His throne is a throne of grace, and tk-; guiltiest sinner upon earth will there find only nicrcy." I 5! hn kled \ds the jrance, Im w gl\ ho the blood 86 Gold from Ophik. < 9 WITNESS TO THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST "A Witness to the sufferings of Christ, " i Peter 5. i. A witness may be (a) an eypwitnsss, or (''>) ono who bears testimony. In b"th these senses Peter was a witness to the suflferings cf Christ. He beheld the cruelty to which hi^ Master was subjscted, and bore him company in the seasons of watching and weeping through which He passed. But then there was much in relation to the suf- ferings of Christ of which no man could speak from personal observation. There was, for instance, the object of those sufiferings and the blending of a Divine and human nature by which tliey were made possible and by which they were made effective. If Peter knew anything of these solemn truths, it was not flesh and blood that had revealed them unto him: the revelation mu ' have come to him from God. He therefore speaks of events which came under his own notice, and declares truths which were revealed to him by the Holy Ghost. He is a witness to the sufferings of Christ as i. '; I. The Subject of Prophecy. See I Peter i : 1 1 ,." Testified beforehand." Rev. 19: io...."TheSpiritofprophecy " Acts 10: 43. ..."All the Prophets wit- ness." I'rophets who witness to the sufferings of Christ- Isaiah Com. Isaiah 53:7; with Acts 8:34- David Com. Ps. 22 : i ; with Matt. 27:46. Zachariah . . Zech. 13 : 7. II. Vicarious. I Peter 2: 21.. "For us." 7 I Peter3: i8.."Forsins." "For the unjust." Here it is clearly taught that Jesus suf- fered for others, and for the sins of others, Peter is supported by the testimony of lis. 53:5, "For our trans- The Prophets gressions." SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. THE Son of God's taking on Hinn man's nature, and oflfering it in sacrifice, was the strict condition of all the glory and reward promised to Christ and His seed, Isa. 53 : 10, II, vvherein all things are freely promised, and that faith that is required for sealing a man's interest in the covenant is promised in it, and wrought by the grace of it, Eph, 2 : 8. That faith at first is wrought by, and acts upon, a full and absolute offer of Christ, and of all His fulness ; an offer that hath no condition in it, but that naiive one to all offers, acceptance ; end in the very act of this acceptance, the accepter (loth expressly disclaim all things in himself, but sinfulness and misery. That faith in Jesus Christ doth justify (although, by the way, it 's to ne noted that it is never written in the Word that faith justifieth actively, but always passively ; that a man is justified by faith, and that God justifieth men by ard through faith ; yet admitting the phrase) only as a mere instrument, receiving that imputed righteousness of Christ for which we are justified ; and that this faith, in the office of justification, is neither condition nor qualification, nor our Gospel righteousness, but in its very cut a renouncing of all such 'Pretences. We proclaim the market of grace to be free, Isa. 55 : 1-3. It is Christ's last ofifer r, :d lowest. Rev. 22 : 17. If there be any price or money spoken of, il is ;w price, no money. " ' He His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.' It is not said that our duties, or our prayers, or our fastings, or our convictions of sin, or our repent- ance, or our honest life, or our alms-deeds, or our faith, or our grace — it is not said that those bore our sins ; it was Jesus, Jesus Himself, Jesus alone, Jesus, and none hut Jesus, * bore our sins in His own body on the tree." Rest, then, in nothing short of peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ■^« said jpent- said none short Redemption. 87 /John, I Jno. 2:2, "For our The Apostles 1 sins." ipaul, Rom. 5:8," For us." Matt. 20:28. "Formany." OurLord....jJ°h'^<^ = 5r. "For the life of the world." John 10 : II. For His sheep." " He suffered for us " — " for sins." . Did Peter remember his own sins ? See the list : — Luke 5 : 8. ' A sinful man." Matt. 14:31. "Litfle faith." Matt. 26 : 33. " Presumption." Matt. 26:58. "Afar off." Matt. 26:72. "I know not the man." Mark 14: 71 •' Began to curse." These words have an application to our- selves, *' He suffered foi* our sins." III. Sufficient. I Peter 3 : 18. Romans 6:10. Hebrews 9 : 26. Hebrews g : 28. "Once suffered." " Died unto sin once." "Once in the end of the world." "Once offered." Hebrews 10 : 14. " One offering." Hebrews 10 : 12. " One sacrifice." See the significance of this repeated truth —Why one offering ? Because one was sufficient. The Jewish sacrifices offered daily ; but no need for such a repetition of the sacrifice of Christ (see Heb. 7 : 27). IV. A Revelation of the Character of Chris;. I Peter 2:23 — "When He suffered He threatened not." See contrast between the conduct of the Master and that of His dis- ciples. James and John. Luke / Peter. Matt. 26 : 51, 9:55- ' 52- Christ's patience our f p^^^^ ^ . ^ ^ pattern. ( V. A Ground c2 Consolation ti His Suffering^ Followers. The Epistle written to sufferers .(see i Peter i : i.). Consolation to be derived from the following considerations concerning Christ's sufferings : — The price of redemption i Peter i : 18. Guarantee of His sympathy. . . .Heb. 4:15. Christ suffered on account of sin. Be- lievers suffer for " righteousness." They may rejoice because — Ch. 2 : 21. " Called to suffer " Ch. 4 : 13. " Made partakers of Christ's sufferings." "God is glorified." " Suffering is acceptable." " Only for a while." HENRY THORN E. Ch. 4 : 14. Ch. 2 : 20. Ch. 5 : TO. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDING S. 'aiTHAT avails the blood of Christ?" VV prayer, what streams of tears of penitence could never avail. "It avails what good works, what incense of 'The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.'" ''Helps to cleanse ourselves, perhaps ?" " No, cleanseth us." " Does it not furnish the motive and the obligation for us to cleanse ourselves ?" " No, it cleanseth us." "Is it 'cle?nseth us from the desire to sin'?" " No, cleanseth us from sin." "Cleanseth us fro. a some of our sins ?" "No, from all sin." " But did you say the blood does this?" "Yes, the blood of Christ shed on Calvar)^" "The life and the holy teaching of Christ, you must mean?" "No, His blood." "His example, is it not?" "No, His blood, His precious blood." Oh, what hostility the world still befays toward this essential element of Christianity 1 Can anything be stated more plainly ? Can a truth of eternal importance be declared more simply than this, that our redemption from sin is by the blood of Christ ? And yet what strenuous efforts are constantly made to set aside this plain, essential, wonderful, and most glorious truth, that the blood of Jesvis Christ cleanseth us from all sin. " Without the sh'.-dding of blood h no remission." m'^^i ■inwp gg^w^ i, ra. 88 Gold from Ophir. "THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST." I. The ground of our acceptance. "It is the blood that maketh an atonement for *hd soul," Lev. 17:11. "When I see ihe blood I •will pass over you," Ex. 12:13. " Having made peace through the blood of His CI OSS, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself," Col. 1:20. "Justified by His blood," Rom. 5:9. " The blood is the life," Deut. 12:23. "The good hepherd giveth his life for the sheep," John 10: ii. " He laid down His life for us," i John 3 : 16. n. The channel of forgiveness. "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace," Eph. 1:7. God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you," Eph. 4:32. "You hath He quickened together with Him, having forgivjn you all trespasses," Col. 2 : 13. III. The means of cleansing. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth ns from all sin," i John i : 7. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh : how much more shall the blood of Christ . . . purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Heb. 9:13, 14. "Washed . . . from our sins in His own blood," Rev. 1:5. " These are tliey which . . . have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb," Rev. y : 14. IV. The separating power. " Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear : Foras- much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things . . . from your vain conversation . . . but with the pre- cious blood of Christ," i Pet. i : 17-19. "Jesus, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without ihe gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach," Heb. 13: 12, 13. V. The secret of overcoming. "They overcame . . . by the blood of the Lamb," Rev. 12 : II. " Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body," 2 Cor. 4:10. "God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world," Gal. 6 : 14. VI The pledge of blessing. "This cup is the new testament in my blood," Luke 22: 20. " He is the mediator of the new testa- ment, that by means of death, for the redemption of the trantjgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance," He' .9:15. " He that spared not His ovm Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things ? " Rom. 8 : 32 VII. Apprehension needful to spiritual life. " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed, " John 6 : 53-55. JANET CLARK. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. u BEHOLD, then, O Spirit-convinced soul, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world I In His death upon the cross, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world I In His death upon the cross, behold the mighty sacrifice, the ransom for the sins of many I See there the sum of all His obedience and sufferings 1 Behold the j^m's/ieti work ! — a work of stupendous magnitr.de, which He alone could have undertaken and accomplished ? Behold our sacrifice, our finished sacrifice, our perfected redemption, the sole foundation of our peace, and hope, and joy. Redemption. 89 SUB:5riTUTI0N-A WORD FOR EVERYBODY. He died for the ungodly, r.y Join Wood. DON'T despair, for Christ has died. Don't presume, for Christ willjudyc. Don't think He died for the good — there are none. Rom. 5 :6. Don't fail to notice the importance of two nordi in John 3: 16 — ^^ Whosoever believcthP There is no declaration of universal salvation on the one hand, nor of salvation offered to a favored few on the other. The promise of eternal life is to " all who look," John 3:14. Don't let the crucified Saviour be foolishness to you. He knows nothing of spiritual life who cannot say, with the apostle Paul, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ," Gai. 6 : 14. Don't attach any importance to a cross. There is no virtue in cross or crucifix. It is "the precious blood of Christ" which God values, and the saved sinner too. Probably the Lord Jesus died on a tre\ Don't grasp the shadow and miss the substance, as, alas, many do. What do you know of atonement, reconciliation, peace, victory? Don't think (as many do) of God the Father as separate in heart or thoi^ht from r-od the Son — they are equally concerned foi your salvation. As Abram ani Isaac ■ ent to Moriah, "both of them together," Gen. 22:8, so Father and Son went to Calvary. The type wonderful — the contrast too. Don't try to add to Christ's finished work, it you are a seeking soul, because you cannot ; God is satisfied with it and with every sinner who trusts it. Don't trample "the Blood of the Covenant' under foot. To do so is to be eternally lost. Don't be too proud to be saved in God's way. What has a poor sinner to be proud of? — Footsteps cf Truth. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. tfJ^HE Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost," Luke 19 : 10. J Lost sinners were God's property, but they had been decoyed away by Satan, the enemy of God and man, and their life of sin was the result of their being lost. But God had sent His Son to seek and save them, and when He came to this world He found them under the power of sin and Satan. They had sold themselves to do evil, and consequently they were a prey to the Evil One, who held them in bonda^j^e, while their transgressions of the holy law of God kept them from heaven ; yet Jesus, to save then», suffered the punishment their sins had deserved, while at the same time His blood redeemed them from the power of Satan. So now, because of what Jesus had done by His death on the cross, full satisfaction had been made for the violated law of God, and sin removed ; so that God can now save the guilty, whoever they be, who by faith receive the Saviour as God's gift to them. " For God so loved the worM, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoso- ever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life," John 3 : 16. God could not receive us with our sin. Christ, as ovtr propitiation,hdiS fully met the claims of God for us. Christ, as our substitute, has borne the wrath of God ins'.ead of us. There are three expressions that we are apt to think synonymous, namely • The cross of Christ, the blood of Christ, and the death of Christ. Now, the cross of Christ reminds us what He endured, that is, the pain, persecution, and shame. The blood of Christ is the ransom-price He paid to procure the blessings of the Gospel, while the death of Christ tells what He suffered instead of us, and our identification with Him. I Ill 4 90 Gold from Ophir. HIS BLOOD CLEANSES FROM ALL SIN. » - By C. If. Spurgcon, ' " They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony," Rev. 12:11. THESE victors all fought with the same weapons. They had two weapons, and these two were one— the blood and the Word. The blood of the lamb : IT WAS THEIRS. The blood of the Lamb will not help us until it becomes our own. They went to Jesus by faith and received the attonement ; the cleansing blood was sprinkled on them, it spoke peace to their consciences, and it took away their sins; they were washed in it; they were made white as the driven snow. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." They were afar off, and "They were made nigh by the blood of Christ." This blood continued to give them access to God, for it gave them boldness to draw near the throne of grace. In fact this blood waj so theirs, that it was the life of their spirit ; it was a generous wine for them, and became the highest joy of their souls. If you and I are ever to be amongst these victors, the blood must be our own, appropriated by faith. How is it with you ? Has the blood cleansed thee, my brother? Does the blood dwell in thee as thy life ? Has the blood of the Lamb given thee fellowship with God and brought thee near ? If so, thou art on the way to overcoming by the blood. The blood of the Lamb, according to the verse which precedes the text, had given them all they needed, for i*^ gave them salvation. They were saved, completely saved. Jesus Christ, when thoy laid hold upon Him and felt the power of His blood, redeemed them from all iniquity, and translated them from the kingdom of Satan. Then they received strength: note that word. They had been dead, but they obtained life ; they had been weak, and they were made strong in the Lord, for he who knows the power of the blood of Jesus is made strong to do great exploits. Then they obtained the kingdom, for the kingdom comes to us by the way of the conquering blood of Jesus, and He hath made us kings and pnests unto God because He was slain. We are told, also, that they had power, or authority. Our Lord, who has risen from the dead, clothed all His disciples with authority when He said, "all power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth ; go ye, therefore, and teach all nations." Beloved, if we have participated in the blood of Jesus Christ, 1 hope we feel it to be all these four things to us, — salvation from sin, strength out of weakness, a kingdom in fellowship with Christ, and authority to speak in His name. It is the blood of the covenant, and it secures all the covenant gifts of God to us. It is the life of our life, the all in all of all that we possess. So, then, they had the blood of the Lamb, aiiJ they possessed the privileges which the blood brings with it. When God shall rise up amongst us men and women who live only to prove the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, and live for nothing else ; who tell out the Saviour's name, tnd sho^v in their lives what that blood has done for them, and are ready to die to glorify their Lord, then will come the times in which the song of victory shall be heard, then shall the travailing woman have her reward, and then shall the dragon bt covered with everl.stii g shame ! May God bless you by giving you to know the power of the blood, for Jesus' sake. Amen. Redemption. 9" THE FOUR-FOLD REDEMPTION. THE religious machinery of the times is, to all intents and purposes, bont upon redeeming men from their vices and sins without a new birth. Vicious persons, while in a fit of conviction or sorrow, have resolved to reform their ways. Some have purchased a Bible, others have taken pledges, and have made a start to do better, only m a short time to cast aside their resolve and their home-spun religion, and like the "sow that was washed," to wallow in the filth and mire of sm. Converts of this kind have been made by the thousand. They joined the ''church" and intended to live and do great things, but only to fail. How could it be otherwise? See Jer. 13: 2^. It is beyond man's capacity to save himself, beyond his desire or will, but "Christ is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him," Heb. 7 : 25. See I Jno. 3:8; Luke 19 : JO. If you are not already in Christ you are lost. The reason, as one has said, is not that God ha? put anythincr in vov:r '.vav as a barrier, but you are so fearfully wrecked and ruined and perverted, that He alone who made you once already, can re-make you. Now then Christ redeems people perfectly, and absolutely, and el^mally : — I. By His own precious blood : The blood of the paschal lamb insured Israel's safety, and gave them peace. "The wages of sin is death.'' Jesus took our sin and its wagesj death. Sin is not coveredover to be faced again as in the types, but ^^putaway" Heb.9:26. "Yewerenot redeemed Wwh corruptible things, as silver and gold .... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot," i Peter i : 18, 19. The precious blood of Christ " cleanseth from all sin." The basis of reconciliation between God and men is this same "blood of the cross." " Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures ; and He was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures," i Cor. 15 : 3, 4. II. By His Almighty Power* Not only by His own blood, but by His out- stretched arm, the arm of His Almighty strength. Redemption by blood, however, is not enough. Though Israel had ab;:olute security and some peace under the blood, their own unwillingness to leave Egypt and the opposition of Pharaoh, its monarch, were to be surmounted. The Almighty Jehovah easily overcame both difficulties. He allowed the Egyptians to harass and task the Hebrews with grinding bondage till they were very glad to make their escape, and He overcame Piiaraoh's opposition by the ten plagues which he inflicted on the Egyptians, till at last he himself thrust them forth, glad to get rid of them. * Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost, and the condition in which * He found man was under the power, and willingly in the service, of the god of this world, viz., the devil. As the Hebrews in Egypt required the blood to shield them from the destrc/ying angel, they were equally necessitous of the power to subdue both themselves and the mighty hosts of Pharaoh, so Jesus Christ is the "stronger than the strong man armed," /. e., the devil. But bad as he is, he cannot keep his ^"-ds in peace: Christ, the stronger than he, by His word and Spirit, makes the sinner willing to escape, as well as compel the devil to let him go. By the price of His own blood He delivers the guilty one from righteous judgment ; and that power that commanded the light to shine out of darkness is sufficient to dispel the sinner's darkness ; the power that commanded the waves and winds into stillness, the devils into obedience, and the blindinto the light of day, is enough for me, for you, and for all else. III. Christ redeems from all la^wlessness : See Titus 2 : 14. "Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself apeculiar people, zealous of good work." This for those already saved by price and power. Cnrist redeems from all lawlessness (Titus 2:14) those already saved by price and by power. V. p "t.s^^i'^^jr? r\,:d tma 92 Gold from Opjiik. There is deep darkness to be dispelled, old habits to be broken off, and the word of (jod is to be taken as guide for all things, pride and self have to be subdued, and subjection to Christ as Lord must be the rule ; one's own helplessness, untrustworthiness, antl ungodliness have to be learned, in order to hide only in Christ and appreciate Ilim. It has to be known and really believed that a Christian's only safety, prosperity and security is to go by God's written word. Thus we are redeemed out of all lawless- ness into subjection to the Lord Jesus. IV. Our bodies have to be redeemed. Our bodiesarenowbodiesof humilia- tion. They have many things in commor. with the beasts that perish, but they are the human bodies ; much time is now necessarily spent on them and for them, as had been said. In hea; they are a buraen, and in cold they are suffering, and in old age they are stiff and w6rn uo, etc. They require feeding and cleaning and care. They are liable to all sorts 0/ pain and suffering, and trouble ; meanwhile they, however frail and feeble, are fitted io our present mode of living, but unfit for the glory that awaits us. Therefore He will redeem our bodies. See Rom. 8:22, 23. The work of Jesus Christ is perfect. They then shall be incorruptible, immortal and spiritual.— 6V/f»./«.uerry. AT one of tlic Advent Conferences, Mildmay, Kn^Mand, iiayj tlic Jjutdon Cftri fian, the greatei't interest was awakened Ijy the exhibition of Mr. Thomas Newberry's beautiful model of Solomon's Temple, with his suggestive and ilecply instructive ex- planations. He said : I feel I cannot get away from tlic contemplation of the wondrous and glorious scene — the sacrifice on Calvary. I do not thmk it will be unprofitable if we should linger a little around the Cross, I feel like the s.icrifice — bound with cords to the altar, so that I cannot get away from it just at present. Suppose, then, wc look at the altar of burnt offering. (This altar, as represented in the model, occupies a prominent place in the centre of the court.) This altar is the shadow of the Cross. The Cross of Calvary threw its shadow back through the long agcb We may trace it in the Garden of Eden. See that innocent victim whose skin h rmcd a covering for the nakedness of our first parents. It was one skin — for the woi-d is in the singular — with which our first parents were arrayed by the hand of Cod in substitution for the fig-leaf covering which they had themselves devised. I see in that victim the first shadow of the Cross. The firstling of the flock that was Abel's oftcring was another part of the same shadow of Calvary's Cross. The altar erected by tlie Patriarchs formed part of that shadow. The altar erected by Abraham on Mount Moriah, one of the mountains which Cod told him of, is a wondrous shadow of the Cross of Calvary, if wc wanted a proof of the inspiration of Scripture, that twenty-second chapter of Genesis would furnish it. We see there an unmistakable shadow of the Cross, clear in all its outlines, sharply cut, accurate and true in every detail. Let us connect this altar in the centre of Solomon'3 court, with that erected, as pointed out by the finger of God, on Mount Moriah. It may be that Solomon's altar stood on the very self-same spot of earth once covered by the altar that Abraham erected on Mount Moriah. At the present day, on the cre::t of that mountain, the.e is a remarkable projection of limestone half a foot above the surface of the surrounding platform of marble, on which the Dome of the Rock now stands. That irregular limeslone projection is regarded by the Mohamme dans to the present duy as the sacred spot where their father Abraham built an altar on which to offer up his son Isaac. The l)ome of the Rock is, so to speak, a monument erected over that sacred spot. What a wondrous shadow of the Cross of Calvary is this twenty-second chapter of Genesis, which describes the sacrifice that Abraham offered. We are told that God did tempi Abraham — that is, put him to the test. Satan's temptations arc actions upon the evil of our nature to bring out the evil. God's testings are rather the actions of His own grace to bring out that grace to the full. God tried Abraham in the most severe manner. He put the gold into a crucible at white heat. He tried him at the tenderest point. How it reminds us of that wondrous fact: "God so loved the v/orld, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not ;perish, but have everlasting life," John 3:16. J Abraham takes the wood and lays it on his son Isaac. How that brings Isa. 53 |to our remembrance — another wondrous shadow of Calvar)''s Cross. "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." .'vbraham and Isaac, we read, "went both of them together." How instructive and how full of deep meaning is this expression. It was the grace of God that caused Him to give His only begotten Son ; it was the grace of the Son that led Him to give Himself to the fulfilment of the Father's will — ''they went both of them together." Isaac said, " Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" "God will provide Himselfalambforaburnt offering." How pathetic was Abraham's reply. Did Isaac understand it ? Perhaps he did. If «* i f ■ i [ 94 Gold from Ophir. I ii ■there was the spirit of the father's surrender in Abraham, there was also the spirit of the son's surrender to the father's; will in Isaac. " So they went both of them together." Let us transfer the question of Isaac to the altar of burnt offering. In the centre of Israel's camp in the wilderness was this altar of burnt offering — nine cubits square and three cubits high. At the dedication of the Tabernacle, the fire of God descended and consumed upon the altar the sacrifice. The command of God was that the fire should ever be burning upon the altar ; it should never go out. And so, when Solomon's Temple was dedicated, the fire again descended and consumed the sacrifice upon the altar, that a standing ordinance might be again asserted — The fire is ever to be burning on my altar ; it shall never go out ; it shall never be put out What is the fire that came from C>od that consumed the victim, and caused it to ascend as a sweet savour — that fire which, when the rebels presented strange fire, came forth and consumed them. What is that fire? " Behold the fire." Itwasthe very centre of Israel's encampment ; there was the smoke ever ascending, the fire ever burning. What was it the emblem of? "Our God is a consuming fire." The fire is the emblem of God's righteousness and holiness. It was never to be put out. God never ceases to be the righteous and holy (iod, of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and who cannot look upon sin. Ne^er for one single moment or twinkling of an eye, in time, or for one sin^^Ic moment throughout eternity, will that fire cease to burn. It shall never go out. In the glory above, (iod will b:: ever righteous and holy ; and in the bottomless pit, the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, that holiness shall con- tinue. That fire shall never cease to burn ; it shall never go out. There the fire is unquenched, and there the worm dieth not. "For Tophet is ordained of old ; yea, for the King it is prepared ; He hath made it deep and large : the pile thereof is fire and much wood ; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it," Isa. 30 : 33. All the sin of a guilty world, when the lake of fire is open to receive the damned, will be cast ir.to it as fuel for the everlasting burnings. It shall never go out. " Behold the fire." " Behold the wood.' It was the occupation of the Gibeonites to be hewers of wood for (iod's altar. Daily the priests were to lay the wood upon the fire. What is the wood? The wood is the emblem of sin. "Thou Last set our iniquities before Thee ; our secret sins in the light of thy countenance." The wood was daily set in order upon the fire. God is righteous : behold the fire, Man is a sinner : behold the wood. Lood round upon the world. Behold the wood. Oh ! what heavy fagots will be carried down to the everlasting burnings. Their sins >vi]l follow them ; every sin that a man has committed, and that goes unconfessed and unpardoned, unwashed in Emanuel's blood, will be a fagot for the burning. Behold the holiness and righteous- ness of God, who is a consuming fire. " But where is the lamb for the burnt offering ? " " Behold the wood ! " From all parts of the world the echo comes back : Behold the wood 1 From heathendom, Popecfom, Christendom, comes the echo : Behold the wood ! " But where is the lamb for the burnt offering ?" Let us send up the challenge to the heavens above ; "Where is the Lamb?" .\ngels, where is the Lamb? Gabriel, will you step for- ward? The echo. conies back: Where is the Lamb? Where? Where? Ah! beloved friends, that was the cry for ages and ages, till one day John the Baptist pointed with his finger to a man walking alone, and said : " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. ' " My son, God will prepare Himself a lamb for the burnt offering. ' That is He. [As Mr. Newberry came to this part of his deeply solemn subject, his face, worn and wrinkled with the furrows of age, was lit up with a glow of rare animation ; his eyes sparkled as with the veiy light. of heaven ; his hand was raised in dramatic and triumphant gesture. The whole scene, with the wonderful surroundings, was one never to be forgotten.] See tlie carpenter's Son, despised and rejected of men, led as a lamb to the slaughter, and dumb before its shearers — behold the Lamb that God has provided. " None other can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to (}od a ransom for him," Ps. 49 : 7. God could ?ee RiiDKMrnoN. 95 none amongst the ranks of the angcis mighty enough, and worthy enough, to be laid on His ahar — wood of (lod's fire. I)ut (iod has Himself prov'e it so," answered Libe, glad to escape so easily from tlie consequences which he dreaded ; "thou hast bought him, he is thine : and Libe will send for the great medicine-man to see to the white man's hurt." It was some little time before Libe and his wild train could be induced to depart. When at length Libe and his party dashed down the bank, and began passing the river on their homeward way, the redeemed slave uttered a wild cry of joy, and crawling up to his deliverer, embraced his knees, and covered his feet with kisses I "Garra, the slave of the son of pity, the blood-bought, always a faithful slave!" murmured the grateful savage. Happily the Englishman was able to tell the poor creature of Him whose blood was shed for the redemption of the world, and to lead him to the Saviour. It is of the utmost importance to distinguish between the Spirit's work in us, and Christ's work for w^. Where they are confounded, one rarely finds settled peace as ^) the question of sin. The type of the pas^,over illustrates the distinciiou vciy simply. The Israelite's peace was not founded upon the unleavened bread or the bitter herbs, but upon the blood. Nor was it, by any means, a question of what he thought about the blood, but what God thought about it. This gives immense relief and comfort to the heart. ( jod has found a ransom, and He reveals that ransom to us sinners, in order that we might rest therein, on the authority of His w ord, and by tlie grace of His Spirit. And albeit our thoughts and feelings must ever fall far short of the infinite preciousness of that ransom, yet, inasmuch as God tells us that He is perfectly satisfied about our sins, we may be .satisfied also. Thk Israelite was saved by the blood alotu\vi\\di not by his thoughts about it. His thoughts might be deep or they might be shallow ; but, deep or shallow, they had nothing to do with his safety. He was i-ot saved by his thoughts or feelings, but by the blood. God did not $ay, " When you see the blood, I will pass over you." No : hut " when / see." What gave an Israelite peace was the ♦act that Jehovah's eye rested on the blood. This tranquilized his heart. The blood was outside, and the Israelite inside, so that he could not possibly see it ; but God saw it, and that was quite enough. ; I 4 lOO Gold from Ophir. Abel knew grace in righteousness through precious blood ; and, therefore, brought a irue gift-offering. Cain, on the other hand, inipiously brought his gift- offering as a reason why (lod should receive ///;//,• and it was rejected. In dealing with him, God ignores the offering, and speaks of /us person: " If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted 1 and if not, behold ! a sin-offering is crouching at the door," Gen. 4 : 7. Poor Cain I like many others in our day, he would rot believe God as to his sinfulness ; would not believe Him as to need of a sin-offering ; would not believe that he himself was all wrong ; and, presuming to draw near with his gift- offerings — the fruits of a cursed earth, and the labors of a sinful man — was utterly rejected. " Until I saw the blood, 'twas hell my soul was fearing ; And dark and dreary in my eyes the future was appearing ; While conscience told its tale of sin, And caused a weight of .i^oe within. But, when I saw the blood, and looked at Him who shed it, My right to peace was seen at once, and I with transport read it ; I I found myself to God b-oaght nigh. And " Victory ! " became my cry. My joy was in the blood, the news of which had told ir.e, \, That spotless, as the Lamb of God, my Father could behold me ; And all my boast was in His name. Through whom this great salvation came. And when, with golden harps, the throne of God surrounding. The white-robed saints around the throne their songs of joy are sounding. With them I'll praise that precious blood, Which has redeemed our souls to God. ' Death eternal is the ultimate satisfaction which the law demands of the sinner. It can be readily seen that the ransom which our Lord paid was in itself a sufficient equivalent and even more than an equivalent. For what could magnify the law of (iod more, and what could sound tlie depths of sin more than that the Eternal Son of Ciod should, in the likeness of sinful flesh, be made sin for us and die in our stead ? Let it be remembered, then, that this great ransom was made to God as the M' ai Governor of the universe, not as a benefit or bounty to Him, but as a satisfaction demanded by the law of righteousness for sin. We always read of the blood which is the ransom being offered to God. In Egypt the lamb was slain and the blood sprinkled on the door posts and lintels of the Hebrew cottages, so that it might be under the eye of Jehovah. Hence we read "When I see the blood I will pass over you," or come between you and the death angel. 1 tliHi/.i ->1 ' fore, gift- ihng well, the God not gift- terly »i men ;ient IV of m of :afl ? :tii)n :h is kled eye (ime REGENERATION. ! REGENERATION. UQN now TO OBTAIN r'NTRANCi: INTO THE KINGDOM. By Lady Dent. Read John 3: i-iS ; 1:12, 13; Jas i:i3; il'et. 1:23. ^NE of the most important truths in the Bible, to be considered, is iis to how entrance may be obtained "into the kingdom of God." It is a matter which relates to tho personal salvation of each soul, and therefore of the deepest moment to each. In Eden God reijjned supreme, and the creature held communion with the Creator, till Satan entered, usurped God's authority, induced man to believe him rather than God, and thus led to sin, and consequently death — by reason of separation from Ciod, the source of life — and expulsion from the earthly paradise. I. God " Drove out the Min," and " a flaming sword turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life," Gen. 3 : 22-24 ; that man might not eat thereof in his fallen state, and live forever in frail tabernacle — " body of sin," Rom. 6 : 6 — with curse around. This was mercy, and shows that " God is love." Love also dictated that revelation to fallen man, which pointed to death and resurrection of " the Seed" of the woman. Gen. 3:15; Heb. 2 : 14 ; i Cor. 15 : 21, wherein Ufe could be found, beyond the power of death ; and those who are united to the crucified, risen, and exalted Saviour, Acts 2 : 22-24, 32, 2,2>i can feed on Him, the "Tree of Life." Jesus is the "Seed" that died to save, Jno. 12 :24. Jesus is the "Tree of Life," who lives to sustain the life of saved ones, Rev. i : 18 ; Jno. 6 : 57. But how is this union effected? The whole human race died in Adam, the federal head. All are born in sin, Rom. 3 : 10, 12 ; 5 : 12 ; "flesh," namely, fallen, old Adam nature, '' cannot please God ;" it is utterly corrupt, Gen. 6 : 5, with Psa. 53 : 2, 3 ; 73 :8 ; Rom. 7 : 18 ; 8 :7, 8 ; Gal. 5 : 19-21. How, then, can any such be united to the Holy Jesus, and "er.ter the kingdom of God.?" Our Lord Himself gives the answer — I I. " Ye Miist be Born again," or anew, or afresh, or " from above." (See Jno. 3 : 3, R.V., also verse 31, where tho same word is translated "from above"). No patching up of the old nature will do ; there must be a new nature implanted. That vWiich is "of the earth" remains "earthy," that which is born of the flesh is or remains "flesh," i Cor. 15 .-47, 48 : Jno. 3 :6. Nothing but the new birth will suffice. Twice this truth is enforced by our Lord, vs. 3, 5, and its deep importance shown by the repetition of the words "verily, verily." Words of incalculable import to man, and of deep blessing, when by grace given to apprehend their meaning. "Verily" is the same word in Greek as "Amen ;" Jesus is the "Amen," Rev. 3 : 14, and "all the promises of God in Him are Yea, and in Him Amen," 2 Cor. i : 20. It is, as if Jesus had said, I, " the God of Truth," or " Amen," Isa. 65 : 16, say to you, " Except a man [103] imvi 104 Gold from Ophir. and God alone can give which no man can " see," or be born again," etc. A truth thus stated is incontrovertible this new nature, suited to His kingdom, and without " enter " therein. Nicodemus went to Jesus as a great " Teacher," a learned " Rabbi," just as many speak of Him in these days, but who, like Nicodemus, do not know Him as the " Son of God," yea, God Himself. Nicodemus, being a "ruler," was ashamed to go to Jesus by day, as if he, a teacher, were going to be taught (changed later, see Jno. 7 : 50 ; •9 : 39) ; but he went under cover of night, hoping to get instruction of a superior kind, probably expected to hear some learned discourse, just as men now like to listen to clever, eloquent sermons ; and as the first words of our Lord startled Nicodemus, so are people startled now, when this same truth is first put before them. " How can a man be born when he is old ?" asks Nicodemus. He thought only of the natural birth, the birth of the body ; but of what avail a repetition of that, if it could take place ? There would be still the old Adam, sinful nature, "the flesh," of which it is said so emphatically, " They that are in the flesh cannot please God ; " whereas our Lord spoke of a spiritual nature. HI "Bom of the Spirit." This may appear incomprehensible now, as it did to Nicodemus then, and men may ask, as he did, " How can these things be ?" It is humbling also to the proud heart of man to hear that there is nothing in him that God can accept, for he is always proudly imagining that he can do something whereby to gain heaven ; he vainly supposes he can work his way back to God, to the position from which Adam fell ; but this is a fatal mistake. Every good thing cometh "from above," Jas. 1:17; and therefore it is only in the new nature, given from above, that a man can do anything "well-pleasing to God," Phil. 4 : 17, 18 ; Heb. 13 :2i — both addressed to believers ; for what comes from above will work its way upwards, even as water which finds its own level. But how is this birth of the Spirit effected. Read passages at the head of this article. These show it is through the instrumentality of "the Word" — the written Word, which testifies of Jesus, the embodied or living "Word." The Word qu'ckens, or gives life, Ps. iirs • 50. By the preaching of the Gospel souls are begotten, i Cor. 4 : 15. The "incon iptible" seed sown, Luke 8: 11, 15 : i Pet, 1 :23, in hearts pre- pared of the Lord, Acts 16 :.I4, and watered by the Holy Spirit, springs up into life. The Holy Spirit's work in the sinner is to reveal the Savioui^s work for him, and the Father's love to him, shown in the gift of His Son, Rom. 5:8; and through His con- straining power the sinner is led to accept His testimony — look with the eye of faith at Jesus "lifted up," John 3 : 15, 16 ; 12 : 32, 33, and receive Him into the heart. Thus is he quickened by the Spirit, John 6 :63 ; Jas. 1:18; i John 5:1; "born " or begotten of God, becomes a child of God, partaker "of the Divine nature," John i : 12 ; 2 Pet. 1:4; and united to Christ, i Cor. 12 : 13 ; "a new creature" or creation — "/« Christ," 2 Cor. 5 : 17, R. V., marg. ; Gal. 6:15. In Adam, the first man, we have sin, disobe- dience, death, inherited in natural birth. In Christ, " the second Man," the " Lord from heaven," i Cor. 1 5 : 47, life, obedience, righteousness, imparted in new or spiritual birth. The two not mixed, but quite separate. In Christ, two distinct natures, the Divine and the human. In the believer, likewise two natures, "flesh" and "spirit."' Jesus, as man, was on earth; as God, in heaven, John 3: 13 : so now, believer in body, on earth ; inspirit, with Christ "in the heavenlies," Eph. i 13 ; 2:6. Jesus now in heaven as man, in "the glory of God," Acts 7:55; as God, filling all space. Thus God, in the Person of Christ, having descended to earth, raises manhood up to God, Eph. 4:9, 10 ; and thus is restored to new-bom soul, the fellowship destroyed by the fall, 1 John i : 1-3, and God and man meet in Christ. IV. Action of Spirit mysterious. It is compared to wind, John 3 : 8, and the same Greek word is used to express both. At Pentecost, Acts 2, the Holy Spirit came as "mighty rushing wind." In Ezek. 37 :9 (though primarily referring to the resuscitation of the nation Israel), the wind typifies the Holy Spirit softly breathing life into dead souls ; just as " the Lord God breathed " into the inanimate clay when Regeneration. 105 Adam "became a living soul," Gen. 2 17. The Lord God diret's the wind to fulfil "His word," Ps. 148 :8; so with the "Spirit" sent by the Son 'from the Father," John 15:26. "fhe cause is hidden, but the effects are seen ; iOmetimes in gentle influences, like soft, refreshing breezes, infusing new life into invalid ; at others, mighty and powerful to uprooting Satan from heart, and " pulling down < >f strongholds," 2 Cor. lo : 4, even as great tempest uproots gigantic trees, or throws down strong piles of buildings. Such results clearly show what power has been at work ; and so with one "bom of the Spirit" — the results must be seen, and these are, conformity to Christ, Rom. 8: 29 ; hatred to sin, i Jno. 3:9; victory over the world, i Jno. 5 : 4. Tastes, dispositions, occupations, affections, desires, sanctified by indwelhng Spirit, i Tim. 4 : 4, 5 ; 2 Tim. 2:21, and directed to new object, /. e., "glory of God," i Cor. 10 : 31. "All things are become new," 2 Cor. 5:17. Senses, time, talents, all differently employed. Motive power hidden from view, but results visible. " Not I, but Christ," Gai. 2 : 20. His liie is manifested in the believer ; the new life, in the one born anew. I io6 Gold irom Ophir. RI'(;i:XERATION. "Ye must be born again," John 3 : 3. I. It is ascribed to God. " As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to as many as believe on His name : which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God," John i : 12, 13. " Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus," Gal. 3:26. "For we are His (God's) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works," Eph. 2 : 10. " Ac- cording to His mere ■ He saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of tr e Holy Ghost," Titus 3:5. " Of His own will begat He us, with the Word of Truth," James 1:18 "Blessed be the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath be- gotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," I Peter i : 3. n It is ascribed to Christ. "The Son quickeneth (maketh alive) whom He will," John V. : 21. " The hour is comine. and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God : and they that hear shall live," John 5 : 25. " If ye know that He (Christ) is righteous, ye know that every one thai doeth righteousness is born of Him, ' i J jhu 2 :29. III. It is ascribed to the Spirit " Ex- cept a man be born of water {i.e. word) and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the king- dom of Heaven" (see John 3:5-8). "It is the Spirit that quickeneth," John 6:63. " The washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost," Titus 3:5. "The Spirit giveth life," 2 Cor. 3 :6. IV. It is ascribed to the Word. i. As used by the Father, James i : 18; i Peter i : 23. 2. As used by Christ, John 6 : 63. 3. As used by the Spirit, 2 Cor. 3:6. 4. As used by man, i Cor. 4 : 15. The Father is the originating cause. The Son the pro- curing cause. The Spirit the efficient cause. The Word the instrumental cause. J. HIXON IRVING. SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS AND UNFOLDINGS. NATURE produces nature ; like begets like. "That which is born of the flchh is flesh." Human nature is human nature, whether cast in a Jew or a Gentile mould, whether amiable or offensive, courageous or cringing. Good never will be evolved out of evii, nor light be born of darkness, nor perfection issue uncreated out of rhaos. The flesh is, and ever will be what it is ; and this is true of all. Let us not, like rest- less waves, vainly beat against the iron rocks of truth. No spiritual perception of (iod's kingdom exists in us in our nature state. We have no soul-eye to see what it is like. Cultivation does not change nature, it leaves the thorn bush and the thistle, thom and thistle still. Man can develop things of earth's kingdom which exists, he cannot create. Cultivation never enables a man to see more than the kingdom of msn ; it neither generates a wish nor creates a desire in him fot the kingdom of God. On the contrary, cultivation of the flesh usually ends in more potent pride than ever. The believer is dead, because Christ died for him. The life with which the power of temptation, guilt, the attacks of sin, are connected, exists no longer to faith. By death all that was connected with it has come to an end. Now that which was connected with the life of the old man was sin, condemnation, weakness, fear, power- lessness against the assaults of the enemy— all that is past. We have a life, but it is in Christ ; it is hidden with Him in God. Regeneration. 107 TIIK SPIRIT OF LUCK. By Dr. J as. //. Brookes. itllTHAT shall \vc say then ? Is the law sin ? Ood torbid. Nay, I had not known W sin, but by the law," Rom. "J -.T. " Dy the law is the knowledge of sin," Rom. 3 : 20. " Moreover, the law entered, that the offense might abound," Rom. 5 : 20. "it was added because of transgressions," Gal. 3 : 19. The law, therefore, was never so much as designed to bring life or salvation to a sinner, but only to reveal to his view his terrible condition as spiritually dead. Hence it is called "the ministration of death," and " the ministration of the condemnation," 2 Cor. 3 : 7, 9, because, having detected the presence of death in man's sinful nature, it can only utter the voice of a stern and righteous condemnation, "Cursed is every one that continucth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them," Gal. 3 : 10 ; and whoso- ever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, heisguiltyof all,"Jas. 2 :2o. Consequently unless it can be shown that a man has never failed to be conformed to the requirement of the law in thought, word, or deed, it is simply impossible for him to be saved by the law, or by any thought, word, or deed of his own. But what the la