that man can accept of Christ's offers of mercy-repent, believe, and come to Him now (and as those who hold the popular faith phrase it), “this very moment, this very night, while you are sitting on your seats, decide at once to be saved." The unpopular faith is, that "a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven" (John iii. 27); that repentance is the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts v. 31); that no man can come to the Lord Jesus except drawn by the Father (John vi. 44). The popular faith with some is, that when a little water is sprinkled by a poor mortal man, called a priest, upon the face of an infant, that divine grace is then conveyed by the Holy Spirit to the child's soul effecting its regeneration. The unpopular faith in this great work is, that the will of man has nothing to do with it, but that it is the sole and whole sovereign work of God the Holy Ghost (John i. 13). The popular faith is, if a man love God He will then love him. The unpopular faith is, "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John iv. 19). The popular faith is, that God is so merciful as to pardon sinners on the ground of sincere repentance. The unpopular faith is, "that without sheddir.g of blood is no remission” (Heb. ix. 22). The popular faith, that were more missionaries to be sent to preach, more money collected to send them, and more places built for them to preach in, that a great many more people would be brought to Christ, and thus be saved.

God forbid we should say or write anything against God-sent missionaries, or against collecting money to send them, or against erecting places for them to preach in. Still unpopular faith believes that all the Father hath given to His Son shall come to Him (John vi. 37); that Christ's sheep shall never perish (John x. 28), and that not a hoof shall be left behind (Exod. x. 26). Tetbury.

F. F.

A FEW MORE YEARS.

A FEW more years shall roll,
A few more seasons come,

And we shall be with those that rest,
Asleep within the tomb.

A few more suns shall set

O'er these dark hills of time,

And we shall be where suns are not-
A far serener clime.

A few more storms shall beat

On this wild, rocky shore,

And we shall be where tempests cease,
And surges swell no more.

A few more struggles here,
A few more partings o'er,

A few more toils, a few more tears,
And we shall weep no more.

A few more Sabbaths here

Shall cheer us on our way,

And we shall reach the endless rest,
The eternal Sabbath-day.

Then, O my Lord, prepare
My soul for that great day;

Oh, wash me in Thy precious blood,
And take my sins away.

Printed from "Hymns of Salvation," by the Rev. C. P. Hammond. W. Mack, 38, Park Street, Bristol.

"I CAME, I saw, I conquered," says Toplady, "may be inscribed by the Saviour on every monument of grace. I came to the sinner, I looked upon him, and with a look of omnipotent love I conquered."

SATAN frequently chooses times of afflictions as the fittest season for his temptation.

THOUGHTS ON GENESIS I.

"How may I read Scripture with more spiritual profit, so as to see, as I cannot now, the deeper hidden truths which are so longed for and desired by the Lord's people?" How many have had some such thoughts as these, expressed, perhaps, to some minister or Christian friend, and advice is affectionately given, and a prescribed form of Scripture study is, it may be, laboriously entered upon! Prayer for the Spirit's teaching would certainly be advised, but used too often in the letter only, becoming but a mere form. Oh, let us never forget that what is true in the Book of Providence, is also true as regards the Book of Inspiration!

"God is His own Interpreter,

And He will make it plain."

When shall we learn to cease from man, and seek unto the Lord our God? Do you wish to dig in the deep, full mine of divine truth? What can your puny arm do in wielding the mattock and pick-axe? But, if the gracious Spirit gives power to the arm, what a rich store of precious gems will sparkle before your astonished eyes! whereas, before, you could only see the matrix in which they were encased.

"Search the Scriptures," said our blessed Lord to those around Him, who He knew were readers; but, from not being searchers, they failed in recognising Him as the Messiah of whom Moses and the prophets did write.

In the spirit of prayerful searchers for the pearl of great price, the onyx, and the jasper, and the pure gold of the sanctuary, let us turn to the "old, old story" of the Creation, with which we are all so familiar from our very cradles, reading in connexion with it (according to the Scriptural injunction of comparing spiritual things with spiritual) the 1st chapter of the Gospel according to St. John, between which two chapters and the succeeding ones, both in Genesis and John, a wonderful harmony seems to exist.

Genesis i. 1: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." "Beginning," here, of course, has a limited meaning, whereas the same expression as used by St. John takes our minds far beyond, till we lose ourselves in the immeasurable ocean of that eternity, when the divine Word was, as perpetual in the continued past of the tense here used, as the everlasting now is conveyed to our minds by the present tense being employed by our Lord, in addressing the Jews, in those remarkable words (which at once bring before us the interview with Moses at the burning bush), "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am "-the infinity of God compared with the finity of man! Prov. viii. 22 : "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old."

That the very first verse in the Bible should teach the grand doctrine of the Trinity is remarkable (the Hebrew word we translate God being a plural noun), proving how imperatively God requires us humbly to receive a mystery which at the same time is beyond our finite powers to understand.

Verses 2-4, while narrating with exquisite simplicity the first puttings forth of God's creative powers, are singularly illustrative of a certain incident in the New Testament story, which we shall find in Mark viii. 22-25. Speaking of the natural man, the Baptist describes him thus: "Of the earth earthy, and speaking of the earth."

Now,

"the earth was without form, and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep"-darkness, indeed, for he was both physically and spiritually blind; but, as the stillness of creation's chaos was disturbed by the moving of the Spirit, so was it in the case before us-for, whence came it that this poor man became dissatisfied with his position? How came he to know that he was blind? for certain blind ones of his nation knew it not. "Are we blind also?" they indignantly exclaimed: and, further, how came he to put such faith in the despised Nazarene? Because of which faith, &c., some would tell us, he was healed. Ah, no! the healing really began when the Spirit moved on the face of the deep, "making him willing in the day of His power," and giving him the faith which brought him there. Let us be careful to put things in their proper order, for one further lesson we learn from this 1st of Genesis is, that our God is a God of order, and not of confusion. "If we love Him, verily it is because He first loved us."

There was

Three days elapsed between the creation of light and the creation of the sun. A little boy once asked his teacher how there could be light when there was no sun. It was explained to him that there were different kinds of light besides that proceeding from the sun. phosphorescent light, and electric light, and the dim light of the polar regions, where the sun is never seen for many months, and oil lamps have to be burnt at mid-day. Of such a nature, we may presume, was the light which preceded the creation of the sun; and of such a nature undoubtedly was the light which first visited the orbs of the blind man, when Jesus made clay and touched his eyes; dim indeed! for he " saw men as trees walking." Ah, can we not look back to those early days when we were first led to Jesus, when the Spirit first began to move and trouble our false peace? We saw men, alas! only-not the Lord. The minister or Christian friend were had recourse to. Something we must do ourselves; and at once there were prayers oft, and religious rights and duties were multiplied! Truly a man-ward glance only!—all a moving earthly panorama-"men as trees walking.' But the mystic three days are past, and "He by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made that was made," again puts forth His creative power, and, lo, how different is it with him now-an upward gaze! He made him look up, and the first Being who stood unveiled before him was Him who is the Light of Life. Observe the expression used, not he (the once blind man) looked up, but He, Jesus, made him look up, for "He giveth power to the faint, and to them that hath no might He increaseth strength." Now order reigns were all was confusion before; the eyes having first rested on Jesus, and looked upwards, may now look down, for they will no longer see men as trees walking, but being "restored, will see every man clearly."

Just one thought more before we pass away from this most instructive and touching narrative. The first thing our Lord did when this blind man was brought to Him, was to take him by the hand and lead him out of the town. Mark well that little word lead. He did not entrust him to some careful guide, bidding him go and promising to follow, but He accompanied him Himself; and the clasp of the hand, and the sound of the footsteps beside him, assured the blind man that the Lord was there, though he doubtless wondered why he was led away he knew not whither. "He leads the blind by a way that they know not, and in paths that they have not known." How often has this been the experience of God's

people! Some mysterious leading!-they cannot perhaps see who is leading, nor why nor whither they are being led. Oh, how those three W's-the Who, the Why, and Whither-harass and trouble our querulous spirits! What saith the Holy Ghost? "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee." Verse 4: "God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness." Compare this with 2 Cor. vi. 14 and following verses, still keeping in view the spiritual parallel of that other "workmanship" of God we have just been considering, of those who are created in Christ Jesus, with whom "all old have passed away, and all things have become new."

God divides the light from the darkness when the Holy Ghost speaketh in this wise: "What communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day; we are not of the night nor of darkness.'

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In verses 11, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 24, we find that the new created earth was to be fruit-bearing, the heavenly bodies had their appointed work, and the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, the beasts and creeping things were to be fruitful and multiply; and the earth was to bring forth grass and herb-yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit; and so we read in Rom. vi. 22: Being now made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness.' "Abide in me, and I in you," says the Saviour. "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit." Some of this fruit-bearing, in its spiritual connexion, we shall consider (if the Lord will) in our next paper, viz. : Thoughts on the Gospel of

St. John."

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M. C. C.

A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE WORD OF GOD.

"Rich, free, and sovereign grace."-EZEKIEL XXXvi. 17. THE Lord here speaks of the wickedness of Israel, while they dwelt in their own land, and of the judgments which He poured upon them, even till they were scattered in the land of their enemies; and then He goes on to show that they continued still in their wickedness, and, even in the enemy's land, profaned His holy name. And what does the Lord do with them? Does He destroy them utterly? Oh, no! He remembers His own holy name. He remembers that Israel is His inheritance. He determines to show pity upon Israel, and to make the heathen know that He is the Lord. But who is to begin this work? Will Israel repent of His sins, and cry to God for mercy?

"No sinner can be beforehand with Thee:

Thy grace is preventing, almighty, and free."

The work is the Lord's from beginning to end. He must sprinkle the clean water; from filthiness and from idols, He must cleanse them; the

new heart and the new spirit He must give them; and the stony heart, He must take it away. HE declares that He will put within them His Spirit; that He will restore them to their country, and prove to them that they are His people, and that He is their God; that He will give to them all temporal mercies, the fruit of the tree, and the fruit of the field. And what then? "Then the sense of blood-bought pardon

Soon dissolves the heart of stone."

“THEN shall ye remember your own evil ways, and doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations."

And when the Lord hath done this for the poor sinner, whether under the old or under the new dispensation, then the pardoned soul will sing : "Oh, tell me no more of this world's vain store!

The time for such pleasures with me now is o'er:
A country I've found where true joys abound,
And to dwell I'm determined in this happy ground..
"And when I'm to die, receive me, I'll cry;
For Jesus hath loved me—I cannot tell why;
But this I can find, we two are so joined,

He'll not be in glory, and leave me behind.”

Behold the prophet! the preacher of the Lord's Word! The hand of the Lord was upon him, and the hand of the Lord is upon everyone of His sent servants. The hand of the Lord carried him out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set him down in the midst of the valley, which was full of bones. Notice here: there were many valleys in the land of Israel, but there was one especial valley in which the prophet must preach; there were doubtless other valleys which were full of bones, but mention is here made of THIS valley, which was full of bones. And every minister of the Lord Jesus Christ is directed by the Spirit where to go and where to preach. This valley was full of dry bones; that is, of poor, hardened, dead sinners-none alive among them; they were all dead, and not dead corpses merely, but dry bones-the flesh was gone from them. Like dead sinners they made no professions, and they were very many; not buried in the earth, but exposed in the open valley, and they were very dry; and the Spirit of the Lord put down the prophet in the very midst of them.

Did the prophet immediately begin to work? Did he at once unfold his message? As yet he had no work set before him; as yet he had received no message from the Lord. But the Lord was with him, and the Lord's work must begin with the prophet himself. Jehovah must teach His servant ere the servant can teach His people. And it is not enough that the prophet is the servant of the Lord generally, but he must be trained for the special occasion; and so the Lord caused him to pass by them round about." And does not the Lord cause His servants now to do the same? He selects for them their sphere of labour; He sets them down in the midst of it, and causes them to take a survey of the work before them. And does it not often happen that the soul of the minister is cast down at the prospect before him? He sees a people sunk in sin, in sensuality, and, perhaps, in infidelity; and groans of anguish gush from his soul, as he exclaims: "Horror hath taken hold of me, because of the wicked which forsake Thy law." But he would not fly from the work, for it is the Lord who has set him in the place.