ledge, will alone be tolerated; and then will be fulfilled the words of the apostle and prophet, "that the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts they shall heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall turn aside unto fables" (2nd Tim., iv, 2, 4).

The spread of infidelity is so rapidly increasing, that man will soon scarce brook the maintenance of that true and sound doctrine which is essential to our individual happiness, and so important to the prosperity of our Church and nation, for as long as we remain faithful to both, in dependance on God's blessing, we shall be preserved from many dangers: but we must hold fast the form and essence of sound words delivered to the saints, for no part of the sacred fabric can be undermined without affecting the stability of the whole.

Many who now a days write, preach and comment on scriptural subjects deem it necessary in order to obtain a hearing to employ a style of language half polemical, half exegetical, as an apology for presuming to handle a subject which in the baneful sentiments of the day ought to be left to man's private judgment: it is imagined that the Bible necessitates some apologetic explanation to soften men's natural antipathy to holy things; and as an anodyne to their delicate prejudices, things not right, smooth things, pleasing deceits are employed to engage their attention, obtain their suffrage, and permit them to rest satisfied with an outward profession of faith without realising any of its vitality: heedless of the apostle's exhortation "to press toward the mark for the prize of the heavenly calling of God in Christ Jesus, not as though they had already attained, but to stretch forth unto the things which are before."

Let us, dear reader, strive to attain, with God's aid, to this holy faith: let us remember, also, that prophecy belongs not to the world, but to the faithful in Christ Jesus, so that it may be our guide, instructor, and light before the events predicted come upon the ungodly; as most ussuredly they will in the days that are now close at hand; they will come as a flash of lightning, just as the flood came in the days of Noah upon the world of the ungodly: we, as Christians, have no need to be witnesses of any event in order to believe what God says, for we know beforehand that every word of God is true, and we accept with praise and thanksgiving as a proof of His loving-kindness the sure word of prophecy, whereby we may know with certainty the signs of the approaching evil, and the awful judgments that will accompany them: we may not live to see them. God in His boundless love will gather together in one the Church -His bride-unto himself prior to the great tribulation of the antichristian cataclysm; but we have in prophecy the sure indices of the coming of the man of sin, as also of the signs which herald in the approach of our blessed Lord; so let us patiently wait for the hope of righteousness by faith, and discerning the things that are more excellent, be sincere and without offence to the day of Christ; for yet a little while and He that is coming shall come, and shall not tarry, and if we have kept the word of patience, He will keep us from the hour of temptation, which is about to come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth (Rev., iii, 10; 1st Thes., V, 9).

MEDITATIONS ON SCRIPTURE,

HISTORICAL, DOCTRINAL AND PROPHETICAL.

JOHN, XVI, 13, 14.

"When the spirit of truth is come, he shall guide you into all truth : for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he shall tell you the things to come. He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall tell it unto you."

To

We here see that the specific object of the Holy Ghost is to glorify Christ, and that whatever he teaches, whether past, present or future, are the "things of Christ," for "He shall receive of mine and shall reveal it unto you." glorify himself in Christ is the end and object of God's dispensation. To glorify Christ in the revelation He is pleased to make to man is the office of the Holy Ghost, and this He fulfils in the communication of prophetic truth; for no prophecy was sent after the will of man, but men had utterance from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit (2nd Peter, i, 19-21; Amos, iii, 7; Hebrew, i, 1); nor is it of private or self interpretation, for that which could only be made. known to us by revelation from God, can only be understood by us, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Believers in Christ now learn as they are taught by the Holy Ghost; and we gather from the passage under review that the whole end and scope of prophecy is to glorify Christ; neither the Church nor Jerusalem, or Gentile nations, or the individual self, or the world or believers, are in themselves the objects of prophecy; they only become partakers therein, as connected with Christ, who is the centre round which all things in heaven and earth revolve. Various subjects become the sphere of Christ's glory, and it is by his connection therewith that we obtain the means of understanding what Scripture contains on these subjects.

It is important to see this, for a right understanding of it not only presents to us the only way of reading prophecy aright, but it renders the study thereof sanctifying instead of speculative; what is learned becomes to the believing soul a part of Christ's glory.

The value of prophetic truth depends not on its application to ourselves. It is profitable to us individually and to the Church in general if viewed in connection with Christ, and without this knowledge no human wisdom or intellectuality can decipher and comprehend the wondrous stores of knowledge, comfort, and wisdom which lie concealed in the prophetic word. If man could only read prophecy by history or by application to things his erudition has mastered, how could the humble Christian ignorant of this world's knowledge be enabled to read and comprehend the Scriptures? but thanks be to God no such learned preparation is required.

History is of little avail; it was not written in heaven; and all those who have endeavoured to interpret prophecy by profane records have signally failed. Prophecy, if taken in its full scope, compared and anotated on by other passages. in Scripture, taken consecutively or in whole, and not in detached and isolated morsels, fully explains itself: details may not be filled up, perhaps, by man, the Holy Spirit not having revealed them, but the general scope of prophecy is attainable by the humble Christian devoid of prejudice acquired by man's wisdom. Literality and dependence on the teaching of the Holy Spirit form the basis on which to rely. In the great subject of prophecy, especially those of the Apocalypse, the unfolding of God's dealings with the world through the instrumentality of Christ, whether of grace or judgment, is exhibited, and for their interpretation and fulfilment we must look to the Scriptures, and not to the vicissitudes of political and ecclesiastical affairs, that during nearly 19 centuries have filled the pages of the historian. St. John tells us in the passage heading this remark that the Holy Ghost shall tell us of "things to come." As the only prophecies unwritten at the day of Pentecost were those communicated to the Seer of Patmos, it is evident that this book was the one alluded to, and as Christ's glory is the object of all prophecy we must read this book in that light, and not in the vain disquisitions of poor fallible man. The prophecies that have been fulfilled, such as those connected

with Christ's first coming, as also many relating to historical events bearing on Jewish affairs, especially those recorded in the first part of the 11th chapter of Daniel and other portions of Scripture, are so clear and manifest, every jot and tittle having been fulfilled to the very letter, that we are bound to believe all prophecy yet unfulfilled is equally susceptible of interpretation if read literally and in connection with Christ's glory. The Jewish nation did not see, so blinded were they, the prophecies relating to Christ's humility and suffering, they only saw those speaking of the glory that should follow: so now in these days, Christendom refuses to see Christ's glory in the millennial age. The teachers of the people distort and misinterpret the clear words of prophecy, just as the Jews did of old, and in the direct face of all prophetical truth, deem that knowledge and missionary labours will bring in universal peace, irrespective of all that Scripture declares to the contrary; thus they dishonour God, and are guilty of committing those very sins of unbelief which brought on the Jewish nation the awful judgment of Divine wrath.

LUKE, XXIII, 43.

"To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.';

Paul, in 2nd Corinthians, xii, 2-4, designates "paradise" as synonymous with the "third heaven." Where that is is not revealed, it is notfor man to know the mysteries of the unseen world; but that it is a place of inconceivable glory and happiness none can doubt. In Revelations, ii, 7, it is called "the paradise of God"; and from our Saviour's promise to the penitent thief, it would seem to imply that it is the abode of saints who have died in the Lord, and who in their resurrection bodies are waiting till Christ-the "Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world"— shall take unto himself his great power, and shall descend on earth to receive the kingdom He has redeemed and purchased with his blood. That saints who die in the Lord are clothed upon with spiritual bodies appears clear from that wondrous scene of the Transfiguration; as also from the numerous passages in the epistles wherein Paul teaches