whole ritual was a preparation for fuller knowledge of it, and to impart a sure hope as to its possession. Jew and Gentile were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. i. 4, 9; Col. i. 16-20). The doctrine of our soul's everlasting salvation rests not on the interpretation of few, or even many parts of Scripture; it is the grand meaning of all, and it is the great purpose underlying all that our earth contains-the grand expectation of mankind.

All the great facts of the Old Testament are germs of greater truths. The Creation and Man's Supremacy are typical of the New Heavens and the New Earth, and of Man's enthronement with Christ (Rev. xx. 6; xxi. 1). The promised redemption by the Seed of the Woman, the crushing of Satan, the subsequent dominion of Adam's seed, were all in the far future; nevertheless, the ancient men were to partake of them (Rom. iv. 16; v. 14) because their faith saw the things afar off. Adam, himself, the first sinner; being figure of the second Adam by whom came righteousness. Death was potentially abolished in the first Gospel promise; and on that account, though Adam was sentenced to die, he lived on until he knew of One whose blood spoke better things than did that of Abel. Immortality began to shine in that most ancient of all predictions (Gen. iii. 15) concerning the Seed of the Woman.

Enoch was translated. Men, no doubt, knew that he was translated some whither. The translation was in agreement with his faith as to Divine Life, and as to partaking of that Life; the translation-mystery was an unveiling of another world (Jude 14).

The Flood came: from that overthrow Noah was

saved to people a new world, and to be heir of righteousness which is by faith-the righteousness of Christ. So clear was the insight of Noah, so sure his conviction of good things to come, though the coming was far off, that he gave up all that was present, and did it gladly, in prospect of a distant but glorious heirship.

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, were promised a land, and blessings, and privileges, which, in their own bodies, they obtained not. Were the promises of God of none effect? Certainly not; those temporals meant eternals, and that life was a token of life everlasting. The Patriarchs sojourned in a country that they knew meant a Heavenly Country, and looked for a city whose Builder and Maker is God. Abraham received Isaac from the altar of sacrifice in a figure of Christ, and of the Resurrection to come (Heb. xi. 9, 16, 17). As to Isaac blessing Jacob and Esau, of Joseph's faith concerning possession of the land, of Moses' confidence in the people's delivery, we are told plainly that they saw the future; and were willing to give up the present for sake of a greater and better life to come (John i. 9; iii. 36; viii. 56; xvii. 3; Heb. xi. 22–26).

This, so great faith, made the occasion in Abraham for a direct promise of universal blessedness (Gen. xii. 3); and in Jacob the assurance of a heavenly inheritance (Heb. xi. 16), and the strength that waited for salvation (Gen. xlix. 18, 26); we regard as growing out of an abiding sense that they lived for, and in God. Thus abiding in the Eternal, they knew that they lived, and should live, because of Him: future life was a certainty, but of the particulars they were ignorant. Scripture revealed a plan, in gradual development, coming more and more into view; and appearing with more definite

P

ness in the ancient facts as men comprehended their meaning.

Not only was the presence of God made known to Moses by the Burning Bush; the Messiah, and the Resurrection, were proclaimed (Luke xx. 37, 38). The promised land was a type of the Heavenly Canaan; the ceremonies of the Law were shadows of good things to come; the promises were more than temporal, some better things being contained in them (Heb. xi. 16, 40). Forbidding intercourse with evil spirits, and with spirits of the dead, was not only corrective as to the superstitious excess of spirit-culture, with which the people had been acquainted in Egypt; but proof that there are spirits, and that such attempted intercourse with the world beyond the grave, is dangerous, even deadly. The people were not to seek unhallowed instruction: for God would speak to man by His Son, and fully declare the life of the world to come.

The Smitten Rock; the Flowing Water; the Pillar of Cloud and of Fire; the Passover Lamb, which saved from death; are to be interpreted by the fuller light which shows that Christ and His Salvation were there in parables. The recurring sacrifices, the special ritual on the Day of Atonement, all tell of rescue from danger, and of good things to come. Balaam's desire to be in his death as the righteous (Numb. xiii. 10) means that he coveted the good man's future part. The words of Job (xix. 25-27) as to his flesh, and his Redeemer, most certainly mean more than mortal life contains. The psalmist's declaration, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell" (xvi. 10); and again, "Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory'

(lxxiii. 24); and that declaration (xxv. 14), “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant”—mean the covenant of life through Jesus Christ. The words in Proverbs (xiv. 32), "The righteous hath hope in his death," are not to be taken in the lowest, but best and highest, meaning—life everlasting.

No doubt prophets and saints were sometimes afraid, and spoke out their terrors. "Shall the dust give thanks to Thee? or shall it declare Thy truth?" (Ps. xxx. 10). "Dost Thou show wonders among the dead? or shall the dead rise up again and praise Thee?" (Ps. vi. 5 ; Eccles. ix. 5; Isa. xxxviii. 18). These natural expressions -and who has not used them even now in troublous times?—are to be corrected by Hosea's knowledge (xiii. 14) of Death's destruction, and of a ransoming from the grave. He spoke with the words and spirit of St. Paul (1 Cor. xv. 55), “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

Many prophets and kings desired to see and know more of the things so fully manifested to us (Luke x. 24) ; yet did not see; but some future good things were revealed with such clearness by Moses and the prophets, that any one not believing would not be persuaded, "though one rose from the dead" (Luke xvii. 31); Isaiah, who knew of the offering for sin (liii. 11), looked on to the new heavens and the new earth. Ezekiel, in the resurrection of his people, saw a future life (xxxvii. 1-14); and Daniel plainly showed that men awake from the dust (xiii. 2, 3)). Joel's picture of judgment (iii. 11-21) goes beyond any transaction in the Valley of Jehoshaphat; it is the destruction of Hades and Death (Rev. xx. 14).

Zechariah (ix. II, 12; xiii. 7-9) declares a future deliverance and life by the Eternal; and Malachi (iii. 1-6, 17; iv. 2) predicts times of burning, as in an oven; and of jewels to be bright with light, for the crown of God. From all this, and much more may be gathered out of Scripture, we learn that men of old, when tortured and martyred, would not accept any temporal deliverance, "that they might obtain a better resurrection" (Heb. xi. 35).

The ancients did not possess the clear knowledge of immortality which greets our spirit. The splendour in our life, the sublime thought of our mind, the grand hope of our heart, was not a sunny brightness to them, but as light from a distant star; nevertheless the partly unseen, the glimmering of the not wholly unknown eternal quantity, enlightened their genius, quickened their desire, gave grandeur to their life. They rose up from the darkness of troubled hours and lived in the life of an ever-living God. They ascended, in their joy, to that gladness which is felt in the presence of the Eternal. The pure, the strong, the highly intellectual, were moved by that same spring whose impulse carries our spirit to commune with the Almighty. Jesus overcame the sharpness of death for us and opened the gates of Heaven to them. The majestic fact of everlasting life is so vast that it was looked on from the very beginning. No intelligent

creature was left without hope of it. If men were dark, it was because they would have it so. Only unbelief, wilful sin, makes the earth a solitary place, or wilderness, to any man. Whosoever will may look up and discern the pinnacles of Heaven. In a little while,