and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel (an unbeliever)? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." GOD'S RESTORATION. By J. G. B. T. T. YOD'S grace in restoring gets the greatest victory over the enemy. When the conscience is soiled, and carries with it the remembrance of sin, then to be able to cast oneself still on the unfailing love of Godthis is victory of the highest order. It shone in Peter, when, in spite of his recent denial, he could throw himself into the sea to meet the Lord alone. And in the 23rd Psalm (as one has observed) the soul is restored before it walks again in righteousness. The value of that is this that there is a natural tendency in the heart to reach restoration through a renewed walk in righteousness. But this shews that the Divine way rather is to walk in righteousness through conscious restoration by simple faith in God: this is comforting, and if you consider for a moment, restoration will, in one way, appear more glorious than redemption, for restoration is the grace that meets the sin of the soul in having slighted redemption. And, indeed, such grace is blessed. It was restoration grace that shone in Jacob at Bethel. It was the brightest light that ever visited him. He had been an elect one before-the elder was to serve the younger; but all that grace he had wronged, and had taken his own selfish and crafty policy and was gathering the fruit of it at Luz. There, however, the restoring grace of God meets him, and turns Luz into Bethel. Leviticus is a book of restorations; the various provisions made by grace for trespasses and taints, and the abiding unchanging quality of God's love is the warrant for the soul applying this restoring virtue to itself, when it meets it-for God is love, not was love merely. We have a glorious display of God as a restorer in the history of Israel in the wilderness. Their journey there may be separated into three principal divisions. First, from Egyyt to Sinai (Exodus xii., xviii.); second, during their sojourning at Sinai (Exodus xix., Numbers x.); third, from Sinai to Canaan (Numbers x., Joshua iv.) and in each of these restoration shines gloriously. First, they have been redeemed, but fears and murmurings mark their spirit, and the glory in its cloudy resting place is disturbed by them. But the grace of God their Saviour is triumphant, and they meet at the Mount, according to promise, and all is glory there. Secondly, they had put themselves under law, but they forfeit all blessing from their own works; the golden calf witnesses their tremendous and complete apostacy. But the golden sanctuary comes to tell again of grace and salvation, and as a repentant and restored people they move onward in the light of the Lord. Third, they murmur and rebel again, from the highest to the lowest of them almost all fail. Moses, Aaron, Miriam, and all the congregation, in their turn, come short of the glory of God. They despise the pleasant land, they speak evil of dignities, gainsaying Christ in His kingly and priestly shadows. They trespass in Baal-peor and murmur again and again. But onward they go, Edom and Arad, Sihon and Og learn that the Lord is with them. Balaam and Balak are taught that God did not see iniquity in them, and the sword of Joshua finished the mercy to this once-redeemed and oft-restored people. The restoration may not indeed be in the same manifestation of glory as the first redemption was. Egypt and Pharaoh may be the scene of God's arm more magnificiently outstretched for Israel than Balaam and the plains of Moab; but the same arm was as effective at the last as at the first. God pleads with Pharaoh for Israel by plagues, but he pleads with Balak by confounding all the devices of Baluam. Israel goes out of Egypt with great honour when Pharaoh falls. Israel rests in his tents unconscious of danger when Balak is disappointed. The one was more in the show of greatness and glory, but the other was as effectual and certain. Thus Israel enters Canaan knowing the Lord as a Restorer as well as a Redcemer. As we enter our glory having known Christ as a Priest as well as a Victim. It I might add that after the journey through the wilderness ends in Canaan, the book of Judges comes to rehearse again the restoring grace of God. might be called the "book of restorers". Samuel was a great restorer, and Ebenezer is not the sign of redemption so properly as of restoration. The prophets were a line of restorers, and, in the history of Elijah, we see for a moment the power of restoration (1 Kings xviii.) John the Baptist came to cast up as the restorer of paths to dwell in. And Jesus is Redeemer, Restorer, Preserver to the end. He was and is, and is to come, for the need and the joy of His people. And the soul learns the same lesson by restoration that it did by redemption. It is like the refreshing of the first love, and consequently the first joy. Thus the Lord is seen to be everything as He was at the first. Hannah's song is the blessed experience of the soul having learned this in a day of restoring grace and power. Restoration is thus very glorious in grace. Redemption was the remedy for the ruin of creation, restoration is the remedy for the soul's slighting of redemption. At Corinth we learn something about restoration that is much to be observed, in the 1st epistle the saints there are rebuked by the apostle for not mourning when they ought to have mourned (1 Cor. v. 2), but this rebuke appears to have operated on their souls so powerfully (2 Cor. vii.) that the apostle began to fear, lest as they had previously erred in not mourning at all they might now err in mourning too much (2 Cor. ii.), and he tells us plainly that Satan could take advantage of the latter error as well as of the former; for he prevails by either making the soul indifferent to sin or overwhelming it with a sense of sin. So that it now became the care and the duty of Paul, as the pastor of the church at Corinth, to bring in his consolations and restorings, as before he had been rebuking and awakening. And it is exceedingly blessed to see this, that it is as much a desire of Satan to overwhelm the soul with a sense of sin, as to lead the soul into indifference about it. For the Lord takes a way as distinct from the one as the other He quickens our sense of sin and provides a remedy for it likewise. Father. It is our privilege, sure enough, to walk in the light, in unbroken communion with Him, abiding in Christ; and whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not (1. John iii. 6). But we do not always so abide "for in many things we offend all". (James iii. 2). What then is to be done when a child of God sins? Does he cease to be a child? or is he just to go on as if nothing had happened? Neither. The Father says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness". (1 John i. 9.) This is the remedy for a failing child"confess your sins, ;" not merely say, "Father, forgive me," but confess. Drag the sin out into the light-lay your finger on the black spot, and tell your Father exactly what you've been doing. Don't muffle the confession. It's a humbling thing, no doubt, to go over the sad story to a Father, but that's what it is meant you should do; and crying, "Father forgive me," is a much easier way of disposing of the thing, but not God's way at all. Then another important point is, confess at once. Whenever your sin comes to your knowledge, make a clean breast of it; and if you don't, the load will get heavier and the cloud darker, until at last you'll not know your whereabouts at all. Your conscience defiled and hardened, your communion with God broken, you will wander away further from God, till either a fall into open sin, or the stroke of a Father's rod, wake you up to consciousness. Many believers are like a clock that is "wound up only once a day. They keep up all their sins till bed time, and then in a general way bundle them all together, and tell God how bad they've been all day, and ask His forgiveness. The programme for next night is the same, and so on. It is needless to say that such people don't know communion with God. They live always in a hazy atmosphere; and their conscience not being very keen, no wonder that their life is not very straight. Young believer, wherever you are-in the shop, the factory, the kitchen, or on the street-the moment you fail, confess to your Father-keep a conscience tender as the apple of the eye; and thus walking in the light, you will easily see the shadow of a cloud, and you'll be in God's mind about what sin is. He is "faithful" and "just" to forgive you. Faithful, because He has said it; just, for the blood has been shed; and you. must just believe it, as you did at first, without “feelings," or "waiting for a change". J. R. THE REMARKS ON ROMANS IV. HE blessed theme of GRACE is still the subject. with Paul in this chapter. In ch. iii. we have it in its extent, "unto all," and this after man's ruin and need are most fully established. "There is none righteous, no not one," "All the world is become guilty before God". It is upon truths such as these that Grace flows in as a flood. "The righteousness of God" is for SINNERS, and is "upon all them that believe, for there is no difference, for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God". Can anything disturb this blessed principle of grace and unsettle the creature once in it? This question is answered in the 4th chap. Grace may be unquestionably established with sinners, but is it to be altered with saints when they have brought forth the fruits of faith in obedience? Does their obedience affect the grace that first blessed them? Is it to form any part as a foundation for their security and future blessedness before God? This is a most important question, and proposed by Divine Wisdom who knew the deceitfulness of the natural heart, and the wily suggestions of Satan in opposing the blessed principle of grace in this respect; thus giving credit to the creature, and disturb ing the minds and consciences of the lambs of Christ's fold. The doctrine of non-final preservation of the saints is taught where it is entertained that the principle of grace is disturbed, and the creature (though as a sinner, pardoned and righteous through grace), liable to relapse again into a condition of guilt because his looked-for obedience has failed to secure him in the condition into which grace first brought him. This doctrine in its present prevalence-in the very effects even which it produces in the minds of weak Christians, and the dishonour it casts upon the ways of God's dealing-makes the consideration of our question of much importance, as it either establishes or refutes this error. And it is one of great delight to the children of God to see answered in the divine scriptures of truth, and to view therein the riches of that grace which not only begins, but establishes the soul for ever in changeless security in the unsearchable riches of Christ. Then we shall see that we rest on a sure foundation, and enjoy the quietness of such blessed security. Grace shall thoroughly establish the heart, and all our services will be sweetened with His love rested in and enjoyed. Then we shall have true ideas of Divine Love and Divine Grace, in the perception of what they have done for us freely and forever. Grace is only esteemed precious when our hearts truly know its work and profit. Our need will lead to that when understood by the light and teaching of the Spirit of Truth. Grace meets all my need for ever, its supplies are commensurate with my being. Thus grace sets aside the disquiet and anxieties of the soul about its eternal welfare. It is grace "unto eternal life," and this gives "everlasting consolation". This grace is the subject of the chapter before us. Every truth here brought out exhibits and establishes it to our comfort. Abiding grace, its character, which makes it worthy of the name, and suitable to our everlasting welfare indeed. The chapter commences by questioning the results of Abraham's faith in their bearing upon his position in grace. "What shall we say therefore that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory, but not before God." "What saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness." The question ("was he justified by works?"), referred to Abraham when already justified and walking in obedience, and the answer ("not before God") shews its object. Grace was still the ground he had to stand upon as a saint, not his works. It shows that what he was first justified by, that he stood in for ever :—viz, faith in the word of God. Abraham's works had not at all disturbed his position in grace. He needed the same shelter then, as before, in the righteousness of faith. In all that he did he could not glory before God. This leaves the first ground untouched, and so we get the warrant of his establishment in blessing for ever. For if his obedience could do nothing towards changing the ground of his blessing before God, his failures certainly could not, for grace was his title to blessing; and grace ever militates against what is contrary to it in us-i.e., sin. God saw sin in Abraham as much when an obedient saint as when he was a sinner, otherwise Abraham would not be obliged to keep his first ground of faith to maintain righteousness before God. The principle of faith in God through which Abra ham received blessing, leads us on to the principle of grace in which God was dealing with him, "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." So faith implies grace, and grace presupposes sin. Therefore Abraham still occupying this position of faith, when a saint in obedience is shewn to be as much without a ground of acceptance in himself or his works, as when he first believed, still a sinner justified freely by grace. For if we follow on the chapter we learn the work of grace, and discover the character of the object on whom it is bestowed to be a Sinner. "Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sin is covered." Here we learn the work of grace, forgiving iniquities and covering sin; and the sinner's character who is the subject of it-iniquitous and sinful. Such was Abraham's character, such the grace of God toward him, aye, even when acting in obedience in the energy of faith, as well as in failure, and in failure as well as in obedience. Thus we perceive the fixed principle of grace out of which nothing could displace Abraham. Neither his obedience, nor his evil actions of unbelief could do it. And are not all the children of Abraham objects of the same grace? Can God adopt another way of dealing with sinners from that in which he dealt with Abraham? No; these things were written for our instruction and comfort, for we are told "Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed unto him, but for ours also, to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead". We see then the fixed principle of grace for our own selves also, out of which nothing can displace us. Here indeed we have a sure anchor fast bound on a rock of which God Himself is the strength. All in us may shake, but this grace is as immovable as Himself. 'Tis grace from first to last-faith from beginning to end. God never saves a soul and then places it under conditions for final perseverance. No; the first action of grace in God is the final one; 'tis grace throughout, grace without works. As God begins so He ends. His grace is not diminished after we believe. necessity which led God so to deal with us in grace, through believing still remains in our personal unworthiness. Therefore the principle of blessing (grace), and the medium constituted of God to know it (faith), Our remain unchanged in all circumstances. Thus we perceive our security against judgment and condemnation, and learn grace in its true bearing, humbling us, yet preserving us. Some people talk about conditional salvation, making good works and a continuance of faith the conditions. Such, I cannot but think, are ignorant of justifying grace. The ungodly are the exclusive objects of it. And can they know themselves to be such, and still believe in conditional salvation? Grace acts towards sinners without works. Its freedom of dispensation is based upon sin and unworthiness in us; and the assumption of merit is an obstacle opposed to it, and proves such to be altogether without it. As to faith being the condition for final preservation, this too is to deny grace, the action of God in justification, and to give undue credit to the poor, lost, impotent creature. Does not this notion savour of hatred to the free grace of God, where, in a party of only two, the weaker, the altogether helpless unworthy one, should be so prominently looked at as the security of so important an object as Eternal Salvation? All staked on his faith as his own voluntary action, and the "God of all grace robbed of His due honour as the God of Faith! Such persons cut the grace of our Happy God short, and see it not in the glorious workings of its power, bringing salvation to the lost, bringing them under its dominion and protection, triumphing over them as a spoil taken from the strong, and made the very inheritance of God for ever (Eph. i.) Such are blind to the force of grace breaking down very barrier, bounding over every obstacle, until it reaches the sinner, and plants and preserves him in Christ for ever. Such do not see the subordinate relation of faith to the free antecedent justifying act of grace in God, which bringeth salvation and not faith. Faith is but the reception of it, on the principle upon which God bestows salvation, but neither the cause nor the security of it. This entirely exists in God's faithfulness to its price paid in the blood of Jesus. It becomes a matter of faithfulness in God to bestow this salvation for the price paid for it, as it was a matter of His grace to plan and execute it without the concurrence of the creature on whose behalf it was designed. Such persons see not that salvation is the act of God, and not the work of faith, though faith is necessarily exercised as the constituted medium of its reception, unavoidably brought into action upon the principle of grace. the Salvation by grace can only be salvation through faith. If by grace, as the divine principle of its bestowment, it cannot be by faith conditionally on the opposite principle of works. What procures salvation secures it faith does neither. The grace of God bringeth salvation and secures it. Faith is an action of the soul accessory to its reception and enjoyment. The truth of God-His holiness, His righteousness, His grace, and the blood shedding of Jesus upon cross are united together in the plan, execution, bestowment and security of the sinner's salvation. Faith is subsequent to the antecedent salvation which the work of Jesus effected, which it receives and enjoys after God makes it known to the soul by the Spirit. His grace calls sinners from a state of alienation, guilt and condemnation, brings them nigh to Himself, having justified them, places them in covenant relationship and security to Himself, makes promises to them. All this is done in grace. So grace found Abraham in uncircumcision. This was a condition of sin and alienation. In that state grace justified him. Circumcision was but the witness of it, being a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he already had. Now as uncircumcision is a state of sin and alienation from God, so circumcision of the heart is a state of acceptance, and righteousness, and covenant relationship to Him. Grace found Abraham in, and brought him out of the one into the other; and his security of abiding in it was on the very same ground by which God brought him out of the former condition of nature. He did it by circumcision which typifies the work of the cross, and testifies to the righteousness of God as well as to His grace. The cross is the power of God unto salvation, and is our security in it. It is a witness of sin in us by nature, but of sin judged and passed away. So therefore it is the seal of righteousness to all that believe, as circumcision was to Abraham. Here we see grace reigning through righteousness. Grace the stream, righteousness the channel; justification flowing down the stream from God to the ungodly, and righteousness conducting it to us, as ours by purchase through the blood of the Lamb. The cross is the witness of the righteousness we have by faith, as it is of sin put away. The consequence is that we are introduced into covenant relationship to God on the ground of righteousness, and upon this He can give us the promise of Eternal Inheritance, which cannot be forfeited, as the security of righteousness is in the work of Jesus. Thus the inheritance is ours in the security of the perfected work of Jesus on the cross. This is not security conditional on any terms to be performed by us; it is a certain security beyond all liability of failure. Thus we see the fixed principle of grace, the certainty of its results, the firmness of the ground God takes to bless us, the divine wisdom of the plan upon which He executes the counsels of His love, and establishes peace with sinners consistently with all the perfection of His character. Here we rest in peace, confidence, security, enjoyment; "if God be for us who can be against us"? To be continued, FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE. Faith, Hope, and Love, three precious gifts, To all His saints while journeying here, Faith is the eye that pierces far Beyond this gloomy night; And brings all heaven before our gaze, Is the unchanging Lord. Both sure and steadfast named, And maketh not ashamed. The glories yet in store; Until he shall appear. But soon shall Faith be lost in sight, G. S. J. |