laboured, that whether present or absent I might be accepted of him? Alas, how much the opposite do I now find to be the fact? So true it is, that if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged, but when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world, 1 Corinth. xi. 31, 32. Nor is this all, for an intelligent investigation awakens a sense of responsibility, and while a mental agony seizes his soul upon this retrospect, he prays the more earnestly, Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities: create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit within me; cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me; restore unto me the joys of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free Spirit; then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee.' He now sets about working out his salvation with fear and trembling, in a manner and to an extent he never did before, and this be accomplishes by a ready, cheerful, and determined obedience to the whole of the faith of Christ, and to his inexpressible delight, he finds his loving Father through it working in him, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. He now exclaims with the psalmist, Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word,' and on he goes giving a developement of the Christian character in all its variety, till an abundant entrance is administered to him into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Thus, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them who are exercised thereby.' Having his senses now exercised to discern both good and evil, the Christian is no longer unskillful in the word of righteousness, but by it, and under its purifying power, he wars a good warfare, and lays hold upon eternal life.

I cannot close this imperfect glance without adverting to the times in which we live, as affording great facilities to the power of the enemy for carrying out his wicked devices against the children of God; remarkable as these days certainly are for the reign of a sectional and denominational christianity, made up of a series of shameful departures from the faith, and based upon the foolish notion that in it there are essentials and non-essentials. By yielding to these corruptions the child of God has been often caught in the snare, and sunk into deep waters, from the unhallowed and unhappy consequence of which he has often sighed for deliverance, and exclaimed with the poet

'Oh most delightful hour by man
Experienced here below,

The hour that terminates his span,

His folly and his woe.

Worlds would not bring me back to tread

Again life's dreary waste,

To see again my day o'erspread

With all its gloomy past.

My home henceforth is in the skies,

Earth, seas, and sun, adieu;

All heaven unfolded to mine eyes,

I have no sight for you.'

But a better day has certainly begun to dawn upon our world, when the Church of Christ shall distinctly recognise that there are given her by her Lord in the New Testament, all the elements of purity and unity competent to make her one, and only one beautifully organized body over the whole earth. Acting out this, the cry shall be heard, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen.' The good Lord grant its full and speedy accomplishment, and to him shall be all the glory by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Williamfield, Edinburgh.

W. N.

Poetry.

THE MESSIAH THE PRINCE.'
YES Jesus, thou alone art King,
All power belongs to thee;
Thy law alone shall rule supreme,
And thine dominion be.

No human law shall bear the sway
Within this Church of thine,
By right thou'rt constituted King,
And Governor divine.

Allegiance we have sworn to thee,
And by thy grace we shall

Defend thy sceptre, throne and crown,
From innovations all.

Correspondence.

INDWELLING OF THE SPIRIT-QUERY AND REPLY.

Dear Brother, Is it in accordance with the teaching of the New Testament, to receive as church members, or recognize as officebearers, those who deny that the Lord now gives the Holy Spirit to dwell in them that believe? WM. M'DOUGALL.

Paul wrote to the disciples at Rome, saying, 'I beseech you, brethren, mark them who cause divisions (dichostasias, i. e., dissents or dissentions), and offences (skandala, i. e., occasions of falling) contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them.'

Thus they were to avoid any one who by teaching contrary to that which the apostle had delivered, might introduce among them any elements of dissension, or of stumbling. If then the doctrine that the Lord does not now give the Holy Spirit to dwell in those who believe, be contrary to the teaching which these disciples learned of Paul, the doctors of it certainly ought to be avoided.

Mark then what he had taught them concerning the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, chap. viii. 8-17. They,' said he,' that are in the flesh cannot please God; but ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so that the Spirit of God dwell in you.' The word oKEO, to house, dwell, inhabit, is derived directly from oikos, a house, dwell

ing, home, or habitation; and with language so express as this of the ninth and eleventh verses, the denial that the Holy Spirit is now given to dwell in the believing is the direct opposite of the apostle's teaching. For be it observed that he makes the fact of this indwelling both the test of a man's Christianity, and the basis of his own argument respecting the Christian's standing, character, responsibility, resurrection, and glory. 1. Ei dè. But if any man have not the Spirit of Christ,' i. e., in the sense just named, oikeî ev vμîv, dwelling in him, ‘he is none of his :' he is no Christian, he is not in Christ, he is not in the Spirit; but in the flesh, and so he cannot please God. 2. Εἰ δὲ. 'But if Christ be in you,' in the sense named, by his Spirit dwelling in you, 'the body is dead because of (on account, or by means of) sin; but the spirit is life because of (on account, or by means of) righteousness, namely, that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God through the faith,' 'into and upon all the believing,' 'that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.' 3. El de. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you, i. e. he shall raise you as he raised Christ; for he being put to death in the flesh was quickened by the Spirit.' Not that he shall raise you in consideration of, but by or through the medium of the Spirit,-expressly the Spirit of himself now dwelling in you. It is agency that is here spoken of, and that so emphatically by the intensive pronoun autou, as purposely to exclude any other than that named. As the body dies by sin, so shall it be raised from the dead by the Spirit of God-the same Spirit that has already quickened the spirit of the believer through the righteousness of the faith, and having so made him alive unto God,' now dwells in him as the earnest of his inheritance, and of the redemption of his body from the grave. 4. Ei dè. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh, for if ye live after the flesh ye shall die, but if ye through the Spirit'-thus dwelling in you-do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live; for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God; for ye have not received the spirit of slavery again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of sonship, whereby we cry, Abba, Father; the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.' The Spirit dwelling in us, the Spirit received witnesses with, i. e., in connexion, in conjunction with our spirit, and so gives an internal and undeniable testimony to our filial standing. The entire argument being in proof of the primary proposition, that the Spirit of God dwells in the believing, the supposition that the apostle here intimates, that the Holy Spirit bears a testimony in heaven, or in the written word to our sonship, is manifestly illogical. The apostle is not speaking of what the Spirit does in heaven, or in the Scriptures, but what he does in the believer, as the habitation of God through the Spirit, given to him, received by him, dwelling in him. 5. El de. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.' We have thus noted the five times that the apostle employs the continuative particles, El dé, And if,' or 'But if,' to bring out the logical bearing of each of his statements upon the proposi

tion with which he starts his argument,—one not only in relation to, but in demonstration of the idea that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers is a fundamental characteristic of that state which he calls being 'in Christ.' It is therefore not in accordance with New Testament teaching to receive those who deny that the Lord now gives the Holy Spirit to dwell in them that believe. ED.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD AND HIS SHEEP-QUERY AND REPLY. DEAR MR EDITOR,-What ground has any person for concluding himself to be one of Christ's sheep, and that as such he is eternally safe? Please say, and so oblige, A Learner.

เ

In answer to this twofold question, be it observed, first,—that the Saviour in calling himself the good shepherd, quite explicitly intimates who are his sheep. He goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice; and a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. Again, I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.' And again, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.' Here we have no less than six unmistakeable characteristics of the sheep of Christ-three positive, and three negative. That is, those whom Christ recognises as his sheep, are they who hear his voice, and hearing, know or acknowledge him, and hearing and recognising him, follow him. Persons, therefore, are they, who know or regard not the voice of strangers,-who follow them not, but flee from them. Nothing on earth, therefore, is plainer than that he is the sheep of Jesus who hears, regards, or gives heed to his voice or teaching: thus recognises, knows, or acknowledges him as he therein sets himself forth, in his person, relations, character, and offices; and thereafter follows him, in imitation of his example and obedience to his commands. And nothing is plainer than that he is not the sheep of Christ, who gives heed to other teachers, acknowledges and follows them, instead of Christ. Yet are there multitudes professedly the followers of Christ, who are in fact simply the adherents of men. We have put it to not a few such, whether they follow Christ or men in adhering to congregations composed of all characters, instructed by but one or two humanly trained and elected teachers, ruled by human courts and statutes, practising infant sprinkling, promiscuous worship, six-weekly sacraments, half-yearly fasts, and many such things; and while they have admitted that their whole religious service consists in these matters of man's device, yet are they blind to the conclusion that they cannot be the sheep of Christ in such a course. But like a foolish flock, one of which has taken a false leap, all plunge blindly on, even though it be to destruction. We wonder not that such characters doubt whose sheep they are; while the true sheep-the faithful follower, has no doubt, but is always confident.' Be it noted, second,—that it is not of certain persons, but of certain characters-those described in his parable, that the Messiah said, 'I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.' That is, those who possess this character are the possessors of eternal life, they shall never perish; none shall pluck them out of

the good shepherd's hand. But the Saviour nowhere intimates that those who possess the character described may not cease to possess it,-may not cease to be his sheep; in other words, may not cease to hear, know, and follow him, and so may not cease to possess that life which he gives to his own. Men become his sheep by hearing, knowing, and following; they were not his sheep before they heard, knew, and followed him; neither do they continue his sheep if they cease hearing, knowing, and following him. If a man hear, know, and follow the shepherd of Israel for three years, he is for that time one of his flock, and all the privileges of the flock are his; but if at the end of that time he refuses to hear, know, and follow, he but sports himself with his own deceivings, if he imagines that any one of the benefits of Christian discipleship belongs to him. He can do for and against himself what none else can. As none can hear for him, know for him, or follow for him, so hearing, knowing, and following, none can pluck him out of the Saviour's hand; but discipleship neither makes him irresponsible nor infallible; and as by hearing, knowing, and following, he did for himself what none else could do, so by failing to hear, know, and follow, he does against himself what no other could have done-he plucks himself out of the shepherd's hand-he ceases to be his sheep. Therefore, Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall;' therefore, Be thou faithful unto death; therefore, 'He that endureth to the end shall be saved; therefore, Look diligently lest any man fall from the grace of God; therefore, the countless warnings of Scripture, not against sin merely, but against apostacy from the faith.

ED.

Entelligence.

THE HOLY CHILDHOOD. For a few coppers,' says the Montreal Witness, the missionary of Rome can buy a doomed child amongst the Chinese, or at least acquire the privilege of performing the sacrament of baptism upon him previous to his death. Soon after the child breathes his last and is saved. Indeed, the same end is often obtained without money, and even without the knowledge of parents, the priest being able according to circumstances to perform the whole ceremony unnoticed, under pretence of examining the child, or playing with him. From a late appeal to the Romanists of Canada on behalf of The Holy Childhood, we learn that over a million of francs has already been spent on that object alone, and that a contribution of ten pence will save four children,-five coppers a head. One thousand francs will save four thousand children. All this without taking into account that the donors to the work secure to themselves more than their money's worth, in special indulgences granted by the Pope. Last year the missionaries thus baptised 329,388 children, of which 247,041 are known to be actually dead, and therefore saved.' To those who still retain any faith in the Romish practise of infant sprinkling, the above advantages must appear very great, but as this belief is fast giving way, and the people are not so ardent as once they were in getting their offspring christened,' the protestant clergy should not lose sight of the example of the