nate and harden themselves in their wicked opinions and purposes, or have seduced and rebaptized any person, or who have borne and had the name of prophets, apostles, or bishops, shall be put to death by fire. And all other sorts of people who have been rebaptized, or who secretly, and with previous counsel, have harboured any of the said Anabaptists or rebaptizers, and who renounce their evil purposes and opinions, and sincerely repent and are sorry for the same, shall be put to death with the sword, and the women in a sunken pit."

Nor was action taken in this and similar deplorable decrees without the concurrence of the chiefs of the Reformation for on the 7th August 1536, a diet was held at Homburg, at which was given the deliberate conclusion of Luther, Cruciger, Pomeranus, and Melancthon, "that the Anabaptists may and ought to be restrained by the sword; that those who have been sent into exile, and do not abide by the conditions, are to be punished by the sword." (To be continued.)

GOD IS LOVE.

1. John iv. 16.

READER! Do you love God, your Maker, Preserver, Provider, and who will be your Judge and Rewarder? If not, you do not know, or do not believe the text, "God is love!"

Perhaps you will say, "I believe that God loves some; but do you know and believe that God loves all-that God loves you? You do not deny this? But do you believe it, practically so; for no one is a believer, in the Scriptural sense of that term, who has not "obeyed the gospel." Yes, Jesus is the Saviour of all "who obey him." (Heb. v. 9.) He who " came into the world to save sinners," will come again to destroy those "who obey not the Gospel." (2 Thess. i. 8.) For the Gospel contains facts to be believed, commands to be obeyed, and promises to be enjoyed. The facts are the birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor. xv. 1 to 8, &c.); the latter, especially, proving that he is indeed the Saviour-the Messiah, "both Lord and Christ," "Lord and Saviour;" Saviour and Exemplar. The proposition to be believed is, briefly," that Jesus is

the Christ" (John xx. 31; 1 John v. 1, &c.), which includes the testimony concerning His birth, life, death, &c. Note then, particularly so, what is to be believed: and, as carefully, what is commanded in order to be saved. Not to merit or procure the blessing-for neither faith nor obedience can do this-but in order to receive the Saviour (John i. 12), and in order to receive the forgiveness of sins (Acts x. 43) through his name.

This blessing of forgiveness or salvation is a free giftthe gift of God through Jesus the Christ, whose name alone has been given under heaven among men, whereby we can be saved.

How the Gospel is to be obeyed, it is better that you should learn from the word of God than by any direction from man. Read therefore John iii. 14 to 18; Acts xvii. 30; Rom. x. 9, 10; with Matt. x. 32, and John xx. 31; Mark xvi. 16, with Acts ii. 38, and Luke vii. 29, 30; Matt. xxviii. 20, &c.

But do you, dear reader, sincerely and earnestly ask, What must I do to be saved? If so, read and consider these divine instructions. Remember that God alone can forgive sins; and come to Him for that inestimable gift just as He directs. Do you not desire it? Or are you unwilling to do what God commands in order to receive it? Or are you unwilling to lay aside the sin with which you are easily beset? Then are you as foolish, as wicked, as blind to your own interests as you are in danger of “ everlasting punishment."

Our text is "God is love!" God looks with pity and compassion on such as are in the way to death and woe! Read Ezekiel xviii. 30 to 32.-"Repent and turn

for I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God; therefore turn and live.".

God is "slow to anger," yet is He "angry with the wicked every day." "Behold the goodness and severity of God." "Not willing that any should perish❞—yet He says also, "Except ye repent, ye shall perish!" "If ye believe not, ye shall die in your sins."

Yes, God is love! His commands are not grievous. All He commands us to do is for our benefit; neither are we required to abstain from doing anything except that which would injure us. How great, therefore, is the folly of those who do not love and obey Him.

Come then, dear reader, at once to Him who stands ready to receive, forgive, and bless you. Oh delay not. Delays are dangerous in matters of importance." This is of the first and greatest importance.

There are many things which claim your attention, or will do so; many things which you have been accustomed to regard as important; and you may now be saying “I must do this, or I must do that?-What shall I eat, or what shall I drink, or with what shall I be clothed." Listen! "Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you!" Do what the Lord commands, and "the Lord will provide." It is sinful to do that which God has forbidden, and to omit doing what God has commanded, and also to delay doing so. God says, Now! "Now is the day of salvation!" And again, TO-DAY! "To-day if ye will hear His voice." To one who disregarded such words as these, God said, "Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required."

"" 66

Dear reader, you have at least one more opportunity of listening to the voice of mercy-God is waiting!! "Waiting to be gracious!' Ready to forgive!" We pray you, therefore, to be reconciled to God and to His commandsto His way of bestowing His favour. "Seek the Lord while He may be found." Oh! add your amen to the text, "God is love."

The way to heaven is straight and plain,
Repent, believe, be born again;
The Saviour cries aloud for thee,
Take up thy cross and follow me,
And thou shalt my salvation see.

W. D. H.

THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT.

1. INSPIRATION.

A correct understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit in the plan of salvation must, in the nature of things, go very far towards simplicity and clearness of conception respecting the entire method which God, in His wisdom and grace, has been pleased to institute for the reclamation of our fallen race.

Yet, confessedly, there is nothing within the range of human thought so baffling to the comprehension of the reasoner as the operation of spirit upon mind, and especially of the divine Spirit upon the mind of man,

But we do not propose to carry this issue to the bar of reason for

if we understand her province aright, she is, in this cause, more of a suppliant for information than a judge prepared to deliver a conclusion. Nevertheless, we have in the Scriptures given by inspiration of God words of prophecy so sure as that, if we but so well take heed as to arrive at the understanding of what is there written for our learning, we shall not walk in darkness, but enjoy the light of life.

To these writings, therefore, it is our purpose to go, in the elimination of this theme, during the currency of the present volume; and in so doing our one object will be to "expound the Scriptures."

In order to this, we begin at the beginning alike of "the book and its story."

While as yet the earth was without form and void, "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." "By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent." If we ask, with Isaiah, "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out the heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" we may reply God, or the Lord God, or the Spirit of the Lord: for the further question is immediately asked, "Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or, being his counsellor, hath taught him ?"

Thus, then, the agency of the Spirit obtains specific mention, along with the action of God and of the Lord God, in the work of creation.

But thus far there is no mention of inspiration. The heavens are made, and the earth with its fulness; but though the Spirit of the Almighty has operated throughout the great creative drama, it is only when man is brought upon the scene that any inbreathing on God's part is mentioned. The difference of the divine procedure in the creation of man, when compared with his method respecting the lower creatures, is very marked and instructive. God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed," &c.; "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly, the moving creature that hath life;" "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind." But all this done, and man is about to be called into being, the divine formula is altogether changed, and no more is mandate given to earth or water to bring forth, but God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." True it is that the Lord God "formed man of the dust of the ground;" but it is not less true that, after he had thus created the corporeal form, and out of the generic earth made the specific Adam-or earth as man-he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and thus "man became a living soul."

Thus was man at first inspired of God; thus was he qualified to "have dominion;" thus did Elihu speak the truth when he averred "there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding ""-"the Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life;" and thus did Paul homologate the Pagan tradition of man's descent from the deity, in quoting the words of Aratus, "We his offspring are."

This composite character of man's nature must not be forgotten, if we are either to know ourselves or understand the Scriptures. The Bible proceeds from first to last on the assumption of its truth. Here

it speaks of man as allied to the earth-as coming from it and returning to it; but then it speaks of him as living and moving and having his being in God, and his spirit as coming from Him, and as returning to God who gave it. Forget this latter, and at once the Scriptures appear a jumble of contradictions, and man is dethroned to the level of brutes. But keep the distinction in view, and the Scriptures appear, as in fact they are, entirely consistent while here and there affirming the earthly origin, nature, and destiny of man; not, however, anywhere denying, but in other parts affirming derivation from, and relation to, the living God.

It is this, indeed, which forms the basis alike of man's rationality, spirituality, and accountability, and of the divine procedure towards him in the history of redemption. God has prepared, so to speak, in man's nature a base for such operations as he instituted on the fall of our first parents, and now carries on to a final and glorious issue under the administration of the ever illustrious "Seed of the woman." Of this we shall furnish abundant proof hereafter.

It is enough, however, in the meantime, to have settled that man is by nature inspired of God; or, in other words, that he is possessed of a spirit, derived, not by the inflating of his lungs with atmospheric air, but by the inbreathing of "the Father of spirits." This settled, we can readily perceive the fitness of man as a vehicle of verbal inspiration. According to modern usage, it is this latter alone that is regarded as inspiration; but why should it be so, when the inspired page so ex· pressly affirms the natural inspiration of man? Nor is it of any force to say that the fall dis-inspired our race, for it was long after that calamity that it was said "there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding."

We do not, of course, affirm that the natural inspiration of man is enough to guide him respecting the duties of his relation to God. Whatever it was to our first parents prior to their fall, it certainly is insufficient for our guidance in things divine. Not by any name by which it has been called, whether reason, or conscience, or the inner light, singly or combined, has it ever evinced its sufficiency to direct our fallen race into the knowledge, much less the fellowship and favour of God. It gives man understanding capable of instruction, and so qualifies him for the reception of such ideas as by the word of inspiration God has been pleased to communicate.

Inspiration, in its higher sense, is that extra-natural gift of the divine Spirit, by which God at sundry times, and in various ways, has spoken to man. Sometimes the Spirit is said to have been upon, and sometimes in the prophets. According to Num. xi. 25-"The Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to Moses, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied." In allusion to God's oracular dealings with the ancient Israelites, Neh. ix. 30, says "Many years didst thou forbear them, and testified against them by thy Spirit in thy prophets."

that it was a

That which is pre-eminently distinctive of this gift divine communication of words. Were we to say it was a divine communication of visions or truth or ideas, this, though true, would not be so exact a statement of the matter as to say it was a speaking on God's part. Not only were the ideas to be expressed communicated, but the words likewise in which they were to find expression. Indeed, it is