"These words the Lord spake unto all your a.s.sembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me. And it came to pa.s.s, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; and ye said, 'Behold, the Lord our G.o.d hath showed us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that G.o.d doth talk with man, and he liveth. Now therefore why should we die?

for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the Lord our G.o.d any more, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living G.o.d speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our G.o.d shall say; and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our G.o.d shall speak unto thee, and _we will hear it and do it_.' And the Lord heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the Lord said unto me, 'I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken. O that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep _all_ My commandments _always_, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever! Go say to them, Get you into your tents again. But as for thee, stand thou here by Me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.' Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your G.o.d hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside either to the right hand or to the left. Ye shall walk in _all the ways_ which the Lord your G.o.d hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess."

Here the grand principle of the book of Deuteronomy shines out with uncommon l.u.s.tre. It is embodied in those touching and forcible words which form the very heart's core of the splendid pa.s.sage just quoted.--"O that there were _such a heart in them, that they would fear Me_, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!"

Precious words! They set before us, most blessedly, the secret spring of that life which we, as Christians, are called to live from day to day--the life of simple, implicit, and unqualified obedience, namely, a heart fearing the Lord--fearing Him, not in a servile spirit, but with all that deep, true, adoring love which the Holy Ghost sheds abroad in our hearts. It is this that delights the heart of our loving Father. His word to us is, "My son, give Me thine heart." Where the heart is given, all follows, in lovely moral order. A loving heart finds its very deepest joy in obeying all G.o.d's commandments; and nothing is of any value to G.o.d but what springs from a loving heart.

The heart is the source of all the issues of life; and hence, when it is governed by the love of G.o.d, there is a loving response to all His commandments. We love His commandments because we love Him. Every word of His is precious to the heart that loves Him. Every precept, every statute, every judgment--in a word, His whole law is loved, reverenced, and obeyed, because it has His name and His authority attached to it.

The reader will find in psalm cxix. an uncommonly fine ill.u.s.tration of the special point now before us--a most striking example of one who blessedly answered to the words quoted above--"O that there were _such a heart_ in them, that they would fear Me, and keep _all_ My commandments _always_!" It is the lovely breathing of a soul who found its deep, unfailing, constant delight in the law of G.o.d. There are no less than one hundred and seventy allusions to that precious law, under some one t.i.tle or another. We find scattered along the surface of this marvelous psalm, in rich profusion, such gems as the following:--

"Thy Word have I _hid_ in mine _heart_, that I might not sin against Thee." "I have rejoiced in the way of Thy testimonies as much as in all riches." "I will meditate in Thy precepts, and have respect unto Thy ways." "_I will delight myself_ in Thy statutes; I will not forget Thy Word." "My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto Thy judgments at all times." "_Thy testimonies_ are also _my delight_, and my counselors." "_I have stuck_ unto Thy testimonies." "Behold, _I have longed_ after Thy precepts." "_I trust_ in Thy Word." "_I have hoped_ in Thy judgments." "_I seek_ Thy precepts." "_I will delight myself_ in Thy commandments, which _I have loved_." "_I remembered_ Thy judgments." "_Thy statutes_ have been _my songs_ in the house of my pilgrimage." "I turned _my feet_ unto _Thy testimonies_." "_I have believed_ Thy commandments." "_The law of Thy mouth_ is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver." "_I have hoped_ in Thy Word."

"_Thy law_ is _my delight_." "_Mine eyes_ fail for _Thy Word_." "_All_ Thy commandments are faithful." "Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven." "_I will never forget_ Thy precepts." "_I have sought_ Thy precepts." "_I will consider_ Thy testimonies." "Thy commandment is exceeding broad." "O how love I _Thy law_! it is _my meditation_ all the day." "How sweet are _Thy words_ unto _my taste_! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth." "_Thy testimonies_ have I taken as a _heritage forever_; for they are _the rejoicing of my heart_." "I will have respect unto Thy statutes _continually_." "I love Thy commandments above gold, yea, above find gold." "I esteem _all_ Thy precepts concerning _all_ things to be _right_." "Thy testimonies are wonderful." "I opened my mouth and _panted_, for I _longed_ for Thy commandments." "Upright are Thy judgments." "Thy testimonies ... are righteous, and very faithful." "Thy Word is very pure." "Thy law is the truth." "The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting."

"All Thy commandments are truth." "Thy Word is _true from the beginning_; and every one of Thy righteous judgments _endureth forever_." "_My heart_ standeth _in awe_ of _Thy Word_." "_I rejoice_ at Thy Word, as one that findeth great spoil." "Great peace have they that love Thy law." "_My soul_ hath kept _Thy testimonies_; and I love them exceedingly." "I have chosen Thy precepts." "Thy law is my delight."

Truly, it does the heart good, and refreshes the spirit, to transcribe such utterances as the foregoing, many of which are the suited utterances of our Lord Himself, in the days of His flesh. He ever lived upon the Word. It was the food of His soul, the authority of His path, the material of His ministry. By it He vanquished Satan; by it He silenced Sadducees, Pharisees, and Herodians; by it He taught His disciples; to it He commended His servants, as He was about to ascend into the heavens.

How important is all this for us! How intensely interesting! How deeply practical! What a place it gives the holy Scriptures! For we remember that it is, in very deed, the blessed Volume of inspiration which is brought before us in all those golden sentences culled from psalm cxix. How strengthening, refreshing, and encouraging for us to mark the way in which our Lord uses the holy Scriptures at all times, the place He gives them, and the dignity He puts upon them! He appeals to them on all occasions as a divine authority from which there can be no appeal. He, though Himself as G.o.d over all, the Author of the Volume, having taken His place as man on the earth, sets forth with all possible plainness what is man's bounden duty and high privilege, namely, to live by the Word of G.o.d, to bow down in reverent subjection to its divine authority.

And have we not here a very complete answer to the oft-raised question of infidelity, "How do we know that the Bible is the Word of G.o.d?" If indeed we believe in Christ--if we own Him to be the Son of G.o.d, G.o.d manifest in the flesh, very G.o.d and very man, we cannot fail to see the moral force of the fact that this divine Person constantly appeals to the Scriptures--to Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, as to a divine standard. Did He not know them to be the Word of G.o.d?

Undoubtedly. As G.o.d, He had given them; as Man, He received them, lived by them, and owned their paramount authority, in all things.

What a weighty fact is here for the professing church! What a withering rebuke to all those so-called Christian doctors and writers who have presumed to tamper with the grand fundamental truth of the plenary inspiration of the holy Scriptures in general, and of the five books of Moses in particular! How terrible to think of the professed teachers of the Church of G.o.d daring to designate as spurious, writings which our Lord and Master received and owned as divine!

And yet we are told, and we are expected to believe that things are improving! Alas! alas! it is a miserable delusion. The degrading absurdities of ritualism, and the blasphemous reasonings of infidelity, are rapidly increasing around us; and where these influences are not actually dominant, we observe, for the most part, a cold indifference, carnal ease, self-indulgence, and worldliness--any thing and every thing, in short, but the evidence of improvement. If people are not led away by infidelity on the one hand, or by ritualism on the other, it is, for the most part, owing to the fact that they are too much occupied with pleasure and gain to think of any thing else. And as to the religion of the day, if you subtract money and music, you will have a lamentably trifling balance.

Hence, therefore, it is impossible to shake off the conviction that the combined testimony of observation and experience is directly opposed to the notion that things are improving. Indeed, for any one, in the face of such an array of evidence to the contrary, to cling to such a theory, can only be regarded as the fruit of a most unaccountable credulity.

But perhaps some may feel disposed to say that we must not judge by the sight of our eyes; we must be hopeful. True, provided only we have a divine warrant for our hopefulness. If a single line of Scripture can be produced to prove that the present system of things is to be marked by gradual improvement, religiously, politically, morally, or socially, then, by all means, be hopeful. Yes; hope against hope. A single clause of inspiration is quite sufficient to form the basis of a hope which will lift the heart above the very darkest and most depressing surroundings.

But where is such a clause to be found? Simply no where. The testimony of the Bible, from cover to cover; the distinct teaching of holy Scripture, from beginning to end; the voices of prophets and apostles, in unbroken harmony--all, without a single divergent note, go to prove, with a force and clearness perfectly unanswerable, that the present condition of things, so far from gradually improving, will rapidly grow worse; that ere the bright beams of millennial glory can gladden this groaning earth, the sword of judgment must do its appalling work. To quote the pa.s.sages in proof of our a.s.sertion would literally fill a volume; it would simply be to transcribe a large portion of the prophetic scriptures of the Old and New Testament.

This, of course, we do not attempt. There is no need. The reader has his Bible before him; let him search it diligently. Let him lay aside all his preconceived ideas, all the conventionalisms of christendom, all the ordinary phraseology of the religious world, all the dogmas of the schools of divinity, and come, with the simplicity of a little child, to the pure fountain of holy Scripture, and drink in its heavenly teaching. If he will only do this, he will rise from the study with the clear and settled conviction that the world will, most a.s.suredly, not be converted by the means now in operation--that it is not the gospel of peace, but the besom of destruction that shall prepare the earth for glory.

Is it, then, that we deny the good that is being done? Are we insensible to it? Far be the thought! We heartily bless G.o.d for every atom of it. We rejoice in every effort put forth to spread the precious gospel of the grace of G.o.d; we render thanks for every soul gathered within the blessed circle of G.o.d's salvation. We delight to think of eighty-five millions of Bibles scattered over the earth. What human mind can calculate the results of all these, yea, the results of a single copy? We earnestly wish G.o.dspeed to every true-hearted missionary who goes forth with the glad tidings of salvation, whether into the lanes and court-yards of London, or to the most distant parts of the earth.

But, admitting all this, as we most heartily do, we nevertheless do not believe in the conversion of the world by the means now in operation. Scripture tells us that it is when the divine judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learn righteousness.

This one clause of inspiration ought to be sufficient to prove that it is not by the gospel that the world is to be converted; and there are hundreds of clauses which speak the same language and teach the same truth. It is not by grace, but by judgment, that the inhabitants of the world shall learn righteousness.

What, then, is the object of the gospel? If it be not to convert the world, for what purpose is it preached? The apostle James, in his address at the memorable council at Jerusalem, gives an answer, direct and conclusive, to the question. He says, "Simeon hath declared how G.o.d at the first did visit the Gentiles." For what? To convert them all? The very reverse--"_To take out of them_ a people for His name."

Nothing can be more distinct than this. It sets before us that which ought to be the grand object of all missionary effort--that which every divinely sent and divinely taught missionary will keep before his mind in all his blessed labors. It is "to take out a people for His name."

How important to remember this! How needful to have ever before us a true object in all our work! Of what possible use can it be to work for a false object? Is it not much better to work with a direct view to what G.o.d is doing? Will it cripple the missionary's energies, or clip his wings, to keep before his eyes the divine purpose in his work? Surely not. Take the case of two missionaries going forth to some distant mission-field: the one has for his object the conversion of the world; the other, the gathering out of a people. Will the latter, by reason of his object, be less devoted, less energetic, less enthusiastic, than the former? We cannot believe it; on the contrary, the very fact of his being in the current of the divine mind will impart stability and consistency to his work, and, at the same time, encourage his heart in the face of the difficulties and hindrances which surround him.

But however this may be, it is perfectly plain that the apostles of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ had no such object, in going forth to their work, as the conversion of the world. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be d.a.m.ned."

This was to the twelve. The world was to be their sphere. The aspect of their message was, unto every creature; the application, to him that believeth. It was pre-eminently an individual thing. The conversion of the whole world was not to be their object; that will be effected by a different agency altogether, when G.o.d's present action by the gospel shall have resulted in the gathering out of a people for the heavens.[19] The Holy Ghost came down on the day of Pentecost, not to convert the world, but to "_convict_ [?????e?]]" it, or demonstrate its guilt in having rejected the Son of G.o.d.[20] The effect of His presence was to prove the world guilty; and as to the grand object of His mission, it was to form a body composed of believers from amongst both Jews and Gentiles. With this He has been occupied for the last eighteen hundred years. This is "the mystery" of which the apostle Paul was made a minister, and which he unfolds, so fully and blessedly, in his epistle to the Ephesians. It is impossible for any one to understand the truth set forth in this marvelous doc.u.ment, and not see that the conversion of the world and the formation of the body of Christ are two totally different things, which could not possibly go on together.

[19] We would commend to the reader's attention psalm lxvii. It is one of a large cla.s.s of pa.s.sages which prove that the blessing of the nations is consequent upon Israel's restoration. "G.o.d be merciful unto us [Israel], and bless us; and cause His face to shine upon us, that Thy way may be known upon earth, Thy saving health among _all nations_.... G.o.d shall bless us; and _all the ends of the earth_ shall fear Him." There could not be a more lovely or forcible proof of the fact that it is Israel, and not the Church, that will be used for the blessing of the nations.

[20] The application of John xvi. 8-11 to the Spirit's work in the individual is, in our judgment, a serious mistake. It refers to the effect of His presence on earth, in reference to the world as a whole.

His work in the soul is a precious truth, we need hardly say, but it is not the truth taught in this pa.s.sage.

Let the reader ponder the following beautiful pa.s.sage: "For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of G.o.d which is given me to you-ward: how that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men"--not made known in the scriptures of the Old Testament, nor revealed to the Old-Testament saints or prophets--"as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets" (that is, to the New-Testament prophets) "by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel: whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of G.o.d given unto me by the effectual working of His power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the dispensation [???????a] of the mystery, which _from the beginning of the world_ hath been _hid in G.o.d_, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the princ.i.p.alities and powers in the heavenlies might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of G.o.d." (Eph. iii. 1-10.)

Take another pa.s.sage from the epistle to the Colossians.--"If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I Paul am made a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body's sake, which is the Church: whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of G.o.d which is given to me for you, to complete the Word of G.o.d; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints: to whom G.o.d would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily." (Chap. i. 23-29.)

From these and numerous other pa.s.sages, the reader may see the special object of Paul's ministry. a.s.suredly he had no such thought in his mind as the conversion of the world. True, he preached the gospel, in all its depth, fullness, and power--preached it "from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyric.u.m"--"preached among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ," but with no thought of converting the world. He knew better. He knew and taught that the world was ripening for judgment--yes, ripening rapidly; that "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse;" that "in _the latter times_ some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which G.o.d had created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth."

And further still, this faithful and divinely inspired witness taught that "in _the last days_"--far in advance of "the latter times"--"perilous [or difficult] times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, _lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of G.o.d_; having a form of G.o.dliness, but denying the power thereof." (Compare 1 Tim. iv. 1-3 with 2 Tim. iii.

1-5.)

What a picture! It brings us back to the close of the first of Romans, where the same inspired pen portrays for us the dark forms of heathenism; but with this terrible difference, that in 2 Timothy it is not heathenism, but nominal Christianity--"a form of G.o.dliness."

And is this to be the end of the present condition of things? Is this the converted world of which we hear so much? Alas! alas! there are false prophets abroad; there are those who cry, Peace, peace, when there is no peace; there are those who attempt to daub the crumbling walls of christendom with untempered mortar.

But it will not do. Judgment is at the door. The professing church has utterly, shamefully failed; she has grievously departed from the Word of G.o.d, and revolted from the authority of her Lord. There is not a single ray of hope for christendom. It is the darkest moral blot in the wide universe of G.o.d, or on the page of history. The same blessed apostle from whose writings we have already so largely quoted, tells us that "the mystery of iniquity doth already work;" hence it has been working now for over eighteen centuries. "Only He that now hindereth will hinder until He be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause G.o.d shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be d.a.m.ned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. ii. 7-12.)

How awful is the doom of christendom! Strong delusion! Dark d.a.m.nation!

And all this in the face of the dreams of those false prophets who talk to the people about "the bright side of things." Thank G.o.d, there is a bright side for all those who belong to Christ. To them, the apostle can speak in bright and cheering accents.--"We are bound to give thanks alway to G.o.d for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because G.o.d hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Thess. ii. 13, 14.)

Here we have, most surely, the bright side of things--the bright and blessed hope of the Church of G.o.d--the hope of seeing "the bright and morning Star." All rightly instructed Christians are on the look-out, not for an improved or a converted world, but for their coming Lord and Saviour, who has gone to prepare a place for them in the Father's house, and is coming again to receive them to Himself, that where He is, there they may be also. This is His own sweet promise, which may be fulfilled at any moment. He only waits, as Peter tells us, in long-suffering mercy, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But when the last member shall be incorporated, by the Holy Ghost, into the blessed body of Christ, then shall the voice of the archangel and the trump of G.o.d summon _all_ the redeemed, from the beginning, to meet their descending Lord in the air, to be forever with Him.

This is the true and proper hope of the Church of G.o.d--a hope which He would have ever shining down into the hearts of all His beloved people, in its purifying and elevating power. Of this blessed hope the enemy has succeeded in robbing a large number of the Lord's people.

Indeed, for centuries it was well-nigh blotted out from the Church's horizon; and it has only been partially recovered within the last fifty years. And, alas! how partially! Where do we hear of it, throughout the length and breadth of the professing church? Do the pulpits of christendom ring with the joyful sound, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh"? Far from it. Even the few beloved servants of Christ who are looking for His coming, hardly dare to preach it, because they fear it would be utterly rejected. And so it would. We are thoroughly persuaded that, in the vast majority of cases, men who should venture to preach the glorious truth that the Lord is coming for His Church, would speedily have to vacate their pulpits.

What a solemn and striking proof of Satan's blinding power! He has robbed the Church of her divinely given hope, and instead thereof, he has given her a delusion--a lie. Instead of looking out for "the bright and morning Star," he has set her looking for a converted world--a millennium without Christ. He has succeeded in casting such a haze over the future, that the Church has completely lost her bearings. She does not know where she is. She is like a vessel tossed on the stormy ocean, having neither compa.s.s nor rudder, seeing neither sun nor stars. All is darkness and confusion.

And how is this? Simply because the Church has lost sight of the pure and precious word of her Lord, and accepted instead those bewildering creeds and confessions of men which so mar and mutilate the truth of G.o.d that Christians seem utterly at sea as to their proper standing and their proper hope.

And yet they have the Bible in their hands. True; but so had the Jews, and yet they rejected that blessed One who is the great theme of the Bible from beginning to end. This was the moral inconsistency with which our Lord charged them in John v.--"Ye search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me; and ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life."[21]

[21] The word ??e???te maybe either imperative or indicative; but the context, we judge, demands the latter. They had the Scriptures; they were read in their synagogues every Sabbath day; they professed to believe that in them they had eternal life; they testified of Him; and yet they would not come to Him. Here was the flagrant inconsistency. Now, if ??e???te be taken as a command, the whole force of the pa.s.sage is lost.

Need we remind the reader that there are plenty of arguments and inducements leading us to search the Scriptures, without appealing to what we believe to be an inaccurate rendering of John v. 39?

And why was this? Simply because their minds were blinded by religious prejudice. They were under the influence of the doctrines and commandments of men. Hence, although they had the Scriptures, and boasted of having them, they were as ignorant of them, and as little governed by them, as the poor dark heathen around them. It is one thing to have the Bible in our hands, in our homes, and in our a.s.semblies, and quite another thing to have the truths of the Bible acting on our hearts and consciences, and shining in our lives.

Take, for instance, the great subject now before us, and which has led us into this very lengthened digression. Can any thing be more plainly taught in the New Testament than this, namely, that the end of the present condition of things will be terrible apostasy from the truth, and open rebellion against G.o.d and the Lamb? The gospels, the epistles, and the Revelation all agree in setting forth this most solemn truth, with such distinctness and simplicity that a babe in Christ may see it.

And yet how few, comparatively, believe it! The vast majority believe the very reverse. They believe that by means of the various agencies now in operation all nations shall be converted. In vain we call attention to our Lord's parables in Matthew xiii.--the tares, the leaven, and the mustard-seed. How do these agree with the idea of a converted world? If the whole world is to be converted by a preached gospel, how is it that tares are found in the field at the end of the age? how is it that there are as many foolish virgins as wise ones when the Bridegroom comes? If the whole world is to be converted by the gospel, then on whom will "the day of the Lord so come as a thief in the night"? or what mean those awful words, "For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape"? In view of a converted world, what would be the just application, what the moral force, of those most solemn words in the first of Revelation, "Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him; and _all kindreds of the earth shall wail_ because of Him"? Where are all those wailing kindreds to be found if the whole world is to be converted?

Reader, is it not as clear as a sunbeam that the two things cannot stand for a moment together? Is it not perfectly plain that the theory of a world converted by the gospel is diametrically opposed to the teaching of the entire New Testament? How is it, then, that the vast majority of professing Christians persist in holding it? There can be but the one reply, and that is, they do not bow to the authority of Scripture. It is most sorrowful and solemn to have to say it; but it is, alas! too true. The Bible is read in christendom, but the truths of the Bible are not believed--nay, they are persistently rejected; and all this in view of the oft-repeated boast that "the Bible, and the Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants."

But we shall not pursue this subject further here, much as we feel its weight and importance. We trust the reader may be led by the Spirit of G.o.d to feel its deep solemnity. We believe the Lord's people every where need to be thoroughly roused to a sense of how entirely the professing church has departed from the authority of Scripture. Here, we may rest a.s.sured, lies the real cause of all the confusion, all the error, all the evil, in our midst. We have departed from the Word of the Lord, and from Himself. Until this is seen, felt, and owned, we cannot be right. The Lord looks for true repentance, real brokenness of spirit, in His presence. "_To this man_ will I look, even to him that is _poor_, and of a _contrite_ spirit, and trembleth at My Word."

This always holds good. There is no limit to the blessing when the soul is in this truly blessed att.i.tude. But it must be a reality. It will not do to talk of being "poor and contrite," we must be in the condition. It is an individual matter. "_To this man_ will I look."

Oh may the Lord, in His infinite mercy, lead us, every one, into true self-judgment, under the action of His Word. May our ears be open to hear His voice. May there be a real turning of our hearts to Himself and to His Word. May we turn our backs, in holy decision, once and forever, upon every thing that will not stand the test of Scripture.

This, we are persuaded, is what our Lord Christ looks for on the part of all who belong to Him, amid the terrible and hopeless _debris_ of christendom.