the trump of God," is for the saints alone. Those who sleep shall hear and shall come forth, and those who may then be living shall with them be "caught up together in clouds to meet the Lord in the air." The judgment seat of Christ, the marriage of the Lamb, and the marshalling of the armies in heaven, with other events, will intervene before He comes with all His saints "in flaming fire taking vengeance." The Lord's departure and His return thus beautifully harmonize in character, fulfilling the words of the angels, "shall so come in like manner." His coming for the Church will be in marked contrast with His subsequent manifestation as King of kings when, as if fresh from the cross on Calvary, He appears with garments dipped in blood to avenge His death on a guilty world. In His coming as the Bridegroom for the bride there is a quiet homeliness of procedure, in marked contrast with the display of kingly majesty, "pomp and circumstance," with which He comes as the King to destroy His enemies and to subdue His rebel kingdom.

May the Lord, then, keep His people waiting and watching till He shall come to receive us unto Himself, that we may be at rest with Him ere He comes in flaming fire with His mighty angels, to take vengeance on them that have rejected Him, and to be admired in those who believe. Then shall the world know indeed that the Father sent the Son, and that He loves His redeemed ones, even as He loves the Son. The petition, "Thy kingdom come" will then be fulfilled, and the prayer of John xvii. will have its perfect answer. Till then, let our cry be, “Come, Lord Jesus!"

H. G.

CONFESSION. -Our confessions do not end aright if they end not in praise. We must not allow our failings to dim our eyes to God's grace.

8

THE MIRACLES AT THE CROSS.

MATT. xxvii. 45-54.

THE theme that occupies the souls of millions of saved sinners is expressed in the familiar words,

"When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the King of glory died."

And millions more will yet behold that Holy Sufferer with adoring wonder. But others have looked upon Him, and more will yet look, with very different eyes. "And sitting down they watched Him there," is what is said of the throng of the crucifiers on the hill of Calvary. Yes, they "watched Him;" but it was with the idle malicious eyes of lovers of sin and haters of God. And what millions, before whom He has been "lifted up," have since looked on Him with similar eyes! By means of the doctrine of Christ, professors of His name have in all ages given passing glances at the cross and at Him hanging on it, but alas! neither to trust Him nor to love Him. The cross of Christ has been used simply as a subject for the painted canvas, or as a theme for the mere sounds of music; or, worse still, as a pathetic part of the so-called "Christian religion," by which to dominate over the feelings and conscience of listeners. and by which to enhance priestly power and priestly wealth. But let us dwell on what is happier.

It is not so much to our Lord Himself upon the cross, or to the moral miracles of righteousness, mercy and love, which faith sees in Him in His dying hour that we would now turn, but rather to those external miracles which accompanied His wondrous death. These seem to be given us, as fingers from God, pointing all beholders to the infinite. value of that holy Offering which caused the rending

asunder of the Son of God Himself-soul from body-when He died for sin.

Crucifixion was fearfully common in Palestine under Roman rule, and the outward and visible part of the dying of our Lord was simply the yielding up His breath, as any other dying one does. The expression in Matt. xxvii. 50, "yielded up the ghost," is only old English for "gave up His spirit," and does not in the least imply any hastening of His own death by an act of His divine power. As His blessed head was bowed at that moment, any one of the idle beholders might have said to another, "Ah, the Nazarene is dead," just as the soldier also saw He was dead before he pierced His side.

But though in appearance like any other dying, how infinitely different was it in its nature and character and value! Hence the need of testimony to its deep and hidden worth. And surely one part of God's outward testimony to the unparalleled preciousness of the death of His Son is to be found in the recorded miracles that accompanied His dying hour.

The signs and wonders in Egypt compelled even the magicians to say, "This is the finger of God;" and well might the signs and wonders at Calvary extort from all who know of them the centurion's cry, "Truly this was the Son of God!" But, alas, they do not!

In Matthew's gospel the miracles recorded are three in number.

1st. The three hours' darkness.

2nd. The rending of the vail of the temple.

3rd. The earthquake by which the graves of sleeping "saints" were opened.

All these could be the finger of God only. They were no part of our Lord's living obedience, as were the miracles of feeding the multitudes or the raising of Lazarus from

the dead; nor were they any part of His dying obedience, for He had already breathed His last. They therefore contribute nothing to that glorious robe of righteousness which Jesus now is before God for the sinner. Had neither of the three miracles taken place, Christ's perfection for us before God would have been the same. Nor is either of them predicted in Scripture, as were even minute details of the cross, such as the piercing of His blessed side.

What, then, was the object of these miracles? Were they not amongst the outward and visible tokens of the unspeakable value of Christ's most precious death? They do not constitute its preciousness, but they direct our attention to what that preciousness really was. They are helps to the sinner's faith in Him. They are solemn waymarks, pointing to the sin-bearing Lamb, of God's providing.

Thus considered, they strengthen our faith while they also condemn all unbelief. In this the three are alike, but in character of testimony to Christ's death they differ, and also in sphere of application.

(1) The three hours' darkness was for the whole land; (2) the rent vail would be for the priests in their deeper sinfulness and malice; for only priests, it may be presumed, witnessed its rending; and (3) the opened graves (for three days) of "saints" would be for the "little flock" who had continued with the Lord in His temptations.

But the lessons taught by these three miracles also differ, and on this we may a little enlarge.

(1) The three hours darkness may serve to remind us of that passing "from darkness to light" which is God's first mercy to the sinner by the cross, and the saved sinner's first joy.

(2) The rending of the vail tells us of that unhindered and near "access" to God to which believers are called since Christ's death, and which none ever had before.

(3) The opened graves do surely point to that first resurrection of "saints" only, at Christ's coming, which is the blessed hope of all who are Christ's. This also was not revealed till the great Head of the Church had died.

The lessons taught by these miracles, it may be observed, embrace the whole earthly course of the believer. (1) Through Christ's death he passed in one brief moment from darkness into God's marvellous light (see 1 Pet. ii. 9); (2) thenceforth during all his happy days on earth he is a worshipper, drawing near to God without a vail between ; and (3) his link with earth ends at the moment of “the first resurrection," when he rises in fellowship with Christ's resurrection. How brief the first and last of these trophies of Christ's precious death; how life-long and precious is that which we are taught by the "rent vail !" But these events at the "wondrous cross " will reward a closer scrutiny; for they were stupendous miracles indeed. "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land to the ninth hour." Three hours of darkness from noon to three p.m., the brightest part of the day, and under the blaze of an eastern sun! What hand but God's could give it? The same Hand that ages before had brought a three-day darkness on less guilty Egypt now brings a similarly awful darkness on far guiltier Palestine; for Abraham's nation was worse than Gentile Pilate or his soldiers. Surely in both instances it was a God-given warning of the doom and the darkness of an eternal hell; and it was thus an arresting mercy from God, to fright them from it. It was as a writing on "the plaister of the wall" in the midst of their godless merry-making over their Victim's death!

Israel's sins are spoken of as a "cloud" and their transgressions as a "thick cloud;" and truly thick and dark must have been the cloud that covered Palestine for those three hours, summoned there by Him whom darkness