the altar; for he knows that for a sinner there is no other meeting-place. In Noah's altar we see the ground of a sinner's confidence; and in Noah himself we see the sinner holding the beginning of his confidence steadfast unto the end.

Ver. 21." And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every living thing, as I have done. Ver. 22.While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

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The sacrifice was not for himself alone but for creation, for he took of every clean beast, &c. As the head of creation he came before God, placing these representatives of creation upon His altar; pouring out their blood, and so acknowledging the forfeiture of all life; consuming them in the fire, and so acknowledging entire desert of wrath for sin. It was not a thank-offering, though that might be included in it. It was an offering made by fire unto the Lord;" an offering that confessed sin and owned death as the sinner's portion; an offering which indicated also the offerer's knowledge of grace, and of the way in which that grace was to reach the sinner through the death of the substitute. Guilty, yet spared! This was Noah's confession before his altar in his own and his family's behalf, and in behalf of earth and its creatures. Guilty, yet spared through grace, by the substitution of another. Noah's was a burnt-offering; one whose smoke went up to heaven out of the midst of death, and blood, and ashes, whose "sweet savour" was owing wholly to the sacrifice out of which the smoke went up. Ah, it is not prayer or praise in themselves that are acceptable. These may do for the unfallen and the innocent; but for the sinner nothing will avail but that which comes out of the blood of God's slain Lamb.

God accepts the ascending flame and vapour. He is well pleased with this true type of Him who is to come, with this true shadow of the great sacrifice by which righteousness and free love are reconciled. Jehovah smelled a sweet savour, or, as the Hebrew has it, "a smell of rest," that is, such a fragrance as brought rest. God in His "anger and in His fury" had smitten the earth, and swept away man because of his sin; now His anger is turned away, and His "fury" becomes "rest,' because of the sacrifice which has propitiated Him.* It is here

* It is interesting to notice how the word "rest" is interwoven with this whole narrative. Noah's name is rest; the ark rested; the Lord smelled a smell of rest. As if from the birth of Noah He had been looking forward to this quenching of His anger-this rest of soul-in grace and righteous

ness.

just as in the case of David. When the angel had smitten the thousands of Israel, God said, "It is enough;" and when David offered the sacrifice, he was accepted and forgiven. God's soul could not get rest till it rested on that which was at once the acknowledgment of sin and the manifestation of its putting away. So it was not till His Son appeared, and put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, that God got the true rest in this world of sin. In Jesus, Jehovah rests and smells the sweet savour. He is the frankincense, and He is the bread of God; that which Jehovah is well pleased with, and on which He feasts. And it is when we, in believing the Divine testimony, are identified with the Son of God, that God finds rest in us as He found rest in Jesus. Then, "He rests in His love, He joys over us with singing" (Zeph. iii. 17).

But more than this, He proclaims grace. "He said in His heart (that is, with His whole heart), I will not again curse the ground," &c. The ground was already "cursed," He will not add to the curse; it was already groaning, He will not increase its groans. He might justly do this, seeing man is no better than at first, and the imagination of his heart is still evil from his youth; but He will not repeat the blow, He will let this judgment in the meantime suffice. His vengeance shall be stayed; the blood of the sacrifice shall prevail, both for man and for his world. Earth shall have her seasons henceforth in wonted and unbroken regularity till the great day of the Lord come. No second flood of water shall lay the ground desolate as this has done.

The great sacrifice had not indeed been yet offered; but it had been proclaimed and typified. In God's purpose it had already come, and on the credit of it God's grace had come forth to man and to his world. It was grace that did this, not the prospect of man's amendment, for his heart was as evil as ever: it was the certainty of the coming sacrifice, not the hope of man's improvement, that had stayed the infliction of a second and deeper curse. And up till this hour our world has found this true. No amount of human wickedness, not even the crucifixion of His own Son by His own chosen people, has provoked Him to pour out a second deluge.* Long-suffering triumphs over human wickedness. Sin abounds, but grace abounds much more. Of this, earth with its springs and

* "All the days of this earth" is the Hebrew expression for "while the earth remaineth." It is this expression which seems to be referred to by the Apostle Peter, 2 Pet. iii. 7-"the heavens and earth which are now." It is not till this present earth is just passing into the earth that is to come, that a like interruption to the processes of nature by fire, as at the flood took place by water, shall occur.

harvests is an unfailing witness. What a gospel does all nature preach to us! What a revelation of the grace of God is there in each daily sunrise, each budding spring and blooming summer!

ART. IV.-THE DISPENSATIONS.

FIFTH ARTICLE.

UNTIL an event has taken place, although its general features may be revealed plainly in the prophecies, yet its various details, being often only obscurely indicated, a certainty as to its fulfilment, in all its bearings, is necessarily unattainable. This remark applies to some events which are deeply interesting to us in our day, as likely to take place ere long, so far as we can judge from the signs of the times. Such an event is―

v. The great tribulation of this dispensation. When the Lord Jesus uttered His memorable prophecy, recorded in Matt. xxiv., He spake of "great tribulation," then future. And when the apostle had the visions in Patmos of things then to come to pass, he was told of " the tribulation, the great one" (Rev. vii. 14). In investigating our Lord's prophecy, we are led to conclude that the tribulation has reference to three distinct parties, viz. :

a. The Jews, as such.

b. The Gentile nations, as such.

c. Believers, as such.

a. "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place, then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: and woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! for then shall be great tribulation" (Matt. xxiv. 15-21). For these be the days of vengeance, for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people" (Luke xxi. 22, 23). The distress here spoken of plainly applies to the Jewish nation." And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (ver. 24). The continuation of this distress throughout the dispensation seems here to be as plainly predicted.

6. "Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and

earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows" (Matt. xxiv. 7,8). "And there shall be upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth" (Luke xxi. 25, 26). This distress again appears to refer to the nations of the earth, the Gentiles.

c. "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake” (Matt. xxiv. 9). "They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death" (Luke xxi. 12-16). Here we have believers undergoing tribulation for being believers.

These three seem to last as streams running parallel throughout the dispensation. But there are certain indications of the expansion of all three at the close of it. It is to this point in particular, the increase of the tribulation as the time for the Lord's advent draws nearer, that we now direct attention.

Firstly, as regards the Jews. This will be better entered into when we come to speak of their preparation for the reception of Messiah, and it is therefore deferred.

Secondly, as regards the Gentile nations. The passage in Luke xxi. 25, 26, quoted above, standing in its context immediately preceding the coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven, doubtless directs our thoughts to a distress that will overtake the nations of the world, more intense than any in the previous part of the dispensation. Anxiety as to the future events to come upon the earth, and commercial and political distress, seem to be the two principal features of this increased tribulation. The gathering clouds of the present times, bursting at intervals, as they have done, and soon again in all probability will do, betoken the commencement of this period to be not far distant. The continental outbreak of 1848 may be repeated ere long. The discontent in Italy only slumbers, it is not extinguished. The American commercial distress of 1856 was a heavy trouble to that country. And the revolt of one-third of the Indian empire was no light one to our own. Then, as to the future, when the last Antichristian power obtains its sway, and despotism, anarchy, and lawlessness, each striving for the mastery, shall be rife, who can paint the troubles of those who shall then be living on the earth? Of that time we read "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a

short time" (Rev. xii. 12). How near this time may be, it would be wrong to attempt to predict; but none will be so bold as to say that it is not near. We are no alarmists; but having the plain words of the Lord before us, we only obey Him in watching for and expecting such things.

Thirdly, as regards believers. A time of persecution for the truth's sake, of a character more afflictive than has yet been witnessed, is anticipated by many, as the dispensation advances towards its close. They who believe in the probability of an ecclesiastical council being summoned, as before expressed, consider that it will be an engine in the hands of Satan for carrying on a persecution toward believers, in which they will have to lay down their lives for their Master's sake. In this view they connect Rev. xiii. 15, with xiv. 11, 12, "As many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed," and, "Here is the patience of the saints," placed in the context with those who worship the image of the beast. This is again connected with Rev. xx. 4, "I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image." Keeping in view the anticipation of the revived French emperorship being also the revived Roman empire, we are reminded that beheading has long ceased to be the usual punishment of Christians for their faith's sake. The Romans crucified; the Romish Church burns; one nation only has the punishment of beheading, and that is the French nation. We must confess that we have a better hope than this, and that the saints will escape the tribulation at the end of the dispensation: the reason for this hope will be given when we come to speak of the taking up of the saints.

vi. "The gospel shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come." Thus spake our Lord, and consequently the universal preaching of the gospel must be an event which will distinguish the close of this dispensation. A hundred years ago, no man could say that the gospel had been preached in all the world; but now, very few are the nations to whom it has not been preached. The openings in China and Japan, and the discoveries of Dr Livingstone, have afforded, and probably will afford, opportunities for the propagation of the gospel heretofore unknown. Doubtless, God is opening every country for the entrance of His truth. But this is not to convert the world. Such an event before the second advent of the Lord Jesus is nowhere predicted. It is "for a witness," to tell of the Lord, of His work for sinners, and of His coming glory.