2. Show what light it throws on other Scripture teaching.

3. Point out the relation between the statements here contained to Christian Doctrine generally.

First. We are to try and see how this passage shapes our thinking as to who and what Jesus Christ is. We have in it three distinct lines of thought :

a. We have Christ in heaven, subsisting as the God.

b. We have Christ on earth, stooping as the servant.

c. We have Christ again in heaven, but -reigning as the Saviour.

a. We have Christ in heaven, subsisting as God (ver. 6).

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There seems to be no room for doubting that this verse declares the pre-existence of Jesus Christ. The word rendered "being" is an important one, and not a mere copula here. It is equivalent to "subsisting;" and this subsisting is, plainly, prior to his being made in the likeness of men, i.e., before Jesus Christ was seen in human form, He was. And this is in exact accordance with what He and His apostles taught. He existed before his advent. "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world." He existed prior to Abraham. "Before Abraham was, I am." He existed before the world was made. "Now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before. the world was." He existed before all creation. "By him were all things created."

But what was the form of His existence ? Was He a subordinate, inferior being, doing the bidding of His God, or was He Himself God? Our text tells us, 66 He subsisted in the form of God," i.e., He was the out-shining, self-revealing God; or, as the writer in the Epistle to the Hebrews puts it, "the express copy of His substance." The outer vestiture of God was His. But, if He be in the form of God, He must BE God. No creature can have the form of the Creator as to its subsistence, however it may resemble Him in moral likeness. The subsistence of a dependent creature cannot be like. the subsistence of the independent God.

A further expression is still stronger, viz, that He thought the being equal

with God no act of "robbery." The "being equal with God," is a very plain phrase which needs no explanation. The question is, What does our text say that Christ thought the "being equal with God" was? According to our version it is, "No act of robbery." There is, however, a delicate shade of thought here, which I am not sure that I can succeed in conveying. "Robbery" is taking that which belongs to another, and makes him poorer. But the word rather means, taking that which does not belong to one's self, and making one's self richer. The word "assumption," or "a thing to be caught at," would more nearly express the apostle's idea. Christ thought it no assumption to be equal with God. The Godhead was not something very near Him, outside Him, which, belonging to Him, would make Him richer. It was His own nature. It was Himself. Equality with God was His own, not something beyond Him to be seized. He could not acquire it. He had it. He subsisted as God. Deity is His, not as attribute conferred, not as possession acquired, not as dignity assumed, not as an assumption at all. It was No assumption to be equal with God. It was essence, not accident, eternal, intrinsic right, and not a derived glory!

Further: Comparing this expression with the argument in which it stands imbedded, there is another turn of thought, conveying substantially the same view as to Christ's pre-existing glory. It might be called the same thought turned slightly round. The apostle is setting forth the condescension of Christ as a reason why we should cultivate lowliness of mind, and be ready, for the sake of others, to forego what is really and rightfully our own. He argues thus: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, though He subsisted in the form of God, and deemed equality with God no assumption, yet he waived that, and emptied Himself, and took a servant's form. When man's necessities were pressing, He did not think it too much to cease to insist for a while on His equality with God." But, then, Christ must have had equality with God, or the argument

* We should prefer the passive word, "assumpt," if it were allowable. It would be more exact.

can have no force, unless Christ's condescension, as here referred to, be supposed to consist in His not insisting on that, which if He were not God, it would have been blasphemy for Him to claim!

There is no interpretation to be given of this passage in accordance with the demands of its terms, its grammar, and its argument, which can land us in any other conclusion than that of the true and proper Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ! Here, then, is our first definite landingplace.

Christ being equal with God in subsistence, then His being is uncreate and underived. He did not borrow existence from the Father, but was externally immanent in Him, really distinct, yet fully equal, the outshining, self-revealing God. He was not dependent on any outside. power. Go back to what point of time soever we may, we cannot find the moment when Christ began to be! His existence is unconditioned. It is independent of space or time. It is immutable. It cannot decline. Ere a single seraph had begun to burn before the throne of the Eternal, or a single cherub waited as minister there, ere the first orb was rolled forth into space, then did Christ exist, then had he existed, as eternally, as unchangeably as now, deriving nought from without, His own eternal and exhaustless fount of life and power above!

Equal with God? Then in Him are all the perfections of God, without stint Then His or flaw. Equal with God? Then His will is the law of the universe. "Thousand thousands minister unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before Him." By His own inherent, everlasting right He is Lord of all! Equal with God? Then all knowledge is His. The past, the present, and the future are one eternal now. The divisions of time, so helpful for us, ale not needed by Him. The entire race of mortal life, with all its ten thousand thousand cares, stands out before the Almighty Saviour's eye as a speck on the background of infinite space, as a unit on the background of the infinite age. Equal with God? Then is He the great Creator and sustainer. He bears up the pillars of the universe. He is seated on the throne of universal empire. The wheels of Providence, so high that they are "dreadful," at His

bidding, move ever, ever on! He "fainteth not, neither is weary." Equal with God? Then hath He the worship of heaven, as well as of earth, as "God over all, blessed for evermore"!

CONDITION OF SPIRITUAL HEALTH.

BY THOMAS D. MARSHALL, ESQ.

No. 2.

PURITY. Every nurse knows that her patient must be clean or he will not recover. Every mother knows that her children must be clean or they cannot be well. So spiritually, to be made clean is to be made whole.

The Son of God became man and died that he might buy us back from the dominion of sin and purify us unto Himself (Titus ii. 14), and now He lives for the very purpose of saving us from our sins. With implicit confidence, therefore, we may call upon Him as our Almighty Sanctifier, "Wash me and I shall be clean." As the refiner's fire cleanses the dross from the metal, and as the fullers' soap removes impurity, so He engages to purify His people, that they and their services may be pleasant and acceptable before God (Mat. iii. 3, 4).

Scriptural purity means the utter abandonment of every defiling companionship and association, and the renunciation of every unholy practice and impure habit; so Paul first 66 renounced the hidden things of dishonesty," and then exhorted his fellow-believers, "let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the Spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord." (2 Cor. vii. 1).

The appetites that lead men into sin may be divided into two classes, the first being the natural and God-created, as hunger, thirst, etc.; the second being the unnatural and self-induced, as the desire for intoxicating drink, tobacco, etc. The former Christ is willing, when the members of the body are yielded to Him (Rom. vi. 13-22), so to govern and regulate that "whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do," we may do "all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. x. 31). The imperious dominion of the latter He is willing to completely remove. Here is liberty for the captive! Here are glad tidings indeed.

a

In a meeting at which I was present, an intelligent man, a builder's foreman, spoke on this subject to the following effect :"Before I was a Christian I was drunkard; when I became a Christian I gave up the drink, but I did not lose the desire for it. Soon I felt the old appetite getting stronger and stronger, till it swept away all my resolutions and I drank and was drunk. Then I was filled with shame and remorse. I prayed and vowed and sought pardon. I went on again, but again fell in the same way more than once or twice. But a year ago Mr G

came

here and told us that if we gave ourselves up, body and soul, to Christ, and trusted Him to do it, He would take away the desire. I did it, and I have not wanted the drink since."

In this same way our living Lord can and does take away anger, envy, malice, and every evil thing that we, in obedience. to His word, renounce. Until He thus cleanses us we cannot possess His joy of health. That man only can be "happy who condemneth not himself in that

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thing which he alloweth" (Rom. xiv. 22). It has been truly said that omnipotence cannot force happiness upon the selfindulgent or the angry man.

Scriptural purity is only possible when we are willing, thoughtfully and prayerfully, to consider the varied relationships in which we stand, as parents or children, masters or servants, husbands or wives, or positions we may be occupying, ecclesiastical or otherwise, in the Church or in the world, with the definite and fixed purpose of rectifying in His strength, any and everything that He shall show us to be wrong in the relation we sustain or the positions we fill.

A dislocated limb cannot but be a cause of pain and weakness till it is placed in its proper relation to the other members of the body.

There are positions in the professing Church and in the world in which it would be as impossible for an enlightened man of God to maintain a good conscience as it would be impossible to retain physical health while dwelling in a malarious locality, or in a plague-infected house.

LORD, give me grace to be watchful, and to keep on the armor of faith, that, as I pass from conflict to conflict, I may pass on conquering and to conquer. BOGATSKY.

Author of "Bible Waters," "The Furnace," "The Penalty," &c.

Well would it be for the Church of Christ if professing Christians would more frequently and solemnly remember that correctness of creed, elaboration of Church machinery, and energetic zeal in service. will all prove unavailing and unprofitable unless the professed religion permeates and purifies the life. A man may say credo to all the fundamental verities of Christianity-he may be most punctilious in his observance of Church routine, and most energetic in his efforts to improve others, but if his religion be not vigorous enough to govern him it will never be strong enough to save him. The apostle Paul calls attention to this when writing to Titus. He says, "The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously, godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."

Here Paul clearly teaches that there are evils to be suppressed and virtues to be developed, and that the gospel of the grace of God is both designed and adapted to accomplish these ends.

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Ungodliness" embraces all unbelief of God's word-all disobedience to the Divine command-all disesteem of the Divine character-all neglect of His Holy claims-in a word, everything that tends to deprive the soul of conformity to God. Ungodliness is un-god-likeness. The ungodly man is one who is opposed to the Infinite One, and who daily departs farther and farther from Him.

"Worldly lusts" embrace all the improper desires pertaining to the present state of being all those evil passions to which men in this world are prone. "Worldly lusts " is not a phrase denoting simply those gross sins of sensuality and drunkenness which are too common in society. There are many professing Christians who, though temperate and virtuous, are yet too much under the dominion of "worldly lusts." worldly lusts." What is that yearning for honour which sometimes

of

carries the man beyond the limits modesty and mutual respect ?—A worldly lust. What is that thirst for wealth which prevents (a man giving, as the Lord has prospered, to the cause of Christ? -A worldly lust. What is that longing for power which leads the man to break down or leap over all precedents and precautions ?-A worldly lust. What is that desire for pleasure which carries a man to questionable practices or forbidden places? -A worldly lust, Oh yes, alas! there is a host of "worldly lusts" dogging our steps at all times. But this "ungodliness and these "" worldly lusts the religion of Jesus is intended to uproot and destroy. "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."

Whilst the evils are being suppressed the gospel also teaches us that "we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present world." These are virtues to be developed.

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1. There are those which pertain to the government of self. These are covered by the word " soberly." It is a common mistake to conclude that when the apostles speak of sobriety that they allude alone to the reverse of drunkenness. Paul says, "Let us not sleep but let us watch and be sober." A bishop must be sober." Deacons' wives must be " grave, not slanderers, sober." Peter says, "Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober." "Be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer." 66 Be sober, be vigilant," &c. Now, it is not absence from, or temperance in the use of, strong drinks which is here alluded to by the word "sober." That must be included in Christian sobriety, but the word covers. far more than that. To be "sober" is to be discreet, prudent, and blameless in deportment. Sobriety" is the mastery over our tempers, passions, and appetites. When Paul tells Titus that the gospel was given to develop excellencies and teach men to walk " soberly," he means that it is adapted and designed to train men to becoming and peaceful use of temper, tongue, thoughts, and emotions.

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-in a word, to govern self.

Oh, reader, this is the noblest kind of government, and without it a man is not fit to govern others. He who is monarch of his own mind and life is the only real potentate. The highest sovereignty is

are

that of the man who can truthfully affirm that his thoughts and affections brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Peter the Great once struck his gardener a blow from which in a few days. the poor man died. Hearing of his death Peter exclaimed, with tears in his eyes, "Alas! I have civilized my own subjects; I have conquered other nations, yet I have not been able to civilize or conquer myself." There may be occasions when we may reproach ourselves in like manner. Let us see to it that they do not again occur. Let us make it the grand business of each day to live in all things "soberly."

2. There are virtues pertaining to our relationships to our fellow men. The gospel comes "teaching us that we should live righteously." The religion of Jesus inculcates fidelity, justice, rightness in all our concerns with men. Of old, God gave directions that the very snuffers of the Old Testament sanctuary should be of pure gold; teaching us thereby that He requires the poorest, meanest, and most hidden of his disciples to be free from the contaminations of the world. Christ inculcates our duty when He says, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." There is no greater stumbling block to the world than the inconsistencies of religious professors in their relationship to one another. The absence of righteousness cannot be atoned for by the presence of intelligence. Whitefield often affirmed that he would "rather have a church with ten men in it right with God, than one with five hundred at whom the world laughs in its sleeve." He was right. Better far is it for any Christian fellowship to have only one member added to its numbers in twelve months if that one be full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, than have hundreds of new members who bring into the Church the worldly tempers and tendencies they cherished outside. Yes, it is because there is not enough righteousness-rightness between man and man

that our holy religion is brought into such frequent contempt. The gospel is given to teach us that our hands must be clean, our intentions straightforward, our schemes transparent, our motives pure, our thoughts charitable, our words kindly; in fine, that we should be so crystalline that Heaven's pure and purifying light

may be transmitted through us to

others.

3. Then the apostle refers to the virtue which pertains to our relationship to God. The Gospel comes "teaching us that we should live godly"—that is, piously-in the full and faithful discharge of our duties to God. Prayer, faith, resignation, vigilance, study of the Divine Word, and efforts to obey the Divine will are all embraced in this word "godly." Godliness is, therefore, to righteousness and sobriety -what the cause is to the effect-what the foundation is to the superstructure-what the root is to the plant-what the tree is to its fruits. To live "godly" is to live in sweet converse with our Maker, so that our affections become gradually assimilated to the character of the Divine Being. A man so living will live righteously and soberly in order to win the smile of his heavenly Father's approbation.

Thus, then, two processes are being carried on in the truly Christian heart and life the processes of destruction and creation contraction and expansion diminution and development. "Ungodliness and worldly lusts are being suppressed; and a galaxy of glorious virtues toward God and man is being cultivated and confirmed. May this be your experience, dear reader.

"Watch'd by the world's malignant eye Who load us with reproach and shame, As servants of the Lord most High,

As zealous for His glorious name, We ought in all His paths to move With holy fear and humble love."

KINDS OF TEMPTATION.

BY REV. A. LOWREY, D.D.

DISTINGUISHED by their sources,

there are four kinds of temptation. There is a form which may be said to come from God. It is written, "God did tempt Abraham" (Gen. xxii. 1); and we are taught to pray, "Lead us not into temptation." This must imply that in some qualified sense the Lord may lead us into temptation. As the administration of God is sovereign and all-controlling, we must allow that nothing can occur outside of His established chain of causation, or wise permission.

As His power is infinite, and as it has pleased Him to concede influence to second causes, it is easy to see how He can dispose the events of any man's life in a thousand different ways. He may do this by immediate interposition in every case, or by indirection through various media, responsibly independent, and yet subordinated to His control. In this disposing work God is influenced by human conduct, by fervent prayer, and strong faith. Hence the propriety of praying "Lead us not into temptation." We may be rushing headlong into disaster; but God in answer to prayer may cause our path to deflect this way or that, and graciously avert the evil. He did so in the case of David, and Saul of Tarsus; they were both saved on the brink of ruin. God may also tempt us in the sense of trial, by proposing tests to our faith and fidelity. This was the nature of Abraham's temptation, when required to offer up Isaac. Such, too, was the ordeal of Job. The sterling man so understood it, and therefore said, "He knoweth the way that I take, and when He hath tried me I shall come forth as gold."

This crucial process is never designed to ensnare, or project sin into the mind; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man" (Jas. i. 13).

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We

Our Father tempts for the same purpose that He chastises His dear children. are told that earthly parents chastise for their own pleasure, "but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness." He gives us the philosophy of this disciplinary treatment in the next verse: "Now, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby" (Heb. xii. 11). How many have been burnt out and refined in this process! How many have lost all their worthless dross in this kind of a crucible! And how many waste and barren fields-fields all overgrown with briars, and thorns, and noxious weedshave been cleared and cultivated, mellowed and seeded, dressed and pruned, until they have yielded a rich and abundant harvest.

It is true the work of felling trees, burning logs and brush, grubbing up roots