we are not the prisoners of Jesus Christ-when we Our all after their journey? Yes; that was all. A your end will be one of agony and remorse, and you Matt. ii. 1-12: A story of our childhood, but full of blessed teaching. Those Magi, true to the light they possessed, were looking out for any message or sign their God might give them. Their eyes and ears were open to receive whatever He might send them, and they were ready to arise when the call came-content to obey, and leave the rest to God. And they "came to Jerusalem," those three pagans, in the singleness of their faith, and asked, "Where is He that is born King of the Jews?" not "Is He born?" They had no doubt; When the light comes to you, but-"Where is He?" And when Herod heard it are away from God, and He shows you your state, "he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." "Arise." If you are enchained by worldliness, Yet they had had the Scriptures; every Sabbath- and He says to you, break from that circle, "Arise." day the Prophets were read in their midst; but they If He reveal to you the things in your house, remained unmoved. And now at the word of three your soul, which must for ever be left "behind," heathen men asking after their own king-"for" Arise," be true to your light and obey; or if not, we have seen His star, and are come to worship Him," there were gathered together the chief priests and scribes to find out where He should be born; and they found it was written-" in Bethlehem." They might have known it; they were studying the Scriptures, but never looking for the Messiah till those three stood among them, and with their grand faith demanded of them "Where is He?" They had journeyed for years to behold Him, and when they came found His own people troubled at their question and unheeding His approach. Yet their faith did not fail, and they followed on, while the rest continued their studies, and remained unmoved as before!" And they, having heard, . . . went their way." How glad they must have been to be once more outside that atmosphere of unbelief, under the free canopy of heaven, and alone with their Star! Their faith had withstood much, but the greatest test yet awaited them. "And lo, the Star went before them till it came and stood over the place where the young child was." A young child? Yes; a young child. And that was ... Isaiah 1x. 1: "Arise, be enlightened, for thy light is come." "Arise!" "I cannot; my habits, my bonds, my nature, are too strong for me." It is good, if thou hast arrived so far, to recognise thy powerlessness; thou shalt know, at least, the worth of the Christ who hath redeemed thee from the ancient tyrant. "Let my people go that they may serve Me," and Pharaoh was compelled to let them go. The world has been crucified to us by the bruising of the body of Christ, our bonds are broken, through His Cross He has made us free. Not in our efforts is there freedom; to Him be all the glory. To escape from ourselves there is nothing but Calvary, and healing only in His wounds. When thou sayest "I cannot," it means too often, “I will not." Thou knowest He is true, that He has power to deliver; but there is below all thine excuses a poison of mistrust towards thy Lord, as if, when thou hadst given thyself to Him, He would abuse thy trust! Oh, enter again into your true centre; enter into harmony; enter into Christ. Then that which is your cross in life, your difficulty, shall be "for" you, according to His word. All things are yours, when you are Christ's; while you are not, all things are contrary to you. Fear not to pass over into His hands all the threads of your poor life; He will know how to disentangle the most entangled skein; provided that you keep none of it in your own hands. And the Lord Jesus can bring into our life what the world can never bring. ... John xii. 32.-"And I... will draw all men unto Me." Many things are drawing us, attracting us, there are voices on all sides, and there are moments which are moments of crises in our lives; when we hear the various voices; and it is a question which we shall follow. "And I . . . will draw." Every victory gained by looking unto Jesus; we become more and more drawn, attracted to Him; and less and less drawn or attracted by other things, and then we become deaf to other voices and blind to other sights" Save Jesus only." First an act, then an attitude of faith. When danger is at hand, Jesus, who sees afar off, signals it to us, and we signal back to Him and are kept; it does not touch us then; and can no more draw us away. Luke x. 30-37. The road to Jericho was a The that He could see all, yet so near that He became Our Neighbour (notre prochain), and looked at the wounds close to, so close to that he was "moved with compassion." He came on to that road to bind up and heal; and the nearest (les plus proches) are those that have fallen lowest, though we have all been low enough to have a claim on the Healer. Let Him undertake your healing, He has pity on you when you have no pity on yourself. murderer would console you after having wounded you; but look in the Word, and see your bleeding wounded self, and have pity. There is no healing till you have been in the hands of the Good Samaritan; and He will not heal a little, He will save us to the uttermost. His is a perfect healing, and till you are healed you cannot heal sin-sick souls or lead them to Christ. No other charity can ever touch the real wounds of our brethren nor heal them. From whence comes the selfishness of Christians? They are not near enough the heart of Jesus, and they have not learnt to despair of themselves. When you have despaired of yourself, you will despair of no other, and when you have been healed, you will believe in healing for all. Christians are those who fulfil the mission of Christ; who give themselves no rest in seeking the lost. And to whom are we to be neighbours ? To those furthest off. "To whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much." The echo of all to some of us was this: "In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply." . . . "I have blessed, . blessed." May 12th, 1882. yea, and thou shalt be B. G. L. H. UNION OF "ALL FOR JESUS" DISCIPLES. dangerous one, infested with robber-bands, and travellers passed that way in peril. It is a picture of our life in the world. We are all on that road, and we have fallen among thieves, and have been hurt and covered with a thousand wounds; and -the greatest injury of all-we have been robbed of love towards our God. The child who has no taste for His father's house is a lost child; it will go anywhere else rather than home; and a heart that is a stranger to its Heavenly Father is a heart spoiled of its greatest treasure. We have been wounded unto death. We have no love. It is enough to take one word, to see that, e.g., when we speak of the duty of religion (vers. 31, 32). Let us not throw too many stones at the priest, the Levite; if we are far off from God, we cannot bear to look at the misery This sympathy strengthens into love. Friendship without and sin which surrounds us from near. There is love is an empty term; it is merely acquaintanceship. But Jesus loves His friends, and His friends love Him-yes, only One who can bear to look at it; One so high up dearly, deeply, devotedly. He loves them. Greater love June, 1882. 1. TEXT: "I have called you Friends" (John xv. 15). What a delightful designation,-surely one of the most precious of all! How much it implies! Now Sympathy, springing from mutual knowledge, is the basis of true friendship: and Jesus and His "friends" are in sympathy. That is to say, more exactly, they love His thoughts about everything, and rejoice as feelings corresponding to His own exclusively possess their hearts. could not be than His: He has laid down His life for them, and says to each of them, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." Ah! yes,— "The love of Jesus, what it is None but His loved ones know." They know! Praise God, it has been revealed to them, and it fills their hearts with joy. And they love Him. "We love Him," they say, "because He first loved us." His first; then theirs, when His is understood and shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost. Thus there exists a deep, strong, enduring attachment between Jesus and His friends. And great is their mutual joy. He rejoices in them, and they in Him. St. Peter says their joy in Him is "unspeakable." It is the truest, brightest, holiest joy of all; a foretaste of the "fulness of joy" in the home beyond. O the joy of being able to say of Jesus, "This is my Friend!" Now: Friends of Jesus-Make much of Him. He has gone into the Holiest of all to appear in the presence of His Father in the behalf of His friends. Each one may say, "He is there for me." This fact is full of comfort. Every moment He bears our names on His heart before God-thinking of us, caring for us, securing our present and eternal welfare. Let us make much of Him: He is an unchanging Friend. Sometimes, professed friends are found fickle and unreliable. Their friendship is firm one day, slack the next, and gone the third. Not so with His. He remains the same, "yesterday and to-day and for ever." He is also an unfailing Friend. We may tire even dear friends by our "continual coming," so that we may almost read in their countenances, "What! here again ?" But we shall not weary Him. His sympathy is exhaustless. His generosity is unbounded. He loves to help every one of His friends to the full measure of their need-up to the brim,* as one may say. Other friends may be most tenderly kind, coming to us in our troubles, weeping with us, and doing all in their power to comfort us-but their loving ministrations may, nevertheless, fall far short of our need. It is different with Him. O the rest, when the weary head is indeed upon His breast! O the intense relief when "I am with thee" is sweetly whispered to the soul! We know it is He who is able to do for us "exceeding abundantly"; yes, and purposed, too. His old friends make much of him. It is specially characteristic of those who have known Jesus long, that they think of Him with intense devotion, and speak of Him in terms of deepest, most grateful, love. It is very sweet and profitable to listen to them. They have much to say; and what they say is, evidently, so heartfelt and real. His young friends should make much of Him. Some do. One Sunday night, in an after-meeting, a little girl, who was kneeling with many others at one of the free benches, was asked if she "loved Jesus." She instantly raised her head, looked up at the speaker with a sweet, happy smile, and replied, "Oh, He is such a dear friend to me! I think I may say that Jesus specially loves His young friends; and is ready to make their lives so bright, and their hearts so glad. Just another word. The friends of Jesus should make much of one another. David loved to show kindness to Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake. Let all who are dear to Jesus be dear to us for His sake. The Church of Christ is a great Society of Friends; and the friends should be friendly among themselves, as well as towards Him. While looking lovingly at Him, we should not look askance at one another; and, while seeking eagerly to draw nearer and nearer to His feet, we should be careful (may I use these commonplace words?) not to tread carelessly on one another's toes-that hurts. And so, the needed word 3: each our ears, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind one to another-for, ye are my friends." πληρώσει Phil. iv. 19. 2. FULL CONSECRATION: 66 MY FRIENDS." The words of grace divine, O happy is the servant Who standeth at Thy gate, Great, great indeed had been our bliss A more exalted place: In fellowship with Jesus- To us Thy heart is open, And we are sheltered there : O may we faithful be; No life apart from Thee: Then we Thy friends will take In them may we Thy loved ones see, 3. INTERCESSIONS (Daily): For "Me (A. F. J. U.), that I may receive the fulness of blessing." My brother, that he may be brought to Jesus." 66 "Me (A. F. J. U.), commencing work as a Scripture Reader, that I may be filled with the Holy Spirit, and be blessed to many souls." "A member (A. F. J. U.), that she may exercise full trust, and receive fulness of blessing." "Myself (A. F. J. U.), on the 4th of June, when I shall (D.V.) receive priest's orders, that I may be fully and perfectly consecrated to Jesus." "Increased blessing on my Bible classes, and on work among warehouse women in the City." "Our poor distracted country (Ireland), that God may graciously over-rule these dreadful troubles to His glory." "Grace be with you all. Amen." St. Paul's, Newport, Mon. J. T. W. Bible Study. THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE PASSOVER. (LEV. XXIII. 10-14). IMMEDIATELY Succeeding the Passover was the Re surrection, and indeed a part of it. Emphatically the Resurrection. It was as necessary a part of our Lord's work that He was to rise again, as it was that He should die. As we know, He is "the Resurrection and the Life" (John xi. 25). But if His death was shadowed by the Passover His Resurrection was shadowed by the First-fruits, which were offered on the morning after the Passover Sabbath (Lev. xxiii. 10-14). In Palestine, the place of the institution of all these typical offerings and sacrifices, the first green ears of the barley harvest were fully formed by the time of the Passover. This is what is referred to. Let us look at it for a moment. 1. It was the morning after the Sabbath. That Sabbath-day-that "high-day," as the Jews justly called it (John xix. 31) which intervened between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. It was the morning after this, that first day of the week, on which our Lord rose from the dead. This was the day of the offering of the First-fruits. 2. We are not left in doubt as to its meaning, and Who it is that is here represented. In that systematic unfolding of the great facts and doctrine of the Resurrection which Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church he fixes the meaning for us, and attaches the symbol to the person of our Lord in His Resurrection-" Christ the First-fruits" (1 Cor. xv. 23). 3. The details of the institution are well worthy of a close and careful examination: green ears of corn fully developed. The freshness of the returning season, the beauty of the reviving creation, the glory of the hope of the coming harvest, are all here put before us. But lest we should forget the cost at which these blessings are procured, the use that was to be made of them is significant. They were to be fresh, parched, and beaten or rubbed out (Lev. ii. 14). How truly do these words describe Him who is the First-fruits of them that slept (1 Cor. xv. 20). Pure, tried to the uttermost, and so tested that nothing but the fulness of all that is perfect was found in Him. The description of the first-fruits in connection with the meat-offerings, as given in Lev. ii., has one very remarkable word in it, which is full of meaning. It is "full ears corn beaten out of "full ears." The word used in the Hebrew is "Carmel," the fruitful mountain, corn grown then in garden-ground-a chosen spot-of careful cultivation, and precious fruit as the result. What care the Spirit of God takes to convey to us His thought of Christ—are we equally careful to receive the instruction? 4. But the sheaf of the first-fruits was to be waved before the Lord, to be accepted for us (Lev. xxiii. 11). So Christ, having been lifted up as the Sacrifice first of all, was raised from the dead, accepted, as our justification (Rom. iv. 25). Seen only by His disciples first of all, as the true witnesses of His Life, His Work, His Death, His Resurrection, hereafter to be waved, or seen, by all (Zech. xii. 10; Rev. i. 7). It 5. Let one thing further be noted respecting the First-fruits of the Passover. It could not be offered until the promised land was reached (Lev. xxiii. 10). This may seem a self-evident truth, having reference only to the fact that no harvest could be hoped for or reaped so long as Israel was in the wilderness. is, nevertheless, full of significance. If the crossing of the Jordan and the settlement in the land tell us of rest in the midst of conflict and victory-then the full meaning of our Lord in the first-fruits is only fully received and enjoyed when these things are experienced. While wandering in the desert, however important the lessons there learnt, there is but feeble apprehension of Resurrection-blessings and Resurrection-power. If Crucifixion means death, Resurrection means Life; but it is the Life of Joy and Separation-Joy in Him who is our Life (Col. iii. 1-4); Separation unto Him who is our Lord and Master. "Ye are Christ's" (1 Cor. iii. 23). To be possessed is better than possessing. We have both. Let us joyfully claim our privileges as risen with Him (Col. i. 1), and as joyfully take the place of ministers, stewards, servants, sons, and friends. When we come to the Pentecostal First-fruits we shall see what God is demanding of us. Meantime our hearts shall respond to God's demand—“Seek the things which are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God" (Col. i. 1). HENRY F. BOWKER. LIFE VOL. IV. THE OF FAITH. JULY, 1882. THE PRESENT BLESSINGS OF THE NEW CREATION. BY THE EDITOR. No. III. IN our last issue we considered the provisions God has made for us, and which are essential to our holiness, as well as our usefulness and happiness in this life. We now proceed to consider the results of a personal appropriation of these provisions. What change takes place in our experience when these blessings become present realities? This brings us at once to the gist of the whole question-What is the "Second blessing?" It is not so much the reception of a new doctrine as the beginning of a new experience. The life of strain is exchanged for a life of spiritual liberty and ease. The soul has changed its strength. Instead of being driven by the force of duty it is now drawn by the power of love. Difficulty, we know, is a relative term. Things are difficult of accomplishment if the amount of strength at our command is limited, and perfectly easy if there is a full supply. That which would be difficult or impossible for a paralytic to perform may be done easily by the same man when restored to vigorous health. So a life of constant friction and incessant strain, because of insufficient spiritual power, becomes at once transformed into a life of ease and joyous action, when Christ has unhindered possession of the soul. Christ is in the heart of the weak believer, as He is in the heart of the vigorous saint. But the putting forth of [No. 43. His power-the manifestation of His life in us -may be sadly hindered through unbelief. "He did not many mighty works there, because of their unbelief." The life of inward rest begins when Christ is glorified within, when the soul submits to Him as the Controller of every thought and desire. Then it is that sin's power is met, not by our own strength, but by the power of the Lord Himself. Then it is that the strain of every conflict is borne, not by the believer, but by Him who goes before and fights the battle (Deut. i. 30). Conflict is then followed by victory, and the whole character of our experience is changed. But the moment we cease to yield wholly, and trust implicitly to Him, that moment wer lose the blessings of an overcoming life. We cease to abide in Him when we take the battle into our own hands, or endeavour to carry out our own plans, or seek our own will. Momentary deliverance is to be known only as momentary trust and consecration are main tained. Again, another change produced in the experience is a sense of plenty instead of scarcity. Those words in Isa. lviii. 11 come to such a one with peculiar force and sweetness, "Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not." The believer fulfils the description here given when he overflows with God's love. He is a spring only when he overflows. And, as it has often been said, it is the overflow that does other people good. To be "filled unto all the fulness of God" is |