and Elias were not satisfied with the incarnation. Humanity could do nothing with this incarnationI speak reverently-so long as the Lamb was not slain. There He walked-the Lamb of God, the fulness of the Godhead,-all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge in Him, and like sunbeams flowing forth. But His true life was shut up in Him till He was broken down. Let us take His own words. Certain men desired to see His glory (John xii. 21). Then said Jesus, "The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified. . . . Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit" (ver. 23, 24). In the beginning of the chapter we read of that wonderful alabaster box brought by the beloved woman to anoint Christ for the burial. This is the Alabaster Box-Christ Himself. His body was the Alabaster Box, full of the precious ointment of life; but it must be broken before the odour can fill the house. He became an Alabaster Box, and it was broken in His death. This afternoon we will proclaim the death of Christ by our gathering in one company around His table.

He became an Alabaster Box, that we might all become alabaster boxes. After the creation men became blessed and fruitful. So in the new creation, through the Holy Ghost, we can only be fruitful through our oneness with Him who was the Alabaster Box broken for us. We have been crucified with Him that our life may flow forth through the Church, and through the world, no more kept back by the flesh and by self. Immediately after this He saith, "He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve Me, let him follow Me" (John xii. 25, 26). How? "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me" (ver. 32), to the fellowship of My death and My burial, and so to the fellowship of My power, My resurrection life. If we would become fruitful it must be through the death of Christ; that is the secret of fruitfulness. He came in the flesh, that in His flesh He might break the resistance that the flesh had opposed to the law of God. The bodily organs of man were the seat and centre of sin-as, for instance, the stomach is the organ of sin to the drinking man and so forth. So God asked the Son if He would take to Himself a human body. He prepared and gave Him a body, that through the offering of it He might endure the curse of sin, so

that those members of our body should henceforth be at his disposal, to be used by Him and for Him.

And so far, my brethren, as you understand the meaning of the death of Christ in that sense (see Rom. vi., 2 Cor. v., Gal. ii., and other passages), you will realise freedom from self in oneness with Him. He has identified Himself with my sin, and so far as, through faith, I identify myself with Him in His death, I am one with Him-I am dead, crucified to sin and to self. I have in Christ, realising by faith my union with Him, the fruits of redemption. You find in Rom. viii. it is through the flesh of Christ that sin is condemned, "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (ver. 4). In Heb. x. 16 you find the conditions of the new covenant: "I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;" it is through the flesh of Jesus Christ (ver. 20). The Holy Ghost has freedom of movement and of action only through the death of Christ. As Christ offered Himself through the eternal Spirit, so that eternal Spirit, the Holy Ghost, can reveal His grace and establish in us the new covenant only through the revelation of that new and living Way consecrated for us, that is, the flesh of Jesus.

In 2 Tim. i. 7 we are told that "God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and of a sound mind." In the calling of Ezekiel the prophet, you find that he must first be brought under the power of the glory of God. Then only could God bring him into the presence of a rebellious race. So we need to be brought under the power of the Cross, the glory of the New Testament, to be able to go into the presence of rebellious Christians, and much more into the presence of rebellious sinners. Only when we are brought down to the dust, before the glory of the Lord, can we stand against the devil, against the principalities and powers, against the rebellious ones who will not believe because they have been blinded by the devil and cannot see the meaning of the death of Christ.

There are children of God who are still living under the old covenant; the law of God is not written in their hearts and in their minds; they are not free through the power of the Holy Ghost, because they do not permit the Holy Ghost to have His way. And the way of the Holy Ghost is to bring to the Cross, to the blood of Jesus Christ, into

union with the death and resurrection of the Saviour. Then, like Ezekiel, you will be able to speak to a rebellious race; and at the same time you will have the spirit, not of cowardice, but of power and of a sound mind. As the Lord shut or opened the mouth of His prophet according to His mind, so you will be free to serve the Master, to resist the flesh and the devil, to have the mouth opened to testify, or to be silent in a corner, happy to be nothing till the Lord has opened the door of service through prayer. Never angry against the brethren because they do not receive you; never impatient; only desiring to be used of God, where He will and when He will; prepared like Mary, to sit at the feet of Jesus, or like Martha, for service. The secret of service and of silence is Calvary. The only place in the world where I can be sheltered against my own self and my own heart is the wounds of Jesus. I will never glory in anything but the Cross of Christ. There I see all the past submerged under the blood of Jesus, and there, by the Holy Ghost, I am taught to be fruitful, to work in the way and in the measure in which He will, according to His own mind and Spirit.

And now, my brethren, through the Continent, and in England, and over the sea, there is only one people-a redeemed people-redeemed by His death, and made ready to serve Him, and to show forth His glory. Blessed be the Lamb slain for the sins of the world. Amen.

THERE is a sort of God's dear servants who walk in perfectness: who perfect holiness in the fear of God; and they have a degree of charity and divine knowledge more than we can discourse of, and more certain than the demonstrations of geometry.

But

I shall say no more of this at this time; and they who never touched it with their fingers may secretly perhaps laugh at it in their hearts and be never the wiser. All that I shall now say of it is that a good

man is united unto God. As a flame touches a

flame and combines into splendour and glory, so is the spirit of a man united unto Christ by the spirit of God. These are the friends of God and they best know God's mind; and they only that are so know how much such men do know.-Jeremy Taylor.

ZINA AND HER LAMP.

SUNDAY TALKS WITH THE CHILDREN.
"Without a parable spake He not unto them."
CHAPTER I.

IT was a sultry day in July, and the children were more than usually restless; Dick was looking at the pictures in the Bible, and Nellie and little. May were gazing out of the window.

"Oh, dear!" sighed May, "what a tiring day Sunday is; I do get tired of doing nothing; I like the singing at church, but I can't understand Mr. Leigh when he talks, and I do think we ought to have some pleasure. I wish mother would tell us a fairy tale."

"Yes, so do I," said Nellie; "I've read all the nice parts of the Bible through till I'm tired of it; I wish some one would make a children's Bible."

"I tell you what," broke in Dick; "you girls are saying very wicked things. If mother heard you she would—

"What would mother do, my boy?" said Mrs. Hilton's voice behind him.

"Why, mother, they are wanting fairy tales on Sunday, and Nellie says she's tired of the Bible,"

said Dick.

"Truly I am, mother," said Nellie; "it's just the same all over again."

"The wisest man in the world felt a little as you do, but he was not the best man. He said, 'There is no new thing under the sun;' but one, whose heart was full of love to God, was glad of just that thing; he said, and rejoiced in saying it; "Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever." Now I want you and Nellie, Dick, to tell me who these two men were. May can come with me; and then in about half an hour take your Bibles, and come to me in the summer-house."

"Oh, mamma, and will you tell us a tale?" said May, eagerly.

"Not just such a fairy tale as you have on other days, but I hope one that will interest you quite as much," said her mother, smiling at the look of wonder on her face.

Mrs. Hilton had been ill for a long time, and had been obliged to leave the children to the care of servants; now that she was stronger, and could more interest herself in their little joys and sorrows, she found how neglected their minds

once

were.

"Well, my darlings, have you found the names of the men who spoke those words?" said their mother, as the children clustered round her.

"Solomon was the wisest man, mother, so I looked all through Proverbs, and at last I found it in Ecclesiastes; but we could not find the other," said Dick.

was there, as He said; 'The Master has come, and calleth for thee'" (John xii. 28).

"But how shall I know," said poor little Zina, with a fresh burst of grief," how shall I know how to find the messages? Thou hast always read and explained to me the words upon thy lamp."

"Zina, my precious little one," said her grand

"No, mother," answered Nellie; "I thought the Epistles were for grown up people; I never read there."

"Well, dear, I am sure if we read the Bible together, and ask God to help us by His Spirit to understand it, we shall find all parts interesting; and for this reason I want to have you every Sunday afternoon that we may study together." "Oh, mother," exclaimed May, "I did think you were going to tell us a fairy tale."

Mrs. Hilton smiled; then taking up a paper from the table, said, "I think you will find this quite as interesting, dear ;" and commenced as follows:

ZINA AND HER LAMP.

The sun was shining brightly, and the birds singing among the leafy boughs were unusually lively; the flowers scented the air, and all nature seemed in a joyous mood. But though all these things usually attracted Zina's attention, this morning she thought of nothing but her grandmother, who sat exhausted by the side of the bank.

"Zina," said she, "Zina, my child, this morning early, when thou wast sleeping, I saw beside me one of the King's messengers. 'My name is Emalcuel,' he said, and my message is to thee; and the message thou wilt find upon thy lamp.''

"Say not that thou wilt leave me," cried Zina, in an agony of grief, “I cannot walk alone; thou hast always led me in the way that I should go, and therefore have I been preserved from all evil. The roaring lion, walking about seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. v. 8), who came so near me on the day when I ate the fruit which thou hadst forbidden -I shall have nothing to drive him away with, and oh, I cannot be left alone."

"Hush, my child, if thou dost wish to hear my last words. The King himself has promised to be thy Guide; and He has commanded me to leave with thee the lamp which has guided my feet for many a long day; and Zina, my child, the token

King's hands. This only I beg thee to remember, thy lamp is thy greatest treasure-walk in the path upon which its light shines, and if only thou dost look earnestly enough, thou wilt find thy message (Deut. iv. 29).

The birds sang on; the flowers held up their heads to the sun, until he became gradually lost to sight behind the western hills, and the crimson glow faded away.

Then came the King's messenger again; and Zina, bending over her aged grandmother, heard her whisper, "I am ready, O Emalcuel;" and then, as she closed her eyes, "I shall see the King in His beauty."

Zina threw herself forward, and cried, "Oh take me too, Emalcuel; has not the King children in His palace?"

Emalcuel shook his head, and with a sweet smile -sorrowful for her sorrow, and yet radiant with joyful trust in his King-he pointed to the lamp Zina then held in her hands, and faded from her sight.

Zina looked down upon it, but there was no message for her on its broad rim. She pressed it close to her heart because it had been her grandmother's, and soon forgot all her troubles in sleep.

When she awoke in the early morning and found herself quite alone, sorrow seemed again about to overcome her; but with the sorrow came a thrill of pleasure in the novelty of her position.

"I will take that pleasant road," said she to herself, "under those shady trees." But to her surprise, though she saw no one, she heard some one singing:

"There is a way that seemeth right (Prov. xvi. 25),
But there Thy lamp has shed no light;
The end thereof is the way of death,

And the flowers fade at the wind's cold breath."

Zina looked at her lamp, and thought she saw a tiny spark of light, but it pointed in the direction of a rough, stony road. And while she hesitated

"And it has a nice meaning, too, dear. It means 'brightness,"" replied her mother.

"What did you mean by her lamp, mother?" asked Nelly.

"Was it not her Bible, mother?" asked Dick. "I remember reading in the Psalms, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.'" "Yes, you are right, my boy;' said his mother, "and I am glad you understood what I meant." "Did the grandmother have a real lamp?" asked May.

"She had a real Bible, darling; and I want you to understand that just as a lamp on a dark night guides us in the right road, so, until we are in the bright light of Heaven, we have the Bible to show us the way there."

"Mother," said Nellie, "you said the King had promised to guide Zina, I thought He only guided good people."

THE WORKS AND THE WORD.

VI.

LATENT HEAT.

"Stir into Flame."-2 Tim. i. 6. R.V. Marg.

HEAT, I think, we may take as symbolic of two things, or of two things specially, LOVE and ANGER. Even as there may be unholy love, so is there righteous anger. "Many waters cannot quench love (Cant. viii. 7) because of its burning power. "Lord, why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy people?" and in sympathy with his God, " Moses' anger waxed hot" (Ex. xxxii. 11-19). Heat is contained in many things, in which we least suspect its presence; it is not apparent, not manifested, not liberated, because the conditions necessary to set it free are not fulfilled; therefore it remains a hidden, sleeping, latent thing, and in that state powerless, so far as its heat-giving action is concerned. God has made His Church a repository of heat; heat emanating from the fire of Deity, that is to be a power of life, of warmth, of burning, of love and anger. "So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold

"Of what use would a lamp be to you unless it was lighted, Dick? People often go to the Bible and find nothing there, because they have not the inward light God gives by His Holy Spirit." "But she found a light after, mother?

iii. 16), is the terrible changeless sentence of Jehovah touching such an anomoly, as a Church with the power of burning, and yet not on fire. And it comes down very near our own day, for thus saith the same Sovereign Lord, "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold" (Matt.

"How was it she lost her lamp, mother? people don't lose their Bibles; and if they do they can get others quickly."

"People sometimes, after they have once given their hearts to Jesus, think they are quite safe, and there is nothing more for them to do; and they let themselves fall into spiritual sleep; then by degrees they mix again with the world, and do wrong things; then they suddenly wake to find the Bible is all against them; they can find no pleasure in it."

"I wish I loved reading the Bible, mother; but I am like Zina, I want you to explain the words," said Nellie.

"You are young yet, my child; and the time will come, I trust, when you will have your wish," said her mother.

"And you will tell us another next Sunday, won't you, mother?"

"Yes, dear, if God is willing."

ESTA.

as never before in the history of the ages. God does not intend the heat of His Church to be a latent heat; when it is so, it is the altering of His purpose concerning her. He has concentrated His heat in her, so that from her may flow a wondrous caloric of spiritual vitality to all with whom she comes in contact. But the conditions, which set free, that which He has bestowed upon are not fulfilled.

The great source of natural heat is the sun. "There is nothing hid from the heat thereof" (Ps. xix. 6). But it is a remarkable fact, the sun's rays alone never set fire to natural substances; they need the assistance of burning-glasses, because when the rays are bent through the glass, they are brought to a focus, and thus at that point the light and heat are increased. How beautiful is the parable! God has given out, and wrapped up as it were His light and heat, in "the Church which is His body," to the intent that now.. "might be known THROUGH