are but momentary birth-throes of joys ineffable and eternally enduring. The deepest shades with which earth's tribulations can darken their horizon are but the shadows which the Sun of Righteousness casts before Him when He is about to rise in our hearts "with healings in His wings." When walking with God

"Take this thought with you as you go abroad,

That shade is the creation of light,

And light is the shadow of God."

CHAPTER XV.

SPIRITUAL DISCERNING AND ENLIGHTENMENT.

Sacred Word, "The things

"THE things of God," we are taught in the "knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." of God," when revealed to us, are called "the things of the Spirit of God," because "God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit." Now, of "the things of the Spirit of God," that is, of "the things which God hath revealed to us by His Spirit," the Scriptures contain the exclusive and allauthoritative record. Outside of the Sacred Word, we have no authoritative record or standard of revealed truth. "The things which are revealed" in "this dearest of Books, that excels every other," "belong unto us and to our children." "Things of God" not herein revealed, those excepted "which are clearly seen, being understood by the things which are made," are "secret things which belong unto God." One of the most important questions which any believer can put to himself is this, How may I know "the things of the Spirit of God," "the things which are freely given us of God"? There are two classes of individuals who, as the apostle informs us, do not, and cannot, know these things-" the natural man," the man who, in the pride of self-sufficiency, relies upon his own unaided powers of inquiry, and, consequently, repudiates as folly the idea of being taught of God, and as foolishness "the things revealed by the Spirit

of God;" and the believer who is yet under the influence of a carnal spirit, of carnal principles, and carnal apprehensions. "He that is spiritual," on the other hand, does know "the things of God," the things which "God has revealed to us by His Spirit." The reason why he knows these things is the fact that the Spirit so "strengtheneth him with might in the inner man," and so "enlightens the eyes of his understanding," that he "discerns" or apprehends these things as they are in themselves. "The natural man cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned;" that is, they are, and must be, as the immutable condition of our apprehending them, presented to the mind. by the Spirit. Let us see if we cannot understand, clearly and distinctly, the real relations of the three individuals under consideration to the revealed truth of God—the three individuals, namely, "the natural man," the believer who is yet carnal or a babe in Christ, and "the spiritual man.” We will take as the basis of our elucidation the account which we find in 2 Kings vi. 15-17:- "And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." Let us suppose that, at the time when these events transpired, there had been present with the prophet, in addition to his servant, two other individuals, corresponding to "the natural man "" on the one hand, and the unspiritual believer on the other, and that to these the prophet had stated the

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facts just as his servant afterwards saw them. How would his utterances have affected these three individuals, the eyes of the servant, and his only, being opened to see what was before and around them? The natural man would have promptly replied thus, "I don't believe a word of it. I see the hosts of the Syrians; but I don't see, and nobody can see, the chariots of fire' or 'the horses of fire" to which this man refers. It is all superstition and delusion.” “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." The unspiritual believer, on the other hand, would say, "What the prophet says is unquestionably true, and it gives me a degree of inward joy and peace to think so. Yet I cannot make his statements seem real. I see the hosts of the Syrians; but do not see the chariots of fire' or 'the horses of fire.' Hence it is that I cannot wholly expel the sentiment of fear and apprehension from my mind. I wish I could feel as the prophet and his servant do; but I cannot do it." Ask the servant, now that "his eyes have been opened," if he believes what the prophet has uttered, and his reply would be, “I know that what he says is true. Why, the mountain is full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. I see them as plainly as I see the hosts of the Syrians, and they that be with us are more than they that be with them.'" The conscious security and peace of the prophet and of his servant could not but be absolute.

Let us now apply the above illustration to the three classes of individuals under consideration," the natural man," the believer who is yet carnal, and "the spiritual man." In the same sense in which all could have understood the statements which we have supposed the prophet to have made, all of common intelligence can understand

the Bible.

Without special divine illumination, learned men may understand the facts and doctrines of this Book, and systematise the same, just as they can determine and interpret the teachings of any other book. Some of the ablest commentaries upon the Scriptures that have ever appeared have been composed by individuals who utterly repudiate the inspiration of these writings. Individuals of the same class have also correctly stated and systematised the doctrines of Scripture, and have proved beyond dispute that the Bible does, in fact, teach all the doctrines and principles of the evangelical faith. Nor are correct interpretations of the Scriptures or true presentations of its doctrines to be undervalued, and last of all will they be undervalued by really spiritually-minded believers. In what sense, then, is it true that neither the "natural man," nor the believer who is yet carnal, or "a babe in Christ," can "know the things of the Spirit of God"? In what sense is it true that these things are "spiritually discerned " ?—that is, can be apprehended as they are but by special illumination of the Spirit? A ready answer to these questions can now be given. The servant of the prophet, had the latter stated the facts to the former, could have understood that there was a celestial host with "horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." Until the eyes of that servant were opened, however, and he saw that host for himself, he could by no possibility have formed real apprehensions of that host. So I may correctly understand what inspiration affirms of "the things of the Spirit of God." I can apprehend the things themselves, and know them as they are, but upon the condition that, by the Spirit of God, "the eyes of my understanding are enlightened," so that I see these things, that is, mentally apprehend them, as they are in themselves. Moses, for