This is another lesson which ought to teach us that our finite reason is not sufficient to guide us aright in infinite issues, unless it is subordinated to Divine Revelation, for which we must "search the Scriptures" to find if these things are testified of him who is The Resurrection and The Life.

"GO ye, and preach the Gospel." Blessed words

And grand commission from our Saviour-King!
Most glorious work, to tell about the Lord,
And to His feet the sinful ones to bring.

For He has done so much for us, that we
Would pour the wealth of ocean at His feet.
No wonder, then, that work like this should be
A privilege most blessed and most sweet.
What is the Gospel? We have often heard

Good men whose very souls seemed set on fire,
Determined that their hearers should be stirred
By pictures dark of judgment and of ire.
Repent! believe! or ye shall all be damned!
Vain will it be for you, lost souls, to call
On rocks to hide you, when ye, shivering, stand
Before Almighty God, the Judge of all!

Is this the Gospel? Nay, although a part

Of God's great plan; but Gospel means "glad news.”
Glad news indeed! O, Jesus; for Thy heart

Is full of love, and these most awful views

Of fiery judgment, aggravated sore

By thoughts as false as they are wild and sad,
That sin and misery, increasing more,

Must last for ever, is not tidings glad.

O Thou, who art unutterable love,

And spotless light (for love and light are one),
Irradiate our dull hearts from above,

And pour Thy beams upon us, Living Sun;
That we may know, and feel, and understand,
That now, and when the endless ages roll,
Our God will do the best (so He has planned)
That can be done, for every human soul.
The best for some will be to end their lives,
Since they, rebelling, could not happy be
In earth or heaven; who against Thee strives,
Is fitted not for an eternity.

Still, honour to the men of good intent,

Whose hearts are right, although their creed is wrong;
Who preach the Gospel as a message sent

From God's own heart, to whom their hearts belong;

Who tell us, not of ropes flung overboard,

For men to clutch, while on the ocean tossed,
But of the ever-living, loving Lord,

Who plunged in death Himself to save the lost.
Christ is the Gospel; Christ enthroned high;
Once pierced and nailed to th' accursed tree.
The blessed One, who said, " And I, if I
Be lifted up, will draw all men to Me."

And in the future will it not be seen,

When all the secrets of the past are told,

That wandering sheep more often drawn have been,
Than driven to the loving Shepherd's fold?

HOW READEST THOU?

A. H.

I

IN

the early age of the Christian Church, the great theme of apostolic teaching was "Jesus and the resurrection," followed by the Judgment and its awards. In the present age, those vital truths are virtually ignored in the majority of Churches professedly Christian. They teach that the final awards of the saint and sinner take place at death, while the testimony of the Word of God is that these shall only follow resurrection and judgment. Both indeed are declared to be unnecessary if the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked immediately follow their demise. Hence it is that the subject of the resurrection of the dead, although it forms the keystone in the arch of the Christian faith, forms almost no part of the public teaching of the day. The earnest believer may examine the following passages of Scripture to be fully convinced that the above testimony is the truth of God: John v. 28; Acts iv. 2, 23; xvii. 18; Rom. ii. 6, 11; 2 Cor. v. 10; Heb. ix. 17.

Too much importance cannot be attached to the question: "Do the awards of the individual take place at death, or only after resurrection and judgment?" A righteous Scriptural decision on this question will mightily promote the spread of the Gospel, for it will direct the thoughts of men to the coming of Him who is "the resurrection and the life," it will tend to the establishment of believers in the faith of Christ, to the awakening of the thoughtless, and the conversion of sinners from the error of their way; and thus "shall save their souls from death, and hide a multitude of sins" (James v. 10, 11).

To promote this great end, five subjects for Bible Readings are herewith presented to the faithful searchers for truth, namely, THE JUDGMENT; THE STATE OF THE DEAD; AND THE DESTINY OF THE WICKED; all involving essentially the priority of the glorious truth concerning THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD AT THE COMING OF THE LORD.

There is one important lesson of the word of God contained in the three last verses of the third chapter of Genesis seldom regarded or taught, to which the attention of the teachers of youth should specially be directed. The great truth unfolded therein is, that God of His wondrous mercy to His sinful creatures, who by sin had forfeited their existence, prevented their access to the Tree of Life, by partaking of which they would have lived for ever in sin and misery. The boon of a sinless and endless life, or immortality, was reserved, according to the Word of God, only for the faithful in Christ Jesus (Rom. ii. 7). It is a violation of truth and common sense to make the sentence of death pronounced against the sinner in Eden figurative instead of literal. Loss of character is one thing and death another; and while the word "life" or "death" may be used figuratively by way of illustration, no one ever heard of the sentence of a judge being figurative, much less of the Supreme Judge of all the earth. Were this change of character, which is termed by some spiritual death, regarded as the penalty of transgression, it would virtually be declaring that sin was its own punishment; which would be equivalent to saying that the misery of a murderer was his punishment, while the sentence of the law for the crime was death. Adam because of his disobedience, and the loss of his innocence and purity, was condemned to die; whereas had he been obedient he would have lived for ever (Gen. iii. 22-22). But now man obtains an endless life of purity and happiness only through faith in Christ Jesus. It is evident that "there is no redemption for man if the doctrine of eternal torment were true: it is a penalty for which the Cross of Christ makes no provision; and consequently the redemption of any man would be perfectly impossible. "The wages of sin is death," and this the Saviour suffered; and the blessed truth is made known to us in the Word of God, for "He tasted death for every man." 66 The objection may be made, that Christ's resurrection from the dead, and living again as a man, is equally against the sentence He bore being literal death. The answer to this is obvious, viz., that He was raised from the dead not in the power of natural life, but of His divine life, that life which was not forfeited, because not originally possessed by man; and His resurrection is the reasserting of the divine life in Him, not of that which is natural, or merely human: for to have lived again in the power of a natural life would have been an evasion of the sentence of death, which, as it respects man without divine life, and without any other resource, is irrevocable" (cf. Rom. i. 3, 4; viii. 11; Heb. viii. 16).

MAN IN DEATH.

A selection of references to passages on the subject, taken from the Appendix to "Considerations on the Theory of Religion," by Edmund Law, D.D., late Lord Bishop of Carlisle, England. Born 1703, died Aug. 14, 1787, aged 84 years. I proceed to consider what account the Scriptures give of that state to which death reduces us. And this we find represented by sleep by a negation of all life, thought or action by rest, resting-place, or home, silence, oblivion, darkness, destruction, or corruption.

I.

Sleep-In the case of good men. Deut. xxxi. 16. 1 Kings i. 21; ii. 10; xi. 43; xv. 24; xxii. 50; 2 Kings xv. 7, 38; 2 Chron. ix. 31; xiv. 1; xvi. 13; xvii. 9; xxi. 1; xxvi. 23; xxvii. 9; xxxii. 33; Job

iii. 13, 14; vii. 21; xiv. 11, 12; Ps. xiii. 3; xvii. 15; Matt. xxvii. 52; John xi. 11, 13; Acts vii. 60; xiii. 36; 1 Cor. xv. 6, 18, 20, 51; 1 Thess. iv. 13-15; v. 10; 2 Pet. iii. 4. Bad Men: 1 Kings xiv. 20, 31; xvi. 6, 28; xxii. 40; 2 Kings viii. 24; x. 35; xiii. 9; xiv. 16, 29; xv. 22; xvi. 20; xxi. 18; xxiv. 6; 2 Chron. xii. 16; xxxiii. 20; Jer. li. 39; 1 Cor. xi. 30. All Men: Dan. xii. 2; See John v. 27-29. II. Death is represented by a negation of all life, thought, or action; even to good men. Job iii. 11, 13, 16; xiv. 10-14; Ps. vi. 5; XXX. 9; lxxxviii. 10-12; cxv. 17; cxlvi. 4; Eccl. ix. 5, 6, 10; Is. xxxviii. 18, 19; Acts ii. 34.

III. Death is represented as a REST and the GRAVE & RESTING-PLACE, HOUSE, OR HOME. Job iii. 11-13, 17, 18; xvii. 13, 16; Ecel. xii. 5, 7;

Is. lvii. 2; Rev. xiv. 13.
IV. A state of SILENCE.

xlviii. 2 (Margin).
V.

1 Sam. ii. 9; Ps. xxxi. 17; cxv. 17; Jer.

Ps. vi. 5; lxxxviii. 12.

Of OBLIVION. VI. Of DARKNESS. 1 Sam ii. 9; Job iii. 5; x. 21, 22; xvii. 13 ; xxxiii. 28; Ps. xliv. 19; xlix. 19; lxxxviii. 12; Eccl. xii. 3; John ix. 4. VII. Of CORRUPTION and DESTRUCTION. Job xiv. 18-20; xxvi. 5 (grave); xxviii. 22; Ps. xvi. 10 (grave); xlix. 9, 12-14, 19-20; lxxxviii. 11; Prov. xv. 11 (grave); xxvii. 20 (grave); Acts xiii. 36; 1 Cor. xv. 18.

Agreeable to these representations of our state in death, revelation informs us :

I. That we shall not awake or be made alive, till the resurrection. Ps. xvii. 15; John vi. 39; xi. 24-26. Compare 1 Thess. iv. 15; 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52; Rom. iv. 17.

II. That the wicked shall not be severed from the righteous till the resurrection, the end of the world, the coming or day of Christ, the day of the Lord, the day, that day, etc. Matt. xiii. 30, 40, 41, 49; xxiv. 31;

Mark xiii. 26, 27.

III. We are upon trial, or in a state of probation, till the resurrection, or the Day of Christ. 1 Cor. i. 8; Phil. i. 10; 1 Thess. v. 23; 1 Tim. vi. 14; Titus ii. 12, 13; Heb. x. 35-37; James i. 12; v. 7; 1 Pet. i. 7, 13; 2 Peter iii. 11, 14; Rev. ii. 25.

IV. Our Christian course and improvement in piety in this world, terminate in the resurrection, the coming or day of our Lord. Phil. i. 6; iii. 10, 11; iv. 5; 1 Thess. iii. 13; v. 23; 1 Tim. vi. 14; Tit. ii. 12, 13; James v. 7; 1 Pet. i. 7, 13; 2 Pet. iii. 11, 12.

V. The elect shall not be gathered together until the resurrection. Matt. xxiv. 31; Mark xiii. 26, 27; 2 Thess. ii. 1.

VI. The world shall not be judged before the resurrection, etc. Matt. xvi. 27; John xii. 48; Acts xvii. 31; Rom. ii. 16; 1 Cor. iii. 18-15; iv. 5; 2 Tim. iv. 1; Heb. vi. 1; 2 Rev. xx. 12-15.

VII. Sincere Christians shall not have boldness or confidence, before Christ, till the resurrection, etc. 1 John ii. 28; iv. 17.

VIII. The virtuous shall not be rewarded till the resurrection. Matt. xiii. 43; xix. 28; xxv. 19-21, 23-34, 46; John v. 28, 29; vi. 40, 44, 54; xvi. 22, 23; Acts iii. 19; 1 Cor. v. 5; xv. 52-54; 2 Cor. i. 14; v. 2-4; Eph. iv. 30; Rev. xi. 18.

IX. They shall not have eternal life, or salvation, shall not put on

immortality, be received unto Christ, enter into His joy, behold His glory or be like Him, till the resurrection, etc. John vi. 54; xiv. 3, 28; xvii. Rom. vi. 5; viii. 11, 17, 18, 19, 28; 1 Cor. xv.

24; Acts iii. 20, 21.

53.55; Phil. iii. 20, 21; Col. iii. 4; Thess. i. 6, 7, 10; 1 Tim i. 16; iv. 8; 4; 1 John iii. 2.

X. They, their faith, labours and profitable, if there be no resurrection. 58. Contrast Ps. cxlvi. 4; Eccl. ix. 6.

1 Thess. ii. 19; iv. 14-17; 2 Heb. ix. 28; I Pet. iv. 13; v.

suferings, are lost, perished, unJohn vi. 39; 1 Cor. xv. 18, 32,

XI. The resurrection is the grand object of our faith, hope, and comfort. Acts xxiii. 6; xxiv. 15; 1 Cor. i. 7; x. 8; 2 Cor. i. 9; iv. 10, 14; Phil. iii. 11, 20, 23; 1 Thess. i. 9, 10; iv. 16-18; 2 Thess. i. 7 ; iii. 5; 2 Tim. i. 11, 12; ii. 18; Titus ii. 13; Heb. xi. 35; 1 Pet. i. 3-5, 13; 1 John iii. 2, 3.

XII. The wicked will not be punished till the resurrection. Matt. vii. 22, 23; x. 15; xi. 22; xii. 36; xxv. 41, 46; Mark viii 38; Luke x. 12; John v. 28, 29; xii. 48; Rom. ii. 5, 6; 2 Thess. i. 7-9; 2 Pet. ii. 9; iii. 7; Jude 14, 15; Rev. i. 7; vi. 16, 17.

XIII. All this plainly shows that the Scripture, in speaking of the connection between our present and future being, doth not take into the account our intermediate state in death; no more than we, in describing the course of any man's actions, take into account the time he sleeps. Therefore the Scriptures (to be consistent with themselves) must affirm an immediate connection between death and judgment. 2 Cor. v. 6, 8; Heb. ix. 27.

XIV. For this reason the Scriptures represent the coming of Christ as near at hand.

7, 12, 20. XV.

Rom. xiii. 12; Phil. iv. 5; James v. 8, 9; Rev. xxii.

Also that He, and His day, will come suddenly, as a snare, and as a thief, upon all the world; and we are cautioned to watch and be sober that it surprise us not unprepared. Luke xii. 40; xxi. 34-36; Phil. iv. 5; 1 Thess. v. 2-6 : 2 Pet. iii. 10-12; Rev. iii. 3; xxii. 12, 20.

THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST.

"The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven." Testimony of Prophets. Ps. 1. 3-6; cii. 16; xcvi. 10-13; xcviii. 7-9; Isaiah xxv. 9; xxvi. 21; xxxv. 4; xl. 10; lxii. 11; Ixiv. 1; lxvi. 15; Jeremiah xxiii. 5-6; Ezekiel xxi. 25-27; Daniel vii. 13-14; xii. 1; Zechariah xiv. 3-4.

Testimony of Apostles. PAUL, 1 Cor. xv. 22, 23; Phil. iii. 20; 1 Thess. i. 9-10; ii. 19; iii. 13; iv. 16, 18; 2 Thess. i. 1-10; ii. 1-8; iii. 5; 2 Tim. iv. 1; Titus ii. 13, 14; Heb. ix. 27-28. PETER, Acts iii. 19-20; 1 Pet. i. 13; v. 4; 2 Pet. i. 16; iii. 14; James v. 7-9; Jude 14. JOHN, 1 John ii. 28; iii. 2; Rev. i. 7; vi. 16, 17; xix. 11-16. Testimony of Angels. Acts i. 9-11; Rev. xxii. 6, 7.

Testimony of Christ Himself. Matt. xvi. 27; xxiv. 30, 37-39, 42, 50; xxv. 13, 31; Mark xiii. 34-36; Luke xii. 36; xvii. 24-30; xxi. 27; John xiv. 3; Rev. xvi. 15; xxii. 7, 12, 20.

It is thus seen that He will come personally, visibly, gloriously, with His holy angels.

The objects of his coming will be