get men to do the same, he will allow them to be benevolent, charitable, and philanthropic.

But in good truth such benevolence and philanthropy ought to be termed malevolence and misanthropy; for how can you more effectually exhibit ill-will and hatred toward men than by leaving out the ONLY ONE who can really bless them for time or for eternity? But what must be the moral condition of a heart, in reference to Christ, who could take his seat at a board, or on a platform, on the condition that that name must not be introduced? It must be cold indeed; yea, it proves that the plans and operations of unconverted men are of sufficient importance in his judgment to lead him to throw his Master overboard for the purpose of carrying them out. Let us not mistake matters. This is the true aspect in which to view the world's philanthropy. The men of this world can "sell ointment for three hundred pence, and give to the poor;" while they pronounce it waste to pour that ointment on the head of Christ! Will the Christian consent to this? Will he yoke himself with such? Will he seek to improve the world without Christ? Will he join with men to deck and garnish a scene which is stained with his Master's blood? Peter could say, "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." Peter would heal a cripple by the power of the name of Jesus; but what would he have said, if asked to join a committee or society to alleviate cripples, on the condition of leaving that name out altogether? It requires no great stretch of imagination to conceive his answer. His whole soul would recoil from such a thought. He only healed a cripple for the purpose of exalting the name of Jesus, and setting forth its worth, its excellency, and its glory in the view of men; but the very reverse is the object of the world's philanthropy; inasmuch as it sets aside His blessed name entirely, and banishes Him from its boards, its committees, and its platforms.

May we not therefore well say, "Shame on the Christian who is found in a place from which his Master is shut out"? Oh, let him go forth, and in the energy of love to Jesus, and by the power of that name, do all the good he can! but let him not yoke himself with unbelievers, to counteract the effects of sin by excluding the cross of Christ. God's grand object is to exalt His Son, "that all should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." This should be the Christian's object likewise; to this end he should "do good unto all;" but if he join a society or a committee in order to do good, it is not "in the name of Jesus" he acts, but in the name of the society or committee, without the name of Jesus. This ought to be enough for every true and loyal heart. God has no other way of blessing men but through Christ; and no other object in blessing them but to exalt Christ. As with Pharaoh of old, when the hungry Egyptians flocked to his his word was, presence, "Go to Joseph;" so God's word to all is, "Come to Jesus." Yes, for soul and body, time and eternity, we must go to Jesus; but the men of the world know Him not, and want Him not; what therefore has the Christian to do with such? How can He act in yoke with them? He can only do so on the ground of practically denying his Saviour's name. Many do not see this; but that does not alter the case for those who do. We ought to act honestly, as in the light; and even though the feelings and affections of the new nature were not sufficiently strong in us to lead us to shrink from ranking ourselves with the enemies of Christ, the conscience ought at least to bow to the commanding authority of that word, BE NOT UNEQUALLY

YOKED TOGETHER WITH UNBELIEVERS.

May the Holy Ghost clothe His own word with heavenly power, and make its edge sharp to pierce the conscience, that so the saints of God may be delivered from everything that hinders their "running the race that is set before them!" Time is short. The Lord Himself will soon be here. Then

many an unequal yoke will be broken in a moment. May we be enabled to purge ourselves from every unclean association and every unhallowed influence, so that when Jesus returns we may not be ashamed, but meet Him with a joyful heart and an approving conscience!

THE TYPICAL CHARACTER OF GEN. I. II. 3.

THE first chapter of Genesis, with the first three verses of the second, evidently forms a distinct section of the book. It represents creation as the work of God, and the rest consequent upon the work being finished. Nothing else is allowed to mix itself up with this. It is God's work and God's rest.

I believe it also to be a type of new creation; meaning by that God's work of recovery when creation was fallenrecovery, whether of the individual fallen man or in general of the world, from the time the first ray of light from the promise broke upon her darkness until the glory of God lights up a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness."

66

I find in it accordingly two distinct applications, yet interwoven one with another-one dispensational, the other moral, and relating to the individual.

Let us take first the dispensational view.

We have presented to us at the outset the necessity for God's working-"Earth was without form, and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep." The language seems to suggest that this was not its primitive condition, but one into which it had lapsed after the hand of God had first created it. However this might be, it needed, that is certain, God's interference. There was no "womb of nature," as one speaks, out of which the present fair order of earth and heaven-fair still, even while bearing the sad marks of defilement could be produced. God must come in to produce it. How true of a ruined world!

The agents in new creation are the Word and the Spirit of God, the Spirit making the word effectual. And "the entrance of thy word giveth light." So it is here: "God said, Let there be light: and there was light." And so we find it in chap. iii., "The seed of the woman shall, bruise the serpent's head." There the light shone upon the darkness of the world, and Adam's heart received it with joy. "He called his wife's name (her name by whom death came) "Eve; because she was the mother of all living."

Yet it was long before the sun came, He whose rays had begun to light the earth from the beginning. Long men looked and waited. Day after day passed over, and then He came. It was after "the third day"-after resurrection— the lights were placed (Christ and the Church) in heaven. His is a full-orbed, unchanging, underived light; hers a reflected, inconstant one: Yet is it said, "The moon to govern the night," just as it is, "The sun to rule the day." "Ye are the light of the world," just as "I am the light of the world." But Christ is absent, and it is now night; although, thank God, "the night is far spent, the day is at hand." How strange would a day be for the world—and yet many look for it—without the sun!

66

On the fourth day, therefore, I find in type the present or church period come in. But on the sixth day man is created in the image of God, and set over the lower creation, the woman being united with him in this glory; just as in the coming kingdom the Church reigns with Him who is the 'image of the invisible God," the second Adam. Α beautiful little picture of millennial days is suggested by the limiting of the food of man and beast, which follows in the concluding verses of the chapter. A picture of that time when there shall be no more bloodshedding; but, under the reign of the true Solomon, "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more;" when "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard lie

down with the kid; and the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox."

The three verses of the second chapter, which belong rather to this, show absolute rest- -a day without any following "evening," and in it only God. Work is at an end, for creation is finished: rest follows absolute and unbroken, but the creature is not seen in it; God only is there. So, past the millennial age, beyond the final outbreak of Satan's enmity, all trace of sin gone; death, the last enemy, destroyed; we look on to the perfect rest that remaineth, where no shadow lengthens, no voice of discord breaks the ineffable peace, to see redemption-work completely finished, and the full harvest of joy and gladness gathered in. "And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son Himself also be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all."

We go back now to consider the individual application. Man is a fallen being. So fallen that he needs, just as much "earth without form and void" ever needed, the interference of the divine power. "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works."

as

In this case also the entrance of the Word giveth light, and the Spirit of God is the agent. We are "born of the Word"-"born of the Spirit." This is man's quickeningregeneration. But here too, although there be light from the first, a full-orbed Christ does not necessarily shine upon the soul at once. Resurrection-day must come to it before this can be. Often there is a long interval between. And when the light breaks in first, darkness is not banished by it: only limited, having still its times of return, and seasons of prevalence. And, moreover, the light brings out nothing lovelya waste of unquiet waters was all that met the sight during the first day; yet God blessed the light, and divided it from the darkness; "and the evening and the morning were the