The churches therefore are the groups or clusters of those in the process of salvation. They are the pupils of the Holy Ghost and if they continue in the word, then, are they disciples (learners), indeed. We marvel at the reach of that prayer to "our Father," "Thy kingdom come" and that sublime faith of the believer, which can be fulfilled at last after two long dispensations have intervened. This is God moving in a large circle so that, "in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness toward us through Jesus Christ" (Eph. 2:7).

DAVID'S KINGDOM RESTORED.

The historical and typical double in the scriptures is not uncommon, and is ever very pleasing to trace. The deliverance from the oppression of Egypt seems to foreshadow the grander deliverance from the bondage of Satan. The victories of Joshua look forward to the apostolic age and the triumphs of Christianity. The dreadful declension in the days of the judges, prefigure the dark ages. The reformation under Samuel pointed toward the greater reformation of the sixteenth century under Luther and his coadjutors. The reign of Saul, who was not in the line of the promised scepter, a pseudo-reign, was a mere counterfeit of the true reign of the son of promise. Finally we come to David, who occupied the kingdom of the Lord and had the promise of succession in his household in an everlasting kingdom.

It is worse than idle to affirm that the exaltation of Jesus, the son of Mary to the throne of "the Majesty on high," constitutes in any sense a re-establishment of David's throne. At the announcement of his birth to the virgin mother the angel clearly distinguishes the two events, "He

!

shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest." This covers his exaltation in the resurrection, ascension, and consequent outpouring of the Spirit in power. Then the angel proceeds, “And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:32-33). Nothing in the experience of Jesus of Nazareth corresponds to a fulfillment of this scripture in its plain and obvious sense.

With regard to the question of inheritance, and passing by the consideration that it is rather irreverent to speak of Christ as deriving any of his glory from a man, I would observe that the passage so often quoted in support of this view, Luke 1: 32, "The Lord God shall give him the throne of his father David," seems to me to prove the very opposite, because inheritance means the entering into possession by right, and we do not usually give people what is their own; so that it appears to me that the only reasonable interpretation of that passage is that God the Father will give to Christ, as man, the throne of David which has always been his as God.

Again years after Christ's ascension, James, with the assembled apostles and elders, still considered that the tabernacle of David was yet in ruins (Acts 15:16). This disposes effectually of the unscriptural and confusing notion, that Jesus, by going up on high, entered upon the inheritance of his Father David.

The inheritance of his earthly father David, which, as it was written 500 years after the first David, may refer to Christ as a representative of the throne. It could not apply to any descendant of this house when the Jews returned from Babylon, as there was none of that line there, nor was there any throne or kingdom of Judah. This cannot refer

to Christ's supreme headship for this would always have been true of him, and David's kingdom was literal and over both houses of Jacob as is contemplated in the temporal reign of the Messiah.

"Lift up your heads desponding pilgrims.,
Give to the winds your needless fears;
He who died on Calvary's mountain,

Soon is to reign a thousand years.

"A thousand years earth's coming glory-
'Tis the glad day so long foretold:
'Tis the white morn of Zion's glory,
Prophets foresaw in times of old.

"Tell the whole world these blessed tidings,
Speak of the time of rest that nears;

Tell the oppressed of every nation,

Christ shall reign for a thousand years."

"I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion" (Psa. 2:6), clearly refers to the royal line and Christ as the perfect heir, as the context teaches.

In a preceding chapter (Vol. 1st, p, 126, etc.) we have fully traced the royal line to Queen Victoria, 150 generations from Adam. The three following heirs to the throne may now be pointed out:

151. The present Prince of Wales.

152. The Duke of York.

153. Prince Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David.

This gives 153, the exact number of the "great fishes," and "yet the net was not broken" (John 21:11). Notice of the last named, the perfect number of names-seven. The reigning house of Britain, we have fully traced to King David, the Psalmist, and it is well understood that at the termination of these times and the beginning of the next