so the people of Christ shall never be deprived of the opportunity of sowing, and nurturing, and training that which is well-pleasing in the sight of God, who despiseth not the day of small things. The sphere may be circumscribed and lowly, yet it may be laboured in with zealous and energetic heart, and it is the heart that the Lord regardeth.

Examination of a work, entitled Christ's Second Coming. Mill it be Pre-millennial?" By Reb. David Brown, D.D.

THAT the earth in which we now sojourn, was once a scene of perfectness and peace, will be doubted by none who receive the testimony of Scripture. Creation came forth from the hand of its almighty Creator, perfect; and was by Him pronounced "very good." God could rest in it, for not only was there no evil, but there was likewise no woe-no groan-no destruction. Plants, animals, and man, were alike possessed of all the unimpaired perfectness that pertained to their respective conditions. But when sin entered all was changed. God instantly subjected creation to the bondage of corruption. It began to groan. Not a leaf retained its proper perfectness-not an animal its peacefulness. In earth, air, and seas, terror and destruction began to reign. "The whole creation," says the Apostle, "groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now."

With sin, came also the power of Satan. He gained a title of entering, as the Adversary and the accuser of the brethren, even into the presence of God. (See the history of Job and 2 Chron. xviii. 20.) The hour which is to take from him this branch of his terrible power, when thanksgiving shall be given in heaven because "the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before our God day and night"-that hour is not yet come. Heaven, therefore, is one of the spheres in which Satan is permitted to act against man. He is also the prince of the power or authority of the air. Legions of evil spirits who, as being incorporeal, frequent the air and roam through it invested with powers of observation, motion, and action, inconceivable by us, obey his bidding as their prince. He is able too,

* Continued from previous numbers.

there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth." (Hab. i. 2-4.) The more the heart recognises the preciousness of Truth, the more must it weep over the triumph of falsehood and guile. And when we consider the gigantic and still increasing strength of the evil that now dominates in the earth, and trace the extent of its mighty influence, and view, as detailed in the Word of God, its future course, and compare this present hour of the Truth's weakness with that of the world's abounding and increasing strength, we cannot wonder that the heart should be ready to question whether it be possible that any thing truly pleasing to Christ-any thing in which His heart can really rejoice, should any where be found amidst the scene of well nigh universal darkness.

Wine, it is said, is for them who are of heavy heart. Whatever cause there may be for depression, there is always ability and willingness in the Lord to comfort His people with present comfort if only there be separateness and a leaning of heart upon Him. Accordingly, she who is addressed in the passage before us, was speedily and abundantly comforted. Suddenly withdrawn from the sphere of her peaceful service to behold the triumphant and prospering reign of evil, it is no wonder that her heart should have sunk. As she contrasted the gigantic advance of evil with the hindered and restricted progress of Truth, and thought of her own narrow sphere of service, so hidden and so despised as scarcely to elicit the world's censure; and when she remembered too her own feebleness, and the imperfectness of her apprehensions and appreciations both of good and evil, and the want of vigour and comprehensiveness in her faith-when she reflected on these and other like things, it was natural that her heart should faint, and that she should question whether there was anything in her or around her that could really receive the approval and commendation of her Lord. Was there any thing in her feelings, or demeanour, or character, or service, that was really acceptable in His sight? The answer was not long delayed. She was declared to be the subject not only of His approval, but of His joy and complacent delight. His delight was in her. The very glance of her eye was precious in His sight. The eye soon expresses the feelings of the soul. If the eye shrinks from those things from which the Spirit of Christ shrinks, and beholds loveliness in the things in which His heart delights; if it looks with holy trembling on the iniquity of

earth, and turns confidingly and humbly to Him; if, as the eye of a servant towards the hand of his master, it wait upon the Lord alone, the glance of such an eye would in the estimate of Christ be blessed. And if there are the adornments of a meek and quiet spirit, and if there be lips of knowledge which are as "a precious jewel, more precious than a multitude of rubies," then there are things that are necklaces of beauty-chains of grace around the neck. So it was with her. In her retirement, where, in her garden, she had been nurturing plants of heavenly fragrance, she had learned many a lesson, and the results were manifest. Her look, her adornments, the proved truth and faithfulness of her love was precious in the sight of her heavenly Lord. "Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!" The wine and spices of earth are but shadows appointed to indicate the gratefulness and acceptableness before Christ of the character of those, who (in private, it may be, and almost hidden spheres) seek, like Philemon, or Gaius, or Dorcas, to show out of a good conversation their works with meekness of wisdom. No official or recognised ministerial place is necessary to fruitfulness in the Church of God. Pride may court such a place and rush unbidden into it, and then true spiritual healthfulness will wane and depart. The mouth may be as a fountain "sending forth sweet waters" in a sphere as little prominent as that which was filled by Philologus, and Julias, and Nereus." We know not who they were. But their names, as well as those of many others in like unobtrusive spheres, are by the Apostle recorded with honour-honour that will remain in the day of Christ.

There are, perhaps, few things which even an instructed believer more feebly recognises than the importance and potency of "the tongue," whether in serving evil or good. Naturally, it is set on fire of hell; it uses deceit; it is full of cursing and bitterness; it is instinct with the venom of asps; it walks proudly through the earth serving the lusts of those who say, our lips are our own, who is lord over us ?" Yet how often is the eloquence of the unregenerate tongue delighted in even by believers! How often are words of philanthropic kindness and amiability, as they drop from the lips of those who know not and prize not the Gospel of the grace of God, allowed to hide the certain truth, that the lips of such must be

(whatever they may seem) an open sepulchre, breathing forth the taint of corruption and death, because nothing but death is there. There is one Christ; one Spirit; "one name given amongst men whereby we must be saved;" one Book sent into the world by God as the infallible record of Truth; and if men depart therefrom, however much they may clothe their aberrations in garments of light, yet there is no light in them. They serve Satan, and not God. Yet nothing, perhaps, as I have already said, is more feebly appreciated than the influence of the tongue in the service of evil, except indeed it be, the value attached by the Lord to its service in the cause of good. We find it difficult to recognise that any among Christ's people here, can be capable of being addressed by Him in such words as these: "Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb : honey and milk are under thy tongue." What a contrast with the venom of asps! Yet so it is when the lips keep knowledge; when they are established in the grace of the sanctuary where redemption hath brought in everlasting peace; when they speak (it may be in a private and hidden sphere) words of truth and soberness drawn from the Scriptures of Truth; when they speak humbly in confession, or supplication, or thanksgiving unto God; or minister comfort to them to whom comfort is due; or speak to the world of righteousness and coming judgment and present grace as declared in the blood of the Lamb in all such cases, that which distils from such lips is as the dew of heaven, and whether rejected or received, it has before God a preciousness unspeakable and eternal, that no circumstances can alter-a preciousness that may be despised or forgotten on earth, but which is remembered in the Heavens.

Yet believers are not unfrequently ready to say, "If it be so, why am I thus ?" If the service of Christ's people be thus pleasing and acceptable in His sight, why is their service not prospered? Why is the excellency and beauty of Truth hidden? Why do not our testimonies which, because of the truth that is in them, we know to be precious, attract, not indeed to ourselves (that we desire not) but to Him? Why are they so rejected and despised? Is it not because they have so failed in our hands through our weakness, that the Lord is displeased with us and will not prosper them? There may be, and no doubt often are occasions when it is so. The remnant of Israel in the days of Haggai when they ceased to care for the Temple of the Lord and thought only of their own houses, were not blessed, but smitten. (See Haggai i.) But there are also occasions when it is