in which thou canst do nothing? Thou canst do a lot of things in the service of the world, of self, and of Satan; but when it becomes a question of God, the soul, and eternity, you coolly say, "I can do nothing-I am not responsible."

Ah! it will never do. All this style of argument is the fruit of a one-sided theology. It is the result of the most pernicious reasoning of the human mind upon certain truths in scripture which are turned the wrong way and sadly misapplied. But it will not stand. This is what we urge upon the reader. It is of no possible use arguing in this way. The sinner is responsible; and all the theology, and all the reasoning, and all the fallacious though plausible objections that can be scraped together, can never do away with this weighty and most serious fact.

Hence, therefore, we call upon the reader to be, like Lydia, in earnest about his soul's salvation-to let every other question, every other point, every other subject, sink into utter insignificance in comparison with this one momentous question-the salvation of his precious soul. Then, he may depend upon it, the One who sent Philip to the eunuch, and sent Peter to the centurion, and sent Paul to Lydia, will send some messenger and some message to him, and will also open his heart to attend. Of this there cannot possibly be a doubt, inasmuch as scripture declares that "God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." All who perish, after having heard the message of salvation—the sweet story of God's free love, of a Saviour's death and resurrection-shall perish without a shadow of an excuse, shall descend into hell with their blood upon their own guilty heads. Their eyes shall then be open to see through all the flimsy arguments by which they have sought to prop themselves up in a false position, and lull themselves to sleep in sin and worldliness.

But let us dwell for a moment on "the things that were spoken of Paul." The Spirit of God hath not thought proper to give us even a brief outline of Paul's address at

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the prayer meeting, We are therefore left to other passages of holy scripture to form an idea of what Lydia heard from his lips on that interesting occasion. Let us take, for example, that famous passage in which he reminds the Corinthians of the gospel which he had preached to them. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also YE ARE SAVED, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures." 1 Cor. xv. 1—4.

Now, we may safely conclude that the foregoing passage of scripture contains a compendium of the things that were spoken of Paul, at the prayer meeting at Philippi. The grand theme of Paul's preaching was Christ-Christ for the sinner-Christ for the saint-Christ for the conscience -Christ for the heart-Christ all, and in all. He never allowed himself to wander from this great centre, but made all his preachings and all his teachings circulate round it with admirable consistency. If he called on men, both Jews and Gentiles, to repent, the lever with which he worked was Christ. If he urged them to believe, the object which he held up for faith was Christ, on the authority of holy scripture. If he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, the One that gave cogency and moral power to his reasoning was Christ. In short, Christ was the very gist and marrow, the sum and substance, the foundation and top stone, of Paul's preaching and teaching.

But, for our present purpose, there are three grand subjects, found in Paul's preaching, to which we desire to call the reader's attention. These are, first, the grace of God; secondly, the Person and work of Christ; and thirdly,

the testimony of the Holy Ghost as given in the holy scriptures.

We do not attempt to go into these vast subjects here; we merely name them, and entreat the reader to ponder them, to muse over them, and seek to make them his own.

(1.) The grace of God—His free sovereign favour, is the source from whence salvation flows-salvation in all the length, breadth, height, and depth of that most precious word—salvation which stretches, like a golden chain, from the bosom of God, down to the very deepest depths of the sinner's guilty and ruined condition, and back again to the throne of God-meets all the sinner's necessities, overlaps the whole of the saint's history, and glorifies God in the highest possible manner.

(2.) Then, in the second place, the Person of Christ and His finished work are the only channel through which salvation can possibly flow to the lost and guilty sinner. It is not the church and her sacraments, religion and its rites and ceremonies, man or his doings in any shape or form. It is the death and resurrection of Christ. "He died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day." This was the gospel which Paul preached, by which the Corinthians were saved, and the apostle declares, with solemn emphasis, "If any man preach any other gospel, let him be accursed." Tremendous words for this our day!

(3.) But, thirdly, the authority on which we receive the salvation is the testimony of the Holy Ghost in scripture. It is "according to the scriptures." This is a most solid and comforting truth. It is not a question of feelings or experiences or evidences; it is a simple question of faith in God's word wrought in the heart by God's Spirit.

(To be continued, if the Lord will.)

THE SHEPHERD AND THE FOLD.

THERE is a fold where none can stray,

And pastures ever green,
Where sultry sun, or stormy day,

Or night is never seen.
Far up the everlasting hills,

In God's own light it lies,
His smile its vast dimension fills
With joy that never dies.

There is a Shepherd living there,
The first-born from the dead,
Who tends, with sweet unwearied care,
The flock for which He bled.

There the deep streams of joy that flow
Proceed from God's right hand;
He made them, and He bids them go
To feed that happy land.

There congregate the sons of light,
Fair as the morning sky,
And taste of infinite delight
Beneath their Saviour's eye.

Where'er He turns, they willing turn,
In unity they move,
Their seraph spirits nobly burn
In harmony of love.

There in the power of heavenly light
They gaze upon the throne,

And scan perfection's utmost height,
And know as they are known.
Their joy bursts forth in strains of love,
And clear symphonious song,
And all the azure heights above
The echoes roll along.

O may our faith take up that sound,
Though toiling here below;
'Midst trial may our joys abound,
And songs amid our woe;
Until we reach that happy shore,
And join to swell their strain,
And from our God go out no more,
And never weep again.

SHORT PAPERS ON CHURCH HISTORY;

ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE SEVEN CHURCHES.

(Rev. ii., iii.)

THE new economy, Peter was privileged to open both to Jew and Gentile. This he did in his address to the Jews, Acts ii., and in his address to the Gentiles, Acts x. But again we would draw attention to the fact, that the Church, or the assembly of God, and the kingdom of heaven, are not the same thing. Let us be clear, in starting, as to this fundamental point. The identifying the two things has produced great confusion of thought and may be viewed as the origin of puseyism, popery, and every human system in Christendom. The following remarks on "the tare field," from a recent publication, bear directly on this subject, though they refer to a later period than the early chapters of the Acts.*

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THE PARABLE OF THE TARES.

'Matthew xiii. 24, 25. ‘Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way'-exactly what is become of the profession of Christ. There are two things necessary for the inroad of evil among Christians. The first is the unwatchfulness of the Christians themselves. They get into a careless state, they sleep, and the enemy comes and sows tares. This began at an early epoch in Christendom. We find the germs even in the Acts of the Apostles, and still more so in the epistles. 1 Thessalonians is the first inspired epistle that the apostle Paul wrote; and the second was written shortly after. And yet he tells them that the mystery of iniquity was already at work; that there were

* Lectures on the Gospel of Matthew. By W. Kelly. London: G. Morrish.