Man is exposed,

destined, to celebrate them for ever. God is displayed. Man is thoroughly made naked to his shame; God is exalted in the highest order of exaltation, and displayed in the brightest light of glory.

It was thus in the story of Adam at the very beginning. He was tested, and under the testing he failed, and destroyed himself - he was then taken up in grace, and saved through the death and resurrection of Christ; by faith in the bruised and bruising seed of the woman.

It was thus again in Israel. Israel was set under law. But the shadows of good things to come accompanied the law. Under their own covenant, under the law, Israel like Adam was ruined. But God acts in the midst of the self-destroyed people, the self-wrought ruin, and by ordinances and prophecies and pledges of many kinds has ever been telling them of final grace and salvation.

us.

And now, in like manner, the Gospel thoroughly exposes us, but fully, presently, perfectly, eternally, saves And through the ages of glory, it will be told out that we are a washed people, a ransomed people who owe everything to grace and redemption, though glorified for ever.

So that these two platforms, the scene in the midst of the returned Captives, and the scene in the midst of the dispersed Captives, are in company with all the divine way from the beginning, and with that which is to be had in remembrance and celebrated for ever. Only we marvel afresh at this new witness of the way of God, His necessary, perfect way, in a world like this.

How complete all this makes the divine historic volume of the Old Testament! That volume ends here; and we are well satisfied to have it so.

The way of the Lord Himself in this book is specially wonderful. Apparently, He is neglectful of His people. He is "silent" towards them. He does not shew Himself. There is no miracle. His name, as we have all remarked, is not once named in the whole book. His people, even in all the exercises of their hearts under the most pressing circumstances, never mention Him. Surely this is wonderful. But it is admirable as well as wonder

ful. It is perfect in its place and season. For during

this present Gentile age, God is apart from Israel, like Joseph in Egypt, or Moses in Midian, apart from their brethren--as I have already noticed. Yea, and as many voices of the prophets have anticipated (see Ps. lxxiv.; Is. viii. 17, xlv. 15, xviii. 4; Hos. v. 15, etc.). And the Lord Jesus, speaking as the God of Israel, at the close of His ministry, says to them, "Behold your house is left unto you desolate; for I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!" (Mat. xxiii. 38, 39).

But he cares for them. Their names are in the palm of His hands. He revokes not the judgment; but He will, in due time, awake for their deliverance. It is Jesus asleep in the boat, winds and waves tossing it. But in the needed time He awoke, and rose for the quieting of all that, which, in its anguish swelling, was raging against them.

Hail to the Lord's anointed!

Great David's greater Son!
When to the time appointed
The rolling years have run,
He comes to break oppression,
To set the Captive free,
To take away transgression,
And rule in equity.

FRAGMENTS.

"The history of Rahab has sometimes encouraged me about unconverted relatives;-her bringing all her family under the shelter of the scarlet line."

"Soon our pilgrim journey will be over, and then we shall be recounting, like Moses to his father-in-law, what befell us by the way, and how the Lord delivered us."

"Ought I not to have learned, by this time, not to expect or desire rest here? And also, how to trust simply with child-like confidence, in his unceasing tender care."

No. XVI.

ON THE REVELATION.

THE glory which shows itself to us at the opening of the Gospel by St. John, is both entitled and described there very simply. It is called "the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father," and borne by one who is described as "full of grace and truth."

And that Gospel is the journey of that glory in this evil world of ours, and a display of the work which it was always at, so to speak. Upon whatever scene the Son of the Father there enters, He is seen to shine in that glory which brought life and peace to sinners.

Accordingly, none but sinners discern it. It was a glory that could be seen only by the eye or heart of a convicted sinner. It was full of grace, and could not, therefore, suit itself to any other. But such ever found it to their joy and blessing. Andrew, who follows Jesus as the Lamb of God, gets entrance and dwells in the place of that glory, while even the mother, knowing the Lord not as a sinner, but as one who would have him honourable before men, is kept apart (i. 39; ii. 4). So the Rabbi who seeks him as a teacher, is kept back, while the woman and the Samaritans, who learn their sin, and that He was indeed the Saviour, get His company with them for two days (iii. iv.). And it is so afterwards with his kindred in the flesh, and with a convicted adulteress. They know him not, save as one whom they sought to exalt in the world; and he would. have them remove from him-while she enjoys the unspeakable preciousness of finding herself alone in his company; and all between them is reconciliation and kindness (vii. viii.).

Other instances of this character show themselves in

the Lord's public ministry through that Gospel, down to the end of the twelfth chapter, where that ministry closes. And so, when we see him afterwards in secret with his own (xiii.—xvii.), it is still "the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father" that is shining before us; his discourse to them is full of the Father-how he had come from the Father to reveal Him to them-how the Comforter would soon come to make that revelation effectual to their souls-how he was going away to get mansions for them in the Father's house, and that he would return to take them there. So full is this glory still of its own proper light and power, and so diligent about its due and appointed work.

And at the very end we see it still. The glory is moving upwards, returning to the place from whence it had descended, and has sinners in its train, conducting them along with itself. Jesus rises; and Peter and John follow him. His path is theirs. They all leave this earth together. The Only Begotten of the Father is on his way home, taking the younger of the family with him, and we lose sight of them on the upward journey (xxi. 19-20).

Such, I judge, to be the glory that is seen in the Gospel by St. John-such its journey across this world, such the spoils it gathered, and such its end and home.

But, as soon as we open the Apocalypse by St. John, i is another glory we see. It is not a revelation of Jesu Christ which the Father gave him; so that he could again say, "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father;" or "whatsoever I speak, therefore, even as the Father saith unto me, so I speak" (John xii. xiv.); but it is a revels tion of Jesus Christ which God gave to him. It is the glory, not of the bosom of the Father (John i. 11), bu of the throne of God (Rev. i. 14). It is the effulgence, not of Him who lay in the one place, but of Him who s to inherit the other. And just on this glory being introduced to us, the saints, in a little ascription of praise, tell us, as it were, that they had already learnt the lesson which the Gospel had been teaching them, the value of the ministry of the Son of the Father, and that they

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stood now in the conscious washing of His blood, and in the dignity of kings and priests unto God and his Father (Rev. i. 5, 6).

And having thus learnt the lesson of the former glory, they were prepared for the lesson of this second glory. Such is the holy order of the soul in getting the knowledge of God and of His ways. Such divine knowledge is from glory to glory, from one revelation to another. And being instructed in the glory of " the only begotten of the Father," the saints may well stand before this glory of "the Prince of the kings of the earth," of Him who is coming forth as "the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the Almighty." If the bosom have comforted us, may I say, the throne may now elevate us -if we stand in grace, we may learn judgment.

Accordingly, this book gives us the actings of the throne of God. There are judgments-voices and thunders, seals, trumpets and vials-all ordered by the power of the throne which judges right, and which is preparing for the righteous kingdom, at the time of which, the heavenly seed of God, in embodied glory, descends as the golden city or the Lamb's wife.

Such is the path of the glory here. It is a descending path. And such are the links between the Gospel and the Apocalypse of the beloved Disciple. In the one, he leads us by the light of the glory of grace out of the world, first to the knowledge, and then to the house, of the Father-in the other, he leads us, already in heaven or in the Father's house, forth from that, first to the scene of judgment (chap. iv.), and then to the scene of our inheritance and dominion (chap. xxi.).

Christ will look at the Bride with delight, when thus manifested in glorious beauty as the Golden or Holy City. But still it is herself that will be His chiefest object. The heart well and always knows this, when there is true and pure affection. And we have the expression of this on the return of the Prodigal (Luke xv.). For the Father had fallen on himself in secret, and then brought him forth and presented him in the house, clothed in beauty and honour. But his heart had been the most deeply touched at the beginning.