able to hinder this blessed consummation.

absolute certainty ?

And why?

What makes us so sure? How can we speak with such Simply because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. We can be a great deal more sure that Israel's tribes shall yet enjoy their fair inheritance, in Palestine, than that the house of Tudor once held sway in England. The former we believe on the testimony of God who cannot lie; the latter, on the testimony of erring man.

It is of the utmost importance that the reader should be clear as to this, not only because of its special bearing upon Israel and the land of Canaan, but also because it affects the integrity of scripture, as a whole. There is a loose mode of handling the word of God, which is, at once, dishonouring to Him and injurious to us. Passages which apply distinctly and exclusively to Jerusalem and to Israel, are made to apply to the spread of the gospel and the extension of the christian Church. This, to say the least of it, is taking a very unwarrantable liberty with divine revelation. Our God can surely say what He means; and, as surely, He means what He says; hence, when He speaks of Israel and Jerusalem, He does not mean the Church; and when He speaks of the Church, He does not mean Israel or Jerusalem.

Expositors and students of scripture should ponder this. Let no one suppose that it is merely a question of prophetic interpretation. It is far more than this. It is a question of the integrity, value, and power of the word of God. If we allow ourselves to be loose and careless in reference to one class of scriptures, we are likely to be loose and careless as to another, and then our sense of the weight and authority of all scripture will be sadly enfeebled.

But we must return to Josiah and see how he recognized, according to his measure, the great principle on which we have been dwelling. He certainly proved no exception to the general rule, namely, that all the pious kings of Judah had regard to the unity of the nation of Israel, and never

suffered their thoughts, their sympathies, or their operations, to be confined within any narrower range than "our twelve tribes." The twelve loaves on the pure table were ever before the eye of God, and ever before the eye of faith. Nor was this a mere speculation—a non-practical dogma—a dead letter. No; it was, in every case, a great practical, influential truth. "Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel." This was acting in the fullest harmony with his pious predecessor, Hezekiah, who "commanded that the burnt offering, and the sin offering should be made for all Israel."

from God Himself, upon the

Do not turn

This is the

And now, christian reader, mark the application of all this to our own souls, at this present moment. Do you heartily believe, upon divine authority, in the doctrine of the unity of the body of Christ? Do you believe that there is such a body, on this earth, now, united to its divine and living Head, in heaven, by the Holy Ghost? Do you hold this great truth authority of holy scripture? Do you, in one word, hold as a cardinal and fundamental truth of the New Testament the indissoluble unity of the Church of God? round and ask, "where is this to be seen?" question which unbelief must ever put, as the eye rests upon Christendom's numberless sects and parties, and to which faith replies, as the eye rests upon that imperishable sentence, "There is one body and one Spirit." Mark the words! "There is." It does not say there was, at one time, and there shall be, again, "one body." Neither does it say that such a thing exists in heaven. No; but it says, "There is one body and one Spirit," now, on this earth. Can this truth be touched by the condition of things in the professing church? Has God's word ceased to be true, because man has ceased to be faithful ? Will any one undertake to say that the unity of the body was only a truth for apostolic times, and that it has no application now, seeing that there is no exhibition of it?

Reader, we solemnly warn you to beware how you admit into your heart a sentiment so entirely infidel as this. Rest assured it is the fruit of positive unbelief in God's word. No doubt, appearances argue against this truth; but what truth is it against which appearances do not argue ? And say, is it on appearances that faith ever builds? Did Elijah build on appearances, when he erected his altar of twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob? Did king Hezekiah build on appearances, when he issued that fine commandment, that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel? Did Josiah build on appearances, when he carried his reformatory operations into all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel? Surely not. They built upon the faithful word of the God of Israel. That word was true whether Israel's tribes were scattered or united. If God's truth is to be affected by outward appearances or by the actings of men, then where are we? or what are we to believe? The fact is, there is hardly a truth in the entire compass of divine revelation to which we could with calm confidence commit our souls, if we suffer ourselves to be affected by outward appearances.

No, reader; the only ground on which we can believe anything is this one eternal clause, " It is written!" Do you not admit this? Does not your whole soul bow down to it? Do you not hold it to be a principle entirely vital? We believe you do, as a Christian, hold, admit, and reverently believe this. Well then, it is written, “There is one body and one Spirit." (Eph. iv.) This is as clearly revealed in scripture as that "we are justified by faith," or any other truth. Do outward appearances affect the saving fundamental doctrine of justification by faith? Are we to call in question this precious truth because there is so little exhibition of its purifying power in the lives of believers? Who could admit such a fatal principle as this? What a complete upturning of all the foundations of our faith is

necessarily involved in the admission of this most mischievous line of reasoning! We believe, because it is written in the word, not because it is exhibited in the world. Doubtless, it ought to be exhibited, and it is our sin and shame that it is not. To this we shall afterwards refer more fully; but we must insist upon the proper ground of belief, namely, divine revelation; and when this is clearly seen and fully admitted, it applies as distinctly to the doctrine of the unity of the body, as it does to the doctrine of justification by faith.

DARK rolls the tide of human woe, a troubled, restless sea,
And evermore there yawns below the gulf of misery;

O'er whose abyss of ills and fears, too dire, too vague, to name,
There heaves the ocean-swell of tears, disaster, sin, and shame.

Its arctic regions of despair gleam loftily in pride;

And full-sail'd vessels founder there, or ice-bound must abide. Erst gaily launch'd, the colours float with music on the breeze, But hands unseen grasp every boat, there's danger on the seas!

Where yon far-reaching breakers foam, a thousand ships are toss'd,

The death-knell sounds with ceaseless moan, ship after ship is lost!

Or by the Maëlström's giddy whirl, unthinkingly betray'd-
Small barks go down; the waters curl above their hapless grave.

Beguiled by distant tropic clime, fair crafts becalmèd lie;
Or heavy-laden for a time, to golden marts they hie.
Ah, woe is me! the dismal end no tongue hath power to tell,
The port where crew and captain tend is an eternal hell!

O mariners! what harm and loss on those deceitful waves!
Yet see-the lode-star of the cross shines still, and shining saves !

It watcheth you from yonder skies, it hath a potent spell;
Look up! oh, fix thereon your eyes, that star will guide you well!

It pointeth where still waters flow, God's ocean-tide of love!
Would ye to His fair haven go? His mercy-waves above?
The star-the star declares the way-soft shining through the
night,

It leadeth all who heed its ray to blissful realms of light.

Dark rolls the tide of human woe, God's ocean shineth fair;
Its depths the angels fain would know, my sins are buried there!
A sea of peace, and not of tears, of glory, not of shame.
O mariners! farewell to fears, once launch'd in Jesus' name!

H. K. B.

MEDITATIONS

ON THE EIGHTY-FOURTH PSALM.

VER. 8. "O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah." The weary pilgrim is at length before God in Zion. Blessed journey that has such an end! And blessed be the God of Jacob, that the pilgrim has now and then, even on the journey, sweet foretastes of that happy end; but, oh! what will it be when it is fully tasted in glory-in the Father's house on high! Till then, O my soul, fail not to drink at the fountain, though travelling through a dry and thirsty land. Faith is as welcome now in those courts above, as thou thyself wilt be at the journey's end. Thy title is as good now as it will be then the name of Christ can never be more welcome than it is to-day. Oh! then, use thy title now-let heaven see what great and constant use thou canst make of that blessed name now.

In musing on these words, a solemn thought crosses the mind-Zion, or grace, is the meeting-place of God and His people. Every child of Adam, sooner or later, must meet God on one of two grounds :-the ground of righteous