up forty years of his useful life. He formed there a union among likeminded clergymen in the neighbourhood, and they met regularly at stated times. In his ministry he was indefatigable. On Sundays he preached twice, had a catechisation with the children, a Bible class with the awakened, and conversation with individual brethren till late at night. People from the neighbouring towns and villages came flocking to attend his ministry. But after a while he was anxious to become acquainted with believers in other parts of the world, and to learn the state of religion in Germany by personal inspection. This wish he realized by entering upon an extensive journey through Northern Germany. The different bodies of believers he met with, and the prominent individualities which they exhibited, greatly enlarged his prospects and hopes, and he formed a bond of union with many eminent servants of the Lord for life. A number of portraits, painted by himself, and arranged in his study, perpetuated their constant remembrance in a lively manner. In the Moravian settlement of Herrnhut he delayed particularly, and copied a picture of our Saviour― surrounded by some of the firstfruits of their converts from among the heathen-in oil colours. The freshness of the missionary life in the time of Count Zinzendorf seems to have become his model in after life, and he considered the Count the best spiritual poet: In Berlin, Jænige, one of the first missionary friends there, had great attractions for him; though he found the missionary work in a declining state. At Barmen, in the Wupperdale, pastor Sander became very dear to him, and he was much pleased with what he saw there. He met, likewise, dear missionary friends in Holland.

After his return home, in December, 1824, he was elected as minister to the parish of Mottingen, near Calne. Here he followed in the footsteps of his excellent predecessors, Machtolf and Gros. His sermons, being full of spirituality and interest, acted powerfully upon his hearers, and he became a burning and shining light in the whole neighbourhood. He was particularly anxious to promote the knowledge of the word of God, and for this end he employed every means at his command to attract especially the rising generation. His mother kept his house, till the Lord took her to Himself in the year 1828. His neighbour, the pious and learned Rev. A. Osiander, exercised a great influence on his theological views and upon his inner life. The whole Bible was then studied with more careful inquiry than before. The Scripture views which he then acquired underwent no material change to the end of his life. He was firmly established in the truth, and declined having anything to do with modern inquiries. In his 30th year he was firmly assured that the Scriptures explain themselves, and that they need no human aid or philosophy for their being understood. On this point he said, "I owe it to this principle, that I know what I am about, and that I have no need to be taught by any other than the Spirit of God. I have now arrived at an unmoveable foundation, and knowledge, and firm assurance. Henceforward can no man disturb me. I know what I believe, and bless my Lord and Saviour for graciously vouchsafing me such a true insight and rich knowledge of His covenant of grace and mercy contained in His blessed word. The confusion, alas! even among believers, is on the increase. But there will be peace after the Lord is revealed. After this I long and sigh."

SONG OF 1865.

My sire is gone, and though but young, I'm coming in his room,
And on my eastern banner burns my mystic scroll of doom.
Let him read it who can read it, but let him be sure

That only he can read aright whose heart and life are pure.
My father's skirts were wet with gore from battle's fatal strife,
And on his battered front he bore the marks of passion rife;
He came, and as he dashed along he strewed his path with slain;
And what my sire before me did, may I not do again?

He and his predecessors but one object had in view,
And for that object ever worked, as I must also do;
Though multitudinous the ways, intricate and obscure,
Yet all are tending to one end infallible and sure.

Though kings may tremble on their thrones, though thrones may shake and fall,
Though nation may with nation strive, one purpose is in all;
Though systems old, with hoary time, may tremble and decay,
Dominions, empires, kingdoms gone bespeak a brighter day.
I come with high commission from the mighty King of kings,
And 'tis His work that I must do, whatever woe it brings;
By tempest, earthquake, fire, and sword, His high behests are done,
And I but shout "Behold, He comes!" as I go working on;
Behold, He comes! behold, He comes! and thus I onward speed,
Loosing the ties that bind together men in times of need,
That they may learn how vain it is on banded strength to trust,
And feel their helplessness, and bow before Him in the dust.
Behold, He comes! I cry, and blast the noble city's health;
Behold, He comes! I cry again, and touch a nation's wealth.
Again I cry, Behold, He comes! and sagest wisdom fails;
Again the shout is heard, and death in royal hall prevails.
I whisper it, and commerce shrinks-its money bags collapse:
I breathe it on the great exchange, 'mid terrible mishaps;
I roar it in the stormy winds, and priceless navies sink,
Engulfed beneath the boiling wave, to make men learn to think.

In tones all hoarse and terrible the earth repeats my song,
And through its wondrous caverns roll the solemn notes along.
Outbursts the fire inpent below with horrible uproar,
And troubled waters roll and dash along the quaking shore.
Then listen to my song, ye men on earth who dwell,
That ye may sing rejoicingly at Time's funereal knell ;

That when the archangel's trump is heard, ye may not pale with fear,
But with a firm and steady front the solemn summons hear.

That when the cry from heaven rings-"Lo! He is coming now,"
The answering shout of welcome may be heard from men below;
While thronging angels, risen saints, and those from earth up-caught,
With ringing songs of victory shall greet the King long sought.
Oh, then the joys, the mighty joys-the promised kingdom come-
Creation's happy end obtained-the foul usurper gone!
Through all that vast eternity, that never ending day,

Bliss never known or felt before shall fill the earth for aye.

Poplar.

R. FORROW.

D

January 1, 1865.

James i. 1. "James a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting." Who does this refer to, the literal Israel, the Jews, or the spiritual Israel, the Church?

Rev. vii. 1-8. Will some of your correspondents who are well up in the prophetic symbolism of the Divine Revelation be kind enough to open this vision. Who are the four angels standing on the four corners of the land? What are the four winds they are holding back? Who is represented by "another angel ascending from the east," who says, "Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads?" What is the "seal of the Living God" this angel has?

Why is he seen ascending from the east?

If we are living at the time indicated by the expression, "After these things," the symbolism of this vision is now being transacted in stern reality. In the light of the type who will point us to the antitype?

In chap. xiv. the 144,000 standing with the Lamb upon Mount Sion, with His Father's name written on their foreheads, seem to be contrasted with those who have "received the mark of the beast in their right hand or on their forehead." Two distinctive sealings appear to be going on-"the mark of the beast" and "the seal of the living God," only those who receive the one, escape the other.

WHO HAS THE SEAL OF THE LIVING GOD?

For only those who have it in their foreheads escape the judgments of the first woe. (Rev. ix. 4.)

"H. M. L." asks the following

Is the regenerating fire to be lccal or general?

2 Pet. iii. 1-13. Does not "we" in verse 13 mean the Jews? for was not the promise made to them in Isa. lxv. 17 ?

Is not all that is said about fire in Isa. xxiv. local ?-in the Jews' land, where after final national judgments there will be "few men left" (verse 6)? See also Ezek. xx. 46, 47; Isa. x. 16-20.

Is not the same national burning and purging referred to in Mal. iii. 2-4; Ezek. xxii. 19-22; Isa. iv. 3, 4?

Is it not national dealing which includes the judgments of fire and sword in Rev. vi. and Rev. viii? See Isa. i. 27, 28.

Is it not in Israel's land that the hills are to melt at the Lord's coming to Zion? (Micah i. 3, 4; Ps. 1. 3; xviii. 7, 8, 12-14; xcvii. 3—6; Isa. xxx. 30; Luke xvii. 30.)

Is Nah. i. 5, 6 decisive against this view when you recollect in what a restricted sense the word (kosmos) world is used in Scripture? See Rom. i. 8; Col. i. 6; Rev. xvi. 14; Luke ii. 1; Rom. x. 18; Acts xvii. 6.

Is not Isa. lxvi. 19 sufficient to show that nothing like this will happen in heathen (Gentile) countries ?

Was the flood general ? or local to that part of the world which was inhabited? If regenerating and purging fire is only spoken of in connection with Israel's sins, Israel's judgments, and Israel's land, why should it be general? Would not this be contrary to Isa. lxvi. 19 and the many Scriptures that refer to the Gentile nations, afterwards to be converted, not by fire, but by the Jews (the spared godly remnant, Isa. lxi. 9) being sent as missionaries to tell them "that the Lord hath founded Zion" (Isa. xiv. 32), and is reigning" before His ancients gloriously (Isa. xxiv. 23), in His purged kingdom at Jerusalem ? See Ps. xcvi. 10, cxlv. 11, 12, xxii. 27; Rev. xi. 15.

Surely the nations are not burnt; but are to be "all the families of the earth" (Gen. xii. 3) that are then to be blessed in Abraham and his seed-that is, Christ.

This does not deny that all men have sinned, and that the whole world needs regeneration. This it will get; but apparently not by fire, as has been hitherto supposed.

Truly our God is a God of mercy and grace!

January 1, 1865.

ANSWERS TO QUERIES.

In answer to Mr. Maude's observations on the parable of" the unclean spirit," I beg to state that I find all our Lord's parables were spoken to the Jews and are primarily prophetic Jewish history. Of this, the parable in Matt. xii. 43-45 is £0 good an example, that I copy an explanation of it as it stands in my private note-book on all the parables.

Parable of the unclean spirit: Matt. xii. 43-45; Mark iii. 22-27; Luke xi. 24-26. This parable is pronounced by our Saviour in a conversation with Scribes and Pharisees, whom he rebukes, and calls " serpents and a generation of vipers (Matt. iii. 7; xxiii. 33), children of the devil, the old serpent. (John viii. 41-44.) The Pharisees, asking for a sign (Matt. xii. 38, xvi. 4; Mark viii. 12), our Lord says no sign shall be given them, but the sign of the prophet Jonas (Matt. xii. 40), which represents His own death and resurrection. In verse 41 He prefers the men of Nineveh, on account of their faith and repentance, to the nation of the Jews, who He prophesies will not believe though one should rise from the dead (Luke xvi. 31), which He afterwards did.

The unclean spirit is the devil; and his house" the house of Judah, in the Jews' land."

"The stronger than the strong man" (Matt. xii. 29; Luke xi. 22) is certainly Christ Himself, who was showing the Jews that He" by the Spirit" (Matt. xii. 28) and "finger of God" (Luke xi. 20) was able to cast out demons, thus attesting His divine mission, and giving proof "the kingdom of God" was come unto them, if they believed on Him (Matt. xi. 14) as the Messiah.

Jesus seems to compare the nation to a man, out of whom the unclean spirit had been cast; but this was not literally the case until the end of the apostolic age when miraculous agency in Judea ceased and the Jews were driven out of the land, the house being thus made "desolate." (Matt. xxiii. 38.)

Verse 43 describes the unclean spirit during this parenthetical dispensation as ill at ease, restrained in power, "seeking rest and finding none," no such lodgment in any other nation being given him as he formerly had in his house, the Jewish land and people.

Verse 44. "The unclean spirit returning to its house, findeth it empty, swept and garnished," refers to the partial restoration of the Jews in the time of the end to their own land;

Verse 45, which Satan will re-possess with "seven other spirits more wicked than himself." It refers also to the covenant the Jews will make with Antichrist (energized with Satan, Rev. xiii. 2; Dan. viii. 24), which will bring upon them the terrible chastening of the great tribulation (Matt. xxiv. 21, 22; Ezek. xxii. 19—22), by which only one-third will be left in Judea. (Zech. xiii. 9.)

That this is the meaning of the parable seems obvious from the concluding words of verse 45: "Even so shall it be with this wicked generation " (or nation) (Deut. xxxii. 5, 20, 28; Matt. xvi. 4, xxiii. 36, xxiv. 34; Mark xiii. 30, viii. 38; Luke vii. 31, ix. 41, xxi. 32; Jer. ii. 31, vii. 29; Phil. ii. 15; because the Jews imprecated the punishment of the Messiah's blood upon themselves and their children. (Matt. xxvii. 25.) The last state therefore of the Jewish nation will be seven times worse than the first.

But finally, when the stronger (Christ) than the strong man (Satan) comes again (Rev. xix. 11), he will then bind the devil permanently (Rev. xx. 1-3; Rom. xvi. 20), fulfilling the promise in Gen. iii. 15, and will spoil his house for ever. (Matt. xii. 29; Mark iii. 22-27; Luke xi. 22.)

In this parable, between verses 43 and 44, we have an instance of the silence of Scripture and the parenthetical nature of this dispensation *

During the present times of the Gentiles, whilst the Jews out of their own land are not a nation before God, they as a nation do not exist; therefore prophecy is silent; but when partially restored to their own land in an unconverted state, the devil then cast out of heaven for ever, will still more take possession of them (Rev. xii. 9, 12)

See an interesting pamphlet recently published by William Mackintosh, 24, Paternoster-row London, entitled "The Dispersion of Israel considered in relation to the age in which we live."

January 1, 1865.

"for a short time," and will again have the assistance of wicked spirits (1 Tim. iv. 1; Rev. ix., xvi. 13, 14), wherewith to deceive and enslave the people and nations.

In the last days when Antichrist will reign over the Jews (Rev. xiii. 5; Dan. ix. 27), he is called "a fiery flying serpent" (Isa. xiv. 29. xxvii. 1), and the apostate Jews are rarticularly described in Isa. lix. 2-8. especially in the 5th verse.

At Christ's coming "the unclean spirit shall be cast out of the land" (Zech. xiii. 2), and "Jacob ransomed from the hand of him that was stronger than he." (Jer. xxxi. 11 Ps. xviii. 17, cxlii. 6) H. M. L.

In answer to J. D.'s objection, I reply: Sacrifices will not then be typical, but commemorative and eucharistic; they will be altered to suit the blessed condition of the restored Jewish nation.

J. D. should carefully study "The Land of Canaan," by J. E., a tract published by Morgan and Chase; and the reasoning of the Rev. Capel Molyneux, in “Israel's Future," page 252.

The following extract is also much to the point

"The temple worship of Israel will be revived (Ps. li. 19; Ezek. xl., xlviii.) The feasts and the sacrifices, not pointing forward, as of old, but commemoratively looking back to the blessed work of redemption already accomplished, will be observed in Jerusalem.

"Christians, generally speaking, have difficulty on this point; this is, however, greatly removed when it is remembered that the sacrifices hereafter in Israel will be what the Lord's Supper is to us. Why,' it is frequently said, 'return to these ordinances, seeing that the true sacrifice for sin has been slain, and that atonement has already been made?'

"The truth is, this with the Jews will be their mode, according to the Mosaic economy, of commemorating that which we commemorate when we break bread in the naine of the Lord.

"Then, again, there is a beautiful principle connected with this. The Gospel precept is, 'Whether, therefore, ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God; and so hereafter ceremoniously and commemoratively it will be with the Jews; their very food will be holy, the act of partaking thereof will be an act of worship on their part, telling of the goodness of Him whose flesh is meat indeed and whose blood is drink indeed.'

J. D.'s argument from Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews is formidable at first sight; but we must remember that epistle is addressed to the christianized Jews of Paul's day, who had been under the Mosaic law, and could hardly believe themselves entirely freed from it.

It was necessary, therefore, to prove this from the law itself.

Paul speaks to these Jews, only as members of the Church. To them, as such, all legal things had then passed away for ever.

No doubt the entire freedom of those christianized Hebrews from the law of Moses, was among the "abundant revelations" given to Paul concerning the Church; for without divine instruction and authority he could not have abolished all the legal things previously existing in the Jewish Christian Church at Jerusalem. See Acts xv. where it is decided that even converted Gentiles (graft into the Jewish Church) were to observe certain Jewish things, "to abstain from blood, and from things strangled." (Verses 19, 20, 28, 29.)

In Paul's time, therefore, the New Covenant of free forgiveness of sins without any deeds of the law was fully developed; for all revelations concerning the nation and the Church were so progressive that the Church was "hid from generations and ages," till the unbelief of the Jewish people delayed the manifestation of the Redeemer's kingdom, when the nation receded like a dissolving view, as if never to appear again, But this is quite contrary to old Testament Scripture, and to Paul's teaching in Rom. xi. 2-26; and it is altogether as erroneous to argue from Paul's epistle to Jewish Christians, that sacrifices will never be resumed as a mode of worship in the restored and forgiven nation of Israel.

When their Messiah Jehovah-Jesus reigns in Jerusalem as "King of the Jews," how can worship in " the Temple of God" be otherwise than in a Jewish form? Such it will be, for such is the divine pleasure, p'ainly revealed. Of those days God says: "All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered unto thee (Jerusalem); the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar,