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4. Still more. The bridegroom comes to take his bride home. Thus Christ comes to take His saints home-to His own home. Hence the parable says, "The virgins went in with Him to the marriage, i.e., at His house. They have now left entirely and for ever their old home, i.e., the sinful world, and its cares and burdens, sorrows and afflictions. Now their redemption is complete. Those virgins whom the Saviour met living in their bodies are no longer embarrassed by the infirmities thereof, nor by the perplexing obstacles which earth throws in the way, and those whose bodies slumbered in the dust are also redeemed from their earthly prison; they are risen and glorified, "delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."

And whilst they leave their former home, they enter into a new one. And what is this new home? None other than "that great city, the holy Jerusalem-having the glory of God: and light like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal" (Rev. xxi. 10, 11). Her streets are "of pure gold, and as it were transparent glass" (xxi.). She has "no need of the sun, nor of the moon: for the glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." "There shall be no night there."

But where is this "great city?" Most would unhesitatingly say, In heaven. Let us see where John in vision saw this city. He says, he saw it "descending out of heaven from God" (xxi. 10). If it went out of heaven, it cannot be in heaven; if it descended, where else should it have come but to or on the earth? And let us see how far our parable carries out this idea. Where is the marriage celebrated? It has all the appearance as if this earth, of course in its renewed and glorified state, were the place. The Bridegroom came to this earth. And there is not the slightest hint given that He went back again into heaven with the wise virgins, but the impression made is that the marriage took place on the spot where He met them, or near it.

Such seems to be the inference drawn from these passages. But whether or no, let us be glad, and thank God that the doors of that city are thrown open to all of us.

Glorious city! And shall this be the saint's home-his everlasting home? Yes, there and nowhere else is his true home.

Such, then, is the object of Christ's second advent. Now I ask, Is there anything terrifying in this? Certainly not. Does the bride look with fear and feelings of terror for the coming of her bridegroom? Everybody knows it is the contrary. Why, she wishes him to come; she looks for him as the hour draws near; she is in danger of getting impatient at his delay. She writes him to hasten. She often imagines she hears his footsteps and sees his form rising from behind the hills. Her heart thrills with joy when he sends a message that he will come quickly, and she is never happy until he has come! Thus the bride of ths Lamb is affected, and thus should we be with reference to the appearing of our Saviour. To the saints, it is not the judge that comes but the Bridegroom. And should the bride be afraid of Him whom her heart loves? Should she fear, when He is about to fulfil His promise? Should she be terrified, when He comes to show her His intensest love and to open to her the possession of all His treasures? Should she turn away from Him in horror when He displays His nuptial magnificence and glory? Should she wish that He would postpone His coming when He enters into such intimate and happy union with her, that both are no more twain but one, and that all the wealth and happiness of Christ may be hers also? Should she cling to her old home in the world, when He

brings her complete redemption, and fills up for her the measure of the purest and sublimest joys in a new and happy home? Why, the thing would seem preposterous and absurd. Such a person could not possibly be the bride. To the true bride the coming of the absent bridegroom is the chief object of contemplation and of fondest anticipations. And when she sees the signs of His approach, and hears the heralds of His train, she is full of joy, and puts on her beautiful garment; she trims her lamp and goes forth to meet Him. And when He tarries she prays to Him: Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.

But now, another question is, Who is the bride? I answer, All those previously betrothed to Him and true to their engagements. An engagement implies at least two things: acquaintance and a promise or pledge. You see, then, to be admitted to a participation in these exalted joys, it is necessary that you know Christ, not as you know me or some other person, but you must know Him as your Saviour; you must know Him in such a way as to see there is something lovely, something worthy of your fullest confidence in Him. In other words, you must savingly believe in Him. Faith in Him will cleanse you from all impurities of the world; it will wash you clean from your sins. It will make you a spiritual virgin; it will give you a pure, chaste, loving nature, and then you are ready for your Lord. Renounce the idolatrous and adulterous service of the world; go forth, as these virgins did, to meet Him; let your heart, your aspirations and hopes, be directed heavenward; accept the tokens and pledges He has left you, and wear the ring of affiance as His betrothed.

And then be faithful to Him. All these virgins were betrothed, yet some failed to become the actual bride. Only the wise went in with Him to the marriage. Who are they then? The parable describes them as not only having oil in their lamps, as the foolish had also, but they "took oil in their vessels with their lamps," and "they were ready." Without dwelling on these phrases, I would simply say, they are Christians of no ordinary attainments, they are 66 no babes and novices in religious things; they are full-grown men and women in Christ, having given themselves wholly and entirely to Christ and His cause; they are persons having far advanced in sanctification, persons who have always let their light shine before the world, and who have fought battles for the Lord. Let it suffice to say, they are persons who not only believe unto their justification but unto their sanctification, who have a living, active, self-denying faith, with whom Christianity is not a secondary but the principal matter, who have fully renounced the world and taken up the cross, and who are rich in good works, and are ready for any emergency. These only, and none others, are admitted to such high and exalted honours. The foolish are shut out.

Let me therefore ask, Are you a virgin? Are you washed clean from your sins? have you put off the old man who lived in spiritual unchastity and adultery with the world? Are you betrothed to the Lord Jesus? These are momentous questions which you would do well to ponder. Unless you are thus engaged to Him, there is no hope of salvation at all, much less to be the actual bride.

I ask again: if you are a virgin-do you belong to the wise or to the foolish ones? If one of the wise, be not afraid. If the tempter would frighten you because of the second advent, hold up to him the word: the Bridegroom-my Bridegroom cometh, to redeem me and to take me home!--Prophetic Times.

The Conversion of the World.

WE would commend to the attention of those looking for the world's conversion the fact that the Bible contains prophecies reaching from various points of time long since in the past down to the close of this dispensation, and that in these consecutive prophecies there is no intimation that before this age ends there will be a thousand years during which,- -as Dr Harris expresses it," Christendom will appear purged of its corruptions; India without its caste; China without its curse; and all its kingdoms be consolidated into one vast spiritual empire, be happy in the reign of Christ and prostrate at His feet." If such a blissful period is to arrive, how is such silence to be accounted for? Nay, more, why is the very reverse taught?

1. The prophecy of Daniel, 11th and 12th chapters, contains a series of predictions extending from the days of the kingdom of Persia to the resurrection and glorification of the saints. Where the prophecy begins cannot be questioned, for the interpreting angel said, "There shall stand up yet"-besides Cyrus the reigning monarch-"three kings in Persia" (chap. xi. 2); and that it runs through Græcia and Rome to the deliverance of the Church from death and the grave (chap. xii. 1-3) is equally plain, unless we turn Sadducees and fail to find the resurrection taught anywhere in the Old Testament. But where in this prophetic history of "the people that do know their God," is there anything like millennial glory seen before the resurrection of " everlasting life?" We search for it in vain.

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2. The parable of the tares of the field (Matt. xiii. 24-30, 36-43) spans the gospel age, and interpreted by Christ himself, renders it certain that there will be the co-existence of Christianity and anti-Christianity -of good and evil-till the dispensation closes. "The field is the world"-ho kosmos, the habitable globe, and in it the tares and wheat "grow together until the harvest," which "is the end of the age"aionos, and, as Dr Bonar remarks, "then, and not till then, the reign of unmixed good begins the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." But this act which ends the evil and begins the unmixed good-which terminates the economy of grace and introduces the kingdom in its place-is different from everything which has hitherto happened, or which is now in use. It is an act of power, not of grace. It is the work of judgment, not of mercy. It is the doing, not of missionaries and ministers but of angels-the effect, not of an extended gospel, but of the personal intervention of the Son of Man. Not the golden sceptre, but the iron rod."

3. Paul's prediction of the mystery of iniquity and of the man of sin covers the same ground,-2 Thess. ii. 7, 8. "The mystery of iniquity doth already work,"-this shows that the prophecy dates from the apostolic age," only He who letteth"--or hindereth" will let," or hinder, "until he be taken out of the way; and then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming." The coming of our Lord is mentioned not less than ten times in the two Epistles to the Thessalonians (See 1 Epis. i. 9, 10; ii. 19; iii. 13; iv. 13-18; v. 1-4, 23;-2 Epis. i. 6-10; ii. 1, 2, 8), and there is no intimation that it means anything different in the passage just quoted from what it does in the others; and as the destruction of the man of sin must precede the millennium, and he is not to be destroyed till the coming of our Lord, it follows that we must expect apostasy and the darkness of evil to continue till dispelled by "the brightness of His coming."

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The work of God in this dispensation is an elective one. laboured among the Jews that if by any means he " might save some of them;" and "Simeon hath declared how God at first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name" (Rom. xi. 14; Acts xv. 14); and when "a great multitude which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues "shall have come out of great tribulation," instead of the blessedness of a converted world," having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev. vii. 9, 14); and when our earth shall rise from its fiery baptism to bloom for ever beneath the smile of its God, and our glorified King will dwell with His glorified Church on the glorified earth, and our world's history end as it began-with Eden;-then it will be seen that though the world has not been converted by the preaching of the gospel, yet Messiah's work has been no "failure." Read carefully Rev. xxi. 1-7.

Reviews.

The Heresies of the Plymouth Brethren. M.D. Thirteenth thousand. London noster Row. 1870.

By James C. L. Carson, Houlston and Sons, Pater

We return to the volume once more, to show our readers how thoroughly the Darbyites deny the very foundation of the gospelimputed righteousness (pp. 277-285).

"If only a man who was truly righteous was accounted righteous," observes Mr Darby, "there would be no ground for imputed righteousness at all." It is difficult to know whether this observation arises from extreme stupidity or from an intention to mislead. Mr Darby knows as well as he is alive that I do not hold that a man is truly righteous in himself, nor yet that, being once made truly righteous by having the righteousness of Christ imputed to him, he requires the righteousness of Christ to be imputed a second time. When the righteousness of Christ is really imputed to the sinner, who is never righteous in himself, he is then so really and truly righteous that God can treat him, count him, and look upon him as perfectly innocent. On Mr Darby's principles, he is innocent neither in himself nor his substitute: but the God of truth is compelled to act as a deceiver, and call him righteous, or account him righteous, when he is not truly and honestly so in any view of the case whatever. Monstrous! Most monstrous ! "The work of God in us is needed," says Mr Darby, "that we may have a part in Divine righteousness." Now, what is this Divine righteousness in which we have a part? The Darbyites deny that Christ has worked out a righteousness for His people, and that there is such a thing in Scripture as the righteousness of Christ. Consequently this cannot be the righteousness which Mr Darby refers to. They do not affirm that the Father has worked out any righteousness for the Church. Consequently Mr Darby cannot mean a worked-out righteousness at all. What, then, is the Divine righteousness of which he speaks? We are compelled to come to the conclusion that it

is an attribute of the Godhead. There is nothing else left which it could be. According to this, God is to divide His own attribute with us! There can be no mistake in the matter, for Mr Darby says, "We may have a part in Divine righteousness." I must therefore call on Mr Consistency Darby to reconcile his statement here with the one he made on his previous page,that "an attribute being imputed to us is simple nonsense, being a contradiction in terms, because an attribute is something which belongs to, or is in, the being spoken of, so as to be a part of himself." I quite agree with Mr Darby that an attribute of God belongs to Him in such a sense that it is impossible for him to part with it, and that to speak of its being imputed, or of a man having a part in it, is the most perfect nonsense; but it is a specimen of nonsense which belongs specially to Mr Darby and his followers. They do not require to take out a patent for it, as no person can successfully dispute their title to it. They ought to hold down their heads with shame on account of their absurd and contradictory statements. "Christ is righteousness," says Mr Darby, at page 18 of his "Righteousness and Law," "and it is imputed to us." What sense is there in this? What is imputed to us? He does not say Christ has worked out a righteousness, and it is imputed to us. He does not say Christ possesses in His Godhead the attribute of righteousness, and it is imputed to us. But he says, "Christ is righteousness, and it is imputed to us;" or, in correct language, Christ himself is imputed to us. Could any specimen of greater absurdity than this be found? It is so absurd that it must be specially intended to deceive by the sound of words. It is easy to see that the work of Christ could be imputed to man; but no sane individual could imagine that Christ, in His divinity and humanity, could be imputed to man. Hence I conclude that Mr Darby, by the mere sound of words, intends to mislead the unwary. At the 21st page of the same pamphlet, Mr Darby says, "Christ is our righteousness; and we have no other one, desire no other. And thus righteousness is imputed to us." Here, again, we have the same absurd sentiment. The righteousness which is im. puted is Christ himself, and no other one. "I have used Christ's righteousness' often myself," continues Mr Darby, "as a general term, expressing Divine righteousness by Him, and I have no regret about it." Exactly so Mr Darby, you have done this, but in doing it, you have acted as dishonestly as it would be possible for you to do. An honest man always uses language in the sense in which he knows it will be understood by his readers, according to the fair acceptation of the words. But when you speak of Christ being our righteousness, and of righteousness being imputed, and of Christ's righteousness, you must do it with the full intention of deceiving, because you know right well that you have a totally different meaning in your mind from the one which will be taken out of your language by the Christian public. This is just one of the most dreadful things connected with Darbyite Ply. mouthism, that the whole system is couched in the language of deceptionis thoroughly “guarded.” It is this which makes it so difficult, and at the same time so very disagreeable, to deal with. There is no satisfaction in dealing with Jesuits. It must be confessed, however, that the jesuitical plan is the only one that could suit their purpose; because if their doctrines were honestly told, the Christian public would fly from them with the greatest horror.

Mr Darby proceeds-" Scripture never speaks of imputed righteousness at all, but of imputing righteousness, and the difference is very great indeed." When Mr Darby is at a loss for a plan of relieving himself from a difficulty, he is first-rate at designing oue. He should have been an architect, as he has great talent for invention. He has discovered that there is an immense difference between imputed righteousness and imputing righteousness,-so great a difference that the one is in Scripture, while the other is not. There certainly is this difference between the

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