In

the communications made to Daniel himself, there is a distinction to be made between chaps. vii. and viii., (which have a common character), and chap. ix., to the end. Chaps. vii. and viii. are communications made to Daniel of certain events during the power of evil the Jews being in no way delivered-and give us the two horns, and their bearing on the history of those beloved of God, whatever their condition. But all this is seen as a picture, though a picture explained a picture of the power of evil. the four last chapters, which date subsequent to the overthrow of Babylon, Daniel, according to the mind of God, is brought forward as intercessionally interested in Israel, and he pleads for guilty Israel as Moses of old; differently as to tone, but presenting, by faith in God's own thoughts, the people as His people, whatever their state may have been; and that is the character of faith, while fully (for the very same reason) owning and confessing the sin. The result is remarkably analogous as to this. The Angel who speaks on the Lord's behalf calls Israel Daniel's people, and the city his city, as the Lord did to Moses. Daniel sees no vision here of historical wonders, but of the glory of the person interested in Israel, who communicates to him Israel's history in reply to his faith in God and love to Israel, as the man greatly beloved. Chap. ix. seems to me to refer rather to chap. vii., and chaps. x. and xi. and xii. to chap. viii.; the former to the Western, and the latter to the Eastern subjects of prophecy. I believe these considerations will assist in the intelligence of the book, the latter remarks opening considerably the bearing of the two subdivisions. The explanation of the seventh is not in terms confined to the end of the indignation, as that of the eighth, though the special actings of the little horn are identified with the periods of chapter xii.

No. X.

REFLECTIONS ON MINISTRY, IN CONNEXION WITH THE LEGATION OF MOSES.

To those who, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, have attained peace for their consciences; and, further, have been gathered in the power and energy of the Spirit into a position of fellowship one with another, no question can possess more commanding interest than that of ministry; at least, so far as their well-being as in association here is concerned.

My reason for considering this important subject in connexion with the history of that honoured instrument whose name stands at the head of this paper is, that I find in that history many principles calculated to give us a more enlarged view of the subject of ministry generally. Before, however, proceeding to the detailed exposition of the Scriptures which shall come under our notice, I would offer a few remarks on ministry in a general way. There is considerable comfort for the Christian in the remembrance that ministry is a settled institution in the Church of God, which the Great Head of the Church has pledged Himself to maintain "until we all come, in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. iv. 13).

Here we get the true source of ministry in the Church of God, the power by which it is to be maintained, and the end for which it is designed; and, of course, we are perfectly safe in asserting that, "until" that great end be accomplished, the resurrection-gifts of the Head of the Church will remain with us.a

a In order to meet any difficulty that may arise in the mind of the Christian reader as to the continuance of ministerial gifts with us, as put forward in the text, it may be needful to inquire what those gifts are, and how they continue with us. And first, I say, as to what those gifts are they are, in a word, such as were needful" for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." It will, however,

I would the rather press this point, seeing it has been asserted by some that we have not those gifts; and if we have them not, it is only folly to calculate upon them;

be observed that the Spirit is very concise in His enumeration of gifts in this important passage. For example, He omits the "gifts of tongues" and "gifts of healing" (xapioμara laμaтwv). He merely mentions "Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers," thus omitting several of the gifts which characterised the Pentecostal times.

It will, of course, be admitted that we see not now Apostles in the Church; and this may awaken in the minds of some the enquiry, "How, then, can the gifts be said to continue with us?" I reply, the Divine purpose in giving Apostles was answered in what was effected through the instrumentality of those vessels during their stay upon earth, and also by their writings, as handed down to us (see 2 Pet. i. 12-15). It is not necessary, in order to maintain the idea of the continuance of gift, that the Apostles should remain with us “until", etc. When it is said "He gave some Apostles, etc., for the perfecting of the saints, until," etc., it matters not whether those Apostles were designed to act by their personal presence or by their writings Then, again, as regards prophets, evangelists, etc., taking the former to mean, not merely persons who could predict future events, but those who could unfold the mind of God as contained in Scriptures not previously opened out, I see no difficulty in recognising such at present in the Church. Thus, we have “ some Apostles "—in their writings" some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers," actually and personally present with us; and, moreover, we may count upon having such "until we all come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

The gifts of healing and tongues were more designed as a testimony to Israel, as it is written, "With men of other tongues will I speak unto this people." They cannot, therefore, be looked at as bearing exactly on "the edifying of the body of Christ." And indeed, in the 68th Psalm, to which the Apostle refers in Eph. iv., there seems to be a manifest distinction set forth as regards gifts: "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men-yea, for the rebellious also (aTeloovvτes). From this passage, there would seem to be a distinction between the gifts, some being designed "for men," and some "for the rebellious also;" at least, they were designed to act upon the rebellious, meaning thereby Israel. Now, the Apostle does not allude to the gifts as bearing upon "the rebellious;" he merely looks at those which were designed for the edifying of the body of Christ, and, as such, to continue " until we all come," etc. And now, one word upon the question as to how the gifts remain with us. The answer is—they are treasured up in Christ. He, as another has well observed, is the great reservoir of spiritual gift for His body the Church; from Him she must draw them;

yea, to do so, is but to leave an opening for the very worst confusion, even the exhibition of the lawless spirit of the flesh under the most solemn circumstances. If this be a correct view of the matter, I see not how we can stop short of the imposing doctrine of Apostolical succession, in which, if it be but folly to count upon the Spirit's presence in the Church, it would be well at once to take refuge. However, I doubt not that the statement above referred to will be found to have originated in a habit of judging of things as they are, rather than of things as they should be: in other words, that the doctrine of the Spirit's presence in the Church for ministerial gifts and every other necessity, has been tested rather by the actings of those who maintain it, than by the simple standard of the Word; and, if this be the case, we need not wonder that the blessed doctrine has been pronounced a mere delusion; for, by a similar mode of reasoning, the great doctrine of justification by faith might be pronounced a delusion also.

We need not stop to point out the manifest unsoundness of such a mode of trying the genuineness of any principle. No reasonable man would hold a principle upon the grounds of other men's conduct, neither would he reject it upon the grounds of their misconduct; his

and it is in proportion as the Church walks in communion with and in faithfulness to Him, that she will abound in gift, which, by the way, proves that we are not by any means to judge of the question of the continuance of gift by the fact of its not being developed, for the question may still be asked, "Why is it not developed?" Because the Church is not faithful. But shall the unfaithfulness of the Church hinder the Lord Jesus from being the grand depository of gift? Surely not. He holds the gifts, let the Church be ever so unfaithful. If the Church will not make use of them, that does not affect the principle in the least. Why does she not ? Where is the hindrance? The church was not constituted the depository of gift, but Christ, her Head, was, for to Him it was said, "Thou hast received gifts" (eλaßes doμara). He, therefore, is the receiver and the holder of gifts, and it may be safely asserted that whatever the Head holds is available for the body.

Hence, we see the absolute necessity of avoiding every barrier to the outflow of ministerial gift or grace, for the Lord Jesus will shed it forth according to His own sovereign will.

reason for holding or rejecting it would be its being established or rejected by the Word. If this be not our habit of deciding questions involving principle, there will be no safeguard, no criterion, no unerring standard to which to appeal; and, truly, it would be most unsatisfactory to depend, in such things, upon the ever-varying conduct of persons holding principles ever so sound. As well might the children of Israel of old have depended for guidance upon the footmarks in the sand, which might be filled up or altered by every breath of wind. No: the only guide for them was the cloud or pillar above, which moved on in all that unerring steadiness which resulted from entire independence upon things beneath; and the only guide for us is the Word of our God, in which alone we can find pure truth.

But,

Now, it is well worthy of remark, that in the memorable passage above quoted, it is not stated that "He gave some apostles, etc., etc., until the Church fail," and that then they should cease. Had this been stated, it would have established beyond a doubt the statement, that we have no right to expect the fulfilment of the Divine purpose in ministry now; at least, as we have it put forward in the passage immediately before us. seeing that no such thing is stated, but the very reverse, namely, that it is "until we all come to a perfect man,' we are constrained to infer that "until" we do come, we shall possess those gifts that are needful for perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ;" and further, that we cannot refuse to acknowledge the permanency of those gifts without, at the same time, denying the plain and simple testimony of the Word of God.

Now, if those gifts remain with us we must look for their manifestation according to divine appointment; which appointment we find, by reference to another passage of Scripture, to be as follows; "Now, there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to