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1 John iii. 1. Then a true mourner is blest with a vital and spiritual adoption into His family. He also says, "As He is, so are we in this world," 1 John iv. 17. God's word is despised, His truth trampled upon, His name blasphemed, His works disregarded, and His ways hated. Is this how the world serves God? Yes, and precisely thus it serves all who love Him. So then, dear mourner, thou art blest with love to God, oneness with God, and union to God; for thou art despised, trampled upon, spoken against, and hated by the world.

But, you will say, religious people are my chief persecutors. Yes, and religious people were the chief persecutors of Old Testament saints, of Christ, and his apostles. Who persecuted Abel? Religious Cain. Who tried to curse Israel? Religious Balaam. Who opposed Jeremiah? Religious Hananiah. Who said to Christ, Thou hast a devil, and art mad? The religious Pharisees. Who stoned Stephen? The religious Jews. Who assaulted Paul in the Temple? The religious multitude. In fact, none know how to persecute but religious people; and the more religion they get in their heads, while destitute of the power of godliness, the better they can injure God's saints. Nevertheless, "No weapon that is formed against thee," mourning soul, "shall prosper; and every tongue that riseth against thee in judg ment God will condemn," Isaiah liv. 17. Then art thou indeed blest with divine security. Christ has bought thee with His own blood out of captivity, therefore the devil could not hold thee in his kingdom a moment after thy call by grace; he could not hold thee in legal bondage a moment after the Lord spoke liberty in thy soul; and he may often worry thee, but must let thee go at last. The world may persecute, but thou art brought out of captivity to it, therefore overcome it thou must. Sin may annoy, but thou art brought out of captivity to it, therefore it shall not destroy thee. Death may alarm, but cannot hold thee fast; the grave must let thee go through, and heaven cannot be shut against thee. God the Father's language to Christ is, "Go through, go through the gates;" and Micah sweetly sings, "Their King shall pass before them, and the Lord at the head of them." Therefore, as Christ has passed through the gates of temptation, desertion, sorrow, reproach, persecution, darkness, hell, death, and the grave, and become a glorious Conqueror, so all His mourners must be "more than conquerors, through Him that loved

them."

God may hide his face, but He will never forget thee; troubles may encompass thy soul, but thou shalt rise above them all; darkness may oppress the mind, but light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. And that thou art righteous is certain, because thou canst appeal to the Lord in these words-"All my desire is before Thee;" my groaning is not hid from Thee." Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in Thee." As this is thy character, dear believer, and so many blessed things are said of thee, do not despair. Soon, very soon, this tabernacle of thine will be taken down, then, seeing Christ as He is, thou wilt have no more sorrow, and, being like Him, no more sin.

W. G.

SYMBOLIC TEACHING.

The press furnishes proof that the day of symbols has not ended. The following extract from a local paper is but a sample of the doings throughout the length and breadth of our land, that protested at the Reformation against these "beggarly elements," which, united to Paganism, form now the religion of the masses :~

"Tuesday last was set aside by the Churches in Dover for thanksgiving after harvest. At Charlton Church, upon the super altar were tastefully arranged bouquets of the choicest cut flowers; the altar rails were wreathed with evergreens; the lectern was wreathed with vine leaves; and over the chancel arch was an elegant and superb cross of Calvary, made of evergreens, relieved with geraniums. The top of the pulpit was wreathed with hops and ferns; upon the centre panel was an elegant cross composed of white flowers; upon the credence table was a tastefully made cross of wheat inlaid in the centre with a bunch of black grapes."

We quote the following sentence, extracted from an address to a rector upon the inauguration of a stained-glass window::

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May the window which we now present be a lasting memorial of our unity and affection-may it refresh your spirit when depressed with the apparent waste of the spiritual bread cast upon the waters."

Such symbols, which every day now furnishes, need no comment save the godly exclamation of the patriarch, "My son, come not thou into their secret." But when we reflect upon the thousands and tens of thousands who during the Christmas season have rejoiced in their efforts of church decoration; worshipped the work of their own hands; and mistaken their emotional gratification for God's religion, we are only reminded of Christ's solemn words-"Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it❞— "A way which thousands never seek; And thousands seek in vain."

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The holy anointing ointment, which we have described in Ex. xxx., was an ointment composed after the art of the apothecary," and contained five ingredients-myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, cassia, and olive oil. These spices were valuable, odoriferous, and medicinal, and, when bruised, were mixed with olive oil, and used for anointing both persons and things. Divine appointment was conspicuous in this type. Special commandment was given as to the persons who were to make it (see Ex. xxxi. 1-11); a precise recipe was given with regard to the ingredients used (see Ex. xxx. 34); and the way and manner of application we have minutely stated both for persons and things connected with the Tabernacle. But we must bear in mind that a great foundation truth was couched under this symbol; for in every instance where the anointing oil was applied, blood was first sprinkled. The book of Leviticus preaches a fuller gospel than multitudes of our so-called Christian teachers, who conceal the atonement, or deny it altogether. We read in Ex. xl. 8-16, Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about; also he sprinkled the tabernacle and its vessels, the book, the priests, their garments, and the people. This was pre

paratory to sprinkling the holy anointing oil; thus in type setting forth the harmony between the work of Christ and the operation of the Holy Ghost; the atonement made by God the Son, being effectually applied by God the Spirit to the elect, according to the will of God the Father.

As every thing in and about the tabernacle represented Christ, so we may trace in the type of the holy anointing oil the fulness of the Spirit, that dwelt in Him as the Head of His church, John iii. 34— "For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him." Aaron was the representative in this, as the first anointed high priest, upon whose head was poured the precious ointment, that ran down to the skirts of his garments. The name of Christ means Anointed, and is similar to the Hebrew word Messiah. Jesus, in opening His commission to the Jews, declared, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." This was His gracious work that lay before Him, of which the blood and the oil were the type. The apostles, in their opening testimony after Christ's resurrection, applied to Him the prophecy in the 2nd Psalm-"For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered." The apostle writing to the Hebrews quotes the 45th Psalm as prophetical of Christ-"God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." Here we trace the Headship of Christ-the God-man Mediator -the High Priest over the house of God-anointed for special work; receiving the holy anointing of the Spirit, not only for Himself personally as the anointed of the Father for salvation work, but relatively for the church as in vital union with Him, taking in the whole body, the virtue thereof descending to the skirts of the garment. Thus we notice the special application of the oil to the restored leper representing a sinner saved. After the blood had been first sprinkled (see Lev. xiv.), "the priest shall pour the oil into the palm of his own left hand, and the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the Lord; then he shall put the oil upon the tip of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot." Here we trace in type the work of God's Spirit upon blood-sprinkled sinners-the ear of faith given to hear the good news of the gospel, the hand of faith to receive the blessing, and the feet of faith to walk in ways that indicate the heart is brought under gospel power.

In Ex. xxviii. we have a minute and interesting description of the high priest's dress, carefully wrought with the costly materials treasured up for years, that had been carried out of Egypt-"And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses, and borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment; and the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required." And for what purpose ? For the services of the tabernacle, and all that was requisite

in connexion therewith. These valuable materials, unused for years, may remind us of many dormant blessings, that, when God's time is fulfilled, shall turn up to serve God's purposes; also they may represent to us God's jewels, preserved in Christ Jesus until the day of calling--taken out of the rubbish of the fall, and made "for a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of God." These rich materials, wrought into gorgeous robes, were the priests' clothing, in which they appeared before the Lord; but they must be consecrated before they could be used in sanctuary service. They must be sprinkled first with blood, and then anointed with oil, Lev. viii. 30. The perfection of these robes was not in the curious needlework, the exquisite colours, or the sparkling gems, which may represent to us creature work in its varied forms of human excellence; the perfection lay only in the blood and the oil, of Divine and symbolic institution, which set forth the work of Christ and the operation of the Holy Ghost. The blood-stained, oil-smeared robes, to human eyes, when thus consecrated, were ruined; and doubtless many a womanly heart failed when these beautiful garments, the work of willing fingers, were thus disfigured; but the Spirit-taught among them-and they are but few in any age-read in it this gospel truth, "Not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us." The blood-stained and oil-sprinkled garments represent also the aspect in which the world sees Christ. There is now-any more than of old-" no beauty that they should desire Him." He has for them " no form nor comeliness.""6 He is despised and rejected of

man."

None but the elect of God can value the Christ of God. The Arian has his Christ; the Socinian, the Universalist, the Papist, the Ritualist, have their Christ, but it is not God's Christ-"no man can say Jesus Christ is LORD but by the Holy Ghost." There must be the application of the holy anointing oil to apprehend the Christ of God. "We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." This is the believer's testimony now, and this comes through the anointing of the Spirit, which the holy ointment represented, and which leads us to look a little into the personality of the Spirit's work. Some speak of the Holy Spirit as resident in the Church generally, apart from His particular operations. But the church of God is made up of individuals, and the Spirit's work is a matter of personal experience in each believer. "When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.” "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me." There is something wrought in the soul by the Spirit which betrays itself in fear, anxiety, love, desire, hope, prayer, and such like. The holy anointing oil is sprinkled that consecrates the believer's heart to God, separates him in feeling from the spirit of the world, and in conduct from the practices of the world. The anointing oil of God is upon him, whereby the truth in experience is realized that saves, and made known to the judgment according to the will of God; revealed clearly to some, dimly to others; enjoyed by some, desired by others; some walking in the daylight of truth,

others groping for the wall as the blind; some in gospel liberty, others in bondage and fear. But where life is imparted the blood is sprinkled and the oil applied, whereby the varied feelings that indicate life are made manifest, small in their beginnings, unnoticed in their unfoldings, and hidden from the possessor as evidences, till in the power of the Spirit the soul can say, "Now He which stablisheth us in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God." Of such the apostle declares "But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him." Blessed declaration, given by the Spirit of truth to meet the changeful state that God's people are the subjects of. But the established believer and the babe are upon a level as to their security in Christ, and their teaching by the Holy Ghost Their foundation is the same, and their experience is the same, differing only in degree, not in kind. "God is not the author of confusion;" and Christ's promise in sending the Spirit was that He should be the Guide into truth, and so He is; not to all alike intellectually, but in the experience, in heart teaching, all the Lord's family are instructed alike. Lost and found comprehends the unity of the Spirit's work upon the redeemed. Whatever they may know more of the mysteries of the kingdom, less will not suffice. They must all be brought to feel themselves lost; and the desire raised up in the soul is, to know that they are found; and when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. This is common to all the people of God; and these foundation truths experimentally realized, will set the heart right with regard to creature helplessness, and the sovereignty of God's work on the soul. Small may be the ability to express or explain, but that has nothing to do with the fact. Many errors may lie in the judgment, and hinder a clear understanding and discernment of what is truth, but the feeling is in the breast, "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and know all things"-that is, things necessary to salvation, and to the peace of the soul.

But the Lord's people need daily anointings. Thus of the crosses in their pathway, they can testify that often "the yoke is broken because of the anointing;" that from time to time God gives them "the oil of joy for mourning;" that now and then He anoints their eyes with eye salve, that they may see a little of the grace and worth of Jesus, and "read their title clear to mansions in the skies ;" and anoints their head with fresh oil, so that the life of grace is strengthened, and the things that seem ready to die are revived in the soul. At such favoured moments God's people know somewhat of the privilege of being, like their Lord, "anointed for their burial"—the fear of death is removed the way into the Holiest is made manifest-nothing stands between the soul and heaven-" "to depart and be with Christ is far better." However short may be these seasons, they leave blessed fragrance behind, and it is "very precious ointment" (Matt. xxvi. 7), that loosens the ties to this world, and soothes the many sorrows that belong to a crumbling body of sin and death.

Happy are those who can face the young year with a well-founded

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