necessarily stopped. "But," says the Apostle (1 Cor. ii.), taking up the words, "God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit." "We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world [or the ages] unto our glory." How often we hear a member of the body of Christ quoting the words, "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard it," to justify an ignorance which the Spirit of God takes pains to shew us is no longer excusable. The things which God hath prepared for them that love Him are now disclosed. Our position is the contrast of that of the Jews'. God hath revealed them UNTO US by His Spirit: for His Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. True, these things are not the things of man, and are therefore undiscoverable by human ken. But a Christian is called no longer to walk nor to think κατὰ ἄνθρωπον: if he seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. "The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." And what is that to the Christian? Everything. "For we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. We have the mind (voûv) of Christ.'

So in Ephesians, God "hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence: having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He had purposed in Himself for the administration of the fulness of times, to gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in the heaven, and which are on the earth, even in Him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose," etc. The great and precious revelations of the Old Testament, as Moses told the Jews (Deut. xxx. 29.) belong, in an emphatic sense, unto them and their children. Jehovah their God had reserved the secret things unto Himself. Hence the force and importance of the verses just cited from this epistle. His grace has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. He has made known unto us the secret of His will, according to the good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself for the administration of the accomplishment of the set times.

And what is this purpose of God? It is to gather in one Head, in Christ, all things which are in heaven, and which are on earth; in Him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance. That is, the mystery of God's will consists of two great parts: first, Christ is to be the Head of all things heavenly and earthly; and secondly, the Church is to be associated with Him in that inheritance. And so the apostle, having treated of the design of God to re-head all things in Christ, turns also at once to the collateral purpose of joining the Church as heir with Him, first alluding to the Jewish saints brought into this relationship and then to the Ephesians themselves, the Gentile saints whom he was actually addressing:-"that we [i. e. the Jews now believing] should be to the praise of His glory who are pre-trusters in Christ; in whom ye also" [i. e. Gentile believers], etc

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In the closing verses of this chapter, we have the same two-fold truth, with this difference, that it is not in connexion with God's future purpose respecting the heading of all things in Christ, when the appointed times are completed, but with Christ's present exaltation at the right hand of God. Nevertheless, here as before, is seen the double glory of Christ. God hath given Him as head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all; and thereupon chapter ii. enters into the manner of God's display of His grace in His kindness towards Jew and Gentile through Christ Jesus.

If we turn to Acts iii., it is clear, that the times of refreshing and the restoring of all things were no secret of God's will. Peter speaks of this restitution of all things as the familiar hope of the Jewish nation. God had spoken of them by the mouth of His holy prophets since the world began. This therefore must be a distinct thing, however closely connected with the mystery of Ephes. i. 9-11. Let us take one of these prophetic testimonies, and the difference will be plain.

"Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was

And I

profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it. Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the LORD" (Ezekiel xxxvi. 22—38).

This citation is the more observable, because it is the one doubtless that the Lord had in view in his conversation with Nicodemus (John iii). Jesus had laid down the necessity of regeneration as the condition of seeing the Kingdom of God; and to the questions of the Jewish ruler, answered, that except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter that kingdom. Flesh and Spirit admit of no modification in the nature of each, which remains unchanged and distinct; and so Nicodemus was not to marvel if Jews must be born again in order to have part in God's kingdom, for the question is about

ye

When then

the kingdom, and not salvation merely. Nicodemus still inquires, "How can these things be?" the Lord says, "Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you heavenly things?" Thus it is clear, that when the Lord spoke of the need of the new birth, a Jewish teacher ought to have understood; for so had the prophet Ezekiel shown. Before Israel enjoys the earthly blessings in the promised land, Israel will be born again. Israel will be sprinkled with clean water, and will have a new spirit put within them. It is afterwards they have the earthly things of the kingdom of God. "I will also save you from all your uncleannesses; and I will call for the corn, and will increase it," etc. "And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden." The important thing to notice, is, that in all this the Lord had not gone beyond the earthly things, or what was essential to their enjoyment, i. e. the new birth. Of course to have blessings in heavenly places, a man must à fortiori be born again; but even the Jewish people, as we have seen, must be regenerate to have the earthly promises in God's kingdom. In speaking of regeneration, He had not gone beyond the range of earthly things and what a Jew ought to have learned from the prophets. "If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not; how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" On the latter, the Lord does not touch further than to intimate the lifting up of the Son of man, and the gift of the Son of God in His love not to the Jews only but to the world; which things involve, as we know, the exaltation of the Lord into glory on high, and the union of the church with Him there, as the fulness of that Heavenly man. The lifting up of the Son of man, was, so far as man's responsibility is concerned, the demolition (though in the marvellous wisdom of God the security) of all the earthly hopes of the Jews. In Christ all the promises of God found their meetingplace; and if He had been received, all would have been

made good to His earthly people. But He was rejected. Wherefore God also highly exalted Him. The promises remain to be accomplished, based as they are upon the blood of the Mediator; but before that accomplishment takes place, a new and extraordinary work goes on; namely, the formation of a body to share the dominion of Christ, when God's purpose is fulfilled, of gathering all things, heavenly and earthly, under the headship of Christ, the Church sharing that inheritance with Him. This, then, was the mystery of the will of God: not the kingdom of God, not regeneration, indispensable even for its earthly promises. Of these the Prophets had spoken; but they were silent on the purpose of God which destined Christ and the Church to rule over all things in the heavens and on the earth. The restitution of all things was not in any sense a mystery; but this was.

They

Let me observe by the way, that 1 Peter 10-12 does not at all refer to this mystery, but to other privileges which formed the burden of many a prophetic strain. The salvation of souls was certainly no hidden secret" of which salvation the prophets," etc. searched, no doubt, what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify; but it is manifest that the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow, testified before-hand by the ancient prophets, cannot be the mystery which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit (Ephes. iii.). Here were things testified before-hand, ministered unto us, and not unto themselves; for it was so revealed to them, but clearly these previously revealed privileges are totally different from another sphere of blessing which from the beginning of the world was kept hid in God; nor do the epistles of Peter once allude to our fellowship with Christ as His body. The mystery is nowhere introduced. We are regarded" as begotten again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled... kept by the power of God," etc., and exhorted to diligence, sobriety, confident hope, and obedient holiness, and withal to pass the time of our sojourning in fear, knowing our