"this is NOT he of whom it is written, Behold I send my messenger"-that John was only the type of the person mentioned in Malachi,-that when Christ said "Elias is indeed come," he merely meant that his type or shadow was indeed come. One might as well say that when Peter said "Thou art the Christ," he meant only the type or shadow of Christ! Suppose the appearance of another Elias, and our Lord were to say of him "This is he," would we believe him? Why in this case and not in the former ?

But why this eagerness to prove that John is not he of whom it is written, "Behold " &c. Because, were this admitted, it would materially affect the views of the Millenarian in reference to a chain of events, of which this forms one link. If this prediction be fulfilled, others connected with it are also; and thenfavourite theories and long cherished opinions must be renounced. It is this which makes it so hard to believe that "Elias is come already." But how much more becoming the philosopher, and still more the Christian, to surrender at once to truth; yea, cordially to embrace it!

We do not now enter upon the subject of a return to animal sacrifices and ceremonial observances, and which, it is said will universally obtain throughout the world, only remarking that such an expectation is without the least warrant in the New Testament, and can rest only upon some confessedly difficult portion of the Old Testament Scriptures. But is it not somewhat extraordinary that a time of universal blessedness should be marked by a "turning again to the weak and beggarly elements," which never could and never will "make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience?' These "meats and drinks, and divers washings and carnal ordinances were imposed on the Jews until the time of reformation. BUT CHRIST BEING COME," they are needed no longer, just as with the rising of the sun the taper's feeble light is entirely useless. Do men really suppose that the coming of the Sun of Righteousness will be the occasion for the re-lighting of these feeble tapers? The levitical ordinances were useful" for the time then present," as portraits, poor and imperfect though they were, of their Great Original; but surely they lose their value in the presence of Him whom they so feebly represented!

With regard to Christ's reign upon earth, we are agreed as to the great and

glorious fact, and also that that reign will be universal; equally do we agree that Christ will reign in person, i. e. that he Himself will reign, not delegating his kingly office to another. But that Christ will again dwell in our midst in a bodily form, that he will again walk our earth and converse with men as in the days of his humiliation, only as a king, and for a much longer period, namely, 1000 years, to this view, mainly derived from a few verses in the Apocalypse, a book so highly figurative-to this we demur.

It is worthy of remark, that in no other part of the Bible than the Apocalypse is there any mention of a Millennium, and even there, there is not a single word about Christ's reigning visibly, or in a human form. We read in other parts of Scripture of his coming "in flaming fire," and like as he ascended, i.e. "in a cloud," but no word is there of his again leaving his heavenly throne, and again stooping to take upon himself "the form of a servant," and in that form to occupy some local habitation, and reign over the earth. Once did he empty himself of his glory, and taking upon him the seed of Abraham, lived and died amongst men, for the salvation of countless myriads of immortal spirits! But will he again humble himself to become an inhabitant of our world, again leave heaven his throne for earth his footstool? If so, where is it written? Think of the stupendous magnitude and importance of such an event as connected with the history of our world, and say, is it possible that Christ and his Apostles would have passed it over in silence? "ALL things, said Christ, that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you ;" and yet amongst these "all things" we find not this doctrine. On the contrary, our Lord sought rather to counteract in his disciples that over-estimate of his corporeal presence in their midst, which might so naturally be expected to exist "It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you.' "The flesh profiteth nothing; it is the Spirit that quickeneth.' So also taught the Apostle:-"Yea, though I have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know I him no more.'

"

The one grand and glorious design contemplated by the coming of Christ in the flesh was that he might save a ruined world, by giving his life a ransom for many. For the accomplishment of this blessed purpose, God prepared for him a

body:-" :-"A body hast thou prepared me." Beyond the attainment of this great end "the flesh profiteth nothing." And reason confirms the testimony of Scripture. Christ's bodily substance looked upon, or handled, or eaten, could not profit; "it is the Spirit that quickeneth.' And in order to a larger bestowment of that Spirit, it is in no way requisite that Christ's bodily presence should be again manifested in our world. So far from this, Christ tells his disciples that his absence from earth is essential to the presence of the Spirit-" If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you." And whatever influence his bodily presence might possess, it would be necessarily limited in its extent. Supposing, Christ's throne at Jerusalem, we in England would be excluded from the privilege of seeing, hearing. and conversing with him; he could manifest himself to us only by his Spirit. When two or three were gathered together for prayer in London, his bodily presence would not be with them, for that would be at Jerusalem. He would be with them only by his Spirit. And is this not the case now? What end then, commensurate with so stupendous an event, is proposed by Christ's coming again in the flesh to reign at Jerusalem? Is the end contemplated the universal reign of "righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost? And is not the Spirit adequate to this now? yea more, are not these the fruits of the Spirit

alone?

Christ himself tells us that his kingdom is spiritual" it is within you." Though it be noiseless, as is the dew and the sunshine, it is none the less real, blessed, and glorious. And, as if to prevent the possibility of mistake, this positive statement of our Lord is guarded by one of a negative character-"It cometh not with observation." i.e. Not only is it spiritual, but it is also marked by the absence of all external circumstances which might attract observation. But according to Millenarians, the opposite of this would be its peculiar and distinguishing feature. Think of the eternal Son of the Highest visibly reigning at Jerusalem, and that in connection with the revival of a gorgeous ritualism, when all the nations of the world will come before the Lord with burnt offerings, with thousands of rams and ten thousands of rivers of oil, and say, is this "coming NOT with observation?" Again, if that kingdom await, as some say, the return of the Jews to Palestine,

what mean then Christ's words to the Jews-"The kingdom of God is taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."-Matt. xxii. 43. Here it is distinctly stated by our Lord that the kingdom should be transferred to ANOTHER nation, the Church, or the entire body of believers both Jew and Gentile, and which is expressly called “a holy nation."-1 Peter ii. 9. To what nation is the kingdom given? Clearly to none other than that spoken of by our Lord when he said to his DISCIPLES, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give YOU the kingdom.'

But not only is Scripture, facts also are on our side. Great as is the amount of evil still existing in the world, the stone cut out without hands, is becoming a great mountain, and must eventually fill the earth. Instead of looking only on the dark side of the cloud, let us gratefully own that there is a bright side also, and that the Gospel has already proved mighty, through God, to the pulling down of many strongholds. We cannot think that the world has ever been growing worse and worse. What, no improvement since the days of Nero or of Thomas A Beckett-or of the bloody Queen Mary! No advancement in the world's evangelization during the last half-century! Would the first missionaries say so, were they to rise from the dead? Surely not. Already has the religion of the cross achieved glorious triumphs. There is not a country, an island, scarcely a city on the surface of the globe where its banner is not unfurled. Truly "the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad."

OMICRON.

AN EVENING MEDITATION.

Psalm iv.

This Psalm seems to have been written by David in the time of his exile. It is full of instruction on the ways of God, and the present security and ultimate triumph of the righteous.

Observe the language in which the Psalmist addresses God-"O God of my righteousness!" How appropriate and beautiful in the mouth of a godly man, one who can feel that he is not only separated from the wicked by his own voluntary election, but that the Lord hath set him apart for himself; so that

as a righteous man he can look upwards and invoke God as the author of his righteousness! "Hear me when I call O God of my righteousness.' There is a foundation here for security and confidence, for what says the Lord of such? "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.'

"Hear me when I call." It is necessary when kneeling at the throne of grace to be impressed with the importance of obtaining the ear of the Most High. Do not the words come home to me "Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss?" "He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

In this psalm David cries: "Hear me when I call," and in the next psalm he says: "Give ear to my words, O Lord; attend unto my cry.' "Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer.' ""Bow down thine ear to me.' "Incline thine ear unto my cry." "Lord, hear my voice; let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication." Such is the language of David's solicitude, and it is just because of this that he is heard elsewhere to say: "I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice, and He gave ear unto me. ." "I love the Lord; because He hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.' O what a ground of confidence have I here! No plea like it under heaven. God's mercy in the past, is the best pledge of mercy in days to come! "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness; according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions." Thus then David: "Thou hast enlarged me when in distress," therefore with confidence can he say "have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer."

And have I never experienced these enlarging mercies of my God? Look back only too forgetful memory, and mark the way of God's leadings. How often have my feet almost gone, my steps well-nigh slipped? But there is a larger liberty to be thought of here, deliverance from a greater distress than temporal causes can occasion. "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." And what extremity so great as when the soul first saw its danger and found itself in

bondage to the Prince of darkness? Was it not then that God sent delivering grace, and "enlarged me when I was in distress ?"

How instructively does David rebuke the vain pursuits and false hopes of God's enemies, and his own? He does so from the vantage ground of a righteousness other than his own. Thus he interrogates them: "How long will ye turn my glory into shame? He may refer to his royal claims. How long will ye make light of that which is the chief cause of my rejoicing? But What is my glory? Can I say with the Apostle "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ?" If so, what an example have I in them who departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name!"

David couples the love of vanity with the pursuit of falsehood. "How long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing?* And is it not so? Oh to be kept by divine grace from the love of vanity!

With what sublime dignity does the Psalmist here assert the lofty prerogative of the believer! "Know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself, the Lord will hear when I call upon him." This shews that the prayer in the 1st verse was dictated by no want of confidence in God's willingness to listen, as that, illustrating this, as clearly evinces that this assertion is no expression of presumptuous confidence but of humble

trust.

"Stand in awe and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still." Addressed to "the sons of men this exhortation comes with equal force to every sinful child of Adam, and to me. What a contrast between the communion with God, just spoken of, and this self-communion! Yet both necessary. How little that man knows who has yet to seek acquaintance with his own heart! and how well chosen the hour for this exercise! The experience of David helped him here. Midnight was no stranger to his prayers or his tears!" Upon your bed "-How deceitful is my heart! how self complacent ! How preoccupied in thought, how unwilling to engage in this stringent self examination! In the stillness of night when there is no sound to disturb reflec

Leasing" is an old Saxon word for "lying."

body:-"A body hast thou prepared me." Beyond the attainment of this great end 'the flesh profiteth nothing." And reason confirms the testimony of Scripture. Christ's bodily substance looked upon, or handled, or eaten, could not profit;-"it is the Spirit that quickeneth." And in order to a larger bestowment of that Spirit, it is in no way requisite that Christ's bodily presence should be again manifested in our world. So far from this, Christ tells his disciples that his absence from earth is essential to the presence of the Spirit-" If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you." And whatever influence his bodily presence might possess, it would be necessarily limited in its extent. Supposing, Christ's throne at Jerusalem, we in England would be excluded from the privilege of seeing, hearing, and conversing with him; he could manifest himself to us only by his Spirit. When two or three were gathered together for prayer in London, his bodily presence would not be with them, for that would be at Jerusalem. He would be with them only by his Spirit. And is this not the case now? What end then, commensurate with so stupendous an event, is proposed by Christ's coming again in the flesh to reign at Jerusalem? Is the end contemplated the universal reign of "righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost? And is not the Spirit adequate to this now? yea more, are not these the fruits of the Spirit

alone?

Christ himself tells us that his kingdom is spiritual-" it is within you." Though it be noiseless, as is the dew and the sunshine, it is none the less real, blessed, and glorious. And, as if to prevent the possibility of mistake, this positive statement of our Lord is guarded by one of a negative character-"It cometh not with observation.' i.e. Not only is it spiritual, but it is also marked by the absence of all external circumstances which might attract observation. But according to Millenarians, the opposite of this would be its peculiar and distinguishing feature. Think of the eternal Son of the Highest visibly reigning at Jerusalem, and that in connection with the revival of a gorgeous ritualism, when all the nations of the world will come before the Lord with burnt offerings, with thousands of rams and ten thousands of rivers of oil, and say, is this "coming NOT with observation?" Again, if that kingdom await, as some say, the return of the Jews to Palestine,

what mean then Christ's words to the

a

Jews-"The kingdom of God is taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."-Matt. xxii. 43. Here it is distinctly stated by our Lord that the kingdom should be transferred to ANOTHER nation, the Church, or the entire body of believers both Jew and Gentile, and which is expressly called " holy nation."-1 Peter ii. 9. To what nation is the kingdom given? Clearly to none other than that spoken of by our Lord when he said to his DISCIPLES, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give YOU the kingdom.'

But not only is Scripture, facts also are on our side. Great as is the amount of evil still existing in the world, the stone cut out without hands, is becoming a great mountain, and must eventually fill the earth. Instead of looking only on the dark side of the cloud, let us gratefully own that there is a bright side also, and that the Gospel has already proved mighty, through God, to the pulling down of many strongholds. We cannot think that the world has ever been growing worse and worse. What, no improvement since the days of Nero or of Thomas A Beckett-or of the bloody Queen Mary! No advancement in the world's evangelization during the last half-century! Would the first missionaries say so, were they to rise from the dead? Surely not. Already has the religion of the cross achieved glorious triumphs. There is not a country, an island, scarcely a city on the surface of the globe where its banner is not unfurled. Truly "the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad."

OMICRON.

AN EVENING MEDITATION.

Psalm iv.

This Psalm seems to have been written by David in the time of his exile. It is full of instruction on the ways of God, and the present security and ultimate triumph of the righteous.

Observe the language in which the Psalmist addresses God-"O God of my righteousness!" How appropriate and beautiful in the mouth of a godly man, one who can feel that he is not only separated from the wicked by his own voluntary election, but that the Lord hath set him apart for himself; so that

as a righteous man he can look upwards | and invoke God as the author of his righteousness! "Hear me when I call O God of my righteousness.' There is a foundation here for security and confidence, for what says the Lord of such? "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord."

"Hear me when I call." It is necessary when kneeling at the throne of grace to be impressed with the importance of obtaining the ear of the Most High. Do not the words come home to me " Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss?" "He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” In this psalm David cries: "Hear me when I call," and in the next psalm he says: "Give ear to my words, O Lord; attend unto my cry.' "Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer.' ." "Bow down thine ear to me.' "Incline thine ear unto my cry." "Lord, hear my voice; let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication." Such is the language of David's solicitude, and it is just because of this that he is heard elsewhere to say: "I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice, and He gave ear unto me. "I love the Lord; because He hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live." O what a ground of confidence have I here! No plea like it under heaven. God's mercy in the past, is the best pledge of mercy in days to come! "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness; according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions." Thus then David: "Thou hast enlarged me when in distress," therefore with confidence can he say "have mercy upon me, and hear my

prayer.

And have I never experienced these enlarging mercies of my God? Look back only too forgetful memory, and mark the way of God's leadings. How often have my feet almost gone, my steps well-nigh slipped? But there is a larger liberty to be thought of here, deliverance from a greater distress than temporal causes can occasion. "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." And what extremity so great as when the soul first saw its danger and found itself in

bondage to the Prince of darkness? Was it not then that God sent delivering grace, and "enlarged me when I was in distress ?"

How instructively does David rebuke the vain pursuits and false hopes of God's enemies, and his own? He does so from the vantage ground of a righteousness other than his own. Thus he interrogates them: "How long will ye turn my glory into shame? He may refer to his royal claims. How long will ye make light of that which is the chief cause of my rejoicing? But What is my glory? Can I say with the Apostle "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ?" If so, what an example have I in them who departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name!"

David couples the love of vanity with the pursuit of falsehood. "How long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing?*" And is it not so? Oh to be kept by divine grace from the love of vanity!

With what sublime dignity does the Psalmist here assert the lofty prerogative of the believer! "Know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself, the Lord will hear when I call upon him." This shews that the prayer in the 1st verse was dictated by no want of confidence in God's willingness to listen, as that, illustrating this, as clearly evinces that this assertion is no expression of presumptuous confidence but of humble

trust.

"Stand in awe and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still." Addressed to "the sons of men this exhortation comes with equal force to every sinful child of Adam, and

to me.

What a contrast between the communion with God, just spoken of, and this self-communion! Yet both necessary. How little that man knows who has yet to seek acquaintance with his own heart! and how well chosen the hour for this exercise! The experience of David helped him here. Midnight was no stranger to his prayers or his tears!—" Upon your bed -How deceitful is my heart! how self complacent ! How preoccupied in thought, how unwilling to engage in this stringent self examination! In the stillness of night when there is no sound to disturb reflec

"Leasing" is an old Saxon word for "lying,"