REMEMBER them which have the rule over you?

who have spoken unto you the Word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.-Hebrews xiii. 7, 8.

THIS

HIS week is one of the Ember weeks. Ember means coming round at appointed seasons, and the Ember days were so called because they came round periodically four times a year. They are the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday preceding the four ordination Sundays. The early Church appointed these days to implore the blessing of God on those ordained to any holy function. There are many reasons why the time for ordaining ministers should be fixed. For example, all men are very nearly concerned in the ordination of fit persons for the sacred office of the ministry, and therefore it is well that a season should be set apart, when all can join together in praying for a blessing on those about to be ordained. Again, the bishops and candidates, knowing these seasons, can arrange their duties and engagements so as to give themselves due time to prepare for this great work. Again, in our own private prayers we should ask God at this time to increase the number of those willing to give themselves to this work of the ministry. That He would be pleased to send forth more labourers, to bless them in their own souls, that they may work with courage, with strength of purpose, and with unfaltering faith. We should pray that they may spare no effort to place themselves nearer and nearer to their divine Master; that they may learn from Him how to look on men, how to feel for them, how to bear with them, and how to awaken within them the consciousness of their spiritual nature and destiny. If these Ember seasons were better observed, if they were indeed made a time of more earnest prayer for ministers in their various parishes both at home and abroad, there would be more life in the Church, more sympathy between pastor and people, and God, in answer to united heartfelt prayer, would vouchsafe deeper, higher, fuller blessings to His

Church.

THU

HUS saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me. Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.-Isaiah xlv. 11, 22, 23.

THE Almighty God, who is our Maker and our Father,

He

condescends to give us a succession of arguments by which we may be assured that He will finally deliver and restore, not only His people Israel, but all who turn and look to Him for salvation. He says to "all the ends of the earth," "look unto Me and be ye saved." promises, yea He confirms His promise by an oath: "I have sworn." Thus we have a strong consolation," we who have "fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." We have God's promise, confirmed by an oath, and we have proofs of His power to do the things which He promises. One proof is this, He foretells events that shall be hereafter. Who but God can predict future events, and declare the order and time of each? He unfolds "things that are coming and shall come.' In this very passage He draws aside the veil for us to see "things that shall be hereafter." He speaks of the Jewish nation, and says, "All the seed of Israel shall be justified in the Lord, and shall glory." But the Gentiles also shall be brought into the fold-they who were "incensed against" the Lord shall come and confess that in Him alone can they have righteousness and strength. They too shall acknowledge Him to be a just God, and their Saviour. We see this prophecy being fulfilled; we see the Gentiles being gradually brought into the Church of Christ, We who are already in the Church, who have promised to fight manfully under Christ's banner, should help in the good work by our example, by our prayers, by our almsgivings, by every means in our power. The work is God's. He will surely bring it to pass. But He asks us to be fellow-helpers with Him.

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EAR ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by

waters of Judah, which swear by the Name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness. For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The Lord of hosts is His Name. For My Name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for My praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.-Isaiah xlviii. 1, 2, 9, 10.

ALOVING message from God to His people Israel,

He

who had erred and strayed from His ways. Here we have a revelation of a love that was indeed stronger than death. God invites Israel to return, and promises to "defer His anger." For His Name's sake He will not cut them off. He refines them, He chooses them, even though for a time it were necessary to try them in "the furnace of affliction." Freely He forgives. He brings this forward as a reason why Israel should return. who really believes in forgiveness cannot but return to Him who forgives. We, too, have a share in this message. The love of God knows no difference of time, or place, or conditions. Our sin may be great, but there is one thing it cannot do, it cannot prevent our Father in heaven from manifesting His love to us sinners, that we may learn to love Him, and our brethren in Him, and so cease to sin. Our many sins and transgressions in thought, word, or deed, may hang about us like mists and vapours, and obscure our view of God. But let us never forget that the gracious Sun shines clear above these earth-born vapours, and that His warm light is making itself felt on the upper surface of the mist, gradually clearing it away, till the last filmy fragment floats out of sight, and we see the bright light which was always there, even when our eyes could not behold it. Thus the Lord is refining us, causing all our imperfections to melt away. Thus He brings us out of the furnace of afflictions into the bright and pleasant light of day.

ANI

ND He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me, and made me a polished shaft; and said unto me, Thou art My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.-Isaiah xlix. 2-4.

In these words we have a declaration by Messiah-the incarnation. The Son of man was miraculously begotten of the Holy Ghost. His Name, in all its blessed significance, was announced even before His birth. When born He was guarded and watched over by His heavenly Father; He was, as it were, "hid in the shadow of His hand." That Child was to fight a great battle for mankind. He was to conquer the enemy, to redeem humanity. Fit weapons are provided. His "mouth is like a sharp sword," or, as it is in the Book of the Revelation, "out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword." As a

'polished shaft" He was "hid in His quiver." At first that life seemed to be a failure, "I have laboured in vain." How small at first the results of His life's work! How few His followers! Among the few that He did gather round Him one was a traitor, another denied Him, and all were slow to understand Him. His life was a life of intense suffering; He was rejected by the nation He came to save. Apparently there was truth in the words, "I have spent My strength for nought." But see what is the answer from on high. Not only should He "raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the preserved of Israel," but also He should be a "light to the Gentiles." The prophecy has been in part fulfilled. Him whom man despised, Him whom the nation abhorred, "kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship." The battle has been fought, the victory is almost gained. When the Lord returns, as He has promised, He shall find a people prepared for Him, a people who have been nourished and fed in His ways here, whose pastures hereafter shall be "in all high places.'

HIS is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests

thou? And he confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord.-St. John i. 19-23.

As the morning star continues to shine for a little time

The

after the sun has risen, so John the Baptist, the morning star, shines for a while with Christ the Sun of Righteousness. They stand at the same time in the heaven of grace. But as the brightness of the one increases, that of the other decreases. St. John himself tells us so. His answer to the priests is, "I am not the Christ." He will take no false honour to himself. priests are willing to clothe him in the honourable garb of the Anointed of God, but he casts the royal purple from him. He refuses even the prophet's mantle, thinking himself unworthy to be ranked with those men of old who pointed to one still unborn as the Christ. These were indeed prophets. But since he could see Him, and point to Him with the finger, he was unworthy the name of prophet. So true, so deep, was his humility. Are we ever tempted to say, "I am Christ?" not of course in so many words, but do we wish to become each for himself his own Christ, his own Saviour? Have we been tempted to place the sins which we cannot help acknowledging in one balance of the scales, and our good deeds in the other, and, ourselves being the judges, to rest satisfied that these weigh down those? Do we forget our Lord's words, "When ye have done all say, We are unprofitable servants?" If what we are and do in our holiest days comes not up to the standard required, how can it justify even one of those days of error or evil into which we are constantly betrayed by either thought or deed. Let us be guided by the example and teaching of John the Baptist, and follow Him whose way he came to prepare, even Christ the Lord.