through the veil, that is to say, his flesh-and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith." This is the blessed privilege of every true believer in Jesus-and wheresoever two or three are gathered together in his name, he will be in Spirit in the midst of them. It may be difficult for some to comprehend or understand this transfer of the tabernacle or place of worship from earth to heaven; but every believer must know that, unless his thoughts and affections are raised from earth unto God through Jesus, or, in other words, unless he be in heaven in spirit, he cannot offer acceptable worship-it is in heaven only that he can hold communion with God-for God does not now come down to earth, as he did in the Jewish temple, and commune with men from the mercy-seat, between the cherubims-Jesus is now the mercy-seat, who is in heaven. He is also the sacrifice, the altar, and the High priest; and these are therefore all in heaven,--and the worship of the believer must therefore be carried on in spirit in heaven. There is indeed a temple of God on the earth, but it is not of earthly, but of living stones, as it is written in 1 Pet. ii. 5, "Ye also as lively (or living, Gr.) stones are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Christ Jesus." This house is the church, "the pillar and ground of the truth"-of which "Jesus Christ himself is the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth into an holy temple in the Lord in whom ye [the Ephesian Christians] also are builded together for an habitation of God, through the Spirit" (Eph. ii. 21). The analogy which subsists between Solomon's temple and this building (the church) is, that in Solomon's temple, the stones were all prepared at the quarry before they were brought to be put in the building (1 Kings vi. 7); and so the church ought to consist of none but converted persons, "lively stones," those who are sanctified, or set apart in Christ Jesus, and adopted into the heavenly family. Where care is not taken to exclude stones which have not this character, the building will soon become the mere mockery of a church. But where two or three such stones are met together in the name of Jesus, it secures his presence-and what a comfort is this to scattered saints. O that they knew more of the comfort of it!

Sixth. Another manifest and most important distinction may be noticed in respect to the priesthood and service of the house. These were in the former dispensation limited to carnal order, being altogether after the flesh; for the priesthood was confined to the fleshly descendants of Aaron: "Thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons, and the priest's office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute" (Ex. xxix. 9). The service of the house was confined to the Levites (see Num. iii. 5-8). But first as to the priesthood. Aaron was the high priest, and his sons were priests. In the present dispensation, Jesus is the high priest: "We have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God" (Heb. iv. 14); and all believers in him are priests. In 1 Pet. ii. 5, they are called "a holy priesthood;" in ver. 9, a royal priesthood;" and in Rev. i. 5, 6, they say, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God;" and the sacrifices they have to offer are "spiritual sacrifices” (1 Pet. i. 5). "By him let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually" (Heb. xiii. 15). All believers are thus "priests to God;" and there is not in the New Testament any other priesthood recognised; and none but believers can offer "spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Christ Jesus: for an unregenerate man can only offer words with his lips, in which his heart cannot join; and this is an abomination to the Lord.

So much as to the change of the priesthood, from Aaron and his household, and their descendants according to the flesh, to Jesus and his household, composed of true believers, the family of God. And now as to service or ministry, which are one and the same thing, being both used as the translation of one Greek word (diarovia), which is rendered both ministry and service (see Rom. xii. 7, and xv. 31); and in 1 Cor. xii. 5, is translated "administrations;" "Now there are diversities of gifts, but it is the same Spirit; and there are differences of administrations [ministries, see margin], but it is the same Lord." Keeping this in mind, let us see who were those who performed the service of the sanctuary, and who are those who are to perform it now. As with the priesthood, so with the ministry, it was after a carnal order. All the descendants of Levi, according to the flesh, were to take a part in it: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Bring the tribe of Levi near, and pre

sent them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him, and they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle" (Num. iii. 5). We cannot read 1 Cor. xii., or Eph. iv., and not at once see that all acts of ministry in this dispensation are made to depend upon the fitness of the instrument, chosen and qualified, according to God's own sovereign will. God, working by his Spirit, is the alone source of all true ministry, both as to appointment and qualification; and this without the least reference to human authority, agreeably to 1 Cor. xii. 11: "But all these [different ministries and operations, in verses 5 and 6] worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will;" and therefore all ministry founded on intellectual attainments, education, and the like, without qualification from the Spirit of God, or any that is set up upon the authority of man, is an assumption of power; and a service, which, though He may overrule it for good, as He does even the acts of Satan, yet is not according to the mind of God, and is not such as He has ordered or can accept with delight. The only limitation we find in Scripture as to acts of ministry among the saints, is where there is a lack of gift. Now ministry, in these days, is made to depend, not upon the gifts which God may have given, and which men therefore ought to feel themselves bound to receive, but upon human credentials, which suffice to give a title to ministry, though the individual possessing them may shew plainly by his daily walk that he is destitute altogether of the Spirit of God, and though he may have no qualification for edifying the body and moreover where the gift is, and is acknowledged to be, when it is not accompanied with the human sanction, it is rejected; but where the form of ordination is, without the power, it will not be questioned. O what a picture does the "temple of God" at this day present! The Lord distributes his gifts to his servants severally as he wills, and his household refuse to receive them; and thus "quench the Spirit," despising his word. How long, O Lord! wilt thou allow thy children to be thus frustrating thine own cause ?*

Seventh. There is also a most important difference in the claim which the Lord has on the person, services, and property of a Christian, from that which he made on the Jew.

The Jew was to give a tenth of his increase, and that was all God claimed:"Concerning the tythe of the herd or of the flocks, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord" (Lev. xxvii. 32). There is no such limit as this for the Christian. Jesus said, "There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundred fold now in this time, houses," &c.."with persecutions, and in the world to come eternal life" (Mark x. 29). The claim is not made in the same way, as a matter of law, but of privilege, though it is

a far higher and more searching call. The Apostle says, "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Cor. vi. 20). The Christian is altogether the Lord's; and as to his property, he is only a steward; and when Jesus comes again, he will require an account of it, and give reward to all according to the manner in which they have used the talent committed to their trust, as it has been used in his service (see Luke xix. 12; 2 Cor. v. 10; Rev. xxii. 12). The reward will be proportionate to the service. It is well for us that the love of Jesus is not measured by our love to him.

Eighth. In the standing of a Jew, and of a Christian in relation to God, there was all the difference that there is between a servant or bondsman (under law) and a son or freeman, standing in grace; that is, as respects the consciousness of their

The whole of the Jewish economy, both as to office and inheritance, was after the flesh; and therefore every office was by descent, according to the flesh. The kingship was limited to the descendants of David; the priesthood and the service of the temple, to the tribe of Levi. The land was to be preserved by descent, in the particular tribes and families to which it was first allotted; and if it had been alienated, it reverted to the descendants of its former owner at the year of Jubilee. All this is in complete contrast with the Christian privileges which are the special gifts of God, through faith of Christ Jesus (see Gal. iii. 22). "He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy."

relationship. This truth we find fully brought out at the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth chapters of Galatians: "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster unto Christ [or, until Christ, Gr.; the words, to bring us, not being in the original], that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." This shews the relationship of believers in Christ to God in this dispensation, whether Jew or Gentile. They are all children, and it is their privilege to know their standing through the "spirit of adoption," or sonship, which is given them, enabling them to cry, "Abba, Father" (Rom. viii. 15; Gal. iv. 6); and is opposed to the spirit of bondage (Rom. viii. 15). Now the fourth of Galatians shews that though a spiritual Jew before the coming of Christ was a son and heir, yet he had not the consciousness of this relationship; but was as a servant or bondsman : "Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child [minor], differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors or governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we [Jews], when we were children [minors], were in bondage under the elements of the world [the reference is here evidently to the law, the schoolmaster named in ver. 24 of the previous chapter]; but when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that they might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father! Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son." The Jew then lived under law, in the "spirit of bondage." The Christian has received “the spirit of adoption,” and lives in the liberty of sonship. As to the consciousness of his standing towards God, there is as much difference between a spiritual Jew and a Christian, as between a servant and a son; and the character of the Christian's service should correspond to this. But, alas! how many are turning back, like the Galatians, to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto they desire again to be in bondage; and observing days, months, times, and the like (Gal. iv. 9); after "having begun in the Spirit," seeking to be "made perfect by the flesh" (chap. iii. 3). This is Judaising; and wherever there is a lack of discernment as to the distinction between the two dispensations, there will always be this tendency: just as a person who could not distinguish colours, would often be in danger of taking silver money instead of gold.

There are many other important points of difference, which it would take up too much space to explain. Those which have been noticed may suffice; and if the reader discern these, he will soon discover many more. In conclusion, I will point out a striking analogy which subsists between the tribe of Levi and the churchwhich shews us in as striking a manner perhaps as any of the distinctions which have been noticed, what should be the conduct of the Christian as respects the things of this life. We read in Num. ii. 33, "The Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel ;"-and again, in chap. xviii. 20, "The Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in the land; neither shalt thou have any part [lot] among them. I am thy part [lot], and thine inheritance among the children of Israel." In all this we see the unnational, unworldly character of the Christian, as Jesus taught, in John xvii. 14, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."

The inheritance of the saint we have seen to be "reserved in heaven;" and so God was to be the inheritance of the Levite. I am thy part and thine inheritance." He was not to have both God and the Land, as many would fain have God and the world-" God and mammon." Satan would seek, and ever has sought, to unite the church and the world—in order that men's consciences might be lulled, on the one hand, by being considered as belonging to the church;-and on the other, that the testimony of the church might be lost or marred.

The church and the world are ever put in contrast in Scripture; and those who would blot out the distinction, while they imagine that they are making the church a hospital for the cure of the diseased and dying, are, in reality, introducing leaven which, Scripture informs us (1 Cor. v. 6), will leaven the whole lump, and, at the

same time, are deceiving souls by accrediting wickedness, or endorsing a false profession. There is one other feature well worthy of notice. The life of the Levite was a life of faith; he had to depend on the sanctuary for his daily support, which was according as God put it into the hearts of the other tribes to bring the offerings to the house. This reminds us of what should be the path of the saint, who should "walk by faith, and not by sight." As Jesus likewise said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. vi. 33).

Neither power in the earth, nor an earthly citizenship, belonged to this tribetheir hope and their place were in the sanctuary: and there also should be the Christian's hope and place-the true sanctuary in heaven.

The chief point on which there is an analogy between the whole nation of Israel, when in the land, and the church of God now, is, that they were to be a separate people. They were to "make no league with the inhabitants of the land" (Jud. ii. 2), nor make marriage with them (Deut. vii. 3); and just so is the command to Christians, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:" "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord" (2 Cor. xiv. 17). But have Christians obeyed this? Alas! they have scarcely even attempted to obey it, either in their individual conduct, or collectively in the church;-and it may be said of them with as much truth as it was of Israel, "But ye have not obeyed my voice. Why have ye done this?" (Jud. ii. 2).

This principle of separation between believers and unbelievers is set forth under many types in the Old Testament, besides those already named. It is inculcated in the commands, in Deut. xxii. 10, "Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together." It may be asked, as Paul asked, with regard to a somewhat similar precept, "Doth God take care for oxen, or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes no doubt this is written." But one of the plainest types by which the principle was inculcated is the distinction of clean and unclean beasts which, in the case of the Jews, represented the difference that was to be kept up between them and the Gentiles, or between the people of God and the world, and it now shews the same thing. The distinction between Jew and Gentile is done away in the church; "they are both one in Christ Jesus," as was shewn to Peter, by the sheet let down from heaven. But the distinction between the church and the world still remains, according to the injunction, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers;" "Come out from among them, and be ye separate." It was alleged against the priests of old, as the head and front of their offending, that they "put no difference between the unclean and clean" (Eze. xxii. 26). And Christians are now treading in their very footsteps, saying, "all the congregation are holy," and we have no right to "sit in the seat of judgment," and say who are entitled to be called Christians and who are not; or, in other words, to put a difference between clean and unclean. In confirmation of this, the parable of the wheat and the tares, in the 13th of Matthew, is quoted. These were to "grow together till the harvest ;" and therefore it is argued that no separation between the righteous and the wicked is to be attempted till that time;- but one most important point in the parable is overlooked when this view is taken. The parable says, "Let them grow together till the harvest." But where were they to grow? It was in the Field-and what is the field? "The field is the world," said the Saviour. The parable then tells us that there are to be righteous and wicked in the world till the harvest, and that the righteous are not to seek to extirpate the wicked out of the world-that the Lord will judge them at the harvest. But the directions to the church were, "Put away from among yourselves that wicked person,"-"a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" (1 Cor. v. 6-13). We find this principle of excommunication constantly inculcated in the Old Testament. In Num. xix. 20,

it is seen to extend to any man who defiled the sanctuary-not having purified himself," But the man that shall be unclean and shall not purify himself, that soul shall shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the Lord: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean." In the case of the leper (Lev. xiii. 46), he was to be put out of the camp after his uncleanness was proved: "Without the camp shall his habitation be, he shall dwell alone, he is unclean." At the feast of the Passover, the same prin

ciple is taught: "Seven days shall no leaven be found in your houses, for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger or one born in the land” (Exod. xii. 19). We see in all these cases uncleanness and excommunication coupled together—and they are types of the church. The Passover is brought forward by Paul in 1 Cor. v. with special reference to the discipline of the church: "Christ our Passover (Paschal Lamb) is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." The household could not say that they rightly kept the Passover while they eat with one who used leavened bread during the seven days of the feast-or with a stranger; for " no stranger shall eat thereof." God would not have been satisfied with the common excuse, "It is no affair of mine; I am personally free from it; I have not used the leaven; I am circumcised myself. I am not responsible for others, but only for myself. I should bring great responsibility upon myself were I to obey these Scriptures literally." These are the excuses which are now made by Christians to justify their conduct under similar circumstances. But it is a strange way of getting rid of responsibility to act in disobedience to the Word of God. Surely it must be doubling responsibility.

Again then, I would entreat the Christian reader, if he have seen any truth in what has been said, to examine his own conduct, both as respects God and his fellow creatures, and see if in anything he have been acting in a manner more becoming a Jew than a Christian. Let him remember that the great value of truth is that it should lead into action. If our conduct remain the same, after we have been led to see some great truth, as it was before we saw it, it is a proof that there is some defect of heart or conscience; and it would have been better for us never to have known it.

Let us, then, as those who would be imitators of God, and who would walk as his children, embrace that part of the Jewish economy which answers to the present wilderness and separate state of the church, however unpleasant may be the task, and painful to the fleshly mind; let us cast away such parts of it as we may have embraced, or desire to embrace, which are contrary to our profession of the name of the separate and lowly Jesus. Do let the Christian be earnest to live like a Christian -to walk worthy of his calling-his high and heavenly calling-knowing his adoption-that he is an heir of glory-and with the full blaze of the glory before him, may the light of this glory be so strong as to cast into the shade all merely earthly things; and while using them, may he learn not to abuse them, "knowing that the fashion of them soon passeth away!"

H.

LETTER TO A FRIEND ON SOME PRACTICAL POINTS OF

CHRISTIANITY.

[THE following Letter, written by a private friend, having fallen into our hands, seems to contain enough matter of general interest for it to be made public.—ED.] MY DEAR SIR AND BROTHER IN CHRIST JESUS,-It is upon my heart to write a little to you, in some sort, in answer to yours of last week; yet very generally-―i. e., as to a few principles of truth, of common interest to all God's children, which seemed to me a little set aside, or for the time overlooked by many of the saints.

The FIRST point then on which, in all brotherly love, I would touch, is the high and holy power in knowledge of the Christian. The Spirit of God has made his body His own temple (1 Cor. vi. 19); there He dwells, and searches all things, yea, the deep things of God (ii. 10). The Spirit in me, then, is God's Spirit; and, dwelling in the new man, He searches ALL things-yea, (even entering beyond the circumstances around) He searches God's deep things. The measure of the success of His research is marked (ver. 15): He that is spiritual judgeth or discerneth ALL things, yet he himself is discerned of no man; "for we have the mind of Christ." In 1 John ii. 20, we also read of this as the characteristic mark of the babes: "Ye