The character of Malan's teaching, which of late has greatly spread, was to insist upon life and assurance being identical, and the warrant for assurance the letter of Scripture. Malan did not mean to ignore the work of the Spirit by this sort of teaching; but, whatever he meant, he threw upon the sinner to appropriate and enjoy the written testimony of the Word, a work that can only be produced by the divine power of the Holy Ghost. This is veiled Arminianism, and the root of this error lies in the belief that the same faith we exercise upon natural and visible objects has simply to be transferred to divine and spiritual things, the object believed being the only difference in the faith so exercised. Malan probably would have disowned this, but it is none the less true that a faith which can, at will, draw all needed comfort from the written Word, at all times, must be a natural act of the mind, and therefore a mental faith only.

In the full radiance of divine light, and in the blissful enjoyment of first love, John Duncan came out as a preacher of the Gospel he had received from the Lord. He preached as he felt, and, like a good many more, long after he felt. Many gracious men preach from their remembrance of the past, rather than their present, experience, and this may charitably explain the mistakes and confusion which are visible in their testimony. After the enjoyment of first love has passed away, and the road has been entered upon common to all Zion's travellers, they preach as though bridal days were to last all the way, and the bride was to rejoice though the Bridegroom was gone.

While Duncan was in the sunshine of all that was new, and at the height of his spiritual elevation, a friend said to him, "But you'll not be always in that way, Mr. Duncan." His reply was, "But I will; or, if not, it will be my own fault."

Truly it soon was his loss, but the varied soul-exercises of the children of God lie in divine sovereignty. It is through much tribulation they enter the kingdom; and when, through the power of unbelief, the soul is tried as to a sense of interest, it glooms every prospect, turns every blessing into bitterness, and is the severest of all trials a child of God can pass through. But by these soul-exercises the people of God learn their most useful lessons. Their altered experience does not endanger the fact of God's unalterable love, but proves its reality; if not here, to their full enjoyment, it will, in the realms of bliss, to their everlasting joy. In a day like the present, when so much natural faith and notional religion are extolled, the memoir of such a man as Dr. Duncan is most valuable. We read in his history how utterly unable man is to find out God's way of peace by nature or in grace, or to keep himself to the blessings of the Gospel. Liberally endowed by God with a marvellous mind, a good education, a sound conversion, a true Gospel experience based upon divine truth, yet the dear man was but a poor trembler all his days, and, after the first enjoyment of early love, suffered from deep dejection of spirit, and was the only person who doubted the reality of God's work on his soul. Dr. Duncan was not a man who laboured for those who came after him, but the honest memoir given us by his biographer contains widespread teaching to his own and other days. It shrivels to ashes the argument of men who advocate a letter faith and a religion without change; it presents to us a great and a good man as the subject of doubts and fears; and it discovers to us the sovereignty of God in his trial as fully as does the book of Job. The fleshly religion that stands in the wisdom of man and the letterpress of the Bible withers like grass.

under the fiery trial that Dr. Duncan was the subject of. The only noteworthy incident in his uneventful life was his mission to Hungary, which is full of interest; but the worth of the book lies in the living experience it unfolds and the contradictions practically given to the letter-faith doctrines so rife in our day.

་་

LETTER BY W. HUNTINGTON.

We

MY DEARLY BELOVED BROTHER AND SISTER IN CHRIST,-Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the great and only Mediator, my Lord and yours. The Church of God, my dear friends, is Mahanaim, a company of two armies. There is a law in the members that calls for obedience to every evil desire of the flesh, in order to gratify that desire; there is also a law in the mind, which is faith that worketh by love, that calls for evangelical obedience to the Word. These two laws war against each other. Satan stirs up and heads the former, Christ revives and heads the latter; and both these are separately and distinctly felt at certain seasons. It pleases God that it should be so, that we may not forget our base original; that we may be on our guard and be kept diligent, watchful, and humble, knowing we have an army of enemies within, and a furious king without who stirs up and heads those troops that war against the soul. cannot say, when "the prince of this world cometh" to us, as Christ did; namely, that "he hath nothing in me;" but, contrariwise, when "the prince of this world cometh" unto us, he hath always an army on his side against the daily sacrifice, the devil hating prayer. But what shall harm us who deny self in her sinful requests, and take up this cross-these two laws so contrary the one to the other and follow Christ in the regeneration, which is following in love to Him, or because we love Him? Now, when this law in the members works, Christ is hidden, which is our grief; for, if He were not withdrawn, it would be no cross. For what can trouble us if His presence be with us? This always makes us hunger and thirst after Him, and quickens us to seek Him; it damps and deadens us to the world, and makes us sick of all, for when He is absent nothing can fill the vacancy, nothing can compensate or repair the loss. This shows the sincerity of the heart and the genuineness of grace; and, as soon as this fit of unbelief subsides, how sweet is the least glimpse, how precious every soft word, how welcome the least encouragement, and how delightfully is the soul melted into gratitude when once more favoured with nearness to Him again! Thus the Father, who is called the Husbandman, purges every branch that is in the living Vine. And this is done that it may bring forth more fruit. And every time the branch is purged the union with Christ is discovered again, and godly sorrow and humbling grace are received from His fulness, which alone makes us fruitful, purging us to try us, to discover sin, to empty us of self, and to humble us; and renewings of love, revivals of the work wrought, and of the hope given, always cause a flourishing again. Be of good cheer, nothing above or below shall ever separate us from Him.

Your affectionate friend,

W. HUNTINGTON.

THOUGHTS ON GENESIS.-GOD'S PRESERVING CARE OVER HIS PEOPLE.

"And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her."-GENESIS XX. 6.

WHAT amazing love and condescension of God is revealed to us in this verse, that He should impute unto His servant the integrity and sincerity of heart which He Himself had implanted within him: “Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart," when that heart, like every one possessed by all the children of Adam, was "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." And here comes out the comforting truth of God's faithfulness, "for I also." And it would almost appear as if the Lord considered Himself only secondary in the matter, or assisting Abimelech to do what was right: "For I also withheld thee from sinning against me." If we were not kept moment by moment by the watchful eye of our Father in heaven, what untold evils should we be continually running into: "He will keep the feet of His saints." "I will keep thee as the apple of mine eye." Although Abimelech's would have been a sin of ignorance, yet the Lord, in His wonderful mercy and pity, prevented him from committing it and bringing dishonour upon His great and glorious name, who had chosen him to be His servant and the king of a nation who feared the Lord. Eternity alone will make manifest from how many ills and sins the power of the Almighty has kept us through time: "Who are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.' "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand." "For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not His saints; they are preserved for

ever."

Some of the great lessons we may draw from Abraham's conduct, as detailed in this chapter, are, first, the deception he practised, through fear of man, when the Lord had apparently left him a little while to himself, and he lost confidence in his God. How true it is "the fear of man bringeth a snare." We may also learn, in connection with this, how the Lord passes by the sins of His people. But this must never lead us or cause us to sin that grace may abound. God forbid." Another truth comes out in the seventh verse, "For he is a prophet, and shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live." There Abraham stands in the place of a mediator, and though he would have been the indirect means of Abimelech's sin, yet the Lord would accept his prayers for him; showing that for our sins of ignorance we stand in need of daily forgiveness and the application to our souls of the atoning blood of the spotless Lamb of God. There is also a very encouraging truth wrapped up in this verse, “He is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee." "Pray one for another that ye may be healed.” "The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Again, we may learn from the tenth and eleventh verses the danger of passing a rash judgment upon anyone before we know whether they are the people of God or not: "And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?" Abra

ham could not say that he saw anything, but "Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake." To what great lengths the sin of unbelief will lead us, and how grievous it is in the sight of God! This is taught us by Abimelech's reproof of Abraham in the ninth verse, "What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done." Abraham compromised his conscience by telling a part of the truth, "And yet indeed she is my sister," &c., not considering the hazardous consequences to himself and all concerned. This shows us the evil of prevaricating, as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, who, keeping back part of the truth, were considered by the Apostle to lie unto the Holy Ghost. The whole chapter (Gen. xx.) teaches us how easy it is to fall into sin when left for a time by the sustaining hand of God, through neglect of keeping our eyes ever towards Him. The precept and the promise go together to the people of God, so that by living according to the one we have a right to the other: "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." "I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths." So that it remains for us to walk in those paths, always looking to the Strong for strength: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

GUIDANCE HERE AND GLORY HEREAFTER.

“Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.” YES, Thou shalt guide me, kind and My spirit hears Thy counsel and rejoices,

gentle Father,

Through all the desert wild;

I ask not for its fairest joys, but rather,

That I may be Thy child.

I cannot go alone, unloved, untended,
Through life's untrodden way;
For oft into forbidden paths I've
wended,

And still may go astray.

My straining eyes see not a step before me,

Dense clouds my pathway hide; But, oh! I fear not while Thy love is o'er me,

My kind, unerring Guide.

And so I close my ear to other voices,
And list alone to Thine;

Drinking of life divine.

By earthly leaning, rough storms my trusts are flinging

Far from my grasp away; But, closely to the Rock of Ages clinging,

My soul feels no dismay.

Then, lead me on, dear Saviour, in
Thy kindness,

Through paths Thy feet have worn, Uninjured by the world's deep sin and blindness,

Unto that glorious bourne,

Where I shall bask for ever in Thy
glory,

And bathe in endless love;
While angels listen to my wond'rous

THE righteousness of Christ is your title to glory, the sanctification of the Spirit your meetness for it, and a holy life your standing evidence.

Sermons and Notes of Sermons.

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT.
(NUMBERS X. 33.)

FIFTH LECTURE ON THE FURNITURE OF THE TABERNACLE, BY THE REV. THE HON. SAMUEL WALDEGRAVE, LATE BISHOP OF CARLISLE.

We have now to pass on from the Holy Place to the Holiest of All. Leaving the Golden Candlestick, and the Table of Shewbread, and the Altar of Incense, we turn our attention to the Ark of the Covenant. It is a chest of Shittim or cedar-wood, two cubits and a half long, one cubit and a half broad, and one cubit and a half high. It is overlaid, within and without, with gold. Like the Table of Shewbread, and the Altar of Incense, it has a crown of gold, and rings of gold, with staves of cedar-wood, overlaid with gold. These staves are never taken out (Exod. xxv. 10-15). The Ark itself is an open chest, having no lid. Within it are placed the two Tables of Stone, upon which the Ten Commandments were engraven with the finger of God. These Tables were called "the Testimony," and therefore was the Ark itself, often called "the Ark of the Testimony" (see Exod. xxv. 16, 21, 22). Yet, though the Ark was open in itself, no eye ever saw those Tables of Stone. And why? There was a Mercy Seat, made of pure gold; it was two cubits and a half long, and one cubit and a half broad, and was placed on the top of the Ark, concealing from view its august contents. Surmounting this Mercy Seat, and made of the same pure gold, were the Cherubim of Glory. It was from above the Mercy Seat, and from between the Cherubim, that Jehovah communed with His "servant Moses" (Exod. xxv. 17-22). I now purpose to speak more particularly of the Ark itself, leaving for the present the filling up the details respecting the Most Holy Place.

Of what was the Ark itself a type? It was a type of Christ, "the Lord our Righteousness." In order to open this to you, let me show you, I. The Tables of Stone, on which were written the Ten Commandments.

II. The Ark, and the Mercy Seat.

III. Deduce some practical lessons from certain facts connected with the Ark.

I. The Tables of Stone. What are these? They are the Tables which Moses took up with him into the mount, after the first were broken; upon them were written, with the finger of God, the Ten Commandments.

We read of the first Tables in Exo. xxxi. 18; xxxii. 15, 16, 19. We read of the second in Exo. xxxiv. 1, 4, 28. These second Tables, hewed by Moses, carried up by him into the mount, and written upon by the finger of Jehovah, are the Tables which were placed in the "Ark of the Testimony" (see Deut. x. 1-5). What, brethren, was the tenor of the writing engraven upon these stones? Surely the Ten Commandments. And these "commandments are exceeding broad" (Matt. v. 21, 22, 27, 28). See them summed up, in one word by our Lord Himself, Mat. xxii. 35-40. Now tell me for what purpose were these laws thus graven upon Tables of Stone? Some would answer, "That