JESUS.

No. VI.

THERE is a final question to be put and answered-a question whose practical importance cannot easily be over-estimated; it is this, Can the presence and favour of Jesus be known? To all who are acquainted with the power of Godliness such an inquiry may seem unnecessary, as their acceptance with God in and through His well-beloved Son is one of their most fundamental certitudes; but we must not forget that there are many earnest and reverential souls moving piously in the region of theoretical Christianity, having never yet crossed the borders of wholehearted trust into the joyous district of experimental religion; and it is to such as these that I have to say a few words. Besides, the spirit which is consciously united with Jesus may be refreshed and strengthened if we can succeed in presenting the evidences for a sensible enjoyment of Gospel benedictions in a clear and forcible way; and this is what we shall aim at.

(1) The Holy Spirit works the impression upon the mind of the believer that he is a child of God and an heir of glory. The persuasion which is so wrought is so powerful that for the time doubt is impossible No one who has tested the Gospel can ever honestly oppose it. The carnal mind at enmity with God may dispute the Divinity of Christianity without laying itself open to the charge of disingenuousness, seeing that it gropes in ignorance; there is, however, no excuse for those who have tasted of the joys of salvation. On this point my experience supports my reason. Shortly after my conversion my mind became entangled in the meshes of scepticism; many a time I seemed ready to give up believing; darkness clouded my intellect and trembling was in my bosom; I waited, longed, gazed into the infinite abysses around me and sighed; long I prayed in vain; never can I forget those dull dreary days; but no sooner did I realise a full implicit confidence in Christ than the spark of Divine life and light in my soul gave me comfort and strength. My mind was kept in the faith by an energy which resisted all doubts and dreads, so that I can say that my standing is the work of the Holy Spirit. Having such a memory backed with the intrinsic reasonableness of the thing, and feeling that the third Person of the Trinity can and does inspire such an influence, how can I but hold the position here expressed? It may seem hard and narrow to some, but if it is true I am quite satisfied. Truth is never liberal beyond its own bounds. Man is only free to believe that which is true, and do that which is just and good: no one has a right to accept that which is false and carry out what is wrong. Thus no high-sounding allegation of bigotry should reduce us to silence, or drive us to compound with iniquity.

(2) The Christian has such an apprehension of pardon and peace a supplies him with more than logical force for his resting in the assurance of sins forgiven. The soul has its storms and its tempests, its thunder and lightning, its hail and rain, its clouds and darkness. Sorrow lashes its calm waters into foaming fury, sin falls upon the conscience as lava

upon the blooming herbage of the hill side, when the volcano has belched forth its fiery gurge. Remembrance persecutes more sternly and unrelentingly than ever fanatic kindled the flame or wielded the murderous knife. Soul hurricanes are far more real and terrible than any conjunction of energies that ever tore up trees, cast down human dwellings, or twisted the growing crops from their roots to hurl them into the ocean. There is no peace like that of the mind, no calm equals that of the spirit. The convulsions and stillnesses of nature are only the images by which we labour to convey some idea of what we all experience in our own bosoms. Hence, when the voice of Jesus carries rest to our spirits, there can be no doubt of what has taken place. The Apostles on the Galilean Sea could have questioned the fact of the joyous serenity and quiet which Jesus spoke upon its turbulent surface, with as much reason as a pardoned sinner can dispute his acceptance with the Father after the Son has made him free.

(3) The spirit has its rich repasts. God has not neglected the wants of the inner man. Jesus is to the soul what physical provisions are to the body. The disciple finds Him the bread of life, the perpetual spring, the heavenly manna. God has provided with a far more liberal hand for our eternal than our temporal needs. And we are quite as conscious of the act of spiritual feeding as of bodily eating. Thus we must be sensible of our possession of grace. What man can come from a good table and doubt whether he has partaken of food or not? No more can anyone rise from God's bounteous board unconscious of having been satisfied with the good things provided.

(4) Faith itself is a sufficient evidence of our position in the kingdom of heaven. If I could only believe without feeling any change whatever, I should know that all my sins were forgiven. God has promised salvation to all who trust in Jesus, and I am quite sure that God will keep His word. His promise is of the same value as His blessing to everyone that conforms to the conditions imposed. Men may lie and deceive, but the Almighty is true to His agreement. If the Conference was to promise £500 to the trustees of any burdened chapel in the Connexion, no one would doubt its fulfilment. The promise would be relied upon just as much as if the gift had been made. If we can trust man, can we distrust God? This is an argument which Paul uses, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, where he says: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The "things hoped for " and the "things not seen are the blessings of religion, faith being, in and of itself, a sufficient proof of their possession.

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(5) The miracles of Jesus were wrought to supply arguments to be used as stepping-stones across the stream of distrust. When the paralytic was brought through the housetop to our Saviour, He first pardoned his sins, in order that He might afterwards make the miracle a proof of His authority to grant absolution. All His wondrous works are to be looked at in this light. The Master would never turn the forces of nature into specially made channels simply to give a temporary benefit. Whenever He found people unwilling to allow His mighty works to transport their minds into spiritual regions, He left them, and sought a better field in

which to sow the seed of eternal truth. Consequently, He could do no mighty work where faith was restrained in its exercise. We may, then, regard every miracle as an eloquent preacher, pressing us to rest in the confidence of the present possession of the title-deeds to glory.

These are a few of the reasons which warrant the conclusion that the faithful soul does not need to wait till death to know that he is born again. Many more could easily be adduced if there was any necessity; but there is not, as those already advanced will satisfy every earnest man and

woman.

A priori, we could never think that Christ would leave us in ignorance of such a momentous operation. It is more reasonable to suppose that the whole scheme of redemption would have been concealed from us while we live in this world, than that we should be left in doubt of the reception of the grace of God till we cross the flood and go home to glory; for, certainly, the knowledge of the latter is quite as essential as that of the former. Bless God! we can enjoy Him here. Though we live in a sincursed world, which seems so far from the golden country; though we feel oft-times weary and worn, we may grasp the pierced hand of Jesus, and be led safely in. We have not to take up the poet's wail,

"Oh, receive my soul at last!"

for we know that we are already accepted, to be securely kept till the day when Jesus shall come and take us to the better land. We live in the light of His countenance now; as we move with steady pace towards the healthful shore, our Prophet, Priest, and King dwells in us, giving us strength, inspiring us with hope, and helping us to overcome all our foes; and, by-and-by, we shall sit down by His side. H. W. W.

MIRACLES.

THE subject of Miracles has, for some years past, engaged a considerable amount of attention. It is an interesting and important subject; and we may reasonably hope that inquiry and discussion, properly conducted, will lead to good results.

Let us suppose that some one proposes this question: Have we satisfactory evidence that works of an extraordinary and supernatural character were performed by the Founder of our holy religion when He sojourned on this earth? My reply would be, I think we have. Why do I think so?

Because (1) He certainly professed to perform such works; and they are represented as having been done publicly, in the presence of both friends and foes (see Matt. viii. 23-27, xi. 20, 21).

(2) The obvious integrity, disinterestedness, and purity of our Lord's character, forbid the supposition that He would deceive, or be accessory to the deception of the people.

(8) The historians who have recorded His teachings, have also

recorded His works; and in the same style of simple, truthful sincerity.

(4) These persons were as capable of exercising a sound judg ment, and giving correct testimony in regard to His works, as they were in regard to His words.

(5) We cannot reject those portions of the Christian histories which profess to record the works of Christ, and at the same time receive as authentic and Divine His teaching, without exposing ourselves to the charge of disingenuousness and inconsistency.

(6) It is quite as reasonable to suppose and believe that Divine Power was exerted in the performance of wonderful works at the commencement of the Christian era, as that Divine Wisdom was employed in the development of religious truth.

(7) Viewed as evidences of Messiahship, and of Divine authority, our Lord and His disciples appealed both to the works He performed and the truths He proclaimed (see Matt. xi. 2-5; John v. 86; Acts ii. 22, 23).

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Miracles are

It is supposed by some that miracles are opposed to natural law, or imply its suspension. Hence, it has been said, they are impossible. But what foundation is there for such a statement? I see Natural law is universal and permanent. local and temporary. They may, in a sense, supplement natural law ; or may even seem to be independent of it. They may accomplish that which it could not reach, and was not intended to reach. But they neither necessarily suspend nor set it aside. Then also it should be remembered that they are effected by the same power (delegated it may be) as that by which natural law was established. To attribute them to any other power, or efficient cause, would be altogether indefensible. Now, why should it be thought that the Almighty One has bound Himself to a course of procedure from which there can be no deviation, and to which nothing in the way of addition can, at any time, or for any purpose, be made?

Miracles, we should remember, have not the same significance to us as to those in presence of whom they were in early times performed; our stand-point being different from theirs. In their case miracles appealed to the bodily senses; and when viewed without prejudice, had a tendency to produce faith or trust in the worker, as one invested with Divine authority (John iii. 2). In our case they appeal, as recorded facts, not to sense, but to faith. Faith, however, requires something more solid and personal to rest upon as its primary and chief foundation. Consequently, the Miracles of Jesus are believed in by thoughtful and enlightened minds, not exclusively, or even chiefly, because of their own his

torical evidence, but because they are consistent parts of a whole; the other parts of which are, in themselves, far more important to us, and present to our minds reasons for belief too numerous and strong to be resisted. Apart from the evidence furnished by the holy life of our Lord, and the sublime yet simple and beneficent character of His teachings, we could have no firm faith in the record of His miracles. Were it otherwise, it is difficult to perceive what good fruits such a faith could produce.

The great miracle in which we of this age have a personal and direct interest, is the Resurrection of our Lord; associated as it is with the doctrine of a general resurrection, and the consummation of that glorious work which He came to accomplish. This is the one great event to which the Apostles gave frequent and most emphatic witness. Regarding it as the keystone of that spiritual arch which covers the whole area of human guilt and suffering, they spoke and wrote of it as invested with immense moral significance to everyone who knows that "the wages of sin is death." To themselves, as believers, it furnished a theme of holy exultation and joy amidst the manifold afflictions of their earthly lot. How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come ? are questions about which we need not trouble ourselves. It is enough to know that this corruptible will put on incorruption; that this mortal will put on immortality; and that then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." Dollar, N.B.. T. BRADSHAW.

THE AGE OF SOLOMON.

I.

Ir is within the recollection of most of us how in modern and recent times a nation, so to speak, has been born in a day. A collection of States, of petty and insignificant proportions, became a strong and powerful nation-sprang into immediate existence under the magic influence and guidance of perhaps one of the greatest statesmen this or any age has seen. Bismarck, taking the people of Germany, embodying in himself their wants and necessities, has moulded and-if the term may be allowedmanipulated the divergent interests and, purposes which he found, into one common and concrete whole.

The point of resemblance between the German Empire and the Empire whose coherence we are about to discuss, is that both the German and Jewish peoples previous to the foundation of their respective empires were split into tribes-portions, each with aims