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This life, which is now so obscured, will at last shine forth in resurrection glory—still a stream flowing from the fountain of life; but then a life unchecked by frailty, unclouded by sorrow, without a single element of decay restraining its vigor, without a shade of peril or uncertainty athwart its ecstasy-life crowned with glory, and the glory also Christ's blessedness, such as the heavenly Father may pour into the cup of His Son triumphant,-all to be enjoyed in an inheritance fair as Divine wisdom and power can make the crowning testimony of His delight in the well-beloved. The crowning charm is, "we shall appear with Him in glory,"—glory which He not only gives, but shares.

Possessing this life, and enjoying these prospects, the believer has little to do surely with the things that are on the earth. Though he dwells in a body whose wants are to find a supply here, he will surely be careful to make no provision for the flesh, that he should fulfil it in the lusts thereof. A heart occupied with the things that are above cannot be successfully assailed by the world; for what allurement has earth to show beside the crown of glory that fadeth not away? What rival can outshine Him, the King, in His beauty? Yet when it is borne in mind that, to the every end, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, it will be understood that believers still need the admonition, "Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth;" and "mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth.”

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CHARACTER OF CHRISTIANITY.

THERE is nothing simply negative in the Gospel. It is not a prohibitory system. It is a gracious system, conferring positive blessing. To forgive sin may be negative; but to give righteousness is a positive and inalienable blessing. This marks the genius of the Gospel. "Whosoever believeth in him (Jesus) shall not perish;" it stops not here; "but shall have everlasting life." "That they may receive forgiveness of sins," but it goes on, "and an inheritance among them which are sanctified, by faith which is in me." If we are "delivered from the power of darkness," it is, by "translation into the kingdom of God's dear Son." Alas, our narrow minds and dull hearts deprive the Gospel of its glory. It is "the glorious Gospel of the blessed God:" it represents God in the gracious place of the giver; and sets man in his only place of possible blessing, that of a simple recipient. By faith we receive Christ (John i. 12); receiving Him, we receive from Him power to become the sons of God; we receive forgiveness of sins, abundance of grace, and the gift of righteousness; we receive eternal life. Christian action follows this reception of Christ. The teaching of the Holy Ghost unfolds to us what we have received, in having received Christ. It is well to keep this principle constantly before the soul: it is not that which we renounce, any more than that which we do, which makes us Christians; but it is that which we receive.

And this principle runs through the Christian life: it is a life which has its affections, its sensibilities, its energies, and its activities. Our Christian life is not a system of negation, any more than is our natural life. This distin

guishes it so forcibly from the common notion of religion. It is said, "Cease to do evil," but it is added, "Learn to do well:"-" Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good:"- "Let him that stole steal no more ;" but " rather let him work with his own hands that which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth:"—"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth,” but “that which is good, to the use of edifying." Hence arises the danger to Christians from misusing even the good, holy, and righteous law of God. It "is not made for the righteous." (1 Tim. i. 9.) Their need is, to have the life already received, nurtured by the ministry of Christ, the true and living Head, in order that the energies of that life may be called forth in its varied and appropriate activities. We have Christ himself for our standard; and it is only by the righteousness which we have in him, as our standing before God, that we can rightly estimate what is presented to us as our highest, but certain final attainment. "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." Hence it is, that "the one hope of our calling," which is so certain, because in accordance with the purpose of God, becomes so formative of the Christian character. To be conformed to the image of God's Son, as the first-born among many brethren, is the blessed destiny of those whom God has already justified. It is through our certainty of this that the Holy Ghost acts on our conscience and affections, not making what we shall be to depend on what we practically are, but taking the divine certainty of what we shall be, I mean as Christians, as the mighty moral lever, now to elevate our affections. And, even now, "beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

WAYMARKS

IN

THE WILDERNESS.

THE SEVENTY WEEKS IN DANIEL.

In a previous essay on "the vision of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel's interpretation of it," we briefly traced the course of the great empires, and endeavored to show that the predicted division of the fourth empire among ten kings has not yet taken place. If this conclusion is correct, it follows that the power symbolized by the little horn which came up among the ten horns, and "before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots," has not yet entered on his disastrous career. The labored and ingenious attempts to apply this symbol to popery must, in that case, be abandoned as futile. We might now be expected to proceed to explain it in harmony with the views already advanced, and to inquire into the meaning of "the time and times and the dividing of times," during which the saints of the Most High shall be given into the hands of that impious and malignant potentate, and which have commonly been understood to intimate that the papal power shall prevail for 1260 years—a period which is supposed to expire about the present time. But for reasons

which will hereafter appear, we defer the consideration of all questions relating to that power and these times until we have endeavored to ascertain the import of certain predictions regarding the course and destiny of God's ancient people, the Jews; and especially of that very explicit prediction recorded in Dan. ix.-the announcement of the angel Gabriel that seventy weeks should sum up and conclude the temporal history of the Jewish nation.

Before proceeding to the consideration of this last-mentioned prophecy, we may be allowed to offer a few remarks regarding the typical or mystical import of certain numerals in Scripture. For example, the number twelve occurs again and again in relation to the people of God in their corporate and organized capacity under all dispensations: we find twelve patriarchs at the head of the twelve tribes of Israel; twelve apostles as the leaders and representatives of the church of this dispensation; and then we find twenty-four, or twice twelve elders seated before the throne, as the symbol of the redeemed gathered together unto Christ. In the vision of that great city, New Jerusalem, the wall had twelve gates, at the gates were twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes were inscribed. The wall had also twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Again, the number forty is appropriated in Scripture to symbolize preparation for some special end or service. When Moses was forty years old he visited his brethren, supposing that they would understand that God was about to deliver them by his hand. The result showed that another preparation for his mission was necessary besides that which he had received at the court of Pharaoh; and he was driven to the desert of Midian, where he remained forty years before he was summoned by God to effect the deliver

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