entered into peace, and yet few remained to the after-meeting. Do you want safety? In Christ Jesus there is perfect peace and safety. There is no danger in the everlasting arms. We have heard today of our soldiers in Egypt who have won a great battle. What would be the state of mind of a soldier who had entered that field of battle knowing that he was in peace in Christ Jesus? One of rest and calmness. 4. In Christ Jesus is the place of Holiness. The great want of the Christian Church seems to be the want of personal holiness. How low is the level at which the Church of Christ is living! Let us humble ourselves as we realise how far we have been living below the level of that vocation wherewith we have been called. Is not this your desire: "Lord, let me draw nearer to Thee"? Then, dear Christian friend, that is what you may have. The Lord is ready to give it. First of all let me ask, "Are you willing to have it whatever it may cost you?" It will cost you your sins. If God shows you that there is something in your heart or life that is evil, are you prepared to give it up for the Lord's sake, to say, "Take that, Lord Jesus ; I am willing to give it up to Thee." And then that solemn prayer, "Lord, show me what is wrong; search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Oh the solemnity of the touch with which God lays His finger upon something which may be very dear to us, or which we have forgotten, or which is so interwoven with our circumstances, and says, That is the thing; on that depends whether you will have the deeper blessing of a consecrated life. A CRY IN THE DARK. SURELY the love to me That, though my sin remains Unshaken, strong as death must be And can unbind these chains. It is when I reject Thy grace, and doubt Thee so, That ceasing mercy to expect I fall before the foe. To Thee my soul I give; Help me to trust Thee more: Thy love is proved in that I live, For I have sinned before. Stretch out Thy faithful hand And draw me to Thy breast: Astray and in a thorny land, I pant for want of rest. Bring me, O bring me where I still may bide in peaceO keep me, Lord, for ever there, And let my wanderings cease. H M. T. 1. TEXT The Lord hath blessed me hitherto' (Joshua xvii. 14). This was a praiseful acknowledgment. In the period of time covered by the 'hitherto' a variety of incidents had occurred, and the experiences of life had been of divers kinds. There had been dark days as well as bright, rough places as well as smooth, circumstances that caused pain as well as others that gave pleasure. Enemies, we know, had presented themselves in Israel's onward way, who could not be prevailed on by mere persuasion to stand aside.' No: they had to be confronted and overcome. The sword was found useful then, and the belmet, and the shield, and the breastplate. Yes, and the presence of Joshua had been most inspiring as the conflict began and went on, until the cheer of victory proclaimed that the route was again clear and the Advance' might again be sounded. Under such a leader, victory after victory might well be expected; yea, his army might en courage the conviction that there should be 'No defeat,' for was not God with him according to His word, and might not the promise be relied on 'I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, and was it not known to every man in the ranks that the Lord fought for Israel' ?—Ah but there had been defeat. Even Joshua himself was distressed. He rent his clothes,' and deplored before God that Israel had been compelled to turn their backs before their enemies.' Something was wrong. The enemies might have been vanquished. The Jericho. But God's 'conquering right hand' was not with victory might have been with those who recently had taken Joshua and his hosts at Ai, and hence this reverse. There was a cause, a 'secret thing' (known, however, to God) im peding Israel's advance, weakening their 'sword arm,' making their hearts fail, and at length causing their ignominious flight. God responded to Joshua's cry of distress, and told him why this disaster had occurred. Then came a great searching of tents and of hearts; and by and by, the 'accursed thing' having been discovered and put away, Israel's victorious career was gladly and grandly resumed. Yes, on they went' from victory unto victory.' At one time, Joshua called on Israel to put their feet on the necks of conquered kings. Hostile armies were utterly defeated. Cities were destroyed. Kingdoms were subdued. In short Joshua, at the head of Israel, 'took the whole land." So, all God's dealings with His people were wise and right and good; and the grateful acknowledgment was heard 'The Lord has blessed me hitherto.' 'Hitherto,'-i.e., 'to this moment and this place; from the beginning of the days, the journey, the campaign, the service, the discipleship, until now. God's dealings with me have been of divers kinds-among them chastenings, trials, rebukes-but He has blessed me all along.' Oh, surely this is the right view to take, and, taking it, there will certainly be the praise. We have reached the last month of another year. We consider the past, and review the way with its incidents. We mark where we went for a season in darkness; but we also see the lovely sun-lit region through which we sang 'the Lord's song' with increased delight. We remember the exact spot where, alas, we fell: and we well recollect, too, that portion of the way where, very specially, 'our hearts burned within us,' as He took such rains with us in our dulness and slowness to believe,' and explained to us certain sorely perplexing mysteries, and instructed us still more perfectly in the things concerning Himself. Thus we note the various incidents and experiences marking the 'hitherto,' -reviewing not merely the closing year but others preceding it, and taking in items of trial, chastisement, disappointment, sorrow, as well as those of gladness and prosperity. And oh, the love-awakening conviction that God has been blessing all along, through the entire course of the 'hitherto '! Whatever the nature of His dealings with us, He was intent upon blessing us. Whatever He did, He blessed us. In short, He did nothing but bless us! He instructed usblessing us; rebuked us-blessing us; corrected us-blessing us; encouraged us-blessing us; weakened us (we were too strong in ourselves) —blessing us; made us able to serve, and to fight, and to run the race-blessing us still. He humbled us, and that was a blessing; showed us how ignorant we were, and how unprofitable, and how we failed, and came short of the right 'mark,'-and that, too, was a blessing. He caused rough waves to rage and swell around us, until we were at our wits' end, and made all His billows (mark, His!) to go over us: He appointed for us circumstances of fiery trialor let other hands heat some furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated, and then Himself came and stayed the flames, so that they did us no harm, no not so much as to singe a hair of our head: and, in due time, He 'brought us out into a wealthy place':-and that was all only further and fuller blessing. He removed our dearest idols,' and drove the 'money-changers' from the temple of our heart, and cut the cable which prevented our utterly launching away' for 'the other side,' --still blessing us. He showed us that we had by no means experienced the uttermost' of His salvation; and that the holy life, as set forth in His word, was a glorious possibility: so that we had no rest day or night until we came up higher,' and believed in Him for full sanctification-an experience we had, unbelievingly, reserved for heaven, or, at all events, the millennium ;-and that certainly was a blessing. He marked our (perhaps disguised) self-sufficiency and pride; and saw our 'stiff-neck,' and heard our boastful words; and, taking us in hand, taught us to sing None of self, but all of Thee'; and, by His Spirit, enabled us to learn of Him who is 'meek and lowly in heart'; and oh, how great and real a blessing was that! In short, now that we rightly consider His dealings with usHis rebukes, chastenings, teachings, trials; and mark how waves and storms fulfilled His purpose of love concerning us; and note how every dark tunnel was in the homeward route, and had sunshine above it and at the further end-we can see most plainly that He has of a truth been blessing us, unceasingly, from the very first unto this day. 2. FULL CONSECRATION: 'HITHERTO.' Hitherto the Lord hath blessed thee, Glory to the Spirit be! To the Holy Trinity! Hitherto the Lord hath helped thee,Raise the Ebenezer' pile; And from henceforth He will guide thee Onward through the little while.' Hitherto the LORD hath kept thee, Hath forgiven until now': Which upheld thee in the dark. His the love which sought and found thee, Hitherto the LORD hath blessed thee, Through the 'fire,' and through the 'flood '; E'en the 'curse' is changed to 'blessing,' For the chosen ones of GOD. Every Via Dolorosa,' Every pathway lone and dim, When we tread it after Him! Of a restful, trusting heart: 3. INTERCESSIONS (Daily): For LUCY A. BENNETT.* There has, indeed, been much in the past whereof we are now ashamed: but as for Him, may not the grateful acknowledgment be made by every one of us-for surely it is true — The Lord hath blessed me hitherto!' Then-ALLELUIA! | Partridge & Co. Miss Bennett's new volume ('Alleluia Songs ') is dedi cated to the members of the A. F. J. U. The price is ls. 'Me, that (if it be God's will, and for His glory) an impending, overwhelming trial may be averted.' My husband, that both himself and his ministry may be more fully blessed. Also for the conversion of my six children. Also for direction in my own work for the Lord, and His blessing.' 'My Bible Class for servants, that the unsaved may be awakened.' The full consecration of my son, a clergyman.' 'My dear brother, who holds sceptical opinions, and is addicted to drink; that he may be saved.' 'My husband, who is sinking, that Jesus may be very precious to him.' THERE is a break in the Hymn of Praise-not in praise itself but in its range. Hitherto it is in Israel, the Land of Promise-in the Temple-but now, in Psalm cxvii., the call is to the world. "All ye nations," "all ye peoples" (ver. 1). The past and the future alike supply the theme. "Vast has been His mercy," "the truth of the Lord endures for ever" (ver. 2). Jerusalem was the centre and the home of praise, as it was the place of the greatest manifestation of God's power and glory; of His gifts and goodness; the scene of the Great Sacrifice and the witness of the Resurrection which testified to its acceptance. Much of this was but in anticipation when the Psalm was written. 1. This teaches another lesson of praise"Glory to Thee for all the grace I have not tasted yet." When the heart is hushed with the consciousness of Christ's presence and wells over with the thought of His love, then the promises become facts; the future-where the Lord has spoken-a very present thing. His Then the Church takes up the strain again. mercy is vast, and His truth endures. Now Ps. cxviii. 1-4-His mercy endures for ever. As far reaching as His truth. 3. Those whom He blessed--as in Psalm cxv.the house of Israel, the house of Aaron,-those that fear the Lord, are now called upon to triumph in Him. "His mercy endureth for ever." No stinted measure of blessing has been given, no stinted measure of praise is to be rendered. The Great Sufferer now speaks, "Out of the strait I called on Jehovah." Was not this the strait He referred to in Luke xii. 50? Surely it was. But the Lord was with Him. He comforts Himself in that awful hour with the knowledge that help was near. His enemies encompassed Him on every side, but Jehovah was His strength and song His salvation. That right hand that never fails to get the victory was upon Him. In the midst of His sufferings He sees the door of Righteousness ajar. Soon to be opened as their result (vers. 15-20), that the Righteous may enter in. The voice of thanksgiving and the triumph are both at hand. The builders appointed at the first the family of Israel-may reject the Corner Stone, but it becomes the Corner Stone in spite of them. It is all the Lord's doing,-the suffering, the deliverance, the triumph. That day, the Resurrection Day, which He had made for triumph and glory, is the day of exultation and gladness in all ages to come. The loud Hosanna to the Son of David is heard from afar, and draws nearer and nearer, till the shout is echoed back, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord" (ver. 26; Matt. xxi. 9). 4. But one more reference in the midst of all this praise is made to the Victim, "Bound with cords, At the commencement of His sufferings it was, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me!" Now at the close of them it is, "My God, I will thank Thee." Significant result! 5. But the lesson to us who are the partakers of the benefit-so eternally secured,-What is it? The Lord hath given light (ver. 27). Not to Him only, but to us who believe. What does this demand? The same result. The Christian life, if it be worth anything, is one of sacrifice. Have we the full blaze of light which tells of pardon, deliverance, keeping, victory? The call to us is, "Bind the sacrifice with cords." Let not your life be easy, luxurious, wayward, fitful, careless-bind it to the Great Altar, and take all the consequences. He will accept the sacrifice, and the voice of praise and thanksgiving shall take the place of doubt, of fear, of uncertainty. "Oh! thank the Lord, for His mercy endureth for ever." HENRY F. BOWKER. Notices of Books. "Christ's Love-Marks." A New Year's Address. By the Rev. C. A. Fox. London: S. W. Partridge and Co., 9, Paternoster Row. Price 1d. Our readers will gladly welcome another book from one whose pen, as well as whose voice, has been so much used by the Lord. This little book is not less full of the power of the Spirit than the former ones, and we warmly commend it. It begins with the following questions: "Blessed love-marks of Jesus! How precious they must be! Yea, how priceless! But how may I know them? Where may I find them? . . . Spirit of the living God, answer me, I beseech Thee, for His love's sake!" And He does answer; and when we can see them upon ourselves, it will be a blessed new year indeed. The answer is given from the four, and only four, of whom it is distinctly said, that "Jesus loved." Are any asking, "Can He love me, when His finger so ruthlessly points out my faults?" Yes, correction is the first "love-mark" (Mark x. 21). "And if He loved, would He so sorely chasten?" And the answer comes from the family of Bethany, whom "He loved," and therefore tried. And if He loves, He cleanses (John xiii. 1-10). It is Christ's "duty" to His "loved." And He claims John. So the "love-marks" are correction, chastening, cleansing, claiming. Do we bear these "marks of the Lord Jesus"? The Overcoming Life. By Rev. E. W. Moore, M.A. London: S. W. Partridge & Co. Cloth, 1s. It will be a pleasure to many of our readers, as it is to ourselves, to find that our friend and contributor, Mr. Moore, is publishing a little book on the Christian life. We hope to notice it more fully next month; meanwhile we insert an extract from its pages in our present number, and warmly commend it as coming from the pen of a true witness. Conquered and Kept; or, the Gospel for the Defeated. This is a second New Year Book, by the Rev. C. A. Fox. It is a reprint of two addresses which have appeared in these pages: "The Place of Blessing," on Gen. xxxii., and "Confession and Committal," on Hosea v. 15. We are thankful that others besides our readers will have the opportunity of reading words which have already proved the finger of God to bring down many into the low place, which is alone the Place of Blessing. The Prince in the Midst. By Sophia M. Nugent. | "Although I should have preferred that this opening page should be left blank, on the principle that a good silence is the best preface to full speech; yet, as a clergyman, I cannot refuse to say grace before meat, especially as I cannot but recognise at the first place the invisible presence of the Master, and the royal bounty of His table here spread before us." |