mass of salt, but individually to season our every-day speech with it. Here is the type of the Christian man I like to see :-a man who knows his business, and does it; a man whose conduct and speech leave the impression that he is a man in the true sense of the word; that he fears God while transacting business with his brother man; that he regards the Highest, while he is loyal to his earthly sovereign; that he prefers divine truth to all earthly systems, while he pursues his earthly systems in accordance with the necessities of his earthly business. This would cut up by the roots that offensive thing called "cant." This would give us the right stamp of Christian men,-men to whom you would not put the question, "To which Church do you belong?" A Christian man carries in his heart the love of God and the light of salvation. Speech," "salt," "that ye may know how to answer every man." A happy issue of such qualifications! These Colossian Christians, like the rest of the early Christians, were surrounded by men who watched their conduct narrowly; and very properly too: and the heathen men who had not received the faith put questions to them; and Paul says, "If your speech be with grace, seasoned with salt, you will be able to know how to answer every man." And in these days in which we live, a considerable number of Christian men, as it happens, have to give an answer concerning their convictions, and doctrines, and opinions, and it is a matter of very great moment to be able to give an answer,- -a right answer; I was about to say satisfactory, but that is no matter. It is no matter to me whether my answer to a man be satisfactory: I have nothing to do with that. What I have to do is to see that my answer is in strict accordance with truth, and leave it there. We are not allowed to answer questions of that kind in our own mode and fashion; we are simply bound to defend the Gospel. In speaking of the love of Christ, we must speak the language of gentleness and love. No human being was ever scolded into godliness, and no human being ought to be. To be the children of our Father in heaven, in the imitation of his kindness, is our lofty privilege. You do not make loyal Christians by putting them in the Inquisition persecution is no part of the ministry of Jesus Christ; exclusive dealing tells not in favour of godliness. All those things which are so common to short-sighted humanity fall very far short of the divine influence which the Lord would have us to put forth when we give answers to the questions that are put. "Why do you believe that?" We reply, "Because it is written." Why do you disbelieve the other thing? ""Because we find no authority for it in the Scriptures." And it is in thus giving an answer to men that we become diffusers of light and salt to our fellow men.

Now I have said in passing, that this is not a text for ministers only. I want you to understand that all saved men must be ministers of grace to their fellow men. There is a recognition of this great principle. A great number of those generally called Laymen-a term I do not admire at all; but private Christians, who do not occupy the place of public teachers are employed in teaching the Word of God, and I rejoice in this. It ought to be felt as a privilege, as well as the duty of every Christian man, to be a minister of Christ to his fellow men. If this were felt, we should not confine our religious teachings to the Sunday, but should remember the text which says, "always,"-whenever you have

the opportunity, whenever a favourable opportunity is given of ministering grace to your fellow men, do it. Now there is the ministry of kindness, the ministry of charity, the ministry of doing good to men, the ministry of active benevolence. It is wonderful how society has been blessed through the action of Christianity in these directions. The sums of money given are exceeding great; but they are not the best criterion of these ministries. I think rather of the unseen action of thousands and tens of thousands of Christ-loving men and women in this country; and this is most precious to think of. The principle of not letting the left hand know what the right hand does is decidedly a divine one; to act upon that as you have opportunity is a blessed thing. We are taking all these things from the boundless sources of divine benevolence; of God's own have we given. The light we have is borrowed from the Sun of Righteousness; the salt we have is his royal gift; the hopes we have are founded upon his promise, his assurance; the grace in which we stand is his grace; all the mental, and moral, and spiritual wealth that we have is a talent from God, and to be used for his glory. There is the glorious source of holy speech: it comes down to us, and from the lips of him "who spake as never man spake;" it distils as the gentle dew, it falls upon regenerate hearts, it calls forth gratitude and praise, and the dumb man sings with gladness, and the lips that were sealed in respect of religious truth are opened for the outflow of earnest entreaty, and men who were strangers and foreigners are found to be fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. Great is that mistake which confines the Christian faith to a system of doctrines, and calls not out the moral power of the heart in a world of corruption and darkness. Let us avoid that mistake, my brethren; and as our God has given us real treasures, let us give to others: let us speak of him in our households, to our friends, and acquaintances. The Jewish fathers were commanded to talk of these things to their children morning and evening; Christian fathers are not only to exemplify the force of Christian truth in their lives, but to speak to their sons and daughters about their glorious Saviour. And if we bear in mind the point of the text, that our speech is to be seasoned with salt, we shall give the idea that we are living sacrifices, to the honour of God. The Apostle says it is our reasonable service to be living sacrifices to God, and this holy salt will preserve us from corruption, whilst it has a beneficial effect upon those around us.

One word, and I have done. I have spoken about the necessity of understanding the subject on which a man wishes to speak if he would benefit and enlighten his audience; he must understand what he is talking about. So, my dear friends, if we would act according to the precept of our text, it is perfectly obvious that we must go habitually to the Lord Jesus Christ to get the light and the salt that shall give holy savour to speech, to get the information that shall make the speech intelligible and scriptural, and to get the impulse which will prompt us to speak as opportunity occurs. I counsel you, my friends, in these days of much religious excitement-you are all aware that they are so— in these days of efforts at revivals (many of them, no doubt, artificial efforts, but to which, nevertheless, God has given his blessing in many directions), let me ask you to do what in you lies to commend to others, in your various spheres, the vast importance of receiving the Lord Jesus

Christ, out of whom there is no salvation. You see what is the context: "Walk in wisdom toward them that are without;" the multitudes that are without the pale of the Christian Church-of course I mean the multitudes that are not in Christ-when you come in contact with them, speak about the grace and glory of the King, about the beauty of a wellmoulded Christian mind, about the happiness of homes where Christ dwells-dwells in the heart, and therefore in the homes; speak about the blessedness of knowing him, whom to know is life eternal; and with a loving heart, an eye beaming kindness, a face lit with a smile, these things will tell upon others, and you will become, according to that marvellous passage in the Scripture, "fellow workers with God!”

"WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM."

1 JOHN iii. 2.

E shall be like Him !"-Hark! how, through the ages,
Rings the great hope, the Church's battle song!
This endless theme her one great heart engages,

And down the years its echoes roll along.
Each generation hails the great renewing,
Grows into likeness, passes, and is like;
And we, Time's latest born, "faint, yet pursuing,"
Echo the war-cry, and, with nerved arm, strike.
"We shall be like Him!"-Other hopes are failing;

We shall be,-ah! what here that once we dreamed?
Great? wise? self-armed with purpose all-prevailing?
How strangely life is changed from what it seemed!
But, while these stars all, one by one, have faded,
A mighty Sun has risen in their stead:

Now we look eastward, and, with moist eyes shaded,
Murmur, "This liveth; what if those are dead ?"

"We shall be like Him!"-Ah! how strange the story!
Lo! if some tiny glow-worm, gazing far

Into the night heaven, clothed in all its glory,-
Learning to shine by love of one pure star,-
Heard, from that world of light, a promise pealing
Down to the dark earth, "Thou shalt be like me!"
Scarce could she grasp the whole of that revealing,-
Scarce could she comprehend the bliss to be.

"We shall be like Him !"-Watch yon cloudlets changing
To deeper splendours in the glowing West,
Transfigured by the sun, while round him ranging
To form a golden couch where he may rest;
So,-changed into His image while beholding,-
We fix our earnest gaze upon His face,
Till, clothed in glories of His own unfolding,
We are made meet to be His resting-place.

E. S. C.

171

ELIJAH.

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."-MAL. iv. 5, 6.

THERE

RE are many who consider this prophecy to have been fulfilled, and, for anything they know to the contrary, exhausted in the work and ministry of John the Baptist. Others think it is yet applicable to the future, and that probably the very man, Elijah, who thousands of years ago was translated and taken up into heaven, may be sent on a special mission to the Jews. Others think that Elijah may be one of the two witnesses of whom John in the Revelation speaks, and that he is being sustained in the body as when he was visibly present with men on the earth, to the intent that he may be sent again to complete his ministerial work, die, be made alive, and lifted up into the heavens in the sight of his enemies and murderers. And there is yet another people who apply this prophecy to a living personal apostolic ministry now in their midst; and that by them the full meaning of the prophecy will be developed and accomplished.

In the midst of these diverse and conflicting thoughts and assertions, it may well be asked, as it is by some, "What is the truth?" "To you," said Jesus speaking to his disciples, "it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." And again he said, "I will pray the Father, and he shall send you another Comforter, even the Holy Ghost; he shall guide you into all truth, and he shall show you the things to come." With these gifts and promises, it is surely our privilege to understand the mind of the Spirit in this prophecy of Malachi. We have the key that unlocks the door to this mystery; let us use it.

Prophetic history is twofold, verbal and symbolical. The former tells of events to come, sometimes pictorially; the latter exhibits events of the future in present fact. This is true of the whole world, of nations, of cities, of persons. Such was the kingdom of God, and of his Christ in the beginning the future of the kingdom was exhibited in Eden, in the facts of the then present. Such was the condition of the world in the days of Noah, in relation to the time when the Christ shall come again, "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the day when the Son of man cometh." Such were the nations of old in relation to the land of Canaan and the people of God; Egypt, and Babylon, and Rome. Of such also were Adam, and Eve, and Abel, and Isaac, and Moses, and David. Facts recorded concerning those persons and nations and the world are types and symbols of the like facts at a then future time, in this age, and the ages to come: to wit, Babylon of old in the mystical Babylon that now is; and the persons we have named and their experience, in the person and the times of the Christ. The facts in the first instance are not only of the nature of the prophecy; they are the prophecy, and the type of like events to come. So on the one hand, prophetic history records events to come as if they had come, and on the other, events which have to come to pass, as to be repeated in other times, persons, and nations, with the like incidents.

Of this nature is the prophecy of Malachi concerning Elijah: it is

two-fold in its application and fulfilment. It carries the mind back to the work and testimony of Elijah, the prophet of Israel, but its reference is not to him. It directs the mind forward, to a gracious interposition and means of deliverance from the most terrible visitation. New Testament revelation and testimony enables us to bear witness to the whole meaning of this prophetic word. It covers the whole of this age; and hath its chief fulfilment in the ending. In those days when John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, its fulfilment began. Its fulfilment will end in that day when the kingdom of heaven shall be manifest on earth, and the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory. The prophecy thus became history in the early records of the New Testament, and that history draws near to its repetition and completion. The repetition will also be in contrast in some of its most important aspects, and yet in harmony with both prophecy and fact.

Let us note its fulfilment in the beginning. When first God sent his Son into the world, there was a varied expectation and judgment among his people. Some thought he was Elias. The question, "Art thou He that should come, or do we look for another?" was with them then the one question of importance, of deepest interest. In its recurring and complete fulfilment, it will so come that his own people shall ask again, Art thou he? And this question shall be asked, not by his ancient people only, who still wait for their Messiah; it shall be asked also by the called from among the Gentiles. Many are called; but few are sealed and receive the spirit of adoption to say when he appeareth, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him; we will rejoice and be glad in his salvation." Not more surely were his ancient people through unbelief broken off for a season from their own olive tree, than, for the like cause, the called of this age shall in the end be broken off from that same tree into which they are but graffed. Then shall they begin to stand without, and cry, "Lord, Lord, open unto us." Now the Lord saith, "Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." Then shall come the cry of that rich man, who saith, "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and who, having been unobservant and negligent of his duty to his Lord in his poor members, shall plead thus with the father of the faithful, "Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame." But we speak of the past; and yet what we shall say of the future has a reflex application to the past, because in the events of the beginning was an incipient fulfilment, a fulfilment both typical and symbolical.

"Elias (Elijah) is come already." We make no mistake in saying that the fulfilment of that prophecy of Malachi has been, at least in some degree, accomplished. These words of the Lord," Elias is come," leave us no doubt. Of whom did the Lord speak? By whom, how, and to what extent was the prophecy then realised? Elias was engaged about his work. He was then present when the Lord spake.

Who then was Elias? The Jews sent messengers to John to ask him the question, "Art thou Elias?" On the occasion of the transfiguration the Lord so spake of Elias that the disciples understood him to mean John the Baptist. To this day many have the like understanding. Elias