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Punctuation is a useful device, but it has no divine authority, and like other things of merely human origin, it must be carefully watched lest it mislead, as it often has misled, in matters of great doctrinal importance. The received reading is, "Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise;" thus teaching that the Lord and his new disciple should meet in paradise that very day; but this teaching cannot be accepted, for the conclusive reason that it is not in harmony with fact. Let us read the verse thus: "Verily I say unto thee this day,* Thou shalt be with me in the paradise." This change of position for the comma throws a new, and we are perfectly satisfied the true, light upon the promise. Moreover, when we notice that in the original onμɛpov to-day, or this day-is emphatic, we are confirmed in the conviction that the thought which lately occurred to us as the key to the interpretation of this passage is correct, namely, the circumstances in which the King of Israel was that day found, He was nailed to a cross, nationally rejected, his claims derided, his friends in despair, and his enemies exulting in the fancy that they had got rid of him for ever. It required hardly a moment's reflection to perceive all this. The dying malefactor saw it all, and yet-sublimest act of faith on record !—his parched lips uttered the prayer, "Lord, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom." To the eye of sense everything, absolutely everything was against the possibility of Jesus ever coming to a kingdom. It seemed irrational to entertain the thought for a second; yet this man's marvellous faith triumphs. Promptly and graciously the Lord rewarded it: "Verily I say unto thee THIS DAY, Thou shalt be with me in the paradise.” Which amounts to this: Neither the cross, nor the shame, nor the desertion of my disciples, nor the malice of my murderers, can prevent my coming to the kingdom, and as thou hast acknowledged me here and now, I THIS DAY promise that thou shalt be honoured and happy then. On the cross, the Lord Jesus claimed the kingdom; and, whoever else may be absent from the bliss when he returns to reign, the poor penitent who died by his side is sure to be there.

* The possible objection that "this day" seems a needless addition to "I say," will vanish if the circumstances be taken into account. Moreover, though it may not be common among Englishmen, it is an idiom with which the Hebrews were familiar. Ex. gr.-" Sell me this day thy birthright." "Swear to me this day." "I testify against you this day." "I command thee this thing to-day." "I have set before thee this day life and good." "I am yet alive with you this day." "Ye are witnesses this day." "I have made known to thee this day." "Even to-day do I declare." If the reader chooses to examine for himself, he will find a multitude of similar expressions.

BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD.

"Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?"-1 Cor. xv. 29.

IN Conybeare and Howson's Life and Epistles of St. Paul, they have the following note on the above verse :—

"The only meaning which the Greek seems to admit here, is a reference to the practice of submitting to baptism instead of some person who had died unbaptized. Yet this explanation is liable to very great difficulties. (1.) How strange that St. Paul should refer to such a superstition without rebuking it! (2.) If such a practice did exist in the Apostolic Church, how can we account for its being discontinued in the period which followed, when a magical efficacy was more and more ascribed to the material act of baptism? Yet the practice was never adopted except by some obscure sects of Gnostics, who seem to have founded their custom on this very passage.

"The explanations which have been adopted to avoid the difficulty, such as over the graves of the dead, or in the name of the dead (meaning Christ), &c., are all inadmissible, as being contrary to the analogy of the language. On the whole, therefore, the passage must be considered to admit of no satisfactory explanation. It alludes to some practice of the Corinthians, which has not been recorded elsewhere, and of which every other trace has perished."

In J. Newton Brown's Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, I find, under the head of BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD, as follows:-"The argument of St. Paul, 'If the dead rise not at all, what shall they do who are baptized for the dead?' has excited many different ideas in the minds of interpreters. Bochart has collected no less than fifteen senses in which it has been understood, or rather in which learned men have confessed that they did not understand it. Yet doubtless it was clear and cogent, not only in the view of the Apostle, but of the Corinthian Church whom he addressed."

In view of the foregoing, it may seem almost presumptuous in me to say that the truth of the verse in question is, to my mind, very obvious. Whether or not my view of it be identical with any of the fifteen senses collected by Bochart, I cannot say, never having seen them. A few minutes' consideration of the passage in the light of the context and other scriptures, and the meaning of it became plain, although previously, I confess, it had puzzled me.

What shall they do who are being immersed for or on behalf of the dead, if the dead rise not? This simply means, "What shall they do who are being immersed in sufferings,"-Paul and the other apostles, especially, if not exclusively, while faithfully preaching the Gospel,that men under the sentence of death in Adam,-men dead in trespasses

and sins,-might hear the voice of the Son of God, in the Gospel of Christ, and be saved, if the dead rise not, and there be, consequently, no future life-no recompence for all their sufferings?

Paul had previously told them of the unparalleled sufferings he and the other true apostles of Christ were undergoing. "I think," he says, "that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men." Read 1 Cor. iv. 9-13, and we get an idea of the immersion with which they were " being immersed," in fulfilment of their divine Master's words, " Ye shall indeed drink of my cup, and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized." And for or on behalf of whom did they thus suffer? The dead, unquestionably. Not the literally dead, of course; but men as good as dead, men dead "in Adam,” and who could only be quickened or made alive "in Christ." "Let the dead bury the dead." The whole world is by nature dead; as much so as the condemned malefactor who has but a few days to live, or the struggling man whom the sea is ready to swallow up. And let us picture to ourselves men at the imminent risk of their own lives, and without promise or hope of praise or reward in this life, plunging into a raging sea, or rushing into a house in flames, to save perishing fellow-creatures, and we may have some conception of the God-like philanthropy which animated the apostles, and of the sufferings which Paul referred to in his phrase, "immersed on behalf of the dead!"

But the apostles did that sort of thing continually. Their immersion was no isolated act of brave philanthropy; but their daily, yea, hourly experience. I protest by your (Corinthians') rejoicing in Christ Jesus, I die daily. We stand in jeopardy every hour. They were being immersed on behalf of the dead every hour of their ministry.

Ah! it was no ordinary suffering, such as was common to the faithful of primitive times, that constituted the immersion our Lord and Paul spoke of and experienced. Our Lord's was made up of his individual persecutions, reproaches, scourgings, and shameful and ignominious death. Theirs of beatings, imprisonments, stonings, defamations, and afflictions ending only with their life. In their flesh was filled up that which was behind of the sufferings of Christ on behalf of his body the Church; on behalf of men and women dead, until quickened and begotten by the Gospel of Christ, administered by his faithful apostles.

The Corinthians knew he had seen something of this, and yet among them were fools who said, "There is no resurrection of the dead." What power in the apostle's questions,-" What shall they do which are being immersed on behalf of the dead, if the dead rise not?" Why are they then being immersed on behalf of the dead? Alas for Paul! alas for his fellow-apostles !-the off-scouring of all things in the world's estimation-if in their life-time only they had hope in Christ!

And, alas for us! had they not been baptized for us! What would Christ's doctrine and sacrifice have availed to us, or even to the dead of his own age, had there been no apostles to go forth and preach, and write, and suffer! All honour to the Son of God, who died for us and rose again! All honour, too, to his apostles, who laid down their lives on our behalf! Both were God's servants; both finished the work given them to do; both were pre-eminent in sufferings, both shall be preeminent in glory; the throne, and the seats on the right hand and the left, shall be theirs throughout the ages of the ages! May we have grace to enable us to profit by their labours! They have shown us the salvation promised, and how great it is: may we not neglect it! Halifax, N.S. J. R. LITHGOW.

THE POWERS OF THE WORLD TO COME,

AS REVEALED IN THE MIRACLES OF JESUS.

No. VI.

"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people."-MATT. iv. 23.

THE teaching of our Lord ran thus: "Fear not, little flock, it is your

Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." In the regeneraation, when all things were made new from earth to skies, the despised ones were to sit upon thrones. "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit upon thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Hence, we look forward to the state solemnities of that Sabbatism which remains for the people of God. We see the King, the perfection of all beauty, the consummate flower of all power and splendour, pouring out the wine of life in the high festival of the manifested kingdom. The gospel of the grace of God is sweet in its aspect of a message which brings forgiveness, but the gospel of the kingdom is a strain of higher mood. Once realising it, we begin to feel that we are nobles and princes of the purest blood; the purple and the royalties become visible, and the music of the kingdom shakes the vaulted skies. As we read of the gospel of the kingdom, he arises before us who is brighter than the mid-day sun, surrounded by his resplendent brethren in their immortal radiance, and all the august and stately forms of power, majesty, and glory crowd upon the mind.

It was congruous that in wooing the people to accept of his sovereignty, there should be flashes of his essential regality. From time to time, the "powers of the world to come " burned out in surpassing effulgence, and the kingdom glories shone from the face of the king. Pains and torments, diseases and demons fled before him who was Lord of ancient nature, as well as head of the new creation.

It is the present fashion of unbelief to depreciate miracle, and we may

serve a good purpose by considering the works of the Lord Jesus in two aspects.

I. The miracles of Jesus were in perfect correspondence with his claims. The claims of the Lord were certainly most original and transcendent. In a very early stage of his ministry he quoted a magnificent prediction from Isaiah, and announced himself as the hero of the prophecy. He called upon the people to seek rest by laying all their burdens upon him; he declared himself the resurrection and the life; able to give first life spiritual, and finally, life from the dead. He avowed himself greater than Solomon; Lord of the Sabbath, and master of the temple. He avowed that those who had seen him in his working had seen the Father, and that he had the same authority to ignore holy days, and work continually in the furtherance of his mission. He professed to know what was in man, in the secret working of the soul, without expression, and avowed his authority to forgive sin, and speak peace to the conscience and the heart.

Now had a person with claims and pretensions so extraordinary been hemmed in within the ordinary limits of humanity, had he revealed no power except such as was shared by other great men of mortal race, all the people in the field of his labour would have felt the want of correspondence, the utter disruption between claims so grand and far-reaching, and faculties so ordinary in limitation. The inquiry might fairly have arisen-if he is greater than our greatest, if he can discern secret thought, give absolution to the sinner, and generate life in dead souls,-how is it that there are no credentials? We have suffering and death all round us; forms of disease, malignant and demoniacal agonies, tumults in nature, and convulsions in society; yet when or where has he spoken peace with commanding voice, or manifested any power superhuman in cure or mitigation? Such complaint would surely have arisen, and would have been perfectly reasonable. Now when a being with claims so peculiar and comprehensive, walked like a god with nature obedient, and all shapes of deformity and disease fleeing before him, at any rate, we perceive strict harmony. The law of correspondence is not broken. There is a person seen in the field of wholeness and integrity inviolate, his pretensions, his character, and his works being of one web, and all his proportions supernatural and superhuman.

II. A second proposition may be maintained :-The works of the Lord Jesus were in perfect harmony with the scope of his mission.

The king came down to deliver a province from oppression and miserable misrule; to destroy the works of the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death, were all their life time subject to bondage. He declared himself the light of the world, revealing the day spring from on high, in a world where darkness was awful. Death was reigning, and he proclaimed himself as the resurrection and the life. Demons, diseases, and deformities, had rendered life ghastly, and shadows were darkening over all. He announced himself as restorer and reconciler, the bringer of life and gladness and holy sunshine. Social inequalities were rife, and sin in the place of judgment not unfrequent. He came to inaugurate a kingdom of justice unfailing. Nature had long sometimes sighed, and sometimes raved over human disorder and crimes; sharing indeed in the general dislocation and ruin, and never wanting in