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النشر الإلكتروني

without even a sight of Canaan. (Num. xx. 24.) David is the great type of Christ the King, but our lesson sees him, because of his terrible sin, driven from his throne in anguish and shame into exile; from which he recovers, only to confess in abiding sorrow the sad failure of himself and his house to realize either the ideal of the true theocratic kingdom or the promise of the Righteous Seed, in whose hands God had, in the great covenant of 2 Sam. vii. 10-16, sworn to establish the kingdom of Israel forever.

Thus all the human types of our Lord, by their very failure fully to reveal their antitype, accomplish best of all their end-to draw the attention and the desire of God's people toward Him in whom only is aught of perfection or satisfaction realized. I Samuel witnessed the complete and eternal failure of the saviour and sovereign Israel had chosen; 2 Samuel now witnesses the personal failure of him of whom God testihed that he was "after His own heart." And our hearts again cry, with the seer of Patmos, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" because we see that there is no help or hope in man. We may well find the key of this lesson in the sweet last words of David" of chapter xxiii.: "The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me: There shall be One that ruleth over men-a Righteous One, that ruleth in the fear of God.

.. Verily, my house is not so with God." (2 Sam. xxiii. 3-5.) And then, after this confident prediction of the glorious second coming and blessed reign of Christ on earth, and this humble confession of the unworthiness and sin of his own family, David's faith beams out bright and strong in the covenant promises, as to the house from which this coming Ruler shall spring. "Yet"-in spite of all the failures-hath He made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. ... It is all my desire, although He maketh it not to grow." (Verse 5.) Through the weary years after his sin, when trouble after trouble haunted his steps, his heart found its solace in the thought of the promised One, who would redeem all the past and reign through all the future. May every reader, over whose past must also be written "failure,' have also such a blessed prospect in the coming of the King!

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Note, in Amnon (xiii. 15), what may be called "the revulsion of lust.' Compare Ezekiel xxiii. 17, 28, 29. Lust, gratified, nauseates, but still enslaves.

In xiv. 14, in the plea of Jacob's_tool, the exact plea of Universalism, that God does not eternally punish sinners, but will find some way to restore all, is set forth. The utter folly of thus lightly restoring the impenitent is illustrated here as we proceed. Its ineffectiveness to bring fellowship, in verse 24 (contrast Luke xv. 20); its awful overlooking of heart pride and impenitence,

in verse 32; its failure to elicit confession of sin, in 32 and 33, along with its mockery or reconciliation in verse 33; with its legitimate fruit in chapters xv.-xviii. Heaven would not be a safe place to enter if the impenitent were admitted there. It will be "the Lamb that was slain" that will be the centre of all there. (Rev. v. 9.)

Study carefully the spirit of David in this terrible time. His submission to God (xv. 14, 25, 26; xvi. 10, 11); his deep faith in God (xvi. 12; xv. 31, with xvii. 14); his fellowship with Him who is a "very present help in trouble" (Psalm iii.); his tender, forgiving love toward his rebellious, ungrateful son (2 Sam. xviii. 33; xix. 4). It is when we are in deepest trouble that our real selves are most fully seen. And it is no slight thing that it is always in the darkest hours that David's soul-light burns brightest.

Four of the very innermost views of David's heart are found in chapter xxiv. Note in verse to his deep contrition; in verse 14 his unfailing faith; in verse 17 his unselfishness; and in verse 24 his generous sincerity. Sterling, priceless traits, all of these!

Throughout this story we see that while God in His grace fully and freely forgives His children's sins, He must yet in His government deal openly with them, and often in severity. (Contrast carefully chapter xii. 13, with xv. 30.) This thought should have constant power with us in our lives as a motive to a careful, watchful walk. (See Gal. vi. 7, 8.) We who are God's people in this world represent Him, and men judge our God by us. If we sin openly, then they judge God by the way He deals with us. The Lord had proclaimed Himself no respecter of persons. So when David openly and foully sinned, the throne of Jehovah must be vindicated, and that in two ways: First, David must be punished openly, that all men might know that God did not approve of His servant's iniquity, but would impartially punish it; and second, David having failed, the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ, must be revealed as the King who really and only satisfies and honors God, and whom, as an absolutely Righteous Ruler, God will shortly set upon the throne that His servant David had so sadly dishonored. (See Luke i. 32, 33.) Oh, may that day be hastened! For Christ has not yet taken David's throne, which is earthly; He has only sat down for a little season in His Father's throne in Heaven (Rev. iii. 21) to wait till the day shall come for Him to take the kingdom of this world. (See Heb. x. 12, 13; Psalm cx. 1, 2; Heb. ii. 9; Luke xix. 11, 12, 15; Dan. vii. 13, 14; Rev. v. 714.) Note from the context of last two passages that the kingdom is not asked or obtained by Christ (cf. Psalm ii. 7-9) until the tribulation time, which is yet in the future. (2 Thess. ii. 2, 3; Rev. iii. 10.)

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Personalia.

Mr. S. M. Sayford is holding services in the Maritime Provinces from November 13 to December 13.

Messrs. Cordner and Pugh are holding evangelistic services in Rochester, N. Y.

Mr. W. A. Sunday recently held a mission at Oelwin, Ia., which was greatly blessed. Great interest was awakened among the young men of that place and a number of conversions are reported. Mr. Sunday has accepted invitations for Noverber and December as follows: Savanna, IL, November 8-December 4; Williamsburg, Is, December 6-24.

Major J. H. Cole is engaged in conducting evangelistic meetings in Lansing, Mich.

Mr. Frank W. Blair recently conducted a three weeks' mission in Jersey City Heights, N. J.

John W. Dean of Philadelphia has accepted an invitation to conduct evangelistic services in Oswego, N. Y., during the latter part of November and the first of December.

Rev. E. P. Hammond conducted special children's services in Minneapolis during October.

Rev. F. C. Laslett of Nebraska held a mission in Pittsburg, Kansas, recently, under the auspices of the Baptist church of that place.

Rev. Robert L. Layfield recently closed a good work at Tellurick, Colo. His present mission is at Grand Junction, Colo.

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Rev. James Lyall of Chicago is engaged in evangelistic work in Scotland. cently conducted a mission in Edinburgh in connection with the Caledonian Crescent Mission, and the work was attended with a number of professions of conversion.

Rev. Thomas Champness of England, who is in America on his way to China, recently addressed the students at Northfield and Mount Hermon. Mr. Champness spent the first week in November at the Chicago Bible Institute.

Messrs. W. D. Lukens and Alexander Caldwell closed a successful evangelistic work in Holland Patent, N. Y., the end of October.

Rev. S. Hartwell Pratt, accompanied by Mr. J. A. Birkholz began a series of meetings in Red Bank, N. J., November 10. From New Jersey they go to Rochester, N. Y.

Mr. Henry Varley of England spent several weeks in New York, in October and November, with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. In addition to his lectures and Bible readings, Mr. Varley conducted evangelistic services in the Gospel tabernacle, and also in the Carnegie music hall. During the month of December Mr. Varley will conduct missions in Harrisburg and other Pennsylvania cities.

Mr. Robert E. Speer, in addition to his many duties as secretary for the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, devotes a great deal of time to giving Bible lectures in the vicinity of New York. During the month

of December Mr. Speer has the following appointments: Tenafly, N. J., December 4; Pottstown, Pa., December 11; Lawrenceville, N. J., December 18; and on the 6th, 13th, and 20th, at the Y. W. C. A., 15th Street, New York City.

Rev. D. M. Stearns, after an extended tour among the missionaries in Africa, resumed his Bible expositions of the International Sunday-school lesson early in October.

Rev. Terah Smith of Chicago recently conducted a mission in Toulon, Ill. The services were well attended and a spirit of deep earnestness was apparent in all the audiences.

Rev. Walter C. Veazie recently held special meetings in the Westminster Presbyterian church, South Pueblo, Colorado. From there he went to the Pilgrim Congregational church, in the same city.

Rev. Walter C. Russell conducted evangelistic services in Coaticook, Quebec, early in November. Great interest was awakened in the community and a number of conversions are reported. During December Mr. Russell is to be in Chasm Falls, N. Y.

Rev. E. P. Marvin has recently concluded missions in Denver and Cleveland. During the months of November and December Mr. Marvin is filling engagements in western New York.

Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman's coming engagements are as follows: November 28December 10, Mount Vernon, N. Y.; December 19-23, Bound Brook, N. J.; January 2-12, West Chester, Penn.; February 20-28, Washington, D. C.

Rev. E. E. Davidson conducted evangelistic services in Olean, New York, during the first part of November. From November 27 to December 20 he will be engaged in a mission at Ogdensburg, N. Y.

D. L. Moody began a series of union meetings in Denver, Colo., on October 22. He is accompanied by Mr. F. H. Jacobs of Brooklyn, who has charge of the singing and has been associated with Mr. Moody in a number of missions in recent years. The services opened with large audiences in attendance, and special preparation for the

work has been effected by the united coöperation of the local pastors and Christian workers. The meetings are being held in the Coliseum hall, the Tabor opera house, and the Central Presbyterian church. Mr. Moody purposes spending December in Colorado.

Rev. James M. Gray, D. D., has been conducting a Bible study conference in Albany under the auspices of the Y. M. C. A. with blessed results. Ministers as well as laymen attended, and among the latter some of the ablest business men of the city found time to be present at the day as well as evening meetings. He left Albany to conduct a similar conference at Montreal. His popular classes in and around Boston opened early in November. Dr. Gray has under consideration an invitation to visit England before the winter is over.

Our English Letter.

For months past, every other topic of a religious kind in this country has been overshadowed by that of the rapidly growing ritualism of the state church; these advances have been made quietly and stealthily, so that it has not been easy to convince the nation at large that matters are as bad as they are. Nowadays, we are very tolerant, and, within certain limits, toleration of religious differences is a virtue to be praised and welcomed. But when the discovery is made that our dearly bought liberties are in danger of being filched away from us, and that the principles of undiluted Romanism are honeycombing our Protestant church of England, many earnest Christians, both in that church and out of it, feel that it is high time to awake and assert our determination to be free. Thanks largely to the zeal of a hitherto obscure evangelical publisher in London, W. John Kensit, the question of ritualism and its unblushing excesses has been forced to the front. For weeks past, the pages of The Times and other journals have teemed with letters and articles on both sides of the controversy. Our leading religious communities have discussed the subject at all their great autumn assemblies, and, to use an old Scottish phrase, it may fairly be said that "the heather is on fire."

Are we to have a new reformation? The proper persons to take action in repressing the admitted evils within the established church, would seem to be the bishops. Otherwise, many people are asking, "What are they good for?" Unfortunately, the great majority of these ecclesiastical rulers appear to sympathize with the offending clergy, and they are, therefore, very slow to enforce discipline. The ultimate authority in cases of that kind lies with the civil courts, and there is great reluctance on the part of these courts to take extreme measures with sacerdotalists. The ritualizing party are aware of this, and they virtually set the law at defiance.

The "laity" in the church are utterly powerless, except in so far as they can influence parliament, and every one recognizes that a parliament composed of men of all shades, or no shades of religious thought, is not a suitable instrument for dealing with spiritual affairs.

The only clear prospect that seems to be emerging from these divided counsels and this universal confusion, is the almost certain approach of disestablishment. While the Church of England remains a state institution, it must be content to acknowledge the supremacy of the state. The anomaly of a spiritual institution being under bondage to a purely secular authority is beginning to be seen and admitted, even by the members of the church itself, though they will not relinquish, without a long and bitter struggle, the prestige and privilege that the state connection confers. But the spiritually minded adherents of the church of England have an encouraging example before them in the experience of the disestablished and disendowed Protestant church of Ireland. One of the leading members of the Irish church declared a few days ago that though he voted in the House of Commons against the disestablishment act, he would now gladly undo his vote if he could, so convinced was he from subsequent experience that the freedom of the church from secular trammels and state control had proved a great blessing to it spiritually.

Meantime, those who rank as nonconformists must continue to uphold the essentially spiritual basis of any true church of Christ, and be prepared at the same time to exercise

their rights, as members of the nation and the Commonwealth, in helping the Episcopal church of England to attain the same freedom in which they rejoice.

All this discussion and wordy warfare on matters of outward form of course hinders the real progress of the Redeemer's kingdom, besides fomenting strife among fellow Christians. The pity of it is that at the end of nineteen centuries of Christianity, many of Christ's professed followers should be found willing to spend time and energy on things which do not profit, and which belong really to the far past era of the world's religious childhood. Many are praying that God would interpose by sending a fresh breath of His Spirit to awaken the desire for true, spiritual revival, and a baptism of renewed zeal for the salvation of a world that yet lieth in the wicked one.

It is comforting to know that there is a growing missionary enthusiasm in all the churches. At this season of the year new workers are sent out to the foreign fields, and those who have been at home on furloughs return to their gospel labors among the heathen. At recent farewell gatherings in connection with the Church Missionary Society, about one hundred and sixty workers, new and old, were commended to God's care and guidance in going forth as ambassadors of the cross to different parts of the heathen world. Other churches and societies have bade good-bye to smaller companies of workers. A new field of Christian effort will be found in the Egyptian Soudan, recently restored to civilization by the striking victories of British and Egyptian troops at Khartoum.

An unfortunate dispute has arisen between the English and the French people, as to the right of the latter to plant an armed force in the valley of the upper Nile in territory that formerly belonged to Egypt. A good deal of bitter feeling is finding vent in the press of both nations, but it is impossible to doubt that diplomacy and international courtesy will discover a peaceful settlement of the trouble in a way that will not compromise justice, or wound the dignity of ourselves or our neighbors. The disagreement comes unhappily at a time when the rescript of the Russian czar in favor of disarmament is calling for the calm and unpartial consideration of

Europe. A large public gathering will be held in Exeter Hall within the next few days to further the cause of disarmament, on the basis of the czar's proposal, and it is hoped that the British government will send a cordial response to this well meant and much needed scheme for lifting some of the heavy burden of militarism that oppresses the European people. Towards this end all true Christians will pray and hope and work.

Thoughts for the Quiet Hour.

Conducted by D. L. Moody.

Thursday, December 1st.

He went up into a mountain apart to pray. Matt. xiv. 23.

We may well take the lesson which Christ's prayers teach us, for we all need it-that no life is so high, so holy, so full of habitual communion with God that it can afford to do without the hour of prayer, the secret place, the uttered word. . . . . The life that was all one long prayer needed the mountain top, and the nightly converse with God. He who could say, "The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always the things that please Him," felt that He must also have the special communion of spoken prayer. What Christ needed we cannot afford to neglect.— McLaren.

Friday, December 2nd.

I in them. John xvii. 23.

Does the Father find in Jesus no stain of sin? He finds none, believer, in thee, for Jesus is thy righteousness. Does the Father visit Christ no more with judgment because He has fully judged Him as our sin bearer on the cross? Then, believer, He judges thee no more, for "there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Does the Father look upon the Son with complacency and delight? Then, believer, He rejoices over thee, for thou art "accepted in the Beloved." Dead with Christ, risen with Christ, exalted with Christ to the heavenly places. His righteousness, His life, His glory, all are yours.-Selected. Saturday, December 3rd.

In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him. Col. ii. 9, 10.

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