The hair falling off and its colour changing to grey are, as we know, among the earliest signs of decaying manhood. But there was no decay in Him-no, not of His manhood. The word 'mortal' has two significations. One meaning is, that MAY die'; the other, 'that must die'. In the one sense, He was mortal; but not in the other. He took humanity that He might be able to die when He pleased; but no one took His life from Him: He laid it down of Himself. At the bottom of the temple He would have been as unharmed as on the pinnacle. Satan's temptation of Christ was to magnify Himself in the casting Himself down. But Christ would keep His servant-form. So, too, He would have been unhurt at the foot of the hill of Nazareth as surely as Adam would have been ere sentence of death had passed upon him-aye, and more so ; for Adam was only innocent, but Christ's humanity was holy. He took human nature indeed, but His was holy human nature. Behold the amazing difference between His humanity and thine. If you touch a leper, you yourself If you touch a leper, you yourself are made leprous; when He touched the leper, instantly the leprosy was gone. He died when God's time was come. And just ere He died, He cried with a loud voice, that it might be evident that His strength was unexhausted. Then, of His own accord, (6 He delivered up" His spirit. (John xix. 30.) †

Fourthly: "His eyes are the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set". This comparison seems to allude to the habit of doves, who drink without lifting up their head or their eye, until they have finished drinking. He has once for all set

* This care of the Holy Ghost in this passage in Micah v., in insisting on the glory of Christ whilst recounting His grace in becoming man, is most noteworthy. The like can easily be observed in many other Scriptures. Thus the sin-offering is spoken of as "most holy". (Lev. vi. 25.) If Peter declares that Christ is God's elect, yet is there no arbitrariness in this choice of Him. No; Christ is precious, as quickly it is added. (1 Peter ii.)

It had better be here mentioned that there is no warrant for the word "escape " used of the Lord in the authorised version of John x. 29. "He escaped out of their hand," is as faulty a rendering from the Greek, as it suggests bad doctrine. The word is simply, "He departed out of their hand".

His love upon us therefore will He never take His eye off from us. This fact is largely brought before us in the first book of Psalms, which closes with the fortyfirst Psalm. Hence we read in Psalm xi. : "His countenance doth behold the upright". Psalm xxxi. : Oh, how great is Thy goodness which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee. . . . Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy presence." Psalm xxxii. : "I will guide thee with Mine eye". Psalm xxxiii.: "The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine". Psalm xxxiv. "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous". And most appropriately with this line of truth the xlist Psalm ends with the words, "Thou settest me before Thy face for ever"!

Now, that we are to identify Jehovah here with the Lord Jesus can be shown from the Gospel of John. For there, speaking of Nathaniel who was coming to Him, Christ says, in allusion to Psalm xxxii., "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile". Whence it may safely be inferred that Nathaniel had previously been confessing his sins. For unquestionably there is no way of being without guile than by the way of selfjudgment and then of confession unto God. But Nathaniel, amazed at finding that he was in the presence of One who was aware of what had been passing in his soul, the Lord Jesus, still applying the lesson so often inculcated in that said book of Psalms, assures him that "before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee". His eyes had been fixed upon the righteous man, even upon "him that hoped in His mercy".

There is added

And He is the same to-day! On yon mountain brow He is engaged in intercession for the good of His people, who, like those in that frail bark, are tossed with the winds and the billows of temptation, and who find that all here is adverse to them. But note what especially adds fervour to His plea. here in the Gospel of Mark, that is, the Gospel of the Servant, an exquisite little touch. "He saw them toiling in rowing." And in this way we obtain a most consoling thought, not only as to His present intercession availing for us; but also as to where, at this very moment His eye and His heart are. For where His treasure is, there are His eyes and His heart also. That large part of His Church which has safely reached the haven, requires not this His constant, unwearied

outlook. But we who are still struggling and fighting, we do well to remember Whose eye of tender love is rivetted upon us. (See 2 Chron. xvi. 9.) Soldiers are wont to fight more bravely when they perceive their Captain's eye to be fixed upon them. The heart of the most timid child is reassured in the presence of evident danger, as such an one realises that his parent's eye is following him. And presently we shall see this gracious See-er; see Him, too, "as He is ". (To be continued.)

A

FROM EGYPT TO CANAAN.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION-THE TYPES OF SCRIPTURE. beloved sister in Christ, who a few years ago departed to be with Him, had written along the margin of her well-read Bible the following two lines"IN THE OLD TESTAMENT THE NEW LIES HID,

IN THE NEW TESTAMENT THE OLD LIES OPEN." This testimony to the value of Old Testament type and teaching is most blessedly true, and a shorter or simpler witness I have never seen.

Many now-a-days look on the Books of the Old Testament as only useful for a byegone age, and their biographies, histories, and sacrifices, as of little value to us now. This is surely evil, and the believer who thinks so, will be, in his soul, a great loser. Others believe in their value, but find difficulty in unlocking their treasures, and so leave them unexplored. This too, is failure, for the Word of God is itself the key, it explains itself.

"God is His own interpreter,

And He can make it plain." Christ is the key of all the types; they point onward to Him. And where He is known and loved in the heart, where His person is the object of the affections, it will not be hard to see Him, under a veil, in the types. "Love is quicksighted," and can see beauties in its object, where other eyes may see none. So with the types, love to Christ, true heart-longings after Him, are the best qualification for the understanding of them.

The Books of Moses, viz., Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy abound in typical teaching.

To the Christian reader, they are mines of untold wealth, for they speak of Christ, and "in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the God-head bodily". (Col. ii. 9.)

Whoever, therefore, esteems lightly, or passes carelessly, over these parts of holy Scripture, cannot do so without losing much that would be of real value to his soul, for it is written, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness". (2 Tim. iii.17.) And again-"The things that were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope". (Rom. xv. 3.)

These Books may be compared to a great picture gallery, in which the Christ of the New Testament is seen, in all the varied glories of His person and aspects of His work, as Redeemer, Sacrifice, and Priest. No single type could have told out all His worth, therefore there are many, and even then, the "half hath not been told". To know all that Jesus is, the depth of His love, the glory of His person, yet remains for a future day-for what we know not now, we shall know hereafter, when we see Him as He is. Meanwhile, may we have understandings opened and hearts engaged, while we seek to look at these types written by Moses, and pointing onward to a coming Christ.

Seeing Jesus thus, we shall see ourselves also, for we are one with Him. Some of the types speak therefore of the believer. They shew salvation, as well as the Saviour, deliverance, as well as the Deliverer. Of course we have now a clearer light and a fuller testimony. Jesus has been here Himself, and the glory has been seen in Him without a veil. The onlybegotten Son from the bosom of the Father has been on earth Himself, and we can trace his footsteps along the pages of the four Gospels, from Bethlehem to Calvary, and back again to Heaven. Divine justice has now been satisfied, and divine love revealed to the fullest in the cross of Christ; things that found no full expression in the types. The cross is the grand witness that "God is light" and "God is love".

An old writer has said of the types, that in them "God was taking His Christ and shewing Him in parts," hence their value. They shew One Christ, but in His varied glories. Take, for example, the offerings. They shew the one offering of Jesus Christ, in its many hues, as burnt-offering, meat-offering, peace-offering, sin-offering, and trespass-offering. So also in the other types, each proclaiming, in their measure, the worth of Jesus.

GENESIS opens these wonders.

There we have

Christ. typically seen, in the coats of skin prepared by the Lord God for the guilty Adam and Eve; in Abel's lamb; in Noah's burnt-offering; and Abraham's ram on Mount Moriah. Isaac in the father's house waiting for his bride to be brought home, Jacob toiling for Rachel, and Joseph rejected by his brethren, all speak of Him; while the creation and the ark, with Noah and his family within, show the application of Christ's work to the believing soul.

EXODUS is another field. It opens with the picture of Israel in Egyptian bondage; it shews their occupation and their master. It goes on to speak of their redemption, deliverance, and departure from Egypt, their separation to God in the wilderness, their meat and drink, songs and murmurings, conflicts and victories there. All this is a living parable of the journey of the believer home to God.

LEVITICUS gives their worship and their priest. NUMBERS their wanderings in the desert and the failures of the way.

DEUTERONOMY gives counsel for Canaan, and JOSHUA the actual possession of the land.

Saints in all ages have found much to comfort and edify them in these Scriptures, and the young believer is instinctively drawn to their study (if not turned aside by man), even before he can give a reason for applying them to himself at all. He feels that they describe his own case and tell the story of what goes on in the kingdom of God within his own soul. But in 1st Cor. x. 11, we have a divine warrant for so using this part of the Holy Scripture, for it is written, "All these things happened unto them for ensamples (margin or types), and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come ".

To this eventful history, the young believer is directed in the following short papers. They are written with a desire to help such in the searching of the Word of God. Let the reader take his Bible and read prayerfully each chapter as we proceed. The journey is a wonderful one, and, unlike human biography, it shows the dark as well as the bright side, the blunders as well as the victories of this ransomed people, and what the Christians' path is, as well as what it ought to be.

May God be glorified, and the souls of both the writer and reader be blessed in the study of this wondrous tale; this divinely told "Pilgrim's Progress".

CHAPTER II.

EGYPT-THE WILDERNESS-CANAAN. THERE are three positions in which the Children of Israel are presented to us in the Scriptures, which we do well here to notice

I. In Egypt.

II. In the Wilderness. III. In Canaan.

ISRAEL IN EGYPT.-Under the shelter of the blood on the lintel, secure from judgment and at peace with God, they fear not the destroying angel's sword, but are seen, within their houses, calmly feasting on the flesh of the lamb, roast with fire; and with girded loins, shoes on their feet, and staff in hand, they wait the summons to depart from Egypt.

This shows the Christian in the midst of a condemned world, sheltered by the blood of Christ, and delivered from wrath to come. In the midst of judgment he is not condemned, for to him judgment is past. The blood of the Lamb, which covers him, is the answer to all the claims of justice, and, with him, it has no further question. He is at peace with God through the blood of the Cross and, in the enjoyment of this peace, is seen feasting on the Lamb slain-the type of a suffering Christ-with bitter herbs; and, in pilgrim garb, standing on the tip-toe of expectation, waiting for the hour when the Lord shall come-the morning dawn that shall summon him from earth to heaven. Meantime, he is in the world, but not of it. The blood on the lintel is between him and the Egyptians without, and he has express command not to go out of the door of his house until the morning. (Exod. xii. 22.) The Christian is separated from the world by the blood of Christ, and has nothing in common with it, neither does he occupy his time reforming doomed Egypt. To him it is the valley of the shadow of death, the place where his Lord was murdered, and out of which he shall soon depart. Maranatha !

In Egypt the Israelite is sheltered, feasting, waiting. In the world the believer has salvation, communion, hope. The first epistle of the Thessalonians speaks of the believer thus, and provides counsel for his conduct.

ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS.-Here we see this ransomed people taken out of Egypt, and in separation to God; a peculiar treasure to Himself. The Red Sea had opened to let them escape out of Pharaoh's hand, and underneath its flood, Pharaoh and all the strength

of Egypt lie sunk to rise no more. It rolls, as a barrier, between them and Egypt, separating them from the scene of their slavery and idolatry for ever. They are a separated people, dwelling alone, not reckoned among the nations. God is their guide -the pillar of cloud hovers above them to guide the way; they are fed by God's manna, daily falling from heaven; they drink of His water, flowing from the smitten rock; they walk in His light, and fight under His banner. Egypt is behind them, Canaan before them, God with them.

This shows the believer, delivered from this present evil world by the Cross and grace of Christ (Gal. i. 3); dead and buried to the world (Col. ii. 12); and now, a stranger and pilgrim here (1 Pet. ii. 11), his eye looking forward to a better, even a heavenly country.

"The cords that bound his heart to earth,

Were loosed by Jesus' hand,
Before the Cross he now is left

A stranger in the land.”

This world, to the Christian, is a dreary wilderness; nothing can be found under the sun, to attract his eye and satisfy his heart; he looks onward to the rest beyond. The manna falls from heaven-he feeds upon a humbled Christ, who once trod the same path as his feet are now treading. He sees, in the four Gospels, the path of the heavenly Stranger, who left an example that we should follow in His steps.

With the government of the nations around, he has nothing to do; but, as his Lord before him, he walks quietly along the King's highway; rendering to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the things that are God's. His Father's eye is over him, and he walks looking up. All his springs are in God, and on Him he depends for the daily supply of all his need. It is a walk of faith, and consequently of trial and often of failure. Here it is, the bitter waters of Marah are found and tasted; and immediately followed by the sweet waters and palm trees of Elim. Here Amalek comes out to fight against, and Balaam to curse, the pilgrim host; but God is with them now, as He had been for them at the Red Sea, and so their enemies are all defeated-" for God is stronger than His foes". The wilderness is to the believer "The School of God". There he experimentally learns his own worthlessness and weakness, and proves the grace and power of a present God. He knows not only in theory, but in painful experience, that in his flesh dwelleth no good thing; for it has had opportunity of showing its true

character and has done so, making him distrust it for ever, and have "no confidence in the flesh" (Phil. iii. 3). Here, too, "the God of all Grace" has been proved enough for every emergency; restoring him when he fell, in weakness his Strength, in battle his Deliverer, his storehouse and his barn at every step of the way.

Sweet as it is to hear the young convert sing of "Sins forgiven" and "Salvation received," as he stands on the first step of the wilderness, with exulting heart and beaming eye, as Israel stood and sung their song of deliverance on the shores of the Red Sea, I think it is even a grander sight to see the aged pilgrim leaning on his staff, with the long dreary wilderness behind him; all the life-long discipline, the ups and downs, the failures and restorations past. And as he stands on the last step to hear him exclaim, as Caleb did"And now behold the Lord hath kept me alive as He said these forty and five years, as yet I am

as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me, as my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, both to go out and come in" (Josh. xiv. 10, 11), he has known himself, and proved God to be all His word had said; and this is experience. Surely, beloved, when we stand in His light, and look back over all the rugged road the Lord our God hath led us, delivering, upholding, and restraining us, when our wandering feet had well nigh slipped; when we see how near the edge of the precipice we had sometimes wandered, and were kept back by His hand-we shall, with adoring hearts, proclaim, "My Jesus hath done all things well”.

The 23rd Psalm is the wilderness song of one who is proving the Lord his Shepherd on the journey home. There the pilgrim is seen with the Cross (Psa. xxii.) behind him, the glory (Psa. xxiv.) before him, and the Shepherd (Psa. xxiii.) with him. Although he is treading the "valley of the shadow of death" with enemies all around, yet he fears no evil; for the Shepherd is by his side, and His rod, His staff, His table, His guiding eye, are all engaged for the pilgrim, until he reaches "the House of the Lord," his everlasting home.

Dear young believer, do you find this world a dreary wilderness? Do you feel you are walking through a foreign land, where nothing can satisfy your heart or attract your eye? At every step Satan and your own heart will seek to allure you into some bye-path, or bring to your remembrance Egypt's pleasures you have

left behind Look up. Christ at the right hand of God
is for you, and He can bring you through. Fix your
eye on Him and go forward. Soon shall you reach the
Father's House, and receive a hearty welcome there.
"There no stranger God shall meet thee,

Stranger thou in courts above;
He who to His rest shall greet thee,

Greets thee with a well known love."

The epistles to the Philippians, Hebrews, and the first epistle of Peter, look at the believer as in the wilderness, and heaven as beyond.

ISRAEL IN CANAAN.-Their feet standing on the Land flowing with milk and honey. Jordan is crossed, the wilderness is past, and Egypt far behind them. They stand sword in hand, a nation of warriors, fighting and routing out the Canaanites, taking possession of the land of which God had said--" every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon that have I given you." (Jos. i. 3.) Their's is no idle life, no "rest of faith," but onward is the watchword, led by the Captain of the Lord's host from victory unto victory. This shews the believer as already dead, buried, risen, and seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Not so much looking forward to heaven at the end of the journey, but already there; and blessed with "all spiritual blessings in Christ". (Eph. i. 3.) The epistle to the Ephesians has been called "the believer's Canaan." There the expression "heavenly places" occurs, and the believer is seen already there in Christ. Heaven, not earth, is the place of his inheritance and blessing. Christ is there, and the believer is one with Him. He is partaker of heavenly calling (Heb. iii. 1), his citizenship is heavenly (Phil. iii. 20), his inheritance heavenly, and where his treasure is there will his heart be also. Canaan is not a type of that which the believer enters, when he departs to be with Christ, there he shall be at rest; but in Canaan he handles the sword and shield. So in Ephesians, in Chapter VI. he is seen in conflict with wicked spirits, who would dispute his right, and seek to hinder his enjoyment of the inheritance-hence the conflict. stands clad in the armour of God, like a warrior in the day of battle; and if he abides "strong in the Lord and in the power of his might" he shall overcome. The old corn of the land is his daily food, for if the believer feed not on Christ risen, he will have no strength for the battle. This warfare is no "Child's play," but a down-right contest with the devil, and the

He

believer who knows most of his place and portion in Christ, will find it the hottest.

We are at once in Egypt, the Wilderness, and Canaan.

As a matter of fact we are in the world, it lies around us under judgment.

We shall leave it finally when the morning dawns at the coming of the Lord.

As to experience, we are in the wilderness, children at school, under the Father's discipline, and this too is a life-long lesson; and shall only be perfected at the Lord's coming for us, or our going to be with Him.

As to position, we are in Canaan, for while the world is around us, and the flesh within us, in Christ we are far above both, and our standing is in Him. There we encounter the devil, and our conflict with Him will only end when, at the coming of the Lord, he is cast out of the heavens (Rev. xii. 9), and bruised beneath our feet (Rom. xvi. 20). Praise the Lord, He says it shall be "shortly". Till then my brother

"Gird on thine armour, face the weaponed foes, Deal with the sword of heaven the deadly blowsOnward-still onward in the fight divine,

Slack not the conflict till the field be thine."

ONE

"AS" AND "SO".

J. R.

NE has well said that "God's Word is like His creation-work. The minutest and closest searching of it only shews new beauties, and teaches new lessons." His words, like His works, are "sought out of all them that have pleasure therein." (Ps. cxi. 2.) "Every word of God is pure."

I would dwell for a little on the force of the seemingly insignificant words at the head of this paper, as brought before us in a few passages of the Word of God, praying that He, by His Spirit, may use them for comfort and edification to His children.

Let us commence with one that puts man down in the very dust before God. "AS by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and SO death passed upon all men in whom (margin) all have sinned." (Rom. v. 12.) Here we see, by a Divine constitution, every son and daughter of Adam brought in guilty before God. Not now by their works (that the apostle has already proved in Chap. i. 18 to iii. 19), but by nature, because of their union with him who