04.02. Part 2.

Part 2.

Chapter 9.

"Gilgal": Circumcision, Positional and Practical.

Satan has lost his prey! "He who had the power of death, that is the devil" (Hebrews 2:14), can go no further than death; there his power ends. He put forth his worst at the close of the Lord’s pathway here; but he was not subject to Satan’s power. It was sin occasioned his having this power, and there was no sin in Jesus. "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me" (John 14:30). The Lord entered his domain and destroyed his power for ever, for faith, and for God. He could not then bar the victorious exit of the people out of the house of bondage; nor, therefore, can he now hinder the entrance of the people into the land. If Christ died and rose for us and delivered us out of the one; we have died and risen with Him by faith, and entered in Him upon the other. But if so, we must practically hold ourselves dead. Satan can work in this new sphere upon all that is in our hearts, if we do not reckon ourselves thus dead; this were ruin indeed, for there is no retrogression from the place of this heavenly warfare. Satan bestirred himself and the burdens were heavier to bear of old. Now he bestirs himself again on other ground. But he is cowed in the presence of the redeemed host of the Lord. He might be a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, in the wilderness journey, and frighten the people very much indeed; but here his heart melts "because of the children of Israel." "And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was their spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel" (Joshua 5:1).

Now his whole tactics are changed; a more subtle warfare than ever must now be carried on. "The wiles of the devil" are now the resource; a cowardly, hidden, plausible, but deadly strife. There never was a time when the children of God needed to believe it more than at present. You can hardly take up a book, even if endorsed by the highest names in religion and learning, without finding an adder in the path; a serpent in the grass. Some devilish heresy, or some infernal infidel thought, glossed over and covered up apparently with the garb and language of Christ! Religion, science, antiquity, Scripture, are all enrolled under his banners in this conflict against the Lord and His people. It is not a little open power (at least around us here); but the quiet deadly crusade against the truth, on all hands. Crowds have deserted the Lord’s standard, betrayed by his plausibility. Crowds have never found their place beneath its folds. The smoke from the pit clouds their perception, and stifles the consciences of His people. The very persons who profess to love Christ, and who take the place of conservators of the truth, are enlisted to stamp it out, or hinder those whom He loves from taking up the cross in this heavenly warfare. The "world" is enlisted; and religion adopted as the fashion of the day. The "flesh" is in the saints of God; the "world" is the sphere where flesh can find itself at home when the heart is not with God. The old grossness of the "world" is abandoned: it is now "the thing" to be a religious man. The world has patronized Christianity, and is on its good behaviour. But I must stay my pen. The Lord grant that His people may be able to say "We are not ignorant of his (Satan’s) devices" (2 Corinthians 2:1-17).

What then must be the course of the Lord’s people in their divine warfare? Self must be the first thing dealt with (and that thoroughly), as that which the enemy can use. Give him nothing to work upon and he is foiled. "He that is begotten of God (i.e. who has this eternal life in Christ), keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not" (1 John 5:18). This is accomplished by the putting practically to death all that which is dead judicially, for God and for faith, through and by the death of Christ; everything that savours of the "old man."

We never can accomplish this until we first consciously possess this heavenly life and place beyond death and judgment. This being true, we do not deal with ourselves in order to reach this new platform, but because we are there. Therefore, the wilderness was not the place for this kind of thing. They never were circumcised until they reached the land (see Joshua 5:5-6).

Here I would note what seems generally to have been overlooked; that there are, with us, two aspects of the truth of circumcision, as spiritually interpreted. Its practical side has frequently been examined; but the positional side seems generally to have been overlooked. Now both are true. "We are the circumcision" — that is not practical, but characteristic. "In whom ye have been circumcised, with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ" (Colossians 2:11); this, too, is positional circumcision in Christ. No doubt we find further on, the practical side of it in the mortification of our members, and practically putting off the fruits of the old man (Colossians 3:1-25). So also in Php 3:1-21. If he says "We are the circumcision," see all that must go practically; his righteousness by the law, zeal, religiousness; everything must be cast aside because we are the circumcision. First we have the positional side or character; then follow the results which flow from it practically.

Circumcision first came in, in the case of Abraham (Genesis 17:1-27). He had sought to possess the promises of God as to the heir, by the energy of nature. Then, by circumcision, which he learns practically, that he cannot get the promise by the power of the flesh; and Ishmael, the fruit of it, must go. In him — type of the Jew after the flesh — we find what we may term ritual circumcision; i.e., merely the outward observance without the inward reality. But when Isaac was born he was circumcised after eight days, and in him we have one in whom both sides of the truth are illustrated. He was born of a circumcised man — this was, so to speak, positional. Thus we are begotten from on high, from the sphere into which Christ has entered as man, dead and risen, and thus circumcised, or completely separated to God. But Isaac was also circumcised the eighth day. So in Abraham you have practical circumcision. The putting down and refusing the workings of nature, which sought to act in divine things and only frustrated the divine ends. In Ishmael you find ritual circumcision "not of the Spirit," "but of the letter;" and, In Isaac, a type of both positional and practical — born of a circumcised man, but circumcised the eighth day. But to pass on. We are wholly separated to God by the circumcision of Christ. We have begun in the new order of things, in Him "who is the beginning of the creation of God." Then we must enter upon that order of dealing with self, by the application of this truth spiritually to our souls, so that Satan may have nothing to work upon, no material on which to act; and thus that we may present an impenetrable front to the foe.

Here the Lord directs Joshua "Make ye sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel." They still bore the traces of the slavery of the land of Egypt. "The reproach of Egypt" was still clinging to the Lord’s Host all must now disappear. This, beloved reader, is very quiet, unseen work with God. It has no outward show whatsoever; nothing to attract attention in this heavenly warfare. But in it we find the first requisite — the sine qua non of all real spiritual power. To remain at Gilgal and do nothing, in order that all fleshly energy may be broken in us, seems a strange process. But so it must be that we may learn the lesson of that utter weakness, which is really the condition in which divine strength works; then the power is really of God and not of us. If this lesson were truly learned by many who go on in fleshly energy, what different results would be seen. Then we should find that if we were always at Gilgal, it would only be a step from that place of strength to victory.

See Paul: one who possessed an energy which puts us to shame. He went into the synagogue in Damascus to preach as soon as he was converted (Acts 9:1-43); but Paul’s fleshly energy was not yet broken. The Lord loved him too well to allow him to go on in the energy of his nature, and he must be a broken vessel, that the excellence of the power might be of God, and not of Paul. So he has to fly from Damascus. What a sorry spectacle he presented, as lie was let down the wall in a basket! And Paul has to go again and stay there three years and do nothing. What a lesson for his ardent nature! But Paul wanted God, and God did not want Paul yet, and so he must stay at his Gilgal. What lost time! exclaims one or another; but it was time well spent, for he came forth a broken vessel, but a vessel filled with the power of Christ, and the fleshly energy of his nature subdued and broken.

Moses too must learn that, in his divine warfare, the flesh and its energies only lead into trouble; he too must have his Gilgal at the "backside of the desert" for forty years, ere he is a vessel meet for his Master’s use. The fine warm-hearted, impulsive Peter, alas! must have a sad and grievous fall, to teach him what his flesh was capable of, and what Satan’s power was, before he was prepared to go forth in the boldness of grace, and in the power of the Spirit of God. And Peter gained strength, by learning that he had no strength but that of the flesh, which is only sin. The knife of circumcision must cut deeply and unsparingly all that is of the flesh in us; but it is a true mercy, for that with which it deals would only lead to ruin and defeat if allowed to work. If we were always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, self would never be seen, and Christ would always be seen. This would be true victory in the heavenly warfare. The Lord’s Host, thus, as circumcised people, bear the marks of their heavenly citizenship, and the traces of Egyptian bondage are rolled away.

Suppose you see one who is a child of God running after fashions, the world, and the like. Well, you say, you may be dead and risen with Christ, but you need to visit Gilgal that you may practically learn the meaning of circumcision. But it is as we have noticed before, quiet, secret work with God, which brings no eclat with it, and has nothing to show to others; but by and by the strength of God is seen working in and by him who is truly and spiritually circumcised.

Chapter 10.

"Gilgal": the Passover on the Plains of Jericho. In the Passover on the plains of Jericho we find the third feature which Gilgal presents to us. Circumcision gave it its character, and the stones out of the river of death had been set up there. Encamped at this wonderful spot, the circumcised Host of the Lord celebrate redemption once more. They can look back to the first moment of their history as a people of God, when God as a Righteous Judge was not smiting those whom blood had sheltered from His holy eye. What different feelings fill their hearts as in the plains of Jericho they now can gaze around them, and look back on the cross in peace! It speaks to our souls of the occupation of heaven by and by, when praising the Lamb who has redeemed us to God by His blood, and thus we shall be looking back to the cross even from the glory. But then it will be from the Father’s house, not the Canaan in which we now are in Christ, from which Satan is not yet expelled. In looking around from Gilgal, we find how the horizon of our souls has enlarged since the day God at first took us up as sinners. The walls of the houses of Israel were their horizon on that solemn night of judgment. There they stood, with girded loins and sandalled feet, ready to depart from the land of slavery: but outside the houses, destruction and death were doing their solemn work. God was judging; and woe betide the sinner who was not within a bloodstained lintel on that night.

Then came the day when they stood at Pi-hahiroth, before they crossed over to the other side of the sea. There the horizon enlarged itself, and instead of knowing Him only as a Judge passing over them, a Deliverer God unfolded His great salvation before their eyes, and they passed across the sea, with death as a wall on either side, and the glory of God sheltering them and leading them into the wilderness. Still the horizon is enlarging each step of the way until the desert solitudes are around them. There God teaches them another lesson. He teaches them what His resources are in the desert, where the eye has not one vestige of anything to rest upon to cheer and support the heart, or to supply the daily need of His people as they traverse its wastes. They are forced to look up to God. There He teaches them the boundlessness of His resources, and proves that He is superior to the desert and its momentary need. If the manna failed but for one day, what would become of that mighty Host? But it did not fail; nor did His hand fail who rose up early to spread the daily supply upon each drop of dew which surrounded the objects of His care!

How the heart is taught to wonder and adore Him for the unexpected ways in which He comes in with His resources for those who trust Him, where they never dreamed they were. But He "suffers them to hunger" that He may feed them. He suffered Paul to be cast down, but why? that He might comfort him and teach his heart those deep, rich consolations of Christ which he never otherwise could have known, so that he can rejoice in the Lord always. He can rejoice when the wells are full of water, and he can rejoice in Him when the wells are dry. "Because thou hast been my help (not that the help came, but because God was his help), therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice." Because God’s loving kindness is better than life, his lips shall praise Him. There is no blessing to be compared with it to the heart that has tasted His loving kindness. It is better than all the favours He can bestow, great and wonderful as they are. Thus the soul is filled with marrow and fatness, and the mouth can praise Him with joyful lips, even in a dry and thirsty land. But the soul’s horizon has widened each step of the way, until at Gilgal we can survey the scene where there is neither length, nor breadth, nor depth, nor height. God Himself is the horizon, and that is infinite; a boundless field of glory. There the soul can rest and look back in peace and remember the way; it can survey the past, from the night of the blood-stained lintel, through the walls of the Dead Sea, and the wastes of the desert; until now, on the other side of Jordan, from the place of strength, it can survey the basis of it all — God’s glory, and its own blessing, in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. "And the children of Israel encamped at Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, at even, in the plains of Jericho" (Joshua 5:10). God spreads a table for them in the presence of their enemies; setting them down to celebrate redemption, and think of the cross, in the heavenlies in Christ.

Chapter 11.

"Gilgal" "the Old Corn of the Land."

"And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes and parched corn in the self-same day" (Joshua 5:11). Here another characteristic of Gilgal is seen. A circumcised people are feeding upon this heavenly food. This points to a glorified Christ, as the manna does to a humbled, lowly one. In the desert the heart is cheered and sustained by feeding on Him as the lowly Jesus; the "bread of God," who came down from heaven to give life to the world. We have received life out of His death. He has given us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink. We lay in death and ruin, and He entered the scene in holy love. He died and ended our whole moral being as sinners in the sight of God. "He that eateth me," He says, "shall live by me." But in feeding upon Him, we feed on One who has ended our history as children of Adam — so that we do not live by Adam at all, but by Christ, who has borne the judgment which stood registered against us. As poor sinners we came first and ate His flesh and drank His blood. That is, we appropriated by faith that death as meeting our state and accomplishing the redemption by which we have left for ever our whole condition, and thus, out of His death we have received life. Then we live because of, and on account of Him. "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me (the One who had died and risen), even he shall live by me" (John 6:57). Is there diligence of heart, beloved, in feeding upon this humbled, dead and risen Son of God? It is the characteristic of eternal life in us, which we possess in Him, that it lives by Him as its object. "I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me (not merely died for me, or put away my sins, but, "who loved me"), and gave himself for me" — yes, gave Himself for me, and loved me when I was a sinner and nothing else. Blessed Son of God — Son of the Father, who has told out His Father’s love, and bade me read it in Himself; to whom I cling and in whom I trust, to whom I can unburthen my poor wretched heart when it has turned aside and fed upon things for which He had to suffer and die. Pardon and cleanse the wandering hearts of those whom Thou lovest, Blessed Lord; draw them to Thyself, and unfold Thyself to our souls, and occupy our hearts with Thine own sufficiency! In the desert we learn the need of feeding upon this Humbled One. Reproach is bitter, but He bore it Himself — "The reproaches of them that reproached thee, are fallen upon me." And when we are privileged to bear the reproach, what sweetens it, but that it is "the reproach of Christ" How faultily too are we able to interpret these trials and sufferings for His name, in their true value. What may seem deserved by us, and what thus may lead us to judge ourselves, may, after all, when weighed and appraised according to the balances of the sanctuary, be "the reproach of Christ."

How could Moses tell when he forsook the court of Pharaoh, and fled when he had slain the Egyptian, that God would characterise his act as He does in Hebrews 11:26? Oh, what marvels of divine grace, and what weighings of actions that none can read but God Himself, will be manifested in that day when "every man shall have praise of God!" Actions which we blushed to recall; poor, faltering blunders, fears and turnings of our eyes to the right hand and to the left; but God, who has treasured them as the productions of His grace in us, will then read all that His grace wrought in us, in the daylight of heaven, and they will receive a name that will make us only wonder and adore. Many a fine action too, which has won the applause of men, will then be found to have had its meed in that applause; only worthy too, it may be, of a place in the forgotten past, and unworthy of a name in the then recounted annals of the wilderness way! But it is the manna which feeds the soul in that journey, and it is appreciable only by those who tread in the path where such food is found. It is not found amongst the great things, or the great ones of this earth. His was a lowly, unknown track, but one which left a path of heavenly light behind it in the eyes of God! When consciously in wilderness circumstances, we need another food. We need that which grows and ripens and fructifies in the land of glory. So we read that they ate the old corn of the land, on the self-same day on which they kept the Passover on the plains of Jericho. A heavenly Christ now unfolds Himself, and feeds our souls, "Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more" (2 Corinthians 5:16). How bold does Paul grow in his glowing words in this Scripture! His life seemed to be made up of two alternatives; "Beside himself," when his heart entered upon those things that eye of man had not seen, but which are revealed unto us by the Spirit; but "sober" when he thought on others (2 Corinthians 5:13). The love of Christ constrained his heart — impelled him onward in its mighty swellings, because of man’s condition — "dead" — proved by His "dying for all," to beseech men. But that once-dead One, now lived; He had died, and had risen, and entered on that scene of glory. In Him God would make all things new. That vista of the new creation opens before his heart — he sees the One whom some may have known as the Messiah walking here in lowly love. He would know no man after the flesh; but his heart glows, and grows bolder as he proceeds, "Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh," as He was on earth, "yet now henceforth know we him," he says, "no more." He had entered the glory as a Man. As Man He occupied the throne of God — object of the adoration of the Hosts in glory; there he knew Him now — as the "old corn" of that land. If he needed Him (as he ever did) in the wilderness way, it was as One whom now we understand in measure, whom He was as He traversed the world — "the bread of God" which came down from heaven — who died, and rose, and went on high.

We never feed at the same moment on Christ, in these two conditions. As we are in the double place of being on high, and traversing this world’s deserts, so we need Him to feed and sustain our souls in both conditions. In one we need to see and know Him in His downward path from the glory to the cross, as the Humbled One — the true manna — whose "mind" is to be in us, enabling us to bring God down in the circumstances, so as to act divinely in them every moment. This we learn in Php 2:1-30. In the other the eye, once blinded by His glory, grows stronger by His Spirit as it gazes on Him who had displaced the whole moral being of His servant, and his body thus filled with light from that glory, seeks only to "know him," and to "win Christ" as it runs onward to the goal of complete assimilation to the One on whom it feeds in heavenly glory on high. This is the "old corn" which fed Paul in Php 3:1-21.

Oh, what preparations of heart for the people of God! What lessons for those who would fight "not in uncertainty" for the possessions which they seek to realize. But they must learn too that only as "unleavened cakes" can this heavenly Christ be used and enjoyed. How could the joys of earth — of human relationships — be allowable in such food? Impossible. The fruit of the land must be eaten by those who are circumcised in the unleavened perfection of that nature which is capable of feeding on such food. What can those who are feeding upon the "lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life," know of this old corn of the land? They are running after the vanities of this life, the follies of this world. They need to go to Gilgal! Egypt’s chains are still there. Egypt’s "reproach" still clings to them. And though they may be truly trusting in Him whom they profess to love; though they may be dead and risen with Christ, they need to visit Gilgal that they may be circumcised, ere they can either need or appreciate this heavenly food.

Let us test our hearts, beloved. Are they feeding with diligence on a heavenly Christ, or upon those things which shut Him out? Is Christ precious to us as hidden treasure? Is the "beauty of the Lord" sufficient to fill our hearts so that our souls are tilled with marrow and fatness, and we are able, in a dry and thirsty land, to praise Him with joyful lips

Chapter 12.

"Gilgal": the Captain of the Host. The last feature which Gilgal presents is now before us. Circumcision gave it its special character. The Passover eaten in the plains of Jericho followed; and then the feeding on the old corn of the land. In this spot too, stood the "memorial stones," taken from the bed of the River Jordan; and there the Captain of the Host now presents Himself to lead His people into the possession of their "own things."

He comes too, as suited to their present condition of conflict. Adapting Himself to it, He presents Himself with a "sword drawn in his hand." Thus you will ever find that Christ adapts Himself to the condition, and to the need of His people. If they need redemption, then He is their Redeemer. If they need to be fed and guided in the wilderness, He is their Food and Guide. In every thing He adapts Himself to them. So when they are about to do battle with the foe, He comes with a drawn sword in His hand to lead them to victory. When Joshua was standing by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and "Behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?" Why this question? Because in our heavenly warfare there can be no neutrality! Every one we meet all day long is either for or against Christ. Every moment of each is an opportunity for victory or defeat; for obedience or disobedience. Hence the question. There can be no neutral ground — no middle place for those who would fight God’s battles.

We are either for the Christ whom the world has rejected; and in consequence, against the world; or, we are for the world that has cast Him out, and consequently against Him. There is either with or against. But it is but the one thing or the other. Lukewarm, we may seek to be; or, we may advocate so-called "Christian charity" — than which there is no one thing more nauseous to Christ. What an outcry raised if a heart seeks to be true to Him, and refuses the right hand of fellowship to those who are false, or indifferent to the holiness and truth of His name, whose one mission to the earth was this — that He "might bear witness to the truth" (John 19:1-42).

Many a practical infidel heart turns away now-a-days without seeking a reply to Pilate’s question, "What is truth?" Men do not care. Alas, Christians do not care! If, they say, our salvation is secure, why trouble us with more? You only seek to press what we believe to be non-essentials!

O the solemn state of souls, when good is put for evil and evil good — bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter; and His people love to have it so. Not only so, but, under the plea of Christian charity, as it is termed, evil is tolerated, and Christ’s honour and God’s truth esteemed valueless things, unless, indeed, so far as the selfish ends of souls are served. Shall not God visit for these things? Do you suppose that He is as indifferent as you would be, and as you desire He should be? He would not be God if it were so! Do not the burning words of Isaiah most deeply and fully apply in this lukewarm day? "Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey (or ’is accounted mad’, margin); and Jehovah saw it and it was evil in his eyes (margin) that there was no judgment," etc. (Isaiah 59:1-21). Indifference is a more hateful thing to God, than pen of man may tell. The gushing, indignant words of Scripture pour out His thoughts about these things, in their deep and solemn tone. "Curse ye Meroz! said the angel of Jehovah: curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of Jehovah, to the help of Jehovah against the mighty" (Judges 5:1-31). This was God’s thought about neutrality which His people in this latitudinarian day would term "toleration" and "forbearance," and which covers up under the cloak of Christianity that which is more deeply hostile to His name than the horrors and darkness of the heathen world.

"And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come." Mark what he says; "now come." They had rolled away the reproach of Egypt, and now bore distinctly the marks of heavenly citizenship — haying exchanged them for the marks of Egyptian bondage. They had surveyed the fulness of redeeming grace in that paschal feast on the plains of Jericho: they had fed upon the old corn of Canaan — while standing around the memorials of death, taken from the spot where the Ark stood fast in the waters of death. Now the Captain of the Host appears to lead His people to victory.

"And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant?" Beautiful attitude of worshipful obedience! He does not enter Canaan as a suppliant merely, but as a worshipper; one whose ear is open to hear the needed charges of the Captain of the Host of the Lord. We find another thing too in this touching scene. The unshod holiness, which is the strength of conflict, coupled with the worshipful heart of one whose ear is thus waiting to receive the commands of the Lord.

Remark, also, that at the far distant moment when God in grace came down to deliver His people — revealing Himself to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-22), these very words had been spoken to him. Now, at their entrance upon the conflicts of this heavenly warfare, they are sounded again in the ears of Joshua — "for the place whereon thou standest is holy." If holiness was needed at the deliverance of His people out of Egypt, how much more, now that they are entering into Canaan!

Here I must pause, before entering on the next words of the Lord to Joshua (Joshua 6:2); for we have yet only noticed the first of the second feature which we named in the opening pages of this book (p. 2); i.e., the dealing with self and flesh, by practical circumcision, needed that the heart may be in condition for these divine wars. We must now examine another feature, that is, the arming of the Host in order to meet the foe. This we will enter upon in the next chapter.

Chapter 13.

Condition of Soul to Face the Foe: the Loins Girded with the Truth. The few verses in the close of the Epistle to the Ephesians will give us the basis of the thoughts I now desire to present to my readers. It is to be remarked that they are found at the end of the Epistle which sets us already in the "heavenlies, in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 6:14-18).

We read in Ephesians 1:7, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace," following the blessed calling of God, in which He has set us before Him as sons, holy and without blame before Him in love, and accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:3-6). "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."

We enter this wonderful sphere of blessing by redemption through blood; as Israel was delivered by the Passover and Red Sea. Then Christ has been raised up as Man (Ephesians 1:19, etc.), and seated on high; the people have been quickened, raised up together, and seated in Him in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:1-6). In Ephesians 3:10 we read, "To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by means of (dia) the church, the manifold wisdom of God." Thus her testimony reaches the hosts on high, even at this present time. The angels see the Church in Christ Jesus; the world is to see His Epistle in her here below! When we come to Ephesians 6:12 we find our warfare is carried on in the same sphere. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood," as Joshua and Israel in an earthly Canaan; "but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places" (margin).

Thus, whether for our blessings, our position, the Church’s testimony, or our warfare, the scene is all in that sphere into which we have entered already "in Christ." And this is really what our Canaan is. We are passing on to be in the Father’s house on high, where no conflict will ever be; but we are already in an order of blessing, where we have to fight the Lord’s battles against His enemies, and this is the true normal conflict of the Lord’s Host.

It will readily be seen that this armour of God is more that which enables us to stand against the foe, as we read; "That ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." It is not so much an aggressive warfare as a defensive. It relates too, to the condition of the heart and conscience which, when good, leaves the foe without resource, and our souls are thus maintained consciously in the joy of our heavenly position, as witnesses and soldiers of a glorified Christ. Do we suppose if our souls are bent on maintaining such a position, that Satan will allow us to pass? We shall never be so conscious of the depth of his wiles as then. Alas; what mournful instances crowd upon our memory, of those who once ran well, who fought valiantly in the Lord’s battles, and fell before the foe! Some part of His armour wanting; some joint let loose; some moment of an ungirded loin, and the ever watchful foe sent home his wile, and the bravest have fallen. Alas! what dishonour has been heaped upon His name; what shame — and confusion of face have followed, when some active servant, some bright and blessed witness — prostrate before the foe, proves that none are secure in this solemn, yet blessed battlefield, when lacking the condition of soul unfolded in this "whole armour of God."

O beloved friends, let us be warned, deeply, truly warned — yea, forewarned, and therefore forearmed. If Peter had believed the words of Jesus, he would have deeply mistrusted himself, and failure perhaps would never have ensued. How He watches our hearts all the way; warning us, reminding us of the dangers and snares. At times permitting us to go to the brink of some fearful chasm, where some allowed and unjudged sin was leading us. He allows us, as it were, to see the abyss for a moment, and makes our hearts shudder, and then turn to cling more closely to Him; to adore that unwearying, unwavering love which thus deals with these treacherous hearts, that we may not fall and dishonour Him. Blessed, adorable Lord and Saviour! Who but Thyself would so bear with us? Who would — who could keep us as Thou? And oh! was there ever a day in which Thy keeping was so needed as this? Hardly a book we take up; hardly a thought which is current, but carries some devil’s wile concealed. Lord, keep the young in this infidel day. Preserve the tender impressible heart from the corruption of man, from the lie of Satan which circulates around. Give grace to parents to make their home a place where the young heart turns instinctively to find it truly "home;" that they may not seek in the outer world what they should find there — the genial warmth of a parent’s watchful heart, the confidence of his trusting child. Walk before your children, ye parents, and present Christ to them thus. Win their hearts to Jesus by preaching Him in your words and ways. The first thing which is presented to us in this armour of God, is the inward condition of our souls. There can be no divine activity until the heart is right with God. We may be heavenly men, and know the things which are freely given to us of God, without this sine qua non of a Christian soldier — a heart to which the truth of God has been applied in such a way that all is broken which would hinder the vessel being used. Hence nearly all the thoughts we have in this armour are what we would term subjective truth. He casts us back upon our own condition; but He never does this until we have been fully established by His grace in Christ. When this is so, we can bear anything — we can bear to be broken to pieces in conscience and heart by His word, just because this experimental work never gives us a thought of uncertainty as to our soul’s acceptance with Him. It is just because we are fully accepted in Christ that this dealing comes; we would not have such dealing with our hearts if it were not so. Many bitter experiences come before peace with God and redemption are known. Then comes another order of dealings, because of this new and blessed relationship and place before Him.

We read "Stand therefore, with your loins girt about with truth." Now, there is no truth in the world but the word of God; you find doubts, and darkness, and ignorance, and pride; plenty of speculations of man’s mind, which, because he is a creature, never can rise superior to the level of a creature’s mind. The word of God, being the revelation of the truth, sets everything in its right place and relationship with Him. It tells me what God is as revealed in Christ: it tells me what He is to a poor, lost, ruined world. It tells me what man is, what Satan, what sin is; what His righteousness is regarding sin; what His love to the sinner. All is unfolded in the word of God. But man cannot bear to be thus judged morally, and set where it sets him; hence every effort is made to weaken its force, to destroy the poor man’s faith in the living word of God. Nevertheless, one who has tasted it in any little measure, finds in it (as the deep cooling draught of water to the soul of a thirsty wanderer) that which satisfies his heart and sets his burthened conscience at rest. In it he finds and learns his Saviour by the power and teaching of the Spirit of God. When this living word is applied to the heart and conscience, and the whole inner man curbed and broken, his loins are thus girded with the truth. The loins are that portion of the body that need to be braced up and supported in conflict and toil. Wherever we find Scripture speak of girded loins, we are supposed to be in the place of conflict and weariness, or of exercises of heart. As the Lord said to Job, "Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me" (Job 38:3). When the loins are braced up with the truth, the affections are curbed, and the will broken, so that there is a firmness of tone imparted to the whole man. He finds his way strewed with those things after which his natural heart would go out; but "the truth" has judged their value in God’s sight, as well as in his, and they are refused. In this battle field, where defeat is ruinous, and where retreat is impossible, how deeply important that not even for one instant the girdle should be relaxed. A moment of carnal ease or fancied security, and the heart is entrapped into some action which years of bitter tears cannot recall. How we find too, that even if the will was not active in going after the desires of the flesh and of the mind, the loins were ungirded and failure ensued. See David when he should have been with girded loin as a man of war in that day, in the battle field, at the time when kings go forth to battle; the heart was thus an easy prey to a watchful foe. Oh, what a bitter fall ensued in the matter of the wife of Uriah! Years of sorrow followed, and consequences which no repentance could ever efface from his house, marked the sure and certain righteous government of God.

Look at Peter in the garden of Gethsemane. No sense of his own total want of strength in the face of Satan. No thought of Satan’s power. He was sleeping with ungirded loin, when he should have watched and prayed; he was in conflict when his Lord and Master was submitting Himself as a lamb for the slaughter. How had He (blessed Lord!) spent His time? In an agony of prayer. He was praying when Peter was sleeping; He was submitting, when Peter was fighting. But what a sad conflict it was — flesh fighting with flesh, and with the carnal weapons of man! Then following Christ "afar off" — then denying with oaths — then the bitter tears!

How we see too, that in this heavenly warfare a moment of victory is a solemn and dangerous one for the soul. We are never so near defeat as when we have conquered. The very success of the spiritual man takes him away from the sense of full and complete dependence. It is an intoxicating moment, so to speak, when the heart feels and knows that God has been using one in the battle field. We are inclined to look upon it as our success; self is once more aroused, and the enemy has that on which he can work. David had conquered, and David was just crowned in Hebron. His first thought was of the ark — but his success did not serve to keep him a dependent man. He consults his "captains," and places the ark of God on a "new cart," instead of on the "shoulders of the Levites." How the failure of a spiritual man involves others in its sorrow; the "breach upon Uzzah" told this sad tale. Tells too, how the moment of success is the moment to distrust one’s self more deeply than ever, a moment to brace up the loins more firmly with the truth. The time will come when we may let the heart go free; when conscience will not be needed, and there shall be girded loins no more for ever. In heaven we shall be able to let the heart go free. Here never! If you tire for a moment in watchfulness, and relax the loins, the heart wanders into something that is not Christ! Then comes the reaction, and we tire of self more than ever. It has sprung up again and defiled the heart.

It will not do to have the truth merely known; but it must be the truth applied, and then, with girded loin and broken will, the heart goes on with God, and Satan’s wiles avail not. God’s truth has revealed all that is in heaven, and has revealed God’s heart on earth. It has judged all in this evil world: every motive and spring of action laid bare by Him who was and is the living Word of God.

He came into this world — the Truth Himself — that He might bear witness to the truth. Not one single motive ever governed His heart that governs man’s — not one single motive ever governed ours that governed His. The eternal Son of God became a man; He walked with God for three and thirty years, never doing His own will — perfect as it ever was. "Not my will but thine be done." He met Satan at the beginning of His path of service. The enemy came up to seduce Him from the path of obedience. He showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. Own me, says the enemy, and all shall be thine. As God, He could have put aside his power in a moment. But this would not do for us. As man in obedience, and by obedience He bound the strong man. As man in obedience He was an hungered. To work a miracle would be an easy task for Him who created the world. But no! He came to obey; and while it was no harm to be hungry, it was harm to satisfy that hunger without a word from God. "Man," He says, "shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." I have come to obey. The living Word, in obedience on earth; perfect Man before God; perfect God to man. He was the truth, and the truth is now embodied in the words (not merely word) of God. Scripture is the words of God — the intelligible words disclosing all His mind. "Which things also we speak," says the apostle, "not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth."

Chapter 14.

Condition of Soul: the Breastplate of Righteousness.

Having showed us the preparation of our hearts to meet the foe by this subjective truth — a girded loin, he passes on to the state of the conscience, marked by the next part of the armour, the "breastplate of righteousness." As it is a question here, not of our standing before God but of our facing the foe, I need but state that this breastplate of righteousness is a conscience void of offence before God and man.

There is no part of the armour which, if wanting, will make the heart so weak as this breast-plate. Let none but one’s own conscience know in secret the stain that is there — be it of the faintest hue — the heart cannot stand boldly before Satan’s accusing power. The (consciously) righteous is as bold as a lion. Nothing is more to be sought than this most precious of all precious conditions of soul, a good conscience before God and the enemy. "Herein," says Paul, "do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men" (Acts 24:16). In the ordinary Christian, who is but seldom, if ever active in this heavenly warfare, a good conscience or the reverse plays a part more in a grieved or hindered Spirit, than in open failure and feebleness. His own heart can tell whether his joy is full in deep, precious communion with the Father and the Son. This only can be enjoyed with a good conscience; an uncondemning heart. Confidence in God is perfect when the heart condemns us not.

If one labours actively in the fore-front of the battle, how truly terrible is the case, when in the midst of outward activity, the accusations of the enemy fall on the ear of the heart. To keep up the outward activity, in such a state of soul, is to leave the soul open to the wiles, and indeed the open power, of the enemy in a most solemn manner. How often those who have boldly stood for Christ, and, in His hand have been most blessed instruments of His power, have fallen — irrecoverably fallen from their post, because thus open to the snares of the devil.

There never has been, I think, a break-down of this kind, but it has been preceded by warnings and previous dealings of grace; but which fell unheeded on the ear and heart. The Lord give us to be warned and to shun the danger — the wrong turning in our path; the wrong hour. To look not on the wine when it is red!

Having on the breastplate of righteousness, then, keeps the heart as bold and free as air; but free to go on with God. There rests no frown on His face, so to speak, and the soul is conscious of the freedom which grace has given, in His presence. The conscience purged by the precious blood of Jesus, maintained in practice good before Him, knows the joy of going on with Him freely and naturally. In such a walk the flesh is better known, than in one who learns it by a bad conscience through failure and weakness. It learns the tendencies of the flesh in the light of His presence; it knows it has His strength to count upon; he makes indwelling sin, though not a ground of communion, an occasion of it, and his heart judges the tendencies it finds there, without the failure, learning them by the standard of God Himself as known, rather than the lower standard of the conscience which feels the stain. The first part of the armour, then, expresses the normal condition of the soul to which the truth has been applied; thus judging all the motives within, and bracing up the whole man. It may act defectively, as the word of God in Hebrews 4:12, "Discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart." Appraising every thought which springs up, as to its source — as of God, or of the flesh. Or discerning whether the intent which the heart cherishes has Christ for its object or self. It may come too in the shape of a formative and, sanctifying truth, as we read in John 17:1-26, "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth." That in Hebrews is more the detective power of the word; while John refers more to the formation of the soul, separating it by the word of the Father from the world. All that is of the world is not of Him. And then, by the revelation of a Man in glory before the Father, who is our life, and who is the pattern for the new man before Him. The second part of the armour is more directly as regards the conscience; giving condition of soul to face the foe, no armour being provided for the back. The breast-plate bright — the conscience good; the soul thus walking with God, and the enemy having nothing to point at, nothing to enfeeble that boldness which it needs, and which otherwise would make the soldier of Christ as weak as water in His presence. No self-accusations to render him irritable with others, and, in this way his heart is kept in peace. It is surprising to see how happy things seem, what a different hue they present when the soul is walking peacefully with God. The reverse, too, when there is an accusing conscience. Where it is so, we are ready to find fault with others, and see what we would not see if we were happy in the love of Christ, flowing from a peaceful walk and a conscience void of offence towards God and man.

Chapter 15.

Condition of Soul: Feet Shod with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace. When the conscience is good, and the heart free to go on happily with the Lord, it is wonderful what a peaceful character it imparts to the pathway of the soldier of Christ. He is not what the world would call a hero. God’s heroes present a sorry figure to the world’s eye. A humble broken spirit characterizes them. They have found the secret of strength, and the ability to govern their own spirit in a world where "a man of spirit" is esteemed. "He that ruleth his spirit (is better) than he that taketh a city" (Proverbs 16:32).

What a tone this peacefulness of spirit gives to the whole man in the trials and troubles of the way. "The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." (1 Peter 3:1-22) In man’s sight but little esteemed, but not so in the sight of God. We never find that peaceful spirit when the soul is not happily with God. It may be put on outwardly and a canker in the heart, but it is one of these precious graces of Christian life, which there is no such thing as imitating.

Alas! one sees the want of this, and cannot but see it, in many who are occupied with very high truths. Objective things are presented to the soul and esteemed, as surely they ought to be. But there is the other side too; the broken, humble spirit, which esteems others better than itself. The tone of soul which is ever on the watch for some line of Christ in the ways of another. This is the "mind of Christ." No doubt that the divine energy which lifts one out of things here below is much to be sought for and desired; but when this side alone is looked for, the tendency is to make the person hard, and inclined to judge others. To me, it is far more wonderful to see Him walking on earth as a lowly man, acting divinely in every circumstance; never indifferent to any sorrow or trial, while feeling it more keenly than others; yet always accepting the trial in the meekness and gentleness which bows its head, and accepts of all the sorrow as of God. I do not say we can enjoy this beauty of Christ, or indeed perceive it at all, if we only seek to know Him thus. We must know our place first "in Christ" before God; we must "know him" in measure, in that scene as the glorified One. Then we will be morally fit to enjoy Him, and trace His wondrous path of lowly love — the more to be wondered at, as we know the person of Him who was there. This lovely peacefulness of soul carries one into all the details of each and every day, with soft and gentle tread; sheds by its presence a calm and placid influence on others; it gives firmness to the pathway in which it treads the battlefield of God. The feet thus sandalled with firm footing, as it may be said (hetoimasia), of the glad tidings of peace, carries peace into the enemy’s land; and in face of the restless anxiety and uneasy fears which govern the hearts of so many, and as much as lieth in it, lives peaceably with all.

Jesus Himself was the Prince of Peace. He passed through a world of unrest, in the calm of heaven. He was ever in the bosom of His Father. No circumstances ever ruffled Him. Sorrow and rejection pressed upon Him; unbelief and hardness of heart met His Spirit, to chill if it were possible, the love of His heart; still He went on. He sighs at man’s unbelieving spirit, but lifted up His eyes to heaven. The Samaritans will not have Him in His mission of love, because His face was as it were to go to Jerusalem; i.e., His heart was bent upon a path which ended in the cross and shame. He bows in submission and passes onward to another village; rebuking James and John who knew not what spirit they were of. His yieldingness is known unto all (Luke 9:1-62). At His end, when all His sorrow stood before His soul; even when He had surveyed its mighty depths and accepted the cup from His Father’s hand, He passes through shame and scorn and spitting, in calmness and peace. No moving of His heart to haste; no reviling when reviled; no threatening when He suffered — His case was with His Father. In the midst of all — with girded loin, as Servant of servants, He thinks of Peter’s fleshly blow which cut off Malchus ear; He touched and healed it; repairing His poor impulsive Peter’s rashness. He still has His eye on Peter. He thinks of him as one who specially needs His care. His eye is turned on him at the moment the cock crew, to disclose to him the distance his heart had wandered from His Lord. Silent before His foe, He commits Himself to Him that judges righteously, when His judges were condemning (and they knew it) an innocent man. He was as "A man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs."

Oh, how His blessedness judges our ways! What trifles move our hearts to haste? But still our calling is to be the heralds of peace, and of the Prince of Peace; to carry into a world of unrest a spirit of peace and restfulness, which is to be found only where self is broken and God is trusted. This condition of soul results as the outflow of Christian character, consequent on the previous pieces of this armour of God. The inward condition formed and braced by the word of God; the conscience perfect to face the foe. No thought for self is needed, and the heart is thus free to go on with God and think of others, and, with restfulness of spirit, shedding blessing upon those around. Thus we find that this relative state towards others, only ensues when the personal, inward condition is right with God. "Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace," follows the girded loin and breastplate of righteousness.

Chapter 16.

Condition of Soul: the Shield of Faith.

We have examined the subjective or inward state of soul, personally and relatively, in the previous parts of this armour of God. Now we come to that inward state which rests in unfeigned faith upon God Himself in His known character — what He is — which sustains in us perfect confidence in Him, so that come what will, we know that nothing can separate us from His love. Things may seem adverse; we may have reached our wit’s end, so to speak; still the heart that knows Him who cannot be but what He is, waits patiently for His time to show Himself strong in behalf of them that trust Him.

"Above all (this previous condition of soul), taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked (one)." What is here spoken of is not the faith of the sinner which first lays hold on Christ. We find that in the Epistle to the Romans, and we may term it the no-working faith of a sinner; "To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans 4:5). Here in Ephesians, we find the faith of the saint: the perfection of confidence in God, known experimentally as One who is what He says He is. That confidence which as the heart grows in the deeper knowledge of Him, discovers more deeply the springs of evil within, yet finds its confidence in Him growing in proportion; so that the heart trusts and counts upon Him against itself. It can say, I cannot trust myself, and God cannot trust me, but I can count on Him and trust Him. It can say, Go with me, for I am stiff-necked, and cannot but fail if left alone.

You find this "shield of faith" practically illustrated in Moses. God had said that the people were a stiff-necked people, and if He were to come into their midst He must consume them in a moment. Then Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp, and the Lord came down and spake with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Moses had found grace in the sight of the Lord, and his heart seeks to find grace; he seeks to learn the fulness of this grace. All the goodness of the Lord then passed before him, and his heart, bowed in the presence of the mercy of the Lord, makes the very fact of their being a stiff-necked people, the plea that His presence might go with them by the way. The very reason which the Lord gave in Exodus 33:5, for not coming into their midst, lest He should consume them in a moment, Moses pleads in Exodus 34:9, as the reason why He should go with them. "And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance." But he had found out meanwhile what God is in Himself, and in this consciousness he pleads for His presence, on the ground of what He is, and seeks His company by the way, because they were a stiff-necked people! Oh, what confidence — what a plea to present to Him, in the consciousness of the depths of such evil hearts! And it must be so, the more He is known; and the more we know ourselves.

See this confidence even before forgiveness is known, in the woman of the city who was a sinner. The very light which rendered her speechless, as a convicted sinner in His presence, drew her heart to the One who, while He searched the conscience — piercing and following in its turnings all the depths of sin and a nature at enmity with God — drew the heart to Him in love, so that she can count on Him, because of what He is, against all that His holiness had disclosed of her heart. In her case it was a sinner’s confidence who had not yet been assured of His grace. How much greater must our confidence be in One whose grace is known, and who has set us without a spot in the presence of His holiness, where the very light and holiness only increase the confidence of our hearts the more!

Satan may come in with his dark suggestions, but their power is gone, because God is known. Thank God, we do know Him better than we know ourselves! Not better than He knows us, but better than we know our own hearts. What a comfort to the heart, that He knew all — that He knows all! I can go to Him and tell Him all. The depths of evil, and the springs and motives which I find there; and find that I have Him for me, against it all. Satan’s fiery darts (I do not now wish to enter upon their full meaning, as used of God for discipline of the soul under His hand) are quenched with the joyous and exulting note, God is for me! Silenced by this blessed condition of soul conveyed to us figuratively in this "shield of faith."

How much better is it to possess this blessed state of soul, by having on the armour at all times, than to find its importance when wounded by some shaft of Satan! It is not the day of conflict which is the time to put it on; but when the heart is with God, in the consciousness of His favour resting upon it. At the same time the deep consciousness that a watchful enemy is ever ready to take advantage of an unguarded moment, should such be allowed, and work defeat or wound the soldier of Christ. Its deep importance is learned at times by failures and woundings of the soul. How much better, I repeat, it is to learn it in confiding peace with God. To use it in companionship with Him, rather than by exposing one’s self, with some portion of it wanting, to the assaults of Satan’s power. Negatively we may learn its importance by slothfulness of soul with God; the heart thus becomes indifferent and cold. Positively we may learn it when the conscience is concerned and not at rest. Then the Spirit of God acts as the stern, unbending convicter of the conscience; making us feel the loss of that joy, and happy communion with our God and Father, as known and enjoyed against the evil; by His pointing out the evil which has thus separated practically the soul from God. How frequently we find the former, or negative side. The latter, or positive side, is more terrible to bear, because the soul has enjoyed the favour of God which is better than life; and has lost it through allowed evil. I speak, of course, of one whose acceptance as a sinner is complete, and who has known it in the soul’s consciousness.

Thus this complete, perfect confidence in God, expressed in the shield of faith, follows all the previous inward condition of the soul conveyed to us in the loins girded with the truth — the breast-plate of righteousness, and the feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

Chapter 17.

Condition of Soul: the Helmet of Salvation: and the Sword of the Spirit.

If the Shield of Faith conveys to us the soul’s perfect confidence in what God is, in His own unchangeable nature: the Helmet of Salvation teaches us what God has done for us, known and enjoyed in the soul; and with that unquestioning certainty that never leaves in the heart a shadow of doubt as to the result by and by. When the soul feels and knows this, it is free in the day of battle, and goes on without fear. It can think of others when the enemy seeks their ruin. It feels that that lovely word, "Thou hast covered my head for the day of battle," imparts a firmness and joyfulness that no present circumstances can ever mar. The enemy may rage, and evil may be there; but through that impregnable helmet no sword can ever pass. God’s salvation as a helmet on the head, set there by the hands of God Himself, renders the heart fearless in the face of the foe. One is free, in the forgetfulness of all personal questions as to one’s own things, to desire others’ good.

It will be seen that while we receive this precious piece of the armour of God, and that so far it may be looked at as producing a subjective state of soul, still God is the confidence of the heart both in the Helmet of Salvation (what He has done for us) as well as in the Shield of Faith. In a certain sense then, God is objectively before us, though the state produced is noticed too.

What a lovely illustration we have of this helmet of salvation in Paul in Acts 26:1-32. For a considerable time in prison; cut off from the work he loved and lived in; and the sad thought perhaps that his own conduct was the immediate cause of his imprisonment; the first moment of his conversion fills his soul. There stood that blessed man, bound with chains, before Festus, with King Agrippa and Bernice. He unfolds to them the story of his former life, his conversion, his mission of service. This Pharisee of the Pharisees; this righteous man according to the law, who had lived in all good conscience before God, while doing many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth; this dread persecutor of the saints — of the Church of God: there he stood, the attention of the Roman governor riveted by the glowing words addressed to the king, until Festus cried out, "Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad."

Mark the calm and collected reply: "I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. For the king (Agrippa) knoweth of these things, before whom I also speak freely; for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul said, I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds!"

There stood this blessed witness of the power of that salvation with which God had covered his head for the day of battle. An evident consciousness too of the truth they conveyed, in the king’s soul, before whom he spake the glowing words, eloquent from the calm and holy joy which filled the speaker’s heart. How near was King Agrippa to this salvation, and yet how far off, when, to cover and conceal his emotion, he rose up and went aside to confer with the rest.

Chains and imprisonments had not damped this heavenly joy. Free in heart, and with the helmet of salvation on his brow, he can think of others’ blessing. No desire was expressed as to removal of the bonds of Christ which he wore. His desires were for others. He does not merely wish they were Christians, which King Agrippa seemed almost persuaded to become, but that they might be "both almost, and altogether such as I am;" that they might have the same deep joy which filled his heart — the same salvation consciously which rested on his brow; "Except these bonds" — he could bear them alone for the Master whom he loved, and he would only wish them to be as happy a man as he, without the bonds.

Oh, what a softened feeling grace imparts to the heart which brings us in contact with a living person, who has placed the Helmet of Salvation on our brow! It is not the salvation itself which then engrosses, but the One who has so acted for us, setting our heart as free as air, that it may run in the same channel with His heart towards an evil world. The soul is now free and in order to wield "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Remark that first of all, the Word of God has formed us, and braced up the whole inner man; the conscience is good; the path peaceful; confidence in God perfect, and the conscious joy of a salvation which no adverse power can mar, and which links the heart with Him who has accomplished it and bestowed it upon us, making the heart so joyously free. Then comes the aggressive warfare, by the sword of the Spirit, against the enemy of souls.

Remark too, that as in all this armour it is a question of meeting the wiles of the devil, so here it is not the word used in edification for souls, but for detecting and unmasking these very wiles. How prostrate and feeble the soldiers of Christ seem to be in these infidel days. They fear often to stand alone by that word which God has set above all His name (Psalms 138:2). They are not formed by its precepts themselves, and therefore they are not fit to use this mighty sword; it would cut themselves, for it has two edges. It must do its own keen circumcising work with ourselves, before it can be used effectively against the foe. Israel must be circumcised themselves, before they can draw their sword, and follow the leadings of the Captain of the Host of the Lord. But when the soul is thus fitted to wield this sword, no enemy can withstand it. See the Lord Jesus Himself, in conflict with the devil (Matthew 4:1-25). No power was put forth by Him to destroy the destroyer. No word spoken to correct the misquotation of the enemy (Matthew 4:6). "It is written" was His weapon; and By the words of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer" (Psalms 17:4). It is very striking as one has noticed, that when it became a direct conflict between Jesus and the devil, the Word of God was the instrument used on both sides. The Lord uses it to explain and govern His own conduct, and the devil uses it against Him. How solemn! For in the present day, when the saints are thrown upon it as their resource, the devil uses it for his own ends as well. But the Saints must be formed in obedience by it, else they will find they must fall with the sword of the Spirit in their hands; because it will wound themselves. When those wiles of the devil are presented to the soul, there is no fear felt for the result of the conflict by the well-trained soldier of Christ. He is not amazed at what the enemy presents, nor distracted by an effort to have some text ready to meet the foe: the word of God comes readily to the heart and lips, and the wile is answered: the enemy may not be worsted, but the soul is steadied; its conduct and obedience are accounted for by the word. No wile of the enemy can stand for a moment before that mighty weapon which is "mighty through God to the pulling down of strong-holds; casting down reasonings, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:4). Every infidel suggestion is met; every perversion of the truth laid bare; every superstition with which the devil deceives his votaries — exulting in their shame — is exposed. All is met by the mighty instrument which alone can guide the soul in a world of boasting progress; but which, having lost the knowledge of God, and refused the revelation of Himself in tender grace in Jesus, ripens under the culture of the wicked one, for that judgment, which will consign himself and his followers to the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, to be tormented day and night for ever! (See Revelation 20:10-15.)

Chapter 18.

Condition of Soul: Prayer.

We now come to the last mighty weapon in this "whole armour of God." The breathing of His people’s hearts to God by prayer, when they have been formed by His word — His breath to us! It is the characteristic feature of Christian life; obedience and dependence mark its activities this fallen world. It is very striking how frequently we find the word of God and prayer in close connection in Scripture. When God was dealing with and testing man in the flesh in the nation of Israel, He did not name prayer as part of their relationships with Him. They accepted, in their own strength, the Law as the terms of their relationship. Now, prayer expresses the weakness of man. There were two forms of address to God given them, one expressing blood guiltlessness (Deuteronomy 21:1-23), and the other the expression of worship in the perfection of obedience (Deuteronomy 26:1-19). But man was put on his own strength to do these things and so to live in them. What ruin ensued! Yet, in the midst of such a wreck, no doubt many a faithful heart cried to God, outside all ordered and formal relationships with Him. In the opening of the first book of Samuel, we find a Hannah — desolate, and pining after her heart’s desires — moving her lips as her heart expressed its cry to the Lord. Even Eli the High Priest rebuked her, supposing that she was drunken with wine. But her answer seems to have touched a chord in the old priest’s soul, as she replied, "No, my lord; I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord." Eli answers her, "Go in peace: and the God of Israel (He who had wrestled of old with Jacob in another way) grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him." (1 Samuel 1:9, etc.) The child Samuel, whose name signifies "Asked of God," was the answer to this cry.

We find too, in the early chapters of this book how complete was the wreck of things in Israel. The priesthood was defiled and corrupted, and at last the Ark of God passes into the hands of the Philistines, and "Ichabod" is written on the ruined people, whose aged high priest brake his neck, in falling backwards from his seat by the side of the gate, when he heard that the Ark had been taken by the uncircumcised.

All ordered relationships were now gone. The people have no priest to draw nigh to Jehovah; the priest (if he desired it) has no Ark, where to consult by "Urim and Thummim;" no mercy-seat on which to sprinkle the blood before the Lord. What will now be His resource, who is never frustrated by the evil and failure of man? Samuel — the man who was "asked of God" — will now be the "prophet of the Lord," by whom God will reveal Himself again by the "word of the Lord" to the consciences of those who had an ear to hear. If God thus maintained His relationship through the consciences of His people by Samuel, the cry of need — the prayer of His people, also went up to Him by Samuel (1 Samuel 7:8-9; 1 Samuel 12:18-19; 1 Samuel 12:23), In this we find the two great principles, or characteristics of spiritual life, so frequently found together in Scripture, viz., the Word of God, and Prayer. Mary at the feet of Jesus hearing His word; and the disciples saying to Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 10:1-42, Luke 11:1-54), illustrate this thought. See also Peter in Acts 6:1-15, "We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word." "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly;" then "Continuing instant in prayer" (Colossians 3:16; Colossians 4:2). Even the very food we eat is sanctified unto us by the word of God and prayer. God’s word sanctions certain things for the use of the body, as meat and drink for His people; they receive it from Him with prayer, refusing nothing that has thus been set apart by His word: "For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer" (1 Timothy 4:4-5).

Prayer is the first expression of the newly born soul to God. They lead Saul of Tarsus, blinded by the light of the glory in the face of Jesus Christ, to Damascus, and in the "house of Judas," in the street called "Straight," behold this persecutor on his knees. A little time before he was breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord Jesus; now the earnest cry ascends to and enters His ear; and "Behold he prayeth," shows how the Lord’s ear and heart were attentive to these strong cryings of this chief of sinners.

Prayer takes very varied characteristics in the word of God. If we turn to Luke 11:1-54 we find the Lord instructing the hearts of his disciples in the earnest prayer of "importunity." He says, "Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves: for a friend of mine in his journey is come unto me, and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within shall answer, and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed: I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth." How practical is the scene He here portrays! The deep sense of need, and dependence on One who has discovered Himself to our souls as One who alone can supply the want we feel. The sense of confidence is displayed too in the earnestness which turns not aside from Him to any other source. He knows the heart, and knows well whether there is there unmingled confidingness in Him. Yet it is not His goodness and readiness to hear and answer which are here unfolded, but the importunity, the pertinacity of the heart that clings to and cries to God until the need is supplied. That which abates not in earnestness in asking of Him who has said, "Ask, and it shall be given you." But this is not the highest character of prayer by any means; still it is needed for His people while they are here. A still more blessed provision — for making known our requests — is found in Php 4:6. In this place we do not find that He promises to supply the need we express to Him; but He answers in another and much more blessed way. Ten thousand cares may press upon the heart; what is to be our resource? "Be careful for nothing"! is the reply. "Nothing!" you answer; how can this be? Then He proceeds, "But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." And how blessed is the answer. Perhaps not one request has been granted, but the answer comes in another manner; "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus"! God puts His peace into the heart which has put its cares on God! How frequently we are disposed to allow our cares to eat away at the heart and bow down the soul. Care for the Church — the saints of God; the deep anxieties of service for the Lord; for the conversion of those we love; for the recovery of those who have wandered from the way. Circumstances too may try the heart: the love of those whose love we valued has grown cold; the bitterness of being misunderstood and misjudged, all press upon the soul. How blessed those strong, bright words, "Be careful for nothing"! How blessed to go to God in the strong cryings and secret bitter tears which His eye has marked and noted, and hand over the cares to Him! Mark, it is not to our Father, but to God. It is not here the confidingness of relationship, but to a holy Being whose nature is known; whose throne is never touched by cares. The heart learns there to pour out its earnest cry, deepening in intensity from "prayer" to "supplication," until the heart has risen, as it were, above the cloud — above the cares which pressed upon the soul, until it bursts out in the pure light of heaven, in "thanksgiving" into the ever opened ear of One who gives His peace to the relieved heart, with the sweet sense that His hand is under the care — that He has charged himself with the matter — has taken it into His own merciful hands, and we have in exchange God’s own peace. But in Ephesians we are outside the things which distress the heart, in another way. The range of vision takes in the things which occupy the mind of Christ. The great interests of the Lord on earth are before us, more than our own cares. Not that He does not interest Himself with our little cares and trials — that He does; but here the prayer and supplication in the Spirit, with its watching and perseverance, is for "all saints." In the true dependence of one who is fully armed with this armour of God, prayer keeps the heart in confidingness in Him. Self is broken, and He is trusted, and "the more knowledge the more prayer." Satan cannot seduce the heart which is ever in this attitude before God. "He that is born of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." The Host of the Lord has thus been prepared to meet the foe, and to "withstand in the evil day" — that is, the whole period through which we now pass. The soul is formed by the truth; the conscience good, maintained in the light; the heart peaceful, in the confidingness and piety which walks with God and trusts Him amidst the storms and waves which beat around us. Thus Satan’s fiery darts are of no avail, and with the helmet of a known salvation covering the head, and the word of God as the Spirit’s sword, we are ready to meet the wiles of the devil, and the heart is kept in a right condition before God in this evil world. He has His true place of authority which orders all; the saint too is found in his true attitude of dependence and confidence before Him, as expressed in prayer — but prayer which embraces His great interests here on earth; "all saints," in their labours and conflicts, toils and joys.

We have seen, then, the condition of soul which flows from the unsparing dealings with self and flesh, because of our place on high in Christ. Then the arming of the Host against the foe, to resist and face the enemy with the courage of God. We will now look at the condition of soul we need to go on naturally and happily in communion with the Lord, in the aggressive warfare, realizing our own blessed portion on high. We must plant the foot on each spot of ground which is ours in our heavenly Canaan, but in doing so we find we must first dislodge the foe. Deeply important it is then to know the conditions by which the path and service of faith may be successfully trodden, so as to insure the presence of the Lord with us, and "good success." This we will hope to examine in the next chapter.

Chapter 19.

"Good Success" in our Spiritual Warfare.

"Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

"There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee; I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them."

"Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee; turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest."

"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." (Joshua 1:3-9.)

We will now examine the blessed principles, by the observance of which we may enjoy the sure presence of the Lord in almighty power, and good success in our spiritual warfare.

Mark the first thing that is presented — the land is ours: God has given us, in the grace of His heart, the best of blessings, in the best place, and in the best way; "All spiritual blessings; in heavenly places, in Christ." "All is yours," He says, but then we must drive out the enemy and place the sole of our foot upon every inch of ground, and take possession. He has marked out the bounds, and none can dispute our title to what He has bestowed. No hostile power can stand against His people — God is for them; "If God be for us who can be against us?" The possessions are His, but in His people, under Christ, He takes them into His hand.

Such is the boldness with which we have to face the foe; no fear of the result, He "hath not given unto us the spirit of fear." But all is ruin where these conditions are not observed. In place of "There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life," we find, further on, that they "could not stand before their enemies," and the Lord said, "Neither will I be with you any more" (Joshua 7:12). How solemn! The walls of Jericho, around which the victorious Host had walked but a little before, had fallen down flat; and now the people are smitten before the men of Ai, "and the hearts of the people melted, and became as water." The "accursed thing" was permitted; disobedience brought its defeat and bitterness. "Covetousness," which desired the wedge of gold, and "idolatry" of heart, which saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, had been allowed; until defeat proved that the Lord’s presence and power was forfeited while they remained, and a discomfited Host finds what a reality His presence had been, though unseen, and how the sin of one of their number was felt by all: "One member suffered and all the members suffered with it."

It is interesting to see, in passing and alluding to this chapter, that as obedience was the condition of their strength and of the Lord’s presence with them, so again by obedience restoration is effected in the judgment of the sin. Even the judgment of the offender, and the recovery of the presence and manifested power of the Lord for them. This obedience, too, by which such is effected, is seen in those who suffered, rather than in the offender. One would almost have thought that it should have fallen upon him, but it is upon Joshua and the people that the activities of obedience now devolve; thus the offender is discovered, the evil cast out, and the people restored. So it is also in Matthew 18:15-22. Upon the aggrieved devolve the activities of grace towards the offending one — not upon the erring one. When all had failed in the effort made for his recovery, the very obedience of the aggrieved one was the means by which all came to light, and was judged and cleared away. Such is God’s way.

"As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee." As if the Lord were to say, If I was with you through the desert solitudes, where your needs and your necessities were all my care; how much the more will I be with you now, when you are occupied with my battles in the land, and my warfare is your care. Moses recalls this persevering, unchanging, perfect love which had been displayed in the desert, in those touching words, "He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee, thou hast lacked nothing" (Deuteronomy 2:7). And here the Lord recalls His ever watchful presence and care, as if to remind them of its solicitude and perfection, that their hearts might trust Him whose battles were now to be fought, and whose land was to be taken from the enemy’s hand. "I will not fail thee" in the exigencies of every hour of need and toil; "nor forsake thee" in the wisdom and power needed in possessing the land.

How bright and real are those words spoken at times to the heart of His servants as the difficulties increase, and the power of the enemy displays itself: "Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I sware unto their fathers to give them." Adversaries there are, but the word is, "In nothing terrified by your adversaries" (Php 1:27). You may appear as grasshoppers in your own sight, and they as giants; the cities may be walled up to heaven; no matter: the higher they are the more complete will be the proof of what My power can accomplish by an obedient people.

Paul at Corinth (Acts 18:1-28) meets the opposition and blasphemy of the enemy; but the Lord speaks to His servant, "Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace; for I am with thee, and no one (oudeis — man or devil) shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city." Many were there to whom the word of life was to be ministered, and who needed to be put in possession of the land — their "own things." Paul was to divide to them their lot — their heavenly possessions, and the word was, Be of good courage, "be not afraid." Timothy might have been discouraged at the defection and the general state of things — another day of deep ruin; but again the word to him was, Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." And Paul can write those wondrous words, "I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory" (2 Timothy 2:1-26).

"Only be thou strong and very courageous" — why is this again repeated? Why this solicitude that courage and strength may be there? "That thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee." Courage and strength were needed to obey. God’s strength is with us in the path of His will, and not out of this path most surely; and we need courage to do His will in this evil world. Take up God’s word as the standard by which to walk, and men will tell you that the times are changed — (so they have!) — that things are not what they were, and the like. Besides this, we need courage with self to obey the word of God. Who is not conscious of the unsubdued will of the flesh, which is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be? We need special courage with self that we may do His bidding; we need courage one with another; with the world; with relations, with all. We may have to walk alone in the pathway, but if so, we walk with Him whose word it is. It needs then this courage to obey, and God knows the end from the beginning: He foresaw all that would come, and He gave His word in view of all. Thus we can trust that He has not spoken one word too much, and there is not one word which is not needed, even if it may seem of little moment in our eyes. He looks at the enemy and exhorts us to "Be strong and of good courage;" He looks at ourselves, and again He speaks, "Be thou strong and very courageous;" "Turn not from it (the word) to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest." But if there is courage needed to obey, that we may prosper in our spiritual warfare, it needs too, that we should meditate on the Word that we may know the mind of God as revealed therein. "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate thereon day and night." The word of God carries with it the great fact, which we find growingly each day, that God has revealed the truth — nay Himself, in the midst of a scene formed and systematized through man’s departure from Him. Divine light is needed for our path through it, with its snares and pitfalls, and we have a watchful enemy to meet and overcome; therefore, we should live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. The day may be bright, or the night may be dark, the great thing is to have the word of God stored up in the heart, and treasured there in the love of it, that we may be kept from the paths of the destroyer. "By the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer," speaks the Spirit of Christ in Psalms 17:1-15, and "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee," in Psalms 119:11. "Meditate upon these things," says the apostle to the young servant Timothy, "give thyself wholly unto them, that thy profiting may appear unto all." (1 Timothy 4:1-16) And so we find, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful: but his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." Now mark the result, "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." (Psalms 1:1-6) The heart is carried along in the channel of God’s mind, and thus the constancy of communion with Him enables the heart to live in another sphere and order of things than the motives of the scene we are passing through. But it is in the heart — the affections, in which the word must be hid. Intellect will not do, or clearness of thought — but the heart in treasuring up His words is kept near to Him in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and thus we know that we are in Him. "For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success" (Joshua 1:8).

We now come to a word of deep blessedness, and nothing can compensate for the absence of such an assurance from the Lord. "Have I not commanded thee?" sustains the heart in the midst of the scene through which we have to tread our way, with the presence of Christ, in almighty power. To have God’s command steadies the heart in the midst of it all. To find a difficulty by the way, and not have such an assurance is bitterness indeed. The more tender the conscience the more deep the pain, when we are not assured of having His command if difficulties arise. We have to be exercised and sifted in heart, that we may seek His face in the exigencies of the journey, but He gives the consciousness of "Have I not commanded thee?" in unwavering certainty to us. The heart may cry out, in the sense of the peril that a false step might entail, without having His word — "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee." But He never fails the heart which cries, but assures it with His calm and quiet "Come"! Then all difficulties vanish like the morning cloud; or they only serve to unfold His resources and ways to us, when we know we are in His pathway here below. In a dream Paul is directed to Macedonia; and they gathered that the Lord had called them to preach there, and they go across. For days they seem to have no work to do; then a few women are found at a river side, and are blessed through the Word; and then Satan comes to hinder and deceive. What a lesson we learn in these men walking for days apparently at leisure (that which tests the soul’s condition often but too well), with girded loins. The enemy does not meet them unprepared, but finds these soldiers of Christ armed with the whole armour of God, and Satan is frustrated, and the damsel delivered from his power. But the deliverers are soon cast into the inner prison, with bleeding backs undressed, and their feet are set fast in the stocks. What a moment of anguish, had not Paul had the clear sense in his soul of "Have I not commanded thee?" and thus, without a single care, he and his fellow-soldier prayed and sang praises to God at midnight, in that unquestioning confidence, and that trustfulness which an uncondemning heart bestows.

Again take Moses: Forty years before he had assayed in fleshly zeal to deliver his brethren, and had failed. Forty years of discipline finds him a broken man; distrustful of his own powers and unwilling to go when sent by the Lord. His mission begins — he shows his signs, and demands God’s first-born from the hands of Pharaoh. He is driven from his presence, and the people, whose minds he had wrought upon by the visions of freedom from the lash of Egypt, are driven back to their toil with heavier tasks than before. Now comes the solemn moment for this man Moses, who would be a deliverer to his brethren. They turn upon him, and charge him with the increase of their burdens and that their savour was abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh. (Exodus 5:21.) Moses returns to the Lord in this bitter moment of his history, and the Lord gives him a charge — a defined mission to His people and to Pharaoh; then all is clear. "Have I not commanded thee?" really makes all simple, and no matter what difficulties may arise hesitation is gone, and this blessed soul-sustaining word is the solace of the heart of him — nay of all — who have wrestled with Him, as it were, that He might speak it to our souls. Then the rejection of our brethren, if we have to bear it; the sorrows of service, whatever they may be, are overborne by the words, "Have I not commanded thee?" "Be strong, and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest"! If He be with us, no matter how rough the water. Yea the waters may seek to engulph the ship, but if He be in it all is well. In the remaining portion of this chapter we learn a solemn lesson in one way, and a blessed lesson on the other, On one side we find the type of those who seek to take their place on this side of the Jordan — death and resurrection applied to us by the Spirit of God. Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh, do not go back to Egypt — still their hearts linger on this side of the land of promise, seeking rest — not where the calling of God had contemplated. Joshua had not given them this portion; but the well-watered fields on this side of Jordan seemed to be a proper place for their flocks and herds, and their wives and little ones. They "came short" of the purpose and calling of God, yet they are not apostate, by turning back again to the land of Egypt. So far, they are "enemies to the cross of Christ . . . who mind earthly things." The things of heaven, as risen . . with Christ, have no sweetness to the taste of those whose wills led them to settle where Israel wandered. Solemn truth, too, that henceforth they are looked upon as distinct from Israel. They have a history of their own, outside the land; like Lot’s history in Sodom, so distinct from that of Abraham on the mountain-top with God. The day came too, when it could be said of them, "In the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart. Why abodest thou among the sheep-folds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? In the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart." (Judges 5:1-31) The ear was opened to hearken to that which took possession of the heart, and it was deaf to the call of the Lord. Yet there had been a day too, when Moses refused to come out of Egypt without those "wives and little ones" whose prosperity now was their hindrance in entering the land.

How we see this every day around us. Parents urgent and earnest in seeking to have their children converted, and thus severed from the land of Egypt; yet when the prospects in this world of those children are at stake, a midway course is chosen; the land of promise, where the Lord carries on His warfare is refused, and ease accepted. Still this did not bring with it the rest which was sought; for those who sought rest without going into heavenly places had still to go to war. On the other side, it is very sweet to find how that the Lord cares for the wives and the little ones of those who fight His battles for their brethren. We may leave them to His care as a tender Father and a more than Husband, conscious that He can care for them when we are not with them, while engaged for Him. We could not care for them ourselves even if with them were He not to do so, and He can do so without us when occupied in His affairs. This may be done in various ways. Epaphroditus may "labour fervently" for his brethren in prayer. Perhaps to some bed-ridden saint was Paul indebted for those great gifts whereby the hearts of many were gladdened in the fields of his labour for Christ, and so a note of praise ascended to Him who had put it into the heart of some such lowly saint thus to pray. See 2 Corinthians 1:11, etc.