the very least, under such conditions as the Lord had been here anticipating.

But new things never gainsay old. This could not be. "The scripture cannot be broken." The former things of the Prophets may open to let in other counsels of God, and thus there may be enlargement; but there is no cancelling. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance-so that all that has been promised to Israel shall be realized. The light may shine brighter and brighter to the perfect day-so that the supplies and additions which we get from the New Testament Scriptures, may be a precious filling up of the intimations or revelations of the Old.

"In vetere Testamento, novum latet

In novo Testamento vetus patet."

A striking and just sentence.

I would now give a few instances of what I mean. From Psalm viii. we learn of three conditions attaching to "the Son of man" in His wondrous, blessed historyhumiliation, coronation, and dominion. These conditions are commented upon in Heb. ii., and each of them given a deep and extended sense.

The humiliation of "the Son of man," is declared to be for "the suffering of death;" so that, in the grace of God, sinners might be reconciled, and the creation itself brought back to God as a ransomed, redeemed thing. The coronation of this same "Son of man" is what the apostle says we now see. His dominion over the works of God's hand is what, he further tells, we wait to see.

This commentary in the New Testament sets off the word of the Old Testament in fresh and bright and marvellous fulness. The intimations of the Old were faint indeed, giving us only the three conditions themselves in their simple nakedness-the divine purposes in these conditions are disclosed in the New Scriptures.

*"In the Old Testament, the New lies hid.

In the New Testament, the Old lies open."

This same psalm is taken up also in 1 Cor. xv. The psalm had told us, that all things were to be put under the foot of the Son of man, such as the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea. But 1 Cor. xv. tells us, that among the "all things" thus to be put in subjection, is "death" itself, as well as "all rule, and all authority and power." And there was a great beauty and fitness in introducing "death" among the "all things" which were to be put in subjection to the Son of man, because the whole chapter was upon the resurrection; and the resurrection is the Lord's victory over death, a victory which he achieved when He rose Himself, and which He will share with His saints in the day of their resurrection.

And, further, this same chapter, 1 Cor. xv., also tells us that this state of universal lordship in the hand of Christ will be given up in due season, and that God will be then "all in all." This was another of the "new things." Of this mystery, this secret in the storehouse of divine counsels, we knew nothing till apostles had taken up, in their day, the wondrous tale which prophets had begun to tell us.

Thus, without annulling a single jot or tittle of the word, we get a rich influx of light. Apostles, like scribes instructed in the kingdom of heaven, bring in the new things to shine with the old. They fill out what had been left as sketched in outline.

But I will make one further enquiry, upon the ground of these two scriptures, Ps. viii. and 1 Cor. xv. The prophet in the Psalm tells us that, while the Son of man exercises His dominion on the earth, the Lord Himself has set His glory above the heavens. I ask, on the authority of what the apostle in the epistle tells us, will not the risen saints, who are to be translated and glorified with Christ and like Christ, form part of that glory which is thus set above the heavens, when it is displayed in the day of the power of the Son of man? I only, however, ask this.

But to pass on to one further passage.

In Psalm cx. we see the Lord seated on high at the right hand of Jehovah, under promise that His enemies shall be made His footstool. The New Testament abundantly confirms this, not disturbing it in the least. (See Matt. xxii.; Acts ii.; Heb. x.)

But, besides, it greatly enlarges our view of this same ascended Lord. It tells us, that He is there, in the ascended place, as One that is resting after the toil of the life of faith. (Heb. xii. 2.)

It tells us, that He is there, as the Son having returned to the Father. (John xiv. 28.)

It tells us, that He is there, as in a sanctuary, the High Priest of our profession, ever living to make intercession for us. (Rom. viii. 34.)

It tells us, that He is there, as Conqueror, having triumphed over him that had the power of death, and having led captivity captive. (Heb. ii. 14; Col. ii. 15.)

It tells us, that He is there, as our Forerunner, as One who is preparing mansions for us there in the Father's house. (John xiv. 2.)

Glorious enlargement of the mind this is, as we by faith look up to the place of the ascended Jesus! Faith apprehends and realizes these things. We may therefore have to say, Faith is but a feeble thing in our souls. Let us own this, and be humbled; but still let us say, Faith realizes truths as well as apprehends them. As we read of the patriarchs, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them."

I allude to this in the midst of these thoughts on these scriptures, that our souls may be kept lowly, in the sense of the blessed way in which faith deals with these great things. It embraces them as well as apprehends them.

And truly the things of scripture are great things. For to return for another moment to what we are meditating

on, the conditions of our ascended Lord, we may suggest this further; that whether the words, "till I make thine enemies thy footstool," imply destruction or submission, whether they intend that the Lord's enemies shall perish in the brightness of the day of His judgments, or be brought into willing subjection in the blessedness of the day of His glory, whichever of those things they may purpose to convey to us, or if they would convey both, still the risen glorified saints are to be with Him. For scripture teaches us, that they are to be with Him, both in the act of judgment or destruction, (Rev. xi. 27; xix. 14,) and also in the place of government, when the millennial earth is to own His sceptre and lordship. (Matt. xix. 28, &c.)

Here again is enlargement. His saints are to be with the Lord, in the day whether of His judgments or His dominion; and for such ends they have surely passed through the moment contemplated in 1 Cor. xv. 51, and in 1 Thess. iv. 17. They have surely risen and met Him in the air. Does not this, therefore, teach us, that the eyes of the saints are to be out towards that moment? Can either of these great prophetic actions, judgment or government, the exercise of the sword or of the sceptre, the act of cleansing the kingdom of offences, or of ordering the kingdom in righteousness, be accomplished by Him, till His saints are with Him? The wondrous, brighter light of New Testament revelations, shining full upon such a word as this in the Old Testament prophecies, "till I make thine enemies thy footstool," warrants our putting these questions, and encourages us, beloved, to take up that beautiful Thessalonian attitude, Waiting for the Son from heaven." O! for power to do so, unhindered by the spirit of this world!

66

"O joyful hour! when all the earth

Its rightful Heir shall yet receive;

When every tongue shall own His worth,
And all creation cease to grieve."

THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN.

(Luke xviii. 9-14.)

WE are all, by nature, very unwilling to look our true condition straight in the face. We do not like to hear the whole truth about self. We are disposed to dabble upon the surface. We shrink from penetrating the depths. We fear to reach the bottom of our condition. We would fain make out that we are not quite so bad as we really are. In a word, man is ignorant of himself, and he has no desire to be otherwise. This, if he knew but all, is a serious loss to him. For a man to think otherwise of himself than that he is a lost sinner is a most melancholy mistake, for that is precisely what he is. He is, in himself, hopelessly lost. He may be amiable, moral, upright, and even religious, as we say; but he is lost. He was born thus. He came into this world, a poor, helpless, naked, needy, worthless, lost thing, so far as his natural condition is concerned. This is what he was-this is what he is, by nature.

Such being the truth, as to man, how strange that any should be found "trusting in themselves that they are righteous!" Yet thus it has been, in every age. Thus it is now; and thus it will be. Thus it was with the pharisee in the parable before us. Let us look closely at his case.

"Two men went up to the temple to pray; the one a pharisee, and the other a publican." The truth of God reduces every thing to its simplest possible elements. It takes no account of the distinctions which prevail amongst men. Hence it speaks here of "two men"-two sons of fallen Adam-two sinners. Before God there was no difference in their natural condition. They were both "lost." True, one was a lost pharisee, and the other a lost publican; but they were both lost. The Word of God declares, "there is no difference ;" and that, too, upon a double ground. 1st, "for all have sinned." (Rom. iii. 23.) 2ndly, "for the