the giver of law, and the author of salvation fr death, but He plans and works by, through, and as also through the enlightening, regenerating po Holy Ghost. Hence it is the prerogative of the Fat give sin, not simply by a declaration to that effect, ernor, or president pardons a criminal, or as you forgive a debt; not even as an act of infinite compassi man, but as an act of infinite justice in Christ Jesus H whom the penalty of sin has been paid, and all the d the divine law have been met. So it is God the F whom the sinner is justified, not simply in a forensic cause of any subjective conditions complied with (as i ercise of repentance and faith), but alone in Christ Son, to whom the penitent believing sinner is so uni be one with Him, since, by the operation of the Holy is born from above and made a new creature in partaker of His very life. It further belongs to the the Father to adopt the sinner into His family as H and an heir of the heavenly inheritance, not because in any sense made himself worthy of such high ho blessed advantage, but again only because, as an in adult, he has been brought into living union with Chris having been male alive from the dead by the impartati new life in regeneration, the full development of which 1 stitutes the full-grown Christian, or the one who has the stature of manhood in Christ.

e

Being pardoned, justified and adopted into the fa God, it further belongs to the office of the Father to ke child by His mighty power through faith unto salva that His Son may not have suffered in vain, and that the of the Holy Spirit may not be destroyed. Thus His wa care is ever over those who are His. He will suffer no tation to befall them greater than they shall have grad strength to bear; no enemy shall be able to destroy (except with their willing consent) and nothing shall sep them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus shed al

in the heart by the Holy Ghost, who is given unto them. When their earthly pilgrimage and conflicts are ended, it will be the pleasure of the Father to translate and admit to His heavenly courts all who have lived and died in the Lord as His loving, devoted children. And on the morning of the resurrection from the dead the Father of their bodies and spirits will call forth their sleeping dust, and, in new and glorified body, reunited to their saved souls, they shall spend an eternity of bliss with the redeemed of all ages, and in closest communion with Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Lastly, it belongs to the office of God the Father to execute justice and wrath upon all who reject or neglect the gracious offers of His grace in Christ His Son. It cannot be said, however, that the Father takes any pleasure in the punishment of sinners who turn away from the salvation He has provided, and refuse its benefits. On the contrary, He desires only the happiness of His creatures. But it is impossible for even Deity to save man against his will. In the very constitution of His being God is compelled to exercise justice as well as mercy and love. He has made the fullest possible provision to deliver man from his sin and misery, as already seen. If any one now is determined, in the exercise of his free agency, not to allow God to save him, he must take the consequence, which is a continuance in a state of spiritual death and consequently eternal separation from God and the happy state of heaven. Eternal "banishment from God and the glory of His power," is simply in accordance with the law of cause and effect, or of reaping as we have sown. Even infinite wisdom can devise no way, nor is it possible for infinite power to save a man in his sins. If saved at all, it must be from his sins, as divinely ordained, through union with the Lord Jesus Christ in the new birth by the Holy Spirit. When the sinner is not brought into such saving relation to the Father in Christ, by the Spirit, or when the offers of His grace are wilfully rejected or neglected there is no alternative but to let justice have its sway, and to execute wrath upon the guilty. It will therefore be the fault of man, and not

the will of the Father, that he perishes. He del himself for divine wrath, and in spite of the love of viding for his salvation, he chooses eternal death an Entering upon the eternal state in the attitude of what God loves, and loving what God hates,” this att continues, and, so far as we know, can never chang his own free will, having separated himself in the gression from the source of his life, and after his lo has done all that even Deity could do to reunite him and reinstate him in a sacred relation, man must ab cision of a rejection or neglect of the offers of grace tion in Christ. He may compel the Father to refu mission into the realm of the redeemed, whose been "washed in the blood of the Lamb," and with penitent believing hearts submitted to the p vation by grace in Christ. Electing to remain in alienation and separation from God, is electing to wrath of God against sin, and virtually making our instruments of its execution.

To recapitulate: The orthodox consensus of the interpretation of the divine word on the subject we sidered seems to be: 1. That God the Father is eternal personality. 2. That it is His office, in C eternally and only begotten Son, to create and s govern the universe for His own glory and the highes His creatures, especially those that are rational and in 8. That He gives and executes all law, both natural a 4. That He has provided a full and free salvation fo members of a perishing race by giving His Son as th tiation for sin; and still further, that at the gener rection of the dead He will call our sleeping bod the grave, making them like the glorified and i human body of our divine Lord and Saviour Jesus and reuniting them with our saved souls. 5. That execute justice and wrath upon all who willfully r

neglect the great salvation provided in the person and through the work of His Son.

In the holding of these precious truths, with what is taught as to the personality and office of God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, we have a religion that meets all the necessities of our sin-fallen state, affording peace and comfort to the believer in life and in death as no other religion has ever been known to do.

V.

ELISHA AND HIS TIMES.

BY REV. A. A. PFANSTIEHL.

THE books of Kings were written with a definite pu view, viz. to trace the history of God's people with a pointing out the cause of the decline and fall of the k of Israel and Judah. It is held by the author of the O tary on these books in Lange's series of Commentar Rev. Dr. Bähr, that they were written in the last hal 70 years' captivity. There was then an urgent nee treatise, wherein the cause of the decline and fall of th doms was clearly pointed out, in order to be a safeguard people in the way of a warning against not only a conti of, but renewed entrance into idolatry, now that they scattered among idolatrous people, and peculiarly in dan doing this. For we find the author clearly pointing ou atry as the great cause of Israel's ruin. To him "idolat image-worship are the sin of sins, because they destroy world-historical destiny" of God's chosen people. Tha tiny was to preserve and conserve the knowledge and w of the true and only God, and transmit to the world the worship, and, as the custodians of the only supernatural re tion, be the conservators of the truth of God. To hol people to their duty in this regard, and keep them to adher of, and submission to the fundamental law, God raised up prophets, and instituted the prophetic institution, "the mi of which was to watch over the keeping of the covenan warn against all manner of apostasy and whensoever it peared to exhort, to threaten and promise." Hence the pr