dispensation. The time and the place, the symbol and the circumstance, were of primary importance in the Levitical economy; for the worship was ceremonial and representative, and the way into the holiest of all had not yet been made manifest: but since Christ has entered into heaven itself, and now appeareth in the presence of God for us, the symbols and the ceremonies avail nothing, for all are fulfilled and done away (Gk. completely abolished) in Him, and the Father hath found His true worshippers, who worship in spirit and in truth.

Whatever the manner and the method, the distinctive features of true public worship are

(1) The setting apart of the first day of the week as the Christian sabbath, holy unto the Lord.

(2) The ministry of the Word of God.

(3) United prayer and praise: "with one accord" (Gk. mind)" of one heart and of one soul." (Acts iv. 24, 32.)

(4) The observance of the ordinance of Baptism by water, as the outward and visible sign of the true baptism by the Spirit of God.

(5) The observance of the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, in perpetual remembrance of His precious death until His coming again.

Where these features are found in their Scriptural simplicity-whatever the outward building or denomination-we may confidently look for evidence of the presence and power of God, and recognise the worship that is acceptable in His sight.

"The grand test of the value of any kind of worship is the effect it produces on the lives of the worshippers. A man may tell us that what is called Ritualism is the best and most perfect mode of worshipping God. He may despise the simple and unadorned ceremonial of evangelical congregations: he may exalt to the skies the

excellence of ornament, decoration, and pageantry in our service of God. But I take leave to tell him that Christian men will try his favourite system by results. So long as ritualistic worshippers can turn from matins and early communions to races and operas, and can oscillate between the confessional and the ball-room, so long the advocates of Ritualism must not be surprised if we think little of the value of ritualistic worship. The best public worship is that which produces the best private Christianity. The best services for the congregation are those which make its individual members most holy at home and alone. Give me the

worship that sanctifies the life-that makes a man walk with God and delight in God's law-that lifts him above the fear of the world and the love of the world-that enables him to exhibit something of God's image and God's likeness before his fellow men-that makes him just, loving, pure, gentle, good-tempered, patient, humble, unselfish, temperate. This is the worship that comes down from heaven, and has the stamp and seal and superscription of God." (Bishop J. C. Ryle.)

In the matter of ministry and worship, as in other things and other spheres, the unwritten law of the churches to-day is very much like that of Israel in the days of the judges: every man does that which is right in his own eyes; and multitudes who name the name of Christ, have, in a spiritual sense, gone like Elimelech and Naomi to sojourn in far-off countries, instead of abiding under the shadow and the shelter of the God of Israel. Instead of feeding on the living bread of Bethlehem-judah, they are found in parched places where there is no spiritual pasture, and where they seek in vain-consciously or unconsciously-to satisfy the needs of their sin-stricken souls with the husks of externalism, and the Moabitish abominations which can

bring no peace in this life, and afford no hope in the life to come.

Reader, your safety in Christ is indissolubly bound up with your soundness in gospel Truth. There can be no spiritual worship where there is no spiritual life, and no acceptance of the vital doctrines of Divine grace. Like the earthly father receiving back his prodigal boy, the heavenly Father receives and welcomes lost sinners when they are brought back to Him safe and sound:- safe in the rock of ages-in the wounded side of the Son of His love; sound in the faith once for all delivered unto the saints. The "nevertheless" of safety, and the "nevertheless" of soundness are inseparable :

"Nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." (2 Tim. i. 12.)

"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." (2 Tim. ii. 19.)

Our having effectually laid hold upon the merits of Christ is only proved by the consciousness and the assurance that Christ has effectually laid hold upon us, and has covered all our sins.

If you, reader, have been taken captive by the devil at his will, and led astray by those who have erred from the truth like Hymenæus and Philetus, into a strange land, where there is no food or sustenance for your soul-if you have been beguiled by heathen vanities in a Christian dress, or by Athenian novelties under the cloak of the gospel-if you are in the swim of that religious world which, in spite of all its parade and pretension, knows not God, and has no fellowship with the Christ of God:-listen to His gracious invitation to you

while it is called To-day, to return on the way to Bethlehem-judah. The Lord is still visiting 'His people in giving them bread: through the tender mercy of God, the Day-spring from on high still giveth light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and will guide your feet into the way of peace. And the way of Bethlehem, the house of bread, is the only way of peace: whatever the church or the chapel, the sect or the assembly-"Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man [He who was truly born of a pure virgin in Bethlehem of Judea] and drink His blood [the poured-out blood of Him who was verily and indeed the Son of God] ye have no life in you." You are possibly on the brink of eternity as you read these lines, and you do not know it: you are sleeping in sin while the sand has almost run through the glass, and you have never realized it: you have been diligent in your church membership, and constant in your attendance upon the means of grace, but you are in spiritual darkness after all; and His call to you at this moment is, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Every voice of reason as well as revelation-to speak in the language of men-every counsel of common sense as well as conscience, bids you to prepare to meet your God: to return at once on the way to the house of bread, and feed your perishing soul before the die is cast, and it is too late.

When we think of the privileges we in this favoured land have enjoyed, in comparison with the dark regions of the uncivilized world, we are reminded of the awful words of warning and woe addressed by Christ to those cities where most of His mighty works were done :—

"Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in

sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee." (Matt. xi. 21-24.)

"The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here." (Matt. xii. 41.

Capernaum and Bethsaida were privileged, above all places of the earth, to have the message of salvation from the lips of Him who was the very Word of God; and to see that message confirmed by supernatural manifestations: yet as a people they remained dead in trespasses and sins. Nineveh, on the other hand, was no predestined spot of honour in the chosen people's inheritance: it was no favoured fig-tree in the Lord's own vineyard; it was the centre of an iniquitous rule, a human stronghold of Paganism and idolatry: yet there was mercy before judgment,—an opportunity of salvation, a message of grace; and the men of Nineveh believed God, and turned from their evil way, and the threatened judgment was averted.

God's eye still resteth upon the nations of the earth: upon China, India, Africa, South America; those great centres of heathendom where spiritual life is but a drop in a bucket; as well as upon England with her Christian culture and religious liberty. liberty. And saved sinners out of many dark corners of the world will rise up in judgment with the blind guides and carnal worshippers of this vainglorious age, and will condemn the religion which is like unto the whited sepulchres, that