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of the same character, and could not possibly be applied to us now. And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee: thine eye shall have no pity upon them," &c. This was God's governmental dealings in that dispensation. Can any one suppose it is in this period of infinite grace to man?

We will now look at your next; and a most solemn scripture it is. "And Asa, in the thirty and ninth year of his reign, was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians." (2 Chron. xvi. 12.) Now here was a man of God who had committed the very common sin of making alliance with the world. He made a league with Ben-hadad, king of Syria. He gave him silver and gold, he relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on Jehovah. (See ver. 7.) He was then rebuked by the prophet Hanani, "Herein hast thou done foolishly." Did he repent at the word of the Lord? Far from it! He, in his folly, persecuted the prophet. And now the Lord, in his love to him, afflicts him in his feet. Does he now repent, and turn to and rely on the Lord? No, he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.

And as Elihu says, "Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man. To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living." (Read Job xxxiii., xxxvi.) God's gracious object in such cases, and they are common, when a believer has sinned, is to bring him to repentance and confession. (See James v. 13-16, and 1 John v. 16.) And how often may you see a Christian like Asa. He fails grievously, and refuses to bow to his Father's afflicting hand. He gets chafed and angry. If it is in his circumstances, he will borrow money wherever he can get it, and thus struggle against the hand of God. And if it is affliction of the body, he may struggle against God in the same disobedient spirit. He refuses for a time to rely on God his Father, and to return to Him, in confession and humiliation.

It is not going to the physician that is so wrong, but the state of his soul in doing so, as to his sin, and the Lord's claims. Nay, where there is brokenness of spirit, as in the case of Hezekiah, as he explains this matter when he had been sick, the Lord may use the physician —indeed he used Isaiah as a physician. No doubt there was faith, but there was also a plaister made of a lump of figs laid upon the boil. (Is. xxxviii. 21.) And are there not many physicians who never go to see a patient, but who first look to the Lord

for guidance as to what remedy they shall prescribe?

Afflictions are not always because of some failure. This was not the case in Hezekiah. (Is. xxxviii.) His history up to this point is beautiful and refreshing to read. But the Lord saw a great temptation coming upon him, in the letters, and flatteries, and presents of the king of Babylon. His affliction and restoration should have prepared him against the seductions of the enemy. If we are not conscious of some sin, for which the Lord is afflicting us in His love, let us take it as a warning, and look to the Lord for increased watchfulness lest we are entangled in the flatteries of Babylon. In every one of these Old Testament histories we see a picture of our own experience.

The writer looks back over more than half a century of the experience of his own failures and God's goodness, and he can say, "It was good for me that I was afflicted." Deep humiliation, surely, becomes him that he needed those afflictions, but he could not have done without them, and would not have been without them. The Lord doeth all things well. But we hope shortly to turn to the New Testament scriptures you refer to; in the meantime let us remember that, Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." (Ps. xxxiv. 19.)

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CORRESPONDENCE.

15. "S. S.," Southampton. You ask, "Will you kindly tell me what dependence is? I try to work myself up to be dependent; I try to work up a certain amount of feeling," &c. Will you read what Jesus said when they brought unto Him infants? Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein." (Luke xviii. 15-17.) Does the little child resting in its mother's arms of love, try to work itself up to be dependent? Does it try to work up a certain amount of feeling? Does it even try to love that tender, loving mother that cares for it every moment? The flesh is ever restless, and distrusting. But dependence is, as born of God, to rest in confiding trust in Him whose love and care of us can never change.

No doubt you know something of the terrible evil of the flesh; but have you given it up as God has said, "The end of all flesh has come before me?" If we really accept this, God's conclusion as to the flesh, as to self, then we cease from "trying to work ourselves up." What a long, a life's lesson, to learn that we are nothing, and to rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no contidence in the flesh. The trying to work ourselves up is a clear proof we have a little bit of confidence left in flesh. We may talk of being dead with Christ; but a dead man does not work himself up. Now instead of trying, just look through the scriptures, and see what God has made Christ to be to you.

We now come to the sixth stage, or epoch, of the history of Christendom. And whilst Popery and Protestantism still continue to the end, yet, in the address to Philadelphia we get a new display of the Spirit's energy. In the midst of, and succeeding, that which had a name to live and was dead, the Lord Himself (not any ecclesiastical system) is presented as the object and centre of attraction to the children of God. Yes, while Romanism and Protestantism are running their course of failure, there are those found whom the Lord can address as the angel, as representing the church.

May our eyes be opened to behold Him, and our ears to hear Him. Thus He speaks to us. "These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth." You will notice, this is different from the revelation of Jesus as Judge, in the midst of the churches, in the first chapter. In the midst of all the failure of the church, He is revealed to us as He that is holy, He that is true. It is not the church, but Christ Himself. Are we occupied by, and attracted to, Him, or