fessedly gathered to Him would but offer unto the Lord the spoil. And what purpose and diligence is expected of us! if they were bid "to seek the LORD GOD of their fathers with all their heart, and with all their soul." Fellow believers, is it so with us? What is our profession worth if it is not?

hearts.

The Lord stir up all

If we are in His presence, there must, and will be holy discipline. "That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman." There must be no toleration of the flesh: "Baptised into his death." "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him." The old man must be treated as dead. How little we have learnt this lesson! But if the Lord is with us, there must not be room for a bit of self. Yes, there was purpose of heart, no lukewarmness:

They sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting." "And all Judah rejoiced at the oath for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about." (Vers. 14, 15.)

We know it is not for us now to make covenants, or to swear oaths. But should there be less earnestness or purpose of heart in lowly dependence on the Spirit of God? May the Lord arouse us every one to seek the Lord in the

midst of His saints truly gathered to His name, with all our hearts, with our whole desire. Is the Holy and the True our whole desire? He who loved us, and gave Himself for us; He who loves us to the end; He whom we shall so soon see! Is He our whole desire? They "sought him with their whole desire." If this is not the case, that which merely professes to be gathered to Him would soon become Laodicea, and He outside. And what was the result when they sought Him with their whole desire? "He was found of them." Precious words of encouragement to them, and to us. Yes, to the end it will be so. If but two or three seek Him with their whole desire, He will be found of them. Shall we

doubt this? It was to Jerusalem they were gathered together, for there He had recorded His name. But long before this He had said, "In all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee." (Ex. xx. 24.) And long after this, He said to us, concerning His assembly, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Yes, His presence is our Jerusalem. There He is found of us, if we seek Him with our whole desire.

'And the Lord gave them rest round about." When he had finished redemption, and risen from the dead, did He not stand in the midst and say, "Peace to you," perfect peace, perfect

rest? There is not only peace of conscience, but peace, rest of heart, found in His blest presence that can be found nowhere else. But let us beware of the cold-hearted indifference of Laodicea. There is not one thing the Lord can approve in that condition of soul. (Rev. iii. 15-18.)

Many Christians have great difficulty in giving up their favourite idol, the principle of what is called the mother-church, and gathering simply to Christ as at the beginning. It was really beautiful in Asa: "Concerning Maacha the mother of Asa, the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron." Yes, if we would enjoy the peaceful rest of His presence, all, and every idol must be given up. Surely there ought not to be a moment's hesitation betwixt Christ and the idolatry of even motherchurch, since she and her end is so fully described in Revelation xvii.

We would again repeat the caution, let not the reader apply these warnings and encouragements to the question of his soul's eternal salvation. That is wholly the work of Christ, and it is finished. But as it regards the condition of all assemblies, it would be impossible to overrate the importance of these words of Oded. May the Lord use them to stir up our hearts to seek

the Lord in the midst of His saints with all our heart, and all our desire.

The failure of Asa after all this reviving is also full of solemn warning: but for the present we close. C. S.

THE HARVEST OF WHEAT AND TARES.

II.

MATTHEW XIII.

"THE harvest is the end of the age." This is not the word which means "world." It is the end of the period of the kingdom in mystery whilst the king is in heaven. It is the judgment of the quick, or living. Not at all like the judgment of the dead as described in Revelation xx. The devil is not to sow his tares for ever. The harvest is the end of summer, it is not however the last day in the year. The fast approaching harvest is the end of this summer of grace. end of the present sowing of the Son of man, and the sowing of the devil; the end of the present mixed state of wheat and tares in the kingdom. It is the separating time-many things connected with this harvest are not explained here, but in the epistles, and by the Holy Ghost.

The

We will look, however, at the measure of explanation the Lord gives us. "He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good

seed is the Son of man." Yes, whatever means are used, whether the pen of the writer, or the lips of the speaker, it is the Son of man, using a man, or what He will, by the Holy Ghost. And mark, the field is not the church, but "the field is the world." The sowing would not be limited to Israel, but the whole world. This whole world belongs to the Son of man in heaven: and before He left, He commissioned His servants. to sow the seed in the whole world, to every nation.

He further explains that there are two parties in the world; He says, "The good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one." This evidently refers to that part of the world where this mixed state exists; what we call Christendom, Christ's kingdom, now He is in heaven. Now this is a very serious matter. All professors who are not "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God," are the children of the wicked one. And still equally solemn is the fact explained by the Lord, "The enemy that sowed them is the devil." Ah, we little think what power Satan is permitted to exercise in Christendom, while men sleep. In the very beginning of the sowing time, the apostle, speaking of the children of the wicked one, says, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of