The wilderness Hope will be The race will have been run. Days for faith, and times of failure, will have passed for ever. journey will be an event of the past. realized. The prize possessed. The glory of God and of the Lamb actually enjoyed. The path began with our being "in Christ," and it ends with our being with Christ, and like Christ for ever. As to the end, there is no doubt for those who are Christ's. Jesus said, “I will raise him up at the last day;" and He is faithful that promised. He cannot deny Himself. Hence we can truly sing— "We nightly pitch our moving tent Some of the hindrances to devotedness are touched on in the fourth chapter. We may briefly refer, first, to a want of yieldingness-"Let your moderation (yieldingness) be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand;" and secondly, the heart burdened with cares—“ Be careful for nothing." (vv. 5, 6.) If we trace the ways of Jesus, we never find Him contending for His rights, though He was the only one here who had a right to every thing. But His mind was always to do the will of Him that sent Him. He yielded Himself wholly and unreservedly to the Father's will. A Christian leaves the path of devotedness, the moment he contends for his own rights. He can afford to yield, for "the Lord is at hand;" and men should know us as such: "Let your yieldingness be known unto all men." We are to "contend" for one thing, and that "earnestly;" it is "for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." We are enjoined also to be "careful for nothing," for when cares are pressing on the mind, our communion with Him, who enjoins us to cast all our care upon Him, for He careth for us, becomes interrupted, and we are weakened and checked in the path of devotedness. It is when our yieldingness is known to men, we are careful for nothing, and all our requests made known unto God, that the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. And it is when our hearts and minds are occupied with the truth and ways of God, doing His will, that the "God of peace" will be with us. DOUBLE-MINDEDNESS; Or, Lamenting after the Lord. I SAM. vii. T is one thing to be a Christian, it is another thing to be a happy Christian. To know the Scripture doctrine of the believer's position and privileges is very different from having the possession and enjoyment of them. The fact is, that we are slow to enter upon, and make our own, the blessings God has graciously given us in Christ. In Samuel's day, the people were characterized for a long time by lamenting after the Lord; and this, we fear, describes the state of heart of thousands of Christians now. They are desiring rather than possessing -longing for instead of enjoying fellowship with the Lord Himself; hoping to have, instead of entering into God's thoughts and purposes, and tasting His joys. Why is this? In Israel's day there was unjudged evil among them, and the eye and heart were not single. Hence they were told to "put away the strange gods, and Ashtaroth," and also to "serve the Lord only." So now there are "strange gods," some things occupying the heart contrary to the truth, something between the soul and the Lord; it may be the world, its pride, wealth, honour, pleasure, in some shape or other; or it may be darling lusts, self-love, self-exaltation, or something else cherished or allowed, which the word of God positively condemns. The eye, therefore, cannot be single, nor the heart only desiring the glory of God-serving Him only. The affections are not set on heavenly things; the eye and heart are not exercised in the life and walk of faith; and things of time and sense so occupy the soul, that there is desire to have rather than present possession and enjoyment, so that, like Israel of old, they go on year after year lamenting after the Lord. (vv. 2, 3.) The people, however, hearkened to the prophet's counsel. They were willing to think badly of their ways. They took the place of self-judgment. Their errors were made manifest. They determined at all costs to separate from evil. They were conscious of having sinned. They saw that their strange gods and Ashtaroth had displaced and dishonoured Jehovah. They resolved therefore to "cease to do evil," by putting them away from among them. So far this was good, but the next step would be "learning to do well." Separation from known evil was not enough-they were to pursue positive godliness and devotedness. We, therefore, read of their humiliation before God for such deep dishonour to Him, fasting before the Lord, confession, saying, "We have sinned;" and of taking the place of conscious weakness, and of relying only upon the strength of the living God, as their desire for the prophet's prayer plainly intimated. This was learning to do well. The result was that they were soon delivered from the power of the enemy that had so long oppressed them, and their joy in the true God was manifest by their setting up a stone, and calling it "Eben-ezer; saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." (vv. 4–12.) How simple is all this, and yet how full of instruction and admonition to us! What searching of heart and ways should this inspired account produce in us! If our walk be so careless that unjudged sin is covered up, no marvel that the Holy Spirit is so grieved that we are not possessing and enjoying the Lord's presence and truth. And if the eye be not single, and the heart really set upon serving Him, and Him only, it is not surprising that weakness and lamentation characterize us both individually and collectively. How different is the condition of saints as contemplated in the epistles. There we read "we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Being "in Christ," "complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power," our state is supposed to be rejoicing in the Lord always, rejoicing evermore, rejoicing in Christ Jesus-happy, and making others happy. It is a mark of our being really happy in the Lord when we are making others happy. As love provokes love, so there is something infectious in real spiritual joy. Who visits saints much, and does not often prove this? If we cannot make others happy in the Lord, the inference is strong that our own souls are at a low ebb. The apostle said, We "comfort others with the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." Is it not possible that the standard of practical godliness is too low among us? To have as much of the world as possible, and to satiate the desires of the flesh as far as can be, and still to maintain credit among the saints of being "consistent Christians," as the term is, may be the conventional thought of this day; but it will not do, for such a standard opens wide the door to many a "strange god," and gives a lodging-place to many an Ashtaroth." Whether we think of ourselves as individuals, or of the church of God collectively, there can be but one question as to the standard of |