Reading, on "The Gospel in Ezekiel; " Rev. Thos. Vasey, of Bacup, on "The Church of Christ: Its Present Mission and Future Destiny; Rev. B. B. Wale, of High Wycombe, on "The Pre-Millennial Advent: Its Nature, Necessity, and Nearness; " Rev. W. Leask, D.D., of London, on "Witnessing." This last was the crowning meeting of the Conference; and the audience, of quite 500 persons, had repeatedly to find vent for its deeply-stirred feelings in applause.

Thus closed the fourth and best Conference yet held; its members departing thankful for the past and hopeful for the future.

CYRUS E. BROOKS, Secretary.

NOTICES.

"J. D." (Kulpara). Thanks.

We are glad that our teaching has cheered you in life's journey, and thankful to the Master that you are only one of hundreds that have borne similar testimony. This is our reward. It is a priceless editorial salary, although it is not convertible into gold.

"G. L. D." Our contention is simply for the purity of Divine truth. It has come through fearfully corrupt channels; and our work is to rescue it from the pollution, as far as our limited means will allow. We are quite sure that any help rendered to this cause must be a Christian service.

"The Ministry of Evil." Readers of the Editor's tract thus named, will have the goodness to correct two errors of the press which he did not see until a large edition was printed: p. 7, second line from bottom, draw the pen through "not." On p. 8, line 14 from top, read seemeth for seemed.

"A. B. C." The Jews are making efforts for establishing a colony in the district of Gilead and Moab, and have secured a grant from the Sultan of 1,500,000 acres of land for the purpose, for which they are to pay a large amount of money.

"J. C. Mc C." writes: Many thanks for your excellent editorials in the two last issues on the all-important subject of THE KINGDOM; the various bearings of which are so indispensable to the knowledge of the revealed will of God: that, without their recognition, it is simply impossible to comprehend His purposes so clearly revealed therein.

"T. T." Mahomet, or Mahommed, was born in Mecca, in Arabia, in or about A.D. 569. He began his pretended mission A.D. 609, in the fortieth year of his age. "Hegira" means the flight, i.e., of Mahomet from Mecca, from which the magistrates, fearing his impostures might foment sedition, expelled him, July 16, A.D. 622, under the reign of the emperor Heraclius. When the Turkish empire, the seat and stronghold of Islam, is dissolved-and the process of dissolution is very rapid, as all the world knows-"the times of the Gentiles" will close, with the exception of the brief reign of Antichrist, and then the House of Israel will be found in the land of promise. There are great events at hand!

THE RAINBOW:

A Magazine of Christian Literature, with Special Reference to the Revealed Future of the Church and the World.

SALVA

NOVEMBER, 1881.

REWARDS OF FIDELITY.*

ALVATION being by grace and contrary to personal desert, it would be very evil to speak of eternal life, immortality, and celestial glory as being Divine rewards. But the Scriptures do teach the doctrine of Divine rewards to be conferred on account of sufferings endured in the path of spiritual service, and of fidelity to the name and truth of the Lord.

1. Speaking generally, an apostle says, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." And the same apostle, when about to lose his life on account of Christ, and his service to Christ, said, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me in that day."

Another apostle, when exhorting to ministerial fidelity, gentleness, and self-abnegation, as the servants, and not the lords, of the flock of Christ, says, " And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." And the Lord Himself has said, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life."

2. Paul exhorted the believers in Corinth to pursue a course of practical fidelity to Christ, and illustrated his exhortation by an allusion to the Isthmian games with which they were familiar. His exhortation was addressed to saved persons, to whom he said, "So run that you may obtain." He compared himself to the marshal or herald who proclaimed the order and rules to be observed by the athlete who contended for the crowns to be awarded; and showed that he himself conformed to the rules of the spiritual

*See "The First Adam and the Last Adam." W. H. Guest,

Paternoster Row.

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course to which he exhorted others, saying, "So run I, therefore, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air; but I keep my body under and bring it into subjection, lest possibly, having proclaimed to others (the rules to be observed) I myself should be unapproved." The Greek term adokimos, which in the English is translated "a castaway," means simply to be unable to stand the test or to be unapproved, as an aspirant for a crown; and does not relate to the subject of salvation.

The aphorism, "No cross, no crown," when correctly understood, represents a true doctrine, the doctrine of Divine reward; but if used in respect to salvation, it would be heathenish and evil. The exhortation, "So run that you may obtain," should be calmly considered; for, in this spiritual course, the motive and aim must not be to win a crown, but to serve and honour the Lord.

3. Treating of the superstructure of Christian doctrine, the Apostle Paul says, "I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let each take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no one lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any one build on this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw; the work of each shall be made manifest; for the day will show it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire will test the work of each, of what sort it is. If any man's work remain which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire."

Herein, the theme is ministerial work and responsibility, and the manifestation of results in the day of the Lord. The contrast instituted is of great moment.

(a) In mentioning gold, silver, precious stones, the apostle alludes to their emblematic meanings in the construction of the Tabernacle, and in the breastplate of the high priest. In accordance with those emblematic meanings the gold signifies the manifestive and appreciable excellencies or moral glory of God; the silver signifies redemption; and the precious stones, the saints of God, as represented by the Son of God, their Great High Priest.

Therefore, to build gold, means to unfold and teach the truth concerning the moral glory of God, as manifested in the scheme of His manifold wisdom, and of the riches of His grace, for bringing many sons to glory, who shall be conformed to the likeness of his Son in eternal life. To build silver, is faithfully to teach the truth concerning the redemption which the Son of God accomplished on the cross-redemption unto God, even eternal redemption. And to build precious stones, is to teach God's estimate of His saints, as associated and even identified with His Son, as borne upon His heart in the presence of the Father, and as reflecting the light and glory of the eternal throne.

(b) But the wood, hay, stubble, represent doctrines which are

alien to the truth of God, and are according to the teachings and traditions of men. The wood does, perhaps, represent the idea of utilitarian teaching on the evil principle of expediency; the hay, or grass, that teaching which has for its object the religious culture of the flesh, or mere psychical man; and the stubble would seem to denote that kind of wordy and worthless talk which is not unknown at the present time-" vain babblings."

(c) It is assumed that all the builders contemplated acknowledge the one foundation, and are themselves believers in Him. And it is taught that the work of each will be judged in that day, and that each will be caused to know the moral judgment of the Lord on the work which he has done, whether good or bad; and each will thus learn whether his ministerial work was approved or disapproved. Those whose teaching has been according to the emblematic meaning of the wood, hay, and stubble-while they themselves are saved-shall consciously suffer loss. And those who have faithfully taught the truth of God, as symbolised by the gold, silver, and precious stones, shall receive a reward.

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4. The same Divine principles will be applied in that day to the works of all the saved. This the same apostle has taught saying, Wherefore, whether present or absent, we aim earnestly at being well-pleasing to Him, for we must all appear before the tribunal (beema) of Christ, so that each may receive the things (done) through the body, according to that which was practised (as a part of their religious profession), whether good or bad."

The saints themselves "shall not come into judgment," neither shall their sins be brought to remembrance; but their works will be judged of the Lord, those works in the practice of which they have professedly served Him. And each shall be caused to know and entertain the moral judgment of Christ, respecting the works done, either really in accordance with His revealed will, or from a false zeal, and erroneous thoughts and intents. And in the case of each there shall be either a consciousness of loss, or a conscious possession of the approbation of the Lord and a distinguishing mark of His complacency in the service rendered to Him in honour of His name, and in fidelity to the truth of His Word. The practically faithful shall receive an everlasting reward.

It would appear that this judgment of the works and ways of the saints shall be after they have met the Lord in the air, and before they are led into the place which He has gone to prepare for them; and then He will present them to the Father, "spotless and with exceeding joy."

WILLIAM MORRIS.

464

THE REIGN OF GRACE.

"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us . . . full of grace and truth. The law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."-John i. 14, 17.

The law entered, that the offence might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."-Rom. v. 20-21.

6.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast."-Eph. ii. 8-9.

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RACE is kindness, favour, benignity, free gift, undeserved blessing. Dispensation is the economy or arrangement during whose continuance God deals with men in any given way. Its duration is fixed by Him who does all things according to the counsel of His own will. The dispensation of the law began with Sinai in the wilderness, and ended with Calvary when the Lord was crucified. The dispensation of grace began when the Gospel was sent to the Gentiles, and will end when the Saviour comes for His Church. Then will begin the dispensation of judgment, or righteousness, when the Lord in righteousness will judge the earth. More strictly still, the dispensation, or reign of grace, began at the day of Pentecost, and will close at the second coming of Christ. This is the age or world in which it is our privilege to live; and when the next age, or world to come, shall begin, we, if we avail ourselves of the grace that now reigns, shall then reach a higher, better, and more perfect state of being than can be reached in the flesh.

The dispensation of grace has lasted already nearly nineteen centuries, a very long period in the estimation of beings so shortlived as we are, but God's eras, or ages, are not to be measured by our narrow conceptions. The distance before His eye; the circumference through which His thoughts range; and the ends to be served through countless ages by what He has done and will yet do in connection with this mysterious world, are all immeasurably beyond our ken. Our reach of sight is feeble. Much has been revealed, much more, in fact, than many of us think; but the unrevealed because by us impossible of comprehension-must, from the nature of the case, be inconceivably vast in extent and wonderful in character. This much, however, is certain: God has been pleased to select man's dwelling-place as the scene of surprising exhibitions of His wisdom and power. He has made it the centre of influences that reach His own throne and stretch far away across ages upon ages, for which man has no arithmetic.

Hitherto all that we have seen, fearfully dark from the merely human point of view though much of it is, has nevertheless been of a progressive order from a lower to a higher state of things. Each movement on God's part has been in advance, a slow but