of man to man" (Proverbs xxvii. 19), and "He fashioneth their hearts alike" (Psalm xxxiii. 15). We must allow all men come from Adam and are not different one from another in God's sight, however mysterious this may seem. I accept it, and do not consider myself better than any other being breathing. I believe there is a spiritual child of God in every one, which is his true self, and was with us in Christ before the world began, and will be with us in the eternal future.

THE TWO KINGDOMS.

The world contains the people of two kingdoms, acknowledging two separate kings and two separate systems of government. The one is an everlasting, undefiled, and incorruptible kingdom; the other is mortal, defiled, and corruptible. Christ is the King of the Kingdom of God, and the Devil, anti-Christ, is the king of the kingdom of the earth. "My kingdom is not of this world" (John xviii. 36). The Kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom; that of the earth is an earthly or fleshly kingdom, The people of God are united by spiritual union to their King; the people of the earth are united by fleshly ties to their king. The people of God are hidden from the eyes of the people of the earth, owing to their union being spiritual. The people of the earth only look on things seen and created, which are temporal; while the people of God look on things not seen and uncreated, which are eternal.

The one people look to this world as their home; their efforts are to ameliorate it, and render it mòre of a resting-place-thence all temperance and similar societies. If all disease, pain, sorrow, and care. were removed, they would desire no other home; and even though these are not removed, yet their desire is still for this world, in which all their joys and pleasures are found. The other people look on this world as a wilderness, in which they are sojourners and pilgrims. To them the removal of all pain, disease, sorrow, and care would still make it no home. They have no abiding city. here, but are strangers. "They seek a country

a better, that is, a heavenly country," for they are not of this world (Hebrews xi. 14, 16). To the one, death is the end of all their hopes; to the other, death is the gate of everlasting life. One king will be in all the glory of the flesh, a man to be admired; the other King came in the lowest form of the flesh, a man to be despised. The one will have power over the treasures of gold and silver and the precious things of this world; the other had nothing in this world, not even a place where to lay His head. The one will rule all flesh; the other was forsaken by all men. The one will rule by the wisdom and reason of the flesh; the other rules by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is incomprehensible and foolishness to the flesh. There is a "wisdom of God" and a "fleshly wisdom" (2 Corinthians i. 12). The one people proclaim God to be glorified by their acts; the other pro

claim God glorified by the Holy Ghost's spiritual working in them, in virtue of their union with Christ. The one cling to outward forms and ceremonies as essential, and to outward displays of godliness, to circumcision, or cleansing of the flesh, to be seen of man, whose praise is more sought for than that of God. "They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John xii. 43). The other look on outward forms and ceremonies as non-essential to inward spiritual purity; to the mortification, death, and burial of the flesh as a thing utterly corrupt; and to be seen of God, whose praise is to be more sought for than that of man. The one look to their works to make them children of God; and the other look on themselves as children of God by grace, and therefore they do the works. The one look to be saved at last; the other look on themselves as saved already. The one exclaim against murder, drunkenness, lasciviousness, and stealing, but are guilty of uncharitableness, malice, &c., inward sins. The other people look on the "inward sins" as being as bad as those outwardly committed. The one people hold the other in captivity, making them conform to their rules and their views.

As in the world there are two peoples, so in each individual there are two principles-the flesh and the spirit- the one holding the other in bondage—one born of man, the other born of God; one mortal and sinful, the other immortal and righteous; one of the earth, earthy, the other

of heaven, heavenly; one loving the praise of man, the other loving the praise of God.

The Assyrian and the Israelite, the one holding the other in captivity by the power given by God, will be eventually judged by Him; their destruction will be sudden. The captives are not to rebel; their captivity is only temporal, and will be broken by another power at a decreed time. The destruction of the flesh is the release of the soul; the one serves the law of God, the other the law of sin.

As in Babylon many captive Israelites forgot their origin (Nehemiah xiii. 23, 24), and looked on themselves as Assyrians, so in the world many children of God forget their origin, and contend for the things of this world; and, while animated by spiritual impulses, are still struggling for the amelioration of this flesh, not clearly seeing its doom.

The duty of the children of God under the bondage of the children of this world is to wait. till God delivers them from the same, for it is He who gives the power to make them captive. That bondage to forms and ceremonies and to the things of this world cannot be broken by their means, such as by austerities or seclusion from the world; it must be by the power of God, and must be patiently waited and prayed for. Inwardly, when the soul accepts the gross wickedness of the body as a bondage under which it has been subjected for a time (and after which that body will be judged),

then it is in its proper condition. Oppressed, it prays for redemption; it sees the necessity for the destruction of the flesh, and rejoices as it wears out day by day. As in the Old Testament the Assyrian held the Israelite in bondage for seventy years (Jeremiah xxv. 11), so will the body hold the soul in bondage three score and ten years—the age of man (Psalm xc. 10).

LUKE III. 3.

A man unknown to the outward world preaches the necessity of change or returning, if sins are to be remitted or put away. John preached the inward cleansing of the fleshly mind, the Pharisees preached the outward cleansing of the flesh. Jesus preached the death of the fleshly mind, and that the flesh was utterly corrupt. The Pharisees preached that man had power to be holy; their idea of holiness was outward show and ceremony, and was gauged by the praise of man. John preached that man had power to be holy; his idea of holiness was that it was inward: he testified that his ministry was only a precursor to one of a higher description, the cleansing effects of which would be as superior to his as fire is to water.

John's idea was the reform of abuses; to him the world was capable of amelioration. Jesus's doctrine was the utter corruption of the world, the hopelessness of anything good being derived from it; He preached the condemned state of it, and