Him who alone can do it, to repair these breaches in His house, to take away these ignorances and perversions of His truth, to make whatever of truth one part holds above another the common heritage of all, and so to reconstitute His church into a corporate unity that she can contain and give out for the world's healing that life and strength and blessing of which He ordained her to be the channel.

And here will be found the reconciliation of the two theories of the relation of the Lord's coming to this her triumph. Neither the pre-millenialist nor the postmillenialist imagines that this triumph can ever come apart from His manifested power. And how can this be without His personal presence? On either theory there must be a coming of the Lord. Even the post-millenialist looks for such triumphant spiritual power in the Church as shall bruise Satan under her feet. The other class, more consistently with Scripture, we think, look for such a rising tide of this power as shall break down the barriers between things seen and unseen, destroy physical as well as moral evil, and remove the veil that now hides the face of Christ. His glory is to be revealed. The saints are to be transformed by it, and the whole earth is to be lightened with it. But, in either case, there must be a greater readiness in the Church for His coming than can possibly be the case while the stewards of His house are at strife among themselves, and putting the interests of their respective factions above the interests of the whole body. Who can doubt but that, if the Church had remained faithful, her Lord would long since have parted the heavens which have received Him, and

that the promised times of the restitution of all things would have begun. Manifestly then her first duty, before she concerns herself so much about the world, is to be more concerned about herself. She will never cast out these devils from the disordered body of mankind, until these demons of discord are exorcised from her own breast. Nor will her Lord come to qualify her for this high office until at least a priestly company out of her scattered bands shall come together on the simple ground of their unity of faith and life in Christ to confess for themselves and their brethren the sin of this divided state, and to beseech Him to set up again His tabernacle which is broken down, and to fill it with the light and power of His own blessed presence.

Are there no souls behind the veil

That need the help of guiding hand;
Weak hearts that cannot understand
Why Earth's poor dreams of Heaven must fail?
Are there no prison doors to ope,

No lambs to gather in the fold,

No treasure-house of new and old,
To meet each wish and crown each hope?
We know not; but if life be there

The outcome and the crown of this,

What else can make their perfect bliss
Than in the Master's work to share?

Resting, but not in slumb'rous ease,
Working, but not in wild unrest,
Still ever blessing, ever blest,
They see us, as the Father sees.

-Dean Plumptre.

STUDIES IN THE BIBLE,

GEHENNA.

In conformity with John the Baptist's announcement of the Messiah's mission, we find Jesus beginning his ministry with the searching, sifting doctrine of the Sermon on the Mount.

Nothing that was false or corrupt or pretentious or unjust could find place in the new kingdom which He came to found. To enter into the life of that kingdom all that was evil in the old life must be given to the burning. "If thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee." "And if thy right hand causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body be cast into hell" (Gehenna) (Matt. v. 29, 30).

At various other times we find Jesus warning men against this great danger. In sending out His disciples to preach, He urged them not to fear them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: "but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (x. 28). In Matthew xviii. we have the warning repeated that it is far better to sacrifice hand or foot or eye rather than having two hands or two feet or two eyes 'to be cast into the eternal fire." This expression in verse 8 is only another form of stating that which in verse 9 is described as a being "cast into the hell of fire." A comparison of these two verses shows that these two Scripture phrases, "eternal fire" and "Ge

henna of fire," are equivalent. They denote one and the same punishment.

We find the same word again in the denunciation of the Pharisees (Matt. xxiii. 15, 33), who would compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and who, under their tutelage, would become two-fold more a child of hell than themselves. In still more bitter words he calls them the offspring of vipers, who could by no means escape the damnation of hell. In Mark ix. the words in Matthew xviii. are repeated, except that here we have the phrases "unquenchable fire," the "fire that is not quenched," used to describe the fire of hell. Another expression," where their worm dieth not," is added here, derived from Isa. lxvi. 24. The words in Isaiah, which furnish the Old Testament basis for the New Testament usage, relate to the utter destruction of the Lord's enemies." "And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." In this passage there can be no reference to an endless torment of these transgressors. It is their dead bodies which are in view, upon which the worms prey unceasingly and the fires feed with a consuming energy which nothing can avert. That this passage does not imply the eternal torment of those cast into the fire, is manifest from the words appended in verses 49 and 50 (R. V.,) For every one shall be salted with fire. Salt is good but if the salt have lost its saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace one with another." This whole discourse of Jesus

was designed to enjoin humility and self-sacrifice upon his disciples, who had been disputing one with another as to who should be greatest. By setting a little child in the midst of them, by shewing them that their honor and reward would be found in lowly service, He taught them that whatever in them caused them to offend against this principle of self-sacrifice they should lop off and cast away. In this way, by a loss of a part, they should save the whole. It was far better thus to enter into life" and "into the kingdom of God." For it is the law of life that it can be preserved only in this way. "Every one shall be salted with fire." Salt is itself enduring, and it preserves other substances from decay. The salt here is this spirit of self-sacrifice. This preserves the life from destruction. It gives over to the burning the evils of the life. If men possess it not, they must themselves be cast into the fire. For every one, saint and sinner, must be salted with this fire which burns up selfseeking and destroys the old man. If men lose this spirit, what shall take its place or do in them its saving work? "If the salt lose its true character, wherewith shall ye season it?" "Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with another." That is, admit this principle of self-surrender into the core of your being. This will silence all such disputes and make you at peace one with another. How men can derive a doctrine of the everlasting torment of sinful men in a hell of fire from these words, spoken not to men indiscriminately, but to disciples to teach them the law of self-preservation, is marvelous indeed. The most that could possibly be drawn. from it would be the destruction in the fire of those who