be. We may not reach to the measure of Paul, but He who washes our feet has said, "I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you." T. H. R.

"THINE. .. AND ON THY SIDE."

1 CHRONICLES XII. 18.

The

THE intense applicability of the truth conveyed by these words at this time, cannot be called in question. supreme inquiry of the moment is, who are practically the Lord's, and who are on His side?

The

The order, too, is striking and significant, for it is first whose we are. circumstances in which David was at this juncture, are familiar to all who search the scriptures; he was in a rejected and outcast position, and this became of itself the test--his position manifested those who were true to his person and interests.

But it is not a little interesting

that those who thus declare themselves through Amasai, chief of the captains, as true to the person and fortune, if we may so say, of the rejected and despised man of Ziklag, were men who went over Jordan in the first month, when it had overflown all his banks." And further, it is said of them in this connection, that "they put to flight all them of the valleys, both toward the east and toward the west." Now, it is blessed to ponder and meditate on that which is set forth in this, to see that all true power, true affection, and true devotedness, spring from the other side of Jordan; death is the door to Christ in heaven, or to follow Him with whole-heartedness on earth. It has ever been so, Elisha's newly acquired mantle of power, received from the one to whom he separated himself (2 Kings ii. 2-14), leads him, ere he uses it, to Jordan, as well. Alas, how little such a solemn reality as this, has set its mark upon the saints as a whole! Not only are carnal wisdom, earthlymindedness, and worldliness, allowed to

pass unexposed and unrebuked, but it has been even attempted with disastrous effects to press them into the service and testimony of the Lord. Let us be well assured that we must leave behind in death practically, self and its surroundings, ere we can follow the true David in His rejection, and be devoted to His Person and interests on earth yes, that to us impassable river, until He made a road through it by going into it Himself, is the secret of all true loyalty of heart to Him, is moreover the secret of all power by the Spirit in service for Him during the long, weary night of His absence.

"Thine are we.' Now this was as regards David more than words; first it was with these Benjamite acts, for they were separated men, who had gone out to David, to the despised place; these words, of such dreadful import to many in these days, demonstrated the reality of David's faithful followers; they might well say to David, "Thine are we," having proved it so clearly. Are we so acting and expressing to

our rejected Lord and Master in these days? Have we acted and spoken in the spirit of "Thine are we"? Alas, how little, must be the truthful answer of every heart and conscience at all awake and exercised; but more than this, how little even do we measure, or judge, or weigh things in relation to Christ! Hence, the insensibility that seems to have set in, the frosts and snows of the winter of the soul, the icy coldness that seems to have asserted its influence on so many hearts; oh, that we might, as a whole, be awakened out of this sleep, this death-like slumber, by His own voice, saying to us in power, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from amongst the dead." But how little plain do we make it appear that we are Christ's, and yet we in language and speech own Him as our Lord; but where are the proofs that He is so really to us? Where, it may be asked, is our subjection to His authority, to His will, to His word? Self-importance, self-justification, self-assertion, selfexaltation, in its most specious forms,

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is the sad crop occupying the ground where fruit for Him should have been found.

"Thine are we." Most searching words where reality and uprightness of heart are found, and the very contrast with, and the opposite to, the prevailing spirit of the hour, "with our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is Lord over us.' But further, observe, that to be really where we can take that place with Christ, and be, as well as say, "Thine are we," Jordan must not only be passed when it had overflown all its banks, that is, death, in faith accepted by us in all its extent, but it must be carried by us as well (2 Cor. iv. 10), and carried by us, not once, or in a way, but "always." Oh, the reality of the "dying of Jesus;" that is the death we must always carry but how unsparing it is; nothing of man, not to speak of nature or flesh, can be tolerated here. Why is it we sce and hear so much of man? Is it not because this great reality is avoided by many, refused by others, and dreaded