by all? Lord, help us always to bear about in our bodies the dying of Jesus!

"Thine are we." This, we may be assured, is the desire of the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ as to all that are His own; they are in fact, blessed be His name, His own; His own too whom He loves right on to the end, through everything, and in spite of all! We may well say, what should we do if it were not so? But the fact underlies the great practical truth we seek to enforce, even that what is true of us in His amazing grace and love, should be practically recognised and acted upon by us. How blessed to see it in the apostle of the Gentiles, he who followed Christ as none before or since, and to see it declared in a moment of human suspense and emergency, even when in the shipwreck all hope of being saved was taken away; what words of comfort from the mouth of a poor prisoner, as he opens it to comfort and cheer the despairing and the overwhelmed "There stood by me this night, the angel of God, whose I am,

and whom I serve." Mark those blessed words well, "whose I am;" what dignity, what confidence, what affection, these utterances breathe; Oh, that the beloved saints of God tasted of the liberty of belonging to Christ; exclusively and entirely to be to Him, "a garden enclosed, a spring shut up, a foundation sealed"—that is, fully, finally, and only for Him! "Whose I am,' ""Thine are we;" our happy confession to Himself and to all around us in acts and in words.

But we have also another mark of true devotedness in their further confession to the rejected David-" and on thy side;" indeed, we might say this is the simple consequence of "Thine are we." How grateful to the heart of David this confession at this moment, hunted as he was, like a partridge on the mountains. It is just this that one sees the immense lack of at the present time. "Who is on the Lord's side, who?" may well be asked. Now, indeed, every side has its adherents and supporters, but, alas, how few take

sides with Christ; and, moreover, there is a lack of perception, a density of spiritual understanding, and blindness of spiritual vision, as to His claims and rights. His presence in the midst of His gathered saints is deemed compatible with moral and doctrinal leaven; His truth, yea, even about Himself as the exalted Man in glory, Head of a new creation, with all the blessed consequences to His own, is reviled and sneered at by those who once professed to love it. The profession (alas, it is to be feared, in many cases little more than profession) of His name and His rejected place on earth, is allied with earthly-mindedness and worldliness in its many phases; "divine ground," as it is called, is rudely grasped as a platform upon which man in the flesh is exalted, and the many appliances to further this end, such as ambition of various kinds, covetous grasping after money, with the pride and oppression that ever accompany it, are all here in full energy; and if any are found with enough of conscience, not to say

devotedness to Christ even, to make a stand against this growing tide, they are accounted as an extreme party, to be avoided and shunned at all cost.

These are sad and sorrowful matters to be met and faced by us if we would be in truth and verity on Christ's side, and loyal to His interests, who is our rejected Master and Lord. Is it to be wondered at, that the infidel, the freethinker, the scoffer of the age, should all demand with a kind of triumphant sneer, "Where are the disciples, friends, and witnesses, of the rejected Man, who had in the world but a manger at His birth, a gibbet between two thieves at His death, and no place where to lay His head in His life?" May we take this to heart more really and truly than we have done-"on thy side." Oh, that the blessedness of it, the joy of being associated with Christ in His present sorrow and rejection, because devoted to Him in the power of His love, might be more ours in His grace; what a reality to find in Him one worth losing all for, if only to be in

company with Him; this is the one desire and aim of the devoted heart, its single object to be only with Him, whether in heaven or on earth. "Thine are we, and on thy side "—the language of its loyalty and its love. Another thought, and we have finished; the day of Christ's rejection by the world is fast drawing to a close; the opportunity for love to express itself in devotion to its object will soon be past. He who is the Man of patience now will soon return to become the Man of joy for ever. All His own will make up the substance of His joy for ever; but oh, to meet His heart somewhat now; to walk with Him now; to be on His side now! May the Lord give purpose of heart for this, by endearing His blessed Son more to our affections, for His name's sake. W. T. T.

WHY ARE WE HERE ? THE Lord has two reasons for keeping us here. One, to fit us for the place which Te has appointed for us in the future