MAN AND HIS FAILURES.

"Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions."-ECCLES. viii. 29.

WHEN God created Adam he was made in the image of his Creator,

after the image of him that created him. For the first and only time in the history of man, he was perfection, and possessed freewill. Perfect in knowledge, and perfect in holiness; but free will was too much for human nature to stand the test of Satan's temptation; he fell at the first onslaught, and was expelled from Eden. He listened to Satan's lie, accepted it, and thereby impeached the truth of God. The wreck is great, as we may learn from the dilapidated, devastated, and dismantled condition of those great faculties of the mind, the affections of the heart, and the inner and outer nature of man: just as we judge of a wreck by the torn and shattered timber washed ashore, or as we judge of the history of a house that has been shattered by the tempest or by the flash of lightning, and now lies in ruins. Man's defection from his primitive state was voluntary, and from the unconstrained choice of his own mutable and self-determined will: so that now, as we learn from experience as well as from Scripture, his nature has become universally depraved and sinful. After Eden and its failure, came the succeeding ages when God's Spirit strove with man until it ended in destruction in the days of Noah, and "every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, from man unto (LXX. et Vul.)* cattle, and the creeping things and the fowl of the heaven, and they were destroyed from the earth." (Gen. vii. 23.) With them perished the offspring of the "sons of God," and the "fair daughters of men."

Passing over the successive ages, including the Israelitish dispensation, which was, so far as man is concerned, a failure, and which has been swept away or trodden under foot of the Gentiles, until the "times of the Gentiles" be fulfilled, we pause at this termination of the age before the flood to ask what shall be the end of the present? Shall it be successful or shall it be a failure? Bear in mind, the question affects man only, for God is true and righteous altogether. With him is no "variableness neither shadow of turning." He is faithful and true: but in the dispensations of his mercy he has weak and fallen man to do with: and the question I have to deal with now is the end of this dispensation as it affects man.

Let us mingle with his beloved twelve on the hill of Olivet after he had spoken to them about the decadence of the Jewish ritual and nation. He had ended his observations, and denounced Jerusalem for unbelief and hardness of heart, and then leaving the city, the disciples grouped around him, calling his attention to the beautiful buildings of the Temple, deprecating, as it would seem, the announcement made by Christ of the utter destruction of the whole place and people. To this the reply was plain: "Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down:" and then, as he

Ab homine usque ad pecus, tam reptile.

sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming (rapovσias) and the end of the age (aiwvoc).

Two questions are here asked respecting two events,-first, the desolation of Jerusalem, and second, the sign of Christ coming and of the end of the age; both of which, it is evident, the disciples assigned to one and the same time, and not incorrectly according to their light, inasmuch as the Old Testament prophecies, with which they were conversant, especially Daniel xi. 45 and xii. 1-3, and Zechariah xiv., had identified troubles in Judea, and a siege of Jerusalem by invading armies, with the coming of the Lord in power and glory. And to these unprecedented troubles, yet future, and the second advent of Christ, the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew primarily refers; while at the same time it has a reference, secondary and subordinate, to the desolation of Jerusalem, then near, which as the close of that dispensation, and the day of judgment on the Jewish people, was an accurate type of the second coming of the Lord in judgment, and of the end of this age. Thus, by the double fulfilment (not by any means peculiar to it), all difficulty is removed in the way of understanding this remarkable prophecy, and reconciling the various parts. Step by step the blessed Saviour unfolds the great future of his second advent. That it will be sudden and unexpected as a flash of lightning from the East; that both the heavens and the earth shall be affected by it: "The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken" (ver. 29), and " upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth." (Luke xxi. 25 and 26.) One sign shall quickly follow another, both in the heavens and on the earth. The whole series of events shall transpire in the compass of one generation: that the same generation shall witness the beginning and the end of the tribulation. Our own translation of the passage has sadly mistified many readers of prophetical Scriptures, who refer the event to the generation which witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem. This generation should be, according to the Greek, "That generation (yereà avrŋ) shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled (ver. 34). At the advent of Christ, then, the world shall not be converted, for the great mass of the people will dread his appearing. "But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be!" In what respect were the nations of the flood obnoxious to God? They were intelligent and intellectual. The flood swept away civilised men, not savages. Civilisation was the normal condition of the men of that age. Shinar was the centre of civilisation. We are not acquainted with the habits and customs of the people before the flood, except in the short verses of Gen. iv., where we are told that amongst the family of Lamech, were not only such as dwell in tents and have cattle, but such as handle the harp and the organ, and the instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. Our Lord tells us something of their domestic and business habits: "They were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took

them away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Now there is nothing wrong in such pursuits,--probably they flattered themselves, as we do now, in their domestic duties and happiness, and their good business habits, particularly about their forethought in speculations for the future. It does not mean that these things were wrong, but only that such was their actual employment. In fact their business. was legitimate so far as it went. There was no harm in sweet sounds from the harp and the organ (we read in the Book of Revelation of harpers in heaven), but they were making the world pleasant without God. These are the efforts of man, but God will not be put out of his own creation, nor from the grateful hearts of his creatures. Indeed it is marvellous, when we know by the light of revelation the true character of all that is invested with the deceitful colouring of Satan,— to see that all man glories in as his own, as the proof of his own wisdom and excellence,-all that he does and rejoices in, is but remedy against himself. The proudest results of science and art are but devices, -imperfect devices,-necessitated by the devastating effects of his own sin, without which they had never been, and simple proof of his being resolved to do without God, and to act for himself. Thus he endeavours to hide the witnesses of evil, which rise up against him wheresoever he moves; and for death, too, if it might be, he would find a remedy,- but there is none. He would put it out of sight if it were possible; but still it remains, the last humbling evidence of his actual condition, the true value of himself and all his works. Is there any difference between our age and the age before the flood? Where is the difference? They had their "harps and organs,"—so have we. They had their "artificers in brass and iron,"-so have we. They had tents and cattle,-so have we, and probably in much better taste. It was a world then without God, so it is now. The like tree produces like fruit. Man is carrying on the world by himself and for himself, endeavouring to keep God out of his sight, as much as possible to do without God, lest God should get at his conscience and make him miserable.

Many will object to these remarks, and cite instances of the progress of civilisation through Christianity, and hold up, as they have frequently done, instances of the moral improvement of the world at large and of our own country in particular; and the success of the various missionary societies. Mere morality, however, is not Christianity; and without Christianity it is only whitewash that can be easily obliterated: a pin will pick it off."We build churches and chapels by the hundred, and is not that an evidence of Christianity ruling in our midst ?" It is an evidence of great "religious activity," as Lord Shaftesbury termed it some few years ago; but it is not an evidence of Christian life, no more than an evidence of the same in the crowded congregations of some popular preacher. The bowing of the head, and the bending of the knee, is not an evidence of Christian life, no more than the wearing a diamond cross or a Romish scapular is an evidence of the Christianity of the wearers of such badges of pride or superstition. The heart may be as far from God as the heathens, or as the Jewish people in the days of Isaiah, who "draw near to me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart from me."

We need not pride ourselves that we are better for our Christianity than the people before the flood. We are in the habit of speaking a great deal of the progress of this nineteenth century: availing ourselves of the labour and research, the trials and guesses, and successes and failures of men fully our equals, and who were our pioneers in every science. We have in these days, no doubt, seen a wonderful progress in many of the arts and sciences of civilisation; but we do not think that all our progress can bear comparison with the quick and wonderful development of the first generations of men, deriving their civilisation from that first man Adam, who was the son of God. We must remember that they were inventors, not improvers; originators each of his art or science, not adroit or lucky followers, riding the horse which another has broken in. We are not superior to the age before the flood in the arts and sciences, considering our advantages over them as inventors and originators; but we are equal to them in the point dwelt upon by Christ when alluding to his second advent-i.e. forgetfulness of God: "they knew not until the flood came and took them away;" and "so shall also the coming of the Son of man be:" "Likewise also," says Jesus in Luke xvii., "as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;" (all things not only lawful, but commendable ;) "but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained down fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." The error of these people of Sodom and the antediluvian error lay in this: they ignored the presence of God and his message of the world's doom through his preacher of righteousness, Noah. No doubt they thought he was a madman, and treated his message accordingly, though for the long period of 120 years when the long-suffering of God waited, and while the ark was a preparing, they heard the message to flee from the wrath to come, and heard it undismayed. Likewise, Lot, at the request of the angels at Sodom, went out and spake unto his sons-in-law, which married his daughters: "Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law." Well, are we in a better case? Do we live in times when your message of the second advent is heard and believed? Certainly not,-not an iota better in that respect. We are told to expect it, for the Spirit of God by his apostle says, "Beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time." Not believers, but "mockers!" And we are still further warned of the special subject for mockers, that is, the second advent of our blessed Lord; and where the servants of Christ are exhorted to be faithful to him and his message. "That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation;"-ignoring the recorded fact that creation was overturned at the flood, and the cities of the plain overwhelmed in destruction. So shall it be at the end of this

dispensation of grace. Christianity is not a failure, as some infidels. have stated and would have it; but man has failed, is failing in it.

May God keep our eyes looking for the "bright and morning star," and our hearts waiting for him, for "he that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." Cramlington.

CORRESPONDENCE.