or was it a settled conviction with Paul that the patriarchal scriptures contain hidden things in the form of revelations, which are brought to light, as promised, under the dispensation of the Holy Ghost? The Apostle says elsewhere, "The letter killeth, but the Spirit maketh alive." The word of Revelation, in its literal and natural sense, is sometimes blinding and misleading: "for we have the treasure in earthen vessels." To his spiritual followers Jesus said, "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God," but to the multitude "it is not given," therefore he taught them by parable, "that seeing they might see and not perceive, and hearing they might hear and not understand," until the truth is spiritually discerned. Interpreted according to the letter, or in their natural sense, the forms of Revelation, at best, yield but a half truth it is the spiritual sense which "maketh alive.”

Paul distinguished the "natural man" and the "spiritual man" as both formed in one soul in the individual being: and he interpreted that pre-natal determination of the destiny of Jacob and Esau-" before either had done anything good or bad". -as typical and representative of these two "vessels" formed in the soul, the spiritual and the carnal "man," or mind: one formed to glory and honor, and the other to dishonor and destruction: for of the physical and natural creation, Isaiah says "It passeth away. . and shall be remembered no more and the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord."

"Nay but, O man"-says the Apostle to those who may complain of God's sovereign will predestinating one vessel to glory and another to perdition-"who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus? Or hath not the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another [part a vessel] unto dishonor?" To interpret this simile as indicative of God's arbitrary right to form one soul to glory, and another to perdition, is a thought born of the natural understanding. A will so arbitrary, not to say cruel, would manifest unrighteousness in God, who is under obligation to be true to his own nature, even as he was held by Abraham, who said, "Shall not the Judge of all the

earth do right?" God's sovereign will cannot act contrary to himself, or to that nature which is revealed in Christ; and if it has been humanly conceived otherwise, that conception is unspiritual and must pass away with time.

What the Apostle means is this: Of one part of man's nature is "raised up" a carnal mind, and of another part is formed a spiritual mind: "What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted for destruction:" that is, endured patiently the abominations of the carnal mind (we may conceive Paul as having drawn this inference from his own state before his conversion): "that in due time he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy"the spiritual mind, when man is born again, of the Spirit: "which he afore prepared unto glory, even us"-children of the promise, through faith: "whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but from the Gentiles." For "the power of God unto salvation" is given "to every one that believeth," and "we are his workmanship" throughout, both in the natural and spiritual states of the soul.

That the teaching concerning "election" must be spiritually discerned, is clearly implied by these words of Paul: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will."-Eph. viii: 28-30. In the above, "election" is conditioned in the acceptance of Christ, and the truth is discerned through "spiritual blessings in heavenly places." This the Apostle Peter likewise emphasizes, when he says: "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit": and, as indicating man's part in this, the same Apostle says: "Give diligence to make your calling and election sure." That is, "election," for the individual soul, is not an arbitrary predetermination on God's part, but man himself is responsible: "for many are called, but few chosen." When, therefore, the

Apostle Paul says: "Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brethren," he refers to God's foreknowledge of that second birth he had in store for man, when after having been born of nature he should finally be "born of the Spirit." And the term "elect angels" has a like significance for those who have passed beyond the grave. When, therefore, Paul sums up his teaching on this subject by saying: "Whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified," he means that they who are born of the Spirit are called to be God's heirs, and they who are his heirs God redeems from sin and death, and they who are thus redeemed God endows with life from himself.

Misconceptions originating in false methods of interpretation have sometimes given to isolated passages of scripture, when taken in their literal sense, a meaning wholly foreign to the intention of the writer. No scripture should be judged by itself, but only in the light of that pervasive spirit which reveals the general tendency of thought in the mind of the writer. The Epistles of Paul evince throughout, when the Apostle is manifestly speaking of revealed truth, a spiritualizing habit of mind, especially when quoting the Old Testament scriptures, which he freely interprets according to an inward spiritual sense, as proceeding fundamentally-not in the letter, or form, but in the Spirit-from a divine source with a spiritual intention. As may be gathered from the general drift of his thought, the Apostle to the Gentiles had formed to himself, through revelation, a clear conception of the constitution of man, as comprising natural and spiritual orders of mind, which he characterized as distinct personalities in the soul-as vessels formed for time and for eternity: one, "of the earth, earthy:" and which "speaketh of the earth:" the other "formed in Christ;" who himself said, "Ye are from beneath; I am from above. Ye are of this world; I am not of this world."

As distinct in their origin and life, the "natural man" cannot, either through will, or works, attain unto the estate of the spiritual, for the latter is "of mercy," the free gift of God when the Spirit is breathed into the soul by Christ, making

For, as formed in

man "a partaker of the divine nature." nature man is not a child of God; but, as many as received him, to them gave he power to become children of God. . which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." In this light "election" is simply God's choosing for eternal life that order of mind, or of "man," which is "born of the Spirit ;" and which the Apostle says, becomes God's child "by adoption and grace," and is destined to "grow to the full stature of a spiritual manhood," entering into "fellowship" with God. And the natural man, or natural mind, is a necessary basis for this spiritual creation, as the ground of all outward manifestation; but "the elder shall serve the younger" when the Spirit asserts its sovereignty in the soul.*

In that most spiritual of all the so-called Pauline epistles, the Epistle to the Hebrews, Esau is again referred to: "Who for one morsel of bread sold his birthright;" or, for the gratifying of his carnal appetites turned his back upon God; "and when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears. For"-the writer goes on to say to the spiritual-minded believer-"ye are not come unto a mount that might be touched;" that is, unto things revealed to the carnal sense; "but unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem;" and the "carnal mind" has no part or place there, for "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.”

While a literal interpretation of the Apostle's metaphor, concerning the potter, engenders despair in the place of a glorious hope, and clouds the true Vision of God; a spiritual interpretation, which is the correct one, reveals clearly the infinite riches of God's love as poured out freely on all souls alike when once the heart is opened to receive the Spirit: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and will open the door, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me."

JOHN F. WEIR.

*For a full exposition of the Bible doctrine of the constitution of man, see "The Way: The Nature and Means of Revelation," by the writer of this Article; published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston.

CURRENT

LITERATURE.

PROFESSOR EDWARD J. PHELPS' ADDRESS.-Among the able speeches and addresses at the Centennial Celebration of the Federal Judiciary in New York, last February, the Address of Professor E. J. Phelps-which has just been published—is deserving of special consideration. It is certainly a matter of congratulation that, on such an occasion, when so many of the most eminent members of the bar were gathered from all parts of the country, one of their number who is so respected by all for his learning, and his ability to express his views with clearness and with dignity, should have been selected to speak on what is perhaps the most important of all subjects connected with the administration of our national government. In his Address, Professor Phelps has undertaken to state what, in the light of a century's experience, has been, and what is like to be hereafter, the place and the influence of the highest and greatest of our American tribunals, as an independent constitutional power in the Federal Government. All who read the Address will recognize the ability with which the duty which was devolved on him was discharged. It was in every way worthy of the occasion and the dignity of the subject.

We cannot refrain from quoting one of the paragraphs in which Professor Phelps explains how it was that the framers of our Constitution were led to conceive the idea of a National Supreme Court. The oppression which the colonists had endured from the representatives of the British people in the British Parliament, had forced them to appreciate the importance of providing some such additional safe guard. They saw that there was not only need for the protection of the personal rights of the people against their rulers, but also that there was need of protection for them against their own chosen representatives. He says:

"The history of the Saxon race exhibits few changes more striking than the succession of power. First, in the king; then, when royal supremacy became intolerable, in the hands of the barons, who struck the earliest blow for freedom, and long stood between