"The mighty pyramids of stone

That wedge-like cleave the desert airs,
When nearer seen and better known

Are but gigantic flights of stairs.

"The distant mountains that uprear

Their solid bastions to the skies,
Are crossed by pathways, that appear
As we to higher levels rise.

"The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept
Were toiling upward in the night."

But this progress is not only slow and toilsome

III. It is CERTAIN.

"They go from strength to strength." The movement may be as slow as possible, but it is progress. They rise. They are nearer heaven. They have more of Christ's likeness. Like the Jews, they may be led round about in the wilderness, but they are nearing home-the holy land. They fall, but rise again, and by His help spring forward and press onward. Thus they take step after step, as though every one would be their last. Yet upward they go, and though slow their progress, it is marked and evident. They reach toward to those things that are before, and press towards the prize. They are to go on until crowned with eternal perfection. Perseverance is promised. God is gradually drawing them to Himself with love, and unloosing the cords of sin from the soul. Thus the weary traveller is cheered with the certainty of progress. He has proved the promise true, for already he can see the distance behind him, though he has measured it painfully. Thus we have endeavored to show that Christian progress is slow and toilsome, yet it is progress in the right direction. This then is the certain way to glory, honor, and eternal life.

In close connection with this we shall now notice some of the inevitable consequences of ceasing to progress. The most cursory reader of the Bible will remember that the believer is commanded to go forward-to make progress. He is urged.

VOL. XV.

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by the most solemn considerations. The will of God, the delights of holiness, and the crown of life are all held before him, and the words upon each are, "Go from strength to strength." This enforcement therefore is divine and authoritative. But suppose we cease to make progress, what then? We answer, there will be

First: Declension. Not only stagnation, but declension. The wheels of the spiritual life not only cease, but at once begin to run back with fearful velocity. Stationary they cannot be. Declension is certain and inevitable, if we cease to go forward. We must come down from our eminence, lower and lower, until we find ourselves worse than at first. If the soul is not gazing upward and Godward, it will gaze earthward. If Christ, the strong, loving magnet, does not draw the soul to Himself, the wordly magnet will draw it to itself. In climbing to heaven, if we loose our hold of Christ we fall backward. Nothing can keep us up. Many foolishly suppose that they can stand, and neither advance nor recede, but soon have they found that this is absolutely impossible. Ceasing to progress is the same as retrogression. This is one of the certain laws of this spiritual life. There will be—

Secondly: Loss. The soul is constantly and largely gaining as it approaches the Source of all good. The nearer it comes to the Sun of Righteousness, the more light it has. Thus the Christian knows more, and feels more, the nearer heaven he gets. He becomes heavenly-minded. Gazing on the unruffled face of Jesus, his own soul grows calm and peaceful. In sight of the happiness to be enjoyed, the cross loses its heaviness. Looking upon the jewelled "crown of righteousness," he forgets his "crown of thorns." Listening to heaven's music, his own song grows sweeter. Knowing that mansions are prepared above, he is less unwilling to leave his earthly one. All these thoughts, feelings, and prospects are increased the farther he advances. What a fullness of joy is this! What exquisite pleasures! What springs of enjoyment! Worlds could not purchase the smallest of them. The Christian has all this, and far more before him; but it is

when he is going "from strength to strength" he has a heavenly prospect and atmosphere. But let him stand still and cease to rise, then he will begin to descend. He will suffer loss at every step, his prospects and hopes will be clouded, and his peace gradually depart. All may depart. How terrible the loss! In this way, Christ is reviled and religion dishonored. The foundations of repentance have again to be laid in tears of blood, and the journey is more difficult than ever. Whenever the Christian comes down from his elevation to the world-level, it is a declaration stronger than words that there is nothing above worth having. So the world takes it. How important, therefore, that our "path be as the shining light, that shineth more and more to the perfect day." What help we require to enable us even to go "from strength to strength"-to make any advance at all; for the way is not only difficult, but our nature is so weak, our powers so paralyzed, and our wills so perverse, that we need God's assistance to progress in the least. How urgent, then, should be our prayers, and how strong our faith in Christ, that we may rise higher and higher, until we reach eternal life. W. DARWENT.

Biblical Exegesis.

πάντα δοκιμάζετε τὸ καλὸν κατέχετε.

1 THESS. V. 21.

English Version :-"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."

THERE can be no doubt that our translators, in using the word prove, intended it to be understood in the old sense of try, or put to the test. The text, however, is often quoted as if it were a direction to believe nothing without demonstrative argument a meaning which would be opposed to the whole tenor of apostolic teaching. This sentence is evidently

to be taken in relation to what stands immediately before :-"Quench not the Spirit; despise not prophesyings." As if he had said, "But do not go to the other extreme; do not receive every prophecy with blind assent, but put all to the test, and hold fast that which is found to be good." Hammond well paraphrases the passage thus: "Try all those who pretend to extraordinary gifts, and examine whether they have them or no, by that gift of discerning of spirits, and make use of those who approve themselves to have what they profess."

In another passage, which is very similar to that under consideration, our translators have employed an unequivocal word. 1 John iv. 1. "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try (dokuάLETE) the spirits, whether they are of God."

In Rom. xii. 2, the apostle exhorts us to be "transformed by the renewing of our mind, that we may prove, (that is, ascertain by trial—εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν) what is that will of God, the good and acceptable and perfect." The will of God is that Christians should be brought into a certain spiritual condition of purity, of oneness with each other and Himself. The perfection and bliss of that condition they can know only by experience. So in Ephes. v. 10, he says, dokiμážovτes τί ἐστιν εὐάρεστον τῷ Κυρίῳ”, “proring what is acceptable to the Lord."

1 COR. IV. 4.

οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐμαυτῷ σύνοιδα.

English Version:-"For I know nothing by myself." THE verb, of which úroda is the second perfect, properly means to be conscious of, and in this context is evidently used in a bad sense; but in the English version this is hardly apparent to an ordinary reader. The apostle has been speaking just before of the faithfulness required in stewards, and in himself as a "steward of the mysteries of God." There was a party in the Corinthian Church who were violently opposed to St. Paul. He tells them that his fidelity

as a steward is not to be tried by them. (verse 3.) It is of very small consequence (¿λáxioróv) to him what they think of him; nay, he will not even judge hlmself. Though if he were to judge himself, he could not condemn himself for unfaithfulness-"I am not conscious to myself of any evil." This, however, is not sufficient for the settlement of the question. He looks beyond the judgment of the Corinthians, and the judgment of his own conscience. "He that judgeth me is the Lord."

The student will notice in the 3rd verse, a singular sense of the word uépa, day, correctly rendered judgment in our version. The day of the Lord, is the day of the Lord's judgment. (2 Pet. iii. 10.) As it were by a kind of mocking antithesis, the apostle here speaks of man's judgment as man's day.

The Chair of Theology.

[This position we have rather been elected to by others, than arrogantly assumed of ourselves. Studious young men, in and out of orders, are adopting the custom of asking us for information and advice respecting a course of theological study, the choice of books, and the like. The thought has occurred, that it would be for their advantage, and our convenience, to throw such remarks as we are able to offer into a systematic form, once for all, that our correspondents may be referred to a standing document.]

FOR the study of the New Testament, the ancient versions must not be past over. Of these the chief are the Peshito Syriac and the Vulgate. Since the Syriac is a dialect of the Hebrew, the chief difficulty will be to acquire familiarity with the characters and the two systems of punctuation. If the student is not disposed to enter upon Hoffmann's quarto (Halle, 1827), he may find B. H. Cooper's Abridgment (Williams & Norgate) sufficient for his purpose. The Messrs. Bagster have published a small Syriac Lexicon, uniform with a Testament; but the Testament published in quarto by the Bible Society has larger and better type.

Possessed of the apparatus we have described, the student