unbelieving, and the erring. They are full of comfort to those who would look to Christ alone, and find no resource or refuge in themselves.

The last particular concerning His priesthood which we shall notice, is that it is unto the " Age." The authorized version renders these words "forever," as it says, "Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." The word here is, however, exactly the same as in the verse, "Thy Throne, O God, is unto the Age," and the meaning is similar. The priesthood of Jesus is on behalf of those who are weak and are in the midst of trial and temptation. Its occasion will cease when these have been brought to glory, and are no longer the subjects of temptation or sorrow. The object, therefore, of His priesthood, and the limit, so to speak, of His term of office, is the "Age." It is to bring in that crowning Age of all ages, when the Son having subjected all things to Himself, shall deliver the kingdom to God, even the Father, that God may be all in all.

THE EPISODE OF EVIL.

THE view of Scripture Truth presented in the foregoing pages will be highly distasteful to two classes of readers: first, to the exponents of that which is called modern liberal thought, who banish altogether a personal God from the affairs of the Universe; and, second, to the inheritors of Creeds, nominally Christian, but which are the heterogeneous accretions of centuries through which Truth and Error have been combating with varying fortunes. Our appeal is therefore to the student of Holy Scripture, who, with the simple and submissive desire to know what "God has spoken," will calmly and prayerfully investigate His inspired Word, to ascertain facts and the relations of facts; in a word, will study the Science of Scripture as men study the science of material things. This will induce the conviction that God is working on a symmetrieal and comprehensive Plan of the Ages; and that into this Plan Evil has temporarily been admitted, in order that the perfections of Deity might be more fully mani

fested, and the highest blessing of the whole Creation be eternally secured.

We do not propose to speculate concerning the Origin of Evil. It is enough that the reason why it exists, and its ultimate destruction, are explicitly disclosed in Holy Scripture. Yet there are some thoughts concerning its origin which are within permissible limits, and which may afford rest to some who are disturbed by the subject.

It has been a difficulty in many thoughtful minds to reconcile the origin, or indeed the existence of Evil in the Universe at all, with the fact that God is infinitely powerful, and at the same time infinitely good. It will help our thoughts to have before us a clear idea of what Evil actually is.

Evil is a negation. As Darkness is the absence of Light, and as Death is the absence of Life, so Evil is the absence of Good. True, its manifestations appear to us to take a positive form, just as the deprivation of food causes the very positive sensation of hunger, or the absence of certain constituents from the blood produces intense pain. But it is, nevertheless, true that sins and their effects, positive as they may seem to us, are but results of

the absence of Good. On the other hand, Good, like Life and Light, is a positive reality. Good is infinite, Evil limited. Good is eternal, Evil temporary.

We now formulate the proposition, "God is the highest Good." All realized Good proceeds from Him, but it is only in the possession of Himself that the highest blessing is experienced. It is not merely that He possesses and exercises goodness, or that He is essentially good in character, but that the highest happiness consists in the knowledge and enjoyment by His creatures of Himself. This fact is virtually confessed even by those who deny His personal existence. For instance, the late J. Stuart Mill, who adopted as an object in life the reformation of mankind, says in his autobiography, “It occurred to me to put the question directly to myself, Suppose that all your objects in life were realized,— that all the changes in institutions and opinions which you were looking forward to could be completely effected in this very instant, would this be a very great joy and happiness to you? And an irrepressible self-consciousness distinctly answered, 'No.' At this my heart sank within me; the whole foundation on which my life was constructed fell

down..

The end had ceased to charm, and how could there ever again be any interest in the means? I seemed to have nothing left to live for."1

Could all the dreams of philosophy concerning the development of the race and the brotherhood of man be fulfilled, the result would still be pain. The work that men do to escape the results of evil is in itself an amelioration of those results. But suppose sickness, death, and sorrow banished from a world without God, and poverty and its attendant evils reckoned among the things of the past. That which is now ardently desired would soon cease to satisfy, and satiety would produce an anguish keener than that of want. The being supplied with pleasures up to his fullest capacity of enjoyment, in the course of years or centuries would tire of them all, and begin to gnaw his own heart with still unsatisfied longings. But God is Infinite. Let all the mysteries of the Universe be exhausted, and all the external manifestations of His Love and Wisdom be explored, the creature can still turn to Him, and find in Himself an inexhaustible supply of blessing. Quite correctly, therefore, does the Westminster

I

Quoted from Mallock's "Is Life Worth Living?"