from condemnation, which the death of the Mediator alone could effect. This he found when, renouncing all his own doing, he believed in Him that justifies the ungodly - he believed in Him, and He counted it to him for righteousness. Abraham was illustrious among the ancient examples of faith; but there was nothing singular in the object of his faith. Under this name of Jehovah or Yahveh, HE WHO WILL BE, the Word Jehovah, the Angel Jehovah, we find the same Deliverer constantly revealing Himself to faith, and faith constantly reposing in Him, from the days of man's fall. When the first-born of Eve saw the light, she, rejoicing in the thought that the promise was fulfilled, and the seed given who should bruise the Serpent's head, called her child Cain-gotten or obtained-for she said: "I have gotten the Man Jehovah," which is the strict rendering of the phrase which in our Bible reads: "I have gotten a man from the Lord." When long after, when her hopes of Cain were blighted, and another generation began to succeed the immediate children of Eve, men rose to a more correct view of the promise; but still they cleaved to the hope of the coming One. And in the days of Enos we are told, "Men began to call upon the name Jehovah or Yahveh, He who will be," the very form in which faith shall find its latest utterance; "for whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved." This is He of whom Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, as he foresaw His coming glory: "Behold! the Lord (Jehovah) cometh, with ten thousand of His saints, to execute judgment upon all." We cannot trace this name through the ages during which it has been the rallying-point of faith and hope; but, as we have said, it will prove a most profitable study to trace it through the Old Testament, upon almost every page of which the understanding of this name will shed fresh light. From the earliest ages it was the name in which believers embodied their confidence in a coming Deliverer; but a time came in which it was not all promise. When, in fulfillment of His promise, and as foreshadowing a future and greater redemption, He took Israel by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, this was the very character in which He made Himself known to them, and this the name in which He sustained His peculiar relations to them-Yahveh, He who will be, the promised Deliverer, to whose coming hope had looked, now actually present, to lead the people like a flock. The ignorance of a malignant enemy of our faith, who wears the robes and usurps the name of a bishop, has tortured the gracious announcement of this fact into an argument against the infallible truth of Scripture: "And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them." The shallow malignant turns back to find the word "Jehovah" in the record of the lives of these patriarchs, in order to show a contradiction of this word of God: "By my name Jehovah was I not known to them." As though, if these Scriptures had been a fabrication, the fabricators could have overlooked so obvious a blunder, and left it to be detected by Bishop Colenso three thousand years afterward! Upon that name men had called from the days of Enos; but the hope they expressed had now a begun fulfilment. In that very character the Almighty stood in relation to His chosen people. Thenceforth this is His name for ever, and this is His memorial unto all generations, until the promise shall have its complete fulfilment, when "He who shall be " Jehovah, "He that shall come," will come, and will not tarry. If all the saints of old, as well as Abraham, trusted in the same Person in whom we also trust, it will not be questioned that, however various their degrees of intelligence may have been, they all in some measure discerned in Him the promised propitiation and sacrifice for sin. Nothing short of this could appease the conscience of a sinner-nothing short of this can justify the ungodly. This, in fact, is the only righteousness that could be by faith, and it is the only righteousness a sinner can obtain. We may add that only sinners can receive it. Holy angels cannot be justified by faith, for that would imply that another had taken their place in obedience and service, and so had freed them from doing the will of God, the very thought of which is monstrous and unright eous. But when obedience is out of the question, and sinners are perishing under the terrible penalty of sin, and a divine substitute endures the penalty, satisfies the claims of justice against them, and so delivers them from wrath, and restores them to the favor of God, this is what sheds its highest lustre on the perfections of God. This is the righteousness which is of God by faith, the righteousness which was imputed to Abraham. To this the faith of all ages has looked and rested satisfied. This is the very righteousness which sinners still need, and which is presented to our faith in the Gospel, which testifies that He died for our sins, according to the Scripture, and that He rose again-the Gospel which proclaims Christ the propitiation through faith in His blood. No sinner ever has found, and no sinner ever can find, pardon, and peace, and eternal life, save in believing on Him. There is a joy in the clear discovery that the faith of all ages is one-one in nature and one in its object; and that object is Christ. Our faith brings the old and the new names together, when we rejoice in Jehovah Jesus-the Lord Jesus Christ our God and Saviour. But we rejoice with them when they say: In the Lord alone have we right eousness and strength. And a day is coming when the faith of all ages will share a common triumph, when He will swallow up death in victory, and Jehovah God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth; for Jehovah hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day: "Lo! this is our God; we have waited for Him and He will save us. This is Jehovah; we have waited for Him; we will be glad, and rejoice in His salvation." Then, too, the faith of all ages, past, present, and future, will find unison of utterance, when every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. HYMN. WHO is this in silence bending When the pangs of trial seize us, Surely none can feel like thee, "Jesus wept!"-and still in glory Of the hearts he solaced here. "Jesus wept!"-that tear of sorrow GEORGE MULLER. MANY of our readers have been comforted and instructed by the account of facts relating to the Orphan Houses at Bristol, which have been erected and sustained manifestly in answer to the prayers of Mr. Müller and those associated with him in his labor of love. The volume in which these facts are communicated to readers on this side of the Atlantic, is compiled, for the most part, from the narratives which Mr. Müller has published from time to time. We may remark in passing that with all the excellencies of that volume, we cannot but regret that Mr. Müller's testimony to the truth of the coming and kingdom of the Lord, the blessed hope that cheers him in his toil, should have been suppressed. The narratives, which may be called annual reports, have been continued since the work in question was published. The twenty-fourth report, that for 1863, is before us, and a few facts gathered from it may be of interest, especially to those who are already acquainted with that work of the Lord. The houses now built give accommodation for 1150 orphans, and it need not be surprising if Mr. Müller's faith should be expanded to the design of increasing it, so that he may be able to receive 2000 orphans. Two years ago he intimated this design, and gave his reasons for aiming at it, though it involves an expenditure of $250,000. And within these two years over $63,000 have been contributed for this |