of God given to make that blessed position known. As that word is found in the

testimony of the Lord's prisoner, and is the revelation of a mystery, membership of that

body will be manifested by belief of the truth revealed concerning it, as surely as

salvation is manifested by the belief of the gospel.

Without, therefore, pretending to have given anything more than a cursory glance at

these varied views, we proceed to the examination of Scripture to discover whether there

has been written a book, an epistle, or section of the New Testament that embraces all the

peculiar conditions that characterize the outer circle of faith among Gentiles to-day. This

will necessarily be the subject of another article.

We concluded our opening article with the statement that we should now proceed to

the examination of Scripture to discover whether there has been written a book, epistle, or

a section of the New Testament that embraces all the peculiar conditions that characterize

the outer circle of faith among the Gentiles to-day. What are these peculiar conditions?

1. During the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus, He limited Himself to the lost sheep

of the house of Israel, and at the close commanded His disciples to go into all the world.

One of the conditions that belong to the present enquiry is that the message shall be

pre-eminently world-wide.

2. It is evident to the most casual reader that the bulk of the Bible was written for

Jews. The present condition, however, demands a book that shall give evidence that

non-Jewish readers are in view.

3. The Gospel of Matthew does not speak of the rejection of Christ by Israel until

chapter 12:; Paul's earlier epistles give considerable prominence to Israel, whilst Peter at

Pentecost calls upon the nation to repent and be saved. The book we seek should take it

for granted, or should early state that Christ was rejected by Israel, and that its message is

addressed to those who have believed after that rejection has reached its climax.

4. The Lord's Supper is directly connected with "the new covenant" (Matt. 26: 28;

I Cor. 11: 25), so that the message we seek will of necessity omit this feast of

remembrance, seeing that its terms cannot be put into operation until Israel as a nation are

restored (Jer. 31:).

5. The present position of the Lord Jesus is that of ascension, ascribed to Him in the

prison epistles, and we must find our message in a book giving due prominence to this

exalted position.