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scarcely look back upon a single day in which we have entirely succeeded.

Or, our vow may have been against scandal; and yet how often have we caught ourselves laughing at an ill-natured tale, and even repeating it for the amusement of others! All this is very sad, and shows how impossible it would have been for us to gain Heaven under the covenant of works; but it need not drive us to despair. By the Jewish law the blood of a sheep, or ox, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh; but we have a better and higher sacrifice offered for us. We have not to seek it for ourselves, or to find a priest to offer it; for it has been offered once for all, and we cannot doubt its efficacy. The Jews might well say, "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins';" but we cannot but believe that the blood of Christ, God's only Son, can purge our conscience from dead works.

But how may that blood be applied to ourselves?

How did the Jews use their sacrifices? When they had broken any of God's laws, they were required, first, to make restitution so far as was in their power: then they brought their sacrifice to the priest, laid their hand upon its head; the priest slew it, and sprinkled them with its blood; and whilst he was doing this, they would doubtless remember the great Sacrifice which had been promised, and would long for it to come, but would recollect that in the mean time God had promised to forgive them, upon the offering up of a sacrifice; and they would humbly hope that their sins were pardoned, and would go away cheered and comforted.

Just so must we act when we have sinned against God. We must first earnestly repent of our sins, and show that our repentance is sincere by making

7 Heb. x. 4.

all the amends we can. Then we must confess our transgressions to our heavenly Father, and beg Him to forgive us for the sake of His dear Son; and then we must try to grasp the thought that, for those very sins, Jesus Christ was offered, and think how great those sins must have been to require such a sacrifice.

That Sacrifice has been offered as surely as the goat was offered on the day of atonement; and if the Israelites were forgiven, shall not we also be forgiven? "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"

Monday after Fifth Sunday in Lent.

JOHN viii. 46-59 (being the Gospel for Fifth Sunday).

"Jesus said, Which of you convinceth Me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe Me? He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. Then answered the Jews, and said unto Him, Say we not well that Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour My Father, and ye do dishonour Me. And I seek not Mine own glory: there is One that seeketh and judgeth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death. Then said the Jews unto Him, Now we know that Thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and Thou sayest, If a man keep My saying, he shall

never taste of death. Art Thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest Thou Thyself? Jesus answered, If I honour Myself, My honour is nothing: it is My Father that honoureth Me; of whom ye say, that He is your God: yet ye have not known Him; but I know Him: and if I should say, I know Him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know Him, and keep His saying. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto Him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at Him: but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by."

THIS week is by some called Passion Week, because in it we begin to commemorate the last sufferings of our Lord. The incident recorded in the Gospel shows that the malice of the Jews against Jesus was in no wise abated; and that notwithstanding the argument He had before made use of, that Satan cannot be divided against himself, and notwithstanding the holiness and purity of His life, which enabled Him confidently to ask, Which of you convinceth Me of sin? they still persisted in ascribing to Satanic agency the mighty works which they could not deny that He performed.

The occasion of their present anger was the reproof which Jesus administered in answer to their assertion, that Abraham was their father. He said He knew that they were Abraham's seed; but that if they were his children in reality, as well as in name, they would do his works; and instead of seeking to kill Jesus, would rejoice to see His day. Our Lord then took occasion in a remarkable manner to assert His divinity. This so enraged them that

"they took up stones to cast at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by."

From this Gospel we may learn three practical lessons.

First, it teaches us how great are our privileges and our responsibilities. Jesus said that Abraham rejoiced to see His day, and he saw it, and was glad. But how small was Abraham's knowledge compared to ours, to whom Christ has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself! And we are more inexcusable than the Jews, if we do not believe in Him; for we have much fuller light than they enjoyed. We know how greatly His Father honoured Him; and have again and again been taught how He not only died, but rose again, showing thereby that He was not only greater than Abraham, and greater than the prophets, but that He was, as He declared on another occasion, equal with God Himself, and therefore able to give us eternal life, or, as He here expresses it, prevent our seeing death.

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And this leads us to remark, in the second place, how strongly our Saviour here asserts His divinity. Verily, verily, before Abraham was, I am; not I was, but I am; the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; able to keep from death all who obey Me." And this is a lesson upon which, at this season, we have great need to dwell; for vain would be all the sufferings of Calvary if borne by one less than God. We might pity, we might admire, but we could not trust with our redemption any but a perfectly pure and holy Being; One who is Himself harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.

And, thirdly, does not this Gospel show how entirely voluntary were all the sufferings of Christ? When the Jews cast stones at Him, He went through the midst of them, and so passed by. When they sought to take Him, He escaped out of their hands.

When they would have cast Him down headlong, He went His way; and could He not also have come down from the cross? Yea, His Father would have sent Him twelve legions of Angels. But if He had, what would have become of this fallen world?

Tuesday after Fifth Sunday in Lent.

Read the third chapter of Exodus, being the First Lesson at Morning Service for the Fifth Sunday in Lent.

MOSES was a type of Christ. He himself tells us so in the eighteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, and the fifteenth verse, where he says, "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me;" which words St. Peter and St. Stephen both tell us refer to our Saviour". And the Israelites were a type of His Church; and probably, as in the case of Joseph, this was the reason that their history was selected to be read at this season.

In the chapter we have just read, we see at once how similar was the condition of the Israelites in Egypt to that of the world after the fall of Adam; how both were in bondage under a hard taskmaster; both totally unable to deliver themselves, and both seen and pitied by God: but how different the manner in which the work of deliverance was undertaken in the two cases! "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God!" exclaimed our Lord. "O my Lord, send, I pray Thee, by the hand of him whom Thou wilt send "," said the frightened Moses. "I lay

8 Acts iii. 22; vii. 37.

9 Heb. x. 7.

1 Exod. iv. 13.

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