God says, "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burntoffering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." Very wonderful was the obedience of faith he rose up early in the morning. Very touching is the narrative. Then he took Isaac, and the wood, and the fire, and the knife; and all in faith that Isaac, though he die and be consumed on the altar, yet THEY shall return. And his faith looked forward. "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering: so they went both of them together." "And Abraham built an altar there" (probably the very place where the beloved Son of God was nailed to the cross), "and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood." The son of Abraham was spared. God did not spare His Son! God did provide a lamb instead of Abraham's son. "And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son." And, as in the case of Abel and Noah, God now blesses Abraham according to the value He sees in the offering as pointing to Christ. Man is a sinner. The death of the offering opens up the way for the sinner to God, and removes the barrier betwixt God and the sinner. Only let us remember, this could never be done perfectly by the blood of bulls and goats; these

were only types and shadows, all pointing forward to the precious blood of Christ. The propitiatory death of Christ is the basis, and explanation of God's righteousness in all His past, as well as present, dealings with man.

Let us now, in this light, look at the burntoffering in Leviticus i. In all these types it is the Lord that speaks; it is the Lord that reveals Himself first in these types, and then in Jesus, the fulfilment of them. He spake from out of the tabernacle: the veil was not yet rent. The offering brought to the Lord, must (as it is written) be without spot. "If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord... if his offering be a burnt-sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord." What a picture of Him, who became a man- -one of uswho came of His own voluntary will to offer Himself. Who, of all that ever trod this sindefiled earth, was the One, the only One, without blemish? Need we say His name was Jesus! Infinite, yet voluntary love. As one has said, "Who loved me, and gave himself for me." Oh, the unknown depths of love, when He presented Himself at the door of the tabernacle to God, in all the spotless purity and perfectness of divine love, and said," Father, glorify thy name." That is the man, who presented Himself of His

own voluntary will, to do the will of Him that sent Him, cost what it might. And was He not accepted for us? "And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering; and it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for him."

We shall understand this better when we come to the sin-offering. There we shall see how Jesus became identified with us on the cross as the sin-offering, that we might be identified with Him in all the sweet savour of the burnt-offering. Only the absolute need of atonement must be seen even here, in order that we might be thus reconciled to God, and stand identified with Christ, faith, like the hand laid on the head of the victim, linking us with Christ, in all the sweet savour of His Person and work. Yet in order for this He must die, or we could never be thus one with Him. The grain of wheat must die or remain alone. (John xii. 24.) Thus God acts toward us, according to the value He sees in the perfect offering of Christ. "And it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for him," or he shall be accepted. Have you laid your hand on this, the firm and blessed ground of faith? He, who made atonement for me, has been accepted for me.

And now, can you say, "I am identified with Him, am one with Him"? Let us contemplate, meditate, on this type of the voluntary offering

of Christ for us in all the infinite perfections of His blessed Person. This will bring out, more and more, the heart of God. His purpose is to have us in the likeness of His Son, the first-born among many brethren. His purpose is to bring us into favour in the Beloved. Oh, wondrous, infinite grace!

"THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST." IV. CHAPTER III.

We now come to that which succeeded Jezebel or Popery (or rather the period of Thyatira)—the address to the angel of the church of Sardis. This surely brings us to the period of the Reformation, or its result, commonly called Protestantism. The Lord continues to address the angel, those that represent the church, whether true or false. Is it not a sad fact in Protestantism as well as in Popery, that many take that place, yea, call themselves the church, who are not in the New Testament sense Christians or saints at all; who have not even the mark of the little children, whose sins are forgiven for His name's sake. (1 John ii. 12.) But as they take that place, they have its responsibilities. (Matt. xxiv. 48-51.)

Now, notice how striking the revelation of the Lord Jesus is, in this the fifth epoch of the history of Christendom. He presents Himself as

"he that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars." The so-called protestant churches failed to own, or even know, that He had sent the Holy Ghost in all His infinite fulness, and that the ascended Christ had all-sufficiency of gifts to bestow for the church. Colleges and education have taken the place of Christ, and the Spirit, to the unspeakable loss of the church. But let us hear the Lord's own judgment on Protestantism. "I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." What solemn words! And do they not most accurately describe the true condition of a lifeless Protestantism-masses of people professing to be Christians, but without a particle of spiritual life? Awake, O reader, and inquire is this your case? Have you passed from death unto life? Are you a child of God, or still a child of wrath, deceiving yourself with the imitations of Judaism ? What are all your works, and sacraments, and prayers worth, if still on the way to endless woe? The Infinite, the first and the last, says, "I know." We cannot deceive Him. There are still the remains of gospel light in Protestantism, and He says, "Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God." Your works may have the greatest approval before men. How dangerous the flattery of men, deceived like