whence shall go forth all testimony and all help to those who are around the base of the Mount. But their separation from their brethren is only temporary: the harvest must follow the first-fruits into the garner of God. During the very period in which our David is subduing His enemies, He is preparing the materials for His future Temple. And when the reign of the Prince of Peace shall come, and the Temple be finished, then shall the Ark take up its place in the Holiest thereof, and the Body of Christ once more be seen as one.

If the sealed would constitute this Ark-as they are called to do-let them remember that which is written in the ancient story:-" there was nothing in the Ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt." Let there be nothing in us but the law of love to God and man, written on the fleshy tables of our hearts by the Spirit of the living God.

THIRD SUNDAY IN QUADRAGESIMA.

Cleansing and Filling.

Eph. v. 1-14. Luke xi. 14-28.

THE Epistle of to-day sets forth to us the standing and responsibilities of our baptism. We are God's dear children; and it is ours to be followers-that is, imitatorsof our Father, walking in His steps Who is the Son of His love. We, who were sometime darkness, are now light in the Lord; and have to walk as children of light, and to bring forth the fruit of the light. Those unfruitful works which grow in darkness we have renounced for ever. With uncleanness of word or deed, and with covetousness, we have no fellowship. Standing in the daylight, we cannot-if we would-share the wanton revellings of the night. We have awakened from sleep, and arisen from the dead, and Christ has given us light.

So through the Epistle speaks our Baptism to us. But then the Gospel takes up the tale: and, beginning with what we are by baptism, goes on to speak of the need of that presence and power of the Holy Ghost which is signified by our confirmation through Apostles' hands.

We once adorned the palace of the Adversary. A strong one, and armed, he kept his goods in peace. But there came upon him One stronger than he, and overcame him, and divided his spoils. The souls of men were set

free from the presence and power of the enemy, and became His Who had delivered them.

Into all this we enter by baptism. Our Service shows it forth. First we have the exorcism, then the christening. The evil spirit is cast out: and then comes the joining to Christ, and the baptismal vow, and the supply of grace, and the growing into an holy temple in the Lord for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

But when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house from whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it empty (St. Matt.), swept, and garnished." This is the danger of those who are content with baptismal cleansing; and go not forward to the sealing and anointing. It is not sufficient that the unclean spirit be cast out. The Holy Spirit must come, and take up His habitation in the vacant house. Only thus can it be secured against re-invasion by its former tenant. He may return: but he will see the lighted window and the smoking hearth, he will hear the hum of work and the song of praise; and he will attempt no entrance, for he knows that the Stronger than he is there.

The practical lesson for us all is that we welcome and cherish this heavenly Guest. Be sure that nothing but the life and energy He brings can make us secure against our enemy. He that is not with the Lord is against Him; and he that gathereth not with Him scattereth. It is not enough that we keep clear of gross vices, that we sweep our souls from the dust of outer defilement, and garnish them with sound doctrine and good works. All this did the Pharisees, against whom in the first instance our Lord directed His parable. We have only to look

on to the Crucifixion and to the fall of Jerusalem, to see the entering in of the seven other spirits, and the last end worse than the first. Let us seek to the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us, that He will fill the hearts of His faithful people, and kindle within them the fire of His love. Let us not be content till our hearts are all a-glow with that fire. Let us believe, not with the cold assent of indifference, but with the living trust of the child of God's family. Let our love be something more than the absence of enmity, and burn with the warmth and the passion of true devotion. And let our hope be the breathless thrilling expectation which has already an earnest of the joy to come, and the ardent longing of the Bride which can almost draw down the Bridegroom from the skies.

Into hearts thus filled and thus fired no evil power can enter. The place is pre-occupied; the dwelling consecrate. So fill us, Lord, and so fire us, for Thy holy Name's sake! Amen.

The Epistle to the Hebrews.

THE Evening Portions of Scripture at this period of the year are taken from the Epistle to the Hebrews. It may be profitable to sum up what is known regarding this Epistle generally, the persons to whom it was written, the object of its composition, the course of its argument, and, lastly, its authorship.*

* I am indebted for the suggestion of a good deal of the following to Dr. Thiersch, in his De Epistola ad Hebræos Commentatio Historica, and in his History of the Christian Church, Vol. I.

K

The Epistle was addressed to the Hebrew Christians in Palestine and Jerusalem. The position of these Christians was a very peculiar and difficult one. Like all the Jewish converts, they had to reconcile the claims of two Dispensations, both equally divine, each recognising the other, and yet the two becoming day by day more divergent and (apparently) antagonistic. At first, no such difficulty had presented itself. When Jesus was preached as the Christ of whom all the Prophets had spoken,-as the Saviour and King of Israel, those who believed in Him could only see their ancient Dispensation finding herein its culmination and perfection. He Who came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfil them: He Who was Himself in all things a faithful Jew, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Law blameless :-on Him a Jew could believe without the necessity of moving one step from the place where the God of his fathers had set him. So far, all was clear. But difficulties soon began to arise. First came the preaching of Jesus as the Christ to the Gentiles, and their admission into the Christian covenant without any previous induction into Judaism. The Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of St. Paul are full of the troubles, the controversies, the jealousies, to which this development gave rise. To recognise the baptism of Cornelius was not so much: it was merely to admit that one who was already a Jewish proselyte might share in the blessing vouchsafed to Israel in the Messiah. But if Gentiles of all kinds were to be received to baptism, quite irrespective of the rites and ordinances of the Law, it was clear that Israel's distinctive position as the covenant people of God was gone. Christ was no more to them than to all other nations; their only privilege being