never come into condemnation; they have peace with God through the blood of Christ. The daily cleansing through the Spirit is needed, not to win them heaven (which Jesus has done already), but to make them fit for it: to make them like Christ in fact, holy and "pure, as He is pure."

When God's children fall into sin, as they do every day of their lives, they must go again and again, and seek the Holy Spirit's help: He will lead them to the blood of Jesus Christ, which is

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continually cleansing them from all sin," and give them strength to overcome, in the daily struggle with the corruptions of their fallen nature.

Do you remember that on the last evening of the Saviour's life, before He was betrayed into the hands of His enemies, He rose from the supper table, and poured water into a bason, and began to wash His disciples' feet?

When it came to Peter's turn, he did not like that his beloved Lord should do such a humble service to him, and he would not let Him at first, till Jesus explained to him what the feet washing meant. "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me," shewing Peter that if he were not washed through the Spirit, it would be seen that he had not been saved by the blood. His conversion was to be made quite plain, by his holy living, or it would be no real conversion. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His," Rom. viii. 9. If Peter was to be a lamp of the

golden candlestick, he must be fed daily with the oil of the Spirit's grace, flowing into him from the Lord Jesus Himself, the Head of His people, and "the God of all grace."

The Saviour says, He that has been in the bath, only needs to wash his feet, which get soiled and stained in his daily walk through the miry paths of the world; he needs no more justification, no more saving; that has been done for him by the Lord Jesus once, and for ever: but the Christian longs for more and more holiness of heart and life, and he comes every day to be cleansed afresh. Just because he knows he is safe, he longs to be made holy holiness grows out of salvation, as the buds and blossoms spring from the living branch, and both branch, and flower, and fruit have their life from the living tree: so safety and holiness come from the living Saviour, through the Spirit.

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Let us end with St Paul's words: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord," Heb. xii. 14.

WE

EXODUS XXXVIII. XXXIX. XL.

E read last, that a laver, or immense bason, was made for the priests to wash in, which was set between the brazen altar, and the door of the tent, or tabernacle. The pure water that the laver was filled with, signified the Holy Spirit. You notice that there were only two things standing in the court of the tabernacle: the first, was the brazen altar of burnt offering, shewing the death of Christ instead of us, and the other, the bath filled with pure water, shewing the Spirit of Christ; to teach that all those who are saved by His death, are made holy through His Spirit. We are saved at once from the guilt and punishment of sin, by Christ's blood; we are cleansed every day from the love and the practice of sin, by the sanctifying Spirit. The blood has saved us from hell. The Spirit is making us fit for heaven.

There is another thing about the laver that we must notice. Do you remember what it was made of? It was made entirely out of the women's brass looking-glasses. That sounds odd, doesn't it?

but in those days, nor for many hundred years after, there were no smooth plates of glass, such as we have now; and polished metal lookingglasses were always used, as they are still, in China and the far east. We are sure those highly polished mirrors were very valuable to their owners. They had been brought from Egypt; parting gifts from the Egyptian women to their Hebrew neighbours; and they must have been made of the very best brass, to bear the fine polish that was needful. One should have thought those precious looking-glasses were the very last things the women of Israel would have parted with: and so they were; for they had given their ornaments before, and their mirrors must have been nearly all they had left. Then how was it? Were those Hebrew women not vain, and fond of dress and admiration, as women commonly are? Did they not think a great deal of their looking-glasses, because they saw themselves in them? No doubt they were just like other women as to that; yet they gave them up willingly, for the service of the Lord's house. They clearly felt that the best they had, was not too good for their God, and little enough to return to Him who had freely given them so much. And yet, my friends, they hadn't half so much to thank God for, as women have in Christian times! The Gospel of Jesus has made a wonderful and merciful change in the condition of woman. It has raised her to man's side, instead of leaving

her to be trodden under foot at his pleasure; it has made her again, what God made her to be, man's equal, companion, and friend, instead of his toy and his slave; and surely women ought to be specially drawn to Him in loving gratitude! But do we see that many professing Christian women in these days are like their Hebrew sisters of old? Do they come gladly forward, when an opportunity offers for giving to the Lord's service, remembering what He has done for them? Do they shew themselves willing to give up even the most trifling luxury, for the sake of helping His cause? Oh, how little we know of real Christian liberality! how little notion we have of giving to God anything but what we can never miss! how few there are who deny themselves anything they have set their minds on, for His sake! Isn't it too true, that there are but few women, who, if they were asked to help forward some Christian work, would think of giving up, not their best lookingglasses, but the smallest bit of finery they were going to buy, that its price might add a little to their offering? My sisters, this concerns us all; for it is sadly true, that self is uppermost with all, till Jesus is known and served. The mirror that reflects the face is more consulted, more diligently studied, than the glass that shews the heart, the Word of God, which tells the truth, and flatters none.

Self-love is the idol to which all gifts, all sacri