clothe them afresh by His own hand, that they should not be found naked. He thus set forth that there should be something more than forgivenessescape from a lost state; that in His grace there would be in their future position a great advance beyond that which they had lost by transgression. This intimated the measure of the grace.

The condition of innocence being lost, grace, in answer to the faith of Abel, when he offered up the firstling of his flock and of the fat thereof, testified of his gifts, and thus he obtained witness that he was righteous. The grace was equal to the need; he is accepted of God, and his own death ensues, his condition in sin literally comes to an end.

Abram is counted righteous; that is, the grace is equal to the need. He believed God who quickeneth the dead. There was no hope from man as he was, but God in His grace could come in and do what was entirely outside of man. "And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now

dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb; he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform." (Rom. iv. 19-21.) Thus there was a clearance of all guilt.

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Now, in the case of Isaiah (chap. vi.) we find too that the grace is equal to the need his iniquity is taken away, and his sin is purged, but this in connection with a live coal from the altar, which indicated that the grace could only be on the ground of the action of fire, in its sacrificial aspect. In none of these cases do we see that the sinner obtains more than a full clearance from his guilt. However, in the offerings in the book of Leviticus, a very important truth is presented to us, namely, how the sinner can come near to God. It is, I might say, the other side now. The offerings properly are for those who keep the law. Breaches of the ceremonial law are to be atoned for,

and all uncleanness, but the main intention of the offerings was to indicate the place of nearness in which grace sets the believer. There is much more contemplated than simply clearance. There was a sense of acceptance, and consequently worship within-in the holy place, for Aaron and his sons, typically the church; and without, Israel the earthly people, blessed when the high priest came out, typically Israel in the latter day, when Jesus, the Melchisedec, comes out.

From this review we gather that the blessed God did not intend to limit His grace to our need, that is, to our sins, but that He had in His heart the purpose to superabound in grace, so that not only should our debt be atoned for, but that the grace which covered it, was of surpassing riches, so that not only was the man who owed 500 pence forgiven, but at the moment he was forgiven he received immensely more ; "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Like the four lepers in the siege of Samaria, they not only

ate and drank, not only was the famine entirely over, but "they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it," and from the greatest dearth were greatly enriched. There is not only forgiveness of sins, but "an inheritance among them that are sanctified through faith that is in me."

There is great natural reluctance in the heart to reach up to any true sense of the greatness of the grace which has come to us, though our need makes us appreciate the measure of it that meets the need. Hence what meets the need is always first presented to the sinner, though in the mind of God there is no break in its blessed, endless stream. A woman who "had spent all her living on physicians and was nothing bettered," knows well the blessedness of grace, when she in faith touches the hem of His garment. Beautiful to a degree was her faith,

and she finds the grace is equal to her need; she is well, but she did not want to add to it, nor to learn the extent of the stream of blessing which had healed her. When she comes to Christ, she falls down before Him, and tells Him all the truth; now she finds that the grace which cured her, is very much greater, she learns the One who is the Fountain of grace; her soul is affiliated to the Saviour. This is a pattern of the way I part company with my old self to be with Christ. The leper that returned (see Luke xvii.) not only lived, but was consecrated by coming to Christ.

The great fact is gradually disclosed that not only is the sinner to be forgiven, but that he is to be made MEET to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. The sense of need is the only true condition of an awakened soul; and therefore the relief of that need is the one thing desired; but there is much more in the grace of God than to relieve the need. True, there must be a full clearance of