tho approprh1tencss of a human one, and the "sweet-smelling Ravour" of a perfectly puro ono. Besides which it had all the spontaneity of a voluntary offerina-, and all the generosity of a noble self-surrender for the sake of others; in rnakin::; which the Redeemer was satisfied. And this offering which infinite love has made~ lovincr faith may take and call its own; and abandoning all pretence to a standing-ground in"native right, it may find an everlastingly firm one in sovereign grace I lll. HEBE Is A DIVINE CALL To PENITENCE. The sacrifice was to be offered with confession of sin (see Lev. xvi. 21). All the several ordinances which were spread over different sacrificial services in Israel, find their varied significances grouped in one, in the attitude of the sinner before the cross of his Saviour. Well might Watts ,vrite, "My faith would lay her hand," etc. While we accept the Divine Sacrifice for sin, penitential confession over sin should ever mark us (see Ps. Ii.), IV. HERE 18 A DIVINE DEMAND FOB RECTITUDE OF HEART. When we bring our offerings to the Lord, no defect should be knowingly tolerated by us. Grace gives no warrant to laxity, and true penitence will be scrupulously intolerant of it (Ps. !xvi. 18). The freeness of pardon to the penitent involves no modification of ethical stringency, for the fact is, wherever there is any known tolerance of ill, to that extent penitence does not exist. God puts away sin by forgiving it, only as we put it away by repenting of it and casting it off. V. HERE IS A DIVINE SUMMONS TO DEVOTION. Jesus died, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. And where a man, sorry for sin, intolerant of the evil in his nature, struggling against it, and pleading with God to uproot it, casts himself before God in this genuine uprightness of soul, none of the imperfections over which he mourns shall prevent the Divine acceptance of such an offering, presented, as it will be, in the name of the spotless Son of God. The virtue ot" his spotless sacrifice ensures the acceptance of ours. Every true and sincere penitent is, on this ground of free grace and dying love, as well-pleasing to God and as near to his heart as the purest angel before the eternal throne. 'l'he offering to God of a broken and a contrite heart is one which he cannot and will not despise (see also Heb. xiii. 15, 16). VI. HERE IS A DIVINE PROPHECY, TO INSPIRE HOPE. 'l.'hese sacrifices of ours, offered in penitence, faith, and love, are still but imperfect. And the holiest souls are most alive to such imperfection, and most sorrowful over it. Hence it should be no small joy to find in the Word of God precisely the same expressions used to express the future purity of believers that are employed to indicate the perfection of the Redeemer's sacrifice. As the one Great Sacrifice was "without blemish and without spot," so all those who are themselves living s~cri.fices to God, shall be "without spot or wii.nkle, or auy such thing." He who received them at first on the ground of his own purity, shall create in them a spotlessuess like his own. They shall be "without fault" before the throne of God. And he who died for them shall then present them as his own I Have we not here (in conclusion) a remarkable illustration of what the Apostle Paul so often speaks of as " the righteousness of God"? Each one of these six steps is a fresh aspect of it. The first shows the righteousness of God in taking cognizance ~f sin; the second, the rigl,teousness of God in offering a spotless sacrifice for sin; the third, the righteousness of God in requiring penitential acknowledgment of sin; the fourth, the righteousness of God in demanding intolerance of sin; the fifth, the righteousness of God in accepting our consecration in the name of a Sinless One, only when we penitently put away sin; the sixth, the righteousness of God in ensuring that those who are living sacrifices to him shall ultimately be perfectly freed from all sin I Thus from beginning to eud "grace reigns through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." "Now unto him that is able to keep us from falling, aud to present us Juul/less before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen."
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera. 1-12.-" The Lord:s release." The sabbatic year was in many respects a year of mercy to the poor. The beautiful name given to it here-" the Lord's release "-suggests 262 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. [011. s.v. 1-21!.