we thus placed! One with Christ-partakers with Him of the same life-He being our life, as it says, "when Christ, who is our life, shall appear"-how perfect our acceptance, how complete our security! We are "in Christ." As the hand or the foot is included in the man, so is the believer included "in Christ." And it is thus we inherit all our blessings. "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." We are "made the righteousness of God in him." We are 66 accepted in the beloved." We "sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Can any charge be laid against Him? Then, and not till then, it may against the believer, who is part of him! Such is the nature and completeness of the believer's justification, standing, and acceptance before God. The faith, by which as a poor sinner he clings to Christ, is itself the first breathing or pulsation of a new life, which is, in fact, Christ's own life-a life which he now possesses in common with Christ. How then can the sins which he has committed be laid to his charge? Memory may re-call them; Satan may seek to terrify him by placing them all in array before him. The question is, Can they be laid to Christ's charge? The believer is, as to his life, a part of Christ. He has become such by virtue of Christ having put away all these sins-"quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses." If Christ had not put away my sins, I could not have been made a sharer of His life. If I am a believer I do share His life, and so am assured that all my sins are put away, all my trespasses forgiven. If they cannot be laid to Christ's charge, they cannot be laid to mine; for I, as a believer, am part of Christ, as a man's eye or ear is a part of a man. The same life animates eye, ear, hand, and all the other members of the body. The same life animates Christ and the believer. They are one. Blessed be God for such a settlement of this whole question!

"I WILL COME AGAIN."

"In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." (John xiv. 2, 3.) This is a truly precious promise. It was given to comfort the hearts of the sorrowing disciples, and many a weary heart it has comforted since then. You will observe, that in these verses "I" and "you" occur very frequently. The heart of Jesus, and the hearts of His disciples, are in close quarters. Love unites them. In heart, they are one. The tender love of Jesus is sweetly manifested. The disciples were filled with sorrow because He was going to leave them. "Whither I go," He says, "ye cannot come." This was a trying word to the heart. In answer to Peter's question, " Whither goest thou ?" the Lord first refers to His own death on the cross for them, and then meets the trouble of their hearts with this blessed promise, "I will come again, and receive you unto myself." He does not say, "I will send for you," oh, no! but " I will come." Such was His love, He would come for them Himself. Love values its object. To have spoken of sending others for His disciples, would not have expressed how much He loved and valued them.

But whither was He going? To His Father's house on high-to His immediate presence-He was going home. And will He receive us to Himself there? He is there now, and He will come for us, and receive us to where He is Himself. "That where I am," as He says, "there ye

may be also." Our place will be WITH HIM, through the rich merits of His blood. And that, we know, is the highest-best-most blessed place in heaven. And though all will be in the same glory with Himself, yet each one will have his own distinct and special place there. Paul will not have Peter's, and Peter will not have Paul's. Each one will have his own place, not only in the heart of

Christ, but in the house of many mansions, and in the glory of the Lord. "I go to prepare a place for you." In short, it will be HOME, our own eternal, happy home. Such is the love of Jesus! It is the love of the divine Bridegroom for His "ransomed bride;" and such His faithful promise, "I will come again."

In the seventeenth chapter, we have the same precious truth presented, not in the form of a promise, but expressed as a prayer. "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me." He bears us on His heart continually. His great desire is, that we may see His glory, and be with Him in it. Here, it is His "given" glory that He speaks of. He glorified God on the earth, and God has glorified Him at His own right hand in heaven. (Comp. John xii. 28; xiii. 31, 32; xvii. 4, 5.) And now He prays the Father that we may all be with Him in the glory. "And him the Father heareth always." "A little while," and we shall be with Him, and like Him in His "given glory." And, oh! surely, our deepest, highest joy will be to see Him, who passed through such shame and suffering for us, crowned with glory and honour. Our joy will not consist, so much, in being there ourselves, as in seeing Him there. Every eye will be fixed on Him-every heart will be ravished with His glory and beauty. And the thought that we are there through His suffering, shame, and dishonour, will tune every voice to sing His praise, in loudest, sweetest strains.

And now, having the promise, and knowing the desire of His heart, our true position is to be watching and longing for His coming. He has not named the day or the hour, that we may be always waiting for Him. We are not to be looking for troubles, or trials, or death, but for the Lord Himself. These may come before Him, but this precious promise, "I will come again, and receive you unto myself," places nothing between the heart of the disciple and his Lord's return. His coming again is the proper

object of His people's hope. Like the Thessalonians who were "turned from idols to serve the living God, and to wait for his Son from heaven." Affection should lead us to pray, "COME, LORD JESUS." Like the loving wife who counts the hours of her husband's absence, and longs for his return.

In Rev. iv. we find, in vision, the promise fulfilled, and the prayer answered. Affection, as well as faith, lays hold on this. The redeemed of the Lord are seen in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne. They are seated on thrones, wearing crowns and worshipping. And although "out of the throne proceed lightnings, and thunderings, and voices," they are not disturbed. They are perfectly at home. They are with Christ, and that makes heaven home to them. His promise is fulfilled, and the desire of His heart of love is answered. Before a single seal is broken, a single trumpet sounded, a single vial poured out, the Church is called away. He comes for her, and receives her unto Himself-unto His own home, in His Father's house on high. She is secure within the veil. This is a deeply precious truth. Judgments are now coming on the earth, with overwhelming rapidity, as the lightnings, thunderings, and voices indicate. But she has been removed from the scene on which the judgments fall, and has entered with Christ on the scene of her eternal rest and glory. The promise is fulfilled, and the prayer is answered.

"How happy are we, who in Jesus agree,

To expect His return from above;
We sit under His vine, and delightfully join
In the praise of His excellent love.
United to Him we drink of the stream,
Ever flowing in bliss from the throne;
Who in Jesus believe, we the Spirit receive,
That proceeds from the Father and Son.
We remember the word of our crucified Lord,
When He went to prepare us a place-

I will come in that day and transport you away,
And admit to a sight of my face.

Come, Lord, from the skies, and command us to rise,
To the mansions of glory above;

With our Head to ascend, and eternity spend,

In a rapture of heavenly love."

LIFE THROUGH DEATH.

(PART V.)

THE first seven chapters of the book of Leviticus unfold, with divine fulness, beauty, and power, the doctrine of sacrifice. In the eighth and ninth chapters, we have the doctrine of priesthood; but, whether it be a question of sacrifice or priesthood, the shedding of blood has its own prominent and divinely-appointed place. If blood-shedding was the great foundation fact in the doctrine of sacrifice, so was it also in the doctrine of priesthood. Let us take a passage or two in proof. "And he brought the bullock for the sin offering; and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin offering. And he slew it; and Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it, to make reconciliation upon it...... And he brought the ram for the burnt offering; and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram. And he killed it; and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about...... And he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration; and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram. And he slew it; and Moses took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. And he brought Aaron's sons, and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their right ear, and upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon the great toes of their right feet; and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about." (Lev. viii. 14—24.)

The above quotations will suffice to show the place which the blood occupied in the consecration of the Aaronic priesthood. True, the priest required to be entirely free from bodily blemish, and from ceremonial defilement. (See