Notes of an address by P. J. L. on Gen. 6:13, 14; and Heb. 9:1-5.

'These scriptures set before us the two Arks, one built by Noah, and the other by Moses, but both alike under the plan of God Himself. When things are to foreshadow as much as does each of these Arks, none but God Himself could plan them, and none but the Spirit of God could give men sufficient understanding to execute the plan with the needful accuracy.

There is a vast difference, beloved friends, between these two Arks, though, as in all else in Scripture, they are intimately related.

Noah's Ark was made to carry people through the judgment which was about to fall upon the earth. It is the figure of the salvation for which God sent His beloved Son Jesus Christ into this world, that He should obtain it for us. This He did we know, and at what cost we know, though the full extent of that cost we may never know. Who can measure what sin is to God ? And who then can measure the full extent of what our blessed Lord suffered on that cross to put it away ? Which among us who have fled into the Ark for refuge has not felt the pangs of conviction of sin ? It was but a ray of the light which issues from the throne of God that was penetrating our soul, to drive us at the Saviour's feet with the confession of our sins. What must have been the full blaze of that light turned upon our adorable Saviour when "the iniquity of us all" was "laid on Him! "

It is good, brethren, not to "urge souls beyond their moral state. Not to urge them to a shaky peace before they have felt the burden of sin. A man despises water. Let him travel under a burning sun for a while. Let him thirst till he hears the sound of a cool spring flowing out of the rock. It will be music to him such as he never heard in his life. It is thus we learn to sing:

" How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear."

But we are liable to limit salvation to the soul. It is no wonder when we think of the eternal issues- of the worm that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched. But God's thoughts are above man's as the heavens are above the earth. The salvation which Christ has obtained by the shedding of His precious blood, includes our bodies as well. If by sin we have lost everything, Christ by His great redemption has recovered to us far, far more than we have lost. Instead of an earthly body we are going to have a heavenly one, such as will fit us for the paradise of God in heaven, for the golden streets of the new Jerusalem, for the glory of God in His own house. We shall be like His beloved Son.

Then the Ark contained more than men. Creatures were there of every kind. So, beloved, not only are we going to our glorious home in heaven, not only are Israel and the nations of the earth going to prove that the reign over them of the Jesus they now despise is, like every purpose of God, the fulness of blessing, but creation itself which "groans and travails in pain together until now," "shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."

And then between the two-between the salvation of our soul and the glory awaiting us, do we not need to be saved out of a multitude of circumstances? Do we not need to be washed when we have defiled ourselves by sin ? Do we not need sympathy when we are in suffering ? Brethren, we may love each other as we ought. We may sympathize deeply with the sorrowing; we may minister to each other in all the fulness of our measure-oh may God give us grace for this!-but there is a depth in our needs which none but our Saviour can reach.

In Detroit lately I met a soul who said to me, All I can say is that I am miserable, but just what ails me I do not know. I replied, How good it is, is it not, that not only Christ our Advocate and Priest is able to attend to all our needs, but also understands all our needs before we can express them, save "with groanings which cannot be uttered?" What a mercy, in our perplexity, to have such a bosom to lean upon, and into which we may empty our own even if only by sighs and tears.

One thing more. It is well known among us that the word translated "pitch" is the word for "atonement." The Ark was to be pitched "within and without with pitch." God will not suffer us to think of our salvation, and of all our coming bliss, apart from the atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let all self-satisfied people praise their goodness, and learn too late forever "the terror of the Lord," we will glory only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thus blessed with such a salvation, our hearts are kept above the corroding cares and trials of this life, and we patiently wait for the end; while to His promise, "Behold I come quickly," our hearts earnestly respond "even so come Lord Jesus."

The Ark of Moses was very different. It was not to carry people through, but to be carried by the people of God on their shoulders, all through their wilderness journey.

It is Christ still, but Christ having gone through all the sufferings, now risen, glorified, and all that is true of Him seen now in the light of the glory into which He has entered, and of the way in which it has glorified God. All is gold about that Ark therefore. The wood (Christ's humanity) is there as much as ever, but covered with gold within and without. Humanity is glorified. The Manna (Christ's humiliation) is still there too, but in a pot of gold. We understand now the glory of that humiliation, do we not brethren? It makes us ashamed to ever have been ashamed of it, or to have shrunk from the fullest identification with it, does it not? The tables of the law are there too, but they frighten us no more, do they? for the penalty they imposed upon us has been borne by Aaron's rod which lies there by them-that Rod which was dead, but is alive again, and upon which we, the fruit of the travail of His soul, hang in living clusters all around.

All this, and vastly more, which we have learned concerning our dear Saviour and Master is, beloved brethren, what God has not only blessed our souls with, but also laid upon our shoulders to keep and carry for Him. He does not want us to take what we like of the truth and drop the rest because, perhaps, it brings too much reproach or trouble. No, the truth, the whole truth is laid upon us to hold up high on our shoulder every step of the way. Oh what a sacred trust from the God of heaven is committed to us! Shall we refuse it and seek our ease?

And what are we that such honor should be placed upon us? Well, in ourselves we are only poor sinful creatures not only unfit for heaven, but even cast out by earth, for it is evident our sins have cut us off from our stay upon it. But even if poor Jacobs, God has enabled us to sing, "Unto Him that loves us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us a kingdom, priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

We love the Ark therefore; we surround it on all sides; we guard it; we carry it; we follow it; all our steps are with it. Sorrows deep and dreadful may be, have been ours because of it, for God cannot deny what He is, and we cannot bring Him down to our ways. They, however, who will patiently submit to His discipline, will surely, like and with David, leap and dance before the Lord as the Ark enters the glorious City with them that carry it.

One word more, beloved:The Ark-the Truth- has a path of its own. The path in which it is found is the one in which it is kept-the path of holiness, of separation to God, of death to sin, to the world and all that is of it. In the measure in which we leave that path, we give up the power to hold that fast which we have, and to discern concerning the truth that which is good from that which is evil.
P. J. L.