BETWEEN CHRIST, IN HIS VARIED GLORIES, AND THE SOUL.

There is a fulness in Christ which the ripest I saint has never exhausted and never will. It is indeed all the fulness of the Godhead bodily " which dwells in Him, and our ever increasing delight throughout eternity will be to search the heights and depths of God's purposes in Him, and to know more and more of that "love of Christ which passeth knowledge."

There are many aspects in which we can look at our Lord, in each of which He is seen in a special beauty connected with that character, an Object of special delight for our hearts. Thus we know Him as Saviour and Sacrifice, as Priest and Advocate, as Head of the Church, as the corning Lord.

Let us for a little dwell upon Him in each of these characters, familiar as they are to us, all the dearer because familiar, never in danger of their becoming too familiar.

We may well believe that every Christian has at some time in his experience thought:What is the exact point of contact between myself and Christ_? Of course the sinner must learn this first of all, and yet the saint needs ever to remember it too. Even where there may not be-because of the truth which God has so graciously unfolded to us-the distressing doubts which would lead the child of God to ask such dishonoring questions as-

" ' Tis a point I long to know,
Oft it causes anxious thought:
Do I love the Lord or no,
Am I His or am I not ? "

yet there is often a vagueness, a faint suspicion that something is required, some qualification needed for the enjoyment of Christ in His various characters. The exact point of contact between the soul and Himself is not always clearly seen and thus much of the blessing, much of the joy of communion is lost.

Let us then look at Him first as Saviour. Blessed Lord, His very name means this. ' 'Thou shalt call His name, Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins;" a twofold Saviour, from the guilt and the thraldom of sin. How much this means ! To be saved, to be delivered from the wrath to come, from the judgment of a holy God against sin and the companionship of Satan and the lost for evermore. To have no accusing conscience, to be able to look forward with confidence to the judgment, knowing that we who have believed shall not come into judgment, but have passed out of death into life ! It is as Saviour that He is first known, the One who saves. But whom does He save ? The babe in Christ knows well the answer; and shall the "young men" and " fathers " ever forget it ? Paul gloried in it, revealed in it; and in his oversight of the churches giving charge to Timothy, making provision for the orderly government of that which was so dear to the heart of the Lord, he gives a prominent place to this truth which was ever fresh in his own heart:"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," and adds "of whom I am chief."

The point of contact, then, between the Saviour and the soul is the fact that we are sinners. It is sinners who need a Saviour; and should the enemy ever tempt the new-born soul to doubt his acceptance, should he ever succeed in getting him to look within for proofs of salvation, let him remember that the point where he met with Christ as Saviour was not his worthiness, his attainments, his experience; he could bring nothing but sin to Him. It was his sinnership that entitled him to the Saviour, and for the saved as well, his title to the Saviour abides the same. He was a sinner, lost in himself, now nothing more than that; all that has been wrought in him has been purely grace. Since then, so far as his title to Christ as Saviour is concerned, it abides forever the fact that he was a sinner. If he were in himself alone, still that.

So, too, when we look at our Lord as the Sacrifice, the same simple truth is seen. What peace it gives to the conscience to look at the sin-offering, to see the sins confessed and laid upon the head of the victim, which is then slain, its blood shed and sprinkled upon the altar and it consumed without the camp. How faith delights to rest upon that sacrifice and in face of all those sins, more in number than the hairs of our head, what peace and rest we have as we behold the Sacrifice, '' the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world."

It is to this that we are recalled whenever we gather about the table of our Lord. His blood was shed for the remission of sins. So, too, with all the other aspects of His sacrificial work as seen in the peace, trespass and burnt-offerings. What a value there is to this sacrifice! How it outweighs infinitely all the guilt of all the world-in value ! How the blood of Christ speaks before God of that in which He finds rest, of that which satisfies His justice, so that He can be "just and the justifier of Him that believeth in Jesus," so that His righteousness and His love blend together in declaring our acceptance eternal.

And where is the point of contact between the soul and this precious sacrifice of Christ ? For whom was His blood shed ? For whom was the sacrifice offered ? For ripe saints ? for faithful servants ? for those who can show some fruits of grace in their hearts ? Ah, no, here again we come back to that simple fundamental truth, "Christ died for the ungodly." How do I know His blood was shed for me? Because I am ungodly. And so the point of contact between my soul and this sacrifice is my sinnership again.

Let us pass in with Him now into the holiest of all, where we behold Him in those spotless robes, appearing as our priest before God and there ever living to make intercession for us. Let us think of
Him too, in the garments of glory and beauty, every fibre of which, every jewel that sparkles upon it, speaks of some precious character that He bears before God for us. We think of His sympathy, of His succor in times of temptation, of the strength of His mighty arms, of the tenderness of His loving heart, of the savor of that anointing which is upon him, a fragrance in which we too are accepted before God. All our feeble prayers, all our reaching out after God, is linked with His mighty intercession, is presented in His Name by Himself:"By Him, therefore, let us offer continually unto God the sacrifice of praise." What joy it is to dwell upon our Priest. If the sacrifice has given us boldness to enter into the holiest, the presence of the Priest there gives us liberty and joy to worship.

And where is the point of contact between this great High Priest and our souls? What fitness, what attainment is required to enable us to say, He is my High Priest? Ah, here again we come back to that simple, most blessed fact that it is nothing in ourselves now any more than at the beginning. It was as sinners that our Priest laid down His life .for us, offered the Sacrifice. We cannot think of Him as Priest apart from the sacrifice, and we cannot think of the Sacrifice apart from the fact that we were sinners. How sweet for the child of God in all simplicity then to remember that his sinnership is again the point of contact between himself and all the infinite and effectual ministry of that High Priest!

The thought of the Advocate is similar, though distinct. It shows us the Lord as our Representative before God, the One who has full charge of all that concerns our standing and welfare before God,
who has entered into the Father's presence to be before Him forever as the witness of our own acceptance there too. More particularly, His advocacy is seen in connection with the failures of His people. "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous " (1 Jno. 2:1:)Here is an Advocate who never loses a case, who is able to present all the details before His God and Father. The accuser of the brethren is there to present their shortcomings and unworthiness in all their awful character before God, but what can an accuser do in the presence of such an Advocate, who stands there and as the answer to every accusation, can show the marks of that sacrifice which has anticipated all, even the sins, forgetfulness and self-righteousness of the believer?

And how effectual, too, is this advocacy seen in the restoration of the child of God, the washing of the feet down here in the power of the Holy Spirit, through the word of God, which is the result of that work on high! Oh, who that has grown cold or sinned (and, alas, brethren, who of us has not had more or less humbling experience of these declensions) but rejoices in the fact of that advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous ?

It is hardly necessary to ask where the point of contact between the soul and Him as advocate is.
His advocacy is in view of our sin, but He is the propitiation for our sins. So here sinnership is again
the simple title, may we not say, to the services of our Advocate?

Who has not felt the heart within him leap with exultation at the burning words of the apostle in the' epistle to the Ephesians, "Head over all things to the Church"? We see Him quickened out of the dead, brought forth by the power of God, raised up, far above all principality and power and might, dominion, thrones and kingdoms and all else are made subject to Him, He is over all; and the heart has rejoiced to sing:

" O, Jesus, Lord, 'tis joy to know
Thy path is o'er of shame and woe."

We have seen Him there as Head, Head over all things, and, wondrous to say, Head to the Church which is His body. Linked by the Holy Spirit to a glorified Christ, He our Head and life there on high, we His members, sustained, knit together, channels for blessing one to another-the body of Christ upon earth soon to be displayed too in glory throughout eternity! Who can overestimate the sanctifying effect of this truth of our union with our Head in heaven? Rightly grasped, it not merely corrects the walk, securing a constant and proper testimony here, but it transfigures us and makes us a heavenly people.

Since our Head is in heaven, we also belong there; how this breaks a score of ties and settles a thousand questions which might harass the soul and fail of a clear answer were this not seen! Look at the corporate truth of the headship of Christ, one body upon earth, indwelt by one Spirit, to be actuated and controlled by one Mind, the same life, the same love, the same care in all the members. Oh, how the head hangs with shame and the heart is saddened as we think how the. neglect of this great fact has marred the whole testimony of the Church of God upon earth!

But we are only touching upon these truths. Our thought is to find the point of contact between the soul and our Lord here as in the other characters. If the first chapter of Ephesians shows us Christ raised from the dead and exalted on high in the heavenly places as Head of the Church, we have only to read on a few verses in the second to see that He is not alone. We are seen as those who were "dead in trespasses and sins." It was in our death, that quickening life was imparted, "quickened together with Christ " with that resurrection life of His beyond the power of death forever, a life therefore which can never be lost or forfeited; raised up together with Him, out of the place of death, out of the dominion of death, out of our graves and away from our grave-clothes; more yet, seated in Him in the heavenly places in Christ on high, our Head, our Representative before God, and soon to be with Him there, that in the ages to come God may exhibit in us "the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus."

Dear fellow-believer, does not your heart rejoice as you think that the point of contact between your soul and Christ as Head over all things was when you lay dead in your sins? Here again, not merely your sinnership but your absolutely helpless condition-but for God's sovereign grace-is emphasized; and if unbelief should dare to ask the question, How can I know that I am united to Christ as Head ? we again do not look back at an unblemished record of faithful service or aught else, but answer, He found me when I was in my blood and said to me, Live!

Lastly we think of Him as the coming One, who shall fulfil the yearning of His heart and take His blood-bought people to be with Himself at home forever. We shall be like Him, then, for we shall see Him as He is. Even our vile bodies He will change and make "like unto His glorious body,"-no weakness nor sickness then ; no circumstances of distress through which we now pass, no wilderness in which our feeble footsteps often falter, all that gone; and it may be at any moment that we shall hear His cry of joy which awakens responsive joy in our hearts:"Arise My love, My dove, My fair one, and come away!" Oh, it is a blessed hope, to sustain and cheer the heart in the' darkest hour, no matter how sharp the trial, how bitter the cup, it is only for a little while and will soon be over, happily over, forever. The Lord is coming ; His word is, " Behold, I come quickly."

What gives us confidence as we think of that coming ? What will enable us to respond with all our hearts and souls, "Amen, even so come, Lord Jesus ? " One verse of Scripture seems to link together two things which throughout eternity will never be sundered:"the Lord's death, till He come." His death and His coming again are linked together. As we see in Phil. 3:we look for a Saviour, and so as we think of His coming, it is One who died to save us. Our title to have confidence in view of that coming is the fact that He is our Saviour, the Saviour of sinners, and so we are brought back again to that great basic fact, my sinnership is what entitled me to all that Christ is,

"Title I have none beside ;
"Tis for sinners that He died."
Dear fellow-believer, does your heart take in the simplicity of this ? Do you not see how it will en-

able you, at all leisure from unbelieving doubts, all the whispers of Satan, all the sense of your own un-worthiness, to enjoy Christ in all His perfection? You bring nothing as your share; you remember nothing as your share, save the fact that it was your need that brought Him out of heaven as it is your need that occupies Him there now. Blessed, precious Lord, throughout eternity we will praise Thee for this, and can sing now, as we will then-

"I stand upon His merit,
I know no safer stand,
Not e'en where glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land."