"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 'Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin-offering:In the place where the burnt-offering is killed shall the sin-offering be killed before the Lord:It is most holy. The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it:in the holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation. Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy; and when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment, thou shalt wash that whereon it was sprinkled in the holy place. But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken; and if it be sodden in a brazen pot, it shall be both scoured, and rinsed in water. All the males among the priests shall eat thereof:it is most holy. And no sin-offering whereof any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place shall be eaten; 'it shall be burnt in the fire.' " (Lev. 6:24-30.)

I would like to ask the attention of the readers of help and food to the law of the sin-offering as found in Lev. 6:The way in which this law is here introduced is worthy, surely, of the profoundest consideration and reverent meditation. God, as if foreseeing the danger of the perverse and wicked heart of man connecting the holy Sufferer with the sin for which He in infinite grace suffered, hedges about this sacrifice with guard after guard, to protect its intrinsic integrity and holiness, in a way that will not be found in any other. "It is most holy," Jehovah declares, and again repeats. Stein in the same spot, and so connected with the offering that was wholly for God-the burnt-offering :to be eaten by a holy person-the priest who offered it:to be eaten in a holy place-the court of the tabernacle :God would proclaim the spotless perfection and immaculate holiness of His beloved One, especially guarding Him in the place where divine infinite love had led Him to take the vile sinner's place,-to be looked upon judicially as sin, and receive the judgment of the guilty. It is worthy of our most reverent meditation ; and may the Lord so increase such occupation of our hearts that we may with adoration respond, from our inmost spirits, "Amen :it is most holy ! "

But it is not of this in its detailed application that I wish now to write. I want particularly to call your attention to three points only of the above seven ; for you will find that between the two solemn statements, "It is most holy," God has stamped it with this number of perfection, -all, surely, in the same line, and witnessing the intense holiness of the offering.

Nothing can touch that holy offering without at once becoming changed:God's voice declares the thing touched, itself holy. By this, of course, we understand, not that the nature of the thing is changed necessarily, but its position :it at once is separated from every thing else that is not "touched"-has a character attached to it that it had not before; just as the children of believers, and even of mixed parentage as to the faith, are said to be holy in i Cor. 7:14,-not character changed, but position different to others-in a recognized nearness to God. And for further, clearer light as to what this implies, these three points in the law of the sin-offering will help us.

First, look at the wondrous effect of its sprinkled blood as to the garments. Let but a drop of the precious blood touch them, and whilst they might be as vile and stained and spotted as conceivable before without calling for any notice, His eye who is too pure to behold iniquity follows that blood, and at once the garment must be washed in water. Easy this of clear interpretation. The garments speak of those circumstances in which a man habitually lives :the one word " habits " seems happily to combine in itself the idea both of type and antitype. Every thing in a Christian's walk that has. become part of himself, covering, I should judge, all his surroundings in his home and in his business, – all, as soon as they are under the shelter of the blood of Christ, must be immediately subject to the cleansing, purifying action of the water of the Word.

Now, my reader, I pray you, face just this simple alternative :you are either unsprinkled by that all-precious blood or you are under its shielding cover. If the former, your walk is truly not yet the subject of the scrutiny of God's holy eye ; but the day will come, if still you so continue, when you will surely be judged according to your works, and then woe, everlasting woe, is yours. But I know that this is not likely to affect many who read this page:you are a Christian, and rejoice in the assurance of sins forgiven ; but how, if not through the blood of Christ ? Then, look to it – look to it|; for now that blood has touched your garments, God's eye is upon them, His claim is over them, and practical holiness, separation from defilement, in accord with His Word, must characterize them, or there will surely be chastening.

But further, see the result of this holy offering coming into connection with an earthen vessel – it is broken at once. Now, what is the lesson of a broken earthen vessel? Nothing could be apparently more useless than a broken vessel ; and yet is there not a sense in which a vessel only becomes of any use when it is broken ? Let Gideon's pitchers help us in the interpretation of the anomaly. See them sound and whole,-very useful, perhaps, for the purposes of mere nature, but useless yet for the purpose for which God has in grace selected them. There is something within them that is quite hidden and lost as long as they are unbroken, and not till the pitcher becomes a broken vessel does the light within shine forth, victory and joyful deliverance following. Again, sweet lesson, easy of interpretation !-"We have this treasure," says the apostle, " in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." The Christian is the earthen vessel, and as long as he is unbroken, he is useless. Forgiveness of sins must be followed by real brokenness-self-distrust, not thinking of myself as a large vessel or as a small vessel, but as a broken vessel. Many Christians speak much of themselves as being " little vessels," but he who is in the line of God's thought says, " What use to waste thought at all on so utterly worthless a thing as a broken earthen vessel?" Then, free to be occupied with the risen, glorious Lord, his light shines, the lamp within burns, his testimony goes out, (blessedly unconsciously to himself, no doubt,) but, "beholding the glory of the Lord, he is changed into the same image, from glory to glory." Beloved reader, dear brother or sister, permit me affectionately to ask you to ponder in your souls the lesson of the broken earthen vessel. Once more, and now a step further:the next thing looked at is a vessel of another material,-a vessel still, and hence speaking, doubtless, of the same person in another way. "If it be sodden in a brazen pot, it shall be both scoured, and rinsed in water." Now, to understand this aright, I take it, we must seek, by the blessed Spirit's guidance, to throw upon it the light of other scriptures. Evidently the brazen pot was now to be honored as never before :not to be broken, it was to be made-1:e., to be as God required it,-bright, by scouring and rinsing. Not only, as in the case of the garment, was the action of the water to be used, but powerful rubbing and brightening (The word "scour" is translated "furbish" in Jer. 46:4, and "bright" in 2 Chron. 4:16.) till all cloudiness, and that tarnishing of the luster of the metal which is due to earth's influences, was removed.

Now a very searching, solemn lesson opens up for us. Look at that scoured, rinsed pot,-that polished, shining It has been in connection with the sin-offering ; now scoured and rinsed, is it not a vessel well fitted for the holy services of the sanctuary-"a vessel unto honor, meet for the Master's use"? But here, in this expression, have we not secured the key of the interpretation ? Does not 2 Tim. 2:help us in this? The scoured vessel, the rinsed vessel, the purged vessel, is the one, and the only one (let us ponder it well in our souls),-the only one that is "unto honor, meet for the Master's use." For turn again to that verse, to which reference has already been made, in 2 Chron. 4:16. No vessel could be of the slightest use in that holy temple that had not been made bright (margin) by this scouring,-no, not one. Covet it, my brethren ! see to it that we hearken obediently to the words of the Holy Spirit in i Cor. 12:31-" Covet earnestly the best gifts." Rest not with forgiveness assured through that shed blood of the most holy sin-offering. Only see the glorious possibilities that follow on that blessed foundation. We are now where we may be vessels to carry the water of life to other thirsting souls ; where our Lord Jesus may take us up and use us for His honor and glory in the various paths of sweet and holy service it is His people's happy privilege to tread. But mark what precedes such :there must be a scouring as well as rinsing, and not always pleasant is the process; the hard rubbing is often very painful, but oh, how good when it has its designed effect! and through the scouring, earth loses its power, its dulling influences disappear, the holy light of heaven begins to be reflected in the vessel, and, as He designs in all such dealings with us, we become " partakers of His holiness."Painful process oft indeed, but no uninterested, careless, indifferent One does the scouring. "Every branch that beareth fruit He "-who ?He who loves us even as He loves His only begotten One (Jno. 17:23)-" He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit."We are surely in good hands.

Mark too with great care, and approve the divine order, first, personal holiness. This is of the first importance. Many an one, alas ! overlooks this, or seeks to step beyond it, but never with approval or acceptance. This must follow as immediately on forgiveness as did the feast of unleavened bread on the passover-no interval whatever. The stroke of the hour that told of the ending of the one feast told equally of the beginning of the other. This most important lesson is again and again emphasized in God's holy Word. Let my reader, for his own blessing, turn to and ponder the following scriptures :Lev. 23:5, 6 ; Gal. 1:3, 4 ; Eph. 2:8-10 ; Tit. 2:11-14 ; 3:8.

Secondly, that which often does not come so quickly, but is slowly learned-a casting aside of all confidence in self, as a broken earthen vessel, and thus occupation with Him who is alone worthy of it-the Lord Jesus, so that the light shines out. The lesson, indeed, of the seventh and eighth of Romans, where we have a picture of an earthen vessel being "broken." It has surely been in vital connection with the most holy Sin-Offering, for none but such could truly "delight in the law of God after the inward man;" but hard it is to give up all hope of the:vessel-"Oh that Ishmael might live before Thee" is ever the desire and hope of us all till we learn how hopeless the flesh is, and that " in me,-that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." How little the poor soul who is learning this through bitter experience knows that most tender, gracious Love is pushing it into a joy and liberty where it may sing instead of groan. But if Rom. 7:shows us one learning the lesson of a broken earthen vessel, Phil. 3:shows us a lovely picture of the vessel quite broken. See how all in the vessel that might have challenged confidence is steadfastly, firmly put aside. "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea. doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." There is surely a " broken earthen vessel."

Thirdly, that which is progressive, and lasts during all one's pilgrimage here,-all God's dealings with His child, brightening him for service. F. C. J.