We may briefly see how this place is reached in the book of Numbers. It is in this wise:First of all, we find in the first ten chapters the principles of the camp,-God's principles for His people going through the wilderness; for the book of Numbers is the history of the wilderness,-the history of failure, alas! but also of His own wonderful ways with them in grace. When their history starts, as in the end of the tenth chapter, you find at once failure, and failure which goes on increasing steadily until it reaches apostasy in the rebellion of Korah. Then God executes judgment; but at the same time, in judgment He remembers mercy, and we find consequent upon the failure of the people the provisions of God's grace for them there in the wilderness, to bring them through into the land in a way suitable to His own righteous character; preserving His own holiness, and manifesting it by His dealings with them.

The question then comes up, How are a people like these to be carried through? It is quite true the apostasy itself may be only the sin of some, but the whole people are of this character. Aye, you and I, beloved friends,-all of us, if it depended upon us only, would go to any extreme- aye, to apostasy itself. Thank God, He does not permit it, that is all. Now, how are such a people to be brought through the wilderness according to God? The answer is in this:Aaron is told to take a rod for each of the tribes, his own rod for the tribe of Levi, and to put them into the sanctuary; and the tribe in whom the priesthood is pointed out by the fact that the dead rod put into the sanctuary in the presence of God bursts into life and yields blossoms and almonds. It is a clear type of resurrection; but not only so, it is a beautiful type also of such a resurrection as implies and is the first-fruits of a harvest which is to follow. The almond-tree is, in the Hebrew tongue, called the "Wakeful," because it wakes up the first in the spring, and when it is awake, you know that the whole summer is at hand. Now, that, beloved friends, is how it is as to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ out of death, now gone into the sanctuary and in the presence of God in heaven. He is the first-fruits of the new-creation harvest,-the forerunner of all that shall come there through Him. He is the First-Begotten from the dead; that implies, of course, that others are to be begotten from the dead. He has title,- having shed his blood for His people,-He has title to bring them through, where He is, whatever they are.

In consequence, we find in the nineteenth chapter the provision for defilement-defilement from the dead. This is ever, in Numbers, the character of defilement, because the wilderness through which they are going is the type of the world; and the world passeth away; it has on it the stamp of death-the stamp of God's displeasure. The provision of the ashes of the red heifer is therefore God's provision for defilement with the dead. The priest now being with God, the provision is here by which they are freed from all the defilements of the way.

But there is another thing which has to be taken into account. It is not enough that our sins should be gone, not enough that defilement should be removed; there is something deeper in us which makes all this defilement practicable, as I may say. There was One in the world who could touch, not only the physical, but the moral leper without defilement, in perfect superiority over it-in the midst of all man's unholiness, the Holy One of God. But, beloved, there was not in Him what there is in us:-a fallen nature. Ours is a fallen nature:this is the secret of our condition; and how can we go with such a nature before God?

The answer to this is, the cross. The brazen serpent is the type of Christ as made sin for us-He who knew no sin. The brazen serpent represents, not sins borne, but sin in us,-the root, of which these are the bitter fruit,-judged in Him who in grace became our representative upon the cross. Thus the people's case is perfectly met; and as a consequence, let the enemy accuse,-surely he had plenty of material for accusation-a stiff-necked and rebellious people, as Moses says, from the day he knew them until that day;-so perfectly secure are they, he can only pronounce their blessing. The very attempt to curse only brings out blessing. How wonderful, beloved friends! and mark, it is just when they have finished their journey; they are in the plains of Moab, with only the Jordan between them and the land they are going to. And it is there, after they have been told out fully in their history,-after all has been said of them, so to speak, that could be said,-it is there that the accuser comes up to curse and has to bless. How blessed that is for us! How sweet to know that is the sure and certain result of the work of Christ, and of His presence in heaven for us! So, beloved, at the close of our journey, blessed be God, are we found before Him; so completely according to His mind, so completely sheltered from every accusation, that, after our whole story :is told out, we can be presented "blameless" before God.

Now, I want to bring out specially the two blessings in these verses read; but in the first place, just let us glance at the whole together. There is an order in these blessings which I want to speak of. The point of view is different, as you see at once, in each of the three. Balak, in fact, takes Balaam to another and another place on purpose to change the point of view, in order to see if by any possibility he shall be able to curse. They are to be looked at from every side save one, and that is, the Canaan one,-heaven's side, in fact; which God gives, nevertheless, all through. But more than that, the point of view is ever nearer. If you notice, at the end of the twenty-second chapter, it says that Balak took him to the heights of Baal, in order that he might see from thence the utmost part of the people-the " end " of the people. His effort there is to diminish them; he does not want to let him see too much. He sees the last camp, as it were-just the end. And you may notice that when Balaam sees them from thence, he says, " Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel?" The fourth part was the hindermost of the camp, and that is what he was looking at.

But in the next place, he takes him to the field of Zophim-to the top of Pisgah, and here there is a little alteration which we shall have to make in our translation, as it is inconsistent with what has gone before, as you will notice in the forty-first verse of the last chapter (the twenty-second). Balak is here (in the thirteenth verse of the twenty-third chapter) made to say to him, " Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them:thou shalt see but the utmost part of them."Now, that is only what he had seen before. A very simple alteration makes it all consistent. We have to alter the future, "thou shalt see," into the present, "thou seest." Future and present are all one in the Hebrew language, and it is simply a question of critical I judgment as to which should be used. Here, it is evidently the present, and not the future. From the point where he stood at first he saw but the utmost part of them; and now Balak is going to show him, not the " utmost part," but all. He thinks he has made a mistake; he should not have shown him the utmost part merely, and that this was the reason, perhaps, he had not succeeded in cursing them. Now, he takes him. where he can see them all. Thus, it is when Balaam looks through the length and breadth of them that he says, "God hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel." See, beloved friends, how that would be spoiled if, after all, He was only looking at the utmost part of them. Balak might have said, as it were, You don't see any spot there, but there are plenty elsewhere. But Balaam's eye now looks upon the:whole of the people, and he says there is not a spot any where.

And then Balak brings him nearer still. You can evidently see how near he is, for now the distinct order and arrangement of the camp comes up before him. Balaam, it says, " lifted up his eyes and saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes." And now what does he say? "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!"

The nearer he comes, the more the beauty appears. In the first place, when at a distance, they are not like any other people on the earth. You cannot apply ordinary rules to them. When he comes nearer, he says there is not a spot any where; but when he comes nearest of all, his heart goes out in admiration, and he says, " How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!" Beloved, what a state that is! what a condition! What a people of whom it can be truly seen, the nearer you approach to them, the more they are blessed-the more it comes out! You know how we look at men at a distance from them, and think them very happy people. We see them with riches of all kinds, blessed in basket and in store, in the fruit of the body and the fruit of the field, and you think their cup is full. We have only got to look a little nearer to find there are flaws; and the nearer we consider them, the more their case differs from what it appeared at first; we end, perhaps, in not envying them at all. What a difference it is, beloved friends, when you have God's people before you, and the portion which God gives! The nearer the point of view, the more blessed that portion is.

But now, then, let us look a little more at the first blessing. In the first place it is simply this:" How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed ? or how shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied ? For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him." Now, notice, beloved friends, that is the point of view all through-the top of the rocks. He calls it, in the third blessing, the "vision of the Almighty." God sees from above; we see from the lower level- the level of earth. But God's view is the real one:an unobstructed view, you know, you get from a mountain-peak. From the lower level, you find all sorts of things in the way; you get mere fragmentary glimpses, which you cannot put together:but from the upper level, you see things as they really are, – God always sees them so. God's | view is the real view; and all other, if not false, is still an inferior one.

" Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!" That is the first thing, beloved friends, that Balaam sees- a people who are separate from all the other nations of the earth; they are not numbered with them; they don't form part of them at all. As I said before, ordinary rules do not apply to them; you cannot merely judge of them by ordinary judgment:they are the people of God. The moment you bring in God, it makes all the difference. The thing that distinguished Israel from all the other nations of the earth was, that God was with them. And, beloved friends, if God was with them, from the very nature of the case, they must dwell alone. That was their privilege and blessing:they dwelt alone. The people of God," of necessity, ever dwell alone; they do not form part of the world. If we remember what the Lord Jesus Christ said of His disciples before He left them, it was distinctly that. He says, speaking to the Father, " They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." Nay, more-He says, " As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." So that, being distinctly not of the world even as He is not of the world, He sends them into it. They are in it simply as sent of Him, to represent Him even as He represented the Father. He alone could represent the Father:we could not do that; it would be impossible. Blessed be God, however, we can, through His grace, represent Him. Only the Son ' could represent the Father. We may, in a measure, at least, represent the blessed One who was Son of Man down here in the world.

But, now, if He says, " They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world," what does He mean by that? Remember, it is the vision of the Almighty. It is not at all, beloved, what may seem practically true. It ought to be, I quite grant it. Israel ought to have dwelt alone:was it true as to their practical history that they did ? Alas! no. You know how in the wilderness they mixed themselves up with other people. You know how through the devices of this very Balaam who pronounced the blessing here they were seduced into evil alliances with the Midianites, and judgment came upon them in consequence. How little could it be said, if you looked upon them from a mere human point of view, that they "dwelt alone"!

But, beloved friends, God's point of view is the true view. He has a ground for saying what He I does; although faith only sees with Him. Faith alone reckons as God reckons,-sees as God sees. And, beloved, to faith it is true. We are not of the world, even as Christ is not of the world.

Is that in character? Alas! not wholly so. Character, you can say, in a certain sense; for, blessed be God, as born again, we are partakers of the holy nature of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Nevertheless, as to practical conduct in the world, how little can it be said of us, " the world knoweth us not"! And yet, beloved, it is what ought to be true in this way. Alas! it reads like a reproach,- in this day of far-spreading Christianity, it reads like a reproach when the apostle says, " The world knoweth us not, even as it knew Him not."

Beloved, is that true of you and me practically? How far is it true? It is not a question of profession, because the world can make a profession too. It is doing it; it is the easiest thing possible. How is it when we come to the reality, when the world practically tests us, what do we find ? Are we able to enter into their pleasures? They can quite understand that. Are we able to follow the objects that they follow as objects? They quite understand that. Are we as keen at a bargain? They quite understand that. If they find us seeking to make money, they quite understand that. Alas! isn't it true in the present day, whatever it might have been once, the world looks at Christians, and says, "Oh, we know these people very well; very good people they are; we enjoy their company, we go to their churches and they go to our places of amusement. They are a little peculiar, it is true; but after all, we like them very well"?

What a reproach! Look at the Lord Jesus Christ going through the world, and tell me, was it ever true that the world knew Him, or understood Him, or sympathized with Him? Never; no, never. Why did it not know Him ?Beloved, He was come from God, and was going to God, and all through the world He was a pilgrim and a stranger-a man with only one object in it:-one whom the will of His Father, and His love for man, kept in the world at all, leading Him on to that cross where the Son of Man was glorified. How far are you and I like that? There was not an object in the world-not one single object which you can say is one to a man of the world, that was an object to the Lord Jesus. Was there one? People want to make a moderate competence, make money moderately, get on in the world; they think that lawful, that it is allowable. Is it possible to find fault with that? Yet put that along with the example of the Lord Jesus Christ! Could you possibly, without blasphemy, think of Him trying to make money?
His was a place of very real necessity; it was not His Godhead which prevented Him being exposed to the common lot of man. The foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, but the Son of Man had not where to lay His head. That was His condition; and that was His answer to one who proposed to follow Him:" Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest." Oh, beloved, how many professed followers has the Lord Jesus now?

Did the world understand Him ? He could not , recommend Himself to it; He could not, beloved friends, be at peace with it. Not that there was not peace, with Him. Yet He says, " I came not to send peace, but a sword." Why? Because He brought God and God's claim into the world; and, whatever He might give up personally on His own account, He could never give up that. And the world hated Him. Oh, beloved, you take God and God's claim into the midst of your business relations, into your houses, into your places of resort, what will be the effect ? I tell you what,- you will soon " dwell alone,"-you won't be reckoned among the nations, so to speak, in that way. Do you think the people that don't want God will want you if you identify yourself with Him ? "The reproaches of them that reproached Thee," He says, in the Psalms, "are fallen upon Me."

Oh, beloved, before Him there was but one object-the "pleasure of Jehovah," which was in His hand to accomplish, and that was what He steadfastly pursued.

He came from God, He went to God. He was not of the earth, earthy; He was the Lord from heaven. The world did not understand Him. How could it? Where it understood in measure, it hated. It understood that there was light there, and it hated the light, and loved the darkness, because its deeds were evil. If He was the light of the world, they would quench that light in order that they might enjoy the darkness.

Oh, beloved, what a reproach for us!-"The world knoweth us not, even as it knew Him not." It comes back to us from those old days of reality, it comes back to us like the knell upon this pretentious Christendom around.-" The world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not."

And yet, blessed be God,-oh, wonderful to say! oh, marvel of His grace!-we are not of this world, even as He is not of this world. We are not of it; God has separated us from it-separated us from it by His own grace altogether. We belong to another scene. We may be unfaithful; alas! how easily unfaithful! We belong to another scene. And the place which is ours, beloved friends, before God, if we are Christians, is, " in Him " who has passed into the heavens, there. Our acceptance is in God's own beloved, before Him. By God we are reckoned dead with Christ-dead because He died-dead with Christ, buried with Christ as to the world and all that belongs to it, passed out of the scene, and quickened together with Christ, raised up together, seated together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That is our wonderful position. Death and judgment, instead of being before us as they are before the world, are behind us. He has taken our place on the cross- death and judgment in that awful cross of His. He has poured out His soul unto death, was reckoned with the transgressors. More than that, He was made a curse-He was made sin for us. " He who knew no sin, was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Oh, beloved, all this blessed place is ours. All this that distinguishes us from all around has come to us from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,-that grace in which, " though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich." You cannot exhibit those riches in the world; and the world does not know us,-in that sense, really does not know us. But alas! alas! that we should not be practically more what He has made us really in His own grace, at the cost of His own agony and blood-shedding- the cost of the cross!

But I do not dwell on this first blessing any more; it is not my object. But notice how even a Balaam can say, " Let my last end be like his." Aye, if it were only that, if it were only the last end, even a Balaam would want that.

But now look at the second blessing. Notice here, as I say, he is in the field of Zophim, on the top of Pisgah. The field of Zophim is the field of the watchers, it is the jealous eye of the enemy that is watching here; it is an enemy that is scanning the people with eyes eager to discover, if they can, spot or defect. Now, these eager eyes search through the whole camp-nothing is hid from them. Yes; but still what is seen is "the vision of the Almighty." Beyond even the keen sight of an enemy, the eyes which are as a flame of fire are here, seeing through and through, and pronouncing His judgment. What, then, does He say of this people-this very people of whom we can take such a different view at another time, if we take the lower level? When we come to look with God, who ever thinks of His Son-righteously thinks of Him and what He has done, beloved, the answer to the accuser is, " he hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel."

But now mark, and I want you to look at this a little steadily. There is some very blessed truth brought out here, I believe, which we want to ponder. Of course, what we have here is the blessed truth of justification. God has not seen iniquity. He does not say there has not been any. There is none, in fact. But why? Oh, beloved, the real secret of all justification-of all non-imputation of iniquity, is, that the precious blood of Christ is before God. God looks at His Son- God looks at the work which has been accomplished by Him, and He cannot impute sin. How can He say there is iniquity when the precious blood of Christ cleanses from all sin? How can he who sees with the vision of the Almighty say that there is any there? "There is none-none.

But it is not merely that. Look now at what we have further. These words which are given here as "iniquity" and "perverseness," I want to translate a little more closely to the original. It is really this:"He has not beheld vanity in Jacob, neither hath He seen labor"-toil, if you please, or the weariness produced by toil,-" He hath not seen labor in Israel." What then? "The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is amongst them." These last words explain the former, or at least give them their full character.

Now, I want to dwell upon this a little for our souls' sake to-night. In the first place, beloved friends, perhaps you will think, when I read, "He hath not beheld vanity" I take away from the blessedness of this assurance, because "vanity" is not, in people's apprehension of it, the same as sin; yet the word is one that is constantly used for sin. The "workers of iniquity," an expression you will find all the way through the Psalms, for instance, is really the "workers of vanity."Call it, if you please, "worthlessness," and you will then have a word which comes near to the double sense of the original. You may speak of worthlessness as a moral thing, or you may mean simply what is of no value. Well, both meanings are right here. What has come in through sin? and what, in one aspect of it, is sin? Well, what is it but men spending their strength for naught? what is it, in fact, but man walking in a vain show, and disquieting himself in vain,-aye, it may be, heaping up riches, and not knowing who shall gather them? Oh, beloved, this world that values wisdom so much, this world that praises intellect, this world that worships genius,-oh, beloved, what is it in the esteem of God? He taketh the wise in their own craftiness, He knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they are vain. How utterly vain! Man lives for his seventy years possibly, and what then ? Why, as you know, every thing that he has lived for-I speak of the ordinary life of men-every thing that he has lived for vanishes like a dream. I am only putting it now in the lightest way, I am not speaking of judgment to come. Judgment there is-awful judgment there is, but, beloved friends, apart even from that, suppose there were none, what is it to live a life of which every object, every thing that man has lived for, passes away in a moment with that which comes at last, however, slowly, comes surely. It is what people say, "One thing certain is, we are all going to die;" and the one thing certain is, we are all living as if we never meant to. What is all the wisdom of the world about? Making the world a comfortable place. That is what they are doing every where, as you may see in cemeteries any day, putting flowers over the unsightliness of death, covering it all up, and trying to fancy that it is not there.

You remember there was one in whom the devil dwelt once, when the Lord Jesus Christ was here upon earth, and one of the marks of that awful demoniacal possession was, that he had his dwelling in the tombs. Beloved, is n't that the mark of man? alas! under the power of Satan, that all His heart should attach itself to that which is really a place of tombs. Isn't it the simplest fact that can be that the world is much more the home of the dead than the living ? How many are there of the living compared with the mass of the dead ? Beloved, in Scripture, that is what gives the world its character before God. As I have said, defilement, all through the book of Numbers, which is the book of the wilderness, is defilement with the dead; death, in God's thought, defiles. Why? Why! Well, do you think that God is like a child, who makes his toy to-day and breaks it to-morrow? Do you think, beloved friends, it is a good thing or a natural thing that we " bring our years to an end as a tale that is told;" that in fourscore years, if we reach that, our "strength is but labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away"? Is it natural? What a terrible nature this must be! Is that just what you expect of God? What a" strange God He must be in your thoughts! God? No, beloved, God did not make man for this. Man has made himself what now he is, and yet "their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue forever, and their dwelling-places to all generations; and they call the lands after their own names. This their way is their folly, and their posterity approve their sayings."

Oh, beloved, never, never think the world is the place of wisdom. Man got his wisdom in disobedience,-as the fruit of the forbidden tree; and what has he done with that wisdom? God made him upright, and he has sought out many inventions. His first invention was an apron of fig-leaves, to hide his shame from another, if he could not hide it from God. When God came in, he was naked; and ever since, all his inventions have been just fig-leaves to cover his nakedness. They say necessity is the mother of invention. The fatal words! How came this necessity? It means that all his wisdom, all these inventions, which are the fruit of his necessity, are the signs of the fall.

Such is the world; and the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. In the midst of such a scene, and of it naturally, are the people of God. Upon them too death sets its mark in wrinkles and gray hairs and decrepitude. Vanity is on these also. On them, if the enemy looks, he may see abundant evidence of their shame. Well, here in this scene in Numbers, it is the keen eye of the enemy that is observing them-from the "field of Zophim," the field of the watchers;-nothing, you may be sure, will be omitted that can in any way discredit them. What does he say? Why, "He hath not beheld vanity in Jacob"! Compelled to see with the vision of the Almighty, he sees no trace even of sin or of the curse,-no, not in Jacob. Sin is gone and that which sin has wrought. In God's sight, oh, wonderful to say, His people have not a wrinkle or spot. " Thou art all fair, my love, there is no spot in thee." What Christ is going to present His Church as unto Himself, that He sees them now, without spot or wrinkle-not a sign of age-without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. God sees us in that way. God looks at us, beloved, in the unfading freshness that belongs to us, as having our real portion there where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt.

"He hath not beheld vanity in Jacob, neither hath He seen labor in Israel" If you look through these blessings, you will find the changes rung continually on these two names-Jacob and Israel. They were both names of the first father of Israel:one, the natural name; the other, the divine name. Jacob was the natural name-the supplanter (" he hath supplanted me," Esau says," these two times,"):but God takes up this Jacob, and what does he come out as the result of this divine workmanship? Israel-a prince with God.

Ah, beloved, that is how God glorifies Himself. There is hardly a sweeter title throughout the Old Testament than that of the " God of Jacob,"-the God that could take up the poorest and basest thing that ever was-a Jacob, and turn him into an Israel-a "prince with God." No wonder "according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel "(you could not do without Jacob there; you want Jacob to compare with Israel; you want to see the material, in order to admire the workmanship;)-"according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought?"

That is the whole matter-What hath God wrought? Oh, beloved, how wonderful it is to have a God who can take up men in that way,- take you up, beloved friends, whoever you are, with all your vanity, with all your folly and evil! Oh, yield yourselves, if you have not, into His blessed hands to-night. He shall make you a specimen of His workmanship "that shall be the admiration of eternity; giving Him, even a name; for He shall " show forth the riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."

But now put the first clause of the following sentence along side of this:" The Lord his God is with him." What does that mean? The Lord his God is with him-Jehovah, the eternal God. Ah, that redeems him from the curse of vanity, indeed. Take a string of ciphers, as many as you please; no multiplication of them will give them value. Multiply nothing ever so many times, it is nothing still. But put a simple one before these ciphers; now, six of them represent a million. So let man be the cipher that he is-be vanity, if the Lord his God be with him, all is changed. If the Lord his God is with him, surely he is redeemed from vanity. How wonderful to know that in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ man is joined to God forever! How wonderful to know that manhood is taken up from the degradation into which it has sunk, and that the Second Man is " God over all, blessed forever,"-aye, the Second Man sits upon the throne of God the Father. Vanity? No; eternity that means. Worthlessness? Oh, no; infinite value. Lord, " what is man that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that Thou visitest him? Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet." Yes, the Lord his God is with him, blessed be His, name! He who, that He might be Emmanuel-" God with us," is called Jesus, His people's Saviour from their sins. Think of the unutterable goodness of One who could come out of His everlasting dwelling-place to make His dwelling with the sons of men, and at His own personal cost taking them up to be with Himself in everlasting glory. Ah, the Lord His God is with Him.

But what then? "He has not beheld vanity in Jacob, neither hath He beheld labor in Israel." "Come unto Me," says the Lord, "all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." "Labor." Amalek means "labor." That is, at least, a part of the word apparently is the very same as the word here. Labor is just that weary, toilsome, profitless drudgery which is come in through sin. Man was intended to be active in the garden, to dress it and to keep it:quite true, but that was not "labor." Now, he labors-labors in the fire-labors for very vanity. "All things are full of labor," says the preacher; "man cannot utter it:the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing." And what is the secret of this? A heart dropped away from God. The corruption that is in the world through lust. That is what it means. What is lust? Why, just the parent of this very labor. The restless longing of the heart after what it can never get. It cannot get the satisfaction from the things in which it seeks it. "All the labor of a man is for the mouth, but the soul is not filled."

Where did man get this lust? How did this corruption come in? At the fall; from the fatal tree of knowledge. Man's heart has dropped away from God. He has lost confidence in God. In the midst of all the blessing in the garden of Eden, he became a questioner in the devil's track. " Hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" Can it be possible God has put a tree in the midst of the garden and forbids you to use it? Such was man's first lesson in that reasoning in which he has become proficient since. That one little thing denied blotted out the beauty of that fair scene around. Man has been questioning ever since, and he cannot find out God by it. " Canst thou by searching find out God ? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?"

What then? Having lost confidence in God, he must confide in himself. He cannot trust God to provide for him. He does not believe in God's providence. He has forsaken the peaceful paths of faith. He has got wisdom, and he loves himself, at any rate; he thinks he can take better care of himself than God. He. takes the goods of his father and carries them off into a far-off land, where to spend is easy, but where fortunes are not made in keeping swine.

What is the end? what must be the end? The world passeth away, and the lust thereof. What desolation for the soul when all is spent! as spent all must be.

Now let me ask, If there were to come into man's heart just this (which, blessed be God, He has given us to know in Christ):he were able to look up to God and say, My Father is the Lord of heaven and earth; the One whose resources are absolute, whose power is unlimited, whose wisdom is beyond all that man can understand; and who is for me-mine,-my Father. What would be the result? Why the lust of the heart would cease; the soul would return to its quiet place of rest, and say, Blessed be God, my weary toil is over. I have come into infinite riches in a Father's love and care. I need not look out for myself, He is looking out for me; never withdraws His eyes from me. What is my wisdom to His? Nay, the very love that He loves me with is love superior to my own, for He counts the hairs of my head and I scarcely care for the hairs of my head being counted. Oh, beloved, the heart would, like a poor fluttered bird, just fold its wings and drop into its nest. Isn't it so?

Now that is where God sees His people. Oh, you may say, I wish He could see this more in me. Ah, but God sees us according to what He has made us-in the full blessedness belonging to us. Faith is to assert its full claim to all this, and to fulfill it. And, beloved, according to the time it shall be yet said, "What hath God wrought?" Of Jacob and of Israel it shall be said, "What hath God wrought?" "He hath not beheld labor in Israel." No. "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; . . . . and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

Yes, beloved, for surely, surely, when we have become satisfied with His will, when our hearts find-in proportion as they have found-the plan of faith in His love, perfect rest will take the place of all weary labor. "He hath not beheld vanity in Jacob, neither hath He seen labor in Israel."

But mark what goes with these:"The Lord his God is with him ; and the shout of a king is among them." Do you know what that is? It is the ringing, loyal shout of welcome the loyal shout with which we greet one to whom all our hearts are subject. The shout of a king. Ah, beloved, the shout of a king!

Man has got away from God, and he deems himself independent; he likes to think so of himself, and if not-if he cannot be quite that, he will take up the devil's service rather than God's The Lord Jesus Christ casts the devil out of that poor distraught man, and he becomes a quiet sitter at the feet of Jesus; and all the people come and- most respectfully; mark, you may do it in the most respectful way;-beg the Lord Jesus to depart out of their coasts.

But is he really independent who is the slave of his necessities? who is never at rest? How can he be? What are men's lives filled up with? Pleasure-seeking even,-all this effort after pleasure even, do you think a heart that had found happiness would be seeking pleasure ? I say, such have not found happiness. It is a clear case. No, how could it be? Beloved, when our hearts return to true subjection to the blessed One whose yoke is easy, whose burden is light, then alone we find rest for our souls. When the shout of a king is with us, the curse of labor is removed. "I removed his shoulder from the burden,"says God of Israel; "his hands were delivered from the pots." When we cease from our own ways, then we are indeed delivered.

Do you remember what was said of Moses, when Miriam and Aaron murmured against the divine leader? Just at that very juncture there is a word dropped as from God.-" Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." And that was the ruler they were objecting to. What better ruler could they possibly have had than the very meekest man on the face of the earth ? But, beloved, we have found a better one, who is the blessed Son of God-God over all, blessed forever; One who, taking this place, speaks of Himself under this very character:"Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly of heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Beloved, God has got a path for His people; a path in which their Shepherd leads them; a path which infinite wisdom has chosen, in which infinite love ministers to them, and infinite power protects. "As the hills stand round about Jerusalem, so the Lord God stands round about His people." Do you think I want my own way in the presence of One seeking me after this fashion, loving me in this wonderful way? Do you think, beloved, if I believe this, I would sooner be allowed a little choice of my own? do you? Ah, "the shout of a king is amongst them." Do you know what that is? Have your hearts returned in delight to loyalty to the King of kings ? Blessed be His name, that shout of a king is the shout of freedom; His law, the only law of liberty.

I have scarcely time for the third blessing. Just let me however, in the briefest possible way, speak a word or two about it.

Balaam is speaking now from the third point of view, and here the beauty and the order of their encampment is seen. Yet he speaks, mark, turning his face toward the wilderness. He says, "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!" The tents are Jacob's, but they are Israel's tabernacles. Jacob has a tent; good enough for him, you might say, a man who has made his bed and must lie in it as he has made it. This Jacob is a mere wanderer, from the world's point of view; a man who takes no more hold the earth than his tent-pole and his tent-pins do. He is not a success, this Jacob. His own lips confess that few and evil have been the days of his life. Yet Balaam can speak of the goodliness of Jacob's tents. For God, these tents of Jacob are the tabernacles of a prince. The wanderer is a pilgrim. " How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!" Think of the tents of a people who were journeying to Canaan. Think of the poverty of a people of whom the Lord says. The world is not good enough for them; that is why I don't give it to them. That is the truth. Jacob's tents are Israel's tabernacles. It is a prince of God who is dwelling here. It is a prince of God who is going to his rest beyond Oh, beloved, Jacob's tents are good, for they mean that. He says to us, I cannot give you your portion here; you shall have it with Me in eternity.

Now look:"As the valleys are they spread forth." Low enough the valley, but all its blessing is the result of this. It is cold on the mountain-tops, but the sun shines warm in the valley, and the streams run down there; aye, and whereas they only run down the rocks and do no good, as soon as they come down to the lower level, linger lovingly, and spread verdure round about. Beloved, what a picture it is of what will be by and by too, in the near eternity, when man's day of misrule is over, and God's time comes; and in His kingdom the highest shall minister to the lowest, the hills to the valleys; highest above all, He who, as Son of Man, came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. That is God's thought. Are you sorry to be in the valley? Why, the sun shines there warmest; all the waters run down there. It is the place of unceasing ministry. But what more? "As the valleys are they spread forth; as gardens by the river's side; as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted." There is the special care of God. Not merely a valley, but a valley which is a garden. Let only man take up a piece of land and dress it and nurture it, and he can make it wonderfully beautiful. There is a strange power God has given to man, that he can take a flower, and nourish it, and care for it, and make it at last come out as different from the little humble thing it was at first as can be. If man can do that, what can God do with His care? what can God do with His garden which He plants? Think of being the objects of God's care.

Now once more:"As gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted." What are these trees of lign aloes? They are precious trees, fragrant trees; but that is not all; they are exotics. You know what an exotic is:something that is brought from a foreign land, because of its fragrance or its beauty or its useful-ness, or all these, and planted there. That is what the Lord's people are; He has sanctified us, and sent us into the world. Now, plainly, He must have taken us out of the world first. He sends us see into the world, not as worldlings, but as those who belong to heaven. We are exotics-strange plants which the Lord has planted, not natural to…the soil. And oh, beloved, if such plants are some-thing for man's sight, and for man's taste, think of our being plants which the Lord hath planted that He Himself may have His delight in us.

As "cedar-trees beside the waters"-the stateliest things in nature. But now look at the next:"He shall pour forth the waters out of his buckets." That is what characterizes a very fruitful place. Especially a warm land must have abundance of water. If a tree is planted by the rivers of waters, it shall bring forth its fruit in its season.

What says the Lord, beloved friends, of those that come to Him? "Whosoever is athirst, let him come unto Me and drink," and "he that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." You remember that in the fourth chapter of that gospel of John it says, " The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." It is not properly a well:it is a fountain. There is this difference:In a well, you have to put your pail down to dip up what you want; but a fountain comes up to you. And, be-'loved, that is what God's blessed Spirit is in our souls, as it says, "This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive."

I don't wonder if some turn in upon themselves and say, Is that true? Can that be possible? Is it true of any, what the Lord says,-"he shall never thirst"—" Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst"? Do you thirst, beloved ? How is it true, then ?

Just because God speaks from His own point of view. But then it is a real thing He speaks of. His point of view is a true one, for He speaks according to the quality of the gift He has given. His own blessed Spirit dwells in the very bodies of His saints. Do you understand that? Now, if the Spirit of God dwell in us, can you measure the Spirit? No; He is a divine Person. Can you measure His power, then ? can you measure His fullness? Alas! you can give Him a limit. By unbelief, indeed, you can repeat the sin of those who once limited the Holy One of Israel? Let us fear to set a limit to this infinite fullness that is ours. Thus indeed can we check the flow of living water.

Alas! we can set a measure where God has set no measure; and instead of being full and satisfied, we can thirst like others, and men can see our thirst to our shame. But has He made any mistake? No; it is we, not He,-the failure is on our part wholly.

I must close. Only, beloved, I want to leave with you, as the last thing, this thought:Think of how the apostle turns to Christians and says, " Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit." The apostle puts it upon us,-upon you and me-to be filled with the Spirit. Isn't it the simplest thing possible, if it is a spring of living water, that all we have to do is to keep out all that hinders the rise and outflow of its waters? Here is the blessedness of self-judgment, of a heart exercised before God to have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. Oh, the blessedness of being able to look up and say, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me; and lead me in the way everlasting."!

Beloved, can you do that heartily and unreservedly? Are you saying to God unreservedly, See well whether there is any wicked way in me? Every honest, real bit of self-judgment is like taking a stone out of the spring:the living water bubbles up in the soul after it. Did you never realize it? Did you never realize what it was to cling to something or other, no matter what, as impossible to be given up, until you have found that it was costing you all the brightness and freshness of your spiritual life; all the joy of Christ's companionship; and then when you have given it up, have you never felt a rush of life into your heart, as of a long pent-up stream that suddenly had burst its bonds ?Such a sudden tide of jubilant gladness, have you not felt it? Well, I cannot tell you what it is, if you have not.

Beloved, it is a solemn responsibility this-to be filled with the Spirit. Think of being a vessel out of which there flow rivers of living water! It is the necessary effect if the spring is sufficient; and the vessel being an earthen vessel is no hindrance. The excellency of the power is of God, and not of us. When the vessel is full, it overflows. And when the vessel is full, it does not overflow, so to speak, by effort, but of necessity; and what over-flows is the full strength and power of the stream. Think of all the power of the Holy Ghost, having first filled you, pouring itself forth even in a world like this, " rivers of living water."

Beloved, God's thoughts are not as our thoughts, and His ways not as our ways. If we take these types of old and only look at them in the poor, meager way in which we have been looking at them, does it not shame us? But then, does it not encourage us also ? If Israel of old could be pictured in a way like this, how of that of which Israel is but itself the shadow?

God grant, beloved friends, that our practical state may answer more to the reality of what we are before Him, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. Plainfield, NJ, Aug. 1, 1882, F.W.G.