(1 John 1 to 3.)

The basis of all our blessings as Christians is found in the glorious person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. There is the only sure

FOUNDATION

on which we may build for soul salvation and blessing. "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3:11). He is the God-given Saviour of sinners. God knew the depth of our guilt and ruin and He gave His Son, His only Son, in His great love, and we hear Him, Himself, saying, "Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make haste" (Isa. 28:16). That God-laid foundation is a secure refuge. None who believe upon Christ will need to "make haste" for fear of the overwhelming judgment, soon to be outpoured. "He that believeth on Him shall not be confounded."

Thus it is in 1 John 1:7 we find the comforting and assuring words, "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin."

We are now in the light of the full revelation of all that God is. It is in that light we walk. It is in that light we Christians have fellowship one with another. But how can we be there in peace? How can we bear the light of the full glory of God to rest upon us? How can we be happy in the presence of God? It is because we know the cleansing value, the abiding cleansing value, of the blood of Jesus Christ His Son. It cleanses us from all sin." Its very nature and character is that. It removes, and removes for ever, every sin.

We are now in the light of the full revelation of all that God is. It is in that light we walk. It is in that light we Christians have fellowship one with another. But how can we be there in peace? How can we bear the light of the full glory of god to rest upon us? How can we be happy in the presence of God? It is because we know the cleansing value, the abiding cleansing value, of the blood of Jesus Christ His Son. It cleanses us from all sin. Its very nature and character is that. It removes, and removers for ever, every sin.

"Ah! Geordie," said a young Christian to a fellow-believer; "the more the light of God shines upon me the more it shows how perfect is the work of Christ."

And so it was with the well-known Dr. Doddridge, the author of "The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul." He used to tell of a dream he had. He thought that he entered heaven as a sinner cleansed from sin through Christ's precious blood. As he passed through the gate there were praises to God, from a white-robed throng, that another redeemed one could be received and welcomed there. Then going on where the light grew brighter the praises were louder, until at last when he drew near to the very inmost and brightest glory of all, there in the fullest blaze of light the acclamations were loudest of all. God was glorified in saving a sinner such as he.

We have "boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." In the brightest spot of that glory, of which we had come short, and which we dreaded, we see Jesus the Son of God our Saviour, and we see Him seated there as the One who by Himself purged our sins. The work of Calvary is a finished work, and He who completed it took His seat "on the right hand of the majesty on high." He has entered and seated Himself there in the power of His own blood. And in virtue of that once-for-all-shed blood we may enter too-in spirit now, and soon actually-and then in the very likeness of Him, our Saviour, conformed to His image, "that He may be the firstborn among many brethren."

The word of God in the gospel message assures us that the sins of the believer are remembered "no more;" and the Holy Spirit who Himself indites the assuring words, dwells in our hearts and witnesses with our spirits that we are now the children of God.

Happy is he who "takes the guilty sinner's place and claims the guilty sinner's Saviour" as his own. The work of Christ for him, for his salvation, and the word of the Holy Spirit to him, give confidence and "boldness in the day of judgment."

To him the epistle of John is addressed, as to one of the believers, for the assurance of his heart before God. The apostle speaking of his letter says:"These things 'have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life." Blessed testimony indeed for every one who has

FAITH

in the Lord Jesus! Eternal life is his, and is his now. The full enjoyment of that blessing will be his when he is with and like his Lord, in the Father's house, the home of eternal life. But now his portion is, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to enjoy the nearness and dear-ness of which the wondrous blessing, "eternal life," speaks.

Giving up all hope in himself the repentant sinner receives with meekness the word of the glad tidings, and receiving it receives present and everlasting good. He can say:

Forsaking
All
I
Trust
Him

He looks away from his sins and sinful self and his eyes rest upon a seated Saviour at God's right hand. A satisfied conscience is the result. Then being at "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" he is free to enjoy the feast of fat things provided for him in the great grace of God. Faith

Fully
Accepts
In
The
Heart
all that the word of God unfolds, and finds its enjoyment in God Himself, the Spring and Source of all his blessing. He can join with others and say, "We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation." The God of holiness whom we feared and from whom we would fain have fled is found to be our best Friend, and "if God be for us who can be against us?" He justifies from every sin. Who then' shall lay anything to our charge?

Faith builds upon the foundation which a Saviour-God provided, and builds upon it alone, and sings;

"How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word;
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?"

Inglis Fleming

(To be continued, D. V.)