them, and all their hinder parts were inward." In other words, they looked every way, for their hinder parts were inward. Very little could he seen of them excepting the face. Well, the oxen, who are they? Some think that they point at the twelve Apostles. But are not all the ministers of God oxen? Oxen are known for endurance, and patience, and perseverance. And so it becomes the minister of God when he goes forth to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ, to be known for his endurance, his patience, and perseverance. Oh, that we could have more ministers acting thus in preaching Christ and Him crucified. I would recommend St. Paul as an example to ministers (read II Cor. xi. 23 to 27). But the real child of God knows that he is washed and cleansed in the Saviour's blood, and that he stands accepted in the Beloved before God. Take an illustration, for a simple illustration sometimes conveys a great deal more than many words. You will remember that because Daniel would not fall down and worship the gods of the heathen, he was cast into the den of lions. The king was troubled overnight concerning him, and early in the morning he appeared to Daniel at the lions' den, as we read in the 6th chapter and the 20th verse: "And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, Whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?" Then Daniel said: "O king, live for ever." "My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me." Why had the lions not set upon him in the den, and devoured him? "Forasmuch as before Him"-before my God-" Innocency was found in me." Christ is Innocency before God for Daniel. Christ is Innocency also in him. Innocency was found in him. And then, look how he stood before the king as a consequence. before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.' This is just what this Innocency is for us: it makes us holy and innocent in the sight of God, and innocent and holy before man. A true believer will never give up his God, nor serve false gods to please men. I think that you will now be able to gather from what I have said what I mean by Innocency. Let us proceed.

How respectful he is to the powers that be.

"And also

Our text says: "I will wash mine hands in Innocency." What is meant by this washing in Innocency? Washing. Well I will tell you what I understand by it. To be washed in this Innocency is to be, first of all, cleansed from all sins in the way of justification, and secondly, in the way of sanctification. Jesus is to me both my justification and my sanctification before God. A man never becomes more justified and more sanctified in Christ, for in Him he is perfectly justified and perfectly sanctified. Justification and sanctification in Christ Jesus are complete. Well, a believer may not always know this. But there are many things which believers do not know, and yet the things are true. A person may plead his own ignorance of a thing, but his ignorance is no proof that the thing is untrue. Turn to the 5th chapter to the Romans, and the 9th verse: "Being now justified by His Blood": And as we are justified by His Blood, so we are sanctified by His blood. We need a whole Christ. He

is my justification and my sanctification. God has made Him unto me Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption (I Corinthians i. 30). God says: "I, even I, am He that blotted out thy transgressions for Mine Own sake, and will not remember thy sins" (Isaiah xliii. 25). "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud, thy sins cloud, thy sins" (Isaiah xliv. 22). “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah xxxi. 34). Now, if God says that he will remember the sins of His people no more, who are we to say that He will? Shall we not rather say: "Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously; so will we render the calves of our lips." The Apostle speaks of a practical and experimental acquaintance with the washing away of sin in the blood of Innocency, when he says: "And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God" (I Cor. vi. 11). This is the experimental "washing of regeneration" by the Holy Ghost. Do we know these things for ourselves? This is an all important question. I hope you will think about these things as the Spirit of God may enable you.

Let us now look at the extent of this washing. "I will wash my hands." There is great force and significance in these words. Are his hands only to be washed? What about his feet, his head, his heart, his body, and his clothing? We shall see, I think, that the Psalmist desired a thorough cleansing from all defilement. What an extensive washing is needed! This is speaking familiarly, you say. I intend it to be so. And it is scriptural to speak so. The hands of a person are the instrument of action. Hence, frequently, in the Word of God our hands denote our actions and our doings, all which, require to be washed and cleansed again and again in the open Fountain of Christ's Blood. But, you say, do the actions and doings of the saints need washing? Most assuredly they do. It is not only the person, but his actions and his doings too that must be washed in the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. "The righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger" (Job xvii. 9). So said Job. And so we believe. And so we speak. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart" (Psalm xxiv. 3, 4). "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded" (James iv. 8). Paul says: "I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting" (I Timothy ii. 8). Yes, indeed, holy hands are our actions washed in the Saviour's Blood. We find that the priests had to wash their feet as well as their hands when they went into the tent of the congregation, and to the Altar. "And he set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the Altar, and put water there, to wash withal. And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat: when they went into the tent of the congregation, and when they came near unto the Altar, they washed; as the Lord commanded" (Exodus xl. 30-32). There is some important spiritual truth conveyed by this ceremonial washing. The hands and the feet

The

of the priests must be washed in the laver. We have already seen what is meant by the hands-o actions and doings. What do we understand by the feet as set forth in the Word of God? The feet have to do with the walk of a Christian. 66 Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God" (Ecclesiastes v. 1). "I thought upon my ways, and turned my feet unto Thy testimonies" (Psalm cxix. 52). The holy walk of believers is often brought before us in the Scriptures. pattern is Christ. Walking in Him and by Him (Eph. iv., Col. ii. 6). The most holy walk of the most holy Christian must be washed and cleansed in the Blood of the Lamb of God. Our Lord gave His disciples an instructive lesson upon this subject. It is recorded in the 13th chapter of St. John's Gospel, beginning at the 4th verse: "He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. Then cometh He to Simon Peter and Peter said unto Him, 'Lord dost thou wash my feet?'" Peter is to be taught a lesson of humility, having his feet washed by His Master. But our Lord, "answered and said unto him, 'what I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, 'Thou shalt never wash my feet.' Oh! self-confident Peter, we are almost ashamed of thee. Well, but this was written for our learning. "Thou shalt never wash my feet." What does our Lord say to him? "Jesus answered him, 'If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.' He does not say, if I do not wash thy feet, or thy hands, or thy head, or thy body, but "If I wash thee not." "If I wash thee not in My Blood, so as to cleanse thee from all thy sins," "thou hast no part with Me." But Peter had some part in Him, Yes, we know that he had. Well, what follows? Peter was an apt scholar, and soon learnt the lesson. "Simon Peter saith unto Him: Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.'" Head, hands, feet, and all. But he had something more to learn. He had almost forgotten himself. "Jesus saith unto him, 'He that has been washed,-washed by Me, in My Blood, from every sin,--needs not to wash himself, but is clean every whit.' A person washed by Christ, is thoroughly washed and fit for heaven. "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water" (Hebrews x. 22). What does he mean by having "our bodies washed with pure water"? Does he not mean that all our bodily actions must be washed and cleansed in the Saviour's Blood? The entire person, the hands, the feet, the head, the heart, the body, and the robes too, must all be purified in the Blood of Jesus. Every sort of expression is employed in the sacred record to shew that the sinner saved must be throughly washed from all his sin and filthiness.

Allow me to point out to you the necessity for this thorough washing of the sinner in the Saviour's blood. I dare say some of you are looking at the little word that I have not touched yet, which is this: “I will wash." We will touch upon it by-and-bye. Well, we will try to shew you the necessity for cleansing. What is the state of man by nature ?

Read the 16th of Ezekiel. Israel is described as being "cast out in the open field, to the loathing of his person, in the day that he was born. And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood." What then? "When I saw thee in thy filthy, wretched, and miserable condition, I had compassion on thee. I said unto thee when

thou wast in thy blood, 'Live'; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, 'Live.'" I put spiritual life into thee, and 66 sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest Mine. Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I annointed thee with oil" (verses 5 to 9). Washed from all filthiness and clothed in the beautiful garments of salvation, thy renown went forth among the nations of the earth. Thou art perfect through the comliness which I have put upon thee, saith the Lord God. Man in his unregenerate state is likened to the most filthy and loathsome thing imaginable. Read the 64th chapter of Isaiah and the 6th verse: "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Now, look at the man that is clothed with filthy rags, and as an unclean thing who is going to wash himself in what? In muddy water. I saw some children, not long ago, standing by a pool of water; it was muddy water. And the children were all of them muddy looking too. And yet they were trying to wash themselves clean in the dirty water. But it seemed to me that the more they washed themselves the more filthy they became. Just so it is with the filthy rags of a wretched sinner when he is trying to wash them clean in the muddy pool of his own contrivance. The more he tries to wash himself in the muddy pool of his own corrupt doings, the more filthy he appears. He is a blackamoor, trying to wash himself white. He is a leopard, trying to change his spots. Well, what does Job say about it? Read his 9th chapter the 30th and 31st verses: "If I wash myself with snow water and make my hands never so clean." If he did his best, making himself to appear beautiful, yet it was only the outside of the cup and platter. The inside was still uncleansed. "Thou shalt plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.' What was Job's ditch? Was it affliction, or suffering, or persecution? Was it not rather the ditch of mire and clay? The filthy ditch of his own sinful muddy doings. Well might the filthy rags of his own self-righteous clothes witness against him and abhor him. "For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much sope, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God." The sinner cannot, by all his efforts, wash himself clean, and clothe himself fit to appear in the presence of Majesty. This shews the necessity for another and a better cleansing. "The Lord Himself

washes away the filth of the daughter of Zion, and purges the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the Spirit of judgment, and by the Spirit of burning" (Isa. iv. 4). "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you" (Ezek. xxxvi. 25) "Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen"!!

This washing is a personal washing. "I will wash my hands in Innocency." When God makes a man willing in the day of His power then the poor sinner wishes to wash in the only fountain for sin and uncleanness. The Lord breaks the heart of the sinner, and shews him his need of cleansing. If the Lord, says, "Wash you, make you clean," He also says, "Come now, let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." The Lord says, “I will cleanse you." And the servant of the Lord says, "I will wash." The Lord and His servant are agreed, and so can walk together. The immortal Toplady knew something personally about this washing: when he wrote these lines:

"Foul I to the Fountain fly,

Wash me, Saviour, or I die."

I hasten now to say a few words upon the Second part of our text: "So will I compass Thine Altar, O Lord." "Thine Altar." It is the Lord's Altar. Let this fact be settled in your own minds. "Compass " it. In the Prayer Book version it is: "so will I go to Thine Altar." The sense is the same. Now look at that little word: 'so' 'so' 'so.' What does 66 so will I compass Thine Altar" imply? You may depend upon it that the Psalmist had been let into the secret respecting which I spoke to you the last time I had the pleasure of addressing you. "So will I compass Thine Altar." There is an allusion here to the altar of burnt offering. An offering was made by fire upon the altar of a sweet savour unto the Lord. Our text refers to another and a better Altar. "We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle" (Hebrews xiii. 10). Those who are serving Jewish ordinances, and relying upon them for acceptance with God, have no right to eat of the Gospel Altar of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Those who are going after the weak and beggarly elements of the world are in bondage to ceremonialism. They serve the tabernacle. They have no right to eat of our Altar. Who then is the Altar? Why, the Lord Jesus Christ is the Altar. And He is spoken of in this very chapter thus: "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever (verse 8). Yesterday, eternity in the past. To-day, now. And for ever, in the future. This is our eternal Altar. And it is an Altar that cannot be destroyed. The sacrifice which has been offered upon it is the One which Jehovah Father Himself appointed and prepared. The Son says: "A body hast Thou prepared Me." This is the sacrifice which the Son of God offered upon the Altar of Himself. It was a whole Burnt Offering, approved and accepted of God as a "sweet smelling savour." The effect of this offering is marvellous. "For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified " (Hebrews x. 14). The truth is, that there remaineth no more sacrifice or offering for sins. Jesus has once in the end of the world appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The work is finished and ended. Jesus Christ is the Priest also. He is the Priest after the order of Melchisedec. The Priest of the most High and Eternal God. Our Priest continueth ever, and hath an unchangeable priesthood. We needed such a Priest.