A CLEANSED CONSCIENCE.* (HEB. IX. 13, 14. BY REV. E. W. MOORE. WE were reminded by one of our brethren that the Old Testament is a picture book, and I feel that this is especially true with regard to the Mosaic ritual. In these two verses we have special reference made to one of the most important institutions of the Levitical dispensation,-the ordinance of the red heifer. If we would understand the Apostle's meaning, we should read the chapter in which this ordinance is described-the xix. of Numbers. I would ask, in looking at these two verses (1), What is the special evil contemplated? (2) How is the purification that is necessary effected? (3) Why is purification so indispensable? con to what we believe to be right. A judge on the bench interprets the laws of the land, he does not make them. Now this seems to me to be the office of conscience. But there is a wider sense (1 John iii. 20, 21):—“ Beloved, if our heart condemn us not." The word here translated "heart," is surely an equivalent to the word rendered “ science" in the passage we are considering. The literal meaning of the Greek word for conscience in Heb. ix. 14 is consciousness. If your consciousness condemns you, there is something wrong within. God is pointing His finger toward that which your conscience tells you is wrong, and is awakening you to the need of a purged conscience. Now turn to Num. xix. 11. There you will find if a man even touched a dead body he was unclean. And then, in the 15th verse, "Every open vessel with no covering bound upon it is unclean." What I think we find the answer to this last question in the 14th verse-"Dead works." God needs worshippers and workers. What a terrible possi-vessels there are in our poor tent of clay! Vessels bility that living ones can bring forth dead works! of imagination, of memory, of affection, of under(1 Cor. iii. 12.) Men may build upon a true foundation, but it is possible even for true believers to build standing; how ready to contract defilement by eye on it what may be burnt up-wood and hay and stubble, which will not stand the test of fire. Oh, what solemnity this adds to our work! Works done out of communion with Christ are not such as He can approve of. Being done apart from Him they have the brand of death upon them, because death is separation from God (as we heard yesterday). We may be working for God, and yet we may be out of communion with Him; our work may be little better than an anodyne to our conscience. In such a case, however active we may be, the record concerning us is dead works. I do not say God will not use the works of those who are out of communion with Him, for He uses even the works of His enemies to his glory; but He will not recognise them, will not reward, will not approve any of which He is not the Author. What is the special evil contemplated? What is the evil needing purification? It is defilement of conscience. I feel we sometimes under-rate the importance God attaches to the office of conscience in the soul of the believer. What is the office of conscience? Conscience cannot decide what is right. Paul before his conversion thought he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. No! conscience cannot decide what is right, but conscience can tell us if our actions correspond Address delivered at the Keswick Convention. and ear. In this ordinance there is a special reference to defilement by contact, and in the miry road of the world how hard to avoid splashes! What provision is there in God's Gospel for a cleansed conscience? He proposes that our conscience should not condemn us (1 John iii. 21), and as I know that this is liable to abuse I wish to have my hands upon the rail of Scripture. Here the Apostle John helps us. He does not say we are absolutely pure; but he does say we are in that condition in which we can have "fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ," and are experiencing the power of the cleansing of the precious blood. but I pass rapidly on to the remedy. Now we might speak much more on this subject, The Epistle of Hebrews is an epistle of contrasts. The writer of the Epistle says, "If the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ Living God?" And let me just say, in passing, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the that the Apostle is not speaking of the sinner but of the believer. He is speaking of the cleansing of the blood of a bull or a goat in the Levitical power of the blood of Christ as contrasted with that sacrifices. Oh, I pray you, reflect on it. This blood is sacred blood. It is sacred, for it is the very blood of God-the very blood of the Eternal conscience." What do we understand by the application of that blood? I understand by it the application by the Holy Ghost of death to sin. Why have we failed? Because we have not apprehended the power of the application of the death of Christ, the death to sin, to sins of the heart and affections in the inmost soul. Were we not reminded that the believer is dead to sin? How is it that we have not all of us seen our privileges? Is it not because we have not apprehended the power of the blood to cleanse the power of the application of the death of Christ to sin. Oh! let us not limit the wondrous results of that death, nor the power of the Holy Ghost to apply that death to our sins of consciousness. How is the purification that is necessary effected? In Numbers xix.-that wonderful chapter full of teaching-there is this order given for the application of the remedy. "A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in water, and sprinkle it," &c. Hyssop, the simplest plant in Palestine, emblem of faith; running water, symbol of the Holy Ghost in living power; this sprinkled on those defiled, and the sprinkling thereof procuring the restoration of the soul. Our brother pointed out the difference between the cross and the mercy-seat. We come to the mercy-seat after we have received pardon at the cross, and our Great High Priest sprinkles us ever with His blood, and cleanses and keeps us clean. I am sure this is the path into real usefulness and holiness. I am sure the Holy Ghost does apply the blood. I believe the blood does cleanse. I believe we need the application of the blood to the sins of the heart. It is blood alone that can cleanse it; it is only blood that can reach it. "Oh, the precious blood has reached me." Can we sing it from our hearts? In Numbers xix. there is a very solemn statement, -whosoever failed to purify himself was to be cut off from the congregation; and (verse 22nd) whatsoever the unclean person touched was to be unclean. Is it not a solemn thought that if we turn away from the cleansing power of the sprinkled blood we are not only injuring ourselves, but also we injure others? Dear friends, your influence will always be just what you are. We all are affecting everyone near us unconsciously. Oh, what an argument to receive and to experience all our God can give us lest we injure some dear brother and sister; and they should say to us at the day of judgment (before the Bema of Christ), "Your influence kept me back from blessing which I can never recover to eternity. GUIDANCE AND GOING.* BY REV. C. A. FOX. THERE is one question, I doubt not, uppermost in the minds of all-How we may keep this blessing we have now received? Rest in it. Just as you would keep a chair in this tent by sitting upon it, so the only way to keep in the place of blessing is to occupy it, to use it. Again, to keep the blessing, you must be kept yourselves. The best way to keep is to take care that you are always receiving blessing. This blessed Divine way always answers. And it is also true that you may keep the blessing by spending it. Spend, and you shall certainly keep; keep, and you shall certainly lose. The only way to keep is to spend the treasure which God gives you. What are these treasures; these unsearchable riches? In whom do we receive them? In one word, the Purse of God is Jesus Christ. "Freely ye have received, freely give." Children of God, go on spending, don't be afraid, go forth and spend on; there is plenty more in Jesus Christ. Rich Christian, spend freely to-day, and you shall have plenty more to-morrow. Spend Christ, spend Christ! Again, keep the blessing by intense humility, which is the bond of all virtues. If the bond be broken, all the graces will fall asunder. Many think little of other Christians, and speak with scorn of them if they are not up to their higher level. But are they higher if there is scorn? The only way to preserve the blessing is to hold all in the bond of intense humility, accounting others better than ourselves. I think of the frets of daily life, the jars, the unkind cavillings, the cold suspicions, the cruel words and insinuations-how these break the bond of all virtues, and are no part of the Christian Half the blessing we do acquire is lost by armour. this want of charity. John Baptist is the only precursor of Jesus. "He must increase, but I must decrease." If you are willing to decrease, Jesus Christ is sure to increase. Where a John Baptist goes before, Jesus is always sure to follow. This is a true way to test your own spirituality-by the depth of your own humiliation in the sight of God and your neighbours. We like a Again, keep the blessing by shining. good light. We like the flaming up of a sudden burst of light. We like to go to distant places to shine; but do we like to shine at home, to give * Address delivered at the Keswick Convention. light "to all that are in the house"? Are we afraid to shed our light at home, because others will say that we are not living up to our light? Let the light shine into every room of the house; let each person be a light, and the house shall be filled with light-why, then, it will be a Light-house. Let there be light in every window, and the mariners, still tossing and wrecking on the deep of sin, shall see it, and make for it, and be saved. Also, we keep the blessing by confession. I think it of the utmost importance that there should be confession if there be failure. If the glow of unbroken peace and joy and victory fails, if there is a failure from the full light, many are ashamed to say so, but gloss it over, and try to blind God's eyes. They say, "It was not failure, it was an infirmity, it was a slip, and not worth, and therefore not requiring, a definite act of confession. "My foot had well nigh slipped." If there be failure, confess to God at once, and if in connection with your brother, confess to him also. Undo the trespass as far as possible; undo the wrong. "Confess your faults one to another." Yes, many confess to God. They see that it is divinely needful to confess to Thee, O Lord; it is Thy most remedial force in the world; but it is also needful to confess to one another. That breaks the man down. I was speaking the other day with a man of the deepest, closest walk with God, and I asked him, "What do you think of confession?" We have heard his confession in this very tent, and his answer was, "I could not live without confession." If I mentioned his name, you would see how close he lived to God, and how he confessed his faults-such trifling faults, as we should say with such utter shame and brokenness that it humbled me to the very dust. God appoints this remedy for sin and failure (do not think that I am suggesting failure); if it should occur-go back with your failure to the Throne, and see the King, and the King will be seen to be the High Priest on the Throne, and He Himself the Altar, and the King will be ready to forgive in the person of Jesus. the Lord of life and death. He has got all the keys, the absolving keys; the keys of all the universe, even of death and Hades, are hanging from His girdle. Keep close to the man with the keys, and recognise that you are living with a Living Person, that you are dealing with One who knows, who can see and pierce you through and through. "Thou God seest me." This is the Divine revelation, this is the most safe protection and all we want. In large towns the jewellers' shops now have no shutters at night; inside all is left illuminated; thus any thief would be seen at once. So it should be with Christians. There should be no shutters between themselves and the light, between themselves and God. Thus would every thief be easily detected. If you thus wear "the armour of light" detection would be certain, and ejection must follow at once. Now you ask, How should we know a man full of blessing? We should know him by the bright tenderness of his eye, by the gentleness of his demeanour, by every bitterness giving way, by the calling in of all invective and caustic words; it would be seen in the dove-look, and in the dove-like wing bearing messages from God to man; by his bold fearlessness; by his open-eyedness; by his erectness of conscience seen in face and walk. Now, I would put before you, to help you as you leave, these words from Numbers ix., "So it was always." What was "always"? The cloud was always on the tabernacle. By day and by night. There was no removing of the cloud. When was it the cloud descended? "On the day that the tabernacle was reared up." If you are His taberracle, as soon as ever you become so, you are covered and concealed henceforth, you have not that barefaceness you had in the world; you are covered with the tender bloom of the shadow of God. it was always, and the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night." And how long did the light last? "Until the morning." Through all the dark night God will shine. When it becomes dark, the cloud burns into light, so it is light in the darkness, and in the day the fire turns into the cloud to shield and shelter and shadow. "So Perhaps some of us are now beginning to feel like the poor African woman who said, when she first heard of Jesus, "This is He Who has come to When the cloud rested, the children of Israel me so often in my prayers, but I knew not Who it rested; this is another deep truth, that the child of was," you are beginning to find out Who it is you God can only rest when God rests. They rest for are dealing with, Who it is to Whom you have comsalvation when God rests in Christ on the atoning mitted yourself. It is to the Lord of glory, it is to Cross. There was rest in Creation, but the rest of redemption is greater and better still. Rest when and where God rests. The source of all Christians' restlessness is because they won't rest when God rests; they want to start on, or else they let the cloud go on while they remain still, and then they become restless. A restless Christian is a very dangerous person; he does God a great injury. A Christian should carry a sabbath about with him every day, in his voice and way and work. How would you rest your child? Not by tearing up and down the room, but by being at rest yourself-by the gentle swayings of sabbatic rest. My Lord knows how to rest His children; He cradles them in the calm of His love, and brings them into the Sabbath of Himself. It is a blessed resting! Again, when the cloud stood, the people stood. The standing of a Christian is where Christ stands. He stands as Victor; He has been right through the battle-field, and says to you, "Now stand where I stand." It is one of the distinguishing marks of the British army above all others, that it can stand under fire of the enemy; so it should be the mark of the army of the King of kings, that under fire of scorn, sorrow, failure, defect, or trial, it can stand. Observe that if the resting be all right, and if the standing be all right, then the moving will be all right. If you would know about guidance, stand and rest where God has put you. This was the attitude of the children of Israel, as day by day the cloud rested-but suddenly when the mystic cloud softly, silently, sublimely lifted-they kept every eye fixed upon it, not on Moses, not on Aaron, not on the standard bearers at the corner of each tribe, nor yet on the Tabernacle, not even, we see, on the Church itself, but on the LORD alone, Supreme over all, dwelling in His pavilion cloud! They could not have known where they were to go. God thinks a great deal of people "not knowing." "Abraham when he was called, went out,.. not knowing whither he went." Write it down, Angel of the Covenant, Abraham was obedient when I called him. Let it be engraved in the covenant of God's records for ever, that here is a man who obeys Me when I call; he indeed is the Friend of God! How blessed to be in close communion with God, to be within call of God, to obey and go out with Him whither you know not, because you know with whom you go! This is to be indeed a hero of faith. ... only be the gazing eye, but also the listening ear. "At the command of the Lord." These words are seven times repeated in these few verses. Christians say, "We cannot hear the Voice of God except by the written Word." But you want further details, and I believe that God speaks behind the written Word as well as through it. He is speaking also in the details of our common life, if we will only listen. God is a Father, and I cannot believe that any Father who lives in the house with His children would only correspond with them. Yes, the Spirit witnesses with our spirit, not only in the great crises of our life, but also in the common daily details of our pilgrim homes. 66 For this guidance there must then be the eye fixed, the ear listening, and the pilgrim spirit maintained. The Lord does not remain in one place, because we would cling to it. When we cling to the vessel God empties us out. There must be a change. God Himself is the only one to cling to. This is what God will do with us about guidance-" so it was alway." Again, Ps. lxxi. 16, comes in very closely here. If God is going before you, trying you, leading you, and when you hear Him say Wilt thou go with this man?" will you not answer- "I will go in the strength of the Lord God." Will you trust yourself to Him for time and eternity; for guidance, and provision, and clothing? Will you trust Him to choose your path, your home, your friends, your work? This is the way to live with God hourly and continually. Yes, you are willing to praise and rejoice when you say "God keeps me moment by moment;" but remember also that you must watch, and follow Him, and live with Him moment by moment. See in these words then, I. Faith's determination-" I will go." The first word He said unto us was, "Come unto Me," and that done, He then says, "Go." "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." Are you ready to go at the call of the Master? His "Go" is between the first "Come" of conversions and the last blessed "Come" of eternal entrance: "Come, ye blessed of My Father." "Go ye; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." He travels all the way with us, along every road, even with the humblest pilgrim. "I will go; Thou goest with me, and I am bound to Let me also refer to this, that there must not go with Thee; where Thou goest I will go." "I will go in the strength of the Lord God." a cheque at any moment. This is, II. Faith's transformation. It is good exchange for a poverty-stricken sinner to go in the strength of the Lord God. What a transformation! Rags arrayed in righteousness; a pauper endued with kingly power. It is just like travelling by train, with all our weakness and encumbrances, only far more secure. Put yourself into the Lord Jesus and gotravel on. As in the train, we rest as we go, and go as we rest; so in Him it is no passive idleness, but Divine going, as Divine as the rest. Will you go with such a Man, who will secure your safe arrival, and your perpetual communion? "I will go in the strength of the Lord God." How did the Lord Jesus go? He went in the strength of the written Word. You have His Presence with you, but for all that don't make little of the written Word. He Himself whom we follow went in the strength of the written Word. Our weapons are not carnal. He fought the devil with the Word. Will you do that with your enemies? That is the way to resist the devil until he departs from you. But observe the close of His ministry-He went to Gethsemane, not so much in the strength of the In His great Word, as in the strength of prayer. dark sorrow, in His abyss of sorrow, He prayed three times the simplest prayer. He is realising the nearness of God; He is turning to the near Person of His Father; He is realising who is with Him. O My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from Me." This is my Lord's prayer. Have you any Cross before you; any dark shadow upon you? Go into your chamber, and claim Him as your own. Say "My Father." It does me good to say to one I love "my," even if they are not there; how much more when I say it to " my Father" who is there? In the dark shadow it doesn't do to have mere forms of words; it doesn't do to pray anything in sorrow without claiming first your near relationship. The secret of many a fall in private and in Church life, is the little acquaintance with the Word of God. Pray every day with care; make a little enclosure of stillness, and kneel down on the promises of God. So shall you be girded with strength for the battle. There is the Presence of the Lord for us. Go in the strength of that Presence. He keeps the cheque-book. It is wondrous to have such a Lord with one, My Lord can draw me out I don't find so many who can dare to kneel down and ask God for actual hard cash, and say, "Lord, I want so much money," although He says, "The silver and the gold is Mine." Dear Mr. Pennefather was one who was often thus talking with God, and asking for great sums, which he always received. We know something of the victories of faith; for years I have known them. I have often turned into my secret chamber with a blank wall before me, not knowing how to go, or what to do, and I have cast myself on the Lord, and demanded in the power of faith that He should supply my need. "What owest thou unto thy Lord?" I owe Thee all, O Lord, but straightway I turn and say to Him, "What owest Thou unto Thy child?" All! Heaven, the Throne, Angels, the Father! "All things are yours." Wondrous Lord Jesus! There was once a Friend, or Quaker, living in New England. The Indians were round about There was great danger. All put their village. This man, bolts and bars upon their houses. with some reluctance, put these protections upon his house. He went to bed, but woke up, saying, Surely I am trusting these bolts and bars, and not in God. He got up and undid them, saying, "I trust God to keep me." Soon after, he heard the footsteps of the Indians. They tried the latch, and to their surprise, they entered almost before they were aware. They held a council of war, and suddenly they went out, and he was left alone. He knew nothing more; but He believed that it was the protection of God. Some time after there white man to look after their concerns. They was a dispute in their tribe, and they wanted a chose this man, saying to him, "We found you were a man who trusted God when you said you did, and so you are the man whom we will trust with the affairs of our tribe, and we trust you now." What are you trusting in? Can self unguarded and unprotected in the presence of leave you yourGod? That is the faith we want-unprotected, unsupported faith. What will you do, then? "I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only." You must mention; you can't keep it in. "Of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only." This is the crown and blessed consummation of all! III. Self-obliteration. This is the most manifest mark of the Spirit, that you make mention of His power, of His grace only; that you are hiding yourself in the mercy of God, and leaving yourself at His disposal. Will you go? Blessed Lord, we will go with Thee, and we shall find a Heaven upon earth. "They follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth." |