not every one of these precious words, and very, very many more, all proceeding out of His mouth, and recorded for every one who will believe in what He says, and rest on it? And does anything prevent you from the appropriation of these precious words to yourself, when you speak to Him and pray to Him, but the not believing that HE IS, as literally as if you saw Him standing by you?-Consider what I say.

Under God's blessing, two things helped me to this faith, so far as I have it,—one a logical fact, the other a scriptural revelation. The first came to me thus: either God never saw me, knows nothing of my past life of sin,— and consequently, can never punish me for it; or, He must be seeing me now that I am coming to Him, in the name of Jesus. That He had seen the sin, and would punish me for it, was too fearfully impressed on my mind for me to doubt it for a moment. "I was con

vinced of sin." Then, I argued,

as sure as He has seen my sin, so sure He now sees me

on my knees, asking pardon in the name of Jesus. Either He had never seen me, or He, must always see me :-I knew He had seen me; then, it followed that He did see me. The thought gave me peace at once. I took the answer to my prayer from what HE SAID, Who was in my room with me. My burden fell off, and I rejoiced in a pardon, according to the Word of the Lord. I was seven months in unbelief, however, and in consequent soulagony before I got this.

But I said my faith in HE IS was greatly helped by a scriptural revelation. In Psalm cxlv. 18, it is written,-"The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth." It was a long time after I had got what I have called "the logical fact," that I saw the comfort to be derived from this revealed truth, by all who desire, as I did, a personal dealing with a Personal God. As surely as the Bible is true, it follows from this Scripture, that when a man goes down upon his knees, and truly calls upon God to

come and listen to him, that the Lord IS NIGH UNTO THAT MAN, WHETHER HE FEELS IT OR NOT.

To conclude this part of my subject,—Was it not the knowledge of the presence of the Great I AM, that was the sustaining power of the Man Christ Jesus. So St. Peter interprets Psalm xvi. 8 in Acts ii. 25,-"I foresaw the Lord alway before my face, for He is on my right hand, that I should not be moved."

Never for one moment, except in that awful hour when He was wounded for our transgressions, and the agonizing cry was wrung from Him, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" did our blessed Saviour lose sight of His heavenly Father. No matter what the suffering, the trial, or the temptation, Jesus saw THE LORD ALWAY BEFORE HIM-therefore His heart could ALWAY rejoice; therefore His tongue could ALWAY be glad, or sing God's praise; therefore could He say,-however hungry, or thirsty, or weary, "I have bread to eat;" therefore could He reply to

every temptation of the Tempter,-" man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God;" and therefore could He, even in the very prospect of death, rest on the unfulfilled promise,

-“moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope, because Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption." Such victories as these, over the world, the flesh, and the devil, are ours in proportion as we see THE LORD ALWAY BEFORE US, and realize this fundamental truth of God's teaching,—I AM.

I have written thus at length on this subject, because I feel the belief in the Personality, and real, though invisible, presence of God, to be essential to the existence of true religion in the soul; for without this faith, it is impossible to please Him, for "he that cometh to God must believe that HE IS, and that He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

them.

III.

The Demand; Its Reception:
The Promise.

OD then, in His mercy, looked upon the affliction of the children of Israel, and sent Moses to tell them

that He had come down to deliver

Let us now look, for a moment, at the state these Israelites were in when this message first reached them. They were still in their bondage. It had probably never entered into the heart of any one of them that they ever could be delivered. Their captivity appeared hopeless; their taskmasters made them serve with rigour, and there seemed no possibility of escape.

And thus it is that the gospel message always finds the poor sinner. It does not come