experience. Never wish it otherwise until the thing that has caused this burden-bearing is at an end for evermore. Are you bound by the cords of love to some one who seems utterly unworthy of the holy sacrifice, and who at this present hour has chosen hell on earth instead of heaven? Then go into hell with him, for in this sacrament of love you have become his very self. It is not fair! I laugh at the word. It is something a thousand times better than that. It is God's redeeming passion manifest in you for the utter destruction of all that would hinder two from becoming one. The one thing that can break a sinner's heart is the love that will not let him go. Let him see love accepting his disabilities and sharing his cross, and you have done for him what loveless retribution (if such a thing were possible) could never do. Together we suffer; together we rise. The sure and certain mark that a soul has attained the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is its willingness to identify itself with the lot of the sinner. No sooner has it gained the highest heights than it plunges to the lowest depths, that it may accept the portion of the guilty and set the sinner free. It should make you happier and stronger to know this. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." This is the way in which God is reconciling the world unto Himself. You need ask no greater privilege, you need seek no higher joy. Far, far beyond the thought of a bliss that leaves a darkened soul outside its heaven is the

knowledge of a love that says, "Let me take the place of that suffering one; let me bear all he has deserved; let me enter his darkness and his pain, that he may come to life and light." Some of you already know a little of what this means, for there may be just one soul in existence for whom you would be willing to do it all. Understand then that this is the last word of the eternal righteousness; this is the truth without which heaven could not be. You are on holy ground, and the radiance of the eternal glory is already shining through you. "The path of the just is as the light of the dawn which shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

THE TURNING FROM INIQUITY

"Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." — ACTS iii. 26.

THIS passage forms the conclusion of Peter's address to the populace gathered at Solomon's Porch after the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. It was not a long discourse, but it contains some remarkable things, our text being perhaps the most remarkable of all. Before going on to try to interpret its message, it may be well to consider briefly and in detail the allusions made and the terms employed both in the sentence itself and the immediate context.

The opening phrase is not without significance "Unto you first." The apostle is here represented as telling his Jewish audience that the message of Christianity was intended primarily for them. This statement can be readily understood when we remember what that message was supposed to imply; you will find more than one allusion to it in the verses preceding, and I ask you to notice that in emphasis it was quite different from what a modern preacher would say, or expect his hearers to believe. We must remember that these Jews were looking

for a sudden and forceful winding up of the world's affairs. They were not anticipating an actual end of the world so much as a fresh and more hopeful beginning. They thought that God would interfere by means of a supernaturally gifted representative called the Messiah, and would break the Roman yoke from off the necks of the chosen people. Then, they thought, a long period of happiness and prosperity would begin, not only for the Jews but for all the nations of the earth. I am not sure that this latter part of the blessing was universally believed in; on the contrary, some of the Jews loved to dwell upon the thought that the Gentiles would be outside the scope of this promise. But here in Peter's discourse it is stated as plainly as possible: "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed."

The next thing to notice is that the little group of Christians of whom Peter was the spokesman believed that the Messiah who should bring all this about was Jesus. They believed that the crucifixion had done no harm, so far as this hope was concerned, beyond the fact that it had filled up the cup of the world's iniquity. Thus Peter says to his hearers, "Ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and killed the Prince of life." Peter and his followers believed that Jesus would come again very soon, with great power and glory, to inaugurate this

reign of God for which all devout men were looking. I wish you to notice that the Jews and Christians of this time were looking for exactly the same thing, only that the Jews did not believe that Jesus would be the means of bringing it about, whereas the Christians maintained that He would.

There is one other point of some consequence implied in the wording of the text. It is this: Our Authorised Version says, "God having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you." But the Revised Version simply says, "God having raised up His servant." It may seem to you that this alteration lessens the force of the saying, and that "servant" is not as good a word as "Son" to express the spiritual dignity of Jesus. If you think this, however, let me assure you that you are quite mistaken. This is another of the allusions made in the text to ideas with which we are not familiar now, but which were of great significance to Peter's audience. This is a reference to that great ideal set forth in the pages of the second Isaiah - the suffering servant of God. Take, for example, Isaiah xlii. 1: "Behold My servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." Now, the really striking thing about Peter's use of these words is the fact that he identifies the suffering servant of God with the Messiah, a thing the Jews did not wish to do. The Jews always thought of the Messiah as a mighty conqueror, a glorious