ZL upon the other side. The hounds come up to the stream stop and sniff, and they have lost the track. They turn back defeated and Bruce in time wins the day. Is it not like this with our sins? Like a pack of hounds they are after me, wherever I flee they are close upon me. "The wages of sin is death," I am told, but I have found the way of escape. Here flows a stream which runs red with the blood of Jesus Christ, and I plunge in and am free. "There is a fountain filled with blood, And sinners plunged beneath that flood THE GRACE OF GOD TEXT: "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins."-Isaiah 43: 25. In looking over an old volume of sermons preached by H. Grattan Guiness, forty-five years ago, I came across the message which he delivered with this text as a basis. So deep was the impression made upon me by my first reading of the sermon that I have taken Mr. Guiness' outline and ask your careful attention to its development. If one should enter a jewelry store and ask to see a diamond, or any other precious stone, the jeweler would first spread upon his show case a black cloth and then place the diamonds upon it, not only for protection but also in order that the black background might bring out distinctly the brilliancy and worth of the gems. So God gives this best of all His promises with the dark picture of sin clearly and thoughtfully portrayed. In verses twenty-second to the twentyfourth we read, “But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob, but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honored me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. Thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of the sacrifices; but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied my with thine iniquities." In these verses God says that his people have not called upon him in prayer, they have not presented their offerings neither have they presented unto him themselves. He also affirms that they have wearied of him, and that they have also wearied him with their iniquities, and then he exclaims, "I have not served you with offerings, neither have I wearied you with incense," and with these clear statements he gives us the gracious statement of the text, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.' Mr. Guiness gives us four beautiful thoughts in this text concerning our sins. First: They are blotted out from God's Book. Second: They are blotted out with God's hand. Third: They are blotted out for his sake. Fourth: They are blotted from his memory. A more admirable outline of a text of Scripture I do not know, a more cheering message to a child of God I have never found. I Not long ago in Chicago, a young man was induced to confess to one whom he thought was his friend, the killing of his father and mother. As the confession was being made, as he supposed to but one person, it was all being taken down |