Him to us, and that Son comes forth and says, "God so loved the world, that He gave Me, that He sent Me." Have you entered into that? Let parents give their children to the Lord's service, and then in some measure they will find what it means the love that gave the Son, the only-begotten Son; and the same love is in the blessed Lord Himself. You remember that sentence, "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life." What have we there? It is the spectacle of moral loveliness attracting the love of God Himself. "Therefore doth My Father love Me." It is that moral loveliness which the Father delights in. "Behold My Servant in whom My soul delighteth." This is the love which delights and attracts our hearts, and which, shed abroad in our hearts, constrains us with such a powerful influence.

This is why obedience seems often so hard to render, because we have so little knowledge of the motive. A man may find it hard to serve, but let the love of God be shed abroad in his heart, and it is all changed. He does not find it hard to serve then. Let the true motive, that great love, be shed abroad in our heart, and we shall not find it hard to give ourselves to the Lord's service. Look at Abraham. He takes his son Isaac to the altar because he loves God. Look at Isaiah, saying, "Here I am; send me.” Look at Paul: nothing too great or too

difficult to do or suffer for Christ.

My dear friends, let me entreat you to gaze on the Lord Jesus Christ until you see what He really is, until you understand what His cross really means, until you comprehend His self-sacrifice for your salvation, until you attain to the knowledge of His love never beginning, never ending, that has sown your path with blessing, your way with light, and your future with immortality. Take into your mind the impress of that infinite love, shining in your heart and in your life. Commune with Christ, and rest not till He teach you and instruct you and lead you into the knowledge of Himself, in such wise that you will be constrained to bring your best to Him, even as He has bestowed His best on you-a living, loving sacrifice. The proceedings closed with the singing of hymn No. 37"Jesus, Thine all-victorious love Shed in my soul abroad."

The Service of God:

THE PATTERN OF SERVICE-"Behold, My Servant!"

ADDRESSES BY

S. A. BLACKWOOD, ESQ., C.B.

REV. E. W. MOORE, M.A.

Thursday Morning, June 25th, 1885.

HE second day of Conference proved in every way interesting and profitable. After a few moments of silent prayer the opening hymn was sung

"Jesus, stand among us,
In Thy risen power.'

Rev. H. W. WEBB-PEPLOE presented prayer, after which

S. A. BLACKWOOD, Esq., C.B.,

said: Let us read the word of the Lord in Psalm 1. 1-5. This is the shout of a king. It will be completely fulfilled when "the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; when the dead in Christ shall rise first, and when we who are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." That is His

แ

blessed purpose. "Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory." That is His desire, and, blessed be His name, it is absolutely certain of fulfilment; there can be no defeat of His purpose-"He shall see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied." It is the purpose of God "to gather together in one all things in Christ." But if this shall be completely fulfilled when He shall come in glory, it is anticipated now. It is His purpose now to gather His saints to Him, even those that have made a covenant with Him by sacrifice; and I would ask your attention to one or two points in this psalm that are worthy of note as we open our Conference this morning.

For one thing He says, "Gather My saints together unto Me." It is not simply to conference, happy and pleasant as it is to meet our fellow-travellers. The centre is not the Conference, nor the speakers, nor the friends; it is the Lord. "Gather My saints together unto Me." It is Himself. "Unto Him shall the gathering of the people be." May it be thus with us this morning-our thoughts concentrated upon Him, all the scattered powers of our heart gathered together unto Him, all our expectations from Him; and though He may use human channels through which His word shall come to us, yet our expectation must be from Him only, and it is as only we are thus gathered together unto Him, that we can really derive profit and blessing.

But what are we gathered for? To get instruction as to service, and instruction as to service must be gained by considering Him of whom it is said, "Behold, My Servant;" and not only by considering Him, but by communion with Him. You remember the passage in Mark iii. 13, where it is written, "He goeth up into a high mountain, and calleth unto Him whom He would: and they came unto" (literally, they came away unto Him, away from other thoughts, other themes) "Him. And He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sickness, and to cast out devils." Such is the service to which His saints are called; that is why He gathers us together unto Him to be with Him now, so that He may send us forth to preach the Gospel and to serve Him in this world, still the scene of sorrow, sickness, and sin.

It is again those who "have made a covenant" with Him that are to be gathered together unto Him. I do not think we

hear so much of the covenant of God as our fathers used to hear. It seems to have gone out of fashion in preaching. God, restore it to us! We can never stand on firmer ground than the covenant of God. We have joined "ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten." But it is pre-eminently the Lord's covenant; it is His covenant first and foremost, and as it is said, even "though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto;" so this covenant is unalterable, for it is confirmed. The covenant of the Lord is confirmed by oath, it is signed in blood, and sealed by the Holy Ghost. It is "the everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure." Oh, blessed covenant! If you are in the covenant with God you have His word and irrevocable oath, which can never be broken. Our eternal salvation rests on the covenant and oath of the living God. How shall we praise Him that all of us-may I say most of us -at all events, are in the covenant with the living God. Who can estimate that high privilege? Eternity only will show what being in covenant with the Father, and with the Son, and with the Holy Ghost really means.

Mark, lastly, how the covenant is made-"by sacrifice." Not ours; no self-sacrifice can be of any value to make this covenant; it is made by blood, the blood of the everlasting covenant, it is the sacrifice of Calvary, the outpouring of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross; the oblation, full, perfect, and sufficient, that has been once offered for sin, the only sacrifice upon which the covenant can rest. Our covenant with God rests upon the blood of the cross. Many are seeking to enter into covenant with God by works, self-denial, effortvain and useless all such! You must come by blood-by the living, risen Saviour; you must receive and rest upon Him alone in whom the covenant centres; there only is rest, security, and satisfaction.

It

Now, to-day, our blessed Lord says to us, "Gather My saints unto Me, those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice;" we are upon the threshold of the very Holy of Holies. seems to me as if the subject of to-day were the very central point of our conference. We are met to "consider Him." We have been thinking of the preludes of service, and of the principles of service. Now we come to look at the Servant, the unique Servant, the only perfect Servant that ever trod this earth; the One of whom the Father says, “Behold, My

Servant." We have passed, as it were, through the outer courts, and now we come into the very Holy of Holies. What do we need? The place whereon we stand is holy ground. We need unshod feet; we need unveiled faces, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord; and we need unstained hearts— hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, that we may draw near in full assurance of faith; and there, hidden in the cleft of the rock, behold Him, so that we may learn of Him-learn what service is, what His service is-that we may be attracted by the beauty of it, and our one desire be ever to live conformed to that perfect pattern which our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has in His course on earth exhibited for us. Oh, may this be our desire, as it is His. May this be the outcome of this morning's gathering together unto Him!

Psalm lxv. was read by the whole audience, those on the platform and in the gallery reading one verse, and those in the body of the hall reading the other verse, alternately. Hymn No. 29 was sung

"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee," and the first address of the morning was given by the

Rev. E. W. MOORE, M.A.

"Behold My Servant!" "Ich dien" ("I serve") is the motto of our Royal Prince, but it is also the motto of the Prince of princes. He whom we worship this morning has ennobled for ever the name and office of a servant, for though He was in the form of God, He took upon Him the form of a servant.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty: all Thy works serve Thee e; even Thine enemies serve Thee, for the wicked are a sword of Thine. And Thy saints serve Thee. "Moses and Aaron among Thy priests, and Samuel among them that call upon Thy name. They kept Thy testimonies, and the ordinance Thou gavest them." (Ps. xcix. 6, 7.) And angels serve Thee: they do Thy commandments, hearkening unto the voice of Thy word. But there is One only who has served Thee as our Pattern Servant. Help us to behold Him as such to-day.

Let us endeavour briefly this morning to contemplate our blessed Lord as the Servant of the Father; first, in His descent ; second, in His dependence; and third, in His devotion. If we

First of all, let us contemplate Him in His descent.