offer them as a sacrifice when he came from the ark. He took a couple of each kind into the ark, and when he came out we find him making a blood offering the very first thing. He was a man of God; he walked in the fear of the Lord, and so he made the offering of blood. The first thing in the first dispensation we see is blood, and the first thing in the second dispensation is blood.

In the twenty-second chapter of Genesis we find the story of Abraham and his only son, Isaac. Abraham was a follower of God, a man who loved and feared God, and He commanded him to make a blood sacrifice. We read in this chapter that He commanded Abraham to make the sacrifice of his only son. And we read that the next morning the old man saddled his ass and started. He didn't tell his wife anything about it. If he had she would likely have persuaded him to remain where he was. But he has heard the voice of God, and he obeys the command; he has heard God's wish, and he is going to do it. So early in the morning-he didn't wait till ten or twelve o'clock, but went early in the morning-he takes two of his young men with him and his son Isaac, and you can see him starting out on the three days' journey. They have the wood and the fire, for he is going to worship his God. As he goes on he looks at his boy and says, "It is a strange commandment that God has given. I love this boy dearly. I don't understand it; but I know it's all right, for the Judge of all the earth makes no mistakes." And order from the Judge of Heaven is enough for him. The first night comes, and their little camp is made, and Isaac is asleep. But the old man doesn't sleep. He looks into his face sadly and says, "I will have no boy soon; I shall never see him on earth again; but I must obey God." I can see him marching on the next day, and you might have seen him drying his tears as he glanced upon that only son and thought upon what he had been called upon to do. The second night comes; to-morrow is the day for the sacrifice. What a night that must have been to Abraham. "To-morrow," he says sadly, "I must take the life of that boy-my only son, dearer to me than my life—dearer to me than anything on earth." And the third day comes, and as they go along they see the mountain in the distance; then he says to the young men: "You stay here with the beasts." He takes the wood and the fire, and along with his boy prepares to ascend Mount Moriah, from which could be seen the spot where a few hundred years later the Son of man was offered up. As they ascend the mountain Isaac says: "There's the wood and the fire, father, but where's the sacrifice ?"-thus showing that the boy knew nothing of what was in store. How the question must have sunk down into the old man's heart.

And he answers: "The Lord will provide a sacrifice." It was not time to tell him, and they go on until they come to the place appointed by God, and build the altar, and lay the wood upon it. Everything is ready, and I can just imagine the old man take the boy by the hand, and, leading him to a rock, sitting down there, and telling him how God had called upon him to come out of his native land; how God had been in communion with him for fifty years; what God had done for him. "And now," he says, "my boy, when I was in my bed three nights ago, God came to me with a strange message, in which He told me to offer my child as a sacrifice. I love you, my son, but God has told me to do this, and I must obey Him. So let us both go down on our knees and pray to Him." After they have sent up a petition to God, Abraham lays him on the altar and kisses him for the last time. He lifts the knife to drive it into his son's heart, when all at once he hears a voice: “Abraham, Abraham, spare thine only son." Ah, there was no voice heard on Calvary to save the Son of Man. God showed mercy to the son of Abraham. You fathers and mothers, just picture to yourselves how you would suffer if you had to sacrifice your only son; and think what it must have caused God to give up His only Son. We are told that Abraham was glad. The manifestations of Abraham's faith so pleased God that He showed him the grace of heaven, and lifted the curtain of time to let him look down into the future to see the Son of God offered, bearing the sins of the world. From the peak of this very mountain might have been seen the very spot where died the Saviour of the world.

We find Abel the first man who went to heaven, and he went by way of blood, and we find it in all the worships of God from the earliest times. Mr. Sankey sings solos upon the redeeming blood. I can imagine when Abel got there how he sang the song of redemption. How the angels gathered around him and listened to that song; it was the first time they had ever heard that song before; but 6,000 years have gone and there's a great chorus of the saints redeemed by the atoning blood. The first man that went to heaven went by the way of blood, and the last man who passes through those pearly gates must go the same way. We find not only Abel and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, but all of them, went there through an atonement. Now, we find in the 12th chapter and 2nd verse of Exodus--the most important chapter in the word of God: "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you." And then in the 4th verse, "And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every

man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb." Now it don't say "if the lamb be too small for the household," but "if the household be too little for the lamb." You may have some pretty large households; your houses may be too small for them, but Christ has plenty of room. We don't start from the cradle to heaven, but from the cross. That's where eternal life begins-when we come to Calvary; when we come to Christ and get grace. We don't come to heaven when we are born into the natural world, but into the spiritual world. That's where we date our spiritual lives from. Before that our lives are a blank so far as grace is concerned. Adam dated from the time of the flood, and Noah when he came from the ark dated from the blood offering, and so the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt. And even to day when they take up their pens and date 1876 years-when do they date from? Why, from the blood of Christ? Everything dates from blood. In this chapter we see the command to sacrifice. They slew the lamb. God didn't say "Put a lamb to your front door, and I will spare you," but on the houses.

Some classes of people say preach anything but the death, preach the life of Christ. You may preach that and you'll never save a soul. It is not Christ's sympathy-His life-we preach, it is His sacrifice. That's what brings men out of darkness. I can imagine some proud Egyptians that day, who when they heard the bleating of the lambs-there must have been over 200,000 lambs-saying, "What an absurd performance. Every man has got a lamb, and they have got the best lambs out of the flock, too, and they are going to cover their houses with the blood." They looked upon this as an absurd proceeding—a flaw in their character. You may find a good many flaws in your character, but you cannot find a flaw in the Lamb of God. When the hour came you could see them all slaying their lamb, and not only that, but putting the blood on the door-posts. To those Egyptians or to the men of the world how absurd it looked. They probably said, "Why are you disfiguring your houses in that way?" It was not upon the threshold. God didn't want that, but they were to put it upon the intels and door-postswhere God could see it that night so that (thirteenth verse) He might see it as a token. This blood was to be a substitution for death, and all who hadn't that token in the land of Egypt had their first-born smitten at midnight. There was a wail from Egypt from one end to the other. But death didn't come near the homes where was the token. It was death that kept death out of the dwelling.

Many people say, "I wish I was as good as that woman who has been ministering to the sick for the last fifty years. I

would feel sure of heaven." My friends, if you have the blood behind you, you are as safe as anybody on this earth. It is not because that woman has been living a life of sacrifices in her ministrations to the poor that she will enter the kingdom of God. It is not our life of good deeds or our righteousness that will take us to heaven, but the atonement. And the question ought to come to every one to night, "Are we sheltered behind the blood?" If not death will come by and by and you will be separated from God for eternity. If you have not a substitute you will die. Death is passed upon all of us. Why? Because of our sin. If we have not a substitute we have no hope.

Not only were they to have a token, but they were to do something else. We read in the 11th verse: "And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's passover." Now a great many people wonder why they haven't got more spiritual power, and have not the joy of the Lord with them all the time. It is because they haven't got the blood of the Lamb with them. These pilgrims had a long journey before them, and the Lord told them to eat the lamb. If we feed upon the Lamb we will get strength in proportion. My friends, be sure before you commence on your pilgrimage that you are sheltered behind the blood, for when He sees the blood, death will pass over you. And let me ask this assemblage to-night if every one of you have the token? I was speaking to a man some time ago, who, when I asked him if he had the token said: "I have prayer," and when he got to heaven he would pray, and he thought that would admit him. I said to him: "You won't get in that way. You must be cleansed by the blood of Christ. That is the only power that will open the gates of heaven-the only countersign."

When I went East the other night the conductor came around and called for the tickets, I pulled out my ticket and he punched it. He didn't know whether it was a white or a black man who presented it, I believe. He didn't care who it was; all he wanted was the token. So all that God wants is the token of our salvation. It doesn't depend upon our deeds, our righteousness, or upon our lives; it depends upon whether or not we are sheltered behind the blood. That is the question. It didn't matter in that land of Goshen whether the child was six months or years old if it was behind the blood. It was not their moral character, nor their connections, but the blood that saved them. It is the atonement that saves, and that is the teaching all through your Bible.

There is another verse in the twenty-ninth chapter of Exodus I want to call your attention to: "Thou shalt slay the ram, and

thou shalt take his blood and sprinkle it round about the altar." Now we see that Aaron the high priest could not come to God with his prayers alone. He had to sprinkle the blood upon the altar. There was a time when I didn't believe in the substitution and in the blood, and my prayers went no higher than my head; but when I came to God by Jesus Christ-by the way of blood-it was different. I never knew a man who came to God really but who came this way. That great high priest had to come this way, too.

Then, again in the 30th chapter, 10th verse, we see: "And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year, with the blood of the sin-offering of atonements; once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations; it is most holy unto the Lord." Now, an atonement is the only thing that makes a sinner and God one-is the only thing that will bring God and the sinner together. I would like if I had time, to give you all the passages touching upon atonement in the Old Testament, but it would take too long. Turn again to the eighth chapter of Leviticus. This book of Leviticus is one of the most valuable, because it relates all about the worship of God. I remember when I used to read this book I used to wonder what it was all about-a verse like this, for instance; "And he slew it; and Moses took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot." I would say "What does this mean? 'Put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear.'" What for? I think I have got a little upon the subject since those days. "Blood upon the ear?" So that a man could hear the voice of God, of course. And so a man who has accepted the atonement can hear the word rightly. Blood upon the hand of a man, so that he who works for God can work rightly. Hundreds of men think they are working out their salvation, and they are only deceiving themselves. Bear in mind then that a man cannot do anything until he is sheltered behind the blood. When a man is in this position then he can go and be acceptable to God. Then blood upon the feet, so that a man can walk with God. You know when God came to Adam he hid himself. He hadn't the blood, and he couldn't walk with God. He put those people in question behind the blood, and he walked among them. When they came to the Red Sea the mighty waters opened, and God walked with them. In the wilderness they wanted water, and a rod struck the rock, and a crystal stream gushed forth. Why? Because they had had the substitution.

Many people say this is a very mysterious thing. We don't understand why God wants blood as an atonement. A man