been able to eat nor sleep when the eternal safety of the soul has been trembling in the balance!

Now, there are three things I desire, by the Holy Spirit's help, to make clear to you; and, to put them into Scripture language, they are these:

THE WAY OF SALVATION. Acts 16:17
THE KNOWLEDGE OF SALVATION. Luke 1:77
THE JOY OF SALVATION. Psalm 51:12

We shall, I think, see that, though intimately connected, they each stand upon a separate basis; so that it is quite possible for a soul to know the way of salvation without having the certain knowledge that he himself is saved; or, again, to know that he is saved, without possessing at all times the joy that ought to accompany that knowledge.

First, then, let me speak briefly of

THE WAY OF SALVATION

Please open your Bible, and read carefully the 13th verse of the 13th chapter of Exodus; there you find these words from the lips of Jehovah: "Every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem."

Now come back with me in thought to a supposed scene of 3,000 years ago. Two men (a priest of God and a poor Israelite) stand in earnest conversation. Let us stand by, with their permission, and listen. The gestures of each bespeak deep earnestness about some matter of importance and it is not difficult to see that the subject of conversation is a little ass that stands trembling beside them.

"I am come to inquire," says the poor Israelite, "if there cannot be a merciful exception made in my favour this once. This feeble little thing is the firstling of my ass, and though I know full well what the law of God says about it, I am hoping that mercy will be shown, and the ass's life spared. I am but a poor man in Israel, and can ill afford to lose the colt."