as it perpetually reveals in its mission, its motive, its message and its ministry the print of the nails; no church can prosper that does not pour out its life for others; it cannot serve itself and live; it cannot save itself unless it saves the community in which it is located. Whatever may be the methods of its work, its supreme mission must be to reveal the print of the nails, and by that revelation to compel men to acknowledge the authority and divinity and desirableness of Christ. Methods of work may change because conditions change, but the method of revealing the real Christ never changes because Christ is unchangeable, and the eternal unchangeable method of revealing the genuine Jesus is by the revelation of the print of the nails. It should stamp every public service, every religious meeting, every social gathering, every form of endeavor, whether philanthropic or industrial, every club or circle, every member and family in this church; so will Christ come to men and men will come to Christ. The world is restless without Christ; the world hungers for the real Jesus. They will not believe unless they see; they will not see unless we reveal; and except they see the print of the nails Christ will have no place in their life.

In a most spiritually suggestive sermon on "Gethsemane, the Rose Garden of God," Mr. Robertson Nicoll, the accomplished and versatile editor of the British Weekly, reminds us, "that without the shedding of blood there is nothing, no mighty result, no achievement, no triumph. No great thing can be accomplished without the shedding of blood." He reminds us that the word "bless" is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word "blood;" when he concludes that

where there is no blood there is no blessing. "You can lighten," he says, "another's way by cups of cold water, by simple gifts and smiles, by friendly words, and these things are great in the eyes of Christ, but to bless in the superlative degree we must part with life; without shedding of blood it cannot be." Having illustrated this principle as the law of the kingdom of God when he comes to speak of the mission of the church, its apparent lack of spiritual power and its only source of achievement, he declares, "When the world is become one great Gethsemane, we shall see over it all the flowers that grow and grow only in the garden where Christ's brow dropped blood. The church of Christ must be in an agony, praying more earnestly, sweating as it were, great drops of blood, before the world can be brought to Christ. There is no life without death. Gethsemane is the Rose Garden of God." Shall this church occupy her energies in planting passion flowers in this "Rose Garden of God?" Where is the print of the nails in your life? What service have you rendered for Christ which bears evidence of the nail prints? Can the work which you have done for Christ be catalogued with that sort of labor that "Is not in vain in the Lord" because it has cost you the shedding of blood? Have you bled to bless? Have you saved yourself and forgot your Redeemer could not save Himself because he saved others? Have you heard the sympathetic plea of the unbeliever standing close at your side crowding you, not with impertinent dogmatic questioning, but with pleading perplexity, saying, "Except I see the print of the nails I will not believe?"

Holding aloft the cross of Christ in which we trust and which we carry at the head of His advancing host, and holding forth the cup of Christ which we will share with all who love our Christ, we will march thus to victory and the gates of hell shall not prevail against us. So let it be. Amen.

PSALM LI.

I Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniqui ties.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

II Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST

KEV. J. J. TAYLOR, D.D., LL.D., PASTOR FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, KNOXVILLE, TENN.

"But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood; wherefore he is able also to save unto the uttermost those that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." (Heb. vii. 24, 25.)

Priesthood has been denounced as the chronic disorder of the human race, but the denunciation only discloses the dullness of the scoffer who indulges it.

Religion is neither an accident nor a superstition; it is a necessity, which springs out of human conscience and emotion as surely as the stream gushes from the fountain. The old Latin word which has come down to us, means primarily a binding back, a refastening of the frayed ties which hold man to his Maker. Since God is a Spirit, whom no man hath seen or can see, in whose unveiled presence no man can live, there is a natural demand for mediation.

Paganism perceives this and appoints her princes to be her priests and ministers in sacred things. It accords uncommon honor to astrologers, to magicians, to soothsayers, to interpreters of omens and oracles, to all who deal with the mysteries of the unseen world, and it crowns them with the ensignia of rank and dignity.

Among God's ancient people the father, as ruler over his own house, was the primitive priest, who was appointed to deal with Jehovah on behalf of the family. Job rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of his children, for Job said: "It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts"; thus did Job continually. When the waters of the flood subsided, leaving death and desolation in their wake, Noah gathered his household, the remnant of a rejected race, and offered sacrifices of every clean beast and every clean fowl; and the Lord smelled the savor of rest, and the Lord said: "I will not again curse the ground for man's sake, neither will I any more smite every living thing."

As the family grew into the tribe, and tribes blended into nations, the patriarchal priest passed