ecure a holiness too that made him and his gifts most
acceptable. In the consciousness of personal unholiness he might rejoice
in a mediator, in the holiness of Another than himself, the priest whom
God had provided.

Have we not here a most precious lesson, leading us a step farther on in
the way of holiness? To our question, How God makes holy, we have the
Divine answer: Through a man whom the Divine Holiness has chosen to rest
upon, and whose holiness belongs to us, as His brethren, the very
members of His own body. Through a holiness which is of such efficacy,
that the very sins of our holy things disappear, and we can enter the
Holy Presence with the assurance of being altogether well-pleasing.

And is not just this the lesson that many earnest seekers after holiness
need? They know all that the Word teaches of the blessed Atonement, and
the full pardon it has brought. They believe in the Father's wonderful
love, and what He is ready to do for them. And yet, when they hear of
the childlike simplicity, the assurance of faith, the loving obedience,
and the blessed surrender with which the Father expects them to come and
receive the blessing, their heart fails for fear. It is as if the
blessing were all beyond their reach. What avails that the Holy One is
said to come so nigh? their unholiness renders them incapable of
claiming or grasping the Presence that offers itself to them. Just see
how the Holy One here reveals His way of making holy, and preparing for
the fellowship of His Holiness. In His Elect One as Mediator, holiness
is prepared and treasured up enough for all who come through Him. As I
bow to pray or worship, and feel how much there is still wanting of that
humility, and fervency, and faith, that God has a right to demand, I may
look up to the High Priest in His Holiness, to the holy crown upon His
forehead, and believe that the iniquity of my holy things is borne and
taken away. I may, with all my deficiency and unworthiness, know most
assuredly that my prayer is acceptable, a sweet-smelling savour. I may
look up to the Holy One to see Him smiling on me, for the sake of His
Anointed One. 'The holy crown shall always be on His forehead, that they
may be accepted before the Lord.' It is the blessed truth of
Substitution--One for all--of Mediatorship; God's way of making us holy.
The sacrifice of the worshipping Israelite is holy and acceptable in
virtue of the holiness of Another.

The Old Testament shad