nner part of the house of the Lord to
cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found.' Only
then could the sin-offering of atonement and the burnt-offering of
consecration, with the thankofferings, be brought, and God's service be
restored. Even thus must all that is unclean be looked out, and brought
out, and utterly cast out. However deeply rooted the sin may appear,
rooted in constitution and habit, we must cleanse ourselves of it if we
would be holy. 'If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, the
blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.' As we bring out every sin
from the inner part of the house into the light of God and walk in the
light, the precious blood that justifies will work mightily to cleanse
too: the blood brings into living contact with the life and the love of
God. Let us come into the light with the sin: the blood will prove its
mighty power. Let us cleanse ourselves in yielding ourselves to the
light to reveal and condemn, to the blood to cleanse and sanctify.

'Let us cleanse ourselves, _perfecting holiness in the fear of the
Lord_.' We read in Hebrews (x. 14), 'Christ hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified.' As we have so often seen that what God has made
holy man must make holy too, as he accepts and appropriates the holiness
God has bestowed, so here with the perfection which the saints have in
Christ. We must perfect holiness: holiness must be carried out into the
whole of life, and carried on even to its end. As God's holy ones, we
must go on to perfection, perfecting holiness. Do not let us be afraid
of the word. Our Blessed Lord used it when He gave us the command, 'Be
ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.' A child striving
after the perfection in knowledge of his profession, which he hopes to
attain when he has finished school, is told by his teacher that the way
to the perfection he hopes for at the end of his course is to seek to be
perfect in the lessons of each day. To be perfect in the small portion
of the work that each hour brings, is the path to the perfection that
will crown the whole. The Master calls us to a perfection like that of
the Father: He hath already perfected us in Himself: He holds out the
prospect of perfection ever growing. His word calls us here day by day
to be perfecting holiness. Let us seek in each duty to be whole-hearted
and entire. Let us, as teachable scholars, in every act of worship or
obedience, in every t