ey have been carrying, or, in very love, He will have to force
them open, and wrench from the reluctant grasp the 'earthly things' which
are so occupying them that He cannot have His rightful use of them. There
is only one other alternative, a terrible one,--to be let alone till the
day comes when not a gentle Master, but the relentless king of terrors
shall empty the trembling hands as our feet follow him out of the busy
world into the dark valley, for 'it is certain we can carry nothing out.'

Yet the emptying and the filling are not all that has to be considered.
Before the hands of the priests could be filled with the emblems of
consecration, they had to be laid upon the emblem of atonement (Lev.
viii. 14, etc.). That came first. 'Aaron and his sons laid their hands
upon the head of the bullock for the sin-offering.' So the transference
of guilt to our Substitute, typified by that act, must precede the
dedication of ourselves to God.

'My faith would lay her hand
On that dear head of Thine,
While like a penitent I stand,
And there confess my sin.'

The blood of that Holy Substitute was shed 'to make reconciliation upon
the altar.' Without that reconciliation we cannot offer and present
ourselves to God; but this being made, Christ Himself presents us. And
you, that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death,
to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight.

Then Moses 'brought the ram for the burnt-offering; and Aaron and his
sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram, and Moses burnt the whole
ram upon the altar; it was a burnt-offering for a sweet savour, and an
offering made by fire unto the Lord.' Thus Christ's offering was indeed a
whole one, body, soul, and spirit, each and all suffering even unto
death. These atoning sufferings, accepted by God for us, are, by our own
free act, accepted by us as the ground of our acceptance.

Then, reconciled and accepted, we are ready for consecration; for then
'he brought the other ram; the ram of consecration; and Aaron and his
sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram.' Here we see Christ, 'who
is consecrated for evermore.' We enter by faith into union with Him who
said, 'For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be
sanctified through the truth.'

After all this, their hands were filled with 'consecrations for a swee