true,
and that His taking away our sins was a reality.

Some give their lives to Him then and there, and go forth to live
thenceforth not at all unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them.
This is as it should be, for conversion and consecration ought to be
simultaneous. But practically it is not very often so, except with those
in whom the bringing out of darkness into marvellous light has been
sudden and dazzling, and full of deepest contrasts. More frequently the
work resembles the case of the Hebrew servant described in Exodus xxi.,
who, after six years' experience of a good master's service, dedicates
himself voluntarily, unreservedly, and irrevocably to it, saying, 'I love
my master; I will not go out free;' the master then accepting and sealing
him to a life-long service, free in law, yet bound in love. This seems to
be a figure of later consecration founded on experience and love.

And yet, as at our first coming, it is less than nothing, worse than
nothing that we have to bring; for our lives, even our redeemed and
pardoned lives, are not only weak and worthless, but defiled and sinful.
But thanks be to God for the Altar that sanctifieth the gift, even our
Lord Jesus Christ Himself! By Him we draw nigh unto God; to Him, as one
with the Father, we offer our living sacrifice; in Him, as the Beloved of
the Father, we know it is accepted. So, dear friends, when once He has
wrought in us the desire to be altogether His own, and put into our
hearts the prayer, 'Take my life,' let us go on our way rejoicing,
believing that He _has_ taken our lives, our hands, our feet, our voices,
our intellects, our wills, our whole selves, to be ever, only, all for
Him. Let us consider that a blessedly settled thing; not because of
anything we have felt, or said, or done, but because we know that He
heareth us, and because we know that He is true to His word.

But suppose our hearts do not condemn us in this matter, our
disappointment may arise from another cause. It may be that we have not
received, because we have not asked a fuller and further blessing.
Suppose that we did believe, thankfully and surely, that the Lord heard
our prayer, and that He did indeed answer and accept us, and set us apart
for Himself; and yet we find that our consecration was not merely
miserably incomplete, but that we have drifted back again almost to where
we were before. Or suppose things are not quite so bad as that, still we
have not quite