THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

Romans 3: 21-31; Hebrews 9: 21-26; Ephesians 1: 3-7

R.M.B. I thought we might consider afresh together the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. We know that the blood is for sinners. Sinners need to be washed in it. But it has been said, and I think it is right, that in the first place the blood is for God. I wondered whether these scriptures would help us to understand that.

In Romans 3 we learn that the blood is for, “the shewing forth of his righteousness”. We might enquire as to what that means. From Hebrews 9 we may get an impression as to the scope of what is covered by His blood. That chapter shows us that the blood was not only necessary to wash guilty sinners, but it was also necessary to clean away from before the sight of God the stain of sin in the whole universe. It is a little more difficult to understand, but I hope it will become clearer as we proceed. Then in Ephesians 1 we see that the blood was necessary if God’s wonderful purpose was to be put into effect. It is very blessed to think of it in that light, that the accomplishment of the whole purpose of God depended on the precious blood of the Lord Jesus.

E.C.B. I have often been impressed with the fact that the Lord’s blood was shed on the cross, He already having died. It must, therefore, have some special meaning. It is not only that His life was laid down, He was already dead. The soldiers saw that He was already dead. But then His blood was shed, as if to make some special presentation of it to us, do you think?

R.M.B. I think so, and that is what comes out in Romans 3. The blood of Jesus is a witness to something, it is for the “shewing forth” of God’s righteousness. We might consider what that means, and why it was necessary that God’s righteousness should be shown forth, do you think?

E.C.B. Yes I do. There seems some special bearing drawn into Christianity from the place the blood had in the earthly system of things, and the scripture in Hebrews brings it out. That would be understood from Hebrews, would it? Then it is as if the value of the blood having been manifested in that system, if people understood it, the reality of what it meant must be conveyed to us.

R.M.B. We might see when we come to Hebrews 9 that in that chapter the writer is drawing on the great day of atonement, which is in Leviticus 16. But I thought it might be helpful, firstly, to think of this epistle to the Romans. It has been said that in the four gospels we get the Man who is the subject of the glad tidings; in the Acts of the Apostles we have the preaching of the glad tidings; and in Romans we have the teaching of the glad tidings. So it is a very important epistle, especially for preachers. Romans 4 shows us how it is that God can view the sinner as righteous. But I thought it was important for us to understand that the first thing the apostle Paul refers to when he sets out the teaching of the glad tidings is how God is righteous. We need to have some impression of how it is that God can be righteous and still forgive sinners.

E.C.B. That is because His blood is presented in the way that it is. And the shedding of His blood had a public bearing. Would that bear on what you are saying?

R.M.B. I think so. So that the blood becomes a testimony to anyone who is prepared to consider it; the blood becomes a testimony to the fact that God has not overlooked any of our sins, He has not in any sense compromised His own righteousness. If anyone would raise a question with God as to His right to forgive sinners, He has only to point to the precious blood.

E.C.B.         So, in rather oversimplified language, if someone questioned the righteousness of God, God could almost say to him, Did you not see the blood?

R.M.B. I think that.

D.J.H. So the sins were borne in His body on the tree, that is before He died; but this is something additional; this is that a life has been given up, “the life. . . is in the blood”, Lev 17: 11. Could you say something as to its bearing here?

R.M.B. We can understand that it was necessary for a life to be given up because we had forfeited our own lives by sinning. If God was to be righteous in forgiving persons who had forfeited their own lives, it could only be because another life had been taken instead of ours.

D.J.H. That helps. So the blood is the evidence that a life has been laid down, and in that respect, as we have in the scripture here, it is for, “the shewing forth of his righteousness”.

R.M.B. Yes.

D.A.B. The idea of the blood as a witness comes into John’s epistle, with other things that agree with the witness of the blood. We might say it would be rather presumptuous to question the righteousness of God, you might say it was inherent in His very being that He is righteous; but that makes it very wonderful that it should be by a means of something that cost so much, and was so precious, that He has chosen to give us a witness that we can see to His righteousness.

R.M.B. I suppose in Old Testament times no one would have questioned God’s righteousness. It was only when He began to freely forgive sinners in this way that it appeared to call His righteousness into question. We might ask: if God really hates sin, if it is intolerable to Him, how is it that He is free to forgive guilty sinners? Or, to put it another way, how is it that God’s righteousness can be satisfied in order that His mercy might flow freely towards the sinner?

D.A.B.         Indeed, why should He do it? As you are bringing out, sin is offensive to God.

R.M.B.         While this is an important truth for us all to be established in, I believe it is especially so for those who have any part in the preaching of the gospel. To understand this helps to give a certain depth or substance to the presentation of the gospel. The first thing we need to establish in our souls is that God is satisfied. We speak of the need for the sinner to have peace, but if we can establish that God is satisfied then I shall get all the peace that I need.

E.C.B.         Would you say that the shedding of the blood of Christ on the cross brings out into public notice what was not available to public vision in the old dispensation? And that is essential for the realisation of the blessings that we have in Christianity.

R.M.B. So when it says “righteousness of God is revealed” in the glad tidings (Rom 1: 17), one of the things I think that means is that it was never understood before. If, for example, you take a man like David, there was no one who enjoyed the forgiveness of their sins more than he, but I do not think David would have understood how God could forgive his sins. I do not think David would have understood how it was God could forgive sinners and still vindicate Himself. It needed, as you say, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, and especially the shedding of His precious blood.

D.J.H. That comes in here: “passing by the sins that had taken place before”; that would be David’s sins and others.

R.M.B. Yes; on what basis could God forgive sinners in Old Testament times? How could He do it righteously? It was because God was looking forward.

J.M. The actual shedding of His blood was after He had died, but it was the proof publicly that He had died, and that needed to be established.

A.A.C. Could you say something as to the blood being shed as the result of an action of man, or in reply to an action of man?

R.M.B. I suppose that was simply the means by which it took place, the important thing was that His blood should be shed. The fact that it was done through an act of cruelty only served to expose man’s heart, which throws into relief the wonder of divine grace that the answer should be in the shedding of His blood. What were you thinking about it?

A.A.C. It was still poured out. It was something which, in a sense, was a reaction or result of something that man had done. But it was still poured out.

R.M.B. There was what was miraculous about that.

E.C.B. The actual occasion of the shedding of His blood really brought out the contempt of man, and thus magnifies the grace of God which has based eternal blessing on the shedding of the blood, and in particular, atonement, would you say?

R.M.B. That is right. So verse 22 says: “Righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ towards all, and upon all those who believe: for there is no difference; for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” We understand what it means to “have sinned”, but what do we make of the fact that we have “come short of the glory of God”?

D.A.B. It has rather laid hold on me that the glory of God is a kind of objective in this epistle, positively and negatively. I was struck that in chapter 1 Paul says that the first thing that God takes issue with is impiety, that is, that they “glorified Him not as God”; and then all “come short of the glory of God”. But then in chapter 4 it says that Abraham “found strength in faith, giving glory to God” (v 20). I wondered if the blood of Jesus comes in in that connection. It is not simply that some account was settled, but God was glorified.

R.M.B. We can all understand that we have sinned against God; and that simply means that we have exercised our own will in opposition to God’s. But then in addition to that we have been a dishonour to God. Coming short of the glory of God can be illustrated in quite a simple way: Think of a father who has a son. The son goes out and commits some terrible crime; he steals something or murders someone. It is the son who is guilty; there is no question about that. But the effect of that son’s sin is to bring dishonour on his father. It would bring shame on the family name, as men speak. We need to understand, in the same way, that the effect of our sins has been to bring dishonour on God.

D.A.B. In that example the dishonour continues. The son might go to prison for a year or so, then he might think that he has received the rewards of his misdeed. But the family will forever be remembered as the family that had that son in it. So this is a continuing thing that needs atoning.

R.M.B. When God created us He did so because He had something in mind for us. He had in mind that we should fill out a certain place for His pleasure. It says, for example, that man is “God’s image and glory”, 1 Cor 11: 7. The point of this verse is not only that we have sinned, but we have failed to answer to the place in which God had set us. Do we feel sufficiently that our sins have brought dishonour to God? In that sense we dragged His glory into the dust. The more we understand that, the more it makes it all the more a wonder that His righteousness should so shine forth.

D.A.B. And His righteousness, not just the righteousness that can never be taken away from Him, but the righteousness with which He has met that matter.

H.A.H. Man was made in the image and likeness of God, and therefore as maintained in that status He would glorify God, and be some representation of God. Having sinned and fallen from that, God has been dishonoured.

R.M.B. It raises the question: How is it that God can show mercy to such people, who have not only sinned against Him, but have dishonoured Him? I think it helps to throw into relief what has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus, who not only glorified God on the cross, but in the shedding of His blood has given God a righteous basis to show mercy even to the guiltiest.

H.A.H. Think of how He could say, “I have glorified thee on the earth” (John 17: 4). It was in contrast to every other man.

R.M.B. He glorified God on the earth, as you say, in His walk here; but then supremely in His death. Jesus says, with reference to the cross, “God is glorified in him”, John 13: 31.

A.A.C. You have brought before us the severity of this, but the expression used in scripture “come short of” is not as severe as we might expect it to be. Could you say something about that?

R.M.B. Well, to “come short” in scripture is fatal. If you think of the law, to fail in one point is to come under its curse. So although coming short might not sound too serious to us, as far as God is concerned it is fatal.

A.A.C. That helps. We still put things in grades.

I.A.M. Does it not show how full the work of the Lord Jesus is? It says, “upon all who believe”. That is what God is looking for. It shows that God can be so completely satisfied with the work the Lord Jesus did, that there is nothing else for us to do but to believe in it. That sounds simple, and it is simple, but I think it helps us to lay hold of it, does it not?

R.M.B. Yes; and it gives us great assurance to know, simply, that God’s righteousness has been fully satisfied. It would not have given us any assurance at all if God had had to compromise in some way. But it is the fact that God’s righteousness is satisfied that gives us peace, as we take account of what is set forth in the blood.

I.A.M. In the Passover God said, “when I see the blood” (Exod 12: 13); and that gives us an impression of how He looked and saw that blood being shed, and of the value He put upon it. We often say in the preaching that we cannot put a value on it. But God can, and He had a full appreciation of it.

R.M.B. That word, “when I see the blood”, bears on it because it is brought forward in Leviticus. You will remember that on the great day of atonement the high priest went in and sprinkled the blood on the mercy-seat (see Lev 16: 14), and God looked down on the mercy-seat. When God looked down and saw the blood there He knew that all His rights had been upheld, and because of that, and only because of that, He was then able to move out in blessing towards others. The fact that God saw the blood was the reason why He could then extend mercy to anyone who desired to approach.

D.A.B. One element in which the Passover goes further than the offerings is that although it was celebrated every year, the blood was once and for all in the Passover; God giving that suggestion of what is mentioned in Hebrews as to the once and for all shedding of His blood.

R.M.B. But then the day of atonement sets out how God could go on for a year because there was going to be this shedding of blood at the end. That really covers the first part of Romans 3 “the shewing forth of his righteousness, in respect of the passing by the sins that had taken place before, through the forbearance of God” (v 25). We see that illustrated in the way God forbore with the sins of the children of Israel through the year, knowing that at the end of it there was going to be this shedding of blood.

E.C.B. The concept of whether man comes short of the glory of God or not does not come out until the basis for man entering into that glory has been laid. It is kept secret from the beginning.

D.J.H. Speaking of the day of atonement, I have often noticed the way it speaks of the blood there, that first of all it says, “sprinkle with his finger upon the front of the mercy-seat eastward”, and then, “before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle of the blood seven times with his finger”, Lev 16: 14. I was just thinking of that as confirming what you say, it is there “upon the front of the mercy-seat eastward”, and then “before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle seven times”, all seems to indicate that kind of reaching out.

R.M.B. “On” the mercy-seat emphasises that God’s rights have been satisfied; but then “before” it shows that there is ground to draw near. What it says in Romans 3 is important in that connection, “that he should be just, and justify him that is of the faith of Jesus” (v 26). The first thing is that God should be just. Once we are established in that, we can then understand how it is that He is able to justify anyone else.

The thought in Hebrews may be a little more difficult to understand, but I thought we could get some impression as to the scope of what is covered by the precious blood of Jesus. In the first place it is good for sinners. But then the whole universe has been stained with sin, and for God’s sake it was necessary that it should be cleansed from that stain; and that too is by the blood of Jesus. How great He must be that His blood was sufficient for all that.

J.M. Sin, as it came in, had to be removed from before God, and that was effected in the shedding of the blood of Christ, for God’s pleasure and God’s glory. That is apart altogether from its effect upon sinners. It is what was really for God, and He was satisfied with it.

R.M.B. Hebrews 9 speaks of the heavenly things being “purified” (v 23). Sin has come into the creation, and in that sense it has tarnished everything. It is not that the creation, including the heavens, is guilty like we who are sinners, but it has all been stained by sin, it has become unclean (see Job 15: 15); and it was necessary for God to be perfectly at rest that that stain should be completely cleared away, do you think?

J.M. Yes, I am sure. That gives a certain importance to the shedding of the blood of Christ because it was necessary to clear the sin from God’s side, apart altogether from any effect upon us.

R.M.B. The young people might be able to understand it from the illustration that we have here. Hebrews 9 speaks of the entire tabernacle needing to be sprinkled with blood (v 21). The tabernacle was the figurative representation of the things in the heavens. The camp represented the world. Then there were three parts to the tabernacle: there was the court, the holy place and the holy of holies. Enlightened Jews would understand that those three parts would represent the three heavens. It was necessary that all should be covered by the blood.

H.A.H. That is most helpful.

D.A.B. We are shown in Hebrews 1 that the heavens and earth will be rolled up like a garment. We sometimes dispose of old clothes because they cannot be cleaned. But a righteous God cannot roll up the heavens and the earth because there is some irremediable problem about them. The blood of Jesus allows Him to move on from the present order of things to what was in His purpose.

R.M.B. Another scripture we could have read, which says the same thing in a different way, is in Colossians 1, “For in him all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to itself, having made peace by the blood of his cross – by him, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens” (vv 19,20). The point there is the reconciliation of “all things”. Paul goes on to speak of our reconciliation in verse 21. But the first thing is the reconciliation of all things. And even if we find it difficult to grasp I would like us to get an impression of how great the Lord Jesus must be, that His blood was not only sufficient to redeem millions of precious souls, but it was also sufficient to cleanse the whole universe from the stain of sin. How great He is!

D.H.B. I was thinking of the hymn:

The perfect righteousness of God

Is witnessed in the Saviour’s blood        (Hymn 357)

It is a perfect righteousness.

R.M.B. It was necessary that it should be established without question. Old Testament saints such as Abraham and David would never have fully understood how it was that God could forgive them as He did. Furthermore, we can think of the angels. I believe the incoming of sin caused a certain unsettlement even among the angels. It is not that they would ever have doubted what God was able to do, but they would not have understood how God was able to do it until the coming of Jesus and the shedding of His precious blood. So that even for their sake it was necessary that the righteousness of God should be established without question, and witnessed to.

A.A.C. We have the thought of God at rest. What you are bringing before us here in Hebrews is essential to that. God could not be at rest if all His creation ‘is marred by man’s ungrateful hand’, as the hymn writer says (Hymn 150). But because of the extent of the blood of Jesus, God can be at rest. Is that an attractive thought to us that our God is a God who is at rest?

R.M.B. And because He is we can be.

E.C.B. Is it not true that this bearing on the universe of the shedding of the blood of Christ is something that is not brought out until the basis for it has been laid? There is no such conception in the Old Testament.

R.M.B. In a certain sense it was prefigured on the day of atonement. It was on that day that the tent of meeting and the altar were cleansed by being sprinkled with the blood. But your point is that none would have understood what God was setting forth in that?

E.C.B. Yes; are you going to come again in another year and cleanse the universe?

R.M.B. The principal point here is that that could never have been established until one blessed Man had gone into heaven itself to appear before the face of God, having gone in in the virtue of His own blood.

D.A.B. The language of the Old Testament illustrates the limitations of that system, because the scapegoat went into a land apart from men, but it was still a land. And the scripture speaks about sins being cast into the depths of the sea, but they are still part of the earth. It may suit us that our sins are out of sight and out of mind, but it does not suit God to go only that far.

R.M.B. That is what I had in mind. We say that the blood is for God in the first place, then for us. I thought these scriptures would expand our view of what we mean by that.

J.M. Every year God would have looked forward to this. God can do that. We are looking at it after the event. But God was looking at it from the other side, and seeing what was actually going to be wrought out in Christ for His own pleasure.

R.M.B. That was the value of the offerings. It was not that they had any intrinsic value, any inherent ability to wash away sins, but their value was that they spoke to God of the precious sacrifice of Jesus.

D.J.H. That is confirmed by the end of verse 26, “now once in the consummation of the ages he has been manifested for the putting away of sin”. That is, there it was in certain types maybe, in the day of atonement and so on, but now “in the consummation of the ages”, that is all the ages that had gone before in which sin had come in and sin had operated, now once in the consummation of those ages everything has been settled.

R.M.B. It is very glorious to apprehend that.

F.S.P. I was pleased you made clear about sufficient for the whole world, not sufficient for the sins of the whole world. I like your thought about cleansing the world. But I was also thinking of Hebrews 9 verse 12, if you take some words out it says, “by his own blood, has. . . found an eternal redemption”. I thought about that word “found”; it is not discovered it, but set it up.

R.M.B. That expression, “an eternal redemption”, is in contrast to the temporal nature of the offerings that we have been referring to in the Old Testament. They had to be repeated over and over again. You can understand that this would appeal to a Jewish mind, “an eternal redemption”.

E.C.B. Does not what you are saying, and the bearing of these scriptures, expand our view of the “new covenant in my blood”, Luke 22: 20?

R.M.B. I think it does. I have come across the thought in the ministry that the cup at the Lord’s Supper, in its fullest extent, includes the thought of the reconciliation of the whole universe to God.

E.C.B. Is the new covenant different from that? That is it.

R.M.B. That is what I meant.

Now the scripture in Ephesians tells us what God purposed; what God had in His mind to accomplish. But the work of redemption, and, as it says in verse 7, “his blood”, was necessary if all those things which God purposed before the foundation of the world should in fact be brought to pass.

R.M.F. I have just been noticing this word “redemption”. It was in the first scripture that you read, and it came into the one referred to in Hebrews 9 verse 12. From God’s side the blood was the necessary cost that needed to be paid for the redemption to take place. But the other side of redemption, as we are often told, is that God then has a right to take possession of that which He has redeemed. Is it important to remember that too?

R.M.B. There are well-known three-day meetings with Mr Taylor senior called, ‘Eternity to Eternity’ (JT vol 33: 198). The impression that Mr Taylor had, which forms the foundation of those meetings, is that in Ephesians 1 you have what is “from eternity”, because you get what God purposed before the world; but when you come to the end of chapter 3 you have what is “to eternity”, because it speaks of there being “glory to God in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages” (v 21). God purposed things before the foundation of the world, and we know that He had in mind that those things would be put into effect. But between those two things, the past eternity and the future, something awful happened, sin came in, man fell, and the subjects of God purpose were lost to Him through sin. Was God going to be thwarted in the accomplishment of His purpose? Was He going to be cheated of that which He had set His heart upon? I think this scripture shows us what a tremendous thing the work of redemption was, and that the precious blood of Jesus is the only means by which God’s purpose could be accomplished.

D.A.B. Redemption is not to put things back, but to allow God to go on to the fulfilment of His purpose.

R.M.B. Yes; redemption here is in order that God might have what is His. Here we have references to “redemption” and “the forgiveness of offences”. We might have thought we were beyond that in Ephesians. But it is the blood of Jesus in its highest aspect, as being the means by which God could put into effect all that He had purposed.

D.J.H. So the sinner being forgiven is not the end. I think even that in itself shows that the blood is for God, because the sinner is forgiven in order that he might be for God. That is really what redemption means. All these things emphasise your concern as to our understanding that the blood is for God.

R.M.B. So what do you understand by the fact that it is, “according to the riches of his grace”?

D.J.H. I would like to understand it more. But it means that it is all from His own side. Has it not been said that mercy meets the need on our side, but is grace in view of the need in His own heart, that He has moved out to satisfy His own heart? Therefore the blood must be for Him because that is the means by which it has been secured. Is that right?

R.M.B. I think it is. There are two expressions which are similar, but present slightly different thoughts. In verse 6 we have, “the glory of his grace” and in verse 7 “the riches of his grace”. I thought “the riches of His grace” suggests to us the resources that God has. There was this tremendous challenge to His throne through the incoming of sin, with all the subjects of His purpose having become guilty sinners. But the riches of His grace shows that there was no need on our part that His grace was not equal to.

J.M. One of the things that comes out of what we are saying is that the gospel is not only for man. Certainly it is for the blessing of man. But the gospel is really for God. Go back to the very first verse we read, “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. But the result of the gospel puts man in a position where he can glorify God.

R.M.B. That is helpful.

D.A.B. There are two aspects to grace, as I understand it: one is the absolutely right answer to the situation in which it is shown by the one who shows it, the other is that He is absolutely true to Himself.

R.M.B. That is good.

D.A.B. I was thinking what a resource it is, what an asset it is to God. He can be perfectly true to Himself and provide an absolute answer to the situation in which we are.

J.S.H. I was glad you referred to the resource that He has. I was thinking of what was said as to what there is for God: it should always be as we preach that there should be a result for Him, for His glory. It has been said that we can come into the enjoyment of it to praise Him. Then it becomes a test for us as to how we continue in that praise towards Him.

R.M.B. You refer to the preaching, I thought too that this would be an encouragement for any who have part in that work, to think of what has been referred to as the “Godward” aspect of the gospel. I believe that is its most glorious aspect. If we can get it into our affections, I think we shall find that it will give us a certain fulness when it comes to the announcement of the gospel.

E.C.B. These things bring out the scope that is open to us when we are preaching to those we would accept are believers. It has occurred to me many times that the gospel for believers is a very very expansive thought. The scope we have touched in this reading is really inexhaustible.

R.M.B. We can understand when we think of what the Lord Jesus has done for God, and how much God owes to Him, why it is that God would have Him honoured in the glad tidings. That is what we delight in; it is to glorify Christ in the gospel, do you think?

E.C.B. Yes, I do. “Father. . . glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee”, John 17: 1.

D.J.H. Paul says that the ministry that he received from the Lord Jesus was “to testify the glad tidings of the grace of God”, Acts 20: 24. The whole scope of it is there in the unfolding of the mystery and so on, all that is secured for the heart of Christ, and all that is secured eternally for the praise of God, it is all there in the gospel.

R.M.B. So what would you say about “the glory of his grace”?

D.J.H. Distinction has been drawn attention to. I should like to understand it. It certainly is glorious.

D.A.B. I think it is that God is seen in it. Not a God who has had to lower His sights in any way. It goes back to the scripture in Romans, that the way God has remedied our falling short of His glory is to manifest it Himself.

R.M.B. An expression we sometimes find in the ministry (and I think it is quite helpful) is that the glory of a thing is all that is needed in order to fully express it, to fully set it forth. Now, I think that helps to understand the reference here, because what greater expression could there be of the glory of God’s grace than that He has “taken us into favour in the Beloved”. You could not think of a greater setting forth of His grace.

D.A.B. I think one of the most wonderful aspects of God’s grace is that He does express Himself in that way. As we were saying yesterday, God is light. But then we might just take account of that objectively. But He has chosen to show us what He is by the things He has done for us.

D.J.H. Then it is “to the praise of the glory of His grace”. So we are coming back to it again, that it is all for God, for His praise.

P.F.E. Ephesians 3 speaks of the, “unsearchable riches of the Christ” (v 8). There are the riches of God’s grace, and there are the unsearchable riches of the Christ, there is that which can occupy us once we have come into the goodness of what God has provided for us.

R.M.B. I trust that we shall take away with us some impression of the greatness of the Lord Jesus and the greatness of His blood. What a great Person the Lord Jesus must be, that not only was His blood enough to cover every single sinner who draws near to God, and there must be millions of them, but also to satisfy God with respect to the whole universe and the accomplishment of all those things He set His heart on before the world.

 

LONDON

21 May 2006

 

Key to initials

R.M.Brown, East Finchley; D.H.Bailey, Sunbury; D.A.Burr; E.C.Burr; A.A.Croot;

P.F.Eagle; R.M.Fry; D.J.Hutson; H.A.Hutson; J.S.Hutson; I.A.Mitchell; J.Mitchell, Chester; F.S.Pittman.