course, we are not going to deny; but then, the question is, Have we as much power and freshness in these things as we might have? I believe we have not--and why? Is not Levi's God our God? Yes, He is, blessed be His name, and the same everlasting and abundant fountain of blessing as ever He was, but we, alas, are _far behind_ in the matter of Levi's true devotedness; and this is the root of it all, for it remains unalterably true that "to him that hath shall _more_ be given," and "we cannot serve two masters." This is true--solemn--and practical. We are now called to consider a scripture which will unfold to us at once the wondrous secret of how a sinner so degraded as Levi could hold a place of such elevation and nearness to God as that which he afterwards occupied. There is nothing in a sinner by nature with which God could hold any intercourse; therefore, if ever He brings any one into a place of blessing and high communion, He does so in _pure grace_, and thus _excludes_ "boasting" altogether, for "no flesh shall glory in His presence." Those who look upon it as presumption in a sinner to speak of holding a place of such nearness to God, seem to lose sight of this completely. It could never be _pride_ that would lead any one into a place where _he_ would be broken to pieces, and be shown that he was altogether corrupt and worthless; if God were to elevate _flesh_, and bring flesh into a place of nearness to Himself, then indeed there would be some force in the objection on the ground of presumption; but God does no such thing: the flesh is so far gone in ruin that it cannot be improved, and therefore God declares in the Cross His mind about the flesh, namely, that it is a condemned thing; but He, by the same Cross, gives the poor sinner _life_, and in the power of _that life_, and not in the power of life in the flesh, He brings the sinner into His presence and sets him down at His table; so that it is not the presumption of a poor prodigal that assigns the place which he is to occupy, but the _grace_ and boundless lovingkindness of the father: thus, God says to Noah, "The end of all flesh is come before Me," and what then? "Make thee an ark of gopher wood"--and in that ark is Noah raised up beyond the region of judgment, and a judged world, into a place of undisturbed communion. Now, we shall find the very same principles developed in God's dealings with Levi, in the scripture which is about to engage our attention. I shall first consider their cleansing; and, secondly, their position and service. First, their cleansing as recorded in NUMBERS viii. 5-14.