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THE 
 
 JEWISH TABEMACLE 
 
 AND ITS FURNITURE, 
 
 IN THEIB TYPICAL TEACHINGS. 
 
 BY 
 
 EEY. RICHARD KEWTOX, D.D., 
 
 BECTOB OP THE CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANT, PHILADELPniA, 
 
 IS^I w 
 
 ROBERT C 
 
 530 
 
 ) A D "W AT I 
 
 B E 
 
 8 7 40CT 3 2007 
 
 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, In the year 18(J8, by 
 
 ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 
 
 la the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
 
 Southern District of New York. 
 
 Stereotyped by Smith & McDougax, 84 Beekman StT«et, N. T. 
 Printed by E. 0. Jenkins, 20 N". WUliam Street, N. Y. 
 
PEEFACB 
 
 "When St. Paul desired to point out tho 
 relation existing between the Mosaic economy, 
 with its rites and ceremonies, and that which 
 has succeeded it, he compared the former to a 
 shadow^ and the latter to a body, or sicbstance, 
 by which that shadow was forecast. Colos- 
 si ans ii. 17. The relation existing between a 
 shadow and the substance which projects it is 
 easily understood. But all natural figures fail 
 when applied to spiritual things. Ordinarily 
 the shadow will afford nothing but the most 
 general and unsatisfactory idea of the nature 
 of the substance which projects it. And when 
 that substance is reached we can gain no 
 further knowledge respecting it from the sha- 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 dow. But it is different in tlie case before 
 lis. The Jewish Tabernacle did more than 
 this in preparing the way for the reception 
 of the gospel. It gave very suggestive hints 
 not only of the general outline of the glori- 
 ous substance to which it stood related, but 
 also of the particular blessings which were 
 to be introduced by it. And even after this 
 expected substance has been revealed, and 
 with all its privileges in oiu' possession, we 
 cannot, without loss, wholly separate ourselves 
 from the shadow of the ]3receding dispensa- 
 tion. It is, to us, a most significant and in- 
 structive shadow. 
 
 In no part of the Xew Testament is the 
 glory of the gospel revealed in clearer, fuller 
 light than in the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 And the liglit which shines so radiantly there 
 is reflected from the Tabernacle and its ser- 
 vices. Tliat Tabernacle was designed of God 
 not only to foreshadow the gospel before it 
 
PEEFACE. V 
 
 came, but also to illustrate it after it bad 
 come. And as tbere is none " wbo teacbeth 
 like Him," so no illustration of tbe gospel 
 and its blessings can be found comparable to 
 tliat wbicli is bere furnisbed by Ilim. It is 
 as a luminous illustration of tbe gospel tbat 
 tbe Tabernacle is presented in tbis volume. 
 Tbe writer bas found tbe attempt to unfold 
 tbis illustration very precious and profitable 
 to bis own soul. His earnest prayer is, tbat 
 every reader of tbese pages may be blessed 
 witb a similar experience. If God sball bonor 
 tbis unpretending volume by making it tbe 
 means of leadins; one soul to tbe knowledg-e 
 of Cbrist, or of giving to any wbo do know 
 Ilim a clearer apprebension of tbe fulness 
 and preciousness of His salvation, tbis will 
 be regarded as an abundant recompense for 
 tbe labor bestowed upon it. 
 
 In preparing tbese discourses mucb assist- 
 ance was obtained from tbe valuable notes 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 wliicli accompany Bagster's large "book of 
 plates illustrative of tlie Tabernacle ; from 
 an admirable little volume entitled " Scrip- 
 ture Symbolism," by the Eev. Samuel Gar- 
 rett, of London ; and also from some very 
 suggestive unpublislied " J^otes on the Taber- 
 nacle," prepared by Thomas Latimer, Esq., 
 of this city, which were kindly loaned to me. 
 May He with whom the design of the 
 Tabernacle originated, and who called Moses 
 lip the mount to study the pattern shown 
 him there, crown with His rich blessing this 
 humble effort to illustrate the truth of His 
 gospel in the light which shines upon it from 
 the Tabernacle, for Jesus' sake! 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Nature and Design of the Tabernaclk 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Brazen Altar r 51 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Layer 93 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 The Candlestick 13T 
 
 CHAPTER y. 
 The Table op Shew Bread 183 
 
Vm CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Tile Altar of Ixcexse 227 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 The Ark 271 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 The CnERUBiii 315 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Mercy-Seat 359 
 
CHAPTER 1. 
 
 ** S^lje Jirst ^nbermitle — foas a ^wxz for ilje time i\m 
 ptuwV — Hebrews, ix. % 9. 
 
Let us imagine ourselves, my friends, 
 in the Desert of Sin, that gloomy, desolate 
 region of country that lies between the 
 north of Egypt and the south of Canaan. 
 We take our stand near the foot of Mount 
 Sinai. The time of our imaginary visit 
 is, not the middle of this nineteenth cen- 
 tury after Christ, but about the middle 
 of the sixteenth century before Christ. 
 We suppose ourselves to have travelled 
 backwards on the stream of time, over the 
 broad track of thirty-five centuries. It is 
 the time of Israel's Exodus from Egypt. A 
 nation of from three to five millions of 
 people are marching through the wilderness 
 
12 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 under the visible, manifest guidance of tlia 
 Lord Jehovah. Earth never witnessed 
 such a procession before. No parallel to 
 it has ever been seen since. The mys- 
 terious pillar of clcml, the august symbol 
 of the divine presence, goes before them 
 to lead them on their way. But now, 
 they reach the foot of Sinai, and that cloud 
 becomes stationary. The procession halts. 
 In the beautiful order which God has indi- 
 cated, the weary tribes now pitch their 
 tents, to abide for a season round about 
 that mountain, which was destined hence- 
 forth, in the most sacred sense, to become 
 classic ground in the history of our race. 
 On the summit of that mount God comes 
 down in awful majesty. He spreads his 
 pavilion there of clouds and darkness. The 
 lightnings flash; the thunders roar; the 
 mountain shakes, and the sound of the 
 angel's trumpet w^axes long and loud ia 
 
OF THE TABERNACLE. 13 
 
 attestation of the transcendent state of 
 Heaven's great King. Moses is called up 
 thither. With trembling awe he obeys the 
 call. We watch him as he ascends the 
 mount. Higher, and yet higher we see 
 him rise. Now the clouds shut him in, and 
 he is there, alone tvith God. He remains 
 there forty days. There he receives the 
 law, written by God's own finger, on tables 
 of stone. And there, too, he is instructed 
 as to the nature and design of that taber- 
 nacle and its furniture which he was com- 
 missioned to build. A diagram, a model, 
 or type of it, formed by angelic, or divine 
 hands, is set before him. He studies it out 
 there, in all its detail, in the light of the 
 upper sanctuary, and with God himself at 
 hand as his teacher. And when he has 
 learned his lesson well, he is sent down to 
 execute the high commission entrusted to 
 him, TN ith this reiterated injunction : — 
 
 2 
 
14 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 "See thou make all things according to 
 the pattern showed thee in the mount." 
 
 No other structure was ever erected on 
 our ruined earth, in the building of which 
 God manifested such an interest, and in 
 preparation for which, so much care and 
 pains were lavished. But we know that 
 God does nothing in vain. We know, too, 
 that He never over-estimates the import- 
 ance of any thing. His estimate of things 
 is the true standard by which we are to 
 form, and correct our own judgments. 
 Surely then, when we see what an amount 
 of care and time God was pleased to bestow 
 on the preparation of the tabernacle and its 
 furniture, we may well feel that the con- 
 sideration of it should receive our most 
 careful and attentive study. To such a 
 study, my dear friends, I now invite you, 
 with the humble prayer that God may bless 
 our meditations. 
 
OF THE TABERNACLE. 15 
 
 Our theme "will be, The Jeivish Taber- 
 nacle and its Furniture in their Ti/]oical 
 Teachings, 
 
 Our attention now, will be given to a 
 general consideration of the Tabernacle^ in 
 the Nature arid Design of its Structure. 
 
 I shall not attempt to enter into all the 
 minute details of this sacred structure. 
 This would not be either interesting, or 
 instructive. Nor is it necessary. They 
 are written out in the books of Moses. 
 You can read them there for yourselves. 
 Our desire now is to get a clear, and dis- 
 tinct general idea of the whole structure. 
 Well, then, we imagine that Moses has 
 descended from the mount, and fulfilled the 
 important commission with which he was 
 intrusted. He has finished the Tabernacle. 
 Everything about it is completed. It is 
 set up, with all its furniture, in the most 
 exact conformity to the beautiful order of 
 
16 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 the pattern showed him in the mount. 
 The tribes of Israel, in goodly array, are 
 still encamped around it. Now, let us 
 imagine ourselves to be a company of 
 strangers, who have heard of the erection 
 of this heaven-devised edifice, and have 
 obtained permission to approach, and make 
 a general survey of its wondrous parts. 
 Our first view of the encampment bursts 
 upon us as we gain the height of a com- 
 manding hill in the horizon. What a sight 
 do we behold ! A nation, of from three to 
 five millions of people, is encamped in 
 beautiful order before us ! The camp is 
 in the form of an oblong square. For miles 
 and miles, as far as the eye can reach, 
 it stretches out, in beautiful propor- 
 tions. There, in the centre, we behold the 
 wonderful tabernacle. Above it is sus- 
 pended the pillar of cloud, the mysterious 
 symbol of Jehovah's presence. The upper 
 
OF THE TABEPvNACLE. 17 
 
 part of the cloud is seen to spread itself 
 out, on every hand to the limits of the 
 encampment, offering a grateful shade to 
 protect the wanderers from the intensity 
 of the sun's rays. As we stand and gaze 
 upon the scene, we enter into the feelings 
 of Balaam; when from the top of Mount 
 Peer, he actually beheld the sight which 
 we are imagining ; and we feel constrained 
 to take up his language and exclaim : — 
 '' How goodly are thy tents, Jacob ! and 
 thy tabernacle, Israel ! As the valleys 
 are they spread forth ; as gardens by the 
 river-side ; as trees of lign-aloes which the 
 Lord hath planted, and as cedar-trees 
 beside the waters. He hath not beheld 
 iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen 
 perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God 
 is with him, and the shout of a king is 
 among them. God brought them out of 
 Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of 
 
18 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 a unicorn. Surely there is no enchantment 
 against Jacob, neither is there any divina- 
 nation against Israel: according to this 
 time it shall be said of Jacob and Israel — 
 What hath God wrought !" 
 
 But now let us descend from our distant 
 and elevated point of view. Let us draw 
 near, and make a closer examination of the 
 interesting object before us. We are ap- 
 proaching the encampment from the East, 
 coming upon it in what may properly be 
 termed the vanguard of the mighty host. 
 It is on this side that the entrance to 
 the sacred enclosure lies, and only on this 
 side that access to it can be had. And 
 pursuing our way, in this direction, the first 
 thing that we encounter, before we reach 
 the camp, and quite outside of all its lines, 
 is a fire, burning on the ground. It is the 
 fire at which the sin-offering was consumed 
 ^^ zvithout the campy Here, though just on 
 
OF THE TABERNACLE. 19 
 
 the verge of the encampment, we must yet 
 be at least four miles distant from the tab- 
 ernacle. The three tribes of Judah, Issa- 
 char, and Zebulon are encamped here, in 
 front of the tabernacle. They number 
 together nearly two hundred thousand 
 men, and none of their tents are allowed 
 to be pitched nearer to the tabernacle than 
 two thousand cubits, or three thousand 
 five hundred feet, or about two-thirds of a 
 mile. 
 
 This fire tuitJiout the camp, in which the 
 bodies of the animals presented as sin- 
 oiFerings, on the great day of atonement, 
 as well as on certain other occasions, were 
 con-sumed to ashes, what solemn thoughts 
 it suggests to us ! How significantly it 
 points us to Jesus ! He was God's chosen 
 Lamb, our great sin-offering. And " that 
 He might sanctify the people with His 
 own blood, he suffered tvitlioiit the gate' 
 
20 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 There, the devouring flame of the divine 
 justice consumed this innocent sufferer, 
 extorting from Him, in the hour of His 
 final agony, the bitter cry : — " My God 1 
 my God ! why hast Thou forsaken me ?" 
 
 But we can not linger here. We pass 
 through that portion of the camp which 
 forms the van of the host. The tribe of 
 Judah occupies the central position here. 
 We make our way between the tents of 
 Judah. Now, we reach their inner lines, 
 the side of their encampment next to the 
 tabernacle. Here, between these lines and 
 the eastern, or front side of the tabernacle 
 enclosure, there is left the , space of two 
 thousand cubits, already referred to. This 
 broad space encircles the enclosure on every 
 side. None of the camps are allowed to 
 be pitched nearer the sacred structure than 
 this. Midway in this space, and directly 
 in fi'ont of the entrance to the enclosure 
 
OF THE TABERNAULE. 21 
 
 are erected the tents of Moses and Aaron, 
 and Aaron's sons. We pay our respects to 
 the venerable legislator in passing, and 
 proceed. Bu.t before entering this enclo- 
 sure, let us take a walk round the outside 
 of it, so as to form a correct idea of its 
 external appearance. Turning to the right 
 then, we soon reach the north side of the 
 enclosure. Here, on our right hand, are 
 encamped the tribes of Asher, Dan, and 
 Naphtali. Their united camp numbers over 
 one hundred and fifty thousand men. We 
 proceed along the broad avenue which lies 
 before us, and midway in this avenue, be- 
 tween the camp of Dan and the north side 
 of the sacred enclosure, we meet the tents 
 of the sons of Merari. They number over 
 six thousand men, and as Israel pursue 
 their journey, they have charge of the 
 boards, and bars, and pillars, of which the 
 tabernacle is composed. Proceeding on 
 
22 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 our Tvay we now reacli the west end of 
 tlie tabernacle inclosure. Encamped on 
 our right, we have the tribes of Benjamin, 
 Ephraim, and Manasseh. They form the 
 rearward portion of the host, in number 
 about one hundred and eight thousand. 
 Directly in front of them, and midway 
 between their camp and the sacred court, 
 are the tents of the sons of Gershon. 
 They number seven thousand five hun- 
 dred men, and have charge of the tent, 
 the coverings, and the hangings connected 
 with the tabernacle. Continuing our way 
 along this broad, surrounding space, we 
 ziow reach the south side of the sacred 
 place. Here are encamped the tribes of 
 Gad, Reuben, and Simeon. They number 
 over one hundred and fifty thousand. In 
 front of them, between their tents and the 
 south wall of the central inclosure, "s^e pass 
 the tents of the sons of Kohath. They 
 
OF THE TABERNACLE. 23 
 
 number eight thousand six hundred men, 
 and have charge of the ark, the table, the 
 candle-stick, the altars, and the vessels of 
 the sanctuary. Passing on from thence, 
 we soon return to the point from which we 
 started, in front of the sacred inclosure. 
 As we stand here this inclosure is before 
 us. It is in the form of an oblong square. 
 Its length, from east to west, is one hundred 
 and seventy-five feet. Its breadth, from 
 north to south, is eighty-seven and one-half 
 feet, its height eight and one-half feet. It 
 is formed by curtains of fine linen, sus- 
 pended on pillars. These pillars are made 
 of shittim, or acacia wood, overlaid witli 
 brass, and furnished, at the bottom, with 
 fillets of silver made to fit into sockets of 
 brass. When set up they are strengthened 
 by stays, on each side, attached to stakes 
 driven into the ground. There are twenty 
 of these pillars along each side of the 
 
24 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 inclosure : ten at the end, and ten in front. 
 Between these pillars are hung linen cnr- 
 tains, which form the walls of the in closure. 
 The space, thus inclosed, is called " The 
 Court of the Tabernacle." The entrance 
 to this hallowed place is called " The Gate 
 of the Court." It is on the east of the 
 court, and is formed by a beautifully em- 
 broidered curtain of blue, purple, and scar- 
 let, suspended on four pillars. Its width 
 is thirty-five feet. This is the only en- 
 trance. The material and color of this 
 curtain are precisely the same as those of 
 the Tail, which hangs before the ark in the 
 Holy Place. That vail, we know, on the 
 best authority, typifies Christ. This cur- 
 tain, then, which is like it, must be a type 
 of Christ too. What striking significance 
 this circumstance imparts to those passages 
 of Scripture, in which Jesus said — " I am 
 the door^ — no man cometh unto the Father, 
 
OF THE TABERNACLE. 25 
 
 but by me." It was a truth in the days 
 of Moses, it is a truth now, and it will re- 
 main a truth forever, in the history of our 
 ruined world, that there is no way of access 
 to God, for life and light and salvation, 
 but through Jesus Christ. 
 
 But now we pass through this gate, and 
 find ourselves within "the Court of the 
 Tabernacle." Here, the first object that 
 meets the eye, is the altar of burnt-offering. 
 A little beyond this stands the brazen 
 laver. We pause not now to speak of 
 these, as we shall return to them again, 
 and dwell on them in detail. Passing by 
 these, we proceed to the western end of 
 the court. Here we come to the great 
 central object of interest — the Tabernacle 
 itself.* This is an oblong structure, forty- 
 five feet in length, and fifteen feet in height 
 and breadth. It ranges, in the direction 
 
 * See Frontispieoe. 
 3 
 
26 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 of its length from east to west; having its 
 entrance, like the court which surrounds 
 it, on the side which looks toward the 
 east. The two sides and the west end con- 
 stitute a frame work composed of boards 
 of acacia wood overlaid with pure gold. 
 There are twenty of these boards on each 
 side, and eight at the west end. Each 
 board is furnished with two tenons and 
 sockets, and also with five rings or staples, 
 through which bars are thrust for the 
 purpose of bracing and steadying the whole 
 structure. When thus erected, four sepa- 
 rate curtains are spread over the taber- 
 nacle, to protect it and its furniture, from 
 the changes of the weather. The first of 
 these is of Ihien, with variegated colors of 
 blue, purple, and scarlet. The second is a 
 white curtain of pure, fine wool. The third 
 is of goats' skins dyed red, and the fourth, 
 a thick, heavy covering of badgers' skins, 
 
OF THE TABEENACLE. 27 
 
 This tabernacle is divided into two apart- 
 ments of unequal size. We enter the first 
 of these^ which is the larger of the two. 
 "We are now in what is called the Ilohj 
 Place. Above our heads is the first beauti- 
 ful covering of which we have just spoken, 
 embroidered with Cherubim in blue, pur- 
 ple, and scarlet. On either hand are the 
 sides of the tabernacle glittering with gold 
 Everywhere are marks of sprinkled blood, 
 the covenanting sign of peace. On the 
 north, or the right hand, is the golden 
 table with the twelve cakes of show-bread, 
 ever before the Lord. On the south side, 
 or the left hand, is the seven-branched 
 golden candle-stick, ever lighted before the 
 Lord ; in the centre, before us, stands the 
 golden altar ever fragrant with the morn- 
 ing and evening incense. Thus in God's 
 house there is continually before Him 
 light, and fragrance, and food. And there, 
 
28 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 beyond the golden altar, and shutting out 
 the view of the Most Holy Place, hangs 
 down before us the vail, the dark, mys- 
 terious vail. Beyond it, we know, is the 
 ark of the covenant. But we may not 
 draw that vail aside, or pass behind it, to 
 gaze on what it hides from view. Only 
 one, out of all the tribes of Israel, and he 
 but once a year, may enter there, and be- 
 hold the glory which fills that most sacred 
 of all earthly spots. 
 
 Thus we have attempted to take a gen- 
 eral survey of the structure of the taber- 
 nacle. Let us look now at its nature. 
 
 It was a simple structure. The materials 
 of which it was composed were costly in- 
 deed. It is estimated that near a million 
 of dollars were expended upon it. There 
 was also much of artistic grace and beauty 
 wrought up into its composition , and yet, 
 compared with the splendid cathedrals 
 
OF THE TABEPtNACLE. 29 
 
 of tlie old world, those gorgeous and gigantic 
 masses of breathing marble, which men 
 have erected, how simple and unpre- 
 tending the tabernacle was ! Considered 
 as the dwelling-place of Him who has 
 heaven for His throne, and the earth for 
 His footstool; who has spread out the 
 heavens as His curtain, and gemmed them 
 with stars, the tabernacle was a simjjle 
 structure. 
 
 It was a structure of dlviyie origin. Sir 
 Christopher Wren planned and built the 
 Cathedral of St. Paul in London, as a 
 monument of his own genius. Michael 
 Angelo left the impress of his genius on 
 the Cathedral of St. Peters at Ptome. But 
 the Jewish Tabernable was indebted for 
 nothing to the force of Man's creative 
 faculty. It was not an imitation of any 
 other earthly structure. It had its origin 
 in heaven. God — the Great Arcjiitect of 
 
 3* 
 
30 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 the Universe — planned it. The design was 
 His, both in the conception, and in the 
 development of all its details. Moses had 
 nothing to do but copy the model set before 
 him, and carry it out, in all its minutiae. 
 No part, or portion of it was left for him 
 to fill up. From the glorious cherubim 
 overshadowing the mercy-seat, down to the 
 .cords and stakes w^hich sustained the 
 walls of the outer court, everything was 
 to be made and fashioned "according to 
 the pattern showed him in the Mount." 
 JSuch was the nature of this structure. 
 
 It remains for us to consider its design ; 
 or the purpose of God's wisdom and good- 
 ness which it was intended to subserve. 
 In handling this part of our subject, we 
 must consider its design in reference to tlie 
 Jeius and in reference to ourselves. To the 
 Jews, the tabernacle, with its furniture and 
 servi 3eS; was at once the source of ^^reseni 
 
OF THE TABERNACLE. 31 
 
 hiessing, and the pledge or promise of future 
 good. It was a source or channel, through 
 which the Jews in the wilderness were put 
 in the possession and enjoyment of present, 
 peculiar blessings. 
 
 " The camp of Israel was preeminently 
 the place of blessing. It was the bright 
 spot in the midst of a dark and desert 
 world ; for God was there, and walked in 
 the midst of His people, to bless them, and 
 deliver them from their enemies." Israel 
 had no blessing which did not come to 
 them through the tabernacle, or in connec- 
 tion with it. Their happiness, their com- 
 fort, their safety, their very existence de- 
 pended on its instrumentality. Here was 
 the Ark of God's presence, with the blood of 
 the Lamb sprinkled upon it, ever speaking 
 peace. Here was the burnt-ofiering on the 
 brazen altar, the sweet savor from whicli, 
 was ever rising before the Lord. Here wa^ 
 
S2 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 that gracious cloud which shaded them by 
 day, lighted them by night, and was their 
 guide in all their wanderings . The Psalm- 
 ist tells us, cv. 39 : " He spread a cloud 
 to be a covering." From this it would 
 seem that the majestic column, or pillar 
 of cloud, w^hich hung, suspended by divine 
 power, over the tabernacle, spread itself 
 out on every side to the utmost borders 
 of their encampment, so as to screen the 
 weary wanderers from the direct rays of the 
 sun, and the reflection from the burning 
 sands around them. There was no water 
 in the wilderness, but the stream from the 
 smitten rock followed them. The manna 
 fell daily round about their tents. The 
 feet of the wanderers were never swollen, 
 and their garments waxed not old upon 
 them for forty years. They were the Lord's 
 chosen family , at peace ivith Ilim through the 
 Hood of the evcrlastiug covenant. " The 
 
OF THE TABERNACLE. 33 
 
 eternal God was their refuge, and under- 
 neath were the everlasting arms." Y\^ell 
 might Moses, as he stood on the top of 
 Pisgah, looking back on the one hand, at 
 the way by which they had been led 
 through the wilderness, and looking for- 
 vrard on the other hand, over all the glorious 
 inheritance which lay before them, break 
 forth in the rapturous exclamation : — 
 "Happy art thou, Israel 3 vvdio is like 
 unto thee, people saved by the Lord, 
 the shield of thy help, and who is the 
 sword of thy excellency !" Thus the tab- 
 ernacle was to Israel a source of p?^eserd 
 blessing. 
 
 It was at the same time, a 2')^^^{f^ 0^ 
 promise to them of future good. It was a 
 typical structure. St. Paul tells us in our 
 text that — " The first tabernacle Avas a 
 figure for the time then present." lie 
 speaks of it elsewhere, (Hebrews, x, 1.) 
 
34 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 as "a sliadoiv of good tilings to come." 
 Now a sliadoiv takes its general shape or 
 form from that of the body or substancp 
 Tv'hich projects it. You can form a toler- 
 ably correct idea of what that substance is 
 when you see the shadow. But the tab- 
 ernacle, with its furniture and services, was 
 the shadow cast into the midst of the 
 Jewish people by the plan of God's salva- 
 tion in Christ, as it was eventually to be 
 revealed. It was a heaven-devised symbol, 
 prefiguring or typifying that salvation. To 
 those among the Jews who understood its 
 meaning it was a sort of illustrated profes- 
 sion of faith. It was their creed in sym- 
 bol. To an intelligent, pious Jew, there 
 must have been something very awe- 
 inspiring, stirring, and suggestive in the 
 solemn services of the tabernacle. We 
 can imagine such a one standing by the 
 altar, on which the victim he had brought 
 
OF THE TABERNACLE. 35 
 
 was being offered. It is a shadowy service 
 in which he is engaged, but he feels that 
 it is very significant. With liis bodily eye 
 he surveys the shadow, but the eye of his 
 soul is fixed with an intense gaze upon tho 
 future, searcliing after the substance by 
 which that shadow is forecast. And as ho 
 does this, glorious glimpses of the ^' good 
 things to come" are often disclosed to him. 
 Suppose you are standing on an elevated 
 summit which overlooks a broad, extensive 
 landscape. The far-off parts of it are 
 shrouded in gloom, and very indistinctly 
 seen. But as you stand and gaze, there 
 comes a burst of sunshine. It penetrates 
 the most distant parts of the field of vi- 
 sion, and lights up the whole scene with 
 a flood of glory. You see objects now 
 which you had not perceived before ; while 
 others that were dimly seen, stand revealed 
 in clear and vivid distinctness of outline 
 
36 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 The future, before the Jew, was such a 
 landscape. His position of privilege con- 
 nected with the wor&nip of God set him 
 on a lofty elevation, from which to look 
 out upon the scene before him. As he 
 looked abroad on the landscape, however, 
 through the shadowy service of the dark 
 dispensation with which he was connected, 
 it was but a twilight view he obtained. 
 The clouds and shades that rested on the 
 landscape, made the circle of his vision 
 very circumscribed. But sometimes a 
 burst of sunshine, like that of which we 
 have spoken, was vouchsafed the worship- 
 per. Abraham was thus favored, when 
 standing by his altar on jMount Moriah, 
 '^he desired to see Christ's day, and he 
 saw it, and was glad." As the prophetic 
 landscape of the future lay outstretched 
 before him, it was lighted up with such a 
 burst of spiritual sunshine. And doubtless 
 
OF THE TABERNACLE. 37 
 
 such gleams of light were often granted to 
 the believing Jews, as, in humble faith, 
 they waited upon God in the service of 
 the tabernacle. Every thing there seemed 
 to have a finger with which to point to 
 the Messiah, and a voice with which to 
 tell of the gracious offices He was to fulfil. 
 The cry of the innocent victim, the sight 
 of his streaming blood and dying agonies, 
 how powerfully these would speak of the 
 dreadful nature of sin, and of the tremen- 
 dous penalties which it incurred. The 
 ascending flame from the altar of burnt- 
 offering, with its curling smoke, and the 
 faming incense from the golden altar, 
 would point to the atoning influences that 
 were, to go forth from the coming lamh, of 
 which those then offered were but types. 
 The candle-stick with its perpetual light, — • 
 and the table over-against it, with its un 
 ceasing furnishment of bread, would tell 
 
38 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 of divine illumination, and of grace in dts 
 abundant outflowings, sufficient for all the 
 possible wants of the people of God. The 
 unseen glories of the Most Holy Pkice, 
 shut out from view by the mysterious vail, 
 •would whisper to the worshipper, of the 
 bliss and brightness of that world, whose 
 joys "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
 nor has the thought of them entered into 
 the heart of man." And thus every part 
 of this marvellous structure, with its array 
 of imposing services, would seem to be 
 inscribed all over, by the finger of prophecy, 
 with intimations and promises of coming 
 blessings, and as the humble worshipper 
 gazed in fiith upon them, the inspired 
 tracery w^ould seem to glow and sparkle in 
 characters of heavenly light before him, 
 weaving themselves out into glorious pre- 
 dictions of the untold things which "God 
 bath prepared for them that love Him.'* 
 
OF THE TABERNACLE. 39 
 
 Thus tlie Tabernacle was to the Jews a 
 source of irresent blessing, and a pledge of 
 future good. 
 
 To us, the tabernacle is instructive as 
 affording an illustration of the blessings of 
 the gospel ; and a figurative view of our 
 relation to the heavenly world. 
 
 We see in it an illustration of the blessings 
 of the gospel. The tabernacle was a shel- 
 tered inclosure in a dreary desert. In 
 this respect, how truly it represents the 
 Church of Jesus Christ, which is 
 
 "A little spot inclosed by grace, 
 Out of tlie world's wild wilderness." 
 
 In the tabernacle there was the typical 
 lamb offered in daily sacrifice ; in the gos- 
 pel we have the true Lamb, which was once 
 offered for the sins of the whole world, 
 and which " perfects for ever them that are 
 ^sanctified." In the tabernacle there was 
 manna, by eating which the bodies of the 
 
40 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 people were preserved in life ; but in the 
 gospel we have the true Manna, the 
 bread which came down from heaven, and 
 of which whosoever eateth shall live for- 
 ever. In the tabernacle and its service, 
 they had water to drink that flowed from 
 the smitten rock, " which Kock was Christ" 
 in figure. In the gospel we have that 
 Hock, not in figure, but in fact, opening 
 up in the heart of ea^di of His followers, 
 ^^ a well of water that springeth up into 
 everlasting life." In the tabernacle was 
 the golden candle-stick shedding its light 
 continually on all that was in the Holy 
 Place. In the gospel we have the Holy 
 Ghost, "the Lord and Giver of Light," 
 whose divine illumination pervades the 
 minds of all His people, " making darkness 
 light, and crooked things straight before 
 them," and causing the truth to shine into 
 their hearts, so that they " shall know all 
 
OF THE TABERNACLE. 41 
 
 things." Ill the tabernacle they had the 
 cleansing laver for purifying the bodies of 
 the priests and Levites, — but in the gospel 
 we have " the fountain opened for sin and 
 for uncleanness." in which the vilest of the 
 vile may plunge, and wash their guilt away. 
 In the tabernacle was the golden altar with 
 its ascending incense typical of the accept- 
 ance of the prayers and services of God's 
 people; but in the gospel we have the 
 golden altar of the Cross of Christ, with 
 the incense of His great sacrifice ever 
 rising before the throne of God, not iypify- 
 ing, but insuring the acceptance of His 
 people's prayers and services. In the 
 tabernacle was the pillar of cloud to lead 
 onward the whole camp of Israel when they 
 were to journey; but in the gospel we 
 have the assurance of personal guidance 
 through all the labyrinthian windings of 
 
 life's intricate mazes. The promise to 
 4* 
 
42 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 every belie^^er runs — "I will guide thee 
 with my counsel, and afterwards receive 
 thee to glory." " Thou shalt hear a voice 
 behind thee saying — this is the way walk 
 thou in it, when thou turnest to the right 
 hand, or when thou turnest to the left." 
 The relation which God sustained, in this 
 respect, to Israel as a nation. He now sus- 
 tains to His people as individuals. He 
 shades them by day. He enlightens them 
 by night; He strengthens and comforts, 
 He guides and blesses them as their own 
 personal God. And thus, whatever blessing 
 we see Israel enjoying in the tabernacle, 
 in figure, we find believers now enjoying 
 in Christ, in fact, and in fulness. And 
 hence we see in the tabernacle an illustra- 
 tion of the blessings wliich'we enjoy in the 
 gospel. 
 
 But further than this, the tahernacle fur* 
 
OF THE TABERNACLE. 43 
 
 nislies us zvith a figurative vieio of our rela" 
 Hon to the heavenly ivorld. 
 
 St. Paul tells us distinctly that the tab- 
 ernacle and its services were "patterns of 
 things in the heavens." Hebrews, ix. 23. 
 They were the counterpart of the very pat- 
 tern which Moses himself saw in the 
 mount, and in accordance with which he 
 erected the whole structure. The wilder- 
 ness in the midst of which the Tabernacle 
 was set up, represented the world. The 
 Court of the Tabernacle and the Holy 
 Place represented the Church on Earth, in 
 its different departments. The Most Holy 
 Place represented the Church in Heaven. 
 And as we gaze upon the intimate relation 
 in which these two parts of the tabernacle 
 stood to each other, the thought seems 
 naturally to force itself upon us, how near 
 we may be to that world which lies within 
 the vail ! We are often tempted to think 
 
44 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 and feel as if that world must be at an 
 immense distance, a vast remove from ns. 
 A proper consideration of the tabernacle 
 would seem to correct this impression. 
 Look at it for a moment. Here you see 
 the Hoi J Place, or the Church on Earth, 
 and the Most Holy Place, or the Church 
 in Heaven, in the closest possible contiguity 
 to each other. There is only that thin 
 material vail to separate them. We know 
 that " angels and ministers of grace" attend 
 us continually. Y^e know that — • 
 
 " Millions of spiritual beings walk onr earth, 
 Unseen, both when we sleep and when we wake." 
 
 We cannot tell how near to us, how closely 
 about us are the things of the unseen 
 world. If the mantle of invisibility were 
 but removed, we should see things "in 
 heaven and earth that we have scarcely 
 dreamed of in our philosophy." 
 
OF THE TABEKNACLE. 45 
 
 "Surely, yon heaven, where angels see God's face 
 
 Is not so distant as we deem 
 From this low earth? 'Tis but a little space, 
 
 The narrow crossing of a slender stream ; 
 'Tis but a vail which winds might blow aside ; 
 Yes, these are all that us of earth divide 
 From the bright dwelling of the glorified, — 
 
 The Laud of which we dream ! 
 
 Those peaks are nearer heaven than earth below, 
 Those hills are higher than they seem ; 
 
 'Tis not the clouds they touch, nor the soft brow, 
 Of the o'erbending azure, as we deem. 
 
 'Tis the blue floor of heaven that they upbear ; 
 
 And, like some old and wildly rugged stair, 
 
 They lift us to the Land where all is fair, — 
 The Land of which we dream." 
 
 Or in tlie language of another poet — 
 
 " From tills world to the next 
 How short and peaceful may the passage be ! 
 One beating pulse, one feeble struggle o'er, 
 May open wide the everlasting door. 
 Yes ! for that bliss, unspeakable, unseen, 
 Is ready — and the vail of flesh between, 
 A gentle sigh may rend." 
 
 Is it possible that we may be thus near 
 
46 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 the awful realities of the eternal world? 
 surely, then, it becomes us to — 
 
 " Walk tlionghtfully on tlie solemn shore 
 Of that vast ocean we must sail so soon !" 
 
 And thus we see how the tabernacle is 
 instructive to us as affording an illustration 
 of the blessings of the gosjwl ; and a fgiiror 
 live view of our relation to the heavenly 
 world. 
 
 In conclusion the subject we haye now 
 considered suggests to us — Kotv thanhfidiue 
 should he for the day in tvhich we live ! 
 
 It is "the day of salvation." It is the 
 dispensation of the substance which suc- 
 ceeded to that of the shadow. It is the 
 time of direct and full revelation as opposed 
 t^ the time of type and figure. It is to 
 the dispensation of tlie tabernacle what the 
 hour of noon, with its radiant splendor, is 
 to the hour of early dawn, with its dim 
 
OF THE TABERNACLE. 47 
 
 twilight and its gloom. It was the deep 
 sense He had of the superior glory and 
 privilege of this period of the Church's 
 history w^hich led our Saviour to say to 
 His disciples : — " Blessed are your eyes, 
 for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 
 For verily, I say unto you, that many 
 prophets and righteous men have desired 
 to see the things which ye see, and have 
 not seen them ; and to hear the things 
 Tv^hich ye hear, and have not heard them." 
 In regard to light, and grace, and privilege, 
 our position under the gospel is exalted 
 indeed. And if it be true that " to whom 
 much is given, of them much will be 
 required," then it becomes us to see well 
 to it, that we improve diligently our privi- 
 leges. It is a sad, sad thing, when we see 
 men exalted to heaven by the abundance 
 of the blessings showered upon them, only 
 that like Capernaum of old, they should, in 
 
48 THE NATURE AND DESIGN 
 
 the end, be thrust down to hell. Let not 
 this melancholy doom be ours, my Christian 
 friends ! 0, let us look at the full-orbed 
 circle of our blessings, and see what love, — 
 what gratitude — what zeal — what devotion 
 should be ours ! Let us seek the grace 
 which will enable us to walk worthy of our 
 high calling, and to render to the Lord 
 according to all His unspeakable goodness 
 to us. Constrained " by the mercies of 
 God, let us present ourselves a living sacri- 
 fice, holy and acceptable to God, which is 
 our reasonable service." 
 
 And, my dear friends, who are not 
 Christians, if connection with the covenant 
 of God's grace in Jesus is so blessed, how 
 can you be satisfied to remain without a 
 personal interest therein ? You are still 
 wanderers in the gloomy wilderness of this 
 fallen world. The dangers and discomforts, 
 and deprivations of the wilderness are all 
 
OF THE TABERNACLE. 49 
 
 yours. You have no covenant cloud to 
 shelter and guide you. No sacrifice puts 
 forth its atoning efficacy in your behalf. 
 There is no living water from the Smitten 
 Kock, of which you can drink to satisfy 
 the longings of your thu'sty soul. There 
 is no bread from heaven, of which you can 
 eat to sustain and strengthen your famish- 
 ing spirit. Unsheltered, weary wanderers 
 in this waste howling wilderness, I take 
 my stand to-night by the gate of entrance 
 to the gospel tabernacle, and in the name 
 of its Builder Jesus, I invite you to come 
 in. Here is the sheltering, guiding cloud ; 
 come, rest beneath its shadow. Here is 
 the Heavenly Lamb whose blood alone has 
 power to cleanse from all sin, come and let 
 Him sprinkle your guilty soul with His 
 precious blood. Here is the water of life 
 flowing clear as crystal. It will follow you 
 all through the wilderness. drink, and 
 
60 THE TABERNACLE. 
 
 your soul will be revived, and you will 
 live. Here is the bread that cometh down 
 from heaven. Come, eat of it, and your 
 soul will never hunger again. Here is light 
 that streams down from the golden candle- 
 stick of the upper sanctuary. Its revela- 
 tions are wonderful. Come and see what 
 they are. Here is the incense of unceasing 
 intercession — come and share in its untold 
 benefits. It is Jesus bids you come. " The 
 Spirit and the Bride say, come. Let him 
 that heareth say, come. Let him that is 
 athirst come : and whosoever will, let him 
 come, and take of the water of life freely." 
 There yet is room — come 1 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 "CIjc im s^all tbn ht burmng iipoit ilje g^Iiar; il 
 cl^all nckr ao out" — LE^^TIcus, vi. 13. 
 
II 
 
 In a volume of published sermons of 
 
 the eloquent Henry Melvill there is an 
 
 interesting discourse on Christ's victory 
 
 over Satan. It is founded on the words — 
 
 "For this purpose was the Son of God 
 
 manifested, that He might destroy the 
 
 works of the devil." In proceeding to 
 
 speak of the history and character of Satan, 
 
 he says : — " How abruptly is the tempter 
 
 introduced upon the scene ! There is no 
 
 account given of this mysterious being 5 
 
 but suddenly, without the least intimation 
 
 who the invader is, or what region he had 
 
 heretofore traversed, a fierce irruption is 
 
 made into the youthful paradise, and crea- 
 6* 
 
54 THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 tures formed in the very image of God, 
 dislocate their own happiness, and that of 
 a countless posterit}^ There seems to be 
 a chapter wanting, and the history of the 
 defeat of man appears to demand a history 
 of the conqueror of man. We should be 
 better prepared to account for evil gaining 
 a footing on earth, if we were furnished 
 w^ith an account of its first appearance in 
 the universe. But this is wanting." 
 
 We cannot but experience a feeling akin 
 to this, when we come to consider the sub- 
 ject of burnt-offerings, or animal sacrifices 
 in connection with the worship of God. 
 The first notice that we have of these very 
 significant and suggestive acts of divine 
 worship, takes us back to the very gates of 
 Paradise. There we see Abel, standing 
 beside his altar, and the smoke of the flame 
 which consumes the innocent victim, is 
 ascending to heaven in our sight. We see 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 00 
 
 the offering of sacrifices introduced by men, 
 as a part of the worsliip of Jehovah. We 
 see it accepted of God, and continued, from 
 age to age, through a period of four thousand 
 years, till Christ came, (God's own pro- 
 vided, spotless Lamb,) to take away the 
 sins of the world. And yet, the strange 
 thing about it is, that there is not a single 
 word, recorded or revealed, about the 
 origin and institution of sacrifices. Here 
 again there seems to be " a chapter want- 
 ing.'" We see a most solemn and important 
 rite of divine worship in established use, 
 without having any account whatever of its 
 introduction. And yet there is not the 
 least shadow of doubt as to the authority 
 by which it was introduced. The idea of 
 taking away the life of innocent creatures, 
 in typical atonement for man s sin, could 
 never have originated in the mind of man. 
 And it never could have been accepted of 
 
56 THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 God J or continued in connection with the 
 worship which His people offer to Hiin, if 
 it had been a mere human invention. This 
 argument is conclusive. If we could put 
 our finger on the chapter and verse, in the 
 early part of Genesis, which contained the 
 account of the inauguration of these sacri- 
 fices, we should not feel a whit more certi- 
 fied, that they had their origin in the 
 authority and command of God. 
 
 This train of introductory thought was 
 suggested by the consideration of the 
 Brazen Altar, or the altar of burnt-offering, 
 which is to be the theme of our present 
 meditation. 
 
 There w^ere two altars connected with the 
 Jewish Tabernacle. One of these was a 
 large altar, the other was a small one : one 
 was made of brass, the other was made of 
 gold ; one was designed for the offering of 
 burnt-sacrifices, the other for the offering of 
 
THE ALTAR OF I5UKNT OFFERING. 
 Jewish Tabernacle. 
 
 p. 56. 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 57 
 
 incense ; one stood without, in the Court of 
 the Tabernacle, the other stood within the 
 Tabernacle, in the Holy Place itself. It is 
 the first of these that we are now to con 
 sider. The other will come up for our con- 
 sideration hereafter. 
 
 This first altar was distinguished from 
 the other in two ways. It was denomi- 
 nated, by way of excellence, " The Al- 
 tary Our English word altar is a very 
 unmeaning one. The etymology of it has 
 no significance at all. It comes from the 
 Latin word alius, and that denotes nothing 
 but a high, or elevated place. The Hebrew 
 word for altar is one which conveys the 
 idea of a sacrifice. It comes from an old 
 root which signifies to slay, or to slaughter. 
 So that when the Hebrew spoke of the 
 altar, the very term which he employed 
 told him of a place, where sacrifices wero 
 
58 THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 offered; where blood was shed, and life was 
 taken away. 
 
 The other phrase, used to designate this 
 piece of the furniture of the tabernacle, was 
 " the altar of burnt-offering. ' The Hebrew 
 word for burnt-offering denotes that which 
 ascends, or mounts up, as the flame and 
 smoke did on this altar, when the victim 
 was consumed upon it. That which was 
 presented on this brazen altar, was a whole 
 burnt-offering. Every thing connected with 
 it ascended, or went up to God. And con- 
 templated from this point of view, what a 
 beautiful type this altar of burnt-offering 
 was of the cross, our altar, our onlf/ altar in 
 the Christian Church, and on which Jesus, 
 the heavenly Lamb, was offered. He was 
 emphatically a tvhole burnt-offering. It is 
 said of Him that "He gave Himself for 
 us." Yes, His entire self. He kept nothing 
 back. Body, soul, and spirit; his entii'© 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 59 
 
 humanity, his absolute divinity, went to 
 make up the sacrifice. Hence we read in 
 one place, that " God spared not His oiun 
 Son, but dehvered Him up for us all." 
 And hence also we read in another place of 
 "the Church of God, which He has pur- 
 chased with His own Uood^ All, therefore, 
 that went to make up the person of God's 
 own Son in the complex nature of His 
 mysterious being, we are to regard as con- 
 stituting the ivliole hurnt-offering, which 
 Jesus presented, for us, on the cross. 
 
 We notice next the materials, of which 
 this altar was composed. These were two, 
 viz., shittim, or acacia wood, and brass, 
 which overlaid and covered the wood in 
 every part. There was a need for the 
 employment of both these materials. The 
 wood, if not protected by the overlaying 
 brass, would have been consumed by the 
 flamO; wliich burnt up the offering, while 
 
60 THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 the brass, if employed alone in the con- 
 struction of the altar, would have made it 
 too heavy for the purposes of transportation 
 in their journey ings through the wilder- 
 ness. 
 
 Now this altar of burnt-sacrifice, with 
 the offerings presented upon it, stands be- 
 fore us as a type of Christ and his cross. 
 And the materials, of which the altar was 
 composed, point strikingly to His two-fold 
 nature. His humanity, if found alone, 
 would have been consumed by the fire of 
 divine justice, which blazed forth against 
 Him, when He stood as our substitute, and 
 bore our sins, in His own body, on the 
 tree. And then, on the other hand. His 
 divinity, if found alone, like the altar, if all 
 of brass, would have been too oppressive 
 for us. It would have made us afraid by 
 its excellency, and would have overwhelmed 
 us by its majesty. But blended with the 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 61 
 
 humanity, and tempered and softened by 
 its transmission through the vail of flesh, it 
 meets our necessities in every respect, and 
 furnishes us with just the help and com 
 fort that we need. 
 
 In its form and dimensions the altar of 
 burnt-offering was a square, hollow box, 
 without either top or bottom. It was five 
 cubits broad, and three cubits high. 
 Reckoning the cubit at eighteen inches, 
 this would give us seven feet six inches for 
 its breadth, i, e., for the length of each of 
 its sides, and four feet six inches for its 
 height. It was just twice the size of the 
 ark, and was the largest article of furni- 
 ture connected with the tabernacle. There 
 were four horns, or projections, one on each 
 corner of the altar. These may have been 
 in part for beauty, and in part also for use. 
 It is to these that the Psalmist refers when 
 he speaks of "binding the sacrifice with 
 
62 THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 cords, GA-en unto the horns of the altar." 
 There was a grating of brass, which 
 stretched across tho whole interior of the 
 altar. It was not level with the top of 
 the altar, but was placed some distance 
 below the top. On this grating the sacred 
 fire was kept ever burning. In the lan- 
 guage of the text it was "never to go 
 out." There were diiTerent brazen vessels 
 also connected with the service of this 
 altar. There were shovels for gathering 
 up the ashes, and pans, in which thej were 
 carried away, and basins for receiving the 
 blood, and flesh-hooks for handling the 
 pieces, and fire-pans, in which the sacred 
 fire was carried and kept alive as they went 
 onwards in their journeyings. 
 
 The one use to which this altar was de- 
 voted, was that of consuming the yearly, 
 the weekly, and the daily sacrifice. Here 
 the lambs were continually slain and offered 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 63 
 
 unto God. And from this hallowed spot, 
 from the blood here shed, from the fire 
 ever-burning here, and the victim con- 
 sumed therein, there went forth unceasingly 
 those atoning influences, which in a cere- 
 monial, or figurative sense, purged the con- 
 sciences of the worshippers from sin, and 
 rendered their persons and services accept- 
 able to God. And now, having dwelt thus 
 far on the structure and use of the altar 
 of burnt-offering, we are prepared to con- 
 sider the lessons we may gather from it, 
 when regard is had to its typical teachings. 
 
 In proceeding to this part of our suhiect, 
 there are five different points of view, from 
 which we may contemplate this altar, each 
 of which will furnish us with a distinct les- 
 son of great practical importance. 
 
 Aiid the first thing to ivhich I would call 
 your attention in connection with the altar of 
 hurnt'offering is the prominence assigned 
 
64 THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 to it in connection ivitli the Jeivish Taher* 
 nacle. 
 
 Just look at its position. It stood im- 
 mediately in front of the gate of the tab- 
 ernacle, or the entrance to the sacred 
 enclosure. It was the first object which 
 met the, eye of the worshipper, as he drew 
 nigh to present his offering to God, and the 
 last which he beheld on retiring from that 
 service. Its place was the outer court. 
 It was not hidden in some deep recess, 
 some inner shrine, removed from the gaze 
 of sinners ; nor did it stand within the tab- 
 ernacle to be sought for by many, but to 
 be reached and seen only by a few. No ; 
 but it ivas placed in the sight of all. Some 
 parts of the tabernacle furniture were hid- 
 den from the public view. The candle- 
 stick, the table of shew-bread, and the 
 golden altar of incense were within the 
 Holy Place, which none but the priests 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 05 
 
 might enter. And the ark of the covenant 
 was behind the vail, in the Most Holy 
 Place, where only the high-priest might 
 enter on the solemn day of annual atone- 
 ment. But it was very different with this 
 altar. It was not hidden. There was no 
 screen before it, "Nothing surrounded it 
 but a thin fence of fine-twined linen, or 
 net-work, which concealed nothing, and 
 within which the whole congregation might 
 pass at their pleasure. It was plainly 
 visible from without. It invited attention, 
 and no one could help seeing it without 
 wilfully, turning away his eyes. From day 
 to day the smoke went up, and the blood 
 streamed down from it, a pledge that all 
 who would, might be purged from pollution 
 there."* 
 
 We have no material altar. The Lord's 
 table, which some ignorantly, and others 
 
 * Garrett's Scripture Sjinholisru. 
 
66 THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 presumptuously designate an altar, is not 
 an altar, and should never be called by that 
 name. The Christian Church never has had 
 any altars, and, without making void the 
 gospel, it never can have. " When Popery 
 overran the Church with its errors, altars 
 were introduced. But vfhen the Reforma- 
 tion dawned, they were removed. There 
 was nothing, indeed, about which the Re- 
 formers were more careful, than the purging 
 of the Churches from these relics of super- 
 stition. The Romish altars were taken 
 down, because they were symbohcal of 
 error, just as the brazen altar was built up, 
 because it was symbolical of truth. And 
 our Reformers excluded the word altar 
 from the Prayer Book, as carefully as the 
 altar itself from the Church." '^ 
 
 But thoudi v»'e have no material altar, 
 we have that which the brazen altar dimly 
 
 * Garrett's Scripture Symbolism. 
 
THE BRAZEN ALIAR. 67 
 
 sliadowed forth. The cross of Christ, on 
 which he was once offered, "the just for 
 the unjust, to bring us to God ;" this is our 
 altar. Not the wood of the cross, but the 
 sufferings of the cross, the one perfect aione- 
 ment, once made there "for the sins of the 
 whole world." 
 
 Look now at the position which God as- 
 signed to the altar of sacrifice in the Jewish 
 Tabernacle, that heaven-sketched symbol of 
 the Church. Behold one of the marks of a 
 true Church. It will give great prominence 
 to the altar, the cross of Christ, or the 
 doctrine of His atoning sacrifice. " Let 
 us imagine ourselves at the door of a 
 Romish church. It is broad day-light; 
 but as we look through a smaH open door 
 into the church, all is dark. Scarcely any- 
 thing is .visible. Presently, far off in 
 the distance, in a gloomy recess, a mys- 
 terious sort of shrinC; it is just possible 
 
68 THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 to discover the form of an altar, with 
 two lighted candles on it. Everything is 
 contrived with admirable scenic effect, to 
 give that impression of awe, concealment, 
 and mystery, which is so characteristic of 
 the worship of that Chnrch. What a con- 
 trast you have here between the enshrined 
 altar of Popery, wdth its deep recesses, its 
 covering screen, and its ' dim religions 
 light,' on the one hand, and God's altar on 
 the other, in the open court of the taber- 
 nacle, in the full light of day, and before 
 the eyes of all men !"* 
 
 The Tractarian writers in our own Church 
 have taught what is known as " the doctrine 
 of reserved They would have the atone- 
 ment of Christ and the great truths centring 
 in it, kept in the background, and not made 
 prominent in the ordinary ministrations of 
 the sanctuary. But you cannot look upon 
 
 * GaiTett's Scripture Symbolism. 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 69 
 
 the Court of the Tabernacle, and see where 
 God placed the altar of burnt-ofFering, with- 
 out feeling how solemnly He rebukes such 
 an idea as utterly erroneous. The altar of 
 the Christian Church, like that of the 
 Church in the wilderness, must always take 
 precedence. It must stand in the forefront 
 of every thing. The office of the Christian 
 Church, and the Christian Ministry is, not 
 to hide away the altar in dark recesses, 
 and behind overshadowing screens ; not to 
 hold back the doctrine of the atoning sacri-» 
 fice of Christ, and keep it in reserve, but 
 to set it forth in the broad light of day ; — ^ 
 to hold it up before the eyes of all men ; — 
 to proclaim it from the house-tops ; to 
 preach it "first, last, midst, and without 
 end ;" to " know nothing else among men 
 save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." 
 This lesson we are taudit when we see tho 
 
70 THE BEAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 'prominence assigned to the altar of burnt- 
 offering in the tabernacle. 
 
 In taJcing our second look at this altar, we 
 
 7l0tice THE RELATION WHICH IT BORE TO EVERY 
 OTHER PART OF THE TABERNACLE. It WaS 
 
 the most important part of the whole tab- 
 ernacle. Like the root to the tree, like the 
 foundation to the building, like the fountain 
 to the stream, like the mainspring to the 
 watch, like the heart to the body, it was 
 that, on which every other part of the 
 sacred structure depended, and from which 
 it derived all its value. The tabernacle 
 itself could not be entered, nor any part of 
 its hallowed furniture be made use of, till 
 it had been sprinkled with the blood of the 
 victim offered upon this altar. Tiike away 
 the altar of burnt-sacrifice, and every part 
 of the tabernacle, however splendid, would 
 have been useless. Beyond it stood the 
 laver^ in which the priest might desire to 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 71 
 
 wash. In the tabernacle stood the golden 
 candle-stick, shedding around its hallowed 
 light; over against it was the table of 
 shew-bread, ever furnished with its abund- 
 ant supply of food ; and between them, 
 just before the vail, stood the golden altar, 
 from which the fragrance of sweet incense 
 went up continually. Yet there w^as no way 
 of access to any of these but by the brazen 
 altar. That must be first approached. 
 And not only did the way of access to them 
 lie hi/ this altar, but it was from it they 
 derived all their efficac3^ They were 
 formed of shittim wood, and overlaid with 
 gold, and wrought into forms of exr[uisite 
 beauty; but they could not beghi to sub- 
 serve the different ofiices, for which they 
 ViQYQ designed, or be of the slightest use 
 to the worshippers, till the blood shed upon 
 the brazen altar had been sprinkled upon 
 them.* This must be first applied to every* 
 
72 THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 thing. The priests, tlieir garments, tlis 
 sacred vessels, the ark itself, all were unfit 
 for service, were worthless for the purposes 
 of worship, till the blood from the altar had 
 touched, and sanctified them. How in- 
 structive ! How suggestive ! This altar 
 represents the cross of Christ. As we look 
 at it from this point of view^ we seem to 
 see written on it as vdth a sunbeam, the 
 great practical truth, that the way to 
 heaven, — -the only way by which any of 
 our ruined race can enter there, — lies over 
 Calvary. There is no pardon, no renewal, 
 no acceptance, no righteousness, no peace, 
 no grace, no blessing, no salvation to any 
 of Adam's children, but through the sacri- 
 fice once offered upon the cross. What an 
 illustrated commentary, this brazen, blazing 
 altar aifords, of the truth and meaning of 
 the apostle's words, when he declares that 
 " without the shedding of blood there is no 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 73 
 
 remission." Yes, but then it is equally a 
 truth, that without the application of that 
 blood there is no remission. It is not the 
 blood as shed that sanctifi8S and saves, but 
 the blood as applied, or sprinlded. 
 
 And this is true not of our persons only, 
 but of our services also. No function of the 
 officiating priest could be discharged, no 
 act of worship on the part of the waiting 
 people could be accepted, till there had first 
 been the intervention of the blood from 
 the brazen altar. And it is precisely so 
 with that, which this significant shadow 
 typified. "Accepted in the beloved," is 
 the great underlying doctrine of the gospel. 
 Our prayers, our praises, our sighs, our 
 tears, our repentance, our faith, our words, 
 our actions, our labors, our sufferings, our 
 vows, our alms-givings, our sermons, our 
 sacraments, — all things that may be crowded 
 into the entire circle of our services, — have 
 
74 THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 woi th, or merit, not in themselves, but only 
 as they stand connected with the sacrifice 
 which Jesus offered on the cross, and are 
 sprinkled with His atoning blood, in all its 
 prevailing efficacy. This lesson is taught 
 us by the relation, which the brazen altar 
 bore to every other part of the tabernacle. 
 
 Our third lesson from this altar is suggested 
 hg the continuity of the offerings presented 
 iqion it. 
 
 There was to be no cessation, no suspen- 
 sion, or interruption of the service here 
 rendered. The command of God was im- 
 perative on this point. The law of the 
 offering was most stringent in this respect. 
 The words of our text contain God's law 
 respecting it : — " The fire upon the altar 
 shall be burning in it ; it shall not be put 
 out ; and the priest shall burn wood upon 
 it every morning, and lay the burnt-offering 
 in order upon it. The fire shall 'ever he 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 75 
 
 himting upon the altar ; it sliall never go 
 out'' Here you see the continuity of these 
 offerings especially provided for. Morning 
 by morning, evening by evening, week by 
 week, month by month, and year by year, 
 they were to be kept up. The necessity 
 for applying to this altar would be a con- 
 stantly recurring one. There was no hour 
 in any day, or any night, when some trans- 
 gressor would not require to avail himself 
 of the benefits of the offering here pre- 
 sented, and hence the sacrificial flame was 
 never to go out. But here the Jewish 
 type, or shadow, fails of accurately repre- 
 senting the Christian antitype, or substance. 
 The continuance of the sacrifice on the 
 brazen altar of the Jewish Church could 
 only be maintained by the repetition of the 
 offering. But there is a continuance of the 
 sacrifice in the Christian Church, though 
 the offering once made on our aliar, tha 
 
76 THE BSAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 cross, has neier l)een repeated. And the 
 explanation of the difference is very sim- 
 ple, and as satisfactory as it is simple. The 
 sacrifice on the Jewish altar was an imper- 
 fect sacrifice, and hence the necessity for its 
 repetition. They were "sacrifices," as St. 
 Paul says, " offered year by year con- 
 tinually, which could never make the comers 
 thereunto perfect." Our sacrifice, offered 
 upon the cross, is a perfect sacrifice, and 
 therefore it needs no repetition. It was 
 offered "once for all;" and by this one 
 offering, Jesus, our great High-Priest, " per- 
 fects forever them that are sanctified f i. e., 
 all His believing people. The offering was 
 once made, but the merits, the influence, 
 the efficacy of the offering, abide con- 
 tinually. And because it thus abides, there 
 needs no repetition of it. A repeated sacri- 
 fice is imperfect, and good for nothing. 
 And if the sacrament of the Lord's supper 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. iJ 
 
 is a real sacrifice, a repeated sacrifice, as 
 the Church of Rome, and Komaniziiig 
 teachers in our own Church affirm, then 
 •we are no better off than the Jews were. 
 Our sacrifice is as imperfect as tlieirs was. 
 The repetition of it would prove it so. But 
 it has never been repeated. Yet it is a 
 continual sacrifice. Come to it in youth, or 
 in age, by day or by night; come to it 
 twenty times a day ; come as often as the 
 consciousness of sin recurs to you, and you 
 will find it always the same. On our altar 
 of the cross " the fire is ever burning ; it 
 never goes out." The fulness of its efficacy 
 never abates in the slightest degree. The 
 hand of faith stretched out to it, the eye of 
 faith directed towards it, will never fail to 
 secure the benefit of its power to atone; to 
 pardon, to bless, to save. It is a precious 
 lesson, which the continuity of the offerings 
 on the altar teaches. 
 
78 THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 Ou7' fourth lesson is taught us, when toe 
 consider the efficacy of the offerings p?'e- 
 S2nted on the hrazen altar. 
 
 You may say, indeed, that we have just 
 spoken of their imperfection, and that is 
 true. So far as "purging the conscience 
 from dead works" was concerned ; as to the 
 actual "taking away of sin," or as the 
 apostle expresses it, as to ^^ making the 
 comers thereunto perfect," the Jewish sacri- 
 fices were inefficacious. But, remember 
 that this is not what they were designed for. 
 And it is always proper to take into con- 
 sideration the design had in view in the 
 ordaining of any law, or the establishment 
 of any service, before you affirm inefficacy, 
 or failure, as characterizing it. John the 
 Baptist was sent, not as the Messiah, but 
 as one whose office was to bear witness of 
 Ilim. If John were judged by the standard 
 of our expectations in regard to Christ, we 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 79 
 
 should say he was a failure. But judge 
 him by the light of what he was sent to do, 
 by the witness he bore to Christ, and you 
 see that John was no failure. He was an 
 efficient, faithful witness-bearer. 
 
 The morning-star is not the sun. It is 
 only sent to herald the sun's approach. 
 Weigh the morning-star in the sun's bal- 
 ances, and it will be found wanting. You 
 will pronounce it an imperfection, a failure. 
 But consider what its mission is, the Crea- 
 tor's design respecting it, to act as the 
 fore-runner of the king of day, and you will 
 see only the perfection of beauty in the 
 mild radiance of its silver rays. 
 
 And just so it was with the sacrifices 
 offered on the brazen altar. They were not 
 intended to do for the Jews what the sacri- 
 fice of Christ does for us. They were only 
 types^ or shadows of that sacrifice. Of 
 course they could only have a typical, or 
 
80 THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 shadowy efficacy. This, however, they had 
 in perfection. They were only designed to 
 impart a ceremonial cleanness. They were 
 only intended to qualify the comers there- 
 unto to engage acceptably in the worship 
 :■[ God, and through faith to seek from 
 Him the benefits and blessings of that great 
 sacrifice, which they represented, and which 
 was, in the fulness of time, to be offered. 
 Their office was very limited, or circum- 
 scribed. But so far as this office, or design, 
 extended, they were perfedli/ efficacious. 
 And here the brazen altar points signifi- 
 cantly to the cross of Christ. It speaks to 
 us, in eloquent tones, of the thorough effi- 
 cacy, the absolute perfection of the sacrifice 
 lie offered. The Jewish altar, with its 
 sacrifice, did perfectly what it was designed 
 to do. And so it is with the Christian 
 altar, the cross, and the sacrifice there 
 oiTered. It \vas designed to put away sin, 
 
THE BBAZEN ALTAR. 81 
 
 and it does tliis so perfectly, that God says 
 of those who are interested in this sacrifice, 
 that their " sins are blotted out as a cloud ;' 
 they are *^cast into the depths of the 
 sea ;" — they " shall not be remembered, nor 
 come into mind." The sacrifice of the cross 
 was designed to secure pardon to penitent 
 believers, and it does this so perfectly, that 
 God declares of those who trust in it, that 
 he " does not behold iniquity, nor see per- 
 Terseness in them." The sacrifice of the 
 cross was designed " to bring in everlasting 
 righteousness," and it does this so perfectly, 
 that those who are arrayed in the robes of 
 salvation, which Jesus puts upon His people, 
 are declared '^ faultless,'' not when judged 
 by erring human standards, but when the 
 decision comes from the unerring standard 
 of the court of heaven. '- Without spot or 
 wrinkle, or any such thing," is the verdict 
 uttered concerning them. They stand be- 
 
82 THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 fore God on the same level on which His 
 own beloved Son stands. He proclaims to 
 all the Universe, that "they are righteous 
 even as He is rigMeousr This is glorious. 
 IIow perfect that sacrifice must be, from 
 which results so perfect as these flow out 
 to a ruined world ! Perfect pardon, perfect 
 righteousness, perfect peace, and perfect 
 salvation, these are the blessed fruits which 
 flow out, to us^ from the sacrifice of Christ. 
 And they are fruits which may be gathered 
 now. They may be gathered all along the 
 pathway of our pilgrimage, as the returning 
 penitent stretches forth the hand of trem- 
 bling faith^ and lays hold upon the altar. 
 The efficacy of Christ's sacrifice is taught us 
 as we gaze upon the brazen altar from the 
 point of view now before us. 
 
 The fifth and last lesson taught lis hg this 
 altar is secn^ tvhen we observe the extent ov 
 
 ITS BENEFITS. 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 83 
 
 It was open to all. Not only might all 
 of the Jewish nation draw nigh to this 
 altar, and share in its blessings, but all of 
 any other nation might do the same, if they 
 would come in the way which God pointed 
 out. There were restrictions and limita- 
 tions about the Holy Place, and the Most 
 Holy Place, but there were none about the 
 brazen altar. Only the priests could enter 
 within the yail, and have access to the 
 mercy-seat, but the people— a// ilie inople — 
 might have access to the altar of burnt- 
 offering. The vilest of the vile, all, who 
 would, might come, and avail themselves of 
 its benefits. We have seen that it was 
 perfectly effectual to accomplish all the ob- 
 jects, for which it was designed. The 
 point before us noiv^ shows us that, so far as 
 regards its merit, or w^orthiness, or power 
 to bless, the sacrifice of the brazen altar was 
 an unlimited sacrifice. All Israel did not 
 
84 THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 seek, or secure an interest in the benefits 
 of the sacrifice offered upon this altar ; but 
 the altar was there for all, and the benefits 
 emanating from it were there in abundance 
 sufficient to meet the necessities of all. 
 This 23oint I hold to be perfectly clear. No 
 one can pretend to call it in question. And 
 when we proceed to argue from the type to 
 the antitype, from the shadow to the sub- 
 stance, in reference to a point as clear and 
 cardinal as this, the argument is one of 
 great power. There is no such thing as 
 fairly resisting it. It amounts to a sort of 
 practical demonstration. The ceremonial 
 atonement made by the offerings presented 
 on the brazen altar of the Jewish Taber- 
 nacle was not a limited atonement. Neither 
 was the atonement, by the sacrifice of Christ 
 upon the cross, a limited atonement. The 
 brazen altar of the tabernacle forbids our 
 entertaining: such an idea. The doctrine of 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 85 
 
 a limited atonement is plainly contrary tc 
 the teachings of " the pattern shewed tc 
 Moses in the mount." 
 
 Of course, if you watch the progress of 
 the gospel in our world, you will see directly, 
 that all men, to whom the gospel is preached, 
 do not receive it, or yield their hearts to its 
 influence. Unless then you take in the 
 idea of universal salvation, you must admit 
 that there is a limit in reference to the 
 atonement, somewhere or other. This limit 
 can only refer to one of two things ; there 
 must be a limit, either in the application of 
 the atonement, or in its original merits. 
 But then there is the widest possible dif- 
 ference between these two things. I be- 
 lieve most firmly in a limited atonement, so 
 far as the application of its benefits, to the 
 individuals of our race is concerned. In 
 other words, I believe that a portion of our 
 race, and not the whole of it^^ will be saved 
 
86 THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 by tlie atoning sacrifice of Christ. I be- 
 lieve, moreover, tliat this limitation is con- 
 trolled by the absolute sovereignty of God. 
 The doctrine of election, as taught in Scrip- 
 ture, and embodied in the seventeenth 
 Article of our Church, is the proper point 
 of view, from which to contemplate this 
 matter of the limitation of the atonement, 
 in its practical application to the souls of 
 men. 
 
 But, so far as the worth or merit of 
 Christ's atonement is concerned, I believe 
 it to be utterly and absolutely an unlimited 
 atonement. Unless I believed this, Avith 
 my whole heart, I could not be a preacher 
 of the gospel. If I believed that Christ 
 died for a portion of our race only, and not 
 for the whole, how could I, as an honest 
 man, stand up in a promiscuous assembly 
 like this, and exhort all who hear me, to 
 draw nigh to the altar of Christ's cross, and 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 87 
 
 seek the application to tlieir souls of the 
 saving benefits of His sacrifice ? If 1 be- 
 lieved that the atonement was limited in 
 this sense, how could I expound Hebrews, 
 ii. 9, which speaks of Christ as " by the 
 grace of God tasting death for ever?/ man ?" 
 How could I work up into such a system of 
 theology that stubborn passage in 1 John, 
 ii. 2, in which the apostle affirms that 
 Christ is " the propitiation for our sins, and 
 not for ours only, but also for the sins of 
 the whole tvorldf If these passages do not 
 teach an atonement absolutely t^?zlimited, as 
 to its merits, how is it possible for such a 
 truth to be taught? If I believed the 
 atonement limited, as to its merits, by any- 
 thing less than the necessities of our whole 
 race, I could not officiate as a minister in 
 the Episcopal Church; for here, on every 
 communion occasion, I am required to stand 
 by the sacramental table, and in the most 
 
88 THE BRAZEN AITAR. 
 
 solemn part of that most solemn service, to 
 affirm of the atonement of our blessed Lord, 
 that it was ^^ a sacrifice, oblation, and satis- 
 faction, full, iicrfed, and sufficient for the 
 sins of the ivhole ivorkU If I believed the 
 atonement of Christ limited, in its merits, 
 I had rather go to the stake, and give this 
 body to the flames, than be gnilty of the 
 solemn mockery of making such a declara- 
 tion. But the teachings of the gospel, and 
 of our Church, on this subject, harmonize 
 entirely with the foreshadowiugs of the 
 brazen altar, and agree with " the pattern 
 showed to Moses on the Mount." They 
 lead us to think of the merits of Christ's 
 sacrifice as adequate to the necessities of 
 every ruined child of Adam's guilty race. 
 
 And thus, from the jnominence assigned 
 the brazen altar ; — from the relation it bore 
 to ever?/ other part of the tabernacle ; — from 
 the conttmiit?/ of its offerings ; — from the effi* 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 89 
 
 eacy of its sacrifices; and from tJie extent of 
 its lenefits^ we gather up the several impor- 
 tant, practical lessons, taught us by this pari 
 of the tabernacle furniture. 
 
 In conclusion, I would waive all other 
 reflections suggested by this subject, to 
 dwell for a moment on this one thoudit ; 
 viz., lioiv ahsolutely unspeaJcahle are our ohtiga- 
 gations to God for the sacrifice of His Son ! 
 This is the one fruitful source of all our 
 blessings. Stand up in the centre of the 
 circle which surrounds you, as God's crea- 
 ture, and tell me what single thing there is, 
 on which you can lay your finger and say, 
 " here is one thing, at least, which I could 
 have possessed and enjoyed, if Christ had 
 never hung upon the cross." From the 
 least to the greatest there is no such thing. 
 You have no tcmiwral blessing, which the 
 sacrifice of Christ did nat purchase for you. 
 Your life, your health, your strength, the 
 
90 THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 use of your faculties, your home, your rela- 
 tives, your friends, the bread you eat^ the 
 water you drink, the raiment you put on, 
 the air you breathe, the sunshine which 
 gladdens you, everything in the catalogue 
 of your temporal blessings, you owe to the 
 sacrifice once offered upon the cross. And 
 the same is true of all our spiritual mer- 
 cies. These sabbaths, these sanctuaries, 
 these sacraments and sermons, this pre- 
 cious volume of God's written word; — the 
 privilege of prayer, the power to pray, — 
 pardon, peace, light, grace, — all that sus- 
 tains for the present, and all that cheers 
 and encourages for the future, — the blessed 
 hope of eternal life, a title clear to an in- 
 heritance of unfading bliss, all, all is due 
 to the sacrifice offered on the altar of the 
 cross. Connection with this sacrifice brings 
 us into the charmed circle of the covenant 
 of salvation. It exalts us to the highest 
 
THE BRAZEN ALTAR. 91 
 
 point of possible distinction. All that the 
 humon mind, in its wildest revellings, has 
 ever imagined, in the way of marvellous 
 change.s and ^Yond^ons exaltations, bears no 
 comparison with the change wrought in the 
 position and prospects of a ruined sinner, 
 and the affluence of blessing secured to 
 him^ by a saving personal connection with 
 the sacrifice of Christ. The simple truth 
 here is stronger than any fiction ever 
 coined by poet's fancy. The romance of 
 history in real life is sometimes strange, 
 but the romance of revelation is infinitely 
 stranger. We have this romance, in its 
 marvellous result, epitomized, in a single 
 verse, by the Psalmist, when speaking of 
 God's dealings with his people in the gos- 
 pel of his Son, he says that "He raiseth 
 up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the 
 needy from the dunghill ; That He may set 
 him with princes, even with the princes of 
 
92 THE BKAZEN ALTAR. 
 
 his peojDle." This is the transformation 
 wrought by a saving connection with the 
 sacrifice of Himself, which Jesus offered on 
 the cross. Well might the apostle resolve 
 to glory only in that cross ! Beloved 
 hearer ! are you personally interested in 
 that cross and its sacrifice ? If so, rejoice, 
 and be exceeding glad. Make full proof of 
 the benefits of that sacrifice, and let your 
 life show how unspeakably it blesses you. 
 
 If you have no such interest in the cross, 
 resolve, by the help of God, without delay 
 to seek it 1 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 'gnb ilje ITorb spnke nnfo glosts, snmng, ^I^ou s^nU 
 hIs0 maht R ITabcr of brass, nub Ijis foot also of 
 brass, to basl^ bitbnl ; aiib tljou sljalt put it htiimnx 
 t^e S^abeinatle ol tlje Coitgregatioit aub iljc giltar, 
 nub tljou sljalt put Wd'dttx ll)cmii." — Exodus, xxx. 
 17, 18. 
 
111. 
 
 In our last discourse, tLe brazen altar 
 was tlie theme of our meditation. That 
 was a part of the furniture of the Taber- 
 nacle, with which the element of fire w^as 
 connected. On the altar the flame w^as 
 burnino: continually. The brazen Layer is 
 to engage our attention on the present occa- 
 sion. This was a part of the furniture of 
 the Tabernacle, with which the element of 
 water was connected. " Of all inorganic 
 substances," says a distinguished waiter, 
 ^^ water is the most wonderful. We can 
 think of it as the source of all the change- 
 fulness and beauty, that appear in the 
 clouds; then as the instrument by w^iich 
 
96 THE LAYER. 
 
 the earth was modelled into symmetry, and 
 its crags chiselled into grace j then, as in 
 the form of snow, it robes the momitains it 
 has made, as with a mantle of transcendent 
 light, which we could not have conceived, 
 if we had not seen; then as it exists in 
 the foam of the torrent, — in the iris which 
 spans it, in the morning mist which rises 
 from it, in the deep crystalline pools which 
 mirror its overhanging shore, in the broad 
 lake and glancing river ; — and finally in 
 that, which is to all human minds the best 
 emblem of unwearied, unconquerable power, 
 the wild, various, fantastic, tameless unity 
 of the sea. And as we thus think of it, 
 we are constrained to ask, what shall we 
 compare to this mighty, this universal ele 
 ment for glory and for beauty?" We find 
 an answer to this inquiry in the subject 
 which now comes before us. 
 
 ^'Thou shalt make a laver of brass," 
 
"^l^^vjsyss^. 
 
 Jewish Taberuacle. 
 
 THE LA^ ER. 
 
 p. 96. 
 
THE LAYER. 97 
 
 said the Lord to Moses, "and thou shalt 
 put water therein." Here we find this 
 element of beauty, this mighty, resistless, 
 all-pervading, universal agency of nature 
 pressed into the service of religion, and 
 made to minister at once both to the wor- 
 ship and honor of God, and to the spiritual 
 welfare and happiness of man. 
 
 The laver, like the altar of sacrifice, was 
 symbolical in its character. The great les- 
 son taught by the part it bore in the wor- 
 ship of the tabernacle was the importance 
 of purity on the part of all who drew nigh 
 to God, the absolute necessity of thorough 
 sanctification for the polluted, through the 
 operation of the Spirit and truth of God, 
 How this great, practical lesson was taught 
 "hj the laver and its watery contents, we 
 shall see as we proceed with the subject. 
 
 It is worthy of notice that the laver was 
 the only article of furniture connected with 
 
98 THE LAYER. 
 
 the JeAvisli Tabernacle, of wliich we have 
 no account furnished, either as to its form, 
 ")r its dimensions. This is certainly very 
 singular, when we bear in mind the extreme 
 care and precision, with which these specifi- 
 cations are given, in reference to every 
 other part of the sacred structure. No 
 reason is assigned for this omission, and 
 it is vain to speculate on the subject. 
 
 The form of the laver is generally sup- 
 posed to have been circular. This is the 
 most natural form, in which to make an 
 article of this kind. And we know that 
 that, which Solomon subsequently made for 
 the use of the temple, was circular, and 
 doubtless he would be guided in this matter 
 by a desire to imitate, as far as possible, 
 w^hat Moses had made ^Saccording to the 
 pattern showed him in the mount." 
 
 In addition to the laver itself, the text 
 informs us that Moses was commanded ta 
 
THE LAVEK. 99 
 
 make "liis foot also of brass to wash 
 withal" The word here rendered "foot" 
 has occasioned much perplexity to commen- 
 tators. " Our impression is/' says Dr. Kitto, 
 " that the laver, whatever were its shape, 
 stood upon another basin, more wide and 
 shallow, as a cup on a saucer ; and that the 
 latter received from spouts, or faucets in 
 the upper basin, the water which was al- 
 lowed to escape, when the priests washed 
 themselves with the water, which fell from 
 the upper basin. If by the under basin we 
 understand the ' foot,' spoken of in the text, 
 the sense is clear. The text does not say 
 that the priests were to wash themselves in 
 the basin, but at it. In it they could not 
 well wash their hands and feet, if the laver 
 was of any height." The Jewish Eabbins 
 say the laver had several faucets, or 
 ''nipples," as they call them, from which 
 the water was let out as wanted. How 
 
100 THE LAYER. 
 
 the priests washed their hands and feet at 
 the laver seems uncertain. That they did 
 not wash in, either the layer, or its base, 
 seems clear, because then the water, in 
 which they washed, would have been ren- 
 dered impure by tliose who washed before, 
 or with them. The Orientals, we know, 
 dislike exceedingly, to wash in a basin after 
 our manner, in which the water, with which 
 we commence washing is clearer than that 
 with which we finish. They always prefer 
 to wash at a falling stream, where each suc- 
 cessive affusion is of clean water. We in- 
 cline therefore to think, that the priests 
 either washed themselves with the stream, 
 as it fell from the spouts into the base, or 
 else received in proper vessels so much water 
 as was needed for the occasion. The Ori' 
 entals, in their washings, make use of a 
 vessel with a long spout, and wash at the 
 stream which issues thence, the waste water 
 
THE LAYER. 101 
 
 being received in a basin which is placed 
 underneath. This seems, to us, to illustrate 
 the idea of the laver with its base, or foot, as 
 well as the way in which the priests per- 
 formed their ablutions. The laver had thus 
 its upper basin, from which the water fell^ 
 and " the under basin for receiving the waste 
 water." 
 
 The material of which the laver was com- 
 posed was brass. In Exodus xxxviii. 8, we 
 read, " And he made the laver of brass, and 
 the foot of it of brass, of the looking-glasses 
 of the women assembling, which assembled 
 at the door of the tabernacle of the congre- 
 gation." The word in the original, should 
 have been rendered here mirrors, instead of 
 \ookmg-gIasses. Glass mirrors were not 
 known till the thirteenth century after 
 Christ, while the tabernacle was built in the 
 fifteenth century hefore Christ. The mirrors 
 then in use were molten mirrors, made out 
 
102 THE LAYER. 
 
 of brass or copper, and highly polished. And 
 those here spoken of were of this character 
 "We may understand," says the author of 
 the Notes of the Pictorial Bible, " either that 
 the stock of copper in the camp of Israel was 
 so comparatively small, as to have been ex- 
 hausted in the other works for the tabe^' 
 nacle ; or else, that the material employed 
 for the mirrors used by the women was of a 
 superior quality, and for this reason it may 
 have been made use of in the preparation of 
 the laver. There is still another reason that 
 has been assigned in explanation of this cir- 
 cumstance. As the women who assembled 
 at the tabernacle are especially mentioned, 
 it is not improbable that they followed the 
 example of the Egyptian women, who took 
 their mirrors with them when they went to 
 the temple. Moses may have required the 
 giving up of their mirrors to be employed in 
 the preparation of the laver, in order to put 
 
THE LAYER. 103 
 
 ft stop to a practice of wliicli lie did not ap- 
 prove." 
 
 I would venture to suggest another reason 
 wlij the material of the mirrors was em- 
 ployed in the making of the laver. May it 
 not have been with a view of illustrating its 
 design ? It was intended for the cleansing 
 and purifying of the officiating priests. The 
 material of which it was composed would 
 admit of a fine polish. The whole exterior 
 of it would thus constitute as it were one 
 mirror. As the priests approached it, they 
 would thus be aided in discovering the spots, 
 and marks upon their persons, which were to 
 be removed before they entered the sanc- 
 tuary. 
 
 This laver was symbolical of the truth of 
 God. This is compared to a mirror, which 
 at once shows us our deformity, and aids us 
 in the removal of it. Hence, says the apos- 
 tle, speaking of the word of God, " We ail. 
 
104 THE LAYER. 
 
 with open face, beholding as in a glass, the 
 glory of the Lord, are changed into the 
 same image, from glory to glory, even as 
 by the Spirit of the Lord." 
 
 Let this suffice concerning the form and 
 structure of the laver. We proceed now to 
 consider the lessons which it teaches us, 
 when considered in its typical character. 
 
 There are three principal points with 
 which the lessons taught us by the laver 
 may be connected. In the first ijlace^ let lis 
 consider what ive are taught hy the laver with 
 its sui^ply of cleansing water. 
 
 The purpose intended to be subserved by 
 the laver was very dilTerent from that se- 
 cured by the altar of burnt sacrifice. That 
 had to do with the putting away of sin itself, 
 while this had to do with the removal of the 
 pollution resulting from sin. The former o^ 
 these operations denotes, in New Testament 
 language, the great work of justifying the 
 
THE LAYER. 105 
 
 soul of the believer ; the latter denotes the 
 equally great work of sanctifying the soul. 
 The brazen altar stands before us as the 
 symbol, or representative, of justification : 
 the laver stands before us as the symbol, or 
 representative, of sanctification. And very 
 suggestive these two symbols are of the dif- 
 ferent agencies by which the two great works 
 referred to are effected. The altar with its 
 innocent Adctim, consumed in the ascending 
 flame, points to Jesus, the Lamb of God, 
 dying for our sins, and rising again for our 
 iustification. The laver, with its abundant 
 supply of pure cleansing water, points to the 
 Spirit of God, and the truth through which 
 that Spirit acts, as the great appointed in- 
 struments for carrying on the work of sanc- 
 tification in the souls of believers. The 
 water in the laver was an emblem of the 
 Holy Spirit in His purifying work. And 
 water is a scriptural emblem of the Spirit* 
 
106 THE LAYER. 
 
 Our blessed Lord Himself tangiit us this. 
 We read, y)u remember, hi Joha vii. 38, 
 tliat " 111 tlie last day, that great day of the 
 feast, Jesus stood and cried, If any man 
 thirst, let him come to me and drink. He 
 that believeth on me, as the scripture hath 
 said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of 
 living water. But this," adds the evangel- 
 ist, " spake He of the Spirit wliich they that 
 believe on Him should receive." We have 
 therefore the very clearest authority for con- 
 sidering water as an emblem of the Spirit. 
 And how beautiful an emblem of the Spirit 
 of God it is ! Water is pure. Though not 
 really so, it seems to be the simplest of all 
 substances. It reflects the sunbeam from its 
 glassy surface, or transmits it through its 
 substance in almost equal brightness, giving 
 us the idea of transparent purity. 
 
 And just such is the Spirit. He, too is 
 pure; or rather purity itself. He is the 
 
THE LAVER. 107 
 
 great original fountain of all purity. Per- 
 fectly transparent the blessed Spirit is. He 
 reflects and transmits, in all its brightness, 
 the glory of Christ. This is His peculiar 
 office. He reveals Jesus. " He shall take 
 of mine," said Jesus, "and show it unto 
 you." He testifies, not of Himself, but of 
 Christ. The figure fails in this, that the 
 water has no light in itself. It transmits 
 it indeed, but does not originate it. With 
 the Spirit it is different. He imparts, as 
 well as transmits it. Spiritual light origin- 
 ates with Him. He is the Lord and Giver 
 of it. 
 
 Again, ivater is free. It readily adapts it- 
 self to every possible variety of shape or 
 form, as the jagged rocky border of the river 
 or lake will show, but it cannot be restrained 
 or bound by any. At one time, under win- 
 ter's chilling touch, it is solid. Again, as in 
 the laver before us, it assumes a liquid form ; 
 
108 THE LAVER. 
 
 and then again, beneath the heat of the 
 summer's sun, it flies off in vapor, and be- 
 comes invisible. It is capable of gliding 
 into a thousand forms of beautiful variety. 
 And how apt an emblem of the Spirit we 
 have here ! Who can restrain or bind Him 
 in His operations ? " Where the Spirit of 
 the Lord is, there is liberty." Like the 
 wind, " He bloweth where He listeth, and 
 thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst 
 not tell whence He cometh or whither He 
 goeth." As to Elijah on Horeb's awful top, 
 He may reveal Himself now in the light- 
 ning's flash — again in the whirlwind's roar 
 — then in the earthquake's crash — and yet 
 again in the still small voice. 
 
 Water is jjervading. The oceans, seas, 
 lakes, rivers, and streams of earth are made 
 up of it. But it is not confined to these 
 localities. It pervades all nature. It is in 
 the air we breathe, and the food we eat. It 
 
THE LAVEPv. 109 
 
 is in the scJid rock, and in the yielding clay. 
 It is in the tree, the shrub, the flower, the 
 grass. It is in the blood that courses through 
 the veins of your body, and in the bones and 
 marrow by whinh those bodies are upheld 
 and nourished. It is a universal element. 
 And so is the Spirit. Well might the 
 Psalmist ask, "Whither shall I flee from 
 thy Spirit?" Heaven, earth, hell, the 
 mighty universe is filled by this Spirit! 
 "The Spirit searcheth all things." Pene- 
 trating all hearts, and reading all thoughts 
 and purposes ; there is nothing hid from His 
 presence. 
 
 Water is mighty in its oiieration. It is an 
 element of prodigious power. Enclose it in 
 a ball of iron, no matter how thick ; let it 
 freeze, and it will burst that iron. Shut it 
 up in the centre of a mountain of solid 
 granite, and in passing from the liquid to the 
 solid state, it w'il upheave that ponderous 
 
 10 
 
110 THE LAVER. 
 
 mass and make an outlet for itself. And 
 surely in its poioer this element fitly em- 
 blemizes the Spirit, who in His ojDeration 
 softens the hardest heart — subdues the most 
 stubborn will, and upturns the very founda- 
 tion of the kingdom of darkness. 
 
 And then water is a vitalizing element. All 
 animal and vegetable life is dependent on its 
 influence. Take it away from nature, and 
 the gloomy pall of desolation and death 
 would come down upon every thing. And 
 so, in the spiritual world, it is with the Holy 
 Ghost. Life never begins or continues 
 without His influence. " He is the great 
 moving power in the world of spirits, who 
 alone is able to beat down the proud suffi- 
 ciency of man's mind, or to raise it from 
 the depths of wickedness and despair. He 
 only can break in pieces the hard heart, or 
 regulate the stormy will, or rouse the sleep- 
 ing conscience, or c irb the passion-tossed 
 
THE LAVEE. Ill 
 
 soul. He is the one life-giyer, witlioui 
 whose quickening touch every soul of man 
 must remain for ever in the gloomy charnel- 
 house of spiritual death, a withered and 
 desolate thing." Thus the laver with its 
 water is an emblem of the Spirit. 
 
 It IS also an emhlem of the truth lij tvhich 
 the Sprit operates. In quickening men into 
 spiritual life, God's truth is the grand in- 
 strumentality employed by the Holy Ghost. 
 Hence, says St. James, " Of His own will 
 begat He us by the word of truths Jesus 
 compared this truth to water when He said 
 to Nicodemus — " Except a man be born of 
 water and of the Spirit, he can not enter 
 into the kingdom of God." 
 
 And in the great work of cleansing, or 
 purifying the souls of his peoj)le, the truth 
 revealed in Scripture is, again, the instru- 
 mentality employed. Hence, when St. Paul 
 speaks of Christ as cleansing or sanctifying 
 
112 THE LAYER. 
 
 Ilis clmrchj lie tells us it is clone ^^ with the 
 washing of water ly the ivordr — Ephesians 
 V. 25. This means that just as the hands 
 and feet of the priests, officiating in the 
 tabernacle, were cleansed by the '* washing 
 of water" in the laver ; so the souls of Christ's 
 people are cleansed or purified by the word, 
 as by the washing of water. And when we 
 hear God saying by the prophet Ezekiel 
 (xxxvi. 25), ^^I will sprinkle clean water 
 upon you, and ye shall be clean : from all 
 your filthiness, and from all your idols, will 
 r cleanse you" — and compare this with the 
 words of Jesus, in which He prayed for His 
 people, saying, " Sanctify them by thy 
 truth" — we see clearly that it is not the 
 water of baptism which is referred to in 
 these passages, but the revealed truth of 
 God, which, in its quickening and purifying 
 properties, is compared to water. 
 
 And thus the laver, with its abundant 
 
THE LAYER. 113 
 
 supply of clean water, by which the priests 
 were purified and rendered fit to enter the 
 tabernacle, was an emblem of God's Spiri 
 and God's truth, by whose quickening in 
 fluence dead souls were made alive ; and by 
 whose cleansing power they were sanctified 
 and made fit for the service of God. 
 
 This is the lesson we are taught by the 
 laver with its supply of cleansing water. 
 
 But^ secondly, let us inquire zuhat lessons 
 we are taught hy the persons zvho used the 
 laver. 
 
 It was only the piiests who had access to 
 the laver. It was not intended for all the 
 people. The sacrifice on the brazen altar 
 was for the whole assembly of the congre- 
 gation — but not so the water in the laver. 
 This was restricted to the use of those who 
 were about to enter the sanctuary of the 
 Most High, and engage in its hallowed ex- 
 ercises. There are thr^e important practical 
 
114 THE LAYER. 
 
 lessons taught us by this part of our sub* 
 ject. We see here the true character of God' s 
 Ideople; the high privilege accorded th&m ; 
 and the nature of the service required of them, 
 We are taught here tlie true character of 
 God's people. Those who washed in the 
 water of the layer were priests. But this 
 laver with its cleansing water sjmhoKzed 
 the Spirit and the truth of God in all their 
 sanctifying influences as connected with the 
 Christian Church. But in this Church God's 
 Spirit is given, and God's truth revealed to 
 every true member of the same. They all 
 have access to this spiritual laver for the 
 cleansing of their souls. But does the ana- 
 logy fail, you are ready to ask, between the 
 Jewish and the Christian laver as regTirds 
 the character of ihose who have access to 
 it ? Not at all. How so, you ask again, 
 when onJg priests were allowed to wash in 
 the Jewish laver? The analogy holds 
 
THE LAYER. 115 
 
 strictly true, in this respect, for in the 
 Christian Church all the LorcV^ ^^eojile are 
 priests. The ajDOstle Peter has made this 
 point perfectly clear. In his general epistle, 
 addressed to all Christians, he says : '^ Ye 
 also, as lively stones, are built up, a spirit- 
 ual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up 
 spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through 
 Jesus Christ." 1 Peter ii. 5. Again he 
 says, "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal 
 priesthood." If you find any difficulty in 
 adapting this language to the condition of 
 God's people in the present life, bear in mind 
 that it is now rather the language of pro- 
 phecy or promise, than of actual present 
 realization. Friestly functions, as well as 
 kingly, are those which the redeemed are to 
 exercise in the glorious future that awaits 
 them. In the ascription of praise which St. 
 John renders to Christ at the opening of the 
 Apocalypse, he says, " Unto Him that loved 
 
116 THE LAYER. 
 
 US, and washed us from our sins in his o^ a 
 blood, and hath made us kings and priests 
 unto God and his Father, to Him be glory 
 and dominion for ever and @ver." Roy. i. 
 5, 6. Soon after this the glorious vision of 
 the heavenly world is unfolded to the be- 
 loved disciple. The panorama of its magni- 
 ficence is spread out before him. He sees 
 the white-robed company, with palms of vic- 
 tory in their hands, and crowns of glory on 
 their heads, as they stand before the ever- 
 lasting throne. He listens to the new song 
 which they sing, the anthem of consummated 
 redemption ; and this is the chorus in which 
 aU voices join, as they fall down and wor- 
 ship the Lamb that sitteth upon the throne ; 
 — " Thou art worthy : — for Thou wast slain, 
 and hast redeemed us by Thy blood, out of 
 every kindred, and tongue, and people, and 
 nation ; and hast made us unto our God 
 kings and priests r Yes, priests, in the 
 
THE LAYER. 117 
 
 perfection of their sacred functions; this is 
 the high character which the redeemed will 
 bear in eternity. 
 
 And priests, in preparation for that ele- 
 vated position, is the true character of the 
 redeemed in time. The Christian Church, 
 now on earth, is one vast theological semi- 
 nary. Every member of that church is a 
 student of divinity, a candidate for the min- 
 istry, a priest in training for the high office 
 awaiting him in the glory of the heavenly 
 state. This view of the character of God's 
 people is taught us when we see the priests, 
 of the Jewish dispensation, washing in the 
 water of the laver. 
 
 We also learn here the high privilege ac^ 
 corded to them. One part of this privilege 
 was to be pure. They washed continually 
 and were cleansed. No ceremonial imper- 
 fection, or pollution clung to them. The 
 water in the laver removed all such imper- 
 
118 THE LAYER. 
 
 fection from them. Now this was a real 
 privilege, even in the low typical sense in 
 which they realized it. But what a shadow 
 that privilege was compared with what 
 God's people now enjoy in the " laver of re- 
 generation ; — the washing of water by the 
 word" and Spirit, to which they have access 
 continually ! There the heart's deep stains, 
 the spots upon the soul, are taken away. 
 " Like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap," 
 is the description God, Himself, has given of 
 this marvellous provision of His grace for the 
 cleansing of His chosen ones. And as they 
 come to this spiritual laver day by day, the 
 promise is fulfilled, and "He purifies the 
 sons of Jacob as gold and silver is purified, 
 that they may offer unto the Lord an offer- 
 ing in righteousness." And sanctified thus, 
 by His word and Spirit, His people are 
 " preserved blameless unto the day of His 
 appearing." And as this washing is con 
 
THE LAVER. 119 
 
 tinued; the result will be that, finally, all the 
 redeemed, " sanctified wholly in body, soul, 
 and spirit," and made complete in holiness, 
 will be presented before the throne of the 
 Father "without spot or wrinkle or any 
 such thing." 
 
 " Their souls from sin for ever free 
 Will mourn its power no more ; 
 But clothed in spotless purity, 
 Redeeming love adore." 
 
 This is the high privilege accorded to be- 
 lievers in Jesus. And this privilege is 
 beautifully fore-shadowed as we see the 
 priests of Aaron's line made pure by the 
 water of the laver. 
 
 The other part of the privilege, of these 
 purified priests, luas that they had access to 
 the Tahernacle, the sanctuary where God 
 dwelt. 
 
 The golden candlestick, always shining 
 there, shed its hallowed light for them. The 
 
120 THE LAYER. 
 
 table with its show-bread ^ITered its unfail- 
 ing provision to them. And the golden 
 altar with its fuming incense diffused its 
 acceptable fragrance in their behalf. And, 
 0, what significant types and figures, we 
 have here, of the nobler privileges of that 
 priestly people whom God hath pardoned 
 through the sacrifice of His Son, and sancti- 
 fied by the influence of His truth and Spirit ! 
 To them the way of access into the Holy 
 Place — -the place of God's immediate pres- 
 ence—lies open at all times. To them divine 
 illumination is vouchsafed. " The manifes- 
 tation of the Spirit is given to each of them 
 to profit withal." " They have an unction 
 from the Holy One, and know all things." 
 They eat of the bread which cometh down 
 from heaven, and never hunger. " They 
 are abundantly satisfied with the plenteous- 
 ness of God's house." Their prayers and 
 praises, their persons and services, are al- 
 
THE LAYER. 121 
 
 ways accepted of God, because they are pre- 
 sented continually before Him perfumed with 
 the fragrant incense of the merits of Christ's 
 most perfect sacrifice. And thus, as we be- 
 hold the purified priests enter the sanctuary, 
 we see beautifully typified the high privilege 
 accorded to the people of God. 
 
 But tue also see here illustrated the nature 
 of the service required of them. 
 
 The washing in the laver was a thing re- 
 quiring to be continually repeated. It was 
 not an annual, or a monthly, a weekly, or a 
 daily service, but one of unceasing recur- 
 rence. If the priest had occasion to enter 
 the sanctuary twenty times a day, then 
 twenty times a day he must wash in the 
 laver. He could never enter without wash- 
 ing. "What a practical, illuminated com- 
 mentary we here have as to the meaning of 
 the passage in which God said to the priests 
 of that dispensation, " Be ye clean who bear 
 
122 THE LAYER. 
 
 the vessels of the Lord !" It was this which 
 led the Psalmist to exclaim, " I will wash 
 my hands in innocency, Lord : so will I 
 go to thine altar." And the great truth 
 which is thus taught us, respecting th 
 service required of those whom these priests 
 represent, ^. e., the people of God under the 
 present dispensation, is, that it should be 
 characterized by thorough sanctification, by 
 the most absolute and entire consecration of 
 heart and soul. Hence, they are spoken of 
 in one place as " a holy nation — a peculiar 
 people — zealous of good works." Again, 
 they are called "living sacrifices." They 
 are " not their own — but bought with a 
 price," and "constrained by the love of 
 Christ to glorify God with their bodies and 
 tlieir spirits, which are His." Paul had risen, 
 fully, up to the lofty standard of requirement 
 here erected when he could say — "for me 
 to live is Christ." And all that was typified 
 
THE LAVER. 123 
 
 in tins respect by those unceasing washings 
 at the laver, has been most sweetly ex- 
 pressed by one who has thus written : — 
 
 "Precious Saviour, may I live — Only for Thee. 
 
 Spend the powers Thou dost give — Only for Thee. 
 
 Be my Spirit's deep desire — Only for Thee. 
 
 May my intellect aspire — Only for Thee. 
 
 In my joys may I rejoice— Only for Thee. 
 
 In my choosings make my choice — Only for Thee. 
 
 Meekly may I suffer grief— Only for Thee 
 
 Gratefully accept relief— Only for Thee. 
 
 Be my smile, and be my tears — Only for Thee. 
 
 Be my young and riper years — Only for Thee, 
 
 Be ray singing and my sighing — Only for Thee. 
 
 Be my sickness and my dying — Only for Thee. 
 
 Be my rising and my glory — Only for Thee. 
 
 Be my whole eternity — Only for Thee." 
 
 And thus, the true character of God's 
 rpeople — the high 'privilege accorded them — and 
 the nature of the service required of them, are 
 the lessons we are taught by considering 
 the j^ersons zvho used the laver. 
 
 But there is a third and last point of view 
 from ivhich to contemplate this laver, and 
 
124 THE LAYER. 
 
 gather indrudion from it, and that is the 
 
 POSITION IT OCCUPIED. 
 
 This is very significant. The direction 
 given to Moses, on this point, was most 
 explicit: "Thou shalt put it between the 
 tent of the congregation and the altar.'* 
 " The tent of the congregation" means the 
 tabernacle. Thus the laver stood, by di- 
 vine direction, midway between the brazen 
 altar and the tabernacle. Now the instruc- 
 tion we gather from this part of our subject 
 will depend on the view we take of what 
 was symboKsed, or represented by the 
 laver. 
 
 Some maintain that the laver, in the 
 Jewish Church, was a type or symbol of 
 baptism, in the Christian Church. This 
 opinion is held by those who incline to take 
 what are known as High-Church views of 
 the sacraments. But those who take this 
 view will find the laver, thus considered, a 
 
THE LAYER. 125 
 
 very unmanageable piece of the tabernacle 
 furniture. It cannot be made to harmonize 
 with what is known as the High-Church 
 system. In this system, when fairly repre- 
 sented, the baptismal font is made to stand 
 at the porch, or vestibule of the Church. 
 It is regarded as the initiatory rite of the 
 Church, or the door of entrance to it. It 
 is the first thing with which one, desiring to 
 enter the Church, has to do. But this, you 
 perceive, is to invert the order established 
 by God in the Jewish Church. The Jew 
 was required to come first to the brazen 
 altar, with its propitiatory sacrifice, and 
 then to the laver, with its cleansing water. 
 But the Christian, who takes the view of 
 which we are speaking, changes entirely 
 this heaven-appointed order. He insists on 
 coming to the laver for its cleansing first, 
 and then to the altar for the benefit of its 
 sacrifice. That this is not the view taken 
 
126 THE LAYER.- 
 
 by the Episcopal Church is clear from the 
 tenor of her baptismal services. In these, 
 before she allows an adult person to be bap- 
 tized, she requires, from him, a profession 
 of repentance for sin, and faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. This is, in effect, to take him 
 to the brazen altar first, and then to admit 
 him to the laver with its washings. 
 
 And even the service for the baptism of 
 infants is based upon the same principle. 
 The parents or sponsors, coming with the 
 child, are required to promise repentance 
 and faith in the name of the child. Thus 
 the child is considered as repenting and 
 believing, hypothetically ; and the blessings 
 consequent upon the exercise of those graces, 
 are promised hypothetically. That service, 
 throughout, is framed on this hypothesis. 
 So that if the laver be regarded as repre- 
 senting baptism, our Church in this part of 
 her hallowed services does no violence to 
 
THE LAYER. 127 
 
 ^Hlie pattern showed to Moses on the 
 mount." She does not set the laver on the 
 other side of the altar^ from that on which 
 God set it. But, in the case of adult per- 
 sons actually, and in the case of infants 
 hypothetically, she requires first, an ap- 
 proach to the altar with its atoning sacrifice, 
 and then she admits of access to the layer 
 with its purifying water. 
 
 But we do not regard the layer as de- 
 noting baptism. It was, as we haye seen, 
 the type, or representation of the regenerat- 
 ing and sanctifying influences of the Spirit 
 and truth of God, as experienced by His 
 belieying people. And, looked at, from tliis 
 point of view the practical teaching of our 
 subject Is most interesting and important. 
 It establishes for us, beyond all question, 
 the great truth that regeneration does not 
 precede, but follows pardon. The divine 
 order, or arrangement in this matter is not 
 
128 THE LAYER. 
 
 regeneration first, and then pardon ; but 
 pardon first, and then regeneration. Not 
 the washing first, and then forgiveness, but 
 forgiveness first, and then the washing. 
 Not the laver first, and then the altar, but 
 the altar first, and then the laver. The 
 brazen altar stands free to all. Nothing is 
 necessary for one who would approach it 
 but a sense of sin. We are not required to 
 make ourselves clean in order that w® may 
 come to Christ — but we are to come to Ilim 
 in order to be made clean. The tendency 
 of our nature is to invert this order. In 
 dealing with inquiring souls there is no difii- 
 culty you will encounter more frequently 
 than that which developes itself in the 
 saying : " I am not fit to come to Christ." 
 This language is suggested by a desire to do 
 something ourselves in order to remove our 
 sin and pollution before coming to Christ. 
 It is the struA'dino: endeavor to get at the 
 
THE LAYER. 129 
 
 lavei first, and then to approach the altar. 
 " The altar stands nearer to the smner 
 than the laver. The Spirit leads him, with 
 his heart unrenewed, to the cross of Christ. 
 There he receives forgiveness. There he 
 is clothed in the spotless righteousness of 
 Christ, And then, but not till then, the 
 Spirit sprinkles him with the water of 
 regeneration. So writes St. Paul, — "Ye 
 are all the children of God through faith in 
 Christ Jesus'' And so St. John declares,— 
 " As many as received Him to them gave He 
 power to become the sons of God." Re- 
 newal cannot go before forgiveness. It 
 must follow after it. When the sinner 
 bathes his soul in the blood of Jesus, it is 
 no matter of uncertainty whether or not it 
 will be washed in the layer of the Spirit. 
 It is as sure as that God is holy, as sure as 
 that God is true, for heaven is the believer's 
 by promise, and nothing unclean can ente-: 
 
130 THE LAYER. 
 
 there." Christ is made of God unto his 
 people, first righteousness, and then sanctifica- 
 tion. " Say not/' observes good Archbishop 
 Leighton, " Unless I find some measure of 
 sanctification, what right have I to apply 
 Him as my righteousness ? This inverts 
 the order, and disappoints thee of both. 
 Thou must first, Avithout finding, yea or 
 seeking anything in thyself but misery and 
 guiltiness, lay hold on Ilim as thy righteous- 
 ness ; or else thou shalt never find Him 
 thy sanctification. Simply as a guilty sin- 
 ner thou must flee to Him for shelter; 
 and then, being come in, thou shalt be 
 furnished out of his fulness, with grace 
 for grace." 
 
 And thus we have seen what we are 
 taught 1)?/ the laver with its supidhj of cleans- 
 ing water ; — hg the persons tvho used the 
 laver ; — and hg the iiosition ivhich the laver 
 occujned 
 
THE LAYER. 131 
 
 111 conclusion, the thought which the 
 consideration of this subject impresses on 
 our minds with greatest force, is that of — 
 the infinite Jioliness of God, 
 
 This truth flashes out before us from the 
 flame which was ever burning on the sacred 
 altar. We see it in the charred remains 
 of the victim consumed there, and in the 
 clouds of wreathing smoke that ascend 
 from the altar. But we see the same truth 
 in the laver also. It sparkles forth from 
 every ray of light reflected from the sur- 
 face of its crystal water. The liquid 
 sounds of the splashing streams as they fall 
 from the laver to the base are eloquent pro- 
 claimers of it. And we see it illustrated, 
 how impressively, in the unceasing wash- 
 ings performed there by the priests ! ^^ A 
 little imperceptible dust, unavoidably con- 
 tracted in their pathway through the wil- 
 derness, was sufficient to render them unfit 
 
]32 THE LAYER. 
 
 for God's service. Even this would have 
 exposed them to His consuming judgments, 
 if they had attempted to minister before 
 Ilim without its having been previously- 
 washed away. " When they go into the 
 tabernacle, they shall wa^h with water that 
 the?/ die not ; or, when they come near to 
 the altar to minister, they shall wash their 
 hands and their feet that they die not!' It 
 was not only that gross defilements would 
 unfit them for their ministry, and call down 
 vengeance on their heads, but the slightest 
 contact with uncleanness — a speck upon 
 the hand or foot, rendered them obnoxious 
 to the fire of judgment, if they ventured 
 unwashed into the presence of that God 
 '^ who looketh upon the heavens and they 
 are unclean, and chargeth His angels with 
 folly." How awful the mnjesty of this 
 holy God ! He dwelleth in the high and 
 holy place. His name is holy. His nature 
 
THE LAVEE. 133 
 
 is holy. ^^ Without holiness no man can see 
 the Lord." 
 
 " All, how can guilty raan 
 Be jnst with such a God ? 
 Who, who can meet Ilim and escape 
 But through the Saviour's blood V* 
 
 There is nothing that proclaims the ne- 
 cessity of the atonement more convincingly 
 than this view of the infinite holiness of 
 God. Stand by the laver with its cleansing 
 water, and you are in the best possible posi- 
 tion to understand the meaning, and feel 
 the power of the truth embodied in the lines 
 of the hymn which declares : 
 
 " There must a Mediator plead, 
 
 Who God and man may both embrace, 
 W^ith God for man to intercede, 
 
 And offer man the purchased grace. 
 
 And lo ! the Son of God is slain, 
 
 To be this Mediator crowi.'d : 
 In Ilim my soul, be cleansed from stain, 
 
 In Him thy righteousness be found." 
 
134 THE LAYER. 
 
 Hoio lohmnly tJiis suhject speaJiS to yoii^ my 
 Hear hearers^ ivlio are neglecting the process 
 of deansing winch God has iwovided^ and 
 trusting to anything else to fit you for aj^pear- 
 ing before Him. No other washing would 
 have sufficed for the Jewish priests save 
 that which was conducted at the vessel 
 appointed by God to hold purifying waters. 
 If they had thought to cleanse themselves 
 at some other washing place, of their own 
 construction, instead of at the laver, they 
 would have exposed themselves to the 
 wrath of Crod, as much as if they had 
 altogether neglected His commands. He 
 had provided a process of cleansing, ar- 
 ranged according to His own will, and 
 which He knew would fit them perfectly 
 for His service. If they had sought an- 
 other, it would have proved that they 
 either despised His commands, or under- 
 valued what He had furnished for their 
 
THE LAYER. 135 
 
 use. Ill eitlier case they would have been 
 guilty of a direct insult to the majesty, holi- 
 ness, and wisdom of God. And what was 
 true of the sign, is true of the thing signi- 
 fied. What was true of the shadow is 
 much more true of the substance. 
 
 God has Kfted up his son Jesus on the 
 cross. In His blood, there shed. He has 
 opened a fountain of cleansing. His great 
 command to all the gTiilty and polluted 
 children of men is : " Go wash in thnt 
 fountain and be clean." Believe on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. 
 
 Have 3^ou washed in that fountain ? If 
 you have, — -your sins are forgiven. Your 
 soul is cleansed. Your salvation is secured. 
 If you have not — your pollution clings to 
 you still. " The wrath of God abideth on 
 you." " If / wash thee not" — says Jesus 
 to you, as He said to Peter — " If I wash 
 thee notj thou hast no part in me 1" No 
 
136 THE LAYER. 
 
 part in my pardon. No part in my right- 
 eousness. No part in my peace. No part 
 in my salvation. wash in this fountain 
 and be clean ! 
 
 " The dying thief rejoiced to see 
 This fountain in his day ; 
 And there may we, though vile as he 
 Wash all our guilt awaj." 
 
CHAPTER IT. 
 
 *" giitb iljou sbnlt mnlie tlje scben Inmp ; anb lljcg ^l^nll 
 licjljt tijc lamps tjjcnof lljal lljcji mag gib-e licjljt obzx 
 against it/ —-Exodus, xxv. 37. 
 
THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK. 
 Jewish Tabernacle. 
 
 p. 139. 
 
IV. 
 
 The brazen altar enlisted the element of 
 fire in its service. The brazen laver in its 
 use employed the element of water. But 
 the golden candlestick, which we are next 
 to consider, connected with the part it bore 
 in the solemn worship of the sanctuary the 
 interesting element of light. Of all the 
 elements of nature light is the most subtle, 
 the most mysterious, and yet the most 
 beautiful. 
 
 "Prime clieerer, Li^ht! 
 Of all material beings the first and best ! 
 Efflux divine ! Nature's resplendent robe ! 
 A^'itbout whose vesting beauty, all were wrapt 
 lu unessential p'loomi" 
 
140 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 Nothing can be a more appropriate hand- 
 maid of religion in her hallowed services 
 than this interesting element. How beaii- 
 tifally the sweet-spirited Bonar discourses 
 of its proj)erties ! 
 
 " The light IS ever silent ; 
 It sparldes on morn's million gems of dew, 
 It flings itself into the shower of noon, 
 It weaves its gold into the cloud of sunset, — 
 Yet not a sound is heard ; it dashes full 
 On yon broad rock, yet not an echo answers ; 
 It lights in myriad drops uj)on the flower. 
 Yet not a blossom stirs; it does not move 
 The slightest film of floating gossamer. 
 Which the faint touch of insect's wino; would shiver. 
 
 The light is ever pure ; 
 No art of man can rob it of its beauty, 
 Nor stain its unpolluted heavenliness. 
 It is the fairest, purest thing in nature, 
 Fit type of that ftiir heaven where all is pure, 
 And into which no evil thing can enter. 
 Where darkness comes not, where no shadow falls, 
 Where night and sin can have no dw(dling place! 
 
 We are all familiar with the rise of this 
 term light in Scripture^ as expressive of 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 141 
 
 the character of Gocl, and connected with 
 His service. Hence we read that " God is 
 light, and in Him is no darkness at alL" 
 It is said of Him that " He dwelleth in 
 light." " He decketh Himself with light 
 as with a garment." Jesus said of Him- 
 self, " I am the light of the world." And 
 of his people it is said that they are " the 
 children of light." We cannot wonder then 
 to find the golden candlestick, and its 
 heaven-derived light occupying a prominent 
 place in the service of the Jewish Taber- 
 nacle. 
 
 Thus far, in our meditations on this sub- 
 ject, we have been standing in the Court 
 of the Tabernacle, outside of the sacred 
 structure itself. We now draw near, and 
 enter the Tabernacle. Look for a moment 
 at its form, size, and structure^ before we 
 enter. 
 
 It was an edifice of an oblong, rectangular 
 
142 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 form. Its length was fortj-five feet ; its 
 breadth and height each fifteen feet. The 
 two sides and the western end were formed 
 of boards of shittim wood, overlaid with 
 thin plates of gold, and fixed in solid 
 sockets, or vases of silver. Above they 
 were secured by bars of the same wood, 
 overlaid with gold, passing through rings 
 of gold which were fixed in the boards. 
 On the east end, which was the entrance, 
 there were no boards, but five pillars of 
 shittim wood, which, with their chapiters 
 and fillets were overlaid with gold. These 
 pillars were furnished with hooks of gold, 
 from which hung a vail or curtain, of varie- 
 gated colors. This curtain formed the door 
 of the Holy Place. This entire enclosure 
 was divided into two parts, by a vail or 
 curtain which hung between them. The 
 exact dimensions of these difi'erent parts 
 of the tabernacle are not given us in the 
 
THE HOLY PLACE, WITH THE VEIL OF SEPARATION. 
 Jewish Tabernacle. p. 1-42. 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 143 
 
 Scriptures. It is generally supposed, how- 
 ever, that it was divided in the same pro- 
 portion as the temple, afterwards built 
 according to its model. If this supposition 
 is correct then, two-thirds of the whole 
 length were allotted to the first room, or the 
 Holy Place, and one third, to the second, 
 or the Most Holy Place. Thus the Holy 
 Place would be thirty feet long, fifteen 
 wide, and fifteen high ; and the inner ap- 
 partment, or the Most Holy Place, would 
 be fifteen feet each way. 
 
 The tabernacle, thus erected was covered 
 with four different kinds of curtains. The 
 first, or inner curtain was composed of fine 
 linen, magnificently embroidered with figures 
 of cherubim in colors of blue, purple, and 
 scarlet ; this formed the beautiful ceiling of 
 the tabernacle. The next covering was 
 made of goats' hair, of a pure white color ; 
 the third was of rams' skins dyed red ; and 
 
144 niE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 the four til was of badgers' skins. Such 
 was the form and general structure of the 
 tabernacle, and such the coverings by which 
 ts sacred furniture was protected from in- 
 jury by the action of the elements. 
 
 Now mark the difference between the 
 inner and the outer of these four curtains. 
 As we enter the Holy Place, which repre- 
 sents the Church of Christ — the curtain 
 which forms the ceiling, and hangs down 
 before us and behind us, in blending shades 
 of blue, purple, and scarlet, is curiously 
 wrought all over with figures of cherubim. 
 This seems to intimate the connection of 
 angels with the Church, and the bright 
 vision disclosed to the view of those who 
 enter it. But look now, in contrast with 
 this, at the outer curtain. It was formed 
 of rough leather. Its appearance was dark 
 and repelling. Yet that enveloped the 
 whole structure of the tabernacle, as if to 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 145 
 
 show the aspect which the things of salva- 
 tion present to those who look at them 
 only from a distance, from an external point 
 of view, and whose eyes have not been 
 opened to behold their hidden beauties, and 
 to see them in the light which shines upon 
 them from the golden candlestick of revela- 
 tion. The first division of the sanctuary 
 represented the Church on earth ; the 
 second division represented the Church in 
 heaven. They were both covered and sur- 
 rounded by the same curtain, which, as we 
 have seen before, was typical of Christ, as 
 if to teach us that in heaven, as on earth, 
 we shall be alike connected with the right- 
 eousness of Christ, as that in which we 
 shall stand, and from which all our happi- 
 ness shall flow. 
 
 But it is time for us to proceed. Well 
 now, let us rais(* the curtain which hangs at 
 the eastern end )f the tabernacle, and enter 
 
146 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 the IIolj Place. A sense of awe may well 
 come over us as we tread wathin its hallowed 
 precincts^ for it is the sanctuary of the Most 
 High, — '' the place where His honor dwell- 
 eth." 
 
 Now, as we stand within this sacred en- 
 closure, three objects meet our view. At 
 the left, on the south side of the Holy Place, 
 stands the golden candlestick, shedding the 
 mild radiance of its heavenly light all through 
 the place. Opposite the candlestick, on the 
 right, stands the table of shew-bread ; while 
 before us, and directly in front of the vail 
 which hides from view the Most Holy Place, 
 stands the golden altar of incense. Each 
 of these will, in turn, engage our attention. 
 
 We have to do, at present, with tJie 
 golden candlestick. This was made of solid 
 gold. The amount of this precious metal 
 employed in the making of it was a talent 
 in weight, according to the Jewish reckon 
 
THE HOLY PLACE. AND THE MOST HOLY PLACE. 
 
 (The Veil of Separation willidrawn.) 
 
 Jewish Tabernacle. p. 146. 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. lij 
 
 ing. This was equivalent to one Imndred and 
 twenty-five pounds, Troy weight. At this 
 rate the material employed in the candle- 
 stick might be reckoned, in value, at about 
 thirty-five thousand dollars. The exact 
 form and dimensions of it are not given. 
 There is therefore room for difference of 
 opinion in regard to the detail of its arrange- 
 ments. This difi'erence is seen in the dif- 
 ferent forms given to its base, — the height 
 assigned it, — and the arrangement of its 
 branches. The seven lamps of the candle- 
 stick are sometimes represented as all ar- 
 ranged on the same level ; while at other 
 times the lamp on the central shaft is repre- 
 sented as rising higher than the rest. The 
 exact truth on this point cannot noAV be 
 determined, as nothing is said on the subject 
 in the Scriptures. I prefer to take the 
 latter view of it. We have New Testament 
 authority for considering this candlestick as 
 
148 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 a figure of tlie Church. Eev. i. 12, 20. 
 This may aid us in our explanation. But 
 let us examine the different parts of the 
 candlestick. It was composed of a main 
 shafty tuith its connecting branches. If these 
 branches represent the Church of Christ, 
 the central shaft may well be regarded as 
 representing Christ Himself. As the vine 
 and its branches denote Christ and His 
 people, so the candlestick and its branches 
 may be taken in the same sense. From 
 Christ the Church springs, and by Him it 
 is supported, as the outspreading arms of the 
 candlestick are by its central shaft. The 
 Churcli is united to Him, and sustained by 
 Him. When the prophet saw in vision, a 
 golden candlestick, with seven lamps, he 
 speaks of a bowl upon the top of it, from 
 which, by pipes, the golden oil was con- 
 veyed to the lamps. This idea was not 
 engrafted upon the tabernacle candlestick. 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 149 
 
 But it gives us an interesting illustration 
 of the relation existins: between Christ and 
 
 CD 
 
 His people. " Of His fulness they all 
 receive." From Him the golden oil of grace 
 flows down to them. Their life, their 
 strength, their beauty, and their usefulness 
 are all derived from Him. 
 
 Notice next the branches of the candle- 
 stick. These sprang from the central shaft, 
 and were of the same material with each 
 other, and with it. So it is with Christ 
 and His people. " He Avho sanctifieth, and 
 they who are sanctified are all of one." 
 '' As He IS, so are ive in this worlds " When 
 He shall appear we shall be like Him." 
 But the shaft was higher than the branches, 
 " for it pleased the Father that, in all 
 things, He," — Christ — "should have the 
 pre-eminence." 
 
 Notice next the ornaments upon the 
 candlestick. There were three, viz., howh^ 
 
 13* 
 
150 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 Jrnops, and floivers. There were " bowls 
 like almonds" wrouglit upon it. In these 
 the branches terminated, forming appro- 
 priate receptacles for the lamps of the 
 candlestick. It may be asked why was the 
 almond chosen, both here and in Aaron's 
 rod ? The reason is not assigned. It may 
 have been because the almond was the first 
 tree to bud in the spring, which would make 
 it a fit type of Him who is " the first-born 
 from the dead." 
 
 The next ornament was the hiojJS. What 
 these were is not known. Josephus says 
 they were pomegranates. This was a spe- 
 cies of apple. The fruit when ripe was as 
 large as a good-sized orange. Artificial 
 pomegranates were much used as architec- 
 tural ornaments. These knops, or knobs, 
 may have been swelling buds, from which 
 the branches of the candlestick sprang, ex- 
 pressing the idea that these spreading arm^ 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 151 
 
 owed both their existence and their fruit- 
 fulness to the parent stem. 
 
 The other ornaments of the candlestick 
 were the flowers. These are natural em- 
 blems of beauty. They represent the 
 spiritual loveliness of Christ's people. But 
 the flowers of nature, though surpassingly 
 beautiful, are frail and perishing. But the 
 flowers of grace are all possessed of an 
 amaranthine property. They bloom for 
 immortality. Of this the candlestick gave 
 eloquent intimations in its flowers of heaien 
 gold. These flowers wrought in gold, what 
 an interesting figure they furnish of the 
 permanence, or perpetuity that shall charac- 
 terize the spiritual beauty of the new crea- 
 tion, effected by the grace of God, in Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
 Such was the golden candlestick of the 
 Tabernacle, in its form, its structure, and 
 adornments. 
 
152 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 We proceed now to consider the lessons 
 whicli it taught. There are three most im- 
 portant lessons taught ns by this candle- 
 stick. In the first place, it taught the neces- 
 sity OF A DIVINE REVELATION. 
 
 The light which beamed from this candle- 
 stick, was derived from heaven. It was the 
 only light, which shone in the tabernacle. 
 There was no window in it. Natural lights, 
 the light of day, never entered or shed its 
 rays there. Suppose the candlestick had 
 been removed, or its lamp left 2mlighted, 
 and we had been introduced into the taber- 
 nacle, what would have been our condition ? 
 Darkness, like that of Egypt, would have 
 surrounded us. No single ray of light would 
 have relieved the gloom. The hallowed fur- 
 niture would have been all there in its place. 
 The gorgeous walls of burnished gold would 
 have shut us in, on either side. The varie- 
 gated curtain with its beautiful tracery of 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 153 
 
 cheiTibic emblems would have been spread 
 out in silent majesty above our heads. But 
 what the better should vfe have been for all 
 this lavish expenditure of wealth and beauty? 
 No trace of the loveliness there existing ; — 
 no dawning gleam, no faint conception of 
 the rich instruction, the precious treasury of 
 suggestive, saving faith with which that hal- 
 lowed place was furnished, should we have 
 been able to take in. The light of the outer 
 world could not enter there. Unless then 
 the golden candlestick shed its light upon 
 the surrounding objects, we should have seen 
 nothing, and known nothing of the things 
 that pertain to our salvation. 
 
 How eloquently the candlestick thus 
 teaches us the necessity of a divine revela- 
 tion ! Without the lidit of the candlestick, 
 darkness, the most profound, must have filled 
 the tabernacle. And just such would have 
 been our condition, spiritually considered, 
 
154 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 without the light of divine revelation. Rea- 
 son, the natural sun in the mental world, 
 can shed no light upon the soul's concerns. 
 There is no window, in the soul, through 
 which the light of this natural luminary can 
 shine. The priest in the sanctuary could 
 only see his way and discharge his duties 
 by the help of light from the candlestick, 
 and this was light from heaven, a divin^ 
 revelation. And it is only by the aid of 
 such a revelation that we can see our w^ay 
 in reference to spiritual things. God left the 
 world, for four thousand years, to test the 
 experiment fully, of the power of reason to 
 guide a lost world back to the God from 
 whom it had w\andered. The result of 
 that experiment was that " the w^orld by 
 wisdom knew not God." Reason is ngt to 
 be laid aside w^hen we come to the consid- 
 eration of spiritual things. There is nothing 
 in this department of knowledge which con. 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 155 
 
 tradicts the teachings of sound enhghtened 
 reason. But in examining the truths of 
 revelation, it is necessary that reason should 
 feel that she is in the presence of a higher 
 poAver. She should bow her head reverently, 
 as a pupil sitting down at the feet of his 
 master, or as a child coming to a parent for in- 
 struction. As the Jewish priest passed from 
 the light of the outer world into the mild radi- 
 ance shed by the golden candlestick, when 
 he would learn of God and serve Him with 
 acceptance ; so we must hold in abeyance 
 the uncertain dictates of unsanctified natural 
 reason, and let our minds be lighted up with 
 the beams which shine from revelation's can- 
 dlestick, if w^e would properly understand 
 "the things which accompany salvation." 
 This was the Psalmist's feeling as his rever- 
 ent Spirit thus expressed itself, while wait- 
 ing before God : " With Thee is the fountain 
 of life — in iliy light we shall see light." 
 
156 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 The God of the Bible is " the Father of 
 lights." But it is only as He reveals Him- 
 self that He can be known. Hence said our 
 Saviour, " No man knoweth the Father save 
 the Son, and he to whom the Son shall re- 
 veal Him." " The natural man receiveth not 
 the things of the Spirit of God, neither can 
 he know them, because they are spiritually 
 discerned." And thus as we see the golden 
 candlestick, shining in the Holy Place, giving 
 forth the only light by which anything can 
 be seen there, we are taught a most impres- 
 sive lesson respecting the necessity of divine 
 revelation. 
 
 But, secondly^ ive are taught here luith equal 
 clearness the benefits of such a revelation. 
 We perceive this the moment we look around 
 us, in the Holy Place, and observe what the 
 light of the candlestick discloses to our view. 
 See, over against it stands the golden table 
 with its shew-bread. Twelve loaves of bread 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 157 
 
 stood upon this table, representing the dif- 
 ferent tribes of Israel. This bread was re- 
 newed, from time to time, continually, so as 
 to be always fresh and good. It denoted 
 the plenteousness of God's house, the abun- 
 dant provision there made for the wants of 
 his people. The loaves upon that table 
 pointed to Christ, the true manna, the bread 
 that came down from heaven. He that 
 eateth of this bread shall live for ever; and 
 shall never hunger for the bread on which 
 others feed. The candlestick, with its 
 heavenly light, enabled the priest, as he en- 
 tered the Holy Place, to see where to find 
 this bread. He could not have seen it with- 
 out this light. And so it is only the light 
 of divine revelation which reveals Christ, the 
 heavenly bread, to souls that are hungering 
 and perishing for the want of it. Close 
 your Bible, put out the light which shines 
 
 from the golden candlestick of divine revela- 
 
 14 
 
158 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 tion, and a pall, of thickest darkness, is 
 spread over all the universe. Jesus, the only 
 satisfying portion for the soul, is hidden from 
 view. And no efforts, however persistently 
 made, can reveal Him. Then, indeed, it is 
 true that " none can by searching find Him 
 out — none can know Him" to their satisfac- 
 tion or salvation. " The sea saith. He is not 
 with me, and the depth saith. He is not in 
 me. He cannot be gotten for gold or silver ; 
 for the precious onyx or the sapphire." We 
 often see men rejecting revelation, turning 
 their backs upon the light which shines from 
 God's golden candlestick, and then go grop- 
 ing their way in darkness, through the world 
 of nature, to find a substitute for a rejected 
 Saviour, as the food and portion of their 
 souls. But the experiment, though often 
 made, is always unsuccessful. What an 
 illustrious example of this is furnished in 
 the case of the late Baron Humboldt. He 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 159 
 
 was a modern apostle of the natural sciences. 
 He devoted the energies of his gigantic mind 
 unceasingly to this class of studies. He had 
 ranged through nature in all her departments. 
 He was perfectly familiar with her awful 
 mysteries. He seemed like a walking en- 
 cyclopedia of this kind of knowledge. But 
 he looked at nature in the light of reason 
 only. Revelation's light he discarded. Did 
 he succeed in finding a substitute for Christ 
 as the bread from heaven, the satisfying por- 
 tion of his soul ? We have our answer in 
 one of his heart-utterances breathed into the 
 ear of an intimate friend not long before his 
 death. " / live a joyless life' was his ac- 
 knowledgment. How instructive, how affect- 
 ing ! Here is a man with all the treasures 
 of knowledge, connected with earthly sci- 
 ences, poured out at his feet, and all the 
 honors that emanate from earthly sources 
 heaped upon his head — and yet " in the 
 
IGO 
 
 THE CANDLESTICK 
 
 midst of his sufficiencies he is in straits." 
 "I live a joyless life" is the sorrowful sigh- 
 ing of his unsatisfied spirit. Contrast this 
 with the experience of those who^ walking 
 in the light of God's golden candlestick, have 
 found Christ, the bread from heaven, and live 
 continually on Him. WJien their experi- 
 ence takes form and clothes itself with lan- 
 guage, it finds expression, thus : 
 
 "From pole to pole, let others roam, 
 And search in vain for bliss ; 
 Our souls are satisfied at home ; 
 The Lord our portion is. 
 
 Ills word of promise is our food ; 
 
 His Spirit is our guide ; 
 Thus daily is our strength renew'd 
 
 And all our wants supplied." 
 
 The difference between these two classes 
 of persons may be all expressed by the 
 different termination given to the adjective 
 which (qualifies their lives. Baron Hum- 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. IGl 
 
 boldt representing one class, said, " I live a 
 joyless life." Any true Cliristian represent- 
 ing the other would say, " I live a joyful 
 life." As pointing out the bread upon the 
 table in the sanctuary— the satisfying pro- 
 vision made for the wants of God's people, 
 the candlestick in the tabernacle illustrated 
 the henejits of divine revelation. 
 
 But turn now from the table of shew- 
 bread, and see, directly in front of us, 
 stands the golden altar of incense. Fragrant 
 odors are rising from it. This points to the 
 acceptance of the prayers of God's people, 
 through the prevailing efficacy of the sacri- 
 fice of Christ. The candlestick revealed 
 this in the tabernacle. And that which the 
 golden altar and its incense typified, viz., 
 the way of acceptance with God for guilty 
 sinners, the light of revelation alone dis- 
 closes. Where else can you go and find a 
 satisflxctory answer to the question— " IIow 
 
 14^ 
 
162 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 shall man be just with God ?" You hear 
 some anxious soul, oppressed and burdened 
 under a sense of sin, propounding the mo- 
 mentous inquiry — " ^Vherewithal shall I 
 come before the Lord, and bow myself 
 before the Most High ?" But reason can 
 suggest no solution to the important prob- 
 lem. History, philosophy, observation, 
 and experience, though gathered from all 
 the outspreadings of the globe, apart from 
 the Bible and its teachings, can throAV no 
 light upon it. But bring the question up 
 to where revelation shines, and it is resolved 
 at once. A way of access to the mercy- 
 seat, through the infinite merits of the sacri- 
 fice of Christ is clearly manifested. Through 
 Ilim, the prayers, the persons, and the ser- 
 vices of His people all find acceptance. 
 
 And then, observe the light which shone 
 from the candlestick disclosed itself to 
 vieiu. We read that " it gave light over 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 163 
 
 against it." The candlestick represented 
 the mystery of Christ and His Church. It 
 was a beautiful illustration of the union 
 existing between Jesus and His ransomed 
 people, and of their participation in the 
 glorious blessings of His grace. But, it was 
 only the light dispensed by the lamps on 
 the candlestick which could bring this out 
 to view. Yes, it was this which revealed 
 all that beautiful tracery of fruits and flow- 
 ers which appeared on that golden, central 
 shaft. That shaft represents Christ. That 
 graceful adornment with which it is ( overed 
 over, points out the wonders of Ula love, 
 the riches of His grace, the treasured sweet- 
 ness of His saving name, in His covenant 
 relation to His people. And all this can 
 only be seen by the light of revelation, as it 
 shines in the sanctuary. And it is this un- 
 folding of the preciousness of Christ which 
 constitutes the glory of God's hou^e. The 
 
164 THE CANLLESTICK. 
 
 excellency of the knowledge of Jesus is 
 displayed there. It is the place of His 
 manifestation. The Bible is, throughout, 
 '^ the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ." 
 It was this unfolding of His character which 
 constituted " the power and glory" of God, 
 w^iich the Psalmist had seen in the sanc- 
 tuary, and which he so earnestly desired 
 again to see. And it is this which makes 
 the sanctuary seem, to the believer, to be so 
 often like what the cleft rock in the moun- 
 tain side was to Moses, — and what Patmos, 
 with its visions of glory, was to St. John, — • 
 the very vestibule of heaven. And when 
 we look round on aU these objects, as dis- 
 closed to us in the Holy Place by the light 
 of the candlestick, then in the good things 
 of which these were the shadows we learn 
 our lesson of the benefits of a divine reve- 
 lation. 
 
 We hole to tJie candlesticJc, for the third 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 165 
 
 lesson which it teaches us, that is, the ierfec- 
 
 IION OF THIS REVELATION. 
 
 This is taught us by the number of lamps 
 which it bore. There were seven of these. 
 This number denotes completeness or per- 
 fection. In the Apocalyptic vision of heaven 
 which St. John had, he saw — " seven lamps 
 of fire burning before the throne, which are 
 the seven spirits of God." This language 
 refers to the Holy Ghost, the third person 
 in the adorable Trinity. It denotes that 
 blessed Spirit in the exercise of his omni- 
 potent and perfect influences. This is 
 referred to in the hymn incorporated into 
 our ordination service. Thus it reads : 
 
 "Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire, 
 And lighten with celestial fire. 
 Thou, the anointing Spirit art. 
 Who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart." 
 
 The lamps burning on the golden candle- 
 stick, with the heavenly light they imparted, 
 
166 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 were a type or emblem of this Spirit. All 
 the light which shone in the Jewish taber- 
 nacle emanated from those lamps; and so 
 all the light, in reference to divine things, 
 which shines in the Christian Sanctuary 
 comes from the Holy Ghost. He is the 
 " Lord and Giver of light." He is the 
 Author of revelation. All the radiance 
 which it sheds around the pathway of the 
 redeemed proceeds from Him. And His 
 light is perfect. The natural light, which 
 beams around us continually, in all its vary- 
 ing beauty is made up, we know, of the 
 seven primary colors. Its seven-fold nature 
 makes it perfect. And so it is with the 
 light of revelation, the light whith the Holy 
 Ghost sheds on the thin<2:s that relate to our 
 salvation. This is a seven-fold, or perfect 
 light. It is not perfect in its degree, now ; 
 but it is entirely perfect in its kind. His 
 light is sufficient to supply the wants of lU 
 
THE Ci\NDLESTICK. 167 
 
 believers, and to finish in their souls every 
 work he begins there. And while He acts 
 differently on each individual, sanctifying 
 all, yet He makes no two exactly alike. 
 '^ For as the sunbeam, when it falls upon the 
 landscape, draws forth a thousand shades, 
 of which each is beautiful, and yet all are 
 different, so the Spirit of God, shining in the 
 midst of the people of Christ, colors each 
 soul with a peculiar grace, while rendering 
 all partakers, by degrees, of advancing, 
 complete, and universal holiness." 
 
 ^*At one time He manifests Himself as a 
 Spirit of wisdom. He gives skill, knowledge, 
 counsel. Thus He inspired Bezaleel to build 
 the tabernacle. Thus also ^Joshua was full 
 of the Spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid 
 his hands upon him.' This means that he 
 was full of the Spirit of God. And so 
 Christ himself, receiving for us the Holy 
 Ghost in all His fulness, had resting on Him 
 
168 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 'the spirit of wisdom and understanding.' 
 It is a delightful thought that He does so 
 manifest Himself. Who does not feel again 
 and again^ his need of wisdom. Here is an 
 ever-burning lamp." 
 
 " Sometimes he manifests himself as a 
 Spirit of might. Hence St. Paul prays 
 that the Ephesians may be '' strengthened 
 with might by his spirit in the inner man. 
 Wisdom would avail us little without 
 strength. Our own strength is perfect 
 weakness ; but all in whom the Spirit of 
 God dwells, ^out of weakness are made 
 strong.' " 
 
 " Again he reveals himself as a Spirit of 
 truth. The peculiar office of the Spirit is 
 to testify of Jesus, and to lead the believer 
 to know more and more of his excellency 
 and glory. The Bible is the Spirit's book. 
 No heavenly truths are known to man with- 
 out his illumination. All the lidit of the 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 169 
 
 Chnrch is from the lamp of the Spirit. 
 Christ himself, in promising the Comforter, 
 three times calls him the Spirit of truth. 
 And just in proportion as we have the 
 Spirit; will be our real, profitable knowledge 
 of divine truth. " He leadeth into all 
 truth." " The Spirit searcheth all things, 
 yea, the deep things of God." 
 
 " He is the Spirit of promise. The gift 
 of the Spirit is the promise of Christ to all 
 that believe on him. And the Spirit having 
 given the promises of scripture, applies them 
 to the heart. He enables the behever to 
 grasp the promises, and use them for the 
 supply of his own individual necessities. 
 And thus, it is through the Spirit's influence 
 that he is able to preserve his serenity amid 
 trial and temptation." 
 
 " He is the Spirit of adoption. Entering 
 into the bosom of the believer he gives him 
 a son-like feeling. The Christian, through 
 
 15 
 
170 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 the indwelling Spirit, learns to look upon 
 God as his Father. lie no longer stands at 
 a distance from Him ; his very sins, which 
 he would be ashamed to tell to any one else, 
 lie pours forth with more than filial confi- 
 dence, into the bosom of Jehovah ; and as 
 an adopted child, he makes it his grand ob- 
 ject to walk worthy of so gracious a Father. 
 Thus believers receive the Spirit of adoption 
 whereby they cry — Abba Father." 
 
 " In short, he is the Spirit of grace, — the 
 one only source of all holiness, — the author 
 of everything in the believer's conduct that 
 is really good, — the great Sanctifier, and 
 also the Spirit of glory, fitting the people 
 of Christ for the enjoyment of that heaven 
 which is already theirs by right, and even 
 now throwing around them, when at their 
 best, a brightness of holiness before which 
 all worldly glory ' pales its ineffectual 
 light.'" 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 171 
 
 ^* There is also endless variety in the gifts 
 which the Spirit bestows on difFerent indi- 
 viduals. All are not Bezaleels, endued 
 with special talents for the edifying of the 
 Church; nor Joshuas, full of wisdom and 
 vigor to do great things in the cause of 
 Christ. The same Spirit gave prudence to 
 James, and energy to Paul, and winning 
 gentleness to John, though once the son of 
 thunder. He gives different gifts to dif- 
 ferent individuals, according to the different 
 works he has planned for them. And even 
 his graces are not bestowed in like measure 
 upon all. He lighted up more self-denying 
 devotedness in Paul than in all the other 
 apostles. He filled Peter with most of zeal, 
 and perhaps least of firmness. And if we 
 knew more of the individual characters of 
 the rest of the apostles, we should find in 
 each some grace marked with especial 
 strength. It will be so even in heaven. 
 
172 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 The lamps of fire are seven there. The 
 Spirit's grace though abundant for all, will 
 be given according to the need of each. 
 And thuSj throughout eternity, there will be 
 a blessed harmony arising from the union 
 of different holy characters. There will 
 still be Peters, and Pauls, and Johns, all 
 perfect, but not all alike. The members of 
 Christ will still have their several offices. 
 The trees in the heavenly paradise, — the 
 jewels in the Jerusalem that is above, — will 
 not be all the same. " One star will differ 
 from another star in glory." The harps of 
 gold will sound in harmony, but not in 
 unison. There will be variety there, as 
 there is here. " But all these worketh that 
 one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to 
 every man severally as He will." (Gar- 
 rett's Scripture Symbolism.) 
 
 And when we look upon the candlestick, 
 with its seven-fold light, we see beautifully 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 173 
 
 illustrated, the perfection of divine revela- 
 tion as exhibited in the Spirit's work on the 
 hearts and in the lives of God's people. 
 
 The necessity of divine revelation; the 
 benefits of divine revelation ; and the ijerfec- 
 tion of divine revelation; these are the lessons 
 taught us by the golden candlestick. 
 
 In conclusion, what cause for thanJcfidnesa 
 this subject suggests that our connection is 
 not with the candlestick as it ivas a shadow, 
 but tvith the substance tuhich that shadow 
 represents I The golden candlestick, in the 
 Jewish Church, was a great blessing to 
 those who lived under that dispensation ; 
 but ah ! that was as nothing compared to 
 the light which we enjoy, as it shines from 
 the seven golden candlesticks of the Chris- 
 tian Church, in the midst of wdiich the glori- 
 ous Saviour walks continually ! The light 
 of the Jewish candlestick was a local light. 
 It was confined to a single spot. It shone 
 
 15* 
 
174 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 'witMn the precincts of the tabernacle, but 
 it shone no where else. Those who desired 
 to avail themselves of its benefits must; 
 journey up thither ; but when they returned 
 home they must leave that light behind 
 them. It could not shine upon them in 
 their own dwellings. Earth's weary pil- 
 grims, in other lands, groping their way in 
 darkness through this fallen world, could not 
 be cheered, or comforted by that light. 
 But the light of the Christian candlestick 
 is not local. It is " a light to lighten the 
 Gentiles," while yet the glory of God's 
 people, Israel. 
 
 "The beams that shine from Zion's hill 
 Shall lighten everij land." 
 
 It is light from the Sun of Eighteousness. 
 This sun will rise higher and higher till the 
 whole earth shall be bathed in the radiance 
 of His glory. And yet while capable of 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 175 
 
 this universal diffusion, it has the power 
 of penetrating and pervading the minds of 
 all God's people ; so that they can apply to 
 themselves the language of the apostle and 
 say, that " God, who commanded the light 
 out of darkness hath sinned in our Jiea7^ts to 
 give the light of the knowledge of the glory 
 of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 
 
 The light of the Jewish candlestick was 
 stationary. What it was on the first day 
 on which its lamps were lighted, that it was 
 the next day, and so on during all the days 
 of its continuance. Its radiance might reach 
 a certain point, but it never could exceed it. 
 It was not capable of increase. But it is 
 very different with the light of the Christian 
 candlestick. This is not stationary, but 
 progressive. No limit can be fixed to the 
 brightness of its shining. In breadth of 
 circle, in fulness of volume, in clearness of 
 ray, there is room for unceasing increase. 
 
176 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 Through all the years of time, through all 
 the ages of eternity, it will be a growing 
 light, "shining more and more unto the 
 perfect day." 
 
 The light of the Jewish candlestick was 
 a iemporarij light. It was liable, at any 
 time, to be extinguished, and was finally 
 put out. Not so with the light of the 
 Christian candlestick. This is an abiding, 
 inextinguishable, everlasting light. All the 
 efforts and malice of wicked men and wicked 
 spirits, singly or combined, can no more ex- 
 tinguish this light in a single soul, where it 
 has been once kindled by the omnipotence 
 of sovereign grace, than they can stop the 
 stars from shining, or pluck the sun from its 
 orbit. 0, have we not a glorious substance 
 in this light ? and is it not cause for thank- 
 fulness to be connected with this, rather than 
 the shadowy shining of the former dispensa- 
 tion? 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 177 
 
 Further, the subject lefore us is very in- 
 structive in the suggestions it furnishes as to 
 the practical character God's people should 
 hear. We see this in the beautiful tracery 
 of the candlestick. It was covered, all 
 over, with golden flowers, and golden fruit. 
 This intimated that God's people were to be 
 a flower-decJced, fruit-hearing people. They 
 are distinguished by the beautifying graces 
 of the Holy Spirit, fitly represented by 
 flowers, and by the substantial /nr^V^ of holy 
 living. And it is interesting to see how 
 God caused to be inwrought upon the golden 
 candlestick, of that shadowy dispensation, a 
 symbol clearly expressive of this idea. If 
 any are inclined to think this a fanciful con- 
 struction, let me quote here the remarks of 
 President Edwards, one of the ablest theo 
 logians the Church ever knew. His gigantio 
 mind was not likely to be misled by fan 
 pies. " The Candlestick," says he, '' was 
 
 13 
 
178 THE CxVNDLESTICK. 
 
 like a tree of many branches, and bearing 
 flowers and fruit, agreeably to the very fre- 
 quent representations of the Church, by a 
 tree, a vine, a grain of mustard-seed. la 
 this candlestick every flower is attended 
 with a knop, an apple, or pomegranate, repre- 
 senting a good profession attended with a 
 corresponding fruit in God's people. Here 
 were rows of knops and flowers one after 
 another, beautifully representing the pro- 
 gress of Christians in religious attainments, 
 their going from strength to strength. Such 
 is the nature of true grace, that it bears 
 flowers that promise a further degree of fruit, 
 the flowers having in them the principle of 
 new fruit, and by this progress in holiness 
 believers come to shine as lights in the 
 world." 
 
 And then observe that the tracery on the 
 branches of the candlestick is precisely the 
 same as that upon the central shaft. This 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 179 
 
 shaft, we 'iiave seen, represents Christ. The 
 branches represent his people. Would you 
 know if you are a true branch of the spirit- 
 ual candlestick ? Look if you can find in 
 your heart and life, the same beautiful tra- 
 cery of the Spirit's work which appeared in 
 the heart and life of Jesus. The same 
 flowers of spiritual loveliness, the same fruits 
 of practical holiness, in kind, though not in 
 degree, is the only satisfactory proof of 
 discipleship. To be a Christian is to be like 
 Jesus. He left us an example that we 
 should follow his steps. Let all our hearts 
 go out in the earnest prayer, 
 
 " Thy fair example may we trace, 
 
 To teach us what we ought to be ; 
 Make us, by thy transforming grace, 
 O Savior, daily more like Thee !'* 
 
 Beloved hearers, who are not Christians, 
 you walk in darkness. Yes, darkness is 
 within you — darkness is around you. The 
 
180 THE CANDLESTICK. 
 
 shadow cf death has settled down upon yon. 
 come out from this shadow. The true 
 light is now shining from the cross of Christ. 
 
 "0 look to Jesus, and you'll find 
 In Him your Star, your Sun, 
 And in that light of life you'll walk 
 Till travelling days are done." 
 
 I love to linger in the rays of this glorious 
 Light of the world. Let me close, however, 
 with quoting the beautiful hues of one who 
 thus points us away from the shadows of 
 the past dispensation to the substance of the 
 present : 
 
 "The last star has set, and the Sun in his splendor 
 From the chambers of day in his majesty springs ! 
 And a gold-dropping glory, by mercy made tender, 
 Distils on the faint, from His far-spreading wings 
 
 He comes in his grace, and he comes in his beauty 
 To brighten man's darkest, and drear'est abode, 
 
 To shine on the fields and the deserts of duty, — 
 To light up the pathway that leads us to God. 
 
THE CANDLESTICK. 181 
 
 Behold ! how his rays on the mountains are sparkling 
 
 The shadows of midnight are lost to our view. 
 Shout, nations ! no more shall you wander all 
 darkling 
 For the ' Light of the world" beameth brightly 
 on you. 
 
 He will light you through toil, he will light you 
 through sorrow ; 
 He will beam on your journey, and smile on your 
 grave ; 
 lie will wake up youi souls to an unsetting morrow ; 
 For the 'Light o the \iorld is all-powerful to 
 saver 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 *'CIj(Jtt skit hIso miahe n table of sljittim-fooob : fbo tumti 
 sljallbctlje kugtij iljcrcof, aiib a cubit tljebreabtl) tljcuof, 
 Hub a cubit aub a Ijnlf tljc l^dgl^t tl^crrof. §iub tl^ou 
 £il)n(t obfrlnij it foitlj pure cjolb, aub iiiahc f Ijercto a crofoit 
 of golb rounb about. g.ub tl^ou slplt mnlie uuto it a 
 boiber of ail |)aub brcabiij rcuiib about, aub tljou sl^alt 
 make a golbcn crofou to tlje borbcr il^crcof rouub about. 
 g.ub fl^ou sbnlt mnlic for it four riugs of golb, aub put 
 fl)c rings iit lljc four contcus tl^at arc ou lljc four feet 
 fljcrcof. &bn against tlje borbcr sljall tijc riitgs be for 
 plates of fbc stabrs to bear tbe table, ' giub fi)ou sl)alt 
 make tijc stabes of sHyiltim-fooob, aub oberlau tbcm bitlj 
 golb, tljat tlje table maii be boruc bitb t|)cm. '^ixb tljou 
 gl^alt mahe lljc bisljcs tljcrcof, aub spoous tljereof, aub 
 cobers tljereof, nub bobls tljereof, to cobcr foitljal: of 
 |iitrc golb sl^alt tljou malic tl^cm. g.nb tbou sl^nlt Bd 
 itpou lljc table sljcb-brcab before me nlbau ' — Exo- 
 dus, XXV. 23—30. 
 
V. 
 
 We imagine ourselves to be standing just 
 within the vail which hangs down over the 
 eastern end of the Tabernacle. We have 
 crossed the threshold of the Holy Place. 
 The golden candlestick^ which we last con- 
 sidered, is shedding its hallowed light on all 
 around us. Over against this candlestick, 
 stands the table of Shew-bread. This is the 
 next article in the furniture of the taber- 
 nacle that we are to consider. It is so full 
 of instruction, so replete with lessons of 
 practical interest, that, without any prefa- 
 tory remarks, we proceed, at once, to notice 
 the structure of this table, and the important 
 truths it illustrates for our edification* 
 
186 THE TABLE OF SHEW-EEEAD. 
 
 Look now at the form and structure of this 
 table. Like the ark itself, it Yv\as composed 
 of acacia wood overlaid with pure gold. It 
 was a plain, simple table, without any of the 
 ornamental work, or 'I'urious tracery, with 
 which the candlestick was covered all over. 
 There was a border of a hand's breadth sur- 
 rounding it. This was designed, it is sup- 
 posed, for the golden vessels connected with 
 the table to stand upon. There was also a 
 rim, or crov/n of gold, inside of this border, 
 intended, no doubt, to keep the loaves in 
 their places, and prevent their being dis- 
 turbed, in tlie constant journeyings of the 
 people through the wilderness. 
 
 In its dimensions this table was three feet 
 in length, eighteen inches in breadth, and 
 twenty-seven inches in height. There were 
 rings, at the corners, beneath the border, 
 through which the staves were put for carry- 
 ing it. 
 

 THE TABLE OF SHEW BREAD. 
 Jewish Tabernacle. 
 
 p. 186. 
 
THE TABLE OF SIIEW-BREAD. 187 
 
 On this table were placed loaves of bread. 
 These loaves were unleavened bread, made 
 out of fine flour. In number these loaves 
 were twelve, corresponding to the different 
 tribes of Israel. Thej were placed in two 
 parallel rows, not piled up on each other, as 
 you sometimes see them represented, but 
 ranging horizontally, the length of the table. 
 The loaves were renewed every Sabbath, so 
 as to be always fresh. When placed upon 
 the table the surface of the loaves was cov- 
 ered over with a layer of powdered frankin- 
 cense. This was a pure white powder which 
 would give to the loaves an appearance 
 somewhat resembling the frosted cakes of 
 modern confectioners. When the old loaves 
 were removed this powdered frankincense 
 was gathered into one of the golden dishes 
 cannected with the table, and burned before 
 the Lord "as an offering made by fire." 
 The loaveS; when taken from the table, wero 
 
188 IHE TABLE OF SEEW-BEEAD. 
 
 reserved for the use of Aaron and liis sons. 
 "It was not lawful for any to eat of them 
 but the priests only." Luke vi. 4. 
 
 These are all the particulars furnished us 
 by the sacred writers respecting the table of 
 shew-bread. No explanation is given, in 
 the scripture narrative, of the meaning of 
 this part of the furniture of the tabernacle. 
 In attempting to point out this meaning, it 
 does not become us to dogmatize, or deal in 
 positive assertion. It rather becomes us to 
 tread reverently here, as Moses did at the 
 burning bush, when he " put off the shoes 
 from his feet, because the ground on which 
 he stood was holy ground." We are not 
 at liberty, out of a type, or figure, to weave 
 an argument by which to set forth a truth 
 not elsewhere clearly taught in scripture. 
 The only legitimate use to make of the types 
 and figures of the Old Testament, is to set 
 them forth as illustrations of truths revealed 
 
THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD. 189 
 
 in oilier parts of the volume of revelation. 
 There is no difficulty whatever in attempt- 
 ing to make such a use of the Table of Shew- 
 bread. It affords us beautiful illustrations 
 :f God's precious truth, as we find the same 
 revealed in the pages of the New Testa- 
 ment. Let us proceed now to consider the 
 lessons which it teaches. 
 
 A7id the first lesson we learn here is taught 
 
 us ly THE NATURE OF THE BREAD UPON THE 
 TABLE. 
 
 This we know, on the very best authority, 
 was a symbol of Christ. Jesus taught us this 
 distinctly and clearly when He said, " I am 
 the bread of life." That bread upon the 
 table points to Jesus. How apt a type, or 
 emblem of Him, it was ! The hread was a 
 prepared substance. It was not a natural 
 growth. Forethought and design were em- 
 ployed in the production of it. And so it 
 was with Christ. His mysterious being was 
 
190 THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD. 
 
 not a thing of natural growth. It was the 
 result of God's infinite wisdom, — the product 
 of His everlasting purpose, or plan. Hence 
 said Jesus, anticipating His incarnation, and 
 contemplating Himself, from this very point 
 of view, — "A body hast Thou prejpared 
 me." 
 
 But that bread was a compound substance, 
 and in this aspect of it, how significantly it 
 pointed to Christ. The flour alone could 
 never have been formed into those loaves 
 which stood upon the golden table in the 
 tabernacle. Another element was necessary. 
 Water must be mingled and blended with 
 the flour, and then it must be exposed to the 
 action of fire, or it never could have been 
 made into bread. And it was just so with 
 Christ. He had been a partaker of the di- 
 vine nature from eternity. But this, of itself, 
 would never have qualified Him to be our 
 Ptedeemer. One nature, alone, could not 
 
THE TABLE OF SHEW-BTvEAD. 191 
 
 have enabled Him to become '^ the bread of 
 life" to a famishing world. If possessed 
 onit/ of the divine nature, or only of the 
 human nature, He never could have met the 
 necessities of our case. He must be a 
 compound being to do this. And so He took 
 our nature upon Him, and then passed 
 through the fire of suffering that He might 
 be a perfect Saviour. He blended the 
 humanity with the diviniiy. And thus he 
 was enabled to say of Himself — ^^ I am the 
 bread that came down from heaven." 
 
 That bread, upon the table, was a necessarij 
 substance. Without it the Jewish priest 
 would have had no strength for the per- 
 formance of his sacred functions, and no 
 enjoyment in any of the privileges of the 
 sanctuary. His feeble frame would have 
 fainted and failed, but for the support which 
 this afforded him. And just so necessary 
 Jesus is to the life and comfort of His people. 
 
192 THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD. 
 
 He could say, autliaritatively, to the Jews 
 when on earth, and the sayhig is as true 
 now as it was then, "Except ye eat the 
 flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, 
 ye have no life in you." It is not only a 
 'pleasant thing, a desirable thing, an imjjortant 
 thing for our souls to eat of this bread — but 
 in the strongest and most absolute sense, i' 
 is a necessary thing. 
 
 And then the bread upon that table was 
 as suitable as it was necessary. I\ was 
 wonderfully adapted to meet all the physical 
 wants of the priest who partook of it. It 
 adapted itself entirely to all the cravings of 
 his feeble frame. It furnished the whole of 
 his complex system with the nourishment it 
 required. As he partook of it he felt life 
 and vigor pervade every part of his body. 
 And just what bread is to the body, in this 
 respect, Christ is to the soul. His people 
 live on Him. They have an appropriating 
 
THE TABLE OF SHE iV -BIlExVD . 193 
 
 principle, a power of assimilation that ap- 
 plies to every aspect and particle of " the 
 truth as it is in Jesus." It is quickening 
 truth, sustaining truth, enlightening truth, 
 comforting, sanctifying, and saving truth. 
 
 And then, moreover, that bread upon the 
 golden table was unleavened bread. Leaven 
 in Scripture was the symbol of error, or cor- 
 ruption. Hence we find St. Paul speaking 
 of " the leaven of malice and wickedness." 
 Satan has been allowed to enter the Church, 
 in its outward organization, and to spread 
 the leaven of error and corruption through 
 all its departments. But he has never been 
 allowed to touch the bread of the Christian 
 tabernacle. This has always remained, — 
 what the Jewish type, or figure of it was, — 
 unleavened bread. Jesus, whom that bread 
 represented, has continued unchanged from 
 the beginning. The testimony of Scripture 
 concerning Him is, that He is "the same 
 
194 THE TABLE OF SHEW^ BREAD. 
 
 yesterday, to-day, and forever." " In Iliin 
 is no darkness at all/' He is truth without 
 any admixture of error. He is purity with- 
 out the slightest taint of corruption. 
 
 But, though without leayen in Illmseify 
 He may be received, and held, in a way that 
 will make Ilim, to its, as though He w^ere 
 bread that is leavened. This w^ill always be 
 the case when He is not received, and held, 
 in the simplicity and completeness of His 
 covenant relation to His people. '' Christ is 
 the substance of all true doctrine j all doctrine 
 in which anything else is mixed up with 
 Christ as the ground of dependence is false. 
 Any view of the gospel which makes Christ 
 t«?z<^ natural goodness, — Christ and goo^ works, 
 ' -Christ and the sacraments, — Christ and in- 
 ward experience, — ^Christ «?2(i any thing else, 
 the ground of a sinner's liope of acceptance 
 with God is a false vdew of it/' This is 
 attempting to leaven the bread of the Sane- 
 
THE TABLE OF SHE W-BRE aD . 195 
 
 tuaiy. Christ must be everything to His 
 people, or He will be nothing to them. And 
 thus, from the nature of the bread upon the 
 golden table we get our first lesson. 
 
 Our second lesson is furnished hy ohserving 
 
 THE WAY IN WHICH THIS BREAD WAS MANIFESTED. 
 
 Two things were required to this end, viz., 
 the light which shone from the golden can- 
 dlestick, and the table to lift up, or elevate 
 the bread so that it could be distinctly seen. 
 If the candlestick were not lighted, and cast- 
 ing forth its illuminating beams, the bread 
 might be upon the table, but darkness would 
 envelope it. The officiating priest could 
 never see it. And so it is only the light 
 of revelation, the illuminating influence 
 of the Holy Ghost, wliich can make mani- 
 fest Christ, the true bread from heaven, 
 to the souls of famishing sinners. But 
 this thought was so fully developed in 
 
196 THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD. 
 
 our last discourse that we need not enlarge 
 upon it here. 
 
 Yet, even when the candlestick was 
 lighted, and shedding its mild radiance 
 through the Holy Place, the services of the 
 table were needed for the shewing, or making 
 manifest of the bread. And hence the name 
 applied to it, — "the table of slietv-hresid.'' 
 The design of this table was plain and sim- 
 ple. It had but one office to fulfill. It had 
 its being, and its place, in the Sanctuary, for 
 the single purpose of lifting-up, exhibiting, 
 making manifest, or setting forth, the bread 
 which was placed upon it. And here the 
 question naturally arises, of what is this 
 table itself a figure or type ? What does 
 it represent in the Christian Church ? But, 
 in order to answer this question satisfac- 
 toril}^, it is necessary to ask another. What 
 is there in the Christian Church, which ac- 
 complishes an object analogous to that sub* 
 
THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD. 197 
 
 served by this table in the Jewish tabernacle ? 
 The one design of the golden table, we have 
 seen, was to lift up the hallowed bread, and 
 present it to view, continually. But this 
 bread represented Christ. And in the Chris- 
 tian Church, we know, the agency appointed 
 of God for exhibiting, holding forth, or 
 making Christ manifest to perishing men is 
 the office of the ministry. And thus we 
 seem authorized, nay, compelled to regard 
 the golden table, which held the shew-bread, 
 in the tabernacle, as beautifully represent- 
 ing to us, in symbol, the design, or i^urpose 
 of the Christian ministry. 
 
 Now this view of the matter furnishes us 
 with some striking and valuable suggestions. 
 Observe this table was a golden table. This 
 denoted its value. It was thus like the 
 candlestick, whose majestic shaft, with its 
 beautiful tracery of the same precious metal, 
 represented Christ. So, the minister of the 
 
198 THE TABLE OF SIIEW-BREAD. 
 
 gospel, to be able to execute his office rightly, 
 must, by the power of transforming grace, 
 be made like unto the Son of God. To be 
 a true minister, he must be conformed to 
 the image of Christ by being " created anew 
 in Christ Jesus." As the wood of the table 
 was overlaid with pure gold, to fit it for the 
 position it was to occupy in the tabernacle, 
 so the corrupt nature of the minister of the 
 gospel must be covered over with that fine 
 gold of the Sanctuary, the converting, sanc- 
 tifying grace of God, before he can be made, 
 in this respect, "a vessel sanctified and 
 meet for the Master's service." 
 
 Again, the ^9z/r^ gold which overspread 
 this table denoted the lionor and dignity of 
 the service in ivliich it zvas to he employed. 
 Its place was in the Sanctuary. Like Ga- 
 briel its high privilege was " to stand in the 
 presence of God." The bread spread out 
 upon it was called " the bread of the pres- 
 
THE TABLE OF SIIEVf -BEE AD . 199 
 
 ence,''' because it was presented conliD'ially 
 before the face of the Most High. And so 
 the honor, or dignity of the office of the 
 ministry, lies in this, that all its duties and 
 services connect themselves, directly, with 
 God. The minister is God's herald, or am- 
 bassador. He is the servant of Jesus Christ. 
 He hears the word at His mouth, and warns 
 men from Him. It was in this view of the 
 trust committed to him, that Paul rejoiced 
 in his portion, and " magnified his office." 
 
 But notice the dmplicity and plainness of 
 this table. What a contrast it presented, 
 in this respect, to the candlestick, which 
 stood over against it ! That was covered 
 all over with its curious wreathen work, its 
 golden, glorious tracery of buds, and flow- 
 ers, and fruit; while this was required to 
 be without embellishment or ornament of 
 any kind. Nor can we wonder at this. 
 The candlestick represented Christ, in tho 
 
200 THE TABLE OF SHEW-BTvEAD. 
 
 glory of His own infinite fulness and salli- 
 eiency. It is right and proper that He 
 should attract to Himself the admiring gaze 
 of all His people. Hence the elaborate 
 "work upon the candlestick. But the tahle 
 was only a subordinate agency, employed 
 to exhibit the shew-bread. It was not 
 the purpose of God that it should attract 
 attention to itself. Hence plainness and 
 simplicity marked it. All its significance, 
 and all its importance, lay in the hallowed 
 burden which it bore, — the consecrated 
 bread which it held up to the gaze of all 
 who entered the Holy Place. 
 
 In every rightly constructed sentence 
 there is some one word which brings out 
 the meaning of the passage. A skilful 
 elocutionist will throw all his emphasis into 
 that word. He will do this, partly, by the 
 increased sh^ess laid upon that Y\'ord, and 
 partly, by keeping down, and making ub- 
 
THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD. 201 
 
 emphatic the other words in the sentence. 
 God built the tabernacle on this principle. 
 Take the portion of it now before ns, as an 
 illustration. The table of shew-bread is a 
 symbolical sentence^ rightly constructed. 
 The one word which brings out the meaning 
 of this sentence is the Iread, God made 
 this word emphatic, by the stress laid upon 
 it, the prominence assigned it. At the same 
 time he added vastly to the force of that 
 emphasis by keeping down the other parts 
 of the sentence, i. e., by the utter plainness 
 of the table itself. What a lesson this 
 teaches to the ministers of the gospel ! How 
 significantly it enjoins them, to "j)reach 
 not themselves^ but Christ Jesus, the Lord." 
 If the gospel be compressed into a single 
 sentence, the emphatic words connected 
 with it will be — Jesus Christ and Him onici-* 
 fied. Whatever the gifts, or attainments of 
 a minister be, they should all be employed, 
 
202 THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD. 
 
 "first, last, midst, and without end" in 
 giving emphasis to these words. lie should 
 give them all the prominence, and lay upoa 
 them all the stress in his power. And in 
 aiming to do this, he should keep down 
 everything else, and esjjeciall?/ Jceep doim 
 himself. What the bread was to the table, 
 that Christ should be to the minister. The 
 minister is nothing. Christ is everything. 
 The object of the ministry is to hold up 
 Christ, and make Him known. The mean- 
 ing, the dignity, the power, the worth of the 
 ministrj^, depend on the clearness and faith- 
 fulness with which it exhibits Christ to 
 men. And this lesson we are taught when 
 we see the golden table, in its plainness^ and 
 utter absence of ornament, as it were, hiding 
 itself beneath the glorious symbol of Christ, 
 the hallowed bread which it ever presented 
 to view. 
 
 Yie look at this table again, and the third 
 
THE TABLE OF SIIEAV-BRE AD . 203 
 
 lesson it teacJies us is suggested hj the abun- 
 dance OF THE SUPPLY placed upon it. 
 
 The table bore tivelve loaves. There was 
 one for each of the tribes. No part of God's 
 family was overlooked, or neglected, in the 
 symbolical provision thus made for their ne- 
 cessities. And what was true, in this 
 respect, of the symbol, is equally true of 
 the thing symbolised. When the prodigal 
 son came to himself, amidst the want and 
 desolation that stared him in the face, 
 he said : " In my Father's house is bread 
 enough, and to spare." And every famish- 
 ing soul may see this, in returning to God 
 through penitence and faith in Christ. In 
 the broadest and fullest sense, it is true, 
 spiritually considered, that " in our Father's 
 house there is bread enough, and to spare.' 
 
 Jesus, whom the bread upon the golden 
 table represented, is an infinite Savior. The 
 resources of His sufficiency are exhaustless. 
 
204 THE TABLE OF SHEW-BKEAD. 
 
 Look at yonder son. How striking an em- 
 blem, or representative he is of Christ in 
 this respect ! See, how like a god, he 
 pours forth unceasingly his beams of light ! 
 For six thousand years he has been doing 
 this, without a moment's intercession. No 
 power of human or angelic arithmetic can 
 calculate the number of his rays. And yet, 
 so far from being exhausted, he is just as full 
 of power to shine, and bless, a benighted 
 universe now as in the day of his creation. 
 And so it is with Christ. Infinity pertains 
 to every view we can take of his character, 
 and every relation he sustains to his people. 
 His love, his wisdom, his j)ower, his grace 
 his goodness are all infinite. And infinite 
 too is the atoning efQcacy of His sacrifice. 
 It is derogatory to His character that we 
 should apply measures and guages to the 
 infinitude of His fulness.. There is no limit 
 to the worth and efficacy of His great sacri- 
 
THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD 205 
 
 fice. And there is no limit either to the 
 stores of Ilis sufficiency^ when considered as 
 the bread of life to His people. The twelve 
 loaves upon the golden table of the taberna 
 cle w^ere indeed a definite number, but they 
 were designed to represent that which is 
 indefinite. 
 
 " Christ, the true bread," says an English 
 writer, " is sufficient for the wants of all. 
 His sacrifice was made for all the tribes of 
 earth, and for each individual of every tribe. 
 The everlasting purpose was — ' that he, by 
 the grace of God should taste death for evei^i/ 
 man.' Heb. ii. 9. His love and His re- 
 demption were alike without limit. He 
 ' willeth all men to be saved,' and therefore 
 ' he gave himself a ransom for all.' 1 Tim. 
 ii. 6. Those strangely mistake the matter, 
 who would shut up the mercy of our God, 
 as willing to save, within the narrow limits 
 into which man's perverseness in refusing to 
 
20G THE TABLE OF SHE W-BIiEAD. 
 
 be saved has drawn it, and connt the SaviouA 
 blood a ransom enough for the few who are 
 saved, but too small for the multitudes who 
 perish. This is not tc exalt the grace of 
 God, but to debase it. Is this the way of 
 God's dealings ? Does lie not clothe with 
 grass and with flowers vast tracts which no 
 eye ever rests upon ? Does lie not scatter 
 the fruits of the earth, in endless profusion, 
 even where there are none to enjoy them ? 
 Does He not shower down His rain on the 
 desert? and His sunbeams on the deep? 
 And is it likely, is it possible, that God, 
 who is so liberal, so lavish as the God of 
 creation, should shut up his hand, and con- 
 tract his bounty, as the God of grace ? that 
 when drawing forth out of the depths of 
 His Infinite love, a plan for the redemption" 
 of ruined man, and so bent upon it, as not 
 to spare His own dear Son, but to give Him 
 up for the purpose — is it possible that He 
 
THE TABLE OF FHEW-BREAD. 207 
 
 should calculate and weigh out, and adjust 
 with scrupulous accuracy the worth of the 
 blood of Jesus, so that it should just be, to 
 a fraction, a commercial equivalent for the 
 sins of His elect people, but neither more, 
 nor less ? Xo. " He died for all." 2 Cor. 
 V. 15. As quaint old Henry Wotton ex- 
 presses it : — 
 
 " One rosy drop from David's seed 
 "Was "vs'orlds of seas to quencli God's ire." 
 
 In our Father's house, there is " bread 
 enough, and to spare." This lesson is sug- 
 gested to us by the abundance of the supply 
 of bread upon the golden table. 
 
 We hole to this table again and v:e are 
 taught a lesson hj the tdie for the renewing 
 of the tread iqjon it. 
 
 By an ordinance of God this was always 
 to be done upon the Sabbath. And seeing 
 that the renewing of it was to be weekly 
 
208 THE TABLE OF SHEW-BSEAD. 
 
 there was a manifest propriety in connecting 
 it with this hallowed day. Thus God would 
 put honor upon the Sabbath, and associate 
 it, in the minds of His people, with the 
 thought of obtaining the supply of their 
 spiritual necessities. One circumstance con- 
 nected with this matter may indeed excite 
 surprise. The supply of manna which was 
 given to Israel with unvarying regularity on 
 every other day of the week was suspended 
 on the Sabbath, while the loaves upon the 
 table of shew-bread, never given on any 
 other day of the week, were always fur- 
 nished fresh on this particular day. The 
 question naturally arises luliy was this ? No 
 explanation is given in the scriptures. We 
 may venture a suggestion respecting it. 
 The manna took the place of the dail}^ bread 
 of the people, the supply of their temporal 
 wants, ordinarily procured as the result of 
 tlieir oivn labor ; it would seem proper, there- 
 
THE TABLE OF SIIEW-BREAD. 209 
 
 fore, that the supply of this should be in- 
 terrupted on the day on which they were 
 not allowed to pursue their wonted avoca 
 ti)ns. But the loaves upon the golden table 
 represented Christ, the true bread w^hich 
 came down from heaven. This was not to 
 be obtained by any work or labor done by 
 men. It was bread sent down from heaven, 
 of God's own free grace and goodness. It 
 was equally proper, therefore, that the giv- 
 ing of this should be connected with the day 
 that was specially set apart for the solemn 
 w^orship of God. And thus this weekly re- 
 newal of the bread upon the golden table on 
 the Sabbath pointed to the ministrations of 
 the sanctuary. These pertain peculiarly to 
 that day which God hallowed to His own 
 special service. And what is the design of 
 these sacred ministrations but to supply 
 God's sanctuary with that spiritual bread 
 which the necessities of His people require ? 
 
210 THE TABLE OF SHEW-BEEAD. 
 
 And this is done eiTectually when Jesus is 
 clearly and faithfully held forth to men, in 
 the fulness and freeness of His great salva- 
 tion. When His character is unfolded — 
 when His truth is explained — when His love 
 is made known — when His covenant is laid 
 open — and the sweetness of His saving name 
 is revealed, then indeed "the bread which 
 came dovv^n from heaven " is set forth anew 
 on the table of the Christian sanctuary ; and 
 those who tread its courts possess the sub- 
 stance, of which the table of shew-bread in 
 the Jewish tabernacle was the shadow. 
 
 But a shadow affords only an imperfect 
 representation of the substance Vv^hich fore- 
 casts it. All figures fail adequately to re- 
 present the fulness of blessing that we 
 enjoy in Christ. The figure before us fails 
 in this. The supply of bread for the Jewish 
 tabernacle was a periodical supjily. It was 
 furnished only once a week. But it is not 
 
THE TA.ELE OF SHEW-BREAD. 211 
 
 BO with US. Jesus, our bread from heaven, 
 has " aU seasons for his own." lie is set 
 forth, indeed, most formally, and fully on the 
 Sabbath, but not exclusively then. He may 
 be set forth at any time. In season and out 
 of season His ministers are required to 
 '' hold forth the word of life." At all times, 
 in all places, and under all circumstanceSj 
 they are authorised and expected to set 
 forth on God's table that bread of life, of 
 which when any man eateth he shall live 
 forever. 
 
 In looJcing once more at the golden table we 
 learn a lesson from the continual freshness of 
 the bread set out upon it. 
 
 This bread as we have seen was renewed 
 every week. It was never permitted to 
 grow old, so as to become stale and unfit for 
 use. There was/r^s/i bread upon the table 
 from year to year, from generation to gene- 
 ration. This was beautifully significant of 
 
212 THE TABLE OF SHEW-BP.E AB. 
 
 -what God's spiritual Israel find fully realized 
 in Christ. The constantly renewed loaves, and 
 the ever repeated sacrifices, of the Mosaic 
 dispensation, were practical and most power- 
 ful arguments in proof of the imperfection of 
 those services. But Christ, our bread from 
 heaven, never growls old. It needs no re- 
 newing. We w^ant no other food for the 
 support and nourishment of our souls. We 
 crave no change in Jesus. As lie is now, as 
 He has been from the beginning, He is " all 
 our salvation and all our desire." The lan- 
 guage of our hearts, in reference to Him, is, 
 " Lord, evermore, give us this bread." The 
 bread furnished in the Christian sanctuary 
 is always fresh, always new, always pleasant 
 and satisfying. As Israel wandered through 
 the wilderness they often were tired of the 
 manna on which they fed there. They 
 murmured at its sameness. The language 
 of their repining was : " Our souls loathe 
 
tills light bread." But tlie spiritual Israel 
 have no such experience. They are often 
 weary of other things ; they grow weary of 
 themselves — weary of their sins and sor- 
 rows, and weary of the world and its vani- 
 ties — but they never, never grow w^eary of 
 Jesus. Having once eaten of the bread 
 which He gives, which He constitutes^ it is 
 literally true that they " never hunger " for 
 the husks the world can offer. There is a 
 satisfying element in this bread which the 
 soul feels, and rejoices in, to the very centre 
 of its being. As believers live by faith on 
 Jesus, it is the language of genuine experi- 
 ence to which they give utterance, when 
 they say of Him ; 
 
 "His person fixes all our love, 
 
 His blood removes our fear ; 
 And while He pleads for us above, 
 
 His arm preserves us here. 
 
 His word of promise is our food, 
 His spirit is our guide ; 
 
214 THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD. 
 
 Thus daily is our strength renew'd, 
 And all our ivants supplied^ 
 
 But, no abstract description of the proper- 
 ties of ordinary bread will give us a true 
 knowledge of it, till we taste and partake of 
 it ourselves, and so it is emphatically with 
 this heavenly bread. Those who have never 
 had personal experience of the preciousness 
 of Christ cannot believe the report of Him 
 which his people give. They are ready to 
 ask of Him, as the friends of the spouse, in 
 book of Canticles asked of her : — '' What is 
 thy beloved, more than any other beloved ?" 
 And if like the spouse we answer : " Our 
 Beloved is the chief among ten thousand, 
 and altogether lovely " — this will not carry 
 conviction. Therefore we say to the hungry 
 and famishing, — " 0, taste" this heavenly 
 bread, and see for yourselves what its pre- 
 ciousness is! When you have done this, 
 
THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD. 215 
 
 you will know how fresh, how satisfying 
 this bread is ! Then each of you will be 
 ready to say — 
 
 " Of Him who did salvation bring, 
 I could forever tbink and sing ; 
 When with His name I'm charm'd in song, 
 I wish myself all ear, all tongue. 
 
 O let me ever share His grace. 
 
 Still taste His love, and view His face ! 
 
 Still let my tongue resound His name, 
 And Jesus be my constant theme. 
 
 Blest Saviour ! what delicious fare ! 
 
 How sweet thy entertainments pre ! 
 Never did angels taste above, 
 
 Redeeming grace and dying love !" 
 
 And this sweet lesson we have shadowed 
 forth in the freshness of the bread placed 
 upon the golden table of the Tabernacle. 
 
 We taJce one more hole at this table, and 
 gather our sixth and last lesson from 'rin cov- 
 ering OF frankincense which we see spread 
 
 OUT OVER THE TOP OF THE BREAD. 
 
216 THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD. 
 
 The direction giyen respecting this part 
 of the service of the table was in these 
 words : — " And thou shalt put pure frankin- 
 cense upon each row, that it may be on the 
 bread for a memorial, even an offering made 
 by fire unto the Lord." Lev. xxiv. 7. 
 This frankincense was an aromatic gum, 
 w^hich, when pulverised, yielded a beautiful, 
 pure, white powder. This was placed upon 
 the table, either, as some suppose, in one of 
 the golden vessels connected therewith, or, 
 more probably, by simply being spread out 
 over the top of the loaves. Two things 
 seem to have been represented by this 
 part of our subject. When we see the 
 white powder of the frankincense spread out 
 all over the loaves upon the table, and when 
 w^e bear in mind that those loaves were a 
 figure of Christ, and that frankincense is a 
 token of that which is pleasing, or grateful, 
 we seem to have exliihited, in heautiful symbol 
 
THE TABLE OF SHEW-EUE AD . 217 
 
 lefore us, the accej)tahlencss of Christ and Ms 
 worh to the Father. We are reminded of 
 those different occasions, during the progress 
 of our Saviour's personal ministry on earth, 
 when the eternal Father, coming forth, as it 
 were, from the awful majesty of His invisi- 
 ble throne, and pointing to the Incarnate 
 Saviour, toiling onward in His painful path, 
 proclaimed, with His own voice, the memo- 
 rable words, " This is my beloved Son, in 
 whom I am well pleased r The golden table 
 with its incense-covered bread was a pleas- 
 ing object to the Father. His eye rested on 
 it with delight, because it stood before Him 
 as the significant symbol or representative 
 of His Beloved Son. And so the preaching 
 of the gospel, irrespective altogether of its 
 saving influence on the souls of men, is de- 
 clared to be "a sweet savor unto God." 
 God is pleased with the exercise of the min- 
 istry in itself considered. The simple thing 
 
218 THE TABLE OF SnEV7-BREAD. 
 
 of holding forth ^^ the truth as it is in 
 Jesus " is that in which He delights. When 
 Christ is lifted up, in the presence of ruined 
 men, as the bread which came down from 
 heaven, a service is rendered, in the highest 
 sense acceptable to God. And this truth 
 was symbolised, in the Jewish tabernacle, 
 when the shew-bread was seen, standing on 
 the golden table, covered all over with the 
 white powder of the frankincense. 
 
 But, there is another thought suggested, 
 and illustrated, by this part of our subject, 
 and that is the intercession of Christ as the 
 procuring cause of all our spiritual enjoy- 
 ments and Uessings. When the loaves were 
 removed from the table, on the Sabbath, 
 they were given to the officiating priests. 
 They were to eat them, and none but they. 
 And while they were doing this, the frank- 
 incense, which had lain scattered over the 
 surface of the loaves, was collected into one 
 
THE TABLE OF SIIEW-BREAD. 219 
 
 of tlie golden vessels, and " burned by fire 
 as an offering before the Lord." There are 
 the priests satisfying their hunger with the 
 bread which has been taken from the golden 
 table, and deriving strength and comfort 
 from it ; and even while they are thus occu- 
 pied, the incense is burning, and its fuming 
 clouds are rising, with grateful fragrance, be- 
 fore the presence of the Lord. What a 
 beautiful symbol this was of Christ's inter- 
 cession, as connected with all our spiritual 
 enjoyments, and the procuring cause of all 
 our blessings ! We read God's word, and 
 are comforted by it ; we bow in prayer be- 
 fore the mercy-seat and are refreshed ; we 
 gather round the sacramental board and find 
 our souls " strengthened by the body and 
 blood of Christ, as our bodies are by the 
 bread and wine ;" we listen to the preach- 
 ing of the gospel ; its doctrines distil as the 
 dew upon our souls, making them to grow 
 
220 THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD. 
 
 and flourish like a watered garden ; but 
 while we thus sit in heavenly places in 
 Christ Jesus, and find ourselves abundantly 
 satisfied with the plenteousness of His 
 house, let us never, never forget the con- 
 nection of all this circle of privilege with 
 the gracious service of our Great High Priest 
 within the veil. There the incense of His 
 merits is diffusing its grateful fragrance un- 
 ceasingly before the mercy-seat, and we are 
 receiving the benefits of the same when the 
 golden oil of His grace flows down to 
 strengthen and comfort, to sanctify and save 
 our souls. 
 
 Such are some of the lessons shadowed 
 forth by the table of shew-bread, as it occu- 
 pied its appointed place in the Jewish 
 Tabernacle. 
 
 In conclusioUy it seems like a natural infer- 
 ence from tills siibject to speak of the choice 
 provision God has made for the spiritual sup- 
 
THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD. 221 
 
 '^}Il/ of His people in the luilderness of this 
 ivorld. It was symbolised, in the tabernacle, 
 by the bread upon the golden table. This 
 indeed was for the priests only. But, under 
 the gospel dispensation, we know, all the 
 Lord's people are priests. They are all per- 
 mitted to enter the sanctuary and eat of 
 that which this shew-bread represented. 
 The bread of the tabernacle was choice 
 bread. It Avas made of the finest wheat. 
 It might well be called " bread from heaven." 
 Now did it ever occur to you to ask the ques- 
 tion where the flour came from of which 
 this bread was made in the wilderness ? Of 
 course the wandering tribes could sow no 
 seed, and reap no harvests on the burning 
 sands of the desert. To carry grain or flour 
 with them through the forty years of their 
 sojourn was an absolute impossibility. The 
 material then of which this bread was made 
 must have been furnished by miracle. Nor 
 
222 THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD. 
 
 is it surprising that this should have been sOc 
 When the table of the people was fed by 
 miracle for six days in the week, it is hard- 
 ly likely that the Lord's table, on the Sab- 
 bath, should have been supplied from a lower 
 source. And this bread, of the finest 
 wheat, thus miraculously provided, how 
 striking a symbol it was of Christ, " the 
 bread which came down from heaven," in 
 the most true and literal sense. And it is 
 on that the souls of His people live in this 
 world. And this being the case, we cannot 
 wonder to notice the strong expressions 
 which God employs to characterize the 
 spiritual provision made for His people in 
 the sanctuary. In one place He calls it, — 
 '' marrow and fatness," — Ps. Ixiii. 5^ in 
 another it is — " wine and milk," Is. Iv. 1.; 
 in another it is, — " honey out of the rock," 
 Ps. Ixxxi. 16; again it is, "a feast of fat 
 things and wine on the lees, well refined." 
 
THE TABLE OF SIIEW-BREAD. 223 
 
 Is. XXV. 6; and yet again it is spoken of as 
 '^ the corn of heaven and angel's food/ Ps. 
 Ixxviii. 25. And there is really less of 
 figure about these expressions than Ave ordi- 
 narily suppose. For " the truth as it is in 
 Jesus " is literally '^ angels' food." They 
 live on God. Their souls are enlightened, 
 sustained, and blessed by the truth that re- 
 lates to the character of God. But of this 
 we have no reason to suppose that the angels 
 know anything except as it is revealed to 
 them through Christ. And thus it is true 
 that angels in heaven, as well as saints on 
 earth, live on Him. How exalted and glo- 
 rious is the position of a Christian ! He 
 feeds on angels' food. He gathers clusters 
 from the vines of the heavenly Canaan, even 
 while wandering through the wilderness. 
 He drinks from wells fed by that "river 
 whose streams make glad the city of God." 
 Who would not be a Christian ! No wonder 
 
224 THE TABLE OF SHEW-BTvEAD. 
 
 that David should esteem the fare of God's 
 sanctuary, more than his necessary food ; 
 and speak of it as '* sweeter than honey 
 and the honeycomb." And no wonder that 
 Paul so exulted " in the excellency of the 
 knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord." Men 
 of literature and science find pleasure in 
 iji «.'})' cljosen pursuits, and there is, unques- 
 tionably, much real enjoyment in them. 
 But all the joy which the whole range of 
 nature yields, compared to that which the 
 believer finds in Jesus, is but as the husk, 
 or the shell to the kernel. Follower of 
 Christ, how satisfied, how cheerful you 
 should be ! How you should rejoice in your 
 portion ! " Happy are the people who are 
 in such a case ! Yea, blessed are the peo- 
 ple who have the Lord for their God!" 
 
 And you, beloved hearers, who are not 
 Christians, why stand you afar off from this 
 blessedness ? Apart from Jesus there is 
 
THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAD. 225 
 
 nothing in the universe that can satisfy the 
 cravings of your deathless spirits. The pangs 
 of eternal hunger must prey upon you if 
 you feed not on this living bread. Oh, is 
 there not provision made for you in the 
 sanctuary ? 
 
 " Why are its bounties all in vain 
 
 Before unwilling hearts displayed ? 
 Was not for you the victim slain ? 
 
 Are you denied the children's bread ?" 
 
 " In our Father's house is bread enoufj^h, 
 
 and to spare ;" and you perish with hunger. 
 
 Will you not arise and go to your Father, 
 
 and say unto him, " Father, I have sinned 
 
 against heaven, and in thy sight, and am 
 
 no more worthy to be called thy son ?" He 
 
 will receive you and bless you. He will 
 
 bring forth the best robe, even the garment 
 
 of salvation, the robe of Jesus' righteous 
 
 ness^ and put it on you. And then there 
 17 
 
226 THE TABLE OF SHEW-BREAP. 
 
 will be "joy in the presence of the angels 
 of God" over another sinner that repent- 
 eth. May God in mercy give the grace 
 that will bring every wandering prodi- 
 gal here present to-night thus home to his 
 Father's house for Jesus' sake — Aimen! 
 
CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 'g^nb lljott sljiilt mnhe Hit nltiir ia bunt intense itpow; d 
 siyittim-boob sljall lljoti make it. gi cubit sipll be ll^c 
 lengtlj tl^ereof, anb a cubit ll^e breabilj tljeuof; fcui- 
 square sl^all it be; anb tbo cubits sljall be ll)e Ijcigljt 
 lljereof ; tljc Ijorns lljereof sljall be of t^e snme. gnb 
 t^ott sljalt obtrlag it foitlj pure golb, llje top tijcreof, 
 aub tlje sibcs thereof rou nb about, anb llje Ijoins tljcre- 
 0f ; anb iljou sljalt muhe unto it a crotrrn of cjolb rounb 
 " about, g^nb Ibo golbeit lings sl^att tljou mahe to it 
 Muber i^t crobn of it, bn tlje tbo corners lljercof, upon 
 tl^e tbo sibes of it sl^alt tl^ou ntabe it; anb tl^cn sljnll 
 be for places for tlje stabcs to bear it bitl)al. ^.nb tgou 
 sl)alt make tl^^e stabes of sl^ittim-lnoob, anb obcrlau tl^enx 
 biitlj golb. gub tljott sljalt put it before tlje bail tijat 
 is bjJ tlje arf of tbe icstimong, before tlje mercg-seat 
 
228 
 
 %f b obcr tlje fcstimoiig, bijcre | bill meet foifb i\tt, 
 g.nb giHroit sI}nU bunt lljcnon sfotcf incense cbcrg 
 Kiorning : toljeir Ije brcssetlj t^e lamps, Ije sljall burn in- 
 cense upon it. giub fol^jen giaron ligbtetl^ flje lumps at 
 jcben, |)e sljall burn incense upon it; a perpetual in- 
 tenee before tlje ^orb tljrougbout gour generation, ge 
 sljall offer no strange incense tijcreou, nor burnt sacri- 
 fice, nor meat offering; neitljer sbaK ge pour brink 
 offering tijercon."— Exodus, xxx. 1 — 9. 
 
VI. 
 
 There was sometMng very interesting 
 and striking in the nature of the miracle by 
 which the prophet Elijah was sustained^ 
 while he was an inmate of the lowly dwell- 
 ing of the widow of Sarepta. It was a time 
 of famine. When he came to the home of 
 that poor woman, her sole supply, for her- 
 self and child, consisted of a handful of 
 meal at the bottom of a barrel, and of a lit- 
 tle oil in a cruse. She was about to make 
 what she supposed would be her last cake, 
 that she and her child might eat it and die. 
 T^t she believed the prophet's word when 
 he assured her, in the name of God, of a 
 miraculous supply during all the days of the 
 
230 THE ALTAR OF INTENSE. 
 
 famine. She acted in accordance with thig 
 faith, and the prophet's word was verified. 
 For through all the years of the famine 
 ^' the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did 
 the cruse of oil fail." We marvel at this, 
 whenever we reflect upon it. And yet we 
 have something analogous to it in God's 
 dealing with his Church. Look at this 
 hible. It is a little volume which you can 
 carry in your pocket. It contains some 
 chapters of history, a little poetry, some 
 prophecy, a few biographical sketches, and 
 several letters. This is all. You can teach 
 the substance of its contents to your child 
 before he leaves the nursery. How like the 
 widow's handful of meal in the barrel this 
 is ! And yet, this is all the household of 
 God have to live upon spiritually. Yes, 
 and it is all they need to have. They ne\^r 
 can get through with it. For long centuries 
 they have lived upon it. Yet still, from age 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 231 
 
 to age, the truth remains — the miracle con- 
 tinues — and "the barrel of meal wasteth 
 not; neither does the cruse of oil fliil." 
 
 The exhaustlessness of scripture ! how 
 often, as we handle it, we are impressed, and 
 almost overpowered with this thought ! 
 This train of thought is suggested by the 
 simplicity and plainness of the object we 
 are now to consider, and yet the fulness of 
 the instruction imparted by it. 
 
 Our present subject is — The altar of in^ 
 cense and the lessons which it teaches. 
 
 There were two altars connected with the 
 Jewish Tabernacle; one of these was of 
 brass, the other of gold. The former stood 
 without, in the court of the tabernacle, the 
 latter stood within the tabernacle, in the 
 Holy Place. The former was connected with 
 the shedding of blood, and the offering of 
 animal sacrifices ; the latter was connected 
 with the burning of sweet spices^ and tho 
 
232 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 rising thence of clouds of fragrant incense. 
 The truths that centred in the one told of 
 the atonement offered for the sins of God's 
 people ; the fuming incense offered on the 
 other told of the high calling of God's peo- 
 plC; and the acceptableness of their persons 
 and services in His sight. But though re- 
 presenting aspects of truth widely different 
 in their character, yet these two altars were 
 most intimately and indissolubly related to 
 each other. The golden altar owed all the 
 utility and worth of its service to the sprink- 
 liug upon it of the blood that had been shed 
 upon the brazen altar ; and the fire which 
 caused the incense to send forth its clouds 
 of fragrant smoke from the altar in the Holy 
 Place was kindled from the coals which had 
 consumed the victim on the altar of burnt- 
 offering. 
 
 This golden altar constituted the third 
 article of the furniture of the Holy Place* 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 Jewish Tabernacle. 
 
 p. 232. 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 233 
 
 As the priest entered the sanctuary from 
 the outer court, it stood directly in front of 
 him, at an equal distance from the candle- 
 stick and the table of shew-bread, and im- 
 mediately in front of the vail, or curtain 
 which separated the Holy Place from the 
 Most Holy. 
 
 The materials of which this altar was com- 
 posed, like those of the ark itself, and most 
 other parts of the sacred structure, were 
 the shittim, or acacia wood overlaid with 
 gold. 
 
 The dimensions of this altar are given 
 with great distinctness and precision. Its 
 height was two cubits, or three feet of our 
 measure. In length and breadth the sides 
 were one cubit, or 18 inches each. The 
 height of this golden altar exceeded that of 
 any other article of the tabernacle furniture 
 whose dimensions are given by the sacred 
 writer. The dimensions of the candlestick 
 
234 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 ar^ not stated. But the golden altar was 
 higher by half a cubit than either the table 
 of shew-bread, or the ark of the covenant. 
 Thus it took the lead in the tabernacle ; its 
 summit rose more to a level with Him whose 
 dwelling place was " between the Cherubim 
 over the mercj-seat," and thence was wafted 
 the fragrant cloud, which sheltered under 
 its perfume both the priest who ministered, 
 and the other vessels of the sanctuary. This 
 teaches us the lofty standing of our Great 
 High Priest in the sanctuary above. His 
 first entrance there, clothed in the garment 
 of our humanity, added a new and sweet 
 odor to the heavenly temple. A cloud of 
 human fragrance rolled up, mingling itself 
 with the cloud of divine glory, and the 
 dwelling place of the Most High was filled 
 with the holy perfume. It covers over every 
 ill-savor that otherwise might be wafted 
 from the worshipper on earth in the Holy 
 
THE ALTAE OF INCENSE- 235 
 
 Place. It presents its fragrance immeiliate- 
 ly " before the Lord/' so that no weakness, 
 no failure on the part of His people, may 
 hinder their ready access to the throne of 
 grace. 
 
 This altar was furnished with horns, or 
 projections at the several corners, though the 
 purpose for which they were intended does 
 not appear. 
 
 Like the table of shew-bread, the altar of 
 of incense had "a crown of gold round 
 about." This denoted here, as in the former 
 case, a rim, or border, by which the cens4r, 
 containing the coals of fire which consumed 
 the incense, would be preserved in its place. 
 
 There was a ring on each of the opposite 
 corners of the altar, directly under the 
 crown, or rim, through which staves were 
 placed for the purpose of carrying it about, 
 in the journeyings of the people through the 
 wilderness. 
 
236 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 Let this suffice for tlie description of the 
 golden altar. We proceed now to notice the 
 practical lessons taught us by this article of 
 the tabernacle furniture. 
 
 We gather our fird lesson from the shape 
 
 AND POSITION OF THIS ALTAR. 
 
 The altar was four-square. Its length 
 and its breadth were equal. A square is a 
 compact, even-sided figure, and it seems to 
 have been especially chosen for the form 
 of the altar as if to represent the complete- 
 ness and fulness of the work effected there- 
 on, whether of sacrifice or of incense. The 
 same measure and estimate were thus pre- 
 sented every way, whether towards God, or 
 towards man. But the squareness of the 
 altar also denoted the firmness and stabihty 
 of the service connected with it. Prayer 
 and praise are not temporary things. They 
 were not designed to abide merely while 
 that dispensat^'on lasted, or this with ivhich 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 237 
 
 we stand connected. Frayer indeed will be 
 confined to earth, for it is the language of 
 want, the outgoing of desire unsatisfied. 
 But " praise waiteth for God " in the hea- 
 venly, as well as in the earthly Zion. It is 
 the company of the redeemed, in the glory 
 of their everlasting state that our Divine 
 Saviour has in view when He says, — " In 
 the midst of the Church wiU I sing praise 
 unto Thee." Ps. xxii. 22. And David ex- 
 presses the same idea, in the words so beau- 
 tifully rendered in our metrical version : — 
 
 " ril praise my Maker with my breath ; 
 
 And when my voice is lost in death 
 Praise shall employ my nobler powers : 
 
 My days of praise shall ne'er be past, 
 "While life and thought, and being last, 
 
 And immortality endures." 
 
 The golden altar stood, as we have seen^ 
 in front of the vail, or directly before the 
 mercy-seat. There was no possible waj of 
 
238 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 approach to the ark of the covenant, and the 
 mercy-seat upon it, but by this altar. And 
 as this altar, with the incense burning upon 
 it, points to Christ and the merits of his 
 sacrifice, we cannot look upon it, in the posi- 
 tion it occupies, without seeing in it a most 
 beautiful and impressive illustration of the 
 solemn truth announced by our Saviour 
 when he said, — " No man cometh unto the 
 Father but by me." As we thus gaze upon 
 this golden altar, it is as though each of its 
 four horns were pointing to Christ, while 
 upon its glittering, blood-sprinkled sides we 
 seem to see inscribed the lines of the hymn 
 we often sing — 
 
 " Thou art the way, to Thee alone, 
 From sin and death we flee, 
 And he who would the Father seek, 
 Must seek Him Lord by Thee." 
 
 But see now how this altar stands. In 
 properly arranged diagrams, or drawings, 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 239 
 
 it is represented as standing cornerwise, 
 having an angle, and consequently a horn, 
 turned toward the spectator instead of a 
 full, square side. This position has been 
 adopted from the consideration of the fourth 
 verse of the passage chosen for our present 
 text. Here we read, " And two golden 
 rings shalt thou make to it, under the crown 
 of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the 
 two sides of it shalt thou make them ; and 
 they shall be for places for the staves to 
 bear it withal." From this it is plain that 
 there were but two rings for these staves, 
 and not four; and that these rings were 
 placed at two opposite corners immediately 
 imder the crown. This would render it 
 necessary that the altar should be carried 
 cornerwisey rather than in what we should 
 term a square position. And as it was car- 
 ried, so it would be deposited, and so it would 
 Btand in the tabernacle. The object of this 
 
240 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 variation from ail tlie otlier vessels of the 
 tabernacle which had staves^ — each of the 
 others having four rings — was, it is be- 
 lieved, in order that one of the horns of the 
 altar should be directed toward each part of 
 Israel's host. The tabernacle itself stood 
 east and west ; and the four camps of Israel 
 took up their positions, severally, with refer- 
 ence to this holy dwelling; Judah, east; 
 Heuben, south; Ephraim, west; and Dan, 
 north. If the altar stood, as we are suppo- 
 sing, angularly in the Holy Place, one of its 
 horns would then be pointing to each of these 
 four camps ; and the incense from its sum- 
 mit would have equal reference, in all its 
 power and value, to each portion of God's 
 chosen family. Does not this afford us a 
 beautiful type of the intercession of Christ, 
 offered alike, in all its efficacy and fra- 
 grance, for CA^ery portion of his people ? 
 How delightful to think of the savor of that 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSS. 211 
 
 sweet perfume as ascending with reference 
 to northj south, east, and west ; and of its 
 efficiency and fulness as presented alike in 
 behalf of every believing soul ! Now, that 
 the people of God are scattered to the four 
 winds of heaven, separated from one 
 another, and broken up into little frag- 
 ments, how comforting it is to remember 
 that all are presented by Christ in unbroken 
 unity, and in full perfectness before God ! 
 
 But then, there is another truth taught us 
 by these horns of the golden altar. Observe 
 their pointing was only to the iriles of Israel, 
 The service with v/hich they stood connect- 
 ed, and all the blessings following in its 
 train, constituted part of the privilege pe- 
 culiar to the family of God. It was a privi- 
 lege restricted to them. And this is equally 
 true of the intercession of Qhrist, typified 
 by the golden altar and its incense. This 
 
 intercession, in its saving influence, at least, 
 11 
 
242 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 is restricted to the memlbers of Ilis own 
 family. I have spoken on former occasions 
 of the atonement of Christ as unlimited in 
 its nature. This language was only intend- 
 ed to apply to the tuoHJi, or merits of His 
 sacrifice. In that respect, it was doubtless, 
 in the beautiful language of the Prayer 
 Book, '' a full, perfect, and sufficient sacri- 
 fice for the sins of the whole world." But 
 when you come to the application of the 
 atonement, of course it is limited. And that 
 which determines these limits is the abso- 
 lute sovereignty of God. And so the in- 
 tercession of Christ is limited. By his own 
 teaching. He put an end to all real ground 
 for controversy on this point, among those 
 who desire simply to follow his guidance. 
 "What this is we see clearly in the words of 
 the great prayer, which He offered in the 
 night in which he was betrayed. Then, 
 taking in His comprehensive grasp, all whom 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENhiE. 243 
 
 the Father had given to him — even all who 
 should believe on Him down to the end of 
 time, He says : " I ][fray for iliem. ' And 
 then, as if to guard against the possibility 
 of misunderstanding His meaning, He puts 
 in a negative form what He has just de- 
 clared so positively, and affirms in the most 
 emphatic and unqualified manner, the sol- 
 emn, awful truth — "I pray not for the 
 world r The horns of the golden altar 
 pointed to all the Israel of God — ^but not 
 to others. 
 
 Our second lesson from the golden altar is 
 taught us ly the condition necessary to the 
 OFFERING OF ITS INCENSE, viz.^ that there he a 
 fire burning on it. 
 
 The incense on this altar may be regard- 
 ed as representing two things — viz., the in- 
 tercession of Christ, or the prayers of His 
 people, and our lesson here will be twofold 
 as embracing both these ideas. 
 
244 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 This incense on the altar typified the in* 
 tercession of Christ. But the fragrance of 
 the incense could not be brought out, nor its 
 efficacy put forth till the action of fire ivas 
 emfloijed. And these burning coals on the 
 golden altar, to what do they point us in 
 this view of our subject but the sufferings 
 of Christ ? " It hehoved Christ to suffer." 
 It was His sufferings in the garden, on the 
 cross, and all through the amazing scenes 
 of His humiliation which gave worth to His 
 atonement and efficacy to His intercession. 
 These are the live coals which cause the in- 
 cense of his merits to exhale its rich fra- 
 grance. It is when bruised and crushed 
 that spices give forth their most delightful 
 perfumes. The substances which made up- 
 the incense employed in the tabernacle had 
 to be reduced to powder before it could be 
 made use of. And so Christ was ^' wound- 
 ed for our transgressions, and bruised for 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 245 
 
 our iniquities, and by liis stripes we are 
 healed." As the "captain of our salva- 
 tion," He " was made perfect ;" i. e., fully 
 prepared for all the duties of His exalted 
 position, "through suffering." As God's 
 own chosen lamb He was bound a bleeding 
 victim on the brazen altar to be consumed 
 by the fire of divine justice, before, as our 
 great High-priest, He could take his stand 
 beside the golden altar, or enter the presence 
 of the Father, in the Holy Place not made 
 with hands, bearing with him the fragrant 
 incense of His own merits. This incense, 
 on which our whole acceptance with God 
 depends, would never have exhaled its fra- 
 grance, so grateful to the offended majesty 
 of heaven, if it had not been consumed upon 
 the burning coals of divine justice. This 
 truth we are taught as we stand beside the 
 golden altar and perceive the sweet savor 
 diffused through the tabernacle as the priest 
 
24:6 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 scatters the incense on the fire burning 
 there. 
 
 But we have another lesson taught us 
 here. The golden censer, on this altar, with 
 the incense rising from it, denotes, tve know, 
 the 'prayer 8 of God's people. This St. John 
 teaches us in one of his apocalyptic vis- 
 ions. Rev. viii. 3, 4. Here we read : — 
 " And another angel came and stood at the 
 altar, having a golden censer ; and there was 
 given him much incense that he should offer 
 it with the prayers of all the saints upon the 
 golden altar which was before the throne. 
 And the smoke of the incense, which came 
 with the prayers of the saints, ascended up 
 before God out of the angefs hand." Here 
 again we see that ihe incense could yield no 
 fragrance without fire. The priest put it on 
 the live coals, and then the odorous clouds 
 went fuming up, a sweet savor, acceptable 
 to God. And here we are taught, in a most 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 247 
 
 significant way, tlie necessity of heartiness, 
 or fervor in our worship, if we would have 
 it well-pleasing to God. There must be the 
 warmth of real affection, the fire of glowing 
 love on the altar of our hearts, or there will 
 be no fragrant incense going up with our 
 prayers and praises. It was when his peo- 
 ple had become cold and dead, and their 
 religion had degenerated into a mere formal 
 service ; in other words, it was when the fire 
 had gone out upon the golden altar, that God 
 said to them, by the prophet : " Bring no 
 more vain oUations ; incense is an ahomina- 
 tion unto me." Isaiah i. 13. How impres- 
 sive the lesson here taught us of God's 
 intense dislike of cold and formal worship, 
 when we find Him calling the very ofi'erings 
 He had Himself ordained, " vain ollations ;" 
 and the incense He had commanded, ^^ an 
 ahomination " before Him, because it was not 
 accompanied by the fire of sincere affection \ 
 
248 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 This is quite in keeping with the strong Inn- 
 giiage applied by Him to the Laodicean 
 Churchy when He says : '^ I would thou 
 wert cold^ or hot ; so^ then, because thou art 
 lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will 
 spue thee out of my mouth." Rev. iii. 15, 
 16. Nor can we be surprised at this, if we 
 reflect that, as ransomed sinners, when we 
 come before God in worship, we are sur- 
 rounded ]dy all the marvels and wonders of 
 redeeminpf love. The thoudit of this " scale 
 of miracles " should indeed " make every 
 bosom burn, and every heart to bound." 
 
 " On sncli a tbenie 'tis iinpions to be cold : 
 Piission is reason, transport temper here. 
 Shall Heaven which gave us ardor, and has shown 
 Her own for man so strongly, not disdain 
 That prose of pietv, a lukewarm praise ? 
 Rise odors sweet from incense uninfiamed ? 
 Devotion when lukewarm is «?2devout ; 
 But when it glows its heat is struck to heaven ; 
 To human hearts her golden harps are strung ; 
 And Heaven's orchestra chants Amen to maa. 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 249 
 
 Praise ardent, cordial, constant is to God 
 More fragrant than Arabia sacrificed, 
 And all her spicy mountains in a flame." 
 
 Our third lesson from this altar is taught 
 
 us hj the CONTINUOUSNESS OF THE INCENSE 
 
 u])on it. 
 
 We read in the seventh verse of the pas- 
 sage which constitutes our text — '^ And 
 Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense 
 every morning : when he dresseth the lamps 
 he shall burn incense upon it. And when 
 he lighteth the lamps at even, he shall 
 burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense 
 before the Lord throughout your genera- 
 tions." The morning supply, it is supposed, 
 lasted until evening ; and the evening sup- 
 ply until the morning. Even in their jour- 
 neying through the wilderness this service 
 was kept up, and wherever their weary 
 tribes were led, the sweet savor of this in 
 
 cense was going up before God, as a memo 
 11* 
 
250 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 rial in their belialf continually. Thus it 
 was emphatically, as God designed it to be 
 " a iierpetiial incense." 
 
 How beautifully this points us to Jesus ! 
 His offering, once made upon the brazen 
 altar, was never repeated ; and so the in- 
 cense of his merits, once thrown upon the 
 fire on the golden altar, never needs to be 
 repeated. The fire upon this altar never 
 goes out, and the fragrance given forth from 
 it never ceases to ascend. The intercession 
 of Christ is uninterrupted. '' He ever liveth 
 to make intercession for us." " He does not 
 plead for His people," says an English wri- 
 ter, "at distant intervals, forgetting them 
 in the meanwhile, but is ever, at all times 
 presenting their wants and trials before his 
 Father. His intercession is not so much a 
 succession of requests, as a constant stream 
 of advocacy, at once ever varying with 
 the varying circumstances of his peo- 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 251 
 
 pie, and under all circumstances never 
 ceasing." 
 
 " The higli-priest of the earthly taher- 
 nacle went into the Holy of Holies, and 
 appeared before the mercy-seat as the advo- 
 cate of the people only once a year. At 
 other times no voice was heard, no blood 
 was sprinkled within that Most Holy Place, 
 and from one day of atonement to another 
 the Israelite was left without his intercessor." 
 
 " But it is not so with the High-priest of 
 the heavenly sanctuary. Christ does not 
 cast an occasional glance at our concerns, 
 and then turn his attention to something 
 more important. No, but in his Infinite 
 mind. He embraces at once, all the necessi- 
 ties of his people, and while ruling all 
 worlds, leaves not a moment of time unoc- 
 cupied with thoughts for our good." 
 
 " He does this for all His people. There 
 is not one of His believing children, for 
 
252 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 whom Jesus intercedes not, and for whom 
 He is not interceding constantly. Our joys 
 and hopes are j^assing and changeful ; our 
 prayers and praises vary with every wind 
 of temptation, and are often drowned amid 
 the roaring noise of the waves of this trou- 
 blesome world ; but the voice of our Inter- 
 cessor is ever the same. We hear it not, 
 but in heaven it sounds so earnestly as to 
 stay the uplifted arm of Justice ere it fall ; 
 so sweetly as to make angels sometimes 
 drop their harps to listen to it, and so con- 
 stantly as never to leave one silent interval. 
 The intercession of the Jewish high-priest 
 was not merely occasional, while ours is 
 constant ; but that was only iemporary while 
 ours is everlasting. The tabernacle of Shi- 
 loh was removed. The temple at Jerusalem 
 was destroyed. With it passed away tlie 
 Mosaic ritual, and from that time no high- 
 priest except our great Iligh-priest, has 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 253 
 
 ever interceded for God's children. The 
 Jewish hii>h-priests e.re gone, but the Chris- 
 tian High priest has an unchangeable priest- 
 hood. His existence and his priesthood are 
 alike eternal; and therefore, Jesus, who 
 interceded for his people in the time of the 
 apostles, and obtained for them the outpour- 
 ing of the Spirit, intercedes as really for us 
 now, and will intercede for his saved people 
 throughout eternity. Our deliverance from 
 sin will not set us free from wants. On the 
 contrary, every increase of happiness will 
 hereafter, as well as now, bring with it an 
 increase of necessities. The blessedness of 
 heaven does not consist in having no wants, 
 in being independent of God — but in having 
 every want supplied. Even in heaven we 
 shall need, and have our Intercessor. 
 Through endless ages He will form a mirror, 
 reflecting in His Father's sight all the wishes 
 of the saints in glory, and giving back to 
 
254 THE ALTfVR OF INCENSE. 
 
 them the bright rays of the Father's love. 
 '' This priest, because He continueth forever, 
 hath an unchangeable priesthood. Where- 
 fore He is able to save them to the uttermost 
 that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever 
 liveth to make intercession for them." 
 (Garratt's Scripture Symbolism.) 
 
 Our fourth lesson from this subject is frir- 
 nished hj ohserving the connection of the 
 
 ALTAR OF INCENSE WITH BOTH THE OUTER AND 
 THE INNER SANCTUARY. 
 
 The golden altar stood, as we have seen, 
 in the outer sanctuary, the Holy Place, just 
 before the vail. It was part of the furniture 
 of the Holy Place. It beIo7iged to that. The 
 other articles of furniture in that place were 
 hallowed by the odor of its incense. AU 
 the services performed there were perfumed 
 by its fragrance, and thus rendered accepta- 
 ble to God. 
 
 But on the great day of atonement, when 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 255 
 
 the liigh-priest entered through the Tail into 
 the Most Holy Place, he carried with him 
 the censer, with its fuming incense, from of! 
 the golden altar. The inner, as well as 
 the outer part of the sanctuary was perva- 
 ded by the fragrance of the same incense. 
 All the service rendered in the one, as well 
 as in the other, stood upon the same ground, 
 was accepted on the same principle, and per- 
 fumed with the odor of the same sweet 
 smelling savor. 
 
 Now we know that the outer part of the 
 sanctuary, or the Holy Place, represented 
 the Church on earth ; while the inner part, 
 or the Most Holy Place, represented the 
 Church in heaven. The lesson taught us by 
 the part of the subject now before us is, 
 that the golden altar, with its incense, be-^ 
 longs alike to both these departments of the 
 Church of Christ. All the service per- 
 formed, and all the joy experienced by the 
 17 
 
256 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 redeemed in the Churcli on earth is based 
 upon the sacrifice of Christ, and connected 
 with the incense of his merits. And the 
 same will be true of the redeemed in the 
 Church in heaven. How sweet and precious 
 is the thought of this point of practical con- 
 nection between the Church in its militant 
 and its triumphant state. "We glory in the 
 cross of Christ, here on earth. Our sweet- 
 est pleasures, our highest joys, are realized 
 in connection with it. 
 
 " Here it is we find our heaven, 
 
 While upon the Lamb we gaze ; 
 Here we see our sins forgiven, 
 
 Lost in wonder, love and praise." 
 
 And no view that could be given of the 
 grandeur, or the glory of heaven, would be 
 satisfying to the souls of the redeemed un- 
 less it taught them to associate with all the 
 sources of their most ecstatic bliss the 
 thought of intimate fellowship, and indisso 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 257 
 
 iuble connection with Jesus, the object of 
 their supremest love. But we are taught 
 this most clearly when we gaze upon the 
 inner shrine of the tabernacle, and see tliat^ 
 as well as the outer division of it, pervaded 
 hy the clouds of incense from the golden 
 altar. Whatever service we may be per- 
 mitted to render, in the heavenly state, will 
 be service rendered through Christ. What- 
 ever glory we may attain to, or vvhatever 
 happiness we may possess there, will still be 
 glory and happiness, emanating from Christ 
 and shared in connection with Him, And 
 when in one place we hear Jesus thus pray- 
 ing for His people : — " Father, I will that 
 they also whom thou hast given me, be with 
 me, where I am ;" — when in another place 
 we read of the redeemed standing before the. 
 throne arrayed in robes " washed and made 
 white in the blood of the Lamb ;" when in 
 another place w^e hear the anthem of accom- 
 
258 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 plished redemption pealing through the 
 arches of the upper sanctuary, and find that 
 the ever-recurring chorus is — " Worthy is 
 the Lamb that was slain to receive power, 
 and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and 
 honor, and glory, and blessing ;" and when 
 in another place we see the company of the 
 ransomed in their homes of bliss, and hear 
 Jesus say of them — " they shall walk tvith 
 me in white, for they are worthy," or find 
 it promised elsewhere, " the Lamb that is in 
 the midst of the throne shall feed them, and 
 lead them to fountains of living waters," 
 ihen we are perfectly assured of the precious 
 jtruth, — 
 
 "Once in Christ, in Christ forever, 
 So the unfailing word declares, 
 Neither sin, nor death shall sever 
 Jesus from his chosen heirs." 
 
 What a beautiful illustration we have here 
 of the words of the apostle when he de- 
 
THE ALTAR OF IN':!ENSE. 259 
 
 clares that, — "Neither life nor death, nor 
 angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor 
 things present, 7ior things to come, shall sepa- 
 rate us from the love of God which is in 
 Christ Jesus, our Lord." Rom. viii. 39. 
 
 And when we look upon the Jewish 
 tabernacle and see the high -priest, all the 
 while that he officiated in the Most Holy 
 Place, covered with the cloud of incense, 
 we are taught, by this significant shadow, 
 that in all the glory and blessedness of the 
 heavenly state the redeemed will ever be 
 associated with Christ and dependent on 
 Him. 
 
 Our fifth and last lesson from this suhject 
 is gathered from the nature and composition 
 OF THE incense offered upon the golden altar. 
 
 We have a description of it given in the 
 chapter from which our text is taken, Exod. 
 XXX. 84 — 38. "And the Lord said unto 
 MoseS; take unto thee sweet spices, stacte. 
 
260 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 and onycha, and galbanum ; these sweet 
 spices, with j)ure frankincense : of each shall 
 there be a like weight ; and thou shalt make 
 it a perfumCj a confection after the art of the 
 apothecary, tempered together, pure and 
 holy ; and thou shalt beat some of it very 
 small, and put of it before the testimony in 
 the tabernacle of the congregation, where I 
 will meet with thee : it shall be unto you 
 most holy. And as for the perfume w^hich 
 thou shalt make, ye shall not make to your- 
 selves according to the composition thereof: 
 it shall be unto thee holy for the Lord. 
 Whosoever shall make like unto that, to 
 smell thereto, shall even be cut olT from his 
 people." 
 
 Of course this points directly to Christ in 
 his intercessory work. Now, observe this 
 incense was composed of four substances. 
 Three of these, onycha, stacte, and galba- 
 num, were substances entirely unknown to 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 2G1 
 
 US. They lie outside of the circle of our 
 knowledge. These may very well be re- 
 garded as pointing to the divinity of Christ, 
 in the mysteriousness of its connection with 
 His death and sacrifice. These are matters 
 of which, like the three elements of the in- 
 cense under consideration, we know nothing 
 at all. They are mysteries to us. We 
 know the facts connected w^ith them, men- 
 tioned in the scriptures, as we know the 
 names of these strange substances, but we 
 know nothing more. 
 
 The frankincense was a substance with 
 which we are acquainted. It was, we know, 
 an aromatic, odoriferous gum, obtained by 
 incisions from the bark of a tree named by 
 the ancients Thurifera. This tree grows in 
 Arabia, and around Mount Lebanon, and its 
 leaves are said to resemble those of a pear- 
 tree. We may regard this frankincense as 
 representing the humanity of Christ. This 
 
262 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 we know and understand^ for it was like our 
 own, in all respects, save that it was free 
 from sin. 
 
 The elements composing this incense ivere 
 mingled together in equal parts. This seems 
 to point significantly to the entire and per- 
 fect harmony of character which distinguish- 
 ed our glorious Saviour. There was nothing 
 out of place in him. All the elements of 
 his being were in full development, and 
 beautiful, harmonious proportion. His peo- 
 ple, for the most part, attain to eminence by 
 the preponderance of some one element of 
 character over others. Abraham was dis- 
 tinguished for his faith — Job for his patience, 
 Moses for his meekness, David for his devo- 
 tion, Elijah for his courage, Daniel for his 
 wisdom, Peter for his impetuous ardor, and 
 John for the loving gentleness of his spirit. 
 But it was very different with Jesus. We 
 see in Him, not single points of excellence, 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 2G3 
 
 or features of character in partial develop- 
 mentj but a full-orbed circle of loveliness, 
 including every possible grace illustrated 
 and combined in absolute perfection. In 
 contemplating bis character you may go 
 round the entire circle of moral and spiritual 
 excellence, and from whatever point of view 
 you regard him, you are constrained to say 
 of him, in all sincerity and truth, that he is 
 ^Hhe chief among ten thousand, and alto- 
 gether lovely." 
 
 Again, the materials of which the incense 
 was composed had to he beaten into small par- 
 ticles, or reduced to potvder before it was pre- 
 fared to give out its rich fragrance. And so 
 Jesus, our glorious Saviour, had to be brought 
 very low, and stoop to the most wondrous 
 humiliation before the golden censer of His 
 merits could yield those sweet odors which 
 are so refreshing to the souls of his people, 
 and at the same time so well pleasing to God, 
 
264 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 and so efficacious to secure our acceptance 
 "before Him. How perfectly amazing to 
 contemplate was the depth of Christ's hu- 
 miliation ! From the lofty heights of essen- 
 tial deity down to the low leyel of a ruined 
 and dishonored humanity, what a descent ! 
 For " the brightness of the Father's glory, 
 and the express image of His person" to 
 be " found in fashion as a man/' eyen in the 
 ^^ form of a servant/' what condescension ! 
 Behold Him who made the Vv^orld and every- 
 thing in it ; who gave to its inhabitants 
 '^ life, and breath, and all things/' become 
 Himself a dweller in the world He had 
 made ! See ! " He comes to his own, and 
 his own receive Him not." He lives on un- 
 known, rejected, despised. He is hungry 
 and thirsty, and weary ; dependent for his 
 daily bread upon the alms of others. He is 
 esteemed " a worm, and no man, the very 
 scorn of men, and a by-word among the 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 235 
 
 people." His name is cast out as evil. lie 
 is reckoned a base fellow, " a ring-leader of 
 sedition," a Samaritan, and a devil. He is 
 classed with malefactors and murderers. He 
 is " made a curse for us as He hung upon 
 the tree." Ah ! this was the process by 
 which He who constitutes our incense was 
 beaten fine, was ground to a powder that 
 He might give forth an atoning, satisfying 
 odor, whose fragrance should endure un- 
 wasted through eternity, and whose effi- 
 cacy should prevail for every necessity 
 of the uncounted multitude of His chosen 
 people. 
 
 Such are the lessons we gather from the 
 golden altar. 
 
 In conclusion, tue see from this siibjeci the 
 qroundof the Christian s comfort in serving God. 
 
 He knows that Jesus is always interce- 
 ding for him before God. If you are a be- 
 liever, God nevei beholds you but through 
 
266 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 the medium of tlie cloud of fragrant incense 
 that rises unceasingly before Him from the 
 golden censer of the merits of Ilis own be- 
 loved Son. This cloud of incense is sur- 
 rounding your person at all times. This is 
 the point of view from which to see, in its 
 true meaning, that passage which sets forth 
 so sweetly the preciousness of the covenant 
 relation in which God's people stand, when 
 we are assured that " He doth not behold 
 iniquity in Jacob, neither doth He see per- 
 verseness in Israel." Num^b. xxiii. 21. When 
 your prayers or praises are offered before 
 God, though utterly unworthy, in them- 
 selves considered, of His notice or regard, 
 yet the fragrance of this incense goes up 
 with them, and secures their acceptance. 
 When you perform any service for God, 
 though it be the very best and holiest you 
 can render, you know it to be marred with 
 many short-comings, and stained v*^ith many 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 267 
 
 imperfections ; but when it is perfumed with 
 the merits of the Great Mediator, it be- 
 comes at once a sweet savor, acceptable unto 
 God. Wherever you go this incense accom- 
 panies you. Wherever you abide it abides 
 with you. In lying down and rising up, in 
 going out and coming in, in praying, and in 
 praising, in acting and in suflPering, in health 
 and in sickness, in life and in death, in time 
 and in eternity, the fragrance of this divine 
 incense surrounds you. It fills the circle 
 in which you live and move. It prevents 
 and follows, pervades, and sanctifies every 
 act you perform. Believer in Jesus ! this 
 is the relation in which you stand to the 
 Lord God Almighty. Glorious privilege of 
 the child of God ! Who would not Ij a 
 Christian ? 
 
 But this siiljed also 'presents in a starring 
 light the position and conduct of those tvhc a/-^* 
 not Christians, 
 
2G8 THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. 
 
 For observe now, that on the authority 
 of God's most positive and explicit declara- 
 tion, the people were forbidden to use any 
 other incense than that which He had pro- 
 vided. The prohibition ran thus : "And as 
 for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye 
 shalt not make to yourselves according to 
 the composition thereof. Whosoever shall 
 make the like unto it, shall even be cut off 
 from his people." Exod. xxx., 37, 38. 
 There is something very solemn in this pro- 
 hibition. It seems like the great standing 
 law of Jehovah, written with His own finger 
 over this heaven-devised incense — ^" To coun- 
 terfeit is death r The soul that attempts to 
 do this shall be cut off from his people. 
 This is solemnly significant. It bears with, 
 tremendous power on all who have no saving 
 interest in Christ. My dear hearer, not a 
 Christian, on what are you depending for 
 salvation ? Is it your morality ? Is it your 
 
THE ALTAR OF INCEXSE. 269 
 
 alms-giving ? Is it your Church connection ? 
 Is it the general idea of God's mercy ? See 
 what you are doing in clinging to any such 
 hope ; you are coming before God with other 
 incense than that which lie has ordained. 
 You are counterfeiting that which He has 
 marked as genuine. The very plea to which 
 you are trusting will cover you with con- 
 fusion, and pluck down heavier ruin on your 
 head. Soul out of Jesus, you are undone. 
 But seek an interest in Him, and then you 
 will have part in his intercession — and the 
 fragrant incense of his merits will be thrown 
 around you, and rise up with acceptance be- 
 fore God in your behalf. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 **^nii lIjejT sl^all mnhe hit nrh of sljiltim-fooob; ifoo tubifs 
 Hub a Ijalf sl)all be l^c Iciigtij lljcrcof, aub a tiibil anb 
 a ^alf llj€ kabllj lljcrrof, anb a cubit aub a Ijalf il^c 
 fecigljt l^crcof. g^nb iljou sljall obalag ii bjitlj |]u« 
 golb: foitl/ut arb teitljouf sljalt tijou cbcrlair it; aub 
 sljalt malie xipou it a crofou of golb rouub about, gub 
 l^ott sljalt cast four rings of golb for it, anb put tljcm 
 ht llje four corners lljercof ; anb tbo rings sljall be iit 
 i\t out sibc of it, anb Ifoo rings in tlje otl^cr sibc of it. 
 giub tljou sl)alt mahc stabcs of sljittim-looob, anb obcr- 
 lag tijem foitlj golb. giub iljou sljalt put tlje states 
 into tlje rings bg tlje sibcs of tl)e arh, tbat Ibe arh mng 
 be borne foitlj tijcm. ^\^t stabcs sljall be in tbe rings 
 of tlje ark; tijcn sball not be tahcn from it. ^\xii tljoit 
 sl^alt put into tijc ark tljc testimonu fol/idj | sljall gibe 
 lljce. giub tljou sljalt make a mercn-scat of pure golb : 
 ibo cubits anb a Ijalf sljall be ilje lengtlj tljcrccf, aub a 
 
272 
 
 tuHt nub a Ijalf Ibc brcabfli fbcrcof. gvub fl^ou sball 
 nmhc tbo cbcnibims of qolb, of brntcir loovfi sbalt tboit 
 mnh lljcm, iit Ibe ibo cubs of Ibc mcvcn-scnt. giiib 
 ntalu 0iu cljcrub oix ilje one tub, anb il)c olbcr cl^crub 
 on tl^t otljcr ti\i); thm of tijc mcrcj)-sfat sljall jjcmake 
 il3C cljcrubims on lljc itoo cubs tijcrcof* giub iljc cljcru- 
 bims sball strclclj fortlj lljcir teiucjs oit l/iob, cobcviug 
 fijc imrcg-sent Irrit^ lljcir foiitgs, Hrb tijcir faces sl)all 
 look Dire to Huotl^cr; tofoarb flje mcrcg-scat sl^all lljc 
 faces of il)e cljcrubims be. giub ibou sljalt put tlje mercn- 
 scat abobe iipoit tl^c arli; aub iutlje aih tl^ou sljaltput 
 flje tcstimou}T tljat | sl^all cjibe tl)ee. giub tijcre | bill 
 jTteet bitlj tljcc, aub | b^'ill commuuc foitlj lljee from 
 abobe tbe mcrcn-scat, from bctducu tbe ifoo cberubims 
 !bl]tclj are iipou tlje arli of tlje fcstimoug, of all tl/iugs 
 fol^iclj I biill gibe tl^ce iit commaubment nuto tlje cljil- 
 hxm of Israel" — Exodus, xxv. 10 — 22. 
 
VII. 
 
 The scene of our last three sermons has 
 lain within the precincts of the first division 
 of the tabernacle. We have been medita- 
 ting within the Holy Place. The candle- 
 stick, the table of shew-bread, and the 
 golden altar of incense, have engaged our 
 attention. These were all the articles of 
 furniture contained in that portion of the 
 sanctuary. We have concluded our exami- 
 nation of this part of the sacred structure 
 We are now to pass through that dark, mys- 
 terious veil, — to enter the Most Holy Place 
 — to gaze in av/e-inspiring meditation on the 
 ark of the covenant, with the cloud of glory, 
 
 12 
 
274 THE ARK. 
 
 the Sliecliinah, the awful symbol of the 
 divine presence overshadowing it. It be- 
 comes us to approach it with reverence. The 
 most sacred material object ever framed by 
 the hand of man is to engage our attention. 
 We seem to hear the voice of God address- 
 ed to each of us, saying, as it did to Moses 
 at the bush — ■" Put off thy shoes from off 
 thy feet, for the place whereon thou stand- 
 est is holy ground." 
 
 Before entering the Most Holy Place, 
 however, to examine the ark in detail, let us 
 just glance at the position it occupied in 
 the camp of Israel, both when the camp was 
 at rest, and when in motion. The appear- 
 ance of the camp at rest we considered in 
 our opening discourse. That encampment, 
 constituted an oblong square, extending, 
 probably, twelve miles on each side. The 
 tabernacle was sot up in the centre of this 
 encampment, and the ark constituted tho 
 
THE AliK, 275 
 
 great central object of interest and attrac- 
 tion in the tabernacle. 
 
 But when the cloud moved from over the 
 ark, giving the silent order of march, the 
 aspect of things was entirely changed. The 
 camp in motion presented a very strikhig 
 contrast to the camp at rest. Let us sup- 
 pose that this silent order has been given. 
 The tabernacle is taken down. Its different 
 parts are covered up, put in marching con- 
 dition, and assigned to the different branches 
 of the family of Aaron charged with the 
 care of them. Then the line of march is 
 taken in the following order : First, in sol- 
 emn silence, the mysterious cloud goes be- 
 fore them to point out the way. Then Judah 
 leads the van, followed by the tribes of 
 Issachar and Zebulon, making an liTmy of 
 more than 180,000. Immediate;/ after 
 these come six wagons, under tho care of 
 Gershon and Merari, the sons of Illuima^. 
 
276 THE ARK. 
 
 Two of these wagons contain the covenngg 
 of the tabernacle, and the curtains of the 
 court that surrounds it. The other four 
 contain the golden boards, the silver sock- 
 ets, and golden pillars of the tabernacle, and 
 the court attached to it. Then follow the 
 tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad, 150,000 
 strong. After these, borne upon the shoul- 
 ders of the Kohathites, come all the sacred 
 furniture of the tabernacle, in charge of six 
 different companies. First is the ark ; then 
 the golden altar of incense ; then the can- 
 dlestick ; then the table of shew-bread ; 
 then the laver and the smaller golden ves- 
 sels, and lastly the brazen altar. You will 
 observe that, when arranged for the march, 
 these sacred articles w^ere disposed in an 
 order directly the reverse of that which they 
 occupied when the camp w\as at rest. After 
 these came the tribes of Ephraim, Benja- 
 min, and Mana^sah, numbering upwards of 
 
THE ARK. 277 
 
 lOSjOOO men. The rear guard of the host 
 was Ibrmed by the tribes of Dan, Asher, 
 and Naphtali, consisting of 157,000 men. 
 This was the order uniformly observed in 
 marching. The general position of the ark 
 was in the centre of the advancing host. 
 There were but two exceptions to this, 
 throughout the whole course of their long 
 pilgrimage. These exceptions are found at 
 the commencement, and at the close of their 
 wanderings. The first of these occurred 
 when the nation began their march from 
 Sinai. There we find Moses trying to per- 
 suade Hobab, his father-in-law, to go with 
 them, and he urged his request by the plea 
 that he knew the way through the wilder- 
 ness, and ^^ might be to them instead of 
 eyesT Immediately after this we read that 
 " the ark of the covenant of the Lord went 
 before them to search out a resting place for 
 them." Numb, x , 33. It would seem as 
 
278 THE ARK. 
 
 if God had altered the usual order of march 
 on this occasion, and had sent the ark in 
 advance of the host on purpose to reprove 
 Moses for his want of faith. AYhat need 
 was there of the eyes of Hohab, or any other 
 created being, to spy out their way when 
 God Himself was their Leader and Guide ? 
 And then again, at the close of their long 
 wanderings, when Jordan was to be crossed, 
 God sent the ark before them. It was at 
 its approach that the overflowing waters of 
 the river divided in the midst, and opened 
 up a way for the ransomed of the Lord to 
 pass over. And the ark remained in the 
 bed of the stream till all the multitudes of 
 the wandering tribes had crossed in safety, 
 as if to show us, when Jordan is considered 
 as a figure or type of death, that the time, 
 the place, and all the circumstances of that 
 event are controlled by the covenant of 
 grace, of which this ark was the symbol. 
 
THE ARK. 279 
 
 And as we think of the ark, standing mid 
 way in the emptied channel of the river, 
 holding in check the tumultuous, threaten- 
 ing floods, and securing the entire safety of 
 the overpassing multitudes of God's people, 
 we have before us a beautiful illustration of 
 the Psalmist's words, when he declares — 
 " Precious in the sight of the Lord, is the 
 death of his saints." 
 
 But let us proceed with our subject. We 
 are to pass within the veil, and meditate on 
 the ark of the covenant, as it stands in the 
 Most Holy Place, resplendent with the glory 
 that shines upon it from the mysterious 
 overshadowing Shechinah. And to take in 
 the subject in all its ' arings, our attention 
 will be directed to ^ several points, only a 
 part of which c .1 engnge our meditations 
 on the present jccasion. We shall consider 
 in the first fMce, the veil, hj which the ark 
 vjas hidden from view. Secondly, the jdace in 
 
280 THE ARK. 
 
 tuJiich the arJc stood, called the 3fost Uohj 
 Place. Tldrdhj, the structure of the arJc, 
 Fourthly, its contents. Fifthli/, the cheruhim 
 which overshadoived it ; and lastly, the mercij' 
 seat, luitli its irradiating glory. 
 
 We begin then by considering the veil by 
 which the ark was hid, and which separated 
 the Holy Place from the Most Holy. 
 
 A thick heavy veil of tapestry, beautiful- 
 ly wrought with flowers and cherubim, was 
 that which shut in the ark, and divided the 
 tabernacle into two parts. Blue, purple, 
 and scarlet were the colors blended in this 
 veil. Josephus says of it : '' This veil was 
 very ornamental, and embroidered with all 
 sorts of flowers which the earth produces, 
 and there was interwoven into it all sorts of 
 variety that might be an ornament." This 
 veil of the tabernacle was the same as that 
 which subsequently hung in the temple, and 
 was rent in twain when our Lord expired 
 
THE ARK. 281 
 
 oix the cross. We may look at it from two 
 points of view, considering what it s?/mholised 
 when it tuas an iinrcnt veil, and what the 
 rending of it signifies. 
 
 The unrent vei] was a symbol of darJcness 
 and difficulty. To the Jew, it shut out his 
 view of heavenly things, and obstructed his 
 way of approach to them. That veil was a 
 concealing thing. Ail that stood behind it 
 was effectually hidden from sight. But that 
 Most Holy Place represented heaven. And 
 thus, by the unre-i veil, as St. Paul says : 
 " The Holy Ghust this signified, that the 
 way into the holiest of all was not yet made 
 manifest." Heb. ix., 8. Very little was 
 known under the former dispensation of the 
 things of the heavenly world. The veil 
 which hung over them could not be penetra- 
 ted. The children of God tried indeed to 
 peer through its thick folds with the eye of 
 faith , and catch feeble glimpses of what lay 
 
282 THE ARK. 
 
 beyond. Nor were these efforts wholly 
 unavailing. Enoch, in the far off darkness 
 of antediluvian ages, had a view of Christ's 
 second coming to judgment. Job knew that 
 his Eedeemer lived, and that in his flesh, a 
 partaker of his nature, he should yet see 
 God. Abraham, and the patriarchs, looked 
 for a city that hath foundations, whose 
 builder and maker is God." David trusted 
 to his covenant God to guide and support 
 him through the dark valley of the shadow 
 of death, and show him the path of life. 
 Thus these holy men of old had glimpses of 
 heavenly things. Yet they were but dimly 
 seen. They were emphatically " things 
 v/ithin the veil." That unrent veil was a 
 darkening thing. It was at the same time 
 an ohstruding thing. It barred the entrance 
 to the heavenly place. The holiest and best 
 of God's peoj^le could not pass within that 
 veil. The High-priest alone might enter, 
 
THE ARK. 283 
 
 and lie but once a year. The people knew, 
 as lie disappeared from their sight, that he 
 was before the ark, sprinkling the blood, and 
 waving the incense, and presenting his 
 prayers in their behalf They knew that 
 his eyes looked upon all the hallowed things 
 that were there, but they could not enter in 
 to see and to pray for themselves. When 
 Adam was driven forth from Paradise we 
 read that at the entrance to that happy 
 place from which he was expelled, God 
 caused to be placed—" Cherubim and a flam- 
 ing sword, which turned every way to keep 
 the way of the tree of life." And this idea 
 is still kept up when we see that veil, cov- 
 ered over with figures of the cherubim, and 
 hanging down before the Jew to warn him 
 off from all approach to the great central 
 source of life and light. Thus the unreut 
 veil was a darJcening, and an obstructing thing. 
 But what does the rent veil signify ? of 
 
284 THE ARK. 
 
 course the opposite of that which the unrent 
 veil represented. If the veil unrent was 
 designed to cover, or hide, the rent veil is 
 designed to disclose or reveal. If the one 
 was a symbol of darkness, the other is the 
 emblem of light. And Jesus, we know, 
 came as ^Hhe light of the world." He is 
 the revealer of secrets, the unraveller of 
 mysteries. He "brought hfe and immor- 
 tahty to light by the gospel." He came to 
 ^' tell us plainly of the Father." And ^loiv, 
 his people have " an unction from the Holy 
 One, and know all ihingsr Through the 
 rent veil of Christ's flesh the light and glory 
 cf the upper sanctuary shine forth, and " in 
 His light they see light." Thus the rent 
 veil proclaims to us that " the darkness is 
 past, and the true light now shineth." 
 
 But then it also signifies the removal of 
 ohstrudmis as well as the dispelling of dark- 
 ness. All liindrances are taken out of the 
 
THE ARK. 285 
 
 way of access to the mercy-seat. There is 
 no longer any covering veil, any interposing 
 barrier. What none but the High-Priest 
 could do, under the Jewish economy, all 
 God's people may do now. And what even 
 he could do but once a year, they may do 
 at all times. They can "enter into the 
 holiest by the blood of Jesus." The way to 
 the mercy-seat lies open at all times, and 
 " whosoever will " may come and find mercy 
 and grace to help in time of need. But it 
 is not only the way of access to the mercy- 
 seat by faith now, which this rent veil indi- 
 cates. It does more than that. " The veil 
 is rent," says the eloquent Melville, "to 
 show that the Mediator made a passage into 
 heaven, but in nothing does He act for him- 
 self alone. We rose with him ; we ascend- 
 ed with him ; and therefore is the rending 
 of the veil as much a pledge of our admis- 
 sion as of his, who, by the ef&ciency of his 
 
286 THE ARK. 
 
 sacrifice, provided for our being not only 
 sons of God, but joint heirs with himself. 
 The veil is rent. Then, with it should be 
 rent away all doubt, and all unbelief. The 
 door of heaven, the way of access to God's 
 glorified presence hereafter, as well as to his 
 gracious presence now, is thrown ojjen by the 
 work of mediation. We may not only draw 
 nigh to God now in prayer, but we shall 
 draw nigh to Him hereafter in person. We 
 sh nil rise from the dust; we shall tread the 
 firmament ; we shall enter by the gates of 
 pearl, and we shall walk the streets of gold. 
 Blessed be God for this rent veil ! Like a 
 window opened in the sky, there have come 
 forth through it the shinings of eternity, the 
 promises of immortality, rich and lively- 
 visions of the inheritance of the saints in 
 light." 
 
 And these are the lessoas we gather from 
 the veil that hangs before the ark. 
 
THE ARK. 287 
 
 But now we pass within this veil, and 
 consider as our second point — the place in 
 which the arJc stood. 
 
 How well may our spirits feel unwonted 
 awe come over them, as we enter the hallow- 
 ed precincts of this inner shrine of the sanc- 
 tuary. In a higher sense than that in which 
 Jacob used the language as he awoke from 
 his dream, we may say in truth, — " This is 
 none other than the house of God, and this 
 is the gate of heaven !" Nay, not only the 
 ga^e of heaven, but, as it were, heaven it- 
 self This is the audience chamber of the 
 King of kings. " He who inhabiteth eterni- 
 ty, and the praises thereof, whose name is 
 holy," established his abode and manifested 
 his presence here. This circumstance tended 
 to make this department of the tabernacle 
 the most solemn and sacred spot within the 
 confines of our globe. And everything 
 about it was in keeping with this character, 
 
288 THE ARK. 
 
 Look at li^form. This was tliat of a cube. 
 The exact dimensions of this part of the 
 sanctuary are not given. But in the tem- 
 ple, which Solomon subsequently built, at 
 Jerusalem, the Most Holy Place, as we are 
 distinctly informed, was cubical in its form, 
 being twenty cubits, or thirty feet in each 
 direction — the height, and the length, and 
 the breadth of it being equal. And as the 
 temple, in its essential features, was fashion- 
 ed after the tabernacle, so as to be conformed 
 to "the pattern showed to Moses in the 
 Mount," there can be no question but that 
 the same proportion in regard to the dimen- 
 sions of the Most Holy Place existed in 
 them both. The dimensions of this part of 
 the tabernacle were those of a cube. The 
 measure of its sides, its ceiling, and its 
 floor was all the same. The cube is the 
 most perfect of all forms, the natural em- 
 blem of perfection. And it was very ap- 
 
THE AKK. 289 
 
 propriate that this hallowed place, — the 
 type, or emblem of heaven, should have this 
 feature stamped upon it. And it is worthy 
 of note that the city which the prophet 
 Ezekiel saw in vision, — probably designed 
 to represent the earthly Jerusalem, as it will 
 exist in the Millennial and everlasting age 
 of our world — was in the form of a cube. 
 And the still more glorious cit}^ which St. 
 John saw in the Apocalyptic vision, the 
 iN'ew Jerusalem, the most finished and elabo- 
 rate symbol of the heavenly state, which the 
 scriptures furnish, was a city cubical in its 
 form. " The length, and the breadth, and 
 the h eighth of it were equal." 
 
 And as ihefo7^m of this place denoted its 
 perfection, so did the material of which it 
 was composed. Gold, pure gold was the 
 material. This met the eye on every side. 
 Gold is the purest and most precious of the 
 metals. In its Avav, too, 9:old stands as the 
 
290 THE ARK. 
 
 symbol of perfection. When we say of a 
 thing that it reaches the (/olden stage, we 
 say that which expresses the highest idea 
 of its development. Human vocabularies 
 have no stronger terms to furnish. Human 
 experience or thought cannot carry us be- 
 yond this. And so this golden chamber of 
 the tabernacle, as Ave gaze upon the radi- 
 ance of its glittering walls, stands before us 
 a silent, but most significant type of the 
 perfection of that heavenly abode whose 
 gates are pearl ; whose streets arc gold — 
 yes, and that, too, transj^ai^ent gold ; whose 
 streams are crystal, and whose foundations 
 are of all manner of precious stones. 
 
 This beautiful apartment of the taberna- 
 cle, how apt an emblem it wa'< of that- 
 iieavenly Zion which is the per^ action of 
 beauty ! 
 
 " Beautiful Zion, built above ! 
 Beautiful cit^^ — ^home of love I 
 
THE aRK. 291 
 
 Beautiful gates of pearly ^A'hite ! 
 Beautiful temple, God its light ! 
 
 Beautiful crowns ou every brow ! 
 Beautiful palms the conquerors show ! 
 Beautiful robes the ransomed wear ! 
 Beautiful all who enter there! 
 
 Beautiful throne for God the Lamb I 
 Beautiful seats at God's right hand ! 
 Beautiful rest! all wanderings cease! 
 Beautiful home of perfect peace !" 
 
 And then \hQ furniture of this hallowed 
 place spoke the same language. This told 
 of perfection too. And what was this ? 
 One object alone met the eye here. This 
 was that great central object of interest in 
 this whole sacred structure, — that keystone 
 of this arch, — that sun in the midst of this 
 grand system, — that gem in the heaven- 
 formed ring of these hallowed services, — ■ 
 the arJc of the covenant, St. Paul indeed 
 speaks of the "golden censer" as belong- 
 ing to this Most Holy Place ; and some have 
 
292 THE ARK. 
 
 felt at a loss how to explain this, knowing 
 as we do that the golden altar, with its in- 
 cense, belonged clearly to the other division 
 of the tabernacle. But there is really no 
 difficulty in the case at all. The golden 
 censer was not a part of the furniture of 
 this portion of the sanctuary. Its appoint- 
 ed place was on the golden altar in the Holy 
 Place. But when the High-priest, on the 
 great day of atonement, made his annual 
 visit within the veil, he carried the golden 
 censer with him. Its fragrant perfume then 
 pervaded every part of that most sacred 
 spot, and rose up in graceful clouds before 
 the ark. But on his return, he carried the 
 censer with him. That was not its perma- 
 nent place. The ark alone luas there. Of 
 the contents of the ark we shall speak in 
 another place. There was nothing in the 
 Most Holy Place but what was contained in 
 the ark. How significant this was ! Tho 
 
THE ARK. 293 
 
 place we are considering denotes heav^en.- 
 The ark which stands in it, as the sole ob- 
 ject of interest and attraction there, is an 
 emblem of Christ. And as there was noth- 
 ing in the Most Holy Place but what was 
 contained in the ark, so in heaven there is 
 nothing on which the eye of the ransomed 
 will rest, and nothing that their souls can 
 4 need, but what is in Christ. The very radi- 
 ance which lighted up this hallowed spot, 
 and revealed its unearthly glories, was, — 
 not the light of the sun, no, nor even the 
 rays from the golden candlestick in the Holy 
 Place — but that which was ever shinim^ 
 forth from the mysterious shechinah, that 
 encircled and hovered over the ark. What 
 a sweet shadowing forth of heavenly reali- 
 ties we have here ! David was grasping the 
 very substance of this precious truth when 
 his loving heart went out in earnest longings 
 after his Saviour God, as he asked — " Whom 
 
294 THE ARE. 
 
 have I in heaven but Thee ? and there is 
 none uj^on earth that I desire in comparison 
 with Thee." " Complete in Him " is what 
 the ark. as the sole and all-com2)rehending 
 object, existing in the Most Holy Place, pro- 
 claims, with silent eloquence, as the rela- 
 tion of the believing soul to Christ in heaven. 
 The rest of heaven is rest in Christ. The 
 righteousness of heaven is righteousness in 
 Christ. The joy of heaven is joy in Christ. 
 The light of heaven is light in Christ. Yea, 
 says the apostle, as he gazes delightedly on 
 the vision before him — " For the Lamb is 
 the light thereof." The title to heaven is a 
 title in Christ. The glory of heaven is glory 
 in Christ. '' Father, I will that they also 
 whom thou hast given me be w^ith me where. 
 I am, that they may behold my glory." 
 What a precious, comprehensive, enduring 
 truth the apostle declares wdien he affirms 
 that " Christ is all and in all." Whether 
 
THE ARK. 295 
 
 in the church below, or in the church above, 
 it is a truth now, and will remain a truth 
 forever, that " in Him all fulness dwells." 
 The believing soul looks up to Jesus with 
 adoring gratitude, and sajs : 
 
 " Wherever Thou art is heaven to me. 
 And heaven without Thee — cannot be !" 
 
 These are the precious thoughts suggest- 
 ed by the place in which the ark stood. 
 
 The third ]point we vjere to notice calls lis to 
 consider the structure of the ark. 
 
 Like most of the other parts of the fur- 
 niture of the tabernacle, the structure of the 
 ark was plain and simple. It consisted 
 merely of a square box or chest. Its length 
 was two cubits and a half, or thxee.feet 
 eleven inches. Its breadth and height each 
 one cubit and a half, or two feet seven 
 inches. The materials of which it was com- 
 posed, as with most of the other articles of 
 
296 THE AEK. 
 
 the tabernacle furniture, were the shittim or 
 acacia wood and gokl. It was called " the 
 ark of the covenant/' or of the testimony, 
 because it contained the law, written on ta- 
 bles of stone, which law was God's testimo- 
 ny to man, respecting his duty, and the 
 keeping of which, on the part of Christ, 
 became the ground of the covenant of grace 
 to men. And for this reason Christ is said 
 to be "given /or a covenant of the people." 
 The ark was hollow. The top, or lid that 
 covered it was moveable. At each end were 
 two rings, in v»diich Vv^ere inserted the staves 
 by which it was carried. Around the top 
 there was a rim or crown; and from the 
 ends of it cherubim arose, whose outspread 
 wings met, as if in overshadowing embrace, 
 above the mercy seat. 
 
 This ark was a symbol of Christ. The 
 constituent parts of it seemed to represent 
 the two natures of our Saviour, The wood 
 
THE ARK. 297 
 
 of the ark aptly emblemized the human na- 
 ture of Christ. The tree from yrhich this 
 'wood was obtained had its growth in the 
 wilderness. And so in the development of 
 his humanity, it was declared of Christ that 
 '' He should grow up like a root out of a dry 
 ground." The acacia wood was incorrupti- 
 ble. It was not subject to decay. The ark 
 which Moses built in the wilderness had 
 lasted for a thousand years, before it was 
 carried captive to Babylon, and it was then 
 in a state of excellent preservation. And 
 it is just so with the humanity of Christ. 
 That humanity experienced no decay in life ; 
 it was the subject of none in death. He 
 saw no corruption in the grave. He will 
 see none forever. The humanity of Christ 
 has now been for near 2,000 years seated at 
 the right hand of the throne of God ; the 
 weight of universal government has rested 
 on it \ the radiance of heaven's glory has 
 
298 THE ARK. 
 
 beamed around it, yet still its energy is un- 
 decayed, its beauty undiminished. And so 
 it will remain through all the ages of eter 
 nity. Thus the wood of the ark represented 
 the humanity of Christ. 
 
 And in like manner tJie gold of the arJc 
 reioresented Jiis divinity. Gold is the most 
 precious of all the metals ; and so Christ is 
 the most precious of all possible beings. 
 Gold bears a high polish. It never rusts. 
 It is the most beautiful, as well as the most 
 precious of all the metals. And this is em- 
 phatically true of Christ. He is " the 
 brightness of the Father's glory and the 
 express image of his person." He is " the 
 chief among ten thousand, and altogether 
 lovely." And as these two substances, the 
 wood and the gold, blended together to form 
 the ark, so, in the language of our second 
 article — these " two whole and perfect na- 
 tures, that is to say, the Godhead and the 
 
THE ARK. 299 
 
 manliood, were joined together in one per- 
 son, never to be divided, whereof is one 
 Christ, very God, and very man." lie was 
 " God manifest in the flesh." And as we 
 trace the course of our blessed Lord from 
 the manger to the cross, it is interesting to 
 notice the many evidences that appear of 
 the existence of these blended natures. It 
 is the humanity that appears in the infant 
 of a day lying in a manger. It is the di- 
 vinity which is recognized in the attendant 
 song of the angels, and in the adoring wor- 
 ship of the shepherds and the wise men. 
 It was the humanity which appeared when 
 Jesus submitted to receive the water of 
 baptism from the hands of John the Baptist 
 in the river Jordan. It was the divinity 
 which was owned when the Spirit descended 
 on him in the form of a dove, and the voice 
 was heard from the throne of the Father, 
 saying, — " This is my beloved Son, in whom 
 
300 THE ARK. 
 
 I am well pleased." The liumanitj was seen 
 when he sat down, weary with toil, to rest 
 himself by Jacob's w^ell; the divinity dis- 
 played itself when he read and revealed the 
 secret thoughts of the woman of Samaria, 
 and by his mighty power made her, then and 
 there, a child of God. The humanity was 
 proved when, in crossing the sea of Galilee, 
 he lay down in the hinder part of the ship, 
 overpowered by his unceasing labors, and 
 sank into unconscious slumber ; the divinity 
 shone forth, how gloriously ! when he arose 
 in all his majesty, and rebuked the winds 
 and the sea, and imniediately there was a 
 great calm. The humanity of Jesus was 
 attested when, as he hung upon the cross, 
 he exclaimed, " I thirst ;" but it was to his 
 divinity that the dying thief appealed when 
 he prayed — " Lord remember me when thou 
 comest into thy kingdom ;" and that divin- 
 ity burst forth resplendently, like the sun 
 
THE AUK. 301 
 
 from behind a dark cloud, when the expiring 
 Saviour responded to that prayer, saying, — 
 " To-day thou shalt be with me in Paradise." 
 And as we gaze on these strange blendings 
 of the human and the divine in Jesus, we are 
 but beholding marvellous illustrations of what 
 the structure of the ark sets before us, when 
 we see the wood and the gold so mingled in 
 its make. 
 
 The fourth and last division of our subject 
 to luhich we shall now direct attention is the 
 
 CONTENTS OF THE APwK. 
 
 When St. Paul is speaking of these in 
 Heb. ix. 4, he mentions in his catalogue of 
 the things contained in the ark, " the golden 
 pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that 
 budded, and the tables of the covenant." 
 There is a discrepancy between this account 
 and that found in I. Kings, viii. 9, and II. 
 Chron. v. x. Here we are told distinctly 
 that " there was nothing in the ark save the 
 
302 THE ARK. 
 
 two tables of stone which Moses put there 
 at Horeb." Here you perceive that the 
 golden pot of manna, and Aaron's rod, that 
 budded, are not mentioned among its con- 
 tents. The question is, how are we to re- 
 concile these two apparently conflicting 
 statements ? This is very easily done, sim- 
 ply, by considering the accounts as referring 
 to two very different periods, in the history 
 of the ark. St. Paul's account, in the He- 
 brews, describes the contents of the ark 
 during the wanderings of the Israelites in 
 the wilderness, or w^hile the tabernacle was 
 still existing. But the account of the ark 
 in Kings and Chronicles speaks of its con- 
 tents when the wilderness had been passed 
 through, the promised land had been entered, 
 and the temple had been built. Now the 
 ark, in its journeyings through the wilder- 
 ness, represents the state of the church in 
 this present w)rld. The ark at rest, in the 
 
THE AKK. 303 
 
 temple at Jerusalem, represents the state of 
 the Church in the glory of the heavenly 
 world. It is very natural and suggestive 
 then that there should have been a differ- 
 ence between the contents of the ark in these 
 two stages of its history. In the wilder- 
 ness, corresponding to the present condition 
 of the Church in the world, the manna was 
 absolutely necessary to the support and 
 comfort of the people, and so were also the 
 ministrations of an earthly priesthood of the 
 order of Aaron. Hence the budded rod, 
 which denoted that priesthood, and the 
 golden pot of manna were in the ark then. 
 But as the manna ceased when Canaan was 
 entered, — so when heaven is reached, the 
 state represented by the ark in the temple 
 in Solomon's days, Christ will be Himself 
 the only food, and the only priest his peoj)le 
 will need. It is not surprising then to hear 
 it said of the ark during the stage of its 
 
304 THE AKK. 
 
 History which represents this state, — that 
 '^ there was nothing in the ark save the two 
 tables of stone which Moses put there at 
 Iloreb." While in the wilderness the seve- 
 ral things mentioned by St. Paul were all 
 there ; in the days of Solomon the tables 
 of stone on which the law was VvTitten were 
 all that the ark contained. Whether the 
 things withdrawn from the ark were removed 
 by design, by negligence, or violence, is not 
 a matter of much moment. The important 
 thing is that they were there at one period 
 of the history of the ark, while at another 
 period they were not there. 
 
 The ark of the covenant contained at last 
 only the two tables of the law. These were 
 preserved in the ark. This was a very sig-- 
 nificant fact. It illustrates two important 
 truths. It proclaims the i^rfect ligMeouS" 
 7iess and the absolute security/ of the childrea 
 of the covenant. 
 
THE ARK. 305 
 
 It shows the perfect rigJiteousness of the 
 believer. The whole law was in the ark. 
 Those material tahles, in the literal ark 
 point us to Christ. He is our ark. And 
 the whole law is in his heart. It is written 
 there. It has been kept by Him. He came 
 to do this. He delighted to do it. He did 
 do it. He "magnified the law and made it 
 honorable." In all the length and breadth 
 of its requirements He kept it. He " ful- 
 filled all righteousness." It was a steady, 
 uniform, unqualified obedience which He 
 rendered. It reached up to the highest, and 
 down to the lowest, and out to the extrem- 
 est requirement of the law. It was an 
 obedience which God weighed in the finely 
 adjusted balances of the heavenly sanctuary 
 and found not wanting, in any respect. God 
 acceptei it, and was well pleased with it. 
 It vindicated his government; it honored 
 his character ) it was all that He desired. 
 
306 THE AEK. 
 
 And this is the righteousness in which the 
 believer stands before God. This is impu- 
 ted unto him. It is considered as his own. 
 He is dealt with by God as he would be if 
 he had wi ought out this righteousness him- 
 self. And when we remember how the 
 whole law was kept in the ark, we see sig- 
 nificantly symbolized, in this aspect of it, 
 the perfect righteousness of the children of 
 the covenant. 
 
 But it also illustrated their absolute seciir- 
 ity. The tables of the law were broken in 
 the hands of Moses, but kept in the hands 
 of Christ. The security of the covenant of 
 salvation, and of all who are embraced by 
 it^ depends on the keeping of the law. Not, 
 bear in mind, on the keeping of the law by 
 the children of the covenant; that is an 
 absolute impossibility ; but on the keeping 
 of the law by their Head, and represerda- 
 tive; by Cliritrt, the messenger, the autl'<^, 
 
THE ARK. 307 
 
 the finisher, the embodiment of the cove- 
 nant. And this is not a thing to he done ; it 
 is a thing already accomplished. It has been 
 fully wrought out. Jesus had this in his 
 mind, among other things, when, as he hung 
 expiring on the cross, He exclaimed, — " It 
 is finished!' The thing is done. It ne\er 
 can be undone. The foundation, on which 
 the covenant of salvation rests, has been 
 laid broad, deep, and immovable in the 
 obedience of Christ, — in the law as kept by 
 Him. This covenant has been firmly based 
 on that foundation. God has bound these 
 two things together, and nothing can sepa- 
 rate them. And this w^e see indicated by 
 what is now before us. Those tables of the 
 law, preserved unbroken in the ark of the 
 covenant, are the emblem or pledge of the 
 entire safety, the absolute security of the 
 believing soul. Look at the position of the 
 
 ark. It stood in the Ivlost Holy Place^ — - 
 17 
 
308 THE ARK. 
 
 under the shadow of Jehovah's outspread 
 wmgs — and surrounded by the radiance of 
 his glory. His eye was ever ^^atching over 
 it. His omnipotent arm was ever stretched 
 out for its defense. How perfectly safe it 
 was ! Child of the covenant, this is the 
 type of your security in Jesus ! It is per- 
 fect, absolute, inviolable security. And these 
 are the thoughts suggested by the contents 
 of the ark. Thus we have attempted to 
 gather up the lessons taught us by the four 
 several things connected with the ark that 
 have now passed under our notice, viz. — the 
 veil that hung hefore the ark ; the lolace in 
 which the ark stood ; the structure of the ark ; 
 and its contents. 
 
 In conclusion — How striking are some of 
 the points of contrast between the Jewish and 
 the Christian ark. The one was composed 
 of created materials. The time had been 
 when the wood and the gold, wrought up 
 
THE ARK. 309 
 
 into the form of the ark, had no existence. 
 The other, as to the most important part of 
 his being, at least, was constituted "from 
 everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the 
 world was." Travel, as far back as you will, 
 over the trackless wastes of the eternity 
 past, and you never can reach the point 
 where you can plant yourself and say — 
 " here, the divinity of Christ, the most im- 
 portant element in the constitution of our 
 ark, was not in existence." The Jewish 
 ark was prepared by human hands. The 
 Christian ark was moulded and built by the 
 hands of a divine Artificer. Hence we read 
 that when the angel Gabriel announced to 
 the Virgin Mary the birth of her wondrous 
 child, he said,—" The Holy Ghost shall 
 come upon thee, and the power of the High- 
 est shall overshadow thee; therefore, also, 
 that holy thing that shall be born of thee 
 shall be called the Son of God." Mystery 
 
310 THE ARK. 
 
 hangs over the origin of life, in all its de- 
 velopments, it was to be expected that this 
 mystery should assume its darkest form over 
 that development of life in which the divine 
 allied itself to the human. And it was in 
 reference to this very circumstance, that 
 Jesus, anticipating his entrance into our 
 world, said to the Father — " a body hast 
 Thou prepai^ed meP It is true, even of us, 
 that " we are fearfully and wonderfully 
 made ;" but it was incomparably more so of 
 Christ. The Jewish ark was a beautiful 
 object to contemplate, but its glory and its 
 beauty were as nothing when contrasted 
 with the excelling splendor of our wondrous 
 ark. The Jewish ark led a migratory ex- 
 istence. It was now in one place, and now 
 in another. It once fell into the hands of 
 its enemies, and was led by them into cap- 
 tivity. It was carried in triumph into the 
 temple of Dagon, treated with insult, and 
 
THE ARK. 311 
 
 perhaps robbed of some of its treasured 
 things. Very striking here is the contrast 
 between the Jewish and the Christian ark. 
 Christ, our ark, has abode in one place. His 
 position is at the right hand of the majesty 
 on high. For well nigh two thousand years 
 there, He has remained. And there He ivill 
 abide till the time, of his coming and his 
 kingdom arrives. He has never been over- 
 come by His enemies. The gates of hell 
 have never prevailed against him. The con- 
 tents of the Jewish ark varied from time to 
 time. There were things in it at one time 
 which at another time had disappeared. 
 Either the hand of violence had robbed it, 
 or the hand of carelessness had neglected it. 
 But it is not so with our ark. This is " the 
 same yesterday, to-day, and forever." Noth- 
 ing once embraced in it can ever be separa- 
 ted from it. . All its precious, treasured con- 
 tents are secure, beyond the utmost reach 
 
312 THE ARK. 
 
 of fraud or violence. The Jewisli ark of 
 the covenant has passed away. It tvas, — 
 hut is not. But our ark is abiding stilL It 
 will abide forever. The covenant which it 
 represents is everlasting. Its lights its joy, 
 its grace and glory, yea, aU its blessings and 
 relationships are everlasting too. What a 
 glorious shadow the Jewish ark of the cove- 
 nant was ! What a still more glorious sub- 
 stance the Christian ark of the covenant is ! 
 Believers in Jesus ! children of this cove- 
 nant ! how well may you rejoice in your 
 portion ! What reason you have for abound- 
 ing gladness ! David esteemed the covenant 
 of God's grace as '^ all his salvation and aU 
 his desire." But what did this covenant 
 secure to David which it will not secure, as 
 fully and effectually, to you ? Has the cir- 
 cle of its benefits been in any wise restrict- 
 ed ? No, there has been no restriction here ; 
 but there has been enlargement. The streams 
 
THE ARK. 313 
 
 of covenant mercies run broader, and deep- 
 er, and fuller now than then. Oh^ walk in 
 the light of this covenant. Make full proof 
 of its glorious privileges, and let your life 
 bear witness to its sufficiency; its exhaust- 
 less power to satisfy and bless. 
 
 And my dear hearers who are not Chris- 
 tians, why will you remain unconnected 
 with this glorious covenant? It contains 
 only blessings to those who lay hold upon 
 it. Yes, the richest and the choicest bless- 
 ings to be found in the universe are garnered 
 here. There are no real, substantial, abiding 
 blessings outside of this covenant. To stand 
 unconnected with this covenant is to stand 
 unblest ! 
 
 But you need not stand thus unconnected 
 with it. God's gracious invitation, even to 
 you, is — " Incline your ear, and come unto 
 me ; hear, and your soul shall live ; and I will 
 make an everlasting covenant with you ; even 
 
314 THE ARK. 
 
 the sure mercies of David." Is. Iv. 3. If 
 jou remain unconnected with this covenant 
 you will have only yourself to blame. Maj^ 
 God graciously incline you to hear His 
 voice, and come unto him that this blessed 
 covenant may be " all your salvation, and 
 ill your desire forever ! Amen ! 
 
CHAPTEE YIII 
 
 **gttb tijotr sljalt make a mcrm-scat of pure golb: tka 
 cubits aitb a Ijalf sjjall be iljc leitgllj lljereof, anb a 
 cubit aub a Ijalf tijc brcabtjj tljercof. giitb tljou sl^alt 
 make ffao cl^crubims of golb, of beateit toork sljalt tljott 
 make tijent, in tl^e tbo tixiiB of llje mercg-seat. giub 
 make aixz cljcrub oix tlje one eiib, aub tlje otijcr tljerub 
 on t^e otljer cub ; tbm of llje mercg-seat sljall ge make 
 tlje cljerubims on tlje tfoa enbs lljcrcof. ^nh tlje cljeru- 
 bims sj)all stretclj fortlj tljeir kiincjs on I^iglj, coberinij 
 tlje mercn-seat foitlj tijeir foings, anb tijeir faces sljall 
 look one to anotljer; tobarb tlje mercu-seat sljall tlje 
 faces of tlje cljerubims be. '^nii tljou sljalt put flje mercg- 
 scat abobe upon tlje ark; anb intlje ark tljou sljalt put 
 tlje testimong tljat | sljall gibe tljee. ^nh tljerc | foill 
 meet bitlj tljee, anb | feill commune toitlj tljec from 
 abobe tIjc mercg-seat, from bctlrrccn tlje tbo cljerubims 
 bjljitlj are upon tlje ark of tlje testimong, of all tljings 
 teljiclj I bill gibe tljee in commanbment unto ilje cljil- 
 bren of Israel — Exodus, xxv. 17—22. 
 
VII. 
 
 In our previous examination of this sub- 
 ject we have considered the nature and de- 
 sign of the tabernacle ; and then, in detail, 
 the different articles of furniture connected 
 with it. Our last discourse was on the Ark, 
 the great central object of interest con- 
 nected with this heaven-devised structure. 
 In that discourse we considered the ark of 
 the covenant with reference to four things 
 connected with it, viz.: The veil which hung 
 lefore it; The place in tvhich it stood; The 
 structure of the ArJc, and its contents. There 
 remain two other points connected with it to 
 be considered, viz.: The Cheruhim above the 
 Arlh \ and the Mercy-seat with its glory. 
 
318 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 The first of these will constitute the 
 theme of our present meditation. Let us 
 now consider the cherubim above the arJc. 
 These are thus spoken of in our text : 
 " And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure 
 gold ; and thou shalt make two cherubims of 
 gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in 
 the two ends of the mercy-seat. And make 
 one cherub on the one end, and the other 
 cherub on the other end ; even of the mercy- 
 seat shall ye make the cherubims in the two 
 ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch 
 forth their wings on high, covering the 
 mercy-seat with their wings, and their faces 
 shall look one to another ; toward the mercy- 
 seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. 
 And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above 
 upon the ark ; and in the ark thou shalt put 
 the testimony that I shall give thee. And 
 there will I meet with thee, and will com- 
 mune with thee from above the mercy-seat, 
 
THE CHERUBIM. 319 
 
 from between the two clierubims wliich are 
 upon the ark, of all things which I will give 
 thee in commandment unto the children of 
 Israel." Now you will observe that there 
 is no description here given as to the form, 
 or appearance of these cherubim, beyond 
 the mention of their faces and of their 
 wings. We are not informed who were re- 
 presented, or what was intended by the 
 cherubim. The widest possible diversity 
 of opinion has existed among bible critics 
 and commentators in regard to the meaning 
 of these cherubim. It is not worth while 
 to enter into any examination, or enumera- 
 tion of these multifarious opinions. The 
 most prevalent idea has been that the cheru- 
 bim represented the angels. Their position 
 on the ends of the ark, with their faces to- 
 wards each other, and their earnest gaze, 
 rivetted upon the mercy-seat, has been sup- 
 posed to afford an illustration of the mean- 
 
320 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 ing of tlie apostle's words, when speaking 
 of the interest manifested by the angels as 
 students of the mysteries of redemption, he 
 says — " which things the angels desire to 
 look into." 
 
 But that it cannot be the angels, who are 
 intended by these mysterious representa- 
 tions, is rendered perfectly clear when you 
 consider that they were part and parcel of 
 the ark itself. They were not something 
 placed upon it, or added to it, but they were 
 something made of it, or for it. They were 
 beaten out of the very materials of the ark 
 itself. The same gold which covered the 
 mercy-seat was wrought out into the form 
 of the cherubim. This could have no sig- 
 niiicancy as applied to the angels. They are" 
 indeed " ministering spirits unto the heirs 
 of salvation," but they stand in no such 
 intimate relation to the covenant of redemp- 
 tion as is indicated by the position which 
 
THE CHEIIUBIM. 321 
 
 the cherubim occupied There can be no 
 question on this point. It is not the angels 
 who are represented by the cherubim. 
 
 To whom then, or to what do they refer ? 
 They are doubtless to he regarded, not perhaps 
 as actual existences at all, hut as symhols of 
 the glorious qualities or attributes of Christ our 
 Saviour, in carrying on the great work of our 
 redemption, and of attributes or qualities which 
 Ms ransomed people shall share with him in 
 the glory of his heavenly kingdom. 
 
 Now let us see what foundation the scrip- 
 tures give us on which to base the position 
 here assumed. We take it for granted that 
 wherever we find the cherubim spoken of, 
 or referred to, in scripture, they are to be 
 regarded as always denoting the same order 
 of beings or qualities. We are authorized 
 then to bring to a focus, on the cherubim of 
 the ark, whatever light we can gather from 
 
822 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 other parts of scripture respecting these 
 same sj^inbolical representations. 
 
 The most elaborate description of the 
 cherubim, to be found anjwhere in scrip- 
 ture, is that contained in the first chapter 
 of Ezekiel, 5—14. Here we read — "Also^ 
 out of the midst thereof came the likeness 
 of four living creatures." (That it is actu- 
 ally the cherubim the prophet is here de- 
 scribing is clear from chap. x. 20, where, 
 after having had another vision of them, he 
 winds up by saying — " This is the living 
 creature that I saw by the river Chebar ; 
 and I knew that they were the cherubims.) 
 Then the prophet proceeds thus in his de- 
 scription — " And this was their appearance, 
 they had the likeness of a man. And every 
 one had four faces, and every one had four 
 wings. And their feet were straight feet ; 
 and the sole of their feet was like the sole 
 of a calf's foot ; and they sparkled like the 
 
THE CHERUBIM. 323 
 
 color of burnished brass. And they had 
 the hands of a man under their wings, on 
 their four sides ; and they four had their 
 faces and their wings. Their wings were 
 joined one to another. As for the likeness 
 of their faces, they four had the face of a 
 man, and the face of a lion on the right 
 side ; and they four had the face of an ox 
 on the left side ; and they four also had the 
 face of an eagle. Thus were their faces ; 
 and their wings were stretched upward ; two 
 wings of every one were joined one to 
 another, and two covered their bodies. As 
 for the likeness of the living creatures, their 
 appearance was like burning coals of fire, 
 and like the appearance of lamps ; and the 
 fire was bright, and out of the fire went 
 forth liohtning. And the living creatures 
 ran and returned like the appearance of a 
 flash of lightning." 
 
 This is Ezekiel's description of the cheru* 
 
324 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 bim. You can hardly read it without hav- 
 ing the conviction fastened upon your mind 
 that it is a symbol, or representation of 
 qualities, or attributes which the prophet is 
 delin-eating rather than of organized beings, 
 or actual existences. (A glance at the 
 engraving, in which an attempt has been 
 made to embody and represent to the eye, 
 the description here given can hardly fail to 
 deepen this conviction.) 
 
 But let us pass now from the visions of 
 the river Chebar to those of the Isle of 
 Patmos. Here our eye rests at once upon 
 the following scene, depicted on the pro- 
 phetic canvas : Rev. iv. 6 — 8. " And .be- 
 fore the throne there was a sea of glass like 
 unto crystal ; and in the midst of the throne, 
 and round about the thvone, zuei^e four beasts, 
 full of eyes behind and before." One can 
 never read this description without a feeling 
 of regret that our translators should have 
 
THE CHERUBIM. 325 
 
 used tlie word ''heast^'' here. The Greek 
 word ill the original is the same as that in 
 the Septuagint version of Ezekiel ; and the 
 sense would have been more properly given, 
 if, here, as in the former place, it had been 
 rendered by the phrase '^ living creatiirer 
 In quoting this passage further I shall give 
 it this rendering : " And the first living 
 creature was like a lion, and the second liv- 
 ing creature was like a calf, the third had a 
 face as a man, and the fourth was like a 
 flying eagle. And the four living creatures 
 had each of them six wings about him ; and 
 they were full of eyes within; and they 
 rest not day and night, saying holy, holy, 
 holy Lord God Almighty, which was, and 
 is, and is to come." Here again we have 
 the cherubim described. These are nearer 
 the throne of Jehovah, with its incumbent 
 majesty, than those seen by Ezekiel beside 
 the liver Chebar, and they al^e represented 
 
326 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 as ha^ving six wings instead of /owr to de- 
 note the propriety of having their persons 
 more fully veiled from the glance of that 
 holy eye to which even the heavens are un- 
 clean. And w^hat is the employment of 
 these symbolic creatures, in the lofty posi- 
 tion which they occupy ? The apostle an- 
 swers our inquiry satisfactorily. Rev. v. 
 8 10. "And when lie had taken the 
 book, the four living creatures, and four and 
 twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, 
 having, every one of them, harps and golden 
 vials full of odors, which are the prayers of 
 saints. And they sung a new song, saying, 
 Thou art worthy to take the book, and to 
 open the seals thereof; for Thou wast slain, 
 and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood 
 out of every kindred, and tongue, and peo- 
 ple, and nation ; and hast made us unto our 
 God kings and priests ; and we shall reign 
 on the earth/' Here we have the cherubim 
 
THE CHERUBIM. 327 
 
 again. And tlie position wliicli they are 
 thus represented as occupying throws a 
 flood of light on the part of the subject we 
 are now considering. It goes very far to 
 help us in the attempt to answer the ques- 
 tion, in what sense are we to regard the 
 cherubim ? It shows us that the Cheruhim 
 of the Tabernacle and Temple^ and the liv- 
 ing creatures of EzeJdel and St. John are 
 all one and the same symhol. This s^^mbol 
 does not represent the angels. But it does 
 represent the qualities, or attributes of 
 Christ our Saviour, exercised by Ilim in 
 carrying on the great work of our redemp- 
 tion, and which his people will share with 
 Him in the glory of His heavenly kingdom. 
 Now let us glance at the chief of these 
 qualities as indicated by the appearance of 
 the cherubim. As already stated, Moses 
 gives no particular, or detailed description 
 of the cherubim, connected with the ark> 
 
 12 
 
328 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 "We are autliorizecl, however, to associate 
 with them the leading features found in 
 Ezekiel's description. These are represent- 
 ed as bearing a quadriform figure, each hav- 
 ing respectively the face of a lion, the face 
 of an ox, the face of an eagle, and the face 
 of a man. It is interesting, too, to remark 
 in this connection that the fourfold counte- 
 nance of the living creatures in Ezekiel's 
 vision formed the standard of the tribes in 
 their encampment in the wilderness. On 
 each side of the sanctuary, or tabernacle were 
 situated three of the twelve tribes. The 
 standards of these several camps bore the 
 same representations. There v/as the face 
 of a lion on the right side ; the face of an 
 ox on the left ; the face of an eagle in the 
 front ; and the face of a man in tlie rear. 
 And what are the features of character in- 
 dicated by these several faces which the 
 cherubim bore ? There is no difficulty in 
 
THE SHEKIXAH AND CHERUBIM ABOVE THE MEHCV-SE.V'-. 
 Jewish Tabernacle. p. 328. 
 
THE CHERUBIM. 329 
 
 determining this. And it is a matter of 
 great interest to us, as bearing at once upon 
 our comfort for the present, and our hope 
 for the future. These cherubims, as wrought 
 out of the gold which covered the ark, stand 
 before us as representatives of Christ, in the 
 leading qualities which mark His character, 
 as lie carries on the work of our redemp- 
 tion. And. whatever adds depth or clear- 
 ness to our views of Christ's character has 
 to do directly with our present comfort. 
 Again these cherubims as connected with 
 the ark of the covenant, — as associated in- 
 timately with Christ — and as placed upon 
 the mercy-seat, where He pledges commu- 
 nion and fellowship with His people, are re- 
 presentatives of redeemed humanity, in the 
 exalted position of blessedness and glory to 
 which it will eventually be raised in the 
 coming kingdom of the Son of Man. And 
 whatever bears on this subject has to do, 
 
330 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 most intimately, with our hope for the fu- 
 ture. 
 
 Let us look then at the qualities indicated 
 hy the fourfold faces of the Cheruhim. 
 
 The first is tlie face of a man. This stands 
 before us as the natural, and admitted index 
 of Jcnowledge, or intelligence. And this we 
 know is a quality or attribute which Christ, 
 in his position as our Eedeemer, the crown- 
 ing glory of our ark of the covenant, pos- 
 sesses in the fullest measure. '' In Ilim are 
 hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowl- 
 edge." This is a broad, general declaration 
 that covers the whole subject. But then 
 what interesting statements we have scat- 
 tered throughout the scriptures, giving us 
 illustrations in detail of this truth ! We 
 have such illustrations when we read passa- 
 ges like these : " The Lord knoweth them 
 that are his." " The Lord knoweth the way 
 of the righteous." It was just this view of 
 
THE CHERUBIM. 331 
 
 his Saviour's character on which David was 
 meditating when he said — " Thou knowest 
 my down-sitting, and mine uprising, Thou 
 understandeth my thoughts afar off. Thou 
 compassest my path, and my lying down, 
 and art acquainted ^iih. all m?/ ways ^ Again 
 we read — " He knoweth our frame, He re- 
 memhereth that we are but dust." The Lord 
 knoweth how to deliver the godly out of 
 temptation." In the language of the hymn — 
 
 "He knows what fierce temptations are, 
 For He lias felt the same." 
 
 In all these, and similar passages we have 
 sweet and comforting illustrations of the 
 knowledge and intelligence of Christ as an 
 attribute of his character in working out our 
 redemption. Believer in Jesus, when you 
 read about " the face of a man " upon the 
 cheiubim, tliink of it as referring to Christ, 
 and telling yon, in expressive symbol, of the 
 
66Z THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 intimate acquaintance he has with you, the 
 thorough knowledge he possesses of all your 
 v\"ants and weaknesses, and of everything 
 that may be required to meet them. 
 
 But the Clierubim are representative of our 
 humanity/ in its glorified state. And looking 
 at it from this point of view we may gaze 
 upon the " face of a man " in this mysterious 
 symbol till it seems to have a voice and ut- 
 terance, and to speak to us in eloquent terms 
 of the grand disclosures, the marvellous un- 
 foldings, of what are now hidden things, 
 awaiting us in that bright world to which we 
 are hastening. Just glance at some of the 
 passages of God's word which may be re- 
 garded as bearing on this point, — pictorial 
 illustrations of this aspect of the symbol' 
 before us. " In thy. light we shall see 
 light." Christian, this passage sets you 
 down before the splendor of the everlasting 
 throne. The radiance there prevailing has 
 
THE CHERUBIM. 333 
 
 chased every cloud from your sky, eYery 
 shadow from your path. Can you begin to 
 imagine what the scope and fulness of 3^our 
 knowledge will be when this sweet promise 
 is realized; and in God's light you see light ? 
 But I must quote without remark, or each 
 separate point of our subject will be expand- 
 ing into a sermon. " The light of the moon 
 shall be as the light of the sun, and the 
 light of the sun shall be seven-fold, as the 
 light of seven days, in the day when the 
 Lord bindeth up the breach of the people, 
 and healeth the stroke of their wound.'* 
 This, in the glowing imagery of Isaiah's 
 gorgeous style, is a promise of the enlarge- 
 ment of knowledge awaiting God's people 
 in the glory of their resurrection state. But 
 we have the ssnoae truth presented in the 
 solidity of plain, prose statements, as well 
 as in the pomp of high-wrought poetry. The 
 statement of our Saviour bears upon this 
 
334 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 point Tvlien He said to Peter- — " What I do 
 thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know 
 hereafter." And so does his declaration to 
 the apostles, when he affirmed so broadly — 
 " There is nothing hid that shall not be 
 manifest." But nothing can be more con- 
 clusive on this point than the full and abso- 
 lute assertion of the apostle when he says 
 to the Corinthians — " For now we see 
 through a glass darkly; but then face to 
 face ; now we know in part, hut then slialt 
 we Jcnow, even as also tve are hioiunr 1 Cor. 
 xiii. 12. Thus the " face of the man " upon 
 the cherubim represents to us, in symbol, 
 the knowledge that shall be possessed by 
 the redeemed of Christ, in the glory of their 
 heavenly state. 
 
 The second face tvhich the cherubim lore 
 was "the face of a lion^ Two qualities are 
 here indicated, viz., courage and majesty. 
 The lion has ever been regarded, among all 
 
THE CIIERUEIM. 335 
 
 nations, as the natural representative of 
 courage. Bold as a lion, is a simile admit- 
 ted to be just, all over the world. And it 
 was on this ground that England's heroic, 
 and chivalrous king gained for himself the 
 title, which he will wear to the end of time, 
 of " Kichard of the lion heart." Courage, 
 true courage is an attribute or quality that 
 has ahvays commanded the respect and ad- 
 miration of the world. It belongs by in- 
 heritance to the Anglo-Saxon race. It comes 
 down to us from a noble ancestry in our 
 father land. England's history, like our 
 own, is full of noble instances illustrative of 
 this fine quality. It was the display of this 
 quality, connected with them, which gave 
 such renown to Marathon, and Thermopylse 
 in ancient days, — to Crecy and Agincourt — • 
 Blenheim, Bunker Hill, and Waterloo, of 
 later times ; and which will weave into the 
 same chaplet with them many names, len- 
 
33G THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 dered famous by the sad, sad conflict still 
 ill progress in our own land. But the great 
 Captain of our salvation, in the campaign 
 which He undertook, when he resolved to 
 put down the rebellion which had broken out 
 in this province of His Father's dominions, 
 afforded the grandest exhibition of this no- 
 ble quality, which, the world, or the universe 
 has ever witnessed. This campaign is not 
 yet finished. The history of it has not yet 
 been written. When this conflict is over ; 
 when this rebellion is put down, and the his- 
 tory of it is written out, it may be by the 
 combined agency of some of those "holy 
 men of old," who once " spoke and wrote as 
 they were moved by the Holy Ghost — by 
 David, and Isaiah, and Ezekiel, or by Peter, 
 and John, and Paul, there will be one scene, 
 around which will be spread a halo of moral 
 grandeur, reflected from the peerless heroism 
 of the Captain of our salvation^ which wUl 
 
THE CHERUBIM. 337 
 
 throw into the shade all other examples of 
 courage recorded in the annals of the world, 
 or of the universe. Gethsemane was the 
 theatre of that transaction. The stake at 
 issue was the souls of a race of ruined crea- 
 tures. The combatants were, on the one 
 side, the embattled powers of darkness, led 
 on by Satan, an arch-angel fallen ; on the 
 other side stood — Jesus, alone. " Of the 
 people there were none with Him." "He 
 came to his own, but his own received him 
 not." In that hour of his greatest need " all 
 bis disciples forsook him and fled." The 
 angel hosts were kept aloof, though they 
 would gladly have been at his side amidst 
 the conflict. Even his Father withdrew his 
 face and forsook him then. He stood in the 
 Thermopylse of the universe, — alone. He 
 knew that hell had emptied itself to meet 
 Him there. He knew the number, the 
 power, the fierceness of his foes. Yet; un- 
 
838 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 appalled, he marched steadily onward to the 
 struggle. He met the foe single-handed. 
 With undaunted spirit he bore the tremen- 
 dous shock ; and though He fell in the con- 
 flict, yet He conquered as He fell. " He 
 spoiled principalities and powers," and 
 " opened the kingdom of heaven to all be- 
 lievers. " Here was courage without a par- 
 allel. Here we see " the Lion of the tribe 
 of Judah " acting out his true character. 
 And this courage of our great chief is indi- 
 cated by '^ the face of a lion," as seen upon 
 the cherubim. 
 
 And this quality is a characteristic of re- 
 deemed humanity as well as of Him who 
 redeemed it. It applies to true Christians 
 even now. " The righteous are bold as a 
 lion," says the wise man. But it will apply 
 to them much more truly hereafter. It is 
 said of them that — " they shall have bold- 
 ness in the day of judgment." This is the 
 
THE CHERUBIM. 339 
 
 very highest exercise of this most noble 
 quality. In this relation it is not a natural, 
 but a gracious attribute of character. It 
 results from connection with Christ, and the 
 covenant of his salvation. It is beautifully 
 explained by the language of the hymn 
 which represents the believer as saying — 
 
 "Jesus, thy blood and rigliteoiisness 
 My beauty are, my glorious di-ess — 
 Midst flaming worlds in these array'd 
 AYitb joy will I lift up my head." 
 
 But " the face of the lion " was indicative 
 of majesty as well as courage. Majesty is 
 not an assumed thing. It is not a necessa- 
 ry attendant of ofi&cial position; but it is 
 the natural result of the possession of pre- 
 eminent excellences. There is the halo 
 round the sun for instance ; this is nothing 
 else than the glory created by the shining 
 of its own rays. And it is just so with the 
 majesty of Christ. This is the halo round 
 
340 THE CnERUBIM. 
 
 his character — the radiance formed by the 
 shining forth of His own glory. He is " the 
 brightness of the Father's glory, and the 
 express image of His person." He is " the 
 chief among ten thousand, and altogether 
 lovely." He is the substance of which all 
 the glories of the material creation are but 
 shadows. Matchless courage and peerless 
 majesty are his. And this is indicated by 
 the face of the lion upon the cherubim. 
 
 But this is a quality, too, which will mark 
 the condition of the redeemed, in the glory 
 of their future state. True, with them it 
 will not be an inherited, but an imparted 
 quality. In themselves, of their own, they 
 have nothing attractive, or majestic. But 
 they do have that imparted to them, by their 
 glorious Lord, which makes them so. Hence, 
 speaking to Bis Church, Jesus says- '^ Thy 
 leauty v^^^ iicrfed through my comeliness, 
 wdiicli I put upon thee." None will deny 
 
THE CHERUBIM. 341 
 
 ihsit perfect heauty is a majestic thing This 
 attiibute of the character of the redeemed 
 in their future state is fully sustained by 
 passages like these : " Then shall the 
 righteous shine forth as the sun in the king- 
 dom of their Father." " Thou shalt be a 
 crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and 
 a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." 
 Solomon represented the Church of the Re- 
 deemed, " looking forth as the morning, 
 beautiful as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, 
 fair as the sun, clear as the moon, and terri- 
 ble as an army with banners." All these 
 expressions prove that majesty, of the no- 
 blest order, will be a feature of character 
 marking the condition of the redeemed in 
 glory. Courage and majesty will pertain to 
 them, as to their glorious Lord, and " the 
 face of the lion " upon the cherubim is the 
 symbol of these qualities. 
 
 The third face which the cherubim bore 
 
342 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 was " the face of an oxP The quality which 
 this represents is, manifestly, that of strength 
 for service. " That our oxen may be strong 
 to labor" says the Psalmist, when praying 
 for temporal blessings on the people. And 
 Solomon says : " Much increase is by the 
 strength of the ox." And strength, we 
 know, is a glorious attribute of our divine 
 Redeemer. It is one which he possesses, 
 too, in absolute perfection. In speaking of 
 Him, in connection wdth the work to which 
 He had appointed him, God, the Father, 
 says : " I have laid help upon one who is 
 mighty." It is of Him the prophet is speak- 
 ing when he says to Israel, — " Trust ye in 
 the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is 
 everlasting strength." He is '' the Creator 
 of the ends of the earth, who fainteth not, 
 neither is weary." He has ^' power over all 
 flesh to give eternal life to as many as the 
 Father hath given him." " He is able to 
 
THE CHEBUBIM. 343 
 
 save unto the uttermost them that come unto 
 God by him." " All power in heaven and 
 on earth is given unto him." " Nothing is 
 impossible with him." " He is mighty to 
 save, and strong to deliver." " The govern- 
 ment" of the Church and of the universe 
 " is upon His shoulder." It is an easy yoke, 
 a light burden for Him to bear, because He 
 is girded with omnipotence. He has ex- 
 haustless strength for the service he has 
 undertaken. " The face of the ox," as re- 
 presented on the mysterious cherubim, was 
 a significant symbol of this attribute of our 
 Saviour's character. 
 
 But it symbolized the same quality as 
 marking the condition of his people in that 
 glorious kingdom to which it is His gracious 
 purpose eventually to bring them. It is the 
 covenant privilege of the redeemed, even 
 iiow, in the imperfection of this fallen state, 
 to be " strong in the Lord, and in the power 
 
344 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 of his might." They '' take hold of his 
 strength," and this enables them to momit 
 tip With wings as eagles, to " run and not be 
 weary, to walk and not faint." But the ark, 
 and the clierubim upon it, point us onward 
 to the heavenly world. It is a quality, or 
 property, of redeemed humanity in the glory 
 of the resurrection state to which the sym- 
 bol now before us refers. 
 
 That will be an active state, — a condition 
 of the most exalted and glorious service. 
 It is when St. John is in the midst of his 
 most transporting description of the gran- 
 deur and blessedness of that state, — when 
 the vision of the heavenly Jerusalem is 
 clearly unfolded to his view, and he is 
 gazing enraptured on that city of the skies, " 
 as it sparkles in its ineffable beauty before 
 him, — that he says of those who shall be 
 favored to enter there — ^^ His servants shall 
 serve Himy Directly after he adds — ^' and 
 
THE CHEIIUBIM. 845 
 
 there shall be no night there." The service 
 of that blessed state will be an unceasing: 
 service. When he is describing the living 
 creatures, the cherubim, in another of the 
 Apocalyptic visions, he says of them, tl^it 
 " they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, 
 Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty." 
 And yet we are told elsewhere of the re- 
 deemed in glory that they " enter into rest. ' 
 There is no discrepancy between these state- 
 ments. It is true of the redeemed that they 
 will serve God day and night, L e., unceas- 
 ingly, for '' there is no night there." And 
 it is true, at the same time, that they will 
 ^^ enter into rest." Ceaseless activity is not 
 compatible with a state of rest here, but it 
 will be there. There will be bliss in every 
 service, and rest in every motion. And this 
 gives us the most striking view we can have 
 of the strength, the amazing might, the 
 tireless vigor which will be girding every 
 
346 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 faculty of the ransomed in the kingdom of 
 their Father. In the striking language of 
 the prophet, " They will be strong and do 
 exploits." And this idea is embodied in 
 " the face of the ox " described upon the 
 cherubim. 
 
 The last face associated tvith this mysteri-- 
 ous symhol tvas " the face of an eaglet 
 
 Now, one of the things for which an eagle 
 is remarkable, is its keenness of vision. God 
 says of the eagle — " From the crag of the 
 rock she seeketh her prey; and her eyes 
 behold afar offT Our Saviour said — 
 '•' Wheresoever the carcass is there will the 
 eagles be gathered together." In confirma- 
 tion of this, Oriental travellers tell us that, in 
 the progress of their caravans, when a horse- 
 or a camel dies, it scarcely falls to the 
 ground before the eagles sight their prey 
 and light upon it. And all the power, or 
 quickness of vision, which the eagle possesses 
 
THE CHERUBIM. 347 
 
 is but a symbol of a corresponding attribute 
 of character pertaining to Christ. His eyes 
 are in every place. " He seeth the end from 
 the beginning." " He knoweth our necessi- 
 ties before we ask." When Satan desired 
 to have Peter " that he might sift him as 
 wheat," and laid his snare for him accord- 
 ingly, Jesus saw it all, and gave timely 
 warning of it to his impulsive, and honest- 
 hearted, but self-confident disciple. He saw 
 the approach of the Roman armies to Jeru- 
 salem fifty years before they came, and He 
 left wise counsel for his people, to guide 
 their steps in that emergency, and guard 
 them from that danger. " Wonderful Coun- 
 sellor " was part of the name the prophet 
 gave Him before his birth, and it is His 
 name still. His quick, unslumbering eye 
 surveys every path along which His people 
 tread. He sees the dangers that beset them, 
 the sna^c^i in secret laid for their harm, and 
 
348 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 He guards tliem from those clangers, and 
 delivers them from those snares. " The 
 face of the eagle/' on the cherubim, gives 
 us, in symbol, the assurance of this quality 
 in our glorious Lord. It is a comforting 
 assurance. 
 
 But lioiu does this apjyhj to the redeemed in 
 the glory of their future state ? This is not a 
 point on which any definite, or explicit in- 
 formation is given us in the Scriptures. But 
 there are two passages which, when brought 
 together, and looked at, in the light of this 
 subject, are, to say the least, very sugges- 
 tive. We find St. Paul speaking to the 
 Hebrew Christians, of " the powers of the 
 world to come." Heb., vi. 5. We cannot 
 stop now to discuss this passage critically: 
 But there can be no question that it refers 
 to faculties, attributes, or qualities, mental, 
 moral, or physical, to be possessed by the 
 redeemed of Christ amidst the glory and 
 
THE CIIEPtUBIM. 349 
 
 blessedness of the -woiid to come. And this 
 being assumed we are prepared for the other 
 passage in question. This is found in Isaiah 
 xxxiii. 17. Here, the prophet, after speak- 
 ing of the present privileges of the child of 
 the covenant, is led on to glance at his posi- 
 tion in the future. He says : " Thine eyes 
 shall see the king in his beauty ; they shall 
 behold the land that is very far off." Now 
 I venture not to dogmatize about this pas- 
 sage. I would not affirm positively that it 
 is intended to teach this, or that, or the 
 other idea respecting the condition of the 
 redeemed in glory ; but when I bear in 
 mind how marvellously exalted that position 
 will be ; when I remember St. Paul's inti- 
 mation about " the powers of the world to 
 come," and then come back and look upon 
 Ezekiel's sketch of the cherubim with its 
 eagle eye — Oh, I feel that, if I am a believer 
 in Jesus, I have here a promise, in symbol, 
 
350 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 of such an enlargement of perceptive facul* 
 iy and power of vision as quite passes my 
 capacity at present to comprehend. 
 
 But quichiess of motion, or sjjeed of flight 
 is another characteristic quality of the eagle. 
 
 In one of the terrific denunciations which 
 Moses left on record, for Israel's admonition, 
 he sayS; " The Lord shall hring a nation 
 upon thee from the ends of the earth, as 
 sivift as the eagle flicthr Nothing can be 
 more expressive of celerity or despatch in 
 action than is this language. And this we 
 know is a quality which strikingly marks 
 the character of Christ in carrying on the 
 work of our redemption. It was so when 
 lie was on earth. What He did for those 
 who sought His gracious intervention, He 
 did quickly. How often, when the blind 
 appealed to Him, we read that " immediate- 
 ly their eyes were opened !" How often 
 vvhen the poor, forlorn lepers invoked his 
 
THE CHERUBIM. 351 
 
 healing power, we read that ''immediately 
 their leprosy was cleansed." This quality 
 marks His character still. It is only by the 
 practical development of it that He can 
 make good His word when He engages in 
 one place to be to all His people " a very 
 present help in trouble ;" and in another to 
 be always '' a God at hand, and not afar 
 off;" or when, in still another place, His 
 promise runs — " Before they call I will an- 
 swer, and while they are yet speaking I will 
 hear." It is clearly manifest how " the face 
 of the eagle " upon the cherubim points to 
 this feature of our Lord's character. 
 
 But what hearing has this on the position of 
 the redeemed in glory 1 I answer, a very 
 natural and necessary bearing. It teaches 
 us that quickness of motion, or speed of 
 flight, Avill be a characteristic of that state. 
 This idea is more distinctly taught us, than 
 any other of which we have spoken^ in the 
 
852 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 passage from Ezekiel to wliicli we have re- 
 ferred. For, observe that in the fourteenth 
 verse the prophet tells us, that '^ the living 
 creatures ran and returned as the appearance 
 of a flash of lightning." The capacity to 
 n:iove with lightning speed, with the quick- 
 ness of thought, this, we are here taught, 
 will be one of the features marking the con- 
 dition of the redeemed in glory — one of 
 " the powers of the world to come." Their 
 position as kings and priests unto God and 
 the Lamb will require this. In that posi- 
 tion they will be officiating, as channels of 
 communication, between their triumphant 
 Redeemer, in that Nev/ Jerusalem of which 
 He will be the light and glory, and the 
 saved nations who shall then be peoj)ling the 
 earth. To those nations the resurrection 
 saints will stand in a relation analogous to 
 that which the angels now sustain towards the 
 heirs of salvation when they act to them as 
 
THE CHERUBIM. 353 
 
 ministering spirits; and in a position like 
 this the power, or faculty, of which we now 
 speak, will be an absolute necessity. But 
 we are assured of their possession of this 
 power, when we gaze upon the face of the 
 eagle which the cherubim bore. 
 
 Thus we have attempted to point out the 
 significance of this symbol in its bearing, 
 both on the qualities which characterize our 
 blessed Lord in the work He is now carrying 
 on, and which will mark the condition of 
 His people in the glory and blessedness of 
 his promised kingdom. 
 
 In conclusion — IIoiu glorious are the pros- 
 pects for the future zvhich the Gospel unfolds 
 to believers in Jesus ! We only speak now 
 of these prospects as they appear in the 
 light of our present subject. The cheru- 
 bim, with their four-fold faces, stand before 
 us as significant symbols of the noble quali- 
 ties which mark the character of our Saviour 
 
354 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 now, and wliicli all His peoj^le Tvlll share 
 with Him hereafter. " We know/' says the 
 apostle, " that when He shall appear luc 
 shall he like HimJ' How impressive such a 
 statement becomes in the light which shines 
 upon it from the mysterious cherubim ! To 
 be like Him in knowledge, as indicated by 
 the face of a man ; like him in courage and 
 majesty, as indicated hj the face of a lion j 
 like him in strength for service, as indicated 
 by the face of an ox ; like him in power of 
 vision and swiftness of motion, as indicated 
 by the face of an eagle ; — in a word, like 
 him in every respect in which a creature can 
 he like the Creator — what a destiny is this ! 
 Yet, Christian, this is the inheritance re- 
 served for you ! "When Jesus was speaking 
 of His people in their resurrectic i state. He 
 said they should be " as the angels'' Here 
 we see how this statement will be realized. 
 Glorified men will be equal to the angels in 
 
THE CHERUBIM. 355 
 
 most respects ; but in some respects they 
 will be better off than even the angels them- 
 selves. The angels must stand forever on 
 the ground of their own righteousness, — a 
 creature's righteousness ; but redeemed men 
 will stand forever, and be exalted in the 
 righteousness of Christ — a j&nished, perfect, 
 and transcendently glorious righteousness. 
 The angels can stand no more closely rela- 
 ted to Christ than any other unfallen crea- 
 tures ; but redeemed men will be more inti- 
 mately related to Him than any other 
 creatures in the universe. For " He took 
 not on Him the nature of angels," but, — 
 glorious thought ; — "He took on him the seed 
 of Abraham." Jehovah Jesus wears our 
 nature on the throne of the universe. The 
 mantle of humanity is on Him there. How 
 near this brings us to Him ! And then 
 there is one other point in which our posi- 
 tion will be superior to theirs. The angels 
 
356 THE CHERUBIM. 
 
 will sing the anthem of creation, and of pre- 
 servation, — but the anthem of redemption, 
 they will not be able to sing. '^ Worthy the 
 Lamb, for He was slain /or us,'' — will not be 
 true of them. This is a note in the music 
 of the upper sanctuary too high for angel 
 harps to strike. The ransomed of earth 
 alone will be able to reach this lofty strain. 
 Believers in Jesus, this is your portion ! 
 What love you owe ! what praise ; what 
 gratitude ! what devotion ! to Him, who, by 
 His suffering and death, has opened the 
 pathway for you to this glorious inheri- 
 tance ! Oh, then — 
 
 " Since words can never measure, 
 Let your life show forth His praise !" 
 
 And w^iat a motive this subject suggests, 
 to urge you to seek an interest in Jesus, my 
 dear hearers who are yet strangers to Him. 
 Our ruined nature can find perfection and 
 
THE CHERUBIM. 357 
 
 enduring blessedness only in Christ. Tlie 
 path of life starts from His cross. All that 
 is pure and noble, all that is elevated and 
 enduring, in the development of humanity is 
 to be found in Jesus. The blessing, the 
 glory, the immortality for which our spirits 
 pine can only be secured in Him. Seek 
 Jesus and be pardoned. Seek Jesus and be 
 transformed. Seek Jesus and be happy. 
 Seek Jesus and be saved. 
 
 *' In Him you'll then abide, 
 
 And sweet shall he yonr rest. 
 With every longing satisfied, 
 In full salvation blest." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 **;S.nb fljou sl}:ilt mnhe a mcvtu-srat of ijuugoii): fbo tiibita 
 aub H Ijnlf sbnll be tlje Icngilj tl^crrof, uub h cubit mxH 
 a Ijnif tlje brcnbtl) tbcrcof. giiib tl^ou sbnlt }?nt iljc mevt)|- 
 scat abobe upon ll^e aiii; aiib in Ibc mh thon sbnlt put 
 tijt festimoiiiJ il|Ht | sI^hU gibe lljce, gub fljcre bill | 
 meet feitlj lljee, aixb | bsill contmuuc bitlj fljcc front 
 abobe tl^e merci|-scnt, from brtlDceir fbc tbo cbcrubims 
 fol/tclj are upon ilje ark of tjjc tcstimoitir, of al( tljiuga 
 feljiclj I bill gibe tljcc in tontmanbmcut unto tl^c cl^it- 
 bren of |srafl — Exodus, xxv. 17, 21, 22. 
 
IX. 
 
 "When Moses made the tabernacle he he* 
 gan where we leave off, in our consideration 
 of it. The ark of the covenant, the last 
 article of the sacred furniture to claim our 
 attention, is the first thing described by him, 
 in his account of the tabernacle, and it was 
 doubtless that which first engaged his 
 thoughts, in the erection of the heaven-ap- 
 pointed structure. He finished this, in all 
 its mysterious beauty, before proceeding 
 further. He then took up, in the order of 
 their relation to the ark, the other articles 
 pertaining to the tabernacle. It was natural 
 for Moses to pursue the course he did ; and 
 
362 THE MERCY-SEAT. 
 
 e finally natural for us to have pursued the 
 opposite course. In tlie erection of a build- 
 ing it is natural to begin with the founda- 
 tion ; but in describing the same building it 
 would be very unnatural to begin at the 
 same point. We have imagined ourselves 
 to be strangers, on a visit of inquiry and 
 observation to the camp of Israel, and the 
 august and impressive arrangement for di- 
 vine worship connected with its tabernacle. 
 We have attempted to describe the taberna- 
 cle and its furniture as it would have ap* 
 peared to a person thus approaching it. AVe 
 have taken up, and considered the different 
 objects connected with it, in the order in 
 which they would have presented them- 
 selves, under such circumstances. 
 
 From the outer door of the court of the 
 tabernacle, we have advanced, step by step, 
 till at last, with solemn awe, we have 
 reached the Most Holy Pkce, where the 
 
THE MERCY-SEAT. o63 
 
 ark, with its overshadowing cherubim^ has 
 stood before us for consideration. 
 
 We have taken up five several points of 
 inquiry in connection with the ark. We 
 have noticed in succession — the veil which 
 hung before the ark ; the place in which the 
 ark stood ; its structure ; its contents ; the 
 cherubim above it ; and now, one other 
 point alone remains to be considered, viz.: 
 The Mercy-seat and its glory. 
 
 This is the subject of our present medita- 
 tion. In dwelling on this subject we may con-- 
 sider what the mercy-seat was literally — ana 
 what it was typically, or symholically. 
 
 In its simple, literal acceptation, the 
 mercy-seat denoted merely the cover, or lid 
 of the ark. In the words which God ad- 
 dressed to Moses, respecting it, in our text, 
 it is thus described : "And thou shalt make 
 a mercy-seat of pure gold : two cubits and 
 a half shall be the length thereof, and a 
 
364 THE MERCY-SEAT. 
 
 cubit and a half the breadth thereof. An J 
 thou shalt put the Mercy-seat above, upon 
 the ark." 
 
 There is very httle to say under this first 
 branch of our subject. Taken in its prima- 
 ry or hteral sense the mercy-seat was noth- 
 ing else than the lid or covering of the ark. 
 It was made of pure gold. The rest of the 
 ark was made of shittim-wood, overlaid with 
 gold. But there was no wood about the 
 mercy-seat. It was all of gold, and only of 
 gold. We are not told why such a differ- 
 ence was ordained to exist between this 
 portion of the ark and the remainder of it. 
 It does not become us curiously to pry into 
 matters that God has not seen fit to reveal, 
 nor aim to be wise above what is written. 
 But if, as we have before supposed, the 
 wood and the gold represented the two na- 
 tures of our Saviour, then, when the mercy- 
 Beat is described, there would seem to be a 
 
THE MERCY-SEAT. 365 
 
 peculiar significancy in representing it as 
 composed of gold alone, for the relations 
 there to be sustained by God to His people, 
 as we shall see presently, were such as per 
 tained peculiarly to the Godhead, and not to 
 the humanity. 
 
 It is worthy of notice that the word in 
 the Hebrew rendered mercy-seat here, comes 
 from the old root capJiar, or copJiar, which 
 signifies to hide, or cover, and is doubtless 
 the origin of our English word cover. Lit- 
 erally the mercy-seat was the covering of 
 the ark. 
 
 But our chief concern is with the mercy- 
 seat, m its typical or st/mholical meaning. 
 And there is perhaps no better or more satis- 
 factory way of getting at this meaning than 
 by looking for a moment at the true sense 
 of the word in the Hebrew and Greek 
 Scriptures, rendered respectively in our 
 English version by the term mercy-seat. In 
 
366 THE MERCY-SEAT. 
 
 the Hebrew Bible^ it is tlie word capJiareth, 
 or cojpliaretli^ from the word co])lier. This, 
 in its strict or primary sense, means to atone 
 for sin, to exjnate, or forgive sin. In its 
 secondary, or metaphorical sense, it means 
 to cover sin. And this gives us the true 
 scriptural sense of pardon as resulting from 
 an atonement. It is the putting away, or 
 hiding of sin — the causing of it not to ap- 
 pear. Hence, says the Psalmist — " Blessed 
 is he whose transgression is forgiven ; whose 
 sin is covered. The word used in the Sep- 
 tuagint, and in the Greek version of the 
 New Testament, to translate the term, which 
 in Hebrew means simply a cover, is IXaarrjpiov 
 — ilastarion, which means an " expiatory,'' 
 or a "propitiatory," denoting that by which 
 atonement is made, or pardon obtained, or 
 in other words, by which sin is covered. 
 And this you will see had a peculiar signifi- 
 cancy as applied to the mercy-seat, when 
 
THE MERCY-SEAT. 367 
 
 you bear in mind the solemn service per- 
 formed every year in connection with it. 
 On the great day of atonement the high- 
 priest entered the Most Holy Place with the 
 blood of a slaughtered victim. This blood 
 was sprinkled on the mercy-seat. By doing 
 this he " made an atonement for the sins of 
 the people." And in this way that golden 
 lid of the ark, became the '' propitiatory," — 
 i. e., the atoning cover of the sins of the 
 people. You will see from this that though 
 the term mercy-seat is a sweet and beautiful 
 term, and one that we cannot but love, still 
 it does not give us a good translation of the 
 idea involved in the metaphorical sense of 
 the original Hebrew, and still less of the 
 Greek word ilastarion. It rather carries oif 
 our minds from the idea conveyed by the 
 words used in the original scriptures. The 
 cover of the ark was doubtless the seat of 
 
 mercy ; but then it was mercy conferred 
 11 
 
368 THE MERCY-SEAT. 
 
 through an act of expiatiorij through the 
 blood of an atonmg sacrifice. Our word 
 mercy-seat intimates nothing of this kind. 
 The word in the Hebrew Bible for which 
 this term is put, told distinctly of blood- 
 shedj or expiation made. And the Greek 
 w^ord did the same, but our word carries 
 Avith it nothing to suggest this idea. At each 
 end of this mercy-seat, or cover of the ark, 
 was a cherub of beaten gold. These stretched 
 out their wings towards each other, and 
 formed a kind of throne, where the Lord 
 was considered as sitting. Hence the 
 Psalmist in addressing him exclaims — '' Oh, 
 Shepherd of Israel, Thou that dwellest be- 
 tween the cherubims, shine forth." And it 
 is when contemplated from this point of 
 view especially, that the mercy-seat, or cover 
 of the Jewish ark, points us directly to 
 Christ. " He is the propitiation for our sins, 
 and not for ours only, but also for the sina 
 
THE MERCY-SEAT. 369 
 
 of (lie whole world." Our atonement is in 
 Him. He is at once our mercy-seat, and 
 our reconciled God, " dwelling between the 
 cherubims," and ready to shine forth in par- 
 doning love, and saving grace and mercy to 
 poor sinners. If we had a word denoting — 
 reconciliation-seat or residence, we should 
 come nearer to the idea of tho original 
 scriptures on this subject. What we call 
 the mercy-seat was the station of a person 
 understood to be constantly present there, 
 that he might be reconciled to those who 
 entreated him. Thus the space above the 
 lid, or cover of the ark, and between the 
 cherubim, was the reconciliation-seat, the 
 place of atonement for the Jewish people, 
 where God engaged to meet them, to be at 
 peace with them, and impart to them his 
 mercy. But now the apostle declares — • 
 Kom. iii. 25-=— that "God hath set forth 
 Jesus Christ to be a propitiation " — (the 
 
370 THE MEECY-SEAT. 
 
 Greek word here is ilastarion, the same that 
 is used in the Septuagint version of the Oh-l. 
 Testament for the mercy-seat) — i. e., to be 
 a reconciliation-seat, or residence " through 
 faith in his blood." And thus we are taught 
 that as God was understood to be constantly 
 on the mercy-seat of old, as the place where 
 reconciliation was to be sought, and mercy 
 obtained ) so now lie is in Christ, who is 
 His residence for the same blessed purpose. 
 Thus we are told that " God is in Christ, 
 reconciling the world unto Himself." Our 
 mercy-seat, our reconciliation-residence is 
 Jesus, the divine Saviour, the God-man me- 
 diator. And all the typical teachings of this 
 branch of our subject may be drawn out in 
 the attempt to answer one question, viz. — 
 wlicd sort of a mercy-seat have ive in Christ ? 
 In replying to this inquiry, I desire to 
 show that we have in Christ, in the first 
 flace^ an authorised merci/-seat. 
 
THE MEKCY-SEAT. 371 
 
 "VVe have a mercy-seat based on law, 
 This was significantly intimated in the Jew- 
 ish ark, by the fact that the tables of the 
 law were placed in the ark. The golden 
 mercy-seat of the tabernacle might be said 
 to have rested on the law. This was a very 
 suggestive circumstance. And it is full of 
 instruction in its symbolical bearings. It 
 tells us that our mercy-seat is hased on latv. 
 He who occupies this mercy-seat is " iijust 
 God and a Saviour." No violence is done 
 to any principle of honor, or of justice in 
 the government of the universe by the dis- 
 pensing of grace from this mercy-seat. The 
 divine law is magnified and made honorable. 
 Every attribute of the divine character is 
 vindicated. He who occupies this mercy- 
 seat is one who " loveth righteousness, and 
 hateth iniquity." "The sceptre of his 
 kingdom is a right sceptre." God the Father 
 has wei^ihed his work in the balances of the 
 
372 THE MERCY-SEAT. 
 
 heavenly sanctuary, and put the mark of 
 His approbation upon it. Again and again, 
 when Jesus was on earth, working out our 
 redemption, the voice from the eternal throne 
 was heard proclaiming : " This is my be- 
 loved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 
 And when the work of Him who sits upon 
 the mercy-seat shall be displayed, in the 
 glory of its final consummation, before a 
 beholding universe, the approving plaudit 
 extorted from the adoring multitude will be 
 — " Great and marvellous are thy works, 
 Lord God Almighty ! Just and true are 
 thy ways, thou King of saints !" The 
 mercy-seat to which we come in Christ is an 
 authorized mercy-seat. Not only the good- 
 ness and love of God are gratified by it 
 but his wisdom, his truth, his holiness, and 
 his justice even, yea, all the severer at- 
 tributes of his character are honored by it, 
 and give their delighted testimony in its 
 
THE MERCY-SEAT. S73 
 
 support. It is an authorized mercy-seat to 
 which we are invited. 
 
 But I observe secondly of the mercy-seat 
 which we are hidden to approach in Christ 
 that it is an encouraging mercy-seat. 
 
 This aspect of it comes out to view wheB 
 we reflect how the lid of the ark covered 
 the law as it was a broken law. The law 
 of God, deposited in the Jewish ark, had a 
 two-fold point of view from which it was to 
 be contemplated, one of these had reference 
 to Christ, the other had reference to his 
 people. As it stood connected with Christ 
 it was a law unbroken. He had delighted 
 to do it. He had m.et its every require- 
 ment. He had kept and honored it, most 
 perfectly, down even to the least jot, or 
 tittle of its demands. And when contem- 
 plated from this point of view, the law was 
 in the ark, as we have seen, to uphold and 
 sustain the mercy-sea^, which was over it. 
 
374 THE MERCY-SEAT. 
 
 But tlie law in the ark stood connected 
 with Christ's people, as well as with Him- 
 self, And when looked at from this point 
 of view, it presents itself only in one as- 
 pect, and that is as a hroJcen laiv. Looked 
 at in our natural state, out of Christ, we 
 can only know and think of God's law as a 
 law which we have broken. In letter, or 
 in spirit, we have broken every precept of 
 it. We have done this not once or twice, 
 or occasionally, but over and over again. 
 Our natural lives have been made up of 
 breaches of the law. Continued existence 
 with us was a continued violation of it. We 
 have failed entirely of obedience to it. We 
 have come short of all its requirements. We 
 have incurred all its penalties. It has but 
 one voice in which to speak respecting us, 
 and that is the voice of unsparing, terrible 
 condemnation. The scattered fragments of 
 this broken laA^ stare us in the face, and lie 
 
THE MEPtCr-SEAT. 375 
 
 right in the way of our return to God. 
 There can be no peace, nor hope, nor com- 
 fort for us till this broken law is taken away. 
 We can have no access to God, nor joy in 
 the thought of Him till this is done. But 
 how can this be done ? Who can take this 
 terrible law out of our way ? Who can 
 gather up its broken fragments and hide 
 them, or cover them up so that God's all- 
 searching eye shall no longer see them ? 
 Jesus can do this. He has done it for his 
 people. See how beautifully this was sym- 
 bolized in the ark as it stood within the 
 Jewish tabernacle ! There, in the ark, is 
 the law which the people have broken. But 
 see, over it is the lid of gold, sprinkled with 
 the blood of the atoning sacrifice. That 
 covers entirely the broken law. When God 
 looks upon that mercy-seat his eye rests not 
 upon the broken law, but only on the bur- 
 nished gold with its sprinkled blood. And 
 
876 THE MERCY-SEAT. 
 
 here we see, how beautifully ! the shadow, 
 of which we have the glorious substance in 
 Christ. He came to " put away sin by the 
 sacrifice of himself." And he did it. And 
 now of his people it is said, that "their 
 lives are hid with Christ in God." They 
 are " accepted in the beloved 5" they are 
 " complete in Him." God does not impute 
 unto them their trespasses. Their sins are 
 "blotted out;" "put away;" "hid;" 
 " covered." This is the point of view from 
 which to contemplate, in its true meaning, 
 those marvellous words in which it is de-. 
 clared of God's people that — " He hath not 
 beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He 
 seen perverseness in Israel." There are no 
 more wonderful words in the Bible than 
 these. And the golden mercy-seat, shut- 
 ting out from view the law which we have 
 broken, gives us the clew to their meaning 
 You know when you look at any object 
 
THE MERCY-SEAT. 877 
 
 througli a piece of colored glass how natu- 
 rally it assumes the hue of the mecliura 
 through which you are looking at it. Now, 
 Christ, in the glory of his finished righte- 
 ousness, is the medium through which God 
 looks at all His believing children. He 
 sees them only " in the face of his anoint- 
 ed." Hence it is said of believers in Christ 
 that " they are righteous " in God's sight, 
 " even as He," L e., Christ " is righteous." 
 I. John, iii. 7. And again we read that — 
 "as He is, so ay^e iveT I. John, iv. 17. 
 Surely then, as teaching us a truth so pre- 
 cious as this, we may well say of the mercy- 
 seat which we find in Christ that it is an 
 encouraging mercy-seat. 
 
 But thirdly I observe respecting tMs 
 mercy-seat that it is full of privilege for 
 
 THE PRESENT. 
 
 To the Jew the golden mercy-seat above 
 the ark was the place of the oracle, the ap- 
 
378 THE MERCY-SEAT 
 
 pointed channel of communication between 
 God and the people. God said to Him— 
 " There will I meet with thee, and I will 
 commune with thee from above the mercy- 
 seat." As Israel journeyed through the 
 wilderness, when any emergency arose in- 
 volving the interests or welfare of the peo- 
 ple, Moses, as their head, or representative, 
 was accustomed to enter the tabernacle, 
 and spread his case before the Lord, and 
 receive instruction suited to his circum- 
 stances from Ilim " who dwelt between the 
 cherubim." 
 
 But what Moses did on special occasions 
 for the nation of Israel, the people of God 
 may now do, each one for himself, on all oc- 
 casions. Christ Jesus is our mercy-seat, 
 and the way of access to Him is open at aU 
 times. It is through Him we have fellow- 
 ship with the Father, and from Him that 
 we receive all the help and grace we need. 
 
THE MERCY-SEAT. 379 
 
 It is impossible to overstate tlie preciousness 
 of the mercy-seat, or to estimate too highly 
 the privilege of access to it. Suppose you 
 were travelling in a foreign land. You are 
 cut off from intercourse with all whom you 
 most love on earth. There is only one chan- 
 nel through which you can hear from home, 
 and obtain the supply of all that is necessa- 
 ry to meet your daily wants, how j)recious 
 that channel of communication would be to 
 you ! How you would prize it ! What 
 store you would set by it ! How anxious 
 and careful 3^ou would be to keep it open ! 
 The thought of having it interrupted, or cut 
 off, would be insupportable to you. Yet 
 this is but a faint image of the Christian's 
 position here in the world, and of the rela- 
 tion of the mercy-seat to him. " He is far 
 off from his home." He is a pilgrim and 
 stranger in a foreign land. His home, with 
 all the objects of his supreme affection^ is 
 
380 THE MERCY-SEAT. 
 
 above. And it is only through Christ upon 
 the mercy-seat that he can keep up com- 
 munication with home, and obtain thence 
 the supplies on which he depends. All that 
 he needs for body and for soul, for time and 
 for eternity, comes to him through Christ. 
 He esteems it the very choicest of his 
 privileges, the crowning blessing of his pil- 
 grimage that he has access to the mercy- 
 seat. To know that from all parts of the 
 earth, wherever he may be, — at all times, 
 and under all circumstances — the way to the 
 mercy-seat lies open, — and that with all his 
 burdens, griefs, anxieties, and cares he may 
 come to it, and be sure of a hearing ear, a 
 sympathizing heart, and a helping hand ; 
 this makes the thought of the mercy-seat 
 unspeakably precious to him. He is ready 
 to unite with believers everywhere, and 
 say, as the language of true Christian ex- 
 perience — 
 
THE MERCY-SEAT. 381 
 
 *This is the place where Jesus sheds 
 The oil of gladness on our heads, 
 The place of all on earth most sweet ; 
 The precious, blood-bought mercy-seat. 
 
 Here, here, on eagle's wings we soar, 
 And sense and sin molest no moi-e ; 
 A.nd heaven comes down our souls to greet, 
 While glory crowns the mercy-seat." 
 
 FuH of privilege for the present is our 
 inercy-rt85it. 
 
 The:c is only one oilier point of view from 
 which zve may glance at the mercy -seat^ and 
 thus contemplated it shines before us as 
 
 BRIGHT WITH HOPE FOR THE FUTURE. 
 
 Over tLe Jewish mercy-seat there rested 
 the mysterious shekinah — the cloud of the 
 divine presence. That cloud served in part 
 to reveal, hut much more to hide the fulness 
 of the divine glory. A few feeble rays of 
 that glory shone forth there from time to 
 time. But these were as nothing, — but a 
 drop to the unmeasured depths of the ocean, 
 
382 THE MERCY-SEAT. 
 
 compared with what remained unrevealed of 
 the character and glory of God. But that 
 cloud upon the mercy-seat pointed to Christ. 
 He is the true shekinah. Hence it was said 
 of Ilim when He appeared on earth — '^ we 
 beheld His glory — the glory as of the only 
 begotten of the Father — full of grace and 
 truth." All that we know of the glory of 
 the divine character we know through 
 Christ. For " God who commanded the 
 light to shine out of darkness, hath shined 
 in our hearts to give the light of the know- 
 ledge of the glory of God in the face of 
 Jesus Christ." We have reason to doubt 
 if the least portion of that glory has ever 
 been revealed through any other channel. 
 What Jesus said when he was on earth re- 
 mains a truth in the broadest and the fullest 
 sense : " The only begotten Son, who was 
 in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared 
 Hbnr But then He had only made a be- 
 
THE MERCY-SEAT. 383 
 
 ginning in this work of declaring the Father. 
 He said Himself — "I have declared thy 
 name, and will declare it." The former part 
 of this statement refers to the past and 
 present agency of Christ in making God 
 known to his people ; the latter part of it 
 refers to his agency in the future in carry- 
 ing on this same glorious work. He told 
 his disciples that the time was coming 
 " when He would show them ijlainly of the 
 Father." He says in the 22d Psalm— ^^ I 
 will declare thy name unto my brethren ; in 
 the midst of the Church will I sing praise 
 unto thee." This represents our glorious 
 Saviour in the midst of his chosen people, 
 the church triumphant in heaven, illustra- 
 ting artd making plain to them the mysteries 
 of the Godhead. And all this is signifi- 
 cantly shadowed forth, when God points to 
 the mercy-seat, with the shekinah above it, 
 and says — " there will I meet with thee, and 
 
384 THE MERCY-SEAT. 
 
 commune with thee." Thus contemi^lated, 
 the cloud upon the Jewish mercy-seat be- 
 comes bright with hope for the future. As 
 the eyes of the Jewish high-priest rested on 
 that cloud they never witnessed anything 
 more than a faint raying forth of the glory 
 which was contained there. But " the face 
 of Jesus Christ/' who is the cloud upon our 
 mercy-seat, is destined to become all-radiant 
 with its manifestations of the ineffable glo- 
 ries of the God-head. Hitherto it has al- 
 ways been true of Jehovah, that — " verily 
 He is a God that Mdeth Himself." But the 
 time Cometh, when of all that pertains to 
 the character and work of God, it may be . 
 said — " there hath been nothing hid that 
 will not be made manifest." " What we 
 know not now we shall know hereafter." 
 The true shekinah upon the mercy-seat will 
 have no single dark point connected with it. 
 Over all its outspread surface the cloud will 
 
THE MERCY-SEAT. 385 
 
 be lighted up with the splendors of divinity. 
 You have often seen a mass of clouds in the 
 western sky, unillumined by the sun's rays, 
 as the day was drawing to a close. You know 
 how dark and unattractive that mass ap- 
 peared. But presently you see the sun 
 pass behind it, and what a wondrous trans- 
 formation is wrought in its appearance ! 
 How radiant the whole mass becomes ! How 
 every point in it glows and sparkles with 
 the splendors of the sun that shines through 
 it ! So will it be with the cloud upon our 
 mercy-seat. When Jesus was on earth the 
 coarse garments of humanity were upon 
 Him. Then the shekinah cloud was dark. 
 But the redeemed shall look upon that cloud 
 again amidst the glory of the heavenly 
 kingdom. Then all darkness will have 
 passed away. The sun of uncreated deity 
 wdll be pouring all its brightness through it. 
 How transcendently glorious the cloud upon 
 
386 THE MERCY-SEAT. 
 
 tlie mercy-seat will then appear ! The scene 
 of the transfiguration was intended as a 
 faint foreshadowing of the glory that will 
 finally be revealed in Christ. A further il- 
 lustration of what will be disclosed by the 
 cloud upon our mercy-seat we have in the 
 sight which met the enraptured gaze of the 
 Evangelist, when he had his vision of the 
 heavenly world. He saw the New Jerusa- 
 lem, the abode of the redeemed, shining in 
 all the radiance of its loveliness ; but there 
 was neither sun nor moon to shed their rays 
 upon it, for " the Lamb was the light there- 
 of" Who may imagine what the rapture 
 of the redeemed will be when they thus 
 look upon that Saviour who is the object of 
 their supreme afiection? This will be to 
 '' see Him as He is'' Then the Saviour's 
 prayer will be answered : " Father, I will 
 that they also whom Thou hast given me, 
 be with me, where I am — that they may he- 
 
THE MERCY-SEAT. 387 
 
 hold my glory I That will be the highest 
 point of happiness — the perfection of bhss. 
 
 " Forever to behold Him shine, 
 Forevermore to call Him mine, 
 
 And see Him still before me ! 
 Forever on His face to gaze, 
 And meet His full assembled rays, 
 While all the Father He displays 
 
 To all the saints in glory 1" 
 
 This will be to " see the king in his beau- 
 ty." And anticipating such a portion as 
 his inheritance forever, well might the 
 Psalmist say — " when I awake in thy like- 
 ness I shall be satisfied with it." 
 
 And thus contemplating Christ as our 
 mercy-seat, we see how truly we have in 
 Him an authorized mercy-seat — an encouror 
 ging mercy-seat — a mercy-seat full of ^privi- 
 lege for the j^roeent; and bright with hojpG 
 for the future. 
 
 And now we have brought our medita- 
 
388 THE MERCT-SEAT. 
 
 tions on this most instructive subject to a 
 close. I have never been engaged in a course 
 of sermons that have been, to my own mind, 
 more replete with profitable suggestions 
 than these upon the tabernacle. And the 
 chief source of interest and profit in them 
 has been found in the direct and intimate 
 relation of the great theme, which has fur- 
 nished them, to Christ and his salvation. 
 If there is one New Testament text which, 
 more than any other, the tabernacle and its 
 furniture may be regarded as illustrating, it 
 is that in which the apostle declares that — 
 '^ Christ is all, and in alV 
 
 " Such," says an English writer, " is the 
 grand central truth in which the many trains 
 of thought springing from the tabernacle- 
 architecture converge and terminate. The 
 sanctuaries, and the vessels of the sanctua- 
 ries all speak this one voice. The altar 
 tells of Christ as the sacrifice for sin \ the 
 
THE MERCY-SEAT. 389 
 
 lav(3r of Christ as the giver of the Spirit ; 
 the candlestick shines on the shew-bread 
 and re\^eals Christ : the table lifts up Christ 
 in the eyes of believers ; the censer is full 
 of Christ in his intercession, and the mercy- 
 seat is Christ J the great Mediator. All speak 
 of Christ, for Christ is all." 
 
 " Christ is the hope of the world. In 
 Him, in Him alone, there is mercy for the 
 rebellious. His streaming blood, his re- 
 generating Spirit, make the grand distinction 
 between earth and hell. The hope of the 
 world is in the cross. When the world ls 
 blessed, it will be blessed in Christ. He is the 
 hope of salvation for each individual sinner, 
 and for a sinful world. No Christ, no hope." 
 
 " Christ is the joy of the church. Every 
 blessing which believers enjoy flows from 
 Christ. He is the support and strength of 
 his people. He enlightens and warms them 
 with his Spirit. He kindles in their breast 
 
390 THE MERCY-SEAT. 
 
 the fire of devotion, and presents their pray- 
 ers and praises before the throne. Christ is 
 the believer's joy, his delight, his song." 
 
 "Christ is the glory of heaven. His 
 presence makes it what it is. Without him, 
 as the mercy-seat and the High-priest, hea- 
 ven would be no heaven to us. He pre- 
 pares it for us, no less than us for it. He 
 shrouds the excessive brightness of the God- 
 head, satisfies the Father's insulted justice, 
 encircles the throne with the rainbow of 
 love, that pardoned and justified, sanctified 
 and glorified sinners may enter the holiest 
 without fear, minghng with cherubim and 
 seraphim, with ' angels and arch-angels, 
 and aU the company of heaven.' Yes, the 
 words from the New Testament which might 
 have been inscribed all over the tabernacle, 
 are 'Christ is all, and in all! " 
 
 If these sermons prove the means of 
 leading one soul to Christ, who knew Him 
 
THE MERCY-SEAT. 391 
 
 not before; or of causing any who have 
 kno^Yn him to have a fuller and deeper sense 
 of His unspeakable preciousness, I shall feel 
 abundantly recompensed for the labor be- 
 stowed upon them. To know Him as the 
 mercy-seat, and to have access to him in 
 that character, is the first and greatest of 
 all possible blessings. Believers in Jesus, 
 this is a matter on which you can speak 
 from experience. You know the privilege 
 of prayer, the joy of communion with Him 
 who "dwelleth between the cherubims." 
 Make full proof of your privilege. A spring 
 of water cannot well be hid. It will gush 
 out and flow along, spreading verdure and 
 beauty wherever it goes. Every Christian 
 should be a spiritual spring, a fountain of 
 blessing in the circle amidst which he is 
 jjlaced. A ray of light cannot be hid. It 
 is made to shine. It must shine. And as 
 it shines, it gilds f nd brightens some object 
 
392 THE MERCY-SEAT. 
 
 or other on which its radiance rests. But 
 every Christian should be a ray of light, — a 
 spiritual sunbeam. Hence the apostle ex- 
 horts Christians to " shine as lights in the 
 world." Yes, and those who know the 
 mercy-seat, and the blessedness of access to 
 it should be sunbeams indeed, examples, 
 wherever they go, of peace and cheerful- 
 ness, serenity and joy. The Psalmist speaks 
 of it as the duty of those who know God, 
 to be — in the highest and noblest sense of 
 the good old Saxon word — ''merry and 
 joyful." If we have access to the mercy- 
 seat, and enjoy its privileges, let us strive 
 so to live that our whole spirit and bearing 
 shall testify to those about us that religion is 
 to us an element of gladness, and that we are 
 abundantly satisfied with the plenteousness 
 of God's house — even of his holy temple. 
 One thoui>"ht for those who are not Chris- 
 
 o 
 
 tians. The tabernacle, with its servicesj 
 
THE MERCY-SEAT. 393 
 
 was designed for the salvation of men. But, 
 if every part of its heaven-devised arrange- 
 ment was intended, in the way of illustra- 
 tion, to represent Christ, then, it is plain, 
 that in the matter of the soul's salvation 
 Christ must he everything. To be without 
 Christ is to be without all that is essential. 
 If you have Christ you have everything, 
 if you are without Christ you have nothing. 
 No language can properly express the 
 spiritual poverty of those who have no part 
 in Christ, They have no pardon, no peace, 
 no strength, no righteousness, no portion for 
 eternity. Beloved hearers, out of Christ 
 this is your condition. Will you remain in 
 it ? Oh, seek Jesus on the mercy-seat. He 
 will bless you — and then you will be blessed ! 
 
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BS1196.5.T2N5 1874 
 
 The Jewish tabernacle and its furniture 
 
 Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1012 00046 1014 
 
 Date 
 
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