Bible Subjects for the Household of Faith: Volume 2, 1864

“Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them. The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure. The five curtains shall be coupled together, one to another; and other five curtains shall be coupled one to another. And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second. Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another. And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle.”

Moreover, thou shalt make the tabernacle. Having considered the principal vessels of the sanctuary, we now come to the consideration of the tabernacle itself. In the tabernacle of witness, there are two sets of curtains and two coverings. The ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, purple, and scarlet, with cherubims, forming the tabernacle; and the eleven curtains of goats’ hair forming what is called the tent.

Then the covering of the tent of rams’ skins, dyed red, and the covering above of badgers’ skins. (Exodus 36: 8, 13, 14, 18, 19.)

It is of the utmost importance to keep these things distinct in our minds, for although the translators often confound the terms “tabernacle” and “tent” (“mishcan” and “ohel), and are extremely careless in rendering the words, the Holy Ghost employs the most exact and beautiful precision; and. it is by attending to this precision that we may hope, through Divine grace, to ascertain the mind of God.

The tabernacle, as the Hebrew word “mishcan” signifies, is God’s dwelling-place, according to Exodus 25:8: “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them,” and is more immediately connected with God’s abiding presence.

The tent (“ohel”) —is more immediately connected with the congregation, as the place of assembly, and is therefore called “the tent of the congregation;” and I call especial attention to the fact, that the Holy Ghost never uses the expression “tabernacle of the congregation,” but always “tent, of the congregation; ‘ thus never confounding the two ideas, as the translators frequently do.

And thou shalt make the tabernacle” A dwelling-place for God with men on the earth. Oh marvelous, condescending grace! (2 Chron. 6:18.)

Christ himself, while he was on the earth, was this tabernacle, and as such he abode alone. (John 1:14, and 3:24.) “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt, or tabernacled, among us.” He was God manifest in flesh: the Godhead and the glory dwelt in him.

But Christ having died, and being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, and sent down the Comforter; by that One Spirit all believers are now baptized into One Body, in union with the risen man, their glorified Head; the Church on earth thus forming the tabernacle, or dwelling-place of God, as, says the Scripture: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16.) In this sense the tabernacle represents the whole Church of God—looked at in the Spirit, not in the flesh-composed of all true believers in Jesus throughout the world.

I speak not now of any manifest oneness, but of that which exists in Spirit, notwithstanding all the outward failure.

As to the materials of which these curtains are composed, first,—

Of fine twined linen. Let it be borne in mind, that here the Church is not looked at only as the purchase of the blood of the Lamb—the rams skins, dyed red, will give us that thought in due time—but as the workmanship of the Eternal Spirit. “The. new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” (Colossians 3:10); God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works”(Ephesians 2:10); “the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”(Ephesians 4:24.) “The fine linen is the righteousness of saints” (Revelation 19:8), expressive of conformity, through the Spirit, to the image of Christ as the holy one. For “he that is begotten of God sinneth not.”, (1 John 3:9.) “The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:4.) And blue.) Blue is the emblem of heavenly perfectness.

And how beautifully these two thoughts of righteousness and heavenly perfectness are expressed by the Lord Jesus in his sublime prayer in John 17!

“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (v. 17.) Here is the fine-linen. And again: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (v.16.) Here is the blue.And for their sakes. I Sanctify, myself “(set myself apart from the world to God), “that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” (v. 19.) Here is the fine linen and the blue combined. For by the Holy Ghost, sent down from heaven, uniting, the, believer with a glorified Christ at God’s right hand, just so far as his soul enters by faith into the truth, is he in heart separated from the world, and brought into fellowship with God. And thus the holiness and the heavenliness of Jesus are wrought by the Holy Ghost into his spiritual being.

And purple. The emblem 61 earthly and heavenly glory combined.

For through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit the believer is identified with the Lord Jesus, in whom the earthly glories of the son of David, and the Divine and heavenly glories of the ‘Son of’ God, meet and center.

And scarlet. The emblem of earthly glory. And in the earthly glories of the Son of David the believer shares; and when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, the saints too shall reign, for it is a faithful saying, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.”

The purple rather expresses the present glory of the Lord Jesus; while the anointed King of Israel; sitting on his Father’s throne. The scarlet, his coming millennial glories, in his mediatorial kingdom. But the believer, through the Spirit, is one with Christ in both respects.

With cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them. The cherubim. inwrought with these various materials, beautifully express the gifts, of the Spirit for service to God, in the building up and knitting together the Church, as the body of Christ, in Spirit.

Ten curtains. We have hitherto looked at the Church, in spirit; in its unity; we now contemplate it as composed of various parts or assemblies.

Thus, in the apostles’ times, there were the churches of Galatia, the church in Corinth, Ephesus, &c. And so now, believers, though one in Spirit, are dispersed in various localities. True, in the times of the apostles, there was an outward expression of local oneness which no longer exists. Yet, nevertheless, in spirit and in truth, all believers in a given place are one.

The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure.) The Church of God, in Spirit, as here represented, in any given place, is composed of every real believer in that place of every converted sinner, of every newborn child of God. Wherever the Spirit of God has come as a quickening Spirit, there he remains as an indwelling Spirit. And every one in whom he dwells, is by him baptized unto the one body, of which’ Christ is the risen and glorified head.

The length and breadth of every curtain was fixed. by God. God’s measure of the Church, in Spirit, in any one place, takes in every real believer in that place; but no more. It is inclusive of every quickened soul, but exclusive of every unconverted person.

And God’s principles are the same ‘everywhere. He has not one measure for one place and another for another. “Every one of the curtains shall have one measure.”

The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; alai other five curtains (shall be) coupled one to another) Literally, “a woman to her sister.” An Hebraism.

When the different local assemblies of believers were outwardly, as well as spiritually one, as in the church at Ephesus, or at Philippi, composed of all believers in Christ in those cities, how real and sweet the fellowship of churches How close and intimate the fellowship between Colosse and Laodicea! Hence writes the apostle Paul, “When this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.” (Colossians 4:16.) And so writes the apostle Peter, to the elect strangers: “The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you.” (1 Peter 5:13.)

But even now, while the outward oneness is gone, the fellowship of churches in Spirit remains, hindered, hampered, and feeble though it be; and when two or three are gathered together in the name of Jesus in different localities, a little of the sweet fellowship of churches may still be enjoyed.

Then again, the vital interests of believers, though sundered by distance of place, are inseparably connected. One member cannot suffer without all the members suffering with it, little as they may healthfully sympathize the one with another.

The membership of the body in Spirit, is the all-important point. Being members of particular churches, is a thought utterly unknown to scripture, and, practically, mischievous in the extreme.

Verses 4, 5, 6. And thou shalt make loops of blue Upon the edge of the one curtain, from the selvedge in, the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second. Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another. And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches, and it shall be one tabernacle.

The marvelous prayer of the Lord Jesus, recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John, gives us, I believe, in the Lord’s own words, the precious truths set forth by the loops of ‘blue’ and taches of gold, united the whole into one tabernacle, the dwelling-place of God.

This prayer of Jesus is occupied with the Church of God; it takes in neither Israel nor the world (v. 9), neither the Old Testament, nor the millennial saints; but the then disciples of Christ, and those who should believe in him through their word—the Church, as built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Having first reminded His heavenly Father of his earthly obedience, and asked to be glorified, as the obedient God-man, with, the glory which, as the Eternal Son, he had with the Father before the world was, he then prays for his disciples. He had given to them eternal life, for they had known both him and the Father, and now, taking. his place in spirit, as no longer in the world, but as ascended to his Father—he at the right hand of God above, and they still on the earth—he prays that they may be ONE, as the Father and the Son are one, that is, in a spiritual, Divine, and eternal oneness:(v; 11); and this prayer was accomplished when, being by the right hand of God exalted, having received the promise of the Father, he sent down the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, who baptized into one body all believers in Jesus, in union with their glorified head.

Then setting himself apart to the Father from the world which crucified and rejected him, this sanctifying himself for their sakes! He prays for them, that they, being one with him risen, and thus no more of the world than he is of the world, through the knowledge and apprehension of this troth in the power of the Holy Ghost, that they might be practically sanctified and separate in spirit from the world to God.

He next proceeds to take in all those who should believe on him, during the present dispensation of faith in the inspired word, previous to his return to receive the Church: that they ALL might be one in this divine, spiritual, perfect, eternal oneness. And so they are. And this oneness is the proof to the world of the mission and Messiahship of Jesus. (v. 20, 21.) He is not here contemplating their outward oneness in the flesh, but their inward oneness in the Then, making them the sharers of his given glory, he asks that they might be one, as the Father and himself are one, in that glory. Marvelous grace! Glorious and blissful prospect!

And when associated with him in that resurrection glory, their bodies fashioned into the likeness of his own, they shall be made perfect in one, and the perfection of the oneness will be manifest.

And when Christ, who is their life, shall appear, and every eye shall see him, and they also appear with him in glory, then will the world know that Jesus is the sent one of the Father, and that they also are loved with the same love as that with which the Father loves him.

Then, as not having yet exhausted the desires of his loving heart, he asks that they may not only be associated with him in his manifested glory to the world, but that they also may be with him and near him in his own eternal dwelling place with the Father, there to gaze on his divine glories, and share his everlasting love.

This divine, heavenly, and perfect oneness of the Church in Spirit, is beautifully tpyified, as I have said, by these taches of gold and loops of blue.

Gold is the emblem of that which is divine; and blue of that which, is heavenly and perfect: and such is the oneness of the Church in Spirit. Their oneness is of God. It is even as the Father and the Son are one, effected by the indwelling of the divine Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and the Son.

But it is a oneness with the ascended Christ, the heavenly Man, by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.

And this oneness is perfect; although the glorious perfection of it will only fully appear when the one Church, having no spot, wrinkle, or any such thing, shall descend out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and shining with a light clear as crystal.

And this Divine, heavenly, and perfect oneness still exists, and nothing can touch it. The loops of blue and taches of gold never let go their holdfast.

The prayer of Christ secures it. A prayer heard and answered.

The outward manifested earthly oneness of the Church was committed dispensationally to the hands of man, and, like everything else committed to him, it is gone, utterly and forever gone.

The earthen vessel has been smashed into a thousand fragments; the golden bowl remains intact.

The flesh of the oyster is corrupting and putrefying; the pearl remains in all its peerless oneness, and its priceless value.

The outward fellowship of Churches and of Saints, where is it? Nevertheless, in Spirit we are still one.

In matters of human opinion, of worldly policy, and of man’s imperfect reasoning, how many the points of difference!

In matters of divine faith, of heavenly truth, and of scriptural perfection, how numerous the points of union!

One hundred loops of blue, and fifty taches of gold, unite the ten curtains and every fiber of them into one Tabernacle.

Is all this any excuse for our wretched outward divisions, when not called for by the glory of God. and of Christ, and by the interests of vital truth? Is this any palliation of our sin? Far from it.

And even now, in various parts of the world; the Spirit of God is arousing individual souls to the consciousness of this solemn fact. And by gathering sinners direct to the person of a divine Savior, and by associating’’ saints around the person of a divine Master, he is bringing twos and threes in separation from human systems which divide, to the divine center, which unites, to taste afresh the blessedness of the words of Jesus, in their comfort their sweetness, and their power, “that they all may be one.”

T. N.

(The Goat’s Hair Curtains of the Tent (D.V.) in the Number for February.)

The Promise of the Lord

The two leading. features of prophetic testimony; in its immediate application, were the exposure of the principles of apostasy then at work, and comforting the hearts of the remnant, who were groaning under the sense of it. The contrast to this was, the testimony of false prophets, who always lulled into security the many, and treated the groaning remnant as the enemies of God and his people: “Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his Wicked way, by premising him life: therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 13:22, 23.) In the period just before the Babylonish captivity, we find the two pleas of the Lord against his people to have been; either that they justified continuance in avowed evil, as though the case was so desperate that they could not serve the Lord; or, that they asserted their innocence, and that their state was one of which the Lord approved: “Thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest I have not sinned.” (Jeremiah 2:25,35.) These, therefore, are the two things which the Lord hateth; contentedness with avowed evil, under the plea that there is ‘ne remedy for us, so that we must make the best of it, forgetting the holiness of God by giving the sanction of his name to that which he disowns, by asserting our innocence and saying, “The temple of the Lord,” &ect. It is just here that the ministry of the prophets came in: they were raised up as apostasy was setting in, and their testimony multiplied as it advanced to a head. The Spirit of Christ in the prophets, taking up the principles then working, carried them out in all their fearful result, looking through the long and dreary vista to that great and terrible day of the Lord, in which they would be consummated, and met in judgment by the Lord. But whilst there was the most uncompromising witness against present evil, and testimony of God’s sure judgment against it, there was invariably the promise of God’s favor and protection towards the feeble remnant, faithful in the midst of abounding evil. “The hearts of the righteous were not made sad.” “Say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.” (Isaiah 3:10.) To take one example—in the prophetic strain of Isaiah, chapter 7 to 12—the spirit of the prophet, at the very time that apostasy was set in under king Ahaz, after showing the unchangeableness of the counsel of the Lord, which would stand in spite of all the failures of man and all the confederacies against it, takes a discursive range through all its minor developments, up to the great apostasy. But in the midst of this gloomy prospect, there is the word of comfort for the faithful remnant— “Say ye not, a confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, a confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your dread. And he shall be your sanctuary.” And when the promise of security is thus given to the remnant, he fully opens the prospect of increasing judgment, in the oft-repeated burthen, — “For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.”

In the Lord Jesus Christ was the perfectness of the prophet, as well as of the priest. He was that prophet in whose mouth Jehovah promised that he would put his words; and that he should speak unto the people all that he had commanded them. (Deuteronomy 18: 18.) He had the pre-eminence as a prophet: and accordingly we find in our Lord’s discourses, the principles embodied, which, though not understood at the time, were carried out into detail by the apostles, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, who led them into all truth, and brought to their remembrance the things that Jesus had spoken unto them. In the 18th of Matthew, we find the Lord marking, as his Spirit had done in the prophets of old, the rise of that, which, apparently trivial, would issue in the most disastrous consequences; not only meeting the evil by solemn warning, but viewing it in its results, and comforting his people at all times in the midst of it. The bane of Christianity is there marked as “Emulation,” the total contrast to him who did not strive nor cry, neither did any man hear his voice in the streets. It is striking to observe how this spirit, which is the very cherished principle of the flesh, and which Satan would fain carry into the Church, showed itself in the disciples on occasions apparently the least likely to have excited it. Here we see the Spirit of Christ and the spirit of the world: that which was to regulate the Church, and that which carries on the world, distinguished and set in the strongest contrast.

In Luke 22, after the Lord had instituted the memorial of death and sacrifice, and had spoken of his betrayal, instead of finding any sympathy in their minds, we read, “There was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.” And so we read in the chapter before us, “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” This question was asked after Jesus had, by the payment of the tribute-money, exhibited the deep humiliation into which he had come for their sakes. The payment of the half-shekel, the offering of the Lord (Exodus 30:13-16), was demanded of Peter, which every one that was numbered, rich or poor, was to give, to make an atonement for their souls, and this money was to be spent in the service of the Temple. Peter answered hastily for his Master; but Jesus, having first asserted his own right as the Son to be free from the payment, yet, as being made under the law, and having come to redeem them that were under the law, he fulfilled its righteousness in this, as well as in the baptism of John. It was at such a season as this, when the Son was humbling himself as the servant, that the minds of the disciples were selfishly seeking exaltation for themselves in the kingdom of heaven. Little did they think that real greatness, the greatness of God, was in his ability to minister to weakness; that he who has his dwelling so high, should humble himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in earth; that he who inhabiteth eternity, and whose name is Holy, should dwell in the humble and contrite heart.

It was in this they needed the whole current of the thoughts of their minds entirely uprooted. They must be converted and become as little children, or they would not enter into the kingdom of heaven. To come into the lowest place here, was the necessary result of greatness in the kingdom of heaven. The only place of greatness in a world of evil, is necessarily to be of no esteem in it. The world knew not the Son: had he been great in its estimation, it must have been greatness in the estimation of those who had lost all moral perception. This is the hard lesson that we have to learn, and where we are constantly erring as the disciples of old did: the Lord knew it would be, because of its contrariety to the flesh. The necessary discipline, in order to teach his children their place of blessing, would be constant mortification, the cutting off the hand, the plucking out the eye. He who knew what was in man, did not merely meet the evil as it showed itself in individuals, but seeing its tendency, most solemnly warns against it, as affecting both the Church and the world. Presumed greatness in any, would be a stumbling-block in the way of the weak; power such as the flesh could recognize authority which the world could own, would always be a stumbling block in the way of the weak. Even supposing that it was not, as unhappily we know that it has been, exercised against the poor of the flock, yet it would not be that which they needed. Their necessities craved that which was in fullness in the great and good Shepherd; authority in the hands of those who would be examples to the flock, not as those who would lord it over God’s heritage. And not only so, the Lord has also marked the effect produced upon the world by the desire of greatness in the Churchapter He, whilst in the world, stood the humbled and separate One; and therefore his witness against it was so powerful. He was dead to all that was of credit in it, and thus testified that its deeds were evil: so long as be was in the world, he was the light of the world, and his people were to take his place when he left it: “Ye are the light of the World.” They, by their separateness, standing aloof from all its dignity and glory, were thus to be its light: But woe unto the world because of offenses! When his people began to assume worldly greatness and worldly distinction, then the witness was gone; then the veriest woe came into the world, because it was either deceived into the notion that it was itself owned of God, or confirmed in its unbelief by its quickness to mark the entire inconsistency of the professed disciples of Christ with the precepts their Master. This is the woe which now presses on the world; the only convincing testimony to it of the truth of Christianity is gone—the holiness and love of those who profess it. So blind indeed are Christians to this, that amidst all their boasting of an increase of godliness, it rarely comes into their mind that the one thing needful is wanting, both to answer the heart of the Lord Jesus, or the purpose of their being left in the world— “That they may be one, that the’ world might believe that Jesus was sent of God.” The Lord, in leading on the minds of his disciples, proceeds on the assumption of their weakness. He takes up that as the place in which his eye ever saw them, and he could only recognize them as “little ones;” and just in proportion as their standing in the world was otherwise, they ceased to be subjects of this condescending ministry of love, however in faithfulness he might chasten and rebuke them. He opens to us the great principle of heaven, as being that which ministers to weakness placed in the situation of danger. from surrounding evil. He would have his people always aware of this their blessing—that the real feeling of their own weakness was strength. It was this that—displayed God’s power, sustaining weakness, and making it triumphant over every obstacle: “Thy strength is made perfect in weakness.” The moment we assume any place of strength, and have that support which the flesh can rest in, our proper strength is gone. No human arrangements, however wisely made, and however (as man may think), directed to the Lord’s glory, can avail; because they must necessarily interfere with the revealed principles of him who “chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are. despised, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are.” It is therefore as “little ones,” that believers are the subject of angelic ministry, who are sent forth to minister to them who shall inherit salvation. “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” And this is heaven’s blessed ministry; this ministry was his glory who came from heaven, not to be ministered to himself, but to minister to others. Real greatness needed not the ministry of others; and in an evil world, the only place of dignity is the ability to rescue from, and to keep in the midst of it, that which had no strength against it. “The Son of Man is come to save that which was lost.” But, as if to open to us the whole mind of heaven, and to show us its more favored aspect towards us—as if to meet the subtle lie of Satan, that our insignificance is beneath God’s notice, the Lord proceeds in the detail of the blessedness of those who have no strength, to show how their necessity is graciously met. “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” Thus out of weakness are they made strong. The Lord keep us in the abiding sense of the blessedness of our portion as little children!

That which the Lord first applied in the way of individual blessing, he next applies to the Church collectively. He would not allow of an appeal from any of his people to the world, because it was a tribunal incapable of judging between brethren—its judgment being necessarily based on presumed right, not on grace. Hence, the injured party is put by our Lord in the place of the conciliator: “If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone; and if he shall hear thee, then thou hast gained thy brother.” This rule would necessarily prevent the assumption of pre-eminence among brethren; he would really be the greatest in the estimation of heaven, who had most. to bear. The only appeal was to the Church, as that which alone could judge righteous judgment; and its award, in case of unsubmission to its authority, was putting without its pale, regarding the offender as a heathen man and a publican. It appears to me that the Lord, still keeping in view the tendency of the principle then at work in the disciples’ minds, as that which would seek after visible greatness in the World, casts contempt upon all its glory by only owning it as the place into which those would be driven who were excluded by the Churchapter The solemn sentence of the Church, in excluding any from fellowship, would appear in the sight of men as a powerless act, attended with no immediate results, and not affecting the person or property of the offender. How unlike the award of a worldly tribunal! there the convicted offender is affected by its sentence in present shame, and loss of property, liberty, or life. But the seeming powerless sentence of those, to be excluded from whose fellowship would appear nothing to be dreaded, had the sanction of heaven, and involved consequences not seen, but permanent: “Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.” The leading feature of this discourse of our blessed Lord is the constant counteraction of the desire after greatness, such as would be cognizable by men. He is always putting his people and the Church in the place of weakness on earth, and giving them strength in heaven. His people, if in their proper place, would be, as himself, the Weak One on earth: for he “was crucified through weakness,” but strong in the unseen power of God. Thus has the Lord met the necessities of his people at all times; however fearful the aide of Apostasy, it could never shut out the real blessing of the faithful remnant, be it ever so small. And the reason is, that whatever fearful exhibition of evil there may be in the visible Church, and however unable an insignificant minority are to testify against it, or to meet its ostensible power, yet the blessing of the dispensation is open to them; and however little their strength, it is real, for, it is the strength of heaven. And in order to meet the extremity of the case of his people, he who foresaw the fearfulness of that Apostasy which would come in through the desire after greatness and love of pre-eminence, most graciously meets the case of the feeble few, faithful to him in their weakness: “Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven; for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Now, taking this in its moral connection with the point from which our Lord began this discourse, I believe it to be the abiding testimony to the blessing of his people under all circumstances. We have seen the Church set up, most mighty in power and authority, in its entire separateness from the world. We have seen its spiritual and unseen power, acknowledged even by those without. (Acts 2:47; 4:37.) We have seen Ichabod written on all this; and in vain search for another exhibition of convincing testimony against the world by heavenly power and unity. That which then wrought in the minds of the disciples, even emulation, soon wrought effectually in the Church; and, being of the flesh, led the Church to seek that greatness which the flesh could recognize, and has issued in that which we do see in Christendom—a system avowedly great in the earth, boasting its superior light above surrounding nations, apparently swaying their destinies, accrediting every worldly distinction, and giving the authority of heaven to principles the most opposite to those of Christ. This is beginning to be felt and acknowledged’ by thousands; and what shall they do? whither shall they. go? What would avail the feeble protest against evils inveterate, fondly cherished, and so entwined with everything around them? To re-constitute the Church would be to subvert. Christendom. Now the question in many minds naturally is, The professing Church has not abided in the goodness of God: it is that which is to be judged. Are we still to tolerate it? —still to cry, “The temple of the Lord?” &c. Again, we can see nothing standing in the plenitude of authority to which we look. Shall we say there is no hope? It is here the Lord meets his perplexed people; he neither forces them to own that as of him, which he disowns himself (save as to judgment), nor drives them to despair by holding out no hope. Here is their rest, — “WHERE TWO OR THREE ARE GATHERED TOGETHER IN MY NAME, THERE AM IN THE MIDST, OF THEM.” And this is the peculiar blessing of Our dispensation—the promise of the Lord’s presence by his Spirit under all circumstances: “Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”.Let the remnant be ever so small, even, if it were possible amidst the visible body, two or three only, still the blessing remains to them. The beauty and glory are departed; but to so insignificant a remnant as this is the word addressed by the Lord, “Meet together in my name,” and the promise, “I am in the midst of you.”

That which constitutes this very dispensation—the abiding “Thou shalt also make a table—the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, is what we are continually prone to forget. We are ever inclined to that which the world can receive, instead of casting ourselves upon that which is our portion. It is not now to go here or there; the Father is not to be worshipped in any given place, neither are believers to look to anything ostensible to attach themselves to; but to meet together in the name of Jesus. Meeting in his name is the entire counteraction of the two snares to which we are exposed; either of courting fellowship with the world, or cherishing sectarian feelings. Men have been so long accustomed to seek the strength of an Establishment to rest on,’ as almost, if not altogether, to forget the communion of the saints. This is never closed to us by the Lord, however it may be to our unbelief; and the proof is this—that even two shall experience the blessing of it; for where the Lord’s presence is, can there be anything lacking? It is, therefore, that the apostle so presses the “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,” as that which would. cheer and direct us in trying circumstances. But union with the world, or the exclusion of any brethren, hinders this effectually: the Lord’s Spirit is grieved and restrained, because we are not gathered in his name. Our foolish hearts crave’ something imposing—it is most contrary—to them to continue in the faith of God’s promise—we have to watch against an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. We have to watch against ourselves, lest any of us be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. And that is deceitful which would make us judge by appearances, and not righteous judgment; this we never exercise, except in doing God’s will. We are never, I believe, except by our own unbelief, placed in circumstances of balancing evil, in order to choose the lesser. So full is the Word of God in its detail, so elastic are its principles, that we can be placed in no trying circumstances, but we shall find a way for us to escape; through the Spirit applying the Word, and thus guiding us by his counsel. Now, the dilemma in which many of the Lord’s people suppose themselves to be placed, is this: they allow that it does no violence to their conscience to accredit, as of the Lord, any system wherein the world has dominance; and they cannot construe into an approval of evil, his long-suffering with it. But they allege that they cannot see anything around them with that real moral glory with which the Church was once invested; and which might claim their attachment by affording that resting-place which their hearts sorrow after. They are in a strait; and if they do not violence to their conscience, it either interrupts their peace, or hinders their service. It is here the Lord meets them. He anticipated all their weakness, as well as their possible fewness. He knew the desire of their heart unto him, and could sympathize with that hesitation which would falter in acting in the face of presumed authority, and prevented, if we may use the expression, the desire of a real visible authority to stay upon, by throwing his people entirely off it on himself:— “Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Here, therefore, will be the wisdom of those who are led by God’s Spirit, to the discovery of the fearful departure of the Church from the goodness of God. Whilst they will mourn over their common sin, in the departure of that glory which the Lord, on leaving the earth, bequeathed to his Church, they will not be looking for that which might present itself as another witness for Christ, in all the glory of power and authority, but, remembering whence they are fallen, will be zealous and repent; and in their penitence they are met by the Lord, who, though he has nowhere pledged himself to re-constitute that which man has marred, has pledged himself to his people to be ever with them. And in the blessing thus secured to them, he has provided, at the same time, for the honor of his own name. lie has invested them with power to put away from them any one who is called a brother, who continues to walk disorderly, after being warned. Thus, in the worst possible circumstances, two things are secured to the Lord’s people, —their strength and comfort in his presence, and their right to regard as a heathen man and a publican, anyone who brings a scandal on his profession, and blasphemes that holy name by which he is called. The people of the Lord can always act: if they be his, they have his Spirit; and in that Spirit can meet together, and by that Spirit they can judge, and withdraw themselves from any brother who, after remonstrance, still continues to walk disorderly. So that the comfort of his worshippers, and the purity of his worship, is secured by this charter of the ever-gracious and loving Lord, to his very feeble remnant. The simple principle is, that the Lord would never oblige his people to sin. Now, I believe it to be just as binding on a Christian to meet together with Christians, as to abstain from those things which may even shock the natural conscience. There is one Lawgiver; and who shall presume to say where his authority is to be qualified? he that said, “I say unto you, swear not at all,” said also, a Let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican;” and the one ought to be no less binding on the conscience of a true disciple than the other.

This I believe to be the leading of the mind of the great Prophet of the Church throughout this discourse. Clearly perceiving where the spirit working in the minds of his disciples would issue, he looks to that; and amidst all the maze of difficulty in which they might be placed, provides the simple way for escape: and in the darkest periods of the Church’s history, we can find those who have been obedient to the Lord’s direction, and find the blessing. The Lord Jesus, the Prophet, has not made the hearts of his people sad, nor strengthened the hearts of the wicked. He has not forced them into the assertion, “The Temple of the Lord! the Temple of the Lord are these!” as though he sanctioned every species of worldliness; nor reduced them to the plea of slothfulness— “There is no hope, the matter is desperate.” All that is needed for action and blessing, is faith in the Lord’s word. He never is contented with the evil, however his people may be. It is a most fearful instance of the want of a sound mind, when we find so much perverse ingenuity, so many subtleties, so many analogies drawn, in order to lull the awakened consciences of many into contentedness with evil. Here is a plain direction of our Lord, which was given for them to act on, and applicable to any circumstances. And here is a plain answer to those who charge that as schism, which is bounden duty—separation from the world; as a necessary preliminary in our meeting together in the name of Jesus. Blessed be his name, he has not left us comfortless! and while it becomes us to be humbled to the very dust for our grievous departure from him, let us not add this to all our other sins, either to charge him with unfaithfulness, or to tempt him by saying, Is God among us or not? Whoever believeth on him shall never be confounded; Oven in the most disastrous times, when iniquity abounds and the love of many waxes cold, the Lord’s people may assemble together, and exhort one another; and the more so, as we see the day approaching: As it was of old, so it is now— “Ye have said, It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up: yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” (Malachi 3:14-17.)

The Glorious Name of Jesus

How glorious is Thy name

Through all the ransom’d host,

O WORTHY LAMB, who came

To seek and save the lost!

Thou art, beyond compare,

Most precious in cur sight;

Than sons of men most fair,

And infinite in might.

Thy perfect work divine

Makes us forever blest;

Here truth and mercy shine,

And men with God do rest,

Thy ways are far above

The ways of men, O God!

Above their thoughts Thy love,

In saving by Thy blood.

Let us count all but loss,

That Jesus we may win;

And, glorying in His cross,

Forsake the world and sin.

In Him let us rejoice;

Salvation He hath wrought;

Be His commands our choice,

For with His blood we’re bought.

The Numbering and Service of the Levites

The Levites were taken up that the ways of God toward his redeemed firstborn might specially be shown out in them.

The Lord took them from among the children of Israel, instead of all thee firstborn. “Therefore,” said he, “the Levites shall be mine; because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast, mine shall they be: I am the Lord.” (Numbers 3:11-13.)

They who were the special witnesses of the grace of God, in the day when judgment was poured out, were in a special way to be his own, serving him in the ways of redemption, as set up in the mercy of God—the ways of his mercy and love to sinners lying under judgment. Such, in the shadows of the law, was the service of the Levites; and such, in the good things that have come to us in Christ, is the service of the saints.

There are two numberings of the Levites marked, one in the third chapter, and the other in the fourth chapter of Numbers; but with striking difference between them. In chapter 3 they are reckoned from a month old and upwards; but in chapter 4 they are numbered from thirty years old and upward, even unto fifty years old: they are reckoned according to the days of their strength in this chapter, and, accordingly, their, several services are here revealed to them; but they were set in blessing as God’s firstborn in the days of their weakness; for, not what they did for him, but what he did for them, was the ground of their standing.

Here two things are taught us. First, the question of service does not conic in, when we are taken up as the redeemed in Christ. Second, the demand for service begins at once, when we are looked at as strengthened by—Christ. In this service, he reveals his mind, and we obey it.

Among the Levites, some had one service to do, and some had another: but responsibility to God made each do what he did. The sons of Kohath carried the sanctuary; the sons of Gershon carried the curtains of the tabernacle, and the hangings of the court; and the sons of Merari bore the boards of the tabernacle, the bars, the pillars, the sockets, and the pins. Such was the choice of the Lord for them, not of them for themselves. Had the sons of Gershon carried the ark, this would be self-will in them, not service for God, because he said to them, Carry the curtains. Responsibility to God made each do what he did, and kept him from interfering in other things: and so it is now with the brethren in the Lord. “I beseech you therefore, ‘brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith: For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office; so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of ‘another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation.” (Romans 12:1-.8.) The brethren are entreated by the mercies of God, to holy devotedness of themselves to God, and are exhorted against being conformed to the world. Conformity with the world blinds men’s perception of the will of God, and sets them doing their own will; but he who is transformed by the renewing of his mind, proves what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God: his affections and purposes are after his renewed mind; and the Lord has promised to him who has a single eye, that his whole body shall be full of light. All are called to their labors in subjection to God, as were the families of the sons of Levi. If the mercies of God are not kept before our hearts, then we fail in presenting ourselves aright. If conformity to the world comes in, and we lose spiritual energy in our renewed minds, then we fail in proving what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. And if we go beyond our measure of faith, then we assume what we are unfit for.

This varied labor in service is all for perfect order. He among the sons of Merari who carried even the pins, bore what was necessary for the perfection of the tabernacle better for him to do this for God, than to despise his work, and assume another. Equally would subjection to God keep the sons of Kohath happy in the holy service of bearing on their shoulders the ark, and table of show-bread, and all that belonged to the sanctuary.

We have God to serve as our purpose; we have his Word and Spirit to guide and lead as to the way of service; and all as his redeemed, through the blood of Christ.

The burden of a Levite, as he went forward through the dreary wilderness, was a glorious burden: it belonged to the sanctuary of God, and was the witness of his grace and mercy to sinful men: and so with the service of the saints in the world; their service is in what belongs not to the world. “The bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” (John 6:33.) “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go to the Father.” (John 16:28.).

In the sanctuary the uncovered ark of pure gold, with the cherubirns overshadowing the mercy-seat, rested in the most holy place: the priest alone could there see and enjoy it. In Levite service, the ark was covered over: still it vas the ark; from the sanctuary it came; and inside that covering lay all the hidden splendor in which, in the sanctuary; it appeared. This made the burden a precious one to a devoted Levite: he knew whence it came, and what it was: and so, if it was only a pin., it belonged to the tabernacle, and the Lord told him to carry it.

In all this, the service of the Levite waited on and followed the service of the priest: this was the order established of God; and in all our service of testimony in the world, communion in the holiest with the things of which we testify, should ever go before. Thus it is that in responsibility we shall be led out, but also controlled. In the holiest we have our communion with Christ: in our service in the world we have our testimony about Christ; but this should ever follow, arid be connected with the other.

If the acts of service of the sons of Kohath were made the standard to judge the conduct of the sons of Merari, then they might be despised in their service: but they aid unto the Lord what they did, according to his will concerning them; and in his good will the sons of Kohath and the sons of Merari were all fellow-laborers in the same tabernacle.

So it was, that when Gaius, for the Lord’s sake, received the strangers who, for his name’s sake,’ went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles, the apostle adds, “We ought therefore to receive such, that we might be fellow-helpers to the truth.” The poor preacher was a helper to the truth, when he proclaimed Christ’s name; and Gaius was a fellow-helper when he took him into his house, and fed and lodged him.

So again, “He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet’s reward.” Here is one who is not a prophet himself; but he loves a prophet, and receives him as such, and thus becomes associated in blessing with a prophet. Did he assume to be a prophet when he was not one, then there would be no such association, and no blessing.

In all this may we learn subjection to God, knowing that if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.

Such is the grace of God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Curtains of the Tent

“And thou shalt make curtains of goats’ hair, to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make. The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure. And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tabernacle. And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops in the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. And thou shalt make fifty taches of brass, and put the taches into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. And the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle.”

The Goats’ Hair Curtains.

And thou shalt make curtains of goats’ hair, to be a tent upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make. The ten curtains of fine twined linen formed the tabernacle; these eleven curtains of goats’ hair compose the tent.

Looking on the tent as typical of the Lord Jesus when on earth, it presents him as taking upon him the form of a servant, and made in the likeness of men. (Phil. 3:7.) Yea more, oh marvelous stoop of condescending love, as Made in the likeness of sinful flesh. (Romans 8:3.) For the goat in Scripture was especially selected for the sin offering, as typical of Christ; though it was only on the cross that he was “made sin for us.” And the parable in Matthew 25:31, to the end, shows the marked distinction in figure between the sheep and the goat. We know that he personally “knew no sin;” yet, in outward form and appearance, he was found in fashion as a man at the same time, like the tabernacle enclosed by the tent, he was the habitation of God, the glory of the godhead dwelt within.

In the second place, looking at the tent as typical of the Church of God on earth, it presents us the Church as composed of individuals living in the world: not as the Church inwardly in Spirit, but the Church outwardly in the flesh.

It is called the tent of the congregation, as representing those who are associated, or gathered together, to the confession of the name of Jesus—the assembly, or assemblies, of the saints.

And the tent of witness, as representing them as the witnessing company for Christ in the earth.

“I am black, but comely,” says the bride (Song of Solomon 1:5), “as the tents of Kedar;” such is the Church’s outward appearance in the flesh, “as the curtains of Solomon;” such she is within, as the workmanship of the Divine and Eternal Spirit.

The Dimensions of the Curtains.

The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits. The dimensions and limits of the curtains, of the tent of the congregation, as well ‘as of the’ tabernacle, are fixed and laid down by God himself in his word.

There are two cubits more in the curtains of the tent than in those of the tabernacle, and this is significant.

The quickening and indwelling of the Spirit of God, and faith in the Lord Jest’s Christ, is all that is requisite in order to any one’s forming part of the Church in Spirit now, as the body of Christ; “for by one Spirit we. are all baptized into one body.” (1 Corinthians 12:13.) Where there is the revelation of the Son by the Father in the power of the Holy Ghost, there is a living stone; but, in order to form part of the Church as the witnessing company to Christ in the earth, there must also be the confession, of Christ, the Son of the living God, as the result of Divine teaching. (See Matthew 16:13-18.) And those who are built upon the foundation, and associated together in this confession, compose the Church of Christ, as the witness for him in the world. (John 12:42,43.) There must also be consistency with this confession; for the brother that has offended, and will not hear the Church, or the assembly of those who are gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus, such an one is to be regarded as a heathen man, and a publican. (Matthew 18:15-20.) He is outside of that Which is the witness for Christ in the earth.

The inscription on the curtains of the tabernacle is, “The foundation of God standeth sure; having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his.”

The inscription on the curtains of the tent is, “Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” (2 Timothy 2:19.)

As to the Church of God in Spirit—the tabernacle of God—the Lord Jesus knows every one of those who belong to him. They may not be able to apprehend themselves with certainty that they belong to Jesus; the world may riot know it; they, may be hidden ones; but the foundation of their security is this: the Lord knows them, and all they that are his at his coming, shall be raised to the first resurrection, and every member of his mystic body shall form part of the Bride in the glory. But as the witness to Christ in the earth—the tent of the congregation—the pillar and ground of God’s truth separation from evil is the principle of its very existence: without this it crumbles into ruins. Moral or doctrinal evil, admitted into an assembly of witnesses for Christ, is like a fretting leprosy in one of the curtains of the tent, which will destroy it in the warp and woof. (Leviticus 47-52.)

“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” This is true of all who compose the tabernacle, or Church of God in Spirit.

And, “Let everyone that nameth—the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” This is the precept which, is imperative on all who form part of the tent of the congregation—the witness to the name and truth of Christ on the earth.

The Uniformity of the Measure of the Curtains.

The eleven curtains shall be all of one measure. As each curtain of the tabernacle represents all those believers who, in any particular place, form. the Church of God in Spirit in that place, so each distinct curtain of the tent represents those saints of God, and disciples of Christ, who may be associated together around the person, and to, the confession of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in a given locality; forming a local Church there, such as was the Church at Ephesus, or at Philippi, or at Colosse.

But it. is the will of God, and according to the Word of God, that each distinct gathering of believers should have the same principles of association and of discipline; so that a person, received in any one place as a believer, who is walking consistently and confessing the truth, should be admitted into full communion in every other assembly of God’s saints; not as a member of any particular church, but as a member of the Body of Christ.

And an evangelist, a pastor, or a teacher, laboring acceptably in any one place, should, be received in every other place, and be perfectly at liberty to perform his service there, as one under responsibility to Christ, and a steward in the household of God.

So, on the other hand; any person not received on sufficient grounds in one place, or put out of communion by the assembly there, with the sanction of Christ, and under the guidance of his Spirit, should be regarded as outside every other gathering of saints everywhere. That the godly discipline of one assembly may not be nullified by the ungodly laxity of another.

And there is another thing. There is a fellowship of churches as well as of individuals; and the same principles’ which apply to individuals, will apply with accumulated force to assemblies.

If we are to avoid communion with a person who refuses to judge or to renounce evil in conduct or doctrine, how much more are we called on to refuse communion with assemblies which refuse to judge evil or heresy, and to maintain collectively the holiness and truth Which becomes the house of God, and the honor and authority of Christ.

The Coupling Together of the Curtains.

And thou, shalt couple the five curtains by themselves, and the six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the sixth, curtain, in the forefront of the tent. How beautifully and expressively this sets forth the happy fellowship of assemblies, where holiness, and truth, and subjection to Jesus has been maintained! And God would have this fellowship experimentally and practically realized.

“Thou shalt couple the five Curtains by themselves, and the six curtains by themselves.” And does not this also express the communion together which God would have enjoyed by assemblies of believers in any particular district, more or less extended? —such as between the Churches of Galatia, or the Seven Churches of Asia; while provision is made, as we shall see presently, that all may be one.

The Loops and Brazen Tames.

And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain, that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops in the edge of the coupling which coupleth the second. And thou, shalt make fifty taches of brass, and put the taches into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one.) We have just seen the ‘arrangement of God, that the curtains may be united. We have here his provision, that the tent may be one; for church union is not only an ‘association of churches, but ONE CHURCHAPTER

Bezaleel and his companions were endued with skill and wisdom from God, to make the tabernacle and the tent according to the pattern shown to Moses in the Mount—one tabernacle and one tent.

The Spirit of God baptizes into one body all believers in Jesus, as the tabernacle or dwelling-place of God; and the apostles and their fellow-laborers, under the direct guidance and control of the Spirit, carried out the Divine thought in the original formation of the outward Church; for it was one, in a manifest, and unbroken outward unity, one tent.

And God had made full provision for the continuance of this Oneness, in the one doctrine of his Word, the one teaching of his Spirit, and the supreme Lordship of his Son. But human traditions having been permitted to mingle with, and to supersede the pure doctrines Of the Word; and the teachings of the so-called Church to interfere with the teaching of the Spirit; and the authority of than to set aside the sole Lordship of Christ in his Church, the outward oneness which once existed, exists no longer. But God’s principles are unchangeably the same. The Word of God continues to be the depository and. criterion of revealed’ truth; ‘the Comforter remains, and the Lord ‘Jesus retains his supremacy;’ and the blessing, and the privilege; and the profit, is to be realized and enjoyed ‘still, whenever two or three are found to carry into practice God’s original instructions, by meeting together on God’s principles.’ The testimony of the Lord Jesus to the Church in Philadelphia is the witness of this. (Revelation 3:7-13.)

There were one hundred-loops, (of what material or color we are not told; probably of the same material as the curtains,) forming one hundred links of union, but not of blue, not of. heavenly perfectness. And fifty taches of brass, strong and enduring, but not taches of gold, the emblem of Divine and eternal oneness.

The loops of blue and taches of gold uniting in one the tabernacle of God, prefigured the oneness of the Church in Spirit, in the bond of charity or love—a bond Divine, heavenly, and perfect.

These loops of goats’ hair and taches of brass coupling the tent together that it might he one, spews the outward Church united in the bond of brotherly kindness, a bond strong and lasting indeed, but still human.

This distinction is marked in 2 Peter 1:5-7: “Giving all diligence add to your brotherly kindness, charity.”

The tache of gold never lets go, for it is the emblem of Divine charity. The loop of blue never gives way, for it is the figure of perfect love. Not so the taches of brass and the loops of the tent, for they represent the human affections; the brotherly kindness which, by the command of God, we are —to manifest the one to another, as belonging to the family of God and the household of faith, whilst walking worthy of God.

“If any man obey not the Word of God, we are to have no company with him; that he may be ashamed.” (2 Thessalonians 3:14.) The outward expression of brotherly love has received a check yet we are not to count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother: (2 Thessalonians 3:15.) The tache of gold remains intwined with the loops of blue. That is, in the exercise of Divine charity, we are to be perfect, as our Father which is in heaven is perfect.

In the deep love of our hearts we may grieve over, pray for, and seek the restoration of our erring brother; but if he brings, not the pure doctrine of a true Christ, we are not to receive him into our house, neither bid him Godspeed, for in bidding him God speed we should be partakers of his evil deeds. (2 John 10,11.)

John was the disciple whom. Jesus loved; one who was wont to lie in the bosom of Jesus, and whose heart there learned to beat in unison with the heart of him in whom Divine love, in all its fullness, dwelt. Yet we hear John saying, “I wrote unto the Church, but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth.”

(3 John 9,10.) John was one of those, and prominent among them, whose constant effort it was to maintain the truth of the Person of Christ, and who would admit of no compromise.

Diotrephes was one who sought to maintain his own place in the Church, in indifference to the truth of Christ. This is manifest, for rather than have his own influence interfered with, he kept the witnesses for the truth of Christ outside. “Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good.” (3 John 11.)

Divine love led the Father to give his Son to die for sinners. The same love leads him to chasten his children for their sins. Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it. But he himself says, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. (Revelation 3:19.) Divine love led Jesus to be a sacrifice for sin. The same love constrained him to pray, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me;” for contact with sin, and to be numbered with transgressors, is intolerable to Divine love in its intrinsic holiness.

Divine love in a believer clings to a brother with an undying grasp; but Divine love will never allow him to rejoice in his iniquity, nor to have fellowship with his untruthfulness. For it is love in the truth for the truth’s sake which Divine charity manifests.

Jesus prayed for his Church, that it might be one, and it is one, divinely, perfectly, and forever one. Jesus commanded his disciples that they should love one another, and they are taught of God to do so. He who does not love, gives no evidence that he is born of God. And we do love one another, just in proportion as the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, and as we are thus made partakers of the Divine nature, for God is love, and love is of God. But in the manifestation of this love, and in the exercise of brotherly kindness, there is need of Divine wisdom, for real love can neither connive at sin, nor be indifferent to error. “Charity rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.” (1 Corinthians 13:6.) It manifests itself in faithfulness; faithfulness to God, to Christ, and to the brethren.

The Tent Covering the Tabernacle.

And the remnant that remaineth, of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the back side of the tabernacle. And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit on the other side of that which, remaineth in the length of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it. By this arrangement, the beautifully wrought curtains forming the tabernacle were entirely enclosed and hidden by the curtains of the tent; the tabernacle, as we have shown, representing the Church inwardly in Spirit, and the tent the Church in outward manifestation.

T. N.

The Importance of Prophetic Study

The Importance of Prophetic Study, and the spirit in which it needs to be conducted; with a general outline of prophetic testimony.

READ ISAIAH 6

Had the subject of this lecture been the importance of prophecy itself, it might have been regarded in a two-fold point of view, as bearing upon the world, and as bearing upon the church: Prophecy itself is, in part, God’s testimony to the world a testimony indeed of warning and of terror, fitly, represented by Ezekiel’s roll, written within and on the outside, and full of Mourning, lamentation and woe. And, in fact, one of the saddest consequences of the general neglect by Christians of the prophetic word, has been, that instead of bearing in the world’s ears continually, this solemn and mournful testimony as to the world’s course and end, we have chimed in with Satan’s lullaby of “Peace, peace,” by which he soothes this poor guilty world into deeper slumber; while God’s judgments, alas! by which it is sure, ere long, to be overtaken, slumber not. The world dreams of a golden age, a period of peace’ and plenty of, liberty and good government, drawing nigh; and its labors, ‘as it has done for so many ages, to hasten’ its arrival. God’s people; too, as unwatchful virgins, have slept slumbered; ‘instead of waking’ the long night ‘to meet the Bridegroom at his coming; and they, too, have had their dreams, and have fancied the gradual and peaceful approach of the same blissful’ period. And while the world has sought to expedite its arrival by all the means and appliances of philosophy and science, and political economy, and a philanthropy having these for its foundation, how many saints of God have added to these the Gospel, and have thought thus to perfect the machinery by which this guilty, miserable world is to be brought back to universal purity and joy. Yes, and if it should be urged, as it doubtless would, by some, that Christianity should be placed in the forefront, and all other things be only considered as subsidiary forces in the contest, what have you gained? The world and the church are still joined in one common phalanx, to fight one common battle, animated by one common hope of victory, and ensuing rest and peace and contentment in this world below. All join in putting far off the evil day, or in denying that there is such a day approaching. Pillows are sewed under all arm-holes the walls daubed with untampered mortar—the prophets, whether in the world or in the church, agreeing to prophesy smooth things, cry, “Peace,” when there is no peace. All this is the result of hearkening to the reasonings and speculations of men, instead of the testimony of God’s holy Word.

Am I denying, then, that there is a day of universal peace and blessedness yet to dawn upon this oppressed and groaning earth? God forbid! There is a millennium yet to come; a period of universal righteousness and joy, brighter than any that man’s hopes have pictured brighter than any that even Christians themselves have anticipated. A period in which men shall, indeed, “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks;” in which “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore;” but when “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together;” when “ they Shall not hurt nor destroy in all God’s holy mountain;” when “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the Sea.” But as to the way in which this period is to be ushered’ in as to the means by which it is to be introduced, we do affirm and we hope that in the course of the present inquiry it will be plainly shown to you from the Word of God—that man’s fancies and speculations have been preferred to the solemn teachings of this blessed book. It will. be shown to you, from the Word of God, I trust, that it is not by the progress of society, or the march of intellect, or the advancement of science; that it is not by the spread of modern opinions, or the rise and growth of liberal institutions; that it is not by the means of schools, and hospitals, and peace societies, and temperance societies; no, nor, even by means of Sunday schools, and tract societies, and missions to the heathen, however good in their places these may be: (and we have reason to thank God in many respects for these:) it is not by these means’ that Satan’s kingdom will be overthrown—that the world will be delivered from his dire oppression, and the universal reign of righteousness and peace be introduced; but by the coming of our Lord. Jesus Christ from heaven. And this is the one grand event placed before us in the “more sure word of prophecy.” An event which men have contrived, indeed, to put off to an indefinitely—distant period, but which in Scripture is ever represented as the one impending event, placed as such before both saints and sinners. It has diverse aspects, I grant you, as to these; to the one, light—to the other, darkness; to the one, joy—to the other, sorrow; to the one deliverance, and eternal triumph and blessedness—to the, other, confusion and everlasting despair. But it is, whether regarded in reference to the one or to the other, the one grand event foretold in the prophetic word; the center, so to speak, of all God’s future dealings with mankind. And it takes place; not, as is commonly supposed, at the end of this period of universal righteousness on the earth, but at its commencement. It precedes that period; it ushers it in; and for anything that any of us can tell to the contrary, it may take place in our own life-time—within the brief space of our own existence here below.

But I will not pursue this theme. It is the definite subject of the next lecture, when the proofs of it’ will, I trust; through the Lord’s help, be placed before you. But—I was unwilling to pass on without noticing it thus at the outset. And for this reason, that in nothing has the general neglect of prophecy: by Christians had a worse effect than with regard to this event in its bearing upon the world. Instead of testimony to this rapidly approaching and portentous’ event, Christians have substituted, as a means of acting upon the consciences of the careless, the thought of the uncertainty of their own lives, and the thought. of the final day of retribution at the end of time, at the dissolution of all things. I am not going to intimate that Scripture is silent as to these. No such thing. It does, in a few places, refer to these: subjects. “It is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment.” The judgment of the dead before the great white throne is solemnly portrayed in Revelation 20 But this we may with safety affirm, that the great subject of prophetic testimony is neither the uncertainty of our lives, nor the setting of the great white throne at the consummation of all things, but the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ— himself in the clouds of heaven, to inflict terrible judgments upon the living inhabitants of the earth— upon those who shall be alive and behold him when he comes. “Behold, he cometh with clouds: and every eye shall see him: they also who pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.” The difference, as to the effect upon conscience, between these two sorts of testimony, is immense. It is true that life is uncertain; no one can foretell the hour of his dissolution. But this is an observation so trite, so common-place, so familiar with men’s everyday thoughts, that it produces little or no impression. We all see so much almost daily; of death and its appendages, that they fail to impress the mind. A grave-digger becomes so familiarized, with his mournful employment, that to turn up with his spade the decaying fragments of a human body, is no more to him than to turn over a clod or a stone. And so with others. So powerful are the effects of habit, and so habitually are we reminded of the approach of death and the uncertainty which hangs over the moment of its arrival, that the prospect does not act upon the conscience. Nor is it commonly so employed in Scripture. But let the testimony of God’s Word come home to a man; let him be convinced that what is before the world is the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, not a thousand years hence, but for anything he or anyone knows to the contrary, within the period of his own life; let him be, convinced that for anything he knows or can know to the contrary, his own eyes may see heaven open, and the Son of Man robed in light and majesty, descend, attended by ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment on the ungodly; that unless he embrace the Savior and believe the Gospel, he may be one of the living objects Of his wrath, when that Savior comes to tread thus “the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” —let him be really convinced of this, I say, and is there not here an object of majesty and terror sufficient to arrest the most careless in his career of folly? And this, my fellow-sinners, is the prospect the Word of God holds out before you. Dream not of the certain intervention of a thousand years: Men have taught you to believe that this event is certainly at the distance of a thousand years: But Christ says, “Of that day and of that hour knoweth no man, no; not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” Before passing on, I speak this word of solemn warning to the unconverted here. Don’t be deceived. Don’t dream of an intervening millennium. There will be no such thing the proofs will be given you another evening; but here, at the very outset, I charge and warn you in the sight and presence of God, before whom we shall all stand, don’t be deceived by the notions which are abroad. No one can assure you that the day of which we speak is at any great distance. For aught we know, your eyes may behold its terrors. Within the period of your natural life, its thunders may burst upon your Oars, and its solemnities cause —your hearts to quake. Unless you embrace the Savior, who is still presented to you; unless your hearts are opened to believe the tidings of his mercy, and take refuge in his open arms, on you, as yet alive here below, the terrors of the day of God may fall. You may be among those who shall be trodden in the wine-press, when HE shall come forth from heaven, who has been rejected and despised on earth. Delay not to flee to Jesus. He is the ark of safety that will outride the coming storm. Oh! that you might be led to seek refuge in him. His arms are open to receive you. There is no one here that he would not be glad to receive and welcome to his bosom. Oh that this precious covert might safely enclose you all.

Prophecy itself we thus perceive to be important to all; but when we come to speak of the importance of prophetic study, and the spirit in which it needs to be conducted, it is clearly to Christians that we have to address ourselves. It is not that we are not anxious about others. My heart would not let me say a word to Christians, till I had first warned and entreated the unconverted here to flee to Christ for refuge. But, dear friends; the subject for this evening is clearly one in which Christians alone are interested. Christians alone possess two blessings which are indispensable pre-requisites to the study of prophecy. One is, the assurance of salvation; the other, the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit. Without the assurance of salvation, how can we contemplate with calmness and self-possession the solemn events which fill the future, as portrayed by the pen of prophecy? if we regard the judgments by which a guilty world is to be overwhelmed, how can I calmly think of these judgments, if I have the least lingering misgiving in my heart as to whether they may not fall on myself? If, on the other hand, we look at the glory in which they who are Christ’s will be revealed with him when he comes—the glory of which all believers are co-heirs with him—how can I, with any measure of personal interest, contemplate such a subject, if I have any doubts as to whether I am one of those to whom that glory through grace belongs? No, the study of prophecy supposes the previous reception of the gospel; such a reception of it as has given perfect peace. Yes, my brethren, it is to you who know that, “being justified by faith, you have peace with, God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” that I address myself, in urging upon you the study of the prophetic word. Sheltered in such a hiding-place, assured of the Savior’s mercy, and of the Father’s love, you can afford to look abroad on all that the pen of prophecy depicts. Yea, you could witness the scenes themselves not, only read of them, but witness them—the shaking heavens and the dissolving earth—the glories of that day when heaven shall open, and the rider upon the white horse come forth, conquering and to conquer; and, knowing in whom you have believed, your hearts be unshaken amid the terrors. of the scene. Did I say you could witness? My brethren, we shall witness these events—not as spectators merely, but as actors in the scene. All the glory of the opening heavens, and the unnumbered hosts issuing thence in the train of Jesus, the King of Kings, and Lord of lords—is a glory which will ere that day have become our home and dwelling-place. “When HE appears, we shall appear with him in glory!” (Colossians 3:4.) And the heart needs the calm and peaceful assurance of this to look onward to those scenes.

Then besides, none but Christians are indwelt by the Holy Ghost; and it is he, the promised Comforters, who was to.” show us things to come.” They are things that happen, indeed, to men upon this earth; but still they are the things of God. They are the unfolding of his purposes, and the development of his ways. “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save, the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things, of God knoweth no man; but the Spirit of ‘God.” What he alone knows, he alone can teachapter And how blessed are the words which follow those just cited: “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” Yes, beloved brethren; it is to you who have passed from death unto who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, who possess this inestimable gift of the Holy Ghost, sent by the Father, in Christ’s name, to lead us into all truth—to take of that which is Christ’s and show it to us—to show us things to come; it is to you that I would affectionately address myself on the importance of that much—neglected study—the study of the prophetic portions of God’s holy Word.

One consideration that can hardly fail to have weight with those who really value God’s Word, is the very large proportion of it which is occupied with prophetic subjects. From Isaiah to Malachi, all is prophecy; to say nothing of a great. deal in preceding portions, such as Jacob’s prophecy in Genesis—those of Moses in Leviticus and Deuteronomy—as well as numerous passages in the books of V Samuel, the Kings, and’ the Chronicles. A great part of the Psalms, too, are prophetic in their character. You say, perhaps, “This is all the Old Testament.” But what, I ask, is the instruction of the New Testament as to the use and object of these prophecies in the Old? Let me refer you to Peter’s words, which are very full on this point. “Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported unto you, by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.” (1 Peter 1:12.) Has the preaching of the gospel by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven superseded the Old Testament prophecies? No. The things reported to us by the one, are the things testified of in the other. And the testimony was borne, not for the sake of those who bore it, but for our sakes, to whom the testimony has descended, “that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister.” Then, as to the New Testament itself, one entire book—the closing one—is prophecy. We have prophecies in the epistles of Jude, James, and Peter. Paul’s notable prophecy in his second epistle to the Thessalonians, is well known, besides others in his other epistles. And as to the gospels, which of them is there that contains no prophecy? Matthew 13:24, and 25.; Mark 13.; Luke 21; and John 14.-16., are the chief prophecies of the great prophet, our Lord Jesus Christ himself. And do we well to turn aside from these, as from writings of little (if any) interest or moment to us? Should we deem such conduct in a child commendable, or the reverse? Suppose he should receive a long letter from an absent parent, a great part of which is devoted to the child’s instruction on a certain class of subjects. What should we think of his conduct, if he hastily passed over the whole of this, scarcely reading it at all, to pay exclusive attention to some parts of the letter, which, for some reason or other, he preferred? Would he be honoring his father by such a course? And are we honoring our Father, who has graciously caused the Holy Scriptures to be written, by neglecting, as Christians so generally do, the prophetic portions of them?

Then besides, there is a certain character attaching to the prophetic portions of scripture, which gives them an inexpressibly tender and affecting claim upon our attention. I grant you freely, that a great part of prophecy is occupied with the fortunes of other persons than ourselves. It particularly unfolds the dealings of God with his earthly people, and with the Gentiles, in order to the introduction of the kingdom of the Son of Man; in which kingdom our place is not that of subjects to be ruled over, but of joint-heirs to reign with him. It is ‘thus quite true that the greater part of prophetic details do not apply to us personally. But is that a reason for neglecting prophecy? What Has God brought us so near to himself—has he admitted us to such close arid tender relationships to himself as to entrust us with his secrets, making us his confidants, as it were—hiding nothing from us and shall we require such love as this by utter and manifest indifference to what he has been pleased to communicate? Why was it that God told Abraham what was coming upon Sodom? Was it in order to his escape therefrom, or that it in any way personally affected himself? Not at all: Abraham’s faithfulness to God had kept him apart from Sodom; his heavenly spirit and walk had kept him away from the scene on which the judgments of God were about to descend.’ On what ground was it; then, that he received intelligence from—God of the doom of Sodom? “And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?” (Genesis. 18:17.) Abraham was so dear to God, he was brought so entirely into the place of being the friend of God; that God would keep no secrets from his friend. It would have been a sorry recompense for love like this, had Abraham said, “It is a matter with which I have nothing to do; I have no connection with Sodom and its judgments, and feel no interest in the subject.” And when Christ says to us, beloved, “Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what ins lord doeth, but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you” (John 15:15); what is the only suited response from our hearts? What but the most reverent and adoring attention, while he, in the love that has thus admitted us to be his friends, unfolds to us what he has heard of the Father? If some secretary of state, some chief person in her majesty’s government, was about to entrust you with some secret as to the administration of affairs, with what attention would you listen. Suppose he said, “You are such a bosom-friend, so dear to me; that I can keep nothing from you;” with what rivetted attention would you hear the communications which he had prefaced thus. But here we have God himself, the great Governor of all things, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the one appointed to administer his government in the age to come, admitting us as “friends” to hear what is to take plane, not in the government of a province, or a nation, but in that mighty change, which is to transfer the administration of power and authority from the hands of all to whom it has been delegated, and who have proved unfaithful to the trust, to his hands, who humbled himself to become the faithful servant, and who has had given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things celestial, things terrestrial, and things infernal; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father: And has God told us of this, my brethren, and of the way in which he will bring it about, and the blessed results which are to How from it, to all in heaven and all on earth, and shall we not be interested in hearkening to the information he communicates?

Should it be said, “Yes, but this word in John 15:15, was spoken to the disciples of our Lord, and applies to none else;” turn to Ephesians 1:8-10, where, addressing the whole church, and having spoken of the riches of God’s grace, the apostle says, “Wherein he bath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having” made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself; that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth; even in him.” It was not merely that the twelve apostles, or the disciples of Jesus, during his lifetime here below, were admitted to this place of intimacy and confidence, but the whole church is that to which God has abounded in all wisdom and prudence, in making known the mystery of his will. And shall we despise this blessed place, and neglect the communications which, by reason of it, we are privileged to receive?

Further, the practical bearing and effect of the study of prophecy, rightly conducted, is a powerful consideration to commend it to our souls. I know that it is often objected to the study of prophecy that it is speculative, and people say they prefer what is practical. Nothing can be more practical. Let me ask you, how is Christian practice—Christian conduct—produced? Not by mere ordinance or precept. The law indeed said, Thou shalt do this, and Thou shalt not do that, and knew no language but that of stern authority and requirement. But while the law in itself was “holy, just, and good,” we all know that it “was weak through the flesh,” and could not secure from sinners such as we are, the fulfillment of its holy demands. The gospel proceeds on an entirely different principle. It addresses us as lost, and reveals to us the fullness of God’s grace, and shows how that grace has —found for itself, in the redemption by Christ Jesus, — a channel in which it can holily and righteously flow, in streams of pardoning, healing, life-giving mercy, to the vilest and the worst. It causes us to behold how “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.”—They who hear the gospel with believing hearts, in hearing it thus, receive eternal life: Their chains fall off, and their bondage to sin is at an end. The heart is set free in the knowledge of God’s love; and the Holy Spirit; who has applied the gospel thus with quickening power to the soul, comes and dwells within, as a Spirit of adoption, crying, Abba, Father. This, of itself, produces, to some considerable extent, Christian practice. The man who is born of God, who knows the grace of Christ and the Father’s love by the testimony of the indwelling Spirit of God, is sure to act, in a certain, measure, as becomes a Christian. The peace which dwells within, the joy that fills his heart, the love to God and affection for the Savior which the Holy Ghost has produced, cannot but express themselves in tempers and conduct corresponding thereto, more or less. But more than this becomes necessary as he advances. An infant may have the life, the relationships to his parents, and the affections of a child; and these may spontaneously express themselves to some extent: but as ‘he grows up from childhood to man’s estate, he needs to have his character formed, his mind furnished, his tempers molded and subdued, and his affections called forth and regulated in intercourse with his father, and by means of all the positive instructions the father is pleased to communicate. Especially does he need his father’s instructions as to the future; and in fact; the child is educated and trained according to the future of his father’s intentions and of his own hopes. Just so as to the Christian. Each believer is a child of God. Each has the life of a child—the relationships of a child—the affections of a child. And ‘all these spontaneously express themselves, more or less, in every child of God. But as we advance, we need all the light that the Father has given in his Word, and we need to have this brought home to the heart and conscience by the Holy Spirit; the blessed teacher to whose training we are confided, to form the character and mold the ways according to our Father’s will.

And be it remembered, that it is to intelligent obedience and service like this that we are called:

“Be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:17.) A servant may hear his master say, Do this, or, don’t do that, and have no fellowship with his master’s motives for either the one or the other. But the child, while under tenfold obligations to absolute implicit obedience, obeys after another sort. He is expected, from acquaintance with his father’s character and habits, as well as from familiarity with his father’s purposes and plans, to have an intuitive perception of what will be pleasing to his father, of what will give his father joy. And how are we thus to serve our Father, if we neglect the greater part of that Word in which he has condescended to unfold to us his thoughts, open out to us his plans, and instruct us as to the way in which he intends to glorify himself in Christ, thus shedding his own light upon the whole scene that surrounds us—a scene which constitutes the sphere in which we are called to walk so as to please and glorify God? Nothing can be more practical than the study of prophecy.

And what do we behold around us as the actual result among Christians of the neglect of prophecy? Do we not often witness such a case as this? A man is arrested by conviction in the midst of his worldliness and sin. While the force of conviction lasts, and he lives in daily fear of the eternal condemnation he has deserved, his very fears and anxieties make him less solicitous about the world than he has been wont to be. The time and energy he has been accustomed to devote to worldliness, he now devotes to prayer, and reading of the Scriptures, and seeking by every means he can think of, to get peace to his troubled conscience. In a while, he is brought to understand and believe the Gospel, and he sees how all that he is vainly striving to do for himself, Christ did for him eighteen hundred years ago, when he died on the cross, thus making peace by the shedding of his blood. The effect of this on the person’s soul we all know. His anxieties and fears are at an end. He has “joy and peace in believing.” All that has pressed upon him like a burden intolerable, giving him an utter distaste for the world and its objects and pursuits, is now removed. His soul is happy—his heart is free. And what is it that ensues? Alas! one’s heart sickens to complete the picture. But how common in such a case for the heart set free by redeeming mercy and pardoning love, to return to the worldly habits and earthly pursuits from which conviction of sin had for a season drawn it away: just as though Christ had set it free for worldliness and gain. There may be some slight differences between the way in Which the world’ is now pursued, and the” way in which it was pursued before the person was arrested by conviction at all. There, may be more of conscience as to the methods employed; and there may be the consecration to Christ, as it is supposed, of some considerable portion of worldly substance. But still as to the general drift and design of life, it is manifestly the same as before conversion—the same as that of the busy world around. How is this? And how is it that it is such a common case? Ah, the solution is here. People learn what they are saved from, without going on to learn what they are saved for. They learn whom they are saved by; without learning that to hope and wait for his coining again, is as much our place, as to trust in what he has accomplished. The heart must have an object: man cannot but act for the future. If we have not before us the object that God presents to us, we shall surely have some other. If we are not instructed as to the future from God’s Word, and so led to act in view of the future thus understood, we shall have it filled with visions of our own imaginations, or with those supplied to us by the speculations of others. And according to the actual future of our hopes must be the tenor and drift of our lives. How immensely important then, and how eminently practical, the study of prophecy!

Some of the common objections, to this study made by Christians, may for a moment be examined: Some say that it is not essential to salvation. But is it enough to know that we are saved? Do we owe nothing to him who has saved us? Is it of no importance that we should know how he intends to glorify himself in Jesus, and thus learn how we may glorify him while here below? Alas! that than has good, reason to doubt his own salvation, who cares for nothing beyond the mere knowledge, that he is saved.

Some say that the study of prophecy is merely, speculative. But this has been answered, already.

All anticipations of the future drawn from any other source are mere speculations. Those actually drawn from the prophetic Word of God are sober realities, certain facts. As to its not being practical, as some allege, we have considered this already. There is nothing more so. The gospel supplies the motives to Christian conduct. The Holy Ghost begetting in us by the gospel a new life, and dwelling in us to sustain and guide it, is the power for Christian conduct. Prophecy reveals the object of Christian conduct, and gives us most exactly God’s judgment of the whole sphere around us, in whichapter this conduct is to be exemplified. It spews us that just as Christ arose from the dead, not at once to ascend an earthly throne and rule an earthly people, but (after remaining long enough to verify to his disciples the fact of his resurrection) to ascend to the right hand of God; so we, freed by his death from guilt and condemnation, risen with him as partakers of his life, are not left here to pursue the objects and unite in the course of a world lying in the wicked one, arid about to be desolated by God’s judgments at the return of the despised and rejected Jesus; but after witnessing a while that Christ is really risen, we are to be caught up to meet him at his coming; and meanwhile, as strangers and pilgrims here in holy separateness from the world, we are to seek those things which are above, where Christ, who is our life, sitteth at the right hand of God. And lest our hearts should be attracted by the false beauty and splendor of the scene around us, prophecy reveals God’s judgment of its moral character and condition; unfolds to us the ripened iniquity to which its course is tending: and foretells the solemn judgments by which it will be finally visited, in order to the establishment in it of the peaceful reign of Jesus and his saints. ‘Could anything be more practical than this? There are two objections, however, on which it may be well to bestow a little more attention. One is, the extravagancies into which, as it is alleged, many have been led by: directing, their attention to unfulfilled prophecy. We are told of the Anabaptists and Fifth Monarchy—men of a by-gone age: we are told of Southcote, of Irving, and of the Mormonites of the present day. We are told of these, and warned against all attempts to study prophecy, by the example of the fearful errors into which these parties have fallen. But let us look at this objection. It proves too muchapter If it proved anything at all, it proves too muchapter We are not to study prophecy, we are told, because fanatical, misguided men have made bad use of it. But if the abuse of anything be a good, sound argument against the use of it, it is not from prophetic Scripture alone that we must turn aside, but from the whole Word of God. What Scripture is there that has not been perverted by misguided men, or willful deceivers, to purposes of evil? Then, besides, all or nearly all those who are held up, as beacons to warn us against the study of prophecy, pretended to have received new revelations themselves. They set up to be prophets. It is not the sober, serious, patient, prayerful study of what is already revealed in God’s Word, that characterizes fanatical teachers on prophecy; but the pretension to having themselves received new revelations. My brethren, it is not that I wish you to be prophets, or wish you to receive anything that any one pretending to be a prophet would teach you. It is to guard you against all such delusions that I invite you to render your, most serious attention to the teaching, of the prophetic pages of God’s holy, Word. And the fact is, that the objection we are considering, not only proves too much, for the objectors, but also proves the very, opposite of what it is, brought to prove. Instead Of proving that prophecy should be neglected, it, proves that it should be studied; calmly indeed; with prayer—in entire dependence upon the Spirit of God, but still studied. What is it that gives such deceivers, as have, been referred to the fearful power they possess? It is, the ignorance—the Wide Spread ignorance of Christians on the subjects those deceivers dilate upon. Where is it that a man is most liable to be led astray? In the path he continually treads—a path with every step of which he is as familiar as with his own fire-side? No; the night may be very dark, and the path very intricate; but he knows it too well to be in it led astray., It is in some unknown region, where every path and every lane is new to him, and where darkness moreover settles and broods over the entire scene. It is there that the ignis fatuus leads the traveler into a bog, or the false treacherous guide conducts him, through winding paths, into a den of thieves. And so with the Word of God. It is not by means of those parts with which we are best acquainted, that Satan and his emissaries succeed in leading us astray. But if there be any large field of truth with which Christians are not conversant; some large tract of Scripture consigned, as the prophetic parts are by Christians generally, to oblivion and neglect; there it is that the tempter puts forth his skill. By calling attention to some striking part of these neglected portions, he arouses the attention of Christians, and makes them feel how ignorant they have been; and they do actually come to see some truths which they have not seen before. But alas! it is only that these truths are used by Satan as his gilded bait to disguise the concealed hook of some deadly error, which he contrives to hide amid the long neglected and now apparently recovered truth. My brethren, it is the neglect of the Word of God that throws the door open to the enemy. It is the neglect of the prophetic Word that makes Christians the easy prey of any deceiver who pretends to prophetic light. The Lord grant us to take warning by the past. Having our loins girt about with truth, and taking—the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, may we be kept from all ‘the wiles of the devil; may we be enabled to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, may we stand.

But there is another objection, more subtle, and perhaps with a certain class of Christians more influential, than the one we have been considering. It is this. It is alleged that the chief, if not the only use of prophecy is after the event, to demonstrate the truth of God, and evince his faithfulness in fulfilling his word. It is said, “Ah, but you cannot understand prophecy till after the occurrence of the event it foretells. This is the only key by which it can be unlocked, and then it will be seen how God has spoken, and has fulfilled his word. But it is of no use examining prophecy till then.” Such is the objection. That fulfilled prophecy has the use affirmed, one would not, of course, think of denying. Fulfilled prophecy has this use undoubtedly. But to say of unfulfilled prophecy, that its chief use is after the event, is to go directly in the face of the plainest declarations of God’s word. See 2 Peter 1:19: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed.” When? When the events have been accomplished, and the light thus shed upon the prophecy makes plain that God has spoken the truth? Is that the time? No; “whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a, dark place, UNTIL the day dawn, and the, day star arise in your hearts.” The use of prophecy is that of a lamp, to light the traveler’s feet along the dark and dreary path. It is not intended for a candle to be held up to the sun, to make it manifest that the sun shines at noonday. As someone has, in substance, remarked, if the chief use of unfulfilled prophecy be after the event, it must be either to the righteous or to the wicked that it is thus useful. It cannot be to the wicked; it is too late to be of use to them, when its predictions have been accomplished in their destruction. The flood proved the truth of God’s word by Noah; but it was too late to be of any advantage to the guilty world, who perished for not having heeded the warning before. And as to the righteous, surely they don’t need the fulfillment of prophecy to satisfy them that God speaks the truth. lire are, not Christians, unless we do believe this. No, my brethren, we do not need prophecy to be fulfilled, in order to certify us of the truth of God. But we do need all the light it sheds upon our present path, and upon the whole scene around, to guide us through its intricate mazes to that city of habitation which it reveals to us as the home of our weary hearts, and our eternal dwelling-place of joy.

As to “the spirit in which prophetic study needs to be conducted,” a few words must suffice. Isaiah 6 affords full and blessed instruction as to this. We have there Isaiah’s preparation to be a prophet. The needed preparation for the study of prophecy is surely of the same character Morally. It is not intellectual power, natural quickness of apprehension, or precision of judgment. Where God is the teacher, and sinners saved by grace the learners, the preparatory process is moral and spiritual. Prophecy is not designed to furnish food for curious imaginations, or a field for the exercise of intellectual power. It is addressed to faith, to be by it—simply received as God’s word, and thus to become incorporated with the very existence of the inner man, humbling us at God’s feet, weaning us from the world, enabling us alike to despise its attractions, and to be quiet and peaceful amid its convulsions and its overturns, knowing beforehand what will be the end of its vaunting, proud career, and how God has prepared for the safety and blessing of his own—some above and others amid the widespread, general crash. What can enable us aright to pursue the study of a subject like this, but a process somewhat similar to that through which the prophet gassed? Let us consider it for a moment.

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.” “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory,” is the cry which bursts froth the lips Of the prostrate seraphim What effect has this vision of glory on the prophet? It withers all the pride and beauty of the flesh. In the presence of this glory the prophet has the deepest discernment of his own sinful,’ abject condition, and of that of his people among whom he dwells. “Then said I, Woe is me for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I. dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” This is needful for us, as well as for the prophet. It is this withering of the flesh, of all self-confidence and self-importance; this discovery to us—of what we are, as sinners in the presence of a holy God; it is this we need, to traverse safely the scenes unfolded to us in prophecy. They are scenes of judgment, of desolation, of succeeding brightness and glory; but we could not pass and repass through them, and be instructed as to them, without being puffed up by increasing knowledge, unless our hearts learn these things in the presence of the brightness of the glory of God. This is a brightness which we discern by faith; to the prophet it was revealed to sight. Oh, we need this discovery of ourselves of our deep sinfulness, so as to loathe and abhor ourselves; or our vain„ proud hearts would turn our very acquaintance, with prophecy into a means of exalting ourselves above our brethren. Isaiah takes his place as identified with his nation. He owns not only that he is a man of unclean lips, but that he dwells in the midst of a people of unclean liPsalms The Lord grant us, in the presence of his glory, this true brokenness of heart.

But the prophet is not left here. Grace is ministered to him. He is made to know that his iniquity is taken away, and his sin purged. And so with us; when a broken head is combined with the knowledge of ‘the grace which’ has bound it up; when we not only see “the King, the Lord of, hosts,” but see how he stooped to the manger, to the garden, to the cross; when we see him there; and read full forgiveness his open side, and hear it in his expiring cry; then it is, the heart made free and happy in God’s love, yet thoroughly broken and abased, we can bear to study the prophetic word, and look onwards to those scenes of judgment which tell of what we had deserved, and must surely have endured, had grace not interposed.

But an inquiry is now instituted: “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” “Here am I, send me,” is the prophet’s ready response. The humbleness, self-loathing, and self-distrust, which nothing can produce but the beholding (by faith in our case—by sight in that of the prophet) the glory of the Lord; the simple blessed assurance of iniquity purged and sin removed, which the gospel brings; and the ‘readiness to run on any errand, and enter on any service which it may please our forgiving Lord to appoint; these three traits mark the grand moral preparation of the heart by the Spirit of God, for the study of prophecy. And it is surely just in proportion as these dispositions continue to be wrought in us and cherished by us, that we shall receive to profit those communications of God’s mind as to the future, of which the prophetic word is the medium.

As to a general outline of prophetic testimony, it must be exceedingly brief. One cardinal truth must be borne in mind from the outset. God is his own end or object. It is for his own glory, and for no lower end, that he acts. In whatever sphere he operates, and in whatever way, this is always true. “Of him, and through him, and to him are all things; to whom be glory forever.” Then further, as Christ is God manifest in the flesh, the incarnate, as well as the eternal Word, by whom and for whom all things were made, and all things subsist; he, Christ, is the one in whom all God’s glory is accomplished and displayed. Now, it is to him that the Holy Ghost bears testimony. “He shall glorify me,” said our blessed Lord.

Christ is the center and object of all the counsels, and of all the ways and acts of God. And accordingly, which brings us at once to the subject before us, the whole prophetic testimony is thus summed up by the Apostle Peter. Speaking of the Old Testament prophets, he represents them “as searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the Sufferings of Christ, and the glories (see the Greek) that should follow.” Those prophecies which relate to the sufferings of Christ have, of course, been fulfilled; and, so far as his personal glory in his resurrection from the dead, and his session at the right hand of God is concerned, the predictions as to these events have been accomplished too. But the manifestation of his glories to the world is altogether future. The world has never seen him since he was taken down from the cross, and laid in the rich man’s sepulcher. For anything the world believes or cares, he might be there still. But there are those who have been separated from the world by the tidings of his death and resurrection, and of the salvation which has been thus wrought out. These are now sharing the fellowship of his sufferings, and being made conformable to his death. His word assures us, that “if we suffer we shall also reign with him.” “If so be we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified together.” This takes place when he comes again. This may be at any moment. Whenever that moment does arrive, “the Lord Jesus shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” The next lecture will exhibit the proofs from Scripture, that this is prior to the millennium, and introductory to it. I believe myself that there are distinct stages in the coming of Christ: one coming, but having distinct and successive stages in its accomplishment. Let me explain by a familiar illustration. As in the coming of the judges to the assizes of a city, suppose the municipal authorities go out to meet them; if they should halt where the two processions meet; and even if they should tarry there and confer with each other; and if after that the judges should come onward, now accompanied by those who went out to meet them, it would be but one coming of the judges, though thus divided into distinct stages. Now I believe that Scripture thus represents the coming of our Lord. He descends into the air, and the church is glorified and caught up to meet him there. The marriage of the Lamb, we are told, takes place in heaven. Then he comes, attended or followed by the church—by his risen and glorified saints—to execute judgment on the wicked here below but between these two stages of our Lord’s return, there is an interval; long enough, not only for the marriage of the Lamb in heaven, but also for the preparation of affairs on the earth below, to be visited by him in judgment. As soon as the church is taken up to meet the Lord in the air, God begins to work amongst his earthly people, the Jews. A portion of them return to their land, and are found there, still in a state of unbelief. A remnant from amongst them have their hearts, turned to the Lord, and they repent deeply of all their national and individual wickedness. The Gentile nations, given up to delusion, at least those included within the precincts of the fourth great empire, that of Rome, having been long accustomed to the form of godliness without the power, now—the true church being gone to heaven—throw aside the very name of Christ, and receive in his stead that’ great enemy, that proud and self-willed defiler of God; “ the man of sin,” “antichrist,” “the son of perdition,” who compels, or seeks to compel, all to worship him, and receive a mark in their foreheads and in their hands. Those who refuse, he slays; those who worship him, have to drink of the wine of the wrath of God without mixture. Certainly, amongst the Jews, and probably amongst the Gentiles, there will be some, but among the Jews many, whose hearts God will have so touched, that they will steadily refuse to worship the Beast or his image, and many of them will be by him destroyed. Others will, through attention to our Lord’s warning in Matthew 24:15, &c., flee when they see the sign there spoken of, and will escape. It will be a time of tribulation, such as there never was from the beginning of the world, nor ever will be afterward. Eventually, the Jews being trodden down and oppressed in Jerusalem and Judea, all nations being gathered against Jerusalem to battle, in the very utmost extremity of their distress, when there seems no hope, but that they will be completely swallowed up, suddenly “ as lightning,” the Son of Man will appear, attended by all his saints; the man of sin will be destroyed by the brightness of his appearing; the armies assembled around Jerusalem will be cut off, and the poor oppressed Jews will be delivered out of the band of their enemies.. Terrible judgments will be inflicted on all the surrounding nations, and indeed on all the nations of the earth; Varying, however, in severity, according to the degree of light they have abused. Those Jews who had not returned to their own land previously, will be brought back in triumph. The ten tribes, long lost, will be found, and brought back by the hand of God himself to their own land. Jerusalem thus restored, will become the throne of the Lord as to the earth. From the scene where God’s judgments and the presence of the Lord will have been specially displayed, will messengers be dispatched to all the spared and far off nations of the earth. When God’s judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants will learn righteousness. All the obstinately wicked will be cut off; the rest will be converted, and the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth; Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit, so that he can deceive the nations no more for a thousand years. Christ and his glorified saints shall then reign in full blessing over all the earth; their own distinct place of blessing and joy being in heaven. Creation itself shall, be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The world, freed from the yoke of Satan, and happy under the reign of Christ and his saints, shall reap the answer to that prayer which has been so many thousand times pronounced by so many thousand lips— “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.” All this continues for a thousand years. Then shall Satan be loosed for a little season, and go out once again and deceive the nations. Fire from God will come down out of heaven on those whom he assembles. Then the great white throne will be set. The wicked dead, who had not been raised at the beginning of the millennium, will be brought forth out of their graves for judgment. All who are not found written in the Lamb’s book of life, will be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death. Heaven and earth will flee away. Christ will deliver up the kingdom to the Father. New heavens and a new earth, in which there shall be no sea, will be created. Into this new earth, the New Jerusalem, the glorified church, will descend, and God will be all in all.

Such is the barest possible outline of this most important subject. For all the details as to these several points, as well as for Scripture proofs of what has been affirmed, I can only refer you to the Word of God, and to such portions of it particularly as we may be enabled to bring forward in the succeeding lectures. The object of this statement, is simply to give you a general idea of what those lectures are designed to illustrate and prove. The Lord grant his blessing. Amen.

The Soul's Resting-Place

MY Savior, I am weary

Of everything but Thee,

All else is dark and dreary,

A wilderness to me.

By sin I’m sore oppressed,

By Satan sorely tried,

With self-love all distressed,

In Thee myself I hide.

Thy precious blood, it healeth

The wounds that sin has made;

My heart its comfort feeleth,

Whene’er it is afraid.

But, oh! the hope of being

Forever, Lord, with Thee;

The joyful hope of seeing

The face once marred for me—

It fills my heart with comfort,

It fills my lips with praise,

So that amidst my sorrow

A joyful song I’ll raise.

No more shall Satan tempt me,
No more shall sin deceive

No more Thy heart, my Savior,

Shall I by folly grieve.

0! then, I shall be like Thee,

And in Thine image shine,

With deepest joy confessing

The glory ‘s only Thine.

J. G. D.

“Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.”—Psalms 32:7.

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Coverings of the Tent

“And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rains’ skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers’ skins.”

The Covering of Rams Skins.

And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red. It is not called a covering for the tabernacle, though in one sense that is true, but a covering for the tent; for it is not the Church in Spirit, but the Church—in testimony, that especially needs this covering. The curtains of goats’ hair formed a tent upon the tabernacle. (v. 7, and 26: 14.) These rains’ skins dyed red form a covering for the tent.

The lamb was the type of the Lord Jesus in the meekness, gentleness, and lowliness of his character; the ram the type of him in the strength, firmness, and decision of his testimony.

The rams’ skins being dyed red add another thought, that of the atoning death and precious blood of the Lamb of God.

The tent under the covering of the rams’ skins dyed red shows the Church as accepted in the person, arid under the cover and shelter of the blood of the Lamb.

When the first intimation of gospel grace was given by God himself to our first parents in the garden of Eden, in those words, “ The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head,” Adam, on the part of himself and of his wife, made his confession of faith, by calling his wife’s name Eve, the mother of all living, though the sentence of death had just been pronounced on himself and his posterity on account of sin. Yet he calls her not the mother of all dying, but of all living, for faith laid hold on the promise, and associated in life and victory with the virgin’s seed who was to come, all who should believe in him. Thereupon God made, as a substitute for the aprons of fig leaves, which unbelief had sewed together, coats of skins, and clothed them. Thus Adam and Eve no longer appeared in their nakedness and shame, but clothed and covered by God himself in the skins of those victims which probably were the first sacrifices, foreshadowing the bruising of the heel, and the atoning death of the woman’s promised seed.

In like manner the tent, covered with this covering of rams’ skins dyed red, shows the Church in its testimony as seen in Christ, “in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of God’s brace.”

And, as thus seen, notwithstanding all the failure in testimony of those composing it, and their unworthiness in themselves, what was said of Israel may be applied to them, “He bath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither bath he seen perverseness in Israel.” (Numbers 23:21.) While, at the same time, we know that there was no iniquity or perverseness that God did not discover and deal with, as walking in their midst. It is important to remember this, that the Church’s completeness in Christ above does not exempt her from God’s fatherly discipline, and the judgment of the Lord Jesus down here. Totally the reverse. We are called to walk worthy of God unto all well pleasing, and to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. And we are dealt with on the ground of this high responsibility. “You only have I known,” says God to Israel, “of all the families of the earth: therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities.” The more God’s presence is manifested in the assembly, the more will it be felt that he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and cannot look on sin.

The Outer Covering.

And a covering above of badgers’ skins.). This typifies the Church in its outward appearance, as seen by man. “As the tents of Kedar.” (Song of Solomon 1: 5.) “I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with, badgers’ skin.” (Ezekiel 16:10.)

It is the pilgrim aspect of the Church, which is thus presented, in which it is conformed to the lowly appearance of Jesus when on earth, having no form nor comeliness, and no beauty that man should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2,3.) And therefore, whilst walking in conformity with the pattern. thus set us by our Lord, “the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” (1 John 3:1.)

Solomon’s Temple was “exceeding magnificent,” for it was the type of the redeemed in glory. The tabernacle, though all glorious within, was covered with a covering of badgers’ skins; for it is the figure of the Church in the wilderness.

Everything externally gaudy and attractive to the natural eye is entirely out of character with the present dispensation. How much this truth has been lost sight of When the mustard plant became a tree, its original distinctive character was gone. “A spreading vine of low stature” best comports with the Church’s true design. Lowliness and humility best suit its spirit, and unpretending simplicity its external form.

Those upper rooms and private dwellings in which the disciples originally met, witnessed the presence of God, the manifestation of Christ, and the power of the Spirit, blessedly and gloriously beyond compare. While the finger of God, since then, has been often employed in writing “Ichabod” on the plaster of the interior walls of many of the ecclesiastical-masterpieces of human skill. (Daniel 5:5.)

The wearing of gold, and the putting on of apparel, gives the lie to the profession of discipleship; and the embellishment of the places of assembly contradicts the acknowledgment that we are pilgrims and strangers here.

The world’s livery does not look well on the servants of Christ; and the architecture of an idol’s’ temple is not necessary to secure the presence of Jesus with the two or three assembled in his name. On the other hand, away with the thought that anything is good enough for God and Christ. No! no! “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase;” but let it be suitable—let it be in accordance with God’s mind and word.

“Let all things be done decently, and in order.” Whatsoever, things are honest, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things— are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, let us think on these things.

A disciple’s outward appearance should be so consistent with the position in which God in his providence has placed him, as to give no occasion for remark; and the places of ‘assembly for God’s saints should leave the hearers and worshippers while there in entire freedom to wait on the Lord without distraction.

The tent of the congregation was not left without a covering: a suitable and substantial one was provided.

And will our God and Savior leave us destitute’ of decent clothing, or of suitable places of assembly? Surely not our “heavenly Father knoweth that we have need of these things.”

Summary of the Curtains.

Looking, on the Lord Jesus while on earth as typified by the tabernacle (John 1:14), the inner wrought, curtains answer to him as the Son of God, in his excellency and beauty. “Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness.” (Romans 1:4.)

The goats’ hair curtains, as the Son of Mary (Luke 1:35) made in the likeness of men; yet personally that holy thing, born of the Virgin.

The rams’ skins dyed red present him as the Son, of Man, who gave his life a ransom for many—God’s spotless Lamb. Arid the badgers’ skin covering, as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph, the stranger here, to whom the world was a wilderness wide, and life one weary pilgrimage from the manger to the Cross.

But regarding the tabernacle and tent, with its coverings, as typical of the Church of God, the curtains of fine linen represent the Church in spirit, as the workmanship of the Holy Ghost.

The goats’ hair curtains, the Church in testimony, and in outward responsibility.

The rams’ skins dyed red, the Church as seen of God in Christ, and under the cover of his atoning blood. And the badgers’ skin, the Church as seen by the world in their pilgrimage character, and their outward condition here.

In resurrection glory, however, the internal workmanship of the Holy Spirit, as typified by the curtains of the tabernacle, will appear in all its Divine perfection and beauty.

The flesh, with all its imperfections, will be done away forever, these vile bodies fashioned like Christ’s glorious body, this mortal will have put on immortality, and this corruptible incorruption. The goats’ hair tent will be exchanged for the “building of God, the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2 Corinthians 5:1.)

But the Church will ever appear as accepted in God’s beloved, their robes washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.

While the pilgrim garb wills be exchanged for the becoming robes of royalty and triumph, the priestly garments—of glory and of beauty. No longer the badgers’ skin covering externally visible, but having the glory of God. (Revelation 21:11.)

(The Boards of the Tabernacle (D.V.) hi the Number for April.)

The Church of Philadelphia

The Church of Philadelphia has a peculiarly interesting character. Nothing is said of its works; but what is interesting in it is, that it is peculiarly associated with Christ himself. Christ, in the last three Churches, is not seen in the character in which he walked in the midst of the Churches; but in such as faith peculiarly recognizes when ecclesiastical, organization has become the hotbed of corruption. Here it is the personal character; what he is intrinsically—holy and true; what the word displays and requires. and what the Word. of God is in itself—moral character “and, faithfulness. Indeed, this last word includes all; faithfulness to God within and without, according ‘to what is revealed; and faithful to make good all he has declared, Christ is known as the Holy One. Then outward ecclesiastical associations or pretensions will not do. There must be what suits his nature, and faithful consistency with that word, which he will certainly make good.

With this he has the administration, and opens and no man shuts, and shuts and no man opens. ‘See what his path was on earth; only then graciously dependent’ as we are. He was holy and true; to man’s view had a little strength, kept the word—lived, by every word that proceeded out of God’s lips—waited patiently for the Lord, and to him the porter opened. Ile lived in the last days of a dispensation, the Holy and the True One, rejected, and to human eye, failing in success with those who said they were Jews, but were the synagogue of Satan. So the saints here; they walk in, a place like his; they keep his word; have a, little strength; are not marked by a Pauline energy of the Spirit, but do not deny his name: that is the. character and motive of all their conduct. It is openly confessed, the word kept, the name not denied. It seems little, but in universal decline, much pretension and ecclesiastical claims, and many falling away to man’s reasonings, keeping the word of him that is holy and true, and not denying his name, is everything; And this element is noticed Christ, the Holy, and True One, is waiting. Here on earth he waited patiently for Jehovah. It is the character of perfect faith. Faith has a double character-energy, which overcomes; and patience, which waits for God and trusts him, (See the first in Hebrews 11:23-34; the latter, Hebrews5: 8-12.) It is the latter which is found here; t the word of patience kept. But as regards the former substantive qualities, keeping the word and not denying Christ’s name, though with a little—strength, in presence of ecclesiastical pretensions to a successional; God-established religion, promises were given. Christ would force these pretentious claimants to Divine succession to come and own that he had loved those who kept his word. An open door was given at present, and no man could’ shut it—just as the porter had opened to him—so that, scribes, and Pharisees, and priests could, not hinder it. In the future they would have to own themselves humbled; that those who followed the word of the Holy and True One were those he had loved. Meanwhile, his approbation was sufficient. This was the test of faith, to be satisfied with his approbation content with the authority of his word. But there was a promise, also, as to the Lord’s judgments in the earth. Christ is waiting till his enemies be made his footstool. We must wait for it to see the world set right. We have to go on where the god of this world has his way, though under Divine limitation. The thought that good is to have its rights in this world, is to forget the cross and Christ. We cannot have our rights till he has, for we have none but his Judgment, since Pilate had it, and Christ was the righteous One before him, has not yet returned to righteousness. Till then, Christ waits, though, at the right hand of God, and we wait.

It is not persecution and martyrdom, as in Smyrna. It is as hard a task, perhaps, or, at any rate, our task now; patience and contentedness with Christ’s, approbation, keeping his word, nor denying his name. But there were other and blessed encouragements. There was an hour of temptation coming upon all the world, to try those who belonged to earth, who dwelt there as belonging to it. Some might be spared, victorious in the trial; but those who kept the word of Christ’s patience would be kept from it. On the whole world it would come; and where were they—out of the world. They had not belonged to it when in it. They had been waiting for Christ to take his power, waiting his time to have the world: They belonged to heaven to him who was there; and they would be taken to be with him, when the world was to be in a time of terrible, trial.

There was a special time before he took his power; and not only would, they reign with him in result, they would be kept from that hour, and had the assurance of it in the time of their trial. And hence the Lord points them to his coming as their hope; not as warning; that unrepentant, they would be treated as, the world when he appeared. He came quickly, and they were to look for the crown then, holding fast what they had, feeble, but spiritually associated with him as they were, lest anyone should take it. We have now the general promise in heavenly places, ‘marked by special association’ with Christ; and they are publicly owned in that in which they seemed on earth, to have nothing. Others had the pretension to be the people of God, the city of God, to have Divine, religious title; these were only consistent with his word, and they waited for Christ. Now, when Christ takes his power, when things are real according to him in power, they have it according to God. It was the cross and contempt below; it is the display of God’s name and heavenly city above. Let us examine the promise to the overcomers here. He who had but a little strength is a pillar in the temple of the God, in whom and with whom he is blessed. He was held perhaps, for outside the ecclesiastical unity and order. He is a pillar in it in heaven, and will go no more out. On him, who was hardly owned to have a part in grace, has the name of his rejected Savior’s God been stamped publicly in glory; he who was hardly accounted to belong to the Holy. City, has its heavenly name written on him too, and Christ’s new name—the name not known to prophets and Jews according to the flesh, but which he has taken as dead to this world, where the false churchapter settles down, and risen into heavenly glory.

The careful association with Christ is striking here, and gives its character to the promise. “The temple of my God,” says Christ; “the name of my God, of the city of my God, my new name.” Associated in Christ’s own patience, Christ confers upon him what fully associates him in his own blessing with God.

This is of peculiar blessing, and full of encouragement for us. —An Extract.

The Second Coming of Christ Pre-Millennial

THE subject of this evening’s address, as already announced, is “The second coming of our Lord and ‘Savior Jesus Christ proved to “be pre-millennial.”

Before I proceed to lay before you the Scriptural proofs of this position—proofs which we shall find ‘to be almost without end—I feel anxious to express one thought, which presses heavily upon me, in connection with the solemn and happy theme which is to form the subject— of our; meditation. How strange, and sad and sorrowful it is, that the “blessed hope of the glorious appearing of the great God and Our Savior Jesus Christ,” should be regarded in our day as a matter not very interesting, not very important, not very “practical,” not of any present and pressing moment; as a matter, on the whole, “better let alone;” an event which it will be time enough to look for a thousand, years hence! Oh, my. friends, where are our hearts affections? Where is our love for Christ? If there be no longing desire to meet him in whose presence there is fullness of joy, and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore; what alas! must be the condition of our souls!

But you will say, “Yes, but we meet him when we die; True, we meet, him when we die; but that is not the hope which is Set before us in the New Testament. We shall see this night, that throughout the New Testament the hearts of the apostles and disciples were taught to long, and look, and hope—not for death, but for the glorious personal return of the Lord Jesus himself. This was the expectation of the saints in the earliest days of the Churchapter The clouds and darkness of modern perversion had not settled down upon the question then. The disciples did not hold that the Lord’s return was necessarily distant; nor had the notion entered’ into the minds of Christians of these earliest days, that the death of all believers was a certain thing. No; it was understood that the time of the Lord’s return was uncertain, that for aught they knew, he might return even during the “ first watch” of the night, and that whoever should be then living—living “in the Lord”—should never die, but should be “changed, in, a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” Death, indeed, might come. No one could say that it “would not. No one could say that he should not die. But neither could anyone say positively that he should die. No one in that day said, as people now say, “There is only one thing certain: we all must die.” This rashness of assertion was reserved for later ages. Paul had said expressly, “We shall not all sleep.” And although elsewhere the same apostle had also said, “It is appointed unto men once to die,” it was not then the custom to set one passage in direct opposition to another, from the very same apostolic pen.

The latter passage could not really be intended to have a meaning put upon it, which should directly contradict the revelation made as to a solemn and blessed “mystery,” in the other. No; nor did the latter passage even say, “It is appointed unto all men, once to die;” but simply, “unto men once to die;” that is, to men generally, to all—except those spoken of in the next verse, who shall be found alive, and looking for him, when Christ descends.

But let us proceed to the question before us: Will the personal return of the Lord Jesus be pre-millennial? Will that event take place before, or not until after the millennium?

1. The passage which we have read introduces our subject in a way most tender and profitable. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself: that where I am, there ye may be also. “Now the Lord does not say here, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will send for you;” though in the course of the few fleeting years of their earthly pilgrimage, in case the Lord’s return should be a little while delayed, that would indeed be true; for even to this day, the Lord has been calling first one, and then another, and yet another still, of his people home to glory. But that was not the way in which it pleased our loving Lord to address his disciples. His comforting assurance was, “I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” Such then is the blessed prospect that is set before us. Our Lord and Master, our heavenly bridegroom, has gone to prepare a place for us. The Father’s house-made ready purposely for her reception—shall receive the Churchapter This is our, hope. Where he is, there shall we be also.

2. How seasonable then, and cheering were the words uttered by the angels, immediately after the departure of our blessed Lord. The narrative in the first chapter of ‘the Acts of the Apostles, is as follows: “And when he had spoken these things while they beheld, he was: taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white, apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Whither is the blessed Savior gone? Into heaven. What does he there? He is gone, as he had said, to prepare a place for his people, in his Father’s house: What shall next ensue? He “shall so come in like manner as he was seen to go into heaven.” This is the event next presented to our view. The happy mansion of our future rest and glory shall be prepared by his hand of love; and he will return, in like manner as they had seen Him go away. It will be a personal return. It was in person that he was seen to go away. It was himself, in his own true and proper glorified humanity, that then departed; and in his own personal, and proper, yet glorified humanity, will he return. Indeed, all Christians, on the authority of God’s Word, must admit this. The question then is, when—at what period in the history of our world will this personal return take place? Will it be pre-millennial or post-millennial? Will it be before the thousand years of blessedness or after them? To this inquiry the two scriptures we have just glanced at have introduced us; and that, I do hope, in such a way as to interest both our minds and our affections.

To this inquiry, I am compelled by the testimony of Scripture to reply, that the second personal advent of our Lord and Savior will be pre-millennial: that is, it will take place before the millennium. I may add here (if perchance there be some present who may not know it that pre means before; and that millennial is derived from the two Latin words, milk; a thousand, and minus, a year. Hence millennium means a period of a thousand years duration; and millennial means relating to that period. Pre-millennial, then, simply means, before the millennial period. The second advent of our blessed Lord will, assuredly, be pre-millennial. This, I maintain, is one of the clearest and most unquestionable of truths revealed to us in the Word of God. We have passages proving it, as we have previously said, almost without end. We cannot crowd the whole argument into one address; but we shall endeavor to present the Scripture testimony, as— far as time admits, as simply and as concisely as possible. And may we be favored with a. docile spirit of faith, and with happy liberty of heart, whilst it passes under our review.

3. Let us first refer to a short statement in the Acts. lt. seems to follow, very naturally, those at which we have looked. “And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

I ask your serious attention to this passage; I pray that it may rest upon many minds tonight. These words were spoken in one of the first addresses of Peter after Pentecost. Peter had heard his beloved Lord and Master speak of his departure to the Father’s house, and of his future return; and his mind was filled with the cheering truth. So it was with the rest of the apostles. They went throughout the world, publishing not only “the sufferings of Christ,” but also “the glories which should follow,” —the “glory which should be revealed” at his return from heaven. In almost every address this was the prominent theme. On the occasion before us it was so. “Repent and be converted,” said Peter to the multitude be then addressed; “and he shall send. Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive, until “—until when? “until the times of restitution of all things.” What times are those? “The times of restitution of all things which God bath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” Mark well this declaration. It is an exceedingly important one. The heaven must receive the Lord Jesus “until” those times. It is not said that the heaven shall receive, or retain, the Lord during those times, or until the end of them; but, definitely and distinctly, “until the times,” that is, until those times arrive. When those times come, then the Lord shall be sent; when they arrive, he will return.

I do not pretend, dear friends, to indicate either the day, the hour, or the year, of the Lord’s return—I deprecate such presumption. No man knoweth either the day or the hour in which thy Son of Man will come. What we learn here is this-that there is a certain period—a period of “which God bath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began;” and that the return of the Lord Jesus with power and great glory will be, not at the end of that period, as in modern days has been most erroneously imagined, but at the commencement, This Peter clearly asserts. What period is it that is here designated “the times of restitution of all things,” and as to which, it is said, “God bath spoken of them by the mouth of all his holy prophets?” Has God spoken of the final judgment at the end of the world by the mouth of all his holy prophets? No. It may be questioned whether he has spoken of that event anywhere in the Old Testament. Certainly, all the holy prophets of the old dispensation have not spoken of it. What times, then, have they all spoken of? Plainly of the millennial times—of the times when all the nations of the earth shall be brought under the Messiah’s sway. These, then, are “the times of restitution,” at the commencement of which the Lord Jesus will return. The word which is rendered “restitution,” means restoration from a state of disorder, brokenness, and confusion. Suppose the building in which we are met were thrown down, and the materials scattered, and that it were subsequently reconstructed, its restoration or reconstitution would be expressed by the Greek word here rendered “restitution.” It refers to the times at the commencement of which all things shall be re-ordered; restored, and set to rights—the millennial times. When these times come, as we have previously said, then will be the time of the Lord’s return.

It is true that “better times are coming.” The general anticipation of a period of universal blessedness is not a fable. The whole Bible is one vast-proof that there shall be such a day of peace, and rest, and glory. But before: that day arrives, a dark and awful page in the world’s history will be unfolded. This the world does not know: this the world does not believe. Still it is true. The revelation of the Lord from heaven; in flaming fire, at a time of trouble such as never has. been, —no, nor ever shall be, will introduce the “better times.”, A “great and terrible day” is at hand;—terrible, do not mean to the saints, but to the wicked who obey net the gospel: (2 Thessalonians 1:8.) There is no ground for fear on the part of those who trust in Jesus-who know Jesus whose feet are fixed upon’ the sure foundation. No; though the earth should melt, and the mountains be removed into the depths of the sea, they may look up with unwavering confidence, as heirs of “a kingdom that cannot be moved.” All will certainly be well with them.

4. But we must hasten on. We will now turn to the parables that we find recorded in the thirteenth of Matthew. They present us with prophetic views or phases of that which professes to be the kingdom of heaven upon earth. We have much there bearing on the point before ‘us. “First, we have the parable of the sower., Read it’ at your leisure. What was the result of the sowing? Was it that the seed sown ultimately produced a universal, crop? Did the sowing go on’ ill all the earth was one vast field of wheat? Does the parable hint at, or even allow Of, any such interpretation? No. Some of; the seed fell by the way side, and the fowls picked it up. Some upon a rock, and ‘the sun burnt it up. And some among thorns, and by them it was choked: Only some of it fell into good ground; and brought forth fruit unto perfection. And that fruit—that wheat when ripe—as we learn from the parable which immediately follows, was gathered out from among the tares into the garner.

5. But the next parable—that of the wheat and the tares—explicitly teaches that there will be no millennium before the harvest. The explanation of it is as follows: — He that soweth the good seed is the Son, of Man; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them— is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers—are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall bather; out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” How clear and decisive is all this. The world is to be a mixed field—a field of wheat and tares—until the harvest. Never, previously to the harvest, is it to, be purely a wheat-field. Where then is there a millennium to be found before that, harvest? There is evidently no place for such a period before the harvest. This parable certainly and absolutely excludes it. To tell us that the harvest is said to be “the end of the world,” will not affect: our position. Were it so—were the harvest properly, and truly the end of the world—still the truth must, he allowed, that according to this parable, the world will be a mixed field of “wheat and tares” until then: There can be no millennium, therefore, before that solemn event.

But let me say to my unlettered hearers, that the parable does not teach that the harvest is the end of the world; that is, of the earth. Christ does not say, “The field is the world, and the harvest is the end of that same world.” What he says is: “the field is the κόσμος, (kosmos,) and the harvest is the end of the κόσμος,” (aiōn.) Two very different words, you see, are used in the original Greek. The latter one, αἱων, means age, or dispensation. The former means. properly the world or earth. Both. of these words occur in Hebrews 9:26. “For then must he often have Suffered since the foundation of the world, (kosmos—earth, properly and literally), but now once in the end of the world. (aiōn, age or dispensation) hath he appeared, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

Here the Word αΙών cannot mean the material world. Since the blessed Savior died, more than eighteen hundred years have passed, and the end of the world has not come yet; nor will it come till the conclusion of a still future millennium. The apostle’s meaning, therefore, cannot be that Jesus died in the end of the world; but simply, in the end of the Mosaic age, or dispensation. —So in the case before us: the field is indeed the world; but the harvest is at the end of the age; that is, of the period, or dispensation, during which the Lord Jesus remains absent, at the right hand of God. This interpretation is confirmed by two other Scriptures, to which I beg to refer you, viz., Joel 3:13 to 17, and Revelation 14:14 to 20, where the harvest is clearly placed at the commencement of the reign of the Messiah. Thus, a correct understanding of the Greek word αἱών reconciles all these passages.

This parable then of the wheat and tares, affords, us satisfactory proof that the millennium will not take place before the harvest; that the harvest is the end of the age; and that at the end of the age the Lord will appear in glory. All which will be further proved as we proceed.

6. The third parable in this chapter—that of the grain of mustard seed-points the same way. The seed that was sown was the least of all seeds, (Mark 4:31,) but when it had grown, it became a great tree in the earth, and the fowls of the air came and lodged beneath its branches. The vulture, the cormorant, the night owl, and the bat have made their nest there. Unclean birds have taken possession of it. Am I, my dear friends, misinterpreting the parable? Let me tell you that I rest not this interpretation upon my opinion! or upon any man’s opinion, but upon divine authority. For the Lord himself tells us, in the previous parable, who are the “fowls,” or, “birds of the air;” for it is the same word that is used in both places. As the sower sowed the seed, the birds came and devoured it. This is, explained by the Lord. “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.” The Lord thus tells us that by the birds of the air that devour the seed, Satan and his angels are meant: and thus it is that the kingdom of heaven, as it purports to be, or nominal, national Christianity, becomes a vast and monstrous worldly system, as is said in the 18th of Revelation, “the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” Such then, and not the world’s conversion, is, according to this parable, to be the result during the present dispensation.

The fourth parable in this same chapter, is that of the leaven and the meal. React verse 33— “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened.” We all know how this parable is generally explained. But, dear friends, I cannot allow that interpretation of it to be correct. The leaven does not mean the Gospel. Leaven, everywhere in the language of the Spirit of God, which is always beautifully consistent with itself, means something evil. We read of the “leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy;” of the “leaven of malice and wickedness;” of the “old leaven,” which must be “purged out;” and of the leaven of legality, which in Galatians 5. the Apostle Paul declares “leaveneth the whole lump.” In twenty places we have mention of leaven, and it always denotes evil. In the sacrifices of old, it was typical of evil. Therefore, the paschal bread—type of Christ, the holy bread of God—might not be leavened; whilst a “sacrifice of thanksgiving” from imperfect worshippers must have leaven in it. “Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven.”

(See Amos 4:5.) Further, the Church should be “a new, unleavened lump.” (See 1 Corinthians 5:7.) It was not said, “Put into it new leaven,” but. “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new. lump, even as ye. are unleavened.” Twice does Paul declare of evil, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” Even in his day the leaven had been introduced. “The mystery of iniquity (said he to the Thessalonians), doth, already work.” What was it that was working even then? Was it not the leaven? Both at Corinth and throughout Galatia, he expressly mentions the leaven as being at work. Into the “three measures of meal” not into the world, not into society at large—no, but into the new, unleavened lump-into the Church—a leaven—like mystery of iniquity had been already introduced. The “woman,” the seducer, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, as I receive it, had done this. The very hiding of it looks suspicious. Could this hiding mean the public, free, and open preaching of the Gospel?

The whole lump—sad announcement! —was to be leavened. Has not that announcement been fulfilled? Look at that which bears the name of the “kingdom of heaven;” look at Christendom. What do we see? three measures of unleavened meal—a new unleavened lump? No; we can discern scarcely anything on the broad surface of its vast extent, but leaven.

The “kingdom of heaven” itself, so called, for such at first it was, has become unto leaven.” Its whole appearance and character is changed. “Mystery, Babylon,” is its chief, grand feature. And let me ask, has not every one of us more or less admitted the leaven? Is there one single Christian here whose garments are not soiled—in whose heart “leaven” in one form or another is not working? The Lord grant that we may rightly interpret this parable, and profit by meditation on it.

8. The working of this “mystery of iniquity” will be brought to a close only by the personal return in judgment of the Lord Jesus in the clouds of heaven. If this be so, there cannot be a millennium of universal righteousness before the Lord’s return. The proof of this position drawn from 2 Thessalonians 1 and 2. is exceedingly clear and convincing: —Let us turn to it.

Do let us carefully mark this passage. In the first chapter, the Thessalonian saints are instructed as to the revelation from heaven of the Lord Jesus Christ, in flaming fire with all his holy angels. Read from the sixth to the tenth verses. Assuredly, —dear friends, it is the personal return of the Lord Jesus that is here spoken of. “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey riot the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.” Such is the description of the second personal advent of the Lord Jesus. ‘Then the apostle goes on to tell us, that the “mystery of iniquity,” then already begun, would end only in the revelation of a certain wicked one, the “man of sin;” and that this man of sin would be destroyed by that very personal presence of the Lord, which he had just de, scribed in the terms that we have quoted. Now I beg you to observe the connection of the whole passage from chapter 1: 7, to chapter 2: 8; for properly it is one undivided paragraph. The mystery of iniquity was working already; that is, even in the apostle’s day. The result of it was to be the revelation of the man of sin. The second personal advent will find that “man of sin,” that “wicked one,” in the plenitude of his power, and will prove his destruction: Can there, then, be a millennium of universal blessing, and of the subjugation of the world to Christ, whilst antichrist is undestroyed? Can the true sovereign reign, while the usurper of his rights holds his unrighteous sway? Impossible! The millennial reign of Christ, therefore, cannot be previous to his second advent, for not until then will he “gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity.” The second advent, then, according to this Scripture, must be pre-millennial.

9. Let us now return to. Matthew’s Gospel. In the twenty-third chapter, we have a record of the conclusion of the public ministry of our blessed Lord. “Woe, woe, woe!” were the solemn words that chiefly ‘characterized that last discourse. His own people had refused to receive him as the promised Messiah, and he finishes the dread series of judicial denunciations, with the following words (ven 38, 39)”, “Your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” The concluding clause of the verse, namely, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,” that is, of Jehovah, is the well-known prophetic, national welcome, which will be given to Messiah by repentant Israel in the latter day. (See Psalms 118: 26.) On a previous occasion, a great multitude of people had actually so used the words (see chapter 21: 8-11); but Jerusalem refused her King, and sentence was pronounced by the Lord upon the nation He immediately left the temple, and did not enter it again. He went out, and departed to the Mount of Olives. When seated there, the disciples, full of anxiety as to what had fallen from his lips, came to him privately and said, “Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” That is, of the coming of which he had just been, speaking; when, as he had intimated, the nation should see him once more, and say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Now, the disciples do not ask the Lord respecting the end or destruction of the world, as is sometimes incorrectly and vaguely imagined, but they inquire of him as to the end of the age, for “aiōn” is the word used; that is, as to the end of the age or period when Jerusalem was to be “left desolate.” You observe it is the same word that is used here as in the thirteenth chapter, and, as scholars admit, it has reference to time or duration rather than to matter. Further, the close of the period here referred to, is spoken of by Christ himself as the time of Israel’s conversion, which must be at the commencement of the millennium; and not at the end of it. Now, dear friends, mark what follows in chapter 24. The Lord goes on to answer the other question that had been put to him, as to “the sign of his coming.” “The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:’ and then shall appear the sign of the Son of, Man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coining in the clouds of heaven, with power and great. glory.” (See verses 29 and 30.) Such is the Lord’s own description of his return, which he himself had declared should take place when the Jewish nation shall repent; that is, at the commencement of the millennium. Do consider well the bearing of this Scripture. Examine thoroughly the whole of the magnificent prophecy of which it forms a part. It is related, not only in this and the succeeding chapter of Matthew, but also in Mark 13 and. Luke 10: 9. Read the whole carefully am aware that it is said, that the advent mentioned here, means, mystically, the coining of the Romans to destroy, the city. But let me ask of any one who may say so, what then, in such case, is meant by the words, “Immediately after the tribulation. of those days, the sun shall—be darkened—and then shall they see the Son of Man coming?” If you say the coming here spoken of, means the aiming of the Romans to destroy the city; and, that the tribulation resulted from the siege and the taking of it by them; how is it that this coming is said to be “after the tribulation?” By your own interpretation you place this coming before the tribulation; but the Lord says it shall be “immediately after” it. Do you not see, then, that since this coming is after the tribulation, it cannot possibly be intended to denote the coming of the Roman armies?

And surely it is a personal return that is spoken of. Words cannot be more explicit. “And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.” He comes for the overthrow of his enemies, and the establishment of. his kingdom. The plain and oft-repeated declarations of Scripture are not to be explained away by mystical interpretations. Is not this certainly a personal advent? ill not, what passage is there in the whole ‘Bible which does certainly foretell any future event? Further, if we refer to Luke’s narration of this wonderful prophecy, we shall find that he places the advent of the Lord at the close of “the times of the Gentiles,” the times during Which Jerusalem is to be trodden down by them. (Read Luke 21: 20 to 27.) Mark specially verses 24 and 25. If we supply a few words from Matthew’s account of the same’ portion of the prophecy, those verses will read as follow: “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, and (immediately after the tribulation of those days) there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring, men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coaling upon the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a’ cloud, with power and great glory.”. Mark well the sum of this testimony. “Immediately after, the tribulation,” when the times of the Gentiles, close; the Son of Man shall personally come. The times of the Gentiles we know are still course: Jerusalem is still trodden down of the Gentiles. But a time shall come—when that treading down shall cease, and the Lord dual come for their deliverance. Israel, in deep repentance, shall see their Lord once more, and, receiving him as their own Messiah, shall believingly say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of Jehovah.” That will be the Lord’s second, personal appearing. Till Alien Israel shall be blinded and scattered; yet the “generation shall not pass away”—the race, the natural seed of Abraham shall, through all—those dreary centuries, be miraculously kept distinct; and at the return of their Lord—and not a thousand years previously—shall they be converted, and restored to their own land.

Then follows the millennium. How simple is all this! How clearly and conclusively it supports our position.

10. The parable of the ten virgins, though included in the discourse under consideration, may be taken as a further and distinct proof that, before the return of the Lord, there will be no millennium. (Read chapter 25: 1-13.) “While the bridegroom ‘tarried, they all slumbered and slept.” When did the professing Church—the company of wise and foolish virgins—fall asleep? When did the Church of God begin to say, “My Lord delayeth his coming?” Was it not very shortly after the Lord had gone away? Certainly, within two or three short centuries, the Church at large had fallen into slumber. There is abundant proof in history of this. Even in Revelation 2 and 3; the fatal sleep is seen fast settling down upon the Churches addressed therein. When, then, is the Church to be aroused? Not until the midnight cry is heard. After that cry, the bridegroom’ came; the wise virgins went in unto the marriage, and the door was shut. Surely it is a personal return that is here alluded to. No one can rationally question it. Were any one to do so, let him consider how the parable is introduced. It forms part of the discourse we have just noticed, and it commences thus: “THEN shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins.” When? Read what goes before. This parable is preceded by the description of the glorious, personal appearing which we have been just considering. (Read specially verses 29-31.) “Immediately after the tribulation of those days........they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven.” Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins.” The slumbering Church; then; will not be aroused, except by that midnight cry, which almost immediately precedes the personal return of the bridegroom. There can be no milieumum, then, previously, to ‘the advent of the Lord; for. there can be no millennium while the professing Church remains a sleep-in worldliness and sin. Such a Church needs to be itself converted. Such a Church I assuredly cannot convert the world but till the Lord, returns, slick the Church will be. This proof too is therefore most conclusive.

11: We will now turn to Luke 17. (Read verses 20 to 37.) The Pharisees demanded, when the kingdom Of God should collie. The Lord replies to them, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation... the kingdom of: God is within! you,” (among you, see the margin). But immediately there upon, the lord turned to his disciples, and told them of a coming which should be of universal observation. “For as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of Man be in his day.” Here then a two-fold coming of the kingdom is distinctly intimated; the,’ one not with observation; or outward show; (see margin;). the other to be visible as the lightning, unto all. To the Pharisees the Lord Would speak only of the former: Behold the kingdom of God is among you; —the king stands among you eyed now—already he is, come; but you will not receive him. The ‘kingdom assuredly was not within those Pharisees. Their condemnation was, that they would not receive it. Only by being converted could they enter it. But repent they would not. Therefore, the Lord tells then nothing further as to the kingdom. The disciples however were informed as: to the coining of the kingdom; but the Son of Man must first suffer and be rejected Then would ensue a period which would resemble the days of Noah, and the days of Lot. Until Noah went into the ark, and the flood came, the world went on carelessly in sin. Until Lot went out of Sodom, and the fire and brimstone fell from heaven, the inhabitants of that city. ran greedily in the depths of wickedness. Even thus, said the Savior, will the world do; until “the day when the Son of Alan shall be revealed.” Can there be an intervening period of a thousand years of universal righteousness? Impossible! “And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood cane, and destroyed them all. Likewise, also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they budded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus, shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” During those days, true disciples would desire to see the return of their Lord; but for a while their hopes would not be realized. Then if any man should say unto them, “See here; or see there,” they must not hearken to such deceivers. For false Christs and false prophets should arise, ever and anon, through the period during which the Lord should remain away. But whatever these deceivers might pretend; whether they should say, he is in the city, or he is in the desert; disciples are told not to “go forth,” nor “follow,” them. The advent, when it took place, would be visible to all—visible as the vivid lightning’s startling flash. It would be a revelation through the clouds of heaven in that day, it would be of no avail to flee in this direction, or in that; for whether in bed, or grinding at the mill, or in the open field, the taking and the leaving would inevitably take place. The judgments of that fearful day would as surely take away all those that “do iniquity,” as the waters of the flood took all the guilty inhabitants of the world in the days of Noah. Just as the flood took all away except the few that the ark preserved—preserved in order to the re-peopling of the earth—so will the judgments, like a second flood, at the return of Jesus, take all away, but a remnant, who shall form the nucleus of the millennial population of the earth. Some shall be “left” then, even by the judgments of that great day. The world therefore does not come to an end when the second advent takes place. There is a people “left” still; and the millennium ensues.

But when the Lord had given this solemn intimation, the disciples exclaimed, “Where, Lord?” He had spoken of “two in one bed; one taken, and the other left; two at the mill; one taken, and the other left; two. in the field; one taken, and the other left.” And they ask, Where will this taking and leaving be? The answer was, “Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.” As if the Lord had said, “Where?” how strange a question! When the eagles seek their prey, where do they go? Wheresoever there is a carcass to be found. When these eagles—judgments are abroad in search of the wicked, where will they rest? Of course, wherever any wicked one is to be found. If he be in bed, or at the mill, or in the field, whatever righteous ones may be his companions, even there shall those judgments go; “one shall be taken, and the other left.”

It is not my view, dear friends, that “taking here, means the taking up of the church to glory. That we shall see hereafter. The taking here is effected by something which comes as the flood in the days of Noah, and as the fire and brimstone in the days of Lot. It must therefore denote judgment: In the one case the family of Noah, and in the other, the family of Lot, were spared—were left. The righteous remnant of the latter day, then, must be meant in this passage, by those who shall be “left.” But more on this subject in a future lecture.

It has been held by many, that by the eagles, the Lord meant the Roman armies, whose standard, it is” said, was surmounted by an eagle. But how untenable is this notion, when fairly looked at. The Lord says, “One shall be taken, and another left.” It is said this was fulfilled when the Christians, forewarned by Christ, — fled from the city of Jerusalem. to Pella, and when the Romans came and took away the rest. Was that, one taken, and the other left? No; it was some fled, and all the rest were taken. These eagle-judgments take some, and leave the rest; but the Romans took all that had not previously escaped. What inconsistencies accompany this mistake!

But throughout this whole prediction there is not the most distant allusion to any intervening period of a thousand years of universal righteousness. The hole tenor of it is against such a notion. Till the revelation of the Son of Mau, the world holds on its careless way. Till then, wickedness prevails as in the days of Noah, and the days of Lot. No millennium, then, before the Lord’s return!

12. I would next invite your attention to the parable in Luke 19, of a nobleman who went into a far country to receive a kingdom, and to return and take possession of it. Jesus “added and spice a parable, because he was nigh unto Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.” The parable was spoken to correct that erroneous expectation. They were mistaken. The kingdom of God was not “immediately” to appear. The Lord said; therefore, “A certain nobleman went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.” And “when he was returned, having received the kingdom,” he rewarded his servants, each with a share in the government of that kingdom; and the enemies which would not that he should reign over them he slew. Now the kingdom, in such a case, could not “immediately appear.” The nobleman must first go into the far country, and return. Who is signified in the parable by the nobleman? Assuredly the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Whither has he gone? Into the far country into heaven. For what purpose has he gone thither? “To receive a kingdom, and return.” Now how, in what manner, did he go? Merely in some spiritual sense? No. He went away in person. Then so shall he return, when he shall come to take possession of the kingdom which he has gone into the far country to receive. It is a personal return, then, that is here spoken of; and that return is placed as a consequence of the “reception of the kingdom, not, as many in this day believe, as a consequence of his having delivered up that kingdom, his reign having closed. When he has received the kingdom, he returns. He then allots “ten cities” unto one, and “five cities” to another of his faithful servants. The distribution of rewards surely cannot be regarded as taking place when the kingdom has come to its dose, and has been delivered up. We cannot, with any shadow of reason, so regard it. The whole of this passage, like so many others, proves that the personal return of the Redeemer will be pre-millennial. The kingdom will be established, and the enemies put down, only when the nobleman returns.

13. There is a passage in ‘the twelfth chapter of this Gospel which we must not overlook. It may very suitably be referred to here, to crown the mass’ of evidence which the gospels, briefly as we have glanced through them, have afforded us. It will prepare us for a better appreciation of the state of mind and heart which the whole tenor of, apostolic preaching and teaching afterward inculcates. Read Luke 12:32 to 48. The first portion of the instruction therein given we must quote; nothing in the whole Bible is more affecting or more solemn. Even those who greatly mistake and misapply the chief portions of the passage, recognize it as most blessed and profitable. Those who imagine that it refers to death, find the warning given in this most solemn passage continually occurring to their minds. We must read part of it:— Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the king dom. Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open. unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third. watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of Alan cometh at an hour when ye think not.”

Now there is not one word as to death in this whole passage. Death may come. Woe to him that is not ready when it does come! But death is not spoken of here. It is the return of the Lord in person to fulfill the Father’s pleasure concerning the little flock. Nor is there any intimation as to the conversion of the world at any intervening period. The whole tenor of the passage is inconsistent with such a notion. The faithful are termed a little flock, to which, at the Lord’s return, the kingdom shall be given. “Fear not, little lock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” It is a little flock, but the kingdom shall be given to it. This is the character of Christ’s people until his return. It is not said, “Fear not, little flock, for the people of the earth shall shortly be converted to thee.” It is not said, “Fear not, little flock, for all the wolves by which thou art surrounded shall shortly become sheep.” No; the consolation addressed in this passage to Christ’s true followers is, that the bridegroom should soon return, and take the “little flock” here spoken of unto himself. Therefore, all needless treasure was to be disposed of, and laid up in heaven. A stranger, pilgrim course was the one marked out during this present dispensation. The attitude of the disciple was to be that of readiness and expectation. “Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding.” This position was to be maintained whilst the bridegroom was absent. “Blessed are those servants whom the lord, when he cometh, shall find watching,” “And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.” The passage quoted ends with the emphatic words, “BE YE THEREFORE READY ALSO, FOR THE SON OF MAN COMETH AT AN HOUR WHEN YE THINK NOT.”

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Boards of the Tabernacle

“And thou shalt ‘Make boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood standing up.’ Ten cubits shall be the length of ‘a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the breadth of one board. Two tenons shall there be in one board, set in order One against another: thus, shalt thou make for all the boards of the tabernacle. And thou Abaft make the boards for the tabernacle; twenty boards on the south side southward: And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. And for the second side of the tabernacle on the north. side there shall be twenty boards: and their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board; and two sockets under another board: And for the sides of the tabernacle westward thou shalt make six boards. And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides. And they shall be coupled together beneath, and they shall be coupled together above the head of it unto one ring: thus shall it be far them both; they shall be for the two corners: And they shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.”

“The Boards of Shittim Wood.

And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood standing up, ver. 15.) Regarding: the tabernacle as typical of Christ, these boards of shittim wood overlaid with gold, the framework of the tabernacle him in the combination of the human and the Divine, natures in his blessed, person, the foundation truth of Christianity, “God manifest in the flesh.”

But, taking the tabernacle as typical of the Church, these boards represent the individual believers of whom the Church of God is composed.

The Material.

They were to be of shittim wood, shittim wood being, as we have seen, typical of human nature.

Their Position.

Bards of shittim” wood standing up) This intimates that they had been previously cut down.

Believers were once the children of wrath, even as ethers, growing wild in nature’s forest; but they had been selected by Divine-grace; and had been brought low by the convictions of the Spirit, —and they are here seen Standing In grace. (Romans 5: 2.) Their feet, as it were, set upon a rock, and their goings established. (Psalm 40: 2.)

The Design

Boards for as tabernacle.) Representing true believers, prepared to confess Christ, and to meet together in the confession of his name. Not only by one Spirit baptized into one Body, which is true of all believers, but also builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit (Ephesians 2: 22), which is outwardly true only of those. Who are united together in the confession of the naive of Jesus in Church fellowship.

Boards for the tabernacle of God. Not members of a particular Churchapter This is man’s, perversion of the, Divine original. Not any person for an outward professing Church formed on man’s model, on, but the boards, representing real believers, saints, and faithful brethren in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2.), which could” keep rank. (1 Chron. 12: 23) Consistent in walk, sound in doctrine, subject to the authority of Christ, keeping his word, and not denying’ his name, and associated together to form a sanctuary for a dwelling place for God. (Exodus 14:8, and Ephesians 2: 22.)

The. Dimensions of the ‘Boards, Ten, Cubits Shall Be the Length of a Board and a Cubit and a Half the Breadth of One Board.) Say About Eighteen Feet Three Inches High, by Two Feet Nine Wide.

Thus ten cubits was the height of the’ tabernacle. One third of the height of the’ holy place in Solomon’s temple, and half the height of the most holy place.

A certain height and breadth was appointed by God for the boards of the tabernacle.

In Numbers 3: 15, &c., we find that every male of the tribe of Levi was numbered from a month old and upward. But in chapter 4 they were numbered from thirty years old and upward. “All that entered into the host, to do the work in the tent of the congregation.” And in chapter 1 we read that all Israel from twenty-years old and upward numbered, “all that were able to go forth to War in Israel.

Every regenerate person is born into the family of God, and is a member of the body of Christ: and, as such, has a title to a place in the assembly.

But in order to fill this place happily and to the glory of God, a certain depth, height, and breadth of Christian experience is desirable. He must have faith in Jesus and being justified by faith, have peace with God; and standing in grace rejoice in hope of glory. He must also be in charity with his brethren and prepared to show and to receive love. Faith, hope, and charity; these three. Depth, height, and breadth.

Depth, down to the sockets of silver (v.19). Faith. In redemption.

Height, up to the rings of gold (v.24). Hope of the coming glory.

Breadth, extending to the other boards on either side. Love in the truth to all them that have known the truth, for the truth’s sake which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us forever. (2 John 1:2.)

These boards were not trees left unhewn, in their natural shape, but planks, four-square like stones fitted for their appointed place in a building.

We should meet, not simply as, professors, but as believers; and not only as believers, but in the name of him that is holy and true, and that hath, the key of David. (Revelation3: 7.)

This is, I believe, God’s model for building at the present time.

There must be, individually and collectively, faith, holiness, truth, and subjection to the Lordship of Christ, if we would so meet as that Christ may say, “Thou hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.”

The Tenons.

Two tenons shall there be in one board, set in order one against another: thus shalt thou make for all the boards of the tabernacle, ver. 17.), “Two tenons,” Hebrew, “hands.” According to their name they appear to represent the hands of faith, laying hold on the redemption, which is In Christ Jesus; and, according to their position at the bottom of the boards, they suggest the idea, of the feet, of faith, standing firm on redemption, and the redemption price.

“Set in order.” So as to fit exactly into the sockets. No slackness, no wavering, but “steadfast, and unmoveable,” “stablished, strengthened, settled:” “Two hands,” or two feet. A firm grasp, and firm standing. Thus shalt ‘thou make for all’ the boards of the tabernacle. The, tabernacle of God is composed of such and such only as have saving faith in Jesus; and in: the redemption accomplished by his atoning blood.

The Number of the Boards, on the South and North Sides.

And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side southward. And for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side there shall be twenty boards, verse 18, 20. Twenty boards of a cubit and a half make thirty cubits, while the length of the holy place of the temple and the most holy together was sixty cubit’s, or double the length. Thirty cubits will be about fifty-five feet long.

The Sockets of Silver.;

And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons, ver. 19.) The comparison of Exodus 30: 11 to 16 and 38: 25 to 28, with 1 Peter 1:18, 19; will give us most clearly and beautifully the spiritual import of these sockets of silver. “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, when thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then they shall give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them when thou numberest them. This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs;) an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make atonement for you souls. (Exodus 30:1 to 15.)

“Forasmuch as ye know,” says Peter, “that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold.......but with the precious blood of Christ, As of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

All God’s people are numbered as a ransomed people; to be reckoned among them on the ground of profession merely, is to come under judgment. The tares will in due time be all burned in the fire. (Matthew 13)

The redemption, price is fixed by nod himself. The value of the Soul, and the demerit of sin, being estimated according to divine holiness and its requirements. (“After the shekel of the sanctuary.”) There can be no ransom for the soul, and no redemption for the sinner at a less price than the precious” blood of Christ and all souls are of equal value. Then as to the use made of the redemption silver. “And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tent of the congregation that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls.” (Exodus 30:16.) “And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation, was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and three score and, fifteen Shekels after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of the hundred talents of silver were cast he sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of, the vail; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket.” (Exodus38: 25,27,)

A talent of silver is computed at £342 3s. 9d.; talent being abort 114 lbs weight.

Thus typically each individual comparing the habitation of God is seen standing, on, redemption as a soul ransomed by the precious brood of Christ, God’s, spotless Lamb; and the whole foundations of the tabernacle are laid in that which is the memorial to God’s people and the memorial before God of the completed work of Jesus.

The ‘candlestick was made of one talent of gold, expressive of the, all-sufficiency of Divine, grace, as provided testimony.

And to each, socket of the ‘tabernacle there was apportioned a whole talent of silver, expressive of the all-sufficiency of the redemption price.

The Two Sides Westward.

And for the sides of the tabernacle, westward, thou shalt make six boards. And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides; verse 22, 23).Sides, not side; “two sides westward:” Three boards for each side, meeting in the middle; and projecting about two cubits in the center, and two boards for the corners, one board for each cornet, making eight boards in all.

In representations of the tabernacle, the west end is generally drawn as though it was composed of one side only, whereas there are two sides and two corners. Six boards are but enough to reach from side to side (the breadth of the tabernacle, as found by the size of the curtains being ten cubits), and eight boards are too many if put straight. As suggested above, I believe all difficulty is removed, and the sixteen sockets will also be in place.

The Coupling and Foundations of the Scorner, Boards.

And they shall be coupled beneath, and they shall be coupled together above the head of it unto the ring thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners. And they shall be “eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets;, two sockets under one board, and two sockets under, another board verse 24: 25)

In Hebrews 3: 6, we read, “Christ as a Son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. And again, v. 14, “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.”

The boards were “coupled beneath.” And believers are one in the confidence of faith. Each board standing firm in the sockets of silver, and each believer established in the faith of the Gospel.

And the boards were also “Coupled together to one ring above.” And we are One in the rejoicing of the hope. We have one faith, and One hope of Our calling: Christ crucified is the foundation of our faith, and Christ glorified the substance and center of our hope; Christ himself being the chief Corner Stone, uniting. the Jew and the Gentile in one on earth beneath; and he is also the Head Stone of the corner, uniting them together in one in heaven above. T. N.

(The Bars of the Tabernacle (D.V.) in the Number for May.)

The unity of Christ’s body being the ground assumed, all Christians have, in principle, a title to be there, the Lord’s name—being maintained as to doctrine and discipline. If you insist on a certain standard of intelligence beyond Christ, before receiving them, you prove that you are not intelligent, and you abandon your own (i.e. God’s). principle. At the same time, it is all well that young converts should wait; it would do them no harm. ‘The great requisite for receiving, is satisfaction as to membership of the body of Christ ... .. The principle is “one body and lone Spirit;” the resource, now that all is confusion and inconsistency, is Matthew 18:20. J. N. D.

The Return and Restoration of the Jews

I would remark at the outset, that there are two, grand objects which God has had in view in separate Israel to himself as his Peculiar people. One was that there might be a testimony to the unity of God, and that he was the alone Object of worship “Hear, Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord (Deuteronomy 4:4). Therefore, ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, “that I am God.” (Is. 43:12.) His other object was, that by the prosperity of this ‘people under his own immediate government, his character might be manifested so manifested, that all men might understand, that “Happy is that people that is in such a Case; yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.” (Psalms 144: 15.) I need hardly say that it is in the future reign of Christ that this purpose of God will be accomplished. Israel will then be a sample, a specimen; before all nations of the happiness of a people under the immediate government of God.

With regard to the past, both objects that God had in view in separating Israel to himself have entirely failed. ‘It is not meant by this that God has failed; but that God having placed Israel under responsibility to himself, in a position where, had they been faithful, these objects would have been accomplished, they have, through Israel’s unfaithfulness, entirely failed of their accomplishment Israel failed to bear witness to the unity of God; for they fell into idolatry like the nations around. They could not then be a sample of the ‘happiness flowing from God’s government, for that government can never make rebels and idolaters happy. Their captivity and dispersion formed the final expression of God’s disapproval of their ways. He disowned them and their land, and gave both up into the hands of their enemies, the kings of Assyria and Babylon. There, for a season, terminated Israel’s responsibility in the land It issued in utter total apostasy and rebellion on their part; in their judgment, dispersion, and captivity to the Gentiles, on the part of God.

I am not forgetting, what you all; doubtless recollect, that at the end of seventy years, a small remnant were permitted by Cyrus to return. But though permitted by him to rebuild their temple and their city

they were, never, again an independent nation in their own land. At their best estate; after this they were mere tributaries, first to the Persians, then to the Greeks, and last off all to the Romans, under whose iron yoke they were, when the Lord Jesus Christ their long-promised Messiah, was born. And indeed, it would appear to have been the chief object for which this remnant was restored, that Christ might be born among them that according to the Scriptures he might be presented, to them as their king. This was done and you know the result. They stumbled at that stumbling-stone. They entreated, or rather demanded, that Barabbas; a murder, should be released to them by Pilate in preference to their’ king—to him who had been acknowledged, ever by the wise men from the east, as the “one born king of the Jews. Israel said, we have no king but Caesar; and they consummated their national guilt by crucifying their king. The one of whom God says, “Yet have I set my king upon my holy of hill of Zion,” was crucified by his own people.

Do I say by his own people? Yes, by their wish; by their entreaty though they were so far vassals to the Gentiles, that they had to gain the consent of the Roman Governor, ere they could accomplish their murderous intentions Therefore, as our Lord said to Pilate, “he that that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.” Yes, they: joined hands with their Gentile oppressors to crucify the Lord of glory. Between two thieves on Calvary was he nailed to the cross, with a superscription written over him, in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. The long-suffering of God, however, still lingered over them. They had consummated their iniquity, but there was to be a little longer patience; and when God had raised from the dead him whom they had crucified, mercy was afresh proclaimed to them in his name. As we noticed on a previous occasion; Peter, in Acts 3, preached repentance and remission of sins, in his name, to Jerusalem and the Jewish people, calling them to repent and be converted, and assuring them that even then God would send Jesus, whom the heaven had, received, until the times of restitution of all things. But they would not hearken. There was no relenting in their proud, stubborn, unbelieving hearts. Peter they imprisoned; James they, slew, Stephen they stoned. Their rejection of Christ in every way, as preached to them by the Holy Ghost comedown from heaven, as well as presented to them: in humiliation on earth, being completed, God gave them up; their city was again, destroyed; their temple was, burned to the ground; myriads of them perished by the sword, and the miserable remnant that escaped were scattered over all the earth. And they have been thus scattered; they and their posterity, from that day to this. And yet, beloved friends, though it is for their sin in crucifying Jesus that they thus suffer, it was in that very transaction that the basis was laid, yea, the only basis, for their future restoration and blessing. When Caiaphas said, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not, he little knew the meaning of his own words. “This spake he not of himself; but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation” Yes, it: was, for that nation That Jesus died: True, there were other objects—the expression of God’s love to the world, the salvation’ of the church, the display of the whole character of God, the vindication and accomplish-Merit Of his glory in every way. Yet, amid all these, it was “for that nation” that he died? The nation that Crucified him, that exulted in: this death; that said, “His blood, be on us and on our children;” for that nation his blood, ‘as an atonement, was shed. And it is when their eyes are opened, to see this; when their: heart turns to the Lord; When, no longer stumbling that stumbling-stone, they see in the long-despised blood of sprinkling their only resting-place and hope; it is then that they will find, what, in the purposes of God, and in the intrinsic efficacy of the work, is true already that the blood of Jesus is the sure and only basis of all that joy and prosperity, and exaltation and blessing, which are Yet in store for them in their own land. Oh, I the wonders of that precious blood! Dear— friends, have not our consciences felt its power? We who through grace have believed’ in it have not We realized that it cleanseth from all sin? There is efficacy in it to wash away the sin of shedding it. And when Israel shall look upon him whom they have, pierced, and shall mourn for him as one mourneth for ‘an only Son, and be bitterness for him as one’ that is in bitterness for his first-born, then shall his blood be upon them in another sense than of their dreadful imprecation It shall be upon them, not, as it has been, for judgment, and scattering, and a curse, but for deliverance, and restoration, and blessing. And ‘throughout the millennial age, yea, throughout all ages, they will trace all their joy, all their blessedness, to the efficacy’ of that blood of which their fathers said, His blood be on us and on our children! Truly, its will thus be manifested, that where sin hath abounded; grace much more abounds.

And now, in turning to the testimony, of Holy Scripture to the return and restoration of Israel—their return to their own land, and their restoration to blessing there—there are two points of view in which I am anxious to place it before you. First, the Scripture evidence of the fact; and, then, the light which Scripture sheds upon the order in which the event will be accomplished.

In considering the Scripture evidence of the fact; there are two objections which I would anticipate. First, it is alleged that many of the predictions we shall have to bring forward have been already accomplished in the return of the Jews from Babylon in the days of Cyrus. And, secondly, it is affirmed as to those predictions, which cannot be thus explained, that they are to be understood in a spiritual sense, as foretelling, in figurative language, the prosperity of the Christian churchapter As to this last objection, you will have to judge, the Lord helping you, as the passages are placed before you, whether they can be thus spiritualized. You will have to judge whether it is of the Christian church, or of the literal city Jerusalem, and the literal land of Palestine, and nation of the Jews, that they speak.

As to the former objection, that many of these predictions were fulfilled in the return from Babylon, there are several marks by which you may easily test whether this be the case. Such as,

1. Where the restoration. of Israel, as well as of Judah—the ten tribes as well as the two—is foretold, you may be sure the passage does not speak of the return from Babylon. Scarcely any but the Jews, properly so-called, that is, persons belonging to the kingdom of Judah, and but a small part of these, returned at that time.

2. Where it is foretold that the nation shall he converted as well as restored, it must be a future restoration that is spoken of. The nation was not converted at the return from Babylon.

3. Where it is declared that after the predicted restoration, they shall not fill into sin or see trouble any more, it must be a future restoration. Their greatest sin, and their heaviest sufferings, have been since their return from Babylon. Under the guilt of the one, and the pressure of the other, they lie to this day.

4. Where their restoration is connected with the utter and final overthrow of their enemies—of those who have trodden them down and persecuted them—it must be to a, future event that such predictions point. No such overthrow attended their return from Babylon.

5. Where the coming of the Lord is connected with their deliverance and restoration, it must be the second coming of Christ which is spoken of. We know that his first coming did not deliver them nationally. And it must be evident to all, that it is not of the return from Babylon that such passages treat, as neither the first coming of Christ, nor the second; occurred at that time.

6. Where the prophecies themselves were written after the return from Babylon, it is impossible that it can be of that event they speak as still future.

The first passage I quote is from the chapter we have read; and it has another mark to distinguish the event it foretells, from the restoration in Ezra’s day. That mark is no other than the express statement that it is a second restoration. “And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, ‘from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.” (Isaiah 11:11.) Now if you should account the return from Babylon, in Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s day, the first restoration, for that very reason it cannot be the one here foretold, for this is declared to be the second. Then, besides, see how many of the Marks already enumerated this passage bears. ‘It embraces the whole nation. “And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah, from the four corners of the earth.” (ver. 12.) They are converted as well as restored; for it is at the time when “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (ver. 9.) Their enemies are subdued and overthrown. “The adversaries of Judah shall be cut off.” (ver. 3.) “They shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east ‘together; they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon shall obey there.” (ver. 14.) Did anything like this occur in connection with the return from Babylon? Besides, there are events of a miraculous character predicted here, which have had no parallel since Israel’s exodus from Egypt. “And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry-shod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day that he came out of the land of Egypt.” (ver. 15, 16.) Who can evade the conclusion; that it is a future restoration of Israel that is here foretold? And as to whether this passage can be spiritualized so as to make it mean the Christian church, to ask, the question is sufficient. There is hardly a verse or a statement in the chapter which does not bid defiance to all attempts to interpret it thus.

The next passage I ask you to consider is Isaiah 14:1,2. “For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land; and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the people shall take them and bring them to their place; and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids; and they shall take them captives whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.”

Surely this was not fulfilled in Era’s and Nehemiah’s day! What was Nehemiah’s estimate of their condition then? “ Behold, we are servants this day; and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruits thereof, and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it: and it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hash Set over us, because of our sins; also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.” (Nehemiah 9:36,37.) Surely this was not the fulfillment of the prediction we are considering. “They (the children of Israel) shall take them captives, whose captives they were, and they shall rule over their oppressors.” No; it must be a future restoration that is here foretold.

Isaiah 66:8-11, foretells a restoration of Jerusalem and of Israel manifestly future. “Who bath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring in one day? Shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? Saith the Lord; shall I cause to bring forth and shut the womb? Saith thy God Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her; rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her, that ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out,’ and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.” I know well how continually this has been applied to the Christian church, and how it has been said that when she travails in birth for souls, multitudes are born—that is, converted. But it is Jerusalem, not the church, of which we are reading here. And it is the birth of a nation—Israel’s re-appearance as such—that excites universal wonder and delight, not the regeneration of souls. And when is it this takes place? “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish herb and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies! For, behold, the Lord will come with fire and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many.” (ver. 13-16.) How evident that the restoration of Israel and Jerusalem here treated of, is at the era of the second coming of our Lord, and connected with the great day of his righteous indignation. Then further: “For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come that I will gather all nations and tongues: and they shall come and see my glory and I, will set a sign among them, and I will, send those that escape of them unto the nations to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my. fame, neither Have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord; out of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.” (ver.18-20) Could anyone apply this to the return from Bablon1 in the days of Cyrus? Could this passage by any ingenuity, be spiritualized so as to apply it to the prosperity off the Christian church? Can the subject of it be anything but that future restoration of Israel to their own land, with which the coming of the Lord, and the introduction of the millennium are inseparably connected? To proceed in Jeremiah 16: 14-16, we have these words: Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the Children of! Israel out of the land of Egypt put the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the ‘north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them; and I, will bring them again into, their land that I gave; unto their fathers. Behold I will send, for many fishers, saith the Lord and they shall fish them and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.” Here you have a restoration of Israel, with which even the deliverance out of Egypt is to bear no comparison. A restoration so marvelous that that deliverance shall cease to be spoken of. And who are they, let me ask that have been scattered and driven into all lands? Who were they that were brought up out of the land of: Egypt? Does the expression, children of Israel, in ver.15, mean something different from the same expression in ver.14

Impossible! How can there, be the shadow of a doubt that the literal nation of Israel is meant, throughout? We have a similar passage Jeremiah 23. Verses 7, 8, give almost the exact words of the passage I we have just cited but in ver. 3 we have the same event foretold in other words: “And I will gather the remnant of all my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.” And with coincident events have we foretold in this passage, by which to distinguish the period when it will receive its fulfillment? “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto, David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth in his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (Ver. 5, 6.) Clearly, then, the restoration here foretold is connected with the Conversion of the nation; Israel shall yet acknowledge what they have ever refused to own thus far—that in the Lord they, have righteousness and strength. They have always, hitherto, stumbled at this being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. But they shall do so in days to come. They shall yet say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” And then he will return. And in his days, as we have been hearing, Israel shall. be saved, arid Judah dwell safely. The Lord our Righteousness the name by which they shall know him then, even as’ it is the name by which we know him now.

Jeremiah 30 is full of instruction on our present subject. The importance of what is about to be communicated may be judged from the opening words. “Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.” (ver. 2.) Why were they to be thus, permanently recorded? “For, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will, bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.” (ver. 3.) We then hear of a time of terrible, wide-spread consternation. “We have heard a voice of trembling, of ‘fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all, faces are turned into paleness?” (ver. 5-6.) What is the cause of the alarm and anguish thus graphically described? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even; the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he Shall be saved out of it.” (ver. 7.) Thus we find that, the, deliverance and restoration here foretold, are at the epoch of Israel’s utmost extremity of trouble—a day to which none is like. Surely this has not yet been. The next verse too, demonstrates the futurity of the event. “For it shall come to pass in that day; saith the Lord of hosts, that I, will break his, yoke from off, thy neck, and burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him; but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise’ up unto them.” Has anything like this ever been accomplished yet? ‘Then, as to whether’ these ‘predictions can be understood spiritually, of Christianity, let us examine ver. 17, 18 “For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord, because they called thee an outcast, saying, This is Zion, who no man seeketh after.” Is it not the literal, Zion, the actual city Jerusalem which has been so despised? “Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will firing again the captivity of Jacob’s tents; and have mercy on his dwelling-places, and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.” It is as though God had foreseen that people would try to wrest these promises from Israel, and apply them to something else, and provided the antidote hereto such a mode of interpretation. It is upon her own heap that the city is again to be built. The “heap” of ruins left by the desolation of the former city, is where the city; has again to be built in those brighter days to come.

The subject is continued in chapter 31. It is connected at the beginning with the, close of chapter 30 Read ver. 23, 24 of the one chapter, and ver. 1 of ‘the other, and you have a statement of, the Most definite character, as to the period at which this restoration takes place. It is at the consummation of the pre-dieted judgments on the wicked, both in Israel and among the Gentiles, which are so largely treated of in prophecy. “Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind; it shall fall with pain upon the head of the ‘wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in, the latter days ye shall consider. it. At the same time saith the Lord, be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.” Can anything be more explicit and decisive than this?

Let us look on to ver. 27, 28. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build and to plant, saith the Lord.” Now who are they over whom the Lord has watched, to pluck up, to break down, to afflict and to destroy? Are they not the same people he here promises to watch over, to build, and to plant? And can there be any question that it is of the literal Israel that both are said? Then, further with whose fathers did the “Lord make a covenant when he took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt? With the same people does he here promise to make a new covenant. (See ver. 31-34.) This new covenant is to be made with “the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah;” “not according to the covenant,” says the Lord, “that I made with their fathers.” How can any but the literal nation of Israel be here meant? Precious, indeed, it is for our souls to know that the blessings of the new covenant are ours; that as to the enjoyment of the spiritual blessings of that covenant, we have, so to speak, forestalled them. But is that to set aside the fulfillment of the promise to those to whom it strictly, and properly, and primarily applies? And a part of this promise is, “They shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of I them, unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord.” Surely this is a yet unaccomplished prophecy.

Verses 36, 37, are very affecting— “If those ordinances (sun, moon, and stars,) depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever. Thus saith the Lord, If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth, searched out beneath, I will also cast off, all the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, saith the Lord.” The Lord grant us to learn here something of the heights and depths of his grace; heights more impossible to be scanned, and depths more impossible to be fathomed, than those of heaven above, or of the sea beneath. The remainder of the chapter demonstrates, if further demonstration were needed, that it is the literal city, Jerusalem, and the literal nation of Israel, to which the prophecy relates. How can we spiritualize “the tower of Hananeel?” What mystic meaning could we attach to “the hill Gareb,” or to the city being compassed “about to Goath?” Why we read here of “the valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields, unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse-gate toward the east?” If the literal; actual Jerusalem be not here intended, what language could give expression to that idea? And of this city it is said, it “shall be holy unto the Lord; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down, any more forever.”

In chapter 32: 37-44, we have another beautiful prediction of similar import to the last. I, only quote verses 40, 41; the latter being to my own soul, one of the most affecting passages in God’s Word. “And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good; and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart, and with my whole soul.” People ask us sometimes for the reasons we have for looking into these subjects. “What have we to do with the Jews, or with Jerusalem?” they say. My brethren, Is God our Father? Do we know him as such? And can we hear him say of the restoration of his ancient people. “I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart, and with my whole soul,” and not feel interested in the subject? Is he so interested in it as to speak of doing this with his whole heart, and with his whole soul, and has the subject no interest for us? Surely, we do but proclaim our own shame if we say so. Can we need any other inducement’ to study these precious testimonies of God’s Word, than to see all that is in the Lord’s heart thus expressed, when he speaks of accomplishing this triumph of his mere, and grace with his whole heart, and with his whole soul?

Ezekiel 37 is a well-known portion. In the former part of it we have the vision of the valley of dry bones. The prophet witnesses their resurrection: The vision is thus explained’ to him—Son of man; these bones are the whole house of Israel, behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.” (verses 11, 12.) Now here is figurative language; plainly so. The dry bones are explained by the Lord himself to be living people, even the whole house of Israel, who say, our bones are dried, &e. The graves out of which these dried bones are raised, are evidently the places or countries from whence the Israelites are gathered. If the dry bones represent living Israelites—dead nationally, but alive as individuals—their graves must surely represent the countries in which, as to any national existence, they have been buried. And then we are told in plain terms, that it is into their own land that they are brought, when they are thus as a nation raised from their graves. The parable or symbol of the two sticks is what follows; the prophet is commanded to take two sticks, one for Judah, and the children of Israel, his companions; the Other for Joseph, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.

He was to join, them together, and they were to become one stick in his hand. The explanation is in verses 20-23: “And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into, their own land: and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will, save them out of all their dwelling-places wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them; so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.” In this passage we have the restoration of both kingdoms, Judah. and Israel, and their fusion into one, foretold; their conversion is predicted as well as their restoration; it is in connection with the reign of Christ—one king shall be king, over them all; and when thus converted and restored, they are not any more to defile themselves, or fall into sin. “And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children, forever; and my servant David shall be their prince forever.” (ver. 25.) The meaning of this last expression has been already explained. (See note, p. 116.)

From the book of Daniel 1 quote but one passage; but it is a passage which, when connected with our Lord’s words in Matthew 24, becomes of the deepest possible interest. “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never, was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy, people shall be delivered, every one that shall be, found written in the book.” (Daniel 12:1.) We have already seen in Jeremiah 30 that Israel’s restoration is immediately preceded by the time of their greatest distress. “It is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be delivered out of it.” Here, too, we find that there is to be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation; and it is at this time that the Jews—the children of Daniel’s people—are to be delivered. Now turn to Matthew 24:15-21. Our Lord refers to the abomination of desolation spoken of by the Prophet Daniel, thus spewing that Daniel’s prophecy was in his mind when he uttered this ‘discourse. It is clear that Daniel’s prophecy had not then been fulfilled, for our Lord speaks of the fulfillment of it as yet to take place. Besides, Daniel’s people were not then delivered, nor are they yet: so that the time of unparalleled trouble of which Daniel speaks, was future then, and is future still. Our Lord speaks of it also. “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” According to Daniel there had not been, and was not to be, such a time of trouble, till the time when the children of his people should be delivered. According to our Lord, there never will be such a time afterward. He adds this to Daniel’s prophecy. It is evident, then, that there can but be one such time of tribulation, unequaled by any before it, or by any following after it. It could not be at the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, as some say; for then Daniel’s people were dispersed and destroyed, not delivered. It is ‘a time still to come: A time so dreadful, that our Lord says, “Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” And what do we find connected with this time of trouble in this prophecy of our Lord? Daniel connects it with the deliverance of his. people, the Jews. Our Lord connects it with his own coming. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light; and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens, shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the, clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. could not: conceive, a more perfect, demonstration of the futurity of these events, and of the inseparable connection between them, than that which a comparison of these passages affords. This time, of trouble— the deliverance of the Jews—and the second coming of Christ are all future, and inseparably connected with each other. “Whoso readeth, let him understand.”

Zechariah’s prophecy was written after the return front Babylon; so that there can be no question as to the predictions it contains of a then future restoration of the Jews, applying to one already, at that time accomplished. What had been accomplished Would not be foretold as still future. Yet in this book we have soiree of the most full, blessed, affecting predictions of Israel’s restoration, anywhere to be met with in Scripture. For instance: “Thus saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy Mountain. Thus saith the Lord of hosts. There shall yet old men and Old Women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem and every than with his Staff in his hand for very age. And the: streets of the city shall, be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof:” (chapter 8: 3-5.) I suppose this is the literal And Oh! the marvelous Condescension of God, to present such, a picture of what that favored city is, yet to lie! That city so long deserted and without inhabitant, save the Gentile oppressors and a few trodden under foot Jews, who are there, as the witnesses and manorial of their own shame! That city is presented to us here, inhabited by its own people—on the one hand, their backs bowed, and staff; in hand for very age—on the other, the streets full of girls and boys, in their childish simplicity and happiness, playing in, the streets of the city! “Yes,” it may be said, “but was not this what was occurring in Zechariah’s day, and to be perpetuated in the ages which succeeded?” I answer first, by asking, Was Jerusalem, either, in that day or in any which succeeded, “a city of truth—the holy mountain?” But secondly, look on a verse or two, and you will find that it is not of what was then existing that the prophet speaks, but of a restoration which was still to be accomplished. “Thus: saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country; and from the west country; and I will bring them; and they shall dwell in the Midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; in truth and righteousness.” (ver. 7, 8.) Was this character of the Jews in Jerusalem at any time between „Zechariah’s day, and their final dispersion? You know that it was after this that their national guilt was consummated. But further, the close of the chapter places the matter beyond question. “Thus, saith the Lord of hosts, it shall yet come to pass, that there shall come i people, and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let, us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts; I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus, saith the Lord of hosts, in those days it shall come to, pass that ten men shall take hold, out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him. That Jew, saying, we will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you.” (ver. 20-23.) Surely this is what has never been fulfilled. But: so surely must, it be accomplished in days yet to come. Does anyone ask, how do you know this? The month of the Lord hath spoken it, is the only and the sufficient answer. It is a simple question of faith in God’s word. Men may, deem it improbable. Was it probable, in man’s eye, that Israel would be redeemed from Egypt in Pharaoh’s day? Was it probable that the Red Sea and the Jordan would open to let them pass on dry land? It is no question of probability or improbability when God hath spoken. Hath he spoken, and will he not bring it to pass? Hear what he says in this very chapter, “If it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous in mine eye’s? Saith the Lord of hosts.” (ver. 6.) If it seems improbable or impossible to you, should it therefore be either the one or the’ other to me? No, dear friends, God will accomplish his own word and when he has spoken so plainly as on this subject, to talk of probabilities, or the reverse, does but betray the infidelity of the heart. Ages may roll on century after century may elapse; there may appear nip signs of anything like the fulfillment of God’s Word; but when the hour fixed in his counsels arrives, it will be seen that nothing is impossible with him. And, oh! to think of this people, whose course has been one of such consummate wickedness, and whose present condition is one of such degradation and ruin—to think of them restored to favor, and blessing, and supremacy among the nations and that the certainty, of all this is secured, to them by the Word of God! Does it not do our hearts good my brethren, to think of these things? It is in a very different relation to God that we stand, as his children, his heavenly people. But to see all the character of God, whom we know as our Father, thus, manifested, in his dealings with the earthly people of his choice, is it not refreshing to the soul? It remains for us to take a hasty glance at the light shed by Scripture on the order in which Israel’s restoration; and the events connected with it, are to take place. But ere doing so, I would remind you of what has already been stated, that what we Christians wait for is the coming of the Son of God from heaven. This is an event independent of all the details of our present subject, and for anything that anyone can tell to the contrary, may take place ere the dissolution of this assembly. It would be madness to affirm that this will be so, or to fix any time for the event. But everything, connected with Israel’s restoration may transpire, and all the more important events will do so, believe, after the Lord Jesus has descended into the air, and received the church to himself in glory. The heavenly Mystery, the church, being fulfilled, God’s eye will be turned toward his earthly people, Israel, who will be called to, remembrance, and brought back.

First; it is clear, from several passages, that many of the Jews will return to their own land in unbelief. In Isaiah 17:10,11, we find them, there, still forgetting the God of their salvation, and unmindful of the Rock of their strength, planting pleasant plants, and setting it with strange slips; but the issue of their husbandry is thus described: “In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish;” but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.”. It is evidently the time of trouble we have been hearing of already—the time when the nations and multitude of many people shall rush like the rushing of many, waters; but it is to their destruction, and to the deliverance of Israel. “God shall rebuke them and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff. of the mountains before the wind, and like thistle-down (see margin) before the whirlwind.” (ver. 13.) It is the last great crisis —the shortened period of unequaled tribulation. How suddenly it closes! “Behold, at evening tide trouble, and before the morning he is not: This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us” (ver. 14.) The next chapter speaks of some maritime country which, it appears, is to take a prominent part in these transactions: Its messengers are to go to “a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible (or wonderful) from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!” Who can fail to I discern that Israel is here spoken of? Universal attention is demanded whenever these things begin to occur. (See ver. 3.), It is not, indeed, that God is yet acting in the scene himself, save as he always acts in providence. Verse 4 represents him as looking on, taking his rest and considering in his dwelling place. The verse is somewhat differently rendered by scholars, and is understood to suggest the idea of that awful season of deathly stillness and oppressive heat which precedes the bursting of some dreadful Storm of thunder and lightning.

For, thus bath Jehovah said unto me, I will and regard my fixed habitation, Like the clear heat after rain, Like the dewy cloud in the day of harvest.”

Not a gleam of sunshine breaks for a moment through the sullen gloom; not a breath stirs; not a leaf wags; not a blade of grass is shaken; nature seems to be numbed;” all seems at a stand-still, and in suspense. But it is only for a few moments, and then the storm bursts upon an affrighted earth. Such is the figure used to illustrate the character of that short period in which the Jews, aided by some great maritime country, are returning to their own land, and resettling there in unbelief they are represented in ver. 5, 6, as sour grapes ripening in the flower, thus showing, that morally they are unchanged since the day when God complained of them as his vineyard which brought forth nothing but wild grapes. They are not suffered, however, to come to maturity—the sprigs are, to be cut off with pruning-hooks, the branches are to be cut down, and left, for the fowls of the mountains to summer upon them, and the beasts of the earth to winter upon them. Still, though this be the end, as always, of their own self-righteous, self-willed, self-sufficient endeavors, it is the last time they attempt thus to accomplish their own deliverance. God takes up their cause; and the last verse of this chapter speaks of this same people—the Jews—being brought “as a present to the Lord of hosts—to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts—the Mount Zion.” From Is. 28:14, 15, it, would appear that the rulers of those who return to Jerusalem in unbelief, will enter into covenant with the great anti-Christian head of the Gentiles, who will then be bearing sway. Having refused the foundation which God has laid in Zion, they will seek shelter under the wing of him to whom Satan will then have given his seat and his authority, and his great power. (See Revelation 13: 2.) But their covenant with death will be disannulled, and their agreement with hell will not Stand.” Daniel 9: 27, seems to refer to this, It says of this great enemy of God, “He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (of years, of course) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and upon the battlements.(see margin) shall be the idols of the desolator even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” This, there can be little doubt, is what our Lord terms “the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place.” Thus will be fulfilled that solemn word of our Lord’s as to the unclean spirit, who having left his house to wander in dry places, at last returns to it, and, finding it swept and garnished, takes seven others more wicked than himself, and comet and dwells there; and so the last end of such an one is worse than the first. “Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.” (Matthew 12. 45.) The unclean spirit of idolatry having abandoned the Jewish nation from the time of the Babylonish captivity, returns and takes possession of them at the end; and many of them will be found subject to and in league with him of whom We read (Revelation 13: 15), “And he had power to, give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of ‘the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast, should be killed.” “I am come in my Father’s ‘name,” said the blessed Jesus, “and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” (John 5:43.)

Secondly, the whole of those that retard to their Own land in unbelief, with not be involved in these abominations, and in the judgments consequent upon them. There will be a remnant who will hear God’s voice, and tremble at his words. Repenting deeply of their own and of their nation’s sins, they will cry to the Lord in their distress, and be preserved from the paths of the destroyer. Instructed by the words of our Lord, when they see the abomination of desolation, they will flee into the mountains, and so neither worship the beast nor perish by his wrath. Still, they will suffer tremendous afflictions, while many others, as we know, will submit to be slain, rather than, worship the idols of the desolator. It is the cry of this godly remnant of Israel that we hear in so many of the Psalms, and in Is. 63. (latter part) and 64. The Lord answers them in chapter 65 roughly at the first as representing the whole nation tin, their sins; but ver 8‒15, he distinguishes between them and the nation at large. All are not to be destroyed. This elect remnant are to be preserved to inherit the land. (Ver. 8-10.) For the elect’s sake, as we have seen, those days of trouble, are to be shortened. In ver. 11, 12; the bulk of the nation are addressed, who prepare a table for that troop (of Antichrist, it would appear), and furnish the drink-offering to that number. They are to be numbered to sword, and to bow down to the slaughters. We then have the portion of the remnant and the nation alternately Stated, 13-16, while the following verses exhibit the state of rest and blessedness which ‘succeeds, when.” the former troubles are forgotten, and hid from the eyes.” The first five verses of chap, 66. afford a similar contrast between the ‘remnant and their unbelieving brethren.

But Zechariah gives; us the most definite instruction as to the lot of those who first: return to the land. Chapter 12:9-13. 1, announces the conversion in the land, about the time of their last tribulation (see ver. 9), of the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Chapter, 13: 8, 9, we read, “And it shall come to pass, that mall the land; saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off, and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and I will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on my name, and I will hear them; I will say, it is my people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God. From chapter 14: 1, 2, we find that this third part, who are brought through the fire, are reduced to the last extremity of distress. But in this last extremity the Lord interposes. (ver. 3-5.) The church—the saints—having been, as we before remarked, previously caught up to meet the Lord in the, air, now return with him; “The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. The poor, oppressed, perishing remnant of Jews, are delivered by his coming. The Lord fights against all those nations who fought against Jerusalem. The Jews, delivered by his coming, become themselves instruments in destroying their adversaries. (See chapter 12: 2, 3, and 6 chapter 14: 14.) We have the blessed result of all this in ver. 8-11; and 16-21, the reign of Christ over all the earth, with Jerusalem for the center of worship and of blessing.

But, thirdly, the restoration of the ten tribes seems to be in a different manner. We have just seen how the Jews pass through the last tribulation in the land; the wicked being thus purged from amongst them. They are the progeny of those who crucified their Messiah; and they suffer the consequences to the very end of this age. The ten tribes having gone into captivity long before the first coming of Christ, have not to suffer for the sin of crucifying him, and so are not involved in these final troubles in the kind.: The wicked are purged from amongst them before they reach the land. As I live Saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with stretched-out arm, and with fury, poured out, will I rule over you and I will bring you out from the people and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered with a mighty hand, and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face... And I Will cause you to pass under the rod and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: and I will purge out from among you the rebels and them that transgress’ against me; I will bring than forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel; and shall know that I ‘am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 20: 33-38.) It would seem to be to this’ part of the nation that Amos. 9, 10, and 31: 8, 9, refer. The return of the ten tribes would appear to be in progress at the time the Jews, properly so called, are undergoing their final sifting in the land the arrival of the ten tribes occurring, soon after this sifting has been completed. In Isaiah 49. we have their arrival predicted, and a most touching picture of the effect predicted by it on the poor heartbroken remnant, who survive the desolations at Jerusalem We have a view (verses 9-13) of the return of the ten tribes guided by the out stretched arm of God, while heaven and earth are called on to rejoice in his mercy to them. Then in verse 14, we are led, back, to, the moment when Zion said: “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.” God himself addresses Zion in verses 15-17. And then, as though calling her attention to something on which his eye had been fixed, but which she had not yet noticed, he says: “Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold; all these gather themselves together and come to thee,” &c. (verses 18, 19.) Nothing can exceed the beauty of verses 20, 21. “The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me; give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, who bath begotten the these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? And who hath brought up these? Behold; I was left alone; these, where had they been?”.

Finally, there are several passages which appear to foretell a still further process of restoration. We have noticed the’ return of many of the Jews in unbelief, with their sin and judgment, and the preservation from both of a remnant amongst them, who are delivered out of their extreme distress by the coming of the. Lord with all his saints. We have seen this remnant joined by the multitude of the ten tribes brought back by the hand of God, who has purged out all the rebels from among them ere they arrive at the land of Israel. But it would seem that besides all this, messengers will be despatched from the place where the Lord has appeared in glory and destroyed the enemies of his people, to bring back any Israelites who may yet be found among the nations. “And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord, out of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord.” (Isaiah 66:20.) It appears to be to this part of the subject that Isaiah 60: 4-9, 52: 10-12, and 49: 22, 23, refer.

I would only beg, in conclusion, that you will consult the passages which have been quoted or referred to. It is in personally examining and comparing them, with prayer to the Lord for his guidance, that we shall, by his blessing, gain acquaintance with his mind. May his blessing be vouchsafed. Amen. W. T.

Changed in a Moment

HARK to the trump! behold it breaks

The sleep of ages now:

And lo! the light of glory shines

On many an aching brow.

Changed in a moment—raised to life,

The quick, the dead arise,

Responsive to the angel’s voice,

That calls us to the skies.

Ascending through the crowded air,

On eagles’ wings we soar,

To dwell in the full joy of love,

And sorrow there no more.

Undazzled by the glorious light

Of that beloved brow,

We see, without a single cloud,

We see the Savior now!

O Lord, the bright and blessed hope

That cheered us through the past,

Of full eternal rest in Thee,

Is all fulfilled at last.

The cry of sorrow here is hushed,

The voice of prayer is o’er;

‘Tis needless now—for, Lord, we crave

Thy gracious help no more.

Praise, endless praise, alone becomes

This bright and blessed place,

Where every eye beholds unveiled

The mysteries of Thy grace.

Past conflict here, O Lord, ‘tis ours,

Through everlasting days,

To sing our song of victory now,

And only live to praise.

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Bars of the Tabernacle

“And thou shalt make bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the two sides westward. And the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall reach from end to end. And thou shalt overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars: and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold. And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was sheaved thee in the mount.”

The Bars

Ver. 26. And thou shalt make bars of shittim wood.) We have already considered the boards of the tabernacle, fitly framed together, and firmly fixed in the sockets of silver, as typical of believers standing in redemption, and associated together in Church fellowship. We have now to consider the bars of shittim wood, overlaid with gold—God’s provision for compacting together and securing the whole.

The fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians will furnish us with a solution of the spiritual import of these bars.

The Epistle to the Hebrews is largely occupied with priesthood and sacrifice, and there we find the corresponding types richly unfolded.

The Epistle to the Ephesians preeminently treats (Incomplete Article...) of the Church, and it is there we especially find the interpretation of the things connected with the tabernacle.

In the first six verses of Ephesians 4, the seven-fold, or perfect provision for the unity of the Church is mentioned; one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.

Then, from verses 7, to 11, the five, gifts given from a once humbled, but now ascended and glorified Savior, are noticed—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.

Then the object for which they are given is stated from verses 12 to 16: “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”

These five bars of the tabernacle answer most strikingly to these five gifts. From a risen Christ, and their object and end is the same, the “perfecting,” “edifying,” and “compacting! of the whole together.

The Material.

“Bars of Shittim Wood.”

They were to be of shittim. wood, reminding us that those. who have received gifts for service to the Lord and to his saints, are men of like passions with others. They have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of them. Not sufficient of themselves to think anything as of themselves, they can of their own selves do nothing.

The Arrangement of the Bars.

Verses 26-28. Five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the two sides westward. And the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall reach from end to end.) There are five bars for each side of the tabernacle, and there are four sides, one north, one south, and two sides westward.

God’s arrangements and provisions for ministry are simple, perfect, and uniform, and adapted to the need of the Church of God throughout the whole world.

The gifts of the Spirit are for the edifying of the whole body; and wherever believers are gathered in. the name of the Lord Jesus, there these gifts have their place and service.

All believers everywhere have need of all the gifts of the Spirit for their compacting and edifying; and according to God’s arrangements, whatever gifts there may be, are available for all.

The apportioning a certain number of souls for one man’s care, or one man to a certain number, is entirely contrary to God’s order. The gifts are for the body, and God sets them in the Church for the benefit of all.

The leading of the Spirit, or the providence of God, may indeed place some in certain localities; but all believers have a title to their service, and they are debtors according to their ability and opportunity to all. Every human arrangement which interferes with this is a thwarting of God’s gracious, benevolent plan.

There are two bars lying side by side near the bottom of the boards of the tabernacle (not one above the other), one in the center, and two side by side near the top; thus, the two under bars may be taken to represent the gifts of the apostles and prophets. These, as to doctrine and practice, according to the ability given them of God, have laid the foundation. And the Church is said to be built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.

This they did by their labors, example, and teaching in their lifetime, and in the inspired Scriptures of the New Testament which they have left, the Church has still the benefit of their gifts.

The foundations have been laid; the word of God filled up and perfected. Since then there have been. no new revelations of doctrine, and no new directions for practice, the doctrines, precepts, and principles of Scripture being fully adequate to meet all emergencies. Therein the roan of God is thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Hence, apostles and: prophets; in the strict sense of the words, are no longer to be found among living men; but we have them, as have said, in the inspired word, for every necessary purpose.

The middle bar in the center of the boards was entire, extending the whole length of the tabernacle from end to end; whereas, the other bars met in the middle, extending only half way each way.

The middle bar is beautifully suggestive of the wide extended sphere of the labors of the evangelist; whose commission is; “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature,” and in whose experience the ‘prompting of the Spirit is ever “to the regions beyond”— “the regions beyond.”

The two bars near the top represent the ministry of the pastors and teachers; the pastor watching over the souls of the converted, feeding the flock of God. And the teacher leading them onward and upward into further and higher acquaintance with the truth of God, and of the love, person, and ways of Jesus. Thus,

Pastor and Teacher.

Evangelists

Apostles and Prophets.

The Overlaying of the Boards with Gold.

Ver. 29. And thou shalt overlay the boards with gold It is remarkable that the direction for overlaying the boards does not occur in the portion which treats of the boards themselves (verses 15 to 25). but here in connection with the bars; and, doubtless; there is significance in this. The boards were of shittim wood, for they represent believers, in themselves the partakers of human nature, in its weakness and frailty. But the boards are overlaid with gold; signifying that, as one with Jesus, believers are also partakers of the Divine nature. (2 Peter 1:4.)

As associated together in the confession of the name of Christ, they are not regarded as they are in themselves, but as seen or God in Christ Jesus, —the sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty.

As we are by the grace of God—as seen by Him in the—Son of his love—such we ought to be practically and experimentally at all times, but especially when gathered in the name of Jesus, under the searching eye of him with whom we have to do, that, as builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit, there may be nothing to grieve or quench that Holy Spirit of our God, or to hinder the full flow of blessing from our God and Father.

Oh for grace ever to remember this! As the shittim wood in the tabernacle was nowhere to be seen, so the flesh, or that which is merely natural, should never be manifest in the assembly of God’s saints. But putting off the old man, and Putting on the new, as the elect of God holy and beloved, the Divine nature should appear, and Divine charity be ever in full exercise: Thus it would come to pass that the distinctions and graduations which exist in the arrangements of Divine providence, and which cannot be overlooked with impunity in the outward walks of life, would disappear when believers were assembled together in the Church; and each and all, as children. of God, members of Christ, dwelt in by the Spirit, partakers of the Same Divine arid eternal life, loved and loving with the same Divine charity, they would hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, without respect of persons. (James 2:1)

But more than this: “Holiness becomes God’s house.” The infirmities of the flesh may be confessed in the closet, but ought never to mar the worship of the assembled saints: Collective failure may be acknowledged in the prayer meeting; but when met in the Church, as, for example, around the table of the Lord, we should meet and worship as the sods of God, “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar People, showing forth the praises of him who bath called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9.)

Yet, while the gold glittered on the surface of the boards, the shittim wood, still existed Within. So it becomes us ever to remember that, notwithstanding all that Divine grace has made us; in ourselves we are nothing at all. “The true circumcision, worshipping God in the Spirit, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, but having no confidence of the flesh.” This, however; is no excuse for sin or failure; for the grace of Christ is sufficient for us, and his strength is made perfect in weakness.

But why is this direction to overlay the boards with gold reserved for insertion here, in the midst of the instructions respecting the bars?

Does it not intimate a connection between the exercising of the gifts given, and the fuller participation and manifestation of the Divine nature?

Thus holding the Head, all the Body, by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.

And while God, “according to his Divine power, has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we might be partakers of the Divine nature,”—is it not through the exercise of the gifts of the Spirit, in the ministry of the Word, that very especially, both individually and collectively, these great and precious promises are realized, and that this growth in grace is experienced? (2 Peter 1:3,4.)

The Golden Rings.

Ver. 29. And make their rings of gold for places for the bars.) There is a divinely given and provided place for ministry, in the exercise of the gifts of the Spirit, in the Church of God.

“Rings of gold for places for the bars;” how significant!

Yes, there is a place provided and appointed of God for each of the several kinds of ministry.

A place for the apostles and prophets, which none else can occupy: a place of authority and power.

A place for the evangelist, and a work of vast importance and responsibility; having to do with souls and with eternity.

A place for the pastor and the teacher, in watching over, and leading on, the souls of the redeemed, with which the saints’ well-being, and the honor of the Lord Jesus, is intimately connected.

The Overlaying of the Bars.

And thou shalt overlay the bars with gold.) “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

Real ministry is the exercise of a gift received from God through Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Ghost, according to the ability which God giveth, and for God’s glory is not mere natural ability, however highly cultivated, or however fully recognized by human authority. It is something far more precious, more glorious, more important than this.

How vividly the Apostle Paul realized the truth so beautifully Set forth by these bars of shittim wood, overlaid with gold!

“I magnify mine office,” he exclaims; “not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.” “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the pother may be of God, and not of us.”

To sum up these various figures of ministry which we have already considered.

In the cherubim on the mercy-seat, in the holiest of all, we have set forth ministry in its heavenly origin and source.

In the golden candlestick in the holy place, over against the table, and by the altar of incense, we have ministry in the assembly, and in connection with communion and worship.

And in these bars of the tabernacle, uniting the boards together, we see ministry for the building up and compacting of the Church of God.

The Charge.

Ver. 30. And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was showed thee in the mount.) All important, and ever important words! Whether as to Church gathering and constitution, or whether as to ministry in the Church, God’s pattern, and that alone, is to be followed; —a pattern not earthly and human, but heavenly and Divine.

Is there not pride, presumption, and sin, in pretending to improve on God’s order of things in any particular? or in setting aside that order to make way for man’s?

How thankful should we be to God, that he has condescended so minutely to arrange and order everything for us in his word! —in type in the Old Testament, in example in the Gospels and the Acts, and in express directions in the inspired epistles of the apostles!

May we be prayerfully diligent to ascertain God’s order by means of every portion of his word, and hearty and earnest in seeking to carry it out, in our humble measure, according to I the grace given to us: esteeming all his commandments concerning all things to be right, and hating every false way, fully persuaded that God’s plans are the best plans, and that in keeping his commandments there is great reward. T. N.

(The Vail, and Hanging for the Door (D.V.), in the number for June.)

An Affectionate Address to the Children of God Concerning the Second Coming

The writer desires to lay before his dear brethren in the Lord what the GOD of truth himself says concerning the Lord’s future coining to establish his glorious kingdom, the great events by which it will be preceded or accompanied, the state of the world during the Lord’s millennial reign, and the events which Will mark and attend its close.

His object is to remove the prejudices which blind the eyes of many of his beloved brethren, so that they cannot see and receive the glorious truths which the word of God reveals respecting the afore-mentioned subjects.

“Great peace have they that love God’s law: and nothing shall offend them,” says the Holy Ghost. And if my dear brethren did but perceive how much Peace they lose’ by rejecting this part of God’s gracious testimony, and how great a stumbling-block, or rock of offense, they place in their own way by not receiving these truths, sure I am they would search the scriptures daily to see whether the scheme, of prophetical interpretation here advocated be or be not in accordance with Divine truth; and equally sure I am, that if they would patiently investigate the word of truth for this purpose, in humble traceableness of mind, and prayerful dependence upon the Holy Spirit, they would arise from the investigation convinced of the truth, and rejoicing in the happy discovery that the Lord’s personal advent is at hand, and the day of their redemption and the world’s renewal near to come. And the more they studied this large portion of Divine revelation, the more would they perceive how “profitable” it is “for instruction in righteousness,” how calculated to promote holiness in heart and life, and how rich in solid consolation and heavenly hope.

If a regard be had to those parts of the word of prophecy which have already received their accomplishment, it will plainly appear that they have received a literal fulfillment: e.g. how literally have been fulfilled the judgments of God respecting Israel and Judah, and in how remarkably literal a manner also have been accomplished the predictions respecting—the first coining of Christ, in great humility, to be the sacrifice for sin: indeed, a little attention to the subject will spew how ALL fulfilled prophecy has received the most LITERAL accomplishment. Such being the fact, is it not reasonable to believe that what remains to be fulfilled of the word of prophecy will be accomplished in the same literal manner? Let but this simple rule be applied to guide us in our expectations, with regard to unfulfilled prophecy, and have no doubt but that the happy result will be an unanimity of views and anticipations as to those “glorious things” which “are spoken” concerning “the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him.”

Whilst on this important subject, I would add force to my remarks on the literal interpretation of prophecy by the following interesting and convincing anecdote: —

A sermon was preached, a few years ago, in London (St. Clement Dane’s Church, in the Strand). Among the congregation were two Jews. After the sermon a discussion arose in the vestry on the subject of a psalm which contained a prophecy respecting the restoration of the Jewish nation. The clergyman denied the interpretation of the national restoration. One of the Jews, who spoke for both, interposed and said, “Then how can you wonder that we deny what you call the incarnation?” The Jew then asked for a Bible, and Opened it at that passage which contained the address of the angel to Mary: “And, behold, thou shalt conceive hi thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” He then invited this clergyman to go on with him through the passage. The clergyman went through the first three or font clauses, and the Jew allowed the literal interpretation to pass but; when he came to this passage; “And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he Shall reign,” &c., “That is,” said the clergyman, “he shall reign in the hearts of his people.” “Is that so?” said the Jew, “and not at Jerusalem where David reigned? Then I deny that Mary had a son; it signifies only that the Messiah was pure from his birth; that is the meaning of the virgin having a son. I take your mode of interpreting this verse, and I carry it back to the former verse, and deny the incarnation.” “But,” said the, clergyman, “We believe in the literal interpretation of this; because the event has shown it to be literal.” Then said the Jew, with an indescribable mixture of scorn and contempt, “Hall, you believe because it is done: we believe because God spoke.’“ O let us, my dear brethren, take God at his word; let us believe the word which the Lord has spoken; and Snot bend the words of eternal truth to meet our prejudices and preconceived opinions; lest by so doing we be tempted and ensnared to turn the truth of God into a lie, to his dishonor and our souls’ loss. Suffer the word of exhortation; while intreat you to give a close and prayerful consideration to the following texts. ‘They are but a’ few in comparison of the large number which might be adduced; but they will be found sufficient to show that the future coming of the Lord in glory will be, not, as the generality of Christians suppose, at the end of the Millennium, but at the commencement; and to usher in that glorious era of the world’s regeneration and of the saints’ perfected glory. That, therefore, his corning is near at hand, and speedily to be looked for, and daily to be anticipated; and that “blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments” (i.e. “unspotted you to give a close and to them, who look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” How inconsistent it is for any of our dear brethren not to be looking and longing for the coming of that blessed and “holy One, whose voice is harmony, whose smile is life, whose will is law, and whose law is love;”—at whose coming the forms of nature shall be renovated in beauty, and all the graces of heaven shall attend and adorn the Spirits of men. The eye shall be satisfied in seeing, the ear in hearing, and the heart in loving; man shall be restored to his right position in the world, the world— to its right position in the universe, and the illimitable universe shall break forth into joy and praise over a world which was lost but is found! (Psalms 98; Isaiah 44:23.)

In the anticipation of so glorious a consummation of the Christian’s divinely-taught prayer, who would not exclaim with the writer just quoted, “O thou who art the Joy of the universe, the Savior of the lost, whose right it is to reign, come, wear thy many crowns. Thy saints are waiting for thy coming! The earth groans for thy coming! Heaven is silent for thy coming! Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.“ Amen..

The Millennial Reign of Christ, and the Universal Blessing of the Earth, Connected with the Restoration of the Jews.

Read Psalm 72

I would address myself, in the first place, this evening to the examination of a popular notion connected with our subject, which I hope to be enabled to show you is nothing more than a popular error. It is one, however, that greatly tends to mislead the minds of many, respecting the whole class of subjects into which we are now inquiring. It refers to the meaning of the two expressions— “the day of judgment,” and “the day of the Lord.” It must be obvious that these two expressions are of the same import—that they both refer to the same period. If there were any doubt on the subject, it would be removed by referring to 2 Peter 3 There we find the apostle, or rather the Holy Ghost by him, using these two expressions, as identical in their meaning. Having spoken of the heavens and the earth which were before the flood, and of their destruction by water, he thus proceeds: “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” (verse 7.) “The day of judgment,” then; is the period in which the heavens and the earth are destroyed by fire. So far the popular idea is correct. Look now to verse 10, and you will see that the apostle uses the expression, “The day of the Lord,” to denote the same period. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night: in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up.” Clearly it is of one period he speaks in both verses; designating it in one “the day of judgment, and in the other, “the day of the Lord.” Now what is the idea attached by Christians generally to these expressions? is it not that of a literal actual day of twelve, or four-and-twenty hours? And it is supposed that this literal day is at the end of time, at the final dissolution of all things, at the close of the millennium, when the Son shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father, and God shall be all in all. An examination of Scripture, as I judge, will show that this is a mistake. “The day of the Lord” and “the day of judgment” both imply a lengthened period; not, as people imagine, an actual day of twenty-four hours. And let me remind you that we are in the constant use of the word “day” in such a sense as this. You hear men speak of “the clay of despotism,” and “the day of liberty;” “the day of ignorant barbarism,” and “the day of enlightened civilization.” Do they mean by these expressions a literal day of twenty-four hours? So when we speak of “Paul’s day,” “ Cæsar’s day,” “Luther’s day,” “Wesley’s day,” “Napoleon’s day”—we do not mean a day of twenty-four hours, but the period during which the person named, lived and acted; and when we thus speak, it is because we deem the person to have been one of such prominence as to give a character to the period in which he lived. And this is almost as common a use of the word “day” in our language as well as in the language of Scripture, as its application to a period of twelve or four-and-twenty hours. In Scripture we read of the clay of temptation, the day of trouble, the day of prosperity, the day of adversity, the day of visitation, the day of vengeance, the day of salvation; and I know not how many instances besides we have, of expressions in which the word “day” is similarly used. Take the last named, “the day of salvation,”—how long has it lasted?

Full eighteen hundred years, at all events, and more than that. And for anything the word “day” proves to the contrary, “the day of judgment” may last as long as the day of salvation has lasted already. The fact is, that it is a lengthened period characterized by these two features among others; viz. —judgment, and the presence of the Lord, and therefore it is termed “the day of judgment,” and “the day of the Lord.” Nor have I any doubt myself that it is termed “the day of judgment” in contrast with “the day of salvation;” “the day of the Lord” in contrast with “man’s day,”—an expression which you will find in the margin of 1. Corinthians 4: 3: “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment;” in the margin, “man’s day.” He proceeds: “But he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore, judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.” “Man’s day” is the long dreary period in which man judgeth by the sight of his eyes and the hearing of his ears. Deceived by Satan and his own heart, he has come to false conclusions on almost every subject; and acting on these false conclusions, these partial and erroneous judgment’s, he has filled the earth with violence, misery, and wrong. “ The day of the Lord” is the period in which he shall rule, of whom we read, “ The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth.” (Isaiah 11:2-4.) The character of his judgments, and the effects of his reign, are described to us in the beautiful Psalm we have read.

Before leaving this point I would remark, that this solemn, blessed period is ushered in and closed by special acts of judgment. To see this is very important to the clearing up of Scripture on these subjects. It is ushered in by those judgments which desolate the earth at the coming of the Lord. It is closed by the judgment, before the great white throne, of the dead who had not been raised at the commencement of the thousand years. And it is then, at the close, that the earth and the heaven flee away. Peter says, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which, the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up.” In the which He does not say in what part of the day, whether at its dawn, or at its close He gives us no information as to this. But we know well from Revelation 20, which describes to us the whole period, and tells us that it lasts a thousand years, that it is at the evening, the close of the day, that this takes place. Just as at the dawn, the morning of the day, the righteous dead are raised to live and reign with Christ throughout the period of the thousand years; so at its close, the wicked dead, “the rest of the dead who lived not again till the thousand years were finished,” are raised from their graves, and judged before the great white throne. And it is then that the heavens and the earth pass away, and new heavens and a new earth are created in their stead. Well may the millennium be termed “the day of judgment,” when its ushered in by the judgments which attend the coming of the Lord; characterized by his righteous, though peaceful rule, throughout; and terminated by the judgment of the great white throne.

Let us now turn to chapter 14 we shall see there that “the day of the Lord” is not a literal day of twenty-four hours; that it is identical with his reign as king over all the earth; and that this is inseparably connected with what we were considering a few evenings since—the restoration of the Jews. “Behold the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle.” Here we have the commencement of the day, when in the extremity of Jerusalem’s final sorrows, the Lord goes forth to fight against her enemies. Now mark the recurrences in this chapter of the expression, “that day.” What day it is, we have just seen. “And his feet shall stand, in that day upon the Mount of Olives,” &c. “And, the Lord my. God shall come, and all the saints with thee. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear nor dark: but it shall be one day, which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.” We are thus told expressly, that it is not an ordinary, natural day. It is distinguished from this by two marks. First, “the light shall not be clear nor dark,” which the translators seem—to have, very properly ‘explained in the margin thus, “that is, it shall not be clear in some places and dark in other, places of the World.”, The light will be equally diffused. Secondly, “at evening time it shall be light.” Instead of the light diminishing as the day declines, as in the natural day, the light shall be unabated to the last. At evening time it shall be light to proceed: “And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, ‘and half of them toward the hinder: sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.” So that the “day” is of such continuance that, at least, it embraces summer and winter. But what follows? “And the Lord: shall be king over all the earth: in that. day shall there be one Lord, and his name one Is it not plain from this passage that “the day of the Lord” includes the whole blessed period of the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ? It is his coming that brings, his reign that constitutes, the day.

The chapter then speaks of physical changes which are to take place in the land. “All the land shall be turned into a plain,” &c. “And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.” Speaking of the judgments that shall fall on those who have been assembled against Jerusalem, it says, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them,” &c. “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of: tabernacles.” “In that day” (the day of which we have heard throughout the chapter—the day of which it can be said, “in summer and in winter shall it be;” “from year to year”—the day in which “ the Lord shall be king over all the earth”—in that day “shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD: and the pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts; and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.” Will you turn to this chapter, my brethren, in your closets, and read it there attentively, with prayer to the Lord? You can thus hardly fail to see that it places the whole matter in so clear a light, that if there was not another chapter in the Bible on the subject, we should have no excuse for being under any serious mistake respecting it.

Let us pass on to consider Isaiah 2. “The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (ver. 1-3.) No doubt we have all often heard this passage quoted at missionary meetings, and on other similar occasions’: quoted in connection with the subject of the spread of the gospel. But however important missions and the spread of the gospel may be (and God forbid that I should undervalue them for a moment), they are not the subject, nor are they in any way connected with the subject, of the passage before us. The passage before us records “the word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.” Judah and Jerusalem are the subject, not the Church and its Missions. “Out of Zion,” not out of the Church, “ shall go forth the law: and the word of the Lord,” not from Britain, but “from Jerusalem.” We have got wise in our own conceits, my brethren, and supposed that to us was entrusted the work of introducing, by our labors, the blessedness of the millennial state. This is a work not associated with our calling, but with that of Israel. Ours is really a far higher calling—a heavenly One; a calling above earthly things and earthly scenes altogether. Forgetting this, and seeking a place on earth, we have ‘sought to assume the place assigned of God to Israel. We have not had faith for our own place in the heavenlies with Christ. And having come down to earth, we have aspired to that place on earth assigned in the counsels of God to Israel. Israel’s place we cannot fill; however, we may attempt it; and in attempting it we deny our heavenly calling altogether. But more of this when we come to consider the distinct calling and glory of the Church it is out of Zion the law, shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem,.

“And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people.” Is this the gradual; peaceful spread of truth by human instrumentality “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” (ver. 4.) Psalms 46 connects itself with the prospect of universal peace here held out, and we will turn aside to consider it for a moment. People say that it is not only by the spread of the gospel that this prospect is to, be realized, but by peace societies and other confederations to spread pacific principles, and to promote among the governments of the earth pacific counsels and measures. But is this what the Word of God testifies? Look at this Psalm, it relates to a time of tremendous trouble, the period we Were considering in a former lecture, the time of Jacob’s trouble, out of which he is to be delivered. This Psalm expresses the confidence of the faithful Jewish remnant, while surrounded by the horrors of that day of unequaled tribulation, and of the judgments with which it terminates. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea: though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” (ver. 1-3.) This is surely most unlike the gradual spread of truth, and the conversion, by, its imperceptible influences, of the whole mass of mankind to holiness and peace. Convulsions are here described of a character the most formidable. “The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.” (ver. 6) Again do the remnant declare their confidence amid the desolating storm. “The Lord of hosts is with its; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” (ver. 7.). And now the storm is past. God has arisen to, his strange work; and his judgments having been accomplished, we are invited to contemplate the results. “Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; HE ‘breaketh the bow; and cutteth the spear in sunder: He burneth the chariot in the fire.” It is not the slow and gradual progress of peaceful principles, but God’s solemn interposition in judgment at the coming of the Lord, that puts an end to the strife’s and wars which have for so many ages desolated the earth, and that introduces the period of universal peace. And what is the moral drawn from all, this by the Holy Ghost? Is it, “exert yourselves—put forth all your energies—labor with all your might, to impregnate society with principles which will introduce the golden age of universal concord, and harmony, and peace”—is this, I ask, the moral drawn by the Spirit from this solemn prophetic history? No, my brethren, it is this: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” (ver. 10.) It is by his power—not by human energy; to his glory—not to the exaltation of proud, vaunting man—that these wonders are accomplished.

Let us now turn again to Isaiah 2 Solemn words of warning and exhortation, follow those already quoted; and then, from verse 10, we have a magnificent view of the “‘day of the Lord; “a view corresponding exactly with what we have seen in chapter 14, and supplying further instruction not communicated there. Verse 10 is an invitation to all who have ears to hear, to enter where the remnant, whose voice we have been hearing in Psalms 46, are hid during the, convulsions—and terrors of that day. “Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.” Everything that has ministered to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life—everything that men have delighted in, so as to shut out God and exclude Christ from their hearts—everything that has contributed to the self-exaltation that has characterized man throughout—which increasingly characterizes him now—which characterizes this day in which we live, to an extent fearful to contemplate—the day of the Lord shall be upon all that. Think, my brethren, of what the pride of man’s heart is doing at this very moment, in concentrating the wealth and energies of all nations in making one grand display to all the world of what man’s skill and energy can effect!

The day of the Lord shall be “upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Basilan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.” May these serious words sink into our hearts.

To read on: “And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty.” When, my brethren? When the gospel has spread universally? When Christianity and civilization are everywhere diffused? When the truth has won a peaceful and universal triumph? Ah! this passage is often in part quoted, as though this were the doctrine taught in it. But when is it that idolatry ceases? “WHEN HE ARISETH TO SHAKE TERRIBLY THE EARTH.”

Yes, “In that day, a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they Made, each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, WHEN HE ARISETH TO SHAKE TERRIBLY THE EARTH.” And the moral here is of the same import as in Psalms 46 Here it is negative; there positive. Here it is, “Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?” He may account much of himself, as, alas! he does. He may boast much of his powers, so varied and so ample as he considers them to be. He may improve them by all the inventions and appliances of art, and multiply them by combination to any extent he pleases. God has but to arise, and all his glories fade away as a leaf. God has but to interpose, and all that man has boasted of, and gloried in, withers at once. May our hearts remember this. Truth like this is needed at all times; but in this day of man’s loudest boastings and loftiest pretensions, it is surely of all importance that these two words, “Cease ye from man”— “Be still and know that I am God”—should be ever present to our souls.

The views of prophecy which so widely prevail in the present day, confound with each other two periods, as entirely contrasted in their character, as they are distinguished from each other by the fact that one commences after the other has, closed. Most Christians suppose that by the preaching of the gospel; and the increased outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Christianity will gradually spread—the nations of the earth be gradually subdued by its influence-till at last all men become Christians; and, that the world having thus become Christian, it will remain so for a great length of time. And this universal prevalence of Christianity which they anticipate, is what they understand by the millennium. But not only is this idea not founded on Scripture—not only is it contrary to all the plain Scriptures by which it was proved to you a week ago that there can be no millennium till the return of the Lord Jesus Christ—it is based on a complete—misapprehension as to what the character of the present period is, as well as the character of the next, the Millennial age. They stand in direct contrast with each other. What is the character of God’s present dealings with mankind Grace, unmingled grace. This is the period of God’s long-suffering, the day of salvation. God is not now openly acting as the righteous Governor of the world, distributing good and evil according to the character of men’s ways. Everybody sees this, and infidels try to prove thereby, either that there is no God, or that he takes no concern in human affairs. Whence all the unrequited treachery and rapine, and oppression and blood, which make the head giddy and the heart sick to contemplate, if God be now rewarding people according to their works? —if, in other words, he be now openly governing the world in righteousness?

Ah! but there is a “day of judgment” coming. Not a period of twelve, or four-and-twenty hours; but of a thousand years, throughout which the world’s government, administered by the Son of Man himself, shall be of such a character as to clear up all that is now obscure, and fully vindicate and manifest the glory of God. God having got for himself a name by all the grace manifested throughout the present period, and by the results flowing from it to all eternity, he will, in the next dispensation—in the millennial age, manifest his character as “the righteous Lord who loveth righteousness.” “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.” (Isaiah 32:1.)

Am I denying, then, that God does at present by his providence secretly and effectually control all things? God forbid. Even Satan himself is in that sense subject to him, accomplishing his purposes, and doing his will. But I speak of the open, public, manifest government of the world. Is that conducted on the principle of righteous retribution and reward, or is it not? There can be but one answer. No doubt, man’s evil and Satan’s malice are kept in check by the secret restraints of God’s providence, as well as by the institution of human government and laws which he has appointed, and, until now, upheld. If it were not so, men would destroy each other till the earth would be depopulated. But still, where is the person who can imagine that there is at present, or has ever been since the fall, a distribution of temporal good and evil, according to men’s character and conduct, so as to be an adequate witness to God’s character of holiness, benevolence, and rectitude, as the righteous Judge and Governor of the world? Why the fact is, that goodness has been allowed to be so oppressed and trodden under foot, and evil has been allowed to be so rampant and triumphant, that when the blessed One himself, the perfect, the sinless one was here, HE was put to death! We know why this was permitted. But I want you to consider the fact—it was permitted: Yes, God looked down from heaven and witnessed the murder, by man’s wicked hands, Of his only-begotten, well-beloved Son!

What a contrast was that scene to what the Psalmist anticipates, looking onwards to the millennial reign. “For the Lord will riot cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance: but judgment shall return unto righteousness; and all the upright in heart shall follow it.” (Psalms 94:14,15.) Long have judgment and righteousness been separated. Judgment was in the hands of Pilate who sat on the judgment-seat. Righteousness; perfect righteousness, human as well as divine, stood before him in the person of the blameless victim, of whose innocence lie declared his conviction by vainly washing his hands, while he yet gave him up to be crucified! And God looked down on that scene, and has borne for eighteen, hundred years with the world that was defiled by it! And could we expect him to avenge any lesser wrongs while that greatest crime of all continues unavenged? Unavenged; did I say?

Did I speak—of God bearing with the world? How far short of the truth this is! He took occasion from that crowning act of men’s hatred and wickedness, to display to us all the depths and fullness of his own love. He sent his Spirit to testify that the blood shed by man on earth, was accepted for man in heaven; that even those who actually shed it, if they did but take refuge in it for eternity, should find it a sure hiding-place. And what has God been doing ever since, but proclaiming to the whole world—Jews as well as Gentiles, and Gentiles as well as Jews—that all who believe on Jesus become united to him, fellow-heirs with him of the glory yet to be-revealed. And surely this is not judgment, but mercy; not righteous government, but infinite grace. And what has been the effect where this testimony has been believed? Why, that those who have believed it have shared the treatment which their Lord received at the hands of men. And has God avenged their blood? No, the blood of Christ’s martyrs, as well as of Christ himself, remains unavenged. And God suffers the world to pursue its wicked course, treasuring up wrath to itself against the day of wrath, while his patience still waits, and his long-suffering still lingers, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Such is the character of this present period—this day of salvation. But how does it act upon men’s souls? what effect does it produce? A few indeed are gathered out from the world by almighty grace to believe in Jesus, and confess him, and suffer for his name’s sake. There have been a few such in each succeeding century and generation. But what is the effect upon the Mass? Hear it in the words of God himself— “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily., therefore the heart of the sons of men is only set in them to do evil.” (Ecclesiastes 8:11.) All this patience and forbearance and grace of our God have just the effect of emboldening men in iniquity. How, then, is a dispensation, of which perfect grace is the characteristic, to bring in universal blessing? It is not to be expected. Isaiah 26:10, bears just the same testimony. “Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.” So that, however long the patience of God might wait, and his present dealings with mankind be continued, it is evident that the result would never be what men suppose. The world would never be converted, the millennium would never be introduced. It is by judgments that God will bring this about. “Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see.” That is, as long as it is lifted up in mercy, they will not see. “But they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at thy people: yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.” (verse 11.) So also in verse 9: “For when thy judgments are in. the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” We have thus the express declaration that favor, grace, will not do; men abuse it, to the hardening of themselves in iniquity; their heart is fully set in them to do evil. Then there is the equally express declaration that when God’s judgments are in the earth, men will learn righteousness. Grace does not accomplish their subjection: judgment shall and will accomplish it.

Scripture testimony to this truth is uniform and abundant. At so early a period as the days of Eli and Samuel, Hannah, the prophetess, sings: “The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven. shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.” (1 Samuel 2:10.) The last words of David are: “The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God; and he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springeth out of the earth by clear shining after rain!’ He owns that his house is not so with God; yet comforts himself with the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure: and then says, “ But the sons of Belial shall all of them be as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands: but the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron, and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.” (2 Samuel 23:3-7.) The second Psalm is also very full and clear as to this. The confederated kings and their people are represented as saying of Jehovah and his anointed, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” How is their impiety to be rewarded? “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” To this king, thus to be established on Zion, in spite of all opposition, Jehovah says, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen, for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” I dare say you have all heard this text quoted at missionary meetings, to prove that all nations will be converted by the Gospel. But is this its meaning? How does Christ take possession of the inheritance thus assigned to him? Read the next verse. “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron: thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” (verse 9.) They are not given to him, as people suppose, by the gradual, gentle diffusion of Gospel truth; men’s hearts and ways being molded thereby till the world becomes a holy and happy world. No; at a certain definite moment yet to come, a moment for —which Christ is waiting, (“expecting till his enemies be made his footstool,”) the heathen shall be given to him for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. And he will take possession by breaking his enemies with. a rod of iron; dashing them in ‘pieces as a patter’s vessel. It is thus by judgment, not by the extension of the present economy of perfect, unmingled grace, that millennial blessedness will be introduced.

One other passage, closely connected with what we have been considering, I would now refer you to. It is Psalm 110. “The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand,”—how long? —until I make thine enemies thy footstool. What follows then? “The Lord shall send the rod of ‘thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.” While these enemies are crushed by the rod of his strength, his iron rod, there will be those, as we have already seen, who will be made ready to welcome him when he comes. His people, his nation, to whom he came eighteen hundred years ago, will be made willing to receive him at last. “He came to his own,” but coning in humiliation, “his own received him not.” So far from receiving, they crucified him; and he submitted to this—he suffered it to be so: “he was crucified through weakness.” But when he comes again, it will be in power and glory. And to him it is said here— “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy—youth.” And how will he deal with those that gather against him, and against his willing people then? “The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of thy wrath. He shall judge among the heathen; he shall fill the places with dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.” Yes, my brethren, it is by judgments—desolating, destroying judgments, that Christ will, at the commencement of his reign, cut off the wicked. Even as we read in the New Testament— “The Son of Man shall send forth— his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13: 41,42.) The survivors, awed by those judgments—the Spirit, moreover, being poured out upon all flesh—the whole world will own the supremacy of Jesus, and be made happy under his sway: as we read at the beginning this evening, “He shall judge the poor of the people; he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts—yea, all kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him His name shall endure forever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun; and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.”

Jesus Shall Reign Where'er the Sun

JESUS shall reign where’er the sun

Doth his successive journeys run,

His—kingdom stretch from shore to shore

Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

People and realms of every tongue,

Dwell on His love with sweetest song;

And infant voices shall proclaim

Their early blessings on His name.

Blessings shall flow where’er He reigns,

The prisoners leap to loose their chains;

The weary find eternal rest,

And all the sons of want be blest.

Where He displays His healing power,

Death and the curse shall reign no more

But Adam’s race in Him shall boast

More blessings far than Adam lost.

Then all the earth shall rise, and bring

Peculiar honors to ‘its King;

Angels respond with songs again,

And earth repeat the loud Amen.

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Vail and Hanging for the Door

“And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: and thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver. And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy. And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place. And thou shalt set the table without the vail, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on the north side. And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework. And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.”

The Vail.

Ver. 31. And thou shalt make a rail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made. The spiritual signification of the vail is given us by the apostle in the following words: “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new, and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through THE VAIL, that is to say, his flesh; and having a high priest over the house of God; let us draw near.” (Hebrews 10:19-22.)

This vail represents the flesh of Jesus, and in connection with his atoning sacrifice, it shows him as the way of entrance by faith into the holiest of all.

Before the death of Jesus, “The priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.” (Hebrews 9:6-8.)

But when Jesus expired on the cross at Calvary, “The vail of the temple was rent in twain, from the top to the bottom.” (Matthew 27:51.)

God by this act distinctly intimating that the way of access was clear—the glory could shine out, and the believer in Jesus could enter in. God could be just while he justified—and manifest himself as glorious in holiness, while the pardoned sinner was accepted and brought nigh by the blood of Jesus.

In this beautiful vail we thus behold set forth typically, Jesus—God manifest in flesh; who by his atoning sacrifice becomes himself the way of near approach to God in the very holiest. Precious Jesus! Precious privilege! How little apprehended or estimated in proportion to its value!

The Construction of the Vail.

“Of blue,” &e.) We may trace in these colors and fine linen with cherubim the various excellences combined in the person of Christ. The blue, his perfection as then, and the heavenly beauty of his character, “the Son of Man which is in heaven.”

“And purple!! The combination of the heavenly and earthly —dignities in him who was at once Son —of David and Son of God.

“And scarlet.” He was born Ring of the Jews, and; though rejected of his own, he yet shall reign.

“And fine twined linen.” He was “that holy thing” born of the virgin in his incarnation, and “holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners” in his Whole life and conversation here.

“Of cunning work.” What beauteous blendings, what exquisite harmonies may be discovered in the character of Jesus! How each grace tempers the Others, and enhances the glory of the whole “With cherubim shall it be made.” The cherubim, as we have before said, represent the various characters of service to God, in the accomplishment of the Divine will.

In the garden of Eden it was angelic ministry. —As shown by the cherubim on the mercy seat, the gifts of the Spirit for ministry at their heavenly source. —In the vision of Ezekiel, prophetic ministry and its characteristics. —And in the four living creatures around the throne of God, and of the Lamb, the ministry of the redeemed in glory.

Here, on the Vail, the cherubim represent the various kinds of service to God, which were seen in perfection in Jesus, who came down from heaven to do the will of the Father, and in whom the apostle and prophet, the evangelist, the pastor, and the teacher were combined and manifested in all their excellency.

The Pillars of the Vail.

Ver. 32. And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood, overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon four sockets of silver.) This beautiful and significant vail, representing the incarnate Savior, Immanuel, God with us, was to be suspended on four pillars of shittim wood, overlaid with gold. And can we be at a loss to ascertain the fact which answers to this foreshadowing? Did not God employ four individuals, men of like passions with ourselves, but Divinely qualified by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, to hold up to view the great mystery of godliness, —God manifest in the flesh?

In the four inspired records of the life and death of Jesus, the whole truth of his person is exhibited as the Incarnate One. Whereas the five gifts given from an ascended Savior go a step beyond, and in addition present him in his risen glory at God’s right hand.

Their hooks, were to be of gold.

Their capacity to take hold of, to select, and to arrange, the various incidents in the life and death of the Man of sorrows, his words and teachings, so as to bring out the truth of his Person in all its fullness, was of God.

So that those apparent discrepancies between the narratives of the four inspired historians, which so puzzle the natural mind, and so often render futile the attempt to form a harmony of the four Gospels, these seeming are, in fact, the marks and proofs of the handiwork of a Divine Editor.

Under his all-wise guidance and control, Matthew selects and arranges those materials which present the Lord Jesus especially as the Son of David and of Abraham, in connection with the kingdom, and with the promises made of God unto the fathers.

This corresponds with the scarlet.

Mark presents him especially as the Son of God and Son of Man, in his untiring service. The purple.

Luke, as the social Son of Man, and in connection with mankind at large. The fine twined linen.

And John, as the Divine and heavenly Stranger, in all the perfection of his character and ways.

Answering to the blue.

The full-length portrait—the perfection of the truth of the person, of our precious Immanuel, is the result of the whole, combined.

These pillars stood on four sockets of silver.

For while the four inspired historians were employed and capacitated of—God to exhibit the truth of the person of Jesus, they themselves reposed on his redeeming work, and on his precious and atoning blood.

The Position of the Vail.

Ver. 33. And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou, mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.

These taches connected together the two larger curtains, composed of five smaller ones each, thus forming one Tabernacle. (Chapter 26:3-6.)

The vail was to be hung immediately beneath these taches, dividing the tabernacle into two parts: twenty cubits for the holy place, and ten cubits for the most holy.

Into the first tabernacle, or the holy place, the priests went continually, accomplishing the service of God. Setting forth the ordinary privilege of believers in their priestly service and worship.

But into the second, or most holy place, the high priest alone entered once every year. For while the first tabernacle was yet standing, the Holy Ghost signified that the way into the holiest was not made manifest.

The vail divided unto Israel between the holy and most holy place. But the true light now shineth; the vail has been rent; the glory of God’s grace has shone out; and the believer has boldness to enter in through faith in the blood of Jesus. (Hebrews 10:19-23.) The vail now no longer divides between the holy and the most holy place; but he whom the rent vail typifies rather unites. He is himself the way of access by faith into the very presence of God. Our true place of worship and communion is in the holiest of all. How far is this realized by the majority of Christians?

The heart must be sprinkled from an evil conscience, in order to the enjoyment of this privilege in reality. The body must be washed in pure water; that is, the believer must apprehend his interest in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, which this washing or baptism in water signifies, or access into the holiest is not enjoyed. It is a practical, personal, experimental thing.

Unbelief cannot enter there. Neither can the. believer and unbeliever worship together within the vail. The presence of sin, in the license and love of it, in the holiest of all, is as impossible as the existence of darkness. in the brilliance of the noon-day sunshine.

A firm standing in grace, and separation from evil personally and corporately, are indispensable to entrance, abiding, and worshipping in the holiest of all.

The Arrangement of the Vessels of the Sanctuary.

Ver. 33. That thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony....

34. And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon*the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.

35. And thou shalt set the table without the vail, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on, the north side.

The ark and the mercy seat were to be placed within the vail in the holiest of all. Thither Jesus our forerunner has for us entered: and there it is, from off the mercy seat, that God delights to hold communion with his people.

The table and the candlestick had each their up-pointed position in the holy place without the vail; for they typify communion and testimony in the Church on earth assembled.

The table has its place on the north side, or side of judgment; for it is in connection with the table of the Lord that discipline is to be maintained.

The candlestick was to be set over against the table. For the ministry of the truth of Christ is designed to throw its light on the communion of saints. And it was to be on the south side; for it is to be a testimony of grace.

Neither is communion to set aside ministry, nor ministry to supersede communion; but each is to occupy its proper place, the place assigned to it by God in his word.

The altar of incense, afterward described, had also its place before the vail and mercy seat; for worship conies in beautifully and blessedly in combination with communion and testimony.

The Hanging for the Door, or the Door of the Tent.

Ver. 36. And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework. This hanging for the door of the tent is precisely similar to the vail, with this exception, that there are no cherubim on it.

It presents to us Christ, the incarnate Son of God. The blue intimating his heavenly perfectness—the scarlet his earthly dignity and glory—the fine twined linen his pure humanity—and the needlework his exquisitely beautiful character, in which every grace and virtue were combined and blended.

The vail represented him as the way into the holiest—the hangings for the door as the way into the assembly.

It is Jesus, through whom alone, by faith in his person and work, in the confession of his name, and in subjection to his Lordship, there is admission into the assembly of God—the assembly which is the witness for Jesus in the earth, and the dwelling-place of God through the Spirit.

Christ is the door into the assembly of saints. How important is this truth It is not a ceremony, a creed, a set of opinions, or an agreement in a certain course, that is the door of entrance; it is Christ, and Christ alone—the Christ of the Scriptures and the Christ of God: “He that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth arid no man openeth.”

The Pillars of The Door.

Ver. 37, And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.

And chapter 36:38, And the five pillars of it with their hooks: and he overlaid their chapiters and their fillets, (or suspending rods) with gold: but their five sockets were of brass.) As the four pillars of the vail represent the four-fold provision made by God in the divinely inspired histories of the life and death of the Lord Jesus, so the five pillars by which the hanging for the door is suspended, represent to us those gifts of the Spirit from a risen and ascended Christ, by which he is made known as the way, the truth and the life the gifts of the apostle and prophet, the evangelist, the, pastor and the teacher, corresponding with the five bars of the tabernacle, and with the cherubim on the mercy seat, and in the vail.

But while there are correspondences, there are also distinctions. The cherubim on the mercy seat signifying these gifts in their Divine and heavenly source. The cherubim on the vail, these gifts as possessed in all their fullness by the Lord Jesus when on earth. The five pillars of the door of the tent, the gifts as connected in their exercise with admission into the assembly. And the five bars of the tabernacle, the same gifts employed for the edification and compacting of the Church together.

This suggests the reason why there are no cherubim on the hanging for the door; as in the vail, —the truth of the cherubim being signified in. another form by the five pillars which sustain it.

The Materials of the Pillars.

The pillars are of shittim wood, as pointing to the human agency employed. But they are overlaid with gold, for it is by the grace of God that this ministry is fulfilled.

Their hooks are of gold, for those employed are divinely capacitated to lay hold on and to exhibit the truth of Christ, so as to lead the soul into fellowship with those gathered in his name.

Their chapiters also, and their fillets or suspending rods, are of gold, significant of the Divine glory which crowns, and the Divine grace which accompanies this service.

But their five sockets are of brass; for decision, strength, and firm standing are requisite in this presentation of Jesus. T. N.

(The Altar of Burnt Offering in the number for July.)

The Distinct Calling and Glory of the Church as Bride and Co-Heir of Christ

Read EPHESIANS. 2:11-3: 19.

I feel that nothing could more. appropriately introduce to our attention the subject which is to occupy us this evening; than the few verses which have now been read. We see in those verses that the calling of the church is not only distinguished from all that existed prior to itself; but also, from all that had been revealed to the prophets of Old Testament times, as to what has yet to be the manifested glory of Christ; in connection with Israel on the earth, in the millennial reign. Look again to what the apostle says, chapter 3: ver. 4, 5. “Whereby when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.” And as to how the apostle had become acquainted with this mystery, he tells us plainly enough—How that by revelation he made known to me the mystery; as I wrote afore in few words (ver. 3.) There was a mystery revealed to Paul, made known to him by revelation from God, which had not been made known in former ages, as now, in Paul’s day it was made known—revealed to Christ’s holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. Now it is to this mystery, the distinct calling and glory of the church—for it is here we shall find this mystery developed—that our attention is to be directed this evening.

One thing I feel to be important at the—outset; that is, to define the principal term employed in the announcement of our subject. You may suppose that the expression “the church” is so commonly used, and so generally understood, as not to need defining. But the fact is, there is hardly an expression as to the meaning of which people’s thoughts are so vague and indefinite. Some apply the term to the building in which professing Christians meet for worship. And even among those too well instructed for this, it is still far from being distinctly understood. It is either applied to any religious association with which men happen by birth, or conversion, or other circumstances, to be connected; or it is understood to mean the aggregate of all such associations, the whole world over; or in a still wider sense, it is considered as including all true believers of all ages, from Abel down to the last person who shall be saved. Now it is well to remember that it is only in the New Testament we find the word; and this of itself might suggest the inquiry, whether that which it denotes be not peculiar to New Testament times. In former ages, as all Christians understand, there were individual believers, such as Abel, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, and all those spoken of in Hebrews 11 whether their names be mentioned there, or included among those of whom the apostle says, ime would fail me to tell of them.” Besides this, there was one nation which God had outwardly separated to himself, as his people. The vast majority of that nation were, however, in every period of their history, unconverted. There were individual saints not gathered together in a body; and there was a nation, a body of people in that sense, outwardly Owned of God: but the mass of them were never God’s people in truth; but stiff-necked and hard-hearted adversaries of God. Now the church of God is God’s assembly. The word rendered church’ is derived from one which means to call out, and is used of any assembly of persons, called out from among others for any purpose whatever. But the use of the word in the New Testament is what must determine its meaning there; and there it is applied either to the assembly of all believers from Pentecost to the coining of Christ into the air, to receive his saints to himself in glory—or to the assembly of all believers alive upon the earth at any given time between these two epochs—or to the assembly of all the believers in any given locality; as, for instance, the church at Jerusalem, Antioch, or Ephesus, and even “ the church in thy house:” There are but two instances in the New Testament in which the word “church” is used in any other sense or application than these. In Acts 7:38, it is applied to the assembly of the Israelites in the wilderness; and in Acts 19:32 and 39, the same word in the original is translated “assembly,” not church. But it is the same word; and there it is used of the assembly of Ephesian idolaters and others. With these exceptions, which hardly could be confounded with our present subject, the word church will be found in the New Testament to mean either (1) all believers from Pentecost to the taking up of the saints at the coming of Christ; or (2) all believers at any one time upon earth, during the period between these; or (3) all the believers in any given locality, or assembling as such in any given place. I do not stop here, to prove that such is the use of the word in the New Testament. Many considerations will present themselves in proof of it in the course of our evening’s inquiry into Scripture on this subject; and I would intreat you to give to the subject the most diligent examination afterward, when you have leisure to do so. But it is important, when we speak of the distinct calling and glory of the church, that we should have clearly before our minds who they are that form the church, to which this distinct calling and glory belong. And it is evidently in the widest application of the term, that is, as including all true believers from Pentecost to the taking up of the saints, that we use it in our present inquiry. Both the other uses of it are included within this.

When we speak of the distinct calling and glory of the church, it evidently brings in view some other body or bodies, from, whose calling and glory that of the church is distinguished. And what is it that has been occupying our attention for the last two evenings? It is the prophetic testimony of God as to Israel and the other nations of the earth in revial times. We have been studying the gracious promises of our God as to the restoration of the nation of Israel, and the blessing of all nations in subordination to them, under the reign of Christ. But when we speak of the distinct calling and glory of the church, we mean that “the church” is called to a higher glory than will belong to Israel or to the nations. These will doubtless be happy under the reign of Christ; and that reign will bring fuller and higher blessing to Israel than to the other nations who will really be subordinate to Israel; but “the church” will be manifested as the bride—the heavenly bride—of Jesus when he reigns; not blest under his sway, but sharing his dominion and glory; and sharing it, moreover, in the character of his bride.

That we may the more clearly discern the difference between the—calling of the church and that of Israel, let us look a little further at what Scripture reveals as to the latter. It is only that we may better see the contrast between them. In Deuteronomy 28 we have the blessings promised to Israel in case of their obedience. They have entirely failed in obedience, as we know, and have thus forfeited all those blessings. But, as we have seen so largely in Scripture, they are to be brought back. Grace will reinstate them in all their forfeited blessings; and they will be maintained in the enjoyment of these blessings, by the righteous rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what are these blessings? “And it shall conic to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth.” You see it is one nation in contrast with, and exalted above, all other nations. “And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the, field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. The Lord shall Command the blessing upon thee in thy store-houses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto: and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” What have we here but, a fullness of earthly blessings, by which this one nation was to be distinguished from, and set above all others? The effect which was to have ‘followed is stated also. “And all people of the, earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee.” Abundant and continual prosperity in earthly, temporal things, was what all nations Could understand; and this they were to have seen in Israel, had Israel been obedient; and by this they were to have seen, that Israel was called by the Lord’s name. “And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee. The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the—work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them.” How manifestly, then, was Israel’s calling a calling to pre-eminence and glory and power, and plenty and prosperity and blessedness on the earth. And though through disobedience they have entirely forfeited these their promised blessings; and though when they are restored; (as they surely will be,) it will be entirely of grace; this will not have changed their calling, and the character of their blessing. They will inherit spiritual blessings, it is true—forgiveness—regeneration—the saving knowledge of Christ—but they will enjoy these spiritual blessings not in heavenly but in earthly’ places. And the fullness of earthly blessing will still be the distinctive mark of their calling. All the prophecies of their restoration, and subsequent happiness and prosperity, prove this. One only I will quote in addition to those already cited in former lectures. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the wast cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vine yards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their laud which I have given them, saith the Lord thy. God.” (Amos 9:13-15.) How beautiful are these words! And yet how evidently do they promise to restored Israel temporal blessings in earthly places. These will be enjoyed by them, it is true, as God’s people; they will have become such then in reality, in truth. They will have been born again; for there is no entrance into the kingdom, even as to its earthly department, but by being born again. But there is an earthly department, as well as a heavenly; and the chief place; and richest blessings, in the earthly department, are promised to restored and repentant Israel: Why should “ ten men take hold; out of all languages of the nations, even take hold “of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you”—unless God be with them in a sense different from that in which He will be with the other nations of the earth? (See chapter 8: 22, 23.) “The following beautiful passages from Isaiah 60 are very clear as to this point. To Zion, to Jerusalem, it is said, “And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” “Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.” God will then have glorified Jerusalem, and its glory will thus be acknowledged by all. “Therefore thy gates shall be open continually: they shalt not be shut day nor night, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. For the nation and kingdom: that, will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.” Surely the mere reading of these passages enough to show, that it cannot be of the present dispensation that they treat. One of the most common and familiar thoughts connected with Christianity is, as we all know; that in—it all distinction between Jew and Gentile has ceased—has passed away; that in Christ “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all and in all.” (Colossians 3:11.) But these prophecies treat of a period when the distinction between Jew and Gentile, between Israel and the other nations of the earth will be as fully recognized—as it ever was: and when Israel shall occupy the place of full pre-eminence on the earth. “And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the Waste cities, the desolations of many generations: And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen, and your vinedressers. But ye (restored Israel, the citizens of Jerusalem, the city of the great King) shall be named the priests of the Lord t; men shall call you the ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in—their glory shall ye boast yourselves.” (Isaiah 61:4-6.) Can anything more plainly demonstrate the superiority of the Jew over the Gentile in millennial times? ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.” (Isaiah 61:4-6.) Can anything more plainly demonstrate the superiority of the Jew over the Gentile in millennial times?

But now, my brethren, I am reminded of what, someone has Most justly said, that “Christ is the great purpose of God.” This is, in other words, what. Peter says, “Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” The entire sum of prophecy is here stated—the sufferings of Christ and the glories (for it is glories in the original) that should follow. It is only as you see this, and bear it in mind, that you can profitably consider these details of prophetic inquiry. This is the only point from which the details of prophetic truth can be rightly surveyed. You can hardly have a correct, and are sure to have a contracted, view of the landscape, if you are but a little elevated above the plain. It is from the higher ground that you are enabled to descry the length and breadth of the glorious prospect; and the nearer you approach to the point of moral survey occupied by the blessed One who drew the picture, and whose office is to glorify Christ, the more you will find that your view has been distorted, as well as curtailed, by occupying any lower position. God’s own glory in Christ is his great object; and it is as we bear this in mind, and view everything in’ connection with this, that we shall receive a correct understanding of God’s blessed purposes and ways elements which were mingled with it. The sun is the fountain of light and heat to this whole system, even when clouds interpose, and obscure its brightness; but when the clouds have passed away, and it shines forth, in all its majesty and strength, then we see its glory. And whatever may constitute, in millennial times, the manifested glories of Christ, they will all be found to be but the display of what he is now; and of what faith now knows him to be. It is only by faith that we can discern these glories now; but it will surely be found that each glory to be manifested then is but the display of some excellence residing in his blessed person, or in one or other of the offices he sustains. How. the heart stops short, alas! of entering by faith into the contemplation of these wondrous and varied glories of Christ! Would that we knew them better, by the teaching of the Comforter, whose office it is to glorify Christ, by taking of his, and showing it unto us! contemplation of these wondrous and varied glories of Christ! Would that we knew them better, by the teaching of the Comforter, whose office it is to glorify Christ, by taking of his, and showing it unto us!

We have been seeing, both tonight and on former occasions, how Christ will “reign in Mount Zion and before his ancients gloriously.” In what character does he possess this glory which will then be displayed? It is as the Son of David. Faith knows him to be the Son of David now; the One of whom it was said by the angel to his virgin mother, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever: and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” (Luke 1:32,33.) What do we understand. by this? A person once told me seriously, that his idea of those who hold pre-millennial views was, that we believed the identical chair of state in which David sat—his literal throne—to be still somewhere, in existence, and that in the millennium it would be occupied by Christ! I should not have ventured even to seem to trifle with the subject, and with your, feelings, by repeating such a statement as this, had it not been made to me by an intelligent person, a minister of Christ. One need not, of course, disclaim such a thought. But if they be such ideas of pre-millennial doctrines as these, that lead our brethren to reject them—if this be what they understand by the personal reign, denouncing it as they do, as a carnal expectation—why, then, on the one hand, we cannot be surprised at their opposition; while, on the other, it is to be regretted that they take no better pains to inform themselves what pre-millennial doctrines are. This only would I ask them, —What do they mean when they speak of “the throne of the Cesar’s?” How would anyone understand the assertion that Louis Napoleon now occupies “the throne of the Bourbons and of Charlemagne?” Need we to explain— to people that this means that he wields the authority once possessed by the Bourbons? —that he reigns over the country once ruled by Charlemagne? And what is meant in Scripture (for it is Scripture language, not ours) by Christ sitting on the throne of David? Surely it means that he is to exercise the authority once entrusted to David; that he is to rule over the nations of which David was king and lord. He is “of the seed of David according to the flesh.” lie was born “King of the Jews.” And where Peter, speaking of the resurrection of Christ, quotes from David’s words in Psalms 16, he thus explains them: “Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne: he seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ,” &c. (Acts 2:30,31.) So far from the death and resurrection of Christ setting aside his title and his claims as the Son of David, it was in resurrection that this title was to be verified-these claims fulfilled.

But Christ has higher glories than that of being David’s royal Son and Heir. He is the seed of Abraham; and there were promises to Abraham of wider scope than those which were made to David.

It was promised to Abraham “that he should be the heir of the world.” (Romans 4:13.) “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis. 22:18.) We surely know who the seed of Abraham is. “He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.” (Galatians 3:16.) As the seed of David, he is to inherit David’s royal dominion; but as the seed of Abraham, all nations, yea, all the families of the earth, are to be blessed in him.

But Christ has higher glories yet. He is the Son of Man, the second Adam; and, as such, he inherits all the dominion entrusted to the first Adam, but forfeited by his sin. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them: have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the—earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” (Genesis. 1:26.) Such was the dominion over this whole lower creation which was confided to the first Adam. By his sin, as we all know, this was forfeited. But was it lost never to be regained? No; to man it was entrusted, and by man shall it yet be exercised in full blessedness and glory. One of the psalms takes up this point, as you will remember; bringing in the fact that there is a “Son of Man” to whom this place of universal power and authority pertains. “What is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little, lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works, of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field: the fowl of the air and the fish of the, sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea:” And them as marking the period in which this prophecy will have its fulfillment, the psalm ends as it begins, with “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name IN ALL THE EARTH!” (Psalms 8:4-9.),

In Hebrews 2 we have this very passage quoted by the apostle, and applied to our blessed Lord. “For unto the angels hath he not put in—subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.” (ver. 5.) By the expression, “world to come,” most people understand the states of disembodied spirits after death. But there is no such thought as this in the passage. It is literally, as all scholars agree, “the habitable earth to come.” In the coming age, or dispensation, the earth is not put in subjection to angels, but to man. “But one in a certain place testified, saving, What is man,” &c. the passage just quoted from the eighth psalm. “But now,” says the apostle, “we see not yet all things put under him.” (verse 8.) It is the purpose of God that all things shall be; but we see not yet the accomplishment thereof. But what do we see? “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor: that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” (ver. 9.) Part of the divine purpose is fulfilled Jesus is personally crowned with glory and honor; but he awaits, at the right hand of God, the arrival of the time when all things shall be subjected to his sway. He is yet to inherit, as the second Adam, all the glory of the dominion entrusted to the first, but forfeited by his fall.

But while it is as Son of Man he inherits all this glory, it is as the rejected Son of Man, as having died and risen again, that he actually takes it. This accounts for the passage just quoted going so far beyond Psalms 8 We do indeed read there, “Who hast set thy glory above the heavens:” but here we find the Son of Man himself in heaven, crowned with glory and honor Philip. 2: 6-11, where we read of Christ Jesus, “who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” What follows? The announcement that he “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” First, as God, he humbled himself to become man. Then, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself still lower, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. What ensues? “Wherefore”—because of his having thus humbled himself— “God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Now here is a glory conferred on Christ which surpasses all that we have been glancing at. And it is to hint, in this highest place of given glory, that the church is united. You will not mistake me. I am not affirming that we are associated with his essential Godhead glory. To affirm that would be blasphemy. Such glory he can share with no one “He gives not,” in this sense, “his glory to another.” Nor am I affirming that we shall participate in receiving the adoration to be rendered by every knee to that blessed name— “the name of JESUS.” No; but yet it is to him as in this, his highest place of given glory the glory conferred on him not as the Son of David, not as the Son of Abraham, nor, simply, as the Son of Man, but as the One who, being God, the Son of the Father, humbled himself to become the Son of Man, and not only so, but to become obedient unto death, the death of the cross—it is to him in the place of glory conferred upon him as the reward of this, his wondrous, infinite condescension, that the church is united. She is associated with him thus as head, sovereign, ruler over all things. Turn. to Ephesians where the apostle prays for the Ephesian believers to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, “that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ., when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and bath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the Head over all things TO THE CHURCH, WHICH IS HIS BODY, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” The church is the body, the fullness, of him whom God has thus raised from the dead, and set at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all powers, all things being put under his feet. And, as his body, the church is associated with him in this place of wondrous, highest glory. God “gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body.” The One who went down into the dust of death, having first stooped from the throne of the Eternal to become man, that he might go down into death, is the One whom God has raised from the dead to put all things under his feet; all things in heaven, and in earth, and under the earth. And God has thus given him to be Head over all things “to the church” It is not here that he is Head of the church: That is true likewise, blessed be God. But here he is presented as “head over all things to the church which is his body.” His body, the church, is thus associated with his glory, in this headship over all things his body.” The One who went down into the dust of death, having first stooped from the throne of the Eternal to become man, that he might go down into death, is the One whom God has raised from the dead to put all things under his feet; all things in heaven, and in earth, and under the earth. And God has thus given him to be Head over all things “to the church” It is not here that he is Head of the church: That is true likewise, blessed be God. But here he is presented as “head over all things to the church which is his body.” His body, the church, is thus associated with his glory, in this headship over all things (* Or, “I also say.” The Father had revealed to Simon who Jesus was; and Jesus says, “I also say”—I have something further to reveal: This has been suggested by another, and is the literal rendering of the Greek.) the world was. But he had veiled that glory in flesh and blood; and in the human nature which he had thus assumed; he had glorified the Father on the earth. He is here in Spirit beyond the cross: for he speaks of having finished the work which his Father had given him to do. He prays ‘for his disciples; and not for them only, but for all who should believe on him through their word. So that the prayer of Jesus embraces us, my brethren, as much as the disciples of that day. It is surely through their word we have believed on Jesus. Well, for all such Jesus prays, “that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” Now mark the next words. “And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one: and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” There is a glory which the Father has given to Jesus, and which Jesus has given to the church. By this glory, which the church thus shares with Jesus, the world is to know in millennial times; that the Father has loved the church, even as he loves his own Son. When the world shall see the church in the same glory with Christ, they will know that ‘She has been loved with the same love. And when is it that the world shall see us in the same glory With Jesus? “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3: 4) Or, “I also say.” The Father had revealed to Simon who Jesus was; and Jesus says, “I also say”—I have something further to reveal: This has been suggested by another, and is the literal rendering of the ‘Greek.) own him thus, for he had not then taken flesh. Saints after the return of Christ cannot own hint thus, for then his glory will be manifested: it will neither be veiled as when he was here on earth, nor hidden as now while he is at the right hand of God. But those who during the period of his humiliation and rejection have been led to know and to confess hint as the Son of God, form the body, the church, —a body which is associated with him in that highest place in heaven as well as on earth, which is his reward for having humbled himself from such infinite glory to such depths of sorrow and of shame.

I have said that the first mention of the church in Scripture is connected with the confession of Christ as the Son of God. It is in Matthew 16 our Lord asks, “Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.” No one knew him. Even in his lesser glories, as the Son of David and the seed of Abraham, no one by nature knew him or acknowledged him. “But whom say ye that I am?” our Lord inquired. This draws from Peter the confession, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” He does not merely say, Thou art the Christ. Blessed confession this, as a Jew, of the One who was the Messiah promised to Israel. But he goes on, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. The living God. His faith embraces the whole compass and blessed fullness of the truth as to the person of Jesus. He evidently lays emphasis on the word “living” the Son of the living God! What is our Lord’s reply? “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Romanists say, that Peter is the rock on which Christ declared he would, build his church but the heart which has been taught of God to join in Peter’s confession; needs no arguments to prove that “this rock” means, not Peter, but the blessed One himself, whom Peter had just declared to be “the Christ, the Son of the living God.” He himself, — known and confessed, not as the Son of David merely, or the Son of Abraham, or the Son of Man, but as the Son of the living God, was the rock on which the Church was to be built. And the gates of hell (or hades) were not to prevail against it. The Romanists speak of error as one of the gates of hell; and assuming that their church is the true and only one, they argue that no charge of fatal error can be justly brought against it; because of this assurance, that the gates of hell (of which, they say error is one) should not prevail against the church of Christ. Such is their grand argument for the infallibility of their church. But the word here rendered hell, is not gehenna, the place of torment for the wicked, but Jades, the place or state of separate souls; and it is —evidently used here as expressive of the power of death, in contrast with Peter’s confession of Christ as the Son of the living God. The church is founded on that which is beyond the —reach or the power of death: —even on the Son of the living God. With such a foundation, how could the gates of hades prevail against it?

Observe, too, it is “upon this rock I will build my church” It is not “upon this rock I have built,” or “upon this rock I am building—but, “upon this rock I will build my” church.” The work was still a future one when our Lord spake. He was presented to Israel as their Messiah; but they knew him not between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity,—even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.” Can anything be plainer than what we are here taught? We are not brought into that place of subjection to Israel which will belong to the spared nations of the earth in millennial times. We are not brought into the position which Israel itself will then occupy. No, but we are brought into one immeasurably higher and more blessed than either. The Jew, with all his privileges, is by nature dead in sins. The out-cast far-off Gentile is but in the same condition before God. What has God in his grace done for us both? Rich in mercy, he has quickened us, whether Jews or Gentiles, together with Christ. He has brought the Jew out of his natural position as a Jew, and the Gentile out of his natural position as a Gentile and brought both into the entirely new and wondrous position of being the —body of the heavenly, glorified man—; of him who being in the form of God, and thinking it not robbery to be equal with God, humbled himself to the death of the cross. He has now as his reward for this, a name which is above every name—the name of—JESUS—at which name indeed the church herself bows the adoring knee; but he is also “head over all things,” and we are his body. He died, as we have seen, to make in himself of—twain one new man. There is a new, mystic man; of which Christ in glory is the head, and of which all who believe during the period of its formation, are members. And this is the sense in which we are said to be “the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” All my members are the fullness, or complement, which constitute my body. If a joint of my little finger were wanting, I should not be a complete man. Thus is the church, the fullness, the complement, of this new heavenly man. Christ in glory is the head, and in all things, he has the pre-eminence. But the feeblest world, even as I ant not of the world. (Think of this, beloved brethren.) I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world (that is, take them away to heaven at once), but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Could anything present the holiness of the church, as one in life and character with its Head in glory, in a more solemn and affecting point of view than this? What is the measure of the holiness and separation from the world which properly attach to the church? Precisely that which attaches to her Head in glory. May we all lay these things to heart! that Jesus died. “Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but —that it should be holy and without. blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27.) Wondrous truth! “He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his’ own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church; for we, are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” “This is a great mystery,” says the Apostle, “but I speak concerning Christ and the church” to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13.) If, then, we are thus one with him who is the Son of the living God, and who has passed through death and set it aside, how can the gates of hades prevail against the church.

Let us now for a moment return to the epistle to the Ephesians. We have seen Israel’s calling is to temporal blessings in earthly places, even in the laud their to the fathers. But what are our blessings, as set forth in this epistle? “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” In heavenly places. Not a heavenly frame of mind, as many understand this passage. That would surely be included in spiritual blessings. But we are taught what the region is in which we are thus blessed with all spiritual blessings; it is in heavenly places. Let me ask you, my brethren, where is the Lord Jesus Christ? Where is the risen and glorified Son of Man? Is he not in heaven—literally and actually in heaven? And is it not in this very chapter that we are told of “the exceeding greatness of God’s power to us-ward who believe; according to the working of his mighty power, which, he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places?” This is exactly the same expression as in ver. 3, “Blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.” Our place is where he is, at the right hand of God. Our portion, treasure, inheritance—our life, our peace, our joy—in a word, our blessings are all there; “Blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” We are the body of him who actually sits there; and vitally united with him by the Holy Ghost, faith reckons—even as God accounts—his place to be our place in him between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, — even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.” Can anything be plainer than what we are here taught? We are not brought into that place of subjection to Israel which will belong to the spared nations of the earth in millennial times. We are not brought into the position which Israel itself will then occupy. No, but we are brought into one immeasurably higher and more blessed than either. The Jew, with all his privileges, is by nature dead in sins. The out-cast far-off Gentile is but in the same condition before God. What has God in his grace done for us both? Rich in mercy, he has quickened us, whether Jews or Gentiles, together with Christ. lie has brought the Jew out of his natural position as a Jew, and the Gentile out of his natural position as a Gentile and brought both into the entirely new and wondrous position of being the —body of the heavenly, glorified man—; of him who being in the form of God, and thinking it not robbery to be equal with God, humbled himself to the death of the cross. He has now as his reward for this, a name which is above every name—the name of—JESUS—at which name indeed the church herself bows the adoring knee; but he is also “head over all things,” and we are his body. He died, as we have seen, to make in himself of—twain one new man. There is a new, mystic man; of which Christ in glory is the head, and of which all who believe during the period of its formation, are members. And this is the sense in which we are said to be “the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” All my members are the fullness, or complement, which constitute my body. If a joint of my little finger were wanting, I should not be a complete man. Thus is the church, the fullness, the complement, of this new heavenly man. Christ in glory is the head, and in all things he has the pre-eminence. But the feeblest the Circumcision in the flesh, made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ —Christ was of Israel according to the flesh, but the Gentiles sustained no such relationship to him— “being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” Such was our condition as Gentiles. God was the God of Israel, and they had the hope of their Messiah’s coming, to fulfill all the promises made to their fathers. “But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” How nigh? So nigh as to be servants to Israel? their plowmen and vine-dressers, as the Gentiles will be in millennial times? Is that our place? Are we the favored plowmen and vinedressers of the more favored nation of God’s choice, Israel on the earth? Hear what the Apostle says. “For he (Christ) is our peace, who hath made both (Jews and Gentiles who believe) one, and bath broken down the middle wall of partition world, even as I am not of the world. (Think of this, beloved brethren.) I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world (that is, take them away to heaven at once), but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Could anything present the holiness of the church, as one in life and character with its Head in glory, in a more solemn and affecting point of view than this? What is the measure of the holiness and separation from the world which properly attach to the church? Precisely that which attaches to her Head in glory. May we all lay these things to heart! Privileges, is by nature dead in sins. The out-cast far-off Gentile is but in the same condition before God. What has God in his grace done for us both? Rich in mercy, he has quickened us, whether Jews or Gentiles, together with Christ. lie has brought the Jew out of his natural position as a Jew, and the Gentile out of his natural position as a Gentile and brought both into the entirely new and wondrous position of being the —body of the heavenly, glorified man—; of him who being in the form of God, and thinking it not robbery to be equal with God, humbled himself to the death of the cross. He has now as his reward for this, a name which is above every name—the name of—JESUS—at which name indeed the church herself bows the adoring knee; but he is also “head over all things,” and we are his body. He died, as we have seen, to make in himself of—twain one new man. There is a new, mystic man; of which Christ in glory is the head, and of which all who believe during the period of its formation, are members. And this is the sense in which we are said to be “the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” All my members are the fullness, or complement, which constitute my body. If a joint of my little finger were wanting, I should not be a complete man. Thus is the church, the fullness, the complement, of this new heavenly man. Christ in glory is the head, and in all things he has the pre-eminence. But the feeblese world, even as I ant not of the world. (Think of this, beloved brethren.) I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world (that is, take them away to heaven at once), but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Could anything present the holiness of the church, as one in life and character with its Head in glory, in a more solemn and affecting point of view than this? What is the measure of the holiness and separation from the world which properly attach to the church? Precisely that which attaches to her Head in glory. May we all lay these things to heart! that Jesus died. “Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself— for a, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27.) Wondrous truth! “He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church; for we, are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” “This is a great mystery,” says the Apostle, “but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

To one other point I would advert. Peter exhorts the saints to whom he wrote, to desire, as new-born babes, the sincere milk of the word, “if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed, indeed, of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer; up spiritual, sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” (1 Pet; 2: 3-5.) To whom coming as unto a living stone. Of whom is it that Peter. speaks? Of himself? Impossible. It is of him whom he had confessed as the Son of the living God. But observe the, next words, “disallowed indeed of men.” To whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men. The church is founded on Christ, known and confessed as the Son of the living God; but this stone is one “disallowed indeed of men.” It is a Christ rejected by the world; on which the church is founded. Here we have a most solemn test, and one of easy application, by which to judge any association professing to be the church, or a part of the church of God. If it be that which man can allow—if it be an institution which the world can own and adorn with goodly gifts—it is not the rejected church of the rejected Son of God. Let me not be misunderstood. There may be true members of the church of God associated with that which in its corporate character is wedded to the world, and impregnated with its spirit. But, clearly, the word before us would not only entitle us to ask; but would render it obligatory on us that we should ask, as to anything pretending to be the church; Is it, or is it not, disallowed of men? He who is the true foundation is so; and that which is really based thereon must share with him his rejection by the world. That which is supported by the world’s strength, adorned with the world’s glory, and crowned with the world’s plaudits, can scarcely be viewed as the lively stones built up as a spiritual house, on the one living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious the Lord quicken our consciences, and give us understanding in all things.

Time would fail to occupy half the ground which is covered by this most interesting subject. But there are two or three essential characteristics of the church, the body of Christ, which must not be passed by. And, first, its holiness. Separated to God in a nearness of relationship and intimacy of communion which attach to none besides, how can it be otherwise than holy? How affectingly is this taught in John 17, where our blessed Lord, praying for those who were to compose his body, the church, says, “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.” Again: “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because, they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (Think of this, beloved brethren.) I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world (that is, take them away to heaven at once), but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” Could anything present the holiness of the church, as one in life and character with its Head in glory, in a more solemn and affecting point of view than this? What is the measure of the holiness and separation from the world which properly attach to the church? Precisely that which attaches to her Head in glory. May we all lay these things to heart!

Then there is the unity of the church I put it to your consciences, my brethren, How many churches has Christ? We know, indeed, that unity is the false boast of Rome; and there are others who advance the same pretensions. But what is the unity thus gloried in? Not the holy unity for which Jesus prays in the seventeenth of John, but a unity which embraces the whole world in any given sphere where it is pretended that it exists. Rome (and would that in this she was alone), baptizes whole nations, and calls them the church, and then boasts of her unity and catholicity. But a unity subversive of holiness is not the unity of the bride of Christ. Has she, therefore, no unity at all? Has Christ many bodies; many brides? The thought is almost blasphemous, His spouse, his undefiled, is one. It is a solemn thought for us to ponder: “There is one body and one Spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling.” My brethren, is this that to which we are practically bearing witness that there is but one church, including all who are living members of Christ, quickened into union with him by the Holy Ghost sent heaven?

Further, one most essential characteristic of the church (may, we not —say the —essential characteristic—) is, the presence of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. Both the holiness and the unity of the church flow from this. Saints, disciples of Christ,— children of God, there were, before the descent of the Holy Ghost-persons quickened by the Spirit, born of the Spirit, as all saved persons in all dispensations are—but no church it was the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost that formed the church; and though the mystery of the distinct calling and glory of the church thus formed was not revealed until Paul received grace and apostleship from the Lord, still the body itself was formed at the clay of Pentecost—, and has existed from that chapter. When the Holy Ghost had descended from the Head in glory, to indwell, and animate, and govern, and build together, the members here below, then, and not until then, it could be said, “ There IS one body, and one Spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling.” Blessed truth may our souls receive it and hold it fast.

Finally, there is that in the relationship between Christ and the church which is—deeper and more blessed than the highest glory. Glory, as we have seen with regard to Christ himself, is displayed excellency. But are there not beauties and delights in Jesus, for the heart taught and enabled of the Holy Ghost to enjoy him, which cannot be displayed? Oh, yes! and if the church be, indeed, the bride, the Lamb’s wife, can it be her highest pleasure and delight that she shares all the given glory which displays the excellency of her Bridegroom and Lord? Surely there are reciprocal affections pertaining to that relationship which cannot be exhibited; a fellowship of spirit, a union of heart, a mutual joy in each other, perfectly ineffable. And into this we are called by faith, through the power of the Holy Ghost, to enter even now. But if we do speak of glory, what is her glory? All the given glory of her Head. Specially associated with him in that which is his highest given glory, what is there of his that can be communicated or shared in which she will not partake? Ask you what is the Bride’s portion? Her title declares her participation in all that constitutes the inheritance of the Bridegroom. Here it is we see the surpassing glory of the church. There is nothing like it in heaven or in earth, save the glory of him by union with whom it is she inherits it, and who in all things has the pre-eminence. It’ is by union with him that we receive this portion. And this explains what could not otherwise be understood. Suppose a, certain, king, the monarch of wide domains, should pass by all the several ranks of nobility in his empire; and choose for his bride and the partner of his throne one who, by birth, and parentage, and condition, was immeasurably beneath them all. Inferior to them as in herself she is, the moment she becomes, by his sovereign choice, the monarch’s bride, she takes her place by his side, and: all others rank beneath her then. Well, what are we, beloved brethren, in ourselves? Poor, wretched sinners, dead in trespasses and sins. Where has sovereign grace placed us? In living union, as his body, his bride, with the One whom God has raised from the dead, and set at his own right hand in heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this World, but also in that which is to come! Yes, God hath put all things under his feet, and given him to be head over all things, to, the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all! And to think that most of. those who form this body are poor sinners of the Gentiles. Surely the crumbs which have fallen to us, poor Gentile dogs, prove to be, a far richer portion than the children’s bread! Would that our hearts were more conversant with these blessed realities! How dull and unattractive does all earthly glory seem in the light of this glory that excelleth. And how may we reckon, with the apostle, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. God grant us thus to know, and thus to estimate, the place of blessing and of joy in which he has set, us, in union with Christ, at his right hand. W. T.

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Brazen Altar

“And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass. And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basins, and his flesh hooks, and his fire pans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass. And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brazen rings in the four corners thereof. And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar. And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass. And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it. Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was showed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.”

And thou shalt make an altar. (Or, more literally, the altar. Compare chapter 38: 1.) And he made the altar of burnt offering.) The sin-offering was burnt, or consumed, without the camp: the burnt, or ascending offering, was converted into a sweet savor on the altar of burnt offering, by the fire which came originally from God, and which was kept always burning in it.

In the one case we see Jesus, who knew no sin, made sin for us, and putting sin away by the sacrifice of himself.

In the other, Jesus, the spotless victim, offering up himself as a sweet savor unto God, and his acceptance manifested by his resurrection from the dead, and ascension to the right hand of the Father.

Outside the camp it is wrath consuming, and forever setting aside the sins which Jesus bore.

At the brazen altar it is justice and holiness feeding with complacency on the excellency of the victim.

At the golden altar it is holiness delighting itself with the preciousness of him who lived and died for, us. The altar of burnt offering, cleansed, anointed, sanctified—an altar most holy, on which the fire was always burning, and the sacrifice always consuming, was the place of communion between God and his people, and between the people and their God. (See Exodus 29:36-46.)

It sets forth Christ, through whom we draw nigh to God, and through whom God draws nigh to us, on the ground of his atoning work, and of his accepted sacrifice; a sweet savor of rest, on which every perfection of the Godhead reposes with infinite satisfaction and delight.

The Material.

Thou shalt make the altar of shittim wood. “Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith... a body hast thou prepared me.” (Hebrews 10: 5.).

In Order That Jesus, Through His Atoning Sacrifice, Might Furnish a Meeting Place Between God’ and the Soul, It Was Requisite That He Should Become Incarnate. This Truth Is Set Before Us in the Shittim Wood: THE DIMENSIONS OF THE ALTAR.

Five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare; and the height thereof shall be three cubits. Twice the length and height of the ark of the covenant.

These dimensions were fixed by God himself, who also prepared a body for Christ, every way adapted and adequate for his work and sufferings, wherein he has laid the foundations for unbroken communion between God and his people.

The Horns of the Altar.

And thou shalt make the horns of it upon. the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass, ver. 2.) The horn in Scripture is the emblem of power.

“Bind the sacrifice with cords,” says the psalmist, “even unto the horns of the altar.” (Psalms 118:27.)

In the garden of Gethsemane we see this thought strikingly exemplified. There we see Jesus, the beloved Son of the Father, whose dwelling place eternally was the Father’s bosom; that holy One, who knew no sin, and that blessed One, “God over all blessed forever,” drawing back from, and deprecating the enduring of, God’s wrath, the imputation of sin, and the infliction of the curse.

Yet the cords of love and of obedience bound him—love and obedience to the Father, love and compassion to us. So that, in the end, we see the willing victim passing through the three long hours of darkness, made sin for us, and nailed to the accursed tree.

This as to the victim; then as to the sinner or the worshipper.

In 1 Kings 1:50, we read, “And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.”

And again, chapter 2: 28, “And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.”

What strong consolation is provided for the poor sinner who flies for refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before him in the Gospel, founded on the perfect and accepted sacrifice of the sinner’s Savior and the sinner’s friend!

And the believer, toe, finds here a refuge and a rest. And the shittim wood and the brass-emblems of the tender human sympathy, and the Divine Almighty power of the Savior of the lost, and the sustainer of the saved, give faith its firm holdfast.

The sinner and the saint find in Jesus, who is here set forth, one able to sympathize, and mighty to save.

By laying hold on the horns of the altar, ‘faith identifies itself with the altar and the sacrifice. The sinner or the believer appropriating to their own necessities the provisions of God: drawing nigh to him in the way of his own selecting, and through the sacrifice of his own providing.

The wood and the brass—the sympathy and—the power of ‘him who is thus set forth, giving, faith its grasp of undying tenacity.

But what a solemn lesson is read out to us from these horns of the brazen altar! In Exodus 21:14 God says, “But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor to slay him with guile, thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.”

For the presumptuous sinner, and the hypocritical deceiver, the atonement of Jesus itself provides no shelter, while he continues it is of no avail for a person to, say, I am trusting in the blood of Jesus, while presumptuously continuing in sin, or hypocritically professing repentance. “Thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die,” is the stern command of Divine inflexible justice. Solemn, solemn thought! How many, a soul has gone on for years, clinging with vain hope to a mere profession of faith in—Jesus, lulled into a false peace, with a spirit unsanctified and a soul unsaved; to perish at last. Thus was it in type with Adonijah.

“And Solomon said, if he will skew himself a worthy man, there shall not a hair of him fall to the earth; but if wickedness be found in him, he shall die.” (1 Kings 1:52.) And so it turned out. “And King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he fell upon him that he died.”

(1 Kings 2:25.)

More solemn still, when in this false hope and unfounded peace the soul passes into the unseen world, to be taken from that altar and plunged into eternal death. Falling asleep in the presumptuous—security of a mere profession, to awake in everlasting torments. “I will die here,” says Joab, and he died there; but he fell by the hand of justice. (1 Kings 2:29-32.)

Still, while we thus speak because Scripture so teaches, Jesus is able and ready to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by him. And as the horns were at the four corners of the altar, so there is a refuge provided in Jesus for those who come from every quarter. Here is provided a harbor, a shelter of rest “From every stormy wind that blows, From every swelling tide of woes.”

And upon these horns of the altar the blood of the sacrifice was put—faith’s warrant to lay hold.

There Is No Crown to This Altar, As on. the Golden, Altar of Incense, Because It Sets Forth Jesus on the Cross, and Not on the Throne, Dying, Rising, and Ascending, but Not yet As Glorified. °If Any Crown Were Suitable, It Must Be a Crown of Thorns THE OVERLAYING OF THE ALTAR.

And thou, shalt overlay it faith brass. Brass is the emblem of enduring strength. In the case of Jesus that strength was Divine. The shittim wood expresses his human susceptibility of suffering, the brass his Divine power of endurance.

As God, he could not suffer; as man, he could and did; and as the God-man he could endure the sufferings adequate to the salvation of sinners.

The Vessels of the Altar.

And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basins, and his fleshhooks, and his fire pans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt maim of brass, ver. 3.) Everything connected with the atoning work of Jesus needed to be of enduring strength, and so it was. There was nothing imperfect; nothing that gave way’ under the mighty stress of enormous suffering and woe.

The Brazen Grate.

And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brazen rings in the four corners thereof. And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net May be even to the midst of the altar, ver. 4, 5.) This brazen grate ‘was fixed by the brazen rings in the center of the altar, half way; or one and a half cubits from the bottom; and thus on a level with the mercy seat. Sweet and significant fact This grate of brass formed the support for the fuel and the sacrifices, and sets forth, in the internal experience of Jesus in his sufferings, the strength of endurance within. It is thus expressed by the psalmist: “In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.” (Psalms 138: 3

The Staves.

And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay. them’ with brass. And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it.) The staves adapted the brazen altar to the wilderness condition of God’s people, so that the altar accompanied them in all their journeyings.

Wherever the camp pitched, the altar rested; wherever the court was enclosed, the altar was placed within at the entrance; wherever the tent of the congregation was set up, the altar stood at the door.

The daily sacrifice on the altar of burnt offering, was the standing link of communion between God and his people typically. So that the taking away of the daily sacrifice was a national calamity.

The fire was always burning in this altar, and never permitted to go out. The victim always consuming on it by day and by night, and the sweet savor of it was always ascending. Thus the ground of communion was at all times prepared, and the way of communion at all times open. On this perpetual burnt offering the other especial sacrifices (as on the Sabbaths, new moons, &c.) were burnt, and the sin and trespass offerings presented as the occasion required. Even so now, though our God is a consuming fire (and the apprehension of this is ever to be kept alive in our hearts, and never to be forgotten), the sacrifice of Jesus has met, and forever satisfies, all the demands of holiness and justice on our behalf. On this account, “ if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse ‘us from all unrighteousness.”

The ground of communion has been made good, the way of access is ever open, the fragrance of the sacrifice of Jesus is ever before God. So that wherever we are, and whatever our circumstances, communion with God may be maintained unbroken, and our walk down here may be an Enoch walk—a walk with God.

The Staves of the Table of Show Bread Were Connected with the Border (Chapter 25: 27); for the Guarding of Communion Is Especially Important in Connection with Our Wilderness State. the Staves of the Golden Altar Are Connected with the Golden Crown; for It Is a Glorified Christ Through Whom We Worship. the Staves of the Brazen Altar Are Connected with the Grate of Brass; for It Is a Suffering Savior Who Laid the Foundations of Our Constant Communion with God: THE DIVINE PATTERN.

Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was showed thee in the mount, so shall they make it, ver. 8.) “Hollow with boards.” Jesus, though mighty to suffer, and almighty to save, was the empty and dependent one. “He was crucified through weakness.”

“As it was showed thee in the mount.” How different is the appearance of Calvary, and of him that suffered there, when seen on earth’s low level, and with human thoughts and feelings, to what it is —when looked at in the light of God, as God himself reveals the marvelous scene! In spirit, raised above surrounding things, and upon the mount with God, looking down on Calvary’s Cross! Thus are we to form our conceptions of it; thus shall we learn its mysteries and its uses, its value and its power; and thus shall our souls experience the blessing which God has provided: And communion with God on the ground of sacrifice must be according to God’s order and thoughts, and not according to the plans and opinions of men.

T. N.

(The Court of the Tabernacle in the Number for August.)

The Predicted Corruption of Christianity and Its Final Results

Read 2 Thessalonians. 2:1-12; and REVELATION. 17. and 18.

Those who were present here last Tuesday evening will remember the happy and exalted theme of that evening’s lecture. My brother addressed you, on that occasion, upon “The distinct calling and glory of the church” of God. The varied glories of him who is the church’s living Head came under our review, whilst we were shown the distinctive glory which he will share with, and confer upon, “the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” But how opposite a scene is that which we have to contemplate tonight! We have to consider “The predicted corruption of Christianity; and its final results”—the history, character, and doom of “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” This is descending as from heaven to earth. We have to turn away from a scene of purity, and holiness, and glory, to one of impurity, and drunkenness, and shame. We have to turn away from the contemplation of the one true and heavenly church—the living body which is united to its risen and glorified Head, and which is called to a heavenly walk and conversation even now, and to the participation of his glory and his throne hereafter—we have now to turn away from all this, to the revolting spectacle of a shameless, drunken woman, sitting on wild beast, and ministering, even under a religious guise, to the vilest passions of the kings, and governments, and people of the earth.

Yet who shall deny that this is, in proper time and place—if we cannot say our privilege —yet still our duty. It was said by one of the wisest men of old, “There is a time for all things.” And: surely there is a time, not only to look: on the bright side of things, but when, however painful it may be, it becomes our duty to descend from the contemplation of so happy and so cheering a theme as that of the heavenly calling and glory of the Church, to the very different subject of “Babylon the Great; the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” And may God preserve us from presumption, and give us teachableness of mind, while these terrible and sorrowful scenes pass under our review: I would remark, in the second place, how important it is to avoid confusion of thought in our endeavors to interpret the Wonderfully varied imagery set before us in the prophetic Scriptures. It has been very common with expositors ta explain almost all the prophetic symbols of evil as meaning Popery. How often do we hear it said, “This beast means Popery. The woman on it back means Popery. The little horn that grew on its head means Popery: And —even the two-horned—beast of the thirteenth chapter of this book means Popery.” Now, surely, there must be some strange confusion here. The Whole of these varied, differing, and in some cases even contrasted symbols, cannot be rightly interpreted of one and the same system. Surely the woman must denote something else than the beast which carries her! Surely the woman on the back of the beast must mean something else than that which is intended by the horn upon this beast’s head! Surely the beast, the woman upon its back, the horns upon its head, and the ether two-horned beast, cannot all mean one and the self-same thing!

But let us at once address ourselves to our task. The portion we have read, from 2 Thessalonians, predicts in most impressive terms that there should be a falling away,” an apostasy in the church. The mystery of iniquity was already “working” therein in the apostle’s time; it was to result in the revelation of “the man of sin,” the “wicked one;” and he is to be destroyed only by the brightness of the revelation of the Lord in flaming fire from heaven. Such, in brief, are the scriptural predictions as to the corruption of Christianity, and its final results.

In the symbol of Babylon the Great, however, we see the “mystery of iniquity” in its full maturity.

“MYSTERY” is the inscription that is written on the forehead of the mystic woman, of this, the seventeenth chapter of the book of Revelation. It is, we believe, the same mystery of iniquity that is spoken of by Paul in 2, Thessalonians.

I beseech you, dear friends, to mark with close attention the vision here presented to us. Read specially verses 1 to 6. There was seen a woman arrayed in purple and scarlet, decked with gold, and precious. stones, and pearls, and having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and filthiness of her fornications. This woman was seen sitting on a beast, and the beast had seven heads and ten horns. The ten horns ultimately prove the destruction of the woman; they hate her, and make her desolate and naked, and eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. Then those horns themselves, along with the wild beast, the power of which they wielded, are overcome in a last conflict by the King of kings, and Lord of lords. Ponder well these mystic scenes. Do not say that “it is better to let such mysteries alone.” They are revealed mysteries, and they belong to you, because so revealed. God would not have given us them had he judged them “better let alone” by his people. It is written of this very book, filled as it is with mystic scenes like these, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things that are written therein; for the time is at hand.” Let us then ponder well the revelation here presented to our view: Let us treasure up its instruction and may God, by the Holy Ghost, seal it upon our hearts.

We have said that in the symbol of Babylon the Great “is shown to us the full maturity of the mystery of iniquity”—of the apostacy, or “falling away” in the church of God. Let us define and consider this explanation so me what more closely, and in detail.

1. The woman is seen seated on a beast, as well as on many waters. Now this beast certainly denotes the Roman empire—the Roman empire, I believe, throughout its whole duration, whether in its pagan; its papal, or its future antichristian state. It means the same thing as the many waters, —the “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” It means Rome secular, Rome civil and political. Whatever may be the religion Rome professes, it is still—the secular empire of Rome that is denoted by the “beast.” Whether the empire be considered in its Oat whole and undivided condition, or in its present broken and divided one, still it is represented by this symbol of a seven-headed beast: Our next lecture will furnish proof of this position, that by the “beast.”—here is meant—the secular empire of Rome. But if by the beast is meant the secular and political power, what explanation’ shall we give as to the woman that is here seen seated on it? What great system is there to be seen seated upon, and supported by, the secular power of Europe? Is it not plainly the ecclesiastical or church power? Is it not the church in alliance with, and maintained by the state? We repeat it once more, —that we believe this symbol denotes corrupt and apostate; national Christianity.

2. One of the seven angels previously seen, here calls on the apostle to come and see “the judgment of the great whore.” Afterward (see chapter 21:1-9) another of those angels calls him to come and behold “the Bride; the Lamb’s wife.” There is seen, then;’ that. which is true and that which is false—that which is chaste and that which is corrupt. There is seen that which is genuine and real, and that which is but spurious and fictitious—that which is betrothed to the Lamb, and that which is united with and seated upon the beast.

In each case it is worthy of Our notice, that there is a two-fold symbol a woman and a city. Each woman is. represented also as a city. Each city is Symbolized also as a woman. In the one case it is said, “Come hither, I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he carried me. away in the spirit to A great and high mountain, and sheaved me that great city, the Holy Jerusalem (chapter 21 In the other we read, “the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” Thus the heavenly Jerusalem is seen as the Bride, the Lamb’s wife; and that great city, mystic Babylon, is seen as “ the great whore, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. May we not, then, presume, that by this mystic Babylon is meant, in principle, that corruption of Christianity which is our subject this evening? May we not regard all that is true to Christ as belonging, in principle, to the one symbol; and all that which, being nominally of Christ, is, in reality, false to him, as belonging, in principle, to the other symbol? May we not say, that while every true Christian is a member of the bride of Christ, every spurious one is a member of this corrupt system which pretends to be such? —that, while every truly quickened person is a living stone of the heavenly city, every one that has Merely— “a name to live” may be regarded as a stone in this mystic Babylon.

3. But is there not also to be seen a definite organization now so prominently existing throughout what. is called “Christendom,” as to justify the application to it, in a special way, of this symbol of a great mystic whore? We doubt not that there is.

In this very chapter, indeed, we have both a general and a special locality assigned to the woman. In verse 3, she is said to sit “upon many Waters;” and in verse 15, these waters are explained by the angel to mean “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues;” whilst in verse 9, we read that “the seven heads (of the beast) are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth.” This seems distinctly to fix upon Rome itself—that notoriously seven-hilled city —a city which, not only as to its ecclesiastical system, but also, in by-gone ages, as to its secular power, has reigned over the kings of the earth—upon ROME itself, we say, as the center of power, and special seat of this great scarlet whore. Yes; though “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues,” are, in the wide sense, the seat of Babylon, yet is the center and special locality of her power to be found at Rome.

We doubt not, then, that whilst all that is Christian merely in profession and in name belongs, in a wide and general, yet, true and solemn sense, to Babylon the Great, yet that enormous system of foul ecclesiastical corruption, of filthy spiritual fornication, of which the metropolis is at Rome, is what is here specially intended to be set forth in its own true and revolting colors.

4. That the power of the woman is something distinct from the power of the beast, we may further learn from this important consideration, that the beast is seen in supreme power after the woman has been destroyed. (Read verses 12 to 14, and also chapter 19: 19, 20.) There are ten horns that give their power unto the beast, and destroy the woman. The power of the beast is ultimately the destruction of the woman. How, then, can the two be but one? It is said that the beast is. Popery, and that the woman also is Popery. Then Popery destroys itself, and exists in full power after its own felo de se! This interpretation surely cannot stand! Both symbols cannot mean Popery. Neither, for the same reason, can both the woman and the beast symbolize the secular power.

The one rides upon the other, until the beast, wearied out by the extortions, the impudent pretensions, and the arrogant assumptions of the whore, will bear her hated weight no longer. The woman is then thrown down and trampled on, and gored to death. Yet still the beast is seen in all its strength.

5. What power, then, have we witnessed thus seated upon the secular powers? —that has even “reigned over the kings” and governments of the earth? What great system is there to be seen thus ruling the nations? What but the ecclesiastical power? What but the corrupt national churches of Christendom? They are, indeed supported by the secular powers, and yet they constantly aspire to ‘their control.

And, indeed, what emblem can be imagined so aptly suited to characterize a corrupt and spurious religious system as that of an unchaste woman here designated, “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth?” The loathsome thing professes itself to be betrothed to Christ, to be espoused to him. Yet it is wedded to the sensual pleasures, and wealth, and power of the earth. What emblem so fit, then, to describe it, as the one here actually employed! The secular power avows its own stern character—acts openly on the principle of force. The “wild beast” therefore fitly characterizes it. But this other system, whilst it rides upon the beast, and rejoices when, enraged, it scatters and devours—still acts by subtlety and treachery, rather than by any direct, open exercise of force. It presents “a golden cup, full of abominations, and filthiness of fornications.” With this wine does it make the kings and nations of the earth drunk and infuriate. What is there that has done this, except Popery, and that which partakes of its nature and its principles? And what could set forth more vividly much that we see in actual, powerful operation, even in our own day, than the emblem presented to us? What is the struggle that at this very time engages the earnest attention of all classes throughout our own nation? It is a struggle between an ecclesiastical and a secular system. It is a struggle between the woman and the beast. The woman will, if possible, not only ride, but hold the reins! It is a struggle as to the terms on which the beast will condescend to carry—to support the woman. Shall she hold the reins? This is the gist of the serious and exciting struggle of these “latter days.” Alas! that any evangelical denomination should be found in this day that would not repudiate such support!

6. Such thoughts, however, lead us to a further important contrast. The great whore rides upon and is supported by the beast. What, on the other hand, is the support, the stay, the strength, the life, the hope, the joy of “the bride, the Lamb’s wife? We see her elsewhere (or that which is of the sane life and spirit with her) represented as “coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved.” Yes, here we find the answer. The true church leans on Jesus. He is unseen now, it is true. But faith rests on him notwithstanding. “In whom, though now we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:” Here is the source of energy and consolation to the bride. This explains the mystery of her unwearying foot, and her unworldly carriage. She is heaven-sustained, and heaven-bound, for she is heaven-born— “born from above.” Christ is—or should be—all in all to her. She is one with Christ indeed; by “joints and bands” has she nourishment ministered from him. But this false woman, however she may boast, knows nothing of that life which is by faith. No, “sight”—the world—its patronage and endowments, —is all she knows. She knows “the beast which carrieth her,” “the many waters”. (and mark well herein passing, that those “many waters” are precisely what the symbol of “the beast” sets forth) — she knows the “many waters” upon which she sitteth.

What a picture, then, beloved friends, is here presented to our view, of corrupted and apostate Christianity! Here we see it in its matured and most hideous deformity. It is painful to look so closely into it. Such, however, it actually is, as drawn by the hand of inspiration. But how does it reach a pitch of wickedness so monstrous and revolting? For a solution of this question let us look to prophetic details, and then briefly at what is revealed to us, as to the doom of this Babylon the Great. Let us observe the introduction, and then trace the progress of this apostacy.

The first mention we have in the New Testament of that divine institution into which this corruption has been introduced—in which this apostacy has taken place—at least the first mention of it by its specific name, “the church,” is in the 16th chapter of Matthew. Peter’s confession there recorded, proves that he had truly discerned the right foundation of the church. The building of the church, however, is not spoken of there, as if it had then been commenced. The Lord said, “On this rock I will build my church;” not, on this rock I am building it. The building of the church upon that foundation—of the church properly so called — did not commence till Pentecost. The foundation was indeed being laid—laid in the incarnation, and death, and resurrection of the Son of the living God. But the building thereon, in their proper church character, of the living stones, was a work not commenced at that time. Living stones indeed there were— “children of God” there were; but never to that time, nor previously to Pentecost, were they gathered into the unity, or framed together into the building, of the church.

In the eighteenth chapter of this gospel we have further and most important instruction as to the church. Only in that place, indeed, besides the one just noticed, have we throughout the four gospels any distinctive mention of it. We have there, (Matt. 18: 15-20,) in connection with an important rule as to discipline, the grand principle of the constitution of the church of God. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Of such an assembly it is that the Lord says, “Tell it to the church,” and, “if he will not hear the church.” This passage presents the very simplest idea of the church “ Wherever ‘two’ of three are gathered together in the name of Jesus,” there is the church.

We may now turn to the Acts of the Apostles, where, in the early chapters, we have a narration of the actual commencement of the divine work of the building of the church of God. We must quote one or two passages—we must look, for a moment at least, upon the fair and lovely spectacle of a pure and uncorrupted church. For a moment—alas! for a moment only, did the church so exist. “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the Multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all.” “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart; praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” Such was the church when first established. Beautiful spectacle! Fair and lovely scene! Would that no other features had ever been developed therein!

But a change most disastrous had been already predicted. I may here refer, though very hastily, to those parables in the thirteenth of Matthew, at which we glanced for a different purpose in the second of these lectures.

And, first as to the parable of the sower. What is the instruction given us therein, as to the special point in question? It is this: that there should be very many plants produced which should bring forth no fruit to perfection. Some of the seed should spring up only to be burnt up by the sun, picked up by the fowls, or choked by thorns. Already, then, we have intimation of much spurious, or, at least, abortive, vegetation. Surely this is no favorable presage for the church! But we have one parable—that of the wheat and the tares; one still more marked as to its import. The explanation of it, as given by the Lord himself, is as follows: — “The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are the angels.” This is most clear and solemn. Amongst the wheat there should be sown “tares;” that is, a plant with a specious but spurious resemblance to wheat. The tares; then, denote, not all the children of the wicked one, but such only as are sown among the wheat, as counterfeit and spurious plants. They are hypocrites, and, indeed, false professors of all descriptions, whether consciously so or not. Now these were not only to be sown, but to grow together with the wheat, even until the harvest. Corruption will exist in the, church, so-called, until the end of the age. The harvest is the end of this mixed state of Christendom. Plainly, then, there will be no millennium before the harvest. But this we have already seen; and I introduce it now only as a passing thought. We shall see more as to the harvest when we come to the question of the final results of the apostacy.

The third parable spoken by the Lord is as follows:— “Another parable put he forth unto them; saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which, indeed, is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.” Such was to be the progress of Christianity, and of the great institution that should result there. The gospel seed was a very little thing at the first. But the plant that sprung therefrom grew very great. While the affair was very little, the world despised it. When it grew somewhat strong—strong in its own native, heavenly strength—the world began to hate it, and oppose it; yet, as is the case with certain plants, it grew the faster as the world trampled it down yet more and more. It even gained over to itself at, length both wealth and worldly influence. Then came a crisis and a change. The world would enter into a compact with it. The world came over to it— not really—but in pretense and profession only. The world will be anything, or profess anything, or adopt anything, that may turn out to its temporal advantage. The world will go wherever there is any earthly benefit to be got. When the ecclesiastical tree had grown great, and afforded comfortable shelter, without being scrupulous as to those who came for shelter—then worldlings would nestle in it. Then the unclean birds—the harpies, vultures, cormorants, owls, and bats—would flock beneath its branches. Behold the attractive branches of this mystic tree! What a lure does the worldling find in its dignities and endowments—its dues, and fees, and tithes—its rights episcopal and hierarchal, monastic and manorial! Truly this tree is great The Babylonish monarch-the Babylonish empire itself—of old, was symbolized by this very metaphor of a great tree. Nebuchadnezzar, as you will remember, was shown to himself as a vast tree, “the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth, The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all:” tie beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt under the boughs thereof, and all “flesh was fed of it.” (See Daniel 4:10-12, and 19-22.) Such was the literal Babylon of old. How fitting, then, the parable of this great mustard tree as a symbol of the mystic Babylon of modern days? Yes, let us be assured, this great attractive tree is none other than mystic “Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth.”

But we must notice, also, the parable of the leaven; which was hid by a certain woman in three measures of meal. On a previous occasion we likewise referred to this parable, as affording proof that the second advent will be pre-millennial. We now refer to it, because it furnishes most remarkable instruction as to our present subject—the corruption of Christianity.

We saw, on that occasion, that “leaven” always means something evil—that it never represents the Gospel! We saw that when typically used in the offerings of old, it denoted sin and imperfection; that when Christ-Christ alone-was typified, there might be no leaven introduced. Thus, specially the paschal bread must be unleavened; since in “Christ out passover,” there was no sin: whilst, in certain offerings of thanksgiving made by imperfect worshippers, leaven was to be introduced. We saw that the Lord spoke of leaven in an evil sense, but never in a good one. “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” Paul also used the term as indicative of evil only. The church (see 1 Corinthians, 5: 6-8) was to be a new, unleavened lump; the “old leaven” must be” purged out: It was not that a new leaven should be introduced. No; the lump must be “unleavened;” there must be, not “the leaven of malice and wickedness,” but “the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth:” In Galatians, too, the warning was, “This persuasion cometh not from him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” Here the leaven was legality—they were leaving the simple gospel for the abrogated bondage of the law. This leaven would leaven the whole lump, if not faithfully purged out.

Alas! the parable before us declares that the Whole lump should at last be leavened. The “kingdom of heaven”—that vast system which, at the first, was the kingdom of heaven in reality, and which assumes to be so still, but which shall be the kingdom of heaven in name only, when the leaven has wrought in it thoroughly—the whole of that vast system shall at length be “like unto leaven.” No meal shall be easily discerned therein. The leaven only shall be prominent and visible everywhere, and to all; even the Christians shall be infected by it. At first the church was a pure, unleavened lump. Intro—these “three measures of meal”—not into the world at large, but into the new unleavened lump-the pure and pentecostal church was the leaven secretly and clandestinely introduced. A woman hid it therein: Who was she? Was it not the mystic woman of Revelation 17? Was not the working of this leaven, the working of that “mystery of iniquity” which, in 2 Thessalonians 2: 7, we are told did, even in those apostolic days, “already work?” Is there not, I appeal to you, an obvious identity between the leaven of Matthew 13, the mystery of iniquity of. 2 Thessalonians 2, and the mystic’ Babylon the Great of Revelation 17.?

There is also, in this chapter, the parable of the net, which gathered fish both good and bad, the separation of which takes place only at the end of the age. The kingdom of heaven popularly, but not accurately, called “the church”—would thus gather all kinds of people into it. Thus, all that we have been setting forth receives here further confirmation.

The parable of the “ten virgins,” in Matthew 25, tells us the same sad story. They all slumbered and slept. If not all asleep, still none remained quite awake. The midnight cry alone aroused them. Thus, again it appears the apostacy lasts until the coming of the Lord.

These numerous predictions began almost immediately to have their sad accomplishment. Ananias and Sapphira are well-known proofs of this. The Grecian widows, too, soon felt the sorrowful results of partiality; or else were themselves guilty of evil surmising. The Acts of the Apostles gives still further instances of incipient evil. In the Epistle to the Romans we have a solemn warning as to the failure and cutting off of the Gentile branches of the “olive tree.” But at Corinth things were already in a fearful state. There were parties formed within the bosom of the church. There were strifes, and envyings, and divisions. There were also great disorders at the table of the Lord. There was even the toleration of a flagrantly incestuous person in communion. There was also a system of Judaizing, of legal and unevangelical teaching, boastingly pursued there.

The churches of Galatia were in a worse position still. There the foundation-error of Popery was being openly introduced. People ask when Popery began—how early its errors were introduced—whether six hundred, eight hundred, a thousand, or fourteen hundred years ago. And Romanists themselves boastingly inquire whether their doctrines were not held even by the primitive and apostolic church. This is the answer: Many of them were held by persons even in the days of the inspired Apostles themselves. The proof of this is most decisive: we have in the apostolic epistles most earnest protestations against many of those doctrines—doctrines then actually held and taught. The Epistle to the Galatians is a divinely inspired protest against some of these doctrines. Luther but re-published it at the Reformation. It was found to contain the whole strength, the grand drift, the very pith and marrow of the controversy between him and Rome. Why then should we postdate any Popish error? No, let us grant this to the Romanists, that though: many of their doctrines are new and modern, yet others of them are in very truth, as old—or very nearly seen as the Church—of God itself. Their doctrine of justification by the united and blended merit of Jesus Christ and of human works, is especially a very old one. The Whole Epistle to the Galatians—was written against it. The apostacy had set in with terrible and bewitching power throughout Galatia. The Apostle Paul had to change his voice, even as to his own children—in the Lord. He “stood in doubt of them.” Was it possible that he had labored in vain? They had evidently fallen from the liberty of their position, and were again ‘entangled with the yoke of bondage: Well might, he exclaim, “This persuasion cometh hot from him that calleth—you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” (See chapter 5. verses 8-and -9.) Here again we have the leaven mentioned. In this case it was the leaven of legality—in other words, of self-righteousness; at the bottom of it was pride. It Was the result of unbrokenness of spirit of a defective apprehension, both as to the wickedness of the human heart, and as to the strictness—the exceeding broadness and spirituality of God’s holy law. This, doubtless, lay at the foundation of the error; and the teaching of Judaizing partizans, helped it into avowed form and shape. This leaven, we may say emphatically, leavens the whole lump. —My dear friends, the root of the corrupt tree lies here. This is the core of the apostacy. All its other evils follow in due course: The Puseyite movement, as it is called, began with a revival of —this error as to justification. The popular Lectures on Justification, by a leader of that school, are a proof —of what I assert. Popery has its origin here. It is indigenous, in the corrupt soil of the unregenerate heart. We all have Within us, by nature, these popish tendencies: We do not need baptismal regeneration, and Popish rites to impart them. But we need to be born again of the Spirit of God as the only possible means of correcting them. There is no other way of escape from the dread fowler’s snares. We must be born again; and we must learn that our salvation is altogether of grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and that we are not “under law, but under grace.” Then only do we know the liberty wherewith Christ makes his people free. Then only are we placed beyond the power of priestly pretensions. But then we are free indeed! Salvation in, Jesus, by grace alone, through faith—salvation in him, known and realized in blessed peace and power, lifts its possessor clean out of the world of superstition and delusion! It raises him above the region of priestly mediatorship. The One High Priest above does all the proper priestly work for such a one. A thousand bonds are snapped asunder in a moment, when the soul of a poor sinner finds its full rest in Christ. You need not prove to him, that pains and penalties—purgatorial fires, and priestly indulgences and absolutions—pilgrimages, high masses, and beads, and crosses, are all empty, needless; and vain. No! the vital principle of all these has been nailed already to the true cross. The principle of them no longer triumphs in his heart. Grace reigns there now lie stands fast in the liberty wherewith Christ bath made him free, and he rejects every priestly interference that would bring him into bondage. The true priest—the Great High Priest—has emancipated him from the thraldom of every usurper. The snare is broken, and the captive is escaped on other points—if he will just grant them this, that he will not “preach”,—(that is their own mode of putting it) if only he will avoid the declaration of salvation by Christ alone, and of the glorious Gospel of God, which proclaims a full salvation by him forever, they can bear— all else. But that they cannot bear! When you proclaim the Gospel full and free, you then begin to drag them beyond their ‘depth you drown them in deep waters. There is a mysterious power attending it, which they feel and know full well, baffles all their skill, and which translates all those who heartily receive it into another world—a world of liberty. It translates them out of the kingdom of darkness and delusion into the heavenly, free, and happy. kingdom of God’s own dear Son. May we then have grace to remember where— our, true strength lies I May we know both our best weapon, and how to use it drag them beyond their depth you drown them in deep waters. There is a mysterious power attending it, which they feel and know full well, baffles all their skill, and which translates all those who heartily receive it into another world—a world of liberty. It translates them out of the kingdom of darkness and delusion into the heavenly, free, and happy. kingdom of God’s own dear Son. May we then have grace to remember where—our, true strength lies! May we know both our best weapon, and how’ to use it.

Let it not be supposed, however, that in thus speaking of the actions and pretensions of priests, I refer to those true servants of our God, who assume under him, and as called by him, the pastoral or the evangelizing office. To feed the flock, and preach the Gospel, are ministrations both important, and Scriptural. But priesthood, which is the proper and untransmissible prerogative of, the Lord Jesus, if assumed by than in any Other sense than that of the spiritual priesthood of all true believers in common, is, in this present dispensation, a false and wicked pretension. But let us hasten on. We have seen the. apostacy working thus early and powerfully in Galatia. The Ephesians, themselves are warned against the cunning craftiness and lurking watchfulness of the false apostles of that day. The, Philippians, too, are warned—respecting some of whom Paul declares, “They are the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things.” The Colossians were reproved for a tendency, even then to be discerned among them also, towards the legality, and consequent superstition, which have been already noticed. Even the Thessalonians were not altogether blameless. There were some among them who walked disorderly, “not working at all.” The mystery of iniquity, they were told, also had begun. Great grace, indeed, still rested on many of the Churches—and God forbid that we should fail to recognize this, or joyfully to give him glory—for it is obvious that everywhere the apostasy had already set in.

To Timothy the apostle has to announce—what Timothy, indeed, already knew—that Striking proof of human fickleness and instability: “This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me.” Before Paul died, all they that were in Asia had become the partizans of opposing and schismatic teachers. The Catholic church of Asia had erred already. Foolish and ignorant people tell us in this clay, that what is Catholic must be right—that the doctrine which is universal, or which is held by the vast majority, must be true. They make a gross and palpable mistake. That which generally prevails is ‘very probably erroneous. All that were in Asia had turned away from Paul. In the very first century of Christianity, so Catholic an apostatizing tendency as that was manifested; so Catholic had error become even at that early period!

In the same Epistle we have a character, of the “last days,” which we must not omit. We have a catalog of their numerous and aggravated evils. Nineteen various features of the apostasy are expressly mentioned. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their ourselves, —covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.” To crown the whole, the evil men of those perilous times should be professors of religion. I beg you to mark this. The apostates of the last days are those who maintain “a form of godliness.” How dark and mournful is the picture here presented to our view!

To Titus the apostle says, that there were, even then, many unruly and vain talkers, who subverted whole ‘houses, and that for filthy lucre’s sake: chapter 1: 10, 11.

The Hebrews generally are warned against apostacy, and against being carried about with divers and strange doctrines.” All this bespeaks the danger which was threatening the church.

The apostle James, throughout his epistle also, gives similar warnings. And in chapter v. 4-7, he speaks expressly of fraud, and robbery, and riot, which should end only at the coming of the Lord. The intervening days should be as “days of slaughter,” and the patience of the just would be most severely tried till then it was already in the world: (1 John 4:1-3.) In the last epistle, John himself says he had been expelled the church by Diotrephes. Alas! even then corruption and apostacy ruled test allusion whatever to an anticipation of times of progressive truth and righteousness. All is emphatically indicative of apostatizing tendencies. The sure word of prophecy is pointed to as the only light which could safely guide through the dark days that were coming on. Scoffers, it is said, should arise in the last days, walking after their own lists, and mocking at the promise of the coming of the Lord. But “the day of the Lord,” he adds, “will come as a thief in the night,” and will terminate the dismal period. That day alone—nothing else than the day of the Lord—will terminate it was already in the world: (1 John 4:1-3.) In the last epistle, John himself says he had been expelled the church by Diotrephes. Alas! even then corruption and apostacy ruled Christians. The spirit of antichrist was already in the world: (1 John 4:1-3.) In the last epistle, John himself says he had been expelled the church by Diotrephes. Alas! even then corruption and apostacy ruled.

Jude, as you all know, dear friends, is, if possible, even yet more fully occupied as to evil and apostate men, and evil and apostate days. It was needful that lie should give all diligence to write thus. Ungodly men had already crept in unawares. They were “clouds without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withered, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” Enoch had prophesied of them, that the Lord would come with ten thousand of his saints, and assuredly execute judgment upon them. In that way only will the evil be subdued and ended. Read the whole epistle.

We now come to the Book of Revelation—to the solemn and concluding scenes of the apostate church’s history. The epistles to the seven Asiatic churches speak chiefly of incipient evil. We read of first love forsaken, of first works given up, of heresy allowed, of garments mostly defiled, and of a condition neither hot nor cold. The rankest worldliness was prevalent, and even gloried in. Read chapters second and third. Then, shortly afterward, the sad scene of full-grown evil bursts upon us: Babylon the Great is seen in all her painted, gorgeous, and illusive beauty. We must now contemplate her doom.

The doom of Babylon the Great, then, is as follows. Let us mark it well. It is the end of ecclesiastical corruption, which we are going to survey; and, my friends, I do not confine it to the church of Mime. It becomes every one of us to consider how far he may be in any wise associated with it. “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.”

(Revelation 17:12,13,16,17.) Such is the predicted doom of Babylon the Great. Such is her fate as a system. The persons who have formed her living agency, we believe, will generally survive this downfall of their system. They then fall under strong delusion, judicially, allowed of God, and they perish amid the fearful judgments attending the advent of the Lord. The destruction—the sudden, total overthrow of the system, and of the organized, endowed, and world-sustained power of Babylon the Great, I conceive to be what is set before us here.

“Ten kings” arise, and power is given them for “one hour” purposely to destroy the woman. This, it would appear, signifies a revolution of the secular powers against the ecclesiastical. The beast is wearied out by the rapacity and treachery of the woman. The woman’s impudence brings on at last her own destruction. The ten kings shall league together with the one hour” purposely to destroy the, multitudes, and nations, and tongues;” “and they shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.” They will strip the system of its wealth, and honors, and of all its vested rights. They will break up its establishments, and appropriate its revenues. The ten kings, in union with the nations, will at length do this. Babylon the Great will wear out their patience. Yea, “her sins” will “reach unto heaven,” and God himself will “remember her iniquities.” These fierce executioners will have it “put into their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast,” until the words, of God, as to Babylon’s destruction, “shall be fulfilled.” Under such a providential disposition will they, as we have seen, “hate the whore, and make her desolate and naked, and eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.” The divine word is, “Reward her even as she hath rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup that she bath filled, fill to her double.” Most signal retribution! Thus ends the supremacy of the false church! And what other end so very probable? Is she not in our own day taking the very course which, of all others, is most likely to provoke and to exasperate the nations upon which she rides? Her voice, indeed, is made to utter inviting and alluring tones; but pride and self-aggrandizement reign in her heart: “Come home, my children; come to the, peaceful bosom of your holy mother,” is her most subtle and deceitful cry. A mother truly! Yes; in the estimate of the Spirit of God, she is a “mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” But her days are numbered, and she shall fall. “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God will speedily avenge your blood upon her.”

Such, then, is the predicted doom of Babylon the Great. But the results of the apostacy reach further than—her downfall. When Babylon shall have disappeared from off the scene—when there shall be no longer seen this woman—sitting on the back of the beast—the apostacy will still conduce to results most fearful and amazing.

There shall ensue that “strong delusion to believe a lie” which is set before us in 2 Thessalonians 2, as we have seen. The moral result of Babylon’s misdoing will be the open rejection of the authority of God, and of the very name of Christ. From the “mystery of iniquity” will spring the “strong delusion” of the “man of sin”—of the “wicked one”—of the “antichrist.” (Read 2 Thessalonians once more.) Under the power of this “strong delusion to believe a lie,” the blinded nations will (rather together under antichrist, to “the battle of great day of God Almighty.” I do not believe that the “man of sin” means Popery. We have seen that Popery is specially set forth in the symbol of the mystic Babylonish woman, and is destroyed by the confederated nations, and not, as the man of sin, by the personal coming of the Lord. The “man of sin” I believe to be an individual person, a human being, a “false Christ,” a secular warrior, a king. Daniel 11, from which Paul quotes, almost literally and verbally, in this second of 2 Thessalonians, proves this, I think, very clearly. In our next lecture, however, we shall have to look at this result of the apostacy more closely.

I will sum up briefly this imperfect notice of these sad results. We cannot complete it now, since the final result of all will include the judgment of the assembled nations, at the great day of the revelation of the Lord himself, from heaven, in flaming fire; and it will be one special purpose of our next address to take further notice of the numerous predictions in which this gathering of the nations is set forth.

Thus far, however, we have seen. The evil leaven which was secretly introduced into the Church at first, became openly developed at last in the foul system of “Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” The end of Babylon we have also seen. The secular power, that has long been her source of strength, will at last destroy her. Suddenly, and in one hour, this revolution will take place. Ten kings will arise for that “one hour” only —for that very short time and will lead on the beast to the destruction of the woman. Then will come the crisis. “Strong delusion” will fall upon those nations that constitute the beast;” there will ensue a great gathering together of those nations against God, and against Christ, and then the open revelation of the Lord from heaven will ensue, and close the whole scene. Such is the final result of “the corruption of Christianity.” But more of this, as we have said, when we come to speak of “the character and doom of the great Gentile powers.”

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Court of the Tabernacle and Gate of the Court

“And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred cubits long for one side: and the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings of an hundred cubits long, and his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver. And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten. And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits. The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three. And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three. And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four. All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver: their books shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass. The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty everywhere, and the height five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass. All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass.”

The Court.

And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle. Ver. 9.) “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning;” and the things which happened unto Israel “happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”

(1 Corinthians 10: 11.) Thus the children of Israel, redeemed out of Egypt, are the types of the redeemed people of God.

In the scriptures we have Israel presented to us, in their history, and in the Divine arrangements respecting them, in various degrees of nearness to God.

First, we see them in Egypt, groaning under the bondage of Pharaoh. This is typical of the experience of the soul under the first convictions of the Spirit, feeling the evil of sin, its bitter bondage, and heavy guilt, laboring and heavy laden. From which deliverance is only obtained by taking shelter under the blood of the Lamb— “Christ our passover sacrificed for us.”

Secondly, we see them in the wilderness, having crossed the Red Sea, wherein all the power of the oppressor has been overwhelmed. Typical of the soul realizing the triumph of the Cross. Principalities and powers spoiled and ‘made a show of, and death, and him that had the power of it, destroyed. And the believer no longer at home in the world, but become a pilgrim and stranger here.

Thirdly, we see them in the camp, occupying therein the various positions assigned them by God. Typical of believers in their different callings, ordinary occupations, and their social relationships. Outside the camp the sin-offering was consumed. Outside the camp the lepers and the defiled were obliged to remain. Within the camp the people of God were required to be a holy people to the Lord their God, who walked up and down in their midst—to be holy in all manner of conversation, and in all the callings and relationships of life.

Fourthly, we see them assembled in the court of the tabernacle. Here the people of God, are represented in their religious character. This is the especial subject of our present consideration.

Fifthly, the priests are seen entering daily through the door of the tent into the first tabernacle, or holy place, accomplishing the service of God. Typical of believers in their priestly character and Church association, engaged in the worship and service of God.

Sixthly, the High Priest is seen entering through the vail into the holy of holies. Typical of Jesus, the High Priest of our profession, entered for us into heaven itself; and of the believer in him having boldness to enter through the rent vail into the holiest of all. (Hebrews 10:19-22.)

Seventhly, we see Israel in the land, having crossed the JorDaniel Typical of believers as in spirit raised up together and made to sit together with Jesus in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 2:6.)

1. Egypt; 2. the wilderness; 3. the camp; 4. the court; 5. the holy place; 6. the most holy; 7. the land. Divided by—1. the blood of the Paschal Lamb; 2. the Red Sea; 3. the sin-offering; 4. the hanging of the court; 5. the door of the tent; 6. the vail; 7. the Jordon.

This is the scriptural “pilgrim’s progress,” written not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.

But to return to the court of the tabernacle: the children of Israel seen in this court represent the people of God in their religious character. ‘Not as associated in Church fellowship; this is typified by the boards of the tabernacle, but in their general religious aspect. Not only seeking to maintain and to exhibit holiness in the assemblies of God’s saints and in Church relationship, but also in the wider sphere of ordinary and everyday life.

These curtains of fine twined linen formed a court around the tabernacle, and kept it separate. As the table of shewbread has a border, so the tabernacle of God has a court—a court with hangings of fine twined linen all around, marking separation to God in righteousness and true holiness, maintained by God’s saints, not only when met in Church fellowship, but also in their general intercourse, and in the ordinary walks of life. Such is God’s plan. As a table without a border is not according to God’s pattern, so a tabernacle without a court is contrary to God’s order. There must be consistency without, as well as holiness and fellowship within—separation from the world in daily life, as well as in Church fellowship, and in the devotional exercises of the assembly.

The court contained the altar of burnt offering and the laver, and had the tabernacle, or dwelling-place of God in its midst. And the Israelites collected there represent believers, realizing atonement and acceptance through the sacrifice of Jesus, sanctification in Christ, and walking and acting in the presence of God.

The Hangings of the Court.

Ver. 9. For the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred cubits long for one side.)

“The fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” (Revelation 19:8.)

“I counsel thee to buy of me white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed,” says Christ. (Revelation 3:18.)

“Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,” is the exhortation of the apostle. (Romans 13:14.)

The court of the tabernacle; surrounded by these hangings of fine twined linen, represents believers in their ordinary Christian character and intercourse, walking in the presence of God in holiness and righteousness before him, keeping their garments undefiled by sin, putting on and living out Christ, and exhibiting him before men.

The Pillars and Sockets.

Ver. 10. And the twenty pillars thereof, and their twenty sockets (shall be) of brass. Or, as expressed in chapter 38: 10, Their pillars were twenty, and their brazen sockets twenty. The pillars themselves’ were probably of shittim wood, fixed in sockets of brass, representing individual believers in their religious character, and their firm standing.

There were twenty pillars on the north and south, corresponding with the twenty boards of the tabernacle on those sides. The boards representing believers associated in Church fellowship, and the pillars of the court, believers in their wider and ordinary Christian walk.

Each pillar stood firmly fixed in a socket of brass, as expressing the firm and decided stand which is requisite in living out the Christian character.

As united in Church fellowship, in the sight of God, we stand in redemption, like the boards of the. tabernacle on the sockets of silver. But as walking before God, and living before men, in our daily course, we need a holy decision of character, standing, strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, as the pillars of the court in their sockets of brass. “Having done all, stand,” says the apostle. “Stand therefore.” (Ephesians 6),

If the Church of the living God is to be the pillar and ground of the truth, individual believers in their Christian character and ordinary conduct should seek to maintain the truth, by walking in it with firmness and decision, like James, Cephas, and John, who, seemed to be pillars in their day, and especially like the Apostle Paul.

The Hooks and Fillets.

Ver. 10. The hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver.) The hooks were to receive the fillets, and the fillets, as the Hebrew word for fillet implies, were connecting rods. These silver rods connected the pillars together, and formed the rods on which the linen curtains hung.

The hooks and connecting rods were to be of silver, and silver is typical of’ redemption; for the atonement money was in silver. (Exodus 30). And silver is also typical of communion; for it was the ordinary medium of circulation. And the hooks fixed in the pillars were always in readiness to receive the connecting rods.

Thus these pillars, standing in the brazen sockets, with their looks and connecting rods of silver, sustaining the curtains of fine twined linen, and forming together the court of the tabernacle, most strikingly and beautifully represent the people of God in their ordinary religious character, established and settled, walking in righteousness and holiness, always prepared’ for, and constantly maintaining communion together, on the ground of their common redemption by the blood of the Lamb, in their intercourse one with another, and in the presence of God.

And it is a sweet and happy thought, affording some consolation in the present state of things, that even now, in the outwardly divided condition of the Church of God, when Church fellowship with the majority of Christians may be sought in vain, we may still maintain communion and love in our intercourse one with another on the ground of our common redemption, by the same precious blood, and of our agreement together in the same fundamental truths of salvation.

The Length of the Court.

Ver. 11. And likewise, for the north side in length there shall be hangings of an hundred cubits long, and his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver. One hundred cubits north and south. “Awake, O north wind, and come, thou south,” is the language of the Bride in Solomon of Solomon 4:16. Whether the chill north wind of adversity blows, or the genial south wind of prosperity breathes, there should be the same firm standing and decided walk, the same maintenance of righteousness and holiness, the same manifestation of Christ, and the same readiness for fellowship with all saints, on the ground of our common Christianity.

The Breadth of the Court.

Ver. 12. And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten.

13. And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits.

14. The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.

15. And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.

In length—namely, one hundred cubits-the court of the tabernacle was one-half the length of the outer court of Ezekiel’s temple, which is two hundred cubits; and in breadth—namely, fifty cubits-half the breadth of the inner court of the temple, which is one hundred cubits.

The Gate of the Court.

Ver. 16. And for the gate of the court shall be a hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework.)

The hanging for the door of the tent, and the vail, were both ten cubits by ten—one hundred cubits square; and the gate of the court twenty cubits by five-one hundred cubits square also; each representing Christ in different aspects:—The gate of the court being typical of Christ, by the faith of whom alone any really become Christians, and have a title to be regarded as such, and power in the Spirit for true fellowship in the Gospel. The door of the tent representing Christ, through whom alone there is access into the Church of God. And the vail representing him as the way by whom only there is access by faith into the holiest of all.

The Pillars of the Gate.

Ver. 16. Their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four. By these four pillars, corresponding with the four pillars which sustain the vail, are represented, I believe, the four divinely-inspired historians of the life of Jesus.

There are sonic differences, however, which are significant. The pillars of the vail have their hooks of gold, and their sockets of silver; while the pillars of the gate have their hooks of silver; and their sockets of brass. The hooks of gold being significant of a divinely-given ability for laying hold on and exhibiting the perfection of Immanuel, as the way of access by faith into the holiest and the sockets of silver significant of their standing in redemption. The hooks of silver, and the silver connecting rods of the pillars of the gate, expressive of a capacity for communicating the truth of Christ; and the sockets of brass, of decision and steadfastness.

It is interesting to trace in the four inspired histories of the “Word made flesh,” the various beauties and perfections of Immanuel, as signified by the blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, composing the gate of the court.

In John’s account, the blue, or heavenly perfection and glory of the Lord Jesus, is manifest.

In Mark, the purple, or the combination of heavenly perfectness with the earthly glory. And hence it is worthy of notice, that, in Mark 15:17, the robe in. which, in mockery, Jesus was arrayed, is by the leading of the Spirit said to be of purple.

In Matthew, the earthly dignities of the Son of David, as typified by the scarlet, appear: and Matthew says, they “put on him a scarlet robe” (27: 28).

Whereas in Luke, the white, or pure and spotless, yet exquisitely-beautiful, humanity of the Son of Man, is prominent, as typified by the fine twined linen. And Luke says, they “arrayed him in a gorgeous robe.”

Gorgeous, “Lampros,” meaning also shining, resplendent, dazzling, white. Compare Acts x.30, Revelation 15:6;19: 8, in the Greek.

Summary.

Ver. 17. All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver; their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass.

18. The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty everywhere, and the eight five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass.

19. All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass.

All the pillars of the court were connected together by the silver rods, and all were furnished with hooks for attaching them: teaching us that all believers should maintain fellowship together in redemption—truth and brotherly love, and all be prepared for it as occasion presents.

All the pillars stood on sockets of brass; and all believers have need of enduring strength in Jesus, to maintain, in such a world as this, their religious character and standing.

All the vessels of the tabernacle for all the service of it, and even the pins of the tabernacle and court, were to be of brass; for the same enduring strength is needed for all manner of service, down to the minutest particulars, in work connected with the name of Jesus and the presence of God.

In Exodus 38:17, we also read, “The overlaying of their chapiters was of silver; and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver:” showing that the chapiters, or heads of the pillars, and the fillets, or connecting rods, are distinct; though both were of silver, and all formed out of the redemption money.

Exodus 38:28: “And of the thousand seven hundred and seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and filleted them.”

The redemption which is in Christ Jesus is not only the foundation of the Christian’s faith, as shown by the silver sockets of the tabernacle: it is also the ground of Christian love and communion, as signified by the silver hooks and connecting rods. And it is also the crown and joy of the Christian’s hope, as signified by the silver chapiters, or crowns of the pillars. His faith, his love, and his hope, having each its ground and center in Jesus, and in his atoning work. T. N.

(The Golden Altar in the Number for September.)

The Times of the Gentiles: The Character and Doom of the Great Gentile Powers

THIS history of the four great Gentile empires, which are set before us here as four great beasts, is the history of the times of the Gentiles. The times of the Gentiles transpire during an interruption of, or interval as to, the times of the Jews. That interval began with Nebuchadnezzar, the first monarch of the kingdom of Babylon, and it will terminate with the last monarch of the empire of Rome. The times of the Jews closed, or were interrupted, by their being carried away captive into Babylon; they will recommence when Jerusalem shall cease to be trodden down of the. Gentiles, and when the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled. Thus the expression, “times of. the Gentiles,” denotes the tithes of Gentile dominion over, the Jews. This Gentile lordship is exercised during the whole period of the existence in power of the four great beasts, which Daniel saw in his vision.

This vision furnishes us with a complete outline of the whole subject of this evening’s lecture. It also furnishes us with the completion of our previous lecture: —with the final remit of the apostacy and corruption of Christianity. The fourth of these great beasts will prove to be the “ten-horned beast,” on which, in Revelation 17, the mystic Babylonish woman was seen sitting. The character and doom of that “Amman”, occupied us at our last meeting; we saw that, as an organized system of power, she was to be thrown down, and destroyed, and to disc appear from the stage. The very beast which carried her, would ultimately destroy her. But this evening we shall see the doom of the beast itself. We shall see in outline the whole career of that beast, and that though it existed before there was any “woman’’ to aspire to mount its back and ride thereon, and will exist after the destruction of its rider; yet even its so called “eternal” course shall close at last—shall close in judgment, and. “destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” The doom of this fourth beast is indeed the—final result of the a apostacy of Christendom. The beast, having thrown off its spurious support and profession of Christianity, will openly rebel against the divine authority, and by thus filling up the cup of its transgression, will bring on its final and total overthrow. So that it is one and the same solemn and decisive crisis, which brings to a full end both the ecclesiastical and the secular apostacy. The battle of the great day of God Almighty will terminate them both—will consummate the whole.

Such, then, is the subject of this evening’s lecture. We have a vast field of prophetic truth before us, and a rapid and elementary survey of it is all that we may hope, on this occasion, to accomplish.

1. In the chapter which has been read the seventh of Daniel—we have, as we have seen, a vision of four great beasts; the first like a lion, the second like a bear, the third like a leopard, and the fourth a “beast dreadful arid terrible and strong exceedingly—diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and having ten horns.” Read verses 3-7. Moreover, among the ten horns of the fourth beast there came up another “little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots, and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.” Then follows, in the vision, a solemn session of judgment, which effects the destruction both of this little horn, and of the beast itself; then the Son of Man is seen coming with the clouds of heaven, and the whole dominion under heaven is given to him, and to his saints. The narration of the vision ends in plain and literal terms, which tell their own manifest and undoubted meaning.

2. But what is meant by these four symbolic beasts?” The answer is furnished in verse 17: “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings which shall arise out of the earth.” But by the term “kings,” we are to understand kingdoms, for this is the interpretation in the 23rd verse. “Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms.” And, in the second chapter of this prophet, we likewise learn that there should be four great kingdoms—manifestly the same kingdoms—which are set before us here. There was seen a great image, as is well known to most of you. It was composed of a golden head, silver breast and arms, brazen belly and thighs; iron legs, and feet part of iron and part of clay. Daniel was enabled to explain the meaning of all this to the king Nebuchadnezzar. He said to the king, “Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another, third kingdom of brass; which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron,” &c. Now the fourth iron kingdom in this case, is ‘represented as having ten toes, whilst in Daniel 7 the fourth beast had ten horns. Besides, in this chapter, as well as in the seventh, a solemn crisis destroys the fourth kingdom, and introduces a fifth and heavenly one. Here, a mystic “stone” smites the image on its feet, and grinds the whole to powder (see ver. 44 and 45); and there the judgment sits, and the Son’ of Man comes with the clouds of heaven. The millennium in both cases is the grand result. Manifestly, then, the great beasts, in the vision of the seventh chapter, set forth the same four great kingdoms that are seen in this symbolic image of the second. In both chapters the rise oil four grand, universal empires is presented. Let us now return to Daniel 7.

Can we ascertain anything further as to these four empires? Certainly. We can ascertain what empires they are, which are typified by these four great beasts. We desire to show this on Scripture authority alone. We have proof, in the first place, that the first and lion-like beast meant the Babylonian or Chaldean empire. We have seen that Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar expressly, “Thou art this head of gold.” He said to him, “Thou, O king, art a king of kings; for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the heaven, hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. This golden head was the first of the four kingdoms. The sovereignty of the kingdom was concentrated in the person of Nebuchadnezzar. He was monarch over the empire of Babylon. (See chapter 1: 1.) So that we have the plainest proof as to what is meant by the lion, or lion-like. beast, the first of the four beasts in the vision before us.

Now, here began the “times of the Gentiles.” In chapter 1 of this prophetic book we read, that “Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came unto Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into his hand.” In 2 Kings 24 and 25. we have special record of no less than three several successful expeditions against Jerusalem by this same Nebuchadnezzar. The last was the complete and decisive one. Since then, Israel has been subject to Gentile sway. Its kings have been but vassals. The nation has been tributary to, and dependent on, the will of successive Gentile powers. These times of Gentile dominion, we repeat it, are “the times of the Gentiles.”

4. But what kingdom does the second or bear-like beast symbolize? The fifth chapter of this book supplies an answer. Belshazzar succeeded Nebuchadnezzar in the kingdom of Babylon. He made a Sacrilegious and impious feast to a thousand of his lords. A mysterious hand appeared, and wrote upon the wall those solemn words, “Mene, Mene, Tekel; Upharsin.” Now the interpretation of one of these. words contain the very information we require. The meaning of the concluding word was thus given to Belshazzar by Daniel, “Peres; Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and, Persians. The Medo-Persian kingdom, then, was to succeed that of the Chaldeans. And so the event proved; for we read, in verses 30, 31, that “In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom plain and conclusive. We are not left to conjectures; nor even—to the testimony of profane history. The Second great Gentile empire was that of the Medes and Persians.”

To this Gentile power, also, Israel was subject and tributary. Darius appointed—Daniel to be chief governor in the kingdom. From the Book of Esther, too we know that, on one occasion, King Ahasuerus was induced to decree the —destruction of the whole Jewish people. He, too, was a Medo-Persian monarch, —as the last chapter of Esther, as well as other portions of the book, distinctly shows. Then in Ezra &c., we read much both of “Cyrus king of Persia,” and of “Artaxerxes king of Persia;” and we learn how thoroughly subject to their power, for good, or evil, the Jewish nation continued. The “times of the Gentiles” were still fulfilling their slow and—to the Jews—most dreary Course.

5. But what is the, third ‘kingdom—the leopard—like one?’ The 8th of Daniel solves this question also. The prophet saw a vision of a ram having two horns, — which Was at last destroyed by a he-goat, having on its head a,” notable horn.” The he-goat then “waxed” very great; arid when he was strong the great horn was broken, —and for it came up four notable ones towards the four winds of heaven. “The meaning of these two symbols is stated in verses. 20, 21: “The ram which thou sawest, having two horns, are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.” So that it was the Grecian he-goat which destroyed and seized upon the power of the Medo-Persian ram. The Grecian, then, is manifestly the third or leopard-like kingdom: This, also, we are thus enabled to assert, on the express testimony of Scripture itself.

We may notice, also, here, that this third beast had four heads: “The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given unto it.” (ver. 6.) We have seen in chapter 8. that this beast is Grecia, set forth in that chapter as a he-goat, having, first, a great and notable, which represented the first king, and that then, “for it came up four notable ones, towards the four winds of heaven.” The explanation of this is given in verse 22, as follows: “Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.” The fulfillment of this prophecy is a well-known historic fact. The “first king,” here mentioned, is evidently Alexander the Great he founded the mighty but short-lived empire of Greece. On his death, the empire was seized upon, and divided into four kingdoms, by those who are known as “the four successors of Alexander.” Much information is given us as to all this in Daniel 11. We have there, on the prophetic page, a minute history of those Grecian times—a striking proof, we may observe, of its Divine inspiration.

But during the days of this empire also, the Jewish nation was subject and tributary. The times of the Gentiles were still in progress. There were, indeed, seasons of partial mitigation of their sufferings vouchsafed ever and anon, but even the circumstances connected with such temporary and partial relief prove the enslaved state in which the Jews continued.

Fresh and successful attacks upon their country and their capital generally resulted. In Daniel 11 we have mention of more than one such devastation. In ver. 16, we read of one of the successors of Alexander, He shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed. This “glorious land” was, doubtless, Palestine. Then, in verses 28-33, we have reference to another invasion. It is said, they should “pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and place the abomination that maketh desolate.” Whether this should he understood of Antiochus, or of the Romans, I will not Seek now to determine. The character of the transaction predicted is plain. Both Antiochus and the Romans so acted. The Apocryphal Books, of the Maccabees, which we may receive as authentic history, describe at length the Jewish sufferings under Antiochus. Though Alexander the Great was no more, and though empire had been divided; still the Jews were a degraded and suffering people.

They at last sought the alliance of the Romans, purposely to strengthen themselves against those who successively held the reins of power after Alexander. This alliance with the Romans doubtless prepared the way for that subjugation to the Roman yoke under which we find them when our blessed Lord appeared. Thus, from age to age; they fell under Gentile power, fulfilling the prophetic word, I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more, until he come whose fight it is, and I will give it him.

6. What empire the fourth symbolic beast denotes has been anticipated. It was the Roman empire. The Chaldean, or Babylonian, was succeeded by the Medo-Persian, the Medo-Persian by the Grecian, and the Grecian by the Roman. These are the four great Gentile powers. I believe the author worthy of any regard has doubted that Rome is intended by the fourth beast. There were to be only four such empires, and the three first we have ascertained from the Scripture itself. The fourth was to be brought to a full end only by the judgment which would establish the universal and everlasting kingdom of Messiah. Rome has so far fulfilled the predicted course of the fourth beast—fulfilled it with marvelous distinctness—and no other empire has done so. The whole description of this beast “with great iron teeth,” and of the “iron legs” of the great image, points unmistakably to the proverbially “iron rule” and “iron yoke” of the Romans. Further, this beast, as described by John, in Revelation 13 and 17, had “seven heads,” as well as the ten horns that are mentioned here. These seven. heads were explained as denoting “seven kings,” or governments; of which it was said, “five are fallen, one is, and the other is not yet come.” This seems manifestly to allude to the seven successive forms of Roman government, the first five of which even heathen historians have enumerated as having taken place, even specifying their distinctive characters. Those seven heads are said, in Revelation 17:9, to have also denoted “seven mountains on which the woman sitteth.” This, too, points to Rome. Rome has been known for ages as “the seven-hilled city.” Besides, in Luke 2, the Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus, is acknowledged by an inspired pen as being the head of the empire of the world: “There went out a decree from Cesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.” This should be decisive. There were to be but four such empires; three of them have been previously identified, and here a fourth is recognized of God as being in that supreme position. The Roman empire, therefore, is the fourth and last.

7. We know that it may be objected, that this empire has long since passed away, whereas the one seen by Daniel is to exist in power at the period of the still future judgment. But this apparent difficulty actually increases the amount of evidence that it is the empire of Rome which is meant. Both Daniel and John gave information, as to the fourth empire, of this precise nature. Daniel says, “And whereas. thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.” Now this is just what has taken place as to the once compactly united Roman empire. It has been “divided,” but still “there is in it of the strength of the iron.” In this sense, the Roman empire still exists: no longer indeed as one undivided whole but in ‘broken and fragmentary parts. Most of the strong nations of Europe are but broken portions of the old Roman empire. These fragment’s will, at the time of the end, we believe, be reunited under a revived, or eighth headship. In: this way will the prediction of ‘Rome’s final doom have its full accomplishment.

There is, however, a further feature of this “divided” state pointed out by Daniel. “And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay; so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,” &c: (See Daniel 40-45.) What is meant by the words, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of Men, but they shall not cleave one to another? Is it not this that all the attempts that are being made to ‘blend, and fuse, and harmonize the conflicting parties that are occupied with political affairs, will fail? —that the absolute and the popular wills will not concur? —that the “reactionary,” and “revolutionary” elements will not really and permanently unite? —any more than one can fuse or weld together the iron and the miry clay. Does not this singular and yet striking imagery teach us, that under the kingdom of the God of leaven alone will jarring elements and conflicting passions wage war no more? Indeed; already many despotic European powers seem resolved to make no further trial of the mixed, or “constitutional” mode of government. They at least seem resolved not to mingle with the miry clay. Though politics be not our sphere, as certainly, dear friends, they are not; yet we may look on, and endeavor to view all surrounding things in the light that this sure word of prophecy throws upon them. And such I deem to be the lesson specially needful to be learned by Christians with reference to the political character of our own times. We seem to have lived in the special period when the despotic powers have been considering how they might “mingle themselves with the seed of men,” and in many cases they have attempted it. All possible schemes to settle and give quietness to that which judgment must shortly end, are, or have been attempted. The mixing and mingling system has recently been specially resorted to. But even it will fail the end will be, “In the days of these kings, the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom.” That is what Daniel goes on immediately to declare.

In the Revelation too, the present state of the Roman empire is, we believe, pointed out. “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not: and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition.” (See 17: 8,) The Roman empire “was,” but now “it is not;” yet it “shall ascend “once more. It was one powerful whole, but now it is divided—as an empire it “is not;” yet the materials still exist, and they apparently shall be re-united in the crisis which hastens on—re-united only to be judged. Again, we read, “The beast which thou sawest, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” (See ver. 11.) When ascended, he will be the “eighth,” that is, under his eighth “head,” or form of government. Still he “is of the seven,” for though newly ascended to power, it is only an old and previous form of power revived. As to the special fibril of power, it is one of the seven brought into re-existence; but as to its actual appearance, it is an “eighth,” or new headship over the empire.

This brings us to the concluding portion of the prophetic history of this fourth beast. The ten toes of the image, we have said, are ten kings. This interpretation is certified by Daniel 7:24, “The ten horns out of this kingdom, are ten kings that shall arise.” And further, by Revelation 17:12, “The ten horns which thou sawest, are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.” Now these kings seem to receive power just for “one hour,” or “one day,” (see next chapter 8: 8,) at the time of the end. They arise just at the period when Babylon is to fall. They receive power, in the providential dispensations of God, for that special purpose, to destroy Babylon. Here comes in the event we were considering when last together. The mystic woman, called also Babylon, had ruled the empire during its broken and disorganized state. Rome, Papal and ecclesiastical, arose out of the ruins of Rome Pagan and Secular. When Rome Secular is to revive, Rome Papal and Ecclesiastical shall disappear. When the beast has thrown the woman from off its back, then shall it arise once more, and stand upon its brazen feet, in more than human—in Satanic power. But the ten kings will be the agents of Babylon’s destruction. The ten kings, we believe, do not yet exist. They are still future. We do not believe that ten broken divisions of the empire—ten kingdoms said to have been in existence for many centuries—were intended by these “ten horns.” They grew on one of the heads -the eighth we believe—of the beast; they were not portions of its divided body. Besides, they have power for “one hour” only, that is, for a very short period—and that just at the period, of the final crisis.

9. But another “horn” still, an eleventh horn, is to arise after the ten. And very solemn and specific is the information given as to this eleventh horn. “And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy. it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion; and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.” We submit that this eleventh horn denotes a person, a single individual, a king. A variety of reasons conspire to prove that the common notion, a notion of modern days only, cannot be the correct one. This little horn “prevailed against the saints till the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.” Now Popery, specially presented to us in the symbol of Babylon the Great, will not continue till then. The ten horns will destroy the woman. But this blasphemous horn falls only when the judgment sits, and the books are opened. Again, the horn we are now contemplating arose “after” the ten. Now the ten did not arise till Babylon the Great had well-nigh finished her long career of crime and blood. How; then, can the horn that came up after them be Babylon? Further, this eleventh horn is to subdue three of the ten; it is indeed to destroy them, for it is said, that “before it were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots.” Now Babylon was destroyed before this; for in Revelation 17 we find that the ten horns were to destroy her; consequently, these three had not then fallen. Further still; is there not a manifest difference of character between a woman on the back of the beast, and a horn growing out of its head? We submit, therefore, that this horn is not Popery, but a political potentate of most blasphemous pretensions, and of Satanic energy. He is in fact, THE ANTICHRIST. It is of him, we believe, that this same, prophet Daniel speaks in chapter 11. (Read verses 36-45.) Then, compare with both 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12. In Daniel 11:36, we read of him thus: “And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall, speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished; for that that is determined shall be done;” This “king,” them shall “prosper till the indignation” of God; against Daniel’s people; the Jews, “shall be accomplished,” which will be only, when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, and when “Jacob shall be delivered out of “the last and unequaled time of trouble.” That time of trouble is predicted, indeed, in this very prophecy, in the plainest terms: “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time, thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in, the book.” See the first verse of the twelfth chapter. Now, in the verses that occur between the passages we have, now quoted, we read, that this blasphemous king “shall enter into the glorious land,” that is; into Palestine, and that then he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas, in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. This “glorious holy mountain” is manifestly Mount Zion in Palestine, on ‘which the earthly, literal city of Jerusalem, is erected. Jerusalem is the city “between the two seas;” that is, between the Mediterranean, or great sea—on the west; and the “Dead Sea” on the east. The map of Palestine will make this plain. Now there, alter a course of military conquests over “mane to his end; and none shall help him.” This is all quite distinct and different from the end of Popery—of Babylon the Great. Of this king we further read in this same prophecy, “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him; and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab; and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries; and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Lybians and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him; therefore, he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.” Then immediately follows the verse already quoted as to the place where he will plant the tabernacles of his palace, and where he will meet his doom. Now all this narration of military expedition and progress, is something completely different from an unchaste female sitting on the beast, and from the intoxications of her luxuriant cup. Here it is plainly an individual commander, whose single will is absolute, and whose armies rush on from country to country, till they reach their final rendezvous, and their end overtakes them there of country to country, till they reach their final rendezvous, and their end overtakes them there, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods; and then, that having “ entered into the glorious land” of Palestine, “he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas, in the glorious holy mountain.” And Paul says, “And that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself —above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, spewing himself that he is God.” In both these places we have the two great marks, opposition against all that is called God, and the planting of his throne on the scene of the Jewish temple, in the glorious holy mountain. Paul’s expression is, “That man who opposeth and exalteth,” &c. What man is it who acts so? Plainly the king that Daniel had spoken of, who would so exalt and oppose himself. The reference to Daniel seems beyond doubt. That man who opposeth and exalteth, &c. What man is it who acts so? Plainly the king that Daniel had spoken of, who would so exalt and oppose himself. The reference to Daniel seems beyond doubt the Most High; and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand, until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit,” &c. This is all of the same blasphemous character that both Daniel 11 and 2 Thessalonians 2 describe. The judgment of the great clay here also winds up the whole.ked one. Then the personal advent of the Lord closes the whole Most High; and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand, until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit,” &c. This is all of the same blasphemous character that both Daniel 11 and 2 Thessalonians 2 describe. The judgment of the great clay here also winds up the whole, even till the beast, was slain.” Again in ver. 20, “even that horn that had ‘eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. And finally, and specially, ver. 25, “And he shall speak great words against the Most High; and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand, until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit,” &c. This is all of the same blasphemous character that both Daniel 11 and 2 Thessalonians 2 describe. The judgment of the great clay here also winds up the whole.

10. We must say a few words as to two or three other particulars connected with this man of sin, before we pass on to the concluding scene.

First, there will be an awful, general delusion, judicially permitted of God to come upon the nations that compose the body of the “beast.” In 2 Thessalonians this is put most solemnly: “For this cause shall God send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Heretofore God has sent them the message of strong consolation and of richest grace, that they all might be saved; but then—oh, dreadful, appalling prospect for all obstinate rejecters of the Gospel! —then will He “send them strong delusion to believe a lie, that they all might be damned.” Oh, dreadful doom! Oh, terrific declaration of God’s sure unerring word! Sinners, what mean you? Will you continue to rush onwards to destruction? Will you continue to slight God’s message of love, regardless of your own salvation? Now is God beseeching you to be saved; but if you make light of the invitations of His grace, you know not how soon you may be permitted to fall under “strong delusion,” which ends in utter perdition.

We must give one other scripture as to this judicial “strong delusion.” In Revelation 16 we have, connected with the same crisis to which reference has been already frequently made, the following passage: “And I saw three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together unto a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. Now here is plainly predicted, a dread, and, apparently, almost universal delusion. It issues forth specially from three sources; from the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. What mean these symbols? In Revelation 12 and 20. the “dragon” is expressly said to be “the devil and Satan.” The first delusion therefore is diabolical. The “beast” is the same “fourth beast” that has already been described. The second, delusion, then, would appear to be political. The “false prophet” is certainly the second, or two-horned beast of Revelation 13. Compare Revelation 13:14, with Revelation 19:20, and no doubt will remain. Whatever may be denoted by this two-horned beast of Revelation 13 as seen there, it seems clear that, at the time of the crisis and decisive battle, this “false prophet” will be the religious agency of the beast, in its last state. So that the third delusion appertains specially to religion. It is an agency that “causes the world to worship” the beast. (See Revelation 13:12.) Here then is a threefold delusion; —diabolical, political, and religious. How much of the spirit of these three delusions may be perceived working around us even in the present day! The prime actors themselves may not as yet have come upon the stage, but how much is there of their nature already in the world! They will surely come, ere long, and gather the deceived, deluded nations together, to the battle of the great day of God Almighty walk naked, and they see his shame. This warning actually breaks out in the midst of the narration. The Spirit says, “Watch! Be ready specially, when such a time shall come. Be ready then for him who shall appear in flaming fire!” This warning actually breaks out in the midst of the narration. The Spirit says, “Watch! Be ready specially, when such a time shall come. Be ready then for him who shall appear in flaming fire!”

A second particular is this—The time of the full power of the antichrist is said to be “a time, times; and half a time.” This is expressed both in Daniel 7:25, and Daniel 12:7. We have it, I believe, in other terms, in several other places. By “a time, times, and half a time,” is meant, I apprehend, three and a half literal years. This period is yet future. It is a short and tremendous crisis, or the “time of trouble,” the days of which shall be shortened for the elect’s sake. “Times” always denotes literal years, I believe. In Daniel 4:32, “seven times shall pass over thee,” and in Daniel 11:13 (margin), “at the end of time, even years”—in these cases, the term certainly means, not “prophetic” years, but literal years. In the cases before us also, we believe, the meaning is similar. If the little horn represents an individual person, it must be so; for no one will contend that an individual man will exist throughout three and a half “prophetic years,” that is, years of years, or twelve hundred and sixty common years. Besides, those who profess to find so long a period in “a time, times, and a half,” are compelled to make a double figure of the expression. They first say, “a time means a year,” and then, “a year means a prophetic year.” But, as we have seen, “times” does not mean “prophetic” years. So that this doubling of the figure is wholly unwarrantable, not to say, absurd. The period of ‘antichrist’s full power, then, will be, very short, and at the time of the final crisis. How soon may it not arrive!

Is it not at this period that Revelation 11:1-13 has its fulfillment? The witnesses will be slain in “the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom, and Egypt, where also our Lipid was crucified.” This seems plainly to be Jerusalem. Jerusalem is spiritually called. Sodom. (Isaiah 1:10.) There, too, our Lord was crucified. For “three days and a half” these witnesses are to lie dead. May not this be the very period of the “time, times, and a half 2” But this I will not seek to determine now: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The valley of Jehoshaphat is said to be at the foot of the Mount of Olives, close to Jerusalem. This gathering of the nations is into that valley. And it is at the time when God “shall bring again the captivity of Judah, and Jerusalem;” not when that captivity commenced. The “day of the Lord” ends this grand and infatuated confederacy, and the millennium ensues of events crowd together in connection with this great gathering of the nations Armageddon. Now, there is quite reason to believe, that this Hebrew word means “mountain of Megiddo;” and Megiddo was a place a short distance northward of Jerusalem. The mustering then is to that place, but the final scene is around Jerusalem. In Joel we have this set forth in the most simple and express terms. “Behold, in those days and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there, 8. (Joel 3:1,2. Read specially, also, ver. 9-17 of this chapter.) We must give a portion of the passage: “Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripened with them there,” 8. (Joel 3:1,2. Read specially, also, ver. 9-17 of this chapter.) We must give a portion of the passage: “Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” The valley of Jehoshaphat is said to be at the foot of the Mount of Olives, close to Jerusalem. This gathering of the nations is into that valley. And it is at the time when God “shall bring again the captivity of Judah, and Jerusalem;” not when that captivity commenced. The “day of the Lord” ends this grand and infatuated confederacy, and the millennium ensues.

Zephaniah, too, makes solemn reference to this gathering together of the nations, though he does not specify the locality to which they are gathered. In chapter 3: 8, 9, we read as follows: “Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.” Mark this Scripture well. It is said, “THEN will I turn to the people a pure language,” &c. WHEN? When will this general turning or conversion be? Plainly when this great gathering and judgment of the nations has taken place. THEN will the millennium commence, and not until then. We may now see the character of these four great Gentile powers. They hold delegated power, but they use it as a wild beast uses its power, —they make a selfish and rapacious use of it, even unto the end. Unregenerate human nature will ever do so. God permitted, by providential arrangements, this power over the world to fall into the hands of these successive monarchies or empires. They all pervert and abuse it. As Israel had done with its power, so do the Gentiles with theirs. God will provide for himself a king, who shall rule in righteousness; and all the kingdoms of the earth, with all their glory, shall be brought beneath his sway, supremacy. Man has chosen Rome, but God hath chosen Jerusalem. Man’s scheme will come to naught, but “the counsel of the Lord, it shall stand” forever in Jerusalem. Man’s scheme will come to naught, but “the counsel of the Lord, it shall stand” forever

We may now see the character of these four great Gentile powers. They hold delegated power, but they use it as a wild beast uses its power, —they make a selfish and rapacious use of it, even unto the end. Unregenerate human nature will ever do so. God permitted, by providential arrangements, this power over the world to fall into the hands of these successive monarchies or empires. They all pervert and abuse it. As Israel had done with its power, so do the Gentiles with theirs. God will provide for himself a king, who shall rule in righteousness; and all the kingdoms of the earth, with all their glory, shall be brought beneath his sway.

We must notice here, however, a progressive deterioration in the character of this delegated power. This is indicated by the character of the metals’ enumerated, commencing with gold, and descending by gradations of silver, brass, iron, and even to the commixture of iron and clay.

We do not mean to give any opinion as to what is the best and most advantageous form of political power. This is entirely outside our province. Politics —worldly, secular politics—we have not to meddle with. We have to thank God for the protection which Cesar affords us, and to render unto him quietly and submissively what he demands of us. We sojourn in Caesar’s country, but we are not citizens of earth. Our citizenship is in heaven. We seek a country. Our home is the skies. All we have to do, therefore, is to provide things honest in the sight of all men, to thank God for the protection to life and property which the provision of secular government affords, to pay tribute as demanded, and to pray for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Vengeance belongs to God. Power belongs to him. He giveth it to whomsoever he will. God’s secular servants are responsible. to him. But God’s sons have a nobler calling than that of striving with the “potsherds of earth.” Earthly turmoil befits not their high vocation. No; services of love and mercy, and non-resistance of evil, become the pardoned, washed, and freely-adopted sons of God.

Still, we look at all that is around us, and judge of it according to God’s revealed light. Nebuchadnezzar’s power, then, whether best for the earth or not, was the highest and most-complete form of power. His will was law, and he did whatever he pleased: he was “the head of gold.” But the power of the Medo Persian monarchs was plainly inferior—in degree, at least. When they had made a law, to it, while it remained a law, they themselves must submit; for “the law of the Medes and Persians altered not.” Grecian power was still-lower, as to its character. The silver was succeeded by brass. Then came the iron.; and then iron and clay. But we must leave this subject for your investigation at leisure. We have just hinted at the spirit and meaning of these types, and must pass on quickly to the concluding scene.

13. And now, behold the issue of the whole, the great day of God Almighty is the consummation of the history of the four great Gentile powers. There is a sense in which even literal Babylon, and Persia, and Greece, are still existing. In connection with the judgment of the fourth beast, in this seventh of Daniel, we have the following parenthetic allusion to these three empires: “As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away; yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.” Chaldea, Persia, and Greece, were to exist after—their power over the surrounding nations had been wrested from them. Thus Persia exists to this day so, does Greece. This, I believe, explains Daniel 2:35: “Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together.” The four kingdoms are included here as sharing in a common doom. Indeed, as has been observed, all the nations that descended from the posterity of Noah, as specially Mentioned in the tenth of Genesis, are mentioned again, in either one scripture or another, as appearing on the scene at the period of the great judgment of the nations, and as meeting with judgment then. God knows how the nations have descended through all their generations. He knows the pedigree of all, however we may feel puzzled and entangled even by a casual glance thereat.

Behold, then, the end of all these things. Psalms 2 Thus shows it: “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron: thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potters vessel.” Daniel 2, as we have seen, speaks of it thus: “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” This is the stone that was set at naught by the builders. It will become the head stone of the corner. But alas for those oh whom this stone shall fall! It will, grind them to powder.’ The stone does not roll along, converting the image into its own substance. The stone is not the Gospel. The Gospel tells us that, this mystic stone now, while the day of salvation lasts, is a foundation stone, and that thereon poor sinners may safely build for eternity. But this stone has been raised to heaven, and will descend thence like the destructive thunderbolt, and awful will be the end of those on whom it falls. It will fall, specially, however, upon the “feet and toes” of this great image. Then succeeds the kingdom of the God of heaven. T. S.

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Golden Altar or Altar of Incense and the Perfume

EXODUS. 30:1-10 and 34-38.

“And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. 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 it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put it before the wail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn” incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall be make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the Lord.

“And the Lord said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: and thou shalt make it a perfume, 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 tent of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy. And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves 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 off from his people.”

The Altar of Incense.

And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it. There are two altars, the brazen altar of burnt offering and the golden altar of incense. They are both typical of the work and person of the Lord Jesus Christ, but in distinct aspects.

At the brazen altar, we see Christ in death and resurrection, offering himself without spot to God, and accepted in all the sweet savor of his perfect sacrifice. The ground of the believer’s acceptance and communion with God.

At the golden altar, we see Christ in resurrection life and ascended glory, in all the excellency of his character and ways before God, through whom the children of God draw near and worship with confidence and joy.

Both the brazen and the golden altar were made of shittim wood within, as showing that the incarnation of Christ lies at the foundation of his whole work on behalf of his people; for the children being partakers of flesh and blood, he himself likewise took part of the same.

The Dimensions.

A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof. (Ver. 2.) In size it is smaller than the other vessels, but it stands half a cubit higher than the mercy seat, the table, and the brazen grate of the altar of burnt offering.

The table is on a level with the mercy seat and the brazen grate, for the table sets forth communion, on the ground of atonement made, and in the remembrance of the death of Jesus.

The golden altar is half a cubit higher, for it shows worship in the apprehension of a risen and ascended Savior, and in the apprehension of the preciousness of his character and ways.

The Horns of the Altar.

The horns thereof shall be of the same. (Ver. 2.) The horn is the emblem of strength; and there is power in Jesus, on which faith can lay hold in drawing nigh to God; while the human tenderness and sympathy of Jesus give sweet encouragement to faith in this its exercise.

The Overlaying.

And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof. (Ver. 3.) The Divine glory and excellency of the Lord Jesus, as well as his humanity, and in combination with it, is thus set forth.

And the horns also are overlaid with gold; for faith not only apprehends the human sympathy, but also the Divine all-sufficiency of Jesus, through whom we worship.

The Golden Crown.

And thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. There was no crown to the brazen altar, for that sets forth Jesus in his humiliation, suffering, and death; and the only crown he wore on earth was a crown of thorns. But there is a golden crown to the alter of incense, for it presents to us Jesus risen, ascended, and crowned with glory and honor.

The crown also is significant of the Divine beauty and excellency of his character and office, as the one through whom we worship and draw nigh to God.

The Rings and Staves.

And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two ribs thereof (margin); upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. (Ver. 4, 5.) The Hebrew word translated in the text “corners,” and in the margin “ribs,” is the same word which occurs in chapter 27: 7, and which is there rendered “sides” — “and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar to bear it,”—which gives the sense. Translating the word “corners,” here and in chapter 37., only, is apt to mislead. It signifies a side, or, as in the present instance, an appendage to a side.

In the table of shewbread, the rings and staves were connected with the border (chapter 25, 26, 27), to teach us that in traveling through a polluted world, separation from evil ought to characterize our communion. But in the golden altar the rings and staves are connected with the crown of gold, for, though strangers and pilgrims here, we worship in connection with an ascended and glorified Savior.

The rings and staves adapted the altar to the wilderness condition of Israel; they were “to bear it withal,” that it might accompany them in their various journeyings. So Jesus, in the character in which he is presented to us by the golden altar, is ever present with us in Spirit wherever two or three are gathered in his name. And both his humanity and his Deity adapt him to our wilderness necessities.

The Position of the Altar.

And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. (Ver. 6.) In Hebrews 9 the golden altar in the holy place is omitted in the enumeration of the sacred vessels, and the golden censer in the holiest of all is inserted in its stead.

The reason of this appears to be, that in Hebrews 9, as also in Hebrews 10, the High Priest is represented as on the day of atonement, entered into the most holy place within the vail, typical of Jesus entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

But in the type before us, the same precious and Divine Savior is represented as present in Spirit in the midst of his assembled and worshipping people on earth, by whom the sacrifice of praise is offered up to God continually, and their prayers go up with acceptance.

It is the vivid setting forth of those invaluable words in Matthew 18:19,20: “Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

The altar stands before, and not within, the vail in the holy place; for it tells of Jesus in the assembly, and yet it stands before the ark and mercy seat, from whence God holds fellowship with his servants; for by the faith of Jesus we have boldness to enter into the holiest. Yea, come boldly unto the throne of grace, and there may hold sweet intercourse with God from off the mercy seat.

And in Jesus, who is present in Spirit with us on earth, and present in person for us above, all the promises of God are yea and amen to the glory of God by us.

And all this is true to the believer individually, as well as to the saints collectively.

The Perpetual Use of the Altar.

And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning. (Ver. 7) A perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. (Ver. 8.) So Christ, the High Priest of our profession, ever liveth to make intercession for us.

In the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel by John we ‘have the reality’ and substance of these Divine foreshadowings.

We there see Jesus on earth, surrounded by his disciples; but, in Spirit, entering into the holiest, his work finished, and the crown of glory won.

In fact it is the High Priest at the golden altar— in anticipation, the High Priest on the day of atonement entering into the holiest.

Let us look at him as at the golden altar, and listen to his words: “Father, I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” “I have manifested thy name.”

He is thus presenting before his Father, as sweet and fragrant incense, the memorial of what he had been in his character and life on earth; and then claiming for himself the just recompense of reward, he obtains on behalf of his disciples, and of believers through their word, the richest, choicest, highest blessings.

And these words he spake in the world, that we might have his joy fulfilled in ourselves, in being thus enabled to enter into his thoughts concerning us, through this magnificent specimen of his present and perpetual intercessions, in the knowledge of the glory which—he has, and which he will share with us.

The Time of Incense.

When he dresseth, the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it. We have already considered the Candlestick, with its seven lamps, as the type of ministry or testimony in connection with Christ, and in the power of the Spirit.

It is Christ himself who prepares his servants for this ministry in the word, and he gives grace and power for its exercise. Just as Aaron dressed the lamps in the morning, and caused the flame to ascend at even, or between the two evenings. In Revelation 1. 2. 3, the Lord Jesus is thus shown as one like unto the Son of man in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, giving and directing the testimony which was to be borne in his name.

And testimony to Christ is a sweet savor unto God, as says the apostle in 2 Corinthians 2:14-17, “For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish.” But this is not all; the type before us beautifully and expressively shows the connection between the preparation and exercise of ministry, in fellowship with Jesus, and the fragrance of his own intercession.

When the servant is preparing, or being prepared for testimony, the intercession of Jesus is ascending oh his behalf; and when he is giving his testimony, the sweet savor of the name of Jesus is going up before God.

Its Exclusive Use.

Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. (Ver. 9.) Thus, the altar of incense is kept perfectly distinct from the altar of burnt offering. And we do well to remember this in drawing nigh to God.

No strange incense was permitted, any more than strange fire. Jesus pleads no other excellency than his own as the ground of the acceptance of our prayers and praises.

The believer’s priestly access to God is a progressive thing. We go from strength to strength. The question of sin being settled, at the sin offering consumed without the camp. Acceptance in person and as to nature, and the joy of God’s salvation, is realized at the brazen altar.

Here, at the golden altar, the soul draws nigh to God in full assurance of faith, having the heart sprinkled and the body washed, —pardoned through the death of Christ, and accepted in his resurrection, and holding fast the profession of the hope without wavering, and in spirit entering within the wail.

In the sin offering consuming without the camp, we see Jesus delivered for our offenses.

At the brazen altar, we see him raised again for our justification.

At the golden altar, he is presented as ascended, and ever before God in all the preciousness of his person, character, and ways.

In the first, we have Christ dying; in the second, Christ rising; in the third, Christ ascended, and ever living to make intercession for us.

As guilty sinners, the sin offering without the camp met us as we were, and where we were.

As pardoned sinners, we find acceptance at the brazen altar, through the accepted sacrifice of a crucified and risen Savior.

At the golden altar, we have fellowship with God, and nearness of access to him, in all the preciousness of the life and person of Jesus, as he was and as he is. “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much’ more, being reconciled, we shall be saved’ by his life.” (Romans 5:10.)

The Blood on the Horns of the Altar of Incense.

And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the Lord. (Ver. 10.) The foundation is laid in atonement, and we know from Hebrews 10 that this yearly act was a type of the one offering of Jesus, whereby he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.

And while no burnt sacrifice or meat offering was to be offered on this altar, yet the blood of atonement on the horns of it speaks of peace once made, and the remission of sins once for all through the sacrifice of Christ.

The Perfume.

And the Lord said unto Moses, take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight. Ver. 34.) The name of the first spice, “stacte,” comes from a Hebrew word, signifying to drop, to fall in drops, to distil, as in Song of Solomon 5:13: “His lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.” Beautifully significant of the grace and gracious words which proceeded from the lips of Jesus.

Onycha, in Hebrew, means also a lion, and suggests the thought of the uncompromising faithfulness, firmness, and decision of the character of Christ, setting his face like a flint, boldly acting for God, and reproving all manner of evil.

The root of the word for galbanum signifies milk or fat, and connects the thought with the “fat which covered the inwards,” God’s portion of the sacrifices, and emblematical of the internal preciousness of Jesus.

Frankincense, white and fragrant, speaks of the purity, piety and acceptability of the character and ways of him who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.

“Of each shall there be a like weight.” How expressive of the character of Christ! What an even balance do we there discover! His grace, his firmness, his internal excellency, and outward piety, how exactly proportioned!

And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy. (Ver. 35.) Perfume and incense are the same. There is but one word in the original.

The graces and virtues which compose and make up the character of Jesus, how exquisitely tempered together. Not only equal, but harmonized, blended, and combined.

“Tempered together, pure and holy.” What purity what holiness also in the character and ways of Jesus!

And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tent of the congregation, where I will meet with thee; it shall be unto you most holy. (Ver. 36.) All these varied and combined excellencies of the Lord Jesus are to be discovered in the minutest act and thought, and are available for us in each particular.

And when met in the presence of God, the sweet memorial of all this is there for the encouragement of our faith, and for the comfort and joy of our souls before God; “for ointment and perfume rejoice the heart.” And thus, we realize our acceptance with God in his own beloved Son, and enjoy communion with him. And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye’ shall not make to yourselves 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 from his people. Ver. 37, 38.) This preciousness of Jesus is inimitable, and must, not be counterfeited. Self-conceit, through supposed, resemblance, will put the soul out of communion.

Strange fire is natural or fleshly excitement. Strange incense is nature’s imitation of the peerless preciousness of Christ.

Both are alike forbidden of God. But fire from God’s altar, and the sweet perfume of the excellency of Jesus, are provided for the true worshippers of the Father, through the Son.

T. N.

(The Brazen Laver in the Number for October.)

The Sabbath

I shall add a few words on the subject of the Sabbath, submitting them to the spiritual thoughts of my brethren. It is well to be subject to the Word. First, the participation in God’s rest, is what distinguishes his people, — their distinctive privilege. The heart of the believer holds that fast, whatever May be the sign that God has given of it. (Hebrews 4) God had established it at the beginning, but there is no appearance that man had any share in it. He did not work in the creation, nor was he set to labor or toil in the garden of Eden; he was to dress and keep it indeed, but he had nothing to do but continually to enjoy. However, the day was hallowed from the beginning. Afterward the Sabbath was given as a memorial of the deliverance out of Egypt (Deuteronomy 5: 15), and the prophets specially insist on that point—that the Sabbath was given as a sign of God’s covenant. (Ezekiel 20, Exodus 31:13.) It was plain that it was but the earnest of that Word, “My presence shall go, and I will give thee rest.” (Exodus 33:14; 31:13; Leviticus 19:30,) It is a sign that the people are sanctified to God. (Ezekiel 20:12; 20:13-16; Nehemiah 9:14. Comp. Isaiah 56:2-6; 58:13; Jeremiah 17:22; Laminations 1:7; 2: 6; Ezekiel 22:8;23:38;44:24.) Besides these passages, we see that whenever God gives any new principle or form of relation with himself, the Sabbath is added. Thus, in grace to Israel (Exodus 16:23); as laws. (Exodus 20:10.) See also, besides the verse we are occupied with, Exodus 31:13,14; 34: 21, when they are restored afresh by the patience of God through mediation (35: 2), and in the new covenant of Deuteronomy already quoted in the passage.

These remarks show us what was the radical and essential importance of the Sabbath, as the thought of God and the sign of the relation between his people and himself; though, being only a sign, a solemnity and not a moral commandment. But if that be of the utmost importance, it is of an equal and even higher importance to remember, that the covenant between God and the Jewish people is set aside for us, although God’s rest be quite as precious to us, and even more so; that our rest is not in this creation—a rest of which the seventh day was a sign; and, moreover, which is more important still, that the Lord Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath,—a remark of all importance as to his person, and null if he was to do nothing with regard to the Sabbath; and that, as a, fact, he has omitted all mention of it in the sermon on the Mount, where he has given such a precious summary of the morality of the law, in its fundamental principles, with the addition of others (connected with the heavenly light brought by the name of the Father and the presence of a suffering Messiah, and the revelation of the heavenly reward), making a whole of’ the principles of his kingdom; and that he continually thwarted the thoughts of the Jews on this point, is a circumstance which the evangelists, that is, the Holy Ghost, have been careful to record.

The Sabbath itself Jesus passed in the state of death—a terrible sign of the position of the Jews as to their covenant: for us, of the birth of better things. It has been tried, with much trouble, to prove that the seventh day was in fact the first. A single remark demolishes the whole edifice thus reared; it is, that the word of God calls this last the first; in contrast with the seventh. What is then the first day? It is for us the day of all days—the day of the resurrection of Jesus, by which we are begotten again unto a lively hope, which is the source of all our joy, our salvation, and that which characterizes our life. Thus we shall find the rest of God in the resurrection. Morally, in this world, we begin our spiritual life by the, rest, instead of finding it at the end of our labors. Our rest is in the new creation; we are the beginning, after Christ, of that new dispensation. It is clear, then, that the rest of God cannot, in our case, be connected with the sign of the rest of creation here below. Have we any authority in the New Testament for distinguishing the first day of the week from the others? For my part, I do not doubt it. It is certain we have not commandments like those of the old law; they would be quite contrary to the spirit of the gospel of grace. But the Spirit of God has marked out, in divers manners, the first day of the week; that day is not made binding upon us in a way contrary to the nature of the economy. The Lord being raised on that day, according to his promise, appears in the midst of his disciples gathered according to his word—the week following he does the same. In the Acts, the first day of the week is marked as the day on which they gathered together to break bread. In 1 Corinthians 16, Christians are exhorted to lay by what they had earned, each first day of the week. In Revelation, it is positively called the Lord’s day; that is, designated in a direct manner by a distinctive name by the Holy Spirit. I am well aware that it has been sought to persuade us that John speaks of being in the Spirit in the Millennium; but there are two fatal objections to that interpretation; first; the Greek says quite another thing, and uses the same word that is used for the Lord’s Supper—lordly or dominical—the dominical supper—the dominical day. Who can doubt as to the meaning of such an expression? or, consequently, can fail in admitting that the first day of the week was distinguished from others? (as the Lord’s Supper was distinguished from other suppers)—not as an imposed Sabbath, but as a privileged day. But the reasoning against this thought is founded on a totally false idea, in that only a minimum portion of the Revelation speaks of the Millennium. The book is about the things that precede it; and in the place where the expression is found, there is decidedly no mention whatever of it, but of the existing churches, whatever besides might be their prophetic character; so that if we hold to the word of God, we are forced to say that the first day of the week is distinguished in the word of God as being the Lord’s day. We are also bound to say, if we desire to maintain the authority of the Son of man, that he is superior to the Sabbath— “Lord of the Sabbath;” so that in maintaining for us the authority of the Jewish Sabbath as such, we are in danger of denying the authority, the dignity, and the rights of the Lord Jesus himself, and re-establishing the old covenant, of which it was the appointed sign, of seeking rest as the result of labor under law. The more the true importance of the Sabbath—the seventh day—is felt, the more we shall feel, the importance of the consideration that it is no longer the seventh, but the first day, which has privileges for us. Let us take care, on the other hand, because we are no longer under the law, but under grace, not to weaken the thought, not only of man’s rest but of God’s, —a governing thought, in the whole of the revelation of his relationship with man. The final rest for us is rest from spiritual labors in the midst of evil; not only from sin, —a rest which we, as fellow-laborers, shall enjoy with him who has said, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. J. N. D.

Hebrews 6:1-8: Part 1

An abstract consideration of a passage of Scripture, irrespective of its context, generally leads to error,—a remark particularly applicable to the one now to be considered; and which may account, in a great measure, for the variety of inconsistent and unsatisfactory explanations which commentators have offered of it. Confessedly difficult as it is, it is hoped the following exposition will commend itself to the spiritual judgment of the saints; and, by the divine blessing, remove a stumbling-block from the way of many.

(*This tract is simply an abridgment of the pamphlet of the same title. It is not designed at all to take the place of the latter, which is very valuable; but to render the substance of the truth it contains more accessible to those of limited means and leisure.)

The character stamped upon the whole epistle to the Hebrews, especially marks this portion of it; it is briefly this: Warning to Hebrews professing Christianity, exposed to persecution without, —and having to contend with their natural unbelief, and habitual attachment to the laws and institutions of Moses within against a willful and deliberate return to Judaism. Much of the difficulty of the passage may be removed by a closer translation, which is ‘here given.

“Therefore, leaving the word of the beginning of Christ (see margin), let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God; of the doctrine of washings, and of laying on of hands; and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if indeed God permit. For it is impossible to renew unto repentance those who have been once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and have fallen away again seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them for whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God. But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned.”

The several clauses of this passage will now be considered in succession.

1. “Leaving the word of the beginning of Christ.” This does not mean leaving the first principles or foundation-truths of Christianity, but those doctrines, the belief of which constituted a man a Jew. This is clearly gathered from what follows, which does”— not give the gospel at length (compare it for example with Acts 16:31; Romans 4:23-25). The “word of the beginning of Christ,” means generally all teaching concerning Christ previous to the perfect and full revelation of Him. Its special meaning depends upon the times and persons spoken of in connection with it. Thus to Adam this “word,” &c., was prophetic, the single promise. (Genesis. 3:15.) To Abel it was, in addition to what went before—typical—the lamb slain. To Abraham it was all this, and promises and figures given, specially to him besides; and so on, until the Jewish dispensation, into which they were all drawn up and embodied; and then, to the Jews, “the word of the beginning of Christ,” was the laws and institutions of Moses; and the Prophets and the Psalms added, as it were, but so many more letters to the alphabet, by which they spelled out Christ: for it was, after all, but an alphabet; it was but “the word of the beginning of Christ.” This explanation appears the more confirmed, by referring to the previous chapter (v.), which, indeed, ought not to have been separated from the present one, and to which we are expressly directed by the word with which this one begins, “therefore,” &c. The apostle had told the Hebrews that when on account of the time they ought to be teachers, they had need that one should teach them again, “ what were the elements of the beginning of the oracles of God” (Gr.); it was needful, that is, to teach them again the true and spiritual import of “ the elements of the beginning of the oracles of God,” by which expression the most elementary of the Jewish elements are signified, under which the simpler truths of Christianity were set forth; they were unprepared for an explanation of those higher elements, in which were wrapped up the deeper mysteries of the Christian faith; he calls them “babes,” without experience (margin) in the word of righteousness, in contradistinction to those who were of “full age,” or perfect (margin). This same comparison occurs in 1 Corinthians 3:1, which compared with 2: 6, gives us the meaning of the word babes in both places, as well as what the apostle means by the “perfect or those “of full age.” The former denote such believers, who from their carnal walk and instability, were unfit for aught but elementary instruction; the latter such as were steadfast in elementary truths, and prepared for further attainment in the knowledge of mysteries. It was the Hebrews being in the condition of the former, that made the apostle break off, whilst unfolding (as he had been doing from the beginning of the epistle) the apostolic and priestly offices of Christ, and when about to speak of Melchisedec, in order to rebuke them for their slowness, and warn them of their danger: their danger as Hebrews being not simply unpreparedness to receive higher teaching, but the cause of this unpreparedness in them, the tendency, that is, of their hearts to rest in those things as substance, which he had been treating of as shadows, and thus deliberately to apostatize, and become involved in hopeless ruin.

2. “Let us go on unto perfection.” We have seen, that babes means here, not persons who have need always to feed upon the milk, that is, the simple truths of Christianity (this is most needful for all)

but such as actually required to be taught over again what these elementary truths were. To them are opposed those “of full age”—perfect, not because of their advanced knowledge, but because being habituated to the milk, that is, having received and fed upon the elementary truths, they were prepared for strong meat. So far, then, from desiring the first to leave (to dismiss or put away, Gr.) the first principles of Christianity behind, it is to those very principles he presses them to go forward, leaving the Jewish elements behind. Now this is called perfection in the dispensational sense in which the word is used throughout this epistle. (See 7: 11, 18, 19; 9: 9; 10: 1, 2; 11: 40.) As a living body is more perfect than a lifeless shadow, so is the covenant under which we stand entitled to be called perfect—perfect as to apostleship—as to priesthood—as to sacrifice. It is true there is a perfection to which even the established believer is often urged to press on, though not in this passage. But it is a moral perfection: his perfectness and completeness in Christ being the goal from which he starts; likeness to Christ being the point towards which he reaches (2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Colossians 2: 10; compare 4: 12, &c.; Phil. 3:12, comp. ver. 16). In this sense we are exhorted to be “perfect, as our Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

3. “Not laying again the foundation.” This is readily understood to be the same as the “word of the beginning of Christ.” The special foundation of the present dispensation is spoken of in 1 Corinthians 3:10. The foundation of the last dispensation is comprised in the particulars which follow, —repentance from dead works, &c. The new foundation is similar to the old foundation in its scope and end, but quite distinct from it in character: so much so, that now —to build upon the old is to reject the new; and this is to reject Christ (Galatians 5:2), &c. This was Paul’s fear for the Hebrews, and therefore he exhorts them not to lay again the old foundation. If his words applied to the new foundation, he would rather, in case they had renounced it, have urged them strongly to lay it again. Other Scriptures besides throw light on this expression, “laying again.” (See Romans 8:15; Galatians 2:18; 4: 9.) This last is indeed a case quite parallel with the one before us. That the above is, however, the true interpretation of this clause, is most evident further from the examination of the particulars comprised in this foundation—particulars in which we find no mention of the name or the work of Christ, or anything to bear out the common idea, that the passage is an enumeration of the principles of what is distinctively Christian doctrine. Who, indeed, would give it as a statement of the gospel (although the gospel is contained in it, as it is in many of the shadowy Jewish ordinances and other Scriptures) to a poor sinner, who inquired, “What shall I do to be saved!” it is the full creed of a spiritual Jew. True, there are doctrines enumerated in it which are essential to Christianity, but not less essential at the same time to all true religion at all times. If, then, it be shown that these doctrines were all known to the Jews, whilst some of them are exclusively Jewish, then, of course, to preach them alone would be to “lay again” the old foundation—to preach Judaism—to reject Christ.

4. “Repentance from dead works.” The character of true repentance is the same under all dispensations. It is hardly necessary to adduce proofs that it was a thing understood by the Jews. Take, for example, the confessions and repentance of Job, Daniel, Josiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, &c.; the national confessions of sin, and declared resolutions of amendment (Judges 10:15,16; Nehemiah 9:1-3), &c.; the exhortations of the prophets (for example, Jeremiah 4:4-14; Joel 2:12), &c.; and, lastly, the national promises (Deuteronomy 30:1), &c. The doctrine of repentance was also taught in various ceremonial ordinances. To us now it is intimately connected with the name and work of Jesus (Acts 5:31;17: 30,31; 20: 21), &c. Apart from the cross, or the grace of Christ, we cannot fully know it as we ought. In this passage, however, it stands unconnected with either—with anything that is peculiar to the present dispensation.

“Faith toward God.” This is not simply believing in God, but believing. God, his word, his promises, &c. In the eleventh chapter we have examples of this faith, not only under the Jewish dispensation, but from the world’s infancy: its definition is given in verse 1 and 6 (comp. verse 26 and 27). But even giving this, its highest sense, to the doctrine of “faith toward God,” necessarily common to all dispensations, it is presented to us in a new and blessed connection (John 14:1; Romans 4:24, &d.; 1 John 3:1). In our mind, the doctrines of faith and repentance are linked with associations which never entered the mind of a Hebrew. It is necessary to remember this, to put ourselves in their place, in order to understand the meaning of such words in their present connection.

“The doctrine of baptisms.” The word here translated baptisms, and generally understood to mean in this place Christian baptism, is different in the original to the word used for that ordinance. It is to be remarked, too, that it is in the plural, whereas in the present dispensation we have but one baptism (Ephesians 4:5), &c. There are but three other places in the New Testament, besides this passage, where the Greek word occurs in the plural; and in each of these places it is applied—not to Christian baptism, but to the Jewish washings. (See Mark 7:4,8, which illustrates the use of the word, notwithstanding that the washings there alluded to were a superstitious abuse of similar divine ordinances. Leviticus 11:32.) Hebrews 9:10 exhibits a completely parallel use of the word, which is there employed in the same sense, and with the same object, as in the passage before us. For the most important of these washings under the Jewish dispensation, see Exodus 29:4; Leviticus 14:8,9;15:13. They represented the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, and were also typical of that mighty agent the Spirit of Life. A master in Israel should have known the truth they conveyed (John 3:5,9,12); for it was taught both by type and prophecy (see Jeremiah 4:4,14; Ezekiel 36:25,26), &c. This plural word, baptisms, or washings, is never in the New Testament applied to Christian baptism. This latter ordinance, whilst symbolizing all the truth taught by the Jewish baptisms, does far more; for it represents the death and resurrection of the believer, by virtue of union with Jesus (Romans 6:3-13; 1 Peter 3:21); things hidden, and not known under the earthly dispensation (Ephesians 2:4,6; 3: 4-10).

7. “The laying on of hands.” A variety of unsatisfactory interpretations have been given of this, as also of the preceding clause, arising from an erroneous view of the whole passage; but all difficulty disappears, if we regard this article as a Jewish element (see the various ordinances connected with laying on of hands in Exodus 29:10; Leviticus 1:4; 3: 2; 4: 4; and 16: 21). All these were declarative of the great truth, that “without shedding of blood there is no remission.” He who laid his hand on the victim’s head, acknowledged that he deserved to die the death of the victim, but looked for mercy and forgiveness through the shedding of blood. Truths of such magnitude as were set forth by this, and the baptismal ordinances, may well account for the mention of both here; and the order in which they stand is precisely the same as in Exodus 29 and Leviticus 8

8. “Resurrection from the dead and eternal judgment.” That both these doctrines (intimately connected as they are) were known to the Jews is abundantly manifest, Acts 24:15; 26: 6, 7; John 11:24; Hebrews 11:35; Luke 20:37; Job 19:26; Psalms 17:15; Daniel 12:2; Psalms 1:5; &c., however dark and imperfect their knowledge of them compared with ours (see John 11:25; 6: 40, 44, 54; 1 Corinthians 15; Colossians 3:3,4).

From what has been said, it is probably manifest that the “foundation” which the Hebrews are desired, not to lay again is the Jewish and not the Christian foundation; that all the particulars thereof were known to the Jews: known, for example, as well to Saul the blasphemer, as to Paul the Christian, whiles some of them were peculiar to Judaism; and that they are now known in a new connection and aspect. If it be remembered, too, that the “perfection.” to which they are urged is not the knowledge of higher mysteries, but simple Christian truth, and intelligent establishment in it, we can fully account for the awful warning which follows, from the danger of a wavering and unsettled mind on such foundation truth:—one perilous backward step, and they were again plunged into Judaism, which would now be a deliberate rejection of that “only name under heaven, given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The word “for,” with which the warning begins, shows that it flows out of the preceding: statement, although in the commonly received view of the passage it seems quite out of place and connection. Many a one has been disturbed by this terrible warning, to whom it neither was nor could be applicable. Its several clauses, as. before, will now be considered in order.

9. “For it is impossible to renew unto repentance the apostle here distinctly speaks of a sin which placed the person guilty of it beyond the possibility of repentance and the reach of mercy. It will probably appear, on examination, that this sin is that of —deliberate apostasy; not apostasy in the abstract; for apostasy is capable of various degrees and modifications; nor yet apostasy simply from Christianity to Judaism; but this latter, under the very circumstances here detailed—that these circumstances did not necessarily denote true conversion to God, being such as were common both to the regenerate and to the mere professors in that day,—and that those only who stood in these actual circumstances could incur the irremediable guilt of this apostasy.

“Those who have been once enlightened” (or illuminated, see chapter 10: 32, Gr.). We may easily conceive what a blaze of light was thrown upon all the Jewish types, institutions, and doctrines, by preaching from them, and in connection with them, the doctrine of the cross (a doctrine understood by none; with one or two exceptions, until after the resurrection), and how applicable the expression “illuminated” was then to those who might have only intellectually received it. Light, and light only, is intended here. Daily experience teaches how much of it may exist in a person without its being accompanied by grace; and this is what is implied too in 1 Corinthians 13:2. It is possible that all whom Paul here addressed were the children of God; and, indeed, the apostle speaks of his persuasion that they were so, although (and this is to be observed) he does not ground this persuasion upon the experience or privileges here enumerated, but upon the fruits he had seen in them (verse 10, and chapter 10: 33). But though Paul might hope, he could not know that they were all saints; and, besides, he is not describing their state, but a state into which it was possible for those who were not rooted and established in the truth to fall.

10. “And have tasted of the heavenly gift.” Most probably the gift here spoken of is “God’s dear Son”(see John 3 and 6); in these chapters we read much of this “heavenly gift,” but even if the outpouring of the Spirit, as some think, be intended, the main argument of this exposition remains untouched; for ungodly men, as will be shown, received these gifts. There is no necessity for understanding the expression tasting of the heavenly gift, to imply true Christian experience; the import of the word tasting must be fixed by the subject and context where it occurs; and it does sometimes mean full experience of the things to which it is applied, as Hebrews 2:9. It is probable that it means here something more than mere illumination. No word, perhaps, would be more expressive of the way in which he who received the seed into stony places (see the parable of the sower, Matthew received it, than this very one, tasting of it (comp. Mark 4:16,17; Luke 8:13); Such, probably, was the short-lived, evanescent experience of the persons here described; an experience of some joy and satisfaction at having been enlightened so as to see in Christ the end, accomplishment, and fullness of the law and the prophets; but not being quickened of God, not being sensible of the deep corruption of their nature, they had “no root in themselves;” they were by and by offended, and they exhibit plainly what it is to have merely “tasted,”, without having an abiding desire or appetite for the heavenly food.

11. “And have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost.” This is the baptism of the Holy Ghost, peculiar to the present dispensation (John 1:33; Acts 1:5; 2: 1, 4). It does not mean the quickening of the Spirit, which existed under every dispensation; but the descent of the Holy Spirit, by imposition of the apostles’ hands, and conferred by the apostles alone (Acts 8:17, &c.; 19: 6). It seems quite clear that mere confession was the ground upon which they were conferred, irrespective of the sincerity or true conversion of the individual who made it. The case of Ananias and Sapphire might, perhaps, prove this; but that of Simon Magus plainly does, who, there is no reason to doubt, was partaker of these gifts (see Acts 8:12,13,17), yet he had neither part nor lot in the matter. (That he had received the gifts seems plain also from this, that his proposal was to purchase the power of conferring them upon others, not for himself, for whom he would otherwise doubtless have sought them in the first place.) But there is independent proof of this, from the fact that the apostles had not necessarily, or at all times, the power of discerning, as in the case of Ananias and Sapphire, the hearts of others. It was after manifested evil, and not till then, that Peter rebuked Simon, “I perceive,” &e. So, also, it was after manifested evil that Paul and John wrote such passages as Philippians 3: 18; 1 John 2:19. (see, too, 1 Corinthians 13:1; comp. 12: 28, &c.) It seems, then, clear that these gifts were intended as a seal, not to the sincerity of the confessor, but to the truth of the confession (see also Matthew 7:22).

12. “And have tasted the good word of God.” This clause seems to be exegetical or the second; viz., “and have tasted of the heavenly gift in another form: yet, if either one or the other means a more decided or prolonged profession of the gospel, and enjoyment of the Scriptures generally, the frequency of such a profession, apart from any real grace, is abundantly proved both by experience and Scripture (Ezekiel 28: 31, 32; Matthew 13:22). Many have been, perhaps, convinced of their sins, who have not learned to judge their nature. Such may have “tasted the good word of God,” yea, and have found its flavor pleasant, though they have never fed upon it or grown by it.

13. “And (tasted) the powers of the age to come.” The word here translated “powers” is the same as in many places is rendered “mighty works” (see Matthew 13:54,58; 11: 20, 21, 23; Mark 6: 2; Acts 2: 22, &c.), and this is most likely its import here. As to the meaning of the word translated, in the common version, “world,” it depends upon the context in which it occurs. In Ephesians 2:7, it is correctly translated “ayes.” In Matthew 13 it should be “the harvest is in the end of the age;” so also ver. 40 and 49, the same should be the rendering in Matthew 24:3; 28: 20; and in this sense it may be defined to be “a periodical dispensation of Divine Providence,” which is probably its meaning here. It is true, the apostle speaks of it as of a thing yet future, “the age to come;” but this difficulty is removed by considering that he has been speaking of a previous dispensation, to which this was future. Thus, in chapter 10:1, we read, “The law having a shadow of good things to come;” whilst that those things were already come is the very thing that Paul is proving (see, too, Colossians 2:17); the words ‘to come,” then, imply futurity in reference to the Jewish dispensation; and so the meaning of the clause is not the age that is to come, but the age that was to come. Though the Lord, in his wisdom, saw fit to bestow these gifts of working mighty works upon ungodly professors and self-deceivers (Matthew 7:22, 23; 1 Corinthians 13:1), yet it appears that here they are spoken of, not in reference to the few (comparatively) who possessed, but to the many who witnessed them, not as the special privilege of some, but as the evidence to all; and in this sense all “tasted” them (See Galatians 3:5).

To sum up, then, the circumstances detailed. There is, 1. Light; “once enlightened.” 2. Experience;— “tasted of the heavenly gift”— “tasted the good word of God.” 3. Evidence; “partakers of the Holy Ghost” — “tasted the powers of the age to come:” evidence overpowering and convincing, though, if unaccompanied by the renewing power of the Spirit of God, not converting. Now, it was this evidence, and the conviction which it produced, that gave its special character to the apostasy of which the apostle proceeds to speak: and in the absence of these, though in the mind of God, there may under more ordinary circumstances, be a point at which He will cease to strive with man; yet we have no scriptural authority for pronouncing any degree of apostasy irretrievable, or strictly applying these tremendous words to any class of persons, and saying, You have sinned beyond the possibility of repentance, therefore it is in vain for you to seek it.

14. “And have fallen away again.” This clause contains the apostasy itself. It is most important to correct the inaccurate rendering of this in our version. The verb, like all the others in the two previous verses, expresses past time, and should not be rendered hypothetically, “if they shall fall away.” The Scriptures are, indeed, full of most searching warnings to the Lord’s people; but can one be found which supposes a child of God to have already actually apostatized, or fallen away? The characters, however, here supposed and described, are represented as having done so— “And have fallen away again.” We must, therefore, distinguish here between this description, and the exhortation at large, of which it forms a part. The former is declared of those only who had never truly known the Lord. The latter is addressed to all. The former is spoken of actual apostates (whether there had been such, which is probable, or the apostle only supposes the case, it matters not); the latter is addressed to all the Hebrew professors, whether sound in the faith or not; and is one of the means used by the Lord for keeping and confirming those who were (see 1 Corinthians 11:19). Moreover, the word, “again,” belongs, as is most probable, to this clause, and not to the other, “to renew unto repentance.” It is placed in the same position after the verb, in Galatians 4:9, “Why turn ye again,” &c.; or “back,” as in the margin, which is the true force of the word both there and in this place; and not a second time; for according to the tenor and terms of this passage, a second apostasy was impossible.

This also removes the difficulty created by the supposition, that a previous renewal unto repentance is here supposed.

15. “Seeing they crucify unto themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” This clause gives us, in distinct terms, the actual amount of guilt involved in this apostasy, and the reason of its being impossible to renew unto repentance those who were guilty of it under the above circumstances. The terms of this clause, often unskillfully and erroneously applied, express a willful malignant opposition to the name and Gospel of Christ. They surely imply more than mere sin, however aggravated: even the temporary denial of the Lord could never be said to bear the application of these terrible words. Peter was restored after thus falling, and the very crucifiers of the “Lord of Glory “did not irremediably sin (Luke 23:34; Acts 3:17,18); “they knew not what they did.” But how different were the circumstances in which the Hebrew professors, to whom Paul is writing now stood! They had been convinced of sin in the act—of rejecting Jesus (John 16:8-11). They had witnessed and believed the testimony of the apostles backed by miracles (Acts 2:37,38,43). They had confessed the name of Jesus, had been baptized, and had received the seal of God on their confession, by the descent of the Spirit upon themselves (Acts 5:30,32). To renounce, therefore, this their„ profession, to return again to Judaism, and thus: “deny the Lord that bought them,” after all the grace. extended, and all the light and evidence afforded them, was to vindicate the deed of darkness they had done; to declare that they had acted righteously in slaying “the Holy One and the Just,” and thus virtually and in spirit to “crucify unto themselves the Son of God afresh.” The expression, “put him to an open shame,” is the same in the original as that which is rendered in Matthew 1:19, “to make a public example;” it is, equivalent to the other in chapter 10: 29, “treading underfoot the Son of God;” whilst it could not now be said that “they knew not what they did.” The awful act of crucifying the “Lord of Glory,” the very climax of Jewish apostasy and guilt, was yet met by God’s mercy, which rose above it; for in the terrible deed itself was contained the remedy for all. But where was the remedy for this second deed of darkness, wrought in the midst of noonday light—this second crucifixion of the Lord of Glory? Surely there was none; for the deed itself was the proud and despiteful rejection of what they had themselves seen to be thee, only remedy. For such an apostasy there remained, “no more sacrifice for sin” (chapter 10: 26, 29).

(To be concluded in our next.)

On Lay Preaching

This question of lay preaching is one of the greatest importance, and one in which, it is obvious, the interests of the Church are deeply concerned; because, if God give his Spirit to laymen for the purpose, there is positive loss in the hindrance, and the Spirit of God is grieved. The point to be proved by those who are opposed to it, is this, either that no laymen have the Spirit of God in testimony, or, that having it, the sanction of man is necessary for its exercise. I do not purpose here a general investigation of the principles of the subject, but merely to inquire whether laymen are entitled to preach, if the Lord give them opportunity; or, whether there be any human sanction needful for their doing so. I affirm that there is not; and that no such sanction can be proved to be necessary from Scripture; and that no such sanction was therein afforded. The question is not, whether all laymen are individually qualified; but, whether as laymen they are disqualified, unless they are what is commonly called ordained; I say, commonly called, because the word, as used in Scripture, does not in the original convey what it does to an English ear at present. I affirm that no such ordination was a qualification to preach in the days of Scriptural statement. I do not despise order; I do not despise pastoral care. I love it where it really exists, as that which savors in its place of the sweetest of God’s services. Though it may be exercised sometimes in a manner not to our present taste or thought, a good shepherd will seek the scattered sheep. But I confine myself to a simple question—the assertion, that laymen ought not to preach without episcopal or other analogous appointment. My assertion is, that they are entitled; that they did so in Scripture; were justified in doing so, God blessing them therein; and that the principles of Scripture require it, assuming of course here that they are qualified by God; for the question here is not competency to act, but title to act if competent. Neither do I despise herein (God forbid that I should do so) the holy setting apart, according to godliness, to any office such as are competent, by those that have authority to do so.

Let us see what Scripture says upon the subject. The question can only arise as to their speaking in the Church, or out of the Church. These admitted, all anomalous cases will readily be agreed in And, first, in the Church. And here I remark, that the directions in the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians, are entirely inconsistent with the necessity of ordination to speak. There is a line drawn there, but it is not “if ordained, or unordained;” “Let your women keep silence in the Churches;” a direction which never could have had place, were the speaking confined to a definitely ordained person, but takes quite another ground; and which implies directly, not that it is right for every man to speak, but that there was preclusion of none, because of their character as laymen. Women were the precluded class: there the line was drawn. If men had not the gift of speaking, of course they would be silent, if they followed the directions there given. The apostle says, “Every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation:” Does he say none ought to speak but one ordained? No; “Let all things be done unto edifying.” That is the grand secret, the grand rule— “in a tongue by two, or at the most by three, and by course, and interpret.” Prophets two or three, &c. “For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.” “For God,” &c. “Let your women keep silence in the Churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience.” We have then a distinction, not of ordained and unordained, but of those who, from their character—women—are not permitted to speak, and the rest are; and directed in what order to do so, and the ground of distinction stated. And this is God’s plan of decency and order. For the rest, they were all to speak, that all might learn, and all be comforted; not all to speak at once, not all to speak every day, but all as God led them, according to the order there laid down, and as God was pleased to give them ability, for the edifying of the Church. I apply all this simply and exclusively to the question of laymen speaking; and I assert, that there was no such principle recognized as that they should not, but the contrary. It will be said, I know, that these were the times of extraordinary gifts of the Spirit; but this is a false view of the case. Do they mean to argue, that ordination did not begin as a distinctive title till after the departure of the Spirit of God? Moreover, the Spirit of God does not justify, by systematic rules, breaking through its own order: it would be most mischievous to say it did. But the case was not one of the prerogatives of spiritual gifts, but of order, for women had spiritual gifts, as we read elsewhere, and directions are given for their exercise; but they were not to use them in the Church, because it was out of order, not comely. But there was no hint that all of the men were not; but the contrary, because it was not out of order. Aptness to teach may be a very important qualification for a bishop; but it cannot be said, from Scripture, to be disorderly for a layman to speak in the Church, if God have given him ability. Besides, though these extraordinary gifts may have ceased, I by no means admit, that the ordinary gifts for the edification of the Church, of believers, have ceased. On the contrary, I believe they are the instrument, the only real instrument of edification; nor do I see why, on principle, they should not be exercised in the Church, or why the Church has not a title to the ‘edification derived from them. If I were to speak of lay preaching, I should be referred to the orderly way in which Christ had given—in His Church— some apostles, &c. Now, unless one-man centers—all these in one person by virtue of ordination, I do not see how it applies. I read, “some, one; some, and other.” The Head, Christ, “from whom the whole body, fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, to the edifying of itself in love.” And I read, that there are given, one the eye, the other the foot, the other the ear, that there might be no schism in the body. And if we have lost many, and ornamental members, it is no reason why we should cut off the rest; the word of wisdom, or the word of knowledge, or the like. If the Spirit of God be clean gone out of the Church, how came that about? Was it when laymen spoke, or office was maintained? It will then be said, they may do it out of, but not in the Church. Why not? Thus far, then, for speaking in the Church I advocate no system. I mourn over the departure of many of the comely parts, on which God set comeliness. I take these Scriptures as scriptural evidence, that the notion of laymen speaking in the Church being wrong, has not the Scriptures to rest on. I speak not here of elders, or appointed teachers; their value or not. I speak merely of the one point, the wrongness of a layman speaking in the Church as such. If we are told of the danger arising from all teaching, I admit it at once. But we are warned against it, not by wrongness as regards office, or its effect merely on others; but as one of the things in which, as evil will come out, so the remedy is applied to the spirit from which it flows: “My brethren, be not many teachers, for so shall ye heap to yourselves greater condemnation.” But the warning still again shows, that there was no such restriction of office as is now supposed, for it would have been, “you have no business to teach at all, you are not ordained.” But, no; the correction was turned to moral profit, not—to formal distinction of pre-eminent office.

But it comes to be more important out of the Church; because it precludes the testimony of the Gospel by a vast number of persons, who may have faithfully borne it to others. Let us inquire the scriptural facts. In the first place, then, all the Christians preached—went everywhere preaching the word. (Acts 8:4.) Some critics have endeavored to elude this plain passage by saying, that this is speaking, which a layman may do. The short answer is—It is not. It is ευαγγελιζομενοι,—Evangelizing the word. And we read elsewhere, that “the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.” Now, unless all the Church were ordained—I think they are to preach, as far as they have ability—here is the simplest case possible; the case in point. The first general preaching of the gospel which the Lord blessed beyond the walls of Jerusalem, was by laymen, or however, it knew no such distinction. It had not entered into their minds then, that they who knew the glory of Christ were not to speak of it, where, and how, God enabled them. And the hand of God was with them. Paul preached without any other mission than seeing the glory of the Lord and His word; in a synagogue, too, and boasts of it. And he gives his reasons for Christians preaching elsewhere— “as it is written: I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe and therefore speak.” Apollos preached; and when Paul would have sent him from Ephesus to Corinth, would not go. Yet, so far from being ordained before beginning to preach, he knew only the baptism of John. And Aquila and Priscilla took him to them, and expounded to him the way of God more perfectly. At Rome, many of the brethren, waxing bold by Paul’s bonds, preached the word without fear. And here I must add, as critics vex themselves about this too, the word is κηρυσσουσιν—are heralds. The same habits of wandering preaching we find in 2 John and 3 John, guarded not by ordination, but by doctrine. Nor is there such a thing mentioned in Scripture, as ordaining to preach the gospel. Paul preached before he went out on his work from Antioch. And if they will plead his being set apart there, they are quite welcome; for I reason not against such setting apart, but against the assertion that laymen are incompetent to preach. But the case, if it proves anything for them, proves that laymen can ordain as well as preach, that is all. The only other passage not commonly quoted, but which seems to me nearer the purpose is, “The same commit thou to faithful men, able to teach others also.” But the thing committed here was the doctrine, and proves tradition, if anything, not ordination; for it does not appear that they were ordained for the purpose. I have now produced ample evidence from Scripture to a simple mind. I am not attacking ordination, nor anything that may, in the eyes of others, appear valuable; but simply the assertion, that laymen ought not to speak in or preach out of the Church; and I say that that assertion is a novelty in Christianity, for that Scripture recognizes their doing so. I have abstained from diffusive discussions upon what has led to it, or the principles which are involved in it—I put the scriptural fact to any body’s conscience: and I call upon any one to produce any Scripture positively, or on principle, forbidding laymen to preach, or requiring episcopal, or other analogous ordination for the purpose. And here I will advert to what is commonly adduced upon the subject, the case of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. It is remarkable that those who do so, should pass by a case immediately preceding, bearing upon this immediate subject; Eldad and Medad prophesying in the camp, though they had not come up to the door of the tabernacle, because the spirit rested upon them. “Would God,” said the meek man of God, “that all the Lord’s people were prophets!” What was here typically proposed—the pouring out the Spirit on all—was, in principle, fulfilled in the Christian dispensation. Then, subsequently, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, acted not under the influence and energy of the Spirit in testifying to the people, but would have assumed authority—the kingship of Moses, and the priesthood of Aaron. This was their fault. These things were typical of our dispensation. So the Apostle states. They make universal preaching desirable, and the assumption of priesthood a sin. If this be not the force of these passages, let those who object to the explanation, explain what is. To the same is the argument of the apostle applied, the exclusion from the office of priesthood save by such call as Christ had; in which, in one sense, all believers are partakers; in another sense, he is alone, unaccompanied into the holy place. In a word, the assumption of preaching by laymen is right. The assumption of priesthood by any, save as all believers are priests, is wrong. This is the dispensation of the out-pouring of the Spirit here, qualifying for preaching any here who can do so—in a word, speaking of Jesus— (for the distinction between speaking and preaching is quite unsustainable by Scripture, as any one may see, if he takes the trouble) and in which Christ alone exercises the priesthood within the veil in the presence of God for us. This, I believe, then, to be the force of these passages. The type of the pouring-out of the Spirit in the camp, with the gracious wish of Moses is the characteristic, the essential distinction of Christianity. Accordingly, we find in its primary presentation to the world, the Spirit poured out on the one hundred and twenty who were assembled together, who thereupon began to speak as the Spirit gave them utterance. And Peter, standing up, explains to the Jews, that they were not drunk, but that it was the thing spoken of by Joel—the undistinguished pouring-out of the Spirit upon men of all classes, servants, and handmaidens, their sons and their daughters prophesying,—the pouring out of the Spirit upon all flesh. This was the characteristic of its agency, and this we have seen acted upon in the subsequent history; to deny this is to mistake the only power of the dispensation, and, I will add, to lose it. And what is the consequence? Irregular action goes on, and cannot be restrained, for kingly power cannot be assumed to such purpose, or they are taking the part of Dathan and Abiram; but the power of the Spirit, in which God would give competency to restrain evil, has been slighted; and office which has been relied on affords no remedy, unless the rights which the Roman Catholic system has assumed be attached to it, which is the assumption of power not given to the Church at all. It is not for me to assert what is the evil of the present day, I am sure it is not the overflowing boldness of testimony against evil; and if evil teaching exists, the remedy is not in hindering or rejecting (for hindered it surely will not be, nor cannot be) lay preaching, but the cordial co-operation of those who hold the truth, by which the common energy (and common energy is infinite energy in this matter) should be exercised to sustain it against that which does not hold the truth, and the clergy and all may be persuaded it will be needed. Thus, the distinction will be between truth and error, and not office and the Spirit, the most mischievous that human wit could have devised. In the meantime, those who hold office really from God, will find those who have the Spirit, but not special office, gladly, aye, thankfully, most thankfully, recognize them in it, instead of being’ thrown into opposition, color given to those who have not the Spirit, in their apparent similarity of conduct; and apparent evidence afforded, that those who have office are opposed to the Spirit, in their prohibition of those who have it exercising it.

The times call for decision; and the only thing which will withstand evil and error, is truth, and truth wielded as a common cause against error and self-will by the saints under the Spirit, and then God can be wholly with them, instead of being obliged to withdraw His countenance from them when they are opposed to their brethren, and rejecting them when he must justify them, when it is the order of his glory, and all their blessing to do so. May he by his Spirit guide us into all truth. J. N. D.

Would God That All the Lord's People Were Prophets

“There ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and
Medad do prophesy in the camp.”—Numbers 11:27.

ELDAD they said, and Medad, there

Irregularly bold,

By Moses uncommission’d, dare

A separate meeting bold!

And still whom none but heav’n will own,

Men whom the world decry,

Men authoriz’d by God alone,

Presume to prophesy!

“My Lord Moses, forbid them.”—11: 28.

How often have I blindly done
What zealous Joshua did,

Impatient to the rulers run,

And cried, “My lords, forbid!

Silence the schismatics, constrain

Their thoughts with ours t’ agree,

And sacrifice the souls of men

To idle unity!”

“Enviest thou for my sake?”

Moses, the minister of God,

Rebukes our partial love,
Who envy at the gifts bestow’d

On those we disapprove:

We do not our own spirits know,

Who wish to see supprest,
The men that Jesus’ spirit show,

The men whom God hath bless’d.

“Would God that all the Lord’s people, were prophets, and that the Lord
would put His Spirit upon them.”

Shall we the Spirit’s course restrain,
Or quench the heav’nly fire?

Let God His messengers ordain,
And whom He will inspire:

Blow as He list, the Spirit’s choice

Of instruments we bless;

We will, if Christ be preach’d, rejoice,

And wish the word success!

Can all be prophets then? are all
Commission’d from above?

No! but whomsoe’er the Lord shall call

We joyfully approve.

O that the Church might all receive

The spirit of prophesy,

And all in Christ accepted live,

And all in Jesus die?

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Laver and His Foot

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat. When they go into the tent of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord. So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.”

The Laver and His Foot.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thou shalt also make a layer of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal.) These scriptures are “the word of God;” this gives them their importance and authority. They are also “the testimony of Jesus Christ;” this gives them their interest to us as redeemed sinners, and their value to our souls, as containing God’s testimony concerning his Son.

God’s thoughts about Christ are embodied in type, and given us in the scriptures, that we might have fellowship with the Father in his own estimate of his Son. In the laver and his foot, we have the divinely given figure or shadow of CHRIST as our SANCTIFICATION.

“Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and SANCTIFICATION, and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:30.) In this 30th chapter of Exodus, from verse 11, typically the believer is regarded, first, redeemed by the blood (11-16);secondly, sanctified with the washing of water (17-21); thirdly, anointed with the oil (22-33); and, fourthly, accepted in the perfume. (34-38.) “The Spirit, the water, and the blood.” (1 John 5:6-8.)

Or, in another aspect, 1St (ver. 11-16), Christ is seen in his atoning death for our redemption.

2nd. (ver. 17-21), in his life, death, and resurrection, as our sanctification.

3rd (ver. 22-33), ascended to God’s right hand, receiving and giving the spirit, for our anointing.

4th (ver. 34 to end), in the assembly, and within the vail, appearing before God in all his preciousness on our behalf, for our acceptance.

In Solomon’s temple there were ten lavers, standing on their ten bases, and one molten sea, standing on twelve oxen. (1 Kings 7:23-26.) In Ezekiel’s temple there is no laver nor sea, but a river, whose waters issue out from under the threshold of the house eastward, deepening and widening as it flows.

In Revelation 4:6, we read of a sea of glass like unto crystal before the throne. In Revelation 15: 2, of a sea of glass mingled with fire. And in Revelation 22:1, of a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

All these are so many figures of Christ, and of the cleansing, sanctifying, life-giving, life-sustaining power of the Spirit of God, full of the richest interest and instruction: but on these we cannot now enlarge.

The word “laver,” in the Hebrew, signifies, “like a river;” and there is beautiful significancy in this.

The laver consisted of two parts, “the laver and his foot.” The upper part, or laver, being a large reservoir of water, from which, when required, the water poured down “like a river” into the foot or basin at its base. The lower part being alone used for bathing or washing, so that the water in the laver remained always pure and undefiled.

This construction reminds us forcibly of the expression in the Epistle to Titus, 3: 5, 6: “The washing (or laver, λουτρον,) of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

The laver thus constructed presents Christ in two aspects; the foot, Christ in humiliation on earth; and the upper part, or laver proper, Christ in his exaltation in heaven.

In his life on earth, Christ left us an example that we should follow in his steps and on the Cross; from his pierced side came forth the water and the blood.

But it is from Christ crucified, risen, and exalted, that the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of purity and life, is now given. “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst; let him come unto 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 spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:37-39.)

In Ephesians 5:25,26, we read, “Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word.” This is his present action, “That he might (ultimately) present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.” (Ephesians 5:27.)

Its Material.

A laver of brass, and his foot also of brass. Brass is the emblem of strength: and Christ, as our sanctification, is the strong one, mighty to sanctify as well as mighty to save. Precious and encouraging truth! How many are there who trust in Christ for their salvation, but have recourse to their own efforts, or to the law, for sanctification! Justification by the faith of Christ is the doctrine of the Reformation but sanctification by the faith of Christ, how little apprehended! How little have our souls entered into the depth and fullness of those words of Jesus to Paul, with the thorn rankling in his flesh, “My grace is sufficient for thee; my strength is made perfect in weakness.”

There is power in the example of his life; constraining power in his dying and redeeming love; power in looking unto Jesus glorified at God’s right hand above. And Stephen found it so. Power in the Spirit sent down from this ascended one. The secret of power in the Christian experience is having Christ “all” as our object, “and in all” as our life.

In Exodus 38:8, we read, “And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the looking-glasses (or rather brazen mirrors) of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tent of the congregation.”

This, doubtless, is significant, and intimates a connection between self-examination and sanctification. James writes, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass; for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” (James 1:22-25.)

Christ, in his life on earth, left us an example that we should follow in his steps. And it is well to compare our walk and life with his. The foot of the laver was made of burnished brass.

But sanctification to the believer now is especially and effectually connected with the contemplation of Christ, once crucified, but now risen and glorified, as exhibited in the mirror of the word, through the power of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Real and divine photography: “Now the Lord,” &c.

The Position of the Laver.

And thou shalt put it between the tent of the congregation and the altar, ver. 18.) The progress of the soul in drawing near to God is thus set forth. The soul first realizing pardon at the sin offering without the camp.

Secondly, acceptance at the brazen altar within the court.

Thirdly, sanctification at the brazen laver.

Fourthly, nearness in worship at the golden altar.

Fifthly, entrance into the holiest through the value of the blood, and of the sweet incense from the golden censer, carried by the High Priest within the vail.

The Water

And thou shalt put water therein, to wash withal; ver. 18.) “Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.” (Ephesians 5:26.) “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth,” is his prayer to the Father. (John 17:17.) “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak “unto you, they are spirit, and they are life,” he says. (John 6:63.) Not the word apart from the Spirit, nor the Spirit apart from the word. It is the truth that sanctifies; and the Spirit is truth. But it is the truth of Christ; “as the truth is in Jesus.”

The water which filled the laver in the wilderness came first from the smitten rock (Exodus 17); the type of Christ crucified, from whose pierced side flowed forth the water and the blood. For “that rock was Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:4.)

Secondly, it came from the rock which was to have been spoken to, at the end of the wilderness wanderings, in connection with the blooming, blossoming, and fruit-bearing rod. (Numbers 20) Typical, of Christ glorified, and sending down the spirit in: answer to prayer. (Acts 2 and John 7) How significant! and how precious to the soul of the believer are these divine foreshadowings.

THE USE OF THE LAYER.

To wash withal. For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat: when they go into the tent of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord: so they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute forever to them, even, to him and to his seed throughout their generations, ver. 18-21.) The laver sets forth Christ made of God unto the believer, sanctification practically. (1 Corinthians 1:30.)

It is the action of the Lord Jesus in John 13 embodied in type.

The washing at the laver was twofold. First, of the entire person, as at the consecration of the priests, (see Exodus 29:4,) where it should be translated, “bathe them in water.” This washing, or bathing in water, at their consecration was not repeated. To this the Lord refers in John 13:10, “He that is washed, or bathed, (‘O λελοθμένος) needeth not save to wash his feet, (νίψασθαι), but is clean every whit.” The signification of this bathing is given in Romans 6, Colossians 2, &c. It sets forth the death, burial, and resurrection of the believer with Christ, and faith’s apprehension of it.

Secondly, this washing was partial, the washing of the hands and feet; and it is this which is here especially mentioned, —its constant use.

“Aaron and his sons,” typify Christ and the Church in their priestly character. (Hebrews 3:6.) The sanctification is one: “For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” (John 17:19.) And he is our sanctification.

“The hands and feet” express the whole character of the believer’s action and conduct. In John 13,

the feet only are mentioned, as including the whole course of the believer’s walk.

“They shall wash their hands and their feet thereat.” It was not sufficient to wash elsewhere. It is the practical and conscious cleansing which flows from faith’s apprehension of Christ, and not that which flows from mere moral considerations or precepts, which fits for God’s tent and God’s altar.

“When they go into the tent of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not.” This cleansing by the faith of Jesus is essential to living fellowship with the Father and the Son in the Spirit, and to true fellowship with the saints.

There is no living communion apart from this. Apart from the sanctification which results from association with Jesus, and faith in him, communion—is a lifeless form, and the place of assembly a region of spiritual death. Holiness becomes God’s house forever.

“If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.” Solemn and weighty words! May our souls enter into their divine import!

“Or when they come near to the altar to minister.” Priestly service to God in living power can only be carried on in connection with that practical separation from evil to God, which results from faith’s apprehension of Jesus, who is made of God unto us sanctification, and abiding communion with him. Holiness becomes God’s service, as well as God’s house. “Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.” “I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord.”

“That they die not.” (Ver. 20.) This is repeated in ver. 21. It may be taken as a warning. “If ye live after the flesh ye shall die.” Spiritual deadness is the inevitable consequence of the foot defiled, and sanctification through personal intercourse with Christ neglected. Or it may be taken as a promise; for the words might be rendered, “and they shall not die;” an assurance twice given, that living communion with God and his saints, and living power of priestly service and worship, is indissolubly associated with that practical holiness which fellowship with Christ secures.

“It shall be a statute forever;” a principle from which God never departs. “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.”

Grace meets the sinner outside the camp. And the sweet savor of the sacrifice is ever ascending from the brazen altar; while the laver ever stands between the door of the tent and the altar of burnt offering; and the water is ever there.

. Christ once died for our sins—once was raised again for our justification, but he ever lives to make intercession; ever lives the source of life, holiness, and power to all that draw nigh to God by him. His grace is sufficient for us; his strength is made perfect in weakness. Because he lives, we shall live also; and our life will be a life of holiness, if “we live by the faith of him.” Thus full provision is made in Christ, that the blood-bought heirs of glory, and the royal priests of our God might ever worship him in the beauties of holiness, as well as in the confidence of faith and love.

(“Directions for the setting up of the Tabernacle, and its anointing,” in the No. for November.)

Hebrews 6:1-8: Part 2

But this apostasy involved yet further guilt; for it was by the miracle—working power of the. Holy Ghost, witnessing to the resurrection of the crucified Jesus, that such apostates had been convinced that he was the “Son of God” (Romans 1:4); convinced too of sin, because they had not believed in Him—before. (John 16:9.) These “mighty works” they could not deny or doubt, but they might deny the truth to ‘which they were the seal (which, too, they had confessed, and with which they had been at least intellectually acquainted), and thereby deny the veracity of the Divine Witness, and thus impute falsehood to the “Spirit of Truth,” or ascribe his mighty works to the spirit of falsehood—the father of lies. The former the more daring blasphemy; but either falling, as it would seem, under that awful commination of our blessed Lord— “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age, nor in the age to come.” (Matthew 12:31,32.) And this, “because they said he had an unclean spirit.” (Mark 3:30, comp. ver. 22.) The tenth chapter of this epistle, verse 23 to the end, treats of the same apostasy as we have been considering in chapters v. 11, 6:8. In both places, this unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost seems to be involved; and the willful and malignant character of the apostasy is also apparent, from the apostle’s comparing those who were guilty of it to the despisers of Moses’ law; and he speaks of them, not as ignorant or careless, or even unsound in the matter of justification (perilous as this is in itself), but as adversaries (chapter 10:27, 28). The case for which “no more sacrifice for sin” remained, was the rejection of Christ altogether, after knowledge, conviction, and confession of the truth of the gospel, confirmed before their eyes by the mighty works of the Holy Ghost.

The similitude in the two following verses (comp. Isaiah 5:1-6) is very plain and simple, and corroborates what has been said concerning the circumstances of the supposed apostates. The rain is represented as falling upon the barren and the fruitful ground alike: but the latter only “drinketh it in.” The former expression accurately describes outward advantages, as light, instruction, evidence, gifts, &c.; the latter is equally suitable to genuine faith and inward grace. (See Matthew 13:23; Hebrews 4:2, &c.)

Probably it has been sufficiently proved, that the subject of this warning is not apostasy from a state of grace, but from outward profession, under very special and peculiar circumstances. If so, the great doctrines of the sovereign will and purpose of God (Ephesians 1:4-6, 11; Romans 8:28-30; 2 Thessalonians 13, 14; 1 Peter 1:2, &c. &c.)—and the “election of grace” (Romans 11:5; Ephesians 2:8, &c. &c.) and the consequent perseverance of the saints (Romans 8:35-39; 1 Peter 1:4,5; John 10:27-30, &c. &c.) remain untouched by this passage— doctrines revealed, not for the hindrance of sinners, though too often used so as to hinder them, but for the comfort and joy of the church, and fraught with consolation in trial, and support in conflict, to those who truly believe them, and which doubtless virtually afford comfort to many who unconsciously rest in them, whilst denying them in theory and terms. These are among the “deep things of God,” and “those ways past finding out,” of which Paul speaks (Romans 11); and he simply meets with a stern rebuke the cavil of the unsubdued and carnal mind, without giving any explanation of the mystery. (Romans 9:19-21.) Many an attempt since then has been made to explain what he left unexplained, but “such knowledge is too wonderful for us; it is high; we cannot attain to. it.” Many will judge, however, that the theory which rejects them, besides being opposed not only to the fairest deductions from Scripture, but its most express statement, is replete with difficulties as great as those which it was framed to avoid, and is the offspring of in subjection of mind, and a desire to bring the counsels of God down to the level of our own understandings.

In regard to those who are tempted by Satan, to suppose that they either have committed, or are in danger of committing the unpardonable sin here treated of, we may ask them, “Are you disposed deliberately to renounce your hope in Jesus—to pronounce Christianity a cunningly devised fable— to slight the doctrine of the Cross as ‘foolishness’—to fall back upon the law, and daringly take your stand upon your own merits, or upon carnal ordinances, for justification before God? If not (to say nothing of the miraculous evidence, and the peculiar circumstances necessary to fill up the measure of this sin), notwithstanding you may be harassed at times by blasphemous or unholy thoughts about the glory, the person, or the work of Jesus, the evil suggestions of Satan, or the workings of your fleshly mind, rest assured this apostasy is not chargeable upon you. Are not such thoughts utterly abhorrent to your souls? Do they resemble at all this hardened enmity against the Son of God, this proud rejection of Him 2 The Scriptures, then, which specially address themselves to you, are such as these: ‘Resist the devil,’ that he may flee from you. ‘Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.’ (James 4; Ephesians 6; 1 Peter 5: 8, 9.) Or have you, fallen into open sin? Sad as this is, it is not a hopeless fall. Paul, the inspired writer of this passage, commanded one as guilty as you can be to be restored, on repentance, to the holy fellowship of the saints, lest, perhaps, he should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. (1 Corinthians 5 comp. 2 Corinthians 2:6-8.) Such is the patient grace and tenderness of the Lord. But, perhaps, your case yet more closely resembles that of persons guilty of this unpardonable apostasy. Perhaps your conscience has been awakened; you have professed to embrace the gospel, and you have walked, apparently for a while, in the way of righteousness, and then relapsed into worldliness and sin. If so, you have indeed been guilty of apostasy, but not of the apostasy here described. You may have even been guilty of scoffing, or speaking evil of the truth; but who dares limit the mercy of God, where He has not set a limit to it? You have never stood in the circumstance of the apostates here spoken of—you have never been made partakers of the Holy Ghost,’ nor tasted the mighty works of the age to come. Repent, therefore, and believe; for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient to extend even unto you.

As to warning to the saints, the Scriptures abound in it; and it is not more difficult to reconcile with God’s electing love, warning as a mean for preserving, than preaching as a mean for calling his saints to himself in the one case, as well as in the other, He who has ordained the end, has ordained the means; and both must stand, for both are the ordinances of God. Let us refer to such a warning, for example, as 2 Peter 1:5-11. May we all have grace to take earnest heed thereunto.

Concluded from page 292.

The Church Removed Before the Apocalyptic Judgments

There is one difficulty which meets the student of prophecy soon after he has crossed the threshold of his earliest inquiries. These inquiries may be supposed to have resulted in an entire conviction that the second advent precedes or introduces the millennium; that the Jews are to be restored to their own land—some of them in the first instance undergoing the utmost extremity of trouble there; that this trouble arrives at its height through a gathering together of all nations against Jerusalem; and that the nations thus gathered meet their doom at the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is revealed from heaven in flaming fire, and whose coming brings deliverance to the poor oppressed Jews, while it discomfits and destroys their adversaries. It may be supposed, moreover, that it is pretty plainly seen, from the whole tenor of New Testament teaching, that what is placed before us Christians, as our hope, is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ: that for this we are exhorted to look, and watch, and long, and yet patiently wait; in a word, that our proper posture of mind is that of continual expectation of this blessed event. But here it is that the difficulty I speak of arises. “ If,” says the inquirer, “ a whole train of events are to occur on earth preparatory to the Lord’s coming—if the Jews are to return to their own land—the Gentiles to be gathered together against them there—the time of unequaled tribulation to occur—the seals, and trumpets, and vials of the Apocalypse to run their course of judgment— and the coming of the, Lord to ensue all this—how can we, seeing that none of these things have begun to come to pass, be intelligently looking and waiting for the coming of the Lord? For these intermediate events we may wait; and until they commence, and as they transpire, we may look beyond them to that in which we know they will surely terminate; but how can we be in a posture of continual expectation of Christ, if his coming has thus to be certainly preceded by a number of yet unfulfilled events?” I think I have stated the difficulty in its full force; and it is to meet this difficulty, as far as any present light on Scripture may enable me, that these pages are written.

But first, I would remind you, my brethren, that difficulties are no reason for unbelief. If it be plainly revealed in the New Testament that our place as Christians is to be always waiting and looking for our Lord, faith would receive and welcome this revelation, however many difficulties might encompass the subject. And that it is so revealed, who that is acquainted with the word of God can question? Our Lord himself had described the position in which he would delight to have his people found. at his return— “and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord.” (Luke 12:36.) The definite assurance with which he comforted them in the immediate prospect of his departure was, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:3.) The very first thing presented to them after he had gone, while they were yet straining their vision, as it were, to catch another glimpse of him in the clouds whither he had ascended, was the assurance of his return. “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11.) The Corinthian believers came behind in no gift: “waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:7.) The apostle says of himself and his fellow Christians, “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” And again, “the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51,52.) He declares, that what he and his brethren longed and sighed for, was “not that we would be unclothed, (i.e., disembodied,) but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” (2 Corinthians 5:4.) “For our conversation is in heaven,” is his language elsewhere; “from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body,” &c. (Philippians 3:20,21.) The Thessalonians had been “turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven.” (1 Thessalonians 1:10.) In one form or another the coming is referred to in every chapter of this epistle. In the fourth chapter, the twice repeated expression, “we which are alive and remain,” marks definitely enough what the posture is that becomes the church. How easy would it have been for the apostle to say, had such been the mind of the Lord, “If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so us also, who are to sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that they which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent us, who will ere then have fallen asleep.” Why does he not speak thus? Surely, because it was the Lord’s will that his saints should ever be expecting him. Not that the apostle could say, or that we can now say, that we shall certainly be alive and remain: the apostle afterward knew by special revelation that he himself would not; and we may not. It may please the Lord to tarry till we have all fallen asleep in him. But in the absence of certain’ information to the contrary, faith would say, as is said in these passages, “we who are alive and remain.” Faith puts us where our Lord would have us, in the attitude of readiness and expectation. The virgins “went out to meet the bridegroom.” And if faith should be tried, and hope seem to be it is still not for any of us to say, “My Lord delayeth his coming.” The apostle prays, and the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. (2 Thessalonians 3:5.) He speaks again of a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give him at that day; “and not to me only” he adds, “but unto all them also that love his appearing.” (2 Timothy 8.) “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:13.) “Unto them that look for him,” we are told, “shall he appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation.” (Hebrews 9:28.) And lest we should get weary, and hope deferred make the heart faint as well as sick, we are encouraged by the assurance, “Yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry.” (10: 37.) And though Peter knew from our Lord’s own lips that he was not to tarry till his Lord should come; though he had been told by what death he should glorify God; he does not say a word in his epistles to lead those to whom he wrote to suppose that they too should certainly depart, ere the Lord returned. No, he exhorts them rather, and us too, in such words as, “wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Pet. 1: 13.) “Looking for and hasting unto the coming (or as in the margin, hasting the coming) of the day of God,” is the way in which he describes our proper position in his second epistle. The coming is referred to in 1 John, both by way of exhortation and encouragement. (See 2: 28, and 3:2.) In Revelation, the closing book of Scripture, “ Behold, I come quickly,” is a word so often repeated; the volume finally closing with “Surely I come quickly,” from the lips of Jesus, while the church responds, “ Amen, even so, come, Lord Jesus;” that there can be no doubt as to the impression left on the heart of the simple minded believer, that it is our place of faithfulness and blessing to be always expecting our Lord, and awaiting his return. And with such varied and copious testimonies on the subject as these, if we had no solution of the difficulties that present themselves, it would clearly still be our place to maintain this attitude of expectancy, leaving, as we surely might, our gracious Master to clear away all the difficulties, as and when it may please him. But there is a clue to the unraveling of this mystery. He has not left us without a solution of the difficulty in question. If he had, it would not have excused our taking any position but that which he has so plainly assigned us; while his tender, considerate love is the more displayed in relieving our hearts by the positive light he has shed in his Word on this question, so interesting to the heart that finds its joy in the daily expectation of his return.

Suppose, then, my brethren, that there should be an interval between the coming of Christ into the air, where he receives the saints to himself, and his coming onwards to the earth, attended by his saints, to execute judgment; suppose there should be an interval long enough for the accomplishment of all those prophetic events which must be fulfilled ere he does thus come in judgment; suppose that the Jews should return to their own land, the Gentiles be gathered together against. them, the antichrist arise, the great tribulation take place, the apocalyptic seals be opened, trumpets sounded, and vials poured out; suppose all this should occur between the taking away, of the Church and the coming of Christ to execute judgment on his congregated foes; suppose this, I say; would not this meet the difficulty in question? Could we not, in the light of such a fact (supposing it to be a fact), see clearly how we may be intelligently waiting for our Lord, without the idea of a single interposing event? Many events may, of course, interpose. But in this case, we could not say of any of them that they certainly will. At any moment our blessed Lord might come to receive us to himself; and yet, in the interval supposed, all the events come to pass which we know from God’s word must be accomplished, ere Christ comes to—consume the wicked one with the breath of his mouth, and to destroy him with the brightness of his appearing.

Be it remembered, moreover, that the mere possibility of the occurrence of such an interval meets the difficulty which has been stated. If it be only possible that there may be such an interval between the descent of Jesus into the air, and his coming onward to the earth in judgment, what should prevent our being in the posture of daily and hourly expectancy of his return? What is the difficulty we are considering? Why, that the Jews have not yet returned to their own land, nor the other events occurred, which must occur ere Christ come in judgment. But then, if it be possible that after Jesus has descended into the air, and we have been caught up to meet him, an interval should ensue, in which the Jews may return, and all the predicted events come to pass, and then the Lord come onwards to the earth, his risen and glorified saints following in his train,-if this be but possible, I say,—does it not show that it is equally and blessedly possible, that Jesus may come at any moment; and that there is nothing to hinder our receiving those scriptures in their simple, obvious sense, which exhort us to be always waiting and looking for his coming? And who will undertake to say that there may not be such an interval? Who would have thought that between two clauses of a verse, in Isaiah 61, —two clauses only separated front each other by a comma —an interval of eighteen hundred years would have come in? Any one reading or hearing the prophecy in Isaiah’s day, would have concluded that “the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God,” were one and the same period. But when our blessed Lord quoted these words in the synagogue at Nazareth, he knew that there was to be an interval between them, and that he had only then come to preach “the acceptable year of the Lord,” and not to introduce “the day of vengeance of our God.” And accordingly, he only read as far as the comma, and then “he closed the book, and gave it again to the minister, and sat down.” (Luke 4:20.) And if in this instance there was room left in God’s precious word for the whole of the present dispensation come in between the two clauses of a sentence, who will be so bold as to affirm that in our Lord’s second coming there will certainly not be an interval of a few years between the first stage of it and the next? Between his coming into the air to receive the saints, and his coming with all the saints to execute judgment, and reign on the earth? And again, would I press it, my brethren, that if there may but be such an interval, if it be possible for anyone to prove from Scripture that there will not be, then is it our privilege, even without a shade of difficulty on our minds, to be always looking and waiting for our Lord.

But I believe we are not left to the thought of what may be. There are several considerations which satisfy my own soul, not only that there may be, but also that there will be, such an interval. These considerations I desire in all simplicity to present, leaving them to be weighed by my brethren in the balances of the sanctuary. The Lord grant to each of us deep and real subjection to his blessed word.

The first consideration I would present in proof that there will be such an interval, is not in the form of an exact quotation from Scripture, but drawn from an extensive comparison of one part of Scripture with another. I trust, however, to be enabled to make it plain to the most simple. We are all aware of the continual exhortations we have in the New Testament to a spirit of forgiveness, and to manifest towards others the grace in which our heavenly Father has dealt with us. And perhaps there is hardly a Christian anywhere who has not been perplexed with passages in the Psalms and elsewhere in the Old Testament, where the heaviest curses and judgments are invoked by the worshippers on the heads of their enemies. And many of these psalms are evidently prophetic of the time immediately preceding the coming of the Lord to execute judgment. Can it be for us, my brethren, for the Church, that these prophetic utterances, full of imprecations, are prepared? And yet it is clear that they can have no place after the Lord has come in judgment, destroyed his adversaries, and delivered the remnant of his Jewish, earthly people. Whose language then can that of these psalms be? and when can it be uttered? I believe it to be the language of the Jewish remnant, amid the deep darkness of their final tribulation, after the Church is removed. And you can neither suppose the Church to utter such language, nor to be still on earth while the Spirit of God leads the Jewish remnant to utter it, without confounding those things which the Holy Spirit in Scripture has been most careful to distinguish from each other the Church that uses such language, presents such prayers, and rejoices in such anticipations? Impossible. But may not the Church be still on earth, while the Jewish remnant thus pour out their souls? “What! the one Spirit of God put a prayer for forgiveness of enemies into the heart of one, and inspire ‘another to ask for their destruction! Besides, in the Church there is neither Jew nor Gentile; and the dispensation must be entirely changed before a body of people can be in existence, led. of the Spirit to use as their own the language of such psalms as have now been quoted. If there be an interval after the Church is removed, during which the Jewish remnant is formed, and passes through its deep and unparalleled tribulations, looking forward to the coming of Messiah to deliver them, by the destruction of their adversaries and oppressors, all is plain, and easy enough to be understood. Without this, all is one inextricable mass of confusion and to the coming of Messiah to deliver them, by the destruction of their adversaries and oppressors, all is plain, and easy enough to be understood. Without this, all is one inextricable mass of confusion.to remark, that this must apply to the condition of Israel at some period subsequent to their going into captivity; yea, to a period long after they have gone into captivity. “Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy bath done wickedly in the sanctuary. We see not our sigs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever? Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom. Remember this, that the enemy bath reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.......A rise, O God, plead thine own cause; remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily. Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.” (Psalms 74) This shows plainly enough to what period this class of psalms apply. It is to the period of the last Jewish tribulation. Look at another. “O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled: they; have laid Jerusalem on heaps. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem: and there was none to bury them How long, Lord? wilt thou be angry forever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire? pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed and render unto our neighbors seven-fold into their bosom, their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.” (Psalms 79) Once more. “Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance......O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire, so persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.......Let them be confounded and troubled forever: yea, let them be put to shame and perish: that men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth.” (Psalms 83) I need not further multiply quotations. There are such prayers and anticipations as these: “Consume them in wrath, consume them; that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth.” (Psalms 59:13.) “The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.” (Psalms 58:10.) Need I ask again, Can it be the Church that uses such language, presents such prayers, and rejoices in such anticipations? Impossible. But may not the Church be still on earth, while the Jewish remnant thus pour out their souls? “What! the one Spirit of God put a prayer for forgiveness of enemies into the heart of one, and inspire another to ask for their destruction! Besides, in the Church there is neither Jew nor Gentile; and the dispensation must be entirely changed before a body of people can be in existence, led of the Spirit to use as their own the language of such psalms as have now been quoted. If there be an interval after the Church is removed, during which the Jewish remnant is formed, and passes through its deep and unparalleled tribulations, looking forward to the coming of Messiah to deliver them, by the destruction of their adversaries and oppressors, all is plain, and easy enough to be understood. Without this, all is one inextricable mass of confusion.

Someone may be ready to say, “But these passages are all in the Old Testament; have we no intimations of like character in the New Testament?” Yes, indeed we have. Turn to Revelation 11:3-6, where we read of God’s two witnesses who are to prophesy in sackcloth twelve hundred and sixty days, that “if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy—and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will.” Is this the ministry of the gospel of God’s grace with which the Church is entrusted? Is there any resemblance between the two? Once, when our Lord was here below, a village of the Samaritans refused to receive him. “And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire—to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did?” What was his answer? Did he give them the permission they asked? Nay, “But he turned and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” (Luke 9:51-56.) How entirely must the dispensation have changed, and how evident that the Church must have been removed from the scene, de a testimony such as that of the sackcloth witnesses in Revelation 11 can be raised up.

But let us look a little at the entire structure of the Book of Revelation. It is here we shall find the most definite, positive evidence of the fact, that the Church is taken up prior to the judgments under the seals, trumpets, and vials. We have strong presumptive evidence in what has already been considered! Here we have, as it seems to me, direct and conclusive proof In Revelation 1:19, the favored disciple is thus it strutted “Write the things which thou hast seen; and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter,” or “after these.” The Greek words are meta tauta, which every Greek scholar knows simply and definitely mean, after these. They have not the force of our indefinite expression; hereafter. Meta is the Greek word for “after;” tauta is the Greek word for “these;” and, seeing that it is the neuter plural, it must be “these” things. Here, then, we have, on the authority of the blessed Lord himself, the division and arrangement of the book of the Apocalypse: “Write the things which thou hast seen”—these we have in chapter 1, the vision he had beheld at Patmos: “ and the things which are”—these we have in chapters: 2 and 3, the seven churches, with the judgment of their state pronounced by the Son of man: “ and the things which shall be after these”—the visions which commence with chapter iv. and extend to the close of the book. Let us consider these a little more in detail.

As to the first division, “the things which thou hast seen,” it needs no remark; it is obviously contained in chapter 1. “The things which are”—the second division of the book—requires a little more attention. There can be no doubt that the seven letters of chapters. 2. and 3. were addressed to the seven churches whose names they bear. But why were these Seven selected to be thus addressed? Was it not, as very many who have studied prophecy judge, that they were chosen to be thus addressed, as representing in their spiritual condition, and in the warnings, threatenings, exhortations, and promises, needed by them, the whole course of the dispensation? That is, these epistles to the churches were prophetic of the several and (as I for one cannot but conclude) successive states of the church from the time that they were written down to the taking up of the true Church at Christ’s coming, arid the rejection of the false professing body as a loathsome thing, fit only to be spued out of Christ’s mouth. Thus “the things which are” are presented to us in chapters. 2, 3. Now turn to chapter 4: 1. “After this I looked, and, behold, a door Was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter,” or “after these.” It is exactly the same expression as before, meta tauta. So that, this voice that John heard being witness, the third division of the book begins here. “The things which shall be after these” begin to be unfolded in chapter 4. What are these things? Psalms 4, 5 present to us a scene in heaven,—a scene which neither answers to the existing state of things in the present dispensation, nor to the state of things in the millennium. The throne of him who is worshipped as “the Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come,” is here seen by our apostle, and out of it proceed “lightnings, and thunderings, and voices.” Surely this is different from the throne of grace to which we are now invited to come boldly, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. “Lightnings, and thunderings, and voices,” tell of judgment, not of grace. And yet it is evidently not the millennial state; for the seven-sealed book, which has not begun to be opened in chapter 5, unfolds the judgments which precede the millennium. The Lamb, too, is here in the midst of the throne, and receives from him who sits thereon this seven-sealed book, as the only one in heaven or in earth who prevails to open it. Evidently, then; these two chapters describe a transitional state, an interval between the present dispensation of full grace and the millennial dispensation. The question is, where is the Church during this interval? The only answer afforded by the book of Revelation is, IN HEAVEN. Who are they that are symbolized by the twenty-four crowned elders in white raiment, and the four living creatures in these two chapters? Let their song give the answer. “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 people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth.” They are clearly not four-and-twenty individuals literally. How could they, in that case, have been redeemed out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation? They are symbolic personages, representing the whole company of those who are thus redeemed, and who are to reign on the earth. Thus we see that those who are to share Christ’s royal glory during the millennium; are, during the transitional period between the present dispensation and the millennium, assembled around him in heaven, owning his worthiness, and anticipating their reign with him over the earth. And every glimpse that we have of them in chapters. 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 14, 15, 19, presents them in the same place. As another has beautifully observed:” In chapter 4 we see the living creatures and crowned elders around the central throne of God Almighty in the heavens. The action in the course of the, Book changes, but the place of these mystic personages never does. They are interested in the action, they sing and rejoice at certain stages of it, but they are never engaged in it, or, leave their high habitation.”

My space allows me to notice but one or two points more. Revelation 19, where, in 5: 4, we have the last mention of the crowned elders and the four living creatures, goes on to inform us of the marriage of the Lamb, his wife having made herself ready. Surely the Church must be complete and in glory, when, as the Lamb’s wife, she is ready for the marriage. The marriage is in heaven. After the marriage heaven opens, and the rider upon the white horse conies forth to the final conflict; to tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Now mark the 14th verse: “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.’ The fine linen has been explained in 5: 8 to be “the righteousness of saints.” The armies which were in heaven. We have a sevenfold presentation of the Church in its responsibility here below. In chapters 4 to 19: 4, we find the Church in heaven under the symbols of the elders and living creatures. The seals are opened, the trumpets blown, the vials poured out; all these bring dreadful sorrows on the earth and its inhabitants; but it is from heaven that the Church views the whole, and celebrates the praises of God and the Lamb. While waiting thus in heaven for the tune when, with the Lamb, they shall reign over the earth, they are symbolized by the crowned elders and living creatures. But in chapter 19 the false pretender, Babylon, having been judged, the marriage of the Lamb with the true bride takes place, and we hear no more of the crowned elders and living creatures. The Church, now married to the Lamb, conies in his train when he comes forth, conquering and to conquer. In chapter 20. the reign takes place, and in chapter 21: 9, to 22: 5, we have the Church’s glory as the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.

The Church is never seen on earth, or anywhere but in heaven, from the end of chapter 3 till in chapter 19 Christ comes forth from heaven, and the armies which were in heaven follow in his train.

One word more. It is the positive promise of Christ in Revelation 3:10 to those who have kept his word, and not denied his name; “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from (not keep thee in or keep thee through, but keep thee from) the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” Amen. W. T.

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: Directions for the Setting Up and Anointing of the Tabernacle

DIRECTIONS FOR THE SETTING UP OF THE TABERNACLE, AND FOR ITS ANOINTING.

EXODUS 40:1-8, and 9-16.

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with the vail. And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof. And thou shalt set the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the hanging of the door to the tabernacle. And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. And thou shalt set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and shalt put water therein. And thou shalt set up the court round about, and hang up the hanging at the court gate.”

The Tabernacle.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. Ver. 1, 2.) The first day of the first month is significant of a beginning, or beginning anew. A type of the commencement of the Christian dispensation at Pentecost.

On the first day of the month the moon began to shine afresh on the earth with light reflected from the sun; so the Church, during the present night time of the world, is set to shine in the light of an absent Christ.

“The first day of the first month.” A dispensation altogether new characterized by Messiah rejected, and the Comforter present, to communicate to the Church the truth of Christ, and to maintain his Lordship.

“The tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. Both titles are here combined; the tabernacle being the type of a dwelling-place for God through the Spirit, and the tent of the congregation typical of believers assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus.

The Ark.

And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with the vail. (Ver. 3.) The ark is first mentioned, for it sets forth Jesus, God’s center of gathering to his own people, and in whom they are builded together for an habitation of God. (Ephesians 2:22.) God begins with Christ, and so should we.

But it is the ark covered with the vail; for it is Christ incarnate in whose name we are to gather.

“The ark of the testimony.” Such is the title here given to it. The house of God, the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth, is set for the testimony and maintenance of that great mystery of godliness, “God manifest in the flesh,” with which is closely connected those other precious verities, “Believed on in the world;” “received up into glory.” (1 Timothy 3:15,16.)

Until Christ came in the flesh, there was no Church of God on the earth, no “habitation of God through the Spirit,” nor “living stones built up a spiritual house.” The tabernacle in the wilderness, indeed, foreshadowed the Church’s earthly sojourn, in connection with heavenly things (Hebrews 8:5), and the temple in the land foreshadowed its heavenly glory. But until the Word had been made flesh, and from a crucified and exalted Savior the pentecostal Spirit had been sent down, there was no Church on earth.

The Table.

And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it. (Ver. 4) Where believers are gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus, for an habitation of God through the Spirit, there, in God’s presence, the sweet and sacred memorials of a Savior’s sufferings and death are to be observed.

It is remarkable that, after the ark, the table is first mentioned; and at Troas, on the first day of the week, the disciples came together to break bread. (Acts 20:7.) This was their first object; and although the inspired ministry of the Apostle Paul threw its light on the sacred subjects of the person, suffering, and glories of the Son of God, like the candlestick in the tabernacle over against the table, yet their object in coming together was to remember Jesus, and to enjoy the manifestation of his presence in the breaking of bread, to which all else was made subservient.

But if the communion of saints in the presence of God, and in the remembrance, of the sacrifice of Christ, is to be observed, it must be observed in God’s order. “And set in order the things which are to be set in order upon it.” “God is not the author of confusion.” He has his order, and this order must be maintained. The table is to be a pure table, and all things which are done in connection with the table, must be done decently and in order—as in the presence and fear of God.

The Candlestick.

And thou, shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof. (Ver. 4.) Ministry, according to God, in the exercise of the gifts of the Spirit, and in testimony to the truth of Christ, has its place in connection with God’s dwelling-place. It is to be brought in, and its light maintained.

The best gifts are to be earnestly coveted. The Lord of the harvest is to be entreated to send forth laborers, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ for testimony to him is to be sought and obtained by fervent and united prayer. Although it is possible for believers to meet together, and to edify one another by mutual exhortation, and the reading of God’s word together, without distinct gift for ministry; and thus provision is made for weakness, and the present state of things: yet ministry, in the power of the Spirit of God, is God’s order,, and according to his mind and will; and the gifts of an ascended Savior are “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

The Altar of Gold.

And thou shalt set the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the testimony. (Ver. 5.) The worship of the Father, in spirit and in truth, by purged, worshippers drawing nigh in conscious acceptance through Christ Jesus, and in all the preciousness and perfume of his sacred name, —this worship is to be presented and maintained before God.

The altar of gold for the incense was to be set immediately before the ark of the testimony, as teaching that this worship is connected with Christ risen and glorified within the vail, through whom the believer has boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him, in drawing nigh to God.

The Hanging of the Door.

And put the hanging of the door to the tabernacle. (Ver. 5.) Christ is the door; and faith in Christ, and the confession of him, is the only way of access into the habitation of God. This is to be held up and insisted on. The entrance was not to be left unguarded, and nothing but the hanging for the door was to be put there.

Saving faith in Christ is indispensable; and no mere ordinance, or anything else, is to take the place of Christ, as the way of entrance by whom alone any can be admitted into the fellowship of saints gathered together for an habitation of God.

The Altar of Burnt Offering.

And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. (Ver. 6.) Christ, in death and resurrection, in his atoning and accepted sacrifice, is to be set forth as the only ground of communion with God and with his saints.

Before the door of the tabernacle, or dwelling-place of God. For it is only through. the accepted sacrifice of Christ that communion with God can be enjoyed, or that anyone can form part of God’s habitation.

And before the door of the tent of the congregation. For only on this ground can real fellowship with saints be realized, or any one be admitted to their number.

The Laver.

And thou shalt set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and shalt put water therein. Ver. 7.) Christ is also to be set forth as the sanctification of the believer; and the rich and full provision of the Spirit in him, for sanctification, is to be testified to.

The washing of water, by the Word. That is, the application of the truth of Christ, living, dying, risen, glorified, and separate from the world—these truths, brought to bear on the conscience and the heart, in the power of the. Holy Ghost sent down from Christ exalted, producing—practical sanctification—this cleansing is essential to living communion with God’s saints, and living priestly service and worship towards God.

The Court.

And thou shalt set up the court round about. (Ver. 8.) Consistency of character and conduct, duly and firmly maintained, and the exercise of fervent charity one towards another, is also to be pressed on the consciences of believers. A distinction between the Church and the world is to be maintained and exhibited, even when the saints are not assembled together in Church fellowship.

The Court Gate.

And hang up the hanging at the court gate. (Ver. 8.) And Christ i8 to be testified to as the only one, through faith in whom, any person can be considered as connected with the people of God in religious association.

The Anointing.

And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof: and it shall be holy. (Ver. 9.)

The Anointing Oil.

The directions for making the anointing oil are given in EXODUS 30:22-25: —

Moreover; the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, and of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin: and thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil.

Pure Myrrh.

Of pure myrrh five hundred shekels.”

The gum, issuing spontaneously: bitter, but fragrant; flowing freely. Beautifully emblematic of the Spirit of Christ, — a sympathizing Spirit, —a Spirit which may be grieved, and touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Myrrh is also a soother of pain: and the sympathy of Jesus, how comforting

Sweet Cinnamon.

“And of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels.”

Sweet cinnamon is the inner bark-sweet and also fragrant. Expressive of the sweetness and excellency of the internal character of the Lord Jesus.

Sweet Calamus.

“Of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels.”

Calamus is the pith-sweet and fragrant also. Emblematic of the sweetness of the Spirit of Christ, in all his internal thoughts, feelings, and affections.

Cassia.

“And of cassia five hundred shekels.”

The cassia is the outer bark-sweet and fragrant. Expressive of the gentleness, sweetness, and excellency of the external character and conduct of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Pure Myrrh 500 shekels. Bitter.

Cinnamon 250 shekels. Sweet.

Calamus 250 shekels. Sweet.

Cassia 500 shekels. Sweet.

500 shekels bitter, 1000 sweet-such is the composition.

“After the shekel of the sanctuary.”

The weight or estimate was to be after the shekel of the sanctuary; for it is God’s holy estimate of the graces of the Spirit of his Christ, which is here set forth.

Olive Oil.

“And of oil olive an hin.”

This pure olive oil is typical of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God, as the holy anointing oil is the emblem of the Spirit of Christ, with its various and combined graces.

The Anointing Oil.

“And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil.”

Two things strike us here: First, its holiness; this is twice mentioned; for the Spirit of Christ is a holy Spirit. Secondly, the tempering of the precious spices together. Expressive of the incomparable excellency of the Spirit of Christ, produced by the exquisite blending of the various graces of his character 3. perfect and harmonious oneness.

The perfume, described in Exodus 30:34-38, typifies the excellency of Jesus, God-ward. It was to be wholly burnt on God’s altar, or in the censer of the high priest, which he carried into the holiest.

The anointing oil, on the other hand, is typical of the Spirit of Christ, and the various graces of his Spirit, which are communicated to believers, and shared by them, through the anointing of the Holy Ghost sent down from Christ exalted. “Like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts, of his garments.” (Psalms 133:2.) Thus they become Christlike. Thus, the character and graces of Christ are reproduced in those who drink into his Spirit.

The Tabernacle to Be Anointed.

And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle. (Ver. 9.)

For believers “are builded together for an habitation of God THROUGH THE SPIRIT.” (Ephesians 2:22.)

So, on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit from Christ risen and glorified constituted the assembled believers the dwelling-place of God, and by that one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body.

The Tent of the Congregation.

In Exodus 30:26 we read, —And thou shalt anoint the tent of the congregation therewith.

When believers are gathered together in the presence of God, and in the name of the Lord Jesus, that which is of all importance is the presence and power, unquenched, of the Spirit. This makes the assembly of believers the place of power, and joy, and blessing.

The Contents of the Tabernacle to Be Anointed.

And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof: and it shall be holy. Chapter 40:9.) We have these vessels mentioned in detail in Exodus 30 First,

The Ark Anointed.

And the ark of the testimony. Ver. 26.) Christ risen from the dead, exalted at the right hand of God, and anointed, having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, is the center of gathering to the Church of God, and in him all the purposes of God meet. He is the subject of testimony, and in him all the promises of God are Yea and Amen to God’s glory by us. A risen, glorified, and anointed Christ.

The Table Anointed.

And the table and all its vessels. (Ver. 27.) The communion of saints, in the precious and sacred remembrance of the sufferings and death of their divine Savior, must be in the present power of the Spirit of Christ, and all things connected therewith should be done by the unction of the Holy Ghost.

Oh, for grace ever to remember this, when on the first day of the week we meet as disciples to break bread! The table and all its vessels—our communion together, arid all that is connected with it, is to be in “the unction of the Holy One.”

The Candlestick Anointed.

And the candlestick and his vessels. (Ver. 27.) Testimony to Jesus, and the ministration of God’s word, is to be in the exercise of the gifts of the Spirit, given by Christ exalted, and by His present guidance and grace; and everything connected with this ministry is to be in the power of the Spirit of Christ.

The Golden Altar Anointed.

And the altar of incense. (Ver. 27.) The worship of the Father in spirit and in truth can only be by the Spirit of adoption—the Spirit of an ascended Christ—the unction of the Holy One. The Spirit helps our infirmities, he makes intercession, he causes our praises and our prayers to ascend, accompanied with all the fragrance of the preciousness of the name of Jesus.

The Brazen Altar Anointed.

And thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt offering, and all his vessels, and sanctify the altar: and it shall be an altar most holy. (Ver. 10.) It was through the Eternal Spirit that Jesus offered himself without spot to God; and it is by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven that testimony is to be borne to the value of his blood, and to the fact of his resurrection, as the ground of communion between God and the soul. And it is by the Spirit that this communion is enjoyed.

And the Spirit of God renders the truth of Christ, crucified and ascended, a sanctifying truth, and communion with God through Christ, sanctifying communion. “An altar most holy,” or literally, “Holy of holies.”

The Laver Anointed.

And thou shalt anoint the laver and his foot; and sanctify it. The same remarks will apply to Christ looked at as our sanctification. The Spirit of God reveals Jesus in the holiness of his person and walk down here, and makes him practical sanctification to us. He also reveals to us a glorified Christ, and conforms us to him, changing us into the same image from glory to glory. (2 Corinthians 3:18.) And he is the living link of union with this exalted one.

The Anointing of Aaron and His Sons.

And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tent of the congregation, and bathe them in water. (Ver. 12.) (So the Hebrew.) This is similar to the consecration service of the priests described in Exodus 29 and Leviticus 8.

Aaron and his sons were types of Christ and his Church (Hebrews 3:6.) They were to be brought to the door of the tent of the congregation, which was the place of communion with God, on the ground of sacrifice. (See Exodus 29:42,43.) They were then and there to be bathed in water. Not simply washed, but bathed in water; for so the Hebrew expression is rendered ten times in Levit. xv. This bathing in water is significant of death, burial, and resurrection. (See Romans 6; Colossians 2) This bathing is one; that is, Aaron and his sons were washed or bathed at the same time, though anointed separately. So we are buried with Christ in baptism, wherein also we are risen with him. (Colossians 2:12.)

Then Aaron was invested with the priesthood, and anointed. “And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him; that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.” (Ver. 13.) For it is as risen from the dead the Lord Jesus was anointed for priesthood; and it is in resurrection he enters on his priestly office, in separation from the world to God. “For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.” (Hebrews 7:26.)

After this, Aaron’s sons were clothed and anointed. “And thou shalt bring his sons, and clothe them with coats: and thou shalt anoint them as thou didst their father, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office: for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.”

(Verses 14, 15.) It is as risen with Christ “through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead, that we are invested with, and enter on, our priestly office and service in association with Christ, the high priest of our profession. And it is by the Holy Ghost sent down on Pentecost, that we are anointed to this priestly service.

A priesthood which we enter on by faith, when we have realized our death, burial, and resurrection with Christ: and which we shall continue to exercise when we are conformed to him in the glory, and are associated with him in his heavenly and everlasting priesthood. T. N.

CONCLUDING LECTURE.

(The Tabernacle raised up, and filled with the glory, in the Number for December.)

The Mount of God

I separate these chapters, because they present us, I judge, a distinct subject for meditation, and afford us some of the grounds on which it is that Horeb or Sinai in Arabia is called in scripture, “the Mount of God.”

They open with Israel in Egypt, and that land is seen in her guilt before God; for it is here written of her, “Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph” That land was thus the ungrateful, the apostate. She had departed from Joseph, and so from God himself, from him who had filled her storehouses with plenty, and her throne with honor and strength. Thus, Egypt was, in miniature, the world, —the great apostate from its rightful Lord and gracious Benefactor. And the Lord had no sanctuary, no altar there His people would have sacrificed the abomination of that land (8: 26), and therefore they must go into the wilderness to hold their feast or do their service to the Lord. All was apostate and ripe for judgment. Joseph’s memory had been despised, and all that remained to Joseph was put to the brick-kilns. (1.)

But in such a place the Lord has a cluster, and in the cluster a blessing. The cluster of Israel in the vineyard of Egypt at this time savored, it is true, too much of the soil where it grew; for, as the one had forgotten Joseph, so does the other now refuse Moses, saying, “Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?” But God has his remnant even in such a generation, his blessing in such a cluster (Isaiah 65:8); and it is found in the tribe of Levi, to which this second Joseph, this offered but rejected deliverer of his nation, belonged. “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.”

But the name of this child, this predestined deliverer of his people, has its meaning. Pharaoh’s daughter, as we know, called him “Moses,” because she had “drawn him out” from the waters. But God had his purpose, it appears, in that name also; for it is from henceforth to the end owned by the Spirit of God. He was another Noah. Noah had been “drawn out.” An ark had kept him in the waters till the dry land again received him; and that was, as we are divinely taught, a like figure with baptism of death and resurrection (1 Peter 3:20,21). And so Moses now He had been kept in an ark through the waters, that place of death, till he stood again in the place of life, as one that had died and has risen. (2.)

Thus was he, mystically, the dead and risen man: and he acts, “when he was come to years,” in the power of resurrection, refusing to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, rather choosing affliction with the people of God; that is, disclaiming his advantages in the flesh and in the world, and walking by faith, seeing him who is invisible, and having respect unto the recompence of the reward.

Such an one is he, thus, both in his person and character, ere he goes forth to run his appointed service, whether among strangers or in Israel. Through their present unbelief, rejecting this deliverer, the children of Israel are left for a time longer at the Egyptian brick-kilns. But he whom they thrust from them is accepted in another place, and seated, not at the head of a nation, but of a family, enjoying intimacies and affections sweeter and closer than ever he had known among his own kindred. A stranger receives him. Jethro the Midianite opens his house to him, and gives him his daughter in marriage, because he had been her deliverer, though, in spite of the smile grace towards them, Israel had just refused him.

This family of strangers is, mystically, the church taken from the Gentiles during the Lord’s estrangement from Israel, as has been often observed among us, beloved. I do not, therefore, stop to look at it particularly. But, as we generally know, the blessing is not to be spent on this family of strangers. Israel is had in remembrance still, though they have once refused the deliverer. Accordingly, Moses, in due season, is called forth to change the scene of his action again, and bear God’s redeeming love and strength back to Israel in Egypt; for he is their only hope and channel of blessing. If in their distress Israel cry to the Lord, the answer must come by the hand of him whom once they refused. The Lord has no other help for them. From the outcast Joseph alone is the Shepherd and stone of Israel. But he can and will answer. The ears of the Lord of Sabaoth have heard the cry, and Moses is immediately put in readiness to return from Midian into Egypt for the help of Israel.

The burning bush is now the symbol of God’s constant care of Israel, though in the furnace of Egypt. It tells Moses how in all their affliction the Lord had been afflicted, and how the angel of his presence had still preserved them. And it is in connection with this mystic bush that Horeb is first called “the Mount of God;” for now it is that the Lord is first telling of himself there. He “who dwelt in the bush” had a “goodwill” towards them; for if the Son of God be in the furnace with his people, it is to preserve them. And this same spot, which now thus testified of grace, should by and by testify of glory to them, as is here said to Moses, “When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God on this mountain.” (3. 4.)

Thus, was it now between the Lord and Moses at this holy mount. Then, by miracle upon miracle, in the sight of Egypt, and with plague upon plague, and fury poured out, this deliverer rescues Israel from under the hand of their taskmasters; —it was the day of judgment to Egypt, as afterward it was to Canaan: for Egypt was the world, as I have said. She had filled up her sins; she had despised the day of grace in Joseph; and now comes the day of judgment by Moses. It is as the wrath of the Lamb coming on those who refuse the blood of the Lamb Pharaoh said he knew not the Lord; but Pharaoh must know him. (5:2; 4:14.) If Pharaoh would disown him in goodness, he must know him in righteousness; for his judgments were now to be made manifest, and “the Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth.” As his holy prophet says to him, “When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.” God would be known in grace; but if that lesson be refused by Egypt, she must know him in the uplifted hand of power, as she now does, till the strength and flower of her people lie on the banks of the Red Sea. (5.-15.)

But I desire, in the midst of these scenes which „these chapters give us, to look for awhile at the children of Israel between the paschal night and the banks of the Red Sea.

The blood on the lintels had secured the firstborn,’ and the Egyptian had then allowed Israel to pass out of the land; but the Egyptian himself was not yet destroyed, neither was Israel clearly beyond the borders of the enemy. These results waited till the Red Sea was reached and crossed; and till then they are not at ease, nor have they any song. The Egyptian has gone out after them, and they judge, as it were, that it is nothing but death before and behind. They see the cloud, and they cannot but remember the shelter of the blood, and that they have, in some sense, left Egypt. But in some sense, also, they judge themselves to be in a worse state than ever. And such often is a stage in the history of a converted soul. There is the quickening, the rising up as out of Egypt, the sudden new direction which the soul takes with some sense of the value of the blood of Christ. But withal, this quickening, this rising up, does but lead the soul to judge worse of its condition than ever. A new sense of death comes in—death in trespasses and sins is apprehended, and no adequate assurance of the completeness of redemption. There is a shutting in between Jesus and God, if I may so speak. The soul can look to Jesus; his blood on the door-post has told of his love; but God has not been so apprehended as to give certainty and ease of heart. All the virtue of the Cross is not known, as all the virtue of the cloud and the rod is not known by Israel here; for the cloud had virtue not only to lead the redeemed, but to overthrow their pursuers. It could change its ground and stand between the two camps, and while it was light to the one, be darkness to the other; as its companion, the rod, could make a passage for the one, and bury the other in the mighty waters. And so, in like manner, has the Cross its full and double virtue. It rescues the sinner, and silences all his accusers. But until those virtues be understood, the soul will be kept as in the interval from the passover to the Red Sea. Let, however, the cloud and the rod fully display themselves; let the Cross of Christ publish all its virtue in the ear of faith; then Israel can sing their song, and the believer can say, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” God, as well as Jesus, can then be triumphed in, —the whole character of the Cross being made known to the soul. The enmities are seen to be all abolished (Ephesians 2); the law to have found its end (Romans 10); sin to have paid its wages, and thereupon discharged (Romans 6); the great enemy to have been led a captive with all his powers (Colossians 2); death to have been abolished (2 Timothy 1); and the flesh to have been found out, rebuked, and discharged also. (Romans 7: 8.) And as the enemy is thus seen dead on the shore, so the sinner sees himself fully rescued—accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1); happy in the adoption and love of God (Romans 8.); treated as in the spirit, and not in the flesh (Romans 8); safe in that hand out of which none can pluck (John 10); dwelling in that love which leaves no room for fear. (1 John 4) Israel has passed the waters.

Thus, is it ofttimes still with the soul, as here it is with Israel. Of course, the full victory of Jesus for the sinner may be understood at once, for the Gospel publishes it without reserve; but till it be, the song is not learned, the redeemed one is on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea.

But the sea once crossed, Israel understands the cloud and the rod, and Egypt and its enmity are gone forever. Ere, however, they reach “the Mount of God,” where they were to hold their feast, they are to learn the hand that would lead them, as well as the arm that had just saved them; for there is to be a journey from the sea to the mount, as there had been from Egypt to the sea; and on this second journey we would also linger with them a little space. (15.-17.)

Five distinct lessons are taught the people on this journey, the value of each of which the soul of the saint still also enters into. The song has already instructed them in the Lord’s victory, and that song should, be kept alive in their hearts all throne; whatever other lesson they might learn; for that was a deathless victory, and the fruit of it they were gathering every step of their way. But after it, we’ get the healing of Marah—the wells and palm-trees of Elim—the manna—the water from the rock—the discomfiture of Amalek. These five distinct actions, displaying the Lord’s varied grace and power, pass before us in this interval from the Red Sea to the “Mount of God;” and each of them tells us of his care for his congregation in the wilderness. The healing of the waters of Marah by the tree tells us of the consolations which are provided to meet the sorrows of this evil world. Paul gathered of that tree when he could say, “Sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing.” The wells and palm-trees tell us of the occasional refreshings which the saint gets through communion and ministry. The camp passed them, and saw them no more, after taking, as it were, one repast of them. So the apostle could sit down at them for awhile, when comforted by the mutual faith of himself and others. The manna, in its turn, tells us of blessing also. It speaks of Jesus, the bread of life. Unlike the provision of Elim, it remained. It waited morning and evening for forty years on the camp, and fed them till they reached the land of corn and oil; as the true bread which the Father gives, can feed us, let the place of the desert be what or where it may. The water from the rock tells us, in due order, of the Holy Ghost, the abiding Comforter. Unlike the wells of Elim also, this water follows through all the way, as the Giver of the true water says, “that he may abide with you forever.” And lastly, the overthrow of Amalek tells of the strength of the right hand of the Lord over that which would dare to withstand the way of that ransomed people, over whom the glory of the Lord was hovering.

Thus, they learn the sufficiency of God’s grace and strength for all their necessity. He has the bread and the water for them, the healing tree, and the palms of Elim, though the place be desert and dry, and victory for them when the enemy appears.

And here let me say, that the Lord acquires his holy honors by all those acts and mercies which he accomplishes for his poor people. Thus, his memorials are engraved on our blessings. Wonderful grace, and perfection of goodness this is, that God should be celebrated by and in that which blesses us. He got the title of “Jehovah-jireh,” because he graciously provided a ram in the place of Isaac; he was celebrated as “a man of war,” because he got the victory for his people in the Red Sea; he was “Jehovahrophi,” because he healed the bitter waters for the camp; he was “Jehovah-nissi,” because he was their banner against the face of Amalek. And so, I might show still further. But this is enough to tell us how the Lord makes himself a name, as Jeremiah says (Jeremiah 32:20), by his doings for us, and acquires (such is his grace) his own praise and honor by that which secures his people their blessing. The victory of Christ was over our enemies. If we believe his victory, we must believe our own salvation. To question our blessing is to refuse him his praise. And it is a blessed economy of goodness that thus weaves the two inseparably together.

But the last of these lessons has large instruction in it, and I would look at it a little snore particularly. Amalek was the grandson of Esau, and Esau, as we know, was the profane one—the man of the world. And Amalek appears before us in this place as one in that long line of willful ones, who run their course across the face of the earth, “mighty hunters before the Lord,” or defiers and rivals of God himself. At this moment the glory was seen over Israel, and the rock was following them with its streams. But what was all this to Amalek? What did he care for the glory? Such as Isaiah or Daniel might learn their own vileness from it, and Peter in its presence might know himself to be a sinful man, but the glory had no lesson of holy fear for such as Amalek. He comes out, the rather, to measure strength with it. He is as the one who, by and by, will dare to plant his idols on the battlements of the holy city, and his tabernacles on the glorious holy mountain. What is the glory to such as these? “Our tongues are our own,” say they. Their standards may rival the Lord’s pillar. But the hand that holds them shall wither, as Amalek here falls, and as the last of the race shall. hereafter fall (Daniel 11), with none to help him.

This may be fearful, and it is so; but it ends’ the trial and discipline of Israel. As in that future day also, when the last Amalek falls, Michael will stand up, end every one found written in the book shall be delivered. So here the discomfiture of this enemy makes full and easy way for Israel to “the Mount of God.” That place, out to which they had been called from Egypt, under promise that there they should serve the Lord, and hold their feast to him, is now reached, their toil and discipline and danger all over.

And this long promised and now attained mountain is again called “the Mount of God.” The first time Moses is seen there, the burning bush, as we then saw, told him of grace; but now there is to be something to tell him of glory. Then he saw the pledge of redemption, now he is to see the pledge of the kingdom. (18.)

Zipporah and her children had been sent home to her father’s house; and, as far as we can judge; immediately after the circumcision of the child (chapter 4), and naturally so. For there was something in that action that was not according to the mind of a Gentile wife. But Moses, when returning into connection with Israel, should have owned the circumcision of the God of Abraham. Coming back to his kindred in the flesh, he should have remembered the legislative national token in the flesh. The reproach of Midian should have been put away then, as the reproach of Egypt was afterward. (Josh. 5) But Zipporah, who had no fleshly kindredness with Israel, could not have been prepared for this, and therefore with her the Lord had no controversy. It was Moses or his child, and not Zipporah, whom the Lord would have slain at the inn, according to the ordinance. (Genesis. 17:14.) And his life being forfeited to that ordinance, it was grace that spared him. And it is altogether likely that it was just at that moment Zipporah was sent home. The Spirit, however, has left it without certainty. And justly so, as I judge, because her departure home to Midian is typically the hiding of the Gentile, or heavenly family, in the Father’s house, till the Lord, the true Moses, conducts those judgments on this Egypt-world, which are to issue in the deliverance of his earthly people, and the kingdom.

But Egypt being judged, Israel redeemed, disciplined, and led to the borders of the mount, the due time had come for the re-appearance of Zipporah, the Gentile wife. She is now manifested, led out by the hand of her father for re-union with Moses at “the Mount of God,” when all the action of judgment and redemption was now gloriously and fully accomplished.

The scene here is thus strikingly beautiful and significant. We have here (as another has justly called him) “the mysterious Kenite;” for Jethro is a type or mystery, a sign of that which is especially the mystery. He here meets the redeemed heirs of earthly blessing, till now a stranger to them. He comes from regions unknown to Israel. But when they meet there is no want of full companionship.

A common hand seems to have led them towards each other. The deeds of the Lord, his famous deeds for Israel, are rehearsed, when Jethro and Moses had kissed each other, and the family affection had taken its course. The strangers congratulate the earthly tribes on their recent rescue and prosperous journey to “the Mount of God,” and now the union of the great deliverer of Israel with this distant unknown family was made manifest. Hitherto this had been a hidden union. But now the wife and the children, led forth by the father, appear in the presence of his fleshly kindred, and take a place nearer to Moses, the great center of the whole scene, then any of them.

The stranger likewise soon takes the highest dignities, as well as fills the place of nearest affection. He occupies, as it were, both the throne and the temple, giving direction to the lawgiver, and offering sacrifice in the presence of the priests. The last is first—the younger before the elder—the stranger in higher honor than the kindred.

But what is all this but, in figure, the dispensation of the fullness of times, the gathering together in one of all things in heaven and in earth? What is it less than the raising of the ladder between heaven and earth? Do we not here listen to the intercourses of the kingly priestly stranger with redeemed Israel, rejoicing in their blessing, but holding still the place of holiness and honor? Jethro assumes the place of Melchizedek. In no less glories than those of king and priest together does he here shine before us. He offers the sacrifices and spreads the feast for Aaron, and sits as chief in the seat of judgment with Moses. And when he had thus displayed his glories, rejoiced in the prosperity of God’s chosen, and led their praise for the mercy, “he went his way.” As was said of the God of Abraham before, “And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had done communing with Abraham.” (Genesis 18) So now Jethro, having rejoiced with Israel, and displayed his glories, goes his way. For both were as strangers in the earth, and a distant way led them to their proper home.

Thus, we have great things in this chapter. The opening of it slims us the heavenly one descending, and the close of it shows us his return or ascending, in figure, as the angels of God once ascended and descended on the mystic ladder, and will again upon the Son of man. And it shows us, also in figure, all things in heaven and earth gathered in that one who has connection with the two great households, though in different ways, while they themselves were unknown to each other till now. All this tells, indeed, of the dispensation of the fullness of times. (Ephesians 1:10.) This mount, where all this is seen, is now again called “The Mount of God,” as being in this manner the place of glory, as before when it was called “the Mount of God,” it was as strikingly the place of grace, or the burning bush. It well deserves the praise. It surely is the mystic holy ground where the traces of the blessed God are thus to be seen, and where we learn those ways of his, that establish the heart both in faith and hope.

This intercourse between the heavenly and earthly families having one great center, as it will be enjoyed in the coming kingdom, so has it been typified in many past shadows. The ladder which Jacob saw, and to which I have alluded, gave it in figure to us. The passing and re-passing of Moses from the cloudy tabernacle to the camp of the congregation (Exodus 33) was another expression of this intercourse between the place of the glory and the earth. The vision on the mount of transfiguration, where the glorified family were seen, and also the representatives of Israel, gives us another pledge of it. The interviews between the risen Lord and, his disciples, still in their earthly places, is a like figure; for then at seasons he showed himself to them, but his place was more duly in heaven, his word being, “Touch me not,” though at times he would eat and drink with them as before. So the notice that is taken of the ascent’ by which Solomon went up to the house of the Lord, and which was one of the principal objects that rested on the vision, and filled the spirit of the queen of Sheba, is another intimation of the same (2 Chronicles 9); for it looked somewhat above, and apart from, the mere earthly places, to which the sitting of the servants, the furniture of the tables, and all the royal magnificence and fullness pertained, and would properly have drawn her thoughts upwards. Aid so this, our closing chapter, shows the same. Here is the ladder again, the communion of the heavens with the earth in the days of the glory. Moses’s estrangement from Israel for a season; his secrecy among the Gentiles with his father, his wife, and his children there; then his return to Israel, and their redemption and discipline under his hand; the overthrow of the great enemy who dared to affront the glory of the Lord and, finally, the place of peace, “the Mount of God,” where the strangers and Israel (both, though differently, having found their union with Moses the common deliverer) meet for the first time to rejoice together, while the stranger fills the nearer intimacies and the higher dignities; all these tell out the mystic tale of the heavens and the earth in the coming kingdom or fullness of times. The union of the bride and the bridegroom, which before had been hidden, is now published, and the Gentile stands nearer to Moses than all his kindred in the flesh.

There is a voice in all this, beloved, that we cannot but hear; for thus will it be in the kingdom, surely. Is not all that is royal and glorious to be on the earth, then, with the ascent to heaven from Jerusalem? Is not the true ladder to be there, and the ministers of the kingdom passing and re-passing upon it? Is not the glory, then, to be a covering on the dwelling-places and assemblies of Zion? “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad.” Tales of mercy and salvation will then be rehearsed, as here; and the Church will learn the joy of Israel’s deliverance, though they never knew each other before; for the Church’s path had been heavenly, and Israel’s earthly, and thus they lay not in the same regions at all. But then they will find that all the while they have had a common center in the true Moses, the true bridegroom of the true heavenly stranger, the true deliverer and leader of the tribes of Israel. And then, as Jethro here spreads the refreshments, and gives the blessing, so the golden city, the city of the heavenly strangers, will pour forth its light and its waters, the effulgence of its glories and the streams of its fountains, to gladden and refresh the earth, and Israel with her attendant nations shall be blest in the millennial kingdom of the Son of man.

The next chapter (19) introduces us to other scenes aria thoughts altogether, so as to allow us to look at this Scripture (1.-18) by itself. And it is, as it were, one of the title-deeds of Horeb to the holy dignity which it bears. It chews us why it should be called “the Mount of God;” for grace and glory, as we have now seen, both display themselves there, and they belong to God. The next scenes are still, however, at the same mount, and they will give us to read again, though in other lines (the Lord giving us grace and his blessing), the title of that mount to bear the same holy inscription upon it. And if we still linger upon it, beloved, may our souls get some little increased strength to rise above the level of this corrupted earth, and all its low ambitions and vanities.

The Mount of God

I have already looked at Horeb, “the Mount of God,” as the witness of grace and glory, or of redemption and the kingdom, being the spot where the Lord of Israel first showed himself in the burning bush, the symbol of grace or salvation, and aft err wards displayed glories and joys of the kingdom in the intercourses of Jethro and the ransomed tribes of Israel.

But, though all this has passed, the congregation are still in the same place; and the place, as we shall now see, is still giving us to read its title to be called “the Mount of God.’

In the opening of our present chapters, we reach the third month since the Exodus. A new era is thus noticed by the Spirit, and, accordingly, new scenes and new thoughts will be found to unfold themselves. The heart of the people is here called into exercise. Moses, the mediator, passes and repasses between them and the Lord, and all this tests the mind that was in them, and ends in proving the security of the natural man, and his confidence in himself to do all that the Lord shall command. (19.)

But this, their way, was their folly. They had been brought out of Egypt by him who dwelt in the bush, “the God of grace,” the God of Abraham; Isaac, and Jacob; and the same hand had led them through the desert up to the mount where “the God of glory” had, in figure, shown his kingdom and joy to them. But now, as soon as the Lord, having thus shown what he was, turns, as it were, to inquire what they were, and whether they would now trust in themselves rather than in him, the ground of the heart is discovered, man is found to be self-confident and boastful, ready to enter upon terms with God, rather than be simply debtor to him for grace and glory.

Accordingly, this mount, where all so lately was the peace and honor of the kingdom in the presence of Jethro, now, on the departure of that mysterious stranger, becomes the fiery mount. It puts on new attributes altogether. It is preparing itself to consume the sinner, a mount of blackness, and darkness, and tempest, where the voice of God is heard in righteousness, where the ten words, or the covenant of the law of works, putting man to the trial which he had too confidently submitted to, are now to be published.

But what will such trial end in? It must leave all their comeliness as rottenness. The burning mount of the law here gives them at once to know the terribleness of that righteousness which they had challenged, and they can but cry out in the fear of it. (20.)

This however, so far, was as it should be. This cry of fear was the proper, seasonable fruit of the ground on which Israel now stood, as the Lord himself afterward says. (Deuteronomy 5. 18.) And according to this fear they stand afar off. But the mediator draws near to the thick darkness where God was, and there, as between the Lord of Israel and his people, he receives the statutes of the kingdom which were to make Israel the Lord’s nation,—a separated people, who were to have the Lord for their God and King, bearing his image and superscription upon them; and he is promised also an angel to go before him, presiding, as it were, over this covenant of the nation, in whom the name of the Lord of Israel was to be; so that if they obeyed him they should be blest, but if they refused he would not pardon their transgressions. (21.-23.)

The mediator having thus received the book of the statutes of the realm, and the promise of the angel of the covenant, the covenant itself is solemnly sealed. It is dedicated with blood. (Hebrews 9:18,19.) The altar and the twelve pillars are raised, and the altar is sprinkled. Then the book of the covenant is read; and, on the people undertaking obedience; they are sprinkled likewise. Thus, Jehovah and Israel are joined in the conditional covenant, the blessing of which rested on their allegiance, and the representatives of the nation are called up to eat and drink in the presence of the God of Israel; for all as yet is reconciliation, the blood of the covenant being upon them, and no trespass as yet committed: It was the sight of “the God of Israel” they now get. They may look unhurt, and unalarmed. There is no danger of gazing here, as there had been when the law of the ten words was delivered. (19: 21.) It may last but for a short moment, but this is a sample of that day when the God of Jeshurun shall be known as riding on the heavens for Israel’s help, and in his excellency on the sky (Deuteronomy 33.); when the king shall be seen in his beauty, when Zion shall be a quiet habitation, a city of solemnities, and the glorious Lord shall be there, lawgiver, judge, and king. (Isaiah 33) The glory did not make them afraid; the hand of such an one was not heavy upon them. There he was in all his honor, but they could eat and drink before him. (24.)

Thus, the covenant in which the nation was now to stand is settled, the parties to it bound, and the whole avouched and concluded. Moses is then called to take up another position. And this is done with due solemnity also. His minister Joshua accompanies him a certain stage, but he goes upward to the mount where the Lord was. The glory was still promising to the people, on the one hand, he would, on the other, punish the transgressions of the people against God. Accordingly, we see him afterward appearing at Bochim, there to avenge upon them the quarrel of this covenant. (Judges 2:1.) there, as devouring fire in the eyes of the children of Israel, but the cloud covers it for six days. Then on the seventh (expressive, it may be, of the rest into which Moses was now about to be conducted, beyond all the terror of the fiery mount), the voice of the Lord out of the cloud calls him, and Moses goes up into the midst of it, and gets him into the mount. Hither he had been either on a level with the people, while the ten commandments, the moral law, was delivered, or a little separated from them as the mediator of the nation, while the statutes of the realm were published. But now he enters into further intimacies with the Lord. He is called to the top of the hill, beyond the region of darkness and thunder altogether. The heads of the nation are left in the camp, —the vision of the God of Israel is folded up, and he is called to the very midst of the cloud, where the Lord was dwelling and shining.

But he is not long there before we learn the secrets of that holy place, and how it was that he got there, and in what that virtue lay that could enable him to pass, as it were, all the devouring fire unharmed. He is there in company with Christ. That is the secret. The shadows of good things to come there pass before him, and one by one tell out this glorious truth—that God can be a just God, and yet a Savior,—that he can conduct a sinner safely up the fiery mount, without the smell of it passing on him. For Christ is the end of the law to everyone that believeth. God’s claims in righteousness are all answered in the Person and obedience of Jesus. The brazen altar, with all that intervened from that to the mercy seat itself in the holiest, is shown here to Moses. All pass in review before him. And the minister of the sanctuary, in his mystic garments, is shown to him also. And thus he learns Christ in his fullness; and learning that, he learned how he could stand in such peaceful communion with God beyond the summit of the fiery mount. He saw in him that mercy could rejoice against judgment; that provision was made in him and by him for the discharge of sin, for the magnifying of the law, for the acceptance of the sinner, and for the letting out the full flow of boundless and unmingled goodness to save and to bless us, (25. 31.)

All this, however, was to Moses only. The people were still within view of the mount as a mount of devouring fire. (24: 17) And they speedily show themselves to be material fit for such fire, vessels fitted to destruction, incurring the vengeance of that holy place; by refusing the very first voice that had issued from it. For instead of having none other gods than the Lord who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, they take a golden calf, which their own hands had made, to be their god. This was entire forfeiture of all blessing under that covenant; and in token of that, Moses, on returning down the hill, breaks the tables of the law to pieces, and never puts them into their hands to keep and to do them. (32.)

This was a great moment for the discovery of what man was. O how differently the path of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had ended, the God of grace and salvation; Who dwelt in the bush. He had led them forth in entire safety out of Egypt, the place of the taskmasters; not a dog had wagged its tail against them, not a hoof was left behind, not a feeble person was among their tribes,—all harnessed and full-handed they had gone forth; and he never left them, as we saw just now in our previous paper, never forsook them through the droughty desert, till he had planted them in the joy and glory of “the Mount of God.” But they then trusted in themselves, and took their own way, and all now is closed in disaster and ruin, the very pledges of their covenant, the ground of their confidence, being shattered to pieces. This was sad and shameful indeed. But while we thus mark their sin, we are called to see their repentance also They mourn on hearing the word and anger of the Lord. They put off their ornaments. They go outside the camp, as conscious that the place of convicted sinners or unclean lepers became them. They watch the ways of the mediator, and stand adoring. And may I not add, that they feel unable to stand before the bright light of righteousness, so that Moses has to veil his face. (33. 34.)

All this was repentance, the way of poor convicted, self-condemned sinners. And while they are thus, the Lord is preparing something blessedly suited to them. He makes known to them his secret. Moses delivers the patterns of heavenly things to them. And all that they have to do for their full Comfort, is to follow by faith: this unfolding of God’s counsels concerning them. They have only to do according to the patterns, and they shall soon read their title to unmixed blessing. Just like Noah. He had only to build an ark according to God’s command, and he should soon find that he was building something for his own safety. Obedience was his blessing. And so here. They have but to render the obedience ‘of faith, by just giving forms and substances to the patterns as Moses commands, and then they will see in the sanctuary a refuge and relief for guilty sinners destroyed by the thunders of Sinai, as they now were.

And so they do, blessedly are they here seen rendering the obedience of faith and of a changed mind. They do all for the tabernacle, as Moses commands, and that too with willing hearts, so that he has to restrain their zeal and devotedness. And with all this willingness there was no willfulness; for they are careful to follow the patterns in all things, that all may be according to God’s purpose, though rendered willingly by them.

All this was further fruit of repentance. I do not know that in any period of their history we see them in a healthier, happier condition of soul than now during their making of the tabernacle. The materials were supplied by the willing offerings of the people, and the silver half-shekels which they had paid as atonement-money. These materials Were then fashioned by workmen divinely skilled, according to patterns divinely exhibited. And when all was finished, they brought it to Moses; and Moses had but to say of it, that it was all good, all according to God, and to bless them. Judgment they—reaped before (32: 28), but now blessing. (39: 43.) Then after all had been ‘finished for the sanctuary in this obedience of faith, the mediator presents the whole in due form to God, compacted, as it were, and fitly framed together; and then the Lord has only to crown and quicken it all with his presence. The cloud rests on it, and the glory enters into, it. (35. 40.)

A Short Meditation on the Moral Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ

“And when any will offer a meat-offering, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon; and he shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests; and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof; and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be. an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord.”

Introduction.

It is the moral glory, or, as we speak, the character of the Lord Jesus, on which I meditate in these pages. All went up to God as a sacrifice of sweet savor. Every expression of himself in every measure, however small, and in whatever relationship it was rendered, was incense. In his person (but surely there only) man was reconciled to God. In him God recovered his complacency in man, and that too with unspeakable gain; for in Jesus man is more to God than he would have been in an eternity of Adam innocency.

But in this meditation on the moral glory of the Lord Jesus, it is most surely but a small part of that wondrous subject I affect to have reached. I may give occasion to fruitful thoughts in the souls of others, and that will be good.

The Lord’s person I assume; God and man in one Christ. His work I also assume; that suffering service, or blood-shedding, accomplished on the Cross, whereby reconciliation is perfected, and wherein it is preached for the acceptance and joy of faith.

The glories of the Lord Jesus are threefold-personal, official, and moral. His personal glory he veiled, save where faith discovered it, or an occasion demanded it. His official glory he veiled likewise: he did not walk through the land as either the Divine Son from the bosom of the Father, or as the authoritative Son of David. Such glories were commonly hid, as he passed on in the circumstances of life day by day. But his moral glory could not be hid: he could not be less than perfect in everything, —it belonged to him, —it was himself. From its intense excellency it was too bright for the eye of man, and man was under constant exposure and rebuke from it. But there it shone, whether man could bear it or not. It now illuminates every page of the four evangelists, as it once did every path which the Lord himself trod on this earth of ours.

It has been said ‘of the Lord, “His humanity was perfectly natural in its development.” This is very beautiful and true. Luke 2:52 would verify this. There was nothing of unnatural progress in film: all was orderly increase. His wisdom kept pace with his stature, or age. He was the child first, then the man. By-and-by, as a man (God’s man in the world), he will testify of the world that its works are evil, and be hated by it; but as a child (a child after God’s heart, as I may say), he will be subject to his parents, and under the law, and as one perfect; in such conditions he grew in favor with God and man.

But though there was progress in him, as we thus see, there was no cloud, or perversion, or mistake: in this he distinguished himself from all. His mother pondered things in her heart; but cloud and indistinctness, nay, darkness itself, beset her mind, and the Lord had to say to her, “How is it that ye sought me?” But with him, progress was but one form of moral beauty—his growth was orderly and was seasonable; and, I may add, that as “his humanity was perfectly natural in its development,” so was his character entirely human in its expressions: all that displayed it was common to man, as I may say.

He was the tree planted by the rivers of waters, that bringeth forth its fruit in its season (Psalms 1); and all things are only beautiful in their season. The moral glory of “the child Jesus” shines in its season and generation; and when he became a man, the same glory only gets other seasonable expressions. He knew when to. own the claims of his mother, when she made them; when to resist them, though she made them; when to recognize them unsought (Luke 2:51; 8: 21; John 19:27); and, as we afterward track him, he knew Gethsemane in season, or according to its character; and the Holy Mount in its season, winter and summer, to his Spirit. He knew the well of Sychar, and the road which led him to Jerusalem for the last time. He trod each path, or filled each spot, in that mind that was according to the character it bore under God’s eye. And so on occasions which called for still more energy. If it be the defilement of his father’s house, he will let zeal consume him; if it be his own wrong at the hand of some Samaritan villagers, he will suffer it and pass on.

And all was perfect in its combinations, as well as in its season. He wept as he was reaching the grave of Lazarus, though he knew that he carried life for the dead. He who had just said, “I am the resurrection and the life,” wept. Divine power would leave human sympathies free to take their full course.

And it is assemblage, or combination of virtues, which forms moral glory. He knew, as the apostle speaks, “how to abound, and how to be abased;” how to use moments of prosperity, so to call them, and also times of depression. For, in his passage through life, he was introduced to each of these.

Thus: He was introduced, for a moment, to his glory; and a very bright moment it was. I allude to the transfiguration. He was high in his honors there. As the sun, the source of all brightness, there he shone; and such eminent ones as Moses and Elias are there, taking of his glory from him; and in it shining with him. But as he descended the hill, he charged those who had been with him, “ the eye witnesses of his majesty,” not to speak of it And when the people, on his reaching the foot of the hill; ran to salute him (Mark 9:15), his person still’ reflecting, I believe, though faintly, the glory which it had lately borne, he does not linger among them to receive their homage, but at once addresses himself to his common service; for he, knew “ how to abound.” He was not exalted by his prosperity. He sought not a place among men, but emptied himself, made himself of no reputation, quickly veiled the glory that he might be the servant; the girded, not the arrayed One.

And it was thus with him a second time, after he had become the risen Jesus, as we may see in—John 20. He is there in the midst of his disciples; in such a glorious character as man had never borne or witnessed, and never could. He is there as the conqueror of death, and the spoiler of the grave. But he is not there—though in such glories—to receive the congratulations of his people, as we speak, and as one naturally would, who was finding himself returned to the bosom of friends and kinsfolk, after toil, and danger, and victory. Not that he was indifferent to sympathy: he sought it in season, and felt the want of it when he did not get it. But he is now, risen from the dead, in the midst of his disciples, rather as a visitor for a day than as in a triumph. He is rather teaching them their interest, and not displaying his own, in the great things which had just been accomplished.

This was using a victory indeed, as Abraham knew how to use his victory over the confederate kings—a harder thing, as some have said, than to gain it. This, again, was knowing “how to abound,” how “to be full.”

But he knew “how to be abased” also. Look at him with the Samaritan villagers in Luke 9. At the outset of that action, in the sense of his personal glory, he anticipated his being “raised up,” as he actually was afterward (see Mark 16:19; 1 Timothy 16; the Greek word is the same); and in the common, well-known style of one who would have it known that a person of distinction was coming that way, he sends messengers before his face. But the unbelief of the Samaritans changes the scene. They would not receive him. They refused to cast up a highway for the feet of this glorious one, but forced him to find out for himself the best path. He could, as the rejected one. But he accepts this place at once, without a murmur in his heart. He becomes again (borrowing the word from Matthew 2) the Nazarene, seeing he was refused as the Bethlehemite, and he fills this new character on this side of the Samaritan village, as perfectly as he had filled the other character on the other side of it.

Thus he knew “how to be abased,” and just so do we again see him in Matthew 21. He enters the city as son of David. All that could set him off in that dignity surrounds and accompanies him. He is in his earthly honor now, as he had been in his heavenly glory on the holy hill. It was his without robbery; and when the moment demanded it, he can wear it. But the unbelief of Jerusalem now, as the unbelief of Samaria before, changes the scene, and lie who had entered the city as her king has to leave it, to seek a night’s lodging, so to speak, where best lie could find it. But there he is, outside Jerusalem, as before he had been outside the Samaritan village, knowing “how to be abased.”

What perfection! If the darkness comprehends not the light of his personal or official glory, his moral glory shall only find occasion to shine the brighter. For there is nothing in morals or in human character finer than this combination of willing degradation in the midst of men, and the consciousness of intrinsic glory before God. We see it in some of the saints beautifully; Abraham was a willing stranger in the midst of the Canaanites all his days, not having a foot of land, nor seeking to have it, —but when occasion served he would take headship even of kings, conscious of his dignity in God’s sight, according to God’s own counsel. Jacob would speak of his pilgrimage, of his few and evil days, making himself nothing in the reckoning of the world; but he would at the same moment bless him who, at that time, was the greatest man on the earth, conscious that, under God and before him, he was “the better,” the greater man of the two.

David would ask for a loaf of bread, and ask for it without shame. But, with all that, he would accept the homage due to a king, receiving the tribute of his subjects, as in the person of Abigail. Paul was bound with a chain, a prisoner in the palace; and would speak of his bonds; but at that same moment he would let the whole court, and high estate of the Roman world, know that he knew himself to be the blest man, the only blest man, in the midst of them.

It is this combination of willing degradation: before man, and conscious glory before God, that gets its highest, brightest way (when I consider Who he was): its infinite illustration in our Lord.

And there is still further moral beauty in this knowing how to abound, and how to be abased, how to be full, and how to suffer need; for it tells us that the heart of him who has learned that lesson is upon the end of the journey, rather than upon the journey itself. If the heart be on the journey, we shall not like these accidents and difficulties, the rough places and the hilly places; but if it be on the end, it will in proportion overlook such things. It is surely a secret rebuke to some of us to trace all this.

J. G. BELLETT.

(To be continued in the January No.)

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Tabernacle Reared Up and Filled With the Glory

And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up. Ver. 17.) The first day of the second year of Israel’s experience, as a redeemed people, was an important period in their history.

On this day the tabernacle was set up. On this day the commandment was given for the numbering of the children of Israel from twenty years old and upward; all that were able to go forth to war in Israel. (Numbers 1:1,2.) And on the day that Moses had fully set up the tabernacle, and anointed it, and sanctified it, and all the vessels thereof, the princes of Israel, that were over them that were numbered, presented their offering to Jehovah of six covered wagons, twelve oxen, with twelve silver chargers, and spoons of gold full of incense, with the burnt offerings, sin offerings, and peace offerings, though twelve days were occupied with the presentation. (Numbers 7)

During the first year the lessons of the wilderness were learned: —What the wilderness was: what the flesh was; both under grace, and under law: and what God was, in the various manifestations of his character.

With the second year Israel’s experience in connection with the tabernacle commences; and to this period the books of Leviticus and Numbers apply.

The first year is typical of the Christian’s individual experience; the’ second, of his experience in connection with the Church of God, and in association with others professing Christianity.

The Tabernacle Reared up.

And Moses reared up the tabernacle, and fastened his sockets, and set up the boards thereof, and put in the bars thereof, and reared up his pillars. Ver. 18.) The tabernacle is first mentioned, before the tent of —the congregation; for the first thought in the mind of the Spirit is an habitation for God, before that which represents the assembly of God’s saints is spoken of; though in verse 2 both thoughts are combined— “set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.”

“And fastened his sockets.” The sockets of silver, composed of the redemption money of the children of Israel. Thus, typically, the foundations of God’s tabernacle are laid in redemption.

“And set up the boards thereof.” Typical of those believers who are gathered together to the confession of the name of Jesus; individually, standing firm on redemption; and collectively, forming God’s tabernacle, or dwelling-place. (Ephesians 2:22.)

“And put in the bars thereof.” For the compacting and establishment of the whole. Like the joints and bands, the gifts of the Spirit for the edifying of the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4)

“And reared up his pillars.” The four pillars which held up the vail, corresponding with the four inspired historians of the life and death of Jesus; and the five pillars which supported the hanging of the door, answering to the apostles and prophets, the evangelists, pastors and teachers, who exhibit Jesus as the, way’ of entrance into the tabernacle of God. And thus the Church becomes not only the house of God, and Church of the living God, but also the pillar and ground of the truth, for the manifestation and maintenance of the truth of God in the world.

The Tent of the Congregation Spread.

And he spread abroad the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent above upon it; as the Lord commanded Moses. (Ver. 19.) The tent over the tabernacle, or the tent of the congregation, represents the assembly of believers, meeting in the name of Jesus, who in spirit also compose the habitation of God.

The covering of the tent was twofold. First, the covering of rams’ skins dyed red; typical of the atoning work of the Lord Jesus, under the shelter of which the Church is seen by God. And, secondly, the covering of badgers’ skins, above and over all; significant of the external lowly form and pilgrim character of the Church on earth.

“As the Lord commanded Moses.” All done according to the will and word of God.

The Ark.

And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, and put the mercy seat above upon, the ark: and he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the vail of the covering, and covered the ark, of the testimony; as the Lord commanded Moses. Ver. 20, 21. The ark represents the Lord Jesus Christ as the center of gathering, of promise, and of blessing, and also the center of testimony to the Church of God.

The testimony—put into the ark showed the perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus while on earth; and thus the ark became the ark of the testimony. The staves set on the ark show his adaptation to the wilderness condition and need of his people. The mercy-seat put above upon the ark expresses that the exercise of the sovereign grace and mercy of God is founded on the person and work of Christ. The ark brought into the tabernacle teaches, that it is in him that believers are builded together for an habitation of God. (Ephesians 2:22.) The vail set up is significant also of the truth, that through the vail, that is to say, his flesh, Christ having entered into the holiest of all, we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him: and all this according to the word of God. “As the Lord commanded Moses.”

The Table.

And he put the table in the tent of the congregation, upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the vail. And he set the bread in order upon it before the Lord; as the Lord had commanded Moses. Ver. 22, 23.)

“The table” is the type of Christ, as the center and ground of communion to the saints of God. “In the tent of the congregation.” In the midst of God’s assembly. “Upon the side of the tabernacle.” For though the Church is looked at as the assembly of saints, it is also the dwelling-place of God. “North; ward.” The place of self-judgment and discipline. (See Ezekiel 40:39-42, and 1 Corinthians 11) And on the north side the burnt offerings were killed. (Lev. 1:11.) “Without the vail.” For it is here on earth we commemorate the dying love of an absent Lord, while waiting for his return. The bread set in order. Christ set forth as the bread of life—the all—sufficient and life-sustaining portion of the children of God. And set in order, too! What a God of order is he with whom we have to do! And “set in order before the Lord.” For it is in the presence of God that we are to remember Jesus, and take our portion as the sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty. Exalted and blessed privilege! And all this, also, in the spirit of unhesitating and full obedience, according to the word of God.

The Candlestick.

And he put the candlestick in the tent of the congregation, over against the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward. And he lighted the lamps before the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses. Ver. 24, The candlestick sets forth Jesus as the center, source, and subject’ of ministry or testimony in the Church of God, through the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and by the various gifts of the Spirit. “In the tent of the congregation.” Ministry has its place, a place assigned to it by God in his assembly. “Over against the table.” Throwing its hallowed light on the person, sufferings; and finished work of Jesus, in order that God’s children may feed on him. “On the side of the tabernacle southward.” The place occupied by ministry in God’s habitation is on the south side, the side of grace and mercy, and on the side occupied by the brazen sea in Solomon’s temple. (2 Chron. 4:10.) For it is in order to the believer’s sanctification, “through the washing of water by the word,” that Christ is testified to. The lamps Were to be lit before the Lord; reminding us that ministry must ever be exercised as in the presence of God, and the truth commended to the conscience in God’s sight, and all in the spirit of obedience to God; “as the Lord commanded Moses.”

The Golden Altar.

And he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation, before the rail: and he burnt sweet incense thereon; as the Lord commanded Moses. Ver. 26, 27.)

The golden altar typifies Jesus, through whom we worship in full and conscious acceptance before God, in all the preciousness and fragrance of the character and person of Christ. The position of the altar is in the tent of the congregation: for worship has its place in the assembly; but “before the vail,” and not simply as the table (v. 22) “without the vail.” For we worship in the very prospect of the holiest, —faith penetrating within, and communing with God from off the mercy seat. “As the Lord commanded Moses.” It is the expressed will of God that his people should thus worship him. The Father is seeking such worship from spiritual worshippers in spirit and in truth. This is the fifth time the expression occurs, “As the Lord commanded Moses.”

The Door of the Tabernacle.

And he set up the hanging at the door of the tabernacle.” (Ver. 28.) Christ is the door. He only is the way. No admittance but by the faith of him.

The Altar of Burnt Offering.

And he put the altar of burnt offering, by the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the meat offering; as the Lord commanded Moses. (Ver. 29.)

Christ, by the offering up of himself in all the purity and holiness of his nature as man, and as a sweet savor before God, and accepted by God, as witnessed by his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension to the right hand of his Father—Christ, once offered and forever accepted, is the one by whom communion with God is maintained, and communion also with the saints of God. And as the burnt, offering and meat offering were ever sending forth their sweet savor Godward on this altar, and in this appointed place of communion between God and his people, so the sweet savor of the name of Jesus ever secures the unbroken fellowship of saints with God and with each other. And this is according to God’s will.

The Laver.

And he set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and put water therein, to wash withal. And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat: when they went into the tent of the congregation, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed; as the Lord commanded Moses. (Ver. 30-32.) Practical sanctification is to be maintained by constant communication between the soul and Christ, who of God is made unto us sanctification. The washing of the hands and feet, the purification of the actions and course of life, and that by the faith of Christ, and by the power of the Spirit of God. The living water, flowing from the fountain head above, the throne of God and of the Lamb. This practical sanctification capacitates the believer to enjoy in living power the fellowship of saints, and to engage in the worship and service of God.

“As the Lord commanded Moses.” The seventh time this expression occurs in this connection, significant of the perfection of obedience, leading, as we shall see presently, to the perfection of blessing, and the fullness of glory.

The Court.

And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. Showing the people 6f God separate from the world, even when not met together in church fellowship, having still God’s tabernacle and God’s altar as their center object, and Christ acknowledged as the only door and way.

“So Moses finished the work.” All was now ready.

The Overshadowing Cloud, and the Indwelling Glory

Then the cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

(Ver. 34, 35.) The external and internal manifestation of the Divine presence, protection, and glory: Divine and Almighty protection above, and Divine glory within. For “he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” God himself is “a wall of fire round about his people, and the glory in the midst.” The Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon them. “The eternal God is their refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”

This overshadowing cloud and this indwelling glory was a prefiguring of what took place at Pentecost, when the Church of God first commenced its history and its course, and when believers were first builded together for an habitation of God, through the Spirit. “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:1-4.) And again (Acts 4:31): “And when they had prayed, the house was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.”

What external and internal manifestations have we here of the presence and power of the Spirit of God! And what a Divine glory shines forth from all!

So also the inspired prayer of the apostle in Ephesians 3:14-19: “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.... that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.”

When Christ first foretells the setting up of his own Church, in Matthew 16, he says, “And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” This is the external protection. And he adds, in Matthew 18:20, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” This is the internal glory.

But what is the principle of all this, and the secret of its enjoyment? Obedience, implicit obedience.

Seven times the word of God had testified that Moses, the servant of the Lord, had done each particular “as the Lord commanded.” And at Pentecost the disciples were assembled in willing-hearted and united obedience to the command of the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus testifies also concerning the Church in Philadelphia: “Thou hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.” (Revelation 3:8.) “Then,” when all was in accordance with the word and will of God, and not till then, “the cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”

“Lord, how is it,” says Jude, “that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” “Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my word (not words): and my Father will love him, and we will conic unto him, and make our abode with him.” (John 14:23.) This is a principle of the utmost importance, and throws a Divine light on many a perplexing question.

When Solomon had finished the house of Jehovah, according to the Divine will and pattern, then “the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.” (1 Kings 8:10,11.) The cloud, and the indwelling glory is here seen again.

Isaiah prophesies of the time of future blessing to Israel, when “the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defense.” (Isaiah 4:5.) Here again is “the overshadowing protection.”

Ezekiel, who saw in vision the glory taking its gradual departure from the first temple (Ezekiel 10 and 11.), afterward also in vision saw the glory returning to the millennial temple. “And, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.” (Ezekiel 44:4.) This again is the internal glory.

John, in the apocalyptic vision of the Church’s future blessedness, saw that great city, the holy Jerusalem, but “saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” (Revelation 21,22, 23.)

“There no temple rose before him, —

There no glory shone above;

All was temple, all was glory,

All in all was God and love.”

The saints in glory will dwell in God, and God in them. His glory is their overshadowing cloud; his presence is their indwelling glory.

And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

So also, in the temple of Solomon, “the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.” (1 Kings 8:11.)

And so on the mount of transfiguration, when Moses and Elias appeared with Jesus in glory, “there came a bright cloud and overshadowed them: and the disciples feared as they entered into the cloud. And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, this is my beloved Son: hear him. And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone.” (Luke 9:34-36.) Thus, whether it be Moses, the servant of God, or the priests in their priestly ministry, or the two men on the mount of transfiguration, all give place to the glory of God and of the Lamb.

The Guidance of the Cloud.

And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys: but if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys. Ver. 36-38.) The people of God are a journeying people, yet he will never leave them, nor forsake them. The great thing is to walk with God, so as ever to enjoy the light and guidance of his presence.

“If thy presence go not with us,” says Moses, “carry us not up hence.” And who that values that presence but will often be presenting the same petition?

This presence of God with us—how seasonable! how suitable Shade in sunshine. Light in darkness. Abiding with us while we tarry. Going before us when we move.

But there is one thing of all-importance taught us here. God’s guidance of his people, and the manifestation of his presence with them, is connected with the tabernacle, his dwelling-place among them. It was “when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle that the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys.” Their individual movements were controlled by God’s acting in connection with the tabernacle.

And so with us: if our individual actions are not influenced by the manifestation of God’s presence and actings with the assembly, no wonder if we miss his guidance, and walk in darkness.

Not only were the children of Israel to pitch round about the tabernacle, having it as their center, the very place of their tents being regulated by the position of the tabernacle, because it was God’s dwelling-place; but their every movement was to harmonize with God’s movements in connection with it.

Oh, for grace ever to remember and to act on this! We are so prone to make self our center, and our individual interests and comforts, temporal or spiritual, the guides of our actions, that we need every now and then to be broken off from them, and to be brought back to God, and to the things of God.

May we value the presence of God with us in our individual pathway, and the unclouded sunshine of his smile on our private path. But may we also value the manifestation of his presence in the assembly of his saints, so as ever to “see his power and his glory as we have seen it in the sanctuary.” And may the chill and the darkness, occasioned by the loss of his smile, be to us a warning of our wandering, if we turn aside to the right hand or to the left; whether it be in our individual course, or in our church associations. flay; we walk, O God, in the light of thy countenance, the confident language of our hearts being this, “Thou shalt guide us with thy counsel, and afterward receive us to glory.”

The Mount of God

EXODUS. 19-40 PART 2.

And other fruit of repentance continues to be produced, while they remain round “the Mount of God.” Thus their waiting on the consecration of Aaron (Leviticus 8;9); their clearing of themselves of the blasphemer (24); their dedication of the altar (Numbers 7); their surrender of their brethren, the Levites, to the service of the house of God “(8); their keeping of the passover (9) and, finally, their quitting of the mount in holy order, the light and approval of the Lord resting in full satisfaction upon them (10); all this evidences their state of faith and obedience. And there is no public trespass committed from the day of the golden calf till they leave Horeb. They maintain their place and allegiance all through, and finally move onward to the land of promise under the unfurled banner of the Lord God of Israel.

Thus, it is indeed that the Lord now meets them—not as obedient servants, but as pardoned sinners. As debtors to obedience under the burning mount, they did not stand for a moment; but in his own grace the Lord provides a sanctuary of salvation for them, and there they rejoice as pardoned sinners, debtors to mercy. And how truly blessed their new standing is! They come into vision of things altogether differing from the fire on the hill. The form of something that Moses himself had seen—in regions far higher than that of the lightning and thunder now fills their vision also: They now get into his secret. If he then stood in peace beyond all the reach and terror of the law, so may they now. Christ, in his fullness and grace, and not the law in its judgment, was here. Here was an altar shown to them that could attract the fire from the mount, and let it spend itself on the victim that was there, not on the people around. Here was provision in God himself for all the mischief which man had wrought, and all the penalty he had incurred. Mercy was here heard to rejoice over judgment.

This is what “the Mount of God” now tells us; and thus telling of God himself and his ways, it shows us again its title to be honored with such a name. Here God first showed himself in the burnings and thunders of this mount, to tell us of the terribleness of righteousness; but then, here he showed himself also in the shadowy tabernacle pitched at the foot of it, to tell us of his provision in Jesus, to let mercy rejoice over judgment. And. thus he is still declared here. His name is still written on this holy hill, the name of the just God, and. yet the Savior. The tables of testimony, as we find here (see also Deuteronomy 10:1-5), are now laid up in the ark, that is, magnified and made honorable in the person of the Lord of the temple, while sinners who come up to worship see only provision for their sins in the various furniture of this sanctuary. And if sinners now (as the tribes might have read their names on the priest’s breast-plate) will by faith only see themselves borne on the heart of Jesus before God, they may know at the same time, to the full repose of their consciences, that the law is there before them. As he says, “Thy law is within my heart.” So that the sinner’s blessing and salvation is thus kept in closest intimacy and company with God’s fullest praise and honor in righteousness. The sinner is borne on that heart in which God’s law has been kept and treasured up. These tales of redeeming grace, which are here told out at this mystic mount, are indeed wonderful, beloved. The glory now changes its place. It had seated itself, as we have seen, like devouring lire on the top of the hill, (Exodus 24:17,) but now it comes down to till the tabernacle that was pitched at the foot of it. In its first place, it was death to approach it. If so much as a beast did then but touch the border of it, it was to be stoned or thrust through.

But now, it is life to come up to it. If a poor trembling sinner now do but touch the hem of it, he shall, be made whole. And we may well know the readiness with which the glory thus changes its place. It was its own delight to do so. As our hymn says: beloved,

“‘Tis his great delight to bless us—

O how he loves!”

To quit the fiery mount and seat itself in the sanctuary, to put the place of judgment behind it, and to fill the place of grace—this was its happy path, as afterward, when it came to occupy the house which Solomon built for it, it’ took its throne there with full complacency. “Arise into thy resting place,” said Solomon; “this is my rest forever, here will I dwell, for I have desired it,” answered the, Lord. It was the good pleasure, the desire of the glory to fill the place. And so when it does come down actually (as we see here, and also in 2 Chronicles 5), it spreads itself, if I may so speak, it stretches itself out as though it felt itself at home. The holy and most holy places are filled, and its train so flows forth into the courts, that neither Moses now, nor the priests then, could stand to minister.

But what comfort this is to the poor sinner, that the Lord delights to take those paths which thus bring him into the midst of his people, in grace and with blessing. They are not strange or uneasy—to him. And what have we sinners to do, but to let the blessed Lord take his own way-of grace with us. It is true that we have; like Israel, by our golden calves sinned away all right to blessing. But it is as true, that the Lord has spread out—before us his golden sanctuary furnished with its altars, its laver, and its mercy-seat, to tell us of his abounding grace,’ and Christ’s victory for sinners. I learn salvation in Jesus from that same word which tells me I have destroyed myself. And there is not a thing in God’s sanctuary that does, not tell of mercy through Jesus, no trace, no voice of judgment or of death is there. And we have to shout, like Israel, at the door ‘of this sanctuary. (Leviticus 9:24.) And this is faith. Love may bring services afterward to testify obedience, but faith first tells God of his goodness. The glory has taken its path from the fiery top of the hill to the mercy-seat in the sanctuary; and we have only by faith to follow it—to follow it as simply as it has moved willingly, and thus to meet our God, not in the fires of judgment, but in the dwellings of love and peace.

This we get here, in these chapters, and thus read, though in other lines, the title of this mount to be called “the Mount of God.” For here God is thus still revealing himself. Grace and glory had passed before us on this hill in the previous chapters, as we saw, —grace in the burning bush, and glory in the assembly of the strangers, and Israel. Judgment and mercy rejoicing over it have now, in their turn, passed also before us at the same place, —judgment in the fire at the top of the hill, mercy in the tabernacle at the foot of it. And thus the Lord, in these ways, and at this place, makes himself known to us, and Horeb is indeed “the Mount of God.”

Thus, I have, with desire, surveyed this holy hill. But I cannot finally leave it till I have another little meditation at the foot of it.

All that we have here seen is REVELATION of God. This bill is the place for God’s showing himself. Now our obedience to revelation is faith. If God reveal himself, faith is man’s obedient response. And on faith I would now in closing say a little.

There is a peculiar character of excellence in faith, and no wonder the scriptures speak so much of it. It glories God above everything, just because it takes God’s account of himself, and lets him do his pleasure: “He that cometh to God must believe that he is.” Adam ought to have been a believer, for God to him was a revealer. God had revealed himself in a warning, and Adam should have had faith. But Adam failed in that; and through unbelief, or making God a liar, he sinned and fell.

We now, in like manner, are called to have faith’ in God, for God has revealed himself to us also. In another way, it is true; but still God is a revealer of himself to us sinners now, and we have now to render the obedience of faith; and “without faith it is impossible to please him.” Just as with Adam. All his joy in the garden was worship. If Adam delighted in the flavor of its fruit, the scent of its flowers, or the singing of the birds there, all that enjoyment was worship. But Adam should have believed also, and his faith would have been the highest act of worship: for the heart would have rendered its service to God by faith or confidence in his word, while the eye and the ear and other senses would’ have been exercising themselves in the garden of God, as in the holy places of a temple.

Thus, Adam was called to faith, and faith would have been his best service and worship. Sin having entered does not at all change this. Faith still renders the best service, and performs the highest acts of worship. Only we sinners have other objects, proposed to faith than untainted Adam had. Necessarily so. One threat of death was revealed to him. Promise of life in union with the Son of God, and all its consequent glory and joy, is made known to us. Our circumstances give opportunity of returning to God larger service and worship, through faith, than Adam’s did. If faith gives to God his highest glory from the creature, we, by our circumstances as sinners, being called to larger exercise of faith, have competency to yield larger praise. There is more, much more, in our condition, than there was in Adam’s, to exercise faith. Sin and its necessities and sorrows have induced this. This world is the very place for the largest possible exercise of faith in the blessed God; and if we indeed desired God’s praise, we should rejoice in such opportunities of giving him the worship and honor of faith.

And such a one in this world of ours was Jesus. Without sin he was made sin. He came into this world of sinners. And how did he carry himself here? “I have put my trust in him,” says he. All through he was rendering to God the obedience and worship of faith. He trusted him, and trusted in him. He believed, and was confident. Nothing weakened or disturbed his cleaving by faith to the living God. He had laid hold on him, and nothing slacked his hand. With all against him, he trusted in God. This was glorifying God beyond all glory that God had ever received. The life of faith, which the man. Christ Jesus led in this world, was constant worship of the highest order. Angels could never have so glorified him, or rendered such worship. But that Was worship and praise indeed which was brought, by the faith of this “wondrous man,” in scenes which our alien world alone could have afforded; for “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” It deals with such things as are neither enjoyed nor visible. And it is our circumstances in this world that admit of such most abundantly. Adam had present things to which he might give himself, and through the joy of which he might glorify God, and only one warning or threat revealed to his faith. Angels too have their full visible present delights. But the saint is in a world where all that is present is, more or less, astray from God, and against him; so that he must go forth from them by faith towards things hoped for and unseen. This calls faith into the most varied and constant exercise, and this makes the saint a competent worshipper of God in the highest order of worship; and Jesus valued this opportunity of worshipping him, for he loved God perfectly. He waited in such a temple continually. But we (with sorrow may we learn to say it) want a heart to value God and his praise.

But while we thus look at the principle of faith, grieving that we know it so poorly, we may also look at the object of faith, and there we shall find abundant cause for joy; for God is good, unspeakably good! God is love! His delight is in mercy; and accordingly, that which he reveals to our hearts, or that which he proposes as the great object of faith in this fallen world, is salvation. He offers that td our faith, that our hearts may at once rejoice before him. The apostle says, “We have an altar whereof they have. no right to eat who serve the tabernacle.” A strong testimony to God’s salvation, or the object of the sinner’s faith. The servants or worshippers in the tabernacle were not made perfect in the conscience. The very place bore witness that the way to God was not then made manifest; and the sacrifices, with which the worshippers dealt continually, kept their sin in remembrance (Hebrews 9. 10.); for such sacrifices could never dispose of sin. There was no such blood in them as could ever, let it be applied again and again, take it away. But now the saint has a purged conscience, because on his altar he sees blood which has obtained eternal redemption: His altar witnesses’ remission, and not remembrance of sin.

This is the mighty distance between them. This keeps the worshippers in the tabernacle, and the attendants on the New Testament altar, as the apostle tells us, asunder. The one cannot stand in company with the other. To understand the virtue of the altar is, of necessity, to quit the tabernacle. Assurance of heart in the remission of sins, or a purged conscience, is the due attribute of him who waits on the one; constant sense of sin, the due condition of him who serves or worships (λατρευοντες, Hebrews 13:10) in the other. And this being so, what offering is that which the worshipper at the altar brings? Having apprehended the virtue of the blood there, what sacrifice does he in return pay? The answer comes, “By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to-God continually.” (verse 15.) Praise is the due fruit of a heart that has learned salvation, —or the value of the altar. Not prayer, but praise. A sinner has not prayer to make, but praise to render. A saint has many and many a prayer, it is true; daily weakness, and short-coming, and necessity, leads him that way. But a sinner in prayer denies the value of the altar. Praise suits salvation, and it is as God the Savior that our altar reveals God to faith.

And what has faith to do, but to let the blessed God take his own way, and spew himself in his goodness and glory? The heart that believes is silent before him while he passes by. He is pleased by this altar, which he has raised and revealed, to provide for sinners; and who are we, that we should stay his hand, or narrow the flow of his rich mercies? Let him do his pleasure—he is the Lord. If the gospel propose to let us sinners see him in the exercise of unspeakable goodness, it is the duty of the sinner just to look at him, —it is the way of faith to do nothing else. Faith thus, in filthy Joshua, allowed change of raiment without a question. He never broke silence, but just accepted the blessing and the glory. (chapter 3) Faith, in the convicted adulteress, was silent while Jesus passed by in the still small voice, writing the memorial of her shame as on a sandy floor, which the next breeze would efface forever. (John 8) Faith in the camp of Israel, as we have now seen, after they had sinned away all their blessing by the golden calf; followed the patterns which were, one after another, unfolding the pledges of God’s salvation in the golden sanctuary. (Exodus 35-40) All this was faith, which ever lets the Lord take his own way with the sinner, taking his own blessed revelation of himself without a question; and thus honoring him above everything, allowing that he has a right to bless even sinners if he please, and’ us ourselves as well as other sinners.

And this was the voice of the basket of first-fruits. (See Deuteronomy 26) Oh the nation being settled in the land, they were to fill a basket with the various fruit thereof, and offer it before God’s altar; acknowledging, at the same time, that all his promises had been made good, that he had accomplished all the goodness and mercy of which he had spoken to them, of which this mystic basket was now the witness and sample. And then they were to rejoice before the Lord their God, the nation thus simply owning all that he had done for them, and all that he had been to them, and that they, poor perishing Syrians in themselves, could indeed rejoice in him.

And this is just the pattern of a perishing sinner’s faith, be the Syrian, Greek, or Jew. We have to lay out our basket before the Lord: This is faith. Conscience may confess sins that we have done; love may bring services and obedience; but faith tells what God is and what he has done, in a rich and varied and overflowing witness. Liberty of con science, joy in God, assurance and ease of heart, hope, largeness of desire, with other exercises suited to a soul consciously brought home to God, these should be the holy fruit to fill our baskets before the Lord. Affections, such as our altar may well awaken, should fill the heart and run over; affections that become pardoned sinners, the due fruit of that land to which the Savior brings us. This is our “first love,” our basket of first-fruits. Ephesus lost it. The fruit in the basket there had withered a little. For let whatever other sacrifices may come into God’s house, this first offering should be always there in its freshness. Faith should always rejoice in what God has done, that thus the first love may be ever young and lively.

But this is far from being the way of the natural heart of man. His mind is not of this order. He clings to the law. Grace is too great and generous a thought for him. Works rather than faith is his master-principle. And this separates between his mind and God’s mind. And this principle in man shows itself, at times, in God’s choicest servants. For it is of the flesh, which is in us all. Look at David in 1 Chronicles 17 He thought to do something for the Lord. But in that he wronged God: He did not think so, or mean so, but so it was, by that he Was wronging God’s love. For shall David be before the Lord in kindness? Shall David be better than God? Will David think of building God a house, before the Lord has built him a house?

That must not be. God will be God in his love as in everything. He will be better as well as greater than we. And therefore, that very night, as though he could not rest under such a thing, the Lord tells Nathan to go and stop this purpose of David’s heart. God’s love had been wronged by it. The Lord would build him a house first, and then David or his son (in this sense the same), might build the Lord a house. And when David hears this through Nathan, the whole temper and current of his soul is changed. He at once sits before the Lord as a receiver, and does not act for the Lord as a giver. He does not talk any more of building a house for God, but rejoices in the thought of the Lord building a house for him. He leaves Martha’s place, and takes Mary’s more excellent place. (Luke 10:38.)

And this was faith again, —faith that ever allows God to take his way and show himself. What right has man to stop the way of the Lord? Shall he say to the Lord, when the Lord rises to unseal the sources of the river of life, “Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further?” If goodness will glorify itself, shall unbelief dare to dim it? Who shall close the hand of the Lord of the vineyard, if he be pleased to give the penny? If they talk of law, is it not lawful for him to do what he will with his own? God is the Lord of the well of life, and may he not turn its streams, if he please, to water the dreariest lands? He owns the springs themselves, and therefore let his rights as such owner be weighed and tried even in the balances of law, and it will be found that it is lawful for him to use them as he may, —he has a right to bless sinners if it please him.

Faith simply gives him his rights, and allows the lawfulness of God acting in grace to us. Yea, even to ourselves as well as to other sinners like us. For the less is blessed of the better; and as God justly claims for himself the place of the better, faith fully owns the claim and receives the blessing from him, even the richest blessing, the blessing of eternal salvation, life, and glory.

Thus, it is faith which chiefly glorifies God, for it sets him in the place of “the better.”. Service renders to God, faith receives from him, and thus faith honors him in the holiest place that he graciously fills for us. In a sinner walking before him in the artless liberty and confidence of faith, God is especially honored. For God is love,” and to glorify such a one we must be free and happy in him. Love can be satisfied with nothing less than that. Of course, love knows how to “comfort the feeble-minded;” and where there is “little faith,” it can well come and “support the weak,” for it tells us to do so. But still our joy in him is his will, and even his commandment. The bread of mourners was not to be eaten in the sanctuary; it would have defiled the presence of God, as the offering of an unclean heart would have defiled it. For if holiness become God’s house, so do liberty and joy. And it is faith that brings in this liberty and joy, for it apprehends the altar of which I have spoken; it apprehends God engaged for the sinner in a love that is perfect, so as to have nothing in the soul inconsistent with itself, as the bread of mourners would be. It casts out fear, and fills the temple within with its own clear, free, and refreshing element.

May our faith then, beloved, grow exceedingly. May we know the repose of heart, the silence of conscience, the triumph of hope, and the song of praise in the spirit, which it gives more and more! The revelation which our God has made of himself is so blessed, that it is only such a faith that can duly honor it. O that in connection with our subject, we were, beloved, more in harmony with the spirit of those sweet words which we sometimes have sung together: —

“Look forward to that happy place,

Beyond the bounds of time and space,

The saints’ secure abode:

On faith’s strong eagle-pinions rise,

And force your passage to the skies,

And scale the Mount of God I”

(Concluded from page 360.)

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Bible Subjects for the Household of Faith: Volume 2, 1864

Table of Contents

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Curtains of the Tabernacle

The Promise of the Lord

The Glorious Name of Jesus

The Numbering and Service of the Levites

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Curtains of the Tent

The Importance of Prophetic Study

The Soul's Resting-Place

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Coverings of the Tent

The Church of Philadelphia

The Second Coming of Christ Pre-Millennial

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Boards of the Tabernacle

The Return and Restoration of the Jews

Changed in a Moment

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Bars of the Tabernacle

An Affectionate Address to the Children of God Concerning the Second Coming

Jesus Shall Reign Where'er the Sun

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Vail and Hanging for the Door

The Distinct Calling and Glory of the Church as Bride and Co-Heir of Christ

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Brazen Altar

The Predicted Corruption of Christianity and Its Final Results

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Court of the Tabernacle and Gate of the Court

The Times of the Gentiles: The Character and Doom of the Great Gentile Powers

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Golden Altar or Altar of Incense and the Perfume

The Sabbath

Hebrews 6:1-8: Part 1

On Lay Preaching

Would God That All the Lord's People Were Prophets

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Laver and His Foot

The Water

Hebrews 6:1-8: Part 2

The Church Removed Before the Apocalyptic Judgments

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: Directions for the Setting Up and Anointing of the Tabernacle

The Mount of God

The Mount of God

A Short Meditation on the Moral Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ

Outlines of Lectures on the Tabernacle of Witness: The Tabernacle Reared Up and Filled With the Glory

The Overshadowing Cloud, and the Indwelling Glory

The Mount of God