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says, in his Epistle to the Romans, that Christ Jesus is our propitiation, as it is rendered in our translation; it is in the original, our mercy-seat." And were there not there this special allusion, there are other reasons for concluding that this ark, with its golden lid, and the glory, or the shechinah, or bright effulgence that rested upon it perpetually, was a type and a symbol, in its place and in its measure, of Christ Jesus, our only Atonement. In the ark, it says, were the tables of the Law, which represented the Law magnified and honored in Christ Jesus. Over the ark, there was the golden lid, on which there rested that glory which was called the shechinah to teach us that mercy, and truth, and righteousness, and peace-the true shechinah, the true glory of God - are illustrated, and brought together, and made real, in our salvation in Christ Jesus.

We read that over this mercy-seat were the cherubim, whose faces were toward each other, the tips of whose wings touched over the glory; to denote the interest that the inhabitants of other worlds feel in the grand transactions that are being consummated in this; that into these things, so wonderful, angels desire to gaze. And this is perhaps a faint hint or lesson of that great truth, that this orb of ours in which we live physically so small, among the least of the great orbs of the universe is morally the most important of them all; that it is, in fact, the lesson book of God's great universe - the world at which other worlds look in order to learn what they cannot learn except in the Atonehow just, how holy, how merciful, how loving, how glorious God is. Now these cherubim gazed upon this glory whilst their wings touched each other; as if to denote the perfect unity that exists among them.

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We notice, in the next place, that this ark, with all its beauty and its glory, and its exhibition of great truths, was not a fixture-it had rings in it, and staves in it for removing. This teaches us that the Gospel is not given to any

nation a perpetual fixture. The seven Churches of Asia were once the most illustrious of Christendom now scarce a vestige of their glory remains. Other lands have had the Gospel just as we have it, but God in judgment removed it; and we have the ark in the midst of us now, but it depends upon us - how we are thankful for it, what use we make of it, how far we sacrifice to make known the treasures it contains whether it shall remain in the midst of us or not. The candlestick is movable, the ark had rings and staves in it, and was movable also. The Gospel in a country is given not for misuse, not for abuse, but for daily, sanctifying, practical usefulness in the midst of us if it fail to produce these, it takes its departure.

We have a description of the candlestick, which was formed also of gold, and consisted of seven branches. Now recollect, in what was called "the holy of holies" in the tabernacle and there was the very same distinction in the temple that superseded the tabernacle — there was no window to admit the light of heaven. The only light where the high-priest went once a year was the light of the golden candlestick in the midst of it; and this golden candlestick was therefore given to be put into that place. We read that when Christ died, the vail of the temple was rent. Now that was, I think, one of the most significant facts in the Bible; for it taught us this- that now there is no distinction; the chancel end and the nave end are exactly the same; there is no rood screen to separate the clergy from the people, the priesthood from the laity. All true Christians are priests unto God; all have the same right of access to God; all can approach equally near to God in Christ Jesus; and the minister of the Gospel has ceased to be a priest, because a priest has nothing left to do; he is simply a teacher, a pastor, an evangelist, an overseer, a presbyter, or if there be any other equally expressive and Scriptural phrase.

Into this holy of holies, we are told, the high-priest went once a year, and not without blood. We are told now that our great High-Priest has entered into the true holy place, and we know that all the time he is there he ever liveth to make intercession for us. The lesson taught by that incident is a very beautiful one. The high-priest first made atonement without, upon the brazen altar; secondly he went into the holy of holies, not without blood, with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel upon his breastplate, making intercession for them. Thirdly, the people waited outside, judging by the sound of the bells upon his robe whether he was living or not, and accepted or not. And then the high-priest, having finished the intercession, came out of the most holy place, and pronounced the benediction upon the people, "The Lord bless thee and keep thee." See Numb. vi. 22-27. This exactly corresponds to our Lord. He made the sacrifice without; he hath finished transgression, made an end of sin; no more atonement is needed, no more can be, no more has been since. Secondly, he has gone now into the true holy place, where he ever liveth to make intercession for us. And thirdly, we the people are waiting outside, where the suffering once was, looking for the return of our great High-Priest from the holy place not made with hands, to pronounce upon earth and upon all its people a blessing that will make its very deserts rejoice, and its most solitary places to blossom even as the rose. That is our position at the present moment, or as it is expressed in Scripture, looking for the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour.

In speaking of this I may notice that it has been doubted here, where it is said that " he made the candlestick of pure gold," whether that meant that this was a candlestick of gold, or whether it means that it was gilt. It has been thought by some that it meant gilding, and that gilding was an art well known to the Egyptians, and would naturally,

therefore, be known to the Israelites. It has also been said by some, How could these nomadic tribes just escaped from the brickkilns of Egypt - how could they, being wanderers in the desert, find all this gold and silver? The answer to that is that they carried with them immense treasures out of Egypt; in the language of the passage that describes it, it is said that "they spoiled the Egyptians." And these treasures that they thus carried with them out of Egypt were devoted to the service of God.

And then the other question, how they could be supposed to know it; the answer is a very easy one; God raised up Bezaleel and Aholiab, and other wise-hearted men whom the Spirit of God inspired to do it. Artisanship requires the teaching of God's Spirit just as much as Christianity. We ought to give to God the glory of a gifted intellect, as well as the glory of a gracious heart. From him cometh down every good and every perfect gift from the tiniest light to the blaze of meridian day; and to him we should give the glory of all that we are individually, that we are nationally, and that we hope to be when time shall be no more.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

CONTINUATION OF INVENTORY OF THE TABERNACLE. WEALTH OF THE ISRAELITES. LOOKING-GLASSES.

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THIS is just the continuation of the catalogue, to us the apparently dry and uninteresting inventory of temple goods, which began two chapters before, and is continued onward to the close of this, and almost of the next chapter also. It is the minute description of Moses fulfilling in fact those precepts which God had most minutely given for the construction of that edifice which was meant to be a type in its place of the temple; and the temple again, as we shall see, the type and symbol of a yet more glorious edifice house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. It is impossible to suppose that God gave such minute directions for the erection of this tabernacle, if it was to be an ultimate thing, destitute of any prospective reference, without typical or symbolical import. The minutia, therefore, con'tained in the inventory that is here given — and those minutiæ done in answer to God's express command indicate to us that there was something deeper in it than we see, and that it had a prospective reference which we on whom the ends of the world have come, can now very readily and very distinctly understand. I stated before that the reason why all these things are so minutely recapitulated here is to show to us that Moses performed, by himself, or by the instrumentalities he employed, exactly