and benignant Mediator to the people of his love: and that transference is made in order to a unity of person and an identity of interest between the Son of man, and the sons of men, similar somewhat in character and blessedness to the hypostatical union of the Father and the Son :-distinct, though one; remote, though always present. John xvii. 22, 23. Thus emphatically are we all partakers of that one bread. 1 Cor. x. 17. And when the prayer of our Divine Surety is fully answered, then shall we realize the blessed import of our baptism into the Name of the great Tri-unity, and partake in richest fulness of the imperishable food. On the morning of the seventh thousand year of the tried and tempted Church, and of the misery and travail of a fallen world, this Divine bread will be set upon the table of a far more splendid and enduring tabernacle, and then shall we, indeed, eat with joy and praise ineffable. The Lamb himself shall feed us. Rev. vii. 17. He will bring us to his banqueting-house, and his banner over us shall be love. Cant. ii. 4. Even Saviour's kindness,

in the present foretastes of our when we behold, in faith, his grace and greatness, we are ready to say with Sheba's queen, in view of Solomon's court, Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom! 1 Kings x. 8. But, like the fathers of Israel, in the times of old, we will look for the recompense of the reward at the resurrection of the just: for then, and then only, can be fully verified all the good which the Lord our God hath spoken concerning us. Each true follower of Christ shall then be, as it were, a Mephibosheth, to eat bread at the table of David's anointed son. All will alike be pure and blessed. No appropriation of the shew-bread will ever

more be made to ordinary uses. 1 Sam. xxi. 4—6. No necessity of the kind will arise in that world of peace to which we go; but all the seed of Israel, the children of Abraham by faith in Christ Jesus, shall be the most holy of all the offerings of the Lord through a Saviour's sacrifice, and the preserving frankincense of his successful and now completed intercession.

Now, he which ministereth seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness; being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving unto God!-Consider what I say; and the Lord give you understanding in all things!

Shepherd of souls, refresh and bless

Thy chosen pilgrim-flock,

With manna in the wilderness,

With water from the rock.

Hungry and thirsty, faint and weak,
As thou when here below,
Our souls the joys celestial seek,
That from thy sorrows flow.

We would not live by bread alone,
But by that word of grace,
In strength of which we travel on

To our abiding place.

Be known to us in breaking bread,
But do not then depart :
Saviour, abide with us! and spread

A table for the heart.

Then sup with us, in love divine

Thy body and thy blood,

That living bread, that heav'nly wine
Be our immortal food

DISCOURSE IV.

THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK.

EXODUS XXv. 31.

And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold; of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.

It is no less philosophically than morally true, that God is the Father of lights. Jam. i. 17. When darkness was upon the face of the deep, God said, Let there be light, and there was light. Gen. i. 2, 3. The illuminated orbs of immensity, do but scatter in their courses the effulgence of his majesty. God also is the Author and Generator of all intelligence, and the very highest intellectual attainments are but the scintillations of a wisdom that is infinite. To this great Father of lights, therefore, should our hearts be perpetually uplifted for guidance and information in the knowledge of both his works and word. See Ps. cxi. 2, with Jam. i. 5.

Merely to suggest that there were no windows in the tabernacle whereby the light of nature could gain admission into the secret recesses of the holy place, and that consequently the golden candlestick became necessary in order to its illumination; will imply to you at

once the subject of our present discourse.

The appropriation of the subject to moral and religious uses, will be easy. The world in which we sojourn is become, in a certain sense, a land of darkness, as darkness itself; and the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness. Job x. 22. Men know not, neither will they understand: they walk on in darkness. Ps. lxxxii. 5. Even the church which God has planted among men, although resembling in intrinsic excellence a candlestick of gold, and decorated it may be like the candlestick of the tabernacle, with many beautiful and costly adornments, yet has it no inherent light, and can only shine as a light in the world, by imparted and borrowed lustre. John viii. 12. The individual believer also, although confessedly a child of light and of the day, may nevertheless, through unwatchfulness, restrained or omitted prayer, and a general spiritual declension, walk in darkness, and sometimes perhaps a darkness so total, so prevalent, so distressing, that not a solitary beam of celestial comfort shall illuminate his path, or cheer his drooping hope. Isa. 1. 10. How necessary then; how beneficent; how inestimable must be that Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, and whereby alone any children of Adam can either discern or reflect the beauty of holiness, the glory of God! John i. 9. The life that was in Jesus is the light of men, and whoso believeth in Him shall not abide in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Through the mediation of the bleeding Lamb, the church will finally emerge out of all its troubles, like the sun from its vesture of cloud, and nothing will then remain to our perception and enjoyment but the meridian brightness of immortal day.

That the golden candlestick of the worldly sanctuary, was emblematical of better things, will be quite apparent in the further prosecution of our subject. Allusion is made to it by St. John in Rev. iv. 5. In the august session of the supreme tribunal, the beloved apostle sees seven lamps of fire before the throne, after the manner of the seven-branched candlestick before the mercy-seat; which seven lamps of fire or of lambent flame, are interpreted to signify the seven spirits of God; that is, the Holy Ghost in the plenitude of his wisdom and grace. For, it must be observed, that 'seven' in the Holy Scriptures is a mystical number, indicative of fulness or completion; and usually implies the perfection of the object wherewith it stands connected. Now, if the seven burning lamps seen before the everlasting throne, were anti-typical to the seven lights of the golden candlestick in the holy place, it follows that the golden candlestick, in the entireness of its refulgent splendour, was representative of the Holy Ghost in the fulness of his Divinity, and the glory of his communicable excellence.

Again: In another vision of the apocalyptic book, St. John discerns a lamb, as it had been slain; and this slaughtered lamb is described as having seven horns and seven eyes, which attributes of horns and eyes, are again explained to be the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. Rev. v. 6. Horns in Holy Scripture are significant of power; seven horns, therefore, would be descriptive of omnipotence, uncontrollable almighty power: eyes are emblematical of knowledge; the possession of seven eyes, therefore, would imply omniscience, infinite and perfect knowledge in their possessor. Hence, omnipotence, almighty power; and omniscience, perfect and illimitable know