fire by night, was a perpetual Theophany, the shekinah, by which the Lord revealed himself to the senses of men, under the former dispensation. The tabernacle was a tent, a temporary place of worship, designed for the use of the Hebrews, during their journeyings. But, it was more than four hundred and eighty years, before it was succeeded by the temple which Solomon erected. This vast structure, so far as the holy-place and the holy of holies, were concerned, was substantially a copy of the tabernacle. Within the inner court, or second enclosed space, stood the altar of burnt-offering. The holyplace contained the altar of incense, the golden candlesticks, and the table of shew-bread. The holiest of all contained the two cherubim, with expanded wings; and, beneath the two interior wings the original ark of the covenant was placed, containing still the two tables of the law, but without the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod, which had already disappeared. The kingdom of God in Israel had now gained a firm foundation; no other essential change had occurred. When the temple had been consecrated, the cloud filled the holy of holies, and the glory of the Lord filled the house, so that the priests could not stand to minister.

Until the erection of the Temple, the people of Israel offered their sacrifices, and celebrated public worship, at the tabernacle. It was the place of the

shekinah, the habitation of the Lord; and, therefore, it was the only place where sacrifices could be lawfully offered. It was lawful to offer sacrifices, elsewhere, only when the Lord specially appeared to an individual, in some other place; and, only then, during the continuance of that appearance. Let us look now at the significance of these structures; for, as they were substantially the same, one being but an enlarged copy of the other, their significance must be the same. It will assist us to understand the import of the Apostle's language, when he says, "I saw not a temple in it," that is, in heaven. Let us draw nigh, and with the Jewish worshipper, enter the enclosed space which surrounds the tabernacle, called its court; for here he may enter and approach the altar of burnt-offering which stands before the door of the tabernacle. But he can proceed no further; he may not lift the gorgeous and richly wrought curtain, which hangs before the entrance, and enter the sanctuary or holy-place. He may not approach God in this direct manner; others, ministers whom God himself hath appointed and consecrated,-priests, must enter that holy-place for him, and, in his name and behalf, offer gifts and supplications, commune with God, and receive the answers to his prayers. But there is still an inner sanctuary, a holy of holies; and into this the ordinary priest may never enter. Here the high-priest alone may enter; and he but

once every year; and then must come with the blood of the offering, and enveloped in a cloud of the incense of prayer. On the great day of atonement, the most important and solemn of all the Jewish festival seasons, this entrance into the holiest of all, was made by the high-priest. This admission, once a year, of one individual into the inner sanctuary, taught the important lesson that the admission of the people of God, into the immediate presence of God, to the unveiled vision of His glory, should not be for ever denied ;-taught that the period would come when tabernacles and temples would be no more, and the Lord God would be the only Temple of His worshippers.

The new dispensation has already effected an important change, an important advance in respect to the privileges of God's worshippers. The tabernacle worshippers could approach God only by and through a priest who was called to this "office of God, as was Aaron." Christianity has for ever abolished all human proxies and priesthoods in God's service. It makes all the functions of the priestly office to centre in a High Priest not "taken from among men," but "called of God," thus "THOU art my Son, to-day have I begotten THEE! THOU art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek." He offered His own blood a sacrifice for those who come unto God by HIM, and passed into the heavens,

where he "continueth ever," and exerciseth "an unchangeable priesthood" (or, as the margin hath it, "which passeth not from one to another.)" HE is able to save all those for whom "HE ever liveth to make intercession." "For such a High Priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice first for His own sins, and then for the people's; for this He did once when He offered up HIMSELF." "We have such a High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." "HE is the Mediator of a better covenant (than the first), which was established upon better promises.' He has "not entered into the holy places made with hands, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us."* All human mediators are for ever put aside; all bloody offerings or sacrifices abolished; all distinction between priest and people in respect to approaching in their individual character, as the worshippers of God, effaced. As Christ has a visible Church on earth, he has appointed the Christian Ministry, and instituted ordinances and offices therein, to be perpetuated to the end of the militant state. But there

* Vid. Hebrews iv., vii., viii., ix.

Ministers and

are no more priests among men. people, in their approach unto God, must stand on the same footing; one can no longer be the proxy of another; each one, for himself, must approach the mercy seat, through the atonement and intercession of the great High Priest, who hath passed into the heavens, to appear in the presence of God for us. The court of the tabernacle or temple to which, under the Old Testament, the people were confined, has been transformed into a "holy place." The curtain which no one, who was not a priest, would have dared to raise, has been rent in twain; priest and people, all through the one great Sacrifice, have common access to that sacred enclosure. All alike, who enter there, are priests unto God, and may come boldly to that mercy seat, above which stand the cherubim with spreading wings, gazing in secret amazement on the awful mystery at their feet,* and obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

And this, that Christianity has done, is an earnest of greater things, which it reveals, respecting the future, when believers in Christ shall have dropped corruption, and been made both kings and priests unto God. Then the distinction which continues to exist between the holy place and the holiest of all will be abolished for ever; the second veil which

* 1 Pet. i. 12.