CHAPTER XXVII.

REASONS OF SO MINUTE REGULATIONS.

ISRAELITES.

SEPARATION OF

ments

THERE is scarcely a remark applicable to the previous chapter that is not also applicable to this. I explained, in the course of my observations on the previous chapter, that if you were to judge of this merely as an elaborate arrangement, without ultimate reference to something that was to come, or as disconnected with some great moral and spiritual arrangement, we should conclude that the God who wrote and inspired that magnificent record the Ten Commandnever could have condescended to give such minute regulations as are contained in this chapter, of pins, and sockets, and network, and fine twined linen, and purple, and all the measures, the length and breadth thereof. The two seem incompatible. In the twentieth chapter of Exodus, all is majesty, magnificence, and moral grandeur- the circumstantial lost in the spiritual, the transient in the eternal; but here every thing seems paltry, minute; for which one cannot see, in judging of it by itself, the necessity for special inspiration to point out, or for special inspiration to record.

But when we open the Epistle to the Hebrews, and read it as the commentary upon Exodus and Leviticus, we see that there was a meaning in all the institutions of Levi, of the most precious, and, for the time and in the circumstances of the people, of the most instructive character. There may be subordinate reasons to this. They were a barbarous people, just come forth from the slavery and bondage of Egypt, without knowledge of science, architecture, or me

chanics, or any sort of knowledge that could qualify them. for suitably constructing an edifice in which was to be conducted the worship of God.

There may be another reason. It was meet that God should regulate the minutest points in the tabernacle which ultimately developed itself into the temple of Solomon - because the tendency of the Israelites as a people insulated from the rest of the world, and set apart for the maintenance of the true worship of God, and the maintenance of God's inspired truth — their tendency was to borrow something from the Egyptians, or the Canaanites, or other heathen nations round them; at first an innocent introduction of a beautiful rite, but afterwards the erection in its niche of an idol for them to worship. We can see from the whole history of this people, that if God had left in the architectural specifications the least point to be filled up by them, they would have built, in that opening, a niche for an idol, or for the introduction of a practice that might ultimately counteract the great object for which these institutions were established.

We can see, therefore, first, in their ignorance, as exiles and refugees from Egypt, a reason for special and minute instruction; and secondly, in their tendency-developed in their whole history, to introduce extraneous rites and idolatrous customs from other nations reason for leaving not a niche, or a crevice, or a nook, or a cranny, for any thing that God had not already specified and minutely described.

And lastly, we can see a grand design in it all, from certain things that are here mentioned. The tabernacle, as I showed you in the course of my sermon on a previous Sunday, constantly alluded to a greater that will appear; till at last the song of saints in heaven and saints on earth proclaim the blessed truth. "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men; and I will dwell with them; and they shall be to me a people, and I will be their God."

We have, then, secondly, the holy of holies, into which the high-priest went but once a year, not without blood, and made intercession for the people; and I showed you how constantly that is alluded to in the Epistle to the Hebrews as the great type or foreshadow of the entrance of the Great High-Priest, not into the holy of holies that was made with hands, but into the true holy place, there to appear in the presence of God for us.

We have, also, in this chapter, a description of the brazen altar, on which the sacrifices were burnt: made of wood, but lined with brass, and, according to Josephus, having stones and earth between the brass and the wood, in order to prevent the heat of the fire consuming the wood.

We have next all the apparatus requisite for the due, and proper, and becoming service of the sanctuary, when sacrifices were offered. We have the whole measure of the tabernacle itself—its breath and its length; the whole length of the court from the north side being an hundred cubits. It was a large inclosure, about a hundred and sixty feet in length, and with so many feet corresponding in breadth.

There was, then, the holy of holies inside of it, at the further end, into which the high-priest alone entered; all of which, says Paul, are the figures of the truth, waiting till Christ, the true High-Priest, should come, and the veil that separates earth from heaven should be rent, and there should be access for all the people of God to the immediate presence of Jesus Christ.

We next read of the lamp that was to burn in the holy of holies. I stated last Sunday, that the holy of holies was dark; there was no window for the ingress of light: but this lamp, with its seven branches, was kept constantly burning. Perhaps the dimness of that place was intended to denote the dimness of that dispensation; and all the mystery that was about it was designed to stimulate the minds

of the Israelites to wait, and long, and pray for that time when they should no longer see through a glass darkly, but face to face.

Then the oil that was to be used was very choice. It was not the oil crushed by rollers out of the olives; but it was oil that dropped itself, without pressure, and was, therefore, pure, and better than the oil which was ordinarily used.

And all these arrangements stood as long as this economy lasted, the type to continue till the antitype should come. That antitype is now come, and therefore the figures have evaporated; and now that the realities have taken their place, it would be apostasy from the truth to reintroduce what has as divinely vanished away as it was divinely introduced.

INSULATION OF THE JEWS. EVERY PART OF TABERNACLE ITS USE. CHRIST THE END OF ALL. ROMISH ECCLESIASTICAL DRESSES. SIMPLICITY. MEANING OF "HOLY." HIGH-PRIEST'S PRECIOUS STONES. URIM AND THUMMIM. POMEGRANATES.

THE Jews were in the midst of the vast masses of heathendom; they were set apart to be a people to reflect the character and holiness, and to maintain the worship, of the living and the true God. Their tendency, as their whole history shows, was to borrow from surrounding nations, wherever there was an opening that would enable them to do so; and by borrowing the customs of the heathen, they came by and by to fall into the practices of the heathen also. God, therefore, in order to preserve this nation, and to leave no opening, or creek, or cranny, or nook, by which there could be the admission of any thing extrinsic, foreign, or heathen, laid down these minute, these excessively minute specifications, that the people might in all things have a law, a rule, and a guide, to act by. You can see, therefore, in this, what you will see in a wall round a garden; there are single bricks, that one fancies very trifling in themselves, and that we do not see the use of, but each has its purpose, and usefulness, and design. In a hedge round an inclosure there are some stakes, some props, some bits that seem unnecessary, and only for ornament; but they all have their use and their design. So in these regulations; they are part and parcel of a great