in conclusion to take two from the book of the Prophet Ezekiel. No remark concerning them is requisite; the mere quotation of a few verses will suffice for each. "Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before. thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem: And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about. Moreover, take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city; and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Jacob forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year. Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it. And behold, I will lay hands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another till thou hast ended the days of thy siege" (Ezek. iv. 1-8). "And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head, and upon thy beard; then take thee balances. to weigh, and divide the hair. Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife; and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. Thou shalt also take a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts. Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all

the house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord God, This is Jerusalem. A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part unto all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them" (Ezek. v. 1-12).

Thus

It may be mentioned as illustrative of the value of symbols for conveying knowledge to the mind, that we find in the books of the prophets many recorded instances of the employment of symbols on the part of God in the revelations which He was pleased to make to His prophets, symbols never presented to any eye but their own. at the very beginning of Jeremiah's ministry as a prophet, a vision of "a rod of an almond tree" and a vision of a seething pot with its face towards the north, were employed to impress upon his mind the character and speedy execution of the judgments which he was appointed to declare against a guilty people (Jer. i. 11–14). Similarly, Ezekiel beheld many visions, as that of the four cherubim and four wheels-(Ezek. i.)—his vision of the coals of fire to be scattered over Jerusalem-(Ezek. x.)—his vision of the dry bones and the resurrection--(Ezek. xxxvii.)—&c.

CHAPTER II.

SYMBOLS OF THE PATRIARCHAL DISPENSATION.

FROM the time of our first parents down to the giving of the Jewish law, we find little notice in the inspired record of any rites or symbols other than those already mentioned. That there were many, commonly in use and well understood, may be deemed certain. We have an indication of this, when we are told-(Gen. xv. 9-10)—that Abraham, after having by direction of God, taken "an heifer of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon;" "divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another, but the birds divided he not." Perhaps we have another similar indication of rites and symbols, concerning which there is no full record, when we are told that Melchizedek, King of Salem, "the priest of the most high God," "brought forth bread and wine," and blessed Abraham on his return from victory. More certainly, we have an instance of an important rite anterior to the giving of the Jewish law, in the circumcision of the family of Abraham, and the subsequent practice of circumcision amongst his descendants.

CHAPTER III.

JEWISH SYMBOLS.-THE PASSOVER.-UNLEAVENED BREAD.

THE first Jewish institution was the Passover. It was wholly symbolic. The lamb prefigured the true Passoveras Christians are taught in the New Testament" Christ our Passover sacrificed for us." The lamb was to be "without blemish, a male of the first year"-to signify the perfection of the true sacrifice which it typified. The sprinkling or "striking" of the blood on the two side-posts and on the upper door-posts of the houses of the Israelites, represented the efficacy of the blood of that true and typified sacrifice in protecting the sinner from the wrath of God. For as we read in the record of the institution of the Passover: "And the blood shall be unto you for a token upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt" (Ex. xii. 13),-so we are assured in the New Testament that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin, and that thus the wrath of God is completely turned away from all who take refuge in Christ, whose door-posts and lintels are figuratively sprinkled with His blood. Again, the flesh of the paschal lamb was to be eaten-not “ nor sodden at all with water," but "roast with fire," and with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. In the roasting with fire was signified, it is generally held, the sufferings of Christ, and the very form in which the paschal lamb was placed before the fire according to the ordinary custom of the Jews, on a spit made of two pieces of wood in the form of a cross, has been held to have signified, by prophetic anticipation, the manner of the death of Christ. The rule laid down in the institution of the Passover, that

raw,

the whole lamb should be eaten by the household or combined households sacrificing it, and that nothing of it should remain until the morning, or that if anything remained, it should not be eaten but burned with fire, has been very commonly regarded as signifying the necessity of the complete acceptance of Christ-" a whole Christ". in order to salvation. The eating of the paschal lamb, and in like manner the eating of other sacrifices, has been regarded as representing the feeding upon Christ by faith which is essential to the Christian life. Similar symbols occur in the New Testament, although in general only presented in figures of speech, as when our Lord says, "I am the bread which came down from heaven. Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life. He that eateth Me [feedeth on Me] he shall live by Me" (John vi. 41, 54, 57). The eating of the paschal lamb with bitter herbs was significant of the necessity of repentance and sorrow for sin, accompaning the exercise of that faith which is unto salvation. The Passover was also to be eaten with unleavened bread, as were all the Jewish sacrifices, to signify the necessity of putting away corruption. This will be more fully noticed in a subsequent place. It appears, however, from what has been stated, that not only was the paschal lamb itself a symbol, but that the whole ordinance of the Passover was highly symbolic and full of symbols. We see still more of this character in it, when we read the commandment, "And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's Passover" (Ex. xii. 11). The continual observance of this rule by the Jews not only reminded them of the occasion on which the Passover was instituted, when their fathers were brought out of the land of Egypt and out of bondage, but also that the Lord's people are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, delivered by Him from the bondage of sin, and called to hasten towards a better country, even a heavenly, of which Canaan was a type.