and from thence he spake his law and gave forth his behests to the children of Israel. In all their wanderings that tabernacle accompanied them, and the glory of the Lord overshadowed it. When they were to proceed upon their journey, the tabernacle was taken down piece by piece, and carried before them; and when they were to fix themselves for a season in any position, the tabernacle was pitched and erected, Israel encamped around it, the glory descended, and the worship went on. What a glorious, glorious, picture all this, whereby the Lord would teach his creatures of his great salvation. Once a year in that tabernacle the question of sin was dealt with, upon the great day of atonement, when the two goats were presented before the Lord, and lots were cast upon them, and the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell was slain, and the high priest brought the blood within the vail, and sprinkled the mercy seat seven times, and then came forth and laid his hands upon the fellow of the slain goat, confessing upon him all the sins and all the iniquities, and all the transgressions of all his people, and then was that goat, laden with their iniquities, sent away into an uninhabited land to be heard of no more. Wonderful teaching this, beloved friends! A marvellous opening out of the purpose, grace, and mercy of that God, who promised "the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head."

Afterwards, the tabernacle was succeeded by the temple; when Israel, under the leading of God, came into the land he had espied for them, the promised land; then it was no more a moveable tent, to be taken down or pitched at pleasure, but a permanent dwelling place of God, round which the tribes were gathered. Glorious was that building; there was nothing like it upon earth; and after all it was but a shadow: "The most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands:" heaven is his throne, and earth is his footstool. "Behold," said Solomon, when he had finished

that great temple, "the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. Much less this house which I have builded ?"

Beautiful and glorious as it was, it was but the shadow of a good thing to come. And as men contemplated altars and priesthoods, and tabernacles, and temples, they did just in the proportion that they were taught by the spirit of God, stand tip-toe, looking for the coming one, of which these shadows were but the emblems. The name of the Messiah was known as the Coming One. And when his forerunner came, it was asked, "Art thou he that should come," referring to this, "or look we for another?" He was the coming one, because sin was too tremendous a thing for altars, whether of earth, or stone, or brass, or gold, to deal with; sin was too tremendous a thing for any earthly priesthood to grapple with, and yet men dare, now-a-days, to say they are priests and can deal with it; sin was too tremendous a thing, separating too far between God and man, for any earthly tabernacle to have been a real meetingplace between God and sinners, or any temple made with hands. These were the emblems, shadows, pictures, foretastes, earnests. The apostle had been speaking of them; and his note of triumph, as he hails the substance, is like the sound of the silver trumpet of the jubilee: "Christ being come, the high priest of good things to come by a greater and a more perfect tabernacle." Ah, they were all but the A B C; Christ was the substance: "Christ being come." See how the spirit of God would draw our minds away from priests and altars, and tabernacles, and temples, to the Christ of God: "Christ being come." The expression does not refer to his first coming, or to his second coming, or, indeed, to any of what we call his comings, but to his presentation to our faith as the substance and the reality of all the shadows and emblems that pictured him:

"Christ being come." Christ, Jehovah's anointed king, Jehovah's anointed priest, Jehovah's anointed prophet, Jehovah's fellow, the brightness of the Father's glory, the express image of his person, the jubilee of heaven: "Christ being come." Oh, what an expectation may attach itself to such an announcement, "Christ being come!" Nothing too great to expect; no song of thanksgiving too high to render; no victory over death and hell too majestic to anticipate: "Christ being come." And how come? With No! With the

the sword of vengeance to slay us? withering thunderbolts of God to blast us? No! An high priest, an officer of mercy and salvation, whose whole dealings, officially, are with sin and with sinners; to put away the sin, and make reconciliation for iniquity.

Every undertaking of an office involves the responsibility of the faithful discharge of that office; and Christ would never have undertaken the office of the high priesthood if he had not been prepared faithfully to discharge its obligations; and they were, first-to become man; for none but a man could be a priest, and, as man, to transact God's affairs with men; for no one neglecting to do so, or failing, effectually, to accomplish it, could be priest, and to transact man's affairs with God; for no man failing to do so could really and truly be priest; and "every priest must have somewhat to offer, says the Apostle (Heb. viii. 3.); and a glorious offering our high priest had; for he offered himself: a high priest of "good things to come." The good things were redemption, and all other redemptions were but the shadows of it. The "good things to come" were deliverance, and other deliverances were but the shadows of it. "Good things to come: way to heaven opened; the title to enter supplied; reconciliation with God accomplished; adoption into God's family sealed; and the Holy Ghost given. These were the "good

the

things to come; " and Christ, as high priest, the officer, on the faithful discharge of whose office depended the accomplishing, the sealing, the providing of these good things; "good things to come." But, oh, yet "to come." What crowns, what thrones, what dominions, what jubilees in the distance"good things to come;" all founded upon the finished work of Christ, all sealed in his resurrection, and all earnested to us by the gift Christ has sent down to us from heaven―the Holy Ghost, the comforter: "Christ being come, a high priest of good things,"—"good things to come."

The best gifts of God, gifts that alone can satisfy the immortal longings of our nature, and crown our hopes with joy unspeakable, and full of glory: "Christ being come." It is a jubilee; it speaks of liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound; it proclaims the acceptable year of the Lord; "Christ being come, a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands""not of this building."

Beloved, no priest could officiate but in connexion with the tabernacle. It was not in every place the sacrifice might be offered; it was not everywhere from whence the incense might arise; it was not everywhere the mercy seat was planted; only in the tabernacle; or, afterwards, in the temple, the permanent phase of the tabernacle. But the earthly tabernacle was but of wood, and fine linen, and precious stones, perishable things. Very beautiful they were, and very glorious. But our great high priest never officiated in them, and never will. It was by a greater tabernacle than these the Saviour came. Ah, friends, the tabernacle in which he officiated was his own wondrous and mysterious human nature that was the tent he pitched amongst men. Why, even our own poor bodies the spirit of God calls our tabernacles: "We know that if our earthly house of this taber

nacle were dissolved, we have a building not made with hands." But, what think you of the tabernacle, in which Jesus, the great high priest, dwelt amongst us, and officiated? What think you of that tabernacle raised from the dead, glorified with his glory, and in the very presence of God now? What think you of that tabernacle in which he officiates—the body prepared for him? Why, it contains all the furniture of the tabernacle: that body was altar, sacrifice, and incense. He who possessed it was the high priest, and he never went out of his own fulness for aught to present to God, as the ground for the acceptance of any poor sinner he represents; and he never goes out of his fulness for a reason now, when he intercedes before the throne, why any, who come unto God by him, should be accepted. Even the earthly priest had no business to refuse a sinner. Whoever heard of Aaron refusing a sinner who came to him to be presented to God? It would have been an unfaithfulness to his office and to his calling had he attempted to do so. Nor can the great high priest, the antitype, refuse the poor sinner, who comes unto God by him: "Whosoever cometh unto me I will in no wise cast

out."

Oh, turn away your thoughts from every other priest, from every other altar, from every other sanctuary, and think of the tabernacle that Jehovah pitched on earth, to be a meeting place between our souls and himself, and let us shout with the apostle, "Christ being come; a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and a more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and of calves." What could the blood of goats or of calves do to purge the conscience ? What could the blood of goats or of calves do to put sin from off the soul? of goats and of calves could do was to

All that the blood picture the blood of