SERMON XXVII.

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT.

"And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it. And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee."-Exodus xxv. 10-16.

The Ark of the Covenant was a pattern of that state of the human soul in which the Most High deigns to dwell with man. This is taught clearly in the words preceding the description of the Ark, "Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee after the pattern of the tabernacle." -v. 8, 9.

The extent of the mercy thus promised, can only be understood when we consider a little our position in creation. We are immortals, commencing our everlasting destiny. We have dangers, and fears, and anxieties. We see much that is fair and beautiful, but we also see many catastrophes. Things the most secure are sometimes shaken to their very foundations and pass away. Business changes, fortune fails, riches fade in our grasp, health gives way. We make ourselves as safe as we can, but unexpected troubles arise, and storms beat upon us within and without. Judging from our own feeble faculties, no condition is absolutely secure against calamity, and there is no entire immunity against sickness and death. In view of some of the dangers to which we are exposed, we should regard it as a great blessing if some powerful personage would assure us that

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he would join his fortune to ours, that he would make a covenant with us, and that his wealth and power should be linked to our weakness, and ward off all such sorrows as come from want. If the friendly sustainer were a wealthy commoner we should no doubt rejoice; if he were a powerful peer we should regard our bulwark as even more firmly fixed; if he were a monarch we should regard ourselves as absolutely safe from one class of our fears. It might be even in that case that our fancied security would fail. Thrones have sunk and all who have been dependent on them. But in the covenant of which the Lord speaks to us, we are conjoining ourselves to the Eternal, the Allpowerful, the Most High, the Creator and Governor of innumerable worlds. He deigns to undertake for us; to make a covenant with us; to surround us with His love and Mercy; to shield us from all real harm, either to prevent the danger, or turn it to a benefit; to make all things work together for our good. This covenant is to be an "everlasting covenant," ordered in all things and sure. The infinite riches of the Eternal Love and Wisdom are to be at our disposal as we need. God Himself will be our Father, our Saviour, our Friend, our Champion, our Defender. We shall dwell in His Universe as sons and daughters of its Maker,— the King of kings and Lord of lords. He offers to make this covenant with us, and all its advantages shall be ours. What a blessed privilege, what a glorious offer! Let us hasten to consider the meaning of the terms, of which the Ark of the Covenant is the pattern, by which all these invaluable mercies can be made

ours.

The word covenant is a sweet word, it speaks of conjunction and sympathy, and it implies help. It is a compound of "co" and venant," and it means coming together. In the case before us, it is God and man coming together. The Ark was the pattern of the state by which this coming together can be realized. Notice, first, it is said, "They shall make an ark of shittim wood." The Lord is ever ready. His tender mercies are over all His works He waits to be gracious. He gives power to man to make this Ark, and the sacred wood, the cedar of Shittah, of which it is to be constructed, is also His gift, but man must use this power, and co-operate with his adorable Maker. "They shall make an ark of shittim wood."

The wood of which the Ark was to be made was the most excellent of the cedars. It is called the cedar of Shittah by Isaiah, xli. 19, probably from the place where it grew. It is said to have been fragrant. No other wood was used in the

construction of the Tabernacle. All the parts made of timber were of shittim wood. The cedar, among the trees, corresponds to the rational faculty. It is a grand, powerful, and hardy tree. It is magnificent in its appearance, and it yields a protecting shade to all beneath it. It seems to stand, with outstretched arms and hands, the glory of the forest. The rational faculty of the human mind is just like the cedar tree. It extends in every direction, and takes the grandest views. A man who sees the reasons of things affords a protection to all around him. ancient Assyrians were eagle-eyed men, and took soaring views of things, and in the Word they are called cedars. "The Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of a high stature and his top was among the thick boughs; the waters made him great."

Ezek. xxxi. 3, 4.

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When the Lord assumed our humanity, and thus brought His Divine Love and Mercy clearly within rational conception, His Humanity is represented as a CEDAR. "Thus saith the Lord God: I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon a high mountain and eminent: in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar : and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell. And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the Lord have spoken and have done it.-Ezek. xvii. 22—24.

Here the Lord's Humanity is presented as the cedar, which should be planted in the mountain of the height of Israel; that is, in the supreme affection of the Church, and afford protection to all that is humble, holy and excellent among men, exciting the admiration and adoration of all. The divine reason, as embodied in the Lord Jesus, the Word made flesh, is, then, the glorious cedar, the cedar of cedars, and the Divine Human righteousness that grows up from Him in the human soul, is the shittim wood, out of which the Ark of the Covenant, and all the structure of the Tabernacle must be made. Goodness and truth in us, are the Lord in us. His righteousness, received by the angels and incorporated in them, makes heaven: His righteousness received by men, and incorporated in their souls, makes the Church. There is, therefore, no merit in angels, no merit in

men. The Lord's righteousness is made their righteousness, and by His righteousness they live. "Their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord."—Isa. liv. 17. Let us, however, not be misunderstood. It is not righteousness imputed only, but actual imparted righteousness we mean. It was real shittim wood out of which they were to make a real Ark of the Covenant, it was not a make-believe ark while the tree remained in the forest. From the infinite righteousness of the Lord Jesus, we must receive as much righteousness within, as our obedience to His commandments prepares us for, and He is pleased to come and dwell with us in what we have derived from Him: the cedar wood was His creation, and His gift, though they made it into an Ark. The Lord explains this very simply in the gospel. "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will KEEP MY WORDS and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him."-John xiv. 23.

The Ark, then, was the symbol of the inmost state of the soul, in which the Lord consciously dwells with His people, and the righteousness derived from Him, which constitutes its purity, is "represented by the shittim wood.

This state of the soul is a little ark, and hidden wisdom constitutes its substance. "Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part (the inmost) thou shalt make me to know wisdom."-Ps. li. 6. The same state is described in the prophecy of Jeremiah. "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people."—xxxi. 33.

The Ark was to be two cubits and a half in length, one cubit and a half in breadth, and one cubit and a half in height. The three measures signifying the goodness, the truth, and the holiness of this interior state. Length is taken from the course of the sun, and the Sun of righteousness progresses in the soul in proportion as it is in goodness; breadth is extension on each side, and breadth of mind is in proportion to our possession of truth: height represents extension upwards, and this is in proportion to our piety and interior holiness of character.

Two and a half, the length, like five its double, has relation to ten, the number of the commandments, and indicates the disposition within which will lead to perfect obedience. One and a half, the breadth and height, has relation to three, and like that number in the Word means completeness as to truth. These

measures of the Ark therefore represent that wise and holy state of the interior man, "the hidden man of the heart," as the Apostle calls it, which makes the renewed heart, disposing the Christian in all things to follow His Lord.

The Ark was to be overlaid with gold, "within and without," it is said, "thou shalt overlay it."-v. 11.

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Gold represents love to the Lord, because this is of highest value among principles, as gold is among the metals. coming Saviour said in Isaiah, "For brass I will bring gold."lxi. 17. The same Divine Teacher in the book of the Revelations is represented as saying, "I counsel thee to buy of me fine gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich."--iii. 18. Gold, then, being the symbol of heavenly love, which makes the soul rich, was with divine appropriateness commanded to form the ark within, to intimate that love is the inmost soul of all religion. No goodness is real goodness that has not love within it. Prayer is a mockery without love. Eloquence and knowledge are mere tinkling cymbals without love. Faith without love is a dead, hard, cold skeleton. Alms-giving without love is bribery and self-seeking, under the form of liberality. In short, love is the very marrow and pith of every heavenly virtue, and he who lacks that, has really no religion as he ought to have it. Gold is rich in beauty and in value, so is love. Gold is easily malleable, bends readily, and adapts itself to the curves and forms of the bodies to which it applies itself, so does love. Acids will not act upon pure gold, and when our love is thoroughly refined, acid and unreasonable tempers will seek to act upon it in vain.

Hence, then, it was that gold formed the interior of the Ark. But gold formed its outside also, because love in sentiment is a fleeting and perishable thing unless it is accompanied also by love in act. He who truly loves God will work for God. Love is fixed and perfected in work, and he who never gives his love a body, in loving acts, will find that in religion, as well as in other spheres of life, a man may build castles in the air. The golden soul must have a golden life. To teach this, there was gold overlaying the inside of the Ark, and gold without.

There was a golden border of a crown pattern, surrounding the cover of the ark. This is the import of the crown of gold being round about it.

In very deed, if we could see it, everything has its border. Each atom has its magnetism; each flower its fragrance; each