a home filled with grace and happiness, a green, dignified, honored and esteemed old age, and a blessed eternity. These are what come from the pomegranate, the flower and the almond. The snuffers and snuff-dishes must form the third subject for our notice.

They were to be made of gold, and of the same mass of gold as the Candlestick itself. They were necessary for the removal of the spent material of the light. There are appliances for the mind which are necessary to remove the crude and outgrown conceptions of our early days. "When I was a child I thought as a child, I spake as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things."

We are constantly gaining experience, and realizing changes. The dreams and the attachments of youth, our manhood has outgrown. The hopes of enthusiasm have been sobered by the realities of life, and many a romantic scheme engendered by the fire of fancy, and full of the rosy hues of generous love has to be laid aside for the less brilliant, but more substantial plans of mature life. The friends of our youth need sometimes to be changed. The haunts of our youth filled as they were with fairy visions, appear very different when we return to them with the sobered impressions of later life.

Yet the utopias of early life were good. They had their use, and did their duty. When we lay them aside it should not be with reckless contempt, but as with golden snuffers.

Our early fancies gilded everything with glory, let them be reverently laid aside. Our early religion seemed to bring us at once to the gates of paradise. Our thoughts derived from the letter of the Word were full of wonder, and full of admiration. We have since learned that we had only entered the outer gate of the way that looketh eastward, (Ezek. xlvii. 1,) that we have far to travel and many battles to fight before we get even a true view into the promised land. The letter is but the lowest part of the golden ladder reaching from earth to heaven, we must mount beyond it to realize its spirit and its life. Our early views, however, served us for the time. They must be laid aside with loving and gentle hands, and kept in loving memories. They must be removed by golden snuffers, and laid in golden snuff-dishes.

Have you ever seen a mother touch with peculiar tenderness some special drawer, lay gently the little clothes from side to side, move delicately the little shoes, the little cap, and when her loving gaze was satisfied, close up with a soft sigh, as if to guard

from ruder notice, all that remained of what she fondly loved. Be sure the golden snuffers had laid in golden snuff-dishes the memories of a lost but blessed past.

There were vessels of olive oil to supply the lamps, (Ex. xxvii. 20), and they were lighted from the fire of the altar of incense.

The oil of charity is ever required to make the light of faith to shine. Those virgins that took no oil with their lamps, found after awhile, that their lamps had gone out. So will it ever be. He who has not charity will find in the hour of death he has lost his faith. The oil of gentle goodness alone keeps up the ability to keep our lights alive, and when the dimness of our states require their friendly help, they can all be lighted from the fire on the altar of incense. Love glowing in prayer will light all our lamps, dispel all our darkness, and fill the sanctuary of our souls with confidence, peace and joy.

Let us consider, lastly, that all the parts of the Candlestick and its appendages were to be made out of the one talent of gold.

God is Infinite Love, and from that infinite love the universe has sprung with its innumerable systems, suns, and worlds, and all their myriad forms of benefit and beauty. So in heaven. The angels are forms of love. Love inspires them with quick impulses to bless. Love blooms in glorious talent. Love delights in serving. Love rejoices in the truth. Love finds blessedness in the humblest thing and multiplies the means of bliss. So in the human mind. Love is the life of man. Love thinks, love learns, love believes, love remembers, love works, love has patience and perseveres. All these things are formed out of the same piece of gold.

Our Lord says, All the law and the prophets hang upon love to God and love to man. And love to man, undoubtedly, flows from love to God. Here, too, then, all things come from the one golden precept-LOVE.

How unspeakably important is it then that we should pray ever to our Lord for more love, for renewed hearts. Let the sacred fire be always on our altar. Let it never go out. Love rejoices in the truth. Nay, truth is but love drawn out. Love learns at the sacred pages given by the love of God, and the stem, the branches and the bowls of the heavenly lamps expand themselves, and in the beautiful lustre of an enlightened faith grounded in love, we shall be ready when the cry is heard, "the bridegroom cometh," and joyfully go forth to meet him.

SERMON XXXI.

THE ALTAR OF INCENSE.

"And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord, throughout your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements; once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the Lord."-Exodus xxx. 1-10.

There were three significant, remarkable, and beautiful objects in the holy place before the vail. Upon two of them, the table of shewbread, and the sacred candlestick, we have already dwelt. We come now to speak of the Altar of Incense, which would seem to have been a central object, to be passed whether the priest was going to the light, to the bread, or within the vail.

This altar of shittim wood covered with gold, eighteen inches square, represented the good affections of the heart engaged in worshipping the Lord, the incense representing the prayers and praise which thence arise.

The shittim wood represented righteousness derived from the Lord Jesus Christ, and gold a supreme love for Him. The horns of the altar represented the power of prayer, while the rings and the staves to bear it about, intimate that a prayerful spirit should be with us always. The crown border round about the altar symbolized the sphere of wisdom and love which surround a praying heart, a holy atmosphere of wise and devout tenderness, which testifies that a soul where such an inward altar is, already lives and breathes in the atmosphere of an inward heaven.

The incense to be burnt every morning, represented the worship of the Lord every new day, and every new state; worship

AA

imploring strength from the Lord, and His blessing. The incense every evening represented renewed worship at the close of every day and every state, acknowledging the Lord's goodness and giving thanks to Him.

The altar being square, intimated that sincere worship is perfect in goodness and in truth; while the height being double, is significative of the fact, that in worship, God and man meet and commune together; there is conjunction between them.

The whole subject of this Altar opens to us the divine teaching respecting the nature, origin, and power of worship and of prayer.

That the ascent of prayer from the heart was symbolized by the ascent of incense from the Altar, is expressly taught in the Divine Word. "Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." -Ps. cxli. 2. Of the converted nations it is said in Isaiah, "They shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord."-Isa. lx. 6. Even in heaven it is said, "Another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne; and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand."-Rev. viii. 3, 4.

That praise and prayer are a spiritual incense, arising from the heart, we almost feel as soon as it is uttered.

Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed;

The motion of a hidden fire

That trembles in the breast.

No true religion exists without devotion. We must begin all we do with the spirit of prayer, and if convenient, with the form, too, to secure the Lord's presence and blessing. "Men ought always to pray," said our Divine Saviour, "and not to faint."Luke xviii. 1. Piety without charity and intelligence is blind, formal, rigid, and condemnatory. Charity without intelligence and piety, is weak, maudling, and indulgent to evil. But piety, with charity and intelligence, make a state of religion in the soul, beautiful as the holy place where stood the Table of Shewbread, the Golden Candlestick, and the Altar of Incense.

The Altar was golden, to show, that all worship should be grounded in love. Too often the Deity is addressed as if men were crouching criminals entreating an angry judge. But it is not so, the Lord desires to be invoked. He taught us to say, “Our

Father, who art in the heavens."

He desires that we should

come to Him. The altar upon which we offer should be a golden Our incense should be offered to Him from golden

altar.

affections.

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Sin breeds sorrow. But it is our Heavenly Father's will that our life on earth should be a life of goodness and of joy. 'Ask," He says, "and receive, that your joy may be full.". John xv. 24. "These things have I spoken unto you that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.". John xv. 11. Would we dethrone self and cease from fretfulness, we should behold what a sublime scene of blessedness we occupy in the world which forms our present home. We have a thousand things for which to be thankful, for one of which we can rightfully complain. What blessings we enjoy of light and warmth, of air and beauty, every day that we live! We stand in the midst of innumerable gifts presented to soul and body by Omnipotent and Omnipresent love. Each man is a little universe of faculties, to receive from the great universe innumerable treasures of grace and good. A fretful spirit, like a speck of dust on the pupil of the eye, may shut out a world of loveliness; but how unworthy is such a disposition. How much nobler is the spirit of thankful love, which from the golden altar of a grateful heart sends up the incense of gratitude and thanksgiving. The bulk of our life is blessing, and so should the bulk of our worship be. "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for his mercy endureth for ever."

The Altar, then, should be of gold, our worship should proceed from love, and if love has its perfect work in this respect, great power would be the result, instead of that feebleness which we often feel in our regenerating states.

When least we hope, our prayer is heard,

The judgment is averted,

And comes the comfort of thy Word,
When most we seem deserted.

This power resulting from prayer was represented by the horns at the corners of the Altar. The power of truth grounded in love, and exercised in prayer, is wonderful. Oftentimes this

power alone will dissipate a host of sorrows and cares, inducing temptations and darkness, and keeping us in a mental prisonhouse. Could we see the spirit-world around us at such a time, we should see a host of enemies about us, but when prayer has