THE CLEANSING OF THE SANCTUARY PT2

PREVIOUS PART

THE REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE BY HEROD, 

AND ITS FINAL, DESTRUCTION —

THE END OF THE WORLDLY SANCTUARY.

About thirty-seven years before Christ, Herod resolved to rebuild and beautify the temple. See Josephus' Antiq., Book XV, Chapter I, 11. He pulled down the temple Zerubbabel built, and erected one considerably larger. This last one was built of white marble, and was a temple of exquisite beauty. All the Jewish writers praise this temple for its beauty and the costliness of its workmanship. Even the disciples spoke to Jesus of the temple, "how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts." Of it, Josephus says: Its appearance had everything that could strike the mind and astonish the sight. For it was on every side covered with solid plates of gold, so that when the sun rose upon it, it reflected such a strong and dazzling effulgence, that the eye of the beholder was obliged to turn away from it, being no more able to sustain the radiance than the splendor of the sun. But this temple appeared to strangers, when they were coming to it at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow; for as to those parts of it that were not gilt, they were exceeding white. Josephus' Wars, Book V, Chapter V.

This was the temple at Jerusalem—the sanctuary of the Lord—at the time when Christ appeared among men to build its antitype. We will briefly consider its final destruction. While Daniel was confessing his sins and the sins of his people, he received the following revelation from Gabriel: "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." Daniel 9:24-27.

"Seventy" weeks have been determined upon thy people, and upon the holy city, for sin to be ended, and to seal up transgressions, and to blot out the iniquities, and to make atonement for iniquities, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal the vision and the prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy. And thou shalt know and understand, that from the going forth of the command for the answer and for the building of Jerusalem until Christ the Prince there shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: and then the time shall return, and the street shall be built, and the wall, and the times shall be exhausted. And after the sixty-two weeks, the anointed one shall be destroyed, and there is no judgment in him: and he shall destroy the city and the sanctuary with the prince that is coming: they shall be cut off with a flood, and to the end of the war which is rapidly completed he shall appoint the city to desolations. And one week shall establish the covenant with many: and in the midst of the week my sacrifice and drink offering shall be taken away: and on the temple shall be the abomination of desolations; and at the end of the time an end shall be put to the desolation.'' Daniel 9:24-27, LXX.

This is an important prophecy, and one that may well attract our careful study and attention. The prophet, with a few strokes of his pencil, and a few dashes of his pen speaks volumes to us. Great and mighty events are couched in these few verses. The mission of Messiah and the end of the Jewish polity is foretold. The key to this time-prophecy is found in verse 25. "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem." In a previous chapter we have proved that this command refers to the one given to Ezra by king Artaxerxes. Ezra 7:1-28. It will be seen that this command was to restore Jerusalem. Such was the decree given to Ezra. It empowered him to ordain laws, set magistrates and judges, and execute punishment even unto death; in fact, it was the command to restore the Jewish state, civil and ecclesiastical according to their law and ancient customs. It was to restore Jerusalem. The Jews desired to rebuild the city, and this decree gave them that privilege. Ezra understood this decree included the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Ezra 9:9. This command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem was given 457 B. C. "Seventy weeks are determined. "Daniel used the week of years, so common in use among the Jews in his time. Therefore the seventy weeks equal four hundred and ninety years. Measuring four hundred and ninety years from 457 B. C., which is the date given to start from—when the command was given— they extend to A. D. 33. In other words, just four hundred and ninety years lay between 457 B. C. and A. D. 33.

However the work of restoring all things did not begin until the middle of the year 457 (Ezra 7:8), which would bring the four hundred and ninety years to the fall of A. D. 33, or about the middle of that year. "Seven weeks, and three score and two weeks." Sixty-nine weeks, of this seventy, were to reach to "the Messiah the Prince." This refers to Christ. Messiah (Hebrew), Christ (Greek), means anointed. "The anointed one." How and when was Jesus anointed? "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.'' Acts 10: 38. " Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was       opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.'' Luke 3: 21, 22. '' The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them, that are bruised.'' Luke 4:18. ;

Here we have the exact time of the anointing of Jesus. At his baptism he was anointed the Messiah of the world, and entered his earthly ministry, because God had anointed him to preach the gospel—anointed him with the Holy Ghost. This is what is meant in Daniel's vision by the words, "To anoint the Most Holy." The common account called Anno Domini began when Christ was four years old. Luke informs us that Christ began to be about thirty years of age when baptized, and when he entered his ministry. Luke 3:21-23. This would make       Christ's baptism occur in A. D. 26. He was baptized in about the middle or latter part of A. D. 26. The seven weeks, and the three score and two weeks, which were to reach to Messiah, the anointed one, equal 69 weeks,       or 483 years. Beckoning 483 years from 457 B. C. they reach to A. D. 26, to the anointing of the Most Holy—to Messiah the Prince. This leaves one week of seven years, to make up the seventy weeks.

We will now consider what was to be accomplished in this last week. "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week." Having seen that the 69 of the 70 weeks extend to the baptism of Jesus (A. D. 26), when he was anointed Messiah the Prince, and entered his earthly ministry for the salvation of the world, the last week of the seventy must begin with A. D. 26, and extend to A. D. 33— just seven years—one week. During this week the covenant was to be confirmed with many. The covenant here referred to is the new covenant in Christ Jesus—"Grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ."

Of this covenant Jeremiah thus prophesies: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Juda: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: 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. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Jeremiah 31: 31-34.

The 69 weeks, 483 years end in A. D. 26 at Christ's baptism. Here he was anointed to preach the gospel of the kingdom (Luke 3: 21, 22; 4:18), to deliver the new covenant. Here he entered the ministry of salvation to men. Here the last week of the seventy began. Three and one-half years of that week were taken up in delivering the principles of that covenant. Then Christ died and dedicated this covenant with his own blood. His blood was shed: "The blood of the new testament, shed for many"; "The blood of the everlasting covenant.'' Thus the covenant he delivered to the world was sealed with his own blood, and came into force at his death. There yet remains three and one-half years of this week to confirm that covenant to many. It is a fact that the first three and one-half years after Christ's death were a marked epoch in spreading the gospel to all nations of the then known world. The word sounded out "to all the       world." Thousands upon thousands were saved through the blood of the covenant, and thus the covenant was confirmed to many.

The last week, as before observed, reaches from A. D. 26 to A. D. 33. Just seven years. This marks the end of the 70 weeks or 490 years. From the time the command went forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, 457 B. C. to A. D. 33, is just 490 years. But we are not yet through with this last week. The greatest, and mightiest event that ever occurred in heaven or earth took place in that week. Thus saith the prophecy: "And after three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. Daniel 9: 26. "And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.'' Daniel 9: 27. The reader will observe that the 69 weeks which were to extend to Messiah, are divided off as follows: "Seven weeks, three score and two weeks." The first seven weeks, or 49 years extended from 457 B. C. to 408 B. C. This, no doubt, was the time that it took to complete the walls, streets, etc., which the prophecy says were finished "in troublous times.'' From 408 B. C., where the first seven weeks ended, to the anointing of the Most Holy, was just three score and two weeks, or 434 years. After this, or, in the midst of the last week of the seventy, Messiah should be cut off. This refers to the death of Christ. Just three and one-half years after Jesus was anointed and entered his earthly ministry, he was cut off —crucified—for the sins of the whole world; right in the midst—middle—of the last week. Thus we stand in awe at the wonderful fulfillment of prophecy.

We will now consider what took place in the midst of this last week of the seventy, when Jesus—Messiah—was cut off, or died upon the cross. "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people." Up to this time the Jews were the chosen people of God. But the moment Christ expired upon Calvary they ceased to be his special people. His blood was shed for the whole world. The way was now opened for all nations to come into covenant favor with God. The middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile was broken down, and both were made one, were reconciled into one body by the cross: in whom "there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Sythian, bond nor free." Colossians 3:11. The distinction of Jew and Gentile was conceived in the covenant to Abraham, almost two thousand years before Christ. The Jew stood for Abraham's nation. To them were given the "lively oracles, the covenants and promises." They were favored above every nation upon earth. The Gentile is a       cosmopolite—a citizen of any nation. Here, the Jews on one side, and Gentiles on the other, are placed in distinction and contrast. The Jews were God's people, the Gentiles were "without God, and without hope in the world.'' But after being severed by a special providence for so long a period of time, both meet in Messiah and are made one, in whom there is neither Jew nor Greek. All nations thus saved through Christ's blood constitute the seed of Abraham by promise, the '' true Israel of God."

"And upon thy holy city." God had said, "I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there.'' 2 Chronicles 6: 6. After the children of Israel entered the land of promise, and God fulfilled his covenant to them, he desired a place among them for his dwelling place, and he chose Jerusalem. There the sanctuary was built, and there God dwelt. For this reason it was denominated the holy city. There is where God met with, and answered the prayers of his people. They came to Jerusalem to worship. When a Jew at a distant point, prayed, he turned his face to Jerusalem. Even Daniel turned his face toward Jerusalem and prayed three times a day. That was a holy city, for God placed his name there and dwelt there. But the moment Christ expired upon the cross, the Lord took his name out of Jerusalem, and it lost its sacredness. It was no longer the holy city. The words of Jesus to the Samaritan woman were now fulfilled. "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what : we know what we worship ; for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth : for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." John 4:20-24.

Up to that time Jerusalem was the place to worship. But the moment Christ died, it ceased to be so, and now in every place, wherever two or three are gathered in his name, and worship him in spirit and in truth, there he is in the midst of them. Jerusalem, in this dispensation, is no more regarded by the God of heaven than London, New York, or any other city.

"To finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins." Christ by his death accomplished all this. He "put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." "He hath washed us from our sins in his own precious blood," and, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." Thus we obtain a perfect deliverance from all sin, reach the end of sin, and obtain an uttermost salvation. Not only are we delivered from all sin, but his abundant grace keeps us from committing sin. ''Whosoever is born       of God doth not commit sin." 1 John 3: 9.

"To make reconciliation for iniquity." Hear the fulfillment: "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some       would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." Romans 5:6-11. "And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight.'' Colossians 1: 20-22.

"And to bring in everlasting righteousness." This signifies a complete deliverance from sin, and a supply of grace to serve God "in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life." Luke 1:74, 75. Thus saith the Lord: "The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.'' Titus 2:11, 12.

"He shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease." The sacrifices and oblations of the law were but types of Christ and his great atonement. Sacrifice generally signifies slaughter. Oblation, offering or present. So Christ offered his body, and presented it to God for a sacrifice to atone for the sins of the whole world. He was given as a sacrifice and oblation. His offering was perfect, and brought eternal redemption to the world. Hence, when he expired upon the cross, the sacrifices and oblations of the law ceased to be accepted of God. They were but types, and now were all fulfilled.

"And for the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate." This marks the end of the worldly sanctuary. The temple at Jerusalem was God's sanctuary up to this time. But it belonged to the types and shadows of the old dispensation. Over five hundred years before Christ appeared, it was foretold that he would build the temple of the Lord. Zechariah 6:12, 13. When he came upon earth, in fulfillment of the Old Testament predictions, he began building the temple, or new covenant sanctuary—the church of God. Just before he expired upon the cross, he uttered these words, "It is finished." His death, the shedding of his blood, was the last thing necessary to complete the structure—to finish the house of God, "which is the church of the living God," in which we are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. The antitype of the worldly sanctuary was now complete; hence, the shadow passed away and gave place to the substance. The moment Jesus expired, and the new covenant sanctuary was finished, "the vail of the temple [in Jerusalem] was rent in twain from top to bottom.'' Matthew 27: 51. God moved out of that earthly building, never more to dwell in temples made with hands. Their great house at Jerusalem was made desolate in fulfillment of Jesus' own words in Luke 13:34, 35. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." The Jews would not be gathered under his wings, but filled up the cup of their iniquities by crucifying the Messiah. Their wickedness and abominations had reached to the full, and God forsook their house forever, and left it desolate. We will next consider what was to happen to the desolate sanctuary.

''He shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." Daniel 9: 27. The consummation of a thing is the end of       it. That worldly house was made desolate at Christ's death, and was to remain so until its end, or final destruction; until "that determined shall be poured upon the desolate." Something determined was to come upon the sanctuary and city. What was that? "And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined." Verse 26, Common Version. "And he shall destroy the city and the sanctuary with the prince that is coming: they shall be cut off with a flood, and to the end of the war which is rapidly completed he shall appoint the city to desolations.'' Verse 26, LXX. This is a clear prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman       armies. Jesus foretold it in the following language: "And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall       come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; “because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." Luke 19:41-44.

Vespasian was the tenth Caesar and Roman emperor, ruling from A. D. 70 to 79. Prior to A. D. 70 he carried his conquest into Judea, and laid the cities and countries waste. City after city fell into his hands, until at length the Jews gathered their hosts inside the walls of Jerusalem. In A. D. 70 Vespasian returned to Rome, and left the war in Judea to his son Titus. Titus, now in sole command, marched the Roman legions to Jerusalem, and hemmed the city in on all sides. The casting of a trench about her was literally fulfilled. Titus, having made several assaults upon the city without success, resolved to surround it with a wall, which was completed in three days. The wall was thirty nine furlongs in length, and was strengthened with thirteen forts at proper distances, so that all hope of escape was cut off: none could escape, and no provision could be brought in. When this wall and trench were completed, they were enclosed on every side. This soon reduced the inhabitants to a most terrible distress by the famine which ensued.

It will be well worth the reader's attention to read the whole account of that great tribulation as recorded by Josephus. Moses foretold this awful calamity which befell the Jewish nation as follows: "The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old? nor show favor to the young: and he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have       destroyed thee. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straightness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee: so that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave: so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straightness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of       her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, and toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straightness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.'' Deuteronomy 28: 49-57.

We will here insert the following from Josephus, to show that the above was all fulfilled in the famine which ensued in the city: " So all hope of escaping was now cut off from the Jews, together with their liberty of going out of the city. Then did the famine widen its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and families; the upper rooms were full of women and children that were dying by famine, and the lanes of the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged; the children also and the young men wandered about the market-places like shadows, all swelled with the famine, and fell down dead, where soever their misery seized them. As for burying them, those that were sick themselves were not able to do it; and those that were hearty and well were deterred from doing it by the great multitude of those dead bodies, and by the uncertainty there was how soon they should die themselves; for many died as they were burying others, and many went to their coffins before that fatal hour was come. Nor was there any lamentations made under these calamities, nor were heard any mournful complaints; but the famine confounded all natural passions; for those who were just going to die looked upon those that were gone to rest before them with dry eyes and open mouths.

"A deep silence also, and a kind of deadly night, had seized upon the city; while yet the robbers were still more terrible than these miseries were themselves; for they brake open those houses which were no other than graves of dead bodies, and plundered them of what they had; and carrying off the coverings of their bodies, went out laughing, and tried the points of their swords in their dead bodies; and, in order to prove what metal they were made of, they thrust some of those through that still lay alive upon the ground; but for those that entreated them to lend them their right hand and their sword to dispatch them, they were too proud to grant their requests, and left them to be consumed by the famine.

"Now every one of these died with their eyes fixed upon the temple, and left the seditious alive behind them. Now the seditious at first gave orders that the dead should be buried out of the public treasury, as not enduring the stench of their dead bodies. But afterwards, when they could not do that they had them cast down from the walls into the valleys beneath. However, when Titus, in going his rounds along those valleys, saw them full of dead bodies, and the thick putrefaction running about them, he gave a groan; and, spreading out his hands to heaven, called God to witness that this was not his doing; and such was the sad case of the city itself." Josephus' Wars, Book V, Chapter XII.

"Now of those that perished by famine in the city, the number was prodigious, and the miseries they underwent were unspeakable; for if so much as the shadow of any kind of food did anywhere appear, a war was commenced presently, and the dearest friends fell a fighting one with another about it, snatching from each other the most miserable supports of life. Nor would men believe that those who were dying had no food, but the robbers would search them when they were expiring, lest any one should have concealed food in their bosoms, and counterfeited dying; nay, these robbers gaped for want, and ran about stumbling and staggering along like mad dogs, and reeling against the doors of the houses like drunken men; they would also, in the great distress they were in, rush into the very same houses two or three times in one and the same day.

"Moreover, their hunger was so intolerable, that it obliged them to chew every thing, while they gathered such things as the most sordid animals would not touch, and endured to eat them; nor did they at length abstain from girdles and shoes; and the very leather which belonged to their shields they pulled off and gnawed: the very wisps of old hay became food to some; and some gathered up fibres, and sold a very small weight of them for four Attic [drachmae].

"But why do I describe the shameless impudence that the famine brought on men in their eating inanimate things, while I am going to relate a matter of fact, the like to which no history relates, either among the Greeks or Barbarians? It is horrible to speak of it, and incredible when heard. I had indeed willingly omitted this calamity of ours, that I might not seem to deliver what is so portentous to posterity, but that I have innumerable witnesses to it in my own age; and besides, my country would have had little reason to thank me for suppressing the miseries that she underwent at this time.

"There was a certain woman that dwelt beyond Jordan, her name was Mary; her father was Eleazar, of the village Bethezob, which signifies the house of hyssop. She was eminent for her family and her wealth, and had fled away to Jerusalem with the rest of the multitude, and was with them besieged therein at this time. The other effects of this woman had been already seized upon, such I mean as she had brought with her out of Perea, and removed to the city. What she had treasured up besides, as also what food she had contrived to save, had also been carried off by the rapacious guards, who came every day running into her house for that purpose. This put the poor woman into a very great passion, and by the frequent reproaches and imprecations she cast at these rapacious villians, she had provoked them to anger against her; but none of them, either out of indignation she had raised against herself, or out of commiseration of her case, would take away her life; and if she found any food, she perceived her labors were for others, and not for herself; and it was now become impossible for her any way to find any more food, while the famine pierced through her very bowels and marrow, when also her passion was fired to a degree beyond the famine itself; nor did she consult with any thing but with her passion and the necessity she was in.

"She then attempted a most unnatural thing; and snatching up her son, who was a child sucking at her breast, she said, 'O thou miserable infant! for whom shall I preserve thee in this war, this famine, and this sedition? As to the war with the Romans, if they preserve our lives we must be slaves. This famine also will destroy us, even before that slavery comes upon us. Yet are these seditious rogues more terrible than both the other. Come on; be thou my food, and be thou a fury to these seditious varlets, and a by-word to the world, which is all that is now wanting to complete the calamities of us Jews.'

"As soon as she had said this she slew her son, and then roasted him, and eat the one half of him and kept the other half by her concealed. Upon this the seditious came in presently, and smelling the horrid scent of this food, they threatened her that they would cut her throat immediately if she did not show them what food she had gotten ready. She replied that she had saved a very fine portion of it for them, and withal uncovered what was left of her son. Hereupon they were seized with a horror and amazement of mind, and stood astonished at the sight, when she said to them, 'This is mine own son, and what hath been done was mine own doing! Come, eat of this food; for I have eaten of it myself! Do not you pretend to be either more tender than a woman, or more compassionate than a mother; but if you be so scrupulous, and do abominate this my sacrifice, as I have eaten the one half, let the rest be reserved for me also.'

"After which those men went out trembling, being never so much affrighted at any thing as they were at this, and with some difficulty they left the rest of that meat to the mother. Upon which the whole city was full of this horrid action immediately; and while everybody laid this miserable case before their own eyes, they trembled, as if this unheard-of action had been done by themselves. So those that were thus distressed by the famine were very desirous to die, and those already dead were esteemed happy, because they had not lived long enough either to hear or to see such miseries.'' Wars of the Jews, Book VI, Chapter III.

These few extracts from Josephus' account give us a faint idea of what came upon that people. "And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand) then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day.'' Matthew 24:1, 2, 15-20.

The abomination of desolation is the supplanting of the true worship of God by pagan worship. It will be remembered that Antiochus placed the abomination of desolation in Jerusalem. This he did by abolishing the worship of Jehovah, and setting up heathen worship on       the sacred ground of the temple; building an altar on top of God's altar, and sacrificing swine's flesh on the same. Just so did the Romans. "And now the Romans, upon the flight of the seditious into the city, and upon the burning of the holy house itself, and of all the buildings round about it, brought the ensigns to the temple, and set them over against the east gate; and there did they offer sacrifice to them, and there did they make Titus imperator with the greatest acclamations of joy."—Josephus.

"Almost the entire religion of the Roman camp consisted in worshiping the ensigns, swearing by the ensigns, and       preferring the ensigns before all other gods."—Tertullian.

Thus the Romans did what Antiochus had done, supplanted the worship of God by heathen worship. They sacrificed to their standards, the standards of the very army which did desolate the city and sanctuary. This was truly an abomination of desolation. Jesus gave the church a sign by which they might know when the time had arrived for the city to be destroyed. By this sign they might know when to flee out of the doomed city and make their escape. "And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter there into." Luke 21:20, 21.

Just as soon as the Roman armies were to appear, that       was a sure sign for the disciples of Christ to flee out . This counsel was remembered by the Christians. Eusebius tells us that "all who believed in Christ left Jerusalem and fled to Pella, and other places beyond the river Jordan; and so they all marvelously escaped the general shipwreck of their country; not one of them perished."

The Lord urged them to pray that their flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day. In the winter the hardness of the season, the condition of the roads, the shortness of the days, and the length of nights, would all be great impediments to their flight. On the Jewish sabbath the gates of all the cities and towns in every place were kept shut and barred, so that if their flight had been on a sabbath they could not have escaped, nor found admission in any place of security in the land.

God took care to provide for the escape of the Christians out of the awful calamity which befell the Jews. Prior to the time when Titus marched his hosts to the city, Cestius Gallus, the president of Syria, came against Jerusalem with a powerful army. He might have assaulted the city and taken it, and thereby put an end to the war; but with out any just reason, and contrary to the expectation of all, he raised the siege and departed. Josephus remarks that at this time, "many of the principal Jewish people forsook the city as men do a sinking ship." These evidently were the Christians, who understood from Jesus' words, that the desolation of the place was nigh. Jesus pitied such as would be with child, and gave suck in those days. Such would not be in a condition to escape; neither could they bear the miseries of the awful siege.

Daniel foretold these miseries as follows: "And there shall be a time of tribulation, such tribulation as has not been from a time that there was a nation on the earth until that time: at that time thy people shall be delivered, even every one that is written in the book." Daniel 12: 1, LXX. 

This delivering of the people of God refers to their escape out of the city upon which this great tribulation was coming. Jesus used the same language as Daniel with reference to the destruction of the city: '' For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." Matthew 24: 21, 22. '' Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter there into. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.'' Luke 21: 21-24.

No history can furnish us a parallel to the calamities and miseries of the Jews: rapine, murder, famine, and pestilence within; fire and sword, and all the horrors of war without. Our Lord wept at the foresight of these calamities; and it is almost impossible for any humane person to read them, as recorded by the Jewish historian, without weeping also. These were the '' days of vengeance, that all things which were written might be fulfilled." All the calamities predicted by Moses, Isaiah, Daniel, and other prophets, as well as those predicted by our Savior, met in one common center, and were fulfilled in the most terrible manner on that generation. God sent vengeance and wrath upon that people for the blood they had shed. Josephus computes the number of those who perished in the siege at eleven hundred thousand. In the entire war about 1,357,660 were slaughtered. If it had continued much longer, no flesh would have been saved. The whole Jewish nation would have been wiped out of existence. But Jesus had said that "this generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.'' The generation of the Jews was to be preserved till the end. For this reason '' those days were       shortened.'' The Lord overruled things insomuch that an elect seed was preserved. These were led captive into all nations. Even yet, to-day, the Jews are a scattered people among all nations. They long for a time to return and be recognized in their own land, but whether this desire will ever be realized, time alone will tell. Jerusalem was to be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

There are yet a few things I will mention, which will be of interest to the reader. Jesus foretold that prior to this awful destruction, there would be '' fearful sights, and great signs from heaven." Luke 21:11. We will here quote from Josephus, Book VI, Chapter V. "Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not attend nor give credit to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation, but, like men infatuated, without either eyes to see or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them. Thus there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet that continued a whole year."

He further says that "at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright daytime; which lasted for half an hour. ... At the same festival also, a heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple.

"Moreover the eastern gate of the inner [court of the] temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. Now those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon, running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it; who then came up thither, and not without great difficulty was able to shut the gate again. This also appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies. So these publicly declared that the signal foreshadowed the desolation that was coming upon them.

"Beside these, a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius, a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those who saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities.

''Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the] temple, as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying,' Let us remove hence.'

''But what is still more terrible, there was one Jesus, the son of Ananus, a plebeian and a husbandman, who, for four years before the war began, and at a time when the city was in very great peace and prosperity, came to that feast whereon it is our custom for every one to make tabernacles to God in the temple, began on a sudden to cry aloud, 'A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against this whole people!' "

Josephus tells us, that though the magistrates endeavored by stripes and tortures to restrain him, yet he still cried with a mournful voice, "Woe, woe, to Jerusalem!" And this he continued to do for several years together, going about the walls and crying with a loud voice: "Woe, woe, to the city again, and to the people, and to the holy house!'' And as he added,'' Woe, woe, to myself!" a stone from some sling or engine struck him dead on the spot.

It is worthy of remark, that Josephus appeals to the testimony of others, who saw and heard these fearful things. Tacitus, a Roman historian, gives very nearly the same account as that of Josephus.

As to the high veneration which the Jews cherished for their temple, we quote the following from another writer: '' Their reverence for the sacred edifice was such, that, rather than witness its defilement, they would cheerfully submit to death. They could not bear the least disrespectful or dishonorable thing said of it. The least injurious slight of it, real or apprehended, instantly awakened all the choler of a Jew, and was an affront never to be forgiven. Our Savior, in the course of his public instructions, happened to say, ' Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' John 2:19. This was construed into a contemptuous disrespect, designedly thrown out against the temple; his words instantly descended into the hearts of the Jews, and kept rankling there for several years; for upon his trial, this declaration, which it was impossible for a Jew ever to forget, or to forgive, was alleged against him as the most atrocious guilt and impiety. Matthew 26: 61. Nor was the rancor and virulence which this expression had occasioned, at all softened by all the affecting circumstances of that excruciating and wretched death they saw him die: even as he hung upon the cross, with triumph, scorn, and exultation, they upbraided him with it, contemptuously shaking their heads and saying: 'Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself.' Matthew 27:40."

It is also true that when the Jews tried to condemn Stephen, they'' set up false witnesses, which said, this man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place" (meaning the temple). Acts 6:13. This was blasphemy not to be pardoned; hence, they put the holy apostle to death. The same was true when the Jews accused Paul of taking Trophimus an Ephesian into the temple. They said, "He hath polluted this holy place." This so incited them that they were ready to put him to death. See Acts 21:1831. In their blind zeal for the worldly sanctuary, they could not discern the heavenly, which at that time was established in the earth.

But that splendid building, which was once the admiration and envy of the world, has forever passed away. According to our blessed Lord's prediction, that there should not be left one stone upon another, that should not be thrown down, it was completely demolished by the Roman soldiers under Titus, A. D. 70, on the same month of the year, and on the same day of the month on which Solomon's temple was destroyed by the Babylonians.

The above is a brief history of the old covenant sanctuary, of which we will speak more particularly in future chapters.

    

The New Covenant Sanctuary.

Were it not for the dark leaven of Adventism, a few plain scriptures were all that need be given to point out the sanctuary of the New Testament, for all spiritually minded readers are very naturally led to understand that God's church is the sanctuary. But since those crafty "children of the bondwoman" have darkened counsel by their cunningly devised fables, the reader will please bear with us while we show clearly what the sanctuary is, and also remove the props of their babel structure, and let it fall to the ground. What then is

    

THE ADVENTIST THEORY?

We will quote from U. Smith's tract, "The Sanctuary and the Twenty-Three Hundred Days of Daniel,'' and from his "Thoughts on Daniel." We introduce the absurdities of that sect by this man, because he is one of their foremost writers. He says, '' The Advent body were a unit, and their testimony shook the world. "—Sanc, page 10. Was that body the body of Christ, or one of the daughters of great Babylon? The body of Christ is the church (Ephesians 1: 22, 23; Colossians 1: 18, 24), "The pillar and ground of the truth," and was called out of the world by the gospel of truth. How was this Advent body called out? What was her testimony? We turn to Smith and receive this answer: "A world-wide agitation of this question of Christ's immediate second coming called out hundreds of thousands of believers in the doctrine."— Sanc. 10. The time of his coming was set for Oct. 22, 1844. This was their testimony, and this cry       called out that body. Was it true or false? Were their hopes realized in the "immediate coming of Christ"? Let the same writer answer:

"Suddenly their power was broken, their strength scattered, their ranks divided, and their testimony paralyzed. They passed the point of their expectation and realized not their hope. That a mistake had been made somewhere, none could deny. From that point, the       history of the majority of that once happy, united people [happy in believing a delusion, and only united in the same] has been marked by discord, division, confusion, speculations, new mistakes, fresh disappointments, disintegration and apostasy. The world, without careful scrutiny looks complacently upon this result, and, relieved of its anxiety respecting the Lord's coming, is wont to regard all classes of Adventists as only the remnants of an exploded delusion."—Sanc. 10, 11.

This well describes the facts, not only as seen by the world, but also by men of God, who view the ruins with "careful scrutiny." Here then we prove by their own witness that the Advent movement was animated by a false prediction, that their "body" was called out by a delusion, that their unity was based on a lie, and their explosion wrought the fruits of division, confusion and apostasy, all of which force the conclusion that the whole thing originated with the father of lies. In the language of U. Smith, '' It must have been a mighty influence of some kind." True; but we are told that Satan is "mighty," and it may have been his influence. We have only to consider whether their "testimony," and prediction that Christ would come on Oct. 22, 1844, was true or false, to determine whether the excitement arising from it was of God, or of the devil; for God never       moves out on a falsehood, nor invents a false alarm; but his Book ascribes to Satan the fatherhood of all lies. Therefore, the Adventist movement, having been created by a falsehood, must have been a "mighty influence of some" satanic kind. Such was its evident character while united on a wild fanaticism, and such it has remained since their false prediction failed. Says Smith:

"Let it be remembered that God can not be the author of the confusion that has existed since that time in some branches of the Advent body."—Sanc. 15. If he was not the author of the thing when united on an error, nor yet of its confusion after falling into fragments, we conclude that he never had anything to do with it. '' The fruits of the Spirit are in all goodness,'' and,'' A good tree can not       bring forth evil fruit.'' But what kind of fruit could be expected from a tree which took its root in the soil of error? Let us call your attention to two evils that have grown out of that sect, which are acknowledged in the quotations we have given from Smith. First, "apostasy." We have been informed by men who witnessed the Miller excitement that, many who had been sincere Christians were carried away with this "wind of doctrine,'' disposed of their homes, "at a great sacrifice, neglected all temporal duties, and after they found themselves deceived, cast the blame upon the Bible, and apostatized.

Some time ago the conviction came clearly to our mind, that the Adventist commotion was specially invented by the devil as a false alarm of Christ's second coming, well knowing that the reaction would involve the whole world in carnal indifference and deep slumber on the awful fact of his coming; to our astonishment we find U. Smith       admitting that such was the very effect produced. In the words already quoted he says that the world is "relieved of its anxiety respecting the Lord's coming." That is a natural consequence, since one extreme generally follows another. Satan seems to have had some knowledge of the fact that the time drew near when God's messengers would '' run to and fro," publishing salvation, announcing the signs of Christ's coming, and gathering God's holy remnant, ready for the Bridegroom's coming. Therefore he prematurely moved a great excitement, based upon a set time that would soon betray all who were thereby carried away, and thus ease the whole world down into a deep slumber, only to be broken by the thunders of the judgment day. To illustrate the effect: Suppose the people of a village are suddenly aroused from their sleep by the cry of fire. They rush forth into the streets, but, finding no fire, conclude they have been imposed upon by a false alarm. They retire with sullen feelings, not to be easily fooled again. Yea, they lie down and give themselves to slumber that is undisturbed by a similar report, even though it prove to be a true one that imperils their very lives. Just so the devil has sent out the false cry of Adventism, and a thousand other lying novelties, until the masses, disgusted and bewildered, have given themselves over to carnal indifference, and have, as it were, laid themselves down to sleep over the very fires of hell; and few can be waked by the awful trump of present truth. Oh, how dreadful the situation!

And after this great bubble of 1844 collapsed, Satan took an advanced step by organizing the confused throng on a no-soul-all-bondage creed, sending forth their teachers to deceive the nations, turning men away from the kingdom of heaven to the kingdom of legality, darkness and death. But confusion of face was upon them. They had deceived the people once, and how could they expect their confidence again ? Some device must be sought out by which they could account for their failure, and, in some measure at least, escape the reproach of being false teachers. Because Christ did not come, and the earth was not cleansed at the time announced, Smith says, "It has led the majority, while divided on many other points, to agree on this, that the 2,300 days did not end in 1844. It has led them to make a full surrender of positions which were once acknowledged to be the ground and pillar of the Advent faith.' '—Sanc. 18. Here it is confessed that their mere speculation on a point of prophecy was the pillar and ground of their sect. Had truth been their pillar and ground it would not have failed them. But while the majority left off this fanaticism, others sought out a new device. Their theory had been as follows: "The sanctuary is the earth, or at least some portion of the earth. Its cleansing is to be by fire. But the renovation of the earth is to take place only at the second coming of the Lord."—Sanc. 15. "The theory as held in 1844 consisted of two main propositions: (1) That the 2,300 days would end in 1844. (2) That the earth was the sanctuary then to be cleansed."—page 16.

Such blindness betrays an utter absence of spiritual knowledge. Had they ever ''sanctified the Lord God in their hearts,'' they would have known the place of his sanctuary; but being earthly, their foolish minds worked for an earthly sanctuary. Instead of their crumbled pillar, they set up this, if possible, more ridiculous fabrication; namely, the earth is not the sanctuary, but it is something up in heaven. Having thus shifted the scene of cleansing to a realm that lies beyond human observation, they have this advantage; i. e., their second delusion is not exposed to general view as was the first. On this new fabrication they base a claim that "the calculation of the time was correct. In 1844 the great period of 2,300 years was finished, which marked the commencement of the work of cleansing the sanctuary."—Sanc. 72. So we are told that in 1844 Christ began to clean out his sanctuary in heaven. And upon this disgusting theory Adventists hope to redeem themselves from the stigma of their past blunders. It is the only soul in their system; the only "remedy," as Smith says, for the movement, which "has fallen into such misfortune and weakness." "The sanctuary is the one subject that brings order out of all this chaos."—Sanc. 11.

Again, " If we take the ground that the prophetic periods did not then expire, the whole work falls to the ground as wholly false and unscriptural. For if the termination of the prophetic period is yet future, another like movement is to transpire [God forbid], and the one we had was a counterfeit and a fraud. Then we must attribute to fanaticism that work."—Sanc, page 74. On page 141 and 142 it is again conceded that if that time calculation was not correct, then, "the past Advent movement is all a failure. But if there is nothing to the past movement, there is certainly nothing to the present."

Here then is the conclusion of the whole matter. It is virtually a confession that the sect has no other apology for its existence save the interpretation of certain prophecy, which, according to their discovery, has nothing to do with the salvation of men on earth, but relates exclusively to what is going on in heaven. It is a frank acknowledgement that there is no vital principle, nor regenerating element in the thing. If it did not hit that date all right it is " all a failure,'' and there is "nothing to the past movement," and "certainly nothing to the present.'' In short, it has proved to be good for nothing. It neither possesses nor teaches any real salvation, and has never helped any one into the kingdom of heaven; therefore if its high assumption of wisdom and prophecy proves to be "fanaticism," then the whole thing is a " counterfeit and a fraud.'' The whole system then rests upon the single pivot that their application of time in Daniel 8:14 was correct. If this last shift is overthrown the entire superstructure, as Smith has admitted, '' falls to the ground as wholly false and unscriptural." And fall it must before the light of God's truth. A certain calculation, and not Christ, is its foundation. The Lord pity the sect that rests upon such a precarious device. Surely you look in vain for deliverance to your imaginary sanctuary; for the hail of God's Word will sweep it away.       We shall prove that your second delusion is no better than the first.

First, then, we will examine their new invention that they have sought out. Briefly and fairly set forth it is this: The       tabernacle and temple were God's sanctuary during the first covenant. They were a type of the sanctuary under the present covenant, which is in heaven. When the Israelite brought a sacrifice to be offered by the priest according to the law, he did not receive a clear pardon for the sin he had committed. "But he was as yet only relatively or conditionally free. The law still held him, and unless its claims should be more directly satisfied, the remission of his sins would not be secured."—Sanc. 133. The sinning Jew being only partially forgiven, we are told his sins were transferred from him to the sanctuary, and there kept on hand, as if they were ponderable things that could be done up in a package, labeled and stored away. "Their transfer," says U. Smith, "from the sinner to the sanctuary was not the final disposition of them. They were not borne into the sanctuary either to remain there forever, or to be considered as blotted out and removed. But they were treated as still in existence, and as hateful and evil things."—Sanc. 128. Then Advent fictions further inform us that on the great day of atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month of each year, all that large stock of sins that had accumulated against the repentant Jews during the year was brought out, laid on the scapegoat, and by him borne off into the wilderness and thus finally disposed of.

Then it is further stated that this round of ceremonies in the temple is a type of Christ's high priestly association in heaven. The interval between the annual days of atonement corresponds with Christ's ministry from the time of his ascension until Oct. 22, 1844. And as the sins of the Jews were only relatively forgiven, laid up in the temple, so the sins of all who had believed on Christ from the beginning of the gospel until Oct. 22, 1844 had accumulated in the sanctuary in heaven. See "Thoughts on Daniel," page 233. And on the above date Christ left the holy place of the sanctuary in heaven, entered the most holy and began to cleanse that sanctuary, as the last stage of his high priestly office. And upon this beautiful story rests the entire fabric of Adventism. "For," says Smith, "if the sanctuary is not now being cleansed, the position and work of our Lord differs in no respect from what they have been the past 1,800 years; and the past Advent movement is all a failure."—Sanc, page 141.

No wonder the new invention has been diligently sought       out. It has been demonstrated in the nineteenth century that men become so intent on saving their own religion from disrepute that they forget that they have a soul to be saved from sin, and that there is a Christ who is able to save it. Who ever heard, or read in the Bible, that God partially forgave men's sins? even the sins for which the guilty party had offered the required sacrifice? In Leviticus 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:10, 17, 18, you will find that when the Israelite trespassed against the law of God, he was required to bring a certain sacrifice, which the priest was to offer; and thus, it is stated on each several occasion, The priest "shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him." Not once does it state that it "shall be relatively forgiven him." The priest shall offer the sacrifice there and then, and in so doing he "shall make an atonement for him," "and it shall be forgiven him." As sure as the atoning sacrifice was then       offered, God declares their sin was at the instant forgiven. But Smith says, "The remission of his sins would not be secured;" "the law still held him" until the day of atonement. But God says the sacrifice offered for him made a full legal atonement for him, and actually secured his pardon on the spot. God's way is to forgive and remember no more our sins against us; and this was true in the legal, as well as in the present dispensation.

In the whole law of pardon under the Levitical priesthood, there is not one hint that sins were only relatively remitted, and not one word do we read about them being conveyed into the sanctuary. The Advents are entitled to a patent on that idea, for it wholly originated with them, and was never thought of before in       heaven, nor on earth. They also originated the idea that the great day of atonement disposed of sins that had been previously remitted. The solemn services of that day are described in Leviticus 16. Several times in the chapter we are told that the sacrifice then offered was to cleanse the sanctuary, and had it been from sins transferred from pardoned sinners, it would doubtless have been somewhere recorded. Neither does the inspired record, by silence, give room for the new conjecture. Nay, we shall prove by plain statements in the divine record that the sanctuary was to be cleansed from the uncleanness of the people in the camp, and not from sins that had been "relatively pardoned," and conveyed into the temple during the year. "And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. '' Leviticus 16:16. " For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord.'' Lev. 16: 30.

It was because the sanctuary "remained among them in the midst of their uncleanness," that this cleansing was necessary. The sin of the people which rested upon them, and not what had been conveyed from them into the holiest, required this annual atonement. Nothing is said in all God's Book of cleansing the sanctuary of sins previously forgiven. It is only found in Smith's book, and those of his fellows under the smoke of Sinai. If, as Adventism teaches, the sins of the pardoned Jews were conveyed into the holiest, during all the year, and not yet wholly forgiven, but "treated as hateful," etc., and that has all been repeated in antitype, from the beginning of the gospel of Christ until Oct. 22, 1844, as their story runs, then it follows, as a result of that creed, that Christ never granted the complete pardon of a sinner prior to A. D. 1844. And every man who believed, realized, and testified that his sins were fully pardoned and all blotted out, was deceived.

Instead of having it done as David testified in Psalms 103: 12—"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us"—they were only separated a few feet, and deposited in the holiest place. And in the case of the penitent believer in Christ, they were not blotted out, but conveyed to heaven, and laid up against him, and all those happy new-born souls that implicitly believed the testimony of the Spirit in their hearts—that their sins were wholly pardoned—were deceived by that testimony. And so it has been discovered in the nineteenth century, that the old prophet Jeremiah was badly mistaken when he represented God as saying,'' I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Jeremiah 31: 34. This novel creed dishonors God, and the plan of salvation, by teaching that he only "relatively" forgives, and for eighteen hundred years still remembered their sins against them. Such are the absurdities and abominable doctrines of confusion that men fall into when they try to invent props to sustain a false creed.

Hebrews 8:1, 2 is chiefly relied upon to prove that the sanctuary is up in heaven. The argument drawn from it is this: Christ is seated on the right hand of the throne in the heavens. Christ is a minister of the true sanctuary, which the Lord pitched, and not man; therefore that sanctuary is in heaven, and not on earth. But this is a false reasoning as we shall prove. First, before any force can be ascribed to it, the writer would have to prove that Christ is not omnipresent ; that while seated on the right hand of the throne in the heavens, he is not also present in this world; that he does not dwell in his church on earth. And when Mr. Smith succeeds in disproving these things he will also have overdrawn the       Bible; for such is clearly its teaching. The fact, therefore, that Christ ascended into heaven does not prove that his sanctuary is only in heaven. Neither does the scripture under consideration assert that the true sanctuary was pitched in heaven, though Smith repeatedly so words it.

We shall hereafter prove that Christ's ministry is not a ceremonial routine in heaven, but a saving ministration on earth. He did not enter it after ascending into heaven, but "Christ being come an high priest of good things, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle," which he "entered by his own blood," became a perfect Savior. Then follow the results of his high-priestly offering: "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Hebrews 9:11-14. So Christ came into this world, built his own sanctuary, and in it ministered salvation to men through his own blood. That Christ has entered heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God for us, is all true. He is there as our advocate with the Father. But it is also an indisputable fact that he dwells in his church on earth, and we shall establish the fact beyond the shadow of a doubt that his church is his sanctuary. Hence, the former fact does not disprove the latter, nor in the least affect it.

Another text from which the new theory is argued is Revelation 11:19. We remark that heaven may properly be called the temple of God; and so is the whole universe, for he dwells everywhere. But distinctively, the sanctuary that is now being cleansed is not heaven, or anything in heaven, for there is nothing there needing cleansing. The temple of God opened in heaven is simply the true church of God brought to view in the heavenlies—the plane of heaven's purity.

In the very next verses (Revelation 12:1, 2), a great wonder appears in heaven, a woman travailing in pain to be delivered. On these verses, Smith himself remarks: "We do not understand that the events here represented to John took place in heaven where God resides."—"Thoughts," 521. It is just as evident to our mind that the last verse of the preceding chapter does not refer to the place of God's throne. But passing to verse 3 we read: '' And there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold a great red dragon." "And there was war in heaven." Verse 7. Surely heaven above is not the place of dragons, nor war. In verses 10-12 heaven is also used in connection with events that transpired on the earth. The chapter on the two witnesses will make this matter sufficiently plain. So the above proof text fails to locate the New Testament sanctuary in heaven, and the argument that Smith draws from Revelation 11: 19 he himself overthrows by his admission on 12:1.

Hebrews 9:22, 23 is another text used to locate the sanctuary in heaven. It reads as follows: "And almost all       things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.'' The '' heavenly things'' he supposes to be the two apartments of the sanctuary up in heaven, corresponding with the two parts of the earthly temple. May the Lord pity such blindness and confusion! Why do men shut their eyes and guess at the sense of Scripture when the context furnishes a clear interpretation of its meaning? Perfected holiness, or purity, is, the theme of this epistle. Not a cleansing up in heaven, where all is pure; but the cleansing of men's hearts here on earth, which is       much needed. This glorious plane of holiness was beyond the power of the law to give, for "the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did." Hebrews 7:19. This hope is Christ in us. He hath "obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also, he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises." Hebrews 8:6. Hence, the first covenant made on Sinai, and engraven on stone "decayeth and waxeth old, is ready to vanish away." Verse 13.

Then follows a further comparison of things under the law with the priesthood of Christ in the ninth chapter, reaching a grand conclusion in verses 11-15. "Christ came by a greater and more perfect tabernacle;" "the blood of bulls and goats," etc., "sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; but how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"

Now what were the patterns of the things in the heavens, and what the heavenly things, that were purified by better sacrifices than beasts that were offered by the law? Namely, the very things that had been spoken of. Two means and degrees of cleansing are set forth in verses 13, 14, and the same thing is alluded to again in verse 23. So the heavenly things are simply men and women who have received the "much more cleansing." The legal cleansings by the blood of goats, etc., were patterns of the great salvation not yet revealed from heaven. Whereas those who have received the perfect purging of their conscience through the blood of Christ, since he has offered himself without spot to God, are the "heavenly things" themselves. So called because cleansed by a sacrifice from heaven; because now raised up to sit with Christ'' in the heavenlies.'' Ephesians 2: 6, Emphatic Diaglott. And they have '' come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem" (Hebrews 12: 22), and "have tasted of the heavenly gift." Hebrews 6:4. Who are blessed "with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." Ephesians 1:3. "To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God." Ephesians 3:10. Surely such as have been cleansed by a heavenly sacrifice have come to the "heavenly Jerusalem," and are sitting with Christ in "heavenly places," and are even blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, even God's church, to whom is revealed the manifold wisdom of God in the heavenly—surely such are heavenly things. All these scriptures join with the ninth of Hebrews and prove conclusively that the "heavenly things," that have been cleansed by better sacrifices, are just what the writer of the epistle has there set forth; namely, men and women who had received the "much more" cleansing of the blood of Christ. Hebrews 9: 22, 23 is simply a recapitulation of the same things taught in verses 13, 14. Thus the Word explains itself. Men and women are the heavenly things purified by the heavenly sacrifice. It can not be denied that Christ is a heavenly being. But with "love made perfect," "as he is so are we in this world." 1st John 4:17. Then are we also of heavenly stamp. "For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one" (Hebrews 2:11); all on the plane of heaven's purity, of heavenly character. Thus is the Advent refuge again overflowed by the torrents of truth.

Their next argument is drawn from Hebrews 8:5; 9:9, 23. It is this, that "the tabernacle was built after the pattern of another, a tabernacle up in heaven.'' We may grant all this, and the Word of the Lord will show us plainly just what that glorious sanctuary is which cast its shadow from heaven upon earth in the form of the legal sanctuary. Of course the whole system of legal sacrifices, with the tabernacle, temple, and high priest, sustained the relation to Christ and his church of type and antitype. Jesus was a "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Revelation 13: 8. "In the beginning was the word.'' Back at the foundation of the world, when man fell into sin, God predetermined the sacrifice of his Son for the world's redemption; and what is foregone in the mind of God is a fact in his eternal counsel, as real as if already transpired.

But since Christ was slain from the foundation of the world, as a sacrifice and Savior, the church, being inseparable from his great plan of redemption, was also a fact coexisting with the death of his Son, in the eternal purpose of God, from the foundation of the world. So the church of the living God, the new Jerusalem, which, in the fullness of time came down from God out of heaven, was symbolized on earth by the temple, the pattern of that which was yet in heaven, long before its manifestation-here below. It is a glorious truth, and one of the chief objects of the legal system, that God's holy church, his Son the Redeemer thereof, and the atoning blood of its covenant, all prepared in the mind of God in his divine plan from the time man fell into sin, cast before their love-betokening shadow, to inspire hope of coming redemption. They were, indeed, the prototypes of the temple, its sacrifices and flowing blood. The tabernacle and temple—both the same in form, and in their typical relation to the church, and when therefore we speak of one in this relation, the other is equally included— were only object lessons on the church of God and the way of salvation. They were "a shadow of things to come," but as a substance which casts a shadow must exist before the shadow, so the church of God and its sacrifice existed before their shadow on earth.

It is very easy, indeed, to comprehend now that the temple and its blood-sprinkling service were "the example and shadow of heavenly things," of "things in the heavens," when we consider that both the church and the slain Lamb of God came down from God out of heaven, and when we trace the beautiful similitude between the temple and God's church. But there is not a sentence in the Bible which makes the tabernacle the shadow of another "literal sanctuary" in heaven, and distinct from God's church. That whole theory is a myth of Adventist origin. And we have seen that the very texts relied upon by U. Smith, when interpreted in the light of divine truth, overthrow his Dagon. But we will not stop with them. In the name of Jesus we proceed to demolish the structure by the testimony of other scriptures.

It is impossible for men to weave a fabric and cover a fallacious creed, which the Word of God, if permitted to speak, will not tear away and expose the deception. Bear in mind, the U. Smith invention is this: "There is in heaven a real, literal sanctuary, the antitype of the earthly building. ' '—Sanc, page 151. Into the first apartment of this '' literal "structure in heaven Christ entered at his ascension, and remained there until Oct. 22, 1844, when he passed on into the holiest, and began to cleanse it: yes, cleanse the most holy place in heaven from sin. For, says the doctrine of Adventism: " It       is not accomplished with water, soap, sand, mops, and brushes. It is a cleansing accomplished with blood. But the use of blood is for the sake of remission, or forgiveness of sin, nothing else; hence, the cleansing is a cleansing from sin."—Sanc, page 125. Who ever read of such a thing in the Bible? Surely this is a soul-sleeper's dream, a disgusting fable. We will now proceed to plain texts of the Word, which prove it a lying device.

The Hebrew epistle dates A. D. 64. Its inspired writer informs us that Christ had already at that time "entered into that within the vail." 6:19, 20. There was in the earthly temple a beautiful vail that separated the holy and the holy of holies. To enter therefore within the vail is to enter the holiest place. There is no evading this fact. We, says the apostle, have "boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus," and "through the vail."       Hebrews 10:19,20. This nails the matter fast.'' Within the vail,'' where Christ, our high priest, had already entered in A. D. 64 is positively declared to be "within the holiest." And this must allude to the "greater and more perfect tabernacle" by which Christ came, the house of God over which he is high priest, or in other words, the sanctuary of the new covenant. For into this we—all God's people—have boldness to enter, but into the former only the high priest had access.

Again hear the word of the Lord: "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Hebrews 9:11, 12.

In the verses preceding, the "worldly sanctuary" of the first covenant is set forth as a figure, and in the above words the substance or antitype is clearly defined as Christ's more perfect tabernacle, into which he "entered" by his own blood, even into the "holy place." The Emphatic Diaglott renders, "He entered once for all, into the holy places." And U. Smith himself observes on this very passage in "Thoughts on Daniel," page 174, he "entered by his own blood (Verse 12) into the holy place (where also the Greek has the plural—the holy places) having obtained eternal redemption for us. Of these heavenly, holy places, therefore, the first tabernacle was a figure for the time then present." The parenthesis       and all are his words. So according to the plural word hagia, and according to the Emphatic rendering, and U.       Smith's "Thoughts," the holiest place in the present sanctuary of Christ is included in that which he had already entered before A. D. 64.

The very words that Smith brings forward to prove his theory positively overthrow it. But, having the vail over his eyes, he did not notice that Christ's entrance to the holy places was, at the time of the inspired writing, a thing of the past. The testimony is, he "entered" before A. D. 64, and not that he shall enter in A. D. 1844. The Greek word is in the plural, and the Emphatic, other versions, and U. Smith, include within it both the holy and most holy. And this is proved in verse 25 of the same chapter: "As the high priest entered into the holy place every year with the blood of others." The word holy is hagia, precisely the same as in verse 12, and is rendered "holies" in the direct from the Greek, and "holy places" in the Emphatic translation. So all can see that Christ had entered the holiest of his more perfect tabernacle before the epistle to the Hebrews was written, which holiest was foreshadowed by the most holy place of the first tabernacle, into which the high priest entered but once every year.

We repeat, that if that which the "high priest entered every year with blood" is indeed the holiest of all, as the whole record of the law proves, and the New Testament asserts, then "by his own blood" he—Christ, our glorious high priest—entered in once for all into the most, holy place of his greater tabernacle; because both the annual entrance of the high priest, and that of Christ, once for all, are declared to be into the hagia—holies. And so the whole Adventist babel is demolished, as Smith has already confessed, that if Christ did not enter the holiest of his sanctuary in 1844, "then the Advent structure falls to the ground as wholly false and worthless." But we have proved that he entered prior to A. D. 64. Hence, their babel is destroyed by the oracles of God, and by their own confession.

Paul says that the sanctuary of Moses was the sanctuary of the first covenant. It was, as we have seen,       one of the chief features of that covenant. But that covenant has given place to the new. Jeremiah 31: 31; Hebrews 8:10-12. Under this new covenant we are now living. This is true of God's spiritual children, but the Adventists, remaining under bondage to the law, have no part in the new covenant. Again, after quoting Hebrews 9:1, "Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary," he proceeds: "Paul is showing the relation which the two covenants sustain to each other; and the word also, shows that those things which he mentions pertain to both. One had ordinances of divine service; the other also had them. One had a sanctuary; the other also had a sanctuary.'' 

The great question to which we have now come, and in       which all the controversy is involved, is then simply this:        "what  is  The  Sanctuary  Of The New Covenant?"

He continues, "The sanctuary of the old covenant must bear the same relation to the new covenant which the old covenant itself bears to the new. And upon this point we suppose there is no controversy. All agree that they stand as type and antitype. The first was the type and shadow; this, the antitype and substance. The sanctuary of that dispensation was the type; the sanctuary of this, the antitype. But the sanctuary of that dispensation was the tabernacle of Moses. Of what, then, was the tabernacle of Moses a type, figure; or shadow?"

We have thus quoted at length to show that U. Smith has himself laid a good strong foundation for the truth which we shall bring forward to overthrow his theory, and prove that the church of the living God is the sanctuary of this dispensation. Be it then remembered that the Adventists admit that whatever under the new covenant was typified by the tabernacle of the old, and whatever now takes the place of that tabernacle, is the sanctuary of this dispensation.

One more point of ground we wish to note, and that is that the tabernacle was "incorporated into the temple," and both were the continuous sanctuary of the legal dispensation. See Sanc, page 92; "Thoughts on Daniel," 171. It follows then that whatever now takes the place of either the tabernacle of Moses, or Solomon's temple, is the sanctuary of the Lord and the antitype of the former structures. In other words, whatever is the temple of God now, is the sanctuary. With this much truth admitted it is an astonishing fact that U. Smith could shut his eyes and exclaim, '' No sanctuary on earth; for since A. D. 70 there has been none here.'' Again in '' Thoughts,'' page 176, this writer asserts that "whatever constitutes the sanctuary of the Bible must have some service connected with it which is called its cleansing. There is no account in the Bible of any work so named as pertaining to this earth, the land of Canaan, or the church.''

No promise in the Bible for the cleansing of the church? Oh, the blindness and thick darkness of Adventism! They are devoted to their new invention with such a blind zeal and infatuation that they set aside the crowning work of redemption, the chief object for which Christ laid down his life, namely, to sanctify and cleanse his church. In their Pharisaical zeal for their own sect they seem scarcely to have learned that God has a church. They read the Bible with such idolatrous devotion to their own inventions that they never see God's ways.

It will be seen by the above words that the author had not the remotest conception of any cleansing, but a mere formal or ceremonial service. The idea of an actual cleansing from sin and unrighteousness is wholly left out of the question. The assertion that the Bible teaches no such thing as a cleansing of the church, betrays gross ignorance of the Word, or an unscrupulous attempt to hide the truth. We will just let one text of Scripture refute the Smithsonian falsehood.

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.'' Ephesians 5: 25-27. Truly here is a glorious cleansing of the church; and it is something more than a mere ceremonial service. Can it be possible that a man of intelligence could overlook this great work in the plan of redemption, the chief object of the Savior's death and shed blood, and the crowning work in God's redeeming love? Yea, this very cleansing is just what Mr. Smith felt the need of when his heart breathed out its condition in these words found in '' Thoughts on Daniel,'' page 274: "Alas, for the evils of our nature which cut us off from this communion! Oh, for grace to overcome these, that we may enjoy this spiritual union here, and finally enter the glories of his presence at the marriage supper of the Lamb."

Now should that writer get the evils of his nature, the works of the devil, destroyed and cleansed out of his heart, it would upset his entire theory. He would soon find out that God has a sanctuary to dwell in here on earth. But notwithstanding it would burn up the entire heap of Advent rubbish, he would, with the apostle Paul (who also was zealous for the law in his day, that is before he became dead to the law, and married to Christ) count the great loss a happy gain, and praise God for salvation so as by fire. Amen. But, alas! the devotees of a blind god have no time to seek deliverance from the evil nature of their hearts, being ever busy about the props of their dark creed, and the defense of their confused sect. Surely that volume is but Smith's "thoughts." But God says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways."

But let us come right to the question, What is the antitype of the ancient temple? What has now taken the place of that sanctuary of the first covenant? The writer above alluded to, admits the fact that the former was a type or shadow of the present, and so teaches the Word. In Hebrews 9:1 the apostle tells us,'' Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.'' He proceeds to describe the same, and then says in verse 9, "Which was a figure for the time then present," etc. In Hebrews 10:1 we read that the whole law system with its many sacrifices, was a'' shadow of good things to come.'' In Colossians 2:14-17 we are told that the legal rites, sabbaths, etc.,. were "a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." By which we clearly see that these services of the first covenant were types and shadows of good things that were to appear with the coming of Christ, in the covenant of which he is mediator. Yea, it is plainly stated that the first tabernacle was a shadow of the true, the greater tabernacle not made with hands. Hebrews 9: 24.

But let us return to Hebrews 9:9, "Which [tabernacle, or legal sanctuary] was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience." But, passing over from the law to the gospel, from type to antitype, in verse 11 he continues, "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building." And, true to the figure of the high priest, who entered by the blood into the holiest once a year, "He entered in once [for all] into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Verse 12. So we see that Christ our high priest had already entered the holiest in his more perfect tabernacle at the time that epistle was written in A. D. 64.

The writer continues right on treating on the superior priesthood, covenant, and tabernacle of this dispensation. "And having a high priest over the house of God," etc. 10: 21. The greater tabernacle of the second covenant, in which Christ now officiates as high priest, is declared to be the house of God. Now we have but to ascertain what the house of God is, and the important question is settled. And here we have the desired information. After giving Timothy instructions relative to the church, the apostle adds: "These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." 1st Timothy 3:14, 15.

Plenty of other scriptures teach the same thing, but we will not bring them forward here. But the few links of divine truth we have now put together make a chain that no man can break. The "worldly sanctuary" of the law was a type of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and over which he is now high priest. But that more perfect tabernacle is declared to be the house of God, and "the house of God is the church of the living God." Then the church of the living God is the sanctuary of this dispensation.

    

THE SANCTUARY OF THE FIRST COVENANT 

AS A TYPE OR FIGURE.

As the tabernacle and temple shadow forth worlds of precious truth respecting Christ, his great salvation, and glorious church, let us enter these sacred places and gather the gold, rubies, and pearls that were treasured up there for us. Let us go in and feast our souls upon the rich things that were hidden from the eyes of the high priest who sprinkled the typical blood upon its holy altars and mercy seat and burned incense there unto the Most High God. They "could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished." They but dimly saw the great antitype of all their sacrifices. A holy secret was hidden within the beautiful curtains of the tabernacle, which has only been made known to 'us, who stand to-day in the awful presence of God, within the holiest of his more perfect house. And now, since the vail of mystery is drawn aside, and we have "come to the innumerable company of angels," that once spread their wings in symbolic cherubims on the vail of the temple, and over the priest's head, let us go back and carefully view that ancient depository of the entire gospel system. Yea, and such we will indeed find it.

Here we have an outline of the tabernacle of the first covenant, with one side drawn up revealing the principal articles of furniture in the center and in the holy places. This structure, both in the tabernacle and temple form, we have seen, is a type or shadow of God's church. If so, all that pertained to it have their spiritual counterpart in the present sanctuary of the Lord. Let us therefore trace this analogy as pointed out in the Scriptures. First in order comes

    

The Court.

It was 100 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 5 cubits high. In it waited the Levites who assisted the priests. Lev. 6: 16, 18; 1 Chronicles 23: 28. Into this court the children of Israel in general seemed to have access. 2 Chronicles 23: 5; 24: 21; Jeremiah 32:12. Into it came the Israelite with his sacrifice for sin offerings, etc. Psalms 96:8. In Revelation 11: 2 the court was to be left out of the measurement of the temple of God, "For it is given unto the Gentiles." But this is while "the holy city,'' God's church, was '' trodden under foot of the Gentiles," sinners.

All things taken into consideration, the court represents, now under the new covenant, the state of the convicted, the penitent, and all such as have in some measure espoused the cause of Christ our high priest, but have not yet really entered by faith into the holy places of the church. Like the Levites, they can minister unto the real kings and priests, the saved and sanctified children of God, and in many respects they have really approached the church of God, and the Christian character, and occupy a sort of intervening space between the walls of salvation and the careless un-awakened world. Conviction and good desires have already separated them from the profane and wicked, while they yet lack an actual induction into the fold by the washing of regeneration.

Next we will look for the spiritual significance of the

    

FIRST AND SECOND VAIL.

In the tabernacle there were two successive vails. The first separated between the court and the holy place (Hebrews 9:2, 3), the second hung between the holy and the holiest of all. But the second was more particularly called the vail. See Exodus 26:23. When this       temporary sanctuary was supplanted by the temple, the massive walls of stone took the place of the first vail, and the walls of the tabernacle round about, leaving only one vail to conceal the presence of God in the most holy place. Hence, when the temple is alluded to only one vail is spoken of: "The vail of the temple." Matthew 27: 51. "What do these two successive entrances shadow forth? If, as we have already shown, the tabernacle and temple are figures of the church of God, then it follows that whatever we must pass through in order to enter the church must be the antitype of the stone wall and the vail, through which the priests entered the holy places of the worldly sanctuary.

But through what do we now enter into the church? Thus saith the Lord: " I am the door: by me if any man enter in he shall be saved." John 10: 9. "For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.'' Ephesians 2:18. ''In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him." Ephesians 3:12. So Christ takes the place of the vail and wall through which the legal sanctuary was entered. The above scriptures clearly lead to that conclusion. But we have even a positive testimony to that effect. ''Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his flesh; and having a high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.'' Hebrews 10:19-22.

"Through the vail, that is to say his flesh." Is not this perfectly clear that Christ's body was the antitype of the vail of the temple? Hence, when his body was offered up for the sins of the world, "the vail of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom,'' announcing the fact that his death on the cross gives us ''boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus," and "through the vail, that is to say, his flesh."

But it is clearly seen that only the inner vail is alluded to in the above passage. Of what then was the first vail a figure? We answer, Of Christ also. The access through the inner vail is into perfected holiness. But it is also through Christ that sinners have admittance into justification, the pardoned state. "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.'' Acts 13: 38. ''In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.'' Ephesians 1:7; also Colossians 1:14.

In Romans 5:1, 2 we have the antitype of both vails clearly set forth as Christ himself. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.'' Through Christ Jesus and by faith we enter into justification, and have peace with God. "By whom [the same Christ Jesus] we also have access [a second access] by faith into this grace wherein we stand." The first entrance into the temple of God is justification; the second is into the standing grace, or what the same apostle describes as the divine work of "establishing your hearts unblamable in holiness." 1st Thessalonians 3:13. So Christ is both the "author and finisher of our faith," the first and second vail of the house of God.

The vail of the temple, as we have seen, foreshadowed       the flesh or body of Christ. But there is a close relation between the literal body of Christ and his spiritual body, the church. Both are his body, and they are the same in moral character, pure and holy. In fact the Scriptures warrant the assertion that the church is substantially a continuation of Christ on earth, both in spirit and in flesh, only in an extended manifestation; for "he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." 1st Corinthians 6:17. And we are also "members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.'' Ephesians 5: 30. Therefore that which is a type of the physical body of Christ will also bear a typical relation to something in the church, his spiritual body. We have already seen that the inspired apostle hangs that beautiful vail in God's church between the grace of justification and that of entire sanctification. And, pointing to the rent that was made when Christ'' gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor," he says to his brethren in the holy place, Ye have ''boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.''

Here again we see that the sacred things of the legal sanctuary have their negative in the church of the Lord Jesus, the vail representing both the physical body of Christ, and the point of distinction and separation between holiness attained in regeneration, and perfected holiness in the second grace. Both Jerusalem and the temple were figures of the church. The wall about the former symbolized salvation. Isaiah 26:3; 60:18. Therefore so did the wall of the temple. Hence, says the Lord, ''I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.'' John 10:9.

    

THE GOLDEN PILLARS.

The beautiful curtains of the tabernacle were suspended upon pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold, and set in sockets of silver. The front end, or door of the tent, was hung on five of these gold covered pillars. Exodus 26:37. The fine linen vail which hung before the most holy place was mounted upon four, all covered in gold and set in silver. Exodus 26:32.

Hiram of Tyre cast for Solomon's temple two brass pillars of great dimensions. They were each eighteen cubits high, or twenty-four feet. "And a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about." They were then four cubits or six feet in diameter and eighteen feet in circumference. 1st Kings 7:15. Besides these there were many other pillars which supported the great structure of the temple. "He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was an hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars. And it was covered with cedar above upon the beams, that lay on forty-five pillars." 1st Kings 7:2, 3.

Now where shall we look for the antitype of these pillars? In heaven, or on earth? On going to Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas found three of them there in the character of James, Cephas, and John. "And when James, Cephas, and John who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision." Galatians 2:9. Not only were these three pillars, but they freely acknowledged Paul and Barnabas as their fellow peers in the true sanctuary or temple of God. Neither yet is the honored position of a pillar in the house of God confined to the apostles. Nay, but, "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which, cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.'' Revelation 3:12. Whosoever overcometh is made a pillar. Upon all who have overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, i. e., are sanctified wholly, the Lord fears not to place weighty responsibilities in his spiritual sanctuary. They become pillars, holding up the interests of Zion, and bearing upon their shoulders with Christ the weight of the temple. Upon Paul came daily the care of all the churches. Not only does the pillar denote strength, upholding, but the temple resting upon it keeps it steadfastly to its place. So we hear one of these pillars saying, "None of these things move me."

All overcomers are pillars; that is, all who are wholly sanctified, having loved not their lives unto the death. "And he shall go no more out," is established in Christ. "And I will write upon him the name of my God "(then he is sealed unto God forever), "and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which came down from God out of heaven." This, we learn in Hebrews 12: 22, 23, is the church of the first-born. So all the overcomers, the wholly sanctified and established in God, are pillars in his temple here on earth. Yea, the church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth. 1st Timothy 3:15. No doubt this language was derived from the typical sanctuary with its numerous pillars.

There is something beautiful in the figure of the pomegranates and lily work on the chapiters of the pillars of the temple. Chapiters mean crowns. So all God's overcomers, or pillars, are crowned with the fruits of holiness, and adorned with pure white lilies of the beautiful graces of holiness. Oh, who will be a pillar in the temple of God?

    

THE HOLY AND MOST HOLY PLACE.

The spiritual significance of these are already anticipated by what has been said of the two vails. They show two successive works of grace; the two apartments, the corresponding states resulting therefrom. If there were not two degrees of salvation, two planes of Christian experience, the two parts of the temple would find nothing corresponding therewith in the church. But the whole New Testament teaches the two distinct stages of divine grace in the '' spiritual house," in exact parallel with its shadow and figure. The       first disciples of Christ believed in him, and were born of God. John 1:12, 13. They were the Lord's. John 17: 9:10. Therefore they had the Spirit of Christ (Galatians 4:6); for ''if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Romans 8:9. Hence, they "followed him in the regeneration." Matthew 19:28.

And yet they were promised the gift of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, as a new and second experience. John 14: 26; John 15: 26; John 16: 7, 13. Christ prayed the Father to sanctify them. John 17:17. They received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2. They were then purified, sanctified entirely. Acts 15:8, 9; Romans 15:16. Hence, they first entered the holy place, or were justified, and subsequently passed on into the holiest of all; namely, were sanctified wholly.

The two successive degrees of divine grace are also seen in the Acts. Philip preached Christ to the city of Samaria (Acts 8:5), the people gave heed to the gospel (verse 6),. they "believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus," and "were baptized." verse 12. Even unclean spirits came out of many, and there was great joy in that city. Verse 7, 8. They had passed the first vail into justification, and as a second experience they subsequently received the Holy Spirit, the sanctifier. Verse 14-16. Here were then two experiences of divine grace, and salvation. And we read how the Lord commissioned Paul to preach the gospel, to open the eyes of the blind, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. See Acts 26:18. Here are again two successive entrances; first, through Christ into justification; second, through him into sanctification.

The Roman brethren were "among the called of Jesus Christ," and had a very commendable faith (Romans 1:6, 8), and yet the apostle longed to see them and impart unto them some spiritual gift, to the end they might be established. This he wished to do by preaching unto them the gospel, wherein "is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith," showing that the righteousness of God is attained by a second plane of faith.

The Corinthian brethren had been soundly converted (1st Corinthians 1:4-7), were babes in Christ, and yet carnal. 1st Corinthians 3:1. They were also reproved for sectish strife, subverting the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, and for other inconsistencies. Of all this they repented and cleared themselves. 2nd Corinthians 7: 8-11. They were then all clear in their first love again. Therefore the apostle wishes and commands their perfection in holiness (2nd Corinthians 7:1; 13: 9, 11); that is, he wished them to enter into that within the vail, into the holiest of all.

The Thessalonians "knew their election of God," had "received the Word in much affliction [persecution] with joy of the Holy Ghost," and had a very exemplary faith and zeal. 1st Thessalonians 1: 3-6. They had also stood firm in the Lord Jesus up to the time of the writing of that epistle unto them (1st Thessalonians 3:6, 7), yet they had not entered into the most holy state. Therefore the apostle prayed night and day, that God would "establish their hearts unblamable in holiness." 3:10, 13. "For, says he, "this is the will of God, even your sanctification." 4:3. "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." 5:23, 24. Here are clearly two measures of grace taught, corresponding with the holy and the most holy of that sanctuary, which was a shadow and figure of the true. One vail they had already passed, a second they were urged to enter. We will now pass to the epistle to the Hebrews. Here we have an inexhaustible mine of truth bearing directly on this subject. Perfection is the doctrine of this precious epistle from beginning to end, and, being addressed to Hebrews, it employs such illustrations and arguments as they were familiar with. In chapters 3 and 4 the spiritual counterpart of Egypt, the wilderness, and Canaan are clearly traced; and the converted Hebrews are described as being in the antitype wilderness. And they are warned not to follow the example of unbelief set by their ancient brethren, who failed to enter the promised land, but died in the wilderness. They were admonished to urgently press their way into holiness, the Canaan rest, which is now preached unto us by the gospel. Hebrews 4:1, 2. Yea, saith the apostle, "Let us labor [properly hasten] therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." 4:11. This gospel rest lay beyond their rudimentary experience of justification, and yet this side of heaven; for "we which have believed do enter into rest" (4:3), i. e., do now enter in.

'

'And we desire that every one of you do show the same       diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Hebrews 6:11, 12. The full assurance of hope is the summit of holiness; the inherited promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost. See Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4, 5; Galatians 3:16-18. This most holy place in the house of God, over which Christ is now high priest, they are further encouraged to enter in verses 17 to 20. Read it. There is a refuge for our souls, a hope set before us. To this refuge, says the apostle, we have fled to lay hold upon the hope. This refuge is the fold of Christ, the church of the living God. Unto this "lively hope," Peter says, we are begotten. But after entering the refuge and laying hold upon the hope which is an anchor to the soul, the same ''entereth into that within the vail.'' That is, being born again, born into God's church, we have hope, and the hope possessed enables us to enter into the holiest of all.

The same thing is taught in Hebrews 7:19. "The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God." Having the hope in us we enter into the very presence of God in the holiest of all. This is an exact parallel with 1st John 3:3: "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." First, possess the hope; second, enter perfection—pure even as Christ is pure—which is entering into that within the vail. And God is so specially solicitous that all his children should attain unto this most holy place that he, "willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath.'' The promise, we have seen, is the gift of the Holy Ghost, the sanctifier. Who are the heirs of that promise? Answer.—"If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Galatians 3:29. This is plain truth. First, we become heirs of the inheritance by giving ourselves to Christ and receiving the spirit of adoption; "For if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his." In other words, we are born into the divine family, by which we become legal heirs to the inheritance our heavenly Father has willed us: "This is the will of God, even your sanctification.'' 1st Thessalonians 4:3. "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Hebrews 10:10. So the promised inheritance of which we become heirs by being Christ's, and that which is found within the second vail, is entire sanctification, a state typified by the inner place of the first covenant temple.

In chapters 9 and 10 the tabernacle is set before them, and from it is drawn a precious object lesson on salvation. In chapter 9:1-3 the worldly tabernacle of the first covenant is described: the first apartment, which is called the sanctuary, and after the second vail "the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all." "Which was a figure for the time then present." verse 9. A figure of what? Answer.—"The figure of the true;" i. e., the true sanctuary. "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands.'' Verse 11. This all proves that the legal sanctuary was a figure of the true tabernacle by which Christ came.

Notice the language. Adventism teaches that Christ's tabernacle is in heaven, and that he did not enter it until after his ascension into heaven. But the Word says, "Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle." That is, he came into the world saving souls by his true tabernacle. As the sinning Israelite was required to bring a sin offering to the "worldly sanctuary," and the priests were to offer the same, and thereby "make an atonement for him," and then the law said, "It shall be forgiven him," so Jesus came into the world, built his own church, and to its altar invites sinners to approach, and by the blood and sacrifice of his greater and more perfect tabernacle he saves their souls. Remember his true sanctuary is associated with his coming into the world, and not with his ascension into heaven. This is beautifully seen in verses 13, 14.

"For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: [Here are the sacrifices, the blood, and the legal purification of the "figure of the true" tabernacle.] how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to       serve the living God?" Here is the sacrifice, the precious blood, and the "much more," the actual inner cleansing that takes place at the perfect tabernacle by which Christ came into the world to save lost men and women.

The first apartment of the legal tabernacle was called the "holy," and persons who confessed Christ, "the Apostle and High Priest of our profession," were called "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.'' Hebrews 3:1. This shows that they were in the holy of our High Priest's more perfect tabernacle. And after the writer of the Hebrew epistle had set forth the superior priesthood, covenant, tabernacle, sacrifice, blood and cleansing of the present dispensation, and showed how that "the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did,'' and commanded those in the "first principles of the doctrine of Christ" to "go on to perfection" (6:1), and announced the fact that "by one offering he [Christ] hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us" (10:14, 15), the apostle makes a forcible application of the whole lesson in these words: "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.'' Hebrews 10:19-22.

So we see clearly that the successive vails, the holy and holiest, the blood and sacrifices of the legal sanctuary, all foreshadow Jesus Christ, his church, and the process of salvation now carried on where Christ and sinners meet at the threshold of the church, and believers through their new-born hope pass on into the holiest, to that within the vail. How perfectly this explodes the foundation of the Advent sect. Instead of the sanctuary of Christ being in heaven, and only entered by him, the inspired apostle assured those "holy" (justified) brethren they "have therefore [because       Christ perfects forever them that are sanctified], brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus;" "through the vail, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near.'' If this does not teach that the blood and sacrifice of our High Priest admits us now and here into the holiest of his sanctuary, then language is of no use, and words convey no definite ideas.

But before they were eligible to this holiest of all, they had become ''brethren? were born into the family of God, and had their "hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and their bodies washed with pure water." This is equivalent to saying they had obtained a good conscience, and were justified and innocent before God.       Praise God for the perfect symbol of salvation found in the holy and most holy places of the worldly sanctuary of the first covenant! And everlasting thanksgiving and praises to the mediator of the new covenant, who has fulfilled this beautiful picture in us, by bringing us by his own blood into the holy, and then into the most holy place of his greater and more perfect tabernacle, the "house of God," "which is the church of the living God." The great truths of Revelation relating to uttermost salvation are always matters of mere speculation and opinion by all who have never entered into the secret of the Lord within the beautiful vail, and very generally their conclusions and applications woefully miss the mark. But to those who have fully obeyed the gospel, and gone on to perfection, or, in symbolic words, have entered into that within the vail—to all such, we say, these beautiful shadows in the law are interpreted by the light of God in their hearts, are positively known by an actual experience in their souls. The same fact holds good in every branch of knowledge that may be acquired by people and infallible tests. All that lies beyond our experience is involved in conjecture and mere speculation, but that which has been proved by actual test and experience becomes positive knowledge. Therefore, with meekness and godly reverence, we testify that, over sixteen years ago, we passed "into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his flesh." Therefore we speak from actual experience, and that which we have known and seen declare we unto you; and, withal, that only which the pure Word teaches.

    

THE BRAZEN ALTAR.

By reference to our cut of the tabernacle it will be seen that the brazen altar stood in the court. For a description of it we cite Exodus 27:1,2: "And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass." This was the altar of burnt offerings. In Exodus 30:18 we are told that the laver stood "between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar." Again we read: "And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. And thou shalt set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and shalt put water therein." Exodus 40:6, 7. This is all plain enough. The "tent of the congregation" means the holy or first apartment of the tabernacle. Both the altar of burnt offerings and the laver were before that first vail, which would be in the east end of the court, between its entrance and the first vail. But the laver was situated between the altar of burnt offerings and the tabernacle of the congregation, that is, nearest the first vail.

It might be well also to observe that there is another beautiful lesson in the antitype of the two rooms of that ancient house. While, as Brother Warner says, it typified twofold salvation, or two degrees of grace which we enter, it also typifies the justified and sanctified believers. The New Testament temple of God is composed of saved individuals "builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit"; hence the holy place typified the justified believer In fact, such is the holy place in the spiritual tabernacle, while the sanctified believer constitutes the holiest of all. Viewing it from this       standpoint, it will be seen that the antitype of all the furniture of the first room is locate^ in the hearts of justified believers, while that of the second room is in the hearts of the sanctified. H. M. R.

The court, we have seen, represents the position of convicted and penitent sinners. As therefore the Israelite who had sinned and done somewhat against the law of his God, brought his sin offering to the brazen altar within the court and thereby received an atonement for all his sin, and it was there forgiven him, so sinners now approach the church of God by repentance, and there they find an altar of mercy, where they offer themselves dead in trespasses and sins, and there they plead the merits of Christ's sacrifice and blood, the means of their acceptance with him; and as it was said to the Jew who brought a proper offering for his sins, so it is said to the penitent, "Thy sins are forgiven thee;" and "being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." In other words, we pass into the holy place of the house of God; for all who are saved become kings and priests unto God. In this particular the type and antitype correspond; as only the priests entered the temple of the first covenant, so all who are in the spiritual sanctuary of God are a royal priesthood. Further references will be made to the spiritual lessons in the brazen altar in connection with the golden altar, and in the priesthood of Jesus.

    

THE LAVER AND SEA.

''Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat: when they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord: so they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.'' Exodus 30:18-21. '' And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the looking-glasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." Exodus 38:8. Under the gospel the entire church is not only ''built up a spiritual house," but is also "a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.'' 1st Peter 2: 5. And as the priests were required to wash their hands and their feet at the laver before entering into the tabernacle, so no one can now enter the greater and more perfect tabernacle of Christ without the ''washing of regeneration." This we prove by the following facts. First, the disciples of Christ followed him in the regenerated state. Matthew 19:28. Second, regeneration is a ''washing.'' Titus 3: 5. Now by what had they been washed or regenerated? Third, the Lord himself answers and settles this question in John 15:3. "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.'' He also alluded to that laver as a figure of regeneration when he said, "Ye are clean through the word." You have come to the laver, or "bath of regeneration."—Emphatic Diaglott. So translating Titus 3: 5—and so passed into the holy place of the new covenant sanctuary.

But as we pass from the tabernacle to the temple, the laver is changed into a still more beautiful figure of the gospel of Christ. It was supplanted by "a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim; . . . and five cubits the height thereof, and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. And under it was the similitude of oxen.'' 2nd Chronicles 4:2, 3. "It stood upon twelve oxen, three       looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.'' Verse 4.

Now if all that pertained to that ancient sanctuary was a shadow of things to come in Christ's greater sanctuary, there is certainly some lesson of divine truth to be found in those twelve oxen. If the water of that laver and sea represented the gospel, then the oxen would naturally represent the bearers of the gospel. First, then the twelve oxen foreshadowed the twelve apostles, and likewise the whole living ministry of the gospel dispensation. But does God choose the ox as a symbol of his preachers? Indeed, their fidelity to their masters, obedience and endurance as patient toilers, gospel preachers do well in imitating. Speaking of the duty of supporting the ministry, the apostle Paul says, "It is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God care for oxen! or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written." The application of the figure is this, ''That they which, preach the gospel should live of the gospel." 1st Corinthians 9:9-14.

How beautiful this lesson! This true and humble animal is then a figure of God's ministers. As they were to have the privilege of eating corn when employed in treading out the same, so the ministry should have their needs supplied by those among whom they labor in the Lord. As the capacious water rested upon the similitude of oxen, so the water of life is borne to all the world by the true and humble ministers of the gospel of Christ. As the twelve oxen faced east, west, north, and south, so the messengers of divine mercy go forth in every direction "from the rivers to the ends of the earth." This exalted typical use of the ox, is, no doubt, referred to in Isaiah 32: 20: "Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass."

To sow beside all waters, evidently means to scatter the gospel seeds of life far and wide, to plant the saving truth of God everywhere in this broad earth, and to do this a man need not travel in person around the globe, but he can accomplish the glorious end, and inherit the blessing attached thereto, by sending thither the feet of the ox and the ass; namely, by providing the means to convey God's ministers to the ends of the earth, and thus by proxy sow beside all waters. The ass, another strong and enduring burden bearer, is included in the figure by the prophet. These two rather stupid appearing domestic animals, would hardly be accepted by the heady, haughty, self-sufficient (?) ministers of apostate religion as proper representatives of their exalted, empty dignity. And, in fact, there is no agreement between these Babylon functionaries and the humble servants of man, which have been chosen of       God as symbols of his ministry; because the former are chiefly ornamental, and the latter are wholly useful. The former set themselves up to be served by men, the latter are toiling servants of men. But the true and humble ministry of Jesus Christ, who make themselves the servants of men for their profit, and who are willing to abound in labors, and yet fare on but little, and that plain and simple, these we say, despise not their divinely chosen type, but earnestly pray God for grace to render them worthy of the same. Amen.

Taking it all together the laver was typical of the washing of regeneration effected by the gospel preached (John 15: 3), and by the blood of Jesus. Revelation 1: 5. "He hath washed us from our sins in his own precious blood." Having now taken our lessons from that which we find in the court, let us enter the first vail, or within the temple proper, and learn some of the mysteries of redemption that have been hidden there in the long ages of the past. First we come to the

    

TABLE OF THE SHEW-BREAD.

It was a gold covered table in the holy place, upon which was kept for sacrificial purpose ''the continual shew-bread.'' 2nd Chronicles 2:4. It was required to be kept fresh every sabbath. 1st Chronicles 9: 32. Now this, like everything else in the temple, was a shadow of some good thing in the sanctuary of Christ's priesthood. But where, again we ask, shall we look for its antitype, in heaven, or on earth? [This bread typified the spiritual food which the souls of the newly regenerated feast upon. Jesus said, "I am that bread of life." "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever'' John 6: 48, 51. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4); namely, new-born babes, which desire the sincere milk of the Word, that they may grow thereby. 1st Peter 2: 2. The old prophet speaks of it thus: "Thy words were found and I did eat them." "Eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight itself in fatness.'' Isaiah 55: 2. H. M. R.]

    

THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK.

This seven-branched golden lamp stood in the holy place. Hebrews 9:2. It is described as follows: ''And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick." Exodus 25:31-33. Observe it is called one candlestick. Though having seven branches, it was all one piece of beaten gold.

[This candlestick was a clear type of the light of regeneration. ''That ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." 1st Peter 2:9. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him." 1st John 5:1. "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light." 1st John 2:10. "Ye are all the children of light.'' 1st Thessalonians 5:5. "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.'' Ephesians 5: 8. Such are partakers of the inheritance "of the saints in light" (Colossians 1: 12), because the day star has arisen in their hearts (2nd Peter 1:19), Jesus "the light of the world." The lamp in that ancient room was made to burn continually. So the Lord has become "our everlasting light." The soul of the sinner is enveloped in darkness, but when such enter the holy place, their darkness is turned into light. Yea, their pathway becomes a shining light, which shines more and more unto the perfect day. H. M. R.]

    

THE GOLDEN ALTAR.

We have seen that before the first vail of the tabernacle, and just outside the entrance of the temple, there was located in the court the altar of burnt offerings, and the laver or sea. To this altar in the court the sinning Jew brought his offering and obtained pardon; and there, in the antitype sanctuary, Jesus meets the penitent sinner and forgives all his sins. The laver also represents the place of the "washing of regeneration." The altar in the' court represents the point of penitent surrender; the laver, that of the cleansing away of his sins. There is great accuracy in the order of their location, as surrender naturally precedes pardon. So the altar, the place of offering himself dead in sins, comes first, and the laver, where his sins are purged, comes next, and as a result he enters the fold of Christ.

Having now entered the holy place of the "worldly sanctuary," we find a second altar. This it is described and located: "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 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." Exodus 30:1-3, 6, 7. "And he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation before the vail." Exodus 40: 26.

Though this altar was much smaller than the one in the court, being only one cubit square, while the other was five cubits, it was far more precious, being all covered with gold. As the former altar was "put by the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation" (Exodus 40: 29), indicating that the sprinkled blood there admits into the holy place, so the altar of incense stood immediately before the second vail, showing that the perfect offering       there enters into that, within the vail, even into the most holy place. These two altars really represent Christ. As he is our salvation the whole figure of the way of salvation finds its fulfillment in him. Hence, he answered to the two vails, to the Passover lamb, and to the sacrifices of the tabernacle, generally to the high priest, and to many other things in the law.

He is the first altar, because it is only on Christ, his merits, and sacrifice, that the penitent sinner finds acceptance with God. He is also the golden altar in the holy place of the house of God. It, as well as the brazen altar, "shall be an altar most holy: whatsoever toucheth it is made holy;" an "altar that sanctifieth the gift." Matthew 23:19. The altar sanctifies the gift; and "Jesus Christ, that he might sanctify the people suffered without the gate." Is he not then our altar? Whatsoever toucheth it is made holy. Exodus 29: 37. "And as many as touched [him] were made perfectly whole.'' Matthew 14: 36. Bless his holy name! Oh, how beautiful and glorious those shadows of good things to come to those who have received the good things themselves, even the blessing of a pure heart through the blood of him who is both our sacrifice and high priest! The shadows were of the law. Hebrews 10:1. "The body is of Christ.'' Colossians 2:17.

Two altars in the "shadow of the true" sanctuary must denote two successive offerings of ourselves unto God in the process of our redemption. Do we find that idea in the new covenant way of salvation? Let us see. The first disciples of our Lord had believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. On him, as their altar of mercy, they had found favor with God, and the pardon of sins that were past. But were they required to make themselves a second offering to God? Yea, ''For,'' saith the Lord, "every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltiness, wherewith will ye season it?

Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.'' Mark 9: 49, 50. Just prior to those words the Savior taught the disciples the strong doctrine of having their "right eye plucked out," the right hand and the right foot severed. This has reference to the destruction of inbred sin, that old nature that we brought with us into the world, and which is a part of man's being as a fallen creature, just as much as are the most precious members of our physical body. This inbred sin inclines to make certain objects of unholy affections as dear to us, and as painful to cut off, as the members of our natural body. Moreover it is the source of offense, an occasion of stumbling, and must therefore be destroyed in order to the reign of perfect peace within, and one with another.

But how will it be accomplished? The Savior thus explains the process. Namely, "For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt." "Have salt in yourselves." Does not this clearly imply that these disciples should make themselves a sacrifice, and that in so doing they would be ''salted with fire,'' and ''have salt in themselves?" And, true to the promise, on the day of Pentecost they were salted with the fire of the Holy Spirit. But did they then make themselves an offering and sacrifice to God? We will prove that they did. Peter, who was one of that number, testifies that God put no difference between them that received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and the Gentiles who purified their hearts by faith at the house of Cornelius, "Giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us.'' Acts 15: 7-9. What is the important work wrought by the reception of the Holy Spirit? It "purified their hearts"; namely, "being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.'' Romans 15:16. But upon what condition were they accepted and sanctified? Namely, that they had to make themselves an offering, a sacrifice to God. ''That the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost." And as there was no difference between their sanctification and that or the hundred and twenty who received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, they also became a sacrifice, acceptable unto God, as their Lord and Master had taught them in Mark 9. But under the law the idea of       sacrifice is inseparable from an altar, and so we see that the two altars in the figure of the true sanctuary are a perfect shadow of the two consecrations, which admit, first, the sinner into justification; second, the believer into perfect holiness.

These two distinct offerings are both seen in Romans 6: 19: "For as ye have yielded your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.'' They had yielded their members once, when in the condition of sin and iniquity, and now, since by a profession of Christ, they had become "servants to righteousness," they were required to yield their members unto holiness. It is true the above words are quite ambiguous, and for this reason we would not cite them as proof of the above position, were it not that other translations render the passage much more clear. The Emphatic Diaglott, for instance, makes it very plain. "For as you presented your members enslaved to impurity and iniquity, so now present your members bound for righteousness for sanctification." Two moral states are described, and in both conditions a presentation or offering of themselves is taught. In the       state of bondage to sin, they had already presented themselves, and of course received pardon. The second presentation was now urged upon them, and the object was '' for sanctification." The word "present" in both instances is from parastesati, and is the same as is used in Romans 12:1, where the apostle beseeches them again: "Present your bodies a living, sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." A transformation and renewal is the result of this offering of self unto God a living sacrifice. The renewal is seen in Titus 3: 5 to be subsequent to regeneration, and by the Holy Spirit; and in Colossians 3:10 and Ephesians 4: 23, 24, the renewal restores the soul in the image of God, which is righteousness and true holiness. The fact that the brethren were to present themselves a sacrifice already "holy," proves that they had touched the first altar, which also makes holy in the sense of justifying.

Now we confidently affirm that, since the apostle as well as Christ taught that the brethren, who were already justified, should present themselves as a sacrifice to God, it proves that there are two offerings of ourselves to God; first as a sinner obtaining pardon, second as a believer unto entire sanctification. And, furthermore, since this second consecration is repeatedly termed an offering, a sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, it is good evidence that these two successive offerings of ourselves were foreshadowed by the two altars which stood before the first and second vail. Why should the New Testament employ the same language in describing these two consecrations that the Old does in       speaking of the sacrifices and offerings of the temple, if those sacrifices were not shadows and figures of the latter?

Again, we ask, how are we to trace the relation between type and antitype in the old and new covenants, if not by       observing when the elements of the new are clothed in language descriptive of their correspondents in the law of shadows? For instance, "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.'' Is this not a sufficient evidence to all Bible readers that the Lamb of God was the substance of the paschal shadow? In the same way the antitype of a hundred things is intimated to us in the holy Book. So likewise, when our giving of self and all to God "for sanctification" is called an "offering up" (Romans 15:16), a "sacrifice" (Mark 9: 49), "a living sacrifice" (Romans 12:1), surely nothing more is needed to establish the fact that it is the antitype of some of those sacrifices of the legal sanctuary which were a figure for the time then present. Other scriptural proofs might be added, but they will come in and testify when we follow our High Priest in his holy and most holy ministration. Having now applied the blood to our hearts at the golden altar, and entered into that within the vail, our hearts and minds are awed in solemn reverence before the visible presence of the holy God of heaven. Everything with which our eyes here meet impresses the mind that this is the dwelling place of the great Jehovah. In the midst of this most sacred inner temple stands

    

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT.

Thus it is described: "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." Exodus 25: 10,11.

To an ark is always attached the idea of safety, of protection, and preservation. And so all the epistles urge the converts on to perfection, or entire sanctification, as the most sure refuge of the soul, as the place where men are able to stand against all the wiles of the devil, and triumph over all the billows of sin. Thanks be to God       for this place of the divine ark, where "we are dead and our lives are hid with Christ in God." On Christ our golden altar we died to sin, and then emerging into the holiest, which is filled with the divine presence, we are necessarily enveloped in him.

It is called the ark of the covenant, doubtless because the tables of the "first covenant" were deposited in it. But that covenant, as U. Smith has admitted, is a type of the new covenant. Therefore according to the figure, we do not reach the place of the new covenant written in our heart until we enter the holiest of the true sanctuary, which the Lord pitched. And, true to the shadow, we read, '' For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them." Hebrews 10:14-16.

By his one offering the "High Priest over the house of God," "perfects forever them that are sanctified"; and of this perfection "the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us." So it is an attainment in this life, and also all who possess the same know it. Moreover, when the Holy Spirit sanctifies the heart and witnesses to that fact, he also writes the new covenant of our God in our minds, and puts it in our hearts. So the covenant was hid in the holiest of the shadow, and in the true sanctuary the new covenant is also written in our hearts as we enter its most holy place. Yea, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." Psalms 119: 11. Here again we see the harmony of type and antitype, of the shadow and its substance.

    

THE MERCY SEAT, AND CHERUBIMS OF GLORY.

"And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee." Exodus 25:17, 21. "And he made the mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half was the length thereof, and one cubit and a half the breadth thereof." Exodus 37: 6. "And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward, the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel." Exodus 25:18-20, 22. [As observed in the foot-note, under "The Holy and Most Holy place," the holy of holies in the New Testament sanctuary is sanctified Christians; therefore, in some particular, the antitypes of       the furniture of that inner room are located in the hearts of those who have reached the plane of perfect holiness. The mercy seat was located upon the ark of the covenant, beneath the cherubims of glory. Upon this       mercy seat God sat, and communed with the people. "And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims." Exodus 25:22. "The Lord of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims." 1st Samuel 4: 4. "Thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth." Psalms 80: 1. "I will appear in a cloud upon the mercy seat." Leviticus 16: 2. "He sitteth between the cherubims.'' Psalms 99:1.

From the foregoing scriptures we clearly learn that God sat upon the mercy seat in that inner court. It was the place of his rest, and there he communed with the high priest and people. Since we who are sanctified compose the holiest of all in the spiritual house, God's dwelling place must be in our hearts. But does God dwell in the hearts of his people? Thus saith the Lord, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.'' 2nd Corinthians 6:16. Ye are the temple of God; ... for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." 1st Corinthians 3:16, 17. '' That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.'' Ephesians 3:17. " Christ liveth in me.'' Galatians 2: 20. " The Spirit of God dwelleth in you." 1st Corinthians 3:16. Thus we see the perfect antitype of the worldly sanctuary again fulfilled in the church of God. The triune God now dwells in his people, and thus they are filled "with all the fullness of God." Since God dwells in our hearts we "commune with our own hearts," and are filled with his glory. When God came down into that inner room he filled it with his glory.       "Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." Exodus 40:34,35. "Now when       Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house." 2nd Chronicles 7:1.

How wonderfully this prefigures the fullness of perfect redemption, "the salvation of Jesus Christ with eternal glory;" the "joy unspeakable and full of glory." And this glory is found within the second vail, in the holiest of all, for "we all with open face [the vail parted] beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2nd Corinthians 3:18. "And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.'' John 17:22. Oh, the unspeakable fullness of glory—the eternal weight of glory—how it thrills this soul of mine! That glory that once so filled the temple in Jerusalem that the priest could not minister now fills this temple of mine. The great God, whom the heavens can not contain—his glory which makes that world glitter, now fills this humble heart. Dear reader, this is yours to enjoy, and without it, you will fall in the great day of his coming and judgment. But while we have now considered this phase of the spiritual fulfillment, there are many other precious       lessons as follows. H. M. R.]

A seat denotes a place of rest. There was no seat, lounge, or bed, in the holy place; nothing that suggested a place to tarry, to turn aside and repose. Nay, entering that first vail, a solemn charge greets our ears: "Go on to perfection." That imperative command directs the eye straight forward to the golden altar, and to the rent in the vail. "Go on unto perfection.'' Hebrews 6:1. " And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Verse 11,12. But what is the full assurance, or crowning point of our hope in the way of salvation? Answer.— "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail." Verse 19. That is, all attainments below entire sanctification are transition grounds, and no place to rest or settle down upon. In verse 17 that within the vail is said to be that "promise" to which the seed of Abraham were heirs. That was the land of Canaan. Genesis 16: 3. But this numerous seed of Abraham are a spiritual seed. See Romans 9:7, 8; 4:16; Galatians 3: 7, 29. And the seed to whom the promise was made being spiritual, the promise itself must be a spiritual inheritance; for God never yet gave any man the literal land of Canaan because he was "Christ's." By reference to Acts 20:32; 26:18; Ephesians 1:10, 18; Colossians 1:12; Galatians 3:14, we find that the promised inheritance is the full possession of the Holy Spirit, which is the wholly sanctified state. This line of precious truth, here but briefly introduced, opens up the antitypical meaning of Egypt, the wilderness and Canaan. The first denotes the thraldom of sin; the second, the babe state of justification; and the third, entire sanctification; while the passage of the Red Sea and Jordan are figures of two successive and divine works of grace, corresponding with the first and second vails of the tabernacle. Now the wilderness, or babe state, where inbred sin is not destroyed, and therefore strife and division likely to arise, and which is the plane of all sect confusion, the prophet says "is not your rest"; therefore "arise ye and depart." Micah 2:10.

Using the wilderness and Canaan in their spiritual light, and beholding the Hebrew Christians yet in the antitype       wilderness, the author of that epistle cries aloud and warns them not to act out the figure of literal Israel, who, when they heard the orders to go over and possess the land "did provoke" God by disobeying. Therefore, "To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation." Hebrews 3:15. "Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." Hebrews 4:1. "Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.'' Hebrews 4:11. It was a rest they had! not yet found in the holy place, for they were "holy brethren." Hebrews 3:1. Nor is       it that which is reserved in heaven for us: "For we which have believed do enter into rest." 4:3. It is a present experience, and the entire epistle points to its goal in perfection through the sanctifying spirit, and the all-cleansing blood of Christ. Oh, blessed ''mercy seat" I Oh, blissful rest from all inward sin, from all disturbing foes! Not only does this rest denote pure, deep inward tranquility, but it is the summit of perfected holiness, the consummation of salvation in the freedom from all sin and unrighteousness. While our knowledge and wisdom, the graces of holiness, and our usefulness, are still susceptible of continual enlargement, the work of our deliverance from sin is consummated: "For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." Here then the redeemed soul sits down on the "mercy seat" with Christ, and is thus hid with Christ in God, forever to enjoy God, and to adore his infinite mercy in both washing us from our sins, and destroying the inborn evil nature out of our entire being, and filling all with his own holy nature. Oh, what rest, what boundless rest we here have found! Yea, it is even God's own rest, as we shall see in connection with the cherubims that stand upon it.

These cherubims seem to have been made of pure gold. But after the temple was built others were made for the "inner house of God" that were much larger. They were made of olive trees, and overlaid with gold, as we see in the following description: "And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high. And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub: and five cubits the other wing of the cherub, from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits. And he set the cherubims within the inner house: and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house. And he overlaid the cherubims with gold." 1st Kings 6: 23, 24, 27, 28. The same dimensions are given them in 2nd Chronicles 3:10-13. In the above scripture they were placed "within the inner house"; in Chronicles they were placed "in the most holy house." Just think of the awful grandeur of these golden angels. Their stature ten cubits, or fifteen feet. Their wings each five cubits, or seven and one-half feet, extending north and south from the center of the most holy, even to the wall thereof.

The Scriptures forcibly impress our mind that these cherubims, or symbolized angels, were the visible tokens of the invisible God. Heaven is both the place of God's throne and the abode of angels. So to us God and the angels are associated together. Both God and angels are spirits; but infinite wisdom has never given any form or figure to denote the Divine Being, lest men should worship the mere shape by which God was represented to them. But God gave men visible expression of angelic being, and associates his invisible presence with the same; hence, we frequently read of the ''angel of the Lord." And speaking of his children, thus saith God: "In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old." Isaiah 63:9. He the Most High, "redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old:" and yet it is recorded that the "angel of his presence saved them." So God and the angel of the Lord are inseparably associated. God saved Israel, but angels are the chosen heralds and tokens of his presence. How often, even in these days, have angels appeared to holy saints, especially when nearing the celestial world; and in all such instances the glory of God and his presence was manifest in their consciousness, while only angels appeared to their vision. David thus testifies: "The Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. O taste and see that the Lord is good." Psalms 34:6-8. Here the angel of the Lord and the Lord himself are mingled together. "The angel of the       Lord encampeth round" his people. And again he saith, "I will encamp about mine house." Zechariah 9: 8. Yea, "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even forever'' Psalms 125: 2.

Oh, for the wisdom that cometh from above to set forth "the beauty of the Lord," and the glory of his most holy temple! How shall we speak of thy very sacred and precious presence, and outspread wings of love and mercy, which our soul hath indeed found and experienced within thy awful inner church? Truly, O Lord! our inner man can behold and enjoy far more of thyself, and of thy heavenly truth, than the poor speech of our outer man can express.

These angelic similitude’s which spread forth their great wings in the holiest place were the tokens of the divine presence. A few more scriptures make this plain. "Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings.'' Psalms 17: 8. "How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings." Psalms 36: 7.

Where else would David get the idea of the "shadow of thy wings," if he did not get it from the shadow cast by the golden angels of his presence in the holiest place? For "the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings''; and as a result'' they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house ['which is the church of the living God']; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures." Surely David had here an inspired glimpse of the root and fatness, "the riches of the glory of his [Christ's] inheritance in the saints." Jesus told the Jews that, had they harkened unto him then had their peace flown as a river. But thank God!'' Unto us who believe he is precious." He is rivers of peace, "rivers of divine pleasure" in our hearts. Only the wholly sanctified filled with the Spirit enjoy the ecstatic river of pleasures, and abundant satisfaction described above. And so David's words direct our minds right into the holiest of Christ's "greater and more perfect tabernacle," where we trust under the shadow of his wings, beautifully symbolized by the wings of the golden       cherubims in the worldly sanctuary. And, bless the Lord, O my soul! we are "abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house,'' and the '' river of thy pleasures.'' For the Lord hath said, "My peace give I unto you," "My joy I give unto you." Amen. Lord, thou hast even thus dealt bountifully with thy servants.

"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he tide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.'' Psalms 27:4, 5. "Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge." Psalms 57:1. " Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.'' Psalms 31: 20. "I will abide in thy tabernacle forever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah." Psalms 61:4. Here again is prophetic speech. Under the shadowy wings that were spread forth in the legal tabernacle only the high priest could enter." " Also that tabernacle passed away. But here is another tabernacle that shall abide forever, the greater and more perfect one of this dispensation, where are the wings of God's own love and mercy spread, and where, according to the above prediction, we may all take refuge.

"Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice." Psalms 63: 7. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Psalms 91:1. "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler." Psalms 91:4. Oh how precious these words! To whatever extent-they were realized by David, they surely have their more perfect fulfillment in the most holy place of the new covenant house of God. "His truth shall be thy shield and buckler." "But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Yea, he is the truth and we "are complete in him." The secret place of the Most High, undoubtedly,       had reference to the holy presence of God "within the vail," into which we have fled to take refuge. That the language was drawn from the shadowy sanctuary of the law, there is no doubt; but that its real fulfillment is in the inner temple of the spiritual house of God is an evident fact, because no one was allowed to abide in the inner chamber of the earthly structure. Only one day in the entire year could a human being enter there, and then but one man. But thank God! we can dwell forever in the secret of his presence, and abide under the shadow of his wings. Does not this prove that the cherubims which spread their wings of gold in that temple, which has perished, foreshadowed the presence of the holy one of Israel in the midst of his "lively stone" temple, which shall endure forever? Behold, our God has come with "healing in his wings," and he has suddenly entered his temple, and shall dwell in the midst of his people forever, and be their God, and they shall be his people. Amen.'

We have said that the presence of God was associated       with, and betokened by the cherubims. Let us more fully prove the fact, and also gather what that preaches to us.

"And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him, then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubims: and he spake unto him." Numbers 7:89. He heard a voice upon the mercy seat from between the cherubims. Passing to the next verse we read: "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,'' etc. So it was the voice of the Lord that was heard from off the mercy seat, between the cherubims. Is that where God dwelt? "So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims.'' 1st Samuel 4:4. " The ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims.''       2nd Samuel 6: 2.

Here are three scriptures that show that God dwelt upon the mercy seat, even between the cherubims. Now what does all this foreshadow? Namely, the place in the true sanctuary where we enter into his own rest; for, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.'' But how do we reach that secret place of God's rest? We have ''boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his flesh.'' Through the offering of his body and the application of his blood we enter the holiest of the "true sanctuary." "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin;" therefore the holiest place of God's rest into which we enter is heart purity; and only they that are dead with Christ, "dead indeed to sin" and "free from sin," are "hid with Christ in God." "There [between the cherubims] was the hiding of his power." And "Christ is the wisdom of God, and the power of God." So there was the hiding-place of Christ, and we are "hid with Christ in God." So where God rested in the worldly sanctuary, and continues, to rest in the true tabernacle, "which the Lord pitched and not man," we also enter into his rest. "And to whom sware he, that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?" "Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." Hebrews 3:18; 4:1. So we are to enter into the rest of him who "dwelt between the cherubims"; yea, enter now (Hebrews 4: 3) ; and this rest is our entire sanctification or perfection. This positively proves that the holy place of the golden cherubims was not a type of a, literal structure up in heaven into which only Christ entered, and that not until A. D. 1844.

What a striking picture of the saving presence of our glorious High Priest in the house of God we see in Exodus 25:20, 21—"And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee." "And then I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony." Verse 22.

A wholly sanctified church is the chosen dwelling place of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And where it is assembled, with God thus in the midst, is the most propitious spot on earth for a sinner to seek God. While it is true that men may seek and find mercy anywhere, it is also true that they "shall come bowing down at the soles of thy feet" It is also true that a convicted and truly       penitent soul naturally inclines to the holy people for help in seeking God. God is in the midst of them. There his salvation shines forth, and why should they not be helped there to find his favor more than elsewhere?

So that ancient holy place, where God dwelt between the cherubims, and communed with his priests, represented the state of perfected holiness, the rest of God, into which we enter and have fellowship and communion with him. And the "mercy seat" and "throne of grace" were so named because in the midst of the holy people of God is the most gracious place for sinners to bow and seek mercy from God, and where his gracious voice is heard speaking the pardon of all their sins, and where their redeemed souls rise from the bondage of guilt to reign on the "throne of grace"; and where the divine wings of infinite love, mercy, and protection are always spread over those that abide in the hiding-place of his mighty keeping power. Oh, bless God forever and ever!

Once more while the golden angels betoken the divine presence in his church, another glorious truth was thereby symbolized. And here we remind the reader that the two angelic symbols that stood upon the ends of the mercy seat were not the only cherubic wings that hovered about that secret place. They were woven in the curtains of the tabernacle. "And every wise-hearted man among them that wrought the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work made he them.'' Exodus 36:8.

Their celestial wings adorned the beautiful vail of the tabernacle. "And he made a vail of blue, and purple, and       scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubims made he it of cunning work." Their cunningly-wrought figures also appeared on the vail of the temple. "But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.'' 2nd Corinthians 3:14. Upon the walls of the temple without and within, these heavenly bodies were skillfully carved round about the entire building. "And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without." 1st Kings 6:29. "He overlaid also the "house, the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubims on the walls." 2nd Chronicles 3: 7. Holy angels also guarded the entrance of that wonderful gold lined temple: they were carved upon the doors. '' The two doors also were of olive tree; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees. So also made he for the door of the temple posts of olive tree, a fourth part of the wall. And the two doors were of fir tree: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. And he carved thereon cherubims and palm trees and open flowers: and covered them with gold fitted upon the carved work." 1st Kings 6:32-35.

Thus all around, without and within that ancient abode of God, the similitude of heavenly beings greeted the eye. So in treading its sacred courts the throng of celestial wings that silently hovered around must have impressed the mind with the feeling that a person was moving in the midst of the society of heaven. What, we ask, was all this to image forth in the true sanctuary of God? In a very few words the inspired writer of the epistle to the Hebrews answers this question. "But ye are come to ... an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven," " and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.''

So in the new-covenant church of the Lord Jesus, we have come to "an innumerable company of angels." The kingdom that Christ set up on earth is repeatedly called the "kingdom of heaven." The church is the bride, the Lamb's wife, the new Jerusalem which cometh down from God out of heaven. See Leviticus 21st chapter. The household of God is all one family in heaven and earth. See Ephesians 3:15. This brings us into fraternal union with all the angels in heaven. All angels are holy; Jesus is prince of the angels. Both are on the same moral plane of holiness. And "both he [Christ] that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one.'' Hebrews 2:11. Brought into oneness with Christ, we are one with all the angels of heaven. When God brought his Son into the world, he gave orders: "Let all the angels of God worship him." Hebrews 1: 6. And saith the apostle," We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men." 1st Corinthians 4:9. In short, we would say that the Holy Spirit dispensation restores man back to the plane of the divine image, to the plane of the       holiness of God and all angels, and thus restores him to the society of God and the angels in heaven. Hence the great mystery of God's will, which was hid in the ages gone by, he has now made known to us; namely,'' That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.'' Ephesians 1:10. And the apostle continues,'' In whom also we have obtained an inheritance.'' Christ does not save men on earth to a lower plane than heaven itself. Hence, all things gathered into Christ, both in heaven and on earth, are gathered into one. Therefore his kingdom is the kingdom of heaven. The reign and spirit, and life and righteousness of heaven extended to earth,       and all in its glorious holy mount are in perfect harmony and fellowship and communion with heaven—with all the holy angels whose abode is about the throne of God. And God's church, being one family with the angels of heaven, who 'are all ministering spirits unto the heirs of salvation' (Hebrews 1: 14), was strikingly typified by the earthly temple which was everywhere adorned with the heavenly cherubims. So the temple with its many shadowing angelic wings, which was a figure for the time then present, finds its perfect antitype in the church of the first-born, which has "come to an innumerable company of angels." Amen.

But now let us look within the sacred ark, and receive what instructions are there deposited for us. First there are the tables of the covenant. Hebrews 9:4. But having called attention to these in connection with the ark of the covenant, we will proceed to open

    

THE GOLDEN POT OF MANNA.

''And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations.'' Exodus 16: 33. "Wherein was the golden pot that had manna.'' Hebrews 9: 4 After the children of Israel departed out of the land of Egypt they soon found themselves in an uncultivated       wilderness. And they were scarcely through praising God for their miraculous deliverance from Pharaoh, when they began to forebode starvation, and to murmur against Moses and against God, forgetting that he who had opened the waters for their escape could also miraculously feed them. The Lord rebuked their sin and sent them bread from heaven. "And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat." Exodus 16: 14, 15.

Here is an entirely new article of food; something never eaten in Egypt. It was something directly given them from God, and "the taste of it was like wafers made with honey." Verse 31. This manna evidently refers to the joys of justification and the spiritual food the justified feast upon, as its spiritual substance or antitype. It had to be gathered fresh every morning; for, with the exception of the sabbath, it spoiled if they attempted to keep it over for use the second day; all of which suggested the idea that it was a mere temporary provision, and not the permanent food. "They did eat manna until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan," "until they came to a land inhabited."

The very first time the manna fell about the camp of Israel, the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron to "fill an omer of it to keep for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness"; "And lay it up before the Lord." "So Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept." Exodus 16:32, 33, 34. Now if all these things were a "shadow," "a figure of the true" sanctuary, and that is the church of the living God, there must be something therein which serves as an antitype of this omer of manna. Not until the deep mysteries of the kingdom of heaven were unveiled to John's vision on the isle of Patmos was the key given to this figure. "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.'' Revelation 2:17.

They who are sanctified wholly in Christ Jesus, and illuminated by the Spirit perceive that all these promises made to the over-comers in the church are fulfilled in the glorious experience and graces of perfected holiness. The manna that fell in the wilderness represented the joys of justifying grace. But it was a very un-enduring provision; it very quickly spoiled, and had to be gathered again. So justification is not the establishing grace; it is a mere transition ground. While yet in this wilderness or babe state, men's happiness is much like the sunshine and shadows of an April day. The consciousness of pardon and son-ship often pours down its golden sunshine in the soul, and brings it happy hours; but the presence of the old evil nature in turn rises up as a cloud over the spiritual horizon. But the manna that was carried into the holiest and laid up there was preserved by the power of God: it did not spoil. So when justification is carried forward into entire sanctification, thank God, its joys endure forever. "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches: To him that over-cometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone." White denotes holiness—purity; a stone is a solid enduring substance. This also pictures the everlasting bliss of holiness. "And in that stone a new name written;" Christ in the new experience—Christ our sanctification. "Which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it.'' How true! how true! surely no man knows either the grace of justification, or the glory of holiness, saving he that receiveth it in his heart by experience. The over-comer is blessed with "hidden manna.'' Yes, holiness is a hidden treasure. '' Hid from the eyes of the wise and prudent." Luke 10: 21. It is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen (Job 28: 7); namely, that which no unclean spirit can take in and enjoy. Paul said,       "We speak wisdom among them that are perfect.'' Of course he would preach perfect holiness to those in the experience, for they always appreciate such preaching; while to the unsanctified Corinthians he could not speak "as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ." 1st Corinthians 3:1.

But what was the wisdom that the apostle preached to the perfect? He thus describes it: "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory." 1st Corinthians 2:7. This hidden wisdom is nothing less than the hidden manna; that with which he fed the perfect. He said he spoke wisdom—the hidden wisdom among them that are perfect. But the perfect are the wholly sanctified (Hebrews 10:14); and the sanctified are those who have entered '' into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say his flesh." Hebrews 10:19,20. So then God gives the over-comers to eat of the hidden manna, by bringing them into the hidden place, into "the secret place of his pavilion." "There was the hiding of his power." Bless God! We are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God—hid from all danger; therefore in vain have the wicked "taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones." Psalms 83:3.

The over-comers eat of the hidden manna. But what is it to be an over-comer? First, "Who is he that over-cometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" 1st John 5:5. Yea, "Whatsoever is born of God over-cometh the world.'' 1st John 5: 4.

Overcomes what? "The world." "Overcomes evil with good." Romans 12:21. Overcomes evil spirits. "And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God," "is the spirit of antichrist." "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them." 1st John 4: 3, 4. Overcome the devil himself. Revelation 12:11.

How do they overcome? "This is the victory that over-cometh the world, even our faith." 1st John 5:4. "And they overcame him [the dragon power] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.'' Revelation 12:11.

When do they overcome? All the above scriptures clearly answer, Now; here in this world. They overcome by faith, and "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Romans 10:17. Now it is in this world that the gospel is preached, and not in the next. So we believe now and here, and overcome the world while here in the world.

We overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of our testimony. But it is here that that blood was shed, and only here in probation can its virtues be applied to the heart; and as for our testimony, surely it would overcome nothing in heaven, where there is no evil to overcome. But all the martyrs and saints of God have overcome the world, the flesh and the devil by confessing Christ before their persecutors, and in the face of wicked men and tempting devils, "resisting him steadfastly in the faith." Finally, to be an over-comer we must lay down our very lives. Not only the martyrs, but every sanctified soul must "love not their lives unto the death." " For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."       "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.'' Romans 6:11. It is a fact that only '' he that is dead is free from sin.'' And this does not mean people whose bodies lie in their graves. But the apostle adds, "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.'' Romans 6:7,8. Yea, we that are alive in our bodies have already lost our lives in becoming over-comers.

Now this whole process of reaching the plane of eternal triumph is nothing more nor less than the work of our entire sanctification. We overcome by faith, and we are sanctified by faith. Acts 26:18. We overcome by the blood of Christ. "Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate." Hebrews 13:12. Only a believer who is born of God can become an over-comer; and no person can be wholly sanctified without being born again. To become an over-comer we must love not our lives to the very death, and the same conditions must be met in order to obtain entire sanctification. We must "render our bodies a living sacrifice unto God," in order to prove the perfect and acceptable will of God. "And this is his will even our sanctification."

So when we compare spiritual things with spiritual, and interpret truth by the light of truth, we arrive at the understanding that the promise to eat of the hidden manna is a participation of all the blessedness found in the grace of entire sanctification. Since, as we have proved, the holiest place of our present sanctuary is the       grace of entire sanctification, the manna hidden therein must mean the rich blessing of entire sanctification. How wonderfully all the precious truth of God links together. To be an over-comer and to be wholly sanctified are one and the same thing. But sanctification was typified by the holiest place of the first covenant: there also the golden pot of manna was hidden away. And Christ, speaking under the new covenant, says he will give him that over-cometh, him that enters into perfect holiness, to eat of the hidden manna; namely, the blessedness found in the holiest of the true sanctuary.

That the privilege of eating this hidden manna is not deferred until we reach heaven is evident from the fact that we have boldness to enter there now; and, in fact, "we that believe do enter in," and do feast upon the precious bread of heaven. The hidden manna is identical with "the hidden wisdom," and Paul already preached that among them that were perfect. Yes, even to the perfect; for they only have the promise of the hidden manna; and the Lord continues to fulfill his promise to thus feast the over-comers by his sanctified ministry, as well as directly by his Word and Spirit.

Again we call attention to an important point of analogy in this, that the golden pot was filled with the manna that first fell, so no person can enter the holiest place unless he possesses "his first love." Nothing but the first manna was brought into the holiest place, and nothing but that same clear justification that was experienced when first our sins were washed away will pass into perfected holiness. If that has become diminished or sullied, there must first be a "cleansing of ourselves," as in the case of the Corinthians. Repentance of all subversions of the ordinances, sectism, or any other inconsistency will restore the first manna, after which we can pass on into perfection. See 2nd Corinthians 7: 8-11.

One more point of beautiful spiritual truth connected with this lesson we must not pass by. While the children of Israel were yet in Egypt they lived off the natural products of the earth; but in the wilderness they were fed by supernatural means, by bread from heaven. And when they at last reached the land of corn and wine, their wants were again supplied abundantly from the natural products of the land. Just so the sinner lives in and practices sin as the natural outflow of his depraved mind and heart. The justified urge their way on in the service of God, often doing duty in direct opposition to their remaining unsanctified nature. It is a fact that their obedience to God is largely against natural inclinations, and is stimulated into action by the aid of powerful motives, such as the desire to get to heaven, etc. But when he reaches the land of spiritual Beulah, having died to sin, and cast off the old Adam nature in the Jordan of death, and having now put on the perfect divine nature, his service to God becomes perfectly free,       natural and spontaneous. The sinner serves sin naturally, drifting at ease in the tide of a fallen or second nature. The justified, by the help of the implanted grace, serve God across the grain of that fallen nature. And the sanctified wholly serve God naturally; i. e., being restored to this first or original nature of holiness and sweetly moving along upon the crystal tide of Heaven's love and peace. Bless the Lord, O my soul! Last in the ark remains to be studied,

    

Aaron's Rod That Budded.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of their fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou every man's name upon his rod. And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers. And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you. And it shall come to pass, that the man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you. And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. And Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness. And it came to pass that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds." Numbers 17:1-8. "And the Lord said unto Moses, Bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not." Numbers 17:10.

That wonderful almond rod was deposited in the ark according to the above directions, and there preserved. Hebrews 9:4. It appears that it was known that some one must be chosen from among the tribes to be high priest. And their unsanctified hearts vied with each other for the honor of this high office, and this jealousy and unholy rivalry actually broke out in the wicked murmurings in the camp. So the all-wise God put an end to this murmuring by the test with the rods, as above stated, making choice of his high priest by the manifestation of a miracle. It is marvelous how everything in this inner temple reflected the glory and beauty of holiness.

Two beautiful lessons may be drawn from the above miracle. First, Aaron's rod was a mere dry stick, perhaps a walking-cane. It had been cut off from its trunk, and so, of course, was dead and fruitless. But being brought into the most holy place, and placed in the ark of the covenant, in one short night, behold, it revived, put forth leaves and blossoms, and actually bore almonds. And so the man who, like his master, is accounted but a "root out of dry ground," but a dead stick, cut off from society, persecuted, and supposed to be utterly killed and ruined by the vilest slanders, yet if he be actually in the holiest place of the '' house of God, which is the church of the living God," and really hid away in the golden ark of the testimony, and covered with the wing3 of God's presence, behold, his heart is still fresh and verdant with joy and peace, and when all apparent hopes of fruitfulness are cut off, behold! he suddenly blooms in unexpected usefulness, and his life brings forth the beautiful fruits of holiness. Amen.

Again, the manner of selecting Aaron for his sacred calling, is a glorious picture of God's New Testament ministers, and the test of their call to that exalted office. In sectarian formality, as also in the world, men enter the list as candidates for all honorable positions; and through the spirit of jealousy, and rivalry, they strive, and use every electioneering strategy, and thus win the red tape, and lord it over God's children; and by virtue of their craftily attained office demand subjection and remuneration from them, whether they possess any fruits of the Spirit or not; whether they are of any profit, or an actual nuisance. But in God's church it is not so. No one is a minister of God unless he has the Word to minister, and no one has the Word of truth who has not the Spirit of truth; for only by the Spirit is the knowledge of the Word. "But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, neither indeed can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned." Not he who desires the office of a bishop, or aspires to the ministry for the glory of self, and the gratification of pride or ambition, shall be thus acknowledged, or even tolerated. But he who humbles himself shall be exalted. He who is servant of all shall be your minister. He who bears the actual fruits of the gospel is acknowledged as put in possession of the gospel. He who possesses the Holy Spirit illumination, and all the precious graces of holiness, and whose life and labors bud, blossom, and actually bring forth the precious fruits of salvation— he is a chosen vessel unto the Lord, a high priest in his kingdom of kings and priests. Not by their credentials, but, "by their fruits ye shall know them." The living fruits alone settle the question and cut off all strife and murmuring, and announce the priests of our God in his kingdom of grace.

    

THE VESSELS OF THE TEMPLE.

This beautiful point of analogy we must not pass by. There were in the temple a great many vessels; many of them were of gold and silver. Ezra gives us an inventory of those carried by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon, and returned again by order of Cyrus. "And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives, thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand. All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred.'' Ezra 1 : 9-11. There is no evidence, nor likelihood that this comprised all the vessels of the temple. Why this enormous number of vessels? It is scarcely possible to conceive how so many could be put into actual use. When we consider that the holiest object of that whole temple was to serve as a '' figure for the time then present," "a shadow of good things to come," and when we understand what good things they are which were typically introduced by all these vessels, we cease to wonder at their prodigious number. Of what, then, were they a figure? Thank God! the Book of all wisdom unlocks the mystery. An open door is now before us. It is "the tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man;" ''The church of the first-born.'' Let us enter and he will show us the beautiful vessels of his new covenant sanctuary. We come first to Paul, the holy and faithful apostle. "The Lord said unto him [Ananias], Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.'' Acts. 9:15. The apostle will now become our escort and show us other vessels. Hear ye him: "And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." Romans 9: 23, 24. '' Even us,'' saith he, are the vessels of mercy, prepared unto glory. Yea, all who have been saved by the mercy of God are the vessels of Christ's ministry in his present sanctuary. And extolling the great value, and preciousness of the contents of those vessels in contrast with the insignificant vessels themselves, he says: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." 2nd Corinthians 4:7. "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work." 2 Tim. 2: 20, 21. "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor.'' 1st Thessalonians 4: 3,4.

All these vessels in God's house, to be real vessels of honor and suited to the Master's use, must be wholly sanctified. Here we see that all that sanctification of vessels, so extensive under the law, looked forward to, and taught the glorious lesson of the perfect sanctification of God's people, as they now enter into that within the holiest of his church. Into these sacred vessels God stores his grace, love, and power; his life, joy, and everlasting peace. And in them he bears the treasure of the gospel to the nations of the earth. To hold some comparison with the spiritual seed of Abraham, who was said to be as the stars of heaven for multitude, and as the sand upon the seashore, it was necessary that they should be multiplied into thousands. And should their antitype only include the New Testament ministry, their great numbers would still be needed: for, '' The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it." Psalms 68:11.

So, beloved reader, we might extend our investigations to every object of the temple, and find it all copied from, and illustrative of the sacred elements of the church. In fact, we have gone all through the old tabernacle and temple, with Jesus and his faithful apostle as our escorts, while they have highly entertained us by giving       the spiritual lessons that each object was designed to teach and show forth. Everything we have met with here they tell us is a shadow which meets its substance in the present living temple of God. Thanks be to God for the bright line of truth in the analogy which lies between the material sanctuary, and the house of God, over which Christ is high priest.

If, indeed, as we have seen the two apartments of the temple, the vail that separates them, the walls, the pillars, the two altars, the table of shew-bread, the candlestick, the ark of the testimony, and all its hidden contents, the mercy seat, and golden cherubims that stood over it, and even the thousands of vessels—if, we       say, all these have their antitype in the church of the living God, and so the voice of inspiration abundantly teaches us, what remains to serve as a single shadow of Smith's ideal literal structure in heaven? Then, indeed, that newly invented device has neither actual substance nor shadow, save the dark shadows that continually hang over the moral and mental sky of Adventism. It can not be denied, except by contradicting       the Word, that the finger of God points to the church as the place where all the symbolism of the legal temple is fulfilled. And not in a single instance do the inspired records trace the shadows of that second place to a literal structure in heaven distinct from the church.

But we are not yet through gathering the precious gold that was stored away in the old sanctuary. We have reviewed its various objects, but let us now return and study its holy services as figures of the true and saving services in the gospel temple. In both its sacrifices and officiating high priest, we behold Jesus and his faithful apostles as our escorts.

    

THE HIGH PRIEST OF OUR PROFESSION. 

A CHANGE OF PRIESTHOOD AND LAW. 

"For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.'' Hebrews 7:12.

In ushering in the gospel dispensation there was a radical change, both of the priesthood and of the law. The change of the priesthood was from the Aaronic order to the High Priest of our profession—Christ Jesus. The change of the law was not a modification of the ten-commandment covenant made on Sinai, but the abolition of that covenant, and the setting up of Christ's kingdom under his own perfect law. The first covenant or law was given on mount Sinai, and was written in tables of stone, and contained the ten commandments, and no more, which the following scriptures positively prove: Deuteronomy 5: 2-5; Exodus 34: 28; Deuteronomy 4:13; 9:9,11; 10:4; 1st Kings 8: 21; Hebrews 9:4.

This law covenant was not separated from the rites that pertained to it—the latter abolished and the former retained—as false teachers assert, but both stand and fall together; and he that is under the law, is under a curse if he violates any part of it. See Galatians 3:10. But the ten commandment covenant was only to remain until Christ, the seed, came. Galatians 3:17,19. Therefore the ten-commandment law was ended—abolished—by the Lord Jesus. Galatians 3:23-25; Galatians 4:21-26; Romans 6:14,15; 7:4,6; 2nd Corinthians 3:6-18. That which was ''written and engraven in stone was glorious''; and ''that which was glorious was abolished.''

"The priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a change also of the law." How changed? Read Hebrews 7: 18,19, 22. Namely, the old covenant—the ten commandments—was ''disannulled.'' Read Hebrews 8: 6-10,13. The old "vanished away." Read Hebrews 9:13-20.

Christ is "the mediator of the New Testament," to save men who "were under the first testament." Here the old, or first testament, and the new, or second testament are spoken of. Now read Hebrews 10:14,15. "He [Christ himself] took away the first," i. e., the Old Testament, that he might establish the second, the New Testament. This is plain enough for all who are not so blinded by their own idolatry that they can not believe the Word of God. The Lord Jesus took away the first covenant, the ten commandments that were written in stone, that he might establish the New Testament, which was dedicated in his own blood. Luke 22:20. For this reason there is not one command in all the New Testament for the observance of Saturday as sabbath, nor is there a single example of the church of God meeting on that day. With these few thoughts on the change of the law, we will return to the change of the priesthood. First we enquire,

    

HOW AND WHEN CHRIST BECAME PRIEST.

"If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, , (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.... And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest: (for those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec) by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: but this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.'' Hebrews 7:11-26.

There is an old superstitious falsehood recorded in nearly all the theology of that part of Babylon confusion that hold sprinkling for baptism, and frequently asserted by a traditional ministry, that Christ was baptized to induct him into the priesthood. The above scriptures show the nude absurdity and falsehood of the old fable.       First, Christ was not of the tribe eligible to the Aaronic priesthood. Second, the ordinance of baptism sustains no resemblance to the rites of priestly initiation. Third, Christ was not made a priest after the Aaronic order, but after the order of Melchisedec. Fourth, it is positively asserted that he was not made a priest'' after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life." That is, he was not made a priest by any ceremonial process. Fifth, "Those priests [the Aaronic] were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware, and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.''

There is a beautiful lesson in the chosen figure of Christ's priesthood. "For this Melchisedec, king of Salem," was also, "priest of the Most High God. ... First being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace." Hebrews 7:1, 2. What a beautiful type of our "great High Priest," who is also King of righteousness, and King of peace. He puts his redeemed on the throne of righteousness, and is in us the fountain of peace. Perfection was not attainable through the Levitical priesthood, hence the necessity that another priest should arise, who is after a different order. Hence both the priesthood and the law were changed, there being a "disannulling of the commandment [the law] going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.'' Verse 11,18. The Sinaitic law was abolished, and, "by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament." " For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did." Verse 22,19. "Wherefore [thank God!] he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him." Verse 25.

Christ was made priest by the oath of God. As he informs us in Psalms 110: 4, "The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec." "And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec." Hebrews 5:4, 5, 6. This language certainly implies that Christ did not take the honor upon himself to be a priest, but God so declared him the day he was begotten.

    

WHEN DID CHRIST BEGIN HIS PRIESTLY MINISTRATION?

Evidently when he began to administer the gospel of mercy and pardon unto men. U. Smith asserts that Christ could not be a priest until he entered heaven, basing his argument upon Hebrews 8:4. But the whole connection clearly shows that this simply means, he could not officiate in the Levitical order, there being priests who regularly filled that line, and he not being of the Aaronic tribe. But we shall prove that he did serve as priest in antitype of the legal priesthood while he dwelt on earth. He "came by a greater and more perfect tabernacle." He came saving men into his new covenant       sanctuary when he began his ministry. "Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." Mark 1:14,15. 'Preaching the good news of the kingdom of God, and saying: The time is fulfilled and the kingdom is at hand.' This is a clear unmistakable announcement that the kingdom of God was set up at that time. ''The time is fulfilled "surely means that the time pre-announced in prophecy that the kingdom of God should appear, is now due, and according to prediction, the kingdom is at hand. The language alludes to the words of God by the mouth of Daniel 2:44. "In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom."

The above words of Daniel and those of Christ in Mark announce an entire change in the dispensation of God, the transition point from the temporary to the final economy of divine grace; from the law to the gospel; from the shadow to the substance. Therefore, since the       kingdom and church of God, which was the prototype of the temple and antitype of its priesthood, had also appeared in the person of Christ, the head of the new order, it is true there was a lapping over of the two priesthoods, as we shall hereafter show. But the glorious priest of the new dispensation had appeared. The sanctuary of the new covenant was now open. Repentance towards God, and faith in Christ Jesus, were announced by his forerunner, and by the Lord himself, as the conditions of expiation and admission into the true sanctuary by which he came.

Not only did Christ serve as a priest, ministering mercy to the penitent, but he also offered up sacrifices here on       earth. "For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and       sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer." Hebrews 8: 3. "As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared.'' Hebrews 5: 6, 7. "Thou art a priest," and it is expressly declared that in the days of his flesh, he offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears. So while incarnate on earth he offered to God the incense and sacrifice of prayer, as the merciful high priest of all humanity. The Aaronic priesthood, and the temple in which they served were inseparable; therefore, the great antitype of that priesthood having appeared, the antitype of their sanctuary was also present. In other words, if Christ officiated here on earth as priest, fulfilling the figure of those priests of the law, then his sanctuary must also have been in some sense set up on earth, in fulfillment of the legal sanctuary which was a figure of the true. This conclusion is evident.

But let us further trace the high-priestly steps of Jesus. The night before he was crucified we hear him pouring out his heart in prayer, as an offering of incense to the Father, in the seventeenth chapter of John. But he offered up to God for a lost world the greatest sacrifice in his possession. "He offered up himself." Hebrews 7:27. Yea, "Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor." Ephesians 5: 2. Oh, blessed be the name of him who is both our high priest and sacrifice, and, who, "now once in the end of the world hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.'' Hebrews 9: 26. Again we repeat, if he offered sacrifices here on earth, even the crowning sacrifice of his own body, blood, and life upon the altar of his infinite love, and for the redemption of this lost world, then his sanctuary was also set up here on earth. As the sacrifices of the typical priesthood were associated with the shadowy sanctuary, the sacrifices of Christ also show the presence of the true sanctuary; otherwise there would be no agreement between the shadow and its substance. But he ''came by a greater and more perfect sanctuary.'' He came into the world saving men by and into his sanctuary. Yea, he was so far from sacrificing exclusively in heaven, that he only offered priestly offerings here on earth. "And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God." Hebrews 10:11,12. "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself       purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." Hebrews 1:3.

Jesus ceased to stand in the attitude of a priest engaged in actual offerings after he ascended to heaven, but having offered one sacrifice, which atoned for all mankind, and purchased the full redemption of all who came to God by him, he ceased from any further priestly offerings, and sat down to intercede for men, and to bestow on all who seek him the benefit of his finished sacrifice. He now ministers salvation from his throne in heaven. He is the minister both of justification and sanctification, the holy places of his sanctuary upon earth; hence, is our everlasting high priest. Yet he made all his sacrificial offerings here on earth, where he pitched his true sanctuary. And though he is seated at the right hand of God, as mediator, he also dwells in his church. Hence, says the apostle, "Having an high priest over the house of God,'' which is the church of God, we are told to draw nigh to God by him, even into the holiest.

    

THE LOWER ORDER OF CHRIST’S PRIESTHOOD 

AND ITS EFFECTS.

Christ, the "High Priest of our profession," is the antitype of the entire priesthood of the law. While in the flesh, he by his ministry of the gospel, and the offering up of prayers and tears filled the figure of the temple service at the brazen altar, and in the first apartment of the temple. During this sacrifice of prayers, strong cries, and tears, he had power and authority on earth to forgive sins. Hence, we read, "Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.'' Matthew 9: 2. And when certain scribes in their hearts accused him of blasphemy, "Jesus knowing their thoughts," assured them that he had so expressed himself, "that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins." Verse 6. The same power on earth to forgive sins is recorded in Mark 2:10; Luke 5: 24; also in Luke 7:47, and in other records of this holy priesthood on earth. But he ministered more       than mere remission of sins. To Nicodemus he introduced the wonderful mystery of the new birth (John 3): "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." This radical coming forth into newness of life is declared the condition of induction into his kingdom. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God." Yea, verily, "Except a man be born of water [the word of God] and of the Spirit, he can not enter the kingdom of God." John testifies that this miraculous transformation actually took place in those who believed on him. "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:12,13.

Christ also recognized this change as having taken place in his disciples. They ''followed him in the regeneration.'' Matthew 19:28. This shows that his act of pardon really purged their hearts from an evil conscience, and wrought a radical moral transformation. We see his priestly ministration of pardon strikingly foreshadowed in the service of the common priests of the first covenant in Leviticus, chapters 4 and 5, where the Israelite that had committed certain sins was required to bring a "sin offering into the door of the temple of the congregation before the Lord," which the priests offered for their various trespasses; and each time it is said, "The priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them." This service of the common priests strikingly typified Christ's ministry while in the flesh. Both secured pardon. And as those common priests only entered into the first apartment of the temple, so Christ officiated in the holy, or first apartment of his greater and more perfect tabernacle. ''It shall be forgiven him," said the common priest at the door of the first tabernacle. ''Thy sins are forgiven,'' said our High Priest to the penitent sinner at the threshold of his spiritual tabernacle not made with hands.

The highest attainment under the law was that of pardon, or justification; which is a legal term, and means to stand clearly absolved by the law. But since the fall of man he has inherited an inward sinful bent, hence he needs something beyond the expiation of his sins. To perfect again his inward character before God, he needs the purification of his nature. This the law could not do; for, "The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we [now under the priesthood of Jesus] draw nigh to God." Hebrews 7:19. This better hope is ''Christ in us the hope of glory.'' Colossians 1: 27. The pardon granted at the brazen altar very clearly shadowed forth Christ forgiving sinners that bow at the door of his kingdom. But connected with the high priestly offerings on the great day of atonement, when he entered the holiest of all, there was a symbolic cleansing, the cleansing of the sanctuary, which beautifully prefigured the higher work of Christ cleansing and sanctifying the church, after he had himself entered the holiest of his tabernacle with his own blood. As the common priests could not enter the holiest of all, where a symbolic cleansing was announced as a result of the high priest's offering, so neither could Christ conduct those for whom he officiated unto perfection, the holiest state of the tabernacle, until he himself was "made perfect through suffering.'' To the high priest it was said, ''Come not into the holiest without blood, lest ye die;" and which "they entered not without blood." And, agreeable to the figure, Christ could not enter the holiest place of his sanctuary until the shedding of his blood. Nor could he till then lead the disciples to the highest plane of perfection, as he confessed in the following scriptures: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye can not bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.'' John 16:12,13. ''Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.'' John 16:7. "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) " John 7: 38, 39.

"The law came by Moses, but grace and truth by the Lord Jesus Christ." Truth, it is here seen, expresses the       elements of the new order, "The church of the living God, which is the pillar and ground of the truth.'' But into the most holy place of the great tabernacle of truth Christ could not conduct his disciples before crucified and glorified. They could not receive the truth respecting the wholly sanctified state until, by his high-priestly offering, and his shed blood, they should receive the Holy Spirit the sanctifier; which before his death and triumphant ascension had not been given to any. Therefore it was needful that Christ should be taken from his disciples, pass the portals of death, and ascend to heaven, before he could perfect those that came to God by him. It is therefore an important question

    

HOW AND WHEN HE ENTERED THE HOLIEST.

We have already proved that the passage of our High Priest from the holy into the most holy of his sanctuary was not delayed until A.D. 1844, as Advent legendary teaches.

"And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec." Hebrews 5: 4-10. "Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according, to the law: who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount." Hebrews 8:1-5. "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with       hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." Hebrews 9:24.

As before observed, Christ, being the antitype of the Levitical priesthood, offered up sacrifices while here upon earth. Finally he offered up himself a sacrifice for the world, and was made perfect through suffering. Then he ascended into heaven, which to him might properly be termed the holiest place. On the mediatorial throne he began to minister in his high-priestly office to his church upon earth; which is the sanctuary. From Hebrews 9:24 some have inferred that the Jewish tabernacle was a type of heaven; but no such idea is conveyed. Hebrews 9: 24 properly rendered reads as follows: "For Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands, the figures of the true ones, but into heaven itself." He shows that Christ did not enter into the literal holy places in Moses' tabernacle, which were types of the true holy places in the New Testament church—justification and sanctification—but into heaven itself. The church of God upon earth is the true sanctuary, and in it Christ ministers from his high priestly throne on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. So when Christ ascended into heaven he entered the holiest—our everlasting high priest to minister salvation to humanity throughout this dispensation. "He shall be a priest upon his throne,'' said the prophet; and now we'' come boldly to his throne of grace, and find mercy, and grace to help in time of need." While the above texts clearly sustain this view, yet it can be said in a sense that Christ entered the holiest when his blood was shed upon Calvary's cross. After describing the sanctuary of the first covenant and informing us that it was a figure of another, the true sanctuary, the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews points out the antitype as follows: "But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Hebrews 9:11,12. This holy place directly rendered from the Greek is the "holies," or holy places. We have already seen that U. Smith admits that this verse includes the most holy place. The entrance of Christ into the most holy of his sanctuary is conditional upon the shedding of his blood. As already observed, he came into the world to save the lost by his       greater sanctuary, instead of having a temple awaiting his return to heaven. The sacrifice of himself for our sins and the shedding of his blood took him into the holiest. Having previously officiated under the example and shadow of the common priests, he was now, "made perfect by suffering," and therefore proceeded to minister according to the type of the high priest in the holiest. His entry into the holiest, in this sense, was into his perfected priesthood, into the conditions of a perfect Savior. The high priest first sprinkled the blood at the brazen altar, where the common priests also daily officiated; from that point he entered the holy place, sprinkled the blood on the golden altar, and continued his service on into the holiest of all. And, true to this figure, for the time then present, Jesus passed on from power on earth to "forgive sins," to power and authority to "minister the Spirit," and through his shed blood sanctify wholly the living vessels of his holy temple. So he offered the incense of prayer before he was made perfect, and procured pardon to all who believed on him. But, ''Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.'' Ephesians 5: 2. And through his suffering on the cross he became a perfect Savior. "Being made perfect he became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him."

Until ''the vail, that is to say his flesh,'' was rent, Christ was shrouded in mystery, even to his disciples; but after he had entered the conditions of a perfect Savior, and by the shedding of his blood procured unto the church the gift of the Holy Spirit, the mystery was solved, and, for the first time, the illuminated disciples saw Jesus clearly, and fully comprehended his mission on earth. Bless his holy name forever!

"As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.'' Hebrews 5: 6-10. Here we have both orders of his priesthood clearly revealed. Note carefully the language. As a priest'' in the days of his flesh, when he offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears." Next we are told of "the things which he suffered, by which being made perfect, "he became the author of eternal salvation"; namely, was now qualified and empowered to lead men and women into the most holy state of a completed salvation. And being now advanced to this highest plane of his ministry, which was typical of the high priest of the law, he, too, is "called of God a high priest after the order of Melchisedec." First, as "priest," he officiated ''in the days of his flesh''; then by his suffering unto death he became a perfect Savior, and was called of God an high priest, and entered heaven to minister through all time in his church upon earth.

"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.'' Hebrews 2: 9-12.

The first work of gospel grace makes us sons of God. There is glory in that experience. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2nd Corinthians 3:18. From a first plane of glory, we are changed into a second, even into the glory of the image of the Lord, and this change is wrought "by the Spirit of the Lord," and is defined in the text above as being the grace of sanctification. After speaking of bringing many sons unto glory, the apostle adds:'' For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one;" and this happy state of things takes place "in the midst of the church." But before Christ, the great captain of our salvation, could bring his disciples into this glory of sanctification, he had to be made perfect through suffering. He had to become a perfect Savior before he could lead his followers unto perfection; or, as he expressed it, "For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.'' John 17:19. The captain, or leader, of our salvation was made perfect, that we through him might also be made perfect. And thus he has brought many sons unto glory, the glory of his own holiness.

''Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec." Hebrews 6:19,20.

"Which hope [received in regeneration] we have as an anchor to the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail, whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made an high priest forever.'' Thank God for the plain and beautiful truth! As only the high priest entered within the vail, so when Christ entered the holiest of his sanctuary, he entered a high priest. Returning to Hebrews 6:18-20, observe that it is recorded that Christ had already entered into the holiest before A. D. 64, the date of that epistle; and that his sanctuary is not in heaven, and exclusively entered by himself, but is the refuge of our soul; and that he having led the way into the holiest, we also do enter into that within the vail. So, by the uniform voice of Scripture, his passage from the holy into the most holy, was his advancement to the power and authority of a perfect Savior, as well as his ascension into heaven itself.

We conclude this part of his priesthood by citing you to Hebrews 9:11-14 as rendered in the Emphatic Diaglott. "But Christ having become a high priest of the future good things, by means of the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by hands, that is, not of this creation; he entered once for all, into the holy places, not indeed by means of the blood of goats and of bullocks, but by means of his own blood, having found aionian redemption. For if the blood of goats and of bulls, and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the polluted, cleanses for the purification of the flesh; how much more shall the blood of the anointed one, who, through an aionian Spirit, offered himself spotless to God, cleanse your conscience from works of death, for the service of the living God?" So now speakest thou plainly! Christ having become a high priest, by means of a greater and more perfect tabernacle, "he entered [notice, he entered in the past] once for all into the holy places," or into the holy of holies. But how did he enter? Hear the answer. "By means of his own blood." As a result of his perfect sacrifice, and his entrance into the holiest, the blood of his everlasting covenant now cleanseth our conscience from works of death, which is a real inner and a much more perfect cleansing than that of the blood of the legal       offerings, which were shadows of the real. This salvation of God's children into the moral nature and character of Christ is in many different ways affirmed in the Scriptures: ''For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified." John 17:19. "Be ye holy; for I am holy." 1st Peter 1:16. "Every one that is perfect shall be as his Master.'' Luke 6: 40. ''As he is, so are we in this world.'' 1st John 4:17. Pure ''even as he is pure.'' 1st John 3: 3. "Righteous, even as he is righteous." Verse 7. "The glory which thou gavest me I have given them.'' John 17: 22. Thus, "bringing many sons unto glory." Hebrews 2:10. "Which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth." 1st John 2:8. "My joy fulfilled in themselves." John 17:13. "My peace I give unto you." John 14: 27. We fill the "measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:13. "And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace [grace upon grace].'' John 1:16. We have entered into his rest (Hebrews 4:1, 5), and "sit together in heavenly places" (Ephesians 2:6); "walk even as he walked." 1st John 2:6. "We have the mind of Christ.'' 1st Corinthians 2:16. Moreover he saith,'' The works that I do shall he do also.'' John 14:12.

All these scriptures show that the captain of our salvation, having first been "made perfect through suffering," and thus entered into that within the vail of his own sanctuary, has led his holy saints into the same state of purity, peace, love, and joy that compose his holy character. This is the "glory that followed" the suffering of Christ, which the prophets could not understand, and even the angels desired to look into. 1st Peter 1:10-12. This is the ''mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God." Ephesians 3:9; Ephesians 1:9-11.

The solemn and impressive service of the most sacred day of all the great feasts of the law are recorded in Leviticus 16. We have seen in the 4th and 5th chapters of Leviticus that the sin offerings of the common priests all the year round made an atonement for transgressions and secured pardon. But on this solemn day an atonement was made ''for the holy place.'' Leviticus 16:16. As an effect of the high priestly offering, the sanctuary and the people were cleansed, and hallowed—made holy. Leviticus 16:19, 30, 33. The high       priest sprinkled the blood upon the brazen altar, and offered sacrifice there; thence proceeded to the golden altar in the holy place, sprinkled the typical blood and offered incense upon the same; then, passing the second vail, he reached the climax of his course in the holiest place, where he also sprinkled the blood, and with it touched the horns of the altar. So the mercy-speaking blood was his passport all along the course of his sublime service, from the court to the inner sanctuary of God's awful visible presence. All this was a striking similitude of the more precious blood, and sacrifice and holy priesthood of the Son of God. These speak with the voice of love divine, and lay hold upon the conscience of the sinner in the dark outer world, melt his heart, atone for his transgressions and by pardon and regeneration admit him into the holy place; and when reaching the golden altar and second vail of Christ's sanctuary, he is purged and sanctified wholly from inbred sin. Then he is conducted by the transforming grace of God through the different stages from an alien into the church which is the temple of God, and from glory to glory, into the perfected holiness; where he is arrayed in white, enveloped in the divine presence and filled with his glory. And, true to the high-priestly figure, every advance step was made by the blood of Christ, and by the regenerating and sanctifying presence and power of Christ himself, who "ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you." Galatians 3: 5.

How beautiful and sublimely true all these legal types point to their counterpart in Christ Jesus, and the operation of his saving grace. So Christ, who was born a priest of the order of Melchisedec, came by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, offered up prayers and tears, and by means of his blood entered the holiest place, having, by the sacrifice of himself '' obtained eternal redemption for us.'' There he finished the sacrificial part of his high-priestly office, and "is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." And we having followed our forerunner into that within the vail (Hebrews 6:19, 20) have indeed entered into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say his flesh. Hebrews 10:19, 20. Here we have entered into "his rest." Hebrews 4:1, 3. This perfect sabbath of the soul was beautifully typified by the very sacred sabbath of the law in which the high priest annually entered into the most holy place. On that day it was commanded that "ye do no work at all." "It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you." Leviticus 16: 29, 31. Oh, how sweet and glorious this typical rest is fulfilled in the hearts of all who have entered the eternal sabbath of holiness and perfected love!

Let us notice another striking figure of our great day of atonement, as seen in the annual day of atonement. "And he [the high priest] shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness." Leviticus 16:7-10.

Observe that these two goats are coupled together as one complete sacrifice, and the part that each filled was essential to symbolize the lesson intended. The lot fell upon the one for the Lord; and that one was offered up for a sin offering. This signifies that in the love and providence of God the lot fell upon Christ, "who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God." But what is shadowed forth by the other, which Aaron ''presented alive before the Lord to make an atonement with him," and upon the head of which he placed his hands and there laid the sins of the people and let him go into the wilderness, into "the land of separation"? What does this teach? The gross darkness and spiritual ignorance of Adventism teaches that this scapegoat represents the devil. But if that were so, the devil must in some sense atone for our sins, and therefore be a means of our salvation. But it would appear that this modern sect place their hope of atonement between Christ and the devil, not knowing certainly to which they belong.

By reference to Leviticus 16: 5, it will be seen that these two goats were "for a sin offering," both together constituting one ''offering''; and in verse 10, the one that was sent away alive is specially declared to be for "an atonement." Now it is very evident that these two goats together constitute a striking figure of Christ our atoning sacrifice. The one slain meets its antitype in the death of Christ; the one sent away shows him that'' liveth again.'' As the antitype of the first, he "bore our sins in his own body on the cross." As that of the second, he lives to take them away. The first part of the atoning sacrifice points to the death of Christ for our sins, the second to him actually taking them away, to be remembered against us no more forever. As the scapegoat bore the sins of the children of Israel into a "land of separation" [see Leviticus 16:22 in margin], so Christ has "separated our sins from us as far as the east is from the west.'' There is no doubt in our mind that various expressions in the New Testament took their form from this beautiful type of Christ. Such as, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." Hebrews 9:28. "And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins." 1st John 3: 5. Who but blind men can not see in such scriptures the antitype of the one twofold "sin offering" of       Leviticus 16: 5? Ah, it is Christ that hath died to procure, and lives to administer salvation. Without his death we would have no sacrifice for our sins; without his life no Savior. This twofold saving power and authority of Christ is clearly recognized in Romans 5:10: "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."

The death of Christ on our behalf secures a free pardon of all our sins. But it is the living Christ who enters, wholly sanctifies, and ever preserves these temples holy unto God. Should it be objected that the lamb is the more general type of "Christ our passover," and that the goat is used to represent the sinner (see Matthew 25: 33) ,we have but to remind you that God "hath made him       [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2nd Corinthians 5: 21. We being sinners, he became a substitute and victim for us; was "numbered among the transgressors" in order to save transgressors. Just so was he lifted up in type in the form of a brazen serpent to heal men from the bite of the deadly serpent.

The legal atonement that was made by the sin offering of one goat, and the bearing away of the sins of Israel by the other, being a type of Christ bearing our sins in his own body on the cross on the great day of the world's redemption, it follows according to the type that on the day of his crucifixion he entered into the most holy place of his perfect sanctuary; and later entered heaven itself, our everlasting High Priest. As the high priest entered with blood of others' into the most holy place on that day of atonement, necessarily on the antitype of that day when Christ, our high priest and sacrifice, was offered without spot to God, he also "by his own blood entered in once for all into the holies of his new covenant sanctuary, which is the house of God, the church of the living God. The fact that he entered by his blood also suggests that he entered in when his precious blood was shed. This is seen to be positively true when we remember that his entrance into the holy of holies was, as we have already proved, entering the conditions of a perfect Savior. And it is expressly declared that he was made perfect through sufferings. Hebrews 2:9, 10. Hence, when he suffered on the cross       he reached the perfect summit of his high-priestly power and authority, the most holy place.

Observe again how it is expressly said that Christ entered not in "by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood." Undoubtedly, there is here a direct allusion to the blood of the same sacrifices by which the high priest entered into the most holy place (see Leviticus 16: 3, 5, 6); thus comparing the entrance of the       high priest of the law and that of our High Priest, the Lord Jesus, as type and antitype, and clearly proving that as they entered with the blood of those sacrifices, he entered with his blood. This fact is noticed by Doddridge in his translations and paraphrase, as follows: "Neither doth he expiate the guilt of his people by presenting before God the blood of goats, and of calves, and of young bullocks, which were the noblest sacrifices the high priest presented in the day of atonement; but if as by the efficacy of his own blood, . . . that he hath entered once for all into the holy place.''

Another fact is of vital importance. In Hebrews 9:12 the verb "entered" is in the aorist tense; which signifies that       his entrance was a speedy consummated action, and one never to be repeated. The peculiar force of this Greek tense is clearly brought out in about all translations. It is rendered, Christ "entered once for all into the most holy place," by A. Layman, and Wakefield. "Entered once for all into the holy places."— Emphatic Diaglott. "Entered once for all into the most holy."—H. T. Anderson. "Entered once for all into the holies."—Rotherham. "Entered once for all into the holy place."—Doddridge. "Entered in once for all into the holy place."—Revised Version. "Entered once for all."—Dean Alford, "Entered in once."—Common Version. This holies U. Smith admits refers to the holiest of all in the present sanctuary of Christ. All these translations, bringing out the force of the original text, prove positively that Christ had already entered therein, and that the entrance was once for all, never to be repeated. So this utterly overthrows the U. Smith theory of his entrance in 1844, and it agrees with all the Scripture, that the church is his sanctuary, into the holiest of which he led the way, entering by his blood and consecrating the way in for us, and is now set down upon a mediatorial throne, from which he officiates in his New Testament church.

    

OUR ROYAL, PRIEST. That Christ ascended to heaven in person is clearly taught in the Scriptures. But that he returned in the power of the Holy Spirit, together with the Father, and that all three have taken up their abode in the church is equally true. See John 14:18-23. In heaven he is represented as ''forever sat down on the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12); but in his holy temple on earth, i.e., in his church, we find him carrying on the sacred functions of his high-priestly office. Not that he continues to offer sacrifices for his sins and for the sins of the people, like the priests of the law, for he never had sin; and for the sins of the whole world, he has made one all-sufficient sacrifice, the virtue of which extends to the end of time. But he is, nevertheless, a minister of the true sanctuary, officiating at the head of an extensive priesthood in his sanctuary on earth. As we have seen in Zechariah 6:13, "He shall build the temple of the Lord: and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne,'' i. e., "holiness" (Psalms 47: 8),which "becometh thy house"; and he shall be a priest upon his throne (Zechariah 6:13); that is, both king and priest. A few texts will be sufficient to prove that he is in the midst of his church ministering salvation to all who seek the favor of God. "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.'' Matthew 18: 20. He had been giving directions how to proceed with an offending brother. The last extremity was, tell it unto the church. If he refused to hear the church, "Let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. Verily I say       unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven." And if they felt the need of counseling him in order to proceed with authority in such cases, ''I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or       three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Here is Christ our high priest in the midst of his church, dispensing judgment and mercy through his subordinate priests. Paul recognizes his presence in a similar case. "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." 1st Corinthians 5:4, 5. So God's people have power to bind men on earth, and they are bound in heaven; because, with the all-wise Christ in their midst, their judgment is not man's judgment, but that of him "who is above all, and through all, and in you all.'' Ephesians 4: 6. Even "the same God which worketh all [things] in all." 1st Corinthians 12: 6. "Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring Christ up again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart,'' etc. Romans 10: 6-8. Though Christ's spirit did descend into Hades, it did not remain there. Though he is in heaven in his personal presence, yet as the living almighty Savior, as the Word that was in the beginning with God, and was God, and to which our faith must be directed for salvation, he is near us. Hence, our faith need not explore the world of spirits, nor yet scale the lofty heavens to find Christ: but he is accessible anywhere here on earth: especially is he present where two or three have assembled in his name. "For he testifieth, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.‘’ Hebrews 7:17. '' But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intersession for them." Hebrews 7: 24, 25. Do you not see, dear reader, that his present high-priestly services consist in the actual salvation of all souls that come to God by him? Where the work of salvation is being effected, there is our High Priest at work applying the virtues of his shed blood to the saving of the soul. "But now hath, he obtained a more excellent       ministry." Hebrews 8: 6. Where does he carry it on? Where is his sanctuary? Here is a direct answer: "He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" Galatians 3:5. This was about twenty-eight years after his bodily ascension to heaven; but as the glorious high priest of the new covenant he was still, and we may say is yet, working miracles, and ministering this Holy Spirit in our midst. Compared with the high priest of the law, he has "obtained a more excellent ministry," which includes the ministry of the Spirit, the working of miracles, and the salvation of souls which he is carrying on here among men. This is just where he has promised in prophecy to place his sanctuary and abide with us forever; therefore to deny that Christ our high priest carries on his most excellent ministry in our midst, is to contradict the Word. Read again the comparison of the law priesthood and sanctuary with that of Christ. God lived in the sanctuary of the first covenant, and there his favor was sought through the priests and their sacrifices. Agreeable to this       figure, we now, and here on earth, draw near to God in his new covenant sanctuary, the church of the first-born. To poor lost sinners our great High Priest stands in the door of his holy sanctuary saying, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'' Matthew 11: 28. Over the door of his sanctuary stand the beautiful and gracious words,'' Knock, and it shall be opened unto you." To the "holy brethren" (Hebrews 3:1.), or the justified, he says, by the mouth of his apostle,'' Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his flesh: and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart.'' Hebrews 10:19-22. Is not all this very plain? We are invited to proceed from the holy into the most holy, within the vail, through the ministry of Christ, who is a high priest over the house of God, which is the church of the living God. As pictured in illustrated Bibles and described in Exodus 28:4, the garments for Aaron were a long linen robe and coat with a girdle. Just so John saw the "Son of man," "the first and the last," in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. Here we see Christ officiating in the midst of his church, which was represented by the golden candlesticks, in the holy garments of a high priest. How beautifully this pictures Christ our high priest ministering in his church the manifold grace of God.      THE ROYAL PRIESTHOOD Who minister about holy things under Christ the chief shepherd. We have already by one small word overthrown the Advent structure, i. e., this word "entered." Now we will again prove their theory false by the scriptures that show the sanctuary of this dispensation is not located in heaven, and exclusively entered by Christ; but that all the children of God have access even into the most holy place of the same, and actually become priests together with Christ in this world. According to the figure of the true sanctuary, none but the priests could enter the temple of God. But Christ, "having obtained a more excellent ministry, which       is established upon better promises," admits all the comers thereunto right into his glorious sanctuary. Nevertheless the figure mentioned corresponds with the substance; for, behold, all the children of God become priests as they wash themselves in the "laver of regeneration," and "are clean through the word spoken unto them" by the High Priest of our most holy profession. By the Scriptures it has already been shown that the disciples of Christ do enter his sanctuary, and even follow the captain of their salvation into the most holy place thereof. But the reader will please bear with us while we in this connection briefly cite some of the beautiful testimony on this point. "For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Hebrews 1: 10, 11. Thus it is rendered by Charles Thomson, an American translator, who lived at the beginning of last century: "For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, when bringing many sons to glory, to make the leader of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he who sanctified and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: I will declare thy name to my brethren. In the midst of the congregation I will praise thee." This includes verse 12. We quote yet from Roiherham: "For it was becoming in him for the sake of whom are the all things, and through means of whom are the all things, when many sons unto glory he would lead, that this princely leader of their salvation, he should through sufferings make complete. For both he who sanctifies and they who are being sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: I will declare thy name unto my brethren, amidst an assembly will I sing praises unto thee.'' The idea is this: Christ, becoming a complete Savior through his suffering and death, now leads the sons of God into glory, which is explained as the sanctified state. And there in the midst of his church or assembly he praises God the Father, and recognizes the redeemed as his brothers; and as we shall see elsewhere, they are kings and priests with him in one royal priesthood. Thus saith the Lord:'' The glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one." John 17:22. By the effects of his glory and that of sanctification, it can readily be seen they are identical. Both produce perfect oneness. This state we have seen was typified by the holiest place of the temple. Therefore Christ leads his disciples into the most holy of his true sanctuary, which is the substance of the Mosaic shadow. "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus made an high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec." Hebrews 6:19, 20. The hope we have by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, "entereth"—a present fact in those who have fled for refuge to the same—"entereth into that within the vail; whither the forerunner [the captain or leader of our salvation] is for us entered, even Jesus made an high priest." He entered through suffering, and his entrance makes, or ranks him a high priest; and into this most sacred place the hope we have in him admits us. First, we possess the hope; second, enter into that within the vail. This agrees with the testimony of John, the beloved disciple, who says: '' Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure.'' 1st John 3: 3. Enter into his own moral condition. First, the hope, then go on to perfect purity, or enter into that within the vail. The language not only positively proves that Christ has already entered once for all into the most holy of his sanctuary, but that his sanctified believers have also followed him into the same inner temple; therefore it refutes both the time calculation of Adventism and their location of the present sanctuary of the Lord. But we will listen to one more testimony from this profound treatise on perfected holiness. Hebrews 10:14—" For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." The next verses affirm that that experience is here and now attained and witnessed to by the Holy Spirit, who also writes the new covenant laws in our hearts and minds, in view of which provisions of divine grace the writer extends the following invitation to those converted Hebrews:  "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins  forever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." Hebrews 10:12 19. The Lord Jesus being now our high priest over his sanctuary, which is the "house of God," and having "entered in once for all into the holy place,'' and ''consecrated this way for us,'' we also have ''boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." Therefore, says the apostle, "Let us draw near with a true heart.'' To say the least, this language positively proves that the sanctuary of this dispensation is not up in heaven. Yea, and it also proves that Christ entered to consecrate a way for our entrance, and through the cleansing blood, we actually have boldness to enter the holiest. And, in all love and meekness, we testify that the high priest of our profession, the Lord Jesus, has actually taken us into "his rest," "in the secret of his pavilion." Amen. But do we have a part in the priestly services of this spiritual temple? Yes, such is indeed the high calling of all the saints of the "Most High God on earth. "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.'' 1st Peter 2:5. "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a       peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.'' 1st Peter 2: 9. In the first of these texts we sustain two relations to the sanctuary of the Lord Jesus. We, as lively stones, are the material composing the house, and also the holy priesthood that officiate therein. In the second text we are declared to be "a royal priesthood"; that is, a priesthood of kings; or as translated by Rotherham, "Ye are a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, an holy nation, a people for an acquisition, to the end that the excellencies ye may tell forth of Rim who “out of darkness called you into his marvelous light." As Christ was typified by the high priest of the law, the priesthood associated with him also had their type in the legal priesthood. As that typical priesthood was inseparable from the temple, the royal priesthood must, according to the figure, also have a temple for divine service. And how could God's people be "an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" here on earth, if the only sanctuary, or temple of       priestly service were in heaven? Here is positive evidence that the temple of God is on earth and is the church. ''Upon this rock," said Jesus, "I will build my church;" and the apostle Paul testified that "ye are God's building;" "Ye also are builded together for a habitation of God." The testimony of inspiration is the same in Peter. The Emphatic Diaglott, Rotherham, and Dean Alford translate, "A spiritual house for a holy priesthood." That would reduce the sense to the single idea that the church is a spiritual house built for a holy priesthood, and would not designate who the priesthood are. But with that rendering it would still be plain, since the ninth verse positively points out the church as being the priesthood. But the Greek text does not warrant the insertion of the word "for." And the direct from the Greek text in the Emphatic Diaglott is, "A house spiritual, a priesthood holy." Wakefield translates as follows: "Ye also, as lively stones being built up, are a spiritual temple, and an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices," etc. In any, and in all translations, 1st Peter 2: 5, 9 establish beyond the shadow of a doubt the fact that God's church is both his sanctuary in this dispensation, and in connection with Christ our high priest, constitutes his present priesthood. "Royal priesthood" is an order of priests who are also kings; and such, indeed, are the saints of God. John to the seven churches which are in Asia, writes: "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." Revelation 1:5, 6. So the church of the first-born have not taken this honor upon themselves to be priests: but he that has washed us in his own blood has made us "kings and priests unto God." And observe John spoke not this of people in heaven, nor yet of a millennial age to come on earth; but he testified that Christ had washed us in his own blood, and made us—namely himself and the church of God in Asia—"kings and priests unto God." Amen. We joyfully join with the Revelator in the same testimony, and in ascribing to him who washed us, "Glory and dominion forever and ever.'' In Revelation, chapter 5, the great plan of salvation is presented as a book sealed with seven seals. At first "no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.'' Verse 3. Because of this John wept. "But one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.'' Verse 5. Then he beheld a ''Lamb as it had been slain," "and he came and took the book," "and they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." Revelation 5: 9,10. Here is the new song of redemption just breaking forth upon the earth; and in the very first outburst of praises to God, after men experienced the fact that they were returned to God by the blood of the Lamb, they confessed that they had been made kings and priests, and that they should reign on the earth. It can not be denied that this exalted privilege is here described as having been attained at the very opening of the plan of salvation, and not after the present dispensation shall have ended in a thousand years' literal reign of Christ, as some blind guides imagine. The assertion that such as are washed in the blood of Christ have become kings and priests unto God is the same in import as that of Peter, ''A royal priesthood,'' a kingly priesthood. This spiritual priesthood was clearly predicted in Old Testament prophecy. Isaiah 61 begins with these words, '' The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek," etc. These words, Christ said, were fulfilled in his ministry. Luke 4:18-21. "To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes. ... And they shall build the old wastes, . .. and strangers shall stand and feed your flocks. . .. but ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.'' Isaiah 61: 3-6. Who can reconcile this with the Advent theory of no sanctuary on earth since A. D. 70? No priest in this dispensation but Christ, and he only officiating in heaven? The above priesthood is clearly pointed out as the ministers of the gospel of Christ after he came and opened the kingdom of heaven to the Gentiles. So one great office of the priests of this dispensation is to "stand and feed the flocks" of the Lord. But the Levitical shadow of the new covenant priesthood would require a sanctuary for the place of their service. This we have seen; Jesus built the "house of God, which is the church of the living God." The figure also demands that sacrifices be offered in it, and Jesus our great high priest did so, finally offering his own body. But if the priesthood of this dispensation includes those washed in the blood of Christ, they, too, must have somewhat to offer; and so they do. Having washed themselves in the ''bath of regeneration," as the priests of the law were required to wash before entering the temple, they enter the temple of God and are ready to serve as priests of God. "What was, and still is, the first offerings required? Answer.—The "fruits meet for repentance" (Matthew 3:8); the fruits of a new life in Christ (John 15:2), or, "The first-fruits of the Spirit." Romans 8: 23. This is to be promptly followed by the entire, and once for all, offering of self unto God for the fire of entire sanctification. Jesus himself said unto such       as had followed him in the regeneration,. '' Every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt." Mark 9: 49. And that his disciples and all men might know that he was referring to an experience that awaited them, and all who believe upon him to this day, he said in verse 50, "Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another." This proves that they were yet to make a sacrificial offering of themselves wholly to God, and in so doing be salted with the fire of the Holy Spirit. This same fire was promised to the believers in connection with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. See Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16. Fire and salt are two potent figures of the Holy Spirit. The former represents his purging, purifying power, the second his preserving virtue. From the lips of Christ we learn what was intended by the imperative command in Leviticus 2: 13 as follows: "And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt." Also Numbers 18:19: "All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute forever: it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee." While all the sacrifices of the law pointed to Christ, many of them also teach the offerings we are required to make to God. All the "offerings of the holy things" were to be salted. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Romans 12:1. The meat offering was "holy," being a lamb or calf without blemish, as required by the law. The justified child of God is also holy in this respect that he stands clear by the law of God, having had all his sins remitted. "Neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking," says the law of shadows. "Every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt;" and, "Have salt in yourselves," says the law of Christ, in whom we have the substance of all shadows. Colossians 2:17. No doubt the salt prescribed by law was called the "salt of the covenant," because it will be seen in Hebrews 10:14-16 that when the Lord perfects us in entire sanctification, the Holy Spirit, who is both the fire and salt in the sanctuary of the Lord Jesus, writes the laws of the new covenant in our hearts and minds. This is the real '' covenant of salt forever." "With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt." What a beautiful figure of this fact that all our services to God, all our offerings of thanks, and sacrifices of praise, must be in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Having seen that both Christ and the inspired apostle demanded a sacrificial offering of ourselves, holy, acceptable unto God in order to our entire sanctification, let us see what other "spiritual sacrifices" we offer to God in the "spiritual house" of his present temple. For instead of a "literal structure" in heaven, as taught in the fables of Adventism, the sanctuary of God is composed of his saints, "as lively stones, built up a spiritual house, a holy priest hood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." Let us inquire what offerings now antitype the incense offered at the golden altar. We find the idea of acceptable prayer to God associated with those sweet incense odors. Hence said David, "Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." Psalms 141:2. This clearly shows that our prayers ascend out of a pure heart to God, from his temple which is "a house of prayer," as pictured by the odors that arose from the tabernacle of the first covenant. Blending the type of antitype, we are told, "The whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense," and to Zacharias, who offered the sweet incense, '' there appeared an angel of the Lord.'' Luke 1:10, 11. "And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.'' Revelation 8: 3. Here again prayer and incense are mingled together, and in Revelation 5:8, the "golden       vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints," showing their typical relation. This is a plain statement, but it is not enough to offer the incense of prayer. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom." Here are three kinds of offerings predicted; namely, gold, incense, and praise. "They shall bring gold and incense, and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord." Isaiah 60: 6. Incense is sweet, but the priests of God can not live on it. Some more substantial offerings are needed along with your incense of prayer. "They shall bring gold and incense." If       you hoard up and lavish upon self the former, you will hear him saying, Presume not to offer to God the latter, or, "Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me.'' Isaiah 1:13. As God gets his people threshed and separated out from the chaff and straw of Babylon he says, "I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.'' Micah 4:13. Have you allowed the Lord to do this with your substance and gain? If not: we fear that you are not yet fully threshed and winnowed out for him. "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.'' Exodus 30: 7, 8. When he dressed the lamps in the morning and when he lit the lamps in the evening, he must burn sweet incense. Just so our morning and evening devotions are very essentially connected with the keeping of our lamps trimmed and burning. It is very probable the morning incense continued to send up its odors until it was rekindled in the evening: hence it was "a perpetual incense before the Lord." How beautifully this agrees with the law of the present sanctuary, that we should be "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:18); "Pray without ceasing.'' 1st Thessalonians 5:17. The incense odors were produced by means of fire and       sweet spices. The fire denotes the Holy Spirit. "I will pray in the Spirit" "We know not what things to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit helpeth our infirmities." Just as essential as fire was to send up incense unto the Lord, so is the Spirit of God to indite and give wings to our prayers. The spices may represent both our desires and the promises of God. Where these two blend together there only wants the Spirit's fire to kindle desire into prayer that will arise as incense to God. What a striking and glorious figure the first coming of this fire upon the altar of God was of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. For it was not a common fire kindled with earthly combustibles. But when the tabernacle was finished, and the first sacrifice laid upon its altar, we are told, "There came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted and fell on their faces." Leviticus 9: 24. So likewise when the temple was reared, and took the place of that temporary sanctuary of the wilderness, and Solomon had finished his earnest dedicatory prayer, and the first sacrifice was already placed upon the altar of burnt offerings, behold, "When Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering, and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house.'' 2nd Chronicles 7:1. "And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshiped, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth forever.'' Verse 3. Can any one place this scene by the side of that described in Acts second chapter, and fail to see their agreement as type and antitype? First, Solomon was, in his erections of the temple, a type of Christ, who built the church. Second, when he finished his prayer the fire came from heaven. So Christ said, "I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever: even the Spirit of truth." John 14:16,17. Third, the sacrifices were all placed on the altar, before the fire came, and in the ''spiritual house'' there were about one hundred and twenty sacrifices all waiting to be "salted with fire," according to the promise       of their Lord. Fourth, Solomon had finished the temple, and Jesus, too, had called his ecclesia out of the world, gave them his perfect law, and upon the cross said, "It is finished." Fifth, when the fire came and burned the sacrifice, "the glory of the Lord filled the house." Jesus also prayed for the church, saying: "The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them." And when the Holy Spirit came as a mighty rushing wind, his sanctifying glory "filled all the house where they were sitting." Sixth, we understand that when that fire came from heaven, it rested constantly upon the two altars of the temple. The first to consume the burnt offerings, the second to burn incense. And thank God, the "Comforter," whom Jesus sent, he said, was to "abide with you forever." And the seventh and final point of analogy we may here mention is this: that all sacrifices were to be offered to God by means of that fire from heaven: and so it is in the kingdom of heaven. He that worships God "must worship him in spirit and in truth." No other fire was allowed in the temple, but the heavenly; so no other spirit must inspire our devotions to God, but that heavenly flame of love that Jesus sheds abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. "Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon." Exodus 30:9. "And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died       before the Lord." Leviticus 10:1,2. The ''strange incense,'' we see was caused by "strange fire." This represents prayer or praise that is moved by some other spirit than that of the true fire of God, the Holy Spirit; some unseemly devotion arises from the spices of unholy desire, and the wild-fire of will-worship, self-righteousness, or fanaticism. Upon all who are led of Satan to thus offer wild incense by means of wild-fire, the true fire of God goes forth and devours them. Then let us be honest in the sight of God, and guard against every hypocritical prayer, and every worked-up shout of empty praise; for, "God knoweth all hearts and understandeth the imagination of the thoughts." Only fire that comes down from heaven can burn the incense of prayer and praise that will ascend to heaven. "But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God.'' Philippians 4:18. Here we find the offering of our means on the altar of his cause, is even compared with the delightful odors that arose from the altar of incense and filled the temple. Truly with such sacrifices God is well pleased. They shall bring gold and incense, and they shall show forth the praise of "the Lord." Our means, our prayers, and our praises must all be offered to God together to be acceptable. If in a covetous heart the former is withheld, from the lips of such the incense of prayer and praise, instead of a sweet odor become a stench in the nostrils of God. Hence we read: "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." Hebrews 13:15,16. All the offerings of the first temple were real financial sacrifices. The tenth of all their increase, the choicest of all their herds, and the fatted calves of their stalls, with the finest of the wheat, the law of that first covenant exacted all the year round. Compared with the grace and glory that has come to us through the sacrifice of our Great Passover, and the ''more excellent ministry" of our High Priest, the returns for all the expenses of that burdensome law are as nothing; and yet our service to God is almost an expenseless thing as compared with theirs. Instead of many burnt offerings of sheep and oxen, '' we render the calves of our lips.'' Hosea 14:2. Instead of a literal temple adorned with the accumulated gold of a nation, we worship God in a "spiritual house," adorned with the beauty of holiness, and set with the precious jewels of Heaven's graces. Instead of every male member being compelled to go up to old Jerusalem three times a year, we find the new Jerusalem in every clime. God himself is to our soul "as a little sanctuary" in every country (Ezekiel 11:16); and there can we "worship him in spirit and in truth." In fact, the law of Moses bound many grievous burdens,       and was a "yoke which our fathers could not bear"; but Jesus says, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." "His commandments are not grievous," but all his law is liberty. Behold the blessedness of his service, and yet how cheap when compared with the law which Christ nailed to the cross, and took away. No tithing, no toll, tribute, or tax is laid upon us. But he that has given his own Son, and with him freely all things, simply says, "Give as you purpose in your own heart." Though the earth is mine and the fullness thereof, I will not exact of thee, but "the Lord loveth a cheerful giver." "And he that soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully." Shall we who have received this great salvation without money and without price, bring no fruit of the land as a thank offering unto the Lord? To him that asks so little, shall wicked ingratitude give nothing? If the royal priests "have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?" "Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?"' Thus were the priests of the law fed from things offered by the people on the altar. But have we no altar? Yea, "We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle." Hebrews 13:15. Therefore from the above cited shadow, i. e., "They which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar," he passes to the substance in the next verse, and says: "Even so hath the Lord ordained, that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel." 1st Corinthians 9:14. So we have under the new covenant a sanctuary of living stones, a high priest made "after the power of an endless life," a "royal priesthood." altar, and sacrifices, all complete in Christ and his holy church on earth. These "spiritual sacrifices" are often spoken of in the Psalms of David and in the prophets in such language as the following: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.'' Psalms 51:17. "Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord." Psalms 4:5. "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing." Psalms 107: 21, 22. "I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord." Psalms 116:17. "Therefore will I offer in this tabernacle sacrifices of joy." Psalms 27: 6. This must be prophetic of the royal priests of this dispensation, for David had no right to enter, much less       offer sacrifices in the "worldly sanctuary" that has, with its covenant, passed away. And in prediction of the very work that is going on at this time, the gathering of all God's elect into the ''one body'' and original fold of Christ, calling all nations into the valley of judgment, where he sits to judge the heathen (Gentiles) round about (Joel 3 and Matthew 24: 31-33)—in prediction, we say, of this present work, David utters the following words: ''The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he       may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." Psalms 50:1-5. Three things are prominent in this picture. "Out of Zion [God's church], the perfection of beauty, God hath shined." God gets a perfect remnant to shine out of, then judgment goes forth to all that profess to be his people in all the earth, even "from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof." And the same angels that fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, people and tongue, while judging everything out of harmony with God, gather together unto him all his true saints that have made a covenant with him by sacrifice; having rendered their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, they are gathered unto him in these last days, ready for his coming. So then we have found a sanctuary, priesthood, and sacrifices continuing under the new covenant. But these all imply one altar. Have we that also! Yea, "We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.'' Hebrews 13:10. What our altar is, is clearly shown in the verses that follow. Christ is set forth as our great expiating sacrifice, and also our sanctifying altar. "Let us go forth, therefore, unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.'' Verse 13. As he was crucified without the camp of formal religion, so, if we would render our bodies a living sacrifice to God, and be crucified with him, we must likewise withdraw ourselves from all the world. We must go forth unto him our altar, and there be offered up to God. "By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips.'' Verse 15. As the legal offerings were only sanctified by the altar upon which they were offered to God, so it is by Christ that our soul and body are sanctified, and our sacrifice of praise acceptable unto God. He is our altar, hence also it is definitely stated that we are "an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." As the ancient priests lived of the offerings of the altar, so, thanks be to our heavenly Father, we all being holy priests have an altar from which we obtain all things for soul and body. "In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a savior, and a great one, and he shall deliver them." Isaiah 19:19, 20. This altar can only mean Christ. It was predicted as something then in the future, hence not that of the temple, which was then in existence, and located only at Jerusalem. With this altar prophecy associates "a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord.'' It would appear that the apostle had reference to this very prediction when he called "the church of the living God the pillar and the ground of the truth." Here is the temple in which stands our altar of sacrifice and sweet incense. "An altar to the Lord,'' and ''a pillar to the Lord,'' is none other than ''the Lord's Christ" and his church. "And it shall be a sign and for a witness unto the Lord." Whether this relates to the altar or to the pillar, the language does not certainly determine, but Christ is "for a sign which shall be spoken against" (Luke 2:34), and he is also the "faithful witness"; and so is the church God's witness to the ends of the earth. This altar is clearly located under the present dispensation of grace by the announcement connected therewith, that "he will send them a savior, and a great one, and he shall deliver them." This can be none other than the "Mighty to save." It is a fact clearly seen in Scripture that Egypt, as well as Canaan, and the wilderness, has a spiritual significance. It denotes the sinner's state. So just where Egypt ends God's church is entered; hence, the "pillar is at the border thereof." But if Egypt be taken literally, the great savior is sent to it as much as to any other nation, and in it did the apostles publish the great salvation, so fulfilling the prediction. Much of the 56th chapter of Isaiah relates to Christ and his salvation, and the present dispensation of grace. ''Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice; for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed." Verse 1. "Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.'' Verse 5-7. Under the law only the priests had liberty to enter God's temple, but into the house of God there is access for all who take hold of his covenant. Under the old covenant only the tribe that God chose were permitted to enter and serve as priests in his temple. But now "an open door is set before all that choose the things that please me.'' Verse 4. "Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and daughters," "an everlasting name." The name of sons and daughters, our present privilege, exceeds the highest favor under the law; but the Lord confers a name better still. What is it? Undoubtedly it refers to the       name that expresses that higher and most glorious relation, yea more, even the "bride the Lamb's wife." Though Christ called the temple a "house of prayer for all nations," the descriptions agree still more fully with his church, the antitype of the temple. Of those that the Lord brings to his holy mountain, and makes joyful in his       spiritual house of prayer, he says: "Their burnt offerings       [devotions offered by the fire of the Holy Spirit] and their sacrifices shall be accepted on my altar." Thus the bride of Christ, and holy priesthood, have in God's house, an altar in this dispensation. In fact, this is clearly implied in all those scriptures that teach we are a holy priesthood, and do offer to God spiritual sacrifices; and this altar is Christ. Did Christ then offer sacrifices to the Father upon himself as the altar? Yes; his sacrifice of prayers, and tears, and his own body, were all accepted upon the merits of his own spotless righteousness. But our devotions are only offered in his name, sanctified in his blood, and accepted upon the altar of his righteousness. As the typical altar of the law was "sanctified," and hence was "an altar most holy" (Exodus 29: 37), so was Christ, the antitype, who is our altar, also sanctified with his own blood. Hebrews 10:29. After the legal altar was sanctified it was announced that "whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy." Exodus 29:37. What but Jesus, the uttermost Savior, could be the antitype of such an altar? "Who but he can make us holy? Hence after announcing that "we have an altar" (Hebrews 13:10), our attention is called to the place where the bodies of the beasts were "burned without the camp," "whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priests" (Verse 11), which is a striking figure of Christ, crucified without the city; but his blood enters and consecrates for us a new and living way into the holiest of all. And his body having been offered for us, he becomes an altar of merit upon which we may offer ourselves to God and be wholly sanctified. "Wherefore Jesus also [like the beasts that were burned outside the camp] that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the camp.'' Verse 12. Who can fail to trace the typical relation between the sanctified altar of the worldly sanctuary and Christ? It was an altar "most holy"; so is Christ. “It sanctified the gift;" so does Christ sanctify wholly all who present themselves to God a living sacrifice upon the merits of his blood and righteousness. He is to us the brazen altar, where his "power on earth to forgive sins" admits us into his sanctuary; and he is our golden altar, where, with the incense of praise, we render our bodies a living sacrifice, and the second application of the blood purifies our nature and passes us unto that within the second vail. And, behold, he is our mercy seat, where we enter the perfect rest under the shadow of the Almighty. But can we actually prove this? Thank God, the Word makes it very clear. In 1st John 2: 2 and 4:10 and Romans 3: 25, Christ is set forth as '' the propitiation for our sins.'' Now the original word for propitiation is hilasmos, that which appeases and expiates. The same word is translated "mercy seat" in Hebrews 9:5: "And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy seat" —hilastesios. The use of the word here shows it to       be the mercy seat, and yet in other places it is rendered       "propitiation," and applied to Christ. What a beautiful picture the two altars and the sacred rest beneath the outstretched wings of the golden cherubims present of our adorable Savior, who pardons, cleanses, and then takes us into his own sweet rest, in the holiest of his beautiful sanctuary. Oh, the inexpressible bliss and glory of this inner sanctuary, where all sin is dead, and we are hid with Christ in God! This is that which was spoken of by the mouth of the prophet: "In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." Isaiah 26:1-3. That day has come; and that city is God's church. Salvation is her walls; and in her the righteous nations, the justified who keep the truth, have an inner gate opened to their soul through the second vail, into that most holy rest, here called '' perfect peace,'' where they are stayed on Christ, their mercy seat, by a living trust in him. In the margin this perfect peace is rendered, "Peace, peace." Entering the first gate of the holy place they obtain "peace with God." But entering the second gate they obtain in addition "the peace of God." "Peace, peace," oh, how sacred! Peace, in its second and full degree, within the second vail. Christ entered the most holy of his sanctuary when he shed his blood and laid down his life for the world. But he entered not to abide there alone. His blood consecrated the way for us to follow him into that inner abode of the Most High. The question then arises,      WHEN WAS THE WAY INTO THE HOLIEST  MADE KNOWN TO THE CHURCH? Here is the answer: "The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing." Hebrews       9:8. It was thus rendered by A. Layman: '' The Holy Spirit thus signifying to us that the way into the most holy place is not yet laid open, while the first tabernacle still subsisted." "The Holy Spirit signifying this, that the way into the most holy place is not yet laid open while the first tabernacle yet standeth."—Wakefield.  ''The Holy Spirit plainly showing this, that the way into the holies was not yet manifest while the tabernacle hath a standing."—Charles Thomson. "The Holy Spirit showing this, that the way into the holies [a contraction of holy of holies, denoting the second, or most holy place] has not yet been brought to view, while the first tabernacle has a standing." —Emphatic Diaglott. It was probably because the temple was not destroyed until a few years after the writing of this epistle, that some of these translators thought it necessary to render, "while the tabernacle hath a standing," "has a standing," and not as the common version, "was yet standing." But the direct from the Greek is as follows: "This showing of the Spirit of the holy, not yet to have been manifested the of the holies way, while of the first tabernacle having a standing.'' This is all in the past tense. This verse was a mystery unto us until the same Holy Spirit who made known the way unto the holiest, suddenly revealed the meaning unto our mind. Christ came by his greater and more perfect tabernacle, and for a space of three and a half years preached his own everlasting gospel. But while he was thus promulgating the laws of his kingdom, the first covenant was yet also in force, and the legal tabernacle service yet had a standing. But in the death of Christ, our passover, the types and shadows of the law met their great antitype, and vanished before the sunlight of the new dispensation. At that very point the whole legal system was nailed to the cross and taken away. Colossians 2:14. Then the temple services ended in the plan of God and had no more a standing. Then Christ passed into the holiest, and when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit came, the way into the holiest of all was made known unto the church, the royal priesthood. Though the kingdom of heaven had appeared, and men had pressed into it, and followed Christ in the regeneration, the baptism of the Holy Spirit signalized the time when the way into the holiest was made known to his disciples. What sense could be derived from the above text if the Advent theory were correct? As soon as the first tabernacle had served its time, and was supplanted by "the true," and the Holy Spirit was given, as the climax of the new dispensation, then the "way into the holiest was made manifest," ''was laid open," " brought to view.'' Were the sanctuary in heaven and no one to enter it but Christ, and he not into the holiest until 1844, then there were no unfolding to view the way into the holiest at the coming of the Holy Spirit. But when we receive the testimony of the Word that the church of God is the temple of the present dispensation, then all the Scriptures link together in beautiful harmony, and no text need be wrested or explained away. Now the holiest of all is laid open. In the law sanctuary that place was a profound secret. It was guarded with the penalty of death. No one might presume to enter except the high priest, and even his sacred gown and breastplate, with its Urim and Thummim, could not shield him from the penalty of death, were he to enter thereat any other time than upon the annual great day of atonement; or were he to enter without blood, or without the noise of the bells upon the skirts of his garments. Thus was God shut in from man's gaze, and man shut out from his awful presence, until the death of Christ rent the vail; until his perfect sacrifice for our sins satisfied the demands of justice, and brought in everlasting righteousness. Then we were brought nigh by the precious blood of the Lamb, through whom we have now received the atonement. This is the "mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God" (Ephesians 3: 9); namely, "That, in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth.'' Ephesians 1: 10. This glorious coming in unto God, and God coming into and making his abode with us is now realized in the present sanctuary of God in which the redeemed have found perfect "fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ." In the law sanctuary God was hid; in the gospel sanctuary he is manifest, his glory shining out through every living stone of the building (according to its shadow). Approaching this holy temple we first come to the brazen altar. That signifies that our salvation must begin with sacrifice. "Deny thyself," saith the Lord. Next in order we approach the laver. This, we have seen, represents the Word of God and the blood of Christ, which is able to save the soul. A beautiful point is added to the figure by the fact recorded in Exodus 38: 8, that this laver was made of '' the looking-glasses of the women." In the margin, "brazen glasses." In ancient times mirrors were made of polished plates of brass, etc. That looking-glass laver and its water is a striking figure of the gospel of Christ, which is the glass in which we both see ourselves, and the water in which we wash away our sins. This admits us into the holy place, where we approach the golden altar of incense. At the former altar we offered ourselves without any praises, dead in sins; but here we already bring the fruit and incense of praise. Luke 24:52, 53. Here the complete cleansing is effected, and we enter the second vail. The sprinkled blood of the high priest marked our progress from the court into this most holy place. He "sprinkled the blood seven times before the Lord" at the first altar. Leviticus 4: 6. Seven denotes perfection, therefore shows our perfect justification by the precious blood of Christ. And though our consecration and purification are perfected by the golden altar, there is a positive part to entire sanctification; we must be filled with all the fullness of God, as well as emptied of self and all unrighteousness. Therefore the high priest, on the great day of atonement, was required to "take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times." Leviticus 16:14. Here enveloped in the divine glory, in the holy presence of the Most High, the symbolic blood is again sprinkled seven times, denoting our perfect sanctification. Thus we are saved by two perfect works of divine grace, neither of which can ever be more perfect. Through all eternity a soul will never be more completely pardoned of past sins than in the instant of his adoption into the divine family. And ''by one offering he hath perfected forever [the purification of] them that are sanctified; whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us.'' Hebrews 10:14,15, as translated by Conybeare and Howson. Oh, the beauty and the glory of the two perfections, the all-pardoning justification, and the restored image of God in absolute purification, where the soul sinks into eternal rest in the bosom of love.      THE CHURCH PROVED TO BE  THE SANCTUARY BY THE PROPHETS. The voice of prophecy is very clear on this point. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: 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. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.'' Jeremiah 31: 31-34. Here are two covenants spoken of. One was made with Israel in the day that God took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt. This covenant is declared to have been the ten commandments written in the tables of stone. See Deuteronomy 5: 2-22; Exodus 34: 28; Deuteronomy 4:13; 9:9, 11; 1st Kings 8:21; Hebrews 9:4. But another covenant God would make with Israel, namely the spiritual seed of Abraham (see Galatians 3: 7, 29),and this latter was to be written in the heart instead of upon stone. Turning to Hebrews chapters 7 to 10 we find these two covenants clearly taught, compared and contrasted. Christ is declared to be "a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched.'' Hebrews 8:2. "But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises." Verse 6. This new covenant was enacted, we are told, because of the insufficiency of the former, Verse 7. "For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of       Israel and with the house of Judah.'' Verse 8. The writer quotes the entire passage we have given above from Jeremiah 31, relating to this new covenant, and concludes the chapter by saying, "In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.'' Verse 13. And in 10:9 we are plainly told that Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, took away that       old, decaying covenant, that he might establish the second; namely, the one that is written in our hearts. Now let us see what further took place when Christ came and established that new covenant in the hearts of his people. ''Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forevermore." Ezekiel 37: 26-28. Behold he then set his sanctuary in the midst of his people forevermore, and as the tabernacle was "a shadow of the true sanctuary,'' he calls the alter his tabernacle. ''My tabernacle shall be with them:" yea, "I will be their God, and they shall be my people." This we see fulfilled under the gospel of Christ. 2nd Corinthians 6:16-18. "And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel [the spiritual Israel or church] when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forever." This proves that his sanctuary is not pitched in heaven, but here on earth, where even the heathen round about behold and confess that God does sanctify his people, when his sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forever. In the above prophecy of Jeremiah and Ezekiel we have the very substance of the Hebrew epistle, an old and a new covenant. One had been made shortly after Israel was led out of Egypt, and it was written on stone and was a temporary law. A new covenant was to be made between God and his people, which was to be his final and everlasting covenant; and it was to be written in our hearts. Under the coming covenant, as well as under the one that was then in force, there was to be a sanctuary which the Lord designates as, "My tabernacle," which means his dwelling place. This latter sanctuary was to supplant the former, as the new covenant done away with the old; so we read in the epistle to the Hebrews of an old and a new covenant—the former engraved in stone, the latter in our hearts. Jesus took away the first covenant that he might establish the second. 10: 9. Under the former covenant there was a "worldly sanctuary," but under the priesthood of Christ there is a "greater and more perfect tabernacle." It is called "the house of God" (Hebrews 10: 21); and the "house of God is the church of the living God." 1st Timothy 3: 15. In this new covenant sanctuary or church he dwells in the midst of his people here on earth. As the word sanctuary means a dwelling place for the Most High God, and such is his church, it follows that the church is his sanctuary. In Hebrews 3: 2-6 both shadow and substance are placed side by side. The former was denominated Moses' house because he was the mediator of that covenant. "But Christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope, firm unto the end." So instead of the Lord God forsaking the earth at the close of the Jewish age and transition from, the first to the second covenant, under this "everlasting covenant of peace," he "set his sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore." "My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea I will be their God, and they shall be my people." And that is not in heaven, but here on earth, where even the heathen behold the sanctifying glory of God manifest in his people. Nor can it be applied to the "worldly sanctuary" of the first covenant, for that was in existence when this was predicted as then yet future. "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord." Psalms 27: 4-6. This desire can only relate to, and find its fruition in the new covenant sanctuary, the church of God. Its ideal was not drawn from the legal sanctuary, for no one could dwell therein, and in the secret place of its pavilion no one could enter but one man, and that was but one day in the whole year. But as the Psalms breathe the very spirit of the present dispensation, and sparkle all through with prophecies relating to Christ and his perfect sanctuary, here is a beautiful description of the latter. It is called ''the house of the Lord." So is the sanctuary of the Lord called ''the house of God" (Hebrews 10: 21), which is defined as "the church of the living God." But Christ our high priest having "obtained a more excellent ministry [than that of Aaron], by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon. better promises.'' Hebrews 8:6. In many things this superiority is seen; one of which is here spoken of as the privilege of entering right into the house of the Lord, and dwelling there all the days of our life; yea, even abide in the secret, or holiest of his tabernacle. This privilege, thank God, we enjoy now in his church. The pavilion for which David here prayed is called the "house of the Lord," "his tabernacle," and "his temple"; and by the Spirit of the Lord in his heart he could feel the coming joy and glory of the "spiritual house" of God.       "Therefore," said he, "I will offer in his tabernacle sacrifice of joy: I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.'' David had no part in offering sacrifices in the law sanctuary, but as Christ said, "Abraham saw my day and rejoiced," so did David; and his desire to offer sacrifice of joy in God's holy temple was realized in his converted posterity under the gospel of Christ. How beautifully David's ideal coincides with the New Testament sanctuary. His inspired vision saw and rejoiced in a temple commodious enough for all God's people to dwell in, and continually "behold the beauty of the Lord": instead of lambs, goats, etc., therein "offer the sacrifices of joy, and sing praises unto the Lord." Wherefore says the apostle, "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." 1st Peter 2: 5. And ''blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee.'' Psalms 84: 4. And in fulfillment of the prediction of David, we hear Paul saying, "By him [Christ] therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually," etc. (Hebrews 13:15), for "in his temple doth every one speak of his glory." Psalms 29: 9. It was also the coming glory of this holy temple which inspired the 134th Psalm. "Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord." Verse 1, 2. But before we pass the former prophecy, two more beautiful points must be considered. In this spiritual house, '' He shall set me up upon a rock." "And now shall mine head be lifted up among my enemies round about." The first is explained thus: "Who is a rock save our God ?" 2nd Samuel 22: 32. ''To whom coming as unto a living stone, ... ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house." 1st Peter 2: 4, 5. The second proves that this temple of God is built right here on earth, for in heaven there are no enemies round about. So this temple does not refer to U. Smith's imaginary one in heaven, nor to the worldly sanctuary, but the specifications are found in the church of the living God built on the rock of ages. "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.'' Psalms 46: 4-6. This city is the church of the firstborn. Isaiah 26:1; Matthew 5:14. The river is salvation, which does indeed make glad all the city of God. And this city is the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. Yea, ''God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved: God shall help her." "The heathen raged," etc. Who can not see that this city, divine help, and the rage of the heathen against her is all true of God's church here on earth? Hence, also she is spoken of in the feminine gender, being the bride of Christ. "Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of       offense to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem." Isaiah 8:13,14. That this "rock of offense" is Christ, many scriptures make plain. 1st Peter 2: 8 is sufficient to identify the two, where he is declared to be the very "rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word." "And he shall be for a sanctuary." How then, it may be asked, is the church his sanctuary? The Scriptures are at hand to answer. While he built the church, he is in a sense identical with the church. In 1st Corinthians 12: 12 the church is set forth as containing many members in one body, and that body is Christ. In verse 27, it is said, "Ye are the body of Christ;" and in verse 28 that Christ's body is called the church. So while the church is God's house and dwelling place, we can also say of him, "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations." Psalms 90:1. The Lord is our sanctuary, and we also 'sanctify the Lord God in our heart.' "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit." 1st John 4:13. Therefore such as know not that God has a dwelling place or sanctuary on earth, it is because they are without his Spirit. But, bless his holy name! "We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.'' Verse 16. "And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.'' Isaiah 4: 6. This tabernacle can not allude to the ''worldly sanctuary,'' that was then in existence, for it was predicted as something yet to come. Neither can it be located in heaven, because there is no "heat" of trial, nor storm, and flood of satanic wrath, or temptation to be sheltered from. What then is this covert but the church of the living God, into which we "have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." Hebrews 6:18. In Isaiah 60 we have a glowing picture of the first coming of Christ into this dark world. "Arise, shine," the poet cries, "for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." verse 1. "Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.'' Verse 5. ''Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought." Verse 11. These verses need no explanation. They clearly foretell the conversion of the Gentiles, who, in verse 8, fly down to the Christian ark "whose gates shall be open continually." "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious." Verse 13. "Glory of Lebanon, the fir-tree, the pine tree, and the box-tree" refer to noble and stately characters, who are, by the grace of God, brought and builded into this holy temple, which God himself fitly frames together. "To beautify the place of my sanctuary: and I will make the place of my feet glorious." Does not this positively prove the church of God is his sanctuary? It can not be applied in any possible sense to the literal temple at Jerusalem, for it is clearly associated with the conversion of the Gentiles, when that temple was abandoned and men worshiped God in spirit and in truth, but neither at Jerusalem nor at Samaria. This sanctuary is the place of his feet, and thus saith the Lord to his church: "I will dwell in you and walk in you," and "where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst." The next verse also clearly shows that it is not up in heaven, but where penitents bow and seek God. "And all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet.'' ''And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." Zechariah 6:12,13. The man that is the BRANCH, can only mean Christ. In Jeremiah 23: 5, 6, he is called "a righteous Branch," and "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. ''See also Zechariah 3:8. "And he [the BRANCH, The Lord Our Righteousness] shall build the temple, the temple of the Lord." What temple? Namely, "Ye are God's building.'' 1st Corinthians 3:9. "But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we." Hebrews 3:6. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you!" 1st Corinthians 3:16. And this temple he does indeed build. "Upon this rock I will build my church." "In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.'' Ephesians 2:21,22. This is "the tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man." "Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne.'' Zechariah 6:13. His throne of holiness. Psalms 47: 8. "Holiness becometh thine house,'' thy church. Here he rules by the scepter of his truth. This same reign of Christ in his temple is seen in Isaiah 32:1, 2: "Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Surely that place of wind, tempest, and drought is not up in heaven, but here on earth. So when Christ came and founded his church he built his temple and dwells in the same here among men, and to him indeed be all the glory. Amen. These few citations sufficiently give us the voice of prophecy on this subject. They all point to a temple and sanctuary of the new covenant built on earth by the Lord Jesus when he took away the first covenant and established the second: and the positive and uniform testimony of the New Testament is that the temple which he built in fulfillment of those predictions is the ''church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."      THE TRUE TEMPLE OF GOD. We have now gone through the ancient tabernacle and temple, the sanctuary of the first covenant, and "figure of the true," and beheld every part of it; and everything pertaining to it meets its antitype in Christ and in his church on earth; even the priesthood of this dispensation is God's royal saints. The linen gown of the olden priests was a type of our spotless robes of righteousness; their helmet, our salvation; their breastplate, our righteousness; their Urim and Thummim, the "bright and morning star" in our soul; and the ''perfection of beauty,” God shines" out of Zion, the church of the first-born. But let us now seal up this matter with a few positive declarations of divine testimony. The sanctuary of the law covenant was a figure of the sanctuary of the new covenant. '' On this point,'' says U. Smith, "we suppose there is no controversy. All agree that they stand as type and antitype. The sanctuary of that dispensation was the type, the sanctuary of this the antitype.'' This is an important admission. With this fact acknowledged the question asked by the same writer is easily answered, "What is the sanctuary of the new covenant." It may be answered thus: Whatever, under the new covenant, takes the place of, and is the antitype of the temple, is the sanctuary under the present dispensation. Or still more simple, Whatever is now the temple of God, is his sanctuary. And thus the Word of truth points out: ''Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.” 1st Corinthians 3:16. "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." 1st Corinthians 3:17. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" 1st Corinthians 6:19. "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.'' 2nd Corinthians 6:16. "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Ephesians 2:19-22. "He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.'' Revelation 3:6. "Him that over-cometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name." Revelation 3:12. As the ancient temple was God's sanctuary, the church being called his temple, must be his present sanctuary. There Young's Bible translation renders 1st Corinthians 3:16,17 as follows: "Have ye not known that ye are a sanctuary of God, and the Spirit of God doth dwell in you? If any one the sanctuary of God doth waste, him shall God waste; for the sanctuary of God is holy, the which ye are." Here the word is from naos, defined "a dwelling place, inner sanctuary." So God's church is called his sanctuary. Here are six positive declarations that the temple of God is his church, right here in the world. Nothing can be plainer than this fact. Again, the ancient sanctuary was called the house of God. Whatever, therefore, is the house of God or his building now is his present sanctuary. And thus we read: "For we are laborers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.'' 1st Corinthians 3:9. "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.'' 1st Peter 2:5. "For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house." Hebrews 3:3. "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matthew 16:18. "But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.'' Hebrews 3: 6. ''But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." 1st Timothy 3:15. Here again are six positive testimonies that God's present house or sanctuary is his church. If the testimony of two witnesses is true, who can set aside or overthrow the united testimony of twelve declarations of the inspired Word of God? And this temple or "spiritual house" of God is positively declared to be the sanctuary of Christ. Hence we read: "And having a high priest over the house of God" (Hebrews 10: 21), "whose house are we" (3:6); which house he built. 3: 3. Hence he is "a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.'' Hebrews 8: 2. Then the house which Christ built, which he called "my church," and this writer of Hebrews designates as "his own house," is positively declared to be the present "sanctuary, the true temple," in contradistinction of that which was only the shadow. And the shadow agrees with the substance in every lineament. The first was holy, so also the second. God was the designer of the first, so was he of the second. The first was his dwelling place, and likewise the church is a "habitation of God through the Spirit." The first sanctuary was a place to offer daily sacrifices; and the church is a "spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices." God sent down the fire from heaven upon the altars of the first sanctuary, and so sent the fire of the Holy Spirit, and filled his New Testament sanctuary. And so we might wind our way back, through all the beautiful objects we have so long been looking upon, and again complete them as shadow and substance in the ancient and present sanctuary of the Most High God. But this is       not necessary. Already we have taken much pains and heaped up scripture in great abundance to establish the new covenant sanctuary, because we believe the explanation of the worlds of truth contained in that temple of shadows will prove instructive and profitable: but more especially it is important that we understand what that structure is. Hence we have given place to the abundance of scripture which prove in so many ways that the church of the living God is his present sanctuary, and so settled this fact beyond the possibility of a doubt.      DOES GOD DWELL IN HIS CHURCH ON EARTH ? Says U. Smith, "According to Webster, Walker, Cruden, and the Bible, the term sanctuary is defined to mean, A holy place, a sacred place, a dwelling place for the Most High." — Sanc. 112. Correct. Then if the church of God is his sanctuary it must answer to these qualities. Is the church a holy place? Yea, "Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, forever.'' Psalms 93: 5. She is the ''mountain of his holiness.'' Psalms 48:1. The habitation of his holiness. Isaiah 63:15. The very courts of his holiness. Isaiah 62: 9. In her God sits upon the throne of his holiness. Psalms 47:8. Upon mount Zion there shall be holiness. Obadiah 17. And mount Zion is the "church of the first-born." Hebrews 12: 22, 23. The church is compared to a vine. John 15. Christ is the root and trunk, and all who believe in him are the branches; and ''if the root be holy, so are the branches" (Romans 11:16); not simply should be, but absolutely are holy. There is not an unholy member in the church of God, nor can there be. "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." 1st Peter 2:5. She is a "holy nation." Verse 9. The church is then a holy place, hence also a sacred place. But is it also the "dwelling place of the Most High"? If so, it answers in full the description of God's sanctuary. Says U. Smith,'' It had been announced through the prophet that then (i. e., Oct. 22, 1844) the sanctuary should be cleansed. What sanctuary? and where? No sanctuary on earth; for since A. D. 70 there has been none.'' In various other sayings they teach the gloomy doctrine that, in this dispensation God has withdrawn from earth to heaven, and has no dwelling place here among men. This only proves that that blinded people have never found the Lord, have not entered his holy temple, and are "without God and without hope in the world." But the God of the Bible is not without a sanctuary on earth. "For we are laborers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building." 1st Corinthians 3:9. What house did he build? Answer— "Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell [Hades] shall not prevail against it." Matthew 16:18. One of the most glorious things announced in prophecy, foreshadowed in the types, and now enjoyed by the redeemed children of God, is this fact: "The tabernacle of God is among men.'' This is the summit and the crowning glory of the present dispensation of the Holy Spirit. The real presence of God in his church is the substance and joyful realization of that which his abode in the tabernacle and temple was but a faint type. This we shall prove by the Scripture. "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.'' Isaiah 7:14. What does this title signify? An answer is found in Matthew 1: 23, "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." "And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.'' Isaiah 8: 8. What is the breadth of his land? Thus saith the Lord," Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.'' Psalms 2: 8. The whole earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. And blessed be he who cometh in the name of "God with us." What a dark, blind conception of       the church men must have who see not God dwelling and walking within her sacred courts. No sanctuary or temple of God on earth, say the Adventists. Then the Lord did not include that sect when he said, '' For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." 2nd Corinthians 6:16. Behold now has come to pass the time when God dwells in his people, and in his church, as never before. This is the peculiar heritage of the present dispensation. No prophecy more animated the devout Jew than the announcement that in the last days God would pour out his Spirit upon all flesh; when the holy fire would overleap the prophetic rank,'' and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." And now the long expected time drew nigh, and the Son of God announced, "Not many days hence ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire." "I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you forever: even the Spirit of truth.'' So this glorious third person was to come and abide in the church forever. "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." Christ the second person also returned in the spirit: "And my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." According to the promises of Christ the whole trinity was to make the church his abode. Was it fulfilled? Let us search the inspired record and see. That this was all fulfilled on the day of Pentecost no one can deny. Let the apostles of the Lamb bear witness. Did the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ move into the church as the Lord promised? Yes. "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." 2nd Corinthians 6:16. "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." Ephesians 4:6. And she is likewise the dwelling place of the Son of God. "And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all." Ephesians 1: 22, 23. "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love." Ephesians 3:17. This indwelling of Christ is not only a sacred privilege, but it is an absolute necessity; therefore "examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" 2nd Corinthians 13: 5. The Holy Spirit also comes and now dwells in the true sanctuary or church of the living God. ''Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world can not receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." John 14:17. Then the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the whole trinity have sanctified the church of the living God for their dwelling place. Hence it is written,'' That ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:19. The God of all grace and glory dwells in his church in a twofold manner. First, each individual member is a temple of God. "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1st Corinthians 6:19, 20. "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.'' 2nd Corinthians 6:16. By the personal indwelling of Christ in each member of his body he is our individual Savior, sanctifier and preserver from all sin. Praise his name! Second, the Most High God also dwells in the body collective, who, altogether constitute his one house and sanctuary. Many scriptures show this fact, of which the two following are so clear and conclusive that they suffice: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.'' 1st Corinthians 3:16, 17. '' Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Ephesians 2:19-22. By means of this general indwelling fullness of God in his "spiritual house," he organizes and tempers the body       together, preserves it in perfect peace and harmony, and also operates effectually in convicting and saving such as come under her influence; thus making "increase in the body to the edifying of itself in love.'' As God does not dwell in a divided heart, so he can not properly dwell in, and effectually work through a divided people. We can only keep the Spirit in the body by "keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.'' Therefore the confused and disintegrated factions of sectism can not be the temple of God, nor afford a congenial home for the Spirit. No one of them is the church, nor do all together constitute that holy temple; but the "spiritual house" of God is made up of the spiritual. In other words, the church of the living God includes all the saved in Christ. All such, as lively stones, are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. A beautiful representation of God and Christ dwelling in the church is also seen in the vision of John, in which he beheld'' seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man." Revelation 1:12, 13. John was informed by the voice of him whom he beheld in the midst of the seven branches of the candlestick, that the "seven candlesticks are the seven churches." Verse 20. In the holiest of all the more awful presence of God was visible, which denotes that the pure in heart—those who have entered to that within the second vail—see God and are filled with all his fullness. The church of the living God is then the sanctuary that is to be cleansed; which cleansing is the antitype of that of Zerubbabel's temple as already considered. Cleansed from all sin and unrighteousness, and from all rubbish of creeds, traditions, and inventions of sectism which the dark ages of the past have heaped upon her, and which the people have been blindly educated to identify with her. But all this wood, hay, and stubble, the fire of holiness is consuming; and the temple of God appears in view again in her primitive glory. Amen.      The Primitive Church. Before we pass on to the cleansing and reappearance of the divine ecclesia, let us stand on the summit of present truth and point our telescope back over the mists and clouds that move along at our feet, and over the 1,260 years of utter night that extend far beyond, even into the third century. And, there on the mountains       of God's own holiness view the temple of God, resplendent with the morning light of his own glory. Behold, her light is as the sun: she is all fair, the city of the great king. That golden city is the primitive church. As set forth in the oracles of God, we find her prominent attributes to be the following: (1) Divinity, (2) Organization, (3) Visibility, (4) Oneness, (5) Unity, (6)Universality, (7) Exclusiveness, (8) Holiness, (9) Unchangeableness, (10) Indestructibility. First, then, leaning upon the wisdom that cometh from above, we will endeavor to set forth      THE DIVINITY OF THE CHURCH. She is of divine origin. Her inception coexisted in the mind of God with that of the plan of salvation. Her origin being the immediate result of redemption, was inseparable from it. And since, therefore in the counsel and good purpose of God, Christ was a "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13: 8), the       church redeemed through his blood also stood before the divine mind parallel with the gift of his Son. Of that holy institution, we have seen, he cast a beautiful shadow upon the earth, in the form of the temple and all its contents. And, after "Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after, ''in due time,'' Christ, as a son over his own house," appeared, and he built this beautiful church of the living God. He adorned her foundations and walls with the pure gold of his heavenly love, and set them with the precious stones of his graces and gifts; he adorned her pillars with the robes of his righteousness; and in her he sheds the light of his own glory. She is from heaven and all her members are born of God. Along with Christ her life and head, she is the gift of infinite love. She is ''God's building,'' chosen of him for his own dwelling place; and where he spreads a continual feast of love for all his heaven-born children. The divine Son purchased her with his own blood. Acts 20: 28. Yea, he "gave himself" for her to be his own bride (Ephesians 5: 25); built her upon the rock. Matthew 16:18. As the "true tabernacle" of present divine testimony, The Lord pitched her and not man. Hebrews 8: 2. As the house of God, he that buildeth all things in her is God. Hebrews 3:4. As the beloved city, she ''hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.'' Hebrews 11:10. Her foundation is Jesus Christ the divine Savior. "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.'' Her life and light is the ''eternal Spirit.'' Her creed is the pure Word of God. Thus spake God by the mouth of his servant Moses: "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." Deuteronomy18: 18, 19. This is fulfilled in his Son as the apostle testifies. Acts 3: 22, 23. God here announces that he would put his words in the mouth of this prophet; and when he came, he testified, saying, "The words that I speak unto .you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.'' John 14:10. Therefore, ''God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." Hebrews 1: 1,2. This adorable Christ, came into the world, and delivered the perfect laws of his kingdom, and when about to finish his mission on earth he said, "I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them." John 17: 8. And when he sent forth his ministers to preach his gospel to every creature, he commissioned them, to make disciples in all nations, "baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." Matthew 28:19, 20. Thus we see that Christ Jesus spoke all the words that the Father "put into his mouth," and all that he had commanded him to speak; and the Son likewise commissioned his apostles to publish all that, and only that, which he gave them. Therefore, "All Scripture divinely inspired, is indeed profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for that discipline which is in righteousness; so that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly fitted for every good work." 2nd Timothy 3:16, 17, Emphatic Diaglott. God, the Father, is       then the source of this new covenant, Jesus Christ the mediator of the same. Its object is the "conviction" of men in sin, and the teaching, correction in discipline in righteousness, of all the saints of God, and the result is, by means of it they are perfect. As divinely inspired discipline, it corrects every error, and teaches every obligation of righteousness in all our relations to God and to man. By means of this perfect law the man of God—every man of God—may be perfect, and thoroughly furnished in all that pertains to a life of righteousness; and fully instructed in every good work. So, if the Scriptures of divine truth are unsuited, or insufficient, as a discipline for any people, it would indeed appear that such are not men of God. The creeds that men have multiplied in the earth testify against themselves and in favor of this divine Book of discipline. They very generally confess the Word of God is the only inspired and infallible rule of faith and practice; "So that whatever can not be read therein, nor proved thereby it is not necessary to receive or believe,'' so they say. Yet, they impose upon their unwary joiners heaps of forms, traditions, and rules having no place in the inspired discipline of the divine church. God's church is a "spiritual house," and to her was given a spiritual law; but earth-born associations, even though called churches, are earthly in their tendency, therefore can not be governed by a spiritual law, hence they have made their own laws, and amend them to their own option. But the divine and heavenly law of the Lord is well suited, yea, perfect in all its doctrines and ordinances, as the discipline of the church that is indeed of God adapted to all the conditions of the saved, and perfect in all ages of this dispensation. Her government is divine, not only in the legislative, as we have just seen, but likewise, in its judicial and executive departments. "The government shall be upon his shoulder. Isaiah 9:6. "And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion.'' Micah 4:8. "He is the head of the body, the church, ... that in all things he might have the preeminence.'' Colossians 1:18. A divine government in the highest sense. A theocracy not only appointed by, but administered of God. Even ''one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.'' Ephesians 4:6. "It is the same God which worketh all in all." 1st Corinthians 12:6. He chooses men for elders, and deacons, as "governments '' and '' helps,'' but these, as well as all the members of the body, have no right or power to act, except as "it is God that worketh in them." If, therefore, they teach or exhort, it is by his Spirit dwelling in them. If through them judgment is dealt out, it is not "man's judgment," but his that dwelleth in them. So her government is indeed all divine; yea, it is indeed a government of God, working all things in all the members. Her walls are salvation. Isaiah 26:1; 60:18. Behold, God is my salvation.'' Isaiah 12: 2. Therefore her walls are also divine. She has a divine door, even Jesus Christ himself. John 10: 7, 9. Having been purchased, founded and built of God, he claims in her the exclusive right of proprietorship. She is not "our church," but "God's building," divinely owned, and his glory he will not give to another. Her members are all the sons of God and bear his holy image. The Lord is her everlasting light, and God himself the glory in the midst of her. She is even divinely named: "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." Ephesians 3: 14,15. And let not men or devils presume to characterize her by names of blasphemy which they invent. Behold, she is all divine.      THE CHURCH IS AN ORGANIC STRUCTURE. Therefore when men charge us with discarding all organization, they either knowingly or willfully misrepresent us. As the Word teaches so we teach. The church that Jesus purchased with his own blood, he also " built" (Matthew 16:18); that is, organized. "In whom [Christ] all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple unto the Lord.'' Ephesians 2:21. These scriptures and many others clearly set forth the church of God as a symmetrical, and perfectly organized structure. Of this fact there is no question; but       with regard to who holds the prerogative of organizing the body, all do not so well agree. The general teaching in sectarian theology is that God only saves and gathers men out of the world into a general mass, and that it is the duty of ministers to form the material thus provided into organic form. But we teach that God who saves men into his church, also forms them in due order, and really organizes the church himself. As to which position is correct we will now appeal to the Word. A few texts will be sufficient to settle the question. The church, we have seen, is a building, a house; that is, an organic structure. Now it must be apparent to all that whoever is the architect and builder of a house organizes the same. But "he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house." And "he that built all things is God." Hebrews 3:3,4. "But now hath God set the members every one of them in the       body, as it hath pleased him." 1st Corinthians 12:18. "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles," etc. Verse 28. To furnish with organs, "built," "compact,"       "fitly framed together," and to "temper the body together," covers all that is included in the word organize. And, ''All these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit." 1st Corinthians 12:11. Yea, "It is the same God which worketh all in all." 1st Corinthians 12:6. He then, through the Spirit, is the organizer of his own church.      WE CONSIDER NEXT THE VISIBILITY OF THE CHURCH. "But these people [it is alleged against the saints of the Most High God] do not believe in a visible, organized church." This, again, is an untruthful statement. That glorious temple, built by the invisible God, is the visible church. She is "the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill can not be hid.'' Matthew 5:14. Though the wind is an invisible power, its effects are very perceptible to the eye. So the invisible hand of God builds the structure, and organizes the body of his church on earth, which is seen of all. The confused tradition is generally circulated by sectarians, in defense of their own rival organizations, that the constitution of sects is essential to the visible manifestation of the church. But "sect" is a portion "cut off." Is there any sense, reason, or divine truth in the teaching, that an invisible body is made visible by cutting a portion from it? None of the present sects came into existence till that of Rome in the latter part of the third century. Was God's church an invisible thing on earth for nearly three hundred years? And, who can affirm that the multitude of Protestant sects have made visible the church of God, from which they are severed by their peculiar creeds and doctrines? Nay, we affirm in the presence of the Judge of all men, and with a clear consciousness of his truth to support the proposition, that the creation of the sects of Christendom have had exactly the opposite effect. Their traditions have made of no effect the Word of God. Their confusing creeds, heaps of rubbish, and interminable machinery, have utterly subverted, and well-nigh hid out of sight the church that Jesus built on earth. As the historian D'Aubigne has faithfully recorded,       when in the third century an "earthly association," "an external organization was gradually substituted for the interior and spiritual communion which is the essence of the religion of God, "then,'' The living church retired gradually within the lonely sanctuary of a few solitary hearts." That, is, the real church of God, retired almost from view, because of the outspread pomp of the false. So then men's sects do not make visible God's church: but on the contrary they obstruct her life, and obscure her glory. These are facts of history that no honest, intelligent man can deny. The babel of human sects have long obscured the sight of the church of the first-born. Until the evening light revealed the true church, as she shone out in the morning of the dispensation, everybody looked upon the man-built substitutes as the divine church, and the body of Christ, which only is the church, was scarcely discerned at all. But visibility is a natural characteristic of the church of God. Though organized by the invisible Spirit, she is composed of men and women who are as visible now as they were when they were in the kingdom of darkness. While the kingdom of God is substantially the same as his church, the former only relates to the spiritual leaven and unseen power of God that transforms the hearts of men into righteousness and fills them with all joy and peace in believing. Hence, it "cometh not with observation." The church, on the contrary, is the assembly of the saved, the household of God. It includes the bodies of the saints no less than the "hidden man of the heart." "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?" 1st Corinthians 6:15. And Christ, his body, and the church, are all identical in 1st Corinthians 12:12,13, 27, 28. So it is in our physical bodies that we compose the assembly of God. Hence, she is a visible ecclesia. A house, a vine, a family, the human body, "an army with banners," "a light," "the moon," "a mountain," and "a city set upon a hill," are the most common figures of the church; and surely all these denote visibility. God's ministers are not invisible agents, neither did Barnabas and Paul assemble a whole year with something they saw not, with unseen spirits, at Antioch, when "a whole year they assembled themselves with the church.'' Acts 11: 26. Neither had the church become visible by the organization of any sect, for none then existed. This whole conception of God's invisible church on earth is a superstition of the dark ages. A falsehood, devised by Satan to justify the rival headship of the pope, and the formation of all the Protestant rival bodies. The Scriptures teach that Christ only is the head of the church, and he himself the door, and that God sets the members into the body. But this leaves the Roman hierarchy without a head, and the Protestant sects without a member; therefore, Satan puts this lie into the mouth of the papists, "Christ is the head of the invisible church, and the pope of the visible;" and this falsehood into the Protestant creed, "God takes into his invisible body, and we admit members into the visible church.'' It is true that the world can not see the head of the church, as do the Christians, for he manifests himself unto the latter as he does not unto the former; but they can see the children of God, and they are the body of Christ, the church. ''Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.'' 1st John 3:6. This, again, explains why the masses of the sects do not discern Christ, nor his church. It is because they are sinners and Satan blinds their eyes to their condition, by telling them that Christ and his church are invisible. Again, the class-book of God's church is not here on earth, nor seen by natural eyes. But notwithstanding this, the spiritual "see to read their title clear," and know their names are written there. To hypocrites and formalists this is all invisible, hence, they console themselves by being written in a class-book on earth which they can look upon with sinful eyes and handle with unclean hands. What God has to say about them you will find in Jeremiah 17:13. The divine church, without any tampering by man, is a visible and glorious city of God on earth. Yea, so very visible that it is even the light of the world.      ONENESS IS A CHARACTERISTIC OF GOD’S CHURCH. As there is but ''one God, and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all,'' so likewise there is but "one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling." It was the purpose of God to save both Jews and Gentiles through the gospel of his Son. Now there was a great gulf of prejudice and vast separation in sentiment and education existing between these two classes; and it might very reasonably be thought that characters so remote from each other could never be blended together in one body, and live agreeably under one faith. Did therefore, the Lord indulge their alienation from each other, and their extreme peculiarities, by providing a separate fold for each? Nay, says the Great Teacher, "Other sheep I have [Gentiles], which are not of this fold: [not Jews] them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.'' John 10:16. These antipodes of humanity, if saved at all, must be brought together into one fold. Which then was required to surrender his position to the other? The answer is, "He put no difference between us and them." "But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin." The apostle confessed they were no better than they, the Gentiles. Neither one had to come over to the other, but both to God through Christ Jesus; and here is the beautiful result: "For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.'' Ephesians 2:14-16. Then, for all the saved of the nations of the earth, God has provided but "one fold," "one body," "one new man, so making peace." In it are peacefully blended together men of the most widely conflicting idiosyncrasies, and races of the most opposite customs and religions. Of course, these are all removed by the transforming grace of God, and all are conformed to the image of his Son, and all become ''children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3: 26, 28. Since, therefore, the infinite grace of God is manifestly sufficient to mold all men into one harmonious body, there is no need of but one church of the living God. Every description of the church shows that it is but one. Every relation that she sustains to her God demands that she be one. Accordingly, we are told that Christ "is the head of the body, the church." Therefore as there is but one head, there can be but one body. ''For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. But now are they many members, yet but one body.'' 1st Corinthians 12:12,13, 20. ''For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.'' Romans 12: 4, 5. "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." Colossians 3:15. These and many similar scriptures, declare in the most positive terms that God acknowledges but one body. There is but one true church or assembly, just as there is but one God, one true God. Since we are called of Christ into one body, the call to join various bodies must       proceed from antichrist. There is absolutely but one body, and the Christ its head. Again, the church, or divine congregation, sustains the relation to Christ that a wife does to her husband. "And I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord." "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." "For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.'' 2nd Corinthians 11:2. "He that hath the bride is the bridegroom." John 3: 29. "For thy maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall he be called.'' Isaiah 54:5. "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." Revelation 19: 7, 8. Here are six texts establishing this beautiful relation between Christ and his church. To admit, therefore, the idea of more than one church, would impute to Christ the sin of polygamy. A shocking blasphemy! But again we find the divine ecclesia recognized as his own family, his household. "Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." Ephesians 3:15. "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.'' Ephesians 2:19. Since no man can have two families—unless it be a case of living in adultery, having two women, and two homes, which were an abomination in the sight of God—therefore God has but one church, which is the holy family; and according to every description of her she must be but one. While there is a large sisterhood of apostate organizations, the bride of Christ is without a sister. Thus saith the divine husband, ''My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother." Song of Solomon 6: 9. Why then, some one may ask, do we read of churches in the plural number? It is true the word church frequently appears in the plural; but a little attention to the word will convince any honest mind that the church of God is only plural in its diversified geographical location, but in a variety of faiths and orders, never. Accordingly, the word never occurs in the plural except when speaking of God's assembly located in several cities, or in various localities throughout a country or province. For example: "Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified.'' Acts 9:31. "And he went through Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches.'' Acts 15: 41. "As I teach everywhere in every church." 1st Corinthians 4:17. "As I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye." 1st Corinthians 16:1. "And so ordain I in all churches." 1st Corinthians 7:17. '' The churches of Asia salute you.'' 1st Corinthians 16:19. "They returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch;... and when they had ordained them elders in every church." Acts 14: 21, 23. In all the above instances, the word "churches" refers to the congregations of God located at various places throughout one or more countries, except the last, where it refers to the congregation in three different cities. That these churches were not separate sects is clear from the fact that they were all combined under the same rule of ministry. One inspired apostle enjoined rules upon them all; but we all know that no bishop of one sect has jurisdiction over another ecclesiastical order. By means of any complete concordance you may see that church is never once in the plural number when referring to the disciples of Christ in any one city. No matter how large the city and how numerous the believers, there is but one church of God in it. Hence, we read, "The church that was at Antioch." ''The church of God which is at Corinth.'' 1st Corinthians 1:2. "The church of the Thessalonians." 1st Thessalonians 1:1. "Unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea." Revelation 1:11. Thus you see there was only one church in one city; and the seven churches of Asia, so often appealed to in apology for men's sects, were not seven sects in one town, but God's one community located in seven cities. There is, we repeat again, not a single instance in the New Testament of more than one congregation of God in one place or city. Not one exception, where the word is plural, but what it alludes to a plurality of locations where the church exists, and not a plurality of denominations. Indeed, according to every characteristic of the divine fold, she is but one body in heaven and earth, composed of all those who are saved; and but one in her manifestation in any one place, composed of       all in that place who are saved in Christ Jesus. And though under the apostasy there are to-day many bodies, many towering steeples, and rival altars, in every town and city, God's Word is just as true to-day as when written by the inspiration of the apostles, and there is but one body in Christ. Romans 12:4, 5. Yea, there is but one body universal in Christ, and but one body in Christ in Chicago, New York, or in any city on earth. Therefore, if "God be true and every man a liar," it follows that the multitude of bodies seen in these last days occupying the same place, are not in Christ, not the one body of Christ. However, we frequently admit that individuals, who through erroneous education, dwell in these manifold factions, and also sincerely abide in Christ, are in the one body of Christ, notwithstanding their sect relationship; which, however, they are always ready to abandon when they properly discern the divine body into which God set them, and the rival character of the sect into which they are taken by man. The church of God is one in heaven and on earth, hence she is necessarily one holy family wherever she appears on earth.      UNITY IS ONE ATTRIBUTE OF THE CHURCH. We have just seen that God's church is one fold, one family, one body. We shall next prove from the Scriptures that her divine author demands perfect harmony in all her members, has fully provided for that unity, and forbids all divisions. The community of God is not only one body, but all divisions of that one body are condemned in the strongest terms. Let us hear the great Founder, as he pours out his heart in prayer to the Father, while already suffering the inward pains of death in behalf of his dearly purchased church. ''Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom       thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are one.'' John 17:11. "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.'' Verse 20, 21. "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." Verse 23. Three times over he earnestly implores the Father that all who believe on him, through the Word of God, which has come down to us from the hands of the apostles, should be one, yea, one, even as he himself and the Father are one. Are we Christians if we respect not those deep heart yearnings of Christ? Do we care for the salvation of this lost world if we are indifferent about this heavenly unity, which the "wisdom of God" foresaw, and declared essential to their faith in the divine mission of Christ on earth? The Lord knew very well that the citadel of the human soul is under the control of reason, and can admit nothing without the control of that high functionary. He also perceived that reason must pronounce division, discord, and all strife and confusion, inconsistent with a religion professed as emanating from God. Hence, that earnest and thrice repeated prayer, that we should all be one as he and the Father are one, that the world might believe that he was really sent from heaven to save men from their sins. The language virtually implies that if this holy unity is not seen by the world in the professed family of God, unbelief would possess their hearts, and his death on their behalf would be largely frustrated. And have not his anticipations proved sadly true? Behold, the world is to-day rushing on to hell; and ever since strife and division       has broken the sweet "one accord" of the primitive church, the gospel has been comparatively powerless to convict of sin and the judgment, and turn the souls of men from the ways of death. There is then a solemn and awful weight of importance connected with this divine unity. For this cause there is perhaps no one thing more frequently enjoined in the New Testament than the oneness of all believers; no evil more peremptorily forbidden than that of schisms; and no sin more strongly       denounced than that of "causing division." The apostles of the Lord, walking in the spirit and footsteps of their Master, continued the same earnest appeal for the unity of all who profess the name of Christ. "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." 1st Corinthians 1:10. "For ye are all one in Christ Jesus.'' Galatians 3: 28. "Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel." Philippians 1: 27. "Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.'' Philippians 2:2. "Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 15: 5, 6. "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul." Acts 4: 32. Here are five more positive commands in the law of God       declaring the children of God to be "perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment," that they "stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel." "That ye be likeminded, being of one accord;'' not likeminded according to some man's mind or creed; not according to the mind of the flesh, nor yet the edicts of some conference of preachers, but, ''Likeminded one to another according to Christ Jesus: that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God." An earnest admonition is, "I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you." For a refutation of the false statement that people can not see eye to eye; and for the confirmation of the Word and grace of God; and the encouragement of God's saints in all subsequent time, it is recorded that "the multitude of them that believed, were of one heart and one soul.'' Not simply a few were enabled to come into this unity for which Christ prayed, but the whole multitude of believers, and they numbered thousands. Now we confidently affirm that the same salvation will produce the same fruits to-day. Not only did the apostles follow their teacher and Lord in demanding perfect unity in all believers, but they also show a holy abhorrence of all divisions. Accordingly, we are told that ''God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked: that there should be no schism in the body.'' 1st Corinthians 12: 24, 25. Here is a direct prohibition of all schisms, or divisions in the body of Christ. By the standard of truth all divisions among Christians are sinful.  ''Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." Romans 16:17,18. "A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself." Titus 3:10, 11. "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken       of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.'' 2nd Peter 2:1-3. It will be observed, in these texts we have classified together as all the same, "a man that causes divisions," and "a heretic," and such as bring in heresies. And now we shall prove the position correct. The word hairesis is a Greek term, found ten times in the New Testament. In the following instances the word is rendered sect: Acts 5: 17; 15: 5; 24: 5; 26: 5 and 28: 22. In the first, second, and fourth instances it is applied to the sect of the Pharisees. In the third and fifth, the Jews, ignorant of the true and universal character of God's church, called it a sect, the sect of the Nazarenes. As the disciples were nearly all from the Jewish nation, it is very natural that they should be looked upon as another sect of that nation. In all these instances it is clearly seen that hairesis is correctly rendered sect, which signifies a faction. There are five more instances of hairesis in the Greek New Testament, which are not translated, we may say, at all, but transferred with the slight change of form into heresy, and heretic. They are the following: Acts 24:14; 1st Corinthians 11:19; Galatians 5: 20; 2nd Peter 2:1; and in Titus 3:10, where the word ishairetekos, referring to the sectarian instead of the sect. The word in Acts, "After the way which they call heresy," is translated sect by Rotherham, Wakefield, A. Layman, Charles Thomson, H. T. Anderson, Bible Union, Emphatic Diaglott, Young and the New Version. 1st Corinthians 11:19— ''For there must also be heresies among you,'' is rendered sects by Thomson, Anderson, Bible Union, and Young; "parties" by Rotherham; "factions," Emphatic Diaglott. The passage in Galatians 5:20, "heresies,'' is rendered sects by Thomson, Anderson, Bible Union, and Young; "parties," Rotherham; "factions," Diaglott; "divisions," New Version. The word "heresies" in 2nd Peter 2 is translated sects by Layman, Thomson, Anderson, and Young; "parties," by Rotherham; "factions," by Bible Union. The word "heretic" in Titus 3:10 is translated as follows: "A man that causes divisions."—Bible Union. "A fomenter of divisions."—Wakefield. "A party man."—Rotherham. "A sectary."—Anderson. "A sectarian man."—Young. So then it is clearly seen that a heresy is a "sect," "faction," "party," or "division"; while a heretic is a man who causes divisions, foments sects; or he may be simply a ''party man,'' namely, one that holds to, and is zealous for a sect or party, or in plain words as rendered in the excellent translations of Robert Young of Edinburgh, Scotland, "A sectarian man." So utterly abhorred in its nature, and ruinous in its fruits is the sin of party or sectarianism, that God's true children are commanded to reject any one that is guilty of the same, after the first and second admonition: "Knowing that he that is such, is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.'' All these translations, even more clearly than the common version, prove that there is no sin more utterly abominated by the Word of God than that of sectism. Paul declared the Corinthians carnal, because inclined to sectism, one saying, ''I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos.'' 1st Corinthians 3:1-4. In Galatians 5: 20 "heresies" is translated in plain English "sects"; in several other versions the apostle pronounces them "the works of the flesh," and classifies them with adultery, fornication, idolatry, murders, drunkenness, revelings and such like. It is an awful fact, but there is in the Inspired Volume no sin mentioned that is more hateful in the sight of God; and it can not be denied that sects are classified with the very darkest crimes. There must, therefore, be a way to escape this sin, and the judgments of God that will be visited upon such as are guilty of the same. The dreadful evil is surely not an unavoidable one. The very fact that God renounces it, and commands us to reject and withdraw ourselves from sectarians, proves that there is a foundation upon which we may stand clear. Let us see if we can find it. In the very prayer in which Christ so earnestly and repeatedly besought the perfect unity of all his disciples, and all who would subsequently believe on him, we find him laying down the COMPLETE BASIS OF ONENESS. NEXT PART