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of it; something in the same way in which the apostle speaks in the same Epistle to the Corinthians "How that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves:" showing us how much grace can do, where it makes the heart willing, in making the hand open, and in seizing all the means of glorifying God, and doing good, not by impulse, but with all the elements of progress and of permanence.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

GOD'S PRESCRIPTIONS CARRIED OUT. REASONS FOR MINUTE SPECIFICATIONS. LIBERALITY OF THE PEOPLE. RESTRAINT NECESSARY. GOD'S WISDOM GIVEN TO BUILDERS.

THE chapter seems at first sight an extremely dry and uninteresting detail of mechanical arrangements requisite in the construction of the Tabernacle, and unsuggestive in their mere catalogue of any important personal and practical lesson. But yet no doubt the object that God had in this, and indeed in the chapters that follow onward to the fortieth, was in all probability to show, that the minute specifications that he gave to Moses in the previous chapters respecting the erection of the Tabernacle, were not carried out loosely, or slovenly, or in the rough, but in the minutest jots and particulars, according to all the pattern that was showed him on the mount. It is, therefore, not altogether uninstructive that we should see in our perusal of the chapter, that whatever God enjoined, and however minute the instructions that he gave, all received their fulfilment. We have in some parts of the Bible a prophecy: then, in subsequent parts, we come to the fulfilment of that prophecy. We had, in the previous part of the Book of Exodus, a precept; and we have, in the chapter we have now read, the fulfilment of that precept. It is just as important that we should see God's precepts carried out into practical development, as that we should see God's prophecies unfolding themselves in successive and continuous fulfilment; teaching us, that whatever God enjoins, and whatever God predicts will

be,- that heaven and earth may pass away, but one jot or one tittle shall not fall from his word till all be fulfilled. I think I stated to you on a former occasion, that there was a reason for all these minute specifications, arising from the fact, that this Tabernacle was not a mere tent in the desert for a place of worship, but was prefigurative of a house not made with hands, finding its full accomplishment and illustration in the close of the Apocalypse, where we read of God's temple being with men, and the glory of God and of the Lamb filling it. I cannot believe that this catalogue of minute details in the mechanical construction of a taberna

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cle in the desert was for no purpose. We are not to wring out meaning from each of these details as if it were a type; but no doubt it had an end and an object, which is to be seen in the future. And if in that respect we cannot see what its ultimate end and object may be, we are satisfied of this, these half-savages, as many of the Jews at that moment were;a stiffnecked and a rebellious, an uncultivated and an illiterate people, needed such. No wonder they were sunk they had been slaves for forty years; and generally man sinks down to the condition under which he is pressed and borne down; and they were incapable of themselves, without divine instruction, of carrying out God's plan, or doing according to his will, except from line upon line, and precept upon precept. If they had been left to fill up a single niche after their own taste, they would have put an Egyptian idol in it; if they had been left to do one thing in the construction of this Tabernacle after their own taste, they would have copied something from Egypt. And all experience shows, that the thin edge of the wedge introduced in spiritual and moral things, does not stop there till the whole is rent asunder. Such is man's tendency to idolatry-such is man's tendency to what is sensuous in worship. I do not say, sensual I say sensuous in worship; that is, to worship after the senses, that, leave him the least

latitude, and he is sure, even in these more enlightened times, to turn that liberty into licentiousness. How much more need, then, had these nomade tribes - just escaped from the serfdom of Egypt-of very minute, very specific details, even to pins and bolts, and tenons and taches, in order to keep them from what in the end might have led them to forget God, who had brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm!

Bezaleel and Aholiab had no sooner begun to work, and Moses had no sooner asked the people to furnish them with all the materials of work, than all the people vied one with the other in their contributions towards this Tabernacle ; and a fact was presented there rarely presented in these more modern times that the liberality of the people had to be restrained. The constant tendency, the constant practice now, is to excite the liberality of Christian people, by showing them reasons for it; but then, the rare and beautiful fact was exhibited of Moses being obliged to restrain the liberality of the people, by telling them that they had given more than was amply sufficient, and asking them to contrib

ute no more.

It needs God's inspiring wisdom to teach a man to build an earthly temple, just as it needs God's grace to make a builder of the true temple, or to fit a Christian for any of the duties and responsibilities of the Christian character. God inspired Bezaleel and Aholiab with understanding to work; he inspired Joshua with bravery and wisdom to fight; he inspired Moses with instruction from on high to lay down plans; he inspired evangelists to write, apostles to preach. Every grace and gift is from above, even from the Father and Fountain of all wisdom and of all light. The word "wise-hearted," applied to those that worked, corresponds more properly to another word now employed; we say, a “skilled laborer," meaning one who is not only a clever laborer, but one who knows the subject of the work, or trade, or handicraft, in which he is employed.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

REASONS OF RECORDS OF MINUTE WORKS.

TABERNACLE FURNI

TURE. THE ARK. THE MERCY-SEAT. THE SHECHINAH. EARTH
RELATED TO OTHER ORBS. CHURCH OF CHRIST NOT TIED FOR
EVER TO A LAND. CANDLESTICK. CHRIST THE HIGH-PRIEST
IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES. SKILL OF ISRAELITES.

You will remember what I stated in the course of my reading the previous chapter that the 36th to the 39th chapters of the book that we have so nearly gone over in successive lessons, contain the fulfilment of all that Moses was commanded in the previous chapters to do; and in these last portions of the book we have the historical record that he did exactly as he was commissioned by God. The reason why so minute and elaborate details are given in these chapters seems to be to show to us that Moses carried out exactly, rigidly, and minutely, every order that he received; not determining in his own mind, "This is not important, and therefore I may omit it," and "that is important, and therefore I must do it ;' " but acting rigidly and strictly, according to the pattern that was showed him on the mount, and the prescriptions set forth by God. This chapter, like those that succeed it, records the fact that Moses did so.

I explained many of the institutions and contents of the tabernacle, which was typical of a greater and a more glorious one, in our readings on previous chapters. In this one, it is recorded of Bezaleel and those who assisted him in the work, that they made first of all the ark, and the mercy-seat that was on it, and the cherubim that overshadowed it. Paul

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