and minutely every order, however great or however small, that God had given him on the mount.

-

The tabernacle, though a frail, must have been a very splendid thing. The wealth that was consumed or employed in the decoration of it was immense. It has been calculated, on the most just and accurate grounds, that the amount of gold and silver alone employed in the decoration of the tabernacle, must have been worth something near a quarter of a million of pounds sterling. I know it will be objected, How could these tribes of slaves, refugees from the brickkilns of Egypt, have got so much gold? The answer is, that they went out with great riches from Egypt; and Egypt- the wealthiest land, then, in the world— gave them her treasures, and were too thankful to give them; some in order to get rid of them, others in gratitude and obligation that they felt to them for the benefits they had left behind them. It is certain, therefore, that they carried immense wealth with them. And when you recollect that this marching column that crossed the Red Sea, that traversed all the windings and the sinuosities of that intricate desert, amounted, men, and women, and children, to a population nearly equal to that of London — nearly three millions - having about seven hundred thousand men in the midst of it able to bear arms and able to work, you can see at once what a magnificent procession it was, what immense possessions - having each gone out enriched from Egypt-they must have had; and how easily it was possible for them to execute all the orders here given; partly from the multiplicity of hands, for every one knows that things are best done when each has his own part; and when the part assigned to him is very small, he is able to expend more care on it, and the result is the more satisfactory.

In the next place, there is an expression that occurs in the 8th verse that looks like contradiction, and requires to

be explained. It says, "He made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the looking-glasses of the women.” Now if these were made of glass, how could they be turned into brass, or gold, or silver? The truth is, our translators have used "looking-glass" as the popular phrase to denote something that reflects the likeness of the human countenance. We are so accustomed, for instance, to speak of a mile-stone on a turnpike-road, that you may hear persons say, if a wooden post were substituted, "That is a wooden mile-stone." It is in itself a contradictory expression; it cannot be wood if it be stone; but we are so accustomed to use the material out of which it was originally made as representative of the thing itself, that when that material is changed we keep up the old name, even at the risk of perpetrating a very palpable contradiction. So here, our translators are so accustomed to think of a mirror as made of glass, that when speaking of a mirror they have called what was not glass "a looking-glass," when glass was not invented or thought of. The right translation would have been better not better, perhaps, only it would have avoided the appearance of absurdity if it had been rendered, "He made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the mirrors of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." These mirrors were small things, something of the size of an ordinary fan, with a handle; made first of all of copper, then of brass, some of them of gold, but ultimately almost universally of polished silver; occasionally of polished steel, but, owing to the susceptibility of steel to rust, the silver was preferred. In South America they have discovered very ancient mirrors, highly polished, made of stones-a kind of pyrites, and some other stones suited for that purpose. From a very early period such were introduced. According to Milton, Eve had none; but she made the sweet crystal streamlet her mirror, the most primitive of all; but soon after the

Fall mirrors were introduced, and the substance they were almost universally made of was silver, with a highly polished surface. These mirrors, which the women used who assembled at the door of the tabernacle - partly as deaconesses, or Levites, or watchers by them, though very dear to laver in which the priests washed when they entered to offer sacrifice, and the other instruments that were employed in the service of the tabernacle.

were cheerfully surrendered them, in order to form the

I stated that all the gold and silver that was here employed was of very great value and amount; and that the tabernacle, though a temporary thing, must have been really a very beautiful and splendid creation; inferior, of course, to the temple that succeeded; and that temple inferior still to that true temple - the Church of the living God, built of living stones.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

DETAILS OF THE BUILDING OF THE TABERNACLE.

SCARCELY a single remark remains to be made on the chapter or the epitome of the construction of the tabernacle-which I have not made in the course of my expositions of what must seem very monotonous details merely when adopted as instructive reading for a Christian congregation. But all this, however, had its value; and you will notice in this chapter that, at the close of every account of every thing that they performed, there is added a clause which shows how minutely they carried out the commands of God- -"as the Lord commanded Moses." At the close of every separate branch you find that clause added; to denote that what God commanded minutely, they performed minutely, to the very letter. We have evidence in this chapter that engraving of stones had made very great progress, even at that early period of the world's history. And it is remarkable enough, that some of the engraved stones and jewels of ancient and pagan nations are so exquisitely beautiful, that our masters in the art have not been able to reach the perfection of other days.

It does seem, however, rather remarkable that these tribes, who had been slaves in Egypt, should be able to engrave the delicate and difficult tracery that was required upon the precious stones the diamond, the topaz, the carbuncle, and others

on which were recorded the names of

the twelve tribes of Israel

-

- there being twelve stones, and

each stone having the name of a tribe; all on the breastplate of the high-priest, when he went to make intercession for the people in the holy of holies.

You will notice, again, that a great many of the robes were made of pure linen. And this figure is evidently employed in the Apocalypse, when the question is asked, "What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?" And in another place he speaks of "linen white and clean, which is the righteousness of saints" evidently showing that the white robes of the priests were typical of those moral robes which the priests and kings unto God shall wear for ever and ever, where they serve him in his tabernacle- the true tabernacle without ceasing.

After all the details of the completion of the workmanship of the tabernacle, we read that Moses inspected the whole, as the master-mind, pronounced it to be satisfactory when compared with the precept of God, and pronounced upon the people that blessing which he could utter in word, but which God impressed upon the hearts of all, as he still impresses upon the hearts of those that truly obey him.