being worn away with the tormenting expectation of what was to come. Under the influence of such suggestions as these, he went to a river, with a design to throw himself in; but as he was about to do it, he seemed to hear a voice saying to him, ' Who can tell?' as if the words had been audibly delivered. By this, therefore, he was brought to a stand; his thoughts were arrested, and thus began to work on the passage mentioned (Jonah iii. 9). 'Who can tell what God can do when He will proclaim His grace glorious? Who can tell but such an one as I may find mercy? or what will be the issue of humble prayer to heaven for it? Who can tell what purposes God will serve in my recovery??. By such thoughts as these, being so far influenced as to resolve to try, it pleased God graciously to enable him, through all his doubts and fears, to throw himself by faith on Jesus Christ, as able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by Him, humbly desiring and expecting mercy for His sake, to his own soul. In this he was not disappointed, but afterwards became an eminent Christian and minister, and, from his own experience of the riches of grace, was greatly useful to the conversion and comfort of others."

"A child," saith Ambrose, "that is willing to present his father with a posy goes into the garden, and there gathers some flowers and some weeds together; but, coming to his mother, she picks out the weeds, and binds the flowers, and so it is presented to the father." Thus, when we have put up our prayers, Christ comes and picks away the weeds, the sin of our prayers, and presents nothing but flowers to his Father which are a sweet smelling savour.-REV. THOMAS WATSON'S Divine Cordial.

us.

"The Saviour," said a little boy on his dying bed to one standing near him, "the Saviour is our Intercessor, that means He pleads for When you are naughty, He asks God to have patience and to forgive you; and when you try to pray, He takes your prayers, and puts them to rights and presents them to God."

A gentleman visiting an infant class made reference in his address to the above passage. "And what is meant by Christ making intercession for us?" he inquired. After a few moments' pause, a bright-eyed little fellow about six years old replied, “Speaking a word to God for us.”

THE VEILS OF THE TEMPLE,

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HEBREWS VIII.

1252. OUR DIVINE AMBASSADOR.

Heb. viii. I.-"We have such an high-priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens."

Illustrative.-Sometimes there were more kings than one at Sparta, who governed by joint authority. A king was occasionally sent to some neighbouring State in character of a Spartan ambassador. Did he, when so sent, cease to be a king of Sparta because he was also an ambassador? No, he did not divest himself of his regal dignity, but only added to it that of public deputation. So Christ, in becoming man, did not cease to be God; but, though He ever was, and still continued to be, King of the whole creation, acted as the voluntary Servant and Messenger of the Father.-Illustrations of Truth.

1253. THE SHADOW OF HEAVENLY THINGS.

Heb. viii. 5.-"Who serve 'unto the example and shadow of heavenly things." [R.V.) "That which is a copy."

Expository. That every part of God's earthly house might be a fitting emblem of spiritual truth to be afterwards revealed, Moses was charged in all respects to follow the pattern which had been shown him in the Mount. Jewish tradition understood these words to imply the presentation of a heavenly tabernacle to the sight of Moses, as a model to be imitated with exactness. Stephen's words (Acts vii. 44) convey the same meaning. But the language employed in Exodus xxv. 40, if compared with ver. 9 of the same chapter, does not necessarily involve a visible representation. But whether we think of a pattern shown in vision, or merely of explicit directions received by Moses, the meaning of the "heavenly things" remains the same.-Commentary for English Readers.

Expository.-Only one veil is mentioned in the Scripture account of the tabernacle and the temple of Solomon, and this was the one between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. There was, indeed, a hanging for

30

THE PROMISE of eternAL INHERITANCE.

the door of the tabernacle, but this is nowhere called a veil. The case was, however, different in the temple, which stood when the Apostle wrote; for it had two veils between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies —that is, there was an outer or first veil facing the Holy Place, and an inner or second veil facing the sanctuary, and between them there was the space of a cubit. In the temple of Solomon there was a wall a cubit thick between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, and the veil was that of the entrance in this wall. But in the second temple there was no wall but these two large veils, a cubit apart, in its place. The reason of this difference was, that although the builders of the second temple knew of the wall in the previous temple, they could not tell whether its thickness of one cubit was to be measured as belonging to the forty cubits of the Holy Place or to the twenty cubits of the sanctuary; and from this perplexity they abstained from building any wall, but gave the full measure of forty and twenty cubits to the Holy Place and sanctuary respectively, and by the two curtains which they hung up separated a space equal to the thickness of the ancient wall. This, in brief, is the account which Maimonides gives of this affair, and with him agree other Jewish writers, who often refer to this difficulty, and to what they regard as the ingenious device by which it was obviated.-KITTO.

1255. THE PROMISE OF ETERNAL INHERITANCE.

Heb. ix. 15. "They which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." Illustrative.-Mr. John Avery, a pious minister, having been driven from his native country by the persecution of Archbishop Laud, fled to New England. Upon his arrival, he settled for a short time at Newbury; but, receiving an invitation to Marble Head, he determined upon a removal to that place. Having embarked in a small vessel, together with Mr. Anthony Thacker, another worthy minister, there arose a most tremendous storm, by which the vessel struck against a rock, and was dashed to pieces. The whole company, consisting of twenty-three persons, got upon the rock, but were successively washed off and drowned, except Mr. Thacker and his wife. Mr. Thacker and Mr. Avery held each other by the hand a long time, resolving to die together, till, by a tremendous wave, the latter was washed away and drowned. The moment before this happened, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, saying, "We know not what the pleasure of God may be. I fear we have been too unmindful of former deliverances. Lord, I cannot challenge a promise of the preservation of my life; but Thou hast promised to deliver us from sin and condemnation, and to bring us safe to heaven through the all-sufficient satisfaction of Jesus Christ. This, therefore, I do challenge of Thee." He had no sooner uttered these words, than he

DOCTRINE OF PROPITIATION.

31

was swept into the mighty deep, and no more seen. Mr. Thacker and his wife were also washed off the rock; but after being tossed in the waves for some time, the former was cast on shore, where he found his wife a sharer in the deliverance.

1256. THE RATIFICATION OF GOD'S COVENANT.

Hab. ix. 16.-"For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the 'testator." [R.V.]1 "Him that made it."

Illustrative.-Doddridge has paraphrased it thus: "For where a covenant is, it necessarily imports the death of that by which the covenant is confirmed: since sacrificial rites have ever attended the most celebrated covenants which God hath made with man, so that a covenant is confirmed over the dead." And it is evident from the line of reasoning Paul follows, that if diatheke is to be taken as equivalent to "covenant," then the death of the pacifier, or confirming instrument, is implied. Parkhurst and others suggest that "institution," or "dispensation," gives greater force, and is a just rendering. And though the idea of a will or testamentary document (as given in our Authorized Version) seems to fit in with ver. 16, 17, there is much difficulty in harmonizing it with the whole passage.

1257.-DOCTRINE OF PROPITIATION.

Heb. ix. 22.-"1 Without shedding of blood is no remission." [R.V.] 1 "Apart from." Illustrative.-It has often been remarked that the idea of propitiation by sacrifice is to be found in connection with all the sacrifices of heathen nations. This is strikingly illustrated by the following account of one of the festivals of the North-American Indians :

Dr. Edward Walsh describes a village, the houses of which surrounded a large green or common, in the centre of which the council-house or temple was erected. "It was lighted," he says, "by a few small square apertures, close to the eaves, which also let out the smoke; consequently it was somewhat dark. The door facing the west had a rude but spacious portico. The roof, which had a high pitch, was propped up within by four strong posts, between which was the hearth, with a large kettle over it. There was a seat all round, and the walls, which were formed of split plank, were half-way up covered with mats. Here we found a great number of Indians assembled. The women were ranged outside the wall, and the men surrounded the fire inside, at the head of whom was the high-priest in his pontificals. His face was painted like the quarterings of a coat of arms, and he was furnished with a beard; he wore

32

"SHADOW" AND " IMAGE."

on his head a high tiara of beaver fur, stuck round with dyed porcupine quills; he had over his chest a kind of stomacher, worked in figures, and ornamented with wampum, which was supposed to represent the Jewish Urim and Thummim in this, the Indians imagine some little spirit resides, which they talk to and consult in dubious events. Whilst the usual dance or chorus was performing, a dog which had been previously selected and fattened was boiling in the kettle. When cooked, the flesh was cut off, and the bones scraped clean and wrapped up in its skin. The flesh was then divided into small bits, and handed round, on a wooden platter, to all those that surrounded the fire at the same time, the high-priest dipped a branch of hemlock pine in the broth, and sprinkled it everywhere, as well on the people as on the walls. The ceremony concluded with the circular dance and chant, in which the women joined. This chant, or hymn, is sung by all the Indian nations in North America, however they may differ in custom and language. Humboldt even heard it in Mexico, and it is supposed to be synonymous win the hallelujah of the Psalms. It was pricked down for me by a gentleman who understood musical composition. To my ears it sounds like the lullaby of the nursery:

:

'Tam le yah al lah le lu lah tam ye lah yo ha wah ha ha hah!'

"It must be admitted that this ceremony bears some rude resemblance to the feast of the passover, substituting a dog for a lamb, of which they have none; but dogs are sacrificed on all solemn occasions."

Heb. x. I.-"For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereto perfect."

Expository.-To an English reader the difference between "shadow" and "image" is not very distinct. Both are unsubstantial, and both give us the form of the thing represented. But when we turn to the Greek, we find that eikon, which the Apostle uses in the second clause, evidently means, not a resemblance or likeness, but the essential form of a thing-a sense somewhat unusual, yet found in other authors. The word, as Parkhurst says, is opposed to skia, or shadow, and stands here as the representative of soma, the body or substance, which is elsewhere opposed to "shadow." So that the Syrian version justly gives it thus:— "The law-not having the reality of the things."