sinful lusts, and gratified our self-will, and revelled far off, might escape the holy vengeance due to us as sinners. On the cross, Jesus drank of "the wrath of the Almighty." He was "filled with bitterness, and made drunken with wormwood." "His heart was melted like wax: all His bones were out of joint." The "hot displeasure" of God, as a fire, burned within Him. He was "brought into the dust of death." The Spirit of God, in the Psalms, seems to have selected language, expressive of excruciating bodily suffering, in order to represent to our souls the fearful agony of spirit, which the blessed Lord endured, when Himself bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. He refused the vinegar and gall at the hands of man, when He had tasted it. But He drank "the water of gall," and "the wine of astonishment," from the hands of God. Believers are often too apt to dwell exclusively on the bodily sufferings of our blessed Lord on the cross, instead of contemplating, as far as we are permitted to do, the unspeakable sorrows of Jesus in His soul under the stripes of God, "when it pleased Jehovah to bruise Him; when His soul was made an offering for sin, and He poured out His soul unto death." May we not, with deep reverence, view many passages in the Psalms in this light; and transfer the expressions we find there, respecting sufferings in the bones, the loins, the throat, &c., to the soul and inward mental feelings and untold woes of the blessed Lord; when He tasted death on behalf of the wife of His affections-the Church-rescued out of an adulterous world, and to be presented ere long, to Himself, without spot or blemish, or any such thing.

THE COURT OF THE TABERNACLE.

"And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred cubits long for one side.

"And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets silver.

"And likewise for the north side in length hangings of an hundred cubits long, and his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

"And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten.

"And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward fifty cubits.

"The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.

"And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.

"And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four.

All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver; their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass.

"The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every where, and the height five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass." Exod. xxvii. 9-18.

"And he made the court: on the south side southward the hangings of the court fine twined linen, an hundred cubits. Their pillars twenty, and their brasen sockets twenty: the hooks of the pillars and their fillets silver.

"And for the north side the hangings were an hundred cubits, their pillars were twenty, and their sockets of brass twenty; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

"And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten: the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

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And for the east side eastward fifty cubits. The hangings of the one side of the gate were fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. And for the other side of the court gate, on this hand and that hand, were hangings of fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three.

All the hangings of the court round about were of fine twined linen. And the sockets for the pillars were of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver; and the overlaying of their chapiters of silver; and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver.

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And the hanging for the gate of the court was needlework, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court. And their pillars were four, and their sockets of brass four; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their chapiters and their fillets of silver." Exod. xxxviii. 9—19.

THE Tabernacle, that is to say, the covered building, stood in the midst of an open space of ground, a hundred cubits long by fifty broad, which was enclosed by a hanging of fine twined linen, and a hanging for the gate, suspended on pillars; twenty of which stood on the south side, twenty on the north, ten on the west, and ten on the east; sixty pillars in all. The Word of God does not state of what these pillars were made. The sockets and capitals alone are mentioned; the former as being of brass, the latter of silver. But as in Exod. xxxviii. 24, to the end, (where the quantities of gold, silver, and brass, used in making the tabernacle, are expressed,) no mention is made of either of these three metals as employed in forming the pillars of the court, it may be inferred that they were of shittim-wood.

THE GATE OF THE COURT.

AT the east end of the court, the curtain for the gate hung from four pillars. This hanging was twenty cubits long; and as the width of the court was fifty cubits, there were thirty cubits left. The gate being in the centre, these thirty cubits were divided, fifteen on each side three pillars, with the hanging of fine twined linen suspended from them, filled up these respective

spaces.

The word Hanging (mah-sahch) is in the Hebrew, exclusively used for the vail-for the door of the tabernacle and for the gate of the court. When connected with the vail, it is often translated Covering. Exod. xxxv. 12; xxxix. 34; xl. 21; Num. iv. 5.

It is once translated Curtain. "The curtain for the door of the court." Num. iii. 26. The peculiar use of this word serves to connect together in type, the vail, the door of the tabernacle, and the gate of the court. Each of these hangings covered or hid the interior from

the eyes of one approaching from the outside. Each had the character of a door: indeed, the word door is once used for the gate of the court. (Num. iii. 26.) "The curtain for the door of the court." All three were made of the same materials, arranged in precisely the same order; "blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen :" and all three were of the same dimensions, as regards their area, for, the gate of the court was twenty cubits long by five high, making a hundred square cubits. The door-curtain and vail each occupied a space of ten cubits wide by ten high, or a hundred square cubits each.

The same truth seems therefore to be embodied in each of these typical curtains. The same Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, is pourtrayed in each There could be no access to God, of any kind, whether of comparatively distant worship, or of closest intimacy, but through the one door, the Lord Jesus. "I am the door." John x. 7.

The Israelite, who came to the brazen altar with his sacrifice or gifts, must first pass through the gate of the court. The priest, that placed incense on the golden altar within the tabernacle, entered through a second door-curtain. The high priest, who alone had access into the holiest, passed through the vail, a third hanging of the same kind; and realised the thrice repeated truth of the only way to God.

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Cain was the first who tried another path and instead of being able to draw near, his very attempt ended in his going out from the presence of God, into the land of banishment. The path, thus at first trodden by only one evil man, has since become a broad way, "the way of Cain." Thousands follow in his footsteps, and think . to worship and to offer, without passing through the door.

Salvation and worship are inseparably united. The Samaritan, who had his holy mount Gerizim, and a liturgy derived by tradition from Jewish sources, though acknowledging the name of Jehovah, worshipped an

unknown God, as much as the Athenian, who knew not the very name of the true God: for neither the one nor the other knew God's way of salvation.

The Lord Jesus, in John x., seems to have these two thoughts in His mind. Himself the door to God; and the door of salvation. The Pharisees, who had usurped the place of shepherds in the Jewish fold, had cast out one of the true sheep. The Good Shepherd found this outcast one, and spoke to him: and the sheep immediately heard His voice. The Lord then proceeded to speak the parables recorded in John x., respecting the Shepherd and the sheep. He had first proved Himself the Shepherd, by entering in by the door, the way appointed by God. To Him the porter had opened.

It has been suggested, and probably with truth, that the porter, who ushered the Lord Jesus into the fold, was John the Baptist. He had been sent to prepare the way of Jehovah, and stood in a remarkable place, at the end of all the prophets, proclaiming the kingdom of heaven as at hand, and announcing the Lamb of God. The sheep, hearing the Shepherd's voice, followed, and were led by Him out of the fold.

Up to the time of the Lord's death, there had been a people, separated off from the other nations of earth, into a locality chosen by God, and fenced in with a pale of ordinances and commandments; the effect of which was still to preserve them folded off from the rest of mankind. But directly the Lord Jesus had established His title to be the Good Shepherd, by giving His life for the sheep-from that time, no bond of creed or confession, of ordinances or liturgical ceremonies, distinguished the sheep from other men. Jesus Himself became alone the object, the life, and the leader of each individual member of His flock. The badge and safety of the sheep were recognising His voice, and following Him. To draw to Himself, away from every support; to be the one object of the heart's affection; to be known, trusted, loved, followed, and worshipped,