His throne down to the ground. He shortened the days of His youth, and covered Him with shame." Psa. lxxxix. 44, 45. But in the former, that is the curtains, we behold again the same cherubim of glory, spreading their wings on high, and forming the lofty ceiling of the tabernacle; a firmament of expanded feathers, composed of the blended tints of blue, purple, and scarlet, on the pure white ground of fine linen. Various are the references in the Psalms to this sheltering canopy. For instance-" I will abide in Thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of Thy wings." Psa. Ixi. 4. "He shall cover thee with His feathers: and under His wings shalt thou trust." Psa. xci. 4. "Hide me under the shadow of Thy wings." Psa. xvii. 8. "How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings." Psa. xxxvi. 7. "Because Thou hast been my help, therefore, in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice." Psa. Ixiii. 7. In the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge." Psa.

lvii. I.

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The blessed Lord Himself, during all His life on earth, abode under the shadow of the Almighty. He dwelt in the secret place of the Most High, till that awful hour when refuge failed Him, and He had to exclaim, "I am cast out of Thy sight." Jonah ii. 4. "Lord, why castest Thou off my soul? Why hidest Thou Thy face from me?" Psa. lxxxviii. 14. "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" Psa. xxii. I. "But the God of peace has, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, brought again from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep." Heb. xiii. 20. And now, in the holy places not made with hands, Christ is the covert, the hiding-place, the refuge, the defence, help, power, and joy, of all those who trust under the shadow of His wings. The secret place of the Most High, the Holy of Holies, this glorions pavilion, covered with the feathers of the Almighty, is a safe and quiet

resting-place for the wearied saint. The strife of tongues enters not there; no terror by night; no arrow that flieth by day; no snare of the fowler, or noisome pestilence can reach one that is sheltered there. Death may

be at the right hand, and yet shall not come nigh. The young lion and the dragon can there be trampled under foot. Love, wisdom, patient tenderness, and almighty power, combine to form a fitting shelter.

The comforting passage in Heb. vi. 18-20. refers to the security found in the Holiest. There is no place of safety, short of that within the vail. The Eternal God alone is our refuge: thither we have fled, through the rent vail. There, hope, not deceitful or fluctuating, but sure and stedfast, is laid hold of, and becomes actual certainty to the soul: for Christ is there, the forerunner. Rapid has been His course, having broken the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron. He has taken the prey from the mighty, and ascended from the lower parts of the earth far above all heavens. And now, He has entered for us into the very presence of God; the sure pledge, that every one, whose hope is fixed on Him, shall likewise obtain this everlasting glory. We may, with confidence, brave the storms and tempests of this world, and the buffetings of Satan; seeing we have hope, as an anchor, fastened in the holiest. But let us not think that the word hope expresses uncertainty; in human language, it is often used to convey the thought of chance or doubt; so that we hear, all around us, such expressions as, hoping for salvation, hoping to go to heaven, &c., the utterance of unbelief: whereas, in the Scripture use of the word, hope always implies assurance; and he who hopes, patiently waits for that which he knows he shall obtain.

There were six cities in the land of Israel, appointed by God, to which the man-slayer might run for protection. when pursued by the avenger of blood. The three, which lay on the west of Jordan, were each set upon a hill, Kedesh, in Galilee, in Mount Naphtali ;

Shecem, in Mount Ephraim; and Kirjath-Arba, which is Hebron, in the Mountain of Judah: Josh. xx. 7. These were priestly cities. A way was to be prepared, so that the guilty person might have no difficulty in reaching the nearest city of refuge. If an Israelite, or a stranger, by accident as it might be called, killed his neighbour, as for instance," when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour, to hew wood, and his hand. fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die." Deut. xix. 5. he must at once raise his eyes from the scene of his calamity, and look for the nearest city of refuge. God had provided that it should be conspicuous on every side. He must then hasten, with all speed, along the prepared way to that city, and pause not till he found himself within the threshold of its gate. A cry for mercy to the avenger of blood, would be unheeded; a plea that his crime was unintentional, would be of no avail. The sword of vengeance would inevitably fall upon him, if he delayed to hasten to the refuge. To spend, in entreaties and prayers, the precious time which yet afforded him opportunity of reaching the only place of safety, would be madness. He must flee from the approaching wrath. God had established the place of mercy: safety was in that alone. Moreover, the slayer had, by inheritance, no title to a dwelling-place within that city. His crime and danger were his only plea; and marvellously enough, his very misery placed him, through the merciful provision of God, in association with the holiest of God's people. He was raised from the rank of an ordinary Israelite, or from the outcast condition of a stranger, to be a fellow-citizen with the priests of God.

These shadows of truth are more than fulfilled in the merciful and rich provision made by God for the salvation of the sinner. The dwelling-place of the Most High becomes the city of his refuge, his everlasting home. On the mercy-seat he beholds the blood; sure pledge

that wrath has been appeased, that the avenger of blood has buried the sword of justice in the heart of another on his behalf. The ground on which he stands, within the holiest, is as a rock under his feet; for the blood of the atoning victim has also been sprinkled there. The great High Priest is likewise present, Himself the forerunner, the first that has tasted the joy, and entered into the rest, the blessed rest of that eternal salvation which He has obtained for others. From the ruin, degradation, and death, entailed on him by the fall, the sinner is raised into a standing of perfection, glory, and life, to be a king and a priest, to go no more out, to be an heir of God, and joint-heir with Christ. The cry of terror and distress is exchanged for the song of victory and joy; holy worship and ceaseless praise take the place of vain regrets and unhappy murmurings. He, who looked back over the past with fearful forebodings, dreading the rapid advances of well-merited vengeance, now sees goodness and mercy pursuing him all the days of his life, Psa. xxiii. 6, (in the Hebrew,) and gazes with unspeakable delight upon Him, who has opened the way into the holiest through His own death, and is seated there, crowned with glory and honour.

These are some of the many blessed truths, which seem to be crowded together in the types of the tabernacle. Ever and anon fresh aspects of the glories of salvation present themselves to the soul; even as to the eyes of the priest in the sanctuary, mingled gleams of light and beauty shed their radiance from the gorgeous curtains and golden boards, lighted up by the cloud of glory which covered the mercy-seat.

THE LOOPS AND TACHES..

"And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second.

"Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another,

"And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle.". Exod. xxvi. 4-6.

"And he made loops of blue in the edge of one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling: likewise he made in the uttermost side of another curtain, in the coupling of the second.

"Fifty loops made he in one curtain, and fifty loops made he in the edge of the curtain which was in the coupling of the second: the loops held one curtain to another.

"And he made fifty taches of gold, and coupled the curtains one unto another with the taches: so it became one tabernacle.". Exod. xxxvi. 11-13.

FIFTY taches, or clasps of gold, linked together the innermost or beautiful curtains of the tabernacle. Fifty taches of brass coupled the goats' hair curtains. By the former, one tabernacle-by the latter, one tent was made. The vail, which divided the interior into two unequal portions, was hung up under the taches. As long as that vail remained entire, there might be said to be two tabernacles; thus, in Heb. ix. 1-7, where this building is looked at before the rending of the vail, we read of the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; and the second, or holiest of all, into which went the high priest alone, once every year. the same time, there was an intimation that the whole interior was but one holy place, in the fact of the curtains that covered, being connected by the taches, and forming one tabernacle, and one tent above it.

At

All priestly service is now conducted in the holiest. Heaven itself is the place where Christ appears in the presence of God for us. There is no intermediate place of acceptance; but a man is either a sinner, short of the glory of God, and as such, outside, and infinitely far