compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar. 6 And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim-wood, and overlay them with brass. 7 And the staves shall be put into to such a constant heat. But nothing forbids the supposition, that it was cased both within and without with plates of metal; and for further security a lining of stone might easily have been laid within against the sides of the frame, and as the grate was sus the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar to bear it. 8 Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it. c ch. 25. 40. & 26. 30. pended by the rings, and the fire nowhere in contact with the frame, besides the whole being under the continual inspection of the priests, the danger of combustion was very slight. The annexed cut will supersede any more minute description. In pursuance of our general plan, it will be requisite here to endeavor to ascertain the typical import of the Altar of Offering. The a priori presumption that it possessed such a character will be seen to be abundantly confirmed by the evidence now to be adduced. This evidence, it is true, is seldom found in the Scriptures in the form of direct assertion, but in the way of pointed allusion and inference it is perhaps equally unequivocal. And this remark holds good in respect to many of the typical objects, persons, and institutions of the Mosaic economy. While they are not expressly affirmed to have represented corresponding realities under the gospel dispensation, yet we find our Lord and his apostles arguing in such a way as to recognise the truth of this principle of typical or spiritual interpretation. That the principle, in its practical application, may be and has been carried to the wildest and most extravagant extent by writers of imaginative temperament, is but too obvious to admit of question. But we see not why this fact should be allowed to invalidate the soundness of the principle itself. Under the control of a subdued and sober judgment, it is a principle which may be safely and profitably re in reference to those great and paramount features of the Mosaic ritual which we are now considering. Among these the Altar of Sacrifice holds too prominent a place not to partake in large measure of that typical character which pertained to the sacrifices them selves, and which no one in that relation thinks of questioning. Let us see then what may be gathered as to the spiritual bearing of this part of the legal shadows. cognised, and in nothing more so than | scriptural authority, but it is altogether consistent with it, and rises naturally out of the ideas which its local position between the Presence in the Tabernacle and the people in the Court, and its office as a sacrificatory suggested. Among the ancient Orientals, the usages of royalty forbade the access of subjects of common rank to the person of the king without the offices of a mediator, and more especially to those who had in any way incurred the monarch's displeasure, of which a striking illustra Of the preeminent sanctity which at- tion is to be seen in the case of Absatached to the Altar by divine appoint- lom, 2 Sam. 14. 32, 33. That the Isment nothing can be a stronger proof raelites habitually ascribed this mediathan the words of God himself, Ex. 29. ting or reconciling virtue to the Altar, 37, 'Seven days thou shalt make an there can be no doubt, although we may atonement for the altar, and sanctify be constrained to admit that, confoundit; and it shall be an altar most holy: ing the type with the antitype, they whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be blindly ascribed this efficacy to the maholy;' or rather shall become holy, shall terial fabric, instead of recognising its be sanctified. Hence the declaration of ulterior reference to another Mediator our Savior, that 'the altar sanctifieth |' of higher name,' who was to open the the gift.' This then is an important way of access to the Father by the saitem in our consideration of the typical crifice of himself. For that this was design of this structure; it pointed to in fact the real typical purport of the something sustaining a character of Altar of sacrifice, cannot for a moment paramount holiness, and this character be questioned by any one who considers is evidently sustained by the subject of its intrinsic adaptedness to shadow it in connexion with some kind of me- forth the divine substance in its medidiatorial function, which was, with one atory relations to a holy God and of consent attributed by the ancient Jew- fending sinners. It is indeed certain ish writers to the Altar of Burnt-offer- that this typical design both of the Alings, as a part of its typical uses. In- tar and Sacrifices offered upon it points deed they expressly denominated it to a common substance which we recog Dynan main mizbëah hammetzëah, nise in the person and offices of Christ, the mediator altar, and as intercession | but a discrimination may still be made is one of the principal offices of a me- between what is more immediately apdiator, it was also called pera- plicable to the one and to the other reklit, magaxλnros, paraclete, advocate, the spectively. same word which Christ applies to the Holy Spirit as the comforting advocate | whom he would send to his people to supply the lack of his own presence, and which is explained in the Gemara to mean an interpreter, daysman, or kind intercessor in behalf of a person with the king. This view of the subject does not, it is true, rest upon express Taking it for granted that the idea of mediatorship is fundamental in the typical institute of the Altar, we are naturally led to investigate the points of analogy in this respect between the shadow and the substance. Now it is obvious that one of the leading offices of a mediator is the procurement of peace, or the reconciliation of offended and contending parties, and we have | closest possible relation and fellowship the decided evidence of heathen antiquity in favor of connecting this effect with the symbolical uses of altars. Thus Virgil (Æn. IV. 56.) says, when he says, 1 Cor. 10. 18, 'Are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?" That is, they were bound in most solemn covenant ties to him whose table the altar was. Principio delubra advent, pacemque per aras Consequently they could not eat of the Exquirunt. 'First they repair to the shrines and sacrifices of idol altars without virtually eating at the table of idols, and thus entering into fellowship with them. But Christ is the true altar of fellowship for Christians, and its import both as an altar and a table is fulfilled in him. We remark again that affording succor and protection to the weak, the pursued, the endangered, is another idea naturally connected with the me diatory uses of an altar. And such a purpose we find answered by the Altar of Burnt-offerings in the case of Adonijah and Joab, who both flew to it as an asylum when the guilt of treason and blood had put their lives in peril. The same character was ascribed by the heathen to their altars, as we learn from numerous passages in the classics. Flying to and sitting down by an altar was a significant mode of claiming protection from vengeance. How perfectly the succoring and saving offices of Christ towards the guilty fulfil these typical uses of the Altar is too obvious to require elucidation. This use of the Altar as a place of refuge seems to be intimately connected with the horns by which it was distinguished. The culprit who fled to it seized hold of its horns, and it was from thence that Joab was dragged and slain. Now the horn was one of the most indubitable symbols of power, as we learn from the frequent employment of it in this sense by the sacred writers. In Hab. 3. 4, for instance, it is said, 'He had horns coming out of his hand, and there was the hiding of his power. The 'horn of David' is the power and dominion of David, and Christ is called a 'horn of salvation,' from his being a mighty Savior, invest 9 And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward there shall be d ch. 38. 9. hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred cubits long for one side: the enclosing fence or curtain was five cubits, or nearly three yards, being half the height of the Tabernacle. The en closure was formed by a plain hanging of fine twined linen yarn, which seems to have been worked in an open or net. work texture, so that the people without might freely see the interior. The door-curtain was however of a different texture from the general hanging, being a great curtain of 'fine twined linen,' embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet. It is described in precisely the same terms as the door-curtain of the Tabernacle itself, and was of the same fabric with the inner covering of the Tabernacle and the vail before the Holy of Holies. It was furnished with cords, by which it might be drawn up or aside when the priests had occasion to enter. The curtains of this enclosure were hung upon sixty pillars of brass, standing on bases of the same metal, but with capitals and fillets of silver. (Compare the description in this chap ed with royal dignity, and able to put was of an oblong figure of a hundred down with triumph and ease all his ene-cubits (about fifty-eight yards) in length mies. It is probably in real, though | by half that breadth, and the height of latent allusion to the horned altar and its pacifying character that God says through the prophet, Is. 27. 5, 'let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me;' let him fly to the horns of the mystic Altar, and find security and peace in that reconciled omnipotence of which it was the sign. As the Altar then is primarily an adumbration of Christ in his mediatorial of fice, the horns may very suitably denote those attributes of his character which as symbols they are adapted and designed to shadow forth. As the strength of all horned animals, that strength by which they defend themselves and their young, is concentrated mainly in their horns, so in the ascription of horns to Christ we recognise the symbol of that divine potency by which he is able to subdue all things to himself, and to afford complete protection to his people. In accordance with this, the visions of the Apocalypse represent him as 'a Lamb having seven horns,' as the mystic in-ter with that in chap 38.) The hooks signia of that irresistible power with also, to which the curtains were attach. which he effects the discomfiture of his ed, were of silver. The entrance of the adversaries and pushes his spiritual con- Court was at the east end opposite that quests over the world. This view of to the Tabernacle, and between them the typical import of the Altar and its stood the Altar of Burnt-offering, but appendages might doubtless he much nearer to the door of the Tabernacle enlarged, but sufficient has been said than to that of the Court. It is uncerto show, that the same rich signifi- tain whether the brazen laver was incancy and the same happy adaptation, terposed between the Altar and the door pervades this as reigns through every of the Tabernacle or not. Chap. 30. 18, other part of the Mosaic ritual. certainly conveys that impression; but the Rabbins, who appear to have felt that nothing could properly interpose between the Altar and Tabernacle, say that the laver was indeed nearer to the Tabernacle than was the Altar, but still THE COURT OF THE TABERNACLE. 9. Thou shall make the court of the Tabernacle. This court or open enclosure, in which the Tabernacle stood, 10 And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass: the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass: the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver. 12 T And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hang 11 And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hang-ings of fifty cubits: their pillars ten, ings of a hundred cubits long, and and their sockets ten. that it did not stand in the same line with the Altar, but stood a little on one side to the south. As to the position of the Tabernacle in the Court, nothing is said in the Scriptures on the subject, but it seems less probable that it stood in the centre than that it was placed towards the farther or western extremity, so as to allow greater space for the services which were to be performed exclusively in front of the Tabernacle. Within the precincts of this Court any Israelite might enter, but none but the priests were permitted to go into the outer room of the Tabernacle, and into its inner recess adinission was forbidden to all but the high priest. A view of the Tabernacle with its curtained enclosure will hereafter be given. 10. The twenty pillars thereof, and their twenty sockets, &c. These pil lars, which were probably made of shittim-wood, were placed at five cubits distance from each other, in sockets of brass, in the manner represented in the cut. PILLAR AND SOCKET, WITH CORDS AND STAKES. ¶ Fillets. Heb. p hashukim, from the root po hashak which has the sense of connecting, conjoining, whence Rosenmuller and others with much probability understand by the term the connecting rods of silver between the heads of the pillars, on which the curtains were suspended. Other wise it is rendered as in our version fillets, by which is meant raised ornamental bands or mouldings encircling the tops of the pillars. 12. Breadth, fifty cubits. The breadth of the Court was therefore equal to one half its length; the whole area being of an oblong square, one hundred cubits in length and fifty in breadth. form and proportions of the Tabernacle itself were nearly the same, being thirty cubits in length and twelve in breadth. The 14. Fifteen cubits. As twenty out of the fifty cubits which measured the breadth of the Court on the eastern side |