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PRAYER.

O God, who dwellest in light which no man can approach unto, and who art of purer eyes than to look upon iniquity; I, a sinner, am emboldened to come into thy presence, and appear before thy mercy seat. Thou hast opened a way through the flesh of Thy dear Son. Let me be accepted on His account,sprinkled with His blood. Let my prayers be heard and answered, being mingled with the incense of His merits.

Teach me to value more and more this throne of grace and mercy. May I bring all my cares and cast them upon thee. Do Thou commune and speak with me from above the mercy seat. Teach me by Thy Spirit and Thy Word what is Thy will. Give me strength to perform it. me equal to my duties,

May Thy grace make strong against temp

tations, and patient-yea, joyful-in all tribulations. And so Lord, grant that loving Thy presence here above all things, I may be permitted at last to enter into Thy eternal presence hereafter, and join with saints and angels in offering the pure incense of praise for ever and ever. AMEN.

THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK.

"And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold:

of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.” EXODUS XXV. 31.

We have yet to consider the furniture of the holy place in the tabernacle. These were the table on which was placed the shew-bread, and the candlestick, and the altar of incense.

It is not easy to speak positively of the spiritual meaning of every part of the tabernacle, and all the things in it. Still our rule must ever be to try and see Christ in all. The apostle teaches us to do this when speaking of these things in the epistle to the Hebrews.

It has been well observed by an old writer, "Although Christ be but one, yet is he understood by us in a manifold manner. He is the tabernacle, on account of the covering of his flesh he is the table, because he is our food and life he is the ark, having the hidden law of God, because He is the Word of the Father he is the candlestick, because he is spiritual light he is the altar of incense, because he is a sweet savour for sanctification: he is the altar of burnt-offerings, because he

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was offered upon the cross as a sacrifice for the life of the whole world."

Christ was set forth to the Jews, and is set forth to us in different ways, because of the many things we have to learn about Him,what He has done for, and what He is and will be to the sinner.

"Thou

See Him first in the shew-bread. shalt set upon the table shew-bread before me alway." It might be called "bread of presence," or, bread before the face of God. It is spoken of again in Numbers iv. 7. "And upon the table of shew-bread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes and the spoons and the bowls, and covers to cover withal, and the continual bread shall be thereon." We read also concerning the making of these loaves, and their number,"And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake, and thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, before the pure table before the Lord. And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Every Sabbath shall he set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant; and it shall

be Aaron's and his sons'; and they shall eat it in the holy place; for it is most holy unto him. of the offerings of the Lord made by fire, by a perpetual statute." (Lev. xxiv. 5-9.)

Thus we learn these loaves were twelve in number, no doubt one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. The priest put them fresh on the table every Sabbath-day. Each loaf must have been of a good size, since it was of two tenth deals of flour, which are about six pints.

This bread was then surely a type of Jesus. He is the food for His church. He said of Himself, "This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die." (John vi. 50.) The supply we have seen was abundant. It was double the quantity for one individual's wants. This is perhaps to teach that there is a sufficiency so complete in Jesus, that there is more for us than we ever draw from Him. Yes! there is plenty on His table to satisfy the most hungering souls, and there is a welcome to all who will come to Him to be fed. It is our own fault if we are not fed to the satisfying of our hunger. Bread and to spare is there. The words that Christ speaks, they are spirit and life. His promises,-His comforts,—these are what satisfy the believer. Blessed are they

which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall be filled."

The next thing mentioned is the candlestick. "And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold;" and again, "their knops and their branches shall be of the same; all of it shall be of one beaten work of pure gold. And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof, and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it." This candlestick with its lights was to be attended to and kept burning by the priests. The pure olive oil which was burned in it was to be brought by the children of Israel for that purpose. So we read in Leviticus xxiv. 1-4. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children that they bring unto thee pure olive oil, beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. Without the vail of the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning, before the Lord continually : it shall be a statute for ever in your generations. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord continually."

We read of this candlestick being thus kept burning in the days of Eli the priest. It was "ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God

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