Paul," Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of this knowledge." Enoch enjoyed this privilege, and in addition to it "he had the testimony that he pleased God." He had, no doubt, outward signs of the Divine approval, but the expression refers rather to the inward testimony of an approving conscience," the Spirit bearing witness with his spirit," that he was a child of God and an heir of glory laid up beyond earth's changeful sky. His "He was not found, for God had translated him." His piety was extraordinary, so was his removal from the present world. God conferred thus not only great blessedness, but great dignity, upon. devoted servant. The manner of his change is not fully revealed. It might have taken place in the same way as that of Elijah. The whirlwind sent of God might have been the agent, the fiery chariot with its flaming steeds the vehicle, that conveyed him to the realms of glory. Or, as in the case of the Redeemer, a cloud might have wafted him to the regions of immortality. Perhaps in the silence of the night the heavenly messengers came to bear him away, or, as he was meditating like Isaac at eventide in the fields, the summons came for him to step within the veil of Eternity. This he did "without seeing death." The grim king of terrors never claimed him as his prey; the "sickness unto death" and the agonies of dissolution he never knew; his "flesh saw no corruption;" his body moulders not in the dust of the earth, it stands in the light of the throne of God. Jehovah, as if to assert His independency of death, suspended its agency in the case of Enoch; and by His mighty power caused that mysterious transformation to pass over his servant which shall take place "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump," when the living saints at its sound shall be changed, and shall put on incorruption. "God took him." He took the man who had walked with Him in a sinful world, to walk with Him in the climes of bliss. Enoch had grown too pure for the associations of time; he had more of heaven than of earth in his soul; therefore God took him to his kindred region, and now in the kingdom of eternal righteousness and peace, amidst the shining ranks of the blessed, the fountains of living waters and the light of Eternity, Enoch still walks with God. Christian reader, we cannot expect, we need not expect, that the sentence of death shall be remitted to us. No; there is however no need to fear evil. Having the testimony of our conscience, the peace of God which passeth understanding, the witness of the Spirit, we can exclaim now, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" Walking with God now, when the summons comes it will be to us a translation to all the joys and dignities and glories to which the spirits of the just made perfect have been raised. "Death is the gaining of a crown, The laying of our burden down, -Milton, Oxon. "Death is a song from seraphs' lips, The dayspring from on high; The ending of the soul's eclipse, The transit to the sky." STUPID SUNDAYS. PERHAPS I ought to say Sunday afternoons. The morning is lively enough, what with breakfast just a little late, dressing for chapel, and getting the youngsters ready, looking over lessons, etc. But after we have come home from chapel and Sunday-school, and have eaten our dinner (I think we eat rather more than on week-days), and have spent a comfortable hour before the fire with our favourite religious magazine -we elders, I mean, of coursethere comes a change over the spirits of the family. Hitherto we have been brisk and lively, but now a certain dreaminess creeps over usa tendency to lean back in our chairs, close our eyes, and indulge in— thought. About this time some of us are generally missing from the room, and, if sought for in our closets, would not I fear be found engaged in meditation or prayer. The children, too, have reached a very uneasy stage. Dressing, chapel, school, dinner, have kept them busy, but now there comes a level stretch of time that it frets their impatient spirits to traverse. Possibly the head of the family, mindful of parental duty, reads aloud to them, or catechises them upon the lesson of the day; but these exercises cannot well extend over an hour, and there remain four or five more before teatime. There can be no gleeful rushing out of doors for frolic and play; it is hardly admissible to range the chairs in line for stagecoach, or have blindman's buff, puss in the corner, or the other lively sports that a rainy day allows to shut-up little ones. Perhaps a Scripture story or a picture-book may content them a little longer; and then-and then-do you hear a whispered muttering over in the corner? "I think Sunday's a real stupid day; don't you?" 66 "I'll tell you what I have found out," said neighbour Ringway, to whom I said something like the above. A young house-painter in . our village fell from a ladder last summer and paralyzed the lower part of his body. He lies, and will lie, for long months to come, helpless on his bed. He has a wife and child. Of course, their means of living are cut off. I, as well as others, have aided the poor fellow, and mean to look after the family this winter. "I have a little boy, active and restless, to whom Sunday afternoons are a sore burden. Öne Sunday when he was fretting about the house, teasing his mother and plaguing the baby, I said to him, Harry, would you like to go and see poor Mr. Glazier ?' The boy's face brightened, and he said, 'Of course I would, papa.' He hurried to get his things; mamma gave him a little basket of fruit to carry. I put some papers in my pocket, and we started out. The fresh air seemed to blow away Harry's ill-humour, and he went skipping along, gaily chatting. see us. "We had a pleasant call at the Glaziers', and they seemed glad to Harry played with the child, and listened to Mr. Glazier's account of his accident, and took his first lesson in practical doing good. I felt a hundred per cent. better than if I had stayed at home dozing over a magazine. "We came home and (by-the-way mother had a nice, quiet time' while we were gone) had a pleasant "But this man (High-Priest), after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God."-Heb. x. 12. THE Epistle to the Hebrews brings to the Jewish economy, which in itself was dark and shadowy, the light of the new and Christian dispensation. The one was replete with types and figures, while the other had the substance and reality; yet the latter is seen in the former, and the truth of the gospel is the same in both, although seer in different degrees of light. There the gospel was represented under the soft silvery moonbeams, while here we have the bright rays of the noon-day sun thrown upon the same. And this epistle brings them together to show their similarity, and wherein also we see many points of difference. The word "But" commencing the verse, marks a contrast whic the writer has been drawing between the Jewish priesthood and tha of our Lord. He says that the priest under the law ministereth dail and offers oftentimes the same sacrifice, all which were unavailing t take away sin: whereas Christ Jesus offered up but one sacrifice fo sins, which was effectual to take away all sin; and, as an evidence o this complete atonement, "He sat down on the right hand of God." I will therefore appear the better and more profitable way of reading the verse to say, "But this "Priest or High-Priest, rather than "this man." The word is not found in the original, but is supplied; and may we not as correctly supply Priest or High-Priest, seeing the contrast is not made between men merely, but between the priest of the type and "the High-Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus"? "But this High Priest, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down,' etc. The subject which at present is brought under our consideration is the priesthood of Jesus as illustrated by and compared with the Jewish priesthood; and, firstly, I. Let us consider Christ Jesus as the High-Priest of our profession while on earth. "The high-priest," who was he, and what was the nature of his office? This is answered in the first verse of the fifth chapter: "For every high-priest taken from among men is ordained for men, in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins." He was taken "from among men," himself a man, ordained by Divine appointment, and that for a special purpose,-to stand between God and man, and in behalf of man "to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins." As such, he represented and prefigured Christ Jesus, not fully nor perfectly indeed, seeing that the whole "law" was but "a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things." But the one bears at least the outline of the other. In the Levitical priesthood, and the high-priest in its centre, is seen the higher-the spiritual priesthood of Christianity, and Christ the centre of that priesthood. 1. There were various orders of priests connected with the temple service. The high-priest was but one among many engaged as priests within the temple: he was placed over all the rest, as their head or "chief." The Christian Church is likewise a temple, where the worship of God is conducted, but in a more exalted and spiritual form, and where the true worshippers meet, and each appointed to some work. They all are "priests unto God and His Father," while Christ, in their midst, is their High-Priest. Brethren, are we realizing this blessed fact? Do we look upon ourselves as priests-consecrated, by the grace of the Spirit, to God's service? and have we a clear apprehension of the presence and power of Jesus Christ in our midst, as "the Apostle and High-Priest of our profession"? and are we, through Him, presenting spiritual sacrifices to God? 2. The high-priest under the law was dressed in some garments peculiar to himself. There were many things he wore in common with other priests, and all such were made of "fine-twined linen"; this had a very distinct reference to the Christian priesthood, in which one and all have the same standing before God; all are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ; and this will be made more manifest hereafter, as it is stated in the Revelation, "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints." But the high-priest wore some peculiar garments. Some of these we here mention. There was the ephod and the robe of the ephod," made of the finest material-of gold and of fine-twined linen,-made in the richest dyes-of blue and purple and scarlet-being a complete Covering from head to foot. Does not this point to the perfect and glorious righteousness which Christ had in Himself manifested through all His life and in all His actions? "Yea, He was altogether lovely, and the chiefest among ten thousands." The high-priest also wore a breastplate. This plate was made of twelve precious stones, all different, and set in gold enclosings; upon these stones were engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel; this plate was hung upon the high-priest's breast, to express the care and the interest which he took in the people for whom he mediated. But, specially, this points us to a greater and heavenly High-Priest. How precious are all His people to Him! He knows them all by name. "Their names are graven on the palms of His hand." They are near to his heart, and dear to Him, and are as "the apple of His eye." Did the high-priest go into the holiest with the breastplate on? so has Christ entered within the veil of the heavenly sanctuary, bearing on His heart all His people. "He ever liveth to make intercession for them." The high-priest had, moreover, two precious stones put upon the ephod, on which also the names of the tribes were inscribed: these lay upon his shoulder. And here we see Jesus bearing His people, as the good shepherd "layeth his sheep upon his shoulder." "Even to old age I am He, and to hoar hairs will I carry you." And they are as precious stones to Him-"They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my jewels." Fear not, beloved, to "commit the keeping of your souls to Him in all well doing as unto a faithful Creator." And yet again, the highpriest wore a mitre, or turban, upon the golden crown of which there was inscribed, "Holiness to the Lord." He ought himself to be, like the work to which he was devoted, "holy." And here the type but faintly represents the High-Priest who is over the house of God, who was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." 3. The high-priest's special work was the offering of gifts and sacrifices. On the day of yearly atonement he offered up a sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people, and he also offered their gifts and thank-offerings. But here, between the type and the antitype, while there is a likeness there is also a dissimilarity; for it is not possible that the patterns of heavenly things on earth should be the very image of the things themselves. Thus the high-priest offered one sacrifice for himself and for his house, and then another for the sins of the people; but Christ, having no sin, needed not to offer for Himself, but only for the people's sins. It was but one sacrifice, and not to be repeated, as were those, year by year. This High-Priest offered up but one sacrifice for sins for ever. It was but the blood of a bullock or of a goat that the Jewish priest offered, but Christ offered His own body and blood. The blood of bullocks and of goats could never take away sin, but "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.' And here, my brethren, our subject becomes replete with consolation to every believer. This is the foundation of our faith: "God forbid that we should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Here also, we have the door of communication with heaven, by which we can come near to a reconciled God and Father, and enjoy His favour, and present our every want. "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holies by the blood of Jesus, having an High-Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith." and His one sacrifice, to which all the others under the law pointed, "has made an end of sin, and brought in an everlasting righteousness." 22 |