them. These labours accomplished, the types and forms of Art were for ever fixed. To the genius and imagination of the Israelite there was no further outlet in this direction. But while straitened and bound down like the Egyptian artist, by conventional shapes and unchanging expression, the Jew, had he been inclined to exercise art, wanted the ceaseless encouragement which Egypt gave to her sons in the countless multiplications and repetitions of religious objects. The tabernacle first, the temple afterwards, enshrined at once all that had been or could rightly be of Hebrew art. Not only thus was fancy disallowed, but even skill of hand speedily became extinguished. Secular sources of encouragement or of patronage there were none; so that during a period of some length a smith or forge was not to be found within all the borders of Israel.'

Of the excellent beauty however of the works at first executed, or of the grandeur of the temple afterwards erected, there can be no doubt. The character of this excellence will hereafter be explained. Meanwhile how seldom is the ideal of Hebrew art rightly appreciated! It was the reverse of the ideal in art in its highest eminence among the most distinguished of other nations. The faultless performances of the Grecian chisel, or the steadfast symmetry of the Grecian temple, concentrated thought and feeling on themselves. It was the present object which filled, and which still fills the soul. The artist by the fervour of genius strove to ascend to Heaven, thence to bring down forms and expression beyond all mundane power or beauty-to lift the soul away from the earthly present was the purpose of Hebrew art. Here idealism consisted in the strength of sensation, not centred on the symbol, but elevated to what was symbolized

'That hope was theirs-that faith sublime

Which triumphs over place and time.'

The ideality of their arts, therefore, charmed not by carnal beauty -it stood in the spiritual meaning.

ON

ON THE TYPICAL IMPORT OF THE ORDINANCES OF THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.

Levit. xvi.

By GEORGE J. WALKER.

of

THE sin of Nadab and Abihu, it would appear, caused an abridgment of the privilege till then enjoyed by Aaron of continual entrance into the Holiest. He was henceforth restricted, under penalty of death, to one annual entrance. The wrath which had fearfully burned on his sons for their transgression would be equally incurred by the father were he to venture at any other time, in however reverent a manner, to go before the presence Him who said, 'I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat.' But if sin led to this restriction, and made the high-priest's entrance, though under shelter of incense, offered with no strange fire, so solemn a matter; a striking contrast was subsequently exhibited, when the greatest of all sins caused the vail to be rent, and the innermost secrets of grace to be disclosed. Instead of being warned, like Aaron, 'not to come at all times into the holy place,' believers are exhorted to come boldly unto the throne of grace; and the danger of which they are warned is not of coming nigh too often or too confidently, but of despising their rich blessings and drawing back unto perdition.

But the institution of the Day of Atonement, though thus limiting the privilege of the high-priest, was intended to secure to Israel the blessing of unbroken intercourse with God. Their corporate standing was thus preserved, and it was placed out of the reach of any contingencies of sin and failure which might otherwise (as in the case of Nadab and Abihu) endanger its stability.

The ninth chapter of Hebrews teaches the bearing on the Church of the great truths shadowed forth in Levit. xvi. The earthly bearing of the blood of Christ had been beautifully set forth in the type of the passover in Egypt. The peaceful feeding on the lamb, the sprinkled blood of which sheltered from wrath and judgment, besides many other particulars, find their blessed and well-known correspondence in the circumstances of one who believes in Christ our passover.' But the ordinance of the passover teaches nothing of the value of the blood of Christ in the heavenlies. It is only by combining Exod. xii. and Levit. xvi. that we obtain a complete typical view of the Christian's blessing.

No

No statement of the Gospel is perfect which leaves the faintest impression on the sinner that he has anything to do in order to be saved. The beloved Son of God coming down from heaven into the midst of us, to seek and to save the lost, is the full expression of the Father's love. 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life;' and there is need of great care in making the types of Leviticus the basis of addresses to the unconverted, lest the idea be conveyed that some religious act is, after all, a preliminary to the obtaining of pardon and peace.

There appear to be indeed but two types which can be so used without such a risk-the passover and the brazen serpent. All the rest can hardly be thus handled without more or less embarrassment and danger of imparting defective views of the divine grace to the sinner. They are rather suited to one who has already, through grace, believed, and before whose eyes Christ has been evidently set forth crucified. The difference is easily seen between Paul's discourses in the Acts and his elaborate unfolding of the believer's standing and privileges in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

These remarks I would apply to the present chapter, not, of course, excluding its application to a sinner's first acceptance on the ground of the great atonement, but observing that it goes much beyond this, and is used in Heb. ix. to show that those whose consciences have been cleansed by the blood of Christ have free access to the heavenly sanctuary, the same blood having likewise cleansed the heavenly things themselves. When the heart has been sprinkled from an evil conscience, and the body washed with pure water, the exhortation is, 'Let us draw near.' We may then boldly tread the new and living way, and having a great priest over the house of God, should come with a true heart, in full assurance of faith.a

6

The difficulty of deducing a clear Gospel from the mercy-seat is felt when it is seen to involve the necessity of saying to the sinner, Draw nigh.' His thoughts are diverted from the marvellous grace which brings the offer of forgiveness to his very door, to an effort which he is to make himself; and it is, alas! ever but too natural to men to turn away from Christ to rest on their own inward experiences and religious exertions.

The following is from the Rev. A. Bonar's Memoir and Remains of the Rev. Robert M. M'Cheyne, p. 80. In dealing with souls

a It has been well observed, that the expression Full assurance of faith,'' by no means conveys the idea of a certain standard measure of faith as a matter of attainment. The reference is not to the measure of faith, but to its bearing on the right object. The faith may be the weakest possible; but let that, weak as it is, be in full bearing on its own proper object.'

he

he used to speak very plainly. One came to him who assented to his statements of the Gospel, and yet refused to be comforted, always looking upon coming to Christ as something in addition to really believing the record God has given of his Son. He took John iii. 16, 17, For God so loved the world,' &c.

When this beautiful type, then, of the Day of Atonement is used in discoursing to the unconverted, care must be taken in its exhibition. The truths connected with the shedding of the blood of Christ on earth obviously and naturally lead to its use in Heaven; but the Scriptural order should be observed, and the twofold error (a very common one) avoided, which, in applying texts to the world that properly belong to the Church, deprives the latter of its peculiar and distinctive blessings, while to the former it obscures the freeness of the grace of God.

Verse 4. Aaron arrayed in the holy garments represents Christ as fit to make atonement by reason of his own intrinsic purity. The idea conveyed by them is not that which we receive from the ordinary garments of glory and beauty, but that of spotless purity; the perfect human righteousness of Him, who in the days of his flesh was 'holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.' Washings, under the law, were typical of the cleanness we obtain by means of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Thus the Apostle says we are saved διὰ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας, with allusion to the laver of brass; and the 'body washed with pure water' is equivalent to being buried with Christ in baptism (Coloss. ii. 12) and being born of water' (John iii. 5). But the cleanness, thus attainable by us, only through the death of Christ, He himself essentially possessed. We are not therefore to look for any act in him to correspond with Aaron's washing his flesh in water; for it was only when thus bathed and arrayed in spotless white that the Jewish high-priest became a fitting type of Jesus, when, divested of his heavenly majesty, he appeared prepared for the lowly ministrations which atoned for sin, and consecrated a living way into the Holiest.

Verses 5-10. The animals intended for sacrifice are presented before the Lord. None of them are yet to be slain. Aaron shall bring (1) his bullock, &c., v. 6 (see v. 9, 11, 20); and shall appoint (y) the goat for a sin-offering (v. 9). This must have been an impressive part of the ceremonial. The formal presentation of the destined victims before Him whose holiness demanded their death; the remembrance of the common sin; priests as well as people equally needing an atonement; and the solemn appeal to Jehovah for the allotment of the two goats, must have invested the scene with a character of deliberateness and solemnity, well

suited to the vast importance of the subject, and calculated to awaken serious and chastened feelings, though the time was not yet come for these types to be fully comprehended, and for yet far deeper disclosures of sin and its remedy. Thus does Isaiah (ch. liii.) describe our blessed Lord's appearance as the destined victim; and thus did John the Baptist point to Him as the Lamb of God, the taker away (o aigwv) of the sin of the world.

The 11th verse, of course, has nothing to correspond with it in the way of antitype: Jesus needed not to offer a sacrifice for himself.'

The world has always, since the fall, been barren of good. Even of that part which had been brought under the most careful cultivation, and on which no pains had been spared, the Lord said, Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?' But his righteous claims admitted of no abatement. His demands were still in full force, nor could the incompetency of his creatures to meet them be admitted as a reason either for their mitigation or annulment. To the question, How must God be loved? the answer ever was, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might; and it was also added, and thy neighbour as thyself." From helpless man was still required the fulfilment of every jot and tittle of righteousness. He must be its living personification. Each affection and spring of the heart must be in freshness and perfection, and moreover his character must be adorned with every beauteous grace. It was the demand of grapes from thorns, and of figs from thistles; it was as though it had been required of Cain to produce from a cursed ground fruits that should have the flavour of those of Eden, and flowers with scent and hues like those which blossomed there.

6

There was One, and only One, who met the divine requirements, and He met them on our behalf. Born a man into the world, the eternal Son not only appeared, as it were, arrayed in robes of virgin whiteness; but his human nature ever sent up to God, and from a wilderness world, the fragrance of each perfect grace.

6

The four kinds of sweet spices (Exod. xxx.) with the pure frankincense, mixed in equal weights, tempered together, pure and holy,' and beaten very small, fitly indicate the most holy perfume (how unlike the ill-savour of our fallen nature!) which from him, as a man in the world, constantly ascended up before God. For the first time the full fragrance of human graces, and these too in even proportion, and most perfect blending, was smelled in heaven.

Trials to a fallen being, only serve the more to elicit the vileness and corruption within ; while every trial to Jesus was like the incision which is followed by the dropping of the sweet gums.

But