But there was another ordinance in Israel setting forth the tribulation of the church. The mercy-seat and the cherubim were to be both made of pure gold, " of beaten work."* Now, as the cherubim were doubtless the symbols of redeemed men, the church of Christ, this type, is very striking. Both the mercy-seat and the cherubim were to be of one piece, for " both he who sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one." They are of pure gold, and this denotes their exceeding preciousness. They are made of " beaten gold," to intimate the process through which they both had passed. The mercy-seat was fashioned into shape, and made after the pat- tern shewed hi the mount, by the stroke of the * Ex. xxv. 17, 18.
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hammer. So Jesus was " made perfect through suffering." In like manner the cherubim were to be beaten into the intended shape and model. So with the saints. It is through this process that they must pass, and it is thus they are brought into that perfect shape which God has designed for them.
What, then, is the process through which the saints are passing now, but just this 7 They are now under the hammer of the Spirit, that by this they may be fashioned into the likeness of cherubim, which, in the Book of Revelation, are set' before us as the upbearers of Jehovah's throne and glory, as well as the inheritors thereof. And what is all the " beat- ing" to which we may be subjected, when compared with the glory for which it is pre- paring us?
There is another figure used by our Lord in speaking of his church. He compares her to an injured, afflicted, friendless widow. Widow- hood, then, is properly the church's condition here. And this is her grief. Her Lord is ab- sent, and his absence is one of her bitterest trials. It forms one long-continued sorrow. It makes such a blank on earth, that we feel as if this of itself were grief enough, even were
84 THE TYPES.
there none besides. And were the church fully to realize her estate of widowhood, until the Lord come, she would find in this, no doubt, a new grief to which she was blind be- fore, but a grief which operates with most blessed efficacy in sanctifying her, and in keeping her apart from the world.
She is a stranger in a land of strangers. She is lonely and unfriended, sitting apart from earthly joy and fellowship. He whom she loves is far away. This separation is, as a saint of old expresses it, " like a mountain of iron upon her heavy heart." She longs to be with him. She sighs for the day of meeting. And all this, though sad, is both sanctifying and solemnizing. It is a daily burden, a con- tinual chastening, yet it is well. It loosens from earth. It lifts up to heaven. It makes the world less fascinating. It prepares for the inseparable union: — the meeting-time — the bridal-day.
There are other figures given us of the suf- fering church. But let these suffice. They will help us to understand our true condition, and to expect nothing else than tribulation here. No strange thing is happening to us, It is no strange thing that the green ears of
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corn should be dried with fire It is no strange thing that the cherubim should be made of beaten gold. It is no strange thing that, in the absence of the bridegroom, the bride should mourn
:
v,
CHAPTER VII.
THE PROVING.
THERE are no beings about whom we make BO many mistakes as our own selves. "The heart is deceitful above all things ;" and be- sides this, the " deceitfulness of sin " is un- searchable. So that when the deceitfulness of our heart and the deceitfulness of sin come together, we need not wonder that the effect should be ignorance of ourselves.
Besides, we are unwilling to search. We shrink from the exposure which such a scru- tiny would make. No doubt the consciousness of being forgiven takes away much of this re- luctance. We are not so unwilling to know the worst, when we are assured that however hideous the pollution thus dragged to light, it can never come between us and God. For with God all is peace. The blood that sprinkles us has made it a simple impossibility for God ever to be angry with us again. So that we come to realize, in some degree, the blessedness of the man whose trangression is forgiven;
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our spirit is "without guile." We have no ob- ject now in concealing anything from God or ourselves. We become open, frank, straight- forward. Still the search is a painful one, and we would rather postpone it. It might bring many things to light which would shock and humble us. It might alarm us with the ex- tent of the evil which still remains in us, even though it could not bring us into condemna- tion. Hence we are slow to learn, or even to inquire into, the evil that cleaves to us still.