be accomplished by it. What that end was we are informed in the Epistle to the Hebrews : The taber- nacle itself, and all its vessels, were intended to be " an example and shadow of heavenly things," that is, of the things revealed to us under the Christian dispensation. In a word, the law and its ordinances were intended to give a just representation of the Gospel and its mysteries ; and the two were to accord with each other in every the minutest part, even as an impression with the seal by which it was madeb. Behold, then, here was the work assigned to Moses, namely, to give to the Jewish people such an exhi- bition of the Gospel and its mysteries as should suffice for them under that shadowy dispensation, and pre- pare them for that fuller manifestation which should be vouchsafed to the Church by the ministry of Christ and of his holy Apostles.
[The tabernacle -itself was a representation of Christ, "in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily0," and who in his incarnate state "dwelt (tabernacled) amongst usd." The priests, the altar, and the sacrifices, shadowed him forth as " the Great High-Priest," through whom alone we can come to Gode; and who, being himself the altar that sancti- fied the giftf, " offered himself a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world g," even " an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweet smelling savourV The altar of incense also designated that same divine Saviour as ever living to make intercession for us1. The candlestick also, and the table of shewbread, represented him as " the light of the world k," and as " the bread of life, of which whosoever eats shall live for ever1." The lavers too represented him as " the fountain opened for sinm," in which every one " who washeth is cleansed from all sin'1." The same may be said of every the minutest vessel in the sanctuary : they all shadowed forth the Lord Jesus in some part of his Mediatorial office. But I must by no means omit to mention the ark, in which the tables of the Law were placed, and which was covered by the mercy-seat of precisely the same dimensions, and which represented him as fulfilling the Law for us0, and as obtaining mercy for all who should
b Heb. viii. 5. c Col. ii. 9. d John i. 14. tcrd'/rwo'fj'.
« Heb. x. 19—22. f Heb. xiii. 10. s Heb. x. 12.
h Eph. v. 2. i Heb. ix. 24. k John viii. 12.
1 John vi. 48, 58. m Zech. xiii. 1. n Rev. i. 5. 0 Rom. x. 4.