still more comprehensive import. The tabernacle, for instance, prefigured the body of Christ, " in which all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt ; " and the Church, where God displays his glory ; and heaven, where he vouchsafes his more immediate presence, and is seen face to face. So the altar not unfitly re- presents the cross on which the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified p; and the heart of man, from whence offerings of every kind go up with acceptance before Godq. In the former sense we have its typical, and in the latter its mystical import.
Now in this mystical, and, as I may call it, em- blematical sense, the ordinance before us teaches us,
1. That no offering can be accepted of God, unless it be inflamed with heavenly fire —
[When Nadab and Abihu offered incense before God "with strange," that is, with common, " fire," they were struck dead, as monuments of God's heavy displeasure : " There went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them ; and they died be- fore the Lordr." And shall we hope for acceptance with God, if we present our offerings with the unhallowed fire of mere natural affections ? Our blessed Lord has told us, that he would " baptize us with the Holy Ghost and with fire*:" and every sacrifice which we offer to him should be inflamed with that divine power, even the sacred energy of his Holy Spirit, and of his heavenly grace. Let us not imagine that formal and self-righteous services can be pleasing to him ; or that we can be accepted of him whilst seeking our own glory. Hear the declaration of God himself on this subject : " Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks! walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled: but this shall ye have of mine hand, ye shall he down in sorrow*."]
2. That if God have kindled in our hearts a fire,
we must keep it alive by our own vigilance —
[I well know that this mode of expression is objected to by many: but it is the language of the whole Scriptures; and therefore is to be used by us. We are " not to be wise above what is written," and to abstain from speaking as the voice of inspiration speaks, merely from a jealous regard to human systems. True it is, we are not to attempt any thing
p lleb. xiii. 10 — 12. <i Heb. xiii. 1">, 1G. r Lev. x. 1, 2.
s Matt. iii. 11. « Isai. 1. 11.