increased or diminished, ever remember where your home is; and that when your week is finished, " you have an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens p" ]<*
p 2 Cor. v. 1.
i If this subject were taken on a Christmas-day, or for a Har- vest Sermon, the more appropriate idea must be most expanded.
Lev. xxiv. 1 — 3. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil-olive beaten, for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. Without the veil of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the Lord continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your generations.
TO engage actively in the service of God is a duty that should not be delayed : nor should any expense or trouble that may be incurred, be regarded as any obstacle to the performance of our duty. The taber- nacle being erected, and the sacred vessels prepared, an order was given that the appointed services should instantly commence; and the people were directed to bring such things as were necessary for the main- tenance of divine worship. That part of the taber- nacle which was covered in, consisted of two parts, the holy place, and the holy of holies. In the former of these, the daily services were performed : the latter was never entered but on one day in the year. The part devoted to the service of God was lighted by a candlestick with seven lamps, which were kept con- tinually burning a. The whole furniture of the taber- nacle, no less than the tabernacle itself, was typical : some things were more illustrative of Christ and his
a Doubts indeed have been entertained whether they were kept alight by day ; because some passages of Scripture seem to intimate that they were not: see Exod. xxx. 7. 2 Chron. xiii. 11. 1 Sam. iii. 3. but the order that they should " burn continually," seems plain ; and the occasion for it was perpetual ; and, above all, Jose- phus, who could not but know the practice of his day, affirms that three lamps were kept burning by day, and all of them by night.