are reminded that the Mosaic tabernacle a.nd its ritual were nothin"' more than an adumbration of tho realities of the true tabernacle. They were o;ly a shadowy prophecy of the priestly ministry of the Lord Jesus. The very furniture of the sacred tent had a symbolic meaning; ar d every article was formed after a I )i vine " pattern " (ver. 6)-the snuffers and incense-spoons as well as the magnificent hmp-stand. But how different the scene of Christ's continua~ intercession from the J cwish tabernacle or temple l Having offered himself as a Sacri::ice upon the altar of burnt offering which had been set up on Calvary, be had to appear within the sanctuary of God with his aton~g blood. Not being, however, a high priest after the order of Aaron, he could not go for this purpose into the temple at Jerusa!P.m; so, if he was to continue to be "a Priest at all" (ver. 4), it behoved him to seek another temple. Jesus accordingly ascended to heaven, "the true tabernacle;" and he carries on his ministry there in "the sanctuary,'' i.e. in the holy of holies which belongs to that true tabernacle (ver. 2). 'l'he Levitical high priests were but typical mediators, who performed typical services in connection with a typical sanctuary. Jesus is the anti-typical High Priest, who bas offered a real sacrifice for sin, and who makes preV2,iling intercession for his people within the true archetypal tabernacle. His ministry, therefore, is "more excellent" than Aaron's. LESSONS. 1. For the materialist. The Mosaic tabernacle was a "copy" of the celestial sanctuary; but are not all nature and all earthly relations just a.n adumbration of the unseen? "What if earth Be but the ehndow of heaven, 1md things therein Each to other like, more th11n on earth is thought?" (Milton.) 2. For the sa,cerdolali;;t. Jesus is the one mediating Priest or the New Testament Church; and even he is no longer a sacrificing Priest. He bled and died in the outer court; and he mediates in" the sanctuary" now by intercession. 3. For theformalu.t. How great the guilt of the man who, while professing to be a Christian, does not make the priesthood of Christ e. main theme of his thoughts, and the joy of his heart! 4. For the Christian believer. The saint should more and more rejoice in Jesus as his Priest, and constantly re-commit his soul into his hands, to be introduced to God by him. 5. For the gospel minister. While the teaching of the pulpit ought to range, as for e.s possible, over the wide sweep of thought which is embraced in the orbit of the Bible, the doctrine of the mediation of our glorified Redeemer must be its "chief point" -the key-stone of all its utterances, whether evangelical or ethical.
Vere. 6-13.-71ie new covenant. Here we have another of the broad contraRts which everywhere meet us in this treatise. In those Epistles which are undoubtedly Paul's, the process of reasoning resembles the movement ol' a file of soldiers; but in this to the Hebrews, the movement resembles rather that of soldiers in rank. The writer intro- duces his contrast between the covenants with the re:nark (ver. 6) that our Lord's heavenly ministry as greatly excels that of Aaron as· the new covenant which he administers is superior to the old. I. THE OLD COVENANT WAS IMPERFECT. "That first covenant n (ver. 7) does not refer to the covenant of works, which was made with Adam in Eden; but to the Mosaic dispensation of the economy of grace. This covenant had been solemnly inaugurated and accepted by the Jews a.t the foot of Mount Sinai (Exod. niv. 4---8); llild it had been repeatedly renewed in later times (Josh. xxiv. 24, 25; 2 Chron. xv. 12; 2 Kings xi. 17; 2 Chron. :uix.; Neh. ix., x.). It was not" faultless;" that is, it was imperfect as a dispensation of grnce. The Mosaic institutions were only preparatory to those of gospel times. They were legal rather than evangelical, and sensuous rather than spiritual. They were suited to the nonage of the Church ; and "Israel was a child" when God" took him by the hand to lead him forth out of the land of Egypt" (vcr. 9; Hos. xi. 1-4). So Juda.ism taught spiritual truth only in fairt outline .. Its method was thnt of spectacular reprijsentation. 'l'he Law was" our tutor to bnng us unto Christ" (Gal. iii. 24). II, A PROPHEOY OF THE NEW covc~lANT, In or<lcr to prov~ ~wm the Jewish Scrip- 21~ THE EPISTLE TO THE HEDREWS. [en. vm. 1-13,