magnify it beyond its due value. Did they preach any doctrine frequently, and to all classes of mankind, and apply it practically in every possible bearing? We must beware lest we lightly esteem what God hath highly honoured. Our duty, then, is to take heed unto the advice which Paul gives to Timothy, when speaking of the second coming of the Lord. He says: It is a faithful saying: for, if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself. Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Tim. ii. 11-15.”

The testimony here recorded, in-so-far as the present author is enabled to determine, is worthy of all credence; and he earnestly trusts that his own feebler statements will be found corroborative of its general utility and worth.

He will only further express his affectionate desire that all those assemblies of the saints whom it has been his privilege to serve successively in the gospel, in Bedfordshire, in Dorsetshire, in Suffolk, in Lincolnshire, again in Suffolk, in Gloucestershire, and in Huntingdonshire, will receive the present volume as a token of continued and unabated interest in their spiritual well

being. All the orbs of immensity are held in their several spheres, and circulate around a common centre, by the law of gravitation: what the law of gravitation is in the natural world, the law of love becomes in the moral : and by this Divine communion, all the righteous followers of the Lamb are kept in perpetual association with each other and with their Lord. Oh for the day of consummation, when they shall meet to part no more!

Finally. In order to real benefit and enjoyment in the perusal of his work, the author ventures to advertise the reader that it must not be read cursorily or hastily, but quietly and meditatively, and even with a degree of studious care and observation. True is the proverb, The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat ; and wise is the counsel, Meditate upon these things: give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear unto all; or, more properly, that thy profiting may appear in all things.

Jan. 4, 1842.

CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME.

DISCOURSE I.

Introductory: the Tabernacle entire.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the
children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every
man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my
offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of
them: gold, and silver, and brass, and blue, and purple,
and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and rams'
skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim-wood; oil
for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense;
onyx-stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the
breast-plate. And let them make me a sanctuary; that I
may dwell among them. According to all that I show
thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern
of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.-
Ex. xxv. 1-9..

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DISCOURSE II.

The Ark of the Covenant.

And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with
thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two
cherubim, which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all
things which I will give thee in commandment unto the
children of Israel.-Ex. xxv. 22.

DISCOURSE III.

The Table of Shew-bread.

And thou shalt set upon the table shew-bread before me
alway.-Ex. xxv. 30.

a

DISCOURSE IV.

The Golden Candlestick.

And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold; of beaten
work shall the candlestick be made his shaft, and his
branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of
the same.-Ex. xxv. 31. .

DISCOURSE V.

The Vail.

And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet,
and fine-twined linen, of cunning work: with cherubim
shall it be made. And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars
of shittim-wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be
of gold, upon the four sockets of silver. And thou shalt
hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring
in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the
vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the
most holy.-Ex. xxvi. 31-33. .

DISCOURSE VI.

The Altar of Burnt-offering.

And thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt-offering, and all
his vessels, and sanctify the altar and it shall be an altar
most holy.-Ex. xl. 10.

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99

116

DISCOURSE VII.

The Pure Oil-olive.

And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they
bring thee pure oil-olive beaten for the light, to cause the
lamp to burn always. In the tabernacle of the congre-
gation without the vail, which is before the testimony,
Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning
before the Lord. It shall be a statute for ever unto their
generations, on the behalf of the children of Israel.-
Ex. xxvii. 20, 21. .

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DISCOURSE VIII.

The Priesthood.

And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate
them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office.
-Ex. xxx. 30.

DISCOURSE IX.

The Holy Garments.

And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother,
for glory and for beauty.-Ex. xxviii. 2.

DISCOURSE X.

The Incense-Altar.

And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon.-Ex.

XV

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163

189

216

The Laver.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thou shalt also
make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash
withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of
the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water
therein for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and
their feet thereat.-Ex. xxx. 17-19.

DISCOURSE XII.

The Anointing Oil.

Moreover, the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou
also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred
shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two
hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hun-
dred and fifty shekels, and of cassia five hundred shekels,
after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil-olive an hin:
and thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment
compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an
holy anointing oil.-Ex. xxx. 22-25.

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265