they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground, upon the pavement, and worshipped and praised the Lord; repeating again and again, “ For he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever."

Seven days did Solomon and all the congregation keep a solemn feast before the Lord, called the feast of dedication, because it was to celebrate the setting apart of the temple to the worship of God. After this he sent the people away unto their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the Lord had shown unto David and to all Israel.

E. Mamma, I wish very much to ask you one thing before you go on. Was the ark that was put in the temple the same ark that had been taken by the Philistines ?

M. Yes, my love; it was the same ark that had been in the tabernacle ; although it does not appear to have had quite the same things in it as it had then. You remember that Moses had put in it, the golden pot full of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, besides the tables of the law ; but the Bible tells us, that, when the Levites brought the ark to the temple, “ there was nothing in it save the two tables of stone which Moses put therein at Horeb.” We must therefore suppose that the other precious articles were placed probably with the ark in the holy of holies, but not in it as before.

E. What do you mean, mamma, by Aaron's rod that budded? I do not remember any thing about that.

M. I ought, perhaps, to have explained this to you, my love, in talking to you about the tabernacle, when it was first built at Mount Horeb; but you were

a little boy then, and I was afraid of talking to you about too many hard things. But now you are older, and besides have been used now for a long time both to read he Bible, and to have it explained to you; and you can therefore bear fuller accounts of every thing than you could when you first began, when the Bible was new and rather difficult to you. I will therefore tell you now what is meant by Aaron's rod that budded.

Soon after the spies had brought the children of Israel an evil report of the land of Canaan, and God had sent them back to wander again in the wilderness, a rebellion arose in the camp against Moses and Aaron. At the head of this rebellion were three men called Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. They gathered themselves together with many of the chief of the Israelites, and accused Moses and Aaron of taking too much upon them, and of setting themselves up above the rest of the people : whereas, in their own opinion, all were equally holy: and they could see no reason why Aaron was to be high-priest, more than any of the others; forgetting that Aaron had not set himself up over them, but that God had chosen him to govern and direct them in holy things; for no one should presume to take such honour upon himself, without being called of God, as Aaron was.

This unholy, rebellious conduct, was very displeasing to God; and as a punishment he sent a plague among the people, which destroyed fourteen thousand of them.

But this was not all. God saw fit even to work a miracle, to show the people that his servant Aaron

had been chosen by him to minister in holy things. I will tell you how this was.

You remember hearing of the rod or staff, with which Moses and Aaron had been allowed to do so many wonderful things. Well, God desired that all the princes of Israel, even one for each of the tribes, should give a rod unto Moses, to be laid up with Aaron's rod in the tabernacle.“ And God spake unto Moses, saying, It shall come to pass that the man's rod whom I shall choose shall blossom. And Moses laid up the rods in the tabernacle, before the Lord. And it came to pass, that on the morrow the rod of Aaron was budded and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.”

E. Oh! now I understand what you mean by Aaron's rod that budded. Had it been cut from the almond-tree, mamma?

M. Yes, my love; it had been made of the wood of the almond-tree, but had long ceased to have any life in it, being nothing but a dry and withered stick. This miracle was, of course, enough to convince the Israelites, that Aaron was really chosen for their priest, and set over them in holy things by God himself: and, that it might never be forgotten, Moses was commanded to lay up this rod in the tabernacle. But we have wandered a long way from the temple ; let us make haste back to it.

You had heard how Solomon had sent away all his people with joyful hearts to their homes. I must now tell you how, on that very night, the Lord appeared unto Solomon, telling him that he had heard his prayer, and had chosen this place to himself for an house of sacrifice; and promising that his eyes

should be open, and his ears attentive, to all the prayers that were made in that place. And that at any time, when his people should have been so unhappy as to sin against him, if they went there and humbled themselves before him, and should pray and seek his face, that then he would hear from heaven, and forgive their sin, and remove from them any punishment he might have brought upon them. But God also told Solomon that if he and his people should forsake him, and disobey his commandments, and go after other gods and serve them, that then this house, lofty and beautiful as it was, should no longer be pleasing in his sight. But he would take away his presence from it, and make it a proverb and a by-word among all nations : by which God meant, that the manner in which this temple should be destroyed should be so remarkable, that it should be quite a story among the nations; the astonishment of all who went by, who, when they saw, what was once the glory of the earth, now only a miserable ruin, should exclaim, “ Why hath the Lord done thus unto this people and unto this house?” Such was to be the question that was to be asked about it, and the answer would be a sad one. “Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers; therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.”

E. Ah ! but I hope they never lost that temple by their sins. I should not like to read of that, mamma. I wish we had such glorious temples as the Jews had to worship God in. I think I should have liked to have been a Jew; for our churches are not as beautiful as the temple was.

M. Ah! my love ; you speak as a child, and know

not what you say. It is far better to be a Christian; for we, as well as they, belong to the Church of God, which is his true living temple, in which he dwells by his Spirit, and which is far more rich in heavenly blessings, and more glorious in reality, than it ever was in ancient times. The greatest boast of Solomon's temple, was the glory of the Lord which dwelt in it; the Christian Church, to which we belong, has been honoured, you know, by the actual presence of God.

E. Yes; you mean, I think, when our Lord Jesus Christ came down to our world.

M. You are right, my love; the presence of God was in our Church, when he took upon him our nature, and dwelt among us in the person of Jesus Christ; and though Christ is now gone back to heaven, God is still with us by his Holy Spirit in a far greater degree than he ever was among the Jews.

In short the temple was but a type, that is, a figure or picture, of what the Church of Christ was to be. Whatever things truly valuable there were in the temple, we shall find them of a much higher kind in the Church. We have not indeed so rich and glorious a building to worship in: but we have our churches; and if in them, or even in our chambers, we worship the Father Almighty, in spirit and in truth, our prayers and praises will be full as pleasing to God, as if they were offered up in the most magnificent temple.

We have not the paschal lamb and the different sacrifices which were offered up before the Jewish temple, but we have a far better sacrifice than these that to which the paschal lamb and all the rest

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