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pointed; even the death of Christ, who offered himself without spot to God, that, by his precious blood, he might cleanse our guilty hearts from sin.

We have not, as we enter our churches, the splendid brazen sea, in which to wash our bodies; but when we are first admitted into this congregation of Christ's flock, we are baptized in his name, for the cleansing of the soul through the remission of our sins. We have not the golden candlestick, fed with the choicest oils, which shed its light through the holy place; but I will tell you what we have in its stead, -the glorious light of God's word, given by inspiration of his Holy Spirit, that anointing from on high, to enlighten the church, represented in the outer part of the temple.

Then we have not the golden altar, from which the fragrant incense went up before God continually; but if we pray with real devotion, that shall be more acceptable incense, ascending to God from the living altar of the heart.

We have not the table of shew-bread, standing ever in the temple, from which the servants of God were fed; but we have the table of our dying Lord, with its spiritual food, for the continual support of our souls.

We have not the holy of holies, into which the highpriest entered once a year, to atone for the sins of the people; but then we have what is far better, even heaven itself, into which our blessed High-Priest, the Son of God, has entered, to plead before God continually the atonement for our sins, which he offered once for all upon the cross. Then we have not the splendid vail, which divided the holy place from the rest of the

temple; but we have the spotless human nature which our Lord took upon him, that is to say, the vail of his flesh, the covering with which he hid his real glory from the eyes of men, free at all times from the least spot of sin, and shining, as it did, on the Mount before Moses and Elijah, in all the splendour of perfect righteousness. This is the vail through which our High-Priest has entered into heaven, there to intercede for us with God for ever.

We have not the ark of the covenant with the tables of the law therein; but we have God's covenant of grace, containing the never failing truths and promises of the Gospel.

We have not the manna, which was placed in the ark when it was first put in the tabernacle : but in the Gospel of Christ there is the “ hidden manna,” the food of heaven promised to those faithful Christians who in this life overcome their sins.

Again, we have not Aaron's rod that budded after it had been dry and withered, by which he was proved to be the high-priest of God; but we have the resurrection of Christ, his life from the dead, which showed him to be made of God our High-Priest for ever. Nay, more; we have our own resurrection, not, indeed, come as yet, but hidden for us with Christ in heaven.

We have not the golden censer, from which the high-priest offered up the incense; but we have the mediation of Christ, by which our prayers and praises ascend acceptably unto God.

And although we have not the figures of the cherubims in the holy of holies, heaven is full of hosts of living angels, surrounding the throne of God,

adoring his mercy, which even they cannot fully understand, in the salyation of our fallen race. These things, it is true, are spiritual, and have no beauty to the eye of flesh; but they are far more glorious in reality, and far more precious, than the gold and purple, and rich adornings of the temple. What is the gold that overlaid the ark to the preciousness of the Gospel? Or the golden pot that held the manna to that blessing, beyond all price, of eternal life? Or the golden candlestick to the word of God, which is dearer to the Christian than thousands of gold and silver? Or what the golden censer to that greatest of all treasures, our Saviour's intercession for us in heaven?

So great, my child, are the blessings which we enjoy as Christians ! Let us take care, by God's grace, to be thankful for them, and strive in all things to live as Christians ought to live, ever mindful of that gracious Redeemer, to whose Church they belong, and to whom they owe so many advantages for the present, and such bright hopes for the future.

SIXTEENTH SUNDAY EVENING.

THE LATTER DAYS OF SOLOMON.

E. HAVE you any thing more to tell me about king Solomon, mamma?

M. Yes, my love ; I have not finished my account

of him yet. I dare say you would like to hear all that is written about him in the Bible.

In the first place, I must tell you that, as soon as he had finished the temple, he built a magnificent house for himself in Jerusalem, and another which he called the house of the forest of Lebanon, and another for his wife, the daughter of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. All these houses were equally beautiful, built with costly stones of every kind, and with cedar: for Hiram, king of Tyre, supplied him, to the very last, with cedar-trees, and with fir-trees, and even with gold, according to all his desire. And when these beautiful houses were finished, he built a wall round Jerusalem, and several fine cities, with walls, and gates, and bars. Amongst these was one called Tadmor in the wilderness, a famous city, known also by the name of Palmyra. It was situated in the wilderness of Syria, on the borders of Arabia. There still remain wonderful ruins of this city, which seem to say that it was once a place of great splendour and importance.

Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold; which, perhaps, means here, that he inlaid and ornamented it with gold; for ivory in those days was as precious as gold, and he was not likely to have covered over so rich and beautiful a material with any thing else, not even with gold. There were steps to this throne with a footstool of gold, and there were lions on each side of the throne on the six steps. And all the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold; and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of

pure gold; he made also two hundred targets, and three hundred shields of beaten gold, and put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon : for gold was thought nothing of in the time of king Solomon.

E. Mamma, where did he get such quantities of beautiful ivory, and gold, and other precious things? Did king Hiram give them to him ?

M. King Hiram, as we have heard, gave him some of the gold, but by no means all of it. A great deal seems to have been brought from Ophir ; for the trade, which David had begun there, was carried on greatly, and much improved, in Solomon's time : for he had more leisure for such pursuits than his father had, having no wars to disturb and occupy him; and we read that, under his management, the trade which his father began, grew to such a pitch, that he drew to his own sea-ports all the trade of Africa, Arabia, Persia, and India. That is, all the ships of those countries, loaded with their different and valuable merchandize, went at that time to the harbours of - king Solomon to dispose of their goods, finding, I suppose, in him a better purchaser than they could have met with any where else. We read also, that his ships sailed from Eloth, and brought gold from Ophir, and great plenty of almug-trees, and precious stones. There were no such almug-trees seen before or since in the kingdom of Judah ; many harps and musical instruments were made from these beautiful trees.

King Solomon had a number of ships employed in this manner, manned with seamen which king Hiram sent him; for though Tyre and Sidon were on the shores of the Mediterranean, yet the Phænicians, to

VOL. 11.

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