"widow of Zarephath." It shall be with us as with her, "the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruize of oil fail." (1 Kings xvii. 14.) He will give us our "daily bread." Next, our food shall be blessed to us. It is "sanctified by the word of God and prayer." It shall nourish us as long as God wills our bodies to be the tabernacles of our souls. Sickness shall not visit us, save when God permits it as the gentle rod of correction by which the body is brought low that the soul may be exalted, the appetites for this world's dainties made to give way and make room for the appetite for heavenly food. God will be with us and "strengthen us on the bed of languishing, and will make all our bed in our sickness." (Psalm xli. 3.)

So shall the man be blessed that hearkens to the voice of God as He speaks by the "angel of His covenant" and the voice of the Holy Spirit in the Word. It was so with Israel. They that provoked the angel,-believed not, -and obeyed not," their carcases fell in the wilderness." They that obeyed were safely brought through all the terrors of the wilderness, safely delivered from all the enemies in the land, and securely and happily planted in Canaan. There "remaineth now a rest for the people of God." "As many as are led by the

Spirit they are the sons of God," and this is their promise and comforting word,-"Behold I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared."

PRAYER.

O LORD God! I pray thee to look in mercy on me at this time, and grant me to enter into the fulness of Thy most gracious promises. Let it be with me as with Thine ancient believing people. Let the angel of Thy presence go before me and bring me into the land Thou hast prepared. May I hear the voice of Jesus in the Word! May I feel the Holy Spirit in my heart! May Thine everlasting arms uphold and lead me. Forbid it, Lord, that I should grieve this holy Messenger of Thine. May I listen eagerly to catch every accent of His voice, that I may know Thy will. May I go where Thou callest, do what Thou sayest, and suffer what Thou layest upon me. May Thy grace go before and Thy blessings follow after everything I undertake and carry out. Bless my bread and my water. Take away sickness from me and my family; or at the least, cause all things that happen to work together for good, and fall out to the furtherance of my salvation: for Christ's sake. AMEN.

OFFERINGS FOR THE

TABERNACLE.

"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 stories, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate.

"And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.

"According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it." EXODUS xxv. 1-9.

THE law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. And a sad mistake it is to set aside these portions of the Old Testament, as if they could teach us nothing that concerned us.

T

Even in the giving of the law, which "cannot give life," and in the structure of the tabernacle, we may see much Gospel truth, and learn much of our need of Christ, and His all-sufficiency as a Saviour.

In this, and several chapters in the book of Exodus, we have very particular descriptions of the structure and the furniture of the tabernacle, which Moses at this time was ordered to make. We cannot dwell on all these particulars, but we may mark some of the most striking and obvious ones, and gather instruction from them.

Before we speak of the rules concerning the tabernacle, let us notice some points in the grand and awful appearance of God upon the mount from which Moses received the law, and on which he and the elders of Israel saw the glory of the God of Israel.

We read, "Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in clearness." (chap. xxiv. 9, 10.)

It is said elsewhere, "No man hath seen God at any time." We must conclude that what these people saw was such a glorious ap

pearance of the presence of God, as left no doubt in their minds that God was there. They could not see God Himself, for "He dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see." (1 Tim. vi. 16.) Nor did God ever suffer these people to see any such appearance, and so be tempted to approach to idolatry. So it was said, "Take ye good heed nnto yourselves, for ye saw no manner of likeness on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image." (Deut. iv. 15.) And so we observe, there is no mention of any form, human or divine. But in this, as in other descriptions of the appearance of the glory of God, (see Ezekiel i,) we observe the things seen are described by those earthly things to which they bore most resemblance. "Under his feet was paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven for clearness."

But now let us mark in this approach unto God, how man was reminded of his sinfulness and need of that atonement, which is now made known to us in the work of Christ.

First, Moses builds an "altar under the hills," and then "sent young men of the children of Israel which offered burnt offer