wallah; it is all His work and His appointment. We serve the Lord Christ. (Col. iii. 24.) This was the language of Paul: "Whose I am, and whom I serve" (Acts xxvii. 23), and whether it were to preach on Mars' hill or by the river side, to the learned or the ignorant, in the assembly of the saints or in the midst of the opposers, to the Jews in their synagogues or to the barbarians on the shores of Melita, by night or by day, afloat or ashore, he displayed the spirit of our watchword, and when all forsook him he could rejoice and say, "Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear." (2 Tim. iv. 17.)

May it be so with us, and when the flesh is ready to faint, may the spirit rally to the mottoNIMMUKWALLAH.

NOTES ON SCRIPTURE.

MATTHEW XXI.

VERSES 23-27. In these verses the chief priests and elders asked our Lord by what authority He did "these things," and who gave Him that authority. By these things' they may have referred here more especially to His casting out from the temple the money changers and those who sold doves, but not to exclude His general instruction; for, as we read, it was as he was teaching" in the temple that they asked Him the question. And we know that His healing on the sabbath and His teaching generally ran counter to the doctrine and ways of the rulers in Israel.

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The reply of our Lord is remarkable.

"The

baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven or of men?" If they would answer this question, He would tell them by what authority He acted.

They discussed the Lord's question among themselves, and thought it the best policy to say they did not know. And the Lord refused to answer their question.

We think the Lord was here shewing the people -for it was in the presence of the people-that their accredited guides were not to be trusted. There had been one among them whom all the people held to be a prophet, but on whom these rulers would not give a judgment. It was their duty, if John had been an impostor, to have warned the people against him, and the more so if the people believed he was a true prophet of God and he was not one. And, of course, if they had judged John to have been 'from heaven,' they should have received him themselves. If the chief priests could not determine who were from heaven or not, they were no better than the common people.

The effect that such a line of dealing with the rulers might have in opening the eyes of the people, may be seen in the instance of the man born blind. He said, "Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes." (John ix. 30.) So here, in the case of John the Baptist, the rulers declared that they could not tell whence he was. Such rulers were not to be trusted.

Verses 28-32. This is intimately connected with the above, and helps to explain it. Our Lord relates the parable of the two sons who were told to go and work in their father's vineyard. The one said, "I will not;" but afterwards repented

and went. The other said, "I go, sir," but went not. There could be but one answer as to which of these did the will of his father-the first.

We have our Lord's own explanation: the rulers were those who professed to do the will of God but did it not; but the tax-gatherers and the harlots-who made no profession-said they would not go, but repented. John had come in the way of righteousness, and these had believed in him; but the rulers repented not nor believed in God's

sent one.

A useful application can be made of this parable inasmuch as so many are saying, "I go, sir," but who go not to Christ; whereas many of those who are practically saying 'I will not,' repent and are saved.

HINTS ON THE TABERNACLE AND ITS

SACRIFICES.

WE have already seen that the object God had in directing the Israelites to make a tabernacle was that He might dwell among them; but we also saw that He was hidden from them. Our next question therefore is, What was the aspect God thus hidden presented towards them?

At once the New Testament reflects great light upon the subject in hand. In the gospels we find that God was manifested to the people of Israel, and to the world at large, in the person of a MAN, the Lord Jesus Christ; as we read, "God was manifest in the flesh" (1 Tim. iii. 16); He "was made in the likeness of men." (Phil. ii. 7.)

The Lord Jesus, as a man, walked this earth. Every one that came near could look upon Him,

and could see a perfectly holy person in the midst of a godless world; but that person was a real man: He ate and drank and slept; He could be grieved and He could weep; He could be hungry and be fatigued.

Yet He was God: He could command the sea and the waves, and they would obey Him; He could heal all manner of diseases with a word, yea, He could raise the dead.

Now we turn back to the tabernacle and ask, How could such a one be typified? What material things could be chosen, and how could they be arranged, so that those who looked upon that tabernacle should have true ideas of Christ when He was prefigured in a building?

For instance, we should expect to find a very different material placed on the outside for the gaze of all, from that which was inside for the priests only to see; and so indeed we find it-there was gold on the inside, and badger-skin on the outside; but Christ was prefigured by both.

And so in the tabernacle we find Christ here and Christ there, and Christ in almost everything.

So also in the sacrifices. As Christ is the mediator between God and man; and as the tabernacle was the meeting-place between God and man, we may expect to find Christ in that which allowed the approach of a sinful man to a holy God.

And as the death of Christ vindicated the character of God in respect of sin, and made atonement for the sins of His people, so we may expect to find the various aspects of the death of Christ prefigured in the many and varied sacrifices. It was Christ no less in the scape-goat driven into the wilderness than in the burnt offering wholly consumed on the altar.

It is a mistake to attempt to find the atonement in every sacrifice and offering. "Without shedding of blood is no remission;" and in some of the offerings there is no blood-shedding. Each offering has its own particular aspect towards the life or death of Christ, and so to get a full Christ we need all the offerings, and, of course, wisdom from above to see of what each was a type.

In bringing such a subject before a class I should be guided by those who composed the class. If they are Christians, then everything may be considered; but if the class is composed of the unconverted, I should endeavour to select those sacrifices that would bear more upon their state and condition.

The building itself might be gone through in detail with all, but I think it desirable ever to keep in mind the necessity of preserving a deep line of demarkation, between the true Israelite and the nominal one; as in Romans ix. 6; "They are not all Israel which are of Israel;" as in our day there are the true worshippers and the nominal ones.

It is also important to enforce in this day of profession, that before the tabernacle was set up the people had been under the shelter of the blood, and had kept the passover in Egypt, and had been redeemed out of Egypt, and thus were in relationship with God and were worshippers. So all now must have faith in Christ as a sacrifice, and have their sins forgiven, before they can approach as worshippers. All are free to come to Christ as sinners; but "they that worship God, must worship him in spirit and in truth.”