The Shechinah

representing the object of worship.

best interpreters of the law, they will all tell you that the whole law as a ritual, that the principal parts of it, each in particular, are figures of the good things now come to us with Jesus the true Messiah. Hence such use and application of the ritual will not proceed from a vain spirit, turning all things into, type and allegory, but it is authorized by the same spirit of prophecy which gave the ritual, and formed it to this design and meaning. You have seen in the ritual itself, that it consisted of three principal parts, the Presence or Shechinah, the worship, offerings, and sacrifices before the Presence, and the consecration of the Hebrew church, and rites of purification as an holy people to Jehovah. In each of these you will observe an analogy and conformity, and yet an higher perfection and greater excellency in the Christian dispensation; a subject of great and useful instruction, very far from a subject deserving contempt and mockery.

To make this more evident, and, if it may be, to excite our care to make it more useful, let us consider each of these principal parts of the ritual in particular.

First, consider the most eminent part of the ritual, the divine presence in the Shechinah or glory, consider the description of it in the delineation of the ritual, and you will find it was a representation of Jehovah the true God, dwelling

among the children of Israel as their God, and blessing them as his people. This appearance of Jehovah in the most holy place, usually called the Shechinah, from the Hebrew word shacan, to dwell or inhabit, is so explained in the direction to build the sanctuary, Let them build me a Exod.xx. sanctuary, that I dwell may them. among Hence, also, the tabernacle itself is called mischan, or habitation.

Look over the moral instruction taught by this presence as the seat of Jehovah, the throne of the King of Israel, the kebla, the place to which the worship of the church was directed, the mercy-seat, the throne of grace, where Jehovah received and answered the prayers of his people; and finally, as the oracle which pronounced the imperial word, and gave forth those directions and commands which the church was to follow with a ready obedience. You will in this view of the Shechinah easily observe many things relating to the person, dignity, character, and design of the Messiah, and his appearance in the world, as a figurative or prophetical representation of his appearance in due time: but that here we may go on sure ground, let Prophets and Apostles lead the way.

The most general notion we have of this habitation, dwelling, tabernacling of the glory of God, in the most holy place, is to express an extraordinary, glorious, and

5.

gracious presence of God with his people; so that the Hebrew church might truly and properly say, God was with them, and in the midst of them; that he tabernacled and dwelt among them; that they saw and beheld his glory. Observe, now, how the Prophets understood this representation of the Presence, and how the Apostles taught it when the accomplishment of the promises had more fully explained it. The Prophet Isaiah seems evidently from this representation of the Shechinah, or glory of the Presence, to give the title of Immanuel to the future Messiah: Behold, a virvii. 14. gin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. This prophecy St. Matthew explains in express terms of Jesus as the Messiah: Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Isaiah,

Matt. i. 22, 23.

Isaiah, vi. 1, 2, 3.

The same Prophet gives you another very distinct description of the glory or presence of Jehovah: I saw the Lord (Jehovah) sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim; each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the

Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. Here you see this glory is expressly ascribed by an Apostle to the Messiah, and that it was also designed and meant to be applied to him: These things John, xii. said Esaias, when he saw his glory and 41. spake of him, saith St. John. The Prophets manifestly allude to this glory, or presence of Jehovah in the temple, when they speak of the appearance of the Messiah in the same, or in equivalent words, by which the ritual and the Prophets express the Presence. So the Prophet Haggai: I will shake all nations, and the Haggai, desire of all nations shall come, and I will xi. 7—9. fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts-The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts. When the desire of all nations should come, this glory was to appear in him, and in a manner yet more glorious than in the temple of old: therefore, saith St. John, when the Word was John, i, made flesh, and tabernacled (shechinised) 14. among us, we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Apostle to the Hebrews further explains this glory in very expressive words, as being the brightness Heb. i, 5; of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power.

This description represents the Messiah,

in the characters, as well as with the glory of the divine Presence in the sanctuary. From hence the Apostle teaches to infer a superior dignity, an higher authority in the Messiah: that he is highly exalted above all other beings, even the highest Heb. i. 4. order of the angels of God; being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. The angels in the sanetuary were, by the ritual, as attendants to the Presence, waiting as servants on the glory, ready to obey the command and fulfil the will of Jehovah: therefore, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. And very properly are all the angels styled ministering spirits, when the Son is represented as sat down on the throne.

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12, 13.

We have a like allusion to the ritual Zech. vi. of the Presence in another Prophet: Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saith Zechariah, in God's name; Behold the man whose name is the Branch, and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. The person designed by the man whose name is the Branch,