The entrances and vestibules of the new temple were planned on a magnificent scale. The mind of the worshipper would be naturally impressed both with the greatness of the Proprietor and with the transcendent importance of the use to which it was devoted. But by what methods will the Sovereign Majesty of heaven be approached? More and more this question oppresses a reflecting man. As he gains the central courts of the temple the answer is clear. Sin is the great separator between man and his Maker. Reconciliation can only be effected by sacrifice. At the altar of burnt offering God will meet with penitent men, and confer on them his mercy. "Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin."

I. SACRIFICE IS THE TRYSTING-PLACE BETWEEN MAN AND GOD. "The altar was before the house." From the first days of man's fall the mercy of God allowed access for man to the presence of his Maker; yet access not free and unrestrained, as in the pristine state of innocence. Access to God's favor could now be found only at the altar of sacrifice. Hence Cain's suit failed because he brought only the fruits of the ground. Abel was accepted because his faith was loyal to the Divine command, and because he felt the evil of sin. Such sacrifice of animal life could be in no respect proper compensation for moral rebellion against God. Yet it was to man a revelation that God would accept substitution, and it served as a matter-of-fact prophecy, that in due time God would provide an efficacious sacrifice. It was as much for man's welfare as for the maintenance of Divine rule, that God would henceforth meet his fallen creature, and give heed to his prayer, only at the sacrificial altar.

II. SACRIFICE SERVES MANY AND VITAL PURPOSES IN MAN'S SALVATION. In the temple sacrifices were of various kinds, and were presented with great variety of ceremony. There was the sin offering, the trespass offering, the wave offering, etc. These were designed to meet the several wants of men. They expressed gratitude for benefit received; submission to the will of God; confession of past sin; acknowledgment that our sin deserved death; acquiescence in God's plan for forgiveness; a new act of covenant with God; complete devotion of self to the service of Jehovah. The future, as well as the past, was considered. The minds of men must be fitly impressed with the terrific evil of sin and with the excellence that comes out of self-sacrifice. God's stupendous gift wakens our profoundest love. We aspire to act as he acts, and so rise into the better life. Condescension is the road to eminence.

III. SACRIFICE DEMANDS A VARIETY OF HUMAN SERVICE. There were porters to keep the gates and to prevent base intruders. There were men to slay the animals, and men to wash the flesh. There were men in charge of the building, and men in charge of the altar. Some kinds of service were repulsive to the senses; some kinds were joyous and exhilarating. In God's temple there is some service which every loyal subject of Jehovah can render. The least endowed may perform some useful mission. As in nature every dewdrop has its effect, and the tiniest insect performs a useful task, so it is also in the kingdom of grace. The tears of the babe Moses changed the fortunes of the world. The child Samuel was teacher to the high' priest of Israel. A lad in the crowd possessed the barley loaves which served as the foundation of the Savior's miracle. Provision was made in the temple for great variety of servants. The service of God is not arduous. "They also serve who only stand and wait."

IV. SACRIFICE SHOULD BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SERVICE OF SONG. "Without the inner gate were the chambers of the singers." Sacrifice may commence with sorrow; it also ends with joy. "Blessed are they that mourn" here; "they shall be comforted." Music well befits temple-worship. Here, if anywhere, the souls of men should go forth in swelling tides of gladness. Before Jesus and his companions went to Gethsemane they sang a hymn. In the inner dungeon at midnight, with feet bound in the stocks, Paul and Silas sang to God their praise. If joy thrills afresh the hearts of angels when one sinner on earth repents, it is meet that joy should also fill God's temple on earth. - D.

I. THE PURPOSE OF GOD TO STAIN THE PRIDE OF THE GLORY OF ALL FLESH. We may gather some instruction upon this from the 4th chapter of Daniel. The testimony that Nebuchadnezzar himself bore at the last, seems to me to be very expressive, and may be, as it were, put into the mouth of everyone that God has humbled. It is truth that we all do need humbling by the power of God. Happy man you will be if you are brought to nothing. It is one of the hardest things in the world to be nothing — to be nothing but a sinner; not a good thought, not a good word, not a good work, not a single grain or atom of goodness, but a thing of nought altogether. Now God has purposed this; He has purposed to stain the pride of the glory of all flesh; and He has purposed to do so first in mercy, and then He will do so in wrath; that is, those that He does not deal so with in their lifetime as to humble them down that they may receive His truth, He will deal with in wrath at that last great, that tremendous day. Every man's natural spirit is a spirit of ignorance, a spirit of unbelief, a spirit of enmity against God. Wherever true conviction enters, the soul is divided from the spirit of ignorance, and the soul comes into the knowledge of its own condition; the soul is divided from the spirit of unbelief, and comes into the faith of the Gospel; the soul of the man, his immortal soul, is divided from the native enmity of the spirit; for the natural spirit that is in us lusteth to envy, desireth to envy; it is the very desire of it, the very essence of it. Now when God begins His work it severs the soul from this spirit.

II. THE PURPOSE OF THE LORD IN BRINGING HIS PEOPLE TO RECEIVE THE TRUTH. If the Lord has thus brought you down far enough, then I will name now the truths that you will be glad to receive. The man that is from his own experience prepared to receive that testimony certainly is not far from the kingdom of God; the man that is prepared from his heart and soul to receive that testimony in the understanding of it, in the love of it, and to abide thereby — there never was one so poor in spirit, there never was one so humbled, there never was one so led, and at the same time lost. If we are really brought down and know our nothingness, our hearts are prepared to receive the testimony in the 1st chapter of Second Timothy. The apostle knew the tendency; he knew that Timothy would get no worldly honour; he knew it would make Timothy rather what they call narrow-minded; he knew it would be offensive to many professors, but he says, "Be not thou ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, His prisoner," as I am a prisoner for that testimony. Now comes what the testimony is. "Who hath saved us" — that is the first thing He did. Believest thou this? Art thou brought down low enough to trace up thy salvation to this Divines this pure and heavenly source? "And called us with an holy calling not according to our works" — no — "but according to His own purpose and grace," etc. There is a clear epitome of the Gospel itself. Doth this offend you, or doth it please you? Are you sorry such testimonies are on record? or can you set your seal to it, that unless you are saved after that Divine order you never can be saved at all? Then, if so, I may apply to you the words here, which the Lord spake to Ezekiel, — "Son of man, behold with thine eyes." So I say to you, — Behold with your eyes; see after what a Divine, see after what a righteous, what a lovely, what a gracious, what a merciful, what a glorious way God hath saved thee. "And hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew them unto thee art thou brought hither." So, poor sinner, you may set your heart upon these truths, and you will never have to take it away again.

III. THE SPECIAL PURPOSE OF BRINGING EZEKIEL TO WHERE HE WAS BROUGHT, AS MEANT IN OUR TEXT. Ezekiel was brought to the river of God. First, its source — it came from under the threshold, just the same as we read in the last chapter of the Revelation of a river proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb. That river I take to represent the Gospel in the life and blessedness thereof. That is one thing, then — its source. The second is its increase — it went on increasing. And just so the Gospel, in direct contrast, as we sometimes say to this life. For soma of us are getting into the shades a Lit; and this is narrowing and that is .narrowing, and the time is drawing nigh when we shall say we have no pleasure in this life. But, then, there is pleasure there — the river of God's pleasure — and those who drink of that river, "they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing"! Bless the Lord for this. And then mark also the power of this river. There is a lake on the southeastern side of Judea, about forty-five miles long, and from perhaps twelve to fifteen wide; that lake has nothing in it in a way of life. Nothing can live in it; it is so bituminous, so nauseous, and so deadly, that nothing can live in it. Now this river was to turn this lake into a fresh-water lake; for the river was to come down into this Dead Sea, and the waters were to be healed. You can see what that means, can you not? that the souls of men are in a state of death and bitterness. And this water of the Dead Sea, all travellers tell us, is nasty to the last degree to drink; you could hardly be put to a greater punishment than to be obliged to drink half a pint of it; you would not forget it for a twelvemonth. And just so the mind — the soul. Ah, could we see ourselves as God sees us, could we see sin as He sees it, we should indeed stand aghast; for "the heart is," even beyond angelic comprehension, "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Yet these waters were to heal this Dead Sea, turn it into a fresh-water lake. Just so the Gospel comes, destroys the bitterness, destroys all that is unpleasant, and turns the soul into that that is pleasant, to holiness, to righteousness, as pleasant to God as it was before unpleasant. There is another view of the river that I may just name, and that is that on its banks were trees whose leaves faded not, and that brought forth new fruit "according to their months." Let these trees all of them represent Jesus Christ, and let their leaves that never fade represent His promises; and let the fruits that are perennial and immortal represent the blessings that come to us by those promises.

(J. Wells.)