stood out broadly before his mind. One was the
bringing in of incense: "Thou shalt bring a censer full of burning coals
of fire from before the altar, that the cloud of the incense may cover
the mercy-seat" (Lev. xvi. 13). Now, the connection between prayer and
incense was quite familiar to the Jew; and he could not but understand
that the blessing of atonement was to be sought and won by intense and
burning supplication. And the other was that invariable demand, the
offering of a victim's blood. All the sacrifices of Judaism culminated
in the great act when the high priest, standing in the most holy and the
most occult spot in all the world, sprinkled "blood upon the mercy-seat
eastwards, and before the mercy-seat sprinkled of the blood with his
finger seven times" (Lev. xvi. 14).

Thus the crowning height of the Jewish ritual was attained when the
blood of the great national sacrifice was offered not only before God,
but, with special reference to the covering up of the broken and
accusing law, before the mercy-seat.

No wonder that on either side of it, and moulded of the same mass of
metal, were the cherubim in an attitude of adoration, their outspread
wings covering it, their faces bent, not only as bowing in reverence
before the Divine presence, but, as we expressly read, "toward the
mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubim be." For the meaning of this
great symbol was among the things which "the angels desire to look
into."

We now understand how much was gained when God said "There will I meet
thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat" (ver. 22).
It was an assurance, not only of the love which desires obedience, but
of the mercy which passes over failure.[39]

Thus far, there has been symbolised the mind of God, His righteousness
and His grace.

The next articles have to do with man, his homage to God and his witness
for Him.

There is first the table of the shewbread (vers. 23-30), overlaid with
pure gold, surrounded, like the ark, with "a crown" or moulding of gold,
for ornament and the greater security of the loaves, and strengthened by
a border of pure gold carried around the base, which was also ornamented
with a crown, or moulding. Close to this border were rings for staves,
like those by which the ark was borne. The table was furnished with
dishes upon which, every Sabbath day, new shewbread might be conveyed
into the tabernacle, and the old might be removed for the priests to