n the New Testament the seven lamps of
the Apocalypse were still of gold. But the true function of a lamp is to
be luminous, and for this the Church depends wholly upon its supply of
grace from God the Holy Ghost. It is "not by might, nor by power, but by
My Spirit, saith the Lord."

Again, in the Revelation, we find the New Testament Churches described
as lamps, among which their Lord habitually walks. And no sooner have
the seven churches on earth been warned and cheered, than we are shown
before the throne of God seven torches (burning by their own
incandescence--_vide_ Trench, _N. T. Synonyms_, p. 162), which are the
seven spirits of God, answering to His seven light-bearers upon the
earth (Rev. iv. 5).

Lastly, the perfect and mystic number, seven, declares that the light of
the Church, shining in a dark place, ought to be full and clear, no
imperfect presentation of the truth: "they shall light the lamps, to
give light over against it."

Because this lamp shines with the light of the Church, exhibiting the
graces of her Lord, therefore a special command is addressed to the
people, besides the call for contributions to the work in general, that
they shall bring pure olive oil, not obtained by heat and pressure, but
simply beaten, and therefore of the best quality, to feed its flame.

It is to burn, as the Church ought to shine in all darkness of the
conscience or the heart of man, from evening to morning for ever. And
the care of the ministers of God is to be the continual tending of this
blessed and sacred flame.

_THE PATTERN IN THE MOUNT._

xxv. 9, 40.

Twice over (vers. 9, 40, and cf. xxvi. 30, xxvii. 8, etc.) Moses was
reminded to be careful to make all things after the pattern shown him in
the mount. And these words have sometimes been so strained as to convey
the meaning that there really exists in heaven a tabernacle and its
furniture, the grand original from which the Mosaic copy was derived.

That is plainly not what the Epistle to the Hebrews understands (Heb.
viii. 5). For it urges this admonition as a proof that the old
dispensation was a shadow of ours, in which Christ enters into heaven
itself, and our consciences are cleansed from dead works to serve the
living God. The citation is bound indissolubly with all the
demonstration which follows it.

We are not, then, to think of a heavenly tabernacle, exhibited to the
material senses of Moses, with which all the details of his own work
mus