ii. THE ONENESS OF THE TABERNACLE. 3I 



The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in remark- 

 able words, whose full meaning we are not able to 

 gauge, says, " that they without us should not be made 

 perfect." They are indeed made perfect in holiness and 

 in Divine rest, but there is a perfection still before them. 

 They form a great cloud of witnesses, watching with 

 keen and unflagging interest the fortunes of the Church 

 on earth ; and just as that which is behind in the suffer- 

 ings of Christ will not be filled up until He Himself has 

 wiped away all tears from the eyes of His people, so the 

 perfection of the saints will not be complete till the 

 whole Church has entered into everlasting bliss. 



4. The tabernacle was the Bible of the Israelites. 

 God taught them by its object-lessons in their child- 

 hood and pupilage in the wilderness. But that age 

 of shadows and symbols has disappeared ; man has 

 passed from the childhood's stage of education into 

 the higher school. We have been trained for a clearer 

 perception and a fuller possession of the truth. God 

 has given to us His own written Word, in which His 

 thoughts are woven with man's thoughts, making of 

 the whole Book the speech to the world of Immanuel, 

 God with us. Its record extends over a period of 

 more than four thousand years. It was written by men 

 belonging to different ages and civilizations, possessed 

 of the most varied temperaments and tastes, and 

 living in widely different ranks and circumstances. It 

 contains almost all the forms of human composition, 

 is characterized by the utmost variety of subject and 

 treatment, and is adapted to all kinds of experiences. 



