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cause he wrestled and prevailed with God. Gen. xxxii. 28. Isa. ix. 6.—As the Messenger in John, (Baptist). Mark, i. 2. Mal. iii. 1.-In Abraham's Servant our Lord may be slightly traced as Servant: Our LORD "who is over all, and in all, God blessed for ever." Gen. xxiv. Mat. x. 25. Phil. ii. 7.

DROPS OF BLOOD.

Luke, xxii. 44.

“AND being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

This passage has been often quoted as if Christ had sweat drops of blood, which neither the words, or meaning warrant. It is said, "as it were," an expression now in common use when we design to speak in stronger terms than usual. Isa. v. 18 will illustrate this :-" Woe UNTO them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart-rope." Surely no man would think a cart-rope was actually used for the purpose of sin!-but in EITHER FLACE is to be understood an extreme case :-in our Saviour such agony of suffering as no words can express; and in the sinner such determined delinquency that he will sin though cords of death should be the consequence.

48 AHAZ AND HEZEKIAH.—THE BRAZEN SERPENT.

AHAZ AND HEZEKIAH.

Isa. vii. 11, 12; xxxviii. 22.

AHAZ refused to ask a sign of the Lord, it was sin in him; his son Hezekiah asked a sign, it was a snare unto him: in Ahaz it was hypocrisy he did not wish to hear of Jesus;-in Hezekiah it was unbelief, he could not trust, he wanted evidence: both suffered, the one by rejection of The Truth, and the other in his request being granted. 2.Chro. xxxii. 24-31.

THE BRAZEN SERPENT.

Num. xxi. 8, 9; 2 Kings, xviii. 4.

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THERE is an awful grandeur in "the Serpent of Brass coupled with mystery that it should be the means of giving life to the beholder. It will admit of the following interpretation that "God may give to his (children) an answer of peace."

As gold typifies Jesus, so does brass represent sinful man and when man discovers his sinfulness, or the brazen serpent, which in type he is commanded to behold, his soul knows no rest until he believes in him who was "lifted up," that "whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life;" and thus is fulfilled the Baptist's first preaching-" Repent ye," &c. or behold the brazen serpent, or sin destroying your

souls, and turn, or "repent ye, for the kingdom of God is at hand." All the invitations of the Gospel are in effect, "Behold the serpent of brass!" And then no longer can that soul live without the precious Saviour Jesus Christ!

Hezekiah destroyed the brazen serpent, calling it "Nehushtan," which signifies "a trifle of brass ;" and such is the state of sinful man before the LORD of Glory: he must break in pieces his own works-bring them to nought. "I am the LORD, that is my name : and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." Hezekiah "trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him." See Isa. lx. 17; Jer. vi. 28–30; John, iii. 14.

"It has been said, "If the sun shine on brass, and those diseased in the brain look thereon, it will drive them to madness;" so will sin without Christ.-Ask for the Holy Spirit.

THE TWELVE GATES.

Rev. xxi. 12, 21.

THERE are twelve Gates to enter "The Holy City;"Who knows at which gate he shall enter?

"The twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl"-"the Pearl of great price," Jesus. Mat. xiii. 45, 6.

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It is evident our Lord sprang out of Judah, (Heb. vii. 14,) and Judah means Praise. Gen. xxix. 35.-"Thou shalt call thy gates praise." Isa. lx. 18. By searching the word, we find the twelve Gates have One Name-Praise-therefore it will be by the Gate of PRAISE, every believer enters the City, "New Jerusalem," ""whose gates shall not be shut at all.” “Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD."

THE SKELETON OF SOLOMON'S

TEMPLE.

1 Kings. v.

17. "AND the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house.

18. And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did hew them, and the stone-squarers: so they prepared timber and stones to build the house."

1 Kings, vi.

1. "And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.

2. And the house which king Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the

breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits.

3. And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house.

4. And for the house he made windows of narrow lights.

5. And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about:

6. The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, ¡and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.

7. And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.

8. The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third.

9. So he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar.

10. And then he built chambers against all the house,

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