abolished; the knowledge, the experience, and the enjoyment of the living and true God are opened up to the whole world; and Jew and Gentile, being believers, are one in Christ (Eph. ii. 14). Hence the promise that "all nations shall serve him" (Ps. lxxii. 11), and hence too the command, "Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling" (Ps. ii. 11). "For the grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world" (Titus ii. 11, 12). Such are "the sons of the stranger" that are the LORD's servants. Nay more,

"Every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant." Such are two additional characteristics that the LORD now gives in relation to "the sons of the stranger," just as they had already been given in reference to "the eunuchs" (ver. 4). In the language of the apostle Peter, in the presence of Cornelius, the Roman centurion: "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh

righteousness, is accepted with him" (Acts x. 34, 35). With such characteristics, therefore, as those that we have just been considering, the LORD promises, in regard to "the sons of the stranger,"

"Even them will I bring to my holy mountain."

There is no exclusion here; even Gentiles that "take hold of the covenant" are received as Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile (John i. 47). The tabernacle was placed on Mount Zion, the temple was built on Mount Moriah; the expression "my holy mountain" is therefore, by a figure of speech, applied to the spiritual church of the true God. So our prophet Isaiah speaks, in his second chapter: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it" (Isa. ii. 2). Such is the universal church into which the LORD now promises that he will bring the Gentiles. See, therefore, ye "sons of the stranger," that ye join yourselves to the LORD by being savingly united to Christ; see that ye minister to him spiritually in your closets, in

your houses, and in the sanctuary; see that ye love his name in all his gracious and wonderful manifestations; see that ye are the servants of God, the freedmen of God in Christ Jesus, worshipping God, who is a Spirit, in spirit and in truth; see that ye keep his sabbaths from polluting them; and, in one word, that ye hold fast his covenant; and then all the blessings of the everlasting covenant shall be yours. You are "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ" (Rom. viii. 17). "Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes "-ye who formerly"were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ" (Eph. ii. 11-13). Amen.

XXI.

THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE SPIRITUAL WORSHIP OF THE GENTILES IN THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL.

"Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burntofferings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people."—Isa. LvI. 7.

DURING the time of the tabernacle and of the temple, the Jewish service must have been possessed of a grandeur and a magnificence of which it is now difficult to form an adequate conception. A typical institution of Divine appointment, it shadowed forth, in a remarkable manner, the higher glory that was still to be revealed. The garments of the Levites and the priests were stately and imposing; the altar of burnt-offering, the laver, the table of shew-bread, the altar of incense, the golden candlestick, the veil of the holy of holies, the sweet incense of rarest com

pounds, the ark of the testimony, and the cherubim, were all made, as to quantity and material, according to the pattern or express behest of Heaven. The three grand festivals of the Passover, the Pentecost, and the Tabernacles, when all the males fit to travel were to appear before the LORD in the Holy City, and along with these the many other seasons of solemnity, must have given to the Hebrew ritual an air of solemn majesty and grace, whilst the morning and evening sacrifice rose up continually, mingled with the prayers of the people, to the God of all living. Besides, the existence of no less than four thousand musicians, with harps, and psalteries, and cymbals, to praise the LORD (1 Chron. xxiii. 5; xxv. 1), divided into twenty-four courses, and presided over by two hundred four score and eight masters of song (ch. xxv. 7-31), must have stirred up the devotion of the ancient Israelites to highest heights of sacred ecstasy. No wonder that the proud Babylonian asked the captive Jews to sing a song of Zion (Ps. cxxxvii. 3), and no wonder that the Jews, whether in Canaan or in captivity, should shrink from making common