Holiness is an idea which admits of gradual precision and elevation. There is a very simple and primitive meaning of the term, which it would ill become us to despise and ridicule, inasmuch as it was preliminary and preparatory to a more spiritual conception. At the same time, we should do discredit to our Christian training did we not strive to rise to a higher and nobler conception of holiness than that which obtained among, and was sufficient for, a people in an early. stage of spiritual culture. In the temple at Jerusalem there was a holy place, and a holy of holies, or, in the language of Ezekiel, the most holy place. An effort may be made to reach and to explain the several ideas which together made up the peculiar sanctity of the adytum of the Jewish temple.

I. THE PRIMITIVE SIGNIFICATION OF HOLINESS IS SEPARATION, AND THE MOST HOLY PLACE WAS ONE MARKED OFF AND SET APART FROM ALL AROUND. A purpose was served by the distinction between the sacred and the profane - a distinction which may, in the highest stage of spiritual culture, be transcended. Men have to be taught by their senses; and the separation of a certain spot, a certain building, a certain portion of a building, from all around, contributes to the formation of the idea of sanctity. This might not be necessary in a world where no sin exists; but in this world, where sin has reigned, and where sin still so largely prevails, the evil has impressed itself on men's minds as normal, and the pure and Divine as exceptional. Hence the consecration of sites, and temples, oracles, and holy places.

II. THE MOST HOLY PLACE SERVED TO EDUCATE THE JEWISH PEOPLE IN MORALITY AND IN TRUE RELIGION. The whole ceremonial and sacrificial dispensation established by Moses, with all the observances of the Levitical Law, may justly be regarded as instructive and disciplinary, in the first place for Israel, and then for all mankind. Those who looked upon the temple and its sanctuary could not but be reminded that here was the peculiar dwelling-place of a holy God. The degrees of holiness attaching to the several parts of the sacred edifice, culminating in the sanctity of the most holy place, were fitted to elicit the spiritual apprehensions, the reverence, the devotion, the penitence, of those who felt themselves in the presence and under the training of the all-holy God. To a certain extent every Israelite not specially disqualified might draw near to Jehovah; the priests were suffered and required to approach still nearer to the shrine; but the high priest alone was permitted, and that only upon a special occasion, to enter the most holy place. Such arrangements and provisions were admirably adapted to educate the Jewish people in the idea and in the practice of holiness.

III. RECONCILIATION BETWEEN A SINFUL NATION AND A JUST AND PURE GOD WAS EFFECTED THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF THE MOST HOLY PLACE. In the holy of holies was performed the especially solemn and sacred service in which, upon the Day of Atonement, the high priest alone was suffered to take part as the representative of the people of the covenant. On that occasion the federal relation of Israel was conspicuously set forth. To the pious Jew the contents of the holy of holies, the vestments of the officiating high priest, the blood of atonement, must all have possessed a very special and very sacred interest. And that interest centered in the idea of reconciliation between Jehovah and the chosen nation - reconciliation rendered necessary by the sins of the people, and by the perfectly holy character, the perfectly righteous government, of God. Consecrated to this use, the inmost sanctuary was naturally invested with a sacredness altogether unique.

IV. THE MOST HOLY PLACE BECAME ASSOCIATED WITH COMMUNION BETWEEN ISRAEL AND ISRAEL'S GOD. Reconciliation naturally led to fellowship. The enlightened Jews doubtless took a spiritual view of the Divine presence, and sympathized with the sublime language of Solomon at the dedication of the temple: "Will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!" Still, it was by means of this temple, its priesthood and its services, that the Jewish nation generally were, by Divine appointment and intention, made familiar with the possibility and privilege of fellowship with the Eternal. It was inculcated upon them that such communion was only possible in virtue of the condescension and compassion of the Most High, and that there was needed on their part, in order to the enjoyment of the privilege, a peculiar preparation, a spiritual cleansing. The thoughtful and devout Jew learned, by means of the temple services, to form such an idea of God as led him to seek a spiritual discipline. He knew that the sacrifices in themselves were insufficient, and that the sacrifices required by the Searcher of hearts were spiritual, consisting in humility, penitence, faith, and obedience. Those thus prepared might draw near unto God, and God would draw near unto them.

V. THE MOST HOLY PLACE, AS THE SCENE OF HIGH PRIESTLY MEDIATION, SYMBOLIZES THE MEDIATORIAL WORK OF CHRIST. In order to understand the symbolical, and indeed typical, character of the holy of holies, and of the ministration therein performed by the Jewish high priest, it is important to study the ninth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. In that portion of Scripture is as authoritative and lucid explanation of the spiritual meaning of the central scenes and observances of the Jewish economy. It is shown that the shadow was in Christ superseded by the substance, and that in the new and spiritual dispensation we have the fulfillment of ancient promise. The transactions which, on the great Day of Atonement, took place within the holy of holies prefigured and adumbrated the great events by which, not Israel only, but humanity as a whole, was reconciled to God. For when Christ expired upon the cross the veil of the temple was rent in twain; and thenceforth, through the rent veil of Christ's humanity, the way into the holiest of all was opened up; the alienation of the human race from God was abolished; and perpetual communion was provided between a gracious Father and his restored and accepted children. The most holy place into which through Christ we have access is nothing else than the favor, the fellowship, the love of God. - T.

I. THE PLACE OF THIS TEMPLE. You find in the 43rd chapter that this temple was placed on a mountain. This is a figurative form of speech, to denote that Christ's holiness exalts us above all that we are as sinners; that Christ's righteousness — for "in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted" — exalts us above all condemnation. Here every sin, every spot, every law charge, is completely banished. We shall never live happy in our religion, and we shall never live happy with God, if we ever lose sight of that completeness we have in Christ. There is the exultation. And if you ask what it is that hath established the law of holiness, how it is that this law is established, the apostle will tell you, — that while Aaron was a priest after the law of a carnal commandment, Jesus Christ is a priest after the order of Melchisedec; He has put away sin, and established the law of holiness. And this law of holiness derives its strength from Christ's eternal priesthood; so that my holiness that I have in Him will fail when Christ's priesthood shall fail, but not before; our justification, our peace with God, and God's approbation of us and dwelling with us, will cease when Christ's righteousness shall fail, but not before; and when the Saviour can be conquered, but not before.

II. THE FORMS AND FASHIONS OF THIS HOUSE. The Lord said to Ezekiel, "If they be ashamed of all that they have done," and brought to see and feel that their righteousness is as filthy rags, then "shew them the form of the house," etc. First, let us see if we can find out the form; and if it is a form that you approve, I shall be very glad of it, because it will prove that you are ashamed of all your own doings, renounce the whole, and that you fall in, by faith, and understanding, and love, with what the Lord has done. I go to the first chapter of the Hebrews, and there I get the form. Jesus Christ is the form of the house; He is the form to which everything must be conformed. What think you of this mediatorial form, this sacrificial form, this form of everlasting life, this form of mercy, this form of grace, this form of truth? Canst thou say that thy soul fails in with it? If so, then you are a part of this temple. "Growing into an holy temple" — where? in yourselves? No, "in the Lord; fitly framed together in Him for an habitation of God through the Spirit." There is the form. But then there is the fashion — "Shew them the fashion." Well, I will now notice the fashion. It is a good fashion that I am going to name — a fashion that is very much gone out now in the professing world, but it is a gospel fashion; it is s fashion that will never change while time shall last. What is the fashion? We must go to the 2nd of Mark to get at what the fashion of this house is, — that is, what God's manner of dealing with men is; that is the meaning of the fashion. I know it is a fashion that will make you very singular. People will say, Dear me, that man is very singular in his fashion. As John Bunyan somewhere says of his pilgrims, They wore a foreign robe, that this world knew nothing of; therefore the people stared and thought they were very singular in their fashion and in their taste. But so it is. "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Such is the fashion. Solomon, in his prayer, speaketh of the stranger, the poor Gentile stranger, or whoever he might be, that might come unto God's holy temple and call unto Him: such was the fashion there, that there was a sacrifice for sin; there was a mercy seat, and there was a God that delighted in mercy. So, then, show them the form, and show them the fashion also.

III. THE FULNESS OF THE HOUSE. Take first the 6th of Isaiah. The prophet says, "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple." Jesus Christ died, and God highly exalted Him; and by Christ's death and by His exaltation there came in a train of promises and a train of blessings — blessing after blessing, until the whole temple is filled with blessing. Every Christian shall thus be filled with blessing. That is the train — the train of promises and the train of blessings that follow the Saviour's humiliation and exaltation. Who can despair that is blessed with saving faith in such a gospel as this, such a God as this, such a Christ as this? Then in the 43rd of Ezekiel you will find the same things repeated. Ezekiel saith, "The glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east." Now the east was the place of the sunrising; we will read it so; "The glory of the Lord came from the way of the sunrising." And so the glory of the Lord comes into the house by the resurrection of Christ. "With great power bare they witness of the resurrection of Christ, and great grace was upon them all." "And His voice," in coming in, "was like a noise of many waters." Is not that a beautiful description? What can you have to equal it? Was not the voice of God by the apostles as the voice of many waters? Take the many waters to represent the mercies, the blessings, of the everlasting gospel. "Many waters"; so it is many mercies, many blessings. "And the earth shined with His glory." Was it not so? Did not the Lord command the light to shine into the souls of men? He gave them the hearing ear, to hear these many waters — the sound of abundance of rain, the sound of those mercies; and then light came to show them the way to these living waters; they drank, lived, and shall live forever. "And the house was filled with the glory of the Lord, the presence of the Lord." One more Scripture — the 15th of the Revelation. "The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power." What a happy place is every assembly when it is filled with the fragrance of His name, from the glory of the Lord, from the glory of our great High Priest! He offers much incense with the prayers of the saints. The house was filled with the fragrance of His blessed name, "from the glory of God, and from His power." Jesus exercised omnipotent power when He wrought salvation, casting the enemy out, and bringing His glory in.

(James Wells.)