THE extraordinary perfections of spices and perfume, by their powerful qualities and virtues, as blessings to man, faintly shadow forth "the ointment of his right hand which bewrayeth itself." Even books anointed with the oil of spice, cloves especially, are preserved from damp, mildew, and mouldiness.

THREE SHADOWS OF A GREAT ROCK.

The Bush. Exo. iii. 2, &c.

The Cluster of Grapes.

Num. xiii. 23, 24, &c.

The Fleece. Jud. vi. 37-40.

THESE all shadow one substance, the one great sacrifice for human sin: but vary as to their effect upon humanity. The burning bush, and the bush not consumed, exemplify wrath and mercy-The cluster of grapes, love and example-Dew on the fleece, and dry on the fleece, ransom and life.

"And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed."

"The bush is an emblematical representation of the Son of God in his human nature, bearing the wrath of God in the room of the redeemed."*

*The above having been long in the writer's pos session, memory refuses to find the owner; and lest a plagiarism should be committed, it is placed in inverted

commas.

In Deut. xxxiii. 13, 16, we read, "blessed of the LORD be his land for the good-will of Him that dwelt in the bush ;" in Luke, ii. 14-according with the early promise beautifully fulfilled."Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men." See Acts, vii. 35. And let us 66 now turn aside and see this great sight," this grand sight, this glorious sight, for the eye of faith to behold-it is Jesus! Let us put off our shoes from off our feet, let us not stand in our own righteousness, in token of entire submission to the LORD's name and memorial, for ever to all generations—" I am.”

THE CLUSTER OF GRAPES. "And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff." See Num. xiii. 23.

A Branch cut down with one cluster of grapes, a figurative representation of the Mediator, suffering the just anger of God instead of the guilty. Gen. xlix. 11. -Isa. lxv. 8.

"The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence." Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself." "He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken." Jesus came for our example, teaching us to crucify earthly desires: bring not up an evil report of the land, it is "a delightsome land;” “let us go up at

once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it," in the Name of Jesus.

This is one of the loveliest shadows of Redemption; combining love, union, and example. Forty days was our Lord fasting, and tempted for his rebellious sons to bring them to glory. "And they returned from searching of the land after forty days." Christ "passed over the brook." He was crucified between two thieves, which these men full well represent; for although they brought such rich evidence of the fruit of the land, they refused to dwell there; or in other words they rejected Jesus. He is the fruit of the land. He is the first ripe fruit. He is "the pure blood of the grape." Deut. xxxii. 14.

"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another." One cluster of grapes, typical of Christ and his people. "We being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." Rom. xii. 5.

A more beautiful and elegant figure of brotherly love and union, can hardly be found, than is to be met in a bunch of grapes, closely united to the stem-which is Christ, every grape supporting each other, and receiving its vital existence from union with THE BRANCH. Zec. vi. 12.-John, xv. 1, &c. How often have we seen a grape hastily pulled, has occasioned more to fall off." Let brotherly love continue," and "no man put a stumbling-block, or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." See Psalm cxxxiii. 1, &c.-Hos. xiv. 6,7

THE FLEECE. 66 Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry on all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl-full of water. And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: Let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night; for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground."

The dry fleece is a symbolical representation of Christ, forsaken of his God, becoming a ransom for sinners, that his people may receive eternal life.

The fleece is a two-fold type: the dry fleece prefigures the Saviour, when deprived of his Father's presence; "And God did so that night," only while he bare the sin of the world-in that night of darkness— in that night of agony the fleece only was dry. “I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with me:"" So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."

The fleece filled with dew, the church in her bless

E

ings, shewing the ample provision of spiritual supply that Emmanuel has in possession for the dry earth. And the blessings of the fleece of dew as expressed in John, xiv. 16, 17, 18, now fall and refresh the barren Israel; for the treasures of the everlasting dew remain to be wrung out in bowls full of blessing to "the precious sons of Zion." "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew; as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass." Deu. xxxii, 2. "I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon." Hos. xiv. 5. "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." John, iv. 14. See Gen. xlix. 25—6. Deu. xxxii. 13, and xxxiii. 3, 13-17, special texts full of the blessing of the Lord.

"The Saviour's government is gentle as the falling snow on a fleece of wool; and refreshing as the rain of heaven on the new-mown grass."-WAUGH.

"He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into water springs." Ps. cvii. 35. The dry earth and ground typify the Church with and without her Lord-a dry and parched ground without the water of life; but for his watching, waiting people, "His head is filled with dew and drops of the night."