THE IMPORT OF "THE SANCTUARY"-ITS CLEANSING.

Verse 13: "How long the vision,"-" to give both THE SANCTUARY and the host to be trodden under foot?" Verse 14: Verse 14: "Unto 2300 days; then shall THE SANCTUARY be cleansed."

The first time the term sanctuary occurs in the Bible, is in the Song of Moses, when God had delivered his people from Egypt and the Red Sea, and was about to introduce them into the land of promise. Ex. xv. 17: "Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in; in the SANCTUARY, O Lord, which thy hands have established." I ask the reader to pause, and inquire, and settle the question most distinctly, before he goes farther What was the sanctuary here spoken of? Was it not the land of promise, which God gave (Gen. xvii. 8) to Abraham and his seed for an everlasting possession? That land, according to Paul, (Gal. iii. 16,) is Christ's, not the Jews'. It is the mountain of the Lord's inheritance; the place he has made for himself to dwell in. It is the SANCTUARY which his hands have established.

If any doubt remains as to the import of the text and term sanctuary, it is settled by the psalmist, Ps. Ixxviii. 54: “And he brought them to the border of HIS SANCTUARY, even to this MOUNTAIN which his right hand had purchased." If the Bible anywhere designates the mountain where Christ will dwell, in the land of promise, that spot is emphatically his SANCTUARY. Mark Ex. xv. 17, again: "Plant them in the MOUNTAIN

of thine INHERITANCE, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made FOR THEE TO DWELL IN." It would seem by this, that there is a peculiar, chosen spot, which the Lord made for his own dwelling-place; and that is his sanctuary. That spot or mountain is designated more distinctly in Ps. lxxviii. 67-69: "Moreover, he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim; but he chose the TRibe of Judah, tHE MOUNT ZION WHICH HE LOVED. And he built his SANCTUARY like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established forever." His sanctuary which he built like high palaces, was THE MOUNT ZION which he loved.

We have also yet another distinct testimony on this point, in Ps. cxxxii. 13, 14: "For the Lord hath chosen Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it." That place is the only sanctuary that remains, or will ever be "cleansed," or "justified," as the margin reads. The term sanctury, is used (Lev. iv. 6) to signify the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle in the wilderness. But that sanctuary has long since passed away. It is used also to signify the temple at Jerusalem, as in 2 Chron. xx. 8. But that temple has long since been laid in ruins, and cannot be cleansed. But mount Zion and Jerusalem in Judah remain, and is the Lord's chosen rest forever.

The treading under foot of the sanctuary. The meaning of the treading under foot of THE SANCTUARY, is the next point. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 11-21 will give us a view of the treading

down of the sanctuary and host;-the holy place and church of God.

"Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign; and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet, speaking from the mouth of the Lord. And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel. Moreover, all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and ON HIS DWELLINGPLACE: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of THEIR SANCTUARY, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly

vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years."

This desolation existed in the days of Daniel, under Belshazzar, king of Babylon. The bondage of Jerusalem and the church, whether Jewish or Christian, has never ceased from that time to the present. True, under the Medo-Persian kings, the city, temple, and worship of God were restored; but neither place nor people were emancipated from tribute or dependence on the heathen nations. The Medes and Persians, Grecians, Syrians, Egyptians, or Romans, ever after the Babylonian captivity, were, to the church of Jerusalem, a continual source of affliction and oppression. After the crucifixion of Christ, according to the prediction of Daniel, (chap. ix. 26,) the people of the prince came and destroyed "THE CITY and SANCTUARY." Or, according to Christ, (Luke 21st chap.,) "Jerusalem was compassed with armies," and its desolation "came." "There (was) distress in the land, and wrath on (that) people; they fell by the edge of the sword, they (were) led captive into all nations, and Jerusalem (is) trodden down of the Gentiles," and will be "until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

The amount of it is this; God chose Jerusalem as the metropolis of his kingdom, and there established the throne of royalty on mount Zion, in the family of David. See 2 Chron. vi. 6; Ps.

lxxxix. also cii. and cxxxii. But the royal family of David were driven, or rather carried into captivity by the king of Babylon. Since that captivity, no descendant of David has reigned on mount Zion. And the word of God declares there never will until he comes whose right it is, and the Lord will give it him. Ezek. xxi. 27.

The cleansing of the sanctuary. The marginal reading is much preferable, to that incorporated in the text. "Then shall the SANCTUARY be JUSTIFIED." Throughout the Scriptures,. we find Jerusalem and Zion personified and addressed as a living, sentient being-as being guilty-condemned-punished-pardoned.

We have an example of this mode of address in Isaiah, throughout the entire book. It is entitled the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw.concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. 66 Judah," the people, and "Jerusalem," the city, are the subjects of this vision. From the second to the twentieth verse, the people of Judah are addressed and described. The 21st verse begins a description of the city, her unfaithfulness and perversity, together with her punishment. The 25th to the 27th verses present God's promised mercy to her after he has avenged himself, so that she shall "be called the faithful city," "the city of righteousness." Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. ZION," the city, "shall be redeemed with judgment." She will endure God's judgment for all her crimes, or the crimes that have been committed in her. But not so her "converts," who will constitute her future glory

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