572 THE HOLINESS OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. When Moses was instructed and required to erect the taber- nacle, it was to stand in the middle of the camp There was the open court, surrounded with curtains, whither only the priests and the levites might come to perform the services of the sanctu- ary, and the daily sacrifices which God appointed. In this court stood the laver and altar of burnt-offering's In this court stood the tabernacle itself, a covered building; the first part whereof was called the holy place, where only the priestscame whoper- formed daily services : There stood the golden candlestick, the alter of incense, and the table of shew-bread ; the inner part of it was called 'the holy of holies, where God dwelt in a bright cloud ; there nonebut the high-priest might enter, and that once a year op the great day of atonement ; Ex. xxvi..33. When they were settled in the promised land, the land itself was called holy, for it was the Lord's ; Lev. xxv. 27. Zech. vii. 12. He claimed it for his own ; Jer. ii. 7. The towns and cities of it were called holy cities ; Ise. lxiv. 10. No man was suffered to inhabit within the gatesof them, but who became a proselyte of the true religion, so far as to renounce all idols, and to worship the God of Israel only, and who took upon him, as is generally Said, the observationof theseven precepts of Noah, aboutmurder and eating blood, &c. Jerusalem was peculiarly the holy city, or the holy moun- tain ; for in David or Solomon's time, and afterwards, the moun- tains of Zion and i\ oriah were included in it. David brought the ark ofGod into Zion, and Solomon built the templeon mount Moriah, which by that means were made holy ground., The temple in general contained in it many courts and buildings, whose holiness had very different degrees, as learned men have observed ; and the chief of them were formed according to the tabernacle of Moses, but others werenot so. I. There was the court of the gentiles, where the heathens and the proselytes of the gate were permitted to walk : Whether this was distinguished in Solomon's time is a doubtful enquiry; it is most probable, it was not. 2. The court of the people, or the court of Israel, into which no uncircumcised person was suffered to enter : It was only for those who were originally of the seed of Israel, or were circumcised and entered into complete Judaism, and became the proselytes of righteousness, or the proselytes of the tem- ple. The tabernacle of Moses had not these two courts : 'I'he camp of Israel, and the country round about served instead of them. 3. There was the court of the priests and levites, who per- formed the worship of sacrifices : this was according to the forms and orders of the tabernacle of Moses : And therefore in this court stood the brazen altar and the laver ; the one to signify
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