DISCOURSE III. 573 atonement for sin, by sacrifice, and the other to denote réal purification of heart, by washing, which are both necessary in order to our appearance before God. All these three courts were open to the sky ; and they had afterwards, perhaps, some other divisions made in them ; 2 Chron. xx. 5. as there were; originally, galleries formed on pillars to secure persons from the weather, as well as chambers of lodging for the levites, where strangers mightnot lodge : Neh. xiii. 5, 7, 8. 4. The sanctuary, properly so called, or the holy place, wherein stood the altar of incense, the table of shew-bread and the candlestick : And I question whether anypriests were usually permitted to enter therein, but those whose turn it was to light the lamps, to place and remove the loves of bread, or to burn incense. 5. The innermost sanctuary, or holy of holies, which was all overlaid with gold, was divided from the holy place by a veil of fine linen. Here stood the ark, and the covering of it, which was called the mercy-seat, on which God appeared to reside ina cloud of glory : And hither no person whatsoever might enter but the high-priest only, and that but once ayear, with the blood of the sacrifice, and with incense, on thegreat atoning day. The temple of Solomon, as well as the tabernacle of Moses, or the residence of the ark inZion, were called the beauty of holiness; Psal. xxix. 2. xcvi. 9. and cx. 3. There David calls on men to comeand"worship God ; there the beauty of his holinessand the harmony of his glories were discovered to meu. All the parts of the temple were so far holy, that no civil or common business of life was to be transacted there. Our Saviour gives occasion to St. Mark, in his history to describe it ; Mark xi. 15-17. when he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the "temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-. changers, and the seats of them that sold doves ; andwould not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple; saying, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house ofprayer ? but ye have made it a den of thieves. Thus then was the holiness of places duly observed, when no persons entered into them, but who were appointed of God, and when nothing was done in them of the common affairs of life and that out of special reverence to thegreat Jehovah, the God of Israel, who had chosen these places for a visible habi- tation to himself, and had made them holy. Let it be alsoobserv. ed, that there were several particular forms and ceremonies appointed for the consecration or dedication of these places unto God: Many sacrifice§ were offered by Moses and Aaron on this occasion, as you may read at large in Exodus and Leviticus, and in the first and second books of Chronicles. The great Godwas invoked byDavid and Solomon byprayer toenterinto these holy
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