The Bossier banner., 1894-12-13
TALMAGE'S SERMON,
The Brass Laver in the Midst OF
the Tabernacle.
A Mirror Suggestive of the Gospel-The
Only Looking Glass in Which a
Man Can See Himself as
God Sees Him.

8.
We often hear about the Gospel in
Johu, and the Gospel in Luke, and the
Gospel in Matthew; but there is just
as surely Gospel of Moses, and Cos
rel of jeremiah, and Gospel of David.
In other words, Christ is as certainly
to be found in the Old Testament as In
ti'e New.
When the Israelites were marching
through the wilderness they carried
their church with them. They called
1t the tabernacle. It was pitched
tent; very costly, very beautiful. The
framework was made of forty-eight
boards of acacia wood set in sockets of
silver. The curtains of the place We're
purple, and scarlet, and blue, and fine
linen, and were hung with most ar
tistic loops. The candlestick of that
tabernacle had shaft and branch, and
bowl OF solid gold, and the figures of
cherubim that stood there had wings
of gold; and there were lamps of gold,
and snuffers of gold, aud tongs of
gold, and rings of gold; so that skep-
ticism has sometimes asked: Where
did all that precious metal come from?
1t is not my place to furnish the pre-
cious stones; it is only to tell that they
were there.
wish now more especially to speak
of the laver that was built in the midst
of that ancient tabernacle. 1t was a
great basin from which the priests
washed their hands and feet. The water
came down from the basin IN spouts
and passed away after the cleansing.
This laver or basin was made out of
the looking glasses of the women who
had frequented the tabernacle, and
who had made these their contribution
to the furniture. These looking
glasses were not made of glass, but
they were brazen. The brass
was of a very superior quality
and polished until it reflected
easily the features of those who
looked into it. So that this laver of
looking glasses spoken of in my text
did double work; it not only furnished
the water In which the priests washed
themselves, but it also, on its shin
ing, polished surface, pointed out the
spots of pollution on the face which
needed ablution. Now, my Christian
friends, as everything in that ancient
tabernacle was suggestive of religious
truth, and for the most part positively
symbolical of truth, l shall take that
laver of looking glasses spoken of in
the text as all-suggestive of the Cos
pei, which first shows us our sins as in
mirror, and then washes them away
by Divine ablution.
Oh, happy day, happy day,
When Jesus washed my sins awayl
have to say that this is the only
Iooking-glass in which man can see
himself as he is. There are some mir
rors that flatter the features, and make
you look better than you are. Then
there are other mirrors that distort
your features, and make you look
worse than you are; but want to tell
| you that this looking-glass. of the
| Gospel shows man just as he is
When the priests entered the ancient
| tabernacle, one glance at the FURNISHED
side of this laver showed them theil
need of cleansing; so the Gospel
shows the soul its need of di
vine washing. All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God" That
is one showing. "All we, like sheep
have gone astray." That is another
showing. 'From the crown of the
head to the sole of the foot there is NJ
health in us That is another show
ing. The world calls these defects
impeIfections. or eccentricities, o.
erratic behavior, or wild oats" o.
"high living" but the Gospel CALI
them sin, transgression, flth-th'
abom{nable thing that God hates.
was just one glance at that mirror tina
made Paul cry out: "Oh, wretched mar
that am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death?" and that mad,
| David cry out: Purge me with hys
sop, and I shall be clean;" and tha
made Martin Luther cry out: "Oh
my sins, my sins!" | am not talkin;
about bad habits. You and do no
need any Bible to tell us that ba,
habits are wrong, that blasphemy an
evil-speaking are wrong. But l al
talking of sinful nature, the sourc
of all bad thoughts, as well as of ba
| dCtlOAS' lHS n ApOStlC du1 Cct1lS ClSl
roll in the first chapter of Romans
They are regiment of death encamI
ing around every heart, holding it i
tyranny from which nothing but tn
grace of God can deliver it.
| Here, for instance, is ingratitudt
Who has not been gritty of that sin
If man hands US glass of water, W
say: THANK you:" but for the tie
thousand mercies that we are ever
day receiving from the hand of Coz
how little expression of gratitude-fC
thirst Stacked, for hunger fed, fC
shelter and sunshine, and sound sleel
and clothes to wear-how little thank
I suppose there are men fifty years {
age who have never yet been down Q
their knees in thanksgiving to God fc
His goodness. Besides that ingrat
tude of Gus hearts. there is pric
I