expression to the fact thus:-"In the four corners of the court I saw courts (smoking with the boiling of the sacrifices) forty long and thirty broad." If the corner courts were "joined" in the sense of being vaulted over, as some suggest, one would think they could not be described as courts, whereas the specification appears to favour the idea that round the court are buildings conveniently constructed for cooking purposes, and provided at each corner with proper provision for taking away the smoke or fumes arising from cooking.

2. These courts are said to be forty long and thirty broad. The C.V. gratuitously inserts the word "cubits" after each numeral. In this, they follow the example of the Septuagint translators, whose example, however, is no reason for putting aside the obvious sense of the passage. The measure of the house is the reed. The courts, therefore, are forty measures long and thirty measures broad, i.e., there are forty reeds of length and thirty reeds of breadth in relation to the corner courts.

3. One measure to their four corners. This modification of the C.V. is in some measure substantiated by the marginal note thereof, which would end verse 22 something like this: "four cornered of one measure," i.e., each court is four cornered, and its corners are of one measure. The difference of rendering is caused by including a word at the end of verse 22, which some translators disregard, on the ground that the Masorites indicated their doubt whether that word should form part of the text. There does not, however, appear to be any reasonable ground for excluding it. If retained, If retained, we get the rendering "one measure to their four corners," i.e., one measure to each corner of every corner court. This makes a vast difference when we apply the measure. The length must in that case be applied vertically, and the smaller dimension would give the measure of each side of the square.

To take up the thread of Ezekiel's narrative, so far as pertains to the structure of the house, we must connect chapters xl., xli., xlii., and the principal part of chapter xliii., with verse 4 of chapter xliv., and this again with the verses immediately under consideration; all the matter intervening between these points in the specification concern "the ordinances of the house," and are only related indirectly to its constructural features. In chapter xlvi., verse 19, Ezekiel is represented as standing before the house on the north side. He is taken through the entry "at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests;" i.e., he seems to have been taken into the upper cella, through those elevators "at the side of the gate," described in the last section. From its terrace he sees "a place at the two ends westward.” A close inspection shows this "place" is a large court, surrounded by a row of buildings, fitted with all necessary contrivance for boiling sacrifices, and where the meat offering can be baked. This court, as before stated,

is large-thirty reeds each way, or 180 cubits squareplanted in the angle formed by the junction of the outer wall on two sides. This court just fills up the corner formed by the converging lines of the outer court buildings, and therefore would be fitly described as "at the two sides westward" (verse 19). That is to say, the "place" would be joined up to the two sides of the outer court cell westward. Upon making a tour of inspection round the outer court, Ezekiel discovers that all four corners are alike. These courts appear to be forty reeds high, and to form four massive towers at each angle of the building, into which the arches of the double arcade would finish, thus forming a splendid and necessary" abutment" to the arches.

Although large, these courts are proportionate to the rest of the building; and if the fumes arising from cooking for a vast multitude are to be effectively carried away in all conditions of the atmosphere, their corners are not too high for the purpose: forty reeds, equal two hundred and forty cubits. Each corner would be of the same altitude, and would contain the necessary flues for carrying off smoke and effluvia, i.e., if smoke be permitted in those days.*

Speaking from an architectural point of view, the ẹ monster towers seem but a necessary adjunct to the building of which they form a part. It has been statedthat ancient architects strove to obtain effect by the length of their façade or frontage, while the moderns endeavour to impress the observer by the height of their buildings. buildings. In the Temple of the age to come, when the Son of God builds the temple of universal worship, all previous structures will dwindle into insignificance by comparison; a building whose façade is over one mile long, whose outer wall is 12 feet thick, whose towers are 360 feet square and 480 feet high; whose outermost buildings are a double range of magnificer rooms, each 100 feet long by 50 feet wide, and 120 fxt high in their several storeys, is far, far removed in magnificence from anything the world has ever seen either in ancient or modern times. Such a building defies dcscription, and words fail to convey an adequate sense of its magnitude. The spirit of God, however, has before shown the wonder of its immensity in the following testimony :

"Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, CONSIDER her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation following." (Psalm xlviii. 12, 13.)

If there is anything in prophecy; if it is the purpose of God to restore his people Israel; and if the cities of that once prosperous land, now desolate, are to be rebuilt, then this psalm is also prophetic, and the words quoted stand out with letters of gold when shown to refer to the building here delineated. Look at the openSee appendix, "A suggestion respecting the Corner Courts."

THE TEMPLE OF EZEKIEL'S PROPHECY.

View down the Outer Court.

Developed from Ezekiel's Specification by Henry Sulley, Architect, Nottingham.

ing verses of the psalm and its finish. "GREAT is the 'Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God '(or Elohim). Beautiful for situation, the joy of the "whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, "the city of the great King !" (verses 1,2.) (When, and how? When Christ, or Messiah, returns and rebuilds this city, making it the joy of the whole earth.) "Let "mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be "glad, because of thy judgments. Walk about Zion

WE have had the description of the "outward" part of the sanctuary (that is, the walls and buildings constituting the spacious outer court and its adjacent buildings) completed by culling additions from other portions of the prophecy. The description itself ends with the forty-third verse of the fortieth chapter. This verse is properly the end of that chapter, and its remaining verses should be the opening verses of chapter forty-one, of which they really form part. Verses 44, 45, and 46 do not need any emendation, but a suitable explanation merely. They briefly refer to the fact that certain buildings are in the inner court, and stand clear of those portions of the house already described. They define the use to which these buildings will be put, and they specify in general terms their position and their aspect ; but they are silent as to any other matters, and do not give the slightest indication of dimensions, which must be sought for elsewhere. So far as they relate to constructional matters, they distinctly state the following particulars:

1. That certain cellæ are in the inner court, "without the inner gate," i.e., inside the inner court, and clear of the inner gates.

2. That one cella is at the side of the north gate, and has its prospect southward.

3. That another cella is at the side of the east gate, having a northern prospect.

4. That the north cella is a series of celle, and by the same rule the south cella also (see verses 44 and 45).

The cellæ mentioned in these verses are undoubtedly "the Temple" mentioned in chapter xli. Several reasons go to show this. One is almost sufficient of itself, viz., that nowhere else in the specification is their detailed construction given. Of the other reasons, one will suffice for the purpose of confirmation:-The Levites are commanded to "be clothed with linen garments while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within, i.e., in the inner house (chap. xliv. 17). Now, this "inner house" is the Temple (see chap. xlii. 15,; xli. 1-20). Therefore the Temple and the cella mentioned in verses 44-46 are one and the same thing.

A recognition of this fact simplifies the specification very much, as also two other facts, viz., that the " separate place" is that part of the inner court which lies between the inner court gates and the temple cello; and that the "Most Holy" is the central portion of the inner court inclosed by the cellae, and in the centre of which is the altar. All these features of the case will be demonstrated in due course under their respective sections. The latter part of verse 44 has been a puzzle to many. No one hitherto has been able to show how a chamber (i.e., a series of chambers, as already shown) can be at the "side of the east gate," and yet have a

northward "prospect."* This difficulty vanishes in the plan now drawn from Ezekiel's specification. A range of buildings curving round from the east side can be at the side of the eastern gates, and yet have its "prospect" northward; while, also, a similar range would be at the side of the northern gates, and have their prospect southward. This would give a circular form to the inner sanctuary.

one.

But here one naturally asks, Where are these buildings specified to be so constructed? Now, it so happens. that the evidence for it is not contained in a sentence, nor is it demonstrable without taking into consideration several points in connection one with another. Any one of these points taken singly does not bear strongly in the direction indicated; but when all the evidence is taken together they fit like parts of a puzzle, and establish a conclusive case, as will appear further on. The leading indication of a circular form for the central buildings is contained in the first verse of chapter fortyIt is involved in the statement respecting "the breadth of the Tabernacle." The word translated “Tabernacle” is (óhel), and means a tent. Now, most tents are, and all tents were originally, round or ring-shaped; and since the word tent is a more suitable translation than tabernacle, its use is preferable here, where it must have a deep significance. Rendering it thus, and realizing its connection with the first part of the verse, we have this statement :-" He brought me to the Temple, and measured its posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side-the breadth of the tent" (chapter xli. 1).† This gives a new light to the occurrence of the word in this place. The verse appears to say, "The posts on each side of the Temple building (see further on) mark or bound the breadth of the tent." These posts, therefore, would be planted round in a circle, and inclose a central space. Commentators have always been puzzled by the occurrence of the word

in this verse; but the difficulty disappears when we discover that the "Temple" is one thing and the tent" another. That while the posts of the one touch up to and limit the extent of the other, they are still distinct features in the plan. The base of the "tent," according to the development of the dimensions, would be circumscribed by the circle formed with the posts. As to how such a large area could be called a tent must be left for detailed exposition when we come to consider the salient features of the "Most Holy." In connection with this Section, it is just mentioned as a hint to show that

* Some have proposed to meet this difficulty by dealing violently with the text, proposing to alter the word "cast" to south. This, of course, is inadmissible. Any interpretation which does not find a place for all the items of the specification without arbitrarily altering the text is obviously unworthy of regard.

The suggestion of some expositors has been, that the meaning of the last part of the verse is, that the two sides of the post are the same as the breadth of the Tabernacle in the wilderness ! This would be a useless superfluity, and out of harmony with the character of the specification.

there are reasons for a circular form to the building range occupying the centre of the sanctuary.

Ezekiel appears to have been taken by the measuring angel straight from the inner court gates to "the altar and its court" (verse 47, chap. xl.) in the centre of this circle; or, at all events, he appears to have been taken sufficiently near to see its distinctive features, and was thus enabled to know that the structure which he saw was an altar, and therefore able to say, "The altar is before the house."

Coming back from it, he would reach the inner side. of the Temple cellæ, and begin his description from that side. This description commences at verse 48. Omitting the interpolated words, we read :

"He brought me to the porch of the house, and measured the post of the porch five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side" (verse 48).

"The length of the porch is twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits and by the steps whereby they went up to it, and pillars by the posts, one on this side and another on that side" (verse 49).

How are these measures to be applied ? and what are we to understand by the phrase "on this side and that side," which occurs so frequently in these verses and in the following chapter? These are questions of the first importance, and the answer to the former is affected by the latter. Does the phrase "on this side and that side" mean on this side and that side of the porch? or, does it mean on this side and that side of the Temple? So far as the writer can see, the latter is the ultimate signification of the term. And while "this side and that side" may apply to the porch-first laterally, and then transversely -it must finally be held to refer to "this side and that side" of the Temple. At first sight, this does not appear to be the case, but as each feature mentioned becomes clear, this way of applying the measure appears the more reasonable, until at last all doubt upon the point disappears. The house which goes "round about" the "Most Holy" has a door on "each side" (verse 11, chap. xli). It has a "space left" on each side; and it appears to have a porch on each side.

Again, the curious way in which the measure of "the posts of the Temple" is given, is strong evidence of the theory now advanced. Verse 21 of chap. xli. tells us that "the posts of the Temple are square," and yet in the first verse of the same chapter, two measures of equality are given in relation to these same posts, viz., "The posts are six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side." Apparently, at the first glance, this defines a "square" post. But if this were the intention of the specification, why say further on that they are square? In view of the exceedingly brief character of the specification, and the absence of anything like superfluous words in it, there could be no