outpouring of the Holy Spirit.[136] It is true, the sacrifices and oblations of the temple service did not cease immediately on the death of Christ, they were continued some little time after that event; but they became unnecessary, they had lost their value, and were but idle ceremonies and useless rights, when the thing signified was accomplished. At best, they were only types of the Lamb of God, the blood of that one great sacrifice, which alone "cleanseth from all sin." "It is not possible for the blood of bulls or goats to take away sin." No, the sacrifices and ceremonies of the Mosaic economy were only efficacious so far as Christ, the substance, was viewed through the shadow.[137] In less than forty years after the death of Christ, the sacrifices and oblations ceased, for the temple was demolished. A spot so deeply stained with crime, needed the fire of divine vengeance to consume it from the face of the earth: it was erected for the worship of the God of Israel, but was turned into the seat of iniquity and profaneness. The horrid enormities observed in the temple of Juggernaut scarcely surpassed the impious practices exercised within the Jewish sanctuary. When Titus, the Roman general, approached the walls of the city, it more resembled the court of Mars and Bacchus, than the temple of Jehovah; the drunkard's voice--the clash of arms--the shouts of the victor--the cries of the vanquished--and the groans of the dying, echoed through that magnificent pile; human blood flowed in its courts, and sprinkled its altars and its walls. Jerusalem was a scene of slaughter; but it was not a war to support the glorious cause of freedom; nor were they fighting to repel the foreign foe, or shedding their blood to defend their beloved homes, and the still dearer objects of affection, around which the warm heart clings with fondest thought amidst the scene of danger and of death, and for whose preservation the weakest arm grows desperate, and the feeblest mind resolves to conquer or to die. But theirs was no such glorious contest; no--civil war had reared her hydra head; the horrid yell of intestine discord rang through Salem's courts, and echoed round her walls; that infernal power bursts the bands of brotherhood, severs the closest ties, dissolves the strongest link of union, and makes the man a monster. The sword of her own sons deluged Jerusalem with Jewish blood; the fire which destroyed her houses was kindled by her own children; death and destruction reigned through all her palaces; the city groaned beneath a three-fold faction, when the Roman legions approached her walls to complete the horrid scene of slaughter. The temple was the head-quarters of Eleazar and the Zealots; they had in their possession the stores of first fruits and offerings, and were frequently in a state of intoxication; but when not drunken with wine, they thirsted for the blood of their countrymen, and issued from their strong hold, to assault John and