Jehovah vouchsafes to use. Its virtue lies aot in itself, but in the arm that wields it. Through the whole of the astonishing transactions which follow, we find an exact order and method observed. Aaron uses not the rod at his own discretion, neither does God communicate his pleasure immediately to him; but the Lord gives the word to Moses, who delivers it to Aaron, who follows the instructions given him. And thus, by an example of the highest authority, we are instructed, in obedience to an injunction given long after under another dispensation, "that all things be done decently and in order."

the case very superficially. The priesthood, though of high dignity, possessed very slender emoluments, and still less authority. It subjected the possessor of it to much painful attendance, to much laborious and much unpleasant service, considered as a mere secular employment. It was a post, if of distinguished honour, so of high responsibility. But supposing it were as lucrative and honourable as it is alleged, why did not Moses assume it to himself! Why did he pass by his own sons? Why not secure the rever sion, at least, for his own children and their heirs? When a man has immediate descendants of his own body, he is seldom solicitous about the aggrandisement of more distant relations, especially to the prejudice of his own children. The conduct of Moses, therefore,. in the disposal of this high office, on the supposition that he had a choice in the matter, is the reverse of selfish; it is generous and disinterested to the last degree. The dignity of magistracy is, in his own life-time communicated with Joshua; and, at his death, is wholly transferred to him. The office of high priest is conferred upon Aaron, and made perpetual to his branch of the family; while the sons and descendants of Moses sink into the rank of private citizens, without the stiAaron and his two eldest sons, with seventy pulation of so much as a foot of land, extraorof the elders of Israel, by divine appointment, dinary, in Canaan, in consideration of their accompanied Moses to the lower region of father's eminent services. Does this look mount Sinai, when he went up to meet God, like avarice and ambition? But the truth is, in order to receive the civil and religious con- Moses had no choice at all in the case, and stitution of the state and with them, as the presumed to exercise none. God had defederal heads and representatives of the na-clared his will, and that was sufficient to tion, the political union and covenant were ratified and confirmed. And this brings us forward to the eventful period of Aaron's history, his solemn destination to the office of priesthood, his preparation for it, and his investiture in it.

The next memorable event of Aaron's life, after assisting in the plagues of Egypt and the consequent deliverance of Israel, is his contributing to the defeat of Amalek, by aiding Hur in supporting the weary hands of Moses his brother upon the mount. To the observations already made on this part of the history, I have only to repeat and to urge upon your minds the reflection of the Psalmist," Behold how good a thing it is," in every point of view," and how pleasant, for brethren to dwell together in unity !"* By concord the weakest powers grow and stand: through disunion the strongest are dissolved and fall.

The appointment was of Heaven; for "no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron :"+ and even a king, in later times, who presumed to thrust himself into the priest's office, paid the price of his rashness, by a leprosy which cleaved to him till the day of his death. "Take thou," says the great Source of all honour and authority, "take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazer and Ithamar, Aaron's sons." It has been objected to Moses, as a proof of a selfish and worldly spirit, that he employed his authority, to perpetuate a station of the first dignity and emolument, in his own tribe and family, by the appointment of Aaron to the priesthood, and by the entail of it upon his posterity for ever. But surely the objectors must have studied

him, and will be so to every good man.

If we attend to some lines in the character, and some steps in the conduct of Aaron, we shall find more just reason of surprise at his appointment to this sacred office. We behold him, at the very era of his appointment, an abettor of idolatry, and even after his instalment in it, we find him meanly and wickedly envying the distinction which was put upon his meek and gentle brother, and, with his sister Miriam, heading a revolt from his just authority. But, alas! were perfect men only to minister before God, the altar must soon be deserted. Were not sinful men to be addressed by sinful men, the world must speedily be destitute of preachers. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.' "The design of Providence, from the beginning, seems to have been, to convince the world, that in every hand his work must prosper; that if he interpose, all instruments, the most inadequate, must prove powerful, and shall succeed.

66

A few remarks on the particulars of Aaron's sacred dress, the services in which he was employed, his solemn consecration to

* 2 Cor. iv. 7.

the performance of them, and the subsequent and soundness of youth, under the pressure events of his life up to the age of one hun- of years, a portion of the reflection, steadiness, dred and twenty-two, together with a cur- and composure of age, must be called in, to sory view of his typical importance, as the temper and direct the pursuits and enjoy. figure of the great High Priest of our pro- ments of early life. fession, shall, with divine permission, furnish the subject of the next Lecture.-We conclude the present with earnestly exhorting you,

HISTORY OF AARON.

LECTURE LXIV.

And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eleazer his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor: and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazer his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there. And Moses did as the Lord commanded: and they went up into mount Hor, in the sight of all the congregation. And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazer his son: and Aaron died there in the top of the mount. And Moses and Eleazer came down from the mount. And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.-NUMBERS XX. 23-29.

WHAT Subject so interesting to man as his | ployed, in addressing that infinitely holy and Intercourse with God, his Creator, Preserver, glorious Being, in whose presence angels and Judge? And yet on no subject have men fallen into wilder and more dangerous mistakes. A mad and bold enthusiasm has at one time elevated rash and presumptuous spirits to the level of Deity; and the grossest terms of human familiarity have been em

spirit of religion; and a misguided, ill-in- | brother to the illustrious and renowned legisformed religion has attempted to detach some men from the duties and employments of life. Men, ever in extremes, have either banished God entirely from their thoughts, or affected a higher degree of reverence for his service, by an avowed neglect of some of the more obvious and more important dictates of his will. Could they but be persuaded to take the holy scriptures for the rule of their conduct in all things, many of these practical errors might be prevented. They would thence be instructed to draw nigh to a holy and righteous God with reverence and confidence, as children to a father; and to rejoice before a merciful and compassiorate Saviour with fear and trembling. While the eye of | a guilty conscience beheld "cherubims and a flaming sword turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life," the eye of faith would discern" a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh."*

The whole of divine revelation, and indeed it is the chief end of revelation, represents the great Jehovah as accessible to the guilty and the miserable; but accessible only in a method, and by means of his own appointment. To the vilest, meanest, most wretched of mankind there is hope towards God, through Christ Jesus the Lord; but to the purest and most perfect of our fallen race, "there is not salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved."t All the stores of divine grace are laid open, all the energy of divine eloquence is employed, to assure and encourage the humble. "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression and sin," while one denunciation of justice serves to check and repel the impenitent and the proud, "but who will by no means clear the guilty."

The institution of the priesthood under the law, was an explicit and a standing declaration to the same purpose. It consisted of a succession of men, and of a service, ordained of God to be a perpetual memorial to mankind of their apostacy and guilt, and of the means of pardon and reconciliation of their being by nature and wicked works afar off, but made nigh by the blood of atonement.

Aaron, the first who was called to execute this high office, had already attained his eighty-fourth year, and of course had become venerable in the eyes of men by reason of age. He possessed an insinuating and commanding address; he had acquired a high degree of estimation, from the honourable share that belonged to him, in effecting the deliverance from Egypt: and he was only * Heb. x. 20. † Acts iv. 12. + Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7.

lator of Israel. But his noblest and most honourable distinction was his appointment and call from Heaven, to the discharge of the duties of this exalted station. The pen of inspiration, however, always faithful and true, represents him as a man liable to many infirmities. At the waters of Strife he was betrayed into anger, self-conceit, and presumption; in the matter of the golden calf, we find him chargeable with timidity and sinful compliance: he stands convicted of unkindness and ingratitude to the best and most affectionate of brothers; of the most daring irreverence and impiety towards God, and of dissimulation bordering on falsehood. And even after his consecration to the priesthood, with shame and sorrow we behold him wickedly giving in to the mean and contemptible passions of envy and jealousy; and, to heighten this base offence, the unoffending, unprovoking object of these passions, was his own nearest relation, and the man to whom he was indebted for all that eminence to which he was himself raised, and which he transmitted to his family. But with all these imperfections on his head, and many others, doubtless, of which it was not the business of this record to convey the memory to us, he was the man whom God was pleased to choose, to minister in the first rank at his altar, and to typify the High Priest who became us, "who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners."

As in every thing that related to the construction of the tabernacle and its sacred furniture, Moses was confined to a pattern shown, and to directions given him in the mount, so also in all things that related to the dress, the services, and the attendance of the high priest and his assistants. And you will please to observe that Moses himself, having been called and consecrated in an extraordinary manner, was constituted the temporary high priest, to officiate in the consecration of Aaron and his sons. They saw, therefore, the person of a mediator interposing between themselves and God. They saw an extraordinary priesthood, conjoined to legislative authority, residing in their brother, the man whom God chose, and from whom their honour immediately flowed; they saw an image of the station they were henceforth to occupy, and the purposes which they were to fulfil towards the whole nation. Moses was between God and them, they were to be between God and the people. He offered sacrifice to make atonement for them, they were to offer sacrifice to make reconciliation for the sins of all Israel. And in this we see a priesthood more ancient and more honourable than that of Aaron, from which it derives its existence, dignity, and use, and in which it is now absorbed.

As nothing is unimportant on this subject,

nothing but what has a significancy, though that significancy we are unable in every instance to discover, we find the sacred historian entering into a minute detail and description of the sacerdotal robes, in which, however, it is not our purpose to follow him, as we would rather suggest ideas than repeat words, aim at instruction rather than indulge in speculation, and without pretending to explain every thing, would aim at the praise of inculcating useful truth.

tention to external decorum run through the whole of this divine institution. The eye being one of the great avenues to the soul, guilt being the parent of shame, and the dispensations of the divine wisdom and mercy being adapted to the condition and character of men, as they are, depraved and degraded by sin, not as man was, pure and perfect from the hand of his Creator, the heart and conscience must be addressed through the senses.

The next most observable and significant The vestments for the priests are distin- part of Aaron's dress, was the splendid breastguished by the term holy: "Thou shalt make plate, consisting of twelve several precious. the holy garments for Aaron."-"Thou shalt stones set in gold, inscribed with the names put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint of the twelve tribes in their order: placed him, and sanctify him; that he may minister externally upon the seat of the heart, to unto me in the priest's office."* Now this keep for ever alive, a tender concern about epithet must undoubtedly refer to the na- the whole Israel of God, to remind Aaron ture of that pure and perfect Being in whose and his sons for ever, that they were elevated worship they were employed; to the sacred- to this high station, not for their own sakes ness of the character which was invested merely, but to be a public benefit. It aimed with them; and to the spotless purity of at producing a most important effect on three Him, whose person was hereby prefigured, different sorts of persons, and was well caland whose sanctity, independent of garments culated for this purpose. It presented unto of such a texture, and quality, consisted in a God, according to his own ordinance, a metotal freedom from moral pollution, "who did morial of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." and Jacob, and their seed after them. It The vestments of the Israelitish high priest, taught the high priest to consider the case however splendid, could not but cover much of the people as his own, to regard them with weakness and imperfection. Like the dis- impartial, undivided affection, to be watchpensation which enjoined them, they had fully attentive to their temporal, but especially only "a shadow of good things to come, and to their spiritual concerns, to wrestle and could never make the comers thereunto per- make supplication in their behalf. It inspired fect." But even in a moral and religious the people with affection and gratitude to the view, surely they were not without their man, whose whole life and labours were deuse. They were a constant and affectionate voted to their service, who watched for their admonition from God to the persons who souls, who had renounced an earthly por wore them; saying, "Be ye holy for I am tion among his brethren, and all the gainholy." They were a constant and pathetic ful walks of life, to be subservient to their admonition to the people; saying, "I will be best interests. It formed a most endearing sanctified in all them that draw nigh unto bond of union between them who were admime." They are an everlasting admonition nistered unto, and them who ministered. It to the Christian world, who are all kings formed a most endearing bond of union among and priests unto God, that they are called the tribes themselves. Twelve gems of various and engaged "to holiness in all manner of complexions, set in two different frames, comconversation." If times, and places, and posed nevertheless but one breastplate; so dress, serve as guards to virtue, if they pre-twelve tribes constituted but one congregaserve decency, and prevent vice, do they not answer a valuable and important purpose to mankind? In perfect conformity to this idea, the loftiest and most conspicuous article of the high priest's dress, was a plate of pure gold, affixed with a blue lace to the fore front of the mitre, having engraved upon it this remarkable inscription, in order to be seen and read of all men: "Holiness to the Lord." Thereby the wearer became "as a city that is set on a hill, which cannot be hid:" and this bright memorial incessantly, though silently, proclaimed to the eye, to the heart, to the conscience, "a holy God, a holy service, a holy minister, a holy people, a holy covenant."

We accordingly observe the strictest at

tion, one church, one Israel. The loss of any one must have marred and destroyed the whole; tended to diminish its lustre, to impair its strength. It taught them to love as brethren the children of one father, the worshippers of one God. It inspired confidence in the care and protection of that God. They saw their representative bearing upon his heart, into the holy place, their names and their condition. They had the consolation of reflecting that their memorial would ascend to heaven, with the sweet perfume of that incense which he daily burned upon the golden altar. And the whole looked forward to the day, to the office, to the person, to the work of Him, of whom, and of whose body,. the church, Isaiah thus speaks in prophetic vision: "But Zion said, The Lord hath for

saken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. | were conducted to the door of the tabernacle Can a woman forget her sucking child, that of the congregation, in the presence of a pubshe should not have compassion on the son lic assembly called for the purpose; were of her womb! yea, they may forget, yet will stripped of their usual garments, and washed I not forget thee. Behold I have graven with water. He was then arrayed in the sethee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls veral parts of the sacerdotal habit, in their are continually before me:"* and who thus order. The holy vessels of the sanctuary, speaks of himself, "Those that thou gavest and all its sacred utensils, were then, one me I have kept. Holy Father, keep through after another, anointed with the holy oil of thine own name those whom thou hast given consecration; and, last of all, Aaron himself, me, that they may be one, as thou, Father, the living instrument of divine worship, was art in me, and I in thee; that they also may set apart to his momentous charge, by a cobe one in us: that the world may believe pious sprinkling of the same sacred perfume. that thou hast sent me. And the glory which That the savour of this odorous compound thou gavest me I have given them; that they must have been extremely grateful to the may be one, even as we are one: I in them sense, is evident from the lofty terms in and thou in me, that they may be made per- which David speaks of it, and the subject fect in one, and that the world may know which he illustrates by it-"Behold, how that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, good and how pleasant it is for brethren to as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that dwell together in unity! It is like the prethey also viom thou hast given me, be with cious ointment upon the head, that ran down me where I am; that they may behold my glo- upon the beard, even Aaron's beard that ry which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst went down to the skirts of his garments." me before the foundation of the world;"† and of whom the apostle thus speaks, "Who shal lay any thing to the charge of God's eet? It is God that justifieth: who is he Lat condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Hence Christians are united in still dearer bonds, animated with superi confidence, secured by a firmer and more durable ovenant. Hence Christian ministers are encouraged with greater boldness, with more aident importunity, with more assure hope of success, to draw nigh to the throne of grace, as for themselves, so for sinful and wretched creatures of every description.

The other particulars of Aaron's official dress, we shall not now stop to commemorate; partly because we have not a distinct idea of them, and partly because through such a thick cloud as time, change of manners, and the general disuse of the sacred language have interposed, it is difficult, if not impossible, to discover their meaning and import, with reference to the evangelical dispensation; in which great part of the beauty, excellency, and usefulness of the Mosaic economy consists.

The ceremonies of Aaron's inauguration, were in a high degree solemn and august. They were performed by Moses himself, in the most public manner. Aaron and his sons ↑ John xvii. 11, 12. 21-24. Rom. viii. 33, 34.

Isa. xlix. 14-16.

The sons were then invested with their proper habits, and a threefold sacrifice was performed a bullock for a sin-offering; a ram for a burnt-offering; and a second, denominated the ram of consecration. Without going into a minute detail, or pretending to explain the specific difference, use, and end of each, we observe in general, that, by the ceremony of the imposition of Aaron's hands and those of his sons upon the head of the victim, a solemn wish was expressed, that their guilt might be transferred and imputed to the victim, and its blood accepted as a ransom for their forfeited lives. Here, then, was the innocent suffering for the guilty; the substitute, not the criminal himself, bleeding and dying: so that the very form of their consecration taught the necessity of atonement, and pointed to Him whom it pleased the Lord to bruise, and to put him to grief; and who was wounded for our transgressions, was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."+

The first of the three sacrifices, or the sinoffering, seems to have been intended as a public and explicit acknowledgment of guilt, and the expiation of it. The second, that is, the burnt-offering, was the token of the divine favour towards them, and of his gracious acceptance of their persons and services: and the third, the ram of consecration, part of which was eaten by the priests in the holy place was the ratification of God's covenant of peace with them, and the emblem of perfect reconciliation and friendship; sitting at one common table being the most express declaration of union and good will among men. God was pleased to exhibit a most unequivocal proof of his being well pleased with the whole transaction; for when † Isaiah liii. 5.

*Psalm cxxxiii. 1, 2.