1

every thing was arranged according to the form prescribed in the mount, fire from the Lord seized and consumed the burnt-offering on the altar. The sin-offering Moses burnt with material fire, without the camp: but the sacred flame from heaven laid hold of the sacrifice of pardon and acceptance. In vain do we look for the marks of grace and favour from above; insensible must we be to the genial, penetrating flame of love, unless our repentings be kindled together. When we have been enabled to do our duty, then may we warrantably expect that God will appear for us.

It does not appear whether this striking interposition had been previously announced to the assembly, or whether it took them by surprise. In either case, it must have made a deep impression on the mind of every beholder. Were they taught to expect it? With what anxiety may we suppose every eye bent on the altar and the sacrifice, waiting the eventful moment which was to evince that God was among them of a truth; but in a way which should inspire reverence as well as joy. Did it overtake them unawares? What sudden consternation, what alarming apprehensions! The expression was perfectly natural in either case; "which, when all the people saw, they shouted and fell on their faces."

Providence, though hated, despised, and per secuted of all men, and evidently under the displeasure of heaven, we behold them preserved from total annihilation and oblivion: kept distinct from all men; as much a sepa rate people, as in the zenith of their glory, under the reign of David and Solomon; the subjects, perhaps, of a revolution greater and more important than any they have already undergone: reserved, it may be, to be the last grand trophy of the Redeemer's triumph, the concluding evidence of the truth of Christianity, the final monument of the riches of free, sovereign grace! And need we ask, who conducted all these movements, whose pleasure was fulfilled by all these events, whose glory shines in all these successive changes, in all these opening prospects? A voice from heaven replies, "I the Lord, wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working; wise in heart, and mighty in strength. I see the end from the beginning: my counsel shall stand."

When this great mystery shall be finished, the mighty chain extended, the connexion and dependence of link upon link discerned, hell shall be confounded, the inhabitants of the world astonished, angels rejoice, and the praise of God ascend from every tongue.

The solemn service being over, we may suppose Aaron and his family retiring with the complacency of good minds, rejoicing in the honour put upon them, in the eyes of all Israel; in the prospect of a dignity higher than the pomp of kings, which was about to descend to their latest posterity: and, above all, in that open declaration of the divine approbation, the celestial fire that consumed the

tion of humanity admits of certain, unmixed, or lasting felicity! That useful, necessary, awful element, which signally interposed to declare the choice of heaven, speedily interposes to punish and to afflict that chosen family, and to serve as a warning for ever, that "God will be sanctified in all them that draw nigh to him."

Thus was the first high priest of the Hebrew nation inducted into his office. Thus explicitly were laid down the principles, form, design, and use of the most ancient, civil, and religious polity in the world. While the first beginnings of religion and government, in every other nation under heaven, lie buried in darkness, confusion, and contra-fat of their sacrifice. But, alas! what condidiction aided by light from heaven we can trace up to its very source, the origin of a nation the most singular in the annals of mankind; raised out of an ancient pair, and "them as good as dead;" repeatedly threatened with utter extinction, during the first ages of their existence; but miraculously preserved in the very jaws of destruction: formed for conquest, eminence, and empire, in a desert; raised, after many struggles and revolutions, to a pitch of affluence and grandeur, unparalleled in history, and declining again as fast into contempt and obscurity: but, even in contempt and obscurity, supported, preserved, fenced on every sideIn captivity, undissolved; in the wreck of empire maintained, upheld, rescued, restored! At length, we behold them involved in one mighty ruin, driven from their capital and their country: their temple, the great bond of union, razed from the foundation and themselves henceforward scattered among the nations, during a period of near two thousand years. And yet, by a strange and unaccountable interference of

Levit. ix. 24.

The remaining incidents of the high priest's life, which we have on record, are but few in number, but they are instructive, and interesting, as we hope to make appear, if God shall be pleased to indulge us with another opportunity of this kind.

In reviewing the subject, we observe what it is that constitutes the perfect character of a priest of the most high God; Holiness to the Lord on the forehead; uppermost, overlooking all, directing all; and Israel resting upon the heart.

The ministers of religion are, by their office and station, perpetually admonished to shun every appearance of what is mean, selfish, or ungenerous. They are appointed of God to aid, instruct, and comfort their fellow creatures; to promote their best interests; to

cherish in them the best and noblest princi- | the ignorant, and on them that are out of th ples of their nature; and they are urged to way; for that he himself also is compassed perform this, by the highest considerations with infirmity:"* but "if perfection were by which the human mind can feel. Whatever be the dispensation, the spirit of the office and the nature of the service are the same. They stand as mediators between God and men. They bear on their hearts the names, the infirmities, the wants, the distresses, the sorrows, the joys of the people; and carry them with sympathy and affection to the throne of grace: and they return from thence bringing on their lips the "answer of peace." They lose themselves in labours of love; they sink every unworthy aim, every low pursuit, in seeking the glory of God, and the prosperity of the Israel of God. The minister who understands, feels, and performs his duty is one of the most exalted of beings.

the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there, that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?" "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"‡

The fire once kindled supernaturally by the celestial flame was to be kept alive by human care and attention. Miraculous interpositions of Providence are not to be expected, as an indulgence to carelessness and sloth. He only who diligently exercises the powers which God has given him, who employs the means which Providence has furnished, and which conscience approves, can with confi

Aaron and his sons were consecrated to the service of God, and of the congregation, by the sprinkling of blood applied to the ear, the hand, the foot. Thus their whole faculties were claimed by their great Author, and were thus devoted to him: and the symbol of atonement became the seal of their dedication. And thus every Christian becomes a priest unto the most high God, redeemed by blood, set apart by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. "Wash me, Lord, and I shall be clean, sprinkle me, and I shall be whiter than snow:"dence look up to Heaven, and rejoice in hope "Not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."*

"Every high priest taken from among men, is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: who can have compassion on

* Rev. 1. 5, 6.

of divine assistance. Would you that the sacred flame of devotion, of charity, should live in your heart, should glow upon your tongue, resort daily to the altar of God, and preserve its activity by "a live coal" from thence. Then your face shall shine, then your lips shall overflow with the law of kindness, then your hand shall open to the sons of want, then you shall" rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory."

* Heb. v. 1, 2. ↑ Heb. vii. 11. ↑ Heb. ix. 11-14.

HISTORY OF AARON.

LECTURE LXV.

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 onto 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.

WERE it not that life and immortality have been brought to light by the gospel, human life must appear in the eye of sober reason, a trifling scene of vanity and impertinence. Wherefore drops that babe into the grave as soon as he is born? Why was the wretched mother torn with anguish to bring him into the world? Was it only to be torn with more cruel anguish, to behold him prematurely snatched out of it again? Why is that old offender permitted to live, a burden upon the earth, the derision, hatred, and scorn of mankind? Why does that minion "fret and strut his hour upon the stage," arrayed in the glitter of royalty! Wherefore strides that barbarian from conquest to conquest, from continent to continent? Why pines modest worth in indigence and obscurity, and wherefore, at length perishes it on a dunghill? These, and a thousand such questions that might be asked, the doctrine of immortality, and of a judgment to come, resolves in a moment. "We know but in part, we see in a glass darkly." What the great Lord of nature, providence, and grace doth, we know not now, but we shall know hereafter.

The brevity and extension of life, difference of rank, talent, office, and condition, variety of fortune and success, acquire an importance not their own by their influence on character and moral conduct, by the changes which they produce on the soul of a man, by their reaching forward into eternity, and by producing effects which no length of duration can ever alter.

upon what we are, and upon the consequent change which death shall produce in our internal character, or outward condition. It is a light evil to be stripped of priestly robes. the work of man's hands; and to return. naked into the earth as we came from it; it is a light thing to feel the earthly house of this tabernacle dissolving, and the head which wore the mitre or the crown sinking into the dust; while the promise of Him who is faithful and true, rears for us "a bulding of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens;"* while the eye of faith contemplates that "crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give at that day: and not to one only, but unto all them also that love his appearing," assured that "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord."

If ever there was an enviable domestic situation, it was that of Aaron elevated to the priesthood. Think of the honest pride of honourable alliance: and who would not have been proud of such a brother as Moses? Reflect on an office of the highest dignity and respect, procured not by cabal and intrigue, but bestowed by the voluntary appointment of Him who is the source of all honour. A suitable provision likewise made for the support of that dignity, and an external habit annexed to it, that could not fail to attract notice and reverence. The sacred office was entailed upon him and his family for ever, and that family built up by four hopeful sons, his coadjutors and successors: and, to Men die, offices pass from hand to hand, crown the whole, these pleasing, flattering dispensations change; but the purposes of circumstances were crowned with an open, Heaven are permanent, the plans of Provi- unequivocal, indubitable mark of the divine dence are ever going forward, and while approbation. The fire of heaven caught hold one generation of men removes to that world of their burnt-offering, and kindled a flame of spirits from whence no traveller returns, never to be quenched. But alas, how shortanother rises up to contemplate the won-lived was this tranquillity! The sons of Aaron ders of that which now is, and to carry on the business of it. Hence wise and good men become not only concerned about their own future and eternal happiness, out about the prosperity and happiness of the world, after they have ceased to see and enjoy it. Hence they cheerfully engage in schemes which they cannot live to execute, and justly soothe their souls to peace, in the prospect of a kind of immortality upon earth. Hence among the other motives to excel in goodness, this has a pleasing and a powerful influence, "the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance," "while the memory of the wicked shall rot."

It is as difficult to make the proper estimate of death as of life. Death is an undoubted mark of the divine displeasure against sin, and is inflicted as a punishment upon the guilty. But like all the punishments of heaven, it is upon the whole, and in the issue, an unspeakable benefit to good men. The just estimate of death, then, must depend

are hardly consecrated to their office, when the two eldest profane and disgrace it. Celestial fire has scarcely proclaimed the favour and acceptance of God, when with unhallowed fire, which he commanded not, they defile his altar and his service: and thereby call down a second time fire from above, to avenge a holy and righteous God, as before to display the grace of Him who is good and merciful. The notoriety of the late transactions, the sacredness of their character, and the distinguished regard of Heaven expressed toward them, greatly enhance the atrociousness of their guilt, and justify the severity of their punishment.

66

This tragical event is thus recorded by Moses, whose method it is neither to extenuate, nor to set down aught in malice. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded 2 Cor. v. 1. t2 Tim. iv. 8

1

them not. And there went out fire from the The sin of Nadab and Abihu consisted simply Lord, and devoured them, and they died in this, they burnt incense with strange fire. before the Lord."* The words are few, but Now the meaning of this expression we shall they convey a full and distinct idea of the be able easily to collect, by comparing togunt of the parties: though by attending together a few passages that have an obvious the context, we shall have reason to conclude connexion, and serve to illustrate and explain their crime was of a very complex nature. each other. First, in Leviticus chapter the And sure it could be no common transgres- ninth, verse the twenty-fourth, it is said that sion which drew down a judgment so dread-"fire from the Lord," that is, either fire imful. Bishop Patrick is of opinion that Nadab and Abihu had rendered themselves incapable of doing their duty by intemperance: that they indulged in the delicacies of the sacrifice to a criminal excess, till they were incapable of putting a difference between holy and unholy, and between clean and unclean. This conjecture is founded upon the injunction which immediately follows the narration of this dismal story in the ninth and tenth verses. "Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever, throughout your generations; and that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean." If there be truth in this conjecture, it is a melancholy proof, that the best things are most liable to abuse, that the brutal part of our nature is ever ready to run away with the rational: that as God is continually employing himself in bringing good out of evil, so men are for ever perversely employing themselves in bringing evil out of good.

Others have charged upon these two sons of Aaron, the criminality of attempting to enter the most holy place, which was not permitted but to the high priest, and that only at certain stated times. This charge is established in the following manner. In the passage we have quoted, it is said, that it was before the Lord that Nadab and Abihu offered incense with strange fire. Upon comparing this with what is recorded in the sixteenth chapter in the first and second verses, where Moses recapitulates this sad event, we find it added, "The Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place, within the veil before the mercy-seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat." Hence it has been inferred that the two young men, uncalled, unauthorised, presumed to enter that august department of the tabernacle, assuming to themselves privileges that belonged only to the supreme priesthood, which in their father's life time it was unlawful to intermeddle with, and which even he himself durst not at all times exercise. But though neither of these suppositions be improbable, we have no occasion to go so far for a discovery of their crime, nor to account for the severity with which it was punished. * Lev. I. 1, 2.

mediately descending from heaven, or issuing out of the cloud that covered the tabernacle, consumed the first victims which Aaron offered for a burnt-offering. Again,-This sacred fire, once miraculously kindled, was by a special ordinance to be kept for ever alive; as we read, Leviticus chapter the sixth, verses twelfth and thirteenth. Thus the vigilance, attention, and care of man, was to preserve and continue what Providence had begun. By another ordinance it was enjoined, that the incense to be offered on the day of atonement, should be kindled by a portion of that perpetual fire. This we read in Leviticus chapter the sixteenth, verses eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth. This then was the fire which the Lord commanded to be used; and of course, every other kind of fire, however produced, and though in all other respects adequate to the purpose, was unlawful, forbidden, or strange. This accordingly constituted the guilt, they took upon them to kindle the incense, which their office obliged them to burn every evening and morning, with a fire different from that which burnt continually on the altar of burnt-offering; every other being strange fire, which the Lord commanded not. Now it was certainly fit and necessary that such a crime should be punished in the most exemplary manner. The sanctity of the whole institution was over at once, if the ministers of it might with impunity, in the very setting out, presume to dispense with its most august ceremonies. The rank and station of the offenders was a high aggravation of their offence. It was their duty to have set an example of scrupulous regard to the known will of God. They had been admitted to more intimate communion with God than others; had seen more of the terrors of his power, more of the wonders of his grace. Unhappy men! how had they been betrayed into an error so fatal? Ignorance it could not be, the voice of the law was yet sounding in their ears. Dared they to be careless in any thing that related to the service of a holy God? They had seen the exactness of their pious uncle, in forming every thing according to the pattern showed him in the mount. Was it indeed a wilful and deliberate violation of the law? I fear, I fear it was; and dreadful was the expiation. The unhallowed fire of their own kindling was quickly absorbed in a hotter flame: "they died before the Lord:* for there went out fire

• Lev. x. 2.

been able to subdue indwelling corruption, for we immediately find him in a plot, with Miriam his sister, to disturb the peace, diminish the respect, and distress the government of their brother Moses. Their pretence was his marriage with an "Ethiopian woman ;” an event which had taken place forty years before; an union which had no immorality in it: which transgressed no law, for the

God himself had not expressed any displeasure; but had crowned it with the blessing of children, who were justly admitted to rank in Israel.

from the Lord, and devoured them." Neither their sacred character, the sacredness of the place, nor the sacredness of the employment, can protect them from the keen stroke of avenging justice. "Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire."* Unhappy father! what were now thy feelings; bereaved in one sad day of half thy children, of thy first, thy dar-law was not then given; and against which ling hopes: to behold them thus immaturely cut off, taken away in anger! The bitterness of death is not relieved by one consolatory circumstance. What is the loss of children in infancy, and falling by the stroke of nature, compared to this? To heighten the old man's affliction, he is expressly forbidden to mourn, or to assist in the last sad offices of humanity towards his deceased sons. Behold him in mute dejection and distress, ministering in the duties of his charge, attentive to the calls of the living, leaving to others the care of burying the dead. How severely must his own offences now have been brought to his remembrance! He had been guilty of a crime of equal or greater magnitude: he had led the way in idolatry, and presided in the worship of a thing of his own fabrication; but justice suffered him to live, to live to see his own sons dying for a crime similar to his own. Alas, what is prolonged life but length-venomed tongues of his own brother and sisened anguish!

As the giving of the law was fenced round with fire, and the sanctity of the tabernacle worship guarded by a flaming sword, so the meeker, gentler institution of the gospel, fortified its first beginnings by executing judgment on presumptuous sinners. Severity is the soul of a law, especially when it is notified to those who are obliged to submit to it; indulgence, or the appearance of feebleness, are of the most dangerous consequence, especially in the commencement of a new constitution. One of the heralds of the Saviour of mankind began his ministry by a clap of thunder; the first rays he shot from his eyes were mortal, and the sudden death of two false and perfidious disciples was the seal of his apostleship. The second coming of the Lord himself is to be "in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Aaron had now arrived at an advanced period of life, and at the possession of an office and rank in life, which rendered him an object of envy to some, and of veneration to others. He had oftener than once been corrected by his own folly, and he was "the man who had seen affliction by the rod of God's anger;" but neither the fire of calamity, nor the frost of age; neither the counsels of experience, nor the sanctity of office, have † Acts v.

*Heb. xii. 28, 29.
Į 2 Thess. i. 8.

The real cause was their envy of the preeminence, which their younger brother had obtained over them in all things, civil and sacred. For this, in spite of all their art, breaks out in the malicious whispers which they scatter abroad to blacken their brother's reputation. "Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us!"* If Moses indeed erred by marrying Jethro's daughter, he had severely smarted for it: for being induced, by an improper compliance with her humour, to neglect the circumcision of his son, he had nearly paid the forfeit of that neglect with his life, by the hand of God himself; and now his good name is bleeding on Zipporah's account, by the en

ter; and "who can stand before envy ?" Who can think to escape, if Moses remain not unhurt? This attack upon his fame and comfort, gives Moses occasion to deliver his own eulogium: and I believe it just, for he gives it with that lovely simplicity, which characterises all that he relates of himself or of others. "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." He either had not heard the scandalous speeches which were propagated to his disadvantage by Aaron and Miriam; or he pitied and neglected them. Who knows what length the mischief might have gone, had it not been heard and avenged by the Protector of injured innocence. "The Lord heard it." Let the slanderer hear this and tremble.

The two brothers and their sister are now summoned to present themselves together at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord appears: and a voice from that glory pronounces aloud and at full length, the praise of the man who had spoken so modestly of himself, and who had been so wickedly maligned by his own nearest relations. "And he said, Hear now my words; if there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in † Numb. xii. 3.

*Numb. xii. 2.