spel, is not made in the looseness of figurative language; that the institutions of the law are not only inferior, in duration, to the promises of the Gospel, but are designedly intended to prefigure them.

I. This law was first established by the undoubted authority of heaven. Moses was neither deluded by a vain imagination to believe himself inspired with powers, which in reality he did not possess; nor did he assume a character, to which he had no claim, for the purpose of deceiving others. He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians: he acted, when he first received his Divine commission, with the greatest calmness: he even reluctantly obeyed the command of God, when he dared no longer refuse: and he displayed the real tokens of his prophetic character, by signs and wonders, which struck dismay into the hearts of the oppressors of Israel. The same proofs of his Divine authority were exhibited in the desert. The terrors, which were displayed upon mount Sinai, were too mighty to have been produced by any agency, but the immediate operation of the Lord of heaven. And under the public sanction of this visible interference of the Almighty, Moses delivered to the people the laws which he received from God.

The law, thus given to the Israelites, in

U

f

a manner different from that in which any other code of laws was ever promulgated, impressed with the very seal of God's power, might be expected to be different also in its nature, from any laws, which mere human reason had devised, and human authority established. It was avowedly imposed for a peculiar purpose. "It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made." It was intended to select a people from the rest of the world, and to keep alive a memorial of the gracious promise of the Messiah, who had been already predicted, until the fulness of time should come. There was, therefore, nothing improbable in the supposition, that a law, established by God himself with such an intention, should contain, within its own peculiar injunctions, some memorial of the great design which it introduced. And, on the authority of revelation, we are persuaded that such was the case; that the law was a schoolmaster to bring men unto Christ, by prefiguring, generally, in its priesthood, and sacrifices, and ordinances, the things which should hereafter be brought to pass.

II. Every notion which can be formed of religion supposes the existence of one Supreme Being. He, that cometh to God, must be

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f Gal. iii. 19.

Gal. iii. 24.

lieve that he is; and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." But the consciousness of guilt is inseparably connected, in the mind of sinful man, with the conviction that there exists a God of perfect purity. To establish, then, any communication between heaven and earth, it has pleased God to appoint, that some mediator should be taken from among men, who might "offer," in their name, "both gifts and sacrifices for sins." This institution was not without reference to future things. We know that, in the patriarchal ages, the regal priesthood of Melchisedec prefigured that of Christ: and the inferior order of the levitical priesthood was also so constituted, as to foreshadow the great High Priest of our profession.

The comparison, between the high priest of the Mosaic dispensation and Christ, is made the express ground of the argument in the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews; the whole of which, plainly infers the typical character borne by the high priest.

The circumstances of similarity are, indeed, too numerous to have been considered as casual coincidences, even if they were not thus noticed on infallible authority. Every high priest was to be "taken from among men." Christ was

h Heb. xi. 6.

i Heb. v. 1.

* Heb. v. 1.

"made flesh, and dwelt among us." The high priest, although exalted, by his office, above his brethren, was yet a man of like passions with them, "compassed with infirmity: and by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins." Christ Jesus "made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:"" and "in the

days of his flesh," "offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared." The high priest was thus a human being, that he might "have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way." "Wherefore, in all things, it behoved" Christ "to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." "Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." Of the Jewish high priest it was expected, that he should not be inferior to his brethren in form and riches, and wisdom, and strength. Although Jesus, in his

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human nature, had no form nor comeliness; nor any beauty that they should desire him; yet, spiritually, he is described as "fairer than the children of men;" one into whose lips grace was poured." The Jewish high priest was clothed in vestments of peculiar splendour, an emblem of the righteousness with which the Holy One should be invested, and of the salvation which he should bring to those who believed upon him. The inferior priests were at first consecrated, by being partially anointed with oil," the sensible representation of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit." But upon the head of the high priest only was the precious ointment poured, that ran down upon the beard, and went down to the skirts of his garments;" a sacred unction of honour and joy, as well as of holiness, significant of that effusion of the Spirit without measure, by which "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, with the Holy Ghost and with power," as well as with the oil of gladness above his fellows." The high priest, under the Jewish dispensation, was “ordained for men," to act on their behalf, "in things pertaining to God;" a faint image of

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