I love to contemplate his sympathy, heal The sicknesses of nature, but to me, I glanced upon the catalogue of woes; The hurt, the need, and the Physician's name; So that, as went the impotent of old, Be clean! Unstop my ear! Say, Lazarus, arise! Sometimes, O Lord, I have believed this done, That thou hast given new faculties, new life: And then my prayer asks larger blessedness, A word, a look, a smile, such as of old Peter on Tabor realized. O Lord, Answering as in thy wisdom thou seest fit, Grant blessings suitable, and I will praise. REZENEB. THE FREENESS OF MERCY. O LORD, were not thy mercy free, There's none more vile, there's none more base. A mass of sin from head to feet, The whole head 's sick, the whole heart faint, No language can its utmost paint; Thus plead with thee, and plead in vain, Impossible, God's word declares THE TWENTY-THIRD PSALM. THE Lord is my Shepherd, believers can sing, I nothing shall want that I need; My spirit reposes in pastures of green, Beside the still waters I feed. My soul he restoreth by covenant love, From paths of temptation and hell; Not for goodness in me, but for his name's sake, In the smiles of his favour I dwell. And when I shall walk in the valley of death, I then too no evil shall fear; For thou art my guide, thy rod and thy staff Shall strengthen and comfort me there. Thou spreadest my table with dainties most choice, Of which worldlings have no control; The wine of the kingdom invigors my health, Thy Spirit anointeth my soul. Surely goodness and mercy have followed my days, Through every step I have trod ; There honour and power to Jesus is sung A HYMN. JEHOVAH Jesus, Bridegroom dear, Unto our waiting souls draw near, With manifestive love and power; Then shall we humbly thee adore. Virgins made wise in things divine, In truth and love O may we shine; Oil in our vessels let us have, E. R. And love and praise thee while we live. THE SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE, AND ZION'S CASKET. "For there are Three that bear record in heaven, the FATHER, the WORD, and the HOLY GHOST; and these Three are One."-1 John v. 7. "Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." -Jude 3. "Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience."-1 Tim. iii. 6. NOVEMBER, 1848. THE offerings which Aaron is to take of the children of Israel are next specified: These are to be, two kids of the goats, and one ram for a burnt-offering: he is to offer his bullock for himself and his house. "And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel, two kids of the goats for a sin-offering, and one ram for a burntoffering. And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin-offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house."-Leviticus xvi. 5, 6. The whole of what is contained in this chapter, consists of directions given from the Lord to Moses, which he was to deliver unto Aaron his November, 1848.] brother, the high priest of the Jewish church, concerning those sacrifices and services which were to precede his entrance into the holiest of all. How he was to enter begins at the third and fourth verses, which was discoursed on and set before you in the former sermon. As I could wish the whole clearly apprehended, I will cite the two former verses for this reason I could wish to give such a connected view of all which follows in the following verses, as that the same may most clearly appear unto the reader and hearer. "Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering. He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with a linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.” The following sacrifices which are expressed in this and following verses, were omitted, because those mentioned in these words were for Aaron and his house, as those which are now to be expressed in our present sermon to the close of the R R tenth verse; and were preparatory to Aaron's entrance into the holiest of all. It is, as I may so say, the peculiar sacrifices belonging to this day, began with Aaron's offering the sin-offering, which was for himself; and after his disposing of the two goats and one ram, which he was to receive from the people, and separate them according to the divine command, our present text then begins: "And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel, two kids of the goats for a sin-offering, and one ram for a burnt-offering. And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin-offering, which is for himself, and for his house." Aaron was to perform the whole service on this day. The children of Israel, as expressive of the whole election of grace, were those on whose behalf he was to offer sacrifices.. He was to receive from them two goats; one of them was to be for a sin-offering, the other was to be for a scape goat. He was also to receive from them a ram: this was, to be for a burnt-offering, so that like as he himself could not appear before the Lord without a sin-offering and a burnt offering, which he was to offer to make an atonement for himself and for his house; so neither could he appear before the Lord without the sin-offering and burnt-offering for the people, even for the whole congregation of Israel. They had all a like interest in those sacrifices and services offered and performed by the high priest in their behalf; Aaron must first offer for himself, and then for the sins of the people. If our Lord Jesus Christ had not been perfectly sinless; if his humanity had not been entirely without all spot of sin, he could not have been our sa· crifice, and removed all the sins of his whole church from before the Lord by the sacrifice of himself: and had he not done this, he could not have entered into heaven as the great, High Priest of his church and people. In opening the words before us, so as that we may have a clear apprehension of the subjects contained in them, I would propose the following order, First, The command here given, and which Aaron was to attend unto : "And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel, two kids of the goats and one ram. Secondly, What these were for, and the uses they were to be appointed unto, the one for a sin-offering, the other for a burnt-offering. One of these goats was to be for a scape goat, or the goat gone away: an interpretation of this will be given, and how these two goats were disposed of: yet this more particularly concerns the account which belongs to the same in the next sermon, when we shall have to speak of the Lord's lot being cast upon them. Thirdly, How Aaron is first, before he enters on other services, to offer his own bullock; this was a sin-offering for himself; the actions which he performed will be men tioned, and this as the Jews understood the same; this will be quoted from Ainsworth's, annotations. Our text says, "And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin-offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself and for his house." By which is to be understood all the priests, as it pleased the Lord in his first revelation of Christ to express the same in these general terms, "the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head;" so that the promise of Christ after the flood might be renewed and confirmed, it was expressly notified out of whom Jesus Christ should come. This was made known to Abram, who was afterwards called Abraham, that in his seed all the families, yea, all the nations of the earth should be blessed in him, who was in his own name, person, work and offices, the plant of renown. On account of this, the natural seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were singled out and set apart from all others as a peculiar people, as those to whom the Messiah was promised, and from whom he was to proceed. The whole of the Israelites were taken into a national church relationship and covenant with God at mount Sinai. They had laws and statutes of ordinances given them immediately from the Lord by Moses; in the which was contained a most complete and divine testimony concerning the person of the promised Messiah, the conception of his human nature, his incarnation, nativity, with all which concerned his life, sufferings, sacrifice, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and glorification; together with the completeness of his salvation, and the blessings of the same. These are all set forth as contained, implied and expressed in the ordinances appointed by the Lord for their worship; so as that the same had never been so fully known before. As the true church of God was amongst them; so the promise of Christ's incarnation, with the full revelation of him, was given them, and that in the economy of Moses, which contained a most glorious display of the covenant of grace. If this apprehension of the subject followed us, which it ought in our reading any part of the Old Testament, we more assuredly should be great gainers in our reading the sacred page. It is the true scriptural idea of this which only can cast a lustre on all here before us. The Lord Jesus Christ is the king of his church; it was he who gave the command in the words before us, so that all contained in this chapter comes from the Spirit of the Most High God with the same authority as it would have done had it been expressed with a "Thus saith the Lord." It was received by Aaron as such, it was spoken by the Lord to Moses, it was by him delivered unto Aaron, it is most likely it was by him, or by his means made known to the people. Therefore the Lord in the words before us most suitably expresses the same, " And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering." These animals were to be taken of the congregation: these were to be their own: they were to be at their own cost for the same: "And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sinoffering, and a ram for a burnt-offering." Goats were used in sacrifices; they were under the law, ceremonially clean; they were especially used in the sin-offering, see Numb. vii. 29 "the he-goat is comely in his goings.' Prov. xxx. 29, 31. It may be the sacrificed goats represented our Lord in the likeness of sinful flesh; as a Surety for, and reckoned with, transgressors. " The two expiatory goats on this day of atonement, the one sacrificed, the other let go in the wilderness, might be to express Christ in his death and also in his resurrection. There were fifteen sacrifices offered on the day of atonement, there was the morning and evening oblation: after the morning sacrifice there were seven lambs, a bullock and one ram. All these were burnt-offerings, and for proof of this, you must look to Numb. xxxix. When the particular service of this day began, they offered a sin-offering for Aaron and a burnt-offering for his house, and a sin-offering and a burnt-offering for the congregation. The sin-offering set forth Christ who was to be the sin-offering of his church. The offerings, both the burnt-offering and the sin-offering spoken of in this verse, as also the burnt-offering and sin-offering which Aaron offered for himself and for his house, were offered by him in his plain linen garments; which might be expressive of reconciliation through his offering of him self; "And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel, two kids of the goats, and one ram.' What these were for, I am to set before you. This is my next particular, which is Secondly, The design, or what they were for the one was for a sin-offering, the other for a burnt-offering. One of these goats was to be for a sin-offering; the other of these was for a scape goat, or a gone away goat. This will be opened and explained as we proceeed on in expounding this chapter. The ram in our text was to be for a burnt-offering. The Jews say, these two goats were to be alike, to be of equal value and price, to be buck goats, to be taken at one and the same time one of these was to be killed-a memorial of the death of Christ: the other was to be sent away alive; to shew forth how Christ, suffering for our sins, should be put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, would hereby complete the salvation of his church. The apostle saith of our most adorable Lord, "He was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." Rom. iv. 25. With regard to these two goats; the killing of the one, and the sending the other out of the camp of Israel; the killing of the one is mentioned in verse 15. "Then shall he kill the goat of his sin-offering which is for the people," &c. ; the sending away the other alive, you must look to verse 21 of this chapter for the same. The two goats were a propitiatory sacrifice; the one slain, the other sent away: expressive of our Lord Jesus Christ in a state of suffering; and his state of being raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father; in and by which he was in a glorious state of immortality. I will again repeat the words of my text, that the same may not be lost and forgotten, " And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel, two kids of the goats for a sin-offering, and one ram for a burntoffering." The two goats were for a sin-offering; the one was slain, the other was not yet they were both propitiatory, they were both figures of Christ, who is the propitiation for our sins; and whose blood cleanseth us from all sin. And the ram spoken of was for a burnt-offering: this was expressive of Christ's offering up himself in the flame of inexpressible love, as a sacrifice for sin; which the apostle thus expresses, "Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour." Eph. v.2. I proceed with my subject, Thirdly, To observe, that Aaron first, before he enters on other services, is to offer his own bullock; this was a sin-offering for himself; the actions which he performed will be mentioned, and this as the Jews understood the same: this will be quoted from Ainsworth's annotations. Our text says, "And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin-offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself and for his house." This was the first sacrifice that was peculiar for this day, and for the work of reconciliation. This beginning with the priest himself, shewed the weakness and imperfection of the Jewish legal priesthood; and the impossibility thereof to bring the worshippers nigh to God. The apostle tells us, that Aaron and those who succeeded him, were men of infirmities, compassed about therewith; and therefore this sacrifice was one qualification to fit the high priest for the performance of his office, "Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way, for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity:" "And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people so also for himself, to offer for sins." Heb. v. 2, 3. Thus, as says the apostle, "The law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since |