II. The Jubilee typified the blessings of the Gospel in the manner in which its celebration was introduced. It was by the sound of the trumpet: "Thou shalt cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land."* Now there are several respects in which the sounding of the Jubilee trumpet may be considered as typifying the preaching of the Gospel:

1. In the simplicity and yet full adequacy of the method employed. This means of announcement was peculiar to the Jubilee, as the Sabbatical year was not introduced in this way, nor does this appear to have required the formality of the employment of a priest, which was common in other cases. If every man were not at liberty to blow the trumpet himself, no official qualifications were necessary to authorize any one to do so.

The necessity for a suitable provision in this respect is as manifest as the importance of the blessings that were to be enjoyed; for however great those blessings may have been, had their existence not been known, the end designed by them would have been defeated; but by this means they were published. Here, again, there is a resemblance between the Jubilee and the Gospel. God has not only made provision for our salvation, but he has also instituted the ministry through which it is made known. Judging from the greatness of the advantages which the Jubilee offered, and the need in which those for whom they were provided stood, it

*Lev. xxv. 9.

might have been expected that no such method of proclamation would have been required, but that long before the arrival of the period, its advance would have been anticipated, and the first moment of the happy year ushered in with acclamation; and no doubt with some that was the case, but the great body of the Jewish people were in such a state of ignorance as to make this announcement necessary. So it might have been expected, from the state of man by nature and the suitableness of the blessings of the Gospel to his state, that there would have been far less occasion for the invitation of the Gospel to be given than really exists; but the same fall from God which stripped man of his innocency, deprived him also of knowledge; and now sunk down in blindness and stupidity, he needs to be roused to a sense of his state by the trumpet of the Gospel.

The kind of instrument by which it was ushered in was often used among the Jews, and one with which every Israelite must have been familiar; but if the passage in Isaiah* already quoted be a reference to this institution, there would appear something peculiar about the one employed in this case, for it is called "the great trumpet," probably in allusion to its size-the material of which it was constructed, or the occasions on which it was used. And how simple, and yet how effectual, through his blessing, are the means which God employs with sinners, namely, information, exhortation, and appeal: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no * Isa. xxvii. 14.

money, come ye, buy and eat!"* "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."+

2. Its celebration commenced on the great day of atonement.

Who does not admire the wisdom of this association, and see how the one observance that was less attractive, was enforced by another which was more interesting! If there was one institution which it may be supposed unenlightened men would feel inclined to observe, on account of the benefits it imparted, it was the Jubilee; but not so the atonement. Here, however, God unites them, and the observance of one is secured by that of the other; and the design of the union was not merely, as Bishop Patrick would lead us to think, because men would feel more inclined. to forgive others their debts at the very time when they themselves were forgiven of God; nor yet simply that they might know the time of the year; but because the atonement was a still more important institution than the Jubilee itself,-being designed to show that all the blessings we enjoy flow from the shedding of that blood of which the blood of the atonement was a type.

The Jubilee and the Gospel resembled each other,

3. In the universality of the proclamation. It was extended throughout all the land.

This was not intended merely that all might know that such an institution was appointed, * Isa. lv. 1. Acts xvi. 31. See Bishop Patrick on Leviticus.

and admire the wisdom of God in it, and that one might congratulate another on the blessings he had received; but because its provisions were needed by all classes, and men in every situation of life; for, if they were not slaves or debtors, they were all addicted more or less to those pursuits which had a tendency to secularize the mind, and engross the affections; and especially did they want to be taught in this way that there was a better rest remaining for the people of God.

Still more necessary is it that the trumpet of the Gospel should sound in every land, since there is not one blessing which the Jubilee typified but the fallen sons of Adam stand in need of; but as the Jubilee was proclaimed to all, so the Gospel is to be preached to every creature under heaven, that all the human race may enjoy the liberty and rest which are devised by God, and founded upon the atonement of his Son.

THE CITIES OF REFUGE.

It is pleasing to observe how admirably the Divine Being suits his dealing with us to our nature and constitution. Not only does he adapt his conduct to our rationality, but, as we have certain passions, these are (either in their combination or separately) addressed and appealed to. In illustrating the last type that we considered, we noticed man's love of liberty and freedom, and showed the manner in which this was made subservient to teaching him the great truths of the gospel. In that of the cities

of refuge, we learn that his fears may be made conducive to the same great end.

The account of these places is contained in Numbers xxxv. 10-32; Deuteronomy xix. 1-8; and Joshua xx. 1. The appointment of the cities of refuge, like the Jubilee, is to be regarded primarily in a civil point of view; nor were there many of like character among the Jews which yielded them greater honour or benefit. That it was designed to possess a typical character is not asserted in the Sacred Volume; and yet that such was the case has not only been the opinion of many respectable commentators, both ancient and modern, but it appears from some things about the institution itself, and also from the allusion made to it by New Testament writers. For instance, if the setting of them apart had been only to afford protection to the manslayer until his case was properly investigated, it would appear that this object could have been as well, and even better, accomplished by some law relative to the matter, such as had existed in different nations of the earth, without the delay and danger which must have been necessarily occasioned by the guilty person having to gain an entrance into one of the cities of refuge. All the places appointed belonged to the Levites; and it was expressly enjoined, that at the death of the high priest the refugee should have liberty to return to his own city and home. The former of these circumstances has been supposed to have been designed to secure to the person who fled for refuge a more ready reception and kinder treatment than he probably would have received in any