of their heavenly Father to his children upon earth. The approach to the golden altar of incense was by way of the brazen altar of burnt-offering: the new and living way that conducts "into the holiest of all," is through the rent veil of the Redeemer's flesh. Jesus having suffered the things which were appointed, entered into his glory. As by the altar of burnt-offering, so by the laver of purification, the holy place was approachable; for" without holiness no man shall see God;" and "every one that nameth the name of Christ must depart from iniquity." The horns at the corners of the altar have been considered as emblematical of strength, and being tipped with the blood of the atoning victim, are conceived to represent the power of God, and the grace that is in Christ Jesus, united in the work of man's redemption. The quadrangular figure of the altar, and the equality of its sides, may point out the impartial regards of the great Father of all, under the dispensation to which that given by Moses conducted, to men of every nation under heaven, and they prefigure the day when, according to the words of the Saviour himself, "men should come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven."* altar, but of different dimensions, two cubits in length, by one of breadth, and one and a half in height: and, like it, furnished with staves fitted to four rings for the purpose of conveyance. Its use was to hold the shewbread, consisting of twelve cakes, according to the number of the twelve tribes, of the finest flour, prepared according to a special prescription, in two piles of six each, to be renewed every sabbath-day, and that which was removed to become the property of, and to be eaten in the holy place by the priests, the sons of Levi, who ministered at the altar. Now upon the very first sight of it, this ordinance, besides those circumstances which it possessed in common with others, seems designed to be a perpetual acknowledgment, on the part of man, of the care and kindness of a gracious Providence, which gives to men the rich enjoyment of the principal support of human life, bread, and with it, all the inferior accommodations and comforts which render it desirable. It was, on the other hand, the security and pledge which God vouchsafed to give to his church and people, that bread should continually be given them: that while Israel owned and acknowledged God in the way of piety and devotedness to his service, he would own and acknowledge them, by an unwearied and effectual attention to their necessary demands and reasonable wishes. The materials of the altar, shittim-wood overlaid with pure gold, by a bold imagination have been supposed a figure, of the two- A common table is the badge of familiarifold nature of Christ: the purity, solidity, ty and friendship, is the sweetest emblem impassableness of the one, encompassing, of domestic union and happiness; of patersupporting, securing the fragility of the nal concern, of filial tenderness, of brotherly other, defending it at all points, and bestow-love. ing upon it a value, strength, and duration which it possessed not before. Finally, the staves fitted to the rings, and perpetually in their place for the conveniency of motion, have been, with what propriety you will judge, construed into an emblem of the transitory nature of the whole dispensation, which looked continually forward to something better than itself; which for ever warned the comers thereunto of their pilgrimage state, saying, "Arise ye, and depart, for this is not your rest." And it is remarkable, that after Israel was come to his rest in the land of promise, and the holy furniture of the tabernacle was lodged for perpetuity in the temple at Jerusalem, this memorial of motion and change still offered itself to view: the altar, the table, the ark, had the instrument of removing them always in its place, and, in concert with every part of the system of nature and providence, call upon men with a loud and distinct voice, saying, "Seek ye another country, that is an heavenly." But we proceed. The third and last piece of furniture in this solemn repository was "the table of shew-bread," of the same materials with the *Matt. viii. 11. The "shew-bread" was appropriated to persons of a sacred profession, to sacred seasons, and a holy place; unless when the greatness of the occasion superseded the strictness of the letter, and the law of mercy took precedence of the law of sacrifice. Ŏ how much more extended the grace of the gospel! David alone and his company, and that only once, on a necessitous occasion, was admitted to the privileges of a son of Levi, to a participation of the consecrated bread; but "behold," says the great head of the Christian church, "I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."* What an honour was it to these Levites to be received and treated as the guests of the great Jehovah! But it is not once to be compared with the unspeakable felicity and honour of receiving and entertaining the King of glory. And such felicity is the portion of the meanest of the saints: thus shall it be done to the man, however poor or despised among his equals, whom He by whom kings reign delighteth to honour: for "behold the tabernacle of God is with men." The twelve † Rev. xxi. 3 * Rev. iii. 20. tribes, represented by so many cakes of bread, looking down together towards the mercypresented without ceasing before God in the holy place, were without ceasing admonished of their common relation to one another, and their constant security under their heavenly Father's watchful eye, and the shelter of his expanded wings. "Can a woman forget her sucking-child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee."* The renewal of the cakes every returning sabbath, different yet the same, removed yet remaining, the old applied to one use, the new to another, may not unfitly represent that bread of life which our heavenly Father's love has provided for the fare of our Christian sabbaths-the very food which our forefathers lived upon; not another gospel, but that which was from the beginning; but served up for our use, by men possessed of different gifts, "according as God hath distributed to every man the proportion of faith" and it is the happiness and the praise of every scribe who " is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, to be like unto a man that is a householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old."t Once more, might not this table of the Lord, perpetually covered, perpetually furnished, be intended as a figure of that table, which the eternal wisdom of the Father has prepared and provided with "the bread which came down from heaven, to give life to the world?" And from thence, by an easy and natural transition, the eye ascends to our Father's house above, in which "there are many mansions," and where "there is bread enough and to spare;" and O how happy is that man who "shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." Such was the holy place and its furniture; the uses to which it was applied, and the spiritual objects which it presents to our view. seat and concealing it from the eye. For any one to touch this with so much as a finger, or to presume to look into it, except those who were divinely appointed for the purpose, was instant and certain death, as the dreadful punishment of Uzzah and of the men of Bethshemesh awfully evinced. Its contents were the two tables of testimony, the golden pot with manna, the memorial of Israel's miraculous supply in the wilderness, and Aaron's rod that budded. Its principal use was to point out a way in the pathless wilderness for Israel to march in. From between the cherubims the divine oracles were delivered, at first to Moses by a voice; for God conversed with him as a man with his friend; and afterwards to the high priest, who consulted by Urim and Thummim, which is supposed to have been a supernatural declaration of the divine will, by means of rays of glory darted from the most holy place, upon the breastplate which was studded with twelve gems. But the nature and manner of this consultation and response, now are, and likely to remain so, a secret to mankind. Besides marking out the way, and directing the several encampments in the wilderness, we shall meet in the course of this history with a special interposition of it in many noted particular cases. By it the waters of Jordan were divided asunder, and opened a passage for Israel into the promised land. Before it the proud walls of Jericho were levelled with the ground, after having been encompassed by it for seven days: its presence confounded Dagon, and plagued the Philistines. Treated with respect, or approached carelessly and presumptuously, it became a protection and a source of blessing to one family; a terror and a curse to another. The king of Israel reckoned it the glory of his house, and the protection of his kingdom; With reverence we draw nigh to the last and had it conveyed with all suitable solemsolemn recess of this venerable structure, nity to the place prepared for it. And, called "the ark," by way of eminence and finally, it completed the splendour and magdistinction; sometimes, "the ark of the cove-nificence of the sacred edifice on mount Zion, nant;" the ark of the "testimony;" the ark of" his strength;" the ark "whose name is called by the name of the God of Israel." We shall pass by those circumstances which were in common to it, with the other implements of the worldly sanctuary, the holy places made with hands; and point out a few of those which were peculiar to itself. It was a close chest of two cubits and a half long, one and a half broad, and one and a half in height of the self-same materials with the rest. The covering was denominated the mercy-seat; from the two ends of which arose two figures of cherubims, of beaten or solid gold, with their faces turned, and their wings extended towards each other: the joy and wonder of the whole earth. And the divine presence, of which it was the symbol, constitutes the safety, strength, and happiness of every living temple which the Holy Ghost hath reared. Let my heart, O God, be an altar, from whence the sweet incense of gratitude, love, and praise may continually ascend. "Arise, O Lord, into this thy rest; thou and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; let me with all thy saints shout for joy. Turn not away the face of thine anointed." The conjectures of the learned on the subject of the cherubim, are various, many of them fanciful, and for the most part unsatisfactory. The most obvious and most gene rally received opinion is, that they were emblematical representations of the angelic or heavenly host: and the attributes here assigned to them, their attitude, and their employment in the tabernacle service, correspond exactly to the idea given us in other parts of scripture of those flaming ministers who stand continually before God, execute his pleasure, adore his divine perfections, minister to the heirs of salvation. to praise and serve Him who is the author of their being, and the source of all their happiness. The cherubim are represented as furnished with wings. This denotes the alacrity, promptitude, and instantaneousness, with which angels obey the divine will. Thus, the angel who appeared to Zacharias at the hour of incense, "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God;" and hence, elseThe ark may be considered as the throne where, in scripture, the activity of angels is of God. The cherubim encompassed that compared to the velocity of the wind, and the throne, as the attendants in earthly courts rapid, irresistible force of fire. "He rode surround the throne and person of their prince. upon a cherub, and did fly; yea, he did fly This is the precise idea suggested by the upon the wings of the wind." "He maketh prophet Isaiah, of the nature and office of his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming these blessed spirits, in the sixth chapter of fire." "Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that his prophesy. "In the year that king excel in strength, that do his commandUzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon ments, hearkening unto the voice of his a throne, high and lifted up, and his train word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye filled the temple. Above it stood the sera-ministers of his, that do his pleasure."* phims; each one had six wings; with twain Once more; the faces of the cherubin he covered his face, and with twain he cover- were not only turned one to another, but ed his feet, and with twain he did fly. And bended together toward the mercy-seat, and one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, their looks were attentively fixed upon the holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is ark. This expresses the holy admiration, with full of his glory."* Thus, also, Daniel re- which angels are filled, of those mysteries presents the same glorious object; "The of redemption which the ark prefigured. To Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was this remarkable circumstance the apostle white as snow, and the hair of his head like Peter alludes in his first epistle, when speakthe pure wool: his throne was like the fiery ing of salvation through "the sufferings of flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A Christ, and the glory that should follow," he fiery stream issued and came forth from adds, "which things the angels desire to look before him thousand thousands ministered into." The words literally translated import, unto him, and ten thousand times ten thou-"which things, angels stoop down to contemsand stood before him." Micah saw in plate." It conveys a beautiful and striking vision, "the Eternal sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing before him, and on the right hand and the left." "The chariots of God," says the psalmist, "are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the holy place." And in several other passages he addresses the Deity as sitting and dwelling among the cherubim.§ The cherubim had their faces turned one toward another. This might be intended to represent the perfect union of sentiment and co-operation which subsists among these sons of light. In other places of scripture, we hear their voices in concert, raising one song of praise, as in the passage just now quoted from Isaiah, and Revelations, chapter fourth: "They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." These glorious beings, differing in degree, infinite in number, have nevertheless but one heart, one desire, one will, one aim, idea of the gospel dispensation. Angels are exalted to the height of glory and felicity. They behold God face to face, and drink of. the river of pleasure at its very source. They see his uncreated splendour shining before their eyes. They see his goodness in the blessings which they enjoy. They see his justice in the punishment of angels "which left their first estate." They see his wisdom in the government of this vast universe. In a word, every thing that is capable of filling the enlarged comprehension, of satisfying the inquiring spirit, is set before these pure and exalted intelligences. Nevertheless, amidst so many objects of wonder and delight, in the midst of all this felicity and glory, angels desire to be more and more acquainted with "the things which belong to our peace." They discover a God rich in mercy to men upon earth, as wonderful, as incomprehensible as a God abundant in loving kindness to angels in heaven: and forgetting, if it be lawful to say so, the lustre and happiness of the church triumphant, descend and mingle with the church militant, and find fuel to divine love, find materials for pleasing, advancing, endless investigation, in the work of redemption of Jesus Christ. "These things * Psalm ciii. 20, 21. the angels," from the heights of heaven, | golden vessels that were taken out of the “bend down" with humble earnestness, with temple of the house of God, which was at holy desire "to look into." 66 I conclude with quoting a passage of the Rabbi Maimonides on the subject. God commanded Moses," says he, "to make two cherubim, in order to impress upon the human mind the doctrine of the existence of angels. Had there been but one cherub placed over the mercy-seat, the Israelites might have fallen into a grievous error, they might have imagined, with idolatrous nations, that it was the image of God himself, which they were required to worship under that form. Or they might have been led to believe, on the other hand, that there was but one angel. But the command given to make two cherubim, joined to this declaration, O Israel, the Lord your God is one Jehovah, settles both articles beyond the power of disputation. It proves that there is an angelic order, and that it consists of more than one: it prevents our confounding the idea of God with that of angels; seeing there is but one God who created the cherubim, and created more than one." Jerusalem; and the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines drank in them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace; and the king saw part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another." Read the writing, with the interpretation of it. "This is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing; MENE, God hath numbered thy king. dom, and finished it.. TEKEL, thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES, thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."* Read the issue. "In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom."+ begun and perfected within the compass of little more than six months. Every thing was executed according to the pattern showed to Moses in the mount. At length it was set up in all its splendour, with a mixture of holy joy and godly fear: and the divine Inhabitant took solemn possession in the eyes of all Israel. "A cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." In this sacred repository were laid up, for Such was the wonderful structure erected perpetual preservation, the awful monuments to the honour of God, and by his special diof the Sinai covenant, of the church esta-rection, in the wilderness of Sinai. It was blished in the wilderness; the memorials of mercies past, the pledges of good things to come "the tables of the covenant," the incorruptible manna, and Aaron's rod that budded: signifying to all future generations, the permanency and immutability of the divine law, the unremitting care and attention of the divine providence, the dignity, and stability of the Levitical priesthood. But the whole economy, and every instrument of it, in process of time passed away. All was at length carried to Babylon. But the dissolution of the empire which dared to violate their sacredness, was involved in their violation and dissolution. Read the history of it, Dan. v. "Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels, which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, that the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines might drink therein. Then they brought the * More Nevoch, part III. ch. xlv. 2 N Dan. v. 1-6. "Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum: we have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man. Who hath obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the Mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old, is ready to vanish away."‡ * Dan. v. 25-28. † Dan. v. 30, 31. Heb. viii. 1, 2. 6. 13. 24* HISTORY OF AARON. LECTURE LXIII 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 pot 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 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. THE lives of most men, from the womb to | to retail those ideal virtues, are notoriously the grave, pass away unobserved, unregard- among the most abandoned and profligate of ed, unknown. When their course is finish- our race. Those examples, therefore, are ed the whole history of it shrinks into two to be considered as the most useful, as I flatlittle articles; on such a day they were born, ter myself they are more frequent, which and after so many days they died. Of those exhibit a mixture in which goodness prewho emerge out of the general obscurity, dominates, and finally prevails; in which some begin their public career at an advanc- virtue is seen wading through difficulties, ed period of life, and of course it consists of struggling with temptation, recovering from a few shining, interesting, important events, error, gathering strength from weakness, and is confined within the compass of a very learning wisdom from experience, sustainfew fleeting years. While the progress of ing itself by dependence upon God; seeking a little selected band, whom an indulgent refuge from its own frailty and imperfection Providence has vouchsafed signally to nobili- in divine compassion, and crowned, at length, tate, and whom the historic pencil is fond to with victory over all opposition, and the delineate, is distinguished from the cradle to smiles of approving Heaven. the tomb, by an uninterrupted series of splendid incidents, exemplary virtues, and brilliant actions. Of this sort, is the history and character which the pen of inspiration, which the pencil of a brother has drawn for the instruction of this evening. The characters of men are mixed like their fortunes. The most perfect instruc- Aaron, the first high priest of the Hebrew tion, for the generality of mankind, which nation, and the only brother of Moses, their history furnishes, is perhaps supplied from celebrated legislator, was born in the year the exhibition of mixed, that is, of imperfect of the world two thousand three hundred characters. Unvarying scenes of fraud, vio- and seventy; before Christ one thousand six lence, and blood; the representation of un- hundred and thirty-four; and before the birth deviating, unrelenting, unblushing profliga- of his brother three years. It is probable he cy, must, of necessity, create disgust, or came into the world before the edict of the diminish the horror of vice. The real an- king of Egypt was published, which comnals of mankind present no model of puremanded all the Israelitish male children to and perfect virtue, but one: and from its sin-be put to death. For that edict seems to gularity, it cannot, in all respects, serve as a pattern for imitation. We contemplate it at an awful distance; we feel ourselves every moment condemned by it: we turn from the divine excellency, which covers our faces with shame, and casts us down to the ground, toward the mercy which has sealed our pardon, and the grace which raises us up again. The fanciful representations of perfect virtue, which are supplied from the stores of fiction, can but amuse at most; edify they cannot. They want truth, they want nature, they come not home to the bosoms of ordinary men. I might more easily ape the state of a king, than imitate the affectedly sublime virtue of the heroes of romance. Many of the persons whose profession it is have been directed by a special interposition of Providence, precisely to mark, and eminently to signalize, the first appearance of the great prophet of the Jews. Exposed to no special danger of infancy, the subject of no interesting memoir in early life, distinguished by no memorable talents or exploits in manhood, we see him far declined into the vale of years before we see him at all; and, for all our knowledge of him, earlier or later, we are indebted to the labours of his younger brother. Another, among a cloud of witnesses, to prove that the birthright of nature, and the destination of Providence, are intended to confer distinctions of a very different kind. Moses has shone forty years in the court of Pharaoh, has formed an alliane |