shall he do the like in the feast of the seven days, according to the sin offering, according to

the burnt offering, and according to the meat offering, and according to the oil.

LECTURE 1356.

Princes and their subjects dealt with alike in Scripture. Holy scripture deals with all men faithfully alike. And strongly as it enjoins on the multitude conscientious submission to "the powers that be," Rom. 13. 1, it no less forcibly inculcates on kings, and all who are in authority, a conscientious regard for the welfare of their subjects. "Thus saith the Lord God, Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord God." How solemnly are the future princes of the land here charged to be content with their allotted portion; see ver. 7, 8; how strongly are they warned against the sins most easily besetting them, oppression, and exaction, and partiality in judgment! Closely connected with the due administration of justice is the maintenance of a fixed standard for weights and measures. And not only would justice between man and man depend upon the observance of these statutes, but the offerings due to God are here prescribed by measure, weight, and reckoning. And the regulations are so connected as to lead us to suppose, that God thereby graciously designed, to secure the more effectually this great point of honest dealing to his people.

As princes are told in Scripture of their duties, and their sins, no less plainly than other men, they are also taught in the inspired volume the same means of reconciliation unto God. The same sin offering is shewn to be indispensable for both. And in this vision there is an ordinance of singular propriety, to teach them their common interest in the one atonement efficacious for all. The people of the land are directed to give the "oblation for the prince in Israel." And immediately afterwards it is said to be "the prince's part," "to prepare the sin offering, and the meat offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offering, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel." What an effectual security for mutual good will, such good offices of mutual intercession! What little risk would there be of tyranny in rulers, or of rebellion in their subjects, nay of the least oppression on the one part, or of so much as a murmur on the other, if both were used to intercede with God in earnest for each other as well as for themselves, and both accustomed to look for pardon and peace only to the merits of their Saviour!

Ordinances for the prince and for the people in worship. entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it.

1 Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened.

2 And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. 3 Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the LORD in the sabbaths and in the new moons. 4 And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the LORD in the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish.

5 And the meat offering shall be an ephah for a ram, and the meat offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.

6 And in the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram: they shall be without blemish.

7 And he shall prepare a meat offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according as his hand shall attain unto, and an hin of oil to an ephah.

8 And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of that gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof. 9 But when the people of the land shall come before the LORD in the solemn feasts, he that

10 And the prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in; and when they go forth, shall go forth.

11 And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meat offering shall be an ephah to a bullock, and an ephah to a ram, and to the lambs as he is able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.

12 Now when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt offering or peace offerings voluntarily unto the LORD, one shall then open him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he did on the sabbath day: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth one shall shut the gate. 13 Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the LORD of a lamb of the first year without blemish: thou shalt prepare it every morning.

14 And thou shalt prepare a meat offering for it every morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of an hin of oil, to temper with the fine flour; a meat offering continually by a perpetual ordinance unto the LORD.

15 Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meat offering, and the oil, every morning for a continual burnt offering.

LECTURE 1357.

What distinctions are allowable between men, and what not. In these ordinances for the worship of the prince and of the people, we find that the prince has a distinct gate by which to enter into the temple, and a distinct place in which to stand when there, and distinct sacrifices to prepare and offer. And yet when directions are given for the coming in and going out of the people, it is added, " And the prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go in; and when they go forth, shall go forth." So that they were to worship together at the same time in one united congregation. The distinctions were therefore merely for the sake of order; and they may suggest to us what kind of distinctions are now allowable amongst different ranks in the same congregation. Where all must have some place, it is well for each to have his own. This tends to prevent confusion, and it may also cut off some occasion for wandering of thought. Where different places are higher and lower, better and worse, it is well for those who are the chief in rank to have the highest and the best. This is well at least for those whose rank is low, lest otherwise they be tempted to proud thoughts, where all are alike bound to exercise humility. But more than this is not well for any. More distinction between high and low, rich and poor, than thus arises from the necessity of the case, is bad for all, and worst for those who are thus unduly raised, in the house of God, above

their fellows.

The direction that the people should not return by the gate at which they entered is evidently meant to prevent confusion in the throng. Some indeed think it intended to obviate the risk of turning their backs upon the house of God. But this they must do in either case, on walking out of it. Besides if this had been the intent of this regulation, it would never have been permitted to the prince to go forth as here directed, by the same gate as that by which he entered in. Distinctions between men, amongst each other, are upheld and sanctioned in the word of God. But in a question of reverence toward God in man, there is no distinction allowable, between the most mighty potentate of the earth, and the most lowly of his vassals. Both are sinners. Both came into the world tainted with the same corruption of nature, liable to the same sentence of wrath, and alike wholly incapable of escaping it, by any power or worthiness of their own. when they draw nigh unto God to pray unto Him for his grace, or to praise Him for his goodness in bestowing it, through the sacrifice of his blessed Son, both owe the like measure of respect, namely, all that man can do to manifest the most submissive veneration towards the majesty of the almighty God.

And

The portion of the prince, and the chambers of the priests. 16 Thus saith the Lord GOD; If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons'; it shall be their possession by inheritance.

17 But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons' for them.

18 Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession; but he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession that my people be not scattered every man from his possession.

19 After he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests, which looked toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on the two sides westward.

20 Then said he unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meat offering; that they bear them not out into the utter court, to sanctify the people.

21 Then he brought me forth into the utter court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and, behold, in every corner of the court there was a court.

22 In the four corners of the court there were courts joined of forty cubits long and thirty broad: these four corners were of one measure.

23 And there was a row of building round about in them, round about them four, and it was made with boiling places under the rows round about.

24 Then said he unto me, These are the places of them that boil, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people.

LECTURE 1358.

The supreme importance of all relating to Christ. Various are the opinions as to who is intended by the prince spoken of in these visions. And amongst those who interpret the whole series of visions figuratively, many explain the prince to mean Christ our King. But the passage before us, as well as others, seems altogether inconsistent with this interpretation. For here we evidently have rules, plain in their meaning, and highly valuable in their application to the conduct of a temporal sovereign. And we shall therefore probably not err in supposing them intended for the chief civil magistrate, in the renewed kingdom of Judea, under whatever appellation he might exercise his sway. The property in land allotted for the maintenance of his state must not be alienated by lavish bounty to his servants. If therefore he should thus give a portion of his inheritance, the gift must revert to the prince's portion at the year of jubilee.

Whereas if he should give a gift to any of his sons, this might become the permanent possession of the son and of his children. after him; plainly because the prince's portion was intended to provide for all his family, who else might become burdensome

to the state.

The experience of our own national history affords many a striking illustration of the merciful provision for man's welfare embodied in these rules. Often have the lavish expenditure of princes, and their wasteful bounty to their servants, led to the practice of oppressive exactions. Hence the kingly office is apt to become an object of suspicion and hostility, instead of being looked upon with reverence and love. And either the people are wronged, and scattered from their possessions, or if they save their property by successful opposition, they imbibe a spirit of resistance to authority, and thus lose that which is more precious than worldly goods, the habit of submission to the ordinance of God. Happily for us, in our state at present, as of old in the commonwealth of Israel, the authority of law is paramount to all other, and sets limits alike to oppressiveness in rulers, and to insubordination in the people. Long may it thus be in the land! Long may the princes who rule over us, and the people over whom they rule, unite in submitting to the authority of just and equitable laws!

To many it may seem strange, that the vision should revert from such high state topics as these, to the mention of places for boiling and baking the various offerings of flesh and meal. But these were “ the holy chambers of the priests.” And these offerings were a tribute to be rendered to the King of kings, according to his law; they were symbols of a sacrifice, in which the whole human race would be most deeply interested, and on which would be founded a kingdom, destined to outlast all the sovereignties of earth, yea, to flourish when the earth shall be no

What then can be great, what noble, what ennobling to study, to comprehend, and to lay to heart, if not subjects such as these, if not all that God has been pleased to reveal in connexion therewith? The princes of the earth, and the affairs of worldly state, hide their diminished importance, when we see by faith the King of glory, and discern the things pertaining to his kingdom, even under the veil of those "carnal ordinances," Heb. 9. 10, addressed chiefly to the senses of the body, by which the people of Israel were to be prepared for apprehending them. How much more when we behold both Him, and the manifestation of his glory, full of grace and truth, as revealed in the simplicity of the Gospel; how much more ought we to esteem Christ, and the things of Christ, great above all other greatness, first, last, and all in all!