or other of the relations, in which he stands towards us, that all the dispensations of good from the Deity are derived to mankind; that He, and He only, is in this sense the Mediator, the channel of communication between God and man, the dispenser of the divine goodness, as well as the repositary of the divine wisdom and truth, the delegate of the divine power, as well as the exemplar of the divine holiness and perfection.

Thus I have endeavoured to shew, first, in what respects our Saviour's personal character as a Priest, and secondly, in what his functions, were prefigured by the ceremonies relative to the Aaronical priesthood. In addition to the points of resemblance which have been instanced, may I venture to say farther, that the reason why the anointing oil was twice poured upon Aaron, first at the commencement, and again at the end of the ceremony of his consecration, might be in allusion to that twofold unction from above which Jesus Christ received, first at his conception, when from his mother's womb he became holy; secondly at his baptism, when the Holy Ghost was seen descending in a bodily shape, and alighting upon him? In like manner, the reason why a pontifical vesture of beauty and of glory, as well as holiness, was prescribed for Aaron, might be to typify that external form of glory in which Jesus Christ was seen for a time at the transfigura

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tion upon mount Tabor, and which he assumed permanently when he ascended into heaven. Again, it may account for the reason why the Levitical high priest was commanded to wear over his bosom the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, engraven upon the breastplate of righteousness; that it was perhaps meant to prefigure, under so affecting and expressive an emblem, the unceasing care and fondness with which Jesus Christ should watch over his Church; as it is written, Behold, I have graven thee on the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually "before me a" and as the Church is represented as saying to her Redeemer, "Set me as a seal upon thine hand, as a seal upon thine arm b;" in both which expressions there is an obvious allusion to the custom of wearing about the person memorials of those, for whom a pious or a tender regard has once been, and still continues to be cherished; memorials, by the presence of which, under such circumstances, the wearers express some such determination as this—that though distance of place should separate them from the objects of their attachment, though months and years should roll away before they meet them again, though even death should burst asunder the tie which once connected them together, they will never cease to retain towards them the

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a Isaiah xlix. 16.

b Canticles viii. 6.

same sentiments of affection or esteem. Now whether all this constancy of love and regard is ever exemplified in the attachment of human beings to each other, it is so in the unceasing care, the never ending protection, which the Redeemer extends over his Church; in comparison of which the strongest and most durable of natural affections, even maternal tenderness itself, is described by the prophet as weak or transient : "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."

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But enough perhaps has now been said to point out the typical relations of the Aaronical priesthood to that of Christ. If it is in the last place inquired, what practical benefit it may be of to us that we should know all this? though many answers might be returned to this question, I shall be satisfied at present with one-Did Aaron's intercession with the God of his fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, avail to procure a blessing upon the believing Israelite, a blessing upon him at home and abroad, in the city and in the field, in his going out and in his coming in-and shall not the intercession of Jesus Christ be powerful to procure a corresponding benediction for us? particularly when we consider that the priesthood of Aaron, with all its ac

c Isaiah xlix. 15.

companiments of victims, altars, and a tabernacle, was but a type or shadow of the Christian. The resulting conclusion of the superiority of the Christian over the Levitical priesthood in all those points of view, wherein he had previously contrasted them together, is the argument to which the apostle appeals in his Epistle to the Hebrews, why those, whom he was addressing, should be induced to come boldly to the throne of grace; i. e. because they had a great High Priest, who was passed into the heavens; one therefore, who, in respect of mediatorial dignity and influence, was as much superior to any person officiating upon earth in a similar capacity, as heaven itself was paramount to earth, or eternity to time; one too, who, notwithstanding his exalted dignity as God, yet having been as Man tempted in all things like to themselves, could be touched with a fellow-feeling of their infirmities.

Let us then comply with the apostolic precept, and neither in private nor in public neglect the important duty of preferring our petitions to the Father through him: and so shall our prayers, whether for the forgiveness of our sins, or for the supply of our daily bodily and spiritual necessities, meet with a gracious reception; and through the prevailing intercession of the same all-powerful advocacy, an entrance into his everlasting kingdom shall be abundantly ministered

unto us.

DISCOURSE THE SIXTH.

On the distinctions of clean and unclean, or of the holiness required from the Hebrew worshipper.

IN my former Discourses, it has been my en

deavour to investigate and confirm the typical or Gospel import of such institutions of the Jewish ceremonial Law, as related to the various modes of sacrifice which it prescribed, and also to the consecration of Aaron to the priesthood, and the peculiar offices which in his sacerdotal capacity he had to perform.

But besides these institutions, it is evident that there were others also of a ceremonial nature; for instance, those distinctions of things clean and unclean, of which we read so much in the Law; and, secondly, those forms and rites of lustration or purification, which the existence of such distinctions rendered necessary. Now as these constituted no small proportion of that body of ceremonial ordinances, which the apostle characterises generally as a shadow of good things to come, it is reasonable to presume that they likewise were intended to be of a figurative or typical import. In the present Discourse, then, it shall be my

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