sacred volume. As a mere figurative symbol of the Gospel church, it would be difficult, indeed, to point out the use and meaning of all these minute measures and instructions about laws, and ordinances, and sacrificial rites; but these, if we have respect to a future dispensasation, may all have their appropriate uses.

It will not fall within my plan to enter into the minute consideration of these rites and appointed ordinances of this new house. They certainly differ, in many respects, from what the ceremonial law of Moses enjoined, the only authority for the regulation of divine worship ever yet acknowledged in the temple of Jerusalem. These must, of course, have reference to a state of things which has not yet been developed in the history of Israel.

But what most surprises us is, that a ritual of worship so like the Mosaic ceremonial, should again be restored by divine appointment, rather than institutions more analogous to those of the Gospel church; and, especially, that the sacrifices of animal victims should be again enjoined! For we read of all the various offerings of the Levitical economy; not only " peace offering" and "meat offering," but "burnt offerings," "trespass offerings," and "sin offerings."*

The

We can only reply-Such is the divine pleasure. It is not for us to judge what would be best for Israel and for the world at large, in this future age. altar, the sacrifice, and the vested priest, were thought proper to represent, on this same sacred spot, the atonement to be made through the sacrifice of the death of Christ, for many ages before it took place: and, in these types and sacramental rites, the faith of the spiritual

* Chap. xlv.

worshippers of Jehovah was directed to him that was to come. When he came, these rites were, indeed, superseded; the sacraments of baptism and of the Lord's supper were appointed, as symbols of our cleansing through the blood and Spirit of our sacrificed Lord, and "to show his death," with a happy communication of its benefits, "until his coming again." But it appears, that when he does come again, as a means of grace for the renovated sons of Adam, sacrifices will be again enjoined on that holy hill where Jerusalem and Zion now stand. We should not have thought this. The mode in which we have been accustomed to contrast Jewish ordinances with the Christian liberty and its less ceremonial ritual, has led us to form notions rather degrading of whatever bears a resemblance to the former. However, God must judge what will be best; and, as it is clearly revealed that priests, and altar, and sacrifice, will be restored, it is not for us to lean to our own understandings in this matter. It would, indeed, if we reflect, be difficult to assign a reason why these institutions should not be proper for a memorial of the past, as well as for a type of the future: why they may not exercise the faith of the redeemed in the death and passion" of the Lamb that has been slain," and sacramentally seal to their souls the spiritual benefit, as they symbolized and predicted, with the same blessed effects, to ancient believers, the mysteries of redemption not yet unfolded.

One remarkable difference is pointed out by expositors in this ritual of Ezekiel, which very much distinguishes it from the Mosaic. Here is no high priest. The priests of the house of Zadoc seem to officiate all alike. This clearly indicates a change both of the law and of the priesthood; and that the reinstated family of the sons of

The

Aaron are to minister and to keep the charge of the sanctuary, for very different purposes than before. They serve not now in a shadow of good things to come. true "High Priest" has "entered once for all" into the heavenly sanctuary, "and has obtained eternal redemption for us." The ministry of these priests is merely a commemorative ministry. They only "show forth" to the outward sight the symbols of that eternal redemption that has been obtained; as the Christian priesthood do, at this day, in their administration of the elements of the Lord's supper in the midst of his people. They are as ordinary priests, attending in the tabernacle and courts without, while the great High Priest is making propitiation in the presence of the Almighty Father. Hence the ark and the mercy seat are no longer found in this temple, nor the veil dividing the most holy. This part of the ceremonial of the former temples had been realized, and needed no longer to be represented to the eyes or ears of the believers. The manifested glory, if we may so speak, had absorbed all this, and what was left of the ancient ritual is, as we have observed, commemorative only,enough to show "how heavenly places had been cleansed with better sacrifices;" though these, as appointed memorials, are sufficient to represent before their eyes, and to communicate to the faithful worshippers, the cleansing, sanctifying virtues of that "one sacrifice once offered."

It has also been remarked by some, that the altar before the Lord in this temple is several times called the table, which may easily be supposed to have a reference to the different intent of the sacrificial rites which are still retained.

I would observe, lastly, that however averse to our preconceived notions may be the restitution of ceremonial

sacrifices, that restitution exactly corresponds with the prediction in the close of the fifty-first psalm, where a reference is clear to Israel of the last times:

Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion,

Build the walls of Jerusalem :

Then wilt thou desire the right sacrifices, an offering and

a holocaust;

Then shall they offer steers upon thine altars.

Again, Isaiah, lx. 7.

All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to thee,
The rams of Nabaioth shall attend on thee.

They shall come up with acceptance on my altar,
And I will glorify the house of my glory.

So in Jeremiah, xxxiii. 18.

And to the priests and Levites shall not be wanted a man,
To offer before me burnt offerings, and to burn incense,
And to perform sacrifice continually.

20. If ye can make void my covenant of the day,

And my covenant of the night,

And there be no longer day nor night in their season;
Then may my covenant be made void with David, my

servant,

That he shall not have a son to reign on his throne,

And with the Levites, the priests, that they shall not minister

to me.

The reader will also remark the particular ceremonies by which the prince is distinguished and honoured in this new temple. I cannot but consider this, abstractedly considered, as a high sanction of that great consideration which has been shown to the chief magistrate in things pertaining to the worship of God; and that, though

we are all brethren, if indeed " partakers of the benefit," yet the prince and the subject are by no means to be confounded, and to be put upon a level in the external solemnities of the church.

The reader will also bear in mind, that the chief magistrate here, though so distinguished from his brethren, is never called king, but only prince. The Elohim of Israel, in his sanctuary, is King: the prince is only the first civil officer under the THEOCRACY, and may be compared to Moses, Joshua, and the ancient judges-" Their counsellors are restored as at the first." The Lord from his sanctuary governs the nation of Israel, and his rule extends from this, "his first dominion," over all the earth and Israel, his favoured nation, where he has pitched his tabernacle, will no more repeat the error of their forefathers, "to ask them a king," "when Jehovah, their Elohim, is their King." 1

That the interpretation of this last part of Ezekiel's vision here given is no novel interpretation, as to the general outline, the words of Justin Martyr, a father of the second century, are sufficient to show: "I, and as many as are orthodox Christians in all re

spects, do acknowledge that there shall be a resurrection of the flesh, and a thousand years in Jerusalem rebuilt, and adorned, and enlarged, as the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah, and others, unanimously attest." See BP. NEWTON, vol. ii. 354.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

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