our gracious Intercessor and High Priest for ever; that the holy of holies in the temple was the figure of heaven itself; that all which Aaron did there, fore showed what our Lord did and does for us above; that the blood there offered by Aaron and his successors, under the law, pointed out the blood of Christ, by him offered to the Father in heaven; and the incense, which was fumed upon those occasions, to diffuse a grateful smell, denoted the merits of our blessed Redeemer, which appease the wrath of God, render all our prayers and oblations acceptable, and fill heaven and earth with the sweet smelling savour of life, peace, and salvation.

These things being understood and considered, we may easily collect, from what has been said, the reason why Aaron's intercession on the behalf of offending Israel was so powerful and effectual. For if Aaron, in the office of high priest and mediator, represented the world's Redeemer, and if the atonement, which he made for Israel, showed forth that great atonement to be one day made by Jesus Christ for the church universal of all ages and nations; then God had undoubtedly respect unto that great atonement, and, for his sake who was to make it, pardoned those for whom it was to be made. In the person of Aaron he beheld his beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased, interceding for the transgressors; Israel was spared for the sake of Aaron, but Aaron himself was accepted for the sake of Christ.

And now, I would willingly hope that this scene begins to open upon you in all its glory. For surely the brightest imagination cannot figure to itself a more

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exact and lively representation of our sinfulness, of the divine wrath, and the mercies of redemption. Under this most affecting image of rebellious Israel, smitten with a pestilence, and saved by the intercession of Aaron, are described to us the miserable and lost state of man after the fall, the terrible execution of God's justice on the one hand, and the gracious interposition of our Redeemer on the other, with the effects of both.

Were the men of Israel sinners and rebels against their God? So we are all. All have sinned; all have broken their allegiance to their Creator and Sovereign, and gone over to his and their enemy. When we read of the repeated transgressions of Israel, with the mercies and the judgements of Heaven fresh in their memories, nay, even before their eyes, we are amazed and confounded, and almost tempted to disbelieve the accounts of such horrible perverseness and ingratitude. But conscience sleepeth all this while, and we stand in need of a Nathan, to tell each of us, "Thou art the man." For who amongst us has not experienced the mercies of God; and who has not abused them? Who has not trembled at his judgements; and who has not forgotten them again? Who, in the hour of sickness and sorrow, has not made vows and resolutions of amendment; and who, in the day of health and gladness, has not broken those vows and resolutions? Alas, my brethren! our own hearts, if we do but consult them, must tell us, that the history of Israel is true, and that we all have in us, derived from our common father Adam, a por tion of the same rebellious spirit which was in them,

"Are we better than they? No, in no wise; for," as saith an apostle, "we have charged both Jews and "Gentiles," that is, all the world, "that they are all "under sin; as it is written" in the Scriptures of truth, "There is none righteous, no not one; there “is none that understandeth, there is none that seek"eth after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are altogether become unprofitable, there is "none that doeth good, no not one. Their throat

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" is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have "used deceit; 'the poison of asps is under their lips; "whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their "feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and mi

sery are in their ways, and the way of peace have "they not known; there is no fear of God before "their eyes-All have sinned, and come short of the "glory of God." Such is the Scripture account of fallen man; such are the works of which the world hath been full from the beginning, and is likely to continue so unto the end. Mankind, therefore, resemble the people of Israel in their sins. Let us next examine, whether they do not likewise resemble them in their punishment.

Did Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, with all their company, go down into the pit? Did a fire come forth from the Lord, and consume the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense? And did a raging pestilence sweep off the murmurers by thousands? What are we taught by all this, but the same concerning lesson which the apostle teaches us in words, that "the wages of sin is death," and that "death passed upon all men, for that all have sin

"ned." Forfeiture of life and inheritance neces→ sarily followed the transgression. In Adam all died; all become mortal in their bodies, and subjected to the sentence of natural death. And not only so, but the souls of men were deprived by sin of communication with God, who is the fountain of spiritual life; and both soul and body were in danger of eternal death. When, therefore, we behold the camp of Israel in the wilderness, visited by the divine judgements; when we see some going down alive into the dreadful pit; others burnt up in a moment by fire from heaven; and a pestilence threatening to consume the rest; when we look around, and view, in every part of the picture, the dying and the dead; do we not at once acknowledge the original from which it is drawn, and discern in it the too, too faithful portrait of a fallen world, full of misery and death, because full of sin and rebellion!

But what? Must we then indeed perish? Must we all perish?" Will the Lord cast off for ever; and "will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean

gone for ever? Doth his promise fail for evermore? "Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies ?" Is the plague begun among the people, and is there no person who can stay it? O not so; blessed be our gracious God! there is yet hope of comfort, health, and salvation. Turn your eyes once more to the instructive picture, and there view the Intercessor making atonement, and saving the remnant of his people.

Destruction

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was not the end for which God formed man. "God made not death. He created man to be im

"mortal, and made him an image of his own eternity. "Through envy of the devil came death into the "world, and still, as at the first, they alone who "hold of his side do find it." The covenant of works being broken by transgression, the covenant of grace immediately succeeded in its room. This was the remedy provided against sin and death, and the blessed means of reconciliation fore-ordained by the Divine Persons, before the foundation of the world; that the sinner, who had no righteousness of his own to plead in arrest of judgement upon the new terms of this act of grace, might again find acceptance and life, through the divine satisfaction and intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was consecrated to be our High Priest, and ordained to perform an office, in attempting which, every high priest taken from among men must else have failed. He had no need to offer sacrifice for his own sins, since he had none; but being himself all righteous, was perfectly qualified to save others. Nor was his priesthood to pass from one to another, or to have an end, like that of Aaron; but it was eternal and unchangeable, as the Son of God who exercised it. Such was our High Priest, who perceived that, on account of man's transgression, wrath was gone forth from the presence of the Lord, and that the plague was begun among the people. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore he arrayed himself in the holy garments of glory and beauty; he put on a breast-plate of righteousness, and a robe of inviolable sanctity, and he was clad,