gamate,

Will never mingle. Hagar's seed will still Enamoured of their chains, term obstinate Their vassalage true freedom. Poor blind slaves !

Equally slaves the children of the free, Till mercy shining shews their manacles, When rising in imparted strength, they wage

A ceaseless war with Satan, sin and self. The world may strive to unite these separate seeds,

May bans of matrimony publish wide In tones of tenderness, but it may not be ; "T is inexpedient, monstrous, base and foul,

And God will circumvent, and keep his gold,

"Hitherto hath the Lord helped me.”—
1 Sam. vii. 12.

Mr Ebenezer glad I raise,
To thee, the God of love and praise ;
I now erect a stone to show
How God hath helped me hitherto.
In days of health he was my God,
When in youth's verdant path I trod;
He did to me a flower disclose,
"T was Sharon's ever-blooming rose.
Its sweets console me on my way,
Though in a briary path I stray;
The gift abides, for me to tell
The Giver doeth all things well.

In storms, in battles, in distress,
God hath me helped, I here confess;
And in affliction's darksome night,
The Star of Bethlehem cheers my sight.

Lord, fix my wandering eye still more
On that bright orb of grace and power;
If rough or smooth the path I tread,
Yet let it hover o'er my head.

AND

MAGAZINE,

THE GOSPEL PULPIT.

[We commence in this number of our Magazine, a most valuable series of Sermons by the late Samuel Eyles Pierce: they are reprinted verbatim from a transcript made from the original M.S. with which we have ourselves compared them. They have never been published, but after publication in our Magazine, it is probable they will be issued by our publishers in a separate volume. It is by no means our intention to insert a sermon every month. Our space and our wish to supply a variety forbid this; but as each succeeding Sermon may appear, we feel sure the series will be highly prized by our readers.-Eds,]

"And the Lord spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord, and died."-Leviticus xvi. 1.

As I consider the sacrifice of Christ one of the most important subjects in the Bible, so it is my present intention to set the same forth, by expounding from time to time this chapter before us, as it contains an institution in the which our Lord Jesus Christ was most evidently set forth before the church, in all the efficacy and perfection of the same. Immediately upon the fall, Christ as the Saviour was revealed: sacrifices were by the Lord himself appointed as the outward means of worship: they served also to be sacred symbols of Christ and his Priesthood. He, as the Lamb of God, who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, was most expressly pointed out in them. That it was so, the prophet John declares, by his styling him, the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Rev. xiii. 8. The sacrifice Noah offered after he came out of the ark, of which it is said, "the Lord smelled a sweet savour," &c. Gen. viii. 20, had reference unto Christ's. from these words of Paul, "Christ

This appears

V

also hath loved us, and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour." Eph. v. 2. Abraham's of ferring of Isaac; the Lord's calling to him out of heaven, and swearing by himself, that in blessing he would bless him, serves to confirm the same. Thus this mode of sacrificial worship continued down to the time of Moses, who was the seventh generation from Abraham. As it pleased the Lord to appoint him to be the shepherd of his chosen flock, to bring out Israel by their armies, from under the hard bondage of Pharoah, king of Egypt; so he being called up into the mount Sinai, and admitted into the secret place where God was: a fresh edition and command concerning these ordinances was given, together with many solemn memorials, types and prefigurations of Christ; to all which this servant of the Lord particularly attended.

There is no book so full of Christ in types and symbols, as that of Exodus. This of Leviticus is full of Christ, as it respected the sacrifice of himself. According to the learned Mr. Ainsworth, it was in the year of the world, from the creation, 2514. This was the year when Moses at the Lord's command, erected the tabernacle, out of the which Jehovah, having taken up his abode by the cloud in the which he dwelt, and in which he filled the tabernacle with his glory, spake with an articulate voice from the mercy seat to Moses: what he spake is recorded. All contained in the first seven chapters concerning the sacrifices, viz. the burnt-offering, the meat-offering, the sin offering, the peace offerings, the trespass-offerings, the consecration offerings, were delivered out in the space of seven days. What was designed by these was of the utmost importance. The creatures appointed were significant of Christ some were expressive of his strength, others of his patience,

meekness and love; as they were all commanded of the Lord, so they were all most exactly adapted to his holy ends and designs, as suited to be expressive of the glorious Mediator, in the performance of his great work of mediation. The meat-offering shewed, that it would be his meat and drink to do the will of him that sent him: these words are a proof of this, "Lo, I come, I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart." Psm. xl. 8. It being impossible that one sacrifice could fully express the fulness of Christ's oblation, there were therefore many appointed by the Lord, to shew forth the ineffable effect and greatness of the offering of Jesus Christ once for all. The burnt-offering pointed out how the curse of God, comparable to fire, was to fall on Christ, who was to redeem us from the curse of the law, by being made a curse for us. The sin-offering was very expressive of the substitution of his person in the room and stead of his people; and of the transfer of their sins to him. The peace-offering fitly set forth there could be no peace but by Christ alone: "he was to make peace by the blood of his cross." The trespassofferings were so many proofs that Christ alone could make reconciliation for iniquity. The drink-offering was to shew that the love of Christ was the fountain and spring of all his mediatorial acts. The consecrationofferings were significant of the divine and solemn consecration of his person, and of the investiture of him into the open execution of his priestly office.

In the eighth chapter of this book we have the account of the consecration of Aaron and his sons, one as the high priest, the other as inferior ones; the offerings and services performed on the occasion; Moses was the officiating person; the service was continued seven days; the next day Aaron enters on the performance of his office, and his sons

also; Aaron offers first for himself, he being a sinner; the whole congregation of Israel are assembled, and are commanded to take the kid of the goats for a sin-offering, and a calf and a lamb for a burnt-offering, and a bullock and a ram for peaceofferings, and a meat-offering mingled with oil. Aaron was to take a young calf for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering the Lord promised to appear: Moses gives commandment to Aaron to offer offerings first for himself, and then for the people: this being done, Aaron lifted up his hands towards the people and blessed them. After this, Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and the glory of the Lord appeared; by which I should conceive Christ himself shone forth in a visible appearance of himself, openly and visibly before all the people, as he had before done to Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, of whom it is affirmed, that "they saw the God of Israel, and there was under his feet as it were paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness." Exod. xxiv. 9, 10. Immediately hereupon there came a fire, out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering and the fat; which was a token of God's acceptation of the sacrifices and services which had been performed, "which when all the people saw, they fell upon their faces." Lev. viii. 23, 24. This token of the Lord's acceptation was a gracious confirmation to the people respecting the ordinances given by Moses, and also of the priesthood now committed to Aaron and his sons. This fire which at this time came immediately from the Lord, was as the Jews say, nourished on the altar until the time of Solomon. It was the perpetual fire of which the Lord said by Moses: "The fire shall ever be

burning upon the altar, it shall never go out." Lev. vi. 13. It was not that this was a miraculous act : it was preserved alive and kept continually burning by means made use of to this end with it the sacrifices on the altar were burnt, also from it the lamps were lighted in the tabernacle, and the daily incense was consumed on the golden altar.

I will therefore here take notice of what happened immediately on the fire coming out of the holy of holies,

the complete inauguration of Aaron and his sons into their offices. "And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censor and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not, and there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord." Lev. x. 1. As this stands connected with our present sermon, so as to express the time when it was, and the manner in which he spake to Moses, and when he commanded him to deliver to Aaron what is contained in the chapter before us; so in omitting what comes in before this, respecting various laws relative to the avoiding certain meats, and the observance of various purifications, and cleansing from ceremonial uncleanness, we will now enter on the words before us, as preliminary to an opening or exposition of the whole chapter. The words of my text, although they have been already expressed, yet, I will again repeat, they are these: "And the Lord spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord, and died." That these may be opened so as to cast proper light on the mind, I would particularize them thus: First, The time when what is contained in this xvith of Leviticus, was given forth it was after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord and died.

Secondly, I will raise such general observations from these particulars, as may serve to be of real use and benefit, and thus prepare the mind for an entrance on the grand subject matter which lies before us in the intended exposition of the whole of this Scripture before us. In the two forenamed particulars I shall confine myself so as to deliver all I shall have occasion for at this time.

First, I am to notice the time when what is contained in this xvith chapter of Leviticus was given forth. It was after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord and died. Aaron had four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. The two eldest of these died before the Lord; that is, by the immediate hand of God, the reason for which was this, they offered strange fire, that is common fire. It was their office to burn incense on the golden altar in the tabernacle. They were but just entering on their service; for it seems to be immediately on the fire of the Lord coming out of the holy of holies, from one of the faces of the cherubim, whereby the sacrifices were consumed. Now some of this sacred fire should have been taken from off the brazen altar, and carried into the holy place, and the incense laid on it on the golden altar: instead of which, Nadab and Abihu took common fire, and performed this service with it; which being contrary to the divine will, expressed by the Lord's command, these persons were struck dead in the holy place by a flame of fire, which came out from before the Lord, from the holy of holies; and there they died before the Lord. What Moses said to Aaron on this occasion may be read by you in the 2nd verse; and also what he said to two of the priests on the same account, may be read in the 4, 5, 6 and 7 verses of the 10th chapter of this book. How long after this time it was that the Lord spake to Moses, and gave him a command to deliver

out to his brother Aaron, that which concerns the annual day of atonement, and the order, services, sacrifices and ordinances which were to be performed on this day, cannot be precisely said: it seems it followed soon after the awful catastrophe above mentioned; the words now before us most certainly give countenance to this: "And the Lord spake unto Moses;" the speaker was Jehovah, even Jah the Saviour. He spake as the Head of his church, as the King of his church, as enthroned between the cherubim, as seated on his throne, as the glorious Mediator; he spake with an articulate voice, he spake to Moses; who being a mediator between the divine majesty and Israel at Sinai, so by him it pleased the Lord to give forth all his royal commands to his church: and as Aaron was a figure of Christ, so the Lord gives him the knowledge of his mind and will by Moses. And this, here delivered by the Lord to Moses, who was to deliver the same unto Aaron, being in the subject matter of it, so full of salvation, as to demand and require the greatest attention; hence the time when the same was delivered, is so far noticed, as that it is expressly said, that it was after the death of the two sons of Aaron : the occasion of their death is given, "After the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord, and died," which seems to suggest the Lord's giving out his mind and will to Moses, for him to speak unto his brother Aaron, that he might be comforted thereby that though such a breach had been made, and two priests were cut off, and this by the immediate hand of God, and as the immediate fruit of his displeasure; yet the priesthood was not to cease, neither were the sacrifices to be discontinued; but the office of the high priesthood was more highly dignified, by appointing such a service to be performed by him who should be in that office, than any which had been spoken of before.