house of Gods (Elohim), and an ephod, and teraphim; and consecrated one of his sons, probably his first-born, as his Priest bnt afterwards meeting with a sojourning Levite, he said, "Dwell with me, and be unto me a father, and a Priest:" and when the stranger acceded to this, Micah exclaimed, "Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have 66 a Levite to my Priest." ver. 4—13. This establishment was not ineffectual; for when the Danites, being in search of an inheritance, unexpectedly recognized this Levite, and desired him to "ask counsel of God," a satisfactory answer was given; and in consequence they were induced to carry away the image and the ephod, &c. together with the Priest, and establish them in their own inheritance; where they remained “until the day of the captivity of the land"-" all the time that the "house of God was in Shiloh." Judg. xviii. 5, 30, 31.

A remarkable contrast to this is the case of Gideon.-He, too, "made an ephod" of the spoils taken in war, and established a place of worship ;-but he had no Priest; and it

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became a snare unto Gideon and to his house." Judg. viii. 27. There is reason for believing that this establishment also was for the worship of the true God, for in a subsequent passage, it is said, "that as soon as Gideon was dead, the chil"dren of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baal-Berith their God. And the chil"dren of Israel remembered not the Lord their God, who had "delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on

every side neither shewed they kindness to the house of "Jerubbaal, namely Gideon, according to all the goodness "which he had showed unto Israel." Judg. viii. 33-35. Gideon himself" died in a good old age," leaving a numerous issue. The snare, therefore, thus occasioned to him and his house, was probably his having the service of the "Ephod" performed by persons not duly qualified and commissioned for the office.

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III. The nature of the Call to the Ministry, and the inviolability of the sacred office-under the Gospel Dispensation.

THUS it clearly appears from the earliest revelation, and according to the firmly established economy of the Priesthood, that no one was to run except he was sent,-no stranger to intermeddle with sacred things; "neither must the children of "Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congrega"tion, lest they bear sin, and die." Num. xviii. 22. And there seems little reason for supposing that the dispensation as to this point has been disannulled, or that this economy has undergone any essential change. The declaration of the Apostle St. Paul-himself " called to be an Apostle, separated "unto the Gospel of God."-Rom i. 1.-" not of men, "neither by man, but by Jesus Christ." Gal. i. 1.—“ through "the will of God."-I Cor. i. 1.-" ordained a preacher, and an Apostle, (I speak the truth," says he, "in Christ and lie

not,) a teacher of the Gentiles.”—1 Tim. ii. 7.—his declaration, that "no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he "that is called of God as was Aaron." Heb. v. 4. see Ex. xxx. 30, refers evidently to the Christian, as well as to the Levitical Priesthood: and if the commission of the immediate forerunner of Christ be considered-if the pattern our Lord has proposed to us, both in his own waiting for an actual call and his solemnly delegating to his successors-the Apostlesthe commission he had himself received from God-be of any weight-the important axiom seems as much applicable to the state of the Christian Church as it shall be to the end of the world, as to its state or form at any period of its existence. As long as the Christian minister is an ambassador from God, who shall venture to act in this responsible and honourable office uncalled and uncommissioned ?-and if all are ambassadors, to whom shall they be sent?

"No man," then, "taketh this honour unto himself, but

"he that is called of God, as was Aaron."-No man-nor prophet-nor angel-nor Christ himself" the head of the "Church-nor his Apostles and Disciples-nor any of their successors in the ministry!- John the Baptist-declared by our Lord to be "more than a prophet," and than whom there had not "risen a greater born of women," Matt. xi. 9, 11.-a· Priest of the house of Aaron-specially predicted and appointed to be the messenger of Christ near 400 years before He appeared on earth.-Mal. iii. 1. "a man sent from God,"-sent to baptize our Lord,-even he acted not until, after a life of abstinence and preparation, "the word of the Lord came to "him in the wilderness," Luke iii. 2. Jo. i. 33, and see Jer. i. 2, 4. Ezek. vi. 1, &c. nor did he assume to himself a character beyond his appointment. Luke iii. 15, 16. The angels have their missions; they run not unless they are sent;"they are "all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for "them who shall be heirs of salvation" Heb. i. 14. See the case of the Angel Gabriel, Luke i. 19, 26, and see also, Acts xii. 11. Rev. i. 1. v. 6. xxii. 6.

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Christ, the "Lord of all," "the Shepherd and Bishop of our "souls" and the express "head over all things to the Church, "which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in "all." Eph. i. 22, 23.-to whom God gave not "the Spirit by measure"-" for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the godhead bodily"-Col. ii. 9.-even "Christ glorified not "himself to be made an High Priest," but was glorified of him-the same who had "called" and " appointed," named and constituted him. Heb. v. 10. iii. 2, and had said, "Thou "art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee." "Thou art a Priest "for ever after the order of Melchizedech." Heb. v. 5, 6. Though long expected, and thus solemnly designated to a peculiar Priesthood, our Lord entered not on the evangelical office, till, having attained the age of 30 years, the time when the Levites took on themselves the full discharge of their duties, he received baptism from John; as he declared," it becometh "us to fulfil all righteousness." Matt. iii. 15. " Matt. iii. 15. Then did he

receive the holy unction-" the oil of gladness above his fel"lows." Ps. xlv. 7, a custom that had ceased amongst the Jews since the Babylonian captivity, but which was` always before used in the ordination, or appointment of those who did not succeed to their office by natural, descent-and this, whether it was kingly, as in the case of Saul, David, and Jehu; or priestly, as in that of Aaron; or prophetical, as that of Elisha. His mission also was published by a visible appearance of the Holy Ghost, and an audible voice from heaven; when, as St. Peter says, "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy "Ghost and with power." Acts x. 38. Thus as Aaron, the great Jewish High Priest, was washed with water, and anointed with oil, at his consecration, Ex. xxix. 4—7, so Christ was consecrated an High Priest, by being likewise baptized, or washed, and anointed with the Holy Spirit resting visibly upon him, as predicted. After this our Lord fasted 40 days and 40 nights, as Moses did before he received his commission, and then, and only "from that time, Jesus began "to preach" the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, Matt. iv. 17, and to "manifest forth his glory." Jo. ii. 11.

Our Lord afterwards refers to his being sent for this purpose, and to the work which was given him to do; Jo. xii. 49. xvii. 3, and extends the argument to those whom he also was sending. "He that receiveth receiveth me; you, and he that "receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me." Matt. x. 40."and he that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that 'despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me." Luke x. 16.

A super-eminent instance is this, and of infinite weight, as our blessed Lord, besides a singular personal holiness, and sufficiency, acted under a peculiar priesthood, unlike, and independent of, the Aaronical Priesthood, and the office of which he might have assumed without any ceremonies analogous to what had been before practised; but in this, as “the High Priest of our profession,"—" he was faithful to him "that appointed him." Heb. iii. 1, 2.

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The Apostles, chosen by our Lord out of his Disciples,

when he had" called unto him whom he would,”—Mark iii. 13, and after he had "continued all night in prayer to "God,"-Luke vi. 12, 13,-acted likewise under an express commission, and well-defined limits. Christ" ordained Twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might "send them forth," Mark iii. 14, and he "commanded them" to go, and "preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at "hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, "cast out devils;" apprizing them fully as to the difficulties of their task, and encouraging them with the promise of eternal life; but limiting their present exertions " to the lost "sheep of the house of Israel." Matt. x. 5—42. "And the Apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they "had done." Luke ix. 10.

After this, he "appointed other Seventy also,"-ministers of an inferior order, and on a still more confined mission, to preach in the places which he himself meant to visit; and they likewise returned and gave him an account of their success. Luke x. 1-17.

A serious attention to these circumstances will lead to a due estimate of the marked terms of reprobation, in which our Lord speaks of those who assumed to themselves the character of a shepherd, or pastor, without being lawfully appointed, or entering in at the right door. As he was himself" the way" to the Father, to whom none could come but by him,-Jo. xiv. 6.—so was he also the only intermediate way to the ministry, through which the doctrine of salvation should be preached; for" as the law was given by Moses," so " grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Jo. i. 17.-" He that entereth not by the door into the sheep fold," says he,-he that is not "called of God as was Aaron"-not appointed as I have been, -"but clambereth up some other way,"-thus attempting to glorify himself," the same is a thief and a robber." But he that "entereth in by the door"-he that is sent by me, as I am sent by my Father-he is a rightful shepherd—he “is the 'shepherd of the sheep."-" A stranger will they not follow,