with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt."-Lev. ii. 13. For a similar reason when the prophet Elisha was called upon to heal the unhealthy waters near Jericho, he called for a cruise of salt, and cast the salt into the spring of the waters and said, "Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters: there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land."-2 Kings ii. 21. Indeed, there is no real life in worship, no energy in goodness, no victory over evils, no certainty for heaven, except in proportion as we have a heartfelt affection for the truth. Those dull souls who go through the routine of worship, but whose eyes never brighten as truth is unfolded before them, who have eyes that see not, ears that hear not, amd hearts that will not understand, may have a name that they live, but they are dead. Worship without truth is a leaden inanity, a smoke that creeps along the ground, a series of gesticulations such as an ape might offer, not the adoration of immortal minds. But on the other hand, worship with truth from souls earnest for right, alive to all the blessings they have received and daily receive from the King of heaven, worship from hearts glowing with heavenly fire, full of great thoughts, expanding as the truth expands grandly before them, magnifying the Lord, and losing themselves as it were in their adoration of Him; such worship is a glorious spectacle to heavenly beings as well as to men. If our spiritual sight were opened, we should behold united with such companies, multitudes of angels adoring with them. Of assemblies where such wor shippers abound, it may again be said, "Ye are come to Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels."-Heb. xii. 22. And the love, wisdom, intelligence, the aspirations for the Lord, for His kingdom, His Word, and His peace, form an incense, grateful at once, both to earth and to heaven. Let, then, our incense be salted, pure, and holy. Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. "Thou It is commanded also that the incense be bruised. shalt beat of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee. It shall be unto you most holy." Where the mind is not much concerned about religion, it regards it only in the most general form. It does not dwell upon it, and particularize it. To perceive the beauty, and feel the spirit of religion and of worship we must meditate upon it. We must, as it were, take it in detail, and make it our own, little by little. The inefficiency of the religion of many, is much owing to the want of this habit of regarding truth and goodness in every particular. We know that food not masticated, and imperfectly digested, would yield little nourishment or strength to the body. It needs to be bruised, to be beaten into very small pieces. So must it be with everything in religion. It is not enough for a person to acknowledge himself a sinner. Many do this without at all thinking of any sin which they commit. Many acknowledge the importance of doing good, but never propose to themselves any particular good. Many give thanks to the Lord for His mercies towards them, but never reflect upon the gifts of health and comfort, of talent and faculty, of body and soul, and earth and heaven, they constantly enjoy. Nothing would more powerfully dispel the spirit of complaint, and excite in the heart a devout sense of gratitude for the Divine Mercy than this duty of beating the incense very small. The manna of the Israelites was to be ground and bruised before it was baked into cakes. The disciples knew the Lord in the breaking of the bread. If any one will try to understand his blessings in detail; take stock, as it were, of the countless things of the body which he enjoys, and the value of which he may learn from their loss in others; if he will note well those powers and possessions of the mind which he uses every day, and which when lost leave the unhappy sufferer a wreck, beyond all other forms of ruin: if he will look around on the benefits he partakes from the Divine bounty, in common with all; on the sun, the moon, the stars, the air, on all the lovely things in this beautiful world; and then, look inward and upward, to the world of all celestial glories, and meditate on the blessings inestimable and unutterable stored up for him there, his heart would often melt in love and adoration. Did we the sighs we vainly spend, The injunction to the Israelites not to make the perfume for themselves, or to attempt to imitate it, forbids all worship from self, and all hypocritical worship. And, surely, when the Lord Himself has taught us how to worship him aright, it does seem extraordinary that men are so blind as to invent other forms of worship than those of adoring love, faith and obedience. "What doth the Lord thy God require of thee," is the language of our Heavenly Father Himself, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? SERMON XLI. THE GARMENTS OF AARON. "And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office."-Exodus xxviii. 2, 3. There are three characters which are leading ones amongst those which represent the Lord :-the Law-giver, the King, and the Priest. The most distinguished representative of the Lord as Law-giver was Moses; as King was David; and as Priest was Aaron. The Lord Jesus, as Jehovah in the flesh, was all in all ; Law-giver, King, and Priest. It is in this latter capacity that we would consider His divine character now, as it was represented in the Jewish dispensation by the high priest, and especially by Aaron, and by the garments which he was divinely appointed to wear. That the Lord Jesus is a priest, and that He was represented by Aaron is clearly recognized in the writings of the Apostles. Thus in the epistle to the Hebrews, "So also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art my son, to-day have I begotten thee." As he saith also in another place, "Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."- -V. 5, 6. Again, "By so much was Jesus made the surety of a better testament. Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people's; for this he did once, when he offered up himself." Many more passages occur to the same FF effect, but these are sufficient to show that the Apostle recognized the truth that the Lord Jesus not only was, but is, a High Priest in His glorified Humanity, though higher than the heavens. The essence of the priestly character is a love for the eternal happiness of men. Every true priest yearns to promote the salvation of all around him. The Lord having this love infinitely, is an Infinite High Priest. His love ever pleads for them, just as a mother's love pleads for her children; pleads for their happiness; and if they have fallen into sin, pleads for their restoration. This divine love induced the Lord to assume the human nature to reconcile and re-unite man to Himself: filled His Humanity with a burning desire to save the human race, and as that salvation could only be accomplished by suffering and victory, by complete glorification and full union with the Father, hence He is said to be a High Priest who offered up Himself, and thence made Himself a new and living way, by which His Holy Spirit like divine blood could descend to purify and renew human souls, and thus impart to them eternal life. "Christ being come, a high priest of good things, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." -Heb. ix. 11, 14. The Lord Jesus in His Humanity, especially as to His Divine Love yearning for the salvation of the human race is the HIGH PRIEST yearning for His full union with the Father; and then, and now, yearning for the regeneration and happiness of all His immortal children. Before His full glorification He interceded for full union with the Father that mankind might be saved. Since His full glorification His Spirit intercedes in us, suggesting our prayers, and helping our infirmities. "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."-Rom. viii. 26. The Divine Love, then, embodied in our Lord Jesus Christ, is the High Priest represented by Aaron. That love incessantly pleads for all His children. When truth would condemn, and say of sinful man, like the dresser of the vineyard of the profitless tree, "cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground," the Divine Love in accents of mercy ever seeks to arrest the fall and says, "Let it alone this year, and I will dig about it, and dung it, and if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then after that, thou shalt cut it down."-Luke xiii. 7, 8. This Divine Love, then, as presented in the Glorified Humanity of the Lord Jesus was represented by the High Priest Aaron. This Divine Love is the High Priest of the universe. It provides for, and yearns for the salvation of all human beings, and when they become reformed and regenerated rejoices over them, and rejoices in them with ineffable blessing, and unspeakable peace. But it is not so much with the character of the Lord as High Priest that we have at present to do as with the representation of the Garments of the High Priest. They are so particularly described that the thoughtful mind which has a worthy idea of the Word of God will easily be led to conceive that some important truths are intended to be conveyed by descriptions so elaborate and exact. The Word of God would hardly be so much taken up with information about these garments, unless they had some lesson of heavenly wisdom to place before us. The whole Jewish law, as the Apostles stated, was a shadow of good things to come, and certainly, the High Priest, its central object, in his divinely appointed robes, must be regarded as bearing an especial part in this representation of divine and spiritual things, by natural objects. The High Priest himself, we have seen, was the representative of the Lord Jesus, our Divine High Priest, especially as to His Divine Love. The Garments which clothed the High Priest, will represent the wisdom which clothes the Divine Love, and which in its several degrees reveals and manifests the Divine Love to angels and to men. How grand is that invocation where the Psalmist says, "Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment; who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain."-Ps. civ. 1, 2. Indeed, what is all creation both visible and invisible, both in the spiritual and the material universe, but the gorgeous robes which clothe Eternal Love. The inner heavens vast beyond human thought, the outer sky blazing with innumerable suns are but the glorious dress, |