cherish in them the best and noblest princi- the ignorant, and on them that are out of th ples of their nature; and they are urged to way; for that he himself also is compassed perform this, by the highest considerations with infirmity:' :"* but "if perfection were by which the human mind can feel. Whatever the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the peobe the dispensation, the spirit of the office ple received the law,) what further need was and the nature of the service are the same. there, that another priest should rise after They stand as mediators between God and the order of Melchizedec, and not be called men. They bear on their hearts the names, after the order of Aaron?"† "But Christ the infirmities, the wants, the distresses, the being come an high priest of good things to sorrows, the joys of the people; and carry come, by a greater and more perfect taberthem with sympathy and affection to the nacle, not made with hands, that is to say, throne of grace: and they return from thence not of this building; neither by the blood of bringing on their lips the "answer of peace." goats and calves, but by his own blood, he They lose themselves in labours of love; they entered in once into the holy place, having sink every unworthy aim, every low pursuit, obtained eternal redemption for us. For if in seeking the glory of God, and the prosperi- the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes ty of the Israel of God. The minister who of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifiunderstands, feels, and performs his duty is eth to the purifying of the flesh; how much one of the most exalted of beings. 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?" Aaron and his sons were consecrated to the service of God, and of the congregation, by the sprinkling of blood applied to the ear, the hand, the foot. Thus their whole faculties The fire once kindled supernaturally by were claimed by their great Author, and the celestial flame was to be kept alive by were thus devoted to him: and the symbol of human care and attention. Miraculous interatonement became the seal of their dedica- positions of Providence are not to be expecttion. And thus every Christian becomes a ed, as an indulgence to carelessness and sloth. priest unto the most high God, redeemed by He only who diligently exercises the powers blood, set apart by the washing of regenera- which God has given him, who employs the tion, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. means which Providence has furnished, and “Wash me, Lord, and I shall be clean, sprin- which conscience approves, can with confikle me, and I shall be whiter than snow:"dence look up to Heaven, and rejoice in hope "Not my feet only, but also my hands and my of divine assistance. Would you that the sahead." "Unto him that loved us, and wash-cred flame of devotion, of charity, should ed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."* "Every high priest taken from among men, is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: who can have compassion on * Rev. 1. 5, 6. live in your heart, should glow upon your tongue, resort daily to the altar of God, and preserve its activity by "a live coal" from thence. Then your face shall shine, then your lips shall overflow with the law of kindness, then your hand shall open to the sons of want, then you shall" rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." HISTORY OF AARON. LECTURE LXV. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eleazer his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor: and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazer his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there. And Moses did as the Lord commanded: and they went up into mount Hor, in the sight of all the congregation. And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazer his son: and Aaron died there in the top of the mount. And Moses and Eleazer came down from the mount. And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.-NUMBERS XL 23-29. WERE it not that life and immortality have | upon what we are, and upon the consequent been brought to light by the gospel, human change which death shall produce in our life must appear in the eye of sober reason, a internal character, or outward condition. It trifling scene of vanity and impertinence. is a light evil to be stripped of priestly robes. Wherefore drops that babe into the grave as the work of man's hands; and to return soon as he is born? Why was the wretched naked into the earth as we came from it; it mother torn with anguish to bring him into is a light thing to feel the earthly house of the world? Was it only to be torn with this tabernacle dissolving, and the head which more cruel anguish, to behold him premature- wore the mitre or the crown sinking into the ly snatched out of it again? Why is that dust; while the promise of Him who is faithold offender permitted to live, a burden upon ful and true, rears for us "a building of God, the earth, the derision, hatred, and scorn of a house not made with hands, eternal in the mankind? Why does that minion "fret and heavens;"* while the eye of faith contemstrut his hour upon the stage," arrayed in plates that "crown of righteousness, which the glitter of royalty? Wherefore strides the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give at that barbarian from conquest to conquest, from that day: and not to one only, but unto all continent to continent? Why pines modest them also that love his appearing," assured worth in indigence and obscurity, and where- that "to be absent from the body is to be prefore, at length perishes it on a dunghill? sent with the Lord." These, and a thousand such questions that might be asked, the doctrine of immortality, and of a judgment to come, resolves in a moment. "We know but in part, we see in a glass darkly." What the great Lord of nature, providence, and grace doth, we know not now, but we shall know hereafter. The brevity and extension of life, difference of rank, talent, office, and condition, variety of fortune and success, acquire an importance not their own by their influence on character and moral conduct, by the changes which they produce on the soul of a man, by their reaching forward into eternity, and by producing effects which no length of duration can ever alter. Men die, offices pass from hand to hand, dispensations change; but the purposes of Heaven are permanent, the plans of Providence are ever going forward, and while one generation of men removes to that world of spirits from whence no traveller returns, another rises up to contemplate the wonders of that which now is, and to carry on the business of it. Hence wise and good men become not only concerned about their own future and eternal happiness, out about the prosperity and happiness of the world, after they have ceased to see and enjoy it. Hence they cheerfully engage in schemes which they cannot live to execute, and justly soothe their souls to peace, in the prospect of a kind of immortality upon earth. Hence among the other motives to excel in goodness, this has a pleasing and a powerful influence, "the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance," "while the memory of the wicked shall rot." It is as difficult to make the proper estimate of death as of life. Death is an undoubted mark of the divine displeasure against sin, and is inflicted as a punishment upon the guilty. But like all the punishments of heaven, it is upon the whole, and in the issue, an unspeakable benefit to good men. The just estimate of death, then, must depend If ever there was an enviable domestic situation, it was that of Aaron elevated to the priesthood. Think of the honest pride of honourable alliance: and who would not have been proud of such a brother as Moses? Reflect on an office of the highest dignity and respect, procured not by cabal and intrigue, but bestowed by the voluntary appointment of Him who is the source of all honour. A suitable provision likewise made for the support of that dignity, and an external habit annexed to it, that could not fail to attract notice and reverence. The sacred office was entailed upon him and his family for ever, and that family built up by four hopeful sons, his coadjutors and successors: and, to crown the whole, these pleasing, flattering circumstances were crowned with an open, unequivocal, indubitable mark of the divine approbation. The fire of heaven caught hold of their burnt-offering, and kindled a flame never to be quenched. But alas, how shortlived was this tranquillity! The sons of Aaron are hardly consecrated to their office, when the two eldest profane and disgrace it. Celestial fire has scarcely proclaimed the favour and acceptance of God, when with unhallowed fire, which he commanded not, they defile his altar and his service: and thereby call down a second time fire from above, to avenge a holy and righteous God, as before to display the grace of Him who is good and merciful. The notoriety of the late transactions, the sacredness of their character, and the distinguished regard of Heaven expressed toward them, greatly enhance the atrociousness of their guilt, and justify the severity of their punishment. This tragical event is thus recorded by Moses, whose method it is neither to extenuate, nor to set down aught in malice. "And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded t † 2 Tim. iv. 8 * 2 Cor. v. 1. LECT. LXV.] HISTORY OF AARON. them not. And there went out fire from the | The sin of Nadab and Abihu consisted simply Lord, and devoured them, and they died in this, they burnt incense with strange fire. before the Lord." The words are few, but Now the meaning of this expression we shall they convey a full and distinct idea of the be able easily to collect, by comparing toguilt of the parties: though by attending together a few passages that have an obvious the context, we shall have reason to conclude connexion, and serve to illustrate and explain their crime was of a very complex nature. each other. First, in Leviticus chapter the And sure it could be no common transgres- ninth, verse the twenty-fourth, it is said that sion which drew down a judgment so dread-"fire from the Lord," that is, either fire imful. Bishop Patrick is of opinion that Nadab mediately descending from heaven, or issuing and Abihu had rendered themselves incapable out of the cloud that covered the tabernacle, of doing their duty by intemperance: that consumed the first victims which Aaron ofthey indulged in the delicacies of the sacri- fered for a burnt-offering. Again,-This safice to a criminal excess, till they were in- cred fire, once miraculously kindled, was by capable of putting a difference between holy a special ordinance to be kept for ever alive; and unholy, and between clean and unclean. as we read, Leviticus chapter the sixth, This conjecture is founded upon the injunc- verses twelfth and thirteenth. Thus the tion which immediately follows the narration vigilance, attention, and care of man, was to of this dismal story in the ninth and tenth preserve and continue what Providence had "Do not drink wine nor strong begun. By another ordinance it was enjoined, drink, thou nor thy sons with thee, when ye that the incense to be offered on the day of go into the tabernacle of the congregation, atonement, should be kindled by a portion of lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever, that perpetual fire. This we read in Levitithroughout your generations; and that ye cus chapter the sixteenth, verses eleventh, may put difference between holy and unholy, twelfth, and thirteenth. This then was the and between unclean and clean." If there fire which the Lord commanded to be used; be truth in this conjecture, it is a melancholy and of course, every other kind of fire, howproof, that the best things are most liable to ever produced, and though in all other reabuse, that the brutal part of our nature is spects adequate to the purpose, was unlawful, ever ready to run away with the rational: forbidden, or strange. This accordingly conthat as God is continually employing himself stituted the guilt, they took upon them to in bringing good out of evil, so men are for kindle the incense, which their office obliged ever perversely employing themselves in them to burn every evening and morning, with a fire different from that which burnt bringing evil out of good. continually on the altar of burnt-offering; every other being strange fire, which the Lord commanded not. Now it was certainly fit and necessary that such a crime should be punished in the most exemplary manner. The sanctity of the whole institution was over at once, if the ministers of it might with impunity, in the very setting out, presume to dispense with its most august ceremonies. The rank and station of the offenders was a high aggravation of their offence. It was their duty to have set an example of scrupulous regard to the known will of God. They had been admitted to more intimate communion with God than others; had seen more of the terrors of his power, more of the wonders of his grace. Unhappy men! how had they been betrayed into an error so fatal? Ignorance it could not be, the voice of the law was yet sounding in their ears. Dared they to be careless in any thing that related to the service of a holy God? They had seen the exactness of their pious uncle, in forming every thing according to the pattern showed him in the mount. Was it indeed a wilful and deliberate violation of the law? I fear, I fear it was; and dreadful was the expiation. The unhallowed fire of their own kindling was quickly absorbed in a hotter flame: "they died before the Lord:* for there went out fire been able to subdue indwelling corruption, for we immediately find him in a plot, with Miriam his sister, to disturb the peace, diminish the respect, and distress the government of their brother Moses. Their pretence was his marriage with an Ethiopian woman ;" an event which had taken place forty years before; an union which had no immorality in it: which transgressed no law, for the law was not then given; and against which God himself had not expressed any displeasure; but had crowned it with the blessing of children, who were justly admitted to rank in Israel. from the Lord, and devoured them." Neither their sacred character, the sacredness of the place, nor the sacredness of the employment, can protect them from the keen stroke of avenging justice. "Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire."* Unhappy father! what were now thy feelings; bereaved in one sad day of half thy children, of thy first, thy darling hopes: to behold them thus immaturely cut off, taken away in anger! The bitterness of death is not relieved by one consolatory circumstance. What is the loss of children in infancy, and falling by the stroke of nature, compared to this? To heighten the old man's affliction, he is expressly forbidden to mourn, or to assist in the last sad offices of humanity towards his deceased sons. Behold him in mute dejection and distress, ministering in the duties of his charge, attentive to the calls of the living, leaving to others the care of burying the dead. Îlow severely must his own offences now have been brought to his remembrance! He had been guilty of a crime of equal or greater magnitude: he had led way in idolatry, and presided in the worship of a thing of his own fabrication; but justice suffered him to live, to live to see his own sons dying for a crime similar to his own. Alas, what is prolonged life but length-venomed tongues of his own brother and sisened anguish! the As the giving of the law was fenced round with fire, and the sanctity of the tabernacle worship guarded by a flaming sword, so the mecker, gentler institution of the gospel, fortified its first beginnings by executing judgment on presumptuous sinners. Severity is the soul of a law, especially when it is notified to those who are obliged to submit to it; indulgence, or the appearance of feebleness, are of the most dangerous consequence, especially in the commencement of a new constitution. One of the heralds of the Saviour of mankind began his ministry by a clap of thunder; the first rays he shot from his eyes were mortal, and the sudden death of two false and perfidious disciples was the seal of his apostleship. The second coming of the Lord himself is to be "in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." Aaron had now arrived at an advanced period of life, and at the possession of an office and rank in lif., which rendered him an object of envy to some, and of veneration to others. He had oftener than once been corrected by his own folly, and he was "the man who had seen affliction by the rod of God's anger;" but neither the fire of calamity, nor the frost of age; neither the counsels af experience, nor the sanctity of office, have † Acts v. *Heb. xii. 28. 29. The real cause was their envy of the preeminence, which their younger brother had obtained over them in all things, civil and sacred. For this, in spite of all their art, breaks out in the malicious whispers which they scatter abroad to blacken their brother's reputation. "Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us!"* If Moses indeed erred by marrying Jethro's daughter, he had severely smarted for it: for being induced, by an improper compliance with her humour, to neglect the circumcision of his son, he had nearly paid the forfeit of that neglect with his life, by the hand of God himself; and now his good name is bleeding on Zipporah's account, by the on ter; and "who can stand before envy?" Who can think to escape, if Moses remain not unhurt? This attack upon his fame and comfort, gives Moses occasion to deliver his own eulogium: and I believe it just, for he gives it with that lovely simplicity, which characterises all that he relates of himself or of others. "Now the man Moses was very meck, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." He either had not heard the scandalous speeches which were propagated to his disadvantage by Aaron and Miriam; or he pitied and neglected them. Who knows what length the mischief might have gone, had it not been heard and avenged by the Protector of injured innocence. "The Lord heard it." Let the slanderer hear this and tremble. The two brothers and their sister are now summoned to present themselves together at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord appears: and a voice from that glory pronounces aloud and at full length, the praise of the man who had spoken so modestly of himself, and who had been so wickedly maligned by his own nearest relations. "And he said, Hear now my words; if there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in LECT. LXVI.] HISTORY OF AARON. dark speeches; and tne similitude of the | sequence? In the event of difference of Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were opinion, or of attachment, one man is unmerye not afraid to speak against my servant cifully, unrelentingly run down, and another Moses!"* In many respects Moses was is, with equal want of reason, magnified and "the figure of him who was to come," and in exalted. Women, young women, good young both were peculiarly verified the words of women, think they are only yielding to the Christ, "a man's focs shall be they of his impulse of a pious affection, when they apown house," and, "a prophet is not without plaud or censure this or the other public honour, save in his own country, and in his character. But what are they doing inown house." With God to resent is to deed? Blowing up one poor vain idol of avenge; having reproved the transgressors straw into self-consequence and importance; he withdraws in anger, and lo, the punish- and piercing through, on the other hand, an ment is already inflicted. "The cloud de- honest heart with anguish unutterable; perparted from off the tabernacle, and behold, haps robbing a worthy, happy family of its Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and bread, or, what is more, of its peace and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and behold she comfort. I am no stranger to what is by was leprous." A shocking example of di- some termed religious conversation, and I vine displeasure against one of the most am seriously concerned about the topics of it. odious of crimes. My fair hearers, let me It generally turns upon persons, not things. whisper an advice in your ears. I am no Now, it ought to be just the reverse. Percommonplace declaimer against your sex; I sons always mislead us, for no one is wholly honour it, and I wish to improve it; you must impartial; but truth is eternal and unchangehear me with the greater attention, and mark able. Apply then the test-Does the conwhat I say. You lie under a general impu-versation dwell upon this man or his neightation, respecting the vices of the tongue; bour, his rival or his enemy-check it, away but general imputations are for the most part with it; what have the interests of piety to ill-founded. I do not mean, however, to in- do in the case? Had he never been born, sinuate that you are totally innocent, or more" the foundation of God" would have stood so than the other sex: for your affections are as it does, without his feeble aid. Call no eager, and what the heart feels, by the eyes man master in sacred things, but Christ; and or the tongue you will express; and that ex- take care that you measure neither orthopression is sometimes too strong for either doxy, sense, nor virtue, by the imperfect, Were similar piety or prudence. I mean to caution you fluctuating standard of your own caprice. at present, on a particular fault of the tongue, affection, or understanding. which affects my own profession, which is punishment instantly to follow the vices of far from being foreign to the subject, and on the tongue, as in the case of Miriam, I shudwhich I deem myself both qualified and en-der to think how many a fair face now lovely titled to advise you. HISTORY OF AARON. LECTURE LXVI. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eleazer his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor: and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazer his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there. And Moses did as the Lord commanded: and they went up into mount Hor, in the sight of all the congregation. |