taste for symbols and typical imagery, which the nature of the Levitical institutions had excited in the public mind; and consequently shows, that this influence which they had acquired over the nation must have resulted from a long study of them. But whether the great body of the people discerned, though distantly and faintly, the great object of faith and the perfect oblation and sacrifice that he would offer or not; still it is certain from the language of Prophecy, as in the 53d chapter of Isaiah, and from the declarations of the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, that some of the worthies of Israel saw and rejoiced in the day of Christ, with more or less distinctness of spiritual vision. (See Heb. xi.-John viii. 56.)*

For as the Jewish High Priest was a shadowy image of Jesus Christ, our High Priest, and the inner sanctuary of the temple was a figure of heaven itself; so also, the sacred incense which used to be burnt, both in the holy and in the most holy place, represented the prayers of the church, and hence the name of the thing signified is given to the sign, and those sacred odours are called the prayers of the saints;" the burning of incense, therefore, before God, by the Jewish High Priest, in the inner sanctuary, prefigured our High Priest now in heaven, commending to God the prayers of his church.†

"The oracular type of URIM and THUMMIM,‡ was most eminently fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the only true High Priest, in and by whom alone God speaks his mind, and works his image in us. 6 In him are hidden all the trea

Dr. Wait's Course of Sermons, Serm. ii, p. 48.

+ Outram on Sacrifices, translated by J. Allen, p. 366.

The Breast-plate, a garment peculiarly appointed for the high-priest, Exod. xxvii. 15. was, according to Dr. Lightfoot, "a rich piece of cloth of gold, an hand-breadth square, double, and set with twelve precious stones, in four rows, three in a row: these," he adds, " are called Urim and Thummim, Exod. xxviii. 30." The manner in which the answer was given, was not by any shining of the stones, or voice of an image, but by an audible

(2 Cor. iv. 6.-Matt. ix. Of his fulness have all we (John i. 16.)- For the

sures of wisdom and knowledge;' (Col. ii. 3.) and He is holy and harmless, and separate from sinners. For such an High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.' (Heb. vii. 26.) He wears the true Urim and Thummim always upon his heart :-Illuminations and Perfections, Lights and Graces in the highest; and we have nothing of either, but what we have from him. Our Lights are from him. 27.)-Our Graces from him. received, and grace for grace.' Law was given by Moses," these legal shadows of terror and darkness. But Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ' (v. 17.)-GRACE, instead of legal terror and rigour:-TRUTH, that is, accomplishments and performances, instead of shadows and promises, came by Jesus Christ. It follows, No man hath seen God at any time,' that is, by any light, or grace, or power of his own, but the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.' (v. 18.)-The true Urim and Thummim is in the Pectoral of Jesus Christ; all our illuminations and perfections are in him.”*

5. The temporary separation betwixt Jew and Gentile, and of the dispensation itself, was marked by the exclusive character of the Jewish ritual, which forbade Gentiles to offer the legal sacrifices unless initiated by the rite of circumcision; and which, by enjoining all the males to

voice from the presence or Shechinah: as "Moses heard the voice of one speaking to him from off the mercy-seat." (Numbers vii. 29.) The names of Urim and Thumim were given to denote the clearness and perfection of the oracular answers; for Urim signifies light, and Thummim, perfection. For these answers were not like those of the heathen oracles, enigmatical and ambiguous, but always clear and manifest, and their truth ever certain and infallible.-Lowman on the Heb. Ritual, p. 127.-Prideaux Con. part 1. b. iii. p. 153. Lond. 1719, 8vo.

* Mather's Figures and Types of the Old Testament, p. 513.

appear thrice every year at Jerusalem, rendered the universal diffusion of Judaism impracticable. The vail too, which separated the people from the most Holy Place, indicated that universal access, even to the mercy-seat, was not yet permitted.

For although the peculiar construction of the tabernacle, and the exclusive character of the Jewish rites, might not have been sufficient of themselves to prove to the believing Israelite, that the Mosaic dispensation was temporary in its nature; yet, when connected with the Abrahamic promises and subsequent prophecies, it was demonstrably evident that those promises and prophecies could never be accomplished without an entire change of system, by throwing down the wall of separation between Jew and Gentile; nor a general entrance be opened into the immediate presence of the Divine glory, but by the rending of the veil which separated even the "holy" from the "most Holy Place."

"When, at the death of Christ," says Dr. A. Clarke, "the veil of the temple was rent from the top to the bottom, it was an emblem that the way to the holiest was laid open, and that the people at large, both Jews and Gentiles, were to have access to the holiest by the blood of Jesus."-The writings of the Jews themselves also prove, that the impression produced on their minds by the promises and prophecies was similar to what we have supposed, and that they entertained an expectation of a general diffusion of Divine knowledge. In Sohar Chadush, it is said, "In the days of the Messiah, knowledge shall be renewed in the world, and the Law shall be made plain among all; as it is written, Jer. xxxi. 33, All shall know me from the least to the greatest."-In Midrash Yalcut Simeoni, we find the following legend:-" The Holy Blessed God shall sit in Paradise and explain the law; all the righteous shall sit before Him, and the whole heavenly family shall stand on their feet; and the Holy

Blessed God shall sit, and the new Law which He is to give by the Messiah, shall be interpreted;"-and in Sohar Levit. "There shall be no time like this till the Messiah comes;; and then the knowledge of God shall be found in every part of the world."*

6. The annual entrance of the High Priest into the Holy of Holies, and into the immediate presence of the Shechinah, or symbol of the Divine Glory, sprinkled with blood, and sprinkling the mercy-seat with blood, taught the people by a sensible representation that "without shedding of blood there could be no remission of sin,” nor an entrance be administered into the "eternal inheritance of the saints in light."

"Of all the rites [of the Mosaic institute] the sprinkling of the blood was the most sacred; because by that act, the life of the victim was considered as presented to God the Supreme Lord of life and death:-and as the High Priest of the Jews carried the blood (the vehicle of the life or sensitive soul) of the victims, into the innermost sanctuary of the temple, as a sign of the previous immolation of them, and sprinkled it towards the mercy-seat; so our High Priest, in heaven itself, which that sanctuary prefigured, presents before God, not only the soul, but also the body, of the victim that was slain for our sins.-For the blood of those victims which were the principal types of Christ, was carried into the holy of holies which typified heaven itself."+

7. The principal FESTIVALS of the Jewish church were the Passover, the feast of Pentecost, and the feast of Tabernacles. The first of these was commemorative of the deliverance from Egypt, and the second of the promulgation of the Law on Sinai, as the last was, of the Israelites

* Dr. A. Clarke's Commentary on Eph. ii. 13. and Heb. viii. 11–13. + Outram's Dissertations on Sacrifice, translated by John Allen.-Diss. i. c. xvi. p. 195; and Diss. ii. c. iii. p. 217. London, 1817, 8vo.

dwelling in booths or tabernacles in the wilderness.

The

Of the figurative design of the two former of these festivals, there is no doubt; the analogy between the Paschal Sacrifice and the sufferings of our Lord, between the Delivery of the Law and the Effusion of the Holy Spirit, having been remarked and acknowledged from the earliest period of the Gospel.-But the intention of the institution of the Feast of Tabernacles as a figurative festival, has not been so clearly explained. Some have supposed that it was designed to instruct the Israelites, "that they were but pilgrims and strangers here below, sojourners as it were in a strange land, passing through it to their own country, towards their own home."-The opinion, however, which seems most analogous to the objects symbolized by the other festivals, is that which regards it as shadowing forth the conversion and restoration of the Jewish nation. Rev. Dr. Elrington has defended this view of its object with considerable ingenuity and force." That the Jews," says he," annually observed three great festivals at Jerusalem, and that two of them, the Passover and the Feast of Pentecost, had a reference to events, which were to happen under the Christian dispensation, is well known. Hence, we are led to consider, whether the third solemnity was of a similar nature, and has received a similar completion. This was the Feast of Tabernacles, beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month; when for seven days all that were Israelites born, were to dwell in booths, in remembrance of their dwelling in booths when they were brought out of the land of Egypt, and on the eighth day to return to their houses, celebrating it with great rejoicings. Levit. xxiii. 34, 35, 36, 42, 43.

"Now it is evident, that no circumstance attending the establishment of Christianity, had any resemblance to the journey through the wilderness, and the dwelling there under tents; nor has any attempt been made, to prove a similarity of the sort. We must, therefore, either admit