BEFORE CHRIST NUMBERS VIII. 1, 2. Consecration of the Levites. e 1 And the LORD spake thou lightest the lamps, CHRIST 1490. unto Moses, saying, the seven lamps shall give + Heb. wave. + Heb. ware offering. + Heb. they may be to execute, &c. f Exod. 29. 10. 1 Chron. 23.3, 24, 27. 2 Speak unto Aaron, light over against the canand say unto him, When dlestick. NUMBERS VIII. 11-15. 11 And Aaron shall the Levites before Aaron, 14 Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among 1490. Exod. 25. 37. & 40.25. 16.9. 12 And the Levites the children of Israel: and shall lay their hands upon the Levites shall be mine, ch. 3. 45. & the heads of the bullocks: 15 And after that shall and thou shalt offer the one the Levites go in to do the for a sin offering, and the service of the tabernacle other for a burnt offering, of the congregation: and unto the LORD, to make thou shalt cleanse them, an atonement for the Le- and hoffer them for an ver. 11, 13. vites. offering. 13 And thou shalt set NUMBERS VIII. 23-26. 23 ¶ And the LORD † cease waiting upon the spake unto Moses, saying, service thereof, and shall 24 This is it that belong-serve no more: Heb. return from the war fare of the service. See ch. 4.3. eth unto the Levites: from 26 But shall minister twenty and five years old with their brethren in the and upward they shall go tabernacle of the congrega+ Heb. to war in † to wait upon the ser- tion, to keep the charge, ch. 1. 53. vice of the tabernacle of and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the warfare of, &c. Trim. 1. 18. the congregation: k 25 And from the age the Levites touching their of fifty years they shall charge. PRAYER. LET US PRAY, that we so devote and dedicate our hearts and souls to God, that religion be our greatest pleasure, duty our first employment, and sin our chief sorrow. That we devote to God the strength of manhood, as well as the blossoms of youth and the maturity of age; and that the blessedness of the world to come, begin within the soul while we still linger upon earth. O HOLY, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who hast commanded us, Thy sinful and unworthy servants, to be holy as Thou art holy, separate from all evil, and devoted and dedicated to Thee; so send down Thy Holy Spirit upon us, that we become more and more the reasonable, holy, and living sacrifices which Thou, by Thine inspired Apostle, hast commanded us to be. Here we present unto Thee ourselves, our souls, and bodies. As Thou didst accept in the olden time of Thy Law the vow of the Nazarite, that he should be separated from a sinful world, and given up to Thy service; so we pray Thee to sanctify the affections of our hearts, to direct the energies of our souls, to regulate the actions of our lives, that we delight to do Thy Will, and place our best happiness in obedience to Thy Will and Thy Law. Fill us with Thy grace and heavenly benediction, that, amidst all the allurements and temptations of the world, the snares of the flesh, and the wiles of the devil, we make our devotion to Thee not the heavy burthen, but the great pleasure of the soul. Fill us with such joy and peace in believing that Thou art our Father, that Christ is our Saviour, that the Holy Spirit is our Comforter, that the Holy, Blessed, and Glorious Trinity is with us, that we may find no mental gratification superior to the consciousness of the presence of God. Make us to know and to feel, that "in Thy presence is the fulness of joy ;" and that to live, to walk, to think, to pray, and to praise, in the constant remembrance that "Thou God seest us," is the beginning of the more perfect pleasures, which shall continue beyond the grave for evermore.-And because obedience to Thy commandments is the best earnest of our present dedication, and the best pledge of our future happiness, enable us, we pray Thee, to regard all the duties of the station in which Thy Providence hath placed us, to be the fittest employment of our minds, and the best trial of our love to Thee. May the stedfast performance of the humblest duty which Thou hast assigned us become our proof within us of resignation to Thy Will, and of the well-founded hope of Thy glory. Save us from sin. Whatever be the calamities and the sorrows, the thorns and the thistles, that spring up in our road through life and death to heaven, may we ever regard the dominion of evil over the heart and soul, to be the chief of all our sorrows, the greatest of all calamities. O conquer the sins of our hearts, that we may become the sons of God, and partakers of the divine nature of the Son of the Blessed.—And as we pray Thee to bestow upon us the graces of Thy Holy Spirit, to change us thus in heart and soul before Thee, so also do we no less earnestly pray Thee to enable us to devote and surrender our whole lives to Thee and to Thy service, from youth to manhood-from manhood to age-from age to death. May our whole life on earth be only the continued preparation for the life of heaven. Here we offer and present unto Thee, the present and the future. If we have failed to devote the past years of our life, as we ought to have done, to Thy honour and glory, let it be Make the present hour Thine. Make the future days of our life Thine own. Pardon the omissions and the sins of the past, O Lord God, may Thy mercy pardon what we have been. May Thy grace reform what we are. May Thy wisdom direct what we shall be. Accept our repentance; strengthen our resolutions; make us wholly and entirely Thine. May our maturity, our age, all, all be Thine; that we may prove, by our whole life, our love to Him, whose whole life on earth was one act of obedience, in sinlessness and in suffering, that He might be proved to be the perfect Sacrifice for the sins of those that believe. On His obedience, and not on our own, we trust for Thy mercy. In His Name, we pray Thee for the power of the Holy Spirit, to know Thee more, and serve Thee better. In His Name, we pray Thee, that the blessing which Thy servants, the priests, in the olden time, pronounced upon Thy people, may be so given to us, that now, even now, while the life of so no more. trial lasts, before the hour of death has come, the blessedness and the happiness, the peace and the joy, which shall be the portion of Thy redeemed in the world to come, may begin now, and go on now, and live now within our hearts and souls. O Lord God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless us with all goodkeep us from all evil. Pour forth the graces of the Spirit of comfort upon the thoughts and desires of the soul. Give us that peace which the world can neither give, nor remove, nor destroy. Lift up the light of Thy countenance upon us, that we may walk in that light, die in that light, and in Thy light live for ever and for ever. Begin within the soul on earth, the life, the light, the peace, of the blessed in heaven, that we may know Thee, and bless Thee, now and for ever. We ask all in the Name and for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Our Father, &c. The Peace, &c. NOTES. NOTE 1. On the Vow of the Nazarite. Numb. vi. 2. The vow of the Nazarite was a negative one; that is, it was a promise to abstain from certain things, in themselves lawful, and was called by a restraint on the appetite. The Nazarite vowed to let the hair grow, to abstain not only from wine and all inebriating drink, but from vinegar likewise; to eat no grapes, and to beware of any contamination from corpses, bones, and sepulchres. In some instances, the parents bound the child by the vow of a Nazarite, even before its birth. This was the case in respect to Samson, and John the Baptist, (Judg. xiii. 2-5, 12-23; Luke i. 13-15.) This vow sometimes continued through life; but it was generally limited in its operation to a definite period. The customs relative to the Nazarite prevailed before the days of Moses, who in Lev. xxv. 25, borrowed expressions from them before the publication of his law on the subject, in Numb. vi. If the Nazarite, whether male or female, (,) for the vow might be made by cither, was unexpectedly contaminated, he was to be purified; not only in the manner already mentioned, but was required to shave off his hair; to offer, on the seventh day, two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons,-the one for a sin-offering, the other for a burntoffering; also a lamb of a year old for a trespass-offering; and to commence anew his Nazariteship. (Numb. vi. 9—12.) When the time specified in the vow was completed, he offered a ram of a year old for a burnt-offering; a sheep of the same age for a sin-offering; a ram for a thankoffering; a basket of unleavened cakes, some of which were kneaded with oil, and some covered with oil; also, a libation of wine. His hair was shaven off before the gate of the sanctuary, and cast into the fire, where the thank-offering was burning. He offered, as a wave-offering to God, the shoulders of the thank-offering, and two cakes, one of each kind, which were both given to the priest. He at length indulged himself once more in drinking wine at the feast which was prepared for the thank-offering. As, in some instances, the Nazarites had not sufficient property to enable them to meet the whole expense of the offerings, other persons who possessed more became sharers in it, and in this way were made parties to the vow. Bereshith Rabba, 90. Koheleth Rabba, 7. Acts xxi. 23, 241. The Nazarite, was so called, because he was "separated," that is, consecrated to God by abstinence from the customary mode of living. Vatablus says, that they were of two sorts. 1st. Those who, having been given to excessive or free use of wine or other intoxicating drink, promised to abstain from the use of it, for the mortification of the flesh these were penitent Nazarites. 2nd. Those who abstained from the use of wine for a time, or always, in order that they might devote themselves wholly to God: these were contemplative Nazarites. Nazarites were of two kinds. Some had a perpetual vow, as Samuel, 1 Kings xxviii., and Samson, Judg. xii. 7: others for a certain time, which was either defined by law, or fixed upon by the person's own determination. Of this latter sort, was St. Paul. (Acts xxi. 232.) NOTE 2. On the form after which the high priest was commanded to bless the people of Israel. Numb. vi. 24-26. "The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: "The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: "The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." "The name of the Lord, in Hebrew Jehovah, 1 Jahn, Biblical Archæology, sect. 394. is here repeated three times. And parallel to this, is the form of Christian Baptism; wherein the three personal terms of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are not represented as so many different names, but as one name: the one divine nature of God being no more divided by these three, than by the single name Jehovah thrice repeated. If the three articles of this benediction be attentively considered, their contents will be found to agree respectively to the three persons taken in the usual order of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Father is the Author of blessing and preservation. Grace and illumination are from the Son, by whom we have the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. Peace is the gift of the Spirit, whose name is the Comforter, and whose first and best fruit is the work of Peace. "Petrus Alphonsi, an eminent Jew, converted in the beginning of the 12th century, and presented to the font by Alphonsus, a king of Spain, wrote a learned treatise against the Jews, wherein he presses them with this Scripture, as a plain argument that there are three Persons to whom the great and incommunicable name of Jehovah is applied. And even the unconverted Jews, according to Bechai, one of their Rabbies, have a tradition, that when the high priest pronounced this blessing over the people-elevatione manuum sic digitos composuit, ut Triada exprimerent he lifted up his hands, and disposed his fingers into such a form, as to express a Trinity.' All the foundation there is for this in Scripture, is Lev. ix. 22. As for the rest, be it matter-of-fact or not, yet, if we consider whence it comes, there is something very remarkable in it. See Observ. Jos. de Vois. in Pug. Fidei, pp. 400, 556, 557 3." 3 Jones, of Nayland, On the Trinity, Works, vol. i. P. 107. SECTION CXLVI. NUMBERS X. 1-11. IX. 15, TO THE END. IX. 1-14. The TITLE. He who hopes for God's grace must observe the means of grace. time having arrived for the people to march from Sinai, Moses is commanded to prepare two silver trumpets to summon the assembly, and for other purposes. The solemn typical meaning of this ordinance. The pillar of cloud and of fire, the token of the presence of the God of Israel, guides the people through the wilderness, as the Providence of God now guides the visible Church. repetition of the Law of the Passover. The INTRODUCTION. The time had now arrived when the people were to leave their encampment at Sinai, and proceed on their march toward Canaan. The law had been given to them; and as they had sufficient time allowed them to prepare themselves for the observance of the Passover, they were commanded to celebrate that feast; and because some of them were hindered from keeping it at the appointed time, another month was allowed them to extend their preparation, that the whole camp might observe the festival before they resumed their march. So it should be with us. We are initiated in the knowledge of the whole Law of God. We are on our way through the wilderness to the true Canaan. It is right and fit that we embrace the proper opportunities which the Church of God affords us, to obtain the strengthening of our souls for the trials and difficulties of our journey. If we hope for God's grace, we must use the means of grace; or we shall be guilty of the worst presumption which can offend God, hinder our progress, and destroy our peace. Before, however, the camp was permitted to move, the leader of Israel was directed to make two silver trumpets, to be used on various occasions; all of which, rightly considered, afford the most useful lessons to those who believe that the whole volume of revelation is written to guide each individual Christian who studies it to the knowledge of another world, and a better dispensation in a future state. We must remember that the two most solemn appearances, or manifestations, of the one common God of the Jewish and Christian believers, at the beginning of the legal, and at the end of the evangelical dispensation, were, and are to be, attended with the supernatural sounds from the invisible state, which is compared to the sound of a trumpet. When the Law was to be given, "it came to pass," says the sacred narrative, "that there were thunderings, and lightnings, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people trembled" (Exod. xix. 16), and even Moses himself said, "I exceedingly fear and quake" (Heb. xii. 21). When the day shall come when the double dispensation of the Law and the Gospel shall be alike ended, then, however strange the declaration may appear to those who make their own experience the sole criterion of the truths they will believe, then the same one common God of Jew and Gentile, who was formerly accustomed to manifest Himself to the visible Church, first as the Jehovah of Israel, and then as the Word made flesh, the incarnate God of the New Testament, shall again be manifested. He shall descend from heaven with a shout as of a general returning in triumph from the victory over his enemy, and with the sound, the more than human sound, as of a trumpet, summoning the armies of the King of kings to that victory (1 Thess. iv. 16). The dead in Christ shall awake at the sound of that trumpet (1 Cor. xv. 52). The dead, the corruptible, shall put on their incorruption, and the change upon the living shall be like that of Moses and Elias at the Transfiguration, when they appeared with Christ; and so, all the dead in Christ shall then, at that day, appear. It is supposed that when the Lord God, the Jehovah of the Church, appeared to Adam in the garden at the fall, he became visible amidst the same superhuman manifestations of His holy presence. Of this, however, we cannot be certain. We only know that at the beginning of the Church of Israel, and at the ending of the Church of Christ, the presence of the Lord God was, and will be attended with the sound of a trumpet, and voices from the invisible world. If we keep this wonderful fact in view, we may justly believe that the ordinance of sounding the trumpet, commanded by Moses, was intended to remind the children of Israel of the origin, and therefore of the sanctions of their Law. And the study of the objects of the same ordinance may remind the Christian of the future completion of the dispensations of God. Was the first object of sounding the trumpets by the son of Aaron the general assembling of the people for their journeying? so the priests, ministers and stewards of Christ, are required, as the sounders of the trumpet of the everlasting Gospel, to prepare the general assemblies of the Christian Church to progress through the wilderness and to go on their way rejoicing (Numb. ix. 2-4). Were they required in case of war to blow the trumpet in a different manner, which is called "sounding an alarm?" so must the priest of God not merely inculcate the wise and peaceful ordering of the people in the wilderness, but he must sound the alarm against the enemies of the souls of men, he must |