The institution of the sabbath-day commemorative of the rest of God, after the works Sabbath. of creation, (see p. 215,) extended to the land in the Sabbatical year, and to the persons of slaves, and abolition of debts, (whence it was also styled the year of release) and still farther amplified in the Jubilee, held every seventh sabbatical year, celebrated with great solemnity, proclaiming, by the sound of the trumpet, the abolition of all debts, the release of all captives, the recovery of all possessions sold or mortgaged, and the dispensing of religious instruction to the poor, during the Feast of Tabernacles; the spiritual import of all which is made obvious, by the words of our SAVIOUR, (who began his public ministry on a Jubilee) alluding to the prophecy of Isaiah : “ the spirit of the LORD is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind: to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the LORD. Luke iv. 18, 19. Isa. lxi. 1, 2.

From the expression of St. Peter, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, some of the ancient fathers of the church have supposed that each day of the creation was typical of a thousand years of the world's age, and that the millenium will begin with the seventh or sabbatical millenary. In proof of this they observe, that the sun was created on the fourth day, as Christ our Sun of Righteousness arose in the fourth millenary of time. Bp. Newton Dis. vol. 2, p. 372. See also Sacred Hist, p. 81, note, of this work.

Sacrifices

and Offering's.

The various sacrifices and offerings described (Lev. i-xvii. inclusive,) presented through the mediation of the high priest, prefigured those required of Christians, and made for them by the Redeemer, But particularly the sacrifice of atonement (Lev. xvi. 2, &c.) affording an absolute portrait of the office and ministry of our blessed SAVIOUR. "Of all the legal sacrifices, this was

the most solemn and important, to be offered on the tenth day of the seventh month, by the high priest alone, for the sins of the whole nation.

On this day only in the course of the year, was the high priest permitted to enter the sanctuary (except upon the removal and setting up again of the Tabernacle,) and not even then without due preparation, under pain of death; all others being excluded from the tabernacle during the whole ceremony. Lev. xvi. 2-17.

Preparatory thereto, he was to wash himself in water, and to put on the holy linen garments, with the mitre, and to bring a young bullock into the outer sanctuary, and to present it before the LORD, to be a sin offering for himself, and his household, including the priests and Levites, and a ram also for a burnt offering. xvi. 3, 4.

He was then to take two young goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle, to be a sin offering for the whole congregation of Israel, and a ram also for a burnt offering. xvi. 5.

He was then to cast lots upon the two goats, which of them should be sacrificed as a sin offering to THE LORD, and which should be let go for a scape goat into the wilderness.

After this, he was first to sacrifice the bullock, as a sin offering for himself and his household, and to take some of the blood into the inner sanctuary, bearing in his hand a censer, with incense burning, kindled at the sacred fire on the altar, and to sprinkle the blood with his finger upon the mercy seat, and before it seven times; to purify it from the pollution it might be supposed to have contracted from his sins and transgressions during the preceding year.

He was then to sacrifice the allotted goat for the sins of the whole nation, and to enter the inner sanctuary a second time, and to sprinkle it with blood as before, to purify it from the pollution of the people's sins and transgressions of the foregoing year. After which, he was to purify, in like manner, the tabernacle and the altar.

He was next to bring the live goat, and lay both his hands upon his head, and confess over him all the iniquities, transgressions, and sins, of the children of Israel, putting them upon the head of the goat; and then to send him away by the hand of a fit person into the wilderness, to bear away upon him all their iniquities to a land of separation, where they should be remembered no more.

After this atonement, he was to put off his linen garments, and leave them in the sanctuary, and to wash himself again in water, and to put on his usual garments; and then to offer burnt offerings for himself, and for the people, at the evening sacrifice. Lev. xvi. 3-28.

The whole of this process seems to be typical, or prefigurative of the grand atonement to be made for the sins of the whole world by JESUS CHRIST," the high priest of our profession." Heb. iii. 1. And a remarkable analogy thereto, may be traced in the course of OUR LORD'S ministry.

He began it with personal purification at his baptism, to "fulfil all legal righteousness," Matt. iii. 13-15. Immediately after his baptism, he was led by the impulse of the HOLY SPIRIT into the wilderness, as the true scapegoat, who "bore away our infirmities, and carried off our diseases." Isai. liii. 4-6; Matt. viii. 17.

Immediately before his crucifixion "he was afflicted, and his soul was exceedingly sorrowful unto death," when he was to be made a sin offering, like the allotted goat, Ps. xl. 12; Isai. liii. 7; Matt. xxvi. 38; 2 Cor. v. 21; Heb. i. 3; and "his sweat as great drops of blood falling to the ground," corresponded to the sprinkling of the mercy seat, Luke xxii. 44; and when to prepare for the sacrifice of himself, he consecrated himself in prayer to GOD, John xvii. 1-5; Matt. xxvii. 39-46; and then prayed for his household, his apostles and disciples, John xvii. 6-9; and for all future believers on him, by their preaching, John xvii. 20-26. He put off his garments at his crucifixion, when

he became the sin offering, Ps. xxii. 18; John xix. 23, 24; and as our spiritual high priest, entered once for all into the most holy place, heaven, to make intercession with God for all his faithful followers, Heb. vii. 24, 28; ix. 7-15; "who died for our sins, and rose again for our justification." Rom. iv. 25. Hales, Anal. vol. ii. p. 274.

The preparatory rites, the numerous oblations, with which the Jewish sacrifices were offered, typified the inward purity required of Christians, and obtained for them, by the influence of the HOLY SPIRIT, Isai. xliv, 3, John. xiii. 8, and by the blood of the all-sufficient sacrifice, and as such were understood by the Jews, probably even in the time of Moses; their spiritual signification was, however, fully conceived by David, see Ps. xxvi. 6; 1. 8-23; li. 2; Ixix. 30, 31; and plainly intimated by Isaiah, i. 16; Jer, ii. 22; iv. 14; and we observe, that when unaccompanied by such spiritual purity and obedience to the law, they were rejected by God, declared to be vain, an abomination, and hateful to him. Isai. i. 11; lviii. 4; Hos, vi. 6; Amos v. 21; Prov. xv. 8; xxi. 3; xxviii. 9.

Brazen

་

The brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness, Serpent. for the recovery of those who had been bitten by the fiery serpents (Numb. xxi. 6,) typified the lifting up of CHRIST upon the cross for the salvation of the faithful, who look to him for redemption, and live to him, as their sole hope. "Why must a serpent of brass be elevated on a pole? Could not the divine Power recover them without it? Why must they look towards it? Could not a healing virtue be conveyed to their wounds but through their eyes? All this had a direct reference to the mystery of CHRIST, and expressed the manner of his death, and the benefits derived from it. Therefore CHRIST, being the minister of the circumcision, chose this figure for the instruction of the Jews, John iii. 14. The biting of the Israelites by the fiery serpents doth naturally represent the effects of sin, that torment the conscience, and inflame the soul with the appre

hension of future judgment. And the erecting a brazen serpent upon a pole, that had the figure, not the poison of those serpents, doth, in a lively manner, set forth the lifting up of JESUS CHRIST on the cross, who had only the similitude of sinful flesh. The looking towards the brazen serpent, is a fit resemblance of believing in CHRIST crucified for salvation. The sight of the eye was the only means to derive virtue from it; and the faith of the heart is the means by which the sovereign efficacy of our Redeemer is conveyed." John vi. 40. See Cruden's Concordance, upon the word serpent.

The whole Jewish polity, civil and ecclesiastical, formed in fact, a remarkable analogy between the moral and spiritual government of God, as may be inferred from the words of Moses himself, "See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; in that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy GOD, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgements, that thou mayest live and multiply: &c. Deut. xxx. 15-20. (CHRIST was the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believed. Rom. x. 4.

The deliverance from Egyptian bondage, by Moses, typified the redemption of man from the bondage of sin by Christ. The passage through the Red Sea, baptism (1 Cor. x. 1.); the manna, the spiritual-bread of life (John vi. 3135, 48-51; 1 Cor. x. 3; Rev.ii. 17.); the water from the rock,* that water, of which those who drank should never thirst. John: iv.14. We are taught by the writers of the New Testament, to consider this part of the Jewish

*«The rock that refreshed the Israelites in the Desert, did not pour forth its miraculous waters, till it was struck by the rod of Moses, to instruct us, that CHRIST, our spiritual rock, must be struck with the curse of the law, the mystical rod of Moses, to communicate the waters of life to us, that is, the spirit, who is represented in Scripture, under that element." Bates's Harmony of the Div. Attributes, p. 370, 1, 11 Vix mies