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Make us perfect in every good word and work.

Godhead, whose attributes we begin only to comprehend in the present life; but which shall be more fully made known and manifested to our ever improving understanding in the world beyond the grave. We thank Thee for the knowledge of God the Creator, who has made the soul immortal, and promised to it the glories of heaven. We thank Thee for the knowledge of God the Redeemer, who by His own precious bloodshedding on the Cross, when He had taken on Himself the fashion of a man, brought back to man the heaven which man had lost. We thank Thee for the knowledge of God the Sanctifier, who prepares the soul, and makes fit the soul, for "the inheritance of the saints in light." We thank Thee for the command that we honour Thee by obedience to the commands of the Father, by faith in the message of His Son, and by submission to the influences of the Holy Spirit of God. Our souls do magnify the Lord; and our spirits rejoice in God our Saviour. O prepare us for the day when these rejoicings for Thy greatness, and contemplations of Thy goodness, which begin on earth, shall be increased and continued for ever in the world beyond the grave. Prepare us for Thy more manifested presence in the true Holy of Holies, in the world to come. Now, even now, we humbly pray Thee, prepare us for that world to come. Graft in our hearts the love of Thy Name; increase in us true religion. nourish us with all goodness; and of Thy great mercy keep us in the same. Clothe our souls with the white robe of holiness. O clothe our souls with the righteousness of Christ our Lord. Place Thou on our heads the golden crown of the royalty of spirit, which rules over the passions of the heart, and the rebellion of the soul within us. Give to our hands the palm of triumph over all the power of the enemy. Suffer us not, we pray Thee, to be contented with the knowledge of our higher privileges; with the consolations of our remembrances of Thy promises; nor with the anticipations of our future and glorious advancement in that ever progressive improvement, when we shall unite with the angels and archangels of heaven in praising without ceasing Thy mercy and Thy love; but so send down the graces of Thy Holy Spirit upon our hearts, and our wills, our affections, and our tempers, that in all the common transactions of this mortal life, we may be blameless in our conduct to men, while we are holy in our souls to Thee. Give us the religion which shall govern our daily conduct, and go down with us from the sanctuary to the world. May all who see us, be able to bear witness that we converse with Thee. May we be kind to all, and courteous to all. May we be patient under sufferings, and gentle under reproaches. May we never render evil for evil, nor railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing. Conquer within us the pride of heart which alike alienates the reason from God, and prevents sympathy for thy suffering and sorrowing creatures. May we never reproach the poor for their poverty; nor the unfortunate for their distress. Take away from us the injustice which condemns rashly, and censures hastily, and insults bitterly. Teach us to hate the base and unworthy comparing of ourselves with others; and which makes us think highly of ourselves, and lowly of others. Give us the true highmindedness, which imitates the mind of Christ, who made Himself of no reputation, and humbled Himself to the endurance of undeserved contempt, and to the shame and disgrace of the death of the Cross. Of Him may we be followers, of Him may we be imitators, who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; and threatened not when He most deeply and unjustly suffered. Ever give us the grace to be mindful of the Christian name we bear; that we grieve not, by any unchristian bitterness of temper, that Holy Spirit of gentleness and comfort, "by which we are sealed unto the day of redemption." May all bitterness of feeling, all violence of anger, all animosity of spirit, all clamorous

contention, all injurious expressions, and every harsh and unchristian disposition, be taken from us. May we be sympathizing with each other's calamities, and forgiving each other their trespasses, as Thou, O God, for Christ's sake, we hope and trust, hast forgiven us. We have no hope of mercy, but in Thine undeserved mercy. As Thou, O Father, makest the sun to shine upon the evil and upon the good, and sendest rain upon the just and upon the unjust, so may we, as Thy children, and as the brethren of Christ our Saviour, love our enemies, bless them that curse us, and pray for those which despitefully use us. Make us Thy children on earth, by the imitation of Jesus Christ. Make us Thy children in heaven; that, as we believe and imitate Christ crucified on earth, we may live and reign with Christ glorified in heaven. Hear our imperfect petitions, which we offer to Thee, not in our own name, but in His Name, the name of Christ; and in His words we call on Thee, saying,

Our Father, &c.

The grace of our Lord, &c.

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TITLE. The perfection required of a Christian is well illustrated by a right understanding of the Levitical law. Every Christian must consider himself as a sacrificer, and as a sacrifice; and in both respects he must be blameless. But Christ alone is the sinless Priest, and the spotless Victim; and the Christian, therefore, must be saved by faith in Christ, leading to the love which longs and prays to be enabled to imitate His perfections both as the Sacrificer and the Sacrifice. The law of blamelessness in priests and sacrifices.

INTRODUCTION.-There is, perhaps, no one topic-connected with the Christian religion-which the Deist, the sceptic, or the mere man of the world, derides so severely, or so continually, as the exceedingly minute regulations and enactments of the Levitical law; though there is no more certain and philosophical proof of the Divine origin of that law, than this very minuteness. The chief object of human laws is, avowedly and professedly, the benefit of civil society. To effect this object, it takes notice of actions only; and omits to lay down regulations for the government of thoughts and motives. One of the chief maxims of human law is, that it takes no notice of lesser and smaller affairs. If a man, for instance, does not commit an actual injury to, or murder his neighbour, the law

of human origin will never recognize, and never punish, the mere thoughts of envy, hatred, malice, or revenge, which may destroy inward peace, and produce perpetual misery. The principal object of the Divine law, on the contrary, is the future happiness of man, founded on his present holiness; and that holiness cannot consist in the morality, which is alike common to the heathen and to the Christian, and which aims only at the peace of society; it is the government of the thoughts, the motives, the desires, the will, and the affections; that the present and the future happiness may be the result of inward perfection.-As human law legislates with great care on all points respecting property; and nothing, in spite of its own maxims, is deemed trivial, which accomplishes its legal objects: so does the Divine law legislate with great care on all points, which accomplish its spiritual and Divine objects; and, by commanding the most minute perfection, it lays the foundation of the most perfect happiness. Both the Christian and the Levitical portions of the one Revelation command, therefore, this extreme and minute perfection. The Christian code commands us to be "perfect, as our Father in heaven is perfect." The Levitical code, in types and figures, gives us the same precept. It so ordains perfection, that it compels the believer to discern between the actions of the soul, and the spirit; and to inquire into the thoughts and intents of the heart. As the innermost part of the joints and the marrow of the sacrifices was open to the inspection of the sacrificer, so the thoughts and intents of the heart, the soul, and the spirit, are open to "Him, with whom we have to do;" and the utmost perfection is required in them all. This perfection, then, is peculiarly pointed out in the details of the Levitical law. That law contains precepts and enactments, referring to circumstances to which no allusion is ever now permitted, even in the most religious families. The object of them all, however, is to make us remember that the God of heaven knows the secrets of the nature of man; and that there is another and a better nature, with which the soul shall be clothed when the body of its present humiliation shall be exchanged for the body of its future glory; in which there shall be no uncleanness, nor blemish, nor any such thing. The present Section is distinguished above others, for the command, that neither in the priests who sacrifice, nor in the sacrifices which they offer, shall there be any blemish, any imperfection whatever. But the law is not to be limited merely to the circumstances of the Israelites. It is to be interpreted spiritually; and the Christian, in discovering that interpretation, and applying it to himself, will remember that he is required always to consider himself in the two points of view, as both the sacrificer and the sacrifice, which are equally required to be without blemish. This is expressed by St. Paul; "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye," as sacrificers, and in this one sense as sacrificing priests before God, "present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy," as set apart, "to God," and "acceptable," as without blemish before Him. The same command is embodied in the Sacramental Services of the Church. "Here we," as sacrificers, "present and offer unto Thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, "to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto Thee." And as the sacrificer and the sacrifice, under the law of Moses, were both required to be perfect, how

much more are we, whose knowledge is greater, required to be perfect, blameless, holy, and free, in heart, soul, and spirit, from all sins as sacrificers, and from all blemish as sacrifices! The minute enactments of the law give us the rule of this perfection, and the knowledge of our sin if we do not attain to it. Let us now suppose that we know this law of God to the utmost. We perceive that it demands the greatest inward perfection; and then the question arises,— How is it possible that this knowledge of the perfect blamelessness which the law of God requires of us, can contribute to our happiness? Does it not rather speak misery? Does it not only convince us that we deserve death? If no sacrificer can be permitted to offer, who is not blameless ;—if no sacrifice can be accepted, which is not blameless, spotless, blemishless ;-how is it possible that we can be welcomed, whose souls and spirits, as sacrificers, are polluted with inward evil; and whose thoughts, and motives, and words, and actions, as sacrifices, are utterly imperfect, and full of blemishes? Has God imparted the knowledge to mock us; and to require from us a perfection which is unattainable ? No; is the answer of reason, which receives Revelation. The same law, which thus gives the knowledge of the sinfulness of man, both as to the sacrificer and the sacrifice, is the schoolmaster, also, to lead the believer who is thus convinced, to a perfect Sacrificer and to a spotless Sacrifice. It leads him to Christ, as the great High Priest, who was in all points tempted in our nature, yet without sin. It leads him to Christ, as the only Sacrifice, "the Lamb of God," without spot or blemish. Having thus been led by the law of God itself to the discovery of the perfect Sacrificer and the perfect Sacrifice, the believer in revelation then begins to perceive the manner in which the certainty of happiness is identified with the command of perfection. He obeys the simple command-" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," as the Sacrificer, the High Priest, the perfect Mediator, the holy and prevailing Intercessor. Believe, also, on the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Sacrifice, the perfect Victim, the holy Lamb, the spotless, sinless, blameless Son of God. He is convinced of the one great truth, that the misery which results from the certainty of the impossibility of his own perfection is removed by the acceptance of the Sacrificer, who prays for his blessedness; and by the acceptance of the Sacrifice, which has made the atonement for the believer's imperfections and sins. His happiness begins by understanding the perfection of the sacrificer and the sacrifice, as they are set forth in the demands of the law. His "faith worketh by love." And with happiness in his soul, and love in his heart, he now goes on to aim at the perfection described in this Section. As the spiritual priest, who desires to sacrifice himself, his soul, and his body—he will not sorrow as men without hope, "for the dead among his people," whoever they may be (chap. xxi. 1) "nor make any "baldness on the head," nor give other tokens of grief, which were or are common to the heathen, or worldly men around him (ver. 5), nor indulge even the tokens of sorrow, which might be permitted to those of his own brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil" had not been so spiritually shed. His belief in God's providence was always to keep his soul as in the "sanctuary of God" (ver. 10-12). In his most intimate relationships he will avoid the evil of the

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any

His eye

world. In his approaching to God's altar and table, to offer or to partake of the bread of his God, he will desire and pray to be without blemish. will not be blind to God's glory, nor his understanding darkened by doubts and difficulties. His feet will not be lame, so that he walk unevenly or irregularly. He will be free from all deformity or deficiency, from all ungracefulness and inferiority (ver. 16, 17); to use the language of an Apocryphal Book, "when he goeth up to the holy altar, he will make the garment of holiness honourable." And as he thus prays to be free from blemish, as the sacrificer of himself; so will he desire to be free from blemish as the sacrifice. While the stranger, the hireling, or the priest's daughter, who has left her father's home for the husband that is a stranger to Israel (ver. 10-13), may not partake of the altar; he will offer himself free from the blemishes of wilful deformity. His sacrifice ofttimes will be the best period of his life, so that he will not give the dregs and dross of his days to God. It will be the best of his understanding, of his talents, of his judgment; so that he seeks his improvement, his employment, and his happiness, in the service, the love, the fear, and the knowledge of God. He was created for happiness; and he seeks it, and he finds it, where alone it can be found, in following the guidance of that holy Revelation, which first convinces him of sin, because of its perfection, then directs him to the sinless Mediator, and the spotless Sacrifice.

BEFORE CHRIST 1490.

. Ezek. 44. 25.

|| Or, being

LEVITICUS XXI.

The portions in brackets not to be read in families.

1 And the LORD said neither shall they shave off
unto Moses, Speak unto the corner of their beard,
the priests the sons of nor make any cuttings in
Aaron, and say unto them, their flesh.

a There shall none be de- [6 They shall be holy
filed for the dead among
his people:

BEFORE

CHRIST 1490.

19. 12.

unto their God, and notch. 18. 21. &
profane the name of their
God: for the offerings of
the LORD made by fire,

2 But for his kin, that
is near unto him, that is,
for his mother, and for his and the bread of their See ch. 3.
father, and for his son, and God, they do offer:

for his daughter, and for therefore they shall be
his brother,

holy.

e

11.

22.

3 And for his sister a 7 They shall not take a ⚫ Ezek. 44. virgin, that is nigh unto wife that is a whore, or him, which hath had no profane; neither shall they take a woman put away See Deut. from her husband: for he is holy unto his God.

an husband husband; for her may he be defiled.

among his people, he shall not defile himself

4 But he shall not defor his wife, file himself, being a chief See Ezek. 24. man among his people, to 16, 17. profane himself.

&c.

b ch. 19. 27,
28.

Deut. 14. 1.
Ezek. 44. 20.

8 Thou shalt sanctify him therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall be holy unto

f

24. 1, 2.

5 They shall not make baldness upon their head, thee: for I the LORD, & ch. 20. 7, 8.

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