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And the priest shall put of the blood of the trespass-offering upon the top of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. And the priest shall take of the oil, made use of in the meat-offering, and pour into the palm of his left hand, and the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord, and of the rest of the oil that is in his hand, shall the priest put upon the right ear, right hand, and right foot of the person to be cleansed, and the remnant of the oil in the priest's hand, he shall pour on the head of him that is to be cleansed, and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD.

All this Jesus of Nazareth, the great High Priest of our profession, has done in the aggregate, and will do individually. Birds are heavenly inhabitants that swim in air, fowls that fly in the midst of heaven. Fallen spirits are described as unclean birds, who, for a season may lodge in the branches. In the business of cleansing the unclean, two clean birds were to be selected, taken alive; the one to be slain, but on the leper being cleansed, the living bird was to be taken, and let loose in the open field. May not the combination of these two birds, exhibit the two fold character of him who died for our offences; while the one remained in death, the other was quickened in the spirit, and in spirit preached to spirits, as we are informed by the Apostle Peter? Or may it not intend Christ dying for us, as the one, and ever living for us, as the other? Or Jesus as one of the people, the seed of the woman suffering death, and we his brethren, though united to him, yet in our individual characters escaping death?

But with these birds there was to be cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. The incorruptible, beautiful, solid cedar; the blazing scarlet, and the purifying hyssop. The table cloth of the table of shew bread, was blue, but the cloth which covered the provision that table contained, was scarlet; these colours, scarlet and blue, were combined in the sacerdotal garment. The one perhaps emblematic of courage, and the other of constancy. It was a line of scarlet thread, that the preserver of the spies was directed to bind in her window. Solomon's virtuous woman was not afraid of the snow, when her household was clothed with scarlet. The lips of the spouse are like a thread of scarlet, her speech is comely: Belshazzar promised that whoever could read the writing, and

show the interpretation thereof, should be clothed with scarlet. The Prophet Nahum pronounces the shield of his mighty men to be red. The valiant men are in scarlet, and when the enemies of our Saviour mocked him, they clad him in a robe of scarlet and a crown of thorns; and when Moses had proclaimed to the people the precepts of the divine law, he took the blood with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people. "Purge me, therefore," says the Psalmist, "with hyssop and I shall be clean."

Thus, in the cleansing of the leper, is exhibited a figure of incorruption, glory, and purity; and our great High Priest, when cleansing our polluted souls, unfolds to our view immortality, glory, and unspotted rectitude.

The bird that was killed, was killed in an earthen vessel. So the death appointed to be our life, took place in the human nature! But it was to be performed over running or living water. Thus was Emmanuel constantly through all his sufferings, attended by the Holy Spirit, who was with him in his death. And he seems to acknowledge this figure, when he says, John, vii. 38, 39:

"He that believeth on me, as the scriptures hath said, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

"But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.”

The priest was directed to sprinkle the diseased person seven times, and then to pronounce him clean, and says, the head of every man, our great High Priest. "Now are ye clean through

the word."

But the priest was to take of the peace-speaking blood, and touch the right ear; the right hand, and the right foot. Why not the left? The right is the superior, as the mind is to the body, or the spiritual to the natural, or the Christian to the man of the world. Thus, the great High Priest of our profession, will sanc tify by his blood, the hearing, working, and walking. They will hear nothing but the blood which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel; and although as living in the world, they are directed to be found in the practice of good works, yet their right hand is touched by the blood of the offering, so that believing on the name of the Lord Jesus they enter into rest, ceasing from their own works as God did from his. Continuing in the present state,

Christians are to run the race which is set before them. Yet as saved they stand still, to behold the salvation of God.

The priest was to take of the log of oil made use of in the meat-offering, and dipping his right finger in the oil, to sprinkle it seven times before the Lord; and of the rest, or of the same, the priest shall put upon the right ear, right hand, and right foot of the cleansed, and this was immediately to succeed the trespassoffering; and the remnant of the oil that is in the priests hand, he shall pour upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the Lord. The blood of the offering being applied by the priest, to the principal members of the patient's body, that his hearing, his working, and his walking may be cleansed; there is added to this, and laid upon it, on each of the same members, a part of the oil which belongs to the sacrifice.

When any person or thing was set apart to the service of, or devoted to God, oil was constantly used. Kings, and priests, and prophets, were anointed with oil. Oil is a figure of joy, Isaiah Ixi. 3: "To give unto them beauty for ashes, and the oil of joy for the spirit of mourning.” Exodus, xxv. 6, Oil is taken for light. "The foolish virgins took no oil, they were in the dark, their lamps were gone out. The wise took oil, and were in the light.”

Thus the High-Priest of our profession, in taking away our sins, a disease of the soul, similar to the leprous in the body, accompanies the blood shed with the oil of light, joy, and gladness to the ear, hand, and foot, so that we should not only hear the voice of our good Shepherd, but none other, not the voice of a stranger: that we should not only work, but that our works should be works of faith and labours of love, and that as we have received the Lord Jesus, so we should walk in him.

Again, that we should hear the word of life with joy, work with joy, walk with joy. Again, that we may hear in the light, so as to understand what we hear, that we may work in the light while it is day, that we may walk in the light as children of the light, not stumbling as those who walk in darkness.

But the remnant of the oil was to be poured upon the head of the cleansed person, indicating that the whole man must be devoted to God, at the period when the atonement was made for him before the Lord; read Malachi, ii. 15, “And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit, and wherefore one ?

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That we might seek a Godly seed." See we not here that this one, this holy one, this Godly seed, is the head of every man ?

The priest as the physician, was to conclude this work of cleansing, by making atonement before the Lord. So saith our Apostle, speaking of our great High Priest, by whom we have now received the atonement:

"But when the priest had finished the peace-making work, he lifted up his hands and blessed the people."

Thus, when our great, our almighty High Priest, had finished the work he came to accomplish, he lifted up his hands and blessed them, and it came to pass while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And when the great business of time is completed, this adorable Personage, this Head of every man, this High Priest of our profession, will pronounce the bles sing on the redeemed, saying, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, enter into the kingdom prepared for you, from the foundation of the world."

You will observe, I have but just touched upon the priestly office, without attending either to order or method; my whole design being to show, how Joshua as a priest, was a type of our blessed Saviour. We proceed to consider the attendants of Joshua.

First, Satan standing at his right hand to resist him, the same malignant being who was present when the Lord spake of his servant, Job.

Secondly, A benignant spirit. The angel of the Lord. The angels are ministering spirits, sent forth, commissioned to wait upon the heirs of salvation in general, but they are described as attending particularly upon prophets, priests, and kings.

Thirdly, He was attended by those who were chosen, and faithful, appointed as instruments to accomplish the will of God. Fourthly, and lastly, By the presence of the divine Being him

self.

And was not the glorious High Priest of our profession attended by every one of these characters ?

1st, By the malignant spirit, in a very conspicuous point of view, in the wilderness. 2dly, In the Pharisees. And 3dly, In the disciples themselves. But the Redeemer said to the arch-fiend in the wilderness, "Get thee hence, Satan;" and the devil leaving him, angels came and ministered unto him. It was the same inveterate adversary, who, entering into Judas, instigated him t VOL. II.

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betray his Lord and Master. To the mind of Peter also he found access, when he so forcibly assayed to prevent our Saviour from going up to Jerusalem. But time would fail to point out in how many instances and characters, Satan appeared at the right hand of our High Priest, to resist him.

But in every instance the Lord, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuked him.

LETTER XXIX.

MY FRIEND,

AGREEABLY to your request, I proceed to sketch for you my scriptural investigations. Please to open your Bible and read from the eleventh verse of the fifteenth chapter of the gospel by St. Luke, to the close of that chapter.

No sections in the sacred writings, merit more serious attention than the parables of our Lord. It does not appear to be the design of our Saviour, that at the time when they were delivered, they should be fully understood, at least, by the multitude: and he has condescended to render a reason, why he thus clothed his doctrines in metaphor. The parables contained the mysteries of the king`dom of heaven; had he revealed to the Jews in general, the grace exhibited in these sacred figures, light, celestial light, would have burst upon them, conviction would have followed, knowledge would have succeeded, the disease of the mind would have been radically cured, and mental restoration would have been the consequence. To their divine physician, they would have yielded their soul's homage, and love and adoration would have prevented their conspiring against the Lord of glory, and Christ would not have been crucified.

But Jesus Christ, by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, was delivered up for the express purpose of taking away the sins of the world, and as Jehovah frequently makes use of his creatures as the instruments of his operations, there was a neces

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