its, and restrained them from idolatry.

For had they

not been indulged with some symbol of the divinity, that was visible and palpable, they either would not have believed in the divine presence with them, or would easily have slidden into idolatry. This is verified by their ea gerly demanding and actually framing a golden calf, as a visible emblem of Deity, during the absence of Moses in the mount. The omnipresence of the Supreme Spirit was a truth too abstract and profound, to engage the lively faith and steady obedience of a gross and fickle multitude. God therefore thought it expedient to appoint a sensible symbol of his presence, to fix it in his sanctuary, and to make it the grand center of the whole civil government and religious worship of the Hebrews. As he was their supreme Magistrate and King, it was fit that he should have a visible palace in the metropolis of the country, where his royal dignity might be displayed, and from which all his laws and directions might be issued. Such a palace was the temple at Jerusalem. In the inner room of the temple the king of Israel symbolically resided, manifested his glory, and gave out his orders. It was equal

ly proper and necessary that all the worship of this select

people should be directed to one central point. Accordingly the visible presence of Jehovah in his sanctuary was the object to which all their religious services were offered and limited. Although this symbol of God's presence was local and sensible, yet it did not infer the Being represented by it to be a local, material, or tutelar deity. On the contrary, they were abundantly taught that the God of Israel was an infinite Being, whose presence fills heaven and earth, that he was the only true God, and that they were to acknowledge and worship no other deity but him. The pagan theology held up a great plurality and

subordination of gods, which presided over and claimed the homage of particular cities or countries. It also authorized an intercommunity of worship, that is, it encouraged the votaries of one local god to join in the homage paid to another. But the doctrine of one Jehovah, of one exclusive object of worship, was the fundamental and vital principle of the Hebrew ritual. Accordingly, there was but one divine presence; but one most holy place, the seat of that presence; but one altar, at which all the priests were to minister, and on which all sacrifices were to be offered; and but one temple, consecrated to One infinite Being, who made and fills all things. The whole system of their worship was so adjusted, as to be a perpetual remembrancer of the first and chief of their ten commandments-"I am Jehovah thy God; thou shalt have no other gods before me." As the belief and adoration of one supreme Being form the basis of all true piety and virtue; so all the ceremonies, as well as doctrines, of the Hebrew code were admirably suited to impress this sentiment on the memories, consciences, and habits of worshippers. The unity of God was, if I may so speak, embodied, and continually made visible to their senses. How infinitely superior in this respect was their despised ritual to the boasted light of nature! For though the doctrine of one first and allperfect cause be dictated by sound reason, as well as revelation; yet the world has in fact derived it from the latter source; and all the antient nations except the Jews, were strangers to this principle, at least to its just and practical influence. For though some of them had an idea of one deity superior to the rest, whom they styled the father of gods and men; yet they actually paid homage to gods without number, and worshipped

T

them by rites as foolish, impure, and savage, as were the characters of their fancied divinities. This fact strongly evinces the importance of those symbols in the Hebrew worship, which, by constantly pointing it to one object, excluded the fatal evils of polytheism. It is is also a remarkable fact, that when Jeroboam, at the head of the ten tribes, revolted from the house of David, and set up a new altar, temple, and symbols of deity; his departure from the unity of the Hebrew worship directly introduced and permanently established the most corrupting idolatry. The inference from this fact is obvious.

We might assign many other reasons, why the visible .presence and worship of Jehovah were fixed in his temple at Jerusalem. This arrangement promoted brotherly affection and national union among the Jewish people, by mingling them frequently together in the most solemn and endearing exercises, in the presence of their common Father and God. It prevented those superstitious and endless abuses, which would have arisen, had each individual been allowed a private altar and worship. It was especiallly fitted to draw them off from worshipping in groves and high places, which the former inhabitants of Canaan had prostituted to the most obscene and idolatrous rites, and which held out very dangerous allurements to the Israelites. In a word, this public national worship, performed in the capital city, gave splendor and publicity to the true religion; it proclaimed to surrounding nations that the God of Israel was the one supreme Jehovah, and that the Jewish people were his church, estab. lished and protected by his auspicious presence. When the neighboring nations beheld all the Hebrew citizens frequently leaving their territory and families without any human defence, and resorting without inconvenience or danger to the center of national worship; was not this

spectacle a public and divine attestation to the Jewish religion? Was it not admirably fitted to diffuse the knowledge and recommend the service of the true God to the Gentile world?

Having thus contemplated the appointed seat and emblem of the divine presence among the Israelites, and seen their manifold utility, let us now survey the ministers of the Hebrew worship, or the persons selected to preside in the public offices of religion. Every religious establishment requires an order of men to perform its public rites. The Mosaic economy restricted this order to a certain tribe, viz. that of Levi. In the patriarchal ages the father of the first born of every family exercised the priestly office. But this hereditary prerogative unchecked would in time give rise to the greatest abuses. To remedy these was one capital object of the levitical dispensation, which not only confined the sacerdotal order to one family, but subjected it in every punctilio to the divine direction. It also afforded the expectants of this office every motive and opportunity to become qualified for it; and when initiated into it, to give themselves up to its duties, as their subsistence was wholly derived from this source. These religious officers consisted of three grades, the high priest, the priests, and the Levites. The first grade was an hereditary office in the family of Aaron, and generally descended to the firstborn son of every generation. As the high priest was the prime minister of religion, the ritual minutely prescribes his qualifications, his induction, and his official duties. We will take a cursory view of each,and point out its fitness and utility.

As it was a necessary qualification for this office to be descended from Aaron; so the law further directs that the high priest shall not marry "a divorced woman, a

profane person, or a harlot," but shall unite himself to one of a pure and honorable character. This was a wise provision to preserve the virtue and dignity of the priesthood, to protect from the least blemish the important and delicate reputation of this sacred order, whose honor is so closely connected with that of God and religion. The wisest heathens, particularly the antient Greeks and Romans, carefully preserved the honor of marriages, and interdicted such as were unsuitable and debasing. Was it not then worthy of God to provide for the unsullied purity and respectability of a family consecrated to himself; especially as this provision would naturally excite the members of it to a universal decency and dignity of character? Did it not become the divine wisdom to prevent or exterminate those pagan customs, which pronounced the offspring of the most abominable incests the best qualified for sacred employments? For similar reasons the ritual also required the priests to be free from such natural defects or blemishes, as might degrade their high function in the view of the multitude.

It also required, that all, who were found qualified, should be properly inducted into office; and it regulated the whole ceremony of this induction. This ceremonial chiefly consisted in washing them with water, putting on them the sacerdotal garments, anointing them with oil, and applying the consecrating blood of a victim to their ears, their hands, and their feet. These costly, multiplied, and pompous rites do not exactly accord, either with the philosophical refinement, or the christian simplicity of modern times. But this is no objection to their propriety in the early ages. Mankind then needed a visible language, a language, which should strike their bodily sight, and through this their hearts. What