yet, from the character of their more peaceful occupations and pursuits, be such as "can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way." But the considerations offered to the Levites, which should induce them to submit cheerfully to the yoke that was being laid upon them, may have been such as these. They were freed from the obligation of performing any civil or military service-the latter absolutely, and the former almost entirely so also, except in cases where the duties to be performed in connection with any civil post would not clash or be incompatible with the proper discharge of their sacred functions. Instances of this might be seen in cases where the high priest or others of the Levites acted sometimes as judges or chief ministers of state, or where they went so far as even to assume sometimes the prerogatives of sovereignty.

Besides these privileges which they enjoyed, there was also secured to them, by the direct command of God, certain endowments, a valuable property in the promised land for their proper maintenance. And by this Divine regulation they were relieved from the care and trouble of having recourse to any other occupation or employment for providing themselves and their families with decent and suitable maintenance. These, in the absence of, or in addition to, aught higher and more spiritual, we may presume, were some of the main considerations which helped probably to reconcile the tribe to the burdens of the office now laid upon them. We may observe that the chief sources of the emoluments that were of right theirs, were certain cities and lands conveyed absolutely to their use and enjoyment for ever, and, in

The Ministry restricted to Levites.

79

addition, the tenths and first-fruits to be paid year by year by the rest of the Israelites who were exempt from the service of the sanctuary.

All these changes were wrought by Divine intervention and at the direct command of God. And, having been once brought about, they were irrevocable in their issues till the coming of the Messiah. As the Levites could no more release themselves from the discharge of their sacred functions, so no more could the first-born among the Israelites free themselves from the exemption to which they had been relegated by Divine command, and assume once more sacerdotal functions which might have been theirs but for the necessary change of the Law. Death, sometimes sudden and unusual, was the penalty for transgression of the Divine regulations. Whoever invaded the sacred office of the Levites, even though inadvertently, it might be, as in the case of Uzzah and the Ark, incurred God's anger and perished. Apparently God had resolved, as early as at this stage, that henceforth none should dare to perform angelic duties and do the service of His sanctuary save those who were Divinely commissioned or "called of God as was Aaron." This lesson had been fully impressed upon the Hebrews, and had, as it were, been burnt into their hearts and minds by the recollection of the terrible judgment that ensued upon the invasion of the holy office by Korah and his company. Hence we read of few instances of any irregularity or impious assumption of sacerdotal functions occurring in the subsequent history of the Jews.

And let us observe, moreover, that though these alterations had been brought about in their religious

economy by the direct command of God, yet He wills that no loss should result to Himself from the exchange He had effected in the sacerdotal order. A Levite was to be found as the substitute for each firstborn in a family; and when it was found that there was a surplus of the latter amounting to a few scores, without an equivalent number of substitutes to represent them in the Levitical tribe, it was enjoined by Divine authority that compensation should be made to the sacred treasury by the levy of a fine for each

member thus unrepresented. May we not, then, infer that God was justly jealous of the honour and glory due to the majesty of His Name, and thus sought to teach His people to be exact and not indifferent in rendering their bounden service to Himself?

And this jealousy for the honour of His Name God has endeavoured fully to fix in the minds of all His people throughout all generations ever since, in the primary commandments of the decalogue. And more especially do we learn from the second Commandment the grave and terrible penalty that would be inflicted upon the guilty parties who might dare to neglect the worship due to God. And this injunction came home with a terrible reality to the mind particularly of each head of a family in those days, for he could not forget that only lately he represented in his own person the priestly office among his own family, and although the duties of that sacred office had been assigned to others now, yet that he could not escape the duties of. assisting with all his might at the Divine Service, and that he was still as ever responsible for the duty of marshalling the members of his house, and enforcing their presence at the family, as well as public,

Our Duty to God.

worship in the temple or synagogue.

81

When we

reflect upon the nature of the duties expected from the first-born and head of each house, can it be denied that what the world would vulgarly term the accident of birth, might, after all, be a part of the Divine purpose in the economy of grace? Who shall say?

The spirit, then, of the primary commandments not only strictly prohibits us from rendering divine worship to any other than the true God, but also enjoins under a severe penalty that we take care to pay our regular and bounden duty and service to Him. It is, we think, unquestionable that due and proper worship is the first thing which God would seek at the hands of His creatures, whether in Heaven, or on earth, or under the earth; and where this is lacking, God will assuredly visit those who are negligent in their duties with condign punishment.

When we reflect upon the particulars of Divine legislation as ordained under the Mosaic dispensation, all of which were intended to secure the rendering of due and proper worship to Almighty God, it becomes a matter for our serious and earnest consideration whether we, although released from the letter of the Law, are as exact and enthusiastic in rendering "unto God the things that are God's" as we ought to be. Freed, as we have been, from the burden of the Law by the mercy of the Son, we should show forth our gratitude, and, by our greater liberality, strive to surpass the ancient Hebrews, both as to the matter and spirit, in the manner of rendering due and accustomed worship to God, endeavouring to do so in the very "beauty of holiness." The Hebrews were bound and shackled by disabilities, and lay

G

under the bondage of the Mosaic law, from which we are free.

If we seriously reflect upon the weight of that Divine sentence that fell from the lips of the Saviour, "Render unto God the things that are God's," must we not be sensible of the meanness of our service at the present day! Its very poverty is appalling where we might be so rich towards God. "He that spared not His only Son," "He who for our sakes became poor," are the Divine words which ring in our ears; and thinkonly think of the antithesis in our case, and we must at once feel self-condemned of excessive meanness and niggardliness. The only living thing we value—the precious gift of son or daughter received from God, that we prize so much, perhaps, in too many instances, more for the world's sake than for any intrinsic worth of its own—we are loth to part with, and decline altogether to lend to God, to the service of the King of kings; but, on the other hand, we are only too ready to sacrifice the same to the Juggernaut of fashion, or in order to gain the short-lived applause and vain esteem of the world we live in!

But, to return from our digression, we note that yet another stage was arrived at when the Mosaic economy came to an end, and the old order gave place to new. With the birth of the Christian Church on Pentecost was inaugurated yet a more perfect economy. "For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious." At this stage the principle, we find, still remains, and is verified for us in the words of S. Peter with which we began this chapter. But while the principle remains unchanged, not so its applica