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SERMON XX.

THE OFFICE OF THE LEVITES.

DEUT. XII. 19.

Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the earth.

THE last of these expository sermons was upon the important subject of public worship. This is on one very nearly connected with it, the orders and offices of its officiating ministers. In this respect the Jewish Law was very peculiar. and Priests was restricted to the family of Aaron; and "no stranger, which was not of the seed of Aaron," was permitted to "come near to offer incense before the Lord." The whole tribe of Levi was also selected to be constantly employed in the service of God. They were taken instead of the first-born of all the other tribes, as we have seen in a

The office of its High Priest

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previous exposition, and set apart for God in a solemn service of consecration, in which "Aaron offered them as an offering before the Lord," "that they might execute the service of the Lord."

The following appears to me to be the best order in which I can set before you this subject of the officiating ministers of religion under the Jewish Law. I will enquire First, into their offices; Secondly, into their maintenance; and Thirdly, into their claims. And when I have gone through these heads, I will enquire, in a similar manner, into the offices, maintenance, and claims of the ministers of religion under the Gospel.

I. In enquiring into their offices, I will begin with that of the High Priest. The High Priest was the head of the whole ecclesiastical polity of the Jews. His office was of the greatest dignity and authority. He was consecrated, as we saw in a previous sermon, with solemn and very peculiar ceremonies, and anointed with a precious ointment made and kept for that purpose alone. He performed all the highest offices of their religion.

He only might officiate in the Holy of Holies. On him devolved the ceremonies of their principal annual solemnity, the great day of expiation. He alone received the divine communications by means of the Urim and Thummim in his breast plate, and made them known to the people. He was the final judge in all controversies, and whatever was of the first importance to be performed or decided upon, he was the person to whom the performance and the decision belonged.

Next to him, in office and authority, were the Priests. They were chosen to do most of the holy work of God, and were to be without blemish or defect in body, and holy in life. Their office was to perform in turns or courses, the daily and other services of the tabernacle, and afterwards of the temple. It was their duty to offer the sacrifices; to keep up the fire, which originally fell from heaven, constantly burning day and night on the golden altar; to place on the golden table a censer of incense, lighted with no other fire, every morning and evening; to prepare the twelve loaves of shew bread, and

set them on the altar, changing them every Sabbath; and in short, to perform the whole of the proper ecclesiastical service of the house of the Lord, except those peculiar parts of it which were restricted to the office of the High Priest. It was their part also to be judges of the leprosy and other ceremonial uncleannesses, and to exclude the persons afflicted with them from the congregation, and to re-admit them to its privileges on their recovery. They were also the ordinary judges of all controversies among the people, "between blood and blood, plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke;" they were to declare the law, and pronounce its sentence. They were also interpreters of the law, and instructors of the people. They were to teach the children of Israel all the

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statutes which the Lord had spoken to them by the hand of Moses;" the "Priest's lips" were to "keep knowledge ;" and the people were to "seek the law at his mouth." And finally, they were to praise the Lord, and to pray to him, and to bless the people, in their solemn religious assemblies.

The rest of the tribe of Levi were also devoted to the service of the Lord, and the ministry of his house, but in an inferior capacity. They were to be assistants to the Priests, and to perform the lower offices. Thus speaks the Lord, "I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation." They were at first divided into the three families of Gershonites, Kohathites, and Merarites, but afterwards into four classes. While the Israelites sojourned in the wilderness it was their business to carry the various parts of the tabernacle, whenever the pillar and the cloud directed its removal. They were to set it up when it was to remain stationary, to encamp around it on three sides, while the Priests occupied the fourth, so long as it continued in one place, and to take it down when again it was to remove, some of the more particular parts of the furniture and utensils being carefully covered up by Aaron and the Priests. Afterwards they were employed, by

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