the trumpet of the jubilee would sound and God would re-establish each one in his possession, according to His (God's) rights; for the land was His. Their persons also were to be free then; for the children of Israel were God's servants. It was not so with those not belonging to God's people. And although Israel have sold themselves to the stranger, He who made Himself nigh of kin has redeemed them from his hands. The day of jubilee will free the people, whatever may be the power of those who hold them captives.

CHAP. XXVI. We have a touching picture of the ways of God in patience and in chastisement, if Israel walked contrary to Him. When they acknowledged their fault, then He would remember the covenant made with their fathers, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and with the land. Then He would remember the covenant made with their ancestors when they came out of Egypt under His name of Jehovah. God will take these two titles in their restoration:-Almighty, the name of His relationships with the fathers; and Jehovah, the name of His relationships with the people, as taken to Himself at their coming out of Egypt.

The last chapter treats of the rights and the appointments of God in all that relates to the things which are devoted to Him through the medium of priesthood. This necessarily finds its place in that which treats of priesthood; but it has a much wider meaning. I doubt not. It is a question of Him who devoted Himself to God and of the land which belongs to Him-of the rights of Israel, whose possession it was not, and of his selling it to others. As to Christ, He offered Himself without spot to God; He was valued at a low price. Israel by right belonged to the Lord. As Emmanuel's land, Israel only enjoyed the land without being proprietors; he could only pledge it till jubilee. It shall return to its possessor as Emmanuel's land.

Israel, looked at as the possessor of the gift of God, not having redeemed it, where sold to the strangerwhen the jubilee comes, the land will be absolutely the Lord's; the priest will possess it. In Zech. xi. Christ is thus valued, "whom they of the children of Israel did value."

I only point out the principle presented in the chapter, without pretending to enter into all the details of application which may suggest themselves. The principle is the important thing to enable one to understand the purpose of God, in the case of any vow, whether they redeem it or not, or of land, whether it shall return in the day of jubilee when God shall take possession again of His rights in the land of Israel, and cause to enter those whose right it is. It is to be observed also that the judgment is according to the judgment of the priest. But although this be attributed to the priest, it is to the King in Jeshurun (the upright) that the appreciation is intrusted. This shows plainly who is to do it and under what character, though being according to the discernment, the grace, and the rights of priesthood. It is Christ as priest, but Christ as King in Israel who will order all that.

LEVITICUS.-The name Leviticus seems to be derived from the Septuagint, or translation into Greek of the Old Testament. AETITIKON is, in that translation, given as the name of this book. Taking "Levitical," as it seems most naturally, to mean "that which pertains to the Levites"--the title would seem too loose as the name of this book, which is rather "the Priests' Law Book" than "the Book of the Law of the Levites." For as Moses gets a most peculiar place marked in Exodus as his; so have the high priest and priests for them in this; but the service of the Levites comes out in Numbers. The Hebrew name of the book " (vay-yik-rah, and he called) is the conventional adoption of the first word of the book as its name. In this case, perhaps, such an anomaly is rather happy than otherwise, because it stamps upon the exterior of the book, that it cannot be understood apart from the Sanctuary, etc. as written about in Exodus, the book which immediately precedes it.

No. XIII.

THE GOLDEN CALF.

HOWEVER much controversy may be needed for the preservation of the faith once delivered to the saints, it is at best a sorrowful necessity; it not only endangers the spirit of those engaged in it, often clothing self-glorying under the garb of zeal for the Lord, but it extends its influence beyond the immediate actors. The age itself may assume a controversial character, so that everything is viewed through a controversial medium. At the

of our Lord's ministry, the age was characteristically religious; but at the same time so controversial, that one ignorant as the woman of Samaria had caught the spirit; and the effect on her was to hinder any exercise of conscience before God. The present age presents too just a parallel to the one mentioned. It is also characteristically a religious age, and at the same time so systematically sectarian, that the truth of God is only viewed through controversy; and it thus fails of reaching the conscience, and hinders very effectually the ascertainment of the state of souls, individually, before God. There is a remarkable impatience of resolving things into their principles, so that some of the most important truths fail to affect the conscience, because that which embodies them is supposed to be attacked; and in this manner a great deal of the most searching truth is deprived of its point. It is even difficult to apply principles to the consciences of Christians so as to avoid the appearance of controversy, for time has sanctioned so much evil which is not suspected to be evil, that principles have never been tested. Now if, as individual Christians, we know that the principle of every manifested evil is to be found in our own hearts, so as to induce the need of self-judgment and constant watchfulness (for grace alone maketh us to differ), so is it equally true that all the corporately manifested evil in Christendom has arisen from some wrong desire working unsuspectedly in the hearts of real Christians; so that there is quite as great need to watch against the working of those principles among Christians

corporately, which eventually lead to the worst form of evil, as for an individual Christian to watch against the principle of hatred which, if cherished, might lead to actual murder.

The principle embodied in the golden calf is one which most readily insinuates itself among real Christians. It may indeed be recognised when it has received a gross and tangible form, but spiritual wisdom is able to detect the working of the principle before it becomes embodied in form. The golden calf is one of "our figures." (1 Cor. x. 6, margin). Its history has been recorded for 66 our admonition." Israel, outwardly and typically redeemed, serve to show, in a great variety of ways, those who are eternally redeemed to God through the blood of the Lamb, their peculiar dangers. That which "happened" to Israel is written for our admonition." And thus their failures become beacons to us, and at the same time "figures" of those forms of error to which, as redeemed, we are liable. It is important, therefore, to seek to ascertain the germinant principle of evil which led to the setting up of the golden calf.

The people had sung the song of redemption on the banks of the Red Sea. They had murmured-but their murmurings had only been answered by the grace of God, in supplying their need. They had fought with Amalek, and prevailed through the uplifted hands of Moses. After all this, they receive the law by the "disposition of angels," and by the hand of the Mediator. The covenant between Jehovah and Israel is solemnly entered on and ratified by blood-the people on their part with one voice, saying "All the words which the Lord hath said will we do." Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, go up to the mount with seventy of the elders of Israel, and were permitted to see the God of Israel on the mount, and to eat and drink; but Moses is called up into the mount of God, with this express injunction to the elders-"Tarry here for us, until we come again unto you; and behold Aaron and Hur are with you; if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them." The people had seen the glory of the Lord at a distance-" and the

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sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel." Here we have brought before us the position of the several parties (see Exodus xxiv).

Moses, hidden from the sight of the people, was still occupied with God for the people. He was at that very time receiving instructions from Jehovah for the construction of the beautiful tabernacle, and the ordering of their needed priesthood. He was still blessedly serving them, although they did not see him.

us."

The evil commences with the people; but is consummated by means of the very leader, in whose charge they are left, during the absence of Moses. The people do not mean to disown Moses-they fully recognise him as the man who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt-but he was not then present to their sight. This was their need- some present visible prop on which they might cast themselves so as to be relieved from dependance on that which was invisible. They said to Aaron, "Up, make us gods which shall go before Their desire was urgent, and to be gratified at any cost. Without a murmur they bring their golden ornaments to Aaron. How deeply rooted is this principle in the human heart; that which men pay for, they think they have title to use for their own ends; and if it promises relief from dependence on God, they will chase it at any cost. That which the people demanded received its shape and form from Aaron. He received the gold "at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf." It is remarkable, how little definiteness there was in the mind, either of the people or of Aaron, as to what would be the result of their gratified desire. The people said, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." How soon is Moses forgotten in this new and present object. At first they only desired gods to go before them, to carry on that which Moses had begun to do, even to complete their deliverance out of Egypt, by leading them into Canaan. But now they regard these gods, and not Moses, as having brought

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