upon the people, as a seal of the compact now formed between Jehovah and them. But when God had perfectly settled their national constitution, the public sacerdotal office was appropriated to Aaron and his posterity; and it was made a capital crime for any other persons to intrude into this employment. Hence when Korah and his associates, who were not of Aaron's family, though of the same tribe, invaded this office, they were made signal monuments of divine vengeance; and the priesthood was confirmed anew to Aaron and his descendants by the appointed miraculous token of the budding of his rod. After this establishment, it was equally presumptuous for the king to exercise this function, as for the meanest of his subjects. Thus when king Uzziah undertook to burn incense upon the altar in the temple of the Lord, from a proud ambition of equalling the pagan monarchs, he was instantly struck with a perpetual leprosy, and banished forever. from the house of Jehovah, and the government of his people. But here it may be objected, that we read of several kings, judges, and prophets, who did not belong to the sacerdotal family,and yet occasionally officiated as priests without incurring the divine censure. Thus the prophet Samuel, who was of the tribe of Ephraim, on one occasion, according to his custom, "blessed the sacrifice;" and on another," offered a lamb for a burnt offering." The prophet Elijah too, in his famous contest with and triumph over the prophets of Baal, directed them to sacrifice a bullock to their idol, while he himself offered another to Jehovah. § We find also that kings Saul, David, and Solomon, on several urgent or great occasions, offered sacrifices, or publickly prayed and blessed the peo* Numbers xvi. 10, 31-33. and Numb. xvii. + 2 Chron. xxvi. 16, 21. 1 Sam. ix. 13. and vii. 9. § 1 Kings xviii. 30. * ple; all which acts were peculiar to the priestly office. The best solution of this difficulty is, either that these prophets and kings are said to do what the priests did by their order; or rather that they were prompted by a special divine impulse to do that on extraordinary occasions, which they were forbidden to do in ordinary cases; in other words, the same infinite Sovereign, who enacted the law, authorized them in these instances to depart from the letter of it. In our last discourse we observed in general that the sacerdotal vestments were minutely and very fitly prescribed by Deity; and that they were decent, beautiful, and magnificent. It may be a useful entertainment to your curiosity to view these garments more distinctly. For as these form no inconsiderable part of Jewish Antiquities; as they occupy a conspicuous place not only in the most learned authors, but even in the sacred volume, and tend to throw light both on scripture and other antient writings; and as I am sure you will attend to this and every other article of sacred antiquity with candor and serious respect; I will therefore give you a distinct but concise view of the several parts of dress appropriate to the priestly order, abridged chiefly from two great writers. These garments were eight in number; four were common to all the priests; the other four were peculiar to the high priest. The former were called the linen gar ments, and consisted of drawers, the coat, the girdle, and the bonnet. The drawers were prescribed for the express purpose of "covering their nakedness," that is, to preserve the priests from an indecorous and ludicrous appearance, when they stood aloft on the altar, over the heads of the people, or when their service demanded a va 1 Sam. xiii. 5. 2 Sam. vi, 17, 18. I Kings xviii. 30. [LECT. XIV. riety of of bodily gestures in the view of the multitudė. This garment prevented those shameful exposures of their bodies, either through accident or superstitious design, which some heathen idolaters esteemed honorable and even religious in the worship of their gods. A learned writer with good reason supposes that no such article of dress was used in Noah's time, from the circumstance of his being found uncovered in his tent; nor among the Jews, except by their priests in the days of Moses and of David, from several intimations in their history and law ;* nor even among the later Romans; as appears from Martial's ludicrous description of a person sacrificing; and from the account given by Suetonius of Julius Cesar's behaviour, when he found himself expiring by the strokes of the conspirators. We may therefore justly trace this decent part of dress to the divine law respecting the He, brew priests. The second garment was the chetnet or coat; which was a broidered or thick checkered linen. Dr. Jennings observes that the form of this garment is not delineated in scripture, except in the visionary appearance of Christ to St. John in the habit of a priest, related in the first chapter of his apocalypse; where he is represented as "clothed with a garment down to his feet." This perfectly accords with the description of the sacerdotal coat by Jewish writers. The next garment prescribed to the priests was a girdle, made of linen curiously embroidered; which was a long sash, intended to bind the coat closely around them, and thus to serve at once the purposes of warmth and Deut. xxv. II. 2 Sam. x. 4, 5. Lib. iii. Epigram 24. Ipse super virides aras luctantia pronus-Dum resecat cultro colla, premitque manu, ingens iratis apparuit hernia sacris. In vitâ Jul. Cesaris, cap. 82. Togâ caput obvolvit ; simul sinistra manu sinum ad ima crura deduxit, quo honestius caderet ; etiam inferiore corporis parte velata. strength, of convenience and ornament. Josephus tells us that it was woven hollow, like the skin of a snake, and thus answered the double use of a girdle and a purse. To this latter use girdles were antiently applied both among the Jews, and Romans. Hence Horace says in the second epistle of his second book-" Ibit eo, quo vis, qui zonam perdidit.” Zonam perdere is a latin phrase for being a bankrupt. Our Savior too, when he sent out his disciples to preach, enjoined them to provide neither gold nor silver nor brass, eis tas zoonas, in their girdles or purses. The fourth garment was the bonnet; which was a linen cap for the head, in the form of a half sphere. Josephus says it was like a linen helmet, one wreath being plaited and folded over another, and a thin covering put over all to prevent its unfolding or growing slack. By this covering it was securely fastened to the head, so that it could not fall off in the time of service. In short, it resembled the turban among the eastern nations. Besides these common priestly vestments, the ritual provided for the high priest garments far more rich and splendid. These were distinguished by the name of the golden garments, because they were wrought with gold, as well as purple and scarlet. The first of these was the blue robe. "This, according to Dr. Lightfoot, was without any sleeves, and consisted of two pieces, one of which hung before, and the other behind. In the middle was an opening through which the priest put his head. From the collar downward the pieces were parted, and his arms came out between them. At the lower end of each piece were thirty six small golden bells with clappers, and pomegranates of needle work between every bell." As the pomegran [LECT. XIV. ates added to the beauty of the robe, so the sound of the bells gave notice to the people in the outer court, of the high priest's entrance into the holy place, to burn incense, that they might then apply themselves to their devotions, as an expression of their concurrence with him in his offering, and of their hope that their prayers, accompanied with the incense he offered, would ascend as a fragrant odor before God. The opening at the top of this garment, which is expressed in Hebrew by the mouth or collar of the robe, may throw light on a beautiful passage in the hundred and thirty third Psalm, which describing the sweetness of brotherly love, compares it to the precious ointment poured on the head of Aaron, which ran down to the skirts of his garments, that is, as the original properly signifies, to the mouth or collar of his robe; not to the lower skirts or bottom of his garments, as our poetical versions render it; for it is utterly improbable that God would direct such costly and beautiful vestments to be defaced with oil, as soon as they were put on. The idea therefore seems to be, that the consecrating ointment flowed down to the extremity of his hair and his beard, which probably extended as low as the upper edge or collar of his garment. This in antient times was esteemed both ornamental and refreshing. Hence oil is said to make man's face to shine. The continuance of this custom to the time of our Savior appears from one of his female friend's pouring precious ointment on his head, and from his reproving Simon the Pharisee, who entertained him at his house, for neglecting this common mark of civility. If it be objected that the splendid dress of the high priest must at least have been greatly deformed by the ceremony, used at his consecration, of sprink |