the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.” *

The sweet Psalmist of Israel, so called, because he sang the beauties of our glorious Immanuel, whose fleshly garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia, and whose name to our spiritual senses is as the most odoriferous perfume, was himself a man subject to like passions as we are; and, though in many circumstances a figure of our spiritual David, yet his conduct, with regard to Bathsheba, manifests, that he was no type of his immaculate purity. The language of innocence and holiness with which the Psalms abound, belongs exclusively to the root and offspring of Jesse, the bright Morning Star. None but the Son of God in the days of his flesh could thus appeal to Jehovah: "Judge me, O Lord; for I have walked in mine integrity.........Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart. For thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes I have walked in thy truth, I will wash mine hands in innocency, so will I compass thine altar; O Lord, preserve my soul, for I am holy. I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart."+ We possess many precious testimonies, that honey and milk were under the tongue of our divine Substitute; while adder's poison is under that unruly member, in all the * 2 Sam. vi. 6, 7. + Ps. xxvi. 1, 3, 6; lxxxvi. 2; xl. 8.

fallen race of Adam. Grace and truth flowed from the lips of our divine Immanuel, like drops of pure liquid golden honey from the comb; while those of the sinners, whom he came to redeem, are so corrupt, that they "defile the whole body; and set on fire the course of nature; and are set on fire of hell."* Concerning the incorruptibility of Christ's undefiled body, David declared, in the spirit of prophecy, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption." +

All the powers of human language are inadequate to describe the glories and perfections of him, who was "fairer than the sons of men ; " yet we find, in the Song of Songs, some splendid metaphors, representing his inherent purity; which, like the sweet grapes of Eshcol, are most refreshing and delicious to tried believers, who feel self-abhorrence and bitterness of soul, at the view of their own blackness and deformity; and peace and consolation, in the prospect of awaking up after his likeness, whose entire nature is pure as "bright ivory overlaid with sapphires." "As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste." My beloved is white and ruddy, the standard bearer among ten thousand. His head

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* James, iii. 6—8.

+ Ps. xvi. 10.

is as the most fine

black as a raven.

doves by the

:

gold, his locks are bushy, and His eyes are as the eyes of rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers his lips like lilies, dropping sweetsmelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings, set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet yea, he is altogether lovely." * It is most blessed, to view the glorious Saviour of sinners through the medium of Old Testament representations, because they serve to assist our conceptions of his transcendent excellencies and beauties, when we contemplate the substance, as revealed in the everlasting Gospel; though the Mosaic shadows were but as the clouds of various colours in the firmament at day-break, reflecting, and refracting the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, which, in the fulness of time, arose with healing in its beams, upon the land flowing with milk and honey.

The revelations of the prophets, who “testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow," + contain some precious allusions to the purity of the unblemished Lamb of God. "I have also spoken by the prophets, and I * Songs, v. 10-16.

+ 1 Pet. i. 11.

have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by

the ministry of the prophets.' In that sublime vision, wherein Isaiah saw the "Lord our righteousness, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up," while "his train filled the temple," his pre-eminent holiness is recognized in responses, which will form the chorus of everlasting songs of praise in the heavenly Jerusalem. "And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts." + Both Isaiah and Jeremiah in their predictions, concerning the separation of Immanuel's flesh from every taint of sin, are very explicit. "The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man.' "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.” His human nature shall be impregnated with the rich and sweet unction of the Holy Spirit, so that it shall be impossible for him to sin. "I will make a man more precious than gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir." ‡

All the Nazarites, who prefigured Jesus of Nazareth, "the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely," were in themselves, "blacker than a coal; " yet, as types of the impeccable Saviour, they are described by Jeremiah as 66 purer than

* Hos. xii. 10.

+ Isai. vi. 1, 3.

Jer. xxxi. 22; Isai. vii. 14, 15; xiii. 12.

snow, whiter than milk, more ruddy in body than rubies, and as having the polish of sapphires.

The essential, super-human holiness of the man Christ Jesus, was displayed to Ezekiel in a most divine vision on the banks of the river Chebar, wherein he saw, above the sublime crystal firmament, which was expanded over the heads of the cherubim, the glorious humanity of the Son of God, exalted upon a throne of sapphire-stone, and its absolute purity symbolized by a fiery brightness like transparent gold. "And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about."+ Ezekiel knew that the Prince of peace only could enter the outward sanctuary of the church militant, and the inner sanctuary of the church triumphant, by the way of purity. This is the "beautiful gate by which the King of glory, the Lord of Hosts entered; strong and mighty in battle, through the strength of his transcendent righteousness: and

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no man can come unto the Father, but by him.” "This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened. and no man shall enter in by it, because the Lord God of Israel hath entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut."+

* Lam. iv. 7. + Ezek. i. 26, 27. + Ibid. xliv. 2.